the Presidential office will be again presented to his party friends and
admirers for their suffrages for the next Presidential term. I do not
say how probable or improbable this is. Perhaps it is not entirely
probable. Suppose this not to be the result, what then? Why, then Mr.
Polk becomes as absolutely insignificant as any respectable man among
the public men of the United States. Honored in private life, valued for
his private character, respectable, never eminent, in public life, he
will, from the moment a new star arises, have just as little influence
as you or I; and, so far as I am concerned, that certainly is little
enough.

Sir, political partisans, and aspirants, and office-seekers, are not
sunflowers. They do not

"turn to their god when he sets
The same look which they turned when he rose."

No, Sir, if the respectable gentleman now at the head of the government
be nominated, there will be those who will commend his consistency, who
will be bound to maintain it, for the interest of his party friends will
require it. It will be done. If otherwise, who is there in the whole
length and breadth of the land that will care for the consistency of the
present incumbent of the office? There will then be new objects.
"Manifest destiny" will have pointed out some other man. Sir, the
eulogies are now written, the commendations are already elaborated. I do
not say every thing fulsome, but every thing panegyrical, has already
been written out, with _blanks_ for names, to be filled when the
convention shall adjourn. When "manifest destiny" shall be unrolled, all
these strong panegyrics, wherever they may light, made beforehand, laid
up in pigeon-holes, studied, framed, emblazoned, and embossed, will all
come out; and then there will be found to be somebody in the United
States whose merits have been strangely overlooked, marked out by
Providence, a kind of miracle, while all will wonder that nobody ever
thought of him before, as a fit, and the only fit, man to be at the head
of this great republic!

I shrink not, therefore, from any thing that I feel to be my duty, from
any apprehension of the importance and imposing dignity, and the power
of will, ascribed to the present incumbent of office. But I wish we
possessed that power of will. I wish we had that firmness. Yes, Sir, I
wish we had adherence. I wish we could gather something from the spirit
of our brave forces, who have met the enemy under c