Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/17

Rh through eight editions and was translated into both French and Italian. The authenticity and impartiality of this work have been highly praised. The same year (1814) that he returned from the West, there was issued from a Pittsburg press his Views of Louisiana, including this journal of the voyage up the Missouri. Two years later, there appeared a separate edition of the journal, revised and enlarged by the author—the book here reprinted.

Brackenridge's later history was replete with adventure, and brought him in contact with many phases of American life. In 1817 he wrote a letter to President Monroe, urging the recognition of the South American Republics. This having been translated into Spanish, was by many assumed to be an official opinion of the United States government, and as such elicited an elaborate reply from the Spanish minister. In the same year, Brackenridge was appointed secretary of a commission sent by the federal government to visit the revolted states of South America. Upon his return, he published his Voyage to South America performed by the Order of the American Government in the Years 1817 and 1818 in the Frigate Congress (Baltimore, 1819; London, 1820), which was highly commended by the great authority of that day, Baron von Humboldt.

Upon the purchase of Florida by the United States, Brackenridge concluded to cast his lot with that of the new territory. On his way south, he fell in with a party of the newly-appointed governor, General Andrew Jackson, and was invited to become one of the latter's official family. Brackenridge's knowledge of French and Spanish made his services especially useful to the Florida executive, whose public despatches and proclamations during 1821 were nearly all drawn by the hand of our author. Jackson then appointed him alcalde of Pensacola, and the following year secured his selection as judge of the western district of