The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-07-07
For tie hgis d. MtcMguc,
John Randolph, of Roanoke.

This distinguished citizen of Nirginia-thc
first Of States and the mother of statesman
was born at Cnwson's, on thc.AppomattoX, the
I'd day OF June, 1773. From the commanding
promOntory upon which Cawson's was situated,
could be seen at one view, Shirley the seat OF
the Carriers, Bermuda Hundred, with harbor
and ships, City Point, and other places Of note.
Here Col Bland, the grandfather of Randolph,
lived in style of elegance and profusion, and
dispensed hospitality most genial in its char
acter and baronial in its extent Tnra's halls
are now deserted, and there only remains the
remembrance Of the days when
"The mistlctoc hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shOne on the old oak wall,
And the barOns' rctaincrs were blthe and gay,
And keeping their Christmas holiday"
And here amidst such such scenes, and when
the fiery star was in the ascendant, that star
which, as destroying element and II subtle
Promethean flame consuming the soul" follow
ed him through life, John Randolph was ush-
cred into the world and passed his first years.
1t would not have been difficult for one not
possessed of much Of prophetic instinct to have
toretold in the youth the future man. His biog-
represents him as possessing in his youth
anardent temperament, an oriental imagination,
and of dramatic turn, and he said of himself,
81 have been all my life the creature ofimpulse,
the sport of chance, the victim of my uncon-
trolled and uncomfortable sensations of DO
etic temperament. ] admire and pity all who
possess this temperament" As in youth so in
the maturity of age-sensilvc, impulsivc, i'm
agnatiye, dramatic, and without control. His
dramatic turn may have been exaggerated by
his love of the great English dramatist. Shak-
speare was his idol. He thought and spoke
Shakespeare. 1t followed that as youth he was
understood only by his immediate relatives and
in subsequent life by intelligent and discrimina-
tive friends. Such men are never understood by
the ignobc vulgar; ii is not nccdlu that they
should be.
Randolph was contemporary with Patrick Hen
a1,n. ,..,,;,
Randolph the younger, and as the years proved,
"the rising and the setting sun" llenry's first
laurels were won in his contest with the Parsons;
Randolph's in his contest with Henry. | shall
not judge Henry harshly because ofhis foe Or
dinarily, to fight the Parsons is suggestive of
weak brains and cowardy instincts. Men of
character leave such work to others. 1t is the
vulgar rack-"Tray, Blanche, Sweetheart and
all the little dogs that hound men of that cloth.
Henry was not obnoxious to this criticism. His
cause was just, and his antagonsm TO the clcr-
gy was proper under the circumstances. RAN
doph met Henry in debate for the first and only
time at Charlotte Court House. Virginia, March,
1899. And never did orator in his first essay
win greater applausc-not Dcmoshcncs, not
Cicero, not one of the modcns. His power and
briliancy dazZlcd all
"Amazed the gazing rustcs ranged around,
And still they gaZed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew"
An incident occurred at this trial ofntcllectu.
al gladatorship that gave pleasing proof of
IIcnry's freedom from from that passion Of
low minds, envy. Taking Randolph by the
hand at its close he greeted him cordially and
ailectionatcly.
Randolph was for number of years Il repre-
sentative from Virginia in the Congress of the
United States. In politics he was Democratic,
learning his first lessons in Staccraft from such
men as Mason, Richard Henry Lee, and Grayson,
and Bland, and Tucker and Page. "And there
were giants in those days" Gigantic the States
men Of the carly Republic were, not only in
their knowledge Of political science, and in their
skill in applying its principles but also in the
elevation of their personal character There
was but one Aaron Burr, and there was but one
Benedict Arnold. To bctray trust as rcprcsrn-
tativc of the people would have been no less
singular than us II soldier TO bctray the country.
The Burrs have multiplied, and SO have the
Arnolds, and now the very atmosphere is filled
with the horrid stencil of decaying virtue. All
men were not even then without suspicion as TO
their uncorruptncss. The celebrated "Yazoo
claim" is proof of that, but that fraud was al
most the exception; and Randolph in his rcla
tion TO this claim rs TO all other things in which
the honor and interest of the Nation was con-
cemcd, was without rcproach. Indeed, his idcl-
ity TO principle and utter detcstation and scorn
of all that was wrong gave to his words of re-
Duke and condemnation sucha "wlhcring pow.
or MS to drive from the halls of Congress for more
than ten years, all who had been ted in
the neinrious (Ynzoo) scheme.
The religious element was strongly develop.
ed in the character of Randolph, but in the
practice of Christian prccepis he was AT best
only an crratc star.
Randolph died in Philadelphia, oath June,
1888, and his death was as Tragic as his life.
His life in some respects might have been other
than it was, butas whole, could no thave been.
The man will be MS the chid-thc impress of
birth is never eflaccd, and the acts generally of
the life are but the fruits of the nature then
given.
Like star that mAkGth not haste,
That takch not rest;
Each one fulfilling
His God-given hest"
Sadly, when Randolph died, no bell was toll.
ed in the Capitol of his own State, no culogy
was pronounced, and no monument was erected
TO his memory. Virginia has not yet, perhaps,
learned 10 understand and appreciate one of her
wiscst Statesmen, truest patriots, and most de-