debates in the Chamber, to receive information from them, or serve them in any proper way.

On his retirement from the Senate, he turned with alacrity once more to the study of the law and the cultivation of literature, always congenial occupations to him.

Having taken an active share in the Presidential campaign of 1852, General PIERCE, President-elect, offered him the Premiership in his Cabinet, which he was disposed to accept, but ultra Southern politicians protested so vehemently, that the offer was with

drawn.

The elements of integrity, fidelity and suavity, mingled with a rare kind of diplomatic skill, were so prominent in the character of General Dix, that he was often summoned as councillor and coadjutor in sudden exigencies. One of our venerable and opulent ecclesiastical establishments, two of our largest railway corporations, and even the Federal Government itself, have invoked his aid in such crises. Striking examples of this occurred when President BUCHANAN, in a critical emergency, appointed him Postmaster of this city, and again, just at the close of his administration, sought his support in an hour of extreme peril. We stood at the very gates of the rebellion. States were seceding from the Union. The Cabinet was breaking up. The President saw that he was betrayed. His legal advisers lost heart. The conspirators among them were in league with the rebels. HOWELL COBB, the Secretary of the Treasury, had joined the insurgents. Mr. BUCHANAN summoned General Dix to Washington to take up the seals which the traitor had thrown down. He instantly obeyed the call. It was during his brief term as Secretary of the Treasury that he issued, to an agent of the department at New-Orleans, that famous order which will ever remain a part of the patriotic literature of the country: "If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."

On the inauguration of President LINCOLN, in 1861, General Dix again returned to private life, but only for a brief period. The guns of Sumter were echoing throughout the land and the whole people were aroused. "Shall the Union be preserved, one and indivisible?" Or, "shall the erring sisters be permitted to depart in peace?" were questions uppermost in every mind.

In that hour of national peril, General Dix occupied no equivocal position. He was for his country-the whole country. Shortly after the new administration came into power, when the patriotic masses of this city poured their tens of thousands into Union Square, to devise measures for the preservation of the Republic, General Dix was called to preside, and there gave the key note to the loyal voice of the nation, irrespective of party, in these thrilling

words:

"I am for supporting the Government. I do not ask who administers it. It is the Government of my country, and as such I shall give it, in this extremity, all the support in my power. Let us remember that nothing could be so disastrous, so humiliating

*

*

*

and so disreputable to us all as to see our common Government overthrown or its legitimate authority successfully resisted. Let us, then, rally, with one heart, to its support." *

** *

Turning toward the statue of WASHINGTON, he exclaimed:

"If the inanimate being in which the sculptor has shaped his image could be changed to the living form which led the armies of the Revolution to victory, he would command us, in the name of the hosts of patriots and political martyrs who have gone before, to stand for the defence of the Union and the Constitution."

The military services of General Dix in the civil war are gratefully remembered, especially in this city, where, for a considerable time, he was in command. In the alarming crisis when the turbulent classes rose to resist the draft, and carried dismay into all our habitations, his courageous counsels largely aided in suppressing the revolt.

I may be pardoned for referring, in this connection, to an incident. which illustrates his devotion to duty amid surrounding dangers. Happening to be a member of the Republican State Convention for nominating a candidate for Governor in 1864, I presented the name of General DIx for that office. The Convention received it with enthusiastic applause. It will be remembered that he was then in command of the Military Department of the East, with headquarters in this city. I joined in a telegram from Syracuse, where the Convention was in session, asking him if he would accept the nomination for Governor. The response was prompt and decisive : “I cannot, under any circumstances."

On the resignation of Mr. BIGELOW, as Minister to France, General Dix was appointed to that important mission, and held it during the Paris Exposition of 1867, and until succeeded by Mr. WASHBURN, in May, 1869. Being much in Paris, I can testify that he was an able and highly popular representative. His elevated character, his tranquil dignity, his generous hospitality, and his uniform courtesy and kindness, won all hearts, and are remembered with affection and gratitude.

A little circumstance will show how tenacious was his recollection in regard to the famous telegram already mentioned: As General DIX was about to leave France, on the termination of his mission, the American residents in Paris gave him a public banquet, at which more than three hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen sat down. There were present his successor, Mr. WASHBURN, Mr. BURLINGAME, then Ambassador from China, Governor BULLOCK, of Massachusetts, and other distinguished persons. Having been chosen to preside on that occasion, it devolved upon me to deliver the opening address. Of course I did not omit the historic telegram, but quoting from memory, I used the words, Whoever attempts to haul down the American flag," &e. Promptly General Dix, in a modest note, informed me that the precise language of his order was, "If any man attempts to haul down

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the American flag," &c. This correction, trifling as it may seem, not only illustrates his exactness in small particulars, but it shows with what tenacity the memory of the veteran soldier and statesman clung to this patriotic passage of his life.

The crowning event of his public career was his gubernatorial administration. The manner in which he fulfilled the duties of that exalted station compares favorably with that of our most illustrious chief magistrate-with that of TOMPKINS and CLINTON, MARCY and SEWARD. When he retired from the Capitol, in his seventy-seventh year, it could be truly said of him, that

Age sat with comely grace upon his visage,
And worthily became his silver locks;
He wore the marks of many years well spent,
Of virtue, truth well-tried, and wise experience."

The life we have contemplated carries us back to the days of WASHINGTON, and awakens echoes of the struggle of the Colonies to break away from their allegiance to the British Crown. It brings us down to the grand epoch when, at the close of a severer conflict, the Republic threw off the yoke of sectional domination. Ever the ardent friend of free institutions, and of the Federal Constitution as their best embodiment, our model citizen drew his sword in early youth in defence of his country, and in old age wielded it for the preservation of the Union.

Though General Dix held more civil trusts than any of his contemporaries, he never demeaned himself to obtain rank and station. Office sought him, as it ever should seek men of real merit; and in the discharge of his duties, even his bitterest opponents never questioned the stainless purity of his record.

The great variety of the posts he was called to fill was largely due to his elasticity of mind and wonderful capacity for tracing the outlines and mastering the details of any new question. In the diversity of his civil services, perhaps the only parallel in American history is found in the career of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, one of those rare characters which in youth exhibits the wisdom of age, and in age displays the vigor of youth.

Among the recent European statesmen to whom he may not inaptly be compared, the most striking figures are PALMERSTON and THIERS. The octogenarian Premier gallantly leading the attack, night after night, upon the foes of his ministry in the House of Commons; the octogenarian President, with the vivacity of middle. life, maintaining his policy, day by day, against powerful assailants in the Chamber of Deputies, bore close analogy to the ability and eloquence wherewith the venerable Governor of New-York defended his administration in the autumn of 1874, on many platforms, in the presence of thousands of his fellow citizens.

His education was as versatile as his employments were varied. Though carefully taught in early youth, his studies were interrupted at the age of fourteen by military duties. Thenceforward he was mainly self-taught, which made him through life self-reliant. His

knowledge covered a wide field, and on important subjects it was as profound as it was exact. Called to deal with a great variety of topics, he illumined and adorned every question he touched. He was master of the law of nations, and of the peculiar policy of Ecclesiastical tribunals. He could emerge from the turmoil of politics, and delight an audience of scholars by an address on the study of the classics. He even wooed the muses with success in his few leisure hours. His delight in the avocations of horticulture and agriculture was shown in an address on "Rural Life and Embellishment," delivered before his Long Island friends, at Jamaica, in 1851, and by an address on "The Agriculture of New-York," at the State Fair at Albany, in 1859; while the pride he felt in our great metropolis was evinced in his most instructive lecture, entitled "City of New-York; its Growth, Destiny and Duties," given before the Historical Society, in 1853.

Such is a mere outline of an historic character, a noble type of American manhood in one of its grandest developments. The life of him whose loss we deplore will ever remain an instructive chapter in the history of the nation. Its lessons will stimulate youth to patriotic endeavors to be useful to their country, and encourage age to consecrate their declining years to the promotion of its unity, prosperity and glory.

The resolution offered by Mr. Low was then unanimously adopted.

On motion of Mr. SCHULTZ, it was ordered that the remarks of Messrs. Low and CowDIN be entered in full on the minutes of the Chamber, and be printed with the resolution, and a copy be sent to the family of General Dix.

Mr. ISAAC PHILLIPS offered the following resolution :

Resolved, That in commemoration of the noble life and character of our deceased brother member, General JoHN A. DIx, his portrait be obtained, or painted, and placed on the walls of the Chamber, and on which shall be inscribed his patriotic and official order, "If any man attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."

This resolution was, on motion, referred to the Executive Committee for consideration.

The order of business was then resumed.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES.

Mr. COWDIN, Chairman of the Executive Committee, reported the following named candidates for membership, and recommended their election :

These gentlemen were, on one ballot, unanimously elected members of the Chamber.

Mr. COWDIN submitted a communication from the American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, dated Liverpool, March 24, 1879, calling attention to the insecurity of through bills of lading, now in use between interior cities of the United States and ports of the United Kingdom. This communication was accompanied by a report on the subject, by a Special Committee of that body.

On motion, both documents were referred to the Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Revenue Laws, for consideration and report.

Mr. CowDIN submitted a communication from Mr. FERDINAND DE LESSEPS, President of the French Section of the International Committee of the Geographical Society and Society of Commercial Geography of Paris, dated Paris, April 5, 1879, inviting the appointment of a delegation to represent the Chamber at an International Conference to be held in that City, on the 15th May, to examine and discuss the various plans for the proposed Inter-Oceanic Canal across the Isthmus of Darien.

On recommendation of the Executive Committee, the Secretary was instructed to convey to Mr. DE LESSEPS the thanks of the Chamber for the invitation, and state that the time for meeting of the Conference being so near at hand, would prevent the Chamber being represented on the occasion.

The communication was ordered to be placed on file.

Mr. CowDIN submitted a copy of the bill recently passed by the Assembly of this State, (but not yet acted upon in the Senate,) entitled "An Act to Provide for Excavating, Tunnelling and Bridg ing for Transportation Purposes within Villages and Cities of the