[96]. See the correspondence between General Dix and Major Anderson, post.
[97]. How Mr. Stanton came to receive this appointment, may be learned by referring to a private letter from Mr. Buchanan, quoted hereafter.
[98]. General Dix had for some time held the office of Postmaster in the City of New York; a place he consented to fill under the circumstances disclosed in the following letter to President Buchanan:
New York, May 14,1860.
My Dear Sir:—
I have received your favor of the 12th inst., and am greatly indebted to you for your kind suggestion in regard to the appointment of commissioners under the treaty with Paraguay. I should regret very much to decline any service in which you think I could be useful. I am at this moment very much occupied here with matters which concern the comfort of my family, and I should wish, before giving a final answer, to communicate with my wife, who is in Boston. I had scarcely read your letter before I received a note from Mr. Schell, who desired to see me in regard to the astounding defalcation in the city post office. He said it was deemed important to place some one in the office in whom the administration could confide, and that my name had been suggested among others. Now, my dear sir, you can readily understand that it is a place I do not want, and could not consent to hold for any length of time. But, as I said to Mr. Schell, if you desire it, and think I can be of any service to your administration, in cooperating with the proper department to put matters on a right footing, I should not, under the peculiar circumstances, feel at liberty to disregard your wishes. In other words, I think you have the right, under the exigencies of the case, to command the services of any friend. I am, dear sir, sincerely yours,
John A. Dix.
For an account of General Dix’s connection with the New York post office, and of his services to Mr. Buchanan’s administration as Secretary of the Treasury, see his Life, by his son, the Rev. Morgan Dix, S. T. D., recently published by Harper & Brothers.
[99]. General Scott’s letter of November 8, 1862, published in the National Intelligencer.
[100]. Buchanan’s Defence, p. 228.