Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-06-03
Who is Schuyler Collax !

Very few Americans will ask this question
for he is one of the best known of all our
pubic men. His trip Across the Continent, -
and subsequent lectures, have made him per-
sonally familiar to the people Of nearly all
the states, from Maine to California. We
find in Putnams Magazine for june the fol-
lowing sketch of the next Vice President of
the United States
Schuyler Coliax was born at house in
North Moore street, near West Broadway, in
the city OF New York March %, 1923. His
mother is but sixteen years his senior He
received IA good common school education /;
was bred printer, and settled in Indiana in
1886. He soon became foreman and assistant
editor Of the village paper of South Bend. 1t
was then a very small sheet, such as every
Western settlement issues, as a sort Of flyer
to a job printing business as soon as it has
got It's school-house, grocery, hotel and black
smith-shop, and begins to think about having
meeting house.
The TYPO" out West frequently gets the
start of the preacher though the race is close.
Those who saw Collax then at the case" de-
scribe him as light, spindling, haxen-haired,
boyish-looking youth-cleyer rather in the
Yankee than the English sense--with a deli
cacy Of temperament which suggested the
doubt whether he had the stamina to live Ia
manhood, without the taintest suggestion that
in his mature years he would be Speaker OF
the House, and the second choice of the eoun.
try for President The news then came to
South Bend by stage from Detroit, or up the
ST. 10 river from the Lake. There was but
| little of it, and though Mr.. COiax became the
editor and publisher of the South Bend Reg
lister as soon as he became of age, other and
subsequent evidence were required to estab
lish his claim to intellectual superiority.
In lS4S he was delegate to and Secretary
of the Wing National Convention. In 1856
he was a member of the Indiana Constitution
al Convention. In 1852 he was again Score
tary of the Wing Convention. He was elect
ed to the Thirty-fourth Congress, and has
been regularly reelected to every subsequent
Congress He was elected Speaker of the
Thirty-eighth Congress, and has been re-elect-
ed Speaker of the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth
He was urged but declined to accept seat in
the United States Senate, preiering his pre-
siding chair in the House. His open, pleas.
ant face has become familiar to large audien.
ees throughout the country, who have listened
to his addresses upon political topics, upon
the late President Lincoln--by whom he was
warmly loyed-upon his tour across the con.
tinent to the Pacific, or upon subjects con.
nected with the work of the Sanitary and
Christian Commissions.
lie is pure in his personal and moral hab-
its, has broad, outspoken and catholic sym.
patty with every good work of reform, wheth.
err political, moral, intellectual or religious
and has the warm and enthusiastic confidence
Of Christians and temperance reiormers
throughout the country. lie attends, and we
believe is a member of the Reformed Dutch
Church. and is thorough teetotalist. With.
out being bred lawyer, practical familiarity
with legislation has taught him all that is
valuable in law, freed from the conservatism
and inaptitude for change aud reform which
rest like an incubus on so many of those minds
which are bred by the habits of the legal pro.
fession to look for precedents to show what
the law has been, rather than to broad prinei.
pies which settle what the low ought to be.
Yet Mr. Colfax has frequently shown the
happiest familiarity with precedents, especially
in questions of parliamentary practice
As presiding officer he is the most popu.
lar the House has had since Henry Clay
His marvellous quckness of thought, and
talent for the rapid administration of details
enables him to hold the reins of the House OF
Representatives, even in its most boisterous
and turbulent moods As an orator, Mr.
Colfax is not argumentive, except as clear
statement and sound Judgment are convincing
He rides no erratc hobbies. He demands
few policies which the average sense of intel.
ligent men cannot be made to assent to on q
clear statement of his position. He is emf.
nently representative.
He knows men well, estimates them cor
rectly, treats them all fairly and candidly
/ No man will get through his business with
you IN fewer minutes, and yet none is more
free from the horrd brusqueness of busy men
There are heart and kindness in Mr.. Co,hx's
politeness, Men leave his presence with the
Impression that he is at once an able, honest
and kind man. Political opponents like him
personally, as well as his political friends
We have never heard that he has any enemies
The breath Of Islander has been silent toward,
his fair, spotless fame. The wife of his youth
after being for long time an invalid, sank
to her final rest several years ago, leaving
him childless His mother and sister preside
at his receptions, which for r,any years have
been, not the most brilliant, but the most
popular of any given at the Capital