In May 1860 he became postmaster of New York city, and from January until March 1861 he was secretary of the treasury of the United States, in which capacity he issued (January 29, 1861) to a revenue officer at New Orleans a famous order containing the words, "if any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."
The 1 As early as 1613, Captain Samuel Argall, on his way to Virginia, after breaking up some Jesuit settlements at Port Royal, and Mount Desert, passed through the Narrows near the mouth of the Hudson, and finding a group of Dutch traders, made them haul down their flag and replace it with that of England.
He refused altogether to haul down the flag of Tariff Reform; it was his policy to give British workmen a preference, both in the home and in the colonial market; but he said that a Unionist Government did not intend themselves to impose food duties.
