Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume One).djvu/332

Rh ing his administration had realized the importance of securing “open over-land commercial relations with Asia,” as stated in one of his messages to Congress, and, as a preparation for establishing such relations with Asia, he originated and organized the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, whose duty it was to trace the affluents of the Columbia River now known as Snake River and Clarke’s Fork.

Fremont’s early education was obtained under the charge largely of Dr. John Roberton, a Scotchman, who had been educated at Edinburgh, and who had established himself at Charleston, S. C., as a teacher of the ancient languages. Dr. Roberton says that in the space of a year Fremont read four books of Cesar, six books of Virgil, nearly all of Horace, and two books of Livy; and in Greek, all the Græca Minora, about half of the Græca Majora, and four books of Homer’s Iliad. At the end of a year he entered the Junior Class of Charleston College, where he gained high standing for study and in scholarship; but for insubordination he was expelled from the college.

In 1833 he was appointed teacher of mathematics in the Navy, and made a cruise to South America, which occupied about two and a half years of time. While absent, a law was passed creating the office of professor of mathematics in the Navy, for which Fremont upon his return was examined, and appointed. Without entering upon the duties of the place, he declined the position, and accepted the post of surveyor and railroad engineer upon the railway line between Charleston and Augusta. In 1838 and 1839 he was associated with M. Nicollet, a Frenchman and a member of the Academy of Science, in an exploring expedition over the Northwestern prairies and along the valley of the Mississippi. During his absence, he was appointed by President Van Buren a second lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. Upon his return from the Upper Mississippi, and