at he would be of great service there. Of Louis XVIII.,
however, Jefferson had a poor opinion. He thought him 'a fool and a
bigot, but, bating a little duplicity, honest and meaning well.'
Jefferson could give Gallatin no letters. He had 'no acquaintances left
in France; some were guillotined, some fled, some died, some are exiled,
and he knew of nobody left but Lafayette.' With Destutt de Tracy, an
intimate friend of Lafayette, Jefferson was in correspondence. Indeed,
he was engaged on the translation of Tracy's work on political economy,
the best, in Jefferson's opinion, that had ever appeared.[21]

Gallatin reached Paris with his family on July 9, 1816, and had an
interview with the Duc de Richelieu, the minister of Louis XVIII., two
days later. The conversation turned upon the sympathy for Bonaparte in
the United States, which Richelieu could not understand; but Gallatin
explained that it was not extended to him as the despot of France, but
as the most formidable enemy of England. Richelieu warned him of the
prejudices which might be aroused against the reigning family 'by
ex-kings and other emigrants of the same description' who had lately
removed to the United States. This was an allusion to Jerome, who had
fled from the throne of Westphalia to the banks of the Delaware. The
king gave Gallatin an audience on the 11th, when he presented his
credentials. His reception both by his majesty and the princes was, he
wrote to Monroe, "what is called gracious." Louis the Eighteenth was a
Bourbon to the ends of his fingers. He had the _bonhommie_ dashed with
malice which characterized the race. None could better appreciate than
he the vein of good-natured satire, the acquired tone of French society,
which was to Mr. Gallatin a natural gift. Mr. Gallatin was not only
kindly but familiarly received at court; and at the _petits soupers_,
which were the delight of the epicurean king, his majesty on more than
one occasion shelled the crawfish for the youthful daughter of the
republican ambassador. An anecdote is preserved of the king's courteous
malice. To a compliment paid Mr. Gallatin on his French, the king added,
"but I think my English is better than yours."

Gallatin's first negotiations were to obtain indemnity for the captures
under the Berlin and Milan decrees; but although the Duc de Richelieu
never for a moment hinted that the government of the Restoration was not
responsible for the acts of Napoleon, yet he stated th