various occa- sions, and had a sensible and immediate effect in coohng the zeal of northern politicians in behalf of the proviso.
General Taylor was a cotton planter, and the owner of numerous slaves ; and the popularity he had acquired by his victories, pointed him out as a most available southern candidate. He was accordingly early nominated, and his interests were so thoroughly identified with slavery, that it was deemed unnecessary to demand from him any pledge of opposition to the Wilmot proviso. Said the Richmond Whig :
—" Why ask pledges of him on the subject of slavery, when the fact that his whole estate of land and negroes, and that when they go, he must be a beggar, is the very strongest pledge he could possibly give ?"
The frankness and determination of the southern Whigs left to their northern brethera the alternative of uniting with them in raising General Taylor to the Presidency, or of resigning to their political opponents the favors of official patronage. They adopted the former, and Gene- ral Taylor received the nomination of the party.