DALLAS, GEORGE M. 



DAYTON, WILLIAM L. 



357 



practice of law in this city, and was solicitor of 

 the United States Bank. In 1817 he was ap- 

 pointed Deputy Attorney-General for Philadel- 

 phia County. Taking an active part in politics, Mr. 

 Dallas was, in 1829, elected Mayor, and, on the 

 ition of General Jackson to the Presidency, 

 in 1829, he was appointed United States At- 

 torney for that district. He retained this posi- 

 tion till 1831, when he was elected to the 

 United States Senate, and took a prominent 

 part in the debates of that body until the expi- 

 ration of his term, in 1833, when he declined a 

 reelection, and returned to the practice of the 

 law. In 1837 President Van Buren appointed 

 him Minister to Russia, which position he re- 

 tained till October, 1839, when he was recalled, 

 at his own request, and again returned to 

 legal practice. In May, 1844, the Democratic 

 Convention at Baltimore nominated Mr. Dallas 

 for Yice-President of the United States, in con- 

 nection with James K. Polk for President. The 

 Democratic candidates were elected by an elec- 

 toral vote of 170 out of 275. The questions of 

 the time were the tariff and the annexation of 

 Texas. Mr. Folk's election caused the admis- 

 sion of Texas to the Union just before the close 

 of Mr. Tyler's term of office, and the subject of 

 the tariff was left for the new Administration. 

 A bill which levied duties on imports for the 

 purpose of revenue only, and abandoning the 

 protective policy, was passed by the House of 

 Representatives in 1846, but when it reached 

 the Senate that body was so evenly balanced 

 upon the question that the decision was left to 

 Mr. Dallas, who gave his casting vote for the 

 new bill. In giving his vote MrT Dallas stated 

 that though the bill Avas defective, he believed 

 that "ample proof had been furnished that a 

 majority of the people of the States desired a 

 change to a great extent in principle, if not 

 fundamentally." His Vice-Presidential term 

 expired in 1849, when he was succeeded by 

 Mr. Fillmore. In 1856 Mr. Dallas succeeded 

 Mr. Buchanan as Minister to Great Britain, and 

 continued in that post until the appointment 

 of Mr. Adams by President Lincoln. At the 

 very beginning of his diplomatic service in 

 England, he was called to settle two questions 

 which were in dispute between Great Britain 

 and the United States, and which were believed 

 by many of our diplomatists to threaten war. 

 These were the Central American question then 

 very much embarrassed by impolitic measures 

 on both sides, and the request made by the 

 United States to the British Government that 

 Sir John Crampton, the British minister to the 

 U. S., should be recalled. Both these delicate 

 questions were managed by Mr. Dallas in a 

 conciliatory spirit, but without any sacrifice of 

 our national dignity, and both were settled 

 amicably. At the close of his diplomatic career 

 Mr. Dallas returned once more to private life ; 

 and though past the age of active service, he 

 manifested publicly on all suitable occasions his 

 abhorrence of the Rebellion and its abettors. 

 In all his public career, Mr. Dallas exhibited 



rare ability both as a statesman and diploma- 

 tist ; in his profession he was highly successful, 

 and exerted a wide influence ; in private life he 

 was ever the refined and cultivated gentleman 

 of amiable manners, unspotted, reputation and 

 exemplary character. 



DAYTON, WILLIAM LEWIS, an American 

 statesman and diplomatist, born at Basking- 

 ridge, Kew Jersey, February 17, 1807, died in 

 Paris, France, December 1, 1864. His father, 

 Joel Dayton, was a farmer, but a man of high 

 intelligence and sound judgment. The son 

 was educated at the College of Xew Jersey, 

 graduating in 1825. Soon after his graduation 

 he commenced the study of law, and was ad- 

 mitted to the bar in 1830. In 1837 he was 

 elected a member of the council or senate of 

 Xew Jersey, and made chairman .of the judi- 

 ciary committee. In February, 1838, he was 

 chosen one of the associate justices of the su- 

 preme court of Xew Jersey, which position he 

 resigned in Xovember, 1841. In 1842 he was 

 appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy, 

 in the United States Senate caused by the 

 death of Hon. Samuel L. Southard, United 

 States Senator from Xew Jersey. This ap- 

 pointment was subsequently confirmed by the 

 Legislature, and he was elected for the suc- 

 ceeding full term from 1845 to 1851. His 

 political position in the Senate was that of a 

 free-soil IVhig, advocating freedom in the Ter- 

 ritories, and the right of Congress to legislate 

 on the subject of slavery in the Territories and 

 the District of Columbia, the admission of 

 California as a Free State, and the abolition 

 of slavery in the District of Columbia. He 

 also voted against the fugitive slave bill. He 

 was a warm friend and trusted counsellor of 

 President Taylor. In 1851 Commodore Stock- 

 ton was chosen United States Senator by the 

 Democrats, who had then a majority in the 

 Xew Jersey Legislature, and Mr. Dayton re- 

 turned to the practice of his profession at 

 Trenton. In 1856 he was nominated by the 

 National Republican Convention for the Vice- 

 Presidency on the ticket with John C. Fre- 

 mont. In March, 1857, he was appointed At- 

 torney-General of the State of Xew Jersey, and 

 held that office until 1861, when he was nomi- 

 nated by Mr. Lincoln ambassador and minister 

 to France, which position he held until his 

 decease. Mr. Dayton was a man of high per- 

 sonal integrity, modest and conciliatory in his 

 deportment, of polished and winning manners, 

 clear and accurate in his perceptions, of sound 

 judgment, earnest in his convictions, and elo- 

 quent in debate. He had won the entire cou- 

 fidence of the French emperor and his court ; 

 and though ever firm and decided in his main- 

 tenance of the rights of the country he repre- 

 sented, and prompt in foiling all schemes for 

 its injury, his whole diplomatic conduct was 

 so courteous and manly, that one of the first 

 and most commendatory notices of him pub- 

 lished in the Parisian papers alter his death 

 was from the pen of John Slidell, the Confed- 



