etter of congratulation to Mr. Gallatin on his
arrival, President Adams made ample amends for all his harsh judgments,
expressed or withheld. The three conventions were entirely satisfactory
to him. Of the negotiation he said, in words as graceful as warm, "I
shall feel most sensibly the loss of your presence at London, and can
form no more earnest wish than that your successor may acquire the same
influence of reason and good temper which you did exercise, and that it
may be applied with as salutary effect to the future discussions between
the two governments." During his visit to London Mr. Gallatin was
overwhelmed with civilities. Canning was courteous to a degree, and
rarely a day passed that the American ambassador had not to choose
between half a dozen invitations to dinner. At the house of the Russian
minister, the Count de Lieven, he was always welcome, and the Countess
de Lieven, the autocrat of foreign society in London, without whose pass
no stranger could cross the sacred threshold of Almack's, was his fast
friend. To each circle he carried that which each most prized. Whether
the conversation turned upon government or science, the dry figures of
finance, or the more genial topic of diplomatic intrigue, Mr. Gallatin
was its easy master, and his words never fell on inattentive ears.

With this mission to London Mr. Gallatin's diplomatic service closed. He
would have accepted the French mission in 1834, and so informed Van
Buren, but General Jackson, who was President, had his own plans, and
'ran his machine' without consulting other than his own prejudices or
whims. But although Mr. Gallatin was no longer in the field of
diplomacy, his counsels were eagerly sought. The northeastern boundary
was a troublesome question, indeed in the new phases of American
politics an imminent danger. The extension of the commercial relations
of Great Britain and the United States rendered it imperative that no
point of dispute should remain which could be determined. For two years
after his return from England, Mr. Gallatin was employed in the
preparation of an argument to be laid before the king of the
Netherlands, who had been selected as the arbiter between the United
States and Great Britain on the boundary. The king undertook to press a
conventional line, which the United States, not being bound to accept,
refused. In 1839 Mr. Gallatin prepared, and put before the world, a
statement of the facts in the case. This, revised,