Polk remained firm in his "all or nothing approach" until the end of February 1846, when the administration learned that a British naval force was being assembled to send to Canada. Unwilling to confront Great Britain as a showdown with Mexico over the Texas question loomed, Polk agreed to refer the British compromise proposal to the Senate. Much to the president’s surprise-—and irritation--Buchanan now argued for a resolute stand on behalf of the "all Oregon" position, a move Polk suspected was designed to curry favor with western expansionists, a key political bloc should Buchanan become a candidate in 1848.