X. AT HOME AND ABROAD. UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.-THE MISSION TO FRANCE.— THE ERIE RAILROAD. A.D. 1865-1872. President Johnson's Administration.-The Union Pacific Railroad.-Eulogy on Lieutenant-general Scott.-Address at the Reception of the Seventh Regiment.-Naval Officer of the Port of New York.-Minister to France. The Empress Eugénie.-State Dinners at the Tuileries.-— Presentations at Court.—Exposition Universelle.—The Visit of the Sovereigns of Europe.-Death of the Emperor Maximilian.-Banquet at Paris. Return Home.-The Union Pacific Crédit Mobilier.-Unification of Italy: great Meeting at the Academy of Music.-Honors from the King of Italy.-Visit of the Grand-duke Alexis.-Honors from the Emperor of Russia.-President of the Erie Railroad Company.—Successful Coup-de-main.-Thanks of Stockholders. X. ANDREW JOHNSON, Vice-President of the United States, succeeded to the Chief Magistracy on the death of the murdered President. The omens of evil, inseparable from the dreadful cause for his accession, were but too truly verified. Not Lincoln, had he been spared, would have seen tranquil days, or been enabled to cope with and subdue at once the irresistible ground-swell following the four years' tempest which had preceded it. Scarcely had the new President been installed in his unenviable place when it became evident that the work of reconstruction must lead to fresh and bitter strife. Misunderstandings and jealousies, growing out of the formidable difficulties besetting the subject, filled the country with confusion, trouble, and bad blood; estranging men from each other, and making violent antagonists of those who but recently were friends. The contest between the Executive and the National Legislature will long be remembered and deplored. True, the Union had been saved; but many years were to pass before brethren could once more dwell together in unity. On retiring from the military service General Dix turned his attention, first, to his personal affairs, which had fallen into some confusion. He also found occupation in his duties as President of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. But the larger questions of the day demanded an attention which he found time to give to them. He was chairman of a meeting held in New York, February 21, 1866, and largely attended by citizens who believed that the time had come when men of conservative views, forgetting past divisions, should come together for consultation. Having sustained the public au thorities during the war; approving the policy of President Johnson, as announced in his first Message to Congress and a subsequent Message to the Senate returning the Freedmen's Bureau bill, with his objections; and believing that the reestablishment of the former relations of all the States to the Union was indispensable to the harmony and prosperity of the country, the perpetuity of our republican institutions, and the prudent and economical administration of the Government within constitutional limits; the persons interested in the movement sought to confer with the President as to the best means of sustaining him in the measures which he proposed to take, and aiding him in his patriotic efforts to restore harmony to the Union, while guarding against an evident tendency to enlarge the powers of the Federal Government to an extent far beyond what they considered safe. The following letter was addressed to the Chief Magistrate on that occasion: "His Excellency Andrew Johnson: "New York, February 21, 1866. "DEAR SIR,-I enclose a copy of a resolution passed at a meeting this morning, at which some of the most eminent of our citizens took part. "In view of the great issues before the country, involving, as they conceive, its harmony and prosperity for years to come, and the proper action of the Government within its constitutional limits, they are anxious to adopt such measures as will be most efficient in giving success to the policy you have proclaimed; and they will proceed to Washington at an early day and ask an interview with you. The gentlemen composing the Committee arc "John T. Hoffman, Mayor; William B. Astor, William M. Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont, Moses Taylor; John Kelly, Sheriff; Charles G. Cornell, State Senator. I am, very respectfully and truly, yours, "JOHN A. DIx." I think it sufficient to have given this brief indication of my father's intelligent interest in the questions which agitated the country during Mr. Johnson's administration. Fortunately for himself, he spent two years and a half of the four at a distance from the arena of embittered and disgusting con |