question, and when Mr. Randolph was in the habit of almost daily addressing the house, that a Mr. Beecher, of Ohio, who was very impatient with Randolph’s tirades, would, in the lengthy pauses made by him, rise from his place, and move the previous question.  The Speaker would reply:  “The member from Virginia has the floor.”  The first and second interruption was not noticed by Randolph, but upon the repetition a third time, he slowly lifted his head from contemplating his notes, and said:  “Mr. Speaker, in the Netherlands, a man of small capacity, with bits of wood and leather, will, in a few moments, construct a toy that, with the pressure of the finger and thumb, will cry ‘Cuckoo!  Cuckoo!’ With less of ingenuity, and with inferior materials, the people of Ohio have made a toy that will, without much pressure, cry, ’Previous question, Mr. Speaker!  Previous question, Mr. Speaker!’” at the same time designating Beecher, by pointing at him with his long, skeleton-looking finger.  In a moment the House was convulsed with laughter, and I doubt if Beecher ever survived the sarcasm.

At the time Mr. Clay came into Congress, Randolph had no rival upon the floor of the House.  He had become a terror to timid men.  Few ventured to meet him in debate, and none to provoke him.  Mr. Clay’s reputation had preceded him.  He had before, for a short time, been in the Senate.  He was known to be the first orator in the West, and the West boasted Doddridge, Humphrey Marshall, John Rowan, Jesse Bledsoe, John Pope, and Felix Grundy.

It was not long, before these two met in debate upon the subject of the national road.  Randolph opposed this measure as unconstitutional, denying to the General Government any power to make any improvements within the limits of any State, without the consent of the State.  Mr. Clay claimed the power under that grant which constituted Congress competent to establish post-offices and post-roads.  The discussion was an excited one.  Mr. Clay was a Virginian, but not of Randolph’s class; besides, he was not now from Virginia, and Randolph chose to designate him a degenerate, renegade son of the Old Dominion.  He had been reared, as Randolph, a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school.  In this he was an apostate from the ancient faith.  Randolph fully expected an easy victory, and no man upon the floor was more surprised than himself, at the bold, eloquent, and defiant reply of Clay.  Between them the combat was fierce and protracted.  Randolph had the mortification of seeing Western Virginia moving with Clay, and the entire representation of the Western States joining with them.  Clay was triumphant.  The measure became a law, the road was built, and a monument was erected to Mr. Clay in Western Virginia, and by Virginians.  It stands in a beautiful valley, immediately on the road’s side.  From that time until, as old men, they met in mortal combat upon the banks of the Potomac, they were rivals and enemies.