Mr.Henry Adams[19] justly says, "Far more than contemporaries ever supposed, or than is now imagined, the Treaty of Ghent was the special work and the peculiar triumph of Mr.Gallatin." His own correspondence shows how admirably he was constituted for the nice work of diplomatic negotiation.

In the self-poise which he maintained in the most critical situations, the unerring sagacity with which he penetrated the purposes of his adversaries, the address with which he soothed the passions and guided the judgments of his colleagues, it is impossible to find a single fault.

If he had a fault, says his biographer, it was that of using the razor when he would have done better with the axe.

But the axe is not a diplomatic weapon.

The simulation of temper may serve an occasional purpose, but temper itself is a mistake; and to Mr.Gallatin's credit be it said, it was a mistake never committed by him in the course of this long and sometimes painful negotiation.