The San Francisco call., 1899-11-03

and misdemeanors, and they were not
ready to use the serious process of i'm
peachment as a purely political weapon.
So they turned instead on one of his col
leagues, whose course had furnished some
basis for an attack
Justice Chase of the Supreme Court was
a learned and upright Judge, who dis
charged his duties well in ordinary cases.
But he was a violent partisan Federalist,
and permitted his party bias to be plainly
seen when matters involving party ques-
tions came before him. He thus incurred
the hatred of the Republicans, and they
set to work to remove him by the process
of impeachment. The House appointed
managers, chief among whom was Ran
dolph, and upon him fell the principal
burden of conducting the prosecution. He
could not have undertaken a task for
which he was less fitted. The occasion
called for a thorough knowledge of law,
and this Randolph did not possess. 1t
on the line OF attack, and a dignihed,
forcible presentation of the case, and here
again he was deficient. None of the arts
OF the political stump orator nor the pow
ers of invective which he used so much
in the place of argument could serve him
now; At the bar of the Senate his au-
thority as leader of the House availed
him nothing. Opposed to him as counsel
for Chase We're some of the foremost
LAWYERS in the country, among them Lu-
ther Martin, the Federal bulldog" who
enjoyed nothing more than exposing Ran
dolph's weaknesses 1t was a rare oppor-
tunity for the Federalist champion to paw
of old scores for his party. RandolphS 5
discontinue was complete. Toward the
close of the trial he broke down. wan
dering aimlessly in his talk, frequently
complaining of the loss of his notes and
practically throwing himself on the pity
of those whom he had set out to instruct
and convince. A more humiliating posi-
tion could hardly be Imagined for man
of his imperious nature accustomed to
rule and to bear down without mercy
upon upon those who came in his way. Judge
Shase was acquitted the attack on the
Supreme Court failed and Randolph's
prestige received a blow from which it
did not recover.
For the sake of Randolph's reputation
II is pleasant to turn from his defeat to
his manly contest against the Yazoo
frauds. lant Ihese Inc constituted in the early
part OF the century, famous political
scandal in which nearly all the Legisla
ture of Georgia was implicated. The mat
ter at stake was the disposal of certain
great tracts of public land, in which it
turned ont that the members of. the Legis-
lature had pecuniary interest. Randolph
exposed the scandal fearlessly. Into the
night against corruption he threw himself
with fierce energy. When he wished to
ruin man politically he would bring
against him the charge Of being a ''Ya-
zoo man. Indeed, in his bitter hostility
to everything "Yazoo" he went too far.
for he opposed, and for a while prevented
settlement Of the matter by Congress,
which aimed to protect innocent puTchas-
ers of the lands. But on the whole this
part OF his career showed in favorable
light his personal honesty and the high
standard of service for men in public life
upon which he then insisted.
His constructive work as a statesman
consisted in laying the foundations of
Southern political supremacy in national
affairs, This he did by making skillfuI
use of adherence to State sovereignty and
devotion TO slavery, which were already
characteristic of his section. Although
there was no necessary connection be-
tween the two, yet on the whole they
went together, both growing stronger at
the South, while they were disappearing
al the North. Randolph saw that the two
could be made to support each other and
become the basis of a controlling force.
afterward called from its most obtrusive
element the slave power" In building
up this power Randolph was the forerun27 =
ner of Calhoun. who elaborated his views
and became the chief agent in developing
at the South that attitude toward national
affairs which led for awhile to the dom
nance of that section but eventually to
secession and the civil war. That, as we
know, led to the destruction of slavery
and the doctrine of State sovereignty. and
SO, to the complete overthrow Of that
school Of craftsmanship which Randolph
did so much to establish.