The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-10-28

! cOuld nave 1ound IL IN DIS neart tC
wish.
In the spring OF 1881 several British
vessels had come pillaging within the
Potomac. and the anxious Lund had
regaled their officers with refresh
ments from Mount Vernon to buy
them OF from mischief. 1T would have
been a less painful circumstance to
me-" his uncompromising uncle had
written him. ito nave heard that, in
consequence of your noncompliance
with their request, they mad burnt
my house and laid the plantation in
ruin. You ought to have considered
/ yourself as my representative"
Kept though II was from harm.
however, the place had suffered many
things for lack OF his personal care.
There was some part Of the task to
be over again that had confronted him
when he came TO take possession of
the old plantation with his bride after
the neglects of the French war.
Finds Virginia state.
But Virginia was more changed than
Mount Vernon. He had left IL a col
ony, at odds with a royal governor;
he returned to find II a state, with
benjamin Harrison, that stout gentle
man and gc6d planter, for governor.
by the free suffrage of his fellow Vir
ginians.
There had been no radical break
with the aristocratic traditions Of the
past. Mr.. Harrison's handsome seat
at Lower Brandon lay where the long
reaches of the James marked the old
est regions of Virginia's life upon
broad half-feudal estates; where there
we're good wine aud plate upon the
table, and gentlemen kept old customs
bright and honored in the observance.
A Great Change In Affairs.
But the face of affairs had greatly
changed. nevertheless. The old gener-
alton Of statesmen had passed away,
almost with the colony, and a young
er generation was in the saddle, not
withstanding a gray haired figure here
and there.
Richard Bland had died In the year
of the Declaration; Peyton Randolph
had not lived to see It,
Edmund Pendleton, after presiding
over Virginias making as a state. as
chairman of her revolutionary commit
tee Of safety, was now withdrawn
from active affairs to the bench, his
fine figure marred by fall from his
horse, his old power as an advocate
transmuted into the cooler talents of
the judge.
Patrick Henry the ardent leader Of
the Revolution, had been chosen the
states first governor. in the year of the
Declaration of Independence; three
years later Thomas Jefferson had sue
ceeded him in Office. the philosophical
radical of times of change; the choice
OF Mr.. Harrison had but completed the
round of the new variety in affairs.
Men who, like Richard Henry Lee,
had counseled revolution and the
breaking of old bonds, were now in ALL
things at the front of Virginia's busi-I
ness; and younger men. Of force and
power of origination equal to his own.
were pressing forward as IL to carry
a new generation to the stage which
had known nothing but independence
and free field of craftsmanship.
Among the rest, James Madison,
only little more than ten years out |
OF college, but already done with scrv- |
Ing his novitiate in the congress OF the |
publicist and leader |
in the old dominion at thirty-two.
Edmund Randolph. of the new gen.
GRAFTON of the commonwealth great |
fs mily OF lawyers. like his forbears in
gifts and spirit, was already received |
at thirty, into a place of influence
among public men.
Marshall a War Veteran.
John Marshall. just turned OF TWEEN.
ty-eight, but a veteran of the long war
none the less, having been at the thick
Of the fighting, a lieutenant and c%p
tain along the Nirsinian forces, from
the time DuRmore was driven from
Norfolk till the eve of Yorktown, was,
now that that duty was done, a lawyer
in quiet Fauquier. drawing to himself
the eyes of every man who had the
to note qualities of force
and leadership.
James Monroe had come out Of the
war at twenty-five to go at once into
the public councils of his state, an
equal among his elders. Young men
came forward upon every side to take
their part in the novel rush OF affairs
that followed upon the heels of rev.
Dlution.
Royal Welcome for Washington.
Washington found himself no strang.
err in the new state, for all 1t had
grown OF sudden so unlike that old
in which his own life had
been formed. He found a very royal
awaiting him at his home
The old commonwealth loved hero
still as much as ever: was as loyal to
him now as it had been in the far-away
days of the French war. when Din.
widdle alone fretted against him; re-
ceived him with every tribute OF az
lection, offered him gifts. and loved
him all the better for refusing them.
But he must have felt that a deep
change had come upon his life, none
he less. and even upon his relations
with his old familiars and neighbors.
Most Famous Man Of the Day.