uld have some person with him of known
competence to the direction of the enterprise, in the event of accident
to himself, he proposed William Clarke, brother of general George Rogers
Clarke, who was approved, and, with that view, received a commission of
captain.

In April, 1803, a draught of his instructions was sent to captain Lewis,
and on the twentieth of June they were signed in the following form:

"To Meriwether Lewis, esquire, captain of the first regiment of
infantry of the United States of America:

"Your situation as secretary of the president of the United States,
has made you acquainted with the objects of my confidential message
of January 18, 1803, to the legislature; you have seen the act they
passed, which, though expressed in general terms, was meant to
sanction those objects, and you are appointed to carry them into
execution.

"Instruments for ascertaining, by celestial observations, the
geography of the country through which you will pass, have been
already provided. Light articles for barter and presents among the
Indians, arms for your attendants, say for from ten to twelve men,
boats, tents, and other travelling apparatus, with ammunition,
medicine, surgical instruments, and provisions, you will have
prepared, with such aids as the secretary at war can yield in his
department; and from him also you will receive authority to engage
among our troops, by voluntary agreement, the number of attendants
abovementioned; over whom you, as their commanding officer, are
invested with all the powers the laws give in such a case.

"As your movements, while within the limits of the United States,
will be better directed by occasional communications, adapted to
circumstances as they arise, they will not be noticed here. What
follows will respect your proceedings after your departure from the
United States.

"Your mission has been communicated to the ministers here from
France, Spain, and Great Britain, and through them to their
governments; and such assurances given them as to its objects, as
we trust will satisfy them. The country of Louisiana having been
ceded by Spain to France, the passport you have from the minister
of France, the representative of the present sovereign of the
country, will be a protection with all its subjects; and that from