'S. C.' And now General Fisk publicly declares that Mr. Ames admitted to him that he was satisfied that Mr. Colfax never saw the check alluded to.

These witnesses are said to be reliable, and no doubt they tell the truth. At all events, they are as worthy of belief as Mr. Ames ever was. Admitting the testimony to be credible, some idea of the wrong inflicted upon Mr. Colfax may at once be comprehended.

"Of course it is possible to inflict such injuries without malice. But there was malice, and a very wicked quality of malice, in the crusade against Mr. Colfax. There was besides malice a superserviceable eagerness on the part of Republican politicians to seem willing to punish a member of the political family. Such persons mistook their eagerness to punish, before conviction, for Roman virtue. Alas! Roman virtue is only a tradition; but such as we have any account of was the reverse of self-conscious. It was stern and unyielding; the very essence of selfdenial. The traditional Roman did not hand over his own flesh and blood to the executioner upon vague rumor, nor as a matter of self-glorification upon any proofs whatever. Justice can wait upon proof always without detriment to public morals. But the opportunity to degrade a man of exceptionally upright life proved a too powerful temptation for such of our journalists as affect Roman virtue. Goodness and badness are relative. An exceptionally good man in a community rather below than above the average of goodness, and an exceptionally bad man in a community rather above the average of goodness, become equally the objects of jealousy and suspicion, and both may be lynched in a moment of public frenzy.

"But were the innocence of Mr. Colfax made as clear as the sun at noon, the public injury inflicted upon him could never be repaired. The press is nothing if not infallible. It may be disgraceful to steal, but it is infamous to be detected,' was the maxim of a noted criminal. So one kind of journalism appears to hold it infamy to acknowledge a blunder. And the press of this country has most certainly blundered in its treatment of Mr. Colfax. We shall see whether it can rise to the level of the occasion."

CHAPTER XV.

OUT OF OFFICE.

1873-1885.

BUSIER THAN EVER. - OVERRUN WITH CALLS FOR SPEAKING. — A SERIES OF POPULAR OVATIONS.-RECEPTION IN MINNESOTA, IN THE WEST, IN NEW YORK, IN NEW ENGLAND.-A UNANIMOUS ELECTION TO CONGRESS TENDERED, AND DECLINED. THE PEOPLE'S ANSWER TO HIS DEFAMers.-RecePTION IN COLORADO.-TRIBUTE TO LINCOLN AT THE CAPITAL OF ILLINOIS.-ADOPTS LECTURING AS A PROFESSION.-RECEPTION IN CANADA.-TRIBUTE TO HENRY WILSON. WHY HE DID NOT WRITE A BOOK.-HIS TWELVE YEARS' WORK.-APPOINTMENTS HE DID NOT LIVE TO FILL.

AT home the ex-Vice-President was soon busy in a Temperance revival, speaking in the churches in South Bend and in adjacent towns. He received invitations from thirty places to address the Odd Fellows on their April anniversary. He accepted an invitation from Greencastle, Ind., and a second from Erie, Pa., the latter on a postponed date. Passing through Lafayette on his way to Greencastle, the Odd Fellows gave him a public reception. In June he addressed the college societies of Otterbein University, near Westerville, O. The University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.' On the 1st of July he lectured on Odd Fellowship at St. Joseph, Mich., and having a similar address to make the next day at Big Rapids, Hon. Alexander H. Morrison, builder and President of the Lake Shore Railroad, organized an excursion party to escort him thither. "The trip was a perfect ovation to the distinguished guest from all parties," said a press dispatch. Word was sent on in advance, and the people of the towns and vicinity were gathered at every station to 1. Mr. Colfax had received this distinction from the Indiana University at Bloomington in June, 1869.

greet him, one party, with a band, coming into Fremont Centre from Hesperia, twelve miles distant. He spoke briefly at every station on the line. In a 4th of July oration at St. Joseph, he discussed the railroad question, the Indianapolis Sentinel publishing his remarks, and saying that consideration of them would steady the theories of those who believed in railroad control by the people." Caught in Evanston, Ill., on the Sabbath, a little later, he addressed the Presbyterian Sabbath-school in the afternoon. "Long before the hour of commencement the church was crowded, every foot of standing room being occupied, and a great number compelled to turn away." The Rev. George C. Noyes gave him a reception in his parlors Saturday evening, which was thronged by the foremost citizens of Evan

ston.

In August, in company with his friends, Mr. S. M. Shoemaker, wife, and daughters, of Baltimore, the exVice-President and Mrs. Colfax visited Minnesota as the guests of Senator Windom. From Winona, Senator Windom's home, they were accompanied to Minneapolis by Mr. and Mrs. Windom, the Minneapolis Tribune, in announcing their arrival, saying: "Thousands of friends and admirers give to the Hon. Schuyler Colfax an earnest welcome to Minnesota." The party "were charmed with the beauties of Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnehaha, of Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun, of the Dalles of the St. Croix, and with the hospitality and courtesies extended to them by our citizens." Mr. Colfax took part in the dedication of a new Odd Fellows' Hall in Minneapolis. Receiving some agreeable additions to their party, they visited Duluth, and ran out on the Northern Pacific to Bismarck. Ascertaining when they would return, the people about Detroit Lake collected by hundreds, captured the party, banqueted them, and gave them a sail on the lake.

September 1st Mr. Colfax wrote Mr. Sinclair: "I find it hard to get rid of speaking, for I have already declined over two hundred speaking invitations this season, but acceptances are actually extorted out of me until I find I have one to three engagements per week through Sep

tember and October from your State to Minnesota." These months were largely taken up with speaking at agricultural fairs. Extraordinary crowds were drawn together to hear him. He discussed semi-political questions-transportation, tariff, finance-as well as farm topics. "After Mr. Colfax had finished his address," said a Freeport, Ill., dispatch, "thousands pressed forward to take him by the hand. At night he was serenaded by the Freeport Band, and waited upon by a great concourse of citizens, among them Mayor Krohn and Mr. Patterson, leading Democrats. Mr. Patterson introduced the ex-Vice-President in a warm and eulogistic speech, and the scenes on the fair grounds were re-enacted."

At Valparaiso, Ind., “old friends clustered about him, wrung his hand, and assured him of their unalterable friendship, as if he were a brother of them all, and had been grossly slandered and ill-treated." At Charlotte, Mich., "after the speaking," said the Leader [Democratic], "a genuine old-fashioned hand-shaking took place, and for half an hour the crowd pressed forward to shake hands with one on whom the country leaned with confidence in the darkest hour of its history." At Monticello, Ill., “exVice-President Colfax addressed one of the largest crowds that ever assembled in Piatt County. At the close of the speech hundreds of people of all political sentiments made a grand rush to the front to shake the hand of this man.” "Ten thousand people were on the fair grounds to-day," ran a Galesburgh, Ill., dispatch. "The principal event of the day was the address of Hon. Schuyler Colfax, in which he discussed the relations of the farmers and the railways in a manner to win the commendation of the whole farming community." Of his appearance and reception at the fair of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., the Potsdam Courier & Freeman put the following on record:

"The affection of the people for ex-Vice-President Colfax could not have been more positively shown than it was here last week. His address held the large audience as under a spell; and as soon as the address was concluded there was a pressure from all directions to reach him. The crowd standing on the ground rushed up to the sides of the stand,

and compelled him to reach down and shake with both hands as they passed. When he came to the platform of the grand stand the rush was so great that the foundation gave away, and many were precipitated to the ground. When he reached the end of the stand, he was forced to halt and hold an impromptu reception on the spot, which was continued, without a moment's rest, until he took a carriage for the train. During the address an old Republican who became liberalized, and who voted for Greeley, heard the speaker about twenty minutes, and said to his neighbor: I wanted to vote for that man for President.' The speaker went on, and the hearer paid close attention for twenty minutes longer, when he turned to his neighbor again, saying: 'I declare, I want to vote for him for President now.'

He was the favorite lecturer at the dedications, installations, anniversaries, and festal reunions of his brethren of the Mystic Tie. In Cincinnati this November he addressed five thousand Odd Fellows and their friends at Exposition Hall. Many of these audiences outside of the large cities came together from a wide region, and were equalled in numbers only by the assemblages at the county agricultural fairs. At Lyons, Ia., twenty lodges participated ; the procession formed in Clinton and marched to Lyons in the rainy, chilly weather, "a distance, as marched, of four miles," said the De Witt Observer. The speaking was to have been in the Odeon, but the building could not contain one fourth of the people. So the orator stood in a window, and sent his voice far up and down the thronged streets. The fraternity of all North-eastern Iowa assembled at Charles City, some of them travelling sixty miles in wagons. "The announcement of an oration by Schuyler Colfax brought in large delegations from all the neighboring places," said a Mattoon, Ill., dispatch. "The procession was long and imposing, and in spite of the intense heat Mr. Colfax held the audience of thousands for an hour and a half with an able and engaging discussion of the principles of the Order." At Paxton, Ill., although "it was the hottest, dustiest, busiest day of the season, seven thousand assembled to hear Brother Colfax. He spoke for more than an hour, and then, at the urgent appeal of all, fifteen minutes on the condition of the country. Notwithstanding the thermometer was one hundred degrees in the