CHAPTER XLII.

General Cass again at his Post-Preparations for another Presidential Contest-General Cass a Candidate-His Friends-The Nominating Canvass-Baltimore Convention-The Result-The Cuban Question-The Views of General Cass.

General Cass resumed his seat in the Senate on the first Monday of December, 1851, under his renewed appointment. He was promptly at his post at the commencement of the session. Such may be said of him at every session. He answers at the first rollcall, and remains uniformly, without reference to weather or climate, till the session is closed. It has been his remarkable good fortune rarely to be detained at his rooms by illness. This uninterrupted health is not, however, the work of chance. He takes care of it. He is a man of correct deportment and regular habits. The sensation of drunkenness he never experienced; and as for gluttony or debauchery, no person has publicly laid these vices at his door, or had cause for so doing. He is a plain man—unostentatious in appearance and habits, but an adherent to the ordinary rules of well-bred society.

When this session of Congress opened, it was apparent that no very important measures would engage its attention. The administration had none to bring forward that would excite the public mind. The attention of the country was less upon Congress than upon the politicians outside of the capital. Another Presidential canvass was fast approaching, and the two leading political parties were initiating movements preparatory to it. As usual among the Democracy, the names of several eminent statesmen were mentioned for the Presidential candidate in 1852.

District and State conventions were held in various localities, and delegates appointed. The name of General Cass was on the tongues of his old admirers, and district after district, State after State declared for him, insomuch, that it became evident to the unprejudiced that his friends would have a controlling influence in the deliberations of the convention.

The public presses, of all preferences, conducted the canvass for

the election of delegates with fairness. As the day for the assembling of the convention drew near, most, if not all, of the distinguished men who were spoken of for the first office in the world, were interrogated by Mr. Scott, of Richmond, Virginia, relative to the slavery question. General Cass gave a candid and prompt reply-precisely such a reply, we presume, as was expected by his interrogator. It was a mere rehearsal, of course, of what he had said a hundred times before, both publicly and privately. Having had no motive for a concealment of his views, at any time since he came before the public, it is not extravagant to insist that everybody who had taken interest enough to inquire was fully acquainted with them.

It has been customary, for many years, for leading men in the several State delegations to compare notes in Washington, just prior to the holding of the national nominating conventions. This very proper custom was observed in 1852, with this differencethat they came there in larger numbers. The federal capital was unprecedentedly full of active and scheming delegates the last week in May. They were there without respect to seniority, opposition, or age, from all parts. That was not all. An immense lobby came also. The city of Washington, for four days, at least, was one vast caucus. As General Cass was evidently ahead in this race for the nomination, the friends of the weaker candidates naturally were inclined to form combinations against him. His friends, however, gallantly contested the point with good humor, and the caucus adjourned to the neighboring city of Baltimorethe friends of the several candidates vieing with each other in this untiring and energetic contest.

The convention assembled at Market Hall on the first day of June, and organized by the appointment of John W. Davis, of Indiana, as president. Mr. Davis having previously served one term as speaker of the House of Representatives, was possessed of all the parliamentary experience that was necessary for the orderly conduct of the convention. Among the members of the convention were several of the most distinguished men in the Democratic party. The primary conventions had been, in this regard, peculiarly fortunate.

Several days were consumed in deciding upon contested seats. A variety of resolutions were offered for the consideration of the convention, and all of which, so far as the slavery question was

concerned, invoked the delegates to regard the compromise measures of 1850 as a finality. In the meantime, an intense excitement prevailed on the question of nominees. In many States, several delegates were appointed to represent the same district. There were in attendance about five hundred persons to cast the two hundred and ninety votes-the legitimate number of votes entitled to be cast in the convention.

The balloting for a candidate for President commenced on the third day of the session, and ran into the fifth day ere a result was reached. Forty-nine times each State was called for its vote; each ballot of this unparalleled series, and the vote of each State, was watched with the most eager curiosity, it is within the limits of truth to say, by an audience of five thousand persons. General Cass and one of his competitors in the convention of 1848, Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for a great number of ballots were the highest, General Cass leading all. Then, for a series of ballots, Mr. Douglass, of Illinois, crowded hard upon General Cass, but did not come up even, and soon fell back, the General still holding the lead with an excellent spirit. When the break occurred in Mr. Douglass' forces and his vote fell, General Cass rose suddenly to over one hundred votes, having fallen a few moments before to the low number-low for him-of twenty-five. This sudden change of front disconcerted the opposition; and as it was toward the close of the day on Friday, a motion to adjourn until the next morning, after one unsuccessful attempt, was carried.

Upon the assembling of the delegates the next morning, the convention again proceeded with the ballotings. The friends of General Cass still clung with unyielding tenacity to their favorite, and his vote reached a higher number than at any time before. His leading competitor this morning—the fifth and last day of the session-was Governor Marcy, of New York. This distinguished statesman outstripped all the other competitors of the General, he having received, on one ballot, ninety-eight votes.

Thirty-four ballots had been now taken, and the delegates in all parts of the hall began to suggest an adjournment sine die, without making a nomination. They grew weary of their labors. It was sufficiently manifest to every observer, that no name had yet been brought forward strong enough to overthrow General Cass. There was only one way to beat him, and that was to rescind the two-third rule, and by a combination upon one of his distinguished

competitors, produce a result by a majority vote. This plan, if seriously meditated, was discovered to be impracticable, because of the impossibility of union. As it was, without reference to the question whether a union could be formed, the friends of General Cass comprised more than one third of the convention. It was evident, therefore, to all, that no person could get the requisite two third number, unless they gave way.

Virginia had uniformly voted for Mr. Buchanan, until the morning of the fifth day, when she cast her vote for Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York. Mr. Dickinson immediately declined this honorable manifestation of regard, and the delegation from this State retired from the hall of the convention for consultation. Upon their return, upon the call of the thirty-fifth ballot, they cast the vote of the State for Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire. It created a profound sensation. It was a new name in that body; he was favorably known to the members; he was of the pure Democratic stock, and foremost among the first in his own State. He had filled several important official positions in the councils of his own State and of the nation; he had served with gallantry on the bloody fields of Mexico, at the head of his brigade, in the prime of life, and was competent to discharge the duties of the Presidency.

The convention proceeded more rapidly with several successive ballots, and on the forty-ninth he was declared the nominee, amid the most tumultuous acclamation. The roar of the cannon proclaimed the result to the people, and the lightning disseminated the intelligence to the four quarters of the Union.

General Cass, throughout this severe and protracted trial, remained at his quarters in the city of Washington. He was grateful for the constancy of his friends, and was aware of what would be the result of the labors of the convention ere they reached it; he was content, and upon the adjournment of Congress advocated the Democratic ticket. He called upon his fellow-citizens to give it an enthusiastic support; and Michigan stood shoulder to shoulder with the Democracy of the nation; her electoral vote was given to Pierce and King.

The Cuba question had been prominent in the canvass, and it had more or less to do in the election of the members of the nominating convention. General Cass had been pronounced an "old fogy," in certain quarters, because of his disinclination to embark

in the wild projects of a class of his fellow-citizens, called Fillibusters. They did not consider him fast enough for their purposes. He was in favor of the annexation of the queen island of the West Indies to the United States, but not vi et armis; he was against the violation of the law or courtesy of nations; he viewed with disfavor any violation of treaties, solemnly made between his own government and Spain; he believed, and still believes, that this lovely isle should not be torn, by American hands, from its parent government, Spain must either part with it for a consideration, or it will, in due course of time, of its own accord, drop into the lap of the American Union.

The subject came before the Senate at the ensuing session of Congress. There evidently was a growing restlessness among some portions of the people. Rumors of expeditions to take possession of the island, and establish a new government, succeeded each other day after day; the attention of our national legislature was called to it, and it became necessary for them to speak out, and take their position before the world.

General Cass would have been strangely inconsistent if he had declined the call. With his sentiments matured upon this subject, he was ready to do so. On the eighteenth of January, 1853, the Senate proceeded to consider the joint resolutions declaratory of the views of the United States respecting colonization on the North American continent by European powers, and respecting the Island of Cuba. The resolutions were worded as follows:

"Be it resolved, &c., That the United States do hereby declare that the American continents, by the free and independent con. dition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.' And while existing rights should be respected,' and will be by the United States, they owe it to their own 'safety and interests' to announce, as they now do, 'that no future European colony or dominion shall, with their consent, be planted or established on any part of the North American continent.' And should the attempt be made, they thus deliberately declare that it will be viewed as an act originating in motives regardless of their interests and their safety, and which will leave them free to adopt such measures as an independent nation may justly adopt in defense of its rights and its honor.