DIX, JOHN A. 



315 



sions, $31,414; whole amount of pledges re- 

 tvivod, $32,484; making the total amount of 

 money and pledges together. $63,898. 



The Foreign Christian Missionary Society 

 met at Blooniington, 111., October 16th. The 

 report of the Board was published in the 

 "Christian Standard" of October 26th. It 

 stated that the "general current of sentiment 

 was that, after fulfilling our present obligations 

 to our missions in Paris, Copenhagen, Con- 

 stantinople, and in England, any enlargement 

 of our work should look to France, Italy, 

 Japan, Africa, and China; and that at least 

 one new mission should be undertaken, if pos- 

 sible, in some one of the three countries last 

 named during the next year." The receipts of 

 the Treasurer for the year had been $12,547, 

 and his expenses had been $11,577. His re- 

 port showed that pledges of an estimated value 

 of $25,000 would fall due between the time of 

 the meeting and October, 1884. The opera- 

 tions of the Society in the foreign field em- 

 braced stations at Southport, Chester, South- 

 ampton, and Tranmere, England ; Paris, France ; 

 Copenhagen, Denmark; and Constantinople, 

 Turkey ; all of which, except those at South- 

 ampton and Copenhagen, which were estab- 

 lished in 1876, had been established since the 

 beginning of 1878. The stations in England 

 had 464 members and 2,161 attendants; the 

 station at Copenhagen, 99 members and 825 

 attendants ; and that at Paris, 27 members and 

 250 attendants; making an aggregate of 590 

 members and 2,740 attendants. The Rev. G. 

 N. Shishmanian, an Armenian, had been ap- 

 pointed a missionary to Constantinople, where 

 there were already two members. A mission- 

 ary had been dispatched to Acapulco, Mexico, 

 where he had immersed seven members, but 

 had since been obliged to give up his enter- 

 prise. The Society adopted a report recom- 

 mending that new missions should be entered 

 upon at the first possible moment, and men- 

 tioning Japan, Africa, and China, among the 

 heathen, and Italy and France (outside of Paris 

 or new quarters in Paris), among civilized na- 

 tions, as the most suitable fields. 



The Christian Woman's Board of Missions 

 met at Bloomington, 111., October 14th. The 

 total receipts of the Treasurer for the year had 

 had been $4,283, and the expenditures $2,130. 

 The Society had an endowment fund of $1,020, 

 of which $1,000 were lent at interest. A re- 

 port was made from a mission in Jamaica, 

 where a branch society had been organized, 

 and an appropriation was made for the salary 

 of a teacher in the French mission. 



DIX, JOHN ADAMS, an eminent public officer, 

 born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, July 24, 

 1798, died in Now York, April 21, 1879. His 

 father, Timothy Dix, was once Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor of New Hampshire. The son early went 

 to a school in Montreal, where he had the 

 opportunity of learning the rudiments of the 

 French language, which became of much ser- 

 vice to him when he was Minister to France 



in 1867. In 1812 he was made a cadet in the 

 Military Academy at West Point, and thus, 

 at the age of fourteen years, entered the ser- 

 vice of the Federal Government. In the lat- 

 ter part of the year 1813 he surrendered hia 

 appointment to become an ensign in the army. 

 In this position he engaged in service on the 

 northern frontier during the war of 1812-'15. 

 In 1814 he waa made a third lieutenant ; in 

 1815, a second lieutenant; in the same year he 

 was transferred from the Twenty-first Infantry 

 to the artillery ; a year later ho became an 

 adjutant. His service in the army continued 

 sixteen years. In 1818 he was made a first 

 lieutenant. In 1819 he was aide-de-camp on 

 the staff of General Jacob Brown, then Com- 

 mander-in-Chief of the Army. When he left 

 the service in 1828, he was captain of the 

 Third Artillery. His years of staff duty were 

 mostly spent at Washington, during an inter- 

 esting period of the country's history. On 

 retiring from the army, he made a prolonged 

 visit to Europe. About 1830 he became a 

 lawyer and settled in Cooperstown, New York. 

 He soon became interested in politics, and was 

 an ardent advocate of the measures of Presi- 

 dent Jackson. In 1831 he received from Gov- 

 ernor Throop an appointment as Adjutant-Gen- 

 eral of the State. Two years later ho became 

 Secretary of State, and the office was held by 

 him six years. He then retired to private life 

 for three years, and in 1842 was chosen mem- 

 ber of the New York Legislature from Albany 

 County. In 1845 he was chosen to succeed 

 Silas Wright in the Senate of the United States. 

 In 1848 the " Free-Soil " agitation broke out 

 in the Democratic party of New York, and 

 made a division in it. Senator Dix ultimately 

 joined the Free-Soilers, and made one or two 

 important speeches in the Senate sustaining 

 their views, which were summarized in the 

 motto " Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Speech, 

 and Free Men." His most notable speech, 

 however, was on the question of the Oregon 

 boundary. In the same year he was the Free- 

 Soil Democratic candidate for Governor, but 

 Hamilton Fish was elected. In 1849 he was 

 succeeded in the Senate by William H. Seward. 

 In 1852, the Democratic party of the State 

 having become united on the Presidential can- 

 didate, Mr. Dix warmly supported Mr. Pierce 

 of New Hampshire for the otfice, and after his 

 election he received the appointment of Assist- 

 ant Treasurer of the United States in New 

 York. This office he soon resigned, and de- 

 voted himself to his private affairs until 1860, 

 when he was appointed by President Buchanan 

 Postmaster at New York. In January, 1861, 

 he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury 

 by Mr. Buchanan, and held the office until 

 March 4th, when Mr. Lincoln became Presi- 

 dent. It was during this short and exciting 

 period that he issued the most famous utter- 

 ance of his life : " If any man attempts to haul 

 down the American flag, shoot him on the 

 spot I " It was more significant than anything 



