"Sooner or later this war will be declared, and I demand that it should be this very day." "Maston," said Barbicane, making his bell go off with a crash, "I agree with you that the experiment cannot and ought not to be made anywhere but on the soil of the Union, but if I had been allowed to speak before, and you had glanced at this map, you would know that it is perfectly useless to declare war against our neighbours, for certain frontiers of the United States extend beyond the 28th parallel.

Look, we have at our disposition all the southern part of Texas and Florida." This incident had no consequences; still it was not without regret that J.T.Maston allowed himself to be convinced.

It was, therefore, decided that the Columbiad should be cast either on the soil of Texas or on that of Florida.

But this decision was destined to create an unexampled rivalry between the towns of these two states.
The 28th parallel, when it touches the American coast, crosses the peninsula of Florida, and divides it into two nearly equal portions.
Then, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico, it subtends the arc formed by the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; then skirting Texas, off which it cuts an angle, it continues its direction over Mexico, crosses the Sonora and Old California, and loses itself in the Pacific Ocean; therefore only the portions of Texas and Florida situated below this parallel fulfilled the requisite conditions of latitude recommended by the Observatory of Cambridge.
The southern portion of Florida contains no important cities.

It only bristles with forts raised against wandering Indians.