trayed in one of your resolutions, which prove that the elements of the most arbitrary governinents have not been vanquished by the just theory of our own. "It would be out of place here to pledge myself to any particular policy that may be suggested to terminate the sectional controversy engendered by political animosities, operating on a powerfal class, banded together by a common interest. A practical remedy is the admission of Kansas into the Union as a free State. The South should, in my judgment, earnestly desire such consummation. It would vindicate the good faith-it would correct the mistake of the repeal; and the North, having practically the benefit of the agreement between the two sections, would be satisfied, and good feeling be restored. The measure is perfectly consistent with the honor of the South, and vital to its interests. "That fatal act which gave birth to this purely sectional strife, originating in the scheme to take from free labor the country secured to it by a solemn covenant cannot be too soon disarmed of its pernicious force. The only genial region of the middle latitudes left to the emigrants of the northern States for homes, cannot be conquered from the free laborers, who have long considered it as set apart for them in our inheritance, without provoking a desperate struggle. Whatever may be the persistence of the particular class which seems ready to hazard everything for the success of the unjust scheme it has partially effected, I firmly believe that the great heart of the nation, which throbs with the patriotism of the freemen of both sections, will have power to overcome it. They will look to the rights secured to them by the Constitution of the Union as their best safeguard from the oppression of the class, which, by a monopoly of the soil and of slave-labor to till it, might in time reduce them to the extremity of laboring upon the same terms with the slaves. The great body of non-slaveholding freemen, including those of the South, upon whose welfare slavery is an oppression, will discover that the power of the general government over the public lands may be beneficially exerted to advance their interests and secure their independence. Knowing this, their suffrages will not be wan Union which is absolutely e liberties, and which has moi disposing of the public land settler upon them a freeholder. to maintain that authority in the tial to the maintenance of their own nan once indicated the purpose of in such a way as would make every "If the people intrust to me the administration of the government, the laws of Congress in relation to the territories will be faithfully executed. All its authority will be exerted in aid of the national will to re-establish the peace of the country on the just principles which have heretofore received the sanction of the federal government, of the States, and of the people of both sections. Such a policy would leave no aliment to that sectional party which seeks its aggrandizement by appropriating the new territories to capital in the form of slavery, but would inevitably result in the triumph of free labor-the natural capital which constitutes the real wealth of this great country, and creates that intelligent power in the masses alone to be relied on as the bulwark of free institutions. Trusting that I have a heart capable of comprehending our whole country, with its varied interests, and confident that patriotism exists in all parts of the Union, I accept the nomination of your Convention, in the hope that I may be enabled to serve usefully its cause, which I consider the cause of constitutional freedom. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant, "J. C. FREMONT. "To Messrs. H. S. Lane, President of the Convention; James M Ashley, Anthony J. Bleecker, Joseph C. Hornblower, E. R Hoar, Thaddeus Stevens, Kingsley S. Bingham, John A. Wills, C. F. Cleveland, Cyrus Aldrich, Committee, &c." Soon after the nominations were made in Philadelphia, a "National American" convention, then in session in New York, tendered the support of that party also to Colonel Fremont, who acknowledged the letter announcing their determination in the following terins: "NEW YORK, June 30, 1836. "GENTLEMEN: I received with deep sensibility your communication, informing me that a convention of my fellow-citizens, recently assembled in this city, have nominated me their candidate for the highest office in the gift of the American People; and I desire, through you, to offer to the members of that body, and to their respective constituencies, my grateful acknowledgment for this disinguished expression of confidence. In common with all who are interested in the welfare of the country, I had been strongly impressed by the generous spirit of conciliation which influenced the action of your assembly and characterizes your note. A disposition to avoid all special questions tending to defeat unanimity in the great cause, for the sake of which it was conceded that differences of opinion on less eventful questions should be held in abeyance, was evinced alike in the proceedings of your convention in reference to me, and in the manner by which you have communicated the result. In this course, no sacrifice of opinion on any side becomes necessary. "I shall, in a few days, be able to transmit you a paper,* designed for all parties engaged in our cause, in which I present to the country my views of the leading subjects which are now put in issue in the contest for the presidency. My confidence in the success of our cause is greatly strengthened by the belief that these views will meet the approbation of your constituents. "Trusting that the national and patriotic feelings evinced by the tender of your co-operation in the work of regenerating the government, may increase the glow of enthusiasm which pervades the country, and harmonize all elements in our truly great and common cause, I accept the nomination with which you have honored me, and am, gentlemen, very respectfully, "Your fellow-citizen, "J. C. FREMONT." Messrs. Thomas H. Ford, Ambrose Stephens, W. A. Howard, Since his nomination, more than half of the political journals of the free States have advocated his election, and public meetings throughout the country indicate a degree of enthusiasm in his support which, taking all the circumstances into consideration, is without a parallel in the history of American politics. His friends confidently predict his election by a nearly unanimous vote of the free States, and the developments of each succeeding day render them more and more sanguine. * Letter of July 8, p. 456 et seq. & COL. FREMONT is now but forty-three years of age. Though in the prime of life, he is already eminent. Before he was thirty he had enrolled his name among the most eminent explorers and geographers, and had given it to the rivers and the mountains and the productions of the soil, which he was the first to explore. Before he was thirty-five, he had emancipated an empire from Mexican tyranny, and was unanimously elected its governor by those whom he had delivered. When but thirty-seven, he was elected to the highest legislative dignity in the American republic; and within the last year, his earlier distinctions have been thrown into comparative obscurity by his selection as the national champion of freedom and civilization in the approaching Presidential election. His nomination at Philadelphia on the 19th of June, gave symmetry and completeness to a career which is more commended by its results to the American people than that of any man, at his years, whom the country has produced. Col. Fremont is about five feet nine inches high, slight and sinewy in his structure, but gracefully proportioned and eminently prepossessing in his personal appearance. His eyes are blue and very large, his nose aquiline, his V forehead, over which his brown curling hair is parted at the centre, is high and capacious. He never shaves, but wears his beard neatly trimmed. His head as well as person are strikingly symmetrical, and indicate the compact strength and symmetry of character which he has displayed through life. The height of his head above the ears also reveals the elevation of his sentiments and the general benevolence and purity of his nature. Scarcely any trait of his character will impress a stranger sooner than his modesty. He never dwells upon his own achievements, and rarely alludes to them except when specially invited. Even in his reports, his own personality is as much concealed as it could be without making them unintelligible. He has a soft, clear and gentle voice, and in conversation speaks deliberately, but with the utmost precision and clearness. He always knows exactly what he means to say when he begins a sentence, and rarely if ever changes or repeats a word in the enunciation of it. His mind is. eminently orderly and logical, and though without any propensity for metaphysical speculations, his faculties of induction are very superior. Like Washington, whom he resembles in many other respects, he generalizes with rapidity, but always for practical results, and rarely or never to test hypotheses. His accomplishments are manifold. Of course he understands surveying and engineering; his reports display a familiarity with the sciences of Astronomy, Botany, Mineralogy and Geology. He was distinguished at school, Dr. Roberton tells us, for his knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, besides which he speaks French and Spanish as fluently as English. It is not too |