The line of posts
across the continent would become a line of towns; emigration would
follow, and civilization would belt the continent.
"In this grand scheme, Mr. Astor was only anticipating the course of
events which, fifty years later, we are beginning to witness. When he
laid his plans before the Government, Mr. Jefferson, who was then
President, 'considered as a great acquisition,' as he afterward
expressed himself in a letter to Mr. Astor, 'the commencement of a
settlement on the western coast of America, and looked forward with
gratification to the time when its descendants should have spread
themselves through the whole length of that coast, covering it with free
and independent Americans, unconnected with us except by ties of blood
and interest, and enjoying, like us, the rights of self-government.'
Even Jefferson's mind, wide as it was, could not take in the idea of a
national unity embracing both ends of the continent; but not so thought
Astor. The merchant saw farther than the statesman. It was precisely
this political unity which gave him hope and chance of success in his
worldwide schemes.
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