, in sending to me the invitations of the society, added the
expression of his desire 'to shake hands with me once more in this
world.'" Mr. Adams could not but respond to his request. In his remarks
he said:

"I have lived long, sir, in this world, and I have been connected
with all sorts of men, of all sects and descriptions. I have been
in the public service for a great part of my life, and filled
various offices of trust, in conjunction with that venerable
gentleman, Albert Gallatin. I have known him half a century. In
many things we differed; on many questions of public interest and
policy we were divided, and in the history of parties in this
country there is no man from whom I have so widely differed as from
him. But in other things we have harmonized; and now there is no
man with whom I more thoroughly agree on all points than I do with
him. But one word more let me say, before I leave you and him,
birds of passage as we are, bound to a warmer and more congenial
clime,--that among all public men with whom I have been associated
in the course of my political life, whether agreeing or differing
in opinion from him, I have always found him to be an honest and
honorable man."

In the road to harmony Mr. Adams had to do the traveling. Mr. Gallatin
never changed his political opinions. The political career of the two
men offered this singular contrast: Adams, dissatisfied with his party,
passed into opposition; Gallatin, though at variance with the policy of
the administration of which he made a part, held his fealty, and
confined himself to the operations of his own bureau.

For a period far beyond the allotted years of man Mr. Gallatin retained
the elasticity of his physical nature as well as his mental
perspicacity. In middle age he was slight of figure, his height about
five feet ten inches, his form compact and of nervous vigor. His
complexion was Italian;[28] his expression keen; his nose long,
prominent; his mouth small, fine cut, and mobile; his eyes hazel, and
penetrative; his skull a model for the sculptor. Thus he appears in the
portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart about the time that he took charge of
the Treasury Department; he was then about forty years of age. In the
fine portrait by William H. Powell, taken from life in 1843, and
preserved in the gallery of the New York Historical Society, these
characteristics appear in s