APPENDIX.

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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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they have of the inclination of Mr. Fremont's mind, his habits and pursuits, and his already great acquaintance with the countries in question, acquired through extraordinary perseverance, to be peculiarly well fitted to give to the government and to the people the information it is so desirable for them to possess in relation to the value of California and Oregon, and the means of communicating with them.

From the early age of seventeen, as the committee are informed, Mr. Fremont has been almost constantly engaged in astronomical and geographical pursuits, and nearly the whole time in the open field, and the last six years in the country beyond the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. He has made three expeditions to those remote and interesting regions. The results of the two first were published by order of Congress, and commanded general applause both in this country and in Europe. The celebrated Baron Humboldt, and the President of the Royal Geological and Royal Geographical Societies, London, have spoken of them in most favorable terms, and eminent scientific men and journals of our own country have yielded equal commendation. (See appendix to this report.) An assistant of the celebrated Nicollet who was a distinguished member of the French National Institute, he has reached a most commanding position as a scientific explorer, and achieved for himself the designation of the American Humboldt.

The first question with the committee was to inquire into the expediency of publishing, as a national work free of copyright, and subject to the disposition of Congress, the results of this last or third expedition of Mr. Fremont; and, although favorably impressed with the value of these results, from the previous labors and character of the author, it was deemed proper to inquire into the real character of the proposed publication, means for forming some judgment on this point being already at hand in the manuscript map of Oregon and California, (now in the hands of the lithographer, and which several of the committee have examined), and also in the geographical memoir to

illustrate that map, published by order of the Senate, and which, it is presumed, all have read. This map and memoir, in the judgment of the committee, not only sustain the previous reputation of the author, but enhance it, as might well be expected from a more ripened intellect, from a more experienced explorer and from a spirit ardent in the pursuit of science, and excited by applause to higher exertions. This map and memoir, though hastily prepared, and as a mere preliminary to a full work, increase the reputation of their author, and give valuable information to the statesman and the farmer, to the astronomer and geographer, to the man of science in the walks of botany and meteorology. But they must be regarded only as a sample of the results of that expedition, from the view of which the value of the whole may be judged. As far as the exploration has been carried, everything necessary to show climate, soil, and productions, has been collected. More than one thousand specimens in botany, a great number in geology and mineralogy, with drawings of birds and animals, and remarkable scenery, and a large collection of the skins of birds, with the plumage preserved, have been, as the committee are informed, brought home, to enrich the stores and add to the sum of human knowledge. The botanical specimens, examined by Dr. Torrey, are deemed by him of great value, and worthy of the expense of European engraving, if not done by our own government.

The committee upon this view of the results of the last expedition of Mr. Fremont, deem them of great national importance, giving just ideas of Oregon and California, and such as ought to be published in the manner suggested in the resolution under consideration. The continuation of the surveys and explorations by Mr. Fremont, with a view to complete our knowledge of the great country between the Mississippi and the Pacific ocean, is the remaining inquiry referred to this committee; and of the expediency of providing for such continuation they entertain no doubt. It is, in their judgment, but carrying out the plain suggestion of reason, and

the plan of Mr. Jefferson, when he sent Lewis and Clark to th Pacific ocean.

The committee think they do not err when they assume it as an indisputable position, that the public interest and the wishes of the people require further examinations into the character of the soil, climate and productions; the geology, botany, and mineralogy of Oregon and California; and also into the practicability of railroad and other communications between those countries and the valley of the Mississippi, to which the public. attention has been lately, and is now, so much excited, and they do not hesitate to say, that Mr. Fremont is one of the most, if not the most, suitable person to make these examinations, and a publication of the results, under the direction of Congress, and without copyright, as the most judicious and advantageous mode of publication. Mr. Fremont has spent six years of his life in explorations to these distant regions, and in that time has crossed the Rocky Mountains, as the committee are informed, at seven different points; has traversed the country from the Mississippi on several different lines, and has made about twenty thousand miles of exploration in wilderness countries, and understands thoroughly, there is no doubt, the general structure and configuration of the country, and knows where to go and what to do to complete his examinations. He has shown himself to be possessed of all the qualifications for such an enterprise, with resources to supply wants, to conquer difficulties, and to command success-and talent to execute his task to the satisfaction and admiration of his own countrymen, and of the first men in Europe.

The committee learn with pleasure that it is Mr. Fremont's own desire to finish up the great work in which he was so unexpectedly interrupted in the course of the last year. No other person probably could, for the reasons stated, do the work so well, or in so short a time, or at so small an expense. No other person could be employed in the work without appropriating to himself the fruits of his long and arduous labors, and

building upon foundations which he has laid, and taking the credit of operations which only want the finishing hand of their author to erect a monument of honor to himself and of utility to his country. It therefore seems but an act of justice to this individual that he should be continued in a work which he commenced, and has thus far so successfully prosecuted.

In his geographical memoir, printed by order of the Senate, Mr. Fremont proposes to continue and complete his explorations in Oregon and California, and to publish the results under the direction of Congress, as a national work, and without copyright. It is the mode in which the results of his previous expeditions have been published, and with great advantage to the public, as all will acknowledge, his journals and maps being reprinted, and multiplied in cheap editions, as well in Europe as in this country, and thus all his discoveries, and all the information he acquired, passing at once into the mass of general know. ledge. It is deemed by the committee, the proper mode of disseminating useful information obtained at the expense of the government, and which should be diffused at once without the impediment of copyrights, and the author, where deserving it, compensated in some other form for any extraordinary service which he has rendered.

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The committee, therefore, feeling all the reasons in favor of such explorations, to be greatly increased by the recent acquisition of California, and the exclusive possession of Oregon, and where so much has been done towards exploring Oregon and California, ascertaining practicable routes for a railroad or other communications between the Valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, and for publishing the results as a national work under the direction of Congress, and without a copyright; they have with one accord directed their chairman to move the necessary appropriation, to wit, $30,000, being the amount usually appropriated for topographical surveys beyond the Mississippi.