CHAPTER LV.
Anxieties of Mr. Astor.--Memorial of the Northwest Company--
Tidings of a British Naval Expedition Against Astoria.--Mr.
Astor Applies to Government for Protection.--The Frigate
Adams Ordered to be Fitted Out.--Bright News From Astoria.--
Sunshine Suddenly Overclouded.
WHILE difficulties and disasters had been gathering about the infant
settlement of Astoria, the mind of its projector at New York was a prey
to great anxiety. The ship Lark, despatched by him with supplies for
the establishment, sailed on the 6th of March, 1813. Within a
fortnight afterwards, he received intelligence which justified all his
apprehensions of hostility on the part of the British. The Northwest
Company had made a second memorial to that government, representing
Astoria as an American establishment, stating the vast scope of its
contemplated operations, magnifying the strength of its fortifications,
and expressing their fears that, unless crushed in the bud, it would
effect the downfall of their trade.
Influenced by these representations, the British government ordered
the frigate Phoebe to be detached as a convoy for the armed ship, Isaac
Todd, which was ready to sail with men and munitions for forming a
new establishment.
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