mechanical
labor connected with details, forms, calculating, etc., which having
lost sight of the thread and routine, he could not think of again
learning and going through." He was aware that there was "much confusion
due to the changes of office and the state of the currency, and thought
that an active young man could alone reinstate and direct properly that
department."

In June of the same year, while waiting for the Peacock, which was to
carry him across the sea, Gallatin wrote Mr. Madison an urgent letter,
impressing upon him the necessity of restoring specie payment, and his
perfect conviction that nothing but the will of the government was
wanted to reinstate the country in its moral character in that respect.
He dreaded the "paper taint," which he found spreading as he journeyed
northward.

In January 1817, delegates from the banks of New York, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Virginia met in Philadelphia and agreed to a general and
simultaneous resumption of specie payments. The Bank of the United
States proposed a compact which was accepted by the state banks and
ratified by the secretary of the treasury. That institution engaged, to
a reasonable extent, to support any bank menaced. This engagement and
the importation of seven millions of specie from abroad by the Bank of
the United States secured a general restoration of specie payment. In
1822 Mr. Gallatin was tendered and declined the office of president of
the Bank of the United States.

In 1829 he prepared for Mr. Ingham, then secretary of the treasury, a
masterly statement of the relative value of gold and silver. In 1830 Mr.
Gallatin wrote for the "American Quarterly Review" his essay,
"Considerations on the Currency and Banking System of the United
States." Appearing at the time when the renewal of the charter of the
Bank of the United States was an absorbing question, this essay was
equally sought for by both the friends and opponents of the bank. It is
not confined, however, to this subject, but covers the entire field of
American finance. His treatment of the currency question was novel. He
analyzed the systems of Europe, compared them with those which prevailed
in the United States, and reached the conclusion, the general
correctness of which has been justified by the experience of all other
nations, and sooner or later will be accepted by our own; namely, the
necessity of a currency strong in the precious metals, and the
restriction of paper money