CHINA. 



COLFAX, SCHUYLER. 



175 



tion were repeated, excepting the clauses re- 

 lating to opium. Under the limitation on the 

 Chinese tariff hitherto in force, China derived 

 but $5,000,000 from the duty on Indian opium, 

 while the Indian Government netted eight 

 times that amount. The new settlement of 

 the opium question was the proposal entirely 

 of the Chinese Government, except in unim- 

 portant details. Under the old arrangement 

 opium pays a customs duty of thirty taels per 

 chest. When forwarded from the port of entry 

 into the interior it pays li-Hn^ or transit dues, 

 to the local authorities, and in every district 

 fresh dues are collected. Only a fraction of 

 these taxes reaches the imperial treasury. The 

 new convention with Great Britain provides 

 for the payment to the customs officials, be- 

 sides the former duty of thirty taels, of eighty 

 taels in lieu of all transit dues. By this ar- 

 rangement the Chinese Government saves the 

 large sums lost through the extensive system 

 of smuggling at the li-Hn barriers and through 

 the peculation of the provincial officials, as 

 well as the cost of collection. The importing 

 merchant will not lose, because, although pay- 

 ing nearly four times the former customs duty, 

 he can get a correspondingly higher price from 

 the Chinese merchants, who are relieved of the 

 li-Tcin dues. The Government will establish 

 bonded warehouses for opium, and give a cer- 

 tificate with every package of opium that has 

 paid the duty of 110 taels per chest that will 

 exempt it from all transit dues. Under an ar- 

 rangement already in force, an importer, by 

 paying a sum equal to half the customs duty, 

 could obtain a transit pass for cotton or other 

 merchandise, but only to a specified place. The 

 Chinese Government agrees in the new con- 

 vention to levy duties on the home-grown 

 opium, equal ad valorem to the eighty taels 

 it imposes on the Indian article after the 

 regular customs duty has been paid. If it is 

 found that the transit certificate does not se- 

 cure immunity from all local dues, the British 

 Government has the right to withdraw from 

 the agreement. The convention remains in 

 force for four years, and then continues by 

 tacit consent from year to year. A commis- 

 sion is to be appointed to inquire into the best 

 method to stop the large smuggling trade from 

 Hong-Kong that is highly detrimental to the 

 Chinese revenue. This has been another point 

 of difference between Great Britain and China. 

 The British Government would agree to no 

 arrangement that the Chinese authorities pro- 

 posed to put a stop to the illicit traffic, in which 

 the Hong-Kong merchants found their profit, 

 and consequently the Chinese Government 

 adopted a preventive system so stringent that 

 it was termed u the blockade of Hong-Kong." 

 The agreement, concluded in July, 1885, re- 

 vives all the provisions of the Chefoo con- 

 vention, except as modified by the new ar- 

 rangements respecting the opium-traffic. If 

 the opium agreement should terminate after 

 ratification, through the withdrawal of Great 



Britain on account of non fulfillment, or upon 

 twelve months' notice by either party after 

 four years, the other clauses of the Chefoo 

 agreement will still remain in force. 



CHOLERA. See ZYMOTIC DISEASES. 



COLF1X, SOIIYLKR, an American statesman, 

 born in New York city, March 23, 1828; died 

 in Mankato, Minn., Jan. 13, 1885. His grand- 

 father was Gen. William Colfax, who com- 

 manded the life-guards of Washington through- 

 out the Revolutionary War. His father died a 

 short time before the son's birth, and his moth- 

 er-some years after married again. His early 

 education and training were obtained in the 

 public schools of the city, which he attended 

 until he was ten years old. The next three 

 years he served in his step-father's store. In 

 1836 the family emigrated to Indiana, and set- 

 tled in New Carlisle, St. Joseph's Co. During 

 the five years following he was occupied with 

 the duties of a clerk in a country store. In 

 1841 his step-father (Matthews) was elected 

 County Auditor, and removed to South Bend. 

 Schuyler was appointed Deputy Auditor, and 

 devoted all his leisure time to. reading and the 

 acquisition of knowledge. He also studied 

 law, and for two years was Senate reporter of 

 proceedings for the Indianapolis " State Jour- 

 nal." In 1845 Mr. Colfax established a week- 

 ly paper at South Bend, the " St. Joseph Val- 

 ley Register." Under his management, despite 

 numerous mishaps and business losses, the 

 " Register " became the most influential jour- 

 nal, in support of Whig politics, in that part 

 of Indiana. 



At the Whig National Convention held in 

 Baltimore in 1848, he appeared as a delegate, 

 and was appointed secretary. Gen. Zachary 

 Taylor was nominated for President, and this 

 nomination was zealously supported by Colfax. 

 The next year he was elected a member of the 

 convention to revise the Constitution of the 

 State of Indiana, and in his place, both by 

 voice and vote, opposed the clause that pro- 

 hibited free colored men from settling in that 

 State. He was also offered a nomination for 

 the State Senate, but declined it. In 1851 he 

 was a candidate for Congress, and came very 

 near being elected in a district that was strong- 

 ly Democratic. The next year he was again a 

 delegate to the Whig National Convention. 



Mr. Colfax was elected to Congress in 1854, 

 by the recently formed Republican party, and 

 was re-elected for six terms in succession. In 

 1856 he supported Fremont for President, and 

 during the canvass made a speech in Congress 

 on the extension of slavery and the aggressions 

 of the slave-power. This speech was used as 

 a campaign document, and over half a million 

 copies were circulated throughout the country. 

 He was chairman of several important com- 

 mittees of Congress, especially that on post- 

 offices and post-roads, and proved an able and 

 active member of the national legislature. In 

 December, 1863, he was elected Speaker of the 

 House of Representatives, and he was twice 



