knowledge  having  possibly  drawn  them  together,  obtains  its
leadership.  Lewis  requests  that  William  Clarke  be  associated
with  him,  and  Clarke  is  accordingly  appointed  a  captain  in  the
army  and  ordered  upon  this  service.  '*  In  April,  1803,  the  Presi-
dent's instructions  were  submitted  to  Captain  Lewis,  and  being
duly  canvassed,  were  finally  signed  on  the  25th  of  June  follow-
ing. The  governments  of  France,  Spain,  and  Great  Britain  were
notified  of  the  expedition,  and  its  purposes  and  passports  issued
to  it  by  the  ministers  of  England  and  France.  Among  other
instructions  we  find  the  following  :

''  The  object  of  your  mission  is  to  explore  the  Missouri
River  and  such  principal  streams  of  it  as  by  its  course  of  com-
munication with  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  whether  the
Columbia,  Oregon,  Colorado,  or  any  other  river,  may  offer  the
most  direct  and  practicable  water  communication  across  the
continent  for  the  purposes  of  commerce."

They  are  also  directed  to  fix  by  observation  the  interesting
points  of  the  portage  between  the  heads  of  the  Missouri  and  the
waters  offering  the  best  communication  with  the  Pacific  Ocean,
and  the  course  of  that  water  to  the  ocean  in  the  same  manner  as
that  of  the  Missouri.
