savage, topographical and useful information was not overlooked by them. They were the first to attempt explorations, upon a grand scale, of the Mississippi Valley, and of other almost equally extensive domains. A learned countryman of theirs, actuated by their spirit, and emulating their example-a man who was a scientific philosopher, M. J. N. Nicollet-happened to be, at the time of which we here treat, in this country. He had risen to distinction in the French Academy of Sciences; and his life, although unfortunately brief, was distinguished by extraordinary and varied learning, ability, and scientific attainments. The Baron Von Humboldt, in his Aspects of Nature, deeply deplores his early death, and hesitates not to assert, that Science had lost in him one of her brightest ornaments. To him, as a geographer, the Northwestern regions of our country ..ad a peculiar interest. It was among the most cherished of his wishes to follow in the footsteps of his missionary countrymen who had gone before him, to visit the scenes of their labors, and to draw together the scattered remains of a history which he thought redounded to their honor. With these views, and in the interest of geography, he had recently made an extended journey around the sources of the Mississippi, the map and materials of which had been adopted by our Government, and he had been commissioned to make an examination of our almost unexplored Northwestern region, in continuation of his own labors. In the spring succeeding the winter spent by Fremont, with Captain Williams, upon the aforesaid reconnoitering expedition, M. Nicollet was prepared to depart upon his exploring expedition to the Upper Mississippi. Mr. Poinsett was now Secretary of War. He remembered Fremont; knew that his prudence was equal to his bravery; that his love of rendering his country important services, and of being foremost as the pathfinder of civilization, were among the many reliable virtues of his

nature; and he regarded him, consequently, as a qualified person to be the assistant and companion of M. Nicollet. He sought, accordingly, and procured for him, the appointment of principal assistant, in which capacity he accompanied M. Nicollet, during the years '38 and '39, in two separate explorations of the greater part of the region lying between the Missouri and the Upper Rivers, and extending north to the British line.

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It will be remembered, doubtless, that the corps of Topographical Engineers had been reorganized during the administration of General Jackson, with the provision that half of the corps should be taken from the civil service. On the 4th of March, 1837, Martin Van Buren was inaugurated President of the United States. .n 1838, and while he was yet absent, Fremont was among the first benefited by the provision of General Jackson-Mr. Van Buren having appointed him second lieutenant in the corps of Topographical Engineers. After the return of the expeditions to the Upper Mississippi, more than a year was occupied in the reduction of their materials, with a map and report in illustration of them; and during this time Fremont resided with M. Nicollet and Mr. Hassler, then the head of the Coast Survey. In the familiar society and conversations of these two remarkable men, he enjoyed the rare opportunity of a daily association with Science in her most attractive guise. They were not men who had worked laboriously up, branch by branch, to obtain an incomplete knowledge of science; their genius had spread out its fields distinctly before them, and they had surveyed them from an eminence. They had invented new forms for the easier expression of scientific results, and new instruments to extend and apply them." Intercourse with philosophers so eminent; with men whose scientific knowledge must have enlarged their views, and expanded their visions; had the effect, which, under such circumstances, was natural, upon the mind of Fremont.

Experience gave him confidence in his own resources, and enlarged the sphere of his ambition. It was in his social and intellectual companionship with these eminent men, that his "swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous purpose; where his slenderer and younger taper imbibed its borrowed light from the more redundant fountain of theirs"-a light of fame, immortal and imperishable in itself!

It was during this period of his life that he became acquainted with the family of Thomas H. Benton-a family destined to wield a salutary influence over the future of his existence.

It is hardly necessary to add here, that Senator Benton is among the last survivors of that glorious school of senatorial statesmen and rhetoricians, which once lent to our national halls of legislation an air of intellectual brilliancy and splendor, that would not have been deemed unworthy of the Roman Senate-chamber, or Areopagus of Athens, in their palmiest days. He, indeed, is the Nestor of our times.

When Mr. Fremont became first acquainted with the family of Senator Benton, his second daughter, JESSIE, was fifteen years of age. Between herself and Fremont an attachment sprung up, which ripened into a loveflame, that no opposing power could quench, and which cast all obstacles into the shade. The union of their daughter with an officer was warmly opposed both by Mr. and Mrs. Benton. Although they entertained for him, personally, the highest regard, it was impossible that a fond and loving mother could consent to the marriage of a daughter only fifteen years old, while Mr. B. feared the possible death of Fremont, and then, the natural consequence of his widow being thrown, perhaps penniless, upon the War Department. But they did not foresee that he would, in future years, be regarded as the hope of human freedom; and, probably, be

chosen First Magistrate of the American Republic, in 1856.

The course of true love never did run smooth; at least the aphorism was true so far as it related to Fremont. During a period of about two years, he had continued to feed upon hope; but a day of separation was nigh at hand. In the summer of 1841, he received an unexpected and mysterious, but inexorable, order to make an examination of the river Des Moines, upon the banks of which the Sacs and Fox Indians had their homes, Iowa being at that time a frontier country. It has been truly said that the adversary who wrestles with us, strengthens our limbs; and opposition to youth and love is simply what oil is to the flame. The new command received by Fremont fell upon him like a thunderclap! Upon the one side he beheld the mistress of his heart, from whom he was about being separated; and on the other, his country, demanding his services and obedience. He resolved-perhaps by her advice-to cheerfully confide in the constancy of the former, and to obey the latter. Nor was his confidence misplaced or betrayed. The flame which his presence had kindled, continued to burn purely in his absence.

Nothing gives a parent more joy than to trace in the lineaments of his child a striking resemblance to his own; but the sternness of will and unbending temper which may characterize the parent, is often found inconvenient in the child.

To her father, physically and mentally, JESSIE BENTON bore an unmistakable resemblance. Her resolution once shaped, it could not be altered. She loved Fremont; she had already bestowed upon him her heart; and if she could not bestow upon him also her hand, that heart, she knew, would ever remain bankrupt. Conscious of this, she resolved to brave all obstacles, and to link her mortal destiny to the object of her soul's affection. On

the 19th day of October, after having discharged the duties imposed upon him, John Charles Fremont was married privately to Miss Benton. The ceremony was performed by a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, ministers of all other denominations having previously refused to sin against Mr. Benton, by performing what they deemed to be a "contraband" service. The fact that he was so married, is the only foundation for the Know-Nothing libel which we have above refuted, viz.-that Mr. Fremont is a Roman Catholic.

As we shall see hereafter, Mrs. Fremont was in every respect worthy of her gallant husband. He soon received, not only the forgiveness, but the love, of her parents; and we shall, in the following pages, have occasion, more than once, to quote in his favor from Benton's Thirty Years? View.

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST EXPLORATION.

WHEN Columbus arrived at San Salvador, he erected the Cross there as the object of his worship! When Fremont stood upon the highest pinnacle of the Rocky Mountains, he waved aloft the American Flag, where, as he himself so happily expresses it, flag was never waved before! The emblem raised by the one was that of man's redemption; that by the other, guarantees FREEDOM to all that are embraced as citizens beneath its folds. The greatness of the good old Genoese cannot dim the lustre which belongs to his less famous successor, in relation to whose wonderful adventures, almost