Albert Gallatin. John Austin Stevens
from France, eh! You are a Frenchman, I suppose.' 'No!' said Mr. Gallatin, 'I am not from France.' 'You can't be from England, I am sure?' 'No!' was the reply. 'From Spain?' 'No!' 'From Germany?' 'No!' 'Well, where on earth are you from then, or what are you?' eagerly asked the inquisitive landlord. 'I am a Swiss,' replied Mr. Gallatin. 'Swiss, Swiss, Swiss!' exclaimed the landlord, in astonishment. 'Which of the ten tribes are the Swiss?'”
Nor was this an unnatural remark. At this time Mr. Gallatin did not speak English with facility, and indeed was never free from a foreign accent.
At the little café they met a Swiss woman, the wife of a Genevan, one De Lesdernier, who had been for thirty years established in Nova Scotia, but, becoming compromised in the attempt to revolutionize the colony, was compelled to fly to New England, and had settled at Machias, on the northeastern extremity of the Maine frontier. Tempted by her account of this region, and perhaps making a virtue of necessity, Gallatin and Serre bartered their tea for rum, sugar, and tobacco, and, investing the remainder of their petty capital in similar merchandise, they embarked October 1, 1780, upon a small coasting vessel, which, after a long and somewhat perilous passage, reached the mouth of the Machias River on the 15th of the same month. Machias was then a little settlement five miles from the mouth of the stream of the same name. It consisted of about twenty houses and a small fortification, mounting seven guns and garrisoned by fifteen or twenty men. The young travelers were warmly received by the son of Lesdernier, and made their home under his roof. This seems to have been one of the four or five log houses in a large clearing near the fort. Gallatin attempted to settle a lot of land, and the meadow where he cut the hay with his own hands is still pointed out. This is Frost's meadow in Perry, not far from the site of the Indian village. A single cow was the beginning of a farm, but the main occupation of the young men was woodcutting. No record remains of the result of the merchandise venture. The trade of Machias was wholly in fish, lumber, and furs, which, there being no money, the settlers were ready enough to barter for West India goods. But the outlet for the product of the country was, in its unsettled condition, uncertain and precarious, and the young traders were no better off than before. One transaction only is remembered, the advance by Gallatin to the garrison of supplies to the value of four hundred dollars; for this he took a draft on the state treasury of Massachusetts, which, there being no funds for its payment, he sold at one fourth of its face value.
The life, rude as it was, was not without its charms. Serre seems to have abandoned himself to its fascination without a regret. His descriptive letters to Badollet read like the “Idylls of a Faun.” Those of Gallatin, though more tempered in tone, reveal quiet content with the simple life and a thorough enjoyment of nature in its original wildness. In the summer they followed the tracks of the moose and deer through the primitive forests, and explored the streams and lakes in the light birch canoe, with a woodsman or savage for their guide. In the winter they made long journeys over land and water on snowshoes or on skates, occasionally visiting the villages of the Indians, with whom the Lesderniers were on the best of terms, studying their habits and witnessing their feasts. Occasional expeditions of a different nature gave zest and excitement to this rustic life. These occurred when alarms of English invasion reached the settlement, and volunteers marched to the defence of the frontier. Twice Gallatin accompanied such parties to Passamaquoddy, and once, in November, 1780, was left for a time in command of a small earthwork and a temporary garrison of whites and Indians at that place. At Machias Gallatin made one acquaintance which greatly interested him, that of La Pérouse, the famous navigator. He was then in command of the Amazone frigate, one of the French squadron on the American coast, and had in convoy a fleet of fishing vessels on their way to the Newfoundland banks. Gallatin had an intense fondness for geography, and was delighted with La Pérouse's narrative of his visit to Hudson's Bay, and of his discovery there (at Fort Albany, which he captured) of the manuscript journal of Samuel Hearne, who some years before had made a voyage to the Arctic regions in search of a northwest passage. Gallatin and La Pérouse met subsequently in Boston.
The winter of 1780–81 was passed in the cabin of the Lesderniers. The excessive cold does not seem to have chilled Serre's enthusiasm. Like the faun of Hawthorne's mythical tale, he loved Nature in all her moods; but Gallatin appears to have wearied of the confinement and of his uncongenial companions. The trading experiment was abandoned in the autumn, and with some experience, but a reduced purse, the friends returned in October to Boston, where Gallatin set to work to support himself by giving lessons in the French language. What success he met with at first is not known, though the visits of the French fleet and the presence of its officers may have awakened some interest in their language. However this may be, in December Gallatin wrote to his good friend, Mademoiselle Pictet, a frank account of his embarrassments. Before it reached her, she had already, with her wonted forethought, anticipated his difficulties by providing for a payment of money to him wherever he might be, and had also secured for him the interest of Dr. Samuel Cooper, whose grandson, young Johannot, was then at school in Geneva. Dr. Cooper was one 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