Another result was the sending of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, Commander of the Pacific squadron, upon a cruise along the coast, with instructions to make investigations, and General John C. Fremont, to examine the overland routes. Both of these men were officers in whom confidence was reposed and whose opinions would have weight. The government did not recognize the need of such urgency of action as the people desired. It seems to have felt that its duty was discharged by commissioning officers to investigate the condition of things, by ordering an occasional vessel of war into the neighborhood, and by sending a sub-Indian agent to prevent any depredations that the Indians might be disposed to commit. It seems to have felt that the few colonists already there were in no immediate danger of suffering injury, if they used good judgment, while the natural barriers to emigration would render additions to the population very slow. Viewed from the standpoint of the colonists, however, everything was different. The Indian agent, without military aid, could not render effective service; Lieutenant Wilkes, because he was on friendly terms with the officers of the English company, was thought to be too much under their influence; session after session of congress was passing away without any action for the establishment of military posts, or the extension of civil government over the territory. It is but natural, under the circumstances, that the colonists should take the matter into their own hands, and do what the exigencies of the situation demanded. The formation of the pioneer provisional government may be regarded, therefore, as an example of the true American spirit, exhibiting a resourcefulness equal to every emergency. The origin of institutions is complex, and doubtless many motives combined to bring this one into existence. Its purpose as expressed in the organic laws, drawn up as the constitution of the state, was declared to be: “Mutual protection, and to secure peace and prosperity among ourselves.”[11] This general statement, however, probably sums up a number of motives not specified. Most prominent among these were the feeling of nationality, the love of a democratic type of government, the desire for power to control the character of population that should come in, anxiety to secure permanent titles to the lands taken up, equal rights in the pursuit of the fur trade, protection from the Indians, prevention of lawlessness among a mixed population, facilities for the conduct of such business as growing numbers made necessary, and, perhaps, in some cases, personal ambition to exercise authority.