MR. ADAMS' MULTIPLIED ATTAINMENTS--VISITED BY SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN--HIS
REPORT ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURES--HIS POETRY--ERECTS A MONUMENT TO THE
MEMORY OF HIS PARENTS--ELECTED MEMBER OF CONGRESS--LETTER TO THE BIBLE
SOCIETY--DELIVERS EULOGY ON DEATH OF EX-PRESIDENT MONROE.
Few public men in any country have possessed attainments more varied than
were those of Mr. Adams. Every department of literature and science
received more or less of his attention--every path of human improvement
seems to have been explored by him. As a statesman, he was unrivalled in
the profundity of his knowledge. His state papers--given to the world
while Minister, Secretary of State, President, and Member of Congress--his
numerous addresses, orations, and speeches, are astonishing in number, and
in the learning they display. [Footnote: Aside from his state papers,
official correspondence, and speeches, which would make many volumes, the
Literary World gives the following list of the published writings of Mr.
Adams:--
"1. Oration at Boston, 1793; 2. Answer to Paine's Rights of Man, 1793; 3.
Address to the Members of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society; 4.
Letters on Silesia; 5. Letters on Silesia, 1804; 6. Inaugural Oration
at Harvard College, 1806; 7. Letters to H. G. Otis, in reply to Timothy
Pickering, 1808; 8. Review of the Works of Fisher Ames, 1809; 9. Lectures
on Rhetoric and Oratory, two volumes, 1810; 10. Report on Weights and
Measures, 1821; 11. Oration at Washington, 1821; 12. Duplicate Letters;
the Fisheries and the Mississippi, 1822; 13. Oration to the citizens of
Quincy, 1831; 14. Oration on the Death of James Monroe, 1831; 15. Dermot
McMorrogh, or the Conquest of Ireland, 1832; 16. Letters to Edward
Livingston, on Free Masonry, 1833; 17. Letters to William L. Stone, on the
entered apprentice's oath, 1833; 18. Oration on the Life and Character of
Lafayette, l835; 19. Oration on the Life and Character of James Madison,
1836; 20. The Characters of Shakspeare, 1837; 21. Oration delivered at
Newburyport, 1837; 22. Letters to his Constituents of the Twelfth
Congressional District of Massachusetts, 1837; 23. The Jubilee of the
Constitution, 1839; 24. A Discourse on Education, delivered at Braintree,
1840; 25. An Address at the Observatory, Cincinnati, 1843.
Among the unpublished works of Mr. Adams, besides his Diary, which extends
over half a century, and would probably make some two dozen stout octavos,
are Memoirs of the earlier Public and Private Life of John Adams, second
President of the United States, in three volumes; Reports and Speeches on
Public Affairs; Poems including two new cantos of Dermot McMorrogh, a
Translation of Oberon and numerous Essays and Discourses."]
No man was more familiar with modern history, with diplomacy and
international law, and the politics of America and Europe for the last two
or three centuries.
In other departments he appeared equally at home. His acquaintance was
familiar with the classics, and several modern languages. In oratory,
rhetoric, and the various departments of belles lettres, his attainments
were of more than an ordinary character. His commentaries on Desdemona,
and others of Shakspeare's characters, show that he was no mean critic,
in the highest walks of literature, and in all that pertains to human
character.
The following interesting account of an interview with ex-President Adams,
by a southern gentleman, in 1834, affords some just conceptions of the
versatility of his genius, and the profoundness of his erudition:--
"Yesterday, accompanied by my friend T., I paid a visit to the venerable
ex-President, at his residence in Quincy. A violent rain setting in as
soon as we arrived, gave us from five to nine o'clock to listen to the
learning of this man of books. His residence is a plain, very plain one:
the room into which we were ushered, (the drawing-room, I suppose,) was
furnished in true republican style. It is probably of ancient
construction, as I perceived two beams projecting from the low ceiling, in
the manner of the beams in a ship's cabin. Prints commemorative of
political events, and the old family portraits, hung about the room;
common straw matting covered the floor, and two candlesticks, bearing
sperm candles, ornamented the mantle-piece. The personal appearance of the
ex-President himself corresponds with the simplicity of his furniture. He
resembles rather a substantial, well-fed farmer, than one who has wielded
the destinies of this mighty Confederation, and been bred in the ceremony
and etiquette of an European Court. In fact, he appears to possess none
of that sternness of character which you would suppose to belong to one a
large part of whose life has been spent in political warfare, or, at any
rate, amidst scenes requiring a vast deal of nerve and inflexibility.
"Mrs. Adams is described in a word--a lady. She has all the warmth of
heart and ease of manner that mark the character of the southern ladies,
and from which it would be no easy matter to distinguish her.
"The ex-President was the chief talker. He spoke with infinite ease,
drawing upon his vast resources with the certainty of one who has his
lecture before him ready written. The whole of his conversation, which
steadily he maintained for nearly four hours, was a continued stream of
light. Well contented was I to be a listener. His subjects were the
architecture of the middle ages; the stained glass of that period;
sculpture, embracing monuments particularly. On this subject his opinion
of Mrs. Nightingale's monument in Westminster Abbey, differs from all
others that I have seen or heard. He places it above every other in the
Abbey, and observed in relation to it, that the spectator 'saw nothing
else.' Milton, Shakspeare, Shenstone, Pope, Byron, and Southey were in
turn remarked upon. He gave Pope a wonderfully high character, and
remarked that one of his chief beauties was the skill exhibited in varying
the cesural pause--quoting from various parts of his author to illustrate
his remarks more fully. He said very little on the politics of the
country. He spoke at considerable length of Sheridan and Burke, both of
whom he had heard, and could describe with the most graphic effect. He
also spoke of Junius; and it is remarkable that he should place him so
far above the best of his contemporaries. He spoke of him as a bad man;
but maintained, as a writer, that he had never been equalled.
"The conversation never flagged for a moment; and on the whole, I shall
remember my visit to Quincy, as amongst the most instructive and pleasant
I ever passed."
As a theologian, Mr. Adams was familiar with the tenets of the various
denominations which compose the great Christian family, and acquainted
with the principal arguments by which they support their peculiar views.
While entertaining decided opinions of his own, which he did not hesitate
to avow on all proper occasions, he was tolerant of the sentiments of all
who differed from him. He deemed it one of the most sacred rights of every
American citizen, and of every human being, to worship God according to
the dictates of his own conscience, without let or hindrance, our laws
equally tolerating, and equally protecting every sect.
In the most abstruse sciences he was equally at home. His report to
Congress, while Secretary of State, on Weights and Measures was very
elaborate, and evinced a deep and careful research into this important but
most difficult subject. That report was of the utmost value. Adopting the
philosophical and unchangeable basis of the modern French system of
mensuration, an arc of the meridian, it laid the foundation for the
accurate manipulations and scientific calculations of the late Professor
Hassler, which have furnished an unerring standard of Weights and
Measures to the people of this country. In a very learned notice of
"Measures, Weights, and Money," by Col. Pasley, Royal Engineer, F. R. S.,
published in London, in 1834, he pays the following well-merited
compliment to Mr. Adams:--
"I cannot pass over the labors of former writers, without acknowledging in
particular, the benefit which I have derived, whilst investigating the
historical part of my subject, from a book printed at Washington, in 1821,
as an official Report on Weights and Measures, made by a distinguished
American statesman, Mr. John Quincy Adams, to the Senate of the United
States, of which he was afterwards President. This author has thrown more
light into the history of our old English weights and measures, than all
former writers on the same subject. His views of historical facts, even
where occasionally in opposition to the reports of our own Parliamentary
Committees, appear to me to be the most correct. For my own part, I
confess that I do not think I could have seen my way into the history of
English weights and measures, in the feudal ages, without his guidance."
To his other accomplishments Mr. Adams added that of a poet. His
pretensions in this department were humble, yet many of his productions,
thrown off hastily, no doubt, during brief respites from severer labors,
possess no little merit. A few specimens will not be uninteresting to the
reader.
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 237
The following stanzas are from a hymn by Mr. Adams for the celebration of
the 4th of July, 1831, at Quincy, Mass.:--
"Sing to the Lord a song of praise;
Assemble, ye who love his name;
Let congregated millions raise
Triumphant glory's loud acclaim.
From earth's remotest regions come;
Come, greet your Maker, and your King;
With harp, with timbrel, and with drum,
His praise let hill and valley sing.
* * * * *
"Go forth in arms; Jehovah reigns;
Their graves let foul oppressors find;
Bind all their sceptred kings in chains;
Their peers with iron fetters bind.
Then to the Lord shall praise ascend;
Then all mankind, with one accord,
And freedom's voice, till time shall end,
In pealing anthems, praise the Lord."
The lines which follow were inscribed to the sundial under the window of
the hall of the House of Representatives, at Washington:--
"Thou silent herald of Time's silent flight!
Say, couldst thou speak, what warning voice were thine?
Shade, who canst only show how others shine!
Dark, sullen witness of resplendent light
In day's broad glare, and when the noontide bright
Of laughing fortune sheds the ray divine,
Thy ready favors cheer us--but decline
The clouds of morning and the gloom of night.
Yet are thy counsels faithful, just and wise;
They bid seize the moments as they pass--
Snatch the retrieveless sunbeam as it flies,
Nor lose one sand of life's revolving glass--
Aspiring still, with energy sublime,
By virtuous deeds to give eternity to Time."
It is seldom that lines more pure and beautiful can be found, than the
following on the death of children:--
"Sure, to the mansions of the blest
When infant innocence ascends,
Some angel brighter than the rest
The spotless spirit's flight attends.
"On wings of ecstacy they rise,
Beyond where worlds material roll,
Till some fair sister of the skies
Receives the unpolluted soul.
"There at the Almighty Father's hand,
Nearest the throne of living light,
The choirs of infant seraphs stand,
And dazzling shine, where all are bright.
"The inextinguishable beam,
With dust united at our birth,
Sheds a more dim, discolored gleam,
The more it lingers upon earth:
"Closed is the dark abode of clay,
The stream of glory faintly burns,
Nor unobscured the lucid ray
To its own native fount returns:
"But when the Lord of mortal breath
Decrees his bounty to resume,
And points the silent shaft of death,
Which speeds an infant to the tomb,
"No passion fierce, no low desire,
Has quenched the radiance of the flame;
Back to its God the living fire
Returns, unsullied, as it came."
The heart which could turn aside from the stern conflicts of the political
world, and utter sentiments so chaste and tender, must have been the
residence of the sweetest and noblest emotions of man.
Having taken final leave, as he believed, of the duties of public life,
and retired to the beloved shades of Quincy, it was the desire and
intention of Mr. Adams to devote the remainder of his days to the peaceful
pursuits of literature. It had long been his purpose, whenever opportunity
should offer, to write a history of the life and times of his venerated
father, "the elder Adams." His heart was fixed on this design, and some
introductory labors had been commenced. But an overruling Providence had a
widely different work in preparation for him.
If Mr. Adams had been permitted to follow the bent of his own feelings at
that time--if he had continued in the retirement he had so anxiously
sought as a rest from the toils of half a century--the brightest page of
his wonderful history would have remained forever unwritten. He would have
been remembered as a discreet and trusty diplomatist, an able statesman, a
successful politician, a capable President, and an honest and honorable
man! This would, indeed, have been a measure of renown with which most men
would have been content, and which few of the most fortunate sons of earth
can ever attain. He was abundantly satisfied with it. He asked for nothing
more--he expected nothing more this side the grave. But it was not enough!
Fame was wreathing brighter garlands, a more worthy chaplet, for his brow.
A higher, nobler task was before him, than any enterprize which had
claimed his attention. His long and distinguished career--his varied and
invaluable experience--had been but a preparation to enable him to enter
upon the real work of life for which he was raised up.
The world did not yet know John Quincy Adams. Long as he had been before
the public, the mass had thus far failed to read him aright. Hitherto
circumstances had placed him in collision with aspiring men. He stood in
their way to station and power. There was a motive to conceal his virtues
and magnify his faults. He had never received from his opposers the
smallest share of credit really due to him for patriotism, self-devotion,
and purity of purpose. Even his most devoted friends did not fully
appreciate these qualities in him. During his long public service, he had
ever been an object of hatred and vituperation to a class of minds utterly
incapable of estimating his talents or comprehending his high principles
of action. In the heat of political struggles, no abuse, no defamation,
were too great to heap upon him. Misrepresentation, duplicity, malignity,
did their worst. Did he utter a patriotic sentiment, it was charged to
hypocrisy and political cunning. Did he do a noble deed, worthy to be
recorded in letters of gold--sacrificing party predilections and
friendship to support the interest of his country, and uphold the
reputation and dignity of its Government--it was attributed to a wretched
pandering for the emoluments of office. Did he endeavor to exercise the
powers entrusted to him as President in such a manner as to preserve peace
at home and abroad, develop the internal resources of the nation, improve
facilities for transportation and travel, protect and encourage the
industry of the country, and in every department promote the permanent
prosperity and welfare of the people--it was allowed to be nothing more
than the arts of an intriguer, seeking a re-election to the Presidency.
Yea, it was declared in advance, that, "if his administration should be as
pure as the angels in heaven," it should be overthrown. Did he exhibit the
plain simplicity of a true republican in his dress and manners, and
economy in all his expenditures, it was attributed to parsimony and
meanness! A majority of his countrymen had been deceived as to his
principles and character, and sacrificed him politically on the altar of
prejudice and party spirit.
Throughout his life he had ever been a lover of man and of human
freedom--the best friend of his country--the most faithful among the
defenders of its institutions--a sincere republican, and a true man. But
blinded by political prejudice, a large portion of his fellow-citizens
refused the boon of credit for these qualities. It remained for another
stage of his life, another field of display, to correct them of this
error, and to vindicate his character. It was requisite that he should
step down from his high position, disrobe himself of office, power and
patronage, place himself beyond the reach of the remotest suspicion of a
desire for political preferment and emolument, to satisfy the world that
John Quincy Adams had from the beginning, been a pure-hearted patriot, and
one of the noblest sons of the American Confederacy. His new career was to
furnish a luminous commentary on his past life, and to convince the most
sceptical, of the justice of his claim to rank among the highest and best
of American patriots. Placed beyond the reach of any gift of office from
the nation, with nothing to hope for, and nothing to fear in this respect,
he was to write his name in imperishable characters, so high on the
tablets of his country's history and fame, as to be beyond the utmost
reach of malignity or suspicion! The door which led to this closing act of
his dramatic life, was soon opened.
On returning to Quincy, one of the first things which received the
attention of Mr. Adams, was the discharge of a filial duty towards his
deceased parents, in the erection of a monument to their memory. The elder
Adams in his will, among other liberal bequests, had left a large legacy
to aid in the erection of a new Unitarian church in Quincy. The edifice
was completed, and ex-President J. Q. Adams caused the monument to his
father and mother to be erected within the walls. It was a plain and
simple design, consisting of a tablet, having recessed pilasters at the
sides, with a base moulding and cornice; the whole supported by trusses
at the base. The material of which it was made was Italian marble; and the
whole was surmounted by a fine bust of John Adams, from the chisel of
Greenough, the American artist, then at Rome. The inscription, one of the
most feeling, appropriate, and classical specimens extant, was as
follows:--
"LIBERTATEM AMICITTAM FIDEM RETINEBIS.
D. O. M.[Footnote: Deo, Optimo, Maximo--to God, the Best and Greatest.]
Beneath these Walls
Are deposited the Mortal Remains of
JOHN ADAMS,
Son of John and Susanna (Boyalston) Adams,
Second President of the United States.
Born 19-30 October, 1735.
On the fourth of July, 1776,
He pledged his Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor
To the INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY.
On the third of September, 1783,
Be affixed his Seal to the definitive Treaty with Great Britain
Which acknowledged that Independence,
And consummated the redemption of his pledge.
On the fourth of July, 1826,
He was summoned
To the Independence of Immortality
And to the JUDGEMENT OF HIS GOD
This House will bear witness to his Piety.
This Town, his Birth-place, to his Munificence:
History to his Patriotism;
Posterity to the Depth and Compass of his Mind.
At his side
Sleeps till the Trump shall sound,
ABIGAIL,
His beloved and only Wife,
Daughter of William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith.
In every relation of Life, a pattern
Of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal, and Social Virtue.
Born 11-22 November, 1744.
Deceased 28 October, 1818,
Aged 74.
----------
Married 25 October, 1764.
During a union of more than half a century,
They survived, in Harmony of Sentiment, Principle and Affection,
The Tempests of Civil Commotion;
Meeting undaunted, and surmounting
The Terrors and Trials of that Revolution
Which secured the Freedom of their Country;
Improved the Condition of their Times;
And brightened the Prospects of Futurity
To the Race of Man upon Earth.
-----------
PILGRIM:
From lives thus spent thy earthly Duties learn;
From Fancy's Dreams to active Virtue turn:
Let Freedom, Friendship, Faith thy Soul engage,
And serve, like them, thy Country and thy Age."
Mr. Adams had remained in the retirement of Quincy but little more than a
single year, when the following paragraph appeared in the public prints
throughout the country:--
"Mr. Adams, late President of the United States, is named as a candidate
for Congress, from the district of Massachusetts now represented by Mr.
Richardson, who declines a re-election."
It would be difficult to describe the surprise created by this
announcement, in every quarter of the Union. Speculation was at fault.
Would he accept or reject such a nomination? By a large class it was
deemed impossible that one who had occupied positions so elevated--who had
received the highest honors the nation could bestow upon him--would
consent to serve the people of a single district, in a capacity so humble,
comparatively, as a Representative in Congress. Such a thing was totally
unheard of. The people, however, of the Plymouth congressional district in
which he resided, met and duly nominated him for the proposed office. All
doubts as to his acceptance of the nomination were speedily dispelled by
the appearance of a letter from Mr. Adams, in the Columbian Sentinel,
Oct., 15, 1830, in which he says:--
"If my fellow-citizens of the district should think proper to call for
such services as it may be in my power to render them, by representing
them in the twenty-second Congress, I am not aware of any bound principle
which would justify me in withholding them. To the manifestations of
confidence on the part of those portions of the people who, at two several
meetings, have seen fit to present my name for the suffrages of the
district, I am duly and deeply sensible."
In due time the election was held, and Mr. Adams was returned to Congress,
by a vote nearly unanimous. From that time forward for seventeen years,
and to the hour of his death, he occupied the post of Representative in
Congress from the Plymouth district, in Massachusetts, with unswerving
fidelity, and distinguished honor. There can be no doubt that many of the
best friends of Mr. Adams seriously questioned the propriety of his
appearing as a Representative in the halls of Congress. It was a step
never before taken by an ex-President of the United States. They
apprehended it might be derogatory to his dignity, and injurious to his
reputation and fame, to enter into the strifes, and take part in the
litigations and contentions which characterize the national House of
Representatives. Moreover, they were fearful that in measuring himself, as
he necessarily must, in the decline of life, with younger men in the prime
of their days, who were urged by the promptings of ambition to tax every
capacity of their nature, he might injure his well-earned reputation for
strength of intellect, eloquence and statesmanship. But these misgivings
were groundless. In the House of Representatives, as in all places where
Mr. Adams was associated with others, he arose immediately to the head of
his compeers. So far from suffering in his reputation, it was immeasurably
advanced during his long congressional career. New powers were
developed--new traits of character were manifested--new and repeated
instances of devotion to principle and the rights of man were made
known--which added a brighter lustre to his already widely-extended fame.
He exhibited a fund of knowledge so vast and profound--a familiarity so
perfect with nearly every topic which claimed the attention of
Congress--he could bring forth from his well-replenished storehouse of
memory so vast an array of facts, shedding light upon subjects deeply
obscured to others--displayed such readiness and power in debate, pouring
out streams of purest eloquence, or launching forth the most scathing
denunciations when he deemed them called for--that his most bitter
opposers, while trembling before his sarcasm, and dreading his assaults,
could not but grant him the meed of their highest admiration. Well did he
deserve the title conferred upon him by general consent, of "the Old Man
Eloquent!"
Had Mr. Adams followed the bent of his own inclinations--had he consulted
simply his personal ease and comfort--he would probably never have
appeared again in public life. Having received the highest distinctions
his country could bestow upon him, blessed with an ample fortune, and
possessing all the elements of domestic comfort, he would have passed the
evening of his earthly sojourn in peaceful tranquillity, at the mansion of
his fathers in Quincy. But it was one of the sacred rules in this
distinguished statesman's life, to yield implicit obedience to the demands
of duty. His immediate neighbors and fellow-citizens called him to their
service in the national councils. He was conscious of the possession of
talents, knowledge, experience, and all the qualifications which would
enable him to become highly useful, not only in acting as the
representative of his direct constituents, but in promoting the welfare of
our common country. This conviction once becoming fixed in his mind,
decided his course. He felt he had no choice left but to comply
unhesitatingly with the demand which had been made upon his patriotism. In
adopting this resolution--in consenting, after having been once at the
head of the National Government, to assume again the labors of public life
in a subordinate station, wholly divested of power and patronage, urged by
no influence but the claims of duty, governed by no motive but a simple
desire to serve his country and promote the well-being of his
fellow-man--Mr. Adams presented a spectacle of moral sublimity unequalled
in the annals of nations!
For many years Mr. Adams was a member, and one of the Vice Presidents, of
the American Bible Society. In reply to an invitation to attend its
anniversary in 1830, he wrote the following letter:--
"Sir:--Your letter of the 22d of March was duly received; and while
regretting my inability to attend personally at the celebration of the
anniversary of the institution, on the 13th of next month, I pray you,
sir, to be assured of the gratification which I have experienced in
learning the success which has attended the benevolent exertions of the
American Bible Society.
"In the decease of Judge Washington, they have lost an able and valuable
associate, whose direct co-operation, not less than his laborious and
exemplary life, contributed to promote the cause of the Redeemer. Yet not
for him, nor for themselves by the loss of him, are they called to sorrow
as without hope; for lives like his shine but as purer and brighter lights
in the world, after the lamp which fed them is extinct, than before.
"The distribution of Bibles, if the simplest, is not the least efficacious
of the means of extending the blessings of the Gospel to the remotest
corners of the earth; for the Comforter is in the sacred volume: and among
the receivers of that million of copies distributed by the Society, who
shall number the multitudes awakened thereby, with good will to man in
their hearts, and with the song of the Lamb upon their lips"
"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes
in the divine inspiration of the holy Scriptures, must hope that the
religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the
foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more
encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And
may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper, till the
Lord shall have made 'bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.'
"With many respects to the Board of Managers, please to accept the good
wishes of your friend and fellow-citizen,
"JOHN QUINCY ADAMS."
On the 4th of July, 1831, at half past three o'clock in the afternoon, the
venerable JAMES MONROE, fifth President of the United States, departed
life, aged 73 years. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel L.
Gouverneur Esq., in the city of New York. His decease had been for some
days expected; but life lingered until the anniversary of his country's
independence, when his spirit took its departure to a better world.
Throughout the United States, honors were paid to his memory by hoisting
of flags at half mast, the tolling of bells, firing of minute guns, the
passing of resolutions, and delivery of eulogies. He was, emphatically, a
great and good man, respected and beloved by the people of all parties,
without exception. There are few instances in the history of the world, of
more remarkable coincidences than the death of three Presidents of the
United States, who took most prominent parts in proclaiming and achieving
the independence of our country, on the anniversary of the day when the
declaration of that independence was made to the world. The noise of the
firing of cannon, in celebrating the day, caused the eyes of the dying
Monroe to open inquiringly. When the occasion of these rejoicings was
communicated to him, a look of intelligence indicated that he understood
the character of the day.
At this anniversary of our National Independence, Mr. Adams delivered an
oration before the citizens of Quincy. It was an able and eloquent
production. The following were the concluding paragraphs. In reference to
nullification, which was threatened by some of the Southern States, he
said:--
"The event of a conflict in arms, between the Union and one of its
members, whether terminating in victory or defeat, would be but an
alternative of calamity to all. In the holy records of antiquity, we have
two examples of a confederation ruptured by the severance of its members,
one of which resulted, after three desperate battles, in the extermination
of the seceding tribe. And the victorious people, instead of exulting in
shouts of triumph, came to the house of God, and abode there till even,
before God; and lifted up their voices, and wept sore, and said,--O Lord
God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be
to-day one tribe lacking in Israel? The other was a successful example of
resistance against tyrannical taxation, and severed forever the
confederacy, the fragments forming separate kingdoms; and from that day
their history presents an unbroken series of disastrous' alliances, and
exterminating wars--of assassinations, conspiracies, revolts, and
rebellions, until both parts of the confederacy sunk into tributary
servitude to the nations around them; till the countrymen of David and
Solomon hung their harps upon the willows of Babylon, and were totally
lost amidst the multitudes of the Chaldean and Assyrian monarchies, 'the
most despised portion of their slaves.'
"In these mournful memorials of their fate, we may behold the sure, too
sure prognostication of our own, from the hour when force shall be
substituted for deliberation, in the settlement of our constitutional
questions. This is the deplorable alternative--the extirpation of the
seceding member, or the never-ceasing struggle of two rival confederacies,
ultimately bending the neck of both under the yoke of foreign domination,
or the despotic sovereignty of a conqueror at home. May heaven avert the
omen! The destinies, not only of our posterity, but of the human race, are
at stake.
"Let no such melancholy forebodings intrude upon the festivities of this
anniversary. Serene skies and balmy breezes are not congenial to the
climate of freedom. Progressive improvement in the condition of man, is
apparently the purpose of a superintending Providence. That purpose will
not be disappointed. In no delusion of national vanity, but with a feeling
of profound gratitude to the God of our fathers, let us indulge in the
cheering hope and belief, that our country and her people have been
selected as instruments for preparing and maturing much of the good yet in
reserve for the welfare and happiness of the human race. Much good has
already been effected by the solemn proclamation of our principles--much
more by the illustration of our example. The tempest which threatens
desolation may be destined only to purify the atmosphere. It is not in
tranquil ease and enjoyment that the active energies of mankind are
displayed. Toils and dangers are trials of the soul. Doomed to the first
by his sentence at the fall, man by submission converts them into
pleasures. The last are, since the fall, the conditions of his existence.
To see them in advance, to guard against them by all the suggestions of
prudence, to meet them with the composure of unyielding resistance, and to
abide with firm resignation the final dispensation of Him who rules the
ball--these are the dictates of philosophy--these are the precepts of
religion--these are the principles and consolations of patriotism:--these
remain when all is lost--and of these is composed the spirit of
independence--the spirit embodied in that beautiful personification of the
poet, which may each of you, my countrymen, to the last hour of his life,
apply to himself,--
'Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart, and eagle eye!
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.'
"In the course of nature, the voice which now addresses you must soon
cease to be heard upon earth. Life and all which it inherits lose their
value as it draws towards its close. But for most of you, my friends and
neighbors, long and many years of futurity are yet in store. May they be
years of freedom--years of prosperity--years of happiness, ripening for
immortality! But, were the breath which now gives utterance to my feelings
the last vital air I should draw, my expiring words to you and your
children should be, Independence and Union forever!"
A few weeks subsequent to the death of ex-President Monroe, Mr. Adams
delivered an interesting and able eulogy on his life and character, before
the public authorities of the city of Boston, in Faneuil Hall. In drawing
to a conclusion, he used the following language:--
"Our country, by the bountiful dispensations of a gracious Heaven, is, and
for a series of years has been, blessed with profound peace. But when the
first father of our race had exhibited before him, by the archangel sent
to announce his doom, and to console him in his fall, the fortunes and
misfortunes of his descendants, he saw that the deepest of their miseries
would befall them while favored with all the blessings of peace; and in
the bitterness of his anguish he exclaimed:--
'Now I see
Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste.'
"It is the very fervor of the noonday sun, in the cloudless atmosphere, of
a summer sky, which breeds
'the sweeping whirlwind's sway,
That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.'
"You have insured the gallant ship which ploughs the waves, freighted with
your lives and your children's fortunes, from the fury of the tempest
above, and from the treachery of the wave beneath. Beware of the danger
against which you can alone insure your-selves--the latent defect of the
gallant ship itself. Pass but a few short days, and forty years will have
elapsed since the voice of him who addresses you, speaking to your fathers
from this hallowed spot, gave for you, in the face of Heaven, the solemn
pledge, that if, in the course of your career on earth, emergencies should
arise, calling for the exercise of those energies and virtues which, in
times of tranquillity and peace remain by the will of Heaven dormant in
the human bosom, you would prove yourselves not unworthy the sires who had
toiled, and fought, and bled, for the independence of the country. Nor has
that pledge been unredeemed. You have maintained through times of trial
and danger the inheritance of freedom, of union, of independence
bequeathed you by your forefathers. It remains for you only to transmit
the same peerless legacy, unimpaired, to your children of the next
succeeding age. To this end, let us join in humble supplication to the
Founder of empires and the Creator of all worlds, that he would continue
to your posterity the smiles which his favor has bestowed upon you; and,
since 'it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,' that he would
enlighten and lead the advancing generation in the way they should go.
That in all the perils, and all the mischances which may threaten or
befall our United Republic, in after times, he would raise up from among
your sons deliverers to enlighten her councils, to defend her freedom, and
if need be, to lead her armies to victory. And should the gloom of the
year of independence ever again overspread the sky, or the metropolis of
your empire be once more destined to smart under the scourge of an
invader's hand,[Footnote: Alluding to the burning of the city of
Washington in the war of 1812.] that there never may be found wanting
among the children of your country, a warrior to bleed, a statesman to
counsel, a chief to direct and govern, inspired with all the virtues, and
endowed with all the faculties which have been so signally displayed in
the life of JAMES MONROE."