s,
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