Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/49

Rh GALLATIN embarked for the United States. No irian ever had less reason to emigrate. A competent fortune, good prospects, social position, and a strong family connexion, were all thrown aside in order to tempt fate in the New World. His relations very properly opposed his course, but they nevertheless did all in their power to smooth his way, and continued to treat him kindly, aird he himself in after-life always admitted the justice of their opinions. The temper of the times, a vague discontent with the established order of things, and some political enthusiasm imbibed from the writings of Rousseau, are the best reasons that can now be assigned for Gallatii1’s ill—considered desertiou of home and friends. In July 1730 Gallatin and his friend Serre landed in lIassa- chusetts. They brought with them youth, hope, courage, and a little nione_v, and at once cirtered into business. The times wei'e unfavouralilc. The great convulsion of the Revolution was drawing to a close, and everythiiig was in air unsettled coirditioii. The y- uiig tlencvaiis failed in lmsiircss, passed an aimless and severe wiiitei"in the wilds of Maine, and returned to Boston penniless. Hallatin tried to earn a living by teaching French in Harvard College, apparently irot without success, but the cold and rigid (-ivilizatioir of New England repelled him, and he made his way to the South. In the backwoods of Peiiusylvairia and Virginia there scenic-l to be better chances for a young adventurer. Gallatin engaged in land speculations, and ti'ied to lay the foundation of his fortune in a frontier farm. In 1789 he married Sophia Allegre, and every prospect seemed to be brightening. But clouds soon ,r_-atlicrcd again. After only a few months of wedlock his wife died, and Gallatin was once more alone. The solitary and desolate frontier life became now more dreary than ever; he flung himself into politics, the only outside resource open to him, and his long and eventful public career began. The constitution of 1737 was then before the people, and Gallatin, with his dislike of strong govcriimeirt still upon him, threw him- self iirto opposition and became one of the founders of the Anti- l"eder'alist, or, as it was afterwards called, the Republican party. lilmrtioiis followed to State conventions and legislatures, and Gallatin rose. with surprising rapidity. Despite his foreign birth an-l his inability to speak English with correctness or ﬂuency, he succeeded wondc-1-fully. lIe was helped, of course, by his sound eulncation ; but the true cause of his success lay in his strong sense, uiitiring industry, courage, clear-sightedness, and great intellectual ful‘CG. In 1793 he was chosen United States Senator from Penn- sylvania by the votes of both political parties. No higher tribute was ever paid to character and ability than that conveyed by this election. But although party feeling did not run high enough in Pt-iriisylvairia to prevent Gallatinls election, the stauirclr Federalists of the Senate, who had begun to draw the party lines rather sharply, found the presence of the young Gencvan highly distaste- ful. They disliked his Frerrclr origin, aird suspected him to be a man of levelling principles. His seat was contested on accoiiirt of a technical flaw in regard to the duration of his citizenship, arid the Senate annulled the election and sent him back to Pennsylvania with all the glory of political martyrdom. The part he had already takeir in the exciting scenes to which he now returned had without doubt been an efﬁcient cause in his rc- jection by the Senate. The success of the new scheme of national government turircd at the outset upon the re-establishment of sound finances. To carry out the great plans which he had set on foot, Hamilton had found it necessary to lay an excise on domestic spirits. This tax bore hardly upon the western counties of Pennsylvania, 'irginia_. and .'orth Carolina, where the people worked many small sills, and were thus able to get their grain to nrarkct in a port- able form. Strong opposition was manifested. Hamilton and his party modified the original excise law, and partly by their action, partly through the inﬂuence of 'ashingtoii, the niur'i1iiirs in the two Southern States (lied away. Brit in Pennsylvania con- cession proved fruitless, and hostility became daily nrorc active aird dangerous. In this resistance to the excise, which was peculiarly odious to the people among whom he lived, Gallatin took a leading part. l{-2 intended frilly to restrain opposition within legal bounds, but 11-: made the great mistake of embarking upon the stormy sea of resist- ance to law without sufficiently allowing for the character of the population. The frontiersinen of the Alleglianics were a rough and st_urdy race, with a la.rge and unfortunate admixture of wild Irish. Tire law-abiding American spirit was by no means supreme. Legal icsistance soon developed into insurrection. Houses were burned, I-‘'C‘l1l.lC officers assaulted and driven from the country, and the United States mail was stopped and the letters seized by the riotcrs. The people began to arm and associate, thus preparing forcible resistance to the Government. Gallatin did his best to retrieve his error and lrevent open 39 war. With ﬁne courage he faced the excited bands of riﬂemen who gathered at Redstone Old Fort on the 20th of August 1794, and opposed with vigorous eloquence the use of force against the Government. He checked the excitement sufficiently to prevent: bloodshed ; but he was only just in time. Vashington and Hamilton had at last determined to test the strength of’ the new Government, and were moving with an overwhelming force upon the western counties. Gallatin had bliindered in exciting and leading opposition to'lav among so rude a. people, but he had also interposed with sufficient effect to stop desperate measures, and the whisky 1'ebcllion faded away helplessly before the national power. Of all the men who took part in this opposition to the excise, Gallatin alone came out with credit. He was at once elected to Congress, and took his seat as a member of the Lower House in the autumn of 1795. A foreigner, still young, and speaking English with a very defective pronunciation, he nevertheless by sheer force of ability and industry wrcsted from all competitors the leadership of the Republicans in the house, and almost at once became the most dangerous opponent whom the F ederalists had ever en- countered in Congress. That great party, by simple weight of ability, generally in a minority, and never in full sympathy with the mass of their couirtrymeii, maintained their power unbroken for the first twelve years of the Government. They had established and organized that Government, and in so doing had borne down opposition with a high hand. They were as domineering as they were able, and inﬂamed with hatred of France, just then rising to the dignity of a party principle, they found in Gallatin an enemy rho was both by origin and opinion peculiarly obnoxious to them- They attacked him unsparingly, but in vain. His perfect com- mand of temper, and moderation of speech and action, in a bitterly personal age, never failed, and were his most effective weapons; but he made his power felt in other ways. His clear mind and industrious habits drew him to questions of ﬁnance. He became the financier of his party, and preached unceasingly his cardinal doctrines of siriiplieity and economy, and was an effective critic of” the measures of Government. Cool and temperate, Gallatin, when following his own theories, was usually in the right, although accused by his followers of trimming. Thus, in regard to the Jay treaty, he defended the constitutional right of the house to consider the treaty, but he did not urge rejection in this speciﬁc case. On the other hand, when following a purely party policy, he generally erred. He resisted the navy, the mainspring of Vashington’s foreign policy and the chief glory of the F ederalists. He opposed commercial treaties and diplo- matic inteicourso in a similar fashion. On all these points he was grievously wrong, and on all he changed his views after a good deal of bitter experience. The greatest period of Gallatin’s career in Congress was in 1798, after the publication of the famous X.Y.Z. despatelies. The insults of Talleyi'and, and his shameless attempts to extort bribes from the American commissioners, roused the deep anger of the people against France. The F cderalists swept all before them, and the members of the opposition either retired from Philadelphia or went over to the Goverirnicnt. Alone and single- handcd, Gallatin carried on the fight in Congress. The Federalists bore down on him unnicrcifully, aird even attempted a constitu- tional amendment in regard to citizenship, in order to drive him from oﬂiee. Still he held on, making a national struggle iii the national legislature, and relying very little upon the. rights of States so eagerly grasped by Jefferson and Madison. But even then the tide was turning. The strong measures of the Federalists shocked the country ; the leaders of the dominant party quarrelled fiercely among themselves; and the Republicans carried the elec- tions of 1800. J cffcrson and Buir obtained an equal number of votes, and as the constitution then stood either was entitled to the presidency, although no one questioned that it had been intended for J efferson. The election was thrown into the house, and the Federalists, maddened by defeat, strove to give the presidency to Burr. They fortunately failed, but it was Gallatin who led the Republicans, prevented rash measures, retained the sympathy of the country, and had a careful plan prepared for any emergency. Vhen, after this exciting contest, Jefferson took possession of the Vhite House (1801), there were two men, and two only, whose coin- mandiiig abilities marked them for the first places in the cabinet. J anics Madison became secretary of state, and Albert Gallatin secre- tary of the treasury. Visc, prudent, and conservative, Gallatin made few changes in Hamilton’s arrangements, and for twelve years administered the national ﬁnances with the greatest skill. He and J effcrson were both imbued with the idea that government reduced to the lowest possible point could be carried on upon a prioril prin- ciples restirig on the assumed perfectness of human nature, and that, if this were done honestly, its authors would be implicitly trusted, and a political millennium would surely ensue. The chief burden of carrying out this theory fell upon Gallatin. His guiding pr_in- ciplcs still were simplicity of administration and _speedy extinction of all debt, aird everything bent to these ob,}ects. Fighting or brzbiiig