33/43 General Cass, in order to save himself as a senator from the responsibility of surrendering our claim to 54 deg. 40', assumed a very warlike attitude, erroneously supposing that popularity might be gained by the advocacy of a rupture with England. He had ably sustained our claim to the whole of Oregon, and now, in the interest of peace, gracefully yielded to a compromise which the Senate, after mature deliberation, had advised. |