| | 1 | Author: | Sawyer
Lemuel
1777-1852 | Add | | | Title: | A biography of John Randolph, of Roanoke  | | | | Published: | 2008 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | On the 10th of January, 1800, Mr. Randolph made his maiden speech on Mr.
Nicholas's resolution for reducing the army. In the course of his remarks, he applied
the term "raggamuffins" to the soldiery in general. On the following night,
while he was seated in a front row of a box at the Chestnut street theatre, in
company with some friends, members of the House, two officers of the army or
navy, in an adjoining box, just before the curtain rose, began to vociferate to the
orchestra, "Play up, you d—d raggamuffins," and repeated it at intervals during
the performance. The friends of Mr. Randolph, apprehending some mischief
or personal insult, sat closely on each side of him, and put him on his guard.
At the conclusion of the piece as they arose to depart, Mr. R. felt some one
seize him by the hair of the head from behind and give him a violent pull, that
nearly brought him down on his seat. Turning suddenly around, he found the
two officers standing close by, when he asked, "Which of these two d—d rascals
did that?" No answer was returned, and his friends, taking him between
them, retired to their respective lodgings without further molestation. The next
day Mr. Randolph wrote a letter to the President, in which he complained of
this treatment by two officers of the army or navy (he did not know which),
with evident intention to provoke him to a course of conduct which might, in
some sort, justify the hostile designs they entertained towards him, from the execution
of which they were only deterred by the presence of several of his friends.
He stated that he was acquainted with the name of one of these young men,
who appeared to have so false an estimate of true dignity of character, who
seemed to have mistaken brutality for spirit, and an armed combination against
the person of an individual for an indication of courage. He was called McKnight,
rank unknown. Mr. Christie, a member of the House, appeared to
know him; and that gentleman, with Capt. Campbell Smith, who, as he understood,
endeavored to deter those rash young men from their scheme, and whose
conduct would evince, if, indeed, there were any need of proof, that the character
of the man and the citizen is not incompatible with the soldier, can give an
account of the various instances of misconduct which were exhibited by the parties. As the enclosed letter
from a member of your body, received by me on the night of Saturday, the 11th
instant, relates to the privileges of the House, which in my opinion ought to be
inquired into by the House itself, if anywhere, I have thought proper to submit
the whole letter and its tendencies to your consideration, without any other
comments on its matter and style. But as no gross impropriety of conduct
on the part of officers holding commissions in the army or navy of the United
States, ought to pass without due animadversions, I have directed the Secretary
of War and the Secretary of the Navy to investigate the conduct complained of,
and report to me without delay such a statement of facts as will enable me to
decide on the course which duty and justice shall appear to prescribe. Your note handed to me last night by Mr. Goode, in which
you say, `understanding that the friends of the administration and others will
support you for the Senate in opposition to Mr. Randolph, you desire to understand
distinctly whether they have my consent, or not; and if not, request me to
say whether I will not abandon the chair of state at this time, to accept a seat
in the Senate,' deserves and shall have a candid reply. Let me premise that I
am unacquainted with the political preferences of those disposed to sustain me
for the Senate. Suffice it to say, that my political opinions on the fundamental
principles of the government are the same with those espoused by Mr. Randolph,
and I admire him most highly for his undeviating attachment to the constitution,
manifested at all times, and through all the events of a long political life; and
if any man votes for me under a different persuasion, he most grievously deceives
himself. Yon ask me whether I have yielded my consent to oppose him.
On the contrary, I have constantly opposed myself to all solicitations. I desire most
earnestly to be left at peace. There is no motive which could induce me to
seek to change my present situation for a seat in the Senate at this time. I
cannot admit that to be one in a body of forty-eight members is to occupy a
more elevated station than that presented in the chief magistracy of Virginia.
My private interests, intimately connected with the good of my family, are
more highly sustained by remaining where I am, than by the talked-of change.
There is then no consideration, public or private, which could lead me to desire
it. From the first to the last, everywhere and to all with whom I have conversed,
this has been my uniform language. Your last inquiry is one, which,
urged by those who felt disposed to sustain me, I have constantly declined
answering. Propriety and a due regard to consistency of deportment require
me to decline an answer now. Should the office, in opposition to my wishes (a
result which I cannot anticipate), be conferred upon me, I shall then give to the
expression of the legislative will such reflection and pronounce such decision as
my sense of what is due to it may seem to require. These explanations might
have been had by each and all of you, gentlemen, verbally if you had sought to
have attained them in that way, which might possibly have discovered a greater
degree of confidence in me. But as they are now given, you are at liberty to
use them in any mode you please, reserving to myself a similar privilege. We take great pleasure in complying with the wishes of a number
of the members of the Legislature and citizens of Richmond, to ask the favor of
your company to a dinner at the Eagle Hotel, to-morrow, at 5 o'clock, as the
best mode they can adopt to evince the high sense they entertain of your distinguished
public services, and firmness in maintaining the principles of the Constitution,
and resisting the mischievous measures of an infatuated administration. The feebleness of my health admonishes me of the imprudence
I commit in accepting your very kind and flattering invitation, but I am unable
to practise the self-denial which prudence would impose. I have only to
offer my profound acknowledgments for an honor to which I am sensible of no
claim on my part except the singleness of purpose with which I have endeavored
to uphold our common principles, never more insidiously and vigorously assailed
than now, and never more resolutely defended and asserted. Your very kind and flattering invitation found me confined by
a painful and distressing disease, which only leaves me power to express my
sense of the honor done me, and my regret at being unable to partake of the
hospitality and festivity of my Prince Edward friends, to whom I am bound by
every tie that can unite me to the kindest and most indulgent constituents that
ever man had. "In the name of God—amen. I, John Randolph, of Roanoke, in the county
of Charlotte, do ordain this writing, written with my own hand, this 4th of
May, 1819, to be my last will and testament, hereby revoking all others whatever.
I give my slaves their freedom, to which my conscience tells me they
are justly entitled. It has a long time been a matter of the deepest regret to me,
that the circumstances under which I inherited them, and the obstacles thrown
in the way by the laws of the land, have prevented my manumitting them in
my lifetime, which is my full intention to do, in case I can accomplish it. All
the residue of my estate (with the exceptions herein made), whether real or
personal, I bequeath to William Leigh, Esquire, of Halifax, attorney at law, to
the Rev. William Meade, of Frederick, and to Francis S. Key, Esquire, of
Georgetown, in trust for the following uses and purposes, viz. 1. To provide
one or more tracts of land, in any of the States or Territories, not exceeding in
the whole, four thousand acres, nor less than two thousand, to be partitioned
and apportioned by them in such manner as may seem best, among said slaves.
2d. To pay the expense of their removal and of furnishing them with the necessary
cabins, clothes and utensils. 3d. To pay the expense, not to exceed four
hundred dollars per annum, of the education of John Randolph Clay, until he
shall arrive at the age of twenty-three, leaving him my injunction to scorn to eat
the bread of idleness or dependence. 4th. To pay to Theodoric Bland Dudley
ten thousand dollars. 5th. With the residue of said estate to found a college,
to be called Roanoke College. I give to Theodore B. Dudley all my books,
plate, household and kitchen furniture, and all my liquors; also my guns and
pistols, and the choice of six of my horses or brood mares, and my single
chaise, with my best riding saddle and valise. It is my wish and desire that my
executors give no bond or security for the trust reposed in them. In witness
whereof, &c., &c. * * * * "I hope you have not exposed yourselves to the inconvenience of
any debt, however small; but I know this is an error into which youthful heedlessness
is too apt to run. If you have escaped it, you have exercised more
judgment than I possessed at your age, the want of which cost me many a
heart-ache. When any bauble caught my fancy, I would perhaps buy it on
credit for twice as much as it was worth. In a day or two, cloyed with the
possession of what, to my youthful imagination, had appeared so very desirable,
I would readily have given it to the first I met; but, in disearding it, I
could not exonerate myself from the debt that accrued, the recollection of which
incessantly tormented me. Many a night's sleep has been broken by sad reflection
on the difficulty into which I had plunged myself, and in devising means
of extrication. At the appearance of my creditor I shrunk, and looked, no
doubt, as meanly as I felt; for the relation of debtor and creditor is that of a
slave to his master. It begins with the subjugation of his mind, and ends with
that of his body. Speaking of a promiser (and every creditor is a promisemaker,
and too often a promise-breaker), you cannot be too much upon your
guard against them, unless you are sure the performance is in your power, and
at the same time will conduce to your honor and benefit, or those of another.
* * * * The courage which enables us to say no to an improper application,
cannot be too soon acquired. The want of it has utterly rumed many an amiable
man. Do not, through false shame, through a vicious modesty, entrap
yourself into a situation which may dye your cheeks with real shame. As to
the promiser, he is like the keeper who puts his head into the lion's mouth
to amuse the spectators. This he did frequently and got it safely out, till at
last the lion, in a fit of ill-humor, bit it off. Your word ought to be dearer to
you than your head. Beware how you put it into the lion's mouth. * * * A
liar is always a coward." "One of the best and wisest men I ever saw, has often said to me, that a
decayed family could never recover its loss of rank in the world, until it left off
talking and dwelling upon its former rank and opulence in the world. I have
seen this verified in numerous instances in my own connexions, who, to use
the words of my oracle, will never thrive till they become poor folks. He added,
`they may make some struggles, and with apparent success, to recover lost
ground, they may get half way up again, but are sure to fall back, unless, reconciling
themselves to their circumstances, they become poor in form, as well as
in fact.' The blind pursuit of wealth for the sake of hoarding, is a species of
insanity. There are spirits, and not the less worthy, who, content with an
humble mediocrity, leave the field of wealth and ambition open to more active,
perhaps more guilty competitors. Nothing can be more respectable than the
independence that grows out of self-denial. The man who, by abridging his
wants, can find time to cultivate his mind, or to aid his fellow-creatures, is a
being far above the plodding sons of industry and gain. His is a spirit of the
noblest order. But what shall we say to the drone whom society is eager to
shake from her encumbered lap—who lounges from place to place, and spends
more time in Adonising his person, even in a morning, than would serve to
earn his breakfast—who is curious in his living, a connoisseur in wines, fastidious
in his cooking, but who never knew the luxury of earning a meal? Such
a creature, sponging from house to house and always on the borrow, may still
be seen in Virginia. One more generation may put an end to them." * * "I have been up since half-past one. Yesterday I dined by accident at the
Union in Georgetown with Mr. K. (Key), and though I had toast and water, I
missed my milk. I drank, too, at the earnest recommendation of some of the
party, some old port wine, which has done me no good. My dinner was the
lean of a very fine haunch of venison, without any gravy, and a little rice.
Since it began to rain I have felt as restless as a leech in a weather-glass, and
so I sit down to write to you. On Saturday I had a narrow escape from a
most painful death. Wildair dashed off with me on the avenue, alarmed at a
tattered wagon-cover, shivering in the wind, and would have dashed us both to
pieces against a poplar, but when she was running full-bent against it, and not
a length off, by a violent exertion of the left heel and right hand, I bore her off.
There was not the thickness of half a quire of paper on which I am writing,
between my body and the tree. Had I worn a great-coat, or cloth boots, I must
have touched, perhaps been dragged off by them. * * * *
In the course of my life, I have encountered some risks, but nothing like this.
My heart was in my mouth for a moment, and I felt the strongest convictions
of my utter demerit in the sight of God, and it gushed out in thankfulness for
His signal and providential preservation. `What,' thought I, `had been my
condition had I then died? As the tree falleth, so it must lie.' I had been but
a short time before saying to a man who tried to cheat me, some very hard and
bitter things. It was a poor auctioneer, who had books on private sale. He
attempted to impose upon me in respect to some classical books of which he
was entirely ignorant, and I exposed his ignorance to people in the shop, many
of whom were members of Congress, and no better informed than him. The
danger I escaped was no injury to the speech which I made, out of breath, on
finding, when I reached the House, that there was a call for the previous question.
So true it is, that of all motives religious feeling is the most powerful.
I am reading for the second time an admirable novel called `Marriage.' It is
recommended by Scott in his `Legend of Montrose.' I wish you would read
it. Perhaps it might serve to palliate some of your romantic notions (for I despair
of a cure) on the subject of love and marriage. A man that marries a
woman he does not esteem and treat kindly, is a villain. But marriage was
made for man, and if the woman be good-tempered, healthy (a qualification
scarcely thought of now-a-days), chaste, cleanly, economical, and not an absolute
fool, she will make him a better wife than nine out of ten deserve to have.
To be sure, if to these beauty and understanding be added, all the better. Neither
would I quarrel with a good fortune, if it has produced no ill effect upon the
possessor." "As I have recommended Marriage to you (the book I mean), this digression
on genealogy*
*He gave his own genealogy.
may remind you of Misses Jockey, the agreeable sisters. You
entirely misapprehend my mode of life. I am very rarely out of bed after 9
o'clock, and when I exceed that hour, it is not at evening parties. Last night
I was seduced by a book to go beyond that hour a little. * * * The other day I
dined at the French minister's. It was Saturday, Madame De N.'s (De Neuville's)
night. At half past 7 we joined the evening visitors, and at half past
8 I was snug in bed. To be sure I was politely reproached, as I was going
away, by the Count De Menou (Secretary of Legation), and since by his principal,
for going away so early; but my plea of weak health satisfied their jealousy.
This is felt, and shown too, by all here in the highest ranks of fashion.
Madame is charity itself. The poor will miss her when she goes away. One
of her sayings deserves to be written in letters of gold: `When the rich are
sick, they ought to be starved; when the poor are sick, they ought to be fed.'
This is no bad medical precept. Just as I mounted my horse on Monday morning at
Washington, your truly welcome and friendly letter was put into my hands. I
arrived here this evening a little before sunset, after a ride on horseback of thirty-five
miles. Pretty well, you'll say, for a man whose lungs are bleeding, and
with a church-yard cough, which gives so much pleasure to some of your New
York editors of newspapers. But to me, a horse is what a ship is to you. I
am never so easy as when in the saddle. Nevertheless, if a gentleman (we are
all gentlemen now-a-days) who received upwards of 300 pounds sterling for
me, merely to hand it over, had not embezzled it by applying it to his own use,
I should be a passenger with you on the 8th. I tried to raise money by the sale
of some property, that only twelve months ago I was teased to part with, lots
and houses in Farmsville, seventy miles above Petersburgh on the Appomatox,
but could not last week get a bid for it. I have known land (part good wood
land) sell for one dollar an acre, that ten years ago would have commanded ten
dollars, and last year five or six. Four fine negroes sold for three hundred and
fifty dollars, and so in proportion. But I must quit this wretched subject. My
pay as member of Congress is worth more than my best and most productive
property, for which a few years ago I could have got $80,000, exclusive of
slaves and stock. I gave a few years ago $27,000 for one estate, without a
house or a fence on it. After putting it in fine order, I found that so far from
making one per cent., or one half or one quarter of one per cent., it does not
clear expenses by about $750 per annum, over and above all the crops. Yet I
am to be taxed for the benefit of wool-spinners, &c., to destroy the whole navigating
interest of the United States; and we find representatives from New
Bedford, Cape Anne, Marblehead, and Salem and Newburyport, voting for this,
if they can throw the molasses overboard to lighten the ship tariff. She is a
pirate under a black flag. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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