his immense and growing city (New York) of a general system of rational
and practical education fitted for all and gratuitously opened to all,"
he said, "but finding that the object was no longer the same, that a
certain portion of the clergy had obtained the control, and that their
object, though laudable, was special and quite distinct from mine, I
resigned at the end of one year rather than to struggle, probably in
vain for what was nearly unattainable." The history of the university
through its precarious existence of half a century amply justifies Mr.
Gallatin's previsions and retirement. Instead of an American Sorbonne,
of which he dreamed, it has never been more than a local institution,
struggling to hold a place in a crowded field.

Mr. Gallatin followed the evolutions of French politics with interest.
His friend Lafayette, who, during the Empire, lived in almost enforced
retirement at his estate of La Grange, was a voluntary exile from the
court of Charles X., whose autocratic principles and aggressive course
were rapidly driving France into fresh revolution. In July, 1830, the
crisis was precipitated by the royal decrees published in the
"Moniteur." Lafayette, who was on his estate, hurried instantly to
Paris, where he became a rallying point, and himself signed the note to
the king, announcing that he had ceased to reign. In September following
it fell to him to write to Mr. Gallatin on the occasion of the marriage
of Gallatin's daughter. In this union Lafayette had a triple interest.
Besides his personal attachment for Mr. Gallatin, each of the young
couple was descended from one of his old companions-in-arms. The groom,
Mr. Byam Kerby Stevens, was a son of Colonel Ebenezer Stevens, of the
continental service, who was Lafayette's chief of artillery in his
expedition against Arnold in Virginia, in the spring of 1781; the bride,
Frances Gallatin, was, on the mother's side, the granddaughter of
Commodore James Nicholson, who commanded the gunboats which, improvised
by Colonel Stevens, drove out the British vessels from Annapolis Bay and
opened the route to the blockaded American flotilla.[22]

"PARIS, _September_ 8, 1830.

"MY DEAR FRIEND:--A long time has elapsed since I had the pleasure
to hear from you. I need not, I hope, add, that my affectionate
feelings have been continually with you, especially in what related
to my young friend whose change of name has more deeply interested