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mittee on foreign relations, on the fractional currency. 

 They sent for him to explain it to them, avowing their 

 ignorance of it, and their impression, that it was of 

 little practical importance. Without preparation, he 

 gave them an extended and lucid exposition ; and soon 

 convinced them, that it was of vital concernment to 

 the commercial interests of the country. He was 

 consulted by the Secretary of the Treasury, on the 

 finances, and was about to be placed at the head of 

 the mint, in Philadelphia, when death closed his 

 career. When the Hon. Wm. B. Reed was about to 

 go out, as Commissioner, to China, Dr. Alexander sent 

 him the most elaborate and exact explanation of the 

 weights, and measures, and coinage of China, which 

 that gentleman found to be of the greatest possible 

 benefit, in the discharge of his duties, as commis- 

 sioner. 



Had not Dr. Alexander's modesty and love of 

 retirement operated to keep him for the most part 

 in private life, he would have been called to fill offi- 

 ces of high public trust, where his admirable talents 

 and systematic industry would have produced the 

 happiest results, and won for him the respect and 

 confidence, which his presence at the coast survey 

 and the national treasury never failed to inspire. I 

 have often regretted that the public service so 

 seldom enjoyed the wisdom of his counsels and the 

 benefits of his systematized labors. And yet, on 

 his own account, I never regretted the privacy of 

 his life; because it kept him fresh and pure, 

 equally free from the tricks of the politician, and 

 the fawning that so often follows upon the patron- 

 age of office. His purity was a jewel too precious to 

 be imperilled by the pomp of power, or the pride of 

 station. 



