He was not ready to go over to the Free-Soil party, he could not remain silent, yet he could not give Taylor a full support.

In September, 1848, he made his famous speech at Marshfield, in which, after declaring that the "sagacious, wise, far-seeing doctrine of _availability_ lay at the root of the whole matter," and that "the nomination was one not fit to be made," he said that General Taylor was personally a brave and honorable man, and that, as the choice lay between him and the Democratic candidate, General Cass, he should vote for the former and advised his friends to do the same.

He afterwards made another speech, in a similar but milder strain, in Faneuil Hall.

Mr.Webster's attitude was not unlike that of Hamilton when he published his celebrated attack on Adams, which ended by advising all men to vote for that objectionable man.

The conclusion was a little impotent in both instances, but in Mr.Webster's case the results were better.