He called on Mr.
Webster and found him so filled with the belief that he should be nominated that it seemed cruel to undeceive him.

Mr.Choate, at all events, had not the heart for the task, and went back to Baltimore to lead the forlorn hope with gallant fidelity and with an eloquence as brilliant if not so grand as that of Mr.Webster himself.

A majority[1] of the convention divided their votes very unequally between Mr.Fillmore and Mr.Webster, the former receiving 133, the latter 29, on the first ballot, while General Scott had 131.

Forty-five ballots were taken, without any substantial change, and then General Scott began to increase his strength, and was nominated on the fifty-third ballot, receiving 159 votes.

Most of General Scott's supporters were opposed to resolutions sustaining the compromise measures, while those who voted for Mr.Fillmore and Mr.Webster favored that policy.
General Scott owed his nomination to a compromise, which consisted in inserting in the platform a clause strongly approving Mr.Clay's measures.
Mr.Webster expected the Fillmore delegates to come to him, an unlikely event when they were so much more numerous than his friends, and, moreover, they never showed the slightest inclination to do so.