Monroe pressed him earnestly not to quit the public service, but the year closed and Mr.Gallatin had not made up his mind.

In the situation of France, which he considered "would under her present dynasty be for some years a vassal of her great rival," he did not consider the mission important, and his private fortune was limited to a narrow competence.

"I do not wish," he wrote to Monroe, "to accumulate any property.

I will not do my family the injury of impairing the little I have.

My health is frail; they may soon lose me, and I will not leave them dependent on the bounty of others." But being again earnestly pressed, he on January 2, 1816, accepted the appointment.