that Mr. Fremont belongs, or ever did belong, to that church, is a purely gratuitous fabrication; having no foundation, whatsoever, in truth; and being in essence a malignant falsehood, coined by the unprincipled partisaus of his slave-driving enemies. The mother of Mr. Fremont was a pious member of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America; in that church he was baptized when an infant; there he was confirmed in his sixteenth year; to that religious denomination he has since, and does now, belong; and it is in the bosom of that faith he is firmly resolved to live and to die! Were he, conscientiously, a Roman Catholic, he, who from childhood, has been brave and heroic, would be the last man to deny his religious creed in this glorious country, where all denominations are equally free to adore their God! but the charge was false, ab initio, and even a Know Nothing falsehood at that.

To return: soon after young Fremont's confirmation, one of those youthful dreams, which are as necessary to early happiness as sunshine is to flowers, marred the course of his studies. Up to this time his application had been vigorous and his acquirements remarkable. But Cupid envied him, and for a while succeeded in casting a shade upon his peace of mind. He chanced to meet with a young lady of remarkable beauty, a native of the West Indies, with raven hair, soft, black, and lustrous eyes; a very Haidee in appearance; and she, instead of Greek and mathematics, monopolized his studies, and his— heart! The faculty bore with him patiently, trusting that the love affair would soon pass over, and that he would return again to his studies. But the fair West Indian had too deep a hold of his heart: after repeated insubordinations, he was expelled from the college by his irritated superiors.

Time brought its own cure; and the unfortunate calamities with which Providence visited his family, exerted an important influence upon his future character..

When abruptly deprived, as above stated, of his collegiate career, he engaged in teaching mathematics, principally to senior classes in different schools, and also took charge of the "Apprentices' Library," an evening school under a board of directors, of which Dr. Joseph Johnston was president. It was while thus employed, that a sad incident took place, which first awoke him to the sober interests of life.

Every reader, almost, will remember Longfellow's exquisitely melancholy description in "The Golden Legend" of the death of "Little Elsie !" Thus it was that Mr. Fremont saw his only sister fade away, in the seventeenth year of her life. His brother, who possessed an ardent and enthusiastic temperament and unusual ability, when but fifteen years of age, in consequence of an association with amateur players, had his taste turned to the stage, on which he imagined that fame and fortune were of easy acquisition. With these ideas, and full of the generous impulses which belonged to his age and character, he suddenly, and without consulting his family, left his home to work out his fortune for himself. His career was cut short, soon after, at Buffalo, N. Y., by injuries received in a riot; from the effects of which he died afterwards at the residence of his mother.

These dreadful visitations roused the survivor to a proper sense of his position; and he never proved recreant again to his nobler instincts and reason.

CHAPTER III.

MANHOOD AND MATRIMONY.

THOSE who happen to be familiar with the political history of our country, during the present century-with the speeches of that noble race of American statesmen

which is now almost extinct and with Benton's Thirty Years' View in the United States Senate; cannot fail of remembering with regret, the nullification treason of South Carolina; nor of contrasting this stain upon the escutcheon of that State, with her more recent traitorous course, relative to the freedom of Nebraska, from the polluting desolation of African slavery.

General Jackson was then President. He was a man of iron will, indomitable power, and stern inflexibility. All of these peculiar qualities of his nature, he brought to bear with unbending vigor, in forcing obedience from the nullifiers. For this purpose-the enforcement of his proclamation against them-the sloop-of-war Natchez, entered the port of Charleston in 1833. Having effected this, she was ordered on a cruise to South America. At this time Fremont was twenty years old. It seems that he had been honored by an acquaintance with Mr. Poinsett, at that time Secretary of the Navy; and that gentleman chose him as post-teacher of mathematics to the Natchez, in which capacity he made with her a cruise of nearly three years' duration. How much the respectable family from which Fremont was maternally descended, the accomplishments and suavity of his father, or his own personal energy, perseverance, and merits, may have had to do in thus favorably influencing Mr. Poinsett, we are not told; but that each and all of these qualities contributed their mite, in inducing him to make the choice which he did, it is simply rational to suppose. He returned once again after his cruise to his native city; the college that expelled him a few years previously, now received him with open arms. It was still under the presidency of Dr. Adams, who bestowed upon the reformed truant, the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts.

Success is parent to ambition; and ambition, if properly directed, will extort concessions from supposed impossibilities. The life of Fremont is a striking illustra

tion of the truth of this assertion. No sooner had he paid the first visits to his immediate friends, after having returned from his long cruise, than his mind became restless, and he thirsted again for fresh adventure and new achievements. He was not left long, however, to deplore his idleness. In a nation where the achievements of the individual are regarded as the ornaments of the state, a spirit like that of Fremont could neither be overlooked nor neglected. A law had been recently enacted, creating professorships of mathematics in the navy; and after having passed through a rigorous and searching examination, he was first, among the many candidates, who succeeded with honor to himself, to receive the approval of the board of examiners convened at Baltimore. But this was not sufficient to gratify his ambition; a larger field of labor presented itself to his imagination; and he made his first essay as surveyor and railroad engineer, in an examination for an improvement of the railway line between Charleston and Augusta. In after years, when deprived of his commission through envy and malice, by a court-martial, he was offered the presidency of this road, at the annual salary of five thousand dollars.

The war which our country was compelled to engage in with Mexico, through the blindness and stupidity of that government, deprived the nation of the services of many eminently promising and brilliant men; among many others Capt. G. W. Williams, of the United States Topographical engineers. Under his direction, and that of Gen. W. G. McNeill, a corps of engineers was formed, soon after Fremont had completed his survey of the Charleston and Augusta railway, for the purpose of making a preliminary survey of a route for a railway line from Charleston to Cincinnati, and Fremont was appointed one of the assistant engineers, charged with the exploration of the mountain passes between South Carolina and Tennessee, where he remained until the

work was suspended in the fall of 1837. This undertaking was exceedingly difficult of performance. Those engaged in it, were strangers, during their occupation, to ease or luxury. They deemed themselves fortunate when they met with a farm-house among the mountains, but they were, as a general thing, compelled to repose beneath the canopy of an open sky, destitute of all shelter save that supplied by their few tents and camp equipage. But the country abounded in rough, wild, and natural beauties; and the impressions made by such influences upon the mind of Fremont, were well calculated to strengthen his nerve and enlarge his views. He filled his place with honor to himself, and in a manner more than satisfactory to his superior officers.

The government anticipated hostilities, at this period, from the Cherokee Indians, then occupying the mountainous country comprehending portions of the States of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Capt. Williams was ordered to make military reconnaisances of those territories; and, in preparing to do so, Fremont was his first chosen assistant. They set out upon a hurried winter survey, enduring every hardship imaginable; making their reconnaissances upon horseback; building fires by night in the dense forest, around which they endeavored to repose, when not startled from their slumbers by wolves and panthers. This was Fremont's second and severest campaign. Soon we shall find him in regions where civilized man never stood before; enduring superhuman hardships; and illustrating how the persevering bravery of man may wring concessions from the greatest natural obstacles.

Among the earliest pioneers of civilization in America, were French Jesuits-Marquette, his coadjutors and successors. They were actuated more by the spirit of religion than they were by the love of worldly progress. If they could conquer souls, half of their cup of happiness was deemed full; but in endeavoring to convert the