Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/20

6 week to contemplative thought and to his school, and Sunday to the service of the sanctuary. In 1756 he was already dazzled by the rising glory of the new country. He was intensely interested in the Great North-West. The Missouri river was a myth at time. Cox had ascended the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony and reported the existence of such a stream, but all beyond was shrouded in mystery. "But see," taught the aged clergyman, pointing with his finger and with an eager eye on the map of the North American Continent,—"see, there must be a large river in that direction, mountains are there, and beyond them there must be a stream to correspond with the vast river on this side of the chain." And by a process of reasoning based on physical geography, he pointed out to his pupils, Thomas Jefferson among them for two years, the existence and line of the river as accurately as Le Verrier did the place of Neptune in the firmament, and predicted that a great highway to the West would some day be opened in this direction.

Thomas Jefferson became and remained interested in the grand thought. Amid the excitement and splendors of the Court of France he cherished the idea of that hypothetical river, its advantages to the United States, the establishment of trading posts and kindred plans. He urged its exploration upon Ledyard, the celebrated African explorer. Ledyard consented to undertake it, but was prevented owing to subsequent misfortunes. Though foiled thus in his first effort, Thomas Jefferson still clung to his favorite project, and at last the time came for its fulfillment. Elected to the Presidency of the United States, he planned the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, secured the consent of Congress, and dispatched them on their mission of discovery.