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Show Lift of eaJJLain Lcu:is. ,vhich, however, he failed. I then lH'oposccl to him to (;O by )and to Kamschatka, cross in some of the Russian Yessels to Noot.ka Sound. fall <lown into the latitude oft he 1\:tissouri, and penetJ'ate t.o, and through. that to the United States. Jle eagerly seized th<' itlea. and only askrd to be assur~ tl or the pcrmissfon of the Russian government. I interested, in obtaining that, 1\1. de Simoulin, minister Illenipotcntiary of the empress at Paris, but more especially the bat'on de Grimm, minister plenipotentiary of Saxe-Gotha, hea· more ~peeial agent ancl correspondent there in matters not immediately uiplomatic. Her permission was obtaineu, and an assuran~e or protection while the coua·se of the voyage should be through het• territories. J. .. cdyard set out ft·om Paris, and arrived at St. Petc•·sburgh artet· the empress had left tbat place to pass the winter·, I think, at 1\Ioscow. His finances not per·mitting him to make unneccssat•y stay at St. Petersburgh, he left it with a passpoa't fa·om one of the ministers; and at two hundretl miles ft'Om Kamschatka, was obliged to take up his winter quarters. lie was prcpat·ing, in the spring, to resume his jour·ney, when he was arreste1l by an officer of the empress, who by this time had changed her mind, and fol·biddcn his proceeding. lie was put into a close carr·iage, and conveyed day and night, without ever stopping, till they reached PoJand; whet·e he was set down and left to himself. The fatigue of this journey brol~e down his constitution; and when he returned to Paris his bodily strength was much impaired. }lis mind, however, remainetl fit·m~ aod he after this undertook the journey to Egypt. I received a letter from him, full of sanguine hopes, dated at Cait'o, the fifteenth of November, 1788, the clay before he was to set out for the head of the Nile; on -which day, however, he ended his career and lil'e: and thus failed the fi1·st aUem1•t to explore the western part of our northern eonti~ nent. In 1792, I proposed to the American Philosophical Society that we should set on foot a subscri{>tion to_ engage., m, Life of Captain Lewis. Qompetcut person to explo1·c that r<·gion in the opposite di. rectioo; that is~ by ascending the 1\Iissouri, crossing the Sto .. ny mountains, and dcscemling the nearest river to the Pacific. Captain Lewis being then sf ationed at Charlottesville, ()11 1 hf" •·eca·uiting service, warmly solicited me to obtain for llim the execution or that ol~jcct. I told him it WH'i pro) lOS(ld that the llet·::wn engage(\ should be attcndecl by a !ngle eompanion only. to avoid exciting alal'tn among the India ns. '1'hi. .; 1licl not dcte1· him; but Mr. Amh~e Michaux, a p rofrssell uotanist , author of the Flora B ot·ea1i-Amca·icana, ami (If tlJe lli ... toir·e des Chcsnes d'Ame-rique, offerinf; hit scrvic~ s, they WCI'<' act •pt ·d. lie rcceivt·d his instructions, anti when he had I'Ca(•hrd Kcntuaky in the vrosecution of J.1is journey, he was ovt·r lakeu by an ordel' from the mi n ~ st.er of l i'rance, then :tt PIJilafklphia, to relinquish th•· expedi· tiou, and lO pursue cJscwhc•t'e the IJotanicaJ inquiries 00 lvhich he was employed by that govea·mnent: and thus failed the second attempt for explm·ing that region. In 1803, the act for establishing trading houses with the Indian tt·ibes uciag about to expire, some modifications of it were r, commended to congt·ess by a con(itlcntial message of January 18tlt. and an extension of its views to the Indians on the 1\lissouri. In order' to pr·epare the way, tho message proposed the scndiug an explot·ing party to trace the ~lissouri to its source ' to cross the Jli,..hlands, all(} follow the ;:, best water-communi~ation which offcl'cd itsrlt' f•·om thence to the Pacific ocean. Congress approved the lH'OjlOsition, and voted a sum of money for can·ying it into execution. Captain Lewis, who had then been ncar two years with me as JH'ivatc secret.al'y, immediatclJ rcncwcfllais solicifn.tions to have the direction of the pal'ty. I ha.tl now had opportu· nitics of knowing him intimately. Of COtll'3f.:;C undaunted; \lOSS<'Ssing a fit'JlUU'SS and llerseverance Of puq)Ose wbjcb nothing hut impossibilities could dive1·t f1•om its di1·cction; careful as a futhe•· of those committed to his ch:wge, yet steady in the maintenance of ord~r and discilllinc; intimate |