all; but as it is, every thing depends on you and your friends about you.  Our enterprise is grand, and deserves success, and I hope in God it will meet it. If my object was merely gain of money, I should say, think whether it is best to save what we can, and abandon the place; but the very idea is like a dagger to my heart.”  When the news of the final betrayal reached him, he wrote to the same gentleman:  “Had our place and property been fairly captured, I should have preferred it; I should not feel as if I were disgraced.”

Mr. Astor remained in active business for fifty years.  During that entire period he scarcely committed an error of judgment which led to a loss in business.  He was thorough master of every thing pertaining to his affairs, and his strength and accuracy of judgment was remarkable.  The particulars of his transactions were indelibly impressed upon his mind.  His intellect was vigorous and quick, and he grasped a subject with a readiness which seemed like intuition.  He was always careful of the present, but he loved to undertake enterprises which extended far into the future.  He was a man of the utmost punctuality in all his habits.  He rose early, and, until he was fifty-five years old, was always in his office before seven o’clock.  His capacity for work was very great, so that, in spite of his heavy labors, he was always able to leave his office by two o’clock, while many of his associates, who really did less than he, were compelled to remain in their counting-rooms until four or five.  He was noted for his unvarying calmness, which he doubtless owed to his German temperament.  In the midst of disaster and loss he was cooler and more cheerful than ever.  To those who chafed at their troubles, he would say, smilingly, “Keep quiet; keep cool.”  This was his safeguard.

He was a devoted citizen of the United States, and, though he took no active interest in politics, was a steady supporter of the Whig party.  Henry Clay was his personal friend, and his last donation to any political cause was a subscription of fifteen hundred dollars to aid the election of his old friend to the Presidency.

About the year 1830, Mr. Astor, now the possessor of millions, began to withdraw from active business, confining his efforts chiefly to such investments as the management of his immense estate made necessary.  He now put into execution an enterprise which he had long cherished.  When a poor stranger in the city, he had once stopped in Broadway to notice a row of buildings which had just been erected, and which were considered the finest in the street, and had then made a vow that he would one day build a larger and finer house than any in Broadway.  He now set to work to carry out the plan he had cherished ever since.  He owned the entire block on Broadway, between Vesey and Barclay streets, with the exception of one house, which was the property of a Mr. Coster, a merchant who had amassed a large fortune and retired from business.  Mr. Astor made him many offers for his house, but the old gentleman was unwilling to remove.  Mr. Astor offered him the full value of his house, which was thirty thousand dollars, and increased the bid to forty thousand, but Mr. Coster was obstinate.  At length Mr. Astor, in despair, was compelled to reveal his plan to his neighbor.