John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833 a biography based largely on new material |
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| XII. | CHAPTER XII |
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 | CHAPTER XII John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833 |  |
CHAPTER XII
Randolph as a Candidate
As a candidate for Congress, Randolph was never but
once defeated; but more than once he had an opponent.
Until the Yazoo question begot discord among he Republicans,
the prestige of his leadership in the House was too
great to permit any Republican in his district really to
feel that there was any hope of displacing him in the
favor of his constituents. Such opposition as he had to
face during this time was solely a Federalist one, which
was too feeble to give him any trouble. But, with the
split in the Republican party, produced by the Yazoo
question, Randolph soon saw that, if he retained his seat,
it was to be entirely by virtue of his own personal strength.
On April 18, 1805, he wrote to Nicholson that he had
been to none of the elections or public meetings since his
return to Bizarre, but that the good people had again
deputed him to serve them; and "by the blessing of God"
so he would "at least as faithfully as Mr. Chase, of pious
memory." But very different was the tone of a letter
which he wrote to Nicholson a few months later, after his
attention had been called to the movement, which was
then under way, to drive him out of public life:
"Every engine has been set to work to undo me in the estimation
of my constituents, and not without effect. W. C. N.
[Wilson Cary Nicholas] and W. B. G. [William B. Giles] have
been particularly active, and the storm, which has been so long
gathering out of the District, has, at length, burst within it.
would not have disgraced a Mashusett, declared himself as my
opponent on Monday (Prince Edward's Court day), during my
absence at Roanoke. On Friday, I returned, and, the next
day (July 23d), at a public meeting, in the neighborhood, he
retracted. Mais cela n'importe. I am to have an adversary
who will be announced in due season, that is as soon as a
caucus shall have pitched upon the man. Mr. M's administration
(for his election is looked upon as settled) is not to be
subjected to the scrutiny and strictures of such an antagonist
as I am supposed to be. C'est écrit à là haut, as Jacques le
fataliste used to say. Whether I shall be able to withstand
this decree of destiny, time alone can shew. I shall not be
surprised or (on my own personal account) concerned if my
numerous enemies succeed in their scheme against me. They
have the press entirely under their control."[1]
Then followed the increased activity of Giles and others
against him which finally culminated in the painful
interview between Giles and Randolph narrated by
Benjamin Watkins Leigh.
In 1808, the animus of the administration against Randolph
had become so implacable that he had begun to
question whether he was not doomed to political ruin.
"When I do come," he wrote to Nicholson in connection with
a visit that he was thinking of paying to this friend on the
Eastern shore of Maryland, "be assured that I shall avoid
taking W. [Washington] in my way. The very name sickens
me. Since my return, I find that certain great folks there,
by means of letters to certain little folks here (aided too by the
press), had contrived to excite considerable sensation in the
district respecting me. I have been to several of the courts,
and addressed the people on the subject of public affairs
generally, and particularly of the misrepresentations which
had gone abroad in regard to my conduct. The greater part
of them seem satisfied on this last topic. I have been led to
where I first appeared, the sentiment of the people was so
strongly expressed that the gentleman, who was relied upon as
my opponent, and who wished very much to have been brought
forward, declared that he was not and would not be a candidate.
As yet, therefore, the field is clear, but I shall not be at
all disappointed or surprised if I should get hunted down by
the Executive pack. I know that the victim has long been
marked and the sacrifice resolved upon, and that nothing could
give so much pleasure to the most powerful and formidable
combination of men that this country has ever known as its
accomplishment. The wonder with me, my dear friend, is
that I have been able so long to withstand them."[2]
That he should have been able to do so is one of the
marvels of American political history.
In 1809, for the first time, a Republican candidate came
forward to contest Randolph's re-election to the House.
This was Jerman Baker, Eppes' brother-in-law; but he was
defeated by a vote of 1250 to 500.[3]
In Charlotte County,
he obtained only 72 votes as against Randolph's 332, and
in Prince Edward County only 84 as against Randolph's
342.[4]
Randolph, we are told, treated him with unusual
courtesy and forbearance.[5]
Moderation on the part of
the strong is sometimes not more the offspring of their
generosity than of the weakness of their antagonists. One
clever sarcasm, however, has survived this contest. On
one occasion, Baker, in a speech, had made profuse
promises as to what he would do in case of election.
"The gentleman and I," observed Randolph, "stand on
very different ground. I stand on fourteen years' hard
bought experience. He is in the land of promise which
always flows with milk and honey."[6]
In the same speech,
Randolph remarked: "A new broom sweeps clean, but
an old one knows where the dirt lies."[7]
In 1811, Eppes, who had recently become domiciled in
Randolph's district, allowed himself to be voted for as a
candidate against Randolph, though he made no appeal to
the people of the district from the hustings. Indeed, at
the last moment, he authorized an announcement by
his brother-in-law, Baker, who was a candidate for
the Virginia Legislature instead of Congress at this
election, on Pope's principle that who cannot woo the
mistress must woo the maid, that he was not a candidate;
but there can be little doubt that he had not only migrated
into the District, as a part of the administration plan to
outlaw Randolph, but that he permitted the use of his
name at the polls. On Apr. 5, 1811, appeared this truculent
editorial in the Richmond Enquirer, doubtless from
the pen of Thomas Ritchie himself:
"We understand that a poll will be taken for Mr. Eppes by
some of his friends in every county of the district lately
represented, or rather misrepresented, by John Randolph.
There is, to be sure, some little difference between the two
men. Mr. Eppes is as much an ornament to Congress as Mr.
Randolph is a nuisance and a curse."
But Ritchie soon experienced the chagrin of learning that
the loyal freeholders of Randolph's District had rather be
misrepresented by a curse like Randolph than represented
by a blessing like Eppes; for, at the ensuing election in
April, 1811, Randolph was re-elected to the House by a
vote of 1081 to 514.[8]
(a)
The administration, however, had lapped enough blood
at this election to make it eager for more, and Randolph's
violent hostility to the War of 1812, and the offence that
it gave to the glowing patriotism of his constituents,
finally enabled his enemies to compass his defeat in 1813.
This time, Eppes began his canvass with a temperate
reviewed the events leading up to our declaration of war,[9]
and the address was seconded by every species of electioneering
known to the political artifices of that day. In a
letter to Josiah Quincy, Randolph expressed the opinion
that his opponent had struck him below the belt, but the
letter was written when he was smarting under the first
sting of defeat.
"I have to tell you," he said, "that my election is lost. The
emissaries of government have been silently and secretly at
work since last autumn, and, while my friends indulged in a
fatal security, they have been undermined. My opponent
has descended to the lowest and most disgraceful means—
riding from house to house and attending day and night
meetings in the cabins and hovels of the lowest of the people.
He was present at fourteen of these preachings (seven of them
held at night) the week before election. . . . At the election
for this county (Prince Edward) yesterday, Mr. E. [Eppes] said
I had charged the administration with being under French
influence. In reply, I told the freeholders that I would prove
it and did to their satisfaction. A notorious villain, named
Tom Logwood, from Buckingham, who was committed to the
penitentiary some years ago for forging bank-notes of the
United States (I was on his jury), undertook to speak impertinently
to me when on the bench. He had been seen laughing,
talking and drinking with E. [Eppes] at Buckingham. (N.B.
Mr. Jefferson released him by a pardon.) I never saw such
indignation. The scoundrel was obliged to take to his heels,
and make his escape home, or he would have been beaten to a
jelly. Ignorant people were made to believe that the British
fleet had come into the Chesapeake to aid my election."[10]
When Eppes first came forward as his opponent,
Randolph was confident of success. (a) "For my own
re-election," he wrote to Josiah Quincy, "I have no
won, it was to be by stark fighting, and he electioneered as
actively as Eppes himself. One of the most zealous of
Eppes' supporters was the Rev. Mr. Dabbs, a Baptist
minister, who introduced him to many Baptist and other
voters to whom Eppes was a stranger; and who did not
hesitate to take Eppes with him to many places where he
had appointments to preach. Randolph, it is said by
James W. Bouldin, one of his neighbors, countered by
courting the support of the Presbyterians and occasionally
sitting under the ministrations of the Rev. Mr. Hoge, the
Presbyterian President of Hampden-Sidney; lauding him
more frequently and openly, Bouldin thought, than he
would have done if he had not been a candidate.[12] From
Randolph's strain of conversation on these occasions, one
who did not know him might have supposed, we are told
by another neighbor of his, that he was about to join the
Presbyterian communion; but he invariably wound up,
this contemporary admits, by stating emphatically that
"having been born in the Church of England, he did not
mean to renounce it." At times, according to James W.
Bouldin, he changed his tack. On one occasion, when
it was rumored that Dabbs was about to appear at a religious
meeting at Sandy Creek Church in Prince Edward
with Eppes in tow, Hugh Wyllie, a Scotchman, and a
great friend of Randolph, communicated this rumor to
Randolph and invited him to be present too. In reply,
Randolph wrote that he should be glad to take part in the
religious services on such an occasion, but that he could
not violate the Sabbath by profanely visiting the House
of God for electioneering purposes.[13] This note, we are told,
was circulated among the members of the Sandy Creek
Church congregation, and was read with approbation by
most of them. Of course, there may be quite as much
3 Id., 37.
electioneering policy in remaining away from a religious
meeting on such an occasion as in attending it. Randolph
also made a point during this contest of attending musters
and other secular gatherings; and he did not always receive
a cordial greeting at them.
"I went with him on one occasion to a muster near where I
was born," says James W. Bouldin. "He did not address the
people; nearly all at that place were opposed to him. He took
me aside and asked me whether he had best address them.
I told him I thought not. He talked however freely and familiarly
with the people on various subjects. He had much to say
to a certain lady who was present—very intelligent but I
thought a little hysterical. He was polite and respectful to her,
as he was always to ladies while in their presence. I never
saw him show so plainly his desire to make himself agreeable
and acceptable as on this occasion."[14]
Eppes had been the administration leader, or one of the
administration leaders, on the floor of the House, and was
an able and generally respected man; but the contrast
that he offered to Randolph, when they were pitted
against each other on the hustings, makes it difficult for
us to think of him as possessing "the ready, fluent, and
impassioned eloquence" which Sawyer attributes to him.[15]
If he proved himself a "very popular speaker" in this
contest, to recall another judgment of Sawyer, the evidence
of the fact certainly left no impression of its existence
behind it in Randolph's District. On the other hand,
there is abundant testimony to show that, when Randolph
awoke to the danger of defeat, he struggled as the
lion struggles when he is straining his whole muscular coat
to release himself from the toils. A young man, who was a
student at Hampden-Sidney College at the time, declares
that, on one occasion, when Randolph was speaking in
Prince Edward, he stood on his feet for three hours,
the tide of Randolph's impassioned eloquence as helplessly
as a feather upon the bosom of a cataract.[16] Of the
extraordinary effect produced by this speech we shall cite
some further testimony hereafter. This is the account
given by James W. Bouldin of a speech delivered by Randolph
at Charlotte Court House during this same contest:
"There was great expectation from the orators, especially
from Mr. Randolph. My door was immediately in view of
the rostrum where he always stood to speak. The people
began to draw around this place to be sure of a stand near it
very early in the morning. While he was walking backward
and forward, his eyes flashing with more and more brilliancy,
as the crowd became larger and larger, he exclaimed: `The
subject is so large I do not know where to lay hold on it first.'
It was still early; but said I, `Sir, you see the crowd is gathered
around the stand, and, if you do not begin, Eppes will begin
first, and read until sunset, and you will be wearied to death
before you get a chance to say a word.' He immediately made
his way through the crowd, which was at this time large and
dense, and commenced his address. I was much engaged at
the time, and did not go out until he had nearly gotten through.
I do not know how Mr. Eppes appeared elsewhere and in comparison
with others; but, compared with Mr. Randolph, and
on the hustings, I thought him dull and heavy. He was
self-possessed and much of a gentleman, but I thought greatly
inferior to Randolph in eloquence and ability."[17]
"Mr. Eppes," we are told by W. B. Green, a contemporary
of Randolph, "brought with him from Washington what was
called a cart-load of authorities, laid the books on the stile
in front of the court house—large tomes and documents such
as had never been seen by the natives. This was about 55
years ago. There was an immense crowd present. Natives
and foreigners from all the surrounding and adjoining counties
came to hear Mr. Randolph speak, and to see the son-in-law of
Thomas Jefferson.
"Eppes led off from the stile, knee deep in books and documents.
He was rather a dull speaker, read too much and
fatigued the people. Mr. Randolph in reply remarked: `The
gentleman is a very good reader.' "[18]
(a)
This contest between Randolph and Eppes was attended
with a high degree of popular excitement, and
was accompanied by at least two exhibitions of his dauntless
intrepidity. At a meeting at Charlotte Court House,
Randolph's pointed language provoked an interruption by
Col. Gideon Spencer, a friend of Eppes. High words
ensued, and, above the tumult of the crowd, which was
excited to such a degree that a collision between the
respective adherents of the candidates seemed imminent,
some friend of Randolph shouted: "Stand firm and keep
cool!" "I am as cool as the centre seed of a cucumber,"
was his reply.[19]
After the speaking had come to an end,
Randolph made a point of remaining on the court green,
and the excitement became greater than ever. He had an
overseer at the time, a big, rough man, who was present,
and towered head and shoulders above the persons about
him. This man, armed with a horse-whip, brandished
in a threatening manner, followed Randolph about
through the surging assemblage, insisting that the latter
would be attacked, and should be protected; despite the
fact that Randolph himself bade him be quiet.[20]
At this same meeting, or at some other meeting during
this contest, Randolph declared that Eppes had been
imported like a stallion into the district for the purpose
of being run against him. There was no necessity for
such a step, he said, and he asked: "Where are your
Daniels, your Bouldins and your Carringtons?" "And
your Spencers," interrupted Col. Gideon Spencer. "Yes,
and your Spencers," rejoined Randolph, "always excepting
you, Colonel." At this sally, the Colonel was about
roar of the crowd the shrill sarcastic voice of Randolph was
heard saying: "Let him alone Fellow-Citizens, a barking
dog never bites." That he was satisfied with the results
of this encounter, we may infer from the entry relating
to it which he made in his Diary, under date of Sept. 5,
1812: "Court. Meet Eppes. Episode of Gideon Spencer.
`The sword of Gideon not the sword of the Lord.' "
The scene of the other instance of Randolph's fearlessness
was Buckingham Court House. Here, he was
menaced with personal violence, should he attempt to
make an address, and was advised to retire. "You
know very little of me," he said, "or you would not give
such advice." Soon proclamation was made that he
would address the people, and, on the outskirts of the
throng, which gathered about him, when he mounted the
rostrum, was an element that evidently meditated insult
or violence. "I understand," he began, "that I am to be
insulted, if I attempt to address the people; that a mob is
prepared to lay their rude hands upon me, and drag me
from these hustings for daring to exercise the rights of a
freeman." Then, fixing his eye upon the individuals,
who were disposed to assail him, and, pointing his forefinger
at them, he continued: "My Bible teaches me
that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but that
the fear of man is the consummation of folly."[21]
Not a
hand was lifted to molest him, and he completed his speech
uninterrupted.
Randolph was defeated by such a small majority that he
expressed the belief in his Diary that, if he had not been
kept from attending the election at Cumberland Court by
a fire, which had recently destroyed the Bizarre home, he
would have been elected.
When the Congressional election of 1815 was drawing on,
a number of the most respectable inhabitants of Charlotte
to announce himself as a candidate for his former seat;
which he did. "My opponent [Eppes] will beat me not
quite so far as before," he wrote to Tazewell (April 7,
1815).[22] But again his prognosis was at fault, and he beat
Eppes. A few months afterwards, however, Eppes was
elected to the United States Senate. "Men of all political
parties," wrote Randolph to Quincy, `agree that he is
indebted to me for his seat. So that, if I am not great
myself, I am the cause of greatness in others."[23]
In 1817, when Randolph had declined re-election and
expected to go off soon to Europe, he rode around to the
different elections in his District, and addressed the people
in the morning, in advance of Archibald Austin, who was
to succeed him
"These addresses," James W. Bouldin informs us, "were of a
character wholly different from any made by him on any other
occasion that I ever knew of. They were filled with grave and
solemn advice and the most pathetic appeals to the sympathies
of the District without the least allusion to party or feud."[24]
In 1819, when Randolph was re-elected to the House,
Austin was his opponent and received only 4 of the 242
votes cast in Prince Edward County, and only 57 of the
257 votes cast in Charlotte County. Among the interesting
entries in Randolph's Diary, is one containing the
names of different individuals whose support he lost at this
election; showing, to use the slang of our own time, that he
looked after his "political fences" pretty much as every
other Congressman does.
When Randolph was defeated for re-election to the
United States Senate, Dr. James Waddell Alexander
was an occasional visitor to Charlotte County, and his
which the catastrophe was received by Randolph's constituents
in that County.
"Were I to commence with the topics most current here,"
he said, "I should speak of Mr. Randolph. His recent defeat
has filled this county with chagrin, and he will be returned for
the lower House without competition. All the freeholders
hereabouts treat the subject as if it were their own personal
cause."[25]
JOHN RANDOLPH
From the portrait by Chester Harding.
Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D. C.
| CHAPTER XII John Randolph of Roanoke, 1773-1833 | |