Mr. Gallatin's mission, followed by the resignation of his post in the cabinet, finally dissolved the political triumvirate, but not the personal friendship of the men. Numerous attempts were made to alienate both Jefferson and Madison from Gallatin while he held the portfolio of the Treasury, but one and all they signally and ignominiously failed. For Mr. Jefferson Mr. Gallatin had a regard near akin to reverence. A portrait of the venerable sage was always on his study table. When about setting out for France in 1816 he tendered his services to his old chief and wrote to him that 'in every country and in all times he should never cease to feel gratitude, respect, and attachment for him.' Jefferson fully reciprocated this regard. From Monticello he wrote to Gallatin in 1823: "A visit from you to this place would indeed be a day of jubilee, but your age and distance forbid the hope. Be this as it will, I shall love you forever, and rejoice in your rejoicings and sympathize in your ails. God bless and have you ever in His holy keeping." Nor does Mr. Gallatin seem to have allowed any feeling of disappointment or dissatisfaction at Mr. Madison's weakness to disturb their kindly relations. Their letters close with the reciprocal assurance of affection as well as of esteem. CHAPTER VIII IN DIPLOMACY _The Treaty of Ghent_ On May 9, 1813, the ship Neptune sailed from New Castle on the Delaware, having on board Albert Gallatin and James A. Bayard, ministers of the United States, with their four secretaries, of whom were Mr. Gallatin's son James, and George M. Dallas, son of his old Pennsylvania friend. They were accompanied to sea by a revenue cutter. Off Cape Henlopen they were overhauled by the British frigate on the station, and their passport was countersigned by the English captain. On June 20 they reached the mouth of the river Gotha. Here the vessel lay at quarantine for forty-eight hours, during which the gentlemen paid a flying visit to Gottenburg. At dusk, on the 24th, the Neptune anchored in Copenhagen inner roads, the scene of Nelson's attack in 1801. Mr. Gallatin's brief memoranda of his voyage contain some crisp expressions. He found "despotism and no oppression. Poverty and no discontent. Civility and no servile obsequiousness amongst the people. Decency and sobriety."