Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 09.djvu/37

 RANDOLPH

RANDOLPH

Art. VI. on religious tests was added at his sug- gestion before the adoption. He resigned as governor in 1788, and secured a seat in the as- sembly that he might take part in codifying the laws of the state, the code published in 1794 being the result. On Sept. 27, 1789, he was named by President Washington as attorney-general in his <3abinet, and he served until Jan. 2, 1794, when he succeeded Tliomas Jefferson as secretary of state, and was succeeded by William Bradford of Penn- sylvania, as attorney-general. He opposed the signing of the Jay treaty unless the clause per- mitting the search of neutral ships was revoked, and the President promised to withhold his signa- ture, but when Randolph was charged by Fau- chet with being purchasable, in a dispatch of the French minister to his home government, which dispatch was intercepted and sent to the English minister Hammond in Philadelphia, Washington signed the treaty, and Randolph resigned his portfolio, protesting his innocence, and followed the recalled French minister to Newport, R.I., where he obtained from him a full retraction of the false charge and wrote his " Vindication." In the interim the President did not withhold from his former secretary of state his personal regard, visiting him at his house on several occasions, and twice giving him the place of honor at the executive table. In 1888 a dispatch was found in Paris written by Faucliet which conclusively disproved the cliarge of intrigue made against Randolph. He resumed the practice of law in Richmond, Va. An account was made up against him of $49,000 for moneys placed in his Iiands to defray the expenses of foreign in- tercourse, and as he was held responsible for all moneys lost tlirougli accidents and other calami- ties, after repeated trials and arbitration, his lands and slaves were sold, the government gain- ing, besides the debt and interest, about $7000. He appeared as counsel for Aaron Burr in his trial for treason in Richmond. He is the author of: Democratic Societies (1795); Vindication of Mr. Randolph's Resignation (1795); Political Truth, or Animadversions on the Past and Present State of Public Affairs {17^Q), and History of Virginia (MS. in possession of Virginia His- torical society). Moncure D. Conway published " Omitted Chapters of History disclosed in the Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph " (1888); and an article published in LippincotVs Magazine in September, 1887, entitled "A Suppressed Statesman." His son, Peyton Randolph (1779- 1828), married Maria Ward, and was the author of: '-Reports of Cases in the Supreme Court of Virginia" (6 vols., 1823-32). Edmund Randolph died in Clarke county, Va., Sept. 13, 1813.

RANDOLPH, George Wythe, cabinet officer, was born at Monticello, Va., March 10, 1818; son

of Gov, Thomas Mann and Martha (Jefferson) Randolph. He attended school at Cambridge, Mass., while under the care of his brother-in-law, Joseph Coolidge of Boston, and in 1831 was warranted mid- shipman in the U.S. navy. He was given leave of absence in 1837, to attend the University of Vir- ginia, where he studied two years. In 1839 he resigned his commission in the navy, and after studying law, prac- tised in Richmond. He was one of the commissioners sent

by the state of Virginia to confer with Abraham Lincoln at his home in Springfield, with the hope of maintaining peace. He raised a com- pany of artillery at the time of the John Brown raid, and the organization then known as the Virginia Howitzer Battalion, Maj. George W. Randolph, was attached to Magruder's force in the battle of Big Bethel, Va., June 10, 1861, He was commissioned brigadier-general, and com- manded a brigade in Magruder's army until March 17, 1862, when President Davis appointed him secretary of war in his cabinet to succeed Judah P. Benjamin, transferred to the state department. The question of the use of hidden shells as charged against the Confederate troops at the evacution of Yorktown, led to his decision that it was not admissible in civilized warfare to take life with no other object than the destruc- tion of life, but that planting shells was ad- missible on the parapet of a fort to prevent its capture or on the trail of a retreating army to save the army. He resigned his seat in the cabinet of President Davis, Nov. 17, 1862, and returned to the army, but was forced to resign and seek relief from a pulmonary complaint by running the blockade and living in Southern France. He returned to Virginia several years after the close of the war, and died at Edgar Hill, Va., April 10. 1878.

RANDOLPH, Harrison, educator, was born in New Orleans. La., Dec. 8, 1871; son of John Field and Virginia Dashiell (Bayard) Randolph; grandson of Edward and Margaret (Turnbull) Randolph of Petersburg, Va.. and of Samuel John and Jane Winder (Dashiell) Bayard, and a descendant of William Randolph of Turkey Is- land, Virginia (born in Warwickshire, England, and came to America, arriving at Jamestown, Va., in 1674); and of Peter Bavard of Bohemia