426 THOMAS HILL. 



It is not easy, from a legal point of view, to justify the action of the 

 President. If the conduct of Fremont in refusing to recognize the 

 authority of General Kearny was an offence, it must have rested upon 

 the fact that Kearny exhibited to him evidence which should have sat- 

 isfied a reasonable person that he had authority from the President to 

 take command of the military forces in California ; and if such author- 

 ity was exhibited to Fremont and he refused obedience, his refusal 

 constituted the crime of mutiny. The other offences charged against 

 Fremont would have followed as a matter of course ; but in the ab- 

 sence of proof that he was guilty of mutiny, there was no evidence 

 whatever on which the minor charges could be sustained. Thus ended 

 Fremont's military services and his career as an explorer when he was 

 less than thirty-four years of age. 



Fremont's subsequent career may be considered under three heads. 

 First, in business affairs, in which, apparently, he was unsuccessful. 

 Next, he was the first candidate of the Republican party for the office 

 of President of the United States. His acceptance of the nomination, 

 and his letters and statements touching the policy and purposes of the 

 new organization were not merely formal, but they were pronounced 

 declarations in favor of the movement, with clear expressions in har- 

 mony with the object of the party, which was the prevention of the 

 extension of slavery in the Territories. Although a Southern man by 

 birth, his devotion to the freedom of the Territories was as ardent as 

 that of Lincoln, or any of the other leaders of the time. Finally, in 

 the Civil War, he made a tender of his services to the government, and 

 as Major General, and in command of the forces in the Department of 

 Missouri, he issued a proclamation of emancipation of the slaves within 

 his jurisdiction. This proclamation was countermanded by the Presi- 

 dent, and for the sufficient reason that he reserved to himself the abso- 

 lute control of the question of the abolition of slavery in the seceding 

 States and within the lines of our armies. It cannot be said that 

 Fremont's military career was marked by any signal successes, but 

 there can be no doubt of his ardent devotion to the cause of the 

 country. 



THOMAS HILL. 



The father of Thomas Hill was Thomas Hill, who came to this 

 country from England in 1791. He was a Unitarian, and came to 

 America to enjoy larger freedom of thought, speech, and action than 

 was tolerated in Non-conformists at the epoch of the Birmingham riot. 



