Upon reaching the Dutch seaport at the mouth of the Rhine, young Astor received his wages—­the largest sum he had ever possessed—­and took passage in a vessel for London, where he was welcomed cordially by his brother, and provided with employment in his manufactory.

He now set to work to prepare himself for his emigration to America.  His industry was unflagging.  He worked literally from dawn till dark, and practiced the most rigid economy in his expenditures.  His leisure time, which was brief, was spent in trying to master the English language, and in acquiring information respecting America.  He had anticipated great difficulty in his efforts to learn English, but succeeded beyond his hopes.  In six weeks he could make himself understood in that language, and some time before starting for America could speak it with ease, though he never could at any period of his life rid himself of his strong German accent.  He was never able to write English correctly, but after being some years in this country acquired a style which was striking and to the point, in spite of its inaccuracy.  England, however, was not a favorable place for acquiring information respecting America.  The Colonies had exasperated the mother country by their heroic struggle for freedom, which was just drawing to its close, and the New World was pictured to the imagination of the young German in any thing but a favorable light.  His most accurate information was gained from those who had returned from America, and these persons, as often as chance threw them in his way, he questioned with eagerness and precision; their answers were carefully stored up in his memory.

In September, 1783, the news of the peace which established the independence of the United States was published in Europe.  Young Astor had now been in London two years, and had saved money enough to take him to America.  He was the possessor of a suit of good clothes, besides his ordinary wearing apparel, and fifteen guineas in English money, which he had saved from his slender earnings by the absolute denial to himself of every thing not essential to his existence.  The way to America was now open, and he resolved to set out at once.  For five guineas he bought a steerage passage in a ship bound for Baltimore, and reserving about five pounds sterling of the remainder of his capital in money, invested the rest in seven German flutes, which he bought of his brother, and embarked for the “New Land.”

The winter was memorable on land and sea for its severity, and our hero’s first voyage was a stormy one.  It is said that on one occasion, when the tempest was unusually violent, and the ship in imminent danger, he made his appearance in his Sunday clothes.  In reply to those who asked his reason for so strange an act, he said that if he should reach land he would save his best clothes, and that if he was drowned it was immaterial what became of them.