Show arih an amer iv az T P I 1 A 1 PA IT 5 2 t by ELMO SCOTT NE HE hundred and four years ago this month there took place e on the virginia side of the romont roto iaac ac river one of tle strangest duels in ill the history of the amerlean american code duello it was between a member of the united states senate john randolph of virginia and henry clay of kentucky secretary of state slate back of the thief duel lay the conflict between two political theories those of president join john quincy adams supported by clay and those of a future president ident andrew jackson supported by randolph cut but the immediate cause of the a speech which randolph had made in the senate the debate which produced this speech was of minor importance it had to do with a resolution calling for the production of certain documents but randolph made it the occasion tor for such a vitriolic speech as only he be could make ile he assailed the administration paying particular attention to the close association in it of the austere correct and pious adams with the frequently drunken incessantly gambling clay and ending up with these famous words 1 I was defeated horse foot and dragoons cut up and clean broke down by the coalition of brifil adams and black george clay by the combination unheard of till then of the puritan with the blackleg ackles bl heretofore clay had bad ignored the whispering whig campaign against him based on his drinking and his gambling cut but this was a denunciation which he could not disregard ile he challenged randolph to a duel and ns as word of the affair got out the excitement in washington was nas tremendous thomas hart benton senator of missouri by permission of the principals was allowed to attend the duel which was held on the afternoon of april 8 1826 noted tor for his eccentricity and running true to form een on the duel ling field randolph appeared for the encounter with a white flannel wrapper over his coat despite the fact that his seconds had hatred haired the trigger of his big pistol he be insisted upon keeping on a pair of thick bilek bur akskin shin gloves even though these would destroy his delicacy of touch land and perhaps cause him to fire before the word was given ant and that Is exactly what happened As he stood holding his lit pistol muzzle downward it was discharged clays seconds immediately protested but clay silenced find and demanded that his opponent be given another pistol when the word was given hoh both nien men fired but neither shot took effect although Randolp randolphe hs bullet nearly struck clay in the leg IOK and clays bullet passed close to Randol plis waist ron hn tan immediately rushed in and tried to stop the light but alph refused tie lie had determined to make a grand gesture and was willing will ins to I 1 imperil his life to arte it so the lie II Aois were vere reloaded and nen fired the secretary of state put lils ids bullet through the senti senators tors coat but the latter purposely fired high in the air over clays hend head at this clay rushed forward with onesti hand 1 I in god tay my dear sir you are untouched after what nhat baa ha occurred I 1 would not lime hae harmed you for a thousand worlds he exclaimed you owe me a coat mr clay replied randolph with a smile emile the whole affair Is of john randolph of Po Kon noke inobe for Y lie was the Amp american rican of ills his time tind find perhaps of all linw gerald W johnson in a recent blo graphy 1 him shed by minton r falch alch slid abid company calls him A fen lips tle and perhaps fantastic is ig a more apt word than either eccentric or strange when applied to hla his life both private and political declaring that lie tins bus cone come down in history with one of the most terrible reputations ever attached to an american politician who ho never wits was convicted of murder or treason or theft the biographer points out that he was in public life for a third of tt a century during which lie bened as a congressman and jeffersons floor leader in the house of representatives us as a senator from virginia us as ambassador to russia as a R mem berof the constitutional convention of virginia and on many commissions and epe caal missions hut but lie he declares lie he Is not remembered for thera services A corf JI ly arnish ad rather randolphe Randolp hs reputation lives because lie carried the wickedest wick wiel edest tongue that ever hung in the head of tin an american congressman or at any rate in the head of one who had both the courage and the wit to use it IL many americans can remember the day when invective with all its synonyms of abuse reproach railing censure sarcasm satire and vituperation were an indispensable part of the equipment of the politician but of all who ever used med u sed them randolph was the acknowledged master intimates johnson when he says no man since his day when attacked in debate by half a dozen honorable members has had the superb insolence to rise and quote as he leisurely surveyed the united states house of representatives the little dogs does and all 11 ll tray blanch and sweetheart see they bark at me nor have we since had invective as startling as the metaphor which he Is frequently said to have used against henry clay but which he really applied to edward livingston fellow citizens he is a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt like rotten mackerel by moonlight he shines chines and stinks his characterization of john quincy adams and clay as brifil and black george georee the puritan and the blackleg blac klei hardly needed the duel which followed to stomp stamp it upon the memory of the country for although there was no duel ats s a result the aou country had remembered the desert description 97 of thomas jefferson JelT Jef ernon Terson as st thomas of Canting bury because as L a in the other case there was j just enough truth troth in it to make it stick and sting although john randolph himself once complained that all the bastard wit it of the country has been fathered on me johnson Jo linson cites some of his big brilliant sallies ile he once spoke of the glorious privilege of finding fault one very dear to the depraved condition of human nature of robert wright and john rea ray he said that the house of representatives had two anomalies A wright always wrong and a rae without It bout a light once a new mcm zV ember lier elected to fill a vacancy in the house canse caused d hy by a death qt attacked ticked randolph who ignored it at the time later however while discussing a bill in which the dead congressman had been much interested randolph remarked that this bill tins lias lost much in the death if his dear friend mr nho ie seat remains vacant when richard jusli was appointed secretary of the hie treasury the gentleman from virginia declared that never were idere abilities so much below iu dio crity so n nell ell rewarded no not glnn in Cali Call gulas gillas horse was made connul of a certain pedantic individual lie said that his mind was like a parcel of land which he knew poor to begin with and made more barren by too in tensho cultivation denouncing me he be demanded when a filand ft lend told him that a 11 certain eel lain person had attacked liim him that thai Is strange I 1 never did him blin a favor one day lie met an enemy on the th narrow sidewalks of washington the man halted in the middle of the walk and belligerently declared 1 I never step out of my way for puppies 1 I always do replied itan dolph stepping aside puss on but Rando randolphe Randolp lillis hs place in history Is much more than that of a mere coiner of epigrams epi grains according to his blo biographer grapher who ho declares that he was the most powerful sin single gle influence to transforming the south from the nourishing mother of the republic into the frantic opponent of f the republic and while it would ile bo far too much to say that jolin john randolph of diverted the spirit of southern statecraft from the philosophy of if thomas Jel jefferson Terson to that of jefferson rals pails it Is true that lie he witnessed that transition and that lie he it it seems strange inge perhaps that hint the nun man who was admittedly the birr t orator in a congress that included webster clay and calhoun should lie he remembered mainly because of his vio violence lonee of action and vituperation of speech for says johnson Toh I 1 I 1 john randolph of roand n we wa 1 0 a trone strong man and be h contended conlon did mi mahl 1 bt I 1 4 X Z V hk h q k lly fly ilia human opponents were impressive enough for or he dared the wrath successively of thomas jefferson james madison john marshall john C calhoun john quincy adams henry clay daniel webster mind nd an drew jackson Jack aon he asked no quarter of 0 the best beat of them and no BO weak roan man could have stood a moment 0 against the least of these certain of the elements ot of greatness john randolph of roanoke possessed beyond the shadow of 0 a doubt in intellectual tel keenness and alertness he ri tho the groat great virginians in courage no man among thern them sir surpassed passed age him tin and not all were his equals in depth dept h ot or learning Arning lc he was superior to most of them perhaps to all in personal integrity not washington himself was further beyond reproach rn in add addition tion rand randolph olph possessed a quality which none of the stars in virginias political firmament shared in anything like the first degree this quality was his sheen his bin coruscation his bis sheer blinding brilliance but for all this ho he was a man attended by fatality the heir of the house of usher porn born to the purple wealthy a handsome youth charming in his personal relations and equipped with a magnificent mind lit it seemed upon his entrance into public life that 1 all I 1 the powers had bad combined comb b I n e d to insure his happiness and his izeory but his fair prospects prospect were all illusory instead of primroses prim roses his path was strewn with stones atones and thorns instead of becoming even the stepfather of his country 11 1 mean the commonwealth of virginia he be urged her along a road strikingly similar to the one he be trod and which led not to glory everlasting everl but to defeat madness and death for a physical affliction which randolph sustained at the age of nineteen following an attack of scarlet fever changed the whole course of 0 ills his life and made him an embittered frustrated man to the end of his days he retained a curiously boyish appear ance acce beardless with a shrill high pitched voice this fact coupled with the statement emplit that he vine BBS the first orator of his time and his onn oa statement of 1 I am tin nn aristocrat I 1 love love justice and hate equality only accentuates the grotesque character of the picture of the man who was john randolph of roanoke noa noke when he was over forty a spectator in the house gallery was dumfounded dum founded nt at learning that the youth he saw on the floor and whom lie he had biad believed to be about sixteen was the great mr randolph of virginia the result of this affliction was inevitable here was an intensely proud member of a proud race a man inan who cherished his lineage above all lils hit material possessions a man to whom the family was not merely a sacred hut but a downright awe inspiring institution deprived of nf the privilege of continuing his big family writes johnson here wits was a scornful man doomed forever to he the target of the shafta of the alie scornful here vas it 11 romantic man ridiculously de barred from an orous romance mance ru here was a man whose i hoe finest quality perhaps was his capacity for unflagging devotion to the domestic interests of ills kin denied the possibility of setting up tip a domestic establishment of his fits own it Is in that this frustration tilts this profound jiun humiliation dilation should have failed to work out in bitterness of spirit so john randolph of who had in him film the elements of greatness just greatness gie gien atness if lie he hud had not been such a strong man inin lili story would he be a p pathetic one his 1119 on oin people have reme inhered him film with al burlous loiis mixture of terror pride and wild delight dellget for or dark as an Is his story on oil wea sion it glitters and spar sparkles ldes fla as does that of no other american of silly liny generation it Is the story of a fighting man of the breed ot if roland koland and ani no one who Is stirred elli red by a tole tale of a warrior who lays about lilio ilin with elih a right good will can fall fail to lie be stirred by randolph nut it la Is aboe nil cl else a fantastic tale talc vergin upon the grot elique the incredibly long incredibly loan lean figure don doll quixote to the life hot but jolin john ran kan fallible own ovin were the glittering eyes and the almost fabulous forell forefinger nger with which he be seemed to transfix a shivering opponent this the strung strong ost est american america |