vernment deposits from the United States Bank.

In 1836 General Cass was appointed minister to France, and became very
popular with the French government and people. In 1842, when the
Quintuple Treaty was negotiated by representatives of England, France,
Prussia, Russia and Austria for the suppression of the slave trade by
the exercise of the right of search, Cass attacked it in a pamphlet
entitled "An Examination of the Questions now in Discussion between the
American and British Government Concerning the Right of Search," and
presented to the French government a formal memorial which was probably
instrumental in preventing the ratification of the treaty by France. In
this same year the Webster-Ashburton treaty between Great Britain and
the United States was concluded, and, as England did not thereby
relinquish her claim of the right to search American vessels, Cass,
after having taken such a decided stand in this controversy, felt
himself in an awkward position, and resigned his post. His attitude on
this question made him very popular in America, and he was a strong, but
unsuccessful, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency
in 1844. From 1845 to 1848 and from 1849 to 1857 he was a member of the
United States Senate, and in 1846 was a leader of those demanding the
"re-annexation" of all the Oregon country south of 54 deg. 40' or war
with England, and was one of the fourteen who voted against the
ratification of the compromise with England at the 49th parallel. He
loyally supported Polk's administration during the Mexican War, opposed
the Wilmot Proviso, and advocated the Compromise Measures of 1850 and
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. In his famous "Nicholson letter" of
December 1847 he made what was probably the earliest enunciation of the
doctrine of "popular sovereignty," namely, that the people of the
territories should decide for themselves whether or not they should have
slavery.

In 1848 he received the Democratic nomination for the presidency, but
owing to the defection of the so-called "Barnburners" (see FREE-SOIL
PARTY) he did not receive the united support of his party, and was
defeated by the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor. His name was again
prominent before the Democratic convention of 1852, which, however,
finally nominated Franklin Pierce. On account of his eminently
conservative attitude on all questions concerning slavery, General Cass
has been accused of pandering to the souther