Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/409

Rh attitude on his part, as an abandonment of his original principles. As he had thus changed once, so he might change again; and Webster appeared too large a man to be easily controlled. Moreover, while Webster still had many admiring followers in the North, it was thought that his change of attitude had only exasperated the more determined anti-slavery Whigs, and that, therefore, the great “fallen arch-angel” would by no means be a strong candidate in his own section. General Scott was the favorite of the anti-slavery Whigs, and, as such, suspicious to the Whigs of the South. Indeed, it was feared that, if Webster and Scott remained the only candidates in the field, the party might fall to pieces even before the time for the convention arrived.

The Southern Whigs, and those who consulted their tastes, therefore looked for a more available man, and found him in Fillmore, who had not only, as President, won the confidence of the Southern Whigs by zealously employing his whole power to enforce the compromise measures, but who possessed also a certain popularity with the mercantile element at the North. Neither did the anti-slavery Whigs dislike to see Fillmore brought forward as a candidate, for they thought that the efforts made for him would serve to hold the party together, while at the same time dividing the opposition to their own favorite, General Scott. Thus Fillmore was persuaded to enter the list of candidates, — much to Webster's disgust, who would have given