He went as his father had gone after the first war of the Revolution-upon the termination of the second war, to the Court of St. James. He remained not long before another sphere was opened to him. As Secretary of State for eight years, he fulfilled the arduous duties incident to that high post in a country just emerging from conflict. To the highest office of the people he was quickly raised; and how in that sphere he moved-with what ease, ability, and grace-we all know, and history will record. He crushed no heart beneath the rude grasp of proscription; he left no heritage of widows' cries or orphans' tears.

He disrobed himself with dignity of the vestures of office, not to retire to the shades of Quincy, but, in the maturity of his intellect, in the vigor of his thought, to leap into this arena, and to continue, as he had begun, a disciple, an ardent devotee at the temple of his country's freedom. How in this department he ministered to his country's wants we all know and have witnessed. How often we have crowded into that aisle, and clustered around that now vacant desk, to listen to the counsels of wisdom as they fell from the lips of the venerable sage, we can all remember, for it was but of yesterday. But what a change! How wondrous! how sudden! 'Tis like a vision of the night. That form which we beheld but a few days since, is now cold in death!

[FEBRUARY, 1848.

south to give deliverance to people, states, and | birth. But he was more than the son of Maspowers. His own country demanded his sachusetts; he did not belong to her alone; he services, and he became, with Gallatin and offered himself to his country, and she made Clay, a mediator of that peace between two him her property. His fame, his wisdom, and nations which we trust shall exist forever, his works, were all his country's. These are while the only contests shall be those of good his rich and common legacy to us all. It is will on earth and mutual brotherhood. therefore that we of the great national brotherhood claim the precious privilege to cluster close around the children of Massachusetts-to take part with them in this sad solemnity-to sympathize with them, and along with them— to give utterance to our sorrow, to our reverence, to our veneration for the departed dead, and to our deep affliction in this great national bereavement. I did not rise-I dare not attempt one word of eulogy upon the illustrious dead-nor dare I venture to portray his exalted character as a statesman, or the bright virtues of his private life. I know how incompetent I am to the performance of such a task. I trust that in due time, and on some fitting occasion, this will be done by some one of the great and gifted intellects of Massachusetts. But still I hope to be permitted to say that no man has heretofore died, when a member of this body, who will fill so large a space in his country's history, or who has stamped so deeply his impress on her institutions. The solemnity of the occasion forbids, perhaps the period has not yet arrived, for the expression of an unbiased opinion respecting the effect of this on his country's welfare. But when time shall have numbered with the dead us who were actors with him upon this great drama of life; when the partialities of his friends and the prejudices of his enemies, if any he have left behind, shall have been buried in one common grave, he and the work of his great life may be safely trusted to the truthful historian, and to the judgment of an impartial posterity. To this great and just ordeal, he, with all the renowned and mighty of the earth who have gone before him, must come at last. And to its verdict, those of us who knew him best, and were most devoted to him, are most willing to commit him, and all that he achieved. The time, the place, and the manner of his death, all conspire to excite the profoundest sensation every where, as it has done in this Hall; and especially to teach us "what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue; to teach us how vain and valueless are all our struggles and Mr. VINTON rose and addressed the House: contests here for distinction or for power; and, Mr. Speaker, (said he,) when the messenger above all, that no human greatness, no fame, of death enters this Hall and bids one of us no honor, no high attainment, no divine excome away, it is our custom to commit ex-altation of intellect, can aught avail us to clusively to some colleague of the departed avoid the dread sentence of God upon poor member the solemn ceremony of its announce- mortal man: "Dust thou art, and unto dust ment. Usage requires no more. But the thou shalt return." venerable man whom the destroying angel smote down in our very presence--the book of whose great life is now written and finished -stood out far beyond the rest of us, upon a broader and higher elevation. It is true he was the son of Massachusetts, and to her belongs the proud honor of having given him

But the last Sabbath, and in this Hall, he worshipped with others. Now his spirit mingles with the noble army of martyrs and the just made perfect in the eternal adoration of the living God! With him "this is the end of earth." He sleeps the sleep that knows no waking. He is gone-and forever! The sun that ushers in the morn of the next holy day, while it gilds the lofty dome of the Capitol, shall rest with soft and mellow light upon the consecrated spot beneath whose turf forever lies the PATRIOT FATHER and the PATRIOT SAGE!

Mr. JAMES MCDOWELL, of Virginia, then rose and said: Such, for half a century, Mr. Speaker, has been the eminent position of Mr. ADAMS in the eyes of his countrymen; his participation in the highest honors which it was theirs to give; his intimate association with controlling events in their national annals, and with the

FEBRUARY, 1848.]

Honors to Mr. Adams.

[30TH CONG.

But kindling to the imagination and soothing even to the feelings as is the death of Mr. ADAMS, with all the accessories and associations of this spot around him, how infinitely deeper is the interest which is given to it by the conviction that he was willing and ready to meet it? He was happily spared, by the

formation of that public opinion which brought | And where but from this mansion-house of them about; such the veneration and almost liberty on earth, could this dying Christian universal homage entertained for his intellect more fitly go to his mansion-house of eternal and virtues; and such, in all respects, his great liberty on high? relations to this entire Union, and to the daily thought of its growing millions,-that on this sad occasion the language of all its parts will be that of lamentation and of tribute. It is not for Massachusetts to mourn alone over a solitary and exclusive bereavement. It is not for her to feel alone a solitary and exclusive sorrow. No, sir; no! Her sister Common-preservation of his rich faculties to the last, wealths gather to her side in this hour of her affliction, and, intertwining their arms with hers, they bend together over the bier of her illustrious son-feeling as she feels, and weeping as she weeps, over a sage, a patriot, and a statesman gone! It was in these great characteristics of individual and of public man, that his country reverenced that son when living, and such, with a painful sense of her common loss, will she deplore him now that he is dead.

Born in our revolutionary day, and brought up in early and cherished intimacy with the fathers and founders of the Republic, he was a living bond of connection between the present and the past-the venerable representative of the memories of another age, and the zealous, watchful, and powerful one of the expectations, interests, and progressive knowledge of his

own.

There he sat, with his intense eye upon every thing that passed, the picturesque and rare old man, unapproachable by all others in the unity of his character and in the thousandfold anxieties which centred upon him. No human being ever entered this Hall without turning habitually and with heartfelt deference first to him, and few ever left it without pausing as they went to pour out their blessings upon that spirit of consecration to the country which brought and which kept him there.

Standing upon the extreme boundary of human life, and disdaining all the relaxations and exemptions of age, his outer framework only was crumbling away. The glorious engine within still worked on unhurt, uninjured, amid all the dilapidations around it, and worked on with its wonted and its iron power, until the blow was sent from above which crushed it into fragments before us. And however appalling that blow, and however profoundly it smote upon our own feelings as we beheld its extinguishing effect upon his, where else could it have fallen so fitly upon him? Where else could he have been relieved from the yoke of his labors so well as in the field where he bore them? Where else would he himself have been so willing to have yielded up his life, as upon the post of duty and by the side of that very altar to which he had devoted it? Where but

in the Capitol of his country, to which all the throbbings and hopes of his heart had been given, would the dying patriot be so willing that those hopes and throbbings should cease?

from becoming a melancholy spectacle of dotard and drivelling old age. He was still more happily spared, by the just and wise and truthful use of those faculties, from becoming the melancholy and revolting spectacle of irreverent and wicked old age. None knew better or felt more deeply than he that

66

""Tis not the whole of life to live,
Nor all of death to die;"

and hence for long years his life has been a
continuous and beautiful illustration of the
great truth, that whilst the fear of man is the
consummation of all folly, the fear of God is
the beginning of all wisdom. To such an one,
composure amid the perils of death, and
when "the last of earth has come," is a sup-
porting power frequently and divinely given;
and, if it has not been permitted to him, as to
a prophet of old, to be spared the bitterness of
death, and to go to the heaven that he looked
for, and that he loved, in a chariot of fire, yet to
the eye of human faith his access to the same
abode has been as speedy and as safe. Instead
of wearing away under the waste of disease,
and passing through all the woes and weak-
nesses which dissolving nature generally under-
goes, a blow of brief but mortal agony strikes
him at once into the tomb, and thus his spirit,
instantly freed, goes right up to the parent
fountain from which it came. The messenger
calls, the soul is in heaven.

At this moment of fresh affliction, whilst standing in the very presence of death, it is not meet to go into any special review of the labors or opinions of the departed. Whatever may be thought of those politically, posterity will never deny to him the possession of great talents, actuated by great virtues, and directed with boldness, honesty, an earnest purpose, for an unequalled length of time, to whatever, in his judgment, was best for the interests, honor, and perpetuity of his country. This is the lesson taught by his life. That which is taught by his death calls upon us all, with solemn, appealing cry, "Be ye also ready, for ye know not the hour when the Son of Man cometh!

Mr. NEWALL rose and moved the following as an additional resolution:

Resolved, That the seat in this Hall just vacated by the death of the late JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, be unoccupied for thirty days, and that it, together with the Hall, remain clothed with the symbol of mourning during that time.

While at that court, in February, 1811, he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Cushing, but never took his seat upon the Bench.

In May, 1813, he, with Messrs. Gallatin and Bayard, was nominated Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain, under the mediation of Russia, and a treaty of commerce Mr. J. W. Houston, of Del. with Russia. From causes which it is unneces

154

FEBRUARY, 1848.]

Honors to Mr. Adams.

[30TH CONG.

pacification, and the name of Mr. ADAMS is | so long shared the honors of his career, and to subscribed to the treaty of Ghent.

After this eventful crisis in our public affairs, he was, in February, 1815, selected by Mr. Madison to represent the country and protect its interests at the Court of St. James, and he remained there as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary until Mr. Monroe became President of the United States.

On the 5th of March, 1817, at the commencement of the new administration, he was appointed Secretary of State, and continued in the office while that gentleman was at the head of the administration.

In 1825 he was elected his successor, and discharged the duties of President for one term, ending on the 3d of March, 1829.

Here followed a brief period of repose from public service, and Mr. ADAMs retired to the family mansion at Quincy, but was elected a member of the House of Representatives from the district in which he lived, at the next election which occurred after his return to it, and took his seat in December, 1831: he retained it by successive elections to the day of his death.

I have not ventured on this occasion beyond a bare enumeration of the high places of trust and confidence which have been conferred The service covers a upon the deceased. period of more than half a century; and what language can I employ which will portray more forcibly the great merits of the deceased, the confidence reposed in him by the public, or the ability with which he discharged the duties devolved upon him, than by this simple narration of recorded facts? An ambitious man could not desire a more emphatic eulogy.

Mr. ADAMS, however, was not merely a statesman, but a ripe, accomplished scholar, who, during a life of remarkably well-directed industry, made those great acquirements which adorned his character, and gave to it the manly strength of wisdom and intelligence.

As a statesman and patriot, he will rank among the illustrious men of an age prolific in great names, and greatly distinguished for its progress in civilization. The productions of his pen are proofs of a vigorous mind, imbued with a profound knowledge of what it investigates, and of a memory which was singularly retentive and capacious.

But his character is not made up of those conspicuous qualities alone. He will be remembered for the virtues of private life-for his elevated moral example-for his integrity -for his devotion to his duties as a Christian, as a neighbor, and as the head of a family. In all these relations, few persons have set a more steadfast or brighter example, and few have descended to the grave where the broken ties of social and domestic affection have been more sincerely lamented. Great as may be the loss to the public of one so gifted and wise, it is by the family that his death will be most deeply felt. His aged and beloved partner, who has

whom all who know her are bound by the ties of friendship, will believe that we share her grief, mourn her bereavement, and sympathize with her in her affliction.

It is believed to have been the earliest wish of his heart to die, like Chatham, in the midst of his labors. It was a sublime thought, that where he had toiled in the house of the nation, in hours of the day devoted to its service, the stroke of death should reach him, and there sever the ties of love and patriotism which bound him to earth. He fell in his seat, attacked by paralysis, of which he had before been a victim. To describe the scene which ensued would be impossible. It was more than the spontaneous gush of feeling which all such events call forth, so much to the honor of our nature. It was the expression of reverence for his moral worth; of admiration for his great intellectual endowments, and of veneration for his age and public services. All gathered round the sufferer, and the strong sympathy and deep feeling which manifested itself showed that the business of the House (which was instantly adjourned) was forgotten amid the distressing anxieties of the moment. He was soon removed to the apartment of the Speaker, where he remained surrounded by afflicted friends till the weary clay resigned its immortal spirit. "This is the end of earth." Brief but emphatic words. They were among the last uttered by the dying Christian.

Thus has closed the life of one whose purity, patriotism, talents, and learning, have seldom been seriously questioned. To say that he had faults, would only be declaring that he was human. Let him who is exempt from error venture to point them out. In this long career of public life, it would be strange if the venerable man had not met with many who have differed from him in sentiment, or who have condemned his acts. If there be such, let the mantle of oblivion be thrown over each unkind thought. Let not the grave of the old man eloquent be desecrated by unfriendly remembrances, but let us yield our homage to his many virtues, and let it be our prayer that we may so perform our duties here, that if summoned in a like sudden and appalling manner, we may not be found unprepared or unable to utter his words, "I am composed."

Mr. President, with this imperfect sketch of the character and service of a great man, I leave the subject in the hands of the Senate by moving the resolutions which I sent to the Chair:

Resolved, That the Senate has received with deep sentatives announcing the death of the honorable sensibility the message from the House of Repre JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, a representative from the

State of Massachusetts.

Resolved, That in token of respect for the memory of the deceased, the Senate will attend his funeral at the hour appointed by the House of Representatives, and will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.

The resolutions having been readMr. BENTON, of Missouri, addressed the Senate as follows:

Mr. President: The voice of his native State has been heard, through one of the Senators of Massachusetts, announcing the death of her aged and most distinguished son. The voice of the other Senator from Massachusetts is not heard, nor is his presence seen. A domestic calamity, known to us all, and felt by us all, | confines him to the chamber of private grief, while the Senate is occupied with the public manifestations of a respect and sorrow which a national loss inspires. In the absence of that Senator, and as the member of this body longest here, it is not unfitting or unbecoming in me to second the motion which has been made for extending the last honors of the Senate to him who, forty-five years ago, was a member of this body, who, at the time of his death, was among the oldest members of the House of Representatives, and who, putting the years of his service together, was the oldest of all the members of the American Government.

The eulogium of Mr. ADAMS is made in the facts of his life, which the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. DAVIS) has so strikingly stated, that, from early manhood to octogenarian age, he has been constantly and most honorably employed in the public service. For a period of more than fifty years, from the time of his first appointment as minister abroad under Washington, to his last election to the House of Representatives by the people of his native district, he has been constantly retained in the public service, and that, not by the favor of a sovereign, or by hereditary title, but by the elections and appointments of republican government. This fact makes the eulogy of the illustrious deceased. For what, except a union of all the qualities which command the esteem and confidence of man, could have insured a public service so long, by appointments free and popular, and from sources so various and exalted? Minister many times abroad; member of this body; member of the House of Representatives; cabinet minister; President of the United States; such has been the galaxy of his splendid appointments. And what but moral excellence the most perfect; intellectual ability the most eminent; fidelity the most unwavering; service the most useful, would have commanded such a succession of appointments so exalted, and from sources so various and so eminent? Nothing less could have commanded such a series of appointments; and accordingly we see the union of all these great qualities in him who has received them.

In this long career of public service, Mr. ADAMS was distinguished not only by faithful attention to all the great duties of his stations, but to all their less and minor duties. He was

[FEBRUARY, 1848.

not the Salaminian galley, to be launched only on extraordinary occasions, but he was the ready vessel, always launched when the duties of his station required it, be the occasion great or small. As President, as Cabinet Minister, as Minister abroad, he examined all questions that came before him, and examined all, in all their parts, in all the minutiae of their detail, as well as in all the vastness of their comprehension. As Senator, and as a member of the House of Representatives, the obscure committee room was as much the witness of his laborious application to the drudgery of legislation as the halls of the two Houses were to the every-ready speech, replete with knowledge, which instructed all hearers, enlightened all subjects, and gave dignity and ornament to debate.

In the observance of all the proprieties of life, Mr. ADAMS was a most noble and impressive example. He cultivated the minor as well as the greater virtues. Wherever his presence could give aid and countenance to what was useful and honorable to man, there he was. In the exercises of the school and of the college-in the meritorious meetings of the agricultural, mechanical, and commercial societies -in attendance upon Divine worship-he gave the punctual attendance rarely seen but in those who are free from the weight of public cares.

Punctual to every duty, death found him at the post of duty; and where else could it have found him, at any stage of his career, for the fifty years of his illustrious public life? From the time of his first appointment by Washington to his last election by the people of his native town, where could death have found him but at the post of duty? At that post, in the fulness of age, in the ripeness of renown, crowned with honors, surrounded by his family, his friends, and admirers, and in the very presence of the national representation, he has been gathered to his fathers, leaving behind him the memory of public services which are the history of his country for half a century, and the example of a life, public and private, which should be the study and the model of the generations of his countrymen.

When Mr. B. concluded, the resolutions were unanimously adopted, and the Senate adjourned to Saturday.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

SATURDAY, February 26.
Obsequies of John Quincy Adams.
Pursuant to the resolve of both Houses of

Congress, this day was set apart for rendering
statesman, the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, the
to the remains of the deceased patriot and

last human tribute.*

At an early hour men in uniform might be seen hastening to their respective places of parade, while numerous groups of citizens and strangers were flocking from all directions toward the Capitol.