ich was near the present town of Dixon, Illinois,
and was under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor. Mr. Lincoln
served only one term, and before its expiration he began to take
steps for appointment as Commissioner of the General Land-office,
two years afterward, should the Whigs then come into power. A
number of prominent Whig Senators and Representatives indorsed his
application, but he was not successful.

Jefferson Davis was a Representative from Mississippi until he
resigned to accept the command of a regiment of riflemen, with
which he rendered gallant services at Buena Vista, under his father-
in-law, General Taylor, with whom he was not at that time on speaking
terms. In appearance his erect bearing recalled his service as an
officer of dragoons, while his square shoulders and muscular frame
gave proof of a training at West Point. His high forehead was
shaded by masses of dark hair, in which the silvery threads began
to show; his eyes were a bluish-gray, his cheekbones prominent,
his nose aquiline, and he had a large, expressive mouth. He was
an ardent supporter of State sovereignty and Southern rights, and
he was very severe on those Congressmen from the slave-holding
States, who were advocates of the Union, especially Mr. A. H.
Stephens, whom he denounced as "the little pale star from Georgia."

The Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore on the 22d of
May, 1848. There was a prolonged contest over the rival claims of
delegates from New York, terminated by the admission of the "hards."
General James M. Commander, the solitary delegate from South
Carolina, was authorized to cast the nine votes of that State.
The two-thirds rule was adopted, and on the fourth day of the
convention, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was nominated on the fourth
ballot, defeating James Buchanan and Levi Woodbury. Having nominated
a Northern candidate, a Southern platform was adopted, which covered
the entire ground of non-interference with the rights of slave-
holders, either in the States or Territories.

General Cass was then in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and had
passed forty years in the public service. His knowledge was ample
but not profound. He was ignorant on no subject, and was deeply
versed on none. The world to him was but a playhouse, and that
drama with him was best which was best performed.

When the Whig National Convention met at Philadelphia, on the 7th
of June, there was a bitter feeling betwe