SJS. — ai^* Ui^ a* YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of MRS. WINFIELD KENNEDY SHIRAS P^gy^^'^.TpnCOTSETTnrr-T'irs^tmMnr^-B^ ^:i,-\i3^A0\ PREFACE. A LAEGE part of the following biography relates to a period of American history as yet unwritten, and is intended to supply historians with material which, except in such a form, would be little likely to see the light. The principal private source from wliicli the author has drawn his inforrriation is of course the rich collection of paper's which Albert Gallatin left behind him in the hands of his only now surviving son and literary executor, under whose direction these volumes are published. By the liberality and courtesy of Mr. Evarts, Secretary of State, and the active assistance of the admirable organization of the State Department, much material in the government archives at Washington, has been made accessible, without which the story must have been little more than a fragment. The interesting series of letters addressed to Joseph H. Nicholson are drawn from the Nicholson MSS., which Judge Alexander B. Hagner kindly placed in the author's hands at a moment when he had abandoned the hope of tracing them. For other valuable papers and information he is indebted to Miss Sarah N. Randolph, of Edgehill, the representative of Mr. Jefferson, the Nicholases, and the Randolphs. The persevering inquiries of Mr. William Wirt Henry, of Richmond, have resulted in filling some serious gaps in the narrative, and the antiquarian research of Mr. James Veech, of Pittsburg, has been freely put at the author's service. Finally, he has to recognize tiie unfailing generosity with which his numerous and troublesome demands have been met by one whose path it is his utmost hope in some slight degree to have smoothed, — his friendly adviser, George Bancroft. Washington, May, 1879. (in) TABLE OF CONTENTS. FAQE Book I.— Toitth. 1761-1790 1 Book II.— The LEaiSLATirai:. 1789-1801 76 Book III.— The Tkbasurt. 1801-1813 267 Book IV.— Diplomacy. 1813-1829 493 Book V.— Aok. 1830-1849 635 (V) LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. BOOK I. YOUTH. 1761-1790. Jean de Gallatin, who, at the outbreak of the French revolution, was second in command of the regiment of Ch^teau- vieux in the service of Louis XVI., and a devout believer in the antiquity of his family, maintained that the Gallatins were descended from A. Atilius Callatinus, consul in the years of Rome 494 and 498; in support of this article of faith he fought a duel with the Baron de Pappenheim, on horseback, with sabres, and, as a consequence, ever afterwards carried a sabre- cut across his face. His theory, even if held to be unshaken by the event of this wager of battle, is unlikely ever to become one of the demonstrable facts of genealogy, since a not unimportant gap of about fifteen hundred years elapsed between the last con sulship of the Roman Gallatin and the earliest trace of the modern family, found in a receipt signed by the Abbess of Bellacomba for "quindecim libras Viennenses" bequeathed to her convent by "Dominus Fulcherius Gallatini, Miles," in the year 1258. Faulcher Gallatini left no other trace of his existence; but some sixty years later, in 1319, a certain Guillaume Gallatini, Cheva lier, with his son. Humbert Gallatini, Damoiseau, figured dimly in legal documents, and Humbert^s grandson, Henri Gallatini, Seigneur de Granges, married Agnes de Lenthenay, whose will, dated 1397, creating her son Jean Gallatini her heir, fixes the local origin of the future Genevan family. Granges was an estate in Bugey, in the province of which Bellay was the capital, then a part of Savoy, but long since absorbed in France, and now 1 1 2 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1761. embraced in the D^partement de I'Ain. It lay near the Rhone, some thirty or forty miles below Geneva, and about the same distance above Lyons. This Jean Gallatini, Seigneur de Granges and of many other manors, was an equerry of the Duke of Savoy, and a man of importance in his neighborhood. He too had a son Jean, who was also an equerry of the Duke of Savoy, and a man of gravity, conscientious in his opinions and serious in his acts. Not only Duke Philibert but even Pope Leo X. held him in esteem; the Duke made him his secretary with the title of Vice Comes, and the Pope clothed him with the dignity of Apostolic Judge, Avith tlie power to create one hundred and fifty notaries and public judges, and with the further somewhat invidious privilege of legitimatizing an equal number of bastards. Notwithstanding this mark of apostolic favor conferred on the " venerabilis vir dominus Johannes Gallatinus, civis Gebennensis" by a formal act dated at Salerno in 1522, Jean Gallatin was not an obedient son of the Church. For reasons no longer to be ascertained, he had in 1510 quitted his seigniories and his services in Savoy and caused himself to be enrolled as a citizen of Geneva. The significance of this act rests in the fact that the moment he chose for the change was that which immediately preceded the great revolution in Genevan history when the city tore itself away not only from Savoy but from the Church. Jean Gallatin was a man of too much consequence not to be welcomed at Geneva. He linked his fortunes with hers, became a member of the Council, and joined in the decree which, in 1535, deposed the Prince Bishop and abrogated the power of the Pope. He died in 1536, the year Calvin came to Geneva, and the Gallatins were so far among the close allies of the great reformer that a considerable number of his letters to them were still preserved by the family until stolen or destroyed by some of the wilder reformers who accompanied the revolutionary armies of France in 1794.' After the elevation of Geneva to the rank of a sovereign republic in 1535, the history of the Gallatins is the history of the city. The family, if not the first in tlie state, was second > A moro detailed account of the Gallatin genealogy will bo found in the Appendix to vol. lii. of Gallatin's Writings, p. 508. 1701. YOUTIL 1701-1700. 3 to none. Government was aristocratic in this small republic, and of the eleven families into whose hands it fell at the time of the Reformation, the Gallatins furnished syndics and coun sellors, Avith that rcgulai'ity and frequency which characterized the mode of selection, in a more liberal measure than any of the otlier ten. Five Gallatins held the position of first syndic, and as such were the chief magistrates of the republic. Many were in the Church ; some Avere professors and rectors of the University. They counted at least one political martyr among their number, — a Gallatin AA'ho, charged with the crime of being head of a party which aimed at popular reforms m the constitu tion, was seized and imprisoned in 1698, and died in 1719, after twentj'^-one years of close confinement. They OA'erfloAved into foreign countries. Pierre, the elder son of Jean, AA-as the source of four distinct branches of the family, which spread and mul tiplied in every direction, although of them all no male repre sentative now exists except among the descendants of Albert Gallatin. One Avas in the last century a celebrated physician in Paris, chief of the hospital established by Mine. Necker ; another was Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Duke of BrunsAvick, who, when mortally Avounded at the battle of Jena, in 1806, com mended his minister to the King of Wiirtemberg as his best and dearest friend. The King respected this dying injunction, and Count Gallatin, in 1819, Avas, as Avill be seen, the Wiirtemberg minister at Paris. That the Gallatins did not restrict their activity to civil lif6 is a matter of course. There were few great battle-fields in Europe where some of them had not fought, and not very many where some of them had not fallen. Voltaire testifies to this fact in the foUoAving letter to Count d'Argental, which contains a half-serious, half-satirical account of their military career : VOLTAIRB to the count D'ARGENTAL. 9 fevrier, 1761. Voici la plus belle occasion, mon cher ange, d'exercer votre minist^re c6leste. II s'agit du meilleur office que je puisse rece- voir de vos boiitfe. 4 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1761. Je vous conjure, mon cher et respectable ami, d'employer tout votre credit aupr^s de M. le Due de Choiseul; auprfis de ses amis ; s'il le faut, auprfis de sa maitresse, &c., &c. Et pourquoi os6-je vous demander tant d'appui, tant de zfele, tant de vivaoite, et surtout un prompt succ6s? Pour le bien du service, mon cher ange; pour battre le Due de Brunsvick. M. Galatin, officier aux gardes suisses, qui vous prfisentera ma trSs-humble requ6te, est de la plus ancienne famille de Genfeve ; ils se font tuer pour nous de p6re en fils depuis Henri Quatre. L'oncle de celui-ci a dt6 tu6 devant Ostende ; son frSre I'a 6t6 k la malheureuse et abomi nable journfie de Rosbach, h ce que je crois; journge oil les regi ments suisses firent seuls leur devoir. Si ce n'est pas h Rosbach, c'est ailleurs ; le fait est qu'il a 6t6 tu6 ; celui-ci a 6t6 bless6. II sert depuis dix ans ;• il a 6te aide-major ; il vent Tfetre. II faut des aides-major qui parlent bien allemand, qui soient actifs, intel- ligens ; il est tout cela. Enfin vous saurez de lui pr6cis6ment ce qu'il lui faut ; c'est en g6n6ral la permission d'aller vlte chercher la mort h votre service. Faites-lui cette grftce, et qu'il ne soit point tu6, car il est fort aimable et il est neveu de cette Mme. Calendrin que vous avez vue 6tant enfant. Mme. sa m6re est bien aussi aimable que Mme. Calendrin. One Gallatin fell in 1602 at the Escalade, famous in Genevan history; another at the siege of Ostend, in 1745; another at the battle of Marburg, in 1760; another, the ninth of his name who had served in the Swiss regiment of Aubonne, fell in 1788, act ing as a volunteer at the siege of OctzakoAV ; still another, in 1797, at the passage of the Rhine. One commanded a battalion under Rochambeau at the siege of YorktoAvn. But while these scattered members of the family Avere serving Avith credit and success half the princes of Christendom, the main stock was ahvays Genevan to the core and pre-eminently distinguished in civil life. In any other European country a family like this would have had a feudal organization, a recognized head, great entailed estates, and all the titles of duke, marquis, count, and peer which royal favor could confer or political and social influence could command. Geneva stood by herself. Aristocratic as her 1701. YOUTH. 1701-1700. 5 government AA-as, it AA'as still republican, and the parade of rank or wealth was not one of its chief characteristics. All the honors and dignities Avhich the republic could give Avere bestoAved on the Gallatin family Avith a prodigal hand ; but its members had no hereditary title other than the quaint prefix of Noble, and the right to the further prefix of de, Avhich they rarely used ; they had no great family estate passing by the law of primogeniture, no family organization centring in and dependent on a recognized chief. Integrity, energy, courage, and intelligence Avere for tlie most part the only family estates of this aristocracy, and these Avere A\'ealth enough to make of the little city of Geneva the most intelligent and perhaps tlie purest .society in Europe. The austere morality and the masculine logic of Calvin Avere here at home, and there Avas neither a great court near by, nor great sources of wealth, to counteract or corrupt the tendencies of Calvin's teachings. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Avhen Gallatins swarmed in every position of dignity or useful ness in their native state and in every service abroad, it does not appear that any one of them ever attained very great wealth, or asserted a claim of superior dignity OA'er his cousins of the name. Yet the name, although the strongest, Avas not their only common tie. A certain Franpois Gallatin, who died in 1699, left by will a portion of hLs estate in trust, its income to be expended for the aid or relief of members of the family. This trust, known as the Bourse Grallatin, honestly and efficiently administered, proved itself to be all that its founder could ever have desired. One of the four branches of this extensive family Avas repre sented in the middle of the eighteenth century by Abraham Gallatin, who lived on his estate at Pregny, one of the most beautiful spots on the AA'est shore of the lake, near Geneva, and who is therefore knoAvn as Abraham Grallatin of Pregny. His Avife, whom he had married in 1732, was Susanne Vaudenet, commonly addressed as Mme. Gallatin- Vaudenet. They were, if not positively Avealthy, at least sufficiently so to maintain their position among the best of Genevese society, and Mme. Gallatin appears to have been a Avoman of more than ordinary character, intelligence, and ambition. The world knoAVS almost every detail about the society of Geneva at that time ; for, apart from 6 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1761. a very distinguished circle of native Genevans, it Avas the society in Avhich Voltaire lived, and to Avhich the attention of much that Avas most cultivated in Europe Avas for that reason, if for no other, directed. Voltaire was a near neighbor of the Gallatins at Pregny. Notes and messages Avere constantly passing betAveen the two houses. Dozens of these little billets in Voltaire's hand are still preserved. Some are Avritten on the back of ordinaiy playing-cards. The deuce of clubs says : " Nous sommes aux ordres de Mme. Galatin. Nous tS,cherons d'employer ferblantier. Parlement Paris refuse tout 6dit et veut que le roi demande pardon a Parlement Bezanjon. Anglais ont voulu rebombarder Havre. N'ont r6ussi. Carosse ^ une heure J. Respects." There is no date; but this is not necessary, for the contents seem to fix the date for the year 1756. A note endorsed "Des Delices" is in the same tone : " Lorsque V. se prfeente chez sa voisine, il n'a d'autre affaire, d'autre but, que de lui faire sa cour. Nous attendons pour faire des repetitions le retour du Tyran qui a mal k la poitrine. S'il y a quelques nouvelles de Berlin, Mr. Gallatin est- suppli6 d'en faire part. Mille respects." Another, of the year 1759, is on business : " Comment se porte notre malade, notre ch6re voisine, notre ch6re fille ? J'ai et6 aux vignes, madame. Les gufepes mangent tout, et ce qu'elles ne mangent point est sec. Le vigneron de Mme. du Tremblay est venu me faire ses representations. Mes tonneaux ne sont pas relies, a-t-il dit ; dilierez vendange. Relie tes tonneaux, ai-je dit. Vos raisins ne sont pas mClrs, a-t-il dit. Va les voir, ai-je dit. II y a et6 ; il a vu. Vendangez au plus vlte, a-t-il dit. Qu'ordonnez-vous, madame, au,voisin V. ?" Another of the same year introduces Mme. Gallatin's figs, of Avhich she seems to have been proud : " Vos figues, madame, sont un prfisent d'autant plus beau que nous pouvons dire comme I'autre : car ce n'etait pas le temps des figues. Nous n'en avons point aux Delices, mais nous aurons un theatre h Tourney. Et nous partons dans une heure pour venir vous voir. Recevez vous et toute votre famille, madame, les tendres respects de V." 1761. YOUTH. 1761-1790. 7 " Vous me donnez plus de figues, madame, qu'il n'y en a dans le pays de papimanie; et moi, madame, je suis comme le figuier de I'fivangile, sec et maudit. Ce n'est pas comme acteur, c'est comme trSs-attache il toute votre famille que je m'interesse bien vivement h la sant6 de Mme. Galatin-Rolaz. Nous r6p6tons mardi en habits pontificaux. Ceux qui ont des billets vicndront s'ils veulcnt. Je suis h vous, madame, pour ma vie. V." Then follows a brief note dated " Ferney, 18" 7re," 1761 : "Nous comptions revenir tons souper fl Ferney aprfes la com6die. Mr. le Due de Villars nous retint; notre carosse se rompit ; nous essuy9,mes tons les contretemps possibles ; la vie en est semSe ; mais le plus grand de tous est de n'avoir pas eu I'honneur de souper avec vous." One of tlie friends for Avhom Mme. Gallatin- Vaudenet seems to have felt the strongest attachment, and Avith whom she cor responded, was the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, a personage not favorably known in American history. The Landgrave, in 1776, sent Mme. Gallatin his portrait, and Mme. Gallatin persuaded Voltaire to write for her a copy of verses addressed to the Land grave, in recognition of this honor. Here they are from the original draft : "J'ai baisS ce portrait charm ant, Je TOUS I'avourni sans mystSre. Mes fiUos en ont fait autant, Mais c'est un secret qu'il faut taire. Vous trouverez ton qu'une mSre Vous parle un peu plus hardiment ; Et vous verrez qu'egalement En tous los temps vous savez plaire."' The success of Mme. Gallatin in the matter of figs led Vol taire to beg of her some trees ; but his fortune was not so good as hers. "lOe Auguste, 1768, h Ferney. Vous etes benie de Dieu, madame. II y a six ans que je plante des figuiers, et pas un ne reussit. Ce serait bien \h le cas de sScher mes figuiers. Mais si j'avais des miracles k faire, ce ne serait pas celui-la.. Je me ' Printed in Voltaire's Works, xii. 871 (ed. 1819.) 8 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1761. borne k vous remercier, madame. Je crois qu'il n'y a que les vieux figuiers qui donnent. La vieillesse est encore bonne k quelque chose. J'ai comme vous des chevaux de trente ans; c'est ce qui fait que je les aime ; il n'y a rien de tel que les vieux amis. Les jeunes pourtant ne sont pas k mepriser, mesdames. V." One more letter by Voltaire is all that can find room here. The Landgrave seems to have sent by Mme. Gallatin some as paragus seed to Voltaire, Avhich he acknoAvledged in these Avords : VOLTAIRE TO THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE. Le 15e septemhre, 1772, db Fernet. Monseigneue, — Mme. Gallatin m'a fait voir la lettre oil votre Altesse Serenissime montre toute sa sagesse, sa bonte et son go-ftt en parlant d'un jeune liomme dont la raison est un peu egaree. Je vols que dans cette lettre elle m'accorde un bienfait tr6s-signaie, qu'on doit rarement attendre des princes et meme des medecins. Elle me donne un brevet de trois ans de vie, car il faut trois ans pour faire venir ces belles asperges dont vous me gratifiez. Agreez, monseigneur, mes tres-humbles remerciements. J'ose esperer devous les renouveler dans trois annees; car enfin il faut bien que je me nourrisse d'esperance avant que de I'etre de vos asperges. Que ne puis-je etre en 6tat de venir vous demander la permission de manger celles de vos jardins I La belle revolu tion de Sufede op6ree avec tant de fermete et de prudence par le roi votre parent, donne envie de vivre. Ce prince est comme vous, il se fait aimer de ses sujets. Cost assurement de toutes les ambitions la plus belle. Tout le reste a je ne sais quoi de chimerique et souvent de trfes-funeste. Je souhaite k Votre Altesse Serenissime de longues annees. C'est le seul souhait que je puisse faire; vous avez tout le reste. Je suis, avec le plus profond respect, monseigneur, de Votre Altesse Serenissime le trSs-humble et trSs-obeissant serviteur, " Le vieux malade de Ferney, " Voltaire." The correspondence of his Most Serene Highness, who made himself thus loved by his subjects, cannot be said to sparkle like 1761. YOUTH. 1701-1790. 9 that of Voltaire; yet, although the Landgrave's French Avas little better tlian his principles, one of his letters to Mme. Galla tin may find a place here. The single line in regard to his troops returning from America giA'CS it a certain degree of point Avhich only Americans or Hessians ai-e likely to appreciate at its full value. THE LANDGRAVE OF HESSE TO M". GALLATIN-VAUDENET. Madame ! — Je vous accuse avec un plaisir infini la lettre que vous avez bien voulu m'ecrire le 27 mars dernier, et je vous fais bien mes parfaits remercimens de la part que vous continuez de prendre il ma sante, dont je suis, on ne pent pas plus, content. La v6tre m'int6resse trop pour ne p.os souhaiter qu'elle soit egalement telle que vous la desirez. Puisse la belle saison qui vient de succeder enfin au tems rude qu'il a fait, la raffermir pour bien des ann6es, et puissiez-vous jouir de tout le contente- ment que mes voeux empresses vous destinent. Quoique la lettre dont vous avez charge Mr. Cramer m'ait ete rendue, j'ai bien du regret d'aA-^oir ete priv6 du plaisir de faire sa connaissance personnelle, puisqu'il ne s'est pas arrete k Cassel, et n'a fait que passer. Le temoignage favorable que vous lui donnez ne pent que prdvenir en sa faveur. Au reste je suis sur le point d'entreprendre un petit voiage que j'ai medite depuis longtems pour changer d'air. Je serais deja, en route, sans mes Trouppes revenus de 1' Amerique, que je suis bien aise de revoir avant mon depart, et dont les derniers regimens seront rendus k Cassel vers la fin du mois. Continuez-moi en attendant votre cher souvenir, et, eri faisant bien mes complimens k Mr. et k Mile. Gallatin, persuadez^^vous que rien n'est au-dessus des sentimens vrais et invariables avec lesquels je ne finirai d'etre, madame, votre trSs-humble et trfes- obeissant serviteur. Fr6d]5iiic L. d'Hesse. Cassel, le 25 mai, 1784. Mme. Gallatin- Vaudenet had three children, — one son and two daughters. The son, who Avas named Jean Gallatin, was born in 1733, and in 1755 married Sophie Albertine Rolaz du Rosey of Rolle, — the Mme. Gallatin-Rolaz already mentioned in one of 10 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1761-1775. Voltaire's notes. , They had tAvo children, — a boy, born on the 29th of January, 1761, in the city of Geneva, and baptized on the foUoAving 7th of February by the name of Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin ; and a girl about five years older. Abraham Gallatin, the grandfather, was a merchant in part nership with his son Jean. Jean died, hoAvever, in the summer of 1765, and his wife, Mme. Gallatin-Rolaz, Avho had talent and great energy, undertook to carry on his share of the business in her OAvn separate name. She died in March, 1770. The daughter had been sent to IMontpellier for her health, which she never recovered, and died a fcAV years after, in 1777. The boy, Albert, was left an orphan when nine years old, with a large circle of blood-relations ; the nearest of Avliom were his grand father Abraham and his grandmother the friend of Voltaire and of Frederic of Hesse. The child would naturally have been taken to Pregny and brought up by his grandparents, but a different arrangement had been made during the lifetime of his mother, and was continued after her death. Mme. Gallatin- Rolaz had a most intimate friend, a distant relation of her hus band, Catherine Pictet by name, unmarried, and at this time about forty years old. When Jean Gallatin died, in 1765, Mile. Pictet, seeing the widoAV overwhelmed with the care of her invalid daughter and with the charge of her husband's business, insisted on taking the boy Albert under her OAvn care, and accordingly, on the 8th of January, 1766, Albert, then five years old, went to live with her, and from that time became in a manner her child. Besides his grandfather Abraham Gallatin at Pregny, and his other paternal relations, Albert had a large family connection on the mother's side, and more especially an uncle, Alphonse Rolaz of Rolle, kind-hearted, generous, and popular. Both on the father's and the mother's side Albert had a right to expect a sufficient fortune. His interests during his minority Avere well cared for, and nothing can shoAV better the characteristic economy and carefulness of Genevan society than the mode of the boy's education. For seven years, till January, 1773, he lived Avith Mile. Pictet, and his expenses did not exceed eighty dollars a year. Then he went to boarding-school, and in August, 1775, 1779. YOUTH. 1701-1700. H to the college or academy, Avhere he graduated in May, 1779. During all this period his expenses slightly exceeded tAVO hun dred dollars a year. The Bourse Gallatin advanced a com paratively large sum for his education and for the expenses of his sister's illness. " No necessary expense AA'as spared for my education," is his memorandum on the back of some old ac counts of his guardian ; " but such Avas the frugality observed in other respects, and the good care taken of my property, that in 1786, Avlien I came of age, all the debts had been paid ex cepting two tliousand four hundred francs lent by an unknoAvn person through Mr. Cramer, Avho died in 1778, and Avith him the secret name of that friend, Avho never made himself knoAvn or could be guessed." In such an atmosphere one might sup pose that economists and financiers must groAV Avithout the need of education. Yet the fact seems to have been otherwise, and in Albert Gallatin's closest family connection, both his grand father Abraham and his uncle Alphonse Rolaz ultimately died insolvent, and instead of inheriting a fortune from them he was left to pay their debts. Of the nature of Albert's training the best idea can be got from his oavu account of the Academy of Geneva, contained in a letter Avritten in 1847 and published among his works.^ At that time the academy represented all there was of education in the little republic, and its influence Avas felt in every thought and act of the citizens. " In its organization and general outlines the academy had not, Avhen I left Geneva in 1780, been mate rially altered from the original institutions of its founder. What ever may have been his defects and erroneous vicAvs, Calvin had at all events the learning of his age, and, however objectionable some of his religious doctrines, he Avas a sincere and zealous friend of knoAvledge and of its Avide diffusion among the people. Of this he laid the foundation by making the whole education almost altogether gratuitous, from the A B C to the time when the student had completed his theological or legal studies. But there was nothing remarkable or ncAv in the organization or forms of the schools. These Avere on the same plan as colleges 1 Letter to Eben Dodge, 21st January, 1847. Writings, vol. ii. p. 638. 12 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1779. Avere then, and generally continue to be in the old seminaries of learning. ... In the first place, besides the academy proper, there Avas a preparatory department intimately connected with it and under its control. This in Geneva was called ' the College,' and consisted of nine classes, ... the three loAver of which, for reading, writing, and spelling, Avere not sufficient for the wants of the people, and had several auocursales or substitutes in various parts of the city. But for that Avhich Avas taught in the six upper classes (or in the academy), there were no other public schools but the college and the academy. In these six classes nothing Avhatever Avas taught but Latin and Greek, — Latin thor oughly, Greek much neglected. Professor de Saussure used his best endeavors about 1776, Avhen rector of the academy, to im prove the system of education in the college by adding some elementary instruction in history, geography, and natural science, but could not succeed, a great majority of his colleagues opposing him. . . . "When not aided and stimulated by enlightened parents or friends, the students from the time when they entered the academy (on an average Avhen about or rather more than fifteen years old) were left almost to theniselves, and studied more or less as they pleased. But almost all had previously passed through at least the upper classes of the college. I was the only one of my class and of the two immediately preceding and following me Avho had been principally educated at home and had passed only through the first or upper class of the college. ... In the years 1775-1779 the average number of the scholai's in the four upper classes of the college was about one hundred, and that of the students in the four first years of the academical course, viz., the auditoires of belles-lettres and philosophy, about fifty, of whom not more than one or tAvo had not passed through at least the three or four upper classes of the college. Very few mechanics, even the Avatchmakers, so numerous in Geneva and noted for their superior intelligence and knoAvledge, went beyond the fifth and sixth classes, Avhich included about one hundred and twenty scholars. As to the loAver or primary classes or schools, it would have been difficult to find a citizen intra muroa Avho could not read and write. The peasantry or cultivators of 1779. YOUTH. 1761-1790. 13 the soil in the small Genevese territory Avcrc, indeed, far more intelligent than their Catholic neighbors, but still, as in the other continental parts of Euroi)e, a distinct and inferior class, Avith some religious instruction, but speaking patois (the great obstacle to the diffusion of knoAvledge), and almost univer sally not knoAving hoAv to read or to Avrite. The population intra muros Avas about 24,000 (in 1535, at the epoch of the Refor mation and independence, about 1 3,000), of Avhom nearly one third not naturalized, chiefly Germans or Swiss, exercising what were considered as loAver trades, tailors, shoemakers, &c., and including almost all the menial servants. I never kncAV or heard of a male citizen or native of Geneva serving as such. The number of citizens above tAventy-five years of age, and having a right to vote, amounted, exclusively of those residing abroad, to 2000. . . . " There was in Geneva neither nobility nor any hereditary privilege but that of citizenship ; and the body of citizens as sembled in Council General had preserved the power of laying taxes, enacting laws, and ratifying treaties. But they could originate nothing, and a species of artificial aristocracy, composed of the old families which happened to be at the head of affairs AA'hen independence was declared, and skilfully strengthened by the successive adoption of the most distinguished citizens and emigrants, had succeeded in engrossing the public employments and concentrating the real poAA^er in tAvo self-elected councils of tAventy-five and two hundred members respectively. But that poAver rested on a most frail foundation, since in a state Avhich consists of a single city the majority of the inhabitants may in twenty-'four hours overset the government. In order to preserve it, a moral, intellectual superiority was absolutely necessary. This could not be otherwise attained than by superior knoAvl- edge and education, and the consequence was that it became disgraceful for any young man of decent parentage to be an idler. All Were bound to exercise their faculties to the utmost ; and although there are ahvays some incapable, yet the number is small of those who, if they persevere, may not by labor become, in some one branch, well-informed men. Nor was that love and habit of learning long confined to that self-created aristocracy. 14 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1779. A salutary competition in that respect took place between the tAvo political parties, which had a most happy effect on the general diffusion of knoAvledge. " During the sixteenth and the greater part of the seventeenth century the Genevese Avere the counterpart of the Puritans of Old and of the Pilgrims of Ncav England, — the same doctrines, the same simplicity in the external forms of Avorship, the same austerity of morals and severity of manners, the same attention to schools and seminaries of learning, the same virtues, and the same defects, — exclusiveness and intolerance, equally banishing all those Avho differed on any point from the established creed, putting Avitches to death, &c., &c. And Avith the progress of knoAvledge both about at the same time became tolerant and liberal. But here the similitude ends. To the Pilgrims of NeAV England, in common Avith the other English colonists, the most vast field of enterprise Avas opened Avhich ever offered itself to civilized man. Their mission Avas to conquer the Avilderness, to multiply indefinitely, to settle and inhabit a whole continent, and to carry their institutions and civilization from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. With Avhat energy and perseverance this has been performed we all know. But to those pursuits all the national energies Avere directed. Learning Avas not neglected ; but its higher branches A\-ere a secondary object, and science was cultivated almost exclusively for practical purposes, and only as far as was requisite for supplying the community Avith the necessary number of clergymen and members of the other liberal professions. The situation of Geneva Avas precisely the reverse of this. Confined to a single city and without terri tory, its inhabitants did all that their position rendered practi cable. They created the manufacture of watches, which gave employment to near a fourth part of the population, and carried on commerce to the fullest extent of Avhich their geographical situation Avas susceptible. But the field of active enterprise was still the narroAvest possible. To all those who were am bitious of renoAvn, fame, consideration, scientific pursuits were the only road that could lead to distinction, and to these, or other literary branches, all those Avho had talent and energy devoted themselves. 1779. YOUTH. 1701-1700. 15 " All could not be equally successful ; fcAV only could attain a distinguished eminence ; but, as I have already observed, a far greater number of Avell educated and informed men were found in that small spot than in almost e\'ery other toAvn of Europe Avhich Avas not the metropolis of an extensive country. This had a most favorable influence on the tone of society, Avhich Avas not light, frivolous, or insipid, but generally serious and in structive. I was surrounded by that influence from my earliest days, and, as far as I am concerned, derived more benefit from that source than from my attendance on academical lectures.- , A more general fact deserves notice. At all times, and within my knoAvledge in the years 1770-1780, a great many distinguished foreigners came to Geneva to finish their education, among whom were nobles and princes from Germany and other northern countries ; there Avere also not a fcAv lords and gentlemen from England ; even the Duke of Cambridge, after he had completed his studies at Gottingen. Besides these there Avere some from America, amongst Avliom I may count before the American Revo lution those South Carolinians, Mr. Kinloch, William Smith, — afterAvards a distinguished member of Congress and minister to Portugal, — and Colonel Laurens, one of the last who fell in the Avar of independence. And when I departed from Geneva I left there, besides the tAvo young Penns, proprietors of Pennsyl vania, Franklin Bache, grandson of Dr. Franklin, Johan- not, grandson of Dr. Cooper, of Boston, who died young. Now, amongst all those foreigners I never knew or heard of a single one who attended academical lectures. It Avas the Genevese society which they cultivated, aided by private teachers in every branch, with whom Geneva Avas abundantly supplied." At the academy Albert Gallatin associated of course with all the young Genevese of his day. As most of these had no per manent influence on him, and maintained no permanent relations with him, it is needless to speak of them further. There were but tAA'O whose names Avill recur frequently hereafter. Neither of them was equal to Gallatin in abilities or social advantages, but in politics and philosophy all were evidently of one mind, and the fortunes of all 'were linked together. The name of one was Henri Serre, that of the other was Jean Badollet. 16 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1779. What kind of men they Avere will appear in the course of their adventures. A fourth, whose name is better knoAvn than those just mentioned, seems to have been a close friend of the other three, but differed from them by not coming to America. He Avas Etienne Dumont, afterAvards the friend and interpreter of Bentham. HoAvcver enlightened the society of Pregny may have been under the influence of Voltaire and Frederic of Hesse, it is not to be supposed that Mme. Gallatin-Vaudenet or any other mem bers of the Gallatin family Avere by tastes and interests likely to lean towards levelling principles in politics. Of all people in Geneva they were perhaps most interested in maintaining the old Genevese regime. The Gallatins were for the most part firm believers in aristocracy, and Albert certainly never found encouragement for liberal opinions in his own family, unless they may have crept in through the pathway of Voltairean philosophy as mere theory, the ultimate results of which were not foreseen. This makes more remarkable the fact that young Gallatin, who was himself a clear-headed, sober-minded, practical Genevan, should, by some bond of sympathy which can hardly have been anything more than the intellectual movement of his time, have affiliated with a knot of young men who, if not quite followers of Rousseau, were still essentially visionaries. They were dissatisfied with the order of things in Geneva. They believed in human nature, and believed that human nature when free from social trammels would display nobler qualities and achieve vaster results, not merely in the physical but also in the moral world. The American Revolutionary war Avas going on, and the American Declaration of Independence embodied, per haps helped to originate, some of their thoughts. With minds in this process of youthful fermentation, they finished their academical studies and came out into the world. Albert was graduated in May, 1779, first of his class in mathe matics, natural philosophy, and Latin translation. Before this time, in April, 1778, he had returned to Mile. Pictet, and hia principal occupation for the year after graduating was as tutor to her nephew, Isaac Pictet. Both Gallatin and Badollet were students of English, and the instruction given to Isaac Pictet 1780. YOUTH. 1701-1700. 17 seems to have been partly in English. Of cours§ the serious question before him Avas that of choosing a profession, and this question Avas one in Avhich his family Averc interested ; in which, indeed, their advice Avould naturally carry decisive weight. The young man was much at Pregny Avith his grandparents, where, during his childliood, he often visited Voltaire at Ferney. His grandmother had her OAvn vicAvs as to his career. She wished him to take a commission of lieutenant-colonel in the military service of her friend the LandgraA-e of Hesse, with AA'hom her interest was sufficient to Inisure for him a favorable reception and a promising future. At that moment, it is true, the military prospects of the LandgraA^e's troops in the Jerseys Avere not pecu liarly flattering, and the service can hardly have been popular with such as might remember the dying Avords of Colonel Douop at Red Bank ; but after all the opportunity Avas a sure one, suitable for a gentleman of ancient family, according to the ideas of the time, and flattering to the pride of Mme. Grallatin- Vaudenet. She spoke to her grandson on the subject, urging her adA'ice Avith all the weight she could give it. He replied, abruptly, that he Avould never serve a tyrant. The reply Avas hardly respectful, considering the friendship Avhich he knew to exist between his grandmother and the LandgraA^e, and it is not altogether surprising that it should have provoked an outbreak of temper on her part which took the shape of a box on the ear : "she gave me a cuff," Avere Mr. Gallatin's OAvn words in telling the story to his daughter many years afterAvards. This " cuff" had no small weight in determining the young man's course of action. Yet it would be unfair to infer from this box on the ear that the family attempted to exercise any unreasonable control over Albert's movements. If any one in the transaction showed himself unreasonable. It Avas the young man, not his relations. They were ready to aid him to the full extent of their powers in any respectable line of life which might please his fancy. They would probably have preferred that he should choose a mercantile rather than a military career. They Avould have per mitted, and perhaps encouraged, his travelling for a few years to fit himself for that object. It Avas no fault of theirs that he 2 18 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1780. suddenly took the whole question into his OAvn hands, and, after making silent preparations and carrying with him such resources as he could then raise, on the 1st April, 1780, in company with his friend Serre, secretly and in defiance of his guardian and relations, bade a long farcAvell to Geneva and turned his back on the past. The act was not a Avise one. That future which the young Gallatin grasped so eagerly with outstretched arms had little in it that even to an ardent imagination at nineteen could compen sate for the wanton sacrifice It Involved. There is no reason to suppose that Albert Gallatin's career Avas more brilliant or more successful In America than Avith the same efforts and Avith equal sacrifices it might have been in Europe; for his charac ter and abilities must have insured pre-eminence in Avhatever path he chose. Both the act of emigration and the manner of carrying It out were inconsiderate and unreasonable, as is clear from the arguments by which he excused them at the time. He wished to improve his fortune, he said, and to do this he was going, without capital, as his family pointed out, to a land already ruined by a long and still raging civil war, Avithout a government and without trade. This was his ostensible reason ; and his private one was no better, — that " daily dependence" on others, and particularly on Mile. Pictet and his grandmother, AA'hich galled his pride. That he Avas discontented with Geneva and the Genevan political system was true; but to emigrate Avas not the Avay to mend it, and even in emigrating he did not pretend that his object in seeking America, was to throAV himself into the Revolutionary struggle. He felt a strong sympathy for the Americans and for the political liberty which Avas the motive of their contest ; but this sympatliy Avas rather a matter of reason than of passion. He ahvays took care to correct the idea, afterAvards very commonly received, that he had run away from his family and friends in order to fight the British. So far as his political theories were concerned, aversion to Geneva had more to do Avith his action than any enthusiasm for war, and in the ll.st of personal motives discontent with his dependent position at home had more influence over him than the desire for wealth. At this time, and long afterAvards, he 1780. YOUTH. 1761-1790. 19 was proud and shy. His behavior for many years was controlled by tliese feelings, which only experience and success at last soft ened and overcame. The manner of departure Avas justified by him on the ground that he feared forcible restraint should he attempt to act openly. The excuse was a weak one, and the weaker If a positive pro hibition were really to be feared, Avhich Avas probably not the case. No one had the poAVer to restrain young Gallatin very long. He might have depended Avith confidence on having his own way had he chosen to Insist. But the spirit of liberty at this time was rough in Its methods. Albert Gallatin's con temporaries and friends Avere the men avIio carried the French Revolution tlirough its many Avild phases, and at nineteen men are governed by feeling rather than by common sense, even when they do not belong to a generation Avhicli sets the world in flames. However severe the judgment of his act may be, there Avas nothing morally Avrong in it; nothing Avhich he had not a right to do if he chose. In judging It, too, the reader is affected by the fact that none of his letters in his OAvri defence have been preserved, while all those addressed to him are still among his papers. These, too, are extremely creditable to his family, and show strong affection absolutely free from affectation, and the soundest good sense without a trace of narroAvness. Among them all. One only can be given here. It is from Albert's guar dian, a distant relative in an elder branch of the family. p. M. GALLATIN TO ALBERT GALLATIN. Geneve, 21e mai, 1780. MoNSlETJE, — Avant que de vous ecrlre j'ai voulu m'assurer d'une maniSre plus pr6cise que je n'avais pu le faire les premiers jours de votre depart, et par vous-m6me, quels etaient vos projets, le but et le motif de votre voyage, les causes qui avalent fait naltre une pareille idee dans votre esprit, vos sentimens passes et presens et vos desirs pour I'avenir. II m'6talt difficile k tons ces egards de comprendre comment vous ne vous etiez ouvert ni k Mile. Pictet qui, vous le savez bien, ne vous avalt jamais aime pour 20 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1780. elle-meme mais pour vous seul, qui n'a jamais voulu que votre pins grand bien, qui a pris de vous non-seulement les soins que vous auriez pu attendre de madame votre mfere avec laquelle elle s'6tait individualisee k votre 6gard, mais mfime ceux que peu d'enfants eprouvent de leurs pSres ; ni k moi, qui jamais ne vous ai refus§ quoi que ce soit, parcequ'en effet les demandes en petit nombre que vous m'avlez faites jusqu'a present m'ont toujours paru sages et raisonnables; ni k aucun de vos parens, de qui vousn'avez repu que des douceurs dans tout le cours de votre vie. C'est, je vous I'avouerai, ce defaut de confiance, qui continue encore chez vous k notre egard, qui m'afflige le plus vivement, voyant surtout qu'il tourne centre vous au lieu de servir k votre avantage. Croyez- vous done, monsieur, il votre age, calculcr mieux que les personnes qui ont quelque experience ? ou nous supposlez-vous assez derai- sonnables pour nous refuser k entrer dans des plans qui auraient pu un jour vous conduire au bonheur que vous cherchez ? II est vrai qu'il n'est point de bonheur parfait en ce nionde ; mais pensez- vous que nous aurions ete sourds ou insenslbles k vos motifs les plus secrets? vous defiez-vous de notre discretion pour nous re fuser la confidence qui nous etait due du developpement successif de vos sentimens? est-ce la contrainte pour le choix d'un etat, sont-ce les lois que nous vous avons Imposees pour quelque objet que ce soit, qui nous ont enleve votre confiance ? au contraire, ne vous avons-nous pas declare en diverses occasions que nous vous laisslons cette liberte? devlons-nous et pouvions-nous nous at tendre que vous I'lnterpreterlez en une independance absolue qui ne reconnaitrait pas non-seulement I'autorlte legitime mais la deference naturelle et le besoin de direction et de conseils ? Que vos motifs fussent boiis ou mauvals pour prendre le parti que vous avez pris, je n'entre plus hV-dedans. La demarche est falte et surtout la resolution est prise; je ne chercheral point k vous en detourncr; si vous ne rcussissez pas, vous aurez 6te tromp6 par de faux raisonnemens, comme vous le dites, et voilk tout. Et quand ce projet nous aurait ete communique a^ant son execu tion, quand nous vous I'aurlons represente aussi extravagant qu'il nous le parait, quand nous vous aurions detallle les inconv6niens, si vous y aviez persiste, nous aurions dit Amen ; mais alora du nioins nous aurions pu d'avance en prevenir nn grand nombre. 1780. YOUTH. 1701-1790. 21 diminuer la grandeur de quelques autrcs, vous aider avec plus de fruit pour le projet meme, et avec moins d'inconveniens en cas de non-reusslte ; nous aurions prfparC les voles autant qu'il nous aurait ete possible pour I'execution et nous vous aurions facilite le retour en fondant votre esperancc d'un sort heureux si jamais vous etiez force de rcvcnir ici. IMonsieur du Rosey votre oncle vous avait fait entreA'oir une situation aisee pour I'avenir; mais si une honnete medlocrite n'eut pas satlsfait vos d6sirs ambitieux, ses offres genereuses ne devalent-elles pas lui ouvrlr A'otre cceur ct vous determiner k lui confier vos projets que (s'il n'eut pas pu les aneantir par le raison nement et la persuasion) II cut sans doute favorisds? Un ordre positif ! Avec quels yeux nous avez-voas done vus? Aujourd'hui croyez-A'ous cette defiance Injuste que A'ous nous avez monti-ee et par A'otre conduite et par a'^os lettres, bien propre k le disposer en votre faveur? Soyez certain ce- pendant, monsieur, que je vous aideral autant que votre fortune pourra le permettre sans deranger vos capitaux, dont je dois vous rendre compte un jour et que vous me saurez peut-fitre gr6 de vous avoir conserves; en attendant je suis oblige par un serment solennel prSte en justice que j'observerai invlolablement jusques k ce que j'en sols juridiquement degage ; et vous refuser vos capitaux pour un projet dont je ne saurais voir la fin, n'est ni Lnfamie ni durete, mais prudence et sagesse. AprSs ces observations, dont j'ai cm que vous aviez besoin, permettez-mol quelques reflexions sur votre projet. D'abord j'ai lieu de croire que la somme qui vous reste, ou qui vous restalt, n'est pas k beaucoup prfes de cent cinquante louis ; secondement, le gain que vous pretendez faire par le commerce d'armement est trfes-incertain ; 11 est en troIsISme lieu trfes-lent fl se faire apercevoir; en attendant 11 faut vivre; et comment vivrez-vous? de lepons ? quelle pitoyable ressource, pour etre la dernlere, dans un pays surtout oil les vivres sont si exorbitamment chers et oO tout le reste se paye si mal ! Des terres Incultes k acheter ? avec quoi ? plus elles sont k bas prIx, plus elles indlquent la chert6 des denrees ; le grand nombre de terres Incultes, le besoin qu'on a de les defricher, sont deux preuves des sommes considerables qu'il en co Findley, History, &c., p. 240. 140 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1794. such expressions, the Secretary asserted that he had sufficient proofs of them already. It is not impossible that Mr. Hamilton really suspected Mr. Gallatin of tampering with the insurgents, and really said that " he Avas a foreigner, and therefore not to be trusted ;" ' it is not impossible that he thought himself in any case called upon to probe the matter to the bottom; and finally, it is not impossible that he foresaAV the advantages his party would gain by overthrowing IMr. Gallatin's popularity. HoAvever this may be, the Secretary gave no public expression to his suspicions or his thoughts, and Gallatin Avas in no way molested or annoyed. The regular autumnal election took place in Pennsylvania on the 14th October. The army had not then arrlA'^ed, but there was no longer any Idea of resistance or any sign of organization against the enforcement of all the laAvs. More than a month had passed since order had been restored; even Bradford had submitted, and he and the otlier most deeply implicated Insur gents Avere noAV flying for their lives. On the 2d October another meeting of the committee had been held at Parkinson's Ferry, and unanimously agreed to resolutions affirming the gen eral submission and explaining Avhy the signatures of submission had not been universal; on the day of election itself written assurances of submission Avere universally signed throughout the country; but the most remarkable proof of the complete triumph of the peace party was found in the elections themselves. Members of Congress Avere to be chosen, as well as members of the State Legislature. Mr. Gallatin Avas, as a matter of course, sent back to his old seat in the Assembly from his OAvn county of Fayette. In the neighboring Congressional district, comprising the counties of Washington and Alleghany and the AA'hole country from Lake Erie to the Virginia line, there Avas some difficulty and perhaps some misunderstanding in reoard to the selection of a candidate. Very suddenly, and Avithout pre vious consultation, indeed without even his own knoAvledge, and only about three days before election, Mr. Gallatm's name Avas introduced. The result Avas that he Avas chosen over Judge Brackenridge, Avho stood second on the poll, while the candi- 1 Findley, p. 243. 1794. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 141 date of the insurgents, Avho had received Bradford's support, was loAvcst among four. By a curious reverse of fortune Mr. Gallatin suddenly became the representative not of his oavu county of Fayette, but of that A^ery county of Washington Avliose citizens, only a fcAV Avceks before, had been to all appearance violently hostile to him and to his Avhole course of action. This spontaneous popular choice Avas OAving to the fact that Mr. Gal latin Avas considered by friend and foe as the embodiment of the principle of law and order, and, rightly or Avrongly, It Avas believed that to his courage and character the preservation of peace was due. It was one more e\'idence that the true majority had at last found its tongue. This restoration of ]\lr. Gallatin to Congress Avas by no means pleasing to Mr. Hamilton, Avho, as already mentioned, on his arrival soon afterAvards at Pittsburg expressed himself in strong terms in regard to the choice. From the party point of vIcav it was, in fact, a very undesirable result of the insurrection, but there is no reason to suppose that the people In making it cast away a single thought on the question of party. They chose Mr. Gallatin because he represented order. The 1st November, 1794, had already arrived before the mili tary movements Averc quite completed. The army had then reached Fayette, and Mr. Gallatin, after having done all in his power to convince the government that the advance Avas unneces sary, set off with his wife to Ncav York, and, leaving her with her family, returned to take his seat in the Assembly at Phila delphia. Here again he had to meet a contested election. A petition from citizens of Waslilngton County was presented, averring that they had deemed it impossible to vote, and had not voted, at the late election, oAving to the state of the country, and praying that the county be declared to have been in Insur rection at the time, and the election void. The debate on this subject lasted till January 9, 1795, Avhen a resolution Avas adopted to the desired effect. In the course of this debate Mr. Gallatin made the first speech he had yet printed, Avhich will be found in his collected works.' Like all his writings, it is a plain, concise, 1 Writings, vol. iii. pp. 3-52. 142 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1794. clear statement of facts and argument, extremely well done, but not remarkable for rhetorical shoAv, and effective merely because, or so far as, it convinces. He rarely used hard language under any provocation, and this speech, like all his other speeches, is quite free from Invective and personality; but, although his method Avas one of persuasion rather than of compulsion, he ahvays spoke Avith boldness, and some of the passages in this argument grated harshly on Federalist ears. The decision of the Pennsylvania Legislature, " that the elec tions held during the late insurrection . . . were unconstitutional, and are hereby declared void," Avas ahvays regarded by him as itself in clear violation of the constitution, but foi> his personal Interests a most fortunate circumstance. His opponents Avere, In fact, by these tactics giving him a prodigious hold upon his party; he had the unusual good fortune of being twice made the martyr of a mere political persecution. This second attempt obviously foreshadoAVcd a third, for if the election to the State Legislature Avas unconstitutional, that to Congress was equally so, and there Avas no object in breaking one Avithout breaking the other ; but the action of the Avestern country rendered the folly of such a decision too obvious for imitation. All the ejected members except one, avIio declined, AVcre re-elected, and Mr. Gal latin took his seat a second time on the 14th February, 1795, not to be again disturbed. During this second part of the session he seems to have been chiefly occupied Avitli his bill in regard to the school system ; but he closed his service in the State Legis lature on the 12th of March, Avhen other matters pressed on his attention. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 8d Decembsr, 1794. ... I arrived here Avithout any accident and have already seen several of my friends. The Assembly met yesterday, but my colleague having neglected to take doAvn the return of our election we must wait as spectators till it comes, which will not be before a fortnight, I believe. ... I saAV Dallas yesterday. Poor fellow had a most disagreeable campaign of it. He says the spirits, I call it the madness, of the Philaddphia Gentlemen 1794. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 143 Corps was beyond conception before the arrival of the President. He saAV a list (handed about through the army by officers, nay, by a general officer) of the names of those persons who were to be destroyed at all events, and you may easily guess my oAvn was one of the most conspicuous. Being one day at table Avith sun dry officere, and having expressed his opinion that the army were going only to support the civil authority and not to do any mili tary execution, one of them (Dallas did not tell me his name, but I am told it Avas one Ross, of Lancaster, aide-de-camp to Mifflin) half drew a dagger he Avore instead of a SAVord, and swore any man who uttered such sentiments ought to be dagged. The President, hoAvever, on his arrival, and afterwards Hamilton, took uncommon pains to change the sentiments, and at last it became fashionable to adopt, or at least to express, sentiments similar to those inculcated by them. . . . 7th December, 1794. . . . You Avant me to leave politics, but I guess I need not take much pains to attain that object, for politics seem disposed to leave me. A very serious attempt Is made to deprive me of my seat In next Congress. The intention is to try to induce the Legislature of this State cither to vacate the seats of the mem bers for the counties of Alleghany and Washington, or to pass a law to declare the whole election both for Congress and Assem bly in that district to be null and void, and to appoint another day for holding i;he same. If they fail in that they Avill pursue the thmg before Congress. A petition was accordingly presented to the Legislature last Friday, signed by thirty-four persons, calling themselves peaceable Inhabitants of Washington County, and requesting the Assembly to declare the district to have been in a state of insurrection at the time of the election, and to vacate the same. John Hoge, Avho, however, has not signed it, is the ostensible character who has offered it to be signed, but he did not draw it, and I knoAV the business originated in the army. It is couched in the most indecent language against all the members elect from that district. Did those poor people know how little they torment me by tormenting tliemselves, I guess they would not be so anxious to raise a second persecution against me. 144 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1794. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET, Greensburg, Washington Co. Philadelphia, lOth January, 1795. . . . Savary writes you on the fate of our elections. One thing only I wish and I must Insist upon. If the same mem ber are not re-elected, the people here Avill undoubtedly say that our last elections Avere not fair and that the people Avere in a state of Insurrection. The only danger I can foresee arises from your district. You have been Ill-treated; you have no member now, and every engine will noAV be set at work to mis lead you by your very opponents. Fall not In the snare ; take up nobody from your oavu district ; re-elect unanimously the same members, Avhether tliey be your favorites or not. It is necessary for the sake of our general character. . . . MeauAvhlle, a ncAV scheme Avas brought to Mr. Gallatin's atten tion. The French revolution produced a convulsion In Geneva. Large numbers of the Genevese emigrated or thought of emigra tion. Mr. "Gallatin Avas consulted and made a plan for a joint- stock company, to form a settlement by immigration from Geneva. The expected immigration never came, but this scheme ended in an unforeseen Avay ; Mr. Gallatin joined one or tAvo of the origi nators of the plan in creating another joint-stock company, and his mind was long busied Avith its affairs. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. Philadelphia, 29th December, 1794. Mon bon ami, si je t'^cris cette lettre en fran9ais ce n'est pas qu'elle contlenne des secrets d'6tat, car je n'en ai point k te dire, mais c'est qu'elle renferme plusleurs choses particullSres et qui jusqu'a nouvel ordre doivent rester entre toi et moi absolument. . . . Le retour de mon dection est ou perdu ou n'a jamais 6t6 envoyg, en sorte que je n'ai pas encore pu prendre sifege dans I'Assemblee, et demain l'on va decider si I'dection de nos quatre comtes sera cass6e ou non, sans que je puisse prendre part aux dfibats. . . . Ci-inclus tu trouveras un abr6g6 de la dernifire revolution de Geneve, 6crit par D'Yvernois qui est k Londres. 1794. TIIE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 145 Geneve est dans la situation la plus triste. Affamd 6galement par les Franyais et par les Suisses, d6diir6 par des convulsions sanguinaires auxquelles I'esprit national paraissait si oppos6, une grande partie de ses habitants cherchent, et beaucoup sont obliges de quitter ses murs. Plusleurs tournent leurs yeux vers I'Ame rique et quelques-uns sont dejil arrives. D'Yvernois avait form6 le plan de transplanter toute I'universite de Genfeve ici, et il m'a ecrit sur cet objet ainsi qu'il INIr. Jefferson et fl Mr. Adams ; mais il supposait qu'on pourrait obtenir des Etats-Unis pour cet objet 15,000 dollars de revenu, ce qui est impraticable; et il comptait associer il ce projet une compagnle de terres par actions avec un capital de 3 a 400,000 piastres. D'un autre c6te les Genevois arrives ici cherchaient tant pour eux que pour ceux qui devaient les suivre quelque maniere de s'etablir, de devenir fermiers, &c. lis se sont adresses il moi, et d'apr6s les lettres de D'Yvernois et les conversations que les nouveaux arrives et moi avons cues ensem ble, nous avons form6 un plan d'etabllssement et une societe dans laquelle je t'ai reserve une part. En void les fondements. . . . Tu sais bien que je n'ai jamais encourage personne excepte toi k venir en Amerique de peur qu'ils n'y trouvassent des regrets, mais les temps ont change. II faut que beaucoup de Genevois emigrent et un grand nombre vont venir en Amerique. J'ai trouve autant de plaisir que c'etait de mon devoir de tdcher de leur offrlr le plan qui m'a paru devoir leur convenir le mieux en arrh'ant. En ler lieu j'ai cru qu'il serait essentiel qu'ils fussent reunls, non-seulement pour pouvoir s'entr'alder, mais aussi afin d'etre k meme de retrouver leurs mceurs, leurs habitudes et meme leurs amusements de Genfeve. 2e, que, comme il y aurait parmi les emigrants bien des artisans, hommes de lettres, &c., et qu'il etait bon d'allleurs d'avoir plus d'une ressource, il conviendrait de former une ville ou village dans le centre d'un corps de terres qu'on achfeteralt pour cela, en sorte qu'on ptit exercer une Indus trie de ville ou de campagne suivant les goflts et les talents. Ci- inclus tu trouveras deux papiers que je viens de retrouver et qui renferment une esquisse des premi&res idees que j'avais jetees sur les papiers sur ce sujet, et le brouillon de notre plan d'association qui consiste de 150 actions de 800 piastres chacune, dont nous Genevois ici, savoir Odier, FazzI, deux Cazenove, Cherlot, Bour- 10 146 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. dlllon, Duby, Couronne, toi et moi avons pris 25 ; nous en offirons 25 autres ici k des Americalns et je les ai dejil presque toutes dis- tribu6es ; je crois meme que je pourrais distribuer cent de plus ici sur-le-champ si je voulais ; et nous avons envoy6 les cent autres k Genfeve, en Suisse, et k D'Yvernois pour les Genevois qui vou- dront y prendre part. . . . En attendant une r6ponse de Genfeve nous comptons examiner les terres et peut-etre meme en acheter, si nous le croyons necessaire. II est entendu que c'est ^ toi et §. moi k faire cet examen, car c'est surtout k nous que s'en rapportent tant les emigres que ceux qui doivent les suivre. J'ai jet6 les yeux en general sur la partie nord-est de la Pennsilvanle ou sur la partie de New York qui la joint. Jette les yeux sur la carte et trouve Stockport sur la DelaAvare et Harmony tout pr6s de \k sur la Susquehannah joignant presque l'etat de New York. Des gens qui veulent s'interesser k la chose m'offrent le corps de terres comprls entre le Big Bend de la Susquehannah joignant Harmony et la ligne de Noav York; mais 11 faut d'abord examiner. Si on casse nos elections, j'emploierai k ce travail cet hiver ; sinon, c'est sur toi que nous comptons, bien entendu que quoique ce ne fttt pas aussi necessaire, II me serait bien plus agreable que tu pusses aller avec moi si j'allals moi-meme. . . . In April, 1795, he made an expedition through New York to examine lands Avith a vIcav to purchase for the projected Geneva settlement. This expedition brought him at last to Philadelphia, Avhere he Avas detained till August by the trials of the insurgents and by the business of his various joint-stock schemes. GALLATIN TO HIS AVIFE. Catskill Landing, 22d April, 1795. . . . The more I see of this State the better I like Pennsyl vania. It may be prejudice, or habit, or whatever you please, but there are some things In the Avestern country Avhich contrib ute to my happiness, and AvhIch I do not find here. Amongst other things which displease me here I may mention, in the first place, family influence. In Pennsylvania not only we have neither Livingstones nor Rensselaers, but from the suburbs of Philadel- 1795. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 147 phia to the banks of the Ohio I do not know a single family that has any extensive influence. An equal distribution of property has rendered eA-^ery Individual Independent, and there Is amongst us true and real equality. In the next place, the lands on the western side of the river are far inferior in quality to those of Pennsylvania, and In the third place, provisions bear the same price as they do in New York, Avhence arises a real disadvantage for persons wishing to buy land ; for the farmers avIU sell the land in proportion to the price they can get for their produce, and that price being at present quite extravagant and above the ¦ average and common one, the consequence is that the supposed value of land is also much greater. In a Avord, as I am lazy I like a country Avhere living is cheap, and as I am poor I like a country where no person Is very rich. . . . Philadelphia, May 6, 1795. ... I arrived here yesterday, pretty much jolted by the Avagon, and Avent to bed in the afternoon, so that I saAV nobody till this morning. . . . Hardly had I walked ten minutes In the streets this morning before I was summoned as a Avitness before the grand jury on the part of government, and must appear there in a fcAV minutes. . . . 8th May, 1795. ... I Avrote you that I was summoned on behalf of gov ernment. I am obliged to attend every day at court, but have not yet been called upon. I am told the bill upon which I am to be examined is not yet filled. I guess it is against Colonel Gaddis ; but I have, so far as I can recollect, nothing to say which In my opinion can hurt him. You remember that Gaddis Is the man avIio gave an affidavit to Lee against me. He came yesterday to me to inform me that he meant to have me sum moned in his favor, as he thought my testimony must get him discharged. I did not speak to him about his affidavit, nor he to me, but he had a guilty look. I guess the man was frights ened, and now feels disappointed in his hope that his accusing me would discharge him. The petty jury consists of twelve from each of the counties of Fayette, Washington, and Alle^ ghany, and twelve from Northumberland, but none from West-. 148 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. mordand. Your friend Sproat is one of them, Hoge another. All from Fayette supposed to have been always friendly to the excise, but I think in general good characters. All those of any note known to have been in general of different politics with us. . . . 12th May, 1795. . . . The tAVO bills for treason against Mr. Corbly and Mr. Gaddis have been returned ignoramus by the grand jury ; but there are two bills found against them for misdemeanor, — against the first for some expressions, against the last for having been concerned in raising die liberty-pole in Union town. I am a witness in both cases, — In the case of Mr. Corbly altogether in his favor; In the other case my evidence Avill about balance itself. . . . The grand jury have not yet finished their inquiry, but will conclude it this morning. They have found tAventy- tAvo bills for ti-eason. Some of those against Avhom bills Avere found are not here ; but I believe fourteen are in jail and will be tried. I do not know one of them. John Hamilton, Sedg- Avick, and CraAvford, Avhom Judge Petei-s Avould not admit to bail, and who Avere released little before we left toAvn, after having been dragged three hundred miles and being in jail three months, are altogether cleared, the grand jury not having CA'en found bills for misdemeanor against them. After tlie sti'Ictest inquiry the attorney-gen ei-al could send to the grand jury bills only against tAVO Inhabitants of Fayette, to Avit, Gaddis and one Mounts; he sent tAvo against each of them, one for treason and one for misdemeanor. In the case of Mounts, who has been in jail more than five months, and who Avas not ad mitted to give bail, although the best security Avas offered, not a shadow of proof appeared, although the county Avas ransacked for Avitnesses, and both bills were found ignoramus. And it is proper to observe that the grand jury, Avho are respectable, Avere, hoAvever, all taken from Philadelphia and Its neighborhood, and, AvIth only one or tAvo exceptions, out of one party, so that they cannot be suspected of partiality. In the case of Gaddis the bill for treason was returned ignoramus; the bill for misde meanor was found. So that the whole insurrection of Fayette County amounts to one man accused of misdemeanor for raising 1795. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 149 a pole. I can form no guess as to the fate of the prisoners Avho are to be tried for treason, and AA'hether, in case any are found guilty, government mean to put any to death. There is not a single man of influence or consequence amongst them, which makes me hope tliey may be pardoned. There is one, however, who is said to be Tom the Tinker ; he Is a New England man, Avho was concerned in Shay's insurrection, but it is asserted that he signed the amnesty. I have had nothing but that business in my head since I have been here, and can Avrite about nothing else. . . . 25th May, 1795. I believe, my dear little Avife, that I will not be able to see thee till next week, for the trials go on but very slowly ; there has been but one since my last letter, and there are nine more for high treason, besides misdemeanors. I am sorry to add that the man Avho Avas tried Avas found guilty of high treason. He had a very goal and favorable jury, six of them from Fayette; for, although he is from Westmoreland County, the fact Avas committed in Fayette. . . . There is no doubt of the man [Philip Vigel] being guilty in a legal sense of levying war against the United States, Avliich Avas the crime charged to him. But he is certainly an object of pity more than of punishment, at least Avhen we consider that death is the punishment, for he is a rough, ignorant German, who knew very well he was com mitting a riot, and he ought to have been punished for it, but Avho had certainly no idea that it amounted to levying Avar and high treason. ... 1st June, 1795. . . . Th&se trials go still very slowly, only two since I wrote to you ; the men called Curtis and Barnet, both indicted for the attack upon and burning Nevil's house, and both acquitted ; the first without much hesitation, as there was at least a strong pre sumption that he Avent there either to prevent mischief or at most only as a spectator. The second was as guilty as Mitchell, who has been condemned, but there were not sufficient legal proofs against either. The difference in the verdict arises from the difference of counsel employed in their respective defences, and 150 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. chiefly from a different choice of jury. Mitchell Avas very poorly defended by Thomas, the member of Senate, Avho is young, un experienced, impudent, and self-conceited. He challenged (that is to say, rejected, for, you know, the accused person has a right to reject thirty-five of the jury Avithout assigning any reason) every inhabitant of Alleghany, and left the case to tAvelve Quakers (many of them probably old Tories), on the supposition that Quakers would condemn no person to death ; but he was utterly mistaken. LcavIs defended Barnet, made a very good defence, and got a jury of a different complexion; the conse quence of which was that, although the evidence, pleadings, and charge took up from eleven o'clock In the forenoon till three o'clock the next morning, the jury Avere but fifteen minutes out before they brought in a verdict of not guilty. Brackenridge says that he would ahvays choose a jury of Quakers, or at least Episcopalians, In all common cases, such as murder, rape, etc., but in every possible case of insurrection, rebellion, and treason, give him Presbyterians on the jury by all means. I believe there is at least as much truth as Avit in the saying. ... I have drawn, at the request of the jury who convicted Philip Vigel, a petition to the President recommending him as a proper object of mercy ; they have all signed it, but Avhat effect it Avill have I do not know, and Indeed nobody can form any conjecture whetlier the persons convicted will be pardoned or not. It rests solely Avith the President. . . . GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. Philadelphia, 20th May, 1795. I am sorry, my dear friend, that I cannot go and meet you, agreeable to our appointment ; but I am detained here as an evi dence in the case of Corbly, and of Iavo more in behalf of the United States, although I know nothing about any of them ex cept Corbly. I lend my horse to Cazenove, Avho goes in my room, and who will tdl you what little has passed since I saw you on the subject of our plan. Upon the whole, I concdve that further emigrations from Geneva will not take place at present and tliat our plan avIII not be accepted in Europe. We must therefore depend merely on our own present number and strength 1795. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 151 and tills you should keep in amoav in the course of the examina tion you are noAv making. Our oavu convenience and the inter est of those foAV Genevans Avho now are here must alone be consulted, and it may be a question Avhether under those circum stances it Avill be worth AvhIle for you and me to abandon our present situation, and for them to encounter the hardships and hazards of a new settlement in the rough country you are noAv exploring ; whether, on the contrary, it Avould not be more ad vantageous for them to fix either in the more populous parts of the State, or even in our own neighborhood, where they might perhaps find resources sufficient for a fcAV and enjoy all the advantages resulting from our neighborhood, experience, and influence. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 29th June, 1795. . . . You will see in this day's Philadelphia paper an ab stract of the treaty ; it is pretty accurate, for I read the treaty itself yesterday. I believe It avIII be printed at large Avithin a day or two. It exceeds everything I expected. ... As to the form of ratification I have not seen it, but from the best infor mation I could collect it is different from Avhat has been printed in some papers. It Is, I think, nearly as followeth : The Senate consent to and advise the President to ratify the treaty upon condition that an additional article be added to the same sus pending the operation of, or explaining (I do not knoAV which), the 12th Article, so far as relates to the intercourse Avith the West India Islands. If that information is accurate, it follows that the treaty is not ratified, because the intended additional article, if adojjted by Great Britain, is not valid until ratified by the Senate, and unless that further ratification takes place the whole treaty falls through. You know the vote, and that Gunn is the man who has joined the ratifying party. I am told that Burr made a most excellent speech. ... I think fortitude Is a quality which depends very much upon ourselves, and which we lose more and liiore for want of exercising it. Indeed, I want it now myself more than you. I have just received a letter from one of my uncles, under date 23d January, which informs me ].52 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. that Miss Pictet is dangerously ill and very little hope of her recovering. She had not yet received my and your letter. I hope she may, for I knoAV how much consolation it would give her ; but I have not behaved well. . . . Gallatin remained in Philadelphia till July 31, to form a new company, dissolving the old one, and joining Avith Bour- dillon, Cazenove, Badollet, and his brother-in-law, James W. Nicholson, in a concern Avith nine or ten thousand dollars capital, the business being " to purchase lots at the mouth of George's Creek," " a mill or two" in the neighborhood, keeping a retail store and perhaps two (the main business), and land speculations on their own account and on commission. After settling the partnership he remained to buy supplies and to get money from Morris, Avho at last paid him eight hundred dollars cash and gave a note at ninety days for a thousand. On July 31 he started for Fayette. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 31st July, 1795. . . . After being detained here two days by the rain, we finally go tlils moment. ... I have settled Avitli Mr. Morris. ... I have balanced all my accounts, and find that Ave are just worth 7000 dollars. ... In addition to that, we have our plan tation, Mr. Morris's note for 3500 dollars, due next May, and about 25,000 acres waste lands. . . . Fayette County, September 6, 1795. . . . Upon a further examination of Wilson's estate I have purchased it at £3000, Avhicli is a high price, but then we have the town seat (which is the nearest portage from the Avestern Avaters to the PotoAvmack and the Federal city, and as near as any to Philadelphia and Baltimore) and three mill seats, one built, another building, and the third, AvhIch is the most valuable, AvIU be on the river-bank, so that Ave avIU be able to load boats for New Orleans from the mill-door, and they stand upon one of the best. If not the very best, stream of the Avhole country. The boat-yards fall also within our purchase, so that, with a good 1795. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 153 store, we avIII, in a great degree, command the trade of this part of the country. I have also purchased, for about £300, all the lots that remained unsold in the little village of Greensburgh, on the other side of the river, opposite to our large purchase, and 20 acres of tlie bottom-land adjoining it. It will become necessary, of course, for us to increase our capital. ... As to politics, I have thought but little about them since I have been here. I wish the ratification of the treaty may not involve us in a more serious situation than Ave have yet been In. May I be mistaken in my fears and everything be for the best I I would not heretofore Avrite to you on the subject of the dispute between your father and Hamilton, as I knew you Avere not ac quainted with it. I feel indeed exceedingly happy that it has terminated so, but I beg of you not to express your sentiments of tlie treatment I have received Avith as much Avarmth as you usually do, for it may tend to inflame the passions of your friends and lead to consequences you Avould forever regret. It has In deed required all my coolness and temper, and I might perhaps add, all my love for you, not to Involve myself in some quarrel witli that gentleman or some other of that description ; but, how ever sure you may be that I avIII not myself, others may, so that I trust that my good girl will be more cautious hereafter. . . . Philadelphia, 29th September, 1795. ... I arrived here pretty late last night. . . . Since I wrote to you I received the account which I expected, that of the death of my second mother. I trust, I hope at least, the comfort she must have experienced from hearing she had not been altogether disappointed in the hopes she had formed of me, and in the cares she had bestowed on my youth, will in some degree have made amends for my unpardonable neglect In AvritIng so seldom to her. ... I expect to set off to-morroAV. The dispute betAveen Commodore Nicholson and Mr. Hamil ton, to which allusion is made above, was a private one, which, of course, had its source in politics. For a time the commodore expected a duel, and it may Avell be Imagined that to a gentleman of his fighting temperament a duel was not altogether without 154 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. its charm. Mr. Hamilton, hoAvever, had too much good sense to seek this species of distinction. The dispute was amicably settled, and probably no one Avas better pleased at the settlement than Mr. Gallatin, although he had nothing to do with the quarrel. Mr. Gallatin's career as a member of Congress now began, and lasted till 1801, when he became Secretary of the Treasury. In some respects It was without a parallel In our history. That a young foreigner, speaking AvIth a foreign accent, laboring under all the odium of the western insurrection, surrounded by friendly rivals like Madison, John Nicholas, W. B. Giles, John Randolph, and EdAvard Livingston; confronted by opponents like Fisher Ames, Judge ScAvall, Harrison Gray Otis, Roger Griswold, James A. Bayard, R. G. Harper, W. L. Smith, of South Carolina, Samuel Dana, of Connecticut, and even John Marshall, — that such a man under such circumstances should have at once seized the leadership of his party, and retained it with firmci- and firmer grasp down to the last moment of his service; that he should have done this by the sheer force of ability and character, without ostentation and without the tricks of popularity; that he should have had his leadership admitted Avithout a dispute, and should have held It Avithout a contest, made a curious combination of triumphs. Many of the great parliamentary leaders in America, John Randolph, Henry Clay, Thaddeus Stevens, have maintained their supremacy by their dogmatic and overbearing temper and their poAvers of sarcasm or invective. Mr. Gallatin seldom indulged In personalities. His temper Avas under almost perfect control. His poAver lay in courage, honesty of purpose, and thoroughness of study. Undoubtedly his mind Avas one of rare poAver, perhaps for this especial purpose the most apt that America has ever seen • a mind for which no prindple was too broad and no detail too delicate ; but it Avas essentially a sdentific and not a political mind. Mr. Gallatin ahvays tended to think with an entire dis regard of the emotions; he could only with an effort refrain from balandng the opposing sides of a political question. His good fortune threw him into public life at a time when both parties bdieved that prindples Avere at stake, and when the 1795 THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 155 struggle betAveen those Avho Avould bar the progress of democracy and those avIio led that progress allowed little latitude for doubt on eltlier side in regard to the necessity of their acts. While this condition of things lasted, and it lasted throughout Mr. Gallatin's stormy Congressional career, he was an ideal party leader, uniting boldness Avith caution, good temper with earnest ness, exact modes of tliought AvIth laborious investigation, to a degree that has no parallel in American experience. Perhaps the only famous leader of the House of Representatives who could stand comparison with Mr. Gallatin for the combina tion of capacities, each carried to uniform excellence, Avas Mr. Madison ; and it was precisely Mr. Madison whom Gallatin supplanted. On the subject of his Congressional service Mr. Gallatin left two fragmentary memoranda, which may best find place here : "As both that body [Congress] and the State Legislature sat in Philadelphia, owing also to my short attendance in the United States Senate and my defence of my scat, I was as well knoAvn to the members of Congress as their own colleagues, and at once took my stand in that Assembly. The first great debate In Avhich Ave were engaged Avas that on the British treaty ; and my speech, or rather tAVO speeches, on the constitutional powers of the House, miserably reported and curtailed by B. F. Bache^ were, whether I was right or Avrong, universally considered as the best on either side. I think that of Mr. Madison superior and more comprehensive, but for this very reason (compre hensiveness) less impressive than mine. Griswold's reply was thought the best; In my opinion it Avas that of Goodrich, though this was deficient In perspicuity. Both, however, were second- rate. The most brilliant and eloquent speech was undoubtedly that of Mr. Ames; but it was delivered in reference to the expediency of making the appropriations, and treated but Inci dentally of the constitutional question. I may here say that though there were, during my six years of Congressional service, many clever men In the Federal party in the House (Griswold, Bayard, Harper, Otis, Smith of South Carolina, Dana, Tracy, Hillhouse, Sitgreaves, &c.), I met with but tAvo superior men, Ames, Avho sat only during the session of 1795-1796, and John 156 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1795. Marshall, who sat only In the session of 1799-1800, and Avho took an active part in the debates only two or three times, but always Avith great effect. On our side Ave were much stronger in the Congress of 1795-1797. But Mr. Madison and Giles (an able commonplace debater) having withdrawn, and Richard Brent become hypochondriac, we were reduced during the im portant Congress of 1797-1799 to Ed. Livingston, John Nicholas, and myself, Avhilst the Federalists received the accession of Bayard and Otis. John Marshall came in addition for the Con gress of 1799-1801, and we were recruited by John Randolph and Joseph Nicholson." "The ground Avhicli I occupied in that body [Congress] is Avell knoAvn, and I need not dwell on the share I took In all the important debates and on the great questions which during that period (1795-1801) agitated the public mind, in 1796 the British treaty, in 1798-1800 the hostilities Avith France and the various unnecessary and obnoxious measures by which the Federal party destroyed itself. It is certainly a subject of self-gratulation that I should have been allowed to take the lead with such coadjutors as Madison, Giles, Livingston, and Nicholas, and that when deprived of the poAverful assistance of the two first, who had both withdrawn in 1798, I Avas able to contend on equal terms with the host of talents collected In the Federal party, — GrIsAvold, Bayard, Harper, Goodrich, Otis, Smith, Sitgreaves, Dana, and even J. Marshall. Yet I was destitute of eloquence, and had to surmount the great obstacle of speaking in a foreign language, Avith a very bad pronunciation. My advantages consisted in laborious investigation, habits of analysis, thorough knowledge of the subjects under discussion, and more extensive general in formation, due to an excellent early education, to which I think I may add quickness of apprehension and a sound judgment. " A member of the opposition during the Avhole period, it could not have been expected that many important measures should have been successfully introduced by me. Yet an impulse was given in some respects which had a poAverful influence on the spirit and leading prindples of subsequent Administrations. The principal questions in Avhich I Avas engaged related to con stitutional construction or to the finances. Though not quite so 1795. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 157 orthodox on the fii-st subject as mj' Virginia friends (Avitiiess the United States Bank and Internal improvements), I Avas op posed to any usurpation of poAvers by the general government. But I Avas specially jealous of Executive encroachments, and to keep that branch AvithIn the strict limits of Constitution and of law, alloAving no more discretion than Avhat appeared strictly necessary, Avas my constant effort. " The financial department In the House was quite vacant, so far at least as the opposition Avas concerned ; and haAdng made myself complete master of the subject and occupied that field almost exclusively, it Is not astonishing that my vicAvs should have been adopted by the Republican party and been acted upon when they came into poAver. INIy first step Avas to have a stand ing committee of wa)'S and means appointed. That this should not have been sooner done proves the existing bias In favor of increasing as far as possible the poAver of the Executive branch. The next thing Avas to demonstrate that the expenditure had till then exceeded the income : the remedy proposed was economy. Economy means order and skill ; and after having determined the proper and necessary objects of expense, the Legislature can not enforce true economy otherwise than by making specific ap propriations. Even these must be made Avith due knowledge of the subject, since, if carried too far by too many subdivisions, they become injurious, if not impracticable. This subject has ever been a bone of contention between the legislative and ex ecutive branches in every representative government, and It Is in reality the only proper and efficient legislative check on executive prodigality. " Respecting the objects of expenditure, there was not, apart from that connected Avith the French hostilities, any other subject of division but that of the navy. And the true question was whether the creation of an efficient navy should be postponed to the payment of the public debt." . . . During Mr. Gallatin's maiden session of Congress, the exciting winter of 1795-96, Avhen the first of our great party contests took place, not even a private letter seems to have been Avritten by hira that throws light on his acts or thoughts. His Avife Avas with him in Philadelphia. If he wrote confidentially to any 158 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. other person, his letters are uoav lost. The only material for his biography is in the Annals of Congress and in his speeches, Avith the replies they provoked ; a material long since worn threadbare by biographers and historians. Of all portions of our national history none has been more often or more carefully described and discussed than the struggle over Mr. Jay's treaty. No candid man can deny that there was at the time ample room for honest difference of opinion in regard to the national policy. That Mr. Jay's treaty Avas a bad one fcAV persons even then veutured to dispute ; no one Avoiild ven ture on its merits to defend it noAV. There has been no moment since 1810 when the United States Avould have hesitated to prefer Avar rather than peace on such terras. No excuse in the tempo rary advantages Avliich tlie treaty gained can wholly palliate the concessions of principle Avhicli It yielded, and no considerations of a possible war with England averted or postponed can blind history to the fact that this blessing of peace Avas obtained by the sacrifice of national consistency and by the violation of neu trality towards France. The treaty recognized the right of Great Britain to capture French property In American vessels, Avhilst British property in the same situation was protected from capture by our previous treaty Avitli France ; and, Avhat Avas yet Avorfse, the acknoAvledgment that provisions might be treated as contra band not only contradicted all our principles, but subjected the United States government to the charge of a mean connivance in the British effort to famish France, Avhile securing America from pecuniary loss. Nevertheless, for good and solid reasons, the Senate at the time approved, and President Washington, after long deliberation, signed, the treaty. The fear of a war AvIth Great Britain, the desire to gain possession of the Western posts, and the commercial interests involved in a neutral trade daily becoming more lucra tive, Avere the chief motives to this course. So far as Mr. Galla tin's private opinions were concerned, it Is probable that no one fdt much more avei-slon to the treaty than he did ; but before he took his seat In Congress the Senate had approved and the President had signed it; a strong feeling In its favor existed among his OAvn constituents, always in dread of Indian diffi- 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 159 oultles ; the treaty. In short, Avas law, and the House had only to consider the legislation necessary to carry it into effect. Bad as the treaty Avas, both in Its omissions and in its admis sions, as a matter of foreign relations, these defects were almost trifles when compared with its mischievous results at home. It thrust a SAVord into the body politic. So far as It went, and it Avent no small distance, it tended to overturn the established balance of our neutrality and to tliroAV the country into the arms of England. Nothing could have so effectually arrayed the tAvo great domestic parties in sharply defined opposition to each other, and nothing could have aroused more bitterness of personal feel ing. In recent times there has been a general disposition to ex plain aAvay and to soften doAvn the opinions and passions of that day ; to tliroAV a veil over their violence ; to imagine a possible middle ground, from which the acts and motives of all parties will appear patriotic and Avise, and their extravagance a mere misunderstanding. Such treatment of history makes both par ties ridiculous. The tAVO brilliant men who led the tAvo great divisons of national thought Avere not mere declaimers; they never for a moment misunderstood each other; they Avere in deadly earnest, and no compromise between them ever was or ever will be po&slble. Mr. Jefferson meant that the American system should be a democracy, and he Avould rather have let the world perish than that this principle, which to him represented all that man Avas worth, should fail. Mr. Hamilton considered democracy a fatal curse, and meant to stop its progress. The partial truce which the first Administration of Washington had imposed on both parties, although really closed by the retirement of Mr. Jefferson from the Cabinet, Avas finally broken only by the arrival of Mr. Jay's treaty. From that moraent repose Avas impossible until one party or the other had triumphed beyond hope of resistance; and it Avas ea.sy to see Avhich of the two parties must triumph in the end. One of the immediate and most dangerous results of the Brit ish treaty was to put the new Constitution to a very serious test. The theory Avhich divides our government into departments, executive, legislative, and judicial, and Avhich makes each depart ment supreme in its own sphere, could not be worked out with 160 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. even theoretical perfection; the fraraers of the Constitution were themselves obliged to admit exceptions in this arrangement of poAvers, and one of the most serious exceptions related to treaties. The Constitution begins by saying, " AU legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives," and proceeds to give Congress the express power " to make all laAvs AvhIch shall be necessary and proper for carrying Into exe cution the foregoing poAvers, and all other poAvers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof." But on the other hand the Con stitution also says that the President " shall have poAver, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties," and finally it declares that " this Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States shall be the supreme law of the land," State laws or constitutions to the contrary notwithstanding. Here was an obvious conflict of poAvers resulting from an equally obvious divergence of theory. Congress possessed all legislative powers. The President and Senate possessed the power to make treaties, Avhich Avere, like the Constitution and the laAvs of Congress, the supreme laAV of the land. Congres.?, then, did not possess all legislative powers. The President alone, with tAvo-thirds of the Senate, could legislate. The British treaty contained provisions Avhich could only be carried into execution by act of Congress ; it was, therefore, within the power of the House of Representatives to refuse legislation and thus practically break the treaty. The House was so evenly divided that no one could foresee the result, when Edward Livingston began this famous debate by moving to call on the President for papers, in order that the House might delib erate with official knowledge of the conditions under AvhIch the treaty was negotiated. The Federalists met this motion by as.serting that under thf Constitution the House had no right to the papers, no right to deliberate on the merits of the treaty, no right to refuse legisla tion. In Mr. Griswold's words, " The House of Representatives 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. igi have nothing to do Avith the treaty but provide for Its execu tion." Untenable as this ground obviously was, and one Avhich no respectable legislative body could possibly accept. It was boldly taken by the Federalists, Avho plunged into the contest with their characteristic audacity and Indomitable courage, traits that compel respect even for their blunders. The debate began on March 7, 1796, and on the 10th Mr. Grallatin spoke, attacking the constitutional doctrine of the Feder alists and laying doAvn his oavu. He claimed for the House, not a power to make treaties, but a check upon the treaty-making power Avhen clashing Avith the special powers expressly vested in Congress by the Constitution ; he shoAved the existence of this check in the British constitution, and he showed its necessity in our own, for, " if the treaty-making poAver is not limited by ex isting laAvs, or if it repeals the laAvs that clash with it, or if the Legislature is obliged to repeal the laws so clashing, then the legislative power in fact resides in the President and Senate, and they can, by employing an Indian tribe, pass any laAV under the color of treaty." The argument was Irresistible ; It Avas never ansAvered ; and indeed the mere statement is enough to leave only a sense of sur prise that the Federalists should have hazarded themselves on such preposterous ground. Some seventy years later, when the pur chase of Alaska brought this subject again before the House on the question of appropriating the purchase-money stipulated by the treaty, the Administration abandoned the old Federalist position ; the right of the House to call for papers, to deliberate on the merits of the treaty, even to refuse appropriations if the treaty was inconsistent with the Constitution or with the established policy of the country, Avas fully conceded. The Ad ministration only made the. reasonable claim that If, upon just consideration, a treaty was found to be clearly within the con stitutional powers of the government, and consistent with the national policy, then it Avas the duty of each co-ordinate branch of the government to shape its action accordingly.' This claim * See the Speech of N. P. Banks, of June 80, 1808, Cong. Globe, vol. Ixxv., Appendix, p. 885. 11 162 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. Avas recognized ; the House voted the money, and the controversy may be considered at an end. In 1796, on the contrary, Mr. GrisAVold, Avhose reply to Mr. Gallatin's argument was considered the most effective, and avIio never shrank from a logical conclu sion hoAvever extreme, admitted and asserted that the legislative poAver did reside In the President and Senate to the exclusion of the House, and addec^, " Allowing this to be the case, Avhat fol lows ? — that the people have clothed the President and Senate Avith a very important poAver." On this theme the debate Avas continued for several weeks ; but the Federalists were in a false position, and Avere conse quently overmatched in argument. Madison, W. C. Nicholas, EdAvard Livingston, and many other members of the opposi tion, in speeches of marked ability, supported the claim of their House. The speakers on the other side Avere obliged to take the attitude of betraying the rights of their own body In order to exaggerate the poAvers of the Executive, and as this practice Avas entirely in accordance Avith the aristocratic theory of gov ernment, they subjected themselves to the suspicion at least of acting Avitli ulterior motives. On the 23d March, Mr. Gallatin closed the debate for his side of the House by a second speech, in AA'hich he took more advanced ground. He had before devoted his strength to over- throAving the constitutional theory of his opponents; he now undertook the far more difficult task of establishing one of his own. The Federalist side of the House Avas not the temperate side in this debate, and Mr. Gallatin had more than one personal attack to complain of, but he paid no attention to personalities, and went on to comiilete his argument. Inasmuch as the Fed eralists characterized their opponents on this question as disor- ganlzers, disunionists, and traitors, and even to this day numbers of intelligent persons still labor under strong prejudice against the Republican opposition to Washington's Administration, a few sentences from Mr. Gallatin's second speech shall be inserted here to show precisely hoAV far he and his party did in fact go : " The power claimed by the House is not that of negotiating and proposing treaties ; it is not an active and operative power of making and repealing treaties; It is not a power which absorbs 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. I63 and destroys the constitutional right of the President and Senate to make treaties ; it is only a negative, a restraining power on those subjects over Avhich Congress has the right to legislate. On the contrary, the poAver claimed for the President and Senate is tliat, under color of making treaties, of proposing and origi nating laAvs; it is an active and operative poAver of making laws and of repealing laAvs; it is a poAver AvliIch supersedes and anni hilates the constitutional poAvers vested in Congress. " If it is asked, in what situation a treaty is Avhicli has been made by the President and Senate, but Avliich contains stipula tions on legislative objects, until Congress has carried them Into effect? Avhether it Is the laAv of the land and binding upon the two nations? I might answer that such a treaty is precisely in the same situation Avith a similar one concluded by Great Britain before Parliament has carried it into effect. " But If a direct ansAver is Insisted on, I Avould say that it Is in some respects an Inchoate act. It Is the laAV of the land and binding upon the American nation in all its parts, except so far as relates to those stipulations. Its final fate, in case of refusal on the part of Congress to carry those stipulations into effect, AA'ould depend on the Avill of the other nation." The Federalists had in this debate failed to hold Avell to gether ; the ground assumed by Mr. GrisAvold Avas too extreme for some even among the leader.s, and concessions Avere made on that side which fatally shook their position ; but among the Re-=. publicans there Avas concurrence almost. If not quite, universal In the statements of the argument by Mr. Madison and Mr-, Gallatin, and this closing authoritative position of Mr. Gallatin was on the same day adopted by the House on a vote of 62 to 37, only five members not voting. The Administration might perhaps have contented itself with refusing the papers called for by the House, and left the matter as it stood, seeing that the resolution calling for the papers said not a AVord about the treaty-making poAver, and the journals of the House contained no allusion to the subject ; or the President might have contented himself with simply asserting his own powers and the rights of his oavu Department; but, as has been already seen, there was at this time an absence of fixed' 164 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. precedent which occasionally led executive officers to take liber ties with the Legislature such as Avould never afterAvards have been tolerated. The President sent a message to the House which Avas far from calculated to soothe angry feeling. Tavo passages Avere especially invidious. In one the President ad verted to the debates held in the House. In the other he assumed a position In curious contrast to his generally cautious tone : " Having been a member of the general convention, and know ing the principles on which the Constitution Avas formed, I have, &c., &c." For the President of the United States on such an occasion to appeal to his personal knoAvledge of the intentions of a body of men Avho gave him no authority for that purpose, and Avhose intentions were not a matter of paramount importance, seeing that by universal consent It Avas not their intentions AvhIch Interpreted the Constitution, but the intentions of the people who adopted it ; and for him to use this language to a body of which Mr. Madison was leader, and AvhIch had adopted Mr. Madison's views, Avas a step not likely to diminish the perils of the situation. Had the President been any other than Wash ington, or perhaps had the House been led by another than Madison, the opportunity for a ferocious retort Avould probably have been irresistible. As It Avas, the House acted AvIth great forbearance ; it left unnoticed this very vulnerable part of the message, and In reply to the implication that the House claimed to make its assent " necessary to the validity of a treaty," it con tented Itself Avith passing a resolution defining Its oavu precise claim. On this resolution Mr. Madison spoke at some length and Avith perfect temper in reply to Avhat could only be considered as the personal challenge contained in the message, Avhile Mr. Gal latin did not speak at all. The resolutions Avere adopted by 57 to 35, and the House then turned to the merits of the treaty. On this subject Mr. Gallatin spoke at considerable length on the 26th April, a few days before the dose of the debate. The •situation Avas extremely difficult. In the country at large opinion was as closely divided as it Avas in the House Itself. Even at the present moment it is not easy to decide in favor of either party. Nothing but the personal authority of General Washington carried the hesitating assent of great masses of Federalists. Nothing but l:9«. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. -[q^ fear of Avar made approval even remotely possible. AVhetlier the danger of Avar Avas really so great as the friends of the treaty averred may be doubted. No Federalist Administration would have made Avai- on England, for it Avas a cardinal principle with the Hamiltonian Aving of the party that only through peace Avitli England could their ascendency be preserved, Avliile war with England avoAvedly meant a dissolution of thd Union by their own act.' The Republicans Avanted no war Avith England, as tliey afterAvards proved by enduring insults that would in our day rouse to madness every Intelligent human being within the national borders. Nevertheless Avar appeared or was represented as inevitable in 1796 ; the eloquent speech of Fisher Ames con tained no other argument of any weight ; it Avas abject fear to Avhich he appealed : " You are a father : the blood of your sons shall fatten your corn-field. You are a mother : the war-Avhoop shall Avake the sleep of the cradle." It Avas the truth of this reproach on the Aveakness of the argu ment for the treaty that made the sting of Mr. Gallatin's closing remarks : " I cannot help considering the cry of Avar, the threats of a dissolution of government, and the present alarm, as designed for the same purpose, that of making an Impression on the fears of this House. It AA'as through the fear of being involved in a war that the negotiation Avith Great Britain originated; under the impression of fear the treaty has bedh negotiated and signed; a fear of the same danger, that of Avar, promoted Its ratification : and noAV every imaginary mischief AvhIch can alarm our fears is conjured up, in order to deprive us of that discretion which this House thinks it has a right to exercise, and in order to force us to carry the treaty Into effect." Nevertheless Mr. Gallatin carefully abstained from advocating a refusal to carry the treaty Into effect. With his usual caution he held his party back from any violent step ; he even went so far as to aA'ow his wish that the treaty might not uoav be defeated; " The further detention of our posts, the national stain that would result from receiving no reparation for the spoliations on > See, among other expressions to this effect. Lodge's Cabot, pp. 342, 845. 166 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. our trade, and the uncertainty of a final adjustment of our dif ferences Avith Great Britain, are the three evils Avhieh strike me as resulting from a rejection of the treaty ; and Avhen to these considerations I add that of the present situation of the country, of the agitation of the public mind, and of the advantages that would arise from a union of sentiments ; hoAvever injurious and unequal I conceive the treaty to be, hoAvever repugnant it may be to my feelings and, perhaps, to my prejudices, I feel induced to vote for it, and will not give my assent to any proposition which Avould imply its rejection." He also carefully avoided taking the ground Avhich Avas un doubtedly first In his anxieties, that of the bearing AvliIch the treaty Avould have on our relations Avitli France. This Avas a subject AvhIch his seml-Gallican origin debarred him from dAvell- Ing upon. The position he took Avas a uoav one, and for his party perfectly safe and proper ; it Avas that, in vIcav of the con duct of Great Britain since the treaty Avas signed, her impress ment of our seamen, her uninterrupted spoliations on our trade, especially in the seizure of provision vessels, "a proceeding Avhlch they might perhaps justify by one of the articles of the treaty," a postponement of action Avas advisable until assurances were recdved from Great Britain that she meant In future to conduct herself as a friend. This Avas the ground on AA'hich the party recorded their vote against tlie resolution declaring it expedient to make appro priations for cariying the treaty into eticct. In committee the division Avas 49 to 49, — Muhlenberg, the chairman, throAvIng his vote in favor of the resolution, and thus cariying it to the House. There the appropriation Avas voted by 51 to 48. Perhaps the only Individual in any branch of the government Avho Avas immediately and greatly benefited by the British treaty was Mr. Gallatin; he had by common consent distinguished himself In debate and in counsel ; bolder and more active than Mr. Madison, he Avas folloAved by his party Avith Instinctive con fidence ; henceforth his leadership Avas recognized by the entire country. Absorbing as the treaty debate Avas, It did not prevent other and very weighty legislation. One Act, adopted In the midst 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 167 of the excitement of the treaty, AA'as peculiarly important, and, although the idea itself Avas not ucav, Mr. Gallatin Avas the first to embody it in huv, so fiir as any single individual can lay claim to tliat distinction. This Act created the land-system of the United States government; it applied only to lands north-Avcst of the Ohio River, in Avliich the Indian titles had been extinguished, and it provided for laying these out in toAvnshijJS, six miles square, and for selling the land In sections, under certain reservations. This land-system, ahvays a subject of special interest to Mr. Gallatin, and owing its existence j)ri- marily to his efforts Avhile a legislator, took afterAvards an Im mense development In his hands Avhile he was Secretary of the Treasury, and, had he been alloAved to carry out his schemes, Avould probably have been made by him the foundation of a magnificent system of internal improvement. Circumstances prevented him from realizing his plan ; only the land-system itself and the Cumberland Road remained to testify the breadth and accuracy of his vIcavs ; but even these Avere achievements of the highest national importance. Deeply as these tAvo subjects interested him, his permanent and peculiar task Avas a different one. To Mr. Gallatin finance aa'hs an instinct. He knew Avell, as Mr. Hamilton had equally clearly understood before him, that the heart of the government Avas the Treasury ; like many another man of high financial reputation, he had little talent for money-making, and never Avas, or cared to be, rich; but he had one great advantage over most Americans of his time, even over Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Jefferson ; he Avas an economist as well as a statesman ; he Avas exact not merely in the details but In the morality of affairs; he held debt in horror; punctilious exactness In avoiding debt Avas his final axiom in finance ; the discharge of debt was his first principle in states manship; searching and rigid economy Avas his invariable demand whether In or out of office, and he made this demand imperative upon himself as upon others. Mr. Hamilton, to Avhom the organization of the financial system was due, and who left public life just as Gallatin began his Con gressional earcer, had belonged to a different school and had acted on different principles. • Adhering more or less closely to the 168 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. English financial and economical theories then In vogue, he had intentionally constructed a somcAvhat elaborate fabric, of Avhich a considerable national debt Avas the foundation. Had Mr. Hamilton foreseen in 1790 the course public affairs would take during the next ten years, he Avould perhaps have modified his plan and Avould have guarded more carefully against overloading the Treasury; but at that moment it Avas not unreasonable to suppose that what the country Avanted was centralization, and that a national debt was one means of consolidating divergent local interests. Mr. Hamilton, therefore, accepted as much debt as he thought the country could reasonably bear, and allowed the rest to be expunged. In forming this debt he had at least in one respect permitted an unnecessary and very mischievous addi tion to be made to the acknoAvlcdged and existing national bur den. In order to settle the accounts betAveen the States, he had permitted Congress — perhaps forced Congress — to assume a large proportion of the State debts. The balance to be adjusted by payment of the debtor to the creditor States was ultimately as certained to be a little more than $8,000,000. To settle this account as nearly as it Avas settled In fact, required an assump tion of State debts to the amount of $11,609,000; but, instead of waiting for a settlement of accounts. Congress had, in 1790, voted to assume a certain amount of State debts at once and to charge each State in the ultimate settlement Avith the amount assumed on her account. A sum of over $18,000,000 was thus funded, and so much debt transferred from the States to the national government. In addition to this sum a further amount of about $3,500,000 was funded in order to get rid of the balances in favor of the creditor States. Altogether, Includino- back interest from 1790 to 1795, a debt of $22,500,000 Avas imposed on the new government, Avhere half that sum Avould have ansAvered the purpose, and of this about $2,000,000 was actually ucav debt, created for the occasion. The entire amount of the national debt Avhen fairly funded was about $78,000,000. Had no political complications in its foreign relations embarrassed the government, this burden might have been easily carried in spite of Indian wars and even in spite of the whiskey rebellion, though these troubles steadily tended 17UC. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 169 to increase the sum. The annual charge was in 1796 nearly $4,000,000, but after tlie year 1800 an additional charge of $1,100,000 on deferred stock Avas to be provided for by taxation, and this future addition to the annual charge hung over the gov ernment during all tliese years as a perpetual anxiety. The population of the country In 1791 Avas not quite 4,000,000 souls, of Avhom 700,000 Avere slaves. The expenditures, including the charge on the debt, amounted In 1796 to about $7,000,000 a year, and tlie receipts nearly balanced the expenditures. Con sidering the poverty of tlie country, taxation Avas high ; so high as to make any Increase dangerous. Thus the new government was not In a condition to hazard experiments, and needed five or ten years of careful management in order to give the countiy time for expansion. In the middle of this state of affairs, Avhile the Treasury AA'as wrestling with the problems of Indian wars and domestic re\'olt, came the ominous signs of foreign aggression. War Avas thought to be imminent, either with France or England, from 1795 to 1800, and the government AA'as in great straits to provide for it. The time now came when the Federalists would probably have been delighted to recoA^er the ten millions Avliich had been un necessarily assumed, and the theory of a national debt must have taken a different aspect in their eyes. ]Mr. Hamilton had not calculated on this emergency ; his system had rested on the assumption that the old situation AA'as to be permanent. The question Avas forced upon the country whether it should increase its debt or neglect its defences. Here was the point where the theories of Mr. Hamilton and of Mr. Gallatin sharply diverge!. The Federalists in a body demanded an army and navy, with an indefinite increase of debt. Mr. Grallatin and his party demanded that both army and navy should be postponed until they could be created with out increase of debt. The question as a matter of statesmanship was extremely difficult. In a country like America any really efficient defence, either by land or sea, was out of the question except at an appalling cost, yet to be quite defenceless was to tempt aggression. Deeper feelings, too, Avere Involved in the dispute. An army and a navy might be used for domestic as 170 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. Avdl as foreign purposes ; to use the Avords of Fisher Ames in private consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury in 1800, Avhen the situation Avas most critical : " a fcAV thou.sand, or even a fcAV hundred, regular troops, Avell officered, Avould give the first advantages to government in every contest;"' and this idea Avas ahvays foremost in the minds of the extreme Federalists as it Avas among the extreme Republicans. To crush democracy by force was the ultimate resource of Hamilton. To crush that force was the determined intention of Jefferson. Mr. Gallatin's policy Avas early, openly, and vigorously avoAved and persistently maintained. In this session of 1795-96, when appropriations for finishing three frigates were demanded, he said in a fcAV AVords Avliat he continued to say to the end of his service: "I am sensible that an opinion of our strength will operate to a certain degree on other nations ; but I think a real addition of strength avIII go farther in defending us than mere opinion. If the sums to be expended to build and maintain the frigates Avere applied to paying a part of our national debt, the payment would make us more respectable in the eyes of foreign nations than all the frigates Ave can build. To spend money unnecessarily at present will diminish our future re sources, and instead of enabling us Avill perhaps render it more difficult for us to build a navy some years hence." " Perhaps I may be asked if Ave are then to be left without protection. I think there are means of protection AvhIch arise from our pecu liar situation, and that we ought not to borroAV Institutions from other nations, for which Ave are not fit. If our commerce has increased, notAvIthstandIng its Avant of protection ; if Ave have a greater number of seamen than any other nation except England, this, I think, points out the way in AvliIch commerce ought to be protected. The fact is, that our only mode of Avar- fure against European nations at sea Is by putting our seamen on board privateers and covering the sea with them ; these would annoy their trade and distress them more than any other mode of defence Ave can adopt.'" 1 Gibbs's Administrations of Washington and Aduma, ii. p. 320. ' Annals of Congress, February 10, 1797. 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. I71 Yet government has to deal with beings ruled not only by reason but by feeling, and its success depends on the degree to which it can satisfy or at least compromise between the double standard of criticism. Mr. Gallatin habitually made too little alloAA'ance for the force and complexity of human passions and instincts. Self-contained and self-reliant himself, and, like most close reasoners, distrustful of everything that had a mere feeling for its justification, he held government doAvn to an exact ob servance of rules that made no allowance for national pride. The three frigates whose construction he so pertinaciously re sisted Avere the Constitution, the Constellation, and the United States. The time came, after Mr. Gallatin and his party had for nearly tAvelve years carried out their own theories with almost absolute poAver, Avhen the American people, baiilcrupt and disgraced on land, turned Avith a frenzy of enthusiasm to wards the three flags Avhich these frigates Avere carrying on the ocean, and, Avitli little regard to party differences, Avould have seen tlie national debt and no small jiart of the national life ex punged rather than have parted Avitli the glories of these ships ; Avhen the broadsides of the Constitution and United States, to use the AVords of George Canning in the British Parliament, "produced a sensation in England scarcely to be equalled by the most violent convulsion of nature ;" and Avhen Mr. Gallatin himself, exhausting every resource of diplomacy in half the courts of Europe, found that his country had no national dignity abroad except Avhat these frigates had conquered. Notwithstanding all this, and Avith every motive to recognize in the fullest extent the honors Avon by the American navy, the cool and candid decision of history should be that Mr." Gallatin was essentially in the right. A few years of care and economy were alone necessary in order to secure the certainty of national poAver, and that power Avould be so safe in its isolation as to be able to dispense with great armies and navies. The real injury suffered by Great Britain In the war of 1812 Avas not in the loss of half a dozen vessels of Avar out of her eight hundred in com mission, but in the ravages of our privateers on her commercial marine. As a matter of fact the United States have continued to act on Mr. Gallatin's theory ; government has never pre- 172 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. tended to protect the national commerce by a poAverful navy ; no navy, not even that of Great Britain, could protect it in case of Avar. That commerce has continued to flourish without such protection. Every one concedes that it would be the wildest folly even now, with forty millions of people and a continent to protect, for America to establish a proportionate navy. Every smatterer in finance knoAvs that, inefficient as the existing navy is, hundreds of millions have been uselessly expended upon it. There could be no more instructive thesis proposed to future Secretaries of the Treasury than to ask themselves on entering into office, " What Avould Mr. Gallatin Avish to do with the navy Avere he noAv in my place ?" But opposition to a navy Avas only a detail In Mr. Gallatin's theory of American finance, and his plans extended over a far Avider range than could be comprehended within the limits of one or many speeches. The debate on the British treaty had, no doubt, Avon him a large share of attention, but the essentials of power in a deliberative body arc only to be secured by labor and activity and by mastery of the business In hand. Mr. Gallatin knew perfectly well Avhat Avas to be done, and lost no time in acting. Before the House had been ten days in session, on the 17th December, 1795, ho brought forward a resolution for the appointment of " a committee to superintend the general opera tions of finance. No subject," said he, " more requires a system, and great advantages Avill be derived from It." Th}s is the origin of the standing Committee of Ways and Means, the ^want of which hitherto he ascribed, it seems, to Mr. Hamilton's jealousy of legislative supervision. On the 21st December the resolution Avas adopted and a committee of fourteen appointed Mr. William Smith, of South Carolina, bdng chairman, sup ported by Theodore Sedgwick, Madison, Gallatin, and other important members of the House. The British treaty consumed most of this session, and until that question was settled the regular business was much neg lected ; but Mr. Gallatin did not wait till then in order to be gin his attack. As early as April 12, 1796, a somcAvhat warm debate arose In the House on the subject of the debt, and he undertook, AvIth an daborate comparison of recdpts and'expend- 179G. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 173 itures, to analyze the financial situation and to shoAv that the revenue Avas steadily running behindhand. The true situation of the government Avas a point not altogether easy to ascertain. One of several English ideas adopted by Mr. Hamilton from Mr. Pitt was a sinking fund apparatus. Even at that time of Mr. Pitt's supreme authority It can hardly be conceived that any one really believed a sinking fund to be effective so long as the government's expenditure exceeded its Income ; it Avas, how ever, certainly the fashion to affect a belief In its efficacy at all times, and although. If Mr. Pitt and Mr. Hamilton had been pressed on the subject, they might perhaps have agreed that a sinking fund was ahvays expenslA'e and never efficient except when there was a surplus, they Avould In the end have fallen back on the theory that It inspired confidence In ultimate pay ment of the debt. Their opponents would not unnaturally consider It to be a mere fraud designed to cover and conceal the true situation. Apart, however, from every question of the operation of the sinking fund, there were Intrinsic difficulties in ascertaining the facts. The question Avas, as in such cases it is apt to be. In a great degree one of accounts. The immediate matter in dispute was a sum of $3,800,000 advanced by the bank in anticipation of revenue. Mr. SedgAvick and the Administration Avished to fund it, and made considerable effort to prove that the debt would not only be unaffected thereby, but that, as a matter of fact, the debt had been diminished. Mr. Gallatin opposed the funding, and Insisted that provision should be made for Its payment, and he undertook to prove by a comparison of receipts and expendi tures that the debt had been Increased $2,800,000 down to the 1st January, 1796. It was felt to be a crucial point, and Mr. Gallatin was not alloAved to go unansAvered. On the last day of the session Mr. William Smith replied to him, elaborately prov ing that so far from there being a total increase of $5,000,000 in the debt, as he had undertaken to show, there was an actual excess of over $2,000,000 in favor of the government. To this Mr. Gallatin made an immediate reply, Mr. Smith rejoined, and the session ended. Of course each party adhered to its own view, which was a 174 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. matter of very little consequence so long as Mr. Gallatin gained his point of fixing public attention upon the subject; his aim Avas to educate his own party and to plant his own principles deep in popular convictions. After the adjournment he wrote a book for this purpose called " A Sketch of the Finances of the United States," which Avas In fact a text-book, and answered its purpose admirably. In two hundred pages, with a few tabular statements appended, he discussed the revenues, expenditures, and debt of the United States AvIth his usual clearness, and, Avhile avoiding all apparent party feeling, he freely criticised the financial measures of the government. The duty of preventing increase of debt, of discharging the principal as soon as possible, AA'as the foundation of the Avork ; criticisms of the cases in Avhich the burden had been unnecessarily Increased Avere interAVOven in the statement, Avliich concluded Avith suggestions of additional sources of revenue.' Thus already in the first year of his Congressional service Mr. Gallatin had sketched out and begun to infuse into his party those financial schemes and theories that Avere ultimately to be realized Avhen they came into poAver. That these ideas, as forming a single complete body of finance, Avere essentially new, has already been remarked. In theory Mr. Hamilton also Avas In favor of discharging the debt, and originated the mabhlnery for doing so ; that Is to say, he originated the sinking fund machinery, or rather borroAved it from Mr. Pitt, although this financial juggle has noAV become, both in England and America, a monument of folly rather than of Avisdom; AvhIle a much more effectual step Avas taken in the last year of his service Avhen he recommended the conversion of the six per cents. into an eight per cent, annuity for tAventy-three years, which Avas equivalent to an annual appropriation of about $800,000 a year for the payment of the principal. This, however, AA'as not the real point of difference between the systems of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Hamilton. Laying entirely aside the gen eral proposition that the Hamiltonian Federalists considered a national debt as In itself a desirable institution, and conceding ' This essay is republished in his Writings, vol. iii. p. 70. 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 175 that the Federalists Avould themselves have ultimately reduced or discharged it, there still remains the fact that the Fed eralists made the debt a subordinate, Mr. Gallatin made it a paramount, consideration In politics. The one believed that if debt Avas not a positive good, it Avas a far smaller evil than the groAvtli of French democracy ; the other, that debt Avas the most potent source of all political evils and the most active centre of CA'ery social corruption. The Hamiltonian doctrine Avas that the United States should be a strong government, ready and able to maintain its dignity abroad and its authority at home by arms. Mr. Gallatin maintained that Its dignity would protect itself if its resources Avere carefully used for self-development, Avhile its domestic authority should rest only on consent. Which of these views Avas correct is quite another matter. Certain it is that the system so long and ably maintained by Mr. Gallatin was rudely oA'erthroAvn by the Avar of 1812, and over threw Mr. Gallatin with It. Equally certain it is that the United States naturally and safely gravitated back to Mr. Gallatin's system after the war of 1812, and has consistently followed it to the present time. The debt has been repeatedly discharged. Neither army nor naA'y has been increased over the proportions fixed by Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Jefferson. Commerce protects itself not by arms nor even by the fear of arms, but by the interests it creates. America has pursued In fact an American system, — the system of Mr. Gallatin. True It also is that this result does not settle the question as between Jlr. Hamilton and Mr. Gallatin, for there were special circumstances which then made the situation exceptional. As has been said, the Avar of 1812 Avas a practical demonstration of at least the naomentary failure of Mr. Gallatin's principle, and the failure occurred in dealing with precisely those difficulties which the Federalists had foreseen and tried to provide for. The question therefore recurs, whether the Federalist policy would have resulted better, and this is one of those inquiries which lose themselves in speculation. There Is no ansAvcr to so large a problem. Congress rose on the 1st June, 1796, and Mr. and Mrs. Galla tin passed the summer in Ncav York. MeauAvhile, the co-part nership in which he had engaged had resulted in establishing on 176 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. George's Creek a little settlement named New Geneva, and here Avere carried on various kinds of business, the most important and profitable of which was that of glass-making, begun during Mr. Gallatin's absence in the spring of 1797. Leaving his wife in New York, Mr. Gallatin went to New Geneva for a few weeks In the autumn of 1796. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 26th September, 1796. ... I arrived here last Saturday. ... I have received pretty positive and certain information that Findley Avill be re elected unanimously in our district, my name not being mentioned there, and that I Avill be superseded in Washington and Alleghany by Thomas Stokeley. This I have from Woods's friends, Avho seem to be equally sure that neither he nor myself are to be elected. The Republicans despair to be able to carry me, not, by the by, so much on account of the treaty question as because I do not reside in the district and have not been this summer in the Avestern country, and they hesitate whether they avIII support Edgar or Brackenridge. At all events, I think I will be gently dropped Avithout the parade of a resignation. The other party will call it a victory, but it avIU do neither me nor our friends any harm. I think, indeed, it will not be any disadvantage to the Republican Interest that my name should be out of the way, at least for a while. . . . Shippensburq, 3d October, 1796. . . . The farther I go from you the more I feel how hateful absence is, and the stronger my resolution is not to be persuaded to continue in public life. Indeed, we must be settled and give up journeying. This design gives me but one regret. It Is to part you and to part myself from your family; they are the only beings I will feel sorry to leave behind, but I will feel the Avant of them more than I can express. . . . New Geneva, 12th October, 1796. ... I arrived here last Friday Avithout any accident. As to politics, the four or five last newspapers are filled with the most scurrilous and abusive electioneering pieces for and against 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 177 myself and Thomas Stokeley. This has raised the contention so high in the counties of Alleghany and Washington that my old friends have again taken me up Ai^ery Avarmly, and I eame too late to prevent it. There is, hoAvever, the highest probability that I AvIU not be elected. The election took place yesterday, but we do not knoAV the result. In this and Westmoreland County James Findlay, Avho was a great admirer of the treaty, has been prevailed upon by Addison & Co. to oppose William Findley, whom we have been supporting, notAvithstanding all his weak nesses, because it became a treaty question, and I expect he must be elected by a majority of tAvo to one. . . . Nbav Geneva, 16th October, 1796. . . . No, my Hannah, we shall not, so far as it can depend upon ourselves, — we shall not hereafter put such a distance between us. It Is perfectly uncertain Avhether I am elected In Congress or not ; but if I am, that sliall not prevent the execu tion of our plans, and I will undoubtedly resign a seat which in every point of view is perfectly Indifferent to me, and AvhIch is certainly prejudicial to my interest if It does interfere AvIth the happiness of our lives. . . . Ambition, love of poAver, I never felt, and if vanity ever made one of the ingredients which im pelled me to take an active part in public life, it has for many years altogether vanished aAvay. . . . Neav Geneva, November 9, 1796. ... I will not put your patience and good nature to a much longer trial, and I knoAv you avIII be glad to hear that this is the last letter I mean to write you from this place, and that next Tuesday, the 15th Inst., is the day I have fixed for my departure. I have been tolerably industrious since I have been here, settling accounts, arranging some matters relative to the concerns of the copartnership, getting some essential improve ments on our farm, getting rid of ray tenants, and electioneering for electors of the President. Our endeavors to Induce the people to turn out on that day have not been as successful as I might have wished. In this county our ticket got 406 votes, and Adams's had 66. What the general result Avill be you will know before I do. . . . 12 178 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. The Presidential election of 1796, Avhich Avas to decide the succession to Washington, ended in the choice of John Adams over Thomas Jefferson and in a very evenly balanced condition of parties. The constitutional arrangement by which the Presi dent was not chosen by the people, but by electors themselves chosen by Legislatures, makes it impossible to decide Avhere the popular majority lay ; and the rule that the person having the highest number of electoral votes should be President, without regard to the intentions of the electors, at once began to throw discord into the ranks of both parties. John Adams thought Avith reason that he had been nearly made the victim of an intrigue to elect Thomas Plnckney ; and Aaron Burr, the Re publican leader in the North, as Jefferson was In the South, Avith equal reason believed himself to have been sacrificed as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency by the jealousy of Virginia. Both these suspicions, deeply rooted in sectional feeling, bore fruit during the next few years. Mr. Gallatin, contrary to his expectation, was re-elected to the House of Representatives by the district which had chosen him tAVO yeai-s before, although his long absences from the Avestern country and his opposition to the British treaty threatened to destroy his popularity. After six weeks' absence at New Geneva during the elections, he returned to Philadelphia to take part in the coming session. The times Avere stormy. President Washington, whose personal weight had thus far to a great extent overaAved the opposition, was about to leave office, and his successor could hope for little personal consideration. The British treaty and the policy which dictated it had been Avarmly resented by France. The govern ment of that country Avas in a state of wild confusion, and its acts Avere regulated by no steadiness of policy and by little purity of principle. Without actually declaring war, it msulted our agents and plundered our commerce. Its course was damaging In the extreme to the opposition party in America • it strengthened and consolidated the Federalists, and left the Republicans only the alternative of silence or of apology more fatal than silence. Mr. Monroe, our minister to France re called by President Washington for too great subservience to 1796. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. , 179 French Influence, adopted the course of apologizing for France, and was supported by most of his party. Mr. Gallatin wisely preferred silence. The economical condition of the country Avas equally unsatisfactory. Speculation had exhausted itself and had broken doAvn. Robert Morris Avas one of the victims, and Mr. Gallatin began to despair of recovering his debt. Things were In this situation Avhen Congress met, and Gallatin, leaving his wife In Ncav York, took his seat, December 5, 1796. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 14th December, 1796. . . . Every day in this city increases the distress for money, and you may rely upon it that the time is not far when a gen eral and heavy shock will be felt in all the commercial cities of America. This opinion is not grounded upon a slight or partial vieAV of the present situation of affiiirs. Many avIU be much injured by it, and frugality is the only remedy I sec to the evil. As to ourselves, I look upon Morris's debt as being In a very precarious situation. He has told me that he could not make any payment to me until he had satisfied the judgments against him. We must do as Avell as Ave can, and, although I had rather it Avas otherAvise, it is not one of those circumstances which will make me lose a single hour of rest. . . . As tp politics, we are getting to-day upon the ansAA'er to the Presi dent's address. The one reported by the committee is as poor a piece of stuff, as full of adulation and void of taste and elegance, as anything I ever saAv. The return of Greene County did not come ; but Mr. Miles voted for Jefferson and Plnckney, which made the general vote what you have seen. . . . After remaining a fortnight in Philadelphia he took leave of absence and went to New York, Avhere he remained till the 1st January. His eldest child, James, Avas born on the 18th December, 1796, a circumstance which not a little contributed to turn his attention away from politics and to disgust him with the annoying interruptions of domestic life then insepa rable from a political career. From this time forward his letters 180 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1796. to his Avife are chiefly about herself and the child, but here and there come glimpses of public characters and affairs. Party feeling Avas now running extremely high, and Mr. Gallatin was a party leader, thoroughly convinced of the justice of his view.s, smarting under bitter and often brutal attacks, Avhich he never returned in kind, and imbued Avith the conviction that the Inten tions of a large portion of his political opponents Avere deeply hostile to the Avdfare of his country and the interests of man kind. In his letters to his wife he sometimes expresses these feel ings in a personal form. It avIU be seen that he felt strongly; but the Avorst he said was mildness in comparison to Avliat he had daily to hear. So far as his Congressional Avork Avas concerned he confined himself closely to finance, and, although taking a very consider able share in debate, he avoided as much as possible the discus sion of foreign affairs. His most strenuous efforts Avere devoted to cutting doAvn the estimates, preventing an increase, and, if pos,sible, diminishing the force of the army and navy, and insist ing upon the rule of specific appropriations. He had begun to apply this rule more stringently in the appropriation bills of the preceding session, and hoAV necessary the ajiplicatlon Avas is shown by a letter now Avritten by the Secretary of the Treasury, saying that " It Is Avell knoAvn to have been a rule since the establishment of the government that the appropriations for the military estab lishment Avere considered as general grants of money, liable to be issued to any of the objects included under that Department." It Avas only Avith considerable difficulty that he carried this year his restriction of specific appropriations against the resistance of the Administration party. In his efforts this year and in subsequent years to cut down appropriations for the army, navy, and civil service, he Avas rarely successful, and earned much ill-Avill as an obstructionist. Acting as he did on a vIcav of the duties of government quite antagonistic to those of his adversaries, it Avas inevitable that he should arouse hostile feeling. Whether his proposed reductions were ahvays AvIse or not depends of course on the correctness of his or his opponents' theories ; but the point Is of little importance to his character as a leader of opposition. The duty of an op- 1797. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. igl position is to compel government to prove the propriety of its measures, and Mr. Gallatin's incessant Avatchfulness gave the party in power a corresponding sense of responsibility. Mr. Gallatin, too, did his utmost to carry the imposition of a direct tax, in view of the increasing burden of expenditure and of debt. The additional annual expense of $1,100,000 to be met in 1800 Aveighed not only on his mind but on that of Secretary Wolcott ; they agreed that a direct tax Avas the best resource, and, unless advocated in principle at once, Avould stand no chance of adoption, but on tliis point they had both parties against them, and for tlie present failed. The session of Congress ended Avitli the 3d March, but a new session Avas called to meet on May 13, to consider our relations Avitli France. Of this ucav Congress Mr. Madison Avas not a member, and Mr. Gallatin more and more assumed the leader ship of the party. On questions of foreign policy he left the debate, for the most part, to otliers, and confined himself to limiting the appropriations and resisting all measures Avhich directly tended to Avar. GALLATIN TO IIIS AVIFE. 11th January, 1797. . . . And have you really set aside a mother's partiality and then decided that our boy was a lovely child ? You may rely upon It that / shall not appeal from your decision, whether im partial or not ; but I feel every day a stronger desire to see him and to judge for myself. Yet I must not begin to fret, for fear you may catch the infection, and the 5th of March Is not so far distant but Avhat you, with the comfort you receive from your boy, and I, with my head, though not my heart, full of politics, may Avait at least with resignation if not without reluctance. . . . 17th January, 1797. . . . T pay no visits ; I see nobody ; I never dine out ; I sit up late, and sleep regularly till nine in the morning ; I hardly speak in Congress, and, Avhen I do, a great deal Avorse than I used formerly ; I neither Avrite nor think, only read some miscella neous works ; I am in fact good for nothing when I am not with you. . . . 182 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1797. 24th January, 1797. Most charming nurse of the loveliest and most thoughtful- looking babe of his age (I mean of the age he lives in), your husband is as Avorthless as ever. Instead of Avriting to you last night, he sat up two hours examining Judge Symmes's contract for lands on the Miami, Avhicli is uoav before Congress, and in stead of devoting part of this morning to you, he remained in bed till nine o'clock, as usual, and hardly had he done breakfast, dressing, etc., Avhen he Avas obliged to go to Mr. Wolcott, with whom he has been agreeably employed for more than one hour on the entertaining subject of direct taxes. ... It seems to me that I have just uoav mentioned dressing. Yet It is necessary that you should knoAV that I have not exhibited my new, or rather my only good coat, my new jacket, and my pair of black silk inexpressibles more than once, to Avit, last Thursday at the President's, Avhere I dined and saAV hira for the first time this year. He looked, I thought, more than usually grave, cool, and reserved. Mrs. W. inquired about you, so that you may suppose yourself still In the good graces of our most gracious queen, who, by tlie by, continues to be a very good-natured and amiable woman. Not so her husband, in your husband's humble opinion; but that between you and me, for I hate treason, and you know that it would be less sacrilegious to carry arms against our country than to refuse singing to the tune of the best and greatest of men. . . . 31st January, 1797. . . . Your husband Avas not formed for the bustles of a political life In a stormy season., Conscious of the purity of my motives and (shall I add Avhen I Avrite to my bosom friend?) conscious of my own strength, I may resist the tempest with becoming firmness, but happinesss dAvells not there. I feel the truth of that observation more forcibly this winter than ever I did before. I feel disgusted at the mean artifices which have so long been successfully employed hi order to pervert public opinion, and I anticipate Avith gloomy apprehension the fatal consequences to our independence as a nation and to our internal union which must foUoAv the folly or Avickedness of those Avho have directed 1797. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 183 our public measures. Nor are my depressed spirits enlivened by the pleasures of society ; I can relish none at a distance from you, and Avas I to continue much longer my present mode of life I would become a secluded and morose hermit. . . . Perhaps, however, am I myself to blame, and a more intense application to business might have contributed to render this session less tiresome, but . . . disgust at the symptoms of the prevailing in fluence of prejudice in the public mind have rendered me far more indolent than usual. The latter part of this session will, however, give me more employment than its beginning, as many money questions must necessarily compel me to take an active share. . . . 26th February, 1797. ... I never, I believe, Avrite you anything about our politics and on what takes place in Congress. But we have had nothing very interesting, being employed only in the details of adminis tration. And then you see the substance in the newspapers, though not very correct, as to our speeches and debates. The little anecdotes I reserve for the happy time when Ave shall meet, and in the mean while I am sufficiently engaged in the scene witliout spending the moments I correspond with you in thinking on the dry subject. . . . GALLATIN TO JAMES NICHOLSON. Philadelphia, 26th May, 1797. Dear Sir, — I received your political letter, and am not sur prised at seeing your Irritation upon the perusal of Mr. Adams's speech. I have felt less because I was not much disappointed. I mean in a pretty long letter to give you a better idea of our present situation than you can possibly derive from a view of our debates. These give only the apparent state of the business, and at this time it is very different from the real one. For the pres ent, as I have not time to enter into details, I will only mention that the complexion of affairs is much less gloomy now than at the beginning of the session, that although the other party have rather a majority in this Congress, and although from party pride, and indeed for the sake of supporting then- party through the 184 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1797. United States, they may be induced to negative any proposition coming from us, yet there are but fcAV of that party Avho do not feel and acknoAvledge in conversation" the propriety of treating AA'ith France upon the terms Ave mention. They add, indeed, that it is necessary to obtain at the same time a compensation for the spoliations upon our trade. Upon the whole, I believe that Ave Avill not adopt a single hostile measure, and that Ave will evince such a spirit as Avill Induce Mr. Adams to negotiate on the very ground Ave propose. I am of opinion that Wolcott, Picker ing, Wm. Smith, Fisher Ames, and perhaps a fcAV more were disposed to go to Avar, and had conceived hopes to overaAve us by a clamor of foreign influence and to carry their OAvn party any lengths they pleased. They are disappointed In both points, for Ave have assumed a higher tone than ever Ave did before, and their OAvn people avIII not folloAv them the distance they expected. . . . GALLATIN TO HIS AVIFE. PniLADBLPUlA, 14th June, 1797. ... As to our debates, they are tedious beyond measure, and Ave are beating and beaten by turns, although, by the by, our defeats are usually OAvIng to the mistakes of some of our friends, Avho do not ahvays perceive the remote consequences of every object which comes under consideration. . . . Your pajia has not yet ansAvered my last political letter. I am afraid he thinks me too moderate and believes I am going to trim. But moderation and firmness have ever been and ever avIII be my motto. . . . Philadelphia, 19th June, 1797. ... I cannot yet form any very accurate opinion as to the time of our adjournment, although I think it probable that it Avill be some time next Aveek. William Smith & Co. Avish to detain us as long as they can, from a hope, AvhIch is not alto gether groundless, that some of our members avIU abandon the field, return to their homes, and leave them an undisputed majority at the end of the session. My own endeavors and those of most of our friends are noAv applied to despatching Avith as little debate as possible the most important business 1797. THE LEGISLATURiE. 1789-1801. 185 Avhicli remains to be decided. I brought a motion to adjourn ou next Saturday, but I must modify it to this day Aveek; Avhether It will pass Is yet uncertain. ... I dine next Thursday at court. Courtland, dining there the other day, heard her majesty, as she Avas asking the names of the different members of Congress to Hindman, and being told that of some one of the aristocratic party, say, 'Ah, that is one of our people.' So that she is Mrs. President not of the United States, but of a faction. . . . But it is not right. Indeed, my beloved, you are infinitely more lovely than politics. Philadelphia, 21st June, 1797. . . . Mr. Gerry is nominated envoy to France instead of Mr. Dana, who has declined, but it is doubtful whether the aristocratic party in Senate avIII appoint him. We are very still just now AA'aiting for European intelligence. May it bring us the tidings of general peace! But many doubt It. . . . 23d June, 1797. . . . The Senate approved yesterday Mr. Gerry's nomination, with six dissentient voices, to Avit, Sedgwick, Tracy, Reed, Good hue, Ross, and Marshall. The real reason of the opposition was that Gerry is a doubtful character, not British enough ; but the ostensible pretence Avas that he Avas so obstinate that he would not make sufficient concessions. . . . 26th June, 1797. ... A vessel has arrived at Ncav York, but Ave have not yet got the news, although I am sorry to say that from present appearances it seems to be the Intention of France to prosecute the Avar against Great Britain. The aristocrats here give up the point as to that kingdom, and acknowledge that she is gone beyond recovery. The situation of their bank and finances and the mutiny of the fleet seem to have Avorked a rather late con viction upon tlieir minds. Had they been something less preju diced in favor of the perpetual poAver of that country, ours would be in a better situation uoav. I dined at the President. . . . Blair McClanachan dined there, and told the President tliat by G he had rather see a Avorld annihilated than this 186 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1797. country united with Great Britain; that there would not remain a single king In Europe within six months, &c., &c. All that in the loudest and most decisive tone. It did not look at all like Presidential conversation. . . . 28th Juno, 1797. . . . Mr. Monroe arrived last night. ... I spent two hours with hira, during which he gave us (Jefferson and Burr, who is also in toAvn) much Interesting information, chiefly in relation to his own conduct and to that of the Administration respecting himself and France. It appears that he was desirous, as soon as the treaty had been concluded by Jay, that it should be com municated to him, in order that he might lay it with candor and at once before the Committee of Public Safety ; and he appre hends that If that mode had been adopted, France, under the then circumstances, Avould have been satisfied, Avould have ac cepted some verbal explanations, and would not have taken any further steps about it.' But he never got the treaty until it appeared In the newspapers in August, 1795 (It was signed in November, 1794). The French government received it, of course. Indirectly and Avithout any previous preparations having been made to soften them. Yet did Mr. Monroe, unsupported by the Administration here, Avithout having any but irritating letters to show, for seven months stop their proceedings, giving thereby full time to our Administration to send powers or any conciliatory propositions which might promote an accommoda tion. But the precious time was lost, and Avorse than lost; and It Is indeed doubtful whether for a certain length of time it will be possible to make any accommodation. The time they chose to recall Monroe Avas Avhen from his correspondence they had reason to believe that he had succeeded In allaying the re sentment of the French. Then, thinking they had nothing to fear from France, and that they had used Monroe so as to obtain every service that he could render, they recalled him, Avith the double view of giving to another person the merit of ' This statement should be compared with Mr. Monroe's published ac count of this transaction (View of the Conduct of the Executive, pp. xix.-xxii.), in order to gather the sense in which Mr. Monroe probably meant it to be understood. 1797. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 187 tei-mlnating the differences and of throAving upon him (Monroe) the blame of any that had existed before. They Avere, however, deceived as to the fact, for, in spite of his honest endeavors, as soon as tlie final vote of the House of Representatives in favor of the treaty was known in France (and long before the letters of recall had reached that country) the die Avas cast. Upon the Avhole, I am happy to tell you that from my conversation Avith Monroe, frora his manner and everything about hira (things which are more easily felt than expressed), I have the strongest impression upon my mind that he is possessed of integrity su perior to all tlie attacks of malignity, and that he had conducted with irreproachable honor and the most dignified sense of duty. Sorry am I to be obliged to add that I am also pretty well con- A'inced that the American Adrainlstration have acted Avitli a degree of meanness only exceeded by their folly, and that they liaA^e degraded the American name throughout Europe. If you want more politics, read Bache, Avhere you will find a letter from Thomas Paine. I have marked it with his name. . . . The second mutiny on board the British fleet still subsists, and is considered as being of very serious nature. Adams says that England is done over, and I am told that France will not make peace with that country, but mean to land tliere. 30th June, 1797. . . . We give to-morroAV a splendid dinner to Monroe at Oeller's hotel, in order to testify our approbation of his con duct and our opinion of his integrity. Jefferson, Judge McKean, the governor, and about fifty members of Congress will be there ; for which I expect the Administration, Porcupine & Co. will soundly abuse us. . . . Congress adjourned on July 10, and Gallatin at once went to New Geneva with his Avife. On the 20th November he was again in Philadelphia, writing to his wife at her father's in Ncav York. Philadelphia, let December, 1797. Do you not admire our unanimity and good nature? Yet it is difficult to say whether it is the calm that follows or 188 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1797. that which precedes a storm. On the subject of the address, it seems to have been agreed on all hands that something general and Inoffensive Avas the best ansAver that could be given to the Avise speech of our President. He was highly delighted to find that we Avere so polite, and in return treated us with cake and Avine Avhen we carried him the ansAver. . . . 19th December, 1797. . . . Our Speaker has made Harper chairman of several com mittees, amongst others of that of Ways and Means, and he is as great a bungler as ever I knew, very good-hearted, and not deficient In talents, exclusively of that of speaking, which he cer tainly possesses to a high degree ; but his vanity destroys him. Dana is the most eloquent man in Congress. Sewall is the first man of that party ; but, upon the whole, I think this Congress Aveaker than the last or any former one. The other party have a small majority, and our members do not attend well as usual. Add to that that we are extremely deficient on our side in speakers. SAvanAvIck Is sick and quite cast doAvn. I do not believe from his statement, Avhich he has published, that he will be able to pay above tAvelve shillings in the pound. It is extremely unfor tunate for us that he and B. McClanachan have been chosen by our party. Yet, notwithstanding all that, I think that unless the French government shall treat our commissioners very ill, this session Avill pass on quietly and Avithout much mischief being done. We will attack the mint and the Avhole establish ment of foreign ministers, and avIII push them extremely close on both points. Even if Ave do not succeed in destroying those useless expenses, we may check the increase of the evil. I have read Fauchet's pamphlet on the subject of our dispute with France. There is but one copy, AvhIch is in the hands of Ad ministration, and I only could obtain a reading in the House. • It is candid, argumentative, Avell Avritten, and not in the least tainted AvIth the fashionable French declamation. After a pretty full refutation of Pickering's arguments on many points, blaming, however, the Directory in many things, he strongly advises a reconciliation. . . . 1798. TIIE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 189 Philadelphia, 2d January, 1798. ..." According to custom, I have been monstrously lazy ever since I have been here, have seen nobody, not even . . . Mr. Jefferson, to whom I owe a visit this fortnight past. I mean, hoAvever, Avithin a short time to make a poAverful effort and to pay half a dozen of visits in one morning. . . . My greatest leisure time is while Congress sits, for Ave have nothing of any real importance before us. . . . llth January, 1798. . . . You wonder at our doing nothing, but you must know that, generally speaking, our government always fails by doing or attempting to do and to govern too much, and that things never go better than when we are doing very little. Upon the Avhole, we remain in suspense in relation to the most Important subject that can attract our attention, the success of our negotiation AvIth France, and till we knoAV its fate Ave Avill not, I believe, enter into any business with much spirit. 19th January, 1798. . . . Our situation groAvs critical ; it avIU require great firm ness to prevent this country being Involved in a war should our negotiations Avith France meet Avitli great delay or any serious interruption. We must expect to be branded with the usual epithets of Jacobins and tools of foreign influence. We must have fortitude enough to despise the calumnies of the Avar-factlon and to do our duty, notAvithstanding the situation In which we haA'e been dragged by the weakness and party spirit of our Ad ministration and by the haughtiness of France. We must pre- serA'e self-dignity, not suffer our country to be debased, and yet preserve our Constitution and our felloAV-cItizens from the fatal effects of war. The task is difficult, and avIU be impracticable unless we are supported by the body of the American people. You knoAV that I am not deficient in political fortitude, and I feel therefore perfectly disposed to do my duty to its full extent and under every possible circumstance. We have made a violent attack upon our foreign intercourse, as It relates to the Increase of ministers abroad, of ministerial influence, &c., and Ave have made it violent because it is of importance that Ave should begin 190 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. to assume that high tone Avhich Ave must necessarily support in case of worse news from France, and because there Is no other way to make any important impression upon public opinion. . . , 30th January, 1798. Indeed I am to blame. I should have written to you two days earlier, and It is no sufficient justification that I have been interrupted every moment I had set aside to converse with you. My mind has, it Is true, been uncommonly taken up and agitated by the question noAV before Congress. The ground is so exten sive, the views and principles of the tAvo parties so fully displayed In the debate, so much yet remains to be said and Ideas upon that subject crowd so much upon my mind, that I think it im portant to speak again, and feel afraid that It avIII not be in my power to do justice to my own feelings and to the cause in Avhich Ave are engaged. The subject has the same effect upon many others ; it keeps Nicholas and Dr. Jones almost in a fever, and It has actually made Brent very sick. It is not that Ave ex pect at present to carry the question ; It stands so much on party grounds that Ave cannot expect at once to break upon their well- organized phalanx; but we must lay the foundation in the minds of the disinterested and moderate part of their oavu side of the House of a change as to the general policy of our affairs. We must show to the President and his counsellors that Ave under stand fully their principles, and Ave must publish and expose to the people of America the true grounds upon which both parties act in and out of Congress. . . . 3d February, 1798. . . . Although I had intended not to Avrite till to-morrow, when I Avill have time to converse more amply with you, yet having a fcAV minutes to spare this morning I thought you would be glad to hear something of myself and of our Congressional dis pute which has interrupted our debates on the foreign ministers. As to mysdf, I am very Avell and feel in pretty good spirits. I have been so long used to personal abuse from party that I hardly knew I had lately received any till your letter informed me that you had felt on the occasion; but, upon the Avhole, that drcum- 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 191 stance cannot make me unhappy. We have a new acquisition in our family, Mr. and Mrs. LaAV (she Avas, you know. Miss Custis), both very agreeable, and I feel quite rejoiced that there should be some female in our circle in order to soften our manners; indeed, tlie dispute between Griswold and Lyon shows you what asperity has taken place betAveen members of Congress. The facts you uoav know from the accounts in the papers, the report of the committee, and Lyon's defence in this morning's Aurora. I must only add that there is but little delicacy in the usual con versation of most Connecticut gentlemen ; that they have con tracted a habit of saying very hard things, and that considering Lyon as a low-life felloAV they Avere under no restraint in regard to him. No man can blame Lyon for having resented the insult. All must agree in reprobating the mode he selected to show his resentment, and the place Avhere the act Avas committed. As two- thirds are necessary to expel, he will not, I believe, be expelled, but probably be reprimanded at the bar by the Speaker. . . . The once famous affair of Lyon and Griswold is narrated in every history or memoir that deals with the time, and the facts are given at large in the Annals of Congress. Mr. Gallatin's comment on Connecticut manners is supported by ample evidence, among which the contemporaneous remarks of the Due de Roche- foucauld-LIancourt may be consulted with advantage, himself one of the very few thorough gentlemen In feeling who have ever criticised America. General Samuel Smith, of Maryland, whose evidence may be supposed impartial, since his party charac ter was at this time not strongly marked, told the story of Gris wold and Lyon to the committee ; after narrating a bantering conversation which had been going on in the rear of the House betAveen Matthew Lyon, of Vermont, Roger Griswold, of Con necticut, the Speaker (Dayton, of New Jersey), and others. General Smith continued : " Mr. GrisAvold had removed outside of the bar to Avhere Mr. Lyon stood. At this time, having left my seat with Intention to leave the House, I leaned on the bar next to Mr. Lyon and front ing Mr. GrisAvold. Mr. Lyon having observed (still directing himself to the Speaker) that could he have the same opportunity 192 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. of explanation that he had In his oavu district, he did not doubt he could change the opinion of the people in Connecticut. Mr, Griswold then said, ' If you, Mr. Lyon, should go into Connecti cut, you could not change the opinion of the meanest hostler in the State.' To whidi Mr. Lyon then said, ' That may be your opinion, but I think differently, and if I Avas to go into Connecti cut, I am sure I could produce the effect I have mentioned.' Mr. Griswold then said, ' Colonel Lyon, when you go into Con necticut you had better take Avith you the Avooden sword that Avas attached to you at the camp at .' On which Mr. Lyon spit in Mr. Griswold's face, Avho coolly took his handkerchief out of his pocket and Aviped his face." Sorae days afterwards, while Lyon was sitting at his desk just before the House Avas called to order, GrIsAVold walked across the House and beat him over the head and shoulders " with all his force" AvIth "a large yelloAV hickory cane." Lyon disengaged himself from his desk, got hold of the Congressional tongs, and attempted to try their power on the head of the Connecticut member, Avhereupon Mr. Griswold closed with him and they both rolled on the floor, various merabers pulling them apart by the legs, Avliile the Speaker, justly indignant, cried, "What! take hold of a man by the legs ! that is no Avay to take hold of him 1" Being, hoAvever, pulled apart by this Irregular process, they went on to endanger the personal safety of members by striking at each other Avith sticks in the lobbies and about the House at intervals through the day, until at last Mr. H. G. Otis succeeded in procuring the intervention of the House to compel a suspen sion of hostilities. Lyon, though a very rough specimen of democracy, was by no means a contemptible man, and, politics aside, showed energy and character in his subsequent career, Mr. Griswold was one of the ablest and most prominent members of the Federal party, and also one of the most violent in' his political orthodoxy then and afterwards. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. 8th February, 1798. . . . We are still hunting the Lyon, and it is indeed the most unpleasant and unprofitable business that ever a respect- 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 193 able representative body did pursue. Enough on that subject, for I hear too much of it every day. ... I am good for nothing without you. I think and I smoke and I fret and I sleep and I eat, but that is really the sum total of the enjoyments both of my body and soul. I Avalk not, I visit not, I read not, and, you knoAv, alas, I Avrite not. . . , 18th February, 1798. , . . Are you as tired of modern Congressional debates as I am ? I suspect you wish your husband had no share in them, and was in Ncav York instead of attending the farcical exhibi tion which has taken place here this last week ; and Indeed my beloved Hannah is not mistaken. I feel aS I ahvays do when absent from her, more anxious to be Avith her than about any thing else ; but in addition to that general feeling I am really disgusted at the turn of public debates, and If nothing but such subjects was to attract our attention it must be the desire of every man of sense to be out of such a body. The affectation of delicacy, the horror expressed against illiberal imputations and vulgar language in the mouth of an Otis or a Brooks, were sufficiently ridiculous ; but when I saw the most modest, the most decent, the most delicate man, I avIII not say in Congress, but that I ever met in private conversation, when I saAv Mr. Nicholas alone dare to extenuate the indecency of the act com mitted by Lyon, and Avhen I saAV at the same time Colonel Parker, tremblingly allA'e to the least Indelicate and vulgar ex pression of the Vermonteer, vote in favor of his expulsion, I thought the business went beyond forbearance, and the Avhole of the proceeding to be nothing more than an affected cant of pre tended delicacy or the offspring of bitter party spirit. And after all that, the question recurs. When shall I go and visit New York? Alas, my love, I do not know it. I am bound here the slave of my constituents and the slave of my political friends. We do not know which day may bring the most im portant business before us. Every vote Is important, and our side of the House is so extremely weak in speakers and in men of business that it is expected that at least Nicholas and myself must stay, and at all events be ready to give our support on the floor to those measures upon AvhIch the political salvation of the 13 194 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Union may perhaps eventually depend. I feel it, therefore, a matter of duty now to stay. ... 23d February, 1798. ... Do you Avant to knoAV the fashionable news of the day ? The President of the United States has written, in an^ SAver to the managers of the ball in honor of G. Washington's birthday, that he took the earliest opportunity of informing them that he declined going. The court is in a prodigious uproar about that important event. The ministers and their wives do not knoAV how to act upon the occasion ; the friends of the old court say it is dreadful, a monstrous insult to the late President; the officers and office-seekers try to apologize for Mr. Adams by Insisting that he feels conscientious scruples against going to places of that description, but it is proven against him that he used to go when Vice-President. Hoav they Avill finally settle It I do not know ; but to come to my own share of the business. A most jiowerful battery Avas opened against me to induce me to go to the said ball; it would be remarked; it would look well ; it Avould shoAV that Ave democrats, and I specially, felt no reluctance in showing my respect to the person of Mr. Washmgton, but that our objections to levees and to birthday balls applied only to its being a Presidential, anti-republican establishment, and that we Avere only afraid of its being made a precedent; and then it Avould mortify Mr. Adams and please Mr. Washington. All those arguments will appear very weak to you Avhen on paper, but they were urged by a fine lady, by Mrs. LaAV, and Avlien supported by her handsome black eyes they appeared very formidable. Yet I resisted and 9ame off conqueror, although I was, as a reward, to lead her in the room, to dance with her, &c. ; all Avhieh, by the by, were additional reasons for my staying at home. Our club have given me great credit for my firmness, and Ave have agreed that two or three of us who are accustomed to go to these places, Langdon, Brent, &c., will go this time to please the Law family. . . . 27th February, 1798. . . . We are pretty quiet at present ; G. and L. business at an end. The other party found that L. could not be expelled, 1798 THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. I95 on account of the assault committed on him, and the question as to his firet misbehavior Avas already decided in the negative. They concluded, therefore, not to expel G., and we generally joined them on the same principle upon Avhich we had acted in respect to L., and we then proposed to reprimand both ; but their anxiety to shelter G. from any kind of censure induced them to reject that proposal — 48 to 47 — through the means of the previous question. . . . 2d March, 1798. ... I spoke yesterday three hours and a quarter on the foreign intercourse bill, and my friends, Avho Avant the speech to be circulated, mean to have it printed in pamphlets, and have laid upon me the heavy tax of Avriting it. I wish you were here to assist me and correct. Alas, I Avish you upon every possible accoimt. . . . 6th March, 1798. . . . The task Imposed upon me by my friends to write my speech, of avIiIcIi they are going to print tAvo thousand copies, leaves me no time to converse AvIth you. I had rather speak forty than write one epcech. I have received your letter, and will expect you anxiously ; the roads are ver}' deep, but tlie weather delightful. . . . You will receive by this day's post the papers containing the French intended decree. It will, I am afraid, put us In a still more critical situation. They behave still worse than I Avas afraid from their haughtiness they would. May God save us from a war ! Adieu. . . . 13th March, 1798.' ... I feel now as desifous that you should not be on the road during this boisterous, damp weather as I was anxious last week to see you arrived. ... I cannot form any conjecture of the plans of our statesmen ; they have got a majority, and if they are unanimous among themselves they may do what they please. So far as I can judge and hear, it seems that the other despatches of our commissioners at Paris avIII not be communicated to us, under the plea that they contain details Avhich might Injure their personal safety there ; but it is Avhispered that -the true reason is 196 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. because their contents might injure the party, either because they declare that their powers were not sufficient, or because they inti mate that France has no objection to treat Avith the United States, but has some personal objections to the individuals appointed for that purpose. This last reason, if true, appears to me a very bad plea on the part of France, who have nothing to do, that I can see, with the personal character or politics of the envoys our government may think fit to appoint. But it is perhaps appre^ hended by our Administration that a knoAvledge of the fact Avould injure their OAvn character here by evincing a Avant of sincerity or of Avisdom. I rather think, although it is extremely doubtful, that the arming merchantmen avIU not take place ; but it is probable that the frigates will be armed and a dozen of vessels that may carry frora fourteen to twenty guns be purchased, and both placed in the hands of the President to act as convoys and to protect the «3oast (by coast I mean not only our harbors, but to the extent of one or two hundred miles off) against the privateers, who may be expected to come on a spring cruise to take British goods in our vessels. All this will be very expensive, of little real utility, and may involve us still deeper. It seems to me that it would be wiser to Avait at all events, to bear with the loss of a few more captures, and to see Avhether peace will not be concluded this spring between France and England, an event which to me ap pears highly probable, and if it does not, Avhat will be the result of the intended invasion. May God preserve to us the blessings of peace, and may they soon be restored to all the European nations ! . . . GALLATIN TO MARIA NICHOLSON. Philadelphia, lOth July, 1798. ... I see the prosecutions of printers are going on. I do not admire much the manner in which the new editor of the Time- Piece conducts his paper. Cool discussion and fair statements of facts are the only proper modes of conveying truth and dis seminating sound principles. Let squibs and virulent paragraphs be the exclusive privilege of Fenno, Porcupine & Co., and let those papers which really are intended to support Republicanism unite candor and moderation to unconquerable firmness. Pieces 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 197 may be Avritten in an animated stylo Avitliout offending decency. This is the more necessary at a time Avhen the period of perse cution is beginning, and at this peculiar crisis prudence might enforce AA'hat propriety at all times should dictate. . . . The Time-Piece Avas a newspaper originally edited by Freneau, the poet, who soon associated Matthew L. Davis in the direction. After a few months of editorship, Freneau seems to have retired, and In March, 1798, Davis became the sole responsible editor. The Time-Piece AA'as short-lived, and expired about six weeks after Mr. Gallatin's letter was written. The speech on Foreign Intercourse, made on the 1st March, 1798, was tliat in Avhich Mr. Gallatin rose to a freer and more riietorical treatment of his subject than had yet been his custom. The motion was to cut off the appropriations for our ministers in Berlin and Holland, which Avould have limited our diplo matic service to Great Britain, France, and Spain. Mr. Gallatin began by proving, against the Federalist arguments, that the House might lawfully refuse appropriations, and then proceeded to attack the whole system of diplomatic connections and com mercial treaties, asking whether, as a matter of fact, we had derived any commercial advantages from the commercial treaties we had made, and entering into an eloquent discussion of the dangers attending increase of executive patronage and Influ ence. " What has become of the Cortes of Spain ? Of the States-General of France ? Of the Diets of Denmark ? Every where we find the executive in the possession of legislative, of absolute powers. The glimmerings of liberty Avhich for a moment shone in Europe were oAving to the decay of the feudal system." To Mr. Bayard, Avho had argued that the executive was the weakest branch of the government and most in danger of encroachment, he replied: "To such doctrines avoAved on this floor, to such systems as the plan of government Avhich the late Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Hamilton) proposed in the con vention, may perhaps be ascribed that belief in a part of the community, the belief, which was yesterday represented as highly criminal, that there exists in America a monarchico-aristocratic faction Avho would wish to Impose" upon us the substance of the 198 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. British government. I have allpAved myself to make this last observation only in reply to the gentleman who read the paper I alluded to.' It is painful to recriminate ; I wish denunciations to be avoided, and I am not in the habit of a.scribing improper motives to gentlemen on the other side of the question. Never shall I erect myself into a high-priest of the Constitution, assuming the keys of political salvation and damning Avithout mercy Avhosoever differs Avitli me in opinion. But Avhat tone is assumed to us by some gentlemen on this floor ? If we com plain of the prodigality of a branch of the Administration or Avish to control it by refusing to appropriate all the money Avliich is asked, we are stigmatized as disorganizers ; if Ave oppose the growth of systems of taxation, avc are charged with a design of subverting the Constitution and of making a revolution ; if we attempt to check the extension of our political connections with European nations, we are branded Avith the epithet of Jacobins. Revolutions and Jacobinism do not flow from that line of policy Ave wish to see adopted. They belong, they exclusively belong to the system we resist ; they are its last stage, the last page in the book of the history of governments under its influence." The speech, which Avas in effect a vigorous and eloquent defence of Mr. Jefferson's Mazzel letter, although that letter Avas barely mentioned in its course, is probably the best ever made on the opposition side in the Federalist daj's, and ranks Avith that of Fisher Ames on the British treaty, as rejiresenting the highest point respectively attained by the representative orators of the two parties. Doubtless Mr. Gallatin saAV reason in his maturer age to modify his opinions of commercial treaties, for a large part of the tAvelve best years of his life was subsequently passed in negotiations for commercial treaties Avith, England, France, and the Netherlands ; possibly, too, he modified his hostility to diplomatic connections Avitli Europe, for bitter experience taught him that too little diplomatic connection might produce worse evils than too much ; but he never overcame his jealousy of executive power, and never doubted the propriety of his course in 1798. Whether the time is to come wl^en Mr. Gallatin's views 1 Mr. Ooit, of Connecticut, had read Mr. Jefferson's Mazzei letter. 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 199 in regard to the diplomatic service avIII be universally adopted may remain a matter for dispute ; the essential point to be re membered is thatjln 1798 the majority in Congress made a de liberate and persistent attempt to place extraordinary powers In the hands of the President, Avith a view to the possible necessity for the use of such poAvers in case of domestic difficulties then fully expected to occur. The extreme Federalists hoped that a timely exercise of force on tlieir side might decide the contest permanently in their favor. They were probably mistaken, for, as their correspondence shoAvs,' there never Avas a time when the political formulas of Hamilton, George Cabot, Fisher Ames, Gouverneur Morris, and Rufus GrisAA'old could have been applied even In New England with a chance of success ; but it is none the less certain that a small knot of such men, with no resources other than their own energy and Avill, practically created the Constitution, administered the government under it for ten years, and at last very nearly overthrcAV it rather than surrender their power. Fisher Ames, one of their ablest chiefs, thought In 1806 that there Avere hardly five hundred who fully shared his opinions.' It was against the theoretical doctrines and ulterior aims of this political school that Mr. Gallatin was now waging active Avar. The difficulties with France were on the point of^ tremendous explosion, but he avoided so far as possible every public reference to the subject. As a native of Geneva he had no reason to love France. Unfortunately, the distinction betAveen Geneva and France was not one to AvhIch his opponents or the public were likely to pay attention; to them he was essentially a Frenchman, and he could not expect to be heard with patience. Neverthe less, he was not absolutely silent. As the conduct of the French Directory pushed our government nearer and nearer to war, he recognized the fact and accepted it, but urged that if war was necessary the House should at least avow the fact, and not be draAvn into it by the pretence that it already existed by the act » See especially George Cabot to Pickering, 14th February, 1804. Lodge's Cabot, p. 341. ' See Works of Fisher Ames, ii. 354. 200 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. of France. On the 27th March, Mr. Gallatin spoke on a reso lution then before the House In committee, "that under existing circumstances it is not expedient for the United States to resort to war against the French republic," and after recapitulating the steps of both governments and the last decree of France, he said, "I differ in opinion from the gentleman last up (Mr. ScAvall, of Massachusetts) that this Is a declaration of Avar. I alloAV it Avould be justifiable cause for war for this country, and that on this account it is necessary to agree to or reject the pres ent proposition, in order to determine the ground intended to be taken. For, though there may be justifiable cause for Avar, if it is not our interest to go to Avar the resolution Avill be adopted. . . . The conduct of France must tend to destroy that influence AvhIch gentlemen have so often complained of as existing in this country. Indeed, I am convinced that at the commencement of her revolution there Avas a great enthusiasm amongst our citizens in favor of her cause, Avhich naturally arose from their having been engaged in a siiuilar contest ; but I believe these feelings have been greatly diminished by her late conduct towards this country. I think, therefore, that Avhether we engage in war or remain in a state of peace, much need not be apprehended from the influence of France in our councils." A few days afterAvards, on the 3d April, the President sent to Congress the famous X.Y.Z. despatches, Avhich set the country in a flame, and for a time swept away all effective resistance to the Avar policy. These despatches were discussed by the House in secret session, and there are no letters or memoranda of Mr. Gallatin which reflect his feelings in regard to them. His policy, hoAvever, is clearly foreshadowed by his course before, as it Avas consistently carried out by his course after, the excitement. Be lieving, as he did, that America had nothing to fear but foreign Avar, he preferred enduring almost any injuries rather than resort to that measure. His conviction that war was the most danger ous possible course Avhich the United States could adopt was founded on sound reason, and was in reality shared by a vast majority of his fellow-citizens, who Avere divided in principle rather by the question whether war could be avoided and Avhether resistance was not the means best calculated to prevent it. He 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 201 took clear ground on this subject in a speech made on April 19 in the discussion on Avar measures : " The committee is told by the gentleman from South Caro lina (Mr. Harper) tliat if avc do not resist, France will go on step by step In her course of aggressions against this country. This is mere matter of speculation. It is possible France raay go on in this Avay. If she goes on to make war upon us, then let our vessels be used in their full power. Let us not, hoAvever, act on speculative grounds, but examine our present situation^ and. If better than war, let us keep it. The committee has been told that this doctrine is a doctrine of submission. The gentle man calls AA'ar by the name of resistance, and they give the appellation of abject submission to a continuance of forbear ance under our present losses and captures. I affix a different idea to the word submission. I Avould call It submission to purchase peace with money. I Avould call It submission to accept of ignominious terms of peace. I would call it submission to make any acknoAvledgments unAvorthy of an independent coun try. I would call it submission to give up by treaty any right which Ave possess. I would call it submission to recognize by treaty any claim contrary to the laAvs of nations. But there is a great difference between surrendering by treaty our rights and independence as a nation, and saying, ' We have met with cap tures and losses from the present European war ; but, as it Is coming to a close, it is not our interest to enter Into it, but rather to go on as we have done.' This I think Avould be a wise course, and extremely different from a state of submission." For these remarks Mr. Gallatin Avas violently assailed, the Speaker (Dayton) leading the attack. Perhaps the sting lay, hoAvever, not so much in what the Speaker called its " tame and submissive language," as in its implied suggestion that Mr. Jay's treaty, not a merely passive attitude of protest, Avas the real act of submission. Whether his policy Avas correct or not is a matter of judgment in regard to Avhich enough has already been said ; but tiiere would seem to have been nothing in his language or in his sentiments that justified the savageness with which he was assailed. In truth, after the X.Y.Z. storm burst, Gallatin was left to bear Its brunt alone in Congress, and the forbearance 202 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Avhich he exercised in regard to personalities Avas not imitated by his 6pponents; Mr. R. G. Harper, then of South Carolina, Mr. H. G. Otis, of Massachusetts, and Speaker Dayton, to say nothing of the Connecticut gentlemen, Avere as much attached to this kind of political Avarfare as Mr. Gallatin was averse to it, and, the majority having now fairly settled to their side, they could afford to resort freely to the weapons of majorities every where. There was, too, some excuse for the violence of their attacks, for Mr. Gallatin exhibited very extraordinary powers during the remainder of this excessively difficult session. Party feeling never ran so high; he stood exposed to its full force, and by his incessant activity in opposition concentrated all its energy upon himself, until to break him doAvn became a very desirable object, for, though always outvoted on Avar measures, his influence was still very troublesome to the Administration. On the 5th April of this year. Secretary Wolcott wrote to Ham ilton : " The management of the Treasury becomes more and more difficult. The Legislature Avill not pass laws in gross. Their iippropriations are minute ; Gallatin, to whom they yield, is evidently intending to break down this Department by charging it Avith an impracticable detail."' Three weeks later, on the 26tli April, Mr. Jefferson Avrote from Washington to Mr, Mad ison : " The provisional army of 20,000 men avIII meet some difficulty. It Avould surely be rejected if our members were all here. Giles, Clopton, Cabell, and Nicholas have gone, and Clay goes to-morrow. . . . Parker has completely gone over to the Avar party. In this state of things they will carry what they please. One of the war party, in a fit of unguarded passion, declared some time ago they would pass a citizen bill, an alien bill, and a sedition bill ; accordingly, some days ago Colt laid a motion on the table of the House of Representatives for modi fying the citizen law. Their threats pointed at Gallatin, and it is bdieved they avIII endeavor to reach him by this bill." " The citizen's bill broke doAvn so far as it was aimed at Mr. Gallatin, the Constitution standing in the way ; but the feeling behind it 1 Gibbs's Administrations, &o., ii. 45. ' Jefferson's Works, iv. 237. 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 203 was so strong that a serious attempt Avas made to amend the Constitution itsdf. Long afterwards Mr. Gallatin recurred to this scheme in a letter to Samuel Breck, dated 20th June, 1843.' He said. In reply to an inquiry made by Mr. Breck, " I believe the 'black cockade' of 1798 to haA'e been Avorn exclusively by members of the Federal party, but certainly not by all of them. Many did object to such external badge ; to what extent it was adopted I really cannot say, as I have but a general and vague recollection of that slight incident. In some other respects my impau-ed memory is more retentive, and I have not forgotten acts of kindness. Your mention of Mr. Hare reminds me, and I do recollect with feelings of gratitude, that his father was the prindpal agent in arresting in Pennsylvania an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, proposed and adopted by the New England States, which was personally directed against me. And I may add that, notAvithstanding the heat of party feelings, I was ahvays treated with personal kindness and con sideration by Mr. Hare's father and by his connections, — the Willing, Bingham, and PoAvell families. It is Avell known that I think the general policy of the Federal party at that time to have been erroneous ; but Independent of this, which is a matter of opinion, it certainly became intoxicated. The black cockade was a petty act of folly that did not originate with the leaders ; but they committed a series of blunders sufficient alone to have given the ascendency to their opponents, and which at this time appears almost incredible." Mr. Gallatin made no blunders. He led his party into no untenable positions. He offered no merely factious or dilatory opposition. Beaten at one point he turned to another, accepting the last decision as final and contesting the next step with equal energy. The Federalists, on their part, gave him incessant oc cupation. Feeling that the country was with them and that for once there was no hindrance to their giving to government all the " energy" it required in order to accord Avith their theories, the Administration party in the Legislature, without waiting even for a request from the President, proceeded to enact bill after bill ' Gallatin's Writings, vol. ii. p. 604. 204 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Into law, conferring enlarged or doubtful powers on the Execu tive. Tavo of these, the most famous, are mentioned in Mr, Jefferson's letter above quoted, — the alien and sedition laws. There were in fact two alien laws : one relating to alien enemies, Avhich Avas permanent in its nature and applied only during periods of declared foreign war; the other relating to alien friends, and limited in operation to two years. This last was the subject of hot opposition and almost hotter advocacy. As enacted. It empoAvered the President, without process of laAV, to order out of the country any alien whatever whom " he shall judge dangerous" or " shall have reasonable grounds to suspect" to be dangerous to the public peace and safety ; and in case of disobedience to the order the alien " shall, on conviction thereof, be Imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years" and be denied the right to become a citizen. The sedition law, as enacted, was also limited to tAVO years, and expired on the 3d March, 1801. Its first section was calculated to annoy Mr. Gallatin, who had always maintained, in opposition to his opponents, that the famous Pittsburg resolutions of 1792 were not illegal, however ill-advised. These resolutions had been flung in his face during every exciting debate since he had entered Congress. The sedition laAV enacted, first, that any per sons Avho " shall unlawfully combine AvIth intent to oppose" any measure of government, or to impede the operation of any law, or to prevent any officer from doing his duty, or who shall attempt to procure any unlawful combination, shall be guilty of a mis demeanor and punished by fine and imprisonment. Whether the Pittsburg meeting came within the terms of this law was, how ever, a matter of mere personal interest, about which Mr. Gallatin did not trouble himself, but devoted all his labor to the second section of the bill. This was certainly vulnerable enough. It enacted that " if any person shall write, print, utter, or publish," or aid in so doing, any scandal against the government, or either House, or the President, AvIth Intent to defame, or to excite hatred or un lawful combinations against the laAvs, he shall be punished by fine and Imprisonment. The alien laAV came first under consideration, and Mr. Gallatin 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 205 took the ground that under the Constitution Congress had no power to resti^ain the residence of alien friends, tliis poAver being among those reserved to the States ; and after arguing this point he turned to tlie clause in the Constitution AvhIch debarred Congress from prohibiting "the emigration or importation of such persons as any of the States shall think proper to admit," and maintained that this provision, so far as it related to immi grants, would be defeated by the laAv, which gave the President the right to remove such persons even though the States might admit them. His third position was that the laAv suspended the right of habeas corpus guaranteed by the Constitution except In cases of rebellion and Insurrection, and that It violated the clause that " no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." The friends of the bill, Sewall and Otis, of Massachusetts, Bayard, of Delaware, and Dana, of Connecticut, replied to the constitutional objections by deriving the authority of Congress from the poAver to regulate comraerce; from that to lay and collect taxes, to provide for the common defence and general Avelfare ; and ultimately from the essential right of every gov ernment to protect itself. Mr. Gallatin made a rejoinder on each of these heads, and reinforced his OAvn arguments by attacking the alleged necessity of the measure and dAvelling on the conflict it tended to excite between the general and the State governments. In the debate that followed, Mr. Harper adverted to the plot which he asserted to exist, and of which he Intimated that the opposition to this bill was a part, aiming at the betrayal of the country to a French invading army. To this insinhation Mr. Grallatin replied with an exhibition of warmth quite unusual with him ; he turned sharply upon Mr. Harper with the ques tion, "Might I not, if I chose to preserve as little regard to decency as that gentleman, charge hira at once Avith a wilful intention to break the Constitution and an actual violation of the oath he has taken to support it?" Mr. Harper's retort shows the spirit of the majority, of which he Avas now the acknowledged leader. He neither apologized nor disavowed : " When a gentle man, who Is generally so very cool, should all at once assume such a tone of passion as to forget all decorum of language. It would 206 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. seem as if the observation had been properly applied to that gentleman." Obviously Mr. Gallatin was driven to the Avail ; the majority had no idea of sparing him if he laid himself open to their attacks, and indeed, at this moment, to crush Mr. Galla tin Avould have been to crush almost the last remnant of parlia mentary opposition. Mr. Jefferson has himself described the situation at this time in language Avhich, if somcAvhat exag gerated, is, as regards Mr. Gallatin, essentially exact.' "The Federalists' usurpations and violations of the Constitution at that period, and their majority in both Houses of Congress, Avere so great, so decided, and so daring, that, after combating their aggressions inch by inch Avithout being able in the least to check their career, the Republican leaders thought It would be best for them to give up their useless efforts there, go home, get into their respective Legislatures, embody Avhatever of resistance they could be formed Into, and. If ineffectual, to perish there as in the last ditch. All therefore retired, leaving Mr. Gallatin alone in the House of Representatives and myself in the Senate, Avhere I then presided as Vice-President. . . . No one who Avas not a witness to the scenes of that gloomy period can form any idea of the affiicting persecutions and personal indignities Ave had to brook." Then It Avas that the Federalist majority, on the 18th May, 1798, amended the standing rules by providing that no member should speak more than once on any question, either in the House or in committee of the Avhole, an amendment intended to silence Mr. Gallatin. He laughed at it, and, the House very soon jb^coming convinced of its usdessness, the rule Avas repealed. '•*'^' The alien bill passed, after a Avarm but a short debate, by a vote of 46 to 40, and on the 5th July, ten days before the ses sion closed, the sedition bill came down from the Senate. As the bill then stood, it contained a clause enacting that " if any person shall, by Avriting, printing, or speaking, threaten" an officer of the government " Avith any damage to his character, person, or estate," he shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor and be punished by fine and imprisonment. Edward Livingston immediately moved that the bill be re- ' Works, vol. ix. p. 507. 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 207 jected. In opposition to this motion, and in order to prove the necessity of such extravagant legislation, Mr. Allen, of Con necticut, made an elaborate speech, Avhich is still entertaining and Instructive reading. He arraigned the noAvspapers, and as serted that they shoAved the existence of a dangerous combination to overturn the government ; to this combination Mr. Edward Livingston was a party, as slioAvn by an extract from his speech on the alien bill; the Ncav York Time-Piece was one of its organs, as shown by a tirade against the President ; the Aurora, of Philadelphia, was another organ, " the great engine of all these treasonable combinations." These quotations now read tamely, and it requires a considerable exercise of the imagina tion to understand hoAV America could ever have had a society to AvhIch such writings should have seemed dangerous. Mr. Harper himself^ the author of "The Plot," was obliged to concede that he did not give much AA'dght to the newspapers ; in his eyes ]\Ir. EdAvard Livingston was the real offender, and speeches made in that House AA'ere the real objects Avhicli the bill aimed to suppress. Mr. Livingston had in fact announced that the people Avould oppose and the States Avould not submit to the alien act, and added. In imitation of Lord Chatham's famous declaration, " They ought not to acquiesce, and I pray to God they never may." The debate went on In this style, AvIth crimi nations and recriminations, until Mr. Gallatin rose. He took the ground — the only ground indeed AvliIch he could take in the present stage of the bill — that necessity alone could warrant its passage ; that the proof of that necessity must be furnished by its supporters ; that the proof thus far furnished Avas by no means sufficient ; that the ncAvspaper paragraphs cited by Mr. Allen Avere not of a nature to require such a measure of coercion ; that the expressions used by raembers in debate could not be reached by the bill; that the bill itsdf as it then stood was in part useless, in part dependent on the proof of necessity, and had best be rejected. The House, by a vote of 47 to 36, refused to reject the bill, but when, a few days afterwards, they entered on the discussion of Its sections, even Mr, Harper took the lead in advocating considerable amendments. By his assistance and that of Mr, 208 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Bayard the bill was remodelled, and especially a clause was in serted alloAvIng evidence of the truth to be given in justification of the matter contained in the libel, and another giving to the jury the right to determine the law and the fact. On the bill as thus amended one day of final debate took place, closed on the part of the opposition by Mr. Gallatin, and by Mr. Harper on behalf of the majority. Mr. Gallatin's speech as reported is quite short, and mostly devoted to the constitutionality of the measure. He first an swered Mr. Otis, Avho had argued that Congress had the "power to punish libel, because the men Avho framed the Constitution Avere familiar Avith the common laAV and had given the judiciary a common-law jurisdiction, and that this power was not taken aAvay by the amendment to the Constitution securing the free dom of speech and of the press. The argument Indeed ansAvered itself to a great degree, for if the Federal courts had this common law jurisdiction, Avhy enact this measure AvhIch had no other object than to confer It on them ? But the courts had no such jurisdiction, and Congress had no poAver to give it, because it Avas conceded that no such power was specifically given, and yet the Constitution and tlie laws hitherto made in pursuance thereof had actually specified the offences for Avhich Congress might define the punishment. They must therefore fall back on the " necessary and proper" clause ; but, as this Avas to be used only to carry the specific poAvers Into effect. It could not apply here : " they must show which of those constitutional powers it was which could not be carried into effect unless this law was passed ;" and finally the amendment which secured the liberty of speech and of the press had been proposed and adopted precisely to guard against an apprehended perversion of this " necessary and proper" clause. This outline was. filled up with concise argument, and comparatively little Avas said on the merits of the bill, although it Avas pointed out that the mere expression of an opinion Avas made punishable by It, and hoAV could the truth of an opinion be proven by evidence? The Avriting of a paper Avhich might be adjudged a libel was punishable, even though not communicated to any one, and this was the rule under which Sidney suffered. In Pennsylvania the marshal Avould summon 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 209 the juries, and the marshal Avas the President's creature. To this and the other arguments in opposition Mr. Harper replied, and the bill then passed by a vote of 44 to 41. A Aveek later Con-i gross rose. So much has already been said of this memorable session that it would utterly exhaust the patience of readers to give any com pleter sketch of Mr. Gallatin's activity in legislation on other subjects. His share in measures of finance and in opposition to the abrogation of the French treaties, as well as to the other war measures, may be passed over ; but one word must bfe said on another point. In March of this year, 1798, a bill for the erection of a gov ernment In the Mis.slssippi Territory being before the House, Mr. Thacher, of Massachusetts, moved an amendment that would have excluded slavery foreA'er from all the then existing territory west of Georgia. This amendment Avas strongly supported by Mr. Gallatin, on the ground that, if it Avcre rejected. Congress really established slavery, in that country for all time, but he found only ten members in the House to support Mr. Thacher and himself. The session of 1798 closed on the 16th July, and Mr. Gal latin returned Avith his Avife to Ncav Geneva. Hard as his posi- . tion was In public life, it was becoming yet more alarming in his private affairs. The joint-stock company which he had formed, and in which all his available capital was invested, had been obliged to act independently, oAving to his long absences, and had been largely controlled by a Genevese named Bour- dillon, a man of ability, but more fond of speculation than Mr. Gallatin ever could have been. He had adopted a system of buying and selling on credit, which he carried further than Mr. Gallatin approved, and the company had also entered into the manufacture of glass, an undertaking which promised Avell, but which required a considerable expenditure of borrowed money at the outset. Meanwhile, the country was still suffering from tte collapse of speculation. Robert Morris was quite bankrupt, and Gallatin could recover neither land nor money. Among the Gallatin papers is an autograph which tells its own story in this relation : 14 210 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Dear Sir, — Asking you to come here is not inviting you as I wish to a pleasant place, but, as I want an opportunity of conversing with you a few minutes, I hope you will give me a call as soon as your convenience will permit. I am your obedient servant, Robert Morris, Monday morning, 10th Dec., 1798. Hon'ble Albert Gallatin. This note Is endorsed in Mr. Gallatin's hand, " Written from city gaol." To anxiety in connection with his private affairs was added a certain degree of embarrassment arising from his political situa tion as representative of a district which was not his residence and to Avhich he Avas almost a total stranger. It is an extraordi nary proof of his importance to his party that he should have been three times re-elected to Congress over all local opposition. This year he Avent so far as to decline .a re-election, and in June sent early notice of his intention to Judge Brackenridge, in order that he might take advantage of it If he chose ; but Mr. Brack enridge absolutely rejected all idea of coming forward, and united AvIth others in urging Mr. Gallatin to remain. No steps were taken to provide a ucav candidate, and when, late In September, a letter Avas at last received from Mr. Gallatin containing the bare consent to serve if re-elected, th?, season Avas already so far advanced that a ucav candidate could hardly have been put in the field. In spite of his private interests and of Avhat was more important still, the Avishes of his Avife, who Avas cruelly situated during these long separations, Mr,- Gallatin Avas in a manner compelled to remain in public life. Beyond a doubt all his true interests lay there, and he knew it, yet these compli cations, resulting from the theories of his boyhood and their conflict Avith all the facts of his character, continued to embarrass his situation during his whole public career. , A fcAV weelcs at New Geneva Avere all the vacation he could obtain, and these in the turmoil of an election. The war fever against France had been employed by the Federalists to strengthen the hands of government, and no one noAV denies that 1798. THE legislature. 1789-1801. 211 the Federalists carried this process too far ; the alien and sedition laws were unwise ; the greatest of all the Federalists, next to Washington, John Marshall, of Virginia, did not hesitate to avoAV this opinion at the time, though at the risk of being ruled out of the party by his Ncav England allies ; but a more curious example of Federalist temper is furnished by the constitutional amendment proposed by Massachusetts : Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the House of Representatives, June 28, 1798. ... It is the Avish and opinion of this Legislature that any amendment AvhIch may be agreed upon should exclude at all events from a seat in either branch of Congress any person Avho shall not have been actually naturalized at the time of making this amendment, and have been admitted a citizen of the United States fourteen years at least at the time of such election. This amendment was universally understood to be aimed at Mr. Gallatin, yet it is not easy to sec how its supporters could have cx2)cctcd its adoption unless they looked forward to a devel opment of party poAver as a result of the Avar fever, and a sub stantial eradication of the Republicans, such as would leave no bounds to their own sway. On the other hand, the Republicans were not behindhand in their acts of defence. They believed, not without ground,' that the Federalists aimed at a Avar with France and an alliance Avith England for the purpose of creating an army and navy to be used to check the spread of democracy in America ; already the army had been voted and Hamilton had been made its commander, in fact If not in name. A collision betAveen the tAvo parties Avas imminent, and Virginia prepared for it on her side as the Federalists were doing on theirs. She armed her militia and made ready to seize the government ar senals. Her Legislature and that of Kentucky took in advance the ground that was to sustain their acts, and Mr. Madison hlm- • See the letters of Wolcott to Ames, 29th December, 1799, and Ames to Wolcott, 12th January, 1800. Gibbs's Administrations, &c., ii. 313-321. 212 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. self drew the famous nullification resolves of Virginia, in Avhich he declared that Virginia Avas " in duty bound to Interpose for arresting the progress of the evil," and did " hereby declare" the alien and sedition laws " unconstitutional and not law, but utterly null, void, and of no force or effect." It is true that the words italicized Avere struck out by the Legislature ; but the principle remained. What Mr. Gallatin thought of these measures no Avhere appears, but there is among his papers a copy of the Virginia resolutions as adopted, AvhIch Avas endorsed by him at a much later period : " Moved by Taylor, of Caroline. Mr. Madison was not member of Legislature at that session. At the ensuing session he drew the report justifying the resolutions as AA'cll as he could." Mr. Madison continued all his life to justify these resolutions " as well as he could," but the only justification they were susceptible of receiving was one of history and not of law. They formed a foundation for revolution, if revolution proved unavoidable. The session of 1798-99 opened in the midst of a highly- excited political feeling. The two parties were face to face, and the Union was in the utmost peril ; all that Avas needed to insure collision Avas war with France, for in that case the repressive measures adopted or contemplated by the Hamiltonian Federalists must have been put In force, and both parties were Avell aware what would result. MeanAvhIle, Mr. Gallatin, aided only by John Nicholas, of Virginia, carried on the opposition as he best could. Cautious as ever, he rarely risked himself in a position he could not maintain, and his boldest sallies were apt to be made In order to cover the retreat of less cautious friends, like Edward Livingston, Avho Avere perpetually quitting the lines to fight in advance of their leader. How Mr. Gallatin was then regarded by his party Is best seen in the letters of Curtlus, which had a great vogue during this Avinter and were reprinted in Bache's paper, afterAvards the Aurora. Their author, John Thompson, Avas looked upon as a most brilliant young man, and, since his age was but tAventy-three, it is probable that he might have one day Avorked through the stilted and artificial style and thought of this early production and developed into something ripe and strong, although it must be confessed that the reader 1708. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 213 Avho noAV runs his eye over these pages of ponderous invective addressed to John Marshall is strongly Inclined to smile at the expressions as Avell as at the thought. At all events, they serve to shoAV how !Mr. Gallatin Avas regarded by at least one young Virginian of unusual promise, Avhose language was an echo of party feeling, hoAvever florid in expression. "Mr. Grallatin has been persecuted with all the detestable rancor of envy and malice. The accuracy of his information, the extent of his knoAvledge, the perspicuity of his style, the moder ation of his temper, and the irresistible energy of his reason ing poAvers render him the ablest advocate that ever appeared in the cause of truth and liberty. Patient and persevering, temperate and firm, no error escapes his vigilance, no calumny provokes his passions. To expose the blunders and absurdities of his adversaries is the only revenge Avhich he will condescend to take for their Insolent invectives. Serene in the midst of clamors, he exhibits the arguments of his opponents in their genuine colors, he divests thera of the tinsel of declamation and the cobAvebs of sophistry, he detects the most plausible errors, he exposes the most latent absurdities, he holds the mirror up to folly, and reasons upon every subject with the readiness of intuition and the certainty of demonstration. Elevated above the intrigues of parties and the weaknesses of the passions, he is never transported into any excess by the zeal of his friends or the virulence of his enemies. His object is the happiness of the people ; his means, economy, liberty, and peaOe ; his guide, the Constitution. The sympathies which fascinate the heart and mislead the understanding have never allured him from the arduous pursuit of truth through her most intricate mazes. Never animated by the impetuous and turbulent feelings Avhich agitate popular assemblies, he preserves in the midst of contend ing factions that coolness of temper and that accuracy of thought which philosophy has hitherto claimed as the peculiar attribute of her closest meditations. He unites to the energy of eloquence and the confidence of Integrity the precision of mathematics, the method of logic, and the treasures of experience. His opponents slander him and admire him; they assail him with ignorant impertinence and pitiless malice, and yet they feel that he is 214 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1798. the darling of philosophy, the apostle of truth, and the favorite votary of liberty. , , , The men Avho arc supported by a foreign faction have the effrontery to vilify him because he is a foreigner, , , . This foreigner has defended the Constitution against the attacks of native Americans, and has displayed a noble ardor in tlie defence of his adopted country." . . . Critical as the situation was, and trying to the temper and courage of a party leader. It had nevertheless some conspicuous advantages for Gallatin. He had nothing to gain by deserting his post and retiring to the safe shelter of a State Legislature. The nullification of an Act of Congress had no fascinations for him. Like other foreign-born citizens, in this respect like Mr. Hamilton himself, Gallatin felt the force of his larger allegiance to the Union more strongly than men like Jefferson and Madison, Fisher Ames or Roger GrIsAvold, whose heartiest attachments Avere to their States, and Avho were never quite at their ease ex cept on the soil and in the society of their birthplace. Gallatin Avas equally at home in Virginia, in Pennsylvania, and in New York. It is curious to observe that even in argument he rarely attempted to entrench himself behind States' rights without a perceptible betrayal of discomfort and a still more evident Avant of success. His triumphs must necessarily be those of a national leader upon national ground, and these triumphs were helped rather than hurt by that defection among his friends which left him to sustain the contest alone. There Avas no one to control his freedom of action, and there was little danger that his party would refuse to foUoAV where he led, when they had no other leader. Moreover, even in that day, when party feeling ran higher than ever since, there was no such party tyranny as grew up after wards in American politics. During the six turbulent years of Gallatin's Congressional service there were but tAvo meetings of his party associates in Congress called to deliberate on their polit ical action : the first Avas after the House had asserted its abstract right to decide on the propriety of making appropriations neces sary to carry a treaty into effect, Avhether such appropriations should be made with respect to the British treaty ; the other was in this year, 1798, to decide upon the course to be pursued after the hostile and scandalous conduct of the French Directory. On 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 215 both occasions the party Avas divided, and the minority were left to A'ote as they pleased AvIthout being considered as abandoning their party principles.' Under such circumstances an honest man might belong to a party, and a leader might remain an honest man ; his action was not impeded by the dictation of a caucus, and his personal authority and influence were irresistible. If the discipline. and unanimity of his OAvn party Avere in his favor, on the other hand the strength of his opponents was more apparent than real. In the face of a foreign Avar the Federalists were in equal peril whether they advanced or whether they re ceded. The Hamiltonian Federalists were ardent for war, for an army, and for coercive measures against domestic opposition ; ' the moderate Federalists, probably a large majority of the party Avith the President at their head, would have been glad to recede with credit. Under these circumstances Mr. Gallatin adopted the only safe and sensible line of conduct open to him; leaving the field of foreign relations entirely alone, and abandoning every attempt to stand betAveen the exasperated majority and the corrupt French Directory, he turned his atten tion exclusiA'dy to domestic affaii-s, to the necessity for economy, to the alien and sedition laws, and to Executive encroach riients. Within these limits he was ready and able to carry on a vigor ous and effective campaign, and accordingly he reappeared at the opening of the session of 1798-99 with as little hope of a majority as ever, but determined to maintain his position and to assert his strength. At the very outset this determination brought him sharply in contact with his old antagonist. Harper, of South Carolina, in debate on the principle of " Logan's Act," by which it was made a high misdemeanor for any man to carry on " di rectly or indirectly any verbal or written correspondence or inter course with anv foreign government" or its officers with intent to influence its measures in any dispute with the United States. Dr. Logan, of Philadelphia, had constituted himself a negotiator with the French nation, and his conduct gave rise to the Act. 1 See Gallatin's Writings, iii. 653. > See the letter of George Cabot to Wolcott of 0th October, 1798. Lodge's Cabot, p. 168. The letter is printed in Gibbs's Administrations, &c., as of 25th October, vol. ii. p. 109. 216 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. Mr. Gallatin opposed the resolution Avhich directed a committee to report such a bill, and he concluded a speech by threatening retaliation on those who imputed motives to him and his party after the manner Avhich Mr. Harper greatly affected : " I should have been glad to have avoided any insinuations of party motives ; but If motions are laid upon the table to bring about again and again declamations such as have been heard, full of the grossest insinuations, all I can say is that I shall be ready to repel them. If It Is the intention of gentlemen constantly to make it appear Ave are a divided people, I am not Avillmg to stand mute as a mark to be shot at. I shall attack them in my turn as to their motives and principles ; I will carry Avar into their own territory and oppose them on their own ground." Mr. Harper responded to this challenge AvIth a defiance that carried an innuendo with it, the meaning of which, whether public or private in its direction, Avas not and is not obvious : " Whom does the gentleman expect to frighten by this menace? TiCt me remind him, before he begins, of an old proverb on which he Avill do Avell seriously to reflect: 'A man living in a glass house should never throw stones at his neighbors.' The gentleraan's OAvn habitation is exceedingly brittle. A small pebble Avill be sufficient to demolish it. Let him therefore bcwaro how he rashly provokes a retort." And Mr. Harper foUoAved up this defiance by charging Mr. Gallatin himself with gross offences on the score of personality and insinuations. To this Mr. Gallatin at once replied, and his reply is characteristic : " Notwithstanding Avhat the gentleman from South Carolina has insinuated to the contrary, I believe it will be allowed that the manner in M'hich I argue upon any proposition is as unexcep tionable as that of any other member. It is not my custom to depart from a question under discussion ; still less have I done it, and that times Avithout number, as that gentleman has done, for the purpose of introducing declamation on the conduct and mo tives, not of one man, but of all Avho differ from him in opinion with respect to his favorite measures. By ' offensive war' I did not mean personal attack, but a retaliation of that kind of attack which the gentleman from South Carolina himself made. If 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 217 that member thinks proper to misrepresent the motives of the party opposed to him, I avIU myself retaliate, not by personality nor by vague assertions, but by bringing forth facts to shoAV the true motives of the party to AvhIch that gentleman belongs. As to the personal attacks Avhich he says I have made upon him. Avhat are they ? That I charged that gentleman two years ago with not understanding the subject of revenue. Is this person ality ? Certainly not. Hoav could I resist an argument on the subject of revenue, made by that gentleman, better than by show ing tliat he does not understand the subject. If that is true ? And I tliink, indeed, the gentleman ought to be obliged to me for having told him so ; because It led him to attend to the subject, and I believe he understands it much better now than he did tlien. Unconscious as I am of having made any personal attack upon the gentleman frora South Carolina, I shall not be deterred on a proper occasion from carrying into effect that kind of offen sive war I alluded to, from tliat investigation of the true motives of that gentleman's party, by any threats of personal retaliation, especially from that gentleman. Of whatever materials my house may be composed, it Is at least proof against any pebble which that gentleman may enst against it. I believe that both my private and political character, Avlien compared Avitli that of that member, are not in much danger of being hurt by any insinuations coming from that quarter." This Avas perhaps the sharpest thrust that Mr. Gallatin ever alloAved himself to make in debate, and Its full force could only be appreciated on the spot, where both men Avere best known. During the session he resumed his attacks on the navy, which it Avas proposed to augment by building six seventy-fours. The President in his speech and the committee In their report had dwelt upon the effect of the naval force already created, in re ducing the dangers of capture and the rates of insurance. Mr. Gallatin criticised this argument at sorae length, and then pro ceeded to impress the necessity of econoray, fortifying himself by a statement which shoAved that the expense of the permanent establishment, as it hoav stood, exceeded the revenue by half a million dollars, to AvhIch it Avas proposed to add the cost of a navy. In a second and more elaborate speech, a few days later. 218 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. he returned to the general question of the advantages of a naAy and the unsoundness of the proposition that commerce required one for its protection, or that the commerce of any European state had in fact been protected by her ships of Avar. England alone had required a naval force for reasons Avhich did not exist in the United States. Commerce depended on wealth and indus try, not on a navy ; the expense of a naval establishment bore AvIth disproportionate Aveight on domestic Industry. " We have had no navy, no protection to our commerce. During the course of the present war we have been plundered by both parties in a most shameful manner. . . . Yet year after year our exports and imports have increased in value." He then discussed the ques tion of Increasing the national burdens for the purpose of creat ing a navy. Mr. Harper had taken the ground that this Increase was not to be feared; that the national means increased more rapidly than the national burdens ; that Ave paid less taxes than other nations and could bear an increase of them. " I am not surprised," said Mr. Gallatin, " that avo siiould at this time pay less taxes than Great Britain, Holland, and France ; but paying Avhat Ave do at present, if Ave folloAv their steps, as we are now proposing to do, by building a navy and increasing our debt, it cannot be doubted that before our system has been as long in existence as theirs have been Ave shall pay as much as they do. What do we pay noAv ? To the general government ten millions of dollars. How much do we pay to the State gov ernments ? How much for poor-rates, county taxes, &c. ? Sup pose these do not exceed tAVO millions of dollars ; that will make tAvelve millions of dollars to be paid by four millions of Avhite people, — ^about three dollars a head annually, I do not think this is a very low tax." And he closed by recurring to his favorite proposition that the effect of a navy Avould be merely to draw us Into the political movement of Europe. " I know not," said he, '" Avhether I have heretofore been indulging myself in a visionary dream, but I had conceived, when con templating the situation of America, that our distance from the European world might have prevented our being involved in the mischievous politics of Europe, and that we might have lived in peace Avithont armies and navies and Avithout being 1799. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 219 deeply Involved in debt. It is true in this dream I hud con ceived it Avould have been our object to have become a happy and not a poAverful nation, or at least no way powerful except for self-defence." The navy having been provided for, the House fell into a dis pute on the reference of certain petitions against the alien and sedition laws. Matthew Lyon, the member from Vermont, had been, during the summer, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned under the sedition laAv. There was great vehemence of feeling on both sides regarding this laAv, and'the majority in the House were unAvilling even to hear It discussed. Mr. Gallatin took the occasion to disavoAV all idea of encouraging resistance to it. " I do not expect the alien law to be repealed, though I have hopes that the sedition laAv may be repealed ; and though I do not be- lIcA'c the alien laAV to be supported by the Constitution, yet I Avish the people to submit to It. So far from desiring to Inflame the public opinion on account of it or anything else, I would endeavor to calm the minds of the people, because I know that AA'henever anarchy shall be produced in any part of the country It Avill ruin the cause which I Avish to support, and tend only to give addi tional poAver to the Executive department of the government, which, in my opinion, already possesses too much." A few days afterwards occurred the curious scene mentioned by Mr. Jefferson in his letter of 26th February, 1799, to Mr. Madison: "Yester day Avitnessed a scandalous scene in the House of Representa tives. It was the day for taking up the report of their committee against the alien and sedition laws, &c. They held a caucus and determined that not a Avord should be spoken on their side in ansAver to anything which should be said on the other. Gallatin took up the alien and Nicholas the sedition law ; but after a little while of common silence they began to enter into loud conversa tions, laugh, cough, &c., so that for the last hour of these gen tlemen's speaking they must have had the lungs of a vendue master to have been heard. Livingston, however, attempted to speak. But after a few sentences the Speaker called him to order and told him what he was saying Avas not to the question. It was impossible to proceed. The question was taken and carried in favor of the report, fifty-tAvo to forty-eight ; the real strength 220 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1799. of the tAVO parties is fifty-six to fifty. But two of the latter have not attended this session." These two speeches of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Nicholas were published in pamplet form and widely circulated. That of Mr. Gallatin was devoted to answering the report of the committee, and followed closely the arguments of that paper; he urged that the doctrine of constructive poAvers, on which Congress rested its belief of the necessity and propriety of this Act, " substituted in that clause of the Constitution a supposed usefulness or propriety for the necessity expressed and contemplated by the instrument, and would, in fact destroy every limitation of the powers of Congress. It will folloAv that instead of being bound by any positive rule laid down by their charter, the discretion of Con gress, a discretion to be governed by suspicions, alarms, popular clamor, private ambition, and by the views of fluctuating fac tions, Avill justify any measure they may choose to adopt." There was no good answer to this objection, and none has ever been made, but nevertheless it is quite clear that Congress alone can decide upon the necessity and propriety of any Act intended to carry its powers into effect, and that there exists no force in the government which can control its decision. The "necessary and proper" clause, dangerous as it Avas and is, did not become less dangerous by the defeat of the Federalists and their expulsion from poAver. The time came when Mr. Gallatin and his present opponents stood in positions precisely reversed, and Avlien he was compelled by the force of circumstances to ask for powers quite as dangerous as those he was uoav arguing against. Congress granted them, and he exercised them, greatly against his will and amid the denunciations of his Federalist enemies. The logic of events not infrequently proyed. In Mr. Gallatin's experience, more effective than all his theoretical opinions. Already, however, a Aveek before this speech Avas delivered, an event had occurred which entirely changed the situation of affairs and made Mr. Gallatin's position comparatively easy. The President suddenly intervened between the two excited par ties, and, taking the matter into his OAvn hands, without consult ing his Cabinet, without the knowledge of any of his friends on the 19th February, 1799, sent to the Senate the nomination 1799. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 221 of William Vans Murray as minister to the French republic. This nomination fell like a thunder-bolt betAveen the conflicting forces. At firat its full consequences Avere not understood ; only by sloAv degrees did it become clear that It meant the expulsion frora power of the Hamiltonian AvIng of the party and the end of their Avhole system of politics. Their Avar with France, their army, theli- naA'y, their repressive legislation, all fell together. The immediate dangers, Avliich had threatened civil war, dis appeared. A A'iolent schism in the Federal ranks immediately folloAved, and the overthroAv of that party in the next election became almost inevitable. Before tliese startling changes were fully understood by either party, the Fifth Congress came to its end, on the 4th March, 1799, and Mr. Gallatin at once set out for Fayette to rejoin his wife and struggle with the financial difficulties that now per plexed his mind. After long hesitation, he had taken on the part of his firm a contract for supplying arms to the State of Pennsylvania. Like most of his financial undertakings, this became a source of loss rather than of profit, and it was probably fortunate that his acceptance of the Treasury Department in 1801 obliged him to dissolve his partnership and wind up Its affairs. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Philadelphia, 7th December, 1798. . . . Once more I am fixed at Marache's, and Avrite you from the fire-corner in my old front room. I wrote you a few lines from Lancaster, which I hope you have received. I could not make my letter any longer, and it was with difficulty I could even write at all. I arrived there after dark, mistook the tavern I intended to have lodged at, and took my lodgings at an old German Tory who happened to knoAV me. He Avas a little tipsy, followed me to my room Avhere I Avas Avriting, in order to have some political conversation with rae, and was, at the time whilst I was writing my letter to you, reading rae a lecture to prove to me that the Hessian fly was Improperly so called, that Porcupine had proven It to be of French extraction, and that it was a just cause of war against that nation. Saturday night I lodged com- 222 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. fortably at DowningstoAvn, Avhere many kind inquiries Avere made about you. The Aveather changed during the night, and Sunday Ave had almost all day a cold, chilling rain. William Findley joined me in the morning at DoAvning's, and we made shift to go that evening as far as Buck. Monday was a fine day, and at nine o'clock I was at breakfast in Marache's parlor with Mr. Lang don, Avho arrived a fcAV minutes after me. Havens joined us the same day, as did Elmendorf the folloAving and Nicholas yesterday. Dr. Jones is not yet in toAvn. . . . The account of my business In Europe Is as folloAveth : 1st. They have sold my grand father's estate and paid all his debts, Avliich (on account of losses of rents, &c.) amounted to about 200 dollars more than Avhat they sold the estate for. The price it sold for Is less than one- half of what it was worth before the French revolution. But my orders were positive to sell and to pay all the debts, although they amounted to more than the proceeds of the estate, in order to do full honor to the memory of my parents. Thus their in heritance has cost me 200 dollars. Instead of leaving me 6000 as they expected, but I could not have reconciled it to my feelings that any individual had lost a single half-penny either by me or by them. 2d. My annuities In France, amounting to about 3000 llvres a year (655 dollars), have in four yeai-s produced 369 livres cash (not quite 80 dollars), and the principal, which at the begin ning of the revolution Avas Avorth about 5000 dollars, has been paid off in various species of paper Avhich are worth noAV exactly 300 dollars cash. 3d, My share of the Dutch Inheritance con sists of 15,000 guilders (6000 dollars) in the Dutch public funds, 333 pounds sterling in the English South Sea stock, and one- sixth undivided part of a sugar plantation in Surinam. The effect of the French and Dutch revolutions on the Dutch funds has been to sink them 60 per cent., so that my 6000 dollars there are worth only 2000. You may see by that that the French revolution has cost me exactly 16,000 dollars, to wit: 6000 loss on ray grandfather's Inheritance, 6000 on the interest and princi pal of ray annuities in France, and 4000 on the Dutch stock. Yet the Federals call me a Frenchman, in the French interest and forsooth in the French pay. Let them clamor. I want no reward but self-approbation, — and yours, my beloved too. 1798. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 223 ... On the otlier hand, my friends' letters are as affection ate and tender as I could expect, and more than from my long neglect I deserved. Many things for you. They say that at a former period they Avould have Insisted on my bringing you to Europe, but think that Providence has placed us in a better situation. And so do I. . . . As to politics, you know the de struction of the French fleet in Egypt. The news of peace being made by them at Radstat Avith the Empire and Emperor is gen erally believed. That tliey have found it their interest to change tlieir measures Avith all neutrals, and that an honorable accom modation is in tlie power of our Administration is, in my opinion, a certain fact. We are to have the speech only to-morrow (Saturday). I expect it Avill be extremely violent against an insidious enemy and a domestic faction. They (the Federals) avow a design of keeping up a standing army for domestic pur poses, for since the French fleet Is destroyed they cannot even affect to believe that there is any danger of French invasion. General Washington, Hamilton, Plnckney, are still in town. In their presence and at the table of Governor Mifflin, Hamilton declared that a stmidlng array was necessary, that the aspect of Virginia Avas threatening, and that he had the most correct and authentic information that the ferment in the western counties of Pennsylvania Avas greater than previous to the insurrection of 1794. You knoAV this to be an abominable lie. But I sup pose that Addison & Co. have Informed him that the people turning out on an election day was a symptom of insurrection. Pickering says that militia are good for nothing unless they have 50,000 men of regular troops around which to rally. When John Adams was informed that the Batavian republic had offered their mediation to accommodate the disputes between this country and France, he answered, " I do not Avant any mediation." . . . 14th December, 1798. . . , The papers will show you the speech of the President more moderate than we expected. For by offering terms of peace In case France shall send an ambassador, and I believe they Avill do it, he has left an opening to negotiation which was not perhaps desired by all his faction. If we consider that at 224 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1798. the same time he openly disclaims any idea of alliance with any nation, and if it is also remembered that from the wisdom of our conduct all our trade now centres in Great Britain, and that this last nation, being also now the most favored here, derives in fact greater benefit from our continuing to act in the same manner Ave have lately done than from our becoming actually parties to the war ; it will not appear improbable that a refusal on the part of England to enter into an alliance Avith us except on such terms as CA'en our Administration Avould not or dared not accept, is the true occasion of the apparent change. I do not enclose the de bates, since Bache has reprinted them frora Claypoole. We have thought better to let the answer to the address go Avithout debate, as we mean, if possible, to avoid fighting on foreign ground. Their clamor about foreign influence is the only thing Ave have to fear, and on domestic affairs exclusiA'dy Ave must resist them. . , , 21st December, 1798. . . . Here government proceeds sloAvly. We have not yet received the promised communication of French affairs ; we un derstand that the object of the Executive party will be to obtain from us the building of six 74-gun ships and something that may increase the number of Federal volunteers and convert a greater part of the militia into an army. As to ourselves, Ave will avoid French questions and foreign ground, and, Avhen our House is full, make an attempt against the sedition and ali^n bills. Reso lutions to declare thera unconstitutional, null and void, are now before the Legislature of Virginia, and will probably be carried by a large majority. The amendment to the Constitution (to ex clude me) proposed by Massachusetts has also been recommended by the four other Ncav England States and rejected by Maryland. It Avill, I believe, be recommended by Pennsylvania, as the party have got a majority in both Houses. All that is very ridiculous, for they have nothing to do with It unless tAVO-thirds of both Houses of Congress shall first recommend it, and then three- fourths of the States must again take it into consideration and ratify It. I do not believe it will even be taken under consider ation by Congress, and if it is, it avIU be rejected. Poor, weak Governor Henry recommended its adoption to the Legislature 1799. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 225 of Maryland In his last speech. They rejected it almost unani mously. The poor old gentleman is since dead. ... 4th January, 1799. . . . Another year has revolved over our heads, and on a retro spect (hoAV shall I ever dare to accuse you Avith want of fortitude or resignation ?) I mark It as one of those in Avhich I have ex perienced most unhappiness. Takei notice, however, that I do not set it down as one of those in which I have been least happy. ... I think that no man ever felt less uneasiness from a mere loss of money than I do. The folly of applying a part of our property to the building of houses, &c., the bad sale of my lands to Mr. Morris, the final loss of the balance of 3000 dollars he owed me, the eventual loss of the 1000 dollars I had lent to Ba dollet in our company's business and Avhicli he has consumed, the almost total destruction of Avhat I might have called a handsome estate, I mean my property in Europe, and I may add of my future prospects there, — all these, although they are losses In curred since our union, have never had the least effect on my spirits or happiness. To be in debt was at all times vicAved by me Avith a kind of horror, and that feeling has become so much the habit of my mind that it has perhaps disarmed me from that fortitude which is necessary In order to meet any of the accidents of life ; at least I am sure that I cannot exercise it in that par ticular instance. Hence the egregious folly, knowing myself as I did, ever to have entered in business with anybody, so as to put it in the power of any person to involve me in a situation in which no possible consideration Avould have induced me volun tarily to fall. A folly still more aggravated by the knowledge I had that I could not personally attend myself, and that the busi ness Would be chiefly conducted by a man whose disposition and turn of mind were unknown to me. . . . Frora all these consider ations arises that fluctuation of mind which you cannot but have observed in my correspondence on the subject of the contract for arms. . . . Should I agree to that contract, and shodld we fail in the execution from any accident whatever. It is a risk of 26,000 dollars, that is to say, more than we as a company, and I as an individual, are worth. . . . 15 226 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1799. 18th January, 1799. ' ... I begin to think that one of the causes of my opposition to a great extension of Executive power is that constitutional indolence Avhich, notAvithstanding some share of activity of mind, makes me more fit to think than to act. I believe that I am well calculated to judge and to determine what course ought to be fol lowed either in private or public business. But I must have executive officers Avho avIU consult me and act for me. In that point of vieAV my connection with Bourdillon was unfortunate. . . . My eyes are no better. I neither read nor write after dark, and I go to bed earlier. But every morning when I rise, almost an hour elapses before I can read Avithout feeling something like fatigue. In the evening I might read if I chose ; it is only out of caution that I have given it up. Hence I have but very little time to do anything whatever. For rising at 9, attending Con gress from 11 till 3, and, it being dark almost immediately after dinner, I have literally but one hour, from 10 to 11, to read or Avrite anything whatever. I have made this year no statement and have prepared myself for no business in Congress. As to Congress, we stand on higher ground than during last ses sion, and can feel that a change of public opinion in the people and of confidence in the Executive party has taken place. . . . 25th January, 1799. ... I have this day, upon mature consideration, taken the contract" for arms in my own name (this last was necessary, as the application had been made and reported upon by the quarter master-general of Pennsylvania In my name), and have only got inserted as a proviso that I might deliver the arms either in the western country or in Philadelphia, so that If any unforeseen accident should prevent a completion of the contract at home I might be enabled to transfer it to some one person here, and not run the risk to AvhIch I had alluded in my gloomy letter to you. . . . 1st February, 1799. ... I have very much recovered my spirits, and feel ready to continue my exertions to extricate ourselves. I think Ave have Avdl-groundcd hopes to do It Avithin a reasonable time, and your 1799. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 227 last letter on tlie success of the last blast, although it does not dazzle me, induces me to believe that Ave may not finally be losers by tliose glass-Avorks which have caused me so much anxiety and have so much contributed to involving us in our difficulties. You ask, " Who is Curtlus ?" Poor fellow ! I am afraid by this time I (sm only Inform you Avho he was. For by the last post from Petersburg, In Virginia, we hear that he was on the point of death by a pleurisy, and no hopes left of his recovery. His name was John Thompson, his age only twenty-three, too young to be Giles's successor in the ensuing Congress, but Avould have undoubtedly been elected in the foUoAvIng one. One of the brightest geniuses of Virginia and the United States ; spoke with as much eloquence as he Avrote, and remarkable for exten sive inforraation and imraense assiduity. His loss will be as severe to the Republican interest as any we have yet felt. I never saw him, and he knew me only from report and from my political conduct. . . . Ist March, 1799. ... I have been overwhelmed AAdth business since my last to you. I have been obliged to correct for the press two speeches on the navy, which I enclose; you will find, however, that they are not wi-itten by me but by Gales, and although correct in point of sense are not so as to style. I have also Avritten one on the subject of tlie alien bill, and in addition to that I have had our goods to select and sundry political meetings to attend on the sub ject of our next election for governor. Thos. McKean is to be our man, and James Ross the other. . . . Do you want a dish of politics till I see you ? The President norainated Mr. Mur ray minister to France with powers to treat, with instructions that he should not go frora Holland to Paris until he should have received assurances of being met by a similar envoy ; and he sent along with it a letter frora Talleyrand to the secretary of the French legation at the Hague, in which, referring to some former conversations of the secretary Avith Murray, he added that they would lead to a treaty, and that the French govern ment were ready to admit any American envoy as the representa tive of a free, great, and Independent nation. Murray, I guess, wanted to make himself a greater man than he is by going to 228 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1799. France and treating, and wrote privately, it Is said, to the Presi dent on the subject. The President, Avithout consulting any of his Secretaries, made the nomination. The AA'hole party were prodigiously alarmed. Porcupine and Fenno abused the old gentleman. The nomination instead of being ajiproved was in the Senate committed to a select committee. They then attacked so Avarmly the President that he sent a ncAV nomination of Ells- Avorth, P. Henry, and Murray, and none of them to go until assurances are received here that France avIU appoint a similar envoy. Which will postpone the Avhole business six months at least. . . . The sumraer and auturan of 1799 were passed at Ncav Geneva, and when Mr. Gallatin returned to Philadelphia for the session of 1799-1800,- he brought his wife with him, and they kept house in Philadelphia till the spring. There were therefore no domestic letters Avritten during this season, and his repugnance to writing was such that even the letters he received Avere chiefly filled Avith grumbling at his silence. There seems at no time before 1800 to have been much communication by writing be tween Mr. Gallatin and the other Republicans. One or two unimportant letters from Edward Livingston, Matthew L. Davis, Walter Jones, or Tench Coxe, are all that remain on Mr. Gal latin's files. The long series of Mr. Jefferson's notes or letters, most carefully preserved, begin only in March, 1801. The same is true of Mr. Madison's and Mr. Monroe's. Mr. Gallatin had no large constituency of highly-educated people to correspond with him ; he was greatly occupied with current business ; his OAvn State of Pennsylvania was the seat of government, and its affairs were carried on directly by word of mouth. Mr. Jeffer son, the leader of the party, did attempt by correspondence and by personal Influence to produce some sort of combination in its movements, but sharp experience taught him to remain as quiet as possible, and his relations were chiefly Avith his confidential Virginia friends. In this respect the Federalists were much better organized than their rivals. It is unfortunate, too, that the debates of the Sixth Congress, from December, 1799, to March, 1801, should have been very 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 229 poorly reported ; Indeed, hardly reported at all. Yet the AvInter of 1799-1800 was so much less important than those Avhich pre ceded and folloAA'ed It, that the loss may not be very serious. The death of General Washington a fcAV days after Congress met had a certain momentai-y effect in diverting the current of public thought. The attitude of the President occupied the attention of his OAvn party, and the probability, Avhich approached a certainty, of peace with France, paralyzed the armaments. Mr. Gallatin himself was not disposed to press his economies too strongly. " I was averse," he said in debate, " to the general system of hostility adopted by this country ; but once adopted, it is my duty to support It until negotiation shall have restored us to our former situation or some cogent circumstances shall com pel a diange. At present I think it proper that the system of hostility and resistance should continue, and I Avould vote against any motion to change that .system. At the same time I am of opinion that a naval establishment is too expensive for this country, but, as Ave have assumed an attitude of resistance, it would be wrong to change It at present." His opinion was that a reduction should lie made in the army to the extent of $2,500,000, which would, he thought, still leave a deficiency of an equal amount to be provided for by a loan. It was in connection with this motion to reduce the army that Mr. Harper made a speech, of which the folloAving passage Is a portion : ..." Sir, we never need be, and I am persuaded never shall be, taxed as the English are. A very great portion of their per manent burdens arises from the interest of a debt Avhich the gov ernment most unwisely suffered to accumulate almost a century, Avithout one serious effort or systematic plan for its reduction. Her present minister, at the commencement of his administra tion in 1783, established a permanent sinking fund, which now produces very great effects ; he also introduced a maxim of in finite importance In finance which he has steadily adhered to, that whenever a new loan is made the means shall be provided not only of paying the interest but of effecting a gradual ex tinction of the principal. Had these Iavo ideas been adopted and practised upon at the beginning of the century which we have 230 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. just seen close, England might have expended as much money as she has expended and not OAved at this moment a shilling of debt, except that contracted in the present war. These ideas, profiting by the example of England, Ave have adopted and are noAV practising on. We have provided a fund AvhIch is noAv in constant operation for the extinguishment of our debt. This fund will extinguish the foreign debt in nine years from noAV, and the six per cent., a large part of our domestic debt, in eighteen years. I trust Ave shall adhere to this plan, and Avhen- ever Ave are compelled by the exigency of our affairs to make a loan, by providing also for its timely extinguishment, we may ahvays avoid an Inconvenient or burdensome accumulation of debt. We may gather all the roses of the funding system without its thorns." This Avas the theory of the English financiers, of William Pitt and his scholars, Avhich held possession of the English exchequer throughout the French Avar and Avas only exploded in 1813 by a pamplilct written by a Scotchman named Hamilton.' Mr. Gal latin, hoAvever, Avas never its dupe. He answered Mr. Harper on the spot; and short as his reply was, it gave In perfectly clear language the substance of all that fourteen years later Avas sup posed to be a new discovery in English finance : ..." I know but one Avay that a nation has of paying her debts, and that is precisely the same Avhich Individuals practise. ' Spend less than you receive,' and you may then apply the sur plus of your recdpts to the discharge of your debts. But if you spend more than you receive, you may have recoui-se to sinking funds, you may modify them as you please, you may render your accounts extremely complex, you may give a scientific ap pearance to additions and subtractions, you must still necessarily increase your debt. If you spend more than you receive, the difference must be supplied by loans; and if out of these receipts you have set a sum apart to pay your debts, if you have so mort gaged or disposed of that sum that you cannot apply it to your 1 Inquiry concerning the Rise and Progress, the Redemption and Present State, and the Management of the National Debt of Great Britain. By Robert Hamilton, LL.D. Edinburgh, 1813. Reprinted at Philadelphia in 1816, and by Lord Overstone in his collection of Financial Tracts, 1856-1869. 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 231 useful expenditure, you must borroAV so much more In order to meet your expenditure. If your revenue is nine millions of dollars and your expenditure fourteen, you must borrow, you must create a ucav debt of five millions. But if two millions of that revenue are, under the name of sinking fund, applicable to the payment of the principal of an old debt, and pledged for it, then the portion of your revenue applicable to discharging your current expenditures of fourteen millions Is reduced to seven millions; and instead of borroAvIng five millions you must borroAV seven ; you create a ncAV debt of seven millions, and you pay an old debt of tAvo. It is still the same Increase of five millions of debt. The only difference that is produced arises from the rela tive price you give for the old debt and rate of interest you pay for the new. At present Ave pay yearly a part of a domestic debt bearing six per cent, interest, and of a foreign debt bearing four or five per cent, interest ; and Ave may pay both of them at par. At the same time Ave are obliged to borroAV at the rate of eight per cent. At present, therefore, that nominal sinking fund increases our debt, or at least the annual interest payable on our debt." . . . The tAVO speeches made by Mr. Harper and Mr. Gallatin on tills occasion, the 10th January, 1800, were very able, and are even now interesting reading ; but they find their proper place in the Annals of Congress, and the question of the reduction of the army was to be settled by other events. A matter of a very different nature absorbed the attention of Congress during the months of February and March. This was the once famous case of Jonathan Robbins, a British sailor claiming to be an American citizen, who, having committed a murder on board the British ship-of-war Hermione, on the high seas, had escaped to Charleston, and under the 27th article of the British treaty had been delivered up by the United States government. At that time extradition was a novelty in our international relations. The President Avas violently attacked for the surrender, and a long debate ensued in Congress. Mr. Gallatin spoke at con siderable length, but his speech Is not reported, and although voluminous notes, made by him in preparing it, are among his papers, it is impossible to say what portion of these notes was 232 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. actually used in the speech. The triumphs of the contest, how ever, did not fall to him or to his associates, but to John Marshall, Avho folloAved him, and Avho, in a speech that still stands Avithout a parallel in our Congressional debates, replied to liini and to them. There Is a tradition in Virginia that after Marshall concluded his speech, the Republican members pressed round Gallatin, urging Avith great earnestness that it should be ansAvered at once, and that Gallatin replied in his foreign accent, " Gentlemen, ansAver It yourselves ; for my part I think it un- ansjoe/'able," laying the stress on the antepenultimate syllable. The story is probably true. At all events, Mr. Gallatin made no ansAver, and Mr. Marshall's argument settled the dispute by an overAvhelming vote. But the coming Presidential election, one of the most inter esting In our history, uoav cast its shadoAV in advance over the Avhole political field. The tAvo parties Avere so equally divided that the vote of Ncav York City Avould probably decide the result, and for this reason the city election of May, 1800, was the turning-point of American political history In that gener ation. There the tAvo party champions, Hamilton and Burr, were pitted against each other. Commodore Nicholson was hotly engaged, and Edward Livingston, MatthcAV L. Davis, and the other Republiaui politicians of Ncav York became persons of uncommon interest. Mr. Gallatin, as leader of the Repub lican party in Congress and as closely connected by marriage AvIth the Republican interests of Ncav York City, was kept accuratdy informed of every step In the political campaign. He himself Avas in constant communication AvIth Matthew L, Davis, Avho Avas Burr's most active friend then and ever after Avards. Davis's letters are now of historical importance, and may be compared Avith the narrative in his subsequent Life of Burr: MATTHEW L. DAVIS TO GALLATIN. Nbav York, March 29, 1800. Dear Sir,— I yesterday saAv a family letter of yours devel oping the vicAvs of the Federal party; with many of the facts contained in that letter I was previously acquainted, but I Avas 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 233 in some measure at a loss to account for . certain proceedings of tlie supreme Legislature; tliis letter completely unmasks the party. Your opinion respecting the importance of our election for membei-s of Assembly In this city is the prevailing opinion among our Republican friends. You ask, " What are your prospects?" All things considered, they are favorable. We have been so much deceived already that a prudent man per haps Avill not hazard an opinion but Avith extreme diffidence. At the request of Mr. Nicholson, I shall briefly state the leading features of our plan. You are already acquainted Avith the circumstances Avhich so much operated against us at the last election: the tale of the ship Ocean, Captain Kemp; the Manhattan Company; the con templated French invasion; the youth of many of our candi dates, &c., &c. These things, united AvIth bank influence and bank jealousy, had a most astonishing effect. The bank Influence is noAv totally destroyed ; the Manhattan Company will in all probability operate much In our favor ; and it is hoped the creAV of the Ocean will not again be murdered ; but this Is not all : a variety of trifling acts passed during the session of the former Legislature Averc also brought forward and adapted to the pur poses of the party. Menaces from the Federal party had also a great influence. I think they will not dare to use them at the approaching election. The Federalists have had a meeting and determined on their Senators; they have also appointed a committee to nominate suitable characters for the Assembly. Out of the thirteen that noAv represent the city, eleven declme standing again. They are much perplexed to find men. Mr. Hamilton Is very busy, more so than usual, and no exertions will be wanting on his part. Fortunately, Mr. Hamilton will have at this election a most poAverful opponent in Colonel Burr. This gentleman is ex tremely active ; it is his opinion that the Republicans had better not publish a ticket or call a meeting until the Federalists have completed theks. Mr. Burr is arranging matters in such a Avay as to bring into operation all the Republican interest. He is not to be on our nomination, but is to represent one of the country counties. At our first meeting he has pledged himself 234 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. to come forward and address the people in firm and manly language on the importance of the election and the momentous crisis at Avhich we have arrived. This he has never done at any former election, and I anticipate great advantages from the effect it Avill produce. In addition to this, he has taken great trouble to ascertain Avhat characters will be most likely to run well, and by his address has procured the assent of eleven or twelve of our most influential friends to stand as candidates. Among the number are: George Clinton (late governor). Philip J. Arcularlus. Henry Rutgers (colonel). Thos. Storm. Sam. Osgood. Ezek. Robbins. Jno. Broome. Sam. L. Mitchill. Geo. Warner, Sen. Jno. SwartAvout. Ellas Nexsen. . On the Avhole, I believe we shall offer to our felloAV-citizens the most formidable list ever offered them by any party in point of morality, public and private virtue, local and general influence, &c., &e. From this ticket and the exertions that indisputably will be made we have a right to expect much, and I trust we shall be triumphant. If Ave carry this election, it may be ascribed principally to Colonel Burr's* management and perse verance. Hamilton fears his influence; the party seem in a state of consternation, while ours possess more than usual spirits. Such are our prospects. We shall open the campaign under the most favorable impressions, and headed by a man whose intrigue and management is most astonishing, and Avho is more dreaded by his enemies than any other character in our [ ]. Excuse, sir, this hasty scrawl ; I have no time to copy, . . . MATTHEW L. DAVIS TO GALLATIN. Neav York, April 15, 1800. Tuesday night, 11 o'clock. Dear Sir, — ^Well knoAving the importance of the approaching election in this city, and consequently the anxiety AvhIch you and 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 235 every friend to our country must experience on the subject, I am highly gtatified in affording you such information on the occasion as will be interesting and pleasing. The eyes of our friends and of our enemies are turned toAvards us ; all unite in the opinion that if the city and county of New York elect Republicans they will most assuredly have it in their poAver to appoint Republican electors for President and Vice-President. The counties of Westchester and Orange have selected the most respectable and influential advocates for tlie rights of the people tlieir respective towns afforded. But of our adversaries in this city. This evening, agreeably to public notice, a meeting was held ; the assembly Avas small, and not attended by either Colonels Hamilton or Troup, tAvo gentlemen Avho are generally most officious on tliese occasions. I have already stated to you in a former letter that jealousies and schisms existed among them. This fact has not only been evinced in their numerous caucuses, but they have been doomed to the mortification of bringing the matter this night before the public. A few of their most active men had determined on Philip Brazier as a candidate for the Assembly. Mr. Brazier is a man of very little Influence and very limited understanding; he is, hoAvever, a Republican, but composed of such pliable materials as will enable his leaders to mould him to almost any form. A large majority of the Federsvl committee Avcre opposed to him, but his adherents possessing stronger lungs and being vociferous at one of their caucuses, he was carried. A division took place in the same coraralttee on another sub ject, viz., Avho Avas the most proper candidate for Congress. Some supported Colonel J. Morton, while others as furiously supported William W. Woolsey ; both gentlemen consented to stand ; as the coraralttee could not agree owing to their divisions, it was resolved to report both candidates to the meeting and let them make their election. Accordingly the two names were publicly brought forward this night, and after much confusion and litigation it was determined by a majority of only 15 or 20 that Jacob Morton should be the candidate for Congress, while the adherents of Mr. Woolsey bawled aloud, "Morton shall not be the man." Next came the Assembly ticket. It 236 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. was agreed to Avithoiit opposition, excepting in the case of Mr. Brazier, He was again violently opposed, and a large majority appeared against him; yet the chairman being a military commander (Brigadier-General Jared Hughes), he decided that it AA'as carried in favor of Mr. Brazier. In tliis temper the meeting separated. So much for the friends of good order and regular government. FEDERAL TICKET. Por Congress. Jacob Morton, Esq For Assemblymen. Peter Schermerhorn, ship-chandler. Jno. Bogert, baker. Gabriel Furman, nothing. The man who Avhipped the fcrrymun in Bridewell, and on account of Avhom Kettletas Avas imprisoned. John Croleus, Jun., potter. Philip Ten Eyck, booliseller, late clerk, present partner of Hugh Gainc. Isaac Burr, grocer, Samuel Ward, a bankrupt endeavoring to settle his affairs by paying 000 in the pound, C, D. Colden, assistant attorney-general. James Tyler, shoemaker. Philip Brazier, lawyer. N. Evertson, lawyer. Isaac Sebring, grocer, one of the firm Sebring & Van Wyck. Abraham Russel, mason, A private meeting of our friends Avas held this evening at the house of Mr. Brockholst Livingston; about forty attended; we determined on calling the Republicans together on Thursday evening next, and for that purpose sent advertisements to the different printers. The prevailing opinion was that we should appoint a committee at that meeting to Avithdraw for half an 1800 THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 237 hour, form a ticket, and return and report, so that on Friday morning we shall most probably publish. Never have I observed such an union of sentiment, so much zeal, and so general a deter mination to be active. Indeed, on presenting the Federal ticket to our meeting (for we had friends who attended theirs) all was joy and enthusiasm. Our ticket is complete, and stands as foUoAvs : Congress. Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill. Assembly. Geo. Clinton. Horatio Gates. Henry Rutgers. • Thomas Storm. Samuel Osgood, Geo. Warner, Senior. John Broome. Philip J. Arcularlus. Ezekiel Robins. Brockholst Livingston. John Swartwout. James Hunt. Ellas Nexsen. The late hour at which I write this will be a sufficient apology for the scrawl. . . . MATTHEW L. DAVIS TO GALLATIN. Thursday night, 12 o'clock. May 1, 1800. REPUBLICANISM TRIUMPHANT. Dear Sir, — It affords me the highest gratification to assure you of the complete success of the Republican Assembly ticket in this city. This day the election closed, and several of the wards have been canvassed for Congress ; the result as follows : 238 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. For Mitchill. For Morton. , First Ward, majority, ... 76 Second do., do., . . . 258 Third do., not canvassed. Probable majority, , , . 250 Fourth do., canvassed majority, 72 . , . Fifth do., not canvassed. Probable majority, 100 Sixth do., canvassed majority, 432604 584 Seventh do. do. do. For Van Cortlandt, 312. Thus, sir. It is probable Mr. Mitchill Is elected a member of Congress, and no doubt can remain but our whole Assembly ticket is elected by a majority of three hundred and fifty votes. To Colonel Burr Ave are indebted for everything. This day has ho remained at the poll of the Seventh Ward ton hours without intermission. Pardon this hasty scrawl ; I have not ate for fifteen hours. With the highest respect, &c. P.S. — Since Avriting the above I learn from undoubted authority that Mr. Mitchill is elected by upwards of one hun dred majority. MATTHEW L. DAVIS TO GALLATIN. New York, May 5, 1800. Dear Sir, — I have already informed you of the complete triumph Avhich we have obtained In this city, — a triumph AvhIch I trust will have some Influence In promoting the rights of the people and establishing their liberties on a permanent basis. Our country has arrived at an awful crisis. The approaching elec tion for President and Vice-President will decide in some measure on our future destiny. The result will clearly evince Avhether a republican form of government is worth contending for. On this account the eyes of all America have been turned toAvards 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 239 the city and county of Nbav York. The management and in dustry of Colonel Burr has effected all that the friends of civil liberty could possibly desire. Having accomplished the task assigned us, we In return feel a degree of anxiety as to the characters who Avill probably be candidates for those tAvo important offices. I believe It is pretty generally understood that Mr. Jefferson is contemplated for President. But Avho is to fill the Vice-President's chair? I should be highly gratified in hearing your opinion on this sub ject ; if .secrecy is necessary, you may rely on it ; and, sir, as I have no personal views, you avIU readily excuse my stating the present apparent wishes and feelings of the Republican party in this city. ^ It Is generally expected that the Vice-President will be se lected from the State of Ncav York. Three characters only can be contemplated, viz., Geo. Clinton, Chancellor Livingston, and Colonel Burr. The first seems averse to public life, and is desirous of retiring from all its cares and toils. It was therefore with great diffi culty he AA'as persuaded to stand as windldate for the State Legis lature. A i)ersoiial intervieAv at some future period will make you better acquainted Avith this transaction. In addition to this, Mr. Cluiton grows old and infirm. To Mr. Livingston there are objections more weighty. The family attachment and connection ; the prejudices Avhicli exist not only in this State, but throughout the United States, against the name ; but, above all, the doubts which are entertained of his firmness and decision in trying periods. You are well ac quainted Avith certain circumstances that occurred on the im portant question of carrying the British treaty into effect. On that occasion Mr. L. exhibited a timidity that never can be forgotten. Indeed, it had its effect Avhen he was a candidate for governor, though it Avas not generally known. Colonel Burr is therefore the most eligible character, and on him the eyes of our friends In this State are fixed as if by sym pathy for that office. AVhethef'he would consent to stand I am totally Ignorant, and indeed I pretend not to judge of the policy farther than it respects this State. If he is elected to the office 240 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800, of V. P., it would awaken so much of the zeal and pride of our friends in this State as to secure us a Republican governor at the next election (April, 1801). If he is not nominated, many of us will experience much chagrin and disappointment. If, sir, you do not consider it improper, please inform me by post the probable arrangement on this subject. I feel very anxious. Any information you may Avish relative to our election I will at all times cheerfully communicate. With sentiments of respect, &c. GALLATIN TO IIIS WIPE. Philadilphia, 6th May, 1800. , , , The Ncav York election has engrossed the whole at tention of all p{ us, meaning by us Congress and the whole city. Exultation on our side is high; the other party are in low spirits. Senate could not do any business on Saturday morning when the intelligence was received, and adjourned before twelve. As to the probabilities of election, they stand as followeth : Adams. Doubtful. Jefferson. New Hampshire , Massachusetts 6 14 i 2 ... Connecticut . 9 Rhode Island 4 Vermont 4 New York . ... 12 New Jersey , PennsylvfiniaDelaware . • • • r3 Maryland VirginiaKentucky . N. Carolina . . 3 • • • • . 2 5 2 21 4 i 6 S, Carolina . 8 Tennessee 3 Georgia > • • • a 4 42 21 60 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 241 There are 123 electors, supposing Pennsylvania to have no vote. Of these, 62 make a majority. We count 60 for Jeffer- ¦son certain. If we therefore get only 2 out of the 21 doubtful votes, he must be elected. Probabilities are therefore highly in our favor. Last Saturday evening the Federal members of Congress had a large meeting, in which it was agreed that there was no chance of carrying Mr. Adams, but that he must still be supported ostensibly in order to carry still the votes in New England, but that the only chance Avas to take up ostensibly as Vice-President, but really as President, a man from South Carolina, aa'Iio, being carried everyAvhere except in his own State along Avitli Adams, and getting the votes of his oavu State with Jefferson, Avould then be elected. And for that purpose, aban doning Thomas Plnckney, they have selected General Charles Cotesworth Plnckney. I think they will succeed neither in S. Carolina in getting the votes for hira, nor in Ncav England In making the people jilt Adams. Who is to be our Vice-Presi dent, Clinton or Burr? This is a serious question which I am delegated to make, and to Avhich I must have an answer by Friday next. Remember this is important, and I have engaged to procure correct information of the wishes of the Ngav York Republicans. . . . JAMES NICHOLSON TO GALLATIN. May 6, 1800. Dear Sir, — My situation and health did not permit my writing you during our election, but supposed you received in formation from Mr. Warner, who I requested would take the task off my hands. Tliat business has been conducted and brought to issue in so miraculous a manner that I cannot account for it but frora the intervention of a Supreme Power and our friend Burr the agent. The particulars I have since the election understood, and which justifies my suspicion. His generalship, perseverance, industry, and execution exceeds all description, so that I think I can say he deserves anything and everything of his country ; but he has done It at the risk of hia life. This I will explain to you AA'hen I have the pleasure of seeing you, I am informed he is coming on to you. Perhaps 16 242 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1800. he will be the bearer of this. I shall conclude by recommend ing him as a general far superior to your Hambletons ;' as much so as a man is to a boy ; and I have but little doubt this State, through his means and planning, will be as Republican in the appointment of electors as the State of Virginia. I have not been able since my being here before to-day to visit my friend and neighbor. Governor Clinton. I understand his health and spirits are both returning. His name at the head of our ticket had a most powerful effect. I cannot inform you what either Burr's or his expectations are, but will write you more particularly about the governor after my visit. . . . JAMES NICHOLSON TO GALLATIN. Greenavich LANti, May the 7th, 1800. Dear Sir, — I have conversed AvIth the two gentlemen men tioned in your letter. George Clinton, with whom I first spoke, declined. His age, his infirmities, his habits and attachment to retired life, in his opinion, exempt him from active life. He (Governor Clinton) thinks Colonel Burr is the most suitable person and perhaps the only man. Such is also the opinion of all the Republicans in this quarter that I have conversed with ; their confidence in A. B. is universal and unbounded. Mr. Burr, hoAvever, appeared averse to be the candidate. He seemed to think that no arrangement could be made Avhich Avould be obserA'ed to the southward ; alluding, as I understood, to the last election, in which he Avas certainly ill used by Virginia and North Carolina. I believe he may be induced to stand if assurances can be given that the Southern States avIU act fairly. Colonel Burr may certainly be governor of this State at the next election If he jileases, and a number of his friends are very unAvilling that he should be taken off for Vice-President, think ing the other the most important office. Upon the Avhole how ever, Ave think he ought to be the man for V. P., if there is a moral certainty of success. But his name must not be played the fool with. I confidently hope you will be able to smooth >Sic. 1800. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 243 over the business of the last election, and if Colonel Burr Is properly applied to, I think he will be induced to stand. At any rate we, tlie Republicans, will make him. MRS. GALLATIN TO HER HUSBAND. 7th May, 1800. . . . Papa has ansAVered your question about the candidate for Vice-President. Burr says he has no confidence in the Virginians; they once deceived him, and they are not to be trusted. . . . GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. 12th May, 1800. . . . We do not adjourn to-day, but certainly shall to-morrow, . , , We had last, night a very large meeting of Rc])ublican8, in Avhich it was unanimously agreed to support Burr for Vice- President. . . . BetAveen the adjournment of Congress in May and his depart ure for the Avestern country in July, Mr. Gallatin prepared and published another pamphlet on the national finances, AvhIch was his contribution to the canvass for the Presidential election of that year. Mr. Wolcott, the Secretary of the Treasury, In a letter to the Committee of Ways and Means, dated January 22, 1800, had expressed the opinion that the principal of the debt had in creased $1,516,338 since the establishment of the government in 1789. A coraralttee of the House, on the other hand, had on May 8 reported that the debt had been diminished $1,092,841 during the same period. Mr. Gallatin entered Into a critical ex amination of the methods by which these results Avere obtained, and then proceeded to test them by applying his oavu method of comparing the receipts and expenditures. His conclusion was that the nominal debt had been Increased by $9,462,264. Two mllliolis of this increase, however, was caused by unnecessary assumption of State debts. But alloAving for funds actually ac quired by government and susceptible of being applied to reduc tion of debt, the nominal increase reduced Itself to $6,657,319. 244 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. ISOL And since all these results were raore or less nominal, he devoted the larger part of his work to an elaborate and searching inves tigation into the actual receipts and expenditures of the past ten years. The summer of 1800 Avas again passed in the Avestern country ; the last summer Avhich Mr. Gallatin Avas to pass there for more than tAventy years. With the autumn came the Presidential elec tion, and the dreaded complication occurred by AvhIch Mr. Jeffer son and Mr. Burr, having received an equal number of electoral votes, became rival candidates for the choice of the House of Representatives. The session of 1800-1801 was almost wholly occupied in settling this dispute. The Avhole Federalist party insisted upon voting for Burr, and, although not able to elect hira, they were able to delay for several days the election of Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Gallatin's position as leader of the Republicans in the House, and in a manner responsible for the selection of Mr. BulT as candidate for the Vice-Presidency, Avas one of con trolling Influence and authority. His letters to his Avife give a-' cleiu' picture of the scene at Washington as he saAV it from day to day, but there are one or tAvo points on Avhich sorae further light is thrown by his papers. He rarely expressed his opinions of the men Avith Avhom he acted. Ho never expressed any opinion about Colonel Burr. Yet he knew that the Virginians distrusted Burr, and even in his OAvn family, Avhcre Colonel Burr was probably Avarmly admired, there Avere moments when their faith Avas shaken. The following letter is an example : MARIA NICHOLSON TO MRS. GALLATIN. New York, February 5, 1801. ... As I know you are interested for Theodosia Burr, I must tell you that Mr. Alston has returned from Caroluia, it is said, to be married to her this month. She accompanied her father to Albany, Avhere the Legislature are sitting ; he fol lowed them the next day. I am sorry to hear these accounts. Report does not speak Avdl of him; it says that he is rich, but he is a great dasher, dissipated, ill-tempered, vain, and silly. 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. £45 I knoAV that he is ugly and of unprepossessing manners. Can it be that the father has sacrificed a daughter so lovely to afflu ence and influential connections? They say that it was Mr. A. Avho gained him the 8 votes in Carolina at the present election, and that he Is not yet relieved from pecuniary embar rassments. Is this the man, think ye ? Has Mr. G. a favor able opinion of this man of talents, or not? He loves his child. Is he so devoted to tlie customs of the Avorld as to encourage such a match ? . . . Colonel Burr himself overacted his part. For some private reason Mr. Gallatin Avas unable to take his seat when Congress met, and it Avas not till January 12, 1801, that he at last ap peared in Washington, to Avliich place the government had been transferred during the summer. The contest, which Avas to decide the election, took place a month later. Colonel Burr Avas at New York, about to go up to Albany to perform his duties as member of the Legislature. He felt the necessity of reassuring the minds of his friends at Washington, and he did so from time to time with a degree of off-hand simplicity very suggestive of ulterior thoughts. His first leljtcr to Gallatin Is as follows : AARON BURR TO GALLATIN. New York, 16th January, 1801. Dear Sir, — I am heartily glad of your arrival at your post. You were never more Avanted, for it was absolutely vacant. Livingston Avill tell you my sentiments on the proposed usur pation, and Indeed of all the other occurrences and projects of the day. The short letter of business AvhIch I wrote you may be ansAvered to Dallas ; anything you may Avish to communicate to me may be addressed this city. Our postmaster and that at Albany are " honorable men." Yours, A. B. The next is written from Albany, in reply to a letter from Mr. Gallatin, which has not been preserved : 246 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L AARON BURR TO GALLATIN. Albany, 12th February, 1801. Dear Sir, — My letters for ten days past had assured me that all was settled and that no doubt remained but that J. Avould have 10 or 11 votes on the first trial; I am, therefore, utterly surprised by the contents of yours of the 3d. In case of usur-r patlon, by laAV, by President of Senate pro tem., or in any other way, my opinion is definitively made up, and it is knoAvn to S. S, and E. L. On that opinion I shall act in defiance of all timid, temporizing projects. On the 21st I shall be In New York, and in Washington the 3d March at the utmost; sooner if the intelligence Avhich I may receive at Ncav York shall be such as to require my earlier presence. Mr. Montfort was strongly recommended to me by General Gates and Colonel Griffin. At their request I undertook to direct his studies in pursuit of the law. He left Ncav York suddenly and apparently in sorae agittvtion, Avithout assigning to rae any cause and Avithout disclosing to me his Intentions or views, or even whither he Avas going, except that he proposed to pass through Washington. Nor had I any reason to believe that I should ever see him again. You may communicate this to Mr. J., who has also Avritten me something about him. Youre, A. B. Mr. Gallatin in the last years of his life came upon this letter, and endorsed on it. In a hand trembling Avith age, the folloAvIng words AvIth a significant mark of interrogation : " had thought that Jefferson Avould be elected on first ballot by 10 or 11 votes (out of 16)?" Burr's last letter in this connection Avas written from Philadel phia after the result Avas decided : BURR TO GALLATIN. Philadelphia, February 25, 1801. Dear Sir, — ^The four last letters of your very arausing his tory of balloting met me at Ncav York on Saturday evening. I 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 247 thank you much for the obliging attention, and I join my hearty congratulations on the auspicious events of the 17th. As to the infamous slandera Avhich have been so industriously circulated, they are noAv of little consequence, and those who have believed them avIII doubtless blush at their own weak ness. The Feds boast aloud that they have compromised Avith Jef ferson, particularly as to the retaining certain persons in office. Without the assurance contained In your letter, this would gain no manner of credit with me. Yet in spite of my endeavors it has excited some anxiety among our friends in Ncav York. I hope to be AvIth you on the 1st or 2d March. Adieu. These letters from Mr. Burr suggest much more than they intentionally express ; for If they show that Burr still felt the weight of that Virginia mistrust AvhIch had four years previously cost him his place as next in succession to Mr. Jefferson, they shoAV, too, that his confidence in Virginia was scarcely greater , than when in May, 1800, he told Commodore Nicholson that the Virginians had once deceived him and were not to be trusted. There was a sting in his remark about the anxiety among his friends In New York, In spite of his efforts to the contrary, they still thought that Mr, Jefferson might have made a bargain Avith the Federalists, The letters also show that Mr. Gallatin at the very moment denied the existence of any such bargain ; with his usual disposition to conciliate, he seems to have coupled together the charges against both can didates as equal slanders. Whether Mr. Gallatin was admitted so far into the confidence of his chief as to know all that was said and done in reference to this election In February, 1801, is a question that may remain open ; but that something passed betAveen Mr. Jefferson and General Smith which was regarded by the Federalists as a bargain, is not to be denied. Fortu nately, Mr. Gallatin lived to hear all the discussions which rose long afterwards on this subject, and almost the last letter he ever wrote was written to record his understanding of the matter : 248 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L GALLATIN TO HENRY A. MUHLENBERG. New York, May 8, 1848. Dear Sir, — A severe cold, Avhich rendered me incapable of attending to any business, has prevented an earlier answer to your letter of the 12th of April. ' Altliough I was at the time probably better acquainted with all the circumstances attending Mr. Jefferson's election than any other person, and I am uoav the only surviving witness, I could not, Avithout bestoAving more time than I can spare, give a satis factory account of that ancient transaction. A few observations must suffice. The only cause of real apprehension Avas that Congress should adjourn Avithout making a decision, but Avithout usurping any poAvers. It was in order to provide against that contingency that I prepared myself a plan Avhich did meet AvIth the appro bation of our party. No appeal Avhatever to physical force was contemplated, nor did it contain a single particle of revolu tionary spirit. In framing this plan Mr. Jeflerson had not been consulted, but it was communicated to hira, and he fully approved it. But it Avas threatened by some persons of the Federal party to provide by law that, if no election should take place, the executive power should be placed in the hands of some public officer. This was considered as a revolutionary act of usurpa tion, and would, I believe, have been put down by force if necessary. But there was not the slightest intention or sugges tion to call a convention to reorganize the government and to amend the Constitution. That sudi a measure floated in the mind of Mr. Jefferson is clear from his letters of February 15 and 18, 1801, to Mr. Monroe and Mr. Madison. He may have Avished for such measure, or thought that the Federalists might be frightened by the threat. Although I was lodging in the same house with him, he never mentioned it to me. I did not hear it even suggested by any one. That Mr, Jefferson had ever thought of such plan was never known to me till after the publication of his correspond ence, and I may aver that under no circumstances would that 180L THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 249 plan have been resorted to or approved by the Republican party. Anti-federalism had long been dead, and the Republi cans Avere the most sincere and zealous supporters of the Con stitution. It Avas that Avhich constituted their real strength. I ahvays thought that the threatened attempt to malte a President by laAv Avas impracticable. I do not believe that, if a motion had been made to that effect, there would have been tAventy votes for it in the House. It was only intended to frighten us, but It produced an excitement out-of-doors in which some of our members participated. It Avas threatened that if any man should be thus appointed President by law and accept tlie office, he Avould instantaneously be put to death. It Avas rumored, and though I did not knoAV it from my oavu knoAvl- edge I believe it Avas true, that a number of men from Maryland and Virginia, amounting, It was said, to fifteen hundred (a number undoubtedly greatly exaggerated), had determined to repair to Washington on the 4th of March for the purpose of putting to death the usurping pretended President. It was under those circumstances that It Avas deemed proper to communicate all the facts to Governor McKean, and to sub mit to him the propriety of having in readiness a body of militia, Avho might. If necessary, be in Washington on the 3d of March for the purpose not of promoting, but of preventing civil war and the shedding of a single drop of blood. No person could be better trusted on such a delicate subject than Governor McKean. For he Avas energetic, patriotic, and at the same time a most steady, stern, and fearless supporter of law and order. It appears from your communication that he must have con sulted General Peter Muhlenberg on that subject. But subse quent circumstances, which occurred about three weeks before the 4th of March, rendered it altogether unnecessary to act upon the subject. There was but one man Avhom I can positively assert to have been decidedly in favor of the attempt to make a President by law. This Avas General Henry Lee, of Virginia, Avho, as you know, was a desperate character and held in no public estima tion. I fear from the general tenor of his conduct that Mr. Griswold, of Connecticut, in other respects a very worthy man. 250 LIPS OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. was so Avarm and infatuated a partisan that he might have run the risk of a civil Avar rather than to see Mr. Jefferson elected. Some Aveak and inconsiderate raembers of the House might have voted for the measure, but I could not designate any one. On the day on Avhich Ave began balloting for President we kncAV positively that Mr. Baer, of Maryland, was determined to cast his vote for Mr. Jefferson rather than that there should be no election; and his vote was sufficient to give us that of Maryland and decide the election. I Avas certain from personal intercourse with him that Mr. Morris, of Vermont, would do the same, and thus give us also the vote of that State. There were others equally prepared, but not knoAvn to us at the time. Still, all those gentlemen, unAvilling to break up their party, united in the attempt, by repeatedly voting for Mr. Burr, to frighten or induce some of us to vote for Mr. Burr rather than to have no election. This balloting Avas continued several days for another reason. The attempt Avas made to extort concessions and promises from Mr. Jefferson as the conditions on which he might be elected. One of our friends, who was very erroneously and improperly afraid of a defection on the part of some of our members, undertook to act as an intermediary, and confounding his OAvn opinions and wishes Avith those of Mr. Jefferson, re-: ported the result in such a manner as gave subsequently occasion for very unfounded surmises. It is due to the memory of James Bayard, of Delaware, to say that although he Avas one of the princijjal and warmest leaders of the Federal party and had a personal dislike for Mr. Jeffci-son, It Avas he Avho took the lead and from pure patriotism directed all those movements of the sounder and Aviser part of the Federal party Avliich terminated in the peaceable election of Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson's letter to Mr. Monroe dated February 15, 1801, at the very moment when the attempts Avere making to obtain promises from him, proves decisively that he made no con cessions whatever. But both this letter, that to Mr. Madison of the 18th of February, and some others of preceding dates afford an Instance of that credulity, so comraon to Avarm parti sans, Avhich makes them ascribe the Avorst motives, and occasion- 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 251 ally acts of Avhich they are altogether guiltless, to their opponents. There Avas not the slightest foundation for suspecting the fidelity of the post. . . . This interesting letter also suggests something more than ap pears on its surface. Evidently Mr. Gallatin meant to intimate, with as much distinctness as Avas decent, his opinion that it Avas not Mr. Jefferson Avho guided or controlled the result of this election, and that altogether too much importance was attached to Avhat Mr. Jefferson did and said. The election belonged to the House of Representatives, where not Mr. Jefferson but Mr. Gallatin was leader of the party and directed the strategy. The allusion to General Samuel Smith's Intervention is very sig nificant. Evidently Mr. Gallatin considered General Smith to have been guilty of what was little better than an impertinence in having intruded between the House and Mr. Jefferson with , " erroneous and improper" fears of the action of men for Avliom Mr. Gallatin himself was responsible. This was the first occasion on which the Smiths crossed Gallatin's path, and when he looked back upon it at the end of fifty years it seemed an omen. Mr. Gallatin considered himself to be, and doubtless Avas, the effective leader In this struggle. He marshalled the forces ; he fought the battle; he made the plans, and In making them he did not even consult Mr. Jefferson, but simply obtained his assent to what had already received the assent of his folloAvers in the House. These plans, alluded to in the Muhlenberg letter, are printed in Mr. Gallatin's Writings.' They were framed to cover every emergency. If the Federalists, acting on the assumption of a vacancy in the Presidential office, undertook to fill that vacancy by law, the Republicans were to refuse recognition of such a President and to agree on a uniform mode of not obeying the orders of the usurper, and of discriminating between those and the laws which should be suffered to continue in operation. In case only a new election Avere the object desired, without usurpation of power in the mean Avhile, submission Avas on the whole- preferable to resistance. An assumption of executive • Vol. i. pp. 18-28. 252 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. poAver by the Republicans In any mode not recognized by the Constitution Avas discouraged, and a reliance on the next Con gress Avas preferred in any case short of actual usurpation. The idea of a convention to reorganize the government Avas not even suggested. The crisis lasted until the 17th February, when the Federalists gave Avay and Mr. Jefferson's election was quietly effected. With this event Mr. Gallatin's career in Congress closed. GALLATIN TO IIIS AVIFE. Washington City, 15th January, 1801. ... I arrived here only on Saturday last. The weather was Intensely cold the Saturday I crossed the Alleghany Moun tains, and afterAvards I AA'as detained one day and half by rain and snoAV. . . . Our local situation Is far from being pleasant or even convenient. Around the Capitol are seven or eight board ing-houses, one tailor, one shoemaker, one printer, a washing- woman, a grocery shop, a pamphlets and stationery shop, a small dry-goods shop, and an oyster house. This makes the whole of the Federal city as connected wiUi the Capitol. At the distance of three-fourths of a mile, on or near the Eastern Branch, lie scattered the habitations of Mr. LaAV and of Mr. Carroll, the principal proprietaries of the ground, half a dozen houses, a very large but perfectly empty AA'arehouse, and a wharf graced by not a single ves.sel. And this makes the Avhole intended commercial part of the city, unless Ave include in It what is called the Twenty Buildings, being so many unfinished houses commenced by Morris and Nicholson, and perhaps as many undertaken by Greenleaf, both Avhich groups lie, at the distance of half-mile from each other, near the mouth of the Eastern Branch and the Potow- mack, and are divided by a large sAA'amp from the Capitol Hill and the little village connected with It. Taking a contrary direction from the Capitol tOAvards the President's house, the same swamp intervenes, and a straight causeway, Avhich measures one mile and half and seventeen perches, forms the communica tion between the two buildings. A small stream, about the size of the largest of the tAvo runs betAveen Clare's and our house 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 253 and decorated AvIth the pompous appellation of " Tyber," feeds without draining the SAvamps, and along that causeway (called the Pennsylvania Avenue), between the Capitol and President's House, not a single house intervenes or can intervene without devoting its wretched tenant to perpetual fevers. From the President's House to GeorgetoAvn the distance Is not quite a mile and a half; the ground is high and level ; the public offices and from fifty to one hundred good houses are finished; the President's House Is a verj' elegant building, and this part of the city on account of its natural situation, of its vicinity to George town, AvIth which it communicates OA'er Rock Creek by two bridges, and by the concourse of people drawn by having busi ness with the public offices, will improA'e considerably and may witliin a short time forra a toAvn equal in size and population to Lancaster or Annapolis. But we are not there ; the distance Is too great for convenience from thence to the Capitol ; six or seven of the members have taken lodgings at GeorgetoAvn, three near the President's House, and all the others are crowded in the eight boarding-houses near the Capitol. I am at Conrad & McMunn's, Avhere I share the room of Mr. Varnum, and pay at the rate, I think, including attendance, Avood, candles, and liquors, of 15 dollars per week. At table, I believe, we are from twenty- four to thirty, and, was it not for the presence of Mrs. Bailey and Mrs. Brown, would look like a refectory of monks. The two Nicholas, Mr. Langdon, Mr. Jefferson, General Smith, Mr. Baldwin, &c., &c., make part of our mess. The company is good enough, but it is ahvays the same, and, unless in my own family, I had rather now and then see some other persons. Our not being able to have a room each is a greater InconA'enlence. As to our fare, Ave have hardly any vegetables, the people being obliged to resort to Alexandria for supplies; our beef Is not very good ; mutton and poultry good ; the price of provisions and wood about the same as In Philadelphia. As to rents, I have not yet been able to ascertain anything precise, but, upon the whole, living must be somewhat dearer here than either In Philadelphia or New York. As to public news, the subject which engrosses almost the Avhole attention of every one is the equality of votes between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr. The 254 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. most desperate of the Federalists Avish to take advantage of this by preventing an election altogether, which they may do either by dividing the votes of the States where they have majorities or by still persevering in voting for Burr Avhilst we should per severe in voting for Jefferson ; and the next object they would then propose would be to pass a laAV by which they would vest the Presidential poAver in the hands of some man of their party, I believe that such a plan if adopted would be considered as an act of usurpation, and Avould accordingly be resisted by the people ; and I think that partly from fear and partly from prin ciple the plan will not be adopted by a majority. But a more considerable number avIU try actually to make Burr President. He has sincerely opposed the design, and will' go any lengths to prevent its execution. Hamilton, the Willing and Bingham connection, almost every leading Federalist out of Congress in Maryland and Virginia, liave openly declared against the project and recommend an acquiescence in Mr. Jefferson's election. Maryland, whidi if decided in our favor would at once make Mr. J. President (for we have eight States sure, — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia), Is afraid about the fate of the Federal city, Avliich is hated by every member of Congress Avithout ex ception of pei-sons or parties ; and I know that if a vote Avas to take place to-day Ave Avould obtain the vote of that State. Even Bayard from Delaware and Morris from Vermont (this last I suspect under the Influence of Gouv. Morris) are inclined the same way. The vote of either is sufficient to decide in our favor. And from all those circumstances I infer that there will be an election, and that In favor of Mr. Jefferson. If not, there will be either an interregnum until the new Congress shall meet and then a choice made in favor of hira also, or in case of usurpation by the present Congress (Avhich of all suppositions is the most improbable), either a dissolution of the Union If that usurpation shall be supported by New England, or a punishment of the usurpers if they shall not be supported by New England. In every possible case I think Ave have nothing to fear. The next important object is the convention with France, which hangs in the Senate. The mereantile interest, Mr. Adams and Mr. Ham- 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 255 ilton arc in favor of its ratification. Yet I think it rather prob able that eidier a decision Avill be postponed or that it shall be clogged by the rejection or modification of some articles, an event Avhich might endanger the whole. I understand that Great Britain does not take any offence at the treaty itself, and tliat being the case, although I dislike myself several parts of the in strument, I see no sufficient reason why we should not agree to it. . . . 22d January, 1801. ... As to politics, you may suppose that being all thrown together in a few boarding-houses, Avithout hardly any other society than ourseh'es, we are not likely to be either very mod erate politicians or to think of anything but politics. A feW, indeed, drink, and some gamble, but the majority drink naught but politics, and by not mixing Avith men of different or more moderate sentiments, they inflame one another. On that ac count, principally, I see some danger in the fate of the election which I had not before contemplated. I do not knoAV precisely what are the plans of the New England and other violent Fed erals, nor, indeed, that they have formed any final plan ; but I am certain that if they can prevail on three or four men who hold the balance, they will attempt to defeat the election under pretence of voting for Burr. At present it is certain that our friends avIU not vote for him, and as Ave cannot make nine States without the assistance of some Federal, it is as certain that, if all the Federal will vote for him, there will be no choice of the House. In that case Avhat Avill be the plans of the Federalists, having, as they have, a majority In both Houses? Will they usurp at once the Presidential poAvers? An attempt of that kind will most certainly be resisted. Will they only pass a law providing for a new election ? This mode, as being the most plausible, may, perhaps, be the one they will adopt. And in that case, as no State has provided for an election in such cases ; as the concurrence of the Legislature of any one State will be necessary to pass a law providing for the same; as in the five New England States, Jersey, and Delaware (Avhich give 49 Fed eral votes), both branches of the Legislature are Federal, whilst in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina, 256 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. Avliere Ave have a majority, the State Senates are against us ; the consequence might be that the Senates of these four last States refusing to act, the 49 votes of Ncav England, Jersey, and Dela- Avare Avould outweigh the 44 votes of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee ; and they Avould thus, by in fact disfranchising four States and annulling the last election, perpetuate themselves in power, Avhilst they Avould in appearance A'iolate none of the forms of our Constitution. If they shall act so, shall Ave submit? And If Ave do not submit, in Avhat manner shall Ave act oui-selves ? These are important questions, and not yet finally decided. At all events, no appeal shall be made to the physical strength of the country except in self- defence, and as that strength is Avith us, I am not afraid of an attack on their part. Thus I am confident that we will have no civil Avar, and the love of union and order is so general that I hope that in every possible case Ave shall preserve both. My opinion is, however, decided that avc must consider the election as completed, and under no po.ssible circumstance consent to a new election. In that I may be overruled by our friends, but I think It a miserable policy, and calculated to break for a length of time the Republican spirit, should Ave at present yield one inch of ground to the Federal faction, Avhen Ave are supported by the Constitution and by the people. I Avill every mail let you know the prospect. At present it is still considered as probable that Maryland Avill unite in the vote In favor of Mr. Jefferson. . . . 29th January, 1801. . . . Here the approaching llth February engrosses all our attention. And opinions vary and fluctuate so much every day, that I Avill confine myself to a few general observations in com municating to you what I know you must be very anx'lous of understanding as fully as the nature of the case will admit. If a choice is not made by the House, either the next House must choose between Jefferson and Burr or a neAV election must take place. Which mode Avould be most constitutional is doubtful with many. I think the first to be the only truly constitutional way of acting. But whatever mode be adopted, we are sure of success, provided the election be fair. The next House will give I80l. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 257 us a majority of nine States, and, counting members Individually, of more than tAventy votes. That Hoitse must be In session at all events before a ncAV election can be completed in order to connt the votes. That House may therefore adopt either the mode I think right, by choosing .between J. and B., or acquiesce in a neAV election if it has been fair (that Is to say, if the Senates of Pennsylvania, Ncav York, Maryland, and South Carolina shall have permitted those States to vote). But if through trick or obstinacy the election has been unfair, that House will not acquiesce. That bdng an indubitable position, Avhat Interest can the Federalists have In defeating an election ? None, unless they mean to usurp government. And if they do make the attempt, is It possible tliey would run the Immense risk attending the attempt merely for the sake of keeping government in their hands till December next, Avith the certainty of losing it then and the probability of being punished, at all events annihilated as a party on account of the attempt ? Hence I conclude that if they are in earnest they must mean something more than a temporary usurpation. The Intention of the desperate leaders must be absolute usurpation and the overthrow of our Constitu tion. But although tliis may be the object of a few Individuals actuated by pride and ambition, it cannot be the true object of a majority of the Federal men. Many may not indeed see and calculate all the consequences of their defeating an election. But I am confident that the true motive of action, AvhIch may possibly induce at first a sufficient number to vote against Mr. J., is an opinion of our Irabecility and a supposition that Ave will yield ourselves rather than to run any risk. This is the only rational Avay to account for their conduct. It Is yet extremely doubtful Avhether we will not on the first ballot carry Mr. J. ; but if we do not, I am firmly of opinion that by persevering we will compel a sufficient number of Federals to yield. Should, however, the election be defeated, I apprehend no very danger ous consequences. Usurpation Avill undoubtedly be resisted in a legal and constitutional way by several of the largest and most populous States, and I much doubt whether they would find any man bold enough to place himself in front as an usurper. If, what I think much more probable, there Is no usurpation, we 17 258 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L Avould acquiesce in a kind of interregnum until the meeting of next Congress, which In that case Avould probably be hastened. I conclude on that subject by observing that there is no appear ance of any of our friends seceding. If any do secede, B. may be elected ; if not, I think It is one hundred to one that Jef. Avill. . . . Lucius II. Stockton (the indicter of Baldwin) was nominated Secretary of War. The Senate suspended the ap pointment and gave hira time to decline. His brother, your friend's husband, Avrltes on this occasion tha.t although it might be Avell for Mr. A. to rcAvard those Avho had Avritten in his favor, yet he should take care not to offer them appointments which must render them ridiculous. And to-day GrisAvold, of our House, has been nominated for the same Department. He has too much sense not to be mortified at being rendered ridiculous by that nomination, and I am sure will not accept. Mr. Mar shall is Chief Justice. His Department (Secretary of State) is not yet filled, so that Dexter is pro temp. Secretary in chief of all the Departments. He is rather unfortunate ; the auditor's office and all the papers therein Avere burnt. Malice ascribes the fire to design, and party Avill believe it. But I do not. What renders the thing unlucky is that the very books which had been, through the infidelity of a clerk, in Duane's hands are burnt. Hence it will be extremely difficult to remove the suspicion from the minds of many. The French .convention, as I had foretold, has been rejected by the Senate. But they have contrived to agree that it Avas not a final determination, and they are uoav negotiating amongst themselves on the subject. The merchants are in favor of the couA^entlon; the Senators who voted against it are rather afraid of the unpopularity of the measure, and some of them are Avilling to come in and approve, provided they may have a decent cover for changing their vote. So that it Is not improbable that on the next trial the convention may be adopted with some immaterial modifications ; but it is far from certain. I believe I have given you every political and private infor mation that I can trust to a letter. Much will remain for me to tell when we meet. Yet, as the ncAVspapers have made me Sec retary of the Treasury, hereafter, that is to say, I may tell you 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 259 that I have received no hint of that kind from Mr. J. Indeed, I do not suppose that it Avould be proper in him to say anything on the subject of appointments until he knows whether he shall be elected. The Republicans may wish me to be appointed, but tliere exist tAvo strong doubts in my mind on the subject, 1st, whether the Senate would confirm ; 2d, Avhat you have already heard me express, Avhether my abilities are equal to the office. . . . 6th February, 1801. . . . Indeed, I feel more forcibly than ever I did before that you cannot, that you must not be left alone in that country. The habits of the people and state of society create difficulties and inconveniences which you cannot overcome. And it is to similar circumstances that Ave are to ascribe the establishment and intro duction of slavery in the Middle States. Under my and your peculiar situation and place of abode, it has required no uncom mon exertion to resist the temptation. And should imperious circumstances compel a longer residence in the Avestern country than Ave noAV contemplate, some method must be taken to obviate the inconvenience. At all events, if through any means I ean subsist and be independent on this side the mountains I Avill attempt it, for frora experience I am fully convinced that you cannot live happy where you are. ... I have had a cold since niy last, and nursed myself; have been out but once to dine at Georgetown with some of our members Avho lodge there. I mean to go and stay there all night this evening in order to have a more full conversation Avith Dallas in relation to myself and future plans than can be done by letter. The Federal party In Senate got frightened at their having rejected the French treaty, AvhIch is certainly extremely popular. And they offered to recant provided they Avere afforded a decent cover. To this our friends agreed, and the treaty Avas two days ago ratified, AvIth the exception of the 2d Article (which was a mere matter of form and introduced at the request of our own commissioners), and a limitation for eight years. From thence I am inclined to think that the party Avill also Avant perseverance in the execution of the other plan, that of defeating the election. A variety of circumstances induce me to believe that either the 260 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. plan is abandoned or that they knoAV that it Avill fail. Bayard has proposed, and a committee of sixteen members, one from each State, have agreed, that on the llth February, the day fixed by laAV for counting the votes, if it shall appear, as is expected, that the two persons highest in vote (Jef. and Burr) have an equality, the House shall immediately proceed (in their oavu chamber) to choose by ballot the President, and shall not ad journ until a choice is made. I do not knoAV whether the House Avill agree ; but if they do, and the tAVO parties are obstinate in adhering, the one to B., the other to Jef., Ave avIII have for the last three weeks of the session to sleep on blankets in the Cap itol, and also to eat and drink there. For the idea Is that of a permanent sitting, without doing any other business whatever until we have chosen. But this evidently sIioavs that they mean to choose. For if no choice Avas made, they could neither pass a laAV for a new election or usurpation, nor indeed for any object whatever ; and there is as yet no appropriation law passed ; AvhIch Avould leave us on 3d March Avithout any government. T believe I told you before that avc had expectations of Bayard and Morris joining us on this question. Mr. Adams has very improperly called Senate for the 4th of March next, at which time the three ucav Republican Senators frora Kentucky, Georgia, and South Carolina cannot, from their distance, be here; the ncAV Republican Senator from Pennsylvania instead of Bingham avIU not be appointed, our thirteen Senators refusing to agree; the same with a new Senator from Maryland; Charles Pinckney has also dislocated his shoulder. The fact is that in December next the Senate avIII be 16 to 16, or at worst 15 to 17. And on 4th March only 8 or 9 Republicans against 17 or 18. The secretaries may and probably will all resign on that day, and the Senate being in session, that will compel INIr. J. to appoint immediately and submit his appointments to that Rump Senate. The object is undoubtedly to embarrass hira by crippling his intended Administration. . . . 12th February, 1801. . . . Yesterday, on counting the votes. Burr and Jefferson had 73 votes eadi, as was already known. At one o'clock in the afternoon Ave returned to our chamber and kept balloting till 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 261 eight o'clock this morning Avithout making a choice. We bal loted 27 times, and on each ballot the result was the same; eight States for Jefferson, six for Burr, tAvo divided. At eight o'clock We agreed (Avithout adjourning the House) to suspend the further balloting till tAvelve o'clock, and during that time I went to sleep. We have just returned and balloted once more, Avlien, the result being still the same, Ave have just uoav agreed to suspend the balloting till to-morroAV at eleven o'clock. Still the House is not adjourned, and Ave consider this as a permanent sitting ; but by mutual agreement It is a virtual adjournment, as we shall not meet nor do any business till to-morrow. I must write to Phila delphia, Lancaster, and Ncav York, to keep them acquainted of our situation, and I Avant to return to bed, which must be my apology, with my love, for this short letter. Our hopes of a change on their part are exclusively with Maryland, but every thing on that subject is conjecture. . . . GALLATIN TO JAMES NICHOLSON, New York. City of Wasiiinqton, 14th February, 1801. 8 o'clock, afternoon. Dear Sir, — Nothing ucav to-day ; 3 ballots, making in all 33, result the same. We have postponed balloting till Monday, twelve o'clock. That day will, I think, shoAV something more decisive, either yielding on their part or an attempt to put an end to balloting in order to legislate. We will be ready at all points, and rest assured that we will not yield. It is the most impudent thing that they, with only six States and two half States, represented on this floor only by 39 members, should expect that a majority of eight States and two half States, represented on this floor by 67 merabers, should give up to the rainority, and that, too, against the decided opinion of an Immense majority of the people. Federal instructions are pouring from this vicinity on Thomas, the representative of this district, to induce him to make an election by voting for Mr. Jefferson, but I do not know what effect they may have. 262 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. Mr. Joseph Nicholson has been very unAvell, but would not desert his post. A bed was fixed for him in the committee-room, and he lay there and voted all night the llth to 12th. He has also attended every day since, and has recovered amazingly, not- witlistanding the risk he ran in exposing himself to cold. GALLATIN TO JAMES NICHOLSON, New Yobk. City or Washington, 16th February, 1801. Dear Sir, — I am sorry that I cannot yet relieve you from the present general anxiety. We have balloted for the 34th time this morning, and the result is still the same. Mr. Bayard had positively declared on Saturday to some of his own party that he would this day put an end to the business by voting for Mr. Jefferson. He has acted otherwise. But it is supposed that the cause of the delay is an attempt on his part and some others to prevail on the Avhole Federal party to come over. We have agreed to suspend the ballot till to-morroAV, twelve o'clock. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. 17th February, 1801 . . . We have this day, after 36 ballots, chosen Mr. Jefferson President. Morris, of Vermont, Avithdrew; Craik, Dennis, Thomas, and Baer put in blank votes; this gives us ten States. The four New England States voted to the last for Mr. Burr, South Carolina and DelaAvare put In blank ballots in the general ballot-box ; that is to say, they did not vote. Thus has ended the most wicked and absurd attempt ever tried by the Fed eralists. . . . 19th February, 1801. ... My last letter informed you of our final success in elect ing Mr. Jefferson. The Republicans are alloAved, even by their opponents, to have acted on that occasion Avith a cool firmness which, before the first day of the contest was over, convinced the wisest of that party that we would never yield, that Ave had wdl ascertained the ground ou Avhicli we stood, and that a de- 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 263 termination thus formed Avas not likely to bo changed from fear or intrigue. They Avcre much 'at a loss Iioav to act; unsupported even by their party out-of-deore, terrified at the prospect of their OAvn attempt, convinced that they must give up their untenable ground, their unsubdued pride stood in the way of any dignified way of acting on their part. They had but one proper mode to pursue, and that Avas for the Avliole party to come over ; instead of Avhich they contrived merely to suffer Mr. Jefferson to be chosen without a single man of theirs voting for him. This Is construed by some as a symptom of a general hostility hereafter by an unbroken phalanx. But in this I do not agree, and I have no doubt of our malting an impression on them and effect ually breaking up the party, provided Ave have patience and dis cretion. At present, however, they are decidedly hostile, and as the Senate has, very improperly indeed, been called by Mr. Adams to meet on the 4th March next, Avhen three of the ncAvly- elected Republican Senators cannot attend, and the expected Republican Senator from Maryland is not yet elected, they Avill, it is expected, evince that hostility by thwarting Mr. Jefferson's nominations. Amongst those nominations which, as communi cated yesterday to me by Mr. Jefferson, are intended to be made, the most obnoxious to the other party, and the only one which I think will be rejected. Is that of a certain friend of yours. That he should be fixed at the seat of government and should hold one of the great offices is pressed on him In such manner and considered as so extremely important by several of our friends, that he Avill do whatever is ordered. But I avIII not be sorry nor hurt in my feelings if his nomination should be rejected, for exclusively of the immense responsibility, labor, &c., &c., at tached to the intended office, another plan Avhich Avould be much more agreeable to him and to you has been suggested not by his political friends, but by his New York friends. I will be more explicit when we meet. . . . 23d February! 1801. . . . From every present appearance I am led to think that it will be necessary for us (by us I me^n you, the children, and me) to remove to this city about 1st May next ; but then there is a chance that we may leave it next fall if the Senate shall 264 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. then refuse to confirm. At all events, I conclude that, however inconvenient that arrangement iiflay be in other respects, it Avill be agreeable to you. But I must state one thing. Remember that M'hatever may be our station this side the mountains, it will be essentially necessary that Ave should be extremely humble in our expenses. This I knoAV will be found by you a little harder than you expect, for the style of living here is Maryland-like, and it requires more fortitude to live here in a humble Avay than it did in Philadelphia ; but I repeat it, it Avill be strictly neces sary, and on that you must resolve before you conclude to leave our present home. . . . 20th Pebruary, 1801. ... I still calculate upon leaving this city Friday week, 6th of March ; at all events, not before the Thursday. Wednesday, 4th, is the inauguration day of our new President. I Avant to stay on that day at least, and so long ks to ascertain Iioav far the ¦ Senate Avill approve or reject the nominations submitted to them for the intended future Administration. These will be but few in number and decided on Wednesday or Thursday at farthest. As I had foreseen, the greatest exertions are made to defeat the appointment of a Secretary of the Treasury, and I am still of opinion that if presented the 4th of March it Avill be rejected. If not presented, and an appointment by the President without Senate should afterAvards take place, It must be confirmed in December next, and although it is probable, yet it is not certain, that it would then be ratified. This Avould be a serious Incon venience. To have removed to this place at considerable ex pense, made, as must necessarily be the case, some sacrifices in order to close the business at home, and in winter to be obliged to move again, would not be pleasing nor advantageous. In deed, on the Avhole, a positive refusal to come in on any terms but a previous confirmation by Senate was at first given; but subsequent chcumstances, Avhich I cannot trust to a letter, Uut will mention at large when we meet, induced a compliance with the general wish of all our political friends. The Federal Senators generally continue very hostile. They have brought in a bill to prevent the Secretary of the Navy from being con cerned in trade, whidi Is aimed at General S. Smith, and is the 1801. THE LEGISLATURE. 1789-1801. 265 more indecent on their part, as Stoddart has ahvays been in trade himself. Bingham is quite sincere In his exertions in support of the intended nomination of Secretary of the Treasury, but in favor of the bill intended on the subject of the Secretary of the Navy. I speak to you more on that than on any otlier subject because I knoAV you feel more interested In it. , , , 6th March, 1801. . . . The President Avas inaugurated yestet-day, and this day has nominated Messrs. Madison, Dearborn, Lincoln, and Robert R. Livingston for Secretaries of State and War, Attorney-General and mmister to France, respectively, all of Avhich have been approved of by the Senate. A majority of that body would. It is supposed^ have rejected a nomination for a new Secretary of the Treasury; whether that be true or not I cannot tell, but as I could not at any event have accepted immediately, no notnination Avas made. Mr. Dexter has Avitli great civility to the President agreed to stay until a successor shall have been appointed. Both Smith and Langdon decline. Mrs. Smith is here and hates this place. But to come to the point : Mr. Jef ferson requested that I should stay three days longer in order to see Mr. Madison and that I should be able to understand the general outlines Avhich are contemplated or may be agreed on as the leading principles of the ucav Administration. As it Avas for my convenience that the appointment was delayed, I could not, even had I thought my presence useless, have objected to his Avish. . . . Mr. Adams left the city yesterday at four o'clock in the morning. You can have no idea of the meanness, inde cency, almost insanity, of his conduct, specially of late. But he is fallen and not dangerous. Let him be forgotten. The Federal phalanx in Senate is more to be feared. Yet with the people on our side and the purity of our intentions, I hope we will be able to go on. But indeed, my dear, this is an arduous and momentous undertaking in Avhich I am called to take a share. . . . The struggle was completely over. All the dangers, real and imaginary, had vanished. The great Federal party Avhich had 266 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. created, organized, and for tAvelve years administered the gov ernment, and whose chief now handed it, safe and undisturbed, to Mr. Jefferson and his friends, was prostrate, broken and torn by dying convulsions. The new political force of which Mr. Jefferson was the guide had no Avord of sympathy for the vanquished. Full of hope and self-confidence, he took the helm and promised that " now the ship was put on her Repub lican tack she would show by the beauty of her motion the skill of her builders." Even Mr. Gallatin's cooler head felt the power of the strong wine, success. He too believed that human nature was to show itself in new aspects, and that the failures of the past were due to the faults of the past. " Every man, from John Adams to John Hewitt, who undertakes to do what he does not understand deserves a whipping," he wrote to his Avife a year later, when his tailor had spoiled a coat for him. He had yet to pass through his twelve years of struggle and disappointment in order to learn how his OAvn folloAvers and his own President were to answer his ideal, when the same insolence of foreign dictation and the same violence of a recalcitrant party presented to their and to his own lips the cup of which John Adams Avas now draining the dregs. BOOK IIL THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. In governments, as in households, he Avho holds the purse holds the power. The Treasury Is the natural point of control to be occupied by any statesman avIio aims at organization or reform, and conversely no organization or reform is likely to succeed that does not begin Avith and is not guided by the Treasury. The highest type of practical statesmanship must always take this direction. Washington and Jefferson doubtless stand pre-eminent as the representatives of Avhat is best in our national character or Its aspirations, but Washington depended mainly upon Hamilton, and Avithout Gallatin Mr. Jefferson would have been helpless. The mere financial duties of the Treasury, serious as they are, Avcre the least of the burdens these men had to carry ; their keenest anxieties were not connected most nearly with their own department, but resulted from that effort to control the Avhole machinery and policy of government which is necessarily forced upon the holder of the purse. Pos sibly it raay be said with truth that a majority of financial min isters have not so understood their duties, but, on the other hand, the ministers Avho composed this majority have hardly left great reputations behind them. Perhaps, too, the very raagnitude and overshadoAving influence of the Treasury have tended to rouse a certain jealousy in the minds of successive Presidents, and have worked to dwarf an authority legitimate in itself, but certainly dangerous to the Executive head. Be this as it may, there are, to the present time, in all American history only Iavo examples of practical statesmanship which can serve as perfect models, not perhaps in all respects for imitation, but for study, to persons Avho wish to understand what practical statesmanship has been under an American system. Public men in considerable numbers267 268 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. and of high merit have run their careers in national politics, but only two have had at once the breadth of mind to grajiple Avith the machine of government as a Avhole, and the authority neces sary to make it Avork efficiently for a given object; the practical knoAvledge of affairs and of politics that enabled them to foresee every movement; the long apprenticeship which had alloAved them to educate and discipline their parties; and finally, the good fortune to enjoy poAver Avhen government Avas still plastic and capable of receiving a neAV impulse. The conditions of the highest practical statesmanship require that its models should be financiers; the conditions of our history have hitherto limited their appearance and activity to its earlier days. The vigor and capacity of Hamilton's mind are seen at their best not in his organization of the Treasury Department, Avhich Avas a task Avithin the poAvers of a moderate intellect, nor yet in the essays which, under the name of reports, instilled much sound knoAvledge, besides some that Avas not so sound, into the minds of legislature and people; still less are they sliOAvn in the arts of political management, — a field into Avhicli his admirers can follow him only Avitli regret and some sense of shame. The true ground of Hamilton's great reputation is to be found in the mass and variety of legislation and organization Avliich characterized the first Administration of Washington, and Avliich Avere permeated and controlled by Hamilton's spirit. That this Avork Avas not Avholly his OAvn is of small consequence. Whoever did It Avas acting under his leadership, Avas guided consciously or uncon sciously by his influence, Avas inspired by the activity which centred in his department, and sooner or later the Avork Avas sub ject to his approval. The results — legislative and administrative — were stupendous and can never be repeated. A government is organized once for all, and until that of the United States fairly goes to pieces no man can do more than alter or improve the Avork accomplished by Hamilton and his party. What Harailton Avas to Washington, Gallatin Avas to Jefferson, with only such difference as circumstances required. It Is true that the poAverful Influence of Mr. Madison entered largely Into the plan of Jefferson's Administration, uniting and modifying its other dements, and that this Avas an influence the Avant of 1801. THE TREASURY, 1801-1813. . 269 AvhIch was painfully felt by Washington and caused his most serious difficulties ; It is true, too, that Mr. Jefferson reserved to himself a far more active Initiative than had been in Washing ton's character, and that Mr. Gallatin asserted his own individ uality much less conspicuously than AA'as done by Mr. Hamilton ; but the parallel is nevertheless sufficiently exact to convey a true idea of Mr. Gallatin's position. The government was in fact a triumvirate almost as clearly defined as any triumA'irate of Rome. During eight years the country was governed by these three men, — Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, — araong whom Gallatin not only represented the Avhole political influence of the great Middle States, not only held and effectively Avielded the power of the purse, but also AA'as avoAvedly charged with the task of carrying into effect the main principles on Avhich the party had sought and attained poAver. In so far as Mr. Jefferson's Administration Avas a mere protest against the conduct of his predecessor, the object desired AA'as attained by the election itself. In so far as it represented a change of system, its positive characteristics were financial. The philanthropic or humanitarian doctrines which had been the theme of Mr. Jefferson's philosophy, and which, in a somcAvhat more tangible form, had been put into shape by Mr. Gallatin in his great speech on foreign intercourse and in his other writings, when reduced to their simplest elements amount merely to this : that America, standing outside the political movement of Europe, could afford to follow a political development of her OAvn ; that she might safely disregard remote dangers ; that her armaments might be reduced to a point little above mere police necessities ; that she might rely on natural self-interest for her foreign commerce ; that she might depend on average common sense for her internal prosperity and order ; and that her capital was safest in the hands of her OAvn citizens. To establish these doctrines beyond the chance of overthrow Avas to make derao- cratic government a success, while to defer the establishment of these doctrines Avas to incur the risk, if not the certainty, of follow ing the career of England in " debt, corruption, and rottenness." In this political scheme, whatever its merits or its originality, everything was made to depend upon financial management, and. 270 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801 since the temptation to borrow money Avas tlie great danger, payment of the debt Avas the great dogma of the Democratic principle. " The discharge of the debt is vital to the destinies of our government," Avrote Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Gallatin In October, 1809, when the latter Avas desperately struggling to maintain his grasp on the Administration ; " Ave shall never see another President and Secretary of the Treasury making all other objects subordinate to this." And Mr. Gallatin replied : " The reduction of the debt Avas certainly the principal object in bring ing me into office." With the reduction of debt, by parity of reasoning, reduction of taxation Avent hand In hand. On this subject Mr. Gallatin's oAvn words at the outset of his term of office give the clearest idea of his views. On the 16th November, 1801, he Avrote to Mr. Jefferson : " If we c^annot, Avith the probable amount of impost and sale of lands, pay the debt at the rate proposed and support the establishments on the proposed plans, one of three things must be done ; either to continue the internal taxes, or to reduce the expenditure still more, or to discharge the debt Avith less rapidity. The last recourse to me Is the most objectionable, not only be cause I am firmly of opinion that If the present Administration and Congress do not take the most effective measures for that object, the debt Avill be entailed on us and the ensuing genera tions, together Avith all the systems Avhich support it and Avhich it supports, but also, any sinking fund operating in an increased ratio as it progresses, a very small deduction from an appropria tion for that object Avould make a considerable difference in the ultimate term of redemption Avhich, provided we can in some shape manage the three per cents. Avithout redeeming them at their nominal value, I think may be paid at fourteen or fifteen years. " On the other hand, if this Administration shall not reduce taxes, they never Avill be permanently reduced. To strike at the root of the evil and avert the danger of increasing taxes, en croaching government, temptations to offensive Avars, &c., nothing can be more effectual than a repeal of all internal taxes ; but let them all go and not one remain on AvhIch sister taxes may be hereafter engrafted. I agree most fully Avith you that pretended tax-preparations, treasure-preparations, and army-preparations 1801; THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 271 against contingent Avars tend only to encourage Avars. If the United States shall unavoidably be drawn into a war, the people Avill submit to any necessary tax, and the system of Internal taxation which then shall be thought best adapted to the then situation of the country may be created instead of engrafted on the old or present plan. If there shall be no real necessity for them, their abolition by this Administration will most power fully deter any other from reviving them." To these purposes, in the words of Mr. Jefferson, all other objects were made subordinate, and to carry these purposes Into effect was the peculiar task of Mr. Gallatin. No one else ap pears even to have been thought of; no one else passessed any of the requisites for the place in such a degree as made him even a possible rival. The Avhole political situation dictated the selec tion of Mr. Gallatin for the Treasury as distinctly as it did that of Mr. Jefferson for the Presidency. But the condition on which alone the principles of the Re publicans could be carried out Avas that of peace. To use again Mr. Gallatin's own Avords, Avritten in 1835: "No nation can, any more than any individual, pay its debts unless its annual receipts exceed its expenditures, and the two necessary ingredients for that purpose, which are common to all nations, are frugality and peace. The United States have enjoyed the last blessing in a far greater degree than any of the great European powers. And they have had another peculiar advantage, that of an un exampled increase of population and corresponding wealth. We are indebted almost exclusively for both to our geographical and internal situation, the only share which any Administration or individual can claim being Its efforts to preserve peace and to check expenses either improper in themselves or of subordinate importance to the payment of the public debt. In that respect I may be entitled to some public credit, as nearly the whole of my public life, from 1795, Avhen I took my seat in Congress, till 1812, when the war took place, was almost exclusively de voted with entire singleness of purpose to those objects." * To preserve peace, therefore, in order that the beneficent in- ' Letter to Gales & Seaton, 5th Pebruary, 1886, Writings, ii. 535. 272 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. ISOL fluence of an enlightened internal policy might have free course, Avas the special task of Mr. Madison. How much Mr. Gallatin's active counsel and assistance had to do with the foreign policy of the government avIII be seen in the narrative. Here, how ever, lay the danger, and here came the ultimate shipwreck. It is obvious at the outset that the weak point of Avhat may be called the Jeffersonian system lay in its rigidity of rule. That system Avas, it must be confessed, a system of doctrinaires, and had the virtues and faults of a prion reasoning. Far in advance, as it Avas, of any other political effort of its time, and represent ing, as it doubtless did, all that was most philanthropic and all that most boldly appealed to the best instincts of mankind, it made too little alloAvance for human passions and vices ; it relied too absolutely on the poAver of interest and reason as opposed to prejudice and habit ; it proclaimed too openly to the world that the sword was not one of its arguments, and that peace Avas essential to its existence. When narroAved down to a precise issue, and after dlminatin'g frora the problem the mere dogmas of the extreme Hamiltonian Federalists, the real difference be tAveen Mr. Jefferson and moderate Federalists like Rufus King, Avho represented four-fifths of the Federal party, lay in the question lioAv far a government could safely disregard the use of force as an element in politics. Mr. Jefferaon and Mr. Gallatin maintained that every interest should be subordinated to the necessity of fixing beyond peradventure the cardinal principles of true republican government in the public mind, and that after this was accomplished, a result to be marked by extinction of the debt, the task of government would be changed and a ncAV class of duties would arise. Mr. King maintained that republican principles would take care of themselves, and that the government could only escape Avar and ruin by holding ever the draAvn sword in its hand. Mr. Gallatin, his eyes fixed on the country of his adoption, and loathing the violence, the ex travagance, and the corruption of Europe, clung with what in a less calm mind Avould seem passionate vehemence to the ideal he had formed of a great and pure society in the New World which was to offer to the human race the first example of man in his best condition, free from all the evils which infected 180i. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 273 Europe, and intent only on his own improvement. To realize this ideal might aa'cII, even to men of a coarser fibre than Mr. Gallatin, compensate for many Insults and much Avrong, borne with dignity and ralin remonstrance. True, Mr. Gallatin ahvays looked foiAvard to the time when the American people might safely increase Its armaments ; but he well knew that, as the time approached, the need Avould in all probability diminish : meanwhile, he would gladly have turned his back ou all the politics of Europe, and have found compensation for foreign outrage in domestic prosperity. The interests of the United States were too serious to be put to the hazard of Avar ; govern ment must be ruled by principles; to which the Federalists ansAvered that government must be ruled by circumstances. • The moment when Mr. Jefferson assumed power was pecu liarly favorable for the trial of his experiment. Whatever the original faults and vices of his party might have been, ten years of incessant schooling and education had corrected many of its failings and supplied most of its deficiencies. It was thoroughly trained, obedient, and settled in its party doctrines. And while the ncAv administration thus profited by the experience of its adversity, it Avas still more happy In the Inheritance it received from its predecessor. Whatever faults the Federalists may have committed, and no one now disputes that their faults and blun ders Avere many, they had at least the merit of success; their processes .may have been clumsy, their tempers were under de cidedly too little control, and their philosophy of government was both defecth'e and inconsistent; but it Is an indisputable fact, for Avliich they have a right to receive full credit, that when they surrendered the government to Mr. Jefferson in March, 1801, they surrendered it In excellent condition. The ground was clear for Mr. Jefferson to build upon. Friendly relations had been restored with France without offending England ; for the first time since the government existed there was not a serious difficulty in all our foreign relations, the chronic question of impressment alone excepted; the army and navy Avere already reduced to the lowest possible point ; the civil service had never been increased beyond very humble proportions ; the debt, it is true, had been somewhat increased, but in nothing like propor- 18 274 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. tion to the increase of population and wealth; and through all their troubles the Federalists had so carefully managed taxation that there Avas absolutely nothing for Mr. Gallatin to do, and he attempted nothing. In regard to the tariff of impost duties, which Avere uniformly moderate and unexceptionable, while even in re gard to the excise and other internal taxes he hesitated to interfere. This almost entire absence of grievances to correct extended even to purely political legislation. The alien and sedition laAvs expired by limitation before the accession of Mr. Jeffer.son, and only the ncAV organization of the judiciary offered material for legislative at tack. Add to all this that Europe Avas again about to recover peace. On the other hand, the difficulties with which Mr. Jefferson had to deal were no greater than always must exist under any condition of party politics. From the Federalists he hadv nothing to fear; they Avere divided and helpless. The preju dices and discords of his oavu followers were his only real dan ger, and principally the pressure for office which threatened to blind the party to the higher importance of its principles. In proportion as he could maintain some efficient barrier against this and similar excesses and fix the attention of his followers on points of high policy, his Administration could rise to the level of purity AvhIch was undoubtedly his ideal. What influ ence was exerted by Mr. Gallatin in this respect Avill be shown In the course of the narrative. The assertion that Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin were a triumvirate Avliich governed the country during eight years takes no account of the other members of Mr. Jefferson's Cabinet but in point of fact the other members added little to its strength. The War Department Avas given to General Dearborn, while Levi Lincoln became Attorney-General; both were from Maasa- chusetts, men of good character and fair though not pre-eminent abilities. Mr. Gallatin described thera very correctly in a letter written at the tirae : GALLATIN TO MARIA NICHOLSON. City of Washington, 12th March, 1801. My dear Sister,— I think I am going to reform; for I fed a kind of shame at having left your friendly letters so long 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 275 unansAvered. How It happens that I often have and still noAv do apparently neglect, at least in the epistolary way, those per sons Avho are dearest to me, must be unaccountable to you. I think it is OAving to an indulgence of indolent habits and to Avant of regularity in the distribution of my time. In both a thorough reformation has become necessary, and as that necessity is the result of neAV and arduous duties, I do not knoAv myself, or I will succeed in accomplishing it. You avIII easily under stand that I allude to the office to which I am to be appointed. This has been decided for .some time, and has been the cause of my remaining here a fcAV days longer than I expected or wished. To-morrow morning I leave this place, and expect to return about the first day of May Avith my Avife and family. Poor Hannah has been and is so forlorn during my absence, and she meets with so many difficulties in that Avestern country, for which she is not fit and which is not fit for her, that I will at least feel no reluctance In leaving it. Yet Avere my AvIshes alone to be consulted I would have preferred ray forraer plan Avith all its difficulties, that of studying laAv and removing to Ncav York. As a political situation the place of Secretary of the Treasury is doubtless more eligible and congenial to my habits, but it Is more laborious and responsible than any other, and the same industry Avhich will be necessary to fulfil its duties, applied to another object, would at the end of tAvo years have left mc in the possession of a profession which I might have exercised either in Philadelphia or New York. But our plans are all liable to uncertainty, and I must noAV cheerfully undertake that which had never been the object of my ambition or wishes, though Hannah had ahvays said that it should be offered to me in case of a change of Administration. ... As to our new Administration, the appearances are favor able, but storms must be expected. The party out of poAver had it so long, loved It so well, struggled so hard to the very last to preserve it, that it cannot be expected that the leaders Avill rest contented after their defeat. They mean to rally and to improve every opportunity which our errors, our faults, or events not under our control may afford them. As to ourselves, Mr. Jef ferson's and Mr. Madison's characters are well knoAvn to you. 276 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L General Dearborn Is a man of strong sense, great practical in formation on all the subjects connected with his Department, and what is called a man of business. He is not, I bdieve, a scholar, but I think he will make the best Secretary of War we [have] as yet had. Mr. Lincoln is a good lawyer, a fine scholar, a man of great discretion and sound judgment, and of the mildest and most amiable raanners. He has never, I should think from his manners, been out of his own State or mixed much with the world except on business. Both are men of 1776, sound and decided Republicans; both are men of the strictest integrity; and both, but Mr. L. principally, have a great Aveight of character to the Eastward with both parties. We have as yet no Secretary of the Navy, nor do I knoAV on Avliom the choice of the President may fall, if S. Smith shall persist in refusing. . . . The Navy Department in a manner went begging. General Smith was strongly pressed to take it, and did in fact perform its duties for several AVceks. Had he consented to accept the post he Avould have added to the Avelght of the government, for General Smith was a man of force and ability ; but he per sisted In refusing, and ultimately his brother, Robert Smith, Avas appointed, an amiable and respectable person, but not one of much weight except through his connections by blood or marriage. The first act of the new Cabinet was to reach a general under standing in regard to the objects of the Administration. These appear to have been two only in number : reduction of debt and reduction of taxes, and the relation to be preserved between them. On the 14th March, Mr. Gallatin wrote a letter to Mr. Jefferson, discussing the subject at some length ; ' immediately afterwards he set out for New Geneva to arrange his affairs there and to bring his wife and family to Washington. His sharp experience of repeated exclusion frora office by legislative bodies made hira nervous in regard to confirmation by the Senate, and Mr. Jefferson therefore postponed the appointment until after ' Writings, vol. i. p. 24. 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813, 277 the Senate had adjourned. These fears of factious opposition were natural enough, but seem to have been unfounded. Samuel Dexter, the Secretary of the Treasury under President Adams, consented to hold over until Mr. Gallatin Avas ready. Mr. Stoddart, President Adams's Secretary of the Navy, Avas equally courteous. If the story, told in some of Mr. Jefferson's blog"- raphles, be true, that Mr. Marshall, Avhile still acting as Secretary of State, was turned out of his office by Mr. Lincx)ln, under the orders of Mr. Jefferson, at midnight on the 3d of March,' it must be confessed that, so far as courtesy Avas concerned, the Federalists Avere decidedly better bred than their rivals. The neAV Administration Avas In no way hampered or impeded by the old one, and Mr. Gallatin himself Avas i^erhaps of the whole Administration tlie one Avho suffijred least from Federal attacks ; henceforward his enemies carae principally frora his oavu camp. This result Avas natural and inevitable ; it caine from his oavu character, and was a simple consequence of his principles ; but, since this internal dissension forced itself at once on the Admin istration and became to some extent its crucial test in the matter of removals from office for party reasons, the whole story may best be told here before proceeding with the higher subjects of state policy. Among Mr. Gallatin's papers is a sort of pamphlet in manu script, stitched together, and headed in ornamental letters: "Citizen W. SmgtgdB." It is endorsed in Mr. Gallatin's hand: "1801. Clerks in offices; given by W. Duane." It contains a list of all the Department clerks, after the folloAving style : Cilices. Names. Bemnrke. ¦s 1 1400 1° 600 1 1 800 Jacob Wagner. Steph. Pleasanton. Brent. Complete picaroon, Nothingarian. Nincumpoop. Some of Duane's remarks are still more pointed : 1 See Miss Randolph's Domestic Life of Thomas .lefferson, pp. 307-308, and Parton's Jefferson, pp. 585-586. 278 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L Offices. Namei. Eomarks. 1500 John NcAvman. Democratic executioner. 800 Golding. Adamite. 600 Israel Loring. Assistant throat-cutter. 1000 Charles W. Goldsborough. 1.^ , .„ 1000 Jeremiah Nicolls. \ ^^"^"^^ ^^P'" VZ fS'fS''"'''-''-'^- Whree execrable 1200 Robt. T. HoAve. \ . , , „^^ r,, • ^ aristocrats. 800 Tunis Craven. J 1200 E. Jones. A notorious villain. 1200 David Sheldon. Wolcott's dear nephew. 1200 Jos. Dawson. Hell-hot. The pressure for sAveeping removals was very great. From the first, Mr. Gallatin set his face against thera, and although apparently yielding adhesion to Mr. Jefferson's famous New Haven letter of July 12, in which it was attempted to justify the principle and regulate the proportion of removals, he urged Mr. Jefferson to authorize the issue of a circular to collectors Avhich would have practically made the New Haven letter a nullity. On the 25th July he sent to the President a draft of this circular : CIRCULAR TO COLLECTORS. The law having given to the collectors the appointment of a number of inferior officers subject to my approbation, there is on that subject on Avhich Ave must act in concert, but one sentiment that I Avish to communicate ; it is that the door of office be no longer shut against any man merely on account of his political opinions, but that Avhether he shall differ or not from those avowed either by you or by myself. Integrity and capacity suit able to the station be the only qualifications that shall direct our choice. Permit me, since I have touched this topic, to add that whilst freedom of opinion and freedom of suffrage at public elections are considered by the President as imprescriptible rights which possessing as citizens, you cannot have lost by becoming public officers, he Avill regard any exercise of official influence to restrain 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 279 or control tlie same rights in others as injurious to that part of the public admhiistration Avliich Is confided to your care, and practically destructive of the fundamental principles of a repub lican Constitution. In his letter to Mr. Jefferson of the same date he said, " It is supposed that there is no danger in avowing the sentiment that even at present, so far as respects subordinate officers, talent and integrity are to be the only qualifications for office. In the second paragraph, the idea intended to be conveyed is that an electioneer ing collector is commonly a bad officer as it relates to his official duties (which I do sincerely believe to be true), and that the principle of a corrupting official influence is rejected by the present Administration In Its oavu support and Avill not be forgiven when exercised against itself." Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison thought this declaration pre mature, and the circular Avas not issued. The time never carae when they thought it had reached maturity; nevertheless Mr. Jefferson Avrote back : " I approve so entirely of the two para- graplis on the participation of office and electioneering activity that on the latter subject I proposed very early to issue a procla mation, but Avas restrained by some particular considerations ; with respect to the former, Ave both thought It better to be kept back till the Ncav Haven remonstrance and ansAver have got into possession of the public, and then that It should go further and require an equilibrium to be first produced by exchanging one- half of their subordinates, after AvhIch talents and worth alone to be inquired into in the case of new vacancies." Mr. Gallatin, however, soon returned to his remonstrances : GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. 10th August, 1801. . . . The answer to New Haven seems to have had a greater effect than had been calculated upon. The Republicans hope for a greater number of removals; the Federals also expect it. I have already received several letters from Philadelphia applying for the offices of customs, upon the ground that It Is generally understood that the officers there are to be removed. 280 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. ISOL There is no doubt that the Federal leaders are making a power ful effort to rally their party on the same ground. Although some mistakes may have been made as to the proper objects both of removal and appointment. It does not appear that less than Avhat has been done could have been done without injustice to the Republicans. But ought much more to be done ? It is so important for the , permanent establishment of those republican principles of limita tion of poAver and public economy for which we have so success fully contended, that they should rest on the broad basis of the people, and not on a fluctuating party majority, that it would be better to displease many of our political friends than to give an opportunity to the irreconcilable enemies of a free government of inducing the mass of the Federal citizens to make a common cause Avith them. The sooner Ave can stop the ferment the better, and, at all events, it is not desirable that it should affect the east ern and southern parts of the Union. I fear less frora the Im portunity of obtaining offices than frora the arts of those men Avhoae political exibtence depends on that of party. Office- hunters cannot have much influence; but the other class may easily persuade the Avarmest of our friends that more ought to be done for them. Upon the whole, although a fcAV more changes may be necessary, I hope there will be but a fcAv. The number of removals is not great, but in importance they are beyond their number. The supervisors of all the violent party States embrace all the collectors. Add to that the intended change in the post-office, and you have in fact every man in office out of the seaports. . . . JEFFERSON TO GALLATIN. MONTICBLLO, August 14, 1801. . . . The answer to New Haven does not Avork harder than I expected ; it gives mortal offence to the Monarchical Federalists who were mortally offended before. I do not believe it is thought unreasonable by the Republican Federalists. In one point the effect is not exactly what I expected. It has given more expec tation to the sweeping Republicans than I think its terms justify • 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 281 to the moderate and genuine Republicans it seems to have given perfa:t satisfaction. I am satisfied it Avas indispensably necessary In order to rally round one point all the shades of Republicanism and Federalism, exclusive of the monarchical; and I am In hopes it will do it. At any event, Avhile Ave push the patience of our friends to the utmost it avIU bear, in order that we may gather into the same fold all the Republican Federalists possible, we must not even for tliis object absolutely revolt our tried friends. It would be a poor manceuA're to exchange them for ncAV con verts. . . . GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. 17th August, 1801. . . . You will find by the other letter that the Republicans expect a change in Philadelphia; this expectation Is OAving' partly to the removal of the collector of Ncav York and partly to the answer to New Haven, Avhich, as I mentioned before, has had a greater if not a better effect than Avas expected. . . . Upon the whole ... it Is much better to Avalt the meeting of Congress. Dallas, Avho Avas here, agrees Avith me. Yet it must be alloAved that the Avarm Republicans Avill be displeased ; it is the same in New York in regard to Rogers, Avho though the most capable was the most obnoxious to the zealous Republicans. Duane has been here, and I have taken an opportunity of shoAvIng the Im propriety of numerous removals. He may think the reasons good, but his feelings will be at war with any argument on the subject. . . . With regard to Duane, he was quite right. The course of Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Dallas in resisting the sweeping removals urged by the Aurora forfeited Duane's confidence. Perhaps Mr. Gallatin, Avho had yet to learn something about the depths of human nature, expected that at least Duane would give him the credit of honest intention ; perhaps he thought the Aurora itself might be disregarded if the public were satisfied; possibly he foresaw all the consequences of making Duane an enemy, and accepted them ; certain it is that the party schisms in Pennsyl vania began here, and that In the long list of enmities which 282 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. Avere at last to coalesce for Mr. Gallatin's overthroAV, this of Duane stands first in importance and in date. Years, however, were to pass before the full effects of this difference showed themselves; meanAvhile the removals were checked, and Duane pacified at least In some degree, but it is a curious fact that the cause which interposed the first obstacle to these wholesale removals Avas another party schism, of which New York was the field and Aaron Burr the victim; and in this case it appears that Mr. Gallatin favored removal rather than other wise, while It was Mr. Jefferson who, out of distrust to Burr, maintained the Federal incumbent in office. The story is curious and Interesting. The naval officer in New York was one Rogers, said to have been a Tory of the Revolution. The candidate for his place Avas MatthcAV L. Davis, Burr's right-hand man, and supported by Burr with all his energy. The great mass of New York Repub licans, outside of the Livingston and Clinton interests, were attached to Burr and pressed Davis for office. Commodore Nicholson was hot about it. "It is rumored," he wrote to Gallatin on the 10th August, " that Mr. Harrison in the State government and Mr, Rogers in the general one are to be con tinued. Should that be the determination, a petition should go on to both governments pointing out the consequences. I can AvIth truth declare I have no doubt it will bring the Repub lican interest in this city (If not the State) in the minority; and as it applies to the President himself, I am of opinion that he ought to be made acquainted Avith it. There is no truth more confirmed in my mind of the badness of the policy than keeping their political enemies in office to trample upon us; after which, if he perseveres, I am bold to say if I live to see another election I shall think it my duty ' to use my Interest against his re-election." The commodore Avas a great admirer of Burr, but a month later the commodore himself, much agamst Mr. Gallatin's Avishes, applied for and obtained the post of loan-officer in Ncav York, under a recommendation of De Witt Clinton, and his mouth was henceforth closed. The share which Mr. Gallatin took in the New York contest is shoAvn in the folloAving letters : 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 283 BURR TO GALLATIN. New York, June 8, 1801. Dear Sir, — I have seen Avitli pain a paragraph in the Citizen of Friday respecting removals from office. Pray tell the Presi dent, notwithstanding any ebullitions of this kind, he may be confidently assured that the groat mass of Rc2)ublicans in this State are determined that he shall do things at his own time and in his OAVU manner, and that they avIU justify his measures with out inquiring into his reasons. I think you will not see any more paragraphs in the style of that referred to. . . . BURR TO GALLATIN. New York, June 28, 1801. Dear Sir, — . . . Strange reports are here in circulation respecting secret machinations against Davis. The arrangement having been made public by E. L., the character of Mr. D. is. In some measure, at stake on the event. He has already waived a very lucrative employment in cxiicctation of this appoint ment. I am more and more confirmed in the opinion that his talents for that office are superior to those of any other person who can be thought of, and that his appointment will be the most popular. The opposition to him. If any Is raade, must proceed from improper motives, as no man dare openly avow an opinion hostile to the measure. This thing has, in my opinion, gone too far to be now defeated. Two men from the country, both very inferior to Mr. Davis In talents and pretensions, are spoken of as candidates, — I hope not seriously thought of. Any man from the country Avould be offensive,— either of these would be absurd, and Davis is too Important to be trifled Avith. You say nothing of the sinking fund. Affectionately yours. If you will show to the President what of the above relates to tlie naval office, you Avill save me the trouble of Avriting and him that of reading a longer letter to him on the subject. 284 life OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801, BUER TO GALLATIN. New Yokk, September 8, 1801. Dear Sir, — Mr. Davis is on his way to Monticello on the business too often talked of and too long left in suspense. I Avas surprised to learn from Mr. Jefferson that nothing had been said to him on this subject since a meeting had Avith his ministera early in May. About that period I wrote you a letter which I desired you to show him. Such requests are, however, ahvays an appeal to discretion. The matter is uoav arrived at a crisis which calls for your opinion. This, I presume, you Avill give in unqualified terms. In the letter you may write by Davis I beg you also to inform Mr. J. of the characters of the gentlemen Avhose letters Avill be shown you, and I do entreat that there may now be a determination of some kind, for it has become a matter of too much speculation here why R. Is kept in and Avhy D. Is not appointed. Bradley Avill resign in the course of this month; you will have due notice. The next time you send a verbal message on business, I will thank you to commit it to Avriting. God bless you ! Mr. D. has been goaded into this journey by the instances of an hundred friends, of whom I am not one. Yet I have not opposed it, and am rather gratified that he undertakes it. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Washington, September 12, 1801. Dear Sir, — This will be handed by M. L. Davis, of New York, the candidate for the naval office. I used my endeavors to prevent his proceeding to Monticello, but he has left New York AvIth that intention, and is not easily diverted from his purpose. The reason he gives for his anxiety is that, imme diately after the adjournment of Congress, E. Livingston and others mentioned to hira that a positive arrangement was made by the Administration by AvhIch he Avas to be appointed to that office ; that he was so perfectly confident, till some time in June 1801 THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 285 that such Avas the fact as to refuse advantageous proposals of a permanent establishraent, and the general belief on that subject has placed him in a very aAvkward situation in Ncav York. He presses me much, on the ground of my personal knowledge both of hira and of the local politics of Ncav York, to give you my opinion in a decided manner on that subject, AvhIch to him I declined, both because in one respect it was not made up, and because my oavu opinion, even if decided, neither ought nor would decide yours. The propriety of removing Rogers remains with me tlie doubtful point ; after Fish's removal and that of others, they In Ncav York seem to suppose that the removal of Rogers is, on account of ante-revolutionary adherence to enemies, un avoidable ; the ansAver to Ncav Haven appears to have left no doubt on their minds on that subject, and I apprehend that the numerous removals already made by you there, and the almost general SAveep by their State government, have only Increased the anxiety and expectations of a total change. In relation to Rogers hiraself, though he is a good officer, I would feel but little regret at his being dismissed, because he has no claim de tached from having fulfilled his official duties, has made an independent fortune by that office, and, having no personal popularity, cannot lose us one friend nor make us one enemy. But I feel a great reluctance In yielding to that general spirit of persecution, Avhich, in that State particularly, disgraces our cause and sinks us on a level with our predecessors. Whether policy must yield to principle by going further Into those removals than justice to our political friends and the public welfare seem to require, Is a question on which I do not feel inyself at present capable of deciding. I have used the Avord " persecution," and I think Avith pro priety, for the council of appointments have extended their re movals to almost every auctioneer, and that not being a political office the two parties ought certainly to have an equal chance in such appointments. As to tlie other point, if Rogers shall be removed, I have no hesitation in saying that I do not knoAV a man whom I would prefer to Mr. Davis for that office. This may, however, be OAvIng to my knowing him better than 286 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. I do others who may be equally well qualified. I believe Davis to be a man of talent, particularly quickness and correctness, suited for the office, of strict integrity, untainted reputation, and pure Republican principles. Nor am I deterred from saying so far In his favor on account of any personal connection with any other Individuals; because I am convinced that his political principles stand not on the frail basis of persons, but are exclu sively bottoraed on conviction of their truth and will ever govern his political conduct. So far as I think a prejudice against him in that respect existed, I consider myself in justice to him bound to declare as my sincere opinion. Farther I cannot go. . . . GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Washington, 14th September, 1801. . , . This is, hoAvever, only a trifling family controversy, and will not be attended with any other effect abroad except giving some temporary offence to Duane, Beckley, Israel, and some other very hotr-headed but, I believe, honest Republicans. This leads me to a more important subject. Pennsylvania is, I think, fixed. Although we have there araongst our friends several office-hunters Republicaulsin rests there on principle pretty generally, and it rests on the pcojile ut largo, there not being in the Avholc State a single individual Avliose influence could command even uoav one county, or Avhose defection could lose us one hundred voters at an election. It is ardently to be Avished that the situation of New York was as favorable ; but so much seems to depend in that State on certain individuals, the influence of a few is so great and the majority in the city of New York, on which, unfortunately, the majority In the State actually depends (that city making one- dghth of the whole), Is so artifidal, that I mudi fear that we Avill eventually lose that State before next election of President. The most favorable event Avould certainly be the division of every State into districts for the election of dectors ; Avith that single point and only comraon sense in the Administration, Republicanism would be established for one generation at least beyond controversy; but if not attainable as a general constitu- 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 287 tional provision, I think that our friends, Avhilst they can, ought to introduce it Immediately in Ncav York. Davis's visit to Mon ticello has led me to that conclusion by drawing my attention to that subject. There are also tAvo points connected Avith tlils, on which I wish the Republicans throughout the Union Avould make up their mind. Do they eventually mean not' to support Burr as your successor, when you shall tliink fit to retire? Do they mean not to support him at next election for Vice-President ? These are serious questions, for although Avith Pennsylvania and Mary land we can fear nothing so long as you will remain the object of contention with the Federalists, yet the danger Avould be great should any unfortunate event deprive the people of your services. Where Is the man we could support Avith any reason able prospect of success ? Mr. Madison is the only one, and his being a Virginian would be a considerable objection. But if, without thinking of events more distjiut or merely contingent, we confine ourselves to the next election, AvliIch is near enough, the embarrassment Is not less, for even Mr. Madison cannot on that occasion be supported with you, and it seems to me that there are but two Avays : either to support Burr once more or to give only one vote for President, scattering our other votes for the other person to be voted for. If avc do the first, we run, on the one hand, the risk of the Federal party making Burr Presi dent, and Ave seem, on the other, to give him an additional pledge of being eventually supported hereafter by the Republicans for that office. If Ave embrace the last party, Ave not only lose the Vice-President, but pave the way for the Federal successful can didate to that office to become President. All this would be remedied by the amendment of distinguishing the votes for the two offices, and by that of dividing the States into districts ; but, as it is extremely uncertain whether such amendments will suc ceed, we must act on the ground of elections going on as hereto fore. And here I see the danger, but cannot discover the remedy. It is indeed but with reluctance that I can ever think of the policy necessary to counteract intrigues and personal views, and Aviser men than myself must devise the means. Yet had I felt the same diffidence, I mean total want of confidence, which 288 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. during the course of last winter I discovered in a large majority of the Republicans toAvards Burr, I Avould have been wise enough never to give my consent in favor of his being supported last election as Vice-President. In this our party, those at least who never could be reconciled to having him hereafter as President, have made a capital fault, for which there was no necessity at the time, and which has produced and will produce us much embar rassment. I need not add that so far as your Administration can influence anything of that kind, it is impossible for us to act correctly unless the ultimate object Is ascertained. Yet I do not believe that Ave can do much, for I dislike much the idea of sup porting a section of Republicans In Ncav York and mistrusting the great majority because that section is supposed to be hostile to Burr and he is considered as the leader of that majority. A great reason against such policy Is that the reputed leaders of that section, I mean the Livingstons generally, and some broken rem nants of the Clintonian party, Avho hate Burr (for Governor Clinton is out of question and will not act), are so selfish and so uninfiucntial that they never can obtain their great object, the State government, Avithout the assistance of what is called Burr's party, and Avill not hesitate a moment to bargain for that object Avitli hini and his friends, granting in exchange their support for anything he or they may want out of the State. I do not include In that nuraber the Chancellor nor Mr. Armstrong, but the first is in that State only a name, and there is something AA'hich will forever prevent the last having any direct influence with the people. I said before that I Avas led to that train of ideas by Davis's personal application, for, although In writing to you by him I said, as I sincerely believe it, that he never would nor could be influenced by B. or any other person to do an im proper act or anything which could hurt the general Republican principle, yet it is not to be doubted that, after all that has been said on the subject, his refusal Avill by Burr be considered as a declaration of war. The Federals have been busy on the occasion. Tlllotson also has said many things which might not have been said with equal propriety, and I do not know that there is hardly a man Avho raeddles with politics in Ncav York Avho does not believe that Davis's rejection is OAving to Burr's recommendation. , , . 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 289 To all this Mr. Jefferaon merely replied in a letter of 18th September, Avritten from Monticello : " Mr. Davis is now Avith me. He has not opened himself. When he does, I shall inform him that nothing is decided, nor can be till avc get together at Washington." The appointment Avas not made. Rogers Avas retained in office until May 10, 1803, when he was removed and Samuel Osgood appointed in his place. Burr's last appeal is dated March 25, 1802, after tlie matter had been a year in debate. It is actually pathetic : BURR TO GALLATIN. March 25. Dear Sih, — . . . As to Davis, it is a small, very small faA'or to ask a detenninaiion. That "nothing is determined" is so jommonplace that I should prefer any other answer to this only request which I have ever made. I shall be abroad this evening, which I mention lest you might meditate a visit. Yours. These letters need no comment. Be the merits of the ulti mate rupture betAveen Jefferson and Burr Aviiat they may, the position of Mr. Gallatin is clear enough. He did not want that rupture. He had no affection for the great Ncav York famlHes which were tlie alternative to Burr; he regretted that deep-set distrust of the Vice-President which had always existed among the Virginians; his OAvn relations with Burr and his friends were never otherwise than agreeable, and he could have no motive for expelling them from the party and driving them to desperation. On the other hand. Burr never Included Mr. Gallatin in that exasperated vindictiveness of feeling which he entertained towards Mr. Jefferson himself and the southern Republicans; long afterwards, in conversation with Etienne Dumont in London, he expressed the opinion that Gallatin Avas the best head in the United States.' Yet, little as Mr. Gallatin was inclined to join in the persecution of Burr, he could not be ' See Parton's Burr, ii. 69. 19 290 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. blind to the fact that the large majority of Republicans felt no confidence in him ; and tirae showed that this distrust was de served. Mr. Jefferson followed quietly his own course of silent ostraclsra as regarded the Vice-President, and retained Rogers in office, so far as can be seen, solely to destroy Burr's influence, in the teeth of the reflection curtly expressed by Commodore Nicholson in the concluding sentence of the letter above quoted : " I Avould have Mr. Jefferson reflect, before I conclude, what will be said of his conduct in displacing officers who served in our revolution, and retaining a British tory, to say the least of Rogers." Whatever may have been Mr. Gallatin's OAvn wishes, further intervention on his part was neither judicious nor likely to be successful. Under the influence of these jealousies. Burr was rapidly forced into opposition, and Ncav York politics became more than ever chaotic. Whether the Administration ultimately derived any advantage from pulling down Burr in order to set up George Clinton and General Armstrong is a matter in regard to which the opinion of Mr. Madison in 1812 Avould be worth knowing. The slight personal hold which Mr. Gallatin might have retained upon Ncav York through the agency of his old friend Edward Livingston, Avho had received the appointment of district attor ney, Avas destroyed in 1803 by Livingston's defalcation and re moval to Ncav Orleans. As these events occurred, and as they were rapidly folloAved by the Pennsylvania schism. In which Mr. Jefferson carefully balanced betAveen the two parties, Mr. Gallatin, raore and more disgusted at the revelations of moral depravity Avhich forced themselves under his eyes, drew away from local and personal politics as far as he could, and became to a considerable degree isolated in regard to the Iavo great States which he represented in the Cabinet. Disregarding, perhaps too much the controversies Avhich, hoAvever contemptible neces sarily involved his political influence, he devoted his attention to the loftier interests of national policy. The summer and autumn of 1801 were consumed in master ing the details of Treasury business, in filling appointments to office, and In settling the scale of future expenditure in the different Departments. But when the time came for the prepa- 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 291 ration of the President's mcasnge at the meeting of Congress in December, Mr. Gallatin had not yet succeeded in reaching a dedslon on the questions of the Internal revenue and of the debt. He had the support of the Cabinet on the main point, that payment of the debt should take precedence of reduction in the taxes, but reduction In the taxes Avas dependent on the amount of economy that could be effected in the navy, and the Secretary of the Navy resisted Avith considerable tenacity the disposition to reduce expenditures. What Mr. Gallatin Avould have done with the navy, had he been left to deal with it in his OAvn way, noAvhere appears. He had opposed Its construction, and would not have con.sidered it a misfortune if Congress had SAvcpt it aAvay ; but he seems ne\'er to- have Interfered with it, after coming into office, further than to insist that the amount required for its support should be fixed at the lowest sum deemed proper by the head of that Department. In fact, Mr. Jefferson's Administration disap pointed both friends and enemies in its management of the navy. The furious outcry which the Federalists raised against it on that account Avas quite unjust. Considering the persistent opposition which the Republican party had offered to the con struction of the frigates, there can be no better example of the real conservatism of this Administration than the care which it took of the service, and even Mr. Gallatin, who honestly be lieved that the money would be better employed in reducing debt, grumbled not so much at the amount of the appropriations as at the want of good management in Its expenditure. He thought that mote should have been got for the money ; but so far as the force was concerned, the last Administration had itself fixed the amount of reduction, and the ncAV one only acted under that law, using the discretion given by it. That this is not a mere partisan apology is proved by the effective condition of our little navy in 1812; but tlie facts in regard to the subject are well knoAvn and fully stated in the histories of that branch of the service, — works In which there was no motive for political misrepresentation.' ' See Cooper's Naval History, i. 192-194. 292 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801.. Mr. Jefferson was in the habit of communicating the draft of his annual message to each head of department and requesting them to furnish him with their comments in writing. On these occasions IMr. Gallatin's notes Avere always elaborate and interest ing. In his remarlis in Noveraber, 1801, on the first annual message he gave u rough skctcih of the financial situation, and at this time it appears that he hoped to cut down the army and navy estimates to $930,000 and $670,000 respectively. His financial scheme then stood as folloAvs : Revenue. Expekditdbb. Impost, $9,500,000 Interest, &c., $7,200,000 Lands and postage, 800,000 Civil expend., 1,000,000 $9,800,000 Military " 930,000 Naval " 670,000 $9,800,000 He calculated that the annual application of $7,200,000 to the payment of interest and principal would pay off about thirty- eight millions of the debt in eight years, and, fixing this as his standard, he proposed to make the other departments content therasdves with whatever they could get as the difference betAveen $7,200,000 and the revenue estimated at $9,800,000. On these terms alone he Avould consent to part with the Internal revenue, Avhich produced about $650,000. This, hoAvever, seems to have been beyond his poAver. Few finance ministers have ever jiressed their economies Avitli more perseverance or authority than Mr. Gallatin, but he never suc ceeded in carrying on the government with so much frugality as this, and the sketch seems to indicate Avhat the Administration Avould have liked to do, rather than what it did. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury a month later shoAvs that he had been obliged to modify his jjlan. As officially announced, it was as follows : Retenue. Impost, &c., $9,500,000 Lands and postage, 450,000 Interest, &c.. Civil expend.. BXPEKDITDBB. $7,100,000 980,000 $9,950,000 Internal revenue, 650,000 Total, $10,000,000 Military " Navy " 1,420,000 1,100,000 $10,600,000 180i. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 293 The problem of repealing the internal taxes Avas therefore not yet settled, and It is not very clear on the face of the estimates how it Avould be possible to effect this object. Mr. Gallatin ex pected to do it by economies in the military and naval establish ments by AA'hich he should save the necessary $650,000. It Is wortli AvhIle to look forAA'ard over his administration and to see hoAV far this expectation Avas justified. In order to understand precisely Avhat his methods Avcre. His first step, as already noticed, Avas to fix the rate at which the debt should be discharged. This rate Avas ultimately repre sented by an annual apjiroprlation of $7,300,000, Avhich at the end of eight years, according to his first report, Avould pay off $32,289,000, and leave $45,592,000 of the national debt, and within the year 1817 would extinguish that debt entirely. This sum of $7,300,000 was therefore to be set aside out of the revenue ns the permanent provision for paying the principal and interest of the debt. Of the residue of income, Avhich, Avithout the internal taxes, was estimated at about $2,700,000, the civil expenditure was to require one million, the army and navy the remainder. But the tables of actual expenditure shoAV a very different result : Civil. Military. Naval. Total. 1802 $1,462,928 $1,358,988 $915,561 $3,737,477 1803 1,841,634 944,957 1,215,230 4,001,821 1804 2,191,008 1,072,015 1,189,832 4,462,855 1805 3,768,597 991,135 1,597,500 6,357,232 1806 2,890,136 1,540,420 1,049,641 6,080,197 1807 1,697,896 1,564,610 1,722,064 4,984,570 1808 1,423,283 3,196,985 1,884,067 6,504,836 1809 1,195,803 3,761,108 2,427,758 7,384,669 1810 1.101,144 2,555,692 1,654,244 5,311,080 1811 1,367,290 2,259,746 1,965,566 5,592,602 Total. $18,939,719 $19,245,656 $16,221,463 $54,406,838 From these figures It appears that Mr. Gallatin's proposed economies were never realized, and that his results must have been attained by other means. The average expenditure on the navy during these ten years Avas $1,600,000 a year. Instead of establishments costing $2,700,000, the average annual expendi- 294 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1801. ture reached $5,400,000, or precisely double the amount named. As a matter of fact, notwithstanding the frugality of Mr. Galla tin and the complaints of parsimony made by the Federalists, it is difficult to see hoAV Mr. Jefferson's Administration wsis in essentials more economical than its predecessors, and this seems to have been Mr. Gallatin's own opinion at least so far as con cerned the Navy Department. On the 18th January, 1803, he wrote a long letter to Mr. Jefferson on the navy estimates, closing with a strong remonstrance : " I cannot discover any approach towards reform in that department, and I hope that you will pardon ray stating my opinion on that subject when you recollect with what zeal and perseverance I opposed for a number of years, Avhilst in Congress, similar loose demands for money. My opinions on that subject have been confirmed since you have called me in the Administration, and although I am sensible that in the opinion of many wise and good men my ideas of ex penditure are considered as too contracted, I feel a strong confi dence that on this particular point I am right." Again, on the 20th May, 1805, he renewed his complaint : " It is proper that I should state that the War Department has assisted us in that respect [economy], much better than the Navy Department. . . . As I know that there was an equal Avish in both departments to aid hi this juncture, it must be concluded either that the War is better organized than the Navy Department, or that naval busi ness cannot be conducted on reasonable terras. Whatever the cause may be, I dare iiredict that Avhilst tliut state of things con tinues we Avill have no navy nor shall progress toAvards having one. As a citizen of the United States it is an event that I will not deprecate, but I think it due to the credit of your Adminis tration that, after so much has been expended on that account you should leave an increase of, rather than an Impaired fleet. On this subject, the expense of the navy greater than the object seemed to require, and a merely nominal accountability, I have for the sake of preserving perfect harmony in your councils however grating to my feelings, been almost uniformly silent, and I beg that you will ascribe Avhat I now say to a sense of duty and to the grateful attachment I feel for you." Nevertheless, the internal duties were abolished as one of the 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 295 first acts of Mr. Jefferson's Administration, and at the same tirae Congress adopted Mr. Gallatin's scheme of regulating the dis charge of the public debt. The truth appears to be that the repeal of these taxes Avas a party necessity, and that under the pressure of that necessity both the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy Avere Induced to loAver their estimates to a point at which Mr. Gallatin Avould consent to part Avith the tax. Mr. Gallatin never did officially recommend the repeal. This measure was founded on a report of John Randolph for the Committee of Ways and Means, and Mr. Randolph's recommendation rested on letters of the War and Navy Secretaries promising an econoray of $600,000 In their combined departments. These economies never could be effected. The resource which for the time carried Mr. Gallatin successfully over his difficulties Avas simply the fact that he had taken the precaution to estimate the revenue very low, and that there Avas uniformly a considerable excess in the receipts over the previous estimate ; but even this good for tune Avas not enough to save Mr. Gallatin's plan from failure. The war with Tripoli had already begun, and further economies in the navy were out of the question. Government attempted for tAVO years to pci-scvere in its scheme, but it soon became evi dent that, even Avith the Increased production of the import duties, the expense of that war could not be met without recovering the income sacrificed by the repeal of the internal taxes in 1802. Accordingly an addition of 2J per cent, was Imposed on all Ira- ported articles which paid duty ad valorem. The result of the whole transaction, therefore, araounted only to a shifting of the mode of collection, or, in other words, instead of raising a million dollars from whiskey, stamps, &c., the million was raised on articles of foreign produce or manufacture. This extra tax Avas called the Mediterranean Fund, and Avas supposed to be a tem porary resource for the Tripolitan war. The final adjustment of this difficulty, therefore, took a simple shape! Mr. Gallatin obtained his fund of $7,300,000 for dis charging principal and Interest of the debt. This Avas what he afterAvards called his " fundamental substantial measure," which Avas intended to affirm and fix upon the government the principle of paying its debt and of thus separating itself at 296 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 180L once from the Avliole class of corruptions and political theories Avhicli were considered as the accompaniment of debt and which Avere at that time Identified Avith English and monarchical prin ciples. To obtain the surplus necessary for maintaining this fund he relied at first on frugality, and, finding that circum stances offered too great a resistance in this direction, he resorted to taxation in the most econoraical form he could devise. In regard to mere machinery he made every effort to simplify rather than to complicate it. In his OAvn words: "As to the forms adopted for attaining that object [payment of the debt], they are of a quite subordinate importance. Mr. Harailton adopted those which had been introduced in England by Mr. Pitt, the apparatus of commissioners of the sinking fund, in whom Avere vested the redeemed portions of the debt, which I considered as entirely useless, but could not as Secretary of the Treasury attack in front, as they AA'ere viewed as a check on that officer, and because, owing to the prejudices of the time, the attempt would haA'e been represented as impairing the plan already ' adopted for the payment of the debt. I only tried to simplify the forms, and this Avas the object of my letter [of March 31, 1802] to the Coraralttee of Ways and Means. The injury Avhich Mr. Pitt's plan did Avas to divert the public attention from the only possible mode of paying a debt, viz., a surplus of receipts over expenditures, and to inspire the absurd belief that there Avas some mysterious property attached to a sinking fund AvhIch Avould enable a nation to pay a debt Avithout the sine qua non condition of a surplus. . . . But the only injury done here by the provisions respecting the commissioners of the sinking fund, and by certain specific appropriations connected with the subject, Avas to render it more complex, and the accounts of the public debt less perspicuous and intelligible. Substantially they did neither good nor harm. The payments for the public debt and its redemption Avere not in the slightest degree affected, either one Avay or the other, by the existence of the commissioners of the sinking fund or by the repeal of the laws in reference to them. The laws making permanent appropriations Avere much more important. Even with respect to these it Is obvious that they must also have become nugatory Avhenever the expenditure 1801. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 297 exceeded the Income. Still they Avero undoubtedly useful by their tendency to check the public cx^icnscs." The letter on the management of the sinking fund, mentioned In the above extract, Avill be found In the American State Papers' by readers Avho care to study the details of American finance. These details have a very subordinate importance; the essen tial points In Mr. Gallatin's history are the rules he caused to be adopted in regard to the payment of the debt, and the measures he took to secure revenue Avith which to make that payment. The rule adopted at his instance secured the ultimate extinction of the debt Avithin the year 1817, provided he could maintain the necessary surplus revenue. The story of Mr. Gallatin's career as Secretary of tlie Treasury relates lienceforAvard prin cipally to the means he used or Avished to use in order to defend or recover this surplus, and the interest of that career rests mainly in the ohstructlons AvhIch he met and the defeat AvliIch he finally sustained. Nevertheless, It Avould be very unjust to Mr. Gallatin to imagine that his Interest in the government was limited to payment of debt or to details of financial inanagcmcnt. lie Avas no doubt a careful, economical, and laborious financier, and this must be understood as the special field of his duty, but he was also a man of large and active mind, and his Department was charged Avith interests that Averc by no means exclusively financial. One of these interests related to the public lands. As has been already .seen, the public land system was organized under the pre\'ious Administrations, but it took shape and found Its great development in Mr. Gallatin's hands. When the Administration of Mr. Jefferson came into power there were sixteen States in the Union, all of thera, except Kentucky and Tennessee, lying on or near the Atlantic seaboard ; at that tirae the Mississippi River bounded our territory to the westAvard, and the 31st parallel, which is still the northern line of portions of the States of Florida and Louisiana, Avas our southern boundary until it met'the Mississippi. The public lands lay therefore in tAVO great masses, divided by the States of Kentucky and Ten- ' Finance, vol i. p. 746. 298 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. nessee ; one of these masses was north of the Ohio River, extend ing to the lakes, the other west of Georgia, and both extended to the Mississippi. As yet the Indian titles had been extin guished over comparatively small portions of these territories, and in the process of managing her part of the lands the State of Georgia had succeeded in creating an entanglement so com plicated as to defy all ordinary means of extrication. One of the first duties throAvn upon Mr. Gallatin was that of acting, together AvIth Mr. Madison and Mr. Lincoln, as commissioner on the part of the United States, to effect a compromise with the State of Georgia in regard to the boundary of that State and the settlement of the various claims already existing under different titles. Mr. Gallatin assumed the principal burden of the Avork, and the settlement effected by him closed this fruitful source of annoyances, fixed the Avestern boundary of Georgia, and opened the way to the gradual development of the land system in the Alabama region. This settlement Avas the work of two years, but it was so deeply complicated Avith the famous Yazoo cor ruptions that fully ten years passed before the subject ceased to disturb politics. At the same time he took In hand the affairs of the North- Western Territory. The raore eastern portion of this vast domain had already a population sufficient to entitle it to admission as a State, and the subject came before Congress on the petition of its inhabitants. It was referred to a select coraralttee, of which Mr. Williara B. Giles Avas chairman, and this committee In Feb ruary, 1802, raade a report based upon and accorapauied by a letter from Mr. Gallatin.' The only difficulty presented in this case Avas that " of making some effectual provisions AA'hich may secure to the United States the proceeds of the sales of the west^ ern lands, so far at least as the same may be necessary to discharge the public debt for which they are solemnly pledged." To secure this result Mr. Gallatin proposed to Insert in the act of admission a clause to that effect, but in order to obtain its acceptance by the State convention he suggested that an equivalent should be offered, which consisted in the reservation of one section In each ' Gallatin to W. B. Giles, 14lh Feb., 1802, "Writings, vol. i. p. 76. 1802. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 299 toAvnship for the use of schools, in the grant of the Scioto salt springs, and in the reservation of one-tenth of the net proceeds of the land, to be applied to the building of roads from the Atlantic coast across Ohio. Congress reduced this reservation one-half, so that one-twentieth instead of one-tenth was reserved for roads ; but, Avith this exception, all Mr. Gallatin's ideas were embodied in a law passed on the 30th April, 1802, under which Ohio entered the Union. This was the origin of the once famous National Road, and the first step in the systera of Internal improvements, of which more will be said hereafter. The details of organization of the land system belong more properly to tlie history of the ncAV Territories and States than to a biography.' They implied much labor and minute attention, but they are not interesting, and tliey may be omitted here. There remains but one subject AvhIch Mr. Gallatin had much at heart, and which he earnestly pressed both upon the Administra tion and upon Congress. This Avas his old legislative doctrine of specific appropriations, which he caused Mr. Jefferson to in troduce into his first message, and which he then seems to have persuaded his friend Joseph H. Nicholson to take in charge as the chairman of a special committee. At the request of this committee, Mr. Gallatin made a statement at considerable length on the 1st March, 1802.' The burden of this document was that too much arbitrary power had been left to the Secretary of the Treasury to put his own construction on the appropriation laAvs, and that no proper check existed over the War and Navy Departments ; the remedies suggested were specific appropria tions and direct accountability of the War and Navy Depart ments to the Treasury officers. Mr. Nicholson accordingly intro-^ duced a bill for these purposes on April 8, 1802, but it was never debated, and it Avent over as unfinished business. Probably the resistance of the Navy Department prevented its adoption, for the letters of Mr. Gallatin to Mr. Jefferson, quoted above, show hoAv utterly Mr. Grallatin failed in securing the exactness ' See Mr. Gallatin's " Introduction to the Collection of Land LaAvs, &c.," reprinted in his "Writings, vol. iii. • Printed in American State Papers, Finance, i. p. 755. 300 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. and accountability in that Department which he had so per sistently demanded. Nor Avas this all. Probably nothing was farther from Mr. Gallatin's mind than to make of this effort a party demonstration. He was quite in earnest and quite right in saying that the practice had hitherto been loose and that it should be reformed, but his interest lay not in attacking the late Administration so much as In reforming his own. Unfortunately, the charge of loose practices under the former Administrations, unavoidable though it was, and indubitably correct, roused a storm of party feeling and even called out a pamphlet from the late Secretary of the Treasury, Wolcott. Mr. Gallatin therefore not only was charged with slandering the late Administration, but Avas obliged to submit to see the very vices which he complained of in it perpetuated in his oavu. These were the great points of public policy on which Mr. Gallatin's mind was engaged during his first year of office, and it is evident that they were enough to absorb his entire attention. The mass of details to be studied and of operations to be learned or watched completely weighed him down, and caused him ever to look back upon this year as the most laborious of his life. The mere recollection of this labor afterwards made him shrink from the idea of returning to the Treasury Avhen it was again pressed upon him in later years: "To fill that office in the manner I did, and as it ought to be filled, is a most laborious task and labor of the most tedious kind. To fit myself for it, to be able to understand thoroughly, to embrace and to control all its details, took from me, during the two first years I held it, every hour of the day and many of the night, and had nearly brought a pulmonary complaint." ' Fortunately, his mind Avas not, in these early days of power, greatly agitated by anxieties or complications in public affairs. The whole struggle which had tortured the two previous Administrations both abroad and at home, the internecine contest between France and her enemies, was for a time at an end ; Mr. Madison had nothing on his hands but the vexatious troubles with the Algerine powers, in regard to Avhich there Avas no serious difference of opinion in ' See infra, p. 607. 1802. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 301 America; Congress Avas mainly occupied Avith the repeal of the judiciary bill, a subject Avliich did not closely touch Mr. Gal latin's Interests otherwise than as a measure of economy ; Mr. Jefferson's keenest anxieties, as shoAvn in his correspondence of this year, seem to have regarded the distribution of offices and the management of party schisms. After the tempestuous violence of the two last Administrations the country was glad of repose, and its economical interests assumed almost exclusive importance for a time. It was at this period of his life that Gilbert Stuart painted the portrait, an engraving of AvliIch faces the tltle-jiage of this volume. Mrs. Gallatin always complained that her husband's features Avere softened and enfeebled in this painting until their character was lost. Softened though they be, enough Is left to show the shape and the poise of the head, the outlines of the features, and the expression of the eyes. Set side by side with the heads of Jefferson and Madison, this portrait suggests curious contrasts and analogies, but, looked at in whatever light one will, there Is in it a sense of repose, an absence of nervous restless- neas, mental or physical, unusual in American politicians; and, unless Stuart's hand for once forgot its cunning, he saAV In Mr. Gallatin's face a capacity for abstraction and sdf-absorjition often, if not always, associated AvIth very high mental power; an habitual concentration Avithin himself, Avhich Avas liable to be interpreted as a sense of personal superiority, however carefully concealed or controlled, and a habit of judging men with judg ments the more absolute because very rarely expressed. The faculty of reticence is stamped on the canvas, although the keen observation and the shrewd, habitual caution, so marked in the long, prominent nose, are lost in the feebleness of the mouth, which never existed in the original. Mr. Gallatin lived to have two excellent portraits taken by the daguerreotype process. Students of character will find amusement in comparing these with Stuart's painting. Age had brought out in strong relief the shrewd and slightly humorous expression of the mouth ; the most fluent and agreeable talker of his time Avas still the most laborious analyzer and silent observer ; the consciousness of personal superiority was more strongly apparent than ever ; 302 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. but the man had lost his control over events and his confi dence in results ; he had become a critic, and, however genial and conscientious his criticism might be, he had a deeper sense of isolation than fifty years before. In person he was rather tall than short, about five feet nine or ten inches high, with a compact figure, and a weight of about one hundred and fifty pounds. His complexion was dark ; his hair black ; but when Stuart painted hira he was already decidedly bald. His eyes were hazel, and, if one may judge from the painting, they were the best feature in his face. Of his social life, his private impressions, and his intimate conversation with the persons most in his confidence at this time, not a trace can noAv be recovered. Rarely separated from his Avife and children, except for short intervals in summer, he had no occasion to write domestic letters, and his correspondence, even Avith Mr. Jefferson, Avas for the most part engrossed by office- seeking and office-giving. After some intermediate experiment he at last took a house on Capitol Hill, Avhere he remained through his whole term of office. When the British army entered Washington in 1814, a shot fired from this house at their general caused the troops to attack and destroy it, and even its site is uoav lost, OAving to the extension of the Capitol grounds on that side. It stood north-east of the Capitol, on the Bladensburg Road, and its close neighborhood to the Houses of Congress brought Mr. Gallatin into intimate social relations with the members. The principal adherents of the Adminis tration in Congress were always on terms of intimacy In Mr. Gallatin's house, and much of the confidential communication betAveen Mr. Jefferson and his party in the Legislature passed through this channel. Nathaniel Macon, the Speaker; John Randolph, the leader of the House ; Joseph H. Nicholson, one of Its most active members; Wilson Cary Nicholas, Senator from Virginia ; Abraham Baldwin, Senator from Georgia, and numbers of less Influential leaders, were constantly here and Mr. Gallatin's long service In Congress and his great influence there continued for some years to operate In his favor. But the comraunication was almost entirely oral, and hardly a trace of 1802. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 303 it has been preserved either in the Avritings of Mr. Gallatin or in those of his contemporaries. For several years the govern ment Avorked smoothly ; no man appeared among the Repub licans with either tlie disposition or the courage to oppose Mr. Jefferson, and every moment of Mr. Gallatin's tirae Avas absorbed in attention to the duties of his Department, on which the prin cipal weight of responsibility fell. The adjournment of Congress on ISIay 3, 1802, left the Ad ministration at leisure to carry on the business of government without interruption. Mr. Gallatin immediately afterwards took his wife and family to New York, Avhere, as now became their custom, tliey passed the summer with Commodore Nicholson, and where Mr. Gallatin himself Avas in the habit of joining them during the unhealthy season of the Washington diraate, when the Administration usually broke up. "Grumble who will," wrote Mr. Jefferson, " I Avill never pass those months on tide water." Leaving his Avife In Ncav York, Mr. Gallatin returned to his Avork at Washington. On these journeys he usually stopped at Baltimore to visit the Nicholsons, and at Philadel phia to see Mr. and Mrs. Dallas. The society of Washington was small and intimate, but seems to have had no very strong hold over him. He was much in the habit, when left alone there, of dining informally Avith Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. General Dearborn's family was in close relations with his, and the Laws, Avho Avere now at Mount Vernon, were leaders of fashionable society. But his residence at Washington was sad dened in the month of April of this year, by the loss of an infant daughter, a -misfortune followed in 1805 and 1808 by two others almost precisely similar, which tended to throw a dark shadow over the Washington life and to make society distasteful. His close attention to business seeras at this time to have affected his health, and the absence of his family still more affected his spirits. He worked persistently to get the business of his office Into a condition that would enable him to rejoin his wife for a time, and almost the only glimpse of society bis letters furnish is contained in the following ex tract, which has a certain interest as characteristic of his political feelings : 304 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Washiuqton, 7th July, 1802. . . . Monday all the city, ladles and gentlemen, dined in a tent near the navy yard ; we Avere about 150 in company. I suppose every one enjoyed it as his spirits permitted ; to me It looked very sober and dull. Indeed, dinners of a political cast cannot, in the present state of parties, be very cheerful unless confined to one party. It Is unfortunate, but it is true. I had another cause Avhich damped ray spirits. We were in an enclosure formed with sails stretched about six feet high, and some marines were placed as sentries to prevent intrusion; for the arrangements had been made by BurroAvs and Tingey. The very sight of a bayonet to preserve order amongst citizens rouses my indignation, and you may judge of my feelings Avheii I tell you that one of the sentries actually stabbed a mechanic who abused him because he had been ordered aAvay. The bayonet Avent six inches in his body and dose to his heart. He is not dead, but still in great danger, and the marine in jail. Such are the effects of what is called discipline in times of peace. The distribution of our little army to distant garrisons where hardly any other inhabitant is to be found is the most eligible arrangement of that perhaps necessary evil that can be contrived. But I never Avant to see the face of one in our cities and intermixed Avith the people. The mammoth cheese was cut on Monday ; it is said to be good ; I found it detestable. At length he succeeded in getting away, but was obliged to return in August, and his letters became wails of despair, in which there was ahA'ays a little mingling of humor. The foUoAving is a specimen : GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. "Washinqtok, August 17, 1802. ... As to myself I cannot complaui, but yet am as low-spirited as before ; it will never do for me to keep house apart from you and in this hateful place. I am told that even Avithin five or six 1802. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 305 miles from this place, and off the Avatci-s, intermittent and bilious complaints are unknoAvn. ... I am good for nothing during your absence ; the servants do Avhat they please ; everything goes as it pleases. I smoke and sleep ; mind nothing, — ndtlier chairs, bedstead, or house,— ten to one Avhetlier I avIU call on Mrs. Carroll till your return. All those concerns you must mind. I grow more Indolent and unsociable every day. If I have not you, and the children, and the sisters in a very short time, I cannot tell what will become of me. I have not called on Mrs. Law, though she sent a message to know when you and Maria were expected. How is Maria ? as prudish as ever ? I avIsIi she was In love. You do not perceive the connection, perhaps, but I do. Tell her, ugly as I am, I love her dearly, that is to say, as much as my apathy will permit. ... I have been so gloomy this sura- mer that I mean to frolic all next winter with the girls, — assem blies, dinners, card-parties, abroad and at home. You, ray dear, will stay home to nurse the children and entertain political visitors. . . . 24th August, 1802. . . . Nothing but the hope of seeing you soon has kept In any degree my spirits fronl sinking. Whether In the plains or over the hills, Avhether In city or in retreat, I cannot live without you. It is trifling with that share of happiness which Providence per mits ns to enjoy to be forever again and again parted. I am now good for nothing but for you, and good for nothing Avithout you; you will say that anyhow I ara not good for much ; that may be, but such as I am, you are mine, and you are my comfort, my joy, and the darling of my soul. Noav do not go and show this to Maria; not that I am ashamed of it, for I glory in my love for you; but she will think my expressing myself that way very foolish, and I am afraid of her. Early in October, 1802, they were again in Washington, and Mr. Grallatin resumed work Avith more philosophy. The rest of the Cabinet gradually assembled. When the time came for the Secretary of the Treasury to make his annual report to Congress, he was able to say, as the result of his first year's administration, that the revenue from import duties, instead of $9,500,000 as he 20 306 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. had estimated, had produced $12,280,000, a sum which exceeded "by $1,200,000 the aggregate heretofore collected in any one year, on account of both the import and the internal duties re pealed by an Act of last session." The report, howcA-er, was still cautious in its estimates for the future ; in the face of possi ble losses In revenue, arising from peace in Europe, it adhered closely to last year's estimates, and in the face of navy deficits for 1801 and 1802 still maintained $1,700,000 as the total ap propriation for army and navy combined. The receipts and ex penditures Avere still to be $10,000,000, and last year's excess was to be held as a protection against a possible falling off In the revenue. In his notes on the draft of Mr. Jefferson's annual message, Mr. Gallatin's criticisms this year seem to express the satisfaction he doubtless felt at the success they had met. Mr. Jefferson's Aveakest side Avas his Avant of a sense of humor and his consequent blind exposure to ridicule. Mr. Gallatin himself now and then ventured to indulge a little of his OAvn sense of humor at the cost of his chief, as, for instance, when he criticised the first paragraph of this message as follows : " As to style, I am a bad judge ; but I do not like In the first paragraph the idea of limiting the gwan- tum of thankfulness due to the Supreme Being, and there is also, it seems, too much said of the Indians in the enumerations of our blessings in the next sentence." But occasionally he flatly op posed Mr. Jeffei-son's favorite schemes, and it is curious to notice the results in some of these cases. This year, in regard to Mr. Jefferson's famous recommendation of dry-docks at Washington, Mr. Gallatin's note said : " I am in toto against this recommenda tion, 1st, because, so long as the Mediterranean Avar lasts, we will not have any money to spare for the navy ; and 2d, because, if dry-docks are necessary, so long as we have six navy-yards, it seems to me that a general recommendation Avould be sufficient leaving the Legislature free either to designate the place or to trust the Executive Avith the selection." This AA'as certainly travelling out of his oavu department into the bounds of another and Mr. Jefferson adhered to his dry-docks In spite of Mr. Gal latin, who told hira that the scheme would not comraand thirty votes in Congress ; and this turned out to be the case. 1802. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 307 But the Mediterranean Avar Avas Mr. Gallatin's great annoyance at present. His letters to Mr. Jefferson sIioav Iioav persistently he pressed his avIsIi for peace. In one, dated August 16, 1802, he said : " I sincerely Avish you could reconcile it to yourself to empoAver our negotlatoi-s to give, if necessary for peace [Avith Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco], an annuity to Tripoli. I consider it no greater disgrace to pay them than Algiers. And, indeed, we share the dishonor of paying those barbarians Avith so many nations as poAverful and interested as ourselves, that, in our pres ent situation, I consider it a mere matter of calculation Avhether the purchase of peace is not cheaper than the expense of a Avar, which shall not even give us the free use of the Mediterranean trade. . . . Eight years hence Ave shall, I trust, be able to assume a different tone ; but our exertions at present consume the seeds of our greatness and retard to an Indefinite time the epoch of our strength." But the Tripolitan Avar and the difficulties AvIth Morocco Avere soon throAvn Into the shade by events of a much more serious kind, Avhich threatened to break doAvn Mr. Gallatin's arrange ments in a summary AA'ay. In the course of the summer of 1802 it had become known that France, by a secret treaty, had acquired Louisiana from Spain, and had determined to take possession of that province. While our minister in Paris was reporting the progress of the movements which Avcrc to place a French army across the stream of the loAver Mississippi, our government received information in October that the Spanish intendant at New Orleans had interdicted the right of deposit for merchantr disc which had hitherto been enjoyed there by our citizens, Kentucky and Tennessee Avere exasperated at this step, and there was sorae danger that they ralght begin a war on their own account. The Administration at once took measures to guard against these perils, so far as Avas possible. A confidential mes sage Avas sent to the Senate on January 11, containing the nom ination of Mr. Monroe to act Avith Mr. Livingston, then minister in Paris, as special commissioners for the purchase of the eastern bank of the Mississippi. Another confidential message had bees prcAriously sent to the House, which debated upon it in secret session. What passed there is briefly mentioned by Mr. Galla- 308 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1802. tin in a note of the 3d December, 1805 : " A public resolution . . , was moved by Randolph and adopted by the House. A committee in the mean Avhile brought In a confidential report to support and justify the President in the purchase he was going to attempt, And to this an appropriation law in general terms was added." After a few months of anxiety and silent preparation, the Administration had the profound satisfaction to see this storm disappear as suddenly as it had risen. The reneAval of war betAveen England and France led the First Consul not to accept the American offer to purchase Louisiana from the Mississippi to Pensacola, but to propose the sale of all Louisiana, which then embraced the Avhole Avestern bank of the Mississippi from its source to the Gulf of Mexico. This idea Avas naturally accepted Avitli eagerness by the Administration, and even Mr. Gallatin seems to have felt for once no hesitation about in- crciising the national debt, a necessary consequence of the purchase. The session, however, did not pass aAvay without producing an attack upon Mr. Gallatin's management of the Treasury. This attack was not a very serious one, nor is it one that either then or uoav could be made interesting. The Federal party, Avhich had created the United States Bank, vicAVed with jealousy the course pursued by the Administration towards that institu tion. Mr. Jefferson's letters, in fact, show a deep and not very intelligent hostility to the bank. On the 7th October, 1802, he wrote to Mr. Gallatin that he should make a judicious distribu tion of his favors among all the banks, since the stock of the United States Bank Avas held largely by foreigners, and " were , the Bank of the United States to swalloAV up the others and monopolize the Avhole banking business of the United States, which the demands Ave furnish them with tend shortly to favor, AA'e might, on a misunderstanding Avitli a foreign power, be im mensely embarrassed by any disaffection In that bank." On the 12th July, 1803, he renewed this proposition from another stand-point : " I am decidedly In favor of making all the banks republican by sharing deposits among them In proportion to the dispositions they show. If the law noAv forbids It, Ave should 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 309 not permit another session of Congress to pass Avithout amend ing it. It is material to the safety of Republicanism to detach tlie mercantile interest from its enemies and Incorporate them into tlie body of its friends. A merchant Is naturally a Repub lican, and can be otlierwise only from a vitiated state of things."' Mr. Gallatin gently put aside, these demonstrations of Mr. Jef ferson,' and administered his Department on business principles, with as little regard to political influence as po.ssible. He looked on the bank as an instrument that could not be safely thrown aAvay ; Avithout it his financial operations Avould be much more sloAv, more costly, more hazardous, and more troublesome than with It; Indeed, he Avas quite aAvare that Its fall Avould neces sarily be folloAved by much financial confusion, and he had no mind to let such experiments in finance come between him and his great administrative objects. He was, therefore, by necessity a friend and protector of the bank. The Federalists did not yet fully understand this fact, and they were disturbed at learning that INIr. Gallatin had sold, on account of the sinking fund, a certain number of bank shares in order to pay the Dutch debt. The shares were purchased by Alexander Baring under very favorable conditions, and the Federalists shoAved that they expected little from their motion by making it only on the last day of the session. At the same time Mr. Griswold, in an elaborate speech made on March 2, attacked the accounts of the sinking fund. The only result of these combined attacks Avas to call out replies from the Admin istration speakers and a long letter frora Mr. Gallatin himself on tlie operations of the sinking fund. This letter, replying to Mr. Griswold's attack, was Avritten in response to a resolution of the House, and Avas completed In time to be presented, before the close of the session, on the night of the 3d March. It appears to have met all Mr. GrisAvold's criticisms. At all ' See als» his letter to Mr. Gallatin of 13th December, 1803, Jefferson's "Works, iv. 518. ' See his letter lo Mr. Jefferson of 13th December, 1803, "Writings, vol. i. p. 171. ' This paper is printed ill the Annals of Congress, 7th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 690; also in American State Papers, Finance, vol. ii. p. 87. 310 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1808. events, the attack seems to have made no impression, and in all probability the Federalists themselves intended only to punish Mr. Gallatin for the trouble he had so often in a similar manner inflicted upon them. The adjournment of Congress closed the second year of Mr. Jefferson's Administration. With the exception of that Louisi ana anxiety, AvhIch another month was to clear away, these two years had been marked by complete success. Never before had the country enjoyed so much peace, contentment, and prosperity. Mr. Gallatin himself had in these tAvo years succeeded in making himself master of the situation; he was more powerful and more indispensable than ever ; his financial policy was firmly established; his hold, both in Cabinet and in Congress, was undisputed ; every day brought his projects nearer to realization, and evefy day relieved him from the absorbing labor which had made his first two years of office so burdensome. Nevertheless there was cause enough for anxiety. The ap proaching storm in Europe, which Avas to shake Louisiana into the President's lap, brought with it dangers In regard to which the experience of Washington and John Adams would have been valuable to Mr. Jefferson had he only been willing to profit by it ; but, over-confident in the vhtue of his theories, he, as his cor respondence shoAvs, Avas firmly convinced that he could balance himself betAveen the tAvo mighty poAvers which had dealt so rudely Avith his predecessors, and it Avas a cardinal principle Avith the Republican party that our foreign relations Avere endangered only by the faults of Federalism, and were safe only in Repub lican hands. " I do not believe," Avrote Mr. Jefferson on July 11, 1803, " we shall have as much to SAvalloAV from them as our predecessors had." "We think," he Avrote on the next day, " that peaceable means raay be devised of keeping nations in the path of justice toAvards us, by making justice their interest, and injuries to react on themselves." This was the very point to be proA-ed, and on the result of this theoretical doctrine was to depend the fate of Mr. Jefferson's Administration and of Mr. Gallatin's financial hopes. Besides this grave danger, which Avas destined steadily to take more and more serious proportions, there Avere smaller political 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 3II difficulties, Avhich In their nature must increase in Importance Avith every embarrassment that the future had in store. The party schism led by Vice-President Burr was now beginning to rage AvIth fury and to do infinite mischief in New York. In Pennsylvania matters Avere still Avorse, at least for Mr. Gallatin, whose political interests lay In that State. The very completeness of the Republican triumph In Pennsylvania was fatal to the party. The extremists, led by Duane and his friend Michael Leib, began a schism of tlieir oavu, the raore dangerous because tliey avoided the mistake of Burr and declared no Avar on Mr. Jefferson. Indeed, they followed the very opposite policy, and, sheltering themselves under the cover of their pure Republi canism with Mr. Jefferson for their peculiar patron, they de clared war upon Mr. Jefferson's Cabinet. On the 10th May, 1803, Joseph H. Nicholson Avarned Mr. Gallatin of what was to happen : " I have enclosed the President a letter from Captain Jones to me, which you can see if you please. He says that Duane and his coadjutors meditate an attack upon Mr. Madison and yourself for setting your faces against the office-hunters." Mr. Jelfcrson on this occasion did not treat Duane as he had treated Burr ; he attempted to intervene and soothe the suscepti bilities of his over-zealous partisans. He consulted Mr. Gallatin on the subject, and sent him the draft of a letter to Duane. Mr. Gallatin, on the 13th August, 1803, returned the draft and at tempted to dissuade the President from sending the proposed letter: "Either a schism will take place, in which case the leaders of those men would divide frora us, or tirae and the good sense of the people will of themselves cure the evil. I have reason to believe that the last will happen, and that the number of malcontents is not very considerable and will diminish. . . . It is highly probable that Duane, Avho may be misled by vanity and by his as.sociates, but whose sincere Republicanism I cannot permit myself to doubt, Avill adhere to us when his best friends shall have taken a decided part. ... If a letter shall be written, I think that, if possible, it should be much shorter than your draft, and have perhaps less the appearance of apology. The irresistible argument to men disposed to listen to argument ap pears to me to be the perfect approbation given by the Republl- 312 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1803. cans to all the leading measures of government, and the Inference that men who are disposed under those circumstances to asperse Administration seem to avoAV that the hard struggle of so many years Avas not for the purpose of securing our republican insti tutions and of giving a proper direction to the operations of government, but for the sake of a fcAV paltry offices, — offices not of a political and discretionary nature, but mere inferior admin istrative offices of profit." Mr. Jefferson seems to have folloAved this advice and to have suppressed the proposed letter.' Duane continued his attacks on the moderate wing of the Republican party, and Mr. Gallatin's hopes that he Avould find no following were soon disappointed. A complete separation took place betAveen him and Governor McKean. Perhaps the existence of this schism had something to do with the offer, which Mr. Dallas was now commissioned to make, of putting Governor McKean in nomination for the Vice-Presidency in the general election of 1804. The ofi'er was declined, and George Clinton avub substituted in his place, but Governor McKean's letter of declination is so characteristic as to be worth publication. THOMAS MoKEAN TO ALEXANDER J. DALLAS. Lancaster, 16th October, 1803. Dear Sir, — ^Your friendly letter of the 14th has been read Avith pleasure. I am much obliged to the kind sentiments of my friends in thinking me a suitable character to be proposed as a candidate for the dignified station of Vice-President of the United States, but must absolutely decline that honor. The office of Governor of Pennsylvania satisfies my ambition, and it has been conferred In such a manner, at two elections, that the people are endeared to me; indeed, it appears to me that I am engaged to continue in this distinguished character the constitu tional term, if it shall be the desire of my fellow-citizens. I am now descending in the vale of years, and am satisfied with my share of honors ; that of President of the United States in Con- > This letter will bo found in Gallatin's Writings, vol. i, p. 180. 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 313 gross assembled in the year 1781 (a proud year for Americans) equalled any merit or pretensions of mine, and cannot uoav be increased by the office of Vice-President. But, all personal con siderations Avalved, what Avould be the probable result of my acceptance of the proposed post ? Little, very little benefit to the people of America, but at least a doubtful situation to my fdloAV-citizens of Pennsylvania. What Avould be the fate of my friends, of those I have placed in office, and of the liberty of the State at this most critical period, Avere I to resign the office? Who is tliere to control the Avanton passions of men in general respectable, suddenly raised to power and frisking in the pasture of true liberty, yet not sufficiently secured by proper barriers ? But I must say no more on this head, even to a friend ; it savors so much of vanity. In brief, who will be my successor, possess ing the same advantages frora nativity In the State, education, experience, and from long public services in the most influential stations and employments ; avIio can or Avill take the same liberty in vetoes of legislative acts, or otherwise, as I have done ? I con fess I am at a loss to name hira, and yet, Avhen I must resign by death or otherwise, I trust the world will go on as wdl as it has done, if not better, though I never had existed. Be so good as to pay my most respectful compliraents to the President, to Messrs. Madison, Gallatin, Dearborn, Granger, etc., and compliments to all mine and your friends. Farewell and prosper. Adieu. Mr. Jefferson's party required very delicate handling. Era- bracing, as It did, raaterials of the most discordant kind, schism was Its normal condition. Between the purity of Madison and Gallatin and the selfishness and prejudice of the local politicians, Mr. Jefferson was obliged to make what corapromlse he could ; but while with quiet determination he drove Burr out of the party, he tolerated Duane and Leib with extraordinary patience. There were very strong reasons Avhich justified or excused his treatment of Burr; particularly the position of heh-apparent, which the Vice-President occupied, made It necessary either to recognize or reject his claims, and Mr. Jefferson did not hesitate to reject them. Whether his ti-eatment of Duane was to be 314 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1803. equally defensible became more and more a subject of vital con sequence to Mr. Gallatin. So long as Virginia remained steady the Administration had little to fear, and as yet there was no sign of schism in the Vir ginia ranks. Of all the Virginia members John Randolph was the most prominent, and his support was firm. Mr. Gallatin and he Avere on the most intimate terms, and since Gallatin's letters to him are lost, some of his letters to Gallatin may be worth inserting, to show their relations together : JOHN RANDOLPH TO GALLATIN. BiZABRE, 9th April {27th year), 1803. Dear Sir, — When your letter arrived I was frora home, and, ours being a weekly post, my reply is necessarily delayed longer than I could wish. Mr. GrisAVold's first objections to the report of the commis sioners of the sinking fund are (if in existence, which I very much doubt) among other loose papers Avhich I left in George toAvn. The paragraph which you enclose differs from most which have apjieared of late in a certain description of prints, in this, that it contains some truth. But, as it is resorted to only to serve as the vehicle of much falsehood, it is proper that a correct state ment should go forth to the public of this singular transaction. If I mistake not, the printing of the report of the sinking fund was considerably delayed. Be that as it may, when Mr. GrisAvold moved to commit it to the Ways and Means he specified no objection ; he barely said that there were some parts which required explanation ; but, as all documents of that sort are of coui-se committed to that committee, there Avas no occasion for any reasoning to induce the House to agree to such a motion. The resolution which he afterAvards drafted, and which he shoAved to me, was, I believe, couched in the very terms of that which was passed by the House, the words " in fact" excepted which at my suggestion he expunged, since he declared that he had no mtentlon to criminate the Treasury and doubted not that everything could and would be satisfactorily explained. I then proposed to him to reduce his objections to Avriting. They con- 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1812. 31 5 sisted of a denial of the soundness of the construction given by the Treasury to the law of 1802 making provision for the re demption of the Avhole public debt, which was the object em braced by the resolution ; and an inquiry Into the variance between the report of the Secretary of the Treasury of Decem ber, 1801, and the report of the sinking fund, in respect to the amount of interest of the public debt and the instalments of the Dutch debt due In 1802. There may have been some items which I do not recollect. But I perfectly remember Avhat they did not contain. There Avas not a syllable about the unaccounted balance of 114,000 dollars, nor of the detailed accounts in rela tion to the remittances on account of the foreign debt, contained in the 4tli, 7tli, and part of the 3d queries in my official letter to you (A. 1). The first intelligence Avliich I had of this un accounted balance Avas from yourself. It made Its appearance in a pamphlet ascribed to Stanley and addressed to his constituents. So careful were the friends of this little work that it should not get abroad, that by mere accident a single copy fell into the hands of Alston on the day before Mr. Griswold brought forAvard his motion. Huger, who let Alston have it, enjoined him not to let it go out of his hands. He on the contrary carried it to you, and during the short time that it Avas in your possession I accidentally stepped In whilst you Avere looking over It, and this was the first jnotice Avhich I received of Mr. GrisAvold's redoubtable attack on that point. It may be proper to add that Avhen he put into my hands the paper containing the first objections to the report, I offered to transmit them to you, provided he Avould move It in committee; and the committee were actually convened for that purpose, but he did not attend. He declined also a proposition of waiting on you In person Avhen I offered to accompany him. The committee taking no order on his objections, they were sub mitted to you by me, and so long a time elapsed that I really conceived he had abandoned his project. On our return home Alston told me that Huger Avas very much irritated against him, and those in his quarter of the House mortified and astonished, when I mentioned the coincidence between Griswold's speech and Stanley's letter. And now, dismissing this miserable race of cavillers and 316 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808. equlvocators, let me beg you to have a reverend care of your health, and to assure Mrs. G. {not Griswold) and her sisters of my best AvIshes for their health and happiness. Mr. Nym and the young secretary avIII participate my friendly inquiries. I do not ask you to continue to Avrite to me, because I know the demands upon your time both by health and business. But a line of hoAV and Avhere you all are Avill always be acceptable to one who interests himself in everything relating to you. My health is fluctuating; the weather is raAV and the spring a month behindhand. Moreover, Ave have had but one rain, and that moderate, since the last snow on the 8th March. Of course I am vaporish and gouty. Adieu. Yours truly. P.S. — Smith should make a statement " by authority" in his paper conformably with the Avithin. At an election at Charlotte C. H. on Monday last, J. Ran dolph had 717 votes, C. Carrington 2. JOHN RANDOLPH TO GALLATIN. Bizarre, 4th June, 27th year [1803]. Dear Sir, — Having sustained an injury in my hand, I have been for some time debarred tho use of my pen. The first exercise of my recovered right shall be to thank you for your last very friendly and acceptable letter. Nothing can be more dear and satisfactory than Bayard's ansAver to himself, according to your statement of it. But I cannot help suspecting a difference between the printed speech and the original, not at all to the advantage of the latter. I am unwilling to believe that he was guilty of so gross an ab surdity (in debate), because I am unwilling to believe that we were guilty of yet grosser stupidity, even after making every allowance for being worried down with fatigue. Such a thing might have escaped me, and perhaps Nicholson ; but that Gen- a-al Smith should fail to detect it appears incredible. So far, however, frora overdosing me with the bank stock, as you seem to apprehend, it is evident you have not given me quantum suff 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 317 You have seen the result of our elections. Federal exultation has, hOAvever, received a severe check in those of New York. Indeed, I do not conceive the event here to be Indicative of any change in the public sentiment. The elections, Avith a single exception, have been conducted on personal rather than on party motives. Brent completely defeated himself, and, although I love the man, I cannot very heartily lament his 111 success. By the way, I think you Avise men at the seat of government have much to answer for in respect to the temper prevailing around you. By their fruit shall ye know them. Is there something more of system yet introduced among you ? or are you still in chaos, without form and void ? Should you have leisure, give me a hint of the first ncAvs from Mr. Monroe. After all the vaporing, I have no expectation of a serious war. Tant pis pour nous. You ask if I have seen Rennell's ncAv map of North Africa? forgetting that I live out of the light of anything but the sun ; and he has not condescended to shine, but at short intervals, for a fortnight. I suppose it Is the map Avhich he compiled from Parke's Travels. Do you recollect ray suggesting to youj soon after the work came out, a suspicion that the Niger was the true Nile ? and your determining that he should be swallowed up in the sands of the desert, AvhIch Ave carried into instant execution. Present me most sincerely, and permit me to add, affection ately, to Mrs. Gallatin, and believe me, dear sir, most truly yours. P.S. — I address this to Washington, where it will be put in train to reach you. I sincerely hope It will find you much recruited by the wise step which you have taken. The Louisiana treaty threw on Mr. Gallatin a new class of duties. He had to make all the arrangements not only for pay ment of the purchase-money to France, but for the modifications of his financial system which so large and so sudden an emer gency required. Fortunately, Alexander Baring was the person with whom he had principally to deal in regard to payments. 318 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1803. and his relations AvIth Mr. Baring Avere very friendly; so friendly, indeed, as to have a decisive influence, some ten years later, in a most serious crisis of Mr. Gallatin's life and of our national history. With Mr. Baring's assistance the business details were successfully arranged, and it only remained to adjust the new burden of debt to the national resources. Congress was called together in October on account of the Louisiana business. It is curious to notice how, in his com ments on this year's message, Mr. Gallatin gently held the Pres ident back from every appearance of hostility to England and of overwarm demonstrations towards Bonaparte, and how he still talked of economies in the Navy Department to supply some of his financial deficiencies, though this resource was already men tioned only as a desirable possibility. In fact. Congress was about to abandon the attempt at further economy in that De partment, and in order to relieve the Treasury the Mediterranean fund was now created for naval expenses. Mr. Gallatin had to look for his resources elsewhere. The financial problem was to provide for the new purchase and its consequent expenditure Avithout imposing new taxes. The point was a delicate one, and Avas managed by Mr. Gallatin as follows : The purchase-money for Louisiana was $15,000,000. Of this sura, $11,250,000 Avas paid in ncAv six per cent, stock. There was specie enough in the Treasury to pay $2,000,000 more; and Mr. Gallatin requested authority to borrow the remaining $1,750,000 at six per cent. The consequent increase of annual interest on the debt, in cluding commissions and exchange, he estimated at $800,000. To provide this he counted on an increase of revenue from imposts and lands, as indicated by the returns for the past year, equal to $600,000, and an Income of $200,000 from Louisiana. An annual appropriation of $700,000 was to be set aside for the interest on the $11,250,000 new stock, and added to the permanent appropriation of $7,300,000; so that in future $8,000,000 should be annually applied to payment of interest and principal of the debt, thus preserving the ratio of reduction already established. 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 319 Perhaps as a matter of fact the success of Mr. Gallatin in avoiding ncAV taxes was rather apparent than real. Had he been able to carry out his economies in the navy, he might indeed have avoided taxation, but this Avas fairly proved impossible, and the confession of a failure here was only evaded by the fiction of creating a temporary fund for extraordinary naval purposes, which allowed the supposed regular naval expenditure to be estimated at Mr. Gallatin's figures. This Avas obviously in the nature of a compromise betAveen the Treasury and the Navy, but it Avas not the less a real increase of taxation, and, as events proved, a permanent Increase. The capture of the frigate Phila delphia by the Tripolitans was. It is true, the immediate occasion for tills tax, but not its cause ; this lay much deeper, and, as Mr. Gallatin's letters clearly shoAV, Avas tlie result of a failure in the attempt at economy In the navy. Even at the last hour, however, the Administration was alarmed by the fear that Louisiana might after all bo lost ; the protest of Spain against the sale gave reason to doubt whether she would consent to surrender the province. Here again Mr. Gallatin of his own accord urged increased expenditure, and actively pressed the collection and movement of troops to take possession by force if the Spanish government should resist. Fortunately, the alarm proved to be unnecessary : Louisiana was promptly handed over to the French official appointed for the purpose, and by hira to General Wilkinson and Governor Clai borne ; the troops were stopped on their march from Tennessee and ordered home, and all that remained to be done Avas to incor porate the new territory in the old, and to settle its boundaries with Spain. The process of incorporation, hoAvever, brought into prominence a very serious constitutional question, which had already been elaborately argued in the Cabinet. Had the Constitution given to the President and Congress the right to do an act of this tran scendent Iraportance, an act which could not but result in iramense and incalculable changes in the relations betAveen the States who were the original parties to the constitutional compact ; an act which could only rest on a prodigious extension of the treaty- making power, such as would legalize the annexation of Mexico 320 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1803. or of Europe itself? Mr. Jefferson Avas very strongly of opinion that an amendraent to the Constitution could alone legalize the act, and this opinion seems to have been shared by Mr. Madison and by the Attorney-General. The tenor of Mr. Gallatin's reasoning as a member of Congress In opposition certainly leads to the inference that he would take the same side. His speeches on the alien bill had carried the doctrine of strict construction to the verge of extravagance. Nevertheless, Mr. Gallatin did not properly belong to the Virginia school of strict construc tionists, and although, as a member of Congress, he earnestly resisted the groAvth of Executive poAver, he assumed with dif ficulty and with a certain awkwardness the tone of States' rights. In this Louisiana case he Avrote on the 13th January, 1803, a letter to Mr. Jefferson, which might have been written, without a syllable of change, by Alexander Hamilton to General Wash ington ten yeai-s before : " To me It would appear, 1st. That the United States as a nation have an inherent right to acquire territory. "'2d. That whenever that acquisition is by treaty, the same constituted authorities in whom the treaty-making power is vested have a constitutional right to sanction the acquisition. " 3d. That whenever the territory has been acquired. Congress have the power either of admitting into the Union as a noAV State, or of annexing to a State Avith the consent of that State, or of making regulations for the government of such territory. " The only possible objection must be derived from the 12th amendment, which declares that powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited by it to the States are reserved lo the States or to the people. As the States are expressly prohibited from making treaties, it is evident that If the power of acquiring territory by treaty Is not considered Avithin the meaning of the amendment as delegated to the United States, it must be reserved to the people. If that be the true construction of the Constitu tion, it substantially amounts to this, that the United States are precluded from and renounce altogether the enlargement of ter ritory ; a provision sufficiently important and singular to have deserved to be expressly enacted. Is it not a more natural con struction to say that the power of acquiring territory is delegated 1803. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 32I to the United States by the several provisions Avhich authorize the several brandies of government to make Avar, to make treaties, and to govern the territory of the Union ?" ' Mr. Jefferson, it is needless to say, Avas not convinced by this reasoning. He mildly replied : " I think it avIII be safer not to permit the enlargement of the Union but by amendment of the Constitution."' But tho heresy spread Into his OAvn Virginia church, and his friend and confidant Wilson Cary Nicholas became infected by it. In reply to him Mr. Jefferson Avrote a passionate appeal : " Our peculiar security Is In the possession of a written Constitution.; let us not raake it a blank paper by construction." For a tirae he adhered to this view, and framed an amendraent to ansAver his purpose, but at length he resigned himself to committing the whole responsibility to Congress, and held his peace. Mr. Gallatin's opinion became the accepted principle of the party and the ground on AvhIch their legislation was made to rest. The same fate attended Mr. Jefferson's vehement remonstrances against the establishraent of a branch bank of the United States at NeAV Orleans, an object Avhich Mr. Gallatin considered as of the highest iraportance and one AvhIch he was actlA'dy engaged in carrying Into effect. Mr. Jefferson, hoAvever, Avrote to him on the 13th December, 1803, in the strongest language against this plan : " This institution is one of the most deadly hostility exist ing against the principles and form of our Constitution. . . . What an obstruction could not this bank of the United States, with all its branch banks, be in time of war? It might dictate to us the peace we should accept, or withdraw its aids. Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so hostile?" And he went on to give his own views as to the proper course for government to follow, which was in fact very nearly the plan ultimately realized In the form of a sub- treasury. Mr. Gallatin, hoAvever, attached no great weight to these arguments ; he wrote back on the same day ': " I am ex tremely anxious to see a bank at New Orleans ; considering the distance of that place, our own security and even that of the 1 Gallatin's "Writings, vol. i. p. 111. ' Ibid., p. 115. 21 322 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1804. collector will be eminently promoted, and the transmission of moneys arising both frora the impost and sales of lands in the Mississippi Territory Avould without it be a very difficult and sometimes dangerous operation. Against this there are none but political objections, and those will lose much of their force when the little injury they can do us and the dependence in Avhich they are on government are duly estimated. They may vote as they please and take their own papers, but they are formidable pnly as individuals and not as bankers. Whenever they shall appear to be really dangerous, they are completely in our poAver and may be crushed." Mr. Jeffei-son again yielded, and Mr. Gallatin procured the passage of an Act of Congress authorizing the establishment of a branch bank at Ncav Orleans. MeanAvhlle Governor Claiborne had undertaken to establish a bank there by his own authority. When the ucavs of this proceeding reached Mr. Gallatin he Avas very angry, and Avrote to Mr. Jefferson at once on April 12, 1804, sharply condemning Governor Claiborne for this unauthorized act, Avliich, he added, " will probably defeat the establishment of a branch bank Avhicli we considered of great imj)ortance to the safety of the revenue and as a bond of union betAveen the At lantic and Mississippi interests." Apparently, therefore, Mr. Gal latin believed that he had entirely converted his chief; in reality the conversion Avas only one more example of that capacity for yielding his OAvn prejudices to the weight of his advisers, which raade Mr. Jeffei-son so often disappoint his enemies and preserve the harmony of his party. On the Avhole, this third year of the Administration closed not less satisfactorily than its predecessors, and Congress adjourned Avithout anxiety after carrying into effect all the measures Avhich Mr. Gallatin had at heart. So far as he Avas concerned, hardly a lisp of discontent Avas heard, except, perhaps, among the fol- loAvers of Duane and Leib. By thera he Avas accused of wishing to build up a third party by the patronage of the Treasury, a charge Avhich meant only that he had refused to put his patronage at their disposal. The summer again found Mr. Gallatin at Washington, alone discontented, and occupied only with the details of Treasury 1804. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 323 work. One pleasure indeed he had, and as his acquaintance with Alexander Baring Avas destined to have no little value to him in future life, so his acquaintance of this summer with Alexander von Humboldt Avas turned to good account in after- years. In a letter to his Avife he gave an amusing account of his first impressions of Humboldt. Among his correspondents of this year there are none Avhose letters seem to have any per manent value, unless one by John Randolph be an exception. In this there are curious suggestions of restlessness under the sense 'of political inferiority. It Avould be Interesting to know what that opinion of Mr. Gallatin's AA'as AvhIch could induce Randolph to. concur Avitli It so far as to favor the creation of a navy to bloAV the British cruisers out of AA'ater. GALLATIN TO IIIS AVIFE. "Wasiiinoton, 6th June, 1804. ... I have received an exquisite Intellectual treat from Baron Humboldt, the Prussian traA'dler, Avho is on his return from Peru and Mexico, where he travelled five years, and from Avhich he has brought a mass of natural, philosophical, and political information which avIII render the geography, productions, and' statistics of that country better knoAvn than those of most Eu ropean countries. We all consider him as a very extraordinary man, and his travels, Avhich he intends publishing on his return to Europe, will, I think, rank above any other production of the kind. I am not apt to be easily pleased, and he Avas not particularly prepossessing to my taste, for he speaks more than Lucas, FInley, and myself put together, and tAvice as fast as anybody I know, German, French, Spanish, and English, all together. But I was really delighted, and swallowed more in formation of various kinds In less than two hours than I had for tAVO years past In all I had read or heard. He does not seem much above thirty, gives you no trouble In talking your self, for he catches Avith perfect precision the idea you mean to convey before you have uttered the third word of your sentence, and, exclusively of his travelled acquirements, the extent of his reading and scientific knowledge Is astonishing. I must ao- 324 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1804. knowledge, in order to account for my enthusiasm, that he was surrounded AvIth maps, statements, &c., all new to me, and several of which he has liberally permitted us to transcribe. JOHN RANDOLPH TO GALLATIN. Bizarre, 14th October, 1804. 29th Ind. On my return from Fredericksburg after a racing campaign, I Avas very agreeably accosted by your truly Avelcome letter ; to thank you for which, and not because I haA'e anything (stable news excepted) to communicate, I noAV take up the pen. It is some satisfaction to me, Avho haA'e been pestered Avith inquiries that I could not answer on the subject of public affaire, to find that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Firet Lord of the Treasury is in as comfortable a state of ignorance as myself. Pope, says of governments, that is best AA'hich is best adminis tered. What idea, then, could he haA'e of a gOA'crnment AA'hich Avas not administered at all ? The longer I live, the more do I incline to somebody's opinion, that there is in the affairs of this Avorld a mechanism of Avhicli the A'ery agents themselves are ignorant, and which, of course, they can neither calculate nor control. As much free Avill as you please in everything else, but in politics I must ever be a necessitarian. And this com fortable doctrine saves me a deal of trouble and many a tAvinge of conscience for my heedless indolence. I therefore leaA'e Alajor Jackson and his Ex. of Casa Yrujo to give each other the he in Anglo-American or Castilian fashions, just as it suits them, and when people resort to me for intelligence, instead of playing the owl and putting on a face of solemn nonsense, I very fairly tell them Avitli perfect nonchalance that I know nothing of the matter, — from which, if they have any discern ment, they may infer that I care as little about it, — and then change the subject as quickly as I can to horees, dogs, the plough, or some other upon Avhich I feel myself competent to converge. In short, I hke originality too Avell to be a second-hand poli tician wlien I can help It. It is enough to live upon the broken victuals and be tricked out in the cast-off finery of you first-rate statesmen all the Avintcr. When I cross the Potomac I leave 1804. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 325 behind me all the scraps, shreds, and patches of politics Avliidi I collect during the session, and put on the plain homespun, or (as we say) the " Virginia cloth," of a planter, Avhich is clean, whole, and comfortable, even if it be homely. Nevertheless, I have patriotism enough left to congratulate you on the fulness of the public pui-se, and cannot help AvishIng that its situation could be concealed from our Sangrados in politics, Avitli whom depletion is the order of the day. On the subject of a navy you know my opinion concurs Avith yours. I really feel ashamed for my country, that, Avhilst she is hectoring before the petty corsairs of tlie coast of Barbary, she should truckle to the great pirate of the German Ocean ; and I Avould freely vote a naval force that should bloAv the Cambrian and Leander out of Avater. Indeed, I Avish Barron's squadron had been employed on that service. I am perfectly aAvare of the Importance of peace to us, particularly Avitli Great Britain, but I know it to be equally necessary to her; and, in short, if Ave have any honor as a nation to lose, which is problematical, I am unwilling to sur render it. On the subject of Louisiana you are also apprised that my sentiments coincide Avith your OAvn ; and It is principally be cause of that coincidence that I rely upon their correctness. But as we have the misfortune to differ fro'm that great polltiail luminary, Mr. Matthew Lyon, on this as Avell as on most other points, I doubt whether we shall not be overjiOAvered. If Spain be "fallen from her old Castilian faith, candor, and dignity," it must be alloAved that we have been judicious in our choice of a minister to negotiate with her; and Louisiana, it being presuma ble, partaking something of the character Avhicli distinguished her late sovereign when she acquired that territory, the selection of a, pompous nothing for a governor avIU be admitted to have been happy. At least, if the appointment be not defensible upon this principle, I am at a loss to discover any other tenable point. In ansAver to your question I Avoiild advise the printing of . . . thousand copies of Tom Palne's answer to their remonstrance and transmitting thera by as many thousand troops, Avho can speak a language perfectly intelligible to the people of Louisiana, whatever that of their governor may be. It Is, to be sure, a 326 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1804 little awkward, except in addresses and ansAvers where each party is previously well apprised of Avhat this other has to say, that whilst the eyes and ears of the admiring Louisianians are filled with the majestic pereon and sonorous periods of their chief magistrate, their understandings should be utterly vacant. If, however, they were aAvare that, even if they understood English, it might be no better, they would perhaps be more reconciled to their situation. You really must send something better than this mere ape of greatness to those Hispano-Gaulo. He would make a portly figure delivering to " my lords and gentlemen" a speech which Pitt had previously taught hira; but Ave want an automaton, and a puppet Avill not supply his place. Pray look to the " ways and means" of entertainment for man and horse against the assembling of our annual mob. Here we have no bilious fevers, and although I shall enjoy your geograph ical treat I shall require more substantial food. Because I had nothing to say, I have prattled through four pages; like a quondam felloAV-laborer of ours, who seemed to speak not to express his ideas, but to gain time to acquire some. The general election of November, 1804, proved the strength of the Administration in a more emphatic manner than even its friends had counted upon. Mr. Jefferson received an almost unanimous electoral vote. In Pennsylvania, hoAvever, there was little satisfaction over the result ; the schism there became more and raore serious, and on the 16tli October, 1804, Mr. Dallas could only write to Mr. Gallatin : " Thank Heaven, our election is over ! The violence of Duane has produced a fatal division. He seems determined to destroy the Republican standing and use fulness of every man Avho does not bend to his Avill. He has attacked me as the author of an address which I never saw till it was in the press. He menaces the governor. You have already felt his lash. And I think there is reason for Mr. Jeffer son himself to apprehend that the spirit of Callender survives." Again Congress came together, and for the fourth time the President Avas able to draAv a picture of the political situation 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 327 AvhIch had fcAv shadoAvs and broad light. For the fourth time Mr. Gallatin sent In a report Avhich announced a steadily increas ing revenue, if not a reduced expenditure. He had not yet made use of his authority to borrow the additional $1,750,000 of the Louisiana purchase, and hoped for a surplus that Avould render this loan unnecessary. For the coming year he estimated an expenditure of $11,540,000, and a revenue of $11,750,000. The usual reaction Avliich folloAvs general elections folloAved that of 1804, and the Administration escaped attack in the fol lowing session of 1804-05, Avhicli Avas chiefly devoted to the trial of Judge Chase. Whether Mr. Gallatin had anything to do Avith influencing the result of this trial is unknoAvn. A curious mystery has ahvays hung and probably ahvays Avill hang over the share Avhich Mr. Jefferson's Administration had In affecting the decision of the Senate by Avhich Judge Chase Avas acquitted. Probably, however, the schism AvhIch Avas taking place In Penn sylvania on this same point of impeachments had an immediate effect on the party at Washington and cooled its eagerness for conviction. Perhaps Mr. Gallatin's feelings may be partly reflected in a letter from his friend Mr. Dallas, avIio was now acting as counsel for the impeached Pennsylvania judges. This letter, it will be noticed, Avas written Avhile the trial of Judge Chase Avas going on, and only a fcAv days before Mr. Dallas Avas called to Washington to give his testimony before the Senate. A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. Lancaster, 16th January, 1805. My dear Sir, — I thank you for your friendly letter, but I regret that it expresses a depression on public business Avhich I have long felt. It is obvious to me that unless our Administra tion take decisive measures to discountenance the factious spirit that has appeared, unless some principle of political cohesion can be introduced into our public councils as Avell as at our elections, and unless men of character and talents can be drawn from pro fessional and private pursuits Into the legislative bodies of our governments, federal and State, the empire of Republicanism will moulder into anarchy, and the labor and hope of our lives 328 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1805. Avill terminate in disappointment and wretchedness. Perhaps the crisis is arrived when some attempt should be made to rally the genuine Republicans round the standard of reason, order, and law. At present Ave are the slaves of men Avhose passions are the origin and whose interests are the object of all their actions, — I mean your Duanes, Chcethains, Leibs, &c. They have the press in their power, and, though avc may have virtue to assert the liberty of the press, it is too plain that we have not spu-It enough to resist the tyranny of the printers. We will talk of this matter Avhen we meet. . . . The argument on our impeachment avIII close to-day, and the decision Avill probably be given to-morrow or Monday. The Aurora man has been here during the trial, with all his audacity, intrigue, and malevolence. I think, however, he will fail. A cause more deserving of success than that of the judges never was discussed, and I am confident that there Avill be an acquittal. . . . The letter in Avliidi Mr. Gallatin expressed his depression is lost, but there Avas more than one cause to justify it. HoAvever annoying the condition of Pennsylvania politics might be, the greatest actual danger to be feared frora it was that it might spread into national politics and find leaders in Congress. The conduct of John Randolph already suggested an alliance betAveen him and Duane that might paralyze the Administration and ruin the Republican party. This alliance Avas foreshadoAved not only by the fact that Randolph led the impeachment of Judge Chase in the spirit of Duane, but also by another still more extrava gant display of Randolph's temper AvhIch touched Mr. Gallatin personally. When the public lands came under Mr. Gallatin's direction in 1801, he had been obliged to disentangle the State of Georgia, as Avell as he could, from a complication which she had herself created. One clement in this tangle consisted in the corrupt sale by Georgia of certain lands, and her subsequent annulling these sales on the ground of her own corruption. The purchasei-s pressed their claims, and Mr. Gallatin with his fellow-commissioners, Madison and Lincoln, recommended a compromise by which five million acres were to be reserved in order to make a reasonable compensation for all claims, these as 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 329 AA'dl as others; a proposition Avhich was embodied by Congress in a laAV. To carry this compromise into effect Avas the AVork of ten years, during Avhicli time the subject Avas incessantly before Congress. When it carae up In January, 1806, John Randolph astounded the House by a series of speeches violent beyond all precedent, outrageously and A'iudictively slanderous, and fatal to the harmony of the party and to all effective legislation. With the malignity of a bully he attacked Gideon Granger, the Post master-General, Avho could not ansAver hira, and he only met his match in MatthcAV Lyon, Avhose old experience noAV, to the delight of the Federalists, enabled him to meet Randolph AvIth a torrent of personal abuse, and to tell hira that he Avas a jackal and a madman with the face of a monkey. All this was doubt less vexatious enough to Mr. Gallatin, who kne\v Avell that ii boded no good to the Administration ; but Randolph could not even stop here. He made a very serious reflection upon Mr. Gallatin himself and the report of the commissioners. " When I first read their report," said he, " I Avas filled AvIth unutterable astonishment ; finding men in whom I had and still have the highest confidence, recommend a measure AvliIch all the facts and all tlie reasons Avhich they had collected opposed and unequivo cally condemned." This speedi Avas made on February 3, 1805, and the course taken by Randolph was warmly applauded by Duane. Mr. Gallatin remained impassive and his relations Avitli Ran dolph Avere undisturbed. Randolph himself either had no clear idea what he was doing, or Avas indifferent to its consequences. One of his letters to Mr. Gallatin, written In October, 1805, is so judicial in Its tone and expresses such proper sentlraents about divisions in the party as to appear quite out of keeping with its writer and to suggest dissimulation, whidi Avas not at all In his character. But on one point the two men had strong sympathies : their concurrence of opinion on the management of the navy Avas a bond of union. The summer of 1805 brought matters to a crisis. Duane and his friends set up an opposition candidate to Governor McKean in the person of Simon Snyder, Speaker of the House, and car ried the bulk of the party Avith them. Mr. Dallas and the con- 330 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1805. servatlve element Avere obliged to depend upon Federalist aid in order to carry the election of McKean. Mr. Jefferson and the Administration refrained from interference, and the result was to isolate Mr. Gallatin and to deprive him of that support in his own State, Avithout which the position of a public man must always be precarious. The elements of future trouble were gathering Into alarming consistency and needed only some national crisis to concentrate all their force against Mr. Gallatin. A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. 4th April, 1805. . . . The political part of your letter corresponds precisely with the ideas I entertain and have uniformly inculcated on the subject. The Aurora perverts everything, hoAvever, that can be said or done. The Legislature adjourns to-day. You have read the report ; but I fear it will be folloAved by some wild, irregular step after the adjournment, airaed against the Governor as well as the Constitution. The evil of the day has obviously proceeded frora the neglect of Dr. Ldb's official pretensions ; and Duane's assertions that he possesses the confidence and acts at the instance of the President Avill buoy hira up on the surface for some time longer. While he has influence, the State, the United States, will never enjoy quiet. I hope therefore, and there is every reason to expect, that his present machinations Avill be exposed and defeated as a prelude to his fall. . . . JOHN RANDOLPH TO GALLATIN. Bizarre, June 28, 1805. ... I do not underetand your manoeuvres at headquarters, nor should I be surprised to see the Navy Department abolished, or, in raore appropriate phrase, SAvept by the board, at the next session of Congress. The nation has had the raost conclusive proof that a head is no necessary appendage to the establishment. . . , GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. "Washington, 25th Octpher, 1805. . . . Whilst the Republicans opposed the Federalists the necessity of union induced a general sacrifice of private vicAvs 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 331 and personal objects ; and the opposition Avas generally grounded on the purest motives and conducted in the most honorable man ner. Complete success has aAvakened all those passions Avhich only slumbered. In Pennsylvania particularly the thirst for offices, too much encouraged by Governor McKean's first meas ures, created a schism in Philadelphia as early as 1802. Leib, ambitious, avaricious, envious, and disappointed, blew up the flame, and Avatched the first opportunity to make his cause a general one. The vanity, the nepotism, and the Indiscretion of GoA-ernor McKean afforded the opportunity. Want of mutual forbearance amongst the best intentloned and most respectable Republicans has completed the schisra. Duane, intoxicated by the persuasion that he alone had overthrown Federalisra, thought hiraself neither sufficiently rcAvarded nor respected, and, possessed of an engine which gives him an irresistible control over public opinion, he easily gained the victory for his friends. I call it victory, for tlie number of Republicans Avho have opposed hira rather than supported McKean does not exceed one-fourth, or at most one-third, of tlie whole ; and McKean owes his re-election to the Federalists. What avIII be the consequence I cannot even conjecture. My ardent AvIshes are for mutual forgiveness and a reunion of the Republican interest; but I hardly think it prob able. McKean and Duane avIU be both implacable and immov able, and the acts of the first and the continued proscriptions of the last will most probably and unfortunately defeat every attempt to reconcile. Yet I do not foresee any permanent evil beyond what arises from perpetual agitation and from that party spirit which encourages personal hatred ; but the intolerance and per secution which we abhorred in Federalisra will be pursued by the prevailing party till the people, who do not love Injustice, once more put it doAvn. JOHN RANDOLPH TO GALLATIN. Bizarre, October 25, 1805. Dear Sir, — ^Your very acceptable letter readied me this morning, and I hasten to return you my thanks for it and to answer your very friendly inquiries after my health. It Is much better than it has been for sorae months; so much so that I pro- 332 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1805. pose braving another winter at Washington. I do assure you, however, that I look forAvard to the ensuing session of Congress with no very pleasant feelings. To say nothing of the disad vantages of the place, natural as Avell as acquired, I anticipate a plentiful harvest of bickering and blunders; of which, however, I hope to be a quiet, if not an unconcerned, spectator. It is a great comfort to me to find that we entirely agree as to the causes of disunion in Pennsylvania. I have no interest in their local squabbles, except so far as they may affect the Union at large. In that point of view I have regretted the divisions of the Republican party In that great and leading State, well knoAving that AA'hlchever side prevailed. Federalism must thereby acquire a formidable accession of strength. It now remains to be seen Avhether there is temper and good sense enough left among them to heal their animosities, or whether, as to Penn sylvania at present and speedily throughout the Union, Ave raiist acknowledge the humiliating position of our adversaries, " that the Republicans do not possess virtue and understanding enough to administer the government." Perhaps the reconciliation which I speak of is more to be desired than hoped. Wiser heads and those better acquainted with the particular circumstances of the case than mine must determine Avhether this is to be effected by an act of mutual amnesty and oblivion, or by expelling in the first instance the rogues on both sides. That such there are is self-evident; though who they are is a much more difficult question. Unconnected as I am in that quarter, yourself ex cepted, it appears frora Avliat I can gather that there has been uo Avant of indiscretion, intemperance, and rashness on either side. If the vanquished party have exceeded in these, it has been amply counterbalanced by dereliction of principle in the victoi-s. I speak of chieftains. As to the body of the people, tlidr intentions are alwa)'8 good, since it can never be their in terest to do tvrong. Whilst you In Pennsylvania have been tearing each other to pieces about a governor, avc in Virginia Avho can hardly find any one to accept our throne of the Mah- rattas, have been quietly taking the goods the gods have provided us ; enjoying the sports of the turf and the fidd. Which has the better bargain, think you ? 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 333 ... I regret exceedingly Mr. Jcflcrson's resolution to retire, and almost as much tiie premature annunciation of that deter mination. It almost precludes a revision of his purpose, to say nothing of the intrigues AvliIch it Avill set on foot. If I Avere sure that Monroe Avould succeed hira, my regret Avould be very much diminished. Here, you see, the Virginian breaks out ; but, like the Pru.ssian cadet, " I must request you not to make this knoAvu to the Secretary of the Treasury." A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. 2l8t December, 1805. My dear Sir, — In perfect confidence I tdl you that Gov ernor McK. has pressed me to accept the office of chief justice. This I have peremptorily declined. But I believe he means to appoint tho present Attorney -General to that office ; and I am again pressed to say Avhether I avIII accept the commission of Attorney-General. It is an office raore lucrative, less troublesome, and infinitely less responsible than the one I hold. There are considerations, hoAvever, that make me pause. I am disgusted Avith the fluctuation of our polities, Avith the emptiness of party friendships, and with the influence of desperate and violent men upon our popular and legislative movements in the State business. I had determined never to think of State dependence. At this time, too, Avhen the thunders of the Aurora are daily rolling over my head ; when it is publicly asserted that I have lost the personal and political confidence of the Administration ; a resig nation Avould be perverted into a dismissal, and my succession to the office of Attorney-General Avould increase the clamors against Governor McKean. In this dilemma I repose myself on your friendship for inforraation and advice. I do not want either office, but I am shocked at the idea of incurring the least disgrace under the sanction of an Administration Avhich has had all my attachment and all my services. Tell me, therefore, what I ought to do by the return of the post. I do not AvIsh you to enter into any detail of the grounds of your opinion, but let the opinion be explicit, and, if you please, let it be the result of a consultation AvIth our friend Robert Smith. 334 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1805. Meanwhile, the fate of the Administration became every day more visibly involved in the management of foreign affairs. Mr. Jefferson's theory, that the belligerents would not make him SAvallow so much as they had forced down the throats of his predecessors, Avas rapidly becoming more than questionable. England blockaded our ports and impressed our seamen ; Spain refused to carry out her pledges of indemnification for illegal seizures of our ships, insisted upon limiting our Louisiana pur chase to a mere strip of territory on the Avest bank of the Mis sissippi, and was supported by France in doing so. Mr. Jefferson Avas at this time Impressed with the idea that he could balance one belligerent against another and could force Spain to recede by throwing himself into the arms of England. Under these circumstances, on the 7th August, 1805, he called upon the members of his Cabinet for their Avritten opinions on the course to be pursued towards Spain. Mr. Gallatin's reply, dated September 12,' Is a very interesting paper, covering the Avhole ground of discussion, and composed in a spirit of judicial fairness toAvards Spain very unusual in American state papers. Acting on his invariable theory of American interests, he dis suaded from Avar, and urged continued negotiation even if It only resulted in postponing a rupture. To gain time Avas with him to gain everything ; after the year 1809 the redemption of debt Avould have gone so far that $3,500,000 Avould be annually available, out of the $8,000,000 fund, for other purposes ; adding the savings and preparations of these three yeare and the Inter mediate groAvth of the country, there Avas no difficulty In shoAV- ing the Importance of preserving peace. But perhaps the most curious part of this paper is that in AvhIch Mr. Gallatin accepts the doctrine of a naA,^ ; after explaining that he could count on a probable annual surplus of $2,000,000, he went on to deal with its application : "It is probable that the greater part of that surplus will be applied to the formation of a navy; and if Congress shall decide in favor of that measure, I would suggest that the mode best calculated, in my opinion, to effect it, and so impress other ' Gallatin's "Writings, vol. i. p, 241. 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 335 nations that we are in earnest about it, Avould be a distinct Act enacted for that sole purpose, appropriating for a fixed number of years (or for as many yeare as would be sufficient to build a determinate number of ships of the line) a fixed sum of money, say one million of dollars annually, . . . the money to be ex clusively applied to the building of ships of the line, for there would still be a sufficient surplus to add immediately a few frigates to our navy. . . . Whether the creation of an efficient navy may not, by encouraging Avars and drawing us in the usual vortex of expenses and foreign relations, be the cause of greater evils than those it Is intended to prevent, is not the question which I mean to discuss. This is to be decided by the repre sentatives of the nation, and although I have been desirous that the measure might at least be postponed, I have had no doubt for a long time that the United States would ultimately have a navy. It is certain that, so long as we have none, Ave must perpetually be liable to Injuries and insults, particularly from the belligerent powere Avlien there is a Avar in Europe ; and In deciding for or against the measure Congress will fairly decide the question, Avhether they think It more for the interest of the United States to preserve a pacific and temporizing system, and to tolerate those Injuries and insults to a great extent, than to be prepared, like the great European nations, to repel every injury by the sword." This seems to have been sound Federalist doctrine so far as It went. Tirae and the growth of natural resources were gradually bringing Mr. Gallatin to a point not much behind the last Ad ministration ; had the Navy been In the hands of a stronger man it is not unlikely that the appropriation offered by Mr. Gallatin might noAV have been carried through Congresi?, but even in making the proposition Mr. Gallatin shoAved his sense of Mr. Robert Smith's capacity by Insisting that the money should be jjlaced in tlie hands of commis.sioncrs. To judge from John Randolph's expressions, he Avas at this time of the same opinion with Mr. Gallatin, both in regard to the navy and its Secretary. But Mr. Jeffereon's views, never heartily turned towards strong measures, soon changed. On the 23d October, 1805, he wrote to Mr. Gallatin that there Avas no longer any occasion for a hasty 336 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1805. decision ; the European Avar was certain to continue. " We may make another effort for a peaceable accommodation with Spain without the danger of being left alone to cope with both France and Spain." And he closed by propounding an entirely new proposition : " Our question noAV is in Avhat Avay to give Spain another opportunity of arrangement. Is not Paris the place? France the agent? The purchase of the Floridas the means ?" If there Avas anything in this rapid change of front on the part of Mr. Jefferson that argued vacillation of mind, it still amounted to the adoption of Mr. Gallatin's vIcavs, and he seems to have so regarded it. Unfortunately, Avhen Mr. Jeffereon. undertook to carry out his new policy he attempted the diffi cult task of concealing it under the cover of the old one; he Avished, In other words, to combine the advantages of a war policy with those of a peace policy, and to escape the conse quences of both, so far as risks were concerned. The success of the Louisiana purchase, two years before, uoav led him to repeat the experiment; the scheme in his mind was intended to be a close imitation of the course Avhich had resulted in obtaining Louisiana; Spain Avas partly to be frightened, partly to be bribed, into the sale of Florida. Mr. Gallatin's notes on the message of this year seem to in dicate that it shoAved in the original draft more inconsistency than in its ultimate form. Mr. Jefferson spoke of Avar as prob able, and recommended preparation for it, — organization of the militia, gun-boats, and land-batteries ; he even gave a strong hint that he was ready to build ships of the line; yet at the same time he recommended the abandonment of the Mediterranean Fund which, as Mr. Gallatin pointed out, was necessary to pro vide for the purchase of Florida on their own scheme, or to im pose upon Spain a sense of their being in earnest about war.' After thorough revision the message Avas at last made to suit its double purpose, and was sent in. This, however, Avas only the beginning. The plan of opera tions was intended to be an exact repetition of that which had been followed in the Louisiana case, — a public message to be 1 Gallatin's "Writings, vol. i. p. 263. 1805. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 337 followed by a secret one, public resolutions to be adopted by the House, and a confidential report and appropriation. Mr. Galla tin advised this couree as the one already settled by precedent, and Mr. Jefferson set to work drafting the public resolutions which were to be adopted by the House and to impose upon Spain. The President's firet draft' met with little success; indeed, it was open to ridicule, and both Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Joseph H. Nicholson reraonstrated. Mr. Jeffereon accordingly made what he called a revised edition ;' but there was a serious dif ficulty in the task itself, as Mr. Gallatin wrote on December 3, 1805, to Mr. Jeffereon: "The apparent difficulty In framing the resolutions arises from the attempt to blend the three objects together. The same reasons which have induced the President to Send two distinct messages, render it necessary that the public resolutions of Congress should be distinct from the private ones ; those which relate to the war-posture of the Spanish affairs, which are intended to express the national sense on that subject, and to enable the President to take the steps which appear im mediately necessary on the frontier, should not be mixed with those proceedings calculated only to effect an accommodation." There was, hoAvever, a more serious difficulty, on which Mr. Grallatin did not dwell ; the Administration was not in earnest. He had himself already pointed out what should be done if war were really contemplated. Half a dozen ships of the line, a few more frigates, and Some regiments for the regular army were the only measures Avhich Spain would respect. It is true that this policy would have been merely a repetition of that pursued by the last Administration towards France, but that policy had at least not been 1 feeble. Mr. Jeffereon should not have taken a " war posture" unless he was ready to do so with vigor. The confidential message was sent in on the 6th December, 1805, three days after the annual message. Its object as under stood by Mr. Gallatin was " to inform Congress that France being disposed to favor an arrangement, the present moment should not be lost, but that the means must be supplied by Con gress. It is also intended to say that in the mean while, and in • Gallatin's "Writings, toI. i. p. 277. ' Ibid., p. 281. 22 338 LIFE OF a;.BBRT GALLATIN. 1805. order to promote an arrangement, force should be interposed to a certain degree. ... To the tenor of the message itself X have but pne objection : that it does not explicitly declare the object in view, and may hereafter be cayllled at as having induced Con gress into a mistaken opinion of that object. For although the latter end of the third paragraph is expressed in comprehensive terras, yet the omission of the word Florida may lead to error ; nor does the message convey the Idea that In order to effect an accommodation a much larger sum of money will probably be requisite than had been contemplated," The President had noAV carried out his part of the project. Both the public and secret messages were before the House j it remained for the House to echo back the wishes of the Ad ministration, and on this score Mr. Jefferson seems to have felt no filarm, for he supposed himself to be asking merely an exact repetition of action taken only two years before in the Louisiana case. John Randolph had done then precisely what he was expected to do noAV. Mr. Gallatin, on the 7th December, "wrote a note to Mr. Nicholson, and put the matter of the President's resolutions in his hands. Jolin Randolph called on the President the same day and made an appointment with him for a conver sation the next morning. He has himself given an account of this interview. Full explanations were made to hiin, and Mr. Jefferson seems to have told hira with perfect frankness all the views of the Adrainlstration. There was in fact, so far as Conr gress was concerned, nothing to conceal. " He then learned," according to his account publisl>ed under the signature of Decius, in the Richmond Enquirer, the foUowT ing August, " not without some surprise, that an appropriation of two millions was wanted to purchase Florida. He told the President Avithout reserve that he would never agree to such a measure, because the money had not been asked for in the mes sage ; that he could not consent to shift upon his own shoulders or those of the House the proper responsibility of the Executive; but that even if the money had been explicitly demanded he should have been averse to granting it, because, after the total failure of every attempt at negotiation, such a step would dis grace us forever." 1806. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 339 This opposition of Mr. Randolph endangered the Avhole scheme. Mr. Nicholson, Avho Avas second on the committee, Avas a close friend of Randolph, and more or less influenced by him, while the other membere friendly to the Administration wanted the weight necessary to overbalance the chairman. Nevertheless it was impossible to recede. After Avalting till the 21st Decem ber for Randolph to act, Mr. Nicholson seems to have interposed and in a maimer obliged him to meet the coraralttee. " As they were about to assemble," says Decius, " the chairman (Randolph) was called aside by the Secretary of the Treasury, with whom he retired, and Avho put into his hands a paper headed ' Provision for the purchase of Florida.' As soon as he had cast his eyes on the title the chairman declared that he Avould not vote a shil ling. The Secretary interrupted hira by observing, with his characteristic caution, that he did not mean to be understood as recommending the measure, but, if the committee should deem it advisable, he had devised a plan for raising the necessary supplies, as he had been requested or directed in that case to do. The chairman expressed himself disgusted with the whole of the proceeding, which he could not but consider as highly disingenuous." Not until January 3, 1806, did the committee report, and then its report provided only for a " war posture," and not for pur chase. The Plouse now proceeded in secret session to debate the message, and then at last Mr. Randolph flung his bomb into the midst of his friends and followers. Seizing with considerable dexterity, but with extravagant violence, the really weak point in Mr. Jefferson's message, he assailed the Administration, or at least its foreign policy, with the fury of a madman. The whole Administration phalanx was thrown into disorder and embittered to exasperation ; the whole effect proposed from the negotiation was destroyed in advance ; but the government was obliged to go on, and at last its propositions, in spite of Randolph, were carried through Congress. Although the actual struggle took place in secret session, Ran dolph lost no time in making his attack public, and it very soon became evident that the true object of his hostility was Mr. Madison. On the 5th March, In debating the non-importation 340 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808. policy, he began a violent assault by asserting that he had asked the Administration, " What Is the ojilnion of the Cabinet ? . . . My answer was (and from a Cabinet minister, too), ' There is no longer any Cabinet.' " On the 15tli, he developed this suggestion into a rhetorical panegyric upon Mr. Gallatin at the expense of Mr. Madison ; he told how certain despatches from Europe had arrived at the State Department in December, and how Mr. Gallatin, in reply to an inquiry, had told him at a later time that the contents of these despatches had not yet been communi cated to the Cabinet : " It Avas when I discovered that the head of the second department under the government did not know they were in existence, much less that his opinion on them had not been consulted, that I declared what I repeat, that there is no Cabinet. You have no Cabinet ! What, the head of the Treasury Department, — a vigorous and commanding statesman, a practical statesman, the benefit of Avhose wisdom and experience the nation fondly believes it always obtained before the great measures of the government are taken, — unacquainted with and unconsulted on important despatches, — and yet talk of a Cabinet I Not merely unconsulted, but ignorant of the documents. ... I have no hesitation In saying, there is no Cabinet, when I see a man second to none for vigorous understanding and practical good sense ousted from it." The movement was an insidious one, calculated to sow distrust between Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Madison ; but to judge from the tone of Mr. Randolph's letters, even as far back as June, 1803, it was an understood fact with hira and with Mr. Gallatin that the Administration wanted cohesion and co-operation, and it ap pears clearly enough that at least so far as the Navy Department was concerned, Mr. Gallatin made this a subject of repeated re monstrance to the President himself, although he never made complaint against Mr. Madison, and, as his correspondence shows, he Avas fully in harmony AvIth the foreign policy pur sued.' That he agreed Avith Randolph In considering the Presi dent too lax in discipline seems certain. Mr. Gallatin did Avhat he could to correct the impression thus 1 Cf. Jefferson to "Wirt, 8d May, 1811. Jefferson's "Writings, vol. v. p. 593. 1806. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 341 given, and Randolph Avas obliged ultimately to withdraw his assertion, or at least essentially to qualify it ; but this seems to have irritated hira into making another similar attack on the 7th April, immediately after AvithdraAvIng the former one: "I wish," said he, " the heads of departments had seats on this floor. Were this the case, to one of them I Avould imraedlately propound this question : Did you or did you not. In your capacity of a public functionary, tell me, in my capacity of a public functionary, that France would not suffer Spain to settle her differences Avith us, that she Avanted money, that avc must give her money or take a Spanish or French Avar ? . . . I would put this question to another head of department : Was or was not an application made to you for money to be conveyed to Europe to carry on any species of diplomatic negotiation there ? I would listen to his answer, and if he put his hand on his heart and like a man of honor said, No ! I Avould believe him, though it Avould recpiire a great stretch of credulity. I Avould call into my aid faith, not reason, and believe where I was not convinced." At the moment this Avas said, Mr. Gallatin was on the floor of the House, and Mr. Jackson, of Virginia, at once asked him whether it Avas true that such an application was made. He replied that it was not, and explained how the mistake arose. Mr. Jackson immediately took the floor and repeated his Avords, characterizing the charge that Mr. Madison had attempted to draw money out of the Treasury Avithout the authority of law, as " destitute of truth and foundation, — mark the expression ; I say it is destitute of truth," evidently courting a quarrel. H§ took care, however, to relieve Mr. Gallatin of responsibility for these AVords, while, in order to establish the fact of denial, he caused a resolution of inquiry to be adopted by the House, which pro duced a categorical reply from Mr. Gallatin, "that no 'applica tion has been made to draw money from the Treasury before an appropriation made by laAV for that purpose.' The circumstances which may have produced an impression that such an application had been made, being unconnected with any matter pertaining to the duties of the office of Secretary of the Treasury, are not pre sumed to come within the scope of the Information required from this Department by the House." 342 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1806. Meanwhile Mr. Gallatin had already taken measures to correct at its source the error to Avhich Mr. Randolph was giving cur rency.' It appeare that in explainmg the wishes of the govern ment to two New York members, George Clinton, Jr., and Josiah Masters, Mr. Gallatin had found them sceptical in regard to the propriety of the proposed action of Congress, and, in order to convmce them that the President and Cabinet were in earnest and really anxious for the appropriation, he said that so anxious were they as to have actually had a discussion in Cabinet, before Congress met, whether they might not promise In the negotiation to pay a sum down without waiting for action from Congress; so anxious were they that Mr. Madison, although the bill was not yet fairly passed, though certain to pass Avithm less than a week, had already requested Mr. Gallatin to buy exchange.' This con versation, repeated by Mr. Masters, and coining to the ears of John Randolph, produced his solemn Inquiry meant to imply that Mr. Madison had approached Mr. Gallatin Avith a proposi tion to take money illegally liom the Treasury, and that Mr. Gallatin had repelled the idea. What made this notion more absurd was that the first proposition was not Mr. Madison's, but came from Mr. Jeffereon; only by jurablmg the two facts together and recklessly disregarding every means of better in forming himself, had Randolph succeeded in dragging Mr. Madison into the field at all. This official denial and private correction of the story, after wards made public in the shape of a letter frora the New York member to his constituents, seem to be sufficient for the satisfac tion of all parties. Still, the innuendo of Randolph was com promising to Mr. Gallatin, and was made the theme of long- contmued attacks upon him. Five yeare afterwards, when Mr. Madison was President and Gallatin Avas in sore need of sup port, Mr. Jeffereon wrote to William Wirt a letter warmly defending him in this matter as in others. He said, in taking up one by one the charges that Mr. Gallatin had been a party 1 Letter to George Clinton, Jr., dated 5th April, 1806. "Writings, vol. i. p. 295. » Gallatin's "Writings, Endorsement on letter of G. Clinton, Jr., vol. i. p. 298. 1806. fHE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 343 to Randolph's opposition : " But the story of tho tAvo millions ; Mr. Gallatin satisfied us that this affirmation of J. R. Avas as unautliorlzed as the fact itself Avas false. It resolves itself, there- fote, into his inexplicit letter to a committee of Congress. As to this, my own surmise Avas that Mr. Gallatin might have used some hypothetical expression In convereing on that subject, which J; R. made a positive one, and he being a duellist, and Mr. Gal latin Avith a Avife and children depending on hira for their daily subsistence, the latter might wish to avoid collision and insult froln such a man." .^ There are occasions when defence is Avoree than attack. If Mr. Jefferson thought that his Secretary of the Treasury wanted the moral courage to speak out at the risk of pereonai danger, there is no more to be said so far as concerns Mr. Jeffereon ; but in regard to Mr. Gallatin the suggestion seems to be com pletely set aside by two considerations : In the first place, the question put by Randolph Avas not founded, nor even alleged to be founded, on his own conversations with Mr. Gallatin,' and therefore not he, but Mr. Mastere alone, had the right to call Mr. Grallatin to account; in the second place, Mr. Gallatin's letter was very explicit on one point, and that to a duellist the essential one ; it flatly and categorically contradicted Randolph's charge, and there seems to be no reason why Mr. Randolph might not have founded a challenge on that contradiction as well as on any other had he felt that the occasion warrahted a duel. The truth Is that Mr. Randolph at this time might have fought as many duels as there were days, had he wished to do so. Bitter as his tongue was, there were men enough who were not afraid either of it or of his pistols. Mr. Gallatin, on the other hand, was anxious that, if possible, Randolph should not be outlawed. Until March, 1807, at ail events, he was chair man of the Ways and Means, and Mr. Gallatin's relations with him must be maintained. More than thisj there Avas absolutely no other member on the Administration side of the House who 1 See " Decius, II.," Richmond Enquirer, November, 1806, republished in the Aurora for 25th November, 1806. 344 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1800. had the capacity to take the place of leader. Even in October, 1807, when Randolph was at last dethroned, it was, as will, be seen, much against Mr. Gallatin's Avill, and, as he well knew, much to the risk of public interest and his own comfort. He Avould rather have continued to tolerate Randolph than to trust the leadership of the House In the hands of incompetent men. Nevertheless, this conduct of Mr. Randolph necessarily broke up the confidence existing between him and Mr. Gallatin, and although Randolph was never one of Mr. Gallatin's declared enemies, but, on the contrary, ahvays spoke of him as " that great man, — for great let me call him,"' their intimacy ceased from this tirae. In July, 1807, Randolph Avrote to Joseph H. Nicholson : " I have no communication with the great folks. Gallatin used formerly to Avrite to me, but of late our intercourse has dropped. I think it is more than two years since I was in his house. Hoav this has happened I can't tdl, or rather I can, for I have not been Invited there." The loss was all the more serious to Mr. Gallatin, because at this same moment Joseph H. NicholBon left the House to accept a seat on the bench, and thus the two membere on whom he had most depended were beyond his reach. A corresponding loss of personal influence Avas inevitable ; but this was not all ; the Aurora, while shrewdly avoiding direct support of Randolph's defection, made use of Ran dolph's assertions to charge Mr. Gallatin with what amounted to treason against Mr. Jefferson, and at last Mr. Jefferson himself had to interpose to reassure his Secretary of the Treasury in the following letter : JEFFERSON TO GALLATIN. "Washinqton, October 12, 1806. Dear Sir, — You witnessed in the earlier part of the Ad ministration the malignant and long-continued efforts which the Federalists exerted In their ncAvspapers to produce misunder standing between Mr. Madison and myself. These failed com pletely. A like attempt Avas afterAvards made through other > See Randolph's speeches in Congress of May 26, 1812, and 15th April, 1824. 1806. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 345 channels to effect a similar purpose bctAveen General Dearborn and myself, but Avith no more success. The machinations of the last session to put you at cross-questions Avitli us all were so obA'ious as to be seen at the first glance of every eye. In order to destroy one member of the Administration, the AA'hole Avere to be set to loggerheads to destroy one another. I observe in the papere latdy new attempts to revive this stale artifice, and that tliey squint more directly toAvards you and myself. I can not, therefore, be satisfied till I declare to you explicitly that my affection and confidence in you are nothing impaired, and that they cannot be impaired by means so unworthy the notice of candid . and honorable minds. I make tlie declaration that no doubts or jealousies, which often beget the facts they fear, may find a moment's harbor in either of our minds. I have so much reliance on the superior good sense and candor of all those associated with me as to be satisfied they Avill not suffer either friend or foe to sow tares araong us. Our Administration now drawing towards a close, I have a sublime pleasure in be lieving it will be distinguished as much by having placed itself above all the passions Avhich could disturb its harmony, as by the great operations by which it Avill haA'e advanced the well- being of the nation. Accept my affectionate salutations and assurances of my con stant and unalterable respect and attachment. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. "Washington, 13th October, 1806. Dear Sir, — In minds solely employed in honest efforts to promote the welfare of a free people there is but little room left for the operation of those passions which engender doubts and jealousies. That you entertained none against me I had the most perfect conviction before I received your note of yesterday. Of your candor and indulgence I have experienced repeated proofs ; the freedom with which my opinions have been delivered has been always acceptable and approved, even when they may have happened not precisely to coincide with your oavu view of the subj«;t and you have thought them erroneous. But I am not 346 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1806. the less sensible of your kindness in repeating at this juncture the expression of your confidence. If amongst the authors of the animadversions to which you allude there be any who believe that in my long and confidential intercouree with Republican membera of Congress, that particularly in my free communica tions of facts and opinions to Mr. Randolph, I have gone beyond what prudence might have suggested, the occasion necessarily re quired, or my official situation strictly permitted, those who are impressed with such belief must be allowed to reprove the Indis cretion, and may perhaps honestly suspect its motive. For those having charged me with any equivocation, evasion, or the least deviation frora truth in any shape whatever, I cannot even frarae an apology. And, without cherishing resentment, I have not the charity to ascribe to purity of intention the Philadelphia attacks, which indeed I expect to see renewed with additional virulence and a total disregard for truth. I ara, hoAvever, but a secondary object, and you are not less aAvare than myself that the next Presidential election lurks at the bottom of those writings and of the Congressional dissensions. [To you my wish may be ex pressed that whenever you shall be permitted to withdraw, the choice may fall on Mr. Madison, as the most worthy and the most capable. But I know that on that point, as well as on all others which relate to elections, no Executive officer ought to interfere].' Much raore, however, do I lament the injury which the Re publican cause may receive from the divisions amongst its friends in so many different quarters. Sacrificing the public good and their avowed principles to pereonai views, to pride and resent ment, they afford abundant matter of triumph to our opponents; they discredit at all events, and may ultimately ruin, the cause itself. But if we are unable to control the conflicting passions and jarring interests which surround us, they will not at least affect our conduct. The Administration has no path to pureue but to continue their unremitted attention to the high duties en trusted to their care, and to persevere in their efforts to preserve peace abroad, and at home to improve and invigorate our repub- ' Omitted in final draft. 1806. THfi TREASURY. 1801-1813. 347 lican institutions. The most important object at present is to arrange on equitable terms our differences with Spain. That point once accomplished, your task shall have been satisfactorily tiompleted, and those you have associated in your labors will be amply rewarded by sharing in the success of your Administra tion. From no other source can any of them expect to derive any degree of reputation. With sincere respect and grateful attachment. GALLATIN TO MARIA NICHOLSON. "Wabhinoton. October 27, 1806. . . . I had seen the piece in the " Enquirer" to which you allude before I left New York. To be abused and misunderetood by political friends of worth is not pleasant, but the great question in all those thuigs is : Did you perform your duty, and did you, as far as you were able, promote the public good ? For, worldly as you think me, rest assured that, however I may prize public opinion, it Is not there that I seek for a reward. I suspect — but that is solely between ourselves — that some friends of John Randolph, mortified at his conduct and still more at its effect on his conse quence, would Avish to throw the blame of his excesses on me J and that, on the other hand, a weak friend of the President has felt hurt that my opinions had not in every particular coincided with tiie President's. To those joint causes I ascribe the Vir ginia attack. Mr. Jefferaon, thinking that I might be hurt by it, Avrote me the enclosed letter. ... It affords additional proof of the goodness of his heart, and shows that he is much above all those little squabbles. . . . In order to follow out to its conclusion this long story of John Randolph's schism, it has been necessary to leave the larger questions of public interest far behind. Whatever mis statements of fact Randolph may have made, his opinion on one point was indubitably correct : Mr. Jeffereon's Spanish policy in 1805-6 was feeble, and it was a failure. It was feeble not because it proposed the purchase of Florida from France or from Spain, but because it threatened war Avithout backing its 348 LIPS OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1803. threats by real force. The situation in regard to England was no. better. To tlie very serious questions of impressments, of the annual blockade of New York, and of the lawless proceed ings of the British ships of war, Avas now added the settled determination on the part of England to stop the prodigious increase of American commerce avIiIcIi threatened to ruin the shipping interests of Great Britain. For this purpose an old rule of the war of 1756 was revived, and the American ship ping engaged in the hitherto legal trade of carrying West India produce from the United States to Europe Avas suddenly swept into British ports and condemned. All the resistance that Mr. Madison could offer was a pamphlet, — convincing enough as to the right, but not equally so as to the power, of the United States. Congress, however, reinforced It by a non-Importation act, and Mr. Monroe and William Pinkney were appointed a special commission to negotiate. Meanwhile, the affairs of Mr. Gallatin's own Department had suffered no check or misfortune. His report of December, 1805, showed that the revenue had risen high above its highest previous mark, to $12,672,000, which, with the produce of the Mediterranean Fund and of the land sales, carried the receipts of the government nearly to $14,000,000. The surplus in the Treasury, after meeting all the regular expenditures and. navy deficiencies, French claims, and the $1,750,000 of the Louisiana purchase, for which a loan had been authorized, would still ex ceed one million dollars on a reasonable estimate. The reduction of debt had already reached that point at which Mr. Gallatin was obliged to pause and impress upon Congress the idea that a new class of duties lay before them; four years more of the application of his system Avould pay off all the debt that was susceptible of immediate payment ; the rest could be redeemed only by purchase, or by Avalting until the law permitted its redemption. " Should circumstances render it eligible, a con siderable portion of the revenue now appropriated for that pur pose [payment of debt] may then, in conformity with existing provisions, be applied to other objects." The following year, 1806, was still more prosperous. The regular revenue exceeded $13,000,000; the receipts altogether 1806. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 349 had reached the .sura of $14,500,000; the tA\'o millionR appro priated for purchasing Florida had been supplied out of sur^ilus and sent abroad; the Tripolitan AA'ar was over; a surplus of $4,000,000 Avas left In tlie Treasury; and only three years remained before the day Avhen some disposition must be made of the excess of revenue. So far as the mere financial arrangements for this event were concerned, Mr. Gallatin took them himself in charge. He aban doned at once the salt tax, which produced about $500,000, and he proposed to continue the Mediterranean Fund only one year longer. At the same time he procured the passage of an Act authorizing him to convert the unredeemed amount of the old six per cent, deferred stock, representing a capital of about $32,000,000, and the three per cents, (about $19,000,000), into a six per cent, stock, redeemable at six months' notice. The inducements offered to the holders are explained in Mr. Galla tin's letter of 20th January, 1806,' to John Randolph, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. The greater measures of public policy which were to crown the edifice of republican government, and to realize all those ideal benefits to humanity Avhich Mr. JdTcrson and his friends aimed at, fell of necessity and properly to the President's charge. Nowhere in all the long course of Mr. Jefferson's great career did he appear to better advantage than Avhen in his message of 1806 he held out to the country and the world that view of his ultimate hopes and aspirations for national development, which was, as he then trusted, to be his last bequest to mankind. Having now reached the moment when he must formally an nounce to Congress that the great end of relieving the nation from debt was at length within reach, and with it the duty of establishing true republican government Avas fulfilled, he paused to ask what use Avas to be made of the splendid future thus displayed before them. Should they do aAvay with the taxes ? Should they apply thera to the building up of armies and navies? Both relief from taxation and the means of defence might be sufficiently obtained Avithout exhausting their resources, and still • State Papers, Finance, ii. p. 212. 350 LIFE OF -ALBEET GALLATIN. 1807. the great interests of humanity might be secured. These great interests were economical and moral; to supply the one, a system of internal improvement should be created commensurate Ayith the magnitude of the country ; " by these operations new chan nels of communication will be opened between the States, the lines of separation Avill disappear, their interests will be identi fied, and their union cemented by ucav and indissoluble ties." To provide for the other, the higher education should be placed among the objects of public care; "a public institution can alone supply those sciences which, though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of Avhich con tribute to the improvement of the country and some of them to its preservation." A national university and a national system of internal improvement were an essential part, and indeed the realization and fruit, of the republican theories which Mr. Jefferson and his associates put in practice as their ideal of government. In this path Mr. Jeffereon and Mr, Gallatin Avent hand in hand. The former, indeed, thought an amendment of the Con stitution necessary in order to bring these objects within the enumerated poAvers of the government, Avhile Mr. Gallatin, here, as in regard to the bank and the Louisiana purchase, found no difficulty on that score ; but Mr. Jefferson looked forAvard to the adoption of such an amendment before the three yeare' interval had elapsed, and in the mean while Mr. Gallatin was actually putting his schemes into operation. The firet report of the com missioners appointed to lay out the Cumberland Road, from the Potomac to the Ohio, was laid before Congress in January, 1807. A month later Congress passed the act under which the coa§t survey Avas authorized, and appropriated $50,000 to carry it into effect. A few weeks afterwards. Senator Worthington, of Ohio, one of Mr. Gallatin's closest friends, caused a resolution to be adopted directing the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare and report to the Senate a general scheme of internal improvement. Few pereons have uoav any conception of the magnitude of the scheme thus originated. The univerelty was but a trifle, which Mr. Gallatin Avas ready to take upon his shoulders at once without waiting for other resources than he already had. He 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 351 seemed to have a passion for organization. The land system, the sinking fund system, tlio Cumberland Road, the coast survey, were all In his hands, and Avere, if not exclusively yet essentially, organized by him. He uoav turned his attention to the creation of a new scheme, in comparison Avith which all the others were only fragments and playthings. His report on internal improve ments was sent in to the Senate on the 12th of April, 1808, after a year's preparation. It presented a plan the mere outlines of which can alone find place here. According to this sketch, the projected improvements Avere classified under the folloAving heads : I. Those parallel Avith the sea-coast, viz., canals cutting Cape Cod, Ncav Jersey, DelaAvare, and North Carolina, so as to make continuous inland navigation along the coast to Cape Fear, at an estimated cost of $3,000,000; and a great turnpike road from Mdne to Georgia, at an estimated cost of $4,800,000. II. Those that were to run east and west, viz., improvement of the navigation of four Atlantic rivers, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, and the Santee, and of four corresponding western rivera, the Alleghany, the Monongahela, the Kanawha, and the Tennessee, to the highest practicable points, at an esti mated cost of $1,500,000 ; and the connection of these highest points of navigation by four roads across the Appalachian range, at an estimated cost of $2,800,000 ; and finally, a canal at the falls of the Ohio, $300,000, and improvement of roads to Detroit, St. Louis, and New Orleans, $200,000. III. Those that were to run north and northAvest to the lakes, viz., to connect the Hudson River with Lake Champlain, $800,000 ; to connect the Hudson River with Lake Ontario at Oswego by canal, $2,200,000; a canal round Niagara Falls, $1,000,000. IV. Local improvements, $3,400,000. The entire estimated expense Avas $20,000,000 ; by an appro priation of $2,000,000 a year the whole might be accomplished in ten yeare ; by a system of selling to private parties the stock thus created by the government for turnpikes and canals, the fund might be made itself a permanent resource for further impiovements. 352 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1807. Naturally the improveraents thus conteraplated were so laid out as to corabine and satisfy local interests. The advantage which Mr. Gallatin proposed to gain was that of combining these interests in advance, so that they should co-operate in one great system Instead of Avasting the public resources in isolated efforts. He wished to fix the policy of government for at least ten yeare, and probably for an indefinite time, on the whole sub ject of internal improveraents, as he had already succeeded In fixing it in regard to the payment of debt. By thus establishing a complete national system to be executed by degrees, the whole business of annual chaffering and log-rolling for local appropri ations in Congress, and all its consequent corruptions and incon sistencies, were to be avoided. Nor did Mr. Gallatin in making these propositions overlook the pressing necessity of providing for the national defence. His anticipated surplus exceeded five millions of dollara, and he in tended that while two millions were annually set aside for inter nal improvements, the other three millions should be applied simultaneously for arsenals, magazines, and fortifications, or, if desired, for building a navy, while even from a military point of view the proposed roads and canals were as essential as arms, forts, or ships to national defence. In one respect, hoAvever, Mr. Gallatin differed rather Avidely from Mr. Jeffereon, and this difference of opinion concerned a cardinal point of the President's policy. The famous gun-boat scheme, which seems to have been the creation of Mr. Jeffereon and Mr. Robert Sraitli, took shape during the winter of 1806-7, in a special raessage, dated Feb ruary 10, which recoramended the immediate building of tAVO hundred gun-boats. When the draft of this message was sent to Mr. Gallatin for his criticisms, he wrote that he was " clearly of opinion" there Avas no necessity for building so many of these vessels, and ho urged that tho seventy-three already in couree of construction Avere more than enough in a tirae of peace. " Of all the species of force which war may require, — armies, ships of war, fortifications, and gun-boats, — there is none which can be obtained in a shorter notice than gun-boats, and none there fore that It is less necessary to provide beforehand. I think that within sixty days, perhaps half the time, each of tho seaports 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 353 of Boston, Now York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore might build and fit out thirty, and the smaller ports together as many, espe cially if the timber was prepared beforehand. But beyond that preparation I would not go, for exclusively of the first expense of building and the Interest of the capital thus laid out, I appre hend that, notwithstanding the care Avhich raay be taken, they will infallibly decay in a given number of yeare, and avIII be a perpetual bill of costs for repairs and maintenance." ' Mr. Jeffereon's reply to this argument will be found in his letter of February 9, 1807, to Mr. Gallatin. When he fairly mounted a hobby-horse he rode it over all opposition, and, of all hobby-horses, gun-boats happened at this time to be his favorite. He insisted that the whole tAvo hundred must be built, for five reasons: 1. Because they could not be built in tAvo, or even in six, months. 2. Because, In case of Avar, the enemy would de stroy them on the stocks in Ncav York, Boston, Norfolk, or any seaport. 3. "The first operation of Avar by an enterprising enemy would be to sweep all our seaports of their vessels at least." 4. The expense of their preservation would be nothing. 5. The expense of construction avouUI be less than supposed.' Mr. Jeffereon was a great man, and like other great men he occasionally committed great follies, yet it may be doubted whether in the Avhole course of his life he ever Avrote anything much raore absurd than this letter. When war came, each of his three former reasons was shoAvn to be an error, and long before the Avar arrived, his tAvo concluding reasons were contra dicted by facts. These letters were AATitten in February, 1807. In June, 1809, barely tAvo years later, the then Secretary of the Navy, Paul Hamilton, reported that 176 gun-boats had been built, of Avhich 24 only Avere in actual service. The aggregate expense to that date had been $1,700,000, or about $725,000 a year ; while the reader will remember that the whole navy expenditure for 1807 was $1,722,000, and in 1808 nearly $1,900,000, against the modest $650,000 which had been agreed upon at the beginning of Mr. Jefferson's Administration. Any one Avho is curious to see how far Mr. Gallatin's opinion as to Gallatin's "Writings, i. 330. ' Jefferson's "Writings, v. 42. 28 354 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1807 the "perpetual bill of co.-ts for repairs" was correct, may refer to Paul Hamilton's letter of June 6, 1809, to the Senate com mittee.' Had all this expenditure improved the national de fences, the Avaste of money Avould have seemed less outrageous even to Mr. Gallatin, Avho Avas Its chief victim; but, as most naval officere expected, the gun-boats Avere in some respects positively mischievous. In others of very little use, and they were easily destroyed by the enemy Avhenever found. At the end of the war such of them as were not already captured, burned, Avrecked, or decayed Avere quietly broken up or sold." Friends and enemies have long since agreed that Mr. Jeffer- ¦ son's gun-boats were a grievous mistake. How decidedly Mr. Gallatin remonstrated against the development given to this policy, may be seen in the letter of which a portion has been quoted. He strongly urged that no more gun-boats should be built till they Avere wanted, and he begged Mr. Jefferson to let Congress decide whether they were wanted or not. Mr. Jeffer son did not take the advice, and, as usual, Mr. Gallatin was the one to suffer for the mistakes of his chief; the gun-boats lasted long enough to give him great trouble and to be one of the principal means of bankrupting the Treasury even before the Avar; unfortunately, he had exhausted his strength in com plaints of the Navy Department ; he had spoken again and again In language Avhicli for him Avas Avithout an example; in the present instance he had Mr. Jefferson himself for his strongest opponent, and there AA'as nothing to be done but to submit. With this exception, one merely of detail and judgment, Mr. Gallatin seems to have cordially supported the comprehensive scheme Avhich the Administration of Mr. Jefferson pointed out to Congress as the goal of Its long pilgrimage. , Six yeare of frugality and patience had, as it conceived, fixed beyond question the republicanism of national character, established a political system purely American, and sealed this result by reducing the national debt until its ultimate extinction was in full view. To fix the future course of the republican system thus established ' State Papers, xiv. 194. ' Under tho Act of Congress of Pebruary 27, 1815. 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. ^55 Avas a matter of not less importance, Avas perhaps a matter of much greater difficulty, than the task already accomplished. To make one comprehensive, permanent provision for the moral and economical development of the people, to mark out the path of progress with precision and to enter upon It at least so far as to make subsequent advance easy and certain, this Avas the high est statesman,ship, the broadest practical philanthropy. For this result Mr. Gallatin, in the ripened Avisdom of his full manhood, might fairly say that his life had been well spent. For a time he saAv the prize within his grasp ; then almost in an instant It was dashed aAvay, and the whole fabric he had so laboriously constructed fell in ruins before his eyes. That such a disaster should have overwhelmed him at last Avas neither his fault nor that of Mr. Jeffereon; it Avas the result of forces which neither he nor any other man or combination of men, neither his policy nor any other policy or resource of human Avisdom, could control. In the midst of the great crash with Avhich the Avhole structure of Mr. Jeffereon's Administration toppled over and broke to pieces in its last days, there is ample room to criticise and condemn the theories on Avhich he acted and the measures which he used, but few critics Avould hoav bo bold enough to say that any policy or any measure could have prevented that disaster. The story is soon told. Mr. MoiirOe and Mr. William Pink ney, appointed as a special comraisslon to negotiate Avith the government of Great Britain, began their labors In July, 1806. They were fortunate enough to find the British government in friendly hands, for they happened to fall upon the short adminis tration of Mr. Fox. With much difficulty they negotiated a treaty which was signed on the last day of the year. This treaty was doubtless a bad treaty ; not so bad as that of Mr. Jay, but still very unsatisfactory, and, what was worse, the British government, by a formal note appended to it, reserved the right to render it entirely nugatory if the United States did not satisfy Great Britain that she Would resist the maritirae decrees of France. Whether, under these circumstances, the treaty wad worth accept ing, is doubtful ; whether Mr. Jefferson erred in insisting upon modifications of it, may be a question. Certain It is that the Ad ministration concurred in sending it back to England for essential 356 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1807. changes, and that Mr. Jefferson, undaunted by his previous fail ure to influence France by fear of his alliance Avith England, now expected to control England by fear of his alliance with France. " It is all-important that Ave should stand on terms of the strictest cordiality" with France, he Avrote to Paris in an nouncing his treatment of the British treaty ; but this cordiality Avas to go no further than friendly favors. " I verily believe," he Avrote at the same time,' " that It avIU ever be in our power to keep so even a stand betAveen England and France as to inspire a wish in neither to throw us into the scale of his adversary." Never did a man deceive himself more miserably, for even while he wrote these lines the government of England was reverting to its policy of crushing the comraercial growth of Araerica. Mr. Fox was de^d; a new Adrainlstration had come into poAA'er, strongly retrograde in policy, and with George Canning for its soul. Whatever the errors or faults of Mr. Canning may have been, timidity was not one of them, and the diplomatic ingenuity of Mr. Jefferson, Avith its feeble attempts to play off France against England and England against France, was the last policy he was likely to respect. Even the American Avho reads the history of the year 1807, seeing the brutal directness Avitli which Mr. Canning kicked Mr. Jeffereon's diplomacy out of his path, cannot but feel a certain respect for the Englishman mingled AvIth wrath at his insolent sarcasm. From the moment Mr. Canning and his party assumed power, the fate of Mr, Jef ferson's Administration Avas sealed ; nothing he could do or could have done could avert it ; England was determined to recover her comraerce and to take back her searaen, and America could not retain either by any means whatever ; she had no alternative but submission or Avar, and either submission or Avar AA'as equally fatal to Mr. Jefferson's Administration. Mr. Canning cared little which course she took, but he believed she would submit. The first intimation of the new state of affairs came in an unexpected and almost accidental shape. The Avinter of 1806-7 had passed, and, so far as Congress Avas concerned, it had passed without serious conflicts. Burr's wild expedition had startled > To Tench Ooxo, 27th March, 1807. 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 357 and excited the country, but this episode had no special connec tion Avitli anything actual ; it Avas rather a sporadic exhibition of the personal peculiarities of Mr. Burr and his lurid iraagination. Congress adjourned on the 3d March, 1807 ; as the summer ad vanced, Mr. Gallatin Avent AvIth his family to New York ; on the 25tli June he was suddenly summoned back to Washington by a brief note from Mr. Jefferson announcing the eipture of the American frigate Chesapeake by the British ship-of-Avar Leopard. The story of this famous event, Avhich more than any other single cause tended to exasperate national jealousies and to make England and America permanently hostile, is told In every Amer ican school history, and Avill probably be familiar to every school boy in the United States for generations j'et to come. Even time is slow in erasing the memory of these national humiliations, and the singular spectacle has been long presented of a great nation preserving the living memory of a Avrong that the offending ¦ nation hardly noticed at the time and almost immediately forgot. The reason was that in this instance the Avrong was a cruel and cynical commentary on all the mistakes of our national policy; it gave the sentence of death to the favorite dogmas and doctrines of the American Administration, and It was a pi^ctical demon stration of their absurdity, the more mortifying because of its incontestable completeness. Mr. Gallatin hastened to Washington, sickened by anxiety and responsibility 5 his state of mind and that of his political friends may be shown by a few extracts from his papere : GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. "Wabhinoton, 10th July, 1807. ... I am afraid that in common with many more your feel ings prevent your taking a correct view of our political situation. To spurn at negotiation and to tremble for the fate of Ncav York are not very consistent. But every person not blinded by passion and totally ignorant of the laws and usages of civilized nations knows that, whenever injuries are received from subordinate officere, satisfaction is demanded from the government itself before reprisals are made ; and that time to receive our property from 353 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1807. abroad and to secure our harbors as well as we can is of impor tance to us, can any one doubt in New York ? It is our duty to ask for reparation, to avert war if it can be done honorably, and in the mean while not to lose an instaiit in preparing for Avar. On the last point I doubt, between ourselves, Avhether everything shall be done which ought to be done. And for that reijson alone I wish that Congress may be called somewhat earlier than is now intended. The President wishes the call for the last of October. I had at firet proposed the middle, but from various circumstances I noAV want an Immediate call. The principal objection will not be openly avowed, but It is the unhealthiness of this city, I am glad to see the spirit of the people, but I place but a moderate degree of confidence on those first declarations in which many act from the firet impulse of their feelings, more from sympathy or fear, and only a foAV frora a calm view of the subject. I think that I have taken such a view, probed the extent of the dangers and evils of a war, and, though fully aware of both, avIU perhaps persevere longer under privations and evils than many othere. Our commerce will be destroyed and our revenue nearly annihi lated. That we must encounter ; but our resources In money and men will be sufficient considerably to distress the enemy and to defend oureelves everywhere but at sea. I have, in a national point of view, but one subject of considerable uneasiness, and that is New York, which is now entirely defenceless, and from Its situation nearly Indefensible. This last idea I keep altogether to myself. I think that I Increased my sickness by intensity of thinking and not sleeping at nights. I certainly grew better as soon as my plans Avere digested, and, except as to New York, I feel now very easy, provided that our resources shall be applied with ability and in the proper direction. In the mean while the ships on our coast may accelerate hostilities. This we Avill try to avoid, and so will Mr. Erskjne, who, having neither orders nor advice from his government on this subject, cannot be very easy and will not be very influential. (Admiral Berkeley's order is, very curi- onsly, drawn and dated as far back as 1st June.) But I think that these hostilities will be confined to blockade and captures till they receive new iustructlons, and that New York has no irame-i diate danger to apprehend. At all events, against such a force it 1807. THE TREASUH"?. 1801-1813. 35^ may be defended. Tho difficulty is in case a fleet of teli ships of the line shall attack it. . . . 14th July, 1807. ... Of our public affiiirs I have nothing new to say. It is probable that the attack on our frigate Avas not directly author ized by the British government; it Is certain that the subsequent acts of the commodore in the vicinity of Norfolk were without any order even from his admiral. But frora"" the character and former ordere of the last-mentioned (Berkeley) It is probable that, considering the proclamation as hostile, he avIU order all merchant vessels on our coast to be taken and the Chesapeake to be blockaded. They will not venture on any hostilities on shore until they receive orders from Great Britain; for their naval arrogance induces them to make unfounded distinctions between what is legal on land or on water even AvithIn our jurisdiction, and they have not really sense or knowledge enough to feel that their present conduct within the Chesapeake is as much an actual invasion as if an army was actually landed. Upon the whole, you will, I am pereuaded, have time to do whatever is practicable for the defence of Ncav York. I have seen Mr. Erekine, whom I treated with more civility than cor diality; but I could not help it. I believe that he Is much embarrassed between what is right and his fear of the naval officere and of his own government. NATHANIEL MACON TO GALLATIN. Buck Spring, 12th July, 1807. SiE, — The attack of the British on the Chesapeake and their subsequent conduct near Norfolk has much irritated every one here, and all are anxious to learn what the President intends to do. Frora the tenor of his proclamation I suppose he intends to have a representation made to the British government, and, in case that does not produce the desired effect, to order our minister^ home, and in the mean time to have all the prepara tions for war he can ready. I also suppose from the proclama tion that Congress will not be called until he heare frora London, unless there should be a change in the state of affaus. . . . 360 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1807. If war must be, we ought to prosecute it Avitli the same zeal that we have endeavored to preserve peace, and by great exer tions convince the enemy that It is not from fear or coAvardice that Ave dread it. But peace, if we can have it, is ahvays best for us, and if the Executive can get justice done and preserve it, that Executive will deserve the thanks of every democrat in the Union. JOSEPH H. NICHOLSON TO GALLATIN. Chesterfield, 14th July, 1807. Dear Sir, — . . . We are looking with great anxiety towards Washington for the measures to be adopted l)y the government. For myself I consider a war inevitable, and almost Avish for it. An unqualified subralssion to Britain would not be more de grading than forbearance now. The Ministry may probably, and I think will, disavoAV the late act of their officer ; but there are Insults and injuries for Avhich neither an individual nor a nation can accept an apology. I had hoped, therefore, that Mr. Erekine Avould have been ordered home and our OAvn envoys recalled. Nothing is noAv left to negotiate on. No man ever saved his honor avIio opened a negotiation for it. It is no sub ject of barter. If Tarquin had begged pardon of Collatinus for ravishing his wife, I ihink it would not have been granted. At all events we cannot, or at least ought not, negotiate till our seamen are restored. In 1764, when France took possession of Turk's Island, her minister at the Court of London proposed to negotiate for some claims that his master had upon it. George Grenville told him, " We will not hear you ; Ave will listen to nothing Avhile the island is In your possession. Restore it, and we will then hear Avhat you have to say." It was instanta neously given up. I wis'i Mr. Jefferson would read the history of that transaction, and also Lord Chatham's celebrated speech on the business of Falkland Islands. Each furnishes an ad mirable lesson for the present moraent. But one feeling per vades the nation. All distinctions of federalism and democracy are vanished. The people are ready to submit to any deprivation, and if Ave Avithdraw ourselves within our own shell, and turn 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 361 loose some thousands of privateers, Ave shall obtain in a little time an absolute renunciation of the right of search for the purposes of impressment. A parley will prove fatal, for the merchants will begin to calculate. They rule us, and Ave should take them before their resentment is superseded by considerations of profit and loss. I trust in God the Revenge is going out to bring Monroe and Pinkney home. GALLATIN TO JOSEPH H. NICHOLSON. "Washington, 17th July, 1807. Dear Sir, — . . , With you I believe that war Is inevitable, and there can be but one opinion on the question Avhether the claims of the parties prior to the attack on the Chesapeake should be a subject of discussion. There Avere but tAvo courses to be taken : either to consider the attack as Avar and retaliate accord ingly, or, on the supposition that that act might be that of an unauthorized officer, to ask simply, and without discussion, dls- iavowal, satisfaction, and security against a recurrence of outrages. The result will in my opinion be the same, for Great Britain will not, I am confident, give either satisfaction or security ; but the latter mode, which, as you may have perceived by the President's proclamation and his answer to military corps, has been adopted, was recommended not only by the nature of our Constitution, which does not make the President arbiter of war, but also by the practice of civilized nations ; and the cases of Turk's Island, Falkland Islands, Nootka Sound, etc., are in point in that re spect. Add to this that the dissatisfaction caused by that course operates only against the Administration, and that the other will produce an unanlraity in support of the war which Avould not otherwise have existed. It will also make our cause completely popular with the Baltic powers, and may create neAv enemies to Britain in that quarter. Finally, four months Avere of iraportance to us, both by diminishing the losses of our merchants and for preparations of defence and attack. I will, however, acknowledge that on that particular point I have not bestowed ;much thought ; for, having considered from the first moment war Avas a necessary result, and the preliminaries 362 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1807. appearing to me but matters of form, my faculties have been ex clusively applied to the preparations necessary to meet the times ; and although I am not very sanguine as to the brilliancy of our exploits, the field where we can act without a navy being very limited, and perfectly aAvare that a Avar in a great degree passive and consisting of privations will become very irksome to the people, I feel no apprehension of the immediate result. We will be poorer both as a nation and as a government ; our debt and taxes Avill increase, and our progress in every respect be inter rupted. But all those evils are not only not to be put in com petition Avitli the independence and honor of the nation, they are, moreover, temporary, and very few years of peace will ob literate their effects. Nor do I know Avhether the awakening of nobler feelings and habits than avarice and luxury might not be necessary to prevent our degenerating, like the Hollanders, into a nation of mere calculators. In fact, the greatest mischiefs which I apprehend from the war are the necessary increase of Execu tive power and influence, the speculation of contractors and jobbers, and the introduction of permanent military and naval establishments. . . . NATHANIEL MACON TO GALLATIN. Rook Speinq, 2d August, 1807. . . . Peace is everything to us, especially in this part of the Union. Here the three last crops have been uncommonly short, and the last the shortest of the three. These bad crops have compelled many, who Avere both careful and industrious, to go In debt for bread and to leave their merchant account unpaid. If the Executive shall put a satisfactory end to the fracas with Great Britain, it avIU add as much to his reputation as the pur chase of Louisiana. But if this cannot be done, we raust try which can do the other the most harm. I suppose while I ara thinking what effect the war may have on my neighbors and countrymen, you are engaged in calculating its effects on the payment of the national debt. I still Avish peace, but if this be denied to us I am for strong measures against the enemy. 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 353 Until it was quite certain Avhether the attack on the Chesa peake was an authorized act, government could only prepare for war. Mr. Jeffereon called upon his Cabinet for written opinions, and Mr. Gallatin prepared an elaborate paper con taining a general view of the defensive and offensive measures which war would require.' This done, and temporary arrange ments made, the Cabmet again separated, and Mr. Gallatin returned to New York. Congress was called for the 26th October, 1807, and the Ad ministration came together a few Aveeks earlier to prepare for the meeting. When Mr. Jefferson sent as usual the draft of his message for revision, Mr. Gallatin found that it was drawn up " rather In the shape of a manifesto Issued against Great Britain on the eve of a war, than such as the existing, undecided state of affaire seems to require." He remonstrated in a letter, too long to quote, but of much historical interest.^ The conclusion was that " in every view of the subject I feel strongly impressed with the propriety of preparing to the utmost for war and carry ing it with vigor if it cannot be ultimately avoided, but in the mean while persevering in that caution of language and action Avhich may give us some more time and is best calculato^l to preserve the remaining chance of peace, and most consistent with the general system of your Administration." Mr. Jeffer son at once acceded to this view. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. "Washington, 30th October, 1807. . . . Varnum has, much against my wishes, removed Randolph from the W^ays and Means and appointed Campbell, of Ten nessee. It was improper as related to the public business, and will give me additional labor. Vanzandt has missed the clerk ship of the House, and lost his place, from Mr. Randolph's declaration that he had listened to and reported secret debates. The punishment, considering its consequences on his future prospects. Is rather hard. (The President's speech was origl- ' See "Writings, vol. I p. 341. ' Ibid., p. 358, 21st October, 1807. 364 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1807. nally more warlike than was necessary, but I succeeded in getting it neutralized; this between us; but It was lucky; for) Congress is certainly peaceably disposed. . . . The British government, however, had no intention of making a war out of the Chesapeake affair. With much dexterity Mr. Canning used this accident for his own purposes. He applied the curb and spur at the same moment with marvellous audacity ; disavowing the acts of the British naval officers, he evaded the demand of our government for satisfaction, and, while thus shoAA'- Ing hoAV sternly he meant to repress Avhat he chose to consider our insolence, he sent Mr. Rose to Washington to amuse Mr. Jefferson with negotiations, AvliIle at the same time he himself carried out his fixed policy, Avith which the affair of the Chesa peake had no other than a general and accidental connection. Contemptuously refusing to renew negotiations over Mr. Mon roe's treaty, at the very moment of Mr. Rose's departure to Washington he issued his faraous orders in council of No veraber 11, 1807, by which the chief part of the trade of America AvIth the continent of Europe was, Avith one stroke of the pen, suppressed. As there was no pretence of law or principle under which this act could be justified, Mr. Canning put it upon the ground of retaliation for the equally outrageous decrees of France ; but in fact he cared very little Avhat ground it was placed upon. The act Avas in its nature one of war, and, as a war measure for the protection of British commercial shipping rapidly disap pearing before French regulations and American competition, this act was no more violent than any other act of war. Its true foundation Avas a not unAvarranted contempt for American national character. As Lord Sidmouth, who disapproved the orders in council, wrote in 1807 : " It is in vain to speculate on the result when avc have to bear AvIth a country in which there Is little authority in the rulers, and as little public spirit and virtue in the people. America is no longer a bugbear ; there Is no terror in her threats." ' America had her redress if she chose ' Diary and Corrcspouaeiico of Lord Colchester, il. 182. 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 365 to take it ; if she did not choose to take it, as Mr. Canning Avould probably have argued, it could only be because, after all. It was against her interest to do so, Avhich to Mr. Canning was the demonstration of his own problem.' ' The actual author of the orders in council of November 11, 1807, atbs Spencer Percoval, then Attorney-General. The objects he had in view are very clearly given in a letter written by him towards tho end of that month to Charles Abbot, then Spealcer of the House of Commons, afterwards Lord Colchester : SPENCER PERCEVAL TO SPEAKER ABBOT. . . . The business of recasting tho law of trade and navigation, as far as belligerent principles are concerned, for the whole world, has occupied me very unremittingly for a long time; and the subject is so extensive, and the combinations so various, that, even supposing our principles to be right, I cannot hope that the execution of the principle must not in many respects be defective; and I have no doubt we shall have to watch it with new provisions and regulations for some time. The short principle is thai trade in British produce and manufactures, and trade either from a British port or with a British destination, is to he pro tected as much, as possible. For this jiurpose all the countries where French influence prevails to exclude the British flag shall have no trade but to or from this country or from its allies. All other countries, the few that remain strictly neutral (with the exception of the colonial trade, which backwards and forwards direct they may carry on), cannot trade but through this being done as an ally with any of the countries connected with Prance. If, therefore, Ave can accomplish our purpose?, it will come to this, that either those countries will have no trade, or they must be content to accept it through us. This is a formidable and tremendous state of the world ; but all the part of it which is particularly harassing to English interests was existing through the new severity with which Buonaparte's decrees of exclusion against our trade were called into action. Our proceeding does not aggravate our distress from it. If he can keep out our trade he will, and ho would do so if he could, independent of our orders. Our orders only add this circumstance: they say to the enemy, if you will not have our trade, as far as we can help it you shall have none. And aa to so much of any trade as you can carry on yourselves, or others carry on with you through us, if you admit it you shall pay for it. The only trade, cheap and untaxed, which you shall have shall be either direct from us, in our own produce and manufactures, or from our allies, whose increased prosperity will be an advantage to us. . . . Diary and Correspondence of Lord Colchester, vol. ii. p. 134. See also the Life of Spencer Perceval, by Spencer "Walpole, vol. i. p. 263 ff., for the further history and Cabinet discussions of this subject. 366 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1807. The certain news of the ordere in council of November 11 reached Washington on Deceraber 18, together with threatening news frora France. A Cabinet council Avas instantly held, and the confidential friends of the Adrainlstration consulted. The situation was clear. In the face of the ordera in council our commerce must be kept at home, at least until further measures could be taken. Whether as a Avar or as a peace measure, an embargo was inevitable, and, unwilling as all parties Avere to be driven into It, there was no alternative. A much more difficult question was whether the embargo should be made a temporary measure; in other words, Avhether war, after a certain date, should be the policy of the government. Mr. Gallatin's opinions on these points are fortunately pre served. He Avrote to Mr. Jefferson, apparently after a Cabinet council, on the 18th December as follows : GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Treabuby Department, 18th December, 1807. Dear Sir, — Reflecting on the proposed embargo and all its bearings, I think it essential that foreign vessels may be ex cepted so far at least as to be permitted to depart in ballast or Avith such cargoes as they may have on board at this moment. They are so fcAV as to be no object to us, and Ave may thereby prevent a similar detention of our vessels abroad, or at least a pretence for It. Such a seizure of our property and seamen in foreign ports would be far greater than any possible loss at sea for six raonths to come. I wish to knoAV the name of the member to Avhom Mr. Rodney sent the sketch of a reso lution, in order to mention the subject to hira, and also, if you approve, that you would suggest it to such as you may see. I also think that an embargo for a limited time Avill at this moment be preferable in itsdf, and less objectionable In Con gress. In every point of vIcaa', privations, sufferings, reve nue, effect on the enemy, politics at home, &c., I prefer Avar to a permanent embargo. Governmental prohibitions do always more mischief than had been calculated; and it is not Avith out much hesitation that a statesman should hazard to regu- 1807. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 367 late tho concerns of individuals as if ho could do it better than themselves. The measure being of a doubtful policy, and hastily adopted on tlie firet vIcav of our foreign Intelligence, I think that we had better recommend it with modifications, and at firet for such a limited time as will affortl us all time for reconsideration, and, if Ave think proper, for an alteration in our course AvIthout appearing to retract. As to the hope that it raay have an effect on the negotiation with Mr. Rose, or induce England to treat us better, I tliink It entirely groundless. Respectfully, your obedient servant. Mr. Jefferaon wrote back approving the firet suggestion, and it was inserted In the bill, but on the other point Mr. Gallatin was overruled. Mr. Jefferson and raost of the Southern leadere of his party had a strong faith In the effiaicy of coramerclal regula tions ; they believed that as the commerce of America was very valuable to England and France, tlierefore England and France might be forced to do our will by depriving thera of that com merce; and perhap-a they were in the right, within certain limits, for, other agendes being disregarded and the influences of com merce bdng left to act through periods of yeare, nations will ulti mately be controlled by them ; England her.self was ultimately compelled by the policy of commercial restrictions to revoke her ordere in council, but only after five yeare of experiment and too late to prevent war* MeauAvhlle, the effect of a permanent embargo was to carry out by the machinery of the United States government precisely the policy Avhich Mr. Canning had adopted for his own. Ameri can shipping ceased to exist; American commerce was annihi lated ; American seamen Avere forced to seek employment under the British flag, and British ships and British commerce alone occupied the ocean. The strangest and saddest spectacle of all was to see Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Gallatin, after seven years of patient labor in constructing their political systera, forced to turn their backs upon that future which only a few weelts before had been so brilliant, and, with infinitely more labor and trouble than they had used in building their edifice up, now toil to pull it down. 368 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808, Mr. Gallatin had no faith in the embargo as a measure of constraint upon the belligerent powers; he characterized as " utterly groundless" the Idea that it Avould have any effect on negotiation or induce England to treat us better; but he ac cepted It as the policy fixed by his party and by Congress, for the adoption of AvliIch Congress was primarily responsible, and for the execution of which he had himself to answer; he ac cepted it also as the only apparent alternative to war, but not as a permanent alternative. Mr. Jefferson went much farther. Without at this time avow ing a belief that the embargo would force England and France to recede, he was warm in the determination that its power should be tried. "I place Immense value in the experiment being fully made hoAV far an embargo may be an effectual Aveapon in future as on this occasion," he wrote to Mr. Gal latin.' ElscAvhcre he repeated the same earnest wish to test the poAvere of this " engine for national purposes," as he called it. He Avas restive and even intolerant of opposition on this subject. The embargo as a coercive measure against England and France Avas in fact the only policy upon which a fair degree of unanimity in the party was attainable, or which their political education had prescribed. No spectacle could be more lamentable and ludicrous than the Congressional proceedings of this session; under the relentless grasp of Mr. Canning, the American Congress threw itself into contortions such as could not but be in the highest degree amusing to liini, and Avhen Avatdicd as a mere sj^ectacle of poAverless rage may have been even instructive. There was but one respectable policy, — Avar, immediate and irrespecth'e of cost or risk ; but of Avar all parties stood in dread, and as betAveen England and France it was difficult to choose an opponent. Even for war some preparation was necessary, but when Congress attempted to consider preparations, some members wished for militia, sorae for regular troops, some for a navy, some for fortifications, some for gun-boats, and there were convincing reasons to prove that each of these resources Avas useless by itself, and that taken ' On the 15th May, 1808. 1808. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 369 together they Avero not only far beyond tho national means, but quite opposed to American theories. Nevertheless, a good deal of money was appropriated in an unsystematic manner among these various objects, and Mr. Gallatin's surplus soon began to dAvindle aAvay. On the embargo alone some degree of unanimity could be attained. The omnipotent influence Avith Avhich Mr. Jefferson had begun his Administration, although steadily diminishing with the advent of a new generation and the apparent accom plishment of the great objects for which the party had been educated, Avas still capable of revival in its full strength to give effect to the old party dogma of commercial regulations. Every one Avas earnestly impressed Avith what Mr. Jefferson called " our extreme anxiety to give a full effect to the important experiment of the embargo at any expense AvithIn the bounds of reason." The firet embargo law of Deceraber 22, 1807, was a mere tem porary measure of precaution ; In order to carry out the policy with effect, a completer system had to be framed, and Mr. Galla tin was obliged himself to draft the bill Avhich was to beggar the Treasury; but no ordinary grant of powers would answer a pur pose which consisted in stopping the whole action and industry of all the great cities and much of the rural population ; thus the astonishing spectacle was presented of Mr. Jeffereon, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Gallatin, the apostles of strict construction, of narrow grants, the men who of all others were the incarna tion of that theory which represented mankind as too ranch governed, and Avho, according to Mr. Jefferson, would have had governraent occupy itself exclusively with foreign affairs and leave the individual absolutely alone to manage his own concerns in his own Avay, — of these men demanding, obtaining, and using powere practically unlimited so far as private property was con cerned ; powere in comparison with which the alien and sedition laws Avere narroAV and jealous in their grants ; poAvers which placed the fortunes of at least half the community directly under their control ; which made them no more nor less than despots; which gave Mr. Jefferson the right to say: "avc may fairly require positive proof that the individual of a town tainted with a general spirit of disobedience has never said or done any- 24 370 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808. thing himself to countenance that spirit ;" ' and which dictated his letter to the Governor of Massachusetts, then among the proudest, the wealthiest, and the most populous States in the Union, that the President had permitted her to have sixty thou sand barrels of flour ; that this Avas enough, and she must have no more.^ Congress conferred on the President the enormous grants of power which he asked for, and Mr. Gallatin proceeded to execute the law ; the result Avas what he had predicted when he said that government prohibitions do always more harm than was calcu lated. The law was firet evaded, then resisted ; then came the ominous demand for troops, gun-boats, and frigates to use against our OAvn citizens, and to be used by Mr. Gallatin, who, of all men, held military force so applied in horror; then came the announcement of insurrection, in August, from the Governor of New York, an insurrection which became chronic along the northern frontier, frora Passamaquoddy to Niagara. All along th^ coast the United States navy was spread out to destroy that commerce AA'hich it had been built to protect, and the officere of our ships of war, frantic to revenge upon the British cruisera their disgrace in the Chesapeake, were compelled to assist these very cruisere to plunder their own countrymen. The struggle betAveen gOA'crnraent and citizens was "violent and prolonged. Mr. Gallatin's lettere at this time to Mr. Jefferson are curious reading. He set himself with his usual determination to the task of carrying out his duty ; his agents and instruments broke doAvn in every direction ; his annoyances were innumerable and his efforts'only partially successful. The powere he had de manded and received, immense as they were, proved insufficient, and he demanded more. Already in July, 1808, he had reached this point. On the 29th of that month he wrote to Mr. Jeffer son from New York : " I am perfectly satisfied that if the em bargo must be pereisted in any longer, two principles must necessarily be adopted in order to make it sufficient : 1st. . That not a single vessel shall be permitted to move without the special . ^ To Gallatin, 13th November, 1808. Jefferson's Writings, v. 885. ' To Governor Sullivan, 12th August, 1808. Jefferson's "Writings, v. 840. 1808. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 371 permission of tlie Executive. 2d. That tho collectors be invcBtcd Avith tlie general poAver of seizing property anyAvhere, and taking tlie ruddere or otherAvise effectually preventing the departure of any vessel in harbor, though ostensibly Intended to reraain there ; and that without being liable to personal suits. I am sensible that such arbitrary powere arc equally dangerous and odious. But a restrictive measure of the nature of the embargo applied to a nation under such circumstances as the United States cannot be enforced witliout the assistance of means as strong as the measure itself. To that legal authority to prevent, seize, and detain, must be added a sufficient physical force to carry it Into effect ; and, although I believe that in our seaports little difficulty Avould be encountered, we must have a little army along the lakes and British lines generally. With that result we should not perhaps be much astonished, for the Federalists having at least prevented the embargo from becoming a measure generally popular, and the people being distracted by the complexity of the subject, — ordere of council, decrees, embargoes, — and wanting a single object Avhich might rouse their patriotism and unite their pas sions and affections, selfishness 1ms assumed the reins in several quarters, and the people are now there altogether against tho law. In such quarters the same thing happens which has taken place everywhere else, and e\'en under the strongest govern-: ments, under similar circumstances. The navy of Great Britain is hardly sufficient to prevent smuggling, and you recollect, doubtless, the array of eraployees and the sanguinary code of France, hardly adequate to guard their land frontiers. " That in the present situation of the world every effort should be attempted to preserve the peace of this nation cannot be doubted. But if the criminal party rage of Federalists and Tories shall have so fai- succeeded as to defeat our endeavors to obtain that object by the only measure that could possibly have effected it, we must submit and prepare for Avar. I Hm So much overwhelmed even here with business and interruptions that I have not time to write correctly or CA'cn with sufficient perepiciilty ; but you will guess at my meaning wbere it is not sufficiently clear. I mean generally to express an opinion founded on the experience of this summer, that Congress raust either invest the Execi^tlve 372 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808. with the most arbitrary powere and sufficient force to carry the embargo into effect, or give it up altogether. And in this last case I must confess that, unless a change takes place in the measures of the European powers, I see no alternative but war. But with Avhom ? This is a tremendous question if tested only by policy, and so extraordinary in our situation that it is equally difficult to decide it on the ground of justice, the only one by AvhIch I Avish the United States to be governed. At all events, I think it the duty of the Executive to contemplate that result as probable, and to be prepared accordingly." There can be no more painful task to a man of high principles than to do what Mr. Gallatin Avas now doing. Not only Avas he obliged to abandon the fruit of his long labore, and to see even those results that had seemed already gained suddenly cast in doubt, but he Avas obliged to do this himself by means which he abhorred, and which he did not hesitate to characterize, even to Mr. Jefferson, as " equally dangerous and odious," " raost arbitrary powers," such as his whole life had offered one long protest against. On this score he had no defence against the ferocity of party assaults; he disdained to attempt a defence; all that could reasonably be said Avas true, and he felt the con sequences more keenly than any one ; he uttered no complaints, but accepted the responsibility and kept silence. Others were less discreet. A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. 80th July, 1808, . . . The Spanish affaire have an obvious effect upon our political and territorial position. I do not know the measures or the designs of the government, and of couree I cannot say what ought. to be done as to foreign nations. As to oureelves, I Avill candidly tell you that almost everything that is done seems to excite disgnst. I lament the state of things, but I verily believe one year more of writing, speaking, and appointing would render Mr. Jefferson a more odious President, even to the Democrats, than John Adams. My only hope is that Mr. Madison's election may not be affected, nor his administration perplexed, in consequence of the growing dissatisfiiction ampng 1808. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 373 the reputable members of the Republican party. But I have abandoned politics, and hasten to assure you of tlie constant love and esteem of all my family for all youre. ROBERT SMITH TO GALLATIN. Baltimore, August 1, 1808. Dear Sir, — Your favor of the 29th, Avith the enclosures, I have received. The lettere of General Dearborn and Lincoln I have forAvarded to the President. The requisite ordere Avill go Avithout delay to the comraandere of the Chesapeake, the Wasp, and the Argus. Most fervently ought we to pray to be relieved frora the various embarrassments of this said em bargo. Upon it there avIU in some of the States, in the couree of the next two months, assuredly be engendered monsters. Would that we could be placed upon proper ground for calling in this mischief-making busybody. Even in his own family Mr. Gallatin maintained perfect silence on this point. The use of arbitrary, odious, and dan gerous means having been decided upon by his party and by Congress, and he being the instrument to employ these means, he did employ them as conscientiously as he had formerly op posed them, not because they Avere his OAvn choice, but because he could see no alternative. Not even AA'ar was clearly open to him, for it was impossible to say Avhich of the two belligerents he ought to make responsible for the situation. Hoav obnoxious the erabargo was to him can only be seen in his allusions to its effects : " From present appearances," he wrote to his Avife on June 29, 1808, "the Federalists will turn us out by 4th March next;" and on the 8th July, "As to my Presidential fears, they arise frora the pressure of the embargo and divisions of the Republicans. I think that Vermont is lost ; Ncav Hampshire is in a bad neighborhood, and Pennsylvania is extremely doubt ful. But I would not even suggest such Ideas so that they should go abroad." But he suggested them to the President on the 6th August : " I deeply regret to see my incessant efforts in every direction to carry the laAv into effect defeated in so many 374 'LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1808. quarters, and that we Avill probably produce, at least on the British, but an inconsiderable effect by a measure which at the same time threatens to destroy the Republican interest. For tliere is almost an equal chance that if propositions from Great Britain, or other events, do not put it in our power to raise the erabargo before the 1st of October, avc will lose the Presidential election. I think that at this moment the Western States, Vir ginia, South Carolina, and perhaps Georgia, are the only sound States, and that we Avill have a doubtful contest in every other. The consciousness of having done what Avas right in itself is doubtless sufficient; but for the inefficacy of the measure on the lakes and to the northward there is no consolation; and that circumstance is the strongest argument that can be brought against the measure Itself." These feare proved ungrounded ; Mr. Madison was elected by a large majority, and only the Ncav England States reverted to opposition ; but Ncav England Avas on the verge of adopting the ground taken by Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison ten years before, and declaring the embargo, as they had declared the sedition laAV, unconstitutional, null, and void. Mr. Canning treated the embargo with sarcastic and patronizing contempt as a foolish policy, which he regretted because it was very incon venient to the Americans. As an "engine for national purposes" it had utterly failed, but no one was agreed Avhat to do next. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. "Washinqton, July, 1808. I enclose a National Intelligencer, one paragraph of which, together with the Bayounc decree, contains the substance of the intelligence. The last Ave have not officially. I think the aspect of affairs unfavorable. England seems to rely on our own di visions and on the aggressions of France as sufficient to force us into a change of measures, perhaps Avar with France, Avithout any previous reparation or relaxation on her part. Of the real views of the French Emperor nothing more is known than Avhat appears on the face of his decrees and in his acts; and these manifest, in my opinion, either a deep resentment because we 1308. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 375 would not make Avar against England, or a Avish to seek a quarrel with us. BetAveen the tAvo our situation is extremely critical, and I believe that poor, limited human Avisdora can do and.Avill do but little to extricate us. Yet I do not feel de spondent, for so long as Ave adhere strictly to justice toAvards all, I have a perfect reliance on the continued protection of that Providence Avhich has raised us and blessed us as a nation. But we have been too happy and too prosperous, and we con sider as great misfortunes some privations and a share in the general oilamitles of the world. Compared with other nations, our share is indeed very small. . . . GALLATIN TO JOSEPH 11. NICHOLSON. "Washington, 18tli Ociober, 1808. . . . Your political questions are of no easy solution. We cannot yet conjecture whether the belligerent powers will alter their orders and decrees, and if they do not, Avhat Is to be done ? I am as much at a loss what ansAver to make as yourself. The embargo, having been adopted, ought, if there Avas virtue enough in the Eastern people, to be continued. But without the support and the full support of the people, such a strong coercive meas ure cannot be fairly executed. If the embargo is taken off, I do not perceive yet any medium between absolute subjection or war. Perhaps, however, some substitute may be devised. A non-importation act is the only one which has been suggested ; and that would not answer entirely the object which had been intended by the erabargo, which A\-as to avoid war without sub mitting to the decrees of either nation. . . . GALLATIN TO CHARLES PINCKNEY, Govebkob of Sodth CAnonHA. 24th October, 1808. . . . On the subject of the embargo, and particularly of what you should comraunicate to the Legislature, I raust refer you to the President, who can alone judge of the propriety and extent of communications prior to the meeting of Congress. As au Individual, but this is conjecture and not fact, I believe that the 376 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1808. British ministry is either unwilling, if they can avoid it, to re peal their orders in any event Avhatever, or that they wait for the result of their intrigues and of the exertions of their friends here, Avith hopes of producing irresistible dissatisfaction to the embargo, and a change of measures and of men. I trust that If this be their object they will be disappointed, and of the steadi ness and patriotism of South Carolina I never entertained any doubt. On an alteration in the measures of the French Emperor I place no more confidence, perhaps even less, than on Great Britain. The only difference in his favor, and it arises probably from Inability alone, is that he interferes not AvIth our domestic concerns. But let those nations pursue Avhat course they please, I feel a perfect confidence that America avIU never adopt a policy Avhich Avould render her subservient to either, and that, after twenty-five years of peace and unparalleled prosperity, she will meet AvIth fortitude the crisis, be it Avhat it Avill, Avhicli may result from the difficult situation in which she is for the first time placed since the treaty of 1783. Mr. Gallatin, to judge frora these last words, which he repeated in " Campbell's Report," seeras to have considered the situation as infinitely more difficult than it had been in 1798 or In 1794. In one respect at least he Avas certainly right. Mr. Jefferson's hope of having to swallow less foreign insolence than his prede cessors was by this time thoroughly dispelled. There seems to have been no form of insult, simple or aggravated, which Mr. Jefferson and his Administration did not swallow ; between the exquisitely exasperating satire of Mr. Canning and the peremp tory brutality of Bonaparte, he Avas absolutely extinguished ; he abandoned his hope of balancing one belligerent against another, and his expectation of guiding them by their interests ; he aban doned even the embargo; he laid down the sceptre of party leadership ; he had no longer a party ; Virginia herself ceased to be guided by his opinion ; his most intimate friend, Mr. Wilson Cary Nicholas, favored Avar ; Mr. William B. Giles was of the same mode of thinking; Mr. Jefferson, overAvhelraed by all these difficulties, longed for the moment of his retreat : " Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief as I shall 1808. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 377 on shaking off tho shadcles of power." > So cowed Avas he as to do Aviiat no President had ever done before, or has ever done since, and Avliat no President has a constitutional right to do : he abdicated the duties of his office, and no entreaty could induce him to resume them. So soon as the election was decided, he hastened to throAV upon his successor the burden of respon sibility and AvithdrcAv himself from all but the formalities of administration: "I have thought It right," he Avrote on De cember 27, 1808, "to take no part myself In proposing measures, the execution of Aviiicli Avill devolve on my successor. I am there fore chiefly an unmeddling listener to Avhat others say." ' " Our situation is truly difficult. We have been pressed by the bel ligerents to the very Avail, and all further retreat is impracticable." The duty of providing a policy fell of necessity upon Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin, although they could not act effectively Avitliout the President's poAver. Under these circumstances, on the 7tli November, 1808, Congress met. The President's mes sage, in conformity with his determination to decline any ex-' presslon of opinion,' proposed nothing In regard to the embargo, and this silence necessarily threw the party into still greater dis order, until Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin AVcre driven to make a combined attempt to recall Mr. Jefferson to his duties. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Dbpartment of Treasury, 15th November, 1808. Dear Sir, — Both Mr. Madison and myself concur in opinion that, considering the temper of the Legislature, or rather of Its merabers, it would be eligible to point out to thera some precise and distinct course. As to Avhat that .should be Ave raay not all perfectly agree, and perhaps the knowledge of the various feelings of the raerabers and of the apparent public opinion may on consideration Induce • To Dupont do Nemours, 2d March, 1809. "Writings, v. 432. ' To Dr. Logan. Jefferson's "Writings, v. 404. Letter to Lieutenant- Governor Lincoln, 18th November, 1808, v. 387. ' Letter to Mr. Gallatin of October 80, 1808. Gallatin's Writings, vol. i. p. 420. ' 378 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1808. a revision of our oavu. I feel myself nearly as undetermined between enforcing the embargo or Avar as I was on our last meetings. But I think that avo must (or rather you must) de cide the question absolutely, so that Ave may point out a decisive course either Avay to our friends. Mr. Madison, being unwell, proposed that I should call on you and suggest our AvIsh that we might with the other gentlemen be called by you on that subject. Should you think that course proper, the sooner the better. The current business has prevented my Avaiting on you personally in the course of the morning. Mr. Jefferson, however, as appears from his letter to Dr. Logan of December 27, quoted above, persisted in declining responsibility. Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin were obliged to foUoAV another couree. Mr. Gallatin drafted a report for the Committee of Foreign Relations, Avhicli Avas, on the 22d Novem ber, 1808, presented to the House by Mr. G. W. Campbell for the coraralttee, and which has been always known under the nanie of Campbell's Report. This paper is probably the best state ment ever made of the American argument against the British governraent and the orders in council ; it certainly disposed of the pretence that those orders were justifiable either on the ground of retaliation upon France or on that of American acquiescence in French infractions of international laAV ; but its chief object was to unite the Republican party on common ground and to serve as the foundation of a policy ; for this purpose it concluded by recommending the adoption of three resolutions, the first of Avhich pledged the nation not to submit to the edicts of Great Britain and France; the second pledged them to exclude the commerce and productions of those countries from our ports; and the third, to take imraediate measures to put the United States in a better condition of defence. These resolutions were debated nearly a month, and finally adopted by large majorities. In the mean tirae Mr. Gallatin asked for the extension which he needed of powers to carry out the embargo laAV, and the force to back these powere. A bill to that effect was soon reported, and was rapidly passed, a bill famous in history as the Enforce ment Act. It Avas a terrible measure, and in comparison Avith 1808. THE-TREASURY. 1801-1818. 379 its SAveeping grants of arbitrary poAver, all previous enactments of the United States Congress sank into comparative insignifi cance. How it could be defended under any conceivable theory of the Republican party, and Iioav it could receive the support of any Republle-in whose memory extended ten yeare back, are questions which would be difficult to answer If the Annals of Congress were not at hand to explain. The two parties had completely changed their position, and while the Republieans stood on the ground once occupied by the Federalists, the Fede ralists were seeking safety under the States' rights doctrines for merly avoAved by the Virginia and Kentucky Republicans. As a result of eight yeare' conscientious and painful effort, the situation Avas calculated to sober and sadden the most sanguine Democrat. The idea was at last impressed with unmistakable emphasis upon every honest and reflecting mind in the Republi can party that the failures of the past were not due to the faults of the past only, and that circumstances must by their nature be stronger and more permanent than men. Brought at last face to face with this new political fact which gave the lie to all his theories and hopes, even the sanguine and supple Jefferson felt the solid earth reel under him,' and his courage fled; it was long before he recovered his old confidence, and he never could speak of the embargo and the last year of his Presidency Avithout showing traces of the mental shock he had suffered. . Mr. Gallatin was made of different stuff. In his youth almost as sanguine as Mr. Jefferson, he knew better how to Accept defeat and adapt himself to circumstances, how to abandon theory and to move with his generation ; but it needed all and more than all the toughness of ^ Mr. Gallatin's character to suppott his courage in this emergency. He knew, quite as Avell as John Randolph or as any Federalist, how far he had drifted from his true course, and hoAv arbitrary, odious, and danger ous was the course he had to pursue; but he at least now learned to recognize in the fullest extent the omnipotence of circumstance. He had no longer a principle to guide him. Except, somewhere far in the background, a general theory 1 Letter to Cabell, 2d February, 1816. "Writings, vi. 540. 380 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1808. that peace was better than war, not a shred was left of Re publican principles. Facts, not theories, were all that sur vived in the wreck of Mr. Jefferson's Administration, and the solitary fact Avhich asserted itself prominently above all othere, was that the United States could only be likened to an unfortu nate rat worried by two terrier bull-dogs ; whether it fought or whether it fled, its destiny was to be eaten up. The only choice Avas one of evils; that of the manner of extinction. The country had selected the manner of its oavu free will, not under any urgency frora Mr. Gallatin ; but when it was tried, it was found to be suicide by suffocation. Ncav England, hostile to the gov ernment, and dependent more immediately on commerce than her neighbore, resisted, revolted, and gasped convulsively for life and air. Her struggle saved her ; necessity taught new modes of existence and made her at length almost independent of the sea. Virginia, however, friendly to the government and herself responsible for the choice, submitted Avith hardly a murmur, and never recovered from the shock ; her ruin was accelerated with frightful rapidity because she raade no struggle for life. Mr. Gallatin saAV the situation as clearly as most men of his time, and at this moment, Avhen Ncav England was struggling most wildly, he was obliged to say whether in his opinion the policy. of government should be changed or not. Hoav slowly and doubtfully he came to his decision has been seen in his lettere, and was Inevitable from his character. As he said on Deceraber 18, 1807, to Mr. Jeffereon, he preferred war in every point of vicAV to a permanent embargo ; but the embargo had been adopted as a policy ; it had been maintained at a fearful cost; the injury it could inflict was for the most part accom plished ; the difficulties of enforcing it were overcome ; its effect on England was only beginning to be felt ; so far as New Eng land was concerned, the danger Avas less imminent than it ap peared to be, and the task of carrying that part of the country into armed rebellion was by no means an easy one ; to abandon the erabargo now Avas to exhibit the government in the light of a vacillating and feeble guide, to destroy all popular faith in its wisdom and courage, to shake the supports and undermine the authority of the new Administration, and to encourage every 1808. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 33! element of faction. Abroad the effect of this feebleness would be fatal. In tlie face of opponents like Canning and Bonaparte, weakness of avIII Avas the only unpai-donable and irrevocable crime. Another motive which probably decided Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin Avas one they could not use for an argument. Mr. Erekine, the British minister at Washington, Avas a young man of liberal politics and with an American wife ; he was honestly anxious to restore friendly relations betAveen the two gOA'crn- ments, and he was stimulated by the Idea of winning distinction. It appeare from his lettere that as early as the end of November, 1808, the moment the election Avas fairly decided and Mr. Jef fereon had In effect surrendered the Presidency to Mr. Madison, the idea had begun to work In his mind that the tirae for attempting a reconciliation had come. What Mr. Canning had refused to concede to IMr. Jefferson, the friend of France, he blight be willing to offer to Mr. Madison, Avhose sympathies were rather English than French. Mr. Ereljlne'lost no tirae in sounding the membere of the new Administration, and he found them one and all disposed to encourage him. He talked long and earnestly with Mr. Gallatin, " who've character," he wrote to Mr. Canning on December 4, 1808," must be well known to you to be held In the greatest respect In this country for his un rivalled talents as a financier and a statesman." Mr. Gallatin flattered and encouraged him. "At the close of my interview with Mr. Gallatin, he said, in a famihar way, 'You see, sir, we could settle a treaty in my private room in two hours Avhich might perhaps be found to be as lasting as if it was bound up in all the formalities of a regular system.' " He hinted to Mr. Gallatin his theory that Mr. Jefferson had acted with partiality to France, at which Mr. Gallatin " seemed to check himself," and turne Erskine to Robert Smith, 14th August, 1809. 394 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. one ventured to gainsay him. The Federalists exulted in the demonstration of their political creed that Mr. Jefferson had been the wicked author of all mischief, and that the British govern ment was all that was moderate, just, and injured. The feelings of Mr. Canning on receiving the news were not of the sarae nature. The absurd and ridiculous side of things was comraonly uppermost in his mind, and in the whole course of his stormy career there was probably no one event more utterly absurd than this. His policy in regard to the United States Avas simple even to crudeness ; he meant that her neutral commerce, gained from England and France, should be taken away, and that, if jjossible, she should not be allowed to fight for it. In carrying out this policy he never wavered, and he Avas completely successful ; even an American can noAV admire the clearness and energy of his couree, though perhaps it has been a costly one in its legacy of hate. That one of his subordinates should under take to break down his policy and give back to the United States her comraerce, and that the United States should run wild Avith delight at this evidence of Mr. Canning's defeat and the success of her own raiserable embargo, was an event in which the ludicrous predominated over the tragic. Mr. Canning made very short AVork of poor Mr. Erskine ; he instantly recalled that gentleman and dIsavoAved his arrangement ; but In order to pre vent war he announced that a ncAV minister would be immedi ately sent out. Even this civility, however, Avas conceded with very little pretence of a disposition to conciliate, and the minister chosen for the purpose Avas calculated rather to inspire terror than good-will. Mr. Rose had at least borne an exterior of civility, and had affected a decent though patronizing benevo lence. Mr. Jackson made no such pretensions. His feelings and the object of his mission Avere odious enough at the time and, noAV that his private correspondence has been published ' It can hardly be said that, hoAvever insolent the American govern ment may have thought him, he Avas in the least degree more insolent than his chief intended him to be. 1 Bath Archives. Diaries and Letters of Sir George Jackson. See, among other instances. Second Series, i. 109. 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 395 The iiCAvs of Mr. Canning's disavoAval readied Araerica in July, and spread consternation and despair. Mr. Gallatin found hiraself involved In a sort of controverey with Mr. Erskine, resulting from the publication of Ersklne's despatches in Eng land, and, although he extricated himself Avitli skill, the result could at best be only an escape. The non-Intercourse had to be rencAVcd by proclamation, and tho Administration could only look about and ask Itself in blank dismay Avliat it could do next. GALLATIN TO JOSEPH H. NICHOLSON. "Washinqton, 20th April, 1809. Dear Sir, — I do not perceive, unless the President shall OtherAvise direct, anything that can now prevent my leaving this on Sunday for Baltimore. I fear that Mrs. Gallatin will not go ; she is afraid to leave the children, who have all had slight indis positions. Yet she Avould, I think, be the better for a friendly visit to Mrs. Nicholson and croaking AvIth you. As you belong to that tribe, I presume that, although you found fault yesterday with Mr. Madison because he did not make peace, you will now blame hira for his anxiety to accommodate on any terras. Bo that as it may, I hope that you Avill get 1 dollar and -^^ for your wheat. And still you may say that you expected two dollare. Present my best respects to Mrs. Nicholson. Youre truly. Eustis may have his faults, but I will be disappointed if he is not honorable and disinterested. GALLATIN TO JOHN MONTGOMERY. "Washington, 27th July, 1809. . . The late news frora England has deranged our plans, public and private. I was obliged to give up my trip to Belair, have also postponed our Virginia journey, and have written to Mr. Madison that I thought it necessary that he should return here immediately. We have not yet received any lettere from Mr. Pinckney nor any other official Information on the subject. 396 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. Even Mr. Erekine, who is, however, expected every moment, has not written. I avIU not Avaste time in conjectures respecting the true cause of the conduct of the British government, nor can we, until we are better informed, lay any permanent plan of conduct for ourselves. I will only observe that Ave are not so well pre pared for resistance as we were one year ago. All or almost all our mercantile wealth was safe at home, our resources entire, and our finances sufficient to carry us through during the first year of the contest. Our property Is noAV all afloat; England relieved by our relaxations might stand two years of privations Avith ease; we have wasted our resources without any national utility ; and, our Treasury being exhausted, we must begin our plan of resist ance with considerable and therefore unpopular loans. All these considerations are, however, for Congress ; and at this moment the firet question is, Avhat ought the Executive to do ? It ap-i pears to me from the laAvs and the President's proclamation, that as he had no authority but that of proclaiming a certain fact on which alone rested the restoration of intercourse, and that fact not having taken place, the prohibitions of the Non-Intercourse Act necessarily revive in relation to England, and that a procla mation to that effect should be the first act of the Executive. If Ave do not adopt that mode, our intercourse with England must continue until the meeting of Congress, whilst her orders remain unrepealed and our intercourse with France is interdicted by our OAvn laAvs. This would be so unequal, so partial to England and contrary to every principle of justice, policy, and national honor, that I hope the Attorney-General will accede to my construction and the President act accordingly. The next question for the Executive is how we shall treat Mr. Jackson ; whether and how Ave avIU treat with him. That must, it is true, depend in part on Avhat he may have to say. But I have no confidence in Canning & Co., and If we are too Aveak or too prudent to resist England in the direct and "proper manner I hope at least that we will not make a single voluntary conces-^ sion inconsistent Avith our rights and interest. If Mr. Jackson has any compromise to offer Avhich Vould not be burthened Avith such, I will be very agreeably disappointed. But, judging by wliat is said to have been the substance of Mr. Ersklne's instruc- 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 397 tlons, Avhat can avc expect but dishonorable and inadraisslble pro posals? He is probably sent out, like Mr. Ro.sc, to amuse and to divide, and we Avill, I trust, by coining at once to the point, bring his negotiation to an immediate close. . . . One may reasonably doubt Avhether during the entire history of the United States government the difficulties of administra tion have ever been so great as during the yeare 1809-11. Peace usually alloAvs great latitude of action and of opinion without endangering the national existence. War at least compels some kind of unity ; the path of governraent is then clear. Even in 1814 and in 1861 the country responded to a call; but in 1809 and 1810 the situation Avas one of utter helplessness. The ses sion of 1808-9 had proved tAvo facts: one, that the nation would not stand the embargo ; the otlier, that it could not be brought to the point of Avar. So far as Mr. Madison and his Admin istration are concerned, it is safe to say that they Avonld at any time have accepted any policy, short of self-degradation, which Avould have united the country behind them. As for Mr. Gal latin, he had yielded to the embargo because it had the sup port of a great majority of Congress ; he had done his utmost to support the only logical consequence of the erabargo, which was war. Congress had rejected both erabargo and war, and had in complete helplessness fallen back on a system of non- intercourse which had most of the evils of erabargo, much of the expense of war, and all the practical disgrace of submission. He could do nothing else than make the best of this also. The country had lost its headAvay and Avas thoroughly at the mercy of events. When studied as a mere matter of political philosophy, it is dear enough that this painful period of paralysis Avas an inev itable stage in the national development. The party which had come into power in 1801 hdd theories inconsistent Avith thorough nationality, and, as a consequence, with a firm foreign policy. The terrible treatment which the government received, Avhile In its hands, from the great military powers of Europe came upon the Republican party before it had outgroAvn its theories, and necessarily disorganized that party, leaving the old States-rights, 398 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. anti-nationalizing element Avhere it stood, and forcing the more malleable element forward into a situation inconsistent with the party tenets. Another result was to give the mere camp-fol lowers and mercenaries of both parties an almost unlimited power of mischief. Finally, the Federalist opposition, affected in the same manner by the sarae cauises, also rapidly resolved itself into three sirallar deraents, one of which seriously meditated treason, Avhile the more liberal one maintained a national character. It Avas clear, therefore, or rather it is noAV clear, that until the sen timent of nationality became strong enough to override resistance and to carry the Administration on its shoulders, no effective direction could be given to government. That Mr. Gallatin consciously and decidedly followed either direction, it Avould be a mistake to suppose. He too, like his party, was torn by conflicting Influences. A man already fifty years old, Avhose life has been earnestly and arduously devoted to certain well-defined objects that have always in his eyes stood for moral principles, cannot throAV those objects away without feeling that his life goes Avitli them. So long as a reasonable hope was left of attaining the results he had aimed at, or of preventing the dangere he dreaded, it was natural that Mr. Gallatin should cling to it and fight for it; but, on the other hand, he Avas a man of very sound underetanding, and little, if at all, affected by mere local prejudices ; his ideal government Avas one which should be free frora corruption and violence; AvhIch should interfere little with the individual ; which should have neither debt, nor array, nor navy, nor taxes, beyond what its siraplest wants required ; and Avhich should wish " to become a happy, and not a powerful, nation, or at least no way poAverful except for self-defence." On this side he was in sympathy AvIth all moderate and sensible men in both parties, and was more naturally impelled to act with them than with his old allies, Avho were chiefly jealous of national power because it diminished the sovereignty of Virginia or South Carolina. To one standing, therefore, as Mr. Gallatin was noAv standing, on the verge of several yeare' Inaction, out of which the nation could rescue itsdf only by a sIoav process of growth, the ends to be attained and the dangers to be feared would arrange them- 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 399 solves almost axiomatically. War was out of tho question, not only because both parties had united against it, but because the Treasury Avas very rapidly losing its war fund and would soon be unable to promise resources. If peace, therefore, were to be preserved, the policy of commercial restrictions was the only form of protest practicable, and it must again become the task of diplomacy to re-establish the old Jeffersonian "balance" be tween the belligerents. In other words, diplomacy had become more important than finance. Candid criticism certainly tends to show that the only national policy Avhicli had a chance of success was also the only one which had not a chance of adoption. A sudden, concentrated, and determined attack upon Bonaparte would, in all human probability, have been successful; the Emperor would have given- way, and in this case England must also have receded ; but this would have been a raere repetition of the Federalist policy of 1798, and the Republican party had no fancy for Federalist precedents. The behavior of Canning had roused so bitter a feeling as to paralyze raeasures against Bonaparte, while the Republican party Avas as little corapetent to iraitate the dash and stubborn intensity of the Federalists as the calra tempera ment of Mr. Madison to lash itself into the fiery Impetuosity of John Adams. Nothing remained but to settle the nature and extent of the mild protest Avhich was to be maintained against the armed violence of the two belligerents, and, noAV that the doors of the State Department were closed in Mr. Gallatin's face, his only hope Avas to create a new financial system that would serve to meet the wants of the new political situation as Congress might ultimately give it shape. Throwing behind him, therefore, all his old hopes and ambitions, all schemes for discharging debt and creating canals, roads, and universities, he' turned his energies to the single point of defending the Treasury and resisting follies. He regarded the habit of borrowing money with horror ; this was a resource to be reserved for Avar, when national life depended upon it ; until that time came he Insisted that the expenditure should not exceed the revenue. The ex perience of only last winter had shown how readily Congress wasted its resources: although Mr. Gallatin had succeeded in 400 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1809. partially checking the naA'y appropriations, nearly three millions were voted, and tAVO and a half millions were actually spent on the navy in 1809, without increasing its force or effecting the smallest good; and meanwhile the surplus upon which Mr. Gallatin had relied to carry on the firet year of Avar was rapidly vanishing, while the militia were not organized, the forts Avere not completed, arms were not on hand, and military roads were Avholly wanting. To raise by taxation, so long as peace lasted, all the money to be spent by Congress, was the rule which Mr. Gallatin Avas now struggling to enforce. If Congress appropriated money, Congress must lay taxes. To maintain this ground required a firm, almost a rough hand, and unless both the Cabinet and the Senate were ready to support the Secretary of the Treasury in his effort, his position was untenable, and resignation must folloAv of course. The question whether the Cabinet and Senate would support Mr. Gallatin was, therefore, the necessary point to decide in advance. In the Cabinet, Mr. Robert Smith was the dangerous element. In the Senate, General Samuel Smith and his friend Mr. Giles were the chief disturbing forces, since without them the fulminatlons of Leib and the Aurora offered, after all, no very serious danger. Unfortunately, a circumstance had now oc curred which seriously embittered the relations between Mr. Gal latin and the Smiths. The failure and disappearance of the navy agent at Leghorn disclosed a somewhat loose way of managing business in the Navy Department, Avhich had bought exchange on Leghorn, largely in bills on Samuel Sraith and his relations, in excess of its wants, while at the sarae time it had neglected to raake its naval officers draAV on Leghorn, so that they had drawn on London at considerable extra expense. Thus, at the close of the Tripoli Avar a large balance had remained in the hands of the navy agent at Leghorn, which was partly sent back in specie to America by a ship of war, and partly carried off by the navy agent to Paris, where he was arrested by the interposition of our minister. General Armstrong, and compelled to disgorge. In all this there was enough to Irritate Mr. Gallatin, who had for eight years endured, with such patience as he could command, the loose 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 491 and extravagant habits of the Navy Department, and who was noAV making a noAv eflbrt to enforce a thorough systera of ac countability in that department. But there appeared at first sight to be something still raore objectionable in this transaction. Mr. Robert Sraith, as Secretary of the Navy, had bought bills of exchange to the araount of a quarter of a million dollare, within two yeare, from his brother General Smith and his connections, and on the face of tlie accounts it appeared that these Avere to some extent accomraodation bills ; In other Avords, that the gov ernment money had been by collusion left in the hands of Gen eral Smith's firm until it suited tlieir convenience to remit it to Leghorn. The effect of this operation Avas to give the firra of Smith & Buchanan the use of public money without obliging them to make the same imraediate provision for honoring their bills as Avould in otlier cases haA'e been necessary ; to give thera also the almost exclusive privilege of selling bills on Leghorn, and to throAv upon the public the risk arising from protested bills. This affair came to the knoAvledge of Mr. Gallatin at the time when General Sraith Avas, Avith the aid of Mr. Giles and Dr. Leib, forcing Mr. Robert Sraith upon Mr. Madison as Secretary of State, and in conjunction Avith his brotlier-in- law, Mr. Wilson Cary Nicholas, overthrowing Mr. Gallatin's plans of public expenditure. He avos very Indignant, and ex pressed his opinions to his friend Joseph H. Nicholson, Avho made no secret of the story and used it to prevent the re-election of General Sraith to the Senate. In the extra session in June, 1809, John Randolph, at the urgent request of Judge Nicholson, procured the appointment of an investigating committee, which published the facts. Mr. Gallatin was called upon for a report, which he made in February, 1811. General Smith on his side made a statement which certainly relieved hira to a considerable extent from the weight of some of the most doubtful parts of the traiKsaction. Mr. Gallatin had nothing to do AvIth Judge Nichol son's proceeding, and gave It no encouragement, but his feeling in regard to the scandal was very strong, and after the attacks made upon the Smiths, both by the investigating committee of the House and by the Baltimore press, the following exchange of letters occurred: 26 402 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1809. GENERAL SAMUEL SMITH TO GALLATIN. Baltimokb, 26th June, 1809. Sir,— I do myself the honor to enclose two papers for yoiir perusal. The editors of the Federal Republican make use of your name to bolster them up in the nefarious charge they have made against me, in the following mannei-, to wit : " Mr. Galla tin, we understand, spoke of this transaction in terras of great indignation." I will not believe that any of that indignation could have been directed at me. I believe it impossible that any man who has the least pretensions to character would comrait an act so base as that charged on me, to wit: "to secure a debt which I considered bad by transferring the same to the Navy Department, and thus involving the United States in the loss." Some time after my house drew the last bill (for I was at Wash ington), an evil report had been sent from Leghorn relative to Degen, Purvlance & Co., in consequence whereof Mr. Oliver (who had a ship ready to sail to their address) sent an agent, who, finding the house in as good credit as any in that city, did put the cargo under their care. I thought the house superior to any in Leghorn. I am, sir, yoiir obedient serVaht, S. Smi-th. GALLATIN TO GENERAL SMITH. Trbasurt Dkpabtmbnt, 29111 June, 1806. Sir, — I received the day before yesterday your letter of 26th inst., enclosing two Baltlmoi-e papers. I have no other knowledge of the circumstances connected with the naval agency of Degen and Purvlance than what is derived from their account as stated by the accountant of the Navy Departraent. The transaction, such as it appeare there, is, under all its aspects, the raost extraordinary that has fallen within iny knowledge since I have been in this Department. It has certainly left very unfavorable impressions on my mind, and these have on one occasion been communicated verbally to a friend. Yet I hardly need say that I ncA'cr supposed that the 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 403 bills had been sold to government for tho purpose " of securing a debt AvhIch you then considered bad, and of thus throAving the loss on the United States." But I did believe that you had drawn without having previously placed sufficient funds in the hands of Degen and Purvlance, and that they had accepted your bills and passed the amount to the credit of the United States, without having at the tirae in their hands sufficient funds be longing to you. That this was ray impression you will perceive by the enclosed extract of a letter to Mr. Armstrong ; and Mr. Purviance's statement, which you enclosed to me, shows that I was not mistaken. I do not intend to coraraent on this and Other circurastances of the case. Taking them altogether, I have believed that, if avc failed in our endeavors to recover the money from Degen and frora Mr. Purvlance, we might have recouree against the drawere of the bills. I ara, sir, &c. Such a letter was not calculated to conciliate the Sniiths, and appeare to have received no reply. General Smith ultimately secured his re-election to the Senate. As the case stood, there fore, Mr. Gallatin could count with absolute certainty upon the determined personal hostility of General Smith, Mr. Giles, and Dr. Leib, backed by the vigorous tactics of Duane and the Aul-ora, and he had to decide the very serious question Avhether he should remain in the Cabinet in the face of so alarming a party defection, or whether he should give way to it and retire. On the llth May, 1809, he wrote to Judge Nicholson that the ensuing session would decide this point. Judge Nicholson replied in his own impetuous style: "Your retiring from office is a subject upon which I do not like to reflect, because I believe that you will be a great public loss. It will be a loss that Mr. Madison will feel immediately, but the public will not perceive it in its full extent for some years. When the government gets entirely in the possession of those men who are resolved to seize it, and their selfish and mercenary motives and conduct are hereafter exposed, as they must be, the public "mil then perceive how importatit it would have been to r^In a man who Was at once capable and honest. But I think, were I in your situation, I 404 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. should not continue In the present state of the Cabinet, and I should tell Mr. Madison that it Avas impossible to serve Avith Mr. Smith after a development of the late transaction. The most perverse man must acknowledge the absolute dishonesty that is apparent on the face of it. I have never believed that you took as strong ground in the Cabinet as you ought to do, and it is time that you should do more than content yourself Avitli a bare expression of opinion. I should say that Mr. Smith or myself must go out, and Mr. Madison ought to knoAV you too well to believe that this contained anything of a threat. If you are disposed to continue in the Treasury, the Department of State might certainly be filled with an abler and a better man. Our love to Mre. Gallatin. Tell her I agree with her that vice and corruption do rule everyAvhere, and it arises entirely from the ill-timed modesty of virtue." This last paragraph is in reply to the concluding paragraph of Mr. Gallatin's ' letter : " Mrs. Gallatin says that vice and intrigue are all-poAverful here and there [in Baltimore]. I tell her that virtue is its OAvn reward, and she insists that that language is mere affectation." What Mr. Gallatin's frame of raind now was may be seen from a letter to his old friend Badollet, whom he had sent out to the land-office at Vincennes, In the Indiana Territory, and who, discovering that vice and intrigue ruled even there, was carrying on a fierce and passionate struggle with General W. H. Harrison, the governor, to prevent the introduction of negro slavery. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. "Washington, 12th May, 1809, I have received your letter of 7th March, and am as desirous as yourself of a refreshing intervicAV. The summer session has prevented my going to Fayette this spring, but I must go there either in August or September. I cannot yet determine the pre cise week or month, and Avill not be able to stay more than four or five days, unless I return at that time with my family for the purpose of permanently residing there, Avhldi is not impossible, though not yet decided on. The dcdsion, not to induce you into 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 405 mistake, rests entirely Avith myself. Will it be prudent for you to incur the expense and trouble of so long a journey merely in order to see me ? It was with regret that I saAV you go to Vin cennes ; for I apprehended the climate, and I hated the distance. But there was no option. The Ohio representative claimed for residents there the exclusive right of filling the Federal offices in that State, and it Avas your express opinion that you could not subsist in Greene County. The same obstacles seera to oppose a change. I see no prospect of your being transferred to a nearer district, and you Avill find the same difficulty in supporting your family in case you should return to Pennsylvania. Still, I not only feel your situation, but I think that your happiness in the eve of life avIII in part depend on our spending it in the same vicinity. I Jcnow that It avIII be the case Avith me. If you can perceive any means in AA'hich I can assist to attain that object, state it fully and in all its details; that Ave may attempt Avhat ever is practicable, but nothing rashly. What Avould your little property in Indiana sell for? What would be the ex penses of bringing your family up the river ? What are the precise ages and capacities of your children? I do not know what you can do yourself Avithout an office, but I will not pre judge, and I earnestly Avish that we may discover some means of reunion. As to your squabbles and disappointment, they are matters of couree. At Avhat time or in what country did you ever hear that men assumed the privilege of being more honest than the mass of the society In which they lived, without being hated and pereecuted ? unless they chose to reraain In perfect obscurity and to let othere and the world take their own couree, and in that case they can never have been heard of. All we can do here is to fulfil our duty, without looking at the consequences so far as relates to ourselves. If the love and esteera of others or general popularity follow, so much the better. But it is with these as Avith all other temporal blessings, such as wealth, health, &c., not to be despised, to be honestly attempted, but never to be considered as under our control or as objects to Avhich a single particle of integrity, a single feeling of conscience should be sacrificed. I need not add that I preach better than I practise. 406 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1309. But I may add that you practise better than I do, your com plaining of the result only excepted. The purity with Avhich you shall have exercised the duties of land-officer may be felt and continue to operate after you have ceased to act. And if you have had a share in preventing the establishment of slavery in Indiana, you will have done more good, to that part of the country at least, than commonly falls to the share of man. Be that feeling your reward. When you are tired of struggling with vice and selfishness, rest yourself, mind your own busi- nes.s, and fight them only Avhen they come directly in your way. Give my best and affectionate love to your worthy wife, who has been your greatest comfort in this world, and on whose judgment you may rely with great safety in any plan you may form. Ever youre. Mr. Gallatin did not follow the advice of Judge Nicholson. After the summer session of this year Avas over, the sudden dis avowal by the British government of Mr. Ersklne's arrange ment threw pressing burdens upon his shoulders. In reply to his summons to Washington, Mr. Madison wrote frora Mont- pelier that he did not think his presence there nece&sary. On the 9th August the President's proclamation was issued, accompanied by a circular from the Treasury reviving the Non-Importatioii Act, and the country settled back to its old condition of chronic complaint and discomfort. Nothing more could be done till the arrival of the new British envoy, Mr. Jackson, and the meeting of Congress, nor could energetic action be expected even then. After the proclamation Avas Issued, Mr. and Mre. Gallatin Avent into Vu-glnia to visit the Madisons, and the whole party, towards the end of August, arrived at Monticello. While there, Mr. Gallatin opened his mind fully to his friends, and the trium virate deliberated solemnly upon the situation. What passed can only be inferred from the two folloAving lettere. No decisive action Avas taken or asked. Mr. Gallatin Avent no further than to explain his difficulties, leaving Mr. Madison to act as he pleased. 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813, 407 JEFFERSON TO GALLATIN. Monticello, October 11, 1809. Dear Sir, — . . . I have reflected much and painfully on the change of dispositions Avhich has taken place among the membere of the Cabinet since the ncAv arrangement, as you stated to rae in the moment of our separation. It would be indeed a great public calamity Avere it to fix you in the purpose which you seemed to think possible. I consider the fortunes of our Republic as de pending in an eminent degree on the extinction of the public debt before we engage in any war ; because that done we shall liave revenue enough to Improve our country in peace and defend it in war without recurring either to new taxes or loans. But if the debt should once more be swelled to a formidable size. Its entire discharge will be despaired of, and we shall be committed to the English career of debt, corruption, and rottenness, closing with revolution. The discharge of the debt, therefore, is vital to the destinies of our government, and it hangs on Mr. Madi son and yourself alone. We will never see another President and Secretary of the Treasury making all other objects subordi nate to this. Were either of you to be lost to the public, that great hope is lost. I had always cherished the idea that you would fix on that object the measure of your fame and of the gratitude which our country avIII owe you. Nor can I yield up this prospect to the secondary considerations Avhich assail your tranquillity. For sure I am, they never can produce any other serious effect. Your value Is too justly estimated by our felloAv- citizens at large, as well as their functionaries, to admit any re missness In their support of you. My opinion always was that none of us ever occupied stronger ground in the esteera of Con gress than yourself, and I ara satisfied there is no one who does not feel your aid to be still as important for the future as it has been for the past. You have nothing, therefore, to apprehend in the dispositions of Congress, and still less of the President, who above all men is the most interested and affectionately disposed to support you. I hope, then, you will abandon entirely the idea you expressed to me, and that you will consider the eight yeare to come as essential to your political career. I should certainly con- 408 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. sider any earlier day of your retirement as the most inauspicious day our ucav government has ever seen. In addition to the com raon interest in this question, I feel, particularly for myself, the considerations of gratitude Avhich I personally OAve you for your valuable aid during my administration of public affairs, a just sense of the large portion of the public approbation Avhich was earned by your labors and belongs to you, and the sincere friend ship and attachment AvhIch grcAV out of our joint exertions to promote the common good, and of Avhich I pray you now to accept the raost cordial and respectful assurances. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Washington, November 8, 1809. Dear Sir, — I perused your affectionate letter of the llth ult. Avith lively sensjitions of pleasure, excited by that additional evidence of your continued kindness and partiality. To have acquired and preserved your friendship and confidence is more than Hutficient to cunsole nie for sorae late personal mortifications, though I will not affect to conceal that these, coming from an unexpected quarter, and being as I thought unmerited, wounded my feelings more deeply than I had at firet been aAvare of. [Had I listened only to tlio.se feelings, I would have resigned and probably takeii this Avinter a seat in Congress, Avhich as a personal object Avould have been much more pleasing than my present situation, and also better calculated to regain the ground Avhicli to my surprise I found I had lost at least in one of the branches of the Legislature. After mature consideration I relinquished the idea, at least for that time, in a great degree on account of my personal attachment to Mr. Madison, which Is of old standing, I am sure reciprocal, and strengthened from greater Intimacy; and aiso because I mistrusted my own judgment, and doubted whether I was not more useful Avhere I was than I could be as a member of Congress. All this passed in my mind before the last session; and the communi cation which I made to you at Monticello arose from subsequent circumstances.] ' ' The passages in bracliold were omitted ia the final draft. 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 409 Yet I can assure you that I Avill not listen to these feelings in forraing a final determination on the subject on Avliidi I con- verecd with you at Monticello. The gratitude and duty I owe to the country which has received me and honored me beyond my deserts, the deep interest I feel In its future welfare and prosperity, the confidence placed by Mr. Madison in me, my personal and sincere attachment for him, the desire of honorably acquiring some share of reputation, every public and private motive would induce me not to abandon my post, if I am per mitted to retain it, and if my remaining in office can be of public utility. But in both respects I have strong apprehensions, to which I alluded in our conversation. It has seerhed to me from various circumstances that those avIio thought they had injured were disposed to destroy, and that they were sufficiently skilful and formidable to effect their object. As I may not, hoAvever, perhaps see their actions with an unprejudiced eye, nothing but irresistible evidence both of the intention and success will raake me yield to that consideration. But if that ground Avhich you have so forcibly presented to my vIcav is deserted ; if those principles Avhich we have uniformly asserted and Avhicli Avere successfully supported during your Adminis tration are no longer adhered to, you must agree with me that to continue in the Treasury Avould be neither useful to the public or honorable to myself. The reduction of the public debt Avas certainly the principal object in bringuig me into office, and our success in that respect has been due both to the joint and continued efforts of the sev eral branches of government and to the prosperous situation of the country. I ara sensible that the Avork cannot progress under adveree circumstances. If the United States shall be forced into a state of actual war, all the resources of the country must be called forth to raake it efficient, arid ncAV loans will undoubtedly be wanted. But Avhilst peace is preserved the revenue will, at all events, be sufficient to pay the interest and to defray neces sary expenses. I do not ask that In the present situation of our foreign relations the debt be reduced, but only that It shall not be increased so long as Ave are not at Avar. I do not preten(^ to step out of my own sphere and to control the internal manage- 410 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. ment of other Departments. But it geepis tq me that, P Secre tary of the Treasury, I may ask that whilst peacQ continues the aggregate of expenditure of those Departments bo kept withip bounds, such as avIU preserve the equilibrlqm between the national revenue and expenditure without recurrence to loaqs, I cannot, my dear sir, consent to act the part of a mere financier, to become a contriver of tftxes, a dealer pf loans, a seeker of resources for the purpose of supporting useless baubles, of in-r creasing the number of idle and dissipated members of the coio- munlty, of fattening contractors, pursers, and agents, and of Introducing in all its ramifications that gysteni of patronage, corruption, and rottenness which you so justly execrate, I thought I owed it to candor and friendship to communicate as I did to Mr. Madison and to youredf my feare of a tendency in that direction, arising from the quarter and causes which I pointed out, and the effect such a result must have on njy cpn^ duct. I earnestly wish that my apprehensions may have been groundless, and it is a question Avhich facts and particularly the approaching session of Congress will decide, No efforts sliall be wanted on my part in support of our old principles. But, whatever the result may be, I never can forget either your eminent services to the United States, nor hoAV much I owe to you for having permitted me to take a subordinate part in your labors. Mr. Jeffereon's letter was obviously written not merely to encourage Mr. Gallatin, but to be shown to members pf OoU'- gress. From it one would suppose that Mr. Gallatin had ii» the moment of departure merely suggested the poasibility of his retirement; from Mr. Gallatin's reply, whjch has no such semi-official reticence, the real import of the conversation, and the fact that it Avas addressed to Mr, Madison, are made evident. "Those who thought they had injured were disposed to destroy, and were sufficiently skilful and fornilflable to effect their object." Mr. Gallatin's life for the next four years was little more than a commentarj' on this paragraph, There has, periiai)s, never in our history been a pereonai contest more 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 4U dclerinincd, more fcrodouH, more misdiicvoufl than this between ]\Ir. Gallatin, Avith the Executive behind hira, and the knot of his enemies Avho controlled the Senate ; it Is not too much to say that to this struggle, complioating itsdf Avith the rising spirit of young nationality, avc owe the Avar of 1812, and sorae of the mast imraincnt perils the nation ever incurred. It Avas not unlike the great contest of ten years before between John Adams and a similar group of Senators; it Avent through a similar phase, and In each case the result Avas dependent on the question of war or peace. There are fcAv more interesting con trasts of character in our history than that between the Ncav England President, Avitli his intense personality and his ovcr- poAverlng burets of passion, confronting his enemies Avith a avIU that could not control or even mask its features, and "the Genevan," as the Aurora called him, calm, reticent, wary, never vehement, full of resource, ignoring enmity, hating strife. Per haps a combination of tAvo such charactere, if they could have been made to Avork in harraony, might have proved too much even for the Senate ; and, if so, a problem in American history might have been solved, for, as it was, the Senate succeeded In overthrowing both. As Mr. Gallatin had predicted, the mission of Mr. Jackson proved to be merely one more insult, and our government very soon put an end to its relations Avith hira and sent him aAvay ; but, in doing so, Mr. Madison expressly declared the undimin ished desire of the United States to establish friendly relations with Great Britain, so that the only effect of this episode Avas to procure one year more of delay ; precisely the object which Mr. Canning had in view. As the country noAV stood, Mr. Can ning's policy had been completely successful; he had taken aAvay the neutral commerce of the United States, and the United States had submitted to his will ; he had taken away her sea men, and she forced her seamen to go. Just at this moment Mr. Canning himself Avas throAvn out of office ; his dictatorial temper met more resistance from his colleagues than from Amer ica, and he found himself a private man, with a duel on his hands, at the instant Avhen his administration of foreign affairs was most triumphant. His successor was the ]\Iarquess Welles- 412 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1809. ley, Avhose reputation for courtesy and liberality was high, and therefore inspired the United States with a hope of justice, for even Mr. Madison, as his lettere shoAV, could never quite per suade himself that the British government meant Avhat its acts proclaimed. The dismissal of Mr. Jackson immediately preceded the meet ing of Congress; the interval was hardly suflicient to 8U2)ply time for elaborating a ncAV policy. The President's raes.sage, sent in on the 29th November, 1809, Avas very non-committal on the subject of further legislation, and only expressed tAVo opinions as to its character; he was confident that it Avould be Avorthy of the nation, and that It Avould be stamped Avith unanimity. What ground Mr. Madison had for this confidence, noAvhere ajipcars ; and if he was honest in expressing this as an opinion rather than as a hope, he Avas very little aAvare of the condition of Congress; even Mr. Jefferson never was more mistaken. As usual, the task of creating and carrying through Congress the Executive policy fell upon Mr. Gallatin, and as usual, bowing to the necessities of the situation, he set himself to invent sorae scherae that would have a chance of uniting a majority in its support and of giving government solid ground to stand upon. The task Avas more than difficult. It Avas im possible. Since the Avar-policy broke doAvn and the embargo was abandoned, no solid ground was left ; Mr. Gallatin, hoAV- ever, had this riddle to solve, and his solution was not wanting In ingenuity. His report, sent in on December 8, 1809, for the first time announced a deficit. " The expenses of government, exclusively of the payments on account of the principal of the debt, have exceeded the actual receipts Into the Treasury by a sum of near $1,300,000." This was a part of the price of the embargo. For the next year authority for a loan of $4,000,000 Avould be required in case the military and naval expenditure were as large as in 1809 ; if Congress should resolve on a permanent increase in the military and naval establishments, additional duties Avould be requisite; if not, a continuation of the Mediterranean Fund would be sufficient. But the essence of the report lay In its last paragraph. " What- 1809. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 413 ever may bo the decision of Congress in other respects, there is a subject Aviiich seems to require immediate attention. The pro visions adopted for the purpose of carrying into effect the non- intercouree Avith England and France, particularly as modified by the act of last session, under an expectation that the orders of council of Great Britain had been revoked, are inefficient and altogether inapplicable to existing circurastances. It Avill be sufficient to observe that exportation by land is not forbidden, and that no bonds being required from vessels ostensibly em ployed in the coasting-trade, nor any authority vested by laAV Avhicli will justify detention, those vessels daily sail for British ports AA-Ithout any other remedy but the precarious mode of in stituting prosecutions against the apparent owners. It Is un necessary and it would be painful to dwell on all the effects of those violations of the laAvs. But without any allusion to the efficiency or political object of any systera, and merely with a vieAV to its execution. It is incumbent to state that from the ex perience of the last tAvo years a perfect conviction arises that either the system of restriction, partially abandoned, raust be re instated in all its parts and Avith all the provisions necessary for its strict and coinjjlete execution, or that all the restrictions, so far at least as they affect the comraerce and navigation of the citizens of the United States, ought to be removed." This report, as already said, Avas sent to Congress on the 8th Deceraber, 1809. On the 19th Deceraber, Mr. Macon, frora the Coraralttee on Foreign Relations, reported a bill which Avas under stood to come from the Treasury Department, and which ex plained the somewhat obscure suggestion in the last lines of the report. This bill, commonly known as Macon's bill. No. 1, contained tAvelve sections. The 1st and 2d excluded English and French ships of Avar from our harbors; the 3d excluded English and French merchant vessels from our harbore; the 4th restricted all importations of English and French goods to vessels oAvned wholly by United States citizens; the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th restricted these Importations to such as carae directly from England and France; the 9th authorized the Presi dent to remove these restrictions Avhenever either England or France should remove theirs; the llth repealed the old non- 414 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1810. intercouree, and the 12th limited the duration of the act to the 4th March, 1810. The bill Avas in short a Navigation Act of the most severe kind, and raet the orders In council and the French edicts on their OAvn ground. The Federalists at once pointed out that the measure Avas a violent one ; that it would be immediately met by Great Britain Avith retaliatory measures, and that the result must araount to a new embargo or to war. To this the supporters of the bill replied that governraent conteraplated such retaliation ; that it was intended to tliroAV the burden upon England and corapel her to carry It ; that Congress had tried an erabargo, the principle of which was non-exportation ; that it had tried non- intercourse, the i^rlnciple of Avhioh Avas non-importation; and now, since both these had failed, it must try a navigation laAV that could only be countervailed by restrictive measures to be carried out by England herself. The fact soon appeared that this bill Avas a very difficult one for its opponents to deal Avith ; it did in fact strike out the only policy, short of war, which was likely to bring England to terms, and which, according to Mr. Huskisson's assertion some years later,' she has ahvays found herself powerless to meet. The opponents of the bill at once shoAved their embarrassment in a manner Avhich is ahvays proof of weakness ; they adopted in the sarae breath tAvo contradictory arguments; the bill Avas too strong, and it was too Aveak. For the Federalists it was too strong; they Avished frankly to take sides Avith England. For Duane and Leib it Avas too Avcak, a mean submission, a futile and diso-raoe- ful measure ; not that they wished Avar, for they did not as yet venture to take that ground ; not that they suggested any practi cal measure that Avould stand a moment's criticism ; but that they Avere decidedly opposed to this special plan. So far as war Avas concerned, the President was still in advance of Congress, for not only Avas Macon's bill a stronger measure than the majority relished, but the President was calling upon Congress to fill up the army and the navy, and Mr. Gallatin was steadily pressing for war taxes. > Sppcih of 12th May, 1826. ISldi THE TREASURY. l8dl-18l8. 415 After more than a month of debate, Macon's bill passed the House by 73 to 52, and Avent up to the Senate, Avherc it wafi con signed to the tender mercies of General Smith and Mr. Giles. Otl the motion of General Smith, February 21, 1810, all the clauses except the 1st, 2d, and 12tli AA'ere struck out by a vote of 16 to 11. The Senate debates are not reported, but General Smltli subsequently made a speedi on the bill, which he printed, and In Avhidi he took the ground that the mea.sure was feeble, and that it was so strong as to justify England In confiscating all our trade. This was the ground also taken by the Aurora. Genetal Smith proposed to arm our merchant vessels and furnish them convoy, a measure over and over again rejected. By a vote of 17 to 15 the Senate ultimately adhered to its amendments and killed the bill, Gallatin's personal enemies deciding the result. Throughout all this transaction the Secretary of State had acted a curious parti Silent or assenting In the Cabinet, AVhere, notwithstanding rumors to the contrary, there Was always ap parent cordiality, Mr. Smith's conversation out-of-doors, and especially with opponents of the Adrainistration, was very free m condemnation of the Avhole policy which he officially repre-- sented.' No one. Indeed, cither In or out of the Cabinet, pre tended an enthusiastic adralratlon of Macon's bill ; Mr. Madison, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Macon himself, only regarded it as " bettet than nothing," and "nothing" Avas the alternative. Congress had put the country into a position equally humiliating, ridicu lous, and unprofitable ; it had for tAvo sessions refused to folloAV the Administration and had refused to impose any policy of its own. The influence of Greneral Sraith, solitary and unsuppotted except by Leib and the Aurora faction, noAv barred the path of legislation and held Congress down to its contemptible and crduching attitude of impotent gesticulation and rant. The Secretaty of State Was a party to his brother's acts, and although too dull a man to have any distinct scheme of his own or any depth of intrigue ; although obliged to let the President Write his official papers and Mr. Gallatin control both his foreign and his domestic policy, he nevertheless Used the llbertj' thus Obtaltied » Sfee Btr. Madison's " kcmorhndum." "Writihgs, ii. 495-806. 416 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1810. to talk Avith unreserved freedom both to Federalists and discon tented Republicans about the characters of his associates and the contents of his despatches. Thus the policy of a Navigation Act Avas defeated, and another year Avas lost. Only at the very close of the session, when it becarae apparent that soraething raust be done, Mr. Macon got his bill No. 2 before the House. This Avas on April 7, and on the 10th he wrote to Nicholson : " I am at a loss to guess Avhat Ave shall do on the subject of foreign relations. The bill in the en closed paper, called Macon's No. 2, is not really Macon's, though he reports it as chairman. It is in truth Taylor's. This I only mention to you because when it comes to be debated I shall not act the part of a father but of a step-father." After a violent struggle betAveen the two Houses, a bill y^as at length passed, on May 1, 1810, which has strong claims to be considered the most disgraceful act on the American statute-book. It surrendered all resistance to the British and French orders and edicts; it repealed the non-importation law ; it left our shipping unprotected to the operation of foreign municipal laAvs ; it offered not even a pro test against violence and robbery such as few powerful nations had ever endured except at the edge of the SAVord ; and its only proposition toAvards these tAvo foreign nations, each of which had exhausted upon us every form of insult and robbery, was an offer that if either Avould repeal its edicts, the United States would prohibit trade AvIth the other. The imagination can scarcely conceive of any act more undig nified, more cowardly, or, as it proved, more mischievous ; but In the utter paralysis into which these party quarrels had noAV brought Congress, this was all the legislation that could be got, although, in justice to Congress, it Is but fair to add that even this Avas universally contemned. The Administration had nothing to do but to execute it, and to make Avhat it could of the policy it established. In the contest upon Macon's bill, Mr. Gallatin had the Presi dent's full support and co-operation. But In another and to him a much raore serious struggle he stood quite alone, and all he could obtain from the President Avas that the Executive influence should not be throAvn against him. The charter of the United 1810. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 417 States Bank Avas about to expire. In the present condition of the country, Avitli Avar ahvays In prospect and public and private finances seriously disordered, the bank Avas an institution almost if not quite indispensable to the Treasury. To abolish it was to create artificially and unnecessarily a very serious financial em- barrassracnt at the moment Avlicn the national existence might turn on tinaiiclal steadiness. To create a new systera that would ansAver the same purposes Avould be the Avork of years, and would require the most careful experiments. The subject had been re ferred to Mr. Gallatin by the Senate, and he had at the close of tlie last session sent in a report representing in strong language the advantages derived from the bank. He iioav drew up a bill by AvliIch the existing charter Avas to be considerably modified ; the capital raised to thirty millions, three-fifths of Avhich was to be lent to the government; branch banks to be established in each State, and half the directors appointed by the State; AvIth various other provisions intended to secure the utmost possible advantage to the governraent. Parties at once divided on this question as on the foreign Intercourse question, but Avith a change of sides. The Federalists favored, tlie old Republicans resisted, the bank, and General Smith resisted Mr. Gallatin. During this session, hoAvever, little more Avas done than to in troduce the bills ; the matter Avas then throAvn aside until next year. These subjects, and a hasty report on domestic manufactures, occupied the session almost exclusively, so far as Mr. Gallatin was concerned. When Congress rose, on the. 1st May, 1810, every one was obliged to concede that a more futile session had never been held, and the Aurora fulminated against Mr. Galla tin as the cause of all its shortcoraings. More and more the different elements of personal discontent made common cause against the Secretary of the Treasury, and before the end of the year 1810 the Aurora and its allies opened a determined assault upon him with the avowed intention of driving him from office. It was in reference to th^e attacks, which incessantly recurred to the old stories of 1806, that Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Gal latin as follows : 27 418 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1810. JEFFERSON TO GALLATIN. 16 August, 1810. I have seen with Infinite grief the set which is made at you in the public papers, and with the more as ray narae has been so much used in it. I hope Ave both know one another too wdl to receive impression from circumstances of this kind. A twelve years' intimate and friendly intercourse must be better evidence to each of the dispositions of the other than the lettere of foreign ministers to their courts, or tortured Inferences from facts true or false. I have too thorough a conviction of your cordial good- Avill towards me, and too strong a sense of the faithful and able assistance I recdved from you, to relinquish them on any evidence but of my own senses. With entire confidence In your assurance of these truths I shall add those only of my constant affection and high respect. " The letters of foreign ministers to their courts" were Mr. Ersklne's despatches of December, 1808, to Mr. Canning, whidi had been printed in England, and, on reaehlng America, com pelled Mr. Gallatin very reluctantly to make a public denial of their accuracy." They represented Mr. Gallatin as acquiescing in the belief that Mr. Jeffereon Avas under French influence. Mr. Gallatin, Avith the aid of Mr. Madison, dreAV up a paper correcting Mr. Ersklne's errors, and of course stimulating the attaclis of the Aurora. To Mr. Jeffereon's letter Gallatin replied : GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. lOth September, 1810. I need not say hoAV much shocked I Avas by Mr. Ersklne's despatch. HoAvever reluctant to a ncAvspaper publication and to a denial on matters of fact, I could not perrait ray narae to be ever hereafter quoted in support of the vile charges of foreign partialities ascribed to you, and I knew that in that respect my disavoAval would be decisive, for, if my testimony Avas believed, they did not exist, and if disbelieved, no faith could be placed ' Sec "Writings, vol. i. p. 476. 1810. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 419 in Avhatever I might bo suppo.sed to have said to Erskine. Although I never for a moment supposed that either his letter or any ncAvspaper attack could, after so long and intimate ac quaintance, create a doubt In your mind of the sincerity and Avarmth of my sentiments toAvards you, or alter your friend ship for mc, the assurance Avas highly acceptable and gratefully received. The ncAvspaper publications to which you allude, I have heard of, but not seen, having not received the papers south of this place [New York] during ray stay here. But I had anticipated that from A'arious quarters a combined and malig nant attack would be made Avhenever a favorable opportunity offered itself. Of the true causes and real authors I Avill say nothing. And hoAvever painful the circumstance and injurious the effect, the esteem of those avIio knoAV me and the consciousness of having exclusively devoted my faculties to the public good, and of having severely performed public duties Avithout regard to pereonai consequences, Avill, I hope, support me against evils for which there is no other remedy. Yet that a diminution of public confidence should lessen ray usefulness will be a subject of deep regret. jSIeauAvhlle, the situation of affairs abroad Avas raore and raore becoming the measure of American politics, and the question of war or peace Avas more and raore clearly defined as the turning- point of Mr. Gallatin's life. The exhaustion of the Treasury < Avas alone, for him, a sufficient argument against Avar. He began to believe, and he Avas right in believing, that the Avorst had ^ noAV passed ; that, as Araerica could hardly suffer more humilia tion than she had already borne, her objects could perhaps be attained by peaceful methods ; and almost mechanically, as the government became Impreased Avith this conviction, the oppo sition, so far as It Avas personal, tended to the opposite side, and advocated war. There Avas no other ground to stand upon, unless they went frankly over to the Federalists, Avhich was rapidly becoming Inevitable If they continued their old tactics. Curiously enough, the feeble and disgraceful law of May 1, 1810, known as Macon's law, had a raore Immediate effect on the situation abroad than any of the stronger measures which 420 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1810. had been tried. Ever since the repeal of the embargo on Mardi 4, 1809, England had been the favored nation ; our people, in fact, gave her our commerce on her OAvn terms, and Avere glad to do so. Macon's laAV did aAvay with even the pretence of resistance to her authority on the ocean. Disgraceful as such a result doubtless was to the honor and dignity of the United States, it was in its effects on France a very vigorous engine, for it Avas nothing more nor less than taking active part Avith Eng land against her; and inasmuch as Bonaparte had within his limited range shoAvn, if possible, soracAvhat more disposition to rob us, and a still greater latitude of personal Insult, than had been displayed even by Mr. Canning, this result might fairly be vicAved with indifference, or perhaps Avith some slight satis faction, by the people of the United States. Upon the Emperor it acted, as Avith a man of his temper Avas not unnatural, in a ¦ most decided manner; he Avas furious ; he seized all the American property he could get Avitliin his dutches; he stormed at the American minister, and heaped outrage upon insult ; but the fatal arrow could not bo shaken out ; random as the shot had been. It struck a vital spot, and Bonaparte had to submit. The change Avliich he Avas thus forced to make illustrates his character. When the Act of May 1, 1810, commonly known as Macon's Act, reached Paris, General Armstrong comraunicated it inof- ficially to the minister of foreign affairs, Champagny, Duke' de Cadore, who laid it before the Emperor. According to all ordi nary theories, the Act of May 1, by Avhich the non-intercourse was repealed, would work against France and against France alone ; by it America abandoned even the pretence of resisting the abso lute domination of England on the seas, and accepted whatever commercial law she chose to Impose. The Emperor, moreover, had no means of counteracting or punishing it. He had already resorted to the strongest measure at his command, and seized all the American vessels he could lay his hands on. These Avere now AA'aiting condemnation. The next step was war, Avhich would, of course, operate only to the advantage of England. For once Bonaparte was obliged to retrace his steps, or "at least affect to do so. On the 5th August, therefore, the Duke de Cadore wrote to General Armstrong a letter, in Avliidi, with the usual effrontery 1810. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 421 of the imperial governraent, ho took the ground that the Act of May 1 Avas a concession to France, and that France recognizeil its obligations. "The Emperor loves the Americans;" the Emperor revoked his decrees of Berlin and Milan, Avhicli, after the 1st November next, Avould cease to have effect, it being undcretood that, in consequence of this declaration, the Englisli should revoke their ordere in council and renounce their ucav principles of blockade, or that America should carry out the terms of the Act and cause her rights to be respected. This letter Avas curious In many AA'ays, but it is to be observed more particularly that Avhile ^Macon's law required either bel ligerent to '' so reA'oke or modify her edicts as that they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States," the Emperor as a matter of fact revoked only the Berlin and Milan'^ decrees, and said nothing of othere still more offensive, especially the Rambouillet decree, then only four months old, under which , he now held and meant to continue holding possession of all the American property in France,— a decree unkiioAvn to Congress Avhen tlie law of May 1 was passed. Then came the Emperor's master-stroke, which Avas to punish the Americans for blundering into success. Long unknown to our government, it Avas only revealed by accident to Mr. Gallatin Avhen minister to France in 1821, after Napoleon and his decrees had been forgotten by all but the unhappy merchants whom he had plundered. At that time the Duke de Bassano, Napoleon's Minister of State, had been alloAved by the government of Louis XVIII. to return to Paris. He had preserved a register of the various acts and decrees of Napoleon, and Avas more in- tiraate with their nature and bearing than any one even in the gOA'ernment of that tirae. To hira the claimants sometimes applied for copies of documents to support their memorials, and he furnished them. On one occasion they sought the text of an order by which the proceeds of certain cargoes sequestered at Antwerp were transferred to the Treasury. The Duke furnished what he supposed to be the paper, and it Avas brought to Mr. Gallatin. The following extract frora his despatch of 15th September, 1821, to the Department of State explains what this paper was, and what his sensations were in regard to it. 422 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1810. " The enclosed copy of a decree dated at Trianon on the 5th of August, 1810, Avhich has never been published nor, to my knowledge, comraunicated to our ministers or government, was obtained through a private channel. ... It beare date the same day on AvhIch it was officially communicated to our minister that the Berlin and Milan decrees Avould be revoked on the first day of the ensuing November, and no one can suppose that If It had been communicated or published at the same time, the United States Avould, with respect to the promised revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees, have taken that ground which ulti mately led to the war with Great Britain. It is Indeed unneces sary to coraraent on such a glaring act of combined injustice, bad faith, and meanness, as the enactment and concealment of that decree exhibits." The text of this decree which proved how " His Majesty loves the Americans. Their prosperity and their commerce are within the scope of his policy ;" and Avhicli was Avritten with the same pen on the same day as that celebrated declaration of Napoleonic affection, — the full text of this decree may be seen attached to Mr. Gallatin's despatch.' Under the pretext of reprisals for American confiscations Avhicli had never in fact been made,^ it confiscated into the imperial treasury, without trial or delay, all American property In France, both that AvhIch had been already sequestered and sold, subject to final judgment, and that Avhich was still in the form of merchandise or ships brought into France previous to the 1st May, 1810, the date of Macon's Act. And it further provided that until November 1, Avhen the Berlin arid Milan decrees were to be conditionally revoked, American ships should be alloAved to enter French ports, but not to unload, and presumably not to depart, Avithout a permission from the Emperor. When Mr. Gallatin, at sixty yeare of age, used language so strong us that just quoted and diuructcrizcd an act as one of com bined injustice, bad faith, and meanness, the world may very reasonably conclude that he Avas unusually moved. On another occasion he called It " a mean and perfidious act." There was 1 "Writings, vol. ii. p. 198. ' Ibid., p. 279. 1810. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 423 good reason Avliy ho should have been deeply exasperated at the discovery, for of that meanness and perfidy he Avas a princij)al victlra. What share Mr. Gallatin uoav had in deciding the action of the President is unknoAvn. In the absence of evidence to the contrary it is to be presumed that he at least acquiesced in the decision of the Cabinet, yet not only Is it dear that the letter of Champagny of August 5 Avas not a compliance with the terms of Macon's Act ; did not revoke or modify Napoleon's edicts so as that " they shall cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United States," and, therefore, that the President had no legal poAver to act as tliough it did ; but It is clear, from Secretary Smith's letter on the subject to General Armstrong, dated Novem ber 2, 1810, that the President Avas aware of the fact and escaped it only by strange subterfuge. Already on the 5th July Mr. Smith had Instructed General Armstrong that "a satisfactory provision for restoring the property lately surprised and seized by the order or at the instance of the French government must be combined with a repeal of the French edicts, Avith a view to a non-intercourse Avith Great Britain, such a provision being an indispensable evidence of the just purpose of France toward the United States." Yet, on the 2d November, Avriting to General Armstrong that the President had issued his proclamation against England on the strength of the French revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees alone, Mr. Smith could only justify this evi dent abandonment of his former and correct ground by adding : " You will, however, let the French government understand that this has been done on the ground that the repeal of these decrees does involve an extinguishment of all the edicts of France actually violating our neutral rights. ... It is to be remarked, moreover, that in issuing the Proclamation it has been presumed that the requisition contained in that letter [of July 6], on the subject of the sequestered property, avIU have been satisfied ;" and the writer goes on to show on what evidence this presumption rested. That Is to say. President Madison did an act which he recog nized as one of doubtful propriety, on the ground of two assump tions of fact, neither of which had the smallest foundation. 424 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1810. These objections and criticisms Avcre made at the time, and they Avere semi-officially answered by Joel Barlow in the National Intelligencer of July 9, 1811, by drawing a distinction betAveen "belligerent maritime edicts violating our neutral rights, and edicts authorizing other depredations on the property of our citizens." The Berlin and Milan decrees, it appears, Avere mari time; the Rambouillet decree Avas municipal, not a violation of our neutral rights contemplated by Macon's Act. Similar British depredations had been disregarded in accepting Ersklne's arrangement. If this Avere the case in November, Mr. Madison Avould have done better not to have said in July that a revocation of the Rambouillet decree Avas an indispensable evidence of the Empe ror's intentions, and also that he assumed, on the part of the French government, an extinguishment of all its edicts and a restoration of the sequestered property as the ground of his liroclamation. Moreover, if this AVcre the case, it is not quite plain why Mr. Gallatin should have declared in 1821 that a knowledge of the secret Trianon decree Avould have prevented Mr. Madison from issuing that proclamation. The Trianon decree Avas merely the authority for acts AvhIch were notorious. Although there is not a shadow of evidence to show what Mr. Gallatin's opinions on this question Avere, yet the result of the decision Avas so important in its ultimate bearings upon his fortune that the subject could not be left unmentioned. In Mr. Madison's private letters of this time there Is a disposition clearly evident to subordinate all other considerations to the object of bringing England to terms, and this doubtless was the tendency of public feeling. Acting on this principle, the Adrainistration decided that Champagny's announcement of the intended revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees Avas a suf ficient fulfilment of the terms of Macon's Act, and accordingly, ou the 1st November, issued the proclamation to that effect. Simultaneously Mr. Gallatin issued a circular to the collectors announcing that after the 2d February, 1811, all intercourse Avith Great Britain and her dependencies Avould cease. In this there Avas nothing unfair to England. Napoleon had in appearance been compelled to give Avay, and the United States 1810. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 425 had a perfect right to make the most of her success. If in doing so she submitted to more robbery, this avos no more than she had done Avhen she had attempted similar arrangements Avith England ; it Avas less than she had done every day for nearly twenty years, in submitting to the impressments of her seamen for the benefit of the British naA-y. Nevertheless, the ground on Avhicli she stood Avas very A\oalc as regarded argument, for there could be no reasonable doubt then, any more than there Avas ten yeare later, that Bonaparte had acted a " mean and perfidious" part, and yet she called upon England to act as though It were an honest one. England rightly enough replied that Napoleon was attemi)ting another fraud to Avhich England Avould not be a party ; thus the situation Avas rendered more critical than CA'cr, and Napoleon, by a couree of conduct Avhicli Avas precisely Avliat Mr. Gallatin described It in 1821, plunged the United States Into a war Avith England on ground that, so far as France Avas concerned, Avould not bear examination. Though there is reason to regret that Mr. Madison should have made himself so eagerly the dupe of Napoleon, and though there seems to be something surprising in the irritation of Mr. Gallatin on discovering only one among the many instruments of the Emperor's duplicity, the good faith of the American gov ernraent cannot fairly be called in question. The situation of the United States as regarded England Avas intolerable, and Mr. Madison snatched at any fair expedient to escape It. Eng land alleged that the Berlin and Milan decrees were the cause of her ordere in council. The United States, by a lucky stroke of legislation, compelled Napoleon to promise revocation of tliose decrees on a certain day, and then turned that promise against England. England refused belief in it, which Avas reasonable enough, but in reality had those decrees been the only cause of the orders in council, the alleged revocation Avould have afforded araple excuse for England's concession. On both sides the diplo matic veil was transparent. Napoleon, in fact, had not revoked his decrees, as he unblushingly avoAved within the next year, while England cared nothing for those decrees, except so far as they were mere municipal regulations ; so far as they violated international law on the ocean they Avere, indeed, quite Ineffcct- 426 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. Ive. England's real object Avas to maintain her clutch on American shipping and sallore. Such was the situation of affaire Avhen Congress met on the 3d December, 1810. One more step had been taken, but no man could certainly say Avhether it was towards a solution. MeauAvhlle, Mr. Gallatin Avas burdened AvIth an undertaking that plunged him deeper into the miserable complications of political Avarfare, disorganizing his folloAvere and his friends, stimulating pereonai hostilities, and yet leaA'ing him no choice of action. The question of the bank charter Avas to be decided this winter before the Congress expired on the 4th March, 1811. As a matter of public Avdfare, more especially In the situation the country noAV occupied, Mr. Gallatin Avas obliged to do his utmost to prevent the destruction of the bank. It Avas no mere matter of party or of personal feeling ; the bank at that moment Avas essential to public safety ; to lose it might be a question of national life. Every argument AvhIch Mr. Gallatin could use Avas put to the service of the bill. He was its open and earnest advocate both in his special reports and in his convereation, yet even the ma lignity of the Aurora and the less bitter but perhaps more dan gerous hostility of the Richmond Enquirer failed to find In them a single expression that could be made to rouse pereoual irritation or popular feeling. He conducted his case Avith all his usual temper, tact, and persistence ; it Is due also to his opponents in Congress to say that they avoided personal attacks upon him, at least for the most part, and left vituperation to the press. Not the less, however, Avas it distinctly understood that the bank avus the test of Mr. Gallatin's power ; that its overthroAV was one and the most important step toAvards driving him from office • and that nothing less than the OA'crshadowIng growth of his influence could possibly raake the continued existence of the bank even a subject of discussion in the Republican party. The debute in the House Avaa long and able, but Avhen a vote AA'as reached on January 24, 1811, the numbere stood 65 to 64 in favor of indefinite postponement. Many of Mr. Grallatin's best friends voted Avith tlie majority ; the Federalists in a mass voted on his side ; his pereonai enemies turned the scale. Whatever 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 427 Mr. Gallatin's feelings Avero at this defeat, ho made no display of tliein even to his intimates. On the 28 th January, Mr. Macon wrote to Judge Nicholson : " I Avas at Gallatin's yesterday ; all Avell. He is, I fear, rather mortified at the indefinite postpone ment of the bill to renew the charter of the Bank of the United States. I am really sorry that my best judgment compelled me on that question to vote agreeable to Avhat I believe to be the anxious Avish of tlie invisibles. Mr. Madison Avas at the last session, I am Informed, in favor of the rencAval ; that he con sidered It, according as my informant gave his Avords, res adjudi- caia. What cause has produced the change In his mind I have not heard. I have also been told that Mr. Giles Avas of the same opinion tlien and that he also has changed. These are natural rights, and ought to be exercised whenever the raind is convinced that opinions are founded in error; but Avlien great raen, or rather men in high, responsible stations, change their deliberate opinions it seems to me that they in some way or other ought to give the reason of the change. I incline to think that Mr. Madison's opinion last Avinter had a good deal of weight, and It is j.iresumed it may have been tho means of Inducing a fcAV members to take pretty strong hold of the constitutional side of th6 question. Now that he has changed, they are throAvn with Gallatin on the Federal side of the question. I also Incline to thuik that his present opinion has had some Avelght in the late decision." Mr. Macon was probably mistaken in thinking that the Presi dent had changed his position ; the letter is curious as showing what confusion Mr. Madison's couree created, but the story itself was apparently a mere rumor set afloat by the enemies of the bank, those " invisibles," as the Smith faction Avere significantly called by Mr. Macon and his friends, and whose alliance with the Aurora was uoav complete. A few days later, on the 9th Feb ruary, Mr. Macon Avrote : " It seems to me not very improbable that Mr. Madison's Administration may end soraething like Mr. Adams's. He may endeavor to go on Avith the government with men in whom he has not perfect confidence, until they break him down, and then, as John did, turn them out after he has suffered all that they can do to injure him. It is true, If he means ever 428 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. to turn out, he has now delayed it alraost too long, because the senatorial elections are over, while these people retained their influence, if they can be said to have a fixed influence in the nation." Meanwhile the debate on the bank charter had begun in the Senate, and a curious debate it was. Mr. William H. Crawford. of Georgia, appeared as Mr. Gallatin's champion, and supported the charter with such energy, courage, and ability as earned Mr. Gallatin's lasting gratitude, and made Mr. Crawford the repre sentative of the Administration in the Senate, and the favorite candidate of the Jeffereonian triumvirate for succession to the Presidency. Mr. Giles, on the other hand, spoke judicially. The Legislature of Virginia, like the Legislatures of Pennsyl vania and Kentucky, had instructed their Senatore to vote against the charter. Mr. Giles declared himself a representative of the people of the United States, not a mere agent of the Virginia Legislature, and his speech Avas an daborate effort at candid investigation, unaffected, as he aveiTcd, by his pereonai senti ments towards the Secretary of the Treasury. But he, too, at last concluded that the bank was a British institution, which had not prevented the ordere In council or the attack on the Chesa peake, and therefore should be suppressed. He admitted that the time Avas inauspicious for putting an end to the establishment, but the danger from British influence was greater than the dan ger from financial confusion. Henry Clay, the young Senator from Kentucky, followed and ridiculed the ponderous Mr. Giles, who had " certainly demonstrated to the satisfaction of all who heard him, both that it was constitutional and unconstitutional, highly proper and improper, to prolong the charter of the bank." Mr. Clay Avas not disposed to enlist with Mr. Giles In factious opposition to the government, but he Avas still less disposed to join Mr. CraAvford in its support; he hotly denied the constitu tionality of the charter, and, like Mr. Giles, he declared that the bank was responsible for not preventing impressments and ordere In council. Then General Smith, in a speech covering two days, proved that the whole theory of the usefulness of a national bank was a delusion ; that State institutions were better deposi taries of the public money ; that the Secretary of the Treasury 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 429 Avas quite mistaken in all his statements about tho convenience of tlie bank, even in regard to remittances, and kncAV nothing about foreign exchange; that no possible trouble could arise from abolishing the bank ; and that the constitutional objection was final. On the 20th February, 1811, the Senate reached a vote. It was 17 to 17, and the Vice-President, George Clinton, whose pereonai hostility to the President Avas notorious, decided the question in tlie negative. Among the votes which then settled the fate of the bank, and incidentally the fate of Mr. Gallatin, were those of Joseph Andereon, of Tennessee, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, William B. Giles, of Virginia, Michael Leib, of Pennsylvania, and Samuel Sraith, of Maryland. Readers who are curious in mattere of biography avIII naturally ask how the opinions of these men stood the test of time. Less than four yeare later, after Mr. Grallatin had been fairly driven frora the Treasury, his raost Intimate friend, Alexander J. Dallas, was called to fill the place. Government Avas bankrupt, the currency in frightful disorder, and loans impracticable. Mr. Dallas, as his last resource, insisted upon a bank, and he got it. Michael Leib was then no longer in the Senate ; his political career had come to an untimely end. Gideon Granger, Postmaster-General, and one of the factious number, had exhausted President Mad ison's patience by appointing Leib postmaster at Philadelphia, and had lost his office in consequence ; Leib was removed, and disappeared into political obscurity. Giles Avas consistent in opposing the bank, and In 1816, so soon as his senatorial term expired, he too subsided into obscurity, from AvhIch he only rescued himself by his success in using the same tactics against John Quincy Adams that he had used against Albert Gallatin. Anderson, Clay, and Smith have left their names recorded among the supportcre of the new charter. Thus, in the face of difficulties and dangere such as might well have appalled the wisest head and the stoutest heart, the Legislature deprived the Executive of the only efficient financial agent it had ever had. What the financial consequences of destroying the bank actually were Avill be seen presently ; it is enougli to say that Congress acted in this instance with a degree 430 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. of factious incompetence that cost the nation infinite loss and trouble, and was not far from imperilling Its existence. No one knew better than Mr. Giles, General Smith, and George Clinton that whatcA'cr the objections to a bank might be, this was no time to destroy it, and even Henry Clay, with all his youthful self-confidence, had Intelligence enough to make him inexcusable in refusing to prolong, if only for a very few years, the existence of an agent which the Treasury cousidered indispensable, in the face of a war Avhicli he was, against the will of the Administra tion, forcing upon its hands. John Randolph was one of those Avho saAV most clearly through the intrigues that beset the government. Never strong in com mon sense, Randolph's mind Avas yielding more and more to those aberrations which marked his later years. Though all intimacy of relation betAveen the two men had long ceased, Randolph had yet preserved as much respect for Gallatin as his universal misanthropy permitted, Avhile at the same time his contempt for " the invisibles" was unbounded. Whatever • mistakes Randolph made, he at least never descended so low as to make the Aurora his ally. On the 14th February he Avrote to Judge Nicholson : " Giles made this morning the most unin telligible speech on the subject of the Bank of the United States that I ever heard. He spoke upAvards of two houre ; seemed never to understand himself (except upon one commonplace topic of British Influence), and consequently excited in his hearers no other sentiment but pity or disgust. But I shall not be surprised to see hira puffed In all the ncAvspapere of a certain faction. The Senate have rejected the nomination of Alex. Wolcott to the bench of the Supreme Court — 24 to 9. The President is said to have felt great mortification at this result. The truth seems to be that he is President dejure only. Who exercises the office de facto I know not, but it seems agreed on all hands that ' there is something behind the throne greater than the throne itself.' I cannot help differing with you re specting [Gallatin]'s resignation. If his principal will not sup port him by his influence against the cabal in the ministry itsdf, as well as out of it, a sense of self-respect, it would seem to me ought to impel him to retire from a situation where, with a iSll. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 431 tremendous responsibility, he is utterly destitute of poAvcr, Our Cabinet presents a novel spectacle in the political world; divided against itself, and the most deadly animosity raging between its principal members, Avhat can come of it but confusion, mischief, and ruin? Macon is quite out of heart. I am almost indifferent to any possible result. Is this wisdom or apathy ? I fear the latter." A few hours later he added : " Since I wrote to you to-night, Stanford has shown me the last Aurora, — a paper that I never read, but I could not refrain, at his instance, from casting my eyes OA'er some paragraphs relating to the Secretary of the Treasury. Surely, under such circumstances, Mr. G. can no longer hesitate how to act. It appeare to me that only one couree is left to him, — to go imraedlately to the P., and to de mand either the disraissal of Mr. [Sraith] or his own. No man can doubt by whom this machinery is put In motion. There is no longer room to feign ignorance or to temporize. It is un necessary to say to you that I am not through you addressing myself to another. My knoAvledge of the interest which you take not merely in the welfare of Mr. G., but in that of the State, induces me to express myself to you on this subject. I Avish you would come up here. There are more things in this world of intrigue than you Avot of, and I should like to com mune with you upon some of them." Again, on February 17, Randolph wrote: "I am not con vinced by your representations respecting [Grallatin], although they are not without weight. Surely it Avould not be difficult to point out to the President the impossibility of conducting the affaire of the government with such a counteraction in the very dabinet itself, without assuming anything like a disposition to dlctatfii Things as they are cannot go on much longer. The Administration are now in fact aground at the pitch of high tide, and a spring tide too. Nothing, then, remains but to lighten the ship, which a dead calra has hitherto kept from going to pieces. If the cabal succeed in their present projects, and I see nothmg but promptitude and decision that can pre vent it, the nation is undone. The state of affairs for some time past has been highly favorable to their views, which at this 432 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. moment are more flattering than ever. I am satisfied that Mr. G., by a timely resistance to their schemes, might have defeated them and rendered the Avhole cabal as impotent as nature would seem to have intended them to be, for in point of ability (capacity for intrigue excepted) they are utterly contempt ible and insignificant." Randolph did not know that even as early as the autumn of 1809 Mr. Gallatin had strained his influence to the utmost to offer " timely resistance to their schemes ;" and even Randolph, on reflection, doubted " Avhether Madison Avill be able to meet the shock of the Aurora, Whig, Enquirer, Boston Patriot, &c., &c. ; and it Is highly probable that, beaten in detail by the superior activity and vigor of the Smiths, he may sink ulti mately into their arms, and unquestionably will, in that case, receive the law from them." In all this confusion one thing was clear, — Mr. Gallatin's usefulness was exhausted. There are moments in politics when great results can be reached only by small men, — a maxim Avhich, however paradoxical, may easily be verified. Especially in a democracy the people are apt to become impatient of rule, and will at times obstinately refuse to move at the call of a leader, when, if left to themselves, they will blunder through all obstacles, blindly enough, it is true, but effectually. Mr. Gallatin was now an impediment to government, even though it was conceded that the Treasury could not go on without him • that the party contained no man who could fill his place ; that if he retired, confusion must ensue. To Mr. Madison the loss would of course be extremely embarrassing ; for ten years Gallatin had taken from the President's shouldere the main burden of Internal administration and a large part of the responsibilities of foreign relations ; his Immense knowledge, his long practical experience his tact, his fertility of resource, his patience, his courage, his unselfishness, his personal attachment, his retentive memory even his reticence, were each and all impossible to replace. The material from which Mr. Madison Avould have to draw was in comparison, ridiculously unequal to the draft. For ten years the triumvirate had looked about them to find allies and succes- sore ; John Randolph hud failed them from sheer inability to 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 433 folloAV any straight coureo ; John Breckenridge, of Kentucky, had died at tlie outset of his career ; Monroe had not developed great powere, and had repeatedly disappointed their expecta tions, yet Monroe was still the best they had; Williara H. CraAvford Avas a crude Georgian, Avith abilities not yet tried In adrainlstration ; as for Giles, General Smith, and the other minor luminaries of the old party, their relations with Mr. Madison were hardly better than Randolph's. Whom, then, could he put in the Treasury ? What dozen raen In the party could pretend to make good to him the loss of his old companion? How could the Administration stand without him ? All tills was urged at the time, and was obvious enough to the great body of Republicans in Congress; and yet, granting all this, it was answered that Mr. Gallatin had better retire. Un doubtedly the business of the Treasury would break down ; that is to say, the public interests would for a time be Ignorantly, wastefuUy, and perhaps corruptly managed; undoubtedly Mr. Madison would be left In a raost unpleasant situation, and would find his pereonai difficulties vastly increased ; Congress and the press Avould precipitate themselves upon him instead of upon Mr. Gallatin, and he Avould inevitably be swept aAvay by the torrent. This, however, would be only teraporary; the evil would cure itself; faction would produce force to oppose it, and a generation of younger men Avould Invent its own processes to solve Its OAVU problems. Mr. Gallatin saw the situation as clearly as any disinterested spectator could have done, and fully accepted it. At the close of the bank struggle he recognized that he was defeated and that his power for good was gone. It was at once rumored that he would resign. Judge Nicholson wrote on the 6th March, two days after the session ended : " Randolph is here, and told me that a friend mentioned to him that you would probably resign in September, as it would take you till that time to arrange the mattere in the Treasury.. He did not say in express terms, but I collected that he alluded to Crawford, and I fear that the joint remonstrances of his friends here have not had their due weight with Mr. M." The following letter, printed from a first draft without date, 28 434 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. was probably written at this time, and delivered on the adjourn ment of Congress, March 4, or immediately afterAvards : GALLATIN TO MADISON. [March 4, 1811. ?] Dear Sir, — I have long and seriously reflected on the pres ent state of things and on my personal situation. This has for sorae time been sufficiently unpleasant, and nothing but a sense of public duty and attachment to yourself could have induced me to retain it to this day. But I am convinced that in neither respect can I be any longer useful under existing circumstances. In a government organized like that of the United States, a government not too strong for effecting its principal object, the protection of national rights against foreign aggressions, and par ticularly under circumstances as adverse and embarrassing as those under Avhich the United States are now placed, it appears to me that not only capacity and talents in the Administration, but also a perfect, heartfelt cordiality amongst Its members, are essentially necessary to command the public confidence and to produce the requisite union of views and action between the several branches of governraent. In at least one of those points your present Administration is defective, and the effects, already sensibly felt, become every day more extensive and fatal. New subdivisions and personal factions equally hostile to yourself and the general Avelfare daily acquire additional strength. Measures of vital importance have been and are defeated; every operation, even of the most simple and ordinary nature, is prevented or im peded ; the embarrassments of governraent, great as from foreign causes they already are, are unnecessarily increased ; public con fidence in the public councils and In the Executive is impaired and every day seems to increase every one of those evils. Such state of things cannot last; a radical and speedy remedy has become absolutely necessary. What that ought to be what change would best promote the success of your Administration and the welfare of the United States, Is not for me to say, I can only judge for mysdf, and I dearly perceive that my con tinuing a member of the present Administration is no longer of 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 435 any public utility, invigorates tho opposition against yourself, and must necessarily be attended Avith an increased loss of reputation by myself. Under those impressions, not Avithout reluctance and after having perhaps hesitated too long in hopes of a favorable change, I beg leave to tender you my resignation, to take place at such day within a reasonable time as you will think most con sistent with the public service. I hope that I hardly need add any expressions of my respect and sincere pereonai attachment to you, of the regret I avUI feel on leaving you at this critical tirae, and the grateful sense I ever avIII retain of your kindness to me. This letter, backed by the remonstrances of Crawford and othere, produced a Cabinet crisis. Mr. Madison declined to ac cept it, and appeare either to have returned it to Mr. Gallatin or to have burned it, for it is not to be found among his papers. He then took a step necessary in any event ; he dismissed his Secretary of State, and authorized Mr. Gallatin to sound James Monroe, then Governor of Virginia, as to his willingness to enter the Cabinet. Mr. Gallatin applied to Richard Brent, a Senator from Virginia, who appears to have Avritten to Mr. Monroe somewhere about the 7th March, but who did not re ceive a reply till the 22d.' A portion of this reply is worth quoting. " You intimate," said Mr. Monroe, " that the situation of the country is such as to leave me no alternative. I am aware that our public affaire are far frora being in a tranquil and secure state. I may add that there Is much reason to fear that a crisis is approaching of a very dangerous tendency ; one which menaces the overthrow of the whole Republican party. Is the Adrainis tration Impressed with this sentiment and prepared to act on it? Are things in such a state as to alloAV the Administration to take the whole subject into consideration and td provide for the safety of the country and of free government by such measures as cir cumstances may require and a comprehensive view of them sug gest? Or are we pledged by what is already done to remain ' See Gallatin's Writings, vol. i. p. 496. 436 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. spectators of the interior movement in the expectation of some change abroad, as the ground on which we are to act? I have no doubt, from my knoAvledge of the President and Mr. Gallatin, with the former of whom I have been long and intimately con nected in friendship, and for both of whom in great and leading points of character I have the highest consideration and respect, that if I carae into the government the utmost cordiality would subsist between us, and that any opinions Avhich I might enter tain and express respecting our public affaire would receive, so far as circumstances would permit, all the attention to which they might be entitled. But if our course is fixed and the des tiny of our country dependent on arrangements already made, on measures already taken, I do not perceive hoAV it would be possible for me to render any service at this tirae in the general government." Mr. Monroe received the desired assurances, and assumed the new office on the 1st April, 1811. Mr. Robert Smith Avent out, and issued a manifesto against the government, in which, among numerous ill-digested and incongruous subjects of complaint, there were one or two which shoAved how serious a misfortune his incompetence had been. A ncAvspaper war ensued, and curious readers may find in the National Intelligencer all the literature of the Smith controversy Avhich they will need to satisfy their doubts. Mr. Smith had much the same fate as Colonel Pickering ten years before; he found that even his friends shoAved a certain uiiAvillingness to fight his battles. Be fore the end of the summer it had become evident that Mr. Smith was reduced to insignificance, and it hardly needed the mild severity of Mr. Madison or the newspaper rhetoric of Joel Barlow to accomplish this ; Mr. Smith's OAvn clerk was equal to the task.' The change in the State Department Avas a great relief to the President, and perhaps he may have asked the question why he had ever allowed hiraself to be dragooned into the fatal appoints ' See, for another account of the struggle between Gallatin and the Smiths, the " Eecollections of the Civil History of the "War of 1812, by Joseph Gales;" a series of papers printed in the National Intelligencer, numbered from I. to IX., and published botwoon June 0 and September 12, 1867. 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 437 ment of Mr. Smith ; but Monroe came too late to save Gallatin. To him the change brought only an Inci'ease of annoyance. Although, as betAveen Mr. Madison and Mr. Sraith in the controverey about the removal, the name of Gallatin Avas not mentioned, the public Avell kncAV that the dismissal of Mr. Smith was the Avork of tho Secretary of the Treasury, and the chorus of ncAA'spapere, led by the Aurora, joined in a cry of savage hostility against him. His course in regard to the bank had necessarily thrown a considerable portion of the press and the party into antagonism ; Pennsylvania had long since abandoned him; Virginia now threw him over. The confidence of Mr. Madison and his own supereminent qualities alone sustained him. All this was notorious, and was little calculated to diminish the zeal of pereonai enmity. Duane's attacks Avere In themselves not formidable; his long articles of financial and political criti cism Avere impressive only to the very ignorant ; his colossal and audacious untruthfulness Avas evident to any intelligent reader, and had been evident ever since the Aurora had begun its exist ence ; but nevertheless their effect was serious frora the fact that they operated In a way perhaps not intended or fully under stood by Duane himself. In discussing the next Presidential election, for example, the Aurora said:' "We are at present led into these considerations in consequence of the assertions of certain adherents of Mr. Gallatin, namely, ' that this gentleman possesses more talents than all the other officers in the Adminis tration put together. Including Mr. Madison himself; that Mr. Madison could not stand, nor the executive functions of the government be performed, without him.' This Is verbatim the language that is held forth at present. Noav, what do these as sertions amount to ? Why, clearly, that Mr. Gallatin is, to all intents and purposes, the President, and even raore than Presi dent of the United States." " This comes from the particular friends of the Secretary of the Treasury, — can it be true ? It is a fact that the people of the United States, In nominally electing Mr. Madison President, have in reality placed Mr. Gallatin In that high station. ... It is said Mr. Gallatin aspires to the « 8th April, 1811. 438 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. Presidency himself, but that Ave do not believe ; no man knoAvs better the impracticability of such a desire than hiraself; but if those assertions of Mr. Gallatin's friends are true, it cannot be so much an object to him, since the salary is very little compared with the profits to be made by the Treasury." Then comes the inevitable " extract of a letter frora a gentleman of high stand ing" in New York to Dr. Leib : " The events at Washington have not at all surprised me ; nay, they were such as I had been looking for for some time, knowing the ascendency which Galla tin had acquired over the mind of Mr. Madison, and knowing too the secret and invisible agency Avhich was operating to pro duce it and to keep this crafty Genevan in place." Under the form of an allegory the same idea Is intensified :' " He Avas a man of singular sagacity and penetration ; he could read the very thoughts of men in their faces and develop their designs ; a man of few AVords; made no promises but to real favorites that would help him out at a dead lift, and ever sought to enhance his OAvn interest, poAver, and aggrandizement by the most insatiate avarice on the very vitals of the unsuspecting nation.^' The charges of embezzlement and Avholesale speculation In public lands, of immense wealth and limitless corruption, were probably harmless; they affected only the groundlings; but the insidious elevation of Mr. Gallatin, the displaying him as an irri!- sistible magician whose touch was superhuman ; the ascribing \o him every power and every act that emanated from government, and the concentration upon him of the Avhole blaze of attack, destroyed his usefulness by indirection. No man can afford to stand in this attitude; it creates jealousies, estranges precisely the men of force and character avIio value their own Independence, exposes to the attacks and obstructions of those Avho wish to be knoAvn by the greatness of their enmities, and in a manner stifles direct and Avarm co-operation. In such cases every newspaper, every Congressman, and every small politician thinks It necessary to protest that he is not under the alleged influence ; that he is not afraid to oppose it ; and that he holds a position of judicial ' 8d September, 1811. 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 439 neutrality. The Virginians thought it a raatter of regret that Mr. Gallatin had not retired Avith Mr. Sraith. Gallatin was for tunate if the men avIio dIsavoAved hira in public did not offer him an additional insult by assuring him in secret of their friendship. " These repeated attacks are enough to beat doAvn even you," wrote Judge Nicholson. And Mr. Dallas, in a letter dated 21st April, 1811, added : " If Mr. Jeffereon and his poAverful friends at Washington, in the year 1 805, had not given their countenance to the proscriptions of the Aurora, the evils of the present tirae would not have happened. I do not say this by way of reproach, but to point out the true cause Avliy no raan of real character and capacity in the Republican party of Pennsylvania has the power to render any political service to the Administration. It rests with Duane and Binns to knock doAvn and set up Avhom they delight to destroy or to honor. In the present conflict, so far as you are pereonally concerned, I see Avith pride and pleasure that the influence of Duane is at an end." Even Mr. Jeffereon was noAv obliged to choose sides. It is, perhaps, useless to expect that a public or private man avIU deal harehly with folloAvers and flatterers; Duane had served Jefferson well, and Jeffereon clung to hira as to a wayward child ; but now that Mr. Gallatin had at last forced the issue, Mr. Jeffereon came to the President's support, and, stimulated by the blunt response of Wirt and the Richmond Republi cans that Duahe might go to the Smiths for money but would not get it from them, he wrote Duane a letter to say, Avith a degree of tenderness that seeras to the cold critic not a little amusing, that the Aurora had gone too far and Avas to be read out of the party. This was well enough ; but the curb, as Mr. Dallas very properly said, should have been applied five yeare before; the harm was done, and it made very little differ ence whether the Aurora were in opposition or not; perhaps, indeed, it Avas already raore dangerous in friendship than in enmity. Mr. Gallatin himself was far from exulting over the fall of Robert Smith. There was something humiliating in the mere thought that he should have been pitted against so unsub- 440 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. stantlal an opponent : there Avas a loss of power, an exhaustion of reserved force in the very effort he had been obliged to make. His success, if it were success, deprived him of freedom of action^ tied him beyond redemption to the chariot of government, and took away his last means of escape from the humiliations his enemies might inflict. As he wrote to Judge Nicholson on the 30th May, a few Aveeks after the Cabinet crisis: "NotAvith standing the change, I fed no satisfaction in my present situation, and the less so because that circumstance has made me a slave. Perhaps for that reason I feel an ineffable thirst for retirement. and obscurity." Further Cabinet changes were imminent. Dr. Eustis, Avho had succeeded General Dearborn as Secretary of War, was unequal to the growing responsibilities of the office. Among prominent Republicans the only conspicuous candidate for the place Avas General Armstrong, just returned from France, one of the Clinton family, Avhom Mr. Gallatin always disliked, and who cordially returned the sentiment. There could be no real harmony between Mr. Gallatin and General Armstrong. Meanwhile, Justice Chase of the Supreme Court was dead, and the Attorney-General, Rodney, wished to be appointed to the bench. Mr. Madison passed him over to appoint Gabriel Duval, of Maryland ; he resigned, and William Pinkney, recently min ister to England, took the post of Attorney-General. The fol lowing letters of Mr. Dallas show the discontent aroused by these changes : A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. 24th June, 1811. Dear Sir, — I do not know the arrangements to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Chase. I do not wish to suggest any name frorii pereonai feelings. But perhaps it may be useful that you should know that Mr. Ingersoll would accept the appointment, as far as I can infer from his con versations during the vacancy occasioned by Judge Cushing's death. Do you not think Pennsylvania entitled to some notice? Everybody else seems to think so. 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 44I A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. Private and confidential : if such a thing can be. 24th July, 1811. Dear Sir, — I Avrote to you respecting the vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court. I have, perhaps, no right to expect an answer in these times. But reports are so strange upon tlie succession to Judge Chase that I beg you explicitly to underetand the sense of the Pennsylvania profession. Federal, Republican, Quid, and Quadroon. We do not think that the successor named in the public prints is qualified in any respect for the station. I care not avIio Is appointed, provided he Is fit in talents, in experience, and in mannere; but, for Heaven's sake, do not make a man a judge merely to get rid of him as a statesman. Poor Pennsylvania I Except youredf, who has been distin guished by Federal favor? Local offices must have local occu pants ; but from the commencement of the Federal government, and particularly from the commencement of the Republican Administration, Avhat citizen of Pennsylvania has been invited by the Executive to share in Federal honore ? There are the excep tions of Judge Wilson and Mr. Bradford, appointed by Presi dent Washington ; but they are merely exceptions to my remark. Look at the judiciary establishment ! There are seven judges. Four reside on the south of the Potomac. Two reside in Vir ginia. The Attorney-Grcneral resides in Delaware. For the whole region beyond the Potomac, north-east, there are two judges. The report states that another judge is to be taken from Delaware, and an Attorney-General from Maryland ! I am cordially attached to the whole Administration. Of you pereonally I only think and speak as of a brother. But really, knoAving that no confidence has ever been placed in me upon political subjects, and not knowing where your confidence is now placed, I do not underetand your measures, nor am I acquainted with your friends. It is not the puff of a toast nor the flattery of a newspaper squib that can maintain the Repubhcan cause or vindicate the Administration from reproach. A free press Is an 442 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. excellent thing, but a newspaper government is the most execrable of all things. The use of the jiross is to give information ; its abuse is to impose the law upon private feeling and public senti ment. Do, therefore, think less of the denunciations of Duane and of the blandishments of Binns, and let your friends know that you act right. In order that they may think so.' This letter I have a strong inclination to address to Mre. Gallatin ; for as men have ceased to keep secrets, I hope it will cease to be a wonder that a lady should keep them. But I will content myself with requesting you to tell her that if there is a ' Mr. J. Q. Adams, in the year 1820, commented upon Pennsylvania politics in his Diary (vol. v. p. 112) : " Pennsylvania has been for about twenty years governed by two nCAVspapers in succession ; one, the Aurora, edited by Duane, an Irishman, and the other, the Democratic Press, edited by John Binns, an Englishman. Duane had been expelled from British India for sedition, and Binns had been tried in England for high treason. They are both men of considerable talents and profligate principles, always for sale to the highest bidder, and always insupportable burdens, by their insatiable rapacity, to the parties they support. "With the triumph of Jef ferson in 1801, Duane, who had contributed to it, came in for his share, and more than his share, of emolument and patronage. "With his printing establishment at Philadelphia he connected one in this city ; obtained by extortion almost the whole of the public printing, but, being prodigal and reckless, never could emerge from poverty, and, always wanting more, soon encroached upon the powers of indulgence to his cravings which the heads of Departments possessed, and quarrelled both with Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin for staying his hand from public plunder. In Pennsylvania, too, he contributed to bring in McKean, and then labored for years to run him down ; contributed to bring in Snyder, and soon turned against him. Binns in the mean time had come, after his trial, as a fugitive from Eng land, and had commenced editor of a newspaper. Duane had been made by Mr. Madison a colonel in the array; and as Gibbon the captain of Hampshire militia says he was useful to Gibbon the historian of the Eoman Empire, so Duane the colonel was a useful auxiliary to Duane the printer, for fleecing the public by palming upon the army at extravagant prices a worthless compilation upon military discipline that he had pub lished. But, hefore the war with England was half over, Duane had so disgusted the army and disgraced himself that he was obliged tp resign his commission, and has been these seven years a public defaulter in his accounU to tho amount of between four and flva thousand dollars, for which ho is now under prosecution. Snyder, assailed by Duane, was de fended by Binns, who turned the battery against him, and finally ran down the Aurora so that it lost all influence upon public affairs.'' 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 443 special session of Congress, Mre. Dallas and M. . . . will visit Washington. Had Mr. Gallatin controlled the action of the Executive, he would long since have tliroAvn Duane into open opposition, where he Avould have been harmless. Duane Avas simply a blackguard, of a type better understood now than then. That he had good qualities is evident from the descendants he left behind him, but these qualities had not been trained to ex cellence. The only Avay to deal with him Avas the direct Avay, and the only argument he Avould listen to was the coarse argu ment of tlie truth. Frora the firet, however, both Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison sacrificed their Secretary of the Treasury to this profligate adventurer, whom they conciliated, flattered, per suaded, argued with, and supported by public and private aid. On this subject Mr. Gallatin never .opened his lips ; the letter of Mr. Dallas, quoted above, sIioavs that even to him, his oldest and most intimate political friend, he ne\'er mentioned it. He even submitted to bear, Avithout reply, the sharp criticisms of Mr. Dallas on his oavu silence, and reflections manifestly unjust. That the manner of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison towards Duane cut deeply Into the susceptibilities of Mr. Gallatin is certain; but, with the exception of one single expression, he never by word or sign intimated his sense of the Indignity he felt himself to be receiving at their hands. His loyalty to his chiefs was too entire to be shaken for so mean a cause. With this wound incessantly smarting at his heart; with all his great schemes and brilliant hopes of administrative success shat tered into fragments; with a majority of bitter personal enemies in the Senate eager to obstruct every inch of his path ; with a great part of his administrative machinery snatched out of his hands, and utter financial confusion around hira ; with a war against the richest and raost poAverful nation in the world staring hira in the face, and almost certain domestic treason behind ; with his own expedients invariably defeated, and with the most contempt ible and shifting experiments in politics forced into his hands, Mr. Gallatin was now called upon to take up his burden again and march. He could not escape. Mr. Madison's friendship. 44^- LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1811. when forced to the final test, proved true, and Gallatin was fettered by his OAvn act. Of his Avhole public life, the next year, which should be the most important, is the most obscure. He wrote none but public letters. He never recurred to the time with pleasure, and he left no notes or memoranda to explain his couree. Much, therefore, must be left to inference, something may be drawn from scattered hints, and most must depend on ihe well-known traits of his character and his habits of thought. The last Congress had, before adjournment, sanctioned the President's course In reviving the non-intercouree with England on the strength of the supposed revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees by Napoleon. The Administration party, in doing this, took the ground that the act was the necessary result of a contract with France already carried into effect by her. Thus the United States took one more step towards war with England by precluding herself from acting in any other direc tion than as the Emperor wished ; even the most flagrant decep tion on his part could not shake the compact so far as America was concerned. For the wholesale robbery committed on Amer ican property in Europe by the Emperor's order, the United States mildly asked compensation. At about the same tirae Russia, then on the friendliest terms with France, directed her minister at Paris to intercede in favor of a similar claim on the part of Denmark. To Count Romanzoff's representation Bona parte only replied : " Give thera a very civil answer : that I will examine the claim, et cetera ; mais on ne paye jamais ces choses- \k, n'est-ce pas ?" ^ The American claim had small chance of success, but perhaps all that, under the circumstances, it deserved. On the other hand, all the events of the summer tended to war with England. Mr. Foster, the ucav British minister, instead of lessening the conditions of repeal of the ordere in council, increased them. The British Court of Admiralty resumed its sweeping condemnations. The affair of the Chesapeake was at last settled by Mr. Foster, but the British sloop-of-Avar Little Belt was fired upon and nearly sunk by the United States frigate 1 QiiUntin's "Writings, ii. 400. 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 445 President ; and, Aviiat avos of far more consequence than all thisj the people of the United States, more especially in the south and west, and the younger generation, Avliich cared little for old Jef fereonian principles, Avei-e at last in adA'ance of their government and ready for war. Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, William Lowndes, Felix Grundy, the leadere of the new sect, were none of them more than tliirty-five yeare of age at this tirae, or about the age at Avhich Mr. Gallatin had entered Congress more than fifteen yeare before. The President and his Cabinet did not want war, but, if the people demanded it, tliey were not disposed to resist. Mr. Madison would not alloAV his Administration to fall behind the public feeling in its assertion and maintenance of national dig nity ; nevertlieless, Mr. Madison seems at this moment to have had only a very vague conception of what he himself did want. Although he had a superfluity of only too good causes for war Avith Great Britain, he alloAved himself to be hoodAvinked by France into an untenable statement of his case against the Brit ish government. He then called Congress together on the 4th November, which was hardly a peace measure. Possibly he underestimated the temper of that body, for his message, sent in on the 5th November, 1811, though high In tone, did not recommend war; it recommended that "a system of more ample provisions for maintaining" national rights should be provided ; it recommended Congress to put the country " into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crisis," namely, the filling up the regular army, providing an auxiliary force, volunteer corps and militia detachments, and organizing the militia ; but government had urged nearly all this for years past. Yet on the 15 th November, only ten days later, Mr. Madison fully understood the situation, for he wrote to Europe that, as be tween submission and hostilities. Congress favored the latter, though it would probably defer action till the spring. Mr. Gallatin's report, which was sent In on the 25th No vember, was equally cautious. For the past year the Treasury showed a surplus of over $5,000,000, owing to the large impor tations under the system of open trade previous to February, 1810; but for the next year the estimated expense of increased 446 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. armaments and the diminished receipts under the non-Intercourse with England would cause a deficit of over one million dollars and necessitate a loan. The public debt of the United States extinguished between the 1st April, 1801, and the 31st December, 1811, araounted to the sura of $46,022,810, and there remained on the 1st January, 1812, $45,154,189 of funded debt, bearing an annual interest of $2,222,481. This represents all that was directly accomplished by Mr. Gallatin toAvards his great object of the extinction of debt. This result had been accompanied by the abandonment of the internal taxes and the salt tax, but also by the imposition of the 2J per cent, ad valorem duties known as the Mediterranean Fund. " It therefore proves decisively," said the report, " the ability of the United States with their ordinary revenue to dis charge in ten yeare of peace a debt of forty-two millions of dol lare ; a fact which considerably lessens the weight of the most formidable objection to which that revenue, depending almost solely on commerce, appears to be liable. In time of peace it is almost sufficient to defray the expenses of a war ; in time of war it is hardly competent to support the expenses of a peace estab lishment. Sinking at once under adverse circumstances from fifteen to six or eight millions of dollars, it is only by a peree- vering application of the surplus which it affords in yeare of prosperity to the discharge of the debt, that a total change in the system of taxation, or a perpetual accumulation of debt, can be avoided." The report went on to discuss the provision to be made for ensuing yeare. The present revenue, under existing circumstances, was estimated at $6,600,000; the expenditure at $9,200,000. To provide for the deficiency an addition of fifty per cent, to the existing duties on imports Avould be requued, and was preferable to any internal tax. " The same amount of revenue Avould be necessary, and, with the aid of loans, would, it is believed, be sufficient in case of war." By inadvertence, Mr. Gallatin made here an important omission. He was speaking only of "fixed revenue," sufficient to defray the ordinary expenses of government; and, as he Avas afterwards obliged to explain, this expression was Avrongly applied to the case of Avar. He 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 447 omitted to add that Avith each loan, provision to meet its interest must be made by increasing taxation; this fact had already been pointed out in the financial paragraph of tlie President's raessage, quoted in a previous pai-t of the report, but the oversight gave rise to subsequent sharp attacks upon the Secretary. He then came to the question of loans, and expressed the opinion that in case of Avar " the United States must rely solely on their own resources. These have their natural bounds, but are believed to be fully adequate to the support of all the national force that can be usefully and efficiently employed ;" but it was to be underetood that if the United States wished to borrow money it must pay for It : " It may be expected that legal in terest will not be sufficient to obtain the sums required. In that case the most simple and direct is also the cheapest and safest mode. It appeare much more eligible to pay at once the differ ence, either by a premium in lands or by alloAving a higher rate of interest, than to increase the amount of stock created, or to attempt any operation which might injuriously affect the circu lating Tuedlum of the country ;" aud he proceeded to show that "even" if forty millions were borrowed, the difference between paying eight and six per cent. Avould be only $800,000 a year until the principal was reimbursed. These were the chief points of the report, and taken Avith the tone of the message they indicate clearly enough that the Ad ministration, now as heretofore, whatever the private feelings of its members might be, Avas prepared to accept any distinct policy which Congress might lay down. One of the main grounds of attack upon Mr. Gallatin was that he had habitually alarraed the public with the poverty of the Treasury, and by doing so had checked energetic measures of defence. The charge was so far true that Mr. Gallatin had never concealed or attempted to color the accounts of the Treasury. On this occasion he prob ably aimed, as was ahvays his habit, at furnishing Congress with as favorable an estimate as the truth would permit, with a vIcav to obtaining united and cordial co-operation between the Execu tive and Congress. His only mistake Avas in accepting the esti mates of war expenditure then current. He himself could not wish for war, and still hoped to avoid it ; he knew that the Treas- 448 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 181L ury. In its present situation, could not stand the burden, but he had suffered too much from the charge of attempting to direct legislation, to allow of his again exposing himself to it without necessity. The President and the Secretary of the Treasury were there fore in perfect accord ; they did not recommend war, but they recomraended Immediate and energetic preparation. The Presi dent advised Congress to provide troops ; the Secretary recom mended increased taxes and a loan of $1 ,200,000, to pay these troops and support them. This Avas the extent of their recom mendations, and it remained for Congress to act. Congress did indeed act ; AvIthIn a very short time it was clear that Mr. Madison had no control over its proceedings. To Mr. Gallatin the action of Congress was merely a sign that, as his influence In the Senate had long since vanished, his influence in the House had now followed it, and that for the future he could expect no friendly co-operation frora the Legis lature. At first, indeed, the proceedings of both bodies were in outward accord with the Executive recommendations; the teports of committees, and the House bill introduced in pureuance of them, were such as Mr. Madison had suggested ; the only war like measure proposed was that of permitting merchant vessels to arm. The Senate, hoAvever, very soon returned to its old tactics. Mr. Madison, as Avas well understood, asked only for an army of ten thousand men, and his recommendations were referred to a committee, of Avhicli Mr. Giles was the chairman, who immediately reported a bill for raising twenty-five thousand men, and in a speedi on the 17tli December fairly took the ground that his principal motive was to annoy the Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Giles declared himself a friend of peace ; no man more deprecated Avar ; but " if Avar should now come, it would be in consequence of the fatal rejection of the proposed measures of preparation for war." The only reason for reject ing them he averred to be " the decrepit state of the Treasury and the financial fame of the gentleman at the head of that Department." He launched into a bitter attack upon Mr. Gallatin, thoroughly in the spirit of Duane and the Aurora. Considering that he avos playing Avitli sudi tremendous interests, 1811. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 449 and that the national existence, to say nothing of private life and fortune, was dancing on the edge of this precipice of Avar at the mercy of Mr. Giles's personal malignity towards Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Madison, and Mr. Monroe, there is actually some thing dramatic and almost classic in the taunts he now flung out. "Until noAV the honorable Secretary has had no scope for the demonstration of his splendid financial talents." " If, then, reliance can be placed upon his splendid financial talents, only give them scope for action; apply them to the national ability and will." " All the measures AvhIch have dishonored the nation during the last three years are in a great degree attributable to the Indisposition of the late and present Admin istration to press on the Treasury Department and to disturb the popularity and repose of the gentleman at the head of it." In order to give sufficient occupation to the splendid finan cial talents of the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Giles had done all that Avas In his power to do; he had tliAvarted every plan of policy ; wasted every dollar of money ; struck frora the hands of governraent every resource and every financial instrument he could lay hold on ; and all this was not enough. The Secretary still had reputation ; he had popularity ; he had, if not repose, at least dignity. The Senator from Virginia Avas equal to the occasion ; there are few oratorical taunts on record AvhIch echo raore harshly than this, that as yet " the Secretary has had no scope for the deraonstratlon of his splendid financial talents ;" war alone could do those talents justice, and war the Secretary should have. Mr. Giles carried his bill through the Senate; Clay and Lowndes carried it through the House. The war spirit mean while was rapidly rising ; resolutions poured in from the State Legislatures; Congress hurried into further raeasures. What Mr. Madison thought of these Is shoAvn in a letter of his to Mr. Jefferson, dated February 7, 1812 : " The neAvspapere give you a sufficient Insight into the measures of Congress. With a view to enable the Executive to step at once Into Canada, they have pro vided, after two months' delay, for a regular force, requiring twelve to raise it, on terras not likely to raise it at all for that object. The mixture of good and bad, avoAved and disguised 89 450 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1811. motives accounting foi- these things, is curious enough, but not to be explained in the compass of a letter." . Although Mr. Gallatin had lost his old control in the House, he still preserved his influence with the Committee of Ways and Means and its chairman, Ezekiel Bacon, of Massachusetts. To this coraralttee the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury was referred, and when it became clear that war Avas really immi nent, the committee, early in December, requested Mr. Gallatin to appear before them to discuss the question of war taxes. Mr. Gallatin at once complied, and gave his opinions explicitly and emphatically : " I do npt," said he, " feel myself particularly responsible for the nation being in the position in which it now finds itself; it might perhaps have been avoided by a somewhat different course of measures, or the ultimate issue longer deferred. But, placed as it is, I see not how we can noAv recede frora our position with honor or safety. We must now go on and main tain that position with all the available means we can bring to bear on the enemy whom we have selected, and we should in my judgment resort immediately to a systera of taxation commensu rate with the objects stated in my annual report and by the President in his message at the opening of the session." ' Very soon afterwards, on December 9, the committee, through its chairman, Avrote Mr. Gallatin a letter asking for a written state ment of his views, and a month later Mr. Gallatin sent in a paper, which Avas to all intents and purposes a war budget. This Avas a remarkable— for Mr. Gallatin's calm temper, almost a defiant^ — document, Avritten, said Mr. Bacon, " to the great disobligement, as we had reason to know, of some of his strong political friends at that time," and intended to force Congress into an honest performance of its financial duties. This Intent Avas marked by a defence of his oavu course which could not but read as a severe criticism of the couree pursued by Congress. "It was stated," said Mr. Gallatin, "in the annual report of December 10, 1808, that ' no internal taxes, either direct or in- ' Letter of Ezekiel Bacon, dated 24th October, 1845, published in the New York Courier and Enquirer. 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 451 direct, were contemplated even in the case of hostilities carried against the two great belligerent poAvers ;' , an assertion which renders it necessary to shoAV that the prospect then held out Avas not deceptive, and Avhy it has not been realized. " The balance in the Treasury araounted at that tirae to near fourteen millions of dollars ; but aAvare that that surplus would in a short time be expended, and having stated that the revenue was daily decreasing, it Avas in the same report proposed ' that all the existing duties should be doubled on importations subse quent to the 1st day of January, 1809.' ... If the measure then submitted had been adopted, Ave should, after making a large deduction for any supposed dirainution of consumption arising from the proposed increase, have had at this time about twenty millions of dollare on hand, — a sum greater than the net araount of the proposed internal taxes for four yeare. " In proportion as the ability to borrow is diminished, the necessity of resorting to taxation is increased. It is therefore also proper to observe that at that time the subject of the re newal of the charter of the Bank of the United States had been referred by the Senate to the Secretary of the Treasury, nor had any symptom appeared from Aviiich Its absolute dissolution, with out any substitute, could have then been anticipated. The re- noAval in some shape and on a more extensive scale was confidently relied on ; and accordingly, in the report made during the same session to the Senate, the propriety of increasing the capital of the bank to thirty millions of dollars was submitted, with the condition that that institution should, if required, be obliged to lend one-half of its capital to the United States. The aniount thus loaned might without any inconvenience have been In creased to twenty millions. And with twenty millions of dollars In hand, and loans being secured for twenty millions more, Avithout any increase of the stock of the public debt at market. Internal taxation Avould have been unnecessary for at least four yeare of war, nor any other resource been wanted than an additional annual loan of five millions, a sum suffi ciently moderate to be obtained from individuals and on favor able terms." ' Leaving Congress to reflect at its leisure upon the criticisms 452 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. Implied in these remarks, the Secretary Avent on to lay down the rules now made necessary by the refusal to folloAV his pre vious advice. After doubling the imposts and reimposing the duty on salt, he could promise a net revenue of only $6,000,000 for war times. The committee assumed that annual loans of $10,000,000 Avould be required during the Avar, AvhIch left an annual deficiency, to be provided for by taxation, araounting to $5,000,000, calculated to cover the interest of the first two loans only, after Avhich additional taxes must be imposed to provide for the interest of future loans. Five millions a year, therefore, raust be raised by internal taxes, and Mr. Gallatin proposed to obtain three railllons hy a direct tax and tAVO millions by excise, stamps, licenses, and duties on refined sugar and carriages. A few remarks on loans and Treasury notes closed the letter. This communication startled the House, and even produced an excitement of no ordinary nature. Congress suddenly aAvoke to the fact that the Secretary was in earnest, and that, if war carae. Congress must learn to take advice. The faction that followed Mr. Giles and General Smith were not quick in learn ing this lesson, and fairly raved against the Secretary. What so exasperated them may be gathered best from a speech by Mr. Wright, of Maryland, one of the most extreme of the Smith connection. On March 2, 1812, he spoke thus: " Sir, at the last session, Avhen the question for rechartering the odious British bank Avas before ns, Ave had to encounter the influence of the Secretary of the Treasury. . . . Now at this session he has told us that, if we had a national bank, we should have no occasion to resort to internal taxes ; thereby calling the American people to review the conduct of their representatives in not continuing that bank, and thereby to fix the odium of these odious taxes on the National Legislature. Now a system of taxes is presented truly odious, in my opinion, to the people, to disgust them Avith their representatives and to chill the Avar spirit. Yet it Is, under Treasury influence, to be impressed on the Committee of Ways and Means, and through them on the House. Sir, I, as a representative of the people, feel It my duty to resist it with all ray energies. . . . Sir, is there anything of 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 453 originality in his .system? No I It is treading in the muddy footsteps of his official predecessors in attempting to strap round the necks of the people this odious system of taxation, adopted -by them, for Avhicli they have been condemned by the people and dismissed from poAver. . . . And now, sir, Avith the view of destroying this Administration ; Avitli this sentence of a dis missal of our predecessore in office before our eyes, a sentence not only sanctioned, but executed by ourselves, Ave are to be pressed into a system knoAvn to be odious in the sight of the people, and Avhich, on Its firet presentation in a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Committee of Ways and Means, and by them submitted to us, produced such an excitement In the House." The " IiiA'Isibles," hoAvever, Avere not the only class of men upon Avhom the Avar-budget fell Avith startling effect. Mr. Gallatin's old friends Avith Avliom he had acted In 1792, when at the unlucky Pittsburg raeeting they had united in declaring " that internal taxes upon consumption, from their very nature, never can efrectually be carried into operation Avithout vesting the officere appointed to collect them Avitli poAvcrs raost danger ous to the civil rights of freemen, and must in the end destroy the liberties of every country In which they are introduced ;" men like William Findley, his old colleague, Avere So deeply shocked at the reintroduction of the excise that they Avould not vote even for the printing of this letter. They looked upon Mr. Gallatin as guilty of flagrant inconsistency. They did not .stop to reflect that, if inconsistency there Avere, it dated as far back as 1796, when, in his "Sketch of the Finances," Mr. Gal latin had taken es.sentlally the same vIcav of the excise as now;^ aud again in 1801, Avhen he had refused to recommend the repeal of the internal taxes. It was assumed that the Secretary of the Treasury could discover unknoAvn resources; the Aurora dreamed of endless wealth in the national lands ; but in point of fact this letter of Mr. Gallatin's erred only in calling for too little. He began by accepting the coraralttee's estiraate that loans to the extent > See "Writings, vol. iii. pp. 90, 91. 454 LIFE OF ALBEET GALLATIN. 1812. of $50,000,000 Avould carry on a four j'eare' Avar. The war lasted tAVO yeare and a half, and raised the national debt from $45,000,000 to $123,000,000, or at the rate of somewhat more than $30,000,000 a year, nearly three times the estimate, Had Mr. Gallatin foreseen anything like the truth In regard to the coming contest, his demand for resources Avould have appeared absurd, and he would have lost Avhatever influence he still had. For once, however, Gallatin was master of the situation. He could not force his enemies to vote for the taxes, but he could force them to vote for or against, and either alternative Avas equally unpleasant to them. The honest supportere of Avar found little difficulty in folloAving IMr. Gallatin's lead, but the mere trimmers, and the men Avho supported a war policy be cause the Administration opposed it, Avere greatly disturbed. Mr. Bacon brought In a report AvIth a long line of resolutions, and sei'Iously proceeded to force them through the House. Nothing, one Avould tliink, could have given Mr. Gallatin keener entertainraent than to see hoAy his enemies acted under this first turn of the scrcAV Avliich they themselves had set in motion. It Avas a sign that government was again at AVork, and that the long period of chaos Avas coming to an end ; but the struggle to escape was desperate, and it Avas partially suc cessful. At firet, indeed, Mr. Gallatin carried his point. On the 4th resolution, for a tax of twenty cents a bushel on salt, the House rebelled, and refused the rate by a vote of 60 to 57, but the next day the whip was freely applied, and Mr, Wright and his friends were overthrown by a vote of 66 to 54. This settled the matter for the time, and the House meekly swalloAved tlie whole list of nauseous taxes, and ordered Mr. Bacon's committee, on the 4th Mai-ch, 1812, to prepare bills in conformity with the resolutions. This Avas done, but the bills could not be got before the House till June 26, Avhen there remained but ten days of the session. As it was out of the question to get these taxes adopted by the House and Senate in that short time, Mr. Gal latin was obliged to consent to their going over till November. Congress, hoAvever, was quite ready to authorize loans, and promptly began Avith one of eleven millions, AvhIch, small as it Avas, Mr. Gallatin found difficulty in negotiating, even AvIth the 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 455 active and valuable assistance of Mr. John Jacob Astor, who UOAV became a considerable poAver in tlie state. The attitude of the Administration toAvards the Avar during the Avinter of 1811-12 seems to have been one of passive acquis- escence. Notliing has yet been brought to light, nor do the papere left by Mr. Gallatin contain the smallest evidence, tend ing to shoAV that Mr. Madison or any of his Cabinet tried to place any obstacle in the way of tlie AA'ar party. That they did not wish for war is a matter of couree. Their adramistrative difficulties even in peace were so great as to paralyze all tlieir efforts, and from war they had nothing to expect but an infinite addition to tliem. The burden Avould fall chiefly upon Mr. Grallatin, who knew that the Treasury must break doAvn, and upon the Secretary of War, Eustis, who was notoriously incom petent Yet even IMr. Grallatin accepted Avar as inevitable, and Avrote in that sense to Mr. Jeffereon. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. "Washikqton, lOth March, 1812. Dear Sir, — . . . You have seen from your retreat that our hopes and endeavore to preserve peace during the present European contest have at last been frustrated. I am satisfied tliat domestic faction has prevented that happy result. But I hope, nevertheless, that our internal enemies and the ambitious intriguers who still attempt to disunite Avill ultimately be equally disappointed. I rely with great confidence on the good sense of the mass of the people to support their own government in an unavoidable war, and to check the disordinate ambition of indi viduals. The discoveries made by Henry avIII have a salutary effect in annihilating the spirit of the Essex junto, and even on the new focus of oppasition at Albany. Pennsylvania never was more firm or united. The South and the West cannot be shaken. With respect to the war, it is my Avish, and it will be my endeavor, so far as I may have any agency, that the evils inseparable from it should, as far as practicable, be limited to its duration, and that at its end the United States may be burthened with the smallest possible quantity of debt, perpetual taxation, 456 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1812. military establishments, and other corrupting or anti-republican habits or institutions. Accept the assurances of my sincere and unalterable attach ment and respect. Nevertheless there has ahvays been something mysterious about Mr. Madison's share in causing the final declaration. This letter of Mr. Gallatin, dated INIarch 10, shows that he already considered war to be unavoidable. On the 3d April, only three weeks later, Mr. Madison Avrote to Mr. Jeffereon that the action of the British government in refusing to repeal the orders in council left us nothing to do but to prepare for war, and that an embargo for sixty days had been recommended. The embargo was accordingly imposed, and on June 1 Mr. Madison finally sent in his m&ssage recommending a declaration of war against Great Britain, Avhicli took place on June 18. The Federalist party, hoAvever, ahvays maintained that Mr. Madison Avas dragooned into the Avar by a committee of Congress. The assertion is that the President, though Avilling to accept and sign a bill declaring war, was very far from Avishing to recom mend it, and that to overcome his reluctance a committee headed by Clay waited upon him to announce that he must either recom mend the declaration or lose the nomination for the Presidency which was then pending; that he yielded ; received the nomina tion on May 18, and sent in his message on June 1. This story, openly told in Congress soon afterAvards, and as openly and positively denied by Mr. Clay and his friends, has crept into all the principal histories, and in spite of contradiction has acquired ranch of the force of established fact. It has even been supported by an avowal of Jaraes Fisk, a prominent mem ber frora Vermont, that he Avas himself a member of the com mittee. The charge, such as it is, has been the principal stain on the political history of Mr. Madison, and also by consequence upon that of Mr. Gallatin, Avho, according to Mr. Hildreth ' " clung Avith tenacity to office" and " did not choose to risk his place by openly opposing Avhat he labored in vain by indirect ' History, II. Series, iii. 834. 1812, THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 457 means to prevent," at a time Avhen Mr. Gallatin Avoiild probably have been only too happy to find any honorable way of escaping from office. The papers of Mr. Gallatin, like those of Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe, are quite silent upon this subject. On the other hand, the papere of Timothy Pickering supply at least the authority on Avhich the charge Avas raade. The tAvo foUoAving lettere tell their oaa'U story, and, although they affect Mr. Galla tin's reputation only Indirectly, they have a considerable negative value even for liLtn. TIMOTHY PICKERING TO ABRAHAM SHEPHERD. City of "Washington, February 12, 1814. Dear Sir, — At the last autumn session, Mr. Hanson, noticing the manner in which the war Avas produced, in addressing Clay, the Speaker, spoke to this effect : " You know, sir, that the Presi dent was coerced into the measure; that a committee called upon him and told him that if he did not recommend a declaration of war, he Avould lose his election. And then ho sent his message recommending the declaration." NoAV, my dear sir, I learn frora Mr. Hanson that Colonel Thoraas Worthington, Senator, on his Avay horae to Ohio, gave you the above Information, and mentioned the names of Henry Clay, Felix Grundy, and some other or others who composed the committee. This is a very Important fact, and I pray you will do me the favor to recollect and state to rae all the inforraa tion you possess on the subject ; at what time and from whom you received it. ABRAHAM SHEPHERD TO TIMOTHY PICKERING. Near Shepderdstown, Pebruary 20, 1814. Dear Sir, — I received your favor of the 12th instant, and observed the contents. Some time In the beginning of April, 1812, General Worthington came to my house frora the city to see Mre. Worthington and children set out for Ohio; he con tinued part of tAVO days at my house, Avithin AvhIch time avc had 458 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. considerable convereation on the prospect of war. He insisted war was Inevitable. I condemned the folly and madness of such a measure. He then told me that Mr. Bayard Avould firet be sent to England to make one effort more to prevent the Avar ; that Mr. Madison had consented to do so ; and that Mr. Bayard had agreed to go ; that he had used every raeans in his power with sorae more of the moderate men of their party to effect this object, and that he had frequent conversations with Mr. Madison and Bayard on this subject before It Avas effected, and that I might rely upon it that such measures would be adopted. He left my house and returned. to the city. After the declaration of Avar and rising of Congress, General Worthington, on his way home to the State of Ohio, called at my house and stayed a night. I then asked hira what had prevented the President from carrying into effect this intended mission to England, and observed I Avas very sorry it had not been put in execution. He answered he was as sorry as I possibly could be, and that he had never met with any occurrence in his life that had morti fied him so much. He said as soon as he returned to the city from my house he was informed of what had taken place by a set of hot-headed, violent men, and he imraedlately waited on Mr. Madison to know the cause. Mr. Madison told hira that his friends had waited upon him and said, if he did send Mr. Bayard to England they Avould forsake him and be opposed to him, and he Avas compelled to coraply, or bound to comply, Avith their wishes. I then asked General Worthington who those hot-headed, violent men Avere. He said Mr. Clay was the principal. I cannot positively say, but think Grundy was men tioned Avith Clay. I clearly understood that Clay and Grundy were tAvo of the number that Avalted on the President. I did not ask him how he got his Information. As I underetood the business, a caucus was held and Mr. Clay and others appointed, and Avaited on the President m the absence of AVorthington, which will ascertain when this business took place. Mr. Pickering seems to have thought that this explanation hardly supported the charge, and he discreetly allowed the sub- 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 459 ject to drop. So far, indeed, as the original charge Was con cerned, the letter of Mr. Shepherd entirely disposed of it, and proved that Mr. Hanson and Mr. Pickering had no authority for asserting that the President Avas coerced into sending the message of- June 1, or that this message was the price of his re-noralna- tion. On the other hand, Mr. Shepherd's stateraent raises a new charge against Mr. Madison. In his letter of 24th April, 1812, to Mr. Jeffereon, the President said : " You will have noticed that the embargo, as recommended to Congress, was limited to siity days. Its extension to ninety proceeded from the united votes of those who wished to raake It a jiegotiating instead of a war measure," &c., &c. Of these Senator Worthington was doubtless one, for the substitution of " 90" for " 60" Avas made by the Senate on April 3, on motion of Dr. Leib, and Worthing ton voted for it. There was, then, a party in Congress which Avished to use the embargo as a Aveapon of negotiation. It is not improbable that this party may have wished Mr. Madison to send a special mission to England, and that they may have pressed Mr. Bayard for the place. It is possible that Clay and his friends may have told Mr. Madison that in such a step he must not expect their support. This is all that can be now affirmed in regard to the celebrated charge that Mr. Madison made war in order to obtain a re-election. Mr. Madison's Administration Avanted energy and force. No one who is at all familiar with the private history of this party can escape the confession that the President commanded personal love and esteem in a far higher degree than obedience. Whether Senator Worthington counted Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin among the active supporters of his proposed peace mission does not appear, nor is there any clue to the other friends of that policy ; but there can be little doubt that this was merely one of many suggestions with which the remnant of the old Jeffer sonian democracy struggled in a helpless way to stem the current of the times. Mr. Gallatin's ears Avere Avearied with the cora- plalnts and reraonstrances of his friends, the Macons, the Worth- ingtons, the Dallas&s, the Nicholsons ; and the strident tones of John Randolph echoed their complaints to the public. The President heard, but, both by temperament and conviction, foi- 460 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. loAved the path which seeraed nearest the general popular move ment, Avithout a serious effort to direct it or to provide for its consequences. Even Mr. Worthington believed war to be inev itable. Yet had they known that only the utter disorganization of the British government noAV prevented a repeal of the orders in council; had there been an American minister in London capable of seeing through the outer shell of politics and of measuring the force of social movements, war might even yet have been avoided. Nay, had Mr. Madison thrown himself at this decisive moment Into the arms of the peac* party ; had he, on the 1st April, 1812, sent to the Senate, together with his embargo message, the nominations of Mr. Bayard and Mr. Monroe or Mr. Gallatin as special commissioners to England, the Avar could hardly have happened, for the commissioners would have found the orders in council revoked before negotia tions could have been seriously begun. This, however, Mr. Madison did not knoAv, and, perhaps, even had he knoAvn it, the fate of John Adams might have seeraed to his gentler spirit a warning not to thwart a party policy. His action Avas founded on the official utterances of the British gov ernment and the temper of our OAvn people; it was perfectly consistent from beginning to end, and there avos no disagreement in the Cabinet on the subject. It is true that until Congress met he was In doubt what course was best to pursue; his raessage did not directly recoramend war; but from the moment Congress assembled and shoAved a disposition to support the national dig nity, Mr. Madison and his Cabinet accepted the situation and needed no outside compulsion. To use his OAvn words, as written down by a celebrated visitor In the year 1836, " he knew the un prepared state of the country, but he esteemed it necessary to throw forward the flag of the country, sure that the people would press onward and defend It." ' He had been ready to do this in the Avinter of 1808-09. He had urged measures almost equivalent to ' Washington, llth April, 1878. My dear Sir,— In March, 1836, I was the guest of Mr. Madison for several days. He knew the object of my visit, and kept me at his side during many hours of each day, sometimes starting topics, sometimes answer ing my (luustions and allowing uio lo take down hU words from his lips in 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 461 war in every folloAving session, so far as Congress would alloAV him to do so. He had wisheil to maintain pejice, bnt he had been quite aAvare that government must have the moral courage to resist outrage, as a condition of maintaining peace. It is not to be denied that his party was far behind him, and that, as a consequence, the whole foreign policy from February, 1809, to June, 1812, was one long series of blundera and misfortunes. France made a dupe of him and betrayed him into a diplomatic position which was, as regai-ded England, untenable. To use his oavu words in a letter to Joel BarloAV, his minister at Paris, dated August 11, 1812 : " The conduct of the French governraent . . . will be an everlasting reproach to It. . . . In the event of a pacification "with Great Britain, the full tide of indignation AvIth which the public mind here Is boiling, avIII be directed against France, if not obviated by a due reparation of her wrongs. War avIU be called for by the nation almost una voce." But the diplomatic mistake did not affect the essential merits of the case, and the factiousness of Congress raerely prevented the possibility of a peaceable solution. Neither the one nor the other offers the smallest evidence of inconsistency in Mr. Madison or in his Cabinet. Even Mr. Gallatin, to Avhose success peace was essen tial, had never wished and did not now wish to obtain it by deprecating war. The real trouble which weighed upon the mind of Mr. Gal latin waS not the war; he accepted this as inevitable. His difficulty Avas that the government wanted the faculties neces sary for carrying on a war with success, and that Mr. Madison was not the pereon to supply, by his own energy and will, the his presence. The memorandum annexed is, for the most part, in his own words, and committed to paper as they were uttered. Ever yours, Geokqe Bancroft. [Memorandum.] March, 1836. — Madison was a friend of peace. But he told me " that the British left no option ; that war was made necessary ; that under the circumstances of the negotiations with England war was unavoid able." He further said, " he knew the unprepared state of the country, but he esteemed it necessary to throw forward tho flag of the country, sure that the people would press onward and defend it." 462 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN. 1812. deficiendes of the system. Mr. Gallatin knew, what Avas known to every member of Congress and every ncAvspaper editor in the land, that both the Navy and Army Departments were wholly unequal to the war. With regard to the navy, this was of the less consequence, because the subordinate material was excellent, and our naval officere were sure to supply the lack of energy in their official head ; yet even here the mere fact that Governor Hamilton wanted the qualities necessary to a Secretary of the NaA'y in war times diminished the confidence of the public and the vigor of the Cabinet. In regard to Dr. Eustis and the War Department the situation was far worse ; this had always been the Aveak branch of our system, for the army was wanting in very nearly every dement of success derived frora efficient organization. Complete collapse Avas inevitable if the situation Avere prolonged. The Aveight of government uoav fell almost wholly upon Mr. Monroe and Mr. Gallatin ; it is believed that even the Act for the organization of the army at the beginning of the war was draAvn up by Mr. Gallatin. The Cabinet broke doAvn firet of all, and this helplessness of the War Secretaries, as they were called, has led to a strange mystification of history in regard to the fijst achievements of our naA'y in 1812. Long afterwards, in the year 1845, ilr. C. J. Ingersoll published a history of the war, in which he dealt his blows very freely upon Mr. Madi son and Mr. Gallatin, and charged them, among other things, with having meant to dismantle our frigates and convert them into harbor defences. Tliis attack drew a paper from Commo dore Stewart, who gave another account of the affair. Hia statement was that he and Commodore Bainbridge arrived at Washington on the 20th June; that on the 21st th^ were shoAvn by Mr. Goldsborough, chief clerk of the Navy Depart ment, a paper containing the ordere, which had just been draAvn, for Commodore Rodgere not to leave the watere of New York Avith his naval force ; that on the same day the Secretary of the Na"vy mformed them that it had been decided by the Presi dent and the Cabinet to lay up our vessels of war in the harbor of New York ; that they had an IntervieAv with the President on the same day, in which the President confirmed this decision; 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 463 that on the 22d tlie tAvo commodores presented rt joint remon strance ; and that the subsequent orders, under Avliich the vessels went to sea, Avere the result of this remonstrance. A letter of Mr. Goldsborough to Commodore Bainbridge, dated May 4, 1825, confirmed the fact of the joint remonstrance, and added some details in regard to the transaction. This statement of Commodore StcAvart drcAv from Mr. Gallatin a reply, Avhich avIU be found in his printed Writings.' He asserted that he had no recollection of any such scheme for lay ing up the frigates; that he Avas confident no such Cabinet coun cil was ever hdd as was referred to by Commodore Stewart; that tlie President, under the laAvs, had no power to malce such a dis position of the navy; that Congress had never contemplated anything of the sort ; and that the orders previously or simulta neously given contradicted such an Idea. His remarlcs upon tlie Secretary of the Navy, hoAvever, shoAV the situation as it then existed : " OAving to circumstances irrel evant to any question noAV at issue, my intercouree with Mr. Hamilton was very limited. He may have been Inefficient ; he certainly Avas an amiable, kind-hearted, and honorable gentle man. From his official reports he appeare to have been de voted to the cause of the navy, and I never heard him express opinions such as he is stated to have entertained on that sub ject. Yet his official instructions of 18th June and 3d July, 1812, to Commodore Hull, which I saw for the first tirae in Mr. Ingersoll's work, evince an anxiety bordering on tiraidity, a fear to assume any responsibility, and a wish, if any misfor tune should happen, to make the officer solely responsible for it." Mr. IngereoU and Commodore Stewart, though In different ways, both in effect charged upon Mr. Gallatin this scheme of laying up the navy ; it was, according to them, his influence in the Cabinet which had almost deprived the nation of its maritirae glories. This is one of those curious echoes of popular notions which so often bias historians, and was founded partly on his old hostility to the navy, partly on his known indisposition towards the war. There was, in fact, no truth in it. Mr. ' Vol. ii. p. 611. 464 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1S12. Gallatin has hiraself, in the paper quoted above, recorded his feelings about the navy at this time ; . : .. , "For myself I have no reason to complain. Commodore Stewart, in mentioning my name, only repeats what he h^rd another say, and he ascribes to me none but honorable motives and opinions, which, as he believed, were generally those, of the public at large. He says, indeed, that out of the naA^^ he kncAV at Philadelphia but one man Avho thought otherAvise. My asso ciations Avere, however, more fortunate. From my numerous connections and friends in the navy, and particularly from conversations with Commodore Decatur, who had explained to me the various improvements introduced in our public ships, I had become satisfied that our navy would, on equal terms, prove equal to that of Great Britain, and I may aver that this was the opinion not only of Mr. Madison, but of the majority of those in and out of Congress with whom I conversed. The apprehen sion, as far as I knew, was not on that account, but that by reason of the prodigious numerical superiority of the British there would be little chance for engageraents on equal terras, and that within a short time our public ships could afford no protection to our commerce. But this did not apply to the short period immediately subsequent to the declaration of war, Avhen the British naval force in this quarter Avas hardly superior to that of the United States. The expectation was general, and noAvhere more so than in New York, Avhere the Immediate cap ture of the Belvidere Avas anticipated, that our public ships would sail the moment that war was declared. In keeping them in port at that time the Administration would have acted in direct oppo sition to the intentions of Congress and to public opinion." Commodore Stewart replied in rather indifferent temper to Mr. Gallatin's very mild statement,' but in doing so he printed the sailing orders of June 22, 1812., An examination of the Madi son papers In the State Department at Washington also brings to light the following note, and by placing the note of Mr. Gallatin side by side Avith the sailing orders sent by the Secretary of the » All these papers will be found in Niles's Register for 1845, and in the Now York Courier and Enquirer. 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818 455 Navy to Commodore Rodgere, it will be easily seen who was re sponsible for sending Rodgere to sea. GALLATIN TO MADISON. [No date. June 20 or 21, 1812.] Dear Sir, — I believe the weekly arrivals frora foreign ports will for the coming four weeks average from one to one and a half million dollare a week. To protect these and our coasting vessels whilst the British have still an Inferior force on our coasts, appeare to me of primary iraportance. I think that ordere to that effect ordering them to cruise accordingly ought to have been sent yesterday, and that at all events not one day longer ought to be lost. Respectfully. SECRETARY HAMILTON TO COMMODORE RODGERS. Navt Department, 22d June, 1812. . . . For the present it has been judged expedient so to employ our public armed vessels as to afford to our returning commerce all possible protection. Nationally and individually the safe return of our commercial vessels Is obviously of the highest im portance, and, to accomplish this object as far as may be in your power, you avIU without doubt exert your utmost raeans and con sult your best judgment. . . . Your general cruising ground for the present avIII be from the Capes of the Chesapeake eastwardly. Commodore Decatur, . . . having the same object in view, will, for the present, cruise from New York southwardly. . . . You are now in possession of the present views of the government in relation to the employment of our vessels of war. . . . These two documents establish beyond question the curious fact that it was Mr. Gallatin who fixed the policy of the Admin istration in regard to the navy in 1812; that it Avas he who urged the President and the Navy Departraent up to their work ; and that it was he who should have had the credit, whatever It raay be, of sending Rodgers and Decatur to sea. These ordere of June 30 466 LIFE OP ALBEET GALLATIN, 1812. 22 Avere the actual cruising ordere which settled the policy of the navy for the tirae, and took the place of teraporary ordera issued to Rodgere on June 18, in which he was directed to make a dash at the British cruisers off Sandy Hook and return immediately to New York. In the face of these incontrovertible pieces of evidence, one is left to wonder what can have been the foundation for the circum stantial story told by Stewart and Bainbridge that they read on June 21, 1812, In the chief clerk's room at the Navy Department in Washington, orders Avhich had just been draAvn at the instance of Mr. Gallatin for Commodore Rodgere not to leave the Avaters of Ncav York Avith his naval force ; orders issued, as the Secre tary of the Navy then and there explained, because it had been decided by the President and Cabinet, also at Mr. Gallatin's suggestion, to dismantle the ships and use them as floating bat teries to defend Ncav York harbor; and that the cancelling of these ordere and the reversal of this policy were due to the vehement remonstrances of these two gallant naval officers, who won a victory in the President's mind over the blasting and fatal influence of Mr. Gallatin. It is a new illustration of the old jealousy between arms and gowns. GALLATIN TO JOSEPH H. NICHOLSON. "Washington, 26th June, 1812. Dear Sir, — I ara just ihforraed that you are in Baltimore. . If it be true that your Legislature has authorized the banks to lend a portion of their capital to the United States, can you ascer tain what amount may be obtained from them all either by taking stock or by Avay of temporary loans reimbursable at the expira tion of one or more years ? We have not money enough to last till 1st January next, and General Smith is using every endeavor to run us aground by opposing everything. Treasury notes, double duties, &c. The Senate Is so neariy divided and the divisions so increased by that on the Avar question that we can hardly rely on carrying anything. . . . War being now dcdared, Mr. Gallatin was condemned to do 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 467 that AvhIch, of all financial Avork, he most abhorred; to pile debt upon debt ; " to act the part of a mere financier ; to become a contriver of taxes, a dealer of loans," and, in the inevitable waste of Avar, to be the helpless abettor of extravagance and raisraanagement. These Avere not the objects for Avliich he had taken office; they were. In fact, precisely the acts for Avhich he had attacked his predecessors, had driven them from poAver, and appropriated their offices and honors, and no one felt this inconsistency more scA'erely than Mr. Gallatin himself, although five yeare of painful effort and constant failure had taught him hoAV feeble Avere party principles and private convictions in the face of facts. He Avas compelled to go on and to see woree things still. Every part of the administrative system, except one, collapsed. The war was miserably disastrous. The Act for raising 25,000 raen had not become law until the llth January, 1812; the selection of officers Avas not corapleted until the close of the year; the recruiting service was not organ ized in time; the enlistments fell short of the raost moderate calculation, and the total number of recruits was so small as to make impossible any decisive movement on the line of Lake Champlain, although Montreal was almost unprotected. No sufficient naval force was provided on the Lakes, and in conse quence an American army at Detroit Avas surrounded and cap tured by a mere mob of Canadians and Indians, Avho, inferior in every other respect to their opponents, had the Inestimable advantage of a brave, energetic, and capable leader. Bad as this experience Avas, it hardly equalled the military performances at Niagara, where the corainanding generals showed a degree of incompetence that descended at last to sheer buffoonery. The War Department in all its branches completely broke doAvn, and if it had not been for the exploits of those half-dozen frigates whose construction had been so vehemently resisted by the Re publican party under Mr. Gallatin's lead, the Navy Department Avould have appeared equally poorly. The control of the Lakes was in fact lost, and only partially regairied in 1813; the Avhole gun-boat system, on which railllons had been wasted, went to pieces ; even the frigates were mostly soon captured or block aded, and, but for the privateers, England, at the end of the 468 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. war, had little to fear on the ocean. Amid this general collapse of administration, Mr. Gallatin might have found hope and comfort had Congress shoAvn capacity, but Congress Avas at least as inefficient as the Executive. Nothing could induce it to face the situation; with the exception of an Act for doubling the duties on importations, it passed no tax law until more than a year after the declaration of Avar, and it was not till the public credit was ruined and the Treasury notes Avere dishonored that Mr. Dallas, then Secretary of the Treasury, succeeded in bring ing the Legislature to double the direct tax, to increase the rate of the internal duties and add new ones, immediately before the peace.' A thorough reorganization of the Executive Departments was necessary, and should have been undertaken by the President before the war was even declared, but energy in administration was not a characteristic of Mr. Madison. He hesitated, delayed, postponed, and at length, as in the case of Robert Sraith, he was dragged at the heels of men and events. Hardly a month had passed since the declaration of war, and Congress had adjourned on July 6 to meet again on the 3d November ; Mr. Grallatin had just started for Ncav York to seek for money, and the President had set out for his farm at Montpeller, when an express arrived with the news that General Hull had surren dered Detroit. What Mr. Gallatin thought of this affair raay be inferred frora the folloAving extract of a letter to his wife : GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. "Washington, 81st August, 1812. • . . Hull has in unaccountable manner surrendered all his troops (about 1800) prisoners of Avar to an inferior force. We have no direct accounts from hira, but the fear of Indians for himself and the inhabitants is the probable cause of his not having extricated himself by retiring and abandoning the coun try. Proper measures for repairing the loss will be adopted ; but how they will be executed by Eustis, no one can say. . . . ' Gallatin's Writings, vol. iii. p. 638. 1812. THE TREASURY. lSOl-1813. 499 The disaster at Detroit made a change in the War Depart ment Inevitable, but the change A\'as not yet made. Mr. Gallatin pressed it as necessary from a financial point of vicAV. When he found that tlie army and navy estimates Avould require a loan of $21,000,000 for the year 1813, he Avrote to the President as follows : " I think a loan to that amount to be altogether un attainable. From banks we can expect little or nothing, as they have already lent nearly to the full extent of their faculties. All that I could obtain this year from Individual subscriptions does not exceed |3,200,000. There are but tAvo practicable ways of diminishing the expenditure: 1, by confining it to necessary objects; 2, by introducing perfect system and sup pressing abuses In the necessary brandies. 1. In the War De partment, to reduce the calls for militia, and, above all, to keep the control OA-er those calls and other contingent expenses ; in the Navy, to diminish greatly the number of gun-boats, and to strike off all supernumerary midshipmen, pureers, salling- mastere, and other unnecessary officere. 2. System requires skill in forming and decision In executing. But the preparing and executing such plans must rest almost exclusively with the heads of the Departments. I have no doubt that knowledge and talents would save several millions, and the necessary business be better done." This letter was written towards the end of October, 1812. Already on the llth of that month, as appeare from a brief note Avritten by Mr. Gallatin to the President,' some exchange of places had been suggested by Mr. Madison, perhaps between Eustis and Monroe, but the suggestion was condemned by Gal latin as more open to criticism than alraost any other course that could be adopted. So far as can now be guessed, it Is probable tliat Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Monroe wished to reorganize the Cabinet throughout; Mr. Monroe would then have become Secretary of War, Mr. Gallatin Avould have succeeded him as Secretary of State, and possibly William H. Crawford would have taken the Treasury; an arrangement Avhich would have given great strength to the government and eliminated many » Gallatin's "Writings, i. 520. 470 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. causes of weakness. To this, however, Mr. INIadison Avould not consent, probably from the belief that it would infalllby be de feated in the Senate. In this state of suspense the Administra tion stumbled on until the end of the year ; then Dr, Eustis resigned of his own accord, and Mr. Monroe assumed tempo rarily the duties of his office, as he easily might, since the Avar had made the Department of State a sinecure. Governor Hamil ton also resigned of his own accord, and Immediate action by the President thus became necessary. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. "Washinqton, 18th December, 1812. . . . The series of raisfortunes experienced this year in our military land operations exceeds all anticipations made even by those who had least confidence in our Inexperienced officers and undisciplined men. I believe that General Dearborn has done all that Avas in his power. The conduct of Hull, Rensselaer, and Srayth cannot be accounted for on any rational principle. It is to be hoped that Mr. Eustis's resignation will open brighter prospects. For, although those three disasters cannot with jus tice be ascribed to him, yet his Incapacity and the total want of confidence in hira were felt through every ramification of the public service. To find a successor qualified, popular, and Avilling to accept, is extremely difficult. It Avas just this moment that Mr. Josiah Quincy, hottest of all Federalists, chose for his once celebrated attack on the Ad ministration : " It is a curious fact," he said, in his speech of 5th January, 1813, "but no less true than curious, that for these tAvelve yeare past the whole affairs of this country have been managed, and Its fortunes reversed, under the Influence of a Cabinet little less than despotic, composed, to all efficient pur poses, of two Virginians and a foreigner. ... I might have said, perhaps with more strict propriety, that It Avas a Cabinet composed of three Virginians and a foreigner, because once in the couree of the twelve yeare there has been a change in one of the characters. ... I said that these three raen constituted 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 471 to all efficient purposes the Avhole Cabinet. This also is noto rious. It Is true that during this period other individuals have been called into the Cabinet ; but they Avere all of thera com paratively minor men, such as had no great AA'cight either of pereonai talents or of personal influence to support them. They Avere kept as instruraents of the master spirits ; and Avhen they failed to ansAver the purpose, or beciirae restive, they were sacri ficed and provided for ; the shades Avere made to play upoh the curtain; they entered; they boAved to the audience; they did what they were bidden ; they said Avhat Avas set doAvn for them ; when those who pulled the Avires saAv fit, they passed away. No man kncAV Avliy they entered ; no man knew why they departed ; no man could tell whence they came; no man asked whither they were gone." In this description there Avas truth as well as oratory; but Mr. Quincy did not add that this despotism had been terapered by faction to an extent Avhich had left In it very little of the despotic. Even while ISIr. Quincy was charging the myste rious three with the design of making Mr. Monroe "general issimo" In order to perpetuate their poAver, the three were in a quandary, as much perplexed as any of their neighbors, and actually deciding to accept General Armstrong as the least of their evils. Not one of them had any confidence in General Armstrong ; tliey kncAv hira to be no friend of theirs ; to belong to a family — the Clintons — which had for twenty yeare or there abouts acted without reference to them; one of whose chiefs, George Clinton, had, as Vice-President, given infinite annoy ance to the Adrainistration, while another, De Witt Clinton, had, within three months, run a mad race to get himself elected President by the Federalists in opposition to Mr. Madison; they knew that Armstrong had been through life a master of intrigue, and that his ambition was only checked by his indo lence ; but they kncAv that he had ability and that he had loyally supported the government. General Armstrong, therefore, be came Secretary of War, Avhile the Navy Department was given td Williara Jones, of Philadelphia, an active merchant and politician, who, in other days, had served as lieutenant under Commodore Truxton. 472 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. Meanwhile, Mr. Gallatin had in his own department cares enough to occupy all his energies. When Congress met in Noveraber, 1812, the House was still less disposed to support the Secretary than it had been in the spring. Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, was now chairman of the Coraralttee of Ways and Means. The Presidential election was over and Mr. Madi son was secure in his seat, but the House had less appetite for taxation than before ; it refused even to support the Secretary in otlier money measures. The first trial of strength, in which Mr. Gallatin Avas Avorsted, came In an embarrassing form. When the British government on June 23, 1812, revoked its ordere in council, the declaration of Avar being then unknown in England, great quantities of British merchandise were at once shipped to America on the faith of the Act of Congress of March 2, 1811> which promised a rencAval of Intercourse whenever the British ordere should be revoked. Even after the declaration of war became knoAvn, these shipments continued, protected by British licenses from Pritish cruisers. All these vessels and cargoes were of course seized on arriving in American ports. The next step Avas to release such property as Avas owned In good faith by Americans, the Treasury taking bonds to the value of the cargoes, and, owing to the great rise in prices consequent on the Avar, the ownere made very large profits, in some cases even to the whole amount of the bonds. Mr. Gallatin, unAvilling to assume the respoasibility of remitting or exacting the forfeitures, referred the subject to Congress, and in doing so expres.sed the opinion that in the peculiar circumstances of the case a reasonable com promise Avould authorize the remission of one-half the forfeitures, due to the coUectore, and the exaction of the other half, or its eqiuA'alent, due to the government. The amount of propertj' involved was about $40,000,000, including the importers' profit. Mr. Gallatin's proposition Avould have assumed a forfeiture to the araount of about §9,000,000. The regular duties, if the forfeit ures were Avholly remitted, Avould amount to about $5,000,000. On this question there arose a sharp battle in the House, and Mr. Cheves led the Federalists in a vigorous assault upon the Secretary. Perhaps this attack was more honest and less spiteful than the attacks of Mr. Giles, but it Avas hardly less mischievous : 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 473 " I Avould rather sec the objects of the Avar fail ; I Avould rather see the seamen of the country impressed on the ocean and our commerce SAvept from its bosom, than see the long arm of the Treasury indirectly thrust into the pocket of the citizen through the medium of a penal laAv. We might suffer all these disasters and our civil liberties Avould yet be safe. That principle of our government Avould still be preserved AA'hich subjects the purse of the citizen to no authority but a laAV so plain that he who runs may read. Hoav are the exigencies of the government for the next year to be supplied ? That portion of them Avhich is pro vided Is rather the result of accident than forecast. Is the de ficiency to be derived from taxes ? No ! I avIII tell gentlemen who are opposed to them, for their comfort, that there avIU be no taxes imposed for the next year. It was said last session that you Avould have tirae to lay thera at this session, but I then said it was a mistake. You now find this to be the fact. By your indecision then, when the country Avas convinced they were necessary, you have set the minds of the people against taxes. But were it otherAvise, you have not tirae uoav to lay them for the next year." Jonathan Roberts, of Penn.sylvania, a meraber of the Com mittee of Ways and Means, led the debate in defence of Mr. Gallatin, but In the end Mr. Cheves, aided by the Federalists and by Calhoun, LoAvndes, Macon, and other very honest men, carried his point, and the forfeitures Avere entirely remitted, by a very close vote of 63 to 61. Mr. Gallatin's hold even on the Committee of Ways and Means was noAV lost. At this point of the war, within four months of its declara tion, the Treasury was threatened with a collapse more fatal than that which had overwhelmed the War Department. The circu^ latlng capital of the United States was concentrated In the large cities chiefly'north of the Potomac, and more than one-fourth of this capital belonged to New England. ISot only did Ncav Eng land lend no aid to the Treasury, but her Avhole influence was thrown to embarrass it. Of loans to the amount of $41,000,000 paid into the Treasury during the war, she contributed less than three millions. This was not all. A large importation of foreign goods into the Eastern States, and an extensive trade 474 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. in British government bills of exchange, caused a drain of specie through NcAV England to Great Britain. The specie in the vaults of the Massachusetts banks rose from $1,700,000 in June, 1811, to $3,900,000 in June, 1812, and to $7,300,000 in June, 1814, all of which was lost to the governraent and the Treasury. Even the most prejudiced and meanest intelligence could now under stand Avhy the destruction of the United States Bank threatened to decide the fate of the war and of the Union itself. The mere property in the bank. Important as this Avas, counted for compar atively little in the calculation, although seven millions of foreign capital, invested in its stock, were lost to the country by its disso lution and had been remitted to Europe shortly before the Avar. This was the " British gold" of which Mr. Giles and Mr. Duane Avere so jealous, and Avliich, had it been allowed to reraain, would have probably doubled the resources of the government in fight ing British armies and navies, for, setting aside the useless wealth of Ncav England, it is doubtful Avhether the country contained $7,000,000 in specie in 1812 as the basis of its entire currency system. This, hoAvever, Avas not the most serious loss. The State banks, with a capital of something more than $40,000,000, took up the paper previously discounted by the United States Bank, to the amount of more than $15,000,000. Then came the war, and Mr. Gallatin applied every possible inducement to borrow for gOA'ernment the means of the State banks. Those of New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore responded to the call ; they sub scribed directly to the loans, and they enlarged their discounts to such of their customers as subscribed ; in doing so they necessarily exceeded their resources and were obliged to enlarge their issues of bank paper. Meanwhile, In order to fill the chasm made by the dissolution of the United States Bank, ucav banks were created in the States; a bank mania broke out; in four yeare one hundred and twenty new banks were chartered, doubling the banking cap ital at a time when commerce Avas annihilated and banks Avere less needed than ever. They created no ucav capital and withdrew what would otherAvise have been lent to the government. GoV" ernor Snyder, in Pennsylvania, was forced to veto a bill making a Avholesale creation of new banks. Finally, since, in the absence of a national bank, the government had no means of controlling 1812. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 475 the issues, these rapidly increased to an amount greatly in excess of the requirements, until a suspension of specie payments and hopeless confusion of the currency became inevitable. This took place in 1814, and it Avas Mr. Gallatin's opinion, as It must be the opinion of every financier, that if the United States Bank had been in existence the Buspension might have been delayed for a considerable time, Avhile the terrible disorganization of the whole systera of Internal exchanges, by which the governraent was very nearly brought to a stand-still, need not have taken place at all.' Had Congress been more tractable, something might perhaps have been done to alleviate the situation ; but the Senate was utterly beyond control, and the House Avas becoming almost equally perveree. The expedient adopted by government fifty yeare later in tlie face of similar difficulties, even had it been now thought of, would have had little chance of general accept ance. Mr. Gallatin could get no action from Congress. His tax bills of the preceding session had been postponed on the underetanding that they should be adopted before the 1st Janu ary, 1813 ; but, meanwhile, experience proved that these bills, violent as they had at firet been thought, AA'ere quite unequal to the occasion, and that much stronger measures were needed. The fiA'e millions which had luckily fallen in, owing to the enormous British shipments after war aa'os declared, helped to tide the Treasury over Its Imraediate difficulties, but it helped also to encourage the inaction of Congress. Mr. Cheves did not contribute to smooth the path of the Treasury. He wished to force Congress to raise revenue by abandoning the non-im portation system, which was still maintained as a coercive meas ure against Great Britain; this Avas also Mr. Gallatin's wish, but Congress refused its consent. Meanwhile, the tax bills were untouched. Month after month passed, and still nothing Avas done until the session closed on March 3, 1813, Avhen, since it was universally conceded that these bills must be taken up, au extra session in May for this express purpose became necessary. All Congress would do, meanwhile, Avas to authorize loans, the favorite resource of Incompetent financlere. » See Gallatin's "Writings, iii. 288, ff. 476 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1812. Many yeare later, Mr. Jonathan Roberts, who had been a member of this Congress, writing to Mr. Gallatin in the garru lity of age, recalled his ¦ recollections of the Avar. The lettar is dated December 17, 1847, and seems to have been raerely a spontaneous expression of old feelings. " When it Avas firet my fortune to have met you," he Avrote, " I found you to be a ripe and experienced statesman, possessed of the affectionate confidence of the most eminent and Avisest among your corapeere. You were only about ten yeare ray senior, but iraraeasurably advanced above me in capacity for usefulness for that small disparity in yeare. In a very early period of our intercourse you gave me proofs of your confidence, of which I felt myself not unworthy, but which I liad not been taught to look for from one who had so long raised in state affairs. . . . While I Avitnessed an admi ration of your character among enlightened and liberal minds, abundant evidences were not wanting of envy, jealousy, and even hatred. My sympathies were enlisted in your favor, and my indignation was roused In witnessing ebullitions of these detest able passions. You stood the friend of peace in the crisis pend ing the last Avar, — an attitude that called for the exercise of higher moral nerve than the opposite position; Avhile our friends Madison and Macon, feeling Avith you, each In your places, fulfilled every duty with the honest purpose to seek for peace as the object they most desired. "You can hardly fail to remember how Mr. Cheves acted towards you as chau-man of Ways and Means, and how Colonel Johnson baffled every effort to report the tax bills. These men, too, gave their votes for an extravagant loan bill, which probably [no] man could have raised, even on the predicate of adequate taxes. At your suggestion I hastened to visit Governor Snyder, to give him your vIcavs of Avhat would be the effect of the meas ure of the forty-one new banks on the prospects of raising loans. On meeting him I found he had negatived the bank bill, and it only remained for me to leave with him the views you had charged me with." Mr. Gallatin's annual report in November, 1812, had been reticent m tone, perhaps because he Avas unwilling to discourage, and yet had nothing encouraging to say. He simply gave tho 1813. THE TREASURY; 1801-1813. 477 condition of the Treasury and announced that a loan of twenty millions would be required. Congress authorized a loan of six teen millions and the issue of five millions in Treasury notes ; it AA'ould do no more ; every other plan or suggestion of Mr. Gal latin or of the President AA-as defeated or ignored. Such Avas the situation when Congress adjourned on the 4tli March, 1813. Mr. Gallatin then opened his loan. The Treas ury was nearly exhausted ; so nearly that on the 1st April it was absolutely empty, and must have ceased to meet the requisitions of the War and Navy Departments; the Federalists were in high hope that the loan would fail and government fall to pieces, and they made the most active efforts to force this result. The crisis Avas serious, and it was in this emergency that Mr. John Jacob Astor rendered to INIr. Gallatin and to the country essential aid; by his assistance Mr. Gallatin Avas enabled to make his terras with Mr. Parish and Mr. Girard, and thus three fordgnere by birth, Mr. Gallatin himself being of foreign birth, saved the United States governraent for the time from bank ruptcy, and perhaps from evils far more fatal ; so, at least, the Federalists thought, and they long vented their wrath against these fordgnere, as they called them, for an act which Avas certainly a somewhat bitter satire upon American patriotism. Just at this moment the Russian minister, Daschkoff, commu nicated to the Secretary of State an offer of mediation on the part of the Emperor. His note bore date the 8tli March, and in the situation of our government not only towards that of Russia, but towards the peace party at home, it had the gravest significance. There could be no hesitation in accepting the offered mediation, but there might be a question whether it were best to accept it before hearing from England. To show over- eagerness for peace would weaken our position abroad ; but the position abroad Avas of less consequence than union at home, and sluggishness in meeting peace propositions would stimulate CA'cry domestic faction. The President decided not to wait, but to send commissioners at once. Mr. Gallatin had noAv, by the end of March, disposed of his loan ; he could easily arrange the affairs of his Department so as to admit of his absence, and he requested the President to let him go to Russia. 478 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. So many and so complicated are the influences which must have acted upon Mr. Gallatin's raind to produce this decision, that they are hardly to be set forth AvIth any certainty of raeas- uring their precise relative Avelght ; yet there can be little possi- billt)' of error in assuming, as the most powerful, the conviction which had long weighed upon his mind that his usefulness in his present position was exhausted, and that Congress would do better, at least for a time, without him. So accustomed had Congress become to throAving upon him the burden and the blame of every measure, that nothing short of his retirement Avould break the spell which bound them, and so ineradicable Avere the enmities which neutralized all his efforts, that only his self-effacement could extinguish thera. This he had long known, but the President's Avishes had tied his hands. He could not desert the President or the country If his services were needed ; but the situation had noAV become such as to create a serious doubt AA'hether his services were not really more necessary abroad than at home. A year not yet quite elapsed had already brought the country into a position grave in the extreme; financial collapse and domestic treason were becoming mere questions of time ; another campaign was inevitable, and It might fairly be reckoned that, If this Avere not successful, success Avas out of our poAver; diplomacy, therefore, had become the most important point of action next to service In the field, and In diplomacy Mr. Gallatin naturally felt that he had a brilliant future before him. Here he Avould escape from all his old difficulties and enmities; to Europe the Smiths, Duanes, Gileses, and Leibs Avould hardly care to folloAV him. The past was a failure ; he might fling it aAvay, and still rescue his country and himself by this change of career. Mr. Gallatin grew more and more silent Avith age and ex perience ; he never complained, and never said what was calcu lated to wound ; but he had noAV stood for five yeare in a position inconsistent with his principles and grating to his feelings. In decidmg to go to St Petereburg he was well aware that he would be charged with having deserted his post, and charged by the same men who for four years had made it impossible for him to perform the duties of that post, and who still presented an 1818. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 479 impenetrable barrier to every attempt on his part at efficient adrainistration. It is probably true that Mr. Gallatin hiraself hoped not to return to the Treasury ; if he returned at all, he Avould have preferred the dignified ease of the State Departraent; but tliese points he did not and Avould not atterapt to settle in advance ; he left it absolutely in the hands of Mr. Madison to decide for the public interest Avhat disposition to make of his services. There AA'ere two obvious contingencies; the one, in case the Senate should insist upon his resignation as Secretary, and, to obtain this, reject his nomination as commissioner ; the other, the case of diplomatic delays that might prevent his return and compel tlie President to fill his vacant place : " Mr. Bayai-d asked me," wrote Mr. Dallas In the following Feb ruary, "whether you had reflected upon the first event as a probable one, and you merely smiled when I repeated his question to you." Mr. Dallas seems to have felt a little irri tation at this reticence, but a sadder smile than Gallatin's can hardly be Imagined even araong the Administration in these trying times, although it may have been brightened by a touch of humor at the thought how readily the Senate would fall into that agreeable occupation, and how willingly he would throw upon them that responsibility. In any case it was not for him to direct the President's action ; Mr. Madi son himself could alone be the judge of what the occasion required. Of course it was fully in Mr. Madison's power to retain Mr. Gallatin at his post. He too seeras, however, to have been Ira- pressed with the advantages of sending him to Russia, and the act was carefully considered and was his own. In the case of negotiations taking place, America afforded no negotiator com parable to Gallatin ; if he Avere Avilling to go, his presence would be invaluable. With Mr. Gallatin it Avas at last decided to associate Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, so that the mission finally consisted of Gallatin, J. Q. Adams, then Minister to St. Petersburg, and James A. Bayard. Of course the most rapid aetion was neces sary ; Mr. Bayard's appointment was only decided on the 5th April, and Mr. Monroe then expected the vessel to sail with Mr. 480 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. Gallatin Avithin a fortnight. Fortunately, the necessary business of tiie Treasury Avas Avell in hand. On the 17th April, Mr. Gallatin wrote a letter to the Secretaries of War and of the NaA'y, giving a general view of the fiscal situation for the year and regulating the drafts which these two Departments might make upon the Treasury, to the amount, namely, of $17,820,000, to January 1, 1814. The tax bills were ready for Congress to act upon; a draft for a ucav -bank charter was prepared and left behind ; every contingency, as far as possible, was provided for. Mre. Gallatin and the younger children were to pass their summer as usual in Ncav York, AvliIle the eldest son, James, accompanied his father as private secretary. Before closing this part of Mr. Gallatin's history and turning to the new career which was to occupy nearly all his thoughts for sixteen years to come, the results of his sudden departure upon Congress and upon the Treasury shall be briefly told. Another extract from the letter of Jonathan Roberts already quoted will furnish an idea of the immediate effect of Mr. Gal latin's absence. He sailed on May 9, and Congress met on May 23. Mr. Roberts proceeds : " At the called session in May following you had left the seat of government on the mission of peace. I soon found, however, that you left nothing undone that raade your presence necessary to forward the vital measure of adequate taxation. You promptly responded to a call early made for a scheme of revenue that you deemed to embrace every item that could justify a levy and col lection. This was abundantly confirmed by Mr. Eppes's subse quent trial of Avatch-tax, &c. Mr. E. was now made chairman of Ways and Means, but could not attend the coraralttee frora ill health, Avhich both Dr. Bibb and myself thought fortunate for the early attainment of the object of the session. To almost every item in your reported list objections were felt in the committee. Bibb himself disrelished a direct tax, but could not deny its in dispensable necessity. It Avas soon found there was no alterna tive. No new project could be devised, and you were not present to be worried by calls for a modification. The bills were re ported ; no opening speech Avas made, and no debate provoked. Dr. Bibb conducted the deliberations AvIth successful address 1818 THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 481 but I then felt that your absence placed the tourni(pict on Con gress. Having finished your duties at home, you accepted the place in Avhicli you hoped to be most useful. . . . Your real friends felt the vacancy made by your absence, and hoped for and would have hailed your return to our horae councils as a joyful event. Your place never has been, nor, I believe, never will be filled." Before his departure Mr. Gallatin wrote three or four letters, which contain parting suggestions that, for his calm temper, ex press unusual feeling. One of these Avas to Mr. Monroe, dated the day before he sailed, to dissuade him frora pushing the mili tary occupation of Florida, for fear of a war with Spain, that would still more exasperate the Northern States. "You will pardon the freedom with which, on the eve of parting AvIth you,' I speak on this subject. It is intended as a general caution Avhich I think important, because I knoAv and see every day the extent of geographical feeling and the necessity of prudence, if we mean to preserve and invigorate the Union." The letter to his brother-in-laAV, James W. Nicholson, explains the motives that influenced hira, at least in part. General Arra- strong had been at his old practices during the short three months he had controlled the War Department. The National Intelligencer for April 16 had contained the announcement that William Duane was appointed Adjutant-General In the United States army. All the love and esteem which Mr. Gallatin felt then and ever continued to feel for Mr. Madison could not over come the disgust with which this last blow Avas received. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. Philadelphia, May 5, 1813. Dear Friend, — . . . The newspapere will have informed you of my mission to Russia. Whether we will succeed or not depends on circumstances not under any man's control. But on mature reflection, having provided all the funds for the service of this year, and having nothing to do but current business during the remainder, I have believed that I could be noAvhere 31 482 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. more usefully employed than in this negotiation. I hope that my absence will be very short, and leave all my family behind, James excepted. Ever yours. GALLATIN TO JAMES W. NICHOLSON. Philadelphia, 5th May, 1818. Dear Sir, — You have heard by the papers of my intended mission to Russia ; but I have delayed to the last moment writ ing to you. Having provided all the funds for this year's service, and none but current business to attend to during its remainder, I have raade up my mind that I could in no other manner be more usefully employed for the present than on the negotiation of a peace. Peace, at all times desirable, is much more so for two reasons: 1. The great incapacity for conducting the war, which is thereby much less efficient and infinitely more expensive than it ought to have been. 2. The Avant of union, or rather open hostility to the Avar and to the Union, Avhich, hoAvever disgrace ful to the parties concerned, and to the national character. Is not less formidable and in its consequences of the most dangerous tendency. But in addition to those considerations I believe that the present opportunity affords a better chance to make an honor able peace than avc have any right hereafter to expect. Eng land must be desirous at this critical moment to ha\'e it in her pOAver to apply her whole force on the Continent of Europe, and the mediation of Russia saves her pride ; Avhilst both the per sonal feelings of the sovereign, a comraon interest on all neutral questions, and other considerations of general policy, give us the best pledge that a nation can obtain that the mediator will sup port the cause of justice and of the law of nations. Finally, provided we can obtain security with respect to impressments peace will give us everything we Avant. Taught by experience, we Avill apply a part of our resources to such naval preparations and organization of the public force as Avill within less than five yeare place us in a commanding situation. This we cannot effect pending the war, and if this continues any length of time it avIU leave the United States so exhausted that they avIII not effect the same objects Avithin the same period nor Avithout oppressive taxa- 1813. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 483 tion. To keep doAvn tho Tory faction at homo and ultimately to secure in an effectual manner our national rights against Eng land, peace is equally necessary. The Essex-Junto men and other high-toned Federalists of course fear it more than any other event, as they are Avell aware that a continuation of the Avar must necessarily place government in their hands before the end of four years. Whether, however, Ave avUI succeed in making peace is another question, which depends on events not under our control. So far as relates to myself, I am well aAvare that my going to Russia will most probably terminate in the appointment of another Secretary of the Treasury, and in my returning to private life. If I shall have succeeded in making peace, I Avill be perfectly satisfied; and, at all events, I Avill acknowledge to you that Duane's last appointment has disgusted me so far as to make me desirous of not being any longer as.sociated with those who have appointed hira. . . . The departure of Mr. Gallatin to Europe did not, however, at once close his career as Secretary of the Treasury, and it was not until a year later, on the 9th February, 1814, that he ceased to hold that office. Meanwhile, the Senate had exercised In its full extent that unrestrained liberty of personal attack avIiIcIi Mr. Gallatin had so conteraptuously left to them. By a vote of 20 to 14 they rejected his nomination to Russia, on the ground that it was inconsistent Avith his station In the Treasury. Their true motive Is not a matter of much importance; the oldest and Avisest politicians are most apt to Avarn their younger associates not to search for the motives of public men, and this Christian precept rests on the general fact that human nature often, and noAvhere oftener than in politics, opens Into aby.sses of baseness only to be measured by baseness equally profound. ' The doctrine that the pest of Secretary Avas incompatible Avith that of treaty commis sioner Avas certainly ncAV and astonishing as coming from a body which had tAvice confirmed the nomination of the Chief Justice to an identical situation ; but, apart from its Inconsistency, the new rule was Avise and the result good. Perhaps, however, Sen ators Avould have shoAvn more dignity in not proclaiming quite 484 LIFE op ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. SO loudly then* eagerness to confirra Mr. Gallatin if he could be forced to leave the Treasury. The following letters tell the story in all its nakedness : MONROE TO JEFFERSON. "Washington, June 28, 1818. Dear Sir, — From the date of my last letter to you, the President has been ill of a bilious fever, of that kind called the remittent. It has perhaps never left him, even for an hour, and occasionally the symptoms have been unfavorable. This is, I think, the fifteenth day. Elgey, of this place, and Shoaff, of Annapolis, with Dr. Tucker, attend him. They think he Avill recover. The first mentioned I have just seen, who reports that he had a good night, and is in a state to take the bark, which, indeed, he has done on his best day for nearly a week. I shall see him before I seal this, and note any change, should there be any, from the above statement. The Federalists, aldetl by the malcontents, have done and are doing all the mischief they can. The nominations to Russia and Sweden (the latter made on an intimation that the CroAvn Prince would contribute his good offices to promote peace on fair conditions) they have embarrassed to the utmost of their poAver. The active partisans are King, Giles, and (as respects the first nomination) Smith. Leib, Gerraan, and Oilman are habitually in that interest, active, but useful to their party by their votes only. The two merabers from Louisiana, Gailliard, Stone, An dereon, and Bledsoe are added to that corps on these questions. They have carried a vote, 20 to 14, that the appointment of Mr. Gallatin to the Russian mission Is incompatible with his station in the Treasury, and appointed a committee to commu nicate the resolution to the President. They have appointed another coraralttee to confer Avith him on the nomination to Sweden. The object Is to usurp the executive power in the hands of a faction in the Senate. To this several mentioned are not parties, particularly the four last. A coraralttee of the Senate ought to confer Avith a coraralttee of the President through a head of a Department, and not AvIth the Chief Magistrate; for 1818. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 485 in the latter case a coraralttee of that Hou.se Is equal to the Executive. To break tliis measure, and relieve the President from the pressure, at a time Avhen so little able to bear it. Indeed Avhen no pressure Avhatever should be made on hira, I wrote the committee on the nomination to Sweden, that I was instructed by him to meet them, to yield all the information they might desire of the Executive. They declined the Interview. I had intended to pursue the same couree respecting the other nomi nation had I succeeded In this. Failing, I have declined. The result is Avithheld from the President. These men have begun to make calculations and plans founded on the presumed death of the President and Vice-President, and it has been suggested to me that Giles is thought of to take the place of President of the Senate as soon as the Vice-President AvithdraAA's. General Dearborn is dangerously ill, and General Lewis doing little. Hampton has gone on to that quarter, but I fear an inactive command. General Wilkinson Is expected soon, but I do not know what station Avill be assigned hira. The idea of a comraander-in-chief Is In circulation, proceeding frora the War Departraent, as I have reason to believe. If so. It avIU probably take a more decisive form when things are prepared for it. A security for his, the Secretary's, advanceraent to that station is, I presurae, the preparation desired. Your friend. I have seen the President, and found hira in the state repre sented by Dr. Elgey. THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO THE AMERICAN COMMISSIONERS. Department or State, 5th August, 1813. Gentlemen, — I ara very sorry to be under the necessity of comraunicating to you an event of which there was no anticipa tion when you left the United States. The event to Avhich I allude is the rejection by the Senate of the nomination of Mr. Gallatin, on the idea that his mission to Russia was infcompatible with the office of Secretary of the Treasury. After the appoint ment of Mr. Jay, Avhen Chief Justice of the United States, by 486 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. President Washington, and of Mr. EllsAvorth, when holding the same office, by President Adams, by which a meraber of a sepa rate branch of the governraent Avas brought Into an office under the Executive, and after the sanction given in practice as Avell as by law to the appointment of persons during the absence of a head of a Department to perform its duties. It was presumed that there would not be any serious or substantial objection to the employment in a similar service, for a short term and especial occasion, of a member of the Administration itself. Although this nomination was opposed in the Senate as soon as it was acted on, yet It was not believed that it would be rejected until the vote Avas taken. At an early .stage the President was called on by a resolution of the Senate to state whether Mr. Gallatin retained the office of Secretary of the Treasury, and, in case he did, who performed the duties of that Department in his absence. The President replied that the office of Secretary of the Treasury Avas not vacated by Mr. Gallatin's aiipointment to Russia, and that the Secretary of the Navy performed its duties In his, Mr. Gallatin's, absence. After this reply, which Avas given In con formity with the President's own views of the subject, and with those of Mr. Gallatin when he left the United States, it was im possible for the President, without departing from his ideas of propriety In both respects, to have removed Mr. Gallatin from the Treasury to secure the confirmation of his nomination to Russia. It would have been still more improper to liave taken that step after the rejection of the nomination. The President resolved, therefore, to leave the mission on the footing on Avhich It was placed by the vote of the Senate by which the nomination of Mr. Adams and Mr. Bayard Avas confirmed. Whatever has been done jointly under the commission given to the three com missioners by the President Avhen you left the United States in compliance with your instructions, Avill not be affected by this event. MONROE TO GALLATIN. "Washington, 6th August, 1818. Dear Sir, — To the official communications Avhich you will receive Avith this I have little to add. Indeed, as I knoAv that 1813. THE TREASURY. 1801-1813. 437 the President intends to communicate to you in a private letter all the details Avhich could not be included in a public one, I should not write you this except that I could not permit Mr. Wyer to sail Avithout bearing this testimony of ray good Avishes toAvards you. The Senate has got into a strange and raost embarrassing situa tion, of which tlie rejection of your nomination and of that of Mr. Russell are proofs ; many others Avere afforded during the session. The attempt to control the President, or at least to in fluence his conduct by a committee of the Senate authorized to confer Avith him, thereby placing a committee on a footing with the Chief Magistrate and Avithout limitation as to what it might say or demand, was a very extraordinary measure. It Avas the more embarrassing as the occurrence took place at a time when the President was confined Avitli a bilious fever which endangered his life. The pressure gave hira, as you will readily conceive, the greatest concern, more particularly the rejection of your nom ination and the question which grcAV out of it, your removal from the Treasury to secure your confirmation In the raisslon to Russia. Among the objections to that step, the sentiments of those friends who supported your nomination Avere entitled to and had great weight. They thought that your removal from the Treasury would operate as a sanction to the conduct of your opponents and a censure on themselves. Other objections were strong, but this was conclusive. I presume that the business on AvhIch you and Mr. Bayard left this country is settled by this tirae, or avIII be before you receive this letter. If Great Britain accepted the mediation AvIth a sin cere desire to make peace, the treaty would have been soon con cluded. If she rejected it, a very short time Avould have enabled you to conclude a treaty of comraerce with Russia. So that in either event we expect soon to have the pleasure of seeing you here. With great respect and esteem, I am, &c. MRS. MADISON TO MRS. GALLATIN. 29th July, 1813. . You have heard no doubt of the illness of my husband, but can have no idea of its extent and the despair in which I 488 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. attended his bed for nearly five Aveeks. Even now I Avatch over him as I Avould au infant, so precarious is his convalescence. Added to this are the disappointments and vexations heaped upon him by party spirit. Nothing, hoAvever, has borne go hard as the conduct of the Senate in regard to Mr. Gallatin. Mr. Astor will tell you many particulars that I ought not to write, of the desertion of some Avhose support avc had a right to expect, and of the manoeuvring of others always hostile to superior merit. We console ourselves with the hope of its terminating both in the public good and Mr. Gallatin's honorable triumph. . . . A. J. DALLAS TO MBS. GALLATIN. 22d July, 1813. My DEAR Madam, — Our friend Mr. Macon has just written to me that Mr. Gallatin's nomination has been rejected by a majority of one vote. I find frora another quarter that Mr. Anderson and Mr. Stone voted against it. I did not choose to tease you Avitli the agitation of the subject Avhile I Avas at Washington. The question turned upon this ; if Mr. Madison would declare the Secretary's office vacant, the Senate would confirra the nomination ; but he firmly refused to do so. The Federalists Avere very busy on the occasfon ; bnt the malcontent junto of self-styled Republicans were AVorse; and Armstrong, — he was the devil from the beginning, is noAV, and ever Avill be. In short, every art has been employed to defeat the mission, to ruin the Administration, and to depreciate Mr. Gallatin. In the last object the host of Ill-assorted enemies wm fail ; tut the political mischief that has been done and will \)e done is incalculable. , . , J. J. ASTOR TO GALLATIN. Neav York, 9th August, 1813. Dear Sir, — By this opportunity you avIII receive an account of the strange, if not wicked, proceedings of the Senate, The President has been led natray by some of its members jn the be^- 1818. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 439 lief of a majority in favor of the nomination and retaining you at same tirae as Secretary of the Treasury. He raade this a point on Avhich they split. I carae to Washington sorae fcAV days after the rejection had passed. It Avas Avell understood that if he AVould re-nominate Avith an understanding to appoint another Secretary, the nomination should be confirmed. It was evident that he Avas much at a loss; Avhat frora personal attachment to you, not knoAving what might be your wish and your feelings, and what in tlie difference of opinion of your own friends, to gether with a natural dislike to yield to the Senate, he was in great perplexity and hesitation. My decided opinion Avas to have a nomination made, for, from a letter which you wrote to Mr. Worthington, I Avas clearly of opinion that you contemplated what would likely happen in the Senate; but many of your friends being entirely unacquainted Avith your Ideas on this sub ject, there was a difference of opinion between them. I advised Mr. W. to tell Mr. Madison that he had such a letter frora you, and to raake it known to your friends, which if he had done in time, I believe the President Avould not have made It a point as he did. I raentioned to hira of the letter, but it was too late, for he began to bdieve that in consequence of the armistice on the continent there would be no negotiation, and, not willing to part with you or to have you AvithdraAvn from the Adminis tration without your own desire, he determined to hold on as he did. He raay be right, but I think I would have done otherAvise. He certainly suffered much in mind on your ac count; but I think I should have let the public good take the lead. He may have many reasons which I know nothing of; your oavu feelings were certainly of weighty consideration with him. . . . I wonder that you did not impart your ideas to sorae of your friends; no one, except Mr. Worthington, seeraed to know anything about it. I Avish I had known half as ranch, and I would have made use of it to effect. Though I might have run risk to displease you, I should have done good to the country, unless there be no negotiation, in which case you cannot return too soon. On every account you are wanting at Washington. ... 490 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. AV. H. CRAAVFORD TO GALLATIN. Paws, 20th April, 1814. Dear Sir, — . . . The French papers of yesterday state that yon are added to the comraisslon to treat at Gottenburg. Mr. Beaslej' says that Mr. Adaras is also of the commission. I can not believe that all of you are to proceed to Gottenburg. If you are going, I presume it is in consequence of your having vacated your seat in the Cabinet. I hope this conjecture is un founded. This is the course which your enemies Avished to com pel you to adopt. I agree that the treatment you have received would justify the measure, but when I know the gratification which Messrs. Giles, Smith, and Leib will feel from your resig nation, I cannot reconcile it to my feelings. All this mischief has groAvn out of Brent's mobility or his thirst. The day before I left Washington I called on a nuraber of the Senators and insisted on the danger of delay and urged thera to decide the question before they adjourned. They decided every embarrassing ques tion about 4 P.M., when Mr. Brent, as he says, out of coriiplai- sance to Mr. King, consented to let the nomination stand over till the next day. They had a decided majority, and Andereon, Avho voted against them on all the embarrassing questions, declared he would vote for the nomination. I have no doubt that he voted against It in the end. The desire to get Mr. Cheves into the Treasury had some influence upon two or three Senatore. I told Mr. Madison that he Avould be pressed on that point. . . . A. J. DALLAS TO GALLATIN. 14th Pehruary, 1814. Dear Sir, — If you receive this letter in Europe you Avill have an opportunity to hear from Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell all the public news of this country ; and consequently it would be an unnecessary trouble both to you and to me to enter into a written detail. Your absence has embarrassed everybody. It is a subject of lasting regret that you did not confide to some friend your wishes respecting the course to be taken if the Sen ate should refuse to confirm your nomination as minister Avhile 1813. THE TREASURY. 1801-1818. 49I you retained the office of Secretary, or if the business and casual ties of the raisslon should protract your absence so long as to render it impracticable to keep the Treasury Department open for you. Mr. Bayard asked me Avhether you had reflected upon the firet event as a probable one, aud you merely smiled Avhen I repeated his question to you. However, the arrangement is noAV made in the best manner to evince the President's attachment and the public confidence by restoring you to the mission Avhen it became indispensable to treat the Treasury Department as vacant. I do not believe that during any part of your public life you enjoyed raore general respect and raore valuable popu larity than at the present crisis. Indeed, your narae being restored to the raisslon has revived the hope of its success, which failed Avhen your name was excluded. I look confidently to your return with additional claims to public gratitude and honore. . . . Lo-^ere of historical detail raay without much difficulty pick from the wreck and ruin of Mr. Gallatin's administrative policy such fragments as survived their originator and became founda tion-stones of the ultimate governmental system. Many such fragraents there were, and of the first importance, but it is not by them that Mr. Gallatin Is to be measured. No one has ever seriously questioned his supereminence among American finan clere. No one Avho has any familiarity with the affairs of our governraent has failed to be struck with the evidences of his per vading activity and his administrative skill. His methods were simple, direct, and ahvays economical. He had little respect for mere financial devices, and he labored painfully to simplify every operation and to render intelligible every detail of business. It may be doubted Avhether he ever made a mistake in any of his undertakings, and whether any Avork done by him has ever been found inefficient; but it is useless to catalogue these undertakings. His system Avas not one of detached ideas or of parti-colored design. As their scheme existed in the minds of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Gallatin, and Mr. Madison, it Avas broad as society itself, and aimed at providing for and guiding the moral and material development of a ncAV era, — a fresh race of men. It Avas not a 492 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. mere departmental reform or a mere treasury adrainistration that Mr. Gallatin undertook; it was a theory of democratic government which he and his associates attempted to reduce to practice. They failed, and although their failure was due partly to accident, it Avas due chiefly to the fact that they put too high an estimate upon human nature. They failed as Hamilton and his associates, AvIth a different ideal and equally positive theories, had failed before them. Yet, Avhatever may have been the extent of their defeat or of their success, one fact stands out in strong relief on the pages of American history. Except those theories of government AvhIch are popularly represented by the names of Hamilton and Jefferson, no solution of the great problems of American politics has ever been offered to the American people. Since the day Avhen foreign violence and domestic faction prostrated Mr. Gallatin and his tAvo friends, no I statesman has ever appeared Avith the strength to bend their bow, — to finish their uncompleted task. BOOK IV. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. " 9th May, Sunday. — At 3 p.m. sailed from New Castle on board tlie ship Neptune, of 300 tons. Captain Lloyd Jones. We are in all 34 pereons on board, viz., Albert Gallatin and James A. Bayard, ministere of the United States ; George M. Dallas, George B. Milligan, John P. Todd, and Jaraes Gallatin, their secretaries ; Henry Sraothere, Peter BroAvn, and George Shorter, their black servants ; Mr. Pflug, a Russian, and his black boy, Peter ; Captain Jones, his two mates Tomllnson aud Fisher, and William C. Nicholson, midshipman ; Dr. Layton, a black stcAv- ard, a white and a black cook, a boatsAvain, eleven able and three ordinary seamen. Rodney and Collector McLane accompanied us with the revenue cutter. In which they returned in the evening. Anchored at night near Bombay Hook. "llth May, Tuesday. — Bore doAvn for a British frigate. Fell to the leeward. She, being at anchor, sent her boat on board with a lieutenant and compliments from the captain to me, and that he would be glad to see me on board. This was perhaps intended as civility, but was of course declined, and we sent Dallas and Milligan on board with our compliraents. Captain Jones Avent at the same time to show to the captain of the frigate Admiral Warren's passport, which the captain endorsed. His name is Braynton; the frigate's. Spartan, a 36 . . . The Spartan is the only armed English vessel here. At 3 P.M. sailed to sea, and in the evening took our departure from Cape Henlopen. " The incidents of voyage to Gottenburg but few. . . . "20th June, Sunday. — At 8 o'clock a.m. anchored in the quarantine ground. ... At 7 In the evening the officer returned frora Gottenburg Avith permission to land. . . . We imraediately jumped in the boat and Avcnt ashore on the quarantine Island, 493 494 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. and scampered amongst the rocks, pulling AvIld roses and bunches of clover, Avhlch grcAV lu small patches of Ioav ground, none con taining more than tAvo acres, all the rest of the Island consisting of barren rocks. ... At night we returned on board. " 21st June, Monday. — After breakfast we hired the quaran tine and a fisherman's boat to take us to Gottenburg. . . . Our boatmen told us that the current being very rapid down the river Gotha after we should have passed the castle, and the wind right ahead, we must land at some houses on the main about four miles by land from Gottenburg, Avhere Ave could get car riages to take us to town. This we accordingly did, on as barren and rocky spot as what we had yet seen, and there Ave entered the firet Swedish houses. They had inside the appearance of Pennsylvania German houses, both as to smell, inhabitants, and furniture. A fat, fair, ugly woman Avas blowing her nose in her apron. The husband was drinking a dish of very strong coffee. On the table Avas a large lump of loaf sugar, the only kind used even by poor people. Although their dress and appearance reminded me of the Germans, they are much fairer complexion, and, if tanned, their hair and eyes still discover it. But they did not to me appear as healthy-looking as our Amer icans. . . . Four wooden open chaire, not better-looking than carts, some with steel and some with wooden springs, Avere soon brought, each drawn by a small but pretty good horee, harnessed Avitli ropes. The drivere sat at the bottom, and we set off, two in each. ... At the end of four miles we came in sight of the river Gotha, about three-quartere of a mile wide, and had a view of the suburb of Martagat and of much shipping along its wharves. . . . Knowing nobody, we stopped at the house of a Mr. Dixon, a Scotchman, AA'ho had formerly acted as American consul, and requested him to show us the best inn. . . . There we were soon joined by Mr. Fosdick, of Boston. . . . Mr. LaAv- rence, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Bowie, of GeorgetoAvn, came also to see us and to hear from America. We had been delighted to see once more population of any kmd, but to meet Americans at such distance from home is a feeling to be underetood only by those who have experienced it. I could have pressed every one to my bosom as a brother. . . . 1818. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1820. 495 " 22d June, Tuesday. — We left Gottenburg after breakfast, . . . and in tAVo houre reached our ship. ... At night, having had tAVO sets of pilots, though the distance was but twelve miles, we reached the sea. . . . " 24th June, Thureday. — . . . At dusk anchored in Copen hagen inner roads. " 25th June, Friday. — Landed at 10. Bachalan's hotel. . . . " 1st July, Thursday. — Breakfasted and went on board. . . . Detained all day by southeast Avind. Field of battle of Nelson, 1801. Ncav fortifications and defences. Block ships sunk in sixteen feet Avater. Bombardment In September, 1807 ; 400 houses destroyed, 1500 persons killed. This cause of great increase of army and expense. Batteries everywhere ; armed population. NorAvay starved and faithful. Frugality of King in pereonai expenses. Ministere serve for nothing (nominal salary, 8000 old rigs, or about 200 Spanish dollars). Existence of kingdom at stake. Conduct of Russia and England toAvards it unintelligible; They have thrown It in France's hands, much against their will. Despotism and no oppression. Poverty and no discontent. Civility and no servile obsequiousness amongst people. Decency and sobriety. . . . "8th July, Thureday. — Fair weather; head-wind. We grow very impatient. We are opposite to Courland. . . . "12th July, Monday.— Head-wind. . . . Entered Gulf of Finland." Here end Mr. Gallatin's memoranda of his voyage, and here begins the history of his long diplomatic career. He arrived at St. Petersburg on the 21st July, and set to Avork with his col leagues to cany out the purposes of the mission. As now completed, the American commission appointed to negotiate for peace under the mediation of Russia consisted of Mr. Gallatin, Mr. J. Q. Adams, then our minister at St. Peters burg, and Mr. James A. Bayard. For the firet time Gallatin Avas noAv associated in public business with J. Q. Adams, and by a curious combination of circurastances this association was destined to last during all the remainder of Mr. Gallatin's public life. What each of these men thought of the other Avill be seen 496 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. In the course of the story, for neither of them had anything to conceal. Cast as they Avere in two absolutely diffi'rent moulds, it Avas not in the nature of things that they should ever stand In such close and affectionate intimacy as had existed between Mr. Gallatin and the two Presidents of his own choice, esjiecially since the Virginia triumvirate Avas even more remarkable for the private than for the public relations of its members, and in this respect stands Avithout a parallel in our history. 'Although there was little in common between the Ncav England tempera ment of Mr. Adams and the Virginia geniality of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison ; although ISlr. Adams, as the younger man and at first the inferior in rank and Influence, could under no circumstances stand to Mr. Gtdlatin in the same light as his older and more confidential friends ; although the previous his tory of both seeraed little calcnlated to inspire confidence or good will in either ; there Avas nevertheless a curious parallelism in the lives and characters of the tAVO men, which, notwith standing every jar, compelled them to move side by side and to agree in policy and opinion even while persuading themselves that their aims and raethods Avere radically divergent./ Mr. Adams Avas about six years the junior. When young Gallatin took his degree at the College of Geneva in May, 1779, young Adams Avas arriving M'ith his father at Paris to begin his edu cation as diplomate and scholar in the centre of all that was then most cultivated and stimulating in the Avorld. While Gallatin was Avandering Avith Serre among the Maine woods, Adaras Avas Avandering betAveen Paris and St. Petersburg, picking up his education as he Avent. Had Gallatin remained two years longer at Harvard College, he Avould have met Adams there. As they grcAv older they Avere in opposing ranks as public men. For Gallatin's early political theories Adams felt little respect, and for his eminent share in expelling the Federalists from office the son of the expelled President could hardly have been grate ful. A few years, however, brought them together. As Senator the force of circumstances compelled Mr. Adams to support the Administration and the measures of Mr. Jefferson for the same reasons Avhich compelled Mr. Gallatin to support those measures Avhidi, abstractly considered, Avcre entirely inconsistent with his 1818. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1820. 497 past history and his early convictions. In 1813 there was no very decided opinion to divide them. They Avorked cordially together at St. Petersburg and at Ghent. During nearly tAvelve yeare they continued to Avork together in the management of our foreign relations. The Irruption of President Jackson and his political following tlircAv thera both out of public life; and Avhen Mr. Adams returned to It as meraber of Congress, Mr. Gallatin remained in retirement. Both Avere then non-partisan ; both held very strong convictions in regard to the duties and the short-comings of the day ; both died near the same time, the last relics of the early statesmanship of the republic. So far as his colleagues in the mission to St. Petersburg were concerned, although Mr. Adams had been and Mr. Bayard still was a moderate Federalist, Gallatin found no difficulties in the way of harmonious action; but alraost frora the first moraent it became evident that the negotiation itself was destined never to take place. The English government, though somcAvhat embar rassed by Russia's offer to mediate, and yet more by the quick action of President Madison in sending commissioners under that offer, Avas clear in its determination not to allow Russia or any other nation to Interpose in Avhat It chose to consider a domestic quarrel. The questions Involved Avere questions of neutral rights, and on tliat ground the position of the Baltic poAvers had never been satisfactory to England ; accordingly, England had met the invitation of Russia, if not with a positive refusal, certainly with decided coldness. Instead of finding everything prepared for negotiation, Mr. Gallatin found on his arrival that not a single step had yet been taken by England beyond the communication of a note Avhich discouraged any arbitration whatever. Unfor tunately, too, there were complications beneath the surface; complications Avith AvhIch the American commissioners were not familiar, and which no agency of theirs could remove. The Emperor Avas not at St. Petersburg; he Avas Avith his army, fighting Napoleon. He had left Count Romanzoff behind hira at St. Petersburg, and Avas accompanied by Count Nesselrode. Count Roraanzoff had nominal charge of foreign affairs; he held strong opinions on the subject of neutral and comraercial rights; he Avas regarded as not peculiarly friendly to England; 82 498 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. and he was the author or instigator of tho Emperor's offer of mediation, On him alone in the Imiierlal court could the Amer ican commissionere rely. On the other hand, every Immediate interest dictated to the Emperor the policy of close friendship Avith England. This policy Avas apparently represented by Count Nesselrode, and Count Nesselrode now had every advan tage in Impressing it upon the Emperor. The British govern ment before the arrival of the American commissioners AA'ould have preferred that Alexander should quietly abandon his scheme of mediation and that all discussion of the subject should be dropped. The object of Romanzoff was to press the mediation in order to secure in the United States a balance against the overpowering dominion of England on the ocean. The sudden arrival of the American comralssionere was an event which no one expected or Avished. Upon Count Roman zoff, already tottering, it brought a new strain, which appeare to have been more than he could meet ; yet, although his uifluence Avas nearly at an end, he still caused no little irritation to the British governraent before his fall, and the arrival of Mr. Gal latin and Mr. Bayard added greatly to this embarrassraent. Lord Castlereagh was obliged to abandon the attempt to smother the Emperor's mediation, and to take a more decided tone. Nothing could well be raore unpleasant than the position of Mr. Gallatin and his colleagues at St. Petereburg. To see plainly that they Avere not wanted was in itself mortifying, but to feel that they Avere gravely embarrassing their only real friend was painful. Yet it was impossible to get aAvay ; Count Romanzoff was not disposed to retreat from the ground he had taken ; with out waiting to be pressed, — indeed, Imraediately on hearing of the arrival of the commissionere at Gottenburg, — he wrote to the Emperor suggesting a rencAval of the offer of mediation to Eng land. He did all in his poAver to make the envoys comfortable in their unpleasant situation, and he set himself to study their case with the aid of a masterly little memoir Avhich Mr. Gallatin prepared at his request. On the 10th of August the Emperor's reply Avas communi cated to the envoys, and it authorized Romanzoff not only to rencAV the offer of mediation, but to send it direct to London 1818. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1820. 499 without further advice from headquarters. On the 24th, the Count summoned Mr. Gallatin and his tAVo colleagues to listen to the reading of his despatches, by AvhIch the offer Avas to be renewed ; and at Mr. Gallatin's suggestion Iavo slight alterations were made in the draft. The envoys had already Avaited raore than a month at St. Petereburg, and the summer Avas gone without the accomplish ment of a single object. Mr. Gallatin ought soon to be on his Avay home. If he had any idea of resuming his post at the Treasury, but to escape was, now out of the question, Avhile any effective action was even more hopeless. The envoys discussed the sub ject from every point of view, but their means Avere slender enough and the power of England Avas omnipotent about them. For their purposes it Avas essential to open some private com munication with the Emperor Alexander at headquarters ; Gen eral Moreau offered hiraself for this service, and Mr. Gallatin Avrofe to him at considerable length on the subject.' To ascer tain directly the views and intentions of the British governraent was more important, and here Mr. Gallatin was even more fortunate. On his arrival at Gottenburg he had written to his old acquaintance Alexander Baring, announcing his progress towards St. Petereburg, and in this letter he had invited com munication of intelligence connected Avitli the mission. Mr. Baring replied on the 22d July, and his letter reached St. Petersburg about the middle of August; it Avas Avritten with the knowledge and advice of Lord Castlereagh, and showed in every line the embarrassment caused by the Russian offer of mediation. In order to withdraAv questions of blockade, contra band, and right of search from the mediation of a Baltic poAver, the British government AA'as driven to assume the position that this was "a sort of family quarrel, where foreign interference can only do harm and irritate at any time, but more especially in the present state of Europe, when attempts would be made to make a tool of America in a manner which I ara sure neither you nor your colleagues would sanction. These, I haVe good reason to know, are pretty nearly the sentiments of government I See both letters in Gallatin's Writings, vol. i. pp. 562, 676. 500 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. here on the question of place of negotiation and fin-cign media-' tion, and, before this reaches you, you avIU have been informed that this mediation has been refused, with expressions of our desire to treat separately and directly here, or, if more agree able to you, at Gottenburg." This Avas clumsy enough on the part of the British ministry, whose parental interest in protecting the innocence of America from contact with the sinfulness of Russia was not calculated to effect its avoAved object, and still less to please the Emperor and his continental allies, Avho Avere here plainly charged Avith intending to make a tool of the United States ; but at this time English diplomacy cultivated very fcAv of the arts and none at all of the graces ; there is hardly an important state paper in the Avhole correspondence betAveen England and America from 1806 to 1815, AvhIch, if addressed to the United States government to-day, Avould not lesid to bloAvs. The letter of Mr. Baring, kindly meant and highly useful as it Avas. had all the characteristics of the English Foreign Office, and in the hands of an indiscreet man would have done more harm than good; Mr. Gallatin's teraper, hoAvever, Avas not irritable; he did not even shoAV the letter itself to Count Roraanzoff, and he ansAvered Mr. Baring Avithout a trace of sarcasra or irony. His reply Is, indeed, a model of dignified and persuasive address, brief, straightforward, and comprehensive,' and the passage in Avhich he refers to his OAvn sacrifice throws some light on the nature of his private feelings : " I Avould not have given up my political existence and separated myself from my family unless I had be lieved an arrangement practicable and that I might be of some utility in effecting it." The situation Avas now more than ever perplexing. On the one hand, not only Mr. Baring but the British government maintained that the mediation had been refused and that direct negotiation had been offered In its place; on the other hand. Count Roraanzoff denied that the mediation had been refused, and in a manner obliged the three envoys to wait the result of another application. As a matter of fact, England had made as ' All this correspondence is printed in Gallatin's "Writings, vol. i. p. 515, ff. 1818. DIPLOMACY. 181.';-182n. 501 yet no offer of direct negotiation; had this odbr been made Avhen It was said to have been determined upon, in June, and tlien transmitted to Araerica, the situation Avould have been simple ; but, as matters uoav stood, the American envoys Avere fully justified in thinking that the British government had no other purpose than to mislead them, and their impatience naturally increased. Under such circumstances, Mr. Gallatin lingered helplessly in St. Petersburg, idle and anxious, Avhile the world seemed con vulsed Avith agony. He Avrote a long letter to General Moreau on the 2d September, ignorant that, Avhile he Avrote, Moreau Avas drawing his last breath. With Avhat patience he could command, he amused himself Avitli such resources as St. Petersburg offered. No ansAver had yet been received from England, Avhen, on the 19th October, lettere arrived from the United States, announcing that his nomination as envoy to Russia had been rejected by the Senate, and that consequently he was no longer a meraber of the mission. Curiously enough, only one week had elapsed since Mr. Gal latin had been officially recognized as envoy by Count Roman zoff; the difficulty of communicating AvIth the Emperor had caused delays in every detail, so that all Mr. Gallatin's share in the transactions under the mediation Avas, Avith the exception of this single week, unofficial. The ncAvs of his rejection by the Senate was probably not unexpected, but, like everything else in this unlucty mission, it carae in just such a Avay as to increase complications ; no official information of the fact and no instruc tions were received, nor did these reach Mr. Gallatin until the end of March in the folloAving year, and yet without such official advices It was difficult to get aAvay from St. Petereburg, and Count Romanzoff was strongly of the opinion that he could not go. Nevertheless, there were some advantages in the situation. The Senate had at least restored to Mr. Gallatin his liberty of action ; he Avas no longer dependent on his colleagues ; if not en voy, he was still Secretary of the Treasuiy, strong in his relations with the President, master of all the threads of the negotiation, and it depended only upon hiinsclf to say what measures he 502 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1813. should take. Little consideration was needed to show that he could do no good by returning to America. His enemies were there in possession of the field, and his failure in diplomacy Avould strengthen their hands ; his only chance of baffling them was by rescuing the negotiation, and this he set hlra.self to ac- coraplish. Somewhat to the disgust of Mr. Adams, he proceeded, delicately but decidedly, to mark ont his own course. Mr. Baring had urged the mission to go to England to treat directly of peace. Mr. Gallatin did, in October, send his secretary, George M. Dallas, to London to make a channel of comrau nication betAveen Lord Castlereagh, Count Lieven, the Russian Ambassador, and Mr. Baring on one side, and himself and Mr. Madison on the other. The news of Mi-. Gallatin's rejection by the Senate arrived precisely as young Dallas was starting for London. Thither Gallatin meditated following hira, and as for the responsibility thus assumed, he bluntly told Mr. Adams " that he was no longer a member of the mission ; he was a private gentleman, and might go home by the way of England or any other way, as he pleased ; that as to the approbation of the government, he should not trouble himself about it; he would not disobey their orders, but if he Avas right he should not much regard Avhether they liked it or not. Mr. Baring's letter did indeed speak of the decision of the British govern raent upon the point of impressment in the clearest and strongest terms, but he believed the point might still be presented to them in a manner which would induce them to judge of It other Avise. This, he thought, would be the utility of their going to England. For his purpose Avas to convince the British ministers that unless they should yield on the article of Impressment, there was no possibility of treating at all."' Another scheme of Mr. Gallatin's was to go directly to the Emperor Alexander's headquarters and attempt to stimulate his action; but to effect this object a strong friend Avas needed, and since Moreau's death there was no individual about the Emperor on whose aid reliance could be put. The anomalous attitude and independent action of Mr. Galla- i Memoirs of J. Q. Adams, ii. 549, 19th Novcmher, 1813. 1818. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1820. 593 tin naturally annoyed his colleagues and might easily have made a coolness, but he had the tact to folloAV his oavu path without giving offence. McanAvhile the curious diplomatic mystification which had perplexed the American envoys all sumraer, and of which the Emperor Avas the innocent cause, began to approach an end. As early as July 14, Lord Castlereagh had instructed Lord Cathcart, In the raost positive language, to raake the Emperor underetand that England could not consent to even the appearance of foreign intervention in the American dispute,' and this final decision seems to have been communicated to the Em peror on the 1st September, at Toplitz, when Alexander had already authorized Romanzoff to renew the 'offer of mediation ; Avlien Romanzoff had indeed already written his despatches to that effect and forAvarded them to the Eraperor for approval. On the arrival of these despatches at headquarters, Alexander Avrote back on Scpteraber 8, approving the draft for a new offer of mediation notwithstanding the fact that Lord Cathcart, only a week before, had offidally announced that under no circum stances could England admit of mediation, but that she meant to negotiate directly. The second proposal to mediate Avas, there fore, forAvarded by Romanzoff to Count Lieven, the Russian ambassador In London, and the Count raust have informally notified Lord Castlereagh of its contents, for it seems to have been oil the strength of information contained in this despatch that the British note to Mr. Monroe, dated Noveraber 4, and offering to negotiate directly, Avas founded ; but Count Lieven never officially comraunicated the proposal itself to Lord Castle reagh ; by the usual diplomatic jugglery this second offer was quietly suppressed at the British minister's hint, and Count Lieven only wrote back that Lord Castlereagh had transmitted directly to the Eraperor in person a memoir containing his reasons for declining mediation. The Emperor forgot to communicate this memoir to Romanzoff, and when the latter received Lieven's letter early in Noveraber he could only coramunlcate it without explanation to the Araerlcans. This Avas done on Noveraber 3, • Soo Lord Castloreagh's private letter iu tho Castlorongh Correspondence, 3d Series, vol. i. p. 84. 604 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. and by this time another British minister. Lord Walpole, had arrived in St. Petersburg, Avho irritated the Americans still further by talking openly and bitterly of Count Romanzoff's intrigues. No one kneAV how to explain the riddle. Even Lord Cathcart, who was Avith the Emperor, wrote to Lord Castlereagh on the 12th December: "I think Nesselrode knows nothing of the cause of the delay of communicating Avith the American mission ; that it Avas an intrigue of the Chancellor's, if it is one; and that during the operations of war the Emperor has lost the due to it, so that something has been unanswered. If it is not cleared up, I will write another note and send a copy to Walpole." ' Romanzoff himself Avas deeply mortified, and this evidence of the Emperor's neglect seems to have been the cause of his retirement from office. He noAV announced to the Americans that he should reraain Chancellor a short tirae longer solely to close the affair of this mission. All the parties to this imbroglio, confused and irritated by the veil of mystery Avhich surrounded it, suspected intrigue and treachery in their opponents. The Americans naturally believed that England Avas to blame, and, although this Avas not the case, there Avas some reason in the suspicion, for Lord Castlereagh, stralghtforAvard and honest in his treatment of Russia, was very sIoav In dealing Avith America, and, instead of writing on July 14 to the United States government, he had waited until Count Lieven again jogged his elbow by bringing to his knowledge Count Romanzoff's second offer of mediation. This was the entire advantage gained for America by Russia, and the whole result accomplished by Mr. Gallatin's voyage. On the 4tli November, Lord Castlereagh forwarded to America the offer of direct negotiation AvhIch he had announced In his Instructions to Lord Cathcart of the 14th July. Not until Mr. Baring wrote to Mr. Gallatin on the 14th December did these facts become certainly known to the Americans, and even then Mr. Baring Avas mistaken in regard to the dates furnished him from the Foreign Office. All hope of success from the mediation had long vanished- • Castlereagh Correspondence, 8d Series, vol. i. p. 94. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1820. 605 the winter had set In ; Gallatin Avas not even a meraber of the commission ; yet he still lingered at St. Petersburg, partly in deference to Count Romanzoff's avIsIi, partly In the hope of receiving the long-expected communication frora the Emperor which Avas to close the mission, partly in expectation of receiving more decisive ncAA'S from England or of getting instructions frora America, partly in order to haA'C the company of Mr. Bayard on his journey. Not until the 25th January, 1814, did they leave St. Petereburg, and still Avithout a Avord from the Emperor. They travelled Avitli all the sloAvness inevitable in the move ments of those times frora St. Petereburg to Amsterdara. There they arrived on the evening of the 4th March, and there they remained during four Aveeks. The situation of affairs did not grow better. The complete destruction of France Avas practically accomplished, and Araerica Avas now left to oppose alone the whole power of England, Avhich Avould infallibly be directed against her. On reaching Amsterdara Mr. Gallatin learned that Lord Castlereagh's offer of direct negotiation had been promptly met on the part of Mr. Madison by the appointment of a ncAv comraisslon, of which ISlr. Gallatin himself Avas not one, for the reason that at the time these nominations AA'ere made he Avas supposed to be on his way horae to resurae his post at the Treasury. When the raistake was discovered, and after it had becorae evident that the Treasury must no longer be left vacant, the President, on the 8th February, norainated Mr. Gallatin as a meraber of the new commission, and at the sarae tirae appointed Mr. G. W. Carapbell Secretary of the Treasury. By this acci dent Mr. Gallatin, instead of standing first in the commission, was made its last meraber, and all his colleagues, Mr. Adaras, Mr. Bayard, Henry Clay, and Jonathan Russell, took precedence of him. These proceedings had no effect in changing Mr. Gallatin's movements; whether firet or last in the comraisslon, or whether oraitted from It entirely, he continued to superintend all the diplomatic operations connected Avith the proposed peace. To wards the end of March he received frora Mr. Baring the neces sary perraission to visit England, and Immediately afterAvards he crossed the channel Avith Mr. Bayard and established himself in 506 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. London. Almost at the same moment Mr. Clay and Mr. Rus sell arrived at Gottenburg, and brought with them Mr. Gallatin's appointment as fifth coramissioner. A considerable time neces sarily elapsed before all the five envoys could be brought together, and during this Interval Mr. Gallatin was quietly employed in smoothing the path of negotiation. With the British gOA'ernment itself he held no direct commu nication on the difficult points Involved in the future settlement, and if he still hoped to pereuade that government to make con cessions on the subject of impressment, his hope was altogether disappointed; neither Mr. Baring nor Lord Castlereagh him self would at that moment have dared to suggest the smallest concession on that point in the face of the excited popular feeling of England. Mr. Gallatin appears to have refrained from every attempt to negotiate on his own account, and to have contented himself with removing such obstacles and with setting in motion such influences as it Avas in his power to affect or control. The first object he had at heart was the removal of the place of negotiation. Their instructions, not as yet known to Mr. Gallatin, authorized the envoys to treat, and assumed Gotten burg as the place, rejecting the British proposition to treat at London. Mr. Gallatin Avould have preferred London, because he believed, and with justice, that his chances were better with Lord Castlereagh than Avitli any mere agent of the Foreign Office; but this point Avas one of pride as well as fear araong Americans ; to London they would not go, and accordingly Mr. Gallatin contented hiraself with changing the place of negotiation to Ghent. The folloAving letter explains his motives for this movement. GALLATIN TO HENRY CLAY. London, 22d April, 1814. Dear Sir, — We have just heard of your arrival, but have received no lettere, and I am yet ignorant M'hether I am one of the new comraisslon to treat of peace. My arrangeraents must depend on that circumstance, and I wait with impatience for the official account Avhich you must have brought. For that reason 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 507 Mr. Bayard addresses you and Mr. Russell in his own name, but I coincide fully AvIth hira in the opinion that the negotiations should by all means be opened here, or at least in Holland, if tills is not rendered impracticable frora the nature of the com mission. If this has unfortunately been limited to treating of peace at Gottenburg, there is no remedy ; but if the commission admits of a change of place, I Avould feel no hesitation in re moving them at least to any other neutral place, Avhatever may be tlie language of the instructions. For their spirit Avould be fully ansAvered by treating in any other friendly country as well as if at Gottenburg. On that point I feel great anxiety, because, on account of the late great changes in Europe, and of the in creased difficulties thence arising in making any treaty, I do believe that it would be utterly Impossible to succeed in that corner, removed frora every friendly Interference In our favor on the part of the European powers, and compelled to act AvIth raen dothed with limited authorities, and Avho might at all times plead a want of instructions. You are sufficiently aAvare of the total change in our affairs produced by the late revolution and by the restoration of uni versal peace In the European Avorld, from which we are alone excluded. A Avdl-organized and large army is at once liberated from any European employraent, and ready, together with a superabundant naval force, to act immediately against us. How ill prepared we are to meet it in a proper manner no one knows better than youredf; but, above all, our oAvn divisions and the hostile attitude of the Eastern States give room to apprehend that a continuance of the war might prove vitally fatal to the United States. I underetand that the ministers, with whom we have not had any direct intercouree, still profess to be disposed to make an equitable peace. But the hope, not of ultimate conquest, but of a dissolution of the Union, the convenient pretence which the American war will afford to preserve large military establish ments, and, above all, the force of popular feeling, may all unite m inducing the Cabinet in throAving Impediments in the way of peace. They will not certainly be disposed to make concessions, nor probably displeased at a failure of negotiations. That the 508 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. Avar is popular, and that national pride, inflated by the last un- exjicctcd success, cannot be satisfied Avithout what they call the chastisement of America, cannot be doubted. The mass of the people here know nothing of American politics but through the medium of Federal speeches and ncAVspapers faithfully tran scribed In their oavu journals. They do not even suspect that Ave have any just cause of complaint, and consider us altogether as the aggressors and as allies of Bonaparte. In those opinions it is understood that the ministers do not participate, but it will really require an effort on their part to act contrary to public opinion, and they must, even if perfectly sincere, use great caution and run some risk of popularity. A direct, or at least a very near, intercourse with them is therefore highly important, as I have no doubt that they Avould go further themselves than they Avould be Avilling to intrust any other person. To this must be added that Lord Castlereagh is, according to the best infor raation I have been able to collect, the best disposed man in the Cabinet, and that coming frora France, and having had inter course Avith tlie Emperor Alexander, it is not improbable that those dispositions may have been increased by the personal ex pression of the Emperor's Avlshes in favor of peace Avith America. Whatever advantages may be derived from that circumstance and from the Emperor's arrival here Avould be altogether lost at Gottenburg. . . . HENRY CLAY TO GALLATIN. Gottenburg, 2d May, 1814. Dear Sir, — I ara rejoiced at finding you in Europe. We had great fears that you would have left it before our arrival and proceeded to Araerica. Your rejection last summer in the Senate was very generally condemned by the people, and pro duced a reaction highly favorable to you. The total uncertainty In Avhich the government Avas left as to your movements (for on the 1st February, when I left Washington, not one syllable had been received frora either yourself or Mr. Bayard), and the In creased and coraplicated concerns of the Treasury, produced a state of things highly embarrassing to the President; so much 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 509 SO tliat he could no longer resist the pressure to fill the Treasury. After this measure AA'as determined on, it became more than ever desirable that the public should haA'e the benefit of your services ¦ here. Had it not been confidently believed when the hcAV com mission Avas formed that you Avere on your way to Araerica and would be there shortly, you Avould have been originally compre hended in it. I have not tirae to say Avhat I want to comraunicate on Amer ican affairs. Peace, necessary to our country before the astonish ing events which have recently occurred on this side of the Atlantic, events Avith which the Imagination can scarcely keep pace, will doubtless be uoav more than ever demanded. I think, hoAA'cver, you attach more consequence than belongs to the indi cations in the Eastern States. I have no doubt that a garac of swaggering and gasconade has been played off there, Avithout any serious intention to push mattere to extremity. After a great deal of blustering about raising 20,000 raen and declaring the freedom of the port of Boston, a meeting of the malcontents there determined it inexpedient to take any such measure during the last session of the Legislature. The truth is, they Avant men, they want money, the principal actors Avant courage. Yet I would not despise these appearances. If the British govern ment should determine to land a considerable force in the Eastern States, avOAvIng friendship to thera and an intention only to Avar with the Southern States, or Avith the Administration, certainly very serious consequences might ensue, though I believe they would fall far short of conquest or dissolution. . . . On the point of removing the place of negotiation from Got tenburg to Ghent Mr. Gallatin Avas successful, and perhaps it was on the whole fortunate that he Avas disappointed in his avIsIi to negotiate at London, for the delays consequent on the distance of Ghent Avere an element in the succass of the negotiation. Another point Avhich Mr. Gallatin pertinaciously labored to gain was the active aid of the Emperor Alexander. What Romanzoff had been unable to effect, and Avhat Moreau had died too soon to accomplish, Mr. Gallatin Avas bent upon doing by other raeans. Fortunately, his forraer ally, Williara H. Crawford, had 510 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. been taken by Mr. Madison from the Senate and sent as minister to Napoleon, after Avhose fall he remained in Paris, Avaiting for new credentials and for recognition from Louis XVIII. As a diplomate, Mr. CraAvford was not altogether successful ; his tem per and mannere Avere little suited to the very delicate situation in Avhich he Avas placed ; nevertheless he Avas a person on Avhose aid Mr. Gallatin could thoroughly rely, and the assistance of La Fayette and Humboldt went far to supply his deficiencies. Mr. Gallatin, therefore, enrolled him also In the service, and wrote at some length, giving him a sketch of the situation in much the same language used in the letter to Mr. Clay of the next day, but Avith a different conclusion. GALLATIN TO W. H. CRAWFORD. London, 21 April, 1814. The only external check to those dispositions [of enmity in England] can be found in the friendly interposition of the Em peror Alexander, not as a mediator, but as a common friend, pressing on this government the propriety of an accommodation and expressing his strong wishes for a general restoration of peace to the civilized world. I do not know whether your situ ation affords you means of approaching hira, and can only state ray opinion of the great iraportance that an early opportunity should be taken by you or any other person you may tliink fitted for the object, to call his attention to the situation in Avhich we are left, and to the great weight which his opinion in faA'or of peace on liberal conditions, strongly expressed to this gOA'ernment, must neces-sarlly have at this time. Of his friendly disposition for the United States there is no doubt ; but we may be forgotten ; and it is necessary that he should be apprised of the hostile spirit which prevails here, and AvhIch, if not balanced by some other cause, may even carry ministere beyond their OAvn wishes and vicAvs. It should also be stated that our government having accepted one year ago the Emperor's mediation, and not having supposed that, considering the political connection betAveen him and Great Britain, she could reject that offer, no other provision was made on our part to obtain peace until our government Avas 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1820. 51X apprised. In January last, of the rejection of the mediation by England. Thus avos a delay of a year produced, and the opening of our negotiations unfortunately prevented till after England Is at peace Avith the rest of the world, a circumstance which, although it does not give us a positive right to claim the Erape- ror's interference, affords sufficient ground to present the subject to his consideration. I entreat you to lose no tirae in taking such steps as may be In your power in that respect, and to Avrite to rae Avhatever you raay think important for the success of the mission should be knoAvn to us. . . . On the 13th May, Mr. Crawford replied that he had attempted to carry out Mr. Gallatin's wishes, and had received a polite rebuff from Count Nesselrode and no notice whatever from the Em peror. He added : " After I had failed In obtaining access to the Emperor of Russia and to his minister, I requested General La Fayette to endeavor, through Colonel La Harpe, to have the proper representations made to Nesselrode or to the Emperor. Every effort to effect this object has been abortive. It seems as if there had been a settled determination to prevent the approach of every pereon who Is suspected of an attachment to the United States. The general has, however, come In cjntact several tiraes with Baron Humboldt, the Prussian minister, who has imbibed already the British misrepresentations." La Fayette soon succeeded, however, in breaking down these barrlere which English Influence had raised about the Emperor. On the 25th May he wrote : " Mr. Crawford is better qualified than I am to give you all the Information from this quarter Avhich relates to American concerns. The confidence with which he honore my zeal has enabled me to discuss the matter AvIth some influencing characters among the allied generals and dlplomates. Tavo of the latter act a great part in the present negotiations. I found thera Avell acquainted Avith British arguraents and impressed with British prejudices Avhich convinced me that care had been taken to influence their opinion. An opportunity has been seeked, Avhich I am bound not to name, for putting directly under the eyes of Emperor Alexander a note of Mr. Crawford. You may depend it has been faithfully delivered, with proper comments, 512 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. along with a letter, the copy of Avhich Mr. CraAvford has desired me to enclose. I expect this evening to meet the Emperor of Russia at a friend's house, and shall try to obtain sorae converea tion on the subject." On the 26th May, General La Fayette Avrote the following letter to Mr. CraAvford, Avho enclosed it on the 28th in a despatch to Mr. Gallatin. LA PAYETTE TO W. H. CRAWFORD. 26th May, 1814. My DEAR Sir, — I passed the last evening in company with the Emperor Alexander, who, hoAvever prepossessed in his favor, has surpassed my expectations. He really is a great, good, sen sible, noble-minded man, and a sincere friend to the cause of liberty. We have long conversed upon American affaire. It began Avith his telling rae that he had read with much pleasure and interest Avhat I had sent him. I found ideas had been sug gested that had excited a fear that the people of the United States had not properly improved their internal situation. My ansAver was an observation upon the necessity of parties In a common wealth, and the assertion that they Avere the happiest and freest people upon earth.. The transactions with France and England Avere explained in the Avay that, although the United States had to complain of both, the British outrages came nearer home, par ticularly in the affair of impressments. He spoke of the actual preparation and the hostile dispositions of England. I of couree insisted on the rejection of his mediation, the confidence reposed in hira by the United States Avho hastened to send comralssioners chosen frora both parties, Avhich he very kindly acknoAvledged. He said he had tAvice attempted to bring on a peace. " Do, sir," said I, "make a third attempt; it raust succeed; ne vous arrfitez pas en si beau chemln. All the objects of a war at an end, and the re-establishment of their old limits can the less be opposed as the Americans have gained more than they have lost. A pro traction of the Avar Avould betray intentions quite perveree and hostile to the cause of humanity. Your personal Influence must carry the point. I am sure your majesty will exert it." "Well " 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1820. 513 says he, " I promise you I Avill. My journey to London affords opportunities, and I Avill do the best I can." I told him I had received a letter from Mr. Gallatin, uoav in London, and Ave spoke of hira, Mr. Adams, Mr. Bayard, and the tAvo new com- missioners. I had also other occasions to speak of America ; one afforded me by the Swedish Marshal Stadinck, avIio mentioned my firet going over to that country ; another by a Avdl-inten- tloned observation of IMuic. de Stael that she had received a letter from my friend Mr. Jefferson, of Avhom he spoke Avith great regard. This led to observations relative to the United States and the spirit of monopoly in England extending even to liberty Itself. The Eraperor said they had been more liberal in Sicily than I supposed thera. I did not deny it, but expressed ray feare of their protecting Ferdinand against the cortes. His sen timents on the Spanish affaire Avere noble and patriotic. The slave-trade became a topic upon Avhicli he spoke Avith philan thropic warmth. Its abolition avIII be an article in the general peace. You see, my dear sir, I had fully the opportunity we were wishing for. If it has not been AVell improved, the fault is mine. But I think some good has been done. And upon the promise of a man so candid and generous I have full depend ence. If you think proper to communicate these details to Mr. Gallatin, be pleased to have them copied. He spoke very well of him, and seemed satisfied Avith the confidence of the United States and the choice of their representatives to hira. By his last accounts Mr. Adaras Avas at St. Petersburg. The particu- lare of this conversation ought not, of couree, to be published ; but you will probably think it useful to coramunlcate to the commissioners. The obstinate determination of England to isolate the United States and cut off all means of co-operation betAveen her and the Baltic powere becarae more and raore evident as the season ad vanced, and stiraulated Gallatin's efforts. On the 2d June he wrote to Mr. Monroe frora London : " I have remained here waiting for the ansAvers of our colleagues at Gottenburg, ancj will depart as soon as I know that they and the British com- 33 614 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. inissioncre arc on their way to the appointed place. The defin itive treaty of European jicace being signed and ratified. Lord Castlereagh is expected here this day, and the Emperor of Russia in the beginning of next week. I enclose coj)}' of an extract of a letter of Mr. CraAvford to me. I may add that I have ascertained that the exclusion of all discussions respecting maritirae questions and of any interference in the American contest was one of the conditions proposed at the Ch^tillon conferences, and I have reason to believe that, Avith respect to the first point, a positive, and in the other at least a tacit, agree ment have taken place In the late and final European negotiations at Paris." Doubtless one of Mr. Grallatin's objects in remaining so long in London was to have a personal interview with the Emperor. La Fayette Avrote to him from Paris on the 3d of June, recount ing briefly the Incidents of his own interview with the Emperor at the house of Mme. de Stael, and urging Mr. Gallatin to see him: "You raay begin the convereation Avith thanking him for the Intention to do so [to serve us] to the best of his power, Avhicli he very positively expressed to me. Our friend Hum boldt, who has already spoken to him on the subject, would be happy to receive your directions for anything in his pOAver. I hasten to scribble this letter to be forwarded by him." The Emperor Alexander came to London, and Mr. Gallatin had his interview on the 17th or 18th June. Of this inter view Mr. C. J. IngereoU, in his History of the War of 1812, has given a somcAvhat dramatic account, derived perhaps from Mr. Levett Harris, Avho had been secretary to the mission at St. Petersburg, and who, being noAV In London, accompanied Mr. Gallatin to the audience. Mr. IngereoU has in that work so seldom succeeded in stating facts Avith correctness, that to quote him is usually to mislead. All Mr. Gallatin ever record^ on the subject of the interview is contained In his despatch of June 20 to Mr. Monroe : " Mr. Harris and myself had on the 17th an audience from the Emperor of Russia. His friendly dispositions for the United States are unimpaired ; he earnestly wishes that peace may be made between them and England ; but he does not give or seem to entertain any hope that he can 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 515 on that subject be of any service. I could not ascertain Avhethcr he had touched the subject since he had been here; only he said, ' I have made two — three attemj)ts.' If three, the third must have been noAv. He added, ' England avIII not admit a third party to interfere in her disputes Avith you. This Is on account of your forraer relations to her (the colonial state), Avliich is not yet forgotten.' He also expressed his opinion that, Avitli respect to conditions of peace, the difficulty would be Avith England and not Avith us. On the whole, this conversation afforded no reason to alter the opinions expressed In my letter of 13th Inst.' I yesterday, with his permission, sent hira a note, . . . which contains nothing new to you, and Avhich will not probably pro duce any effect."' To these facts Mr. IngereoU adds sorae details. According to hira, the IntervieAv took place on the 18th, the day when the city of London gave its great banquet to the allied sovereigns at Guildhall. The time appointed by the Emperor for his audience was the hour before he left his residence in Ldcesterfields to attend the entertainment; and Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Harris drove in " a mean and solitary hackney-coach, Avith a permit," through the shouting crowd, unknoAvn and unnoticed, except by an occasional jeer and a hail as " old Blucher" from the throng. The Emperor's words are not given, but the substance was that Mr. Gallatin and his associates should take a high tone and outbrag the British. The reader may safely assume that the Emperor said nothing of the kind, for Alexander was not a man to indulge In imperti nence. He earnestly Avished for peace, and he saw how small a chance there was of obtaining it. He doubtless spoke to Mr. Grallatin with perfect sincerity of his wishas and his acts ; he may have hinted that America Avould gain little by showing too great eagerness for peace, but he would certainly have said nothing which, if repeated, could possibly have offended Eng land. Indeed, he had gone to the extreme verge of civility in giving any audience at all to an American agent while he was ' See "Writings, vol. i. p. 627, and holow, p. 517. * See this note in "Writings, vol. i. p. 629. 51G LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. himsdf the guest of the country Avith Avhich America Avas then at Avar. The result of all Mr. Gallatin's efforts in this direction was, tlierefore, apparently a complete failure. The power of England was supreme in Europe, and whatever irritation the continental sovereigns raay have felt under the extravagant maritime preten sions of Great Britain, not one of them ventured to lisp a AVord of remonstrance. Yet it Is by no means certain that Mr. Galla tin AA'as so unsuccessful as he seemed. The fate of the negotia tion at Ghent hung on Lord Castlereagh's nod, and among the many influences AvhIch affected Lord Castlereagh's mind, a desire to preserve his friendly relations Avith Russia Avas one of the most poweirful. The moment came Avhcn the British ministry had to decide the question Avhether to let the treaty fail or to abate British pretensions, and it can hardly be doubted that the repeated remonstrances of Russia had some share of Influence in causing England to recoil frora a persistent policy of Avar. At the crisis of the negotiation, on the 27th September, Lord Liverpool Avrote to Lord Castlereagh, who Avas then at Vienna, advising him of the capture of Washington and the state of affairs at Ghent, and adding : " The Americans have assumed hitherto a tone in the negotiation very different from Avhat their situation appeare to Avarrant. In the exercise of your discretion as to how much you may think proper to disclose of Avhat has been passing to the sovereigns and ministers Avhora you Avill meet at Vienna, I have no doubt you Avill see the importance of adverting to this circum stance, and of doing justice to the moderation with which we are disposed to act toAvards America. 1 fear the Emperor of Russia is half an American, and it Avould be very desirable to do aAvay any prejudice Avhich may exist in his mind or in that of Count Nesselrode on this subject." ' While Mr. Gallatin Avas engaged In arranging the prdirainaries of negotiation and in bringing to bear on the British ministry such pressure as he Avas able to command, he did not neglect to act the pai:t of diplomatic agent for the instruction of his own ' Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of "Wellington, vol. ix. pp. 200-291. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 517 gOA'ernment. The time Avas long gone by Aviicn Mr. Gallatin and Ilia party had declaimed against the diplomatic service. Mr. Madison had noAV sent abroad nearly every man in America Avhose pretensions to civil distinction Avere considerable. There Avere six full ministere betAveen London, Holland, and Paris, and among thera were included tAvo Senators, the Speaker of the House, and the Secretary of the Treasury. The position of Mr. Gallatin in London was particularly delicate, since he AA'as in a manner bound not to betray the confidence Avhicli Lord Castle reagh had placed in him by permitting his residence In England; but he knew little more of military movements than Avas known to all the Avorld, and Avithin these limits he might Avithout im propriety correspond Avitli his government. Thus his Avdl-known despatch of June 13 was Avritten.' In this letter he gave a sketch of tlie Aviiole field of diplomatic and military affairs. Beginning Avith the announcement that England Avas fitting out an armament Avhich, besides providing for Canada, Avould enable her to land at least 15,000 to 20,000 men on the A^tlantlc coast; that the capture of Washington and New York would most gratify thera, and the occupation of Norfolk, Baltiraore, &c., raight be expected; this letter continued : " Whatever may be the object and duration of the war, America must rely on her resources alone. From Europe no assistance can for some time be expected. British pride begins, indeed, to produce Its usual effect. Seeds of dissension are not wanting. Russia and England may at the approaching Congress of Vienna be at variance on important subjects, particularly as relates to the aggrandizement of Austria. But questions of maritime rights are not yet attended to, and America Is generally overlooked by the European sovereigns, or vicAved with suspicion. Above all, there is nowhere any navy in existence, and years of peace raust elapse before the means of resisting AvIth effect the sea-power of Great Britain can be created. In a Avord, Europe Avants peace, and neither avIII nor can at this time make war against Great Britain. The friendly disposition of the Emperor of Russia, and a just view of the subject, make him sincerely desirous that ' See Writings, vol. i. p. 627 | tilso IiigersoH's Late "War, Ii. 293. 618 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. peace should be restored to the United States. He may use his endeavors for that purpose ; beyond that he Avill not go, and in that it is not probable he will succeed. I have also the most perfect conviction that, under the existing unpropitious circum stances of the world, America cannot by a continuance of the war compel' Great Britain to yield any of the maritime points in dispute, and particularly to agree to any satisfactory arrangement on the subject of impressment; and that the most favorable terms of peace that can be expected are the status ante bellum, and a postponement of the questions of blockade. Impressment, and all other points which in time of European peace are not particularly injurious ; but Avith firmness and perseverance those terms, though perhaps unattainable at this moraent, Avill ulti mately be obtained, provided you can stand the shook of this campaign, and provided the people will reraain and show them selves united." . . . This despatch arrived in Washington only when one part of its advices had been already verified by the capture and destruc tion of that city. Meanwhile the other American commissionere were beginning to assemble at Ghent, and the British governraent showed no sign of haste in opening the negotiation. Mr. Gal latin, on the 9th June, attempted to hurry Lord Castlereagh's movements by asking when the British commissioners Avould be ready. He was told they would start for Ghent on the 1st Julv, and on the strength of this information he himself left London on June 21, and, after a rapid visit to Paris, arrived at Ghent on July 6. Nearly three months had Mr. Gallatin thus passed In London, and, after all his efforts, little enough had been attained. His hopes of success were certainly not brighter than when he left Araerica, more than a year before ; indeed, it Avas not easy to deny that there had been actual loss of ground. Mr. Gallatin had undertaken a diplomatic tour deforce, and thus far his suc cesses had been far from brilliant ; his failures had been conspic uous. Nevertheless he persisted with endless patience and with his usual resource. His residence in London could not but be unpleasant, and perhaps the brightest spot in his Avhole experi ence there was the meeting with hia old friend and sdiool-fellow 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 519 Dumont, the Genevan, whom ho had once half wislicd to tempt Into the Ohio wilderness, but who had remained in Europe to float on the Avaves of revolution until they thrcAV hira into the arras of Jereray Bentham, Avhosc friend and interpreter he be came. Through him Mr. Gallatin became acquainted with Ben tham, but Gallatin had drifted further than his school-mate from the theorizing tastes of his youth, and he now found quite as much satisfaction In discussing finance Avitli Alexander Baring as in reforming mankind with Bentham and Dumont. From the 6th July till the 6th August the American com missionere waited the arrival of their British colleagues, and amused themselves as they best raight. This delay Avas the raore irritating to Mr. Gallatin because his oavu visit to Paris AA-as said to have been given by I^ord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, on the 20th July, as an excuse for the delay of the British comralssionere. The conduct of the English gov ernment promised ill for the success of the mission, and it Avas natural that the Americans should bdieve they were a .second tirae to be made tiie victims of diplomacy. This inference was not necessarily a fair one ; the motives Avhich Influenced Lord Castlereagh A'aried from day to day, and events proved that he acted more shrcAvdly in the interests of peace than Mr. Gallatin Imaguied. There was raore to be hoped frora delay than from haste. At last the British commissioners arrived : Lord Gambler, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams ; none of them very remarkable for genius, and still less for weight of influence ; as compared with the American commissioners they were unequal to their task. This again, unpromising as it looked, was not really a misfortune, for the British commissioners, deficient as they were in ability, polish of manners, and even in an honest wish for peace, were the raere puppets of their government, and never ventured to move a hair's-breadth without at once seeking the approval of Lord Castlereagh or Lord Liverpool. Mr. Gallatin had nothing to fear from them; singly or together he was as capable of dealing Avith them as Benjamin Franklin, under very similar conditions, had proved himself equal to dealing with their predecessors thirty years before. Gallatin's great difficulty was 620 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. the same with Avhich Dr. Franklin had strugglal. The Amer ican habit of negotiating by commissions may have its advantages for government, but It enormously increases the labor of the agents, for it compels each envoy to expend more effort in nego tiating with his colleagues in the commission than in negotiating with his opponents. Mr. Gallatin had four associates, noue of Avhora Avas easily raanaged, and tAvo of Avhora, Mr. Adaras and Mr. Clay, acted upon each other as explosives. To keep the peace betAveen them Avas no easy matter, and to keep the peace between them and the Englishmen Avas a task almost beyond hope ; indeed, Mr. Gallatin's OAvn temper Avas severely tried in his conversa tions Avitli the English envoys, and perhaps a little more rough ness on his part Avould have been better understood and better received by them than his patient forbearance. If Gallatin had a fault, it Avas that of using the razor when he would have done better Avith the axe. If all the preliminaries Avere calculated to discourage, the opening of the negotiation justified something worse than dis couragement. Very uiiAvillingly and Avith deep mortification the President and his advisers had submitted to the Inevitable and consented to offer terms of peace Avhich settled no one principle for Avhich they had fought. They had agreed to what Avas In fact an armistice ; restoration of the status ante bellum j a return to the old condition of things Avhen Avar was ahvays Imminent and American rights AA-ere ahvays trampled upon. Now that Europe Avas again at peace, they were Avilling to leave the theoretical questions of belligerency undetermined, since It Avas clear that England preferred Avar to concession. To Mr. Clay, Avho had made the war, and to Mr. Adams, who fully sympathized Avith Mr. Clay in his antipathy to the English domination, these con cessions seemed enormous; even to Mr. Gallatin, always the friend of peace, they seemed to reach the extreme verge of dignity ; but Avhen the English envoys unfolded their demands, the mildest of the Americans was aghast; it is a matter of surprise that there was not an outburst of indignation on the spot, and that negotiation did not end the day it began. In the first IntervIcAv, Avhidi took place on August 8 and Avas continued the next day, the British commissionere required as a preliminary basis of dis- 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 521 cussion and a sine qua non of the treaty that the United States government should set apart forever for the Indian tribes the Avhole North-West Territory, as defined by the treaty of Green ville in 1795 ; that is to say, the Avhole country noAV represented by the Stjites of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, four-fifths of Indiana, and one-tliird of Oiiio ; so that an Indian sovereignty should be constituted in that region under the guaranty of Great Britain, for the double purpose of interposing neutral territory betAveen Canada and the United States and curbing the progress of the latter. Mr. Gallatin suggested that there Avere probably one hundred thousand American citizens settled AvithIn that regioii, and what was to become of them ? " Undoubtedly they must shift for themselves," Avas the reply. In coraparlson with so enorraous a pretension the sraaller deraands of the British governraent Avere of trifling importance, even though they Included a " rectification" of the frontier and a cession of Sackett's Harbor and Fort Niagara as a guaranty for the British control of the lakes.' Under such circumstances, the path of the American commis sionere was plain. They had no opportunity to disagree on so simple an issue, and they wanted no better popular argument for unanimity in support of the war than this avoAved determina tion to dismember the United States. They had raerely to draft their rejection of the British sine qua non. The negotiation with the British coramissloners Avas, however, much more simple than the negotiation with one another; of the firet the diplomatic notes and protocols give a fair description, but of the last a far more entertaining account is given in the Diary of John Quincy Adams. The accident Which placed Mr. Gallatin at the foot of the comraisslon placed Mr. Adaras at its head, — a result peculiarly unfortunate, because, even If the other * See Lord Castlereagh's instructions of August 14, 1814, to the British commissioners at (Jhent, Castlereagh Correspondence, 3d Series, vol. ii. p. 86 ff. Also Mr. Goulburn's acknowledgment of these instructions to Lord Bathurst of 2l3t August, Supplementary Despatches of the Duke of "Wellington, vol. ix. p. 188. Lord Liverpool to Lord Bathurst, llth Sep tember, ibid., p. 240. Lord Bathurst to the. commissioners, 18th and 20th October, Castlereagh Correspondence, 3d Series, vol. ii. pp. 168 and 172. 522 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. commissionere had conceded respect to the age, the services, and the tact of Mr. Gallatin, they had no idea of showing any such deference to Mr. Adams. From the outset it Avas clear that Messre. Bayard, Clay, and Russell meant to let Mr. Adams underetand that though he might be the nominal mouth-piece he was not the autocrat of the comraission, and their methods of conveying this inforraation Avere such as in those days Mr. Clay was celebrated for successfully using. Mr. Adaras had little of Mr. Gallatin's capacity for pacifying strife; he Avas by nature as corabative as Mr. Clay, and before the commission separated there were exciting and very amusing scenes of collision, in one of which Mr. Adams jjlainly Intimated his opinion of the con duct of his colleagues, and Mr. Clay broke out upon him with : " You dare not, you cannot, you shall not insinuate that there has been a cabal of three membere against you." In this affair Mr. Gallatin's situation was delicate in the highest degree. All recognized the fact that he was properly head of the mission ; his opinion carried most Avelght ; his pen Avas raost in demand ; his voice Avas most patiently heard. The tact Avith Avhich he steered his way betAveen the shoals that sur rounded hira Is the most remarkable instance in our history of perfect diplomatic skill ; even Dr. Franklin, in a very similar situation, had not the same success. In no instance did Mr. Gallatin alloAV himself to be draAvn into the conflicts of his col leagues, and yet he succeeded in sustaining Mr. Adams in every essential point without appearing to do so. When the negotia tion Avas closed, all his four colleagues were united, at least to outAvard appearance, in cordiality to him, and Mr. Adams had reason to be, and seems in fact always to have been, positively grateful. If Mr. Clay felt differently, as there was afterwards reason to bdieve, he showed no such feeling at the time. The story as told In Mr. Adams's Diary proves clearly enough that this delicate tact of Mr. Gallatin probably saved the treaty. The very earliest despatch they had occasion to send showed Mr. Gallatin the delicacy of his ground. As first member of the comraission, Mr. Adaras drafted this despatch and gave his draft for revision to the other gentlemen, who shoAved it little mercy ; Mr. Bayard used it merely as the foundation for an 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 623 entirely ucav draft of his oavu, Aviiich Avas substituted by the commission for that of Mr. Adams. Mr. Bayard's essay, how ever, proved to be little more satisfactory than Mr. Adams's, and at last it AA'as referred to Mr. Gallatin td be put in final shape. This Avas done, and the commissioners ended by adopting his Work. The next despatch Avas drafted at once by him and accepted Avith little alteration. Henceforth the duty of drawing up all papere Avas regularly performed by him. Mr. Adaras's account of the characteristic criticisms of his four colleagues, as well as of his oavu peculiarities of thought and expression, is very amusing, and probably A'ery exact. " On the general vIcav of the subject [of the note in reply to the British commissioners] Ave are unanimous, but, in my exposition of it, one objects to the forra and another to the substance of alraost every paragraph. Mr. Gallatin is for striking out every expression that may be offensive to the feelings of the adA'erse party. Mr. Clay is displeased with figurative language, which he thinks improper for a state paper. Mr. Russell, agreeing in the objections of the two other gentle men, will be further for amending the construction of every sentence ; and Mr. Bayard, even Aviien agreeing to Say precisely the same thihg, chooses to say it only in his OAvn language." At this moment, that is to say, from the 10th August to the 8th October, it Avas a raatter of little consequence Avhat form these pereonai annoyances might take, for no doubt Avas felt by any of the commissioners that negotiation was at an end. Even Mr. Gallatin abandoned hope. That the British government was really disposed to make peace seemed to him, as to his col leagues, too iraprobable to be Avorth discussion. On the 20th August he Avrote privately to Mr. Monroe : " The negotiations at this place avIII have the result Avhich I have anticipated. In one respect, however, I had been mistaken. I had supposed Avhilst in England that the British ministry, in continuing the war, yielded to the popular sentiment, and were only desirous of giving some 6clat to the termination of hostilities, and, by pred atory attacks, of inflicting gratuitous Injury on the United States. It appears uoav certain that they have more serious and danger ous objects in view." After dwelling at some length on the indications that pointed to Ncav Orleans as the .spot Avhcre the 524 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. ultimate struggle for supremacy Avas to come, he concluded : " I do not expect that we can be detained more than tAvo or three weeks longer for the purpose either of closing the negotiation, of taking every other necessary step connected with it, and of making all the arrangements for our departure." To Mr. Dal las he wrote the same day : " Our negotiations may be considered as at an end. Sorae official notes may yet pass, but the nature of the demands of the British, made also as a preliminary sine qua non, to be admitted as a basis before a discussion, is such that there can be no doubt of a speedy rupture of our conferences, and that Ave Avill have no peace. Great Britain. Avants Avar in order to cripple us ; she wants aggrandizement at our expense ; she may have ulterior objects : no resource left but in union and vigorous prosecution of the Avar. When her terms are known it appears to me impossible that all America should not unite In defence of her rights, of her territory, I may say of her independence. I do not expect to be longer than three Aveeks In Europe." Nevertheless, the three Aveeks passed Avithout bringing the expected rupture. None of the American envoys kncAV the reasons of this delay; but the letters of the British negotia- tore, since published, explain the steps in that backward move ment which at last brought about an abandonment of every point the British governraent had begun by declaring essential. Mr. Goulburn, Avho from the first Avas strongly inclined to obstruct a settlement and to put forward irapossible conditions,' announced to his chief on the 23d August: "We are still AA'ithout any ansAver to the note Avhich Ave addressed to the American plenipotentiaries on Friday last. We have, however, met them to-day at dinner at the intendant's, and it is evident from their conversation that they do not mean to continue the negotiations at present. Mr. Clay, whom I sat next to at dinner, gave me clearly to underetand that they had decided upon a reference to America for instructions, and that they considered our propositions equivalent to a demand for the cession of Boston or New York ; and after dinner Mr. Bayard took me aside and 1 See his letter of August 21 to Earl Bathurst, "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 188. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 525 requested that I Avould permit him to have a little private and confidential conversation. Upon ray expressing my readiness to hear Avhatever he raight like to say to me, he began a very long speech by saying that the present negotiation could not end In peace, and that he Avas desirous of privately stating (before Ave separated) AA'hat Great Britain did not appear to understand, viz., that, by proposing terms like those which had been offered, Ave were not only ruining all prospects of peace, but Avere sacri ficing the party of which he was a member to their political adverearies. He Avent into a long discussion upon the vIcavs and objects of the several parties in America, the grounds upon which they had hitherto proceeded, and the effect which a hostile or conciliatory disposition on our part might have upon thera. He Inculcated hoAv ranch it Avas for our Interest to support the Federalists, and that to raake peace Avas the only method of supporting them effectually; that avc had nothing to fear for Canada if peace Avere made, be the terms Avhat they might; that there Avould have been no difficulty about allegiance, impress ment, &c. ; but that our present demands Avere what America never could or Avould accede to. This Avas the general tenor of his conversation, to which I did not think It necessary to make much reply, and Avhich I only mention to you In order to let you knoAv at the earliest moment that the negotiation is not likely now to continue. ... As I find, upon reading over Avliat I have written, that I have drily stated Avhat the American plenipotentiaries said to rae, I cannot let it go Avithout adding that it has made not the least Impression upon me or upon my colleagues, to whom I have reported it." If the notes and convereation of the American comralssioners made no impression on Mr. Goulburn and his colleagues, the case was very different with their chiefs. A few days before Mr. Goulburn's letter was Avritten, Lord Castlereagh passed through Ghent on his Avay to Vienna. He found that Goul burn had made a series of blunders, and was obliged to check him abruptly,' Avriting at the same time to Lord Liverpool, 1 See his letter to Goulburn of August 28, 1814, Castlereagh Correspond ence, 3d Series, vol. ii. p. 102. .526 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. advising a considerable " letting doAvn of the question."' Lord Liverpool replied on the 2d September, saying that his advice had already been foIloAvcd : " Our coramissionere had certainly taken a very erroneous view of our policy. If the negotiation had been alloAved to break off upon the two notes already pre sented, or upon such an ansAver as they Avere disposed to return, I am satisfied the war Avould have become quite popular in America."* Mr. Goulburn himself became a little nervous; he wrote on the 2d September of the American commissionere : "Their only anxiety appears to me to get back to America. Whenever Ave meet them they always enter into unofficial dis cussions, much of the same nature as the conversation with Avhich Mr. Bayard indulged rae; but Ave have given no en couragement to such conversations, thinking that they are liable to much misrepresentation and cannot lead to any good purpose. All that I think I have learnt from them is this : that Mr. Adams is a very bad arguer, and that the Federalists are quite as inveterate enemies to us as the Madisonians. Those who know anything of Araerica or Americans probably knew this before. We aAvait Avith some anxiety your note." ' On the 6th September, only three days afterAvards, Mr. Goulburn's temper, in view of the awkAvard position he Avas in, had become irri table ; the American commissionere had never, he thought, had any intention of making peace: "They gave it out all over the town (previously even to sending their note) that the negotiations would end in nothing, and I have never met them anyAvhere without hearing their complaints at being detained here, and their wish to leave the place on the 1st of October at the latest. Some days since they gave their landlord notice that they meant to quit tlieir house, and Iavo of their private secretaries set out to make a tour in England before their note Avas written, one of whom openly stated to me that, as they Avere on the point of returning to America, he wished, firet of all, to see London."* • Castlereagh to Liverpool, Correspondence, 8d Series, vol. ii. p. 100. ' "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 214. • "Wellington Sup. Desp., ii. 217: Goulburn to Lord Bathurst * Ibid., p. 222. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 627 The result of tho firet round in this encounter was clearly in favor of the American chamiiions. The unfortunate Goulburn was Avorsted, and forced, Avith very bad grace, to accept the admonitions of his chiefs and to endure the triumph of his opponents. Lord Bathuret accordingly undertook to correct the mistakes of his envoys, and forwarded on the 1st September an argu mentative note calculated to persuade the Araerlcans that nothing could be more becoming in them than to surrender the lakes to Great Britain and the North-West Territory to the Indians. The long reply of the American commissioners, delivered on the 9th September, was mostly Avritten by Mr. Gallatin, and Mr. Adams candidly says in his Diary : " I struck out the greatest part of my OAVU previous draft, preferring that of Mr. Gallatin upon the same points." Its contents Avere briefly characterized in a short note from the Foreign Office to the Duke of Wellington, dated September 13 : "It rejects all our proposals respecting tho boundary and the military flag on the lakes, and refuses even to refer them to their governraent, offering at the sarae time to pursue the negotiation on the other points ;" and on the IGtli the Duke Avas notified that : " We mean in our reply to admit that Ave do not intend to raake the exclusive military possession of the lakes a sine qua non of the negotiation." This was, however, not the only concession ; the new ground which Lord Bathurst noAV raarked out for his negotiators was still further in the rear of Mr. Goulburn's firet position, and abandoned not only the lakes but also the attempt to create an Indian sovereignty. The British note Avas sent in on the 19 th September, and Mr. Adams gives in his Diary a graphic account of the conflicting feelings It aroused: " The effect of these notes upon us Avlicn they first come is to deject us all. We so fondly cling to the vain hope of peace that every ncAV proof of its impossibility operates upon us as a disap pointment. We had a desultory and general conversation upon this note, in Avhicli I thought both Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Bayard showed symptoms of despondency. In discussing with them I cannot ahvays restrain the irritability of my temper. Mr. Bayard meets it Avitli more of accoramodation than heretofore, and some times Avith more compliance than I expect. Mr. Gallatin, having 528 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. more pliability of character and more playfulness of disposition, throws off my heat with a joke. Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell are perfectly firm themselves, but sometimes partake of the staggers of the tAVO other gentlemen. Mr. Gallatin said this day that the sine qua non nOAV presented — that the Indians should be posi tively included in the peace, and placed In the state they were in before the AA'ar — Avould undoubtedly be rejected by our govern ment if it was now presented to them, but that it was a bad point for us to break off the negotiation upon; that the difficulty of carrying on the war might compel us to admit the principle at last, for noAV the British had so committed themselves Avith regard to the Indians that it Avas impossible for them further to retreat. Mr. Bayard was of the same opinion, and recurred to the funda mental idea of breaking off upon some point which shall unite our own people in the support of the war. ... I said . . . that if the point of the Indians Avas a bad point to break upon, I Avas very sure Ave should never find a good one ; if that Avould not unite our people, It Avas a hopeless pursuit. Mr. Gallatin repeated, Avith a very earnest look, tiiat It was a bad point to break upon. ' Then,' said I, Avith a movement of impatience and an angry tone, ' it is a good point to admit the British as the sovereigns and protectors of our Indians.' Gallatin's countenance brightened, and he said in a tone of perfect good humor, ' That's a non- sequitur.' This turned the edge of the argument into mere jocularity. I laughed, and insisted that it AA'as a sequitur, and the conversation easily changed to another point." Mr. Gallatin Avas right, and he drafted the reply to the British note accordingly. There Avas a someAvhat warm discussion over his draft, but his Influence Avas uoav so decisive that Mr. Adams declares opposition useless; unless Gallatin voluntarily abandoned his point, he Avas uniformly sustained. This note, Avhile refuslno- to admit the Indians Into the treaty In any manner that Avould recognize them as independent nations, offered a stipulation that they should retain all their old rights, privileges, and po.ssessions. It was signed and sent on the 26th September ; on October 1 the ncAvs of the capture of Washington arrived. The following letters give some conception of what was passing in the United States while the American commissioners 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 529 were forcing Great Britain to abandon one position after another : MRS. MADISON TO MRS. GALLATIN. 28th July, 1814. . . . We have been In a state of perturbation here for a long time. The depredations of the enemy approaching AvIthln twenty miles of the city, and the disaffected making incessant difficulties for the government. Such a place as this has become 1 I can not describe it. I avIsIi for my own part we were at Philadel phia. The people here do not deserve that I should prefer it. Among other exclamations and threats, they say, if Mr. M. at tempts to move frora this house, in case of an attack, they avIII stop him, and that he shall fall with it. I ara not the least alarraed at these things, but entirely disgusted, and deterralned to stay Avith him. Our preparation for defence, by some means or other, is constantly retarded, but the small force the British have on the bay Avill never venture nearer than at present, twenty-three miles. . . . JOSEPH H. NICHOLSON TO MRS. GALLATIN. Baltimore, 4th September, 1814. My dear Madam, — . . . You have of course heard of and grieved over our disastere at Washington. You have heard, too, of the disgraceful capitulation of Alexandria. Baltimore Avas at one time certainly prepared to pursue the baneful example, but the arrival of Rodgere, Porter, and Perry, the manly lan guage which they held to our generals, and the great nuraber of troops Avhich are now here, have inspired raore confidence. If the eneray had acted wisely they would have marched directly from Washington to this place, and Avould have found It an easy prey. If they come now, Avhich we look for daily, or rather nightly, they will have a fight, but I ara not quite sure that it will be a hard one. Our militia are so raw and so totally un disciplined, and our commanding generals so entirely unqualified to organize them, that I liavc very little confldcnco of success. The comraand has been taken from General Winder and given 34 530 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 18U. to General Smith. The latter assumed it in the firet instance Avithout authority at the request of some of our citizens, and the usurpation has since been confirmed at Washington. There Is some derangement of the Administration which I do not under stand. General Armstrong is here, and says he is no longer Secretary of War ; but every one who comes from the city says he is still considered so there. He explained the thing to me in this way. Mr. Madison had been Availed on by a deputation frora GeorgetoAvn, of Avhora A. C. Hanson Avas one, who told him that they would not agree to defend the place or to make any resistance if General Armstrong was to have any control over them. That Mr. Madison, In consequence of this and much other remonstrance of a similar nature, proposed to Armstrong that he should do all the business of the War Department ex cept that Avhich related to the District ; tliat Armstrong irame- diately answered that he must do the Avhole business or none, and tendered his resignation, which Avas not accepted. He added, however, in his convereation Avith me: "I am here, and the Presi dent Is In Washington." He said, too, he was going imraediately to New York; but he has remained several days, and is here yet. I had thought it probable he Avas waiting for a recall, but he said yesterday he should go to-day, and expressed some satisfaction at being again in private life. This seemed to relate altogether to his pecuniary concerns. He speaks AvIth no Irritation of the Administration, and it is certain that either he or Mr. Madison or possibly both, have yielded to a contemptible faction in a con temptible village, at a most critical moment for our country. This is the precise language in which I expressed myself to him, but he said he Avashed his hands of it. The loan is taken in part only at $80 for $100, and, I believe a small part. If Congitess do not act imraediately Avith vigor, the nation, I fear, is lost Did you feel very, very sorry at hearing that your old house was burnt? I did, really., I had spent so many happy houre in It. A short correspondence with Mme. de Stael, then a power In diplomacy, claims also a place here. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1820. 631 MADAME DE STAEL TO GALLATIN. Co 81 juillet, 1814. CoprBT, Suisse, Pays db "Vaud. Vous m'avez perrais de vous demander si nous avons quelque succ&s heureux il cspdrcr de votre mission. ]\Iandcz-moi il cet 6gard, my dear sir, tout ce qu'il vous est permis de me dire. Je suis inqui&te d'un mot de Lord Castlereagh sur la dur6e de la guerre, et je ne m'explique pas pourquoi il a dit qu'il 6talt de I'lnt6r6t de I'Angleterre que le congr^s de Vienne s'ouvrit plus tard. C'est vous Amfirique qui m'int6ressez avant tout raalnte- nant, k part de mes affaires p6cuniaires. Je vous trouve il pre sent les opprlmfe du parti de la llbert6 et je vols en vous la cause qui m'attachait k I'Angleterre il y a un an. On souhaite beau coup de VOUS voir fl Gcnfive et vous y trouverez la rfipubllque telle que vous I'avez laiss6e, seulement elle est moins llbdrale, car la mode est ainsi niaintenant en Suisse. Aussi les vieux aristo crates se rdfivent et se reinettent k combattre, en oubliant, comme les g6ants de I'Arioste, qu'ils sont d6j&, morts. J'espfere que la raison triomphera, et quand on vous connalt, on trouve cette raison si spirituelle qu'elle semble la plus forte. Soyez paclfique cependant et sacrifiez aux circonstances. Vous devez vous en- nuyer k Gaud, et je voudrals profiter pour causer avec vous de tout le teraps que vous y perdez. Avez-vous quelques coramls- slons k faire k Geneve et voulez-vous rae donner le plaisir de vous y 6tre utile en quelque chose ? Mille compliraents empresses. Vous savez que M. Sismondi vous a lou6 dans son discoura k St. Pierre. MADAME DE STAiSL TO GALLATIN. Ce 80 septembre. Paths, Rue db GnBNKLtB St. Germain, No. 105. Je vous ai 6crit de Coppet, my dear sir, et je n'ai point eu de r6ponse de vous. Je cralns que ma lettre ne vous soit pas par- venue. Soyez assez bon pour rae dire ce que vous pouvez me dire sur la vente de mes fonds en Am6rlque. Je suis si inqul^te 532 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. que l'id6e me venalt d'envoyer mon fils en Am6rique pour tirer ma fortune de \k. Soiigez qu'elle y est presque toute entlfire, c'est k dire que j'y ai quinze cents raille francs, soit en terres, soit en fonds publics, soit chez les banquiera. Soyez aussi assez bon pour me dire si vous restez a Gaud. Mon fils en allant en Angleterre pourrait passer par chez vous et vous donner des nouvelles de Paris. Enfin je vous prie de m'accorder quelques lignes sur tout ce qui m'interesse. Vous pouvez compter sur ma discretion et sur ma reconnaissance, — et je m6rite peut-6tre quelque bienvelllance par mes efforts pour vous servir. Lord Wellington pretend que je ne le vois jamais sans le pr6cher sur l'Am6rique. Vous savez de quelle haute consideration je suis pSnetree pour votre esprit et votre caractfere. Mille compliraents. GALLATIN TO MADAME DB STAEL-HOLSTEIN. Gand, 4 octobre, 1814. Ce n'est que hier, my dear madara, que j'ai regu votre lettre du 23 septerabre; celle que vous m'avlez fait le plaisir de m'ecrire de Coppet m'etait bien parvenue; raals raalgrS la parfaite con fiance que vous m'avez Inspiree, il etait de mon devoir de ne rien laisser transpirer de nos negociations ; et j'esperais tous les joure pouvoir vous annoncer le lendemain quelque chose de positif. Nous sommes toujours dans le meme etat d'incertitude, mais il me parait impossible que cela puisse durer longtemps, et je vous pro- raets que vous serez la preral^re Instrulte du rSsultat. Malgre les fdcheux auspices sous lesquels nous avions coramenc6 k traitor, je n'avais point perdu l'esperance de pouvoir reussir. II faut cepen dant convenir que ce qui s'est passe k la prise de Washington peut faire naitre de nouveaux obstacles k la paix. Une incur sion momentanee et la destruction d'un areenal et d'une fregate ne sont qu'une bagatelle; mais faire sauter ou brfiler les palals du Congrfes et du President, et les bureaux des differents departe- ments, c'est un acte de vandallsme dont la guerre de vingt ans en Europe, depuis les frontieres de la Russle jusques k Paris et de celles du Danemarc jusqu'a Naples, n'offre aucun exemple, et qui doit necessairement exasperer les esprits. Est-ce parceque k 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 633 I'exception de quelques cathedralcs, I'Angleterre n'avoit aucun edifice public qui pftt leur 6tre compare? Ou serait-ce pour consoler la populace de la cite de Londres de ce que Paris n'a ete ni pille nl brale ? Tout en vous disant cela, je ne me plains point de la conduite des Anglais, qui, si la guerre continue, loin de nous nuire, n'aura servl qu'il unir et animer la nation. Sous ce point de vue, la manlfere dont on nous fait la guerre doit plelnement rassurer ceux qui avaient des craintes mal fondees sur la perraanence de notre union et de notre gouvernement f6d6ratif. Et il n'y a qu'une dissolution totale qui puisse renverser nos finances et nous faire manquer k nos engagements. Je comprends cependant fort bien que lorequ'on n'est pas Americain, l'on dCsirerait dans ce moment avoir sa fortune ailleurs que dans ce pays Ik • je puis avoir des prejugSs troj) favorables et ne voudrais aucunement vous induire en erreur. !Mais il me semble que vendre vos fonds ^ 15 ou 20 pour cent de perte serait un sacrifice inutile. lis tomberont probablement encore plus si la guerre continue, mais les int6rets seront toujours fid&lement pay6s et le capital sera au pair six mois apr6s la paix. Nous nous sommes tires d'une bien plus mauvaise situation. A la fin de la guerre de l'ind6pendance nous n'avions ni finances ni gouverneraent ; notre population ne s'elevait qu'il environ trois railllons et demi, la nation etait extreraement pauvre, la dette publique etait presqu'egale il ce qu'elle est actu- elleinent ; les fonds perdaient de 80 il 85 pour cent. Nous n'avons cependant pas fait falllite ; nous n'avons pas reduit la dette k un tiers par un trait de plurae ; avec de I'econoniie et surtout de la probite, nous avons fait face k tout, remis tout au pair, et pendant les dix annees qui avaient precede la guerre actuelle nous avions paye la moltie du capital de notre ancienne dette. Au milieu de toutes nos factions, n'importe quel parti ait gouverne, le rafirae esprit les a toujoure anirags il cet 6gard. Le mfime esprit rfegne encore; nous sommes tr&s-riches; nous 6tions huit millions d'ames au commencement de la guerre, et la population augmente de deux cent cinquante mille dmes par an. Si je n'ai pas entlfere- ment m6connu TAraerique, ses ressources et la raorallte de sa poli tique, je ne me trompe pas en croyant ses fonds publics plus solldes que ceux de toutes les puissances enrop6ennes. 534 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. Si cependant vous avez peur, attendez du moins la conclusion de nos negociations ; vous n'avez pas le temps de faire vendre avant cette epoque. Je serai au reste encore quinze jours au moins k Gand et donnerai avec grand plaisir k M. votre fils tous les renseignements en mon pouvoir s'il passe par id en allant en Angleterre. Je suis trfes-sensiblc k tout ce que vous avez fait pour etre utile k I'Amerique; je sens encore plus combien je vous dois ; vous m'avez re9u et accueilll comme si j'eu.sse ete une ancienne connaissance. Avant de vous connaitre je respectals en vous Madame de Stael et la fille de Madame Necker, aux ecrits et k 1' exemple de qui j'ai plus d'obligatlon que je ne puis exprimer. Mais je vous avouerai que j'avais grand peur de vous ; une femrae tr6s elegante et aimable et le premier g6nie de son sexe; l'on trembleralt k moins; a'Ous elites k peine ouvert les Ifivres que je fus rassur6, et en moins de cinq minutes je me sentis auprte de vous comme avec une amie de vingt ans. Je n'aurais fait que vous admirer, raais votre bonte egale vos talents et c'est pour cela que je vous aime. Agreez-en, je vous prie, I'assurance et soyez shve du plaisir que me procurerait I'occasion de pouA'oIr vous etre bon k quelque chose. Mr. Goulburn, meanwhile, under the instructions of his gov ernment, Avas condescending to what had some remote resemblance to diplomacy. On the 23d September he Avrote to Lord Bathurst acknowledging the receipt of tAvo private lettere, and adding: "You may depend upon our governing ourselves entirely by the instructions Avhich they contain, and upon my continuing to represent to the Americans, as I always have done whenever an opportunity has offered, the very strong opmion which prevails in England against an unsatisfactory peace with Araerica. Of tills Mr. Gallatin appeare to be the only American m any degree sensible, and this perhaps arises from his being less like an American than any of his colleagues." ' Evidently Mr. Gallatin Avas doing his utmost to keep the peace, and all he could do was hardly enough. When the American note of September 26 was received, Mr. Goulburn ' "Wellington Sup. Desp.,ix. 278. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 535 Avrote to his government that ho considered it a rejection of their proposition sine qua non, and that to admit the American offer Avould be to abandon the principle on Avhich the whole arguraent had been founded. He accused tlie American commissioners of irritating and unfounded accusations, of falsehood, of misstate ment, and of fraud.' Lord Liverpool, hoAvever, was in a better temper, and, after consultation Avith his colleague, Earl Bathurst, framed an article Avliich, in effect, accepted the ofllsr of Indian amnesty proposed by the American envoys; yet so curiously ungracious was the mode of this concession that the Americans were by no means reassured. Instead of pacifying Mr. Adams, It irritated him. Mr. Gallatin had still to act as peacemaker. " The tone of all the British notes," says Mr. Adams, " is arrogant, overbearing, and offensive. The tone of ours is neither so bold nor so spirited as I think it should be. It is too much on the defensive, and too excessive in the caution to say nothing irri tating. I have seldora been able to prevail upon ray colleagues to insert anything in the style of retort upon the harsh and re proachful raatter Avhicli we receive." The candid reader of these papere raust admit that there is no apparent Avant of tartness in the American notes, and occasionally the retort is perhaps a little too much in the British style ; but in any case the moraent when England had yielded, however ungraciously, was justly thought by all Mr. Adaras's colleagues to be not the raost ajjpropriate occasion for reproach. Even Mr. Clay Avas earnest on this point, and insisted upon drafting the American reply himself, and thus disposing of the Indian question. This done, the next step Avas to call for the projet of a treaty. On the 18th October, Lord Bathurst accordingly sent the sketch for .such a projet to Mr. Goulburn. Its most important point was an offer to treat in regard to boundaries on the basis of uti possidetis, an offer not in itself unfair, but startling in the applica tion Avhich Lord Bathuret gave to It. He proposed to exchange Castine and Machias, Avhicli Avere held by the British, for Forts Erie and Araherstburg, held by the Araerlcans, Avhile Michill- mackinac. Fort Niagara with five miles circuit, and the northern ' Letter to Lord Bathurst, 2Gth September, "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 287. 536 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. angle of Maine Averc to becorae British territory.' The details of this cession Avcre, however, not to be put forward until the American commissioners had admitted the basis of uti possidetis, and accordingly the British commissioners, on the 21st October, sent a note to the Americans offering to treat on this ground, and adding that " they trust that the American plenipotentiaries will shoAA', by their ready acceptance of this basis, that they duly appreciate the moderation of His Majesty's government in so far consulting the honor and fair pretensions of the United States, as, in the relative situation of the two countries, to authorize such a proposition." Three days later, on the 24th October, the Americans sent back a very brief note bluntly refusing to treat on the basis of vii possidetis, or on any other basis than the status quo ante bellum in respect to territory, and calling for the British projet. Of all the notes sent by the American negotiators, this, which they seem to have considered a matter of course and to which they gave not even a second thought, produced the liveliest emotions in the British government. Lord Liverpool, on re ceiving it, Avrote at once to the Duke of Wellington : " The last note of the American plenipotentiaries puts an end, I think, to any hopes Ave might haA'e entertained of our being able to bring the Avar Avitli America at this time to a conclusion. . . . The doctrine of the American government is a very convenient one ; that they Avill ahvays be ready to keep Avhat they acquire, but never to give up Avhat they lose. . . . We still think it de sirable to gain a little more time before the negotiation is brought to a close, and we shall therefore call upon them to deliver in a full projet of all the conditions on which they are ready to make peace before Ave enter into discussion on any of the points con tained in our last note."' Mr. Goulburn assumed that every thing was over, and merely wished to know whether they had best break off on this point or on that of the fisheries, and he showed almost his only trace of common sense by advising government to select the fisheries.' On the British side it ' Castlereagh Correspondence, 3d Series, ii. 168, 172. ' "Wellington tjup. Desp , ix. 384. » Goulburn to Bathurst, 14th November, 1814, ibid., p. 482. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 537 Avas formally, though secretly, announced through the interior official circle, that the American war Avas to go on, and for a tirae the only apparent question Avas hoAV to carry it on most effectively. Unluckily, hoAvever, the more the British government looked at the subject from this point of vIoav the less satisfaction they found in It. Mr. Vansittart, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was very uncomfortable. Lord Liverpool Avas quite as uneasy as Mr. Vansittart. On tlie 28th October, the same day on Avhich he Avrote to the Duke of Wellington, he sent a letter to Lord Castlereagh, at Vienna : " I think It very material that Ave should likewise consider that our Avar Avith Araerica avIU probably now be of some duration. We owe it therefore to ourselves not to make enemies in other quarters, if we can avoid It, for I cannot but feel apprehensive that some of our European allies will not be indisposed to favor the Americans ; and if the Emperor of Russia should be desirous of taking up their cause, avc are well aware, from sorae of Lord Walpole's late coramunlcations, that tliere is a raost poAverful party in Ru,ssia to support him. . . . Looking to a continuance of the American Avar, our financial state is far from satisfactory. Without taking into the account any compensation to foreign powere on the subject of the slave- trade, we shall want a loan for the service of the year of £27,000,000 or £28,000,000. The American Avar Avill not cost us less than £10,000,000 in addition to our peace establishment and other expenses. We must expect, therefore, to hear it said that the property tax is continued for the purpose of securing a better frontier for Canada." ' A Aveek later Lord Liverpool Avrote again to Lord Castlereagh In a still loAver tone : " I see little prospect of our negotiations at Ghent ending in peace The continuance of the American war Avill entail upon us a prodigious expense, much more than we had any Idea of. . . . All our colleagues are coming to town, and we are to have a Cabinet on the speech to-morrow. Many of them have not yet seen the American correspondence; but avc have got the question into that state that the government Is not absolutely comraitted, and « "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 382. 538 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. there Avill be an opportunity therefore of rcvicAvIng in a full Cabinet the Avhole course of our policy as to America." ' This Cabinet council hit upon a brilliant idea to extricate them from their difficulties : the Duke of Wellington should go to America, with full poAvere to make peace or to fight, and in either case to take the entire responsibility on his OAvn shoulders. This scherae was Immediately communicated to the Duke by Lord Liverpool, in a letter dated November 4, the day after the council, and in communicating it the Earl frankly said : " The more Ave contemplate the character of the American Avar the raore satisfied Ave are of the many Inconveniences Avhich may groAV out of the continuation of it. We desire to bring it to an honorable conclusion." The Duke of Wellington had some experience in acting as scape-goat for the blunders of his government; he Avas a man immeasurably superior to his civil chiefs, and even his common sense at times amounted to Avhat In other men was genius. He wrote back, on the 9th November, a letter Avhich Avoiild alone stamp him as the ablest English statesman of his day. He did not refuse to go to America, but he pointed out the mistakes that had been made there, and which must be remedied before he could do any good service ; he then told Lord Liverpool very civilly but very decidedly that he had made a great blunder in requiring territorial concessions : " I confess that I think you have no right, frora the state of the war, to demand any conces sion of territory from America. Considering everything, it is my opinion that the Avar has been a raost successful one, and highly honorable to the British arms; but from particular circumstances, such as the Avant of the naval superiority on the lakes, you have not been able to carry it into the enemy's terri tory, notAvithstanding your military success and noAV undoubted military superiority, and have not even cleared your OAvn terri tory of the enemy on the point of attack. You cannot, then, on any principle of equality in negotiation, claim a cession of terri tory excepting in exchange for other advantages AvhIch you have in your power. I put out of the question the possession taken ' "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 402. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 539 by Sir John Sherbrookc between the Penobscot and Passama quoddy Bay. It is evidently only temporary and till a larger force Avill drive aAA'ay the fcAv companies he has left there ; and an officer might as Avell claim the sovereignty of the ground on Avhich his piquets stand or over Avhich his patrols pass. Then, if this reasoning be true, why stipulate for the uti possidetis f You can get no territory; indeed, the state of your military operations, however creditable, does not entitle you to demand any ; and you only afford the Americans a popular and creditable ground, Avhich, I believe, their government are looking for, not to break off the negotiations, but to avoid to make peace. If you had territory, as I hope you soon avIII have Ncav Orleans, I should prefer to insist upon the cession of that province as a separate article than upon the uti possidetis as a principle of negotiation.'" This Avas plain speaking. The Avhole British scheme of negotiation had, moreover, been fatally shaken by the disastrous failure of Sir George Prevost's attack on Plattsburg. Lord Lh'erpool immediately Avrote back to the Duke that the question was still open and the Cabinet Avas disposed to meet his vIcavs on tlie subject.' A few days later, on the 18th November, he wrote to Lord Castlereagh announcing that government had at last decided to recede : " We have under our consideration at present the last American note of their projet of treaty, and I think we have determined, if all other points can be satisfactorily settled, not to continue the AA'ar for the purpose of obtaining or securing any acquisition of territory. We have been led to this determi nation by the consideration of the unsatisfactory slate of the negotiations at Vienna, and by that of the alarming situation of the interior of France. We have also been obliged to pay serious attention to the state of our finances and to the difficulties we shall have in continuing the property tax. Considering the general depression of rents, which, even under any corn law that is likely to meet with the approbation of Parliament, must be expected to take place under such circurastances. It has appeared ' "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 420. Castloreiigh Corr., 8d Series, il. 186. ' "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 430. 540 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. to US desirable to bring the American war, if po,ssible, to a condiision."' Thus the second round in this diplomatic encounter closed Avith the British governraent fairly discomfited ; Lord Bathurst and Lord Liverpool had succeeded no better than Mr. Goul burn in dealing with the American envoys, and had received a sharp lesson from the Duke of Wellington into the bargain. When the unfortunate Mr. Goulburn received the despatches containing his ncAV instructions, he was deeply depressed. " I need not trouble you," he Avrote on the 25th November to Lord Bathurst, " with the expression of my sincere regret at the alter native Avhich the government feels itself corapelled, by the present state of affaire in Europe, to adopt with respect to Araerica. You know that I Avas never much inclined to give Avay to the Amer icans : I am still less inclined to do so after the statement of our demands Avith which the negotiation opened, and Avliich has in every point of view proved most unfortunate."^ The draught was a bitter one, but he swallowed it. MeanAvhile, the American commissioners, ignorant of all this secret correspondence and consultation, were busy In framing their projet, and in disputing among themselves in regard to the extension they should give to the principle of the status quo ante bellum as applied to other than territorial questions, and especially to the fisheries and the Mississippi. The task of preparing articles on impressment, blockade, and indemnities was assigned to Mr. Adams; but as these articles were at once declared inadmissible by the British, and Avere abandoned in consequence, the whole stress of negotiation fell upon those respecting boundaries and the fisheries, AvhIch Mr. Gallatin undertook to prepare. On this point local jealousies were involved, which not only troubled the harmony of the mission, but left seeds that afterAvards developed into a ferocious controversy between some of its raembers. This was owino- to the fact that the treaty of 1783 had to a certain extent coupled the American right to fish In British Avaters with a British right to navigate the Mississippi. The British now proposed to put » Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 438. » Ibid. 452. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 54]^ an abrupt end to the American fisheries, but seemed disposed to retain the navigation of the Mississippi. To settle the question, Mr. Gallatin drcAv up an article by Avhich the two articles of the treaty of 1783 on these points Avere recognized and confirmed.* To this Mr. Clay energetically objected, and a prolonged dis cussion took place. The question what the fisheries Avere worth was a question of fact, which was susceptible of ansAver, but no human being could say Avhat the navigation of the Mississippi was worth, and for this very reason there could be no agreement. Whatever the right of navigation might amount to In national interest, it was very likely to equal the whole value of Mr. Clay's pereonai popularity ; and Avhatever the fisheries might be worth to New England, their loss was certain to bankrupt IMr. Adams's political fortunes. Mr. Gallatin acted here not raerely the part of a peacemaker, but that of an economist. He took upon him self the burden of saving the fisheries, and not only drafted the article AvhIch offered to renew the treaty stipulations of 1783, and thus set off the fisheries against the Mississippi, but assumed the brunt of the argument against Mr. Clay, Avho would listen to no suggestion of a return in this respect to the old status. On the 6th November the commissioners carae to a vote on Mr. Gallatin's proposed article ; Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell opposed it; IMr. Gallatin^ Mr. Adams, and Mr. Bayard approved it, and It was A-oted that the article should be inserted in the American projet. Mr. Clay declared that he would not put his name to the note, though he should not go so far as to refuse his signature to the treaty. The next day, however, a comproralse was made. Mr. Clay proposed that Mr. Gallatin's article should be laid aside, and that, Instead of a provision expressly inserted in the projet, a paragraph should be inserted in the note which was to accom pany the projet. The idea suggested in this paragraph was that the commissionere were not authorized to bring the fisheries into discussion, because the treaty of 1783 was by its peculiar nature a permanent arrangement, and the LTnited States could not con- • See "Tho Diiplicnto Letters, the Fisheries, and tho Mississippi," p. 126. 542 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. cede Its abrogation. True, the right to the Mississippi Avas thus made permanent, as well as the right to the fisheries, but Mr. Clay conceived that this right could be valid only so far as it was Independent of the acquisition of Louisiana. The reasoning seemed somcAvhat casuistic ; Mr. Gallatin hesi tated; he mudi doubted whether the provisions of 1783 about the fisheries and the Mississippi Avere in their nature perraanent; on this point he believed the British to have the best of the arguraent; but the advantages of unanlraity and of obedience to Instructions outAveighed his doubts. Mr. Clay's compromise Avas accordingly adopted, but at the same tirae Mr. Adams, Avith the strong support of Mr. Gallatin, succeeded in adding the dedaratlon that the commissioners Avere ready to sign a treaty Avhich should apply the principle of the status quo ante bellum to all the subjects of difference. Mr. Clay resisted as long as he could, but at last signed Avith his colleagues, and the projet sent in on November 10 accordingly contained no allusion to the fisheries or the Mississippi. This note and projet of Noveraber 10 found the British com missioners still in a belligerent temper, for the effect of Mr. Van- sittart's remonstrances and of the Duke of Wellington's advice had not yet made itsdf felt. Mr. Goulburn Avrote on the same day to Lord Bathurst that the greater part of the Araerlcan pro jet was by far too extravagant to leave any doubt in his mind and that of his colleagues as to the mode in Avhich it could be combated.' An entire fortnight passed before his government startled hira Avith the announcement that he must again give way, and It Avas only then, on November 25, that the fishery question AA'as seriously taken up on the British side. In Lord Castlereagh's original instructions of July 28,' the British commissioners had been told that the provisions of the treaty of 1783 in respect to the in-shore fisheries on the coast of NeAvfoundland had been productive of so much inconvenience as to determine the government not to renew them in their present form or to concede any accomraodation to the Americans in this ' "Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 427. • Castlereagh Correspondence, 8d Series, ii. 67. 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 543 respect except on the principle of an equivalent In frontier or otherwise. Supplementary instructions, dated August 14,' had also declared that the free navigation of the Mississippi raust be provided for. I^ord Bathurst had uoav to settle his policy on these points, and he secins to have instructed Mr. Goulburn, in lettere dated the 21st and 22d November, that the treaty might be concluded Avitliout noticing the fishery question, since the crown lawyere Avere of the opinion, although he himself thought other wise, that the American rights, unless expressly rencAved, Avould necessarily terminate. These letters of Lord Bathurst, hoAvever, have not been printed, and their tenor can only be inferred frora Mr. Goulburn's reply on the 25th November, from Avhich it appeare that the British Avere almost as much In doubt as the Americans In regard to the fishery rights : " Had avc never men tioned the subject of the fisheries at all," said Mr. Goulburn, "I think that we might have argued the exclusion of the Americans from them on the general principle stated by Sir W. Scott and Sir C. Robinson ; but having once brought forAvard the subject, having tlius implied that we had (what Lord Castlereagh seemed really to have) a doubt of this principle; having received from the American plenipotentiaries a declaration of what they consider to be their right in this particular, and having left that declaration without an ansAver, I entirely concur in your opinion that we do practically admit the Americans to the fisheries as they enjoyed thera before the war, and shall not, Avithout a new war, be able to exclude thera. I ought to add, however, that Dr. Adams and Lord Gambler do not agree in this opinion. You do us but jus tice in supposing that, Avithout positive instructions, Ave shall not admit any article in favor of the American fishery even if any such should be brought forAvard by them ; indeed, Ave did not at all underetand your letter, either public or private, as implying any such concession." The British counter-projet, sent in on NoA'ember 26, contained accordingly no allusion to the fisheries and took no notice of Mr. Clay's paragraph in regard to the treaty of 1783, but, on the other hand, contained a clause stipulating for the free navigation ' Castlereagh Correspondence, 8d Series, ii. 86. 544 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. of the Mississippi. When this counter-projet carae up for dis cussion in the American commission on the 28th November, another hot dispute arose. Mr. Gallatin proposed to accept the British clause in regard to the Mississippi, and to add another clause to continue the liberty of taking, drying, and curing fish, " as secured by the forraer treaty of peace." To this proposition Mr. Clay offered a stout resistance ; he maintained that the fisheries Avere of little or no value, Avhile the Mississippi was of immense iraportance, and he could see no sort of reason in treating them as equivalent. Mr. Adams maintained just the opposite vieA\', and after the dispute had lasted the better part of two days, " Mr. Gallatin brought us all to unison again by a joke. He said he perceived that Mr. Adaras cared nothing at all about the navigation of the Mississippi and thought of nothing but the fisheries. Mr. Clay cared nothing at all about the fisheries and thought of nothing but the Mississippi. The East was perfectly Avilling to sacrifice the West, and the West equally ready to sacri fice the East. Now he was a Western raan, and would give the navigation of the river for the fisheries. Mr. Russell was an Eastern man, and Avas ready to do the same." The proposition Avas accordingly made, and met with a prompt refusal from the British government, which proposed to adopt a ncAV article by Avhich both subjects should be referred to a future negotiation. This offer gave rise among the commissioners to a fresh contest, Avaged hotly about the point Avhether or not the United States should concede that a right fixed by the treaty of 1783 was open to negotiation. Here Mr. Gallatin parted company Avith Mr. Adams. He Avas unwilling to pledge the government to the doctrine that liberties granted by the treaty of 1783 could not be discussed, and he carried all his colleagues with him, Mr. Adaras only excepted, in favor of a qualified acceptance of the British proposition, provided the engagement to negotiate applied to all the subjects of difference not yet adjusted, and provided it involved no abandonment of any right in the fisheries claimed by the United States. Mr. Goulburn had flattered himsdf upon having at length gained a point. On the 10th December he had Avritten to Lord Bathurst: "I confess my own opinion to be tliat the question 1814. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 545 of the fisheries stood as Avell upon the result of the last confer ence as it can do upon any reply Avhich they may make to our proposition of this day. The arguments Avhicli they used at the time Avill certainly be to be learnt only from the ex parte state ments of the negotiators ; but the fact of their having attempted to purchase the fisheries is recorded, and Is an evidence (to say the least of it) that they doubt their right to enjoy thera with out a stipulation. If they receive our proposition, all avIII be well ; but if they reject it, they raay derive from that rejec tion an argument against what we wish to deduce frora the protocol." ' Even the poor consolation AvhIch Mr. Goulburn thus hugged was disappointed, for Mr. Gallatin's note neither accepted nor rejected the British offer to negotiate, but expressed a willingness to agree to do so only Avith the raost eraphatic reservation of all rights clairaed by the United States. Mr. Goulburn Avas obliged to contemplate the abandonment of his last stronghold ; he mildly wrote to Lord Bathuret, suggesting that all stipulations respecting the Mississippi and the fisheries should be omitted.' After Mr. Gallatin had, Avith no little difficulty, succeeded in carrying his point, and after the usual delay consequent on the inevitable reference to London, an ansAver was returned on the 22d December. SomcAvhat to the discomfiture of both Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams, ti.e Eastern and Western belligerents, this reply suddenly drew ti.eir war-chariots from under them. The British government was now more eager for peace than the American comralssioners; it declared that it cared nothing about Its pro posed article by which the fisheries and the Mississippi were to be referred to negotiation, and would withdraw it with pleasure, so that the treaty might be silent on the subject. The practical result was that Mr. Adams's view of the treaty of 1783 inevi tably becarae the doctrine of his governraent, and that Mr. Clay was overset. Mr. Clay saw this, and was nettled by it; but Mr. Gallatin's very delicate management, and the now clearly avowed desire of the British government to make peace, had clinched the settlement ; further discussion or delay was out of > Wellington Sup. Desp., ix. 472. ' Ibid., p. 479. 35 54G LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1814. the question, and three days later, on Christmas-Day, the treaty Avaa signed. Far more than contemporaries ever supposed or than is now imagined, the treaty of Ghent Avas the special work and the pecu liar triumph of Mr. Gallatin. From what a fearful collapse it rescued the government, every reader knows. How bitterly it irritated the war-party In England, and what clamore were raised against it by the powerful interests that were bent on " punish ing" the United States, can be seen in the old leaders of the London Times. What liord Castlereagh at Vienna thought of it may be read In his letter of January 2, 1815, to Lord Liver pool : " The courier from Ghent with the neAvs of the peace ar rived yesterday morning. It has produced the greatest possible sensation here, and will, I have no doubt, enter largely into the calculations of our opponents. It is a most auspicious and sea sonable event. I wish you joy of being released from the mill stone of an American war.'" The peace was due priraarily to the good sense of Lord Castlereagh, Lord Liverpool, and the Duke of Wellington ; but there is fair room to doubt whether that good sense Avould have been kept steady to its purpose, and whether the Araerlcan negotiators could have been held together In theirs, Avithout the controlling influence of Mr. Gallatin's re source, tact, and authority ; whether, indeed, any negotiation at all could have been brought about except through Mr. Gallatin's personal efforts, frora the time he supported the mission in the Cabinet to the time when he took the responsibility of going to England. Sooner or later peace must have come, but there may be fair reason to think that, Avithout Mr. Gallatin, the United States must have fought another campaign, and, Mr. Clay to the contrary notAvithstanding, the position of New England and of the finances made peace vitally necessary. On that subject Mr. Gallatin's knoAvledge of Ncav England and of finance made him a wiser counsellor than Mr. Clay. Yet if Mr. Clay really had thought as he talked, he Avould not have crossed the ocean to assist In doing precisely what Mr. Gallatin's policy dictated ; he Avdl knew that the United States could possibly win in the field • Custloreugh Corr., 8d Series, ii. 528. 1618. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 647 no advantages to compensate for the inevitable mischief that another year of war must have caused to tlie government. Be this as it may, the task done Avas done in the true spirit of Mr. Gallatin's political philosophy and In the fullest sympathy with his old convictions. Stress of circumstances had wrested control from his hands, had blocked his path as Secretary of the Treasury, and had plunged the country headlong Into difficulties it was not yet competent to manage. Gallatin had abandoned place and power, had throAvn himself Avith all his energy upon the only point where he could make his strength effective, and had actually succeeded, by skill and persistence. In guiding the country back to safe and solid ground. He'Avas not a raan to boast of his exploits, and he never clairaed peculiar credit in any of these transaction.?, but as he signed the treaty of Ghent he could fairly say that no one had done raore than himself to serve his country, and no one had acted a more unselfish part. After a furious parting quarrel betAveen Mr. Clay and Mr. Adaras, in which Mr. Gallatin again exercised all his tact to soothe the angry feelings of the tAvo corabatants, while he quietly threw his weight on Mr. Adams's side, the commisslonei's sepa rated, and he found hiraself free to follow his own fancy. As might be expected, his first act Avas to revisit his family and his birthplace ; he took the road to Geneva. Of this visit very little can be said. His lettere to his wife during all the period of this stay in Europe have been lost, and their place cannot be supplied. No man, however, can go through the experience of returning to the associations of his youth, after more than thirty yeare of struggle like his, Avithout sensations such as he would not care to express in words. He left only one allusion to the subject: he said that, as he approached Geneva, calm as his nature was, his calmness deserted him. The citizens" of his native town recdved hiin Avith the most cordial welcome; they were proud of him, and he was greeted with all the distinction he could have expected or wished. He passed a short time in reneAving his relations with the surviving membel^ of his family and with his old friends ; then, departing again for Paris, he arrived there in season to witiiMs the return of Napoleon from Elba, and' to receive the information of his oAVn 548 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1815. appointment as minister to France In place of Mr. Crawford, who had decided to return home. In April he crossed the channel to England. He had not yet determined to accept the French mis sion, and in any case his family and his private affairs made a return to America necessary ; meanAvhile, he and his colleagues lingered, hoping to effect still further negotiation under their poAvers for a commercial treaty. The folloAving letter is a memento of his stay in Paris. ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT TO GALLATIN. Je n'ai pas ete assez heureUx pour vous trouver ce matin, mon illustre ami. J'aurais bien desire cependant vous parler de mon attachement constant et tendre, de mon vif inter6t pour la paix que vous avez eu la gloire de conclure dans des circonstances difficlles. J'aurais aussi voulu vous feliciter sur cette belle et noble defense de la Nouvelle-Orleans qui fera respecter les armees de la Liberte, comme les flottes qui voguent sous A'otre pavilion se sont couvertes de gloire depuis longtemps. Que dans ces temps malheureux mes yeux se fixent avec attendrisscnient sur ces contrees qui seront bient6t le centre de la civilisation huraaine ! Je feral d'autres tentatives pour vous trouver et vous recommander de nouveau Mr. Warden, mon ami et celui de Messrs. BerthoUet, Thenard, Gay Lussac, et de tout ce qui aime les sciences. Je ne puis croire qu'un homme aussi instruit, aussi doux, aussi honnete, aussi at- tadhe aux fitats-Unls, k M. Jefferson et aux doctrines vertueuses puisse etre rejette par votre gouvernement. Je supplie Madame Gallatin d'agr6er I'homraage de mon respectueux devouement. Quel contraste entre cette epoque et celle oil.vous me vltes k Lon dres ennuye des " magnanimous Soverains" et de la croisade des heros ! Humboldt. Qua! Malaquals, No. 3. Jeudi. Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Clay arrived in London early in April and began negotiations with Lord Castlereagh. Mr. Adams, now appointed minister to England, joined his colleagues in the foi- 1815. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 549 lowing month, but Mr. Bayard remained in Paris or on ship board. The President had appointed him minister to Russia, but he Avas not In a condition to accept the post even if he had cared to talce it; broken doAvn by illness, he AA'as destined to reach home only to die. The negotiation Avith Lord Castlereagh Avas carried on almost entirely by Mr. Gallatin, and was the first of a long scries of similar negotiations mainly conducted bj' him during the next fifteen years. So far as England avos concerned, excepting the questions of the fisheries. Impressment, and boundary, the only source of serious difficulty arose in her colonial policy and the complica tions necessarily springing from it. These complications Avere numerous, but became threatening only Avhen England Avas engaged in maritirae Avar ; at other tiraes they Avere merely an noying, mid kept our government incessantly employed in efforts to obtain the relaxation or abandonment of A'exatious commercial restrictions. To obtain this result, hoAA'cver, the United States had left hereelf no inducements to offer. Most of the maritirae powers in Europe had colonies, which they regarded as raere farms of the State ; private property Avith regard to other nations; industrial speculations with Avhicli foreigners had no more to do than with their arsenals and dock-yards ; places Avhere they Avere adraltted only on tolerance, and where they dealt not Avith the colonist, but Avith the imperial government. England especially had created a great system of this kind, and, to protect it, she had enacted a long series of navigation laws Avhose object AA'as to secure all her OAvn colonial trade to. her own ships, and as much of her neighbors' trade as she could gather into her ubiquitous hands. BetAveen European nations there Avas a sort of colonial compact ; they bargained one colonial trade against another, and admitted one another's ships Into their colonial ports provided their oavu ships Avere admitted in return ; but Avhen the United States claimed the same privilege, the European governments, Avitli the spirit and In the language of so many small hucksters, asked Avhat equivalent the United States could offer ; Avhere Avere the Amer ican colonies whose trade could be exchanged for that of the European? Mr. Gallatin pointed out Avlierc the American colo nies lay, a long uninterrupted succession stretching from Lake Erie 550 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1815. jtnd Lake Superior to Mobile and New Orieans,— colonies Avhose growth surpassed that of the most prosperous European settlement as absolutely as the American continent surpassed in size and wealtli the largest and richest island of either Indies. To this there was but one reply. The United States had already thrown the trade of her colonies open to the world ; she could not now bargain for an equivalent. Even retaliation AA'as precluded, for her own constitution would neither permit her to close any of her ports without closing all, nor to lay a duty on exports. The English colonial system Avas the most difficult to deal with, since it Ayas not only the most extensive, the most valu^ able, and the English colonies araong the nearest to the United States, but its complications and inconsistencies were the most elaborate and perplexing, Avhile to the British nation there was no absurdity in the Avhole mass that was not tAvisted deeply about sorae strong moneyed interest and that Avas not sanctified by age and English blood. To the United States there were three groups of questions involved in comraercial relations with the British colonies. The firet group included Canada and the whole trade with the provinces on our northern frontier, and Avas further complicated by our claim to the right of navigating the St. Lawrence. The second group included the British West India islands and their indirect trade with the United States through Nova Scotia. The third group consisted of the East Indies, and involved the trade betAveen Calcutta, Europe, and the United States. These Avere the subjects Avliich Mr. Gallatin attempted to settle by a commercial convention in the summer of 1815, and Avhich detained him, much against his will, in England at a time Avhen he avos extremely anxious to be again at home. Lord Castlereagh was friendly, and did what he could to smooth negotiation. Mr. Goulburn and Dr. Adams were con tinued in the British commission ; but, in place of Lord Gam- bier, the American commissioners had a man to deal with Avhose qualifications and temper were of a very different kind. This was Frederic Robinson, afterwards Lord Goderlch and Earl Ripon, Avho played a distinguished part in reforming the worat faults of the English commercial system. He avos uoav vice- 1815. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 561 president of the Board of Trade, and treated the American ministers Avith courtesy and kindness, although able to do little more. Mr. Gallatin succeeded in disposing of none of the more difficult points in disjiute. Not only did the British gov ernment politely decline to open the questions of impressment, blockade, and the trade Avitli enemies' colonies in time of Avar, but it AvithdreAv the Avholc subject of the West India trade from discussion, and refused to listen to the American proposi tion for regulating the traffic Avitli Canada and opening the river St. LaAvrence. There remained only the East Indies, and a con vention was ultimately signed Avhich secured the Americans for four yeare in the enjoyment of tliis branch of comraerce. In discussing with the Secretary of State the raerits of this cora- mercial couA'cntlon of 1815, Mr. Gallatin afterwards declared that the only portion of it Avhidi appeared to him truly valu able was that which abolished discriminating duties, " a policy which, removing some grounds of Irritation, and preventing in that respect a species of commercial AVarfare, may have a tend ency to lay the foundation of a better understanding between the two nations on other points." ' This result of three months' labor was small enough, but Mr. Gallatin might derive some encouragement from the fact that the British government looked upon Itself as having done a very generous act, since, in the words of its last note, " it considers itself as granting to the United States a privilege in regard to the East Indies for which it is entitled to require an equivalent." The negotiation did not close without its inevitable accom paniment of discord.' Mr. Adaras, who colnmonly recorded all his own sins of temper Avith conscientious self-reproach, seems in this case to have thought Mr. Gallatin at fault, and accuses him of speaking in a peremptory and soraewhat petulant manner against a point of form in Avhich Mr. Adams Avas undoubtedly right. The charge may very possibly be in this instance cor rect. The whole matter AVas trivial, so far as the dispute was concerned, and, like all these diploraatic irritations, had no I GftUttlln to Monroe, 26th November, 1816. "Writings, I. 0C6. • Memoirs of J. Q. Adnms, iii. 242. 552 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1815. lasting effect except to as.socIate in Mr. Gallatin's mind the recol lection of Mr. Adams Avitli ideas of deplorable wrong- headedness. This Avas not necessarily a correct conchision, and Mr. Adams was naturally led to retaliate by thinking Mr. Gallatin tor tuous. In point of fact, Mr. Adams was but one representative of a common Ncav England type, little understood beyond the borders of that province ; a type which, with an indurated exterior, avos slncAA'y and supple to the core. The true Yankee Avrested from man and from nature all he could get by force, but Avheii force Avas exhausted he could be as pliable as his neighbors. In the present case, Mr. Adams attempted an experiment of this kind at the risk of some personal incon venience to Mr. Gallatin. The nearly futile negotiation had detained Gallatin and Clay in England much beyond their intention ; meauAvhlle, Bayard and CraAvford, on June 18, had sailed in the Neptune, leaving their tAvo companions to get home as they best could. It Avas now the 2d of July, and the treaty Avas Avaiting to be signed, Avhen Mr. Adams made in the final draft some changes of forra, Avhich Avere certainly proper as a matter of national dignity, but Avliich threatened to create further delay. This appears for a moment to have disturbed Gallatin's equanimity; but Mr. Adams carried his point, Mr. Robinson made no difficulty, and the disagreement ended by Gallatin saying to Adams : " Well, they got over the transpositions very easily ; but you Avould not have found it so if Dr. Adams had had the reading of your copy instead of Robinson." " I said, that might be," Avas Mr. Adams's final entry. That evening Mr. Gallatin dined for the last tirae during these negotiations with Mr. Alexander Baring, now and ever afterwards his Avarm friend, Avho had done more than any other man in England, or perhaps, Avith one exception, even in Amer ica, to hasten the peace, and Avho had, with the knowledge and consent of his OAvn government, rendered very important finan cial assistance even Avhile the war Avas going on. There had been much social entertainment in London, part of Avhicli is recorded in Mr. Adaras's Diary ; but the only English friend Mr. Gallatin ever raade Avhose society he greatly enjoyed, and ' whose character he deeply respected, Avas Mr. Baring. 18'o- DIPLOMACY. 1810-1829. 553 On July 4, Mr. Gallatin began his homeward journey, and, after the usual delays, he reached America early In September. On the 4th of that month he Avrote from New York to President Madison: " I received the account of my appointment to France Avith pleasure and gratitude, as an evidence of your undiminished frlendsiiip and of public satisfaction for my services. Whether I can or Avill accept, I have not yet determined. The season Avill be far advanced for taking Mrs. Gallatin across the Atlan tic, and I have had no time to ascertain Avhat arrangeraents, if any, I can make for my children and private business during a second absence. The delay has been rather advantageous to the public, as It was best to have no minister at Paris during the late events." GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Cth September, 1815. I was much gratified by the receipt of your kind- letter of March last, brought by Mr. Ticknor. Your usual partiality to me is evinced by the belief that our finances might have been better directed if I had remained in the Treasury. But I ahvays thought that our war expenses Avere so great; perhaps necessarily so in proportion to the ordinary resources of the country ; and the opposition of the moneyed men so inveterate, that it Avas Im possible to avoid falling into a paper system if the war should be much longer protracted. I only regret that specie payments Avere not resuraed on the return of peace. Whatever difficulties may be in the Avay, they cannot be insuperable, provided the subject be imraediately attended to. If delayed, private interest Avill operate here as in England, and lay us under the curse of a depreciated and fluctuating currency. In every other respect I raust acknowledge that the Avar has been useful. The character of America stands now as high as ever on the European Conti nent, and higher than ever it did in Great Britain. I may say that we are favorites everyAvhere except at courts, and even there, although the Emperor of Russia is perhaps the only sovereign who likes us, we are generally respected and considered as the nation designed to check the naval despotism of England. France, which alone can have a navy, avIII, under her present 654 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1815. dynasty, be for some years a vassal of her great rival, and the mlsaion with which I have been honored is iu a political view unimportant. The revolution has not, however, been altogether useless. There is a visible improvement in the agriculture of the country and the situation of the peasantry. The ncAV genera tion belonging to that class, freed from the petty despotism of nobles and priests, and made more easy in their circumstances by the abolition of tithes and by the equalization of taxes, have acquired an independent spirit, and are far superior to their fathers in intellect and information. They are not republicaug, and are still too much dazzled by military glory, but I think that no monarch or ex-nobles can hereafter oppress them long with impunity. The first question that pressed for an answer regarded the mission to France, but behind this a more serious subject pre sented itself; Mr. Gallatin must now decide what provision he could make for his children. This anxiety weighed upon his mind and caused much anxious thought and much hesi tation In his conclusions. Fortunately, he had but the trouble of choice. In the couree of a few months, one by one, the doora of every avenue to distinction or Avealth were throAvn open to him. The mission to France came firet, and this, on the 23d November, he declined, alleging as his reason the private duties which required his attention to the interests of his children. MeauAvhile, on the 23d September, 1815, Richard Bache wrote to him from Philadelphia, as folloAvs : " A number of the con ferees appointed to nominate a Democratic candidate to represent this district In the next Congress having raet together last evening, it was unanimously agreed to nominate you, should you consent to serve. . . . We all anxiously hope that it Avill be consistent with your views to stand as a candidate, and we assure you that we are confident of success." If ambition were his object, this invitation opened to Mr. Gallatin the path to Congress, and a seat in the Senate might reasonably be assumed as standing not far in the distance. Mr. Gallatin's reply was written the next day : " I am more gratified by the mark of confidence given me by the Republican conferees 1815. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 555 of the Philadelphia district than I can express. But I cannot serve them in the station Avith Avhich they Avould honor mc. My property is not half sufficient to support me anywhere but in the Avestern country. To my private business and to making arrangements for entering Into some active business I must necessarily and immediately attend. It is a duty I OAve to my family." A feAV days later, on the 9th October, his friend Mr. John Jacob Astor Avrote him a long letter proposing that he should becorae a partner in Mr. Aster's comraercial house. He had, he said, at that tirae a capital of about $800,000 engaged in trade. He estimated his probable profits at frora $50,000 to $100,000 per annum, interest and all exj)enses deducted. "I propose to give you an interest of one-fifth, on Avhich I mean to charge you the legal interest ; if you put any funds to the stock, interest will be allowed to you of course." On the 4th December, Mr. Monroe Avrote to hira : " To your other letter I have felt a rejiugnance to give a reply. We have been long In the public service together, engaged in support of tlie same great cause, have acted in harraony, and it is distressing to rae to see you AvithdraAV. I Avill Avrite you again on this sub ject soon." He did Avrite again, on the 16th, urging new reasons why Mr. Gallatin should accept the French mission. To this letter Mr. Gallatin made the following reply : GALLATIN TO MONROE. Neav York, 26th December, 1815. Dear Sir, — I have received your friendly lettere of 4th and 16th instant, and have a grateful sense of the motives Avhich dic tated them. I can assure you that I feel a great reluctance to part with my personal and political friends, and that every con sideration merely personal to myself and detached from my family urges a continuance in public life. My habits are formed and cannot be altered. I feel alive to everything connected with the Interest, happiness, and reputation of the United States. What ever affects unfavorably either of them makes me more unhappy than any private loss or Inconvenience. Although I have no- 556 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1816. thing to do with it, tho continued suspension of specie payments, which I consider as a continued unnecessary violation of the public faith, occupies my thoughts more than any other subject. I feel as a passenger in a storm, — vexed that I cannot assist. This I understand to be very generally the feeling of every statesman out of place. Be this as it may, although I did and do believe that for the present at least I could not be of much public utility in France, I did In my private letter to the Presi dent place my declining on the ground of private considerations. In that respect my views are limited to the mere means of exist ence Avithout falling in debt. I do not Avish to accumulate any property. I will not do my family the injury of impairing the little I have. My health is frail ; they may soon lose me, and I will not leave them dependent on the bounty of others. Was I to go to France, and my compensation and private income (this last does not exceed $2500 a year) did not enable me to live as I ought, I must live as I can. I ask your forgiveness for enter ing in those details, but you have treated me as a friend, and I Avrite to you as such. You have from friendship wished that I would reconsider my first decision, and I Avill avail myself of the permission. It will be understood that In the mean while, if the delay is attended with any public inconvenience, a ncAV appoint ment may immediately take place. My motive for Avriting when I did was a fear that, specially Avith respect to other missions, the belief that I would go to France might induce the President to make different arrangements from those he would have adopted on a contrary supposition. On the 27th January, 1816, Mr. Monroe replied by again urging Mr. Gallatin to accept, and pressing for a quick decision. On the 2d February Mr. Gallatin wrote his final acceptance. GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. "Washinqton, 1st April, 1816. . . . After what I had written to you you could hardly have expected that I would have accepted the French mission. It was again offered to rae in so friendly a maimer and from so friendly 1810. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 557 motives that I Avas induced to accept. Nor Avill I conceal that I did not feci yet old enough, or had I philosophy enough, to go into retirement and abstract mysdf altogether from public affairs. I have no expectation, hoAvever, that in the present state of France I can be of any utility there, and hope that I will not make a long stay in that country. . . . Mr. Gallatin, like most men, had the faculty of deceiving himself. In Avriting these lines, he was so Inconsistent as to ignore the fact that he had already refused to return to public life on the ground that he must provide for his faraily. He Avas driven into still greater inconsistencies a few days later. MADISON TO GALLATIN. "Washington, April 12, 1816. Dear Sir, — Mr. Dallas has signified to rae that, it being his In tention not to pass another Avinter in Washington, he has thought it his duty to give me an opportunity of selecting a successor during the present session of Congress; Intimating a willingness, however, to reraain. If desired, in order to put the National Bank in motion. Will It be most agreeable to you to proceed on your mission to France, or are you Avilling again to take charge of a department heretofore conducted by you Avitli so much reputation and useful ness, on the resignation of Mr. Dallas, which avIII, It Is presumed, take effect about the 1st of October ? In the latter case it will be proper that a nomination be forthwith raade for the foreign appointraent. Favor rae with your determination as soon as you can raake it convenient, accepting in the mean time my affectionate respects. There could be no possible doubt that in this case ambition and public, duty went hand in hand. If Mr. Gallatin still felt a passion for poAver, or still thought himself able to do good, this was his opportunity. His Avarm friend Joseph H. Nichol son wrote at once witli all his old impetuosity to urge his acceptance. 558 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1816. JOSEPH II. NICHOLSON TO GALLATIN. 13th April, 1816. My DEAR Sir, — I have this moment learned that Dallas is certainly going out. For God's sake come into the Treasury again. I think you must be satisfied that you can if you Avill ; and I ara satisfied, and so is all the world, that you can be in finitely raore useful there than In France, Avhere you have nothing to gain and may lose. I think you will be looked to for the Treasury by all parties except Duane's. GALLATIN TO MADISON. New York, April 18, 1816. Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 12th reached me only the day before yesterday, and, not willing to raake a hasty decision, I have delayed an ansAver till to-day. I feel very grateful for your kind offer, which I knoAV to have been equally OAving to your friendship for me and to your vIcavs of public utility. I decline it with some reluctance, because I think I Avould be more useful at horae than abroad, and I had much rather be in America than in Europe. The reasons Avhich induce me nevertheless to decline, under existing circumstances, preponderate. With these I do not mean to trouble you, and Avill only mention that, although competent as I think to the higher duties of office, there is for what I conceive a proper manageraent of the Treasury a neces sity for a mass of mechanical labor connected AvIth details, forms, calculations, &c., which, having now lost sight of the thread and routine, I cannot think of again learning and going through. I know that In that respect there is iioav much confusion due to the changes of office and the state of the currency, and I believe that an active young man can alone reinstate and direct properly that department. I may add that I have raade a number of arrangements founded on the expectation of the French mi&siony of a short residence there, and of a last visit to ray Geneva rela tions, which could not be undone Avithout causing inconvenience to me and disappointment to others. Accept my grateful thanks ISlff. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 660 and the assurance of my constant and sincere attachment and respect. Your obedient servant. This letter shows rather a wish to find excuses than a faith in the weight of those alleged. There Avas clearly no weight in thera such as could justify Mr. Gallatin's refusal; had he accepted the Treasury he Avould probably have held It twelve yeare, unless he had hiraself chosen to retire, for although he appeare rather to have favored the candidacy of Mr. Tompkins, of New York, than of Mr. Monroe, for the succession to Presi dent Madison, this probably Indicated merely his unwillingness to exhaust public patience Avith indefinite Virginia supremacy, and did not imply hostility to Monroe, Avho Avould doubtless have retained him in the Cabinet, and to Avhom he Avould have been far more acceptable tlian the actual Secretary, Williara H. Craw ford. Gallatin, too, would have made a much better Secretary than CraAvford, and Mr. Monroe AA'Ould have been spared most of the political intrigue in his Cabinet that caused him such In^ cessant vexation ; the national finances would have been better managed, and Mr. Gallatin would have enjoyed the triumph of restoring specie payments, practically extinguishing the national debt, and possibly carrying out his schemes for internal Improve ment. On the other hand, one evident fact sufficiently explains why he was unwilling to resurae his old post. The signature of the treaty of Ghent, on the 25th Deceraber, 1814, had closed one great epoch in his life, and, looking back from that stand point upon the CA'ents of his political career, he could not avoid some very unpleasant conclusions. Riper, Aviser, and infinitely raore experienced than in 1800, Gallatin had still lost qualities which, to a politician, Avere raore important than either experi ence, wisdom, or maturity. He had outgroAvn the convictions which had made his strength ; he had not, Indeed, lost confidence in himself, for, throughout all his trials and disappointments, the tone of his mind had remained as pure as Avhen he began life, and he had never forfeited his self-respect; but he had lost something which, to his political success, was even more ucccs- 560 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1816. sary ; that sublime confidence in human nature Avhich had given to Mr. Jeffiirson and his party their single irresistible claim to popular devotion. His statesmanship had become, Avhat practical statesmanship ahvays has and must become, a mere struggle to deal Avith concrete facts at the cost of philosophic and a priori principles. Gallatin, like IMadison and Monroe, like Clay and Calhoun, had outgroAvn the Jeffereonian dogmas. There Avas no longer any great unrealized conviction on AvhIch to build enthu siasm ; and even on those questions Avhich Avere likely to arise, Mr. Gallatin Avas rather in sympathy with his old opponents than with his old friends or his old self. The following letter could hardly have been Avritten in 1801 by Mr. Gallatin or received by Matthew Lyon. GALLATIN TO MATTIIEAV LYON. Neav Yoek, May 7, 1816. . . . The Avar has been productive of evil and good, but I think the good preponderates. Independent of the lo.ss of lives and of the losses in property by individuals, the Avar has laid the foundation of permanent taxes and military establishments AvhIch the Republicans had deemed unfavorable to the happiness and free institutions of the country. But under our former system we Avere becoming too selfish, too much attached exclusively to the acquisition of Avealth, above all, too much confined in our political feelings to local and State objects. The Avar has re- ncAA'cd and reinstated the national feelings and character Avhich the Revolution had given, and Avhlcli Avere daily lessened. The people have noAV more general objects of attachment Avith which their pride and political opinions are connected. They are more Americans ; they feel and act more as a nation, and I hope that the permanency of the Union is thereby better .secured. ... I have lost three old friends : Mr. Savary, Thomas Clare, and Mr. Smilie. He had come into office in 1801, Avith poAver more complete than he could ever hope to enjoy again ; his aims and his methods had been pure, unselfish, and noble ; yet he had been the sport 1816. piPLOJIACY. 1818-1829. (jQl of faction and the victim of bitter personal hatred. He had no fancy for repeating the experience. Moreover, there Avas no longer any essential disagreement among the people in regard to political dogmas. Federalists and Republicans had fused their tlieories into a curious compound, of which this letter to MatthcAv Lyon gives an Idea, and upon the ground thus formed all parties Avere now glad to unite, at least for a time. There remained no sufficient force, perhaps no sufficient prejudice, to overbalance the natural tendency of Mr. Gallatin's raind towards science and repose. The seven yeare he passed in Paris were the raost agreeable years of his life. Far the best diplomatist in the service, he was indispensable to his governraent, and Avas incessantly employed In all its raost difficult negotiations, so far as they could be brought within his reach. Conscious of his peculiar fitness for diplomacy, Aveary of domestic intrigue, and indifferent to the possession of poAver, he dismissed his early ambitions and polit ical projects not only without regret, but Avith positive relief. GALLATIN TO MADISON. NiAV York, 7th June, 1816. ... I am urging the captain of the Peacock, and still hope that he will be ready to sail the day after to-morroAv. I almost envy you the happy time which you will spend this sumraer in Orange, and which will not, I hope, be disturbed by any untoAA'ard change in our affairs. I think that, upon the Avhole, we have nothing to apprehend at this time from any foreign quarter. You already knoAV how thoroughly impressed I ara with the necessity of restoring specie payraents. This subject Avill not disturb you in the country, but the present state of the currency is the only evil of any magnitude entjiiled by the Avar, and Avhich it seeras incumbent on us (pardon the expression) to cure radi cally. Public credit, private convenience, the sanctity of con tracts, the moral character of the country, appear all to be involved in that question, and I feel the most perfect conviction that nothing but the will of government Is Avanted to reinstate us in that respect. The choice of the Secretary of the Treasury 36 562 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1816. is, under those circumstances, important, and I am sorry that Mr. CraAvford, as I am informed, has declined the appointment. I Avish it may fall on Mr. LoAvndes or on Mr. Calhoun. Our Maryland and Pennsylvania politicians, without excepting some of the mast virtuous and Avhom I count amongst my best friends, are paper-tainted. The disease extends, though raore particularly to this State. I beg you to forgive this digression on a subject Avhich I had no Intention to touch Avlien I began this letter. On the 9th July, Mr. Gallatin, noAV accorapauied by all his family, arrived in Paris. There he remained until June, 1823. During these seven years his connection with American politics Avas almost absolutely severed. His only political correspondent Avas Mr. CraAvford, Secretary of the Treasury, who Avrote him long and confidential letters, little calculated to excite in Mr. Gallatin the slightest desire to share in the political game. In deed, politics had noAV become so exclusively a game in the United States, all vestige of party principles and all trace of deep convictions had so entirely vanished, that a statesman of the old school had no longer a place In public life. Petty fac tions grouped themselves about Crawford, Clay, Adams, Calhouuj De Witt Clinton, and General Jackson, and political action was regulated by antipathies rather than by public interest. If any one of these leaders seemed to be gaining an advantage, the fol- loAvers of all the othere combined to pull him down. Mr. Craw ford's correspondence dealt largely in matters of this sort, and Mr. Gallatin Avas familiar enough Avith the style of intrigue to feel himself happy in escaping It. If there Avas little to regret at Washington, there Avas ranch to enjoy in Paris. There Mr. Gallatin's position Avas peculiarly enviable. The United States, though a republic, Avas, in the royalist jargon of the French Court, a "legitimate" government. Its minister hdd a position which in Itself Avas neither good nor bad, but which was capable of becoming the one or the other, according to the character of the man. In Gallatin's hands it was excellent. Not only Avas Mr. Gallatin a man of refinement in manners, tastes, and expression, a man of dignified ISlb'. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 5^3 and pereuaslve address, such as suited the highly exacting society of Paris under Louis XVIII. ; he had a passport much more effective than this to the heart of French society. By family he was one of themselves. In Geneva, Indeed, Avhere republican institutions prevailed, there were no titles and no privileges attached to the name of Gallatin ; but in France the family had been received as noble centuries since, and Mr. Gallatin had presumedly the right to appear before Louis XVIII. as the Comte de Gallatin, had he chosen to do so. His distant cousin, then minister of the King of Wiirtemberg at Paris, was, in fact, knoAvn as Comte de Gallatin, a royalist and conservative of the purest breed, but closely intimate With and attached to his democratic relative. This accident of noblesse was a matter of peculiar and exceptional iraportance at this Court, Avhich was itself an accident and an anomaly, a curious fragment of the eighteenth century, floating, a mere Avreck, on the turbulent ocean of French democracy. As one of an ancient family whom the Kings of France had from time immeraorlal recognized as noble, Mr. Gallatin was kindly received at Court; he Was somc Avhat a favorite with the King and the royal family, and it is said that on one occasion Louis, in compliraenting hira upon his French, maliciously added, "but I think my English is better than youre ;" a remark which must have called up in the minds of both a curious instantaneous retrospect and comparison of the circumstances under which they had learned that lan guage, — a retrospect less agreeable to the King, one might sup pose, than to Mr. Gallatin. There was another aristocratic tie between the minister and Parisian society. As already shown, Mme. de Stael had established relations with Mr. Gallatin on his firet visit to Paris before the negotiations at Ghent. She had been very useful in bringing the Emperor Alexander in contact with American Influences. She was herself by birth and residence a Genevan, and a distant relative of the Gallatins. Her daughter was married to the Duke de Broglie In Feb ruary, 1816, and as a consequence Mr. Gallatin found a new intimacy ready to his hand. American readers of the Memoire- of George Ticknor Avill remember how much tlie Spanish histo rian OAved to that intimacy Avith the Broglics, Avhich he obtained 564 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1817. through Mr. Gallatin's introtluctlon, aniong othere, to Mme. do Stael. But the charm of Parisian society in Mr. Gallatin's eyes did notoonskt in his aristocratic affiliations. These indeed smoothed his path and relieved him from that sense of aAvkAvard strange ness Avhich Avas the lot of most American diplomates In European society; but his sympathies lay AA'ith another class of men. " There is Talleyrand," said he to Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, when introducing him at court ; " he is a humbug, unworthy of his reputation, but the world thinks otherwise, and you roust not speak of my opinion." The apostles of legitimacy and the oracles of the Faubourg St. Germain AA'ere never favorites with him, and his old republican principles Avere rather revived than weakened by this contact Avith the essence of all he had raost disliked in his younger and more ardent days. His real sympathies lay Avith the men of science ; Avith Humboldt, Avith La Place, or with pure diplomatists like Pozzo di Borgo, the brilliant Russian ambassador at Paris, AvIth whom his relations were close and confidential; or, finally, with French liberals like La Fayette, between whom and all Americans the kindest exchange of friendly civilities Avas incessant. Insufficient as the salary of American minister AA'as, Mr. Gallatin had a handsome establishment and entertained as freely as his position required. The company he selected as a matter of pereonai choice may be partly inferred from a dinner at which Mr. Ogle Tayloe was present in 1819 ; La Fayette, the Duke de Broglie, his brother- in-law, De Stael, Lord and Lady Ashburton (Alexander Baring), and Baron Humboldt. "Humboldt talked nearly all the time in good English." French sodety Avas, however, in a very dis-, turbed condition, and Mr. Gallatin did not always find it easy to avoid embarrassments. One example of such difficulties occurred in the case of La Place, who Avas someAvhat sensitive in regard to his relations with the reigning family, and Avho, on finding hira self about to be seated at Mr. Gallatin's table in corapany with so obnoxious a Republican as La Fayette, Avas seized with a sudden illness and obliged to return home. Sodal amusements, hoAvever, Mr. Gallatin regarded very much as he did good wine or good cooking,— things desirable In them- 1817. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 566 selves, but ending with the raomentary gratification. He made no record of this evanescent intellectual flavor. He Avrote almost nothing except his official letters. During no period of his life are his memoranda and his correspondence so meagre and unin teresting as noAV. He had little to occupy hiin so far as official Avork Avas concerned, except at intervals Avhen sorae emergency arose, and at firet he chafed at this AA'ant of interest. He Avas indeed ahvays possessed with the idea that he Avould rather be at horae, and he aA'erred every year Avitli great regularity that he expected to return in the following summer. This Is, hoAvever, a very common if not universal rule among American dij)lo- raatists of the active type. In reality, Mr. Gallatin never Avas so happy and never so thoroughly in his proper social sphere as Avhen he lived in Paris and talked of Indian antiquities with Humboldt, of bl-metalllc currency Avith Baring, and of Spanish diplomacy Avitli Pozzo di Borgo. Even his lettere to Jeffereon sIioav his self-reproachful idle ness: GALLATIN TO JEFFERSON. Paris, 17th July, 1817. Dear Sir, — . . . The groAving prosperity of the United States Is an object of admiration for all the friends of liberty. in Europe, a reproach on almost all the European governments. At no period has America stood on higher ground abroad than now, and every one who represents her may feel a just pride in the contrast between her situation and that of all other countries, and in the feeling of her perfect independence from all foreign powere. This last sentiment acquires new force here in seeing the situation of France, under the guardianship of the four great potentates. That this state of things should cense is In every respect highly desirable. Although not imraediately affected by it, we cannot but wish to see the ancient natural check of Eng land resurae its place in the systera of the civilized world ; and it can hardly be borne In the present state of knowledge, that Austria or Russia should In the great srale stand before France. Indeed, it is only physical power that now prevails, and as I had most sincerely wished that France, Avlien oppressing others, should 666 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1817. be driven back within her own bounds, I may be allowed to sigh for her emancipation from foreign yoke. I cannot view tho ar rangements made at Vienna as calculated to ensure even tran quillity. There is now a kind of torpid breathing-spell ; but the fire Is not extinct. The political institutions do not either here, in Italy, or even in Germany, harmonize with the state of knowl edge, AA'ith the feelings and wishes of the people. What must be the consequence ? New conflicts Avhenever opportunity will offer, and bloody revolutions effected or attempted, instead of that happy, peaceable, and gradual Improvement Avhich philan thropists had anticipated, and Avhich seems to be exclusively the portion of our happy country. We have lately lost Mme. de Stael, and she Is a public loss. Her mind improved with her yeare without any diminution of her fine and brilliant genius. She was a poAver by herself, and had more Influence on public opinion, and even on the acts of government, than any other person not In the ministry. I may add that she Avas one of your most sincere admirers. I thiret for America, and I hope that the time is not distant when I may again see her shores and enjoy the blessings which are found only there. There I also hope of once more meeting with you. Nevertheless, Mr. Gallatin Avas far from idle during these seven yeare. The wars ui Europe had left a long train of diplomatic disputes behind them. Commercial treaties were necessary for the protection of American commerce. The old difficulties with England were still unsettled, and were pressing for settlement. Spain was ahvays on the verge of war with the United States, both in respect to her undecided Florida boundary and the status of her revolted American colonies. Mr. Gallatin was at the head of the diplomatic service, highly valued both by Mr. Monroe, by Mr. Adams, who, in 1817, succeeded Mr. Monroe as Secretary of State, and by Mr. CraAvford, who, as Secretary of the Treasury, had much to say in regard to questions of fordgn commerce. Perhaps there was more unanimity among these three gentlemen, in their opinions of Mr. Gallatin, than there was on any other political subject. In fact, since the time 1817. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 667 of Dr. Franklin, the United States had never .sent a minister abroad Avith qualifications equal to hia, and it Avill never be pos sible to find a minister to France Avho approaches more nearly tlie highest ideal ; accordingly, the governraent mainly depended upon him for its Avork, and economized his services by employing hira freely In all its fordgn relations. The Immeillate object of sending a ralnlster to France was to press for a settleraent of Araerlcan claims. These claims ran back ten yeare or raore, to the tirae of the Berlin and Milan de crees, Avhen large nurabere of Araerlcan ships Avitli their cargoes Avere seized and confiscated, or destroyed at sea, by order of the Emperor Napoleon, in violation of every principle of decency, equity, and law. To exact a settleraent of these claims Avas one of the points on AVhicli our country was most determined ; to elude a settleraent Avas a matter of equal deterrainatlon with the governraent of Louis XVIII. No one, least of all the French rainistries of the restoration, denied the indignity and the outrage of the robberies coramitted by Napoleon, nor did they quite venture to assert that Louis Avas not responsible for the acts of his predecessor; Indeed, in Mr. Gallatin's first intervieAv Avith the Duke de Richelieu, that minister frankly admitted the justice of the demand, and only asked some con sideration for the helpless condition of France, Aveighed to the ground by indemnities exacted from her by the great European powere. But this Avas only a temporary Aveakness ; Mr. Gallatin very soon found that there Avas little hope of obtaining any formal recognition, much less any settlement, of his claims, and he saAV Avith some Irritation and some amusement a host of difficulties, side-issues, petty complaints, and assumed quarrels, started by one French minister after another to distract his atten tion and check his pressure, until year after year elapsed with out his gaining a single step, and at last the minister In 1823, M. de Chateaubriand, ceased to pay his notes any attention at all, and contented himself with replying that they did not alter his view of the subject. This exhausted Mr. Gallatin's patience, and he roundly told M. de Chateaubriand that if France meant to remain friends with America, her conduct must be dianged. Simple as the case was, Mr. Gallatin gained nothing in seven 568 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIX. 1818. years of patient effort ; his elaborate and admirable notes were utterly throAvn away ; and he left the Avhole question at last, to all appearance, precisely where he found it. During the first year of his residence abroad, this subject of the French claims Avas the only one which occupied his attention, and Avhen it became clear that the French government Avould do nothing about these, he complained that he was absolutely with out occupation. In July, 1817, he Avas sent to the Hague to assist Dr. Eustis, then minister there. In negotiating a commercial treaty Avith the Netherlands. This negotiation occupied two months and Avas also a failure. The Dutch insisted even more pertinaciously than the English on what Mr. Gallatin called the "preposterous ground" of colonial equivalents. It Avas found impossible even to stipulate for the mutual abandonment of discriminating duties, a stipulation Avhich Mr. Gallatin regarded as the most valuable part of his convention Avitli England in 1815. The Dutch Insisted that a repeal of discriminating duties must not be limited merely to Importations of the produce and manufactures of the tAvo countries, and argued Avitli great force that the geographical position of Holland and Belgium made it impossible to distinguish between their OAvn produce and that brought down the Rhine or from across their border. To this Mr. Gallatin could only reply that his government could not offer more than fair reciprocity, and that the abolition of dis criminating duties such as the Dutch claimed, Avould be Avholly to the disadvantage of the American merchant and equally so to that of the American government In its negotiations with other poAvers. Yet, if the Dutch would have conceded the first point of admitting American vessels on favorable terms to their East India colonies, some compromise might have been effected In regard to the discriminating duties ; in the inability to effect any transaction of this sort, the negotiation was in a friendly Avay adjourned. In the folloAving year Mr. Gallatin was employed on a more serious mission. The commercial convention of July 3, 1815 Avhich he had negotiated In London after the Treaty of Ghent would expire by limitation in July, 1819, and a timely agree ment with the British government in regard to its renewal Avas 1818 DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 569 very desirable. The opportunity was taken by the President to reopen negotiations on the whole range of disputed points left unsettled by the Treaty of Ghent, or arising under that treaty. As for impressment, indeed. Lord Ciistlereagh had very recently again declined the American proposals for a settlement, and the subject Avas therefore not pressed; but the fisheries, the com mercial intercourse Avith Canada and the West Indies, and the boundary from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains, Avere all added to the negotiation; Indemnity for slaves carried aAvay under the Treaty of Ghent Avas to be urged ; and the serious character of the dispute over the North-West boundary Avas just beginning to make itself evident in connection Avitli Mr. Aster's trading settlement on the Columbia River. Mr. Richard Rush was then the American minister in Eng land ; he had been called Into public life by Gallatin, Avho made him Comptroller of the Treasury and presumably urged him for the place of Attorney-General, to Avhich post he had been appointed on the retirement of William Pinkney in 1811. With him Mr. Gallatin was on most friendly terms, and Mr. Rush welcomed AvIth great pleasure, what Is ahvays a somcAvhat deli cate act, the Intrusion of a third person iu his relations Avith the governraent to which he Avas accredited. Mr. Gallatin Avas ordered to England, where he arrived August 16, 1818, and Avas occupied till the end of October, his "necessary and reasonable expenses" being, as usual, his only remuneration. The negotiation with England of 1818 avos not very much more fruitful in result than that of 1815 ; nevertheless the two countries had made some progress. On the one hand, Lord Castlereagh Avas still far in advance of public sentiment and had done something towards breaking down the insular arrogance of the colonial and navigation system; on the other hand, the United States government had plucked up courage to hasten the rapidity of British movements by retaliatory legislation of its own. Early in 1817 Congress passed two acts, by one of Avliich British ves sels were prohibited from importing into the United States any articles other than those Avliidi Averc produced or manufactured within tho British doniinions; by the other a tonnage duty of two dollars a ton was levied ou all foreign vc^sds entering the 570 LIFE op ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. United States from any foreign port with which vessels of the United States Avcro not ordinarily permitted to trade. A year later, shortly before Mr. Gallatin was sent to England, Congress had gone one step further, and had absolutely closed the ports of the United States against every British vessel coming from ports ordinarily closed against vessels of the United States. This was the condition of affairs with Avhich Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Rush had to deal. As In 1815, the British govern ment Avas represented by Mr. Frederic Robinson, now president of the Board of Trade, assisted by Mr. Goulburn. The Amer ican commissioners offered five articles, covering the fisheries, the boundary, the West India trade, that with Nova Scotia and Ncav BrunsAvIck, and the captured slaves. The English plenipoten tiaries offered a scheme for regulating Impressment. Finally, the Americans proposed a series of rules in regard to contraband and maritime points. The result of repeated conferences was to throw out the articles on maritirae rights and irapressment, and to refer the West India article to the President. A convention limited to ten years Avas then signed covering the fisheries, the boundary between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains, the joint use of the Columbia River, the slave indemnity, and finally the renewal of the commercial couA'cntlon of 1815. On the whole, there was certainly a considerable improvement in the relations of the tAVO countries; even in the matter of impressraents. Lord Cas tlereagh was ready to concede very nearly all that Avas required ; the navigation of the Mississippi Avas definitively set at rest; even in regard to the West India trade, Mr. Robinson made very liberal concessions, and accepted in full the principle that this trade should be thrown open on principles of perfect reci procity. That the British should have got so far as to admit that they Avere ready to open this trade at all on principles of reciprocity was no small step, but Avhen Mr. Gallatin undertook to put upon paper his ideas of perfect reciprocity, it was found that agreement was still out of the question. He required that the vessds and their cargoes should on either side be subject to no charges to AvhIch both parties should not be equally liable. while the British insisted upon reserving the right to irapose 1818. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 57I discriminating duties In favor of the trade of Nova Scotia and Ncav BrunsAvIck. Mr. Robinson did not, however, attempt to defend the dogmas of the British colonial and navigation laws ; he only urged the impossibility of breaking them doAvn at once. To the Araerlcan argument of reciprocity he opposed the power ful Interests he was obliged to humor, — the fish and the lumber of Nova Scotia and Ncav BrunsAvick ; the salted provisions and tlie flour of Ireland ; the shipping of England ; and the influ ence of tlie West India planters avIio sat in Parliament or moved in the business circles of the city. There could be little doubt that the ucav retaliatory legisla tion of tlie United States Avould sooner or later bring the tAvo 1 countries into collision on this old subject of controversy; for the United States government was by no means inclined to look back Avith pleasure or Avith pride upon the humiliations which it had endured, ever since the peace of 1783, on this point of the colonial trade. Perhaps it had now a tendency to assert its rights and its dignity in a tone somcAvhat too abrupt, and even unnecessarily irritating to European ears. The new-born sense of nationality with which, since the peace of Ghent, every American citizen was swelling would tolerate from the national governraent nothing short of the fullest assertion of the national pride; and political parties no longer, as In the days of Mr. Jeffereon, shrank frora supporting their rights by force. Mr. Gallatin had done Avhat he could to prevent mischief, and it remained to be seen whether his efforts were to be successful. His despatches dwelt repeatedly on the intimation of Mr. Rob inson that Great Britain was certain to recede if she Avere allowed time to prepare, and that unlimited intercourse with the colonies would be the sure result of such a partial intercourse as he offered. On the other hand, however, the United States Avere still better aware that English diplomacy Avas inclined to respect very little except strength. While the colonial dispute was thus left open, another serious question was only partially closed. On the subject of the fish eries, Mr. Gallatin effected a compromise not altogether satis factory even to himself; he obtained an express recognition of the permanent right, but he Avas obliged to concede essential 672 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1818. llraltatlons of the practice. Perhaps, indeed, this question is one of those which admits of no complete settlement; as Mr. Gallatin Avrote on November 6 to Mr. Adams : " The right of taking and drying fish in harbors AvIthIn the exclusive juris diction of Great Britain, particularly on coasts noAV inhabited, was extremely obnoxious to her, and Avas considered as what the French civilians call a servitude. ... I am satisfied that Ave could have obtained additional fishing-ground in exchange of the words ' for ever.' . . . Yet I avIU not conc^ that this subject caused me more anxiety than any other branch of the negotiations, and that, after having participated in the Treaty ^^ Ghent, it was a raatter of regret to be obliged to sign an agree ment which left the United States in any respect in a Avoree situation than before the Avar. . . , But ... If a compromise Avas to take place, the present time and the terms proposed appeared more eligible than the chance of future contingen cies. . . . Witli much reluctance I yielded to those considera tions, rendered more poAverful by our critical situation with Spain, and used my best endeavors to raake the comproralse on the most advantageous terms that could be obtained."' On his return to Paris in October, 1818, an entirely different class of objects forced themselves on Mr. Gallatin's attention. This Avas the period Avhen Spain's American colonies Avere in revolt, and it Avas of the highest importance to the United States that Europe should intervene In no way in the quarrel. Mr. Gallatin's business was to obtain early inforraation of Avhatever concerned this subject, and to prepare the European powers for the recognition by the United States of the South American republies. The Congress of Alx-la-Chapelle Avas then sitting, and its proceedings were an object of intense curiosity through out the Avorid. So far as the policy of the United States was concerned, the result of this congress Avas very favorable ; for Spain, finding hereelf abandoned by Europe, AA'as driven into a treaty for the sale of Florida. This treaty was made, but its ratification was refused by the Spanish government on various pretexts, until a new revolution in Spain brought about a change ' "Writings, ii. 83, 84. 1819. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 573 of policy. In all these transactions Mr. Gallatin Avas deeply Interested, and his advices to the home government furnished much of its best information. Meanwhile, his powers to negotiate a commercial convention with France had lain nearly dormant, until in 1819 they Avere called out by a complication avIiIcIi soon brought the two countries to the verge of a comraercial Avar. The French commercial sys tem had never been a very enlightened one, but so long as her shipping remained in the state of nullity in which the long wars left it, American comraerce had hardly perceived the fact that American ships were loaded with extra charges and discrimi nating duties such as made quite impossible all effective competi tion with the vessels of France. When at last the French com mercial marine revived, complaints of the excessive burden of these discriminating duties and charges began to pour in from American consuls and merchants. The question was one of time only, when all coraraerce betAveen the United States and France would be carried on exclusively in French ships. Well aware that the French government was entirely controlled in its commercial policy by the spirit of monopoly and narrow interests, Mr. Gallatin, while remonstrating to the rainister of foreign affairs, warned the President that raere reraonstrance would have no effect and that stronger raeasures raust be used. He Avoiild have preferred an araendraent to the Constitution authorizing Congress to lay an export duty on American produce Avhen ex ported in foreign vessels ; but, rather than wait for so distant and uncertain a remedy, he recommended that Congress should at once impose a countervailing tonnage duty of $12.50 per ton on French ships. This despatch was written on the 25th October, 1819. The rest of the story may be found recorded in Mr. Adams's Diary : "May 15, 18*20. — . . . Mr. Hyde de Neuville, the French minister, was there [at the Capitol] much fretted at the passage of a bill for levying a tonnage duty of $18 a ton upon French vessels, to comraence the 1st July next. It Is merely a'counter- vailinf duty to balance discriminating duties in France upon the same articles as imported In French or American vessds. It passes on the earnest recotumcndation of Mr. Gallatin after a 674 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1820. neglect of three years by the French governraent of our repeated proposals to negotiate a coniiuercsial treaty, and after full warn ing given by Mr. Gallatin that, if they did not come to some arrangement with us, countervailing raeasures would be taken at the present session of Congress. The bill has been before Con gress half the session, and De Neuville had never raentioned it to me. He probably had flattered hiraself that it Avould not pass. Now, after it had passed both Houses, he Avas in great agitation about It, and entreated rae to ask the President to object to its passage, at least to postjione its commencement till the Ist of October. He said the 1st of July Avas only six weeks off, and would not even give the French merchants notice of what Avas awaiting them. ... I told him it \A'as now too late to make the araendraent. I mentioned, however, his request to the Presi dent, Avho said it could not be complied with." "September 5, 1820. — I received a despatch of 14th July from A. Gallatin, after Mr. Hyde de Neuville had arrived in Paris. Gallatin encloses a copy of a very able note that he had sent to Baron Pasquier, the French Minister of Foreign Affaire, concerning the tonnage duty upon French vessels coming into the ports of the United States, laid at the last session of Congress, but he coraplains that the measures of Congress, which he had recoramended, Avere not adopted, but others more irritating to France, and also that his letters were published. The laAV of Congress was certainly a blister, and his letters were not oil to soften its application. The commencement of the law was fixed too soon, and the duty was too high. But France had been so sluggish and so deaf to friendly representations that it was necesT sary to awaken her by acts of another tone." Certainly government was much to blame In this matter. Mr. Gallatin sent ov6r a careful outline of the bill he wished to pass, fixing the duty at $12.50 and arranging the details so as to facilitate negotiation. Government proceeded to enact an unjust and extravagant bill, and then threw the responsibility on Mr. Gallatin. This is the special annoyance to which diplo matic agents are most frequently subjected. Mr. Gallatin re monstrated to his governraent and raaintained his position stoutly against the French rainister, who, after at once doubling the 1821. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 575 French discriminating duties, at hi.st transferred the negotiation to Washington, where Mr, Adams Avas obliged to take it up. "February 24, 1821. — I willed at the President's AvIth a note received of yesterday's date from the French minister, Hyde de NeuA'ille. I sent him tAvo or three days since the copy of a full power, raade out by the President's direction, authorizing me to treat Avith him upon commercial arrangements. The note of yesterday was introductory to the negotiation. Its principal ob ject was to ask an ansAver to a long letter which De Neuville had written to rae the 16th of June, 1818, upon a claim raised by the French government upon the 8tli article of the Louisiana cession treaty. I had already ansAvercd one long note of his upon the sub ject, and had left his reply unanswered only to avoid altercation upon a claim which had no substance and upon Avhich ray ansAver to his firet letter was of itself a sufficient answer to his reply. But Avhen after tlie Act of Congress of 15th May last, and the retaliatory ordinances of the King of France of 26tli July, the French government had been dragged into this negotiation, find ing themselves unanswerably pressed by notes of great ability from Gallatin, they started frora the course by setting up again this Louisiana claim and declaring it Indispensably connected with the arrangement of the question upon discriminating duties. And as Mr. Gallatin was not instructed upon the Louisiana claim, they made this a pretext for transferring the negotiation here, and sending De Neuville back here to finish it, with an ulterior destination to Brazil, held out to our cotton-planters ' in terrorem.' " But if Mr. Adams irritated Mr. Gallatin by the manner of carrying out his recommendation of retaliatory laws against France, Mr. Gallatin Irritated Mr. Adaras by his treatment of another diplomatic difficulty still raore delicate. A French ship, the Apollon, had been seized by order of our governraent in the river St. Mary's, on the Spanish side, for infringing and evading our navigation laws. The seizure was a high-handed act, hardly defensible in law, and of the same class Avith many acts rendered, or supposed to be rendered, necessary by the inefficiency of the Spanish administration in Florida. Mr. Adams, who rarely allowed himself to be hindered by raerely technical iinpediments 576 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1821. in carrying out a correct policy, defended this act ranch as he defended the far more unjustifiable execution of Arbuthnot and Arabrister by General Jackson ; that Is, he made the best defence he could, and carried it off Avith a high hand. Mr. Gallatin, hoAvever, tried to justify the seizure by proA'ing that it took place in Araerlcan Avaters, and in discussing the subject in correspond ence with Mr. Adams he added the remark Avhich Avas, to any one Avho kncAV his mode of thought, quite Inevitable as his sum ming up, that the tenor of Mr. Adams's argument was dangerous and Avould not find acceptance in Europe. This seems to have extremely irritated the Secretary, and called out the folloAving entry in his Diary : " 8th Noveraber, 1821. — The most extraordinary part of Gallatin's conduct is that after a long argument to the French government upon grounds entirely ncAV and different from those Ave had taken here, he gives us distinctly to understand that he considers all these grounds, ours and his own, as not worth a straw. I asked Calhoun to-day Avhat he thought it could mean. He said perhaps It Avas the pride of opinion. I think it lies deeper. Gallatin is a man of first-rate talents, conscious and vain of them, and mortified in his ambition, checked, as it has been, after attaining the last step to the sumralt ; tiraid In great perils, tortuous in his paths ; born in Europe, disguising and yet betraying a supercilious prejudice of European superiority of intellect, and holding principles pliable to circurastances, occa sionally mistaking the left for the right-handed wisdom." The character thus draAvn by Mr. Adams is very interesting as a study of something more than Mr. Gallatin only. Mr. Gallatin certainly AA'as a man of firet-rate talents and Avas no doubt conscious of thera ; he would have been raore than huraan had he not felt the Injustice of that prejudice Avhich had shut the door of the Presidency In his face because he avos born in another republic; he certainly had the faculty of keeping his opinions, whatever they Avere, to hiraself, which is always an assuraption of superiority ; he was moreover an extremely adroit politician, full of resource, conciliatory and pliable in a remarkable degree; possibly, toojiejnay Jiaveat times mistaken his path. Timid he was not, but his courage was of a kind so perfectly self-assured 1821. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 577 that It often disrcgardeil imputations of timidity which would have been intolerable to more sensitive raen. Mr. Adaras himself long afterwards and in the most public manner paid a tribute to his absolute honesty such as he would have been willing to pay hardly any other very prominent man of the time, unless it were Madison and Monroe. The character may, therefore, be admitted as at least half true, and as throAving much light on its subject; but it was very amusing as coming from the sources that pro duced it. Arabition is not, within reasonable limits, a deadly sin, but if it were, there was not a leading man of that time, from Thomas Jeffereon to De Witt Clinton, whose chance of salvation was better than Mr. Gallatin's. Vanity is a pardon able weakness, but the virtue of extreme modesty was not among those merits which most characterized the Araerlcan statesraen of President Monroe's day. Pliability in politics, if accom panied by honesty, is a virtue ; business can be conducted in no other way ; but in all Mr. Gallatin's long career there Avas and was to be no parallel to the political pliability to be found araong the Cabinet officere of President Monroe. Human nature Is only relatively perfect; absolute perfection is a higher standard than statesmen are required to attain ; but even as regards relative perfection, there is a curious suggestiveness in finding Mr. Galla tin singled out for pride of opinion, vanity, timidity, and tortu- ousness, pliability, superciliousness, and mistakes of judgraent, araong Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Adams, Mr. CraAvford and Mr. Clay. This, however, was raerely one of those diplomatic quarrels which, like those at Ghent, have no real significance. Mr. Galla tin was probably right in the opinion Avhich vexed his chief. At all events, the French negotiation went on undisturbed, and even after Its transfer to Washington, which a very sensitive man would haA'e felt as a slight, Mr. Gallatin continued his active assistance to Mr. Adams and pressed upon the French govern ment with all his weight. Ultimately an agreement was effected and a treaty signed at Washington which, as Mr. Gallatin seems to have thought, conceded somewhat more than was necessary, but which at least put an end to the commercial Avar. The conclusion of this treaty had been the principal object of 87 578 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1822. Mr. Gallatin's continuance at Paris, but this affair, the anxious condition of our relations Avith Spain, and his own increasing sense of satisfaction in diplomatic life, made him contented and even hajipy to remain over the year 1822. Mr. Crawford, whose candidacy for the succession to Mr. Monroe Avas then likely to prove successful, took pains to maintain close relations Avith Mr. Gallatin, and Avas especially anxious for his early return in order that his influence might be felt in the important State of Penn sylvania. This duty seeras, however, to have little suited Mr. Gallatin's taste. He remained of his OAvn accord in Paris, his opinion agreeing Avith that of the President that his presence there was desirable. At the same time heuieclined the office of > president of-ihe Banki)f -the-United States. While thus hold ing himself aloof from public Interests in America, he took a resolution which seems to shoAV how little he understood the change that time and experience had worked in his circum stances. He sent his younger son to New Geneva with directions to build a stone house in extension of the brick building he had constructed thirty years before ; here he proposed to return with his family and to pass the remainder of his life. One of Sir Walter Scott's favorite sayings was that the wisest of our raee often reserve the average stock of folly to be all ex pended upon some one flagrant absurdity. He might have added that when a shrewd and cautious man once commits such a folly there is more than a fair probability of his repeating it. Mr. Cal houn, who should have had some sympathy Avith this trait, may have been right in seeking for the source of unusual acts in "lirlde of opinion;" or a wider philosophy might trace such eccentricities to the peculiar structure of Individual minds and to ineradicable habits of thought. Mr. Gallatin had In the pride of youth and the full fervor of fresh enthusiasm committed the folly of burying himsdf In the wilderness, and now, when raore than sixty yeare old, after an active life of constant excitement, Avith a faraily of children alraost entirely educated in Paris, and a wife who even thirty yeare before had found the western country intolerable, he proposed to return there and end his life. Had the great wave of western improvement swept New Geneva before it in its course, there might have been an excuse for Mr. Galla- 1822. DIPLOMACY. 1813 1829. ^79 tin's determination; but New Geneva remained what he had left it, a beautiful and peaceful mountain valley, where no human bemg could find other employraent than that of cultivating the soil with his own hands. There Mr. Gallatin decided to go, on tlie extraordinary plea tliat he could afford to live noAvhere else, and the loss of a part of his private incorae in 1823 only fixed him more firmly in his determination. Had he wished to return to Congress or to political life, there might have been reason in his course; but the only political position he cared to hold was that of minister in Paris, and this he relinquished In order to live on the banks of the Mononga hela. The following letters will shoAV Avhat his friends Avished and expected him to do, and what he did. His OAvn letters from Paris, in reply to Mr. Crawford and Mr. Astor, are lost or de stroyed ; but it is clear that he paid very little attention to their suggestions. His oavu preference would have been to take only a leave of absence in 1823, to arrange his affairs and settle his sons In business ; then to return hiraself to Paris. CRAWFORD TO GALLATIN. "Washington, 13th May, 1822. My DEAR Sir, — It Is now nearly two yeare since I have re ceived a letter from you. Your last was dated about the 30th August, 1820. The negotiation between France and the United States which has been carried on here for two yeare past, concerning our com mercial relations. Is likely to terminate successfully. I know of nothing which will probably prevent it, unless our determination to support every officer of the government in violating the ordere, laws, and . Constitution of the government and nation should oppose an Insurmountable obstacle to it. Captain Stock ton, of the Alligator, has seized a number of French vessels under the French flag, with French papers and French officere, and crews at least not composed of American citizens ; yet we have tendered no satisfaction to the French governraent for this outrage upon their flag and upon the principles Avhicli we stoutly defend against England. A disposition to discuss has always 580 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1822. characterized our government, but until recently an appearance of moderation has marked our discussions. Now our disposition to discuss seems to have augmented, and the spirit of conciliation has manifestly been abandoned by our councils. We are deter mined to say harsher things than are said to us, and to have the lost word. Where this temper will lead us cannot be distinctly foreseen. We are now upon bad terms Avitli the pruicipal mari time states, and perhaps on the brink of a rupture with Russia on account of the prohibition to trade Avith the north-west coast beyond the 51st degree of north latitude and to approach within 100 Italian miles of the islands on the Asiatic side. I have labored to restrain this predominant disposition of the govern ment, but have succeeded only partially in softening the asperities which invariably predominate in the official notes of the State Departraent. If these notes had been permitted to remain as originally drafted, we should, I believe, have before this time been unembarrassed by diplomatic relations with more than one power. The tendency to estrange us from all foreign poAvera, which the style of the notes of the State Department has uni- forraly had, has been so often demonstrated, yet so often per mitted, that I have alraost given up the idea of maintaining friendly relations with those poAvers ; but of late another em barrassment no less perplexing in its tendency has arisen. Our Mare* has intuitive perceptions not only upon military organ ization, but upon fortifications and other military subjects. These intuitions of his have involved the President in contests with both Houses of Congress. He has contrived to make them those of the President Instead of his own. A state of irritation prevails Avhich greatly exceeds anything which has occurred in the history of this government. The Secretary of War is now, in the estimation of the public, lord of the ascendant. Certain it Is that every appointment in Florida Avas made without my knowledge, and even the appointments connected with my own Department have been made Avithout regard to my wishes or rather Avithout ascertaining what they Avere. It is understood that an impression has been made on the mind • Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of "War. 1822. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 531 of the President that the rejection of the military nominations by the Senate has been effected by my influence. I have known this for nearly tAvo months, but have taken no step to counteract it, and shall take none, because I think it will not be injurious to me to remain in this state or even to be removed from office. The latter, however. Is an honor Avhich I shall not solicit, al though I do not believe It would be injurious to me in a political point of vIcAV. You will perceive by the newspapere that much agitation has already prevailed as to the election of the next President. The Wai" candidate, as Mr. Randolph calls him. Is understood to be exfremely active In his operations, and, as it has been said by rdlglous zealots, appeare to be determined to take the citadel by storm. An impression prevails that Mr. Adams's friends, in despair of his success, have thrown themselves into the scale of his more youthful friend, lately converted into a corapetltor. You will have seen that Mr. Lowndes has been nominated by the South Carolina Legislature, or rather by a portion of it. This event, as well as the present course of the Secretary of War, It is believed may be traced to the election of GoA'crnor Clark, of Georgia. This gentleman is personally my enemy. He was elected in 1819 iii opposition to Colonel Troup by a majority of 13 votes. In 1821 he was opposed by the same gentleman. Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Lowndes had conceived the idea that, if he should be re-elected, the electoral vote of Georgia would be against me. He was re-elected by a majority of 2 votes. Cal houn and Lowndes had through the year favored Mr. Adams's pretensions ; they found, however, that it was an up-hill work. Considering me hors du combat, and finding Mr. A. unacceptable to the South, each of them supposed that the Southern Interest would become the property of the first adventurer. Mr. C. had made a tour of observation in Pennsylvania, Avhilst Mr. L. kept watch at home. When the result of the Georgia election was known, Mr. C. threw himself upon Pennsylvania, and Mr. L., ¦Who had remained in South Carolina until after tho meeting of its Legislature, AA'as nominated by a portion of it to the Presidency. 582 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1822 A conference took place between them, but no adjustment was cfi'ectcd, as each determined to hold the vantage-ground Avhich ho AVOS supposed to have gained. The delusion as to Georgia has passed aAvay, but Mr. C. cannot noAV recede, and entertains confident hopes of success. Pennsylvania he calculates upon, as Avdl as upon many other States. Mr. Clay Is held up by his friends, but has not taken any decided measure. I consider everything that has passed as deciding nothing. Everything will depend on the election of Congress, AvliIch takes place this year in all the States except Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. My own impression is that Mr. C. Avill be the Federal candidate if his name is kept up. If he should be put down, and I think he will be, especially if Pennsylvania should declare against hira, Mr. Adaras Avill be the Federal candidate. Mr. Clay will be up If Pennsylvania, Virginia, or New York Avill declare for him. At present there is not ranch prospect of either. The stockholdere of the Bank of the United States are be- coralng restive under the Ioav dividends Avhich they receive. A decided opposition to Mr. Cheves will be made the next year. I understand that many of the stockholders are for placing you at the head of that institution. I know not Avhether you wish such an appointment. The election of governor comes on next year. Many persons are spoken of for that office. Bryan, Ingham, Lowrle, and Lacock are among the number, and some intimations have reached me that, if you were here, you might be selected. Ingham is connected Avith Mr. Calhoun. The others are unfavorable to his views. Present my respects to Mrs. Gallatin and every member of your faraily. I remain, dear sir, your sincere friend. CRAWFOKD TO GALLATIN. Washington, 26th June, 1822. My DEAR Sir,— On the 24th Inst, a commercial convention was signed by Mr. Adaras and Mr. De Neuville. It is published in the Intdligencer of this day. If it is permitted to operate a few years, all discriminating duties will cease. I am, hoAvever 1822. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 583 apprehensive that it avIII not be perraitted to produce this effect. . . . In ray last letter I suggested the probability that the presi dency of tlie Bank of the United States raight be offered to you if you were in tlie United States at the tirae of the next election. Mr. Cheves has informed me confidentially that he will resign his office about the latter end of this year. He will declare tliis intention when the next dividend shall be declared. As the comraercial convention Avith France has been agreed upon, and as I underetand that all the inderanity which will probably ever be obtained Avill have been obtained before you receive tliis letter, all Inducement to a longer residence in France is at an end. Independent of the office to which I have referred, that of Governor of Pennsylvania will be disposed of next year. If you Intend to engage in any Avay Avhatever in the concerns of this country after your return, I think you ought to be here during the next autumn. I believe there is no disposition in any party to re-elect Heister. The schismatics, who, with Binns, opposed FInley at the last election, are desirous of uniting Avith their former friends In the next election. It is understood that they are desirous of bringing you forward, and I presume the great body of the party will meet them upon this subject. Ing ham will be supported in caucus by those devoted to F., but that, I believe, is only a small part of those who supported hira in his last effort. Bryan, the late auditor, LoAvrie, and Lacock are spoken of, but no commitment has taken place except by Ingham and his friends, who, it is underetood, wish to connect that ques tion with the election of Mr. Calhoun as President. The other gentleraen are understood to be decidedly opposed to the preten sions of the latter gentleraan. Mr. De Neuville will be able to give you many details upon our local politics, with which he is pretty avcU acquainted. The collision between the President and Senate upon certain military nominations has very much soured his mind and given a direction to his actions which I conceive to be unfortunate for the nation as well as for himself. I hope, however, that a better state of feeling will, after the first irritation has passed off, be restored and cherished on both sides. The public seeras to have 584 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1822. taken less interest in this affair than I had expected. Two or three criticisms have appeared in the Intelligencer upon tho con duct of the Senate, but they have attracted but little attention in any part of the Union. The controverey Avhich is going on between Mr. Adams and Mr. Russell, in which you are made a party, has attracted con siderable notice, and Avill probably continue to comraand atten tion. You Avill readily perceive that the object of the party was less to injure Mr. Adaras than to benefit another by placing him in a conspicuous jioint of view, and especially by showing that Western interests could not be safely trusted to persons residing in the Atlantic States. ... J. J. ASTOR TO GALLATIN. New York, 18th October, 1822. . . . Your leaving Paris will be a great loss to me, if I go, as I expect to. I really think you will not like it so much in this country as you did, and I believe you had better reraain where you are. For the Interest of the United States Bank I am sorry that you will not take it. For your own sake I am glad. It is, as you say, a troublesome situation, and I doubt if ranch credit is to be got by it. I have been to-day spoken to about your taking the situation, but I stated that you decline it, and I think you are right. Matters here go on irregular enough. It's all the Avhile up and doAvn. So soon as people have a little money they run into extravagancy, get In debt, and down It goes. Ex change is again 12^ to 13, and people will again ship specie, the banks again curtail discounts, bankruptcy ensues, exchange Avill fall for a short time, and then we have the sarae scene over again. You knoAV so Avell this country and character of the people that I need say no more. We have plenty candidates for President; Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, and Crawford are the most prominent. Mr. CraAvford, I think, will get it. . . . GALLATIN TO MONROE. Paris, 13th November, 1822. With respect to my longer stay here I entertain a just sense of your partiality and kind feelings towards me ; and I may 1823. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 686 add that, so far as I am personally concerned, the station is not only highly honorable, but more agreeable than any other public employraent Avhich [I] raight fill. But considerations connected Avith ray children and Avitli ray private affairs Iraperlously require my presence In America, at least for sorae months. Under those circumstances I avIII, Avitli your permission, return next spring, but take leave here as only going Avitli leave of absence. I would probably be ready to return here in the autumn, and take care that the public interest should not in the mean Aviiile suffer. Mr. Sheldon is indeed fully equal to the task of managing all the current affaire of the mission ; and France has given us the example of leaving a cliargS for a short time. But this raust not by any means prevent you from filling the place at once on my return, if you think it proper. I avIU only thank you to let me know your intention in that respect as soon as possible after the receipt of this letter. GALLATIN TO J. Q. ADAMS. Paris, 28th February, 1823. Dear Sir, — ^There not being at this time the least prospect of a settlement of our claims, I do not perceive any reason con nected with the public service for protracting my stay in this country. I will terminate, as far as this government Avill allow, what relates to the fisheries, although I would have wished to hear from you on the subject; and some heavy losses I have experienced at home, as well as certain family circumstances, imperiously requiring my presence there, it is my intention, if nothing ucav and important of a public nature shall take place, to take my departure in the course of the spring. I had already written a private letter on that subject to the President, to which' I had hoped to have received an answer before this time, and in which I had asked only for leave of absence. But, this being an unusual course, it raay be better at once to appoint a successor, and I wish it to be done. If the President shall think it more eligible to wait for the meeting of the Senate, you know that Mr. Sheldon is fully competent to carry on the current business; and I bdieve him equally so to act on any incident that may 586 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1821. arise. As to the still uncertain war with Spain, nothing can jiossibly be necessary here on our part than perhaps some remon strance in case of infractions of our neutral rights. There is no disposition on the part of France to commit acts of that kind, and that subject is also quite familiar to Mr. Sheldon. GALLATIN TO J. Q. ADAMS. Paris, 18th April, 1823. Sir, — I had the honor to receive your despatch No. 55, and intend to avail myself of the leave of absence granted by the President, and to take my departure in about a month, leaving Mr. Sheldon as charg6 d'affaires. I beg you to express my thanks to the President, but to repeat tliat it is not my wish that another appointment should be delayed on my account, if deemed useful. Mr. Gallatin accordingly left Paris Avith his family about the middle of May, 1823, and arrived in Ncav York on the 24th June. The following letter, the last which Mr. Crawford wrote him, was not received by Mr. Gallatin in Europe. Whether the intensity of that struggle for the Presidency in which Mr. Crawford was now engaged had embittered his mind, or whether the paralysis Avhich struck him doAvn only a short time after wards Avas casting its shadow before it, this letter shows a peculiar irritation which seems almost ready to make Mr. Gallatin hiraself Its victim. CRAWFORD TO GALLATIN. "Washington, 26th May, 1823. My dear Sir,— Your letter of the 27th of September last Avas received sorae time in December thereafter, and is the last letter I have had from you. Some time in December I underetood you had applied for leave of absence, and shortly after was informed that it had been granted. In the latter end of April the President showed me a private 1828. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 587 letter from you dated in the early part of March, in which you declare your deterrainatlon to leave France the 10th of this month, and a fcAV days afterAvards I Avas informed that Mr. Adams had requested you to remain. I underetand that this request had been made in consequence of the expected rupture betAveen France and Spain. It Avould therefore appear that the reasons you assigned for believing your presence at Paris would be useless have not been considered good by the Secretary of State. To rae they appeared conclusive when I read the letter, and reflection has only confirmed my first Impressions. . It Is not pretended that the Avor Avith Spain Avill favor the efforts Aviiich have for tAvelve years past been made Avithout success to procure indemnity for unjust spoliations committed upon our merchants. Infractions of our neutral rights raust then be apprehended before a successor could be sent. The interest of France to strip Great Britain of an excuse to Interfere in the war is the best guaranty that can be offered for her scrupulous respect for neutral rights. All that an American minister can do during the present year at Paris will be to give information of Avhat is going on and speculate upon what may possibly be done in the progress of the war. If the Secretary "was at Paris, or if his prot^gS, Mr. [Alex ander] Everett, was there, the curiosity of the governraent to grasp at future events Avould have araple gratification. I do not know Mr. Sheldon Avell enough to form an opinion of his capacity to minister to this propensity of man, but I presurae he Avould supply it with as ranch, if not as delicate, food as it would receive from you. Some of the little people who buzz about the government have, I understand, been very busy in the expression of their opinions that the change of relations between France and Spain rendere highly important that you should remain. The people have had their cue, and repeat their lesson by rote, for if they were capable of reasoning themselves they would see the folly of then: declarations. It Is irapossible that reflecting men whose judgments are not led astray by some strong Impression resulting from selfish purposes, can believe that It is of any Importance to have a minister at Paris at this moment. The reason then assigned for this request Is not the true one. 688 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1823. That must be sought not in Paris but In the United States. You will understand it as well as I do upon a moment's reflection. Your presence in the United States during the present year may not suit the vIcavs and projects of certain gentlemen; it is, there fore, neces-sary to devise some cause for keeping you at Paris. It is possible that if Mr. Rush Avas disposed to return, some cause connected with the rupture betAveen France and Spain would be discovered to render his stay In London necessary. As that gen tleman, howcA'cr, has written a number of letters to his friends in Pennsylvania which may have an effect .somewhat sirallar to that which was apprehended from your return, it is possible that it may facilitate his return. I have written this letter under an impression that the request of Mr. Adams may arrive at Paris before yon leave It. Your friends are desirous of your return, and will be disappointed If you do not. I have understood that Mr. Astor has received a letter frora you as late as the 17th ult. Avhich is indicative of your intention to return, but Mr. Astor thinlis that you will not, and that you ought not. He is probably governed In this opinion by his Interests and Avishes. If you do not return in the Montano, which It is now said will not sail before the 20th of this month, he will see you before this letter reaches you, as I shall confide it to the care of Mr. Erving, Avho, it is understood, will not sail until the arrival of the Montano. Your friends Lacock and Roberts are very decided on the question which noAV attracts the attention of the nation. Indeed, there are but fcAv exceptions among your old political associates. Many of them, unfortunately, are no more, and ncAV men have filled their places; the neAV-comers, however, have a high respect for your character, talents, and opinions, and wish to see and converse Avith you upon this question. . . . Mr. Crawford had his wish. Gallatin returned, and was drawn reluctantly but inevitably into the Presidential contest. No true friend of his could have desired it, for he had nothing to gain by returning into public life at a moment Avhen there was not a single deraent of principle or dignity involved in the dection. Never in the whole course of our history has any 1823. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. ggg Presidential dection turned so exclusively on purely personal considerations; never has there been one in AvliIch all parties were so helpless. Old association, the prestige of high reputa tion, and the long control of Treasury patronage combined to make Mr. CraAvford the first candidate ; he had been the selected favorite of the old triumvirate for raany years, and by Mr. Jeffer son and Mr. Madison he Avas regarded as the best representatlA'c of the Republican party. The sarae view was held by Mr. Gal latin, and, on the other hand, Mr. Crawford needed Mr. Gallatin's active support ; thus It was that Mr. Gallatin became in a man ner compelled to allow his supposed influence to be used for the election of Mr. CraAvford as President, and Avas buffeted about upon the Avaves of this stormy and unclean ocean until at length he was glad to find even a mortifying means of escape. His firet step Avas to visit Washington, and thence he went to inspect his new house at Friendship Hill. GALLATIN TO HIS DAUGHTER. Neav Geneva, 17th September, 1823. . . . Notwithstanding all my exertions, you will find it hard enough when you come next spring to accommodate youredf to the privations and wildness of the country. Our house has been built by a new Irish carpenter, who was always head over heels and added much to the disorder inseparable frora building. Being unacquainted with the Grecian architecture, he adopted an Hyberno-teutonic style, so that the outside of the house, with its port-hole-looking Avindows, has the appearance of Irish bar racks, whilst the Inside ornaments are similar to those of a Dutch taA'ern, and I must acknowledge that these form a singular con trast with the French marble chimney-pieces, paper, and rairrore. On one side of that mass of stones which Lucien calls " le ch3,teau," and in full view as you approach it, is a Aving consisting of the gable-end of a log house, with itsohimney in front, and I could not pull It doAvn, as It is the kitchen and dining-room where are daily fed two ma-sons and plasterers, two attendants, two stone- quarriers, tAVO painters, a carpenter (besides three who board themselves), Lucien, Albert's black Peter, and M', Mad', 590 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1823. Mesd"" et les petits Buffle. The grounds are overgrown with elders, iron-weeds, stinking Aveeds, laurel, several varieties of briere, irapenetrable thickets of brush, vines, and uiiderAVOod, araongst which are discovered vestiges of old asparagus and new artichoke-beds, and now and then a spontaneous apple or peach tree. As to Albert, he has four gunsj, a pointer, three boats, two riding-horses, and a pet colt, smaller than a jackass, who feeds on the fragments of ray old lilacs and althea fndex. His own clothes adorn our parlor and only sitting-roora in the old brick house ; for the frarae house is partly occupied by the Buffle family and partly encumbered by various boxes and Albert's billiard-table, the pockets of which are made Avith his stockings. . . . New Geneva, 15th October, 1823. . . . NotAvithstanding all my endeavore, more Avill remain to be done after our arrival next spring than I would have wished. It Avas impossible for me to attend to anything else for the improveraent either of mills, farm, plantation, &c., all of which are in a most deplorable state. . . . Amidst those cares I have been disturbed by political struggles in Avhicli I felt but little interested ; but the Federalists, by their repeated assertions in all the papers of the State that I supported their candidate, have corapelled me, much against my inclination, to come out with a public declaration intended to shoAV that notAvithstanding the occasional aberrations of democracy and the abuse some times poured on me from that quarter, it Avas impossible that I should abandon a cause to the support of which my life has been devoted, and Avhldi I think inseparably connected with that of the liberty and amelioration of mankind in every quarter of the globe. . . . Private reasons led Mr. Gallatin to pass the winter in Bal timore. Here he again met his old enemies the Smiths, and resumed relations AvIth thera, not, perhaps, so cordial as in early days, but at least externally friendly. The raain interest of the winter, however, turned on the Presidential election. Mr. Craw ford had been dangerously affected by a stroke of paralysis, and his friends found themselves obliged to put by his side a candi- 1828. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 591 date for the Vice-Presidency Avho would disarm opposition and command confidence in case of his chief's death ; they fixed upon Mr. Gallatin, who thus became, in the failure of Mr. Crawford, their leader. From the time this point was decided, Gallatin had no choice but to obey the Avishes of his party In other respects; and, as it happened that all Mr. CraAvford's chances turned upon tlie weight of a noralnatlon by a Congressional caucus, Gallatin was called upon to take a direct share in urging his friends to the work. Thus he was in a manner forced to write a letter urging his old friend Macon to give his support to the caucus ; he was also obliged to malte a short stay In Washington. JEFFERSON TO GALLATIN. Monticello, October 29, 1828. Dear Sir, — . . . You have seen in our papers hoAV prema turely they are agitating the question of the next President. This proceeds from sorae uneasiness at the present state of things. There is considerable dissatisfaction with the Increase of the public expenses, and especially with the necessity of borrowing money in time of peace. This Avas much arraigned at the last session of Congress, and will be raore so at the next. The mis fortune is that the persons looked to as successors in the govern ment are of the President's Cabinet, and their partisans in Congress are making a handle of these things to help or hurt those for or against whom they are. The candidates, ins and outs, seera at present to be many, but they will be reduced to two, a Northern and Southern one, as u.sual. To judge of the event, the state of parties must be understood. You are told, indeed, that there are no longer parties araong us ; that they are all now amalgaraated ; the lion and the lamb lie down together iu peace. Do not believe a word of it. The same parties exist now as ever did ; no longer, indeed, under the pame of Repub licans and Federalists ; the latter narae was extinguished in the battle of New Orleans ; those who Avore it, finding monarchism a desperate wish in this country, arc rallying to what they deem the next best point, a consolidated government. Although this is not yet avowed (as that of monarchism, you know, never Avas), 592 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. it exists decidedly, and is the true key to the debates in Congress, wherein you sec many calling themselves Republicans and preaching the rankest doctrines of the old Federalists. One of the prominent candidates is presumed to be of this party ; the other, a Republican of the old school, and a friend to the barrier of State rights as provided by the Constitution against the danger of consolidation, which danger was the principal ground of oppo sition to it at its birth. Pennsylvania and Ncav York will decide this question. If the Missouri principle mixes itself In the ques tion, it will go one way ; if not, it may go the other. Among the smaller motives, hereditary fears raay alarm on one side, and the lono- line of local nativities oa the other. In this division of parties the judges are true to their ancient vocation of sappers and miners. . . . J. B. THOMAS 1 TO GALLATIN. Wasuinqton City, 6th January, 1824. Dear Sir, — Mr. Lowrie returned from Philadelphia three days ago with the pleasing intelligence that a large majority of both branches of the Pennsylvania Legislature are In favor of a Congressional caucus, and that the measure is daily becoming much more popular in Philaddphia. . . . Mr. Ingham has lately returned from Pennsylvania, and, finding public opinion there averse to his wishes, he or some one of the party has prepared an address to the people of Pennsyl vania, for the delegation from that State to sign, stating that a partial caucus only could be gotten up, and asking instructions from their constituents. I understand that the address is ingeni ously written, and that it has been signed by eleven of the Demo cratic raerabere of Congress. After this address was signed by all who Avould act without consulting Mr. LoAvrie, a raeeting of the delegation was called to deliberate upon the subject. Mr. L. attended, and after endeavoring to operate upon the fears of some who had signed the paper, had the raeeting adjourned over till to-morrow (Monday). He will, if possible, procure a further postponement, in the hope that you will be here in a few days. ' U. S. Senator from Illinois. 1824. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 593 Many of your friends are exceedingly anxious to see you here, and amongst the rest Mr. LoAvrie and Mr. Van Buren, Avho are both efficient men. Since my return to Washington I mentioned to those gentle men the conversation I had Avith you in Baltimore, and had the satisfaction to learn that they approved of all I said. They are impressed Avith a belief that your immediate presence here at the present crisis is all-important. I am convinced that notliing could be more gratifying to the prominent men of the Republican party than to receive a visit from you at this tirae. Mr. CraAvford Avould be delighted to see you. His physicians, four or five in number, have had a consultation to-day, and have pronounced him quite out of danger. . . . We have not yet been able to devise a plan by which Mr. Jeffereon can be drawn out, nor is It probable that any could be adopted which would be as likely to succeed as that of your addressing him on the subject. If nothing more can be obtained, the letter he has already written you may be of great Importance. In haste, I am, etc. NATHANIEL MACON TO GALLATIN. Washington, 16th January, 1824. Sir, — The enclosed has been handed to me by Mr. Cobb, a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia. It is sent to you as the best mode of comraunicating its contents. I know not to what it relates. Tender my good-Avill to Mrs. Gallatin and to any of your children who may be with you. Mr. Crawford is mending slowly ; not yet In a condition to write. God preserve you and all that are near and dear to you many years. Is the sincere wish of Your old friend. [Enclosure.] Mr. Macon,— Mr. Crawford requests me to say to you that he wished you would write to Mr. Gallatin and tdl hira that it 88 594 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. was necessary he should come on to this city, for that hia (Mr. Gallatin's) interests, as well as those of others, were suffering in consequence of his absence. Thos. W. Cobb. gallatin to his wife. "Wasuinqton, 24th January, 1824. ... I have been working hard in order to be released as soon as possible; this morning I terminated the revision and selection of my correspondence, and hope that my final account will be settled on Monday. . . . The idea of sending a special mission to England, which is indeed quite unnecessary, has been given up. ... I Avas on Wednesday evening at Mre. Monroe's evening, where she appeared for the firet time this season. It was as crowded as any Paris rout, and there were several hand some ladles, but most faces of both sexes were new to me. Ten years is an age in Washington ; the place seems dull to me. . . . I hear nothing but election politics, and you know how unpleas ant the subject is to me. . . . Mr. Crawford is mending slowly. His friends are not perfectly easy about his final recovery, and Early adduced this to me as a reason why I should be made Vice-President. My answer Avas that I did not Avant the office, and would dislike to be proposed and not elected. A. STEWART 1 TO GALLATIN. "Washington, 6th Pebruary, 1824. Dear Sir,— A caucus Avill be held here on the 14th instant to recommend candidates for President and Vice-President. About 100 Republican raembers, it is understood, avIII attend. Mr. CraAvford and yourself will be unanimously nominated. I know of but one gentleraan unfriendly to your nomination, and he will readily acquiesce in whatever is done. The election of the Vice-President nominated is considered certain, be the fate of the President Avhat it may. Very respectfully, your obedient servant. ' Member of Congress from Pennsylvania, 182*. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. WALTER LOWRIE TO GALLATIN. 595 "Washington, 10th February, 1824. Dear Sir, — I have delayed Avriting till I could write with certainty on the point we had under discussion Avhen we last parted. You avIII uoav be norainated for the situation contem plated, and Avith the Inforraation and facts In our possession it does not require the spirit of prophecy to predict that final success will be the result. In the other office raore uncertainty prevails. We haA'e a hard and arduous struggle to go through, involving the very existence of the Republican party. It Avill be necessary that Ave should see you before long. At present let me call your attention to one point in AvhIch we want your assistance. We are very desirous that Mr. Macon should attend the caucus. He has hitherto resisted all our efforts. A personal interview Avith yoU, it is believed, Avould have been con clusive ; that is now too late ; but I submit to you Avhether you could not Avrite him a letter. You will receive this letter to- morroAV, Thureday, and on Friday he could receive yours. I knoAV you have more influence Avith him' than any other man ex cept Mr. Jeffereon. His long course of public life gives him an importance which he is not otherAvise entitled to. The oppo sition papers boast that he will not attend. In the present crisis if he do not, he will lose the respect and esteera of his friends, and instead of doing his friends a service, he Avill do hiraself an injury. With sincere esteem, yours. NATHANIEL MACON TO GALLATIN. "Washington, 13th February, 1824. Snt, — I have your letter of yesterday ; it Is received Avith as much good-will and kindness as it was Avritten. The fatal night which you mention, and which produced in the end the divisions among the three Republicans who were so both In theory and practice, I stated to the meeting they had beaten me by having the cards packed, and that I never would attend another caucus, nor have I unto this day ; and would you uoav, my old and 596 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. much esteemed friend, have mo to appear in a company when and where any person could toll the truth and say, you are not u man of your word ? if I go to the caucus, it would be the first time that it could be said truly to me in ray Avhole life. No party, as I have often told you, and as I stated at the caucus at Marache's, can last unless founded on pure principles ; and the raiiiute a party begins to Intrigue within itself is the minute when the seed of division Is sown and its purity begins to decline. There are not, I imagine, five membere of Congress Avho entertain the opinions Avhich those did who brought Mr. Jefferson into poAver, and they are yet mine. Principles can never change, and Avhat has lately been called the law of cir cumstances is an abandonment of prindple, and has been the ruin of all free governments, and if the Republican party fall in the United States, it is OAving to the same cause. I verily believe that I can render more service toward electing Crawford by not going to the caucus than by going, but I do not believe that I have the influence you suppose; but if you are right, what has produced it? the belief that I folloAV my own notions. Two of my friends are here to advise me to attend, and have stopped my writing. I must conclude to you as I do to them ; I cannot go. I would much rather have talked with you on the subject. Remeraber rae to Mrs. Gallatin and all your family, and believe me Truly and sincerely your friend. Written in great haste for the mail. NATHANIEL MACON TO GALLATIN. Washington, 14th Pebruary, 1824. Sir, — Your letter of the 12th instant was yesterday in great haste acknowledged. For some time past my situation has been unpleasant indeed ; so much so that I have a thousand tiraes or oftener wished mysdf at home. What situation can be raore disagreeable than to have repeatedly to say no to the best friends, and that, too, to the sarae question I To me it has been painful 1824. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 597 in the extreme; no one who has not felt the sensation can imagine the distress it produces, — the day is tiresome, and the night tedious ; In the morning I desire night, and at night am anxious for the morning, — and to-day is the most perplexing of all ; a something, I knoAv not Avhat, oppresses my raind, and yet I ara certain that my determination not to attend the caucus is right, and Avliat I ought to do and must do. The great charge against CraAvford is intrigue ; add to Avliat was Avritten yester day, that if I go the charge avIU be reneM'ed, and he said to be the only man who had touched the cord Avhich could move rae ; and probably the wicked and false adage applied, that every man has his price. Time, I knoAV, would prove the application false as regards us both ; but the election might be over firet, and the injury done. Every generation, like a single person, has opinions of its own ; as much so In politics as anything else. This opinion Is elegantly expressed in the book of Judges, 2d chapter. The opinions of Jefferson and those who Avcre Avith him are forgot. On reading the chapter the proper and intended inference will be easily made ; I hope, hoAvever, avc .shall not suffer as did the children of Israel after the death of Joshua. Tender in your best manner my respects and regard to Mre. Gallatin and your faraily, and believe rae Your unfeigned friend. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. New Geneva, Pennsylvania, 29th July, 1824. My dear AND OLD Fbiend, — I have delayed much too long answering your letter of last year. I have ever since been on the -wing, uncertain where I would fix mysdf. The habits of my wife and children, Albert's excepted, render this a very indigible place of residence to them ; but the impossibility of subsisting on my scanty incorae in one of our cities, and the necessity of attending to a valuable but mismanaged and un productive property, have left me no choice; and we are all now here, induding James's wife. My health and that of my daughter are ddicate ; the other membere of the family are 698 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. well. With the exception of James Nicholson, all my old friends are dead or confined by old ago to tlieir homes ; there is not in this quarter the slightest improvement in the state of society, or indeed of any kind ; but my children are good and very affectionate ; neither of my sons, unfortunately, brought up to business. Albert, with considerable and varied talents and acquired knoAvledge, but as yet wanting perseverance and steadi ness ; Jaraes and Francis, more fitted for a court than a wilder ness ; my Avife just as she was tAventy-four years ago. The last seven years I spent In Europe, though not the most useful, were the most pleasant, of my life, both on account of my reception in Geneva, where I found many old and affection ate friends (Hentsch, Dumont, the Tronchins, Butiri, &c.), and from my standing with the first statesmen and men of merit in France and England. Where you do not stand in the way of anybody, instead of collision and envy, you meet Avith much in dulgence if you can fill with credit the place you occupy ; and tills was a disposition to which I had not been accustomed towards me, and the want of Avhicli I noAV on that account feel, perhaps, more than formerly. These feelings would and ought naturally to have induced rae, and you expressed the same wish, to AvithdraAV altogether from public life ; and ray AvIfe, irksome to her as Is her residence here, Avas of the same opinion. I avIII briefly state what has brought my name before the people for the office of Vice-President. During the twelve years I Avas in the Treasury, I was anxiously looking for some man that could fill my place there and in the general direction of the national concerns, for one indeed that could replace Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and myself. Brecken ridge, of Kentucky, only appeared and died ; the eccentricities and teraper of J. Randolph soon destroyed his usefulness, and only one man at last appeared Avho filled my expectations. This Avas Mr. Crawford, who united to a powerful mind a most correct judgraent and an inflexible Integrity ; which last quality, not sufficiently tempered by indulgence and civility, has prevented his acquiring general popularity; but, notAvithstanding thisdefecft (for it is one), I know so well his great superiority over the other candidates for the office of President, that I was anxious for his 1824. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 599 election and ojienly cx]ircssed ray opinion. I Avould not even wmpare Jadtson or Calhoun to him, the first an honest man and the idol of the Avorshippere of military glory, but from inca- padty, military habits, and habitual disregard of laAVs and con stitutional provisions, altogether unfit for the office; the other a smart felloAv, one of the firet amongst second-rate men, but of lax political principles and a disordinate ambition not over-delicate in the means of satisfying itself. John Q. Adams is a virtuous man, whose temper, which Is not the best, might be overlooked ; he has very great and miscellaneous knowledge, and he is with his pen a poAverful debater ; but he Avants to a deplorable degree that most essential quality, a sound and correct judgraent. Of this I have had In my official connection and intercourse AvIth him coraplete and repeated proofs, and, although he raay be use ful Avhen controlled and checked by others, he ought never to be trusted with a place where unrestrained his errors might be fatal to the country. Mr. Clay has his faults, but splendid talents and a generous mind. I certainly prefer Mr. Crawford to him, although he is far more popular ; and yet, notwithstanding that popularity, I believe that, particularly since the West is split between him and Jackson, it is Impossible that he should be elected, and that the contest is in fact between Crawford and Adams. Almost all the old Republicans (Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison amongst them) think as I do; but they Avere aware that Mr. Crawford Avas not very popular, and that the bond of party, AvhIch had with great many produced the effect of patriotism and knoAvledge, being nearly dissolved, neither of the other candidates would withdraAV, and they were at a loss whom to unite to him as Vice-President. I advised to nominate nobody for that office, or, if anybody, sorae person frora New York or New England. The last was attached to Adams ; there were contentions in New York. The friends of Mr. Crawford thought the persons pro posed there too obscure, and that my name would serve as a banner and show their nomination to be that of the old Republi can party. I thought and still think that they were mistaken ; that as a foreigner, as residuary legatee of the Federal hatred, and as one whose old services were forgotten and more recent ones though more useful were but little known, my name could 600 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. be of no service to the cause. They insisted, and, being nomi nated both by the members of Congress and by the Legislature of Virginia, I could not honorably withdraw, though my reluc tance was much Increased by the dead opposition of Pennsylvania, which Is, and noAvhere more than in this vicinity, Jackson mad. From all I can collect, I think Mr. Crawford's election (notwith standing this mistake) nearly certain, and mine improbable. So much for my apology, Avhich I could not make shorter. I have noAV said everything, I believe, respecting me AvhIch could in terest you ; and I have only to entreat you not to disappoint the hope you gave me, and to come and spend these unhealthy sum mer and autumnal raonths with us, Avhere at least fevers have not yet penetrated, although they prevailed last year everyAvhere east of Cumberland and Avest of Wheeling. In summer I must neces sarily to preserve health be at rest, and If to effect an intervieAv, probably the last, so dear to both. It Is necessary that you should have the trouble and fatigue of the journey, it is but strict jus tice (if that was any object between us) that the expense should be defrayed by me. Let not that, therefore, stop you. and come once raore to see your old friend and refresh your old age by recollections of ancient times. I will add to the stock much that is pleasing from Geneva. Seventeen years of French yoke have united the parties as far as union is practicable in a free country. If there are differences of opinion, they apply to details of administration ; the old distinctions, so odious to the people, are done aAvay. To the general council and to that of Two Hun dred has been substituted a large elective representative council, where, as far as I could judge, virtue and talents are almost the only titles for admission, where the most obscure and newest names are mixed with the oldest of the Republic, where Dumont, Bel lamy, and tAVO Pictets are in opposition to Desarts, D'Yvernois, and most of the old wigs (Avhich have been, hoAvever, set aside). But what kind of opposition? I have read many of their debates ; and, independent of the interest I felt for questions to others of small and local importance, any one may admire the train of close and logical reasoning they display, and must be delighted with the candor and mutual forbearance which charac terize thera. They are like discussions conducted amicably but 1824. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. .601 AvIth perfect freedom by members of the same family respecting their common concerns. Nor are the ancient manners much altered. A fcAv amongst the most ignorant and vicious, the rera- nant of those who disgraced Geneva in 1794, not above three or four hundred, hardly any of the old bourgeoisie, have, I ara told, been corrupted by the French Avhilst in poAver and their raorals have been affijcted ; but those of the great bulk are better than before the revolutions, and they are as pure Genevans, as little Frenchified, as you could desire. Speaking of old bourgeoisie, the distinction does not exist ; citoyens, bourgeois and natlfs are in every respect, civil and political, on the same footing. And here let rae observe hoAV poAverful Is the moral effect of virtue and knowledge. Whilst Venice, Genoa, Belgium, &c., &c., have been bartered away without scruple or regard to the Avishes of the people, not only have Holland and Switzerland escaped unhurt, because they had both a national character and were truly nations, but even little Geneva has been respected and re stored to its Independence, Avhilst more than forty imperial cities have been left in the possession of the princes Avho had usurped them with the permission of Bonaparte. I might say much more, but must reserve it for the tirae when Ave raeet. In that hope, and with my love to all the members of your family, I remain ever youre. My wife and James Nicholson send their best compliraents. By the by, you owe me nothing. Your sister was too proud to permit me to join in the support of your father, and your brother's return in 1818 relieved her difficulties. I have not heard frora them since that time, and was not in Geneva subse quent to 1817. Unfortunately for Mr. Gallatin's candidacy, the rapid spread of General Jackson's party overthrew all ordinary calculation. < Mr. Calhoun's friends, finding their candidate pressed out of the course, made terms Avith the Jackson managere, by which Mr. Calhoun received the combined support of both bodies for the ^ Vice-Presidency. This suggested a brilliant stroke of political genius to the fertile brain of Martin Van Buren, who, in those 602 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. days, Avas not one of Jackson's followers. As Jackson's chances wore improved by coalescing Avith Calhoun, who reduced his claims accordingly, so Mr. Crawford's chances might be ira- proved by coalescing Avith Mr. Clay, provided the latter could also be pereuaded to accept the position of candidate for the Vice-Presidency. Mr. Clay Avas sounded on this subject early in September, as appears frora his private correspondence, and his reply, dated September 10,' seems to have been considered as not discouraging, for, on the 25th September, Mr. Van Buren approached Mr. Gallatin Avith a formal recommendation that he should withdraw. Mr. Gallatin felt relieved at being permitted to escape even In this manner. He Avithdrew frora the canvass. The result Avas that Calhoun was elected Vice-President by the people; that Jackson, Adaras, and Crawford went before the House of Representatives, and that Mr. Clay caused the election -~of Mr. Adaras to the Presidency. I WALTER LOWRIE TO GALLATIN. Butler, 25th September, 1824. My DEAR Sir, — The subject of which this letter treats has given rae the most severe pain of mind. The bearer, our mutual friend General Lacock, avIII inform you of the situation of my family which has prevented me from accompanying hira to see you. Frora the most authentic Information communicated to me by your friends in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, the most serious fears are enter tained that Mr. Calhoun avIU be elected by the dectore. Or if he should not, his vote will be so great that his chance in the Senate Avill be alraost conclusive in his favor. On this subject I have not a feeling I would not be desirous that you should know. No raan can desire your success raore than I do. Still my dear sir, I believe your chance of success is now almost hope less, and, assuming that as a fact, what is to be done ? The ques tion has been met by a number of our friends, and they have ' See Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 103. 1824. D I P L O M A C V. 1813-1829. 603 suggested the arrangement which Mr. Lacock Avill make known to you. This plan has the approbation of as many of our friends as it was possible to consult, all of thera your most decided friends. They are, hoAvever, afraid of your success, and wish, if possible, to have an arrangement raade Avith Mr. Clay, to Avhich if he Avould consent, it Avould go far to secure the election of Mr. CraAvford. After the most deep and anxious reflection I have been able to bestow on the subject, I Avould advise you to AvithdraAV from the contest. Hoav that should be done, in case you approve of It, I do not know. Your feelings and vIcavs of the best manner of doing it Avould be conclusive Avith me. The arrangement sub- raitted to Mr. Lacock and myself contemplated your remaining on the ticket till near the election. In case Mr. Clay would con sent ; and if he would not consent, then for you to remain on the ticket to the last. I confess I do not like this conditional arrangement, and the letter of Mr. Dickinson makes me dislike it more. These points are all open, and I Avas raost desirous of seeing you and getting your vIcavs upon thera. In case you ap prove of having your name AvIthdraAvn, it occurs to me that the best manner Avould be In a letter to Judge Ruggles, which might be published a feAV days after Mr. Lacock's departure. In that case Clay would not be informed of It till Mr. Lacock would have seen hira, and his decision raight have been different than if he kncAV absolutely that you had Avithdrawn. If you prefer the other, however, that is, to place your withdrawing on the contingency of Mr. Clay's co-operation, I am perfectly satisfied. Indeed, I feel quite at a loss how to advise in the case. Indeed, in this whole comraunication I Avrite under the greatest pain and embarrassment. Every step I have taken in regard to your name being placed before the nation was dictated by the purest friendship to you and the clearest sense of duty to my country. To have had any agency in placing you in a situation at all cal culated to Avound your feelings or give pain to your mind, is to me a source of painful reflection. This, added to the perplexed state of public opinion and the uncertainty of the final result, brings with it a distress of mind I have never heretofore expe rienced. I am, my dear sir, Avith sincere esteera, your friend. 604 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. GALLATIN TO MB. LOWRlfe. Fayette County, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1824. Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 25th of September, received on the 29th, has caused me much perplexity, not from any hesi tation as to the principles which should govern my conduct, but from Avant of sufficient knoAvledge of the facts. It Is evident that I ought not to decline from mere per sonal motives and in order to avoid the mortification of a defeat, especially if this should be in any degree injurious to the public cause. There is in a nomination a mutual though tacit pledge of support, on the part of those Avho nominate, of standing a candidate on the part of the person nominated. But my withdrawing would be proper in case my continuing to stand should either appear injurious to the election of Mr. CraAvford or prevent the election of a proper pereon to the office of Vice-President. On either the one or the other of those grounds I consider your communications decisive so far as re lates to New Jersey and New York. There may be no difficulty with respect to Georgia and any other State Avhere the choice of electors remains Avith the Legislature. The embarrassraent is principally In relation to Virginia and North Carolina. I am sensible that my name is in itself of no Avelght anyAvhere ; but It is not for me, consulting only my feelings, to decide whether, after the active exertions of comraittees and individuals in favor of the two candidates nominated at Washington, the Avithdrawing the name of one on the eve of a popular dection and Avithout substituting another in his place, may prove favorable or inju rious to the success of the Republican tickets. With that vIcAV of the subject, my answer to Mr. Lacock was that I would leave the decision Avith the central coraralttee of correspondence for tiie State of Virginia. To that State I am raore particularly bound, as the only one Avhere, to my knowl edge, the nomination of Washington was confirmed In full by the Republican members of the Legislature. The committee is their legitimate organ ; and from their local situation they also arc best able to form an opinion concerning North Carolina, with Avhicli last State there was hardly time to consult, and whose 1824. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 605 arrangeraents on the subject of the election are not known to me. Our friends In those districts of Maryland Avhich may be favor able to us might also be consulted. I am still of the same opinion ; but considering Iioav little time reraains and how ranch Avould be lost by corresponding with rae, I enclose ray declaration that I Avish ray name to be Avithdrawn, not directed to Mr. Ruggles, since he is not to judge whether and when it raust be used, but intended for publication in the neAvspapere at the discretion of the committee for Virginia, who will of couree consult, if necessary, with Mr. Van Buren on the subject. There will be no necessity for that consultation if they think it adA'antageous in the Southern States that my name should be withdrawn prior to the election of electors. They may at once in that case publish my declaration, since it is ascertained that the effect will be favorable in the North. To me that course would be the most agreeable. The publication must at all events be made before the result of the election of electors is ascertained, and prior to their being elected by the Legislature of New York. In order to avoid delays as far as depends on me, I will enclose copies of my declining and of the substance of this letter both to Mr. Van Buren at Albany and to Mr. Stephenson at Richmond, to be communicated by him to the coraralttee of correspondence, as I do not know their names. But he may be absent, and it will be necessary for you to write not only to Mr. Van Buren, but also to Richmond, enclosing copy of my declining aud of such parts of this letter as will put them in full possession of the subject. The publication of my declining should be made, as far as practicable, simultaneously in the National Intelligencer and principal State papers. I advised Mr. Lacock against negotiating in person with Mr. Clay, as I thought that it would only encourage him to advise his friends in Ncav York to make no compromise that would not secure him a part, at least, of the votes of that State for Presi dent. The only way, it seemed to me, avos to convince him, by the choice of the electors there, that he had no chance for that 606 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1824. office. This, however, was an opinion on a subject in which I can have nothing more to Siiy. Of your friendship, sincerity, and patriotic motives I am most perfectly satisfied. My nomination has been a miscalculation, and however painful the results may be to our feelings, having nothing to reproach ourselves with throughout the whole transT action, there is nothing in It save the effect it may have on the public cause that can give us any permanent uneasiness. I have but one observation to add. From my experience, both when Mr. Jefferson was made Vice-President and when, in 1808, Mr. Clinton was re-elected to the same office, I knoAV that nothing can be more injurious to an Administration than to have in that office a man in hostility Avith that Adrainistration, as he Avill always become the most formidable rallylng-point for the opposition. I reraain, respectfully and sincerely, your friend and obedient servant. This chapter of secret political history will hardly stand com parison with Avhat Avere at least the earnest phases of party poli tics in the days Avhen Mr. Gallatin was really a leader. Parties had no longer a principle, and it Avas clearly time for Mr. Galla tin to retire. On the 3d December, Avhen it Avas certain that no choice had been raade by the people, he Avrote frora Ncav Geneva to his son : " The Republican party seeras to me to be fairly defunct. Our principal misfortune was perhaps the want of a popular candidate. The great defect of our system is the mon archical principle adraltted In our Constitution." The election of Mr. Adams took place on February 9, 1825. Rumors in regard to the new Cabinet were communicated by Mr. Stewart, the representative of Fayette County, to James Gallatin, at Baltimore, who wrote them to his father. Mr. Gal latin replied in a letter of February 19. Mr. Jaraes Gallatin, who, as a boy at Ghent, had been a favorite of Mr. Adaras, enclosed this letter to the ucav President Avithout his father's knowledge. Mr. Adaras replied at once, and the correspond ence will serve to close this account of the election of 1824-25, disappointing and unsatisfactory to every one Avho shared in it. ' 1826. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. ANDREAV STEWART TO JAMES GALLATIN. 607 Washington, 15th February, 1825. . . . Many rumors are afloat on the subject of the new Cabi net. The Treasury Department has been offered to Mr. Craw ford in the most flattering terms, Avhicli he has, however, declined. It is confidently asserted that it has been or will be offered to your father. Whether he Avill be disposed to accept you know best. There is evidently a strong Avish to conciliate the friends of Mr. Crawford to the ucav Administration. . . . ALBERT GALLATIN TO JAMES GALLATIN. New Geneva, Pennsyly.ania, 19th Pebruary, 1825. My DEAR Jambs, — Young Ebert has brought rae this even ing your letter of the I6th. I have heard nothing on the subject either from Mr. Adams or from any other person. The Wash ington mail for this place, Avhich raay have arrived to-day at Union, will not reach Ncav Geneva before Thursday. I ara sorry to find that you feel so much for me on account of the late political disappointments. There is much consolation in the reflection that, having served the country with entire devo tion, perfect fidelity, and to the best of my abilities, the loss of my popularity is not owing to any improper conduct on my part. We must cheerfully submit to what Ave cannot prevent, enjoy with thanks the blessings within our reach, and not raake our selves unhappy by unavailing regrets. This I mean as advice to you ; for I really do not want it for myself. As to ray accepting the Treasury Department, it is out of question. I refused it In 1816, when offered by Mr. Madison. To fill that office in the raanner I did, and as It ought to be filled, is a most laborious task and labor of the most tedious kind. To fit myself for it, to be able to understand thoroughly, to embrace and to control all its details, took from me, during the tAvo first yeare I held it, every hour of the day and many of the night, and had nearly brought a pulmonary complaint. I filled the office twelve years, and Avas fairly AVorn out. Having lost sight of the c'etails during the last tAvelve years would require a 608 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1825! new effort, AvhIch, at this tirae, it Avould be unjust and cruel to require of me. But even with respect to the Department of State, for which I am better calculated than any other, and as fit as any other person, it appears to me, considering the situation in which I have been placed, that unless Mr. CraAvford had remained in the Administration, it would not be proper for rae to become a member of it. This is much strengthened by the surmises to Avhicli Mr. Clay's conduct has given birth, and by the circum stance of his accepting one of the Dejiartments. I raust and will at all events remain above the reach of suspicion. I do not Avish to be underetood as speaking or Avishing to act in opposition to Mr. Adams or to his Administration. I wish, on the contrary, that it raay redound to his honor and be bene ficial to his country. I had ahvays .stated to Mr. CraAvford him self and to our friends that, next to him, Mr. Adaras was my choice among the other candidates. To receive our support he has only to act in conformity with our principles. If you should Avrite to StcAvart, enter into no details, and only say that you are satisfied, from the general tenor of my corre spondence, that I had not as late as this day received the offer of the Treasury Departraent, and that, if offered, I could not accept it. 25th February. I received yours of 19th inst. The information given you by A. StcAvart appeare to have been erroneous, as I have received nothing frora Mr. Adams. I am glad of it, as I like better not to be appointed than to have to decline the appointment. . . . J. Q. ADAMS TO JAMES GALLATIN. "Washington, 26th February, 1825. Dear Sir, — Conformably to your desire, I return herewith your father's letter, Avith ray thanks for the perusal of it. I have ahvays entertained a very high opinion of your father's character and public services, and am much gratified with the sentiments personal towards me expressed in his letter. That he Avill support the Administration so far as its conduct shall be 1625. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 609 conformable to the principles which he approves is Aviiat I should have expected from his sense of justice. My pereonai feelings towards your father, particularly since we Avere associated together in the negotiations for peace and coraraerce Avith Great Britain, have been eminently friendly. They are so still, and it would have been gratifying to me to have had the benefit of his assistance in the Administration about to comraence. The reasons assigned in his letter for his declining the Treasury Department were chiefly those which deterred me from offering him a nomination to It ; and those of thera founded upon objections to oppressively laborious duties applying more forcibly still to the Departraent of State than to that of the Treasury contributed to ray conclusion that neither of thera Avould have been acceptable to hira. Had I been aware that his acceptance of the Department of State would have been conditional either upon Mr. CraAvford's remaining In the Ad^ ministration or upon Mr. Clay's exclusion from it, or upon both, it Avould have been to rae an additional motive to refrain frora making the offer. Approving altogether of your father's de termination to reraain above the reach of suspicion, I should never make hira a proposal by the acceptance of which, even in his own imagination, a taint of suspicion could attach to his character. It is ray earnest wish that he may to the end of his days remain above the reach of suspicion ; but, as that does not always depend upon oureelves, if it should prove otherwise I can only hope that every suspicion which raay befall him should be as unjust and groundless as the surmises to which Mr. Clay's conduct has given birth. The parental advice in your father's letter is worthy of his firmness and conscious Integrity. These are never-failing sup ports under the loss of public favor. This, however, has not been sustained by hira to the extent which he appears to appre hend. The respect for his character and services continues un- irapaired; In my mind at least it remains as strong as ever, unaffected even by the distrust which I regret to see entertained by him, of the error of which I have no doubt he will live to be convinced. I am, with great regard and esteem, dear sir, &c. 89 610 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1825. GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. New Gknkva, Pennsylvania, 18th March, 1825. Your good letter afforded me, my dear friend, great satisfac tion, and would have been long ago answered had it not been for the uncertainty of my movements this spring. You had designated the month of April as the time of your intended visit here, and I had made arrangements to be absent during that and the ensuing month on a visit AvhIch I had believed indispensable to my lands In Ohio and on Kanawha. It has at last been agreed that James will go in my place, so that I will be here from this time to the month of October. I expect you, therefore, this spring, and hope that nothing will intervene to prevent the mutual pleasure of this meeting. I see by your letter that you are not perfectly satisfied either with yourself or the world. As to the first, I may say with truth that you haA'e less to reproach yourself with than any other person Avithin my knoAvledge. But I believe emigration, when not compulsory, to be always an error, and you are the only person that I ever induced to take that step ; so that even in that respect the blame must at least be shared betAveen us. As to the world, I have been, like you, disappointed in the estimate I had formed of the virtue of mankind and of its influence over others. Every day's experience convinces us that most unprincipled men are often raost successful. In this country there is much more morality and less of Integrity than on the continent of Europe. This we cannot help ; and as to myself, taking everything into consideration, I have had so much greater share of all that appears desirable than I had any right to expect, that I have none to complain. Yours has been a harder lot, yet I doubt whether not as happy. . . . My general health is good, and I do not look older than I am; but I am weak and cannot bear any fatigue. This, indeed. Is the reason why my family Insisted that I should not take my Intended journey. ... My old friends in this country are almost all dead ; the few survivore . . . quite superannuated. . . . The experiment of living at Friendship Hill did not succeed. 1826. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 611 Not only Avas New Geneva an unsuitable place for the advance ment of children, but it Avas beyond question intolerably dull for Mr. Gallatin himself. He made the experiment during one winter, and then abandoned it, as It proved, forcA-er. The Governor of Pennsylvania offered hira in May, 1825, the appointment of Canal Coramissioner, a compliment to his Avell-known interest in internal improvements, Avliich he declined. America was now convulsed by the visit of La Fayette, alraost the first occasion on which the people of the United States showed their capacity for a genuine national enthusiasm. In his triumphal progress. La Fayette passed through Western Pennsylvania and Avas publicly welcomed by Mr. Gallatin in an address delivered before the court-house at Uniontown, In Avhicli he touched AvIth ranch .skill upon the subjects which were then most deeply interesting the liberals of all nations, — the emancipation of the Spanish colonies and of Greece. La Fayette was a propagandist of the Greek cause in America, and Mr. Gallatin had always sympathized with hira on this point, even to the extent of raeriting the thanks of the Greek governraent while he VA'as minister in Paris. In the address to La Fayette at Uniontown he spoke with extraor dinary earnestness of the critical situation of the Greeks : " The cause is not yet won ! An almost miraculous resistance may yet perhaps be overwhelmed by the tremendous superiority of numbere. And avIII the civilized, the Christian Avorld, — for those words are synonymous, — will they look with apathy on the dreadful catastrophe that would ensue? A catastrophe which they, which even we alone could prevent with so much facility and almost without danger? I am carried beyond what I in tended to say. It Is due to your presence, — do I not know that wherever raan, struggling for liberty, for existence. Is raost in danger, there is your heart ?" The address to La Fayette was a last revival of the old' flame of eloquence and of republican feeling which had controlled and inspired the opposition to Washington and John Adams. It should be read after reading the great speech on foreign intd-- couree delivered in 1798, and taken in that connection It Avill offer a curious standard for comparing tlio movement of parties and of men. 612 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1825. La Fayette was received at Uniontown on the 26tli May, 1825, and the next day he drove Avitli Mr. Gallatin to Friendship Hill, Avhere he passed the night and resumed his journey on the 28th. His mind was full of his triumphal progress, and of the fortunes of Greece, but he AA'as allowed little rest even in the retirement of New Geneva. CroAvds of peojile thronged Mr. Gallatin's house, and there could be little sensible or connected conversation in the midst of such excitement. On the 10th June, Mr. Gallatin Avrote to a friend : " We are here very retired, AvliIch suits me and ray sons, but is not so agreeable to the ladles. . . . The unlforralty of our life has been enlivened by the visit of our friend La Fayette ; but he Avas in great hurry, and the Nation's Guest had but little time to give to his personal friend.s, that, too, encumbered even In my house with a prodigious crowd." After a sumraer on the Monongahela, Mr. Gallatin took his family to Baltimore for the Avinter. Early In November he received a letter from Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, offering him the position of representative of the United States at the proposed Congress of American republics at Panama. When Mr. Gallatin declined the post, on account of the climate and the language, Mr. Clay wrote again urging reconsideration. He said : "I think the mission the raost important ever sent frora this country, those only excepted which related to its independence and the termination of the late war. It will haA'e objects which cannot fail to redound to the lasting fame of our negotlatore. If they should be accomplished, as I think there is much reason to believe they may be." Mr. Gallatin thoroughly sympathized in the policy of strengthening the relations between the American republics, but pereisted in declining the appointraent. The opposition of his faraily seems to have been his principal difficulty. Towards the spring of 1826, a new demand was made on his services. President Adaras had on assuming office recalled Mr. Rush from England to take charge of the Treasury Departraent, and had sent Mr. Rufus King to London. Mr. King's health gave way imraediately after his arrival, and he Avas incapacitated for business. The Administration at once summoned Mr. Galla- 1820. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 613 tin to Washington. The story is told in his own words, in a letter written on the 12th May, 1826 : " You Avill have seen by the neAvspapere that I Avas appointed minister to England. There are important negotiations uoav pending between that country and the United States, and the state of Mr. King's health Avas such that he had requested that, for that purpose, an extraordinary minister might be united to him. Under those circumstances I Avas requested and agreed to go as special minister. Before my nomination was sent to the Senate, Mr. King resigned altogether his place, and his resigna tion arrived to this country and Avas accepted. The President, wishing to entrust me alone with the negotiation, and unwilling to nominate at once a special minister for that purpose and an ordinary minister as successor to Mr. King, requested that I should go in the latter character, but with powers to fiegotiate,. and with the understanding that I should be at liberty to return as soon as the negotiation was terminated, in sarae manner as if I had been appointed on a special mission. With that express understiinding I have accepted. But my nomination has been made merely as successor to Mr. King, and the circurastances above mentioned are not publicly knoAvn. I now mention them to you in confidence in orde(r to remove your apprehension of another long absence. This cannot last longer than a tAvelve- month." The President appeare to have intended that Mr. Gallatin should have ample discretionary power to act according to his best judgment in the negotiation ; but when the instructions arrived, whether Mr. Clay was not inclined to allow such lati tude, or whether Mr. Adams's ideas of discretionary power were different from Mr. Gallatin's, the latter found his position not satisfactory, and before sailing he Avrote both to the Presi dent and to Mr. Clay letters of Avarm remonstrance, AvIth sug gestions of the changes needed to alloAV of freer action on his part. This done, he took his departure from New York, on July 1, 1826, accompanied by his wife and daughter, and arrived In London on the 7th August. The negotiation now to take place Avas probably the most complicated and arduous ever trusted by the United States gov- 614 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1826. ernment in the hands of a single agent. It embraced not only those commercial questions Avhich had been so often and so fruit lessly discussed, and which involved the whole system of British colonial and navigation laws, but also the troublesome disputes of boundary on our extreme north-eastern and north-western frontier, in Maine and Oregon; the settlement of a long out- stiindiiig claim for slaves carried away by British troops in con travention of the First Article of the Treaty of Ghent; and the continuance of the commercial convention negotiated by Mr. Gallatin in 1815 and extended In 1818 for ten years by him and Mr. Rush. All the principal notes and despatches which record from day to day the progress of the various negotiations have been published, and are to be found In the great collection of American State Papers; to them, students raust refer for details, .which bdong to the region of history rather than to biography; here It Is enough to describe some of the leading points of the situation and to give some slight idea of the manner in Avhich Mr. Gallatin dealt with his difficulties. Of these difficulties perhaps the greatest was that Lord Castle reagh was no longer head of the Foreign Office. Lord Castle reagh's political sins may have been raany and dark, but toAvards the United States he was a Avise and fair man. No one asked or expected friendship from a British minister of that day ; all that America wished was to be treated by the English govern raent with some degree of respect. Lord Castlereagh humored this weakness ; his raanners and his temper were excellent ; his commercial views were much in advance of his time; he con ceded with grace, and his refusals left no sting. When in 1822 he put an end to his own career, he Avas succeeded in the Foreign Office by George Canning, doubtless a greater man, but one Avhose temper was not gentle towards opposition, and whose old triumphs over embargo and non-intercourse had not left upon his imagination any profound respect for American character. Mr. Canning liked brilliant and aggressive statesmanship. He Avas not inclined to admit the ucav doctrines which had been an nounced by President Monroe in regard to the future exclusion of Europe from Araerica ; he felt that the power of the United States was a danger and a threat to England, and he Avould have 1826. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 615 been glad to strike out some new path Avhich should relieve the commerce of England from its increasing dependence on America. Unfortunately for Mr. Gallatin, the very moraent Avhich Mr. Canning chose for experimenting on this subject was tlie moment Avhcn Gallatin was on his Avay to England In the summer of 1826. The object avIiIcIi he selected for experiment was the West India trade. As lias been already shoAvn, the British governraent both In 1815 and in 1818 had declined to accept the Araericaupropo- sltions on this subject. The trade betAveen the United States and the West Indies was therefore left to be regulated by legis lation as suited the interests of the parties. In proportion as England opened her colonial ports to American vessels. Congress relaxed the severity of Its navigation laAV, and, in spite of inces sant dispute about details, this process Avent on with favorable results as fast as public opinion In England would allow. There was only one draAvback to the policy. In the multiplication of restrictive and retaliatory laAvs the intercourse became so embar rassed that no man could pretend to say what Avas and what was not perraitted or forbidden. In 1825 Parliament had undertaken a general revision of the colonial and navigation systera, and several laws were adopted by which considerable changes had been raade and liberal privi leges granted to foreign nations on certain conditions. So far as applied to the United States, the condition was that she should place British shipping on the footing of the most favored nation. The laAvs were intricate and impossible to understand without authoritative explanation. Mr. Clay and the comraittees of Con gress considered the subject with care. The result was a decision to attempt nothing by way of legislation, but to give Mr. Galla tin authority to make such concessions as would probably secure a satisfactory arrangement by treaty. With these powers in his hand, not doubting that at length this annoying contest would be dosed, Mr. Gallatin landed in England, and was met by the announcement that the British government, in consequence of the failure of Congress to fulfil the conditions of the Act of Pariia-v ment of July 5, 1825, had withdrawn the privileges conferred by that act; had prohibited, by order in coundl, all intercouree 616 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1826. in American vessels between the British West Indies and the United States ; and refused even to discuss the subject further. In a small way this proceeding was only a repetition of Mr. Canning's abrupt rupture of negotiation in the case of Mr. Monroe's unratified treaty twenty years before. Orders in coun cil had a peculiarly irritating meaning to American ears, and any negotiator wouhl have had some excuse for losing his teraper in such a case, but it raust be agreed that on this occasion the American government In all its branches appeared with dignity and composure. Mr. Gallatin's notes AVcre excellent in tone, forbearing in temper, and conclusive in arguraent; Mr. Clay was not less quiet and temperate. Between the two Mr. Canning did not appear equally well. He resorted to what was little better than hair-splitting on the meaning of the Avords " right" and " claim" as applied to the American trade with the colonies. "When it is contended," said he In a note of November 13, 1826, " that the ' right' by Avhich Great Britain prohibits foreign nations frora trading Avith her colonies is the same ' right with that by which she might (if she thought fit) prohibit them from trading with herself, this argument (Avhich is employed by the United States alone) implies that the special prohibition is a grievance to the United States, if not of the same amount, of the sarae kind, as the general prohibition would be. This is a doctrine which Great Britain explicitly denies." In short, Mr. Canning was determined upon making one more effort to save the colonial systera, and he preferred to do it In a way that would be reraembered. Possibly his policy Avas sound; at all events he obtained by its means for England a very degrading apology from the next American Administration, although the number of his diplomatic triumphs over Araerica Avas by that tirae no longer a matter of concern to hira, and he and his ambition were then things of the past. His motives. In this instance, Avere not quite clear ; what he avowed was the determi nation to ascertain by experiment whether the West Indies could be made independent of the United States by opening the colo nial trade to all the rest of the world and prohibiting it to the United States alone. In the face of this attempt the American government had only one course to pursue : it must acquiesce and 1826. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 617 resume Its retaliatory prohibition. This Avas accordingly done, without irritating language, and in excellent temper and taste. In regard to this branch of his negotiation, Mr. Gallatin's task therefore became simple; he had merely to obtain from the British government a distinct avowal of its determination to maintain this ncAV policy against a direct offer of negotiation. He reserved this step until the very do.se of his miasion, and his last Avords to Earl Dudley on the subject arc Avorth quoting : "The right of Great Britain to regulate the intercourse with her colonies is not questioned, and it is not usual for nations to make any great sacrifice for the sake of asserting abstract prin ciples which are not contested. She Is undoubtedly the only proper judge of Avhat should be her commercial policy. The undereigned has not been fortunate enough to be able to discover what actual advantages she derlA'cs frora the measures in Avliich she perecA'eres in regard to the colonial intercourse. He has ap prehended that considerations foreign to the question might con tinue to oppose obstacles to a proper understanding. Nothing has been omitted to remoA'C those which might liaA'c arisen frora misconceptions of the vIcavs and proceedings of the American government. It is gratifying to have received assurances that the decision of Great Britain Avas not influenced by any un friendly feelings toAvards the United States. Their sentiments for Great Britain are those of amity and good-will ; and their government is animated by a sincere desire to improve and strengthen the friendly relations of the two countries." This sudden and unexpected blow, AvliIch instantly put an end to the raost hopeful branch of Mr. Gallatin's intended negotia tion, had a vety mischievous effect upon the negotiation as a whole ; practically and for the moraent it annulled all his in structions. He had to act for hiraself, and he Avas much per plexed to form any theory of British motives Avhich would serve to guide his course. He attempted to look at the matter from the British point of view, and wrote his first impressions to Mr. Clay on the 22d September, 1826 : "On three points avc Avere perhaps vulnerable. 1. The delay in renewing the negotiation. 2. The omission of having revoked the restriction on the indirect intercourse when that of Great 618 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 18:20. Britain had ceased. 3. Too long an adherence to the opposition to her right of laying protecting duties. This might have been given up as soon us the Act of 1825 had passed. These are tlie causes assigned for the late measures adopted towards the United States on that subject, and they have undoubtedly had a decisive effect as far as relates to the order in council, assisted as they were by the belief that our object Avas to compel this country to regulate the trade upon our OAvn terms. But even this will not account for the refusal to negotiate and the apparent determina tion to exclude us altogether hereafter from a participation in the trade of the colonies. There is certainly an alteration in the disposition of this government since the year 1818, Avhen I Avas last here. Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Robinson had it more at heart to cherish friendly relations than Mr. Canning and Mr. Husklsson. The difference may, however, be in the times rather than in the men. Treated in general with considerable arrogance till the last Avar, with great attention, if not r^pect, during the yeare that foUoAved it, the United States are noAV an object of jealousy ; and a policy founded on that feeling has been avoAved." ' The firet part of the above paragraph, doAvn to the words " upon our OAvn terms," was afterwards paraphrased by Mr. Van Buren as the ground of his celebrated deprosatlon to Great Britain, when glA'Ing his instructioiLS, as Secretary of State, to Mr. McLane, as Minister to England. This fact was discovered by Mr. Benton, Avho has, in his " Thirty Yeare' VIcav," ^ printed that portion of the above despatch of 22d September, 1826, at the same time judiciously omitting the remainder, as had been done by Llr. Van Buren himself. This Is not the place for making any comment either upon Mr. Van Buren's statesman ship or ISIr. Benton's merits as a historian ; but it is proper to point out that nothing in Mr. Gallatm's despatch could honestly be made to support the credit of either the one or the other.' 1 See Writings, vol. ii. p. 324. ' Yol. i. p. 216. ' The objectionable passages iu Mr. "Van Buren's instructions to Mr. McLane were the following : " In reviewing the events which have preceded and more or less con tributed to a result so much to be regretted, there will be found three grounds upon which we are most assailable. 1st. In our too long and too 1826. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 619 But Mr. Gallatin's remarks of September 22 were written before receiving the explanations of his oavu governtnent, and they did not express a matured opinion. He Avas greatly per- tenaoiously resisting tho right of Great Britain to impose protecting duties in her colonies. 2d. In not relieving her vessels from the restriction of re turning direct from the United States, after permission had been given by Great Britain to our vessels to clear out from the colonies to any other than a British port ; and, 8d. In omitting to accept the terms offered by the Act of Parliament of July, 1825, after the subject had been brought before Con gress and deliberately acted upon by our government. It is, without doubt, to the combined operation of these (three) causes that we are to attribute the British interdict ; you will therefore see the propriety of possessing yourself fully of all the explanatory and mitigating circumstances connected with them, that you may be able to obviate, as far as practicable, tho un favorable impression which they have produced. " The opportunities which you have derived from a participation in our public counsels, as well as other sources of information, will enable you to speak with confidence (as far as you may deem it proper and useful so to do) of the respective parts taken by those to whom the administration of this government is now committed, in relation to the course heretofore pursued upon the subject of the colonial trade. Their views upon that point have been submitted to the people of the United States | and the counsels by which your conduct is now directed are the result of the judgment expressed by the only earthly tribunal to which the late Administration was amenable for its acts. It should be sufficient that the claims set up by them, and which caused the interruption of the trade in question, have been explicitly abandoned by those who first asserted them, and are not revived by their successors. If Great Britain deems it adverse to her interests to allow us to participate in the trade with her colonies, and finds nothing in the exten sion of it to others to induce her to apply the same rule to us, she will, we hope, be sensible of the propriety of placing her refusal on those grounds. To set up the acU of the late Administration as the cause of forfeiture of privileges which would otherwise be extended to the people of the United States, would, under existing circumstances, be unjust in itself, and could not fail to excite their deepest sensibility. The tone of feeling which a course so unwise and untenable is calculated to produce would doubtless be greatly aggravated by the consciousness that Great Britain has, by order in council, opened her colonial ports to Russia and France, notwithstanding a similar omission on their part to accept tho terms offered by the Act of July, 1825. You cannot press this view of the subject too earnestly upon the consideration of the British ministry. It has bearings and relations that reach beyond the immediate question under discussion. " I will ndd nothing as to the impropriety of suffering any feelings that And their origin in the past pretensions of this government to have an adverse influence upon the present conduct of Great Britain." 620 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1826. plexed to underetand the real motives of Mr. Canning. On the 18th October, not one month after this despatch to Mr. Clay, he Avrote a prlA'ate letter to the President, giving some interest ing information he had obtained on a short visit to Paris.' In this letter he mentioned having received inforraation from a respectable quarter that " a fcAv days before the publication of tlie order in council of July last, one of the King's ministere had complained to a confidential friend of the general tone of the American diplomacy toAvards England, still more as respected manner than matter, and added that it Avas time to shoAV that this was felt and resented." Puzzled to knoAv Avliat could have caused such displeasure, Mr. Gallatin adds that he had looked through all the published correspondence and could find nothing Avith Avhich the British government could have taken offence, unless it Avere Mr. Adams's instructions to Mr. Rush, Avith which that government had no concern. E\'en in this supposition, how ever, it soon appeared tliat he Avas mistaken ; for on the 27th November he Avrote to IMr. Clay that he had further ascertained the name of the " King's minister" before mentioned. It was no less a pereon than Mr. Canning himself; he had said that the language used by America Avas almost tantamount to a declaration of Avar; he had used the sarae languagre to Mr. Grallatin, and his grievance was not at all against the President or his officere, but against a certain Mr. Baylies, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, Avho, as chairman of a committee, had made a belligerent report to the House, which had never even been taken Into consideration. " It is most undoubtedly that report AvhIch has given great offence, and I am apt to think that, though not the remote, or only, it Avas the immediate cause of the order in council." Feeling his way in this tentative manner, ahvays the raost difficult task of a new mmister in critical times, Mr. Gallatin approached the other subjects of negotiation. At the close of the year he A\Tote to the President, sketching the state of each disputed point and earnestly pressing for instructions. This letter doses Avith the folloAving unusually severe remarks : ' "Writings, vol. ii. p. 827. 1827. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. 621 "Although all my faculties are exerted, and it is far from being the firet time, in trying to accommodate diflcrenccs and to remove causes of rupture. It is impassible for rae not to see and feel the temper that prevails here toAvards us. It is perceptible in CA'cry quarter and on every occasion, quite changed from Avhat it was in 1815-1821 ; nearly as bad as before the last Avar, only they hate more and despise les.?, though they still affect to con ceal hatred under the appearance of contempt. I Avould not say this to any but to you and your confidential advisers, and I say it not in order to excite corresponding feelings, but becauise I think that avc must look forward and make those gradual preparations Avhicli Avill make us ready for any emergency, and which may be sufficient to preserve us from the ap})rehended danger. ... I must say, after ray remarks on the temper here, that I have been personally treated with great, by Mr. Canning with marked, civility." Thus difficulties thickened round him as he advanced. The West India negotiation could not take place ; there was no hope for the navigation of the St. Lawrence ; there Avas no chance of fixing a definitive boundary in Oregon ; even to make the pre liminary arrangements for compromising the dispute about the Maine boundary Avould be laborious and arduous ; the only point settled was ^that of payment in a gross sum for captured slaves. ALBERT GALLATIN TO JAMES GALLATIN. London, 13th January, 1827. . . . We continue all well, and I anticipate nothing that can prevent our taking our departure about the middle of June. All that I can possibly do here must be terminated by that tirae, provided the instructions I have asked on some points be such as not to render another reference to Washington necessary. I have Avritten to the Department of State accordingly, and asked for leave to return by that time, to which I presume no objection will be made, as It was explicitly understood that I should re main no longer than the pending negotiations required, and Mr. Adams's conjecture that they would occupy about tAvdve months is confirmed. I have Avritten to him a private letter by the last 622 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1827. packet, most earnestly entreating him both to direct the necessary instructions to be sent and to grant mo leave to return. As you know him, and he has always slioAvn kindness to you, I wish you would join your solicitations to mine, either in Avriting or by waiting in person on him. There are many things which you may say or explain shoAving the importance of my return to my faraily. As to myself, Avhether it is the result of age (you know that in a fortnight I will enter my sixty-seventh year) or increased anxiety about you and your brother, my mind Is enervated, and I feel that a longer absence Avould have a most serious effect upon me. As it is, though my health is tolerable, I hardly dare to hope that I avIU see you again. Nor Avill my return be any public loss. The United States Avant here a man of considerable talent, but he must be younger than I am and capable of going through great labor with raore facility than I noAV possess. This is at all times the most laborious foreign mission. It is at this time, OAving to the negotiations, one of the most laborious public offices. I cannot Avork neither as long nor do as much AVork In the sarae tirae as formerly. To think and to Avrite, to see the true state of the question, and to state it, not Avith eloquence, but with perspicuity, all that formerly was done Instantaneously and Avith ease is noAV attended Avith labor, requires time, and Is not performed to my satisfaction. I believe that Mr. LaAvrence will prove a useful public servant. Yet I have missed and do miss your assistance every day. I did not like French diplomacy ; I cannot say that I admire that of this country. Some of the French statesmen occasionally say Avhat is not true (cordon sanltalre) ; here they conceal the truth. The temper also toAvards us is bad. After all, though It is necessary to argue Avell, you may argue forever In vain ; strength and the opinion of your strength are the only efficient Aveapons. We must either shut ourselves in our shell, as was attempted during the Jefferson policy, and I might say mine, or Ave must support our rights and pretensions by assuming at home a different atti tude. I think that we are noAV sufficiently numerous and rich for that purpose, and that with skill our resources Avould be found adequate. But that Is a subject requiring raore discussion than can be encorapassed in a letter. I fear that you Avill find 1827. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. (323 this Avritten in a too desponding mood ; and I do not wish you to despond as relates to yourself. . . . What you may, or rather ought to, do about our lands. It belongs to you to decide. They are youre and Albert's, and you must consider them as such, keep or sacrifice, since there is no chance of a fiivorable sale at present, as you shall think best. It is a troublesome and unpro ductive property, Avhidi has plagued rae all my life. I could not have vested ray patrimony in a more unprofitable manner. . . . ALBERT GALLATIN TO JAMES GALLATIN. London, 29th January, 1827. ... I do not underetand [in your letter] Avhat relates to Mr. Claj''s letter and mine on colonial Intercouree, and AvIiy they should be brought in competition. They were written for dif ferent purposes, mine in defence of the general ground taken by America and of her claims on that subject, addressed, too, to Mr. Canning, and on that account raore guarded and cautious ; that of Mr. Clay principally in defence of the conduct of the Admin istration on the subject since he carae in office, and Avritten without apprehension that it raight be ansAvered. I Avas but indifferently satisfied with my own or AvIth the cause I had to contend for; and that of Mr. Clay, though too long and too hastily written, was better than I had expected. He has great talent, and has vastly improved since 1814. His fault Is that he is devoured with ambition, and in all his acts never can detach himself and their effect on his popularity from the subject on which he is called to act. But Avhilst serving in his Department it is unpleasant to be placed in opposition to hira. J. Q. ADAMS TO GALLATIN.i Washinoton, 20th March, 1827. Dear Sir, — I have received frora you several very kind and friendly letters, for which the unremitted pressure of public business during the session of Congress has not permitted me to ' Gallatin's Writings, ii. 864. 624 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1827. make the due return of acknowledgment. The march of time, Avhich stays not for the convenience or the humors of raen, has closed the existence of that body for the present, and they have left our relations AvIth Great Britain precisely Avliere they were. The sudden and unexpected determination of the British government to break off all negotiation concerning the colonial trade, and the contemporaneous measure of Interdicting the ves sds of the United States from all their ports in the West Indies, as well as many others, has taken us so much by surprise that a single short session of Congress has not been sufficient to raature the systera by which Ave may most effectively meet this new position assumed by the colonial monopoly of Great Britain. . . . From the state of your negotiation upon the other subjects of interest In discussion between the tAvo governments, as exhibited In your latest despatches and letters, there is little encouragement to expect a satisfactory result regarding them. There are diffi culties in the questions themselves, — difficulties still raore serious in the exorbitant pretensions of Great Britain upon every point, — difficulties, to all appearances, insuperable in the temper which Great Britain noAV brings into the manageraent of the contro versy. For the causes of this present soreness of feeling we raust doubtless look deeper than to the report of a coraraittee of our House of Representatives or to the assertion by the late President that the American continents were no more subject to future colonization frora Europe. As the assertion of this principle is an attitude Avhich the American hemisphere must assume, it is one AvhIch no European has the right to question ; and if the inference drawn from it of danger to existing colonies has any foundation, it can only be on the contingency of a Avar, Avhich we shall by all possible means avoid. As to the report of Mr. Baylies, If Mr. Canning has not enough upon his hands to soothe the feelings of foreign nations for what he says in Parliament hiraself, he Avould think it passing strange to be called to account for offences of that character committed by Mr. Brougham or Mr. Hume. He surely cannot be so ill informed of the state of things existing here as not to know that Mr. Baylies is not the man by whom the sentiments or opinions of this or of the last Administration of the government of the United States Avere or 1827. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. (525 are Avont to be expressed. The origin, rise, and progress of this " Oregon Territory Committee," of Avhich Mr. Baylies became at lost the chairman, is perhaps not known even to you ; but you may remember it Avas the engine by means of Avhich Mr. Jona than Russell's famous duplicate letter Avas brought before the House of Representatives and the nation, and that incident avIU give you a clue to the real purposes for which that committee was raised and to the spirit manifested in the report of Mr. Baylies. Upon the Avhole, if the same inflexible disposition AvhIch you have found prevailing upon the subject of the colonial trade, and of which indications so distinct have been given upon the bound ary questions and the navigation of the St. Lawrence, should continue unabated, our last resource must be to agree upon the rencAval for ten yeare of the Convention of 1818. This would probably now obtain the advice and consent of the Senate for ratification. On the colonial trade question the opposition here have takeii the British side, and their bill in the Senate was con cession unqualified but by a deceptive show of future resistance. But you must not conclude that the same spirit would be ex tended to anything in the shape of concession which you might send to us in'a treaty. One inch of ground yielded on the north west coast, — one step backAvard from the claim to the navigation of the St. Lawrence, — one hair's-breadth of compromise upon the article of Impressment, would be certain to meet the repro bation of the Senate. In this temper of the parties, all we can hope to accomplish avIII be to adjourn controvereies Avhich we cannot adjust, and say to Britain, as the Abb6 Bernis said to Cardinal Fleurl : Monseigneur, j'attcndrai. Your instructions will be forwarded in season that you may be subjected to no delay in bringing the negotiation to an issue ; but I regret exceedingly the loss to the public of your continued services. The political and commercial system of Great Britain is undergoing great changes. It will certainly not stop at the stage Avhere it now stands. The interdicting order in council of last July itself has the air of a start backwards by Mr. Huskls son frora his own system to the old navigation laws. His Avhole system is experimental against dccp-rootcd prejudice and a de lusion of past experience. I could earnestly have wished tliat it 40 626 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1827. might have been consistent AvIth your views to remain a year or two longer in England, aud I should have indulged a hoi>e that iu the course of that time some turn In the tide of affaire might have occurred AvhIch AA'Ould have enabled us, Avith your concilia tory management of debatable concerns, to place our relations Avith Great Britain upon a more stable and friendly foundation. As though to annoy Mr. Gallatin Avith indefinite difficulties and delays, a prolonged Cabinet crisis now occurred. Lord Liverpool died suddenly in February, 1827, and the King had to decide Avhether his authority Avas sufficient to sustain Mr. Canning as Prime Minister against the personal isolation in which the temper, rather than the social position, of that remarkable man placed him. On the 28 th April, Mr. Gallatin Avrote to ilr. Clay : " At the dinner of the 23d, Mr. Canning came near Baron Humboldt and me, and told us, ' You see that the opinion universally entertained abroad, and very generally indeed in England, that this government is an Aristocracy, Is not true. It is,' said he, emphatically, 'a Monarchy. The Whigs had found it out in 1784, Avhen they tried to oppose the King's pre rogative of choosing his Prime ^linlster. The Tories have now repeated the same experiment, and Avith no greater success.' He appeare certainly very confident, and speaks of any intended opposition in Parliament as if he had no fear of It." Then Mr. Husklsson, Avho was the chief commissioner on the English side, Avas forced to go abroad for his health. Mr. Grant took Mr. Huskisson's place. Under the steady influence of Mr. Gallatin's conciliatory course and of his strong arguraents, the British Ministry, pressed as they were by absorbing contests at home, tended towards a better disposition, and, although they still adhered with determination to those points upon Avhich they had committed themselves, they proved more corapliant upon others. This tendency avos rather hastened than retarded by the death of Mr. Cannmg iu August, and the elevation of Lord Goderlch to the post of Prime Minister. The tone of Mr. Galktin's lettere to Mr. Clay became more cheerful. On the 6th August, after much discussion, a treaty was signed Avhich continued the commercial convention of 1815 indefinitely, leaving 182T. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1820. g27 either party at liberty to abrogate it at twelve months' notice. On the same day another convention was signed by whidi the joint use of the disputed Oregon territory, a.^ defined in the 3d Artide of tlie convention of 1818, was also indefinitely continued, sub ject likewise to abrogation at twelve months' notice. Finally, on the 29th September, a new convention was signed providing for the reference of the disputed Maine boundary to a friendly sovereign. This accomplished, Mr. Gallatin hastened homcAvards, and, after a passage of fifty-tAvo days, arrived in New York on the 30th November. J. Q. ADAMS TO GALLATIN. "Washinqton, December 12, 1827. Dear Sir, — I have recdved your obliging letter from New York, and, although it Avould give me great pleasure to see you here, I know not that any material public interest will require your presence. Your three conventions Avere sent yesterday to tlie Senate for their consideration. In what light they will vIcav tliem I cannot yet foresee. I wish they may prove as satisfactory to them as they are to me. I regret exceedingly for the public interest that you found youredf under the necessity of coming home. At the time of your arrival in England, although I do not believe they had a deliberate purpose of coming to a rupture with us, they were undoubtedly in a Avaspish temper, and Mr. Canning had deter mined to play off upon us one of his flourishes for effect. He had been laying up a stock of resentments, for which he was hoping to expose us to public and open humiliation. I bdieve that which most rankled in his mind was the disappointment of the slave-trade convention, though he said perhaps not a word to you about it. But, whatever it was, your convention upon tlie slaA'e indem nities firet turned the tide of feeling and soothed irritations on both sides. You gained an ascendency OA'er him by suffering him to fancy himself victorlons on some points, by the forbear ance to expose too glaringly his absurdities, and his position, from the time of Lord Liverpool's political demise, warned him 628 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1827. that he had enemies enough upon his hands without seeking this querelle d' Allemand with us. Nothing can bo more preposterous than their obstinacy upon this colonial trade squabble; and you had not .set your foot on board ship before they began to grow sick of it. A hurricane had already burst upon the island of St. Kitts and the Virgin Isles. They have now by proclamation opened the Bahama Islands, for vessds in ballast to go and take salt and fruit, and on the 31st of October Mr. Grant told Mr. Lawrence that he regretted you had not settled this affair as satisfactorily as the others. Lord Dudley also admires the great ability of your last note on the subject. These are among the indications not only that their experiment of supplying their islands Avithout us is failing, but that they begin to fed it. I believe had you stayed over the Avinter, they would have come to our terms upon this affair before another summer. Whether they would promote our OAvn interest so Avell as the present condition of things, remains, as It always has been, a more doubtful point to rae. The North-Eastern boundary question Is far otherAvise ira- portant to us than that of the colonial trade, — so important as to give me the deepest concern. I hope your convention will have the approbation of the Senate, and that the sequel will be satisfactory to us. We shall AA'ant the benefit of your information. and of your advice. There are so many of these breakers close aboard of us that I have lost some of my concern for the distant danger of im pressment. Mr. Canning Avas so fond of creating Avorlds that, under his administration, the turn of a straw would have plunged Great Britain into a war Avitli any nation upon earth. His successore Avill be raore prudent, and I hope more pacific. If they should engage in a Avar to Avhich we shall be in the first in stance neutral, I doubt Avhether they Avill authorize their officere to impress beyond their own territorial jurisdiction. I Avould not lose any opportunity of coming to an arrangement with them to abolish this odious practice, but I am weary of rencAvIng Avith thera desperate discussions upon it. Altogether, if your conventions are ratified, I shall indulge a strong hope that our relations with Great Britain generally will 1828. DIPLOMACY. 1813-1829. g29 become more friendly than they liave lately been., But I knoAV only that I shall feel most sensibly the loss of your presence at London, and can forra no more earnest wish than that your suc cessor may acquire the same influence of reason and good temper which you did exercise, and that it may be applied AvIth as salu tary effect to the future discussions betAveen the tAVO governments. I remain, witli great respect and attachment, your friend. With this letter of President Adams the story of Mr. Gal latin's diplomatic career may fitly close. Such evidence leaves nothing to be said In regard to his qualities as a diplomate. In that career he stood firet among the men of his time. He never again returned to Europe, and lienceforAvard his public life may he considered as ended. He had, however, still one duty to perform. The President, unable to pereuade him to remain In London, requested hira to prepare on the part of the United States gOA'crnraent the argu ment in regard to the North-Eastern boundary, which was to be submitted to the King of the Netherlands as arbitrator. This excessively tedious and laborious duty occupied all his time for the next tAvo yeare, and resulted In a bulky volume, which may be found among our public documents. While preparing it he was obliged to pass a portion of his time in Washington, Avhere he found politics less and less to his taste. The election of 1828 terminated the long sway of the old Republican party, and if what he saAV about hira had not convinced Mr. Gallatin that his opinions and methods belonged to a past era. Instinct must have taught him that his career and that of his party had best close together. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Washington, 16th December, 1828. ... I have used every possible endeavor to terminate our business earlier than the day on which it must necessarily be concluded ; I have attended to nothing else, and OAve noAV thirty and raore visits, yet I do not expect to have done before the 1st of January. I cannot rise early, the days are short, the details very complex, ucav raaterials coming in to the last moraent, a 630 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1829. great mass of , papere to read, selections to make, several tran scribers and draughtsmen to direct, aud, independent of age, tho whole much retarded by my being obliged to abstain from Avriting. Yet, though I have not worked so hard, the use of the pen excepted, since I was in the Treasury, I continue to enjoy perfect health. . . . Notwithstanding their triumphant majority, the prospect of the conquering party is not very flattering. The object which alone united them is accomplished, and they dare not now approach the tariff or any other measure of iraportance on which they would immediately divide and break off. Nor is there any man around whom they can rally, the pretensions being numerous and discordant. The state of politics is better In reference to the external relations of the country than during the existence of the Federal and Republican parties ; but it is truly deplorable with respect to the Internal concerns of the nation. . . . GALLATIN TO BADOLLET. New Yokk, March 26, 1829. I duly received, ray dear friend, your letter of 10th January last, and it would have been Immediately ansAvered had not an accident deprived me of the use of my right hand. Rest has now partly restored it; but I am conipelled to employ generally an amanuensis, and to write myself only on special occasions. . . . I hope that, with your moderate wants, you find yourself now comparatively at ease. After much anxiety, I find that our children must be left to cut their oavu way and to provide for themselves; and I have no other uneasiness respecting them than so far as concerns their health, that of Albert and Frances being extreraely delicate, so much so, indeed, as may perhaps compel me to change once raore my place of residence for one more southerly and favorable to their lungs. With great indo lence and an anxious wish to be rooted somcAvhere, I was destined to be ahvays on the wing. It Avas an ill-contrived plan to think that the banks of the Monongahela, Avhere I Avas perfectly satis fied to live and die in retirement, could be borne by the female part of my family or by diildren brought up at Washington 1829. DIPLOMACY. 1818-1829. 631 and Paris, and, unfortunately for them, in an artificial situation which has produced expectations that can never be realized. Albert Avas the only one avIio was happy, and I Avas obliged to break up a comfortable establishment and to attempt a ucav one in one of our seaports Avitli means inadequate to our support. Particular circumstances have made Baltiraore, AvhIch was ray choice, objectionable in sorae respects ; and on my return from England, in conformity with the natural AvIshes of my wife, whose respectable mother, aged eighty-five, Is still alive, I settled here. What I may now do is quite uncertain. To Washington I must proceed in a few days on the business of the North-East bound ary, which is committed tO my care, and will be detained there till the 1st of July. I must add that my public engagements in relation to that important question will cease with the end of this year. I ara not pleased with the present aspect of public affairs, still less with that of the public mind. Perhaps old age raakes rae querulous. I care little what party and Avho is iu power ; but it seems to me that noAV and for the last eight yeare people and leadere haA'e been much less anxious about the public service and the manner in Avhich it should be performed than by whom the country should be governed. This feeling appears to me to be groAving ; and at this moment every movement seems already to be directed toAvards the next Presidential election, and that not on account of any preference of a system of public measures over another, but solely in relation to persons, or at best to sec tional feelings. Amongst other symptoras di.spleasing to me, I may count the attempt of the West, and particularly of your State, to claim the sovereignty and exclusive right to the public lands. I wish they did of right belong to the several States and not to the United States. But the claim Is contrary to positive compact and to common justice, any departure from which, either in our domestic or external policy, is the most fatal injury that can be inflicted on our political institutions, on the reputation of the country, and indeed on the preservation of the Union. But we are going off the scene; I think thatA^e have discharged our duties honestly, and the next generation must provide foi* itself. . . . 632 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1829. For one moment, hoAvever, it seemed possible that Mr. Gal latin might again be employed abroad. Ti»e King of the Netherlands could not be expected to arbitrate without assist ance and advice, and it was peculiarly important that Mr. Gal latin should be at hand for that purpose. Mr. Van Buren's conscience appears to have been someAvhat tender on the subject of Mr. Gallatin since the secret manipulation of the Vice-Presi dency In 1824; and after General Jackson had been chosen President in November, 1828, and events had raarked ont Mr. Van Buren as highly influential with hira, that gentleman seems to have intimated that he considered Mr. Gallatin to have claims upon his good-will. Mr. Gallatin's eldest son was then eager for a diplomatic position, and his father authorized him to tell Mr. Van Buren, and later wrote himsdf to say, that he Avould accept the mission to France, if offered to him, although he was not willing to return to England or even to be Secretary of State. Unfortunately, Mr. Van Buren soon found that he had no power to dispose of his patronage as Secretary, and in the fright ful chaos which folloAved the inauguration of General Jackson the old servants of the government instantly saw that new prin ciples and new practices left no place for them In the national service. GALLATIN TO HIS WIFE. Washinqton, 2d May, 1829. ... I have made mgre progress this Aveek than all the time since my arrival. I was not very well, and felt dispirited. My cold has now entirely left me, and I can see as through a vista the end of my labors. . . . After next week most of the writing will be over and my hand may rest ; but there will be correcting, altering, collating maps and evidence, &c. You call rae a pack- horse, but I am used to it, and might, as relates to the public, have taken for ray motto. Sic vos non vobis. . . . I will be more than delighted to see Frances, if she can come. ... As to beaux I know of none but Van Buren, and he is, I think, a httle crest fallen. . . . 16th May, 1829. ... I have this day finished dictating to Albert our argu- 1829. DirLO.MACY. 1813-1829. 533 ment, — tAVO hundred pages of his Avriting. Mr. Preble promises to return the Avholc to me on ISIonday with his proposed emen dations, Aviilch Avill not be cither long or important; and I hope to have it ready for the President's inspection by Tuesday. ... In giving my love to Maria, tell her that she and Miss Harrison must be out of their senses to think that I can have any influence in placing a clerk or do anything else here ; but . . . upon every occasion I have freely expressed my entire disa[)proba- tlon of the system of removal for political opinions, particularly as applied to clerks, inspectors, &c., of Avliich there had been no instance since the commenceraent of this government. . . . 23d May, 1829. . . . Our arguraent is in the press, and I have every reason to believe that Ave avIU have terminated all that remains to be done for the present by the 1st of next raontli. I ara well, though weak, and you need not fear for me the effect of the Washington climate either physically or politically. There are some things to which I am used, and which do not affect me much or long. Was I not postponed to make room for Robert Smith, even when in my prime and AvIth Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison to sustain me ? And most certainly, Avhatever may be the claims of age and services, I had none whatever on the present Administration. Age, also, so advanced as raine, is not a recommendation ; and we raust raake roora for younger men. . . . Washinoton, 8th November, 1829. . . . We came here Avithout accident. ... I Avork as much as, but not more than, I can Avell go through, but my progress is sloAv; our statement will be nearly as long as one volume of Frances's novels, and it is no trifling task to execute a piece of close reasoning and condensed facts of that length, Avliich is ulti mately intended for the public eye and will be a national and perhaps a public European paper. I do not mean to let it go to the press till corrected and made as faultless as I can, and am more afraid of a failure in the style than in the matter. . . . We dined yesterday at the I'rcsidcnt's. He is very cordial, and did unbend himself entirely. I have avoided every allusion lo 634 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1829. myself, his Cabinet, and the removals. I am told, by one who ought to know, that the Cabinet is divided, Ingham, Branch, and Berrien being the moderate party. I suppose that the division at present is only as to removals, but Avith an eye to the next Presidential election ; and I do not know whether avc raust not becorae Jacksonltes in preference to intended successors. Van Buren is gone to Richraond to court Virginia. . . . 29th November, 1829. ... I got a cold last Tuesday. . . . The weather was so bad that I thought it best to keep in the house. ... I have lost two dinners by ray confinement, one at Mr. and the other at the President's, Avhere Albert Avent. This avos a splendid affair ; the East room, AvhIch, notwithstanding the abuse of Mr. Adams, was but an unfurnished barn, is, under our more Republican Ad ministration, besides the Brussels carpeting and silk curtains, &c., adorned AvIth four Immense French looking-glasses, the largest Albert ever saw, and, by the by, not necessary in a dining- room; three splendid English crystal chandeliers, &c. Fifty guests sitting at dinner, one hundred candles and lamps, silver plate of every description, &c., and for a queen, Peggy O'Neal,' led in by Mr. Vaughan as the head of the Diplomatic Corps, and sitting betAveen him and the President. All which I raen- tlon that, having had Avith me your share of the vanities and grandeurs of this Avorld, you may be quite satisfied that we Avere not indebted for them to any particular merit of ours ; and that the loss of popularity, which we perhaps regret too much (for as to the vanities I knoAV that you care no more about them than I do), is no more an object of astonishment than the manner in which it is acquired. . . . ' See Parton's Life of Andrew Jackson, vol. iii. chap. xvii. ^1 ; " BOOK V. AGE. 1830-1849. Whatever Mr. Gallatin may have thought or said of his physical or intellectual poAvers, he Avas from 1830 to 1840 in the prime of life. Never had his mind been more clear, his judgment more keen, or his experience and knowledge so valu able as Avlien the United States government dispensed with his further services at the close of the year 1829. Intellectually, the next fifteen years were the most fruitful of his Avhole long and laborious career. His case was a singular illustration of the intel lectual moA'cment of his time. Had he now been entering instead of quitting the Avorld, he Avould have found himself draAvn, both by temperament, by cast of mind, and by education, into science or business or literature; for the United States of 1830 Avas no longer the same country as the United States of 1790; It had found a solution of its most serious political problems, and its more active intellectual life Avas turning to the study of social and economical principles, to purely scientific methods and objects, to practical commerce and the means of obtaining Avealth. Old though Mr. Gallatin might think himself, it was to this new society that he and his raental proces,ses belonged, and he found it a pleasure rather than a pain to turn aAvay from that public life which no longer represented a single great political conception, and to grapple Avith the ideas and methods of the coming generation. In fact, the politirjs of the United States from 1830 to 1849 offered as melancholy a spectacle as satirists ever hdd up to derision. Of all the parties that have existed in the United States, the famous Whig party was the most feeble In Ideas and tlie most blundering in management; the Jacksonian Democracy was corrupt in its methods ; and both, as well as society Itself, 635 636 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1830. Avere deeply cankered with two desperate sores : the enormous incrcuse of easily acquired wealth, and the terribly rapid groAvth of slavery and the slave poAver. In such a spectacle there was to Mr. Gallatin no pleasure and deep pain. He did not, like his old colleague J. Q,. Adams, return into public life to offer a violent protest against the degradation of the time, and he did not, like Mr. Adams, pour out his contempt and indigna tion in the bitterest and most savage comments on men and measures ; but he felt quite as strongly, and his thoughts were expressed, AvhencA'cr they Avere expres.sed at all, in language that meant as rauch. Few Americans can now look back upon that time and remember how the whole country Avrithed with pain and rage under the lash of Charles Dickens's satire, without feel ing that this satire Avas in the main deserved. Indeed, there can be no philosophy of history that would not require sorae vast derangement of the national health to account for the mortal convulsion Avith AvhIch that health was at last in part restored. Although Mr. Gallatin was no longer in office, he was still deeply interested in public affairs. Members of the Cabinet, Senators, and membere of Congress, incessantly applied to him for information and advice. Like Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madi son in their retirement, he was consulted as an oracle. His replies were oracular neither in brevity nor in doubtfulness of meaning. He never refused to assist persons, though quite un known to him, Avho asked for such counsel. For a considerable time, so long as financial and economical legislation Avas especially prominent, in the days of tariffs, nullification, national bank, and sub-treasury, he was still a political poAver and made his influence deeply fdt. The first occasion for his active interference In politics under the ncAV r6gime was somcAvhat accidental, In the early part of General Jackson's Administration the question of renewing the pharter of the Bank of the United States Avas not yet a prom inent party issue ; that the President Avould make a bitter per sonal contest for the destruction of the bank Avas not su.spected and the tendency of public opinion seemed to favor a rencAval of the diarter. In April, 1830, soon after the argument on the North-East boundary was disposed of, Mr. Gallatin received a 1830. AGE. 1830-1849. §37 letter from Robert Walsh, Jr., editor of the American Quarterly Review In Philaddphia, requesting an article on currency, in connection with INlr. IMcDuffio's recent Congressional report on the Bank of the United States. Mr. Gallatin replied that he would be disposed to comply If he thought he could add any thing to Avhat had been done by others. He described hiraself as an "ultra- bull ionist," favoring the restriction of paper issues to notes of $100, to be issued only by the Bank of the United States, and a bi-metallic currency of gold and silver. This was essentially the French system, and Mr. Gallatin had, during his residence In France, become prcjiosscsscd in Its favor. In reply to his request for statistical information, Mr. Walsh put him In comraunication with Nicholas Biddle, President of the United States Bank, and an animated correspondence was carried on for some months betAveen the tAvo gentlemen. Early in August, Mr. Gallatin was called upon for his paper, ahd wrote to say that he was not ready. He excused his apparent sluggishness by describing his method of work : " I can lay no claim to either originality of thinking or felicity of expression. If I have raet with any success either in public bodies, as an executive officer, or in foreign negotiations, it has been exclusively through a patient and most thorough Investigation of all the attainable facts, and a cautious application of those to the questions under discussion. . . . Long habit has given me great facility in col lating, digesting, and extracting complex documents, but I am not hasty in drawing inferences ; the arrangement of the facts and arguments is always to me a work of considerable labor ; and though aiming at nothing more than perspicuity and brevity, I am a very sIoav writer." This assertion must probably be received with some qualifications ; at least it Is clear that much of Mr. Gallatin's diplomatic work must have been done M'ith rapidity and ease. In his correspondence with Mr. Biddle he gave the reasons which had produced his strong faith in a bi-metallic currency, and since these reasons are interesting as a part of his experience, they are worth quoting here: "The most skilfully administered bank can only be prepared to meet ordinary commcrdal fluctuations. But Avhen a real and severe crisis occurs, you are perfectly aware 638 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1881. that moral causes may increase the pressure to an extent which will baffle every calculation, for the very reason that those causes are beyond the reach of calculation. On the other hand, the ex ample of France under the united pressure of a double invasion, a failure of crops, large indemnities to foreign countries, a vast portion of which was paid by the exportation of specie, an un settled government, and wild stock speculations. Is decisive to prove with what facility a crisis is met Avith an abundant cir culating metallic currency. We were, Mr. Baring and myself, spectators of the crisis, of which I could only see the external appearances and results, whilst he was behind the scenes and deeply interested in the event. We conferred often on the sub ject, and carae to the same conclusions. He has ever since been an advocate in England of the simultaneous use of the two metals for the sole purpose of enlarging the basis of the metallic currency." The " Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of the United States" appeared in December, 1830, and was repub lished in a separate form, with some further changes and tabular statements, in 1831.' As a model for clearness of statement and thorough investigation it then stood alone among American Avorks, and even in Europe it might be difficult to find anything much superior. Nearly half a century has elapsed since this essay was written ; finance has made great progress, particularly in the United States, Avhere, under peculiar circumstances, a suc cession of violent convulsions ended in building up a completely new system of currency and banking ; yet even toKlay Mr. Gal latin's essay is indispensable to the American student of finance. There is no other Avork Avhich avIU guide him so surely through the intricacies of our early financial history. The essay had, hoAvever, one effect which Its author did not foresee. He Avrote as an economist and financier, whereas the bank charter Avas a political question. As a matter of finance he argued, as every man Avho was not a politician and Avho knew anything of finance then argued, in favor of the bank. That he Ajras perfectly right can hardly be made a matter of question ; ' Reprinted in Gallatin's Writings, vol. iii. 1831. AGE. 1830-1849. 639 the value of the bank as a financial instrument was very great; the consequences of destroying It Avere disastrous In the extreme, and Avere acutely felt during at least five-and-twenty years. The popular fear of its hostility to our liberties AA'as one of those delusions Avhich characterize ignorant stages of society, and which would have had no importance unless politicians had found It a convenient ally. The kindred theory of its unconstitu tionality was CA'en then untenable, and is noAV ridiculous. The people of the United States have learned since that time many lessons in regard to their Constitution, and they have also learned that they hold all corporations at their mercy, and that if there Is any danger to liberty it Is quite as likely to be the liberties of corporations as those of the people which suffer. All this was even then plain enough to a man like Mr. Gallatin, avIio had in Ibrty yeare of experience studied these subjects from every point of view ; but tliere was another question, the answer to which was not so clear. Supposing the bank to be destroyed, was it worth Avliile to attempt Its reconstruction ? Setting aside the financial question, was it not better to accept the pecuni ary loss, even indefinitely, until sorae new reraedy should be found, rather than convulse all economical interests with this perpetually recurring political contest? Most raen would hoav agree with Mr. Gallatin that, under those circurastances, it was better to abandon the struggle and to seek new means for an swering the same ends; but this was not the opinion of the Whig party. Mr. Gallatin's pamphlet was circulated as a campaign docu ment by the bank. He became by this means its spokesman and one of its most influential allies, subjected to suspicion and attack on its account, although It need hardly be said that he not only received no compensation from the bank, but declined the ordinary pay of contributors to the Review. This attitude he was probably prepared to maintain so long as the bank charter was undecided ; but after President Jackson had carried his pouit and the bank perished, after the Independent Treasury was organized, and the Whig party was setting everything at stake upon success in effecting a counter-revolution and restoring the bank, there was naturally some irritation against Mr. Galla- 640 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1832. tin because he took very cautious ground and preferred to accept the situation. The bank charter Avas, LoAvever, a subordinate and compara tively uninteresting question in the politics of 1831. Another and a more serious political issue was threatening the existence of the Union and entering Into all the raost earnest discussions of the Presidential election of 1832. This was the protective .system, the American system of Mr. Clay, avIio, ahvays true to his deep feeling for nationality, Avas himself the best product of the war of 1812, In its character of national self-assertion. All Mr. Gallatin's feelings and education were opposed to protection; his voice had been, as he took pride in thinking, the first in America to make a public assertion of free-trade principles, and noAV, in 1831, his advocacy of tariff reduction Avas stimulated by the threatening attitude of South Carolina. That political theory Avhich he had ahvays made hia cardinal principle, and which, in Its practical form, consisted simply in avoiding issues that Averc likely to endanger the Union, led him noAV to urge timely concession. In September, 1831, a convention of the friends of free trade Avas held in Phlladdiihia, and delegated to a com mittee, of which Mr. Gallatin Avas chairman, the task of pre paring a memorial to be presented to both Houses of Congress. This memorial forms a pamphlet of nearly ninety pages, and AVOS such a document as he might have sent to Congress had he been still Secretary of the Treasury ; it Avas, in fact, a Secretary's report, and it probably had as much effect, for it became the text-book of the free-traders of that day. The memorial began by ascertjilning the annual expenditure of the government and the annual value of imports; from these data it concluded that an average duty of 25 per cent, ad valorem on the taxed imports Avould ansAver all requirements and should be assumed as the norraal standard of taxation ; after an argu ment on the general theory of free trade, the paper Avent on to examine and criticise the existing tariff and to shoAV the propriety of the proposed reform. Wben the memorial was presented to Congress, it called down upon Mr. Gallatin's head a storm of denunciation. For this he was of course prepared, and he could not have expected to escape 1832. AGE. 1830-1840. Q4.I bloAvs Avhcn, at a time of intense excitement, he voluntarily placed himself in the thickest of the md6e. It Avas then, on the 2d February, 1832, that Mr. Clay made a faraous speech in the Senate In defence of his American system, and into this carefully prepared oration he introduced the folloAvIng remarks upon Mr. Gallatin : " The gentleman to Avhom I am about to allude, although long a resident of this country, has no feelings, no attachments, no sympathies, no principles In common AvIth our people. Near fifty yeare ago Penn.sylvania took him to her bosom, and Avarmed and cherished and honored him ; and hoAV does he manifest his gratitude? By aiming a vital bloAv at a system endeared to her by a thorough conviction that it is indispensable to her prosperity. He has filled, at home and abroad, some of the highest offices under this governraent during thirty years, and he is still at heart an alien. The authority of his narae has been invoked, and the labore of his pen, in the form of a raemorlal to Congress, have been engaged, to overthrow the Araerlcan systera and to substi- ' tute the foreign. Go home to your native Europe, and there inculcate upon her sovereigns your Utopian doctrines of free trade, and Avhen you have prevailed upon thera to unseal their ports and freely adrait the produce of Pennsylvania and other States, come back, and Ave shall be prepared to become converts and to adopt your faith !" Mr. Clay, in the course of his career, uttered a vast nuraber of rhetorical periods as defective as this in logic, taste, and judg ment; but he very rarely succeeded in accumulating so many blundere as in this attack on Mr. Gallatin. The bad taste of vilifying an old associate, in a place where he cannot reply ; the bad logic of answering arguments on the proper rates of impost duties by remarks on the birthplace of any given individual ; the bad temper of raising mean and bitter local prejudices against an honorable and candid opponent, who had never, under any provocation, condescended to use such Aveapons against othere ; all these faults are excusable, or, at least, are so common among orators and debaters as to pass almost unnoticed and unreproved. It is not these riietorical flourishes whidi raise a smile in reading Mr. Clay's remarks, nor even the adjuration to " Go home to 41 642 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1882. your native Europe," although this has a startling resemblance to the rhetoric which Cliurloa Dickens, at about tliis tiino, attrib uted to Elijah Pograiii. AU these are faults, but this paragraph on Mr. Gallatin Avas v.'orse than a fault : it contained two gross political blunders. One was the pledge that if Europe would adopt free trade America would be prepared to imitate her; a pledge which no sound or well-informed protectionist could, even by Inadvertence, have let slip. The other was still more fatal. One principal motive that influenced Mr. Gallatin in pressing at this time his proposition of reducing duties beloAV a maximum of 25 per cent, ad valorem, was the hope that by such a compromise the disunlonist propaganda of South Caro lina might be paralyzed and the national government might escape with dignity from its embarrassments, without really sacrificing Northern industry. The policy was Avise and states manlike ; In fact, the only solid ground, short of armed compul sion, Avhich could claim logical coherence. Mr. Clay, however, characterized it in terms that cut him entirely away frora all consistent recourse to It; yet within twelve raonths Mr. Clay actually assumed this same ground and went beyond Mr. Galla tin in his abandoninent of the protective systera. In fact, the difficulty Avith Gallatin's scheme avos that it did not go far enough to please South Carolina, as appears very clearly In a letter Avritten by Gallatin on the 7th April, 1832, to Williara Drayton, one of the South Carolina representatives, in reply to his request for the sketch of a bill Avhicli should reduce the duties to an aA'erage of 10 per cent.' Mr. Clay's compromise conceded everytlilng, and that too in a worse form and with deplorable conaecpiences. His reputation suffered, and deservedly suffered. In proportion to his previous dogmatism. McauAvhile, Mr. Gallatin had at last fairly adopted a new career. Certain persona hud obtained from the New York Legislature in April, 1829, the diarter for a new bank, and finding themselves, after three successive attempts, unable to induce capitalists to subscribe for the stock, they applied to Mr. J. J. Astor for assistance, and Mr. Astor agreeji There remained the question of;, the North-Wcstcru boundary to fester into a sore. This did not fail to happen, and in 1846 the tAVO nations again stood on the V|erge of war. On this sub ject, too, Mr. Gallatin published a pamphlet which took a diar- acteristlc view of the dispute." Ho did not hesitate to concede that the American title to the contested territory Avas defective ; that neither nation could show an Indisputable right in the premises; but that Anieriai had all tho chances In her favor, and that, in any possible event, war avus the least effective policy ; "the certain con.scquence, independent of all the direct calamities ajid miseries of Avar, will be a mutual Increase of debt and taxa tion, and the ultimate fate of Oregon will be the same as if the war had not taken place." This thoroughly common-sense vIcav was so obvious that neither government could long resist It. The Oregon question, too, was in the end peaceably settled. There avus, hoAvever, one political difficulty of fir deeper con sequence than currency or boundary, and offering a problem to which no such simple reasoning applied ; this AA'as the growth of slavery and the slave power. Here two great principles clashed. The practical rule of politics which had guided Mr. Gallatin through life, to avoid all issues Avhich might endanger the Union, avus here more directly applicable than dscAvherc, for Mr. Gallatin knew better than most raen the dangers involved in this Issue. He had found even the liberal raind of Mr. Jeffereon irapervlous to arguraent on the consequences of extend ing the slave poAver. Not only Avas he no syrapathizcr with slavery ; he was in principle an abolitionist ; he never changed that opinion, which he had incorporated so early as 1793 in a draft of an act, declaring that "slavery Avas inconsistent with every principle of humanity, justice, and right." In 1843, Avlicn Maria Chapman urged him to Avrite for her anti-slavery Annual, he declined. " I wouhl not for any consideration say anything that might injure the holy cause in Avhich you are engaged, and yet I must tell the truth, or what appears to me to be the truth." Determined to respect the constitutional compact, he carefully abstained frora taking any part in the slavery agitation. Never- ' Reprinted in Writings, vol. iii. 672 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1844. thdess the time came Avhen he could no longer be silent. On the 24th April, 1844, a popular meeting was held in Ncav York to protest against the annexation of Texas; Mr. Gallatin was asked to preside, and one of the most courageous acts of his life was to take the cliau- and address this great and turbulent assembly : SPEECH ON THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. At my adA'anced age and period of life, withdraAvn as I am from the politics of the day, desirous of quiet, nothing could have induced rae to attend this meeting but the magnitude of the subject. I Avill simply indicate the points involved in the question which has called us together, leaving to others abler than myself to discuss thera at length. Till this day the United States have preserved the highest reputation araongst the nations of the earth for the fidelity Avitli avIiIcIi they have fulfilled all their engagements and generally carried on all their relations with foreign nations. They have never engaged in a war for the sake of conquest, never but in self-defence and for the pur pose of repelling aggression against their most sacred rights. They have never acquired any territory by conquest or violence, nor In any other way but by fair treaties, fairly negotiated, AvIth the consent of all the parties that might have any claim to the territory in question. What now Is the nature of the question Avhich has been proclaimed lately, — the annexation of Texas? By the most solemn treaties between us and foreign nations Texas has been adjudged as being Avithin the limits of Mexico. If there was any claim on the part of the United States to that country, it was expressly renounced by these treaties. It is per fectly clear then that the attempt noAv made is a direct and positive violation of treaty stipulations. I have heard it stated that there was danger that it Avould also lead us into war. I think this but a veo-y partial and erroneous view of the subject. I do as sert, without fear of contradiction, that the annexation of Texas under existing circumstances is a positive declaration of war against Mexico. I will say that even If the independence of Texas had been acknowledged by Mexico, it would be still war, for Texas is at Avar with Mexico, and iu such a state of things 1844. AGE. 1830-1849. 673 to annex it to this country is to make us a party to that war. But in existing circumstances and, Avhilc Texas continues at war Avith Mexico and her independenc^e,is,in,ot acknoAvledged by the latter power, I Avill say that, acjcorcllng io the universally ac knowledged laAVS of nations and universal usage of all Christian nations, to annex Texas Is war ; and In that assertion I will be sustained by every publicist and jurist in the Christian world. This war Avould be a Avar founded on injustice, and a Avar of conquest. I Avill not stop to inquire Avhat Mexico may do or ought to do In such circumstances. It is enough that the Avar would be unjust. I know nothing of the ability or desire of Mexico to injure us. It is enough to say that an unjust war, founded upon the violation of solemn treaty stipulations, Avould disgrace the national character, AvhIch till this day has been un sullied. There is another view of this subject, more complex, more delicate, but I do think it Is both better and fairer to meet it in the face. I allude to the effect that this measure Avould have on the question of slavery. The Constitution of the United States was from the beginning founded upon mutual concessions and compromise. When that Constitution Avas passed it appears that the Southern States, alarmed by the difference of their social state and Institutions frora ours In the North, required sorae guarantees. They may have been granted Avith reluctance, but they are consecrated by the Constitution. The surrender of fugi tive slaves and the non-equal principle of representation have been granted, and, however repugnant to our feelings or prin ciples, we must carry out the provisions into effect faithfully and inviolate. But it ought to be observed that these provisions applied only to the territory then Avithin the limits of the United States, and to none other. In the course of events we acquired Louisiana and Florida, and, without raaking any observations on these precedents, it so happened that, in the course of events, three new States have been added out of territories not, Avhen the Constitution was adopted, Avithin the limits of the United States ; and more, eventually Florida Avas added to the slave-holding States. Thus it has happened that additional security and ad ditional guarantee have been given to the South. With those I 43 674 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1844. think they ought to be satisfied. Nothing Is more true tlian that if we wish to preserve the Union, it must be by mutual reSpect to the feelings of others, but these concessions must be alto gether mutual and not all on one side. If it be asked Avliat we do require from the South, I will answer, — nothing whatever. We do not require frora the South any new measure that should be repugnant either to their opinions or feelings. Nor do Ave interfere with the question of slavery in Texas. We have taken no measures, Ave do not mean to take any measures, either to prevent or induce them to admit slavery. It is a free. In dependent State, and Ave Avish them to do precisely what they please. All we uak is to preserve the present state of things. All we ask is that no such plan as shall again agitate that ques tion shall be attempted to be carried Into effect. It is too much to ask from us that we should take an active part in permitting the accession of a foreign state, and a foreign slave-holding state, to the Union ; and that Ava should consent that new States should again be added to those upon an equal basis of representation. This is all we ask. The discussion of these questions does not originate with us. It originates with those Avho have fostered this plan. We Avish every discussion of this question to be avoided. But if It be forced upon us we will be forced to meet it. There are other considerations and most momentous ques tions Avhich depend upon this. In the first place, does tlie treaty-making power imply a pOAver to annul existing treaties ? Does that power embrace the right of declaring war ? Can the President or Senate, in making a treaty with another power, dis regard the stipulations of a treaty Avith a third party ? Again, can a foreign state be admitted in the Union Avithout the unani mous consent of all the parties to the compact? I know that the precedents of liOiiisiana and Florida may be adduced; but let us see how far they go. Their validity depends solely on the fact that there was universal acquiescence. Not one State in the Union protested against the proceeding, and if upon this occasion the same should occur, I will say that without adverting to forms we might consider it proper to admit that there is a right. But the precedent goes no farther. It does not go to the point that the poAver does or does not exist. 1844. AGE. 1880-1849. 675 These, I have said, are momcintouff questions, such as Avould necessarily shake the Union to its very centre, and such as I wish to see forever avoided. Another: point. This measure will bring indelible disgrace upon oUr, democratic institutions; it Avill bring them into discredit; it Avill excite the hopes of their enemies ; it will check the hopes of the friends of mankind. We had hoped that, when the people of the United States had resumed their rights and the government was in their hands, there would be a gradual amelioration of legislation, of the social state, of the Intercourse betAveen men. All this Is checked by a measure on Avhich treaties are violated and an unjust war undertaken. Still, I do not despair. My confidence is in the people. But we must give them time to make, to form, and to express their opinions ; and therefore it Is that I do strongly reprobate the secret, the insidious manner in Avhich that plot has been con-i ducted, so as to debar the people of the Union frora the right of expressing an opinion on the subject. Gentlemen, I have done. I thank you for the indulgence with which you have been pleased to listen to me. I ara highly gratified that the last public act of a long life should have been that of bearing testimony against this outrageous atterapt. It is indeed a consolation that ray almost extinguished voice has been on this occasion raised In defence of liberty, of justice, and of our country. Repeatedly interrupted; at moments absolutely stopped by uproar and rioting; able to make his feeble voice heard only by those imraediately around him, he still resolutely raaintained his ground and pereisted to the end. Mr. Gallatin was at that tirae in his eighty-fourth year ; nothing but the most conscientious sense of duty could possibly haA'e induced him to appear again in public, especially on an' occasion Avhcn it Avas wdl known that the woret passions of the worst populace In the city of New Yotk would be aroused against hira. Not even Avhen he risked his life bfefore the rifles of the backwoodsmen at Redstone Old Fort had h^ given so striking proof of his moral courage. Perhaps it was this final proof that gave point to a short; 676 LIFE OF ALBERT GALLATIN. 1844. speech of Mr. J. Q. Adams, which has been already alluded to. In the month of November following the annexation meet ing, the New York Historical Society, of Avhich Mr. Gallatin was now president, held a celebration, folloAved by a dinner, given in his honor. Mr. J. Q. Adaras was one of the invited guests, and took the occasion to make the folloAving remarks. Readers of his Diary avIII appreciate hoAv much his concluding words meant to him ; honesty, as both Mr. Gallatin and him self had found, was not only the highest, but one of the rarest, public virtues : " To the letter," said Mr. Adams, " which was sent me, your honorable president added a line, saying, ' I shall be glad to shake hands with you once more In this world.' Sir, if nothing else could have induced me, these words would have compelled my attendance here, and I can conceive of nothing that would have prevented me. I haA'e lived long, sir, in this world, and I have been connected with all sorts of men, of all sects and descriptions. I have been in the public service for a great part of my life, and filled various offices of trust in conjunction with that venerable gentleman, Albert Gallatin. I have knoAvn him half a century. In many things we differed; on many questions of public interest and policy we were divided, and In the history of parties In this country there is no raan from whom I have so Avidely differed as from him. But on other things we have harmonized ; and now there is no man with Avhom I more thoroughly agree on all points than I do with him. But one word more. Let rae say, before I leave you and him, — birds of passage as we are, bound to a warmer and more congenial clime, — that among all the public men Avitli whom I have been associated in the course of my political life, whether agreeing or differing in opinion with him, I have always found him to be an honest and honorable man." In spite of all the opposition of the North, the war with Mexico took place. Every moral conviction and every life long hope of Mr. Gallatin were outraged by this act of our government. The weight of national iraraorallty rested inces santly on his mind. He wouW not abandon his faith in huraan nature; he deterrained to raake an appeal to the moral sense 1848. AGE. 1830-181!!. 677 of the American public, and to .scatter this appeal broadaist by the hundred thousand copies over the country. Witii this vicAV he Avrote his pamphlet on " Pcjuce Avith, Mexico,'" yet accom panying It Avith another on " War Expenses," Avhich Invoked more worldly interests. His object Avas t(> urge the conclusion of a peace on moral and equitable principles, and, feeling that time AA-as short, he pressed forAvard Avith feverish haste. On the 15th February, 1848, he said, " I write Avitli great difficulty, and I become exhausted when I Avork more than four or five houre a day. Ever since the end of October all my faculties, impaired as they arc, Avere absorbed In one subject; not only my faculties, but I may say all my feelings. I thought of nothing else : Age quod agis ! I postponed CA'crything else, even _ a volume of ethnography which was in the press ; even ansAvering the lettere which did not absolutely require imraediate attention." The Avarnings to be quick came thick and fast. Only a week after he Avrote this letter, his old associate, J. Q. Adams, breathed his last on the floor of Congress. A few weeks more brought the news that Alexander Baring was dead. In Europe society Itself seeraed about to break in plecies, and everything old Avas passing away with a rapidity that recalled the days of the firet French revolution. Mr. Gallatin might Avell think it necessary to press his pace and to economize every instant that remained ; and yet In that eventful year the world moved more rapidly still, and he had tirae — though not much — to spare. His pam phlets were sent in great numbers over the North and East, and certainly had their share in leading the government to accept the treaty of peace which was negotiated by Mr. Trist, notwith standing instructions to leave Mexico, and signed by him at Guadalupe Hidalgo on the 2d of February. These pamphlets were his last intellectual effort. As the year advanced, syraptoms of decline became more and more evident. His memory began to fail. When alone, he caught himself talking In French as Avhen a boy. His mmd recurred rauch to his early youth, to Geneva, to his school, to Mile. Pictet, and undoubtedly to that self-reproach for his neglect of her and of ' Reprinted in Writings, vol. iii. 678 LIFE OP ALBERT GALLATIN. 1849. his family which seems to have weighed upon hira throughout life. The Presidential election of 1848 Avas a great satisfaction to hira ; but he thought more frequently and naturally of his own past political contests and of the Presidents Avhora he had helped to make. His mind became raore excitable as his strength declined. There Avas, hoAvever, little to be done or desired by him in the way of preparation ; his life had left no traces to be erased, and his death would create no confusion and required no long or laborious forethought. He had felt a certain pride in his modest means ; his avoAved principle had been that a Secre tary of the Treasury should not acquire wealth. He liad no enemies to forgive. '"I cannot charge mysdf Avitli malignity of temper^'" he said; '"indeed, I have been regarded as mild and amiable. But uoav, approaching the confines of the eternal Avorld, I desire to examine rayself with the utmost rigor to see Avhether I am in charity with all mankind. On this retrospect I cannot remember any advereary Avhom I have not forgiven, or to whom I have failed to make knoAvn my forgivenes-s, except one, and he is no Icjnger living.' Here he named a late eminent politician of Virginia" ; doubtless William B. Giles. During the last months of his life he turned with great earnestness to the promises and hopes of religion. His clergy man. Dr. Alexander, kept meraoranda of his conversation on this subject. " I never was an infidel," he said ; " though I have had my doubts, and the habit of my thinking has been to push discoveries to their utmost consequences Avithout fear. ... I have always leaned towards Arminianisra; but the points are very difficult. I am a bold speculator. Such has been the habit of my mind all my life long." He failed sloAvly as the winter of 1848-49 passed, and Avas for the most part confined to his room and his bed. In the raonth of May, 1849, while he thus lay helpless, his AvIfe died in the adjoining roora, leaving hira deeply overcome and shaken by agitation and grief. Nevertheless, he survived to be taken, as the summer carae on, to his daughter's house at Astoria. There, on the 12th August, 1849, his life ended. INDEX. Adams. John, 310, 372, 399, 411, 427, 460 J Vice-President of the United States, favors Gallatin's claim to eligi- bUity for tho Senate, 120, 121; elected President, 178 ; saspccts intrigue, 178 ; his first speech to Congress, 183 ; his second speech, 188 ; declines invitation to birthday ball, 194 ; nominates Wil liam Vans Murray to France, 220, 221 ; remark on mediation, 223 ; his third speech to Congress, 223 ; ostensibly re nominated for the Presidency, 241 ; his condnot in 1801, 258, 285, 266; calls the Senate, 260, 263. Adams, Mrs. John, 185. Adams, John Quincy, 429, 502, 634; re jected by the Senate as minister to Russia, 389 ; his acconnt of the con dnot of the Senate in 1809, 389-391 ; his accoant of Dnane and Binns, 442 ; commissioner under the mediation, 479; parallelism of hia career with Gallatin's, 495-497 ; hia antagonism to Mr. Clay, 520, 522 ; his account of hia oolleaguea at Ghent, 523, 527, 528 ; pre pares articles, 540 ; hia struggle to se cure the fisheries, 540-545 ; minister to England, 548 ; joined in negotiating commercial convention, 648 ; his ohar- aoter, 552, 692, 699 ; Secretary of State, 662, 566; his negotiation with France in 1819-1822, 673-575, 579 ; his char acter of Gallatin, 676, 626, 629, 676 ; W. H. Crawford'! oommenta on, 680, 884, 686, 688 ; Gallatin's character of, 599; chosen President, 602, 608; hia reasons for not offering the Treasury to GallaUn, 609; on the diatruat of Mr. Clay, 609 ; on relatione with England in 1827, 624, 625, 627, 628 ; hia com ments on Mr. Canning, 624, 827, 628 ; his comments on men and measures, 636 ; his death, 677. Adams, William, British commiaaioner at Ghent, 519, 543; negotiator of the commercial convention, 552. Addison, Alexander, 177, 223. Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress of, 672. Alexander, Emperor of Russia, invites diplomatic relations in 1808, 390 ; offei-s mediation, 477, 498 ; renews the offer, 498, 603 ; causes misunderstanding, 503, 510, 511 ; receives a note from Mr. Crawford, 511; his conversation with La Fayette at the house of Ma dame de Stael, 512, 514; his visit to London, 514 ; hia interview with Gal latin, 514, 515 ; his influence on the negotiation, 516, 618, 537; his friend liness, 663. Alien laws, 202, 204, 206, 274, 320. Algerine powers, war with, 300, 306, 307, 349. Allegre, Sophia, Gallatin's first wife, her family, 69 ; her engagement, 70 ; her mother, 70, 71; her marriage, 71, 72; her death, 72, 76, 80, 83. Allen, John, M.C. from Connecticut, on the sedition law, 207. Alston, Joseph, reports of his character, 244, 245. Araea, Fisher, 164; hia apeeoh on Jay's treaty, 166, 166, 108; hia opinion on the uae of the army in domestlo poU- 079 680 INDEX. ties, 170 ; favors war with France, 184 ; his political formulas, 199, 214. Amory, scholar of Gallatin's at Harvard College, 43, 59. Anderson, Joseph, Senator from Ten nessee, 429, 484, 490. Armstrong, John, 290, 389, 400 ; ap pointed Secretary of War, 471; hia conduct, 481 ; wishes to bo commander- in-chief, 485; bis account of how be ceased to be Secretary of War, 530. Assumption of State debt?, 87, 168. Astor, John Jacob, 455, 477, 488, 588 ; on Gallatin's rejection by the Senate, 488, 489 ; offers to take Gullatiu into partnership, 555 j hia account of Amer ican habits, 584 ; eatablishea the Na tional Bank for Gallatin, 642. B. Bache, Franklin, 15. Bache, Richard, 554. Bacon, Ezekiel, M.C. from Maasachu- setts, 450, 454. Badollet, Jean, schoolmate of Gallatin's, 15, 16, 64, 120 ; urged by Gallatin to come to America, 51, 53, 60 ; comes to Georgo'a Creek, 63, 66; settles at Greensburgh, on the Monongahela, 144; his opinion of Judge Bracken ridge, 133, 134; appointed register of the land-office at Vincennes, 404, 405; his struggle againat the introduction of slavery in Indiana, 404, 406 ; Galla tin's opinion of, 610, 646, 647; death of hia wife, 649. Baer, George, M.C. from Maryland, 250, 262. Bainbridge, Commodore, 462, 466, Baldwin, Abraham, Senator from Geor gia, 253, 302. Bank of the United Statee, 157, 308, 309 ; Mr. Jefferson's views regarding, 308, 321, 665 ; its dissolution in 1811, 416, 417, 426-430; rechartered in 1816, 429 ; consequences of its dissolution, 451, 474, 475 ; Gallatin declines Presi dency of, 578, 683, 584 ; question of reoharter in 1830-1842, 636, 638, 639, ,661 ; its power, 651 ; rechartered as U. S. Bank of Pennsylvania, 659; op poses return to specie payments, 659, 660 ; becomes bankrupt, 661 ; Galla tin's views on rcckurtoriug, 639, 659, 665, 606. Bank, National (Gallatin), of NewTork, 642, 643, 647, 658, 662. Banking, Gallatin's writings on. (See Currency.) Baring, Alexander (Lord Ashburton), 552, 564, 565; his relations with Gal latin in the Louisiana purchase, 317, 318; bis letters to Gallatin on the Russian mediation, 499, 500, 502, 504; bis negotiation in 1842, 668- 070 ; hia opinion of Gallatin, 66Sj his death, 677. Barlow, Joel, 424, 436, 461. Ba^aano, Duke de, Napoleon's Miniater of State, 421. Bathurst, Lord, his notes and inatructions to the British commissioners at Ghent, 527 ; his offer of the uti poasidetia, 535 ; hia instructiona regarding the fisheries, 543. Boyard, James A., M.C. from Delaware, 154, 155, 156, 205, 316, 468, 469 ; his course in the contested Preaidential elecUon of 1801, 250, 254, 260, 262 ; sent as envoy to Russia, 479, 490, 493, 495; goes with Gallatin to London, 506 ; his influence iu the negotiation, 522, 523 ; conversation with Goulburn, 624, 525 ; death, 549. Baylies, Francis, M.C. from Massachu setts, 620, 624, 625. Bentley, William, tutor at Harvard Col lege, and clergyman at Salem, 43, 69. Benton, Thomas II., his defence of Mr. Van Buren, 618. Berkeley, Admiral, 358, 359. Bibb, W. W., M.C. from Georgia, 480. Biddle, Nicholas, 637, 660. Binna, John, 439, 442. Bledsoe, Jesse, Senator from Kentucky, 484. Bonaparte, Napoleon, 381, 383, 399 j his Berlin, Milan, and Bayonne decrees, 374, 376, 567 ; his apparent change of policy in 1810, 420, 421; hia secret Trianon decree, 421, 422, 426 ; suc ceeds in loading the United Statea INDEX. 681 into war with England, 425 ; anecdote of Count Romanioff, 444 ; returna from Elba, 647. . Boston, 65, 68 ; description of, in 1780, 27, 28, 45 ; Mr. Clay's opinion of, 509. Boundary, Norlh-Eoatcrn, 521, 535, 636, 614, 621, 627, 628, 629, 630, 631, 667, 668; North-AVcstern, 569, 570, 614, 621, 627, 670, 671. Bonrdillon, 146, 209, 226. Bourse Gallatin, 6. Brackenridge, Judge H. H., his first meet ing with Gallatin, 68; his character, 128, 133, 134 ; hia conduct at the Mingo Creek meeting, 128; at Braddock'a Field, 129, 130 ; at Parkinson's Ferry, 131, 132; at Bedstone Old Fort, 135- 137; his distinction between Quakers and Presbyterians, 150 ; candidate for Congress, 141, 176, 210. Braddock's Field, rendezvous at, 129, 130. Bradford, David, 01, 92, 125; a member of the State Legislature, 93; a tenth- rate lawyer, 96 ; an empty drum, 97 ; his enmity to Gallatin, 98; hia course at the Mingo Creek meeting, 128 ; causes the mail to be seized, 128; sum mons the militia to Braddock's Field, 129 ; his course there, 129; at Ihe Par kinson's Ferry meeting, 131-134; at Redstone Old Fort, 135-137 ; escapes to Louisiana, 138 ; his party defeated, 141. Bradford, William, 441 ; hia reforms in the penal code of Pennsylvania, 84. Brazier, Philip, 235, 236. Breckenridge, John, Attorney-General, 698. Brent, Richard, M.C. from Virginia, 190, 317 ; Senator, 435, 490. Broglie, Duke de, 583, 664. Brooks, David, M.C. from New York, 193. Burr, Aaron, 101 ; speech on Jay's treaty, 151 ; distrusts the Virginians, 178, 242, 243, 247 ; conducts the New York City election of May, 1800, 232, 233, 233 ; hia intrigue and management, 234, 239 ; the moat eligible character for Vice- President, 239 ; the agent of a Supreme Power, 241 ; nominated for Vice-Presi dent, 243 ; the election, 244 ; hia daugh ter's marriage, 244, 245; his conduct during the contest in the House of Representatives, 245, 248, 247, 254; causes of his schism, 282, 288, 289; urges M. L. Davis for office, 283, 284, 289; his opinion of Gallatin, 289; his schism, 311, 313, 389. Burr, Theodosia, her marriage, 244. ' C. Cabell, Samuel J., M.C. from Virginia, 202. Cabot, George, 112, 199. Calhoun, John C, M.C. from South Car olina, 445, 473, 682; on Gallatin's character, 676, 577; AV. U. Crawford'a comments on, 580,581; Gallatin's opin ion of, 599 ; chosen A'ioe-President, 601, 602 ; on war with France, 656. Calvin, John, 2, 11. Campbell, George W., M.C. from Ten nessee, his report on foreign relations in 1803, 378; Secretary of the Treasury, 505. Canning, George, 381, 383, 399; his re marks on tho naval battles of 1812, 171; his treafment of Mr. Jefferson's diplomacy, 356 ; his m.anagement of the affair of the Cheaapeake, 364 ; of the orders in council, 364, 365; his suceeas, 387, 368, 411; his sarcasms, 374, 376 ; his instructions to Erskine, 392, 393 ; disavowal of Ersklne's ar rangement, 394; thrown out of office, 411; Foreign Secretary in 1826,614; bis orders in council of 1S28, in regard to the AVest India trade, 615-617; his motivea, 616, 618, 620, 624, 627; Prime Minister, 628 ; his opinion of the Eng lish constitution, 628 ; his death, 626. Castlereagh, Lord, 498, 499 ; instructiona to Lord Cathcart, 603 ; offers direct negotiation, 504; favorable to peace, 506, 507, 508, 516; obliged to check Mr. Goulburn, 525; favors delay, 531; his Influence in 1818, 669, 618; his death, 814. Cathcart, Lord, 603, 604. Caucuses, party, 214, 696 ; in 1824, 602, 694, 695, 608, 697. Champagny, Duke de Cadore, hia letter of August 6, 1810, 420, 421. 682 INDEX. Chapman, Maria, 671. Chase, Judge Samuel, bis impeaobmont) 827 ; hiu succesaur, 440. Chateaubriand, Vicomte uo, Frpugh Min ister of Foreign Relations, 567. Chesapeake, affair of, 357, 359, 360. Cheves, Langdon, M.C. from South Car olina, 445, 472, 473, 475, 476 ; Pioai- dent of the U. S. Bank, 682, 683. Circular to collectors. (See Gimt Service.) Citizenship, Gallatin's, 43, 49, 62, 109, 111, 112; statement of the question regarding, 119, 120; adverse decision, 120, 121 ; amendment of the Constitu tion concerning, 203, 211. Civil service in 1801, 273; GallaUu's circular to coUeetors, 278, 279. Claiborne, W. C. C„ Governor of Louisi ana, 319, 325; establishes a bank at New Orleans, 322. Clare, Thomas, 55, 62, 71, 99, 120 ; his death, 560. Clark, John, Governor of Georgia, 581. Clay, Henry, 164, 446, 677 ; opposes tho bank charter in 1811, 428, 429, 430; supports the war policy, 449 ; forces Mr. Madison to recommend a dec laration, 456-459; sent to negotiate treaty of peace, 505 ; hia views on the political situation and the New Eng land Federalists, 509, 546; his antago nism to Mr. Adams, 520, 522, 644-546 ; hia criticisms, 523 ; opposes offer to renew the treaty of 1783 iu regard to the fisheries and the Mississi])pi, 541 ; carries a oompromise, 541, 542 ; con tinues his opposition, 544 ; nettled by tho result, 545; joined with Gallatin and Adams in negotiating oommcroial convention, 548-552; opposes Presi dent Monroe, 562 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 599, 623 ; to be supported as Vice- President, 602; causes tho election of J. Q. Adams, 602; distrust felt to wards him, 608, 609; offers Gallatin the post of envoy to the Panama Con gress, 612; bis note on tho colonial trade diOicuIty, 616, 623; his attack on GaUatin in 1832, 641 ; his compro mise, 642. Clinton, De Witt, 282, 471, 662, 577. Clinton, George, consents to be candidate for the Assembly, 234, 237 ; averse to aooeptiug the Vico-Proaiduuoy iu 1800 239, 242; reoommcnds Burr, 242; oho sen Vice-President, 312; throws cast ing vote against tho bank charter, 429j 430; annoys Administration, 471,606. Clopton, John, M.C. from A^irginia, 202, Coast Survey, 350. Cobb, T. W., M.C. from Georgia, 683. Coit, Joshua, M.C. from Connecticut, 202. Collectors, circular to. (See Oivil Service.) Colonial trade, 151, 550, 551, 569, 570, 571; British orders in council of 1826, 615-617 ; fiiilure of negotiations, 617, 621, 622, 623, 624, 625, 628. Committee of Ways and Means, its origin, 157, 172. Connecticut, 68 ; manners, 191. ConsHtution of 1787, 68, 76, 79, 648 ; ita provisions regarding eligibility to the Senate, 119, 120; its grants of power: regarding a national bank, 157; in ternal improvements, 167 ; the making of treaties, 160, 161, 162, 163, 319, 674; amendment proposed regarding oiti- zenship, 203, 211, 224; the acquisition of territory, 319-321, 674; ita great defect the monarchical principle, 606 ; its guarantees to the slave power, 673. Cooper, Dr. Samuel, 15; obtains for Gal latin a position as instructor in French at Harvard College, 38, 39, 42 ; joins in giving him a certificate, 43, 44. Copenhagen, 495. Coxe, Tench, 228. Craik, AVilliam, M.C. from Maryland, 262. Cramer, Mr., 9, 11. Crawford, AVilliam H., Senator from Georgia, 433, 435, 469; supports the bunk charter in 1811, 428; sent as minister to Franco, 509, 510; attempts to approach the Emperor Alexander, 611 ; returns borne with Bayard in 1815, 552 ; Secretary of the Treasury under Monroe, 559, 662, 566 ; his po litical plans, 578, 580; his comments on J. C. Calhoun, 580, 681; on J. Q. Adams, 579, 580 ; on William Lowndes, 581 ; on Henry Clay, 582 ; his bitter- INDEX. 683 nesa, 686 ; candidate of tho triumvirate for the Presidency, 689, 592, 599; struck by paralysis, 590, 593, 694; re proached with intrigue, 597 ; offered the Treasury by J. Q. Adams, 607. Cumberland Road. (See Internal Im- provementa.) Currency, Gallatin's opinions on, 038, 684; his essays on, 638, 647, 048, 662, 664, 665. Curtlus. (See John Thojiipami.) D. Dallas, Alexander J., 245, 259, 281, 312 ; comes to America in 1783, 67 ; Secre tary of State for Pennsylvania, 88 ; his intimacy with Gallatin, 99, 109, 113, 303 ; his part in the whiskey campaign, 142, 143 ; on Pennsylvania politics, 326, 328, 330, 333, 439; on the im peachment of the judges, 327 ; of fered the chief-justiceship of Penn sylvania, 333 ; on the last year of Mr. Jefferson's Presidency, 372 ; re- charters the U. S. Bank, 429; on the succession to Justice Chase, 440-442; imposes war taxes, 408 ; on Gallatin's rejection by the Senate, 479 ; retires from the Treasury, 657 j differs frora Gallatin on returning to specie pay ments, 857. Dallas, George M., 493 ; sent to England, 502. Dana, Samuel, M.C. from Connecticut, 154, 155, 156, 186, 205; the most elo quent man in Congress, 188. Davis, Matthew L., 228; editor of the Time-Piece, 197 ; Burr's most active friend, 232 ; presses him for the Vice- Presidency, 239, 240 ; candidate for the poet of naval officer, 282, 283; goes to Monticello, 284, 2S7; his re jection » declaration of war on Burr, 288. Davy, Albert, 686. Dayton, Jonathan, M.C. from New Jer sey, speeoh on sequestering British debts, 121; Speaker, 191, 192, 202. Dearborn, Henry, Secretary of War, 266, 274, 30,3, 345, 373; his character, 276; general, 485. Debt, public. (See Finnncea.) Degen and Purvinnoe, navy agents at Leghorn, 400-403. Democracy, .its dogmas in 1801, 270, 272, 655, 606. Dennis, John, M.C. from Maryland, 262. De Stael, Mme., 563 ; La Fayette's inter view with the Emperor at her houae, 513; on the negotiations at Ghent, 631, 632 ; her death, 566. Dexter, Samuel, Secretary of the Treas ury, 258, 265, 277. Drayton, AVilliam, M.C. from South Caro lina, 642. Duane, AVilliam, editor of the Aurora, Treasury books in his hands, 258 ; I urges removals frora office, 277, 278, 281 ; cause of his hostility to Gallatin, 281, 311, 331; his schism, 311, 312, 326, 328, 329, 330, 331; his war on Gallatin, 322, 329, 38S, 400, 414, 417, 419, 427, 437, 439, 442, 558 ; account of, by J. Q. Adams, 442; his treatment by Jefferson and Madison, 443, 483. Dumont, Etienne, schoolmate of Galla tin's, 16, 52, 289, 519. D'Yvernois, 144, 145, 146. Edgar, James, 136, 176. Education, 84, 90 ; Mr. Jefferson's scheme for a national university, 360; Gal latin's acheme for a popular university, 648. Ellsworth, Oliver, 112, 228, 488. Embargo decided upon, 388; Gallatin'a opinion on, 386, 370-372, 375, 822; Jefferson's opinions on, 367, 368, .S69; adopted, 369 ; amended, 369 ; effects of, 370, 412 ; Robert Smith's opinion on, 373; Enforcement Act, 378, 379; repeal of, 375, 380, 382, 383 ; to give place to war, 383, 384, 385 ; removed, 386. England, her political condition in 1789, 71; her conduct towards America in 179.3, 104, 112; Jay's treaty, 168-166; the danger of war, 165, 169; relations with, in 1798,221; in 1801, 265; in 1805, 334 ; revival of the rulo of 1756, 348; Monroe and Pinkney's treaty, 684 INDEX. 355, 356 ; her change of policy in 1807,, 366; affair of tho Chesapeake,. 357- 302, 364; orders in council, 36i4,. 365, 806, 367, 374, 376, 378, 393, 460j'472; Rose's mission, 364, 367, 394,.. 397; Ersklne's arrangement, 392, 393; dis avowed, 394, 396; Jackson's mission, 394, 396, 411 ; proposed Navigation Act against, 413, 414 ; Macon's Act, 416 ; her refusal to withdraw the orders in oounoil, 425, 444; approach of war, 444, 460; refuses Russian mediation, 497, 499, 500, 503; offers direct nego tiation, 604; refuses concessions on impressment, 500; her attempts to isolate the United States, 499, 611, 613, 514; her position in Europe, 517, 618 (see Ghent, Negotiationa at) ; oom- mercial conveution of 1815, 551, 614, 626; negotiations of 1818, 570-572 (see Colonial Trade, Fiaherisa, Mia- aiaaippi, Jmpreaamenta); negotiations of 1826-27, 612-629 (see Colonial Trade, Boundary) ; disposition towards Amer ica, 608, 618, 620, 621, 622, 624, 625, 627, 628 ; character of English diplo macy, 622. Eppes, John W., M.C. from Virginia, 480. Erskine, David M., British minister, 358, 369, 381 ; his relations with Gal latin, 381, 395, 418; his wish to recon cile, 381, 382 ; his arrangement, 392- 394; disavowed, 394, 396; his de spatches, 418. Escalade, the, 4, 30. Ethnological Society, 646. Ethnology. (See Indian Ethnology.) Eustis, AVilliam, Secretary of War, 395, 440, 462, 469; his administration of the War Department, 467, 468, 469, 470; his resignation, 470; minister to the Netherlands, 568. Everett, Alexander, 587. Everett, Edward, 655. Excise, resolutions on, by the Pennsyl vania Legislature, 88 ; causes of hos tility to, 88; Washington resolutions on, 89 ; Pittsburg resolutions on, 91, 123; their effect, 93, 94; resistance to the law provious to tho insurreotion. 123,124; its repeal in 1801-2, 274; reimposition in the war of 1812, 452, > 453, . , . F. Fauohet, Joseph, French Minister, 188. Fayette County, 55, 58, 62, 73, 75, 90, 108, 109, 113, 121, 122; its obedience to the excise law, 124; disturbed by rioters, 130, 138 ; insurrection in, 148, 149. Federalist party, 155, 166, 159, 161, 165, 169, 175, 178, 184, 199, 203, 206, 211, 215, 221, 223, 228, 232, 265, 266, 272, 274, 277, 280, 281, 373, 379, 394, 414; its success, 273, 274 ; schism in, 221 ; plans in 1801, 254, 267, 259, 262, 263 ; disorganized, 398; conduct in the war, 477, 483, 484. Few, William, Senator from Georgia, Gallatin's brother-in-law, 101. Finances, 167 ; of the United States in 1796, 157, 168, 169, 173, 174; in 1800, ' 243; iu 1801, 291-293; in 1802, 305, 306; in 1803, 318, 319; in 1804, 327; in 1806, 348; in 1806, 348, 349; in 1808,382; in 1809,412; in 1811,445, 446 ; management of, by the Federal ists, 273, 274; national debt, its ori gin, 168, 169 ; its amount in 1796, 168, 173 ; in 1800, 243 ; addition to, in 1803, 318; reduction iu 1806, 348; ita con dition in 1811, 446 ; its payment the great dogma of the Democratie princi ple, 270, 276, 354, 407, 410, 655, 656 ; Gallatin's " fundamental substantial meaaure," 293, 295, 296, 297, 318; Mr. Hamilton's sinking fund, 173, 174, 229, 230, 231, 296 ; ultimate discbarge of the debt and its oonsequoncea, 655, 656; direct tax, 181; reduction of taxa-' tion a dogma of Democracy, 270, 276; interuai taxes, removed in 1801-2, 270, 291, 293, 295; restored in the war of 1812, 452, 453 ; Mediterranean Fund, 295, 318, 319, 336, 34d, 412, 446; loans, 447, 452, 473 ; in 1312, 454 ; in 1813, 477; war taxes, 451, 462, 454, 475, 480 ; threatened collapse in 1812, 474; suspension of specie payments in 1814,653,650,661,657; in 1837, 657; resumption iu 1838, 658-602. INDEX. G85 Findley, William, 92, 136, 176, 177, 222, 323, 453. Fisheries, nature of the question ot Ghent, 640, 641 ; disputes in the American commission, 641, 642, 61:4; doubts on the British aide, 542, 643 ; omitted from the treaty, 645; settle ment in 1818, 571; Gallatin'a opinion of, 672. Fisk, James, M.C. from Vermont, 466. Florida, proposed purchase of, in 1805, 336, 337, 239, 341 ; cession of, in 1819, 672, 673. Foster, Augustus, British rainister, 444. Fox, Charles James, 355. France, her conduct towards Geneva, 52; her cause in 1793, 104, 110, 112; how affected by Jay's treaty, 158, 166, 178, 186; relations with, in May, 1797, 184; in 1798, 189, 195, 196, 199, 200, 201, 214; in 1801, 254, 25-5, 273; treaty rejected, 258 r ratified, 259 ; the peace of Amiens, 300; her purcbaao of Louisiana, 307 ; sells Louisiana to the United States, 308, 334; her Berlin and Milan decrees, 365, 364, 374, 376, 378, 422 ; Macon's Act, 416 ; its effect on French policy, 419, 420, 421, 444; her secret Trianon decree, 422 ; her Rambouillet decree, 421, 423, 424; in demnity asked of her, 444; negotia tiona on, 567, 568, 655; court of Louis XVIII., 563 ; commercial negotiations and treaty, 1819-1822, 573-576, 579, 582; case of the Apollon and Alliga tor, 575, 678, 679 ; threatened rupture with, in 1836, 665. Franklin, Benjamin, 15, 24, 38, 619, 620, 667. Free trade, 640; memorial, 640. Freneau, Philip, 197. Friendship Hill, 83, 589, '590, 610. G. Gaddis, 147, 148. Gailliard, John, Senator from South Carolina, 484. Gallatin, Abraham, of Pregny, grand father of Albert Gallatin, 6, 10, 04; his death, 94. Gallatin, Albert, his origin and fainily, 1-6; hia birth, 9, 10; hia education, ¦lO-Io-; 'graduates from college, 18; refuses a commission in the Hessian aorvioo, 17; secretly quits Geneva, 17, 18 ; writes from Pirabosuf, 23 ; lands at Gloucester, 26, 27 ; arrives at Boston, 26, 27, 86; his account of Boston in 1780, 27, 28; his voyage to Machias, 30, 82, 38; his life at Ma chias, 33-37, 40 ; returns to Boston, 38 ; instructor in French at Harvard College, 39, 42, 43, 70 ; departs to Phila delphia, 44; nasooiates himself with Savary in land speculations, 46, 60, 53, 59, 60, 61, 70; his political opin ions in 1783, 47-49, 51, 52; decides to become an American citizen, 48, 49 ; I goes to Richmond, 53, 54; his first ex- I pedition to the Ohio, 54, 55; bis first I meeting with General Washington, 66-69 ; brings Badollet to America, 60 ; \ bis second expedition to the Ohio, 61, I S2 ; attempts to settle there; 62 ; be- j comes a citizen of Virginia, 62; leases land at George's Creek, 62; returna to Richraond, 63 ; buys Friendship Hill, 63 ; rumor of hia death, 65 ; hia indo lence, 22, 65, 73 ; his awkwardness, 103; attains hia majority, 86 ; his life at George's Creek, 66, 67; result of his land speculations, 87; makes a winter expedition to Maine, 88, 69; falls in love with Sophia Allegre, 69, 70, 71 ; his first marriage, 71, 72; death of his wife, 72, 76, 80; meditates returning to Genevo, 73, 76 ; his political tend encies, 76, 77; attends the Harrisburg conference, 77 ; his draft of report, 78 ; oppoBea the calling of the convention of 1789 lo revise tho State constitu tion of Pennsylvania, 79, 80 ; beoomea a member of it, 80; bis share in its proceedings, 81, 83; ia elected lo tho State Legislature, 83; his share In legislation, 84-86, 89, 90, 96 ; his re port in favor of the abolition of slavery, 86; hia resolutions on the excise, 87, 88 ; his report on the flnanoos of Ponn- aylvania, 86; his plan for a oounty school syatem, 84, 90 ; for county tax- 686 INDEX. ation, 91, 97 ; elected Senator, 86, 95, 96, 97, 98 J clerk of the Pittsburg meet ing of August, 1792, 91, 92';'bis'ro- ipoQBibility fur tho ruaolutl'on;S,^''U2; hia opinion of thorn, 92, ii, 94; his In heritance, 66, 94; question aa to bis citizenship, 98 ; falls iu Icve with Han nah Nicholson, 99, 102; his views on European politics in 1793, 104, 110, 112; his marriage, 108; hia election as Senator disputed, 109, 111, 113; takes his seat in the Senate, 110, 112; goes into business, 113, 152, 163, 176, 176, 221, 226 ; his action as Senator, 114; his call for financial statements from the Treasury, 116; declared in eligible to the Senate, 119, 120, 121 ; sells western landa to Robert Morris, 121, 122, 179; returns to George's Creek, 123; attends meeting at Union- town on outbreak of insurrection, 124 ; attenda meeting at Parkinson's Ferry, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135 ; at Red stone Old Fort, 136-137; urges that the army should not march, 138; elected to Congress, 140; returns to the As sembly, 141; election disputed, 141, 143, and annulled, 142; bis speech un the occasion, 141, 142; his re-election, 142, 144; hia scheme for emigration from Geneva, 144, 145, 146, 150, 151; hia opinion of New York and Penn- aylvania aociety, 146, 147; of Jay's treaty, 151; enters Congress, 164; bis account of bis Congressional service, 165-157 ; his speeches on Jay's treaty, 166, 156, 161, 182, 16.3, 165, 166; his views on constitutional construction, 157, 205; Executive encroachments, 167; specific appropriationa, 157, 180, 209; the finances in 1796, 157, 169, 173, 174; originates the standing com mittee of Ways and Means, 157, 172; his views on the navy, 157, 170, 171, 172, 180, 217, 218, 229, 334, 335; his share in originating the land-system, 167, 297, 298; his financial principles compared with Hamilton's, 169, 174, 176; re-elected to Congress, 176-178; birth of bis eldest son, 179, 180, 181, 182; on the political situation in 1707, ' 183,185,187; his opinion of Washing ton, 182; of John Adams, 265, 266; the political situation in 1708, 189, 190, 195, 190, lUO, 200, 201, 202, 203, 223, 224; on foreign interconrse, 189, 195, 197, 198, 611; on the alien bill, 205, 219, 220 ; on the sedition bill, 207, 208, 219; on the exclusion of slavery from the Southwestern Territory, 209 ; re elected to Congress, 210 ; his character described by Curtius, 213 ; his nation- * ality of character, 214 ; on R. G. Har per, 216, 217; state of hia affaire, 222, 226; on the political situation in 1799, 226, 227, 228; on a sinking fund, 230, 231, 298; on John Marshall's argu ment in the case of Jonathan Robbins, 232; on the New York City election of 1800, 240, 241 ; on the finances in 1800, 243; his account of the Jefferson- Burr contest in 1801, 248-261, 263- 262 ; his plan in the event of usurpa tion, 248, 251, 254, 265, 256; his de- soription of AVashington in 1801, 262, 253 ; named aa Secretary of the Treas ury, 268, 269 ; nomination communi cated by Mr. Jefferson, 203; fears of rejection by the Senate, 264, 206, 276 ; his position compared with that of Hamilton, 268, 269; his views on the objects of Mr. Jefferson's Administra tion, 269-271 ; his opposition to re movals from office, 277, 279, 280, 286, 286, 290; his circular to collectors, 278; on M. L. Davis, 285, 286; on Burr's political position in 1801,287, 288, 289; on the succession to Mr. Jefferaon, 287, 288 ; his " fundamental substantial measure" regarding reduc tion of debt, 292-295, 296, 297; his notes on the finances in 1801, 292; his complaints of bad administration in tho navy, 294 ; his views on removal of internal taxes, 291, 293, 295; on internal improvements, 85, 86, 167, 167, 299; hia portrait by Stuart, 301; his liouse in Washington, 302 ; his no- count of a public dinner at the navy- yard, SQ4; on the finances in 1802, 305 ; on dry-docks, 305 ; on the U, S. Bank, 309 ; on tbo occupation of Lou- INDEX. 687 isiana, 319; on tho constitutional right to acquire territory, 319; his descrip tion of Humboldt, 323 ; his relations with John Randolph, 314, 324, 328, 829, 339, 340, 311, 3 12, 314 i on Pnrn- sylvanin politics, 330, 331 ; on relations with Spain, 334, 335 ; on the political dissensions of 1800, 345-317; on the finances In 1806, 349; on internal iin- provements, 350-352; on gun-bonta, 352-364; on tho aflair of tho Chesa peake and war with England, 357- 369, 361, 302; one mbargoes, 366; on enforcing the embargo law,. 370-372, 873, 374, 376 ; on tho attitude of Eng land and France, 374-376 ; urges Mr. Jefferson to settle ¦' policy, 377, 378; drafts "Campbell's Report," 378; his war policy, 380, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386,392; hia relations with Erskine, 381, 395, 418, 419: chosen by Mr. Madison to be bis Secretary of State, 383, 388—391 ; on the navy coalition of 1809, 387, 388; meditates resigna tion, 392, 403, 408-410; on the dis avowal of Ersklne's arrangement, 396; his political position in 1809, 398, 399 ; on the hills of exchange drawn by Smith A Buchanan, 402, 403; on the tendency to extravagance in Mr. Mad ison's Administration, 410; his report for 1809, 412, 413 ; favors continuation of the bank, 418, 417, 428, 451 ; makes a report on domestic manufactures, 417 ; on Mr. Jefferson's alleged par tiality to France, 418, 419; on the at tacks of the Aurora, 419 ; on Napo leon's secret Trianon decree, 422 ; his letter of resignation in 1811, 434 ; Duane's character of, 437, 438 ; thirsts for obscurity, 440 ; bis feelings regard ing Duane, 443, 483 ; on the finances in 1811, 44'8, 447; on loans, 447; his views on war taxes, 460-462; on tho war policy, 4511, 455, 461 ; his alleged wish to lay up the frigates, 462-406 ; wishes to reorganize the Cabinet, 469, 470; on remifsion of forfeitures, 473; reqncBts to be sent to Russia, 477 ; his motives, 478; on the occupation of Florida, 481 ; on the Russian media tion, 482 ; hia rojeotion by the Sennte, . 483-491, 601 ; hia system of adminia- tration, 491, 492; sails for St. Peters burg, 493 ; arrives at Gottenburg, 494 ; Jit Copenhagen, 495 ; at St. Petersburg, 495; effect of hia arrivnl, 498; oorre- spondonoe with Gen. Moreau, 499, 601, 509; with Alcxnnder Baring, 499,500, 602, 504; rcoognizod by the Emperor and rejected by the Senate, 601 ; de termines on going to England, 602; quits St. Petersburg, 505 ; arrives at Amalcrdam, 505, and in London, 606 ; appointed member of commission to negotiate directly, 605, 608; super intends diplomatio operationa, 506; changes negotiation from Gottenburg to Ghent, 606, 507, 509; his views on the political situation, 607, 617; at tempts to win the Emperor Alexander, 499, 609, 510; hia interview with the Emperor, 614, 516; meeta Dumont and .Bentham, 519; arrives at Ghent, 518 ; delicacy of his ground there, 622; expects the negotiation to fail, 523, 524 ; ascendency over the mis sion, 528 ; on the financial outlook, 533 ; draws article offering to confirm the provisions of the treaty of 1783 regarding the fisheries and the Missis sippi, 641 ; accepts Mr. Clay's com promise, 542 ; offers an article to con tinue the liberty of taking fish, 644; carries an article referring the subject to future negotiation, 644 ; his delicate management, 646 ; the treaty his spe cial triumph, 646 ; visits Geneva, 647, 598 ; returns to Paris, 647 ; appointed minister to France, 548; negotiates commercial convention with England, 651; returns to America, 663; on the situation of America and Europe in 1816, 653, 554; declines mission to France, 664 ; declines nomination to Congress, 554; declines offer of part nership with Mr. Astor, 556 ; declines the Treasury, 558, 669; reconsiders and accepts mission to France, 656, 667 ; urges return to spooie payments, 666, 501) hie roaidence In Paris, 661, 662, 663, 664, 666 ; hia arrival there. 688 INDEX. 562; hia opinion of Talleyrand, 564; his negotiation for indemnities, b67, 568 ; for a commercial treaty with the Netherlands, 568; hia negotiations with England in 1818, 568-672; his opinion of tho fisheries convention, 572; his share in the commercial ne gotiations with France, 573-575, 677; his argument in the case of the Apol lon, 675, 576 ; character of, by J.- Q. Adams and J. C. Calhoun, 576, 577, 676; declines tbo presidency of the U. S. Bank, 578; decides to return to New Geneva, 578; returns to America, 584-680, 588; supports Mr. Crawford for tho Prcaidency, 580, 690 ; descrip tion of Friondahip Hill, 589, 590; nominated for the Vice-Presidency, 591, 592, 594; his reasons for accept ing, 598-600; his account of Mr. Crawford'a character, 598; of Gen. Jackson, 699 ; of Mr. Calhoun, 599 ; of J. Q. Adams, 699; of Mr. Clay, 599, 023; of Genevan affairs, 600, 601 ; withdraws from the contest, 602, 604, 606, 606; hia attitude towards J. Q. Adams, 607, 60S; entertains La Fayelte, 611,612; offered appointment aa envoy to the Panama Congrcaa, 612 ; appointed miniater to London, 612, 613; arrives in London, 613; subjects of negotiation, 614; his notes on co lonial intercourae, 616, 617 ; Mr. Van Buren's parapbraae of his despatch, 818; his explanations of Mr. Can ning's hostility, 620, 624; hia opinion of English and French diplomacy, 622 ; hia conciliatory management, 626, 628, 629; his treaties of 1827, 626, 627; prepares st^itement of the argument on the North-Eastern bound ary, 629, 633; hia views on politics in 1828-9, 630, 631, 633, 634; would accept miaaion to France in 1829, 632, 633 ; disapprovea removals from office, 633, 634; on quitting public life, 631; publiabes hia first essny on banks and currency, 637, 638, 647 ; hia attitude regarding the U. S. Bank, 638, 639, 661,665,686; composes the free-trade memorial, 640, 642; attacked by Mr. Clay, 641 ; becomes president of the National Bank, 643, 647, 652 ; resigns, 662; his ethnological writings, 643- 645, 652 ; tries to eatabliah a popular university, 648; on politics in 1833, 648, 649 ; in 1834, 650 ; favors annual Presidency, 650; on American society, 646, 650, 651, 653, 663, 004; on uni- vcraal suffrage, 664; bis share in the resumption of specie payments in 1838, 057-662; his second essay on banks and currency, 002, 603, 664, 666; asked by President Tyler to take the Treasury Department, 666, 667; republishes his argument on tlio North- Eaatern boundary, 608; Alexander Baring's opinion of him, 668; bis views on the Ashburton negotiation, 670 ; his pamphlet on the Oregon ques tion, 671 ; bis speech on the annex ation of Texas, 670-675 ; J. Q. Adams's remarks regarding him, 676 ; his pamphlet on peace ydth Mexico, 077; his religious opinions, 678; his death, 678. Gallatin, Mrs. Albert. (See Allegre, Sophia, and Nicholaon, Hannah.) Gallotin, Jamea, 179, 180, 316, 480, 493, 606, 607, 608, 610, 632, 650; his son, 650, 667. Gallatin, Jean, enrolled as citizen of Geneva in 1610, 2. Gallatin, Jean, father of Albert Gallatin, 9 ; bis death, 10. Gallatin, Paul Michel, Albert's guar dian, 19-22. Gallatin, Pierre, Count de, Wiirtemberg miniater at Paris, 3, 563. Gnllatin-Rolaz, Mme., mother of Albert Gallatin, 7, 9, 10. G'allatin-Vaudenet, Mme., grandmother of Albert GallaUn, 6, 16; Voltaire's notes lo, 6, 7 ; her figs, 6, 7; her chil dren, 9; gives her grandson a "cuff," 17 ; her decline, 94. Gambier, Lord, British commissioner at Client, 519. Genet, Edmund, French minister, 86,104, 111. Geneva, its government, 3; its society, 6, 10, 11, 15, 40; its ocademy, 11-15; INDEX. 689 its politics, 28, 33, 48, 47, 48, 61, 52, 73, 76,98,97, HI, 146, 109; emigration from, 146, 146, 160; condition in 1814, 631 ; revisited by Gallatin in 1816, 647 ; bis account of, 600, 601. George IV., 650. George's Creek, 66, 56, 68, 69, 66, 68, 69, 72, 123. Georgetown, 263, 269, 530. German, Obadiah, Senator frora New York, 484. Gerry, Elbridge, nominated envoy to Franco, 186 ; vote on his confirmation, 186. Ghent, negotiations at ; meeting of the commissioners, 519; American terms of peace, 520 ; British terms, 620, 621 ; Indian sovereignty, 621, 527; antago- niama among the American commis sioners, 520, 521, 622, 623; expected failure of the negotiation, 623, 524, 525, 526; first modification of the British terms, 626, 527 ; effect on the American commissioners, 527, 528; settlement of the Indian question, 535; British offer of the basis of nti poeaidetia, 535, 636; rejected, 536; effect of the rejection, 636-638 ; negotiation considered at an end, 638, 637 ; interposition of tho Duke of AVellington, 638, 539; eeeond modification of the British terma, 539, 640; articles on impressment, blockade, and indemnities, 540; struggles over the fisheries and the Mississippi, 540- 545; signature of the treaty, 646; the treaty peculiarly a triumph of Mr. Gallatin, 546; Castlereagh's opinion of, 646. Giles, William B., 154, 156, 298, 678; leaves Congress in 1798, 202; favors war in 1808, 376; opposes Gallatin's appointment as Secretary of State, 338, 389, 401 ; oppoaea the bank charter, 427, 428, 429; his taunts at Gallatin, 448, 449 ; opposes Gallatin's confirma tion to Russia, 484, 490 ; thought of for President of the Senate, 485. Gilman, Nicholas, Senotor from New Hampshire, 484. Girard, Stephen, 477. Glass, manufacture of, 176. Qopdhue, Benjamin, Senator from Massa- ohilRottfl, 186. Goodrinh, Chauroy, M.C. from Connecti cut, his speech for Jay's treaty the .best, 155. Gottenburg, 493, 494, 495. Goulburn, Henry, British commissioner at Ghent, 519 ; his reports of the Ghent negotiations, 524, 625, 634, 635, 546 ; checked by bis chiefa, 52^, 628 ; his mortification, 540 ; his views on the fisheries, 543, 545 ; negotiates commer cial convention, 650. Granger, Gideon, 329, 429. Granges, estate in Bugey, 1, 2. Greenville, treaty of, 521. Griswold, Roger, M.C. from Connecticut, 154; his speech on Jay's treaty, 156, 102, 163 ; bis altercation with Matthew Lyon, 191-193, 194, 196 ; his political opinions, 192, 199, 214, 249; nomi nated Secretary of AVar, 258; his at tack on Gallatin in 180.3, 309, 314, 316. Grhndy, Felix, M.C. from Tennessee, 445, 457. Gun-boats, Gallatin's views on, 352, 353 ; Mr. Jefferson's views on, 363, 364 ; re sults of, 364. Gurney, Francis, 85, 88. Hamilton, Alexander, 07, 101, 106, 120, 153; 164, 202, 320; bis financial pol icy, 87 ; regarding excise, 89 ; his jeal ousy of control, 114; his letter on calls for finnnelal information, 110, 117; his course iu regard to the whiskey rebel lion, 139, 140, 141 ; his antagonism to Jefferson. 150,170; his financial prin ciples, 167, 168, 169 ; bis sinking fund, 173, 174, 296; his reduction of debt, 174; hia political formulae, 199; com- mnnder of the army, 211 ; hie state ment of the political situation in 1798, 223 ; pitted against Burr in 1800, 232, 242 ; active in the New York City elec tion of 1800, 233; fears' Bnrr'a influ- enoo, 234; not present at the nomina ting caucus, 235; opposed to making Burr President, 254; the vigor and 44 690 INDEX. oapaeity of bis mind, 268 ; compa.-ed with Gallatin, 268, 269. Hamilton, Paul, Secretary of the Navy, his report on gun-boate, 353, 354;. bis administration of the navy, 462, 407 ; Gallatin's remarks on, 463 ; his cruie- ing orders, 465 ; hie resignation, 470. Hamilton, Dr. Robert, his work on the British National Debt, 230. Hanson, A. C, M.C. from Maryland, 457, 630. Harper, R. G., M.C. from South Carolina, 154, 155, 156, 201, 202; his qualities, 188; chairman of Ways and Means, 188 ; remarks on " the plot," 205, 207 ; on the alien and eedition bills, 205, 207, 208; on Gallatin's glass house, 216; on the sinking fund and the debt, 218, 229, 230. Harrie, Levett, 614. Harrieburg, conference at, 77-79. Harrison, William II., Governor of the Indiana Territory, 404; candidate for the Presidency, 653. Harvard College appoints Gallatin in structor in French, 42. Henry, John, his discoveries, 455. Henry, John, Governor of Maryland, 224. Henry, Patrick, his letter of introduc tion for Gallatin, 69, 60 ; nominated minister to France, 228. Hesse-Cassel, the Landgrave of, 7, 8, 9, 16; letter to Mme. Gallatin-Vaude net, 9. Hispanlola, 109. Hull, General, his eurrender, 468, 469, 470. Humboldt, Alexander von, 684, 505, 626 ; GallaUn'e description of, in 1804, 323 ; his diplomatic assistance in 1814, 511 ; his oongratulationa on the treaty of Ghent, 648 ; infiuencea Gallatin to write on Indian ethnography, 644. Husbanda, Herman, 133. Huskiason, William, 414, 618, 625, 626. Hutchinson, Dr., hie character, 105 ; death by yellow fever, 107. Hyde de Neuville, French minister to the United States, 673, 574, 576, 682, 583. I. Impressments, 602, 606, 612-618, 640, 551, 570. Indemnities. (See France.) Indian ethnology, Gallatin's writings on, 644, 645, 662, 677. Indian sovereignty at the Ghent nego tiation, 521, 527. Indians, disturb Monongalia County, 55, 62 ; break up Gallatin's settlement, 62, 91, 112. Ingersoll, C. J., his History of the War of 1812, 462, 514. Ingersoll, Jared, 440. Ingham, Samuel D., M.C. from Penn- eylvania, 582, 592. Internal improvements, 85, 86, 157; the National Bead, 167, 299, 350; Mr. Jef ferson's schemes for, 360; Gallatin'a schemes for, 350-352. Invisibles, the, 427, 430. Irvine, Gen. William, 96, 98. Jackson, Andrew, 497, 662; Gallatin's opinion of, 699; bis political remov als from office, 632, 633, 634 ; a dinner at the White House, 634 ; his war on the U. S. Bank, 636, 639 ; a pugnacious animal, 651. Jackson, Francis James, British min iater, 394, 396, 411, 412. Jackaon, John G., M.C. from Virginia, 341. Jay, John, 65, 104, 186, 355, 485; his treaty with England, 151, 155, 156, 214, 600; speeches on, 156-167; its merits, 158, 201; its effects, 159, 178; question arising on ite execution, 160; debate on, 160-166, 172. Jefferson, Thomas, 25, 85, 86, 176, 187, 189, 202, 214, 228, 253, 394, 496, 613, 577, 633, 636 ; his democratie prin ciples, 159, 170 ; defeated as candidate for the Presidency, 178; his Mazzei letter, 198 ; his conduct as Vice-Presi dent, 606 ; on the political situation in 1798, 206; and in 1709, 219, 220; his election in 1800, 244; contest in 1801, 244-262; his alleged oompromise with INDEX. 691 the Federalists, 247, 260 ; elected Presi^ dent, 262, 262; nominates Gallatin to the Treasury, 263; oharacteriatics of his Administration, 269, 270, 272; hia New Haven loiter, 278, 280, 281 ; on the interference of office-holders in politics, 279; his ostracisra of Burr, 288, 289, 290, 313; his course regard ing the navy, 201 ; his alleged parsi mony, 294; bis want of humor, 306; his dry -docks, 306; on balancing Eng land and France, 310, 334, 356, 376; his treatment of Duane, 311, 313, 330, 439, 443 ; on tho constitutional power to acquire territory, 321; on the United States Bank, 308, 321, 322, 686; re elected President, 326 ; his Spanish policy in 1805, 334, 336, 336, 337, 347; his defence of Gallatin against Ran dolph, 342, 343 ; on the dissensions of 1808, 344; on a national university and internal improvements, 349, 350 ; on gun-boats, 353; his rejection of Monroe's treaty, 355;. his faith in commeroial restrictions, 387, 30J<1iis abdication of power, 376, 377, 383; hie discouragement, 376, 379 ; disas trous close of his Administration, 380, 390, 391 ; Ersklne's remarks on, 381 ; on the defeat of the war-policy of 1809, 385, 386; on Gallatin's proposed resig nation, 407, 408 ; on tho dissensions of 1810, 418; his alleged partiality to France, 418, 419; his scheme of ad ministration, 491, 492; his views on Presidential candidates of 1822, 691, 693 ; his raind impervious to argument on the extension of slavery, 871. Johannot, 16. Jones, Walter, M.C. from Virginia, 190, 222, 228. Jones, William, Secretary of War, 471. Judiciary bill, repeal of, 274, 301. K. Eanawha River, 56, 61. Rentnoky, 56. King, Rufus, 104, 484, 490, 612, 613; hie politloal theories, 272. Kinloch, Francis, 15, 22, 24. Klrkpatrick, Major, burning of his barn, 130, 133. Lacock, Abnor, 582, 688, 602, 603, 604, 605. La Fayelte, General, 843, 664; his diplo matio ossietance to Mr. Crawford, 611; his interview with the Emperor Alex ander, 512; his position in 1817, 664; entertained at Friendship Hill, 611, 612. Lands, public, eystem of, 167, 297, 298. Langdon, John, of New Hampshire, 222, 253, 205. La Place, Pierre Simon, 564. Law, Mrs. (Custis), 191, 194, 252, 303, 305. Lawrence, Cornelius W., 658. Lawrence, William Beach, 822, 828. Lee, Henry, 249. Leib, Michael, U. S. Senator from Penn sylvania, 313, 322, 328, 330, 388, 389, 400, 401, 414, 429, 459, 484, 490. Lesdernier de Russin, friends of Gallatin and Serre at Machias, 30, 31, 35, 36, 40. Lincoln, Levi, Attorney-General, 265, 274, 298, 373; his character, 276; story told of him, 277. Livermore, Samuel, 112. Liverpool, Lord, on the Emperor of Rus sia, 516 ; obliged to check his commis sionere at Ghent, 526 ; accepts the In dian article, 535 ; bis embarrassment, 536, 637 ; his appeal to the Duke of Wellington, 638; aocepte the atatua quo ante, 539 ; his death, 828. Livingston, Brockholst, 236. Livingston, Edward, 164, 166, 162, 212, 228, 245, 248, 283, 284; begins the de bate on Jay's treaty, 160 ; on the alien bill, 207, 219; his defalcation, 290. Livingston, Chancellor Robert R., bis character, 239; minister to Paris, 307. Logan's Act, 215. Louis XVIII., 563. Lonia Philippe, 860. Louisiana, purchase of, 807, 310, 818j incorporation of, 326, 673. Lowndes, AVilliam, M.C. from South Car- 692 INDEX. olina, 445, 449, 473, 562; Mr. Craw ford's comments on, 581. Lowrie, Walter, Senator from P,onn8yl- vania, 582, 692; advises Gal|atin,to withdraw, 602, 603. Lyon, Matthew, M.O. from Vermont, 560; bis altercation with Roger Gris wold, 191-195; bis imprisonment, 219; his relations with Randolph, 325, 329. M. Machias in 1780, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37. McClanachan, Blair, 77, 185, 188. McKean, Thomas, Chief Justice uf Penn sylvania, 81 ; candidate for governor, 227; governor, 249; offered nomina tion for Vice-Presidency, 312; de clines, 312, 313 ; his account of Penn sylvania politics, 313 ; re-elected gov ernor by Federalists, 330 ; his mistakes,' 331, 333, 442. McLane, Louis, his instructions as min ister to England, 618, 619. Macon, Nathaniel, M.C. from North Car olina, 302, 473; on the Chesapeake affair, 369, 362; on the war policy of 1808, 384; bis navigation bill of 1809, 413, 414, 415, 416 ; bis Act of May 1, 1810, 416; its effect, 419, 420, 421; opposes the bank charter, 427; refuses to go into caucus, 591, 596-697. Madison, Jamea, 79, 83, 86, 154, 155, 156, 166, 214, 219, 298, 300, 496, 636; hia speech on Jay's treaty, 155, 162, 163; retires from Congress, 181 ; his nullifi cation reaolvee, 211, 212, 374; ap pointed Secretary of State, 265 ; his influence in tlie scliome of administra tion, 268, 269, 272 ; John Randolph's attack upon, in 1806, 339, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345; candidate for tbo Pres idency, 346 ; his pamphlet on the rule of 1756, 348; elected President, 374; urges Mr. Jefferaon to fix a policy, 377, 378 ; bis views on the war policy, 384; his character, 384, 399, 459; at tempts to make Gallatin Secretary of State, 388-391, 633; unfortunate be ginning of his Administration, 391, 392; his message of 1809, 412; his course towards France in 1810, 423, 424, 425, 461; his course regarding tho bank charter, 416, 427; dismisses , Robert Smith, 436 ; appoints Monroe Secretary of State, 435 ; his treatment of Duane, 443 ; hia attitude towards the war party, 445, 448, 466, 460 ; his opinion of their measures, 449; hia share in causing tbo declaration, 456- 469 ; hia supposed wish to lay up the frigates, 462-466; reorganizes bis Cab inet, 408-470 ; accepts Russian medi ation, 477; sends Gallatin to Russia, 477—479; hia dangerous illness, 484- 488; rofuBua tu vacate the 'IVoueury, 486, 487; disaffection towards liim in AVashington, 529 ; his dismissal of General Armstrong, 530 ; offers the Treasury to GuUatin in 1816, 557. Marbois, Barb€, 62. Marshall, Humphrey, Senator from Ken- , tuoky, 185. AliLrsball, James, 91 ; his course at the Mingo Creek meeting, 128; at the Parkinson's Ferry meeting, 131, 132. Marshall, John, 213, 277 ; his encour agement to Gallatin, 64; bis talent, S3 ; bis views on blending common law and equity, 81-83; member of Congress, 164-166; on the sedition law, 211; on the case of Jonathan Bobbins, 231, 232 ; Chief Justice, 258. Martineau, Harriet, her notes of Galla tin's conversation, 650, 651. Massachusetts, account of, in 1780, 28, 29. Masters, Josiah, M.O. from New York, 342, 343. Mediterranean Fund. (Soo Financca.) Mexico, war with, 672, 673, 676, 677; Gallatin'a pamphlet on, 677. Mifflifi, Thomaa, Governor of Penneylva- lua, 86, 223. Missiaaippi, navigation of, at the Treaty of Ghent, 540-546; in 1818, 670. Mitchell, Stephen N., 112. Mitchill, Samuel L., 237, 238. Monongahela River, 65, 62, 63, 630, 646. Monongalia County, 55, 68, 59, 62. Monroe, James, miniater to France, re called by AVashington, 178, 179, 186; INDEX. 693 his account of hia mission, 186; din ner to, 187; sent to France in 1802, 307; negotialee treaty with England in 1806, 348, 355, 361, 610; appointee; Secretary of State, 4S5 ; assumes dutieo of Secretary of War, 469, 470 ; ospires to he "generalissimo," 471 ; on Galla tin's rejection by the Senate, 484-486; urges him to accept the French mis sion, 555; elected President, 659; hia Cabinet, 569; the Monroe doctrine, 614, 624. Monroe, Mrs. James, 594. Montgomery, John, M.O. from Maryland, Gallatin'a brother-in-law, 101. Moreau, General, 499, 501, 609. Morgon, Col. Zach., 69. Morris, Gouverneur, 111, 199, 264, 260. Morris, Lewis R., M.C. from Vermont, 250, 264, 262. Morris, Robert, 66, 66; his land specula tions, 53, 179; buys lands of Gallatin, 121, 122, 162, 226; on the eligi'oility to office of actual citizens iu 1788, 120; his bankruptcy, 209, 210. Morton, Col. J., 236, 238. Muhlenberg, F. A., 166. Muhlenberg, Peter, 249. Murray, William Vans, bis nomination as minister to France, 220, 221, 227, 228. N. Napoleon I. (See Bonaparte.) Navigation act; Macon's bill, 413, 414, 416, 416; in 1817, 609. Navy, asubjcct of division, 167, 170-172; economy in, 180, 217, 218, 229, 318, 319; Mr. Jefferson's conscrvatiam re garding, 291 ; dry-doeks, 308 ; Gal latin's complaints of, 294, 351, 410; Randolph's views on, 325, 330, 335; Gallatin's views on, 167, 170, 171, 172, 180, 217, 218, 229, 334, 335, 386; the navy coalition of 1809, 387, 388, 399, 400; the alleged order to lay up the frigates in June, 1P12, 482-466. Nesselrode, Count, 497, 498, 504. Netherlands, negotiation with tho, 658. Neville, General, inspector of excise, 124, 125. New England, her attitude in the war of 1812, 607, 509, 646; her people, 651. I New Geneva, 678, 579. Now York in 1783,45,68; in 1796, 146; city election of May, 1800, 232-241; politics of, 288, 289. Newbold, George, 668. Nicholas, John, M.C. from Virginia., 164, 190, 193, 202, 212, 222, 263; hia apeeoh on tho aeditioii law, 219, 220. Nicholas, Wilson Gary, Senator from Vir ginia, 154, 162, 253, 302, 387, 389, 401 ; favors war in 1808, 376. Nicholson, Hannah (Mrs. Albert Galla tin), 30,3, 404; her family, 100; de scription of her person and charac ter, 99, 108, 109; herdialike of the western country, 259, 275 ; her death, 678. Nicholaon, Commodore James, his ori gin, 100; hia wife, 101, 647; his naval battles, 100; hie brothers, 100; his children, 101; his political activity, 101; quarrel with Hamilton, 108, 153, 154; engages in the city elootion of May, 1800, 232, 233; urges Burr for Vice-President, 241, 242; interview with George Clinton, 242; urges re movals from office, 282, 290 ; is ap pointed loan officer, 282, 303. Nicholson, James AV., Gallatin'a brother- in-law, 481, 482. 598; associated in partnership with Gallatin at New Geneva, 152. Nicholson, ,Tohn, Comptroller-General of Pennaylvania, his impeaohmpnt, 97. Nicholson, Joseph Hopper, M.C. from Maryland, 101, 166, 262, 299, 302, 316, 337, 338, 339, 344, 439; accepts seat on tho bench, 344; on the affair of the Chesapeake, 360 ; attacks General Smith, 401 ; on Gallatin's proposed resignation, 403, 406; urges Gallatin to return to the Treasury, 558. Nicholson, Maria, marries John Mont gomery, 101 ; her doubts of Burr's charanter, 244, 245. Non-intercour.se, 386, 396, 397, 406, 413. Niiiimoation in 1798, 211, 212,874; In 1833, 642, 648, 666. 694 INDEX. Ohio, Gallatin's expeditions do^wn the, 64,56,61,62. ,'"'" O'Neal, Peggy, 634. Orders in council of November 11, 1807, 364, 365 (see England) ; regarding the colonial trade in 1826, 615-617. Otis, Harrison Gray, a pupil of Gallatin's, 43 ; M.C. from Maseaehusetts, 154, 155, 158, 192, 193, 202, 205 ; on the sedi tion bill, 208. P. Paine, Thomas, 101, 102, 187, 326. Panama Congrees, 612. Parker, Josiah, M.C. from Virginia, 193, 202. Parkinson's Ferry, meeting at, 130-136, 139. Pauly, Louis, 69, 70, 71. Pennsylvania (see Weatern Inanrrection), adopts the Federal Constitution, 77 ; its constitutional convention of 1789- 90, 79-83; ite legielation, 1790-1795, 84, 86, 86; report on its finances, 85; ita financial condition, 86 ; its society in 1795, 146-147; its politics, 281, 311, 326, 327, 328, 330, 331, 332; Duane's schism, 290. Perceval, Spencer, Attorney-General of England, author of tho orders in coun cil, 366. Perry, Commodore, 629. Petera, Judge Richard, 148. Philadelphia, 45, 46, 54, 90 ; yellow fe ver in, 105, 106, 107 ; gentlemen corps, 142, 143. Pickering, Timothy, 96, 184, 188, 436, 457, 458. Pietet, Catherine, adoptive mother of Albert Gallatin, 10, 16, 19, 24, 38, 39, 42, 52, 74, 76, 94; her death, 162, 163. Pinokney, C. C, 223 ; to be supported for the Presidency in place of John Adams by the Federalists, 241. Pinckney, Charles, 260. Pinckney, Thomas, 178, 241. Pinkney, William, sent minister to Eng land in 1806, 348 ; negotiates treaty, 365, 361; Attorney-General, 39.5, 440. Pitt, AVilliam, his sinking fund, 173, ' 174', 230, 296, 326. Pittsburg, 64, 66, 81, 68 ; meeting of Au gust, 1792, 91, 92, 93, 123, 204; soiz- ' ure of its mail, 128; march through, 129; occupied by the U. S. militia, 139. Porter, Commodore, 629. Pozzo di Borgo, 564, 665. Pregny, 6, 6, 10, 16. Providence in 1783, 44. Q. Quincy, Josiah, M.C. from Massachu setts, his speech on the conduct of the war, 470. R. Randolph, John, 154, 156, 302, 314, 316, 389, 394, 459, 681; causes repeal of internal taxes, 295; moves resolutions regarding Louisiana, 308 ; on Mr. Gris wold's attack, 314, 315; on politics in 1804, 324; on a naval force, 326; his attack on the Yazoo settlement, 328, 329 ; on the management of the navy, 330, 335 ; on politics in 1805, 331-333 ; on Mr. Jefferson's retirement, 333; his course regarding the purchase of Florida in 180.5, 338-344 ; against con tinuing the erabargo, 384; on Galla tin's resignation, 430, 431 ; his temper and ecccntrieitiea, 598. Redstone Old Fort, meeting at, 135-137. Reed, Jacob, Senator from South Caro lina, 185. Rioliolieu, Duke do, Fronuh Minister of Foreign Affairs, 607. Richmond, 178.3-1789, 63, 64, 69, 61. Robbins, Jonathan, case of, 231, 232. Roberts, Jonathan, M.C. from Pennsyl vania, 473, 688; hia rcminisconoes of the war, 476, 480. Robinson, Frederick (Lord Goderlch), 550, 652, 570, 571, 618; Prime Minis ter, 626. Rochefoucauld d'Enville, Duo de la, 24. Rodgers, Commodore, 466, 468, 529. Rodney, Ciosar A., Attorney-General, 366; rcaigns, 440, 493. INDEX. 695 Rogere, Richard, naval officer of the port of New York, 281, 283; queriUon of his retention in office, 282-280. Rolaz of Rolle, Alphonse, 10, 11, 21, 74. Romanzoff, Count, Chancellor of the Rus sian Empire, 497; anecdote of Na poleon I., 444; hie policy, 498; renews offer of mediation, 499, 503; retires from office, 604. Rose, George, British Minister, 364, 367, 394, 397. Ross, James, U. S. Senator from Penn sylvania, 122, 18.6, 227, Rush, Richard, minister to England, 609, 688. Russell, Jonathan, rejected by Senate as minister to Sweden, 484 ; sent to nego tiate treaty of Ghent, 505 ; his share in negotiotion, 623, 641, 644; hie con troverey with J. Q. Adame, 684. Russia. (See Alexander.) Rutherford, John, 112. S. St, Lawrence, navigation of, 550, 551, 621, 625. Savary do Valcoulon, 99, 643 ; hia busi- nees in America, 46 ; assists Gallatin, 46, 65, 64; enters with Gallatin into land speculations, 46, 63, 66, 59, 60, 61, 70; his brick house at Richmond, 69 ; attempts a settlement on the Ohio with Gallatin, 62 ; returns with him to George's Creek and leases land, 62 ; returna to Richmond, 63 ; signs Gal latin's marriage bond, 71, 72; hie death, 660. Schoole. (See Education.) Scott, Sir Walter, 678. Sedgwick, Theodore, Senator and M.C. from Massachusetts, 173, 185. Sedition law, 203, 204, 206, 207, 208, 209, 274. Seney, Joshua, M.C. from Maryland, Gallatin's brother-in-law, 101. Serre, Henri, echoolmate of Gallatin's, 15 ; runs away with Gallatin from Ge neva, 17; his account of life at Maohiae, 34, 35, 40 ; hie character, 34, 39, 0 1 ; hie project of life, 40, 41 ; goes to Ja maica, 46, 49, 68; dice, 46, 66; Galla tin's attaohment to him, 60, 63, 66, 63. Sewall, Judge Samuel, M.C. from Mas- saoLiusetts, 154, 200; the first man of his party, 188 ; on the alien law, 206. Sheldon, Daniel, soerotary of legation and ehargf d'affaires, 686, 586. Shepherd, Abraham, on Mr. Madison's share in declaring war, 457, 458, 459. Short, William, rejected as minister to Russia, 390. Sidmouth, Lord, 364. Sinking fund. (Seo Financea.) RItgroavce, Samuel, M.O. from Pennsyl vania, 122, 160. Slavery, abolition of, 86; evile of, 109, 269 ; exoluaion from the territory, 209, 406 ; Gallatin's opinions on, 671, 673, 874. Smilie, John, 91, 93, 125, 560. Smith, Robert, appointed Secretary of the Navy, 276, 333, 336; Gollatin's complaints of his administration, 294, 386, 410 ; Randolph's complaints, 330 ; on tho embargo, 373 ; appointed Sec retary of State, 389, 390, 633; his course in the Cabinet, 400, 415; his purchases of exchange on Leghorn, 401, 404; his despntchca in July and November, 1810, 423 ; hie removal frora oflice, 430, 431, 435, 436, 437, 439, 468. Smith, Samuel, M.C. from Maryland, 253, 316, 490; his account of the Lyon- Griswold affair, 191 ; his intervention in the election of Mr. Jefferson, 247, 260, 251 ; declines the Navy Depart ment, 205, 270; U. S. Senator, 400; makes hie brother Secretary of State, 389, 390 ; hie drafte on Leghorn, 400- 403; becomes hoetile to Gallatin, 403 ; opposes Macon's hill, 416 ; opposes the bank charter, 417, 428, 429, 430; op poses everything, 466 ; takes command in Baltimore, 530 ; resumes relations with Gallatin, 690. Smith, William, M.C. from South Caro lina and minister to Portugal, 16, 154, 173, 184. South Carolina, her acts in 1833, 648. Spain, her conduct towarda America in 696 INDEX. 1793, 104; interdicts right of depofeit, 307 ; protests against the Louisiana purchase, 319; her course in 1806, 334 ; Mr. Jeffereon's policy' regarding, 334-338, 347 ; his proposed purcbase of Florida, 336; her affairs, 513; ber course regarding the sale of Florida, 572. Specie payments, suspension of. (See Financea.) Specific appropriations, 167, 180, 299. Spencer, John C, Secretary of the Treas ury, 666, 667. Stewart, Andrew, M.C. from Pennsyl vania, 594, 606, 608. Stewart, Commodore, 462, 463, 464, 466. Stockton, Lucius H., nominated Secre tary of War, 258. Stoddart, Benjamin, Secretary of the Navy, 265, 277. Stokeley, Thomaa, 176. stone, David, Senator from North Caro lina, 484. Stuart, Gilbert, his portrait of Gallatin, 301. Suffrage, univereal, Gallatin's opinions on, 664, 655. Swanwiok, John, M.C. from Pennsylva nia, 188. Symmes, John Cloves, 182. T. Tahon, keeper of a boarding-bouao in Boston, 20, 42. Talleyrand, 227 ; Gallatin's opinion of, 564. Tariff in 1832, 640, 041, 612. Taxation, local, 054. Tayloe, Benjamin Ogle, 664. Taylor, John, M.C. from South Caro lina, 416. Taylor of Caroline, John, 212. Texas, annexation of, 672; Gallatin'a speech on, 672-675. Thacher, George, M.C. from Massachu setts, bis motion to exclude slavery from the Southwestern Territory, 209. Thomas, J. B., Senator from Illinois, 692. Thomas, John Cliow, M.C. from Mary land, 201, 262. Thompson, John, his letters of Ourtiua, , 2I2, 213, 214, 227. Time-Pieoe, Now York newspaper, 190. Tom the Tinker, 149. Tompkins, D. D., candidate for the Presi dency, 559. Tracy, Uriah, Senator from Connecticut, 185. Treasury Department, ita importance, 114, 167, 267; its severe duUes, 300, 558; ita early position towards the Ex ecutive and Legislature, 114; annual report from, 114; Gallatin's call for statement from, 115, 118, 118; audit or's office burned, 258; Gallatin named for Secretary, 258 ; threatened collapse in 1812, 473, 474; offered to Gallatin in 1816, 657, and in 1843, 666, 667. Tripoli. (See Algerine Powere.) Triumvirate, Jefferson, Madison, Galla tin, 269, 274, 470, 471, 496, 589, 698, 699., , Troup, Col. R. M., 681. Tyler, President, wishes Gallatin to take tho Treasury, 666, 867. U. University, national. (See Education.) V. Van Buren, Martin, an efficient man, 593 ; his scheme for nominating Mr. Clay as Vice-President, 002, 603, 606, 632 ; his instructions to Mr. McLane, 618, 619; his position in 1829, 632, 634; his diplomacy, 667, 068. Vigel, Philip, condemned to death for treason, 149, 160. Villars, Duo de, 7. Virginia, its hospitality, 54, 67. Virginia, resolutions of 1798, 212, 374, 379. Voltaire, letters and notes of, 3, 6, 7, 8 ; verses by, 7, 16, 17.W. War of 1812, 175; causes of, 411, 448, 449, 455, 461 ; declaration of, 456-459 ; Bunding the frigiitea to soa, 465; col lapse of tho administrative system. INDEX. 697 467; military disasters, 487, 468, 469 ; condition of AVashington, 529 ; cap ture of AVashington, 518, 629, 633; danger of Baltimore, 529, 530 ; defeat of Sir George Prevost nt Plattsburg. 639 ; suspension of specie payments, 653, 656, 661, 657. Washington, meetings at, 129; oounty of, 128, 129, 131, 141; olecte GallaUn to Congress, 140. Washington, the Federal city, description of, in 1801, 252, 263, 255; Gallatin's bouse in, 302; its destruction, 629; capture of, 628, 629 ; eocioty of, 594. Washington, George, 194, 223, 267, 268, 310, 651; his land speculations, 53; his first meeting with Gallatin, 56-59 ; hie loeatione of land on the Ohio, 62; his first Administration, 86, 104, 159; his second Administration, 111, 162, 178 ; hia course in regard to the whiskey rebellion, 134, 138, 139 ; in regard to Jay's treaty, 158, 163, 164 ; his manners and temper, 182 ; his death, 229. Washington, Mrs., 182. West India trade. (Seo Colonial Trade.) Western insurrection, canees of, 88 (eee Excite), 123, 124; outbreak of, 124; duration of, 125 ; Mingo Creek meet ing, 125 ; seizure of the mails, 128 ; rendezvous of tho militia at Braddock's Field, 129,130; meeting at Parkinson's Ferry. 128, 130, 131-186 ; at Redstone Old Fort, 135-137 ; partial submission, 137, 138; march of tho militia, 138, 139, 141 ; trials for treason, 147-150. Wellealey, Marquess, eucceesor to Mr. Canning, 411, 412. AVellington, Duke of, 627, 640, 646. Whiskey. (See Exciae, and Weatern In- aurrection.) Wilkinson, Gen. James, 319, 485. AVillard, Joseph, Preeidont of Harvard College, 42, 43. William IV., 650. Wilson, James, 84, 441. Wirt, AVilliam, 342, 439. Wolcott, Oliver, Secretary of tbo Treas ury, 182, 184, 202, 300. Woolsey, William W., 235. Worthington, Thomas, Senator from Ohio, 350, 457, 458, 469, 489. X. X. Y. Z. despatobes, 200. Yazoo land claims, 298, 328, 329. Yellow fever in 1793, 105, 106, 107, 108. THE END. This preservation copy was printed and bound at Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., in compliance with CI.S. copyright law. The paper used meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). (00) 1997 3 9002