Thoreau writes in his journal:
The papers are talking about the prospect of a war between England and America. Neither side sees how its country can avoid a long and fratricidal war without sacrificing its honor. Both nations are ready to take a desperate step, to forget the interests of civilization and Christianity and their commercial prosperity and fly at each other’s throats. When I see an individual thus beside himself, thus desperate, ready to shoot or be shot, like a blackleg who has little to lose, no serene aims to accomplish, I think he is a candidate for bedlam. What asylum is there for nations to go to? . . .
New York, N.Y. Representatives from the [Anti-Slavery/Abolitionist?] Party send a form letter to Thoreau (MS, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.).