much to say that we have had no President since the time of Jefferson who could appear to equal advantage, or fill so exalted a seat, in the literary or scientific circles of his generation.

In his manners he is eminently well bred and refined, and always prepossesses a new acquaintance in his favor. He is sensitive to anything affecting his character, but slow to take offence, or to suspect the motives of men. He has twice in his life appealed to what is termed the code of honor, but never for the redress of merely personal wrongs. In both instances, the particulars of which are recorded in the foregoing pages, he was the victim of a combination formed to break down a party and principles of which he happened to occupy the position of a protector. In the affair with Senator Foote, he represented the party of freedom in California, and as the son-in-law of Col. Benton, was a very suitable target for the archery of that class of politicians who had felt that the best, if not the only way of securing an immunity for their own mischievous designs, was to drive that fearless statesman from the Senate, and if pos sible, from public life. Had Col. Fremont tolerated the first insult, it would have been repeated with aggravations in twenty-four hours. He saw that his usefulness as a senator, and his influence as a public man depended upon his putting an end at once to the impression, if it existed in any quarter, that his character could be trifled with by any one. For such a purpose he was willing to risk his life.

In the case of Mason, he thought he saw a disposition to sacrifice him for having presumed to win sudden distinction in the army by unusual services, without the aid of a diploma from West Point. In five years he

had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the army, over the heads of hundreds of officers who had enjoyed better opportunities than he of doing what he had done, but who lacked the necessary ability, or ambition.

When Col. Fremont detected this jealousy, and felt the indignities which were the fruit of it, he suddenly found himself the representative and champion of the small but valuable class of men who, by extraordinary devotion to their profession, provoke the envy of the larger and meaner class who are unwilling to make similar exertions or sacrifices. If he had submitted to Mason's insolence, patiently, he would have proved recreant to the class of which he was the exponent, and have forsaken the high position he had secured, and which, by the course he pursued, he not only maintained, but entrenched impregnably. Had he yielded, he would never have received the compliment soon afterwards paid him by President Taylor, and which he properly interpreted as a deliberate justification of his conduct, from the highest military as well as civil authority in the country. Except in cases where the rights and interests of others were, to some extent, in his keeping, Col. Fremont has never appealed to the code of honor for the redress of personal wrongs.

His domestic tastes are very decided, and he has a rooted aversion to the ordinary metropolitan gaieties. He is extremely temperate in his habits, though he makes no merit of it, and does not use tobacco in any form, nor profane language; three peculiarities which distinguish him honorably from most of our public

men.

In all the manifold relations of father, husband, friend and neighbor, his character is unimpeached and unim

peachable. He was confirmed as a member of the Protestant Episcopal church in Charleston, when he was sixteen years of age, and at a time when he was under very profound religious convictions. He became so much absorbed by the subject of religion at this time, as to inspire his friends with a general expectation that he would devote himself to the ministry. He used to study and commit chapter after chapter of the Bible to memory-sometimes as many as three hundred verses a day—and fatigued his instructors with the length of his biblical recitations. Upon leaving Charleston and embarking in the career which has occupied his adult life, he has rarely enjoyed the privilege of worshipping in a Christian country. He has had all his children, however, baptized in the Episcopal church, and since his return to the United States, has been in the habit of attending the churches of that denomination.

As a candidate for the presidency, Col. Fremont enjoys some rare advantages over any competitor for that honor, for he is not identified with any old political controversies, except the one which constitutes the controlling issue in the present canvass. Though a democrat from principle, and by political association, he has never been a partisan, and though always opposed to the extension of slavery, his name has never been associated with any of the lateral issues to which that institution has given rise. Though never a politician, and with but little experience as a statesman, no man of his age was so universally, and, at the same time, so favorably known to the whole country, when his name was suggested as the leader of the party of freedom. His adventures and discoveries had been the theme of conversation and of inexhaustible wonder in every village

and hamlet throughout the Union, and "none named him but to praise." He was not therefore, an unknown man in any part of his country, though he had probably never attended a political caucus in his life.

But he has other qualities which specially commend him to his countrymen at the present time; a courage which renders him insensible to any form of intimidation, and a coolness and caution which are equally important guaranties against impetuosity and indiscretion. If he is elected, no one supposes that he will be afraid to act according to his inclinations or convictions, and every one feels that we have long stood much in need of such a President. The country is rapidly approaching a crisis when the civilization of half a century will be staked upon the firmness, wisdom and justice of our chief magistrate. Fremont is looked upon by the great body of his countrymen in the free States, as the fittest exponent of the highest and best interests of civilization that has been named in connection with the presidency for many years. He is identified in their minds with the great struggle for freedom on this continent, and upon his success or failure, the hopes of many, for the future of this republic, are suspended.

APPENDIX.

[A]

REPORT OF SENATOR BREESE, OF ILLINOIS.

UNITED STATES SENATE, AUGUST 1, 1848.

The Select Committee, to whom was referred the resolution of the Senate to inquire into the expediency of providing for the publication of the result of the late Exploring Expedition of John. C. Fremont to California and Oregon, to be published as a national work, free from copyright, and subject to the disposition of Congress; and also to inquire into the expediency of providing for the continuation and completion of the Surveys and Explorations of the said John C. Fremont, with a view to develope the geographical character of the country, and the practicability of establishing railroads or other communications between the Valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, the result of said farther Surveys and Explorations to be also published as a national work, free from copyright, and subject to the disposition of Congress respectfully ask leave to report:

That it is a matter of great public interest, the committee believe, for the government and for the people of the United States to become accurately acquainted with the value of the large possessions, now belonging to the United States, beyond the Rocky Mountains, and also with the means of communicating with those possessions and with the Pacific Ocean, on which they border, by railroads or other modes of travel and conveyance; and the committee believe, from the knowledge

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