Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by REED, BROWNE & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. THE WESTERN MONTHLY. VOL. II.—SEPTEMBER, 1869.-NO. 9. SCHUYLER COLFAX. OMEBODY has said that antagonism is the condition of progress, and that the world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at ease. There is at least but little doubt that antagonism showed itself in human nature tolerably early, and, if you fix the precise date, you at the same time fix that of some other rather obscure matters in Genesis. No matter what his theology, the student of human nature makes some very uncomforting discoveries. The orthodox, the liberal, the free-thinker, has each his own pet nomenclature; but they agree that after all there is but one great, overshadowing idea, one absorbing aim, running all through the long histories of antagonisms of which the world's progress is born. Mani was nearly right about his two kingdoms of Light and Darkness, though of course we believe that he ought not to have pronounced both everlasting. Ever. lasting and infinite truth, Mani's light, has found rather a stubborn antagonist in error; but error, though mighty, is not almighty or eternal, for does not even your old proverb assert that the former shall prevail? The allusion to other centuries will be pardoned, on condition that the nineteenth shall not be forgotten. An early combat committed to man's agency was the suppression of polytheism. The battle was so thoroughly won that man went almost to the extreme of believing that there is hardly even one God. Next, barbarous anarchy was replaced by theocracy; then came human rule, under kings and princes-and thus by degrees humanity was placed on its feet, instructed in self-rule, and commanded in the meantime to regard justice and give allegiance to the truth. Now, though his poor feet are yet bleeding by reason of the thorns upon which he has blundered, what a noble campaign is that which has been fought out all the summer of the race on that line from Sinai to the adjournment of the last Congress! Every pitched battle in every advancing cycle of progress had its human general; but, though God's muster-rolls are doubtless accurate, many of those shining names Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by REED, BROWNE & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illinois. are now unknown on earth. It seems to be divine policy to value principles alone, and He is satisfied with the correct issue of the combat, leaving many a hero, like Moses, to an unknown grave, though God buries him and angels come to his funeral. And that is the way to measure and reward men. Have they been true to the truth? are they worthy of remembrance? are they men? The arena is not exclusively religious; for there is progress in matters temporal; there are two sides to obligation, one towards heaven and one towards earth,—for "Foe to man was ne'er true friend to God." Every century has its representative, and every man may find his work in his allotted century. Many an unfortunate one mistakes his work and gets in the wrong line of battle, while many under the right banner are merely mercenaries. Politics may be clean or unclean, according to the motives of the actor. It is as much of a mistake to believe every politician merely politic, as that every public man is necessarily a patriot. The chaff of mere public reputation may be separated from the wheat of sound character. By dint of pen and tongue, party and partisan press, personal clique and appointed claque, many a sad political dog has his day. Profane, lewd in life, perhaps, too, infidel, venal, a political accident, merely partisan, drunken, vulgar in thought and speech, true only when it pays best, non-committal in emergency, and screechingly "progressive" when the people are evidently moving, he pockets the perquisites, gets into the wrong biographical berth, and finally falls into the wrong grave, if we may judge by his epitaph. American biography has many prominent names, and the really deserving are separable from the unworthy by their relations to the opportunities offered to all in common. SCHUYLER COLFAX is at least in the patriotic succession. His grandfather, General William Colfax, was Washington's bodyguard commander, and his grandmother was cousin to General Philip Schuyler. Born in New York City, March 23d, 1823, "he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow;" for his father died four months previous to the birth of the son. His school-life closed in 1833, when his mother married Mr. Matthews, and his service as store-clerk in 1836, when the family came West to New Carlisle, Indiana. The economy of a bee-hive resembles that of American Westward emigration. The strongest wings leave the old home first, and nothing equals the energy of the new swarm. The West is in this sense the daughter of the East. Mr. Matthews moved to South Bend, became county auditor in 1841, and made SCHUYLER his deputy. Wisdom says, "Make sure of promotion by diligence in your present lot." No county ever had a better deputy. Not a duty was omitted, and not a moment of leisure lost from study. Reading makes the full man, and the Yankee genus "boy" must therefore talk to save his very life. This escape-valve was found in the village debating club. The organization took the form of a moot State legislature, and each member was an imaginary son of thunder from some county he may never have seen. Hon. John D. Defrees, late Government Printer, was speaker of that little legislature, and the present Vice-President of the United States represented Newton county as faithfully there as he af terwards did in Congress. Mr. COLFAX proved an accomplished presiding officer in later life; but his wide-awake nature was assisted by his early habits and training. That moot legislature proceeded conscientiously according to "Jefferson's Manual," and |