Page 203] "You are always thinking of the popular imagination, Jim.

You have been thinking of that for some time in Tennessee.

All that outcry about the whole of Oregon is ill-timed to-day." "_Fifty-four Forty or Fight_; that sounds well!" exclaimed Polk; "eh ?" "Trippingly on the tongue, yes!" said John Calhoun.

"But how would it sound to the tune of cannon fire?
How would it look written in the smoke of musketry ?" "It might not come to that," said Polk, shifting in his seat "I was thinking of it only as a rallying cry for the campaign.

Dash me--I beg pardon--" he looked around to see if there were any Methodists present--"but I believe I could go into the convention with that war cry behind me and sweep the boards of all opposition!" "And afterwards ?" "But England may back down," argued Mr.Polk.