Urged by Jefferson, however,—who had from the first been keenly desirous to have the records of the exploration made, as soon as possible, the common property of the world—it was in 1809 agreed that General Lewis should at once undertake the editorship of the journals. Arrangements were made with C. & A. Conrad & Co., of Philadelphia, for the publication of the work, and a prospectus was circulated with a view of obtaining advance subscriptions. Lewis was traveling on horseback through Tennessee, on his way to Washington, intending thereafter to go to Philadelphia to enter upon this editorial task, when he lost his life during the night of October 11. A guest, at the time, of a wayside settler some sixty miles southwest of Nashville, it was reported that he had committed suicide, a theory which Jefferson, probably his closest friend, accepted without question; but it was, and still is, believed by many that he was murdered for the small sum of money upon his person at the time.
Clark, now the sole surviving head of the expedition, promptly sought the assistance of an editor in bringing out the proposed publication. It appears that, probably early in 1810, overtures were made to him from some literary person in Richmond, Va.;[1] but these he rejected, and earnestly solicited the aid of Nicholas Biddle, of Philadelphia. Biddle, who had descended from one of the oldest Philadelphia families, had graduated from Princeton in his sixteenth year (1801). He had been secretary to John Armstrong, our minister to France (1804), and while in Paris had superintended the payment of American claims growing out of the Louisiana purchase, in this capacity greatly surprising the French officials both by his brilliancy and his youth. After traveling extensively in Europe, he became secretary to Mr. Monroe while the
- ↑ See Biddle-Clark correspondence in Coues, Lewis and Clark, 1, pp. lxxxii et seq.
