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1Author:  Bruce William Cabell 1860-1946Requires cookie*
 Title:  John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833  
 Published:  2007 
 Subjects:  University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text 
 Description: "I thank you for your good advice in your letter to Mamma, but I am such a perverse boy that I wish I had a tutor to make me mind my book as I cannot help wishing to play when it is time to read. I want to learn everything, but I cannot love confinement; and what is worse, the more I play the more I want to play; but I am sure when I go regularly to school I shall not be behind my brothers. Brother Hal is much cleverer than sister for his age though she is much improved in talking and walking. We are all wanting to see you; I was never so rejoiced as when we got your letter to leave Roanoke. I am my dear papa yr. dutyfull son "I take this oppty of letting you know that we are all well and that I missed my ague at Roanoke. Mama and Mrs. Hartston hung up Abracadabra as a charm for that and to keep away the enemy. Sister is worth a dozen of what she was when you left her. She says anything and runs about all day. I hope you are in favour with the Marquis. I don't doubt it, for I think you a very fine officer and will be able to make the militia fight, for if they do not now I don't think they ever will be collected after running away. Brother Dicky has turned me back from the optitive of amo to the potential mood of audio because Mr. Hearn never taught me. I thank you my dr papa for telling me in your letter to be a good boy and mind my book. I do love my book and mind it as much as I can myself, but we want a tutor very much. I hope in a month I shall be passing my Concords. I will try all I can to be a good boy and a favourite of Mama's and when you come home I hope I shall be one of yours. "You have doubtless, my ever dear and affectionate Papa, received Accounts of the Adoption of the new Constitution by the State of New York; the majority consisting of five only. On Wednesday 26th inst. (4 days previous to our hearing of the ratification of this State), there was a very grand Procession in this city (on account of its being received by ten States) which proceeded from the plain before Bridewell down Broadway thro' Wall Street; and, by the way of Great Queen Street, proceeded to the Federal Green before Bunker's Hill, where there were tables set for more than five thousand people to Dine. Two Oxen were roasted whole and several cows and Sheep. I'll assure [you], my dear Sir, it put me in mind of the great Preparations which were made in Don Quixote for the wedding of Camacho and the rich and the fair Quiteria. There were ten tables set out to represent the ten States which had acceded to the Constitution; all which were concentered together at one end, like the sticks of a Fan; where they joined were seated all the Congress with the President in the middle. The Procession was very beautiful and well conducted. Every trade and profession had a Colour emblematical of it. The chief of the Bakers were drawn on a stage, on which they were seen mixing their bread; the apprentices, all in white, followed with ready-baked Cakes. The Coopers followed, making barrels, and the apprentices followed with a keg under the arm of each. Next came the Brewers, bringing hogsheads of beer along with a little Bacchus astride a Cask, holding a large Goblet in his hand. It would require too much time for me to tell you of all the different occupations, but, to the honor of New York, be it spoken that, among 8000 people, who were said to have dined together on the green, there was not a single Drunken Man or fight to be seen. On Saturday, the 27th Inst., news arrived of the Constitution's being adopted. A party of Federalists, as they call themselves, went to the house VOL. I—8 of Mr. Greenleaf, printer of the Patriotic Register, and, after having broken his windows and thrown away his Types (much to their discredit), went to the Governor's, where they gave three hisses, and beat the rogue's march around the house. They proceeded to the houses of the Federals (as they call them) and gave three cheers."1 1N. Y. Pub. Lib. "You will no doubt, my ever dear Father, be much astonished when I tell you that, by the time you receive this, I shall be far on my return to Williamsburg; and you will be yet more surprised at hearing that I mean to spend the summer in one of the Northern States. Since I saw you, I have been informed that the late horrid and malicious lie, which has been for some time too freely circulated, has been, by the diligent exertion of those timid enemies (whom I have not been able by any insult to force to an interview) so impressed, during my absence, on the minds of every one, that a public enquiry into it is now more than ever necessary. Having endeavored, by every method I could devise, to bring William Randolph [one of Nancy's brothers] to a personal explanation of his conduct, and to give me personal satisfaction for his aspersions of my character, and finding that no insult is sufficient to rouse his feelings (if he has any), I have at last urged Col. Tom to bring an action of slander against him. This will bring the whole affair once more before the eyes of every one, the circumstances, from beginning to end, of the persons accusing and accused will be seen at once, and the villainy of my traducers fully exposed. When this is done, I shall once more know the blessing of a tranquil mind! . . . "I received your letter of the 13th inst. this morning. You must be equally conscious with myself that the idea of representing this district in Congress never originated with me; and I believe I may with truth assert that it is one which I never should have entertained, had it not been suggested, in the first instance, by my friends. I am now as well satisfied, as I was when you first made to me the proposal of permitting my friends to declare my willingness to serve my fellow-citizens in the House of Representatives, that it is an office to which I can not rationally entertain the smallest pretensions. I, therefore, willingly resign any which my friends may have formed for me to any person whom they may approve, and shall feel happy in giving my vote—interest I have none, and did I possess any, my principles would forbid my using it on such an occasion—to a man for whose character I entertain so high an opinion as that which I have borne ever since my acquaintance with him for Citizen Daniel's. When I was in Amelia, I wrote to Citizen Venable, informing him briefly of the authentic report of his intended resignation, and also that some of my friends had proposed taking a vote for me. This I was impelled to do by my sense of propriety, since to me it appeared highly indelicate that such a thing should be even whispered before he was informed that it was in agitation. Accept Citizen my most sincere regards and believe me with truth your friend. "Having stated the facts, it would be derogatory to your character for me to point out the remedy. So far as they relate to this application, addressed to you in a public capacity, they can only be supposed by you to be of a public nature. VOL. I—11 It is enough for me to state that the independence of the Legislature has been attacked and the majesty of the people, of which you are the principal representative, insulted and your authority contemned. In their name, I demand that a provision, commensurate with the evil, be made, and which will be calculated to deter others from any future attempts to introduce the Reign of Terror into our country. In addressing you in this plain language of man, I give you, Sir, the best proof I can afford of the estimation in which I hold your office and your understanding; and I assure you with truth that I am with respect your fellow citizen, John Randolph. "Seven times we have balloted—eight states for J—six for Burr—two, Maryland and Vermont divided; voted to postpone for an hour the process; now half past four resumed— result the same. The order against adjourning made with a view to Mr. Nicholson, who was ill, has not operated. He left his sick bed—came through a snow storm—brought his bed, and has prevented the vote of Maryland from being given to Burr. Mail closing. "To the Freeholders of Charlotte, Prince Edward, Buckingham and Cumberland: Fellow Citizens: I dedicate to you the following fragment. That it appears in its present mutilated shape is to be ascribed to the successful usurpation which has reduced the freedom of speech in one branch of the American Congress to an empty name. It is now established for the first time and in the person of your representative that the House may and will refuse to hear a member in his place, or even to receive a motion from him upon the most momentous subject that can be presented for legislative decision. A similar motion was brought forward by the Republican minority in the year 1798 before these modern inventions for stifling the freedom of debate were discovered. It was discussed as a matter of right until it was abandoned by the mover in consequence of additional information (the correspondence of our envoy at Paris) laid before Congress by the President. In `the reign of terror' the father of the Sedition Law had not the hardihood to proscribe liberty of speech, much less the right of free debate on the floor of Congress. This invasion of the public liberties was reserved for self-styled Republicans who hold your understandings in such contempt as to flatter themselves that you will overlook their every outrage upon the great first principles of free government in consideration of their professions of tender regard for the privileges of the people. It is for you to decide whether they have undervalued your intelligence and spirit or whether they have formed a just estimate of your character. You do not require to be told that the violation of the rights of him, whom you have deputed to represent you, is an invasion of the rights of every man of you, of every individual in society. If this abuse be suffered to pass unredressed—and the people alone are competent to apply the remedy—we must bid adieu to a free form of government forever. Having learned from various sources that a declaration of war would be attempted on Monday next with closed doors, I deemed it my duty to endeavor by an exercise of my constitutional functions to arrest this heaviest of all calamities and avert it from our happy country. I accordingly made the effort of which I now give you the result, and of the success of which you will have already been informed before these pages can reach you. I pretend only to give you the substance of my unfinished argument. The glowing words, the language of the heart have passed away with the occasion that called them forth. They are no longer under my control. My design is simply to submit to you the views which have induced me to consider a war with England, under existing circumstances, as comporting neither with the interest nor the honor of the American people; but as an idolatrous sacrifice of both on the altar of French rapacity, perfidy and ambition. For so, without ceremony, permit me to call you. Among the few causes that I find for regret at my dismissal from public life, there is none in comparison with the reflection that it has separated me—perhaps forever—from some who have a strong hold on my esteem and on my affections. It would indeed have been gratifying to me to see once more yourself, Mr. Meade [Rev. Wm. Meade, of Virginia], Ridgely [Andrew Sterrett Ridgely], and some few others; and the thought that this may never be is the only one that infuses any thing of bitterness into what may be termed my disappointment, if a man can be said to be disappointed when things happen according to his expectations. On every other account, I have cause of self-congratulation at being disenthralled from a servitude at once irksome and degrading. The grapes are not sour—you know the manner in which you always combated my wish to retire. Although I have not, like you, the spirit of a martyr, yet I could not but allow great force to your representations. To say the truth, a mere sense of my duty alone might have been insufficient to restrain me from indulging the very strong inclination which I have felt for many years to return to private life. It is now gratified in a way that takes from me every shadow of blame. No man can reproach me with the desertion of my friends, or the abandonment of my post in a time of danger and of trial. `I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith.' I owe the public nothing; my friends, indeed, are entitled to everything at my hands; but I have received my discharge, not indeed honestam dimissionem, but passable enough, as times go, when delicacy is not over-fastidious. I am again free, as it respects the public at least, and have but one more victory to achieve to be so in the true sense of the word. Like yourself and Mr. Meade, I cannot be contented with endeavoring to do good for goodness' sake, or rather for the sake of the Author of all goodness. In spite of me, I cannot help feeling something very like contempt for my poor foolish fellow-mortals, and would often consign them to Bonaparte in this world, and the devil, his master, in the next; but these are but temporary fits of misanthropy, which soon give way to better and juster feelings."1 1Garland, v. 2, 11. Your letter being addressed to Farmville, did not reach me until yesterday, when my nephew brought it up. Charlotte Court House is my post-office. By my last you will perceive that I have anticipated your kind office in regard to my books and papers at Crawford's. Pray give them protection `until the Chesapeake shall be fit for service.' It is, I think, nearly eight years since I ventured to play upon those words in a report of the Secretary of the Navy. I have read your letter again and again, and cannot express to you how much pleasure the perusal has given me. "Your letter of the 14th was received today—many thanks for it. By the same mail, Mr. Quincy sent me a copy of his speech of the 30th of last month. It is a composition of much ability and depth of thought; but it indicates a spirit and a temper to the North which is more a subject of regret than of surprise. The grievances of Lord North's administration were but as a feather in the scale, when compared with those inflicted by Jefferson and Madison."2 2Ibid., 14. You lay me under obligations which I know not how to requite, and yet I cannot help requesting a continuance of them. I have been highly gratified today by the receipt of your letter of the 5th, and the accompanying pamphlet. I have read them both with deep attention, and with a melancholy pleasure which I should find it difficult to describe. You are under some misapprehension respecting my opinions in regard to certain men and measures—the true sources of our present calamities. They are not materially, if at all, variant from your own. It is time indeed to speak out; but, if, as I fear, the canine race in New York have returned to their vomit, the voice of truth and of patriotism will be as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I feel most sensibly the difficulties of our situation, but the question is as to the remedy. "You will perceive by the enclosed letter, in case the fact shall have failed to reach you through any other channel, that the enemies whom it has been my lot to make in the discharge of the duties of the station, to which I had been called by the public suffrage, seem unwilling to allow me even the repose of that retirement, to which, after many baffled efforts, they have succeeded in persuading my late constituents to consign me. I shall not stop to enquire how far such a proceeding be honorable, or even politic, as it regards the views of those, who have allowed themselves to adopt it; although the people, with whom it was once my pride to be connected, must have undergone some strange metamorphosis, not less rapid and disastrous than that which our unhappy country has experienced within the same period of time, if there be one among them that does not see through the motives of those who would entreat them to turn their eyes from the general calamity and shame, and the shameless authors of them, to the faults and indiscretions, real or imputed, of an old, dismissed public servant, whose chief offence in the eyes of his accusers is that, foreseeing mischief, he labored to avert it. Nine years have now elapsed since he raised his voice against the commencement of a system of measures, which, although artfully disguised, were calculated, as he believed, to produce what we have all seen, and are fated long to feel. Had they, who derided what they were then pleased to term his `mournful vaticinations, the reveries of a heated and disordered imagination,' confided less in their own air-built theories, and taken warning ere it was too late, they might be riding on `the full tide of successful experiment,' instead of clinging with instinctive and convulsive grasp to the wreck, which themselves have made of public credit, of national honor, of peace, happiness and security, and of faith among men. The very bonds, not only of union between these states, but of society itself are loosened, and we seem `approaching towards that awful dissolution, the issue of which it is not given to human foresight to scan.' In the virtue, the moderation, the fortitude of the People is (under God) our last resource. Let them ever bear in mind that from their present institutions there is no transition but to military despotism; and that there is none more easy. Anarchy is the chrysalis state of despotism; and to that state have the measures of this government long tended, amidst professions, such as we have heard in France and seen the effects of, of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. None but the people can forge their own chains; and to flatter the people and delude them by promises never meant to be performed is the stale but successful practice of the demagogue, as of the seducer in private life.—`Give me only a helve for my axe,' said the woodman in the fable to the tall and stately trees, that spread their proud heads and raised their unlopped arms to the air of heaven. `Give me an Army,' says the wily politican. It is only to fight the English, to maintain `Free trade and sailors' rights'; and, dazzled by the `pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war,' heedless of the miseries that lurk beneath its splendor, the People have said Amen! Of these the heavy debts and grinding taxes, that follow in its train, are, perhaps, the least. Disease and vice, in new unheard-of forms, spread from the camp throughout society. Not a village, not a neighborhood, hardly a family escapes the infection. The searching miseries of war penetrate even into the hovel of the shivering negro whose tattered blanket and short allowance of salt bear witness to the glories of that administration under which his master is content to live. His master, no doubt some `Southern Nabob,' some `Haughty Grandee of Virginia,' the very idea of whose existence disturbs the repose of over-tender consciences, is revelling in luxury which the necessary wants of his wretched bondsmen are stinted to supply. Such is the stuff that dreams are made of! The master, consumed by cares, from which even the miserable African is free, accustomed to the decent comforts of life, is racking his brain for ways and means to satisfy the demands of the taxgatherer. You see the struggle between his pride and his necessity. That ancient relic of better times, on which he bends his vacant eye, must go. It is, itself, the object of a new tax. He can no longer afford to keep it. Moreover, he must find a substitute for his youngest boy called into service. His eldest son has perished in the tentless camp, the bloodless but fatal fields of the fenny country; and even for the cherished resemblance of this favorite child he must pay tribute to Caesar. The tear that starts into his eye, as he adds this item to the inventory of exaction, would serve but to excite a philosophic smile in the `Grimm' Idol (see the diplomatic Baron's correspondence) of the Levee and its heartless worshippers. "This date says everything. I arrived here on Sunday afternoon, and am now writing from the Grand Hotel de Castile, Rue Richelieu and Boulevard des Italiens; for, as the French say, it `gives' upon both, having an entrance from each. "A month has now elapsed since I landed in England, during which time I have not received a line from any friend, except Benton, who wrote to me on the eve of his departure from Babylon the Great to Missouri. Missouri!, and here am I writing in the parlor of the New Inn, at the gate of Mr. Coke's park, where art has mastered nature in one of her least amiable moods. To say the truth, he that would see this country to advantage must not end with the barren sands and flat, infertile healths (strike out the l; I meant to write heaths) of the east country, but must reserve the vale of Severn and Wales for a bonne bouche. Although I was told at Norwich that Mr. Coke was at home (and by a particular friend of his too), yet I find that he and Lady Anne are gone to the very extremity of this huge county to a wool fair, at Thetford, sixty-five miles off; and, while my companion, Mr. Williams, of S. C. (son of David R. W.), is gone to the Hall, I am resolved to bestow, if not `all,' a part at least of `my tediousness' upon you. Tediousness, indeed, for what have I to write about, unless to tell you that my health, so far from getting better, was hardly ever worse? . . . Mr. Williams has been very attentive and kind to me. I have been trying to persuade him to abandon me to the underwriters as a total loss, but he will not desert me; so that I meditate giving him the slip for his own sake. We saw Dudley Inn and a bad race at Newmarket, on our way to Norwich. There we embarked on the river Yare, and proceeded to Yarmouth by the steampacket. We returned to Norwich by land, and by different routes; he, by the direct road, and I, by Beccles, fifteen miles further; and yet I arrived first. Through Lord Suffield's politeness, who gave me a most hearty invitation to Gunton, I was enabled to see the Castle (now the county jail) to the best advantage. His lordship is a great prison discipline financier, and was very polite to me when I was in England four years ago. I met him by mere accident at the inn at Norwich, where the coach from Beccles stopped. . . . " `The Portfolio reached me in safety.' So much had I written of a letter to you in London, but I was obliged to drop my pen in G. Marx' compting-house, and here I am, and at your service at The Hague. . . . "It is now agreed on all hands that misery, crime and profligacy are in a state of rapid and alarming increase. The Pitt and paper system (for although he did not begin it, yet he brought it to its last stage of imperfection) is now developing features that `fright the isle from its propriety.' "Mr. W. J. Barksdale writes his father that a run will be made at me by G—s [Giles] this winter. On this subject, I can only repeat what I have said before—that, when the Commonwealth of Virginia dismisses a servant, it is strong presumptive evidence of his unfitness for the station. If it shall apply to my own case, I cannot help it. But I should have nothing to wish on this subject, if the Assembly could be put in possession of a tolerably faithful account of what I have said and done. I have been systematically and industriously misrepresented. I had determined to devote this last summer to a revision of my speeches, but my life would have paid the forfeit, had I persisted in that determination. Many of the misrepresentations proceed from the `ineffable stupidity' of the reporters, but some must, I think, be intentional. . . . In most instances, my meaning has been mistaken. In some, it has been reversed. If I live, I will set this matter right. So much for Ego. You might know by the date (as regards the month) that I was in the only realm in Christendom, where the new style is not yet introduced. Much to my disappointment, your old friend, Mr. Lewis, is not here. He is & has been for sometime in England. I therefore sent your letter to his Compting House as the most ready mode of getting it to his hands.
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