Home reminiscences of John Randolph :: :: University of Virginia Library

JOHN RANDOLPH was the most remarkable character
that this country has ever produced; indeed, it is
doubted whether there ever lived in any country a man
so brilliant and at the same time so eccentric. A great deal
has been written concerning him, and yet the public curiosity
has been by no means satisfied. We purpose to add our
contribution, which is composed in a great measure of the
recollections of his old constituents and neighbors. But,
before entering upon our proper task of home reminiscences,
let us give an outline of our subject, reserving future chapters
for the completion of the picture.

John Randolph—of Roanoke, as he styled himself—was
born at Cawsons, near the mouth of the Appomattox river,
on the 3d of June, 1773. His father, John Randolph, Sen'r,
died in 1775, and his mother, whose maiden name was Frances
Bland, married St. George Tucker, Esq. By her first
marriage she had three children, Richard Randolph, Theoderick
Bland Randolph and John Randolph. From the
second union were born Henry St. George Tucker, Beverly
Tucker and Mrs. Judge Coalter. The family residence was
at Matoax, near Petersburg, Va., until Arnold's invasion,
when Mrs. Tucker and her young children were forced to
flee from that part of the country to Bizarre near Farmville.
John Randolph was only two years of age when his father

died, and fifteen at the time of his mother's second marriage.
His mother was a highly accomplished woman, as beautiful
in person as she was amiable in disposition, and withal a
woman of great piety. Often in manhood he was wont to
remark that his mother was the only human being who
knew him. Through life he held her memory in the deepest
veneration; indeed, he idolized her.

At the age of nine, he was sent to school in Orange
county, Va.; at fourteen to Princeton, and the year following,
to Columbia College, N. Y. When his father-in-law,
Judge Tucker, was appointed professor of law at Williamsburg,
Mr. Randolph was placed in the grammar school, and
afterwards advanced to some of the higher classes. He
seems not to have been well pleased with his teachers, that
is to say, he complained of their partiality and incompetency,
and expressed a very great contempt for college honors.
Having never pursued a regular course of studies, he never
graduated. Before leaving Williamsburg, he attended a
course of lectures on law; he afterwards went to Philadelphia
to complete his studies for that profession, entering the
office of his uncle, Edmund Randolph, who was then attorney
general.

While at college, he had an affair of honor with a fellow-student,
Robert B. Taylor, of Norfolk, an account of which
is given by Mr. Lemuel Sawyer, Mr. Randolph's first biographer.
He states that the two young students "had taken
opposite sides in politics, and were both fiery spirits and full
of Virginia pride of chivalry. Their quarrel arose in a debating
society to which they both belonged, from that most
fertile cause, politics. For some personalities of an unpalatable
nature, Mr. Taylor challenged him. They met in a
field near the town, and the first fire was exchanged without
effect. While preparing for the second, Mr. Randolph

promised to hit him next time, which he did, dangerously
wounding him in the hip, and he carried the ball in him to
the day of his death. They were reconciled on the spot,
and Mr. Randolph always spoke of him in the highest terms
of admiration, as well of his high sense of honor as his
superior talents."

Though Mr. Randolph did not pursue a regular course
at college, in the solitudes of Roanoke he, no doubt, continued
his study of the classics, and spent many of his leisure
hours in miscellaneous reading. He had a choice selection
of books, and it was remarkable how many notes in his own
hand were on the margin of most of the volumes in his
library. He was a fine Latin and English scholar, had a
large acquaintance with history and was perhaps the best
geographer of his day. Mr. Sparks author of "The Memories
of Fifty Years," says: "He knew more, and knew it
more accurately, than any other man of his country, except,
perhaps, that wonderful man, William Lowndes."

Mr. Randolph was passionately fond of the sports of the
field, and after he left college much of his time was spent in
visiting his friends in different parts of the country with his
dog and gun. He kept up a regular correspondence, however,
with his schoolmates; indeed, letter writing seems to
have been a source of gratification to him all his life. We
doubt if any other man ever wrote as many letters.

Among his early companions was one by the name of
John Thompson—a wild, dissipated, but brilliant young
man. A warm and lasting friendship sprang up between
them. Mr. Randolph invited him to his house, treated him
as a brother, and used every effort to effect his reformation,
but without success. His letters to him are filled with the
tenderest feeling, the soundest advice and the largest charity
for his faults. Joseph Bryan, of Georgia, who afterwards

became a member of Congress, was another of his youthful
friends. When Mr. Bryan had the misfortune to lose his
wife, Mr. Randolph took charge of the two infant children.
John Randolph Bryan, his namesake, in the course of time,
married his niece.

Mr. Randolph's brother, Richard, married Judith, daughter
of Thomas Mann Randolph, of Tuckahoe; her sister,
Ann Cary, a woman of rare genius and personal accomplishments,
married Gouverneur Morris. The hero of our
narrative never married; but, in early youth, he formed a
deep attachment to a young lady, whose name was Maria
Ward—the daughter of his mother's friend. For many
years they were engaged to be married, but for some cause
the engagement was suddenly broken off. It is stated that
the distinguished lover left the presence of his idol very
much incensed, and that, when he came to his horse, which
was tied to the limb of a tree near the front gate, he cut the
reins loose with his knife and rode off in great haste. For
a time, Mr. Randolph and Miss Ward were not on speaking
terms, and they seldom met after their engagement was broken
off. Miss Ward is described as having been a lovely
and fascinating woman—the greatest belle of her day in the
state. She married Peyton Randolph, son of Edmund
Randolph, who was secretary of state under General Washington.

It is related of Mrs. Randolph that, when Gen. Lafayette
visited Richmond, he was so charmed with her engaging
manners and agreeable conversation, that he proposed to
adopt her as his daughter, and, as she was in delicate health
at the time, he invited her to visit him in France. She died,
however, before he left this country for his home across the
sea. John Randolph survived her several years, and it is
believed that both retained, to the end of their lives, a melancholy

interest in each other. He used to call her his
"angel," and in one of his letters, written after her death, he
uses this remarkable expression: "I loved, aye, and was
loved again, not wisely, but too well."

Mr. Randolph had not only the advantage of a classical
education, but the most refined and elegant society, having
grown up with Peyton Randolph, George Mason and
Thomas Jefferson. He had, besides, the opportunity of
hearing the glowing speeches of Patrick Henry—an inestimable
privilege to a young man of his aspiring genius. The
glories and triumphs of Henry's eloquence was one of the
favorite themes of his fascinating conversations. He was
the constant attendant on the sittings of the first Congress.
In one of his speeches to his constituents, he said: "I was
at Federal Hall and I saw Washington, but could not hear
him take the oath to support the Federal constitution. The
constitution was in its chrysalis state. I saw what Washington
did not see; but two other men in Virginia saw it—
George Mason and Patrick Henry—the poison under its
wings."

It so happened that the first act which brought Mr. Randolph
into public notice, was his answer to the last speech
of the great orator of the revolution, he then being a candidate
for Congress and only twenty-six years of age. And
here we must be permitted to remark, that we have not language
to express our admiration for his moral courage in
undertaking such a task.

Then it was that the bright star of his genius rose, and
thus early did he strike the key note of his political life.
On the occasion alluded to, he spoke in opposition to the
alien and sedition law. His family were Whigs, opposed to
the adoption of the Federal constitution, and it is not surprising,

after it had been adopted, that he should have advocated
a strict construction of it.

Mr. Randolph was elected to Congress, and Patrick Henry
to the Legislature, the latter having been drawn from his retirement
by the earnest solicitation of Gen'l Washington,
who greatly needed his services to save the falling fortunes
of the Federal party. From that time to the day of his
death, Mr. Randolph was the able, fearless, unceasing advocate
of State Rights. He, at once, took position by the side
of such men as W. B. Giles, W. H. Crawford, and Littleton
Waller Tazewell; having risen to eminence more suddenly
than any young man of his day.

As soon as he entered Congress, he commenced his war
of opposition, for which he was by nature preëminently
qualified. He opposed the bill for increasing the army in
view of our difficulties with France; the great Yazoo fraud,
the embargo during Mr. Jefferson's administration, and the
entire system of restrictive commerce; the war with England
during the administration of Mr. Madison, and all offensive
war; the bill to aid the Greeks in their efforts to
throw off the Turkish yoke; the Panama mission, and all
foreign alliances or affiliations. He made war upon the
national bank, tariff, internal improvement by the general
government, the Missouri compromise—in short, every measure
which, in his opinion, was calculated, in the slightest
degree, to enlarge the powers of the general government, or
infringe upon the rights of the states.

In answer to the taunts made by his political opponents,
that he never proposed any measure, but was always pulling
down other men's work, he replied, that he regarded it "the
brightest feather in his cap." In a speech he delivered at
Halifax Court-house, a few years before his death, he stated

that "his whole aim had been to prevent, not to promote,
legislation."

There was a wide difference between Mr. Clay's policy
and the policy of Mr. Randolph. The contrast is well
marked by Mr. Baldwin in his "Party Leaders," who says:

"Clay thought the general government a vast and mighty
agency, which, made vital by the will of a free and energetic
people, could accomplish, by its affirmative action, signal
blessings to his country and the world. He desired to build
up a mighty nation, whose power should be felt and acknowledged
throughout the world. The American system was,
through a national bank, to afford a national currency, and
to facilitate the transactions of commerce; internal improvements
were to be the ties of a close commercial union and
personal correspondence between the different sections and
to bind the States together with bands of iron; the tariff
was to make us independent of foreign nations for the munitions
of war and the comforts of life, and to build up vast
storehouses of wealth for the country; the navigation laws
were to foster an independent marine; the Panama mission
to place us at the head of the continent, controlling and
drawing its trade, and governing its policy; the public lands
were to give to the States the means of improving their
communications and educating their people; and a navy and
army were to protect our commerce on the ocean, and command
the respect of foreign powers. He boasted that he
was an American Citizen, and was proud of the title,
knowing no North, no South, no East, no West. Randolph,
on the other hand, claimed to be a Virginian, owing his primary
and only allegiance to that venerable commonwealth,
acknowledging the Federal government but as a limited
agency, which she, with others, had established, for a few
simple purposes. His doctrine was that that government

should be watched with jealousy; that it had an inherent
proclivity to enlarge powers, originally too strong; which
enlargement would lead to the greatest possible evil, consolidation."

It was in the year 1810 that he changed his residence
from Bizarre, in Prince Edward county, to Roanoke on the
Staunton, in Charlotte, in which county he owned a large
landed estate and hundreds of negro slaves. For years he
lived in a log house, in the midst of a dense forest. The
yard was unenclosed, the trees were unpruned, nor was there
a flower or green shrub to relieve the wild aspect of the
abode of this descendant of Pocahontas.

From the time that Mr. Randolph was first elected to
Congress, in 1798, until his death, in 1833, with the exception
of a few years, he was in the public service, once as
senator of the United States, but mostly as a member of
the House of Representatives. When he declined a reelection
to Congress, intending to retire from public life, at
the solicitation of his friends and admirers, he was induced
to run for a seat in the Virginia Convention of 1829, and
was elected. His speeches before that body, as able as any
body ever assembled on affairs of State, are said to have
been the most interesting, if not the most effective, that
were made. His object was to save, as much as possible,
the old constitution, under which he had grown up, and
"which was the representative of all in the past that was
glorious and honorable of the land of his fathers." He
opposed all changes; and where he found that changes
would be made, he endeavored to make them as slight as
possible.

A few years before his death, he committed the great
blunder of his political life, in accepting a mission to Russia.
He visited Europe three times. When his eyes first met

the shores of Old England, he exclaimed: "Thank God!
that I have lived to behold the land of Shakespeare, of Milton,
and of my forefathers!"

Mr. Randolph never enjoyed an hour of good health,
being a sufferer from bodily disease all his days. The death
of his mother, his devotion to whom we have already noticed,
was a crushing blow to him; but a still heavier blow
was the marriage to another of the object of his early affection.
"Long years afterwards," says Mr. Garland, "when
the body was locked in the fitful embrace of a feverish sleep,
and the soul wandering in dreams, that once loved name
has been heard to escape from his lips, in a tone that
evinced how deeply the love of the being who bore it had
been engraved on the inmost sanctuary of his heart." He
was greatly affected by the untimely loss of his brothers
and other relatives and friends.

Having attracted, as no other man in this country ever
did, the eyes of the world for thirty-five years, he breathed
his last in the city of Philadelphia, on the 24th day of June,
1833, and was buried at Roanoke under a tall pine selected
by himself, with no marble or monument to mark the spot
where rest the remains of the great Virginia orator, satirist,
and statesman.