as detained for a few days by a head wind; but early in the morning of
the fifth stood out to sea with a fine breeze and swelling canvas, and
swept off gaily on her fatal voyage, from which she was never to return!

On reviewing the conduct of Captain Thorn, and examining his peevish and
somewhat whimsical correspondence, the impression left upon our mind is,
upon the whole, decidedly in his favor. While we smile at the simplicity
of his heart and the narrowness of his views, which made him regard
everything out of the direct path of his daily duty, and the rigid
exigencies of the service, as trivial and impertinent, which inspired
him with contempt for the swelling vanity of some of his coadjutors, and
the literary exercises and curious researches of others, we cannot but
applaud that strict and conscientious devotion to the interests of his
employer, and to what he considered the true objects of the enterprise
in which he was engaged. He certainly was to blame occasionally for the
asperity of his manners, and the arbitrary nature of his measures, yet
much that is exceptionable in this part of his conduct may be traced to
rigid notions of duty acquired in that tyrannical school, a ship of war,
and to the construction given by his companions to the orders of Mr.
Astor, so little in conformity with his own. His mind, too, appears to
have become almost diseased by the suspicions he had formed as to the
loyalty of his associates, and the nature of their ultimate designs; yet
on this point there were circumstances to, in some measure, justify him.
The relations between the United States and Great Britain were at that
time in a critical state; in fact, the two countries were on the eve of
a war. Several of the partners were British subjects, and might be ready
to desert the flag under which they acted, should a war take place.
Their application to the British minister at New York shows the dubious
feeling with which they had embarked in the present enterprise. They had
been in the employ of the Northwest Company, and might be disposed
to rally again under that association, should events threaten the
prosperity of this embryo establishment of Mr. Astor. Besides, we have
the fact, averred to us by one of the partners, that some of them, who
were young and heedless, took a mischievous and unwarrantable pleasure
in playing upon the jealous temper of the captain, and affecting
mysterious consultations and sinister movements.

The