which collected into such a river as the Missouri, there must be 
a corresponding shedding and collection of waters on the other, 
and thus he was perfectly assured of the existence of a river 
where the Columbia has since been found to be, although no 
navigator had seen its mouth, and no explorer trod its banks. 
His conviction was complete, but the idea was too grand and 
useful to be permitted to rest in speculation. He was then 
Minister to France, and the famous traveller, Ledyard, having 
arrived in Paris on his expedition of discovery to the Nile, was 
prevailed upon by Mr. Jefferson to enter upon a more useful 
field of discovery. He proposed to him to change the theatre 
from the old to the new world, and proceeding to St. Peters¬ 
burg on a passport he would obtain for him, he should there ob¬ 
tain permission from the Empress Catherine to travel her do¬ 
minions in high latitudes to their eastern extremity, cross the 
sea from Kamschatka, or at Behring strait, and descending to 
the northwest coast of America, come down upon the river 
which must head opposite the head of the Missouri, ascend to 
its source in the Rocky Mountains, and then follow the Missou¬ 
ri to the French settlements on the upper Mississippi, and 
thence home. It was a magnificent and a daring project of dis¬ 
covery, and on that account the more captivating to the ardent 
spirit of Ledyard. He undertook it, went to St. Petersburg, re¬ 
ceived the passport of the Empress, and had arrived in Siberia 
when he was overtaken by a revocation of the permission, and 
conducted as a spy out of the country. He then returned to 
Paris, and returned to his original design of exploring the Nile 
to its source, which terminated in his premature death, and de¬ 
prived the world of a young and adventurous explorer, from 
whose ardor, courage, perseverance and genius, great and use¬ 
ful results were to have been expected. Mr. Jefferson was 
frustrated in that, his first attempt to establish the existence of 
the Columbia River. But a time was coming for him to un¬ 
dertake it under better auspices. He became President of the 
United States, and in that character projected the expedition of 
Lewis and Clark, obtained the sanction of Congress, and sent 
them forth to discover the head and course of the river, whose 
mouth was then known for the double purpose of opening an in¬ 
land commercial communication with Asia, and enlarging the 
boundaries of geographical science. The commercial object 
was first placed in his message, and as the object to legitimate 
