USA > Virginia > Historical collections of Virginia : containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, &c. relating to its history and antiquities ; together with geographical and statistical descriptions ; to which is appended, an historical and descriptive sketch of the District of Columbia. > Part 35
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Mr. Clay and himself met at 4 o'clock the succeeding evening, on the banks of the Poromac. But he . saw " no devil in Clay's eye," but a man fearless, and expressing the mingled sensibility and firmness which belonged to the occasion.
I shall never forget this scene as long as I live. It has been my misfortune to witness several ducts, but I never saw one, at least in its sequel, so deeply affecting.
The sun was just setting behind the blue hills of Randolph's own Virginia. Here were two of the kunst cali ford này mea our coaddy in it, prodig d'y had produced, about to mest in mortal combat. * * * While Pittiel wi; lo iding Randolph's pistol, I approached my friend, I believed for the last time; I took his hand; there was not in it: touch the qu'ckening of one pulsation. He turned to me and said, " Clay is calm, but not vindictive: I hold my purpose, Hamilton, in any event -- remember this." Oa binding hàn his pistol, Col. Tutord sprung the hair-tr'eger. Mr. Randolph said, " Tattual. although I am one of the best shots in Virginia, with either a pistol or gun, yet I never fire with the hair-trigger ; besides I have a thick buck kin glove on, which will destroy the delleacy of my touch, and the trigger mory fly before I know where I am." But from his great solicitude for his friend, Tattnal insisted upon Irtiring the trigger. On taking their position, the fict turned out as Mr. Randolph anticipated : his pistol went off before the word, with the muzzle down.
The moment this event took place. Gen. Jesup. Mr. Clay's friend, called out that he would instantly leave the grand with his friend, if the occurred again. Mr. Clay at once exclaimed it was entirely an accident, and begged that the gentleman might be allowed to go on. On the word being given. Mr. chy fired without effect, Mr. Randolph discharging his pistol in the air. The moment Mr. Clay saw that Mr. Randolph he'd thrown away his fire, with a gush of sensibility he instantly approached Mr. R. and said, with an eur tion I never can forget. " I trust in God, my dear sir, you are untouched ; after what has oc- cu ral, I would not have harmed you for a thousand words." Deeply al cad by this scene. I could not refriin frems risping Mr. Chy by the hand, and said, " My good sir, we have been long separated, but after the events of to-day, I feel that we intist be friends for ever."
The magnanimous conduct of Mr. Randolph on the occasion of this duel excited gen- eral admiration. Shortly afterwards he retired frem Congress, and in 1829 he was elect- ed a member of the convention for revising the state constitution. Every morning he went to the capitol in Richmond, where the convention met, clad in mourning, with a black suit, and hat and arms bound with crape. " Have you lost a friend ?" was the frequent query. "Oh no!" replied he, in his peculiarly melancholy tones; " I go in mourning for the old constitution : I fear I have come to witness its denth and funeral." When he returned from the convention, he intended to retire from public life, and made, as he supposed, his farewell address to his 'constituents at Charlotte court-house. From the memory of a gentleman present, we give a slight sketch of his remarks :
He commenced by saying, "he had lately been very unpleasantly situated ; that he was in a convention where Virgin in was contending with Virginian for power, and that he had taken part in the strife. Fellow-citizens, you know brothers never could divide an estate ! 'The convention agreed to a constitution he had there voted for, and should presently go into the court-house and vote for again. But he disliked it. They had ex. tended the right of suffrage ; he never could agree to it -- never thought it right. There many plans for a constitution were submitted ; every man thought himself a constitution- maker-every man thought himself a George Mason. But my main business is to take leave of you, and what shall I say ? Twenty-eight years ago you took me by the hand when a beardless boy, and led me into Congress Hall. The clerk asked me if I was of law ful age ; I told him to ask you. You said you had a faithful representative ; I said no man ever had such constituents. You have supported me through evil report and through good report. I have served you to the best of my ability, but fear I have been an un- profitable servant ; and if justice were meted out to me, should be beaten with many stripes. People of Charlotte ! which of you is without SIN ?"-at the same time shak
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ing his long bony finger, " that javelin of rhetoric," (as it has been termed,) at them in bis peculiarly impres ive manner. " But I know," continued he, " I shall get a verdict of acquittal from my earthly tribunal : I see it ! I read it in your countenances. But it is time for me to retire, and prepare to stand before whether, a higher tribunal, where a verdict of acquittal will be of infinite more importance than one from an earthly tribu- Del. Here is the trust you placed in my hands twenty eight years ago"- at the saipe time, suiting the action to the idea, bending forward as though rolling a great weight towards them, and exclaiming -- " Take it back ! take it back !" He then mounted his horse and rode off.
Early in the administration of President Jackson, he was appointed a minister-pleni- potentiary to Russia. He suddenly returned from his mission, came into Charlotte, and raised his standard in opposition to the executive. Death, however, soon terminated his labors. He died at Philadelphia, May 24th, 1833, whither he had gone to embark on board of a vessel for Europe, for the benefit of his health. His physician published a long and thrilling narrative of his last days. We have, however, but sufficient space to quote the concluding scene :
" After the lapse of about an hour or more, and about 50 minutes before his decease, I returned to his sick room ; but now the scene was changed. His keen, penetrating eye had lost its expression ; bis powerful mind had given way, and he appeared totally incapable of giving any correet directions relative to his worldly concerns. To record what now took place may not be required, further than to say, that almost to the last moment some of his eccentricities could be seen lingering about him. He had entered within ' the dark valley of the shadow of death,' and what was now passing within his chamber was like the distant voice of words which fell with confusion on the ear. The further this master-spirit receded from view, the sounds became less distinct, until they were lost in the deep recesses of the valley, and all that was mortal of Randolph of Roanoke was hushed in death."
Mr. Randolph never married. He was once engaged to a distinguished heiress ; but when the day appointed for the wedding arrived, he declined, and she subsequently mar- ried a gentleman of distinction. Yet, from the following anecdote, it would seem that he had no great predilections for a life of celibacy. Respecting an epistle to a friend, congratulating him upon his marriage, written by Mr. Randolph early in life, one who saw it has said : "a letter of more beatif'd simplicity and feeling, I never read. recollect that while the writer dwelt upon the happiness and advantages to be expected from a wedded life, he spoke feelingly of never expecting to enjoy them himself."
The portrait of Mir Randolph wann a boy, shows him to have been a beanand child. When a young man, he was tall. ungainly, flaxen-haired, and his complexion of a parelt. ment hue. The expression was unprepossessing ; but when animated, his countenance changed in a moment, and that which was before dull and heavy, flashed up with the brightest beams of intellect. His personal appearance late in life is here given from : published accoant, omitting the extravagances of the original :
I had frequently heard and read descriptions of Randolph : and one day, as I was standing in one of the public streets of Baltimore, I remarked a tall, thin, unique-looking being, hurrying towards me with a quick impatient step, evidently much annoyed by a crowd of boys following close upon him, absorbed in silent and curious wwoder. Ho stopped to converse with a gentleman, which gave me an opportunity, unnoticed, to observe the Roanoke orator for a considerable length of time, and really he wes the wnos! remarkable looking person I ever beheld.
His limbs, long and thin, were encased in a pair of small-clothes, so tight that they seemed part and parcel of the limbs of the wearer. Handsome white stockings were fastened with great tidiness at the knees by a small gold buckle, and over them, comtag about half-way up to the calf, were a pair of what I believe are called hose, coarse and country-knit. He wore shoes : they were old-fashioned, and fastened only with buckles -huge ones. In walking, he placed his feet in the straight-forward Indian manner. It was then the fashion to wear a fan-tailed coat, with a small collar, and buttons far apart behind, and a few on the breast. Mr. Randolph's were the reverse of this ; the coat was swallow-tailed, the collar immensely large, and the buttons crowded together. Hiy waist was remarkably slender, and around it his coat was buttoned very tight, and held together by oue button. His neck was enveloped in a large high white cravat, without any collar being perceptible, although it was then the fashion to wear them very higha llis complexion was dark and cadaverous, and his face exceedingly wrinkled. His lips were thin, compressed. and colorless ; the chin, beardless as a boy's, was broad for the size of his face, which was small ; his nose was straight, with nothing remarkable in it, except it was too short. He wore a fur cap, which he took off, standing a few minutes
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uncovered. I observed that his head was quite small ; a characteristic which is said to have marked many men of talent -- Byron and Chief Justice Marshall, for instance.
To accurately delineate the character of Mr. Randolph, would require the pen of a master, and a long acquaintance with him. While in Cougress, he bad but few personal friends, but those few, it has been said, " he riveted to his heart with hooks of steel." His attachments and hatred were alike strong. His affection for his servants Was great ; and his treatment, kind and generous, excited that gratitude which is a marked feature in the African race. The return of ". Massa Randolph" from Congress was grected with the utmost demonstration of joy.
The conversational powers of Mr. Randolph were extraordinary, and when he chose, there was irresistible fascination in his voice and manner. His knowledge of books and men too was extensive. A friend on board the steamboat with hin, on his passagerfrom Baltimore to Philadelphia, a few days before his death, stated to the wiiter, that among the crowd that at one time surrounded him, as he reclined upou a settee in the cabin, was a gentleman, now a foreign minister ; an individual who, as a writer, has done more to enhance the reputation of American literature abroad than any other. Him, the statesman, enfeebled in body and mind by discase, was addressing. He hang upon his lips as if drawn by a charm, and appeared like a child before its teacher.
It has been said, that when in the halls of legis! : tion, " he never spoke without com- manding the most intense interest. At his first gesture, or word, the house and galleries were hushed into silence and attention. His voice was shrill and pipe-like, but under perfect command ; and in its lower tones. it was music. His tall person, firin eye, and peculiarly ' expressive fingers,' asisted very much in giving effect to his delivery. His eloquence, taking its character from his muamiable disposition, was generally exerted in satire and invective ; but he never attempted pathos without entire success. In quick- ness of perception, accuracy of memory, liveliness of imagination, and sharpness of wit, he surpassed most men of his day ; but his judgment was feeble, or rarely consulted."
The aphorisin, "a prophet is not without honor save in his own country," did not apply to him. He was always an object of wonder and curiosity to all. He often stopped at the hotel of Wyatt Cardwell, Esq. at Charlotte C. H. On those occasions, the multitude, though frequently seeing him, would crowd the windows and doors to get a glimpse of that man, about whose genius, eccentricities, and physical aspect, there was so much of the incomprehensible.
Mr. Randolph was opposed to that feature in the Federal constitution which gave so much power to the president. To that, by his friends, has been ascribed his opposition to every executive.
He went for the independence of the representative. A quotation from one of his speeches, supplied by the memory of oue present, is here in point. " I was at Federal Hall. 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 wings."
Mr. Randolph had a great veneration for religion, and a most intimate knowledge of the Bible. Ilis strongest illustrations were often from Sacred writ, and he could con- verse upon it in the most interesting manner. ' Ile was peculiarly a being of impulse, often reminding one, by his eccentricities, of the saying of Cicero, " that there was but & hair's-breadth between a great genius and a madman." When excited, he sometimes inadvertently used the name of the Almighty irreverently, upon which, justantly check- ing the torrent of his impetuosity, he would with deep humility ask forgiveness, exclaim. ing, "God forgive !" Towards the latter part of life, he was accustomed to call his servants together on Sundays, when he would preach to them with almost surpassing eloquence. He was charitable to the poor in his neighborhood, and beloved by them. He was wealthy. and left 318 slaves and 180 horses. At different times he made several wills, both written and nuneupative, by some of which he liberated slaves. They have become the subject of litigation the most complicated, expensive, and interminable.
Mr. Randolph has been described as one who " possessed a mind fertilized by every stream of literature ; but the use he made of his great acquirements, was calculated to make enemies rather than friends; and, as he once said, 'no man ever had such constituents' -- a fact which, of itself, speaks volumes in his praise. If he originated no great national benefits, nor did any great positive national good, he prevented many evils ; and in doing so. he became the benefietor of his country; although not to the extent he might otherwise have been." Much of his recentricity was, doubtless, owing to his exquisitely sensitive nervous organization, which became morbidly susceptible by disaase
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY.
CHESTERFIELD.
CHESTERFIELD was formed from Henrico, in 1748. It is 28 miles long, with an average width of about 18; the surface is broken, and, excepting on the margin of the streams, the soil is generally sterile. It is particularly celebrated for its immense beds of coal, which have been worked from a very early das. The James River forms its », and the Appoinattox its s. boundary ; and the great line of railroads, from the north to the south, passes through its eastern portion. Pop. 1830, 11,689; 1840, whites 7,859, slaves 8,702, free colored 587; total, 17,148.
Manchester lies on the James, immediately opposite Richmond, with which it is connected by the railroad and Mayo's bridges. In the American revolution it was visited by the enemy, and then had but a few houses, Ten years ago it contained a population of 1500, since which it has not increased. The town is very much scattered ; there are several tobacco and one or more large cotton
manufactorios. Its beautiful situation has induced wealthy men, doing business in Richmond, to make it their residence, who have erected some splendid private mansions within its limits. Bellona Arsenal, on the river, 12 miles above Richmond, was established in 1816. Formerly it was a depôt for military stores, and was garrisoned by a company of U. S. troops. Adjacent is the Bellona foundry, one of the oldest cannon foundries in the Union. Halis- boro' is a small village in the w. part of the county. Salisbury, now the seat of Mrs. Johnson, in this county, was once the resi- dence of Patrick Henry.
Warwick, which is on the river, was, previous to the revolution, larger than Richmond, and one of the principal shipping ports on the river. Formerly large vessels came up there, and it was the point where all the coal of this county was shipped. The Marquis de Chastellux thus describes it, as it was in 1752 : " We skirted James River to a charming place called Warwick, where a group of handsome houses form a sort of village, and there are several superb ones in the neighborhood; among others, that of Col. Carey, on the right bank of the river, and Mr. Randolph's [at Tuckahoe] on the opposite shore." In the revolution, the bar- racks of the American troops at the court-house of this county, were burnt by the enemy.
On the N. bank of the Appomattox, above the fil's, and about a m'le from Petersburg, is Matonx, where resided John Randolph, seur,, the Either of John R. of Roanoke. The name Matoix, (or M .to ei,) was the priv ite wymus of Pocahontas. Of the house nothing now renmins. Here Joba Randolph of Roanoke passed the years of his beybord. The Blind papers from which this article is also dead, remek that. " he is said ja after life. when involved in the turnall of politics to have returned with fond regret to his early days at Materx, and in particular to bis angling ou ement, there. Numerous arrowhead stone Bram tasks, and other ladian rettes found there, would seem to indicate it is formedy a favorite haunt of the natives." Subsjoined are to malations from Latin inscriptions eagreed on three tondatimes, under . a slump of oaks, near the site of the Matrix hatte:
John Randolph. Deqq,, ched 28th October, 1775, aged 34. Let not a tomb be wanting to his ashes, por Demery to his virtues.
Jesus, the Savinter of trinkied. When shrill we cease to mourn for Frances Bland Tacker, wife of St George 'Tucker ? She died ioth January, 1788, aged 36.
Martha Hall, died 4th of March, 1784. Whom Hymen slighted, Pollux and Apollo courted.
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY.
The coal-region of eastern Virginia is supposed to be about 50 miles long and 12 broad, and occupies part of this and several of the adjacent counties. Here, however, the mining has been the Tost successfully prosecuted, and at present the mines in Chester. Geld daily raise, in the aggregate, about 250 tons. We had the pleasure, in the summer of 1843, of visiting one of the mines, and at the time published a letter in a public print, giving an account of our visit. A portion of it is copied below :
Learning that the Midlothian mines were the most extensively and as skilfully wrought as any, I paid them a visit ; but my remarks as to the management and quality of the coal, will in general apply as well to the remainder. Four shafts have been sunk by this company since 1833 ; in two, coal has been reached, one at a depth of 625, and the other at 775 feet. The sinking of the deepest occupied three years of labor, at a cost of about 830,000. The materials were raised by mules, and it is supposed a like depth was never before attained by horse-power in any country. These shafts, cleven fret square each, are divided by timbers into four equal chambers. At the deep shaft, fwo steam.engines on the surface operate in raising coal ; at the other. one. The extra engine at the deep shaft draws coal up an inclined plane down in the mine, to the bottom of the shaft. This plane reaches the lowest point of the mine, about 1,000 feet or a fifth of a mile from the surface. 'The coal having thus been brought to the pit, the other engine raises it perpendicularly to the surface, when the baskets containing it are placed on little cars on a small hand-railway, and. are pushed by the negroes a few rods to where it is emptied, screened, and shovelled into the large cars on the railroad, connecting with Edc-water near Richmond, 12 miles distant. While the engine attached to the plane is drawing up coal, it is so arranged that pumps, by the same motion, are throwing out the " surface water," which, by means of grooves around the shaft, is collected in a reservoir made in the rock, 360 feet below the surface This water is conducted about twenty feet above ground, to a cisterne, from which it is used by the different engines.
Through the kindness of the president of the company, I was allowed to descend into The mines. I was first conducted to a building where I put on a coarse suit, which is perhaps worthy of description. Firstly, imagine a figure about five feet and a half in height, incased in a pair of parts of the coarsest "hard-times" cloth. coming up nearly to his shoulders, with fous as large as the wearer's body. Throw over these a coat of the same material, with a very short skirt, and over its collar place a shirt-collar of sail- cloth, turned over " à la Byron," being the upper termination of a garment operating most unmercifully as a flesh-brush upon the tender skin of its weurer. Mount this inter- cSting figure in a pair of negro shoes, crown him with a low black wool hat, stuck just on the top of his head ; beneath it place a countenance sunburns and weatherbeaten to the hue of unscraped sole-leather, relieved on each side by huge masses of long light huir, and you have a tolerable portiah of the writer as he was about making his debut, at 4 P. M., July 13th, A. D. 1843, into the deep pit of the Midlothian coal mine, in Chesterfield ; county, " Ole Virginny."
My friend, guide, and self, each with a lighted lamp, sprang into a basket suspended by ropes over pulleys and frame. work, above a yawning abyss seven hundred and seventy-five feet deep. The signal was given -- puff! puff! went the steam-engine, and down, down, went we. I endeavored to joke to conceal my trepidation. It was stale business. Rapidly glided past the wooden sides of the shaft,-I became dizzy .- shut my eyes, -- Opened them and saw, far, far above, the small faint light of day at top. In one minute- it seemed five -- we came to the bottom with a bump ! The under-ground superintendent inade his appearance, covered with coal-dust and perspiration ; his jolly English face end hearty welcome augured well for eur subterranean researches. Him we followed, each with a lighted lamp, through many a labyrinth, down many a ladder, and occa. rioually penetrating to the end of a drift. where the men were at work shovelling coal into baskets on the cars running on railroads to the mouth of the pit, or boring for blasts. We witnessed one or two. The match was put, we retreated a short distance,-then came the explosion, echoing and re-echoing among the caverns,-a momentary noise of falling coul, like a sudden shower of hail, succeeded, and then all was silence.
The drifts, or passages, are generally about sixteen feet wide, and ten feet high, with farge pillars of coa! intervening about sixty fect square. I can give the idea by com- paring the drifts to the streets, and the pillars to the squares of a city in miniature When the company's limits are reached, the pillars will be taken away. The general
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CHESTERFIELD COUNTY.
inclination of the passages is about 30°. Frequently obstacles are met with, and ons has to descend by ladders, or by steps, cut in solid rock. Doors used in ventilation wero oftro met with, through which we crawled. Mules are employed under ground in frans porting the coal on the small railways, coursing nearly all the drifts. They are in excel- lent condition, with fine glossy coats of hair, nearly equal well-kept race-horses, which is supposed to result from the sulphur in the cold, and the even tern erature of the mines Well-arranged 'stables are there built, and all requisite attention paid them. Some of the animals remain below for years, and when carried to the strong light of day, gambol like wild horses.
Partitions of thin plank, attached to timbers put up in the centre of the main drifts, are one of the principal means by which the mines are ventilated, aided by a strong furnace near the upcast shaft. Near this is a blacksmith-shop. The atmospheric air is admitted into the mines down the deepest shaft, and after coursing the entire drifts, and ascending to the rise-workings of the mines, is theuce conducted to the furnace, where it is rarefied, and ascends to the surface, having in its progress become mixed with the carbureted hydrogen gas emitted from the coal. When this gas is evolved in unusual quantities, greater speed is given to the air by increasing the fire. If the partitions in the drifts (known as brattice-work) should be broken, the circulation would be im- peded, and the gas so strongly impregnate the air, as in its passage over the furnace to ignite, and result in destructive consequences. Or, should too much gas be thrown out of the coal when the circulation is impeded from any cause, it would explode on the application of a common lamp. In such cases, the Davy lamp is used. I heard tho gas escaping from the coal make a hissing noise, and I saw it set on fire in crevices of the walls by the lamp of our conductor ; and although a novice in these mations, enough was seen to convince me of the skill of Mr. Marshall, the company's under-ground superintendent, in managing the ventilation.
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