THE

MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE

AND

COMMERCIAL REVIEW.

AUGUST, 1864.

JAMES GALLATIN.

THE subject of the following sketch cannot be said to be, in the common acceptation of the term, a self-made man. His father was a gentleman of high position and wealth, and the advantages, which JAMES GALLATIN thus secured, many would consider very great. In one sense they were; yet we often think that the success of such a son is more to be honored than any other-these very advantages, as they are called, being in all cases great temptations to extravagance, profligacy, and indolence, which too frequently cannot be resisted. As proof of this, look at the leading commercial men in our city at the present time; how few of them there are that were not taught their first lessons in economy, selfexertion and self dependance by their necessities! Let us remember, then, that it is really no advantage, in the battle of life to be born to wealth and station. To be sure a boy thus situated does not meet with the same kind of difficulties the poorer aspirant meets with, but, yet, he must overcome very many which weak human nature has, in this country especially, found almost insuperable. True success is, with us, alike open to all; but it requires honest, perservering effort, united with a spirit of selfdenial to win the prize.

James Gallatin was born in the city of New York, December 18th, 1796. His father was ALBERT GALLATIN, the illustrious statesman and economist, and the companion and friend of the immortal heroes and statesmen who founded the republic. The men amongst whom ALBERT GALLATIN moved and associated, both at home and abroad, were the most distinguished that Europe or America has produced.

The GALLATIN family is renowned on the continent of Europe for its antiquity; also, for the eminent services its members have rendered in the higher walks of life during several centuries, and for which they have been rewarded with patents of nobility and prominent offices. The branch of the family that the subject of our sketch descended from, although of the patrician order, preferred the free institutions of Switzerland, devoting themselves to the support of those liberal principles which that ancient republic has perpetuated with such admirable heroism. Efforts to promote the happiness and welfare of the people had more at

traction for the GALLATINS of Switzerland, than the tinsel of royal courts. It was thus with ALBERT GALLATIN, who at the early age of eighteen was introduced to some of the reigning sovereigns of Europe by his noble relatives. He was offered high positions in military and civil service, but declined them all, deciding to cast his lot with the people of this country, in the darkest hour of our first great struggle for liberty and the rights of man. His irrepressible love of free government, inhaled with the genial air of the mountains around his native city, Geneva, triumphed over all the attractions royalty could present. There has not yet been any compilation of his life, writings, and correspondence. He died in the year 1849, at the advanced age of 89 years. Not the least noticeable characteristic of his life, was his indifference to the accumulation of a large fortune, opportunities for which were constantly presented. The late JOHN JACOB ASTOR, having had some dealings with government during his administration of the Treasury Department, was so favorably impressed with his business talents that he invited him to become a partner with him at New York, offering the most liberal terms. The invitation was declined, but the acquaintance thus formed ripened into a friendship that continued through life, and in those movements of our government for perfecting the national title to the territories on the Pacific coast, in which Mr. ASTOR's commercial enterprise, succeeding the government expedition under LEWIS and CLARKE, was so conspicuous and important, there were evidences of the intimacy of that friendship.

ALBERT GALLATIN married Miss NICHOLSON, daughter of Commodore JAMES NICHOLSON, the first on the list of American post captains, being the chief officer in command of the naval forces during the war of independence. The family of Commodore NICHOLSON has, for three generations, maintained the honor of the American naval service.

JAMES GALLATIN was named after his grandfather, the Commodore, at whose house he was born, during his mother's visit to the city of New York. He is the oldest son. ALBERT, his younger brother, has always occupied an honorable position in business and social life in this city, where he continues to reside.

In 1813, when JAMES was absorbed with his classical studies, at Mount Airy College, in Pennsylvania, he was aroused to contemplate the solemn. business of life, at the early age of sixteen, by an invitation to take the situation of private secretary to his father, who had been appointed embassador to Russia. That true and ever faithful friend of America, by her Emperor, the first ALEXANDER, had tendered her mediation to put an end to the war then existing between this country and England. The New England States had been clamorous for peace; their representatives in Congress would not vote the requisite taxes for maintaining the war, and although this embarrassed the Treasury, and led to propositions for the issue of a government legal tender paper money, every temptation to interfere with the national standard of value was successfully resisted, and the wants of the government were supplied by means of interest bearing treasury notes, not made a legal tender: specie did not go to a higher premium than that corresponding with twenty-three per cent discount on bank paper, and this was only for a short time, a year or more (in 1816) after the peace, at Baltimore; the greatest discount, in this city, was also after the peace, being sixteen per cent, in October, 1815.

At sea, the American navy was pre-eminently successful, but the disaffection, so prevalent in the eastern states, rendered it extremely difficult to wage the war with energy. There was, consequently, much gloom and no little despondency among public men, as to an honorable termination of the strife. As a people, we were divided in opinion, although not conquered. It was in the midst of this gloom and this despondency, that the offer of the Emperor ALEXANDER'S mediation arrived. It was accepted, of course-it was gratefully accepted. True, it was doubtless a part of the combination, that the allied powers of Europe were then forming against the encroachments of the first NAPOLEON, but as our war with England had been undertaken wholly in self-defence, without any regard to the compilations existing in Europe, the statesmen of this country, bearing always in mind the admonitions of WASHINGTON against entangling alliances, had neither interest nor desire to make us a party to the contests of European powers. They, therefore, promptly accepted the offer of the Emperor ALEXANDER, and dispatched ALBERT GALLATIN, Secretary of the Treasury, as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to the court of the emperor. The embassy set out from this country in the spring of 1813, and JAMES, who was in his seventeenth year, accompanied it as private secretary to his father, copying dispatches and correspondence, and attending conferences. He continued to apply himself sedulously to these duties through all those negotiations, which resulted in the treaty of peace at Ghent, Dec. 24th, 1814, and the treaty with England, at London, in 1815. He was also present at the negotiations at the Hague, in 1817; and, again, at London, in 1818; and resided some years in Paris, where he completed his education.

In 1823, he returned to his native land; and in 1824, married Miss JOSEPHINE PASCAULT, one of the most beautiful ladies of America. There were three sisters. Mr. PASCAULT, their father, was a French merchant, settled in Baltimore. His elder brother had been murdered by the blacks, during the massacre in St. Domingo. The three young ladies were remarkable for their great beauty and accomplishments. They were spoken of sometimes, by their admirers, as the "Three Graces." When Prince JEROME BONAPARTE, escaping from the British fleet, sought refuge at Baltimore, one of the first to receive him as an honored guest, was Mr. PasCAULT. The prince was accompanied by a young Frenchman, General ROUBELL, as his aid; and while the former fell in love with and married Miss PATTERSON, the latter fell in love with and married one of the Miss PASCAULTS. Another of the three sisters married General COLUMBUS O'DONNELL. Mrs. GALLATIN is said to have been the most beautiful of the three, and her young husband was considered one of the handsomest men of that day. Indeed, such was his reputation in Paris, that the most fashionable tailors were constantly soliciting his patronage, and besieging the American embassy for the honor of supplying the young Attache with his clothing. We mention this fact, not of course because we think it of any importance in itself considered, but because it shows the temptations by which he was surrounded at that period. Self-respect, self-denial, and self-reliance are parts of that sturdy independence of character, which have always distinguished JAMES GALLATIN. It was these, as much as his excellent training, and the pure and noble example of his father, that he was indebted to for his ability to pass through