Albert Gallatin | Page 8

of the most distinguished of the patriots in Boston, and no better influence could have been invoked than his. In July, 1782, by a formal vote of the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Mr. Gallatin was permitted to teach the French language. About seventy of the students availed themselves of the privilege. Mr. Gallatin received about three hundred dollars in compensation. In this occupation he remained at Cambridge for about a year, at the expiration of which he took advantage of the close of the academic course to withdraw from his charge, receiving at his departure a certificate from the Faculty that he had acquitted himself in his department with great reputation.
The war was over, the army of the United States was disbanded, and the country was preparing for the new order which the peace would introduce into the habits and occupations of the people. The long-sought opportunity at last presented itself, and Mr. Gallatin at once embraced it. He left Boston without regret. He had done his duty faithfully, and secured the approbation and esteem of all with whom he had come in contact, but there is no evidence that he cared for or sought social relations either in the city or at the college. Journeying southward he passed through Providence, where he took sail for New York. Stopping for an hour at Newport for dinner, he reached New York on July 21, 1783. The same day the frigate Mercury arrived from England with news of the signature of the definitive treaty of peace. He was delighted with the beauty of the country-seats above the city, the vast port with its abundant shipping, and with the prospect of a theatrical entertainment. The British soldiers and sailors, who were still in possession, he found rude and insolent, but the returning refugees civil and honest people. At Boston Gallatin made the acquaintance of a French gentleman, one Savary de Valcoulon, who had crossed the Atlantic to prosecute in person certain claims against the State of Virginia for advances made by his house in Lyons during the war. He accompanied Gallatin to New York, and together they traveled to Philadelphia; Savary, who spoke no English, gladly attaching to himself as his companion a young man of the ability and character of Gallatin.
At Philadelphia Gallatin was soon after joined by Serre, who had remained behind, engaged also in giving instruction. The meeting at Philadelphia seems to have been the occasion for the dissolution of a partnership in which Gallatin had placed his money, and Serre his enthusiasm and personal charm. A settlement was made; Serre giving his note to Gallatin for the sum of six hundred dollars,--one half of their joint expenses for three years,--an obligation which was repaid more than half a century later by his sister. Serre then joined a fellow-countryman and went to Jamaica, where he died in 1784. At Philadelphia Gallatin and Savary lodged in a house kept by one Mary Lynn. Pelatiah Webster, the political economist, who owned the house, was also a boarder. Later he said of his fellow-lodgers that "they were well-bred gentlemen who passed their time conversing in French." Gallatin, at the end of his resources, gladly acceded to Savary's request to accompany him to Richmond.
Whatever hesitation Gallatin may have entertained as to his definitive expatriation was entirely set at rest by the news of strife between the rival factions in Geneva and the interposition of armed force by the neighboring governments. This interference turned the scale against the liberal party. Mademoiselle Pictet was the only link which bound him to his family. For his ingratitude to her he constantly reproached himself. He still styled himself a citizen of Geneva, but this was only as a matter of convenience and security to his correspondence. His determination to make America his home was now fixed. The lands on the banks of the Ohio were then considered the most fertile in America,--the best for farming purposes, the cultivation of grain, and the raising of cattle. The first settlement in this region was made by the Ohio Company, an association formed in Virginia and London, about the middle of the century, by Thomas Lee, together with Lawrence and Augustine, brothers of George Washington. The lands lay on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. These lands were known as "Washington's bottom lands." In this neighborhood Gallatin determined to purchase two or three thousand acres, and prepare for that ideal country home which had been the dream of his college days. Land here was worth from thirty cents to four dollars an acre. His first purchase was about one thousand acres, for which he paid one hundred pounds, Virginia currency. Land speculation was the fever of the time. Savary was early affected by