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TRIBUTE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 "CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 GENERAL JOHN A. DIX, 
 
 May 1, 1879. 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 BY 
 
 MR. A. A. LOW, 
 
 AND 
 
 MR. ELLIOT C. COWDIN. 
 
 NEW- YORK: ^^-^ 
 PRESS .OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 
 
 1879. 
 
 7^ 
 

ii 
 
 TRIBUTE 
 
 At the Annual Meeting of the Charab.n- of Commerce of 
 the State of New- York, held May 1, 1879, Mr. Samuel D. 
 Babcock, President, in the Chair, the order of business 
 having been suspended, Mr. A. A. Low addressed the 
 Chamber as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. A. A. LOW. 
 
 Mr. President : As we meet here to-day, we are called 
 to lament the loss by death of one of the noblest and best 
 of our fellow citizens, whose long and useful life was de- 
 voted to the service of his city, his State and his country ; 
 to the welfare of man, and to the praise of God. 
 
 John Adams Dix, (more familiarly known as John A. 
 Dix,) who died on Monday, the 21st ultimo, was elected as 
 an honorary member of this body on the 19th of April, 
 1861— a memorable day in our own history and that of our 
 country. It was then that the Chamber of Commerce of 
 the State of New- York, setting aside all distinctions of party, 
 pledged itself to the support of the Government of the 
 United States, and appointed a Committee to raise funds to 
 carry on the war that had become imminent, in view of the 
 crisis which events in the South had precipitated on the 
 country. All who are familiar with the proceedings which 
 followed the proclamation of the President of the United 
 States, on the 15th of April, and the appointment of the 
 Committee above referred to, will recollect that it was 
 almost immediately merged in another, appointed by the 
 citizens of New-York, and that the two, forming one organi- 
 
zation, became known as the '"'■Jlnion Defence Comoniiiee.^'' 
 Gen. Dix was elected President of the Association, and 
 continued to act in that capacity till called to other duties. 
 On retiring, his services were acknowledged in a series of 
 appropriate resolutions. Thus, the name of the departed 
 patriot and statesman will ever be associated with a period 
 of peculiar interest in the history of this Chamber ; and it 
 is but natural that w^e should wnsh to place on our records 
 some memorial of the man who filled so many distinguished 
 offices in the service of his State and country, shedding 
 lustre upon all ; and to mark by what methods and by 
 what manly virtue he rose to such distinction among his 
 fellow men. 
 
 Of course this is not the time nor the place to do even 
 partial justice to one who was so eminent and exemplary 
 throughout his public and private career ; but the impress 
 of such a life upon the age in which he lived is precious, 
 and we may not permit the event which brings it to a close 
 to pass by unheeded. It should rather be our aim to hold 
 up for imitation a type of manhood so conspicuous in him, 
 which is as rare as it is noble. 
 
 I have, therefore, prepared a minute very briefly reciting 
 some of the more important offices filled by General Dix, 
 and beg leave to ask the passage of the following resolution : 
 
 Hesolved, That the annexed memorandum be entered at 
 length on the book of records of this Chamber, as a tribute 
 of respect to the memory of our late honorary member, 
 John A. Dix, and that a copy thereof be transmitted to the 
 family of the deceased, to testify to our admiration of his 
 character, and heartfelt sympathy for the bereaved. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Died, in this city, on Monday, the 21st day of April, 1879, 
 John Adams Dix, in the 81st year of his age. Born at the 
 town of Boscawen, 'N. H., on the 24th of July, 1798, he 
 was "sent from there at an early age to the academy at 
 Salisbury, and afterwards to that at Exeter. When thirteen 
 years old he entered a college at Montreal, pursuing his 
 studies diligently till the breaking out of hostilities with 
 Great Britain, when he found it necessary to return home." 
 
After serviiif^ as an officer in the army of the United States 
 for several years, and being attached to the staff of General 
 Brown, he married, and subsequently took up his abode 
 in this city. 
 
 General Dix was endowed by nature with various 
 gifts — with that taste for literature and desire for know- 
 ledge which industry ripens into scholarly attainment ; 
 with that ardent love of country which virtue exalts 
 into lofty patriotism ; with high and heroic aspirations for 
 the honor to be gained in public life, which, guided by 
 principle, lead up above the shifts and trammels of party 
 to the dignity of an enlightened statesmanship. 
 
 The talents so generously bestowed were wisely im- 
 proved, and his mind, bent on acquisition, was early en- 
 riched with the knowledge of other languages than his own, 
 and, thioughout life, the study of the classics was to him a 
 source of pleasant recreation. 
 
 His fellow citizens were quick to discern, and to profit 
 by, his culture, his loyalty and his known devotion to duty ; 
 and, as a consequence of his various qualifications, he was 
 often called to the discharge of important public trusts ; 
 while, in times of peril, tlie people turned to him as an 
 able leader — whether in the councils of the nation or in the 
 army of the Union. 
 
 Some forty years of his life were employed in tlie service 
 of the State and of the nation, and no higher tribute can be 
 paid to his worth than to name the various offices which he 
 lilled and adorned : 
 
 In 1830 — He was appointed Adjutant-General by Gov. 
 Throop. 
 
 In 1833— He was chosen Secretary of State of the State of 
 New-York, and, by virtue of this office, was 
 Superintendent of the Common Schools, a 
 Member of the Canal Board, and one of the 
 Commissioners of the Canal Fund. 
 
 In 1841— He was elected Member of the State Assembly. 
 
 In 1845— He was appointed to till the vacancy in the United 
 States Senate caused by the election of Silas 
 Wright as Governor. 
 
 In 1853 — He was made Assistant Treasurer of the United 
 States at New- York. 
 
In 1860 — He was appointed as Postmaster at the City of 
 New- York. 
 
 In 1861 — During tlie crisis wliich preceded the outbreak of 
 tile rebellion, he was called to Washington, 
 by President Buchanan, to take a place in 
 his Cabinet as Secretary oi: the Treasury ; from 
 which office he retired, with the inauguration 
 of Mr. Lincoln as President, the following 
 March. 
 
 Returning to New- York, he was elected as Chaii- 
 man of the Union Defence Committee : thi* 
 office, as we have seen, he resigned to accept 
 an appointment as Major-General of Volun- 
 teers ; President Lincoln, in the June follow- 
 ing, giving him the same rank in the regular 
 army. 
 
 He was then ordered to the command of the army 
 of Maryland. 
 
 In 1862 — He was tiansferred to East Virginia, North Caro- 
 lina being afterwards added to the Department. 
 His headquarters were subsequently removed 
 to New York, where he remained until 1866, 
 when he resigned. 
 
 In 1866 — He was nominated as Naval Officer at New- York, 
 and, soon afterwards, as Minister to France. 
 
 At the organization of the Union Pacitic Rail- 
 Road Company he was elected President, and 
 afterwards, in 1872, he was made provisional 
 President of the Erie Railway, 
 
 In 1872 — He was elected Governor of the State of New- 
 York, and served the legular term of two 
 years. 
 
 In other lands, under other institutions, long and faithful 
 service to the State is honored with rank and title and costly 
 decorations ; but, in ours, Republican simplicity bears away 
 the glory of personal achievement to swell the volume of 
 National renown. 
 
 Let it be our privilege to cherish the name and the mem- 
 ory of the patriot and statesman who has so recently left 
 
"US, for what he did to exalt tlie character of the nation — in 
 whose work, and for wliose fame, he wrought so well. And 
 may the Church with which he was closely connected, 
 and society which he adorned with his presence, gratefully 
 preserve the recollections of a lite that was full of grace and 
 beauty ; and the honor which he kept so bright will con- 
 tinue to reflect its lustre on those who sliall follow in his 
 footsteps, for generations to come. 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. KLLIOT C. COWDIN. 
 
 Mk. President : I cordially second tlie resolution that 
 has just been submitted. A soldier, a statesman, a scholar, 
 a patriot, a model citizen — JoHir A. Dix — long an honorary 
 member of this Chamber, has passed away. 
 
 Born and reared among the rugged hills of New- 
 Hampshiie, the sprightly and ardent 3'outli, at the out- 
 break of the war with Great Britain in 1812, he having just 
 reached his fourteenth year, was appointed a cadet in the 
 army, and assigned to active service at Baltimore, where 
 his father was in command of a regiment. He remained in 
 the army till 1826, rising graduallj^ to the rank of Captain, 
 and for the last seven years was Aid-de-Camp to the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief. On retiring from military service he pur- 
 sued the study of the law, w^as admitted to the bar in 1828, 
 and settled in the beautiful village of Cooperstown. 
 
 He now entered upon a public career thatfilled half a cen- 
 tury wath valuable services, and won for him honorable 
 fame. Holding during this long period a large number of 
 important offices, he always rose to the leve-l of the emer- 
 gency while discharging tlie onerous, and often delicate, 
 duties devolved upon him. 
 
 For the two years he was Adjutant-General of the State 
 of New- York, he took pride in peifecting the discipline of 
 our militia. 
 
 In 183B he was elected Secretary of State, holding that 
 responsible position for six years. He was ex- officio a 
 member of theCanalBoard, and Superintendent of Common 
 Schools. The former brought him into close relations with 
 
8 
 
 Wm. L. Marcy, Silas Wkight, William C. Bouck and 
 AzARiAii C. Flagg, just as the State was embarking on the 
 munificent enterprise of enlarging the Erie Canal. His dis- 
 tinguished associates in the Board regarded him as wise in 
 council and vigorous in execution. But his noblest work 
 was in behalf of public instruction. Of the many devoted 
 and sagacious friends of popular education who have held 
 the office of Superintendent, General Dix was certainly one 
 of the most efficient and judicious. For his labors in that 
 department, the children of the State who resort to these 
 nurseries of education owe him a debt of gratitude. By 
 virtue of his office, he was a Regent of the University, and 
 took pleasure in promoting the interests of our higher seats 
 of learning, the academies and colleges of the State. 
 
 His valuable geological report to the Legislature while 
 Secretary of State, prepared the way for the elaborate treatise 
 on the Natural History of New- York. 
 
 General Dix was soon to test his powers in another field. 
 He was a member of the Assembly of 1842. That session 
 was remarkable in the annals of the State, not only for the 
 importance of the questions agitated in the Legislature, but 
 for the number of able men that appeared in the lower House. 
 By his statesmanlike bearing in the Assembly, he achieved a 
 reputation that prepared the way for his election to the Senate 
 of the United States. He took his seat in January, 1845, and 
 remained in the Senate until March, 1849. During these four 
 years the Senate Chamber shone with resplendent talents, 
 while Congress and the country were shaken with contro- 
 versies concerning the annexation of Texas, the joint occu- 
 pation of Oregon, the war with Mexico, and the prohibition 
 of slavery in the vast territories acquired by the peace. 
 Webster, CALHOuisr, Benton", Crittenden, Cass, Cor- 
 wiN, Douglass, Jefferson Davis, and other eminent de- 
 baters, took the lead in the stormy discussions on these 
 questions. Such forensic displays would have awed to 
 silence a young Senator less firm and faithful than General 
 Dix. But he delivered able speeches on all the pending 
 issues, while in respect to the one absorbing topic of that 
 memorable era, he advocated with rare courao:e and 
 
9 
 
 eloquence the constitutional power of Congress to prohibit 
 slavery in the territories of the Union. 
 
 Faithful to this, he was not unmindful of other important 
 interests. He was warmly devoted to the promotion of the 
 commerce of the countr}'-, and the improvement of its 
 revenue laws. As Chairman of the Committee on Com- 
 merce, he carried through Congress the Warehouse System, 
 which thenceforward became a permanent element in our 
 customs policy. He exhibited marked courtesy toward the 
 merchants and business men generally, and was always 
 ready at their call to step aside from the most exciting de- 
 bates 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 vehe- 
 mently, that the offer was withdrawn. 
 
 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 a 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 Bu- 
 chanan", in a critical emergency, appointed him Post- 
 master of this city, and again. Just at the close of his ad- 
 ministration, 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. Hov^ell Cobb, the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, had joined the insurgents. Mr. Buchanan sum- 
 moned General Dix to Washington to take up the seals 
 which the traitor had thrown down. He instantly obeyed 
 
10 
 
 the call. It was daring 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, Gen- 
 eral 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 ns 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 ex- 
 claimed : 
 
 "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 
 
11 
 
 crisis wlien 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 nia}'^ 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 
 lor that office. The Convention received it with enthusi- 
 astic applause. It will be remembered that he was then in 
 command of the Military Department of the East, with 
 head-quarters 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 re- 
 sponse 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 suc- 
 ceeded by Mr. Washburne, in May, 1869. Being muck 
 in Paris, I can testify that he was an able and highly popu- 
 lar representative. His elevated character, his tranquil 
 dignity, his generous hospitality, and his uniform courtesy 
 and kindness, won all hearts, and are remembered with affec- 
 tion and gratitude. 
 
 A little circumstance will show how tenacious was his 
 i-ecoUection in regard to the famous telegram already men- 
 tioned : 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. Washbuune, Mr. 
 BuRLiNGAME, then Ambassador from China, Governor 
 Bullock, of Massachusetts, and other distinguished per- 
 sons. 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 memor3% I used the words, ''W/ioevei' attempts to 
 haul down the American flag," &c. Promptly General 
 
12 
 
 Dix, in a modest note, informed me that the precise language 
 of his order was, '■'' If any man attempts to liaul down the 
 American flag," &c. This correction, trifling as it may 
 seem, not only illustrates his exactness in small particu- 
 lars, but it shows with what tenacity the memory of the 
 veteran soldier and statesman clung to this patriotic pas- 
 sage of his life. 
 
 The crowning event of his public career was his guberna- 
 torial administration. The manner in which he fulfilled the 
 duties of that exalted station compares favorably with that 
 of our most illustrious chief magistrate — with tliatof Tomp- 
 kins and Clinton, Makcy 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 3'outh 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 capac- 
 ity for tracing the outlines and mastering the details of any 
 new question. In the diversity of his civil services, perhaps 
 
13 
 
 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 gal- 
 lantly 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 
 policj'-, day by da}'-, 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 Eccle- 
 siastical 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 "The 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 develop- 
 
14 
 
 ments. 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, pros- 
 perity and glory. 
 
 The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the ad- 
 dresses of Messrs. Low and Cowdin, were ordered to be 
 entered at length on the minutes of the Chamber, and be 
 printed, and a copy sent to the family of General Dix.