colony or province of New Brunswick, and at once made haste for Washington.  On his arrival at the capital, after reporting to the President, he was called before the committees on foreign affairs of both Houses of Congress, before whom he urged and succeeded in securing the passage of two bills—­one authorizing the President to call out the militia for six months and to accept the service of fifty thousand volunteers, and the other to place to his credit ten millions of dollars.  On taking leave of the President he said to him:  “Mr. President, if you want war, I need only look on in silence.  The Maine people will make it for you fast and hot enough.  I know them.  But if peace be your wish, I can give no assurance of success.  The difficulties in its way will be formidable.”  The President replied, “Peace with honor”; and the general, who fully reciprocated the President’s feeling, took his leave, accompanied by Captain Robert Anderson and Lieutenant E.D.  Keyes, his aid-de-camp.  He left with general instructions, but in certain events he was to act on his own judgment without restriction.  Arriving in Boston, he met Governor Edward Everett, and arranged for calling out the militia and accepting volunteers if needed.

Governor Everett introduced him to his executive council with the following address:  “General, I take great pleasure in introducing you to the members of the Executive Council of Massachusetts.  I need not say that you are already known to them by reputation.  They are familiar with your fame as it is recorded in some of the arduous and honorable fields of the country’s struggles.  We rejoice in meeting you on this occasion.  Charged as you are with a most momentous mission by the President of the United States, we are sure you are intrusted with a duty most grateful to your feelings—­that of averting an appeal to arms.  We place unlimited reliance on your spirit, energy, and discretion.  Should you unhappily fail in your efforts, under the instructions of the President, to restore harmony, we know that you are equally prepared for a still more responsible duty.  Should that unhappy event occur, I beg you to depend on the firm support of Massachusetts.”  He was then given a reception by the Legislature, and received on its behalf by Robert C. Winthrop.

From Boston he proceeded at once to Portland, where he found the people greatly excited, and demanding the immediate seizure and occupation of the disputed territory.  At the capital, Augusta, where he next proceeded, he found the same excitement with the same demands.  The Legislature was in session, and a large majority of its members were for war.  The strip of disputed land was valuable chiefly for ship timber.  Some British subjects had entered the territory and cut some of the timber, and the Governor of Maine sent an agent with a posse to drive them off.  The British seized and imprisoned the agent, and much angry correspondence followed between the authorities of both sides.