Albert Gallatin
vice-president, Mr. Wm. Beach Lawrence. After he had left the room, Mr.
Adams, speaking to a toast to the archaeologists of America, said: "Mr.
Gallatin, in sending to me the invitations of the society, added the
expression of his desire 'to shake hands with me once more in this
world.'" Mr. Adams could not but respond to his request. In his remarks
he said:
"I have 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 known 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 man from whom I have so widely differed as from
him. But in other things we have harmonized; and now there is no
man with whom I more thoroughly agree on all points than I do with
him. But one word more let me say, before I leave you and him,
birds of passage as we are, bound to a warmer and more congenial
clime,--that among all public men with whom I have been associated
in the course of my political life, whether agreeing or differing
in opinion from him, I have always found him to be an honest and
honorable man."
In the road to harmony Mr. Adams had to do the traveling. Mr. Gallatin
never changed his political opinions. The political career of the two
men offered this singular contrast: Adams, dissatisfied with his party,
passed into opposition; Gallatin, though at variance with the policy of
the administration of which he made a part, held his fealty, and
confined himself to the operations of his own bureau.
For a period far beyond the allotted years of man Mr. Gallatin retained
the elasticity of his physical nature as well as his mental
perspicacity. In middle age he was slight of figure, his height about
five feet ten inches, his form compact and of nervous vigor. His
complexion was Italian;[28] his expression keen; his nose long,
prominent; his mouth small, fine cut, and mobile; his eyes hazel, and
penetrative; his skull a model for the sculptor. Thus he appears in the
portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart about the time that he took charge of
the Treasury Department; he was then about forty years of age. In the
fine portrait by William H. Powell, taken from life in 1843, and
preserved in the gallery of the New York Historical Society, these
characteristics appear in stronger outline. Monsieur de Bacourt,[29] the
literary executor of Talleyrand, who was the French Ambassador to the
United States in 1840, paid a visit to Mr. Gallatin in that year, and
describes him as a "beau vieillard de quatre-vingt ans," who has fully
preserved his faculties. Bacourt alludes to his remarkable face, with
its clear, fine cut features, and his "physiognomie pleine de finesse;"
and dwells also upon the ease and charm of his conversation.
As his life slowly drew to its close, one after another of the few of
his old friends who remained dropped from the road. Early in 1848 Adams
fell in harness, on the floor of the House of Representatives; Lord
Ashburton died in May. Finally, nearest, dearest of all, the companion
of his triumphs and disappointments, the sharer of his honors and his
joys, his wife, was taken from him by the relentless hand. The summer of
1849 found him crushed by this last affliction, and awaiting his own
summons of release. He was taken to Mount Bonaparte, the country-seat of
his son-in-law, at Astoria on Long Island, where he died in his
daughter's arms on Sunday, August 12, 1849. The funeral services were
held in Trinity Church on the Tuesday following, and his body was laid
to rest in the Nicholson vault,[30] in the old graveyard adjoining. The
elegant monument erected during his lifetime is one of the attractive
features of this venerable cemetery, in whose dust mingle the remains of
the temple of no more elevated spirit than his own. The season was a
terrible one--the cholera was raging, the city was deserted. In the
general calamity private sorrow disappeared, or the occasion would have
been marked by a demonstration of public grief and of public honor. As
the tidings went from city to city, and country to country, the friends
of science, of that universal wisdom which knows neither language nor
race, paused in their investigations to pay respectful homage to his
character, his intellect, and to that without which either or both in
combination are inadequate to success--his labor in the field.
On October 2, 1849, at the first meeting of the Historical Society
after the death of Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Luther Bradish, the presiding
officer, spoke of him in impressive words, as the last link connecting
the present with the past. He dwelt upon the peculiar pleasure with
which the presence of Mr. Gallatin was always hailed, and the peculiar
interest it gave to the proceedings of the society, and many an eye was
dimmed, as he recalled the venerable form, the beautifully classic head,
the countenance ever beaming with intelligence, and summed up the long
and useful career of the departed sage in these impressive words:--
"The name of Albert Gallatin is emphatically a name of history. Few
men have lived in any age whose biographies have been so intimately
connected with the history of their country. Living in one of the
most interesting periods of the world, a period of great events, of
the discussion of great principles and the settlement of great
interests, almost the whole of his long and active life was passed
in public service amidst those events and in those discussions....
For nearly half a century he was almost constantly employed in the
public service; almost every department of that service has
received the benefit of his extraordinary talents and his varied
and extensive and accurate knowledge. Whether in legislation, in
finance, or in diplomacy, he has been equally distinguished in all.
In all or in either he has had few equals and still fewer
superiors."
To Jeremy Bentham Mr. Gallatin acknowledged himself indebted, as his
master in the art of legislation; but from whatever ground he drew his
maxims of government, they were reduced to harmony in the crucible of
his own intelligence by the processes of that brain which Spurzheim
pronounced capital,[31] and Dumont held to be the best head in America.
In that massive and profound structure lay faculties of organization and
administration which mark the Latin and Italian mind in its highest form
of intellectual development.
His moral excellence was no less conspicuous than his intellectual
power. He had a profound sense of justice, a love of liberty, and an
unfaltering belief in the capacity of the human race for self-rule.
Versed in the learning of centuries, and familiar with every experiment
of government, he was full of the liberal spirit of his age. To a higher
degree than any American, native or foreign born, unless Franklin, with
whose broad nature he had many traits in common, Albert Gallatin
deserves the proud title, aimed at by many, reached by few, of Citizen
of the World.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 22: An account of this expedition may be found in the
publications of the Maryland Historical Society.]
[Footnote 23:
WASHINGTON, 29_th May_, 1826.
SIR,--Mr. Stewart communicated to me your answer of 4th April last to
the letter which, at my request, he had addressed to you; and I return
you my thanks for your kind offer to forward the object in view,--one
which is not, however, of a private nature but connected with what is
intended to be a National work; and I have delayed writing in order to
be able to send at the same time the papers herewith transmitted.
It is at my suggestion that the Secretary of War has, with the
approbation of the President, taken measures to collect comparative
vocabularies of all the languages and dialects of the Indian tribes
still existing within the United States. The circular is addressed to
all the Indian superintendents and agents, and to the missionaries with
whom the Department corresponds. But they have no agent with the
Nottoways, and we are fortunate that you should have been disposed to
lend your aid on this occasion.
It is the intention of government that the result of these researches
should be published, giving due credit to every individual who shall
have assisted in a work that has been long expected from us, and which
will be equally honorable to the persons concerned and to the country.
It had been my intention to contribute my share in its further progress:
this my approaching departure for Europe forbids. The inclosed papers,
attending to the Notes and to the circular, are so full that I need not
add any further explanation, and have only to request that you will have
the goodness to transmit whatever vocabulary and other information you
may obtain to Colonel Tho. L. McKinney, Office of Indian Affairs, under
cover directed to the Secretary of War. Mr. McKinney will also be happy
to answer any queries on the subject you may have to propose.
I have the honor to be respectfully, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
ALBERT GALLATIN
Mr. James Rochelle,
Jerusalem, Southampton County, Virginia.
_Communicated by J. H. Rochelle, Jerusalem, Virginia._]
[Footnote 24: Among the most distinguished of those who have followed
the pathway indicated by Mr. Gallatin was the late George Gibbs, an
indefatigable student and an admirable ethnologist. His Chinook jargon
was published by the Smithsonian Institution.]
[Footnote 25: Mr. du Ponceau became president of the learned societies
of Pennsylvania: the Historical Society and the American Philosophical
Society.]
[Footnote 26: His favorite novel was _The Antiquary_, which he read once
a year. Novels, he said, should be read, the last chapter first, in
order that appreciation of the style should not be lost in the interest
excited by the story.]
[Footnote 27: Mr. Gallatin's assertion, which corresponded with that of
Jefferson, that Washington had naturally strong passions, but had
attained complete mastery over them, is quoted by the Earl of Stanhope
(Lord Mahon) in his famous eulogy of Washington's attributes.]
[Footnote 28: The Gallatins claim to descend from one Callatinus, a
Roman Consul.]
[Footnote 29: _Souvenirs d'un Diplomate._ Paris, 1882.]
[Footnote 30: This was the vault of the Witter family, a daughter of
which Commodore Nicholson married.]
[Footnote 31: "In my youth the fashion was to decide in conformity
with Lavater's precepts; then came Camper's facial angle, which gave a
decided superiority to the white man and monkey; and both have been
superseded by the bumps of the skull. This criterion is that which suits
me best, for Spurzheim declared I had a _capital_ head, which he might
without flattery say to everybody." _Gallatin to Lewis T. Cist of
Cincinnati, November_ 21, 1837.]
INDEX
Adams, Henry, calls treaty of Ghent the work of Gallatin, 324.
Adams, John, announces election of Gallatin as senator, 60;
convenes Congress to consider relations with France, 132;
his message, 133; replies coolly to resolution of House, 136, 137;
remarks of McClanachan to, 138;
his message in 1797, 139;
visited by House to present answer, 140;
wishes to establish new foreign missions, 141;
informs Congress of French outrages, 147;
and of preparations for war, 147;
sends in X Y Z dispatches, 149;
sends message on French relations, 152, 153;
urges preparation for war, 155;
thanks House for support, 155;