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may be said of all Mr. Randolph's district. He had represented them for five and twenty years; they all knew him-men, women, and children and he knew them. These are the people of whom he spoke, when he said, on a memorable occasion in the House of Representatives:

"I will go back to the bosom of my constituents to such constituents as man never had before, and never will have again—and I shall receive from them the only reward that I ever looked for, but the highest that man can receive the universal expression of their approbation-of their thanks. I shall read it in their beaming faces; I shall feel it in their gratulating hands. The very children will climb around my knees, to welcome me. And shall I give up them,

and this? And for what? For the heartless amusements and vapid pleasures and tarnished honors of this abode of splendid misery, of shabby splendor? for a clerkship in the war office, or a foreign mission, to dance attendance abroad, instead of at home or even for a Department itself? Sir, thirty years make sad changes in man. When I first was honored with their confidence, I was a very young man, and my constituents stood almost in parental relation to me, and I received from them the indulgence of a beloved son. But the old patriarchs of that day have been gathered to their fathers—some adults remain, whom I look upon as my brethren: but the far greater part were children-little children-or have come into the world since my public life began. I know among them, grand-fathers, and men muster-free, who were boys at school when I first took my seat in Congress. Time, the mighty reformer and innovator, has silently and slowly, but surely changed the relation between us; and I now stand to them in loco parentis-in the place of a father-and receive from them a truly filial reverence and regard. Yes, sir, they are my children-who resent, with the quick love of children, all my wrongs, real or supposed. Shall I not invoke the blessings of our common Father upon them. Shall I deem any sacrifice too great for them? To them I shall return, if we are defeated, for all of consolation that awaits me on this side of the grave. I feel that I hang to existence but by a single hair-the sword of Damocles is suspended over me." Mr. Randolph spent the summer in his usual solitude at Roanoke. In June, he says to Dr. Brockenbrough:

You are very good in taking time to write to me, but I hope you will continue to do so, notwithstanding the drudgery of penmanship that you are subjected to-for your letters constitute the only link between me and the world, at present-a world where I have but a little while longer to stay. I feel those internal monitions (of which the patient alone is sensible) that convince me that I cannot

hold out much longer, and although life has no one attraction left for me, I cannot but look towards its point of dissolution, with some misgivings of mind. We shall probably never meet again on this side of the grave: beyond it, all is involved in obscurity. I have just as much expectation of living to the end of the century, as to the close of the year. There is nothing left now for regimen or medicine to act upon. I have never been in such a condition; not even in 1817.” July 8th, he says:-"Your kind letter of the 3d has just arrived to throw a cheerful ray over my clouded mind. Although I stood in no need of any such assurance, yet the declaration it contained at the outset gave me most sensible gratification. I believe we have dealt as little in professions as any persons similarly circumstanced ever did; and for a plain reason-neither of us distrusted the sincerity of his sentiments towards the other. My dear friend, my strength ebbs apace. My health (like the stocks) fluctuates, but gets worse. I have lost my grasp upon the world. If it be not mad-then I am. Its political, religious and commercial relationships are, in my view, irrational and contemptible; but I still cherish a warm feeling of regard and of interest in the welfare of those who have manifested kindly dispositions towards me. Indeed, I wish well to all-I must except a few caitiffs'-and would do good to all, if it was in my power. Among those who have shown me favor, I set high value upon the attachment of Frank Gilmer; and I too had a very strong desire for his sake, that he would take the professorship. I was concerned to learn by a late letter from Mr. Barksdale, that he looked very ill, and was more desponding than when B. saw him in March. When you write to him, name me among those who think often and always kindly of him.

"The rains have destroyed our crops of every description but Indian corn, and that is much injured. If I live as long, which I do not at all look forward to, I shall assuredly take the voyage you mention. It is dreary enough to be in a land of strangers, a cipher and at sufferance; but any thing is better than the horrors of this climate, and indeed our state of society and manners is so changed, that were I to remain here, it must be in a sort of dreamy existence, among my books and shades, ignorant of what might be passing in the world around me.

"Jarvis, I remember, some fourteen years ago, made me laugh very heartily at poor Nicholson's table in Baltimore; but I might defy him now to raise even a smile, except of such a sort' as Julius Cæsar could not endure. You are right to be as convivial as you can; soberly, as Lady Grace says. Dulce est desipere. I am persuaded that our self-righteous denouncers of our old-fashioned sports and pastimes have added nothing to the stock of our morality; our young men and boys have exchanged the five's-court, and

other athletic exercises, for the tavern-bench, squirting tobacco-juice, and drinking whisky-grog. The girls, instead of balls and dress, &c., discourse of original sin-fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute.' But after all, we shall look in vain for the worth or manners of the last generation.

"I read little but Dr. Barrow, and not much of him. I have sometimes thought of attacking Atterbury and South; but after a short application, my eyes become dim and my head swims, and I have to take a turn or two about the room to recover myself. I would not trouble you with this long (for such it is) and stupid letter, but for the assurance that it is gratifying to you to hear from me in my present reduced condition. You may judge what it is, when I tell you that I have not seen my plantation since my return from Europe.

"Butler's Reminiscences I read two years ago, and was much disappointed in them. Do you note an article in the Edinburgh Review on the subject of the West Indies? It is written in a most ferocious spirit of philanthropy. My infirmity admonishes me to lay down my pen."

The monotony and tedium of his solitary life were greatly relieved by a visit from his friends, Dr. and Mrs. Brockenbrough, in the month of October. They spent a week with him. Most of his correspondence, before and after, was in reference to this visit. It was an important era in the chronicles of Roanoke. November 25th, he writes, "I am truly glad the agues fled before the thing with the hard name. Old Mrs. D. says of you, any body may see from his face that he is a mighty clever man. What say you to that, my dear madam? You know me well; distrust' is a sin that I cannot easily forgive. I can truly say that the pleasantest week by far that I have spent for years, was that that you and Mrs. B. spent here."

Mr. Randolph was detained at home on business till late in December. He did not arrive in Washington-" Babylon," as he called it-till Christmas. In the mean time, he had been elected to the Senate of the United States, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Gov. James Barbour, who had been appointed, by Mr. Adams, Secretary of War.

The election took place the 17th of December. The candidates nominated were Judge Henry St. George Tucker, the half-brother of Mr. Randolph, William B. Giles, John Floyd, and John Randolph. On the first ballot, the vote stood: Tucker 65, Randolph

63, Giles 58, Floyd 40. According to the rule of the House, Mr. Floyd was dropped, and the second ballot stood: Tucker 87, Randolph 79, Giles 60. Mr. Giles being likewise dropped under the rules, and the members having prepared and deposited their ballots in the boxes, Mr. Jackson on the part of the friends of Mr. Tucker, rose and stated to the House, that it was the desire of Mr. Tucker, in no event, to be placed in competition with Mr. Randolph. Considering that Mr. R. had no chance of being elected, they had on their own responsibility, put Mr. Tucker in nomination. But as the collision was now between these two gentlemen, they thought it due to Mr. Tucker's feelings and request to withdraw his name. Some conversation then ensued, in which it was suggested that the ballotboxes ought to be emptied and the ballots again collected. Mr. Jackson declared he did not know the ballots had been put in the boxes, or he should have withdrawn Mr. Tucker sooner. One gentleman remarked that the person who had been last dropped, ought, under these circumstances, to be again before the House. But the chair decided, that as the ballots had been all deposited in the boxes, and there being no mistake or irregularity, they must be counted under the rule of the House. This was accordingly done, and the ballots stood, Randolph 104, Tucker 80. Mr. Randolph, having a majority, was declared duly elected.

On the reception of the news of this election, through a letter from Dr. Brockenbrough, Judge Tucker thus responds: "I have barely time before the closing of the mail to acknowledge the receipt of your friendly letter, and to express my hearty concurrence in the gratification you feel at the election of my brother. I could wish indeed that my name had been withheld, yet hope that its withdrawal even at the time it took place, was not too late to manifest my deference to him. God preserve him long as an honor to his station and the Old Dominion. I cannot but think that this occurrence will reanimate his spirit, and restore him to that activity in the public councils for which he was always remarkable, until he thought himself unkindly treated by his native State. He will now, I trust, see in himself her favorite son."

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE ADAMS ADMINISTRATION.

THE reader is already aware that Mr. Randolph took no interest in the late Presidential contest. There were circumstances that inclined him to favor the pretensions of Mr. Crawford; but it was a mere personal preference; and as there were no principles involved in the controversy, he left the country with rather a feeling of indifference as to the result of the election. But no sooner was the contest decided by the election of John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives, than Mr. Randolph gave unequivocal evidences of hostility to the new administration. For this he has been blamed by many persons. It seemed like a pre-determination to condemn men when they as yet had perpetrated no act worthy of condemnation. But it must not be forgotten that we have a written Constitution, containing the fundamental law of all our political institutions. We have a Federal Government and State Governments, each with limited and specified powers, and acting as mutual checks and balances to each other. An over-action on the part of the one or the other would destroy the equilibrium, and endanger the existence of our complicated and nicely-adjusted system of Government. Hence the necessity of a scheme of doctrine, or rules of interpretation, by which the Constitution was to be construed, and the different departments guided in their administration of the Government. Our statesmen have something more to do than advise measures. They have to show that those measures are sanctioned by the Constitution, and that, in their final result, they will not disturb the harmony of the system.

In consequence of this necessity imposed on our public men, there had grown up at a very early period two distinct schools of politicians, differing widely in their doctrines and rules of interpretation. But, during the recent administration, as the reader is aware, these distinctions were effaced, and men seemed to stand on the same platform, professing a general, vague, undefined belief in the doctrines of republicanism. Mr. Adams, having acted a conspicuous part under Mr.

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