g an
ideal existence in some wilderness. America offered a boundless field
for the realization of such dreams, and the spice of adventure could be
had for the seeking. Here was the forest primeval in its original
grandeur. Here the Indian roamed undisputed master; not the tutored
Huron of Voltaire's tale, but the savage of torch and tomahawk. The
continent was as yet unexplored. In uncertainty as to motives for man's
action the French magistrate always searches for the woman,--"cherchez
la femme!" One single allusion in a letter written to Badollet, in 1783,
shows that there was a woman in Gallatin's horoscope. Who she was, what
her relation to him, or what influence she had upon his actions, nowhere
appears. He only says that besides Mademoiselle Pictet there was one
friend, "une amie," at Geneva, from whom a permanent separation would be
hard.

Confiding his purpose to his friend Serre, Gallatin easily persuaded
this ardent youth to join him in his venturesome journey, and on April
1, 1780, the two secretly left Geneva. It certainly was no burning
desire to aid the Americans in their struggle for independence, such as
had stirred the generous soul of Lafayette, that prompted this act. In
later life he repeatedly disclaimed any such motive. It was rather a
longing for personal independence, for freedom from the trammels of a
society in which he had little faith or interest. Nor were his political
opinions at this time matured. He had a just pride in the Swiss Republic
as a free State (Etat libre), and his personal bias was towards the
"Negatif" party, as those were called who maintained the authority of
the Upper Council (Petit Conseil) to reject the demands of the people.
To this oligarchic party his family belonged. In a letter written three
years later, he confesses that he was "Negatif" when he abandoned his
home, and conveys the idea that his emigration was an experiment, a
search for a system of government in accordance with his abstract
notions of natural justice and political right. To use his own words, he
came to America to "drink in a love for independence in the freest
country of the universe." But there was some method in this madness. The
rash scheme of emigration had a practical side; land speculation and
commerce were to be the foundation and support of the settlement in the
wilderness where they would realize their political Utopia.

From Geneva the young adventurers hurried to Nantes, on the coast of