In 1780, he retired from Congress after five years arduous and faithful service. In all situations and at all times, he was energetic, zealous and active in the cause of liberty. When his duties called him to the army, if any fighting was on the tapis whilst he was in camp, he always insisted upon taking an active part. When the affair occurred with General Howe at Chestnut Hill, he actually shouldered a musket and entered the ranks; and when General Kniphausen engaged the American army at Springville, he took his station by the side of Washington, who invested him with a volunteer command during his stay. On both of these occasions he was one of the visiting committee from Congress. The second year after his retirement, he was again induced to become a member of the national legislature and commenced his duties with the same zeal that had marked his whole career. The business of the nation was at that time more perplexing than when in the heat of the revolution. An empty treasury, a prostrate credit and a mammoth debt, presented a fearful contrast. To aid in settling the derangement in public affairs, he was an important member. Committee labours were heaped upon his shoulders as though he was an Atlas and could carry the world, or an Atalanta in the celerity of business. The local feelings and interests of the states began to be perplexing, and the half pay for life guaranteed by Congress to all officers who remained in the army during the war, was a source of dissatisfaction with many. This was finally settled by compounding the annuity for the full pay of five years. In 1784, he was chairman of the important committee on foreign relations, and of the one to perform the onerous task of revising the treasury department. He also brought forward a resolution for the compensation of Baron Steuben, who had rendered immense service by introducing a system of military tactics and discipline, by which the armies of the United States were entirely governed, and which were strictly adhered to long after the revolution by the military throughout the union. This resolution was warmly supported by Mr. Jefferson, but owing, as I fondly hope, to the embarrassed situation of the financial department, it was lost. He also took a deep interest in the commerce of the republic, a subject which he understood well. In 1785, Mr. Gerry closed his services in the Continental Congress. During that year he was arduously employed upon the committee on accounts. He also obtained the passage of his former resolution relative to public officers and elections and the appointment of members of Congress to office. At the close of the session he retired from public life for a season and settled at Cambridge, not far from Boston, with all the honours of a pure patriot and an able statesman resting upon him—crowned with the sincere and lively gratitude of a nation of freemen.