"_Marshfield, Aug. 3, 1848._
"GENTLEMEN,--I have received your letter. The critical state of things
at Washington obliges me to think it my duty to repair thither
immediately and take my seat in the Senate, notwithstanding the state of
my health and the heat of the weather render it disagreeable for me to
leave home.
"I cannot, therefore, comply with your wishes at present; but on my
return, if such should continue to be your desire, I will meet you and
the other Whigs of Marshfield, in an unceremonious manner, that we may
confer upon the topics to which your letter relates.
"I am, Gentlemen, with esteem and friendship,
"Your obliged fellow-citizen,
"DANIEL WEBSTER.
"To Messrs. DANIEL PHILLIPS, GEORGE LEONARD, GEO. H. WETHERBEE, and
others."
Soon after Mr. Webster's return from Washington, it was arranged that
the meeting should take place at the "Winslow House," the ancient seat
of the Winslow family, now forming a part of Mr. Webster's farm at
Marshfield, on Friday, the first day of September.]
Although it is not my purpose, during the present recess of Congress,
frequently to address public assemblies on political subjects, I have
felt it my duty to comply with your request, as neighbors and townsmen,
and to meet you to-day; and I am not unwilling to avail myself of this
occasion to signify to the people of the United States my opinions upon
the present state of our public affairs. I shall perform that duty,
certainly with great frankness, I hope with candor. It is not my
intention to-day to endeavor to carry any point, to act as any man's
advocate, to put up or put down anybody. I wish, and I propose, to
address you in the language and in the spirit of conference and
consultation. In the present extraordinary crisis of our public
concerns, I desire to hold no man's conscience but my own. My own
opinions I shall communicate, freely and fearlessly, with equal
disregard to consequences, whether they respect myself or respect
others.
We are on the eve of a highly important Presidential election. In two or
three months the people of this country will be called upon to elect an
executive chief magistrate of the United States; and all see, and all
feel, that great interests of the country are to be affected, for good
or evil, by the results of that election. Of the interesting subjects
over which the person who shall be elected must necessarily exercise
more or less control, there are especially three, vitally connected, in
my judgment, with the honor and happiness of the country. In the first
place, the honor and happiness of the country imperatively require that
there shall be a chief magistrate elected who shall not plunge us into
further wars of ambition and conquest. In the second place, in my
judgment, the interests of the country and the feeling of a vast
majority of the people require that a President of these United States
should be elected, who will neither use official influence to promote,
nor feel any desire in his heart to promote, the further extension of
slavery in this community, or its further influence in the public
councils. In the third place, if I have any just estimate, if an
experience not now a short one in public affairs has enabled me to know
any thing of what the public interest demands, the state of the country
requires an essential reform in the system of revenue and finance such
as shall restore the prosperity, by prompting the industry and fostering
the labor of the country, in its various branches. There are other
things important, but I will not allude to them. These three I hold to
be essential.
There are three candidates presented to the choice of the American
people. General Taylor is the Whig candidate, standing upon the
nomination of the Whig Convention; General Cass is the candidate of the
opposing and now dominant party in the country; and a third candidate is
presented in the person of Mr. Van Buren, by a convention of citizens
assembled at Buffalo, whose object, or whose main object, as it appears
to me, is contained in one of those considerations which I have
mentioned, and that is, the prevention of the further increase of
slavery;--an object in which you and I, Gentlemen, so far as that goes,
entirely concur with them, I am sure.
Most of us who are here to-day are Whigs, National Whigs, Massachusetts
Whigs, Old Colony Whigs, and Marshfield Whigs, and if the Whig
nomination made at Philadelphia were entirely satisfactory to the people
of Massachusetts and to us, our path of duty would be plain. But the
nomination of a candidate for the Presidency made by the Whig Convention
at Philadelphia is not satisfactory to the Whigs of Massachusetts. That
is certain, and it would be idle to attempt to conceal the fact. It is
more just and more patriotic, it is more manly and practical, to take
facts as they are, and things as they are, and to deduce our own
conviction of duty from what exists before us. However respectable and
distinguished in the line of his own profession, or however estimable as
a private citizen, General Taylor is a military man, and a military man
merely. He has had no training in civil affairs. He has performed no
functions of a civil nature under the Constitution of his country. He
has been known and is known, only by his brilliant achievements at the
head of an army. Now the Whigs of Massachusetts, and I among them, are
of opinion that it was not wise, nor discreet, to go to the army for the
selection of a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. It is
the first instance in their history in which any man of mere military
character has been proposed for that high office. General Washington was
a great military character; but by far a greater civil character. He had
been employed in the councils of his country, from the earliest dawn of
the Revolution. He had been in the Continental Congress, and he had
established a great character for civil wisdom and judgment. After the
war, as you know, he was elected a member of that convention which
formed the Constitution of the United States; and it is one of the most
honorable tributes ever paid to him, that by that assembly of good and
wise men he was selected to preside over their deliberations. And he put
his name first and foremost to the Constitution under which we live.
President Harrison was bred a soldier, and at different periods of his
life rendered important military services. But President Harrison,
nevertheless, was for a much greater period of his life employed in
civil than in military service. For twenty years he was either governor
of a Territory, member of one or the other house of Congress, or
minister abroad; and discharged all these duties to the satisfaction of
his country. This case, therefore, stands by itself; without a precedent
or justification from any thing in our previous history. It is for this
reason, as I imagine, that the Whigs of Massachusetts feel dissatisfied
with this nomination. There may be other reasons, there are others; they
are, perhaps, of less importance, and more easily to be answered. But
this is a well-founded objection; and in my opinion it ought to have
prevailed, and to have prevented this nomination. I know enough of
history to see the dangerous tendency of such resorts to military
popularity.
But, if I may borrow a mercantile expression, I may now venture to say,
that there is another side to this account. The impartiality with which
I propose to discharge my duty to-day requires that it should be stated.
And, in the first place, it is to be considered, that General Taylor has
been nominated by a Whig convention, held in conformity with the usages
of the Whig party, and, so far as I know, fairly nominated. It is to be
considered, also, that he is the only Whig before the people, as a
candidate for the Presidency; and no citizen of the country, with any
effect, can vote for any other Whig, let his preferences be what they
might or may.
In the next place, it is proper to consider the personal character of
General Taylor, and his political opinions, relations, and connections,
so far as they are known. In advancing to a few observations on this
part of the case, I wish everybody to understand that I have no personal
acquaintance whatever with General Taylor. I never saw him but once, and
that but for a few moments in the Senate. The sources of information are
open to you, as well as to me, from which I derive what I know of his
character and opinions. But I have endeavored to obtain access to those
sources. I have endeavored to inform and instruct myself by
communication with those who have known him in his profession as a
soldier, in his associations as a man, in his conversations and opinions
on political subjects; and I will tell you frankly what I think of him,
according to the best lights which I have been able to obtain.
I need not say, that he is a skilful, brave, and gallant soldier. That
is admitted by all. With me, all that goes but very little way to make
out the proper qualifications for President of the United States. But
what is more important, I believe that he is an entirely honest and
upright man. I believe that he is modest, clear-headed, of independent
and manly character, possessing a mind trained by proper discipline and
self-control. I believe that he is estimable and amiable in all the
relations of private life. I believe that he possesses a reputation for
equity and fair judgment, which gives him an influence over those under
his command beyond what is conferred by the authority of station. I
believe that he is a man possessing the confidence and attachment of all
who have been near him and know him. And I believe, that, if elected
President, he will do his best to relieve the country from present
evils, and guard it against future dangers. So much for what I think of
the personal character of General Taylor.
I will say, too, that, so far as I have observed, his conduct since he
has been a candidate for the office of President has been
irreproachable. I hear no intrigue imputed to him, no contumelious
treatment of rivals. I do not find him making promises or holding out
hopes to any men or any party. I do not find him putting forth any
pretensions of his own, and therefore I think of him very much as he
seems to think of himself, that he is an honest man, of an independent
mind and of upright intentions. And as for the subject of his
qualifications for the Presidency, he has himself nothing to say about
it.
And now, friends and fellow-townsmen, with respect to his political
opinions and relations, I can say at once, that I believe him to be a
Whig; I believe him to hold to the main doctrines of the Whig party. To
think otherwise would be to impute to him a degree of tergiversation and
fraudulent deception of which I suppose him to be entirely incapable.
Gentlemen, it is worth our while to consider in what manner General
Taylor has become a candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
It would be a great mistake to suppose that he was made such merely by
the nomination of the Philadelphia Convention. He had been nominated for
the Presidency in a great many States, by various conventions and
meetings of the people, a year before the convention at Philadelphia
assembled. The whole history of the world shows, whether in the most
civilized or the most barbarous ages, that the affections and admiration
of mankind are at all times easily carried away towards successful
military achievements. The story of all republics and of all free
governments shows this. We know in the case now before us, that so soon
as brilliant success had attended General Taylor's operations on the Rio
Grande, at Palo Alto, and Monterey, spontaneous nominations of him
sprang up.
And here let me say, that, generally, these were Whig nominations. Not
universally, but generally, these nominations, made at various times
before the meeting of the Philadelphia Convention, were Whig
nominations. General Taylor was esteemed, from the moment that his
military achievements brought him into public notice, as a Whig general.
You all remember, that when we were discussing his merits in Congress,
upon the question of giving thanks to the army under his command, and to
himself, among other objections, the friends and supporters of Mr.
Polk's administration denounced him as being, and because he was, a Whig
general. My friends near me, whom I am happy to see here, belonging to
the House of Representatives, will remember that a leading man of the
party of the administration declared in his place in Congress, that the
policy of the administration, connected with the Mexican war, would
never prosper, till the President recalled those Whig generals, Scott
and Taylor. The policy was a Democratic policy. The argument was, that
the men to carry out this policy should be Democratic men; the officers
to fight the battles should be Democratic officers; and on that ground,
the ordinary vote of thanks was refused to General Taylor, on the part
of the friends of the administration.
Let me remark, in the next place, that there was no particular purpose
connected with the advancement of slavery entertained, generally, by
those who nominated him. As I have said, they were Whig nominations,
more in the Middle and Northern than in the Southern States, and by
persons who never entertained the slightest desire, by his nomination,
or by any other means, to extend the area of slavery of the human race,
or the influence of the slave-holding States in the councils of the
nation. The Quaker city of Philadelphia nominated General Taylor, the
Whigs all over the Union nominated him, with no such view. A great
convention was assembled in New York, of highly influential and
respectable gentlemen, very many of them well known to me, and they
nominated General Taylor with no such view. General Taylor's nomination
was hailed, not very extensively, but by some enthusiastic and not very
far-seeing people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. There were, even
among us, in our own State, Whigs quite early enough, certainly, in
manifesting their confidence in this nomination; a little too early, it
may be, in uttering notes of exultation for the anticipated triumph. It
would have been better if they had waited.
Now the truth is, Gentlemen,--and no man can avoid seeing it, unless, as
sometimes happens, the object is too near our eyes to be distinctly
discerned,--the truth is, that in these nominations, and also in the
nomination at Philadelphia, in these conventions, and also in the
convention at Philadelphia, General Taylor was nominated exactly for
this reason;--that, believing him to be a Whig, they thought he could be
chosen more easily than any other Whig. This is the whole of it. That
sagacious, wise, far-seeing doctrine of availability lies at the bottom
of the whole matter. So far, then, from imputing any motive to these
conventions over the country, or to the convention in Philadelphia, as
operating on a majority of the members, to promote slavery by the
nomination of General Taylor, I do not believe a word of it,--not one
word. I see that one part of what is called the Platform of the Buffalo
Convention says that the candidates before the public were nominated
under the dictation of the slave power. I do not believe a word of it.
In the first place, a very great majority of the convention at
Philadelphia was composed of members from the Free States. By a very
great majority they might have nominated anybody they chose. But the
Free States did not choose to nominate a Free State man, or a Northern
man. Even our neighbors, the States of New England, with the exception
of New Hampshire and a part of Maine, neither proposed nor concurred in
the nomination of any Northern man. Vermont would hear of nothing but
the nomination of a Southern and slave-holding candidate. Connecticut
was of the same mind, and so was Rhode Island. The North made no demand,
nor presented any request for a Northern candidate, nor attempted any
union among themselves for the purpose of promoting the nomination of
such a candidate. They were content to take their choice among the
candidates of the South. It is preposterous, therefore, to pretend that
a candidate from the Slave States has been forced upon the North by
Southern dictation.
In the next place, it is true that there were persons from New England
who were extremely zealous and active in procuring the nomination of
General Taylor, but they were men who would cut off their right hands
before they would do any thing to promote slavery in the United States.
I do not admire their policy; indeed I have very little respect for it,
understand that; but I acquit them of bad motives. I know the leading
men in that convention. I think I understand the motives that governed
them. Their reasoning was this: "General Taylor is a Whig: not eminent
in civil life, not known in civil life, but still a man of sound Whig
principles. Circumstances have given him a reputation and _éclat_ in the
country. If he shall be the Whig candidate, he will be chosen; and with
him there will come into the two houses of Congress an augmentation of
Whig strength. The Whig majority in the House of Representatives will be
increased. The Democratic majority in the Senate will be diminished."
That was the view, and such was the motive, however wise or however
unwise, that governed a very large majority of those who composed the
convention at Philadelphia. In my opinion, this was a wholly unwise
policy; it was short-sighted and temporizing on questions of great
principles. But I acquit those who adopted it of any such motives as
have been ascribed to them, and especially of what has been ascribed to
them in a part of this Buffalo Platform.
Such, Gentlemen, are the circumstances connected with the nomination of
General Taylor. I only repeat, that those who had the greatest agency
originally in bringing him before the people were Whig conventions and
Whig meetings in the several States, Free States, and that a great
majority of that convention which nominated him in Philadelphia was from
the Free States, and might have rejected him if they had chosen, and
selected anybody else on whom they could have united.
This is the case, Gentlemen, as far as I can discern it, and exercising
upon it as impartial a judgment as I can form,--this is the case
presented to the Whigs, so far as respects the personal fitness and
personal character of General Taylor, and the circumstances which have
caused his nomination. If we were weighing the propriety of nominating
such a person to the Presidency, it would be one thing; if we are
considering the expediency, or I may say the necessity (which to some
minds may seem to be the case), of well-meaning and patriotic Whigs
supporting him after he is nominated, that is quite another thing.
This leads us to the consideration of what the Whigs of Massachusetts
are to do, or such of them as do not see fit to support General Taylor.
Of course they must vote for General Cass, or they must vote for Mr. Van
Buren, or they must omit to vote at all. I agree that there are cases in
which, if we do not know in what direction to move, we ought to stand
still till we do. I admit that there are cases in which, if one does not
know what to do, he had better not do he knows not what. But on a
question so important to ourselves and the country, on a question of a
popular election under constitutional forms, in which it is impossible
that every man's private judgment can prevail, or every man's private
choice succeed, it becomes a question of conscientious duty and
patriotism, what it is best to do upon the whole.
Under the practical administration of the Constitution of the United
States, there cannot be a great range of personal choice in regard to
the candidate for the Presidency. In order that their votes may be
effective, men must give them for some one of those who are prominently
before the public. This is the necessary result of our forms of
government and of the provisions of the Constitution. The people are
therefore brought sometimes to the necessity of choosing between
candidates neither of whom would be their original, personal choice.
Now, what is the contingency? What is the alternative presented to the
Whigs of Massachusetts? In my judgment, fellow-citizens, it is simply
this; the question is between General Taylor and General Cass. And that
is the only question. I am no more skilled to foresee political
occurrences than others. I judge only for myself. But, in my opinion,
there is not the least probability of any other result than the choice
of General Taylor or General Cass. I know that the enthusiasm of a
new-formed party, that the popularity of a new-formed name, without
communicating any new-formed idea, may lead men to think that the sky is
to fall, and that larks are suddenly to be taken. I entertain no such
expectations. I speak without disrespect of the Free Soil party. I have
read their platform, and though I think there are some unsound places in
it, I can stand on it pretty well. But I see nothing in it both new and
valuable. "What is valuable is not new, and what is new is not
valuable." If the term Free Soil party, or Free Soil men, designate
those who are fixed, and unalterably fixed, in favor of the restriction
of slavery, are so to-day and were so yesterday, and have been so for
some time, then I hold myself to be as good a Free Soil man as any of
the Buffalo Convention. I pray to know who is to put beneath my feet a
freer soil than that upon which I have stood ever since I have been in
public life? I pray to know who is to make my lips freer than they
always have been, or to inspire into my breast a more resolute and fixed
determination to resist the advances and encroachments of the slave
power, than has inhabited it since I for the first time opened my mouth
in the councils of the country? The gentlemen at Buffalo have placed at
the head of their party Mr. Van Buren, a gentleman for whom I have all
the respect that I ought to entertain for one with whom I have been
associated, in some degree, in public life for many years, and who has
held the highest offices in the country. But really, speaking for
myself, if I were to express confidence in Mr. Van Buren and his
politics on any question, and most especially this very question of
slavery, I think the scene would border upon the ludicrous, if not upon
the contemptible. I never proposed any thing in my life of a general and
public nature, that Mr. Van Buren did not oppose. Nor has it happened to
me to support any important measure proposed by him. If he and I now
were to find ourselves together under the Free Soil flag, I am sure
that, with his accustomed good nature, he would laugh. If nobody were
present, we should both laugh at the strange occurrences and stranger
jumbles of political life that should have brought us to sit down cosily
and snugly, side by side, on the same platform. That the leader of the
Free Spoil party should so suddenly have become the leader of the Free
Soil party would be a joke to shake his sides and mine.
Gentlemen, my first acquaintance in public life with Mr. Van Buren was
when he was pressing with great power the election of Mr. Crawford to
the Presidency, against Mr. Adams. Mr. Crawford was not elected, and Mr.
Adams was. Mr. Van Buren was in the Senate nearly the whole of that
administration; and during the remainder of it he was Governor of the
State of New York. It is notorious that he was the soul and centre,
throughout the whole of Mr. Adams's term, of the opposition made to him.
He did more to prevent Mr. Adams's re-election in 1828, and to obtain
General Jackson's election, than any other man,--yes, than any _ten_
other men in the country.
General Jackson was chosen, and Mr. Van Buren was appointed his
Secretary of State. It so happened that in July, 1829, Mr. McLane went
to England to arrange the controverted, difficult, and disputed point on
the subject of the colonial trade. Mr. Adams had held a high tone on
that subject. He had demanded, on the ground of reciprocity and right,
the introduction of our products into all parts of the British
territory, freely, in our own vessels, since Great Britain was allowed
to bring her produce into the United States upon the same terms. Mr.
Adams placed this demand upon the ground of reciprocity and justice.
Great Britain would not yield. Mr. Van Buren, in his instructions to Mr.
McLane, told him to yield that question of right, and to solicit the
free admission of American produce into the British colonies, on the
ground of privilege and favor; intimating that there had been a change
of parties, and that this favor ought not to be refused to General
Jackson's administration because it had been demanded on the ground of
right by Mr. Adams's. This is the sum and substance of the instruction.
Well, Gentlemen, it was one of the most painful duties of my life, on
account of this, to refuse my assent to Mr. Van Buren's nomination. It
was novel in our history, when an administration changes, for the new
administration to seek to obtain privileges from a foreign power on the
assertion that they have abandoned the ground of their predecessors. I
suppose that such a course is held to be altogether undignified by all
public men. When I went into the Department of State under General
Harrison, I found in the conduct of my predecessor many things that I
could have wished had been otherwise. Did I retract a jot or tittle of
what Mr. Forsyth had said? I took the case as he had left it, and
conducted it upon the principles which he left. I should have considered
that I disgraced myself if I had said, "Pray, my Lord Ashburton, we are
more rational persons than our predecessors, we are more considerate
than they, and intend to adopt an entirely opposite policy. Consider, my
dear Lord, how much more friendly, reasonable, and amiable we are than
our predecessors."
But now, on this very subject of the extension of the slave power, I
would by no means do the least injustice to Mr. Van Buren. If he has
come up to some of the opinions expressed in the platform of the Buffalo
Convention, I am very glad of it. I do not mean to say that there may
not be very good reasons for those of his own party who cannot
conscientiously vote for General Cass to vote for him, because I think
him much the least dangerous of the two. But, in truth, looking at Mr.
Van Buren's conduct as President of the United States, I am amazed to
find that he should be placed at the head of a party professing to be,
beyond all other parties, friends of liberty and enemies of African
slavery in the Southern States. Why, the very first thing that Mr. Van
Buren did after he was President was to declare, that, if Congress
interfered with slavery in the District of Columbia, he would apply the
veto to their bills. Mr. Van Buren, in his inaugural address, quotes the
following expression from his letter accepting his nomination: "I must
go into the Presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising
opponent of every attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slave-holding States;
and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest
interference with it in the States where it exists." He then proceeds:
"I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fulness and frankness, the
reasons which led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to
believe that they have been approved and are confided in by a majority
of the people of the United States, including those whom they most
immediately affect. It now only remains to add, that no bill conflicting
with these views can even receive my constitutional sanction."
In the next place, we know that Mr. Van Buren's casting vote was given
for a law of very doubtful propriety,--a law to allow postmasters to
open the mails and see if there was any incendiary matter in them, and,
if so, to destroy it. I do not say that there was no constitutional
power to pass such a law. Perhaps the people of the South thought it was
necessary to protect themselves from incitements to insurrection. So far
as any thing endangers the lives and property of the South, so far I
agree that there may be such legislation in Congress as shall prevent
such results.
But, Gentlemen, no man has exercised a more controlling influence on the
conduct of his friends in this country than Mr. Van Buren. I take it
that the most important event in our time tending to the extension of
slavery and its everlasting establishment on this continent, was the
annexation of Texas, in 1844. Where was Mr. Van Buren then? Let me ask,
Three or four years ago, where was he THEN? Every friend of Mr. Van
Buren, so far as I know, supported the measure. The two Senators from
New York supported it, and the members of the House of Representatives
from New York supported it, and nobody resisted it but Whigs. And I say
in the face of the world, I say in the face of those connected with, or
likely to be benefited by, the Buffalo Convention,--I say to all of
them, that there has been no party of men in this country which has
firmly and sternly resisted the progress of the slave power but the
Whigs.
Why, look to this very question of the annexation of Texas. We talk of
the dictation of the slave power! At least they do, I do not. I do not
allow that anybody dictates to me. They talk of the triumph of the South
over the North! There is not a word of truth or reason in the whole of
it. I am bound to say on my conscience, that, of all the evils inflicted
upon us by these acquisitions of slave territory, the North has borne
its full part in the infliction. Northern votes, in full proportion,
have been given in both houses for the acquisition of new territory, in
which slavery existed. We talk of the North. There has for a long time
been no North. I think the North Star is at last discovered; I think
there will be a North; but up to the recent session of Congress there
has been no North, no geographical section of the country, in which
there has been found a strong, conscientious, and _united_ opposition to
slavery. No such North has existed.
Pope says, you know,
"Ask where's the North? At York, 'tis on the Tweed;
In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where."
Now, if there has heretofore been such a _North_ as I have described, a
North strong in opinion and united in action against slavery,--if such a
_North_ has existed anywhere, it has existed "the Lord knows where," I
do not. Why, on this very question of the admission of Texas, it may be
said with truth, that the North let in Texas. The Whigs, North and
South, resisted Texas. Ten Senators from slave-holding States, of the
Whig party, resisted Texas. Two, only, as I remember, voted for it. But
the Southern Whig votes against Texas were overpowered by the Democratic
votes from the Free States, and from New England among the rest. Yes, if
there had not been votes from New England in favor of Texas, Texas would
have been out of the Union to this day. Yes, if men from New England had
been true, Texas would have been nothing but Texas still. There were
four votes in the Senate from New England in favor of the admission of
Texas, Mr. Van Buren's friends, Democratic members: one from Maine; two
from New Hampshire; one from Connecticut. Two of these gentlemen were
confidential friends of Mr. Van Buren, and had both been members of his
cabinet. They voted for Texas; and they let in Texas, against Southern
Whigs and Northern Whigs. That is the truth of it, my friends. Mr. Van
Buren, by the wave of his hand, could have kept out Texas. A word, a
letter, though it had been even shorter than General Cass's letter to
the Chicago Convention, would have been enough, and would have done the
work. But he was silent.
When Northern members of Congress voted, in 1820, for the Missouri
Compromise, against the known will of their constituents, they were
called "Dough Faces." I am afraid, fellow-citizens, that the generation
of "dough faces" will be as perpetual as the generation of men.
In 1844, as we all know, Mr. Van Buren was a candidate for the
Presidency, on the part of the Democratic party, but lost the nomination
at Baltimore. We now learn, from a letter from General Jackson to Mr.
Butler, that Mr. Van Buren's claims were superseded, because, after all,
the South thought that the accomplishment of the annexation of Texas
might be more safely intrusted to Southern hands. We all know that the
Northern portion of the Democratic party were friendly to Mr. Van Buren.
Our neighbors from New Hampshire, and Maine, and elsewhere, were Van
Buren men. But the moment it was ascertained that Mr. Polk was the
favorite of the South, and the favorite of the South upon the ground I
have mentioned, as a man more certain to bring about the annexation of
Texas than Mr. Van Buren, these friends of Mr. Van Buren in the North
all "caved in,"--not a man of them stood. Mr. Van Buren himself wrote a
letter very complimentary to Mr. Polk and Mr. Dallas, and found no fault
with the nomination.
Now, Gentlemen, if they were "dough faces" who voted for the Missouri
Compromise, what epithet should describe these men, here in our New
England, who were so ready, not only to change or abandon him whom they
most cordially wished to support, but did so in order to make more sure
the annexation of Texas. They nominated Mr. Polk at the request of
gentlemen from the South, and voted for him, through thick and thin,
till the work was accomplished, and Mr. Polk elected. For my part, I
think that "dough faces" is an epithet not sufficiently reproachful.
Such persons are dough faces, with dough heads, and dough hearts, and
dough souls; they are _all_ dough; the coarsest potter may mould them to
vessels of honor or dishonor,--most readily to vessels of _dis_honor.
But what do we now see? Repentance has gone far. There are among these
very people, these very gentlemen, persons who espouse, with great zeal,
the interests of the Free Soil party. I hope their repentance is as
sincere as it appears to be. I hope it is honest conviction, and not
merely a new chance for power, under a new name and a new party. But,
with all their pretensions, and with all their patriotism, I see dough
still sticking on the cheeks of some of them. And therefore I have no
confidence in them, not a particle. I do not mean to say, that the great
mass of the people, especially those who went to the Buffalo Convention
from this State, have not the highest and purest motives. I think they
act unwisely, but I acquit them of dishonest intentions. But with
respect to others, and those who have been part and parcel in the
measures which have brought new slave territory into this Union, I
distrust them all. If they repent, let them, before we trust them, do
works worthy of repentance.
I have said, Gentlemen, that in my opinion, if it were desirable to
place Mr. Van Buren at the head of government, there is no chance for
him. Others are as good judges as I am. But I am not able to say that I
see any State in the Union in which there is a reasonable probability
that he will get the vote. There may be. Others are more versed in such
statistics than I am. But I see none, and therefore I think that we are
reduced to a choice between General Cass and General Taylor. You may
remember, that in the discussions of 1844, when Mr. Birney was drawing
off votes from the Whig candidate, I said that every vote for Mr. Birney
was half a vote for Mr. Polk. Is it not true that the vote of the
Liberty party taken from Mr. Clay's vote in the State of New York made
Mr. Polk President? That is as clear as any historical fact. And in my
judgment, it will be so now. I consider every Whig vote given to Mr. Van
Buren, as directly aiding the election of Mr. Cass. Mark, I say, _Whig_
vote. There may be States in which Mr. Van Buren may draw from the other
side largely. But I speak of Whig votes, in this State and in any State.
And I am of opinion, that any such vote given to Mr. Van Buren inures to
the benefit of General Cass.
Now as to General Cass, Gentlemen. We need not go to the Baltimore
platform to instruct ourselves as to what his politics are, or how he
will conduct the government. General Cass will go into the government,
if at all, chosen by the same party that elected Mr. Polk; and he will
"follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor." I hold him, I
confess, in the present state of the country, to be the most dangerous
man on whom the powers of the executive chief magistracy could well be
conferred. He would consider himself, not as conservative, not as
protective to present institutions, but as belonging to the party of
Progress. He believes in the doctrine of American destiny; and that that
destiny is, to go through wars and invasions, and maintain vast armies,
to establish a great, powerful, domineering government over all this
continent. We know that, if Mr. Cass could have prevented it, the treaty
with England in 1842 would not have been made. We know that, if Mr. Cass
could have prevented it, the settlement of the Oregon question would not
have been accomplished in 1846. We know that General Cass could have
prevented the Mexican war; and we know that he was first and foremost in
pressing that war. We know that he is a man of talent, of ability, of
some celebrity as a statesman, in every way superior to his predecessor,
if he should be the successor of Mr. Polk. But I think him a man of rash
politics, pushed on by a rash party, and committed to a course of
policy, as I believe, not in consistency with the happiness and security
of the country. Therefore it is for you, and for me, and for all of us,
Whigs, to consider whether, in this state of the case, we can or cannot,
we will or will not, give our votes for the Whig nomination. I leave
that to every man's conscience. I have endeavored to state the case as
it presents itself to me.
Gentlemen, before General Taylor's nomination, I stated always, when the
subject was mentioned by my friends, that I did not and could not
recommend the nomination of a military man to the people of the United
States for the office of President. It was against my conviction of what
was due to the best interests of the country, and to the character of
the republic. I stated always, at the same time, that if General Taylor
should be nominated by the Whig Convention, fairly, I should not oppose
his election. I stand now upon the same declaration. General Taylor has
been nominated fairly, as far as I know, and I cannot, therefore, and
shall not, oppose his election. At the same time, there is no man who is
more firmly of opinion that such a nomination was not fit to be made.
But the declaration that I would not oppose General Taylor, if nominated
by the Whig party, was of course subject, in the nature of things, to
some exceptions. If I believed him to be a man who would plunge the
country into further wars for any purpose of ambition or conquest, I
would oppose him, let him be nominated by whom he might. If I believed
that he was a man who would exert his official influence for the further
extension of the slave power, I would oppose him, let him be nominated
by whom he might. But I do not believe either. I believe that he has
been, from the first, opposed to the policy of the Mexican war, as
improper, impolitic, and inexpedient. I believe, from the best
information I can obtain,--and you will take this as my own opinion,
Gentlemen,--I believe, from the best information I can obtain, that he
has no disposition to go to war, or to form new States in order to
increase the limits of slavery.
Gentlemen, so much for what may be considered as belonging to the
Presidency as a national question. But the case by no means stops here.
We are citizens of Massachusetts. We are Whigs of Massachusetts. We have
supported the present government of the State for years, with success;
and I have thought that most Whigs were satisfied with the
administration of the State government in the hands of those who have
had it. But now it is proposed, I presume, on the basis of the Buffalo
Platform, to carry this into the State elections, as well as into the
national elections. There is to be a nomination of a candidate for
Governor, against Mr. Briggs, or whoever may be nominated by the Whigs;
and there is to be a nomination of a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor,
against Mr. Reed, or whoever may be nominated by the Whigs; and there
are to be nominations against the present members of Congress. Now, what
is the utility or the necessity of this? We have ten members in the
Congress of the United States. I know not ten men of any party who are
more zealous, and firm, and inflexible in their opposition against
slavery in any form.
And what will be the result of opposing their re-election? Suppose that
a considerable number of Whigs secede from the Whig party, and support a
candidate of this new party, what will be the result? Do we not know
what has been the case in this State? Do we not know that this district
has been unrepresented from month to month, and from year to year,
because there has been an opposition to as good an antislavery man as
breathes the air of this district? On this occasion, and even in his own
presence, I may allude to our Representative, Mr. Hale. Do we want a man
to give a better vote in Congress than Mr. Hale gives? Why, I undertake
to say that there is not one of the Liberty party, nor will there be one
of this new party, who will have the least objection to Mr. Hale, except
that he was not nominated by themselves. Ten to one, if the Whigs had
not nominated him, they would have nominated him themselves; doubtless
they would, if he had come into their organization, and called himself a
third party man.
Now, Gentlemen, I remember it to have occurred, that, on very important
questions in Congress, the vote was lost for want of two or three
members which Massachusetts might have sent, but which, in consequence
of the division of parties, she did not send. And now I foresee that, if
in this district any considerable number of Whigs think it their duty to
join in the support of Mr. Van Buren, and in the support of gentlemen
whom that party may nominate for Congress, the same thing will take
place, and we shall be without a representative, in all probability, in
the first session of the next Congress, when the battle is to be fought
on this very slavery question. The same is likely to happen in other
districts. I am sure that honest, intelligent, and patriotic Whigs will
lay this consideration to their consciences, and judge of it as they
think they ought to do.
Gentlemen, I will detain you but a moment longer. You know that I gave
my vote in Congress against the treaty of peace with Mexico, because it
contained these cessions of territory, and brought under the authority
of the United States, with a pledge of future admission into the Union,
the great, vast, and almost unknown countries of New Mexico and
California.
In the session before the last, one of the Southern Whig Senators, Mr.
Berrien of Georgia, had moved a resolution, to the effect that the war
ought not to be continued for the purposes of conquest and acquisition.
The resolution declared that the war with Mexico ought not to be
prosecuted by this government with any view to the dismemberment of that
republic, or to the acquisition, by conquest, of any portion of her
territory. That proposition he introduced into the Senate, in the form
of a resolution; and I believe that every Whig Senator but one voted for
it. But the Senators belonging to the Locofoco or Democratic party voted
against it. The Senators from New York voted against it. General Cass,
from the free State of Michigan, Mr. Fairfield, from Maine, Mr. Niles,
from Connecticut, and others, voted against it, and the vote was lost.
That is, these gentlemen,--some of them very prominent friends of Mr.
Van Buren, and ready to take the field for him,--these very gentlemen
voted not to exclude territory that might be obtained by conquest. They
were willing to bring in the territory, and then have a squabble and
controversy whether it should be slave or free territory. I was of
opinion that the true and safe policy was, to shut out the whole
question by getting no territory, and thereby keep off all controversy.
The territory will do us no good, if free; it will be an encumbrance, if
free. To a great extent, it will produce a preponderance in favor of the
South in the Senate, even if it be free. Let us keep it out, therefore.
But no. We will make the acquisition, bring in the territory, and manage
it afterwards. That was the policy.
Gentlemen, in an important crisis in English history, in the reign of
Charles the Second, when the country was threatened by the accession to
the throne of a prince, then called the Duke of York, who was a bigot to
the Roman Catholic religion, a proposition was made to exclude him from
the crown. Some said that was a very rash measure, brought forward by
very rash men; that they had better admit him, and then put limitations
upon him, chain him down, restrict him. When the debate was going on, a
member is reported to have risen and expressed his sentiments by rather
a grotesque comparison, but one of considerable force:--
"I hear a lion, in the lobby roar!
Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door,
And keep him out; or shall we let him in,
And see if we can get him out again?"
I was for shutting the door and keeping the lion out. Other more
confident spirits, who are of the character of Van Amburgh, were for
letting him in, and disturbing all the interests of the country. When
this Mexican treaty came before the Senate, it had certain clauses
ceding New Mexico and California to the United States. A Southern
gentleman, Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, moved to strike out those
clauses. Now you understand, that if a motion to strike out a clause of
a treaty be supported by one third, it will be struck out; that is, two
thirds of the Senate must vote for each clause, in order to have it
retained. The vote on this question of striking out stood 38 to 14, not
quite one third being against the cession, and so the clause was
retained. And why were there not one third? Just because there were four
New England Senators voting for these new territories. That is the
reason.
I hope I am as ardent an advocate for peace as any man living; but I
would not be carried away by the desire for peace to commit an act which
I believed highly injurious, likely to have consequences of a permanent
character, and indeed to endanger the existence of the government.
Besides, I believed that we could have struck out the cessions of
territory, and had peace just as soon. And I would be willing to go
before the people and leave it to them to say, whether they would carry
on the war any longer for acquisition of territory. If they would, then
they were the artificers of their own fortunes. I was not afraid of the
people on that subject. But if this course had continued the war
somewhat longer, I would have preferred that result, rather than that
those territories lying on our southern border should come in hereafter
as new States. I should speak, perhaps, with more confidence, if some
Whigs of the North had not voted for the treaty. My own opinion was then
clear and decisive. For myself I thought the case a perfectly plain one,
and no man has yet stated a reason to convince me to the contrary.
I voted to strike out the articles of cession. They would have been
struck out if four of the New England Senators had not voted against the
motion. I then voted against the ratification of the treaty, and that
treaty would have failed if three New England Senators had not voted for
it, and Whig Senators too. I should do the same thing again, and with
much more resolution. I would have run a still greater risk, I would
have endured a still greater shock, I would have risked anything, rather
than have been a participator in any measure which should have a
tendency to annex Southern territory to the States of the Union. I hope
it will be remembered, in all future time, that on this question of the
accession of these new territories of almost boundless extent, I voted
against them, and against the treaty which contained them,
notwithstanding all inducements to the contrary, and all the cries,
which I thought hasty and injudicious, of "Peace! Peace on any terms!" I
will add, that those who voted against the treaty were gentlemen from so
many parts of the country, that its rejection would have been an act
rather of national than of local resistance. There were votes against it
from both parties, and from all parties, the South and the West, the
North and the East. What we wanted was a few more New England votes.
Gentlemen, after I had the honor of receiving the invitation to meet my
fellow-citizens, I found it necessary, in the discharge of my duty,
though with great inconvenience to my health, to be present at the
closing scenes of the session. You know what there transpired. You know
the important decision that was made in both houses of Congress, in
regard to Oregon. The immediate question respected Oregon, or rather the
bill respected Oregon, but the question more particularly concerned
these new territories. The effect of the bill as passed in the Senate
was to establish these new territories as slave-holding States. The
House disagreed. The Senate receded from their ground, and the bill
passed, establishing Oregon as a free Territory, and making no provision
for the newly acquired territories on the South. My vote, and the
reasons I gave for it, are known to the good people of Massachusetts,
and I have not heard that they have expressed any particular
disapprobation of them.
But this question is to be resumed at the first session of the next
Congress. There is no probability that it will be settled at the next
session of this Congress. But at least at the first session of the next
Congress this question will be resumed. It will enter at this very
period into all the elections of the South.
And now I venture to say, Gentlemen, two things; the first well known to
you, that General Cass is in favor of what is called the Compromise
Line, and is of opinion that the Wilmot Proviso, or the Ordinance of
1787, which excludes slavery from territories, ought not to be applied
to territories lying south of 36° 30'. He announced this before he was
nominated, and if he had not announced it, he would have been 36° 30'
farther off from being nominated. In the next place, he will do all he
can to establish that compromise line; and lastly, which is a matter of
opinion, in my conscientious belief he will establish it.
Give him the power and the patronage of the government, let him exercise
it over certain portions of the country whose representatives voted on
this occasion to put off that question for future consideration; let him
have the power of this government with his attachments, with his
inducements, and we shall see the result. I verily believe, that unless
there is a renewed strength, an augmented strength, of Whig votes in
Congress, he will accomplish his purpose. He will surely have the
Senate, and with the patronage of the government, with every interest
which he can bring to bear, co-operating with every interest which the
South can bring to bear, he will establish the compromise line. We cry
safety before we are out of the woods, if we feel that the danger
respecting the territories is over.
Gentlemen, I came here to confer with you as friends and countrymen, to
speak my own mind and hear yours; but if we all should speak, and occupy
as much time as I have, we should make a late meeting. I shall detain
you no longer. I have been long in public life, longer, far longer than
I shall remain there. I have had some participation for more than thirty
years in the councils of the nation. I profess to feel a strong
attachment to the liberty of the United States, to the Constitution and
free institutions of this country, to the honor, and I may say the
glory, of my native land. I feel every injury inflicted upon it, almost
as a personal injury. I blush for every fault which I think I see
committed in its public councils, as if they were faults or mistakes of
my own. I know that, at this moment, there is no object upon earth so
much attracting the gaze of the intelligent and civilized nations of the
earth as this great republic. All men look at us, all men examine our
course, all good men are anxious for a favorable result to this great
experiment of republican liberty. We are on a hill and cannot be hid. We
cannot withdraw ourselves either from the commendation or the reproaches
of the civilized world. They see us as that star of empire which half a
century ago was represented as making its way westward. I wish they may
see it as a mild, placid, though brilliant orb, moving athwart the whole
heavens to the enlightening and cheering of mankind; and not as a meteor
of fire and blood terrifying the nations.