The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-25

Presidential electOr in 1886.
"a calm and sleauy virtue, when
acts temperateIy and wisely anu hef01
nInng+.S into inulsCretlon OF eA1la'"
gance is but too often conloulN
<9N1h Guinness or frigidlJy." In these
later DAVIS there have been those "ho'
h1ind 10 the significance of MI. Ma
COWS life. have Jailed to see any great
nfee in the man. A NOrth Caro-
lima publication speaks or MN as
. man of mediocre abilities and mea-
gre education, q homespun pldh.ei'
honest and simple. erring more often
in his grammar than III MS mora
principles, but knowing little OF the
world beyond the borders OF 1<oi'h
Carolina. No man in American us
tory left q better name than Macon,
but the name was all he lett. iii'
is not the estimate OF his own DAY
nor of the men with whom he moved.
I nave already spoken of his course
at Princeton and his studious haDllS.
| IN ( he won speedy recoshl-
ton and there was no abatement %
his prestige with the passing years
but ever increasing respect. just pc
fore his retirement Randolph wrote
OF him: He richly deserves every
sentiment OF respect and Venefa'on
that can be felt for his character.
HIS SDbGcIl6S anu "lIllISo
familiar acquaintance with both an
cient and modern history and full ana
accurate knowledge OF affairs III
America. AS chairman Of n Com
| mittee OF Foreign Affairs of the House
Of Representatives in that most trying
neriod OF the strained relations WIN
Great Britain and France, ms course
was characterized by that Judgment
wisdom tact. moderation, ctearness or
perception and knowledge OF men am
affairs which had distinguished his
whole public career, and commanded
he resrnct Of patriots in every party
The estimation in which he was heln
by mAn Of his own time may be shown
IN a few u~tteranceS:
BENTON in his Thirty Years View.
Gives a chapter on the "Retiring of
Mr.. Macon" He says, Il have a
| pleasure in recalling the recollection
of this wise. lust and good man. n
in writing them down. not without
profit I hope. to rising generations.
and at least as extending the knoWl-
edge Of the kind of men to whom We
arc Indebted for our independence and
FOR the form Of government which
,h",. established for US. NJ. Macon
was the real Cincinnatus Of Ameri> n.
the pride and Of my native
STATE. my hereditary friend through
fonr generations. my rnentnr In the
first seven years Of my Senatorial and
+Hn last seven years Of his Senatorial
life"
Jefferson gave repeated evidences of
the high esteem in which he held Mr..
Macon as a public man by inviting
him more than once to a seat in his
cabinet, but nothing surpasses a note
introducing his grandson, when both
mon had GROWN old and were nearing
the end OF all earthly service. In
March, 1926, he wrote Mr.. Macon,
My grandson, Thomas Jefferson Ran
dolph, the bearer of this letter on a
journey to the North, will pass two
or three days perhaps in Washington.
l cannot permit him to do this with
out presenting him to a friend Of go
long standing, whom | consider as the
strictest OF our models Of genuine re-
publicanism. Let him be able to say
when you are gone, but not forgotten.
that he had seen Nathaniel Macon,
upon who's tomb will be written
Ultimus RemanorumH / only ask
YOU to give him d hearty shake Of
the hand, on my account as we'll as
his own, assuring you he merits it as
a citizen. to which I will add my IN
ceasing affection for yourself"
John Tyler said: IF the minds Of
kSdIluoIph LII IldtOA tidu Dtcu pro-
perly blended, they would almost have
been a model of absolute perfection
wit, genius and fancy combined with
4 judgment SO infiexible and erect as
rarely to have been shaken,' and
again in 1898, after Mr.. Macon's
death he said. there was q beautiful
consistency in his course. from the
moment Of his entering public life to
the moment of his quitting it. Moth
ing sordid ever entered into his ima gi-
nation. He was a devoted patriot
whose whole heart and every corner
Of it was filed with love of country.
In the House of Representatives he
was the firm and the nnfiinchine Re-
publican, and in the Senate the ven
enable patriarch. contemporary OF
Washington and Franklin. and most
worthy to have lived in the same cen-
tnry with them" And it was also
said OF him that che could say more
while getting IN out of his cbair ava