it was late in the afternoon when the secretary to the president looked up from the crowded desk. “mr. jefferson,” ventured he, “you will pardon me——”
“yes, my son?”
“it grows late. you know that today the british minister, mr. merry, comes to meet the president for the first time formally—at dinner. señor yrujo also—and their ladies, of course. mr. burr and mr. merry seem already acquainted. i met them riding this morning.”
“hand and glove, then, so soon? what do you make of it? i have a guess that those three—burr, merry, yrujo—mean this administration no special good. and yet it was i myself who kept our spanish friend from getting his passports back to madrid. i did that only because of his marriage to the daughter of my friend, governor mckean, of pennsylvania. but what were you saying now?”
“i thought perhaps i should go to my rooms to change for dinner. you see that i am still in riding-clothes.”
[pg 48]
“and what of that, my son? i am in something worse!”
the young man stood and looked at his chief for a moment. he realized the scarce dignified figure that the president presented in his long coat, his soiled waistcoat, his stained trousers, and his woolen stockings—not to mention the unspeakable slippers, down at the heel, into which he had thrust his feet that morning when he came into the office.
“you think i will not do?” mr. jefferson smiled at him frankly. “i am not so free from wisdom, perhaps, after all. let this british minister see us as we are, for men and women, and not dummies for finery. moreover, i remember well enough how we cooled our heels there in london, mr. madison and myself. they showed us little courtesy enough. well, they shall have no complaint here. we will treat them as well as we do the others, as well as the electors who sent us here!”
meriwether lewis allowed himself a smile.
“go,” added his chief. “garb yourself as i would have you—in your best. but there will be no precedence at table this evening—remember that! let them take seats pell-mell—the devil take the hindmost—a fair field for every one, and favor to none! seat them as nearly as possible as they should not be seated—and leave the rest to me. all these—indeed, all history and all the records—shall take me precisely as i am!”
an hour later meriwether lewis stood before his narrow mirror, well and handsomely clad, as was [pg 49]seeming with one of his family and his place—a tall and superb figure of young manhood, as proper a man as ever stood in buckled shoes in any country of the world.
the guests came presently, folk of many sorts. with mr. jefferson as president, the democracy of america had invaded washington, taking more and more liberties, and it had many representatives on hand. with these came persons of rank of this and other lands, dignitaries, diplomats, officials, ministers of foreign powers. carriages with outriders came trundling over the partially paved roads of the crude capital city. footmen opened doors to gentlemen and ladies in full dress, wearing insignia of honor, displaying gems, orders, decorations, jewels, all the brilliant costumes of the european courts.
they came up the path to the door of the mansion where, to their amazement, they were met only by mr. jefferson’s bowing old darky ben, who ushered them in, helped them with their wraps and asked them to make themselves at home. and only old henry, mr. jefferson’s butler, bowed them in as they passed from the simple entrance hall into the anteroom which lay between the hall and the large dining-saloon.
the numbers increased rapidly. what at first was a general gathering became a crowd, then a mob. there was no assigned place for any, no presentation of one stranger to another. friends could not find friends. mutterings arose; crowding and jostling was not absent; here and there an angry word might have [pg 50]been heard. the policy of pell-mell was not working itself out in any happy social fashion.
matters were at their worst when suddenly from his own apartments appeared the tall and well-composed figure of mr. jefferson’s young secretary, social captain of matters at the executive mansion, and personal aide to the president. his quick glance caught sight of the gathering line of carriages; a second glance estimated the plight of those now jammed into the anteroom like so many cattle and evidently in distress.
in a distant corner of the room, crowded into some sort of refuge back of a huge davenport, stood a small group of persons in full official dress—a group evidently ill at ease and no longer in good humor. meriwether lewis made his way thither rapidly as he might.
“it is mr. minister merry,” said he, “and mme. merry.” he bowed deeply. “señor and señora yrujo, i bring you the respects of mr. jefferson. he will be with us presently.”
“i had believed, sir—i understood,” began merry explosively, “that we were to meet here the president of the united states. where, then, is his suite?”
“we have no suite, sir. i represent the president as his aide.”
“my word!” murmured the mystified dignitary, turning to his lady, who stood, the picture of mute anger, at his side, the very aigrets on her ginger-colored hair trembling in her anger.
they turned once more to the spanish minister, [pg 51]who, with his american wife, stood at hand. there ensued such shrugs and liftings of eyebrows as left full evidence of a discontent that none of the four attempted to suppress.
meriwether lewis saw and noted, but seemed not to note. mr. merry suddenly remembered him now as the young man he had encountered that morning, and turned with an attempt at greater civility.
“you will understand, sir, that i came supposing i was to appear in my official capacity. we were invited upon that basis. there was to have been a dinner, was there not—or am i mistaken of the hour? is it not four in the afternoon?”
“you were quite right, mr. minister,” said meriwether lewis. “you shall, of course, be presented to the president so soon as it shall please his convenience to join us. he has been occupied in many duties, and begs you will excuse him.”
the dignity and courtesy of the young man were not without effect. silence, at least, was his reward from the perturbed and indignant group of diplomats penned behind the davenport.
matters stood thus when, at a time when scarce another soul could have been crowded into the anteroom, old henry flung open the folding doors which he had closed.
“mistah thomas jeffahson!” was his sole announcement.
there appeared in the doorway the tall, slightly stooped figure of the president of the united states, one of the greatest men of his own or of any day. he [pg 52]stood, gravely unconscious of himself, tranquilly looking out upon his gathered guests. he was still clad in the garb which he had worn throughout the day—the same in which he had climbed to the pigeon loft—the same in which he had labored during all these long hours.
his coat was still brown and wrinkled, hanging loosely on his long frame. his trousers were the stained velveteens of the morning; his waistcoat the same faded red; his hose the slack woolen pair that he had worn throughout the day. and upon his feet—horror of horrors!—he wore still his slippers, the same old carpet slippers, down at the heel, which had afforded him ease as he sat at his desk.
as thomas jefferson stood, he overtopped the men about him head and shoulders in physical stature, as he did in every other measure of a man.
innocent or unconscious of his own appearance, his eye seeking for knowledge of his guests, he caught sight of the group behind the davenport. rapidly making his way thither, he greeted each, offering his hand to be shaken, bowing deeply to the ladies; and so quickly passed on, leaving them almost as much mystified as before. only yrujo, the spanish minister, looked after him with any trace of recognition, for at this moment meriwether lewis was away, among other guests.
an instant later the curtained folding doors which separated the anteroom from the dining-saloon were thrown open. mr. jefferson passed in and took his place at the head of the table, casting not a single look [pg 53]toward any who were to join him there. there was no announcement; there was no pas, no precedence, no reserved place for any man, no announcement for any lady or gentleman, no servant to escort any to a place at table!
it had been worse, far worse, this extraordinary scene, had it not been for the swiftness and tact of the young man to whom so much was entrusted. meriwether lewis hastened here and there, weeding out those who could not convince him that they were invited to dine. he separated as best he might the socially elect from those not yet socially arrived, until at length he stood, almost the sole barrier against those who still crowded forward.
here he was met once more by the party from behind the davenport.
“tell me,” demanded mr. merry, who—seeing that no other escort offered for her—had given his angry lady his own arm, “tell me, sir, where is the president? to whom shall i present the greetings of his british majesty?”
“yonder is the president of the united states, sir,” said meriwether lewis. “he with whom you shook hands is the president. he stands at the head of his table, and you are welcome if you like. he asks you to enter.”
merry turned to his wife, and from her to the wife of the spanish minister.
“impossible!” said he. “i do not understand—it cannot be! that man—that extraordinary man in breeches and slippers yonder—it cannot be he asks us [pg 54]to sit at table with him! he cannot be the president of the united states!”
“none the less he is, mr. merry!” the secretary assured him.
“good heavens!” said the minister from great britain, as he passed on, half dazed.
by this time there remained but few seats, none at all toward the head of the table or about its middle portion. toward the end of the room, farthest from the official host, a few chairs still stood vacant, because they had not been sought for. thither, with faltering footsteps, ere even these opportunities should pass, stepped the minister from great britain and the minister from spain, their ladies with them—none offering escort.
well disposed to smile at his chief’s audacious overturning of all social usage, yet not unadvised of the seriousness of all this, meriwether lewis handed the distinguished guests to their seats as best he might; and then left them as best he might.
at that time there were not six vacant places remaining at the long table. no one seemed to know how many had been invited to the banquet, or how many were expected—no one in the company seemed to know anyone else. it was indeed a pell-mell affair.
for once the american democracy was triumphant. but the leader of that democracy, the head of the new administration, the host at this official banquet, the president of the united states, thomas jefferson, stood quietly, serenely, looking out over the long table, [pg 55]entirely unconcerned with what he saw. if there was trouble, it was for others, not for him.
those at table presently began to seat themselves, following the host’s example. it was at this moment that the young captain of affairs turned once more toward the great doors, with the intention of closing them. old henry was having his own battles with the remaining audience in the anteroom, as he now brought forward two belated guests. old henry, be sure, knew them both; and—as a look at the sudden change of his features might have told—so did mr. jefferson’s aide.
they advanced with dignity, these two—one a gentleman, not tall, but elegant, exquisitely clad in full-dress costume; a man whom you would have turned to examine a second time had you met him anywhere. upon his arm was a young woman, also beautifully costumed, smiling, graceful, entirely at her ease. many present knew the two—aaron burr, vice-president of the united states; his daughter, theodosia burr alston.
mr. burr passed within the great doors, turned and bowed deeply to his host, distant as he was across the crowded room. his daughter curtsied, also deeply. their entry was dramatic. then they stood, a somewhat stately picture, waiting for an instant while seemingly deciding their future course.
it was at this moment that meriwether lewis approached them, beckoning. he led them toward the few seats that still remained unoccupied, placed them near to the official visitors, whose ruffled feathers still [pg 56]remained unsmoothed, and then stood by them for an instant, intending to take his departure.
there was one remaining chair. it was at the side of theodosia alston. she herself looked up at him eagerly, and patted it with her hand. he seated himself at her side.
thus at last was filled the pell-mell table of mr. thomas jefferson. to this day no man knows whether all present had been invited, or whether all invited had opportunity to be present.
there were those—his enemies, men of the opposing political party, for the most part—who spoke ill of mr. jefferson, and charged that he showed hypocrisy in his pretense of democratic simplicity in official life. yet others, even among his friends, criticised him severely for the affair of this afternoon—july 4, in the year of 1803. they said that his manners were inconsistent with the dignity of the highest official of this republic.
if any of this comment injured or offended mr. jefferson, he never gave a sign. he was born a gentleman as much as any, and was as fully acquainted with good social usage as any man of his day. his life had been spent in the best surroundings of his own country, and at the most polished courts of the old world. to accuse him of ignorance or boorishness would have been absurd.
the fact was that his own resourceful brain had formed a definite plan. he wished to convey a certain rebuke—and with deadly accuracy he did convey that rebuke. it was at no enduring cost to his own fame.
if the pell-mell dinner was at first a thing inchoate, [pg 57]awkward, impossible, criticism halted when the actual service at table began. the chef at the white house had been brought to this country by mr. jefferson from paris, and no better was known on this side the water.
so devoted was mr. jefferson known to be to the french style of cooking that no less a man than patrick henry, on the stump, had accused him of having “deserted the victuals of his country.” his table was set and served with as much elegance as any at any foreign court. at the door of the city of washington, even in the summer season, there was the best market of the world. as submitted by his chef de cuisine, mr. jefferson’s menu was of no pell-mell sort. if we may credit it as handed down, it ran thus, in the old french of that day:
huîtres de shinnecock, saulce tempête
olives du luc
othon mariné à l’huile vierge
amandes et cerneaux salés
pot au feu du roy “henriot”
croustade mogador
truite de ruisselet, belle meunière
pommes en fines herbes
fricot de tendre poulet en coquemare, au vieux chanturgne
tourte de ris de veau, financière
baron de pré salé aux primeurs
sorbet des comtes de champagne
dinde sauvage flambée devant les sarments de vigne,
flanquée d’ortolans
aspic de foie gras lucullus
salade des nymphes à la lamballe
asperges chauldes enduites de sauce
lombardienne
dessert et fruits de la réunion
[pg 58]fromage de bique
café arabe
larmes de juliette
whatever the wines served at the executive mansion may have been at later dates, those owned and used by president jefferson were the best the world produced—vintages of rarity, selected as could have been done only by one of the nicest taste. rumor had it that none other than señor yrujo, minister from spain, recipient of many casks of the best vintages of his country that he might entertain with proper dignity, had seen fit to do a bit of merchandizing on his own account, to the end that mr. jefferson became the owner of certain of these rare casks.
in any event, the spanish minister now showed no fear of the wines which came his way. nor, for that matter, did the minister from great britain, nor the spouses of these twain. mr. burr, seated with their party, himself somewhat abstemious, none the less could not refrain from an interrogatory glance as he saw merry halt a certain bottle or two at his own plate.
“upon my word!” said the sturdy briton, turning to him. “such wine i never have tasted! i did not expect it here—served by a host in breeches and slippers! but never mind—it is wonderful!”
“there may be many things here you have not expected, your excellency,” said mr. burr.
the vice-president favored the little party at his left with one of his brilliant smiles. he had that strange faculty, admitted even by his enemies, of making [pg 59]another speak freely what he wished to hear, himself reticent the while.
the face of the english dignitary clouded again.
“i wish i could approve all else as i do the wine and the food; but i cannot understand. here we sit, after being crowded like herrings in a box—myself, my lady here, and these others. is this the placing his majesty’s minister should have at the president’s table? is this what we should demand here?”
“the indignity is to all of us alike,” smiled burr. “mr. jefferson believes in a great human democracy. i myself regret to state that i cannot quite go with him to the lengths he fancies.”
“i shall report the entire matter to his majesty’s government!” said mr. merry, again helping himself to wine. “to be received here by a man in his stable clothes—so to meet us when we come formally to pay our call to this government—that is an insult! i fancy it to be a direct and intentional one.”
“insult is small word for it,” broke in the irate spanish minister, still further down the table. “i certainly shall report to my own government what has happened here—of that be very sure!”
“give me leave, sir,” continued merry. “this republic, what is it? what has it done?”
“i ask as much,” affirmed yrujo. “a small war with your own country, great britain, sir—in which only your generosity held you back—that is all this country can claim. in the south, my people own the mouth of the great river—we own florida—we own the province of texas—all the southern and western [pg 60]lands. true, louis xv—to save it from great britain, perhaps, sir”—he bowed to the british minister—“originally ceded louisiana to our crown. true, also, my sovereign has ceded it again to france. but spain still rules the south, just as britain rules the middle country out beyond; and what is left? i snap my fingers at this republic!”
señor yrujo helped himself to a brimming glass of his own wine.
“i say that western country is ours,” he still insisted, warming to his oration now. “suppose, under coercion, our sovereign did cede it to napoleon, who claims it now? does spain not govern it still? do we not collect the revenues? is not the whole system of law enforced under the flag of spain, all along the great river yonder? possession, exploration, discovery—those are the rights under which territories are annexed. france has the title to that west, but we hold the land itself—we administer it. and never shall it go from under our flag, unless it be through the act of stronger foreign powers. spain will fight!”
“will spain fight?” demanded a deep and melodious voice. it was that of aaron burr who spoke now, half in query, half in challenge. “would spain fight—and would great britain, if need were and the time came?”
he spoke to men heated with wine, smarting under social indignity, men owning a hurt personal vanity.
“our past is proof enough,” said merry proudly.
yrujo needed no more than a shrug.
[pg 61]
“divide and conquer?” burr went on, looking at them, and raising an eyebrow in query.
they nodded, both of them. burr looked around. his daughter and meriwether lewis were oblivious. he saw the young man’s eyes, somber, deep, fixed on hers; saw her gazing in return, silent, troubled, fascinated.
one presumes that it was at this moment—at the instant when aaron burr, seeing the power his daughter held over young meriwether lewis, and the interest he held for her, turned to these foreign officials at his left—at that moment, let us say, the burr conspiracy began.
“divide that unknown country, the west, and how long would this republic endure?” said aaron burr.
the noise of the banquet now rose about them. voices blended with laughter; the wine was passing; awkwardness and restraint had given way to good cheer. in a manner they were safe to talk.
“what?” demanded aaron burr once more. “could a few francs transfer all that marvelous country from spain to france? that were absurd. by what possible title could that region yonder ever come to this republic? it is still more absurd to think that. civilization does not leap across great river valleys. it follows them. you have said rightly, señor yrujo. to my mind great britain has laid fair grasp upon the upper west; and spain holds the lower west, with which our statesmen have interested themselves of late. by all the rights of conquest, discovery, and use, gentlemen, great britain’s traders have gained for her [pg 62]flag all the territory which they have reached on their western trading routes. i go with you that far.”
merry turned upon burr suddenly a deep and estimating eye.
“i begin to see,” said he, “that you are open to conviction, mr. burr.”
“not open to conviction,” said aaron burr, “but already convinced!”
“what do you mean, colonel burr?” the englishman bent toward him, frowning in intentness.
“i mean that perhaps i have something to say to you two gentlemen of the foreign courts which will be of interest and importance to you.”
“where, then, could we meet after this is over?”
the minister from great britain surely was not beyond close and ready estimate of events.
“at my residence, after this dinner,” rejoined aaron burr instantly. his eye did not waver as it looked into the other’s, but blazed with all the fire of his own soul. “across the alleghanies, along the great river, there is a land waiting, ready for strong men. are we such men, gentlemen? and can we talk freely as such among ourselves?”
their conversation, carried on in ordinary tones, had not been marked by any. their brows, drawn sharp in sudden resolution, their glance each to the other, made their ratification of this extraordinary speech.
they had no time for anything further at the moment. a sound came to their ears, and they turned toward the head of the long table, where the tall figure of the president of the united states was rising in [pg 63]his place. the dinner had drawn toward its close.
mr. jefferson now stood, gravely regarding those before him, his keen eye losing no detail of the strange scene. he knew the place of every man and woman at that board—perhaps this was his own revenge for a reception he once had had at london. but at last he spoke.
“i have news for you all, my friends, today; news which applies not to one man nor to one woman of this or any country more than to another, but news which belongs to all the world.”
he paused for a moment, and held up in his right hand a tiny scrap of paper, thin, crumpled. none could guess what significance it had.
“may god in his own power punish me,” said he, solemnly, “if ever i halt or falter in what i believe to be my duty! i place no bounds to the future of this republic—based, as i firmly believe it to be, upon the enduring principle of the just and even rights of mankind.
“our country to the west always has inspired me with the extremest curiosity, and animated me with the loftiest hopes. since the year 1683 that great river, the missouri, emptying into the mississippi, has been looked upon as the way to the pacific ocean. one hundred years from that time—that is to say, in 1783—i myself asked one of the ablest of our westerners, none other than general george rogers clark, to undertake a journey of exploration up that western river. it was not done. three years later, when accredited to the court at paris, i met a mr. ledyard, [pg 64]an american then abroad. i desired him to cross russia, siberia and the pacific ocean, and then to journey eastward over the stony mountains, to find, if he could, the head of that missouri river of which we know so little. but ledyard failed, for reasons best known, perhaps, to the monarch of russia.
“later than that, and long before i had the power which now is mine to order matters of the sort, the boston sailor, captain grey, in 1792, as you know, found the mouth of the columbia river. the very next year after that i engaged the scientist michaux to explore in that direction; but he likewise failed.
“all my life i have seen what great opportunities would be ours if once we owned that vast country yonder. as a private citizen i planned that we should at least explore it—always it was my dream to know more of it. it being clear to me that the future of our republic lay not to the east, but to the west of the alleghanies—indeed, to the west of the mississippi itself—never have i relinquished the ambition that i have so long entertained. never have i forgotten the dream which animated me even in my younger years. i am here now to announce to you, so that you may announce to all the world, certain news which i have here regarding that western region, which never was ours, but which i always wished might be ours.”
with the middle finger of his left hand the president flicked at the mysterious bit of crumpled paper still held aloft in his right. there was silence all down the long table.
“more than a year ago i once more chose a messenger [pg 65]into that country,” went on thomas jefferson. “i chose a leader of exploration, of discovery. i chose him because i knew i could trust in his loyalty, in his judgment, in his courage. well and thoroughly he has fitted himself for that leadership.”
he turned his gaze contemplatively down the long table. the gaze of many of his guests followed his, still wonderingly, as he went on.
“my leader for this expedition into the west, which i planned more than a year ago, is here with you now. captain meriwether lewis, will you stand up for a moment? i wish to present you to these, my friends.”
with wonder, doubt, and, indeed, a certain perturbation at the president’s unexpected summons, the young virginian rose to his feet and stood gazing questioningly at his chief.
“i know your modesty as well as your courage, captain lewis,” smiled mr. jefferson. “you may be seated, sir, since now we all know you.
“let me say to you others that i have had opportunity of knowing my captain of this magnificent adventure. in years he is not yet thirty, but he is and always was a leader, mature, wise, calm, and resolved. of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities can divert from its direction; careful as a father of those committed to his charge, and yet steady in the maintenance of order and discipline; intimate with the indian character, customs, and principles; habituated to the hunting life; guarded by exact observation of the vegetables and animals of his own country against [pg 66]duplication of objects already possessed; honest, disinterested, liberal; of sound understanding, and of a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he shall report will be as certain as if seen by ourselves—with all these qualifications, i say, as if selected and implanted by nature in one body, for one purpose, i could have no hesitation in confiding this enterprise—the most cherished enterprise of my administration—to him whom now you have seen here before you.”
the president bowed deeply to the young man, who had modestly resumed his place. then, for just a moment, mr. jefferson stood silent, absorbed, rapt, carried away by his own vision.
“and now for my news,” he said at length. “here you have it!”
he waved once more the little scrap of paper.
“i had this news from new york this morning. it was despatched yesterday evening. tomorrow it will reach all the world. the mails will bring it to you; but news like this could not wait for the mails. no horse could bring it fast enough. it was brought by a dove—the dove of peace, i trust. let me explain briefly; what my news concerns.
“as you know, that new country yonder belonged at first to any one who might find it—to england, if she could penetrate it first; to spain, if she were first to put her flag upon it; to russia, if first she conquered it from the far northwest. but none of these three ever completed acquisition by those means under which nations take title to the new territories of the world. louisiana, as we term it, has been unclaimed, unknown, [pg 67]unowned—indeed, virgin territory so far as definite title was concerned.
“in the north, such title as might be was conveyed to great britain by france after the latter power was conquered at quebec. the lower regions france—supposing that she owned them—conveyed, through her monarch, the fifteenth louis, to spain. again, in the policy of nations, spain sold them to france once more, in a time of need. france owned the territory then, or had the title, though spain still was in possession. it lay still unoccupied, still contested—until but now.
“my friends, i give you news! on the 2d of may last, napoleon bonaparte, first consul of france, sold to this republic, the united states of america, all of louisiana, whatever it may be, from the mississippi to the pacific! here are seven words which carry an empire with them—the empire of humanity—a land in which democracy, humanity, shall expand and grow forever! this is my news:
“general bonaparte signed may 2—fifteen millions—rejoice!”
a deep sigh rose as if in unison all along the table. the event was too large for instant grasping. there was no applause at first. some—many—did not understand. not so certain others.
the minister from great britain, the minister from spain, aaron burr and a few other men acquainted with great affairs, prominent in public life, turned and looked at the president’s tall figure at the head of the [pg 68]table, and then at that of the silent young man whom mr. jefferson had publicly honored.
the face of aaron burr grew pale. the faces of the foreign ministers showed sudden consternation. theodosia alston turned, her own eyes fixed upon the grave face of the young man sitting at her side, who made no sign of the strong emotion possessing his soul.
“i have given you my news,” the voice of mr. jefferson went on, rising now, vibrant and masterful, fearless, compelling. “there you have it, this little message, large as any ever written in the world. the title to that western land has passed to us. we set our seal on it now! cost what it may, we shall hold it so long as we can claim a flag or a country on this continent. the price is nothing. fifteen millions means no more than the wine or water left in a half-empty glass. it might be fifty times fifteen millions, and yet not be one fiftieth enough. these things are not to be measured by known signs or marks of values. it is not in human comprehension to know what we have gained. hence we have no human right to boast. the hand of almighty god is in this affair! it was he who guided the fingers of those who signed this cession to the united states of america!
“my friends, now i am content. what remains is but detail. our duty is plain. between us and this purpose, i shall hold all intervention of whatever nature, friendly or hostile, as no more than details to be ignored. yonder lies and has always lain the scene of my own ambition. always i have hungered to know that vast new land beyond all maps, as yet ignorant [pg 69]of human metes and bounds. always i have coveted it for this republic, knowing that without room for expansion we must fail, that with it we shall triumph to the edge of our ultimate dream of human destiny—triumph and flourish while governments shall remain known among men.
“i offer that faith to the eyes of the world today and of all the days to come, believing in every humility that god guided the hands of those who signed this title deed of a great empire, and that god long ago implanted in my unworthy bosom the strong belief that one day this might be which now has come to pass. it is no time for boasting, no time for any man to claim glory or credit for himself. we are in the face of events so vast that their margins leave our vision. we cannot see to the end of all this, cannot read all the purpose of it, because we are but men.
“gentlemen, you americans, men of heart, of courage! you also, ladies, who care most for gentlemen of heart and courage, whose pulses beat even with our own to the stimulus of our deeds! i say to you all that i would gladly lay aside my office and its honors—i would lay aside all my other ambitions, all my desires to be remembered as a man who at least endeavored to think and to act—if thereby i might lead this expedition of our volunteers for the discovery of the west. that may not be. these slackened sinews, these shrinking limbs, these fading eyes, do not suffice for such a task. it is in my heart, yes; but the heart for this magnificent adventure needs stronger pulses than my own.
[pg 70]
“my heart—did i say that i had need of another, a better? did i say that i had need of eyes and brains, of thews and sinews, of calm nerves and steady blood? did i say i had need of courage and resolution—all these things combined? i have them! that providence who has given us all needful instruments and agents to this point in our career as a republic has given us yet another, and the last one needful. tomorrow my friend, my special messenger, captain meriwether lewis, starts with his expedition. he will explore the country between the missouri and the pacific—the country of my dream and his. it is no longer the country of any other power—it is our own!
“gentlemen, i give you a toast—captain meriwether lewis!”
