Page:Essays in Historical Criticism.djvu/99

 ment would be pushed by the Oregon advocates in the West into an aggressive policy which might result in war with England. The appearance of a solitary missionary in Washington advocating what a majority of the Senate had already voted, and what State legislatures were demanding in resolutions was a mere drop in the bucket. That Whitman influenced American diplomacy in any way at Washington is not only destitute of all evidence but is intrinsically improbable. The belief that he did so originated with Spalding, and the ever-present stamp of his invention in all the varying narratives is the reference to "trading off Oregon for a cod-fishery." That Whitman's visit to Washington was an event without political influence or historical significance is clear from the fact that no contemporary mention of his presence there has ever been found. There is nothing in the Globe or the National Intelligencer among Washington papers, or in Niles's Register, although its pages for 1843 contain many