River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-07-31
ALBERT GALLATIN.

that this Is one OF the most important an(
reliable contributions TO American anC
even to general history that has appeared
since. nearly fifty years ago, Jared Spark
de oted himself to collecting, edith
and publishing the writings of GeOrg
Washington, the diplomatic correspond
ence of the Revolution, and the biogra
plIies of the leading men, whether soldier
or statesmen, who, by labor of head o
hand, worked out By the aid of DIVINE
Providence, the independence OF tn,
United States. From the same Publish
ers we had, few years ago, in many
volumes, edited by bis son, portions o.
the Diary Of john Quincy Adams, highly
interesting in many respects, but rather
showing the unfortunate snappish dispo
sition and bad temper Of that able states
man, than calculating the causes and the
details Of the pubic events in which be
was concerned.
IN the volumes before us, we have Al
bert GallatIn, great man among the
giants of our young republic, with a
good zeal of his correspondence with the
leaders of that time. He hell ''the pen
of a ready writer and expressed his
views with clearness and candOr. His
collected writings would I'LL many vol
umes, but the most important of them
nearly all Of which have hitherto
been unpublished, are presented in the
present work, edited by Mr.. Henry Adams
1t is to 0e borne in mind that Mr.. Gallat-
II, ho died in lS49, in his seth year
3 an honored and useful publicist, in
this his adopted country, for over sixty
years. Mr.. Adams has judiciuusly given
not alone Mr.. Galatians correspondence
upon public affairs with distinguished
cotemporarlcs here and in Europ but
also many letters from them to himself
The series, extensive and important, IN
cludes the Presidents under whom he
held hi9 office, at home and abroad.
Too often have we had to complain OF
the issue of important works without that
Indispensable key to their contents-a
good index. The collective edition OF
Charles Summers compositions errs, by
being needlessIy. even absurdly minute.
These Gallatin volumes, no ever, are
properly completed in this respect. There
are several indexes: l., letters written ny
HIM from September, 1894, to MAY 1S4S,
II, of Galatians writings, published dur
ing his lifetime including his speeches
in Congress; Ill, letters written 10 him
", miscellaneous letters and papers
from 1914 to 1908, and ", very good
general index. To show the richness of
this epistolary collection we may mention
that here, written nv GalatIn, are 15j
letters to Thomas jefferson, 81 to James
Madison, 81 to James Monroe, "A to John
Quincy Adams, and hundreds of Others
to various persons of note, with replies
from most of them In fact, through an
unusually long life Albert Galatin was
very much consulted and relied upon by
leading men. here and abroad. Let us
see what manner OF man as this foreign
CT, "a naturalized citizen of Pennsylvania
Abort Gallatin, ae born IN Geneva,
IN January, 1861, belonging to a respect
able family which hau been settled in
Switzerland early in the fourteentn cen
fury. He was nearly related to NJ. Neck
or, finance minister to Louis XVI. OF
France and to Madame dc Stael. his
more distinguished daughter. At the
age of is the lad entered the Uni
yersitv of Geneva, where he grad
uated in 1879. He was offered d
commission as lieutenant colonel
by one of the then numerous
very pronounced republican, came &c
America, then waging hei ar for indie
peudencc. This was in 1880. When he
was 10 years old, and Immediately after
his arrival, he accepted the defensive
command of small fort in Maine but
rs he never had occasion to draw his
sword in t at capacity, mOdestly declined
to accept the title, IN after years, of q
Soldier of the Revolution" The pa
triot force in that remote part of the
country being out Of fluids, Gallatin lent
5000 to Captain Allen, who commanded
that small force, taking an order on the
United States casury for that sum; but
on prcsen tation at Boston the authorities
there were out of cash, and Gallatin, i'm.
ally. hau to sell his draft for one-third Of
It's face value Remaining IN Boston, hC
became a French teacher III Harvard
College until 1884. Having received the
proceeds of his patrimony IN Switzerland
he went 10 Virginia, where he made Z
favorable impression on Washington, who
desired to employ him as land agent fol
his estates. Following advice of Pat
rick Henry, he purchased 400 acres Of
land on the banks of the Monongahela
in Pennsylvania. In 1898 he wrote to {
friend, II am Il bad farmer, and hav,
been unfortunate in some mercantile pur
suits had embraced. | have Just mad,
out to live Independent, and am neithe
richer nor poorer than | was twelve year
ago; the fact Is, | am not well calculated
10 make morev, as care but little abou
it. for l want hut little for myself, an.
my mind pursues other objects With NOR,
pleasure than mere business"
in 1889, Gallatin was member of tn,
convention to revise the Constitution o
Pennsvlvania, and during the next min,
wears was either member of the Stat,
Legislature or of Congress; indeed, IL
t193. he was elected to the Senate of tn
United States, but was excluded from
that office by a strict party vote, on th'
ground that he was Ineligible from thu
fact that nine years had not elapsed sine
ne had become uaturalized citizen. III
was elected. however, to the House o
RepreseutatIl strictly as no part,
man. and 81 highly distinguished him
self as good speaker and a close debate
that he ranked high among the Rupub
ican leaders IN he House. He retaine'
TINS distinction until, early in 1901, Pres
Hltul JtutlSVh dIPtAhASNt hiAA 9NNi tNN'
of the treasury, which office he retaine
for twelve years.
In March, 1918, Mr.. Gallatin was az
pointed bv President Monroe, with ].
ADAMS and j. \. Bayard, as one of tn
ENJOYS extraordinary eli the United State
to negotiate with Great Britain under tn
mediation Of Russia The result WAS til
treaty of Ghent, signed on Christina
day, 1914. In the following year he a:
sisted in forming an Anglo America
commercial treaty. From 1916 unit
1893 he was United States minister
Paris. and within that period also acte
On extraordinary missions TO the Nethe
lands and to England. He decline
President Monroe'S offer OF the office
secretary OF state In May, 1872, he II
publicans offered Ia nominate him for Il
vice presidency. He accepted this homo
hut formally declined it five moDtl
later. on the assurance of his party tia
ms candidacy would be injurious to Il
presidential prospects Of Mr.. Crawfer
NJ cue seems 70 have thought Of diff
Guilty that might result from the electiC
10 The vice presidency of a foreigner,
.hc event of death-vacancy IN the pres
dency.
Ia, 1861 Mr. GaIiatin was ambass
dar to England, in the highly importa
...,,Sai law the areassiou ~ N