Schuyler Colfax.

In 1854 the Whig party had disappeared from the roll of parties in
the United States. It was a bad name for a good party. English
in its origin, it had no significance in American politics. The
word "Democratic," as applied to the opposing party, was equally
a misnomer. The word "Democracy," from which it is derived, means
a government of the people, but the controlling power of the
Democratic party resided in the southern states, where a large
portion of the people were slaves, and the ruling class were
slaveholders, and the name was not applicable to such a people.
The Republican party then represented the progressive tendency of
the age, the development of the country, the opposition to slavery
and the preservation of the Union. It was about to engage in a
political contest for the administration of the government. It
was in the minority in the Senate, and had but a bare plurality in
the House. It had to contest with an adverse Executive and Supreme
Court, with a well-organized party in possession of all the patronage
of the government, in absolute control of the slaveholding states,
and supported by strong minorities in each of the free states.

This was the condition of parties when the 34th Congress met in
the old halls of the Senate and House of Representatives on the
3rd of December, 1855. The Senate was composed of 43 Democrats
and 17 Republicans. There were four vacancies. The House was
composed of 97 Republicans, 82 Democrats, and 45 classed as Third
Party men, mostly as Americans. Eight Members were absent, and
not yet classified. An unusual proportion of the Members were new
in public life, the result of the revolution of parties caused by
the Nebraska bill. The Senate was already organized with Mr.
Bright, of Indiana, as president _pro tempore_.

The first duty of the House was to elect a speaker, a majority of
the Members present being necessary to a choice. The balloting
for speaker continued until February 2, 1856, when Nathaniel P.
Banks was elected under the plurality rule. During these two months
the House was without a speaker, and also without rules except the
general principles of parliamentary law. The clerk of the last
House of Representatives presided. Innumerable speeches were made,
some of them very long, but many brief ones were made by the new
Members who took the occasion to air their oratory. Timothy Day,
one of my colleagues, a cynical bachelor and