 | John Randolph |  |
THE STORY OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
FOR A SCHOOL OR CLUB PROGRAMME.
Each numbered paragraph is to be given to a pupil or
member to read, or to recite, in a clear, distinct tone.
If the school or club is small, each person may take
three or four paragraphs, but should not be required to
recite them in succession.
1. John Randolph `of Roanoke," was born at Cawsons, Virginia,
June 2, 1773.
2. He was the seventh in descent from Pocahontas, by her marriage
with John Rolfe.
3. His father, Richard Randolph, died two years after the birth
of his son John.
4. His mother was a woman of great mental gifts and of rare
beauty of person, to which were added a captivating graciousness of
manner, and a voice of wonderful sweetness and power.
5. John Randolph always spoke of her in after life with the greatest
tenderness and love. From her he learned the art of reciting.
He would memorize the most expressive and important portions of
the speeches and orations of the great masters of eloquence, and then
declaim them under her guidance.
6. He thus acquired the power of tone, which he afterwards was
enabled to use with such tremendous effect.
7. His mother married St. George Tucker who took care of his
step-son with great affection and fidelity.
8. He went to the grammar school connected with William and
Mary College in his twelfth year, and in the autumn of 1787 attended
Princeton College. In June, 1788, he was a student for a short time
at Columbia College, New York City.
9. During this year, 1788, his mother died, greatly lamented by
her son who had inherited her singular beauty of face and high intellectual
powers.
10. He studied law in Philadelphia with his second cousin, Edmund
Randolph, the distinguished Attorney-General. He also gave
attention to political debates and the study of anatomy and physiology.
11. He passed through a period of skepticism, mainly through
the influence of the French Revolution upon his impressible mind,
but very soon became a firm believer again in the religious truths
taught him by his mother.
12. He also trampled under his feet the temptations which to
some extent had gained the mastery over him through his youthful
associations and his ardent, emotionable nature.
13. Randolph's first speech was made in reply to Patrick Henry
in 1799, in defense of the Virginia resolutions against the Alien and
Sedition Acts.
14. It was a bold and remarkable effort, and at once concentrated
attention upon the youthful orator.
15. In 1789 Randolph was elected to Congress, and in his first
speech he advocated a resolution to diminish the army.
16. In this speech he referred to "Standing or Mercenary Armies,"
claiming that all who made war a profession were "mercenary."
This language gave great offense to all the military men of
the country.
17. By his commanding abilities he became the leader of his
party, then termed "Republican," in the House of Representatives.
18. He was the implacable foe of all forms of corruption. The
unquestioned honesty of his character, his fervid, poetic eloquence,
his biting sarcasm, and ready wit made him a most formidable adversary.
19. He exposed the great Yazoo fraud in which so many prominent
characters were implicated.
20. His moral courage was sublime. It led him to acts of apparent
inconsistency in his political life. The measures he advocated at
one time he would afterwards resolutely oppose.
21. But the changed conditions demanded of him as a courageous
man, loyal to his convictions, a change of action.
22. He became "the pride of Virginia" by his devotion to her interests,
and his intrepid daring in fighting every public wrong.
23. He used all the resources of his eloquence, his powers of
scathing ridicule his pungent wit to prevent the war of 1812.
24. He became the acknowledged head of the "State Rights"
party in opposition to the centralization of power in the Federal Government.
25. He had a profound hatred of slavery, and would have freed
his own slaves before his death had it not been for legal and other difficulties
which stood in the way.
26. But he did not believe in the principle of the Missouri Compromise,
and termed the northern supporters of that measure "doughfaces,"
an appellation which has become historic.
27. His animosity became aroused against Henry Clay during
the angry debate on the question of the war with England in 1812.
28. Mr. Clay challenged Randolph for using insulting language,
and a duel was soon afterwards fought, in which although shot at by
Mr. Clay, Randolph fired his pistol in the air.
29. It is a great pity that history has to record such a meeting
between two such great men. It is gratifying to know that Mr. Randolph's
conduct on the occasion elicited the warm admiration of Mr.
Clay.
30. Randolph was elected to the Senate of the United States in
December, 1824, and served two years. He was defeated for the position
at the next election.
31. In 1830 he was appointed minister to Russia. But his failing
health and the prevalence of the cholera in Europe prevented a
long stay at the Russian Court.
32. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of Virginia
in 1729, and charmed the assembly by his eloquence.
33. He died of consumption in Philadelphia, May 23, 1833. His
remains were removed to Roanoke, Virginia, and laid to rest amid
venerable trees in a picturesque dell.
34. In his personal appearance he presented a tall and slender
frame, long, bony fingers, a thin and beardless face full of wrinkles,
and dark, brilliant eyes.
35. He had a graceful bow, in ordinary speaking, a lofty bearing
and a voice wonderfully penetrating and yet sweet and melodious as
a woman's. "His very whisper could be distinguished above the
tones of ordinary men."
36. His speeches were "conclusive in argument, original in conception,
felicitous in illustration, forcible in language, and faultless
in delivery."
37. "His eye, his forefinger, and his foot were the members used
in gesticulation. In impressing a solemn truth, a warning or a proposition
to which he wished to call particularly the attention of his audience,
he could use his foot with singular and thrilling effect."
38. "The ring of the slight patting of his foot was in perfect accord
with the clear, musical intonations of that voice, which belonged
only to Mr. Randolph."
39. "Mr. Randolph appeared among men as a towering oak
among the undergrowth of the forest."
40. One of his physicians said "Mr. Randolph never had an hour
of good health, nor was he ever free from physical suffering."
41. "A great deal of his suffering was of that class of diseases
which are mitigated by Stimuli. These he used freely until they
brought his system into a terrible state of mental excitement and
physical debility."
42. It would have been an incalculable blessing if he could have
had the scientific aud successful treatment, which has been given in
our day to so many who have been afflicted with a similar disease.
43. "No statesman ever looked into or predicted the future of
any governmental policy with more accuracy than did Mr. Randolph."
44. "Mr. Randolph was in every respect a great man. As a statesman
he had no superior, and but few equals. As a philosopher and
student of history he stood in the foremost ranks, while as an orator,
he would compare with any that the nineteenth century has produced."
| John Randolph | |