During  the  three  or  four  following  years,  and  till  the
settlement  of  Oregon  affairs  in  1846,  the  eastern  boun-
dary treaty  was  frequently  a  subject  of  adverse  criticism
in  Congress.  As  Webster  himself  said,  it  was  made
"  the  subject  of  disparaging,  disapproving,  sometimes
contumelious  remarks."  Perhaps  this  should  not  sur-
prise us.  There  were  men  of  lofty  and  worthy  ambi-
tions in  Congress  and  out  of  it,  but  only  one  could  carry
off  the  honor  of  this  great  achievement.  Then  there
were  men  who  could  not  presume  to  pass  around  our
continent,  and  examine  with  a  broad  and  international
view  the  boundary  line  at  the  Atlantic  end  and  at  the
Pacific  end.  At  that  time,  and  more  so  now,  our  coun-
try was  quite  large  for  some  men.
At  one  time  the  affair  ran  close  to  bloody  conflict  in
the  Aroostook  war,  but  General  Scott  went  down  and
stayed  the  rising  passions,  as  afterward  and  for  a  simi-
lar purpose  he  visited  the  coasts  of  Oregon.  Probably
it  was  this  crisis,  as  well  as  some  others,  that  Webster
covered  in  a  remark  to  a  leading  merchant  who  had


184     OREGON:  THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  POSSESSION.
congratulated  him  on  the  successful  work  :  "  There  have
been  periods  when  I  could  have  kindled  a  war,  but,  sir,
I  remembered  that  I  was  negotiating  for  a  Christian
country  with  a  Christian  country,  and  that  we  were  all
living  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era.
