The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1881-03-04
Randolph, or Roanoke.

y
tory though at times he would produce
great oratorical effects-so much as
elevated conversation that he poured
forth. His speeches were charming or
provoking, according to the point of
view of the listener. To q Senator
anxious to expedite the public business
or to hurry through the bill he had in
charge, Randolph's harangues upon all
sorts of irrelevant subjects must have
been very annoying; but to one who was
not troubled by such responsibilities
they were delightful entertainmcnt.
There was no effort about the speeches.
They were given with absolute ease, the
speaker constantly changing his position,
turning from side to side, anu at times
leaning against the rail which enclosed
the Senatorial chairs. His dress was q
blue riding coat with buckskin breeches,
for he always rode to the Senate, fol-
lowed by his black servant, both master
and man being finely mounted. His
voice was silvery in it's tones, becoming
unpleasantly shrill only when conveying
direct invective. Four-ffths of what he
said had the slenderest possible connec-
ton with the subject which had called
him up; but SO far as the chance visitor
was concerned, this variety only added
a charm to the entertainment.
On the 14th of February, 1926, the in
PRODUCTION of bill for surveying por-
tion of Florida with a view to canal
route brought Mr.. Randolph to his feet.
This project was favored by the other
representatives of the South, and it was
easy to see how provoked and embar-
rassed they felt by opposition from a
quarter so unexpected. But Randolph,
who had always strenueusly denied the
power of Congress to make internal i'm
provements in the States, would not
willingly concede it in the case of the ter
ritories. He could not find it written in
the bond that the money of the people
should be poured out for local improve
ments anywhere.
johnson, of Louisiana, put in reply,
in which he used Mr.. Randolph as a
Southern ally with great tenderness, but
intimated that, as Cuba commanded the
key to the Gulf of Mexico, its possession
by frst-class naval power would be
highly injurious to Southern interests.
The canal would be in some sort a pro-
lection against this dire possibility.
'sH all constitutional restraints are to
be pushed aside, let us take Cuba and be
done with itV said Randolph in reply.
Johnston's special pleading was dub
bed an argumentum alb inconvenienti,
and he was urged to consider the conse-
quences 1.-THE word was uttered with sig
nifcant emphasis) which might ensue..
Here Randolph paused and looked his
fellow southerners well over. Gould
they not see that by taking this bait OF
improvements to strengthen
their peculiar institution of slavery, they
opened the way for the general govern
ment to interfere to its disadvantage?
The words were unspokeE, but the look
their meaning with perfect
clearness, He concluded in a strain OF
the bitterest irony:
stBut what care we for consequences?
Only the timid and the purbliud look to
No, sir; your gallant
statesman mounted on his Rosinante and
fairly in the lists looks to no conse-
quence a pause except to his own con-
Interesting as was Mr.. Randolph's part
in this debate on the canal question, my
friends assured me that I had not yet
heard him at his best or worst. But it
was my good fortune to be present in the
senate some two weeks afterward, when
ne SdNG Wadb Wdo d1A1Oou uhAsOAceSAAy
allowed to be one of the most character
istic speeches he ever made. This was
in reference to the Panama mission, an
absorbing topic of public interest, and
one which created on both sides feelings
as intense as have ever been shown in our
national legislature. The condition of
certain South American states had re-
Gently been changed from that OF sub
iect colonies to that of Independent re-
publics, and the project was formed OF
assembling on the Isthmus Of Panama a
congress at which each of them should
be represented, to deliberate upon sub
iects common to all. The United States
were asked to take leading part In this
assembly, and the invitation had been ac-
cepted, and plenipotentiaries appointed
by the executive. The northern states
warmly approved this course which
seemed to be in the line of what should
be the national sentiment. The monar-
chies of Europe had formed ''holy
alliance to crush liberty in the eastern
hemisphere What could be more suit
able than for the republics of the west to
unite in a much holier union to maintain
it? By the south this Interrogation was
met by the cry that fearful crisis was at
and; while its more astute representa-
tives confined their scruples to constl-
tut1onal law and national policy, John
Randolph and the hotter spirits blurted
out the real objection to the scheme. The
south would never consult with nations
who had put the black man on an equal
ity with tie white, and, horror upon
horrors, were known to have mulatto
generals In command of their armies.
From this opposition arose the party that
finally placed jackson in the Presiden-
tial chair; party whose stock in trake
at this time consisted of bitter vitupera-
ton of the administration, and at the
head of which Randolph took his natural
place.
The debate in the senate upon the
proposition to send ministers to the con-
gress at Panama was opened by Mr..
Randolph with sarcasm. 1t was known
that the President Of the United States
meant to send ministers to the congress
that was to assemble at Panama. He
fervently hoped that these ministers
would labor under none of the odious
and exploded preiudices which re-
yoIted the over-fastidious southern
gentleman and repelled him from asso-
ciating on terms of equality with persons
of African descent. He hoped that the
ministers who had been appointed were
prepared to sit down humbly with the
native African, the mixed breeds, and
the Indian, and to take no offence at the
motley mixture. Gen. Bolivar, whom
somebody had called fsthe South Ameri-
Uoobsnr,&o,, - woa then hand1ad