Eastern Times

Reminiscences of Mr. Jefferson.

The editor of the Richmond Despatch gives the following college reminiscences of Mr. Jefferson when visiting the Virginia University:

I have frequently seen him on horseback, and recollect perfectly the manner in which he carried himself in the saddle. He was a superb horseman, even when an octogenarian, and always rode a good horse. I have heard that he was a fine judge of horse flesh, and valued himself on account of his skill in that particular, very nearly as much as upon his public services.

The influence which he exerted over the minds of the students was very great, and was exemplified in a striking manner the session before I came a student. Several young men having dressed themselves as Indians, appeared on the lawn, and collected such a crowd around them, that several of the professors thought it their duty to interfere. In attempting to discover the authors of the disturbance, one of them was knocked down, and one other very badly handled, to the same extent. The faculty met that night, and in solemn conclave resolved to suspend all the exercises of the institution until the authors of the riot were discovered and punished.

For several days there were no lectures, and Mr. Jefferson called together the Board of Visitors for the purpose of deciding upon the course proper to be pursued. The University was in a critical situation; its existence, so it seemed to him, depended upon the issue of the existing crisis. The students were all summoned to appear in one of the public rooms, and there they were brought face to face with the visitors. The nerves of the guilty must have been pretty severely tried, for they stood in the presence of three ex-Presidents (Jefferson, Madison and Monroe) and had them for their jury. The task of addressing them was assigned to Chapman Johnson, at that time in the very zenith of his powers and reputation. He made, it is said, one of the most brilliant of his many great speeches. He spoke of the vast difficulties which Mr. Jefferson had overcome in obtaining the means to establish that noble seat of learning, of the jealousy with which it was watched by numerous enemies, ever ready to convert the slightest untoward incident into a weapon of assault, of the fearful advantage which the late riot had given over its friends, and of the issue which they would be sure to make of it.

He appealed to the patriotism of those who had been most forward in promoting the disorder, to come forth like men, and sacrifice themselves for the good of their State, not concealing from them the fact, that expulsion must be the inevitable consequence. This speech produced a powerful impression, which was heightened to such a degree when 'Old Tom' (the pet name of Mr. Jefferson) rose to back it, and in a voice feeble from age, appealed to their sense of honor, that there was not a dry eye in the house. To the eternal honor of the rioters, some of whom have since become distinguished in various avocations, not a man hung back. Every one came up, without consulting his neighbor, and so far as he was individually concerned, owned to the whole truth. No one told upon his neighbor, for it was a fundamental rule of the college laws that no student was bound to bear witness against his fellow. By the bye, the University was indebted to Mr. Jefferson for that law, and it was. I believe. the first institution in the country in which such a law was established.