WILLIAM RANDOLPH ALCIBIADES
From “The American Plutarch: Our Leading Statesmen Portrayed for the
Young; with Moral Inferences.” New York: A. D. 2124.
The career of William Randolph Alcibiades, publisher, soldier and
politician, coincided with the era of the Great Wars. He was born to a
position of power and luxury, being a nephew of the greatest statesman
of his time, and having as his private tutor the leading philosopher of
his time. He had rare gifts of personal beauty and charm; but his youth
was wild and dissipated, and he spurned the conventional career which
lay open to him, and set himself up as a leader of the Democratic party.
His enemies called him a demagogue, and denied him any sincerity in his
popular appeals.
In the first World War the young statesman was chosen commander-in-chief
of the American forces in France. Returning home, he organized and led
the expedition for the conquest of South America, and laid siege to the
city of Buenos Ayres. He was recalled, because his enemies charged that
on the night before the expedition sailed, he had committed an act of
sacrilege by chopping off the nose of the statue of George Washington in
front of the Treasury Building, New York. History will never know who
committed this vandalism; a young man confessed, and some of those whom
he charged with guilt were executed, but the enemies of William Randolph
maintained that he had purchased this confession, in order to get rid of
certain persons who stood in his way.
William Randolph, while being conducted back to his country under
arrest, made his escape to England. In order to punish his enemies at
home, he made fervent appeals to the British government to enter the war
on the side of South America, and against his own country. His eloquence
prevailed, and both England and France sent ships to the relief of
Buenos Ayres. But William Randolph had to flee from England to France,
because the English king made the discovery that the young American had
seduced his wife.
William Randolph now lived in retirement until the second World War
broke out--between the United States on the one hand, and Japan and
China, aided by England and France, on the other. William Randolph had
always been ardent in promoting hostility against Japan, but he now fled
to the court of the Japanese emperor, and with money furnished by this
wealthy monarch he sent emissaries to foment a conspiracy in the United
States. The conflict between the Republican and Democratic parties had
reached a stage of such bitterness that the wealthy classes were ready
to listen to any scheme which promised them power. William Randolph
having deserted the Democrats and gone over to the Republicans, his
agents approached the naval officers of the fleet, and these, combined
with Judge Gary and J. P. Morgan and other gentlemen of wealth,
overthrew the established government, and set up a new constitution,
which confined the voting power to five thousand of the richest
citizens.
The new government made an alliance with Japan and China against England
and France; and William Randolph returned to the United States and
became a general in command of the American army. But his failure to win
victories caused his popularity to wane, and he fled to a castle he had
built for himself in Mexico. The British government, enraged by what he
had done to turn the Japanese emperor against them, sent emissaries to
set fire to his castle, and William Randolph Alcibiades was shot while
trying to make his escape from the flames.
From this career we learn that it is not enough for a statesman to be
beautiful in person and charming in manner: it is also necessary that he
be taught to attend Sunday school in his youth.