Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1873 — Letter from Mr. Colfax. [ARTICLE]

Letter from Mr. Colfax.

(Prom the Providence Journal.] There has been an unusual malignity in the attack upon Mr. Colfax. Not content with false charges against his good name, his enemies have turned upon those who have adduced facts in his defense. It seems that, in their determination to crush him, they have resolved to overwhelm every man who dared to defend him. The manly course of Mr. Drew excited their special vindictiveness, and they endeavored to destroy his reputation because he had interposed in defense of Mr. Colfax. The following letter, in confirmation of Mr. Drew’s statement is timely, and its publication eminently proper: South Bend, lod., August 2C. 1573. Mr Dear Sir: Just returned from Minnesota, I find among my letters, the following from Hon. E. 15. Washburne, United States Minister to France: Paris. .July 31.1873. Hon. Schuyler Colfax: Dear Sm—l have, duly received your favor of the 7th instant. I have seen the statement of Mr. Drew. It is true that he was at this legation pending the Credit-Mohilier investigation before the Poland Committee, last winter. I well recollect our conversaUon on the subject of the “S. C., or beared cheek, and his statement that lie had reason to know that you did not get the money. My recollection of the conversation is confirmed by -one -of my secretaries, who wag present and heard it. I understood from Miy Drew that he was abroad for the purpose of making certain investigations in regard to frauds committed on the revenues of. the United States. Yours very truly, E. B. Washburne. I am even more rejoiced, my dear sir, than you can be at this emphatic confirmation of your statement. You declare in your letter to Judge Poland that when you first heard of this $1,200 check (which was first presented to the committee, January 22,1878), you ware atthe American Legation at Paris, and told Mr. Washburne at the time that you knew Colfax never. got that money. The. New York World , whose, malignant perversions and falsifications in this matter have been as brutal in their language as they have been infamous in their spirit, determined to dishonor you also, because you had dared to tell the truth in a matter in which you had no interest whatever. It has, therefore, over and over again asserted that your statement must be false because you had been seen in Washington In my company at the time you said you were in Paris. Knowing this to be a falsehood, as I had not the slightest recollection of having seen you at all for more (Jjian a year, I wrote to Mr. Washburne; and, as you will see, oat of the mouths of two witnesses—not only Mr. Washburne himself, but his Secretary also—is your truth, doubly confirmed, and the lie of the World newspaper doubly refuted. Let me thauk you personally for daring, for the sake of truth and justice, to encounter all the vilification to which yon have been subjected. He who knoweth all things, knows that I never received from Oakes Ames any stock or bonds of the Credit Mobilier or the Union Pacific Railroad, nor any dividend thereon, in cash or check or stock or bonds. And I consider it but little less than providential that you happened to see Mr. Ames himself draw the money on this very “ 8. C. or bearer” check, thus confirming Mr. Dillon *• testimony, but also that you saw him pay the $1,200 he received at the Sergeant-at-Arms’ counter to a stranger who had been talking to him on 2rew Orleans matters. I know this confirmation of your statement against the asper#lon« of your calumniators will begrati-

lying to cx-Governors Underwood and Stewart, Lieutenant-Governor Taft, Generals Barstow, Wells and Henry, Judge Wales, President Buckham, of the University of Vermont, Messrs. Benedict and Huntington, and other prominent citizens of Vermont, who have borne such strong testimony to your reliability and your unimpeachable "character. With grateful regards, yours truly,

SCHUYLER COLFAX.

John T. Drew, Esq.