Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/767

FREMONT FRINK. 749 dent s proffered pardon. He had just then no further use for the army; the trial had been a splendid advertisement; and the popular verdict had doubt less been in his favor. The evidence had been skilfully made to include as much as possible of such Cal. annals as could be made to appear flattering to the accused and unfavorable to his rivals; but if the accusers had had the vish and power to present all the facts in their true light, the popular hero s career might have been nipped in the bud. Something will be said in vol. vi. of his later career so far as it pertains to Cal. ; of the rest my study has been comparatively superficial; yet I find no indication of qualities not clearly shown in the early record. In a 4th explor. exped. of 48 many of his men perished in the snow before reaching N. Mex. , but the leader kept on and reached Cal. in 49. He accepted an appointment as commissioner of the boundary survey, but before beginning work was elected, in 50, to the U. S. senate from Cal. , doing no harm during his brief term as senator, which ex pired in March 51. In 52, spending a year in Europe, he was once put in a London jail on charges growing out of his Cal. operations of 47. In 53-4 he made a 5th and last exploring tour across the continent between 38 and 39. He had bought of ex-Gov. Alvarado in 46 the famous Mariposas estate, which now l>ade fair to make him the richest man in America; and in 56 he was nominated for the presidency by the republicans. He had no qualifications for the office, but it was hoped, with much reason, that his fame as path finder and conqueror of Cal. would make him an available candidate. At this period appeared many biographic sketches, notably those of Bigelow, Smucker, and Upham. Defeated by Buchanan, he lived a year or two in Cal., visited Europe, and in 61-2 served in the war as maj.-gen. of volunteers; but the govt not appreciating his military genius, he resigned, and devoted him self to grand schemes of speculation in connection with railroads, being tem porarily the candidate of a few dissatisfied republicans for the presidency, and in 73 sentenced to fine and imprisonment for fraud by a French court. In 78, when reduced to extreme poverty, he was appointed gov. of Ariz., serving for a brief term, and subsequently resuming his speculations, which are always on the point of making him rich. In 85 he resides with his wife in N.Y. City, a venerable couple with several grown children. Fremont did more than any other to prevent or retard the conquest of Cal., yet his fame as conqueror is the corner-stone of his greatness, and in all the structure there are few blocks more solid. He is to be regarded as an adventurer of marvellous good fortune, if it be good fortune for a man of moderate abilities to be made conspicuous before the world, or to enjoy opportunities that can not be utilized. He was, moreover, intelligent, well educated, brilliant within certain limits, of gentlemanly manners, personally magnetic, full of enthusi asm. Abuse has done more for him than eulogy; and doubtless from his standpoint he has been a successful man. French (Erasmus D.), 1846, Co. C, 1st U. S. dragoons (v. 336); nat of N. Y., educated as a physician, a miner 48-9, at S. Jose" 50-8, then at Chico and the Coso mines; from 69 a farmer in S. Diego, where he still lived in 83, age 60, with his wife, C.S. Cowles. S. Bern. Co. Hist. F. (H.), 1847, lieut on the U.S. Columbus. F._(Wm), 1827, Amer. trader of Honolulu at Mont, in 27, 30; sup. of the Europe in. 36-7, aiding Alvarado in his revolution. Very likely visited Cal. on other occasions, iii. 461; iv. 103, 141. Frere (Alex. W ) 1842, Amer. who got a carta, in 32 ace. to one record; named in Cal. till 44. iv. 341. Fresche (Francis), 1847, Co. G, N.Y. Vol. (v. 499); atS.F. 74. Freverdon (Wm), 1848, doubtful name of a lumberman at S. Jose". Frew (Alex.), 1828, trader on the coast; d. before 32.