Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-06-19
A Pen Picture of Schuyler COlfax in His
"Den.1

From Washington Letter to the Cleve. Leader
In what he called his "den," l found
Schuyler Colfax, some days ago: little
closet-room, lighted by one basement win
dow, under the Capitol 1t was curiosity
shop of manuscripts and documents, order
reigning through superficial confusion.
Here the Speaker hides himself away from
pages and harpies, and works unassistedly
at his speeches and his correspondence,
the latter of itself drudgery as great and
exciting as any accountants.
But lighthouse never grows old; after
the hundred years its flame is as youthful
as when it began. The pure, unaffected,
radiant cheerfulness of Mr.. COlfax keeps
him as rosy and hopeful as boy. Here
he sits, smoking his cigar, surprised in the
midst of q smile, for all his thoughts are
good companions
took a seat before him, and while he
answered some questions / had brought,
tried to make out his face and character
very difficult type were both of them,
for country of which the Speaker is so
representative, and yet of a temperament
so uncommon.
We are a sober minded people, with
lines of thrift and anxiety in our faces,
like the marks of whip and burden. We
go to law and go to church with the same
countenances. We want to make money
FAST and ON the way and after the end we
have remorses, aches, wounded self
esteems, asceticisms. The air, the soil, the
worry and the hurry of American life pro-
vincialize the American into hard, repel-
liant, dreadfully over-earnest men, with
skin, stomach, and soul equally dys-
peptic
Out of this population face grows, now
and then, like cloverhead out of stock
yard, all freshness'and color, and quick to
feel the earliest breezes This is Mr. Col
fax. His life is perennial hopefulness,
having good conscience for its compass,
and for it's ballast temperament that is
equal as an hour glass. Full of the elias
ticity of the Empire City, a widows son,
born forty-five years ago, with parentage
reaching back on one side to the Schuylers,
on the other to an officer of Washington'S
body-guard. At ten years OF age his
schooling ceased, and he had found a new
father. At thirteen he quilted New York
and his step-father's store for a home in
Indiana. At twenty he was an editor; j;
twelve hundred dollars in debt At
twenty-seven he was candidate for Con-
gress, already a young widower, made
sadder but manlier by adeserved love. AT
thirty he was Congressman, as ne has
been ever since, and three times elected
Speaker of the House, the third position In
the nation. At the base OF this successful
career we find neither wealth, chicanery,
nor patronage; but good citizenship, faith
full public services, steadfast self-respect,
and cheerful temper. tits a aquiet career
of success under Republican institutions,
with steady talents, quick perceptions, and
excellent confidence. His model in the
State has been Henry Clay, whose man
ners were like his own, and he con1esses
to have modelled his speakership upon
Clay's career as Speaker OF the House:
"Never hoping" he says, to reach TINS
high standard, it has ever been before
my mind, as the sculptor studies the
model of the Great Master of his art" In
this position he has never been traduced
till of late, when, during the impeachment
trial, the majority of the House has con-
nived at certain quarrels, but the Speaker
himself has aimed, in his own language, to
make all "forgetful of the asperities which
should perish with the occasion that eyokes
them" Mr.. Colfax is q member of the
Dutch Reformed Church, and total abb
stinence is one of his private principles.
He is a smoker, however, and loving
traveller by foot and stage. His oratory is
fervid and florid together, and has served
his party handsomely in trying times,
while his judgment is guarded, yet decisive
as his mode of speech. OF his speeches
have collected some Illustrations from
various parts of the globe.
Thus he said of the employment OF ne
gro troops:
81 do not call negro soldiers better than
white ones. If were to express my own
opinion, it would be that those of my own
color are better and Drawer. For have
always told you, in spite of charges to
the contrary, that believed the Anglo
Saxon race was superior to any other
that walks the footstool of God"
So he said of moral faithfulness in
| legislation:
whether travelling in the valley OF hui
initiation or disaster, or keeping my. eye
fixed on the Peavens, / believe God reigns.
don't believe his blessings will fall on
| the Corlederacy. Gods ways are some
times dark, but sooner or later they reach
tie shining hills of day"
He first announced the Republican plat
form after the breach with Mr.. Johnson,
thus:
"Let us make haste slowly, and we can
then hope that the foundations of our Coy
ernment, when thus reconstructed on the
basis of indisputable loyalty, will be as
eternal as the stars.
In like manner, on April 10, 1866, when
he made mild but manly issue with John
son, he said of the Civil Rights bill, in the
| first moment of its enactment:
"That law, misrepresented as it has
| been by its opponents in Congress, will
never be repealed, and in the years that
are coming IL will be the nrnndest recnl-