advances made by his
house in Lyons during the war. He accompanied Gallatin to New York, and
together they traveled to Philadelphia; Savary, who spoke no English,
gladly attaching to himself as his companion a young man of the ability
and character of Gallatin.

At Philadelphia Gallatin was soon after joined by Serre, who had
remained behind, engaged also in giving instruction. The meeting at
Philadelphia seems to have been the occasion for the dissolution of a
partnership in which Gallatin had placed his money, and Serre his
enthusiasm and personal charm. A settlement was made; Serre giving his
note to Gallatin for the sum of six hundred dollars,--one half of their
joint expenses for three years,--an obligation which was repaid more
than half a century later by his sister. Serre then joined a
fellow-countryman and went to Jamaica, where he died in 1784. At
Philadelphia Gallatin and Savary lodged in a house kept by one Mary
Lynn. Pelatiah Webster, the political economist, who owned the house,
was also a boarder. Later he said of his fellow-lodgers that "they were
well-bred gentlemen who passed their time conversing in French."
Gallatin, at the end of his resources, gladly acceded to Savary's
request to accompany him to Richmond.

Whatever hesitation Gallatin may have entertained as to his definitive
expatriation was entirely set at rest by the news of strife between the
rival factions in Geneva and the interposition of armed force by the
neighboring governments. This interference turned the scale against the
liberal party. Mademoiselle Pictet was the only link which bound him to
his family. For his ingratitude to her he constantly reproached himself.
He still styled himself a citizen of Geneva, but this was only as a
matter of convenience and security to his correspondence. His
determination to make America his home was now fixed. The lands on the
banks of the Ohio were then considered the most fertile in America,--the
best for farming purposes, the cultivation of grain, and the raising of
cattle. The first settlement in this region was made by the Ohio
Company, an association formed in Virginia and London, about the middle
of the century, by Thomas Lee, together with Lawrence and Augustine,
brothers of George Washington. The lands lay on the south side of the
Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. These lands were known
as "Washington's bottom lands." In this neighborhood Gallatin determined
to purchase tw