The First Entrance upon Slave Soil-The Constitutional Amend- ment Abolishing Slavery-Important Events during the Second The Contemplated Overland Journey-The Last Good-bye o Mr. Lincoln's Message by Mr. Colfax to the Miners of the West Return of Mr. Colfax-Many Alarmed at Indications of Change in President Johnson-Mr. Colfax in the quiet of his Home Determines his Duty-Serenade Speech at Washington-The President not pleased-Mr. Colfax Re-elected Speaker-Inau- Breach between the President and Congress-The Civil Rights Bill Passed over the President's Veto-Serenade Speech of Mr. Assembling of the Fortieth Congress-Valedictory for Thirty- ninth Congress-Elected Speaker of Fortieth Congress-Inau- gural-Testimonials to Mr. Colfax as Speaker-B. F. Taylor -"History of Thirty-ninth Congress"-Thaddeus Stevens- Ex-Governor Thomas, of Maryland-Popularity of Mr. Col- fax-Estimate of Ability and Character in Cincinnati Gazette Speech of Mr. Colfax before the Union League of New York- LIFE-REMOVAL TO INDIANA-SENATE REPORTERST. JOSEPH VALLEY REGISTER. SCHUYLER COLFAX was born in the city of New York, March 23d, 1823. The death of his father, and also of a young sister, preceded his birth. He thus became the only child of his widowed mother, and maternal care had a double part to perform in moulding his character. His grandfather was General William Colfax, who was born in Connecticut in 1760. William Colfax was commissioned lieutenant in the Continental army at seventeen, and was soon after selected by General Washington as captain commandant of the commanderin-chief's guards. This position Captain Colfax held till the disbanding of the army of the Revolution in 1783. At the close of the war Captain Colfax married Hester Schuyler, a cousin of General Philip Schuyler. General Washington stood godfather of their first child, holding him at the baptismal font, and conferring on him his own name. The third son of this marriage bore the honored name of Schuyler. He grew up to be a quiet business man, and became teller in the Mechanics' Bank of New York city; but died in early manhood, transmitting his name as his sole legacy to his son, the subject of the present sketch. The early years of the life of Schuyler Colfax were passed amid the stir and din of the city of New York. He had, however, occasional sight of other scenes beside the great buildings, thronged streets, and wharves, and beautiful bay of New York. Frequent visits by his widowed mother to friends far up the Hudson, as it was then esteemed, in the famous region of Saratoga, gave him frequent views of the scenery along the North river, and of the beauty and glory of the country. His school days, which were in the public schools of the city, were not numerous. They were ended by his tenth year. In his eleventh year he was employed as a clerk in a store. At this time his mother, who had been a widow for nearly eleven years, was again married. Two years afterward, at the age of thirteen, as a member of that new household, which had sprung from his mother's marriage, he was upon the tide of emigration that was flowing to the great West. St. Joseph county, in Northern Indiana, was the haven sought, and there, in a new village named New Carlisle, he was again occupied with the duties of a clerk in a store; but under very different circumstances from those that surrounded him in the commercial emporium of the nation. At that day Northern Indiana was a new country with sparse settle ments. Much of the wild prairie was in its unmarred beauty, and the oak openings were like continuous parks. The deer fed in herds, and now and then a prowling bear was shot by the skilful hunter. The red man of the forest still traversed the woods. The Indian trader still bartered for furs. The habitations of the new settlers and the germs of villages and cities were scattered over the surface of the wild, level country, like Virgil's shipwrecked mariners, "here and there upon the vast expanse." In a few years another change of greater importance occurred. Mr. Matthews, his step-father, was elected County Auditor, and he naturally appointed young Colfax his deputy. This took him, at the age of eighteen, to South Bend, upon the banks of the beautiful St. Joseph, where has grown up since a very pleasant and thriving western city, and where from that day to this, for twenty-seven years, has been the home of Mr. Colfax. Here, with other young men, he was the member of a moot legislature for two years, and laid the foundations. of his knowledge of parliamentary law. Here, in “the county town," he was brought into the focus of politics, and also within the realms of newspaperdom. Frequent contributions from his pen found their way into the columns of the county paper. "The boy is father of the man." "Schuyler" had always been fond of newspapers and politics. When a little fellow rolling around on the floor, he would love to get a newspaper and spread it out and pore over its contents. When a clerk in New York at the age of eleven, upon the day of an important election, going home after his duties at the store were done, he stopped at the polls of the third ward, where had been the great struggle of the day, until the vote was announced. In the formation of a |