with a
creditable record in the Regular Army, and wide fame as a scientific
explorer in the Western mountain ranges, then the _terra incognita_
of the continent. He was a native of South Carolina, and had
married the brilliant and accomplished daughter of Colonel Benton.
Always a member of the Democratic party, he was so closely identified
with the early settlement of California that he was elected one of
her first senators. To the tinge of romance in his history were
added the attractions of a winning address and an auspicious name.

The movement in his behalf had been quietly and effectively organized
for several months preceding the convention. It had been essentially
aided if not indeed originated by the elder Francis P. Blair, who
had the skill derived from long experience in political management.
Mr. Blair was a devoted friend of Benton, had been intimate with
Jackson, and intensely hostile to Calhoun. As editor of the _Globe_,
he had exercised wide influence during the Presidential terms of
Jackson and Van Buren, but when Polk was inaugurated he was supplanted
in administration confidence by Thomas Ritchie of the State-rights'
school, who was brought from Virginia to found another paper. Mr.
Blair was a firm Union man, and, though he had never formally
withdrawn from the Democratic party, he was now ready to leave it
because of the Disunion tendencies of its Southern leaders. He
was a valuable friend to Fremont, and gave to him the full advantage
of his experience and his sagacity.

William L. Dayton of New Jersey, who had served with distinction
in the Senate, was selected for the Vice-Presidency. His principal
competitor in the only ballot which was taken was Abraham Lincoln
of Illinois. This was the first time that Mr. Lincoln was
conspicuously named outside of his own State. He had been a member
of the Thirtieth Congress, 1847-9, but being a modest man he had
so little forced himself into notice that when his name was proposed
for Vice-President, inquiries as to who he was were heard from all
parts of the convention.

The principles enunciated by the Democratic and Republican parties
on the slavery question formed the only subject for discussion
during the canvass in the free States. From the beginning no doubt
was expressed that Mr. Buchanan would find the South practically
consolidated in his favor. Electoral tickets for Fremont were not
presented in the slave States, and Fillmore's support