CHAP. XVIIL] LANDING AT DARIEN. 243 



go on tampering with the popular passions, till he could not con 

 trol them. The presidential election would have ended differ 

 ently,&quot; he affirmed, &quot; but for 5000 fraudulent votes given in the 

 city of New York.&quot; I asked if he thought the people would 

 enter with spirit into a war for which they had made no prep 

 aration. &quot; It would depend,&quot; he said, &quot; on the policy of En 

 gland. If she made predatory and bucaniering descents upon 

 the coast, as in the last war, or attacked some of the great east 

 ern sea-ports, she might stir up the whole population to a state 

 of frenzied energy, and cause them to make great sacrifices ; but 

 if she put forth the whole strength of her fleets against the com 

 merce of the Union, and stood on the defensive in Canada, so as 

 to protract the campaign, and cripple their revenues derived from 

 customs, the people, remembering that when the war commenced, 

 the cabinet of St. James s and the English press were pacific 

 and willing to come to a compromise about Oregon, would be 

 come impatient of direct taxation, and turn against the party 

 which had plunged them into hostilities.&quot; 



Dec, 31. At the end of a long day s sail, our steamer land 

 ed us safely at the village of Darien, on the sandy banks of 

 the river Altamaha (which is pronounced Altamaha, the a s 

 broad). The sky was clear, and the air mild, but refreshing, 

 and we were told that we must walk to the inn, not far off. 

 Five negroes were very officious in offering their services, and 

 four of them at length adjusted all our packages on their backs. 

 The other, having nothing else to do, assumed the command of 

 the party, having first said to me, &quot;If you not ready, we will 

 hesitate for half an hour.&quot; We passed under some of the noblest 

 evergreen oaks I had yet seen, their large picturesque roots spread 

 ing on all sides, half out of the loose, sandy soil, and their boughs 

 hung with unusually long weepers of Spanish moss. When I had 

 paid our four porters, the one who had gone first, assuming an 

 air of great importance, &quot; hoped I would remember the pilot.&quot; 

 As the inn was almost in sight from the landing, and our course 

 a direct one in a bright moonlight night, and all the men quite 

 familiar with every step of the way, we were not a little diverted 

 at the notion of paying for a guide, bxit the good-humored coun- 



