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in travelling abroad. But his old constituents were not so willing to give up his services. They had lost him for ever on the floor of Congress, but they now wished him to represent them on another theatre. The people of Virginia had determined on a convention to amend the Constitution of the State. Mr. Randolph was called to serve them in that body.

The reader will perceive, from the following letters, addressed to Dr. Brockenbrough, that he was nominated as a candidate without his knowledge, and greatly against his wishes. He was much embarrassed by this procedure, but at length consented to the sacrifice, that he might save the feelings of one friend and aid in the election of another who was a candidate also for the convention.

The letters were written before the election. He was returned of course as a member of the convention, and took his seat in that body when it assembled, on the first Monday of October, in the Hall of Representatives, in the capitol at Richmond.

ROANOKE, Tuesday, April 21, 1829.

To my friend Wm. Leigh, who called at the P. O. yesterday after the stage had left it, I am indebted for your kind letter of the 15th. He was riding post haste from P. Edward election to Halifax Superior Court, for which place he set out this morning by day-light. Such is the life of those who are at the head of the liberal professions in this country.

Whilst I was expressing to him my surprise at that passage of your letter which referred to my having consented to serve in the convention, if elected; he told me, to my utter astonishment, that a proclamation to that effect had been made at the last Charlotte Court, and by a staunch friend of mine too, and a man of honor and truth. Now, I have held but one language on this subject from first to last, and you know what that is. To you, to B., W., L., and others, in writing and orally, I have explicitly avowed my determination to have nothing to do with this matter. The more I have reflected on my retirement from public life, the better satisfied I am of the propriety and wisdom of the step. Before I take any in reference to this last matter, I shall see the gentleman who made the declaration in my behalf. He will be here about the last of this week.

My dear friend, we shall not "meet in October." I am anchored for life. My disease every day assumes a more aggravated character. I have been obliged to renounce wine altogether. Coffee is my only cheerer. A high fever every night, which goes off about day break with a colliquative sweat; violent pain in the side and breast; incessant cough, with all my tenacity of life this can't hold long. I have

rode once or twice a mile or two, but it exhausts me. The last three days have been warm, but last night we had a storm, and it was cold again. Luckily I have no appetite, for I have hardly any thing to eat except asparagus, which is very fine and nice. I tried spinach à la Française, but it disagrees with me. You see that, like Dogberry, "I bestow all my tediousness upon you." You know my maxim, "that every man is of great consequence to himself." The trees are budding and the forest begins to look gay, but when I cast my eyes upon the blossoms, the sad lines of poor Michael Bruce recur to my memory:

"Now Spring returns, but not to me returns
The vernal joy my better years have known;
Dim in my breast, life's dying taper burns,
And all the joys of life with health are flown."

Remove Mr. Manvy! You amaze me. What, the friend and school-fellow and class-mate of Jefferson, the first appointment to that consulate by Washington! Pray, what is the matter? And who is to be the successor ?

ROANOKE, Tuesday, April 28, 1829.

MY DEAR FRIEND-You and I, if I mistake not, have long ago agreed that there is no such thing as free agency. I am at this moment a striking example of the fact. In short, to save the feelings of a man of as much truth and honor as breathes, who believed himself to be doing right, and to avoid injuring certain friends and interests, which the withdrawal of my name would, it seems, occasion, I am fain even to let it stand, at the risk of incurring the imputation of fickleness (for the world will never know the true version), and at what I shrink from with unutterable disgust, the prospect of again becoming a member of a deliberative, i. e. spouting assembly.

ROANOKE, Friday, May 22, 1829.

MY DEAR FRIEND-It is a long while since I heard from you, and I am in a condition that requires all the aid my friends can give. If I could have been permitted to remain in the privacy I thought I had found, my life might have been prolonged some months-possibly years but the kindness of my friends has destroyed me. I have been in a manner, forced upon exertions to which my strength was utterly unequal, and at an expense of suffering, both body and mind, of which none but the unhappy victim can have a conception. I have not been so ill since this month last year.

As I have not the least prospect of attending Halifax election, I count upon being left out, a result which I by no means deprecate; having already attained the only two objects that I had at heart, and which prevented my withdrawing my name in the out set-the saving the feelings of one friend, who had "declared me," and promoting the

election of another (W. L.). I am an entire stranger in Halifax, and personal courtship is as necessary to success in Politics as in Love. They have four candidates of their own.

To be killed by kindness is, to be sure, better than to be murdered, and it is some consolation to know that you have done service to one friend, and gratified many but I have been most keenly sensible of the cruelty of which I could not complain.

My kindest regards to Mrs. B. and to Mr. Wickham when you see him. Your much afflicted but sincere friend.

CHAPTER XL.

THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION-EVERY CHANGE IS NOT REFORM.

No body of men that ever assembled in Virginia, created more interest than this convention. The State had been agitated for many years, on the subject of constitutional reform. Most of the slave property, and other wealth, were in the eastern section, extending from the Allegany to the sea shore, while a large free population were scattered over the western section, among the mountains. These people were almost unanimous in favor of an amendment of the Constitution, fixing the basis of representation on free white population. The result of such a measure, would be to change the balance of power, by giving the right of taxation to one portion, while the property to be taxed, for the most part, belonged to another portion of the Commonwealth; thus divorcing taxation and representation, which, according to American doctrine, should be inseparable. The eastern counties, who were to be the sufferers, strenuously opposed so radical a change in the fundamental law. It was not a mere question of reform, that might affect all parts alike, but it was one of power between two sections of the State, essentially different in feelings, habits, and interests; it was a question, too, that deeply involved that most difficult and delicate of all subjects, the right of slave representation. For these reasons, a deep and absorbing interest was felt in the deliberations of the convention now assembled in the capitol, at Richmond. Each section put forth its strength. The ablest men were selected, without

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regard to locality. Gentlemen living in the lower part of the State, were elected by districts beyond the mountains, because of their coincidence of opinion with their distant constituents.

Perhaps no assembly of men ever convened in Virginia, displaying a larger amount of genius and talent-certainly none that con tained a greater number of individuals whose reputation had extended beyond the borders of the State, and reached the farthest limits of the Union. There were many of less renown, who, in after years, acquired equal eminence in their professional and political career. Indeed, of the one hundred men that composed that Convention, much the larger portion were above the ordinary standard of talents, experience, and weight of character. The Editor of the "Proceedings and Debates" of the Convention, says, "that an assembly of men was drawn together, which has scarcely ever been surpassed in the United States."

What strange groups, and awkward meetings, took place on that occasion! Madison and Marshall side by side, in the same deliberative body! Giles and Monroe! Randolph, Tazewell, Garnett, Leigh, Johnson, Taylor, Mercer! Old Federalists, old Democrats, Tertium Quids, and modern National Republicans! What a crowd of recollections must have pressed on the mind of John Randolph, as he cast an eye around that assembly. For thirty years he had been on the political stage; for full one-third of that time, the whole of the political press, and two administrations-State and Federal, made war upon him! He was like an Ishmaelite; his hand against every man, and every man's hand against him. Then a friend was a friend indeed! and an enemy was one to be remembered! Now, behold around him so many that were friends, so many that were enemies, and so many who, pretending to be friends, in his hour of need betrayed him!

Randolph's manner and bearing, on this extraordinary occasion, was in some respects peculiar, even for him; but before the Convention adjourned, his bland and conciliatory course exalted him in the estimation of the country, and gratified his devoted friends, even beyond their most sanguine expectations.

The first thing done in the Convention, was to divide out to committees different parts of the Constitution, for revision. The most important was the Legislative Committee, to whom was assigned the duty of revising the "Right of Suffrage," the basis of representation.

Randolph was a member of this committee. Mr. Madison was chairman. In the committee room (Senate chamber) he took his seat at the head of a long table, and the members arranged themselves promiscuously along down the sides. Mr. Randolph, on the contrary, took his seat at some distance, in a corner, where he could observe every thing and every body that was passing. Erect in his seat, and his arms folded across his breast, he sat almost motionless, while his keen eye might be observed watching like a cat. Now and then his shrill voice, as if coming from some unseen being, would startle those in the room, and the crowd around would press forward to see from what quarter so startling a sound had emanated.

Of all the men assembled there on that great occasion, he was certainly the observed of all observers. The multitude were soon satisfied with seeing Madison, Marshall, Monroe, and other distinguished men, but no gratification could abate their desire to watch every movement, and to catch every word that fell from the lips of John Randolph. They crowded around him whenever he emerged from the capitol; through the throng of eager admirers he passed, hat in hand, with an ease, and grace, and dignity of manner, that struck every beholder with admiration.

Few men escaped with the reputation they brought into that assembly. They found that professional attainments, however extensive, or political studies confined to the measures or the politics of the day, did not qualify them to discuss those great principles. which lie at the foundation of all government. Quite other habits of thought than the professional, and a far different training were necessary for the discussion of those questions that involved all the interests of man, past, present, and to come. That, however, was the field for John Randolph to display, in a pre-eminent degree, his commanding genius. His profound knowledge of men, of history, of government; the causes of the growth and decay of nations; his patient attention and wonderful faculty of winnowing the chaff, and collecting together the substantial grains of a protracted debate; his concentrated, pointed, and forcible expressions, making bare in a few words the whole of a complicated subject; and his vast experience in parliamentary proceedings, gave him an unexpected and controlling influence over the proceedings of the Convention.

He watched those proceedings with unremitted attention, partook

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