west Company had actually spread a rumor of their having been cut off by the Indians.
It was a hard trial of the courage and means of an individual, to have to fit out another costly expedition, where so much has already been expended, so much uncertainty prevailed, and where the risk of loss was so greatly enhanced, that no insurance could be effected.
In spite of all these discouragements, Mr. Astor determined to send another ship to the relief of the settlement. He selected for this purpose a vessel called the Lark, remarkable for her fast sailing. The disordered state of the times, however, caused such a delay, that February arrived, while the vessel was yet lingering in port. At this juncture Mr. Astor learnt that the Northwest Company were preparing to send out an armed ship of twenty guns, called the Isaac Todd, to form an establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. These tidings gave him great uneasiness. A considerable proportion of the persons in his employ were Scotchmen and Canadians, and several of them had been in the service of the Northwest Company. Should Mr. Hunt have failed to arrive at Astoria, the whole establishment would be under the control of Mr. M'Dougal, of whose fidelity he had received very disparaging accounts from Captain Thorn. The British Government, also, might deem it worth while to send a force against the establishment, having been urged to do so some time previously by the Northwest Company.
Under all these circumstances, Mr. Astor wrote to Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State, requesting protection from the Government of the United States. He represented the importance of this settlement, in a commercial point of view, and the shelter it might afford to the American vessels in those seas. All he asked was, that the American Government would throw forty or fifty men into the fort at his establishment, which would be sufficient for its defence, until he could send reinforcements overland.
He waited in vain for a reply to his letter, the Government, no doubt, being engrossed at the time, by an overwhelming crowd of affairs. The month of March arrived, and the Lark was ordered by Mr. Aster to put to sea. The officer who was to command her shrunk from his engagement, and in the exigency of the moment she was given in charge to Mr. Northrop, the mate. Mr. Nicholas G. Ogden, a gentlemen on whose talents and integrity the highest reliance could be placed, sailed
