liberty, to the most distant lands, will be interested spectators of your acts in this greater than Roman forum. I invoke you to approach these grave questions with the calm thoughtfulness of statesmen, freeing your discussions from that acerbity which mars instead of advancing legislation, and with unshaken reliance on that divine Power, which gave victory to those who formed this Union, and can give even greater victory to those who are seeking to save it from destruction by the hand of the parricide and traitor. I invoke you also to remember that sacred truth, which all history verifies, that 'they who rule not in righteousness shall perish from the earth.' Thanking you with a grateful heart for this distinguished mark of your confidence and regard, and appealing to you all for that support and forbearance, by the aid of which alone I can hope to succeed, I am now ready to take the oath of office, and enter upon the duties you have assigned me."

Mr. Washburne, of Illinois, then administered to the Speaker elect the following oath :

"I, Schuyler Colfax, do solemnly swear that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power,

or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

The speech was greeted with loud applause during its delivery and at its close, and when the oath was administered these demonstrations became overwhelming. Though grateful for these expressions of popular regard, Mr. Colfax felt called upon to preserve the dignity and decorum of the House, and appealing to the members and galleries to preserve order, said:

“The Chair, invested by the rules with the authority for the preservation of the order and decorum of the House, appeals to members not to indulge in manifestations of approval or disapproval. The Chair will state to the spectators in the gallery, that this is a deliberative assembly, and that no manifestation of applause or dissent can be allowed. Each doorkeeper will promptly take such persons from the galleries, for the order of the House must be maintained at all hazards."

Being charged with the duty of presiding over the deliberations of the House, Mr. Colfax was not connected with any special measure of the session, and a brief resumé of the acts passed may be interesting to the

reader, and at the same time aid in making this narrative complete. Acts were passed making more efficient the laws for the enrollment and draft; the finances were placed on a sounder basis; the grade of Lieutenant-General was revived in the regular army of the United States, for the purpose of rewarding the gallant and glorious services of General Grant; a uniform system of ambulances was established in the army; acts were passed to enable the people of the Territories of Nevada, Colorado, and Nebraska to form State Governments and frame Constitutions; the homestead law was amended and made more effectual; the coinage of cents was improved; a fair system of admeasurement of the tonnage of ships and vessels was established; the postal money order system was established; a national currency, secured by United States bonds was established; instruction was provided for youths in the District of Columbia; the duties on imports were increased; rigorous and prompt punishment of guerrillas was authorized; aid was given to the construction of a telegraph and railroad from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, on the Pacific; additional inducements were offered to emigrants from foreign countries; and the thanks of Congress and the nation tendered to Generals Grant, Banks, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, Howard, Captain Rodgers of the Navy, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and to the volunteers who had reënlisted.

The only proceeding of importance with which Mr. Colfax was identified as a member simply, was the following:

On the 8th of April, 1864, the House being in Committee of the Whole upon the consideration of the President's Message, Mr. Long, of Ohio, made a speech which gave great offence to the loyal members of the House. In this speech he astonished the House by declaring that he was in favor of recognizing the independence of the Rebel Confederacy. This declaration was promptly rebuked at the time of its delivery, by General Garfield, of Ohio, and was the subject of great indignation on the part of Union men everywhere.

The next day, April 9th, Mr. Colfax, calling Mr. Rollins, of New Hampshire, to the Chair, as Speaker pro tempore, took his place on the floor of the House, and offered the following resolution :

"Whereas, on the 8th day of April, 1864, when the House of Representatives was in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of Ohio, declared himself in favor of recognizing the independence and nationality of the so-called confederacy now in arms against the Union; and whereas the said so-called confederacy, thus sought to be recognized and established on the ruins of a dissolved or destroyed Union, has as its chief officers, civil and military, those who have added perjury to their treason, and who seek to obtain success for their parricidal efforts by the killing of the loyal soldiers of the nation who are seeking to save it from destruction; and whereas the oath required of all members, and taken by the said ALEXANDER LONG on the first day of the present Congress, declares that I

have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility to the United States,' thereby declaring that such conduct is regarded as inconsistent with membership in the Congress of the United States: Therefore,

"Resolved, That ALEXANDER LONG, a Representative from the second district of Ohio, having, on the 8th of April, 1864, declared himself in favor of recognizing the independence and nationality of the socalled confederacy now in arms against the Union, and thereby given aid, countenance, and encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility to the United States,' is hereby expelled."

Mr. Colfax then spoke as follows:

"Mr. Speaker, before presenting this resolution I reflected, as it was my duty to do, seriously on the obligations under which, in consequence of my position, I feel I am placed. I recognize that there is a double duty incumbent on me; first to the House' of Representatives whose kindness has placed me in the principal chair to administer the duties of that chair and the rules of the House faithfully and impartially to the best of my ability and judgment. That, I can say sincerely and conscientiously, I have endeavored to do, and shall so endeavor until this Congress expires by its constitutional limitation. But I feel that I owe still another duty to the people of the ninth congressional district of Indiana, who sent me here as their Representative to speak and act and vote in their stead. It is in conformity with this latter duty to those who cannot speak here for themselves and who,