New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-16

spring. The clouds ON your brow vanished.
The wrinkles of care lifted their corners
and turned to smiles. There could have
been but one fairy presiding over his birth:
Her name was Love. She must have kissed
his eyes when she blessed him, and sent
him forth unable to see, save through
her eoftening and identifying medium
And as the world is bright or dark as we
choose to see it, or az we are formed TO see
it, he looked upon its worst as child does
on the clouds, not as portents OF storms but
as golden banks of color or shifting masses
of lovly forms.
The soughing of winds among the trees
was not sigh for him. 1t was but natures
fingers running over the keys of one of her
many instruments, awakening music Tor
mans delight. The ills that befall US. the
dangers that environ us, the fears that
plague US and the hopes that mock US, seen
through his annointed eyes we're but as
the wholesome training of the athlete, to
prepare him for the prize at the end OF the
race.
Even in the rough conflicts Of the bar.
where the zeal of the contestants sometimes
rides over the gentle courtesies and amenl-
ties of social life, it was impossible to Tor
get in the j,usts with William Randolph
that behind the advocate there was some
IQ1uY uOUlcF uUu uCI-tAO HoAtAoAA~.A
While no one could be more vigorous IN
attack or skilled in defense, there was al
ways with him moderation, which came
from respect for foe, the natural fruit OF
q pure heart, that sees no evil, for 1t harDOrs
none. With a temper as serene as hxed
star, he was as far removed as it from the
mists and clouds of prejudice or passion.
Recognizing in all men common SUP
lection to the circumstances OF birth,
a. 81 &c I'd fha
chances of fortune in shaping their lives.
his balanced mind could discover but er-
rors, where others saw crimes: and acci-
dent, where others saw will. And go he
moved amoag u, glsddening as sunbeam
that lights piece of glass to the glory OF
the diamond, or sends thrill OF life
through a frozen soil. Is it strange, then,
that all who met him loved him! Is 1t
strange, that we often pause in our labors
to recall the SOUND OF voice that Is sun,
and the touch Of vanished hand! But
the view lust presented is taken as we
knew him last. There is another phase OF
his character which APPLY illustrates that
The bravest are the tenderest.
The loving are the daring
The older members OF the bar, talking
of times gone by, relate that then
he was as impetuOus as Putnam;
sudden and quick in quarrel as Hotspur,
though always knightly in his courteous
bearing. Feats Of his personal strength
and activity, and miracles OF his nerve
and daring, in maintaining his position
when he considered himself wronged, still
enrich their "reminiscences of thirty years
ago. He could not have been other than
he was with his ancestry. His father was
General Beverly Randolph, a distinguished
officer in the war Of 1879, and also in the
Mexican war. He commanded the famous
Petersburg Greys n the former war. ana
was promoted on the field for conspicuous
gallantry.
His grandfather was Edmund Randolph,
Attorney General of the United States I'M
der Washin gton, and afterwards Governor
of Virginia He was the mover IN the con
vention Of 1877 to adopt the present federal
constitution.
On his grandmother's side he was de.
scended from the famous Colonel Archibald
Cary.
Born in Cumberland county, Virginia
the boyhool OF our Randolph was passed
with the ordinary incidents OF farm life and
country school, At the age OF seventeen he
went to the Military Academy at West
Point, where the climate proving too severe
he remained but one session.
Among his classmates was Jubal A
EARLY, since distinguished as lieutenant
general in the Confederate army. Re
turning to Virginia at the age OF eight
cen, young Randolph began the study
of law with his uncle, Judge William
| Randolph As soon as he had finished bis
studies. with the enterprise of his race, he
removed to Tallahassee, Florida, and began
| the practice of law. Here he remained fol
several years. During that time he took ar
| active part in the political contest, OF
| Florida. 1t was there he was married Il
| Miss Mary Pitts, of Bardstown, Kentucky
| the niece of William NJ. Lambeth, at thai
| time one of the most prominent merchants
| of New Orleans. Probably influenced by
| the new relations he had assumed, he came
to this citv in 1871. In 1852. we find hin
| reporter of the decisions Of the Supreme
| Court. a position he continued to fill fol
| four years. !,
| In 1856 Mr. Randolph retired from tbs
practice of his profession, with an lnde
pendence secured by his own etforte, anf
| betook himself 20 the occupation OF farne
| in the State of Missouri. His fortune hav
| ing been destroyed by the war, he returned
to this city in 1860 and resumed his place
| among ne. -,
| With his career here we are all familiar
| There has scarcely been an important sui
| in apv court in which he was not proml
nent actor. Trained in the school Of tn
common law, he was familiar with the prac
| tice of the United States courts IN equity
patept law, admiralty and bankruptcy. 1
hard student, be had equally mastered on
civil law and State practice, and shone pre-
eminent among the leaders OF our courts
As an advocate, he was exceptional.
| happy OF sympathetic temperament
easily identifying himself with his client
he made his hearers feel because he tel
himself. He had all the accessories of a.
orator, the person, gesture, voice and beal
ing.
Gifted with a brilliant imaginatio
and lively creative fancy, cult
waited by contact with all fountain
OF song and fiction, his languag
was as rich in coloring as Titan, and a
varied in design as DOre. No held c
reading was free from his patient an
loving search. From Plato to Milton; frcI
Aristeephanes to Hudibras; ranging throug
the serted tones of history, or sportln
among the conceits of Reynard the Fox, b
made all tributary to his demands, to ad
to his store OF illustration:
Though it was rather when he scared o
| the wing of invention, or diversified b
discourse with the recollections OF men an
| manners, with which his chequered caree
had supplied him, that he showed to til
best advantage before juries and the 6encI
Yet the play of his fancy and the glow
his huraor but served 70 radiate, NJ
weaken, the clearness Of his argument. {
the auroral lights sutfuse the Northern SIX
Alas how little we can turn to, whe
the LAWYERS race is run, as monument {
his fame. The cases he has tried are store
away in the reports, as title deeds are p'
: in a box, to be brought forth, now and the
. by the parties in Observation-Disclosures to a
the world beside. The principles he hi
,, contributed to settle by adjudication al
accepted by his successors as things esta
lished, with no concern or thought OF tt
, power that did the work.
. The clients who hung upon his word
and received their fate at his hands, pa