Albert Gallatin | Page 3

of his writings was the extent of his influence upon the political life and growth of the country other than a vague tradition. Independence and nationality were achieved by the Revolution, in which he bore a slight and unimportant part; his place in history is not, therefore, among the founders of the Republic, but foremost in the rank of those early American statesmen, to whom it fell to interpret and administer the organic laws which the founders declared and the people ratified in the Constitution of the United States. A study of his life shows that, from the time of the peace until his death, his influence, either by direct action or indirect counsel, may be traced through the history of the country.
The son of Jean Gallatin and his wife, Sophie Albertine Rollaz, he was born in the city of Geneva on January 29, 1761, and was baptized by the name of Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin. The name Abraham he received from his grandfather, but it was early dropped, and he was always known by his matronymic Albert. The Gallatin family held great influence in the Swiss Republic, and from the organization of the State contributed numerous members to its magistracy; others adopted the military profession, and served after the manner of their country in the Swiss contingents of foreign armies. The immediate relatives of Albert Gallatin were concerned in trade. Abraham, his grandfather, and Jean, his father, were partners. The latter dying in 1765, his widow assumed his share in the business. She died in March, 1770, leaving two children,--Albert, then nine years of age, and an invalid daughter who died a few years later. The loss to the orphan boy was lessened, if not compensated, by the care of a maiden lady--Mademoiselle Pictet--who had taken him into her charge at his father's death. This lady, whose affection never failed him, was the intimate friend of his mother as well as a distant relative of his father. Young Gallatin remained in this kind care until January, 1773, when he was sent to a boarding-school, and in August, 1775, to the academy of Geneva, from which he was graduated in May, 1779. The expenses of his education were in great part met by the trustees of the Bourse Gallatin,--a sum left in 1699 by a member of the family, of which the income was to be applied to its necessities. The course of study at the academy was confined to Latin and Greek. These were taught, to use the words of Mr. Gallatin, "Latin thoroughly, Greek much neglected." Fortunately his preliminary home training had been careful, and he left the academy the first in his class in mathematics, natural philosophy, and Latin translation. French, a language in general use at Geneva, was of course familiar to him. English he also studied. He is not credited with special proficiency in history, but his teacher in this branch was Muller, the distinguished historian, and the groundwork of his information was solid. No American statesman has shown more accurate knowledge of the facts of history, or a more profound insight into its philosophy, than Mr. Gallatin.
Education, however, is not confined to instruction, nor is the influence of an academy to be measured by the extent of its curriculum, or the proficiency of its students, but rather by its general tone, moral and intellectual. The Calvinism of Geneva, narrow in its religious sense, was friendly to the spread of knowledge; and had this not been the case, the side influences of Roman Catholicism on the one hand, and the liberal spirit of the age on the other, would have tempered its exclusive tendency.
While the academy seems to have sent out few men of extraordinary eminence, its influence upon society was happy. Geneva was the resort of distinguished foreigners. Princes and nobles from Germany and the north of Europe, lords and gentlemen from England, and numerous Americans went thither to finish their education. Of these Mr. Gallatin has left mention of Francis Kinloch and William Smith, who later represented South Carolina in the Congress of the United States; Smith was afterwards minister to Portugal; Colonel Laurens, son of the president of Congress, and special envoy to France during the war of the American Revolution; the two Penns, proprietors of Pennsylvania; Franklin Bache, grandson of Dr. Franklin; and young Johannot, grandson of Dr. Cooper of Boston. Yet no one of these followed the academic course. To use again the words of Mr. Gallatin, "It was the Geneva society which they cultivated, aided by private teachers in every branch, with whom Geneva was abundantly supplied." "By that influence," he says, he was himself "surrounded, and derived more benefit from that source than from attendance on academical lectures." Considered in its broader sense, education is quite as much