Part 14 (1/2)

”The revolution (the political change of 1789) has not, however, been altogether useless. There is a visible improvement in the agriculture of the country and the situation of the peasantry. The new generation belonging to that cla.s.s, freed from the petty despotism of n.o.bles and priests, and made more easy in their circ.u.mstances by the abolition of t.i.thes, and the equalization of taxes, have acquired an independent spirit, and are far superior to their fathers in intellect and information; they are not republicans and are still too much dazzled by military glory; but I think that no monarch or ex-n.o.bles can hereafter oppress them long with impunity.”

And again, ”Exhausted, degraded, and oppressed as France now is, I do not despair of her ultimate success in establis.h.i.+ng her independence and a free form of government.” But it was not till half a century later that Gambetta, the Mirabeau of the Republic, led France to the full possession of her material forces, and reestablished in their original vigor the principles of 1789. That Gallatin was not blinded by democratic prejudices appears in the letter he wrote to Lafayette after Napoleon's abdication, in which he said: ”My attachment to the form of government under which I was born and have ever lived never made me desirous that it should, by way of experiment, be applied to countries which might be better fitted for a limited monarchy.”

_Minister to France_

Strange as it appears, there is no doubt that Mr. Gallatin was at this time heartily weary of political life, and seriously contemplated a permanent retirement to the banks of the Monongahela. He naturally enough declined a nomination to Congress, which was tendered him by the Philadelphia district. His tastes were not for the violence and turbulence of the popular house.

Madison left him full time to decide whether he could arrange his private affairs so as to accept the mission to Paris. In November he positively declined. He considered the compensation as incompetent to the support of a minister in the style in which he was expected to live.

His private income was at this time about twenty-five hundred dollars a year. Monroe pressed him earnestly not to quit the public service, but the year closed and Mr. Gallatin had not made up his mind. In the situation of France, which he considered ”would under her present dynasty be for some years a va.s.sal of her great rival,” he did not consider the mission important, and his private fortune was limited to a narrow competence. ”I do not wish,” he wrote to Monroe, ”to acc.u.mulate 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.” But being again earnestly pressed, he on January 2, 1816, accepted the appointment. To Jefferson he wrote that he would not conceal 'that he did not feel yet old enough nor had philosophy enough to go into retirement and abstract himself wholly from public affairs.'

In April, Madison notified Mr. Gallatin of Dallas's probable retirement from the Treasury, and offered him the post if he cared to return to it.

He was perfectly aware of his supreme fitness for the direction of the Treasury, and he declined with reluctance, because he was disturbed by the suspension of specie payments. Remembering Madison's weakness in 1812 on the subject of the renewal of the bank charter, which Gallatin considered necessary in the situation of the finances, he could hardly have felt a desire to return to the cabinet in that or indeed in any other capacity. He was perfectly conscious that as leader of the House of Representatives, as secretary of the treasury, and as negotiator of the Ghent treaty, he had brought into the triumvirate all its practical statesmans.h.i.+p. His short career abroad had opened to him a new source of intellectual pleasure. He had earned a right to some hours of ease.

Diplomacy at that period, when communication was uncertain and difficult, was perforce less restricted than in these latter days, when amba.s.sadors are little more than foreign clerks of the State Department without even the freedom of a chief of bureau. Gallatin felt entirely at home, and was happy in this peculiar sphere. There was no time in his life when he would not have gladly surrendered all political power for the enjoyment of intellectual ease, the pursuit of science, and the atmosphere of society of the higher order of culture in whatever field.

And Paris was then, as it is still, the centre of intellectual and social civilization.

Jefferson rejoiced in Gallatin's appointment to France, and rightly judged that he would be of great service there. Of Louis XVIII., however, Jefferson had a poor opinion. He thought him 'a fool and a bigot, but, bating a little duplicity, honest and meaning well.'

Jefferson could give Gallatin no letters. He had 'no acquaintances left in France; some were guillotined, some fled, some died, some are exiled, and he knew of n.o.body left but Lafayette.' With Destutt de Tracy, an intimate friend of Lafayette, Jefferson was in correspondence. Indeed, he was engaged on the translation of Tracy's work on political economy, the best, in Jefferson's opinion, that had ever appeared.[21]

Gallatin reached Paris with his family on July 9, 1816, and had an interview with the Duc de Richelieu, the minister of Louis XVIII., two days later. The conversation turned upon the sympathy for Bonaparte in the United States, which Richelieu could not understand; but Gallatin explained that it was not extended to him as the despot of France, but as the most formidable enemy of England. Richelieu warned him of the prejudices which might be aroused against the reigning family 'by ex-kings and other emigrants of the same description' who had lately removed to the United States. This was an allusion to Jerome, who had fled from the throne of Westphalia to the banks of the Delaware. The king gave Gallatin an audience on the 11th, when he presented his credentials. His reception both by his majesty and the princes was, he wrote to Monroe, ”what is called gracious.” Louis the Eighteenth was a Bourbon to the ends of his fingers. He had the _bonhommie_ dashed with malice which characterized the race. None could better appreciate than he the vein of good-natured satire, the acquired tone of French society, which was to Mr. Gallatin a natural gift. Mr. Gallatin was not only kindly but familiarly received at court; and at the _pet.i.ts soupers_, which were the delight of the epicurean king, his majesty on more than one occasion sh.e.l.led the crawfish for the youthful daughter of the republican amba.s.sador. An anecdote is preserved of the king's courteous malice. To a compliment paid Mr. Gallatin on his French, the king added, ”but I think my English is better than yours.”

Gallatin's first negotiations were to obtain indemnity for the captures under the Berlin and Milan decrees; but although the Duc de Richelieu never for a moment hinted that the government of the Restoration was not responsible for the acts of Napoleon, yet he stated that the ma.s.s of injuries for which compensation was demanded by other governments was so great that indemnity must be limited to the most flagrant cases. They would pay for vessels burnt at sea, but would go no farther. In spite of Mr. Gallatin's persistency no advance was made in the negotiation. A minor matter gave him some annoyance. On July 4, 1816, at a public dinner, the postmaster at Baltimore proposed a toast which, by its disrespect, gave umbrage to the king. Hyde de Neuville, the French minister to the United States, demanded the dismissal of the offender.

If our inst.i.tutions and habits as well as public opinion had not forbidden compliance with this request, the dictatorial tone of De Neuville was sufficient bar. Richelieu could not be made to understand the reason for the refusal, and while disclaiming any idea of using force, said that the government would show its dissatisfaction in its own way. This seemed to intimate an indefinite postponement of a consideration of American demands, and would have rendered Mr.

Gallatin's further residence useless as well as unpleasant; but French dignity got the better of what Gallatin termed, ”the sickly sentimentality which existed on the subject of personal abuse of the king,” and the insignificant incident was not allowed to interfere with friendly intercourse.

In 1817 Mr. Gallatin was engaged not only in advising Mr. Adams at London upon the points of a commercial treaty with Great Britain, but also, together with Mr. William Eustis, minister to the Netherlands, in a negotiation with that government.

The commission met at the Hague, Mr. Goldberg and Mr. Van der Kemp representing Holland. The subjects were the treaty of 1782 between the States-general of the Netherlands and the United States, the repeal of discriminating duties, and the partic.i.p.ation of the United States in the trade with the Dutch East Indies. The basis of a treaty could not be agreed upon, and the whole matter was referred back to the two governments, the American commissioners recommending to the President a repeal of duties discriminating against vessels of the Netherlands, which would no doubt prevent future exaction of extra tonnage duties imposed on American vessels by that government. These negotiations occupied the late summer months. At the end of September Mr. Gallatin was again at his post in Paris.

In June, 1818, Mr. Richard Rush, who owed his introduction into public life to Mr. Gallatin, was appointed minister to England, Adams returning to the United States to take the portfolio of State in President Monroe's cabinet. Gallatin was joined to Rush, for the conduct of negotiations with Great Britain, rendered necessary by the approaching expiration of the commercial convention of July 3, 1815, which had been limited to four years. The general field of disputed points was again entered. It included the questions of impressment, the fisheries, the boundaries, and indemnity for slaves. The commissioners were supported by a temper of the American people different from that which prevailed when Jay and Gallatin respectively undertook the delicate work of negotiation in 1794 and 1814. A compromise was arrived at, which was signed on October 20, 1818. The articles on maritime rights and impressment were set aside. A convention was made for ten years in regard to the fisheries, the northwest boundary, and other points, and the commercial convention of 1815 was renewed. The English claim to the navigation of the Mississippi was finally disposed of, and the article concerning the West India trade was referred to the President. The arrangement of the fishery question disturbed Mr. Gallatin, who found himself compelled to sign an agreement which left the United States in a worse situation in that respect than before the war of 1812. But as the British courts would certainly uphold the construction by their government of the treaty of 1783, our vessels, when seized, would be condemned and a collision would immediately ensue. This, and the critical condition of our Spanish relations, left no choice between concession and war. A short time afterward Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington expressed friendly dispositions, and the mooted points of impressment and the West India trade were considered by them to be near an arrangement. The right of British armed vessels to examine American crews was abandoned in the convention itself.

In July, 1818, the capture of Fort St. Mark and the occupation of Pensacola in Florida by General Jackson made some stir in the quiet waters of our foreign diplomacy. Uncertain as to whether the act would be disavowed or justified by the American government, Mr. Gallatin explained to the European ministers that the forcible occupation of the Spanish province was an act of self-defence and protection against the Indians, but Richelieu replied that the United States ”had adopted the game laws and pursued in foreign ground what was started in its own.”

Yet, to the astonishment of Mr. Gallatin, Richelieu was moderate and friendly in language, and urged a speedy amicable arrangement of differences with Spain, in whose affairs France took an interest, and who had asked her good offices. But Gallatin at once rejected any idea that the United States would join France in any mediation between Spain and her revolted colonies. It seems rather singular that, to the suggestion that a Spanish prince might be sent over to America as an independent monarch, Gallatin contented himself with expressing a doubt as to the efficacy of such a course to preserve their independence. Mr.

Adams was informed that public recognition of the independence of the insurgent colony of Buenos Ayres would shock the feelings and prejudices of the French ministers, but that notwithstanding this displeasure, France would not join Spain in a war on this account. England, however, would see such a war without regret, and privateers under Spanish commissions would instantly be fitted out, both in France and England.

Under the existing convention with Great Britain three hundred American vessels arrived at Liverpool in the first nine months of 1818 from the United States and only thirty English, an advantage to the United States which war would at once destroy. Russia also was displeased with the recognition of the independence of the Spanish colonies. At the Congress of Aix la Chapelle various plans of mediation were proposed, but England refusing to engage to break off all commercial relations with such of the insurgent colonies as should reject the proposals agreed to, the whole project was abandoned. An agreement between the five great powers for the suppression of the slave trade was also proposed at this Congress, but France declined to recognize the right to visit French vessels in time of peace, and Russia making a similar declaration, this plan also fell to the ground, and even an a.s.sociation against the exactions of the Barbary powers was prevented by jealousy of the naval preponderance of Great Britain.

While Mr. Gallatin was still actively engaged in an endeavor to put our commercial relations with France on a satisfactory basis, and negotiating with M. Pasquier, the new French minister for foreign affairs, both with regard to indemnities for captures and the new Spanish relations involved in the cession of Florida to the United States, a serious trouble arose in which Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Adams were at direct difference. In the spring of 1821 a French vessel, the Apollon, was seized on the St. Mary's River, on the Spanish side, and condemned for violation of the United States navigation laws. Mr. Adams sustained the seizure and Mr. Gallatin did his best to defend it, on the ground that the place where the vessel was seized was embraced in the occupation of the United States. To Adams he wrote that the doctrine a.s.sumed by the State Department with respect to the non-ratified treaty with Spain was not generally admitted in Europe, and that ”he thought it equally dangerous and inconsistent with our general principles to a.s.sert that we had a right to seize a vessel for any cause short of piracy in a place where we did not previously claim jurisdiction.” Mr. Gallatin succeeded in satisfying M. Pasquier that the seizure was not in violation of the law of nations or an insult to the French flag, and the captain having inst.i.tuted a suit for redress against the seizing officers, the French minister allowed the matter to rest. Adams, however, was indignant at having his arguments set aside. He complained of it to Calhoun, and asked what Mr. Gallatin meant. Calhoun answered that perhaps it was ”the pride of opinion.” But when Adams got to his diary, which was the safety-valve of his ill-temper, he set a black mark against Mr. Gallatin's name in these words: ”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 summit; timid in great perils, tortuous in his paths; born in Europe, disguising and yet betraying a superst.i.tious prejudice of European superiority of intellect, and holding principles pliable to circ.u.mstances, occasionally mistaking the left for the right handed wisdom.” Against this judgment, Gallatin's estimate of Adams may be here set down. It was expressed to his intimate friend Badollet in 1824: ”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 powerful debater; but he wants, to a deplorable degree, that most essential quality, a sound and correct judgment. Of this I have had in my official connection and intercourse with him complete and repeated proofs; and although he may be useful when controlled and checked by others, he ought never to be trusted with a place where, unrestrained, his errors might be fatal to the country.”

Crawford complained of the difficulty he encountered in the cabinet of softening the asperities which invariably predominated in the official notes of the State Department while under Adams's direction, and said that, had they been allowed to remain as originally drafted, the government would have been ”unembarra.s.sed by diplomatic relations with more than one power.” But it must be remembered that there was no love lost between Adams and Crawford--political rivals and not personal friends.

The commercial negotiations, and the discussion of French pretensions under the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, opened with M.

Pasquier, were continued with the Vicomte de Montmorenci, who succeeded him as minister of foreign affairs. In September, 1821, Mr. Gallatin had communicated to Mr. Adams his intention of returning home in the spring; but there appearing a chance of success in the negotiation of a treaty, he wrote in February, 1822, to President Monroe that if no successor had been appointed, he was desirous to remain some time longer. He was loath to return without having succeeded in any one subject intrusted to his care. Meanwhile Mr. Adams and M. de Neuville, the French minister, had been busy in the United States. A commercial convention was signed at Was.h.i.+ngton on June 24, 1822. Concerning this agreement Mr. Gallatin wrote to Adams that the terms were much more favorable to France than he had been led to presume would be acceded to, and more so than had been hoped for by the French government. He nevertheless expressed the wish that, as it had been signed, it should be ratified, in antic.i.p.ation that the superior activity of our s.h.i.+p-owners and seamen would enable America to stand the compet.i.tion.

In January, 1823, Montmorenci resigned and was succeeded by M. de Chateaubriand. The change of ministers made no change in the French persistence in connecting the discussion of the American claims with that of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, an arrangement to which Mr. Gallatin would not consent. As a last resort he so informed M.

de Chateaubriand, but receiving an unsatisfactory answer he concluded that there was at that time no disposition in France to do us justice; and as his protracted stay could be of no service to the United States, he determined to return home in the course of the spring. In April he received leave of absence from the President. On May 13 he had a final conference with Chateaubriand, in which he could get no promise of any redress, but did obtain the explicit declaration that France would in no manner interfere in American questions.

Mr. Gallatin took pa.s.sage at Havre, and arrived in New York on June 24, 1823. His political friends, especially Crawford, were eager for his return. Crawford wished him to stand for vice-president in the coming presidential campaign. After a short visit to Was.h.i.+ngton he went to his home at New Geneva. The real value of perfect public service, or indeed of any service, is only appreciated when it ceases, and friction takes the place of smooth and noiseless order. Hardly was Mr. Gallatin settled at Friends.h.i.+p Hill when a letter from President Monroe (October 15) arrived, urging him to return to Paris, if only for the winter, or until the crisis brought on by the rupture between France and Spain should be over. Mr. Gallatin replied, that the deranged state of his private affairs rendered his return to Europe extremely improbable.