The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1930-03-28

ZETzIOOT4RY Gi1l7ESH C4727OON
thirty odd years one of his principal
activities was laying the lash on Pos
sum Johns. of high and low degree. He
regarded them one and all. as scoun-
drels, and as matter of fact many
of them were. His later encounters
only occasionally involved the use
either of lethal weapons or of horse
whips, although he employed both
more than once; but they were almost
invariably, like this one, merciless,
dextrous, fantastic and grim.
Declaring that che has come down
in history with one of the most terri
BILE regulations ever attached to an
American politician who never was
convicted of murder, or treason or
theft" the biographer points out that
he was in public life for third of
century, during which he served as
congressman and Jefferson's floor
leader in the house of representatives,
as a senator from Virginia, as ambas-
sadOr to Russia, as member of the
constitutional convention of Virginia
and on many commissions and spe-
cial missions. But, he declares, he is
not remembered for these services.
Rather Randolph's reputation lives be-
cause he carried "the wickedest tongue
that ever hung in the head of an
American congressman, or at any rate,
in the head of one who had both the
courage and the wit to use it,
Many Americans can remember the
day when invective, with all its syn
onyms of abuse, reproach, railing, CEN
sure, sarcasm, satire and vituperation
were an indispensable part of the
equipment of the politician. But of all
who ever used them, Randolph was
the acknowledged master, intimates
johnson, when he says:
No man since his day, when attacked
in debate by half a dozen honorable
members, has had the superb insol-
ence to rise and quote, as he leisurely
surveyed the United States House of
Representatives:
1.-THE little dogs and ALL
Tray, Blanch and Sweetheart,
See, they bark at mel"
Nor have we since had invective as
startling as the metaphor which he is
Henry Clay, but which he really ap-
piled to Edward Livingston: Fellow
citizens, he is man of splendid abil-
titles, but utterly corrupt. Like rotten
mackerel by moonlight, he shines and
stinks." His characterization of John
Quincy Adams and Clay as "Blifil and
Black George-the Puritan and the
blackleg," hardly needed the duel
which followed to stamp il upon the
memory of the country. for, although
there was no duel as a result, the
country had remembered the descrip-
tion of Thomas Jefferson as EST.
Thomas of Cantingbury," because. as
in the other case, there was just
enough truth in it to make it stick and
sting.
1t was perhaps inevitable that le-
gends should grow up around such
picturesque figure and that he should
be credited with many sayings which
he did not utter, or have remarks
that he did make doctored up to suit
the narrator or to make a better
story" Although Randolph himself
once complained that "All the bastard
wit of the country has been fathered
on me-" Johnson cites some Of his
brilliant sallies.
He once spoke of ''the glorious priv
ilege of finding fault-one very dear
to the depraved condition of human
nature" OF Robert Wright and John
Rea (Ray) he said that the house
of representatives had two anomalies:
"a Wright always wrong and Rae
without light" Once new member,
elected to fill vacancy in the house
caused by death, attacked Randolph,
who ignored it at the time. Later,
however, while discussing bill in
which the dead congressman had been
much interested Randolph remarked
that this bill has lost much in the
death of his dear friend, Mr.. ........,
"whose seat remains vacant"
When Richard Rush was appointed
secretary of the treasury. the gentle
man from Virginia declared that
"Never were abilities so much below
mediocrity so well rewarded; no, not
when Caligula's horse was made Con-
SUI" OF certain pedantic individual
he said that his mind was like parcel
of land which he knew-roor TO begin
with and made more barren by too in
tensive cultivation. "DenOuncilg me?"
he demanded when a friend told him
that a certain person had attacked
him. '"That is. strange. | never did
him favor" One day he met an en-
envy on the narrow sidewalks of Wash
ington. The man halted in the middle
of the walk and belligerently declared
II never step out of my way for pup
pies" II always do" replied RAN
dolph, stepping aside, "Pass on! ~
But Randolph's place in history is
much more significant than that of
mere coiner of epigrams, according to-
his biographer. who declares that he
was "the most powerful single infiu-
ence In transforming the South from
the nourishing mother of the repub-
lie into the frantic opponent of the
republic" and while lit would be far