CHAPTER XVIII.

COL. FREMONT COMES TO RESIDE IN NEW YORK-IS TALKED OF FOR THE PRESIDENCY-LETTER TO GOV. ROBINSON OF KANSAS-LETTER TO A PUBLIC MEETING IN NEW YORK UPON THE SUBJECT OF TROUBLES IN KANSASIS NOMINATED FOR THE PRESIDENCY BY THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION-LETTER OF ACCEPTANCELETTER ACCEPTING THE NOMINATION OF THE "NATIONAL AMERICANS."

In the spring of 1855, Col. Fremont, with his family, took up his residence in the city of New York for a few months, that he might avail himself of the facilities which that metropolis would afford him in bringing out an elaborate report of his last expedition. While thus employed and living in the most absolute seclusion, his name began to be discussed in political circles as a suitable candidate of the parties opposed to extending slavery and slave representation in the country, for the next Presidency. Wherever the suggestion was made it was favorably received, and before the meeting of Congress, in December, the feeling of the Northern States was ascertained to be not unfriendly to his nomination, though his name, up to that time, we believe had not been mentioned in connection with the Presidency by a single leading journal.

The election to the speakership of the thirty-fourth Congress, of N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, who had been one of the first to discern the fitness and expediency of nominating Col. Fremont for the Presidency, and the publication of a friendly letter from an old California friend, Governor Charles Robinson, who had then recently become involved in a perilous struggle for freedom in Kansas, removed whatever doubts had existed among Col. Fremont's friends about the propriety of publicly presenting his name. Gov. Robinson had shared with Col. Fremont some of the penalties of too great devotion to the cause of freedom when they were together in California, and the letter to which we have referred, was written to give the governor assurance of his cordial sympathy with him in the important contest which he was waging so bravely against fearful odds in Kansas. It ran as follows:

LETTER FROM COL. FREMONT TO GOV. ROBINSON.

NEW YORK, March 17, 1856.

"MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of February reached me in Washington some time since. I read it with much satisfaction. It was a great pleasure to find you retained so lively a recollection of our intercourse in California. But my own experience is, that permanent and valuable friendships are most often formed in contests and struggles. If a man has good points, then they become salient, and we know each other suddenly.

"I had both been thinking and speaking of you latterly. The Banks balloting in the House, and your movements in Kansas, have naturally carried my mind back to our hundred odd ballots in California and your letter came seasonably and fitly to complete the connection. We were defeated then; but that contest was only an incident in a great struggle, and the victory was deferred, not lost. You have carried to another field the same principle, with courage

and ability to maintain it; and I make you my sincere congratulations on your success-incomplete so far, but destined in the end to triumph absolutely. I had been waiting to see what shape the Kansas question would take in Congress, that I might be enabled to give you some views in relation to the probable result. Nothing yet has been accomplished. But I am satisfied that in the end Congress will take efficient measures to lay before the American people the exact truth concerning your affairs. Neither you nor I can have any doubt what verdict the people will pronounce upon a truthful exposition.

"It is to be feared, from the proclamation of the President, that he intends to recognize the usurpation in Kansas as the legitimate government, and that its sedition law, the test oath, and the means to be taken to expel its people as aliens, will all, directly or indirectly, be supported by the army of the United States. Your position will undoubtedly be difficult; but you know I have great confidence in your firmness and prudence. When the critical moment arrives, you must act for yourself—no man can give you counsel. A true man will always find his best counsel in that inspiration which a good cause never fails to give him at the instant of trial. All history teaches us that great results are ruled by a wise Providence, and we are but units in the great plan. Your actions will be determined by events, as they present themselves; and at this distance I can only say that I sympathize cordially with you, and that, as you stood by me firmly and generously, when we were defeated by the nullifiers in California, I have every disposition to stand by you in the same way in your battle with them in Kansas.

"You see what I have been saying is more a reply to the suggestions which your condition makes to me, than any answer to your letter, which more particularly regards myself. The notices which you have seen of me, in connection with the Presidency, came from the partial disposition of friends who think of me more flatteringly than I do of myself, and do not, therefore call for any action from Repeating that I am really and sincerely gratified in the renewal of our friendship, or rather in the expressions of it, which I hope will not hereafter have so long an interval,

us.

"I am yours, very truly,

"J. C. FREMONT.

Gov. CHARLES ROBINSON, Lawrence, KANSAS."

In April, 1856, he was invited to attend a large meeting in New York, called for the purpose of obtaining a full expression of opinion from the commercial metropolis of the country, against the policy which President Pierce was pursuing in Kansas. The following was his brief but highly acceptable reply:

"NEW YORK, April 29, '56.

"GENTLEMEN: I have to thank you for the honor of an invitation to a meeting this evening, at the Broadway Tabernacle, and regret that other engagements have interfered to prevent my being pre

sent.

"I heartily concur in all movements which have for their object 'to repair the mischiefs arising from the violation of good faith in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.' I am opposed to slavery in the abstract and upon principle, sustained and made habitual by long settled convictions.

"While I feel inflexible in the belief that it ought not to be interfered with where it exists, under the shield of State sovereignty, I am as inflexibly opposed to its extension on this 'continent beyond its present limits.

"With the assurance of regard for yourselves, I am very respectfully yours,

"J. C. FREMONT."

Some months previous to this, Millard Fillmore of New York, and Andrew Jackson Donelson of Tennessee, had been nominated for the presidency and vicepresidency in Philadelphia, by the pro-slavery segment of a convention of Know-nothings-a name chosen by the Native-American party for themselves. In June following, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, were nominated by the administration party at Cincinnati, for the same offices. Both these sets of candidates were identified with the slave interest of the country, and both were the choice

of the southern States of the Union more particularly. It was apprehended, and with good reason, that the effect of electing either would be to nationalize slavery in the United States, or indefinitely extend and aggravate the disorder and anarchy which prevailed on our western frontier. To avoid either of these disastrous results, a convention was called, of three delegates from each congressional district of the United States, and a proportionate number of senatorial delegates, to meet in Philadelphia on the 17th of June, for the purpose of nominating candidates for the presidency and vicepresidency, who would properly reflect the views of those who were prepared to make freedom in the territories the paramount issue in the approaching presidential canvass.

On the day appointed, the convention met at Musical Fund Hall in that city, where the Declaration of the Independence of these United States was first read and promulgated. Over a thousand delegates were in attendance, and among them a larger number of prominent and influential public men than ever before assembled, probably, in a national convention. Robert Emmet of New York was selected for temporary chairman, and Colonel Henry S. Lane of Indiana, for president of the convention. Representatives were in attendance from all the free States, from the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota, and from the following slave States and territories, viz., Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

The convention, numerous as it was, and composed of men of every variety of political sentiment, seemed animated by the single desire to select the candidate who should seem best calculated to unite all the sincere