The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-01-23
PART ii.

in the article Of last Sunday. he neverthe-
loss did not fail to organize and lead to
success the greatest and most ~enthuslas-
tic following OF any man known 10 our
his+or, unleSs Abraham Lincoln be *
canted OF one of these followers IT IS
the nuIpose Of this article to speak and
inst the one that Jefferson himself rec
r-pized as rejecting most perfectly MS
own image Observation-Disclosures Macon,
Of North Carolina.
"Old Nat. Macon as North tafollila
lovingly d~esignates its truest ana per-
hons greatest SON was one of the men
ayho stood the Fcderalist storm III this
State that followed the news of the
Frnnch insults to our ambassadors IN
11uS-thc news concerning the y. y. H..
affair He WIS one of the few men tnat
,nneaiued firm in his adhesion to the
motley of the chairman Of the Senate III
1893, a member Of the Ahalmx which
Adams said III Il letter to John Steele, Oh
Salisbury, 179S) had to he broken or the
country would be lost, one OF the men
that even Washington had wished to see
defeated and still one Of the few VINO 1T
that time understood the spirit of the
northumberland it more by instinct,
perhaps. than by political insight as III
.Jeffcrson's case. These men, extremists
radicals, anarchists. as they were caiied.
used to meet-in fact they boarded-ln
the old Francis Union Hotel. Is South
Fourth St. rhiIadelI hia. and talk over
tbcir. plains. They were the prescribed
of our early Republican court, rs Girls
void calls it. and flockod together. n
letter of .Jefferson's to h FedcralEt
Governor Wise of Virginia CT Feb. l.,
1893 and published i'll the American HIS
rorical Review last year shows what KIND
of men they We're and the means that
were being used to defeat the policy of the
Fedora Administration. Macon was one
of the faithful as jefferson termed his
followers, one of the enemies of all gov
eminent as the elder Adams designated
thcm-thc phalau- that had to be over
thrown.
Macon's was altogether a striking Zig
Ire, rather tall, we'll built: a Scotch
Irish looking man, only Il little larger; has
features were also homely Yet unlike
JefferSon's. those of the former full and
tlorid showing less of the angular. fewer
Of the lines, those Of the latter rather
thin. angular and strangely marked
features of the student. philosopher. man
Of the world even. Macon'S eyes We're not
those that conquer and command men,
like Jeffersop's or Burr'S, but big, blue
sympathetic eyes all the same; his fore
head was broader than the average and
fairly high with the hair brushed back
until there was none to brush. 1t WAS
altogether an intelligent face and one
that commanded respect: there was 40
lurking ShrtWdneSS nor extraordinary
penetration, on the contrary straight for
WardneSs was the predominant trait. 1T
was the plain every day fact with which
Macon could deal and give advice about
.h.l =, ,,,,,- +1,% ,-a, ,,n,~fncf fy,n Ti1nnn
His manners were just such as one must
have looked for after seeing the man:
plain, unaffected, rather negligent al The
nicetieS Of social intercourse, but ar
bitrary with himself and others concern
ing cardinal things; he WAS calm.
diglitiel urdcr all circumstance and
lhilosophic. men Of his deficiency i'll edu-
cation, in the trend of his thought and
manner of delivery. His dress was, says
Benton, always the ~Same-fnest navy
blue tcXture-anl cut in the faSbipn OF
1T76; he never allowed it to show signs
Of wear but exchanged for q new SUIT
in good time-as ~comnortCd with the dis
nifty of a member of Congress, nothing
tlread-bare about him, he believed in the
genuine the substantial too much for
that; he Wore Il fur hat, broad
brimmed, black and not allowed to be-
come dusty CT dingy with age; boots
that came to- the knees and then Tapped
over displaying a broad red leather top
after the fashion Of the Revolution,
with the pants neatly tucked in: leather
wears longer than cloth" he said. Ills
linen was Of the best make and scrtpul-
ously clean, we are ~told-nevar unttdy nor
besmeared with snuff according to the
fashion Of that day. If You will INA
CINE him now on horseback. with 4 stout
riding whip iii his hand Il dozen hounds
yclping at tho horses heels YOU have
q fairly correct notion of Nathaniel MAJ
con. of Warren county. North Carolina.
Speaker of the House Of Representatives,
from 1901 to 1907 a distinctly Southern
figure Of the Revolutionary type. too.
1t was q habit Of public men then to
think and talk about the struggle that
followed 1176. Jefferson died exclaiming:
Warn the committee; be on the alert
in reference to the great part he had play
ed in the early Revolution and Macon
never forgot the cut of clothes, the style
Of boots Of 177G and would have no
othe..
Such men We're those the South sent
to Congress ~then-quitc Il contrast to
some who go in CIR day, | fear-a con-
trast to men who impress YOU with their
extraordinary acuteness, alertness-to
men who win in all the schemes of tho
day politically, and who know how to
play off one county against another and
bargain with huckster politicians. Such
is what travellers who visit Washington
report. The times have changed and new
men represent a new people.
Nathaniel Macon was born i'll Warren
then Butte county, North Carolina, il
1117. says one author, 1853. says another
and Il third claims it was in lbs the
Interesting event took place. ~ con
temporary and neicllbor of Maccns II
a sketch written cfor. the newspapers 81
that day and published in the Raleigh
Standard July II, 1881, gives all three
dates as correct-at least refers now t
one, now TO another. rs the date he &C
cepts. Another equally unknown quantit,
Is Macon's career in the RevOlutionarH
war: some have claimed he served as phi
vatc in his brcther'S cOmpan and tina
10 the end of the war without acceptin.
pay; others equally authoritative declare
that he was a lieutenant in the camp Oh
the 1adkin any way when he was elected