was adopted, the chief source of apprehension for its permanence with men like Patrick Henry, and other wise statesmen, was the extent of our territory.  The Alleghanies, it was thought, had put asunder communities whom no paper constitution could unite.  But at that early day, when Ohio was the far West, and no steamboat had yet gone up the Mississippi, Astor looked beyond the Ohio, beyond the Mississippi, and the Rocky Mountains, and saw the whole American territory, from ocean to ocean, the domain of one united nation, the seat of trade and industry.  He saw lines of trading posts uniting the Western settlements with the Pacific; following this line of trading posts, he saw the columns of a peaceful emigration crossing the plains, crossing the mountains, descending the Columbia, and towns and villages taking the places of the solitary posts, and cultivated fields instead of the hunting-grounds of the Indian and the trapper.

“No enterprise, unless it be the Atlantic telegraph, engages more deeply the public attention than a railroad communication with the Pacific coast.[A] The rapid settlement of Oregon and California, the constant communication by steam to the Pacific coast, render it easy now to feel the nearness of that region, and the oneness of the nationality which covers the continent.  But to Astor’s eye the thing was as palpable then as now.  And yet but two or three attempts had then been made to explore the overland routes.”

It would be deeply interesting to examine the details of this fast scheme of colonization and trade, for it is certain that Mr. Astor was as anxious to do an act which, by building up the continent, should hand his name down to posterity as a national benefactor, as to increase his business; but the limits of this article forbid more than a mere glance at the subject.

[Footnote A:  The reader will bear in mind that the above extract was written in 1857.]

A company was formed, at the head of which stood Mr. Astor, and an elaborate and carefully-arranged plan of operations prepared.  Two expeditions were dispatched to the mouth of the Columbia, one by land and the other by sea.  Many hardships were encountered, but the foundation of a settlement was successfully made on the Columbia.  In spite of the war with England (1812-15), which now occurred, the enterprise would have been successful had Mr. Astor’s positive instructions been obeyed.  They were utterly disregarded, however, and his partners and agents not only betrayed him in every instance, but sold his property to a rival British company for a mere trifle.  His pecuniary loss was over a million of dollars, and his disappointment bitter beyond expression.  When the enterprise was on the point of failure, and while he was still chafing at the conduct of his treacherous subordinates, he wrote to Mr. Hunt, the most faithful of all his agents:  “Were I on the spot, and, had the management of affairs, I would defy them