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.