The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-03-28

lily. His human opponents were i'm
pressive enough, for he dared the
wrath successfully of Thomas Jeffer-
son, James Madison, John Marshall,
John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams,
Henry Clay. Daniel Webster and An
drew jackson. -. He asked no
quarter of the best of them, and no
weak man could have stood a moment
against the least Of these.
Certain of the elements of greatness
John Randolph of Roanoke possessed
beyond the shadow Of doubt. In in
tellectual keenness and alertness, he
rivalled the great Virginians; in cour-
age no man among them surpassed
him and not all were his equals; in
depth of learning he was superior to
most of them perhaps to all! In per-
sonal integrity not Washington him.
self was further beyond reproach. In
addition Randolph possessed quail
ity which none of the stars in Vir-
ginia's political armament shared in
anything like the first degree. This
quality was his sheen, his coruscation,
his sheer, binding brilliance.
But for all this, he was man at
tended by fatality, the heir of the
House of Usher. Born to the purple,
wealthy, a handsome youth. charming
in his personal relations and equipped
with a magnificent mind. IL seemed
upon his entrance into public life that
all the beneficient powers had COM
bined to insure his happiness and his
glory. But his fair prospects were all
ilIusory Instead of primroses, his
path was strewn with stones and
thorns. . Instead of becoming
even the stepfather of his country. II
- to-
he urged her along road strikingly
similar to the one he trod, and which
led not to glory everlasting, but to
defeat, madness and death.
For physical affliction which Ran.
dolph sustained at the age of nine
teen. following an attack of scarlet
fever, changed the whole course of
his life and made him an embittered.
frustrated man. To the end of his days
he retained a curiously boyish appear
ance, beardless. with shrill, high
pitched voice. This fact, coupled with
the statement that he was ''the first
orator" of his time and his own state
ment of II am an aristocrat. I love
justice and hate equality" only ac-
centuates the grotesque character Of
the picture of the man who was John
Randolph of Roanoke. "When he was
over forty spectator in the house
gallery was dumfounded at learning
that the skinny youth he saw on the
floor, and whom he had believed to be
about sixteen, was the great Mr.. Ran
dolph of Virginia"
The result of this affliction was in
evitable. Here was an intensely proud
member of a proud race, man who
cherished his lineage above all his
material possessions, man to whom
the family was not merely sacred.
but a downright awe-inspiring institu-
ton, deprived of the privilege of con-
tinuing his family" writes johnson.
Here was scornful man doomed
forever to be the target of the shafts
of the scornful. Here was. romantic
man ridiculously debarred from am
orous romance. Here was man whose
finest quality. perhaps, was his capac-
ity for unflagging devotion to the dom
este interests of his kin. denied the
possibility of setting up a domestic
establishment of his own. 1t is in.
conceivable that this Illustration, this
profound humiliation should have
failed to work out in bitterness of
spirit"
So John Randolph of Roanoke. who
had in him the elements of greatness.
just missed greatness. If he had not
been such strong man, his story
would be a pathetic one. His Gown
people have remembered him with a
curious mixture of terror, pride and
wild delight. For, dark as is his story.
on occasion it glitters and sparkles
as does that of no other American of
any generation. 1t is the story of a
fighting man Of the breed of Roland,
and no one who is stirred by a tale
of warrior who lays about him with
right good will can fail to be stirred
by Randolph. But it Is above all else
a fantastic tale, frequently verging
upon the grotesque. The incredibly.
long, incredibly lean figure was Don
Quixote to the life; but John Ran
dolph's own were the glittering eyes,
and the almost fabulous forefinger
with which he seemed to transfix a
shivering opponent"-this, the strang.
est American.