1546. CONGRESS, Leadership in.—[further continued] .
Mr. T. M. Randolph is,
I believe, determined to retire from Congress,
and it is strongly his wish, and that of all
here, that you should take his place. Never
did the calls of patriotism more loudly assail
you than at this moment. After excepting
the Federalists who will be twenty-seven, and
the little band of schismatics, who will be
three or four (all tongue), is as well-disposed
House of Representatives is as well-disposed
a body of men as I ever saw collected. But
there is no one whose talents and standing,
taken together, have weight enough to give
him the lead. The consequence is, that there
is no one who will undertake to do the public
business, and it remains undone. Were you
here, the whole would rally round you in an
instant, and willingly cooperate in whatever
is for the public good. Nor would it require
you to undertake drudgery in the House.
There are enough, able and willing to do that.
A rallying point is all that is wanting. Let
me beseech you, then, to offer yourself.—
To Wilson C. Nicholas. Washington ed. v, 48.
Ford ed., ix, 32.
(W.
1807)
