All his expectations had been based upon a contest with Mr.Van Buren.

The issues he anticipated were those of national bank, of protective tariff, of internal improvements, and the distribution of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands,-- on all of which he believed he would have the advantage before the people.

The substitution of Mr.Polk changed the entire character of the contest, as the sagacious leaders of the Southern Democracy had foreseen.

To extricate himself from the embarrassment into which he was thrown, Mr.Clay resorted to the dangerous experiment of modifying the position which he had so recently taken on the Texas question.

Apparently underrating the hostility of the Northern Whigs to the scheme of annexation, he saw only the disadvantage in which the Southern Whigs were placed, especially in the Gulf region, and, in a less degree, in the northern tier of slave-holding States.
Even in Kentucky--which had for years followed Mr.Clay with immense popular majorities--the contest grew animated and exciting as the Texas question was pressed.