THE ROARING FORTIES 135 



intimate was equally well known. The pre 

 dilection of Great Britain for coastal territory 

 all over the globe, especially where adorned 

 with so attractive a harbor as that of San Fran 

 cisco, had been exhibited for centuries. Finally, 

 the British naval squadron on the Pacific coast 

 displayed from time to time a kind and degree 

 of activity that aroused grave suspicions of sin 

 ister designs. Out of all these elements was 

 developed a wide-spread belief in the United 

 States that California was about to fall into the 

 hands of Great Britain. While the Oregon 

 issue was acute, this feeling was naturally a 

 source of much unhappiness. Polk entered the 

 White House with a firm purpose to settle for 

 all time the California question by acquiring the 

 territory, with such an additional tract in the 

 interior as would neatly round out the bound 

 ary eastward to Texas. Since Mexico refused 

 to listen to any proposition for the purchase of 

 California, forcible acquisition became an in 

 dispensable feature of Folk s programme, and 

 the Mexican War would doubtless have taken 

 place regardless of all other matters at issue. 



What actual ground there was for the fear 

 that Great Britain was seeking to forestall Amer 

 ica in California has become known only in re- 



