Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1835-08-06
x...yssHTRG s'FEGEN'Rs.N.
Thursday, August s. 1899.
MIR RANDOLPlI'S WILL.

~, evidence in this case increases IN interest
.z.rosscs. and We therefore make no apollo
=. ,be space it occupies. The narrative of
~. pandolph's domestic and lirtside habts, like
,,....o t,I men who fill large space in the pub
-. must necessarily possess great attraction,
-. tho General reader, as web as for those who
,..,,Ioasure in investigating mental phenomena
i, like stripping from some renowned hero of
,ho sock and buskin the paraphernalia OF his tenn
..,ry dienitv-doiiing his mimic crown, his tim
.,ol scep,re and his candy robes, and reinyest-
linn in the attire which distinguishes the man
80, ,be actor. Persons who know "great men,
:. ,,,o,,qh the intellectual labors which have
,.n for them that proud appcllaiion, are general
J.. ~, IN regard them beings ola different mould
,lemselycs-as formed altogether of more
..,,ncd earth, and of more elaborate Workmanship
- heino trecr from the tolblcs and vices which
.o.,,, from the dignity and deepen the degra-
,,,;on Of human nature. They are naturally,
,,,retore. incrcdulous, Whenthc veil Is rudcly torn
.,,.h y mfricndlv hands, and they are enabled
- c,,eh glimpse OF these toibles and vices. Such,
la,y, WAS thc case with the late JOHN Randolph
rp..nolc. Some of those WHOM he provoked
u, his aMsc. or stung by his sa1casms, dared,
oven in his Lifetime, to expose the ridiculous &c
.o,,r;cties and tie shameless excuses of which he
u,s occasionally Guilty but some friendly hand
was always ready to defend the one and TO deny
~, o,ten1atc the other. But Death the Great c-
;clcr having stamped his signct on the brow of
IL, he al of
friendship. Welding to the requirements of Justice,
has Skctched picture of the Orator III his hours
Of retirement, even more graphic than had ever,
in his lile-timc, been drawn by his biltcrest foe.
We speak this q more in sorrow than in anger )"
for. although we were not admirers of the living
Or,tor we should scurn ourselves if our feelings
towards the nanimatc dust could be at all tinged
by the memory of the past. Indeed, the more in
timatelv we are acquainted with his private histo-
ry the better prepared are we to account for, and
Of course to excuse the sngnlarics Which mark
ed IN, public career. That his mimi, if not the
ORIGINAL seat of a hopeless malady, extensively
affected by the complicated diseases which preycd
upon his ply steal system, is not only probable, but
certain. Always sensitive, it became, towards the
close of his life, morbidly suspicious, and ca
silv lost its equilibrium. This tendency to
mental iniirmity was at times icarluy augmented
by the use of artificial stimulants habit cngcn-
dcrcd probably by the same cause TO which the
nGrnity itself primarily traccablc. Bodily
disease and artificial stimuli, thus acting upon
nervous temperament and IA diseased intellect, why
sho uld we marvel at his conduct, however strange
ard ridiculous it may seem to be, and i'll truth
was9 Had he slain an individual in one ofthe
strange paroxysms which his friends describe, who
can doubt that public opinion would have ascribcd
the act to insanity, and that this judgment would
have been as just as it would have been universal
But although he was fortunate enough to escape
the perpetration of such Il deed, do not others OF
his act, Indicate even more strongly than il would
have done the existence of periodical and long-cx
listing Authorizations Of mind, accompanied by lu-
cid intervals They who doubt it, question the
truth ofthe evidence itsel,-or else they impose
upon themselves the arduous task of rcconcllng the
most ludcrous ideas and the most cXtrayagant cX-
ccsses with a state of healthy mental aclion-And
if, more reluctant to admit the insanity than the i'm
morality oil their TREND, they achlcNc TINS task, IL
will then remain for them TO palliate and defend
the monstrous outragcs of which, if he was sane, he
was wuly guilty. For our own part, repeat
our conviction, that he was frequently and espc-
ciay at the period adyered to by the witnesses,
non conpos mcnts-perIectly incompetent to dis
eliminate between right and wrong, or to do any
act for which sound mind is rcquisitc-and it is
only BY aequicsccnce in such an opinion that his
friends can find a vindicalion of his otherwise in
dciensble conduct.
BY far the most interesting incident connected
with this Will case is the deposition of DIR. Joseph
Parrish, of Philadelphia, detailing the events of
the closing scene of Mr.. Randolph's ieycrisl life.
This deposition was omitted by the Wing, Ito
which paper we are indebted for the Report,) in
its proper place, and we shall therefore, in order
to preserve the chain of evidence in connected
torm postpone its publication until the Report is
concluded
u Senators Leigh and Mangum have accepted