Summary
March. 2. Phrenology.—I commenced my second course of lectures in Philadelphia this evening in the Music Fund Hall. The attendance was 342, of whom a large proportion were “Friends,” both orthodox and Hicksites. Many of those who attended the first course have subscribed also for this one.
The Maine Boundary.—War with England.—On the 9th of February Mr Van Buren presented to the House of Representatives at Washington a report from the Secretary of State, with the relative documents, regarding the dispute with England about the Maine Boundary; and on the 1st of March both Houses of Congress were engaged from noon till midnight in discussing the subject, and finally passed a bill to authorize the President to engage 50,000 volunteers, and take other measures of a warlike character, to support the Governor of Maine. Mr Webster, on whose cool judgment great reliance is placed, is reported to have said in his speech in the senate, that “if England did not settle this matter by the 4th of July next, the disputed territory should be seized by the United States.”
The effect of these discussions on the public mind has been very striking. In every circle into which we enter, almost every voice is raised for war. The battles, both by land and sea, in which the Americans have been victorious over the British, are fought over again in the newspapers; and if one were to judge from the tone of the public mind, war would appear inevitable.
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- Notes on the United States of North America during a Phrenological Visit in 1838–39–40 , pp. 116 - 172Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010