1 



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would here take occasion to remark that, 

 although these expeditions were evidently 

 connected with national objects, yet it is not 

 a little singular to observe with how much 

 seeming coolness or neglect the result of 

 these arduous and meritorious labors have 

 been received by the government. 



From the time that the celebrated expe- 

 dition of Lewis and Clarke was planned, 

 under the administration of the venerable 

 patriarch of American Natural History, we 

 believe that no president has deemed it 

 worthy of his high station, or due to the 

 people by whom he was elevated, to pro- 

 ject expeditions for the purpose of bringing 

 to light the hidden riches of the country. 

 While Mr. Jefferson conceived the labors 

 of Lewis and Clarke of sutficient import- 

 ance to make them the subject of a special 

 message, no president has deemed the sub- 

 sequent expeditions worthy of even a pass- 

 ing notice in their voluminous annual mes- 

 sages. To the late Secretary of War are 

 we indebted for our extended acquaintance 

 with the various products of the territories 

 in the north and in the west Under his 



