him for his matchless fidelity. But we must not linger too long on these pages of our nation's history-pages dear to us, because the lessons there taught by some men of deathless memory have kindled a new evangel in the hearts of the human race, till the flag itself, then so nearly the emblem of human bondage, has again become to the gaze of the whole earth the beautiful symbol of human freedom, dearer to us, ten thousand times than ever, since its baptism in the blood of our best and bravest.

Mr. Dayton happily blended in his personal bearing both dignity and affability. The writer of this can never forget the generous hospitality of the American minister, Mr. Dayton, who then resided in the Rue Circulaire, near the Arch of Triumph, commenced by Louis Philippe and completed by the Third Napoleon, and blazoned with the exploits of conquering Frenchmen. Unlike the Romans, the French citizen first asks for "glory," then for panem et circenses, (bread and the circus.)

When stricken by death, Mr. Dayton seemed only to be in the prime of life, and, if he had lived longer, the very highest honors awaited him. But he died with the harness on. And, if the world could cease to remember his countless virtues, it can never, it will never forget that the slave-master's lash might become music to the Sage of Marshfield, but that, to the ears of a New-Jersey senator, the sound of that lash, before which Presidents then bared their backs, (and history still repeats herself in presenting in this year of grace, 1867, the same attitude of baseness,) to a senator from New-Jersey, that lash must ever be the symbol of that society which creates and nourishes slavery for the body, atheism for the soul, and despotism for the people.

When the sad news came to us of the nation's loss, New-Jersey hastened to crown her foremost son with tears, as she had long since crowned him with laurels.

The Legislature unanimously passed resolutions that, in the judgment of New-Jersey, Mr. Dayton stood in the front rank of his profession, beside Webster, and Choate, and Emmett, and Pinckney; and that, "while we mourn the dead, we gratefully remember that unbending patriotism which made his last years the brightest of his manhood, as he bravely stood by his country, and with straightforward honesty defeated the subtle, and tortuous, and dangerous policy which ruled at the court of the Man of December."

The whole State mourned for him. Senators Buckley, Little,

and Scudder delivered eulogies marked by force, feeling, and eloquence.*

"MR. PRESIDENT: We have met here to honor the dead.

"Never before has an honored and eminent son of New-Jersey fallen at a foreign court in the discharge of a public trust, as died William Lewis Dayton on the second of December, the American minister at the court of the Emperor Napoleon.

"Some great mind has declared that death was not an evil, because it was universal. But, when the dauntless Baker fell pierced with a dozen bullets, saying to his soldiers, 'Lie down, boys, but it does not become a general to shrink in front of the foe,' the nation félt it a public calamity which deprived the country at once of a soldier, an orator, and a statesman.

"And, as we stand above the grave of New-Jersey's foremost son, we can say, not without emotion, it is no common chance that takes away a noble mind.

"Some of you knew William Lewis Dayton better than I did. And I am glad to give way to another, after a brief and imperfect tribute to New-Jersey's dead. I may be pardoned if, in my brief tribute to the private worth and public character of the deceased, I dwell somewhat upon his record as a statesman. It belongs not more to the State than it does to the country; I had almost said it belonged to the world.

"Almost all of us remember-for it seems but yesterday-with what unanimity and generous warmth of feeling the bar of NewJersey bade Mr. Dayton God-speed as he prepared for his jour ney to Europe; and with what feelings of sadness and melancholy, fears for the future of his country, he started for the imperial court.

"No man ever represented America in so momentous a crisis. Benjamin Franklin declared that this government was the first ever framed upon the truths of religion as a basis. But, when he represented our half-grown republic, the experiment against absolutism and tyranny had not proved successful or permanent.

"William L. Dayton, on the contrary, went to France when an armed and formidable power, with one hundred thousand men in the field, menaced the very existence of this government. And the Man of December himself, Louis Napoleon, the companion of such adventurers as Morny, De Maurepas, St. Arnaud, and others,

* We have space only for the speech of Mr. Scovel.-EDITOR NORTHERN MONTHLY.

who, winning Paris by bayonets, after shedding the blood of thirty thousand freemen, was of all men the one to sympathize with and to recognize, as soon as he dared, a confederacy which was sought to be founded upon the avowal that the Declaration of Independence under which we had lived for eighty-eight years, and grown great, and prosperous, and happy, was a fallacy and a delusion. Here, then, of all places, was the position where Mr. Dayton's fidelity to principle and his distinguished ability could shine with eminent and original lustre. Some of his friends, in writing to him, said: "This position affords little opportunity for distinction.' But, Mr. President, this statement is a grave mistake; for what position in the cabinet of Mr. Lincoln or as a senator in Congress can give such opportunity for distinction as a post where, as the guardian of the Republic, it was Mr. Dayton's priv ilege, by urbanity of disposition and by his straightforward honesty of character, to conciliate an unfriendly power and to thwart the subtle inventions of his country's enemies?

"No, sir! When the history of this just but terrible struggle comes to be written, its pages will gather lustre as they record the patient vigilance he exercised, and the bold, open, and determined warfare he made against the subtle policy to which the court of St. James and the Emperor of the French have been so nearly committed. If opportunity offered, we would gladly go back, and pause in admiration at the record he made while a senator in Congress. In 1850, during the memorable contest for compromise, Mr. Clay, in the course of the debate, asked Senator Dayton if he would support the measure in the event of the removal of an objectionable feature against which Mr. Dayton had protested. The ready answer was: 'I will not support that measure under any circumstances whatever, because I believe it fraught with danger in the future.' In vain did the gallant Kentuckian say: 'I go in for an honorable compromise whenever it can be made. Life itself is but a compromise between death and life, the struggle continuing throughout our whole existence until the great destroyer finally triumphs. All legislation, all government, all society is formed upon the principle of mutual concession, politeness, comity, courtesy; upon these every thing is based.' "Pardon me, Mr. President, for saying to the Senate, that such fidelity, such straightforward honesty and stability of purpose teach us who share in the control of public affairs, that it is a public man's duty to plant himself indomitably on what he be

lieves to be right, and bide his time in victory or in defeat. Judge Dayton's character did not need success for a stimulant. If his greatness could be reckoned in qualities, it consisted in keenness of perception, in courage, and in openness of soul. As a statesman, Mr. Dayton was the equal of Southard, the peer of Clay, and, unlike the sage of Marshfield, he never made a speech of which he could regretfully say in his last hours, 'It was the greatest mistake of my life.' As a lawyer, Judge Dayton ranks with Choate, and Addis Emmett, and the accomplished William Pinckney. He was, as these resolutions say, a thorough lawyer, possessing a mind enriched by varied experience and disciplined by the exercise of study.

"He was never a laborious student, but had happily a mind like that of Chief-Justice Marshall, which discovered truth by intuition. When upon the Supreme Bench, Judge Marshall would say to one of his associates, "This is the law, please look up the case which supports it.' Whether in public or private life, at the bar or upon the bench, in Congress or at his own fireside, in a foreign land, as a gentleman and a friend, he charmed by his affability and dignity. He was a gentleman in Bishop Doane's definition of that term, a gentle-man, and those who have ever associated with him in the circuits or before the Supreme Bench will never forget his kindness of nature, his sincerity, his geniality, and his sympathy.

"But, alas! that man, with his power of thought the greatest in the universe, must bow before the great destroyer. Man-in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, like an angel! in apprehension, like a god !—is no stronger than the little child when both go to take their places in the silent halls of death. William L. Dayton is dead. New-Jersey, from the fair hills of Sussex, from the rich and fertile fields of Somerset, which claims the honor of his birth-from Sussex to where the ocean washes the southern shore of the State, reveres his memory, now that he is dead: all, all gratefully lay their tribute of affection upon his grave."

"Liberty, whose advocate he was, rising luminous and beautiful above the tears and chains of her children, weeps for him. And we, bending reverently above the grave of the statesman, the friend, the legislator, the patriot, we yield thee to thy place in the world beyond the stars-to thy place in thy country's heart, with affection, with gratitude, and with prayer."

THE SMITH FAMILY.

A CHRONICLE FOR THE CURIOUS.

FEW persons who have not happened to be curious and patient enough to make the necessary count will be prepared for the statement that there are named, in The New-York Directory for the year of grace 1866, not less than two thousand five hundred. and twenty-two members of the Smith family. These being almost exclusively housekeepers, because the canvassers for the Directory have orders to make exceptions in favor of only such lodgers and boarders as are prominent in business, we have a basis from which we may arrive at a pretty accurate estimate of the aggregate number of the Smiths. Estimating the average for families at five members each, we have the grand total of twelve thousand six hundred and ten in a single city. A fair estimate for the whole country, in turn, from this new starting-point, would reveal the number of this single family as having reached about half a million in the United States alone.

The diversity of the mode of spelling this name is worthy of remark. Two thousand and four of those mentioned in the Directory spell their name "Smith" in the approved English style of orthography. Four hundred and forty-two spell it, in the more common German style, as Schmidt." Eighty-one seem to have preferred to have it "Schmitt," while fifteen have abbreviat ed it to "Schmid" and seven to "Smid," leaving seven more rejoicing in the more distinctive form and sound of "Schmitz." But, while this exhausts the number of the Teutonic fancies as to the orthography of the name, I have still to notice a portion of the family, scarcely deserving the degree of indulgence which we might be willing to grant to the German Smiths, who have corrupted the correct form to "Smyth," to the inevitable puzzling of their fellow-citizens of polite inclination as to the pronunciation of their name. There are sixty-seven of these people mentioned in the Directory, while there are two who have carried the corruption even further than this-as if resolved to escape from the family association of the Smiths altogether-and authorized the name-gatherers to put them down as "Smythe." One of these is a female, while the other is a gentleman very conspicuous of late in an official relation-so very conspicuous, indeed, that he will