ghout the country. The Convention adjourned, and came
in after the adjournment to hear the report of the committee.
Mr. Leigh accosted the Chairman of the committee and stood
with him in a conspicuous place as the delegates filed in.
He inquired of the Chairman what conclusion they had come
to as to a candidate for Vice-President. To which the Chairman
replied: "You will be informed in due time." When the Convention
was called to order, one of the delegates from Massachusetts
made a speech in which he set forth the high qualities that
were desired in a candidate for this important office, and,
after giving a sketch of exalted character and great capacity
for the public service, he ended by declaring that such a
man was Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, and proposing his name as
the unanimous recommendation of the committee. Mr. Leigh
was taken aback. He had been a zealous supporter of Mr.
Clay. He addressed the chair, saying he was much gratified
by what had been said by his friend from Massachusetts, and
he hoped he might live in some humble measure to deserve the
tribute which had been paid to him. But he thought that having
been a zealous supporter of Mr. Clay, and having had, in some
sense, the charge of his candidacy, he could not himself accept
a nomination in connection with another person without exposing
himself to the suspicion that he had in some way benefitted
by the defeat of his own candidate and leader. It was said
that his embarrassment was increased by the fact that he had
been seen conversing with the Chairman of the committee by
the members of the Convention. How that is I do not know.
The result was the nomination of Mr. Tyler, his election,
his succession to the Presidency after the death of Harrison,
which resulted in such disastrous consequences to the Whigs.

John Davis was a Federalist and a Whig. His sons were Whigs
and Republicans always on the conservative side of public
questions. His nephew, Colonel Isaac Davis, was in that respect
a contrast to his uncle.

It has been charged that John Davis, by taking up the time
at the close of the session of Congress by an indiscreet
speech, was the means of defeating the Wilmot Proviso, which
had come from the House inserted in a bill for the incorporation
of Oregon as a Territory. This statement has received general
circulation. It is made in Pierce's "Life of Sumner," and
in Von Holst's "Constitutional History." There is no truth
in it. I i