* x-'* <#+

IP \
' ¦'
I
¦

i

hw^a

S^* >'*."

-V*1^

08-^if-

/S95.

miy.

LIFE OF JOHI RANDOLPH.
VOL. I.

£NGRAY£D J}}~ £SJiXEW-2-

.Jl.®:iHl N- \RfS:M B) 'ffllLIP'M *

THE LIFE

OP

JOHN RANDOLPH

OV EOANOKE.

BY
HUGH A. OAKLAND.

VOL. I.

NEW-YOBK.
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BKOADWAY.
PHILADELPHIA :
GEO. S, APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT-STREET. *
M.DCCC.LI.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
D. APPLETON & COMPANY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New- York.

PREFACE.
The author of this book has had, perhaps, as good an oppor
tunity as any other man, who was not a contemporary and
intimate friend, to form a just estimate of Mr. Eandolph's
character, and also to collect valuable and copious materials
for his biography. He was educated in Mr. Eandolph's
district, was familiar with all the local associations of that
devoted son of the Old Dominion, often saw him among
his beloved constituents, and heard him under most favor
able circumstances both on the hustings and in the Virginia
Convention. The writer was then but a youth, full of all
the eager interest and curiosity that would naturally be
excited by so extraordinary a man. Since Mr. Eandolph's
death, it has been his good fortune to have been thrown into
the circle of his most intimate and confidential friends, some
of whom the writer feels justified in saying he also may claim
as his friends. While the thought of writing a life of Mr.
Eandolph is of recent date, the character of the man and the
incidents of his life have been for many years the subject of
interest and of inquiry, which were abundantly gratified by
those who knew him and delighted to discourse on the
peculiarities and Eccentricities of their departed friend.
Some ten 'or twelve years before his death, Mr. Eandolph

yi PREFACE.
made a will liberating his slaves; a short time before his de
cease, while under the influence of utter debility and disease,
he made various and conflicting dispositions of his property.
Here, of course, was a fruitful theme for the Courts. Was Mr.
Eandolph capable of making a will in the latter part of his
life? was the subject of inquiry. Nearly every body who
had known him, or who had had any dealings with him, from
the 'earliest period, were summoned to give testimony. Many
interesting and important facts, that would properly find a
place in his biography, were elicited on that occasion. The
whole testimony was taken down by an accurate stenographer,
and the most important parts afterwards were written out in
fall. These vakiable materials were placed in the hands of
the writer of this memoir. '¦ In 1845, the whole subject again
underwent a thorough investigation before the Circuit Court
of Petersburg, many additional witnesses were summoned, arid
much new and important information elicited. The writer-
was a personal attendant on that Court during the trial.
To Mrs. Elizabeth Bryan, Avho is > the niece of Mr. Ean
dolph, and to Mr. Bryan himself, who is the son of his earli
est friend, we are indebted for the interesting correspondence
to be found in the first volume of this work. To Mrs. Dudley,
Judge Beverly Tucker, the Hon. John Taliaferro, and Gover-
nor Tazewell, who were the youthful companions and school
mates of Mr. Eandolph, we are indebted for the incidents of
his early life. By far the most interesting and important part
of the work is the copious and unreserved correspondence of MrJ
Eandolph with the late and much lamented Francis S. Key,
Esq., of Washington, and Dr.-*Tohn Brockenbrough, of Vir
ginia. This latter gentleman was, par excellence, the friend of
his bosom. Not a thought or a feeling was coffl^led from him

PREFACE. vij-

and from 1811 to May, 17, 1833 ,but a few days before his death,
Mr. Eandolph wrote constantly, many times daily, to this in
valuable friend. The entire correspondence is now in the
hands of the writer. Without these materials and this unre
served confidence on the part of one wko most valued the re
putation of his departed friend, the author would never have
undertaken the difficult task of writing the life of John Ean
dolph. Very many of the letters have been inserted in their
proper places — and many of the facts and incidents interwoven
into the narrative, were obtained from others which have been
suppressed — the author's chief study has been to use discreetly
the unbounded confidence that was reposed in his prudence
and judgment. It would be almost impossible to enumerate
all the persons to whom we are indebted for many of the in
cidents narrated in this biography ; every body knows some
thing of the extraordinary man who is the subject of it; but
we have given each one, we trust, credit for his contribution
in its proper place. Many of the anecdotes and witticisms
commonly attributed to Mr. Eandolph are not found in this
work, because there is no authority for them. " All the bas
tard wit of the country," said he to a friend, " has been fa
thered on me."
As to the printed sources of information connected with Mr.
Eandolph's public career, besides a valuable collection of pam
phlets obtained from the estate of the late John Clopton, the au
thor has had free access to the library of Congress, which, hav
ing been collected by Mr. Jefferson, is very copious on all sub
jects connected with the history and politics of the country.
Besides these, Mr. Eitchie was so kind as to lend the only full
file of the Enquirer in his possession. The reader needs not to
be informed that the Eichmond Enquirer contains a full chroni-

yiii PREFACE.
cle of every thing that has been said and done in Virginia,
worthy of being recorded in history, from 1804 to the present
time. Such were the materials in possession of the author. The
difficulty was not to obtain — but to sift, digest, and arrange
the abundant treasures in his possession. The book was
commenced when the author had leisure to write to his
satisfaction ; it has been finished in the intervals of a labori- •
ous profession, and he feels that there are many defects which
more time and leisure would have enabled him to correct.
Many of the chapters were written under feelings of depres
sion and anxiety while that dread pestilence, the cholera, had
overshadowed with gloom and made desolate our devoted city.
Whatever may be the defects of the book, however, the reader
may be assured that nothing will be found in it that the au
thor has not good reason to believe is true.
H. A. GAELAND.
Saint Louis, August, 1850.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Birthplace .
Matoax — Genealogy
Childhood
Family Circle
Flight from Matoax
At School

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII.
The Constitution in its Chrysalis State

chapter vrn.

George Mason

CHAPTER IX.

. ¦

• .

* ¦ .

• •

Early Political Associations

12

16

20.

26

35

40

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.

45

52

Thomas Jefferson . CHAPTER XI.
Small Beginnings— Edmund Burke— Thomas Paine
CHAPTER XII.
Youthful Companions . • • • • • • ™
CHAPTER XIII.
Richard Randolph ... ... 61
CHAPTER XIV.
Visit to Charleston and Georgia . . . . . .64
CHAPTER XV.
At Home  69
CHAPTER XVI.
Candidate for Congress — History of the Times . . . .73
CHAPTER XVII.
The Fauchet Letter ....... 85
CHAPTER XVIII.
Mr. Monroe — France— Mr. Adams elected President . . .95
CHAPTER XIX.
The X. Y. Z. Business  108
CHAPTER XX.
Patrick Henry ....... 129
CHAPTER XXI.
March Court — The Rising and the Setting Sun . . , 128
CHAPTER XXII.
France and the Administration . j42

CONTENTS. xi
PAGE
CHAPTER XXIII.
Scene in the Play-House— Standing Army . . . .157
CHAPTER XXIV.
Make to yourself an Idol, and, in spite of the Decalogue, Worship it 166
CHAPTER XXV.
The course of True Love never did run Smooth . . . 177
CHAPTER XXVI.
Presidental Election, 1800-1— Midnight Judges ... 185
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Seventh and Eighth Congresses — Chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means — The Working Period— The Yazoo Business i90
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Friendship ........ 205
CHAPTER XXIX.
Ninth Congress — Foreign Relations — Difficulties with France and Spain 213
CHAPTER XXX.
Difficulties with Great Britain ..... 229
CHAPTER XXXI.
Closing Scene ........ 242
CHAPTER XXXII.
I Aaron Burr ....•••• 252
CHAPTER XXXIII.
j Embargo— The Iliad of all our Woes ..... 262
CHAPTER XXXIV.
, Gunboats ....¦••• 271
CHAPTER XXXV.
James Madison— Presidental Election ..... 276

xn CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVI. **"%
War with England ....... 284
CHAPTER XXXVH.

Clay— Calhoun

CHAPTEE I.
BIRTHPLACE.
Cawsons, situated on a commanding promontory, near the mouth of
Appomatox river, was the family seat of Colonel Theodorick Bland,
Senior, of Prince George. After winding amidst its woody islands,
around the base of this hill, the river spreads out into a wide bay ;
and, together with the James, into which it empties, makes towards
the north and east a magnificent water prospect, embracing in one view
Shirley, the seat of the Carters, Bermuda Hundred, with its harbor
and ships, City Point, and other places of less note. In the midst
of this commanding scene, the old mansion-house reared its ample
proportions, and, with its offices and extended wings, was not an un
worthy representative of the baronial days in which it was built —
when Virginia cavaliers, under the title of gentlemen, with their
broad domain of virgin soil, and long retinue of servants, lived in a
style of elegance and profusion, not inferior to the barons of Eng
land, and dispensed a hospitality which more than half a century of
subdivision, exhaustion, and decay, has not entirely effaced from the
memory of their impoverished descendants.
At Cawsons, scarcely a vestige now remains of former magnifi
cence. The old mansion was burnt down many years ago. Here
and there a solitary out-dwelling, which escaped the conflagration.
like the old servants of a decayed family, seem to speak in melan
choly pride of those days, when it was their glory to stand in the
shadow of loftier walls, and reflect back their loud revelry, when
" The misletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall ;
And the baron's retainers were blithe and gay,
And keeping their Christmas holiday."
VOL. I. 1

2 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH
The serpentine paths, the broad avenues, and smooth gravel, the
mounds, the green turf, and the shrubbery of extended pleasure-
grounds, are all mingled with the vulgar sod. The noble outlines of
nature are still there ; but the handiwork of man has disappeared.
In a letter to his friend, F. S. Key, dated March 20, 1814, John
Randolph says : — " A few days ago I returned from a visit to my
birthplace, the seat of my ancestors on one side — the spot where my
dear and honored mother was given in marriage, and where I was
ushered in this world of woe. The sight of the broad waters seemed
to renovate me. I was tos»ed in a boat, during a row of three miles
across! James river, and sprinkled with the spray that dashed over
her. The days of my boyhood seemed to be renewed ; but at the
end of my journey I found desolation and stillness as of death — the
fires of hospitality long since quenched ; the parish church, associa
ted with my earliest and tenderest recollections, tumbling to pieces ;
not more from natural decay than sacrilegious violence ! What a
spectacle does our lower country present ! Deserted and dismantled
country-houses, once the seats of cheerfulness and plenty, and the tern-'
pies of the Most High ruinous and desolate, ' frowning in portentous
silence upon the land.' The very mansions of the dead have not es
caped violation. Shattered fragments of armorial bearings, and epi
taphs on scattered stone, attest the piety and vanity of the past, and
the brutality of the present age."
Colonel Bland was an active promoter of the Bevolution. When
Lord Dunmore, in the spring of 1775, under instructions from Eng
land, undertook to disarm the people, by secretly withdrawing the
muskets and powder from the Magazine in Williamsburg, Colonel
Bland was among the first to rouse the country to resistance. As
munitions of war were scarce, he, his son Theodorick Bland, Jun.,
and his son-in-law, John Randolph, father of the late John of Roan
oke, sold forty negroes, and with the money purchased powder for
the use of the colony. Endowed with an ample fortune and a manly
character, having been for a seriesrof years in succession lieutenant
of the county of 'prince George, clerk of the court, and representa
tive in the House of Burgesses, he possessed a commanding influ
ence among the people. His house was the centre of a wide circle of
friends and relations, who had pledged their lives, fortunes, and sa
cred honor, to the cause of independence. Though they did not rise

BIRTHPLACE 3
to be master-spirits in that eventful struggle, the Blands, the Banis
ters, the Boilings, and the Eatons, were inferior to none in zeal, de
votion, and heroic sacrifice.
The political spirit of the times may be inferred from the follow
ing incident :^The old man growing weary of a solitary life of wi
dowhood, was advised by his son to look for a matrimonial connec
tion in a certain quarter. After spying out the land, he wrote to
his son : " Our politics differed so much that we parted by mutual
consent ;'' and in allusion to his own choice, he says : " the person I
have thought of, is a lady of great goodness, sensible, and a true
whig." Among those who frequented Cawsons at this time, and partook
of its welcome and generous hospitality, and shared with its inmates
a proud defiance of the encroachments of England, was a young
foreigner — though he can scarcely be called a foreigner who speaks
our own mother tongue, and was bred up almost in sight of the Amer
ican shores.
St. George Tucker was born of respectable parents in the island
of Bermuda, where he commenced the study of law, but came to
Virginia, before the Revolution, in order to complete his academic
exercises in William and Mary College. His urbanity, social dis
position, and literary attainments, introduced him into the best com
pany and fashionable circles of the city. His general good conduct
and deportment procured him the favor of most of the distinguished
gentlemen of that place. When he had completed his college courses.
he resumed the study of law, and settled permanently in Williams
burg ; but, on the breaking out of the disturbances with Great Bri
tain, he took part with his adopted country, laid aside his legal pur
suits, and engaged in other occupations. It doubtless was his inten
tion to have served in the tented field ; but what he might have done
in the way of military achievement, is left only to conjecture. That
he might have rivalled Kosciusko, or Pulaski, or De Kalb, he after
wards gave ample proof on the field of Guilford ; but the glittering
butterfly of military glory was destined to fade before the more sub
stantial charms of female beauty.
Though Cawsons was a pleasant place, its chief magic lay in the
Colonel's youngest daughter, Mrs. Frances Randolph, who, in her
" unhappy widowhood," (to use her own expressive language,) had for

4 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the most part forsaken her own solitary home, and sought society and
consolation beneath her father's roof. Mrs. Randolph was possessed
of high mental qualities and extraordinary beauty. Though one
might suppose she was endowed with little personal attraction, from
an expression of her brother, Colonel Theodorick Bland, Jun., who
was accustomed to call her, " my tawny sister." But tradition, con
firmed by the portraits extant, speaks in admiration of her uncom
mon charms. The high, expanded forehead; smooth, arched brow,
and brilliant dark eyes ; the well-defined nose, and full, round, laugh
ing lips, pregnant with wit and mirthfulness ; the tall figure and ex
panded chest; the dark hair, winding in massy folds around the neck
and bosom ; an open, cheerful countenance — all suffused with that
deep, rich, oriental tint that never fades — made her the most beauti
ful, sprightly, and attractive woman of her age.
Though clad in widow's garments, and on her brow lay a pensive
stillness, as of one dreaming, she was yet young and beautiful. By
her side, or on her knee, as inseparable as her own shadow, was a
SMnld — her youngest child — a little boy, her favorite John, the very
image of his mother. In his dark eyes were reflected the sadness of
her own soul ; on his orphan brow was imprinted a kiss, that ever and
anon a tear washed away. So much of subdued loveliness could
not fail to win the sympathy of old and young, and to call forth
sighs of pity and regret.
St. George Tucker, the. first time he beheld the mother and her
child, was filled with that mingled sentiment which more agitates the
simiI, and takes deeper hold on the affections, than any single pas
sion. He soon found himself an ardent lover at the feet of the
charming widow. A wife at sixteen, she was not long to be per
suaded at six-and-twenty to abandon her unhappy widowhood. In
an old family Prayer Book, in her own handwriting, is found the
following record :
The unhappy widowhood of Frances Randolph commenced on the
28th day of Oct., in the year 1775.
John Randolph and Frances Bland were married the 9th of
March, 1769.
Richard Randolph, their first son, was born the 9th of March 1 770.
Theodorick Bland Randolph, their second son, was born the 22d
of January, 1771.
John Randolph, their third son, was born the 2d of June 1773.

MATOAX— GENEALOGY. 5
Jane Randolph, their first daughter, was born Nov. 10th, 1774,
and died on the 26th of Nov., 1774.
The following additions to the above record is found in the hand
writing of the late John Randolph of Roanoke :
John Randolph, Junior, fourth son of Richard Randolph, of
Curies, in the County of Henrico, was bora on the 29th of June,
1742, 0. S.,— answering to the 10th of July, N. S.
Frances Bland, fifth and youngest daughter of Theodorick
Bland, of Cawsons, in the county of Prince George, was born on the
24th of Sept., 1752, N. S.
John Randolph, Esq., died at Matoax, on the 28th of October
1775 ; and on the 23d of Sept., 1778, his widow married St. George
'Tucker, of Bermuda.

CHAPTEE II.
MATOAX — GENEALOGY.
Matoax, the residence of John and Frances Randolph during his
life, of Mrs, Randolph in her widowhood, and of herself and, Mr.
Tucker, her second husband, till the time of her death, was^situ-
ated on Appomatox, about two miles above Petersburg, on the
opposite side ; midway the falls, and on a high bluff, commanding a
wide prospect of the surrounding country. At the time Mr. Tucker
was introduced there by his elegant and accomplished bride, it was
the centre of a populous, wealthy, and fashionable neighborhood.
To say nothing of the town, there were Battersea, Mayfield, Burling
ton, Mansfield, Olive Hill, Violet Hill, Roslin, all on the same
river ; many in sight, and none more than two miles distant. These
were the residences of gentlemen of ample fortunes, liberal educa
tion, polished manners, refined hospitality, and devoted patriotism.
They have all since passed into other hands ; some have gone down
entirely ; and the wild pine and the broom sedge have made such
steady encroachments, that a wilderness has grown up in the place
of fruitful fields, and more wild deer can be caught within a circuit
of ten miles around the second most populous city in the State, than
in a similar space in the prairies of the West. A statue of Niobe,
in her own capitol — of Niobe weeping for her children — would be no

6 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
unfit emblem of Old Virginia ; her sons gone, her hearths cold, her
fields desolate.
The mansion house at Matoax, like that at Cawsons, was burnt
down many years ago. Nothing now remains but a heap of ruins.
When we visited the spot, the factory boys, with their hounds, were
chasing the hares over those solitary hills where once the proud sons
of a proud race pursued the same light-footed game. A high hill to
the eastward of that on which the mansion was, and separated from
it by a deep ravine, is crowned by a thick cluster of oaks and other
trees. At the foot, and under the shadow of those trees, are two
graves, covered with simple marble slabs, level with the earth, — con
taining the following inscriptions :
Johannes Randolph, Arm :
Ob. xxviii. Octo,
MDCCLXXV,
iEt. xxxiv.
Non opibus urna, nee mens
-virtutibus absit.
( Translated.')
Jphn Randolph, Esq., died Oct. 28th, 1775, aged 34. Let not a
tomb be wanting to his ashes, nor memory to his virtues.
I. H S.
Frahcescse Tucker Blandse,
Conjugio
Sti Georgii Tucker.
Quis desiderio _sit modus?
Obiit xviii. Januarii,
MDCCLXX&VIII,
JEt. xxxvi.
( Translated.)
Jesus, Saviour of mankind.
When shall we cease to mourn for Frances Bland Tucker, wife of
St. George Tucker? She died 18th January, 1788, aged 36.
The father and the mother of the late John Randolph of Roa-
I noke ! It was his wish to be buried by their side. In a letter
dated London, Dec. 19, 1830, he says : " I have personally but one
wish ; it is to be buried by the side of my honored parents at old
Matoax, and I have taken measures to effectuate it. It is not long

MATOAX -GENEALOGY. 7
since this desire sprung up in my heart, where all else is withered,
hard and dry."
Matoax was a part of the vast inheritance which descended from
Richard Randolph of Curies, to his four sons, Richard, Brett,
Ryland, and John.
His will is still extant, and bears date about the time of the
birth of his youngest son, John, and a short time before his own
death, 1742. It makes disposition of not less than forty thousand
acres of the choicest lands on the James, Appomatox, and Roanoke
rivers. Most of this vast estate was accumulated by his own " in
dustry and economy," as we learn from a monument erected to his
memory at Turkey Island by his third son, Ryland. To his daugh
ters — Mary, who married Archibald Cary, of Ampthill ; Jane, who
married Anthony Walke, of Princess Anne ; and Elizabeth, who
married Richard Kidder Meade — he left only personal property.
All the lands were divided among the four sons. Those on Appo
matox fell to John ; those on Roanoke, jointly to John and Ryland.
Ryland died without heir, and his portion descended to his brother ;
so that John, at the time of his death in 1775, was possessed of
large and valuable estates on Appomatox and Roanoke.
Richard Randolph of Curies, was the fourth son of Ooli* Wm.
Randolph, of Warwickshire, England, who was the first of the name
that emigrated to Virginia, and settled at Turkey Island. He died
April 11th, 1711. That he was of Warwickshire, we learn from a
monument at Turkey Island ; but the late John Randolph, who
took great pride in searching into the genealogy of his family, says
that he was of Yorkshire. Between the researches of the Hon.
John, and the monument at Turkey Island, we leave the reader to
judge. William Randolph was the father of seven sons and two
daughters, who became the progenitors of a widespread and numer
ous race, embracing the most wealthy families, and many of the most
distinguished names in Virginia history.
We will not cumber our pages with their complicated and unintel
ligible genealogy. In the course of our narrative, we shall give such
portions as' may become necessary for its elucidation. At present,
we are only concerned with Richard Randolph of Curies, the fourth
son. He married Jane Boiling, who was the daughter of John Boi
ling, who was the son of Robert Boiling and Jane Rolfe his wife,

8 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
who was the granddaughter of Pocahontas, the beautiful Indian
princess, daughter of Powhatan, whose pathetic story is so well
known. The portrait of Mrs. Randolph (Jane Boiling) is still extant.
A more marked and commanding countenance is rarely to be met
with. A perfect contrast to the luxurious ease, graceful manners,
fluent and courtly conversation, betrayed by the full round face, ruddy
complexion, low projecting eyes, smooth brow, and the delicate per
son and features of her husband. If the portrait be true to nature,
none of the Indian complexion can be traced in her countenance.
Her erect and firm position, and square broad shoulders, are the only
indications of Indian descent. The face is decidedly handsome;
while the lofty, expanded, and well marked forehead, , the great
breadth between the eyes, the firm distended nostril, compressed lips,
and steady eye, display an intellect, a firmness, and moral qualities,
truly heroic and commanding. Worthy descendant of the daughter
of Powhatan. Placing the two portraits side by side, one cannot fail to trace in
the general contour of countenance, and cranial development, a
striking resemblance between this lady and her grandson, the late
John Randolph of Roanoke.

CHAPTEE III.
CHILDHOOD.
A wise poet and philosopher has said, " The child is father of the
man," and that our days are " Bound each to each in natural piety."
Who has not felt the force of this truth, so beautifully expressed ?
Who is not conscious that his personal identity cannot be measured
by time — that he is the same to-day he was yesterday, and as far
back as memory can reach ? Though covered with years and busied
with graver trifles, who does not feel that he is the same being that
once gambolled on the plain with his school-fellows, and sought
childish sports with cheerful heart by flood and field 1 Life is a con
tinuous growth. The outspreading oak that shades the venerable
old man at its root, is but the gradual development of the little nut

CHILDHOOD.

9

that lay concealed in the acorn, which in his childhood he carelessly
planted there. Had it been planted in a more genial soil, it might
have attained a prouder growth. In a Siberian clime it would have
been stunted and mean. Circumstances, therefore, do not make, but
they develope the man. To know one thoroughly as he is; why he is
thus and not otherwise ; the man he is and not another ; we must go
back to his childhood. We must go to the salient point, to take the
scope and direction of his character. ¦ We must see him surrounded
by the circumstances that gave the first impulse ; the influences that
first stamped their impress on the plastic clay ; we must know by what
scenes he was surrounded ; was he reared by the mountain-side, the
running stream, or on the ocean's shore 1 was he in daily converse
with the tamer scenes of nature, or with the grand, or the beautiful ?
what sort of people were his father and mother, his brothers and
sisters, his playmates, and the men and women that went in and out
before him ? what books lay in his way ? what lessons were taught
him, not in the school-house, but the nursery, and by the domestic
fireside ? what were the traditions, opinions, passions, prejudices,
that constituted a part of his heritage far more important than lands
or merchandise 1
Could we but know these things about the heroes, the statesmen,
the orators and the poets, who excite our wonder and admiration,
and have stamped the impress of their character not only on their own
age, but on the world's history, how different would be our judgment
in regard to them ! We behold the outside alone ; we are only made
acquainted with the histrionic, the acted part of their life. What
we see is but a masquerade, a succession of magnified and illuminated
faces passing before the disk of a magic lantern. What we wish to
see and long to know is far otherwise. Each, like Mephistopheles,
has caught up some garment best suited to his nature or his purpose,
and strives to personate {persona originally meant an actor's mask),
to seem what he is not. Could we but draw aside the coverings by
which they strive to conceal their motives, how many a sigh should
we hear escape from heroic bosoms ; how many a wail from the proud
and silent spirit ! The wounded pride of authorship gave birth to
Manfred and Don Juan. The want of bread has caused many a
swanlike strain to pour from the lips of the famishing author. More
than one Helen or Cleopatra has set the heroes of the world in mo-
vol. i. 1*

IQ LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
tion. Pericles governed Athens, his wife Pericles ; the son the
mother — the schoolmaster the son, and he in his turn — but where
would this end ? Oh the subtlety and complexity of human motives !
And yet without some tolerable insight into these, history is hut
an empty cloud-castle, built of mist, and shadow, and sunbeams.
There are two kinds of history — the outward acted history, which is
false, and the inner, secret history of causes and influences; this
alone is true and worth knowing, and without it we know nothing ;
it matters not how learned we may be in facts and dates. It is said
that Dr. Johnson would insult any man who began to talk to him
about the Punic wars. What does the wise man care to know about
battles or the marching and counter-marching of a multitude with
swords, and battle-axes in their hands. He wants to know the condi
tion and circumstances of the people that made war necessary ; the
train of secret causes that brought it on ; the master-spirits that con
trolled it, and the motives that influenced them. He is not dazzled by
the helmet or the martial dress, but lends a willing ear to the mur-
murings of the mad Achilles in his tent, for it is there, in those breath
ings of discontent, in those outpourings of a genuine living man, that
he hopes to find some glimmering of the truth. A little insight into
the private life of the humblest Roman would be worth all we know
of the Punic wars, its galleys, and battles of Cannas. A mere narra
tive of events abstracted from the man who wrought them, is like the
human body when the life has gone out of it — cold, stiff, and cum
brous. All true history consists in biography. And there can be no
biography where the author does not forget the hero, and write of the
man. It is not a history of the Revolution that we want, but the
Life of Washington. Under the influence of these opinions, we have,
commenced the task of writing the Life of John Randolph.
John Randolph was born at Cawsons, the second day of June,
1773. The fiery star was in the ascendant at his birth, and pursued
him through life ; both as a destroying element, and a subtle Pro
methean flame consuming the soul. It is a remarkable coincidence,
that his birthplace, the cherished home of his childhood, and the
house in which he spent the first fifteen years of his manhood, Caw
sons, Matoax, and Bizzarre, were all in succession destroyed by fire.
Shortly after the destruction of Bizzarre, which was complete  in
volving his books and papers — he was asked by a friend why he did

CHILDHOOD. n
not write something to leave behind him. " Too late, sir, too late,"
was the reply ; " all I ever wrote perished in the flames ; it is too late
to restore it now." He felt himself to be a child of destiny ; he had
a work given him to do, but some cross fate prevented ; he failed to
fulfil his destiny, and was wretched. " My whole name and race," he
has been known to say, « lie under a curse. I- am sure I feel the
curse cleaving to me." He was not two years and a half old when
his father died. What could he know of death ? He only grieved
in sympathy with his mother's tears. It was not till long after, that
he learned the value of the treasure that lay buried beneath the mar
ble slab on the hill under the old oak tree.
Much of the time of her " unhappy widowhood" was spent by
Mrs. Randolph at Cawsons. Here the little John was always, a
welcome guest. He was a great favorite with the whole household,
especially with his grandfather and his cousin Anna Eaton, about
ten years older than himself, now the venerable Mrs. , Anna Bland
Dudley, of Franklin, Tennessee. He was so delicate, reserved, and
beautiful, that he attracted the notice of all who frequented the
house. His skin was as soft and delicate as a female. " There is no
accounting for thinness of skins in different animals, human or
brute," says he in a letter dated January 31, 1826. "Mine I be
lieve to be more tender than many infants of a month old->» Indeed,
I have remarked in myself, from my earliest recollection, a delicacy
or effeminacy of complexion, that, but for a spice of the devil in my
temper, would have consigned me to the distaff or the needle." A
spice of the devil in his temper ! Well might he say that. Before
he was four years old, Mrs. Dudley has known him to swoon away in
a fit of passion, and with difficulty could be restored : an evidence
of the extreme delicacy of hj^ constitution, and the uncontrollable ar
dor of a temper that required a stronger frame to repress and re
strain it. Notwithstanding his excitable nature, he was always de
voted to his mother ; would hang fondly about her neck, and could
only be soothed by her caresses. Of her Mrs. Dudley thus speaks :
— " She was a woman, not only of superior personal attractions, but
excelled all others of her day in strength of intellect, for which she
was so justly celebrated." This excellent and highly gifted lady
trained up her child in the way he should go. He was allowed to
come in contact with nothing low, vulgar or mean. Mrs. Dudley,

12 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Governor Tazewell, and the Hon. John Talliaferro, who remember
him well in childhood, speak with admiration of his moral purity,
and entire exemption from all vicious habits. His mother early
taught him to read, and impressed on his mind the best lessons. She
was a member of the Church of England, a faith from which her son
never long departed. On her bended knees, with him by her side,
she repeated day after day the prayers and collects of that admirable
litany, which were never effaced from his tenacious memory. Often
through life has he been known, in mental agony, to ejaculate them
with an earnestness that called forth tears from all who heard him.
" When I could first remember," says he to a friend, " I slept in
the same bed with my widowed mother — each nigh;., "before putting
me to bed, I repeated on my knees before her the Lord's Prayer and
the Apostle's Creed — each morning kneeling in the bed I put Up my
little hands in prayer in the same form. Years have since passed
away ; I have been a skeptic, a professed scoffer, glorying in my infi
delity, and vain of the ingenuity with which I could defend it.
Prayer never crossed my mind, but in scorn. I am now conscious
that the lessons above mentioned, taught me by my dear and revered
mother, are of more value to me than all that I have learned from my
preceptors and compeers. On Sunday I said my catechism, a great
part of which at the distance of thirty-five years I can yet repeat."

CHAPTEE IV.
FAMILY CIRCLE.
In the autumn of 1778, the family circle at Matoax consisted of
Mr. and Mrs. Tucker, and her three sons, Richard, Theodorick, and
John Randolph. Richard was in his ninth year, Theodorick was
nearly eight, and John was in the sixth year of his age. They were
all sprightly and interesting boys ; and cheerfulness was once more
restored to this happy family. A more amiable and exemplary step
father than Mr. Tucker could not be found. This trait in his char
acter was proverbial among his acquaintance every where. " I remem
ber to have heard a brother of mine," says the late Daniel Call, " who

FAMILY CIRCLE. 13
married a niece of Mrs. Randolph of Curies, and was thus occasion
ally thrown into circles, where he sometimes met the Matoax family,
once say, that ' Mr. Tucker must be the best father-in-law in the
world, or his step-children would not be so fond of him.' " Up to
this time the boys had never been to school. All of their instruction
had been received at the hands of their mother. Mr. Tucker now
undertook their education. But it cannot be supposed that he devo
ted himself to school-keeping with the rigid discipline of a peda
gogue. The life of ease and elegance which he is known to have
lived, amidst literary pursuits to which he was devoted, and in the
society of wealthy and fashionable neighbors, of which he and his
accomplished lady were the chief ornament, would not justify such a
conclusion. His leisure was given to their instruction ; and he at all
times took a lively interest in their improvement. In his letters +o
Colonel Bland, Jr., who was stationed with a regiment at Charlottes
ville to guard the captured troops of Burgoyne'g army, he often men
tions them, and always with great solicitude. In one dated Matoax,
July 20, 1779, not ten months after his connection with the family,
he writes : — " What you wrote about Bob (Robert Banister, a cousin,
then with his uncle, Colonel Bland) has inspired the boys with the
spirit of emulation, which I hope will be productive of some benefit
to them. I find he serves as a very good spur to them when they are
growing a little negligent. Two of them appear to be blessed with
excellent capacities, but I confess I am afraid that the genius of your
namesake (Theodorick), though possessed of great quickness and
acuteness in many respects, does not lie in the literary line. * ' *
* * I shall continue to give them all the assistance that leisure
will permit."
John was too young and too delicate to be confined. We may
imagine also that, with so indulgent a teacher and so amiable a man.
having a spice of the devil withal in his own temper, he could not '
have learnt much. He was not boisterous, nor inclined to the athletic
out-door sports of which boys are so fond. He sought amusements
within. When any of the boys and girls from the neighborhood
came to Matoax, he introduced the play of " Ladies and Gentlemen,"
in which each one personated some known or imagined character,
male or female, and acted as they supposed such persons would under
similar circumstances have acted. He was decidedly of a dramatic

14 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
turn. And his ardent temper and oriental imagination, precociously
developed, invested with an earnestness and a reality all the sports
and pastimes of his childhood. But he was not idle.
There was a certain closet to which he stole away and secreted
himself whenever he could. It was not redolent — that closet — of
cakes or the perfume of sweetmeats, but the odor of books, — of old
musty tomes arranged along its shelves. With a mysterious awe. — as
if about to commune with mighty spirits and beings of another
world, as he really was — would he close the door upon himself, and
devour, with " more eagerness than gingerbread," the contents of
those old volumes. His mind, young as he was, craved after ethereal
food, and there he found the richest repast.
The first book that fell in his way was Voltaire's History of
Charles XII. of Sweden. An admirable writer on education has
said, that " whatever the young have to read ought to be objective,
clear, simple, and precise ; ought to be the thing itself, and not round
about dialogues about the thing." No book could fill this description
more completely than the above-mentioned History — full of stirring
incidents, with a style of simple narrative as rapid and perspicuous
as that master of style could make it. How his young heart must
have burned within him as he pursued the eventful career of the
bold, reckless and indomitable Charles ! Feeling the impulses of a
kindred spirit, his sympathy must have been intense for the wild,
stout-hearted Scandinavian. The next book he read was the Specta
tor ; but only the narrative and dramatic parts as we might suppose.
The young mind can only be interested in things, objects, and not in
roundabout dialogues about things. He delighted in Humphrey
Clinker — Reynard the Fox came next ; then Tales of the Genii and
Arabian Nights. What a field of delight was opened here — what a
world of glory in those old tales of wonder, the genuine poetry for
children ! The Arabian Nights and Shakspeare were his idols. He
had read Goldsmith's Roman History, and an old History of Brad-
dock's War. When not eight years old, he used to sing an old ballad
of his defeat :
" On the sixth day of July, in the year sixty-five,
At two in the morning did our forces arrive ;
When the French and the Indians in ambush did lay,
And there was great slaughter of our forces that day."

FAMILY CIRCLE. 15
But the " Thousand and One Tales" and Shakspeare were his
idols ! All others were in a sense shallow and limited — had bounds
that could be measured — but these were fathomless, boundless ;
opening up to the rapt vision a world of enchantment, ever varying,
ever new. He was a poet, a born poet, nascitur non fit. He did
not write poetry ; but he spoke it, he felt it, he lived it. His whole
life was a poem, of the genuine epic sort; sad, mournful, true.
" For poetry," says he, " I have had a decided taste from my child
hood ; this taste I have sedulously cultivated." Let that old closet
tell ! Only think of the boy who had read the books we have cited,
and Don Quixotte, Gil Bias, Quintus Curtius, Plutarch, Pope's Ho
mer, Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver, Tom Jones, Orlando Furioso, and
Thomson's Seasons, before he was eleven years of age !
For more than two years the old closet was to that young genius
the cave of Aladdin ; and those old tomes the magic lamp by whose
aid he could summon to his presence the giants and the genii, the
dwarfs and the fairies, the Calibans and the Mirandas, and all the
wonderful creations of fancy and imagination. With the clear, open
sense and loving heart of childhood, he' devoured those narrations
and tales, which as he grew up became the themes of reflection, the
objects of his aptest illustrations, and the sources whence he drew his
lessons of profoundest wisdom. What a force of illustration, and
even of argument, is found in his beautiful allusions to the marriage
of Sinbad the Sailor to the corpse of his wife ; the Old Man of the
Sea ; and the Vision of Alnascar ! As to Shakspeare, he was so tho
roughly imbued with his spirit, his own genius so akin to the Avon
bard, that he thought and spoke as Shakspeare in his station would
have thought and spoken.
He lamented in after life his rambling way of reading. But it
could not have been otherwise. He belonged to the irritabile genus
— was a born poet, and could not brook the restraint or the gin-horse
routine of a grammar school. " I have been all my life," says he,
" the creature of impulse, the sport of chance, the victim of my own
uncontrolled and uncontrollable sensations ; of a poetic temperament.
I admire and pity all who possess this temperament." Poor fellow !
What could mother or step-father do with such a thin-skinned, sensi
tive, impulsive, imaginative boy ? With his fits of passion and swoon
ing, what could they do ? Nature is her own best guide. Develope

16 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
nature according to her own instincts, and the best has been done that
the case will admit of. So thought the kind parents of this delicate
boy. They put no restraint upon him. Gentleness and tender care
followed all his footsteps. He was suffered to roam freely over the
hills and by the waterfalls of Appomatox. The quiet sport of angling
was his chief source of amusement. When tired, he stole away into the
closet, and none took heed of him. In this happy, ever-remembered
dream of childhood, two years and a half passed away. Christmas,
in the year seventeen hundred and eighty, was destined to be the
last Christmas he would ever spend at Matoax as his home — as his
home and dwelling-place.

CHAPTEE V.
FLIGHT FROM MATOAX.
The new year seventeen hundred and eighty-one commenced with
the invasion of Virginia by the traitor Arnold. He had been
intrusted with an expedition to that province, not with the hope of
conquest; or with the expectation of achieving any important mili
tary enterprise, but solely for the purpose of plunder and devasta
tion. What the proud soldier scorned to do was fit work for the
betrayer of his country. The name of Arnold, before it became a
by-word of reproach, was a sound of terror, not to armed men, but to
defenceless women and children. The fame of his rapine and
murder in his native State had preceded his arrival in Virginia.
On the 3d of January, it was rumored at Matoax that the enemy
were coming up James river, and that they were destined for Peters
burg or Richmond. Mrs. Tucker had then been but five days
mother to her last child, the present eminent jurist, Judge Henry
St'. George Tucker, of the University. " The first time I ever saw
that gentleman," said John Randolph once in a speech, " we were
trying to get out of the way of the British." The enemy that night
landed at Hood's, of which being apprised early next morning, and
hearing that they had marched as far as Bland's Ordinary, in their

FLIGHT FROM MATOAX. 17
way to Petersburg, Mr. Tucker came to the conclusion, whatever
might be the consequence, to remove his family out of the way of
danger, if possible. Hasty preparations were ordered for their
immediate departure. What bustle and confusion that frosty morn
ing reigned through the halls at Matoax — each hurrying into trunks
or boxes, or loaded wagons, such articles as to them seemed most
valuable, heaping imprecations at the same time on that new name
of dread, Benedict Arnold. Whether John stole into the old closet
for the last time, and took out such volumes as pleased him, we are
not informed. Early next morning, the 5th of January, Syphax
drove off with the mother and her child ; Essex and the boys
brought up the rear ; and in a few hours Matoax, solitary and alone,
with all its effects, was abandoned to its fate. Mrs. Tucker met
with a most kind and hospitable reception at the house of Mr. Ben.
Ward, Jun'r, at Wintopoke : an ominous name in conjunction with
that of John Randolph. It was the daughter of this gentleman
to whom in after years he became so much attached. The un-
smooth current of their loves (as all true love is) greatly affected his
sensitive nature, and had no little influence on the most important
events of his life. Those children, when they first met together
around the fireside at Wintopoke, and joined in the innocent plays
of childhood, how unconscious were they of the deep drama of life
in which they were destined to play so sad a part ! After recruiting
her health and strength a few days, which had been somewhat im
paired by fatigue and hurry of spirits, Mrs. Tucker pursued her
journey to Bizarre, a large and valuable estate on both sides of the
Appomatox, where she and the boys were destined to spend alone
the remainder of this stirring and eventful year. So soon as his
family were in a place of safety, Mr. Tucker hastened back to the
scene of action to assist old Col. Bland in his escape, and to secure
such property, belonging to himself and friends, as had not been
destroyed by the enemy. This done, he threw himself at the head
of the Chesterfield regiment of militia and joined General Greene,
then manoeuvring before Cornwallis's army on the borders of North
Carolina and Virginia. He was at the battle of Guilford, which
took place the 8th of March, where he behaved very gallantly.
When Gen. Greene marched into South Carolina after this engage
ment, he returned to Virginia, spent a few weeks with his family at

18 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Bizarre, then joined General La Fayette, with whom he continued
till the capture of Cornwallis, the 19th of October, at Yorktown.
Notwithstanding his active participation in the military opera
tions of that period, his solicitude for the education of the boys
was unabated. From Bizarre, May the 23d, he wrote to Colonel
Bland : " Lose no opportunity of procuring a tutor for the boys,
for the exigency is greater than you can imagine." Again, from
Richmond, July 17th, he writes on the same subject; and then
from Williamsburg, amidst the active preparations for that great
event which was to end the war, and secure the independence of the
country. In a letter dated Williamsburg, Sept. 21st, he says:
" The boys are still without, and more than ever in want, of a tutor.
Walker Maury has written to me lately, and given me such a plan
of his school, that unless you procure a tutor before Christmas, I
would at all events advise sending them to him immediately after.
I know his worth ; I know that his abilities are equal to the task ;
and I know that his assiduity will be equally directed to improve
their morals and their understandings, as their manners. With this
prospect, I would not advise the providing any but a man of superior
talents as a private tutor." The year '81 was full of stirring life to
the men, but of idleness to the boys ; yet we are not to suppose that
because the young Randolphs had not the benefit of a tutor to teach
them the Latin and Greek languages, they were entirely destitute of
instruction : with such a mother as they were blessed, they could
not grow up in vice or idleness. Her sprightly wit, sound judgment,
good temper, and pious example, impressed their character more
favorably than all the learning of the schools. Her precepts were law
to their plastic minds ; and they ever afterwards retained a lively recol
lection of their wisdom and truth. When riding over the vast Roa
noke estates one day, she took John up behind her, and, waving her
hand over the broad acres spread before them, she said : " Johnny,
all this land belongs to you and your brother Theodorick ; it is your
father's inheritance. When you get to be a man you must not
sell your land ; it is the first step to ruin for a boy to part
with his father's home : be sure to keep it as long as you live.
Keep your land and your land will keep you." In relating this
anecdote, Mr. Randolph said it made such an impression on his
mind that it governed his future life. He was confident it saved

FLIGHT FROM MATOAX. 19
him from many errors. He never did part from his father's home.
His attachment to the soil, the old English law of inheritance, and a
landed aristocracy (we have no other word to express our meaning),
constituted the most remarkable trait in his character. The Vir
ginia law of descents, framed by Pendleton, Wythe, and Jefferson,
never found favor in his eyes. While descanting on its evils, he has
been heard to say, " Well might old George Mason exclaim, that the
authors of that law never had a son !" In a letter addressed to a
friend at a very late period of life, he says : " The old families of
Virginia will form connections with low people, and sink into the mass
of overseers' sons and daughters ; and this is the legitimate, nay,
inevitable conclusion to which Mr. Jefferson and his levelling system
has brought us. They know better in New-York, and they feel the
good effects of not disturbing the rights of property. The patroon is
as secure in his rents as any man in the community. The great
manor of Philipsburg was scandalously confiscated, and the Living
stons have lost their influence by subdivision. Every now and then
our old acquaintance, Burr, finds out some flaw in the titles of the
usurpers, and a fine estate is restored to its legitimate owners." In
this passage the reader will find " the key words," to use his own
expression, that decipher every thing in the character of John Ran
dolph. The subdivision or alienation of his father's inheritance was a
subject he could not contemplate. Like Logan, he was alone — all
alone — and no one of his father's house after him to inherit his
father's home ; hence the apparent inconsistency in the disposition of
his estates, the facility with which he made and unmade wills — in
short, the monomania with which he was charged on the subject of
property.

20 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
CHAPTEE VI.
AT SCHOOL.
After Christmas the boys were sent to Walker Maury's school
in Orange county. Before he was nine years of age, John was
separated from the brooding watchfulness of a devoted mother, and
exposed to the dangers, evil examples, and vices of a public school.
Tender and delicate as a female, he was forced out on the society of
ruder boys, to endure or to resist as he might their kicks, cuffs, and
bruises. Early did he begin among his equals to learn that personal ,
merit is of more avail than birth or riches ; and that truth, fortitude,
and courage, are more to be valued than much learning.
At the school in Orange, the young Randolphs remained until
about the middle of October, 1782, when it was broken up, and Mr.
Maury removed to the city of Williamsburg.
He had been invited to that place to establish a Grammar School
as an appendage to William and Mary College, in which there was
no professorship of Humanity existing at that time. The school was
regulated most judiciously ; and was soon attended by more pupils
than any other-Grammar School that had been before established or
has since existed in Virginia. More than one hundred, at one time,
were in attendance, including boys from every State in the Union,
from Georgia to Maryland, both inclusive. Such a number of pupils
made it necessary that they should be divided into classes. The
greater proportion of these classes were consigned to assistants, of
whom there were four. Soon after Mr. Maury was established in
Williamsburg, the young Randolphs followed him there, and again
became members of his school. Richard, the eldest, was placed in
the second class, under the immediate direction of Mr. Maury himself.
Theodorick and John were placed in the fourth class, which was the
head class assigned to the superintendence of the chief usher, a Mr.
Elliot. When the class was so augmented, it was reading, and had
nearly finished, Eutropius. One of the books then used by a class
mate, with a class-roll written on the fly-leaf, is still extant. In a
short time after the young Randolphs joined it, the class had made

AT SCHOOL. 21
such progress that it was transferred from the usher's department to
that of the principal. It then became the third class. While John
Randolph continued a member of it, which was more than a year, it
was engaged in reading Sallust and Virgil, and had made some
progress in learning the Greek and French languages, and the ele
ments of Geometry. Though he complained of having learned but
little at this school, his attainments for the short time he was con
nected with it must have been very considerable. While there he
learned to repeat the Westminster Greek Grammar by heart, as he
could the alphabet.
It was around the base of Lord Bottetourt's statue, in the old
Capitol, the great clock, now removed to the church in Williamsburg,
vibrating overhead, that he committed his lessons to. memory. His
attainment in Latin also must have been considerable. The boys
were in the habit of acting plays in the original language from Plau-
tus and Terrence. He was always selected to perform the female t
parts. His feminine appearance, and the "spice of the .devil in his/
temper," rendered him peculiarly fitted for that purpose, and his
performance was admirable. One who remembers his personal
appearance at that time, in speaking of him, lifted up both hands,
and exclaimed, " he was the most beautiful boy I ever beheld !'' He
was, indeed, the* admiration of all who saw him, was a great favorite
with the ladies, but his proud temper and reserved manners prevented
him from forming any intimate associations with his school-fellows.
Though a promiscuous intercourse was repugnant to his feelings, no
one was capable of appreciating true merit, and of forming closer,
more unreserved, warmer, and lasting attachments than John Ran
dolph. Shunning vulgar society and repelling familiarity^ he was
the more open and devoted to those who were honored with his friend
ship. He had a natural instinct for discovering character ; and was
remarkable in earliest youth for his discernment and scrutiny into
motives. Among the hundreds of boys with whom he came in daily con
tact, he associated with, and formed an attachment to, one class-mate
alone. That class-mate was Littleton Waller Tazewell. With a
genius as brilliant as his own, a heart as warm, and a person as pre
possessing, young Tazewell was worthy of the distinction. A mutual
respect and friendship grew up between them, which lasted to the end

22 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
of Mr. Randolph's life ; and the recollection of which is still warmly
preserved by the noble survivor. In a manner peculiar to John
Randolph, this early attachment was often called to remembrance,
and cherished. Near forty years afterwards, when he had heard a
lady sing some Scotch airs, he wrote to a friend : " Among others she
sang ' There's nae luck aboot the house' very well, and ' Auld Lang
Syne.' When she came to the lines :
' We twa ha'e paidlet in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine,'
I cast my mind's eye around for such a " trusty feese," and could light
only on Tazewell (who, God be praised, is here), and you may judge
how we met."
In the spring of 1784, after he had been in Williamsburg a little
more than one year, John Randolph was taken away from school.
His parents went on a visit to Mr. Tucker's friends in the island of
Bermuda, and as John's health was very delicate, they took him along
with them. When about to take his leave, he proposed to young
Tazewell that they should exchange class-books, that each might have
some testimonial of their mutual friendship and of its origin.
They accordingly exchanged Sallusts. Not many years since,
while he was in Norfolk, preparing to depart on his mission to Rus
sia, he showed Mr. Tazewell the identical Sallust he (Tazewell) had
given him. On the fly-leaf of the book he had written, at the time
he .received it, how, when, and from whom he had acquired it. To
this he had added this hexameter : " Coelum non animum mutant
qui transmare currunt."
He continued abroad more than eighteen months, and not having
the advantage of daily recitation, the Greek language, which he had
begun so successfully to acquire in his promenades around Lord
Bottetourt's statue, was entirely effaced from his memory ; and he
barely kept alive the more extensive knowledge he had acquired of
the Latin. Though these newly acquired elements of learning were
readily abandoned, and easily effaced, pursuits more genial to his
taste were followed with unabated vigor. Poetry continued to be the
charm of his life. While abroad, he read Chatterton and Rowley, and
Young and Gay. Percy's Reliques and Chaucer then became his
great favorites. On his return to Virginia, in the latter part of 1 785

AT SCHOOL. 23
we do not learn that he returned to Walker Mauray's school in
Williamsburg ; on the contrary, we presume he did not, for he then
would have formed an acquaintance in early youth with John
Brockenbrough, the most intimate friend.of his after life.
The letter from which the above paragraph was taken continues
in this wise : " During the time that Dr. Brockenbrough was at
Walter Mauray's school (from the spring of 1784, to the end of
1785), I was in Bermuda; and (although he was well acquainted
with both my brothers) our acquaintance did not begin until nearly
twenty years afterwards. Do you know that I am childish enough
to regret this very sensibly ? for, although I cannot detract from the
esteem or regard in which I hold him, or lessen the value I set upon
his friendship, yet, had I known him then, I think I should enjoy
' Auld Lang Syne ' more, when I hear it sung, or hum it to myself,
as I often do."
How he spent the next twelve or eighteen months after his re
turn from Bermuda, we have not been able to learn. When we
see him again it is at Princeton College, in the autumn of 1787. The
manner in which he spent his time there and at Columbia College,
New-York, shall be given in his own words.
" My mother once expressed a wish to me, that I might one day
or other be as great a speaker as Jerman Baker or Edmund Ran
dolph ! That gave the bent to my disposition. At Princeton Col
lege, where I spent a few months (1787), the prize of elocution was
borne away by mouthers and ranters. I never would speak if I
could possibly avoid it, and when I could not, repeated, without ges
ture, the shortest piece that I had committed to memory. I remem
ber some verses from Pope, and the first anonymous letter from
Newberg, made up the sum and substance of my spoutings, and I
can yet repeat much of the first epistle (to Lord Chatham) of the
former, and a good deal of the latter. I was then as conscious of my
superiority over my competitors in delivery and elocution, as I am
now that they are sunk in oblivion ; and I despised the award and
the umpires in the bottom of my heart. I believe that there is no
where such foul play as among professors and schoolmasters ; more
especially if they are priests. I have had a contempt for college
honors ever since.
My mother's death drew me from Princeton, (where I had been

24 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
forced to be idle, being put into a noisy wretched grammar school
for Dr. Witherspoon's emolument : I was ten times a better scholar
than the master of it,) and in June, 1788, I was sent to Columbia
College, New-York ; just then having completed my fifteenth year.
Never did higher literary ambition burn in human bosom. Colum
bia College, New-York, was just rising out of chaos ; but there was
an Irishman named Cochran, who was our humanity professor.
I now (July, 1788) mastered the Eaton grammar, and gave Coch
ran, who was a scholar, " and a ripe and good one," a half-joe, out of'
my own pocket, for months, to give me private lessons. We read
Demosthenes together, and I used to cry for indignation at the suc
cess of Philip's arts and arms over the liberties of Greece. But
some disgust induced my master to remove to Nova Scotia, where a
professor's chair was offered him, about three months after I Became
his pupil. . Next to the loss of my mother, and my being sent to
Walker Mauray's school (and one other that I shall not name), this
was the greatest misfortune of my life.
" Unhappily, my poor brother Theodorick, who was two years older
than myself, had a strong aversion to books and a decided taste for
pleasure. Often when I had retreated from him and his convivial
associates to my little study, has he forced the lock, taken away my
book, and rendered further prosecution of my purpose impossible.
From that time forward I began to neglect study (Cochran left no
one but Dr. Johnson, the president, of any capacity behind him, and
he was in the Senate of the United States from March, 1789), read
only the trash of the circulating library, and never have read since,
except for amusement, unless for a few weeks at Williamsburg at
the close of 1793 ; and all my dear mother's fond anticipations and
all my own noble and generous aspirations have been quenched;
and if not entirely — if a single spark or languid flame yet burns — it
is owing to my accidental election to Congress five and twenty years
ago." He was recalled from Princeton by the death of his mother,
That sad event took place the 18th of January, 1788. She was but
thirty-six years old when she died. Cut off in the bloom of youth
and beauty, he ever retained a most vivid and impassioned remem
brance of her person, her charms, and her virtues. He always kept
her portrait hanging before him in his chamber. Though he was

AT SCHOOL. 25
not yet fifteen years old, the loss to him was irreparable. She knew
him ; she knew the delicacy of his frame, the tenderness of his heart,
the irritability of his temper ; and she alone could sympathize with
him. Many years after this event — the day after his duel with Mr.
Clay — while reflecting on the narrow escape he had made with his
life, and the professions of men who disappear in such an hour ot
trial, his mind naturally reverted to his dear mother, who understood
and n'ever forsook him ; he wrote thus to a friend : "lams fatalist.
I am all but friendless. Only one human being ever knew me. She
only knew me." That human being was his mother ! The loss to
him was irreparable ; nor did he ever cease to mourn over it. Rarely
did he come to Petersburg or its vicinity, that he did not visit old
Matoax, in its wasted solitude, and shed tears over the grave of those
honored parents, by whose side it was the last wish of his heart to
be buried. The spring of the year 1788 was spent in Virginia. It does not
appear that he was engaged in any regular course of study. Much
of his time, as was his custom whenever he could, was devoted to
friendship. He spent several weeks of this vacation with young
Tazewell, at his father's house, in Williamsburg. While there, he
discoursed at large on the various incidents he had met with while
abroad in Bermuda, and at college in Princeton, thus early display
ing that faculty of observation and fluent narrative that in after
years rendered his conversation so brilliant and captivating. After
his departure on the present occasion, he commenced a correspond
ence, which, with short intervals, was kept up through life. Such
was Mr. Tazewell's reputation for profound learning on all subjects
touching the laws and the Constitution of the country, that Mr.
Randolph consulted him on every important occasion as it arose in
Congress. Often in one line would he propound an inquiry that cost
his friend weeks of investigation to answer. His own early letters
displayed an inquiring mind far beyond his years. In his first let
ter, written on his arrival in New- York (June, 1788), he stated that
alien duties had been exacted by the custom-house there, not only
upon the vessel in which he had taken his passage, which was owned
in Virginia, but upon the passengers on board of her, all of whom
were natives of Virginia. This statement was accompanied by many
reflections, designed to show the impolicy of such exactions on the
vol. i. 2

26 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
part of NeW'York, and the ill effects that would result from persist
ing in such a course. This, incident took place before the adoption
of the present Constitutiorrof the United StateS, and when the sub
ject of it was just fifteen years old. It is mentioned merely to show
" the precocious proclivity" of John Randolph to the investigation of
political subjects.
Another letter addressed to the same friend, was confined to an
account of the first inauguration of General Washington as President
of the United States, which took place the 30th of April, 1789, in
the oity of New-York. John Randolph was an eye-witness of the
scone. His letter contained a narrative of many minute but very
interesting incidents that do not appear in any of our public records
or histories. This narrative, being written at the moment such inci
dents occurred, by an ingenuous youth, an eye-witness of the events,
had an air of freshness and truthfulness about it that was most cap
tivating. As the letter related to nothing but matters of general
interest, young Tazewell showed it to his father, who was so much
pleased with it, that shortly afterwards he requested his son to read
it to a party of friends who were dining with him. The late Colonel
James Innis, the attorney-general, was one of the party. He was
considered, at that time, the most eloquent speaker, and the best belles-
lettres scholar in yirginia. Colonel Innis was so much pleased with
the letter, that he took it from the hands of the owner, and read it
over and over again, pronouncing it to be a model of such writing,
and recommended to the young man to preserve it, and study its style.

CHAPTEE VII.
THE CONSTITUTION IN ITS CHRYSALIS STATE.
No man with a growing intellect was ever content with his early
education. The boy turns a contemptuous look on the swaddlings of
infancy. The wisest instruction is so inadequate to the wants of the
human mind, that when one grows up to manhood he looks back with
mortification on the dark gropings of youthful ignorance, and with

THE CONSTITUTION IN ITS CHRYSALIS STATE. 27
disgust on the time and effort wasted in pursuing barren paths,
where -experience taught him no truth could be found. John Ran
dolph was not singular in lamenting that he had disappointed the
fond anticipations of his friends, and mourning that " all his noble
and generous aspirations had been quenched." Had Theodorick
and his noisy companions left the ambitious student alone to his
books and his closet, we should still have heard the same complaint.
No attainment can satisfy the aspirations of genius. But it is true
he was not without just cause of discontent. His frequent changes
of school, not less than five times in as many years ; the long inter
ruptions thereby occasioned — by his travels abroad, the death of his
mother, and the daily vexations of ill health and of noisy companions,
with whom he was compelled to associate — rendered it impossible for
him to give that continuous and ardent devotion to study which is
indispensable to mental discipline, and the acquisition of learning.
In disgust he gave up the effort, and abandoned himself to the loose
habit of promiscuous reading. His classical studies, so often inter
rupted, were finally closed before he was sixteen years of age. " I
am an ignorant man, sir !" though sounding like sarcasm from his
lips, was uttered with sincerity. Though the broad foundation of
solid learning was wanting to him, his active and inquiring mind
was scarcely conscious of the deficiency. Nature had designed him
for a statesman ; he was eminently a practical man, and drew his
lessons of wisdom from experience and observation. He was, while
yet a youth, in daily intercourse with statesmen and men of learning.
He enjoyed great and rare opportunities for acquiring information on
those subjects towards which his mind had " a precocious pro
clivity." Practical politics, and the science of government, were the
daily themes of the statesmen with whom he associated. He was a
constant attendant on the sittings of the first Congress. He was in
Federal Hall, the 4th of March, 1789, when only thirteen members
of the new Congress under our present Constitution appeared and
took their seats. Two only presented themselves from the south
side of the Potomac ; Alexander White, from Virginia, and Thomas
Tudor Tucker, from South Carolina. Mr. Tucker was the brother
of St. George Tucker, the father-in-law of John Randolph. The
14th of March, Richard Bland Lee, a cousin of John Randolph,
Mr. Madison, and John Page, from Virginia, entered the hall, and

28 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
cheered the hearts of those who had assembled from day to day for
more than a week without a quorum, and were beginning to despond
and doubt lest this new government might prove a failure. The 30th
of March, Col. Theodorick Bland, the uncle of John Randolph,
made his appearance, It was not till the 1st of April, nearly a
month after the time appointed by the Constitution, that a quorum
was obtained, and the House organized for business. Such was the
feeble and doubtful infancy of this great and growing Republic. " I was
at Federal Hall," said Randolph once in a speech to his constituents ;
" I saw Washington, but could not hear him take the oath to support
the Federal Constitution. The Constitution was in its chrysalis
state. I saw what Washington did not see ; but two other men in
Virginia saw it — George Mason and Patrick Henry — the- poison
under its wrings." That this was no vain boasting in a boy cf six
teen, the reader will soon see.
The arduous and responsible task of organizing a new govern
ment devolved on the first Congress. In that body were a number
of men who preferred the Old Confederation, with some modifica
tions to give it energy ; and were strenuously opposed to a strong
centralizing system, such as they apprehended the new government
to be. They, therefore, looked with watchfulness and jealousy on
every step that was taken in its organization. The most prominent
among those who thus early opposed the assumptions of federal
power, were Theodorick Bland and Thomas Tudor Tucker, the two
uncles of John Randolph. Col. Bland was a great admirer and fol
lower of Patrick Henry. He was a member of the Convention that
met, June, 1788, in Richmond, to ratify the new Constitution. It is
well known that Patrick Henry opposed the ratification with all
his eloquence. The very day in which he shook the capitol with a
power not inferior to that with which he set the ball of Revolution
in motion, Col. Bland, writing to a friend, says : " I see my country
on the point of embarking and launching into a troubled ocean,
without chart or compass, to direct her ; one half of her crew hoist
ing sail for the land of energy, and the other looking with a longing
aspect on the shore of liberty." After declaring that the Conven
tion which framed the Constitution had transcended its powers,
Patrick Henry exclaimed : ' It is most clearly a consolidated gov
ernment. I need not take much pains to show that the principles of

THE CONSTITUTION IN ITS CHRYSALIS STATE. 29
this system are extremely pernicious, impolitic, and dangerous. We
have no detail of those great considerations which, in my opinion,
ought to have abounded before we should recur to a government of
¦this kind. Here is a revolution as radical as that which separated
us from Great Britain. It is as radical, if in this transition our
rights and privileges are endangered, and the sovereignty of the
States be relinquished : and cannot we plainly see that this is actu
ally the case ? Is this tame relinquishment of rights worthy of free
men ? Is it worthy of that manly fortitude that ought to charac
terize republicans? The Confederation — this same despised gov
ernment — merits, in my opinion, the highest encomium : it carried
us through a long and dangerous war ; it rendered us victoiious in
that bloody conflict with a powerful nation ; it has secured us a
territory greater than any European monarch possesses : and shall a
government which has been thus strong and vigorous, be accused
of imbecility, and abandoned for want of energy? Consider what
you are about to do before you part with this government." " It is
now confessed that the new government is national. There is not a
single federal feature in it. It has been alleged within these walls,
during the debates, to be national and federal, as it suited the argu
ments of gentlemen. But now when we have the definition of it, it
is purely national. The honorable member was pleased to say, that
the sword and purse included every thing of consequence. And
shall we trust them out of our hands without checks and barriers ?
The sword and purse are essentially necessary for the government.
Every essential requisite must be in Congress. Where are the
purse and sword of Virginia ? They must go to Congress. What is
become of your country? The Virginian government is but a
name. We should be thought unwise indeed to keep two hundred
legislators in Virginia, when the government is, in fact, gone to
Philadelphia, or New-York. We are as a State to form no part of
the government. Where are your checks ? The most essential
objects of government are to be administered by Congress. How
then can the State governments be any check upon them ? If we
are to be a republican government, it will be consolidated, not con
federated. This is not imaginary ; it is a formidable reality. If
consolidation proves to be as mischievous to this country as it has
been to other countries, what will the poor inhabitants of this

30 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
country do ? This government will operate like an ambuscade. It
will destroy the State governments, and swallow the liberties of the
people, without giving them previous notice. If gentlemen are
willing to run the hazard, let them run it ; but I shall exculpate
myself by my opposition, and monitory warnings, within these walls.
Another gentleman tells us that no inconvenience will result from
the exercise of the power of taxation by the general government.
A change of government will not pay money. If from the probable
amount of the import, you take the enormous and extravagant
expenses, which will certainly attend the support of this great con
solidated government, I believe you will find no reduction of the
public burdens by this new system. The splendid maintenance of
the President, and of the members of both Houses ; and the salaries
and fees for the swarm of officers and dependents on the Govern
ment, will cost this continent immense sums. After satisfying their
uncontrolled demands, what can be left for the States? Not a
sufficiency even to defray the expense of their internal administra
tion. They must, therefore, glide imperceptibly and gradually out
of existence. This, Sir, must naturally terminate in a consolidation.
If this will do for other people, it will never do for me. I never
will give up that darling word requisition ; my country may give it
up ; a majority may wrest it from me ; but I never will give it up
till my grave. The power of direct taxation was called by the
honorable gentleman the soul of the government : another gentle
man called it the lungs of the government. We all agree that it is
the most important part of the body politic. If the power of raising
money be necessary for the general government, it is no less so for
the States. Must I give my soul — my lungs to Congress ? Con
gress must have our souls ; the State must have our souls. These
two co-ordinate, interfering, unlimited powers of harassing the com
munity are unexampled ; it is unprecedented in history ; they are
the visionary projects of modern politicians. Tell me not of imagi
nary means, but of reality : this political solecism will never tend to
the benefit of the community. It will be as oppressive in practice
as it is absurd in theory. If you part from this, which the honor
able gentleman tells you is the soul of Congress, you will be inevita
bly ruined. I tell you they shall not have the soul of Virginia."
After speaking of the " awful squinting towards monarchy" in the

THE CONSTITUTION IN ITS CHRYSALIS STATE. 31
executive • and of the great powers conferred on the judiciary, Mr.
Henry concluded in one of those bursts of rapt eloquence, which
can only be compared to the eloquence of Demosthenes, when on a
similar occasion — in a last appeal to his countrymen to defend them
selves against the invasion of Philip — he called on the spirits of the
mighty dead, those who fell at Thermopylae, at Salamis, and at Ma
rathon, to rise and protect their country against the arts and arms
of the Macedonian Tyrant.
" The gentleman, tells you,- ,?aid Mr. Henry, " of important
blessings which he imagines will result to us, and to mankind in gene
ral, from the adoption of this system. I see the awful immensity of
the dangers with which it is pregnant. I see it, — I feel it. I see
beings of a far higher order anxious concerning our decision. When
I see beyond the horizon that bounds human eyes, and look at the
final consummation of all human things, and see those intelligent
beings which inhabit the ethereal mansions, reviewing the political
divisions and revolutions, which in the progress of time will happen in
America, and the consequent happiness or misery of mankind, I am led
to believe, that much of the account, on one side or the other, will de
pend on what we now decide. Our own happiness alone is not affected
by the event. All nations are interested in the determination. We
have it in our power to secure the happiness of one half of the human
race. Its adoption may involve the misery of the other hemispheres."
When the vote was about to be taken on the ratification, Patrick
Henry, seconded by Theodorick Bland, moved a resolution, " That
previous to the ratification of the new constitution of government
recommended by the late Federal Convention, a declaration of rights
asserting and securing from encroachment the great principles of
civil and religious liberty, and the inalienable rights of the people,
together with amendments to the most exceptionable parts of the
said constitution of government, ought to be referred by this con
vention to the other States in the American confederacy for their
consideration." This resolution was lost by a majority of eight votes.
Many who voted for it were members of the first Congress ; and
some of them were among the most influential and distinguished
men in Virginia. William Cabell, Samuel Jordan Cabell, Benjamin
Harrison, John Tyler, father of the late President, Isaac Coles,
Stephen Thompson Mason, Abraham Twigg, Patrick Henry, Theo-

32 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
dorick Bland, William Grayson, James Monroe, and George Mason.
These same persons voted against the adoption of the Constitution,
which was only carried by a majority of ten. So great was the im
pression made on the public mind by the arguments in the Conven
tion against the evil tendencies of the Constitution, that a majority
of the Virginia Legislature that met the ensuing October, to appoint
senators, and pass laws for electing members of Congress, was de
cidedly anti-federal ; that is, opposed to the Constitution, as it came
from the hands of its framers, without important modifications.
Patrick Henry was the master spirit of that assembly. He was
offered a seat in the Senate of the United States ; but he declined it,
as he had previously declined a seat in the Federal Convention.
Through his influence the appointment of senator was conferred on
William Grayson, and on Richard Henry Lee.
Mr. Grayson distinguished himself in the Virginia Convention
by a very elaborate analysis of the new Constitution, pointing
out its defects, and illustrating by history its dangerous tendencies
He gave utterance to a prediction, which many believe has been
in the daily process of fulfilment from that time to the present
moment. " But my greatest objection is," says he, speaking of
the Constitution, " that it will, in its operation, be found un
equal, grievous, and oppressive. If it have any efficacy at all, it
must be by a faction — a faction of one part of the Union against
the other. There is a great difference of circumstances between the
States. The interest of the carrying States (since manufacturing
States) is strikingly different from that of the producing States. I
mean not to give offence to any part of America, but mankind are
governed by interest. The carrying States will assuredly unite, and
our situation will then be wretched indeed. Every measure will
have for its object their particular interest. Let ill-fated Ireland be
ever present to our view. I hope that my fears are groundless, but
I believe it as I do my creed, that this government will operate as
a faction of seven States to oppress the rest of the Union. But it
may be said, that we are represented, and cannot therefore be in
jured — a poor representation it will be ! The British would have
been glad to take America into the Union like the Scotch, by giving
us a small representation. The Irish might be indulged with the
same favor by asking for it. (As they have done, and with what

THE CONSTITUTION IN ITS CHRYSALIS STATE. 33
result?) Will that lessen our misfortunes ? A small representation
gives a pretence to injure and destroy. But, sir, the Scotch Union
is introduced by an honorable gentleman as an argument in favor of
adoption. Would he wish his country to be on the same foundation
with Scotland? They have but 45 members in the House of Com
mons, and 16 in the House of Lords. They go up regularly in order
to be bribed. The smallness of their number puts it out of their
power to carry any measure. And this unhappy nation exhibits the
only instance, perhaps, in the world, where corruption becomes a
virtue. I devoutly pray, that this description of Scotland may not
be picturesque of the Southern States, in three years from this time."
The other senator from Virginia was Richard Henry Lee. He
stood by Patrick Henry from the commencement of our revolutionary
struggles to their end. He was one of the first delegates to the first
Congress. His name appears on almost all the important committees
of that body. He was selected by the Virginia delegation to move
the declaration of independence. For his patriotism, statesmanship,
and oratory, he was regarded as the Cicero of- his age. His classical
and chaste elocution possessed a tone of depth and inspiration that
charmed his auditory. While his great compatriot poured down
upon agitated assemblies a cataract of mingled passion and logic, he
awakened the attention, captivated the heart, and convinced the un
derstanding of his hearers by a regulated flow of harmonious lan
guage, generous sentiment, and lucid argument. " In his personal
character, he was just, benevolent, and high-spirited, domestic in his
tastes, and too proud to be ambitious of popularity." This distin
guished patriot and statesman was strenuously opposed to the Con
stitution as it came from the hands of its framers. He was a member
of Congress to whom it was referred, and by whom it was expected
to be recommended to their respective States. " When the plan of a
Constitution," says Mr. Madison, " proposed by the Convention came
before Congress for their sanction, a very serious effort was made by
Richard Henry Lee to embarrass it. It was first contended that
Congress could not properly give any positive countenance to a measure
which had for its object the subversion of the Constitution under
which they acted. This ground of attack failing, he then urged the
expediency of sending out the plan with amendments, and proposed
a number of them corresponding with the objections of Col. Mason."
vol. 1. 2*

34 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
He then addressed a letter to Governor Edmund Randolph, of Vir
ginia, who as a member of the Convention had refused to sign the
Constitution. After giving his objections in detail, he says : !; You are,
therefore, sir, well warranted in saying, either a monarchy or aristoc
racy will be generated— perhaps the most grievous system of govern
ment will arise. It cannot be denied with truth, that this new Con
stitution is, in its first principles, highly and dangerously oligarchic ;
and it is a point agreed, that a government of the few, is, of all
governments, the worst."
" The only check to be found in favor of the democratic principle,
in this system, is the House of Representatives ; which, I believe, may
justly be called a mere shred or rag of representation ; it being obvi
ous to the least examination, that smallness of number, and great
comparative disparity of power, render that house of little effect to
promote good, or restrain bad government. But what is the power
given to this ill-constructed body ? To judge of what may be for the
general welfare, seems a power coextensive with every possible object
of human legislation." Such were the first senators from Virginia,
and of a like complexion were a majority of those returned to the
House of Representatives. For devoting himself so ardently to the
election of men known to be hostile to the Constitution as it stood,
Mr. Henry was charged with a design of subverting that which he
could not prevent. It is said that his avowed attachment to the con
federation was mere hypocrisy ; that he secretly rejoiced in its imbe
cility, and did not desire a union of the States under any form of
government. He was attacked in a most virulent and personal man
ner by a writer who signed himself Decius. He charged Mr. Henry
with a design of forming Virginia and North Carolina into one
republic, and placing himself at the head as their dictator. " Were
I to draw the picture of a tyrant for this country," says Decius, '• it
should be very different from that which some others have sketched
out. He should be a man in every instance calculated to soothe and
not to threaten the populace ; possessing a humiliating-and not an
arrogant turn ; affecting an entire ignorance and poorness of capacity,
and not assuming the superiorities of the illumined ; a man whose
capacity should be calculated to insinuate itself into the good esteem
of others by degrees, and not to surprise them into a compliance on
a sudden • whose plainness of manners and meanness of address first

GEORGE MASON. 35
should move our compassion, steal upon our hearts, betray our judg
ments, and finally run away with the whole of the human composi
tion." This description of the demagogue winning his way by affected
humility and low cunning to the supreme command, was intended to
be applied to Mr. Henry. Many of his own expressions are used in
drawing the portrait, but no mar less deserved the epithet of ambi
tious. There can be no doubt that he delighted to sway the passions
of the multitude, and to influence the decision of legislative bodies
by the powers of his eloquence ; but that his ambition extended to
the acquisition of supreme executive command, there is not the slight
est ground of suspicion.
The virulence with which he was assailed must be attributed to
the high party exeitement of the times, which indiscriminately
assaulted the most spotless characters, and paid no respect to exalted
services or venerable age.

CHAPTEE VIII.

GEORGE MASON.

George Mason was a wise man. He was at once the Solon and the
Cato, the ISwgiver and the stern patriot of the age in which he lived.
At a period when republics were to be founded, and constitutions
of government ordained for growing empires, he was the first to de
fine and to guard with watchful care the rights of the people — to
prescribe limitations to the different departments of government, and
to place restrictions on their exercise of power. The Bill of Rights,
and the Constitution of Virginia, are lasting monuments to his me
mory. One sentence of the former contains more wisdom and con
centration of thought, than all former writings on the subject of
government. The sentence is this ; " that no man or set of men is
entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments, or privileges from the
community, but in consideration of public services ; which, not being
descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or

36 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
judge, to be hereditary." Here is a volume of truth and wisdoin
says an eminent writer, a lesson for the study of nations, embodied
in a single sentence, and expressed in the plainest language. If a
deluge of despotism were to overspread the world, and destroy those
institutions under which freedom is yet protected, sweeping into ob
livion every vestige of their remembrance among men, could this sin
gle sentence of Mason be preserved, it would be sufficient to rekindle
the flame of liberty, and to revive the race of freemen. Though Mr.
Mason did not object to a union of the States for their mutual de
fence and welfare, he yet regarded the commonwealth of Virginia as
his country, and her government as the only one that could guarantee
his rights or protect his interests. So far back as 1783, Mr. Madi
son, speaking of him, says, " his heterodoxy lay chiefly in being too
little impressed with the necessity or the proper means of preserving
the confederacy." Virginia was a great empire within herself, and
had every thing to sacrifice in surrendering her sovereignty to a cen
tral government. On the independence of the States also rested his
only hope of preserving the liberties of the people. He entered the
Federal Convention, therefore, in 1787, with a stern resolution never
to surrender the sovereignty of the States. Others, on the contrary,
could conceive of no other plan but a consolidated government, by
which the States should be reduced from political societies to mere
municipal corporations. The middle ground of compromise had not
yet been thought of. Mr. Madison had but a dim per^ption of its
possibility. Even he was for a strong government. In a letter ad
dressed to Edmund Randolph, dated New- York, April 8th, 1787, he
says : " I hold it for a fundamental point, that an individual indepen
dence of the States is utterly irreconcilable with the idea of an ag
gregate sovereignty. I think, at the same time, that a consolidation
of the States into one simple republic, is not less unattainable than
it would be inexpedient. Let it be tried, then, whether any middle
ground can be taken." To the untiring exertions M Mr. Madison,
both in the Federal Convention and in the Convention of Virginia,
are we indebted for the existence of the Constitution. But to Colo
nel Mason are we indebted for the only democratic and federal fea-'
tures it contains. But for Madison we should have been without a
government ; but for Mason, that government would have crushed
the States, and swallowed up the liberties of the people. To Mason

GEORGE MASON. 37
are we indebted for the popular election of members of the House of
Representatives, the election of senators by the State Legislatures,
and the equal representation of the States in the Senate. In the
first, there is some guarantee for the rights of the people ; in the se
cond, some protection to the sovereignty and independence of the
States. So important were Mr. Mason's services, that we must de
tain the reader by a few quotations from his speeches to establish
his claim to the high distinction here awarded him. When the
question of electing members to the House of Representatives by
the State Legislatures instead of the people, was before the Conven
tion, Mr. Mason said : " Under the existing Confederacy Congress re
present the States, and not the people of the States ; their acts ope
rate on the States, and not on the individuals. The case will be
changed in the new plan of government. The people will be repre
sented ; they ought therefore to choose the representatives. Much,"
he said, " had been alleged against democratic elections. He ad
mitted that much might be said ; but it was to be considered that no
government was free from imperfections and evils, and that improper
elections, in many instances, were inseparable from republican gov
ernments. But compare these with the advantage of this form, in
favor of the rights of the people, in favor of human nature !" Mr.
Mason urged the necessity of retaining the election by the people.
" Whatever inconvenience may attend the democratic principle, it
must actuate one part of the government. It is the only security for
the rights of the people."
When the organization of the Senate was under consideration,
Mr. Mason said, " he never would agree to abolish the State Gov
ernments, or render them absolutely insignificant. They were as
necessary as the General Government, and he would be equally care
ful to preserve them. He was aware of the difficulty of drawing the
line between them, but hoped it was not insurmountable. It has
been argued on alWhands, that an efficient government is necessary ;
that 1$ render it such, it ought to have the faculty of self-defence ;
that to render its different branches effectual, each of them ought to
have the same power of self-defence. He did not wonder that such
an argument should have prevailed on these points. He only won
dered that there should be any disagreement about the necessity of
allowing the State governments the same self-defence. If they are

38 - ' LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
to be preserved, as he conceived to be essential, they certainly ought
to have this power ; and the only mode left of giving it to them, was
by allowing them to appoint the second branch of the National Le
gislature." Dr. Johnson said : " The controversy must be endless
while gentlemen differ in the grounds of their arguments ; those on
one side considering the States as districts of people composing one
political society ; those on the other, considering them as so many
political societies. The fact is, that the States do exist as political
societies, and a government is to be formed for them in their politi
cal capacity, as well as for the individuals composing them. Does it
not seem to follow, that if the States, as such, are to exist, they must
be armed with some power of self-defence ? This is the idea of Co
lonel Mason, who appears to have loolted to the bottom of this matter.
Besides the aristocratic and other interests, which ought to have the
means of defending themselves, the States have their interests as
such, and are equally entitled to like means. On the whole he
thought, that, as in some respects the States are to be considered in
their political capacity, and in others as districts of individual citi
zens, the two ideas embraced on different sides, instead of being op
posed to each other, ought to be combined ; that in one branch the
people ought to be represented, in the other the States."
Notwithstanding Col. Mason labored to modify the Constitution
through its various stages, as much as he could in favor of liberty
and the independence of the States, he finally voted against it. His
objections were radical, extending to every department of govern
ment. He objected to the unlimited powers of taxation, conferred
on a House of Representatives, which was but the shadow of repre
sentation, and could never inspire confidence in the people. He ob
jected to the marriage, as he called it, between the President and the
Senate, and the extraordinary powers conferred on the latter. He
insisted that they would destroy any balance in the government, and
would enable the President and the Senate, by mutually supporting
and aiding each other, to accomplish what usurpations they please
upon the rights and liberties of the people. He objected to the ju
diciary of the United States being so constructed and extended as to
absorb and destroy the judiciaries of the several States, thereby ren
dering the administration of laws tedious, intricate, expensive, and
unattainable by a great part of the community. He objected to the

GEORGE ?,1AS0N. 39
Executive because the President of the United States has no consti
tutional counsel (a thing unknown in any sale and regular govern
ment) ; .he will therefore be unsupported by proper information and
advice ; and will generally be directed by minions and favorites — or
he will become a tool to the Senate — or a council of state will grow
out of the principal officers of the great departments — -the worst and
most dangerous of all ingredients for such a council in a free coun
try ; for they may be induced to join in any dangerous and oppres
sive measures to shelter themselves, and prevent an inquiry into their
own misconduct in office.
In a word, said Col. Mason, the Confederation is converted to one
general consolidated government, which, from my best judgment of
it, is one of the worst curses that can possibly befall a nation.
Such was George Mason — the champion of the States, and the
author of the doctrine of State Rights. Many of the prophecies of
this profound statesman are recorded in the fulfilments of history —
many of the ill forebodings of the inspired orator are daily shaping
themselves into sad realities. To the indomitable courage, Roman
energy, and inspiring eloquence of Mason and of Henry, we are as
much indebted for our independence, as to the sword of the warrior.
To their wisdom and sagacity we owe the preservation and the future
safety of the ship of state, which, without their forewarning, would
have long since been dashed to pieces against the rocks and the
quicksands that lay concealed in its pathway. While the eyes of
many good and wise men were dazzled with the strength and bril
liancy of the young eagle, now pluming himself for a bold and ardu
ous flight, they with keener vision saw the poison under his wing,
and sought to extract it, lest, in his high career, he might shed pes
tilence and death on the country which it was his destiny to over
shadow and protect.

40 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
CHAPTEE IX.
EARLY POLITICAL ASSOCIATES.
In the foregoing chapters we may have gone more into detail,
and dwelt more on collateral subjects than might appear consistent
with a work of this kind. But it was necessary to give the reader a
clue to the political opinions of John Randolph. No one can fail to
ponder over those chapters, and study the character of those men
we have briefly attempted to portray, and do justice to the subject
of this memoir. He was bred up in the school of Mason and of
Henry. His father-in-law, his uncles, his brother, and all with whom
he associated, imbibed the sentiments of those great statesmen,
shared their devotion to the principles and the independence of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and participated in all their objections
to the new government. Randolph, as we have seen, was a constant
attendant on the debates of the first Congress, which had devolved
on it the delicate task of organizing the government, and setting its
wheels in motion. A majority of the members in that body, from
Virginia, belonged to the political school of Mason and of Henry,
They owed their appointment to the influence of those men and the
alarms excited in the public mind by their predictions. Many of
them were the blood relations of John Randolph, and all of them
his intimate friends. With these he associated. For the sage de
lights to take ingenuous youth by the hand, and address to his atten
tive ear words of truth and of wisdom. When Richard Henry Lee,
and Grayson, and Bland, and Tucker, and Page, were seated around
the domestic fireside, holding free and familiar discourse on those
great questions involved in founding a Republic, we may well con
ceive that their young friend and kinsman was a welcome and an at
tentive listener to those high themes, teaching ;.
" What makes a nation happy and keeps it so,
What ruins kingdoms and lays cities flat."
We may well conceive how his bosom dilated, and his eye kin
dled with unwonted fire, as they narrated the great battle of giants
in the Convention,„told of the many-sided wisdom of George Mason,

EARLY POLITICAL ASSOCIATES. 41
who in majestic unaffected style better taught the solid rules of civil
government than all the oratory of Greece and Rome, and spoke of
the deep-toned awful eloquence of Patrick Henry, which rivalled the
thunders that rolled over their heads, as he uttered his words of
warning. From these familiar communings he daily repaired to
Federal Hall, there to hang upon the bar of the House of Represen
tatives, and with keen vision see enacted before him the fulfilment
of the statesman's prophecy.
The great subject of taxation was the first to attract his atten.
tion. No sooner had Congress been organized, than they com.
menced, as he conceived, the work of oppression. The unlimited
powers conferred on Congress to tax the people, excited the alarm
of those who looked to the independence of the States as the only
protection to liberty. They sought a modification of this power in
the Convention. Failing there, they asked an amendment of the
Constitution. But all their efforts to place restrictions on this all-
absorbing power of government, were unavailing. The first exercise
of it justified, in their opinion, the worst suspicions which had been
excited as to its dangerous and oppressive tendency. They declared
that no duty or tax had been imposed, that did not operate as a
bounty to one section and a burden on another. While the import
and tonnage bills were under discussion, Mr. Smith of South Carolina
said, " that the States which adopted the Constitution, expected its
administration would be conducted with a favorable hand. The
manufacturing States wished the encouragement of manufactures ;
the maritime States the encouragement of ship building, and the ag
ricultural States the encouragement of agriculture. Let us view
the progress we have made in accommodating their interests : — We
have laid heavy duties upon foreign goods to encourage domestic
manufactures ; we are now about to lay a tonnage duty, for the en
couragement of commerce ; but has any one step been taken to en
courage the agricultural States ? So far from it, that all that has been
done operates against their interest : every duty we have laid will
be heavily felt by South Carolina, while nothing has been done to
assist or even encourage her or her agriculture." Mr. Tucker said :
" I am opposed to high duties, because they tend to the oppression
of certain citizens and States, in order to promote the benefit of
other States and other classes of citizens." Mr. Bland laid it down

42 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
as an incontrovertible truth, " that the agricultural interest is the
permanent interest of this country, and therefore ought not to be
sacrificed to any other." Mr. Jackson of Georgia, who had accus
tomed himself, as he said, to a blunt integrity of speech, that attest
ed his sincerity, exclaimed : " They call to my mind a passage of
Scripture, where a king, by the advice of inexperienced counsellors,
declared to his people, ' my father did laden you with a heavy yoke,
but I will add to your burdens.' " Follow those men through all
their legislative career and it will be found, though history has given
them little credit for it, that they steadily pursued one object as
their polar star — resistance to the encroachments of power, and pro
tection to the rights of the people.
The awful squinting towards monarchy which Henry saw in the
Executive, made them particularly jealous of that department of
government, and caused them to oppose every measure that might
tend to increase its power or patronage. On the much mooted ques
tion, for example, of removal from office, they insisted that the Senate
should be associated with the President. Mr. Bland was the first
to give expression to opinions which have since been so often re
peated, and the policy of which is still a question. He thought the
power given by the Constitution to the Senate, respecting the ap-~
pointments to office, would be rendered almost nugatory if the Pre
sident had the power of removal. He thought it consistent with the
nature of things, that the power which app'ointed, should remove ; and
would not object to a declaration in the resolution, that the Presfe
dent shall remove from office by and with the advice and consent '!6f
the Senate.
The bill to establish the Treasury Department contained a
clause making it the duty of the Secretary, "to digest and report
plans for the improvement and management of the revenue and for
the support of public credit."
Mr. Page moved to strike out these words, observing, that to
permit the Secretary to go farther than to prepare estimates, would
be a dangerous innovation on the constitutional privilege of that
house. It would create an undue influence within those walls, be-
cause'1 members might be led by the deference commonly paid to
men of abilities, who gave an opinion in a case they have thoroughly
considered, to support the plan of the minister even against their

EARLY POLITICAL ASSOCIATES. 43
own judgment. Nor would the mischief stop there. A precedent
would be established, which might be extended until ministers of
the government should be admitted on that floor, to explain and
support the plans they had digested and reported, thereby laying a
foundation for an aristocracy or a detestable monarchy.
Mr. Tucker seconded the motion of Mr. Page. He hoped the
house was not already weary of executing and sustaining the powers
¦vested in them by the Constitution ; and yet the adoption of this
clause would argue that they thought themselves less adequate than
an individual to determine what burdens their constituents were
able to bear. This was not answering the high expectations that
had been formed of their exertions for the general good, or of their
. vigilance in guarding their own and the people's rights.
But nothing could equal the ferment and disquietude occasioned
throughout the country by the proposition which came from the
Senate, to confer titles 011 the President and other officers of govern
ment. The committee of the Senate reported, that it was proper
to style the President his highness the President of the United States
of America, and Protector of their liberties. In some of the news
papers the President was called his highness the President General.
Some even went farther, and declared that as he represented the
majesty of the people, he might even be styled " His Majesty"
without reasonable offence to republican ears. The Senate was de
nominated most honorable, and the same epithet was applied to the
members of that body. For instance, it was published that the most
honorable Rufus King and the most honorable Philip Schuyler were
appointed senators. And when Mrs. Washington came to New-
York, she was accompanied by the " lady of the most honorable
Robert Morris." The representatives, and even the secretaries of
the executive departments were favored with no higher title than
honorable. This habit of conferring titles and drawing distinctions
between the different departments of .government, and extending
those titles and distinctions to persons no way connected with the
government, had become very common, and would unquestionably
have grown into something worse, but for the debates called forth in
the House of Representatives, and the indignation shown by the
leading members of that body against such proceedings. " What,
sir," said Mr. Tucker, "is the intention of this business? Will it not

44 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
alarm our fellow-citizens ? will it not give them just cause of alarm ?
Will they not say, that they have been deceived by the Convention
that framed the Constitution ? That it has been contrived with a
} view to lead them on by degrees to that kind of government which
! they have thrown off with abhorrence ? Shall we not justify the
fears of those who are opposed to the Constitution, because they con
sidered it as insidious and hostile to the liberties of the people ?"
" Titles, sir," said Mr. Page, " may do harm and have done harm.
If we contend now for a right to confer titles, I apprehend the time
will come when we shall form a reservoir for honor, and make our
President the fountain of it. In such case may not titles do an
injury to the Union? They have been the occasion of an eternal
faction in the kingdom we were formerly connected with, and may
beget like inquietude in America ; for I contend, if you give the
title, you must follow it with the robe and the diadem, and then the
principles of your government are subverted."
Such were the men with whom John Randolph daily associated,
such were the high-toned principles of liberty he was daily accus
tomed to hear. It was not from the reading of books in his closet,
nor from second-hand that he acquired his knowledge of politics, and
that extensive acquaintance with the leading characters of the country
for which he was so remarkable, but from familiar intercourse with
the statesmen and sages who laid the foundations of the government,
and commenced the first superstructure of laws and precedents to
serve as guides and examples to the statesmen who should come after
them. It was the fortune of this young man to behold the Government
in its feeble beginnings, like the simple shepherds on the snowy Ve-
solo, gazing in the overshadowed fountain of the Po with his scanty
waters. Mirando al fonte ombroso
II Po con pochi umori.
It was his destiny also never to lose sight of it, but to follow it
through near half a century of various fortune, now enfeebled by
war and faction, now strengthened and enlarged by new States and
new powers. How like the Po ! he receives as a sovereign the Adda
and the Tessino in his course, how ample he hastens on to the sea,
how he foams, how mighty his voice, and to him the crown is assigned.

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 45
Che '1 Adda, che 1 Tessino
Soverchia in suo cammimo,
Che ampio al Mar' s'affretta
Che si spuma, e si suona,
Che gli si da corona !

CHAPTEE X,

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

In the winter of the year 1790-1, Philadelphia had again become,
as in times of the old Continental Congress, the great centre of
attraction. By a recent Act it had been made the seat of the Federal
Government for ten years. The national legislature, adjourning the
12th of August in New-York, were to assemble the first Monday in
December in the new Capitol. The papers and officers of all the
Executive Departments were removed thither early in October, under
the conduct of Col. Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury. The
President returning from Mount Vernon about the 1st of December,
took up his lodgings in a house belonging to Robert Morris, which
had been hired and fitted up for the purpose. And Tuesday, the 7th
of December, the 3d session of the 1st Congress was organized in
the new Court House of the city, which had been tendered to the
government by the town authorities. We find also our young friend,
in this general removal, transferred to the city of Philadelphia. He
took up his residence at No. 154 Arch-street, where he continued
with short intervals, till the spring of 1794, when he returned to Vir
ginia. He was attached to the family of Edmund Randolph, the Attor
ney General of the United States — the same person his mother
pointed him to as the model of an orator, worthy of his imitation.
Edmund Randolph was a kinsman in the collateral line. He was
the son of John Randolph, the King's Attorney General about the
time of the Revolution.
" Mr. Randolph," says Wirt, " was, in person and manners, among
the most elegant gentlemen in the colony, and in his profession one

46 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
of the most splendid ornaments of the bar." He was the son of Sir
John (Knight), who was the son of William of Turkey Island, the
great American progenitor of the family. Edmund Randolph in
herited many of the accomplishments of his father. But he was
more showy than solid. He was also of a vacillating character;
voting against the Constitution, then violent in its favor ; striving at
first to steer above the influence of party, he was at length ingulfed
and swept away by its current. " Friend Edmund," said John
Randolph years afterwards, " was like the aspen, like the chameleon,
ever trembling, ever changing." We may, therefore, suppose that
his influence over the mind and character of his pupil was not so
great as that of another kinsman who was also a member of General
Washington's Cabinet. We allude to Thomas Jefferson, the first
cousin of John Randolph's father, and the intimate friend of his
youth. Mr. Jefferson had been abroad some years as Minister to France.
Returning on a visit to America, he was invited by General Washing
ton to take charge of the State Department. The invitation was
accepted, and he was no soonor installed in office in the spring of
1790, than he became the head and leader of the Republican State-
Rights Party, then struggling into existence. It was not the exalted
station alone, but other circumstances that forced him into this unen
viable and critical position. The author of the doctrine of State
Rights and its eloquent defender, George Mason, and Patrick Henry,
were both in retirement. The latter had been offered a seat in the
Senate, at its organization, but declined. It was tendered to him the
second time, on the death of Col. Grayson ; he again declined on the
ground that he was too old to fall into those awkward imitations
which have now become fashionable^ spoken in allusion to the levees
of Mrs. Washington, and the etiquptte observed in presentations at
the Executive Mansion.
Richard Henry Lee was still in the Senate. He was the gentleman,
the scholar, and the orator, but his thoughts ran too much in the smooth
channel of established forms, his oratory too elaborate and polished, his
disposition too. indolent and unambitious to make him the fit leader
of a party just coming into existence in a new era, with new thoughts,
new principles, and an untried experiment before them. Thomas
Jefferson was the man. The qualities of his mind, his education and

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

'47

previous course of life, fitted him to be the bold and intrepid pioneer
of that untried course the people had entered upon.
His mind, not of the Platonic cast, was eminently perceptive.
The abstract had no charms for him — the spiritual no existence.
Devoted to the natural sciences, his metaphysics savored of material
ism. Locke's Philosophy of the Senses bounded his conceptions of the
human understanding. And the French Disciples, who pursued the
doctrines of their master, to the legitimate consequence of sensualism
and infidelity, were his chief authorities on all questions of morality
and religion'.
He was a bold, free thinker, bound to no school. " I never sub
mitted the whole system of my opinions," says he, " to the creed of
any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or
in any thing else."
He was born in a country in the vigor of its youth, untrammelled
by habit, and new in all its social relations. He was a child of the
Revolution. His ardent temper was kindled by its stormy passions,
and his bold intellect grasped the master idea of that great popular
movement, which was unfettered freedom to mind, body, and estate.
By him the law of primogeniture was destroyed in Virginia, religious
freedom established, and universal liberty and equality proclaimed in
the Declaration of Independence.
His ruling desire to strike the padlock from the mind, and the
fetter from the limbs of mankind, was rather strengthened than
abated by his long residence abroad under a despotic government.
Being a man of letters and of taste, he was in intimate association
with the great writers and master spirits that set the ball of the French
Revolution in motion. In boldness and freedom of discussion they
surpassed even himself. Speaking of them he says, " the writers of
this country (France) now taking the field freely, and unrestrained,
or rather revolted by prejudice, will rouse us all from the errors in
which we have been hitherto rooked."
A witness of the assembling of the States General, May, 1789,
he rejoiced in the downfall of the worn-out French monarchy, of
which that was the signal ; and was the friend and adviser of those
who sought to rebuild on its ruins a freer government, with broader
and deeper foundations. He heard the rights of man, the origin of
government, the abuses and limitations of power, more freely dis-

48 * LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
cussed in the cafes and saloons of Paris than in the court-yards of
Virginia. When the usages and precedents of past times, and of other
governments, were scornfully rejected, he saw our own proceedings
pointed to as a model, and regarded with an authority like that of
the Bible, open to explanation, but not to question.
Coming from those scenes of enthusiasm in which he so warmly
participated ; coming from a land where old prejudices and long
established abuses were vanishing away ; where the titles of feudal
ism and the privileges of despotism had been swept away in a
night, and a great nation was rejoicing in the dawn of a new era of
freedom ; he expressed himself astonished to find his own govern
ment, which was regarded by others as a model and an example, pos
sessed with a spirit that seemed to him so anti-republican.
This false direction of the government he mainly attributed to
the financial schemes of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the
Treasury. It is well known that Hamilton advised a Constitution far differ
ent from the one adopted. His was a plan of consolidation, with a
strong infusion of the aristocratic principle. Having experienced
the imbecility of the Confederation, he did not believe the new gov
ernment practicable. Without a successful example in history, he
did not believe in the capacity of the people for self-government.
Judging of mankind by the oppressed and degraded specimens of
the army and of the Old Country, he did not duly appreciate the
intelligent and manly character of his own countrymen, nor did he
comprehend the nature of that government of specified powers and
divided sovereignty which was the embodiment of their spirit and
principles. Placed at the head of the Financial Department of a
new government, he was surrounded with many difficulties. The
war had left the Confederation and the States burdened with debt ;
and, exhausted of resources, it became his duty to devise means to
resuscitate the one, and to pay off the other. With no experience
in his own country, it was natural he should look to the successful
example of others. He is considered a wise statesman, who is
guided by established precedents, does not strike into unknown
paths, but prudently follows the course that has been pursued before
him. Judging him by this rule, it would be hard to say how far he

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

49

ought to have acted otherwise than he did, without hazarding the
censure of rashness. " The chief outlines of these plans," says he
in his report on public credit, '¦ are not original, but it is no ill
recommendation that they have been tried with success." He
recommended that the debts which had been contracted by the
several States in the War of Independence, and for which they
were bound, as independent sovereignties, should be assumed by the
new government, — that these assumed debts, and those contracted
by the Confederation, amounting in all to some eighty millions of
dollars, though greatly depreciated, and passed from the hands of
the original owner, should be funded at their par value ; the in
terest to be paid regularly by an excise and an impost duty, but the
capital to be viewed in the light of an annuity, at the rate of six per
centum per annum, redeemable at the pleasure of the government.
He also advised the incorporation of a National Bank, as " an insti
tution of primary importance to the prosperous administration of the
finances, and of the greatest utility in the operations connected with
the support of the public credit." In his Reports, he labors, at
great length, to prove the utility of a well-funded National Debt.
"It is a well known fact," says he, " that in countries 'where the
national debt is properly funded, it answers most of the purposes of
money. Transfers of stock, or public debt, are there equivalent to
payments in specie ; or, in other words, stock in the principal trans
actions of business passes current as specie. Trade is extended by
it, because there is a larger capital to carry it on. Agriculture and
manufactures are promoted by it for a like reason. The interest of
money will be lowered by it, for this is always in ratio to the quan
tity of money, and to the quickness of circulation. From the combi
nation of these effects, additional aids will be furnished, to labor, to
industry, and to arts of every kind. But these good effects of a
public debt are only to be looked for when, by being well funded, it
has acquired an adequate and stable value." These arguments,
viewed in connection with the obvious tendency of his policy, led
the enemies of Hamilton to declare that he regarded a national
debt as a national blessing. Though this inference might be drawn
from his doctrine and policy, he yet, in express terms, declared him
self against it. " Persuaded as the Secretary is," says he, " that the
proper funding of the present debt will render it a national blessing,
vol. i. 3

50 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
yet he is so far from acceding to the proposition, in the latitude in
which it is sometimes laid down, that ' public debts are public
benefits' — a position inviting to prodigality, and liable to dangerous
abuse — that he ardently wishes to see it incorporated, as a funda
mental maxim, in the system of public credit of the United States,
that the creation of debt should always be accompanied with the
means of extinguishment." Had those schemes of Hamilton been
laid before a British Parliament, they would have been viewed as
clearly and ably expressed, and adopted as practicable and expe
dient ; but with us, far other and higher considerations than +hose
of expediency or practicability had to be weighed before the adop
tion of any measure. The British Parliament was omnipotent ; the
American Congress limited to a few, well defined, and specified
powers. Parliament was only guided by precedent and usage;
Congress were controlled by the words of a written Constitution.
There was with us, therefore, a primary and fundamental inquiry to
be made. on all subjects of legislation, unknown to the British
statesman. Whenever a measure is proposed, the first question
should be, Is it constitutional ? Is it authorized by the specified
powers laid down in the Charter? or does it encroach on the
reserved rights of the States? How does it affect the balance of
power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary Depart
ments, or how does it operate on the morals and integrity of the
people, upon whose purity depends the existence of a free govern
ment ? Unless these preliminary questions are always honestly and
fairly settled, it is obvious that a republican and a written Constitu
tion cannot long be of any avail. But these considerations did not
occur to the mind of Hamilton, in projecting his'schemes of finance ;
they are never started, nor is the slightest allusion made to them in
his Reports. He views every subject in its financial aspect, without
regard to its political bearing on the new, peculiar, and delicately
balanced institutions of his country. This was his great and fatal
error. Thomas Jefferson perceived it, and battled against all his
schemes as unconstitutional, destructive to the independence of the
States, and corrupting to the rulers and to the people.
Posterity, therefore, in pronouncing judgment on these great
rivals, would be constrained to say that Hamilton was the able
financier, but Jefferson the profound statesman. While the one,

THOMAS JEFFERSON. gl
with averted countenance, looked back upon the lights the world
had already passed ; the; other, with prophetic vision, caught the
rays of a new constellati#n, just dawning upon it. Gathering up in
his capacious mind the tendency and influences of those feelings
and opinions, recently developed in American history and institu
tions, Jefferson conceived a theory of government that embodied the
growing sentiments of the people, and fulfilled their idea of what
free Republic should be. He stands in relation to the Constitution
as Aristotle to the Iliad ; Homer wrote the poem, the philosopher
deduced thence the rules of poetry. Mason and other sages made
the Constitution,. the statesman abstracted from it the doctrines of a
federative, representative, republican government ; and demonstrated
that they alone are adapted to a wide-spread and diversified country,
and suited to the genius of a free and enlightened people. Were
the question asked, What has America done for the amelioration of
mankind ? the answer would not be found in her discoveries in
science or improvements in art, but in her political philosophy, as
conceived by Jefferson, and developed by his disciples. Though he
was the acknowledged leader of what may be called the great
American movement, he never spoke in public, and never wrote an
essay for the newspapers. His great skill lay in infusing his senti
ments into the minds of others by conversation, or correspondence,
and making them the instruments of their propagation. Gathering
about him the influential men of the new party, he imparted to them
more comprehensive views of their own doctrines, and made them
the enthusiastic defenders of those principles, the importance of
which they had but dimly perceived. Over no one did he exert a
greater influence than the young and ardent subject of this memoir.
His connection with the family of Edmund Randolph, and his near
relationship to Mr. Jefferson himself, brought him frequently within
the sphere of that fascinating conversation, which was never spared
in the propagation of his opinions. But John Randolph, although a
youth, was not the character to yield a blind allegiance to any
leader. The disciple differed widely in many doctrines from the
master. The grounds of that difference may be found in the writ
ings of another great statesman that begun about that time to take
hold on his mind, and deeply impress his character. So great was
their influence in after life, that the writings of Edmund Burke

52 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
became the key to the political opinions of John Randolph. With
him Edmund Burke was the great master of political philosophy.

CHAPTEE XI.
SMALL BEGINNINGS — EDMUND BURKE — THOMAS PAINE.
Soon after the adjournment of Congress, the 4th of March, 1791,
General Washington left the seat of government, and commenced
his tour through the Southern States. The secretaries at the head
of the different departments, were left as a kind of committee to
conduct affairs in his absence.
About this time the public mind began to be greatly agitated
not only by the wonderful events of the French Revolution, but the
various speculations on those extraordinary occurrences that daily
teemed from our own political press. The two leading productions,
that were held up on both sides as setting forth most clearly and
fully the views they respectively entertained, proceeded from men
who were well and favorably known in America as the friends of
liberty. Edmund Burke had not only defended the colonies, in the Brit
ish Parliament, against the unjust and oppressive taxation of the
ministry, but had nobly vindicated their character and their mo
tives. Throughout America his name was venerated and beloved.
Well might he exclaim, '; I love a manly, moral, regulated liberty as
well as any man, be he who he will ; and perhaps I have given as good
proofs of my attachment to that cause in the whole course of my
public conduct."
Thomas Paine was in America during the struggle of the Colo
nies for independence, and greatly aided the cause by his spirited
and patriotic essays. It was generally conceded that in the darkest
hour of the Revolution, when our armies were disbanded, and the
hearts of the people despondent, he helped to rally the one, and to
animate the other by his bold and patriotic appeals. The first men
of the nation forgot his many vices, and cherished his person and
his reputation in grateful remembrance of his valuable services.

EDMUND BURKE— THOMAS PAINE. 53
General Washington was his constant correspondent while abroad,
and while in America the house of Jefferson was his home.
In the great struggle for liberty which had now commenced on
the other side of the Atlantic, these two champions of the cause took
opposite sides. Burke expressed a hearty wish that France might
be animated by a spirit of rational liberty, and provide a permanent
body in which that spirit might reside, and an effectual organ by
which it might act ; but, he said, it was his misfortune to entertain
great doubts concerning several material points in their late transac
tions. Paine, on the other hand, had no doubts ; inflamed by the
spirit of liberty, suddenly burst forth in the hearts of the French
people, and dazzled by its brilliant achievements, he threw himself
warmly into the popular cause without knowing or caring for Jhe
consequences. The habits, education, social position, and natural temperament
of the two men led to this wide difference. Burke had been long
trained in the school of experience, Paine was the mere speculative
theorist. The one judged tff the future by the past, the other pro
jected the future not from the solid ground of experience, but the
hopeful theories of his own sanguine imagination. Burke was the
cautious statesman, Paine the enthusiastic patriot.
The statesman cannot stand forward and give praise or blame to
any thing which relates to human actions, and human concerns, on a
simple view of the object, as it stands stripped of every relation, in
all the nakedness and solitude of metaphysical abstraction. Circum
stances which with some pass for nothing, give in reality to every
political principle its distinguishing color, and discriminating effect.
The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme
beneficial or noxious to mankind. Burke was guided by this great
political maxim, the truth of which he had been taught by long
experience. " I must be tolerably sure," said he, " before I venture
publicly to congratulate men upon a blessing, that they have really
received one. Flattery corrupts both the receiver and the giver ;
and adulation is not of more service to the people than to kings. I
should therefore suspend my congratulations on the new liberty of
France, until I was informed how it had been combined with govern
ment, with public force, with the discipline and obedience of armies,
with the collection of an effective and well distributed revenue, with

54 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
morality and religion, with solidity and property, with peace and
order, with civil and social manners. The effect of liberty to indi
viduals is, that they may do what they please ; we ought to see what
it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations, which
may soon be turned into complaints. Prudence would dictate this in
the case of separate insulated private men ; but liberty, when men
act in bodies, is power. Considerate people, before they declare them
selves, will observe the use which is made of power ; and particularly
of so trying a thing as new power in new persons, of whose principles,
tempers, and dispositions, they have little or no experience. Better
to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too con
fident a security."
Paine, on the other hand, with all the inexperienced statesmen of
France, followed a transcendental idea. He saw a great and power
ful nation burst the oppressive and galling fetters of feudal ages, and
proclaim themselves a free people. With all the lovers of man
kind through the world, he lifted up his hands and clapped for joy.
He beheld the event and rejoiced. Butthow this new power might
be used by the new men, of whose principles, tempers, and dispositions
he had no experience, he did not stop to inquire ; he did not consult
the maxims of prudence, or the principles of reason, but obeyed the
impulses of a warm, enthusiastic and patriotic heart. Dictated by
such a spirit, his writings might serve to animate, but not to instruct,
to inspire a kindred enthusiasm, but to afford no nourishment to the
hungering mind. They have perished with the occasion that gave
them birth, while the immortal truths scattered as gems through
the writings of Edmund Burke, are set like stars in the firmament
for lights and guides to mankind.
Burke wrote his reflections on the Revolution in France in the
month of May, 1790; and some short time thereafter gave them to
the public. Paine's answer, entitled the Rights of Man, soon fol
lowed. The first and only copy of this latter production made its
appearance in Philadelphia about the first of May, 1791 ; it was in
the hands of Beckley. He lent the pamphlet to Mr. Jefferson, with
a request, that when he should have read it, he would send it to
'Smith the printer, who wished it for re-publication. As he was a
stranger to Smith, Mr* Jefferson, in sending the pamphlet, wrote him
a note, stating why he, a stranger, had sent it, namely, that Mr.

THOMAS PAINE— EDMUND BURKE. 55
Beckley had desired it ; and, to take off a little of the dryness of a
note, he added, that he was glad to find it was to be reprinted, that
something would at length be publicly said against the political here
sies which had lately sprung up amongst us, and that he did not doubt
our citizens would rally again around the standard of Common Sense.
In these allusions, Mr. Jefferson had reference to the Discourses on
Davila, which had filled Fenno's paper for a twelvemonth without
contradiction. Mr. Adams, the Vice-President, was the reputed
author of those Discourses. When the reprint of Paine's pamphlet
appeared, it had prefixed to it the note of Mr. Jefferson, which the
printer had appended without giving him the slightest intimation of
such an intention. In this unexpected way was the leader of the
new and rising Democratic Party identified with the political doc
trines of Paine, the principles of the French Revolution, and made
publicly to avow his hostility to the political heresies which had lately
sprung up in our own country. In addition to this, Paine's pam
phlet, though without authority, had been dedicated to General
Washington. The pamphlet, accompanied with these circumstances,
produced a considerable excitement in the political circles of Phila
delphia. Major Beekwith, an unofficial British agent, made it a
subject of formal complaint to the private secretary of the President.
He expressed surprise that the pamphlet should be dedicated to the
President of the United States, and averred that it had received the
unequivocal official sanction of the Secretary of State, not as Mr.
Jefferson, but as the Secretary of State.
On the other hand, Mr. Adams was not slow in declaring his
opposition to the sentiments expressed in Paine's pamphlet. In the
most pointed manner, he expressed his detestation of the book and
its tendency. " I was at the Vice-President's house," says the pri
vate secretary, writing to General Washington, " and while there,
the Doctor and Mrs. Rush came in. The conversation turned on this
book, and Dr. Rush asked the Vice-President what he thought of it.
After a little hesitation, he laid his hand upon his breast, and said
in a very solemn manner, ' I detest that book and its tendency, from
the bottom of my heart.' "
Mr. Jefferson, in writing to the President" about the same time,
says : '' Paine's answer to Burke's pamphlet begins to produce some
squibs in our public papers. In Fenno's paper they are Burkites ;

56 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
in the others, they are Painites. One of Fenno's was evidently from
the author of the Discourses on Davila. I am afraid the indiscre
tion of a printer has committed me with my friend Mr. Adams, for
whom, as one of the most honest and disinterested men alive, I have a
cordial esteem, increased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in
the days of his republicanism ; and ever since his apostasy to heredi
tary monarchy and nobility, though we differ, we differ as friends
should do.
" Mr. Adams will unquestionably take to himself the charge of poli
tical heresy, as conscious of his own views of drawing the present gov
ernment to the form of the English constitution, and, I fear, will con
sider me as meaning to injure him in the public eye. I certainly
never made a secret of my being anti-monarchical, and anti-aristo-
cratical ; but I am sincerely mortified to be thus brought foward on
the public stage, where to remain, to advance, or to retire, will be
equally against my love of silence and quiet, and my abhorrence of
dispute." We have given the minute history of this transaction, not only
because of its important bearing on the subject of this memoir, but
because it traces up to the fountain head one of the many streams
which, flowing together in after times, have conspired to swell the
mighty tide of party spirit that now sweeps through the land.
John Randolph was in Philadelphia during this time; partici
pated in the interest and excitement of the occasion ; heard the dis
cussions in the various circles into which he was freely admitted ; saw
people become inflamed with the Anglomania or the Gallomania, and
arrange themselves under the banners of their respective champions
as Burkites or Painites, according as they were inclined to admire
the British Constitution, or the more free and levelling doctrines of
the French Revolution, and plainly perceived that that great event
was destined to swallow up every minor consideration, and to give
character and complexion to the politics of his own country. But
while he was a democratic republican, a follower of Jefferson in all
that pertained to his political doctrines and interpretation of the
Constitution, pre-eminently a disciple of the Mason and Henry
school of States' rights, yet he did not become a Painite in the
sense that term was used by Mr. Jefferson. In the expressive lan
guage of Governor Tazewell, he could not bear Tom Paine ; he ad

THOMAS PAINE— EDMUND BURKE. 57
mired Burke, though himself a jacobin ! While he rejoiced in the over
throw of despotism by the French people, he could not fail to perceive
that they were better fitted to destroy tyrants than obey the laws ; and
hastened to learn those lessons of wisdom that fell from the lips of
the great master of political philosophy, who, from the few events al
ready transpired, foretold with the clearness of a Hebrew prophet,
the wretched end to which they were hastening. We regard this as
a most remarkable fact in the history of that young man. The de
sign of Burke was eminently conservative. He saw the conse
quences of a dissemination of French revolutionary doctrines among
the English people ; his purpose was to shut out from England
what the kings of Europe called the F/-ench evil.
With this design, he gives a most beautiful and masterly expo
sition of the British Constitution, from Magna Charta to the
declaration of rights. He calls it an entailed inheritance, derived to
us (the people of England) from our forefathers; and to be transmitted
to our posterity ; as an estate specially belonging to the people of
this kingdom — an inheritable crown— an inheritable peerage ; and a
House of Commons, and a people inheriting privileges, franchises,
and liberties from a long line of ancestors.
With the same masterly hand he makes bare the composition of
the French National Assembly — the characters that compose it — the
few acts they had already performed during a single year ; and then
predicts, from these elements of calculation, that France will be
wholly governed by the agitators in corporations, by societies in the
towns formed of directors in assignats, and trustees for the sale of
church lands, attorneys, agents, money-jobbers, speculators, and ad
venturers, composing an ignoble oligarchy, founded on the destruc
tion of the crown, the church, the nobility, and the people. Here
end all the deceitful dreams and visions of this equality, and the
rights of man. In the Serbonian bog of this base oligarchy, they are
all absorbed, sunk, and lost for ever. The present form of the
French commonwealth, he says, cannot remain ; but before its final
settlement it may be obliged to pass, as one of our poets says,
" through great varieties of untried being ;" and in all its transmi
grations to be purified by fire and blood !
It is not surprising that such a book as this should be seized
upon by the partisans of England, and held up as a justification of
3*

58 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
their doctrine that the British Constitution, with all its corruptions,
was the best model of a government the world ever saw ; and as a
vindication of the abhorrence they had expressed for the doctrines
of the French Revolution, and their tendency.
But it is a matter of no little surprise that a mere stripling, a
youth of some eighteen or twenty years of age, himself a republican
and a jacobin, with an ardent temperament and a lively imagination,
should have the independence to ponder over the pages of a book
condemned by his associates ; the judgment to perceive its value,
and the discrimination to leave out that which peculiarly belonged
to England or to France, without being inflamed by its arguments, and
to appropriate to himself those rich treasures of wisdom to be found
in its pages : the massive ingots of gold that constitute the greater
part of that magnificent monument of human intellect. As we have
said, the writings of Edmund Burke are the key to the political
'opinions of John Randolph.
In after life, as he grew in experience, those opinions became
more and more assimilated to the doctrines of his great master.
His position in society, his large hereditary possessions, his pride
of ancestry, his veneration for the commonwealth of Virginia, her
ancient laws and institutions ; his high estimation of the rights of
property in the business of legislation, — all conspired to shape his
thoughts, and mould them in matters pertaining to domestic polity
after the fashion of those who have faith in the old, the long-
established, and the venerable. No one can trace his course in the
Virginia Convention, or read his speeches, which had a remarkable
influence on the deliberations of that body, without perceiving that
his deep and practical wisdom is of the same stamp, and but little
inferior to the great Gamaliel at whose feet he was taught.

YOUTHFUL COMPANIONS. 59

CHAPTER XII.
YOUTHFUL COMPANIONS.
We are not to suppose that a youth, in the joyous hours of his
dawning faculties, devoted his time, or any great portion of it, to the
society of sober statesmen, or to the grave study of political science.
Far other were the associates and companions of John Randolph
during his residence in the Quaker city, even at that day renowned
for its intelligent, polished, gay, and fashionable society.
With occasional visits to Virginia, and a short residence of a
few weeks in Williamsburg during the autumn of 1793, Phila
delphia, till the spring of 1794, continued to be his place of abode.
His companions were Batte, Carter, Epps, Marshall, and Rose of
Virginia ; Bryan of Georgia, and Rutledge of South Carolina.
Most of these were young men of wealth, education, refined man
ners, high sense of honor, and of noble bearing. John W. Epps
afterwards became a leading member of Congress, married the
daughter of Mr. Jefferson, and in 1813 was the successful rival of
Randolph on the hustings before the people. Joseph Bryan like
wise in a short time became a leading character in Georgia, was a
member of Congress from that State, and to the day of his untimely
death continued to be the bosom friend of the associate of his youth. ,
Most of the others, though unknown to fame, adorned the social
sphere in which they moved, and were noble specimens of the unam
bitious scholar and the gentleman. Thomas Marshall, the brother
of the Chief Justice, and father of Thomas Marshall, the late mem
ber of Congress, is still living. He is. a; man of extraordinary
powers, and great learning : his wit and -genial humor are not to be
surpassed. Those who knew them well agree that his natural talents
surpass those of his late illustrious brother, the Chief Justice.
Robert Rose was a man of genius ; he married the sister of Mr.
Madison, and might have risen to any station in his profession
(which he merely studied as an ornament), in letters, or in politics,
that he aspired to ; but, like too many in his sphere and station in

60 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
society, he lived a life of inglorious ease, and wasted his gifts, like
the rose its sweets, on the desert air. With such companions, we
may readily suppose there was fun and frolic enough ; but nothing
low or mean, or vulgar or sordid, in all their intercourse. The cor
respondence of some of those young men at that period is now before
the writer. It is very clear that Randolph was the centre of
attraction in that joyous circle of boon companions. And while
there can be no doubt that they indulged in all the license allowed
at that time to young men of their rank and fortune, yet he passed
through that critical period of life without the contamination of a
single vice. Though many years afterwards, he said, " I know by
fatal experience the fascinations of a town life, how they estrange the
mind from its old habits and attachments." Bryan, in February,
1794, wishes him all the happiness that is attendant on virtue and
regularity. Again, in speaking of one of their companions, to whom
Randolph had become strongly attached, he expresses a hope that
he may prove worthy of the friendship, — " possessing as you do,"
says he, " a considerable knowledge of mankind, your soul would not
have knit so firmly to an unworthy object."
Most of those young men were students of medicine. Randolph
also attended with them several courses of lectures in anatomy and
physiology — sciences that are indispensable not only to a profession
al, but?to a liberal and gentlemanly education. We do not learn, as
many have supposed, that he studied law at that time in the office
of his relation, Edmund Randolph, the Attorney General. Two
, years after leaving Philadelphia, Bryan writes that he is rejoiced to
hear his friend has serious thoughts of attacking the law. He tells
us himself that he never, after Theodorick broke up- his regular
¦habits at New- York, devoted himself to any systematic study, ex
cept for the few weeks he was in Williamsburg, in the autumn of
1793. So we conclude that he never made the law a matter of se
rious study, certainly never with the view of making it a profession.
In April, 1794, he returned to Virginia. In June he was twenty-
one years of age, and then took upon himself the management of
his patrimonial estates, which were heavily encumbered with a Brit
ish debt. Matoax was still in the family, but was sold about this
time for three thousand pounds sterling, to pay off a part of the
above debt. The mansion house has since been burnt, but the same

RICHARD RANDOLPH. 61
estate now would not bring three hundred dollars, although it is
within three miles of Petersburg.
Richard Randolph, the elder brother, lived at Bizarre, an estate
on the Appomatox, about ninety miles above Petersburg. It is near
Farmville, but on the opposite side of the river, in Cumberland coun
ty. John made his brother's house his home, while his own estate,
called Roanoke, lay about thirty miles south on the Roanoke river,
in the county of Charlotte.

CHAPTER XIII
RICHARD RANDOLPH.
With Richard the reader has already formed some slight acquaint
ance. In 1789 he married Judith Randolph, the daughter of Thom
as Mann Randolph, of Tuekahoe. Judith was a relation in both
the direct and collateral lines. Her father, Thomas Mann, was the
son of William, who was the son of Thomas of Tuekahoe, the son
of William, the first founder of the family in Virginia. Her mother
was Anne Cary, the daughter of Mary Cary, who was the daughter
of the first Richard of Curies, and the sister of the second Richard
of Curies, the grandfather of Richard her husband. This lady was
remarkable for her great strength of mind, for her many virtues, and
high accomplishments. Richard was regarded as the most promis
ing young man in Virginia. His talents were only surpassed by his,
extraordinary goodness of character.
Let his own grateful acknowledgments to his father-in-law, Judge
Tucker, speak for him. " Accept," says he, " once more, my beloved
father, the warmest effusions of a heart that knows but one tie su
perior to that which binds him to the .best of parental friends.
When I look back to those times wherein I was occupied in forming
my mind for the reception of professional knowledge, and indeed to
whatever period of my life I cast my eyes, something presents itself
to remind me of the source whence sprung all my present advanta
ges and happiness. Something continually shows my father to me

62 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
in the double light of parent and friend. While I recognize all the
attention I have received from him, all the precepts inculcated by
him ; while I feel that if I have any virtuous emotions or pleasures,
they are all derived from him, that to him I owe whatever capacity
I possess of being useful in the world I am in — while all these re
flections are crowding into my mind, I feel a sensation that all are
strangers to, who have not known such a friend. The feelings which
arise from a sense of gratitude for the kindness and friendship of
my father — the tender affection inspired by his virtues and his love,
are as delightful to my soul, as the knowledge of being obliged by
those we despise is painful and oppressive." A grateful heart
obliged by a worthy and beloved object, as Milton finely says, " by
owing oices not, but finds itself at once indebted and discharged."
And again : — " The time is now at hand, when I hope you will be
relieved from all further anxiety, and the embarrassments you have
too long endured in the management of our patrimony ; when my
brother and myself will take on ourselves our own troubles, and
when the end of your administration of our little affairs will furnish
the world with one complete and perhaps solitary example, shall I
only say, of an unerring guardian of infant education and property 1
An example, I glory in boasting it, of an adopted father surpassing
in parental affection, and unremitted attention to his adopted chil
dren, all the real fathers who are known to any one. I can most
sincerely and truly declare, that in no one moment of my whole life,
have I ever felt the loss in the least trifle."
One of the debts owing by the father to creditors in England,
was a simple open account, that might have been easily avoided, as
it was not binding on the estate devised to the sons. But Richard
wrote to Judge Tucker, " I urge the propriety, indeed necessity, of
paying the open account which my mother always said was recog
nized by my father as a true one, and ought therefore honestly to he
discharged. For myself I can never bear the idea of a just debt
due from my father to any one, remaining unsatisfied while I have
property of his, firmly convinced as I am that he had no equitable
right, whatever power the law may have given him, of devising me
land or any thing else, to the loss of any of his just creditors, and
that under this conviction, it will be equally iniquitous in me to re
tain such property, suffering these just claims to pass unnoticed."

RICHARD RANDOLPH. 63
Nor did this noble-minded man stop here in his high sense of
right and justice. He again writes to his late guardian : — ¦" With
regard to the division of the estate, I have only to say, that I want
not a single negro for any other purpose than his immediate libera
tion. I consider every individual thus unshackled as the source of
future generations, not to say nations of freemen ; and I shudder
when I think that so insignificant an animal as I am, is invested
with this monstrous, this horrid power. For the land I care not a
jot. I am ready to yield all my claim to it. I am ready to yield
Matoax or its profits, and all of my Prince Edward and Cumberland
land, except a bare support, rather than see those wretches sacrificed
at the shrine of unjust and lawless power."
Richard was bred to the profession of law, but never could oe
induced to engage in the practice. Nothing but necessity, he de
clared, could overcome his disinclination. It was not the fatigue and
disgust that repelled him so much as the chicane and low cunning,
which his observation led him to conclude were the essential qualifi
cations of a county court lawyer. " What inducement," exclaimed
he, " have I to leave a happy and comfortable home to search for
bustle, fatigue and disappointment ? I have a comfortable subsist
ence, which is enough to make me happy."
The family circle was composed of Richard, his wife, Nancy the
sister of Mrs. Randolph, John (Theodorick had died in February,
1791), and Mrs. Anna Bland Dudley and her children. Mrs. Dudley
was the daughter of Mrs. Eaton, the sister of John Randolph's
mother. They lived in North Carolina. Her husband was unfortu
nate, had died and left his family poor and dependent on their friends.
Richard went himself to North Carolina, brought Mrs. Dudley and
her children to Virginia, and gave them an asylum under the hos
pitable roof of Bizarre.
. John did not confine himself much to home or business. He
kept up a regular correspondence with many of his old companions ;
amused himself with his dog and gun, and visited from place to place
among his friends. As a specimen of his wanderings, we give the
following memorandum made by himself:
November, 1795.
Monday, 30. — Bizarre to D. Meade's.

64 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
December.
Tuesday, 1.— Capt. Murray's.
3. — Richmond.
Wednesday, 9. — Petersburg.
Thursday, 17.— Left Petersburg to Jenito.
Friday, 18.— To F. Archer's and D. Meade's.
Saturday, 19.— D. Meade's to Bizarre ; received letter from Rutledge.
Sunday, 20. — Roanoke.
Sunday, 27. — From. Roanoke to Bizarre.
Tuesday, 29. — To Roanoke.
Thursday, 31.— To Bizarre.
January, '96, New- Year's day at Bizarre.
Saturday, 2. — To Major Eggleston's.
Sunday, 3. — Colonel Botts.
Monday, 4. — Petersburg.
Friday, 15. — At Jenito Bridge.
Saturday, 16.— At D. Meade's.
Sunday, 17. — At D. Meade's.

CHAPTER XIV.
VISIT TO CHARLESTON AND GEORGIA.
His old friends, Bryan and Rutledge, had for some time been urging
him to pay them a visit. Bryan directed his letters to " Citizen
John Randolph, of Charlotte county, Virginia," and says, " I am
happy to hear you are settled in a healthy part of Virginia, but I
am almost inclined to think my friend premature in settling so early,
as you will in a great measure be deprived of that freedom you know
so well how to enjoy," He then urges him to visit Georgia. "You
will find me on the sea-coast," says he, " and as you bribe me with a
pipe, I can promise in return best Spanish segars and the best of li
quors — good horses, deer-hunting in perfection — good companions,
that is to say, not merely bottle crackers, Jack, but good, sound, well-
informed Democrats."
This long-expected visit was made in the spring of 1796. On
the back of a letter received from Rutledge, he lays out the pro
gramme of his journey, with the various distances and stages, from
Bizarre to Charleston ; then concludes the memorandum with these

VISIT TO CHARLESTON AND GEORGIA. 65
words : " Where I hope to embrace the friend of my youth ; the
sight of whom will ten thousand times repay this tedious journey."
E. S. Thomas, in his Reminiscences of the last Sixty-five Years,
printed at Hartford, in 1840, thus speaks of him : " On a bright sun
ny morning, early in February, 1796, might have been seen entering
my bookstore in Charleston, S. C, a fine-looking, florid complexioned
old gentleman, with hair white as snow, which, contrasted with his
own complexion, showed him to have been a free liver, or bon-vivant
of the first order. Along with him was a tall, gawky-looking flaxen-
haired stripling, apparently of the age from sixteen to eighteen, with
a complexion of a good parchment color, beardless chin, and as much
assumed self-consequence as any two-footed animal I ever saw. This
was John Randolph. I handed him from the shelves volume after
volume, which he tumbled carelessly over, and handed back again.
At length he hit upon something that struck his fancy. My eye
happened to be fixed upon his face at the moment, and never did I
witness so sudden, so perfect a change of the human countenance. That
which before was dull and heavy, in a moment became animated and
flushed with the brightest beams of intellect. He stepped up to the
old gray-headed gentleman, and, giving him a thundering slap on
the shoulder, said, " Jack, look at this ! !" I was young, then, but
I never can forget the thought that rushed upon my mind at the
moment, which was that he was the most impudent youth I ever saw.
He had come to Charleston to attend the races. There was then
living in Charleston a Scotch Baronet, by the name of Sir John
Nesbit, with his younger brother Alexander, of the ancient house of
Nesbits, of Dean Hall, some fifteen miles from Edinburgh. Sir John
was a very handsome man, and as ' gallant gay Lothario' as could
be found in the city. He and Randolph became intimate, which led
to a banter between them for a race, in which each was to ride his
own horse. The race came off during the same week, and Randolph
won ; some of the ladies exclaiming at the time, ' though Mr. Ran
dolph had won the race, Sir John had won their hearts.' This was
not so much to be wondered at, when you contrasted the elegant
form and graceful style of riding of the Baronet, with the uncouth
and awkward manner of his competitor."
From Charleston, Randolph pursued his journey into Georgia,
and spent several months with his friend Bryan.

66 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
We cannot doubt that these young men enjoyed themselves in
the manner that young men usually enjoy themselves on such occa
sions. Bryan, in his subsequent letters, frequently alludes to some
amusing incident that occurred during the sojourn of his friend in
Georgia. " My eldest brother," says he, " still bears a friendly re
membrance of the rum ducking you gave him."
But the all-absorbing subject in Georgia, at the time of Randolph's
visit, was the Yazoo question.
On the 7th day of February, 1795, the Legislature of Georgia
passed an act authorizing the sale of four tracts of land, therein
described, and comprehending the greater part of the country west of
the Alabama river, to four companies, called the Georgia, the Georgia
Mississippi, the Upper Mississippi, and the Tennessean Companies,
for which they were to pay five hundred thousand dollars. The land
contained within the boundaries of the several companies was esti
mated by the claimants at forty millions of acres. The sale of a
country so extensive, for a sum so far below its value, excited imme
diate and universal indignation in the State of Georgia. The mo
tives of the Legislature were questioned and examined. Their cor
ruption was established on the most indisputable evidence. Up
wards of sixty-four depositions were taken, that developed a scene of
villany and swindling unparalleled in the history of any country.
On comparing a list of the names of the companies with the names
of the persons who voted for the land, it appeared that all the mem
bers in the Senate and House of Representatives of Georgia, who
voted in favor of the law, were, with one single exception, interested
in and parties to the purchase. Every member who voted for the
law received either money or land for his vote. The guardians of
the rights of the people united with swindlers, defrauded their con
stituents, sold their votes, betrayed the delegated trust reposed in
them, and basely divided among themselves the lands of the people
of Georgia. This flagrant abuse of power, this enormous act of cor
ruption, was viewed with abhorrence by every honest man. The press
through the country burst out in & blaze of indignation. All the
grand juries of the State (except in two counties, where there were
corrupt majorities of Yazoo men,) presented this law as a public
robbery, and a deliberate fraud. The Convention which met in the
month -*¦ May, 1795, at Louisville, was crowded with petitions from

VISIT TO CHARLESTON AND GEORGIA. 67
every part of the State, which, by an order of the Convention, was
referred to the succeeding Legislature. This Legislature was
elected solely with reference to that question. Repeal or no repeal,
Yazoo and anti-Yazoo, was the only subject canvassed before the
people. On the 30th of January, 1796, an act was passed, with only
three dissenting voices, declaring the usurped act of February, 1795}
void, and expunging the same from the public records. At a sub
sequent period, this expunging act was engrafted on the Constitu
tion, and made a fundamental law of the land.
Randolph arrived in Georgia in the midst of this excitement, and
shared with his friends their indignation at that flagrant act of cor
ruption on the part of the agents of the people. The famous Yazoo
claim, which afterwards made such a noise in Congress, was preferred
by the New England Mississippi Land Company, to recover from
Congress the value of the lands thus fraudulently obtained. It was
in opposition to this application, that Randolph immortalized himself
in speeches that will stand the test of time, and of criticism the
severest scrutiny. It was among those who had been betrayed, in
the midst of the people who were burning with shame at the insult
and indignity offered them, that he caught the fire of inspiration that
winged his words with such a withering power'as to drive from the
halls of Congress for more than.ten years, so long as he had a seat
there, all those who were interested in the nefarious scheme.
John Randolph returned from this visit of friendship, and arrived
in Virginia about the first of July. He was destined to experience
a shock such as he had never felt before. His brother Richard died
the 14th of June, on Tuesday, about 4 o'clock in the morning; such
was the minute record made of it himself. This sudden and unex
pected calamity crushed him down.
Next to the death of his mother this was the severest blow he had
ever received. His mother died when he was a child. Though
mournful, yet sweet was the memory of her image, associated with
those days of innocence and brightness. But the strong bonds of
fraternal affection in grown up men, were now torn asunder ; the
much prized treasure of a brother's love is suddenly taken from him
leaving no pleasant memories to soothe the pain of so deep a wound.
His best friend and counsellor, the first born of his father's house
its pride, and cherished representative, hurried away in his absence

68 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
to an untimely grave — he not present to receive his last breath, and
to close his lifeless eyes. He never recovered from this stroke. The
anguish of his heart was as fresh on the fiftieth anniversary of the
birthday of that brother, as when first he experienced the desola
tion made in the domestic circle at Bizarre by the hand of death.
How touching is the following simple note addressed to his brother,
Henry St. George Tucker, many, many years after this sad event !
"Dear Henry: — Our poor brother Richard was born 1770. He
would have been fifty-six years old on the 9th of this month. I can
no more. J. R. of R." In the deep solitude of his heart, the only
green spot was the memory of the days of his youth.
Few events exerted a greater influence over the mind and charac
ter oj John Randolph than the death, the untimely and sudden
' death, of his brother. Richard, as we have said, was the most pro
mising man in Virginia. John Thompson, himself a man of brilliant
genius, nipped also in the blooming, thus writes : " Grief like yours,
my dear friend, is not to be alleviated by letters of condolence. The
anguish of hearts like yours cannot be mitigated by the maxims of
an unfeeling and unnatural philosophy. Let such consolation be
administered to the insensible being, who mourns without sorrow,
whose tears fall from a sense of decorum, and whose melancholy
ceases the instant fashion permits. Let some obdurate moralist in
struct this selfish being, that the death of a friend is not a misfortune,
and that sensibility is weakness. Nothing but sympathy ought to
be offered to you. Accept that offering from one of your sincerest
friends. My heart was long divided between you and your brother.
His death has left a void which you will occupy. I will fondly cher
ish his memory. Painful as the retrospect is, I will often contem
plate his virtues and his talents. Never shall I perform that holy
exercise without feeling new virtue infused into my soul. To you I
will give that friendship, of which he can no longer be sensible.
Take it, and return it if you can. I cannot write your brother's eulo-
gium. Although his fame was only in the dawn, although like a me
teor he perished as soon as he began to dazzle, I cannot sound "tiis
praise. His life would be a pathetic tale of persecuted genius and
oppressed innocence. The fictions of romance cannot present so af
fecting a story. When his country was preparing to do him ample
justice, and to recompense his sufferings by her warmest admiration,

AT HOME. 69
Death marked him for his victim. Modern degeneracy had not
reached him.
" Nervous eloquence and dauntless courage fitted him to save his
sinking country. He has left no memorial of his talents behind.
He was born to enlighten posterity, but posterity will not hear of
him. " 0 Providence, thy dispensations are dark ! We cannot compre
hend them ! His amiable wife, his children — but here my heart be
gins to bleed — I cannot go on."

CHAPTER XV.
AT HOME.
John Randolph, now became the head of a large household, was
suddenly thrown into a position of great responsibility. His own
estate was very large ; so was his brother's — and both were heavily
encumbered with a British debt, contracted by the father many years
before. Richard liberated his slaves. This was a mark of his great be
nevolence of feeling and nobleness of character. But it proved in
the end to be a mistaken philanthropy. Left in the country where
they had been slaves, those negroes soon became idle and profligate
vagabonds and thieves ; a burthen to themselves, and a pest to the
neighborhood. The family at Bizarre consisted of Mrs. Randolph,
her two infant children, St. George and Tudor, Mrs. Dudley and her
children, Nancy and John Randolph. For nearly fifteen years, till
Bizarre was destroyed by fire, he continued at the head of the house
hold. Though twenty-three years of age at the death of his brother,
he had the appearance of a youth of sixteen, and was not grown. He
grew a full head taller after this period.
? His extreme sensibility had been deeply touched — the quick
irritability of his temper exasperated by the tragic events of his
family. A father's face he had never seen, save what his lively ima
gination would picture to itself from the lines of a miniature likeness
which he always wore in his bosom. The fond caresses of a tender

70 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
mother, who alone knew him, were torn from him in his childhood
The second "brother had died in his youth ; and now the oldest, the
best, the pride and hope of the family, after years of suffering and
persecution, just as he had triumphed over calumny and oppression,
was suddenly called away. We may well imagine how deep, how
poignant was his grief, when thirty years thereafter, in the solitude
of his hermitage at Roanoke, his lively fancy brought back those
early scenes with all the freshness of recent events, and caused him
to exclaim with the Indian Chief, who had been deprived of all his
children by the white man's hand — " Not a drop of Logan's blood —
father's blood except St. George, the most bereaved and pitiable of
the step-sons of nature !"
His room at Bizarre was immediately under the chamber of
Mrs. Dudley. She never waked in the night that she did not hear
him moving about, sometimes striding across the floor, and exclaim
ing, " Macbeth hath murdered sleep ! Macbeth hath murdered
sleep !" She has known him to have his horse saddled in the dead
of "night, and ride over the plantation with loaded pistols.
His natural temper became more repulsive ; he had no confiden
tial friend, nor would any tie, however sacred, excuse inquiry. Why
should it ? for who can minister to a mind diseased, or pluck from
the heart its rooted sorrow ? Why then expose, even to friendship's
eye, the lacerated wounds that no balm can cure ?
He grew more restless than ever, though his home had every
external arrangement to make it agreeable. Hear him describe it :
" Mrs. Randolph, of Bizarre, my brother's widow, was, beyond all
comparison, the nicest and best housewife that I ever saw. Not one
drop of water was ever suffered to stand on her sideboard, except
what was in the pitcher ; the house, from cellar to garret, and in
every part, as clean as hands could make it ; and every thing as it
should be to suit even my fastidious taste. Never did I see or
smell any thing to offend my senses, or my imagination." Those
who lived there had been taught in the school of affliction. Chas
tened and subdued by their own sorrows, they had learned to feel
for the misfortunes of others. That home, which could not fill the
aching void of its youthful master's heart, or soothe the earnest
longings of his wounded soul, was made the delightful retreat and

AT HOME. 71
asylum of the distressed and the unfortunate. There could they
find sympathy and encouragement.
To escape from the burden and pain of his own thoughts, John
Randolph often fled to his friends in distant parts of the country.
For the next three years he was frequently found at the residence
of his father-in-law, in Williamsburg. He often visited Mr. Wick-
ham, who lived in the same city. That gentleman had taken a great
liking to him. He was the agent of the British creditors, who held
a mortgage on the Randolph estates. His forbearance and indulgence
were highly appreciated by him on whom the whole burthen of pay
ment had now fallen. He returned this act of kindness by an ardent
affection for the man, and a high admiration of his character. He
has said, " John Wickham was my best of friends without making
any professions of friendship for me ; and the best and wisest man I
ever knew except Mr. Macon."
When interrogated by Mr. Wickham as to what he had been do
ing, Governor Tazewell, who was his youthful companion on those
visits, says his answer was — Nothing, sir, nothing ! Yet he showed
that he had been reading, and that he had digested well what he had
read. The conversation was generally on the politics of the day —
the French Revolution, and Burke, which was his political Bible.
That he pursued no systematic course of reading at this time is
certain. Mrs. Dudley says his habits of study one could not ascer
tain, as he was never long enough in one place to study much. She
has frequently heard him lament that he was fond of light reading —
has known him to seat himself by the candle, where she and Mrs.
Randolph were knitting, turn over the leaves of a book carelessly, like
a child, without seeming to read, and then lay it down and tell more
about it than those who had studied it. He had a fine taste for mu
sic, but it was uncultivated. " I inherited from your grandmother,"
says he, writing to his niece, Mrs. Bryan, " an exquisite ear, which
has never received the slightest cultivation. This is owing in a great
measure to the low estimate that I saw the fiddling, piping gentry
held in when I was young ; but partly to the torture that my poor
brother used to inflict upon me, when essaying to learn to play upon
the violin, now about forty years ago. I have a taste for painting,
but never attempted drawing. I had read a great deal upon it and
had seen a few good pictures before I went to England : there I as-

72 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
tonished some of their connoisseurs as much by the facility with
which I pointed out the hand of a particular master,, without refer
ence to the catalogue (I never mistook the hand of Van Dyke — I
had seen specimens of his and Reuben's pencil, and some other great
masters, at Mr. Geo. Calvert's, near Bladensburg — they were since
sold in Europe), as by my exact knowledge of the geography, topo
graphy and statistics of the country.
" For poetry I have had a decided taste from my childhood, yet
never attempted to write one line of it. This taste I have sedulously
cultivated. I believe that I was deterred from attempting poetry by
the verses of Billy Mumford, and some other taggers of rhyme,
which I heard praised (I allude to epistles in verse, written at 12 or
13 years old), but secretly in my heart despised. I also remember
to have heard some poetry of Lord Chatham and of Mr. Fox, which
I thought then, and still think, to be unworthy of their illustrious
names — and before Horace had taught me that ' neither gods, nor
men, nor booksellers' stalls could endure middling poetry,' I thought
none but an inspired pen should attempt the task."
Among the youthful companions that he most valued and cher
ished about this time, were John Thompson, the author of the letter
in a preceding chapter, and his brother William Thompson. The
following is a memorandum in his own handwriting, and found among
his papers : " John Thompson, Jr., son of John and Anne Thomp
son, of Sussex, born 3d Nov. 1776, died 25th January, 1799. He
was the author of Graccus, Cassius, Curtius, written on the subject
of American politics — speak, tJiey fen- him." And surely for one of
his age they were remarkable productions, especially the latter ad
dressed to General Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice, then a can
didate for Congress on the Federal side of politics. William Thomp
son was born the 20th of August, 1778. In the year 1798 he and
his friend John Randolph undertook a pedestrian tour to the Moun
tains, to visit Richard Kidder Meade, a relation of the latter. They
started from Bizarre, each with a small bundle on a cane. Mrs.
Dudley was an eye-witness of their departure and of their return.
She was informed that they performed the whole journey on foot.
They both returned in fine health and spirits. Soon after this
Thompson went to Europe, wandered over Germany, studied medi
cine, then abandoned it for the law, returned to Virginia, went on

CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS. 73
foot to Canada in the fall of 1801. Having squandered his patri
mony, falling into dissipated habits, with a genius equally as brilliant,
though far more eccentric than his deceased brother, he was rapidly
throwing away the great gifts of nature, and sinking into a hopeless
vagabond and outcast, when his friend Randolph took him by the hand,
brought him to Bizarre, made it his home, encouraged him, and cher
ished him with the affection of a brother so long as he could be per
suaded to remain in Virginia. With him hereafter the reader will be
come more intimately acquainted. Writing from Bizarre to Randolph,
in his absence, he says -. " My dear brother — Since you left us I have
been deeply engaged in what you advised. I have reviewed the Ro
man and the Grecian History. I have done more ; I have reviewed
my own. Believe me, Jack, that I am less calculated for society than
almost any man in existence. I am not. perhaps, a vain fool, but I
have too much vanity, and I am too susceptible of flattery. I have
that fluency which will attract attention and receive applause from an
unthinking multitude. Content with my superiority, I should be
too indolent to acquire real, useful knowledge. I am stimulated by
gratitude, by friendship, and by love, to make exertions now. I feel
confident that you will view my foibles with a lenient eye — that you
will see me prosper, and in my progress be delighted."

•CHAPTER XVI.
CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS — HISTORY OF THE TIMES.
We have now approached an important period in the life of John
Randolph. In the winter of 1799, in the twenty-sixth year of his
age, he was announced as a candidate for Congress in the district
which afterwards became so celebrated as the Charlotte district.
John Thompson, writing to his brother, then in Europe, says,
" Our friend John Randolph offers for Congress, and will probably
be elected. He is a brilliant and noble young man. He will be an
object of admiration and terror to the enemies of liberty." In 1 831,
in the last political speech he ever made, he is reported to have said
vol. 1. 4

74 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
that when he commenced his political career he had waged a warfare,
remarkable for its fierceness — he had almost said for its ferocity —
against certain principles, and those who advocated them. When he
drew his sword to carry on that warfare, he had thrown away the
scabbard, and as he never asked for quarter,' so he did not always
give it. It becomes necessary, therefore, in order to understand his
position, to give a brief and general outline of the most important
events which had occurred up to the time that he made his appear
ance on the political stage. We have already seen that the source of
party division is to be traced to the Federal Convention ; that those
elements of discord which have continued to agitate the country
up to this day, had their birth in the cradle of the Constitution.
Patrick Henry and George Mason were the fathers of the doctrine
of States-rights. At a subsequent period, under the auspices of
Thomas Jefferson, those doctrines were digested into the canon of a
regularly organized party that exerted a powerful influence on the
administration of government. The difference between the two par
ties, Federalist and Republican, as they respectively called them
selves at that time, was not confined to the interpretation of the
Constitution. While the one desired and the other deprecated a strong govern
ment, the spirit that inclined them to bend that instrument to their
wishes, is to be found in the mental and moral organization of the men
themselves. Those who doubted the capacity of the people for self-
government (and there were many at that time when our experiment
was untried), and believed that the only efficient control was to be
found in a strong government in the hands of the rich and well born,
naturally inclined to an interpretation that would authorize such
measures as might bring about such a state of things. Those, on the
other hand, who had full faith in the capacity of the people, com-
batted every doctrine which in their judgment tended to steal power
from the many and place it in the hands of the few. This radical
difference of sentiment, which originated in natural temperament,
and was modified by education and position in society, influenced the
judgment in its interpretation of every measure of government, and
men inclined to the one or the other side, according as they believed
the measure originated in the one or the other doctrine above men
tioned. The Republicans accused the other party of being mon-

HISTORY OF THE TIMES. 75
archists in principle, and of a design so to shape the administration
of affairs, that in time the government might assume that form.
The Republicans again were charged by their opponents with
being disorganizing levellers, and the enemies of all government.
The first great questions on which they divided were the financial
schemes of Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury.
With these the reader has already been made acquainted. The
legislative measures enacted from time to time to carry them into
effect, finally brought on a crisis in the jsjiisky insurrection, as it was
called, when the people in the western counties of Pennsylvania, by
armed force, resisted the execution of the excise law. The Federal
ists were accused of goading on this rebellion, that they might have
a pretext to raise a standing army, to be used as an instrument for
forcing their schemes on the country. The Republicans were charged
with promoting discontent and insurrection, that they might destroy
all government. Unhappily, neither party gave the other credit for
honesty or patriotism ; and the people, in the heat of the contest,
were well nigh driven, in blindness and in rage, on the bayonets of
each other. The occasion, however, passed away without serious dif
ficulty ; but the bitter and hostile feelings engendered by so violent a
contest still remained, and were ready to expand themselves with
increased fury on any other occasion that might arise.
In the mean time the French Revolution had made rapid pro
gress. When the news of that event was first wafted across the
Atlantic, it was hailed with acclamation as the effort of a great nation
to shake off the yoke of despotism, and to assume their position
among people with a free and enlightened government. The events
of a single year led many to doubt the success of the experiment,
and to predict that the whole would end in anarchy. Among the
prophets of evil omen was Edmund Burke, the great master of
political philosophy. We have already seen how his great work was
seized upon by the Federalists as the ablest expounder of their
general doctrines, and of their views in particular in regard to the
tendency of the principles of the French Revolution. This was
to throw the other party to the other extreme : for true it is that the
great masses are more influenced by impulses of the heart, than the
judgments of the understanding. Paine's " Rights of Man " was set
forth as the exponent of the doctrines of the Republicans. Burke,

76 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
in his spirit of conservatism, pronounced a glowing eulogy on the
British Constitution. Paine denounced it as the instrument of op
pression and tyrannfy. It is easy to perceive the bias in the minds
of those who took Burke and those who took Paine as their standard
of orthodoxy. When these great masters wrote, the monarchy in
France was still in existence. It was soon overturned, and a repub
lic, one and indivisible, proclaimed in its stead. This event, more
than any thing that had transpired before, stirred up the elements of
party-strife in the United Slates. Free and republican themselves,
the American people did not pause on the horrors that were perpe
trated, did not consider the consequences of the doctrines that were
brought into practice by the rash theorists of France ; they only saw
a great people, taking themselves as a model, struggling for their
independence. Their sympathies were awakened, and all their feel
ings enlisted in behalf of the republican cause in France. Those
who paused — those who suggested a doubt — were denounced as ene
mies of the people. The deep enthusiasm of a free people in favor
of those who, however erroneous, were, like themselves, seeking free
dom, did more than any other cause to build up the Republican party
in America. The cautions of a cold judgment, however true, cannot
weigh against the generous impulses of a warm heart. What is true
of individuals in this particular, is ten thousand times more true of
the multitude.
But the elastic spirit of freedom could not be restrained within
the limits of France. It began, to spread to other kingdoms, and to
alarm, by its rapid diffusion, the monarchs of Europe. They com
bined to suppress what they called the French evil. England was at
the head of the coalition. A furious war commenced — a desperate
death-struggle for existence. One or the other must be crushed and
destroyed. Republicanism and monarchy could not exist together
on the same continent. AH *ne deep passions of the human heart
were aroused — all the elements of destruction brought into active
operation. It was a war of Titans, and nature groaned under the
mighty toils of her warring sons. There could be no neutrality in
such a contest. Their wide-sweeping arms drew in, as instruments
or agents of strife, the remotest nations. America, though remote,
could not hope to escape.
Her position was too conspicuous — her example in producing the

HISTORY OF THE TIMES. 77
present state of things in France too well known for her to escape.
England sought to drag her into the contest on the side of the allies.
France stretched forth her arms to embrace her ancient ally, and to
stand by her side on the hills of Ardenne in the same cause that had
seen them side by side on the plains of Yorktown.
The true policy of the United States was to pursue a line of
strict neutrality. In accordance with the unanimous vote of his
cabinet, Thomas Jefferson at the head as Secretary of State, General
Washington issued his proclamation, April 22d, 1793, declaring that
a state of war exists between Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain,
and the United Netherlands, on the one part, and France on the other;
and that the duty and interest of the United States require that they
should with sincerity and good. faith adopt and pursue a conduct
friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers. The citizens
of the United States at the same time were warned carefully to avoid
all acts and proceedings whatsoever, which might in any manner tend
to contravene such disposition. It was impossible, however, to repress
the enthusiasm of the people in favor of the French cause. When
their minister landed at Charleston, about the time of the above
proclamation, he was marched in triumph through the Southern
States and principal towns to the capitol at Philadelphia. Pre
suming on certain privileges which he assumed to have been granted
to France in her treaty of alliance with the United States, 1778, —
emboldened by the ardent devotion of the people to the cause of
liberty, so eagerly manifested towards himself as the representative
of a sister republic, he soon threw off all restraint, treated the gov
ernment with contempt, and assumed acts of sovereignty not only
inconsistent with our rights of neutrality, but our existence as an
independent and respectable nation. This conduct led to corres
pondence, remonstrance, and irritation on both sides.
Great Britain at all times doubted the sincerity of our declaration
of impartiality, and treated with the utmost contempt our rights of
neutrality. Her naval officers insulted and menaced us in our own
ports — violated our national rights, by searching vessels and impress
ing seamen within our acknowledged jurisdiction, and in an outrage
ous manner seizing entire crews in the West Indies, and other parts
of the world. Her licensed privateers committed the most atrocious
depredations and violences on our commerce, both in the capture and

78 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
in the after-adjudication, such as were never tolerated in any well-
organized and efficient government. The Governor of Upper Canada,
in an official and formal manner, ordered settlers within our own
territory, and far removed from the posts they had unjustly withheld
from us, to withdraw, and forbade others to settle on the same. The
persons to whom their Indian affairs were intrusted took unusual
pains and practised every deception to keep those people in a temper
of hostility towards us.
The agents sent amongst us, as with a design to insult the coun
try, were ungracious and obnoxious characters, rancorous refugees,
who retaining all their former enmity, could see nothing through a
proper medium, and were the source of constant misrepresentation
and falsehood. The government were encouraged to permit all these
outrages, because they were told there was a British party in Amer
ica that would not suffer the country to be involved in a war with
England. France, seeing with what boldness and impunity England com
mitted her depredations, was not slow in doing the same. She
avowed her purpose, and fulfilled it to the letter, of treating us in the
same manner we permitted her enemies to treat us. Such was the
deplorable condition of things within one year from the proclamation
of neutrality. As the last resort, willing to exhaust all the means of
conciliation before a declaration of war, the administration, on the
19th of April, 1794, commissioned John Jay as minister extraordi
nary to the court of London, with instructions to demand redress for
our grievances, and if occasion suited, to negotiate a treaty of amity
and commerce. A few weeks thereafter, the 28th of May, James
Monroe was sent as minister plenipotentiary to the French govern
ment, with similar instructions. The occasion was most favorable for
a negotiation with England. The campaign of 1793-4 proved disas
trous to the allied powers. The coalition was dissolved. The hot
lava fires France poured forth from her volcanic bosom consumed her
[enemies. The star of the republic was in the ascendant. At such a
moment it seemed plain to the ministry that it would not do to break
iwith the United States. If they should drive the two republics into
[a close alliance, events had already proved that the two united would
be invincible. A different line of policy, therefore, must be pursued.
Hence, when Mr. Jay arrived at the Court of St. James, he was most

HISTORY OF THE TIMES. 79
graciously received. Lord Granville was all conciliation and com
promise. He had not been engaged in the business of negotiation
many days, when the King — tough old George, who was the last to
surrender in the Revolution — said to him, " Well, sir, I imagine you
begin to see that your mission will probably be successful." " I am
happy, may it please your majesty, to find that you entertain that
idea." " Well, but don't you perceive that it is likely to be so ?"
" There are seme recent circumstances (the answer to Jay's repre
sentations) which induce me to flatter myself that it will be so."
The king nodded with a smile, signifying that it was to those circum
stances that he alluded. It was a foregone conclusion. Peace with
the United States had now become essential to England : and that
wise nation never stands on trifles when an important object is to be
attained. Never did negotiator, beginning with such anxious forebodings,
find himself proceeding so smoothly, so satisfactorily. The treaty
was concluded and signed in London, on the 19th of November, 1794 ;
was received by the President the 7th of March following, and on the
8th of June was submitted to the Senate for their consideration. On
the 24th, by precisely a constitutional majority, they advised and con
sented to its ratification. Although in the mind of the President
several objections had occurred, they were overbalanced by what he
conceived to be its advantages ; and before transmitting it to the
Senate he had resolved to ratify it, if approved by that body. But
before he had given his signature to the treaty, it was well ascer
tained that the British order in council of the 8th of June, 1793, for
the seizure of provisions going to French ports, had been renewed.
Apprehensive that this might be regarded as a practical interpreta
tion of an article in the treaty in regard to provisions not being con
traband of war unless in particular cases, the President wisely
determined to reconsider his decision. Marshall, in his Life of
Washington, says : " Of the result of this reconsideration there is
no conclusive testimony." It has become a matter of importance in
history to determine this fact.
It was charged that a war with France, and a consequent alliance
with England, had been the object of the executive council, from the
commencement of hostilities between those two great European pow
ers. The treaty, it was alleged, originated in that spirit. And the

80 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
circumstances and manner of its consummation were confidently al
luded to as evidence of that fact. It was well known that the Presi
dent made up his judgment with great deliberation ; and that when
once fixed he was unalterable ; he had an invincible repugnance to
retract an opinion, or retrace a step once taken.
While he was deliberating on the treaty — when in fact, as it
was alleged, he had determined not to sign for the present, an inter
cepted letter addressed by the French minister to his government,
was placed in the President's hands. This letter contained many
facts bearing on the character of the President, the influences that
were working on him, and deeply implicating the reputation of the
Secretary of State. It was alleged that the other Secretaries, into
whose hands the letter had fallen, made an unwarrantable use of it
to prejudice the mind of the President against their obnoxious col
league and the French cause, and thereby to induce him hastily to
ratify the treaty contrary to his better judgment — to drive from his
cabinet the only republican remaining in office, and to lend his aid,
though unconsciously and indirectly, to the destruction of the repub
lican cause in the United States.
Mr. Jefferson retired from the State Department in 1794, early
in January. He says that he suffered martyrdom all the time he
was in office — alluding to his single-handed and unaided efforts to
combat the heresies of Hamilton, and to resist the tendencies of the
government to yield to British influence. He was succeeded by the
Attorney General, Edmund Randolph, whose relationship to the
subject of this memoir has already been made known to the reader.
That gentleman professed to be of no party, but was understood : to
be a Republican in principle, and favorably inclined to the French
cause. " The fact is," says Jefferson, " he has generally given his
principles to the one party, and his practice to the other — the oyster
to one, the shell to the other. Unfortunately, the shell was generally
the lot of his friends, thePrenoh and Republicans, and the oyster, of
their antagonists. Had he been firm to the principles he professed,
in the year 1793, the President would have been kept from an habit
ual concert with the British and anti-republican party."
Randolph declared that long before the Fauchet letter made its
appearance, the British partizans had been industrious in dissemi
nating the most poisonous falsehoods concerning him, and in his

HISTORY OF THE TIMES. 81
aDsence seized the advantage of uttering uncontradicted slanders ;
boasting and insisting that in a controversy between them, he (Ran
dolph) must be sacrificed. Hamilton had retired, but was in con
stant communication with the President on all subjects of importance.
The British partisans alluded to, were Pickering and Wolcott, the
Secretary of War and of the Treasury.
With these facts before us we can now proceed with the subject in
hand. We have said that the President had determined to ratify the
treaty, if so advised by the Senate. But soon after their adjourn
ment he became satisfied that the provision order, as it was called,
had been renewed by the British government. He then began to
balance whether to ratify or not. In this state of mind, he required
the Secretary of State to hold a conversation with the British Minis
ter on the 29th June, 1795, and to tell him that by the constitution
the treaty now rested with the President, and that he had entered
into the consideration of the subject. A letter was written to the
American Minister at Paris, on the 2d of July, under the President's
eye and special correction, in which it was stated that the " President
has not yet decided upon the final measure to be adopted by himself."
He consulted with all the officers of government on several collateral
points in the treaty — consulted, as it was believed, with Hamilton on
the treaty at large— and required the Secretary of State to give his
written opinion. This opinion of the Secretary was handed in the
12th of July, 1795. Among other things, he says : " I take the
liberty of suggesting that a personal interview be immediately had
between the Secretary of State and Mr. Hammond, and that the sub
stance of the address to him be this " — (after some preliminary re
marks) : " But we are informed by the public gazettes, and by letters
tolerably authentic, that vessels, even American vessels, laden with
provisions for France, may be captured and dealt with as carrying a
kind of contraband. Upon the supposition of its truth, the President
cannot persuade himself that he ought to ratify during the existence
of the order. His reasons will be detailed in a proper representation
through you (Mr. Hammond) to his Britannic Majesty. At the
same time, that order being removed, he will ratify without delay or
further scruple." In the morning of the 13th of July, the President
instructed the Secretary to have the proposed interview immediately
with Mr. Hammond, and to address him as had been suggested.

82 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Mr. Hammond asked, in the course of the interview, if it would
not be sufficient to remove the order out of the way ; and after the
ratification to rescind it?
The Secretary replied with some warmth, that this would be a
mere shift, as the principle was the important thing. He then asked,
if the President was irrevocably determined, not to ratify, if the pro
vision order was not removed ? The Secretary answered, that he
was not instructed upon that point. This conversation was imme
diately related to the President. He told the Secretary that he might
have informed Mr. Hammond that lie never would ratify, if the pro
vision order was not removed out of the way.
The President left Philadelphia for Mount Vernon, the 15th day
of July, 1795 ; and soon afterwards, the Secretary commenced draft
ing the memorial that was to be addressed to his Britannic Majesty.
After discussing the article of the treaty in reference to provisions,
and showing the inconsistency of the order of the 8th of June, 1793,
with that article, the memorial concludes : " The chief obstacle, which
is dependent for its removal on his Britannic Majesty, is the order
above stated. The President is too much deprived of its particulars,
to declare what shall be his irrevocable determination : but the sen
sibility which it has excited in his mind, cannot be allayed without
the most unequivocal stipulation, to reduce to the only construction
in which he can acquiesce, the article of the treaty."
Before the President had received the memorial which he had
ordered to be drafted, he wrote to the Secretary on the 22d July,
from Mount Vernon, thus : " In my hurry I did not signify the pro
priety of letting those gentlemen (the Secretaries of War and the
Treasury, and the Attorney General) know fully my determination
with respect to the ratification of the treaty, and the train it was in ;
but as this was necessary, in order to enable them to form their opin
ions on the subject submitted, I take it for granted, that both were
communicated to them by you, as a matter of course. The first, that
is the conditional ratification, (if the late order, which we have heard
of respecting provision-vessels, is not in operation,) may on all fit Oc
casions be spoken of as my determination, unless from 'any thing
you have heard, or met with since I left the city, it should be thought
more advisable to communicate with me on the subject. My opinion
respecting the treaty is the same now that it was ; that is, not favor-

HISTORY OF THE TIMES. 83
able to it ; but that it is better to ratify it in the manner the Senate
have advised, (and with the reservation already mentioned^ than to
suffer matters to remain as they are — unsettled."
In answer to this the Secretary writes : " I had communicated
fully your determination with respect to the ratification. I have no
doubt that the order for seizing provision-vessels exists. Nothing
has occurred to prevent the speaking of that determination."
On the 29th July the President writes : " I also return, under
cover of this letter, the draft of the memorial, and the rough draft
of a ratification. These are very important papers, and, with the
instructions which follow, will require great attention and considera
tion, and are the primary cause of my returning to Philadelphia."
On the 31st he writes : " The memorial seems well designed to
answer the end proposed."
While the memorial was in the hands of the President at Mount
- Vernon, it became the subject of conversation with the Heads of
Departments. Wolcott and Pickering were both opposed to any de
lay in concluding the business. Wolcott observed that it would give
the French Government an opportunity of professing to make very
extensive overtures to the United States, and thus embarrass the
treaty with Great Britain.
Pickering, on hearing the memorial, exclaimed, " This, as the
sailors say, is throwing the whole up in the wind."
The President returned to Philadelphia on the 11th of August.
The same evening, in presence of Pickering and Bradford, the Se
cretary of State observed, " that the sooner the memorial was re
vised by the gentlemen jointly, who were prepared with their opin
ions, the better." The President replied, " that he supposed every
thing of this sort had been settled. The Secretary said that it was
not so, as Colonel Pickering was for an immediate ratification. To
this Pickering responded : " I told Mr. Randolph that I thought the
postponement of ratification was a ruinous step."
On the morning of the 13th of August, the letters which had
been written to foreign ministers in his absence, were laid before the
President. The one addressed to Mr. Monroe was in these words :
— " The treaty is not yet ratified by the President ; nor will it be
ratified, I believe, until it returns from England — if then. The late
British order for seizing provisions, is a weighty obstacle to a ratifi-

84 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
cation. I do not suppose that such an attempt to starve France will
be countenanced." Other letters were written of the same tenor, and
laid before the President. He made no objection to the strong ex
pressions contained in them.
There can be no question from the evidence, that up to the 13th
of August, 1795, and for a month previous, the President had deli
berately made up his mind not to sign the treaty so long as the pro
vision order was in existence. What caused the great change be
tween that time and the 18th ; for on that day he gave to the treaty
an unconditional ratification ? Marshall, in his Life of Washington,
intimates, that the great clamor raised against the treaty in the com
mercial towns, was the cause of this change in the mind of the Presi
dent. He thought that by signing the treaty at once he would put
an end to all hope of influencing the executive will by agitation.
This solution is not consistent with the character of the man. No
one despised mere popular clamor more than he did ; no one valued*
more the opinion of his fellow-citizens. With a mind not suggestive
but eminently judicious, he sought for counsel in all quarters, and
profited more by advice than any other man that ever held a public
station. He considered that the occasion called for wise and temperate
measures. In his letter of the 31st of July, to the Secretary of
State, he says : " In time, when passion shall have yielded to sober
reason, the current may possibly turn; but in the mean while, this
Government, in relation to France and England, may be compared to
a ship between the rocks Scylla and Charybdis. If the treaty is ra
tified, the partisans of the French (or rather of war and confusion)
will excite them to hostile measures, or at least to unfriendly senti
ments : if it is not, there is no foreseeing all the consequences which
may follow, as it respects Great Britain. It is not to be inferred
from hence, that I am, or shall be disposed to quit the ground I
have taken, unless circumstances more imperious than have yet come to
my knowledge, should compel it ; for there is but one straight course
in these things, and that is, to seek truth and pursue it steadily."
He then instructs the Secretary to be attentive to all the resolutions
that might come in, and to all the newspaper publications, that he
might have all the objections against the treaty which had any
weight in them, embodied in the memorial addressed to the British

THE FAUCHET LETTER. 85
king, or in the instructions to the American Minister at London. It
cannot be presumed, therefore, that the excitement in the country
against the treaty, was the cause, or at least the principal cause of
the sudden change in the determination of the President. We must
look to some other source for a solution of this difficulty.

CHAPTER XVII.
THE FAUCHET LETTER.
On the 31st day of October, 1794, about the time of the wh,sky in
surrection, and Jay's negotiation in London, the French Minister
forwarded a dispatch to his government, entitled !< Private Corres
pondence of the Minister'on Politics, No. 10." .
This letter on its way was captured by a British cruiser, placed in
the hands of Lord Grenville, and by him forwarded to the Minister
here (Mr. Hammond), with instructions to use it for the benefit of
his Majesty's service. When the letter came to Hammond, he made
known the contents to Mr. Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury, but
did not intimate a desire that it might be communicated to the Pre
sident. Wolcott himself suggested it, and asked that it might be
placed in his hands for that purpose. Hammond at first declined,
but finally consented, on condition that a certified copy should be
left in his hands. Wolcott received the letter the 28th day of July,
1795, while the President was at Mount Vernon. He immediately
showed it to Mr. Pickering. It was their opinion that its contents
were of so delicate and important a nature that they ought to be im
parted to the President without delay, and with the utmost secrecy.
Any open attempt to effect this end, they thought might excite the
suspicion of Mr. Randolph. The first hint of the matter was com
municated to the President in a letter from Mr. Pickering in the
following words : " July 31st — On the subject of the treaty, I confess
I feel extreme solicitude, and, for a special reason, which can be com
municated to you only in person. I^entreat, therefore, that you will
return with all convenient speed to the seat of government. In the

86 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
mean time, for the reason above referred to, I pray you to decide on
no important political measure in whatever form it may be presented
to you. Mr. Wolcott and I (Mr. Bradford concurring) waited on
Mr. Randolph, and urged his writing to request your return. He
wrote in our presence" Just the day before, Randolph had written
to the President — " As soon as I had the honor of receiving your
letter of the 24th instant, I conferred with the Secretaries of the
Treasury and of War upon the necessity or expediency of your re
turn hither at this time. We all concurred that neither the one nor
the other existed, and that the circumstance would confer upon the
things which had been and are still carried on, an importance which
it would not be convenient to give them." After receiving the above
mysterious letter from Pickering, which perhaps arrived the same
day with Randolph's, the President hastened to the seat of govern
ment. He arrived on the 11th of August, and the contents of
Fauchet's intercepted letter were made known to him the same day.
In this private correspondence, after stating that the dispatches of
himself and colleagues had been confined to a naked recital of facts,
the Minister thus proceeds : — " I have reserved myself to give you,
as far as I am able, a key to the facts detailed in our reports. * * *
The previous confessions of Mr. Randolph alone throw a satisfactory
light upon every thing that comes to pass. * * * I shall, then, en
deavor to give you a clue to all the measures, of which the common
dispatches give you an account ; and to discover the true causes of
the explosion, which it is obstinately resolved to repress with great
means (the whisky insurrection), although the state of things has
no longer any thing alarming." * * * He then undertakes to give a
history of the primitive division of parties — Federalists and Anti-
Federalists. Speaks Of the whimsical contrast between the name
and the real opinion of the parties — the former aiming with all their
power to annihilate Federalism, while the latter were striving to
preserve it. These divisions, he proceeds to say, originated in the
system of finances, which had its birth in the cradle of the consti
tution. It created a financiering class, who threaten to become the
aristocratical order of the State. He then continues, in the fifth
paragraph, in these words : " It is useless to stop longer to prove
that the monarchical system was interwoven with those novelties of
finance, and that the friends of the latter favored the attempts which

THE FAUCHET LETTER. 87
were made, in order to bring the constitution to the former by in
sensible gradations. The writings of influential men of this party
prove it (alluding to Mr. Adams's Discourses on Davila) ; their real
opinions, too, avow it, and the journals of the Senate are the deposi
tory of the first attempts."
He speaks of the sympathy of this party with the regenerating
movements of France, while running in monarchical paths ; and
after an account of the rapid increase and consolidation of the Anti-
Federal party, under the name of patriots and republicans, he thus
proceeds : — " In every quarter are arraigned the imbecility of the
Government towards Great Britain, the defenceless state of the
country against possible invasions, the coldness towards the French
Republic — the system of finance is attacked, which threatens eternizing
the debt, under pretext of making it the guarantee of public happi
ness ; the complication of that system which withholds from general
inspection all its operations — the alarming power of the influence it
procures to a man whose principles are regarded as dangerous — the
preponderance which that man acquires from day to day in public
measures, and, in a word, the immoral and impolitic modes of taxa
tion which he at first presents as expedients, and afterwards raises
to permanency." He then speaks of the excise law — the navigation of the Missis
sippi, and the system for the sale of public lands, as being the
principal sources of discontent to the Western people, and the cause
of their rebellion. " At last," says he, " the local explosion i ~-
effected. * * * The Government which had foreseen it, reproduced,
under various forms, the demand of a disposable force which might
put it in a state of respectable defence. Defeated in this measure,
who can aver that it may not have hastened the local eruption, in
order to make an advantageous diversion, and to lay the more gene
ral storm which it saw gathering ? Am I not authorized in forming
this conjecture from the conversation which the Secretary of State
had with me and Le Blanc, above, an account of which you have
in my dispatch, No. 3 ? But how may we expect that this new plan
will be executed ? — By exasperating and severe measures, authorized
by a law which was not solicited till the close of the session. This
law gave to the one already existing for collecting the excise, a coercive
force which hitherto it had not possessed, and a demand of which

88 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
was not before ventured to be made. * * * * This was undoubtedly
what Mr. Randolph meant in telling me that under pretext of giving
energy to the Government, it was intended to introduce absolute
power, and to mislead, the President in paths which would conduct
him to unpopularity."
He then proceeds to describe the successful efforts to raise an
army, and to gain over certain influential characters, and continues
thus : " The Secretary of this State possessed great influence in the
popular societies of Philadelphia, which in its turn influenced those
of other States : of course he merited attention. It appears, therefore,
that those men, with others unknown to me, all having, without doubt,
Randolph at their head, were balancing to decide on this party. Two
or three days before the proclamation was published (in reference to
the whisky insurrection 25th September, 1794), and of course before
the cabinet had resolved on its measures, Mr. Randolph came to see me
with an air of great eagerness, and made to me the overtures of which
I have given you an account in my No. 6. Thus, with some thou
sands of dollars, the republic would have decided on civil war, or on
peace. Thus the consciences of the pretended patriots of America
have already their prices. * * * What will be the old age of this
Government if it is thus early decrepit. Such, citizen, is the evident
consequence of the system of finances conceived by Mr. Hamilton.
He has made of a whole nation, a stock-jobbing, speculating, selfish
people. * * * * Still, there are patriots of whom I delight to enter
tain an idea worthy of that imposing title. Consult Monroe — he is
of this number ; he had apprised me of the men whom the current of
events had dragged along as bodies devoid of weight. His friend
Madison is also an honest man. Jefferson, on whom the patriots
cast their eyes to succeed the President, had foreseen these crises.
He prudently retired, in order to avoid making a figure against his
inclination in scenes, the secret of which will soon or late be brought
to light."
These are the leading and essential facts in the intercepted letter.
And they certainly contain very grave charges. The men in power
are accused ef a design of changing the government into a monarchy;
clothing the President with absolute power, and fomenting a rebel
lion, that they might have a pretext to raise a standing army to
enforce their designs. The pretended patriots of the country are

THE FAUCHET LETTER. 89
accused of venality and corruption — the highest officer under Govern
ment charged with making overtures to the minister of a foreign
power for money ; and it is alleged that none but those who are op
posed to the Administration are trustworthy and honest.
It is not surprising that a communication of this sort, addressed
by a foreign minister to his Government, whose feeling of friendship
to our own was extremely questionable, falling into the hands of one
of the parties implicated, should excite his indignation and create in
him a desire to have the truth of the charges investigated. But the
use made of that letter by the triumvirate, Wolcott, Pickering, and
Bradford, to destroy an obnoxious rival and to crush the rising ener
gies of a hateful party, cannot be justified. The wicked and Jesuiti
cal doctrine, that all is fair in politics, may sanction the means in
the end ; but the pen of the historian must condemn, under all cir
cumstances, both the principle and its application. Randolph was a
colleague of those men — held the highest station in the executive de
partment of Government — was in the most intimate relations with
them, holding daily and hourly communications on the gravest sub
jects of state. He was reputed to be among the first gentlemen of
his age — possessed a high reputation, and an unblemished character
for integrity and honor. A paper falls into the hands of his intimate
and daily associates, written by an ignorant and prejudiced foreigner,
in which this man is charged with being accessible to a bribe. What
line of conduct do they pursue ? It seems that in a formal dispatch
of the foreign minister, No. 6, the facts are stated from which he
draws his injurious inference. Did the triumvirate call for that doc
ument so obviously necessary as a means of explaining the injurious
charges ? It was in the hands of the same individual from whom
they had obtained the first communication. But they made no in
quiry for it ; did not seem to wish to know that the means of expla
nation were in their reach, or in existence. Did they communicate
the contents of the letter to their implicated colleague, that he might
exculpate himself from its charges ? They kept it a profound secret
from him — held frequent conclaves over it — considered it extremely
important, and concluded that the President must be informed of it,
but in the most secret manner, lest the implicated person might take
the alarm. They even go to him, and induce him in their presence
to write to the President, requesting his immediate return to the seat

90 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
of government. Not content with this, one of the party writes him
self, stating that he is very solicitous about the treaty, and/or a spe
cial reason, thus connecting the fate of the treaty with the contents
of the intercepted letter. Was this acting fairly towards their col
league ? It was not treating him even as a gentleman. Their con-
duct can only be compared to that of a bailiff or town beadle, who
has gotten some clue on a suspected character, towards whom he
must act with the utmost caution and secrecy, lest he might snuff
suspicion in the wind and take to flight.
Nor was their conduct at all mitigated by the return of the
President. They beset him the moment of his arrival ; the inter
cepted letter was placed in his hands the same evening ; a cabinet
council was called the next morning to deliberate on the treaty. Not
a breath was uttered to Randolph by the President, that he was sus
pected of treachery to himself, and of having made overtures for a
bribe to betray his country. On the contrary, an unusually cordial
manner is observed towards him. He is called on to give his opinion
on the subject of ratification. He repeats the same arguments he
had used before ; he contended that the treaty did not warrant the
provision order, and that the President could not sign the treaty so
long as the order existed ; because we had already acknowledged, on
the 7th of September, 1793, that a permission to Great Britain to ex
ercise such a power, would be a just cause of war to France ; that we
should be inconsistent in our discussions with the French minister ;
because when he remonstrated upon the extension of contraband by
the treaty, it was answered that we did not alter the law of nations ;
but now we should desert what was contended to be the law of na
tions, in two letters to Mr. Hammond ; that we should run the haz
ard of a war with France, by combining to starve her ; and that her
discontents were the only possible chance remaining to the British
partisans for throwing us into the arms of Great Britain, by creating
a seeming necessity of an alliance with the latter power. These co
gent arguments had already been urged on the President ; he felt
their force, and had determined, as the reader cannot doubt, not to
sign so long as the provision order existed, and had taken his mea
sures accordingly. How are these arguments met now ? Let it he
remembered that on the morning of this very day, it was circulated
in the coffee-houses by Hammond, the British minister, and his par-

THE FAUCHET LETTER. 91
tisans, that Randolph was at the bottom of the town meetings which
had been gotten up to denounce the treaty (and which actually burnt
a copy of the treaty in front of Hammond's house, by the hands of
the common hangman), and that there was a conspiracy, of .which
Randolph was a member, to destroy the popularity of the President,
and to thrust Mr. Jefferson into his chair. No one can doubt that
these rumors designedly put afloat, were carefully related to the
President by his faithful and disinterested ministers, so that when
Randolph concluded his speech, the very arguments that had weighed
with the President before, were now evidences of his guilt — con
firmations strong as proofs of Holy Writ. Pickering and Wolcott
answered in the most excited and intemperate manner ; urged the
immediate ratification of the treaty, and charged that the struggle to
defeat it was the act of a detestable and nefarious conspiracy. There
was a unanimous vote for immediate unconditional ratification, so
far as the provision order was concerned ; but to be accompanied
with a remonstrance on that subject. The President receded from
his determination, and consented to ratify. The necessary papers
were prepared, and on the 18th of August, 1795, the President affixed
his signature to the treaty. All this struck the Secretary of State
with astonishment. He did not know how to account for it. All
the while he was treated with unusual courtesy. Two days after the
President had determined to sign the treaty, on the 14th of the
month, he paid a private and friendly visit to Mr. Randolph's house ;
invited him next day in the most cordial manner to dine with a narty
of chosen friends, and placed him at the foot of the table as a mark
of respect and confidence. On the 18th, the day of the ratification,
the same air of cordiality was assumed. But good, easy man, while
his honors were thus ripening, next day there came a nipping frost.
On Wednesday, the 19th of August, 1795, while going to the
President's at the usual hour, nine o'clock in the morning, he was
met by the steward, who informed him that the President desired
him to postpone his visit till half past ten. On reaching the door at
the appointed hour, he was surprised to learn that the President had
been closeted with his colleagues for more than an hour. On enter
ing the room, the President rose from his chair, and received him
with marked formality. After a few words, the President drew a
letter from his pocket, and said : " Mr. Randolph, here is a letter

92 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
which I desire you to read, and make such explanations as you
choose." After he had read the letter, and some little conversation had en
sued, the President requested Messrs. Wolcott and Pickering to in
terrogate him ! In a short time he was requested to leave the room,
that they might consult on what had been said ! Can the reader come
to any other conclusion, than that the mind of the President had
been worked up to prejudge the case ? Can any one believe that the
great and good Washington would have acted in a manner so precipi
tate in itself, so injurious and humiliating to a long-tried friend, and
a faithful, confidential officer, unless his passions had been excited
by some undue influence, exerted over his peculiar temper and cha
racter ?
Who can doubt, after a review of all the facts connected with
this transaction, that Randolph, as he declared himself, was the me
ditated victim of party spirit ? Who can doubt that Wolcott and
Pickering, by their artful insinuations, and earnest commentaries on
the intercepted letter, had induced the President to believe that
there was in truth a detestable and nefarious conspiracy to defeat
the treaty ? — that there was a dark design of replacing him by an
other President ; and that his Secretary of State, in whom he had
placed the most unbounded confidence, had been convicted of a cor
rupt attachment to France, and of perfidy to himself. The more we
read and learn of Washington and his acts, the more exalted our
judgment becomes of his virtue and purity. The more the days of
his mortality recede from us, the more sublime and godlike his cha
racter appears. But when we go back to the times when he wrought
on earth with other men, and performed his part on the public stage,
we perceive that he had like passions with ourselves, and like us,
was liable to err.
The ratification of such a treaty would at any time have created
a strong hostility to the administration that advised it. It was cer
tainly very defective. We say nothing about the objections raised
against it, under the influence of the party excitement of the times.
Much allowance must be made for them ; but the negotiator himself
admitted that the subjects of difficulty were merged in the treaty,
but not settled. Time has proved the truth of his admission. The
late war with Great Britain — the more recent difficulties on the

THE FAUCHET LETTER, 93
boundary question, all grew out of the unsettled questions of dispute
merged in the treaty. It was evidently made for a temporary pur
pose — to serve the nonce — and perhaps that was all that could have
been expected. The President did not approve it. The more he
thought of it, the less he liked it. But that there might be some set
tlement of the perplexing and threatening difficulties between the
two nations, he consented to ratify, if the Senate advised. The rati
fication of such a treaty, under any circumstances, would have en
countered formidable opposition. But when it was made known that
the President, under the influence of a party intrigue, had been hur
ried into a premature ratification, contrary to his better judgment,
with the British order in council staring him in the face, which
seemed to have been issued in contempt of the treaty, as a license to
plunder our defenceless commerce, the storm that was raised cannot
well be imagined. T he great Washington rose into the pure empy
rean of a clear conscience ; but the guilty beings below were swept
away by the tempest. All who had any thing to do with this busi
ness were treaty-foundered, and ingulfed in the torrent that soon
swept over the land.
It was predicted, as a sequel to these transactions, that Monroe
would be recalled from Paris. In December, 1795, only three
months after the ratification, Mr. Jefferson writes : " I should not
wonder if Monroe were to be recalled, under the idea of his being of
the partisans of France, whom the President considers as the parti
sans of war and confusion, in his letter of July 31st, and as disposed
to excite them to hostile measures, or at least to unfriendly senti
ments ; a most infatuated blindness to the true character of the
sentiments entertained in favor of France." Sure enough, the sub
ject was soon made the theme of cabinet consultation ; and on the 2d
day of July, 1796, it was resolved to recall him. " We think," said
the Heads of Department, in their communication to the President,
" the great interests of the United States require that they have near
the French government some faithful organ to explain their real
views, and to ascertain those of the French. Our duty obliges us to be
explicit. Although the present Minister Plenipotentiary of the United
States at Paris has been amply furnished with documents to explain
the views and conduct of the United States, yet his own letters au
thorize us to say, that he has omitted to use them, and thereby ex-

94 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
posed the United States to all the mischiefs which would flow from
jealousies and erroneous conceptions of their views and conduct.
Whether this dangerous omission arose from such an attachment to
the cause of France as rendered him too little mindful of the inter
ests of his own country, or from mistaken views of the latter, or* from
any other cause, the evil is the same." After speaking of his confi
dential correspondence with the notorious enemies of tlie whole sys
tem of government, and of certain anonymous letters, which they en
tertained no doubt were written with the privity of Mr. Monroe, they
proceed : " The anonymous communications from officers of the
United States in a foreign country, on matters of a public nature,
and which deeply concern the interests of the United States in rela
tion to that foreign country, are proofs of sinister designs, and show
that the public interests are no longer safe in the hands of such men."
On the 8th of July, from Mount Vernon, the President invited
Charles Cotesworth Pinkney, of Charleston, to succeed Mr. Monroe.
In his private and confidential letter to that gentleman, he says :
" The situation of affairs, and the interests of this country, as they
relate to France, render it indispensably necessary, that a faithful
organ near that Government, able and willing to explain its views and
to ascertain those of France, should immediately fill the place of our
present Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris."
From this period not a friend of the French cause remained in
the administration of affairs. Jefferson, foreseeing the tendency of
events, had prudently retired, after having suffered a three years'
martyrdom. Randolph had been ignominiously driven from the
cabinet ; and Monroe recalled, not only with the charge of infidelity
to his Government, but under the accusation of sinister designs against
his country.It was proclaimed in the newspapers, in political meetings, on the
hustings, every where, that the friends of liberty are for an intimate
union with France. The partisans of slavery prefer an alliance
with England. On the other hand, the President had declared and
acted on the belief, that the friends of France were the partisans of
war and confusion. " A most infatuated blindness" said Jefferson,
" to tlie true character of the sentimervts entertained in favor of
France .'"
• The reader cannot mistake, at this rate, how things were tending.

MR MONROE. 95
The person and character of the President were no longer respected.
The Republicans were resolved that their opponents should not shel
ter themselves behind the cegis of his fame. They considered that
he had descended into the arena of strife, and were determined that
he should share the fate of other combatants.
Happily for him, he soon sought repose in voluntary retirement.
The reins of government fell into other hands. On the 4th of March,
1797, this pure patriot entered the shades of Mount Vernon with in
finitely more pleasure than he had ever passed the threshold into the
cabinet of power. However much some of the measures of his admin
istration may be condemned, his own motives are above suspicion.
If ever a man had in view the exaltation of the character of his own
country, impressing on it a pure American stamp, free from all
foreign alloy, he had. Whether all the measures advocated by him
tended to that end is another question. The historian must not be
deterred from a critical examination into them from the fear of tar
nishing his great name. That is impossible ! From the clouds of
party it has come out all the brighter for the mists by which it was
temporarily enveloped.

CHAPTER XIX.
MR. MONROE — FRANCE — MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT.
The charges against Mr. Monroe were unjust, and his recall .an im
politic measure, unless the Government had determined not to send
a successor, for which there was sufficient reason. Nothing but the
intemperate zeal of such partisans as Pickering and Wolcott could
have advised the course pursued. The strangest part of the business
is that General Washington should have yielded so completely to
their views. He speaks more harshly, if possible, than they do, not
only of Mr. Monroe's conduct, but of his motives. He charges him
with misrepresenting his own Government, an undue condescension
to that of France, and alleges that he was promoting the views of a
party in his own country, that were obstructing every measure of the

96 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Administration, and, by their attachment to France, were hurrying
it (if not with design, at least in its consequences), into a war with
Great Britain, in order to favor France. He further charges that
this French party had brought the country to a most degraded and
humiliating condition ; and that our Minister at Paris had been the
principal actor in its accomplishment. That he was timid in his de
mands of justice, and over zealous in his efforts to conciliate the
French people, cannot be doubted. But he had a most difficult part
to perform. His open reception by the National Convention — the
fraternal embrace in the midst of shouts and acclamation, and his un
reserved declarations of attachment to the French cause, were not at
all diplomatic. The people of Paris, who were the Government in
fact, would have consented to no other kind of reception. Fond of
exhibition and excitement at all times, they could not let an occasion
of that sort pass quietly by without considering that they had cast a
slight on the representative of a sister Republic. At the same time,
the whole nation were thoroughly impressed with the belief that we
owed our existence to them ; that their timely alliance had sustained
our cause against the arms of England, and their powerful influence
in negotiation had secured our Independence. They were taught
this lesson not only by their own Government, and the thousands of
Frenchmen who fought in our armies, but they were taught it by the
statesmen of America, her orators, her poets, her historians, and all
her diplomatic agents abroad. All France was penetrated with a
belief that we owed them a debt of gratitude that no service could
repay. Whether right or wrong, such was the national faith. They
were now engaged in a war with the very nation from whose tyran
nous oppression they had plucked us — their own hereditary enemy
of a thousand years— a war destructive, vindictive, exterminating.
So soon, therefore, as it was known that the United States had sent
an envoy to negotiate a treaty with England, their suspicions were
awakened. They doubted the sincerity of our declarations of friend
ship, and insisted that Mr. Monroe was merely sent to blind and lull
them into repose, while the real design was a close alliance with their
mortal foe. In vain did the Minister declare that no treaty would
be made with England that would affect the rights of France. There
is no reasoning in detail with the multitude ; special facts make but a
slight impression, they are governed by broad and universal truths.

FRANCE. 97
It was impossible to persuade the French mind that the United
States meant well in seeking to form a treaty with their enemies,
while they were impressed with the belief that they owed their exist
ence, independence, and an immense debt of gratitude to France.
Whenever Mr. Monroe made a demand for the redress of our many
grievances, he was at once met with the charge of ingratitude, and
was threatened with the displeasure and hostility of France, if the
treaty then in progress at London should be consummated. So soon
as it was known that a treaty had been made, and that it had been
advised by the Senate and ratified by the President, the hostility of
the French Government and the indignation of the people knew no
bounds. The harassing decrees of Government, the depredations
on American commerce, the atrocious cruelties committed on her
seamen and citizens were worse than if there had been an open decla
ration of war ; for then all merchant vessels would have been kept at
home. It was declared by the Government that these things were
done in consequence of the British treaty. They now began to draw
a distinction between the Administration and the people of the United
States. They imagined that a large majority were friendly to an
alliance with France. The first appeal was made by the minister
Adet, in the autumn of 1796, with a view of influencing the presiden
tial election. Mr. Adams was considered as the representative of
the Administration, or English party, and Mr. Jefferson the repre
sentative of the French party. The next occasion on which this
spirit was manifested in the most remarkable degree, was in the
month of December, 1796, by the Directory. When Mr. Monroe
presented his letters of recall, and the letters of credence of General
Pinckney, who the reader knows had been appointed to succeed him,
he was told that the Directory would not acknowledge nor receive
another Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States, until after
the redress of grievances demanded of the American Government,
and which the French Government had a right to expect from it.
He was, at the* same time, told that this determination allowed to
subsist between the French Republic and the American people, the
affection founded upon former benefits and reciprocal interests, and
that he himself had cultivated this affection by every means in his
power. And to his valedictory address, the President of the Execu
tive Directory thus replied : — " Mr. Minister Plenipotentiary of the

98 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
United States of America, by presenting to-day your letters of recall
to the Executive Directory, you give to Europe a very strange spec
tacle. France, rich in her liberty, surrounded by a train of victories.
strong in the esteem of her allies, will not abase herself by calcula
ting the consequences of the condescension of the American Govern
ment to the suggestions of her former tyrants. Moreover, the French
Republic hopes that the successors of Columbus, Raleigh, and Penn—
always proud of their liberty — will never forget that they owe it to
France. They will weigh in their wisdom the magnanimous benevo
lence of the French people, with the crafty caresses of certain perfidi
ous persons who meditate bringing them back to their former slavery.
Assure the good American people, sir, that, like them, we adore
liberty ; that they will always have our esteem, and that they will
find in the French people republican generosity, which knows how
to grant peace, as it does to cause its sovereignty to be respected."
While Mr. Monroe was assured that he had combated for prin
ciples, had known the true interests of his country, and that they
parted from, him with regret, General Pinckney was treated in the
most disrespectful manner. In no manner was he recognized in his
official capacity, — was refused the usual cards of hospitality on which
his personal safety depended, and like an ordinary stranger, was left
wholly to the regulations of the Paris police. And about the first of
February, 1797, the very day that Bonaparte's brilliant termination
of the Italian campaigns was announced, he was ordered to quit
Paris, and to pass beyond the confines of France.
The news of the election of Mr. Adams to the presidency, arrived
in Paris about the first of March. This filled the measure of hos
tile feelings on the part of the Directory : they were now ready for
any extremity. The unfriendly sentiments of Mr. Adams were well
known in France ; and they were cordially reciprocated. Those
feelings began to develope themselves at an early period. And it is
important at this point of our history, that the reader should know
their origin. ,
In the summer of 1780 Mr. Adams was in Paris, charged with
three distinct commissions from the Congress of the Confederation :
first, to take a share in any future negotiations for peace ; second,
to conclude a treaty of commerce with Great Britain ; third, to re
present the United States at the Court of London. At that time

FRANCE. 99
there was not the slightest prospect of peace. Cornwallis was
marching triumphantly through the southern provinces, and Eng
land was in high hopes of subjugating her revolted colonies. At this
conjuncture, Mr. Adams proposed to make known to the Court of
London that he held a commission to conclude a treaty of commerce
with Great Britain, and to represent the United States at the Court
of London. As he was required to do, he consulted the Count de
Vergennes on the subject. That nobleman, the Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, ridiculed it as an ill-timed and visionary proposition. To
be solicitous about a treaty of commerce, before independence was
established, he thought was like being busy about furnishing a house
before the foundation was laid. He told Mr. Adams that the Bri
tish ministry would consider the communication as ridiculous, and
would either return no answer, or an insolent one.
Mr. Adams still insisted on the propriety of his course, entered
into an elaborate argument to prove it, and was very intemperate in
his language and insinuations as to the motives of France, and
showed an overweening desire either to figure himself in the Court
of London, or to form a close commercial alliance with' England as
the best means of securing independence to his country. He evi
dently showed no disposition to rely on the good intentions of France
in the business.
The Count de Vergennes at length inclosed a copy of his corre
spondence with Mr. Adams, to Dr. Franklin, accompanied with these
remarks : — " You will find, I think, in the letters of that plenipoten
tiary, opinions and a tone which do not correspond either with the
manner I explained myself to him, or with the intimate connection
which subsists between the king and the United States. You will
make that use of these pieces which your prudence shall suggest.
As to myself, I desire that you will transmit them to Congress, that
they may know the line of conduct which Mr. Adams pursues with
regard to us, and that they may judge whether he is endowed, as
Congress no doubt desires, with that conciliating spirit which is ne
cessary for the important and delicate business with which he is in
trusted." The communication was made to Congress ; and that body re
sponded to Mr. Adams, that they did not doubt his correspondence
with the Count de Vergennes flowed from his zeal and assiduity in

100 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the service of his country, but that the opinions of that minister were
well-founded, and that he must be more cautious in future. Mr.
Adams never forgot or forgave this insult to his vanity and self-es
teem, which were ruling traits in his character. He soon left for
Holland, where he remained till negotiations for peace had com
menced in Paris, in November, 1782. When he arrived on the
scene of action, Mr. Jay and Dr. Franklin, two of the associate com
missioners, had made considerable progress in the negotiation. The
whole matter was talked over to him, and he very soon displayed his
suspicions of the sincerity and motives of France. In his correspond
ence he thus writes: — -"Paris, Nov. 1782. When I speak of this
(French) Court, I know not that any other minister (Count de Ver
gennes) is included than that of Foreign Affairs. A whole system of
policy is now as glaring as the day, which perhaps Congress and the
people of America have little suspicion of. The evidence now results
from a large view of all our European negotiations. The same prin
ciple and the same system have been uniformly pursued from the
beginning of my knowledge in Europe, in April, 1778, to this hour.
In substance it has been this : — In assistance afforded us in naval
force and in money, to keep us from succumbing, and nothing more :
To prevent us from ridding ourselves wholly of our enemies, and
from growing rich and powerful : To prevent us from obtaining ac
knowledgments of our independence by other foreign powers, and
from acquiring consideration in Europe, or any advantage in the
peace, but what is expressly stipulated in the treaties : To deprive •
us of the Grand Fishery, the Mississippi river, the Western lands,
and to saddle us with the tories." The friends of Mr. Adams even
went so far as to say, that Dr. Franklin favored, or did not oppose
the designs of France against the United States ; and that it was
entirely owing to the firmness, sagacity, and disinterestedness of Mr.
Adarqs, with whom Mr. Jay united, that we had obtained those im
portant advantages. Dr. Franklin, in, allusion to this subject, says :
" He (Mr. Adams) thinks the French minister one of the greatest
enemies of our country ; that he would have straitened our bounda
ries, to prevent the growth of our people ; contracted our fishery to
obstruct the increase of our seamen ; and retained the royalists
amongst us, to keep us divided ; that he privately opposed all our ne
gotiations with foreign courts, and afforded us, during the war, the as-

MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. 101
eistance we received, only to keep it alive, that we might be so much
the more weakened by it ; that to think of gratitude to France is the
greatest of follies, and that to be influenced by it would ruin us. He
makes no secret of his having these opinions — expresses them pub
licly, sometimes in presence of the English ministers, and speaks of
hundreds of instances, which he could produce in proof of them. If
I were not convinced of the real inability of this Court to furnish the
further supplies we asked, I should suspect these discourses of a per
son in ,his station might have influenced the refusal — (at that very
moment, the king of France had postponed his own creditors, that he
might furnish means to sustain -the credit of the United States ;) —
but I think they have gone no further than to occasion a suspicion,
that we have a considerable party of anti- Gallicans in America,
who are not tories, and consequently, to produce some doubts of the
continuance of our friendship. As such doubts may hereafter have
a bad effect, I think we cannot take too much care to remove them ;
and it is, therefore, I write this to put you on your guard (believ
ing it my duty, though I know I hazard by it a mortal enmity), and
to caution you respecting the insinuations of this gentleman against
this Court, and the instances he supposes of their ill will to us, which
I take to be as imaginary as I know his fancies to be, that Count de
Vergennes and myself are continually plotting against him, and em
ploying the news-writers of Europe to depreciate his character. But
as Shakspeare says, " Trifles light as air," &c. I am persuaded,
however, that he means well for his country, is always an honest
man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely
out of his senses."
This was the man elected President of the United States. Such
were the opinions and sentiments entertained by him in regard to
France, which time and the revolution in that country had only de
veloped and strengthened.
So soon as this election was known, and avowedly in consequence
of it, the Executive Directory, on the 2d of March, 1797, decreed
that the treaty Concluded on"; the sixth of February, 1778, between
France and the United States, was modified of full right by that
which had been concluded at London on the nineteenth of November,
1794, between the United^ States of America and England ;• and in
consequence thereof, decreed further, that all merchandise of the

102 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
enemy's, all merchandise not sufficiently ascertained to be neutral,
conveyed under American flags, shall be confiscated ; that every
thing which serves directly or indirectly to the arming and equipping
of vessels, shall be contraband — that every American who shall hold
a commission from the enemies of France, as well as every seaman of
that nation, composing the crew of the ships and vessels, shall, by
this fact alone, be declared piratical, and treated as such, without
suffering the. party to establish that the act was the consequence of
threats or violence ; that every American ship shall be deemed a
lawful prize, which shall not have on board a bill of lading (role
d'equipage) in due form, according to the plan annexed to the treaty
of the sixth of February, 1778. This was in fact a declaration of
war in disguise. It was so intended. The Government avowed their
determination to fleece the American citizens of their property, to a
sufficient degree to bring them to their feeling in the only nerve in
which it was presumed their sensibility lay, which was their pecuniary
interest. When Mr. Adams was inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1797,
he was ignorant of this decree ; he only knew that General Pinckney
had been refused credence as Minister Plenipotentiary, and had been
ordered to leave France.
Notwithstanding this, he expressed a desire for reconciliation.
Meeting with Mr. Jefferson, who had come to Philadelphia to take
upon himself the duties of Vice-President, to which office he had
just been elected, Mr. Adams entered immediately on an explanation
of the situation of our affairs with France, and the danger of rupture
with that nation, a rupture which would convulse the attachments of
this country ; that he was impressed with the necessity of an imme
diate mission to the Directory, and had concluded to send one, which,
by its dignity, should satisfy France, and by its selection from the
three great divisions of the continent, should satisfy all parts of the
United States ; in short, that he had determined to join Gerry and
Madison to Pinckney, and he requested Mr. Jefferson to consult Mr.
Madison for him. On the sixth of March, when Mr. Jefferson re
ported the result of his negotiation with Mr. Madison, the President
replied, that, on consultation, some objections to that nomination had
been raised, which he had not contemplated ; the subject was then
dropped, and never afterwards resumed. The consultation alluded

MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. 1Q3
to was with Pickering, Wolcott, McHenry and Lee, the late Cabi
net of General Washington, which he had transmitted entire to his
successor. The feelings and opinions of those gentlemen are well
known to the reader. So that the kind intentions of Mr. Adams, in
the first enthusiasm of office, towards the Republican party, and his
spirit of conciliation towards France, were soon dissipated by the
advice of his counsellors. In less than three weeks from this date,
the President's proclamation was issued, requiring an extraordinary
session of Congress to be convened on the fifteenth day of May.
It is obvious that the President was advised to this measure, and
that the design of his advisers was to procure, if not a declaration of
war, at least the enactment of such strong retaliatory measures as
would lead to that result. There could have been no other motive
in convening the legislative department at that unusual season ; and
when the decree of the 2d of March was made known, there was no
other alternative left to the Administration. The President might
have dismissed his ministers, and taken into his Cabinet such men as
Madison, Gallatin and Gerry. With their advice he could have sent
to France, as he proposed at first, such envoys as would at once have
satisfied that nation, smothered every asperity, caused the repeal of
every obnoxious decree, and the institution of a tribunal to try all
questions of dispute between the two nations. But not choosing to
follow this course, there was no alternative in the line of policy to
be pursued but war or disgrace.
The President's opening speech on the 17th of May, was consid
ered by his friends sufficiently spirited. After giving a history of
the rejection of the American Minister by the Executive Directory,
and the indignities offered^ to the nation through him, he thus pro
ceeds : " With this eonducfe>of the French Government, it will be
proper .to take into view the public audience given to the late Minis
ter of the United States on his taking leave of the Executive Direc
tory — the speech of the President discloses sentiments more alarm
ing than the refusal of a Minister, because more dangerous to our
independence and union ; and at the same time studiously marked
with indignities towards the Government of the United States : it
evinces a disposition to separate the people of the United States from
the Government, to persuade them that they have different affections,
principles, and interests, from those of their fellow-citizens whom they

104 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
themselves have chosen to manage their common concerns ; and thus
to produce divisions fatal to our peace. Such attempts ought to be
repelled with a decision which shall convince France and the world,
that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit
of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments
of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, character, and
interest." While he intended to make another effort to adjust all our differ
ences with France by amicable negotiation, the threatening aspect of
affairs rendered it his indispensable duty to recommend to the con
sideration of Congress effectual measures if defence. " The present
situation of our country," says he, in conclusion, " imposes an obliga
tion on all the departments of Government to adopt an explicit and
decided conduct  It is impossible to conceal from ourselves, or
the world, what has been before observed, that endeavors have been
employed to foster and establish a division between the Government
and the people of the United States. To investigate the causes
which have encouraged this attempt is not necessary ; but to repel,
by decided and united councils, insinuations so derogatory to the
honor, and aggressions so dangerous to the constitution, union, and
even independence of the nation, is an indispensable duty. . . . Con
vinced that the conduct of this Government has been just and impar
tial to foreign nations ; that those internal regulations which have
been established by land for the preservation of peace, are in their
nature proper, and that they have been fairly executed ; nothing will
ever be done by me to impair the national engagements, to innovate
upon principles which have been so deliberately and uprightly estab
lished, or to surrender in any manner tlie rights of the Government?
This energetic speech of the President was not responded to by
the Representatives in the same spirit. The original draft of the
address intending to be fully responsive to the speech, contained the
following clause : " Knowing as we do thje confidence reposed by the
people of the United States in their Government, we cannot hesitate
in expressing our indignation at the sentiments disclosed by the
President of the Executive Directory of France in his speech to the
Minister of the United States. Such sentiments serve to discover
the imperfect knowledge which France possesses of the real opinions
of our constituents." This very pointed and spirited paragraph was

MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. 105
stricken out by a vote of forty-eight to forty-six, and the following
substituted in its place : " Any sentiments tending to derogate from
the confidence ; such sentiments, wherever entertained, serve to evince
an imperfect knowledge of the real opinion of our constituents."
The address contained the following paragraph : " We there
fore receive, with the utmost satisfaction, your information that a
fresh attempt at negotiation will be instituted ; and we cherish the
hope that a mutual spirit of conciliation, and a disposition on the
part of the United States to place France on grounds similar to those
of other countries, in their relation and connection with us, if any
irregularities shall be found to exist, will produce an accommodation
compatible with the engagements, rights, duties, and honor of the
United States." A motion was made to strike out the latter part of
this clause, in regard to France. It was negatived by a vote of
forty-nine to fifty. Thus it seems that there were forty-nine mem
bers opposed to placing France on similar grounds to those of other
countries, in their relation and connection with us.
A motion was then made to strike out the whole paragraph.
Only forty-one voted for this proposition ; so that there were at least
that many opposed to any farther negotiation, or conciliation with
France. A motion was made to strike from the address the following pa
ragraph : " Believing, with you, that the conduct of the Government
has been just and impartial to foreign nations ; that the laws for
the preservation of peace have been proper, and that they have been
fairly executed, the representatives of the people do not hesitate to
declare, that they will give their most cordial support to the execu
tion of principles so deliberately and uprightly established." This
motion was made by Mr. Gallatin, who was a native of Geneva, and
spoke English .with a very broken accent. It was opposed by Mr.
Allen, who said he was sure such a motion could never pass while
there was a drop of American blood in the House, and an American
accent to say no. Forty-five voted to strike out, thereby expressing
their belief that the Government had-not been just and impartial to
foreign nations — that laws proper for the preservation of peace had
not been enacted, nor fairly executed.
The House of Representatives was composed of one hundred
members, leaving out the Speaker ; ninety-nine remained to vote on
vol. i. 5*

106 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
all questions. Fifty made the majority. Thus the reader will per
ceive that a very large and powerful minority were opposed to all
the measures of the administration. Much the larger portion of its
friends were desirous of no further attempts at negotiation with
France, and were prepared to push matters to the extremity of war ;
but the two or three timid, vacillating, and as it was asserted, venal men,
necessary to make the majority, could not be relied on. All the la
bors of Congress, after a two months' session, resulted in a perfect
abortion. A few insignificant acts of a defensive character were
passed, but nothing energetic or decisive was done.
The republican party, or French partisans as they were called,
were reproached for this failure. General Washington had long be
fore said they were the friends of war and confusion ; it was now
asserted that they were prepared to sacrifice the independence of
their own country to the ambition of France. Had it been merely
a subject of foreign policy that divided them from the administra
tion, it might be a question how far they were justified in giving the
least countenance to the indignities and the atrocities of the French
Government. But it must be remembered that great principles,
deep and radical, not only in regard to the interpretation of the
Constitution, but the basis and design of all government, divided
them from the party of the administration. They were firmly im
pressed with the belief that the latter desired to absorb all the pow
ers distributed among the .States, and left to the people, into the
federal head ; to concentrate them in the Executive, and then to con
solidate and confirm these usurpations by a close alliance .with Great
Britain, whose government and policy were to be taken as a model
for our own ; and that all their measures, the British treaty, disgrace
of Randolph, recall of Monroe, and unconciliating temper towards
France, were taken with a view to the consummation of these great
designs. Thus impressed, it could not be expected that those men
would yield to the policy of the administration. The lasting welfare
of the country was of more importance than the removal of a mere
temporary shadow that overhung the shield of its fame. They saw
the administration in a dilemma ; they did not consider it their duty
to extricate them from it, that they might pursue measures 'detri
mental to the interests of the country.
Mr. Adams never pursued any well-digested plan of any sort.

MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. JQ7
He was the creature of impulse. His first impulse, as we have seen
was to send Madison and Gerry to France. This feeling he yielded
to the wishes of his counsellors, who were evidently for war. The
representatives of the people were called together to second these
designs. *But falling far short of -the expectations of those who had
advised the call, the President was compelled to fall back on his ori
ginal plan, and resort once more to negotiation. But it was now too
late. He found himself in this awkward position. He had said to
France, I was indignant at your insults and malicious attempts to
divide the people from their government, and intended to repel them
with becoming spirit ; but when I called on the popular branch of
government, those who more immediately represented the feelings
and wishes of the people, to furnish me the means, I found that a
very formidable minority were of your way of thinking ; very few
prepared to retaliate your insults with war, and a large majority dis
posed to conciliate you by further negotiations. I am compelled to
yield to their wishes, as they are the war-making power ; and as a
token of my sincerity, I send you three envoys — Messrs. Pinckney,
Marshall, and Dana — gentlemen, one of whom you know, of high-
toned character, great devotion to my administration and the policy
of my predecessor — indignant at the insults you have offered their
government, hostile to your principles, shocked at your merciless
barbarities at home and abroad, and prepared with unyielding energy
and spirit to demand redress for the depredations you have com
mitted on our commerce, and the injuries you have done to our
seamen, What could have been expected from such a mission but disap
pointment and additional insult ? It is true Mr. Dana resigned, and
Gerry was put in his place ; but the majority of the commission were
precisely such men as were the least agreeable to the Directory. It
was just as well known to Barras, Merlin, and Talleyrand, as it was
to Gallatin, Madison, and Jefferson, that the administration were in
a difficulty from which they could not easily escape. , They saw
plainly from the proceedings and the debates of Congress, that Mr.
Adams would be compelled to yield to the republican party, or make
war on France, and ally himself with England, or retire in disgrace.
A war with France, and a consequent alliance with England, they
knew would not be attempted with so formidable an opposition as

108 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the late Congress had displayed. They had every reason to expeet,
that by a steady resistance to the overtures of the administration,
they would finally secure a triumph to their friends in America.
Governments are conducted by men ; men are influenced by human
motives, too often by the basest, passions and prejudices — (Quam
parva sapientia regitur mundus.) Judging from these premises, it
was preposterous in Mr. Adams to suppose that his embassy would
be received by the Directory in any other than the haughtiest
spirit. The defeat of such a mission must have been foreseen from
the beginning. Pickering, Wolcott and Company had too much
political sagacity not to have anticipated it. And perhaps it is not
uncharitable to suppose, that it was projected with the view of creat
ing additional causes of irritation on the part of France.

CHAPTER XIX.
THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS.
The envoys arrived in Paris about the first of October, 1797. On
the eighth they were introduced to the minister, M. Talleyrand, and
produced their letters of credence. The minister informed them
that he was engaged in preparing for the Executive Directory, a
report relative to the situation of the United States with regard to
France ; and that when it was finished he would let them know what
steps were to follow. They then retired with the promise that cards
of hospitality, in a style suitable to their official character, should be
furnished them. No further notice was taken of them for ten days.
They complained to unofficial persons that they had been treated
with great slight and disrespect since their arrival. Talleyrand, on
the other hand, complained that they had not been to see him. He
sent his private secretary, Mr. Z., to wait on them. They had not
yet been received by the Directory ; and, of course, their Minister of
Foreign Affairs could not recognize them publicly as ambassadors.
But he did all in his power to do : he sent his secretary, who in
formed them that M. Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Relations,

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 109
professed to be well disposed towards the United States ; had ex
pected to have seen the American Ministers frequently in their pri
vate capacities ; and to have conferred with them individually on the
objects of their mission ; and had authorized him to make the com
munication. This, from the circumstances in which the parties were
placed, seems not to have been an unreasonable expectation on the
part of M. Talleyrand. But two of the envoys excused themselves
on the ground of etiquette. General Pinckney and General Marshall
expressed their opinion, that, not being acquainted with M. Talley
rand, they could not, with propriety, call on him ; but that, accord
ing to the custom of France, he might expect this of Mr. Gerry, from
a previous acquaintance in America. This Mr. Gerry reluctantly
complied with, and appointed a day for an interview. While thus
standing off in this ceremonious manner, and unrecognized by the
Government, our envoys had some strange adventures. In the
morning of October the eighteenth, Mr. W * * * *, of the house
of********, called on General Pinckney, and informed him that
a Mr. X. who was in Paris, and whom the General had seen, * * * *
* * * *, was a gentleman of considerable credit and reputation, * * *
*****, and that we might place great reliance on him. In the
evening of the same day, Mr. X., the gentleman so mysteriously an
nounced, called on General Pinckney, and after having sat some
time, whispered him, that he had a message from M. Talleyrand to
communicate when he was at leisure. General Pinckney immediately
withdrew with him into another room ; and when they were alone
Mr. X. said, that he was charged with a business in which he was a
novice ; that he had been acquainted with M. Talleyrand, ******
* * * *, and that he was sure he had a great regard for America
and its citizens ; and was very desirous that a reconciliation should
be brought about with France ; that to effectuate that end, he was
ready, if it was thought proper, to suggest a plan, confidentially, that
M. Talleyrand expected would answer the purpose. General Pinck
ney said he would be glad to hear it. Mr. X. replied, that the Di
rectory, and particularly two of the members of it, were exceedingly
irritated at some passages of the President's speech at the opening
of Congress in May, and desired that they should be softened ; and
that this step would be necessary previous to our reception ; that,
besides this, a sum of money was required for the pocket of the Di-

110 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
rectory and ministers (about fifty thousand pounds sterling), which
would be at the disposal of M. Talleyrand ; and that a loan would
also be insisted on. Mr. X. said, if we acceded to these measures,
M. Talleyrand had no doubt that all our difficulties with Franco
might be accommodated. At the same time, he said his communi
cation was not immediately with M. Talleyrand, but through another
gentleman, in whom M. Talleyrand had great confidence.
Next day Mr. X., and Mr. Y., the confidential friend alluded
to, called on the envoys. Mr. Y., having been introduced as the con
fidential friend of M. Talleyrand, commenced the conversation, and
proceeded pretty much in the same strain as Mr. X. on the day pre
ceding. He said the minister could not see them himself, as they
had not been received by the Directory, but had authorized his friend
Mr. Y. to communicate certain propositions, and to promise on his
part, that if they could be considered as the basis of the proposed
negotiation, he would intercede with the Directory to acknowledge
them, and to give them a public audience. Mr. Y. stated explicitly
and repeatedly that he was clothed with no authority ; that he was
not a diplomatic character ; that he was not ********; he was
only the friend of M. Talleyrand, and trusted by him. He then
read the parts of the President's speech that were objectionable, and
dilated very much upon the keenness of the resentment it had pro
duced, and expatiated largely on the satisfaction he said was indis
pensably necessary as a preliminary to negotiation. "But," said he,
"gentlemen, I will not disguise from you that this satisfaction being
made, the essential part of the treaty remains to be adjusted : II faut
de l'argent — il faut beaucoup d'argent;" you must pay money — you
must pay a great deal of money. He said that the reception of the
money might be so disguised as to prevent its being considered a
breach of neutrality by England ; and thus save us from being em
broiled with that power. Concerning the twelve hundred thousand
livres (£50,000), little was said. *
Next day (October 21st) Mr. X. and Mr. Y. again called on the
envoys, and commenced their private and unofficial negotiation. It was
explained more fully, how the loan might be accomplished by the
purchase of certain Dutch inscriptions held by the French govern
ment ; and it was delicately intimated, that if the envoys would search
a little, they might find means to soothe the angry feelings of Mer-

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. HI
lin and Company, and avert the demand concerning the President's
speech. The envoys replied, that the proposition of a loan in the form of
Dutch inscriptions, or in any other form, was not within the limits
of their instructions, and that upon this point the Government must
be consulted ; and one of the American ministers would, for the pur
pose, forthwith embark for America.
Mr. Y. seemed disappointed at this conclusion. He said the en
voys treated the money part of the proposition as if'it had proceeded
from the Directory ; whereas, in fact, it did not even proceed from
the minister, but was only a suggestion from himself, as a substitute
to be proposed by them, in order to avoid the painful acknowledg
ment that the Directory had determined to demand.
These unofficial gentlemen, X. and Y., who, the envoys admitted,
had brought no testimonials of their speaking any thing from autho
rity, continued their visits from day to day, and urged their propo
sitions with all the earnestness and eloquence they possessed. They
told the envoys that France had just concluded a treaty with the
Emperor of Austria ; and that the Directory, since this peace, had
taken a higher and more decided tone with respect to the United
States, and all other neutral nations, than had been before taken ;
that it had been determined that all nations should aid them, or be
considered and treated as their enemies. They expatiated on the
power and violence of France, urged the danger of our situation, and
pressed the policy of softening them, and of thereby obtaining time.
While these strange conferences were held with men unconnected
with the Government, and one a foreigner, Mr. Gerry, on the 28th of
October, according to appointment, paid his first visit to the minis
ter since the day of their presentation. The others, standing on
etiquette, refused to go. After the first introduction, M. Talleyrand
began the conference. He said the Directory had passed an arrtte,
which he offered for perusal, in which they had demanded of the
envoys an explanation of some parts, and a reparation for others, of
the President's speech to Congress, of the 16th of May last. He
was sensible, he said, that difficulties would exist on the part of the
envoys relative to this demand ; but that by their offering money, he
thought he could prevent the effect of the arrete. It having been
stated that the envoys had no such power, M. Talleyrand replied, they

112 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
can in such case take a power on themselves, and proposed that they
should make a loan. Mr. Gerry then stated that the uneasiness of
the Directory resulting from the President's speech, was a subject
unconnected with the objects of their mission ; that the powers of
the envoys, as they conceived, were adequate to the discussion and
adjustment of all points of real difference between the two nations ;
that they could alter and amend the treaty, or, if necessary, form a
new one ; that as to a loan, they had no powers whatever to make
one ; but that they could send one of their number for instructions
on this proposition, if deemed expedient. M. Talleyrand, in answer,
said he should be glad to confer with the other envoys individually ;
but that this matter about the money must be settled directly, with
out sending to America ; that he would not communicate the arrete
for a week ; and that if they could adjust the matter about the
speech, an application would, nevertheless, go to the United States for
a loan. In this private interview between M. Talleyrand and one of
the envoys, that minister intimates that a loan will be asked, and will
be expected to be granted on the part of the United States ; but not
the slightest allusion is made to a douceur for the use of the members
of the Directory.
On the 11th of November the envoys transmitted an official letter
for the first time to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which they
state that his declaration at the time of their arrival, that a report
on American affairs was then preparing, and would, in a few days
be laid before the Directory, whose decision thereon should, without
delay, be made known, had hitherto imposed silence on them. For
this communication they had waited with that anxious solicitude which
so interesting an event could not fail to excite, and with that respect
which was due to the government of France. They disclosed their
full powers to treat on all differences between the two nations ; and
expressed their anxiety to commence the task of restoring that friend
ship, that mutual interchange of good offices, which it was alike their
wish and their duty to effect between the citizens of the two repub
lics. Having jgceived no answer, on the 21st they sent their secre
tary to wait on the minister, and inquire of him whether he had
communicated the letter to the Directory, and whether an answer
might be expected. He replied that he had submitted the letter,
and that when he was directed what steps to pursue, they should be
informed.

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 113
On the 24th of December the envoys wrote to the Secretary of
State, that they had received no answer to their official letter to
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, dated the 11th of November; but
that reiterated attempts had been made to engage them in negotia
tion with persons not officially authorized. They further stated it
as their opinion, that if they were to remain six months longer, un
less they were to stipulate the payment of money, and a great deal
of it, in some shape or other, they would not be able to effectuate the
object of their mission, nor would they even be officially received.
The President of the United States, in a message to Congress,
March 19th, 1798, stated that the dispatches from the envoys ex
traordinary to the French Republic had been received, examined,
maturely considered, and that he perceived no ground of expectation
that the objects of their mission could be accomplished, on terms
compatible with the safety, honor, or the essential interests of the
nation. On the 27th of January, 1798, the envoys addressed a letter to
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the subject of a late law, author
izing the capture of neutral vessels, on board of which any produc
tions of Great Britain or its possessions should be laden showing
how incompatible such law was with the rights of neutral nations
and the treaty between France and America, its direct tendency to
destroy the remaining commerce of this country, and the particular
hardships to which it would subject the agricultural as well as
commercial interests of their countrymen, from the peculiar situa
tion of the United States. They added, that under existing circum
stances, they could no longer resist the conviction, that the demands
of France rendered it entirely impracticable to effect the objects of
their mission. On the 19th of February, having received no answer
to this communication, they sent their secretary to know of the min
ister whether he had any response to make. He replied that he had
none, as the Directory had taken no order on the subject. At length,
on the- 27th of February, for the first time since their arrival in
Paris, the envoys solicited a personal interview on the subject of
their mission. The minister promptly acceded to the request, and
fixed on the 2d day of March for the interview. On that occasion,
the minister said, that, without doubt, the Directory wished very
sincerely, on the arrival of the envoys, to see a solid friendship es-

114 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
tablished between France and the United States, and had manifested
this disposition, by the readiness with which orders for their pass
ports were given. That the Directory had been extremely woundedf
by the last speech of General Washington, made to Congress when
about to quit the office of President of the United States ; and by
the first and last speech of Mr. Adams. That explanations of these
speeches were expected and required of us. He said, that the ori
ginal favorable disposition of the Directory had been a good deal al
tered by the coldness and distance which the envoys had observed.
That instead of seeing him often, and endeavoring to remove the
obstacles to a mutual approach, they had not once waited ,on him.
In this state of things some proof, he said, would be required on the
part of the United States, of a friendly disposition, previous to a
treaty with them. The envoys ought to search for, and propose
some means which might furnish this proof. In this he alluded very
intelligibly to a loan. He said he must exact from them, on the
part of his Government, some proposition of this sort ; that to prove I
their friendship, there must be some immediate aid, or something
which might avail them ; that the principles of reciprocity would re
quire it. This once done, he said, the adjustment of complaints
would be easy ; that would be matter of inquiry ; and if France had
done wrong, it would be repaired ; but that if this was refused, it
would increase the distance and coldness between the two republics.
It was replied that the envoys had no power to make a loan. One
of them, Mr. Gerry, then observed, that the Government of France
must judge for itself; but that it appeared to him, that a treaty on
liberal principles, such as those on which the treaty of commerce be
tween the two nations was first established, would be infinitely more
advantageous to France than the trifling advantages she could de
rive from a loan. Such a treaty would produce a friendship and at
tachment on the part of the United States to France, which would
be solid and permanent, and produce benefits far superior to those of
a loan, even if they had powers to make it. To this observation, M.
Talleyrand made no reply. Nor did he express any sentiment as to
the propriety of one of the envoys going home to consult the Gov
ernment on the expediency of giving powers to negotiate a loan.
He had already expressed his opinion that they had the power, or
might assume it, without violating their instructions.

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. H5
On the 18th of March, M. Talleyrand addressed a letter to the
envoys in answer to theirs of the 17th January. In this he elabo
rately reviews the whole course of the two Governments, and justifies
France in every particular. It might appear incredible, he said,
jthat the Republic, and her alliance, were sacrificed at the moment
1 when she had redoubled her regards for her ally ; and that the cor
responding demonstrations of the Federal Government had no other
object but to keep her, as well as her Government in a false security.
And yet it is now known, that, at this very period, Mr. Jay,
who had been sent to London solely, as it was then said, to nego
tiate arrangements relative to the depredations committed upon the
American commerce by the cruisers of Great Britain, signed a treaty
of amity, navigation and commerce, the negotiation and signing of
Which had been kept a profound secret at Paris and at Philadelphia.
Observing that, in this treaty every thing having been calculated to
turn the neutrality of the United States to the disadvantage of the
French Republic, and to the advantage of England ; that the Federal
Government having in this act made to Great Britain concessions
the most unheard of, the most incompatible with the interests of the
United States, the most derogatory to the alliance which subsisted
between the said States and the French Republic ; the latter was
perfectly free, in order to avoid the inconveniences of the treaty of
London, to avail itself of the preservative means with which the laws
of nature, the law of nations, and prior treaties furnished it. Such
were the reasons which had produced the decrees of the Directory, of
which the United States complained.
He then proceeded to declare that newspapers, known to be under
the immediate control of the Cabinet, had, since the treaty, redoubled
their invectives and calumnies against the Republic and against her
principles, her magistrates and her envoys. Pamphlets, openly paid
for by the minister of Great Britain, had reproduced in every form
those insults and calumnies. The Government itself was intent on
encouraging this scandal in its public acts. The Executive Directory
had been denounced in a speech delivered by the President as en
deavoring to propagate anarchy and division within the United States
In fine, he said, one could not help discovering in the tone of the
speech and of the publications which had just been pointed to. a
latent enmity that only wanted an opportunity to break out. Facts

116 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
being thus established, it was disagreeable, he said, to be obliged h
think that the instructions under which the commissioners actfij\
had not been drawn up with the sincere intention of attaining pac%.-
ends. The intentions which he had attributed to the Government of.1
the United States, were so little disguised, that nothing seemed to
have been neglected at Philadelphia to manifest them to every eye.
And it was probably with this view that it was thought proper to send
to the French Republic, persons whose opinions and connections were
too well known to hope from them dispositions sincerely conciliatory.
Penetrated with the justice of these reflections, and their conse
quences, the Executive Directory had authorized him to express him
self with all. the frankness which became the French nation. It was
only to smooth the way of discussions that he had entered into the
preceding explanations. It was with the same view that he declared
to the commissioners and envoys extraordinary, that, notwithstandj
ing the kind of prejudice which had been entertained with respect tg
them, the Executive Directory was disposed to treat with that one «&
the three whose opinions, presumed to be more impartial, promised
in the course of the explanations, more of that reciprocal confidence'
which was indispensable.
To the communication of Talleyrand, the envoys returned a very
elaborate reply, in which they reviewed all the points of difficulty
raised by him, endeavored to disabuse his mind as to the motives of
the Government of the United States, and the prejudices which he
imagined to exist in the minds of the envoys themselves, and con
cluded by declaring that no one of them was authorized to take upon J
himself a negotiation indirectly intrusted by the tenor of their powers*
and instructions to the whole ; nor were there any two of them who
could propose to withdraw themselves from the task committed to
them by their Government, while there remained a possibility of per- j
forming it.
The very day the answer of the envoys was sent to the minister
(3d April) Mr. Gerry received a note from him in which he said : —
" I suppose that Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall have thought it use
ful and proper, in consequence of the intimations given in the end of j
my note of the 28th Ventose last (18th March), and the obstacle^
which their known opinions have interposed to the desired reconoilia-t
tion, to quit the territory of the Republic. On this supposition, 1 1

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 117
ave the honor to point out to you the 5th or 7th of this decade, to
sume our reciprocal communications upon the interests of the
ench Republic and the United States of America."
Mr. Gerry replied (April 4th). that as his colleagues were expected
to quit the territory of France, he had no authority to act intheir ab
sence. He could only confer informally, he said, and unaccredited, on
any subject respecting their mission, and communicate to the Govern
ment of the United States the result of such conferences, being in his
individual capacity unauthorized to give them an official stamp.
Nevertheless, every measure in his power, he said, and in conformity
with the duty he owed his country, should be zealously pursued, to
restore harmony and a cordial friendship between the two republics.
In consequence of the above intimation from the minister, Messis.
Marshall and Pinckney soon left Paris. In a letter to the President,
dated the 16th of April, Mr. Gerry said he had expected his passports
vith his colleagues, but was informed that the Directory would not
onsent to his leaving France ; and, to bring on an immediate rupture
iy adopting this measure, contrary to their wishes, would be in his
mind unwarrantable, and therefore he concluded to remain.
Thus ended this extraordinary mission ; a conclusion which must
have been foreseen — must have been anticipated by those who pro
jected it. So soon as the dispatches containing those transactions, of
which the above is intended to be a faithful though succinct nar
rative, were made known to the public, the political barometer at
once rose to the storm point. At the time of their reception, Con
gress was debating the proposition, that it is inexpedient to resort to
war against tlie Fxnch Republic. It was expected to be carried by
a majority of two or three ; but it was now laid aside, and the most
vigorous war measures introduced. " The most artful misrepresen
tations of the contents of those papers," says Mr. Jefferson, April
6th, " were published yesterday, and produced such a shock in the
republican mind as had never been since our independence. We
are to dread the effects of this dismay till their fuller information
The spirit kindled up in the towns is wonderful. These and New
Jersey are pouring in their addresses, offering life and fortune. The
answers of the President are more thrasonic than the addresses.
Nor is it France alone, but his own fellow-citizens, against whom
his threats are extended. The delusions, says he, and misrepresen-

118 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
tations which have misled so many citizens must be discountenanced
by authority, as well as by the citizens at large. ... At
present the warhawks talk of Septembrizing, deportation, and the
examples of quelling sedition set by the French Executive. Early
in April the war party, with passionate exclamation, declared that
they would soon pass a citizens' bill, an alien bill, and a sedition bill,
with the view of disfranchising such men as Gallatin, banishing Vol-
ney, Collot, and other unfortunate Frenchmen who had taken refuge
in the country, and of silencing Bache, Carey, and other republican
presses." The excitement spread far and wide among the people. The cry
was, millions for defence, not a centfw tribute. This broad, compre
hensive, self-evident proposition to a brave and independent people,
soon became the watchword of the multitude : millions for defence,
not a cent for tribute. This happy and pithy appeal to the pride 'of
a nation was level to the capacity of all ; every body could under
stand it ; and, what was more important, every body could feel it.
'Twas vain to attempt to reason down this excited feeling of national
pride. 'Twas vain to tell the people that France had demanded no tri
bute — that our envoys had never held but one interview with the minis
ter of foreign affairs, and that the only proposition on that occasion was
the bare suggestion that the United States, as proof of her friend
ship, might make a loan to France in her present necessities, by way
of reciprocity for a similar loan made to us in the war of revolution,
when our credit and very existence were dependent on the timely
aid then extended to us ; that the demand of tribute was made by a
couple of swindlers, unconnected with the Government, who had im
posed on the credulity'of our envoys, and who, in fact, encouraged
the intrigue, that they might make political capital, in order to ere-,
ate the very excitement it had occasioned ; that the only obstacle in
the way of an amicable settlement of all our differences with France
was the intemperate speeches of the President, the haughty, reserved
and unconciliatory temper of the envoys themselves ; that France had
only done what she had a right to do according to the laws of nations,
to show her displeasure to ministers plenipotentiary who were disa
greeable to her, who were hostile to her principles, unfriendly to her
Government, and of such a temper as not to be able to secure her
confidence ; that she had only signified her desire that those envoys

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 119
should depart, and the one in whom she had confidence might remain,
with whom she was ready to negotiate on terms of the utmost fair
ness and equality. 'Twas vain to state the plain facts to an excited
multitude. Millions for defence, not a cent f err tribute, was the ready
and comprehensive answer. The fever was up, and must run its
course. The multitude are not only fond of broad and comprehen
sive phrases that will serve them on all occasions, and save the neces
sity of thought, but they must always have some sign, or outward
symbol of their feelings. On this occasion the black cockade of Eng
land was mounted as a badge of hostility to the tricolor of France.
The handwriting, it was said, at the bottom of an address is seen
but by few persons ; whereas a cockade will be seen by the whole
city, by the friends and the foes of the wearer ; it villi be the visible
sign of the sentiments of his heart, and will prove that he is not
ashamed to avow those sentiments. Persons who marched to the
President's house to present their warlike addresses were encouraged
to wear the American cockade. Those who dare not designate them
selves, they were told, by this lasting mark of resolution, may, indeed,
walk up Market-street, but their part of the procession will only
serve to recall to our minds the old battered French gasconade —
" The King of France, with forty thousand men,
Marched up the hill, and then — inarched down again."
Congress, under the war-excitement, passed in rapid succession, a
stamp-act, an excise law, an act, entering into minute and vexatious
details, laying a direct tax on lands, slaves, houses, and other pro
perty ; two acts authorizing the President to borrow large sums of
money at usurious interest ; several acts authorizing the purchasing
of vessels, creating a naval armament, and a navy department in the
Government ; acts prohibiting the exportation of arms, a.nd author
izing the purchase of cannon, and the fortification of ports and har
bors ; acts creating additional regiments in the army, augmenting
those in existence, and authorizing the President to call out and or
ganize a provisional army of ten thousand men, if in his opinion
there existed an imminent danger of invasion ; acts prohibiting all
intercourse with France or her dependencies, and authorizing the
capture of all French armed vessels ; an act making it lawful for the
President of the United States to cause all such aliens as he shall

120 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or
shall have reasonable grounds to suspect ane concerned in any trea
sonable or secret machinations against the Government thereof, to
depart out of the territory of the United States ; and an act declar
ing, that if any person shall write, print, utter, or publish, or aid in
the same, any false, scandalous, and malicious writings against the
Government of the United States, Congress, or the President, with
intent to defame, or bring them into contempt or disrepute, being
thereof convicted before any court of the United States, shall be
punished by fine and imprisonment. To crown all these vast mili
tary preparations, General Washington was appointed Commander-
in-chief of the Army. " We must have your name," said the Presi
dent, in a letter to him, " if you will in any way permit us to use it.
There will be more efficiency in it than in many an army." With
out waiting for an answer, on the 2d of July he nominated to the
Senate, " George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to be Lieutenant-
General and Commander-in-chief of all the armies, raised and to be
raised in the United States."
Washington accepted the appointment ; and in his reply to the
President, said : " It was not possible for me to remain ignorant of,
or indifferent to, recent transactions. The conduct of the Directory
of France towards our country, their insidious hostilities to its Gov
ernment, their various practices to withdraw the affections of the
people from it, the evident tendency of their arts, and those of their
agents, to countenance and invigorate opposition, their disregard of
solemn treaties and the laws of nations, their war upon our defence
less commerce, their treatment of our minister of peace, and their
demands, amounting to tribute, could not fail to excite in me corre
sponding sentiments with those which my countrymen had so gene
rally expressed in their affectionate addresses to you. Believe me,
sir, no one can more cordially approve of the wise and prudent mea
sures of your administration. They ought to inspire universal confi-
fidenee, and will no doubt, combined with the state of things, call
from Congress such laws and means as will enable you to meet the
full force and extent of the crisis. Satisfied, therefore, that you have
sincerely wished and endeavored to avert war, and exhausted to the
last drop the cup of reconciliation, we can with pure hearts appeal to
Heaven for the justice of our cause, and may confidently trust the

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 121
final result to that kind Providence, which has heretofore, and so
often, signally favored the people of these United States."
The war excitement was kept up through the summer and au
tumn. The republican party found it difficult to separate in the
public mind the principles for which they contended, from the acts
of the French Directory. Having been regarded through the coun
try as the French party, they had now to bear much of the odium
that was attached to the French cause. The war fever began to
abate as winter approached. Mr. Gerry, ' our envoy, who remained
in France after the departure of his colleagues, and other eminent
citizens of the United States, had now returned from Europe, and
reported that the French Directory were in a most friendly temper
towards the United States, and were prepared to treat with any min
ister they might send, on terms of perfect reciprocity. The Virginia
legislature, early in the session of 1798-9, passed a series of resolu
tions denouncing the Alien and Sedition Laws as unconstitutional.
The heavy taxes also began to work their usual effect on the public
mind. It was soon perceived that some effort must be made to pre
vent the popular current from turning against the administration.
The great object was to keep up the majority in Congress, so as to
continue their war measures. The spring elections of 1799 were
coming on, and every effort was made by both sides to influence
them. It was perceived that the future destiny of the country de
pended on the result. Virginia was the great battle-ground : all
eyes were turned in that direction.
There' was the stronghold of republicanism — there were its re
nowned chiefs to be found— Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Giles,
Taylor, besides a host of others of less fame, but equal zeal in
the cause. There, also, was Washington, who had thrown himself
into the opposite scale, and, with energy, exerted all his influence
to give preponderance to the side he espoused. No man did
more to bring out influential characters to represent the State, both
in Congress and the legislature. " At such a crisis as this," said he,
" when every thing dear and valuable to us is assailed ; when this
party hangs upon the wheels of government as a dead weight, op
posing every measure that is calculated for defence and self-preserva
tion ; abetting the nefarious views of another nation upon our rights ;
preferring, as long as they dare contend openly against the spirit and
vsl. i. 6

122 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
resentment of the people, the interest of France to the welfare of
their own country ; justifying the former, at the expense of the lat
ter ; when every act of their own government is tortured, by con
structions they will not bear, into attempts to infringe and trample
upon the constitution, with a view to introduce monarchy ; when the
most unceasing and the purest exertions, which were making to
maintain a neutrality, proclaimed by the executive, approved un
equivocally by Congress, by the State legislatures, nay, by the
people themselves, in various meetings, and to preserve the country
in peace, are charged with being measures calculated to favor Great
Britain at the expense of France ; and all those who had any agency
in it, are accused of being under the influence of the former, and her
pensioners ; when measures are systematically and pertinaciously
pursued, which must, eventually, dissolve the Union, or produce co
ercion ; I say, when these things have become so obvious, ought
characters who are best able to rescue their country from the pend
ing evil, to remain at home ? Rathor ought they not to come for
ward, and, by their talents and influence, stand in the breach,
which such conduct has made on the peace and happiness of this
country ?"
By such persuasions as this, General Lee was induced to offer
himself as a candidate for Congress in the Westmoreland district —
Westmoreland, the birth-place of Washington ! On the other hand,
by the persuasions of Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Walter Jones came out in
opposition to him. The canvass between these two champions of
adverse wishes and sentiments, was very animated. In colloquial
eloquence and irony, no man could surpass Dr. Jones ; but he was
overmatched by his antagonist, in popular address and public elo
quence. In the Richmond district, John Clopton, the sitting mem
ber, and a republican, was opp.osed by General Marshall, the late
envoy to France, and, by all odds, the ablest champion of the
federal cause in Virginia, But the great 'field of contest — the cita
del that must be carried — was the State legislature. That body had
recently pronounced the Alien and Sedition Laws unconstitutional
The great object was now to obtain a majority to reverse that de
cision. It was well known that Mr. Madison would be in the next
legislature, with his matchless logic, to develope, explain and enforce
the doctrines of the resolutions recently passed. Some one must be

THE X. Y. Z. BUSINESS. 123
found to oppose him. General Washington found the man — that
man was Patrick Henry. And by him the trembling old warrior
was induced to buckle on the harness for his last battle. In a con
fidential letter, dated 15th January, 1799, Washington says: "It
would be a waste of time to attempt to bring to the view of a person
of your observation and discernment, the endeavors of a certain
party among us to disquiet the public mind with unfounded alarms ;
to arraign every act of the administration ; to set the people at vari
ance with their government ; and to embarrass all its measures.
Equally useless would it be to predict what must be the inevitable
consequences of such a policy, if it cannot be arrested. Unfortu
nately, and extremely do I regret it, the State of Virginia has taken
the lead in this opposition. I have said the State, because the con
duct of its legislature in the eyes of the world will authorize the ex
pression. I come now, my good sir, to the object of my letter, which
is to express the hope, and an earnest wish, that you will come for
ward at the ensuing elections (if not for Congress, which you may
think would take you too long from home) as a candidate for repre
sentative in the General Assembly of this Commonwealth. Your
weight of character and influence in the House of Representatives
would be a bulwark against such dangerous sentiments as are de
livered there at present. It would be a rallying-point for the timid,
and an attraction for the wavering. In a word, I conceive it to be of
immense importance, at this crisis, that you should be there ; and I
would fain hope that all minor considerations will be made to yield
to the measure." All minor considerations were made to yield ; and
the old. veteran, bowed with age and disease, was announced as a can
didate to represent the county of Charlotte in the General Assembly
of Virginia. Powhatan Boiling was the candidate for Congress, on
the federal side ; he waa opposed by John Randolph. On March
court day, Patrick Henry and John Randolph met, for the first time,
on the hustings at Charlotte Court House — the one the champion
of the Federal — the other the champion of the Republican cause.

124 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.

CHAPTER XX.

PATRICK HENRY.

Patrick Henry, the advocate of the Alien and Sedition Laws, the
defender of federal measures leading to consolidation ! Let the
reader look back and contemplate his course in the Virginia Con
vention, called to ratify the Constitution — let him hear the eloquent
defence of the Articles of Confederation, which had borne us safely
through so many perils, and which needed only amendment, not
annihilation — let him witness the ardent devotion to the State gov
ernment as the bulwark of liberty — the uncompromising opposition
to the new Government, its consolidation, its destruction of State
independence, its awful squinting towards monarchy — let him behold
the vivid picture drawn by the orator of the patriot of seventy-six,
and the citizen of eighty-eight; then it was liberty, give me liberty !
now the cry was energy, energy, give me a strong and energetic
government — then let him turn and see the same man, in little more
than ten years, stand forth, his prophecies all tending to rapid fulfil
ment, the advocate of the principles, the defender of the measures
that had so agitated his mind and awakened his fears — let the reader
meditate on these things, and have charity for the mutations of
political opinion in his own day, which he so often unfeelingly
denounces. It is true that Patrick Henry had been in retirement since the
adoption of the new Constitution, and had no part in the organization
of those parties which had arisen under it, but it is certain that they
took their origin in those principles which on the one side he so elo
quently defended, and on the other so warmly deprecated. Federal
ist and Republican were names unknown in his day ; but from his
past history no one could mistake the inclination of his feelings, or
the conclusions of his judgment on the great events transpiring
around him. Up to 1795 he was known to be on the republican side.
In a letter, dated the 27th of June in that year, he says: " Since the
adoption of the present Constitution I have generally moved in a
narrow circle. But in that I have never omitted to inculcate a strict

PATRICK HENRY. 125
adherence to the principles of it  Although a democrat
myself, I like not the late democratic societies. As little do I like
their suppression by law." On another occasion he writes : " The
treaty (Jay's treaty) is, in my opinion, a very bad one indeed . . .
Sure I am, my first principle is, that from the British we have every
thing to dread, when opportunities of oppressing us shall offer."
He then proceeds to express his concern at the abusive manner in
which his old commander-in-chief was treated ; and that his long and
great services were not remembered as an apology for his mistakes
in an office to which he was totally unaccustomed.
A man of his talents, his eloquence, his weight of character and
influence in the State, was well worth gaining over to the side of the
administration. Some of the first characters in Virginia undertook
to accomplish that end. Early in the summer of 1794, General Lee,
then governor of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of the forces
ordered out against the whisky insurrection, had frequent and
earnest conferences with him on public affairs. He was at first very
impracticable. It seems that the old man had been informed that
General Washington, in passing through the State on his return from
the South in the summer of 1791, while speaking of Mr. Henry on
several occasions, considered him a factious and seditious character.
General Lee undertook to remove these impressions, and combated
his opinions as groundless ; but his endeavors were unavailing. He
seemed to be deeply and sorely affected. General Washington de
nied the charge. All he had said on the occasion alluded to was,
that he had heard Mr. Henry was acquiescent in his conduct, and
that, though he could not give up his opinion respecting the Consti
tution, yet, unless he should be called upon by official duty, he would
express no sentiment unfriendly to the exercise of the powers of a
government, which had been chosen by a majority of the people.
It was a long time before General Lee had an opportunity of
communicating to Mr. Henry the kind feelings of Washington to
wards him. In June, 1795, about a year after the subject had been
broached to him, Mr. Henry writes : " Every insinuation that taught
me to believe I had forfeited the good will of that personage, to
whom the world had agreed to ascribe the appellation of good and
great, must needs give me pain ; particularly as he had opportunities
of knowing my character both in public and in private life. The inti-

126 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
mation now given me, that there was no ground to believe I had
incurred his censure, gives very great pleasure." In inclosing Mr.
Henry's letter to General Washington for perusal, Lee thus writes
(17th July, 1795): "I am very confident that Mr. Henry possesses
the highest and truest regard for you, and that he continues friendly
to the General Government, notwithstanding the unwearied efforts
applied for the end of uniting him to the opposition ; and I must
think he would be an important official acquisition to the Govern
ment." One month and two days from this date (19th August) as the
reader remembers, Edmund Randolph resigned the office of Secre
tary of State. On the 9th of October it was tendered to Patrick
Henry. In his letter of invitation General Washington stated that
the office had been offered to others ; but it was from a conviction
that he would not accept it. But in a conversation with General
Lee, that gentleman dropped sentiments that made it less doubtful.
" I persuade myself, sir," said the President, " it has not escaped
your observation that a crisis is approaching that must, if it cannot
be arrested, soon decide whether order and good government shall
be preserved, or anarchy and confusion ensue."
This letter of invitation was inclosed to Mr. Carrington, a confi
dential friend of Washington, with instructions to hold it back till
he could hear from Colonel Innis, to whom the attorney-generalship
had been offered. But on consultation with General Marshall, ano
ther confidential friend, they were so anxious to make an impression
on Patrick Henry, and gain him over, if possible, by those marks of
confidence, that they disobeyed orders, reversed the order in which
the letters were to be sent, and dispatched Mr. Henry's first, by ex
press. " In this determination we were governed," say they, " by the fol
lowing reasons." (We give the reasons entire, that the reader may
see that great men and statesmen in those days were influenced by the
same motives they are now, and that men are the same in every age.)
" First, his non-acceptance, from domestic considerations may be cal
culated on. In this event, be his sentiments on either point what
they may, he will properly estimate your letter, and if he has any
asperities, it must tend to soften them, and render him, instead of a
silent observer of the present tendency of things, in some degree

PATRICK HENRY. 127
active on the side of government and order. Secondly, should he
feel an inclination to go into the office proposed, we are confident —
very confident — he has too high a sense of honor to do so with senti
ments hostile to either of the points in view. This we should rely
on, upon general grounds ; but under your letter a different conduct
is, we conceive from our knowledge of Mr. Henry, impossible.
Thirdly, we are fully persuaded that a more deadly blow could not
be given to the faction in Virginia, and perhaps elsewhere, than that
gentleman's acceptance of the office in question, convinced as we are
of the sentiments he must carry with him. So much have the op-
posers of government held him up as their oracle, even since he has
ceased to respond to them, that any event demonstrating his active
support to government could not but give the party a severe shock."
A very good reason for disobeying instructions, and making the
first demonstration on so important a personage. Mr. Henry did not
accept the appointment, but the impression intended to be made was
nearly as complete as the parties intended.
" It gives us pleasure to find," says Mr. Carrington, " that
although Mr. Henry is rather to be understood as probably not an
approver of the treaty, his conduct and sentiments generally, both as
to the government and yourself, are such as we calculated on, and that
he received your letter with impresssions which assure us of his dis
countenancing calumny and disorder of every description."
These great movements somehow got wind, and came to the
ears of the leader of the faction they were designed to crush. In a
letter addressed to Monroe, dated July 10th, 1796, Jefferson says :
" Most assiduous court is paid to Patrick Henry. He has been
offered every thing, which they knew he would not accept. Some
impression is thought to be made : but we do not believe it is radi
cal. If they thought they could count upon him, they would run
him for their Vice-President, their first object being to produce a
schism in this State." A move was now made to prevent the old
man from going over altogether. In November following, the
democratic legislature of Virginia elected him, for the third time,
governor of the State. In his letter declining an acceptance of
the office, he merely expresses his acknowledgments and grati
tude for the signal honor conferred on him, excuses himself on the
ground that he could not persuade himself that his abilities were

128 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
commensurate to the duties of the office, but let fall no expression
that could indicate his present political inclinations.
Early in January, 1 799, soon after the passage of the resolutions
declaring the alien and sedition laws unconstitutional, and before he
had received the letter from Washington urging him to become a can
didate for the Virginia legislature, Patrick Henry, in writing to a
friend, thus expresses himself : " There is much cause for lamenta
tion over the present state of things in Virginia. It is possible that
most of the individuals who compose the contending factions are sin
cere, and act from honest motives. But it is more than probable
that certain leaders meditate a change in government. To effect this,
I see no way so practicable as dissolving the confederacy ; and I am
free to own that, in my judgment, most of the measures lately pur
sued by the opposition party directly and certainly lead to that end.
If this is not the system of the party, they have none, and act ex
tempore." In February following, the President nominated Mr. Henry as
one of the Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to
the French Republic. Perhaps the very day he appeared before the
people at Charlotte Court, he held the commission in his pocket. In
his ^letter declining the appointment, he says : " That nothing short
of absolute necessity could induce me to withhold my little aid from
an administration whose abilities, patriotism, and virtue, deserve the
gratitude and reverence of all their fellow-citizens."
In March, eighty-nine, Decius said, I want to crush that anti-
federal champion — the cunning and deceitful Cromwell, who, under
the guise of amendment, seeks to destroy the Constitution, break up
the confederacy, and reign the tyrant of popularity over his own de
voted Virginia. In ninety-nine, we find this anti-federal champion
veered round to the support of doctrines he once condemned, and
given in his allegiance to .an administration, which a majority of his
countrymen had declared, and all those who had followed him as
their oracle declared, was rapidly hastening the Government into
consolidation and monarchy. \
Let no man boast of his consistency. Such is jthe subtlety of
human motives, that, like a deep, unseen under-current, they uncon
sciously glide us into a position to-day different from that we occu
pied yesterday, while we perceive it not, and stoutly deny it.

MARCH*COURT. 129
Patrick Henry for years was sorely afflicted with the belief that
the greatest and best of mankind considered him a 'factious and sedi
tious character : to disabuse the mind of Washington, whose good
opinion all men desired — to justify the flattering attentions of those
distinguished men who had assiduously cultivated his society and
correspondence, and showered bright honors on his head, he uncon
sciously receded from his old opinions, and embraced doctrines
which he had, with the clearness and power of a Hebrew prophet,
portrayed and made bare in all their naked deformity.

CHAPTER XXI.
MARCH COURT — THE RISING AND THE SETTING SUN.
It was soon noised abroad that Patrick Henry was to address the
people : at March Court. Great was the political excitement — still
greater! the anxiety to hear the first orator of the age for the last time.
They;:came from far and near, with eager hope depicted on every
countenance. It was a treat that many had not enjoyed for
years. Much the largest portion of those who flocked together that
day, had only heard from the glowing lips of their fathers the won
derful powers of the man they were about to see and hear for the first
time. The college in Prince Edward was emptied not only of its
students, but of its professors. Dr. Moses Hogue, John H. Rice,
Drury Lacy, eloquent men and learned divines, came up to enjoy the
expected feast. The young man who was to answer Mr. Henry, if
indeed the multitude suspected that any one would dare venture on
a reply, was unknown to fame. A tall, slender, effeminate looking
youth was he_; light hair, combed back into a well-adjusted cue — pale
countenance, a beardless chin, bright quick hazel eye, blue frock, buff
small clothes, and fair-top boots. He was doubtless known to many
on the court green as th^e little Jack Randolph they had frequently
seen dashing by on wild horses, riding a la mode Anglais, from
Roanoke to Bizarre, and back from Bizarre to Roanoke. A few
knew him more intimately, but none had ever heard him speak in
6*

130 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
public, or even suspected that he could make a speech. " My first
attempt at public speaking," says he, in a letter to Mrs. Bryan, his
niece, " was in opposition to Patrick Henry at Charlotte March Court,
1799 ; for neither of us was present at the election in April, as Mr.
Wirt avers of Mr. Henry." The very thought of his attempting to
answer Mr. Henry, seemed to strike the grave and reflecting men of
the place as preposterous. " Mr. Taylor," said Col. Reid, the clerk
of the county, to Mr. Creed Taylor, a friend and neighbor of Ran
dolph, and a good lawyer, " Mr. Taylor, don't you or Peter Johnson
mean to appear for that young man to-day ?" " Never mind," re
plied Taylor, " he can take care of himself." His friends knew his
powers, his fluency in conversation, his ready wit, his polished satire,
his extraordinary knowledge of men and affairs ; but still he was
about to enter on an untried field, and all those brilliant faculties
might fail him, as they had so often failed men of genius before.
Tiey might well have felt some anxiety on his first appearance upon
the hustings in presence of a popular assembly, and in reply to a man
of Mr. Henry's reputation. But it seems they had no fear for the
result — he can talce care of himself. The reader can well imagine
the remarks that might have been made by the crowd as he passed
carelessly among them, shaking hands with this one and that one of
his acquaintance. " And is that the man who is a candidate for Con
gress ?" " Is he going to speak against Old Pat ?" " Why, he is
nothing but a boy — he's got no beard !" " He looks wormy !" " Old
Pat will eat him up bodily !" There, also, was Powhatan Boiling,
the other candidate for Congress, dressed in his scarlet coat — tall,
proud in his bearing, and a fair representative of the old aristocracy
fast melting away under the subdivisions of the law that had abolished
the system of primogeniture
Creed Taylor and others undertook to banter him about his
scarlet coat. " Very well, gentlemen," replied he coolly, bristling
up with a quick temper, " if my coat does not suit you, I can meet
you in any other color that may suit your fancy." Seeing the gen
tleman not in a bantering mood, he was soon left to his own reflec
tions. But the candidates for Congress were overlooked and forgot
ten by the crowd in their eagerness to behold and admire the great
orator, whose fame had filled their imagination for so many years.
" As soon as he appeared on the ground," says Wirt, " he was sur-

MARCH COURT. 131
rounded by the admiring and adoring crowd, and whithersoever he
moved, the concourse followed him. A preacher of the Baptist
church, whose piety was wounded by this homage paid to a mortal,
asked the people aloud, why they thus followed Mr. Henry about ?
" Mr. Henry," said he, " is not a god !" " No," said Mr. Henry, deeply
affected by the scene and the remark, " no, indeed, my friend ; I am
but a poor worm of the dust — as fleeting and unsubstantial as the
t shadow of the cloud that flies over your fields, and is remembered
no more." The tone with which this was uttered, and the look which
accompanied it, affected every heart, and silenced every voice.
Presently James Adams rose upon a platform that had been
erected by the side of the tavern porch where Mr. Henry was seated,
and proclaimed — " 0 yes ! 0 yes ! Colonel Henry will address the
people from this stand, for the last time and at the risk of his life !"
The grand-jury were in session at the moment, they burst through
the doors, some leaped the windows, and came running up with .the
crowd, that they might not lose a word that fell from the old man's
lips. While Adams was lifting him on the stand, " Why Jimmy," says
he, " you have made a better speech for me than I can make for my
self." " Speak out, father," said Jimmy, " and let us hear how it is."
Old and feeble, more with disease than age, Mr. Henry rose and
addressed the people to the following effect : — (Wirt's Life of Patrick
Henry, page 393.) He told them that the late proceedings of the
Virginia Assembly had filled him with apprehensions and alarm ;
that they had planted thorns upon his pillow ; that they had drawn
him from that happy retirement which it had pleased a bountiful
Providence to bestow, and in which he had hoped to pass, in quiet,
the remainder of his days ; that the State had quitted the sphere in
which she had been placed by the Constitution ; and in daring to
pronounce upon the validity of federal laws, had gone out of her
jurisdiction in a manner not warranted by any authority, and in the
highest degree alarming to every considerate mind ; that such oppo
sition, on the part of Virginia, to the acts of the General Govern
ment, must beget their enforcement by military power ; that this
would probably produce civil war ; civil war, foreign alliances ; and
that foreign alliances must necessarily end in subjugation to the
powers called in. He conjured the people to pause and consider

132 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
well, before they rushed into- such a desperate condition, from which
there could be no retreat. He painted to their imaginations, Wash
ington, at the head of a numerous and well appointed army, inflict
ing upon them military execution. " And where (he asked) are our
resources to meet such a conflict ? Where is the citizen of America
who will dare to lift his hand against the father of his country ?" A
drunken man in the crowd threw up his arm and exclaimed that he
dared to do it. " No," answered Mr. Henry, rising aloft in all his
majesty, '¦¦you dare not do it; in such a parricidal attempt, the steel
would drop from your nerveless arm"
Proceeding, he asked " Whether the county of Charlotte would
have any authority to dispute an obedience to the laws of Virginia ;"
and he pronounced Virginia to be to the Union what the county of
Charlotte was to her. Having denied the right of a State to decide
upon the constitutionality of federal laws, he added, that perhaps it
might be necessary to say something of the laws in question. Hjs
private opinion was, that they were good and proper. But whatever
might be their merits, it belonged to the people, who held the reins
over the head of Congress, and to them alone, to say whether they
were acceptable or otherwise to Virginians ; and that this must be
done by way of petition. That Congress were as much our represen
tatives as the Assembly, and had as good a right to our confidence.
He had seen, with regret, the unlimited power over the purse and
sword consigned to the General Government ; but that he had been
overruled, and it was now necessary to submit to the constitutional
exercise of that powejj, " If," said he, " I am asked what is to be
done when a people feel themselves intolerably oppressed, my answer
»is ready — overturn the Government. But do not, I beseech you,
carry matters to this length without provocation. Wait, at least,
until some 'infringement is made upon your rights, and which cannot
otherwise be redressed ; for if ever you recur to another change, you
may bid adieu forever to representative government. You can never
exchange the present government but for a monarchy. If the. admin
istration have done wrong, let us all go wrong together rather than
split into factions, which must destroy that Union upon which our
existence hangs. Let us preserve our strength for the French, the
English, the Germans, or whoever else shall dare to invade our terri
tory, and not exhaust it in civil commotions and intestine wars."

MARCH COURT. 133
When he concluded, his audience were deeply affected ; it is said that
they wept like children, so powerfully were they moved by the em
phasis of his language, the tone of his voice, the commanding expres
sion of his eye, the earnestness with which he declared his design to
exert himself to allay the heart-burnings and jealousies which had
been fomented in the State legislature, and the fervent manner in
which he prayed that if he were deemed unworthy to effect it, that it
might be reserved to some other and abler hand to extend this bless
ing over the community. As he concluded, he literally sunk into
the arms of the tumultuous throng : .it that moment John H. Rice
exclaimed, " the sun has set in all his glory !"
Randolph rose to reply. For some moments he stood in silence,
his lips quivering, his eye swimming in tears ; at length he began a
modest though beautiful apology for rising to address the people in
opposition to the venerable father who had just taken his seat ; it
was an honest difference of opinion, and he hoped to be pardoned
while he boldly and freely, as it became the occasion, expressed his
sentiments on the great questions that so much divided and agitated
the minds of the people.
" The gentleman tells you," said he, " that the late proceedings
of the Virginia Assembly have filled him with apprehension and
alarm. He seems to be impressed with the conviction, that the State
has quitted the sphere in which she was placed by the Constitution ;
and in daring to pronounce on the validity of federal laws, has gone
out of her jurisdiction in a manner not warranted by any authority.
I am sorry the gentleman has been disturbed in his repose ; still
more grieved am I, that the particular occasion to which he alludes
should have been the- cause of his anxiety. I once cherished the
hope that his alarms would have been awakened, had Virginia failed
to exert herself in warding off the evils he so prophetically warned
us of on another memorable occasion. Her supineness and inactivity,
now that those awful squintings towards monarchy, so eloquently
described by the gentleman, are fast growing into realities, I had
hoped would have planted thorns in his pillow, and awakened him to
a sense of the danger now threatening us, and the necessity of exert
ing once more his powerful faculties in warning the people, and
rousing them from their fatal lethargy.
" Has the gentleman forgotten that we owe to him those obnox-

134 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
ious principles, as he now would have them, that guided the Legisla
ture in its recent course ? He is alarmed at the rapid growth of
the seed he himself hath sowed — he seems to be disappointed
that they fell, not by the wayside, but into vigorous and fruitful
soil. He has conjured up spirits from the vasty deep, and growing
alarmed at the potency of his own magic wand, he would say to them,
' Down, wantons ! down !' but, like Banquo's ghost, I trust they will
not down. But to drop metaphor — In the Virginia Convention,
that was called to ratify the Constitution, this gentleman dtclared
that the government delineated in that instrument was peculiar in
its nature — partly national, partly federal. In this description he hit
upon the true definition — there are certain powers of a national cha
racter that extend to the people and operate on them without regard
to their division into States — these powers, acting alone, tend to
consolidate the government into one head, and to obliterate State
divisions and to destroy State authority ; but there are other powers,
many and important'ones, that are purely federal in their nature —
that look to the States, and recognize their existence as bodies poli
tic, endowed with many of the most important attributes of sove
reignty. These two opposing forces act as checks on each other, and
keep the complicated system in equilibrium. They are like the cen
trifugal and centripetal forces in the law of gravitation, that serve to
keep the spheres in their harmonious courses through the universe.
" Should the Federal Government, therefore, attempt to exercise
powers that do not belong to it — and those that do belong to it are
few, specified, well-defined — all others being reserved to the people
and to the States — should it step beyond its province, and encroach
on rights that have not been delegated, it is the duty of the States to
interpose. There is no other power that can interpose. The counter
weight, the opposing force of the State, is the only check to over-
action known to the system.
" In questions of meum et tuum, where rights of property are con
cerned, and some other cases specified in the Constitution, I grant you
that the Federal Judiciary may pronounce on the validity of the law.
But in questions involving the right to poWer, whether this or that
power has been delegated or reserved, they cannot and ought not to
be 'the arbiter; that question has been left, as it always was, and
always must be left, to be determined among sovereignties in the best

MARCH COURT. 135
way they can. Political wisdom has not yet discovered any infallible
mathematical rule, by which to determine the assumptions of power
between those who know no other law or limitation save that imposed
on them by their own consent, and which they can abrogate at
pleasure. Pray let me ask the gentleman — and no one knows bet
ter than himself — who ordained this Constitution ? Who defined its
powers, and said, thus far shalt thou go, but no farther ? Was it not
the people of the States in their sovereign capacity ? Did they com
mit an act of suicide by so doing ? — an act of self-annihilation ? No,
thank God, they did not ; but are still alive, and, I trust, are be
coming sensible of the importance of those rights reserved to them,
and prohibited to that government which they ordained for their
common defence. Shall the creature of the States be the sole judge
of the legality or constitutionality of its own acts, in a question of
power between them and the States ? Shall they who assert a right,
be the sole judges of their authority to claim and to exercise it?
Does not all power seek to enlarge itself ?-^grow on that it feeds
upon ? Has not that been the history of all encroachment, all usurpa
tion ? If this Federal Government, in all its departments, then, is to
be the sole judge of its own usurpations, neither the people nor the
States, in a short time, will have any thing to contend for ; this
creature of their making will become their sovereign, and the only
result of the labors of our revolutionary heroes, in which, patriotic
band this venerable gentleman was most conspicuous, will have been
a change of our masters — New England for Old England — for which
change I cannot find it in my heart to thank them.
" But the gentleman has taught me a very different lesson from
that he is now disposed to enjoin on us. I fear that time has wrought
its influence on him, as on all other men ; and that age makes
him willing to endure what in former years he would have spurned
with indignation. I have learned my first lessons in his school. He
is the high-priest from whom I received the little wisdom my poor
abilities were able to carry away from the droppings of the political
sanctuary. He was the inspired statesman that taught me to be
jealous of power, to watch its encroachments, and to sound the alarm
on the first movement of usurpation.
" Inspired by his eloquent appeals — encouraged by his example —
alarmed by the rapid strides of Federal usurpation, of which he had

136 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
warned them — the legislature of Virginia has nobly stepped forth in
defence of the rights of the States, and interposed to arrest that en
croachment and usurpation of power that threaten the destruction of
the Republic.
" And what is the subject of alarm ? What are the laws they have
dared to pronounce upon as unconstitutional and tyrannical? The
first, is a law authorizing the President of the United States to order
any alien he may judge dangerous, any unfortunate refugee that may
happen to fall under his royal suspicion, forthwith to quit the coun
try. It is true that the law says he must have reasonable grounds to
suspect. Who is to judge of that reason but himself? Who can
look into his breast and say what motives have dominion there?
'Tis a mockery to give one man absolute power over the liberty of an
other, and then ask him, when the power is gone, and cannot be re
called, to exercise it reasonably ! Power knows no other check but
power. Let the poor patriot who may have fallen under the frowns
of government, because he dared assert the rights of his countrymen,
seek refuge on our shores of boasted liberty ; the moment he touches
the soil of freedom, hoping here to find a period to all his persecu
tions, he is greeted, not with the smiles of welcome, or the cheerful
voice of freemen, but the stern demands of an officer of the law — the
executor of a tyrant's will — who summons him to depart. What
crime has he perpetrated ? Vain inquiry ! He is a suspected per
son. He is judged dangerous to the peace of the country — rebel
lious at home, he may be alike factious and seditious here. What
remedy ? What hope ? He who condemns is judge — the sole judge
in the first and the last resort. There is no appeal from his arbi
trary will. Who can escape the suspicion of a jealous and vindictive
mind? " The very men who fought your battles, who spent their fortunes,
and shed their blood to win for you that independence that was once
your boast, may be the first victims of this tyrannical law. Kosci
usko is now on your shores ; though poor in purse and emaciated in
body, from the many sacrifices he has made in your cause, he has
yet a proud spirit that loves freedom, and will speak boldly of op
pression. Is not this enough to bring him under the frowns of
power, and to cause the mandate to be issued, ordering him to de
part from the country ? What may be true of one to whom we owe

MARCH COURT. 137
so much, has already been fulfilled in the person of many a patriot,
scholar, and philosopher, whose only crime was, that of seeking re
fuge from oppression and wrong, on these shores of boasted freedom.
" And what is that other law that so fully meets the approbation of
my venerable friend ? It is a law that makes it an act of sedition,
punishable by fine and imprisonment, to utter or write a sentiment
that any prejudiced judge or juror may think proper to construe into
disrespect to the President of the United States. Do you understand
me ? I dare proclaim to the people of Charlotte my opinitn to be,
that John Adams, so-called President, is a weak-minded man, vain,
jealous, and vindictive ; that influenced by evil passions and preju
dices, and goaded on by wicked counsel, he has been striving to force
the country into a war with our best friend and ally. I say that I
dare repeat this before the people of Charlotte, and avow it as my
opinion. But let me write it down, and print it as a warning to
my countrymen. What then ? I subject myself to an indictment for
sedition ! I make myself liable to be dragged away from my home
and friends, and to be put on my trial in some distant Federal Court,
before a judge who receives his appointment from the man that seeks
my condemnation ; and to be tried by a prejudiced jury, who have
been gathered from remote parts of the country, strangers to me, and
any thing but my peers ; and have been packed by the minions of
power for my destruction. Is the man dreaming ! do you exclaim ?
Is this a fancy picture, he has drawn for our amusement ? I am no
fancy man, people of Charlotte ! I speak the truth — I deal only in
stern realities ! There is such a law on your Statute Book in spite
of your Constitution — in open contempt of those solemn guarantees
that insure the freedom of speech and of the press to every Ame
rican citizen. Not only is there such a statute, but, with shame
be it spoken, even England blushes at your sedition law. Would
that I could stop here, and say that, though it may be found
enrolled among the the public archives, it is a dead letter. Alas !
alas ! not only does it exist, but at this hour is most rigidly enforced,
not against the ordinary citizen only, but against men in official sta
tions, even those who are clothed by the people with the sacred du
ties of their representatives — men, the sanctity of whose persons can
not be reached by any law known to a representative government,
are hunted down, condemned, and incarcerated by this odious, tyran-

138 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
nical, and unconstitutional enactment. At this moment, while I am
addressing you, men of Charlotte ! with the free air of heaven fan
ning my locks — and God knows how long I shall be permitted to en
joy that blessing — a representative of the people of Vermont — Mat
thew Lyon his name— lies immured in a dungeon, not six feet square,
where he has dragged out the miserable hours of a protracted winter,
for daring to violate the royal maxim that the king can do no
wrong. This was his only crime — he told his people, and caused it
to be printed for their information, that the President, ' rejecting
men of age, experience, wisdom, and independency of sentiment,1
appointed those who had no other merit but devotion to their mas
ter ; and he intimated that the ' President was fond of ridiculous
pomp, idle parade, and selfish avarice.' I speak the language of the
indictment. I give in technical and official words the high crime
with which he was charged. He pleaded justification — I think the
lawyers call it — and offered to prove the truth of his allegations.
But the court would allow no time to procure witnesses or counsel ;
he was hurried into trial all unprepared ; and this representative of
the people, for speaking the truth of those in authority, was ar
raigned like a felon, condemned, fined, and imprisoned. These are
the laws, the venerable gentlemen would have you believe, are not
only sanctioned by the Constitution, but demanded by the necessity
of the times — laws at which even monarchs blush — banishing from
your shores the hapless victim that only sought refuge from oppres
sion, and making craven, fawning spaniels, aye ! dumb dogs, of your
own people ! He tells you, moreover, that if you do not agree with
him in opinion — cannot consent that these. vile enactments are either
constitutional or necessary — your only remedy, your only hope of re
dress, is in petition.
" Petition ! Whom are we to petition ? But one solitary member
from Virginia, whose name is doomed to everlasting infamy, dared
to record his vote — dared to record, did I say ? I beg pardon — but
one who did not spurn from them this hideous offspring of a tyrant's
lust. Whom, then, I repeat, are we to petition ? those who are the
projectors of these measures, who voted for them, and forced them
upon you in spite of your will ? Would not these men laugh at your
petition, and, in the pride and insolence of new-born power, trample
it under their feet with disdain ? Shall we petition his majesty, who,

MARCH COURT. 139
by virtue of these very laws, holds your liberties in his sacred hands ?
I tell you he would spurn your petition from the foot of the throne,
as those of your fathers, on a like occasion, were spurned from the
throne of George the Third of England. From whose lips do we
hear that word petition — an abject term, fit only for the use of sub
jects and of slaves? Can it be that he is now willing to petition and
to supplicate his co-equals in a common confederacy, who proudly
disdained entreaty and supplication to the greatest monarch on
earth — whose fleets covered our seas, whose armies darkened our
shores — sent over to bind and to rivet those chains that had been so
long forging for our unfettered limbs ! Has age so tamed his proud
spirit that he will gently yield to a domestic usurper what he scorned
to grant to a foreign master ? I fear he has deceived himself, and
would deceive you ; let not his siren song of peace lull you into a
fatal repose. For what is this large standing army quartered on the
country? why those recruiting officers insulting every hamlet and
village with their pride and insolence, and decoying the honest
farmer from his labor, to become the idle, corrupt, and profligate
drone of a military camp ? Why this large naval establishment ?
Why such burthensome and odious taxes imposed on the industry of
the country? Why those enormous loans at usurious interest in
times of peace ; and, above all, why those unconstitutional laws to
banish innocence — to silence inquiry — stifle investigation, and to
make dumb the complaining mouths of the people ? Are these vast
preparations in consequence of some imminent peril overhanging the
country ? Are we threatened with war ? With whom ? with France ?
France has showed that this wicked administration cannot drive
her into a war with her ancient friend and ally. She has almost
compelled them to keep a minister of peace within her borders, and
offered them almost any terms of conciliation consistent with justice
and dignity. Yet do you see any abatement in the warlike energies
of the Government ?
" For what, I ask, are these vast and hostile preparations ? Let the
late pretended whisky insurrection in the western counties of Penn
sylvania answer the question. I am no alarmist ; but I cannot close
my eyes to the truth when I see it glaring before me. These
" provisional " armies, as they have chosen to call them, are meant for
you ; they are intended, not to meet the troops of France, which they

140 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
know will never insult the soil of this republic, but to awe you, the
people, into submission, and to force upon you, by a display of mili
tary power, the destructive measures of this vaulting and ambitious
administration. And yet the gentleman tells you we must wait until
some infringement is made on our rights ! Your Constitution broken,
your citizens dragged to prison for daring to exercise the freedom
of speech, armies levied, and you threatened with immediate inva
sion for your audacious interference with the business of the Federal
Government ; and still you are told to wait for some infringement of
your rights ! How long are we to wait? Till the chains are fastened
upon us. and we can no longer help ourselves ? But the gentleman
says your course may lead to civil war, and where are your resources ?
I answer him in his own words, handed down by the tradition of the
past generation, and engraven on the hearts of his grateful country
men. I answer, in his own words : ' Shall we gather strength by
irresolution and inaction ? Shall we acquire the means of effectual
resistance by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive
phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and
foot ? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means
which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The battle, sir,
is not to the strong alone ; it is to the vigilant, the active, the
brave.' " But we are not only to have an invading army marching into our
borders, but the gentleman's vivid imagination has pictured Wash
ington at the head of it, coming to inflict military chastisement on
his native State ; and who, exclaims he, would dare lift his hand
against the father of his country ? Sternly has he rebuked one of
you for venturing, in the outburst of patriotic feeling, to declare that
he would do it. I bow with as much respect as any man at the name
of Washington. I have been taught to look upon it with a venera
tion little short of that of my Creator. But while I love Csesar, I
love Rome more. Should he, forgetful of the past, grown ambitious of
power, and, seduced by the artful machinations of those who seek to
use his great name in the subjugation of his country, lift a parricidal
hand against the bosom of the State that gave him birth and crowned
him with his glory, because she has dared to assert those rights that
belong to her, not by the laws of nature, but those rights that have
been reserved to her by this very Constitution that she partly ordained,

MARCH COURT. 141
and without which she must drag out an existence of helpless and
hopeless imbecility, I trust there will be found many a Brutus to
avenge her wrongs. I promise, for one, so help me God ! — and it is
in no boastful spirit I speak— that I will not be an idle spectator of
the tyrannical and murderous tragedy, so long as I have an arm to
wield a weapon, or a voice to cry shame ! Shame on you for inflict
ing this deadly blow in the bosom of the mother that gave you exist
ence, and cherished your fame as her own brightest jewel."
We- do not pretend, reader, to give you the language of John
Randolph on this occasion ; nor are we certain even that the thoughts
are his. We have nothing but the faint tradition of near fifty years to
go upon ; and happy are we if all our researches have enabled us to
make even a tolerable approximation to what was said. He spoke for
three hours ; all that time the people, standing on their feet, hung with
breathless silence on his lips. His youthful appearance, boyish tones,
clear, distinct, thrilling utterance ; his graceful action, bold expres
sions, fiery energy, and manly thoughts, struck them with astonish
ment. A bold genius and an orator of the first order suddenly burst
upon them, and dazzled them with his power and brilliancy. A
prophet was among them, and they knew it not. When he concluded,
an old planter, turning to his neighbor, exclaimed ; " He's no bug-
eater now, I tell you." Dr. Hogue turned from the stand, and went
away, repeating to himself these lines from the " Deserted Village :"
" Amazed, the gazing rustics ranged around,
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew."
Mr. Henry, turning to some by-stander, said : " I haven't seen
the little dog before, since he was at school ; he was a great atheist
then." He made no reply to the speech ; but, approaching Mr. Ran
dolph, he took him by the hand, and said : " Young man, you call me
father ; then, my son, I have somewhat to say unto thee (holding both
his hands) — keep justice, keep truth, and you will live to think dif
ferently." They dined together, and Randolph, ever after venerated the
memory of his friend, who died in a few weeks from that day,
They were both elected in April ; the one to Congress, the other
to the State Legislature.; and, doubtless, many of the good free-

142 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
holders of Charlotte voted for both. Who can blame them ? Happy
people of Charlotte ! it was your lot to behold the bright golden sun
set of the great luminary whose meridian power melted away the
chains of British despotism and withered up the cankered heart of
disaffected Toryism ; then, turning with tearful eyes from the last
rays of the sinking orb, to hail, dawning on the same horizon, another
sun, just springing, as it were, from the night of chaos, mounting
majestically into his destined sphere, and driving clouds and darkness
before his youthful beams.

CHAPTER XXII.
FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION.
Mr. Adams saved the country from a war with France, and a con
sequent alliance with Great Britain, and all the unimaginable events
that must have followed that connection ; but in so doing he destroyed
his party, and defeated his own re-election. No one, to our know
ledge, has ever attributed these results to a foreseen and predeter
mined self-sacrifice on his part for the good of the country. Those
who were associated with him and knew him best attribute his course
to far other causes. Before we proceed with our narrative, we will
give the reader a further insight into the character of this man, so
necessary to understand the complicated history of those times. A
mere detail of facts, without a knowledge of the causes that produced
them, or the character and motives of the men that acted them, can
afford no instruction to the student of history. Without some such
insight, the battle of the frogs or the wars of the giants would he
equally as instructive as the Punic Wars or the conflicts in the forum.
What we say of Mr, Adams is drawn from cotemporary history,
and in the language of those who were most intimately associated
him. The reader is already aware of his course before and during
the negotiations for the treaty of Paris, in 1782, and Dr. Franklin's
opinion of his character.
General Hamilton, a very good judge, said of him while President,
and during the great events we are now discoursing of, and in explana-

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 143
tion of their causes, that he possessed patriotism and integrity, and
even talents, of a certain kind ; but that he did not possess the talents
adapted to the administration of government, and that there were
great and intrinsic defects in his character, which unfitted him for
the office of Chief Magistrate. With all his virtues, he was tainted
with a disgusting egotism, a distempered jealousy, and an ungovern
able indiscretion of temper. When he and General Washington
were run together as candidates for the presidential and vice-
presidential office, it was thought all-important to secure the first
office to General Washington (a majority at that time determining
the question), by dropping a few votes from Mr. Adams. He com
plained of this as unfair treatment— said he ought to have been per
mitted to take an equal chance with General Washington. When, at
a subsequent period, he and Mr. Pinckney were on the samg ticket,
it was thought, by the federal party, that the success of their cause
ought not to be hazarded by dropping any of the votes ; it was not a
matter of such importance that Mr. Adams or Mr. Pinckney should
be elected President, as that Mr. Jefferson should be defeated. He
was enraged with all those who thought that Mr. Pinckney ought to
have an equal chance with himself. To this circumstance, in a great
measure, may be attributed the serious schism which, at a subsequent
period, grew up in the federal party. Mr. Adams never could for
give the men who were engaged in the plan, though it embraced some
of his most partial admirers. He discovered bitter animosity against
several of them. His rage against General Hamilton was so ve
hement, that he could not restrain himself within the forms of civility
or decorum, in the presence of that gentleman. His jealousy of the
Pinckneys was notorious, and it dated as far back as the appointment
of Mr. Thomas Pinckney, by Washington, as envoy to the Court of
London. Mr. Adams desired the appointment for himself, notwith
standing the impropriety — he being the Vice-President — and next
he desired it for his son-in-law. In the bitterness of disappointment,
he played into the hands of the opposition party, and charged upon
General Washington that the appointment had 'been made under
British influence.
Soon after his own appointment of General Washington, in July,
1798, as Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of the United States,
he became jealous of the overshadowing influence of that great

144 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
character, and did all he could, consistently with his station, to thwart
the plans, to delay and derange the measures, that Washington
thought most essential to the service.
His conduct in the appointment of general officers, proved that
he was fickle, inconsistent, and under the baneful influence of a dis
tempered jpalousy.
With the country in imminent danger of a war ; with Washing
ton and Hamilton and C C. Pinckney at the head of her armies, it
was natural that those who felt themselves responsible for the mea
sures that had brought the nation into that predicament, should look
to those great men as their guides, instead of the impulsive, aimless,
and unsteady character, nominally at the head of affairs. Even his
own cabinet had more frequent, intimate, and confidential communi
cations, on all public affairs, with the head of the army than with
himself. He did not fail to perceive this ; and soon became enraged
with his own counsellors. Not long afterwards, some of them were
dismissed. A prominent charge against McHenry was, that the
Secretary, in a report to the House of Representatives, had eulogized
General Washington, and had attempted to eulogize General Hamil
ton, which was adduced as one proof of a combination, in which the
Secretary was engaged, to depreciate and injure him, the President.
Here, then, was the secret. His jealous and distempered fancy,
stimulated by evil counsel, had conjured up a formidable conspiracy,
in which his cabinet were implicated, the object of which was to de
preciate and injure him, and to exalt Hamilton or Pinckney above
him. To this cause may be attributed his extraordinary course in
regard to French affairs ; and those fatal aberrations, as they were
called by his friends, that resulted in peace with the French nation,
but in the destruction of himself and of his party.
We now proceed with the current of events, down to the meeting
of Congress, in 1798.
As our object is not a history of the country, but only of those.
leading causes of history, a knowledge of which is essential to under
stand the position of political characters who figured at the time, we
shall confine ourselves to a development of French affairs, because
they absorbed all others, gave weight to the political atmosphere, and
indicated, by the elevation or depression of the barometer, the advance

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 145
or retrograde position of the two great parties that divided men and
controlled the politics of the country.
The reader is already aware, that on the departure of Messrs.
Pinckney and Marshall from Paris, in the spring of 1798, Mr. Gerry
was induced to remain ; but he obstinately persisted in refusing to
enter into any negotiation. About the last of May, 1798, the
X. Y. Z. dispatches, which had been published in America, found
their way to the hands of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs,
M. Talleyrand. He immediately inclosed the very strange publica
tion, as he called it, to Mr. Gerry, and added : " I cannot observe
without surprise that intriguers have profited of the insulated con
dition in which the envoys of the United States have kept themselves
to make proposals and hold conversations, the object of which was,
evidently, to deceive you." He demanded the names of the parties
implicated, and to be informed whether any of the citizens attached
to his service, and authorized by him to see the envoys, told them a
word which had the least relation to the disgusting proposition which
was made by X. and Y., to give any sum whatever for corrupt distri
bution. Mr. Gerry disclosed the names of the parties. Two of them, the
most conspicuous characters, X. and Y., were foreigners, and unknown
to the French Government ; the third, Mr. Z., made himself known,
and proved that the part he had acted was wholly "honorable. Mr.
Gerry added, further, that in regard to the citizens attached to the
employments of M. Talleyrand, and authorized by him to see the en
voys on official communications, not a word had fallen from any of
them which had the least relation to the proposition made by X. and
Y. in their informal negotiations, to pay money for corrupt purposes.
It is not at all improbable that members of the Directory, whose
term of office was exceedingly precarious, and even Talleyrand him
self, were not too virtuous to receive a douceur, or a bribe, to secure
their influence in the negotiation of a treaty ; but that they were, in
a roundabout way, actually fishing for one on this occasion, depends
solely on the statement of the two principal actors in the business,
who, in a most remarkable degree, gained the confidence of the envoys,
but who were, in fact, foreigners, unknown to the Government, and
corrupt persons, who fled the country on the discovery of the plot.
There is not one corroborating circumstance to strengthen their story.
vol. 1. 7

146. LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Mr. Gerry admits that every member of the Government with whom
they communicated acted with the utmost propriety ; and that no
corrupt proposition came either from them or M. Talleyrand.
Napoleon, in his Revelations from St. Helena, in giving a history
of these transactions, says : " Certain intriguing agents, with which
sort of instruments the office of foreign relations was at that period
abundantly supplied, insinuated that the demand of a loan would be
desisted from, upon the advance of twelve hundred thousand francs,
to be divided between the Director Barras and the Minister Talley
rand." This whole narrative of Bonaparte, when carefully examined,
is obviously drawn from public documents ; just such materials as we
have before us at this time. There is not the slightest evidence that
he had any personal knowledge of the transactions, and that he knew
from any other source than common report growing out of the publi
cations of the day, that Barras, or Talleyrand, had, through intriguing
agents, made an overture for a bribe.
Notwithstanding the publication of those X. Y. Z. dispatches, so
questionable in their character and design, so well calculated to irri
tate, yet the French Government would not be excited into a feeling
of hostility. "As to the French Government," says Talleyrand, on
the 10th of June, "superior to all personalities, to all the manoeuvres
of its enemies, it perseveres in the intention of conciliating with sin
cerity all the differences which have happened between the two coun
tries. I confirm it to you anew." He then proposes to proceed with
Mr. Gerry on the business of negotiation, discards any further demand
for a loan, and rests the whole negotiation on three simple proposi
tions, which might have been speedily and satisfactorily adjusted ;
and he urged on Mr. Gerry to send home for authority to conclude
the treaty, if he did not feel that he was already clothed with suffi
cient power for the purpose. But he strangely persisted in doing
neither one thing nor another : he would not send home and ask for
instruments necessary to the negotiation, nor for a successor to be
put in his stead for that purpose, nor would he enter into a full de
scription of all the points necessarily involved in a treaty, that he
might lay before his Government the terms of one he had informally
entered into, for their ratification or rejection. He had it in his
power, by a firm and manly course of statesmanship, to throw upon
the administration the responsibility of closing at once all subjects

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 147
:f difference with the French Republic, or by rejecting a favorable
treaty, to involve the country in war with that formidable power.
His only thought seems to have been to avoid doing any thing that
might hurt the feelings of his late colleagues, and to devise means to
get home. He never ceased begging Talleyrand to let him go home.
Talleyrand never ceased begging him to stay, and to attend to the
important and pressing affairs of his country. At length, finding
Mr. Gerry wholly impracticable, he sent him his passports about the
last of July, and added, " As long as I could flatter myself, sir, with
fulfilling the wish of the Executive Directory, by endeavoring with
you to establish the good understanding between the French Repub
lic and the United States, I used my efforts, both in our conferences
and in my correspondence with you, to smooth the paths, to establish
the basis, to enter on the business, and to convince you of the utility
of your presence in Paris. It is in your character of Envoy of the
American Government I received you and wrote to you ; it depended
on yourself to be publicly received by the Executive Directory. . . .
You cannot dissemble, that if nothing prevented you from pursuing
with me the examining and reconciling of the grievances which divide
the two countries, we should not long stand in need of any thing but
the respective ratifications. . . When scarcely informed of the
departure of Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall, I endeavored in every
conference I afterwards had with you to demonstrate to you the
urgency, the propriety, and the possibility of an active negotiation.
I collected your ideas ; they differed from my own — I endeavored to
reconcile them. On the 18th June I transmitted to you a complete
plan of the negotiations. On the 27th I sent you my first note for
discussion upon one of the points of the treaty ; you declined answer
ing it. On the 6th of July I sent you two others. In vain I accom
panied these documents with the most cordial invitation rapidly to
run over with me this series of indispensable discussions upon all our
grievances. You have not even given me an opportunity of proving
what liberality the Executive Directory would use on the occasion.
You never wrote, in fact, but for your departure." In a postscript,
dated three days later, and after receiving advices from America
giving an account of the warlike acts of Congress, passed in May and
June, M. Talleyrand adds : " It seems that, hurried beyond every
limit, your Government no longer preserves appearances." 

148 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
(He then cites the various acts that have been passed.) " The long-
suffering of the Executive Directory," continues he, " is about to
manifest itself in the most unquestionable manner. Perfidy will no
longer be able to throw a veil over the pacific dispositions, which it
has never ceased to manifest. It is at the very moment of this fresh
provocation, which would appear to leave no honorable choice but
war, that it confirms the assurances I have given you on its behalf.
It is yet ready, it is as much disposed as ever, to terminate by a can
did negotiation the differences which subsist between the two coun
tries. Such is its repugnance to consider the United States as
enemies, that notwithstanding their hostile demonstrations, it means
to wait until it be irresistibly forced to it by real hostilities. Since
you will depart, sir, hasten, at least, to transmit to your Government
this solemn declaration."
Mr. Gerry did hasten to lay these declarations before his Govern
ment on the first day of October, and added, that from the best in
formation he could obtain relative to the disposition of the Executive
Directory, they we?-e very desirous for a reconciliation between the
Republics. No sooner had Mr. Gerry left the shores of France, than M.
Talleyrand opened a correspondence on American affairs with M.
Pichon, Secretary of Legation of the French Republic, near the
Batavian Republic, and requested that gentleman to give copies of
the same to the American minister, Mr. Murray, doubtless with an
expectation that they would be forwarded to the President of the
United States. In his letter of August the 28th, just twenty
days from the departure of Mr. Gerry, he says : " I see between
France and the United States no clashing of interests, no motives of
jealousy. Where is, therefore, the cause of the misunderstanding,
which, if France did not show herself the wisest, would bring from
this moment a great rupture between the two Republics ? There are
neither incompatible interests, nor projects of aggrandizement, which
divide them. Lately, distrust has done all the mischief. The Gov
ernment of the United States has believed that France wished to have
revolutionized America ; France has believed that the Government
of the United States wished to throw itself into the arms of England.
It is because acrimony, having mingled itself with distrust, neither
side has taken true conciliatory means. It has been supposed, in the

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 149
United States, that the French Government temporized, in order to
strike with greater safety. Hence followed a crowd of measures,
each one more aggravating than the other. In France, it has been
supposed that the Government of the United States wished only to
support the appearances of negotiation. Thence there was a certain
insisting on pledges of good faith. Let us substitute calmness to
passions, confidence to suspicions, and we shall soon agree. I have
made my efforts to wind up a negotiation, in this manner, with Mr.
Gerry. My correspondence with him, until the day of his departure,
is a curious monument of advances from me, and of evasions from
him. I wished to encourage Mr. Gerry, by the marks of regard
which his good intention deserved, though I cannot dissemble to
myself that he had been wanting decision, at the moment when he
might easily have settled every thing properly." In a word, he
winds up with giving Mr. Murray, through M. Pichon, the most
solemn assurances that a new plenipotentiary would be received with
out hesitation, and that an act of confidence towards them would en
courage confidence on their part. This letter, so unequivocal in its
nature, and another, of a like tenor, making more direct overtures, if
possible, towards re-opening negotiations, must have reached the
President before the meeting of Congress in December. The Presi
dent had other unequivocal, though less direct, evidences of the
pacific disposition of the French Directory. Dr. George Logan, a
native of Pennsylvania, while in France, was introduced to the
Director Merlin, and afterwards visited him on the footing of a pri
vate friend. On one of these occasions, Merlin informed him that
France had not the least intention to interfere in the public affairs of
the United States ; that his country had acquired great reputation in
having assisted America to become a free republic, and that they
never would disgrace their own revolution by attempting the destruc
tion of the United States. Dr. Logan returned home early in No
vember, and hastened to communicate what he thought good news, to
the Secretary of State. He was coldly received by Mr. Pickering,
and informed that his news was of no importance. General Wash
ington was at the seat of government about the time (Nov., 1798),
arranging his military operations with Generals Hamilton, Pinckney,
and the Secretary of War. Dr. Logan called on him. His recep
tion was even more cold and repulsive than that of the Secretary.

150 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
When Logan repeated to him the conversation with Merlin, he re
plied, that it was very singular ; that he, who could only be viewed
as a private character, unarmed with proper powers, and presump
tively unknown in France, could effect what three gentlemen of the
first respectability in our country, specially charged under the
authority of the Government, were unable to do. " You, sir," with
some emphasis on the word, " were more fortunate than our envoys,
for they would neither be received nor heard by M. Merlin, nor the
Directory." It is very evident that General Washington, at that time, was
highly exasperated with France ; that all his feelings were enlisted
against her ; and that, had he been at the head of affairs, it would
have taken much more than Talleyrand's overtures to have induced
him to recommence negotiations. Had Washington been President
in 1798, or Hamilton, or Pinckney, or had Mr. Adams yielded more
readily to the counsel of his cabinet, who were wholly under the influ
ence of the Triumvirate, the United States would unquestionably have
been involved in a war with the French Republic. But Mr. Adams,
whether from the motives assigned, or from higher patriotic consider
ations, refused the dictation, and saved the country from so calami
tous a war as that would have been with the French Republic. Just
before the meeting of Congress, he arrived in Philadelphia, from his
seat at Quincy. The tone of his mind seemed to have been raised,
rather than depressed. It was suggested to him (by the military
conclave — says Mr. Jefferson) that it might be expedient to insert in
the speech to Congress, a sentiment of this import — that after the re
peatedly rejected advances of this country, its dignity required that
it should be left with France, in future, to make the first overture ;
that if, desirous of reconciliation, she should evince the disposition
by sending a minister to this Government, he would be received with
the respect due to his character, and treated with in the frankness of
a sincere desire of accommodation.
The suggestion was received in a manner both indignant and in
temperate. Mr. Adams declared as a sentiment, which he had adopt-
I ed on mature reflection, That if France should send a minister to
morrow, he would order him back tlie next day.
So imprudent an idea was easily refuted. But yet, in less than
forty-eight hours from this extraordinary sally, the mind of Mr.

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 151
Adams underwent a total revolution. He resolved not only to insert
in his speech the sentiment which had been proposed to him, but to
go farther, and to declare, that if France would give explicit assur
ances of receiving a minister from this country, with due respect,
he would send one.
In vain was this extension of the sentiment opposed by all his
ministers, as being equally incompatible with good policy and with
the dignity of the nation. He obstinately persisted, and the decla
ration was introduced. The reader may account for this change in
the mind of the President in two ways. In the first place, we may
presume that he knew nothing of the dispatches containing the cor
respondence of Mr. Gerry with M. Talleyrand, which might have
been received in his absence ; but that on perusing the correspon
dence, he was forcibly struck with the fact that a reconciliation with
France depended solely on him. That correspondence presented the
business in this light : France says — Two of the ministers you sent
to treat with me are personally offensive, on account of their hostile
opinions and haughty demeanor, a sentiment, according to the laws
of nations, we have a right to express, without giving offence to you.
I early expressed a desire that those gentlemen would depart, and a
readiness to open negotiation with the third, who evinced better dis
positions towards conciliation. I told him to send home for addi
tional powers, if he doubted his authority to act alone, or to inform
his Government that another minister would be received to treat in
his stead, or to agree informally on the terms of a treaty, which he
might submit for consideration on his return to the United States.
But declining to act on the one or the other of these propositions,
and still insisting on his return home, I then told him distinctly to
say to his Government, France has no cause of quarrel with America,
does not desire war, and is ready to receive in good faith a minister
of peace, whenever one may be sent. Such was the attitude of the
subject exhibited by the dispatches of Mr. Gerry.
It was impossible for a President of the United States to under
stand them, and then to take upon himself the responsibility of re
jecting those overtures of peace. In this way we may account for the
sudden change in the mind of Mr. Adams, and do credit to his firm
ness and patriotism. But is it reasonable to suppose that he was
ignorant of those dispatches, or their contents, till so late a period ?

152 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Mr. Gerry had arrived, and communicated them to the State Depart
ment on the first day of October. He himself was an intimate per
sonal friend of the President, and lived in the same State and neigh
borhood. The most reasonable conclusion, therefore, is, that Mr.
Adams was well informed on the whole subject when he arrived in
Philadelpha, and that the change in his course was produced by the
motives assigned at the time — that is, a jealousy of Hamilton and
Pinckney, and a belief that a plot was on foot in which his cabinet
were implicated, to degrade and injure him, and to exalt the one or
the other of those military characters in his place.
But, notwithstanding this apparent change in his mind towards
the most pacific measures, he kept back from Congress those impor
tant dispatches of Mr. Gerry, and other information of a pacific kind,
till the 18th of January, 1799. They were then accompanied by an
elaborate report of the Secretary of State, in which he says the
points chiefly meriting attention are the attempts of the French Go
vernment ; 1. To exculpate itself from the charge of corruption; 2.
To detach Mr. Gerry from his colleagues, and to inveigle him into a
separate negotiation ; and 3. Its design, if the negotiation failed, and
a war should take place between the United States and France, to
throw the blame of the rupture on the United States. The Secre
tary labors to keep up the spirit of distrust towards France, and to prove
that all the overtures of her minister are insincere, merely intended
to deceive the United States, and to gain time. " Warmly profes
sing its desire of reconciliation," says he in conclusion, " it gives no
evidence of its sincerity ; but proofs, in abundance, demonstrate that
it is not sincere. From standing erect, and in that commanding atti
tude requiring implicit obedience, cowering, it renounces some of its
unfounded demands. But I hope we shall remember that ilve tiger
crouches before he leaps upon his prey" A very different temper this
from that of the President in his opening speech to Congress in De
cember ; nor does it show a very harmonious co-operation between
the Chief Magistrate and his ministers.
Just one month from the communication of the Secretary's report
to Congress — that is, on the 18th of February, the President nomi
nated William Vans Murray as envoy to the French Republic. This
measure was taken without any previous consultation with his minis
ters. The nomination was, to each of them, even to the Secretary

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 153
of State, his constitutional counsellor in such affairs, the first notice
of the project. The nomination was accompanied with a letter of
Talleyrand to M. Pichon, dated 28th September, 1798; and the
second, of like tenor, giving assurances that a minister from the
United States would be received and accredited.
The precipitate nomination of Mr. Murray brought Mr. Adams
into an awkward predicament. He found it necessary to change his
plan in its progress, and, instead of one, to nominate three envoys,
and to superadd a promise, that, though appointed, they should not
leave the United States till further and more perfect assurances were
given by the French Government. This remodification of the mea
sure was a virtual acknowledgment that it had been premature. It
argued either instability of views, or want of sufficient consideration
beforehand. General Washington disapproved very highly of the measure.
He was immediately informed of it by the Secretary of State : and
in reply, said — "The unexpectedness of the event communicated
in your letter of the 21st ultimo did, as you may suppose, sur
prise me not a little. But far, very far indeed was this surprise
short of what I experienced the next day, when, by a very intelligent
gentleman, immediately from Philadelphia, I was informed that there
had been no direct overture from the Government of France to that
of the United States for a negotiation ; on the contrary, that M. Tal
leyrand was playing the same loose and round-about game he had
attempted the year before with our wrongs ; and which, as in that
case, might mean any thing or nothing, as would subserve his purpose
best." The speculations of the Republicans on the other hand were to
the following effect. _ " I inform you," says Mr. Jefferson in a letter
to Madison, " of the nomination of Murray. There is evidence that
the letter of Talleyrand was known to one of the Secretaries, and
therefore probably to all ; the nomination, however, is declared by
one of them to have been kept secret from them all. He added that
he was glad of it, as, had they been consulted, the advice would have
been against making the nomination. To the rest of the party, how
ever, the whole was a secret till the nomination was announced.
Never did a party show a stronger mortification, and consequently,
that war had been their object. Dana declared in debate (as I have

154 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
from those who were present), that we had done every thing which
might provoke France to a war ; that we had given her insults which
no nation ought to have borne ; and yet she would not declare war.
The conjecture as to the Executive is, that they received Talleyrand's
letter before or about the meeting of Congress : that not meaning to
meet the overture effectually, they kept it secret, and let all the war
measures go on ; but that just before the separation of the Senate,
the President, not thinking he could justify the concealing such an
overture, nor indeed that it could be concealed, made a nomination,
hoping that his friends in the Senate would take on their own shoul
ders the odium of rejecting it ; but they did not choose it. The
Hamiltonians would not, and the others could not, alone. The whole
artillery of the phalanx, therefore, was played secretly on the Presi
dent, and he was obliged himself to take a step which should parry
the overture while it wears the face of acceding to it. (Mark that I
state this as conjecture ; but founded on workings and indications
which have been under our eyes.) Yesterday, therefore (25th Feb.),
he sent in a nomination of Oliver Ellsworth, Patrick Henry, and
William Vans Murray, Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Pleni
potentiary to the French Republic, but declaring the two former
should not leave this country, till they should receive from France
assurances that they should be received with the respect due by the
laws of nations to their character. This, if not impossible, must
keep off at least the day so hateful and so fatal to them, of reconcilia
tion, and leave more time for new projects of provocation."
The truth is, the friends of the Government were not agreed as
to ulterior measures. Some were for immediate and unqualified war —
of this class were Hamilton and most of the military gentry — others
were for a more mitigated course : the dissolution of treaties, pre
paration of force by land and sea, partial hostilities of a defensive
tendency ; leaving to France the option of seeking accommodation,
or proceeding to open war. As most of the responsibility rested
on members of Congress, this latter course was preferred by them,
and prevailed. Either course was consistent with itself and admit
ted of a steady line of policy. But the President, having no fixed
object, and governed by the impulse of the moment, came athwart all
their plans and destroyed them. Notwithstanding the modifications
of his embassy, it was very evident that most of the federal members

FRANCE AND THE ADMINISTRATION. 155
of both branches of Congress carried home with them a settled dis
like to the measure. They regarded it as ill-timed, built upon too
slight grounds, and, therefore, humiliating to the United States ; as
calculated to revive French principles, strengthen the party against
Government, and produce changes in the sentiments and conduct of
some of the European powers, that might materially affect the in
terests and growing commercial prospects of the United States.
Before the envoys departed, intelligence was received of a new
revolution in the French Government, and the expulsion of two of the
Directory. -This was thought to be a valid motive for delay — at
least till it could be known whether the new Directory would ratify
the assurances of the old one. When the news of the revolution in
the Directory arrived, Mr. Adams was at his seat in Massachusetts.
His ministers addressed to him a joint letter, communicating the in
telligence, and submitting to his consideration, whether that event
ought to suspend the projected mission. In a letter which he after
wards wrote from the same place, he directed the preparation of a
draft of instructions for the envoys, and intimated that their depar
ture would be suspended for some time.
Shortly after, about the middle of October 1799, he came to the
seat of government, when he adjusted with his ministers the tenor
of the instructions to be given ; but observed a profound silence on
the question whether it was expedient that the mission should pro
ceed. The ministers expected a consultation on the great question,
whether the mission to France would be suspended until the fate of
its Government could be known. But they were disappointed. The
President alone considered and decided. The morning after the in
structions were settled, he signified to the Secretary of State that
the envoys were immediately to depart.
Though uncommunicative to his constitutional advisers, he was
very free in his conversations with the envoys as to his expectations
in regard to their embassy. He told them that the French Govern
ment would not accept the terms, which they were instructed to pro
pose ; that they would speedily return ; and that he should have to
recommend to Congress a declaration of war. "But as to the
French negotiation producing a war with England," said he, " if it did,
England could not hurt us." " When," Mr. Ellsworth says, " Pick
ering recited this last idea to me and Mr. Wolcott, I had not pa-

156 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
tience to hear more. And yet the President has several times, in his
letters to me, from Quincy, mentioned the vast importance of keep
ing on good terms with England."
The reader cannot be surprised that such a man should work the
destruction of any party that regarded him as its head ; indeed that,
with him, there was no such thing as party ; either he was elevated
above ordinary mortals, and studied the good of the country alone,
without regard to his own interests, or sunk below the level of com
mon-trading politicians who care for neither measures nor men, only
so far as they may conspire to their own personal elevation.
When the new Congress, of which John Randolph was a mem
ber, assembled at the Capitol in December, 1799, the federal party
apparently compact, and with a majority of at least twenty in the
House of Representatives, carried within it all the elements of dis
solution. The death blow had been given by its own friends, and it
required time only to discover the causes of its rapid decay. When
the extraordinary events of which we have spoken were made known
to Washington, on the 17th of November, 1799, but a few weeks be
fore his death, he would answer nothing to them, but exclaimed, " 1
have been stricken dumb! I have, some time past," says he, "viewed
the political concerns of the United States with an anxious and
painful eye. They appear to me to be moving by hasty strides to a
crisis ; but in what it will result, that Being who sees, foresees, and
directs all things, alone can tell. The vessel is afloat, or very nearly
so, and considering myself as a passenger only, I shall trust to the
mariners, whose duty it is to watch, to steer it into a safe port."
Thou great and good man ! the ship is afloat ! When first launched .
upon the deep, thine own seamanship guided the untried vessel o'er
many a stormy billow, with Scylla and Charybdis on either hand ;
thy wakeful eye didst steer right onward ; but never was it permit
ted thee, thou good Palinurus, to see the ship steered into a safe port !
From amidst thy fellow-passengers, all weeping and gazing in the
heavens, thou wert borne aloft in a chariot of fire, and, by bands of
celestial spirits heralded into realms of immortal glory. And now,
the old Iron-sides having buffeted many a stormy sea, and riding
gallantly with all her banners streaming, hails thee her first, her best,
her greatest Captain !

SCENE IN THE PLAYHOUSE. 157

CHAPTER XXIII.
SCENE IN THE PLAYHOUSE — STANDING ARMY.
On the first day of January, eighteen hundred, Washington was
dead ; Bonaparte First Consul of France. Our envoys had been
favorably received. Every prospect of a satisfactory adjustment of
the differences between the two republics, and no further need for
the large army which had been established, and th<j other vast and
expensive military preparations that had been projected with so
much vigor under the X. Y. Z. excitement. Accordingly, on the 7th
of January, Mr. Nicholas, a leading member of the republican party,
moved in the House a resolution to repeal the act passed the 16th of
July, 1798, entitled "An act to augment the army of the United
States." The debate lasted for several days, and was warm and ani
mated. On the 10th the motion was lost by a vote of sixty to thirty-
nine. It was a strict party vote, and showed a majority of twenty-
one for the federalists. John Randolph, for the first time, partici
pated in the debate this day. The part he performed will be given
in his own words. " In the course of the debates upon the resolution
of Mr. Nicholas, I took occasion to say that the people of the United
States ought not to depend for their safety on the soldiers enlisted
under the laws, the repeal of which was the object of the resolution,
and casually, but justly, applied to them the epithet of ragamuffins.-
I also declared that standing, or mercenary armies, were inconsistent
with the spirit of our Constitution, or the genius of a free people.
General Lee, and others, dilated upon these terms. He affirmed the
last to be misapplied, and defined the word mercenary so as to give
it an application only to troops hired for the defence of a country
other than tlieir own. In reply, I contended that there was no ety
mology which would warrant his construction ; that the term was de
rived from a Latin word which signified wages, and did not embrace,
as he had declared my meaning would justify, the militia, which likewise
receives pay when in actual service, but was exclusively appropri
ated to such men (whether foreigners, or otherwise) as made the art
military a profession, or trade, and was properly expressive of a stand-

158 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
¦ ing army who served for wages and by contract, in contradistinction
to a militia, or patriotic army, which was composed of all ranks of
citizens, equally bound to fight the battles of their country, and in
which each contributed his share to the public safety, and who re
ceived pay only when in actual service, to enable the poorer citizen
to perform his military duty.
" In consequence of my application of these terms to the existing
establishment — the first of which I confined to such recruits as had
been picked up in my own country — a party ot officers, the principal
agents among whom were a Captain M'Knight and a Lieutenant Mi
chael Reynolds, both belonging to the marine corps, being apprised
that I was in the playhouse on Friday evening last (on which day
t the resolution was lost, about six o'clock), came into the box where
I was, and commenced their operations by frequent allusions, aimed
at me, to what was going on in the house. The play was The Stran
ger, and the after-piece Bluebeard. They, asked one another if the
soldiers on the stage did not act very well for mercenaries ; said they
supposed from their color (Turks) they were Virginians ; squeezed
into the seat with evident intention to incommode us, particularly
myself; and when we were leaving the box, gave me a twitch by the
coat ; but upon the author being demanded, they had disappeared.
On going down stairs, some of the gentlemen said they tried to push
us all down in mass, and in the street they passed with a rude quick
ness, jostling one of the gentlemen, and striking another's foot. In
their aim upon me they were disappointed. I regarded all they said
with the most perfect nonchalance ; was unmoved by their attempts
to insult me, except when they offered personal violence ; and in con
formity to what I thought my duty, laid a written complaint before
the President. To-day (Tuesday, the 14th) he sent it to the House
with a letter, in which he lays it before us ' without any comment
upon its style.' I must not omit telling you that my feelings were
strongly excited. A motion was made to provide a committee of
privileges, to whom it was to be referred. This I opposed, express
ing my surprise that the letter had been laid before us, a measure
which I had not contemplated when I wrote it ; that I had addressed
it to the authority whose particular duty it was to suppress such
conduct in the military, and disclaimed all wish to throw myself upon
the protection of himself or of that House ; that the privileges of

SCENE IN THE PLAYHOUSE. 159
Congress being expressly defined by the Constitution, I was unwill- .
ing to give my assent to any measure which might lead to enlarge
them, and which, even if we had a right to adopt it, would hereafter
be prostituted to nefarious designs. My objection was overruled,
and a committee appointed of seven, on which the speaker had the
uncommon goodness to nominate three republicans.
" Perhaps some misguided persons may be induced to depreciate
the motives by which I have been actuated. I cannot help it. My
business is to do what I Conceive right, careless of the opinion of all.
I was delighted to find my sentiments upon this subject coincided
with those of Dr. Tucker ; it is no bad criterion of the truth of any
opinion that it meets his assent. I sometimes look back upon the
principles which once governed my moral conduct with astonishment —
how much to be regretted it is, that the painted phantom of honor
should be dressed in such captivating colors as to suffer few of the'
nobler minds to escape her contagious embrace."
The letter addressed to the President, after stating the affair in
the theatre, proceeds thus — " Having stated the fact, it would be de
rogatory to your character for me to point out the remedy. So far
as they relate to this application addressed to you in a public capaci
ty, they can only be supposed by you to be of a public nature. It is
enough for me to state, that the independence of the legislature has
been attacked, and the majesty of the people, of which you are the
principal representative, insulted, and your authority contemned.
In their name, I demand that a provision commensurate with the evil
be made, and which will be calculated to deter others from any future
attempt to introduce the reign of terror into our country. In ad
dressing you in this plain language of man, I give you, sir, the best
proof I can afford of -the estimation in which I hold your office and
your understanding ; and I assure you with truth, that I am with re
spect, your fellow-citizen,
" John Randolph.
1' Chamber H. Representatives Jan. 11, — 24th Independence.
" To the President of the U. States."
The reader perceives here none of those courtly and unmeaning
(if not worse) phrases that usually begin and end the epistles address
ed to high functionaries by those who seek to gain their favor by ob-

100 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
sequiousness and flattery — To his Excellency, the President of the
United States — Your most obedient and humble servant — none of
that, but an unvarnished, straight-forward statement of facts ; he tells
the President that the independence of the legislature has been at
tacked, the majesty of the people insulted, and demands that he,
their chief representative, shall make some provision adequate to pre
vent the reign of terror from being introduced into the country. The
whole letter was conceived in a stern, independent, republican spirit,
and ought not, we would suppose, to have" given offence to any one
who" understood and duly appreciated the term fellow-citizen.
This letter the President thought proper on the 14th of the
month to communicate to the House — " As the inclosed letter," says
he, " from a member of your body, received by me on the night of
, Saturday the 1 1th inst., relates to the privileges of the House, which
in my opinion ought to be inquired into by the House itself, if any
where. I have thought proper to submit the whole letter and its
tendencies to your consideration, without any other comments on its
matter and style." It is very plain what he and Pickering thought
about both.
The committee appointed to take this matter of privilege into con
sideration, consisted of Messrs. Chauncey, Goodrich, Macon, Kittera,
Jones, Sewell, Robert Williams, and Bayard — Mr. Macon was ex
cused and Mr. Hanna appointed in his stead.
Messrs. Goodrich, Kittera, Sewell, and Bayard, constituting the
majority of the committee, were the most distinguished and influen
tial members of the federal party in the House.
On the 18th, Mr. Randolph addressed the following commu
nication to the Chairman of the Committee : — " A mature considera
tion of the subject induces me to suspect, that a refusal on my part
to communicate the information requested by you a few days ago,
could only have originated in a false delicacy, under whose impulse
I am determined never to act ; I shall therefore proceed to state
some instances of the misconduct of Capt. M'Knight and Lieut. Rey
nolds, on the night of Friday, the 10th instant.
" Exclusive of repeated assertions to what passed in the House
of Representatives during the debate of the preceding day, and a fre
quent repetition of some words which fell from me during that dis
cussion, in a manner so marked as to leave no doubt on my mind, or

SCENE IN THE PLAYHOUSE. 161
that of Messrs. Van Rensselaer, Christie, or Macon, of their intention
to insult me personally ; finding me determined to take no notice
of their words, they adopted a conduct which placed their designs be
yond every possibility of doubt, and which they probably conceived
to be calculated to force me into their measures. Mr. Christie had
left his seat between me and the partition of the box ; after which,
Mr. Van Rensselaer, who sat on the other side of me, laid down, so
as to occupy a more than ordinary portion of room, and occasioned
my removal to a part of Mr. Christie's former seat, leaving a very
small vacancy between myself and the partition. Into this Lieut.
Reynolds suddenly, and without requesting or giving time for room
to be made for him, dropped with such violence as to bring our hips
into contact. The shock was sufficient to occasion a slight degree of
pain on my part, and for which it is probable he would in some de
gree have apologized, had not the act been intentional. Just before
I left the box, one of them, I believe M'Knight, gave me a sudden
and violent pull by the cape of my coat. Upon my demanding who
it was, (this was the first instance in which I noticed their proceed
ings,) no answer was given. I then added, that I had long perceived
an intention to insult me, and that the person offering it was a pup
py. No reply that I heard was made.
" It will be impossible for me, sir, to specify the various minute
actions of these persons and their associates, which tended to the
same point. Suffice it to say, that their whole deportment exhibited
an insolence, and their every act betokened a bold defiance, which
can nether be defined nor mistaken, and which, according to the gene
rally received opinions of the world, not only would have justified,
but demanded chastisement.
" Refei ring the committee to the numerous and authentic ac
counts of this transaction, which the gentlemen present are so well
calculated to give, I remain with respect, sir,
" Your fellow-citizen, " John Randolph."
Those gentlemen, Mr. Christie, Mr. Macon, Mr. Nicholson, and
others, men of great respectability, and members of Congress, did
confirm in every particular the above statement. There rested not
the shadow of a doubt on their mind, that Reynolds and M'Knight

162 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
intended to insult Mr. Randolph, and to inflict personal injury on
him, for words spoken in debate.
The only testimony in opposition to those gentlemen of such
high respectability, and Mr. Randolph's own statement, so detailed
and explicit, was the declaration of those persons themselves. Their
testimony is evidently an equivocation : they say they did not go to
the theatre with the intention of insulting Mr. Randolph. "I
did not know," says M'Knight, " Mr. Randolph was to be at the
theatre, nor do I ever recollect seeing him previous to Friday even
ing ; and, from his youthful appearance and dress, I had no idea of
his being a member of the House of Representatives." All this may
be very true, and yet after reaching there, it is very evident they
conceived the idea of insulting and injuring him.
The committee, after collecting all the evidence they could find
material in the case, report the following resolutions :
Resolved, That this House entertains a respectful sense of the re
gard which the President of the United States has shown to its
rights and privileges, in his message of the 14th instant, accompanied
by a letter addressed to him by John Randolph, Jun., a member of
this House.
Resolved, That in respect to the charge alleged by John Ran
dolph, Jun., a member of this House, in his letter addressed to the
President of the United States, on the eleventh instant, and by him
submitted to the consideration of this House, that sufficient cause
does not appear for the interposition of this House, on the ground of
a breach of its privileges.
The first resolution was passed without a division. To the se
cond, several amendments were offered, going to censure M'Knight
and Reynolds, but were rejected. Then the resolution itself was re
jected, by a majority of twelve, showing that even that House were
not prepared to sacrifice their privileges, which had been so evidently
and wantonly insulted and trampled on. The Speaker then ruled
all further action on the subject out of order, and so shoved it aside.
We leave Mr. Randolph's friend and contemporary, William
Thompson, to make his commentaries on these transactions, the more
valuable as the spontaneous effusions of an ingenuous and noble
mind : — " The committee," says he, " who sat to examine the charge
against several minions of executive power, which, of all that can be

SCENE IN THE PLAY-HOUSE. 163
brought against men, was most serious, as being most destructive to
the liberties of America — the committee who were called on to say
whether the privileges of the House should be prostrated, as the privi
leges of the people have been — the committee who were called on to
decide whether a set of armed ruffians should surround the capitol,
and dictate our laws — this committee have determined, that although
there were some circumstances (language of the report) which deserved
censure, yet they were not of such a nature as to be considered a
breach of the privileges of the House. Admit the meaning which
they wish to give to some circumstances, I say, if there were any cir
cumstance, no matter how trivial in its nature it may be, if on the
most rigid inquiry it can be found that a legislator is insulted for his
official conduct, that the man who insults < ffers an insult to the peo
ple ; and that the men who do not, when called on, inflict all the
punishment their power licenses, is an enemy, are enemies to the
liberty of America. What, sir, will result from the decision of that
committee ? The republicans are liable to daily and hourly insults —
the soldiers of Philadelphia are to be raised to a Pretorian band —
our measures are to be dictated by the willing foes of our liberty —
and virtuous opposition is to be silenced by the bayonet. Let me
not be told that these apprehensions are ridiculous ; I say they are
grounded in the full conviction, that the military mob is supported by
the administration, and that administration will make great sacrifices
to their love of power. I say it is grounded on a conviction that this
army is not now kept up to secure us from invasion ; but that it con
templates something, and I fear that something is injurious to my
country. That the insults you received were not offered to you as
an individual, is certain ; for as an individual, separate from your
principles, I perceive they knew you not ; it is certain, because your
words were quoted. Not content with debasing us in fact, they wish
to debase us even in appearance — they cavil at your words. Had
you addressed the President in courtly style, they would forgive the
contents of your letter ; addressing him as you have done, we applaud
the conduct, and we rejoice there is one man left us whose principles
and whose manners stand uncorrupted in these corrupted times.
I say we, for I speak the language of many ; I say we, for I
speak the language of your State. The persecutions of a faction
have made you more dear to us. Not that your merits are in-

164 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
creased by circumstances, but because this is a glaring instance
amongst many, that men are persecuted as the'organs of principles.
This committee have done more, anxious that no opportunity should
be lost to liquidate part of the great debt of adulation, they have inter
woven a motion of thanks to the President for the respectful sense he
has shown of their privileges. Whither does this lead ? Is it not to
be apprehended, that by this conduct your rights are to be changed
into courtesy, that your rights are to hang on the nod of your Presi
dent ? Does this man deserve thanks for the compliance with his
official duties ? Does he deserve thanks for doing that for which he
is paid by his country ? The friends of America look at this affair
with wonder and with horror. The timid part of the community say
we will not send a man whose principles are obnoxious, for fear of
consequences ; the patriots of your State say we will send men who
dare to speak the truth, no matter in whose ears it is grating. But
it was disrespectful to call him fellow-citizen ! Yes, he is not a fel
low-citizen, because he is chief officer, he is alienated by promotion.
There is more truth in his having been aliened than they would
admit. S*I will forget for a moment that I am personally acquainted
with you, and state, that you evinced in this affair an intrepid cool
ness, a firmness, and calmness, which must convince every man, not
sworn to partiality, that every word of your evidence is most rigid
truth. But your remark of mercenary and ragamuffin was gall
ing to certain men in that House ; your arguments throughout the
whole were unanswerable ; and your naked truths (for I will adopt
your very appropriate expression) were dangerous to men who, un
veiled, are damned."
This affair created, at the time, great excitement through the
country. It was considered as but one of a series of events that had
for their end the subjugation of the people to the will of the federal
oligarchy. The enormous public debt, which was daily increasing by
heavy loans at usurious interest, the funding system, the National
Bank, the recently-created navy establishment, and large standing
army without an enemy or the prospect of an enemy, the alien and
the sedition laws in active operation, sparing neither station nor age,
had given an alarming and a powerful centralizing action to the
Government. And it was thought that the evil tendencies of all those
measures were now consummated in the humiliation of the legisla-

SCENE IN THE PLAY-HOUSE. 165
ture to executive authority, and its tame submission to the arrogance
of military pride. The trivial occurrence in the theatre, giving an
opportunity to the President to display his petulant temper and his
high sense of official consequence, and to the House of Representa
tives to manifest their subservient spirit, proved to be a very serious
business. The people, more sagacious than they have credit for
among some politicians, saw at once the tendency of these proceedings ;
and Randolph was hailed throughout the Union as the champion of
the rights of the people. The very morning (15th January) his cor
respondence with the President appeared in the Philadelphia papers,
and before any action thereon by the House, he received a communi
cation professing to convey the sentiments of a number of respectable
citizens. " It is our decided opinion," say they, " that the person of
a delegate in Congress ought to be as sacred from public or private
insult as the person of an ambassador to a foreign power. Should this
flagrant violation of the privilege of a member of your House which
has been offered to your person be winked at, may not enterprising
men introduce parties into the House, which, by putting its members
in bodily fear, will completely shackle the freedom of debate, and
thereby injure the public good ?" They then proceed to thank him for
having the boldness candidly to avow the real sentiments of his heart,
with a huge capital R and a tremendous underscoring of the word real
in the original document, which is now before us. We might infer from
this that such boldness was very unusual at that time. And indeed it
was true. Madison had retired before the storm; so had Giles and the
plain blunt-spoken Finlay, of Pennsylvania. Gallatin was still there ;
but he was not the man for the crisis ; he was a foreigner, modest,
plain in his elocution, and dealt more in facts and figures of arith
metic than those bold metaphors and figures of speech so essential to
arouse and interest the people. The whole House might slumber
under Gallatin's demonstrations, while one schrill echo of Randolph's
voice would wake the seven sleepers. Matthew Lyon is seen among
the silent voters ; but three months' imprisonment last winter in a
dungeon, not six feet square, under the sedition law, for daring to
publish words in disparagement of the President, has cooled his Irish
temper, and awed him into silence. This Harry Hotspur, therefore,
or young cornet of horse, burst suddenly among them like a sky
rocket. His boldness, his eloquence, his youthful appearance, struck

166 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
them with astonishment. But who can tell the effect of those naked
truths, which fell like hot shot among the enemy, all intrenched and
secure, as they supposed themselves, behind their formidable walls !
John Thompson's prediction was fulfilled in the very outset of his
career : He will become an object of admiration and terror to the ene
mies of liberty I

CHAPTER XXIV.
MAKE TO YOURSELF AN IDOL, AND, IN SPITE OF THE DECA
LOGUE, WORSHIP IT.
During the winter and spring of 1800 he kept up a regular cor
respondence with his friend, William Thompson, who, the reader
knows, had found a home and an asylum in his misfortunes under the
hospitable roof of Bizarre. The soothing temper he manifests towards
that unfortunate youth, the sound advice he gave him, so fraught with
wisdom and a knowledge of human nature, and his judicious and
well-timed encouragement, to arouse from his lethargy and become
the man he was capable of being, present the character of John Ran
dolph in a pleasing point of view, and explain in a measure those
traits of mind and disposition, known only to a few, that made him
such an object of devoted friendship on the part of those who were
honored by his intimate regard.
John Randolph, jun to his friend and brother, William TJiompson.
Philadelphia, Dec. 31, 24th year.
" Your letter was peculiarly acceptable to me. It relieved me
from considerable anxiety on account of your health, to the ill state
of which I attributed that suspension of our correspondence, which
has originated in the derangement of the post office department ; it
contained assurances of that regard of which I never entertained a
doubt, but which, nevertheless, were extremely gratifying to me ; but
above all it put my mind at ease upon a subject which has been pro
ductive of considerable concern. I mean your change of residence,
which, as you will find by my last, I understood you had removed

IDOL-WORSHIP. 167
to Chinquepin Church — not knowing your reasons for leaving Bi
zarre, I could not combat. Great, however, was my surprise and
pleasure to receive a letter from Judy (Mrs. Richard Randolph) and
yourself; both of which relieved my anxie*y*upon this head. I am,
moreover, charmed, my friend, that you are resolutely bent upon
study, and have made some progress therein. Let me conjure you
to adhere inflexibly to this rational pursuit. Your destiny is in your
own hands. Regular employment is of all medicines the most effect
ual for a wounded mind. If the sympathy of a friend who loves you
because yo« are amiable and unfortunate ; because you are the rep
resentative of that person (John Thompson died January, 1799) who
held the first place in his heart, and the first rank in the intellectual
order ; if my uniform friendship, my dear Thompson, could heal the
wounds of your heart, never should it know a pang. Your situation
is of all others the one most eminently calculated to repair, so far as
it is possible, the ills which you have sustained. An amiable woman,
who regards you as a brother, who shares your griefs, and will admin
ister as far as she can to your consolation, who unites to talents of
the first order a degree of cultivation uncommon in any country, but
especially in ours — such a woman is under the same roof with you.
Cultivate a familiarity with her ; each day will give you new and un
expected proof of the strength of her mind, and the extent of her
information. Books you have at command ; your retirement is
unbroken. Such a situation is, in my opinion, the best calculated for
a young man (under any circumstances) who will study ; or even for
one who is determined to be indolent. Female society, in my eye, is)
an indispensable requisite in forming the manly character. Thatr
which is offered to you is not to be paralleled, perhaps, in the world.
You call on me, my friend, for advice. You bid me regard your
foibles with a lenient eye; you anticipate the joy which I shall
derive from your success. I will not permit r yself to doubt of
it. You shall succeed — you must. You have it in your power.
Exertion only is necessary. You owe it to the memory of our
departed brother, to yourself, to me, to your country, to human
ity ! Apprised that you have foibles to eradicate, the work is
more than half accomplished. I will point them out with a friendly
yet lenient hand. You will not shrink from .the probe, know
ing that in communicating present pain your ultimate cure and

168 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
safety is the object of the friendly operator. If I supposed myself
capable of inflicting intentional and wanton pain upon your feelings,
I should shrink with abhorrence from myself. In the course of my
strictures I may, perhips, appear abrupt. I am now pressed for
time. " Self-examination, when cool and impartial, is the best of all cor
rectives. It is a general and trite observation that man knows his
fellows better than himself. This is too true ; but it depends upon
every individual to exhibit, in himself, a refutation of this received
maxim. Retirement and virtuous society fit the mind for this task.
" Among your foibles I have principally observed unsteadiness ; a
precipitate decision, and the want of mature reflection, generally. It
would be uncandid to determine your character by these traits, which
originate, perhaps, or are at least heightened, by the uneasiness which
preys upon your mind, which renders you more than usually restless.
Endeavor, my friend, to act less upon momentary impulse ; pause,
reflect ; think much and speak little ; form a steadiness of demeanor,
and having once resolved, persevere. Read, but do not devour, books.
Compare your information ; digest it. In short, according to the
old proverb, " Make haste slowly." There is one point upon which
I must enjoin you to beware. You appeared restless, when I saw
you, to change your property. Let things stand as they are a little.
Facilis discensus, sed revocare gradum, hoc opus. (Excuse, I beseech
you, this pitiful display of learning.)
" The Due de la Rochefoucault — who, by the by, is a bad moral
preceptor — has, among others, this very excellent maxim : ' We are
never made so ridiculous by the qualities we possess, as by those
which we affect to have,' I never knew a man who would not profit
of this observation. To preserve your own esteem, merit it. I have
no fear that you will ever render yourself unworthy of its greatest
good. Yet, a man who is so unfortunate as to lose his own good
opinion, is wrong to despair. It may be retrieved. He ought to set
about it immediately, as the only reparation which he can make to
himself or society. The ill opinion of mankind is often misplaced ;
but our own of ourselves never.
" Pardon, my dear brother, this pedantic and didactic letter. Its
sententiousness is intolerable, yet it was almost unavoidable. I had
written till my fingers were cramped. The hour of closing the mail

IDOL-WORSHIP. 169
approached, and I was obliged to throw my sentiments into the offen
sive form of dogmas. . That I, who abound in foibles, and, to speak
truth, vices — that I should pretend to dogmatize, may appear to many
arrogant indeed. Yet, let them recollect that we are all frail, and
should sustain each other ; and that the truth of a precept is not de
termined by the practice of him who promulges it. Go on, my dear
Thompson, and prosper. I regret that I am debarred the pleasure of
sharing your literary labors, and of that interchange of sentiment
which constitutes one of the chief sources of my enjoyment. To our
amiable sister — for such she considers herself with respect to you — I
commit you, confident that your own exertion, aided by her society,
will form you such as your friend will rejoice to behold you. Write
to him frequently I beseech you ; cheer his solitary and miserable ex
istence with the well known characters of friendship. Ad^ju, my
dear brother." William Tfiompson to John Randolph.
" Dear Jack, — I am not ceremonious. I feel a conviction that
your silence does not proceed from a want of regard, but from a
cause more important to the world, to yourself, and, if possible, more
distressing to me than the loss of that place in your heart, on which
depends my future prosperity. I had fondly hoped that the change
of scene, and the novelty of business, would have dissipated that me
lancholy which overhung you. To see my friend return happy and
well, was the only wish of my heart.
" To the man who is not devoted to unnatural dissipations, a
great city has no charms : it awakens the most painful sensations in
the breast of the philanthropist and patriot. It is disgusting to be
hold such a mass of vice, and all its attendant deformities, cherished
in the bosom of an enlightened country. Prostitutions of body, and
still greater prostitution of mind, excite our pity and hatred. The
political life has not those attractions to the virtuous which it once
had, and which it ought still to have in this country. The spirit of
party has extinguished the spirit of liberty. The enlightened orator
must be shocked at the willing stupidity of his auditors. Our exer
tions are vain and impotent. Every man is the avowed friend of a
party. Converts to reason are not to be found ; whilst converts to
interest are innumerable.
vol. i. 8

170 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
" You know I promised not to visit Richmond. I have rigidly
adhered to that. I felt a necessity of cooling down. I foreboded
the acquirement of dissipated habits, which would haunt me unceas
ingly. I saw that the patronage of the virtuous would awaken an
emulation in me to attain their perfection. I feel confident that if
my friends bear a little longer with my foibles, they will be corrected.
I look forward with honest pride to the day when I shall merit the
regard — when, by my conduct and by my principles, I shall make
some retribution for the exalted generosity which I have met with
from your family. I am not made of such stern stuff as to resist
singly ; but the idea of friendship will steel my heart against temp
tation. Since you left me, I have been generally at home, conscious
how little I merit regard. That which I feel for your amiable
family may perhaps appear presumption, yet the thought of losing it
is stinging. * * * To your sister, your most amiable sister, I try to
render myself agreeable. There is a gentleness of manners, an uni
formity of conduct, and a majesty of virtue, which seem to render
admiration presumptuous."
John Randolph to his brother, William Thompson.
" Your letter, my dear Thompson, has communicated to my heart
a satisfaction to whioh it has not been at all familiar. It has proved
beyond dispute that the energies of your mind, however neglected by
yourself, or relaxed by misfortune, have been suspended, but not im
paired ; and that the strength of your understanding has not been
unequal to the ordeal of misfortune, of which few are calculated to
bear the test. Proceed, my friend, in the path in which you now
move ; justify those lively hopes which I have never ceased to enter
tain, or to express, of your future attainments : in the words, al
though not in the sense of the poet, let me exhort you, ' carpe diem.'
The past is not in our power to recall. The future we can neither
foresee nor control. The present alone is at our disposal : on the use
to which it is applied, depends the whole of what is estimable or
amiable in human oharaoter."
Poor Thompson went to Petersburg about this time (February,
or March, 1800), and got entangled in a way that most young men
of his temper are apt to be. He shall tell the story in his own way.
After getting baok to Bizarre, in April, he thus writes :

IDOL-WORSHIP. 171
" You will be surprised, dear brother, when you are informed,
that my stay in Petersburg was protracted by a circumstance against
which you warned me in a letter some time past. 1 allude to Mrs.
B  . Nature has compensated for mental imperfection, by bodily
perfection in that woman. And my attachment to her corroborates
a heresy in love, that desire is a powerful ingredient. Her mind is
not cultivated, her disposition is not calculated to make a man of
my enthusiasm in regard happy. Fully aware of these circum
stances, I cherished her name as dear. Thus situated, let me ask
you a question. Had you been told — nay, had you known that this
woman was the victim of infamous oppression — that these charms
had been wrested from your possession by unfeeling relations (they
were engaged when he went to Europe in 1798), that your name was
dear, her husband's name odious — that on you she looked with ten
derness, and on him with hatred, what line of conduct would you
adopt ? * * * I had resolved to shun her, and in truth did ; but that
fate, which shows refinement in its policy, forced me to an interview.
#*#### After several resolutions, some ridiculous (as is usual
in such cases), and one which had near proved fatal, I fled to the
asylum of the distressed (wisely thought of), to the spot where ten
der friendship forms a character exalted to a height, which makes
the feebler of her sex look low indeed, would make me blush at my
folly, and banish the idea of a baneful passion. I will not recapitu
late the wrongs of fortune, but I fondly hope that they will plead in
apology for the failings of your friend."
Now for the answer ; and let every young man, and young
woman too, ponder well upon it.
" April 19, 24 year. — To-day I received your letter of the 12th.
It has unravelled a mystery, for whose solution I have before searched
in vain. That you should have been in Petersburg, sighing at the
feet of the fair Mrs. B., is what I did not expect to learn, since I
supposed you all the while in Sussex. I am now not at all surprised
at your silence, during this period of amorous intoxication ; since
nothing so completely unfits a man for intercourse with any other
than the object of his infatuation.
" The answer to your questions is altogether easy. In the first
place, it is not true, because it cannot be true, that this lady was
compelled to the step which she has taken. What force could be

172 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
brought to act upon her, which materials as hard as wax would not
resist? The truth is, if ever she felt an attachment to you, she
sacrificed it to avarice ; not because money was the end, but the
means, of gratification ; her vanity, the ruling passion of every mind
as imbecile as her own, delighted in the splendor which wealth alone
could procure. At this time the same passion, which is one of the
vilest modifications of self-love, would gratify itself with a little co
quetry ; and if your prudence has not exceeded that of the lady, it has
gone, I fear, greater lengths than she at first apprehended. Nor
have you, my friend, done this woman a good office, in rendering her
discontented with her lot, by suffering her to persuade herself that
she is in love with you, and that oppression alone has driven her to
a detested union with a detestable brute, for such (on all hands, I be
lieve, it is agreed) is Mr. B. Never did I see a woman apparently
better pleased with her situation. She did not lose one penny
weight of her very comfortable quantity of flesh ; and, however she
might have hesitated between my friend and the cash, minus the
possessor, had you been on the spot to contest your right to her
very fair hand, yet W. T., on the other side of the Atlantic, or
perhaps at the bottom of it, was no rival to the solid worth of her
now cara sposa. Perhaps, in the first instance, she might have dis
liked the man, for good reasons ; and in the second, for no reason
at all, but because her relations were very anxious for the match ;
but be assured her imagination was not sufficiently lively to induce
her to shed one tear on your account.
" You ask me, my friend, what conduct you ought to pursue ;
and you talk of revenge. B. has never injured you ; he has acted
like a fool, I grant, in marrying a woman whose only inducement
to the match, he must be conscious, was his wealth ; but he has com
mitted no crime ; at least he was unconscious of any. That the fel
low should wear antlers, is no great matter of regret, because the os
frontis is certainly substantial enough to bear their weight. Yet I
do not wish them to be planted by you, for your sake. I will allow
that this lady is as fair as she is fat — that she is a very inviting ob
ject ; yet why should you prevent her leading a life of as much hap
piness as she is susceptible of— fruges consumere, &c. Has not her
conduct in relation to you and to her husband been such as renders
her unworthy of any man of worth ? Has he not conferred on you a

IDOL-WORSHIP. 173
benefit, by preventing the possibility of an alliance with a woman ca
pable of carrying on a correspondence with any .other than her hus
band ; and can you, who enjoy the society of that pattern of female
virtue, feel for this woman any sentiment but contempt ? ...
So far from injuring you, B. is the injured person, if at all. His im
penetrable stupidity has alone shielded him from sensations not the
most enviable, I imagine. Do not suppose from my style that I am
unfeeling, or have too low an estimate of the sex ; on the contrary, I
am the warmest of their admirers. But silly and depraved women,
and stupid, unprincipled men, are both objects of my pity and con
tempt. I wish you to form a just estimate of what is valuable in
female character — then seek out a proper object and marry. Intrigue
will blast your reputation, and, what is more to the purpose, your
peace of mind.; it will be a stumbling-block to you through life. An
acquaintance with loose women has incapacitated you from forming a
proper estimate of female worth 
I must congratulate you on your escape, and on your resolution to
behold no more the fascinating object which has caused you so
much uneasiness. I shall shortly have the pleasure of embracing
you. " P. S. My servant (Johnny ?) has been packing up some effects,
which I am about sending to Petersburg by water, and at every
three words I have had a query to solve. This will account for my
incoherence. " P. S. (Characteristic, two postscripts.) I have been so hurried,
as perhaps to betray myself into an inaccuracy of expression. But
let me suggest two ideas to you. Has not your conduct been such
as to injure a woman for whom you have felt and professed a re
gard ? is it a liberal or disinterested passion (passion is never liberal
or disinterested), which risks the reputation of the beloved object?
Has not her conduct in admitting your attentions rendered her un
worthy of any man but her present possessor ? View this matter in
its proper light and you will never think more of her  Suo-
cess attend your study of law."
About the middle of May, Essex was dispatched with Jacobin
and other horses, to meet his young master at the Boiling-green. He
took along with him the following letter from William Thompson :
" What are my emotions, dearest brother, at seeing your horse

174. LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
thus far on his way to return you among us ! How eagerly do I
await the appointed day ! Ryland (Randolph) has returned (some
unsuccessful adventure), and another of the children of misfortune
will seek refuge and consolation under this hospitable roof. He
has promised me by letter to be with us in a day or two, — what plea
sure do I anticipate in the society of our incomparable sister, in
yours, in Ryland's ! I wish I had the vanity to suppose I was
worthy of it.
" We have been visited by the young ladies of Liberty Neck, and
by its mentor, Major Scott. I had rather have his wisdom than New
ton's or Locke's ; for depend on it, he has dipped deep in the science
of mind. According to the laws of gallantry, I should have escorted
them to Amelia ; but I am not fitted for society, and the continued
round of company in the Neck is painful instead of pleasing.
" Our sister is now asleep ; she would have written but for her
being busy in finishing the children's clothes, and being obliged to
write to Mrs. Harrison. When I came in last evening, I found her
in the passage, a candle on the chair, sewing. I could hardly help
exclaiming, what a pattern for her sex. The boys are well ; they
have both grown — the Saint particularly, whose activity will astonish
you. Every body is cheerful — your arrival in anticipation is the
cause. Farewell, dearest brother — hasten to join us.
" W. Thompson.
" Take care how you ride Jacobin, and if not for your own, at
least for our sakes, run no risks by putting him in a carriage — we
all dread the attempt."
He returned safely, to the joy of more people (ladies too ?) than
those at Bizarre. This delightful society was now complete ; books,
high discourse on philosophy, morals, government, the destiny of
man — intermingled with the charming conversation and the music
of elegant and accomplished women — exercise on the high-mettled
steed, and frequent visits and dining parties at neighbors' houses,
whose warm reception, bountiful hospitality, and unostentatious re
finement of manner (universal with the gentlemen of the olden time),
made the guest perfectly at home, and at ease in heart and in be
havior. Such was the Old Dominion, half-a-century ago, such is she
now in some degree ; but, alas ! the difference !

IDOL-WORSHIP. 175
But poor Thompson, the hapless child of misfortune, was not
long permitted to enjoy the sweets of this paradise. Some wicked
and envious Mephistophiles looked in with his jealous eyes on the
happy beings that composed it ; and sought to blast it with his ma
licious tongue. It was rumored that Thompson staid at Bizarre
for a selfish purpose ; that, besides the convenience of the thing in
his condition, his object was to win the affection of its fair mistress
What if it were true ? But this base world will allow nothing but
a base motive for the most generous action. The insinuation was
enough for the high-minded Thompson. He immediately left Bi
zarre, and wrote the following letter : — " The letter which I have
transmitted by the same opportunity to that most amiable of women
our sister, communicates intelligence of a report, the effects of which
on my mind you will be fully aware of, from a former conversation
on the subject. Would you suppose, my dearest brother, that the
world would have dared to insinuate, that my object in remaining at
Bizarre is to solicit the affections of our friend ! Time, and the ap
prehension that I shall be intruded on, compel me to conciseness.
My abode will be Ryland's until I receive letters from you both.
View the subject with impartiality — enter into my feelings, for you
know my heart — tell me with candor whether I am not bound to
leave the abode of innocence and friendship ? Tell me whether re
fined friendship does not demand on my part a sacrifice of every
prospect of happiness, to the amiable, to the benevolent and virtuous
woman who is wronged from her generous sympathy to the hapless."
A most delicate task this imposed on a friend — particularly one
holding the relation of Mr. Randolph to the lady in question. But
see how nobly, how manfully he discharged the duty : " For the first
time I perceive myself embarrassed how to comply with the requisition
of friendship. But yesterday, and I should have been unable to com
prehend the speculative possibility of that which to-day is reduced to
practice. If I decline the task which you have allotted me, it is
not because I am disposed to shrink from the sacred obligations
which I owe to you. My silence is not the effect of unfeeling indif
ference, of timid indecision, or cautious reserve. It is the result of
the firmest conviction that it is not for me to advise you in the present
crisis. It is a task to which I am indeed unequal. Consult your
own heart, it is alone capable of advising you. The truly fraternal

176 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
regard which you feel for our most amiable sister, does not require
to be' admonished of the respect which is due to her feelings. You
alone are a competent judge of that conduct which is best calculated not
to wound her delicacy ; and it is that alone which you are capable of
pursuing. Whatever may be your determination, you will not be
the less dear to me. That spirit of impertinent malice, which man
kind seem determined to cherish at the expense of all that should
constitute their enjoyment, may, indeed, intrude upon our arrange
ments and deprive me of your society ; but it can never rob me of the
pure attachment which I have conceived for you, and which can
never cease to animate me. I hold this portion of good, at least, in
contempt of an unfeeling and calumnious world — invulnerable to
every shaft, it derides their impotent malice.
" Let me suggest to you to pursue that line of conduct which you
shall be disposed to adopt, as if it were the result of your previous
determination. Prosecute, therefore, your intended journey, and do
not permit malicious curiosity to enjoy the wretched satisfaction of
supposing that it has the power of influencing your actions.
" I have perceived, with extreme pleasure, that your mind has for
some time been rapidly regaining its pristine energy. Keep it,
therefore, I beseech you, my friend, in constant exercise. Get up
some object of pursuit. Make to yourself an image, and, in defiance
of the decalogue, worship it. Whether it be excellence in medicine or
law, or political eminence, determine not to relax your endeavors
until you have attained it. You must not suffer your mind, whose
activity must be employed, to prey upon itself. The greatest bless
ing which falls to the lot of man is thus converted into the deadliest
curse. I need not admonish you to keep up the intercourse which
subsists between us, and which nothing shall compel me to relin
quish. " I trust that I shall hear from you in the space of a week at
farthest. Meanwhile rest assured of the undiminished affection of
the firmest of your friends."
Poor Thompson ! why could he not follow the advice so delicately
given — pursue the line of conduct he had previously determined on —
which was, doubtless, to stay at Bizarre — prosecute his journey, and
then come back, without regard to the malicious surmises of a wicked
world ? He did not sacrifice his happiness to that amiable, benevo-

LOVE MATTERS. 177
lent and virtuous woman, as he supposed ; she did not need it or
require it — but to malicious curiosity. He had not strength of
mind to resist the vague impression of the world's censure ; and
suffered the spirit of impertinent malice to enjoy the wretched satis
faction of supposing that it had the power of influencing his actions.
He never came back to Bizarre as a home again — soon fell into
his old habits — wandered over Canada a-foot, seeking rest but
finding none — a wandering spirit that rapidly glided into irregular
courses ; the world, erewhile so bright and smooth, had suddenly
become dark and slippery to him ; ne'er again could he find rest for
the sole of his foot ; — turned out from that paradise, a world of
turbid waters was all his wearied eye could light upon. What fur
ther befell him shall be made known to the reader in the sequel.

CHAPTER XXV.
THE COURSE OP TRUE LOVE NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH.
The reader is already aware that John Randolph was the centre
of a very extensive correspondence with some of the first young men
of the country — among others, Joseph Bryan, of Georgia. In the
month of January, last winter (1800), Bryan informed him that he
was about to embark soon for England, and wished his friend to pro
cure certificates of citizenship for himself and companion from Mr.
Jefferson ; and promised in his next to give the reason for quitting
his native country — which accordingly he did in the following words :
" I have in that time, my friend (since this time twelve months), been
on the verge of becoming a member of the fraternity of Benedicts, as
you humorously style married men. In short, I paid my addresses to
an accomplished young woman, of both family and fortune, in Caro
lina — quarrelled with my father and mother because I would not re
linquish the pursuit— followed her with every prospect of the de
sired success for eighteen months — went to her abode last Christ
mas, with the comfortable idea of marrying her on the commence
ment of the new year — and was discarded by her parents because
VOL. I. 8*

178 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
mine would not consent to the match. There were one or two other
trifling objections, such as — I was a  , a man of no religion —
a Georgian ; and would take their child where they might never see
her face again, &c. All this you may think apocryphal — 'tis true,
upon my word. Yef ' my heart does not bleed at every pore from
the bitterest of recollections ;' to be sure I was in a hell of a taking
for two or three days. But I found that keeping myself employed,
made it wear off to a miracle. So much for my love affairs. You
may perhaps be a little surprised at my going to England ; 'twas a
sudden resolution, I must confess ; I'll tell you how it happened.
While I was laboring under the horrors of my dismission, I swore,
to my little grisette, in order to melt her, that if she would not quit
father and mother and run away with me, I would go off immedi
ately and fight the Russians ! She would not do that, so I am
obliged by a point of honor to make the attempt, at least.
" If, after my arrival in England, I can conveniently get to
France, I shall go there ; if not, I shall spend the money I carry
with me, and come home again.
'' I don't know whether 'twill be proper to apply to Mr. Jeffer
son for the certificate I wrote to you for — my reasons were these :
I knew that he was better known and better liked in France than
any distinguished person in our country, therefore, a certificate
from him would do me more service than from any other ; besides, I
don't like any of the Adamites well enough to receive a favor of
that kind from their hands.
" I expect to sail from Savannah about the 20th instant (Febru
ary, 1800) ; as soon as I arrive you will hear from me. One of my
principal reasons for going to Europe, is to improve my health,
which is very indifferent at this time."
So then it was your own pleasure and convenience at last, and
not the sting of disappointed love, that drove you away to France !
The girls are very much deceived when they flatter themselves that
men generally will do rash things for their sweet sakes ; they may
be in a hell of a taking for a time, but the fever soon wears off.
Men are no better treated. This girl, in his absence, while he was
fighting for liberty under the banners of France, did the very thing
she refused to do with him — ran away and got married against the
will of her parents.

LOVE MATTERS. 179
But the answer to the first letter, and in anticipation of the one
above : " Your letter of the 7th of last month was this moment put
into my hands. Need I say that it distresses me beyond measure 1
Ah, my friend, it is then too true ! My suspicions were but too well
grounded ! The eagle-eye of friendship finds no difficulty in pierc
ing the veil which shrouds you ; which, until now, I did not dare to
lift. You have related nothing, yet I know every thing. This omis
sion, for which you promise to atone in another letter, is but too well
supplied by conjectures which cannot, I fear, deceive me.
" Bryan, my friend, you are about to render yourself, me, all
who ,are interested in your happiness, wretched, perhaps, for ever.
These are more numerous than you are at present willing to allow.
At one stroke you are about to sever all those ties which bind you
to the soil which gave you birth, to the tender connections of your
childhood, to the most constant of friends — relations which give to
existence its only value. Your sickly taste loathes that domestic
happiness which is yet in store for you — perhaps you deny that it
can have, for yourself, any existence ; you prefer to it, trash of for
eign growth. You seek in vain, my friend, to fly from misery. It
will accompany you — it will rankle in that heart in whose cruel
wounds it rejoices to dwell. It is of no country, but yourself, and
time alone can soothe its rage.
" Among the dangers you are about to encounter, I will not enu
merate those of a personal nature ; not because they are in them
selves contemptible, however they may be despised by yourself, but
because in comparison to the gigantic mischiefs which you are about
to court, they are indeed insignificant. I mean in respect to your
self — to your friends . they are but too formidable. Recall then, I
beseech you, your rash determination — pause, at least, upon the rash
step which you meditate ! It is, however, the privilege of friend
ship only to advise. The certificates which you require, I will en
deavor to procure time enough to accompany this letter. This is
Saturday, and after the hour of doing business at the offices ; and to
be valid they must issue from that of the Secretary of State. Be
not impatient, they shall be forwarded by Tuesday's mail, in any
event ; letters from Jefferson to some of his European friends shall
follow them."
Thus we find this young man, not yet twenty-seven years of ago,

180 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the grave Mentor to his young friends. They confide to his friend
ship, constant and pure, all their cares and troubles, and confidently
expect in return his sympathy, his advice, and the practical les
sons of a sage wisdom. But was he without care? Had he no
troubles of his own to perplex his bosom ? Had this young Men
tor so soon fought the battle of life, and gained the victory? Was
his heart serene and lifted above the storm of passion that raged
around him ? I, too, am wretched ! " To the procuring and trans
mitting," continues he, " of these certificates of birth and citizenship,
I annex a condition of which I will not brook the refusal — a compli
ance is due to that attachment which has so long subsisted between
us ; it is an exertion certainly not too great to je yielded to a friend
ship, whose constancy has been rarely equalled, but never surpassed.
Listen, therefore :
" I, too, am wretched ; misery is not your exclusive charter. I
have for some months meditated a temporary relinquishment of my
country. The execution of this scheme has no connection with
yours. The motives which produced it originated in events which
happened before I took my seat in Congress, although I was then
ignorant of their existence ; they were, indeed, prior to my election to
an office, of which nothing but a high sense of the obligations of pub
lic duty has prevented the resignation. A second election could not,
in that event, have been practicable, until. the present session was
somewhat advanced. I determined, therefore, not to relinquish my
seat until its expiration; then to resign it, and bid adieu to my
native shores for a few years, at least. In this determination I still
remain. If, therefore, you refuse to rescind your hasty resolution,
I desire permission to be the companion of your voyage — to partake
your sorrows and to share with you my own — to be the friend of him
who is to accompany you, because he is yours. Yet, believe me, Joe,
and it is unnecessary to declare by what motives I am influenced to
the assertion, that I shall be glad to hear that I am to prosecute my
voyage alone — to be informed that you have receded from a project
which has not, like my own, been the fruit of deliberate resolve. I
had, indeed, hoped that the relation of your own domestic enjoyment
would have beguiled many a sad hour of my life. But, pardon me,
my dear fellow, I see my indiscretion. It shall not be repeated.
If, then, you persist in carrying into execution your plan, take a

LOVE MATTERS. 181
passage with your friend for New- York, or the Delaware, it is open ;
meet me here about the middle of March — we rise in April — there is
a resolution laid upon our table to adjourn on the first of the month ;
it will certainly be carried ; they even talk of substituting ' March.'
We will then embark together for any part of the other continent
that you may prefer ; I am indifferent about places. But if I go alone,
I shall take shipping for some English port, London or Liverpool. I
wish I could join you in Savannah ; but it would be extremely incon
venient. I fear the climate ; a passage would be more ur certain too
from thence, and the accommodations perhaps not so good. Yet I will
even meet you there, or in Charleston, in case you are resolved to
leave America, if I can have your company on no other terms.
Write immediately and solve this business. I repeat, that it will be
very inconvenient to take my passage from a southern port ; it will
likewise occasion delay. I shall have a voyage to make thither, and
then to wait the sailing of a vessel ; whereas, if you meet me here, I
can fix myself for any ship bound to Europe about the time of the
rising of Congress ; and in the great ports of New-York, Philadel
phia, or Baltimore, we cannot fail to procure a speedy embarkation,
and agreeable berths. Again I entreat you to write to me immediately
upon the receipt of this : in expectation of the answer, I shall remain
under no common anxiety until its arrival. Meantime, remember,
my friend, that there is one person, at least, and he an unshaken
friend, who is not insensible to your worth. Farewell, dear Joseph.
" P. S. I had like to have omitted enjoining you to preserve invio
lable secrecy with respect to my designs. The reason I will detail
to you at meeting. It is unnecessary to say that they are not such
as I should be ashamed to avow ; yet I do not wish it to be known
that I am about to leave the country until a week or ten days before
my departure, Adieu !"
Bryan did not receive this letter before his embarkation. Had
it come to hand in time, there can be no question that he would have
gladly accepted the offer of his friend, and gone to Philadelphia and
awaited the adjournment of Congress, that they might have the plea
sure of a voyage together.
But it is certain Randolph did not go abroad at that time. Had
his friend arrived in Philadelphia, in obedience to his wishes, he
would unquestionably have strained a point, and, at all hazards, ful-

182 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
filled an engagement he had so solemnly made. In that case, the
events of history would have been changed. But he did not go ; the
reason why is unknown to us. It may have been pecuniary embarrass
ment. He was paying large instalments of the British debt about that
time to Mr. Wickham. In 1824, writing to a friend from Paris, he says :
'' Here, then, am I, where I ought to have been thirty years ago, and
where I would have been, had I not been plundered and oppressed."
But he did not escape from his sorrows at that time by flying
across the sea. He staid at home to brood over them, I, too, am.
wretched. " My character" (says he in a letter to a friend about this time
August, 1800), "like many other sublunary things, hath lately un
dergone an almost total revolution." It seems that he had some spe
cial sorrow that weighed upon his heart, the cause of which originated
before his election in April, 1799, but was unknown to him for some
months afterwards. That it was of the same nature with that which
drove one friend across the Atlantic and the other to Canada — that
it was the malady of love which brought him into trouble, and that
oppressed his soul, cannot be questioned.
Soon after he took his seat in Congress Thompson wrote to him,
detailing the circumstances of a report which had been fabricated
and secretly circulated to his injury, tracing it to its source, and
proving it to be an idle tale without foundation, and confined to the
knowledge of a few only. He then continues : " Repose on thy
pillow and heed not the shafts that are thrown against you. The
world has not injured me, and it has not despised you. Mrs.
M. assured me that in your honor she placed the most implicit
confidence. When you communicate with M  a, as probably
you have already done, she will declare herself unaffected by this
tale, which has disturbed your peace. I have spoken with candor,
but I have spoken with truth. Demand the author, and if he be
given up, you will find it a child. The time of telling it, the month
of August. " Alas, my brother, what are not you destined to suffer ! What
tremendous trials of fortitude have you not undergone ! In the
enthusiasm of friendship I look forward to your happiness, and
each day brings to life some new pang which is unfeelingly in
flicted. Let not this affair make too deep an impression on your

LOVE MATTERS. 183
mind — command my services if they be required ; for be assured
that the mind which personifies irregularity and want of system
in the affairs of the world, is nerved to act with dauntless energy
in the cause of my brother. Prudence, caution, all the requisites
of successful friendship, are at the command of him, who in the
walk of life is eccentric and unsteady."
About the time of the correspondence with Bryan, and his
determination to go abroad, Thompson again writes : — " I have
mingled with society; I have purposely spoken of you and Miss
W  d to ascertain precisely the public opinion ; and I can
repeat with joy, that my brother has not been wronged by the
world. As to the idle suggestions of babbling men and women,
shall they be heaped together and transformed into most serious
charges, that even your confidence of yourself may be shaken if
possible, and thus your peace of mind be for ever blasted ? Enough
on this subject. I have violated my common rule of conduct by
being aggressor on the topic."
On another occasion he says : — " In our lives, my brother, we
have seen two fine women (Mrs. Judith Randolph and Miss M  a
W — d) ; never extend your list ; never trust your eyes, or your ears,
for they stand alone." And in his voluntary banishment from the
asylum of the wretched and unfortunate, when he deeply felt his
bereavement and forlorn condition, he thus writes : " M  a, the ami
able, the good M  a, has honored me with a short letter ; such
tokens of esteem, such evidences of generous pity, for a man cast on
the wide world unfriended and unprotected, create a gratitude not
to be expressed. It is not until we are humiliated by misfortune that
we feel these things, for in the height of worldly prosperity the wish
and the pursuit go hand in hand, and successive gratifications blunt
the sensibilities of our nature. Whilst we rejoice in a mortality as
the termination of lives mutually painful, in which we have been
called on to exercise a fortitude sufficient to overwhelm minds less
noble and less firm, in which every fair prospect has been blighted,
every brilliant expectation thwarted, and every tender emotion hate
fully disappointed, let us linger out a remnant which cannot be long,
mutually cherishing and supporting each other on the tedious road.
My dear friend, let us not leave each other behind ; for, alas ! how
sterile and how barren would creation then be ! United, we are

184 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
strong, but unsupported we could not stand against the increasing
pressure of misfortune. Often do I exclaim, Would that you and I
were cast on some desert island, there to live out the remainder of
our days unpolluted by the communication with man. Separated
from each other, our lips are sealed, for the expression of sentiments
which exult and ennoble humanity. Even in the support of virtue,
the cautious language of vice must be adopted ; even in the defence
of truth we must descend to the artifice of error."
Here, reader, we let drop the curtain. Its thick folds of half a
century are impervious to the light of mortal "iyes ; ask not a loox
beyond the mysterious veil. There are secrets we trust not to a
friend, that we betray not to ourselves, and which none but the im
pious curiosity of a heartless world would ever dare to penetrate.
Let the gross impulses, the base considerations of worldly gain, that
constitute the ground and the motive of most human associations,
suffice as fit subjects for your cold observation, your ridicule and con
tempt ; but hold sacred, or look with awe, on that deep self-sacrificing
passion, which, springing from the soul of man, is all-embracing in
its love, fathomless, infinite, and divine. Enough to know, that in
the bosom of this man there glowed the fires of such a love, that con
tinued to burn through life, and were only extinguished amid the
crumbling ruins of the altar by the damp dews that gathered over
them in the dark valley and the shadow of death. He hath said :
" One I loved better than my own soul, or him that created it."
" My apathy is not natural, but superinduced. There was a volcano
under my ice, but it is burnt out, and a face of desolation has come
on, not to be rectified in ages, could my life be prolonged to a patri
archal longevity. The necessity of loving and being beloved was
never felt by the imaginary beings of Rousseau and Byron's cre
ation more imperiously than by myself. My heart was offered up
with a devotion that knew no reserve. Long an object of proscrip
tion and treachery, I have at last (more mortifying to the pride of
man) become one of utter indifference."
To you, reader, he is far from being an object of indifference, and
we trust that before the end of these volumes he will be drawn to
your heart by the cords of affection, and that his memory will ever
hereafter awaken in your bosom those noblest emotions of sympathy
and veneration.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 185

CHAPTER XXVI.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1800-1- — MIDNIGHT JUDGES.
The reader is already aware of the intense political excitement
raging through the country at this time. The civil wars, and violent
upturning of the whole social system in Europe, spread the contagion
of their influence across the Atlantic. The efforts of the belligerent
powers to draw the United States into the war, and the anxiety of
leading politicians here at home to cast on their political adversaries
the odium of their foreign associations — Anglo-mania and Gallo-ma-
nia — threw into the contest a bitterness and violence little short of
actual civil commotion. The excited political campaign in the spring
of 1799, was but a prelude to the more violent presidential election
that was to take place in the autumn of 1800. The fate of the Re
public depended on that election. Had the federalists succeeded,
there can be no doubt that a degradation of the States and a concen
tration of all power in a splendid central empire, would have been
the final result. Happily for the cause of human freedom, the elec
tion terminated in the triumph of the republican cause.
Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr being the candidates of the
republicans, got seventy-three votes, John Adams sixty-five votes,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney sixty-four votes, and John Jay one
vote. But a difficulty grew out of this result that could not have
been anticipated. The Constitution, by an amendment made in con
sequence of this difficulty, now requires the electors to designate the
person they vote for as president, and the person they vote for as
vice-president ; but at that time there was no means of discrimina
tion ; they voted for two persons, and the one getting the highest
number of votes was declared to be elected president, and the person
getting the next highest number of votes was declared to be elected
vice-president. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Burr had an equal number
of votes ; neither of them could be declared as being elected presi
dent ; and the question had to be decided by the House of Repre
sentatives voting by States. So soon as this state of things was
known, a high degree of uneasiness and alarm was excited in the

186 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
minds of the republicans, lest the will of the people might be frus
trated by intrigue and corruption. Mr. Jefferson charged the fed
eralists with a design of preventing an election altogether. In a
letter to Mr. Madison he says : " The federalists appear determined
to prevent an election, and to pass a bill giving the government to
Mr. Jay, reappointed chief justice, or to Marshall, as secretary of
state." This would have been an act of revolution ; and some of the
more violent and unprincipled may have carried their designs thus
far ; but there can be no question that the aim of the party was to
defeat Mr. Jefferson and to elect Burr. This was carrying their op
position to the will of the people very far. Aaron Burr never was
thought of for president ; not a single vote was cast for him with
that view, and the mere accident of his having the same number of
votes with the favorite of the people, brought his name into the
House of Representatives; and yet the federalists determined to
take advantage of this circumstance, and to elevate him to the pres
idency, in spite of the popular will. They justified themselves on
the ground that the public will could only be expressed to them
through the constitutional organs. There were two candidates, they
said, for the office of president, who were presented to the House of
Representatives with equal suffrages. The Constitution gave them
the right, and made it their duty, to elect that one of the two whom
they thought preferable. Neither of them was the man of their
choice, but the Constitution confined their election to one of the two,
and they gave their vote to the one they thought the greater and
the better man. That vote they repeated, and in that vote they de
clared their determination to persist, had they not been driven from
it by imperious necessity. The prospect ceased of the vote being
effectual, and the alternative only remained of taking one man for
president, or having no president at all. They chose, as they though^
the lesser evil. The republicans, on the other hand, condemned
their course as factious and revolutionary ; and, had they succeeded
in electing Burr to the presidency, in all probability he would have
been driven from his seat at the point of the bayonet. From all
quarters the sound came up, " We will obey no other president but
Mr. Jefferson." There are many interesting facts and important
lessons connected with this election that come within the province of
the general historian, but which we must pass over as inappropriate

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 187
to this Biography. The part that John Randolph took in these af
fairs was that of a silent voter and watchful observer. He dispatched
daily bulletins to his father-in-law, giving the result of each balloting
as it took place. After the nineteenth ballot he writes : " No elec
tion will, in my opinion, take place." But on the 17th of February
he writes : " On the thirty-sixth ballot there appeared, this day, ten
States for Thomas Jefferson ; four (New England) for A. Burr, and
two blank ballots (Delaware and South Carolina). This was the
second time that we balloted to-day. The four Burrites of Mary
land put blanks into the box of that State ; the vote was, therefore,
unanimous. Mr. Morris, of Vermont, left his seat, and the result
was, therefore, Jeffersonian. I need not add that Mr. J. was de
clared duly elected."
Mr. Randolph attributed this result to the patriotism of Alexan
der Hamilton. That gentleman was the influential and popular
leader of the federal party, and when he saw the extremity to which
things were likely to be driven by a longer persistence in their course,
he advised his friends, rather than to produce a revolution in the
government, or excite popular commotion, to give way and suffer Mr.
Jefferson to be elected. Mr. Randolph often expressed the opinion,
in after life, that we owed the safety of the Republic to Hamilton,
and that his course on that trying occasion had elevated him very
much in his estimation.
The federalists perpetrated another act during the session that
excited a great deal of indignation. They so altered and enlarged
the judiciary system as to require the appointment of a great many
new judges. It was urged as an objection to the bill, that it
was made by a party at the moment when they were sensible that
their power was expiring and passing into other hands. They re
plied it was enough for them that the full and legitimate power ex
isted. The remnant left them (the bill passed 15th February, 1801)
was plenary and efficient — and it was their duty to employ it accord
ing to their judgments and consciences for the good of the country.
They thought the Taill a salutary measure, and there was no obligation
upon them to leave it as a work for'their successors. They had no hesi
tation in avowing that they had no confidence in the persons who were
to follow them, and were, therefore, the more anxious to accomplish
a work which they believed would contribute to the safety and sta-

188 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
bility of the government. It was further urged as an objection to
the bill, that it was merely designed to create sinecures and retreats
for broken-down political hacks — and to erect battlements and for
tresses in which the discomfited leaders of federalism might rally
their scattered forces for another contest. Mr. Jefferson said of this
measure, " I dread this above all the measures meditated, because
appointments in the nature of freehold render it difficult to undo
what is done." Yet the next Congress did not hesitate to undo what
was done. The first regular speech made by Mr. Randolph was on
the proposition to repeal this law. It was in answer to Mr. Bayard,
the leader and the ablest champion on the opposite side. This speech
was published, many years ago, in a collection intended to be speci
mens of American eloquence ; and notwithstanding he was so
young a man, it will bear a comparison, in point of style and argu
ment, with the very best that were delivered at that day. In justi
fying a repeal of the law, and thereby displacing judges, who by the
Constitution hold their appointments during good behavior, Mr. Ran
dolph argued — " I agree that the Constitution is a limited grant of
power, and that none of its general phrases are to be construed into
an extension of that grant, I am free to declare, that if the extent
of this bill is to get rid of the judges, it is a perversion of your power*
to a base purpose ; it is an unconstitutional act. If, on the contrary,
it aims not at the displacing one set of men from whom you differ in
political opinion, with a view to introduce others, but for the general
good, by abolishing useless offices, it is a constitutional act. The
quo animo determines the nature of this act, as it determines the in
nocence or guilt of other acts. But we are told that this is to de
clare the judiciary, which the Constitution has attempted to fortify
against the other branches of government, dependent on the will of
the legislature, whose discretion alone is to limit their encroachments.
Whilst I contend that the legislature possesses this discretion, I am
sensible of the delicacy with which it is to be used. It is like the
power of impeachment, or the declaring of war, to be exercised un
der a high responsibility. But the power is denied — for, say they,
its exercise will enable flagitious men to overturn the judiciary, in
order to put their creatures into office, and to wreak their vengeance
on those who have become obnoxious by their merit ; and yet the
gentleman expressly says, that arguments drawn from a supposition

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 189
of extreme political depravity prove nothing ; that every government
presupposes a certain degree of honesty in its rulers, and that to
argue from extreme cases is totally inadmissible. Nevertheless, the
whole of his argument is founded on the supposition of a total want
of principle in the legislature and executive."
While speaking on the subject of the judiciary in the Virginia
Convention, nearly thirty years after this transaction, Mr. Randolph
thus alludes to it : " At the very commencement of my public life,
or nearly so, I was called to give a decision on the construction of
that clause in the Federal Constitution which relates io the tenure
of the judicial office ; and I am happy to find that, after the lapse of
thirty years, I remain precisely of the same opinion that I then held."
If a law should be passed bona fide, for the abolition of a court
which was a nuisance, and ought to be abolished, he considered such
a law as no infringement of judicial independence ; but, if the law
was enacted mala fide, and abolished a useful court, for the purpose
of getting rid of the judge who presided in it, such a law was undoubt
edly a violation of that independence ; just as the killing of a man
might be murder or not, according to the intention, the quo animo
with which it was done. He said that it could not be necessary to
recount to the gentleman who occupied the chair (Mr. Barbour) the
history of the decision which was given in Congress, as to the true
intent and meaning of this part of the Federal Constitution. Par
ties had never run higher than at the close of the administration of
the elder Adams, and the commencement of that of Mr. Jefferson.
After efforts the most unparalleled, Mr. Adams was ejected from
power, and the downfall of the party attached to him was near at
hand. After this decision by the American people, when they were
compelled to perceive that the kingdom was passing from them, in
the last agonies and throes of dissolution, they cast about them to
* make some provision for the broken-down hacks of the party ; and at
midnight, and after midnight, on the last day of Mr. Adams's ad
ministration, a batch of judges was created, and bequeathed as a
legacy to those who followed.
The succeeding party on coming into power, found that they must
consult the construction of the Constitution, to prevent the recur
rence of such a practice ; because, if the construction should be al
lowed under which this had been done, it would enable every politi-

190 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
cal party, having three months notice of their departure from the
helm of affairs, to provide for themselves and their adherents, by get
ting up a judiciary system, which would be irrevocable ; a city of re
fuge where they would be safe from all approach of danger. To
avoid such a result it became necessary to abolish the system, which
was then believed to be injurious, and which experience has proved
to be unnecessary. Mr. Randolph said, that he was one of those
who voted for the decision which declared that the court might bo
abolished bona fide, and that the office of the judge should cease
with it.
Shortly after these midnight appointments, Mr. Adams left the
city, under the cover of darkness, that he might not witness, the next
day, the inauguration of his successful rival. Many of his friends
were deeply mortified at this undignified and unmanly retreat.
On reaching an inn beyond Baltimore, 'tis said (we speak on the
authority of Mr. Randolph) that Mr. Adams, walking up to a por
trait of Washington, and placing his finger on his lips, exclaimed, " If
I had kept my lips as close as that man, I should now be the Presi
dent of the United States."
It is very true, Mr. Adams had no judgment, no discretion. He
possessed a brilliant imagination, a bold and an ardent temper,
that made him the impassioned and powerful orator of the Revolu
tion ; but he could lay claim to few of those faculties that fit a man
to conduct wisely and prudently the affairs of a great republic.

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. — CHAIRMAN OF THE
COMMITTEE OF WAYS AND MEANS. — THE WORKING PE
RIOD. — THE YAZOO BUSINESS.
At the opening of the first Congress under the new administration,
in December, 1801, Mr. Randolph had the satisfaction of seeing his
friend, Nathaniel Macon, elected Speaker of the House of Represen
tatives. Mr. Randolph was placed at the head of the Committee of

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 191
Ways and Means. Some notion may be formed of the duties of this
committee from the resolution calling for its appointment.
" Resolved, That a Standing Committee of Ways and Means be ap
pointed, whose duty it shall be to take into consideration all such reports
of the Treasury Department, and all such propositions relative to the
revenue, as may be referred to them by the House ; to inquire into
the state of the public debt, of the revenue, and of the expenditures ;
and to report, from time to time, their opinion thereon."
The duties of this committee, as we may perceive, embraced a
wide field of inquiry. The new administration had pledged itself to
the people to place the " ship of state on its republican tack," and to
furnish a model of a simple and economical government. All unne
cessary offices and useless expenditures were to be abolished, the
army and navy reduced, and the national debt was to be redeemed. All
the necessary inquiries, investigations, reports, and bills, touching
these important subjects, had to emanate from the Committee of
Ways and Means. The chairman of that committee had to be
brought in daily official communication with the executive depart
ments ; his relation towards them was of a most confidential charac
ter ; and he was regarded as the leader of the friends of the admin
istration in the representative department.
Mr. Randolph and the President were intimate friends; they
were on terms of unreserved intercourse — personally and politically
they cordially agreed, and heartily co-operated in accomplishing the
great ends of the administration. In accordance with the recommen
dation of the President, Mr. Randolph introduced a proposition,
" that a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and what
alterations can be made in the judiciary department of the United
States, and to provide for securing the impartial selection of juries
in the courts of the United States ;" and also another resolution, to
inquire what reductions could be made in the civil government of the
United States. They were referred to a select committee, of which
he was chairman. On the 4th of February, he reported a bill to re
peal the laws of the last session with respect to the judiciary, and
after undergoing considerable discussion in committee of the whole,
it was finally passed by the House on the 3d March, 1802, by a large
majority. Mr. Randolph's speech on this subject we have already
alluded to in the preceding chapter. On the 20th January he in-

192 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
troduced a resolution, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to lay
before the House a list of the exports to the Mediterranean, distin
guishing those of the growth of the United States. He also took
part in the debate on the apportionment under the census of 1800.
Mr. Randolph took a lively interest in this subject, and long foresaw
the effect each succeeding census would have on the political power
of his native State. He introduced on the 9th of June, a resolution
to reduce the military establishment. Having been appointed chair
man of the select committee to see what could be done to expedite
the public printing, he reported a resolution to appoint a public
printer ; and to his exertions may be justly attributed an economical
improvement in the printing of the House.
But one of the most important subjects to which Mr. Randolph
turned his attention was the public debt. On the 9th of April, 1802,
he reported a bill making provision for the redemption of the public
debt of the United States. It provided that so much of the duties
on merchandise and tonnage, &c, as will amount to an annual sum
of seven millions three hundred thousand dollars, be yearly appro
priated as a sinking fund ; and said sums were declared to be vested
in Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, to be applied by them to the
payment of interest and charges, and to the redemption of the prin
cipal of the public debt. After this appropriation he kept a watch
ful eye on its faithful disbursement. The subject was frequently
before the Committee of Ways and Means, and the conduct and
management of the commissioners minutely criticised.
The chief subject that attracted the attention of Congress during
the next session, which began in December, 1802, was the navigation
of the Mississippi and the cession of Louisiana to France. In the
preceding October, the Governor of New Orleans, Don Morales, had
issued a proclamation, excluding that port as a dep6t for our com
merce, a privilege we had a right to enjoy under our treaty with
Spain. This conduct on the part of the Spanish authorities had
created great excitement in the western cquntry. In addition to this,
it was rumored abroad that Louisiana had been transferred to the
dominion of the all-powerful and all-grasping French Republic, now
under the sway of the ambitious Bonaparte. These important facts,
together with the private information he had obtained on the subject,
were deemed by the President as being worthy of a secret and confi-

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 193
dential communication to Congress, which was made the 22d of Decem
ber. Additional information was communicated on the 31st, and on
the 5th of January Mr. Griswold moved that the President be re
quested to lay before the House copies of such official documents as
have been received by the Government, announcing the cession of
Louisiana to France, together with a report explaining the stipula
tions, circumstances, and conditions, under which that province is to
be delivered up. Those private messages, which called forth this
resolution, had, on motion of Mr. Randolph, been referred to a
committee, and had been under consideration in the House with
closed doors. He now moved to refer Mr. Griswold's resolution to a
Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. The motion,
after some discussion, was carried, and the House went into commit
tee. Mr. Randolph observed that he had in his hand certain reso
lutions connected with the message, relative to the late proceedings
at New Orleans, the discussion of which had been ordered to be con
ducted with closed doors. He asked the decision of the question,
whether, previously to offering his resolutions, the doors ought not to
be closed. Much opposition was made .to this motion. Mr. Gris
wold's resolution, it was said, was one for information, and ought to
be discussed with open doors. Mr. Randolph observed, that he had
already more than once stated his objections to discuss this subject
in public. He had observations, which, he had said, must be
made in secret. " The gentleman from Connecticut says he is willing
the resolution should be fully discussed, and therefore concludes that
it must not be referred to a select committee, as he is pleased to term
it, where alone, as we contend, and have informed him, the discussion
can take place. Sir, this may be logic, but it is new to me. A mes
sage from the President relative to New Orleans has been referred
to a certain committee, and we propose to refer the resolution to the
same committee. Gentlemen exclaim that this is denying them in
formation. Does it follow of necessity that we deny the information
because we choose to consider the subject with closed doors ? Cannot
the resolution be as fully discussed in private as in public ? Do all
the reasoning faculties of the House cease to exist the moment the
doors are closed ? Cannot the eloquence of the gentleman be exerted
unless when addressed to the ladies who do us the honor of attend
ing in this hall?" Mr. Randolph's motion prevailed. The House
vol. 1. 9

194 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
was cleared, and he offered, with closed doors, the following resolu
tion, to which he had alluded in debate ; " Resolved — That this House
receive, with great sensibility, the information of a disposition in cer
tain officers of the Spanish Government at New Orleans to obstruct
the navigation of the river Mississippi, as secured to the United States
by the most solemn -stipulations. That, adhering to the humane and
wise policy which ought ever to characterize a free people, and by
which the United States have always professed to be governed, wil
ling, at the same time, to ascriSe this breach of compact to the unau
thorized misconduct of certain individuals, rathei than to a want of
good faith on the part of his Catholic Majesty, and relying with per
fect confidence on the vigilance and wisdom of the Executive, they
will wait the issue of such measures as that department of the Govern
ment shall have pursued for asserting the rights and vindicating the
injuries of the United States ; holding it to be their duty, at the same
time, to express their unalterable determination to maintain the boun
daries and the rights of navigation and commerce through the river
Mississippi, as established by existing treaties."
One of the measures of the Executive to which Mr. Randolph
alludes, was a pending negotiation for the purchase of Louisiana.
Mr. Livingston, our minister at Paris, had received ample instruc
tions on this subject, and, about this time, Mr. Monroe had been
dispatched as envoy extraordinary, to aid him in the negotiation.
The proposition happened to have been made at a most fortunate
juncture of affairs, when Bonaparte was preparing for a war with
England. He wished to keep on good terms with the United States —
feared that the British navy might wrest his newly acquired province
from him during the coming war, and was much in need of money-
These considerations induced him to listen favorably to the proposi
tion of the United States to purchase Louisiana for a large sum of
money. Mr. Livingston oonducted the business with great ability, and
when Mr. Monroe arrived, he had but little more to do than sign the
articles of the treaty. Bonaparte, in a very short time, repented of
this measure. He saw the great blunder he had committed in part
ing with a country so large, so rich, and so important, in a political
and commercial point of view; and would have availed himself of
any pretext to break the treaty, and take baok the province. The

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 195
President was apprised of all these facts, and warned by our min
isters, that if there should be the slightest delay in the ratification,
and in the provisions to be made by Congress to pay the instal
ments of the purchase, we should lose it altogether. The treaty was
signed at Paris, the 30th of April, 1803. So soon as it reached the
United States, the President, by proclamation, called Congress
on the first Monday in October, to take measures to carry it into
effect. In all his efforts to bring this business to a successful issue, the
President received the hearty co-operation of vhe leader of the House
of Representatives. Mr. Randolph's quick and comprehensive mind
saw, at a glance, the importance of the crisis, and, as chairman of the
Committee of Ways and Means, his aid was most prompt and efficient
in getting over the difficulty. By the 10th of November, a bill had
been passed, and approved by the President, creating certificates of
stock in favor of the French Republic, for the sum of eleven mil
lions two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, bearing an interest of
six per centum per annum, from the time when possession of Louisiana
shall have been obtained, in conformity with the treaty of the thir
tieth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three, between
the United States of America and the French Republic. Possession
was given the 20th of December following ; and all the measures
adopted by Congress in regard to the newly acquired territory, were
either matured by the Committee of Ways and Means, of which Mr.
Randolph was chairman, or by some select committee, appointed at
his instance. Few men did more than he to secure the purchase of
Louisiana, when once made, and then to provide for it a good and
efficient government. Next to the Declaration of Independence, and
the adoption of the present Constitution, the acquisition of Louisiana
has had more influence than any other thing on the destiny of the
" United States.
Mr. Jefferson was a strict constructionist, and held that no pow
ers should be exercised but those specifically granted. The Consti
tution contemplates no territory beyond that in possession of the Con
federacy or of the States at the time of its adoption. The purchase
of foreign territory was a thing not dreamed of by its framers, nor is
there any clause authorizing such a measure. Mr. Jefferson was
fully aware of this ; but he considered that there was such an'imperi-

196 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
ous necessity in this case, requiring such immediate action — now or
never — that he would be justified in making the acquisition, and pro
curing a sanction of it afterwards, by an amendment of the Constitu
tion. " The Constitution has made no provision for our holding
foreign territory," says he, " still less for incorporating foreign nations
into our Union. The Executive, in seizing the fugitive occurrence,
which so much advances the good of their country, have done an act be
yond the Constitution. The legislature, in casting behind them meta
physical subtleties, and risking themselves like faithful servants, must
ratify and pay for it, and throw themselves on their country, for do
ing for them, unauthorized, what we know they would have done for
themselves, had they been in a situation to do it. But we shall not
be disavowed by the nation, and their act of indemnity will con
firm and not weaken the Constitution, by more strongly marking out
its lines." But unfortunately this act of indemnity was never performed —
the amendment of the Constitution was never made. . What was an
exception, justified only by necessity, has now become a precedent ;
and nearly all the difficulties that threaten a dissolution of the
Union, growing out of the slavery question, and the acquisition of
new territory, have been occasioned by that fatal omission. Had the
Constitution been amended, as contemplated, by first sanctioning
that which had been admitted as a violation of it, and then by
defining minutely the powers to be exercised in future by Congress,
the present . embarrassments of the country could never have hap
pened. We see also in this transaction the insufficiency of a paper
constitution to resist the current of the popular will — unless there be
power to restrain power, nothing else can withstand it — the plea of
necessity has been urged by Congress for nearly every unconstitutional
act they have perpetrated.
The next subject of importance to which Mr. Randolph's atten
tion was turned, was the impeachment and trial of Judge Chase.
On Thursday the 5th of January, 1804, he moved that a committee
be appointed to inquire into the official conduct of Samuel Chase,
one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and report their opinion whether the said Samuel Chase had
so acted in his judicial capacity as to require the interposition of the
constitutional power of the House. The committee reported seven

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 197
articles of impeachment drafted by their chairman, and detailing
charges of misconduct on the part of the judge in the trial of John
Fries, for high treason, in levying war against the United States
during the Whisky Insurrection in Pennsylvania ; and also in the
trial of Thomas Cooper and James Callender, for sedition or libel
against the President.
This trial was a very important one, as Judge Chase had been
one of those high-handed federalists, who not only approved the
Alien and Sedition Laws, but had transcended all bounds in his
eagerness to enforce them.
For want of time the subject was postponed to the next session.
On the 30th November, 1804, the articles of impeachment were
again reported, and Mr. Randolph was appointed chief manager to
conduct the trial before the Senate. The proceedings were very
tedious — many witnesses were examined — and many . arguments
during the progress of the examination were delivered on both sides.
Mr. Randolph conducted the cause on the part of the prosecution
with the skill of a practised attorney. He opened the case on the
part of the House, the 14th February, 1805, in a speech of one hour
and a half. Though it is out of the line of his usual forensic efforts,
it will well repay a perusal. As two-thirds of the senators present
were required to concur in sustaining an impeachment, and as only
a majority concurred in sustaining some of the articles, Judge Chase
was acquitted.
There was scarcely any subject of importance before Congress at
this period that did not attract the personal attention of Mr. Ran
dolph. Not content with the laborious duties of the Finance Commit
tee, furnishing work enough for any ordinary mind, we find him on
innumerable select committees, embracing the widest range of investi
gation on all subjects of legislation. Nothing escaped his vigilant
eye — nothing too laborious for him to undertake. These four
years, from the opening of Mr. Jefferson's administration to the 4th
of March, 1805, the close of the eighth Congress, were indeed his
working days. He was abstemious in his habits, unceasing in his
labors, unremitting in his attention to public duties.
No man had ever risen so rapidly, or attained a higher degree of
eminence and influence ; his career was brilliant and successful.
The President in the executive department, and he as the leader of

198 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the legislative, had done all that was expected of them in the great
work of reforming the government, and bringing it back to its original
simplicity. Many years afterwards he recurred to this period with
just pride. "Sir, (said he in a speech on retrenchment, in 1828,) I
have never seen but one administration, which seriously, and in good
faith, was disposed to give up its patronage, and was willing to go
farther than Congress, or even the people themselves, so far as Con
gress represents their feelings, desired — and that was the first
administration of Thomas Jefferson. He, sir, was the only man I
ever knew or heard of, who really, truly, and honestly, not only said
" nolo episcopari," but actually refused the mitre. It was a part of
my duty, and one of the most pleasant parts of public duty .that I
ever performed, under his recommendation — not because he recom
mended it, thank God ! — -to move, in this House, to relieve the public
at once from the whole burden of that system of internal taxation,
the practical effect of which was, whatever might have been its
object, to produce patronage rather than revenue. He, too, had
really at heart, and showed it by his conduct, the reduction of the
national debt ; and that in the only mode by which it can ever be
reduced, by lessening the expenses of the Government till they are
below its receipts." " Never was there an administration," says
he, " more brilliant than that of Mr. Jefferson, up to this period.
We were indeed in the full tide of successful experiment ! Taxes
repealed ; the public debt amply provided for, both principal and
interest; sinecures abolished ; Louisiana acquired; public confidence
unbounded." None deserved more than himself a large portion of that un
bounded public confidence, which attached to the administration —
and he was, indeed, looked to from all quarters as the fearless cham
pion of truth and justice. But no man ever drank of the cup of
life unmingled with bitter waters. The mean and the envious had
grown jealous of his greatness; and were seeking by low and cunning
arts to destroy his influence, and to withdraw from him the confi
dence of the people. It was a trait of his character never to aban
don principle for policy ; never to relinquish a favorite measure how-
' ever hopeless of success : never to quit his books and his study for
idle conversation ; never to permit a vulgar familiarity for the sake
of gaining popularity with those who were to vote on his measures.

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 199
Hence, they began to speak of him as a person possessing proud and
haughty manners ; and as a leader, having failed to harmonize the
republican members of Congress. " Great God !" exclaims Thomp
son, " to think that measures of the highest import to our country
are opposed, because their advocate does not make a bow in the right
way ! This is the fact : I have taken the liberty of asking, what
your manner has to do with your public character — whether there
are laws penal against study, reading, and devotion to the welfare of
your country." But the cause of offence lay not in his reserved and
retiring deportment — his proud and haughty manners — it was found
in that keen sense of injustice and wrong that made him detect base
ness and corruption in their most secret hiding-places, and in that
manly independent spirit that made him fearless in dragging out
the perpetrators into the light of day, and drawing on them the
scorn and indignation of the world. Mr. Randolph was one that
never could tolerate corruption in public men. There were many
of that class — or many that he suspected to be of that class — con
nected with the administration. He was unsparing in his denuncia
tions of them. This was the cause of the growing discontent, and
the desire to throw him off as a leader.
His patriotic endeavors to overturn that colossus of turpitude, the
Yazoo speculation, was the cause of the hostility which soon mani
fested itself against him in the ranks of the administration. Un
fortunately, too many were interested in upholding this gigantic
robbery. The reader has already been made acquainted with its
character ; by a reference to chapter thirteen of this volume, he will
see something of its history. Randolph was in Georgia at the time
of the perpetration of this villany, and participated in the shame
and mortification of his friends at seeing persons, reputed religious
and respectable, effecting a public robbery, by bribing the legisla
tors of the State, and reducing them to the horrors of treachery
and perjury. A more detestable, impudent, and dangerous villany
is not to be found on record. Notwithstanding the notoriety of these
transactions in the State of Georgia — the law was not only pronounc
ed unconstitutional, fraudulent and void, was not only repealed,
but it was burnt by the common hangman, and the record of it
expunged from the statute book — notwithstanding these facts, known
to all men, a company of individuals in other States purchased up

200 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
this fraudulent title and presented their petition to Congress, asking
remuneration for the land, which in the mean time had been trans
ferred by Georgia to the United States.
In the " Articles of Agreement and Cession" between Georgia
and the United States, is a proviso that the United States may dis
pose of, or appropriate a portion of the said lands, not exceeding
five millions of acres, or the proceeds of the five millions of acres, or
any part thereof, for the purpose of satisfying, quieting, or compen
sating for any claims, other than those recognized in the articles of
agreement, which may be made to the said lands. It was under this
provision, that the New England and Mississippi Land Company,
who in the mean time had purchased the spurious title of the origi
nal grantees of a corrupt legislature, petitioned Congress to satisfy
their claim by a fair purchase or commutation. In the session of
1802-3, this subject was first brought to the attention of the legis
lature. Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin, members of the President's
cabinet, and Mr. Levi Lincoln, were appointed commissioners to
investigate this subject. They made an elaborate report, and con
cluded with a proposition, that so much of the five millions of acres
as shall remain after having satisfied the claims of settlers and
others, not recognized by the agreement with Georgia, which shall
be confirmed by the United States, be appropriated for the purpose
of satisfying and quieting the claims of the persons who derive their
titles from an Act of the State of Georgia, passed on the 7th day of
January, 1795. Thus we see that the leading members of the ad
ministration were pledged to the justice of this claim, and the pro
priety of some compensation on the part of the United States.
Gideon Granger, the Postmaster General, was at the head of
the New England and Mississippi Land Company, and was its agent
to prosecute the claim before Congress. He wrote an extended and
elaborate argument to prove that the Company were innocent pur
chasers without notice ; and indeed he undertook to cast censure on
the people of Georgia for repudiating and repealing the act of a
bribed legislature, and to charge that State and the United States
with injustice in appropriating to themselves lands which had
been legally sold by the State and purchased by his Company. Not
only, therefore, was the cabinet of the President committed as to
the justice of this claim ; but one of its most active and influential
members was deeply interested personally in its success.

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 201
Mr. Randolph opposed it, however, from the beginning : he knew
its origin, its history ; and no consideration of prudence or policy
could induce him for a moment to tolerate the "monstrous iniquity.
On the 25th of January, 1805, a resolution was introduced into
the House, that three commisssioners be appointed to receive pro
positions of compromise and settlement from the several compa
nies or persons holding claims to lands within the present limits of
the Mississippi Territory, in such jnanner as in their opinion shall
conduce to the interests of the United States, provided such settle
ment shall not exceed the limit prescribed by the convention with
the State of Georgia. This resolution was introduced by a few
remarks from Mr. Dana, chairman of the Committee of Claims.
Mr. Randolph then rose : — ¦" Perhaps," said he, " it may be sup
posed from the course which this business has taken, that the adver
saries of the present measure indulge the expectation of being able
to come forward at a future day — not to this House, for that hope
was desperate, but to the public — with a more matured opposition
than it is in their power now to make. But past experience has
shown to them that this is one of those subjects which pollution has
sanctified, that the hallowed mysteries of corruption are not to be
profaned by the eye of public curiosity. No, sir, the orgies of Yazoo
speculation are not to be laid open to the public gaze. None but the
initiated are permitted to behold the monstrous sacrifice of the best
interest of the nation on the altar of corruption. When this abomi
nation is to be practised, we go into conclave. Do we apply to the
press, that potent engine, the dread of tyrants and of villains, -but the
shield of freedom and of worth ? No, sir, the press is gagged. On
this subject we have a virtual sedition law ; not with a specious title,
but irresistible in its operations, which goes directly to its object.
This demon of speculation has wrested from the nation at one sweep,
their best, their only defence, and has closed the avenue of informa
tion. But a day of retribution may yet come. If their rights are
to be bartered away, and their property squandered, the people must
not, they shall not be kept in ignorance by whom it is done. We
have often heard of party spirit, of caucuses, as they are termed, to
settle legislative questions, but never have I seen that spirit so visible
as at present. The out-door intrigue is too palpable to be disguised.
When it was proposed to abolish the judiciary system, reared in the
vol. i. 9* ,

202 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
last moments of an expiring administration, the detested offspring
of a midnight hour; when the question of repeal was before the
House ; it could not be taken until midnight in the third or fourth
week of the discussion. When the great and good man who now fills,
and who (whatever may be the wishes of our opponents) I hope and
trust will long fill the executive chair, not less to his own honor than
to the happiness of his- fellow-citizens — when he recommended the
repeal of the internal taxes, delay succeeded delay, till patience itself
was worn threadbare. But now, when public plunder is the order
of the day, how are we treated ? Driven into a committee of the
whole, and out again in a breath by an inflexible majority, exulting
in their strength, a decision must be had immediately. The advo
cates for the proposed measure feel that it will not bear scrutiny.
Hence this precipitancy. They wince from the touch of examination,
and are willing to hurry through a painful and disgraceful discussion.
As if animated by one spirit, they perform all their evolutions with
the most exact discipline, and march in firm phalanx directly up to
their object. Is it that men combined together to effect some evil
purpose, acting on previous pledge to . each other, are even more in
unison than those who, seeking only to discover truth, obey the im
pulse of that conscience which God has placed in their bosom ? Such
men will not stand compromited. They will not stifle the sugges
tions of their own minds, and sacrifice their private opinions to the
attainment of some nefarious object.
" The memorialists plead ignorance of that fraud by which the
act from which their present title was derived, was passed. As it
has been a pretext for exciting the compassion of the legislature, I
wish to examine the ground upon which this allegation rests. When
the act of stupendous villany was passed, in 1795, attempting under
the form and semblance of law to rob unborn millions of their birth
right and inheritance, and to convey to a band of unprincipled and
flagitious men, a territory more extensive, more fertile than any
State in the Union, it caused a sensation scarcely less violent
than that caused by the passage of the Stamp Act, or the shutting up
of the port of Boston : with this difference, that when the Port Bill
of Boston passed, her Southern brethren did not take advantage of
the forms of law, by which a corrupt legislature attempted to de
fraud her of the bounties of nature ; they did not speculate on the

SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CONGRESSES. 203
wrongs of their insulted countrymen. ***** Sanction this claim,
derived from the act of 1795, and what, in effect, do you declare?
You record a solemn acknowledgment that Congress has unfairly and
dishonestly obtained from Georgia a grant of land to which that State
had no title, having previously sold it to others for a valuable consid
eration, of which transaction Congress was at the time fully apprised.
The agents of this Mississippi Land Company set out with an attempt
to prove that they are entitled to the whole fifty millions of acres of
land, under the act of 1 795 ; and thus they make their plea to be
admitted to a proportional share of five. If they really believed
what they say, would they be willing to commute a good legal or
equitable claim for one-tenth of its -value ! * * * * We are told that
we stand pledged, and that an appropriation for British grants, not
granted by Spain especially, was made for the especial benefit of a
particular class of claimants, branded too by the deepest odium, who
dare talk to us of the public faith, and appeal to the national honor !
* * * * The right of the State of Georgia to sell is denied by your
own statute book. So far from being able to transfer to others the
right to extinguish the Indian title to land, she has not been able to
exercise it for her own benefit. It is only through the agency of the
United States that she can obtain the extinguishment of the Indian
title to the sale of land within her limits ; much less could she dele
gate it to a few Yazoo men. ***** The present case presents a
monstrous anomaly, to which the ordinary and narrow maxims of
municipal jurisprudence cannot be applied. It is from great first
principles, to which the patriots of Georgia so gloriously appealed,
that we must look for aid in such extremity. Extreme cases, like
this, call for extreme remedies. They bid defiance to palliatives, and
it is only by the knife, or the actual cautery, that you can expect re
lief. There is no cure short of extirpation. Attorneys and judges
do not decide the fate of empires. ***** The Government of the
United States, on a former occasion, did not, indeed, act in this firm
and decided manner. But those were hard, unconstitutional times,
that never ought to be drawn into precedent. The first year I had
the honor of a seat in this House, an act was passed somewhat of a
similar nature to the one now proposed. I allude to the case of the
Connecticut Reserve, by which the nation was swindled out of three
or four millions of acres, which, like other bad titles, had fallen into

204 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the hands of innocent purchasers. When I advert to the applicants
by whom we were then beset, I find among them one of the persons
who styled themselves the Agents of the New England Mississippi
Land Company, who seems to have an unfortunate knack of buying
bad titles. His gigantic grasp embraces with one hand the shores of
Lake Erie, and with the other stretches to the Bay of Mobile. Mil
lions of acres are easily digested by such stomachs. Goaded by ava
rice, they buy only to sell, and sell only to buy. The retail trade of
fraud and imposture yields too small and slow a profit to gratify their
cupidity. They buy and sell corruption iv the gross, and a few mil
lions of acres, more or less, is hardly feit in the account. The
deeper the play, the greater their zest in the game ; and the stake
which is set upon the throw is nothing less than the patrimony of the
people. Mr. Speaker, when I see the agency which is employed on
this occasion, I must own that it fills me with apprehension and
alarm. The same agent is at the head of an executive department of
our Government, and inferior to none in the influence attached to it.
* * * * This officer presents himself at your bar, at once a party and
an advocate. Sir, when I see such a tremendous influence brought
to bear upon us, I do confess it strikes me with consternation and
despair. Are the heads of executive departments, with the influ
ence and patronage attached to them, to extort from us now, what we
refused at the last session of Congress ? ***** I wjQl pin my
self upon this text, and preach upon it as long as I have life. If no
other reason could be adduced, but for a regard for our own fame — if
it were only to rescue ourselves from this foul imputation — this weak
and dishonorable compromise ought to receive a prompt and decisive
rejection. Is the voice of patriotism lulled to rest, that we no longer
hear the cry against an overbearing majority, determined to put
down the Constitution, and deaf to every proposition of compromise ?
Such were the dire forebodings to which we have been compelled
heretofore to listen. But if the enmity of such men be formidable,
their friendship is deadly destruction, their touch deadly pollution !
What is the spirit against which we now struggle — which we have
vainly endeavored to stifle ? A monster generated by fraud, nursed
in corruption, that in grim silence awaits its prey. It is the spirit
of -Federalism."

FRIENDSHIP. 205
It may readily be conceived what effect this and similar speeches
which had been delivered, whenever the subject was presented, would
have on the members of the republican party who were interested,
for themselves or their friends, in the Yazoo speculation. An in
trigue was set on foot to supplant Mr. Randolph. It was determined
that he should be put down. The Postmaster General openly de
clared that he or Randolph — one must fall. This expression was un
derstood as intimating an intention to call him out. Some one
observed that Randolph would not be backward in answering to a
call of that kind. He replied, not in that way — " I mean, as a public
man — as a political character." After the adjournment of Congress,
March, 1805, he made a tour of the New England States, for the pur
pose of organizing a party to pull down Randolph. Some of the re
publican members from that quarter gave countenance to the plan,
and Mr. Barnabas Bidwell was put forward as their file-leader.
These men insinuated themselves into favor, and assumed to be the
exclusive friends of the President ; but they were charged, many of
them, with being in league with Burr, and having no other design but
to embarrass the Executive, and to force the President into a sanction
of their views. " If some members of Congress," says a leading jour
nal of that day, " are to be bribed with post-office contracts to obtain
their votes for a nefarious speculation, on one hand ; and if a member
of Congress, superior to all corruption, and all pollution or dishonor,
is to be pulled down ; and the offices of Government are to be em
ployed to such ends ; it is vain to pretend that republican govern
ment can stand, if such corruption and such corrupt men are suffered
to retain all the power, which they prostitute ; and if men of virtue,
honor, talents and integrity, are to be made victims of intrigue, bot
tomed on such corruption."

CHAPTER XXVIII.
FRIENDSHIP.

We have seen what an immense task, and what a weight of responsi
bility, devolved on Mr. Randolph for the last four years. He found
time, nevertheless, to keep up an extensive correspondence with his

206 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
friends. He had now added to the list his two half-brothers and
their sister, who were just growing up. His sentiments in regard to
the conduct of a family towards those '•' worthy lads," who just begin
to feel the pride and self-importance of budding manhood, are so true
and so worthy of imitation, that we give them to the reader. —
" Give to dear Beverly," says he, " my warmest love. Let me, my
dear sister, caution you (and be not offended at it) respecting that
worthy lad. Treat him with a marked attention. I know you love
him tenderly — he is deserving of it. Display that affection by a man
ner the most considerate and kind. Cherish him ; for he is a jewel above
price. Beverly is now of an age to receive from every body the treat
ment due to a man — a young one, I grant — and to a gentleman. No
consideration should dispense with this conduct on any part. It does
not imply formality, but respect — not coldness, but kind attention.
These, I pronounce, are essentially requisite, and in a greater degree
than usual, to the development of his amiable character."
But poor Thompson continued, by his erratic ways, to keep alive
the anxious solicitude of his friend. That brilliant, though wayward
genius, had fallen into desperate courses. Calumny, acting on a
morbid sensibility, had banished him from that home where alone he
could find sympathy and encouragement. Misfortune had so per
verted his feelings, as to make him, in the spirit of misanthropy,
shun the observation of those that once knew and respected him, and
to seek oblivion and forgetfulness in the haunts of low dissipation.
Now was the time to test true friendship. The cold world would
pass him by with averted look, and protest they never knew him ;
the friend would take him by the hand, and gently and affectionately
draw him back to the paths of virtue. Randolph professed to be his
friend — how nobly did he redeem that pledge ! In the following let
ter, he speaks to him in plainness and in truth. But whilst he
does not spare his erring friend, his censure is accompanied with
such a tone of delicacy and affection, as to melt the most obdurate
heart, and kindle emotions of reformation in the most desperate
outcast. " Whatever may be the motives," says he, " which have determined
you to renounce all intercourse with me, it becomes me, perhaps, to
respect them ; yet to be deterred from my present purpose by punc
tilio would evince a coldness of temper which I trust does not belong

FRIENDSHIP. 207
to me, and would, at the same time, convict me to myself of the most
pitiful insincerity, in professing for you a regard which has never
been inferior to my professions, and which is not in any circumstance
entirely to destroy. To tell you that during the last three months
I have observed your progress through life with uninterrupted and
increasing anxiety, would be to give you a faint idea of what has
passed in my mind. The mortification which I have experienced on
hearing you spoken of in terms of frigid and scanty approbation, can
only be exceeded by that which I have felt on the silent embarrass
ment which my inquiries have occasioned those who were unwilling
to wound your character or my feelings. You know me too well,
William, to suppose that my inquiries have been directed by the
miserable spirit which seeks to exalt itself on the depression of others.
They have, on the contrary, been very few, and made with the most
guarded circumspection. To say the truth, I have never felt myself
equal to the task of hearing the recital of details which were too
often within my reach, and which not unfrequently courted my atten
tion. They have always received from me the most decisive repulse.
My own pride would never bear the humiliation of permitting any
one to witness the mortification which I felt. After all this pream
ble, let me endeavor to effect the purpose of this address. Let me
beg of you to ask yourself what are your present pursuits, and how
far congenial to your feelings or character. I have not, I cannot,
so far have mistaken you ; you cannot so successfully have deceived
yourself. Yours is not the mind which can derive any real or last
ing gratification from the pursuits or the attainments of a grovelling
ambition. These may afford a temporary and imperfect relief from
that voice which tells you who you are, and what is expected from
you. The world is well disposed to forgive the aberrations of youth
ful indiscretion from the straight road of prudence ; but there is a
point beyond which its temper can no longer be played upon. After
a certain degree of resistance, it becomes more prone to asperity
jhan it had ever been to indulgence. But grant that its good nature
were unlimited, you are not the character who can be content to hold
by so humiliating a tenure that which you can and ought to demand
of right. Can you be content to repose on the courtesy of mankind
for that respect which you may challenge as your due, and which
may be enforced when withheld ? Can you quit the high ground and
imposing attitude of self-esteem to solicit the precarious bounty of a

208 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
contemptuous and contemptible world ? I can scarcely forgive my
self for dwelling so long on so invidious a theme. I have long medi
tated to address you on this subject. One of the dissuasives from
the plan is now removed. Let me again conjure you to ask yourself
seriously, What are your present objects of pursuit? How far any
laudable acquirement can be attained by a town residence, particu
larly in a tavern? Whether such a life be compatible with the
maintenance of that respectability of character which is necessary to
give us value in the eyes of others or of ourselves ? And let me con
jure you to dissolve by a single exertion the spell which now enchains
you. The only tie which could have bound you is no more. Town
fetters are but those of habit, and that of but short standing. Were
it confirmed, there would indeed be but little hope, and this letter
would never have been penned. As it would be improper to urge
the dissolution of your present plan of life without pointing out some
alternative, I recommend a residence of twelve or eighteen months
with Taylor, and a serious application, before it be too late, to that
profession which will be a friend to you when the sunshine insects
who have laughed with you in your prosperity shall have passed away
with the genial season which gave them birth. The hour is fast
approaching, be assured, when it will be in vain to attempt the ac
quirement of professional knowledge. Too well I know that readi
ness of apprehension and sprightliness of imagination will not make
amends for application. The latter serves but to light up our igno
rance. " There is one topic on which I cannot trust even my pen. Did I
not believe that this letter would occasion you pain, it certainly never
had been written. Yet to write it with that view would be a
purpose truly diabolical. You are a physician ; you probe not the
wounds of the dead. Yet 'tis to heal, and not to agonize, that you
insert your instrument into the living body. Whatever may be the
effect of this attempt — whatever may be the disposition which it cre
ates in you, I shall never, while you live, cease to feel an interest in
your fate. Every one here remembers you with undiminished affec
tion. If I judge from myself, you are more than ever interesting to
them, and whenever, if ever, you revisit Bizarre, you will recognize
in every member of the family your unchanged friends.
" Adieu, "J. R., Jr."

FRIENDSHIP. 209
This last and noble effort to redeem a fallen* friend was not in
vain. The advice was followed. Thompson spent a few months with
Creed Taylor, in the neighborhood of Bizarre ; he then went to
Richmond and read law, in the office of George Hay, Esq., a distin
guished lawyer and politician of that day. From this time, with
few exceptions, his letters are more cheerful, and replete with sallies
of his fine genius ; he communicates much instructive and amusing
' information about the proceedings of the legislature, and the leading
characters of Richmond ; and never failed to give vent to those
deep feelings of gratitude that swelled in his bosom, towards one who
had been to him a brother indeed, in his hour of degradation and
misfortune. Having obtained a competent knowledge of his profession, Mr.
Randolph procured for him an office in the newly acquired territory
of Louisiana — encouraged him to break off from his old associations,
and to seek his fortune anew, in a land of strangers. In the spring
of 1804, he married a virtuous and accomplished wife, and set out on
his journey to the far west, with all those bright prospects that his
ardent imagination knew so well how to picture before him. This is
the last letter ever addressed to him by his friend :
Bizarre, 13 May, 1804.
" When I requested you to inquire at the post-office at Abing-
ton for a letter from me, it did not occur to me by how circuitous a
route my communication must travel before it could reach that place.
To guard against accidents, therefore, I have directed it to be for
warded to Nashville, in case you should have left Abington before
its arrival there. We have been every day suggesting to ourselves
the inconvenience to which you must have been exposed by the bad
weather which we have invariably experienced ever since your
departure, and regretting that the situation of your affairs would not
permit you to continue with us until a change took place. You, how
ever, my good friend, have embarked upon too serious a voyage to
take into consideration a little rough weather upon the passage. The
wish which I feel to add my mite to the counsels through which alone
it can prove prosperous, is repressed by the reflection, that your suc
cess depends upon the discovery of no new principle of human
affairs, but upon the application of such as are familiar to all, and
which none know better how to estimate than yourself. Decision,

210 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
firmness, independence, which equally scorns to yield our own
rights as to detract from those of others, are the only guides to the
esteem of the world, or of ourselves. A reliance upon our resources
for all things, but especially for relief against that arch fiend the
tasdium vitae, can alone guard us against a state of dependence and
contempt. But I am growing sententious, and, of course, pedantic.
Judy joins me in every good wish to yourself and Mrs. Thompson.
Permit me to add that there is one being in the world who will ever •
be ready to receive you with open arms, whatsoever may be the fate
of the laudable endeavors which you are now making.
" Yours, truly, " John Randolph.
" Wi. Thompson."
Poor Thompson did not live to test the strength of his redeemed
virtue, and to make a new application of those principles that he had
learned in the school of adversity so well how to estimate. He died
by the way-side, and all the renewed hopes of himself and of his
friend, were swallowed up in the oblivious night of death. On the
back of the copy of the foregoing letter, which is written in Mr.
Randolph's own handwriting, is found the following endorsement:
" W. T., May 13, 1804. Alas !" What more could he write as an
epitaph on the fonely tomb of this wandering, ill-starred young man?
Alas I alas ! was all that could be said of the misfortunes and the
untimely end of poor William Thompson.
Joseph Bryan, in the meantime, had returned from his travels;
the joyous, free-hearted Bryan had ceased " fighting the Russians,"
recrossed the broad Atlantic main, and from his sea-girt isle was in
diting letters to his friend, describing the cities he had seen, the men
and their manners — if not with the depth of observation of the wise
Ulysses, at least with as much pleasure and freedom of narration.
He urged his old companion to visit once more his friends in Geor
gia : " You are the popular man here," says he, " the federalists to the
contrary notwithstanding." But Randolph, ever seeking to make his
friends useful to themselves and to their country, turned the thoughts
of this volatile young man to a higher aim.
On his solicitation, Bryan became a candidate for Congress ; was
defeated; renewed the attempt, and was successful. He stood by

FRIENDSHIP. 211
the side of his gallant friend and fought manfully that Medusa head
of fraud, the Yazoo speculation, whenever it reared its horrid front
upon the floor of Congress. He had been to Bizarre, and formed an
acquaintance with the charming society there, of which he ever after
wards spoke in terms of the highest admiration ; he had hunted,
fished, flown kites, and played marbles with " the boys ;" but above
all, his wild fancy had been caught at last, and, like the fly in the
spider's web, he was entangled in the inextricable meshes of all-
conquering love. Miss Delia Foreman, daughter of General Fore
man, of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, intimate friends of Mr.
Randolph, was the charming object of attraction. The summer
recess of 1804 was spent in Georgia, but the island in the sea, with
all its means of pleasure, had lost its charm, and he was about to
desert it, and to go in search of the fair nymph whose dwelling looked
Dut on the broad waters of the Chesapeake.
On the 8th of September, 1804, from Bizarre his friend writes to
him : " Should this find you at Wilmington, which I heartily wish it
may not, I trust, my dear Bryan, that you will derive the most satis
factory information from the inclosed respecting your fair tyrant.
To me the Major says no't a word on the subject of his daughter, but
I infer from a variety of circumstances that she is about this time on
a visit to her aunt, Mrs. Van Bibber, in Gloucester, about eighty
miles from Richmond ; I hope, therefore, very soon to see you in
Virginia. " I have nothing worth relating, except that Mrs. Randolph was
almost as much disappointed as myself when our messenger arrived
last night from the post-office without a letter from you. How^asy
would it be, once a week, to say ' I am at such a place, in such health,
and to-morrow shall go to  ..' These little bulletins of your
well-being and motions would be a thousand times more interesting
to me than those of his Britannic Majesty's health, or his Corsican
Highness's expeditions. Let me beg of you to make dispatch.
" Yours as ever, " John Randolph."
After the adjournment of Congress, March, 1805, Bryan hastened
on to Chestertown to be married. On the 8th of March he writes
from tb L. place : " You will hardly believe me when I tell you,

212 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
that my tyrants have had the unparalleled barbarity to postpone
my marriage until the 25th of this month. Sumptuousness, pomp,
parade, &c, must be observed in giving away a jewel worth more than
the kingdoms of this world. — I rather suspect I shall be myself the
most awkward and ungraceful movable used on the occasion : curso
it, I hate to be exhibited ; and nothing but the possession of the
jewel itself would induce me to run the gauntlet of felicitation I
shall receive from the whole file of collaterals.  Lovely as her
person is, I prize her heart more. Jack ! what have I done to in
duce the good God to favor me so highly ? Sinner that I am, I
deserve not the smallest of his gifts, and behold I am treated more
kindly than even Abraham, who saw God face to face, and was called
his friend ; he, poor fellow, had to put up with his sister Sarah, who,
beside other exceptionable qualities, was cursed with a bad temper ;
while I, having sought among the beauties of the earth, have found and
obtained the loveliest and best, which I am willing to prove against
all comers on foot or on horseback, in the tented field with sword
and spear, or on the roaring ocean at the cannon's mouth. If you
will come and see us (on their island in the sea), my Delia will
make one of her best puddings for your entertainment. In the course
of a year or two you may expect to see your friend Brain metamor
phosed into a gentleman of high polish, able to make as spruce a
bow, and to hand a lady to her carriage with all the graces of an
Adonis. Adieu ! may heaven prosper and bless you."
In the course of a year or two, alas ! he was metamorphosed ; the
beautiful Delia also faded away ; and their two little boys were left
orphans ! John Randolph showed his attachment to the father by
his devotion to the sons ; they were raised partly in his own house,
and educated at his expense. The oldest and the namesake, John
Randolph Bryan, many years after this period, when he grew up to
manhood, married Miss Elizabeth Coulter, the niece of Mr. Ran
dolph ; " my charming niece," as he used to call her, and the daughter
of his beloved and only sister. Mr. Bryan and his accomplished
wife now live in Gloucester county, Virginia, on the Bay Shore.
A bountiful soil blesses them with its abundant fruits; and the tide,
that daily flows at 'their feet, wafts to their door the rich treasures of
the sea. May they long live to enjoy in their " happy nook" the
blessings of a peaceful home ; and to dispense that elegant hospi-

NINTH CONGRESS. 213
tality, so rare now, but, at the time their father first visited Bizarre,
so common in the Old Dominion.
The causes of this great change, or at least some of them, we are
now about to investigate. John Randolph has said that " The
embargo, like Achilles' wrath, was the source of our Iliad of woes !"

CHAPTER XXIX.
NINTH CONGRESS. — FOREIGN RELATIONS. — DIFFICULTIES WITH
FRANCE AND SPAIN.
Never had an administration a more difficult task to perform than that
of Mr. Jefferson at this time. Ever since the French revolution there
had been a constant warfare, with short breathing intervals, between
France and England. The hostility of their political principles, add
ed to old national antipathies, now made it a war of extermination.
These great belligerent powers strove to involve the United States in
the controversy. But our policy was neutrality : General Washing
ton early announced this course, and his firm hand steadily pursued
it so long as he grasped the helm of affairs. Mr. Adams was not so
successful — his English predilections swerved him from the straight
path of neutrality, and involved his administration in a " quasi war"
with France. Mr. Jefferson had hitherto been eminently successful
in all his domestic and foreign policy. But now, in 1805, he seemed
to be involved in almost inextricable difficulties. Our embarrass
ments with Spain, France, and England, had grown so complicated
and critical, that it seemed impossible to escape without war, or na
tional disgrace. The purchase of Louisiana removed a present peril,
but brought with it a train of difficulties. Bonaparte made the sale
just before his meditated rupture of the treaty of Amiens, and at a
time when he feared -the province would, be wrested from him by the
superior maritime power of England. But he soon repented of his
bargain, and sought every opportunity to regain his lost empire be
yond the Atlantic. Spain, but three years before, had made an ex
change of it with France, and had not surrendered possession. She

214 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
was much displeased at the transfer made by the First Consul, and
between them they embarrassed the United States as much as they
could, and threw every obstacle in the way of a full and peaceable
possession of the new territory. England still retained much of her old
grudge towards the United States as revolted provinces — looked with
a jealous eye on their growing commerce, their rising greatness — and
sought every opportunity to clip the wing of the aspiring eagle. En
tertaining these feelings towards the peaceful and neutral govern
ment beyond the Atlantic, these two great powers were involved in a
war of life and death between themselves ; all Europe was in battal
ion ; every engine of destruction was brought to play ; like the Ti
tans of old, they tore up mountains, islands, whole continents, and
hurled them at each other ; the globe itself seemed as though it
might tumble into ruins beneath +heir giant warfare. What chance
had the commerce or the neutral rights of the United States to be
respected in such a strife ? The President, in his opening message,
the 3d of December, 1805, describes in glowing terms the destructive
course of the great belligerents towards his own country. Again,
on the 6th of December, three days after the opening of Congress,
he sent a special message on the subject of Spanish aggressions ;
they seemed to be first and most urgent. The depredations, he said,
which had been committed on the commerce of the United States
during a preceding war, by persons under the authority of Spain,
had been adjusted by a convention ; so also the spoliations commit
ted by Spanish subjects and carried into ports of Spain ; it had been
likewise agreed that those committed by French subjects and carried
into Spanish ports should remain for further discussion. Before this
convention was returned to Spain with our ratification, the transfer
of Louisiana by France to the United States took place, an event as
unexpected as disagreeable to Spain. From that moment she seemed
to change her conduct and dispositions towards us ; it was first man
ifested by her protest against the right of France to alienate Louisi
ana to us, which, however, was soon retracted, and the right eon-
firmed. Her high offence w.as manifested at trfe act of Congress es
tablishing a collection district on the Mobile, although by an authen
tic declaration, immediately made, it was expressly confirmed to our
acknowledged limits ; and she now refused to ratify the oonvention
signed by her own minister under the eye of his sovereign, unless we

NINTH CONGRESS. 215
would consent to alterations of its terms, which would have affected
our claims against her for spoliations by French subjects carried into
Spanish ports.
To obtain justice, as well as to restore friendship, the President
thought proper to send Mr. Monroe on a special mission to Spain.
" After nearly five months of fruitless endeavors," says the message,
" to bring them to some definite and satisfactory result, our ministers
ended the conferences without having been able to obtain indemnity,
for spoliations of any description, or any satisfaction as to the boun
daries of Louisiana, other than a declaration that we had no right
eastward of the Iberville ; and that our line to the west was one,
which would have left us but a string of land on that bank of the
Mississippi. Our injured citizens- were thus left without any pros
pect of retribution from the wrong-doer, and as to boundary, each
party was to take its own course. That which they have chosen to
pursue will appear from the documents now communicated. They
authorize the inference, that it is their intention to advance on our
possessions until they shall be repressed by an opposing force"
The message then speaks of the conduct of France in regard to
the misunderstanding between the United States and Spain. " She
was prompt and decided in her declarations, that her demands on
Spain for French spoliations carried into Spanish ports, were included
in the settlement between the United States and France. She took
at once the ground, that she had acquired no right from Spain, and
had meant to deliver us none, eastward of the Iberville."
In conclusion, the President says : " The present crisis in Eu
rope is favorable for pressing a settlement, and not a moment should
be lost in availing ourselves of it. Should it pass unimproved, our
situation would become much more difficult. Formal war is not ne
cessary ; it is not probable it will follow ; but the protection of our
citizens, the spirit and honor of our country require, that force should
be interposed to a certain degree ; it will probably contribute to ad
vance the object of peace. But the course to be pursued will require
the command of means, which it belongs to Congress exclusively, to
deny or to yield. To them I communicate every fact material for
their information, and the documents necessary to enable them to
judge for themselves. To their wisdom, then, I look for the course
I am to pursue, and will pursue with sincere zeal that which they
shall approve."

216 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
The President recommends no definite plan of action — leaves
every thing to the discretion of Congress ; but it is obvious that he
expected them to appropriate means to raise an army of some sort,
to repel the invasions of Spain, and to protect the persons and the
property of our citizens in the disputed territory.
This message was secret and confidential : all propositions in re
gard to it were discussed in conclave. The debate is said to have
taken a very wide range, and was very animated. On that occasion,
John Randolph is said to have delivered the ablest and most elo
quent speech ever heard on the floor of Congress. When this mes
sage was read in the House of Representatives, it was referred to a
select committee, of which Mr. Randolph was chairman. He imme
diately waited on the President, and informed him of the direction
which had been given to the message. We have his authority for
saying, that he then learned, not without surprise, that an appropri
ation of two millions was wanted to purchase Florida ! He told the
President that he would never agree to such a measure, because the
money had not been asked for in the message ; that he would not
consent to shift to his own shoulders, or those of the House, the pro
per responsibility of the Executive. If the money had been explicit
ly demanded, he should have been averse to granting it, because,
after a total failure of every attempt at negotiation, such a step
would disgrace us for ever ; because France would never withhold
her ill offices, when, by their interposition, she could extort money
from us ; that it was equally to the interest of the United States, to
accommodate the matter by an exchange of territory ; — (to this mode
of settlement the President seemed much opposed) — that the nations
of Europe, like the Barbary powers, would hereafter refuse to look
on the credentials of .our ministers, without a previous douceur.
The committee met on the 7th of December. One of its mem
bers (Bidwell of Massachusetts) construed the message into a requi
sition of money tor foreign intercourse. To draw such a conclusion,
it is plain he must have had some other key of interpretation than
that of the words in which the message was expressed. He proposed
a grant to that effect, which was overruled. On the 14th of Decem
ber, the chairman was obliged to go to Baltimore, and did not return
till the 21st of the month. During this interval, the dispatches from
Mr. Monroe, of the 18th and 25th of October, bearing on the subject

fINTH CONGRESS. 217
of Spanish aggressions, were received by Government, but never
submitted to the committee. Previous to the chairman's departure
for Baltimore, he had occasion to call on the Secretary of State
(Madison) to obtain a passport for his nephew, Saint George Ran
dolph, whom he was about sending to Braidwood's and Sicard's
schools, near London and Paris. Mr. Madison took this opportu
nity to enter into an explanation of the policy about to be pursued in
regard to Spanish aggression. He concluded his remarks with the
declaration, that France would not permit Spain to adjust her dif
ferences with us ; that France wanted money, and that we must give
it to her, or Jiave a Spanish and French war !
It will be remembered that this declaration was made to one who
was reputed to be the leader of the House of Representatives, and
who was chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means. The ap
propriation here intimated would have to be recommended by that
committee, and explained and defended before the House by its
chairman. It is not surprising that a man of Mr. Randolph's high
sense of honor and of personal dignity ; and, above all, that one who
had so nice a perception of the rights of the representative, and of
the delicate relation existing between him and the Executive, which
admitted not of the slightest approach towards influence or dictation,
should have fired with indignation at a proposition which seemed to
make him and the House of Representatives a mere tool of the Exe
cutive, to do* that for them which they dare not avow before the
world. When this declaration was made, so different from the sentiments
expressed by the President's public and secret messages, and so
humiliating to the pride and honor of the country, Mr. Randolph
abruptly left the presence of the Secretary with this remarkable ex
clamation, " Good morning, sir ! I see I am not calculated for a
politician !"
Mr. Randolph returned from Baltimore, the 21st of December,
and convened the committee. As they were assembling, the Secre
tary of the Treasury (Gallatin) called him aside, and put into his
hands a paper headed, " Provision for the purchase of Florida."
Mr. Randolph declared he would ]>ot vote a shilling ; and ex
pressed himself disgusted with the whole of this proceeding, which
he could not but consider as highly disingenuous — the most scrupu-
vol. i. 10

218 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
lous care, he said, had been taken to cover the reputation of the ad
ministration, while Congress were expected to act as though they
had no character to lose ; whilst the official language of the Executive
was consistent and dignified, Congress was privately required to take
upon itself the odium of shrinking from the national honor and
national defence, and of delivering the public purse to the first cut
throat that demanded it. From the official communication, from the
face of the record, it would appear that the Executive had discharged
his duty in recommending manly and vigorous measures, which he had
been obliged to abandon, and had been compelled, by Congress, to pur
sue an opposite course ; when, in fact, Congress had been acting all the
while at Executive instigation. Mr. Randolph further observed, that
he did not understand this double set of opinions and principles ; the
one ostensible, to go upon the journals and before the public; the other,
the efficient and real motives to action ; that he held true wisdom and
cunning to be utterly incompatible in the conduct of great affairs ; that
he had strong objections to the measure itself; but in the shape in which
it was presented, his repugnance to it was insuperable. In a subse
quent conversation with the President himself, in which those objec
tions were recapitulated, he declared that he too had a character to
support and principles to maintain, and avowed his determined oppo
sition to the whole scheme.
On the 3d of January, 1 806, Mr. Randolph made a report, under the
instructions of the committee, which seems to be fully -responsive to
the views of the President, as expressed in both his messages. " The
committee have beheld," says the report, " with just indignation, the
hostile spirit manifested by the oourt of Madrid towards the govern
ment of the United States, in withholding the ratification of its con
vention with us, although signed by its own minister, under the eye
of his sovereign unless with alteration of its terms, affecting claims
of the United States which, by the express conditions of the instru
ment itself, were reserved for future discussion ; in piratical depre
dations upon our fair commerce ; in obstructing the navigation of
the Mobile ; in refusing to come to any fair and amicable adjustment
of the boundaries of Louisiana ; and in a daring violation, by per
sons acting under the authority of Spain, and, no doubt, apprised of
her sentiments and views, of our undisputed limits, which she had so
lemnly recognized by treaty.

NINTH CONGRESS. 219
" To a government having interests distinct from those of its peo
ple, and disregarding its welfare, here is ample cause for a declaration
of war, on the part of the United States, and such — did they obey
the impulse of their feelings alone — is the course which the commit
tee would not hesitate to recommend. But, to a government identi
fied with its citizens, too far removed from the powerful nations of
the earth for its safety to be endangered by their hostility, peace
must always be desirable, so long as it is compatible with the honor
and interest of the community. Whilst the United States continue
burdened with a debt which annually absorbs two-thirds of their rev
enue, and duties upon imports constitute the only resource from
which that revenue can be raised, without resorting to systems cf tax
ation not more ruinous and oppressive than they are uncertain and
precarious — the best interests of the United States cry aloud for
peace. When that debt shall have been discharged, and the resour
ces of the nation thereby liberated, then may we rationally expect to
raise, even in time of war, the supplies which our frugal institutions
require, without recurring to the hateful and destructive expedient of
loans ; then, and not till then, may we bid defiance to the world. The
present moment is peculiarly auspicious for the great and desirable
work. Now, if ever, the national debt is to be paid, by such financial
arrangements as will accelerate its extinguishment, by reaping the
rich harvest of neutrality, and thus providing for that diminution of
revenue which experience teaches to expect on the general pacifica
tion of Europe. And the committee indulge a hope, that in the
changed aspect of affairs in that quarter, Spain will find motives for
a just fulfilment of her stipulations with us, and an amicable settle
ment of limits, upon terms not more beneficial to the United States
than advantageous to herself ; securing to her an ample barrier on the
side of Mexico, and to us the countries watered by the Mississippi,
and to the eastward of it. But whilst the committee perceive, in the
general uproar of Europe, a state of things peculiarly favorable to
the peaceable pursuit of our best interests, they are neither insensi
ble to the indignity which has been offered on the part of Spain, nor
unwilling to repel similar outrages. On the subject of self-defence,
when the territory of the United States is insulted, there can be but
one opinion, whatever differences may exist on the question whether
that protection, which a vessel finds in our harbors, shall be extended

220 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
to her by the nation in the Indian or Chinese seas. Under this im
pression the committee submit the following resolution : That such
number of troops (not exceeding  ) as the President of the Uni
ted States shall deem sufficient to protect the southern frontier of the
United States from Spanish inroad and insult, and to chastise the
same, be immediately raised."
Mr. Randolph explained, that the peculiar situation of the frontier
at that time insulted, had alone induced the committee to recommend
the raising of regular troops. It was too remote from the population
of the country for the militia to act, in repelling and chastising Span
ish incursion. New Orleans and its dependencies were separated by
a vast extent of wilderness from the settlements of the Unikd States ;
filled with disloyal and turbulent people, alien to our institutions,
language, and manners, and disaffected toward our government. lit
tle reliance could be placed upon them ; and it was plain that if " it
was the intention of Spain to advance on our possessions until she
should be repulsed by an opposing force," that force must be a regu
lar army, unless we were disposed to abandon all the country south
of Tennessee ; that if the " protection of our citizens and the spirit
and the honor of our country required that force should be inter
posed," nothing remained but for the legislature to grant the only
practicable means, or to shrink from the most sacred of all its duties,
to abandon the soil and its inhabitants to the tender mercy of hostile
invaders. Such were the proposition and the views of the committee, in ex
act correspondence, as they conceived, with the wishes of the Presi
dent as expressed in his public and secret message.
Yet the report of the committee, moderate as it might seem, was
deemed of too strong a character by the House. It was rejected. A
proposition, the avowed object of which was, to enable the President
to open a negotiation for Florida, was moved as a substitute, by Mr.
Bidwell of Massachusetts. Mr. Randolph moved that the sum to
be appropriated should be confined to that object ; which was agreed
to. But afterwards, when the bill was formally brought in, this spe
cific appropriation was rescinded by the House, and the money left
at the entire discretion of the Executive, to be used " toward any ex
traordinary expense which might be incurred in the intercourse be
tween the United States and foreign nations."

NINTH CONGRESS. 221
Mr. Randolph also moved to limit the amount which the Govern
ment might stipulate to pay for the territory in question ; upon the
ground that if Congress were disposed to acquire Florida by pur:
chase, they should fix the extent to which they were willing to go,
and thereby furnish our ministers with a safeguard against the rapa
city of France ; that there was no probability of our obtaining the
country for less, but every reason to believe that without such a pre
caution on our part, she would extort more. This motion was over
ruled. When the bill came under discussion, various objections were
urged against it by the same gentleman ; among others, that it was
in direct opposition to the views of the Executive, as expressed in the
President's official communication (it was on this occasion that Gene
ral Varnum declared the measure to be consonant to the secret
wishes of the Executive) ; that it was a prostration of the national
honor at the feet of our adversary ; that a concession so humiliating
would paralyze our efforts against Great Britain, in case the nego-
tion then pending between that government and ours, should
prove abortive ; that a partial appropriation towards the purchase of
Florida, without limiting the President to some specific amount,
would give a previous sanction to any expense which he might incur
for that object, and which Congress would stand pledged to make
good ; that if the Executive, acting entirely upon its own responsi
bility, and exercising its acknowledged constitutional powers, should
negotiate for the purchase of Florida, the House of Representatives
would, in that case, be left free to ratify or annul the contract ; but
that the course which was proposed to be pursued (and which eventu
ally was pursued) would reduce the discretion of the legislature to a
mere shadow ; that at the ensuing session Congress would find itself,
in relation to this subject, a deliberative body but in name; that it
could not, without a manifest dereliction of its own principles, and,
perhaps, without a violation of public faith, refuse to sanction any
treaty entered into by the Executive, under the auspices of the legis
lature, and with powers so unlimited ; that, however great his confi
dence in the Chief Magistrate, he would never consent to give any
President so dangerous a proof of it ; and that he never would pre
clude himself, by any previous sanction, from the unbiassed exercise
of his judgment on measures which were thereafter to come before

222 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
him ; that the House had no official recommendation for the step
which they proposed to take ; on the contrary, it was in direct op
position to the sentiments as expressed in the confidential message ¦
and that the responsibility would be exclusively their own ; that if
he thought proper to ask for an appropriation for the object (the pur
chase of Florida), the responsibility of the measure would rest on
him ; but when the legislature undertook to prescribe the course
which he should pursue, and which he had pledged himself to pur
sue, the case was entirely changed ; that the House could have no
channel through which it could be made acquainted with the opinions
of the Executive, but such as was official, responsible, and known to
the Constitution ; and that it was a prostitution of its high and
solemn functions, to act upon an unconstitutional suggestion of the
private wishes of the Executive, irresponsibly announced by an
irresponsible individual, and in direct hostility to his avowed
opinions. It will be remembered that these proce dings and discussions
took place in conclave, on the President's confidential message. Mr.
Randolph's course was so grossly misrepresented, and his motives so
basely calumniated, that, at a subsequent period of the session, he
moved the House to take off the injunction of secrecy from the Presi
dent's communication, that the world might see what the Executive
had really required at the hands of the legislature, and how far they
had complied with his publicly expressed wishes, in the report and
resolution of the committee.
The secret journal of the House had been published ; but, for
some reason unaccountable to us, the message, which was the founda
tion of the whole proceeding, and without which the journal was
wholly unintelligible, had been withheld from the public. Mr. Ran
dolph's motion was, to publish the message and the documents — he
was willing to abide the decision of an impartial judgment on the
perusal. This motion gave rise to much debate and angry recrimi
nation. Mr. Randolph said :
" It is not my wish, Mr. Speaker, to trespass on the patience of the
House. But I think it necessary to explain what I am sure the
House has not well understood ; for my positions have been grossly
perverted, whether intentionally or not I will not undertake to say.
Gentlemen opposed to us act a very strange and inconsistent part.

NINTH CONGRESS. 223
They will not give credit to a private individual as to a conversation
had with him. I only stated that conversation as a reason for say
ing I had withdrawn my confidence. And will gentlemen say I am
bound, when evidence has come to my private knowledge which is
sufficient to damn any man, to legislate on a principle of confidence ?
When I find misrepresentations made to the public, and insinuations
of the most despicable kind on this floor, I come out, and call on
any man to deny what I have stated. They cannot — they dare not.
For I take it for granted no man will declare in the face of the nation
a wilful falsehood. But while gentlemen will not give credit to what
has fallen from one individual, they have no hesitation in giving
credit to an individual member for the whole course of the Gov
ernment. " In my opinion it is of the first importance that the message should
be published, from a material fact which took place in this House.
A member in his place told you, that the course recommended by a
particular individual was consonant with the secret wishes of the
Executive. I did then reprehend that language as the most unconsti
tutional and reprehensible ever uttered on this floor. I did believe
that the people of the United States possessed as free a Constitution
as the British people, and I had hoped freer ; and I knew that such
language had in the British Parliament been considered as repre
hensible, and had brought forward a vote of indignation in that body.
I allude to the case, where the King's name was used for the pur
pose of throwing out Blr. Fox's India bill. I then reprobated this
back-stair influence, this double dealing, the sending one message
for the journals and newspapers, and another in whispers to this
House. I shall always reprobate such language, and consider it
unworthy of any man holding a seat in this House. I had before
always flattered jnyself, that it would be a thousand years hence
before our institutions would have given birth to these Charles Jen-
kinson's in politics. I did not expect them at this time of day, and
I now declare it important, in my opinion, that the message should
be published, that the public may be enabled to compare the official
with the unofficial message which decided the vote.
" There is another reason for its publication. The gentleman
from Pennsylvania has said there is no mention of France on the
journals ; and that we have no cause of complaint against France

224 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
I wish the publication of the message to prove what causes of com
plaint we have against France. Let men of sense take a view of all
the papers, and I am willing to abide the issue. It is said France
has done us no injury — that the bubble is burst. We are told that
this is a plain answer to all the speeches made on this floor. Permit
me to say, the gentleman (Mr. Epps) has given a plain answer to all
the speeches delivered on this floor ; it was impossible to have given
a plainer answer to them. He says, I will vote with you, but I will
make a speech against you. Permit me to say, this is the first time I
would not rather have had his vote than his speech. After this
speech there can be no doubt as to the issue of the question. I will
go further, after the adjournment on Saturday there could be no
doubt. Saturday, it seems, is an unfortunate day, on which no expe
dition is to be undertaken, no forlorn hope conducted.
" The same gentleman has said that we pursued precisely the
same course in 1803 as in 1806, and for obtaining the same object.
He says the same course is now pursued, and yet he says he will not
undertake to say the cases are not dissimilar ; put this and that
together, and what do you make of it ? The cases are decidedly dis
similar. In 1803 there was no existing misunderstanding between
the American and French governments with regard to our differences
with Spain. Those differences have started up like a mushroom in
the night. We made an appropriation to purchase the Floridas —
to buy them — from whom ? From their rightful owner. The circum
stances would have been similar, if the United States had given
money to France to compel Spain to form a treaty with us ; then the
national honor would have received a deadly wound. But there was
nothing of this sort in the formation of the treaty then made. Spain,
under the operation of causes in which we had no agency, transferred
Louifiana to France, and France transferred it to us. But this is
not now the case. We are told that Spain is no longer an indepen
dent power, but is under the control of France. What follows? That
France is an aggressor on us, which proves every thing I have
alleged. " There is another thing to be observed. The public have been
given to understand, that two millions have been appropriated for
the purchase of the Floridas. This is not so. The appropriation is
only towards doing something ; but what that is, is not defined by law.

NINTH CONGRESS. 225
Now if in 1 803 we appropriated two millions for the purchase of the
Floridas, and did not get them, what security is there now that by
making an appropriation in the same language, we shall obtain them?
Although the persons making the appropriation are not the same
identical beings, those applying the sum appropriated are. I do not
believe that we shall get the Floridas, In this I may be mistaken :
I hope I shall be ; for after having descended to prostitute the
national character, let us at least receive the wages of iniquity.
" But gentlemen inquire, will you become the guardians of Spain ?
This is a mistake which has run through every attempt at argument
I have heard. We never professed to be the guardians of Spain.
We profess to be the guardians of our own honor. We care not for
France trampling on Spain. Let her pick her pockets, for what we
care ; but if we instigate her to it, it is no longer a mere question
between France and Spain, but a question in which our own honor is
engaged, which is at once mortgaged and gone.
" Until the gentleman from Virginia got up, I confess that, what
with my exhausted state, the badness of the air, and the tenuity of
the arguments of gentlemen, so excessively light that they at once
vanished into thin air, that I had not a word to say ; for it is not to
be supposed that I intended to reply to any thing offered by the
gentleman behind me. If I am to fall, let me fall in the face of day,
and not be betrayed by a kiss, — I mean no profane allusion. I shall
do my duty as an honest man. I came here prepared to co-operate i
with the government in all its measures. I told them so. But I
soon found there was no choice left, and that to co-operate in them
would be to destroy the national character. I found I might co-ope
rate, or be an honest man ; I have therefore opposed, and will oppose
them. Is there an honest man disposed to be the go-between, to
carry down secret messages to this House? No. It is because men
of character cannot be found to do this business, that agents must be
got to carry things into effect, which men of uncompromited character
will not soil their fingers, or sully their characters with.
" One word on the subject of voting on unofficial notice, on the re
presentations of individuals, in the place of communications officially
received from the officers of the executive department. I have al-_
ways considered the Executive, in this country, as atanding in the
same relation to the two Houses, that the minister or administration
vol. i. 10*

226 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
bore to the legislature under governments similar to our own. I
have always considered that the responsibility for public measures,
rested more particularly on them. For those measures they are an
swerable to the people — and to me it has been a subject of peculiar
regret (I do not speak of the general character of the Constitution)
that they have not a seat on this floor. For whatever may be sup
posed to be my feelings, as to the members of the administration, I
am ashamed when I see their fame and character committed to such
hands as we are in the daily habit of witnessing. If their measures
are susceptible of justification, I should like to have a justification at
their own hands, instead of hearing Yazoo men defend them. Much
less did I expect, on such an occasion, to hear a Yazoo man, assign
ing his motives for a vote, on a totally different subject, and this in
justification of a man with whom he is connected by ties of con
sanguinity. This reminds me of the intention imputed to me, to
bring forward an impeachment against a great officer of state. This,
however, is so far from being the truth, that I appeal to those who
heard me, whether I did not declare that I washed my hands of im
peachments — that I was done with them. No, I will neither di
rectly, nor indirectly, have any thing to do with them. But I will
in all questions that shall come before this House, discuss the public
character and conduct of any public agents from a secretary to a
^constable : and I will continue to do it, until it shall be admitted by
the Constitution that the king can do no wrong. I say I wish the
heads of departments had seats on this floor. Were this the case,
to one of them I would immediately propound this question: Did
you, or did you not, in your capacity of a public functionary, tell
me, in my capacity of a public functionary, that France would not
suffer Spain to settle her differences with us, that she wanted money,
that we must give her money, or take a Spanish or French war ?
And did not I answer, that I was neither for a war with Spain or
France, but in favor of defending my country? I would put that
question to him. I would put this question to another head of de
partment : Was, or was not, an application made to you for money,
to be conveyed to Europe to carry on any species of diplomatic ne
gotiation there ? I would listen to his answer, and if he put his
hand on his heart, and like a man of honor said no, I would believe
him, though it would require a great stretch of credulity. I would

NINTH CONGRESS. 227
call into my aid faith, not reason, and believe when I was not con
vinced. I would then turn to the first magistrate of the nation and
say : Did you not buy Louisiana of France ? Has France acted in
that transaction in a bona fide manner ? Has she delivered into your
possession the country you believed you had bought from her ? Has
she not equivocated, prevaricated, and played off Spain against you,
with a view of extorting money ? I will answer for the reply. There
cannot be the smallest doubt about it. I will put the whole business
on this issue. All the difficulty has arisen from that quarter.
" Yes, the bubble has burst ! It is immaterial to us, whether you
publish the President's message or not. But it is material to others
that you should ; and let me add, the public will not rest satisfied
with the conduct of those, who profess to wish it published, while
they vote against the publication. The public will not confide in
such professions. Gentlemen may show their bunch of rods, may
treat them as children, and offer them sugar-plums ; but all will not
avail them, so long as they refuse to call for the dispatches of our
ministers, and other documents, which if published would fix a stain
upon some men in the government, and high in office, which all the
waters in the ocean would not wash out. Gentlemen may talk about
our changing and chopping about, and all that. What is the fact ?
We are what we profess to be — not courtiers, but republicans, acting
on the broad principles we have heretofore professed — applying the
same scale with which we measured John Adams to the present ad
ministration. Do gentlemen flinch from this and pretend to be re
publicans ? They cannot be republicans, unless they agree that it
shall be measured to them as they measured to others. But we are
perhaps to be told, that we all have become federalists — or that the
federalists have become good republicans. This, however, is a charge
which, I am convinced, the federalists will not be more anxious to
repel than we to be exonerated from. No, they will never become
good republicans. They never did, they never will act with us.
What has happened ? they are in opposition from system, and we
quo ad hoc, as to this particular measure. Like men who have
roughed it together, there is a kind of fellow-feeling between us.
There is no doubt of it. But as to political principle, we are as
much as ever opposed. There is a most excellent alkali by which
to test our principles. The Yazoo business is the beginning and the

228 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
end, the alpha and omega of our alphabet. With that our differ
ences began, and with that they will end ; and I pray to God that
the liberties of the people may not also end with them.
" When the veracity of a man is called in question it is a serious
business. The gentleman from Massachusetts has appealed to the
House for the correctness of his statement. I, too, appeal to the
House whether this was not his expression, when he undertook to
explain away what he had said, for he did not deny it : " That he
would vouch that such were the secret wishes of the President ;" and
whether I did not observe that his attempt to explain was like Judge
Chase attempting to draw back a prejudicated opinion in the case of
Fries ; that he might take back the words, but not the effect they
had made on the Assembly ; that the Constitution knows only of two
ways by which the Executive could influence the Legislature : the
one by a recommendation of such measures as he deemed expedient ;
the other, by a negative on our bills ; and that the moment it was
attempted to influence the House by whispers and private messages
its independence was gone. I stated the proneness of legislative
bodies to be governed by Exeoutive influence, and, in illustration,
referred to the Senate, who, from its association with the Executive
and the length of time for which its members hold their seats, was
necessarily made up of gaping expectants of office, and there can be
no doubt of the fact. It must be so from the nature of things. Now,
if it be necessary, let the House appoint a Committee of Inquiry to
ascertain what the gentleman from Massachusetts did say, and let
us see who can adduce the most witnesses and swear the hardest.
No, ths gentleman from Massachusetts had on that occasion so dif
ferent a countenance, dress and address, that I could not now recog
nize him for the same man. He seemed thunderstruck and to be in
a state of stupefaction at his indiscretion. He appeared humbled
in the presence of those who heard what he had said, and beheld his
countenance. His words were these, my life on it : 'I will vouch
that such are the secret wishes of the President, or the Executive,'
I do not know which."

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 229

CHAPTER XXX.
DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
The aggressions of Great Britain on the persons, the property, and
the rights of American citizens began at an early period, and were
still continued with increased aggravation. It was high time for some
firm stand to be taken in regard to them. Tne peace, prosperity,
and honor of the country demanded an effectual system of measures
to arrest them. Officers of the British navy had long been in the
habit of boarding American vessels, dragging seamen thence, and
forcing them into their own service under the pretext that they were
British subjects. The law of England did not recognize the right of
expatriation. The sovereign claimed the services of all his subjects
in time of war, and impressed them wherever they could be found.
The similarity of language, of person, and of habits, made it difficult
to distinguish an American from an English sailor. Many of the
latter had taken refuge from their own hard naval service in the pro
fitable commercial marine of the United States. In re-capturing
their own subjects, they not unfrequently dragged American citizens
from their homes. They were charged with not being very scrupu
lous in this regard. Not less than three thousand American sailors,
it was said, had been forced to serve in the British navy. The go
vernment of the United States denied the right of Great Britain to
impress seamen on board any of their vessels on the high seas, or
within their own jurisdiction. They contended that a neutral flag
on the high seas was a safeguard to those sailing under it. They were
sustained in this doctrine by the law of nations.
Although Great Britain had not adopted in the same latitude with
most other nations the immunities of a neutral flag, yet she did not
deny the general freedom of the high seas, and of neutral vessels
navigating them, with such exceptions only as are annexed to it by
the law of nations. The exceptions are objects commonly denomi
nated contraband of war ; that is, enemies serving in the war, arti
cles going into a blockaded port, and enemy's property of every kind.
But nowhere, it was contended, could an exception to the -freedom
of the seas and of neutral flags be found that justified the taking

230 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
away of any person, not an enemy in military service, found on board
a neutral vessel.
The right of impressment, growing out of their different interpre
tation of the law of nations, was one, and the gravest, of the subjects
of dispute between the two nations. The other was in regard to the
Carrying trade. The question commonly presented itself in this
form : Was that commerce allowable in time of war which was pro
hibited in time of peace ? Great Britain, by her powerful marine,
had swept the ocean nearly of the whole of the vessels of her ene
mies. In consequence of this, the produce of the colonies of France,
Spain, and Holland, was imported into the mother countries by neu
tral ships ; in fact, it was almost wholly transported in American
bottoms. The restrictive colonial system of these powers did not
suffer this transportation by foreigners in times of peace ; but the
necessities arising from a calamitous naval war induced them to lay
their ports open by a forced liberality to this general commerce.
French, Spanish, and Dutch property in American bottoms now
became neutralized, and was protected, as some contended, by the
American flag. But the property was still enemy's property, and
fell within the exception of the law of nations. The French navy
had been totally annihilated ; in consequence, the products of her
colonies had to lie rotting on their wharfs, for want of transportation,
while the mother country was suffering both from the want of the
products and of the revenue arising from the sale and consumption
of them. These were the evils intended to be inflicted by a naval
victory, in order to force her to an honorable peace. But the United
States came in with their ships, and relieved France of these evils,
by becoming carriers between her and her colonies.
Can that be a neutral commerce which robs one of the belligerent
parties of all the advantages of a victory, and relieves the other from
nearly all the evils of a defeat ? It can hardly seem possible at this
day that any one could have contended for such a doctrine ; yet Mr.
Madison maintained that the contrary principle, denying the neutral
character of such a commerce, was of modern date — that it was
avowed by no other nation than Great Britain, and that it was
assumed by her, under the auspices of a maritime ascendency, whioh
rendered such a principle subservient to her particular interests.
This doctrine, however, contended for by a nation that had the

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 231
power to maintain it, was gotten over by subterfuge and evasion.
We will illustrate the manner by an example. A French subject
purchases a cargo of coffee at Guadaloupe, intending it for the market
of Nantes : to ship it in a vessel belonging to any one of the nations
belligerent with England, was absolutely throwing it away ; but the
ordinary device of sending it under the cover of an American flag is
resorted to ; the American refuses to carr.y it directly for the harbor
of Nantes, alleging, that if he is captured by an English cruiser, a
condemnation must follow such an attempt at an immediate com
merce between the mother country and her colony. False owners
are created for the ship's cargo, in the character of Americans. The
vessel instead of sailing for Nantes, makes for New York, and in due
time arrives there ; bonds for the payment of duties are given, and
the cargo is landed. The vessel loads again with the same coffee ;
the debentures of the custom-house are produced ; the bonds for du
ties are cancelled, and she now makes her way boldly for Nantes, as
a neutral ship, not to be molested. The entire trade of the French,
Spanish and Dutch colonies was conducted in American vessels, in
this indirect way. A most profitable business it was surely, but it is
shocking to contemplate the influence on the moral character of those
engaged in it. All this chicanery and duplicity were often forced
through by absolute perjury — always by a prostration of honorable
delicacy. The British Courts of Admiralty allowed this indirect trade
through a neutral port, where there was proof of an actual change of
ownership. Whenever the neutral party could show that he had pur
chased the property, he was suffered to pass unmolested ; but such a
bona fide purchase rarely took place ; and enemy's property was cov
ered up and protected by neutral names, under false pretences.
Such was the carrying trade.
These two — the impressment of seamen and the carrying trade —
constituted the main difficulties existing between the United States
and Great Britain ; all others grew out of them, and would necessa
rily cease on a satisfactory adjustment of those leading subjects of
complaint. These questions were involved in much obscurity. Much might
be said on both sides. Each nation had just cause of cgmplaint
against the other. Here was a fair field for negotiation and com-

232 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
promise, But we can now perceive the secret motives that would in
cessantly throw obstacles in the way of a satisfactory arrangement of
these difficulties. There was the old grudge against England, cher
ished in the prejudices of the people ; the jealousy of her superior
naval power on that element where we were as much at home as she
was ; the spirit of rivalry that stimulated our merchants to share
with her the commerce of the world ; the barren results of any set
tlement of difficulties with her during the wars in Europe — it might
secure peace, but could bring no profit. On the other hand, there
were the old partialities for our ancient ally ; the fraternizing spirit
between the two Republics ; the enthusiasm enkindled in a martial
people, by the daring exploits and brilliant successes of Napoleon ;
the secret consciousness that his irresistible power would always be
interposed between them and any hostile movements of England ;
the lucrative commerce, and the absolute monopoly of the carrying
trade between France, Spain, Holland, and their dependencies, and
which must cease on a compromise with England ; — add to these
causes, that went home to the prejudices and the interests of the people,
the all-controlling influence of party spirit — which had long since at
tached to the friends of England the epithet of monarchists and
tories, and to the friends of France that of republicans and friends
of the people — and we cannot fail to perceive that every agency
which was calculated to give direction to public opinion would bend
it against any adjustment of British difficulties during the continu
ance of the wars in Europe.
The subjects of difference were ably discussed by the Secretary
of State in his instructions to our minister at the Court of St. James;
but when the President thought proper to bring the matter before
Congress, and to call on them for action, he had no plan to propose.
He did not recommend, as the Constitution required, any specific
mode of adjustment. He left the Legislature to grope their way in
the dark, and to adopt such measures as they might think proper,
without any previous participation on his part in the responsibility.
Various crude and illy-digested schemes were offered in the House
and in the Senate. They all seemed to contemplate coercing Eng
land into measures by operating on her commerce. Gregg's resolu
tion — the one principally discussed in the House — went so far as to
prohibit all intercourse between the two nations, until England

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 233
would consent to settle the subjects of dispute between them on fair
terms. This professed to be a peace measure, but it was actual war
in disguise. Many of its friends discussed it as a war measure.
Mr. Randolph so regarded it. " I am not surprised," said he, " to
hear this resolution discussed by its friends as a war measure. They
say, it is true, that it is not a war measure ; but they defend it on
principles that would justify none but war measures, and seemed
pleased with the idea that it may prove the forerunner of war. If
war is necessary, if we have reached this point, let us have war. But
while I have life, I will never consent to these incipient war meas
ures, which in their commencement breathe nothing but peace, though
they plunge us at last into war. ***** "What is the question in
dispute? The carrying trade. What part of it? The fair, the
honest, and the useful trade, that is engaged in carrying our own
productions to foreign markets and bringing back their productions
in exchange ? No, sir ; it is that carrying trade which covers ene
my's property, and carries the coffee, the sugar, and other West In
dia products to the mother country. No, sir ; if this great agricul
tural nation is to be governed by Salem and Boston, New York and
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and Norfolk, and Charleston, let gen
tlemen come out and say so ; and let a committee of public safety be
appointed from these towns to carry on the government. I, for one,
will not mortgage my property and my liberty to carry on this trade.
The nation said so seven years ago ; I said so then, I say so now ; it
is not for the honest carrying trade of America, but for this mush
room, this fungus of war, for a trade, which as soon as the nations of
Europe are at peace will no longer exist — it is for this that the spirit
of avaricious traffic would plunge us into war. I am forcibly struck
on this occasion by the recollection of a remark, made by one of the
ablest, if not the honestest, ministers England ever produced ; I
mean Sir Robert Walpole ; who said that the country gentlemen
(poor, meek souls !) came up every year to be sheared, that they
laid mute and patient whilst their fleeces were taking off, but if he
touched a single bristle of the commercial interest the whole stye was
in an uproar. It was, indeed, shearing the hog — great cry and little
wool. " What is the fact ? Whilst we boast of our honor on this floor,
our name has become a by-word among the nations. Europe, and

234 LIFE OF JOHN. RANDOLPH.
Paris especially, swarms with pseudo-Americans, with Anglo and
Gallo Americans, and American French and English, who have
amassed immense fortunes by trading in the neutral character — by
setting it up to auction, and selling it to the best bidder. Men of
this description — striplings, without connections or character — have
been known to buy rich vessels and their cargoes, in Amsterdam and
Antwerp, and trade with them under the American name to the In
dies. Neutral character has constituted one of the best remittances
for colonial produce, or the goods which purchase it ; and the trade
in this commodity of neutrality has produced a most lucrative branch
of traffic. This it is that has sunk and degraded the American name
abroad, and subjected the fair trader to vexatious seizure and de
tention. " But yet, sir, I have a more cogent reason against going to war,
for the honor of the flag in the narrow seas, or any other maritime
punctilio. It springs from my attachment to the principles of the
Government under which I live. I declare, in the face of day, that
this Government was not instituted for the purposes of offensive war.
No ; it was framed (to use its own language) for the common defence
and general welfare, which are inconsistent with offensive war. I
call that offensive war, which goes out of our jurisdiction and limits,
for the attainment or protection of objects not within those limits and
that jurisdiction. As in 1798, I was opposed to this species of war
fare, because I believed it would raze the Constitution to its very
foundation — -so in 1806, am I opposed to it, and on the same grounds.
No sooner do you put the Constitution to this use — to a test which
it is by no means calculated to endure, than its incompetency to such
purposes becomes manifest and apparent to all. I fear, if you go
into a foreign war, for a circuitous, unfair foreign trade, you will
come out without your Constitution. Have you not contractors
enough in this House ? or do you want to be overrun and devoured
by commissaries, and all the vermin of contract ? I fear, sir, that
what are called the energy men, will rise up again — men who will
burn the parchment. We shall be told that our Government is too
free, or, as they would say, weak and inefficient — much virtue, sir,
in terms ; that we must give the President power to call forth the
resources of the nation — that is, to filch the last shilling from our
pockets, or to drain the last drop of blood from our veins. I am

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 235
against giving this power to any man, be he who he may. The
American people must either withhold this power, or resign their
liberties. There is no other alternative. Nothing but the most im
perious necessity will justify such a grant ; and is there a powerful
enemy at our door ? You may begin with a First Consul. From that
chrysalis state he soon becomes an emperor. You have your choice.
It depends upon your election whether you will be a free, happy, and
united people at home, or the light of your executive majesty shall
beam across the Atlantic, in one general blaze of the public liberty.
" But, sir, it seems that we, who are opposed to this resolution, are
men of no nerve — who trembled in the days of the British treaty —
cowards, I suppose, in the reign of terror. Is this true ? Hunt up
the journals — let our actions tell. We pursue our old, unshaken
course. We care not for the nations of Europe, but make foreign
relations bend to our political principles, and serve our country's
interests. We have no wish to see another Actium, or Pharsalia, or
the lieutenants of a modern Alexander playing at piquet, or all-fours,
for the empire of the world. 'Tis poor comfort to us to be told that
France has too decided a taste for luxurious things to meddle with
us ; that Egypt is her object, or the coast of Barbary, and, at the
worst, we* shall be the last devoured. We are enamored with
neither- nation. We would play their own game upon them — use
them for our interest and convenience. But, with all my abhorrence
of the British Government, I should not hesitate between Westmin
ster Hall and a Middlesex jury, on the one hand, and the wood of
Vincennes and a file of grenadiers, on the other. That jury trial
which walked with Home Tooke, and Hardy through the flames of
ministerial persecution, is, I confess, more to my taste than the trial
of the Duke d'Enghein."
But we must forbear any further quotations from Mr. Randolph's
speeches against Gregg's resolutions. There were two of them, de
livered on the 5th and 6th of March. They were not merely elo
quent and forcible in their expression, but display a comprehensive
knowledge of our foreign relations, and a deep insight into the
motives of men who foment discord between nations that should
be at peace with each other. They are patriotic in their tone,
and show a warm devotion to the Constitution and the Union, and a
profound comprehension of those principles which alone can preserve

236 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
them in their integrity. While we forbear further quotation, we
feel constrained to give the substance of Mr. Randolph's views on the
questions therein discussed.
This was an important crisis, not only in his own history, but in
that of the country. This was the beginning of a series of measures
that separated Mr. Randolph from his old political associations,
and that finally involved the country in a disastrous war. The
party heats and animosities that rankled in the bosoms of men at
that day have all died away. Let impartial history speak the truth,
and do justice to one whose name has long been calumniated. We
shall give facts as they are condensed from his own speeches, and
leave the world to judge how far he acted as a zealous patriot, an
honest man, and an enlightened statesman.
It was notorious, says Mr. Randolph, that in regard to the course
to be pursued towards Great Britain, no opinion was expressed by
the members of the Cabinet, in their collective or individual capaci
ties. On the contrary,, the President frequently declared, without
reserve, that he had no opinion on the subject. Similar declarations
were made by other influential and leading persons presiding over the
executive departments — and it is a fact, that no consultation was held
between them, from the meeting of Congress, on the 3d of Decem
ber, till some time in the month of March. This want of concert
and decision in the administration, might easily have been inferred
(even if there were no other proof of it) from the various, discordant,
and undigested projects which were brought forward in the legisla
ture, and to this want of system must be referred much of the mis
chief which then resulted from this subject, as well as the embarrass
ment which afterwards ensued.
Mr. Randolph was of opinion that the impressment of our sea
men furnished just cause for indignant resentment on our part ; but
he saw no reason for pushing that matter to extremity at that time,
which had not existed in as full force, for the last five years, or even
twelve years. Our government, in consideration of the great num
ber of British seamen in our employment, and of the identity of lan
guage and manners between that class of their subjects, and the
same description of our citizens, but above all, from motives of sound
policy (too obvious to need recapitulation), had hitherto deemed it
expedient to temporize on this interesting and delicate topic— he

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 237
could see no just ground, at present, for departing from this sys
tem — more especially pending an actual negotiation between the two
governments, on the point in dispute. He was of opinion that no
thing should be left undone to accommodate our differences amica
bly, and that no step should be taken which might interrupt or de
feat such a settlement — that even if we should resort to war, it must
eventuate in a treaty of peace, by which the points in controversy
would be adjusted, or left in statu quo ante bellum — and thai after
incurring the incalculable mischiefs of war, the derangement of our
finances and the augmentation of the public debt, to an extent which
could not now be foreseen ; to say nothing of its baneful effects up
on our political institutions, and of the danger which must accrue
from throwing our weight, at this juncture, into the preponderating
scale of Europe ; there was no prospect that we should obtain better
terms at any future pacification, than were attainable at present — at
any rate, he was disposed to give fair play to a fair experiment at ne--
gotiation. But if any active measures were to be taken against
Great Britain, they should be of the most efficient and decisive na
ture. He deprecated half measures, as the most injurious to our
selves which could be adopted.
Whilst the Bill was yet under discussion, the news of the death
of Mr. Pitt, and of the consequent change of ministry, reached the
United States. No circumstance could have afforded a fairer or more
honorable pretext, or a more powerful motive, for suspending our
measures against Great Britain, than this. The late Premier was
known to be decidedly hostile to the institutions, the interests, and
the very people, of America.
No administration, not even that of Lord North himself, had
been or could be more inimical to the United States, than that of Mr.
Pitt. His power, moreover, was connected with, and depended upon,
the continuation and duration of the war. He was succeeded by Mr.
Fox, unquestionably the most liberal and enlightened statesman of
Europe ; the man above all others, beyond the Atlantic, the best af
fected towards the principles of our government, and the illustrious
character by whom it was administered.
Never did a fairer occasion present itself to any nation for chang
ing, without any imputation of versatility, or any loss of honor, the
course which they had chosen to prescribe to themselves. The ex-

238 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
citement of public sentiment, and the measures consequent upon that
excitement, might, fairly and honorably, have been referred to the
known character of the late Premier, the pupil of Dundas, and the
disciple of Charles Jenkinson ; and the United States might have
awaited, in a dignified and imposing inactivity, the manifestation of
a different sentiment by the new ministry. But the new leaders of
the House of Representatives were men who soared above, or skim
med below, all considerations of time, place, and circumstance — they
gloried in their ignorance of men and things in Europe, and boasted
that their policy should not be modified by any change in the aspect
of affairs at home, or abroad — and in the pursuit of an abstract me
taphysical ignis fatuus, they did not hesitate to embark the best in
terests of the Union.
Against these measures, Mr. Randolph further objected, that dur
ing the '¦'¦five months which our ministers had spent in fruitless dis
cussion at Madrid," it had entered into the head of nobody to sug
gest any proposition of a coercive nature in relation to Spain, and
that, even after the total failure of that negotiation, no such measure
had been proposed — that Great Britain had indeed impressed our
seamen, and advanced certain injurious principles of national law,
which, if carried into their full extent, would materially affect our
commerce ; but that Spain, after having refused to make good her
solemn stipulations to compensate us for former spoliations commit
ted on our commerce, had " renewed the same practices during the
present war?1 She had not, it was true, impressed our seamen, but
her cruisers had '¦'¦plundered and sunk our vessels, and maltreated
and abandoned their crews in open boats, or on desert shores, without
food or covering." Her Courts of Admiralty had, indeed, advanced
no " new principles of the law of nations," but they had confiscated
our ships and cargoes, without the pretext of principles of any sort,
new or old. She had, moreover, insulted our territory, violated the
property and the persons of our citizens, within our acknowledged
limits, and insolently rejected every overture to accommodation.
With Spain, all our attempts to negotiate had failed — with Great
Britain, we had a negotiation actually pending, and which the dis
patches of our minister at the Court of London, gave us every rea
son to suppose would have a prosperous issue — and even admitting,
for the sake of argument, that our vote of money to purchase Flori-

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 239
da was, in itself, no derogation from the national honor, inasmuch as
we proposed to receive a fair equivalent for it, yet, having refused to
take any coercive measures for the unparalleled indignities of Spain,
who had peremptorily rejected all our propositions for pacific accom
modation, how could we, with any face of impartiality towards the
belligerent powers, assume this elevate^ tone towards Great Britain ?
Mr. Randolph further declared, that the proposed measure was, in it
self, inefficient to every valuable purpose — that its sole operation
would be to pique the pride and rouse the resentment of our adver
sary, and whilst it indicated a strong spirit of hostility on our part,
would afford her a fair opening to strike the first effectual blow — that
it was indeed showing our teeth, without, at the same time, daring to
bite — that Great Britain would have, until the next session of Con
gress, ample time to devise means for annoying us in the most effective
manner, and that, meanwhile, she might withdraw her property from
our grasp, and guard every valuable point from our attack. He con
jured the House not to suffer themselves, from the honest prejudices
of the revolution, from their ancient partiality to France, and their
well-grounded antipathy to England, to be legislated into a war,
which would involve the best interests of their country.
Another strong objection to the non-importation bill arose from
its bearing the aspect (especially when taken in conjunction with
our recent conduct towards Spain and France) of a disposition on
our part to aid the views of the French governement in cramping
the navigation and destroying the manufactures of Great Britain.
This constituted one principal source of animosity between those
rival nations, and the American government could perhaps take no
step which would so strongly excite the resentment, of the British
ministry. The prompt and decisive conduct of that ^government
towards Prussia, so soon as she manifested a disposition to come
into the views of France on this subject, forms the best commentary
upon this opinion, and the sudden change in the tone of Mr. Fox
towards the United States is no bad criterion of its truth.
When Mr. Randolph declared, that if any coercive measures
were to be pursued towards Great Britain they should be of the
most energetic stamp, and mentioned an embargo as that which he
deemed the most efficient in the outset, he was asked by some
" why he did not move such a proposition ?" and they declared at

240 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
the same time, that if he would bring forward the measure, they
would support it. To this he answered : That he wished to try the
fair experiment of negotiation in the first instance — that he deemed
it impolitic, pending that negotiation, to take any step that might
defeat it — and that it was astonishing to him, that gentlemen who
had remained entirely passive under the aggressions of Spain, who
had refused even to concur in measures of self-defence against her
inroads — made too after a peremptory rejection of every overture
to accommodation, should advocate an opposite course towards
another power, with whom we were at that moment actually treating.
Mr. Randolph's powerful opposition was so far successful as to
defeat Gregg's resolution, which contemplated a total suspension of
commercial intercourse between the two countries. Another was
introduced, prohibiting only certain enumerated articles of British
manufacture, and passed by a large majority. Eighty-seven re
publicans voted for these restrictive measures, while only eleven
republicans and the whole body of federalists, being but four and
twenty in all voted against them.
The Act passed by Congress, it was said by the friends of it,
was the first leading step in a system of measures well calculated to
awaken England from her delusive dreams ; and that it was
expressly adopted as a measure equally fitted for producing a
change in her conduct, or for standing as a part of our permanent
commercial regulations. Here the reader will observe was the be
ginning of those measures, which if not designedly, indirectly fos
tered the manufactures of the country (by prohibiting importation)
at the expense of its agriculture and commerce.
How far this non-importation scheme of the Legislature was
likely to influence the minds of the British Cabinet, may be seen
from the following extract taken from an essay styled " Observations
on Randolph's Speech," and written by the most eminent British
writer of the day, in immediate connection too with the ministry,
and well possessed of their views — no less a personage than the au
thor of " War in Disguise," a book that took all Mr. Madison's
learning and ability to give a plausible answer to. The author is
expressly recommending to the British minister, to send an envoy to
the American Government to treat for an adjustment of differences.
He oonoludes thus : " The only objection I can possibly imagine to

DIFFICULTIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 241
arise against this expedient is, from the passing of the limited non
importation bill, the fate of which is yet unknown, and which is
represented as containing a clause, making its operation depend
either on the fiat of the executive government, or on that of its
minister in this country ; or, as other accounts intimate, on the bare
event of our refusing immediate compliance with the demands of
the American government.
" Now such a bill either has, or has not been passed by the Con
gress. In the latter case, the difficulty will not arise ; but in the
former, I hesitate not to say, that it makes your compliance, consist
ently with any regard to the dignity and honor of this great nation,
absolutely impossible.
" What ! Is a rod to be put into the hands of a foreign minister,
to whip us into submission ; and are we broadly and coarsely to
sell our maritime rights, for the sake of passing off a little haber
dashery along with them !
" Are we to make a lumping pennyworth to the buyers of our
leather wares, our felt and tin wares, and the othor commodities
enumerated in this insolent bill, by tossing our honor, our justice,
and our courage also into the parcel ! ! I would not consent to
disparage even the quality of our manufactures, much less of our
public morals, by so shameful a bargain.
" No, sir ! if Mr. Monroe is indeed instructed and empowered to
treat with us in this humiliating style of huckstering diplomacy, a
new reason arises for delay, and for treating beyond the Atlantic.
" Let the threatened prohibition take place. Our hats, our shoes,
and our tea-kettles, must find some other market for a few months ;
unless the American merchants should be impatient enough to im
port them by smuggling, into that country, in the mean time ; which,
I doubt not, they will, in a more than usual abundance. Perhaps
when our minister arrives, the advanced price of British goods, and
the loss of the duties upon them, may form an argument of some
weight in our favor."

vol. i. 11

242 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.

CHAPTER XXXI.
CLOSING SCENE.
In looking over the House of Representatives of the ninth Congress,
who had devolved on them the important duty of giving the first im
pulse and direction to the policy of the country in regard to foreign
nations, at this critical period, when the powers of Europe, not
content with destroying one another, seemed to be aiming at
the commercial and political annihilation of this transatlantic re
public also, we are struck with the very common and unimportant
characters of which it was composed. There were, doubtless, some
modest and retiring men, of sound judgment, who were content to
give their vote in silence, and to pass their opinions on men and things
around them without giving the world the benefit of their wisdom-
But all those who were most prominent in the lead of affairs, were
without reputation, without political experience or information, the
mere hacks of a party, possessing none of the qualities of head or
heart that constitute the statesman, filled at the same time with all
the narrow conceptions and the intolerance of political bigotry. The
reputation of not one has survived the age in which he lived. The
world is none the wiser for what they have said or done. Their
names, with all their acts, have gone down to oblivion. Such men
require a head to think for them ; without knowledge, or indepen
dence of character, they needed a leader to guide and to instruct them
in their duty. Coming into office under the auspices of Mr. Jeffer
son, his opinion was law to their understanding, his will the harmo
nizing agent to all their actions. The true character of the repre
sentative office, and the delicate relationship existing between that
and the Executive, was beyond their conception ; and they made a
boast and a virtue of their unbounded confidence in the source of all
power and patronage. In the hands of a virtuous President, these
men were the confiding representatives without question to approve
his measures ; in the hands of a corrupt and ambitious aspirant, they
would have been the subtle tools to enregister his edicts of usur
pation or oppression. Fortunately for the country, Mr. Jefferson

CLOSING SCENE. 243
was a pure patriot and an honest man ; he seemed to have no other
wish but the good of his country. And, perhaps, it was a conscious
ness of this fact that made his followers place such implicit reliance
on the propriety and the wisdom of whatever he did. What is blind
fidelity to the leader of an opposition, will soon be converted into
corrupt adulation to the bountiful dispenser of all honors and re
wards. An honest coincidence of opinion will be the source of alle
giance in the one case ; but a base affinity for the loaves and fishes
will be the means of cohesion in the other. Corruption follows pow
er ; and the rapacious and the profligate, like sharks in the sea, are
sure to swim in the wake of the rich freighted argosy of state.
The proceedings of Congress, in regard to our foreign relations,
furnish a fruitful commentary on the facility with which men will sur
render their opinions and their consciences into the keeping of a
popular leader ; and the readiness with which bodies of men, in a
corporate capacity, will do an act that would disgrace an individual
of common respectability. As to these foreign affairs, so complica
ted and so critical, the President had no plan to propose. On this
subject, above all others, he had a right to, give a direction to the acts
of the legislature ; the treaty-making power belonged to him and to
the Senate. He did not comply with the Constitution ; he in
formed them of the facts in his possession, but did not recommend
what should be done. He had no well-digested plan, on which he
was willing to stake his reputation as a statesman ; but he stimula
ted the legislature, by an expression of his secret wishes, to do those
things which he was not willing to assume the responsibility of re
commending. This was certainly degrading the representative body
to a menial purpose. But they were wholly unconscious of the part
they were made to act ; and when the proud and independent spirit
of their leader rose in rebellion, they sought to hunt him down like
some wild beast that had broken into the quiet close of a browsing
herd. But in justice to these men, it must be conceded, that it was
not so much the acts of Mr. Randolph on the Spanish question that
offended them, as the bitter and sarcastic words used by him on all
occasions towards some of those who professed to belong to the same
party, and claimed to be his political friends. It is true, he did not
mince his words, and in the heat of debate, he spoke the plain. truth
in strongest terms. There was no diplomatic ambiguity about him;

244 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
and often his blunt directness of expression gave offence where it was
not intended. But possessing, as he did, a keen insight into the mo
tives of men ; having a high sense of the dignity and purity of the
representative character, and a strong disgust for selfishness and
grovelling meanness in those who should be patterns of truth and
nobleness, he was unsparing in his denunciations of men who, under
the guise of republicanism, had crept into official places for no other
purpose but to rob the treasury. And it must be confessed that
there were not a few of this class to be found in all the departments
of government. The Yazoo speculation, Proteus-like, had assumed
every shape by which it could glide into the councils of the nation,
and find favor in the eyes of the people ; it was the dry-rot of the
body politic, that secretly consumed the very joints of its massive
timbers. A member of the President's cabinet, as we already know,
was the. Hercules on whose shoulders was upreared this vast fabric
of speculation ; the boundless patronage of his office was prostituted
to his purposes ; and he insolently boasted of the means that he
used and the triumph he anticipated over the public virtue. There
were many post-office contractors in the House of Representatives ;
the evil had grown to such an extent that Randolph moved an amend
ment to the Constitution, prohibiting all contractors from holding a
seat on the floor of Congress. " I have said, and I repeat it," said
Mr. Randolph, " that the aspect in which this thing presents itself
would alone determine me to resist it. (The Yazoo petitioners.) In
one of the petitioners I behold an executive officer, who receives and
distributes a yearly revenue of three hundred thousand dollars,
yielding scarcely any net profit to the government — a patronage
limited only by the extent of our country. Is this right ? Is it
even decent ? Shall political power be made the engine of private
interest? Shall such a suspicion tarnish your proceedings? How
would you receive a petition from a President of the United States,
if such a case can be supposed possible ? Sir, I wish to see the same
purity pervading every subordinate branch of administration, which
I am persuaded exists in its great departments. Shall persons hold
ing appointments under the great and good man who presides over
our counsels, draw on the rich fund of his well-earned reputation, to
eke out their flimsy and scanty pretensions? Is the relation in
which they stand to him to be made the cloak and cover of their dark

CLOSING SCENE. 245
designs ? To the gentleman from New-York, who takes fire at every
insinuation against his friend, I have only to observe on this subject,
that what I dare say, I dare to justify. To the House I will relate
an incident how far I have lightly conceived or expressed an opinion
to the prejudice of any man. I owe an apology to my informant for
making public what he certainly did not authorize me to reveal.
There is no reparation which can be offered by one gentleman and
accepted by another that I shall not be ready to make him, but I feel
myself already justified to him, since he sees the circumstances under
which I act. A few evenings since a profitable contract for carrying
the mail was offered to a friend of mine, who is a member of this
House. You must know, sir, the person so often alluded to, main
tains a jackal; fed not, as you would suppose, upon the offal of
contract, but with the fairest pieces in the shambles ; and at night,
when honest men are abed, does this obscene animal prowl through
the streets of this vast and desolate city, seeking whom he may tam
per with. Well, sir, when this worthy plenipotentiary had made his
proposal in due form, the independent man to whom it was addressed,
saw at once its drift. ' Tell your principal,' said he, ' that I will
take his contract, but I shall vote against the Yazoo claim, notwith
standing.' Next day he was told that there had been some misun
derstanding of the business, that he could not have the contract, as
it was previously bespoken by another.
" Sir, I well recollect, when first I had the honor of a seat in this
House, we were then mesibers of a small minority — a poor forlorn
hope — that this very petitioner appeared at Philadelphia on behalf
of another great land company on Lake Erie. He then told us, as
an inducement to vote for the Connecticut reserve (as it was called)
that if that measure failed, it would ruin the republicans and the
cause in that State. You, sir, cannot have forgotten the reply he re
ceived : ' That we did not understand the republicanism that was to
be paid for ; that we feared it was not of the right sort, but spuri
ous.' And having maintained our principles through the ordeal of
that day, shall we now abandon them to act with the men and upon the
measures which we then abjured? Shall we now condescend to means
which we disdained to use in the most desperate crisis of our polit
ical fortunes ? This is indeed the age of monstrous coalitions ; and
this corruption has the qualities of connecting the most inveterate

246 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
enemies, personal as well as political. It has united in close concert
those, of whom it has been said, not in the figurative language of pro
phecy, but in the sober narrative of history, ' I have bruised thy
head and thou hast bruised my heel.' Such is the description of per
sons who would present to the President of the United States an
act, to which, when he puts his hand, he signs a libel on his whole
political life. But he will never tarnish the unsullied lustre of his
fame ; he will never sanction the monstrous position (for such it is,
dress it up as you will), that a legislator may sell his vote, and a
right which cannot be divested will pass under such sale. Establish
this doctrine, and there is an end of representative government ; from
that moment republicanism receives its death-blow.
" The feeble cry of Virginian influence and ambitious leaders, is*
attempted to be raised. If such insinuations were worthy of a reply,
I might appeal to you, Mr. Speaker, for the fact, that no man in this
House (yourself perhaps excepted) is oftener in a minority than I
am. If by a leader be meant one who speaks his opinion frankly and
boldly — who claims something of that independence, of which the
gentleman from New-York so loudly vaunts — who will not connive at
public robbery, be the robbers who they may, — then the imputation
may be just ; such is the nature of my ambition : but in the common
acceptation of words, nothing can be more false. In the coarse but
strong language of the proverb, ' 'tis the still sow that sucks the
draff' " No, sir, we are not the leaders. Them they sit ! and well they
know it, forcing down our throats the most obnoxious measures.
Gentlemen may be silent, but they shall be dragged into public view.
If they direct our public counsels, at least let them answer for the
result. We will not be responsible for their measures. If we do
not hold the reins, we will not be accountable for the accidents which
may befall the carriage.
" But, sir, I am a denunciator ! Of whom ? Of the gentlemen on
my left ? Not at all ; but of those men and their principles whom
the people themselves have denounced ; on whom they have burnt
[their indelible curse, deep and lasting as the lightning from heaven.
" Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that we should not be content to live
upon the principal of our popularity, that we should go on to deserve
the public confidence, and the disapprobation of the gentleman over

CLOSING SCENE, 247
the way ; but if every thing is to be reversed — if official influence is
to become the handmaid of private interest — if the old system is to
be revived with the old men, or any that can be picked up, — I may
deplore the defection, but never will cease to stigmatize it. Never
shall I hesitate between any minority, far less that in which I find
myself, and such a majority as is opposed to us. I took my degrees,
sir, in this House in a minority, much smaller, indeed, but of the
same stamp : a minority, whose very act bore the test of rigorous
principle, and with them to the last I will exclaim, Fiatjustitia ruat
coslum." It is too plainly to be perceived, that a man of this bold, fearless,
and independent character, was not to be tolerated by those who, in
their connection with the government, had far other objects in view
than pure principle or patriotism ; or even by those honest plodding
men, whose blundering mediocrity was awed and overshadowed by his
superior genius. He must be put down ; the fiat, we know, had
already gone forth. Whole States had been traversed last summer
to organize an opposition to him ; he must be silenced, or driven into
the ranks of the federalists, and then nobody will believe what he
says. The plot was now ripe for execution : like Caesar, he was to
fall on the floor of the Senate by the hands of his treacherous friends.
The evening of the 21st of April, on the final adjournment of the
House, was selected as the time — that parting hour, usually given up
to hilarity, to friendship, and an oblivious forgetfulness of all past
animosities, was chosen as the fit occasion to stab to the heart one
who should have been their pride and their ornament — one, whose
only crime was, not that of having conspired against the liberties of
his country, but that of having spoken the truth, and maintained
right. Alas ! for the virtue and the liberties of mankind. This
has most usually been the crime they have ignorantly pursued and
punished. Corruption opens a path where truth finds an impassable
barrier. As the shades of night were gathering over the legislative hall,
while the dim light of the taper served only to make darkness visible,
the conspirators, each with his part well conned and prepared, com
menced the assault on their unsuspecting victim, who sat as a confiding
friend in their midst.
Mr. William Findley, a member from Pennsylvania, rose and ad-

248 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
dressed the House,jwithout provocation, in a strain of gross and inde
cent personal abuse of Mr. Randolph, charging him with having
designs to pull down the present administration. It was plainly to
be perceived, from the language and manner of Findley, that he was
at this time very much intoxicated with strong drink ; and many of
the members then present declared the same opinion. Mr. Findley
was so outrageously indecent in his language, that he was repeatedly
called to order ; but, without regarding the call, he continued to
speak in the same strain, until the House was thrown into a state of
confusion, perhaps never before witnessed.
As soon as Findley sat down, John Randolph rose, and without
taking particular notice of the conduct of the unfortunate old man,
observed, in a manner the most mild, dignified and conciliatory, that
" he had hoped, however we might have differed in opinion on the va
rious subjects discussed this session, we should, on the eve of separa
tion, have forgiven and forgotten any asperities and political animos
ities that had occurred during the session ; and that we should have
parted like men and friends. He had hoped the harmony of that
House would not have been disturbed in the last moments of the ses
sion, either by those who had been habitual declaimers, or by those
who had kept the noiseless tenor of their way ; that contumely and
personal hatred would have been banished from these walls, and that
we should at least have separated in good humor." These remarks
produced a gleam of pleasure on the countenance of almost every per
son present. The language he used and the sentiments he expressed
were so mild and conciliatory, that Mr. Randolph's friends were par
ticularly delighted. Although there was nothing in his language or
manner that would justify in the smallest degree an idea that he in
tended to make any particular or personal allusion, yet the attention
of every member then present was immediately directed to Mr,
Thomas Mann Randolph, the President's son-in-law, who, under the
•impression that John Randolph had made some allusion to him
(which no person present but himself could have supposed), rose, and
in a manner indicative of rage and defiance, vociferated :
" Mr. Speaker, I rise to reply to the gentleman from Virginia. I
will not pretend to vie with him in point of talent or of eloquence;
in these he is far, very far, my superior. This is not the first time
that gentleman has availed himself of the sanction and the presence

CLOSING SCENE. 249
of this assembly, to apply his personal allusions to me, and to make
use of language and conduct here, which he woulcl not do out of this
House. " But, sir, I will tell that gentleman, that however he may be my
superior in talents and eloquence, in patriotism I am his superior ;
yes, sir, his superior. Last year, sir, that gentleman commenced flor
ist, and dealt in flowers and gardening ; I saw him with his spade
and pitchfork, and rake and manure, cultivating his flower-garden.
This, sir, was on the Yazoo question ; and then I perceived the gen
tleman launch forth to sea, without compass or rudder, his masts
broken, his sails tattered and torn, and his vessel in a leaky condi
tion ]_ and, when I saw that, sir, I thought it h.gh time to quit him,
and look out for the land. The gentleman can talk and boast of the
arguments of lead, and powder, and steel ; with these arguments, sir,
I am as expert as himself, and as willing as he may be to use them."
Mr. Thomas Mann Randolph possessed as quick and as fiery a
temper as his kinsman ; but it is impossible to conceive any motive
for the anger, rage, and threatening denunciation exhibited on thid
occasion, unless it was premeditated, and the deliberate part of a con
certed scheme to immolate John Randolph on the altar of party in
tolerance, for having dared to differ from them as to what they chose
to assume and hold forth as the wishes of the Executive. This gen
tleman had taken no part in the previous debate, and it is impossible
that any allusion could have been made to him. As he progressed,
towering in rage, astonishment and regret were exhibited in the^looks
and expressions of the members. This speech had the most strange
and alarming effect. The atmosphere seemed to be surcharged with
electric fire, and another spark would blow it into a flame.
Coming from the quarter it did, and under existing circumstances,
this denunciation excited in the minds of a great part of those pres
ent, sentiments of the most serious nature. Where this thing might
end, they could not conjecture, but felt the most anxious apprehen
sion. That Randolph was to be denounced on this occasion by all
the self-anointed priests of the true faith, and to be cast out of the
synagogue, cannot be questioned. The moment Thomas Mann took
his seat, he was followed by James Sloan, of New Jersey, who read
a speech of about two sheets, closely written, and then delivered it
over into the hands of the printer, who was present to receive it, and
11*

250 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
to publish it. Randolph had not been sparing in his ridicule of the
crude conceptions rjf this man, put forth in a series of resolutions on
the great and grave questions about which the administration itself
had no settled opinion. He called the nostrums of this man
" Sloan's mint-drops." Now was the time for revenge — when the
whole pack was in full cry, and the noble stag at bay. he could
slyly thrust his fangs into his side with impunity. But Randolph
did not wait to hear this well-studied lecture, which for false asser
tions, low scurrility, and personal abuse, cannot be surpassed. If he
heard it at all, it fell senseless on his ears. He was after other
game. A few minutes after T. M. Randolph closed his remarks,
John Randolph left his seat, and desired Mr. Garnett to make a for
mal application to know whether the remarks that had fallen from
that gentleman were addressed to him, and unless he disavowed any
such intention, to demand a meeting. Mr. Garnett seemed deeply
concerned at this request, and endeavored to dissuade his friend from
the step. Randolph replied, that his resolution was irrevocably
taken ; that, perhaps, on the whole, he had cause to be obliged to Mr.
Thomas Mann Randolph ; that he had long been a target for every
worthless scoundrel in that House to aim his shafts at ; and that Mr.
T. M. Randolph, by this unprovoked and studied outrage, had given
him an opportunity to answer them all, in the person of an adversary
who would not disgrace his contest, and under circumstances in
which no possible blame could attach to him. Mr. T. M. Randolph
replied to Mr. Garnett, that unless he had supposed some of Mr.
John Randolph's expressions pointed particularly at him, he should
have thought himself highly culpable in saying what he had ; but
believing that they were intended for him, he felt himself called upon
to say something.
Having acknowledged that his observations were levelled at Mr.
John Randolph, he was told that that gentleman expected to meet
him. He replied that he was ready to do so ; but that if Mr. John
Randolph would only say that he meant no allusion to him, there was
no apology which a man of honor could or ought to make, which he
would not be ready to offer. When Mr. Garnett delivered this mes
sage, Mr. John Randolph observed that the course which Mr. T. M.
Randolph had chosen to pursue precluded any sort of declaration
or acknowledgment on his part ; that Mr. T. M. R. must make repa-

CLOSING SCENE, 251
ration commensurate with the injury aimed at his feelings, or meet
him, and give him satisfaction. Mr. Garnett immediately apprised
the gentleman of these conditions, and requested that he would choose
some friend with whom he might have farther conversation on the
subject. Mr. Coles was called in ; after a short consultation aside with
his friend, he rejoined Mr. Garnett, and said : All that Mr. T. M. R.
desired was an assurance that none of Mr. J. R.'s remarks were in
tended for him, and that he would be willing (in that case) to make
any apology a man of honor could offer. Mr. Garnett replied, that
there was no doubt on his mind, or, he believed, of any other specta
tor, that Mr. T. M. R. had entirely misconceived Mr. J. R.'s expres
sions; but that, after what had passed, Mr. J. R. would make no
statement whatever ; and if Mr. T. M. R. could not reconcile it to him-
s Jf to make a suitable apology, Mr. J. R. would expect Mr. T. M.
R. to meet him either that night (which he preferred) or in the morn
ing. Mr. Coles said he was too much engaged in the public busi
ness at that time to see his friend, but would do it as soon as he could,
and let Mr. Garnett know the result. Mr. Garnett returned with
this statement to Mr. John Randolph, who was in a remote room of
the Capitol, and then took his seat in the House. In a few minutes
afterwards, Mr. Thomas Mann Randolph rose in his place, and said
that he had been assured, by sereral of those who sat near him, that
he had acted in what he had before said under a misapprehension of
Mr. John Randolph's remarks, which none of them understood as
having been intended for him ; that under this misapprehension he -
had acted ; it was the sole cause of his saying what he had said ;
and that he was then persuaded by the assurance of his friends of
his mistake. He regretted very much what he had said, for he had
no disposition to wound any gentleman's feelings who did not intend
to wound his.
Mr. Garnett immediately went to Mr. John Randolph, and stated
that Mr. T. M. R. had made such an apology in the House as Mr.
Garnett conceived, and as every member said who mentioned the sub
ject in his hearing (which several did) was proper . for Mr. T: M. R.
to make and for Mr. J. R. to receive.
Mr. Randolph then requested his friend to say to Mr. Coles that
he received the apology of Mr. T. M. Randolph, and had no further
commands for that gentleman, which Mr. Garnett did just as the
House was breaking up ; and thus the business terminated.

252 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
CHAPTER XXXII.
AARON BURR.
Misfortunes, 'tis said, come not alone ; it proved so with Mr.
Randolph on this occasion. In his retirement at Bizarre, after the
stormy session just passed, and other occurrences of a domestic na
ture, his reflections could not have been of the most pleasant kind.
However conscious of rectitude, the prospect before him must have
been cheerless indeed. For four years he had been the popular lead
er of a triumphant party, who were successfully carrying into opera
tion those great measures of reform that would bring back the Federal
Government to the few simple and general subjects of legislation for
which alone it was designed. Never had a young man risen so ra
pidly or so high in the public estimation. He was the idol of his
party ; his eloquence and his practical wisdom were extolled on
every hand ; and it seemed that there was no station or honor in the
gift of the people that he was not destined to attain. But now the
scene was changed. For having ventured to suggest a plan of action
different from that which seemed to be favored by the Executive, he
was denounced by his old friends, his motives calumniated, and he
was charged with a design of pulling down the present administra-
y tion. How bitter must have been his feelings, at the reflection that
" the highest stretch of patriotism, which could cause a sacrifice of all
"the bright prospects before him for the sake of doing his duty, should
meet with such a reward. But it has always been so. In popular
governments, the intolerant spirit of a triumphant majority will al
low no deviation from that standard of orthodoxy which it has set up
for itself. Freedom of opinion is professed, but you exercise it at
the peril of being banished from the society of those who hold the
reins and prescribe the course that ought to be pursued. There are
so many interested in degrading a popular and leading man in a po
litical party, that it is almost impossible for him ever to retrieve the
first false step. It matters not -how pure his motives, or how far it
may be from his intention to separate from his party friends, yet
there are always enough, from interested motives, to take advantage

AARON BURR. 253
of the slightest deviation from the standard of the majority, to de
nounce him as a deserter, and to drive him into the opposition. Politi
cians, generally, are a heartless and selfish race of men. There are
many honorable exceptions ; but for the most part, their own aggran
dizement is the end of their patriotism ; and they always look with
secret satisfaction on the disappointment or the fall of one whose su
perior talents overshadowed their own self-importance, or whose stern
virtues and integrity stood in the way of the accomplishment of their
selfish ends.
Mr. Randolph never deviated from those principles he professed,
while in a minority ; his party, in many instances, had departed from
them ; he undertook the ungracious task of holding up to view their
own dereliction. Sovereign majorities, as well as sovereign princes,
do not like to hear their own infallibility brought in question — espe
cially will they not tolerate it in one who is a subject of their power.
Mr. Randolph had no faith in the Cabinet, while he retained the ut
most confidence in the Chief Magistrate. He knew that corruption
had crept into the legislature, through the Post Office department
and the Yazoo speculation, and that, as a body, they had surrendered
their independence into the hands of the Executive. His great
crime was that of maintaining the independence of the legislature, as
a co-ordinate department of government. Let posterity judge how
far he should be condemned for such an offence.
During the excited and sleepless hours of the past session, Mr.
Randolph was assailed by his old hereditary disease, in its most ag
gravated form — he was prostrate on his bed for many weeks, racked
with the most excruciating torture. With repeated accumulation of
mental distress, and even of mental agony, caused by domestic occurren
ces, the diseases of the body seemed to keep pace with them, and to pro
duce a degree of suffering such as no mortal man ever endured before.
With heroic fortitude, he suppressed his feelings, and the world,
while they condemned his outbursts of passion, never knew the real
cause of his eccentricities. With a pride and a haughty reserve
rarely equalled, he shut himself up from common observation, and was
content to be the subject of misrepresentation and of malicious cal
umny, without condescending to explanation or reply. To a few
only did he unbosom himself, and expose the wounds of body and
of soul, which he carried, with increased aggravation, to the grave.

254 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Hereafter, the reader will have an opportunity of reading his con
fessions, poured into the bosom of his most intimate friend, and to
weep over the many sufferings he endured, in what he chose to call
his " most unprosperous life."
But there was one occurrence, which took place in the month of
March, that affected Mr. Randolph more than all things else. The
reader is already aware of the great attachment he had formed,
many years ago, to a young lady of remarkable beauty, virtues,
and accomplishments — one I loved more than my oivn soul, or the
God that made it. Many untoward events had prevented their
union, and made it impossible — yet he vainly cherished the hope that
their love, sublimated into a pure, Platonic affection, might last to the
end of life — idle expectation, that no other human being could have
indulged. There was no reason in the indulgence of such a wish ;
but love is blind, tyrannical, and has no reason. The lady thought
proper to unite her fortunes with one in whose society she might hope
to live a more happy life, than in that of ker present most devoted
but unfortunate lover. This event, which took place in the midst of
the excited debates of Congress, and at a moment when his friends
were deserting him on every hand, struck deep into the heart of Mr.
Randolph — he never recovered from it — it had a visible influence on
the whole of his after life. His love, now purified of all earthly
desire, became a genuine worship — the image of the beloved object.
mirrored in the distance, hovered over his path, like some angelic be
ing, whose celestial smiles shed benignest influence on his heart
where all else had grown cold and desolate. Long years afterwards,
' when the body was locked in the fitful embraces of a feverish sleep
and the soul wandering in dreams, that once loved name has been
heard to escape from his lips, in a tone that evinced how deeply the
love of the being who bore it had been engraven on the inmost
sanctuary of his heart. But why do we call up these things ? Read
er ! there was a tragedy in the life of this man, more thrilling than
romance. But this is a subject not for us to deal with ; we promised
not to touch it more ; let it go down to the oblivion of the grave,
and there sleep with those who, in life, endured its agonies. We ask
pardon for having glanced at it here, and for the last time, because it
is impossible to form a correct estimate of the man, without some
knowledge of this occurrence, which constituted one of the most im-

AARON BURR. 255
portant events of his life. Let the skeptical look into his own heart,
and see whether he is capable of elevating his affections above a mere
sensual appetite. If not, then he is no fit judge of that man, whose ex
alted passion, rising above all earthly desire, knows no other bounds but
the infinite longing of an immortal soul.
Let us now proceed with our narrative.
Notwithstanding the harsh and unfriendly manner in which he
had been treated, Mr. Randolph returned to Washington in Decem
ber, with every disposition to harmonize and co-operate with the re
publican party. His difference from them last session, was on a
question of mere expediency — the propriety of which time alone could
prove. Unless they intended to abandon, in the conduct of affairs,
all the principles they professed while in a minority, it was impossi
ble for him to co-operate with any other body of men. However
much he might be irritated in his feelings towards certain individuals,
he did not allow that circumstance so far to influence his judgment as
to cause him to vote for or against a measure merely to be in op
position to them. Accordingly we find him, on most occasions, work
ing in harmony with the friends of the administration ; and there
seems to have been a good feeling restored between him and some of
the leading members. It is true, there was no important question
on which there was likely to be a diversity of sentiment. The non
importation law, by the terms of its enactment, was not to go into
operation till the last of November ; and now that the time had
arrived, it was proposed, on the part of its friends, to postpone it to
a still later period. It was alleged that the British commissioners
desired not a repeal, but a postponement merely, while negotiations
were pending between the two countries. Of course Mr. Randolph
readily united with them in this measure ; and it is not surprising
that he took occasion to intimate that, in his judgment, time had
proved the impolicy and inefficiency of the original enactment;' But
the only question of any importance to which their attention was
called, during the last session of the ninth Congress, was the con
spiracy of Aaron Burr. After his bitter disappointments, both on
the national theatre and in New- York, his adopted State — after the
sudden and irretrievable fall of this ambitious man, and when the
cold eye of neglect had chilled, like a frost, the last spark of patriot
ism in the breast of this legalized murderer, he had gone into the

256 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
great Mississippi Valley, in search of some adventure adequate to his
genius and his ambition. Here, indeed, was a vast field for enter
prise — abundant material for any undertaking that might require
perseverance, privation, and heroic daring — there was also a little
discontent in the popular mind, in some parts of the West, which
might have inspired a less sanguine man than Aaron Burr with hopes
of tampering with their patriotism.
Soon rumors came that this man was planning and organizing
some vast expedition, the precise object of which was the subject only
of conjecture. Whether it was his design to make war on the
Spanish province of Mexico, or whether, in co-operation with Spain
he was aiding her in the long cherished scheme of separating the
western country from the United States, none could tell; but all
agreed that the genius and the resources of the chief director of the
enterprise were adequate to any desperate adventure, whether of
foreign aggression or domestic treason.
The Executive was soon apprised of the state of things, and were
endeavoring to get all the information they could in regard to the
matter. But the newspapers were so full of rumors and statements,
implicating the Spanish Government as the prime mover of this con
spiracy, that Mr. Randolph, after having waited five or six weeks for
official intelligence, at length moved a resolution to call on the Presi
dent for information. We give his speech entire on this occasion, as
it shows his views of the Spanish question twelve months after his
separation from the administration on that subject,
" In the President's Message," said Mr. Randolph, " at the com
mencement of the session, he announced to us as follows :
" ' Having received information, that in another part of the United
States a great number of private individuals were combining toge
ther, arming and organizing themselves, contrary to law, to carry on
a military expedition against the territories of Spain, I thought it
necessary, by proclamation, as well as by special orders, to take mea
sures for preventing and suppressing this enterprise, for seizing the
vessels, arms, and other means provided for it, and for arresting and
bringing to justice its authors and abettors.'
" So long," said Mr. Randolph, " as the illegal movements of these
persons were supposed to be directed against a foreign nation,
although the interest of the United States, and their honor too,

AARON BURR. 257
required that prompt and decisive measures should be taken for sup
pressing their designs, yet I believe there is no gentleman in this
House but will agree with me in the opinion that the United States,
and this House in particular, could not feel so deep and lively an in
terest against a conspiracy of that kind as against one for the subver
sion of the Union, and perhaps of the liberties of those who compose
it. 1 have waited with anxious solicitude for some information in
relation ,to this subject, that might be depended upon — for some
official information. I contented myself for a long time with the
belief, inasmuch as no information kad been given to the House,
that there were imperious reasons connected with the public welfare
which forbade a disclosure ; but the aspect which affairs have taken
on the Mississippi is such, that I can no longer reconcile it to my
sense of duty, as the independent representative of an independent
people, to rest satisfied in that state of supineness and apathy in
which the House has been satisfied to remain for the six or seven
weeks past. Sir, from the information I have been able to collect —
and it is such that I am obliged to place great if not implicit reliance
on it — it does appear to me, that if the government of Spain is in
any wise connected in these measures, it is concerned not as the de
fendant, but as the plaintiff — as the aggressing party, and not as the
party on whom the aggression is made. So long as I was induced to
believe, that by withholding correct information from the Legislature
the substantial interests of the nation would be more essentially sub
served than by laying it before them, so long, though not without
reluctance, I acquiesced in its being withheld. But from the hostile
appearances on the Mississippi, it seems to me that the state of things
is such as requires the most prompt and efficacious measures for
securing the Union. The bubble is said to have burst, and there no
longer remains any reason why the information in the possession of
the Executive ought to be withheld. But to guard against all pos
sible objection, I have endeavored so to frame the motion as to do
away with any objection arising from this consideration. It does
appear — from the newspapers it is true, but under a much higher sanc
tion than is generally attached to information received through such a
channel — it does appear in evidence, under the sanction of an exami
nation before the legislature of Kentucky, that ever since the peace
of 1783, Spain has incessantly labored to detach the western people

258 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
from the Union ; that subsequently to the peace of San Lorenzo she
has carried on intrigues, and in the most faithless manner withheld
acceding to its stipulations, in order to excite a spirit in the western
country subversive of the Union ; that she subsequently made a pro
position of the most flagitious kind to several leading characters in
Kentucky, and as I believe elsewhere. It seems, indeed, that she has
never lost sight of this object ; and I believe she never will lose
sight of it so long as she shall find materials to work upon, or a sha
dow of hope that she will succeed. It appears to me that she has
found those materials ; that they are of the most dangerous nature ;
that they are now in operation ; and that, perhaps, at this moment,
while I am addressing you, at least for a time, the fate of the West
ern country may have been decided.
" Sir, this subject offers strong arguments, in addition to the nume
rous reasons offered at the present session of Congress, to justify the
policy avowed by certain gentlemen during the last session, so highly
condemned ; and if I am correctly informed, the other branch of
the Legislature are now acting on that policy so condemned and
despised. " We have had a bill before us authorizing the President to accept
volunteers. A member of the committee with whom this bill origi
nated, and with whom I have the pleasure of concurring, intimately
connected and domesticated with the Secretary of War, did make a
proposition before that committee, substantially the same with that
rejected the last session — to augment the military forces to meet the
pressing exigencies of the times ; and which I presume must have
had the sanction of that officer. Is there a man in this House who
at this day doubts, that if the Government — I mean the Executive
and Legislature — had taken a manly- and decisive attitude towards
Spain, and instead of pen, ink, and paper, had given men and arms —
' is there a man who disbelieves that not only Spain would have been
overawed, but that those domestic traitors also would have been in
timidated and overawed, whose plans threaten to be so dangerous?
Would any man have dreamed of descending the Mississippi at the
head of an unprincipled banditti, if New Orleans had been fortified,
and strong fortifications erected in its neighborhood ? What did we
then hear ? Money ! dollars and cents ! Is there not now every
reason to believe, especially when we consider the superintendence

AARON BURR. 259
under which the expenses are incurred, that the saving of the cam
paign on the Sabine, and the saving of the costly measures taken by
the commander-in-chief on his own responsibility, would have been
equal to the expense of raising and maintaining for one year the
additional forces proposed at the last session to be raised. There
can be no doubt, but that on the piinciple of economy, without
taking into view the effect on the Union, the United States would
have been gainers. A spectator, not in the habit of reading our pub
lic prints, or of conversing with individuals out of doors, but who
should draw his ideas of the situation of the country from the pro
ceedings of this House during the present session, would be led to
infer that there never existed in any nation a greater degree of peace,
tranquillity, or union, at home or abroad, than in the United States
at this time ; and yet, what is the fact ? That the United States are
not only threatened with external war, but with conspiracies and
treasons, the more alarming from their not being defined. And yet
we sit, and adjourn ; adjourn, and sit; take things as schoolboys,
do as we are bid, and ask no questions. I cannot reconcile this line
of conduct to my ideas of the duty of a member on this floor. Yes,
the youngest member of the federal family has been found to be the
first to ward off the impending danger, while the eldest members are
sleeping, snoring, and dozing over their liberties at home.
Under this view of the subject, I beg leave to offer the following
resolution :
" Resolved — That the President of the United States be and he
is hereby requested to lay before this House any information in pos
session of the Executive, except such as he may deem the public wel
fare to require not to be disclosed, touching any illegal combination
of private,individuals against the peace and safety of the Union, or
any military expedition planned by such individuals against the ter
ritories of any power in amity with the United States ; together with
the measures which the Executive has pursued and proposes to take
for suppressing or defeating the same."
The resolution was carried by a large majority. As more authen
tic news came of the design's and actual movements of the conspira
tors, the country became still more alarmed ; every one of discern
ment saw the danger of this enterprise ; they knew the combustible
materials that artful intriguer had to work upon, and could readily

260 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
perceive how he might take advantage of the unfriendly relations
existing between the United States and Spain, and by the secret aid,
if not the open co-operation of that discontented power, effect a dis
memberment of the Union.
The Senate, in their alarm, went so far as to suspend the " Ha
beas Corpus Act," which is never resorted to except in extreme cases
of danger to the peace and integrity of the country. This act of sus
pension was arrested in the House. Mr. Randolph was most active
and efficient in his opposition : he denounced it as unnecessary, oppres
sive, and tyrannical. Most fortunately it was rejected by the House,
and can never be set up as a precedent.
Aaron Burr, it is well known, was arrested in Alabama, and
brought to trial in Virginia, on the ground that he had levied his
forces and commenced his treasonable acts within the borders of that
State. The trial took place in the city of Richmond, in the month
of May, 1807 ; it excited a great deal of interest, and brought toge
ther many of the most distinguished men of the Union. John Ran
dolph was foreman of the grand jury that brought in a true bill
against Aaron Burr of high treason against his country. It is not
our purpose to go into the details of this trial, or the incidents of the
conspiracy : they belong to the general historian, and must form an
interesting and important chapter in the history of those critical and
eventful times.
m During his sojourn in Richmond on this occasion, Mr, Randolph
formed marly new and valuable acquaintances. Mr. Wirt was at this
time collecting materials for his Life of Patrick Henry. He was
conversing one day on that subject in a company of gentlemen, when
Mr. Tazewell, who was present, said to him : " Mr. Wirt, you should,
by all means, see John Randolph on that subject ; he knows more
of Patrick Henry than any other man now living." Mr. Wirt con
fessed that he was not personally acquainted with that gentleman.
The difficulty was, how to bring them together ; for Tazewell said it
would not do to make a formal introduction, and say, " This is Mr.
Wirt, sir, who is desirous of obtaining from you some materials for
his Life of Henry. In that case Randolph would not open his lips.
However," said he, " I will contrive a meeting." In a few days Mr.
Wirt, was invited to Tazewell's room, where he found Randolph and
other gentlemen assembled. Very soon, in the course of conversa-

AARON BURR. 261
tion, as if by accident, the name of Patrick Henry was mentioned.
Randolph immediately caught up the theme, and delighted the
company with a graphic account of his personal appearance, his
habits, and his eloquence. He frequently rose from his seat, and
repeated passages from the speeches, and imitated the peculiar style
and fervid manner of the renowned orator. Wirt was so much
pleased, that when he retired he wrote a note to Mr. Randolph,
thanking him for the rich treat he had given him, and begging that
he would put down in writing the substance of what he had
said. Randolph now saw the trick that was played upon him. He
immediately went to his friend Tazewell, and chided him soundly for
having made an exhibition of him in that way. Tazewell turned it
off as a pleasant joke ; nevertheless, the biographer of Patrick Henry
never got from that quarter any additional materials for the subject
of his memoir. It was on this occasion also that Mr. Randolph first
made the acquaintance of Dr. John Brockenbrough, who from that
time to the day of his death was the most intimate friend of his bo
som — the friend to whom he daily unfolded without reserve or fear
of exposure the inmost thoughts and feelings of his heart. The doc
tor was a member of the grand jury, and the acquaintance commenced
in a way peculiar to John Randolph. " I did not seek his acquaint
ance," says the doctor, " because it had been impressed on my mind
that he was a man of a wayward and irritable temper ; but as he knew
that I had been a school-fellow of his brothers, Richard and The-
odoric (while he was in Bermuda for the benefit of his health), he
very courteously made advances to me to converse about his brothers,
to whom he had been much devoted, and ever afterwards I found him
a steady and confiding friend. He frequently passed much of his
time at my house, and was the most agreeable and interesting inmat6
you can imagine. No little personal attention was ever lost on himj
and he rendered himself peculiarly a favorite with my wife by his
conversation on belles-lettres, in which he was so well versed ; and he
read (in which he excelled) to her very many of the choice passages of
Milton and Shakspeare. Mr. Randolph also had another remarkable
quality, irritable and sensitive as he was ; when alone with a friend
he would not only bear with patience, but would invite a full expres
sion of his friend's opinion on his conduct, or acts and sentiments,
on any subject, either private or public."

262 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
EMBARGO — THE ILIAD OF ALL OUR WOES.
By Jay's treaty of 1794, our difficulties with Great Britain,
though not settled, were quieted for the time being ; while in conse
quence of the same cause we were nearly involved in an open rup
ture with France.
The change of administration and the convention, with France
in 1800 restored a more friendly feeling between the two repub
lics — and the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 was accomplished with
more ease than Mr. Jefferson himself could have expected. Our
commerce for the first four years of the new administratioL was
exceedingly prosperous — and the management of our domestic
affairs was conducted on strictly republican principles. Had peace
continued in Europe during the remainder of his term, Mr. Jeffer
son's would have been a most brilliant and successful career. But
after the rupture of the treaty of Amiens and the renewal of hos
tilities between the great belligerent powers, an unfavoralle change
took place in our foreign relations.
By a series of extraordinary victories, Great Britain had annihi-
Wted the oombined fleets of France, Spain and Holland, and made
herself undisputed mistress of the sea. The trade between these
oountries and their colonies, their navies being destroyed, was now
for the first time opened to foreign bottoms. The United States
were the only people that could avail themselves of this advantage.
Their commercial marine in consequence was greatly enlarged, and
; commerce itself was more than ever expanded and prosperous.
But England soon perceived that so long as this kind of traffic
was permitted she would derive no advantage from her naval victo
ries. She commenoed a series of measures to put an end to it.
Bonaparte, in the mean time, having elevated himself to the
imperial throne of France, had conquered nearly all Europe,
driven the Russian bear baok into his polar regions, and was now
seriously contemplating the destruction of England as the only
barrier in the way of universal conquest. But sad experience had

EMBARGO. 263
taught him that the only way in which he could reach that sea-girt
empire was through her manufactures and commerce. His restric
tive system on the continent was designed to sap and undermine
these two sources of English wealth and power. In their gigantic
efforts to destroy each other, these great belligerents paid no respect
to neutral rights or to the laws of nations — might became right, and
Robin Hood's law of the strongest was the only available rule.
Whatever could affect the other injuriously was unhesitatingly
adopted without regard to the effect it might have on the rights of
neutral parties. They even resolved there should be no neutrals in
the contest ; and as the United States were the only independent
power left, this warfare on their commerce was intended to force
them into the controversy on the one side or the other.
The first act of hostility was commenced by Great Britain on the
16th May, 1806 : the British government, by an order of the King in
council, decreed that all the rivers and ports from Brest to the Elbe
(being about a thousand miles of sea-coast) should be considered in
a state of blockade. Where a port is actually blockaded by an
adequate force, any vessel attempting to enter is liable to be captur
ed by the besieging squadron, and to be condemned as lawful prize.
But where no fleet was stationed on the prohibited coast, and the
blockade merely consisted in a decree of the government, all vessels
laden or sailing for the ports decreed to be in a state of siege, were
liable to be captured and condemned wherever found. This was re-1
garded as a gross violation of neutral rights; and on the 21st
November, Bonaparte commenced his acts of retaliation. After charg
ing England with disregarding the law of nations and the rights of
neutrality, and with deckripg places in a state of blockade before
which she had not a ship, he declared all the British Isles in a
state of blockade, and prohibited all trade and commerce with^
them. He provided also in the decree (Berlin decree) for the oap-
ture and condemnation of English produce and manufactures, and
prohibited all neutral ships coming direct from England or the
English colonies, or having been there, from entering the ports of
France. By this decree all commerce between England and the conti
nent and between the United States and England was intended to
be cut off. Any neutral vessel (and there were none but those be-

264 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
longing to citizens of the United States) sailing for England, or
from an English port to the continent, was subject to capture and
condemnation. The French minister, in consequence of a remon
strance on the part of the United States, gave it as his opinion, that
the decree of blockade would be so qualified by the existing treaty
as not to operate on American commerce. Not much respect, how
ever, was paid to this opinion by French cruisers ; and in September
1807 the decree was ordered to be fully enforced against all neutrals.
In the mean time a negotiation was going on between the com
missioners of England and the United States. On the 30th of
December, 1806, a treaty was signed settling amicably, if not satis
factorily, all the difficulties between the two nations. But Bona
parte's Berlin decree having come to their knowledge, the British
commissioners, in a note delivered by order of the King, declared to
the American commissioners, that if France should execute that
decree, and the United States acquiesce in it, the British govern
ment would hold themselves discharged from the treaty and issue
retalia%ry orders against neutral commerce with France. Had the
treaty .been ratified on that condition, it would have pledged the
United States to such a co-operation with Great Britain against
France, as must have ended in hostilities with the one and alliance
with the other. This was the object of England — but Mr. Jefferson
was determined if possible to continue in his position of neutrality.
The treaty was received before the adjournment of Congress, the 4th
March, 1S07 ; but he boldly suppressed it, and would not even sub
mit it to the Senate for their consideration. He remembered . too
well the effect of Jay's treaty on the public mind to venture one
himself. A total surrender of all her claims^y Great Britain at that
time would not have been acceptable, because it would have forced
the United States into an alliance with England, contrary to the
popular sentiment, which was decidedly in favor of the French cause.
In times of peace that treaty would have been favorably received,
"but under existiug oiroumstances. the President had no intention of
suffering himself to be tmttj/foundei-ed as his predecessors had been.
Mr. Monroe, the principal negotiator, was much offended at the
rejection or rather unceremonious suppression of his treaty ; he had
hoped to gain much credit by this act of pacification.
1 n tlie moan time the affair of the Chesapeake took place, which

EMBARGO. 265
greatly inflamed the public mind. A British squadron it seems was
lying near the mouth of Hampton Roads, in Lynnhaven Bay ; sev
eral sailors deserted and took refuge on board the American frigate
Chesapeake, then in the port of Norfolk, fitting out for sea, the sail
ors were demanded, but were refused to be given up on the ground
that they were American citizens. As the Chesapeake, on her des
tined voyage, passed out of the Capes, she was followed by a Brit
ish vessel detached from the squadron for that purpose ; so soon as
the Chesapeake got out of neutral waters into the ocean, she was
fired upon, her hull and rigging were much injured and several per
sons were killed ; she was boarded, the sailors recaptured, and some
of them were put to death. This gross outrage, though unauthor
ized and disavowed by the government, had an unhappy effect on the
public mind in the United States. A spirit of revenge seized the
people ; and although England sent over a special minister to settle!
the difficulty, a slight punctilio in the forms and etiquette of diplomacy
was seized upon as a pretext to prevent any advancements or ex
planations on the part of the British envoy.
Such was the situation of affairs, when, on the 11th of November,
1807, before the Berlin decree had been enforced against American
vessels, and while the government had reason to hope it would not be
enforced, Great Britain executed her threat intimated at the signing
of the treaty. By an order in council (with a preamble, charging
France with a want of respect to the laws of nations and rights of
neutrality), it was decreed "that all the ports and places of France
and her allies, or any other country at war' with his majesty, and all
other ports and places in Europe from whiqh, although not at war
with his majesty, the British flag is excluded, and all ports and
places in the colonies belonging to his majesty's enemies, shall from
henceforth be subject to the same restrictions, in point of trade and
navigation, (with certain exceptions,) as if the same were actually
blockaded by his majesty's naval forces, in the most strict and vigor
ous manner.
By these acts of England and France, professing to be acts of re
taliation, and not at all in a spirit of hostility to the United States,
the neutral commerce of America was entirely destroyed. Not a ves
sel could sail to Europe or to England, to the vast colonial regions of
North and South America, and the East and West Indies, without
vol. i. 12

266 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
being subject to capture and condemnation. The trade of the whole
world, in fact, was interdicted, and could not be carried on without
the risk of forfeiture. Both belligerents, however, had distinctly in
timated that if the United States would side with them, every advan
tage should be given to their commerce. But this is what they did
not intend to do ; they did not mean to surrender all the advantages
they had hitherto enjoyed from their neutral position, if it could be
avoided. To side with England was war with France — with France
was war with England. Mr. Jefferson was not prepared for either
alternative. What was to be done ? Commerce, left thus exposed,
must be ground into powder between the upper and nether millstone,
and be scattered as chaff before the winds of heaven. The Presi
dent advised a dignified retirement from the ocean, until the storm
should have passed over. For the first time since our difficulties
with foreign nations, he took the responsibility of advising a definite
course of action. In a secret message to Congress, about the 19th of
December, 1807, he recommended that an embargo should be laid on
all American vessels. In a few days a bill to that effect was passed
into a law : all American vessels were prohibited, under high penal
ties, from sailing to foreign ports, or from port to port within the
United States, without license.
The measure of an embargo was at first advocated by Mr. Ran
dolph. He introduced the resolution, in accordance with the Presi
dent's message ; but the bill which was finally adopted, originated in
the Senate ; it contained provisions that he could not approve, and he
opposed it on its passage. This is given as an instance of Mr.
Randolph's fickleness and want of object in his parliamentary course.
The debates were conducted in secret — in fact, the bill was hurried
through the forms of legislation, with scarcely any debate. We do
not know, therefore, what was said on the occasion, and are left to
infer the grounds of Mr. Randolph's opposition to the bill, from his
general views on the subject of an embargo. He approved of such a
step in the beginning, as a war measure. An embargo of sixty or
ninety days, collecting and protecting all our resources, followed by a
declaration of war, at the end of that period, against that one of the
belligerents whose restrictive course manifested the strongest spirit of
hostility, would have fulfilled Mr. Randolph's idea of such a meas
ure. But such was not the intention of the friends of the adminis-

EMBARGO. 267
tration, in passing the act now under consideration. It was designed
as a measure to be permanent for an indefinite period. France and
England were told that it was not conceived in a spirit of hostility
to them, but was merely intended as a municipal regulation. The
truth was, however, and they did not fail to perceive it, that the whole
object of withdrawing our commerce from the ocean, was to operate
on those two nations. It was intended to starve France and her de
pendencies, and to break England, unless they would abandon their
absurd pretensions over the rights of neutral nations. But when this
happy result would take place, it was impossible to tell. For a meas
ure of this kind to come home to the bosom and the business of a
great nation, must necessarily take a very long time. Indeed, it was
reasonable to suppose that the desired object never could be accom
plished in that way. The resources of England and of France were
too great and too varied, to be seriously affected by a suspension of
even the whole of American commerce. The event proved what, it
would seem, a little forethought ought to have anticipated. After the
embargo had been in operation for twelve months, those two nations
were no nearer being forced into terms than they were at first ; while
their spirit of hostility was greatly exasperated.
But what effect did the measure have on affairs at home — on the
character of our own people ? Here, it was disastrous in the extreme.
An embargo is the most -heroic remedy that can be applied to state
diseases. It must soon run its course, and kill or cure in a short
time. It is like one holding his breath to rush through flame or me-
phitic gas : the suspension may be endured for a short time, but the
lungs at length must be inflated, even at the hazard of suffocation.
Commerce is the breath that fills the lungs of a nation, and a total
suspension of it is like taking away vital air from the human system ;
convulsions or death must soon follow. By the embargo, the farmer,
the merchant, the mechanic, the capitalist, the ship-owner, the sailor,
and the day-laborer, found themselves suddenly arrested in their daily
business. Crops were left to rot in the warehouses ; ships in the
docks ; capital was compelled to seek new channels for investment,
while labor was driven to every shift to keep from starvation.
Sailors, seeing the uncertain continuation of this state of things,
flocked in great numbers to the British navy. That service which, in
former years, they most dreaded, necessity now compelled them to

268 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
seek with avidity. Smuggling was extensively carried on through
the whole extent of our wide-spread borders ; the revenue was
greatly reduced ; and the morals of the people were corrupted by
the vast temptations held out to evade the laws. It is difficult to tell
on what classes of the community this disastrous measure did not
operate. On the planting and shipping interest, perhaps, it was most
serious. On the one, it was more immediate , on the other, more
permanent, in its evil consequences.
In cities and commercial regions, capital and labor are easily di
verted from one employment to another. That which to-day is profit
ably engaged in commerce, may to-morrow, if an inducement offers,
be as readily turned into successful manufactures. Not so with the
labor and capital employed in agriculture ; here the change dust be
slow. But with the capital and the kind of labor employed in the
tobacco and cotton planting of the South, no change, to any percepti
ble degree, was possible. The Southern people, being wholly agri
cultural, could live a few years without the sale of their crops ; but
the Northern people, being mainly dependent on their labor and com
merce, could not exist with an embargo of long duration. Hence we
find a patient endurance of its evils on the part of the South, while a
spirit of insurrection pervaded the people of the North. In this rest
less condition, much of their capital and labor were permanently di
rected to manufactures. The bounties offered by a total prohibition
of foreign articles, stimulated this branch of business in a remarkable
degree ; and when the embargo, non-intercourse, and war ceased to
operate as a bounty, they have had to be sustained by heavy duties
imposed on foreign commerce, at the expense of the planting interest
of the South, which is mainly dependent on a foreign market for the
sale of its commodities. Every dollar taken from commerce, and in
vested in manufactures, was turning the current from a friendly into
a hostile channel, to that kind of agriculture which was dependent on
foreign trade for its prosperity. The immediate effect of the embargo
was, to starve New England. Its more permanent consequence has
been, to build it up at the expense of the planting interest of the
South. New England has now two sources of wealth, in her manu
factures and commerce ; while the South have still the only one of
planting tobacco and cotton on exhausted lands, and with a reduced
market for the sale of her commodities.

EMBARGO. 269
It was impossible for Mr. Randolph to advocate such a measure.
He could not foresee all the evils it might entail on his country ; but
his practical wisdom, aided by his deep interest in the welfare of his
constituents, taught him that no good could come out of an embargo
reduced to a system, and made a part of the municipal regulations of
the Government. As the first step towards an immediate prepara
tion for war, he could approve the act ; but as a scheme destined to
act on foreign countries, while it was wasting the resources of Govern
ment, and consuming the substance of the people at home, it met his
decided disapprobation.
Twelve months had now rolled around, and all parties had become
of his opinion. No impression abroad. Nothing but disaster at
home. The legislature of Massachusetts pronounced it an unconsti
tutional act. They were not far from, the truth. For a short period,
and as a war measure, an embargo would be constitutional ; but the
embargo acts adopted from time to time by Congress, and persisted
in for more than a year, were very far from being clearly constitutional.
Massachusetts pronounced them not only unconstitutional, but unjust
and oppressive.
In 1799, when Virginia interposed her State authority, and de
clared the alien and sedition laws unconstitutional, Massachusetts
then said, that the Supreme Court was alone competent to pronounce
on the constitutionality of a federal law. But she now saw the error
and the evil consequences of such a doctrine. The Supreme Court
had declared the embargo acts to be constitutional ; while a sovereign
State, crushed and ruined by the burdens they imposed, saw those
enactments in a very different light. Was she to be silent, and
bear the evils inflicted by those laws, merely because the courts had
pronounced in their favor? By no means. She was one of the
sovereign parties who had ordained the Constitution as a common
government, endowing it with certain general powers for that pur
pose ; and surely, from the very nature of things, she had a right to
say whether this or that law transcended those delegated powers
or not. Whether Massachusetts strictly followed the doctrine of State
rights, as laid down by Mason, Jefferson, and Madison, we pretend
not to say ; but we do say, that she had a right to interpose her au
thority, to pronounce the embargo laws unconstitutional, to show

270 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
their injustice and oppression, and to demand their repeal by instruc
tions to her own senators and representatives. Massachusetts did
interpose ; pronounced her repugnance to the law ; and her will was
respected. Mr. Jefferson might have taken a very different course from the
one pursued by him. He might have said, This disaffection is only
found among the federalists ; they despise State rights, and -have
only resorted to them on this occasion to abuse them ; the people of
Massachusetts are favorable to my administration, and to the ob
noxious law ; my popularity and influence are unbounded in other
sections of the Union ; by persevering a little longer, we shall accom
plish all that was designed by the embargo ; I will therefore disre
gard the clamors of these people, and persist in enforcing the law,
even should it drive them to extremity. But Mr. Jefferson did not
reason in this way. He saw that a sovereign State, through her
regular legislative forms, had pronounced against the law ; it was not
for him to scrutinize the character and composition of that legisla
ture ; it was enough for him to know, that a State had solemnly de
clared the law unconstitutional, unjust, and oppressive. When, in
addition, he was told by a distinguished statesman from Massachu
setts, that a longer persistence might endanger the integrity of the
Union, he unhesitatingly acquiesced in a repeal of the most important
and favored measure of his administration.
What might have been the consequences if Massachusetts had
been driven to extremities, we will not conjecture — we do not reason
from extreme cases. All we have to say is, that so long as the States
have the independence to maintain those rights guaranteed to them
by the Constitution, and that so long as there is patriotism and
virtue in the administration of the Federal Government, there will
never be the necessity of driving the States into those extreme
measures of secession, or nullification.

GUNBOATS. 271
CHAPTER XXXIV
GUNBOATS.
The question may be asked here, Why did Mr. Jefferson make so
little preparation for a war which, sooner or later, seemed to be inevi
table ? To understand his policy, we must first know the political
principles that governed his conduct. He came into power as the
leader of the republican State-Rights party. During the first four
years of his administration, he applied the few simple and abste
mious doctrines of that party most successfully in the management
of our domestic affairs. But now a new and untried scene was opened
before him. Never were the embarrassments of any government in
regard to foreign powers more intricate and perplexing ; and, to
increase his difficulties, he had to deal with the most powerful nations
on earth, who, in their hostility to each other, paid no respect to the
laws of nations or the rights of neutrality. The Constitution was
ordained mainly for the purpose of regulating commerce, foreign and
domestic, and establishing a common rule of action in our intercourse
with other countries. While the States at home preserved their poli
tical existence, retained much of their original sovereignty, were dis
tinct, variant, and even hostile in some of their domestic interests, to
the world abroad they presented but one front. At home each pur
sued its own policy, developed its own internal resources, and was
unconscious of the existence of a common government, save in the
negative blessing that it bestowed upon them of peace with each other
and with the world. They literally fulfilled the spirit of their national
motto, Epluribus unum — at home many, abroad one. It is obvious
that peace must be an essential element in the successful operation
of such a complicated system of government. War of whatever kind,
especially an aggressive war, whether by land or sea, must destroy
its equilibrium, and precipitate all its movements on the common cen
tre, which, by an intense over-action, must finally absorb all counter
vailing influences. Mr. Jefferson was thoroughly penetrated with
the true spirit of our Constitution ; so was John Randolph. These
profound statesmen thought alike on that subject : they differed as to

272 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
•
qertain measures of policy, but not at all in their principles. They
both sought the peace of the country, not only as the best condition
for developing its resources, but as an essential means for preserving
the purity of its institutions. Neither could look with complacency
on a standing army or a large naval establishment. They did not even
consider them as essential in the present emergency, more imminent,
perhaps, than any that could possibly occur at a future period.
Negotiation having failed, and both belligerents still continuing
to plunder our commerce, Mr. Jefferson recommended, as the only
remedy, a total abandonment of the ocean. Mr. Randolph's advice
was to arm the merchant marine, and let them go forth and defend
themselves in the highways of a lawful commerce. As the means of
home defence, Jefferson recommended the construction and equip
ment of gunboats, in numbers sufficient to protect the harbors and
seaports from sudden invasion. Randolph advised to arm the mili
tia, put a weapon in the hands of every yeoman of the land, and fur
nish the towns and seaports with a heavy train of artillery for their
defence. In all this we perceive but one object — a defence of the natal soil
(natale solum) by the people themselves, and a total abstinence from
all aggression. " Pour out your blood," said these wise statesmen to
the people ; " pour out your blood in defence of your borders ; but
shed not a drop beyond." Happy for the country could this advice
have always been followed ! As Randolph foresaw and predicted,
we came out of the war with Great Britain without a constitution ;
mainly to his exertions in after years are we indebted for its restora
tion. The late war with Mexico has engendered a spirit of aggres
sion and of conquest among the people, and has taught the ambitious,
aspiring men of the country, that military fame achieved in an hour
is worth more than the solid reputation of a statesman acquired by
long years of labor and self-sacrifice. Where these things are to end
it does not require much sagacity to foresee. Let the people take
warning in time, and give heed to the counsel of their wisest states
men ; let them dismiss their army and their navy, relieve the coun
try of those burthensome and dangerous accompaniments of a mili
tary government, and trust to negotiation, justice, and their own ener
gies and resources for defence. What was visionary and impracti
cable in the warlike days of Jefferson, is now wholly reasonable and

Missing Page

Missing Page

Missing Page

Missing Page

Missing Page

Missing Page

279
"But John, like water, thou must find thy ' level,'
Those horn-book politicians are the devil,
Some how or other they've so pleased the nation ;
For spite of ' cobweb theories' and ' sharks,'
Russels, Garnetts, Clays and Clarks,
' Strait-jackets,' ' water gruel,' and ' depletion,'
Yes, yes, in spite of all those curious things,
The name of each with glory around us rings,
Whilst thou of even patriotism doubted,
Art on all hands detested — laughed at — ' scouted,'
Nay, many think (though this perhaps is scandal,)
That soon you'll nothing be but plain Jack R  dal."
Many a volley was aimed at his head, and many a valiant pen
was wielded in his defence. He sometimes descended into the lists
himself, and under a borrowed name^hurled his polished and effective
shafts against the exposed and vulnerable points of his adversaries.
Many of the most distingushed men of the State were on his side of
the question ; indeed, it may be said that most of the young men of
talents and independence of character were his admirers and follow
ers. But it soon became manifest that Mr. Monroe would get no
support out of the State of Virginia, and that the contest would be
between Mr. Madison and DeWitt Clinton, of New-York. Many of
the best friends of Mr. Monroe were unwilling to contribute to the
election of Clinton, by a loss of the State of Virginia to his opponent;
they therefore determined, however reluctantly, to cast their votes for
Mr. Madison ; so that when the election came on, the vote for Mon
roe was very thin. It would seem that the Tirtium Quids, with all
their genius, eloquence, and fine writing, had made no impression on
the people. We can well conceive how this exposure of their weak
ness operated on the nerves of those politicians who love always to
be found on the side of the majority. One by one they began to re
cant their heresies, and to fall into the ranks of the administration.
Mr. Monroe became a candidate for the legislature in the county of
Albemarle : he was interrogated on the subject, and professed him
self friendly to the new dynasty ; was elected ; appointed Governor
of the State ; and in due time was placed by Mr. Madison in his
Cabinet. Very soon Randolph was -left with only a few personal and devo
ted friends to stand by him. Those who valued consistency more

280 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
than office, and who regarded it as an act of dishonor to abandon a
friend in his hour of need, still adhered to him ; but the majority of
politicians, who look only to the loaves and fishes, had no hesitation in
making their escape from what they conceived to be a falling house.
This " ratting," as he called it, Mr. Randolph never forgot nor for
gave. His "pride was cut to the quick ; his disgust was unbounded ;
and to the events of this period may be traced much of that bitter
ness of feeling which he manifested towards certain individuals in
after life. Never did he suffer an occasion to pass that he did not
make them feel, by some cutting allusion, his deep indignation. This
seemed to the world a wanton indulgence of a vile, cruel, and sarcas
tic temper : but the parties themselves understood and keenly felt
the meaning of his allusions ; and well did they repay his disgust and
contempt, by a most cordial hatred,
" Why have you not gone to Philadelphia ?" says one of his flat
terers, writing to him about this time — '' every one there whose atten
tion could confer either pleasure or honor was prepared for your
reception. The learning, the genius, and the eloquence of the city,
with all its train of social manners, wit, beauty, gayety and inno
cence, were prepared to spread for you a rich and varied feast of
enjoyment. You have ceased to be the head of a great triumphant
party, but, rely upon it, you are at the head of the taste, feeling and
honor of the nation."
Yet this man in a few years glided into the ranks of the admin
istration — became the secret reviler of one on whom he had bestow
ed the grossest adulation : and finally supported all the Federal
measures of Monroe and John Quincy Adams ; bank, tariff, inter
nal improvements, and whatever else that tended to produce a
strong, magnificent, corrupt, and consolidated government. It is
not surprising that a man of Mr. Randolph's temper, exasperated as
it had been by so many instances of the same kind, could not look
with complacency on such characters ; but he visited as a crime on
the head of the offender that which he should have forgiven as a
weakness of our common nature. He understood mankind too well
not to have known the certain consequences of defeat ; the abdica
ting Emperor at Fontainebleau, when abandoned by all those whom
he had made marshals and princes, might have told him that mis
fortune is like a nipping frost, that scatters the leaves and the

JAMES MADISON. 28l
blossoms, and leaves bare the naked limbs to battle alone with the
rude blasts of winter.
The following extract taken from an unpublished essay, dated
August 31, 1808, will throw much light on the excited and angry
nature of the controversy carried on at that time between the fol
lowers of John Randolph and the adherents of Mr. Madison :
" I addressed you formerly with a view to the approaching presi
dential election ; but before I could recover from the repulse which
I met in my first attempt to approach the people, it was already too
late. Every man had already chosen his part in that drama— many
were already in imagination tricked out in the robes of office in
which they were to assist at the installation of Mr. Madison ; and,
so far as it could depend upon the votes of Virginia, that election
was already decided. The partisans of government have ceased
to bestow their attention upon this subject, and have already turned
it to another. I mean the election of a representative from the
counties of Cumberland, &c. The stormy rage of the presidential
contest has been no sooner hushed, than both the Argus and the
Enquirer have, at once, turned their batteries against the gentleman
who at present represents that district. Writers, scarcely worthy to be
noticed, and whom it would be a disgrace to answer, have hastened
to engage in the meritorious service of removing the only eye that
watches over the administration. Looking forward to the election
of Mr. Madison, they no doubt anticipate much from this at
tempting to destroy the man, before whom, in spite of all the pomp
of office, he would be compelled to feel the intrinsic littleness of his
character. Unworthy as their childish arguments and groundless
assertions are of the poor respect of refutation and contradiction,
they at least remind us of the proverbial truth, ' that straws show
the course of the wind ;' and if I mistake them not, it is not the
only occasion on which they have displayed the properties of the
weathercock. Though their arguments prove nothing, their attempts
at argument prove much. They show the real offence of Mr. R.,
they show the real causes of the clamor which is raised against him.
It is the usual fate of fools and knaves that the weapons which they
pretend to wield, recoil upon their own heads. These men have
endeavored to detract from the merit of Mr. R., but they have
exposed their own weakness ; they have evinced the irreconcileable

282 LIFE °*' JOHN RANDOLPH.
malignity of themselves and their party towards him, at the same
time that they have stated objections, which, if true and well found
ed, as they are false and groundless, would be utterly inadequate to
the production of such an effect ; and they compel us to believe
that there is some other secret cause or motive for their antipathy
to that gentleman, which is not revealed, only because it will not
bear the light. Mr. R's constituents have been much at a loss to
know wherefore the whole force of the government has been exerted.
to provide them a representative, some worthy associate of John
Love and John Dawson. They feel indeed the importance of his
past services, and they see in them some evidence of abilities not to
be despised. They perceive also that he differs from the adminis
tration on some points. They are even told by the newspapers that
he is opposed to them on all, but at the same time they are assur
ed, that he stands alone in this opposition, without a party, even
without personal friends, and that there is more to pity in his infat
uation than to dread from this hostility. Why then all this strug
gle, this ceaseless anxiety ? and (to use a quotation of your own Mr.
Ritchie,) this 'ocean into tempest wrought to drown a fly?' Is
the spirit of federalism then extinct ; is that monster no more,
that nothing remains but to turn the whole force of the administra
tion to the destruction of such an insect, as they would represent
Mr. Randolph ? This surely is not the case. The federal represen
tation of Connecticut yet remains entire. Its banners are yet dis
played, and those who yesterday deserted, are, to-day, returning to
them. The mighty State of Massachusetts, which of late the admin
istration so proudly numbered among their supporters, has already
repented of her conversion ; while the Vermontese are newly bap
tized to the federal faith in the blood of their countrymen. Perhaps
indeed they balance all this with the conversion of Mr. J. Q. Adams,
and by the same political arithmetic, which teaches them that the
downfall of Mr. Randolph is of more importance than the defeat of
the federalists, they think the acquisition of this gentleman an
ample compensation for the loss of two entire States. No doubt
indeed they augur well from it, no doubt they regard it as an all-
sufficient evidence of Mr. Adams's conviction of the stability of
their power. Ten years ago they would have told you that this
gentleman knew, as well as any one, who kept the key of the ex-

JAMES MADISON. 283
chequer, and it would be strange indeed, if, when his father held
it so long, he had not found out the value of the coin. They per
haps remember too, that about that time he was talked of as the
contemplated successor to the crown of these realms, and they pos
sibly regard his accession to their party as an implied relinquishment
of his title, in favor of the hopeful progeny of our modern Livia.
I would warn them, however, not to build too much upon that.
They should rather infer from the example of Spain, that the mino
rity of the imperial nephew of his majesty, the emperor and king,
may be terminated by an invitation to Bayonne.
" But it cannot be that the administration, and the friends of the
administration, think that there is less to be feared from the federal
party than there was three years ago. How then does it happen that
the necessity of putting down this great and growing evil is forgotten
in the struggle to remove that gentleman from the confidence of his
constituents? They tell us indeed, themselves, that the republican
cause has nothing to fear from Mr. R., and they say true, sir. They
know that the republican cause has nothing to fear from him ; but
they feel at the same time, that the pretended supporters of that
cause have every thing to fear from him. They see in him the only
man on the floor of Congress who has the sagacity to detect and the
spirit to expose their unconstitutional practices and their nefarious
designs, and they wish his ruin, for the same reason that rogues wish
the absence of the sun. How else can their conduct be explained ?
At a time when the shattered forces of the federalists are again
assembling, when they are even enjoying a partial triumph, the Go
vernment are seen endeavoring to drive from their ranks the most
distinguished an^formidable adversary to that cause. No, sir ; they
love not the light, because their deeds are evil. And do those who
urge this clamor against Mr. R. suppose that the people are blind
to the real cause of it, that they form no judgment of the motives
and characters of the men who seek his ruin, by the means they use
for that purpose ? No ; they knpw that dirty tools are used for dirty
work, and that he who employs them in that way cannot have clean
hands. What can they think when they see his private letters be
trayed, and his unguarded moments of gayety and conviviality watched
and exposed? Shall they be told -that these are private occurrences ?
No, sir. Mr. G. will not do even an act of treachery for nothing.

284 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH,
Indeed, some of the partisans of Mr. Madison have not scrupled to
declare, that they consider his election as of little* more importance
than the defeat of Mr. R. Can the people be at a loss to understand
wherefore ? As long as the views of Mr. Madison are constitutional,
and his conduct honorable, he can have nothing to fear from Mr. R.
In questions of mere policy, the weight of Executive patronage will
always preponderate, and, in questions of right, always powerful,
becomes invincible when supported by the name and authority of a
President. It is not until he transcends the limits of the Constitu
tion that any opposition can be formidable. If such be their projected
course — if the system of standing armies and navies, of treason bills
and habeas corpus acts, of unauthorized expenditures, and splendid
impunity to favored traitors and felons, with the practice of buying
peace, and giving to the President the powers of Congress — are still
to be persisted in, let them beware of Mr. R. Already has he de
claimed against these practices, and he has not been heard ; but they
know that the slumbers of the people are not to last for ever, and
they look forward with the apprehensions of a sinner, trembling in the
midst of his, guilt, to the day when the vengeance of a deluded nation
shall be roused ; and at the sound of his voice, as at that of the last
trump, they shall call upon the mountains to cover them. I have no
doubt that those who made this avowal have somewhat transcended their
orders. Their instinctive sagacity leads them to the game which
their master is in pursuit of ; but in the eagerness of their zeal, they
have flushed it too soon. They are at this moment trembling in the
expectation of being corrected for the blunder ; but they are not so
true spaniels as I take them to be, if they will not consent to have
their ears pulled for the mistake, provided thejfcbe fed for their
activity."

CHAPTER. XXXVI.

WAR WITH ENGLAND.

The great event of Mr. Madison's administration was the war with
England. For a long time, the grounds of complaint against that
Government were, the carrying trade and the impressment of sea-

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 285
men. Since 1806, another and more serious difficulty, if possible, had
been thrown in the way of an amicable arrangement between the two
countries. By the Berlin decree and its supplements, France inter
dicted all trade between the United States and Great Britain and her
dependencies. By her orders in council, professing to be in retalia
tion of the Berlin decree, Great Britain interdicted all trade between
the United States and France, and her allies and their dependencies,
which embraced nearly all Europe and the civilized world. These
edicts did not affect the carrying trade merely, which was of very
doubtful justice, but they destroyed all commerce whatever.
By the British orders in council, American citizens were not al
lowed to carry the products of their own country, in their own ships,
to a country hostile to England, and to bring back, in exchange, the
commodities of that country, without first paying tribute in a British
port, and obtaining license for that purpose. This extraordinary
assumption of power was acknowledged to be contrary to the law of
nations and the rights of neutrality ; but it was justified on the
ground of necessity. Lex talionis was the only plea. To bring
about a sense of justice in the great belligerents, and a repeal of their
unwarrantable edicts, the embargo law was enacted ; but that proved
to be a two-edged sword, more deeply wounding our own sides than
those of the parties it was designed to effect. It was repealed, and a
non-importation act, as to England and France, substituted in its
place. This proving ineffectual, also, the olive branch was at length
held out, with these words : " That if Great Britain or France (Act of
May 1, 1810,) should cease to violate the neutral commerce of the
United States, which fact the President should declare by proclama
tion, and the other should not, within three months thereafter, revoke
or modify its edicts in like manner, that then certain sections in a
former act, interdicting the commercial intercourse between the
United States and Great Britain and France, and their depend
encies, should, from and after the expiration of three months
from the date of the proclamation, be revived, and have full force
against the former, its colonies, and dependencies, and against all arti
cles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the same." France ac
ceded to this proposition. On the 5th of August, 1810, the minister
of foreign affairs addressed a note to the minister plenipotentiary of
the United States at Paris, informing him that the decrees of Berlin

286 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
and Milan were revoked — the revocation to take effect on the first of
November following ; that the measure had been taken by his Gov
ernment, in confidence that the British Government would revoke
its orders, and renounce its new principles of blockade, or that the
United States would cause their rightsto be respected. The means
by which the United States should cause their right to be respected,
in case Great Britain should not revoke her edicts, it was understood,
consisted merely in the enforcement of the non-importation act against
that nation.
Great Britain declined to revoke her edicts ; insisted that those
of France had not been- revoked, and complained .hat the United
States had done injustice, by earring into effect the non-importation
act against her.
Great Britain contended that, in the French decrees, it was ex
pressly avowed, that the principles on which they were founded, and
the provisions contained in them, were wholly new, unprecedented,
and in direct contradiction to all ideas of justice, and the principles
and usages of civilized nations. The French Government did not
pretend to say that any one of the regulations contained in those de
crees was a regulation which France had ever been in the previous
practice of. They were, consequently, to be considered, and were in
deed allowed by France herself to be, all of them, parts of a new
system of warfare, unauthorized by the established law of nations. It
was in this light in which France herself had placed her decrees, that
Great Britain was obliged to consider them.
The submission of neutrals to any regulation made by France, au
thorized by the law of nations, and practised in former wars, would
never be complained of by Great Britain ; but the regulations of the
Berlin and Milan decrees did, and were declared to violate the laws
of nations and the rights of neutrals, for the purpose of attacking,
through them, the resources of Great Britain. The ruler of France
had drawn no distinction between any of them, nor had he declared
the cessation of any one of them.
Not until the French decrees, therefore, it was contended by the
British minister, shall be effectually repealed, and thereby neutral
commerce be restored to the situation in which it stood previously to
their promulgation, can his royal highness conceive himself justified,
consistently with what he owes to the safety and honor of Great

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 287
Britain, in foregoing the just measures of retaliation which his majesty,
in his defence, was necessitated to adopt against them.
The Berlin and Milan decrees prohibited every thing that was
the manufacture or product of Great Britain from being imported to
the Continent, under any pretence whatever, whether owned by
British subjects, or owned and transported by neutrals. This latter
part of the decrees was in violation of the rights of neutrality. They
also, at the same time, prohibited all trade, on the part of neutrals.
with the British dominions. This portion was now repealed, so far
as it affected the United States. They were allowed to trade with
Great Britain and her dependencies, but were not permitted to carry
to the Continent any goods that were the manufacture or produce of
Great Britain, though they might have been purchased, and were
actually owned by American citizens. Great Britain insisted that
she could not repeal her orders in council, so long as the United
States suffered this infraction of their rights of neutrality. On the
other hand, it was contended that Great Britain had pledged herself
to repeal the orders in council whenever the decrees were revoked.'
The decrees, it was said, were now revoked as it regarded the United
States ; but Britain, in violation of her pledge, persisted in refusing
to repeal her orders. The whole question, then, was narrowed down
to this : Had the Berlin and Milan decrees been revoked, in the
sense it was understood by the parties, at the time of the pledge?
Great Britain said they had not. The United States said they had
been revoked, according to the understanding.
In this attitude matters stood, when Congress, on the 4th of No
vember, 1811, was called together by proclamation of the President.
" At the close of the last session of Congress," says the message,
"it was hoped that the successive confirmations of the extinction of
the French decrees, so far as they violated our neutral commerce,
would have induced the government of Great Britain to repeal its
orders in council, and thereby authorize the removal of the existing
obstructions to her commerce with the United States. Instead of
this reasonable step towards satisfaction and friendship between the
two nations, the orders were, at a moment when least to have been
expected, put into more rigorous execution ; and it was communi
cated, through the British envoy just arrived, that whilst the revocation
of the edicts of France, as officially made known to the British Gov-

288 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
ernment, was denied to have taken place, it was an indispensable con
dition of the repeal of the British orders that commerce should be
restored to a footing that would admit the manufactures and pro
ductions of Great Britain, when owned by neutrals, into markets
shut against them by her enemy — the United States being given to
understand that, in the mean time, a continuation of the non-importa
tion act would lead to measures of retaliation. ******
" With the evidence of hostile inflexibility, in trampling on our
rights, which no independent nation can reliquish, Congress will
feel the duty of putting the United States into an armor and an
attitude demanded by the crisis, and corresponding with the national
spirit and expectations."
The subject was referred to a committee, who, in a report, reviewed
the grounds of complaint, and concluded with offering a series of reso
lutions, the object of which was, to put the United States imme
diately " into an armor and attitude demanded by the crisis." The
friends of the administration admitted that they urged the resolu
tions as an immediate preparation for war. That war was inevitable,
and would be declared so soon as the nation was put into a posture
of defence. It was also said in debate that one of the objects, and
a necessary result of the war, would be the conquest of Canada.
On the 10th day of December, Mr. Randolph made one of his
most powerful and eloquent speeches in opposition to these war mea
sures. As the speech is to be found in most of the collections of
American eloquence that have been published from time to time, we
must content ourselves with an extract here and there, barely suffi
cient to explain in his own words the grounds of opposition.
" It is a question," said Mr. Randolph, " as it has been presented
to the House, of peace or war. In that light it has been regarded ;
in no other light can I consider it, after declarations made by mem
bers of the Committee of Foreign Relations. Without intending any
disrespect to the chair, I must be permitted to say. that if the deci
sion yesterday was correct, ' that it was not in ordi to advance any
arguments against the resolution, drawn from topics _ -before other
committees of the House,' the whole debate — nay, the report itself
on which we are acting — is disorderly, since the increase of the mili
tary force is a subject at this time in agitation by the select com
mittee raised on that branch of the Psesident's message. But it is

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 289
impossible that the discussion of a question, broad as the wide ocean,
of our foreign concerns, involving every consideration of interest, of
right, of happiness, and of safety at home ; touching in every point
all that is dear to freemen — 'their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor ; ' can be tied down by the narrow rules of technical
routine. The Committee of Foreign Relations has indeed decided
that the subject of arming the militia (which I pressed upon them as
indispensable to the public safety) does not come within the scope pi
their authority. On what ground, I have been, and still am, unable
to see. They have felt themselves authorized (when the subject was
before another committee) to recommend the raising of standing
. armies, with a view (as has been declared) of immediate war — a war
not of defence, but of conquest, of aggrandizement, of ambition — a
war foreign to the interests of this country, to the interests of huma
nity itself
" I know not how gentlemen calling themselves republicans can
advocate asuch a war. What was their doctrine in 1798-9, when the
j command of the army, that highest of all possible trusts in any
v government, be the form what it may, was reposed in the bosom
of the Father of his country. ! the sanctuary of a nation's love ! —
the only hope that never, came in vain? When other worthies
of^ the revolution, Hamilton, Pinckney, and the younger Wash
ington, men of tried patriotism, of approved conduct and valor,
of untarnished honor, held subordinate command under him ?
Republicans were then unwilling to trust a standing army even
to his hands, who had given proof that he was above all human
temptatiofc. Where now is the revolutionary hero to whom you are
about to confide this sacred trust ? To whom will you confide the
charge of leading the flower of your youth to the heights of Abraj.
ham? Will yoii find him in the person of an acquitted felon?
What ! Then you were unwilling to vote an army, when such men as
have beer amed held high command ! When Washington himself
was at the head, did you then show such reluctance, feel such scru
ple ? And are you now nothing loth, fearless of every consequence ?
Will you say that your provocations were less then than now, when
your direct commerce was interdicted, your ambassadors hooted with
derision from the French court, tribute demanded, actual war waged
upon you ? Those who opposed the army then were indeed denounced
vol. i. 13

290 LIFE 0F J0HN RANDOLPH.
as the partisans of France, as the same men — some of them at least —
are now held up as the advocates of England ; those firm and unde-
viating republicans, who then dared, and now dare, to cling to the
ark of the Constitution, to defend it even at the expense of their fame,
rather than surrender themselves to the wild projects of mad ambi
tion. There is a fatality, sir, attending plenitude of power. Soon or
late some mania seizes upon its possessors ; they fall from the dizzy
height, through the giddiness of their own heads. Like a vast estate,
heaped up by the labor and industry of one man, wtuch seldom sur
vives the third generation. Power gained by patient assiduity, by a
faithful and regular discharge of its attendant duties, soon gets above
its own origin. Intoxicated with their own greatness, the federal
party fell. Will not the same causes produce the same effects now
as then ? Sir, you may raise this army, you may build up this vast
structure of patronage, this mighty apparatus of favoritism ; but
' lay not the flattering unction to your souls,' you will never live to
enjoy the succession : you sign your political death warrant. * * * *
" This war of conquest, a war for the acquisition of territory and
subjects, is to be a new commentary on the doctrine that republics
are destitute of ambition ; they are addicted to peace, wedded to the
happiness and safety of the-great body of their people. But it seems
this is to be a holiday campaign ; there is to be no expense of blood
or treasure on our part ; Canada is to conquer herself ; she is to be
subdued by the principles of fraternity. The people of that country
are first to be seduced from their allegiance, and converted into trai
tors, as preparatory to the making them good citizens. Although I
must acknowledge that some of our flaming patriots were thus man
ufactured, I do not think the process would hold good with a whole
community. It is a dangerous experiment. We are to succeed in
the French mode — by the system of fraternization. All is French !
But how dreadfully it might be retorted on the southern and western
slaveholding States. I detest this subornation of treason. No : if
we must have them, let them fall by the valor of our arms ; by fair,
legitimate conquest ; not become the victims of treacherous seduction.
" I am not surprised at the war-spirit which is manifesting itself
in gentlemen from the South. In the year 1805-6, in a struggle for
the carrying trade of belligerent colonial produce, this country was
most unwisely brought into collision with the great powers of Europe.

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 291
By a series of most impolitic and ruinous measures, utterly incom
prehensible to every rational, sober-minded man, the Southern plant
ers, by their own votes, succeeded in knocking down the price of cot
ton to seven cents, and of tobacco (a few choice crops excepted) to
nothing, and in raising the price of blankets (of which a few would
not be amiss in a Canadian campaign), coarse woollens, and every ar
ticle of first necessity, three or four hundred per cent. And now
that by our own acts we have brought ourselves into this unprece
dented condition, we must get out of it in any way but by an ac
knowledgment of our own want of wisdom and forecast. But is war
the true remedy ? Who will profit by it ? Speculators ; a few lucky
merchants, who draw prizes in the lottery ; commissaries and con
tractors. Who must suffer by it ? The people. It is their blood,
their taxes, that must flow to support it.
" But gentlemen avowed that they would not go to war for the
carrying trade ; that is, for any other but the direct export and im
port trade — that which carries our native products abroad, and brings
back the return cargo ; and yet they stickle for our commercial
rights, and will go to war for them ! I wish to know, in point of
principle, what difference gentlemen can point out between the aban
donment of this or of that maritime right ? Do gentlemen assume
the lofty port and tone of chivalrous redressers of maritime wrongs,
and declare their readiness to surrender every other maritime right,
provided they may remain unmolested in the exercise of the humble
privilege of carrying their own produce abroad, and bringing back a
return cargo ? Do you make this declaration to the enemy at the
outset ? Do you state the minimum with which you will be contented,
and put it in her power to close with your proposals at her option ?
give her the basis of a treaty ruinous and disgraceful beyond exam
ple and expression ? and this too after having turned up your noses
in disdain at the treaties of Mr. Jay and Mr. Monroe ? Will you
say to England, ' End the war when you please; give us the direct
trade in our own produce, we are content ?' But what will the mer
chants of Salem, and Boston, and New York, and Philadelphia, and
Baltimore — the men of Marblehead and Cape Cod, say to this ?
Will they join in a war professing to have for its object what they
would consider, and justly too, as the sacrifice of their maritime
rights, yet affecting to be a war for the protection of commerce ?

292 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
" I am gratified to find gentlemen acknowledging the demoral
izing and destructive consequences of the non-importation law ; con
fessing the truth of all that its opponents foretold when enacted ; and
will you plunge yourselves in war, because you have passed a foolish
and ruinous . law, and are ashamed to repeal it ? ' But our good
friend, the French Emperor, stands in the way of its repeal,' and, as
we cannot go too far in making sacrifices to him, who has given such
demonstration of his love for the Americans, we must, in point of fact,
become parties to this war. ' Who can be so cruel as to refuse him
this favor ?' My imagination shrinks from the miseries of such con
nection. I call upon the House to reflect whether they are not about
to abandon all reclamation for the unparalleled outrages, ' insults and
injuries' of the French Government ; to give up our claim for plun
dered millions, and ask what reparation or atonement we can expect
to obtain in hours of future dalliance, after we shall have made a ten
der of our persons to this great deflowerer of the virginity of repub
lics:. We have, by our own wise (I will not say wise-acre) .measures, ,
so increased the trade of Montreal and Quebec, that at last we be
gin to cast a wistful eye at Canada. Having done so much towards
its improvement, by the exercise of our ' restrictive energies,' we be
gin to think the laborer is worthy of his hire, and to put in claim for
our portion. Suppose it ours, are we any nearer our point ? As his
minister said to the King of. Epirus, ' May we not as well take our
bottle of wine before as after this exploit?' Go ! march to Canada !
Leave the broad bosom of the Chesapeake, and her hundred tributary
rivers, the whole line of sea-coast, from Machias to St. Mary's, unpro
tected: you have taken Quebec — have. you conquered England?
Will you seek for the deep foundations of her power in the frozen
deserts of Labrador? ' Her inarch is on the mountain wave,
Her home is on the deep !'
Will you call upon her to leave your ports and harbors untouched,
only just till you can return from Canada to defend them ? The coast
is to be left defenceless, whilst men of the interior are revelling in
conquest and spoil. But grant for a moment, for mere argument's
sake, that in Canada you touched the sinews of her strength, instead
of removing a clog upon her resources — an incumbrance, but one,

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 293
which, from a spirit of honor, she will vigorously defend. In what
situation would you then place some of the best men of the nation ?
As Chatham and Burke, and the whole band of her patriots prayed
for her defeat in 1776. so must some of the truest friends of the
country deprecate the success of our arms against the only power that
holds in check the arch enemy of mankind.
" Our people will not submit to be taxed for this war of conquest
and dominion. The government of the United States was not calcu
lated to wage offensive foreign war ; it was instituted for the common
defence and general welfare ; and whosoever will embark it in a war
of offence, will put it to a test which it is by no means calculated to
endure. Make it out that Great Britain did instigate the Indians
on a late occasion, and I am ready for battle, but not for dominion.
I am unwilling, however, under present circumstances, to take Can
ada, at the risk of- the Constitution ; to embark in a common cause
with France, and be dragged at the wheels of the' car of some Burr
or Bonaparte. For a gentleman from Tennessee, or Genesee, or lake
Champlain, there may be some prospect of advantage. Their hemp
would bear a great price by the exclusion of foreign supply. In that,
too, the great importers were deeply interested. The upper country
on the Hudson and the lakes, would be enriched by the supplies for
the troops, which they alone could furnish. They would have the
exclusive market; to say nothing of the increased preponderance
from the acquisition of Canada, and that section of the Union, which
the southern and western States had already felt so severely in the
apportionment bill."
Mr. Randolph dwelt on the danger arising from the black popula-g
tion. He said he would touch this subject as tenderly as possible ;
it was with reluctance that he touched it at all ; but in cases of great
emergency the state physician must not be deterred by a sickly, hys
terical humanity, from probing the wound of his patient ; he must not
be withheld by a fastidious and mistaken -humanity from representing
his true situation to his friends, or even to the sick man himself, where
the occasion called for it. " What, sir, is the situation of the slavehold-
ing States ? During the war of the Revolution, so fixed were their
habits of subordination, that while the whole country was overrun by
the enemy, who invited them to desert, no fear was ever entertained
of1 an insurrection of the slaves. During a war of seven years, with

294 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
our country in possession of the enemy, -no such danger was ever ap
prehended. But should we therefore be unobservant spectators of
the progress of society within the last twenty years ? of the silent
but powerful change wrought by time and chance upon its composi
tion and temper ? When the fountains of the great deep of abomi
nation were broken up, even the poor slaves escaped not the general
deluge. The French revolution polluted even them. Nay, there
were not wanting men in that House — witness their legislative Le-
gendre, the butcher who once held a seat there — to preach upon that
floor, these imprescriptable rights to a crowded audience of blacks in
the galleries ; teaching them that they are equal to their masters ; in
other words, advising them to cut their throats. Similar doctrines
are disseminated by pedlars from New England, and elsewhere,
throughout the Southern country ; and masters have been found so
infatuated, as by their lives and conversation, by a general contempt
of order, morality and religion, unthinkingly to cherish those seeds
of self-destruction to them and their families. What is the conse
quence ? Within the last ten years, repeated alarms of insurrection
among the slaves ; some of them awful indeed. From the spread
ing of this infernal doctrine, the whole Southern country has been
thrown into a state of insecurity. Men dead to the operation of
moral causes, have taken away from the poor slave his habits of loy
alty and obedience to his master, which lightened his servitude by a
double operation — beguiling his own cares, and disarming his mas
ter's suspicions and severity ; and now, like true empirics in politics,
you are called upon to trust to the mere physical strength of the fet
ter which holds him in bondage. You have deprived him of all
moral restraint ; you have tempted him to eat of the tree of knowl
edge, just enough to perfect him in wickedness ; you have opened his
eyes to his nakedness ; you have armed his nature against the hand
that has fed, that has clothed him, that has cherished him in sick
ness ; that hand which, before he became a pupil of your school, he
had been accustomed to press with respectful affection. You have
done all this, and then, show him the gibbet and the wheel, as incen
tives to a sullen, repugnant obedience. God forbid, sir, that the
southern States should ever see an enemy on their shores, with these
infernal principles of French fraternity in the van. While talking
of taking Canada, some of us are shuddering for our own safety at

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 295
home. I speak from facts when I say, that the night-bell never tolls
for fire in Richmond, that the mother does not hug the infant more
closely to her bosom. I have been a witness of some of the alarms
in the capital of Virginia."
Mr. Randolph then proceeded to notice the unjust and illiberal
imputation of British attachments, against certain characters in this
country ; sometimes insinuated in the House, but openly avowed
out of it. " Against whom are these charges brought ? Against men
who in the war of the Revolution were in the councils of the nation, or
fighting the battles of your, country. And by wlwni are they made ?
By runaways, chiefly from tlie British dominions, since the breaking
out of the French troubles. It is insufferable ! It cannot be borne !
It must, and ought, with severity, to be put down in this House, and
out of it, to meet the lie direct. We have no fellow-feeling for the
suffering and oppressed Spaniards ! Yet even them we do not rep
robate. Strange ! that we should have no objection to any other
people or government, civilized or savage, in the whole world. The
great autocrat of all the Russias receives the homage of our high
consideration ; the Dey of Algiers, and his divan of pirates, are very
civil, good sort of people, with whom we find no difficulty in main
taining the relations of peace and amity ; ' Turks, Jews, and Infi
dels;' Melimelli, or the Little Turtle; barbarians and savages, of
every clime and color, are welcome to our arms ; with chiefs of ban
ditti, negro or mulatto, we can treat and can trade — name, however,
but England, and all our antipathies are up in arms against her.
Against whom? Against those whose blood runs in our own veins;*
in common with whom we can claim Shakspeare, and Newton, and
Chatham for our countrymen ; whose form of government is the freest
on earth, our own only excepted ; from whom every valuable princi
ple of our own institutions has been borrowed — representation, jury
trial, voting the supplies, writs of habeas corpus — our whole civil and
criminal jurisprudence ; against our fellow-protestants, identified in
blood, in language, in religion with ourselves. In what school did
the worthies of our land, the Washingtons, Henrys, Hancocks, Frank-
lins, Rutleges, of America, learn those principles of civil liberty which
were so nobly asserted by their wisdom and valor ? And American
resistance to British usurpation had not been more warmly cherished
by these great men and their compatriots ; not more by Washington,

296 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
Hancock, and Henry, than by Chatham, and his illustrious associates
in the British Parliament. It ought to be remembered, too, that the
heart of the English people was with us. It was a selfish and cor
rupt ministry, and their servile tools, to whom we were not more op
posed than they were. I trust that none such may ever exist among
us ; for tools will never be wanted to subserve the purposes, however
ruinous or wicked, of kings and ministers of state.
" But the outrages and injuries of England. Bred up in the
principles of the Revolution, I can never palliate, much less defend
them. I well remember flying with my. mother, <md her new-born
child, from Arnold and Philips ; and they had been driven by Tarle-
ton, and other British pandours, from pillar to post, while her hus
band was fighting the battles of his country. The impression is in
delible on my memory ; and yet (like my worthy old neighbor, who
added seven buckshot to every cartridge at the battle of Guilford,
and drew a fine sight at his man) I must be content to be called a
tory by a patriot of the last importation. Let us not get rid of one
evil, supposing it possible, at the expense of a greater. Suppose
France in possession of the British naval power — and to her the tri
dent must pass should England be unable to wield it — what would
be your condition ? What would be the situation of your seaports
and their seafaring inhabitants ? Ask Hamburg, Lubec — ask Savan
nah 1 What ! sir, when their privateers are pent up in our harbors
by the British bull-dogs ; when they receive at our hands every rite
of hospitality, from which their enemy is excluded ; when they cap-
• ture within our waters, interdicted to British armed ships, American
vessels ; when such is their deportment toward you, under such cir
cumstances, what could you expect if they were the uncontrolled lords
of the ocean ? Had those privateers at Savannah borne British com
missions, or had your shipments of cotton, tobacco, ashes, and what
not, to London and Liverpool been confiscated, and the proceeds
poured into the English exchequer, my life upon it ! you would
never have listened to any miserable wire-drawn distinctions between
¦'orders and decrees affecting our neutral rights,' and ' municipal de
crees,' confiscating in mass your whole property. You would have
had instant war ! The whole land would have blazed out in war.
" And shall republicans become the instruments of him who has
effaced the title of Attila to the ' scourge of God !' Yet, even

WAR WITH ENGLAND.

297

Attila, in the falling fortunes of civilization, had, no doubt, his advo
cates, his tools, his minions, his parasites, in the very countries that
he overran — sons of that soil whereon his horse had trod, where grass
could never after grow. If perfectly fresh," Mr. Randolph said, "in
stead of being as I am — my memory clouded, my intellect stupefied,
my strength and spirits exhausted— I could not give utterance to that
- strong detestation which I feel toward (above all other works of the
creation) such characters as Zingis, Tamerlane, Kouli Khan, or Bo
naparte. My instincts involuntarily revolt at their bare idea — male
factors of the human race, who ground down man to a mere machine
of their impious and bloody ambition. Yet, under all the accumu
lated wrongs, and insults, and robberies of the last of these chief
tains, are' we not, in point of fact, about to become a party to his
views, a partner in his wars ?
" I beseech the House, before they run their heads against this
post, Quebec, to count the cost. My word for' it, Virginia planters
will not be taxed to support such a war ; a war which must aggravate
their present distresses ; in which they have not the remotest inter
est. Where is the Montgomery, or even the Arnold, or the Burr,
who is to march to the Point Levi?
" I call upon those professing to be republicans, to make good the
promises held out by their republican predecessors when they came
into power; promises, which for years afterwards, they honestly,
faithfully fulfilled. We vaunted of paying off. the national debt, of
retrenching useless establishments ; and yet have now become as in
fatuated with standing armies, loans, taxes, navies and war, as ever
were'the Essex junto. What republicanism is this?"
Mr. Randolph resolutely and earnestly combated every measure
that had a tendency to widen the breach between the United States
and Great Britain, and to precipitate them into a war.
On the 1st of April, 1812, the President sent in a secret message
recommending an immediate embargo. The Committee of Foreign
Relations, in anticipation of the message, had a bill already pr'epared :
it was read the first and second time, reported to the Committee of
the Whole, referred back to the House, and immediately put on its
passage. Some member wished to know whether it was to be con
sidered as a peace measure, or a precursor to war.
Mr. Grundy, a member of the committee, replied that he under-
vol. i. 13*

298 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
stood it as a war measure ; and it is meant, said he, that it shall lead
directly to it.
Mr. Clay (the Speaker) warmly expressed his satisfaction and full
approbation of the message, and the proposition before the House.
Mr. Randolph then rose : " I am so impressed," said he, " with
the importance of the subject and the solemnity of the occasion, that
I cannot be silent. Sir, we are now in conclave ; the eyes of the sur
rounding world are not upon us : we are shut up here from the light of
heaven, but the eyes of God are upon us. He knows the spirit of our
minds. Shall we deliberate upon this subject with the spirit of
sobriety and candor, or with that spirit which has too often charac
terized our discussions upon occasions like the present? We ought
to realize, that we are in the presence of that God who knows our
thoughts and motives, and to whom we must hereafter render an ac
count for the deeds done in the body. I hope, sir, the spirit of party,
and every improper passion, will be exorcised, that our hearts may
be as pure and clean as fall to the lot of human nature.
" I am confident in the declaration, Mr. Chairman, that this is
not a measure of the Executive ; but that it is engendered by an
extensive excitement upon the Executive — * * * *
" I will appeal to the sobriety and reflection of the House, and
ask, what new cause of war for the last twelve months ? What new
cause of embargo within that period ? The affair of the Chesapeake
is settled. — No new principles of blockade interpolated into the laws
of nations. I suppose every man of candor and sober reflection will
ask why we did not go to war twelve months ago? Or will it be said
we ought to make up, by our promptness now, for our slowness then ?
Or will it be said, that if the wheat for which we have received two
dollars a bushel had been rotting in our barns, we should have been
happier and richer. What would the planter say, if you were to ask
him which he would prefer, — the honorable, chivalrous course advo
cated by the Speaker, with the consequences which must attend it,
the sheriff at his back, and the excise collector pressing him? He
Would laugh in your face. It is not generally wise to dive into
futurity ; but it is wise to profit by experience, although it may be
unpleasant. I feel much concerned to have the bill on the table for
one hour."
But he was not allowed that privilege. The bill was immediately

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 299
hurried through the forms of legislation, and became a law in a short
time after the President's message that recommended it had been
read. On the 29th of May, 1812, having learned that a proposition
would certainly be made in a few days to declare war, he rose and
stated that he had a motion to make. He then commenced a speech,
involving generally the present state of our relations with France
and Great Britain. After he had spoken for some time, a qiestion
of order was raised, and it was decided by the Speaker that the gen
tleman ought, previous to debating so much at large, to submit his
motion to the House.
"After some desultory debate, and decisions on points of order, Mr.
Randolph submitted the following proposition : " That under present
circumstances, it is inexpedient to resort to a war with Great
Britain." '¦»*
The question being taken, that the House do now proceed to the
consideration of the said resolution, it was by a large majority de
cided in the negative. By this most unparliamentary proceeding, as
he thought, the subject was taken from before the House, and Mr.
Randolph was deprived of an opportunity, if not denied the right, of
addressing them on the momentous questions involved in his resolu
tion. Next day he addressed the following letter to his constituents :
To the Freeholders, of Charlotte, Prince Edward, Buckingham, and
Cumberland.
Fellow-Citizens, — I dedicate to you the following fragment.
That it appears in its present mutilated shape, is to be ascribed to'
the successful usurpation which has reduced the freedom of speech
in one branch of the American Congress to an empty name. It is
now established, for the first time, and in the person of your repre
sentative, that the House may and will refuse to hear a member in his
place, or even to receive a motion from him, upon the most moment
ous subject that can be presented for legislative decision. A simi
lar motion was brought forward by the republican minority in the
year 1798, before these modern inventions for stifling the freedom of
debate were discovered. It was discussed as a matter of right, until
it was abandoned by the mover, in consequence of additional infor
mation (the correspondence of our envoy at Paris) laid before Con-

800 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
gress by the President. In " the reign of terror," the father of the
sedition law had not the hardihood to proscribe liberty of speech,
much less the right of free debate on the floor of Congress. This
invasion of the public liberties was reserved for self-styled republi
cans, who hold your understandings in such contempt, as to flatter j
themselves that you will overlook their every outrage upon the great
first principles of free government, in consideration of their profes
sions of tender regard for the privileges of the people. It is for you
to decide whether they have undervalued your intelligence and spirit,
or whether they have formed a just estimate of your character. You
do not require to be told that the violation of the rights of him whom
you have deputed to represent you is an invasion of the rights of
every man of you, of every individual in society. If this abuse be
suffered to pass unredressed — and the people alone are competent to
apply the remedy — we must bid adieu to a free form of government
for ever.Having learned from various sources that a declaration of war
would be attempted on Monday next, with closed doors, I deemed it
my duty to endeavor, by an exercise of my constitutional functions,
to arrest this heaviest of all calamities, and avert it from our happy
country. I accordingly made the effort of which I now give you the
result, and of the success of which you will have already been informed
before these pages can reach you. I pretend only to give you the
substance of my unfinished argument. The glowing words, the lan
guage of the heart, have passed away with the occasion that called
them forth. They are no longer under my control. My design is
simply to submit to you the views which have induced me to consi
der a war with England, under existing circumstances, as comporting
neither with the interest nor the honor of the American people ; but
as an idolatrous sacrifice of both, on the altar of French rapacity,
perfidy and ambition.
France has for years past offered us terms of undefined commer
cial arrangement, as the price of a war with England, which hitherto
we have not wanted firmness and virtue to reject. That price is now
to be paid. We are tired of holding out ; and, following the exam
ple of continental Europe, entangled in the artifices, or awed by the
power of the destroyer of mankind, we are prepared to become
instrumental to his projects of universal dominion. Before these

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 301
pages meet your eye, the last republic of the earth will have enlisted
under tlie banners of the tyrant and become a party to his cause.
The blood of the American freemen must flow to cement his power, to
aid in stifling the last struggles of afflicted and persecuted man, to
deliver up into his hands the patriots of Spain and Portugal, to estab
lish his empire over the ocean and over the land that gave our fathers
birth — to forge our own chains ! And yet, my friends, we are told,
as we were told in the days of Mr. Adams, " the finger of Iveaven
points to war." Yes, the finger of heaven does point to war ! It points
to war, as it points to the mansions of eternal misery and torture —
as a flaming beacon warning us of that vortex "which we may not
approach but with certain destruction. It points to desolated Europe,
and warns us of the chastisement of those nations wmf have offended
against the justice, and almost beyond the mercy, of heaven, It
announces the wrath to come upon those who, ungrateful for the
bounty of Providence, not satisfied with the peace, liberty, security
and plenty at home, fly, as it were, into the face of the Most High,
and tempt his forbearance.
To you, in this place, I can speak with freedom ; and it becomes
me to do so ; nor shall I be deterred by the cavils and the sneers of
those who hold as " foolishness " all that savors not of worldly wis
dom, from expressing fully" and freely those sentiments which it has
pleased God, in his mercy, to engrave on my heart.
These are no ordinary times ; the state of the world is unexam
pled ; the war of the present day is not like that of our revolution,
or any which preceded it, at least in modern times. It is a war against
the liberties and the happiness of mankind ; it is a war in which the
whole human race are the victims, to gratify the pride and lust of
power of a single individual. I beseech you, put it to your own
bosoms, how far it becomes you as freemen, as Christians, to give
your aid and sanction to this impious and bloody war against your
brethren of the human family. To such among you, if any such
there be, who are insensible to motives not more dignified and manly
than they are intrinsically wise, I would make a different appeal. I
adjure you by the regard you have for your own safety and property,
for the liberty and inheritance of your children — by all that you hold
dear and sacred — to interpose your constitutional powers to save

302 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
your country and yourselves from the calamity, the issue of which
it is not given to human foresight to divine.
Ask yourselves if you are willing to become the virtual allies of
Bonaparte ? Are you willing, for the sake of annexing Canada to
the Northern States, to submit to that overgrowing system of tax
ation which sends the European laborer supperless to bed, to main
tain, by the sweat of your brow, armies at whose hands you are to
receive a future master ? Suppose Canada ours ; is there any one
among you who would ever be, in any respect, the better for it ? — the
richer, the freer, the happier, the more secure ? And is it for a boon
like this that you would join in the warfare against the liberties of
man in the other hemisphere, and put your own in jeopardy? Or is
it for the nominal privilege of a licensed trade with France that you
would abandon your lucrative commerce with Great Britain, Spain
and Portugal, and their Asiatic, African, and American dependencies ;
in a word, with every region of those vast continents ? — that com
merce which gives vent to your tobacco, grain, flour, cotton ; in short,
to all your native products, which are denied a market in France ?
There are not wanting men so weak as to suppose that their appro
bation of warlike measures is a proof of personal gallantry, and that
opposition to them indicates a want of that spirit which becomes a
friend of his country; as if it required' more courage and patriotism
to join in the acclamation of the day, than steadily to oppose one's
self to the mad infatuation to which every people and all governments
have, at some time or other, given way. Let the history of Phocion,
of Agis, and of the De Witts, answer this question.
My friends, do you expect to find those who are now loudest in
the clamor for war, foremost in the ranks of battle ? Or, is the honor
of this nation indissolubly connected with the political reputation of
a few individuals, who tell you they have gone too far to recede, and
that you must pay, with your ruin, the price of their consistency ?
My friends, I have discharged my duty towards you, lamely and
inadequately, I know, but to the best of my poor ability. The des
tiny of the American people is in their own hands. The net is spread
for their destruction. You are enveloped in the toils of French
duplicity, and if — which may Heaven in its mercy forbid — you and
your posterity are to become hewers of wood and drawers of water
to the modern Pharoah, it shall not be for the want of my best exer-

CLAY— CALHOUN. 303
tions to rescue you from the cruel and abject bondage. This sin, at
least, shall not rest upon my soul. John Randolph of Roanoke.
May 30th, 1812.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

CLAY — CALHOUN .

On the 18th of June, 1812, an act was approved by the President de
claring that a state of war existed between the United States and
Great Britain. It forms no part of the plan of this biography to
enter into the details of.Jke war. From them the student of history
can derive but little information as to the causes of the growth,
development and decay of nations. But there is an inquiry that
might properly be made here, immediately bearing on this great
subject, and deeply affecting the public conduct of John Randolph
at the same time : might not this war have been avoided ? might
not the nation have saved the blood and treasure wasted in its pros
ecution, and escaped the evil consequences, both moral and political,
that followed in its train ? John Randolph declared that it might
have been done ; his whole opposition was based on the conviction
that there was no need for such an extreme measure. " We can
escape this conflict, said he, with honor — it is our duty to wait. " No
new cause of war had arisen — there would have been as much rea
son for the step in the June preceding as there was at the time of
the declaration. The reader is already aware of the grounds of
complaint against Great Britain ; he must be satisfied also that there
was at least some color of reason for the course which she declared
she was compelled to pursue towards neutrals, in order to save her
own "existence in the general wreck of European nations.
As to the impressment of seamen, she only claimed the right
to search for British subjects on board of American- merchant ves
sels ; yet it was one, arising from the common origin of the two
nations, most difficult to be enforced, liable to be abused, and was
greatly abused by proud and insolent naval officers. But because

304 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
there was right and reason on both sides, this was not between
rational people a subject of war, but of adjustment and compromise,
and. in truth it was adjusted to the satisfaction of Mr. Monroe
and Mr. Pinckney in the treaty of December, 1806; but the Presi
dent, as we know, put that treaty in his pocket, and refused to sub
mit it to the consideration of the Senate.
As to the denial of our right to the carrying trade, and the
question of constructive blockade, which had been so much discussed,
and were charged as interpolations by Great Britain into the law
of nations, they were now swallowed up by the orders in council.
The reader is informed of the exact posture of that question on the
4th of November, 1811, when Congress was first assembled. It
was narrowed down to this : Britain declared, that, notwithstanding
the revocation of the French decrees so far as they affected the United
States, she could not repeal her orders until the United States
should procure a further modification so as to allow goods of British
origin owned by American citizens to be carried to France and
other parts of the continent. As the matter stood they were only
restored to half their rights as a neutral power. By the law of na
tions, enemy's goods not contraband of war, purchased and owned
by neutrals, are lawful subjects of trade ; Jmt there lay the rub ; in
the exercise or non-exercise of this right was involved the commer
cial jealousy and rivalry of the two nations. The United States did
not want a restoration of their rights, because if British goods un
der cover of the American flag could be carried to the continent, it
would at once open a vast and profitable outlet to the manufactures
and other products of England, now locked up in their warehouses,
and would cut off that monopoly enjoyed by the citizens of the
United States in consequence of the prohibition laid on all articles
of English origin. It was not then a question of principle, but one
of pure commercial rivalry.
England urged on the United States that she should demand a
restoration of all her rights as a neutral nation ; the United States
replied that they had been restored as far as they required, and
insisted that England should comply with her pledges, and proceed
pari passu with France in the. repeal of her orders in council. The
true motives for the persistence of both in their demands, were very
perceptible, but by neither were avowed. Here then was the whole

CLAY— CALHOUN. 305
question, and on this issue the Congress of the United States resolv
ed to go to war.
But in the position assumed by the British ministry, which was
certainly plausible, if not just, they were not sustained by the
nation. The clamors of the commercial and manufacturing inter
ests were heard in Parliament and by the Royal cabinet. There
was a powerful and influential party, with Canning at their head
that demanded a repeal of the orders in council ; the ministry were
dissolved, and a commission given by the prince regent to one of
the opposition party to form a cabinet friendly to American inter
ests. Owing to the discordant elements of the opposition itself, and
not to any difficulty on this question, the new organization did not
take place at that time, but these circumstances manifested the tem
per of the nation, and showed plainly that the obnoxious measures
of government must soon be condemned and repealed. These facts
were known to the Congress of the United States before the declara
tion of war, and they must have convinced any reasonable and
candid mind that a favorable change in the posture of affairs was to
be expected at no distant period. And in fact on the 23d day of
June, just five days after the declaration of war, it was ordered and
declared by the prince regent, in council, " that the order in coun
cil, bearing date the 7th of January, 1807, and the order in council
bearing date the 26th of April, 1809, be revoked, so far as may re
gard American vessels and their cargoes, being American property,
from the first day of August next."
The embargo that was laid preparatory to war, commenced the
4th of April, and was to last ninety days — until the 4th of July.
No one expected war to be declared before that period. Mr. Madi
son, it was "well known, wished the embargo to be extended to four
months ; that is, to the 4th of August. A motion was actually made
in the House to this effect, but was rejected. He said, that if at the
end of four months no favorable news came from abroad, he would
then be ready to recommend a declaration of war. By the 4th of
August, news came of the repeal of the orders in council ! Had
his inclinations then been followed, the nation might have been saved
from all the disastrous consequences of the precipitate action of Con-
sss. Mr. Madison, indeed, was not favorable to the embargo — it was

306 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
forced upon him. "I am confident in the declaration," said Mr.
Randolph, in conclave, " that this is not a measure of the executive,
but that it is engendered by an extensive excitement upon the exec
utive." The relation of the two great departments of government
had entirely changed from what it was in the days of Mr. Jefferson ;
then the commanding power of a great mind and a determined will
gave direction to all the measures of the legislature, but now the
master-spirits that controlled affairs were to be found on the floor of
Congress. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the
leading member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs, from their
position, if they had talents, were most likely to exert a large influ-
ence over the proceedings of the House. The persons occupying
those stations were Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. They were
both possessed of great minds, endowed with extraordinary powers of
eloquence, were young, ardent, ambitious, and for the first time mem
bers of the popular branch of the national legislature. In the excit
ed state of the country, a better field could not have been found for
the display of their talents. The deep enthusiasm of their souls,
the chief element of their greatness, enlivened by a brilliant imagi
nation in the one, and tempered by large faculties of reason in the
other, gave such a strength and boldness to their thoughts, that they
imparted confidence to the timid, clearness to the obscure, and infused
a portion of their own zeal into more phlegmatic natures, — none could
escape the contagion of their influence.
A few months after the opening of Congress, Mr. Randolph,
while speaking of these new lights of the administration, said to a
friend, " They have entered this House with their eye on the Presi
dency, and mark my words, sir, we shall have war before the end of
the session !" Aside from the aspiration of a noble mind to tread
some brilliant and high career, we do not believe they had any selfish
end in view. Cold and calculating natures only influence others by
motives akin to their own. Neither calculation nor logic, but the
sympathizing impulses of a great soul, can deeply move the masses
of mankind. A magnanimous spirit, animated with the inspiring
breath of a whole people, may go forth with the confidence of a
Moses, feeling that the voice of the people is the voice of God. But
not always are the acts even of a great nation the result of divine
inspiration. Sometimes they are influenced from the opposite quar-

CLAY— CALHOUN. 307
ter of the spiritual world, and partake more of the demoniac than
the godlike.
The mere abstract question of international law involved between
Great Britain and the United States, if left to a court of admiralty
and a jury composed of citizens of the world, might have been decid
ed against them. But neither courts nor attorneys can decide the
fate of empires.
The democracy of America, which constituted the great mass of
the people of America, were thoroughly anti-British ; a common ori
gin and a common tongue served only as points of contrast. There
was a deep-rooted antipathy between them and the proud, pampered
aristocracy of England. Their sympathies were all on the side of
France and her struggles for liberty ; even Bonaparte came in for a
share of their regard. His boldness, his humble origin, his brilliant
success, shed such a halo of glory around his brow as to obscure the
darker features of his tyrannical nature. Then there were the old
memories of Bunker's Hill, Monmouth, La Fayette, Rochambeau,
and Yorktown — these household themes were familiar to every do
mestic fireside. Add the long catalogue of modern grievances — the
plunder of our commerce, the capture of our seamen, the insults to
our national flag, the insolence, and proud, contemptuous bearing of
British officers even in our own ports — this is too much ! we will not
endure it ! We will fight rather than suffer their aristocratic inso
lence any longer — " Free trade and sailors' rights ! God and Liberty !"
We will fight for these, come what will of it ! We will teach these
insulting English better manners, or blow them to the devil !
Such was the universal sentiment throughout the vast regions of
the south and west. Their newspapers and their popular orators
(who was not an orator in those excited times ?) proclaimed Free trade
and sailors' rights ! Without a sailor or a ship on the sea, the fiery
multitude echoed back, Free trade and sailors' rights ! This compre
hensive phrase served the same turn now, that millions for defence,
not a cent for tribute, had served on a former occasion. A deep sense
of indignation and wrong, vaguely shadowed forth in that expression
"free trade and sailors' 'rights," pervaded the whole country. It was
vain to argue with people in such a temper ; he who had the folly to
attempt it would imagine that he could arrest the bellowing thunder
storm on the point of a bodkin. Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun

308 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
were the representatives of these excited elements on the floor of
Congress ; it was in their power to temper these impetuous energies,
and to have served as conductors to the surcharged electric fires that
threatened momentary explosion ; but they were too full themselves
of the same fiery impulses to repress them in others ; they boldly
marched forward ; and knowing and feeling that the people were
pressing close behind them, plunged the nation headlong into a ruin
ous war — we do not mean ruinous in a military sense — no one ever
doubted that our people, sooner or later, would be triumphant in
every conflict, by land and by sea. The energies and the courage of a
free people are irrepressible and unconquerable — we mean disastrous
in the sense predicted by John Randolph ; disastrous to the Consti
tution and to the principles of the people.
Two of the avowed objects of this war were, the conquest of Ca
nada, and the plunder of the high seas ; ends that fostered a spirit of
aggression and of retaliation unbecoming the character of our coun
try or of its peaceful institutions. We say nothing of the disturbance
of that balance of power between the States and the Federal Govern
ment so necessary for their just and harmonious action, which was
the necessary consequence of the enormous patronage and excessive
energy of the executive in the time of a foreign war. Exhausted of
its resources by a long series of restrictive measures, the nation com
menced hostilities with borrowed money ; a large national debt was
accumulated ; a depreciated, ruinous, demoralizing paper currency
deluged the whole land, and a hot-bed, system of domestic manufac
tures were stimulated into existence, at the expense of agriculture
and commerce, which were the natural sources of wealth and pros
perity to a new, wide-spread, and sparsely populated country.
The proclamation of peace found the people burdened with a na
tional debt, ruined by a depreciated currency, corrupted, as far as
they could be corrupted, by all the demoralizing influences which for
years had been working on their integrity ; and incumbered with in
numerable domestic manufactures, which, like Jonah's gourd, had
sprung up in a night, and could not bear the rude shocks of foreign
competition produced by returning commerce.
Those who brought on and sustained the war were necessarily
expected - to find a remedy for the evils that followed in its train.
The same master-spirits who conducted the war, controlled the course

CLAY— CALHOUN. 309
of legislation for years after the restoration of peace. They recom
mended a National Bank as the agent for managing and liquidating
the national debt, and as the means of restoring and regulating the
currency ; they advocated the imposition of heavy duties on the im
portation of foreign goods, as the means of producing a revenue to
pay the national debt, and also as a protection to those infant manu
factures, which, since the death of their nurses and foster-mother,
non-intercourse, embargo, and war, would be left entirely exposed to
the crushing weight of maturer rivals ; and as these enormous duties
were likely soon to furnish means to pay off the national debt and to
take away the pretext for imposing them, a convenient sinking fund
was found in a system of internal improvements by the Federal
Government. These were the remedies furnished by the advocates
of the war to cure the evils it had produced. And how do we find
them ? just such as the federalists would have recommended — gross
violations of the Constitution, that, nothing but the most imperious
necessity could tolerate, are established into precedents and made
part of a regular system of legislation — vile excrescences, that like a
cancer had eaten into the heart of the body politic, and defaced the
fair features of the Constitution, are hailed as the beautiful outgrowth
of her vital functions.
By some righteous retribution of Providence both these great men
— for truly great they were — have been punished for their sins in
precipitating a war that might have been retarded, and perhaps honor
ably avoided, and for violating the Constitution to find a remedy for
its evils. If Randolph's supposition be true, they both failed of their
end. The reason . is very plain — they ceased to embody the senti
ment and to reflect the will of the great body of the democracy, when
they began to undermine the Constitution to find a remedy, for evils
they had inflicted on the country, and became the advocates of special
interests, monopolies, and a moneyedaristocracy. Mr. Clay, with a
zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause, labored all his days
to force his miscalled American System as a permanent institution
on the country : but the people were against him, and not one of his
measures can now be found on the statute book.
Mr. Calhoun, when too late, saw and acknowledged the error of
his ways, and in a desperate effort to retrieve his own section of the

310 LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH.
country from the evil consequences of his own measures, well nigh
involved the whole in civil war and ruin.
But, for the time being, they rode triumphantly on the full tide
of popularity, while Randolph, who foresaw and warned them of the
consequences of their rash measures, was driven into retirement.
All the powers of two administrations and the political presses in
their employment, the government at Washington, and the govern
ment at home in his native State, were employed to crush and destroy
him. John W. Eppes, the most distinguished and experienced
leader of the administration party, was induced to make his residence
in the county of Buckingham, that Randolph might have the most
able and formidable opposition the country could afford. These two
men, who had been friends and companions in their youth, and rival
leaders on the floor of Congress, met for the first time, in 1811, as
candidates for the suffrages of the same people. But the long ser
vices of their old servant were triumphant on this occasion. Again
they met, in the spring of 1813 ; times had changed ; the country
was involved in war, and all its resources were pledged to a suc
cessful issue ; redoubled efforts must now be made to drive him from
the councils of the nation, who had opposed its measures, and fore
boded nothing but evil as their consequence. Never was a political
canvass conducted with more animation. In Buckingham, Mr. Ran
dolph was threatened with personal violence if he attempted to ad
dress the people. Some of the older and more prudent persons
advised him to retire, and not appear in public. " You know very
little of me," said he, " or you would not give such advice." He was
a man incapable of fear. Soon proclamation was made that Mr. Ran
dolph would address the people. A dense throng gathered around ;
he mounted the hustings ; on the outskirts there hung a lowering and
sullen crowd that evidently meditated insult or violence on the first
opportunity ; he commenced : " I understand that I am to be insulted
to-day if I attempt to address the people — that a mob is prepared to
lay their rude hands upon me and drag me from these hustings, for
daring to exercise the rights of a freeman." Then fixing his keen
eye on the malcontents, and stretching out and slowly waving his
long fore-finger towards them, he continued : " My Bible teaches me
that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but that the fear of
man is the consummation of folly." He then turned to the people,

CLAY— CALHOUN: 311
and went on with his discourse. No one dared to disturb him —
his spell was upon them — like the Ancient Mariner, " he held them
with his glittering eye," and made them listen against their will to
the story of their country's wrongs, and to feel that deep wounds had
been inflicted in the sides of her constitution by those that now
sought his political destruction, if not his life.
Mr. Randolph made extraordinary exertions during this canvass ;
he felt that something more than his own success or his own repu
tation were staked on the issue, and never was he more powerful,,
more commanding, more overwhelming in his eloquence.
In his favorite county of Prince Edward, where the people loved
him like a brother, he surpassed even himself. A young man, who
was a student in a neighboring college, declares that he stood on his
feet for three hours unconscious of the flight of time — that he never
heard such burning words fall from the lips of man, and was borne
along on the tide of his impassioned eloquence like a feather on the
bosom of a cataract. When he had ceased — when his voice was no
longer heard, and his form had disappeared in the throng, no one
moved — the people stood still as though they had been shocked by a
stroke of lightning — their fixed eyes and pallid cheeks resembled
marble statues, or petrified Roman citizens in the forum of Pompeii
or Herculaneum. But it was all in vain ; the overwhelming pressure from without
was more than even Charlotte District could withstand ; and their
favorite son was compelled to retire for a short time, while the storm
of war was passing over the land, and to seek repose in the shades of
Roanoke. How magnanimously he bore this defeat shall be made
known in the following chapters.

END OF VOL. I.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 03103 9838

¥

**.

*A«H

#ifr: