Glass 
 Book 
 
 /^4G 
 
A 
 
 / 
 
 SELECTION or 
 
 EULOGIES, 
 
 PRONOUNCED IN THE SEVERAL STaTESj. 
 
 <3 O ^^z 
 
 rN HONOR OF THOSE 
 
 ILLUSTRIOUS PATRIOTS AND STATSSMENi 
 
 AND 
 
 f n^iijLs ^iss'ffasss®^. 
 
 HARTFORD. 
 
 PI7BLISBED B7 
 D. P. ROBINSON & CO. and NORTON &. RUSSELL. 
 
 Norton 4* Rtutell, Printers. 
 1826. 
 
DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT, ss. 
 
 • E it remembered, that on the Sixteenth day of August, in the 
 ^^ Fifty-First year of the Independence of the United States of 
 i^' America, D. F. Robinson Si Co. and Norton & Russell, of the 
 said District, have deposited in this office, the title of a Book, the right whereof 
 they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit : 
 
 " A selection of the Eulogies, pronounced in the several States, in honor of 
 " those Illustrious Patriots, and Statesmen, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson." 
 In conformity to the act of Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act 
 " for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and 
 " Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
 " mentioned." — And also to the act, entitled," An act suplementary to an act, enti- 
 " tied ' An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, 
 "charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times 
 " therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, 
 " engravings, and etching historical and other prints." 
 CHARLES A. INGERSOLL, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 A true copy of Record, examined and sealed by me, 
 CHARLES A INGERSOLL, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 Eulogy by John Tyler, Richmond, Virg 9 
 
 #• 
 
 Caleb Gushing, Newburjport Mass. ... 15 
 C. C. Cambreleng, City of New York, ... 59 
 
 Samuel Smith, Baltimore, Md 71 
 
 Sheldon Smith, Buffalo, N. Y 91 
 
 John Sergeant, Philadelphia, Penn 97 
 
 William A. DuER, Albany, N. Y 117 
 
 Henry Potter, Fayetteville, N. C 129 
 
 Peleg Sprague, Hallowell, Maine 139 
 
 John A. Shaw, Bridgewater, Mass 155 
 
 Samuel L. Knapp, Boston, Mass 173 
 
 Daniel Webster, Boston, Mass. 193 
 
 Joseph E. Sprague, Salem, Mass 335 
 
 Edward Turner, Portsmouth, N, H. . . . 273 
 
 Felix Grundy, Nashville, Ten ^S%^ 
 
 William Johnson, Charleston, S. G. . . . 299 
 Wm. F. Thornton, Alexandria, Dist. Col. . 329 
 William Wilkins, Pittsburgh, Penn. . . . 347 
 . . . William Wirt, Washington City, 378 
 
PRONOUNCED AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, 
 July 11, 1826. 
 
 BY JOHN TYLER, 
 
 Why this numerous assemblage — this solemn and melan- 
 choly procession — these habiliments of woe ? Do they beto- 
 ken the fall of some mighty Autocrat, some imperial master 
 who hath " bestrided the earth like a Colossus," and whose 
 remains are followed to the grave by the tools and minions 
 of his power ? Are they the tokens of a ceremonious woe — 
 a mere mockery of feeling ? Or are they the spontaneous 
 offerings of gratitude and love ? What mighty man has fallen 
 in Israel, and why has Virginia clothed herself in mourning ? 
 The tolhngof your dismal bell, and the loud, but solemn dis- 
 charge of artillery hath announced to the nation the melan- 
 choly tidings— THOMAS JEFFERSON no longer lives. 
 That glorious orb which has for so many years given light to 
 our footsteps, has set in death. The Patriot — the Statesman, 
 — the Philosopher — the Philanthropist, has sunk into the 
 ^rave — Virginia mourns over his remains and her harp is hung 
 a^on the willows. Why need I say more ? There is a lan- 
 guage in this spectacle which speaks more eloquence them* 
 tongue can utter. This is the testimony of a well spent life 
 — the tribute of a nation's gratitude. Look on this sight, ye 
 rulers of the earth, and learn from it the lesson of wisdom. 
 Ye ambitious and untamed spirits, who seek the attainment 
 of glory by a scaffolding formed of human suffering, behold a 
 people in tears over the funeral bier of their benefactor, and 
 if true glory be your object, be guided by the light of this 
 example. 
 
b EULOGIES ON 
 
 In pronouncing the eulogy of the dead, my countrymen. I 
 have no blood-stained banner to present — no battles to re- 
 count — no sword or helmet to deposit on his hearse. 1 have 
 to entwine a civic wreath which Philosophy has woven and 
 Patriotism has hallowed. 'J'he achievements of the warrior 
 in the field, attract the attention of mankind and fasten on 
 the memory, while the labors of the civilian too often pas^^ 
 unnoted and unknown. But not so with that man whose 
 death we this day mourn. The results of his policy are ex- 
 hibited in all around : although his sun has sunk below the 
 horizon of this world, yet hath it left a train of light which 
 shall never be extinguished. At the commencement of his 
 successful career, he manifested the same devotion to the 
 rights of man, which he evidenced in his after life — at an ear- 
 ly day he so distinguished himself as the firm and fearless as- 
 sertor of the rights of colonial America, as to draw upon him 
 the frowns of the Royal Governor : — and had already antici- 
 pated the occurrence of the period when the colonies should 
 be elevated to the condition of free, sovereign, and indepen- 
 di nt States. Having drawn his principles from the fountain 
 of a pure Philosophy, he was prepared to assail the slavish 
 doctrine that man is incapable of self government, and to aid 
 in building upon its overthrow that happy system under which 
 it is our fortune to live. On the coming of that tremendous 
 storm which for eight years desolated our country, Mr. Jeffer- 
 son hesitated not, halted not. Born to a rich inheritance — . 
 deslined to the attainment of high distinction under the regi^ 
 }0^ government — courted by the aristocracy of the land, he 
 adventured, with the single motive of advancing the cause of 
 his country and of human freedom, into that perilous contest, 
 throwing into the scale his life and fortime as of no value. — 
 The devoted friend of man, he had studied his rights in the 
 great volume of nature, and saw with rapture the era near at 
 hand, when those rights should be proclaimed, and the world 
 aroused from the slumber of centuries. The season was ap- 
 proaching for the extension of the empire of reason and plii 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 7 
 
 losophy, and the disciple of Locke and of Sidney rejoiced at 
 its approach. Among his fellow laborers, those devoted 
 champions of liberty, those brilliant lights which shall forever 
 burn, he stood conspicuous. But how transcendantly bright 
 was that halo of glory by which he was surrounded on the 
 Fourth of July, 1776! Oh, day, j&y precious in the recolec- 
 tion of Freemen ! now rendered doubly so by the recollec- 
 tion that it was the birth-day of a nation, and the last of him 
 who had conferred on it immortality. Yes ! illustrious man ! 
 it was given thee to live until the advent of a nation's jubilee 
 — thy disembodied spirit was then upborne by the blessings 
 of ten millions of Freemen, and the day and hour of thy re- 
 nown was the day and hour of thy dissolution. How insep- 
 arable is now the connexion between that glorious epoch and 
 this distinguished citizen ? Does there not seem to have 
 been an especial providence in his death ? The sun of that 
 day rose upon him, and the roar of artillery and the hosanna 
 of a nation sounded in his ears the assurances of his immor- 
 tality. So precious a life required a death so glorious. — 
 Who now shall set limits to his fame ? On the annual recur- 
 rence of that glorious day, when with pious ardour millions 
 yet unborn shall breathe the sentiments contained in the 
 celebrated Declaration of Independence — when the fires of 
 Liberty shall be kindled on every hill and shall blaze in ev« 
 ery v fl'TT?^ ^ shall not the name of Jefferson be pronounced 
 by every lip, and written on every heart ? Shall not the re- 
 joicings of that day and the recollection of his death, (a 'se 
 the smile to chase away the tear, and the tear to becloud the 
 smile ? But not to the future millions of these happy States, 
 shall his name be confined — that celebrated State Paper will 
 be found wherever is to be found the abode of civilized man : 
 — sounded in the ears of tyrants, they shall tremble on their 
 thrones — while man, so long the victim of oppression, awakes 
 from the sleep of ages and bursts his chains. The day is 
 rapidly approaching, a prophetic tongue has pronounced it, 
 " to some nations sooner, to others later, but finally to all' 
 
8 EULOGIES ON 
 
 when it will be made manifest, that the mass of mankind have 
 not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few 
 booted and spurred ready to ride them legitimately, by the 
 grace of God." Already has this great truth aroused the one 
 half of this continent from the lethargy in which it has so long 
 reposed. Already are tMK^p.'Bans of liberty chanted from the 
 Gulf of Mexico to the Rio de la Plate, and its altars are erec- 
 ting on the ruins of a superstitious idolatry. A mighty spirit 
 walks abroad upon the earth, which shall in its onward march 
 overturn principalities and powers, and trample thrones and 
 sceptres in the dust. And when the happy era shall arrive for 
 the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it will be by the 
 example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration 
 of our Independence, as the charter of their rights, and will 
 not its author be hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed ? 
 
 But my countrymen, this State Paper is not the only lasting 
 testimonial which he has left of his devotion to the rights of 
 man. Where should I stop, were I to recount the multiplied 
 and various acts of his life, all directed to the security of those 
 rights ? The statute book of this states almost all that is wise 
 in policy or sanctified by justice, bears the impress of his gen- 
 ius and furnishes evidence of that devotion. I choose to 
 present him to you in the light of a mighty reformer. He 
 was born to overturn systems and pull down establishments. 
 He had a more difficult task to accomplish than the warrior in 
 the embattled field. He had to conquer man and bring him 
 to a true knowledge of his own dignity. He had to encoun- 
 ter prejudices become venerable by age — to assail error in its 
 strong places, and to expel it even from its fastnesses. He 
 advanced to the charge with a bold and reckless intrepidity, 
 but with a calculating coolness. The Declaration of which 
 I have just spoken, had announced the great truth that man 
 was capable of self-government, but it still remained for him 
 to achieve a conquest over an error which was sanctified by 
 age, and fortified by the prejudices of mankind. He dared 
 to proclaim the important truths — " That Almighty God had 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 9 
 
 created the mind free ; that all attempts to influence it by 
 temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil incapacities, 
 tend only to beget hypocrisy and meanness, and a departure 
 from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being 
 Lord both of body and of mind, yet chose not to propagate 
 it by coercions on either, as was in*his Almighty power to do ; 
 that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as 
 well as ecclesiastical, who being themselves but fallible and 
 uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of oth- 
 ers, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as 
 the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to im- 
 pose them on others, hath established and maintained false re- 
 ligions over the greater part of the world and through all 
 time :" " Tiiat truth is great and will prevail if left to her- 
 self: that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist of error, 
 and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human 
 interposition disarmed of hernatural weapons, free argument 
 O**. %ia*t- debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permit- 
 ted freely to contradict them." This is the language of the 
 Bill establishing freedom, and is to be found on our Statute 
 Book : how solemn and sublime and how transcendantly im- 
 portant, are the truths which it announces to the world. — 
 What but his great and powerful genius could have contem- 
 plated the breaking asunder those bonds in which the con- 
 science had been bound for centuries ? Who but the ardent 
 and devoted friend of man would have exposed himself to 
 the thunder and denunciation of the church throughout all 
 Christendom, by breaking into its very sanctuary and dissol- 
 ving its coimexion with government ? If he consulted the 
 page of history he found that the church establishment, exer- 
 cising unlimited control over the conscience, and unlocking 
 at its pleasure the very gates of Heaven to the faithful devo- 
 tee, had in all ages governed the world — that kings had been 
 made by its thunders to tremble on their thrones, and that 
 thrones had been shivered by the lightnings of its wrath. In 
 casting his eyes over the face of the globe he beheld it is 
 
10 EULOGIES ON 
 
 true the mighty spirit of Protestantism walking on the wa- 
 ters, but confined and limitted in its empire, and even its gar- 
 ments dyed in the blood of the martyrs. Over the rest of the 
 world he beheld the religion of the meek and blessed Re- 
 deemer, converted into a superstitious rite, and locked up in 
 a gloomy and ferocious mystery. The sentence of the terri- 
 ble Inquisitor sounded in his ears, followed by the clank of 
 chains and the groans of the victim. If he looked in the di- 
 rection from whence the sound proceeded, he saw the fires 
 of the ff?<^o-'/e ye consuming the agonized body of the otfen- 
 der, and thus finishing the last act of this horrible tragedy. — 
 He who had so much contributed to the unbinding of the 
 hands of his countrymen, would have left his work unfinish- 
 ed if he had not also unfettered their consciences. True, he 
 had in all this great work able coadjutors, who like himself, 
 had adventured all for their country ; but he was the great 
 captain who arranged the forces aiid directed the assault. 
 Let it then be henceforth proclaimed to the world thatma:Ti's 'r-% 
 conscience was created free : that he is no longer accounta- 
 ble to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being respon- 
 sible therefor only to his God : that it is impious in mortal 
 man, whether clothed in purple or in lawn, to assume the 
 judgment seat : that the connexion between church and state 
 is an unholy alliance, and the fruitful source of slavery and 
 oppression ; and let it be dissolved. What an imperishable 
 monument has Mr. Jefferson reared to his memory, and how 
 strong are his claims to our gratitude. V\ hen from every 
 part of this extended republic, the prayers and thanksgivings 
 of countless thousands shall ascend to the throne of grace, 
 each bending at his own altar, and worshiping his Creator in 
 his own way, shall not every lip breathe a blessing on his 
 name, and every tongue speak forth his praise ? Yes, he 
 M^as born a blessing to his country, and in the fullness of 
 time, shall become a blessing to mankind. He was indeed, 
 a precious gift ; a most beloved reformer. Shall we not 
 then, while weeping over his loss, offer thanks to the giver of 
 every perfect gift, for having permitted him to live ? 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. H 
 
 But, my countrymen, we have still further reasons for the 
 deepest gratitude. He had not jet finished his memorable 
 efforts in the cause of human hberty — the Temple had been 
 reared, but it was yet exposed to violent assaults from with- 
 out ; those principles which in former ages had defeated the 
 hopes of man, and bart t overthrown republics, remained to 
 be hunted out, exposed and guarded against. The most 
 powerful of these was the concentration and perpetuation of 
 wealth in the hands of particular families, and the creation 
 thereby of an overweening aristocracy. The fatal influence 
 of this principle had been felt in all ages and in all countries. 
 The feelings of pride and haughtiness which wealth is so well 
 calculated to engender, and the homage which mankind are • 
 
 unhappily so much disposed to render it, causes the perpetu- 
 ation of large fortunes in the hands of families, the most fear- 
 ful antagonist to human liberty. Marcus Crassus had said 
 that the man who aspired to rule a Republic, should not be 
 content until he had mSstgred wealth enough to maintain an ♦^l^^^'^ 
 army — and Julius Caesar paved the way to tbe overthrow of 
 Roman Liberty by the distribution, from his inexhaustible 
 stores, of largesses to the people. Mr. Jelferson saw there- 
 fore the necessi'^ji^ reformation in our municipal code, and -, .*j», , 
 the act abolishing entails and that regulating descents are all "* 
 
 in their essential features, the offspring of his well constitu- 
 ted intellect. — He has acted throughout on the great princi- 
 ple of the equality of mankind, and his every effort has beea 
 directed to the preservation of that equality among his coun- 
 trymen. How powerful in iis operation is our descent law 
 in producing this effect. Founded on the everlasting princi- 
 ples of justice, it distributes among all his children, the fruits 
 of a parent's labor. The first born is no longer considered 
 the chosen of the Lord, but nature asserts her rights and 
 raises the last to an equality with the first. Thus it is that 
 the spirit of a proud independence, so auspicious to the dura- 
 bility of our institutions, is engendered in the bosoms of our 
 citizens. Thus it is that we are under the influence of an 
 
'Uut^i 
 
 12 EULOGIES ON 
 
 agrarian law in eifect, while nature instead of being violated 
 is protected, and industry instead of being suppressed, is ex- 
 cited by new stimuli. The great lawgiver of Spain in vain 
 sought to perpetuate the principles of equality among the 
 citizens of that renowned Republic, by various measures, all 
 of which ultimately failed ^^ measwe^.-which depends not 
 upon veneration for the character of any one man, but lays 
 hold of the alTections and records its own perpetuity in the 
 great volume of nature ; a measure which will every day 
 more conspicuously develope its beauties ; one without 
 which the blood shed in the revolution would have been shed 
 in vain ; without which the glories of that struggle would 
 fade away, or exist but as another proof of man's incapacity " 
 for self-government. What more shall I say of it ? May I 
 not call it that great measure which to our political, like the 
 sun to our planetary system, imparts light and heat, unveils 
 all its beauties and manifests its strength. Tell me then ye 
 *' • '" destinies that control the future, say, "is not this man's fame 
 inscribed in adamant ! Say, men of the present age, ye lov- 
 ers of liberty, ye shining lights from amid the gloom of the 
 world — say, does Virginia claim too much when she pro- 
 }%A)hC^'-:^ nounces her Jefferson wiser than the(JawY|i^ of antiquity ? 
 Tell me then, men of America, have ye not lost your father, 
 your benefactor, your best friend ? And you, the men of 
 other countries, where the light of his example is but dimly 
 seen — you, who constitute the salt of the earth, will you not 
 kindle your lamps in the mighty blaze of his fame, and distri- 
 bute the blessings of his existence around you ? 
 
 Here I might stop. The cause of this mournful proces- 
 sion is explained. The picture might be considered as finish- 
 ed. His claim to the gratitude of mankind is made manifest, 
 and his title to immortality is established. But his labors 
 did not here cease — I have still to exhibit him to you in 
 other lights than those in which we have regarded him — to 
 present other claims to your veneration and gratitude. — 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 13 
 
 Passing over those incidents which history has already record- 
 ed, let us regard him in that station which I now fill more by 
 the kindness of the public than from any merit of my own — ^ 
 we here recognizet^in him the able vindicator of insulted 
 A nerica against the sarcasms of European Philosophy. In- 
 dulging in the visions of a fallacious theory, it was attempted 
 to be proved that the flush and glow which nature assumed 
 on the other side of the Atlantic, was converted on this con- 
 tinent into the cadaverous aspect of disease and degeneracy 
 — that while she walked abroad over the face of Europe in 
 all her beautiful proportions, here she hobbled on crutches 
 and degenerated into a dwarf. How successfully he threw 
 back this slander upon her calumniators, let the world decide. 
 His notes on Virginia will ever bear him faithful witness. — 
 Slanders upon nations make the deepest and most lasting im- 
 pression. They fall not on one man, but a whole people, 
 and if not refuted, tend to sink them in the scale of existence. 
 If, under any circumstances, they are to be deprecated, how 
 much more are they to be so, when published against a nation 
 not even in the gristle of manhood, unknown to the mass of 
 mankind and struggling to be free. Such was the condition 
 of America at that day. Shut out from free intercourse with 
 Europe by the monopolizing spirit of the parent state, she 
 had remained unknown to the world, and was regarded as an 
 extensive wild, within v/hose bosom the fires of genius and 
 of intellect had not as yet been kindled. Mr. Jetlierson saw 
 then the injury which fhe would sustain if they remained un- 
 rcfuted. Vigilant at his post, and guardful of the interests of 
 these states, he encountered the most distinguished of the 
 philosophers of Europe, and his victory was complete. It was 
 answer eaough for him to have said, what in substance he did 
 say, that in war we had produced a Washington, in physicks 
 a Franklin, and in astronomy a Rittenhouse, — and if this tri- 
 amph had not then been esteemed complete, might we not 
 3 
 
14 EULOGIES ON 
 
 add with the certainty of success, that in philosophy and poli- 
 tics, America had produced a Jetferson ? 
 
 In all the various stations which he afterwards jfilled, we 
 find him laboring unceasingly for the g|bd of his country. 
 Having won by his virtues and talents the confidence of 
 Washington, he was called to preside over the department 
 of State. In this station he vindicated the rights of Ameri- 
 ca against the sophistry of the European Cabinets, and gave 
 proof of that skill in diplomacy for which he will be distin- 
 guished through all future ages. When the future statesman 
 shall look for a model from which to form his style of diplo- 
 matic writing, will he not cease his search, and seize with 
 avidity on that, the offspring of the Secretary's pen in his 
 correspondence with Hammond and Genet ? Called at 
 length by the voice of the people to the Presidency of these 
 United States, he furnished the model of an administration 
 conducted on the purest principles of Republicanism. He 
 sought not to enlarge his powers by construction, but refer- 
 ring every thing to his conscience, made that the standard 
 of the constitutional interpretation. Regarding the govern- 
 ment in its true and beautiful light of a confederation of 
 States, he could not be drawn from his course by any of those 
 splendid conceptions which shine but to mislead. He ex- 
 tinguished ^33,000,000 of the national debt — enlarged our 
 territorial jurisdiction by the addition of regions more exten- 
 sive than our origional possessions — overawed the Barbary 
 powers, and preserved the peace of the nation amidst the 
 tremendous convulsions which then agitated the world, 
 I will dwell no longer on this fruitful topic, nor indulge my 
 feelings. Party spirit is buried in his grave and I will not 
 disinter it. The American people will as one man look with 
 admiration on his character, and dwell with affectionate de- 
 light over those bright incidents in his life to which I have 
 already alluded. 
 
 Thus then my countrymen, in the 6Gth year of his age, he 
 terminated his political career, and went into the shades of 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 15 
 
 ipetirement at Monticello. But unlike the politicians of oth- 
 er days, who had fled from the cares and anxieties of public 
 life, that retirement was not inglorious. He still lived for 
 his country and the world. Let that beautiful building de- 
 voted to the sciences, the last of his labors, reared under hi& 
 auspices and cherished by his care, testify to this. How 
 choice and how delightful this the, last fruit of his bearing ! — 
 How lasting a monument will it be to his memory ! It will 
 be, we may fondly hope, the perpetual nursery of those great 
 principles which it was the businesss of his life to inculcate. 
 The youth of Virginia and the youth of our sister states, to 
 use his own beautiful language, " will bring hither their gen- 
 ius to be kindled at our fire." " The good old Dominion, 
 the blessed mother of us all, will then raise her head with 
 pride among the nations." 
 
 When history shall at some future day, come to draw his 
 character, to what department shall she assign him ? Shall 
 she encircle his brow with the wreath of civic worth ; or 
 shall Philosophy weave a garland of her own ? He is equal- 
 ly dear to all the sciences. In mournful procession they 
 have repaired to the tomb where his mortal remains are in- 
 urned and hallowed the spot. Yes, hallowed be the spot 
 where he rests from his labors. Wave after wave may roll 
 by, sweeping in its resistless course countless generations 
 from the face of the earth, yet shall the resting place of 
 Jefferson be hallowed. Like Mount Vernon, Monticello 
 shall catch the eye of the way-farer and arrest his course. — 
 There shall he draw the inspirations of liberty, and learn 
 those great truths which nature destined him to know. 
 
 Is not then this man's life most beautifully consistent ? 
 Trace him from the period of his earliest manhood to the 
 hour of his final dissolution, and does not his ardor in the 
 prosecution of the great cause of human rights, excite your 
 admiration, enlist your gratitude ? May it not be said that 
 he has lived for the good of others ? Look upon him in the 
 
16 EULOGIES ON 
 
 last stage of his existence — But a (ew days before his death' 
 he exults in the happiness of his country and the full con- 
 firmation of his labors — with the prospect of death before 
 him — suffering under a cruel disease, he offers up an impress- 
 ive prayer for the good of mankind. When speaking of the 
 approaching Jubilee, in writing to the Mayor of Washington, 
 he says, " May it be to the world what 1 believe it will be : 
 the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which 
 monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to 
 bind themselves, and to assume the blessings of free gov- 
 ernment." And it shall be the signal — a flood of light has 
 burst upon that world, and the Jugernauts of superstition 
 and the gloom of ignorance shall melt in its brightness. Will 
 you then look upon him my countrymen in t.'ie last moments 
 of his existence ? Shall I make known to you his fond con- 
 cera for you and your posterity when the hand of death press- 
 ed heavily upon him ? Learn then that he dwelt on the sub- 
 ject of the University — portrayed the blessings which it was 
 destined to diffuse, and forgetful of his valuable services, of- 
 ten urged his physician to leave his bed-side lest his class 
 might suffer in his absence. One other theme dwelt on his 
 lips until they were motionless — it was the Fourth of July — 
 He often expressed the wish to die on that day. On the 
 third, so says my correspondent, he raised his languid head 
 and said " this is the Fourth of July," and the smile ot con- 
 tentment played upon his lips — Heaven had heard his prayers 
 and crowned his wishes — Oh precious life ! Oh glorious 
 death ! He has left to us my countrymen, a precious legacy 
 — His last words were, "■ I resign myself to my God, and my 
 child to my country." And shall not that child of his age — 
 that only surviving daughter — the solace of his dying hour, 
 be fostered and cherished by a grateful country ? 
 
 Thus has terminated, in the 84th } tar of his age, the life 
 of one of the greatest and best of men — " His weary sun 
 hath made a glorious set." Let the rulers of nations profit 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 17 
 
 by his example — an example which points the way to the 
 temple of true glory, and proclaims to the statesman of every 
 age and every tongue. . 
 
 Be just and fear not. 1 
 
 Let all the ends thou aim'st at, be thy country's, / 
 Thy God's and truth's. 
 Then shall thy lifeless body sleep in blessings — and the 
 tears of a nation water thy mmm. q-x-a^ti^^ 
 
 Let his life be an instructive lesson also to us, my country- 
 men. Let us teach our children to reverence his name, and 
 even in infancy to lisp his principles. As one great means 
 of perpetuating freedom, let the annual recurrence of the 
 day of our natioii's birth, be ever hailed with rapture. 
 
 Is it not stamped with the seal of the divinity ? How 
 wonderful are the means by which he rules the world ! — 
 Scarcely has the funeral knell of our Jefferson been sounded 
 in our ears, when we w«*e startled by the death of another 
 patriot — his zealous coadjutor in the holy cause of the Rev- 
 olution — one among the foremost of those who sought his 
 country's disenthrallment — of ADAMS, the compeer of his 
 early fame — the opposing orb of his meridian day — the 
 friend of his old age — and his companion to the realms of 
 bliss. They have sunk together in death, and have fallen on 
 the same glorious day into that sleep which knows no wa- 
 king. Let no^party spirit break the rest of their slumbers — 
 but let us hallow their memory for the good deeds they have 
 done — and implore that God who rules the universe, to smile 
 upon our happy country. 
 
 r ^ 
 
 %>k^0^^ ^.'^tn*«^^«-'^ €^ ^ •■ dLuJ& u>»-^ ^^-^-c- ► 
 
**»."»«if'»S* ^ - ^ 
 
PRONOUNCED AT NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS^ 
 
 July 15, 1826. 
 
 BY CALEB CUSHING. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, — The choral strains of triumph, 
 which cheered the fiftieth anniversary of our country's birth- 
 day, scarce yet have died away upon the hstening ear. Hard- 
 ly is the roar of cannon stilled in silence. — the merry bells 
 have but just ceased to ring out their peals of joy, and the 
 shouts of exulting freemen to rise from hill and vale, from city 
 and hamlet, welcoming the glorious morn of our Indepen- 
 dence. The trumpet of the jubilee still pours its spirit-stir- 
 ring echoes throughout the land, proclaiming the thrilling 
 sound of liberty to its inhabitants. But hushed prematurely 
 is the voice of festivity. Sorrow and lamentation overflow 
 the hearts, lately swelled with gratulation and gladness. The 
 venerable patriots, whose years have proved one long line of 
 honors, and whose lives are the history of the nation, are no 
 more ! They, the hoary sages, who half a century before that 
 day, boldly urged upon their country the daring act which 
 hallowed it forever ; — he, who wrote in letters of fire the im- 
 mortal Declaration of our hidependence, and he, upon whose 
 ' burning tongue' the h^cents of truth, freedom, and victory 
 then hung ; — they, whose prophetic eye pierced the darkness 
 of futurity, and foresaw the coming glories destined to cluster 
 about that memorable occasion ; — they, who, tracing the 
 splendid career of fame, fortune, and power in their country's 
 service, lived to become patriarchs of the empire which then 
 sprang into being ; — they, 
 
 Boast of the aged, lesson of the young, 
 
20 EULOGIES ON 
 
 whose deeds were so recently remembered, and their names 
 voiced by millions of their grateful fellow-citizens, have now 
 restored their honors to the world, and their ' blessed part' 
 hath ascended to heaven to repose in the bosom of their 
 God! 
 
 How solemn, how awful, how marked in the annals of uni- 
 versal history, is this dispensation of all seeing Providence ! 
 The messenger of death descended among us at a season when 
 the spring-tide of joy was at flood ; and snatched from earth 
 the living idols of the hour ; but who, no longer creatures of 
 time, have become the dwellers in eternity. 
 
 Yes, full of years and of honors, an illustrious pair of the 
 august founders of the Republic have gone to their last long 
 home. The spontaneous voice of their country singled out 
 three from the galaxy of mighty minds, that illumined the 
 troubled course of the revolution, to be the bright leading 
 stars of our political firmament. Already five revolving lus- 
 tres have elapsed, since Washington, the father of his people, 
 the ' first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his 
 countrymen,' sank to his rest, and left an admiring world to 
 canonize his memory, and vainly to emulate his example. 
 Second only to him in station, second only in the patriotic en- 
 ergies of souls created for the achievement of a nation's in- 
 dependence, and stamped as it were in every lineament with 
 the divine impress of liberty, the other two lived to enjoy, ere 
 they died, that fame, which less fortunate men obtain only at 
 the hands of posterity. But the dark portals of the tomb 
 have closed at length over the earthly remains of Adams and 
 Jefferson. 
 
 For the meanest member of the human family, whose name 
 is blotted from the book of Hfe, tears of sorrow are shed by 
 the humble mourner in his hour of affliction ; and when the 
 chords of kindred are severed by death, for the highest there 
 is the same heart-felt pang. By the departure of them, whose 
 glorious lives we are this day assembled to commemorate, 
 the dearest ties of affection are sundered. But when the fore- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 21 
 
 most men of the world are deposited in the dust, and the fea- 
 tures of immortaHtj itself are obliterated by the fingers of de- 
 cay, where shall individual griefs find place, how shall the 
 note of private lamentation be heard ? A wailing people cel- 
 ebrate their obsequies. A country is clad in the funeral garb 
 of woe. Over the insensible marble, which inurns their ashes, 
 a nation bows prostrate in the lowly attitude of mourning, a 
 nation is scattering blessings on their names, — incense more 
 grateful than the choicest myrrhs of Araby. 
 
 But while the pious tribute of sorrow is rendered to the 
 memory of the great and good, no longer to be numbered 
 among the living, let not the deep sense of our bereavement 
 be unmingled with consolatory reflections. They have but 
 paid the great debt of nature. 
 
 As the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all, which it inherit, shall dissolve, 
 And like the unsubstantial pageant faded, 
 Leave not a rack behind ! We are such stuff 
 As dreams are made of, and our little life 
 Is rounded with a sleep. 
 
 And though the language of inspiration fall from his lips, 
 though the wisdom of ages be compressed beneath his brow, 
 though the holiest aspirations of an elevated soul inform his 
 bosom, yet shall man, the son of earth, the creature of the 
 clay, shall man arrogate to himself an immunity from the sen- 
 tence of instability and change engraven upon all terrestrial 
 things ? Oh, no. But thanks be to God that he granted each 
 of the revered patriots to outlive the ordinary measure of hu- 
 manity, aiid to die a death signal and extraordinary as his life. 
 
 They were not cut otf in the morning or noon tide of their 
 days, ere the opening promise of glory had reached its devel- 
 opement. The burst of agonizing grief fills every heart, when 
 a spirit, cast in nature's happiest mould, is extinguished ere 
 its prime, and lightens up ' like a bright exhalation,' only to 
 
 4 
 
22 EULOGIES ON 
 
 disappear too soon, and leave the world again to darkness. 
 But they Hved to give their country the entire fruition of their 
 masterly faculties, in the time of her utmost need. They 
 lived to acquire a deathless renown, a name noble as the in- 
 stitutions, lasting as the iron-bound mountains of America. 
 They lived to know that the voice of detraction, which had so 
 often assailed them, was now soothed into silence by public 
 gratitude ; and that their countrymen, while they remembered 
 their errors only as the errors incident to our imperfect nature, 
 were just to their high and splendid qualities. They both lived 
 to witness the accomplishment of their most sanguine anticipa- 
 tions, in the wealth, extent, and prosperity of their country, its 
 unrivalled dignity among the nations, and the universal dissem- 
 ination of the grand principles of civil and religious freedom, 
 which it was their sole aim to establish. And one of them 
 lived to see the mantle of his genius and fortunes descend 
 upon his son ; and the heir of his name raised to be the first 
 successor in the supreme magistracy of the republic, to the pa- 
 triots of the revolution. And they died, at last, when the 
 ' wine of life' was drawn away, and its lees only remained. 
 The ripe fruit has dropped to the ground, as the faded branch- 
 es, that bore it, were yellowing beneath the dews of autumn. 
 The harvest, bending by the weight of its complete maturity, 
 has fallen before the sickle. The noble steed, who started 
 betimes in the race of honor, has proudly run his career, and 
 reached his appointed goal in triumph. The bright orb, which 
 in its dawning shone luridly out from a stormy sky, having 
 broken through the clouds which obscured his rising beams, 
 and ascended to his full meridian lustre, has placidly descend- 
 ed along the tranquil horizon, and sunk amid a sea of glory. 
 The apostles of liberty have falfilled their mission, and leav- 
 ing the scene of their generous toils below, are gone above to 
 receive their reward. 
 
 And memorable, as suited the destinies of such men, were 
 the moment and the manner of their exit to eternity. Of each 
 it might truly have been written, 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 23 
 
 Nothing in his life 
 Became him like the leaving it. He died 
 As one that had been studied in his death. 
 
 The iubilee of our Independence came upon the aged patri- 
 archs, and found the Hght of life barely flickering in its sock- 
 et. The myriads of their countrymen, whose freedom they 
 aided to establish, were solemnizing 'the day of deliverance 
 by solem.i acts of devotion, with pomp, shows, games, sports, 
 guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the 
 continent to the other,' — in that manner, wherein, fifty years 
 before, one of them foretold its anniversary would be cele- 
 bi-ated thenceforth and forever. It was the day in which our 
 fathers arose in the majesty of their strength to shake off the 
 degradation of provincial servitude, and unfurling the stand- 
 ard o{' liberty, as they waved its star-spangled ensigns on high, 
 pledged their ' lives, fortunes, and sacred honor,' to live free 
 or die. It was the day on which the slumbering energies of 
 Col'jmbia were awakened, and she entered upon that career 
 of glory, in which, bearing on her maiden front the garland of 
 freedom instead of the coronet of kings, she still is marching 
 superbly onward, the envy of the oppressed and enslaved peo- 
 ple of Europe, and the exemplar of the emancipated nations 
 of the New World. It was the day when three millions lifted 
 up their voices to sound the banner-cry of independence, and 
 pealed that shout, like a trumpet-call, through the skies,which 
 as that of the Israelites beside the beleaguered city of old, 
 shook the throne of the tyrant to its very foundations. And 
 when the sun of that happy day was past his meridian, and 
 declining into the west, the acclamations of rejoicing aroused 
 them for a moment from the lethargy of approaching dissolu- 
 tion, to hail once more ' the great, the glorious occasion,' and 
 their enfranchised souls instantly winged their flight to the 
 realms of bliss, like a warrior dying in the lap of victory. 
 
 For one such man to die on such a day would have been an 
 event never to be forgotten. But they, who side by side uni- 
 ted their destinies with the liberty of the land, and side by side 
 
24 EULOGIES ON 
 
 pledged all they held dear in life to its cause, in signing the 
 Declaration of Independence ; — they, who struggled in all the 
 struggles, and rose with the rising glories of their country, to 
 hold successively the highest offices in the gift of the nation to 
 bestow ; — they, who, rivals for a time, and separated by the 
 conflicts of party and the zeal of contending opinions, soon 
 conspired to sacrifice their mutual resentments to their mutu- 
 al adiiiration of each other's character; — for them, on the an- 
 niversary of the day when the nation was born, and on its fif- 
 tieth aaniversary too, to quit the scene of their earthly honors 
 as it were in company, — oh never, never shall the lapse of 
 a""es or the annals of all time disclose a parallel for the ati'ect. 
 ing combination of admirable circumstances ! Felicitously 
 was it said, that ' had the horses and the chariot of fire de- 
 scended to take up the patriarchs, it might have been more 
 wonderful, but not more glorious.' 
 
 And if there were nought else to sooth the heart and to re- 
 concile us to the visitation of heaven in depriving us of the de- 
 parted patriots, we might seek consolation in the contempla- 
 tion of their manly virtues, and of the exalted characters, 
 which they have given to posterity for imitation. They, who 
 ever walk in the world's gaze leave a name behind them, to be 
 powerful for good or for ill. Their influence dies not with 
 their death. We cannot wipe the record of their actions 
 from off the tables of our memory. The invading victor, to 
 whom nations are playthings, and men the blind machines, 
 which, moved at his will, scatter misery and devastation along 
 the path of his chariot wheels, inflicts a mass of moral injury 
 by the contagion of his example, only surpassed by the phys- 
 ical ruin of his conquests. He leads in his leashes not merely 
 the remorseless mercenary soldier, whose law is violence, and 
 whose occupation is rapine ; but the young enthusiast also, 
 and the grey-haired veteran of a hundred fights, the idol of 
 whose earthly worship is fame. Captivated by the splendor 
 of his exploits, they are allured into the same brilliant but des- 
 tructive career, when their lateni energies might otherwise 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 25 
 
 have been evoked to purer and nobler pursuits than the dead- 
 ly trade of war. But it is not the blood-stained laurels of mil- 
 itary triumph, which overshadow the temples of Jetlerson 
 and Adams. Their example is that of statesmen, who with 
 Qui;icy couid say, — blandishments will not fascinate us, nor 
 threats intimidate; and who, in the tempestuous season of 
 revolutionary discord, manfully seized the helm of the repub- 
 he, and co-operated to guide her in safety to the haven. — 
 The.r monuinent is the liberty of their country. Their fame 
 is tiie noble story of her prosperity and greatness. 
 
 Peace hath her victories 
 No less renowned than war. 
 
 And theirs were the victories of mind ; their conquests were 
 w^on by intellectual and moral energies alone ; and eternity 
 stands beside their tombs, to sculpture there an epitaph for 
 coming generations to read.* 
 
 In the brief limits of this passing and hasty effort, vain 
 would be the attempt to relate minutely the history of their 
 long career, crowded with striking incidents ; and a pencil 
 of light is needed to delineate their characters with spirit, 
 fidelity, and truth. They require to be preserved in a more 
 durable and exalted record than the transient effusion of the 
 moment. A simple recital of the varied events of their lives, 
 would be their best biography; and their illustrious deeds 
 their own most appropriate eulogy. But the time and the 
 occasion forbid ; — and the humblest essay may have its use, 
 in holding up their actions and their virtues to the applause of 
 their assembled countrymen. Simply thus much is the only 
 pretension of the ensuing remarks. 
 
 The distinguishing traits of their public character, their 
 failings and their excellences, stand in the foreground of all 
 the great national measures, in whose furtherance they par- 
 ticipated. But before we fix our attention upon those quali- 
 
 *L'eternitate a I'improviso apparve, 
 E nel sasso scolpi : Qui colui giace, &lc. 
 
 Bernardo Tasso. 
 
26 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ties, which single them out as the subject of history, it is re- 
 freshing to contemplate and record the virtues of their pri- 
 vate life. Spotless aad exemplary as they were in the dis- 
 charge of every duty of the citizen and the man ; unblemish- 
 ed in all the relations of domestic retirement ; of integrity, pu- 
 rity, and honor, which the venom of calumny itself could nev- 
 er attaint ; — who but feels augmented veneration for men, 
 who maintained the dignity of philosophers amid the corrup- 
 tion of war and courts, and never condescended to unworthy 
 acts ? Fearless of aught else, they dreaded only the contami- 
 nation of dishonor, and the reproach of being wanting to them- 
 selves and their fame ; like the delicate ermine of arctic 
 climes, to whom death is more tolerable, than to suffer the 
 unsullied purity of her snow white vesture to be tarnished. — 
 No remorseful thoughts disturbed the calm of their declining 
 years ; and death was devoid of terrors for them, conscious of 
 a life well spent, and possessing 
 
 A peace above all earthly dignities, 
 
 A still and quiet conscience. 
 
 During an age when profound learning was in vogue, and 
 sciolism as rare, as it now is abundant, they were accounted 
 ripe and accomplished scholars. In these times, the elements of 
 knowledge are more widely diffused among the people. The 
 waters of the sacred fount of Helicon have swelled over its sides, 
 and its golden streams now meander through the land. The 
 early writings of Adams bespeak a mind profoundly tinctured 
 with the learning of the day ; and his latter ones prove that he 
 kept pace with the progress of our own more busy and popular 
 literature. His contributions to literary and political jour- 
 nals and other works, since his retirement from public duty, 
 and his occasional letters, which the daily press has seized up- 
 on with avidity, are distinguished for acuteness of reasoning, 
 ingenuity of conception, a lively imagination, and the most 
 remarkable and striking felicity of language. At a prior pe- 
 riod, not content with his exertions in the senate, and in for- 
 eign courts in aid of his country, he came forth as an able and 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 27 
 
 efficient champion of the revolutionary cause, in many con- 
 troversial pieces, which would do honor to the mind or the 
 pen even of one, whose genius and leisure were exclusively 
 devoted to the cultivation of letters. It is sufficient to indi- 
 cate the essays of Nov-Anglus, the Discourses on Davila, the 
 Defence of the American Constitutions, numerous political 
 documents, and his extensive private correspondence, all 
 which exhibit indisputable marks of sterling genius, accom- 
 plished by the most elaborate study, and elevated to the dig- 
 nity of the subjects he discussed and the majestic temper of 
 the times. 
 
 These observations are equally applicable, in a great de- 
 gree, to the writings of Jefferson. In them the same vigor of 
 understanding, the same creative fancy, and the same pecul- 
 iar happiness of diction, — curiosa felicitas, — are features, 
 which impress the most careless observer. Jefferson's polit- 
 ical compositions are less numerous than those of Adams, but 
 the inquisitive mind of the former struck into a path where 
 the latter did not follow him, and successfully cultivated philos- 
 ophy and physical science, while Adams continued more de- 
 voted to moral and political studies. Of this, Jefferson's 
 valuable and standard work, the Notes on Virginia, contains 
 ample testimony. They were both alike imbued with an ele- 
 gant and refined literature, which beautified and adorned 
 their higher accomplishments, like the acanthus-leaves crown- 
 ing the majestic proportions of the classic column. With 
 Cicero they might not unbecomingly have professed, that they 
 sedulously consecrated to these fascinating pursuits ' Quan- 
 tum ceteris ad suas res obeundas, quantum ad fcstos dies lu- 
 dorum celebrandos, quantum ad alias voluptates, et ad ipsam 
 requiem animi et corporis conceditur temporum.' 
 
 But their intellectual tastes were as happily contrasted in . 
 some things, as they were curiously blended in others. The 
 vocation, for which they were evidently destined by nature, 
 was the life of a statesman. Whatever different occupation 
 they might have selected previously, the true bent of their 
 
28 EULOGIES ON 
 
 faculties was evidently thither -, and subservient to this gui- 
 ding and governing principle were all their literary exertions. 
 But in the compositions of Adams we may discern more of 
 dignity, in Jefferson's, of gi-ace ; of energy in the former, and 
 refinement in the latter ; in this one, of Grecian elegance, in 
 that of Roman povver. Jefferson would seem desirous to 
 persuade by the even but animated flow of sentiments and 
 reflections ; Adams, to send conviction to the mind by the 
 graphic illustration, the pointed argument, aimed, as it were, 
 with unerring keenness, at the truth. Jefferson, in fine, 
 wears something of the manner of one whose natural talents 
 were assiduously cultivated in the closet, although still with a 
 view to public usefulness ; and therefore his writings indicate 
 more of originality, are of a more speculative cast, and more 
 visibly traced with the footsteps of solitary investigation. Ad- 
 ams, on the contrary, shows you in every sentence, that his 
 understanding, although richly stored by retired study, was 
 yet trained by the severe discipline of extensive practice at 
 the bar, and active exertion in popular assemblies ; and had 
 thus acquired more of the habit of prompt and vigorous action, 
 of decisive practical views, which the engrossing contests of 
 the forum and the tribune necessarily impress upon a superi- 
 or and highly cultivated genius, when subjected to their influ- 
 ence. 
 
 Had Jefferson left no other evidence of his talents for wri- 
 ting, the Declaration of hidependence alone would serve to 
 immortalize his reputation. Time was, when the character 
 of this great revolutionary patriarch, seen through the dis- 
 torted optics of party, was so grossly misrepresented, that 
 men gravely denied him the capacity to compose the consum- 
 mately beautiful lines of that splendid manifesto to the na- 
 tions of the earth. But another generation has rightly ap- 
 preciated his deserts. What tradition had uniformly asser- 
 ted, but jealousy ventured to dispute, is now become matter 
 of history. It was reserved for Adams himself to do full 
 justice to the pre-eminent merits of his copatriot, no longer 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 2^ 
 
 viewed as his successful competitor for the palm of political 
 distinction. That proud performance is now known to be the 
 work of Jefferson. Adams was the bold and eloquent deba- 
 ter, who urged and defended the measure, big with the fate 
 o' empires ; Jefferson's was the unequalled skill, which em- 
 bodied the principles of liberty in the language oX inspira- 
 tion, as an eternal monument and landmark for the guidance 
 of posterity. Fortunate pair ! Could the imagination of 
 man desire an occasion more auspicious than this, to confer 
 on them a rare immortality ? Who, that burned with a sa- 
 cred ambition to transmit his name down to remotest ages, 
 associated with some signally meritorious intellectual effort, 
 would choose a more glorious task than to be the head to I 
 conceive, or the hand to execute, the Declaration of Ameri- 
 can Independence ? 
 
 It is impossible to peruse, without admiration, the copious 
 writings of the sages, nay of the warriors, of the revolution. 
 How rich with brilliant and elevated thought, ho^^ skilful 
 and irresistible in argument, how overflowing with the fer- 
 vid illustrations of a mind impelled by overruHng circum- 
 stances to the strongest efforts, nay, how beautiful in the 
 pura and finished simplicity of a style, springing racy, fresh, 
 aid unsophisticated from a full-fraught soul and native taste, 
 are not the sacred charters of our liberty, the exquisite- 
 compositions of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Quincy, 
 Otis, Hamilton, and all the mighty growth of the virgin soil 
 of freedom, the giant-progeny of our Independence, 
 Magna parens 
 Frugum — magna virum ! 
 
 The vivid fire of genius lightens from every line thev left, 
 x4nd among these exalted names, there are none superior, 
 none equal, to Adams and Jefferson, in scholastic attain- 
 ments, and in their supreme dominion over 
 
 Tlioughts that breathe, and words that burn. 
 Adam? and Jefferson were both educated to the bar. The 
 talents of the latter were diverted at an earlier age into the 
 
30 EULOGIES ON 
 
 channel of politics ; for the former, being more advanced 
 in life at the opening of the revolution, had previously 
 continued for many years assiduously engaged in the duties 
 of his laborious profession. It was the well known obser- 
 vation of Burke, that law is ^ one of the first and noblest of 
 humm sciences, a science which does more to quicken and 
 invigorate the understanding than all other kinds of learning 
 put together ;' and had he known or appreciated the dis- 
 tinction between the practice of it here and in England, he 
 would not have denied its aptitude ' to open and liberalize 
 the mind exactly in the same proportion.' There it is a 
 narrow study, limited to the barbarous technicalities of the 
 common law ; and first-rate excellence in the profession has 
 rarely been associated with general talents or conspicuous 
 accomplishments as a politician. But far otherwise it is 
 here, where the study of law is more a study of principles, 
 and the profession is more closely blended with popular and 
 political 'pursuits, and has proved, to a large proportion of 
 the most exalted statesmen of our country, the chosen ave«- 
 nue to public usefulness and distinction. It was peculiarly 
 so to Adams. Possessed of the happiest qualities for suc- 
 cess at the bar, idefatigable industry, a sound discriminating 
 judgment, a mind prompt to arrange and analyze, a retentive 
 memory, acute and logical powers of reasoning, and a ready, 
 ardent, iinpressive elocution, he rapidly ascended to the high- 
 est professional eminence. 
 
 One trait of his conduct at the bar is too characteristic of 
 the man, to be left unnoticed. When the armed troops, 
 quarterd in Boston to quell and overawe the insubordinate 
 inhabitants, had wontoniy wounded and massacred a number 
 of defenceless individuals, and they and their commander 
 were brought to trial for this outrage, Adams and Quincy, 
 the popular leaders of the patriotic party, undertook their 
 defence and procured their acquittal. The unfaultering 
 grandeur of character which they manifested on this occa- 
 sion, in attempting the protection of men, against whom the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 31 
 
 whole country was justly exasperated to the highest degree, 
 ca I never be sufficiently applauded. And the complete suc- 
 cess, which, by their masterly ability and their magnanimous 
 resistance to the passions of the people, they obtaired, was 
 not a more lofty triumph to themselves than it was to their 
 countrymen. It demonstrated that no frantic anarchists were 
 busy in a work of discord and destruction ; but that high- 
 minded men were determined to win their freedom, in a 
 mode to ensure the world's approbation. 
 
 Had sach a career satisfied his ambition, he might have 
 discharged the first judicial functions of his native state. 
 Bit his cou itry had more imoerious need of his comman- 
 ding talents in a wider field of fame. When the earthquake 
 of the revolution shook the land, — when the waves of civil 
 commotion were lashed mto fury by the wild edicts of the op- 
 pressor, — when the rights of an outraged people were tram- 
 pled under foot by mercenary foreign bands, and our lives, nay 
 o ir liberties, were at stake, — then it was that all men found 
 their natural level, and the master minds of the nation, like 
 Adams and Jefferson, were elevated, by the mere force of 
 circumstances, into posts of difficulty and danger. 
 
 Tlie turbulent but magnificent scene of the revolution 
 was now opening upon the view. The distant flash, and the 
 far oT rumbling of the thunder had long boded its approach, 
 and it was preparing to burst, from the overhanging clouds, 
 upon the devoted heads of our fathers. Virginia and Mas- 
 sachusetts were the oldest of the colonies, and in disposable 
 resources at least, and in moral influence, they were the most 
 potent. In these free and foremost commonwealths, the 
 note of preparation for resistance to arbitrary power had 
 early been sounded. The trying and tremendous strug- 
 gle was plainly at hand. Amid the raging elements of dis- 
 cord, there sprang up, in each of those colonies, and at the 
 same moment, two men, whose genius fitted them to 
 
 Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm. 
 Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and James Otis of Masaachu- 
 
32 EULOGIES ON 
 
 setts, men whose fearless independence and whcrse vehement, 
 overwhelming eloquence would have singled them out in 
 a icient Rome to be more undaunted tribunes than any that 
 ever opposed the tyranny of her corrupt aristocracy, gave a 
 simultaneous impulse to ' the ball of the revolution,' the 
 second in the northern, and the first in the southern, quar- 
 ter of the confederacy. When Massachusetts was prem a- 
 turely deprived of her Brutus, the public voice called Adams 
 into the service of the nation to supply his place, and he 
 obeyed the call ; and after a series of manly acts in the 
 municipal meetings and legislature of his state, he was elec- 
 ted to the immortal congress cf seventy-four. By a corres- 
 ponding course of signal public exertions in Virginia, Jeffer- 
 son had won the confidence and regard of his fellow citizens, 
 and was appointed a delegate in the same congress. Patrick 
 Henry remaining at home as governor of his state, Jefferson, 
 although the youngest member of that august body, soon 
 rose by his superior talents to be the leading representative 
 of Virginia, as Adams was of Massachusetts. And thus 
 these two great men were thrown directly in contact and 
 contrast, as the champions of the holy cause of Indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 How imposing was the spectacle of that assembly of the 
 conscript fathers of America ! The noble stand they took 
 at the threshold of the temple of liberty ; the glorious oath, 
 which, like another Hannibal, each of them individually 
 Swore upon its altar ; and their influence over the subse- 
 quent destinies of our country, will authorize us, on this sol- 
 emn occasion, to pause and contemplate the men, the time, 
 and the circumstances. Nothing could be more entirely 
 appropriate to the present purpose, of illustrating the genius 
 an 1 character of JetTerson and Adams ; because they were 
 the or^^ans of that body and the best examples of its spirit ; 
 and in its doings were their genius and character, as states- 
 men, fuU^ developed. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 33 
 
 The forms, under which the highest intellectual powers 
 of man exhibit themselves, are as numerous and diversified 
 as the subjects, to wiiich his restless enterprise and insatiable 
 curiosity impel his atteation. The scope of mind is bound- 
 less as all space, and the daratioa of its efforts endless as 
 tintie ; for there is no clime, nor country, nor age, nor cir- 
 cumstance, where the human soul cannot display the bright- 
 ness of the celestial fire, with which it is warmed and anima- 
 ted The frozen regions of the polar circles, where the 
 soul would seem to be bound in fetters of ice, and the burn- 
 ing plains of the tropical zone, where all the organs and fac- 
 ulties of action are relaxed by the exuberant heat of an 
 equatorial sun, even these extremities of climate afford a 
 theatre for the exhibition of genius, ample enough to show 
 that its operations are not wholly limited to those happy 
 climes, where it shines forth in all the splendor of unimpaired 
 g-ace and majesty. Nor is there any age in the records of 
 history, nor an/ com'^ination of incidents so unpropitious 
 in the wh>le of time, that in it genius could not find space 
 for levelooe nsit. Ttie arts of war and peace, — science, 
 literature anl invention, — our ambition, our avarice, our 
 luxiry, —all furnish motives to elicit the lights of intellect. 
 For it is not in the sumblime flights of poetry alone, that this 
 diversity of the subjects and manifestations of genius is to 
 be found. The most inspired of the children of song has 
 told us, — 
 
 The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 
 
 Glances from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven. 
 
 And, as imagination bodies forth, 
 
 The form of things unknown, the poet's pen 
 
 Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
 
 A local habitation and a name. 
 
 But it is not in poetry alone, that genius acquires 'a local 
 habitation and a name.' Range through the universe, and 
 you find in the beautiful things of earth and air subjects for 
 it to embody forth. You find ail the unnumbered object? 
 
34 EULOGIES ON 
 
 of the material creation, — of the invisible world of the ima-' 
 gination, — and of the mysterious and comphcated passions 
 of the human breast, — alike presenting you with combina- 
 tions more countless than the sands of the sea, and all of 
 them ministering to the developement of the geniousof man. 
 Still there is one occasion more than all others propitious 
 to the display of preeminent qualities of mind. It is when 
 the stirring impulses of revolution pass through a refined and 
 populous people ; and a great nation is struggling to be free. 
 A poorand savage country produces no exhibition of talent, but 
 cunning, stratagem, and courage, in hunting or in war ; or the 
 rude elfusions of bards and minstrels, mingling their irregular 
 strains with the scene of barbarous manners around them, like 
 the beautiful wild flower springing up with its gay and brill- 
 iant foliage in the midst of the desert. The Indian of South 
 America, or the Asiatic Tartar, as he flies across the bound- 
 less savannas of his country, on steeds fleet as the viewless 
 winds, devoted only to the pleasures of the chase, and moved 
 to greater exertion in the tumult of warfare aioie, has com- 
 paratively little to evoke his intellectual powers. But 
 among a people who have attained the blessings of civiliza- 
 tion, the various inducements, which awaken our dormant 
 powers, are m iltiplied beyond all conceptio.i, and act with re- 
 doubled force in stimulating our thoughts and passions. — 
 There, the soul soars on the wings of glory, to the etherial 
 regions of fancy. There, luxury and opulence spread a thou- 
 sand temptations before the eye of taste and invention, and 
 tax the resources of genius to the utmost, for the supply of in- 
 numerable complicated wants, unknown to a rugged untaught 
 nation. There, when the foundations of society are unset- 
 tled by some mighty popular commotion, or the passions of 
 men are acted upon in the mass by overpowering causes ore\- 
 citement, and above all, if the conjuncture be one of those 
 revolutionary movements, which occasionally agitate em- 
 pires, then is the moment for the children of genius to rise, 
 like a second earthborn progeny, to astonish the world by 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 35 
 
 their seemingly instantaneous growth, and by the stupendous 
 effects of their intellect. Witness the constellation of talents, 
 which on every such emergency, has poured a tide of glory, 
 in reckless prodigality of profusion, over lands, that dared to 
 claim and exercise the inalienable right of men, the right to be 
 free. Witness the illustrious names, which, crowned with 
 splendor in the conflicts of ancient Greece, have rented, in 
 all succeeding times, upon every lip from lisping infancy to fal- 
 tering old age. Witness the citizens of the noble democra- 
 cies of modern Italy, who, less known to us because their his- 
 tory is not associated with the acquisition of a classical lan- 
 guage, yet emulated the magnanimity of their Athenian mod- 
 els, and ought to be equally the study of statesmen in every 
 republican country. Witness the transient brightness of the 
 commonwealth of England, when Hampden and Cromwell, 
 Milton and Vane, the companions and friends of our pilgrim 
 fathers, trod the path of honor, and attained an eminence, 
 which we, at least the heirs of their political and religious 
 principles, should appreciate and applaud. And to abstain 
 from examination of later events, — of the progress of 
 the revolutionary spirit in Europe and in Spanish America, — 
 witness the heroic and patriotic men, who shot upward in 
 our sky, like a meteor, but not like a meteor to dazzle and ex- 
 pire, — called into life, as it were, by the all-creative ener- 
 gies of the war of our Independence. Such were the men, 
 of whom the congress of seventy six was composed, and such 
 the occasion, which elicited the masterly efforts of their gen- 
 ius. 
 
 Of the various measures of that body for the protection of 
 the country, and for its preparation to enter u|)on a protracted 
 contest, this is not the place to speak, nor would time admit 
 ol doing justice to the subject. Posterity will chiefly look 
 to the first scene in the grand drama, the intrepid resolution, 
 which ccmmittt d the colonies forever, by declaring tb.t they 
 were, and'- of right ought to be, free and independent states,' 
 ,aod thus hurling the gauntlet of detiaoce at the metropolis. 
 
36 EULOGIES ON 
 
 It was on this occasion that Adams and Jefferson assumed and 
 exercised the authority, which, in a popular assembly, is 
 spontaneously deferred to intrepidity of character and com- 
 manding talents. They rose to distinction, not among small 
 minds, but among the greatest, and — primi inter part? — none 
 surpassing themselves in greatness. Adams carried into this 
 more than Roman senate a perfect mastery over all the points 
 in dispute between us and the mother country. He was one 
 of those brave hearts, who had long been accustomed to 
 ' snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.' He 
 thought with Quincy, that life had no charms for him who 
 lived not free ; and was ready to exclaim that ' wheresoever, 
 whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our 
 exit, we will diefreemen.'' He felt with Warren, that one 
 hour of glorious resistance to tyranny, though it ended in 
 death, was sweeter than years sighed away in hopeless slave- 
 ry. He blieved with Henry, that however weak we might 
 be, and however mighty the power we were challenging to 
 battle, still ' three millions of people, armed in the sacred 
 cause of freedom, and in such a country as we possessed, 
 were invincible by any power which our enemy could send 
 against us ; and that we should not fight our battles alone, be- 
 cause there was a righteous God, who presided over the des- 
 tinies of nations, and who would raise up friends to fight with 
 us in the cause of hamanity.' He was an apt exemplification 
 of the character of the New England men of his day, ardent in 
 season and out of season, zealous for liberty, but for a regula- 
 ted liberty. His was the quick invention to devise, and the 
 eloquent tongue to advocate, the measures necessary to se- 
 cure Independence. When the Declaration was proposed to 
 congress, the wise hesitated, the timid shrunk back, the bold- 
 est paused. Doubt and apprehension filled ail hearts, until 
 Adams, who, although well aware of' the toil, and blood, and 
 treasure,' which it would cost to maintain it, yet, ia his own 
 expressive language, through all the gloom could discern the 
 rays of lij^ht and glory, — until Adaiua rose, and by the magic 
 
ADAM9 AND JEFFERSON. 37 
 
 of his eloquence dispelled every fear, inspired every bosom 
 with a courage and determination as manful as his own, and 
 carried the daring resolution by a unanimity, that frowned op- 
 position dumb. We have the testimony of Jetiferson to the 
 fact, that ' he was the pillar of its support on the floor of con- 
 gress.' And although Jefferson was destitute of talents for 
 public speaking, yet he was not the less profoundly versed in 
 the rights of the colonies, nor less determined to do all and 
 dare all for the salvation of his country. His reputation as a 
 writer was unrivalled ; in consultation, he was ' prompt, frank, 
 explicit, and decisive ;' and in him Adams found an able, equal 
 and worthy coadjutor. And to them, under heaven, and their 
 compeers in the field and the senate, are we indebted for all 
 the blessings of peace and prosperity we enjoy, for the ex- 
 panding resources and ascending destinies of America. 
 
 Sublime assembly ! Admirable men ! But one alone ot 
 that band of choice spirits now survives, the modest and ven- 
 erable Carroll, like a spared monument of other ages : and 
 long may he live to enjoy the esteem of his country, as the 
 last of its immortal fathers ! Under the inspiring auspices of 
 patriotic hope they nerved themselves to honorable achieve- 
 ment. In these pacific times, nay, in any times, few are they, 
 who are called upon to dare the terrors of death in the pitch- 
 ed combat, where carnage walks at noon-day, and destruction 
 is the ruling planet of the hour. And fewer still are they, to 
 whose lot it falls, in the walks of civil hfe, to pass the trying 
 crisis of fortitude in deliberating upon a resolution so fraught 
 with interest, so big with impending consequences as the Dec- 
 laration of Independence. In the councils of peace, they 
 were encountering the hazards of war. Although seated in 
 the temple of Janus, beside them they beheld the statue of 
 Bellona. The senator, who spoke for that immortal conven- 
 tion, might, like the Roman, and with more of truth and Just 
 pride, have said to the British monarch — I bear in the ample 
 folds of my robe both peace and war ; choose ye which ye 
 will take. Their shield was the enthusiasm of honor true t<» 
 its temper as thrice proved steel ; their motto, 
 
'38 EULOGIES ON 
 
 In native swords, and native ranks, 
 The only hope of courage dwells. 
 
 And although they themselves should fall in the coming strug- 
 gle, they had confidence to believe that their children and 
 their children's children to the latest generation would enjoy 
 that promised land, of which they might only gain the distant 
 prospect. 
 
 They knew themselves to be merely the pioneers of the 
 great work of civil improvement. Theirs would be the task 
 to strike out a rude and simple path in the newly discovered 
 clime, to set up and establish the great land-marks of right, 
 and to leave to those, who should follow after them, to gather 
 the rich fruits and lovely flowers of freedom, which would 
 spring from the prolific soil. Just as the first hunters, who 
 penetrated into the western wilderness, did but make an im- 
 perfect opening into that unrifled garden of primitive luxu' 
 riance, while succeeding generations alone were enabled to 
 reach in tranquillity and plenty, the secure fruition of its boun- 
 ties. It was their fortune to pass anxious days and sleepless 
 nights in camp or council, ours to reap the benefit of their vi- 
 gils ; theirs to wrestle, to suffer, to bleed in battle, ours to 
 wear the silken vestments of peace ; theirs to peril themselves, 
 their present safety and their future fame, upon the hazard- 
 ous cast of revolution, ours to possess the magnificent prize 
 they won. 
 
 The desperate contest, in which they were about to em- 
 bark, was a contest of principle. Their claim was a claim 
 of right ; and it was so urged and argued by them, and so con- 
 sidered and rejected by the metropolis. They could recog- 
 nize no bond of subjection to that country : and no bond of 
 union, other than entire equality of political condition. 
 When our forefathers fled before the face of royal and eccle- 
 siastical tyranny, they did not bring along with them the iron 
 fetters, which had been eating into their frames in tl e mother 
 land. Free, as the winds, which swelled their canvass to waft 
 them over the ocean : — free as the wild waves, on whose bo- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 39 
 
 som they sailed ; — free as the red chieftains, whom they found 
 launching the canoe on our inland seas, or chasing the deer 
 in our proud forests ; — they claimed the blessing of full eman- 
 cipation from whatever was incompatible with the rights of 
 man. Actuated by such feelings, Adams and Jefferson pro- 
 posed and advocated the Declaration of Independence. For 
 if they had not been deeply wronged by the metropolis, and if 
 it was not their duty, in such case, to defend their impre- 
 scriptible rights by all the means, which ' Nature and Nature's 
 God' had put in their hands, — then were they traitors against 
 the king to whom they owed allegiance, and rebels against 
 that parliament, which they were bound to obey. But they 
 were not traitors, — the} were not rebels. They were gen- 
 erous and public spirited patriots, who would not tamely 
 yield up their birth-right to mere names, to the vain preju- 
 dices, with which the political wizards of Europe endeavour 
 to prop up her decayed institutions. They were enlightened 
 statesmen, who had penetration enough to discover that they 
 could not belong to their enemies on the score of consanguin- 
 ity, of allegiance, or of gratitude ; and that therefore no pow- 
 er on earth had a right to stand up resistingly between them 
 and constitutional independence. And they were the sons of 
 persecuted puritans, who could appeal from the tribunal of 
 human laws to a higher one in their own consciencies, by 
 which they would be justified in repelling intolerance and 
 usurpation by the red right hand of embattled warriors, and 
 by which they were assured that, if they fell in the unequal 
 conflict, they might look for a glorious remuneration to God. 
 Actuated by these exalted motives, the patriots of the rev- 
 olution resolutely entered upon the dangerous crisis, which 
 was to end in their defeat and their subjection to the ignomin- 
 ious punishment of felons, or on the contrary to make them 
 the glorious founders of a mighty Republic. It was for others, 
 led by the peerless Washington, to maintain the cause of in- 
 dependence in battle. The taste, education, and habits of 
 Jetlerson and Adams conducted them into duties, where, if 
 less of mere animal hardihood was needed, there was not less 
 
40 EULOGIES ON 
 
 of true courage and magnanimity of character. Jefferson, for 
 a time, devoted himself to the task of consohdating the inter- 
 nal tranquiUity and fixing the laws of Virginia, at whose head 
 he was placed. During this period, his talents were constant- 
 ly and actively engaged in furthering the progress of the revo- 
 lution, to the extent of the means of hrs state. Adams, also, 
 lent the aid of his standing and character to Massachusetts, in 
 the establishment of her constitution, in whose construction 
 he largely participated. But services, like these, which 
 would create a brilliant reputation for ordinary men in ordi- 
 nary times, are well nigh overlooked in the estimation of the 
 distinguished fortunes of Adams and Jeflerson. 
 
 Had the liberation of America depended solely upon her own 
 resources, the struggle would have been far more doubtful inits 
 issue. She might, by the very violence of despair, have sufficed 
 to vanquish the disciplined fleets and armies, which the most 
 opulent of modern nations was continually equipping for her 
 subjugation. Still it must have been with wasting exhaus- 
 tion of strength, and after a most protracted conflict. But 
 happily the interests of the nation were advocated abroad by 
 able, energetic, indefatigable ministers, who wrought, with 
 perfect success, upon the cupidity or sympathy of European 
 courts, or their jealousy of Britain, and obtained most season- 
 able and necessary succor for our bleeding country. Among 
 these diplomatic agents, Adams was pre-eminent, as w^ell for 
 the importance of the objects he accomplished, as for the 
 characteristic decision of purpose, ingenuity, and address, 
 which he displayed in his various negotiations, He was em- 
 ployed in the most delicate embassies during the whole con- 
 tinuance of tlie war; and the noble termination of it, by the 
 treaty of peace fully recognising our Independence, is mainly 
 attributed to his talents and zeal. Search the journals of the 
 
 continental congress, and in that venerable diary of our Inde- 
 pendence, how grateful is the tribute which you read, to the 
 
 diplomatic services of Adams ! When the whole body of our 
 
 foreign commissioners were censured by congress for their dis- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 41 
 
 union and jealousies, Adams alone was exempted from the 
 charge. And at the close of his long period of negotiations, 
 he is warmly thanked, — and how proud may his posterity 
 rightfully be of such a record, — he is thanked for ' the patriot- 
 ism, perseverance, integrity, and diligence, with which he ably 
 and faithfully served his country.' But for his vigor and pen- 
 etration, the temporizing policy of Franklin might have pro- 
 duced the most pernicious consequences. Upon the resto- 
 ration of peace, he was appointed our first minister to Eng- 
 land, and Jefferson was also honored with a mission to France, 
 in which employments they remained until the adoption of 
 the constitution of the United States. 
 
 At this important epoch, Adams and Jefferson both returned 
 from their foreign stations, to give stability by their personal 
 weight, and efficacy by their talents, to the new constitution. 
 The country was shaken to the centre by the contending par- 
 ties, who urged or opposed its adoption. Each party con- 
 tained men of the highest fame and character ; but the great 
 bulk of those, who desired a well regulated order of things, and 
 who were anxious for the national honor, were the warm 
 friends of the constitution. Time has now set its seal upon 
 this admirable instrument, and our established government , 
 by having safely sustained the rudest shocks of war and civil 
 animosity, has demonstrated at once its liberality and its so- 
 lidity. In that day, ere its excellence had been proved b} 
 experience, men of the soundest patriotism were found among 
 its opponents. But the influence of Washington, of Adams, 
 and of a great majority of other tried patriots, and especially 
 the victorious essays of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, rallied 
 the sulTrages of the country around the palladium of our lib- 
 erties. Every eye was instantly turned upon Washington, as 
 the only man, whose prudence, authority, and all-subduing 
 fame could ably administer the government in its feeble be- 
 ginnings ; and when he was elected president, he summoned 
 around him all the first talents of the nation for his counsellors. 
 The voice of the people had designated Adams, as second 
 
42 EULOGIES ON 
 
 only to Washington in public services, public gratitude, 
 and public functions. And in accordance with his own sen- 
 timents and with the popular opinion, the chief magistrate 
 selected Jefferson for the highest post of honor in his cabinet. 
 The ardent love of country entertained alike by Adams and 
 Jefferson, and the distinction they had acquired at home and 
 abroad, entitled them to this elevation. They were both 
 friends of the federal constitution; Adams more warmly and 
 decidedly so than Jefferson, whose political opinions began 
 to assume that popular and democratic complexion, which af- 
 terwards distinguished his party. Under these propitious 
 auspices the first federal administration went into operation, 
 with the anxious prayers of the nation, for the smiles of heav- 
 en to shine upon it. Although Adams was not constitution- 
 ally a member of the cabinet, his advice was taken, and his 
 influence felt, in all its important measures. And Jefferson, 
 also, for many years continued attached, in office and in prin- 
 ciple, to the adninistration of the father of his country. Of 
 the proclamation of neutrality, that leading act of Washing- 
 ton's presidency, which enabled America to remain ' the un- 
 dismayed, undegraded, and unembarrassed spectator of the 
 broils of Europe,' Jefferson was the firm and powerful defen- 
 der, as he was, too, notwithstanding his decided partiality for 
 France, of the indignation justly felt by Washington at the 
 rashness of Genet. His elaborate official reports and corres- 
 pondence attest his ability and faithfulness in the discharge of 
 the important duties of his office. But at the second election 
 of Washington, a growing rivalry was evidently becoming de- 
 veloped between men, whose genious and fame had hitherto 
 won all hearts to their united support, but who soon came to 
 be the rallying points of hostile parties. Upon the retire- 
 ment of Washington, and the election of Adams to succeed 
 him, the division was complete ; and at the ensuing election 
 the republican party triumphed, in the ascendency of Jeffer- 
 son over Adams. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 43 
 
 To the leading features of their respective administrations, 
 it is difficult, at the present day, to do impartial justice : and 
 incompatible with the peculiar nature of a funeral oration. 
 Would to heaven that no embittered feelings had ever sprung 
 up to sharpen the contests of that period, and the recollections 
 which they entailed upon the next generation ! Would to 
 heaven that men, who were equally devoted to their country, 
 and whose dearest blood had been poured out like water in 
 her service, could have entertained ditfering opinions, and 
 upheld adverse lines of public policy, without being betray- 
 ed into acts, which their cooler moments would disapprove ! 
 But it could not be. The stormy elements of the revolution 
 had not yet entirely subsided. Man still bore about them an 
 ardent temperament, excited amid scenes of turbulence, of 
 desperate resistance to foreign aggression ; and it was impos- 
 sible that the conflict of opposing sentiments, which in the 
 calmest times is too prone to degenerate into violence, should 
 then be conducted with perfect equanimity. Europe, at the 
 same time, was convulsed by the agonizing efforts of the o^^ • 
 pressed to be free, and of crumbling dynasties to survive the 
 crash of their power ; and, remote though we stood from the 
 immediate scene of commotion, its billows broke too often 
 upon our distant shore. Far be it from us on this occasion, 
 resting, as it were, above the green sod of patriots scarcely 
 cold in the grave, to rekindle the torch of discord, or to harbor 
 thoughts unsuited to the solemn season. It would be sacri- 
 lege to indulge in the idea. Let others pursue the failings of 
 greatness to the tomb ; let others regard only the dim specks 
 in the broad and resplendent disk of their fame ; let others 
 surrender their admiration of the high-souled deeds of a life of 
 usefulness, to the dark temper, which cherishes no charity for 
 human infirmity. Be ours, the more grateful task, to yield 
 honor where honor is due and there alone ; but there to yield 
 it freely and fearlessly. The voice of truth will assure us 
 that posterity has much to applaud, and something to condemu 
 in the political course of each departed patriot. 
 
44 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Adams fell upon evil days and evil tongues. A powerful 
 party, scarcely repressed by the transcendent veneration en- 
 tertained by the whole people for his predecessor, was pre- 
 pared to coil itself around the movements of Adams. 'Too 
 independent,' in the words of another, ' to wear the trammels 
 of either side,' he was not cordially supported by the federal 
 party, while he was zealously assailed by their antagonists. — 
 Ardently attached to the constitution, and partial to England 
 rather than France, he was ranked with those, who pushed the 
 executive authority to extremes, and was made to bear unde- 
 servedly the odium of all their measures. High in the opin- 
 ion of his party, and raised to dangerous influence around him 
 were persons the most deeply committed in the sharp contro- 
 versies of the day, whose unaccommodating counsels gave 
 augmented vigor and vehemence to the ranks of opposition. 
 If he yielded unqualified assent to the suggestions of one par- 
 ty, he exasperated the other ; if he ventured to question the 
 policy of his advisers, they broke into accusations of his ' un- 
 governable temper,' and his' incorrect maxims of administra- 
 tion.' But surrounded as he was with difficulties, and the 
 unregarded chief of a sinking cause, still unqualified ap- 
 plause is due to the attitude he assumed in our foreign rela- 
 tions. His conduct towards the arrogant directory, that giddy 
 bubble blown up into transient elevation out of the impurest 
 elements of the French revolution, was at once temperate and 
 dignified, manly and conciliatory. Millions for defence, not 
 a cent for tribute, was the unanimous cry of the nation then, as 
 it ever should be on a like occasion. And who, in these 
 more enlightened times, would reprobate, in the strong lan- 
 guage of the past, his idea of maritime defence by a compe- 
 tent navy, or his reorganization of the judiciary, which it was 
 among the first acts of the succeeding government to disturb ! 
 His faults of character were those of an open, frank, and de- 
 cided temper ; his errors in conduct were more the misfor- 
 tunes of his position, than they wfere the fruit of false princi- 
 ples. His political tenets had, indeed, been acquired by the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 45" 
 
 study of the great models of ancient and modern times : — 
 what wonder then, that he dreaded the hcentiousness of an- 
 archy, the weak side in every republic but ours, the first pure 
 representative government, which the world was happy 
 enough to behold ? He had lived a life of opposition to tyran- 
 ny : what wonder if, as a consequence, he was free of speech, 
 and his disposition was deemed chargeable with obstinacy, 
 which Burke declares to be allied to ' the whole line of mas- 
 culine virtues, constancy, gravity, magnanimity, fortitude, 
 fidelity, and firmness ?' 
 
 Unlike his competitor, Jefferson was firmly fixed in the en- 
 thusiastic attachment of a numerous body of men, united and 
 guided by his genius. Dreading the influence of arbitrary 
 power, they adhered to his party as the cause of entire and 
 genuine democracy. Judging of the inherent character of 
 the system by the unpopular opinions of some who aided in 
 administering it, they apprehended, without adequate reason, 
 as the event has shown, that freedom was jeopardized by the 
 partial incorporation of the state sovereignties into the con- 
 solidated government of the union. They were just emerging 
 from a war, waged nominally to gain immunity from illegal 
 taxes, although really to secure emancipation from colonial 
 servitude ; and they looked with needless and unfounded dis- 
 trust upon the proposed financial plans of Hamilton, because 
 they more than suspected his mind, capacious as it was, of har- 
 boring tendencies unfavorable to pure republicanism. They 
 and their political successors afterward sanctioned the princi- 
 ple involved in those plans, by pursuing it in corresponding 
 circumstances. They have sincerely and ardently fostered 
 our victorious navy, whose flag has achieved new honors for 
 our country, by conqueringthe freedom of the seas, and teach- 
 ing a salutary lesson of moderation to that one too prevailing 
 maritime power, who presumptuously claimed the dominion 
 t)f the common highway of nations. They have also estab- 
 lished a national bank. And by encouraging such measures, 
 they have declared that the change of times, the increased 
 7 
 
46 EULOGIES ON 
 
 population and resources of our country, and the new posi- 
 tion, which the last war gave it among empires, have produ- 
 ced a change in their sentiments upon those much disputed 
 points of policy. 
 
 Of their individual measures, none is more memorable than 
 the purchase of Louisiana, and the peaceful annexation of 
 that noble region, now teeming with the fruits of freedom, 
 to the limits of the union. It doubled the extent of our coun- 
 try, not by the violent operation offeree, but by rightful and 
 amicable cession. It spread over the broad valley of the Mis- 
 sissippi a hardy population of enlightened freemen, and thus 
 converted a hostile territory into the abode of friends and 
 fellow-countrymen. To Jefferson's wisdom must we, of the 
 old confederation, attribute the security of our frontiers ; and 
 him the cultivated millions of the West may bless, for the 
 free privileges and prosperity they enjoy. Of those acts of 
 Jefferson's administration having reference solely to the suc- 
 cess of his party, let history judge. They have perpetuated 
 its ascendancy to this day in the national councils, and ren- 
 dered his fundamental principle, of the immediate supreme 
 sovereignty of the people, the almost universal sentiment of 
 the nation. He was, like Adams, ambitious ; but like him 
 hadambitionof a generous strain ; for it was to establish the 
 liberties of his country on what he conceived to be the foun- 
 dations of eternal right. And if he had studied the precepts 
 of history less profoimdiy than Adams, his political opinions 
 were better adapted to the times and the condition of the 
 country, and exhibited more of the original talent, prudence, 
 and forecast of the true statesman. 
 
 The politicians of that day were compelled to tread no 
 beaten path. It was conformable to the workings of a great 
 mind, in such case, to trust to its own native sagacity, rather 
 thaa to own the bondage of learned doctrine ; and, in default 
 of the light of experience for its guidance, to i read the on-^ 
 ward march of self-relying genius. Such was the political 
 course of Jefferson, as manifested in the principles of his par- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 47 
 
 ty, and his administration of the government. Reposing im- 
 phcit confidence in the integrity and sanity of unshackled pub- 
 lic opinion, and in the final triumph of truth over error by the 
 exercise of its own persuasive energies, — by the most glori- 
 ous of victories, the victory of reason, — he unceasingly and 
 successfully resisted the leading mistake of his opponents, — a 
 disposition to strengthen the arm of authority, and coerce the 
 minority into silence. lie proclaimed freedom of the press, 
 freedom of person, freedom of justice, freedom of elections, 
 and freedom of religion, as the cardinal points of his political 
 faith ; and these are now incorporated, like a second iiature, 
 into all our settled belief as a nation. Republicans and fed- 
 eralists, as such, have not become indentilied ^ but they have 
 learned to respect each other's motives ; to find many theo- 
 ries entertained by both in common ; and to embrace as 
 countrymen and brethren. The character of the govern- 
 ment has become immoveably fixed on the basis of liberty and 
 equality. The principles of our confederate policy are unal- 
 terably established. They are the principles of the republi- 
 can party ; and that discussion of them, which once shook the 
 country to its centre, has given place to the discussion of 
 men, of measures, and of expediency. 
 
 When such have been the happy fruits of the party strife, 
 which divided Adams and Jefferson, and their respective 
 friends, need we scruple to yield the palm to tlie most deserv- 
 ing, and throw the mantle of mutual forgiveness over mutual 
 errors ? A candid posterity will disapprove the spirit of acri- 
 monious recrimination, in which both parties were too rea- 
 dy to indulge. And they will not less condemn the tendency 
 of each to regard a foreign power with undue partiality.— 
 Let our attachments be confined to the cherished name of 
 America. ' Our country, our whole country, and nothing but 
 our country' — be this the fundamental maxim of our public 
 policy. But who can think of impugning the patriotism of 
 either Adams or Jefferson, for any defects in his political 
 principles or his conduct ? Who, at this day, will believe 
 
48 EULOGIES ON 
 
 that either of them was hostile to his country, or that either 
 of them consciously did a single act adverse to her interest ? 
 Oh, shame on the ungenerous thought ! Error is incident 
 to human nature ; but it is impossible for such men, men 
 proved in the hours that tried the soul ; men, too, whose fate 
 it was 
 
 To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, 
 And read their history in a nation's eyes, 
 
 to have been wilfully false to their fame and their country. — 
 The voice of the nation bears testimony, as if by acclamation, 
 to their spotless integrity, not less than to their generous sac- 
 rifices and their exalted talents ; not because party spirit has 
 become extinct, but because holier feelings fill the soul. — 
 The purest gratitude for the legacy of liberty they have be- 
 queathed us, and unadulterated admiration of their fame, sub- 
 due and repress every ungrateful emotion. 
 
 But these exalted individuals have long since ceased to be 
 regarded by the nation or by the world at large, as living 
 characters. The estimation in which they have been held 
 for the last ten years, has partaken more of posthumous ven- 
 eration than of cotemporary respect. It was not the retire- 
 ment, or fall from office, which produced this effect ; nor did 
 men wait for their death to sanctify their names. The long 
 duration of their lives enabled their countrymen to appreci- 
 ate them, as we should the great personages of distant lands, 
 or of remote history. Withdrawn from the world, they were 
 devoted to the cultivation of philosophy, enjoying that otium 
 cum dignilale, which befitted their age, and the space they 
 filled in the public eye. Their peaceful homes were the 
 shrines, to which the lover of liberty and the admirer of gen- 
 ius, from every land, devoutly made his pilgrimage. Their 
 conversational talents were of the highest order. Adams allur- 
 ed by his hearty frankness, his vivacity, and the dignified sim- 
 plicity of his deportment, and urbanity of reception ; JefTer- 
 8on, by the fascination of his conciliating manners, and the 
 munificent hospitality of his abode. And each freely poured 
 out before their visiters the golden stream of poignant anec- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 49 
 
 dote and rich reflection, acquired by their long experience in 
 the greatest affairs of modern times, and their familiarity with 
 polished learning. To them the scholar, panting after litera- 
 ry excellence, went for his dearest praise ; to them the politi- 
 cian, aspiring to future usefulness, looked as the guiding light 
 of his path. Seldom, during the declining period of their 
 lives, did obtrusive remembrances of party rancor arise in 
 the minds of their fellow citizens, to dim the lustre and tar- 
 nish the purity of their consecrated reputation. And they 
 themselves, as if in preparation for a future world, mutually 
 extended to each other the feelings of esteem and friendship, 
 which unhappy ditferences has suspended for a season. 
 
 But whilst, having each ascended the pinnacle of political 
 rank, the) dedicated the remainder of their days to repose, 
 they were not wholly abstracted from the attention of the pub- 
 lic as a nation. Not merely that they marked the progress of 
 passing events with interest ; nor that they frequently charm- 
 ed their country with the productions of their pens ; but 
 too high for additional honor, they felt themselves not too old 
 for additional services in the advancement of their country's 
 weal. 
 
 When a convention was called for altering the constitution 
 of Massachusetts, Adams was summoned from the seclusion 
 of Montezillo to aid in amending the charter, of which, in less 
 peaceful times, he was the principal framer. Elected presi- 
 dent of that body by acclamation, a distinction which the infir- 
 mities of age induced him to decline, he received, in the spon- 
 taneous homage of his best fellow citizens, a conspicuous tes- 
 timony of respect, unextorted by station, and yielded only 
 to the majesty of the man. The vigor of mind, which, 
 even at that advanced period of his life, he still manifested, 
 and the memorable expressions of applause bestowed on him, 
 almost simultaneously, by two of his most distinguished asso- 
 ciates, and men of political sentiments not accordant with his, 
 fixed upon him the eyes of the whole community. He seemed 
 to be. ijot an earthly being, like ourselves, but one of the 
 
50 EULOGIES ON 
 
 creating and guardian spirits of the constitution, descended 
 among us to watch over the preservation of its integrity. — 
 This was his latest pubhc exertion. But the brilliant ca- 
 reer of his son augmented the interest which his character 
 irresistibly attracted. Men, who weie envious of the rise of 
 the younger Adams, sought to impede his progress, and em- 
 bitter the days of his venerable parent, by resuscitating the 
 buried calumnies, which the lapse of twenty years had con- 
 signed to deserved oblivion. But their endeavors were as 
 fruitless as their motives were unworthy. The accomplish- 
 ed statesman, the profound scholar, he whose virtues ' plead 
 like angels trumpet tongued' for his elevation, stands in the 
 post of merited honor ; — and, as the garland encircled the 
 bare temples of the great Julius, the aged head of the sire 
 was protected from the shafts of detraction by the laurel 
 wreath of victory and glory. 
 
 The declining age of JelFerson has been peculiarly distin- 
 guished by a course of useful exertions for the promotion of 
 education. His active mind was unceasingly busy to the 
 hour of his death in the establishment, organization, and suc- 
 cess of a noble university in his native state. May the illu- 
 mination of genuine philosophy descend upon it, and make 
 it a seminary of science worthy of the cause of letters, worthy 
 of Jefferson, and of Virginia! 
 
 With but a single cloud to shadow his setting, his last 
 years have elapsed in sunshine and peace, in all his public 
 relations. True it is, that some anonymous miscreant, too 
 base to disclose his name, falsely accused him of a petty pec- 
 ulation, — him, who devoted a princely fortune to the cause 
 of his country, and who, after having 
 
 Sounded all the depths and shoals of honor, 
 and spent a life in the national service, saw hirnj'eif reduced 
 to poverty in old age. I- the tiium[)hant vi uilration of 
 his own purity, which the iii"yi2;)>arit patriot cornk^cended to 
 publish, and the scorn of ai' ic novable men forihe slanderer, 
 crushed the calumny foreve*-. and gave added rv.Are to the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 51 
 
 fame of Jefferson. It was not this, which planted a thorn 
 in his pillow. Had he luxuriated in hoards of ill gotten 
 opulence, of riches gained by rapacity in office, he might 
 have died dishonored and despised, instead of filling a whole 
 people with affliction by his decease ; but he would have 
 been saved the pang of appealing to his countrymen to pre- 
 serve him from absolute penury. But his departed spirit 
 has outstripped the tardy generosity of his nation ; and he 
 is rescued from the sorrowful necessity of accusing the re- 
 public of ingratitude. 
 
 The many remarkable coincidences in the respective for- 
 tunes of Adams and Jefferson, would have placed them con- 
 stantly in contrast, even if their Maker had not called them 
 to himself on the same day, and thus rendered their funeral 
 obsequies inseparable. Previous to the revolution each was 
 a leading politician in his own colony ; they met together 
 in the same congress ; they were both of the committee to 
 prepare the Declaration of Independence, and one of them 
 wrote what the other proposed and defended^ afterwards 
 each of them was temporarily devoted to the establishment 
 of law in his native state ; they next filled the highest for- 
 eign missions of their country, until both became members 
 of the first constitutional administration ; they were rival 
 leaders of the two great parties which divided the nation; 
 and one succeeded the other, first as Vice President, and 
 next as President of the United States ; and after many years 
 of seclusion, worthy of themselves, they both died upon the 
 Fiftieth Anniversary of our Independence. Surely the fin- 
 ger of Providence is visibly stretched forth, in this long se- 
 ries of singular and unparalleled combinations of destiny. 
 
 The history and characters of the deceased patriarchs 
 have now been traced, not with the energy and fullness 
 which the occasion deserved, but with such imperfect fidelity 
 as circumstances would permit. Should the contemplation' 
 of their departed excellence have communicated too warm 
 a coloring to the language of panegyric, let the cause apolo- 
 
52 EULOGIES or? 
 
 gize for the consequence. They have nothing to gain by 
 exaggerated eulogiuni, nor any thing to lose by the insidious- 
 ness of faint praise. Posterity will weigh their merits and 
 their defects in the balance of strict and impartial justice. — 
 But cold is the heart, and poor is the soul, that now, in the 
 greenness of our untented sorrow at the catastrophe of their 
 death, would stifle the manifestations of respect for their 
 worth, which rise irrepressibly to the lips of enthusiasm. 
 
 Death is above, below, around us. The very vital air 
 we inhale may be loaded with its fatal influences. In the 
 midst of health as in sickness, in the gay moment of confi- 
 dent hope, as in the darkness of despair, he may cut short 
 the frail thread of life, and blast its fairest prospects with a 
 breath. We awake to the splendors of a summer's dawning ; 
 but the brightness of our sky may soon be overclouded. — 
 We embark upon the smiling ocean of life, and favoring 
 breezes waft us lightly across its waters ; but the slumber- 
 ing billow may rouse instantaneously to overwhelm us in the 
 deep. A few years, months, days, hours, and the speaking 
 eye may be quenched in the shadows of the grave ; the lips, 
 that now utter the warning words of grief, may be sealed 
 with the signet of everlasting silence ; and the frame instinct 
 with motion, where the pulses of life are warmly beating, 
 may be consigned, an unseemly corse, to lie buried in ' cold 
 obstruction's apathy.' There is no age exempt from the in- 
 evitable doom, which falls, undistinguishing, upon the early 
 bloom of beauty, and the brow b'anched by the snows of 
 seventy winters ; no condition too lowly to be overlooked 
 by the angel of death, nor too lofty for his unerring shafts to 
 reach. 
 
 The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 
 Descend into its noiseless and gloomy chambers, and you be- 
 hold the prince and the peasaut, the proud and the humble, 
 the wise and the weak, reposing side by side, their hopes, 
 ambition, love, hate, all the wild passions, which animated 
 their living breasts, rebuked and abased before the mighty 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 53 
 
 king of terrors. There the lips of the eloquent are speech- 
 less, the voice of patriot fervor is dumb. There is the ban- 
 ner of a thousand victories furled forever ; the hero has 
 fought his latest battle, and his purple robe of triumph is ex- 
 changed for the pall of death, and the vanquished conqueror 
 is companion of the w^orm. And there lie the benefactors 
 of their nation and their race, the statesmen, whose noble 
 spirits stemmed the torrent of oppression when it rolled against 
 their country, whose ardor nerved the arm of the warriors 
 that defended her in the stricken field, and whose genius and 
 wisdom championed and upheld her sacred cause. For mor- 
 tality is the common lot of man. 
 
 The friends of the human family, the fathers of our Inde- 
 pendence, are taken from us by Him, in whose grasp are the 
 issues of life. We repine not at the privation. We inherit 
 their fame ; we possess their example ; our civil privileges 
 are a legacy from them ; their memory is embalmed in our 
 hearts ; their names are eternally identified with our free in- 
 stitutions ; and having accomplished the duty assigned them 
 on earth, they have received the boon of immortality in heav- 
 en. Peace be to their manes ! We offer them the humble 
 oblation of our profound reverence, our heart-felt grati- 
 tude. 
 
 Fellow citizens, 1 have done ; but ere I go hence, ere the 
 voice of the speaker has ceased to fall upon your ears, let us 
 all unite, on this momentous and affecting occasion, in aspi- 
 rations to the just God, who holds kingdoms and states, princi- 
 palities and powers, in the hollow of his hand, that he would 
 cause his choicest blessings to descend upon our beloved 
 country. 
 
 The nations have fallen, and we still are young ; 
 
 Our sun is but rising, when others are set. 
 May he give our rulers wisdom to discern and firmness to pur- 
 sue the measures, which are best calculated to promote the 
 good of the land. May he inspire us all with emotions of 
 gratitude for that we have the enjoyment of civil and reli- 
 
54 EULOGIES ON 
 
 gious freedom. May he continue to us the blessings of peace 
 and of internal tranquillity. As he has enabled the Ameri- 
 can eagle to soar aloft with healing in his wings, may he 
 give him strength to continue his flight through tne heavens 
 with unblenched majesty. May the bark of our national 
 power, which he has launched upon the great deep, be fitted 
 not to sail amid unruffled seas and summer skies alone, but 
 to breast the rising surge and bear up againt the sweeping 
 blast. And as he has made our country the centre of the 
 great solar system of civil freedom, may he not withhold his 
 hand from fostering and protecting her, but enable her to 
 flourish on, through many future ages, the ever-glorious and 
 ever-free Columbia ! 
 
 J^OTE. 
 
 A few passages, omitted in the delivery of this Eulogy, are in- 
 serted in the printed copy. 
 
 Subjoined are the dates of the principal incidents in the lives 
 of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, collected with some care, 
 and believed to be substantially correct. Much information as 
 to their d.plomatic employments may be found in a valuable work 
 lately published in Boston, entitled " Diplomacy of the United 
 States." 
 
 JOHN ADAlMtS 
 
 was born at Quincy, in the State of Massachusetts, October 19th 
 1735, of John and Susannah Boylston Adams. He was grad- 
 uated at Cambridge in 1755. 
 
 Afterwards he was teacher of the grammar school in Worces- 
 ter, and studied law there under Col. James Putnam until 1758 
 
 In 1758 he was admitted to the practice of law ; and in 1761 
 to the degree of barrister. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 55 
 
 In 1770 he was chosen a representative from the town of Bos- 
 ton in the legislature of Massachusetts. 
 
 The same year, he, assisted by Josiah Quincy, jun. and S. S. 
 Blowers, defended Capt. Preston, and the soldiers, who fired, at 
 his order, upon the inhabitants of Boston, 
 
 In 1774 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts council, 
 and negatived by Gov. Gage. In this year and the next, he 
 wrote the numbers called Nov-Anglus. 
 
 The same year he was appointed a member of the continental 
 congress from Massachusetts, and become one of the most effi- 
 cient and able advocates of liberty. 
 
 In July 1776 he was the adviser and great supporter of the 
 Declaration of Independence. It was reported by a committee 
 composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, 
 Philip Livingston, and Roger Sherman. 
 
 During the same year, he, with Dr. Franklin and Edward 
 Rutledge, was deputed to treat with Lord Howe for the pacifica- 
 tion of the Colonies. 
 
 In November 1777 he was appointed a commissioner to the 
 court of France in place of Silas Deane, who was recalled. 
 
 In April 1779 Congress passed a vote tantamount to the cen- 
 sure on all the commissioners in Europe, excepting Adams alone. 
 
 In 1779, having returned from Europe, he was a member of 
 the convention for framing the constitution of Massachusetts, and 
 drafted a considerable part of it. 
 
 In August 1779 he was appointed to go to Europe as commis- 
 sioner for a general peace. 
 
 In December 1780 congress passed a vote of thanks to him for 
 his services in Europe. 
 
 In 1781 he negociated a very favorable treaty with the Dutch 
 Provinces. 
 
 In June 1781 he was associated with Franklin, Jay, Laurens, 
 and Jefferson, in a plenipotentiary commission for concluding 
 treaties of peace with the several European powers. 
 
 In 1783 he was associated with Franklin and Jay for the pur- 
 pose of negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain. 
 
 In 1785 he was chosen Minister to Great Britain. 
 
 In 1787 he published at London the Defence of the American 
 Constitution. 
 
56 EULOGIES ON 
 
 In October 1787, at his request, he was permitted to return 
 home, and a remarkable vote of thanks to him was passed in 
 congress. 
 
 In 1789 he was elected first Vice President of the United 
 States under the new constitution ; and was re-elected in 1793. 
 
 In 17&7 he was elected President of the United States. 
 
 He retired into private life in 1801, Jefferson being elected 
 President in opposition to him ; — and resided at his estate in 
 Quincy until the time of his death. 
 
 In 1817 he was one of the electors of President, the year of 
 the election of James Monroe. 
 
 1820 he was returned a member of the convention for re- 
 vising the constitution of Massachusetts, and elected President 
 thereof by a nearly unanimous vote. Upon this occasion on mo- 
 tion of chief Justice Parker, a series of resolutions was passed by 
 this enlightened body, containing the highest praise of his patri- 
 otism. He declined the chair on account of his great age. 
 
 He died at Quincy late ia the afternoon of July 4th, 1826. 
 
 »ft®« 
 
 THO»IAS JEFFERSON 
 
 was born April 2d, O. S- 1743, at a place called Shad well, in the 
 county of Albemarle, and State of Virginia, a short distance from 
 Monticello. His family were among the earliest emigrants from 
 England. His father, Peter Jefferson, was known as one of the 
 commissioners for determining the boundary line between Vir- 
 ginia and North Carolina, and left his son an extensive and val- 
 uable estate. 
 
 He was graduated at the College of William and Mary, and 
 was educated for the bar, under the celebrated George Wythe, 
 late Chancellor of Virginia, and one of the signers of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. 
 
 He continued in the practice of law but a short time Soon 
 after coming of age, he became a member of the Virginia legis- 
 lature, in which he quickly attained distinction. Some of the 
 best controversial political pieces of the day are attributed to )ir 
 pen. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 57 
 
 In 1775 he was made a member of the continental congress, 
 of which he was one of the chief ornaments. 
 
 In July 1776 he wrote the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 In 1 778 he was chosen by congress minister to France, with 
 Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin, but declined accepting the 
 office, and Arthur Lee was appointed in his place. 
 
 Between 1777 and 1779 he was employed, conjointly with 
 George Wythe and Edmund Pendleton, on a commission for re- 
 vising the laws of Virginia, which was executed with much labor 
 and ability. 
 
 In 1779 he succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia, 
 
 In 1781 he composed the Notes on Virginia. 
 
 In 17fe2 he was again member of congress ; and the same 
 year wrote the preamble to the constitution of Virginia. 
 
 In 1784 he was associated with Franklin, Adams, Jay, and 
 Laurens, in a plenipotentiary commission addressed to the sever- 
 al powers of Europe for the purpose of concluding treaties of 
 commerce. 
 
 In 1785 he was elected minister to France. 
 
 In 1789 he was appointed the first Secretary of State under 
 the new constitution, which office he resigned in December 
 J 793. 
 
 In 1797 he was elected Vice President of the United States. 
 While in this office, he composed his Manual of Parliamentary 
 Practice. 
 
 In 1801 he was elected President of the United States in op- 
 position to John Adams. 
 
 In April 1803 he procured the cession from France of the 
 province of Louisiana. 
 
 In 1805 he was re-elected President of the United States. 
 
 He retired from political life in 1809, and has devoted his 
 efforts for many years past to the establishment of the University 
 of Virginia, of which he was visiter and rector. 
 
 He died at Monticello, about 1 o'clock, on the afternoon of 
 July 4th, 1826. 
 
PRONOUNCED IN THE CITY OF NEW^YORK, 
 
 ,, f' July, nth 1826. 
 
 BY d C. CAMBRELENG 
 
 Fellow Citizens, — We are about in common with mill- 
 ions of Freemen, to unite our sympathies at the tombs of our 
 Illustrious Countrymen. I should be wanting in respect to 
 their great names were I not to express my unaffected regret 
 that the office of pronouncing their eulogiumhad not been as- 
 signed to one more familiar with their lives and characters. 
 I have also to regret that the time allowed me has been brief — 
 too brief for preparation, and 1 fear the kind anticipations 
 which may have been indulged will not be realized ; but I 
 rely with some confidence on the inspiring nature of the sub- 
 ject. Humble indeed must be the mind that could not be el- 
 evated by the grandeur of the occasion, and feeble that elo- 
 quence which should entirely fail to touch the sympathies of 
 an assembly where every heart glows with patriotism, an3 
 every bosom swells with the magnitude of a nation's grati- 
 tude and sorrow. 
 
 The events which have caused our assemblage, appear to 
 belong to some wonderful age, and are calculated to revive 
 the recollections of remote ages. We are reminded of the 
 histories of nations which have long preceded ours in the 
 march of time — whose palaces and monuments are mingled 
 with the dust — of nations which believed themselves to be pe- 
 culiarly under the protection of Divine Providence. If there 
 ever was a people who might dare to indulge this pious and 
 consoling hope, it is surely the American people. The ev- 
 idences are scattered through our history. We are not dis- 
 
60 EULOGIES ON 
 
 posed to assume for ourselves special favor and protection — « 
 still less to be credulous ; but if in the present instance we 
 should yield something to a singular coincidence of events, 
 our credulity must be pardoned : for the chronicle of a single 
 day cannot but shake the most stubborn convictions of ada- 
 Tnantine infidelity. It is but a few days since, that we were 
 all assembled, commemorating our Independence and celebra- 
 ting our 50th National Festival — the voice of our rejoicings 
 reverberated from Maine to Orleans — from the ocean to the 
 wilderness — the cannon of our Jubilee waked the spirits of 
 the mighty flead — millions of freemen were offering up their 
 gratitude — were chaunting loud hosannas to the Most High 
 God for his infinite and rich mercies — at this sublime moment, 
 it would seem as if the trumpet of the arch-angel had sound- 
 ed — as if the splendid mysteries of the heavens had been un- 
 folded to man, and as if the Mighty Ruler of the Universe, 
 from his radiant throne on high, had deigned to smile on their 
 rejoicings and to bless their Jubilee. From among the mul- 
 titude he summoned two of his faithful servants — of those in- 
 struments whom he had chosen to execute his great national 
 work — he sent his heavenly messengers to announce to them 
 that their race was run — their earthly labors were complete. 
 Thus manifesting to us his special favor and protection, appa- 
 rently revealing to all mankind that this is his chosen land, and 
 stamping our glorious festival with heaven's seal of immmor- 
 tality. 
 
 Thus. Fellow Citizens, have our illustrious countrymen 
 been miraculously gathered to their fathers : the inspired au- 
 thor, and eloquent advocate of our Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. They toiled together in the field — they lived to reap 
 the most splendid harvest that man ever gathered upon earth 
 — they died together — let them be forever united in our mem- 
 ories. What though they differed in their views of constitu- 
 tional power — what though they were both competitors for 
 the favor of the American people — though they ran the noble 
 race of ambition, and one was perhaps swifter than the other 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON". 6l 
 
 — the contest was momentary — it is long since past. We 
 have in the instance of these illustrious men and in the spon- 
 taneous union of our sympathies on this occasion, an admira- 
 ble comment on the happy influence of our free institutions, 
 of that liberalizing toleration which allows full latitude to all 
 our opinions, and teaches us to feel a mutual respect which 
 triumphs over party colisions, and that generous friendship 
 which outlives its storms. Our countrymen were together in 
 patriotism and in death — those whom God hath so wonder- 
 fully united it would be impious to put asunder. 
 
 To transmit to posterity an account of the lives and char- 
 acters of these illustrious men will be the office of the biog- 
 rapher. We can do little more than sketch a brief outline of 
 some of their public services. The late venerable Adams, 
 was early distinguished for his ardent defence of the princi- 
 ples of civil liberty and fearless resistance of oppression in 
 Fanuiel Hall. — In the Congress of '76, he was among the most 
 eloquent and patriotic advocates of our Independence : and 
 in enforcing the necessity of our Declaration of Indepeiidence, 
 with prophetic vision, he foresaw the high destinies his coun- 
 try would reach. Subsequently, during the most eventful pe- 
 riod of the revolution, he was engaged in a diplomatic capa- 
 city abroad, and honorably known as the indefatigable and 
 faithful agent of his country in procuring the means for our 
 defence and securing the friendship of European nations. But 
 wherever this distinguished man appeared, whether in Fanu- 
 iel Hall, in the Congress of '76, or in Europe,at home or 
 abroad, he was ever the eloquent enthusiastic and incorrup- 
 tible patriot, with Roman firmness and more than Roman vir- 
 tue ; and so long as the recollections of revolutionary servir 
 ces shall live in our memories, the names of John and Samuel 
 Adams will not be forgotten. This venerable patriot lived to 
 an advanced age — honored and respected. His powers were 
 gradually declining for some time previous to his death. Oa 
 the fourth, his faculties appeared to sink to eternal rest — na- 
 ture was about to surrender her office to her God — the can- 
 
 9 
 
62 EULOGIES ON 
 
 non of our Jubilee waked the dying patriot to momentary life 
 — he inquired and was told the cause — in the accents of death 
 he articulated " It is a great and glorious day" — it was the last 
 impulse of patriotism — the last flash of intellect — the attend- 
 ing angel guided his spirit to its immortal associate, which still 
 rested mid-way in the air, poised upon the wing — the asso- 
 ciate spirits took their flight to the footstool of the Great God, 
 there to render together an account of their stewardship. 
 
 In turning to the immortal Jefferson — the patriot — pliilan- 
 thropist — philosopher and statesman, I feel how entirely inad- 
 equate are the powers of my poor pencil to sketch even a brief 
 outline of his character, his virtues, and his public services. 
 In his character were admirably blended, simplicity and dig- 
 nity of manners, philanthropy and integrity of heart — with an 
 intellect acute and discriminating, grand and comprehensive. 
 His philosophical mind was alike familiar with the natural, 
 political, and moral worlds. The naturalist was proud to claim 
 him as an associate, and the moralist enrolled his name among 
 the most original and profound thinkers : but in these regions, 
 his excursions were but the involuntary, irrepressible opera- 
 tions of an expansive and vigorous mind. To us and to the 
 w^orld he appears as the political philosopher and statesman 
 whose life was devoted to the rights, the interests and the 
 happiness of mankind. As one of that small but illustrious 
 family of men, '.^ho appear at times in the world to enlighten 
 the age in which they live, to ameliorate thecondition of their 
 fellow men, to give impulse to public opinion, and to direct, 
 in its onward course, the march of intellect, thisgreatman 
 appeared at a most interesting crisis. — A new world was rising 
 — the affairs of men, of nations, and of governments, were, 
 about to be revolutionized — and re-adjusted upon more just 
 principles and on a plan more accordant with the rights and 
 happiness of mankind. He was designed by nature for our 
 age and our country. — Profound in his knowledge of human 
 nature, and familiar with the history of man through all ages, 
 he had satisfied himself that the happiest and best plan of pro- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 63 
 
 tecting person and property and of securing order and tran- 
 quillity, was, through a government of the people administer- 
 ed by agents chosen periodically, and frequently from the bo- 
 som of society. Reversing the ancient fiction that the King 
 can do no vk^rong — it was a fundamental maxim of his politi- 
 cal philosophy, that the people could do no wrong. His con- 
 fidence was in them — his jealous eye was ever fixed on pow- 
 er, in whatever shape or form it might appear. His histori- 
 cal learning had satisfied him that there was no revolutionary 
 propensity among the mass of mankind, and that the convul- 
 sions of civil society were owing more to the governing than 
 the governed — that they were more likely to be excited by 
 oppression than to be caused by a restless spirit of resist- 
 ance. 
 
 To these sound political opinions we may trace the origin 
 of that splendid catalogue of public measures, which at once 
 immortalize their author and embellish the history of his 
 country. 
 
 The morning of his life opened with the production of that, 
 imperishable instrument, which vindicated the rights of man, 
 announced to the world the dissolution of the tie which bound 
 us in our colonial vassalage, and proclaimed to all mankind, 
 that we " are, and of right ought to be, free, sovereign and in- 
 dependent." Had his life closed at this period he had secured 
 for himself immortality — for wherever light and liberty shall 
 drive ignorance and superstition before them, the name of Jef- 
 ferson will be known as the benefactor of the human race. — 
 Yes, Fellow Citizens, we may with confidence anticipate that 
 the time will yet arrive when this great charter of the rights 
 of man shall be translated into every living tongue — when the 
 spirit of independence shall diffuse new life and energy through- 
 out the world. 
 
 To his foresight and wisdom and to his principles are we 
 indebted for that happy adjustment of power which we find in 
 our constitutions. There were at that time, enlightened, 
 great, and honest men, who sincerely believed that the only 
 
64 EULOGIES ON 
 
 method to secare the rights of the citizen and to preserve 
 order and tranqiiilHty, was to strengthen the arm of govern- 
 ment with every power which the people could be persuaded 
 to surrender. Confident of their error, he resisted all such 
 plans of government and secured that just distribution of pow- 
 er between the Federal Government, the States, and the peo- 
 ple, which is above all things calculated to insure durability 
 to our institutions. 
 
 To his humane and just principles are we indebted for the 
 measure prohibiting the importation of slaves — then an alarm- 
 ing and a growing evil — always a curse — happily for our coun- 
 try, not of our own creation, but a wretched inheritance from 
 those who had governed us before the revolution. 
 
 To his exertions was his native state indebted, and the rest 
 of the world through her example, for the abolition of entails 
 and of the principle of primogeniture. A reform designed to 
 prevent, as far as human laws could prevent, those accumula- 
 tions of wealth, and that growth of aristocracy, which had been 
 in other countries and might be in this, so destructive to civil 
 liberty. To these may be added the measure dissolving the 
 unnatural union between church and state, and securing to 
 every man the sacred privilege of worshipping his God ac- 
 cording to his faith. 
 
 The three measures to which I have referred, were limited 
 in their sphere of o; eration, but their importance is not there- 
 fore diminished — they lie al the very foundations of liberty in 
 every country. And were the enlightened statesmen of Eu- 
 rope to incorporate these three principles with their consti- 
 tutions and laws, we should no longer be referred to the pre- 
 mature convulsion of France and the stifled efforts of Pied- 
 mont, Naples, and Spain, as the sad evidences that Europe is 
 not prepared for our liberal form of government. Indeed, we 
 have already some indications of the silent but irresistible in- 
 fluence of one of the^e principles. The principle of primo- 
 geniture was abolished in France — such was the efiect, that 
 government became alarmed. At a late session of the cham- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 65 
 
 ber of deputies, the monarch recommended the restoration of 
 the principle and the ministers advocated it ; but the people 
 resisted it — and the people triumphed. Happy will it be for 
 France should they continue to triumph, but fatal to the pow- 
 er of the monarch. 
 
 Our country is largely indebted to the illustrious Jefferson, 
 for having guided its councils in peace, and for having admin- 
 istered its government upon constitutional principles ; next 
 and next only, to the service rendered to a country by es- 
 tablishing a free and constitutional government, is the office 
 of restoring it, after a lapse of years and an accumulation of 
 power, (a result inevitable under every form,) to its original 
 character and simplicity. He watched the growth of power 
 with a jealous eye, and arrested its tide at the first flood. He 
 brought legislation back within what he believed to be its con- 
 stitutional boundaries, and restored power to its ancient dis- 
 tribution, between the government, the states and the people. 
 He retired from the councils of the nation with his principles 
 unchanged — power could not corrupt the man — nor its seltish 
 sophistries seduce the philosopher and statesman — he retired 
 from public life with the same confidence in the people, the 
 same jealousy of power and the same reverence for the con- 
 stitution. 
 
 He retired from office, but not to repose — he sought the 
 shades of retirement — but not to resign himself like a Charles 
 to Monkish superstition, not yet like others, who on leaving 
 public life, seem at once to sink into oblivion, " the world for- 
 getting, by the world forgot." His ambition was not so 
 selfish as to require the impulse of continued elevation — his 
 life was devoted to the cau^e of mankind — and his labors were 
 uniform, whether guiding the destinies of a nation, or seeking 
 new lights amidst the speculations of philosophy. Freed from 
 the anxieties of public life, he returned with all the alacrity 
 of youthful ambition, to those paths of science from whence 
 the public voice had called him. His evening was employed 
 in explaining to his young countrymen the mysteries of sci- 
 
66 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ence — and in analyzing the principles of philosophy. Tlie 
 stranger visited him as one among the few monuments our 
 country could boast, and shared the simple but refined hospi- 
 tality of the Sage of Monticello. Near the close of his long 
 and useful life, his physical powers gradually declined, but his 
 vigorous mind retained all its faculties to the last. Sensible 
 of his approaching dissolution, a day or two previous to our 
 anniversary, he had communed with the members of his fam- 
 ily, and directed that he should be buried without pomp or 
 parade. The body had wasted away — but the energies of a 
 powerful mind, struggling with expiring nature, kept the vital 
 spark alive till the meridian sun shone on our 50th Anniver- 
 sary — then content to die — the illustrious Jefferson gave to 
 the world his last declaration. " 1 have done," said he, " for 
 my country, and for all mankind, all that I could, and I 
 now resign my soul, without fear, to my God, my daughter to 
 my country." He was buried according to his directions — 
 without pomp — without parade — no cannon announced the 
 funeral march to his tomb — no muffled drum's dead note — no 
 dirge. — He was buried in all the simplicity becoming true 
 greatness. He has followed a Washington and a Franklin — 
 who with him will live in the gratitude of mankind, till the 
 last of records shall have perished with the last of men. 
 
 There is perhaps, Fellow Citizens, no spectacle more in- 
 structing or grateful to mankind, none more sublime, than 
 that of a nation of freemen lamenting the loss of two such il- 
 lustrious men ; both of whom had directed the councils of 
 their country, and both of whom had retired to the bosom of 
 private society and to the condition of private hfe. It is a 
 nation of freemen mourns, and for no monarchs dead ; but 
 for those whose names will outlive in fame the glorious dia- 
 dem, and imperial name. We see not around us the solemn 
 pomp and pageantry of the Court, nor the sullen sorrow of the 
 benighted vassal — we hear not the wild cry of the Cossac, the 
 Calmuc and the Tartar, — it is libert} and intelligeisce, moral- 
 ity and devotion, weeping at the tomb of patriotism. 
 
A^AMS AND JEFFERSON. 67 
 
 But why should we mourn. Our countrymen have been 
 taken from among us on the day which of all others they 
 would have chosen for themselves — on the only day when 
 we should have been willing to part with them. Men never 
 reaped on earth a harvest like theirs. They had lived to 
 «ee the wilderness bloom with civilization — the hills and the 
 rallies rejoicing — to see their country rising in power, wealth 
 and population. They had seen the sons rivaling their gal- 
 lant sires, and raising for themselves a monument rich with 
 the inscriptions of naval and military glories. They had 
 seen them engaged in four wars — with France, Tripoli, Al- 
 giers and England — and concluding ail in triumph. The 
 venerable Adams, who, fifty years ago, had seen one war 
 commence with his neighbors' cottages blazing around him, 
 with the slaughter of a brave but half armed yeomanry at 
 Lexington, Concord and Breed's Hill, lived to see another 
 war closed in a glorious triumph — to see the children avenge 
 the father's wrongs, and the yeoman's blood avenged by 
 yeoman's arms, on the plains of Orleans. 
 
 The illustrious Jefferson saw the great Valley of the 
 West, pouring fourth her gallant legions in the public 
 cause — and that new world which he had added to ours, 
 become the theatre of our glory. They who had once seen 
 this land in an infant, colonial and vassal condition, saw their 
 country in less than half a century rising to the first rank 
 among nations — nay (there is no vain glory in the truth) 
 marching in the van of nations, the most powerful of all. — 
 The most powerful — for in this revolutionized age the power 
 of a nation is not to be measured by population, armies and 
 fleets ; but by its moral power ; and where is that nation 
 boasting a moral power equal to that of twelve millions of 
 freemen ? Tell me not of England's power — it is unsub- 
 stantial — it is artificial and declining. It never can revive 
 till the children shall share the father's inheritance, till man 
 shall be permitted to worship his God according to his faith 
 -^tili the three kingdoms shall be confederated on the basis 
 
68 EULOGIES ON 
 
 of equal rights and privileges — till Ireland, persecuted Ire- 
 land, shall enjoy civil and religious liberty. It never can 
 revive till England ceases to waste her millions in carrying 
 war and desolation to the remote and unoffending Indies, 
 while in the heart of her own empire the quivering lips of 
 poverty supplicate charity and pale visaged famine announ- 
 ces approaching dissolution. We say not these things in 
 bitterness — nor in derision — we are friends, and I trust we 
 shall long continue so. But we say them in the hope that 
 the enlightened ministers of that country, rejecting all an- 
 cient superstitions, will proceed fearlessly onward in their 
 march of reform, till the land from whence our forefathers 
 sprung shall be refreshed and invigorated, and become as 
 free and as happy as is the land of their adoption. 
 
 Our illustrious countrymen lived to see the principles 
 they had advocated in '76, spreading through the world — to 
 see the plant they had watered in the morning, ere their eve- 
 ning closed in darkness, lifting its top to the heavens, and 
 spreading its branches and overshadowing countries beyond 
 the Andes. They had seen the Proclamation of Indepen- 
 dence waking the nations of the South, and refreshing them 
 with light and liberty. They heeded not the cloud which 
 passeth o'er Colombia ; for they knew the rallying word of ev- 
 ery patriot Colombian would be Union and the Constitution. 
 They saw the banner of freemen floating on the walls of 
 Athens — the spirit of Independence warring with the crescent 
 and rousing the long slumbering Greek to arms. They lived 
 to sympathize with the sufferings of that devoted country ; 
 for their own had once been the theatre of revolutionary 
 calamities and they knew how to sympathize. Yes, Fellow 
 Citizens, we, of more modern times, may sketch imaginary 
 scenes of war and of oppression — but would we know them, 
 we must appeal to those who shared in the war of our Inde- 
 pendence — we must appeal to the veteran remnant of other 
 days, whom I see near me, for they have seen and felt what 
 it is impossible for us ever to realize. They have seen a 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 69 
 
 country ravaged by an unsparing enemy ; they have felt 
 the iron hand of oppression : ihey have feit th;it desoiatii.g 
 feehng which borders on despair— tiie patriots despair of 
 the pubhc cause. When our illustrious countrymen heard 
 of the sufferings of Greece, of the shrieks of womeu, the 
 slaughter of children, and the dying groans of age — when 
 they heard of Missolonghi's fall and Missolonghi's tears, and 
 when they s^aw all Europe lookingon this spectacle with fold- 
 ed arms, they might well have exclaimed with the eloquent 
 Burke, " We thought ten thousand swords would have leaped 
 from their scabbards to avenge their wrongs — but their age of 
 chivalry is gone, that of sophisters, economists and calcula- 
 tors has succeeded, and the glory of Europe is eriinguislied 
 forever." But these illustrious men despaired not of the 
 cause of Greece for they had seen the hour when in the fluc- 
 tuating fortunes of war we had lost all but our honor — still 
 Independence triumphed — they lived to hope that the wrongs 
 of Greece would yet be avenged, and that the day would 
 come when the banner of freemen would wave triumphantly 
 on the walls of Bizantium. Our countrymen had seen in 
 half a century the new world revolutionized, and lived to 
 hope that the old in another half century would follow its 
 example — they saw their country, and they left her in peace 
 with all the world — in the full tide of prosperity — in the 
 steady march to higher and yet higher destinies — they could 
 see no more — they died full of years, of honors and of glory — 
 they sleep in peace. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, the monuments of other days are falling 
 around us — but one solitary monument ot the immortal Con- 
 gress of '76 remains — long ma\ he continue aiiiong us to re- 
 ceive the annual offerings of a nation's gratitude and respect. 
 In a little time but few will be spared of that veteran and gal- 
 lant band who were true to the cause of Independence in the 
 darkest hour of our revolutionary storms — some yet remain 
 with us : but like the illustrious JetFerson they devoted their 
 lives and fortunes to the public cause, and like him they are 
 10 
 
70 EULOGIES ON, &C. 
 
 doomed in the twilight to feel the chills of poverty. There 
 are few, and I now see some of them in this assembly, who 
 fifty years ago braved summer and winter, the prison, the 
 scalping knife and the sword — who toiled in blood for our In- 
 dependence. The work of our ancestors is finished : ours is 
 not, Fellow Citizens. We have their inheritance — it is great 
 in power and glory — it is rich in wealth — let us make a pious 
 and just use of it — let us not sutTer the grey hairs of patriot- 
 ism to go " with sorrow to the grave." 
 
 And now, Fellow Citizens, let us recur once more to the 
 last will and testament of the immortal Jetferson. " I have 
 done for my country and for all mankind, all that I could, 
 and I now>resign my soul, without fear, to my God, my daugh- 
 ter to my country" — his soul to his God — his daughter to his 
 country. This is no affair of private charity — however pious 
 and patriotic the motive, it is repugnant to the dignity of a 
 nation of freemen — this is no state concern — the patriotic 
 Jefferson recognized no such distinction — " My daughter to 
 my country" — Fellow Citizens, she is yours — she is the 
 daughter of your adoption — she shall be cherished and pro- 
 tected by twelve millions of freemen. 
 
 Let us Americans, in closing our solemnities, again advert 
 to this astonishing coincidence of events. How beautiful 
 and sublime a feature will that day appear in the history of 
 our country — how wonderful to those who come after us — 
 how incomprehensible to others in some remote age, to whom 
 these events will appear like the splendid fables of antiquitj^ 
 I'hey have given a new, a deeper, and a more solemn inter- 
 est to our National Festival : and long after the last of our 
 revolutionary Fathers shall have been gathered in immortal 
 folds — in ages yet to come, shall we annually assemble round 
 our council fires, not only to celebrate the deeds of our an- 
 cestors — not only in the language of the immortal Jefferson 
 "to pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honors" to 
 maintain our Independence forever inviolate — but to tell of 
 the wonders of that day, on which our illustrious countrymen 
 were summoned together to appear before their God. 
 
PRONOUNCED IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, 
 
 Ju!y, 20lh 1826. 
 
 BY SAMUEL SMITH. 
 
 Friends and Fellow-Citizens ! — I have been selected by 
 the constituted authorities to perform a duty this day. It 
 had been my vvish, and I expressed it from the sincerity of 
 my heart, that some person more competent — some gentle- 
 man whose habits and education better fitted him for this 
 melancholy duty — some man of real eloquence, should be 
 requested to perform the duty upon this solemn occasion. — 
 I was overruled — the importunity of friends prevailed, and 
 the honor devolved on me — more from my having been a 
 cotemporary of those illustrious men, whose deaths we mourn 
 and whose acts we meet to commemorate, than from any oth- 
 er cause. 
 
 Fellow Countrymen ! Americans!' — Wherefore this great 
 assemblage? Why this roar of cannon and dismal tolling of 
 the bells ? Why these badges of mourning ? Are all these in- 
 tended to commemorate the death of some Hero, as the an- 
 cient Romans did, who by his great victories had slain thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands of his fellow men — had deluged 
 the earth with blood — had spread desolation all around — 
 had caused whole armies to pass under the yoke — and had 
 reduced millions to slavery ? No ! we meet to mourn the 
 death of two illustrious citizens — the Fathers of their country, 
 and benefactors of mankind — men whose virtuous acts and 
 noble deeds are deeply impressed upon the hwrt of every 
 true American. 
 
73 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Fellow Countrymen ! — Jefferson and Adams are no more ! 
 Holy I'atriarchs of the Revolution ! Conscriit Fathers oi the 
 Republic ! You are gone ! You i ave fought the good fight, 
 and have winged your flight from this held of your fame to 
 the regions of eternal bliss, to receive your reward in Heav- 
 en ! Twin sons of Liberty ' JViighty Spirits ! You have ac- 
 complished the task which was allotted to you — and if it be 
 permitted o departed spirits to look back upon this world — 
 seated 0!i the left hand of the father of his country, you en- 
 joy theo itpouringsof a nation's gratitude ! What a spectacle ! 
 A mii'jiiy nation — a whole People, moving in solemn pro- 
 cession to the funeral of their sons — fathering as one family 
 around th^■i^ graves, raising with one voice the loud anthem 
 to their praise — and joining with one heart in ofiering up a 
 fe' vent prayer to the Almighty ! The mighty spirit of party is 
 laid ! All the fierce passions of our nature are rebuked — and 
 every other feeling is hushed into the deep, still sei'timent of 
 gratitude. 
 
 But do we mourn as those without comfort ? As men de- 
 prived of all consolation ? No, we ought rather and we do 
 give praise and thanksgivings to that All-powerful Being who 
 superintends and directs the destinies of men and of nations, 
 for having spared them to us so long— for having endowed 
 thetn with talents, with virtue, with eloquence, and all the high 
 qualifications essential to the attainment of the great object — 
 the Freedom and Independence of this great and glorious 
 nation. For having inspired them with that love of country 
 whicii !)urnt bright even in the last moments of their lives j 
 and above a!i for that political firmness, which knew no 
 change a; d feared no danger. 
 
 Fdlow Count rynieii ! — It may be proper before I proceed 
 to the consideiaiion of the virtues and acts of these conspic- 
 uous men, to take a rapid view of the origin and progress of 
 our beloved country, arid the causes which led to its separa- 
 tion from ilie parent country. Parent, did 1 say ? Yes, but to 
 us, her conduct was th at of a cruel step-mother — trammelling 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 73 
 
 our commerce — laying odious burthens upon our trade — 
 restraining our intercourse witli the world — and fixing every 
 badge of slavery upon us. Yes, we were to be hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water, for her more favored sons. — 
 But to proceed — Let us look back and see how, from a 
 little handful of adventurous spirits, who overburtheiied 
 and persecuted at home, sought refuge and aa asylum in this 
 Western World — in America — destined to become the 
 future abode of liberty — " the land of the free and the home 
 of the brave,'' we have sprung into a large and powerful na- 
 tion. A little more than two centuries ago the first settle- 
 ment was made in this country ! 
 
 Tn the year 1607 the first permanent settlement was made 
 at Jamestown, in Virginia. The second was made by the 
 Pilgrims at Plymouth, in 1620. 
 
 The difficulties which the Virginians had to encounter, 
 v/ere many and great. An unhealthy situation, and surroun- 
 ded by numerous tribes of Indians, under a great Sachem, 
 whose actual powers extending from the shores of the Atlan- 
 tic to the banks of the Potomac, was bounded only by the 
 mountains — and whose influence reached even to the waters 
 of the Susquehanna. This mighty chief, who was friendly at 
 first, soon became jealous and hostile when he found that the 
 white man had come to settle permanently among them. — 
 Pestilence and war made sad havoc among them, and the re- 
 maining few, inexperienced and not the best calculated for set- 
 tling and cultivating a new country, made but slow progress. 
 Not so, their brothers, the Pilgrims — these were a people 
 of a different character. They had been the hardy cultivators 
 of the soil in their own country — they had been inured to ad- 
 versity — they had been persecuted and driven from their 
 homes by the hard hand of political tyranny — and what they 
 estimated (if possible) as still more grievous, by the spirit 
 of religious intolerance. They too, were more fortunate in 
 their situation, and more happy in their connexions. They 
 were received with kindness by the natives, and formed a 
 
74 EULOGIES ON 
 
 peace with Massasoit, the great chief of that country, which 
 lasted fifty years. New settlers of a similar character arrived 
 — driven from their country by the turbulence of the times, 
 and sat down at different points of the same territory. — These, 
 with the natural increase, enabled them to extend themselves 
 to the Connecticut, and along its waters. But these separate 
 detachments, governed as they were in the patriarchal form, 
 seemed incapable of defending themselves — they saw the ne- 
 cessityof union — they met by delegates in 1643, and formed 
 a body for mutual defence. This was not only wise but for- 
 tunate — for Massasoit their great friend died — a new chief 
 aroL-e. Philip, a man of great personal bravery and much sa- 
 gacity, became king of the nation. This wily savage secretly 
 formed a combination of all the tribes, and fell suddenly on 
 all their frontiers in 1675. The consequences you may con- 
 ceive. But did the settlers despair ? did they waver ? No ! 
 they flew to their arms — not only defended themselves nobly, 
 but prostrated the power of the savages, killed Philip their 
 king, and restored peace to the settlement — and this too with- 
 out the aid of a single man from the parent country — all was 
 done by their own stout hearts — their own strong arms. — 
 Peace and tranquillity being restored, their population and 
 strength rapidly increased, and prepared them for new and 
 greater trials. 
 
 Near the commencement of the last century, the French, 
 jealous of our increase and prosperity, under that gallant lea- 
 der, Count Frontenac, aided by the savage tribes, suddenly 
 attacked the Colonies and carried death and devastation along 
 all our borders. The frontiers w€re laid waste — the settlers 
 murdered or driven from their homes. But did our ances- 
 tors despond ? No ! my fellow countrymen, despondence is 
 no part of the American character. They flew to arms ; met 
 and defeated the enemy — carried the war into his own coun- 
 try, and took Nova Scotia, from whence they had been great- 
 ly annoyed. Did the parent country give them any assist- 
 ance either in men or money ? — No ! none. And I men- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 75 
 
 tion this that our youth may know that the assertion made by 
 Great Britain, that they had at great expense nurtured us in 
 our youth, and protected us from our enemies when unable to 
 defend ourselves, was not founded in fact. 
 
 The crown foreseeing a war with France, passed orders in 
 1754 for the Colonies to depute delegates to Albany , to form 
 some system under which the joint efforts of the whole might 
 be brought to operate, as well for mutual defence as for offen- 
 sive operations ; for heretofore they had acted (except the 
 New England Colonies) separately — each defending its own 
 frontiers against the inroads of the Indians and the encroach- 
 ments of the French. The delegates met and formed a system 
 which was rejected as well by the crown as by the assemblies 
 of the Colonies. The plan was — a general council of the 
 Colonies, with a governor-general, who was to have a veto 
 and be paid by the crown. The assemblies (already jealous) 
 rejected it as giving too much power to the crown — and the 
 crown refused it, lest it should show the Colonies their own 
 strength when united, which at a future period might become 
 inconvenient. The war of '56 (as it was called) terminated 
 gloriously in 1763. During its continuance the Colonies fur- 
 nished more than their proportion of both men and money — 
 the crown acknowledged it — a part of the money was return- 
 ed, and thanks were given to the Colonies for their gallant 
 exertions. The New England Colonies and New York alone 
 furnished fifteen thousand men, and expended more than 
 a million of pounds sterling. Canada, and all the French 
 possessions in America, being ceded to Great Britain, the 
 Colonies deemed themselves happy. No enemy on their 
 borders. No one to make them afraid — all dwelling in safety 
 under their own vines. Alas ! my fellow citizens, how 
 transient was their joy ! how short a time was allowed them 
 to exult for their success and for the glory they had attained. 
 The mother country instigated by a weak and misguided 
 ministry, in less than a year after the peace declared that 
 — Parliament had the. right to ta^i the Cohnies — and actually 
 
76 EULOGIES ON 
 
 did in 1764 impose duties on certain articles exported to the 
 Colonies. Those duties being payable in Great Britain, the 
 act was not actually opposed — but created no little discon- 
 tent among the colonists. The claim of the right of taxation 
 was the hinge upon which the revolution ultimately turned. 
 
 In accordance with that claim, and that policy, Parliament 
 passed the famous Stamp Act. That act created one hurst of 
 indignation from Maine to Georgia. This wanton invasion 
 of our rights was met at the threshold — was resisted w^ith 
 firmness and with elTect. The act was repealed — but with 
 the assertion of the right to tax us at pleasure — a claim which 
 was put in practice again, by another act passed in 1767, im- 
 posing duties to be collected in the Colonies, on Tea, and vari- 
 ous other articles. That act met with general opposition ; a firm 
 and vigorous resistance wasmade to it throughout the Colonies. 
 The indignant colonists spurned from them luxuries, aye, 
 even necessaries, which could not be obtained without degra- 
 dation. The articles on which the duties were levied were 
 not permitted to be landed. The Tea being the principal ar- 
 ticle, was sent back from some ports ; and that which arrived 
 at Boston, that cradle of the revolution, was cast into the sea, 
 was thrown overboard. This spirited resistance caused par- 
 liament to pass other acts still more obnoxious ; among oth- 
 ers the odious and infamous Boston Port Bill. These acts 
 however did not pass without opposition ; the virtuous Lord 
 Chatham frowned upon them ; that enlightened statesman, in 
 the love of his country, forgot not the rights of the Colonies. 
 He told them in prophetic language what would be the conse- 
 quences of their wild and mad administration ; he told them 
 that taxation without representation could not and would not 
 be submitted to by Englishmen or the sons of Englishmen. 
 That the Colonies ought, as free men and Englishmen, to re- 
 sist by arms, if a milder course was not adopted. Every 
 thing tended to an open rupture, and the Colonies, true to 
 themselves, prepared for the consequences. They chose 
 delegates to meet in Congress ^ Philadelphia ; and they did 
 meet on the 5th of September, 1774. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 77 
 
 In that body Mr. Adams appeared ; his character was al-" 
 ready well known, and was well suited to the times. To tal- 
 ents of the highest order, eloquence the most commanding, 
 and an honest devotion to the cause of his country, he added 
 that firmness of character, for which he was distinguished 
 through life. Prior to that period, he had upon all occasions 
 stood forth openly and boldly in defence of the rights of his 
 country, and in opposition to the injustice and encroach- 
 ments of Great Britain. He boldly opposed them by his ad- 
 vice, his actions and his eloquence ; and with other worthies, 
 succeeded in spreading a proper alarm for their liberties 
 among the people. Mr. Adams was placed upon the first, and 
 most important Committees. During the first year, address- 
 es were prepared to the king, to the people of England, of 
 Ireland, Canada and Jamaica. The name of Mr. Adams is 
 found upon almost all those important Committees. His 
 firmness and eloquence in debate, soon gave him a standing 
 among the highest in that august body. 
 
 The crown, deceived by the intrigues of designing men, lent 
 a deaf ear to every entreaty ; the addresses of Congress were 
 treated with contempt, and the most irritating and insulting 
 answers returned ; submission, and submission alone, would 
 be accepted, and troops weie sent to Boton to enforce it. 
 
 In April, 1775, all hope of an honorable accommodation 
 ceased with the battle of Lexington, and the Colonies flew to 
 their arms. The people sustained the Congress ; and all was 
 considered as submitted to the fate of war, in all the prepara- 
 tions for which, Adams was always found active, firm, and 
 eminently useful. In June, 1773, Jefferson took his seat in 
 Congress. He appeared in that august body with the char- 
 acter of an able writer, a profound politician — whose whole 
 soul was devoted to the cause of his country. These two 
 matchless men formed a sincere friendship for each other, 
 which terminated only with their lives. They entered hear- 
 tily into each others views, and side by side they moved stead- 
 
 ilv in the cause of their country. It is believed that Mr. Ad- 
 
 11 
 
78 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ams had early thought of Independence. Few, very few had 
 — indeed Congress had declared that no such intention had 
 been contemplated Times and circumstances had changed, 
 and both those great men had come to the conclusion that it 
 had become now indispensible to strike for Independence. 
 On the 15th May, 1776, a committee of which Adams was 
 chairman, with Richard Henry Lee and Mr. Rutledge report- 
 ed — " That it is irreconcilable to reason and good conscience, 
 any longer to take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain, and 
 they recommend to the States to form governments compe- 
 tent to manage their atfairs, independent of the crown." This 
 resolution was virtually a Declaration of Independence — and 
 so the Colonies understood it — and they instructed their mem- 
 bers to consent to such a Declaration. Congress having con- 
 sidered the subject, appointed Jefferson as Chairman, with 
 Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston, a committee to 
 prepare the draft of a Declaration. It is stated by Adams, 
 that he and Jefferson were appointed a sub-committee — that 
 Jefferson presented a draft, which was adopted by the com- 
 mittee, and reported to Congress, where it was approved, af- 
 ter a few alterations, which all who will compare the original 
 draft with the present Declaration, will agree, impaired the 
 beauty and the force of that celebrated instrument. It pass- 
 ed Congress on the 4th July, 1776, and was signed imme- 
 diately by all present, and being spread upon the table was 
 signed by such as had been absent, as they took their seats in 
 the House. The whole number of signers was fifty-six — all 
 of them high in the estimation of their countrymen — most of 
 them men of splendid talents — devoted to their country, 
 Seif-interest held no place in their bosoms. Love of country 
 was their ruling passion ; their governing principle. Never 
 was there a time which called for greater fortitude-^greater 
 moral courage ; and never did a body possess them in a high- 
 er degree, than the Congress of '76 ; almost every man is pos- 
 sessed of animal courage. 1 hose of us, who armed in our 
 country's cause, had no danger but that of battle to encounter. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 79 
 
 Most of US would have been of too little consequence for pub- 
 lic execution, in case we had failed in our struggle for liberty. 
 But those great men who signed their names to the Declara- 
 tion, did it under a knowledge that British venj^eance would 
 single them out, and fall most heavily upon them. Iheir 
 lives would have been forfeited ; their estates confiscated, and 
 their families thrown pennyless on the world. They boldly 
 met all the consequences ; and at what a time ! one capable 
 of appalling the stoutest heart ! General Howe had arrived 
 with the advanced guard of a large army, and on that very 
 day, the 4th of July, 1776 — when Congress, having before 
 drawn the sword, had thrown away the scabboard — he land- 
 ed at Staten Island. Curious coincidence ! all were not pre- 
 pared for so bold, so decided — I had almost said, so despe- 
 rate a step as the Declaration of our Independence. Some 
 of the best and the bravest in that more than Roman Senate, 
 doubted its propriety at that time. But Adams in the ardor 
 of his patriotism overleaped all difficulties — ^confirmed the wa- 
 vering by his wisdom and firmness — convinced the doubtful 
 by the force of his arguments, and enlisted all by his elo- 
 quence. He was indeed, as the great Jefferson said of him, 
 when asked what was his character and conduct in that body 
 — " The pillar of support of Independence on the floor of 
 Congress — its ablest advocate against the multifarious assaults 
 it had to encounter. No man merited more than Mr. Adams." 
 O le member particularly, of great moral worth, and possess- 
 ing great influence, who had been an early and a warm assert- 
 er of his country's rights, in the honesty of his heart, thought 
 we ought not then to declare ourselves independent. He de- 
 picted in glowing colors the miserable condition we were in 
 to meet the invading foe. A raw and undisciplined force ; 
 badly armed, badly clothed, and wanting almost all the mate- 
 rials for war, to meet a large army, highly disciplined, well 
 commanded, and possessing all the necessaries of war. Mr. 
 Adams met these arguments with eloquence, with firmness^ 
 and with success. The Declaration of Independence went 
 
80 EULOGIES ON 
 
 forth to the world. It was every where received by the peo- 
 ple with joyful acclamation ; it pointed them to Liberty and 
 Independence. They saw that it had now become a question 
 whether they should remain in colonial subservience, or rise 
 into the dignity ot a free and independent people, and they 
 hesitated not to risk their all upon the issue. The idea of In- 
 dependence, before this, had not been thought of among the 
 people ; but they knew in whom they had reposed their con- 
 fidence — they bowed to the wisdom of Congress and sustained 
 them. Some there were however among us, who could not 
 reconcile themselves to a separation from the mother coun- 
 try. 
 
 It is not my purpose to take a view of the war — its conduct 
 and its various fortune. It terminated gloriously. 
 
 Mr. Adams it was said, had been sent on a special mission 
 to France before the close of the war ; he afterwards return*- 
 ed and assisted in the formation of a Constitution for his na- 
 tive State. 
 
 Our freedom achieved, our intercourse with the govern- 
 ments of Europe as an independent people commenced, and 
 again Adams was sent to Europe, joined in a commission with 
 the great Franklin and others, to make a treaty of peace. 
 Great ditficulties occurred. Spain demanded a boundary, 
 which would have been inconvenient to us, and France, our 
 best friend, was her ally. It required great firmness and not 
 a little delicacy, to meet that demand ; but it was successfully 
 met ; and to the firmness of Mr. Adams has been chiefly as- 
 cribed the procuring the boundary demanded by the United 
 States. Another great difliculty arose. 'J'he fisheries des- 
 tined to be the future nursery of our navy, were in dispute ; 
 and to Mr. Adams, I believe great merit was due for obtain- 
 ing the right established by the treaty. [Here the orator took 
 a comprehensive view of the incalculable advantages derived 
 to the United States by affirming the right of the Fisheries.] 
 Mr. Adams was charged with a special duty to Holland, the 
 obtaining money, in which he was successful, procuring large 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 81 
 
 loans which were all-important to the nation. Thence he 
 was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to London ; an honor 
 coiiferred on him and due to him for his eminent services. 
 There, though a stern republican, he was graciously received 
 by the king, who told him frankly, that " he was the last man 
 in his kingdom to acknowledge our Independence, and that 
 he would be the last to do any thing to disturb it." 
 
 Mr. Adams returned to the United Sates, and was elected 
 Vice-President, in which capacity he served for eight years. 
 It was a situation which afforded no opportunity for a dis- 
 play of his talents. His conduct as presiding officer over the 
 Senate, was dignified and impartial, and secured the respect 
 of that body and of the country. After the term of General 
 Washington had expired, Mr. Adams was elected President 
 of the United States. His conduct in that high station is 
 known to you all, and it is unnecessary for me to go into its de- 
 tails. We all know, that the strongest mind will sometimes 
 yield to the influence and opinions of others. He retired, 
 after four years, to private life, in which he continued to his 
 death ; respected by all who knew him, and beloved by his 
 neighbors. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was born in 1743. Having received the 
 most liberal education, he studied law, and soon became con- 
 spicuous at the bar. Elected to the Assembly of Virginia be- 
 fore he was twenty-five years of age, he took an active and 
 distinguished part in that enlightened body, especially against 
 the encroachments of the mother country on our rights and 
 liberty. The elegance of his composition gave him celebrity 
 as a writer. His splendid talents, his perfect knowledge of 
 the rights of man and of his country, his able defence against 
 the aggression of Great Britain, drew the attention of his fellow 
 citizens to him, and he was elected at the early age of thirty- 
 two to Congress. His fame had preceded him, and his tal- 
 ents, eloquence, and great ability, soon introduced him into 
 the active business of that distinguished body. 
 
 Being placed upon all important committees, many oppor- 
 
82 EULOGIES ON 
 
 tunities occurred for the display of his fine talents. He it 
 was who drafted the protest of Congress against Lord North's 
 motion. This, and indeed every act which he did, seem 
 to increase his reputation. He had been but a short time in 
 Congress, before it became obvious to him that we should 
 have to cut ourselves loose from the mother country — to be- 
 come free and independent. The spirit which suggested In- 
 dependence could not be quiet ; those great men who first 
 dared to think of it, could not conceal the noble thought, the 
 mighty conception. It passed like electricity from bosom to 
 bosom, until all became animated with the same hope, the 
 same spirit, the same ardent longing after Liberty — and they 
 resolved to be free. His distinction as a writer, his fine ac- 
 quirements, his zealous patriotism, the active part which he 
 had taken in arousing the country to the present feeling, all 
 marked Mr. Jefferson for the author of the great Charter of 
 our Liberties, the Declaration of our Independence. Immortal 
 man ! thou hast indissolubly united thine and thy country's 
 honor! Thy fame is so closely interwoven with her's, that 
 she cherishes it as her own ! Eulogy has been exhausted 
 upon this celebrated instrument. Fifty years have been 
 added to its interest. Millions repeat it each revolving anni- 
 versary. It will be read and admired throughout all time. 
 The name of its immortal author —of our beloved Jefferson, 
 shall go down with it to posterity, and become familiar to fu- 
 ture generations as the great benefactor of mankind. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, ever laboring in the cause of his country, 
 from 1777 to 1779, was engaged with Wythe and Pendleton, 
 two distinguished Virginians, in revising the laws of his native 
 state. In 1779, he was elected Governor of Virginia, suc- 
 ceeding the celebrated Patrick Henry, who was the first Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia after our Independence. In 1781, while 
 Governor of the'State, he wrote his Notes on Virginia — a 
 book which gave him great celebrity as a writer, a philosopher, 
 and enlightened statesman. In 1782, while in Congress, his 
 native state being engaged in formhig a constitution, he wrote 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 83 
 
 one and sent it to a friend in Virginia — it arrived too late — 
 another one had just been adopted ; but the preamble was 
 considered so beautiful, that they attached it to their Bill of 
 Rights. It increased his reputation as a writer, and was much 
 admired for its sound republican principles. 
 
 In 1784, he was sent to France with Franklin and Adams, 
 on a plenipotentiary commission for the purpose of forming 
 treaties with the several powers of Europe. 
 
 He there formed an intimate acquaintance with the literati 
 of Europe, from whom he met with distinguished attention. 
 They were astonished to see a man from the wilds of America, 
 perfectly acquainted with both ancient and modern litera- 
 ture, capable to meet them on any scientific subject, and to 
 give them lessons on the true principles of well regulated lib- 
 erty. 
 
 Jefferson obtained leave to return home in 1789. On his 
 arrival, or shortly after, he was selected by T\ ashington as 
 his Secretary of State. In this station he had great difficulties 
 to contend with. Subjects of very great delicacy occurred. 
 Genet, whom France had sent as her Minister here, appeared 
 to think and act as if he were a Prefect — as if he were to di-, 
 rect the affairs of ournation, and dictate our course of conduct. 
 Jefferson's predilections were strong in favor of France. He 
 remembered the eminent and all-important services rendered 
 to us by that great nation, in our utmost hour of need. And 
 he was grateful, as all were. But true to his own country, 
 ever regardful of her character and dignity, he repelled the in- 
 terference of Genet, rebuked his insolence, and placed the 
 weakness, injustice, and impolicy of his conduct in so glaring 
 a light, that his government recalled him. Difficulties oc- 
 curred with Great Britain, and Mr. Jetlerson met them with 
 firmness, and discussed them with a temper and ability which 
 showed to the Britishgovernment the inferiority of iheir Min- 
 ister. Indeed Hammond was a mere infant in the hands of 
 Mr. Jefferson. He was recalled, and Listen, considered and 
 justly considered the ablest diplomatist in Great Britain, was 
 
84 EULOGIES ON 
 
 sent over. But even he was not equal to the task. The dis- 
 cussions between Mr. Jefferson and the agents of these two 
 powers do him immortal honor. 
 
 His Reports, whilst Secretary of State, on moneys, on 
 weights and measures, on the fisheries, and on the restriction 
 of commerce, are ample attestations of the enlarged views of 
 the philosopher, statesman, and financier. 
 
 In 1797 he was elected Vice President, in which high sta- 
 tion he presided w^ith great dignity and impartiality. He 
 wrote a manual for the Senate, which is considered its rule 
 of conduct. 
 
 In 1 800 he was elected to the high and responsible office 
 of President of the United Sates. His general conduct while 
 in that office you all know ; his republican simplicity — his 
 dovotion to his public duties. There are some particular 
 acts of his, however, to which I will draw your attention — 
 for having been an actor myself during the whole of his ad- 
 ministration, in habits of familiar and confidential inter- 
 course with him, I believe I am acquainted with the motives 
 which governed him on those subjects. To review all the 
 important acts of an administration which will long be held 
 in high estimation, would be endless. I shall confine myself 
 to a few of them ; the most prominent, which related to 
 the internal policy of the nation. 
 
 I well recollect that many good men apprehended that 
 Jefferson would introduce a wild system of government, 
 which would lead to anarchy and confusion ; and many 
 wise men were alarmed, and actually believed he would de- 
 stroy the credit of the nation, by either rej:carmg the funding 
 system, or lessening the value of the public debt. How little 
 did they know that great man ! Amongst the first acts of his 
 administration, was a bill passed appropriating eight millions 
 of dollars per annum, as a permanent fund, to be applied 
 to the payment of the interest and principal of the public 
 debt, until the whole should be paid. This fund had the 
 preference of all other appropriations. This act removed 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 08 
 
 all idle fears. The public credit was strengthened and af- 
 firinai ; a;id all Eirope was tiu^ht to know that whatever 
 party might prevail, the credit of tiie nation would be sustain- 
 ed — her faith and her honor held sacred and inviolate. Our 
 stock rose in consequence of the increased confidence in 
 the government, and the debt of the revolution (the three per 
 cents excepted) is extinguished. 
 
 I recollect, too, that great apprehensions had been enter- 
 tained by a considerable portion of the people, that Mr. Jef- 
 ferson would prove unfriendly to the navy ; and yet his Notes 
 on Virginia breathed a contrary spirit ; viewing the navy as 
 a necessary protection of commerce and defence of the coun- 
 try. It was true, that many of his friends were hostile to it. 
 There were others of us, however, who were its uniform ad- 
 vocates ; and his very first act, after having executed the law 
 passed under his predecessor, for the sale of certain vessels 
 and reducing the number of our naval officers, was to fit .out a 
 squadron for the Mediterranean. Tripoli had made some in- 
 solent demands, accompanied by threats in case they should 
 be refused. Jefferson's doctrine was, ^'not a cent for tribute,''^ 
 The squadron was despatched and appeared before Tripoli ; 
 the Dey was obstinate — war ensued, and he was severely 
 chastised for his insolence. He sued for peace, and peace 
 was granted him. The bravery displayed by the navy during 
 that war rai-ed the American character in Europe, giving 
 to our ofiicers confidence in themselves. Affording them 
 much instruction and an opportunity of acquiring a practical 
 knowledge of their profession, it prepared them for a future 
 contest in which they crowned themselves and their country 
 with glory — fought their way to popularity at home — to the 
 admiration of the world, and to the affections of their country- 
 men. I know, (for I did the duty of Secretary of the Navy 
 for a short time, and was perfectly acquainted with his opin- 
 ion) — that no man was a greater friend to the navy than Jef- 
 ferson. His acts brought it into notice — its own gaiiantrj 
 13 
 
86 EULOGIES ON 
 
 and bravery have done the rest — it now occupies a proud 
 station in the eyes of the world. 
 
 The next of his acts which I shall mention, I have always 
 thought the most wise and important ever executed by him or 
 any other of our great men. It showed his great political fore- 
 sight — I alhide to the purchase of Louisiana. He seized the 
 lucky moment for its acquisition, which, had it been neglect- 
 ed, would never again have occurred. It was deemed by 
 him, the strong link in the chain which was to bind the west 
 and east together. An outlet to the ocean for our western 
 brethren was the strong and durable link of interest. Spain 
 it is true, had accorded New Orleans to us as a place of de- 
 posit. But that did not, could not satisfy our brothers of 
 the West. The ties of natural affection could not hold us 
 together — these bind neither nations nor individuals — all, all 
 give way to the great absorbing principle of interest. Wash- 
 ington, the great Father of his country, thought so. He has 
 told us, and his was the voice of wisdom, that " every door 
 to the western country should be left wide open, and the 
 commercial intercourse with it rendered as free and as 
 easy as possible — that this is the best and only cement to 
 unite those people to us — and that our interest is in so much 
 unison with this measure, and no obstacle ought to inter- 
 vene." Jefferson had long entertained similar views — and 
 in his instructions to Mr. Livingston, he charged him to use 
 his best endeavors to procure a cession of Louisiana, (I think) 
 from Spain, through the influence of France. Early in the 
 year (1 think) 1803, I introduced a resolution in the House 
 for the appropriation of two millions of dollars to defray any 
 extraordinary expense attending the intercourse between 
 the United States and foreign nations. A committee was 
 raised, and the resolution adopted. The well known object 
 of this appropriation was the purchase of the Island of New 
 Orleans and West Florida. Mr. Monroe was sent to France 
 to act with Mr. Livingston, but before he reached his desti- 
 nation, he received a letter from Livingston informing him. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 87 
 
 that he doubted whether any thing short of the ultima ratio 
 would effect their object. It had become known that Spain 
 had secretly ceded all Louisiana and West Florida to France. 
 This was appalling indeed ! France — all-powerful France, 
 in possession of the only outlet from the West to the ocean, 
 and of a boundless territory in our vicinity ! What had been 
 our situation ? It would have been no easy measure to have 
 dispossessed her, and the West would have been a mine of in- 
 exhaustible wealth to her. But fortunately Bonaparte wanted 
 money — a tempting offer was made him, and he accepted it. 
 And thus the United States obtained a possession great in 
 a pencuniary point of view, but incalculably great in a po- 
 litical view. Had Mr. Jefferson done no other act, this 
 great stroke of policy would have handed down his name to 
 posterity as a great benefactor of his country. Another im- 
 portant act, promoted by Mr. Jefferson, which tended much 
 to bind the West and the East together, was the Cumberland 
 road — a work which does honor to the nation. Affording an 
 easy conimunication from the Western Waters to the Atlan- 
 tic States, it forms a strong band of political union. 
 
 The economy introduced by Jefferson in the public expen- 
 ditures ; the introduction of specific appropriations, and the 
 excellent arrangements in our financial system, made what was 
 before ditficult and confused, clear, simple, and easy to be com- 
 prehended. 
 
 There were certain acts adopted in Virginia, of which Mr, 
 Jefferson was the author, in which he took perhaps more 
 pride than in any thing else he ever did. These were, " The 
 prohibition of the Slave Trade ; the abolition of entails, and 
 the right of primogeniture ; the subversion of a dominant re- 
 ligion, commenced by him, and completed by Mr. Madi- 
 son," 
 
 It required the bold and original genius of Jefferson, to 
 break down a hierarchy supported upon the deep-rooted and 
 strongest prejudices of man. It required the republican spirit 
 of a Jefferson to break the unnatural fetters of primogeniture;, 
 
88 EULOGIES ON 
 
 and nip aristocracy in the bud. One other act was wanting 
 to fill up the measure of this great man's usefulness. Employ- 
 ing the evening of his days in the same great cause to which 
 the mjrning of his youth and the noonday of his life had been 
 devoted — the cause of his country and mankind ; he has erect- 
 ed an imperishable monument to his own glory, and conferred 
 a lasting benefit on his country, in the University of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Thus, in the service of his country, he expended sixty-one 
 years — more years than are allotted to the usual life of 
 man! 
 
 What a train of curious coincidences is remarkable in the 
 lives, the acts, and the deaths, of these two great men — Jef- 
 ferson and Adams. Both prominent in the act of hidepen- 
 dence ; both Ministers sent to France together — both return- 
 ing about the same time — both selected about the same time 
 to the highest otfices— both Vice-Presidents — both Presidents 
 of the United States — and most wonderful of all ! both clos- 
 ing their mortal careers on the same day — the 4th of July — 
 the Fiftieth Anniversary of the day on which both had signed 
 the [ eclaration of Independence. 
 
 The last words of the venerable Adams were, " Indepen,' 
 deuce fqrever.^^ The last words of our beloved Jeiferson, 
 (and let not his country forget them,) were, " / rengn my Soul 
 to my God, and My daughter to my country /" and 1 humbly 
 hope that his country will watch over and guard her, aid and 
 cherish her : and 1 feel a proud confidence that they will thus 
 evince their gratitude to the Patriot. 
 
 Had such a coincidence occurred in the days of ancient 
 Greece, to two of their great men, they would have placed 
 them among the lesser deities. Ifin the days of our ances- 
 tors — they would have believed and exclaimed, that the hand 
 of God was visible in it. And may we not believe that an 
 All-seeing Providence, as a mark of approbation of their well 
 spent lives, has been mercifully pleased to grant their last 
 prayer — " That they might be spared until the Fourth of 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 89 
 
 July — the anniversary of our Independence, and the great Ju- 
 bilee of Freedom." 
 
 The only remaining one of that galaxy of worthies who 
 signed the Declaration of Independence, the venerable 
 Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, joins us this day in our last 
 sad duties to the illustrious dead. The melancholy ceremo- 
 nies of this day must bring fresh to his memory the stormy pe- 
 riod, when, together with his illustrious compatriots, he risk- 
 ed his all in the cause of Freedom. The name of Charles 
 Carroll of Carrollton, will ever be held dear by the citizens of 
 Maryland — by the people of the United States — -and they will 
 fondly cherish him as the last of the immortal Congress of 
 '76. 
 
 Few of you know the influence his name had in his native 
 state. But I can tell you that a gentleman of his cultivated 
 mind and princely estate, throwing his all into the scale of his 
 country, influenced many a wavering mind. He was appoint- 
 ed by Congress, with Franklin and Chase, to proceed on a 
 special mission to Canada, and at the special request of Con- 
 gress, he prevailed on the late venerable Arch Bishop Carroll 
 to accompany them. They proceeded, but found our army 
 on their retreat from Canada. And on the 4th of July, 1776, 
 he was elected to Congress. He took his seat . on the 18th, 
 and immediately signed the Declaration of Independence. 
 Heaven has spared him yet a little longer to us, and he lives 
 among us beloved, respected and venerated by all. 
 
 Only the term of three such lives as my own, and these 
 states were a wilderness, inhabited b^ savage beasts and still 
 more savage men. Now ! inhabited by ten millions of Free- 
 men, from Maine to the Sabine, and from the St. Lawrence 
 to the Missouri — studded with flourishing cities, towns and 
 villages — covering the seas with their commerce, and shew- 
 ing to the world that man is capable of self-government. 
 
 A few more years, and all those of the Revolution willhave 
 descended to the silent grave. On my left you see my ven- 
 erable brother in arms^ the Hero of the Cowpens, and a few 
 
90 EULOGIES 0N> &C. 
 
 of those who fifty years ago fronted every danger, breasted 
 the bayonet, and faced the cannon's mouth — their heads now 
 whitened with age ! In the course of nature, it will ere long 
 be my fa'e to close this mortal career. I am far advanced 
 in life — and this may be the last time I shall ever address you. 
 Let me, then, my countrymen, implore you to imitate the 
 bright example held out to your view in the long and well- 
 spent lives of Jefferson and Adams. Like them, keep at all 
 times the brilliant star of Liberty steadily in view. Like 
 them, love your country, and be ever ready to make any sac- 
 rifice for her welfare. Cherish the Constitution. It is the 
 ark which will bear you through every adversity. Be mod- 
 erate in your partialities for men. But let there be no limits 
 to your zeal for those hallowed principles bequeathed to you 
 by those illustrious men who marshalled you to Freedom. 
 
 May God of his infinite mercy protect you, and your de- 
 scendants, in the enjoyment of that liberty which has been 
 handed down to you by your ancesters. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT BUFFALO, NEW-YORK, 
 
 July, 22d, 1826. 
 
 BY SHELDON SMITH. 
 
 •-,"> > . 
 
 When virtue falls, humanity mourns. — In all ages of 
 the world, man has been, both the medium, and the object, of 
 divine goodness. 
 
 When the Eternal Mind has been about to bestow on the hu- 
 man race great and signal blessings, he has brought upon the 
 stage of action individuals, fitted to be, at once the instru- 
 ments of his dispensations, and the bright example of their 
 fellow beings. Blessed is the age in which such men live : 
 and happy the nation that receives the benefit of their la- 
 bors. It has been the peculiar privilege of the present gene- 
 ration, to witness a constellation of intellectual luminaries, 
 such perhaps, as the world never before beheld : Whose unit- 
 ed wisdom has produced a change in the temporal condition 
 ofman, the blessings of which, we confidently trust, will be 
 as lasting and as extensive, as the existence of the human 
 race. 
 
 The two great leaders of this brilliant cluster have just 
 closed their mighty labors, and gone to rest. They have fal- 
 len, full of years and full of glory. Their pure spirits have 
 been permitted to take their exit on the brightest dav the sun 
 has ever lighted ; and be wafted back to the great foun- 
 tain of life, on the grateful aspirations of millions of their fel- 
 low beings. 
 
 Never, never has an event occurred, ^which called more 
 loudly for the emotion of the heart to break forth, in pub- 
 
92 EULOGIES ON 
 
 lie demonstrations of mingled grief and gratitude. It is due to 
 the memories of the illustrious dead. It is due to the cause 
 of virtue and of humanity. 
 
 Deathless be the names of Jefferson and Adams. Looking 
 retrospectively through the lapse of half a century, we be- 
 hold those stern patriots ardently engaged in the great work 
 of political reformation. Until then, the human mind, 
 shackled and awed by the insignia of power, had remained 
 unconscious of its own noble faculties. Until then, man 
 had failed to enjoy that exalted character designed in his cre- 
 ation. Until then, he had yielded to the dictates of usurpa- 
 tion and the arrogant pretensions of self-created kings. Po- 
 litical and civil liberty, like a fancied elysium, had long been 
 sighed for, but no nation had been able to possess the happy 
 boon. Here and there the rays of mental light had burst upon 
 the earth ; but like the flashes of the midnight storm, they 
 had passed away, and all again was darkness. 
 
 The history of man was one continued tragedy ; one per- 
 petual series of calamities and woe, at which philanthropy 
 wept and humanity recoiled. It exhibited ambition, haugh- 
 ty and cruel, mounting the car of victory and wading to power 
 through fields of slaughter and death. It displayed the fair- 
 est portions of the globe, defaced and blighted through the 
 ceaseless broils of different branches of royalty, contending 
 for empire. Predatory warfare, like the raging tempest, 
 swept along the earth, spreading in its train, ruin and desola- 
 tion. In its rear stalked superstition, blind and infuriate, hold- 
 ing high the blazing torch, and igniting the faggots of perse- 
 cution, on which expired liberty of conscience, anunlamented 
 martyr. 
 
 Fifty centuries had rolled away, when it pleased the Al- 
 mighty to open to view a new world : to people it with a 
 new nation, and bring about a new and better order of things. 
 The time for the accomplishment of these great designs had 
 arrived, when that immortal band of chosen patriots assem- 
 bled in Congress, at Philadelphia, in 177G. Their delibera- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 93 
 
 lions were in the midst of peril and alarm. War in its most 
 direful shape, was raging on every side. An invincible Brit- 
 ish fleet frowned upon, and darkened the eastern coast ; 
 whilst the western wilderness poured forth myriads of hos- 
 tile savages, frantic with rage and thirsting for blood and 
 plunder. A Washington was indeed in the field, but desti- 
 tute of the means of resistance. The few faithful patriots 
 that lingered about his standard, reduced to extremities, were 
 compelled to fly before the conquering enemy. The country 
 seemed sinking beneath its load of calamities. Still the 
 Congress remained firm and undismayed. Day after day, 
 they sat in solemn consultation. Absorbed in the momen- 
 tous subject before them, they heeded not the din of war, nor 
 the tokens of ruin that rose around them. Ah, when will the 
 world again behold another such an assembly. If indeed the 
 angels of heaven are permitted to take an interest in terres- 
 trial affairs, surely they must have stooped from the bright 
 abodes of felicity, to watch the proceedings of that august and 
 memorable body. 
 
 On the result of their deliberations hung the fate of their 
 distracted country, and the political salvation of the world. — 
 Nor was there ever a body of men more worthy of such a trust- 
 A JefTerson, an Adams, a Franklin, a Livingston, a Hancock, 
 and a Lee, were numbered among them. They spoke, 
 and the fetters of slavery became 'like burnt flax.' Their 
 voice was the voice of freedom, proclaiming to the world the 
 emancipation of man. 
 
 Appealing to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, for the 
 rectitude of their intentions, and the justice of their cause, 
 they devoutly implored His aid, in their arduous and peril- 
 ous struggle. 
 
 Victory at length crowned their efTorts, and peace was 
 restored, but the great work which they were to perform was 
 hut half accomplished. They had indeed declared their 
 country free and independent, and had inspired their coun- 
 trymen to defend that declaration against the assaults of a for- 
 
 13 
 
94 EULOGIES Off 
 
 midable foe. But to form a government which should secure 
 and perpetuate that independence was an untried and doubt- 
 ful experiment. 
 
 The records of the world furnished them no precedents. — 
 The history of governments, ancient and modern, was a histo- 
 ry of wrongs, oppression and failure. 
 
 Again they resorted to the fountain of wisdom. The learn- 
 ing and experience of ages were collected and concentrated ; 
 a liberal and enlightened philosophy was called to their aid j 
 the rights of man were canvassed, ascertained and defined j 
 and that heaven-born principle of the Christian religion, 
 which declares all men equal in the sight of the Creator, was 
 made the corner stone of the Temple of Liberty. 
 
 They formed a system of government, and a code of laws, 
 such as the wisdom of man had never before devised. 
 
 After the formation of the new government, Mr. Adams and 
 Mr. Jefferson continued to serve their country with unabated 
 zeal and fidelit}^ Their best talents were displayed in the 
 public assemblies of their several states ; in the councils of 
 the nation ; and at foreign courts, in negotiating treaties 0£ 
 peace and commerce, with the several powers of Europe. 
 
 By the voice of a grateful people, they were severally and 
 in succession called to preside over the nation which owed 
 so much to their wisdom and virtue. 
 
 They became rival candidates for the same exalted station. 
 Yet each maintained a steady eye to his country's glory. — • 
 No hostile armies backed their pretensions. No civil war 
 spread ruin around them. Both had high claims upon their 
 country, and they cheerfully submitted those claims to the 
 free decision of their fellow citizens. 
 
 Let it never be alleged as an accusation against the mem- 
 ory of those sages, that they were the leaders of the two great 
 parties which once divided the American Republic. They 
 contended, not for different systems of government, but for 
 different modes of administering the same system. With 
 equal sincerity their hearts were alike devoted to the same 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. ^ HS 
 
 glorious cause, and fired by the same unceasing love of coun- 
 try. Their collision, like that of the steel and the flint, pro- 
 duced the true promethean spark of liberty, which kindling 
 to a flame, served to illuminate that stupendous fabric which 
 had risen from their united and friendly labors. 
 
 Following the example of their illustriotis predecessor, 
 they resigned the powers, the honors, and emoluments of 
 oflice, to the people who bestowed them ; and retired to the 
 peaceful shades of private life, conscious of having acted 
 well their parts in the great drama of the day. 
 
 Rarely will the historian be permitted to record the lives 
 of two such men as Jefferson and Adams. The course of 
 time will hardly bring upon the stage of action individuals 
 possessing the means and opportunity of rendering such im- 
 portant services to their country and to the world. 
 
 To them and a few worthy compatriots, were reserved the 
 signal honors of broaching a new theory ; of solving that, un- 
 til then mysterious problem of self government ; of opposing 
 successfully the blasphemous doctrine of the divine right of 
 kings ; of redeeming the rights of man from the chaotic ac- 
 cumulations of ignorance, superstition and prejudice; ofun^- 
 fol ling to the world the true source of temporal enjoyment, 
 'and the legitimate object of human society ; of emancipating 
 the human mind from *he thraldom of ages, and restoring man 
 to his proper dignity in the great scale of being. 
 
 Eventful and glorious has been their career : wonderful 
 and providential has been its termination ! For fifty years 
 they were permitted to witness the unexampled prosperity 
 resulting from the successful operation of their institutions ; 
 and finally, to behold the great semi'-centurial Jubilee of their 
 country's Independence : and on that bright auspicious day, 
 to die amid the hosannas and grateful benedictions of a nu- 
 merous, happy, and joyful people. 
 
 The same individual, who fifty years before, with the eye 
 of a prophet foretold the glories of that day, was suffered to 
 see his prediction verified, and with the last accents of his 
 
96 EULOGIES ON 
 
 breath, to pronounce the confirmation, " it is indeed a 
 
 GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY !"* 
 
 Let no cold calculating philosophy attempt to ascribe such 
 an unheard of coincidence to the natural causes. Let not 
 the tongue of infidelity presume to tax us with superstition, 
 when we consider this event as a special dispensation. Stu- 
 pid must be the mortal who does not see in the death of Jef- 
 ferson and Adams, the hand of that Being, who controls the 
 destinies of man ; who placed the bow in the heavens as a 
 sign and a token ; who tamed the ferocity of the lion in the 
 presence of a Daniel ; and who flung the mantle of safety 
 around a Washington when fighting the battles of his country, 
 exposed to the shafts of death and a thousand dangers. Let 
 it be forever remembered, that the two great champions of 
 popular rights, from whom proceeded the great charter of lib- 
 erty, (they having been the sub-committee who reported it,) 
 just fifty years from its promulgation, simultaneously closed 
 their earthly existence. 
 
 To them, this auspicious dispensation is the confirmation of 
 that unfading immortality to which their lives entitle them. — 
 To the cause of freedom, it is the seal of perpetuity, stamped 
 by the hand of Omnipotence. 
 
 The venerated Adams and Jefferson are no longer 
 among us. Their toils are over, and they have gone to rest. 
 Their labors, their precepts and examples of virtue, they 
 have left us, as a legacy, far more valuable than treasures of 
 gold. 
 
 Consecrated to freedom, their names shall be its talismanic 
 watchword ; they shall dwell forever on the tongue of lisping 
 infancy and be the rapturous theme of ' narrative old age.' 
 
 ^ Farewell great souls, 
 
 If virtue's votary, if freedom's friend 
 Be worthy of the piilm and robes of white, 
 Then ye have place eternal with tiie blessed. 
 Adieu, -iflieii, your country nuourns I 
 
 "The last words of Mr. Adams. 
 
PRONOUNCED IN PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. 
 [July 24th, 1826. 
 
 BY JOHN SERGEANT. 
 
 Friends and Fellow Citizens, — Time, in its course, has pro- 
 duced a striking epoch in the history of our favored country ; 
 and as if to mark with pecuUar emphasis this interesting stage 
 of our national existence, it comes to us accompanied with 
 incidents calculated to make a powerful and lasting impres- 
 sion. The dawn of the fiftieth Anniversary of Independence 
 beamed upon two venerable and illustrious citizens, to whom, 
 under Providence, a nation acknowledged itself greatly in- 
 debted for the event which the day was set apart to commem- 
 orate. The one was the author, the other " the ablest advo- 
 cate," of that solemn assertion of right, that heroic defiance 
 of unjust power, which, in the midst of difliculty and danger, 
 proclaimed the determination to assume a separate and equal 
 station among the powers of the earth, and declared to the 
 world the causes which impelled to this decision. Both had 
 stood by their country, with unabated ardor and unwavering 
 fortitude, through every vicissitude of her fortune, until " the 
 glorious day" of her final triumph crowned their labors and 
 their sacrifices with complete success. With equal solici- 
 tude, and with equal warmth of patriotic affection, they de- 
 voted their great faculties, which had been employed in vin- 
 dicating the rights of their country, to construct for her, upon 
 deep and strong foundations, the solid edifice of social order 
 and^of civil and religious freedom. They had both held the 
 
98 EULOGIES ON 
 
 highest public employments, and were distinguished by the 
 highest honors the nation could confer. Arrived at an age 
 when nature seems to demand repose, each had retired to the 
 spot from which the public exigencies had first called him — 
 his public labors ended, his work accomplished, his beloved 
 country prosperous and happy — there to indulge in the bless- 
 ed retrospect of a well-spent life, and await that period which 
 comes to all. But not to await it in idleness or inditference. 
 The same spirit of active benevolence, which made the me- 
 ridian of their lives resplendent with glory, continued to shed 
 its lustre upon their evening path. Still intent upon doing 
 good, still devoted to the great cause of human happiness and 
 improvement, neither of these illustrious men relaxed in his 
 exertions. They seemed only to concentrate their energy, 
 as age and increasing infirmity contracted the circle of action, 
 bestowing, without ostentation, their latest efforts upon the 
 state and neighborhood in which they resided. There, with 
 patriarchal simplicity, they lived, the objects of a nation's 
 grateful remembrance and affection ; the living records of a 
 nation's history ; the charm of an age which they delighted, 
 adorned and instructed by their vivid sketches of times that are 
 past ; and, as it were, the embodied spirit of the revolution it- 
 self, in all its purity and force, diflfusing its wholesome influ- 
 ence through the generations that have succeeded, rebuking 
 every sinister design, and invigorating every manly and vir- 
 tuous resolution. 
 
 The Jubilee came. The great national commemoration of 
 a nation's birth. The fiftieth year of deliverance from for- 
 eign rule, wrought out by the exertions and sufferings and 
 sacrifices of the patriots of the revolution. It found these il- 
 lustrious and venerable men, full of honors and full of years, 
 animated with the proud recollection of the times in which 
 they had borne so distinguished a part, and cheered by the 
 beneficent and expanding influence of their patriotic labors. 
 The eyes of a nation were turned towards them with affection 
 and reverence They heard the first song of triumph on that 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 9^ 
 
 memorable day. As the voice of millions of freemen rose in 
 sounds of gratitude andjoj, they both sunk gently to rest, and 
 their spirits departed in the midst of the swelhng chorus of 
 national enthusiasm. 
 
 Death has thus placed his seal upon the lives of these two 
 eminent men with impressive solemnity. A gracious Provi- 
 dence, whose favors have been so often manifested in mercy 
 to our country, has been pleased to allow them an unusual 
 length of time, and an uncommon continuance of their extra- 
 ordinary faculties. They have been, as it were, united in 
 death, and they have both, in a most signal manner, been as-. 
 sociated with the great event which they so largely contri- 
 buted to produce. Henceforward the names of JetFerson and 
 Adams can never be separated from the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. Whilst that venerated instrument shall continue 
 to exist, as long as its sacred spirit shall dwell with the peo- 
 ple of this nation, or the free institutions that have grown out 
 of it be preserved and respected, so long will our children, and 
 our children's children to the latest generation, bless the 
 names of these our illustrious benefactors, and cherish their 
 memory with reverential respect. The Jubilee, at each re- 
 turn, will bring back, with renovated force, the lives and the 
 deaths of these distinguished men ; and history, with the sim- 
 ple pencil of truth, sketching the wonderful coincidence, will, 
 for once at least, set at defiance all the powers of poetry and 
 romance. 
 
 The dispensation which has thus connected itself with the 
 first Jubilee of our Independence, mingling with our festivi- 
 ties the parting benediction, and the final farewell of our two 
 illustrious countrymen, cannot fail to bring with it the most 
 serious reflections. Marked, as it is, by such an extraordinary 
 coincidence, methinks it seems to announce, with solemn em- 
 phasis, that henceforward the care of their great work is com- 
 mitted to our hands ; that we are to guard, to protect, and to 
 preserve the principles and the institutions which they, at 
 such an expense, have established for our benefit, and for that 
 
100 EULOGIES ON 
 
 of our ])oslerity ; and may I not add, for the common benefit 
 of mankind. Of the signers of the Declaration of hidepen- 
 dence, but one now remains. Health and peace to the eve- 
 ning of his days! The single representative on earth, of the 
 Congress of 1 776, he seems to stand between two generations, 
 and to be the visible link that still connects the living with the 
 mighty dead. Of all, indeed, who had a part in the achieve- 
 ment of Independence, " whose counsels aided, or whose arms 
 defended," few and feeble are they who survive. Day by 
 day their numbers are reduced ; yet a little while, and they 
 will have followed their illustrious compatriots. Not a foot- 
 step will be heard throughout this land, of all who rushed to 
 danger in their country's cause, — not an eye will beam, that 
 borrowed prophetic light from afar to illumine the hour of 
 darkness, — not a heart will beat, whose pulsation was quick- 
 ened by the animating hope of a glorious triumph. 
 
 To this effect we are admonished by the event we are met 
 to commemorate. Here then let us pause ! The point of 
 time at which we have arrived, marked by a concurrence of 
 circumstances so impressive, demands our earnest attention. 
 It stands forth, I repeat, with commanding dignity, and seems 
 to say, Behold ! fifty years have gone by. The altar of free- 
 dom raised by your fathers — the sacred fire they lighted upon 
 it — are now, at the appointed time, delivered to you. To 
 you belongs the great trust of their preservation, until another 
 generation shall in turn succeed to occupy your places, from 
 you to receive the invaluable deposite, and with it to receive 
 its guardian spirit, the spirit of the Revolution. Shall we, 
 my friends and Fellow Citizens, be able to acquit ourselves of 
 this high trust ? Shall the next Jubilee find the altar pure and 
 undefiled, the fire still burning with a steady flame ? And shall 
 every succeeding Jubilee, like that which has passed, be at 
 once an evidence and an acknowledgment of the continuing 
 efficacy of the great truths promulgated in the Declaration of 
 Independence ? These are indeed affecting questions. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 101 
 
 To commemorate the event which has here brought us to- 
 gether, and at the same time to invigorate our virtuous res- 
 olutions, let us, for a moment, look back upon the lives of our 
 two illustrious fellow citizens, who walked hand in hand 
 through the struggle of the Revolution, and hand in hand have 
 descended to the tomb, as if, with one voice, to deliver their 
 parting blessing to their beloved country. 
 
 Mine is not the task of the biographer or the historian. I 
 am not to enter into a detail of their lives, nor to attempt to 
 spread before you a history of the great events in which they 
 acted. These are for abler hands, for ampler opportunity, 
 and more extended labor. Nor is it at all consistent with the 
 duty I owe to the occasion, or to you, if it were in accordance 
 with my own inclination, or within the scope of my humble 
 capacity, to disturb the harmony of feeling that prevails, by- 
 attempting a comparative estimate of their uncommon merits. 
 It is not my office, nor is it your desire, to weigh them against 
 each other — to bring them into conflict, when death has sealed 
 forever the friendship which, in their latter years, they so de- 
 lighted to cherish. A rapid, and it necessarily must be a 
 hasty and imperfect sketch, of sopne of the principal points in 
 their public career, will be sufficient to show how strong is the 
 claim of both to our warmest admiration, and to our most af- 
 fectionate gratitude. Extend to me your indulgence, of which 
 I stand so much in need, while, in obedience to your com- 
 mands, I endeavour, however feebly, to present such a 
 sketch. 
 
 The attempt of Great Britain to visit these colonies with an 
 exercise of power inconsistent with their just rights, found 
 our two eminent fellow citizens, each in his native state. Mr. 
 Jefferson, a young man, already a distinguished member of a 
 legislature, which has never been without the distinction of 
 patriotism and talents. Mr. Adams, a few years older, suc- 
 cessfully engaged in the practice of the law, with established 
 reputation and extensive influence. They were among the 
 
 nrst to discern the character of this arrogant attempt ; to rouse 
 
 14 
 
102 EULOGIES ON 
 
 their countrymen to a sense of the danger of submission; to 
 animate them to the assertion of their rights ; and to 
 embark, fearlessly, in resistance to the first approaches of ar- 
 bitrary power. They did not hesitate. They never paused 
 to count the cost of personal sacrifice, but with a resolution as 
 determined as it was virtuous, placed at once their lives, their 
 fortunes, and all their hopes upon the issue of their country's 
 cause. 
 
 When these colonies, for mutual support and counsel, re- 
 solved to convene a general Congress, Mr. Adams was appoint- 
 ed one of the deputies from Massachusetts. He 'o ^k his seat 
 on the 5th of September, 1 774, the memorable day of the first 
 meeting of that august assembly whose acts then were, and since 
 have been, the theme of universal admiration. Indeed, it may 
 be truly averred, that as long as wisdom, constancy, uncon- 
 querable resolution, — as long as patriotism, and contempt of 
 every danger, but that which threatens one's country — as long, 
 to sum it all up at once, as generous and disinterested devo- 
 tion, guided by talents of the highest order, shall be esieemed 
 among men, so long will the old Congress continue to retain 
 the first place among human assemblies, and spread its lustre 
 over the age in which it acted. 
 
 In this same body, Mr. Jeiferson took his seat on the 21st 
 June, 1775, elected a deputy from Virginia, in the place of 
 Peyton Randolph. Of the estimation in which Mr. Jeffer- 
 son was held, in that more than Roman Senate, though still a 
 young man, probably the youngest in Congress, sufficient evi- 
 dence will presently appear. But in the mean time let me 
 mention to you a fact which preceded, a few days, the coming 
 in of Mr. Jefferson, and deserves to be remembered with 
 gratitude to his illustrious associate. It was John Adams, 
 who, on the 15th June, 1775, nominated George Washington, 
 " to command all the continenlal forces raised, and to be 
 raised, for the defence of American liberty." It was upon 
 that nomination the father of hi« country was unanimously 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 103 
 
 elected. What a train of reflections here presents itself ! 
 But we must not now indulge in them. 
 
 This interesting circumstance does not appear on the prin 
 ted Journals of Congress. It would seem to have been the 
 practice not to give the names of those who made either 
 nominations or motions. But it is stated upon the most res- 
 pet table authority, whence also are derived some particulars 
 which it may not be uninteresting to mention. The person 
 who had been previously thought of for this high station, wag 
 General Ward of Massachusetts. As he was of the same col- 
 ony with Mr. Adams, it must have been a sacrifice of feeling 
 thus to pass him by. He generously and readily made it to 
 advance the great, good cause. A striking example of disin- 
 terestedness ! — Washington, not aware of the intention of 
 Mi . Adams, was in his seat in Congress at the time of the 
 nomination. The instant it was made, he rose and left the 
 hall. A beautiful instance of unaffected modesty ! 
 
 But we must not dwell too long on these particulars, how- 
 ever delightful and refreshing. The march of events was 
 rapidly disclosing the important truth, that submission, uncon- 
 ditional submission, or victory, were the only alternatives. 
 Already had blood been shed at Lexington, at Concord, and 
 at Bunker's Hill. Already had the freemen of America, as 
 if guided by a common impulse, met the veteran troops of 
 Great Britain in the field, and encountered them with a deter- 
 mined courage which nothing but a deep conviction of their 
 rights could have inspired. Already too, as we have seen, 
 bad the Congress appointed the immortal Washington to com- 
 mand the troops raised, or to be raised, for the defence of 
 American liberty. Already had they declared with the ut- 
 most solemnity, "We have counted the cost of this contest, 
 and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery." Our 
 cause was armed with the triple armour of justice, but ag 
 yet it wanted, perhaps, a more definite purpose, a visible 
 standard and a character that should give us a station among 
 the nations of the earth. 
 
104 EULOGIES OM 
 
 On the 7th June, 1776, resolutions were moved respecting 
 Independence.* On the 1 0th June a committee of the whole 
 reported a resolution ; 'That these united colonies are and of 
 right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are 
 absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that 
 all connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, 
 and ought to be, totally dissolved.* On the same day the 
 consideration of this resolution was postponed to Monday, 
 the first of July ; and it was resolved, that in the mean while, 
 that no time be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto, a 
 committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect 
 of this resolution.' On the following day, a committee was 
 appointed of which Mr. Jefferson was the first named, and 
 Mr. Adams the second. The remainder of the committee 
 were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and R. R. Livingston. — 
 The duty of preparing the draught was by them committed 
 to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams. Thus were they associa- 
 ted in that immortal labour. On the 2d July, the resolution 
 of Independence was adopted, and on the ever memorable 
 4th July, 1776, the declaration reported by the committee,* 
 with some slight alterations, was agreed to and promulgated. 
 It is now a nation's creed. 
 
 There is a point of resemblance, in the lives and characters 
 of these illustrious men which must not be overlooked in its 
 bearing upon the present subject. To the natural gift of 
 great talents, they had both added the advantages of constant 
 laborious culture. They came forward, disciplined and prepar- 
 ed by previous study, for the service and the ornament of the 
 country. The deep and extensive learning of Mr. Adams is 
 familiar to all, and none of us are ignorant of the varied and un- 
 common acquirements of Mr. Jefferson. The late venerable 
 
 ♦ This motion was made by Richard Henry Lee, in pursuance 
 of instructions from the Convention of Virginia and is under' 
 stood to have been in the terms reported by the committee of the 
 whole. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 105 
 
 Charles Thompson, a chronicle of the times of the revolution, 
 has told me, that he well remembered the first appearance of 
 Mr. Jefferson in Congress, that he brought with him the repu 
 tation of great attainments, particularly in political science, 
 which he always well sustained. They had both diligently stu- 
 died the history of man and of government. The examples of 
 generous devotion in ancient times, inspired their hearts with 
 lofty patriotism. The records of ages since, showed them 
 how accident, and fraud, and force, had sunk the great body 
 of mankind under grinding oppression, justified at length by 
 maxims essentially false, but which the solitary speculations 
 of writers, however undeniably true, were unable to correct. 
 Here then, with prophetic wisdom they perceived, and bles- 
 sed be God who put it into their hearts to perceive — here they 
 perceived was the great occasion which the patriot and the 
 philanthropist had rather wished than hoped for, at once to 
 fix the end and aim of the revolution by raising the standard 
 of the rights of man. 
 
 It was no longer a mere contest for separation. National 
 Independence was indissolubly connected with civil and reli- 
 gious liberty. The same venerated instrument that declared 
 our separation from Great Britain, contained also the memo- 
 rable assertion, that 'all men are created equal, that they are 
 endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, 
 and that to secure these rights, governments are instituted 
 among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of 
 the governed.' This was the text of the revolution — the ru- 
 ling vital principle — the hope that animated the patriot's 
 heart and nerved the patriot's arm, when he looked forward 
 through succeeding generations, and saw stamped upon all 
 their institutions, the great principles set forth in the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. It is not a charter — we hold by no 
 charter. Freedom is coeval with our national existence, deri- 
 ved to us from no man's grant or concession,but received from 
 the Autlwr of our being, and secured by the valour, and toil, 
 and blood of our ancestors. 
 
106 EULOGIES ON 
 
 These sacred principles, thus solemnly inscribed upon the 
 banner of the revolution, are still borne aloft by the strength 
 of increasing millions. They have not been defaced nor oblit- 
 erated, nor even their lusture dimmed, by lapse of time or 
 change of circumstances. When the war of the revolution 
 was ended, and the God of battles had crowned our coun- 
 try's cause with victory, the gallant soldier who had endured 
 every privation, and exposed himself to every hazard in the 
 field, laid down his arms in submission to their acknowledged 
 authority. An armed nation which had conquered peace in 
 a seven years war, was changed in an instant into a nation of 
 citizens ; and the men who had fought and bled in the cause 
 of their country, were seen in the walks of private life con- 
 fessing by their conduct, their voluntary allegiance to the 
 truths which had been proclaimed on the great day of Inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 When, from the experience of a few years, the inefficacy of 
 the articles of confederation had been demonstrated, these sa- 
 cred principles were solemnly reiterated in the introduction 
 of the Constitution of the United States. They are the basis of 
 every state constitution : and like the air that we breathe, 
 they belong to our very existence. He would be justly deem- 
 ed an apostate, and a traitor, who should seek to destroy or 
 weaken them. He would be held up to opprobrium and 
 scorn, as the enemy of his country, and the enemy of man- 
 kind. 
 Nor has their kindly influence been confined to our own coun- 
 try. Throughout the world, the friends and advocates of hu- 
 man freedom and of human rights, have found consolation and 
 encouragement in the example thus set before them. The 
 standard was raised for ourselves — but it was raised on high, 
 and it has floated in triumph, visible to the nations of the 
 civilized world, for their assurance that man is competent to 
 self government. Long established error, has been rebuked 
 by their practical excellence. Systems apparently consolida- 
 ted by ages, have been modified by their influence. A 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 107 
 
 knowledge of the rights of man has been universally dissem- 
 inated. Whenever, and wherever, by any crisis in affairs, the 
 people for a moment recover a portion of their lost power,their 
 eager demand is for the acknowledgement of first principles in 
 wntte C3 istitutions. Whenever a sovereign, alarmed by for- 
 eign menace or pressure, would rouse his peo^ \c to uncon moii 
 exertion, he appeals, not to the obsolete errors which he loves 
 too well to renounce them, whilst their preservation is possi- 
 ble ; but, in such an exigency, he is obliged to speak to their 
 own sense of their own rights, and to promise to secure them 
 by written constitutions. This we have witnessed in our 
 day, Monarchs and their subjects have marched forth 
 together under this assurance, animated with unwonted en- 
 ergy. The last, the greatest, the most powerful incentive to 
 vigorous exertion, has been found in that knowledge which 
 the principles of the Declaration of Independence have diffu- 
 sed so extensively. Such promises, it is true, have often 
 proved delusive. "Ease would retract vows made in pain." 
 But the knowledge exists — the feeling is there — it cannot 
 again be smothered or subdued. It will go on, conquering 
 and to conquer. At this moment, such has been its mighty 
 progress, that no man will dare to assert, even though a 
 princely diadem surround his brow, what, fifty years ago it 
 would have been thought impious to dispute. That 'govern- 
 ments are instituted for the benefit of the people,' is already 
 established — " that they derive their just powers from the 
 consent of the governed," cannot fail soon to follow, to the 
 utter extirpation of the absurd heresy of the divine right of 
 kings* In this hemisphere, a 'fraternity of freedom' has been 
 founded. The colonies of Spain, afflicted by ages of oppres- 
 sion, have looked upon the standard of our revolution, and 
 been healed. They have achieved their Independence ; and 
 have taken their station among the powers of the earth, as 
 members of a family of free republics. Such has already 
 been the spread of the light which issued from yonder hall oo 
 the fourth July, 1776. 
 
108 EULOGIES ON 
 
 In contemplating the part which these illustrious men pef- 
 foroned in the great work of that day, it is delightful to recur 
 to the generous and conclusive testimony they have borne to 
 each other's merits. Of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Adams says, "he 
 came into Congress in June, 1775, and brought with him a 
 reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent for com- 
 position. Writings of his were handed about, remarkable 
 for their peculiar felicity of expression. Though a silent 
 member in Congress, he was so prompt, frank, explicit, and 
 decisive on committees, (not even Samuel Adams was more 
 so,) that he seized upon my heart." Of Mr. Adams, Mr. 
 Jefferson says, in a letter, written m 1813, to an artist, who 
 was about to engrave the picture of the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. " No man better merited, than Mr. John Adams, 
 a most conspicuous place in the design. He was the pillar 
 of its support on the floor of Congress — its ablest advocate 
 and defender against the multifarious attacks it encountered." 
 Assaults it did encounter — resistance it did suffer — not from 
 the enemies only, of our country, but from her most sincere 
 friends. The timid were alarmed ; the minds of men of ordina- 
 ry constancy were possessed with doubts and hesitation, 
 at this final and irretrievable step. Heroic courage and pat- 
 riotism were what the occasion demanded, and what — let ue 
 be thankful for it ! — the occasion found. We have seen that 
 the resolution engaged the attention of Congress, from the 
 7th June, when it was moved, to the 2d July, when it was 
 adopted. "The arguments in Congress," says the late ven- 
 erable Governor M'Kean, a man of revolutionary stature and 
 strength, himself one of the signers of the declaration, " The 
 arguments, for and against the Declaration of Independence, 
 were exhausted, and the measure fully considered." And so 
 they, doubtless, were, with all the deliberate gravity and sol- 
 emn earnestness which the momentous occasion required. — 
 It was, indeed, a fearful question. At the last moment 
 when the qiiestion was about to be put, a celebrated member 
 of the Congress, of undoubted patriotism, a man whose mem* 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 109 
 
 ory is still cherished with grateful affection for his contribu- 
 tions to the service and the honor of his country, rose and 
 spoke against it. " He stated the consequences in alarming 
 colours." Silence and doubt ensued. John Adams, '* the 
 pillar of its support," as Mr. Jefferson has styled him, rose in 
 reply. His fervid eloquence silenced every doubt. The 
 question was settled, and the vote of the states was unanimous. 
 In what language he made this last and powerful appeal, we 
 mayjudge from the triumphant burst of patriotic exultation 
 and pious emotion with which he wrote to a friend on the fol- 
 lowing day.* " Yesterday the greatest question was decided 
 that was ever debated in America ; and greater perhaps, nev- 
 er was or will be decided among men. A resolution was pass- 
 ed, without one dissenting colony, 'that these United States 
 are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.' — 
 The day is passed. The fourth of July, 1776, wiil be a 
 memorable epoch in the history of America. 1 am apt to 
 believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations as 
 the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemora- 
 ted as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to 
 Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, 
 games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from 
 one end of the continent to the other, from this lime forward 
 forever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, 
 but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and 
 treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and 
 support and defend these states ; yet, through all the gloom, I 
 
 * There can be no doubt that the date of the letter was the 3d 
 Ju)v, 1776, though in recent puthcatious, it has appeared with the 
 date of the 5th. The resolution of Independence was adopted on 
 the 2d July — the declaration was not agreed to till the 4th. The 
 former is the " resolution" referred to by Mr. Adams. Inatten- 
 tion, to this distinction has probably led to the change of date in 
 the printed copies. The error is pointed out, and corrected in a 
 very satisfactory manner, in the Democratic Press of the 13th 
 instant. 
 
 15 
 
110 EULOGIBS ON 
 
 can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end ie 
 worth more than all the means ; and that posterity will tri- 
 umph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall 
 not." 
 
 The authorship of the splendid record we have heen con- 
 sidering belongs to Mr. Jefferson. To him is justly due the 
 merit of preparing a paper, which has elevated the national 
 character, and furnished a perpetual source of instruction 
 and delight. That Mr. Adams, his colleague, entered deep- 
 ly into his sentiments, is equally certain. To the last he re- 
 tained his attachment to the original draught prepared b) Mr. 
 Jefferson, and thought it had not been improved by the slight 
 alteration it underwent, in expunging a few passages or parts 
 of passages. 
 
 Placed by their talents and virtues in this elevated and 
 commanding position, these two distinguished champions of 
 the rights of their country and the rights of mankind, were 
 thenceforward looked to for every ardous service. In De- 
 cember, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a commissioner to 
 France, an appointment, as all who are acquainted with our 
 history well know, of great hazard, but of the highest impor- 
 tance. 
 
 Struggling for existence, with comparatively feeble means, 
 aga n t a powerful enemy, who assumed the tone of an inso- 
 lent and vindictive master, but struggling with a constancy of 
 resolution, which already conciliated the regard of nations, 
 our country looked abroad for countenance and aid. But 
 the fleets of England covered the ocean, and the tower where 
 Laurens was so long confined, with no prospect beyond it but 
 the scaffold, was the almost certain reward of the daring reb- 
 el (for so they would have styled him) who should fall into 
 their power. This hazardous employment he instantly and 
 fearlessly accepted. He embarked soon after, and, through 
 many imm >ent perils arrived in safety. Of the signal ad- 
 vantages derived from that commission you are well aware. 
 A reaty was made with France and, in the year 1778, oui 
 great countryman Franklin, was received by that nation ae 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. Ill 
 
 the acknowledged minister of a sovereign and independent 
 power, t 
 
 Mr. Adams was afterwards sent to Holland, where he suc- 
 cessfully negotiated a loan. 
 
 Whilst Mr. Adams was serving his country abroad, Mr. Jef- 
 ferson was rendering equal serv.ce at home. Being elected 
 governor of Virginia, he gave the most etiectual aid to the 
 cause of the Revolution. This rests upon no doubtful or 
 que^tonablo authority. Twice, in the course of the year 1780, 
 were resolutions adopted by Congress, approving his conduct, 
 in aiding their military measures in the south. In the same 
 year Congress instructed a committee ••' to inform Mr. Adams 
 of the satisfaction they received from his industrious atten- 
 tion to the interests andhonor of these United States abroad." 
 Thus did they both deserve, and thus did they both re- 
 ceive, the highest rewards that could be bestowed upon 
 them. 
 
 Not to liiligue you by too much detail, let me simply men- 
 tion, that Mr. Adams was appointed sole commissioner to ne- 
 gotiate peace with Great Britain in 1779, — that he was one 
 of those who negotiated the provisional articles of peace with 
 Great Britain in November, 1782, — who made the armistice 
 for the cessation of hostilities in January, 1783, — and who 
 fi la ly negotiated the definitive treaty of peace in September, 
 1783. 
 
 The thirteen United States, sovereign and independent by 
 their own exertions and the favor of Providence, from the 
 fourth July, 1776, were now universally acknowledged as 
 such, and admitted hy all to their place in the family of na- 
 tions. Thev chose, for their two principal representatives 
 
 tThe treaty was signed at Paris, the 6th February, 1778, by 
 B. Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. The Congress of the 
 United States desired the suppression of the lith article, consent- 
 in j in return that the 12th r^hould likewise be considered of no 
 effect. The acts rescinding these two articles were signed at 
 Paris 1st September, 1778, on the part of the United States, by 
 B, Franklin, Arthur Lee, and John Adams. Dr. Franklin was 
 appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France, on the 14th Sep- 
 tember, 1778. 
 
J 12 EULOGIES ON 
 
 abroad, the illustrious men whose death we are here met to 
 commemorate. Mr. Jefferson succeeded Dr. Franklin in 
 France ; Mr. Adams was sent to England. They were join- 
 ed also with Dr. Franklin, in a plenipotentiary commission to 
 negotiate treaties of amity, commerce, and navigation, with 
 the principal powers of Europe. 
 
 The first treaty with Prussia, the only fruit at that time of 
 the commission, bears the names of Franklin, of Jefferson, and 
 of Adams. What a splendid constellation of talent ! Suffi- 
 cient of itself, to shed unfading lustre on a nation — more than 
 sufficient to refute the exploded European doctrine of the de- 
 generacy of man in America. 
 
 Our history from this period is familiar to you all. When 
 the present constitution was framed, Mr. Jefferson was still in 
 France. Ever alive to the welfare of his beloved country ; 
 ever watchful of those sacred principles of human right, which 
 it had been the labor of his life to vindicate and maintain, he 
 looked with intense anxiety upon this interesting movement. 
 To his suggestion, it is understood, that we are indebted for 
 the ten original amendnients to the constitution, embodying 
 such restrictions on the authority of Congress, and such asser- 
 tions of the fundamental rights of the citizen, as were thought 
 necessary to the preservation of the just power of the states, 
 and the security of civil and religious freedom. 
 
 Upon the organization of our present government, the voice 
 of the nation assigned the highest place to Washington. He 
 was elected President of the United States. The illustrious 
 men whom we now commemorate, were second only to him 
 who had no equal. The one was elevated by the choice of 
 the people ; the other by the choice of Washington. 
 
 Mr. Adams was elected Vice-President of the United States ; 
 or rather, let me say, he was the second choice for President. 
 As the constitution then stood, two were voted for as Presi- 
 dent, and he who had the smallest number of votes was the 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was called home by the father of his country, 
 to fill the high and arduous station of Secretary of State, 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSOX. 113 
 
 With what abihty he performed its duties, at a period of more 
 than ordinary difficulty, I need not state ; for it is still 
 fresh in the recollection of most of those who hear me. 
 
 A second time was Mr. Adams elected to the second office 
 in the country, Washington still filling the first. Before a 
 third election came, the great father of his country announced 
 his determination to retire, bequeathing to his countrymen, in 
 a farewell address, his solemn injunctions and advice, which 
 ought forever to remain engraven upon their hearts. He 
 thus set the example, now ripened into an established limita- 
 tion, that the highest office in the government is not to con- 
 tinue in the same hands for a longer period than two consti- 
 tutional terms. 
 
 In this great trust, in dignity and importance the greatest 
 in the world — the first magistrate of a nation of freemen, the 
 first citizen of a republic, selected from millions by their spon- 
 taneous choice — in this great trust, Mr. Adams succeeded 
 Washington ; Mr. Jefferson having the almost equal honor of 
 being his chosen competitor. Mr. Jefferson was elected Vice- 
 President. 
 
 At the expiration of four years they were again competitors. 
 After a contest, «:till remembered for the eagerness and warmth, 
 I will not say the violence of the parties which then divided 
 the United States, Mr. Jefferson was elected President. Mr. 
 Adams retired from public life. Mr. Jefferson was a second 
 time chosen to the same high office. As the expiration of 
 this term drew nigh, imitating the dignified example of Wash- 
 ington, and, if possible, strengthening its influence by his de- 
 liberate opinion, Mr. Jefferson announced his intention to re- 
 tire. He retired in March, 1 800. 
 
 Thus terminated the public employment of these eminent 
 men. Thus did they take leave, as it were, of that country, 
 whose welfare had so long engrossed their attention aud en- 
 gaged their anxious labors. Is there a man who would de- 
 sire now to revive the recollection of the angry feelings, and 
 the warm contention, which prevailed among their fellow citi 
 izens during a portion of the latter period of their service? 
 
Hi EULOGIES ON 
 
 Is there a man among us, who. upon this occasion, conse- 
 crated to the indulgence of viituous emotion, would consent 
 to disturb the harmony that breathes in the common acknowl- 
 edgment to the illustrious dead ? To obscure the glorious light 
 of the Revolution, by seeking to renderpermanent every cloud 
 that is raised in the gusts of momentary excitement? Let the 
 truth be told. It is replete with salutary counsel, and it eX' 
 alts the character of the departed sages. Be it, that they ap- 
 peared to be rivals. Be it, that they were, for a time, sepa- 
 rated and placed in opposition, the leaders of the two great 
 parties in the nation. Did they, therefore, love their coun- 
 try less ? Were they less influenced by the sacred ardor, that 
 animated their hearts in the darkest hour of the revolutionary 
 contest ? Were they not patriots stUl, the same lofty ai.d in- 
 corruptible patriots, who, on the 4th July, 1776, had pledged 
 " their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor ?" Did 
 either of them admit a thought, or would either of them, for 
 all the honors the world could bestow, have countenanced a 
 design unfriendly to his country's interests ? Let them an- 
 swer for themselves, or rather let each answer for the other. 
 The healing influence of time soon allayed the little irri- 
 tation which conflict had produced. They looked upon their 
 country, and they saw that she was prosperous and happy. 
 They saw, perhaps, that even the contests of party, angry as 
 they seemed at times to be, yet governed by the spirit of patri- 
 otism, were over-ruled for her permanent advantage ; that ea- 
 ger discussion had elicited truth, and the solid good sense of a 
 reflecting people had seized and secured whatever was valu- 
 able and worthy to be preserved. Both had triumphed in the 
 triumph of their country's welfare. The aged patriots felt 
 that they still were brothers. Their ancient friendship re- 
 vived. Nothing remained but the remembrance of the scenes 
 in which they had acted so mighty a part. Nothing was heard 
 from either but heartfelt acknowledgments of the other's worth 
 and services. If it had been in the order of Providence to 
 permit one of these illustrious citizens to witness the departure 
 *^f his associate, the survivor would have been the first whose 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 115 
 
 honored voice would have been heard to pronounce the eu- 
 logy of the departed patriot. 
 
 To form an estimate of the merits and services of these dis- 
 tinguished men, far more would be necessary than has been 
 now attempted, or the occasion will allow. I have only se- 
 lected for reflection some of the principal incidents of their 
 public lives. But let me remind you, that they are charac- 
 teristic incidents. If you follow them into their respective 
 states, if you follow them into their retirement, whatever may 
 be their employments or pursuits, they are all stamped with 
 the same ardent love of country, the same unatrected rever- 
 ence for the rights of mankind, the same invincible attach- 
 ment to the cause of civil and religious freedom. 
 
 Great are their names! Honored and revered be their mem- 
 ory ! Associated with Washington and Franklin, their glory is 
 a precious possession, enriching our annals, and exalting the 
 character of our country. 
 
 Greater is the bright example they have left us! More pre- 
 cious the lesson furnished by their lives for our instruction ! 
 At this affecting moment, then, when we are assembled to pay 
 the last tribute of respect, let us seriously meditate upon our 
 duties — let us consider, earnestly and anxiously consider, how 
 we shall best preserve those signal blessings which have been 
 transmitted to us — how we shall transmit them unimpaired 
 to our posterity. This is the honor which would liave been 
 most acceptable to these illustrious men. This is an appro^ 
 priate mode of commemorating the e\ent we this day mourn. 
 Let the truths of the Declaration of Independence, the prin- 
 ciples of the revolution, the principles of free government, 
 sink deep into our hearts, and govern all our conduct. 
 
 National independence has been achieved, once and forever. 
 It can never be endangered. Time has accumulated strength 
 with a rapidity unexampled. The thirteen colonies, almost 
 without an union, few in numbers, feeble in means, are be- 
 come in a lapse of fifty years, a nation of twenty-four states, 
 bound together by a common government of their own choice, 
 with a territory doubled by peaceful acquisition, with ten 
 
116 EULOGIES ON 
 
 millions of free inhabitants, with a commerce extending^ to 
 every quarter of the world, and resources equal to every 
 emergency of war or peace. Institutions of humanity, of sci- 
 ence, and of literature, have been established throughout the 
 land. Temples have risen to Him who created all things, and 
 by whom all things are sustained, not by the commands of 
 princes or rulers, nor by legal coercion, but from the spon- 
 taneous oirerings of the human heart. Conscience is abso- 
 lutely free in the broadest and most unqualified sense. In- 
 dustry is free ; and human action knows no greater control, 
 than is indispensable to the preservation of rational liberty. 
 What is our duty ? To understand, and to appreciate the 
 Talue of these signal blessings, and with all our might and 
 strength, to endeavor to perpetuate them. To take care that 
 the great sources from which they flow, be not obstructed by 
 seltish passion, nor polluted by lawless ambition, nor destroy- 
 ed by intemperate violence. To rise to the full perception 
 of the great truth : "that governments are instituted among 
 men to secure human rights, deriving their authority from the 
 consent of the governed," and that with a knowledge of our 
 own rights, must be united the same just regard for the rights 
 of others, and pure affection for our country, which dwelt in 
 the hearts of the fathers of the revolution. 
 
 In conclusion, allow me to remind you, that with all their 
 doings was mingled a spirit of unaffected piety. In adversity 
 they humbled themselves before Him, whose power is al- 
 mighty, and whose goodness is infinite. In prosperity they 
 gave Him the thanks. In His aid, invoked upon their arms 
 and counsels with sincerity of heart, was their reliance and 
 their hope. Let us also be thankful for the mercies which as 
 a nation, we have so largely experienced, and as often as we 
 gratefully remember those illustrious men to whom we are in- 
 debted — let us not forget that their efforts must have been un- 
 availing, and that our hopes are vain, unless approved by Him ; 
 and in humble reliance upon His favor, let us implore His 
 continued blessing upon our beloved country. 
 
ai3'!L@®'2"s 
 
 PRONOUNCED AT ALBANY, NEW-YORK, 
 July 31st, 1826. 
 
 BY WILLIAM ALEXANDER DUER. 
 
 Never, Americans, since we became a people, has any 
 portion of our countrymen convened on an occasion more 
 impressive and interesting than the present. But a few 
 weeks ago, we united with our Fellow Citizens from one end 
 of this vast continent to the other, to celebrate in our respec- 
 tive spheres, the Jubilee of our Freedom ; and whilst in the 
 temple of the living God, we poured forth our thanks to him 
 for the blessing ; or at the festive board, recalled the names, 
 and recounted the deeds, of the men most instrumental in 
 producing it ; the two veteran statesmen, the most eminent 
 among the surviving patriarchs of the Revolution ; who, 
 next to Washington, had in succession held the highest station 
 in the Government ; each, in his turn, like him, receiving it, 
 as the best reward the people could bestow ; both these illus- 
 trious patriots on the same day, within a few hours of each 
 other, and at the completion of the fiftieth year, since they 
 had together signed that Declaration, from which their coun- 
 try dates its Independence ; both in extreme old age, (as if 
 their lives had been preserved to consecrate that day,) 
 were, by the gentlest and most similar transitions, removed 
 from this earthly scene, and with equal tranquillity, each 
 yielded his immortal spirit to the Hand that gave it. 
 
 In this splendid coincidence of events, my countrymen ; 
 in this unparalleled concurrence of stupendous circumstan- 
 ces ; what candid and enlightened mind, what grateful and 
 
 ingenuous heart, hesitates to acknowledge an omniscient and 
 
 16 
 
118 EULOGIES ON 
 
 benignant Providence ? Or who fails to perceive, from the 
 position or prospects of his own, or of some other country, a 
 purpose worthy the interposition of a superintending Deity ? 
 Had either of these great and venerable men been summoned 
 to the world of spirits, on the day that both departed ; or had 
 they, on any other day, expired together ; it would, in either 
 case, have seemed suflicient to excite our wonder. By some, 
 it would have been hailed as an omen of good fortune ; and 
 received by others, as a demonstration of divine regard. — 
 But is there one among us, who, when he heard it rumoured, 
 that the two most conspicuous of the three remaining signers 
 of the Declaration of Independence, and the last survivors 
 of those deputed to prepare it ; that Adams and Jefferson 
 had both died on the jubilee anniversary of the day that Dec- 
 laration issued : Is there one, I ask, who did not distrust the 
 rumour as too marvellous to be true ? And when the report 
 was in every minute particular confirmed, is there one here, 
 who believed these combined occurrences to be the eiiect of 
 chance ? No ! Fellow Citizens ! There is not one ; there 
 are none such here, or elsewhere to be found. The coldest 
 sceptic must have ceased to doubt, and the daring intidel 
 must have begun to fear, that there is an eternal, self-existent 
 God, who, with wisdom inscrutable, and immeasurable pow- 
 er, controuls the fate of individuals, and overrules the destiny 
 of nations. 
 
 Under the influence of such feelings, friends and fellow 
 countrymen, have we assembled in this sacred place ; not 
 to lament, but to commemorate our dead ; to contemplate 
 the example of their lives : and to expatiate on the sublime 
 moral their lives and deaths have both afforded us. 
 
 No true American, capable of reflection, can meditate 
 upon the events of the last half century, without feeling that 
 liis country has enjoyed the peculiar favor of the Supreme 
 Governor of the world. At the commencement of that pe- 
 riod, our immediate ancestors began to reap the fruits of that 
 constancy and perseverance by which their fathers " in the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 119 
 
 old time before them," had been induced to seek, in the 
 wilds of this newly discovered continent, an asylum from re- 
 ligious and political intolerance. 
 
 They had subdued the forest in the vicinity of the shores 
 where their forefathers had landed. They had explored the 
 rivers piercing the interminable hills which seemed ranged 
 as barriers against their progress to the West. They had 
 penetrated to the fertile plains beyond the sources of those 
 rivers, and had discovered others emptying into inland seas 
 connected with each other, skirting the Nothern borders, and 
 stretching to the Western confines of the land ; and they had 
 visited the mighty cataract, where the accumulated water* 
 have overthrown the mountain wall, and forced their passage 
 to the ocean. 
 
 Apprised thus of the natural benefits of their situationj 
 they had not merely become reconciled to their lot, but re- 
 joiced that their fathers had taken refuge in this land of 
 promise. Even the good old pilgrims of the former race, had 
 confessed that their " lines had fallen in pleasant places," 
 and had ceased to regret the comforts and refinements of 
 European civilization. Their sons had never known their 
 sacrifices or their privations ; and Time the great peacema- 
 ker, had obliterated the rememberance of their fathers' 
 wrongs. For themselves they enjoyed a complete toleration 
 in all matters of religion, and the essentials of political and 
 civil Uberty had in practice been allowed to them. 
 
 Rapidly increasing in numbers, they were already strong 
 enough to defend themselves against the hostile tribes still 
 lurking within their territories ; and to repel the invasions 
 of more civilized enemies, from a bordering province. — 
 They had acquired experience in war» At home, they had 
 secured peace, and were steadily advancing in agriculture 
 and all the useful arts of civil and domestic life. Abroad 
 they had pursued a commerce, which, though restricted by 
 the jealous spirit of colonial monopoly, was the more profit- 
 able from their free intercourse with their sister colonies in 
 
120 EULOGIES ON 
 
 the islands, and from their almost exclusive possession of Ihv' 
 great fisheries on their own coasts. 
 
 To improve these advantages, they were blessed with in- 
 dustry, frugality, enterprise and intelligence ; and with equal 
 probity and skill, they availed themselves of all their physic- 
 al and moral resources, to acquire wealth and honor, pros- 
 perity and iiappiness. Nor were their efforts fruitless ; for 
 they had already become rich and powerful enough to excite 
 the cupidity, and alarm the jealousy of the mother country. 
 A revenue was attempted to be drawn from them, by the par- 
 amount authority of a British Parliament. But though well 
 disposed to bear their fair proportion of the public burdens, 
 when constitutionally required, the future founders of the 
 American Republic were as resolute to withhold the contri- 
 bution even of a nominal sum when exacted by a legislature 
 in which they were not represented. It was the principle 
 for which they contended. The inseparable connection 
 between taxation and representation, was maintained by them 
 as a fundamental axiom ; and sooner than compromise their 
 unalienable right to the enjoyment of their private property 
 without surrendering the smallest portion of it for public pur- 
 poses, except by their own consent ; the descendants of 
 Hampden, of Russell, and of Sidney, and the disciples of Mil- 
 ton, of Harrington and of Locke, were prepared to stake 
 all they possessed on the issue of resistance. 
 
 The great Charter of English liberty they claimed as their 
 birth-right ; its immortal vindicators, as their ancestors ; and 
 notwithstanding their affection for the land to which they 
 owed their origin and laws ; notwithstanding their attach- 
 ment to the nation with whom they claimed a common lan- 
 guage and descent ; they deliberately resolved, rather than 
 submit to usurpation, to sever the ties which held them in al- 
 legiance to a parent government, and connected them in 
 friendship with a kindred people. 
 
 In the struggle which ensued, it M^as soon apparent upon 
 whom the mantles of the great Apostles of English liberty 
 had fallen ; for in the American Congress were collected in- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON, 121 
 
 dividuals not only worthy of the blood of the martyrs from 
 which they had sprung, but whose Avisdom and fortitude, 
 whose virtue and eloquence would have shed a lustre on the 
 brightest days of Greece or Rome. So true is it, that great 
 occasions produce the talents equal to their exigencies ; or, 
 rather so true is it, my countrymen, that the all-bounteous 
 Ruler of the Universe, whenever he purposes to exalt a 
 nation, calls forth the faculties of his intellectual crea- 
 tures in correspondence with the great design. 
 
 In this august assembly, Adams and Jefferson were among 
 the most conspicuous. They came as the respective dele- 
 gates of the two Provinces at that time the most important in 
 the Confederacy ; and the most forward and resolute in the 
 assertion of their rights. Hand in hand they had approached 
 the contest ; and hand in hand, and in the foremost rank, 
 appeared their chosen sons, worthy and fit to represent them. 
 The one descended from intrepid sufferers for conscience- 
 sake ; the other sprung from a gayer and chivalric race of 
 bold adventurers for fame and freedom. Both were in " the 
 prime and vigor of their manhood," and each was distinguish- 
 ed for natural endowments, as well as for extensive acquire- 
 ments ; for strength of understanding, solidity of judgment, 
 firmness of principle, liberality of sentiment, and rectitude 
 of intention and of conduct. They met on high, but equal 
 ground ; and seem to have been drawn together by sympathy 
 of character as well as of opinions. They were members of 
 the same profession, and had pursued it in that liberal and 
 honorable spirit, by which the study and practice of the law 
 tends to enlarge the capacity of the mind, as well as to shar- 
 pen and invigorate its faculties. From principle, both were 
 inflexible, devoted patriots ; by intuition, if not by educa- 
 tion, statesmen. The one was an orator ; the other a philos- 
 opher : and if Adams had attained more celebrity for elo- 
 quence, Jefferson was more highly estimated for the written 
 productions of his genius. If the former possessed greater 
 practical knowledge of affairs, the latter was richer in the 
 resources of speculative wisdom ; and whatsoever quality 
 
122 EULOGIES ON 
 
 or acquisition appeared deficient in the one, was to be found 
 in the character or talents of the other ; so that between 
 them they combined every requisite which, at the impending 
 crisis, could render their services so useful, so inestimable, to 
 their country. 
 
 And most auspiciously were those services united on that 
 momentous occasion, when Congress, having drawn the 
 sword, determined to throw away the scabbard, and were 
 about to resolve that " the United Colonies" were, " and of 
 right ought to be free and Independent States." Then it 
 was that JetTerson and Adams were associated with Franklin, 
 Sherman and Livingston, to prepare a solemn Declaration, 
 announcing and justifying that determination to the world. — 
 The two former were deputed by their colleagues to per- 
 form the office ; and an amicable contest ensued between 
 them ; in which they pressed upon each other, the honorable 
 task of drawing up the document. Adams finally prevailed ; 
 and thus the duty of composing it, devolved on Jefferson. 
 
 Never was public trust more ably or more satisfactorily 
 performed. The Declaration thus produced, established 
 the lasting fame of its author, as a scholar, a statesman, and 
 a patriot : for its principles were sound and enlightened ; 
 its statements forcible and clear ; its style animated, nervous, 
 and impressive ; its tone calm, dignified and firm ; and above 
 all, it responded in language and sentiment to the voice 
 and feelings of the nation. As a public measure its immedi- 
 ate effects were decisive ; and its beneficial consequences 
 are not yet to be estimated. It disarmed the treacherous ; 
 it rallied the faithful and the bold ; it encouraged the timid ; 
 confirmed the dubious ; and it pledged the lives and fortunes, 
 and the sacred honor of the people, as well as of their repre* 
 scntatives, to maintain the rights and principles it had assert- 
 ed. It secured our own freedom ; and offered to the 
 oppressed of other nations, and of other times, an example, 
 as well as precepts, which never will be lost on them. It 
 gave the first impulse to the protracted struggle for liberty 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 123 
 
 in France. Its spirit once animated the patriots of Spain ; 
 and will awaken them again. It still lives in their descend- 
 ants in our Southern continent, and cheers the last lingering 
 hopes of Greece ; and will yet revive them ! Yes, Fellow 
 Countrymen ! the principles proclaimed in the Declaration 
 of American Independence, have not only produced their 
 fruits on this wide continent, and been disseminated on the 
 wastes of Europe ; but before the revolution of another 
 jubilee, they will take root and flourish in every soil and 
 chmate under Heaven ! The march of Light, of Knowl- 
 edge, and of Truth, is irresistable, and Freedom follows in 
 their train ! Well, then, did your Adams, at that time, pre- 
 dict the rising glories of the day it issued ; and well did your 
 Jefferson, on his bed of death, pray but to witness once 
 more its recurrence, and with his latest sigh, breathe forth 
 his gratitude for the unexampled blessing ! 
 
 Such, Fellow Citizens, is the imperfect sketch the occasion 
 permits, of the connected services of Jefferson and Adams, 
 at the era of Independence ; and such the transient view that 
 time allows, of the effects and promise of their joint ex- 
 ertions. Although afterwards transferred to different 
 scenes, their separate efforts were in proportion honorable 
 to themselves as individuals, advatageous to their country, 
 and important to mankind. For the residue of the war, 
 Adams was employed as the representative of the infant Re- 
 public, at various European Courts ; in negociating loans to 
 provide sustenance for its armies, and in forming alliances to 
 aid the cause in which they were engaged. In both these 
 objects he was successful ; nor were his labors intermitted 
 until he had co-operated in concluding that treaty by which 
 the Independence of this country was finally acknowledged 
 by Great Britain ; and the two nations, who had been de- 
 clared " enemies in war," had " in peace" become *' friends.'* 
 
 During this interval, Jeflierson had returned to his native 
 state ; and after having been engaged by public authority, in 
 revising and digesting its laws, and conforming their provi- 
 
124 EULOGIES no 
 
 sions to the liberal spirit of the new government, he was, at a 
 most critical period, elected its chief magistrate. Having 
 successfullj co-operated with our national friend, and late 
 national guest, La Fayette, in delivering his state from inva- 
 sion, he returned at the expiration of his executive office, once 
 more to its legislature, and devoted what leisure the inter- 
 mission of his public duties allowed him, to the composition 
 of his " Notes on Virginia" — that work on which his reputa- 
 tion in literature and science is principally founded. It was 
 not long, however, before he was again delegated to the Con- 
 tinental Congress ; and that body, with its characteristic dis- 
 cernment, soon resolved to engage the talents of Jefferson as 
 well as of Adams, in the diplomatic service of their country. 
 By another of those remarkable coincidences which have dis- 
 tinguished their public lives, both were named in the com- 
 mission to negociate the peace with Great Britain ; and Jef- 
 ferson was only prevented by an accidental detention, from 
 uniting with Adams in the signature of the treaty. They were, 
 however, subsequently joined in arranging terms of commer- 
 cial intercourse, with the maritime powers of Europe, and 
 were ultimately settled as resident Plenipotentiaries, at its 
 two principal courts ; Adams at London, and Jefferson in 
 France. 
 
 In these respective stations they remained, until, upon the 
 adoption of the present Constitution, they were both recalled 
 from Europe. The one to occupy, under Washington, the 
 second office in the national government, and the other to su- 
 perintend the important department of its foreign affairs. 
 During his residence in England, Adams had published his 
 " Defence of the American Constitutions," in answer to the 
 attacks of certain British writers, on those of the states sev- 
 erally, and upon the old confederation. From some of the 
 doctrines advanced in this work, Jefferson was supposed to dis- 
 sent ; but as the new Constitution had been formed in their 
 absence, they had neither of them taken part in the public dis- 
 cussions to which it had given rise, and which had not yet 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 125 
 
 subsided. Their personal feelings, therefore, had never been 
 implicated in that controversy ; although it was well under- 
 stood that they entertained different views in regard to the 
 new Confederation ; and subsequent events rendered it more 
 clearly manifest, that, whilst the Vice-President fully ap- 
 proved of the federal system as it had gone into operation, 
 that scheme of government was not, in every respect, conform- 
 able to the opinions of the Secretary of State. The latter, 
 nevertheless, as well as the former, gave a fair and efficient 
 support to the administration of Washington : and the official 
 correspondence, which he conducted upon the most embar- 
 rassing and delicate questions which arose under it, afforded 
 the complete vindication of its most important and most con- 
 tested measures. Apprehensive, however, of future disagree- 
 ment with his colleagues, Jefferson honorably withdrew from 
 his office before Washington had left the government ; and 
 carried with him into a retirement which he long had coveted, 
 the undiminished confidence of the Father of his country, the 
 unbounded attachment of his friends, and the universal re- 
 spect and esteem of his fellow citizens. Nor was he drawn 
 from his retreat, until called to the chair which Adams had 
 left vacant, upon his elevation to the seat of Washington. 
 
 The former colleagues and ass'^ci ites had now became rivals, 
 and were claimed as the respective heads of the two great 
 parties into which their country was divided. The relative 
 strength and numbers of these parties were nearly ballanued; 
 their confidence was equal ; their zeal unabated: and though 
 Adams had prevailed in the first general contest between 
 them, Jefferson was successful in the last. A complete trans- 
 fer of political power was the consequence. But notwith 
 standing the warfare between the parties had seemed to 
 threaten the peace of the nation, no violent change of meas- 
 ures or of system followed, to put to hazard its permanent 
 welfare : and those who had apprehended this result, if not 
 blinded by fear or prejudice, were soon persuaded that neither 
 
 the existence of the government was to be endangered, the 
 
 17 
 
126 EULOGIES ON 
 
 security it afforded Impaired, nor its essential principles of ad- 
 ministration altered. 
 
 So far as the prevailing differences of opinion had arisen 
 from a contrariety of views in regard to the Federal Constitu- 
 tion so far indeed were they founded in a difference of princi- 
 ple. But much of this original discord had been harmonized 
 by compromises in the frame and structure of the government 
 itself, by the spirit in which it was administered, or by actual 
 changes of sentiment wrought by the convictions of experi- 
 ence ; whilst the more violent and direct conflict of political 
 sentiment bore reference to the war existing at the time in 
 Europe, and being thus temporary in its nature, subsided 
 with the cause in which it had originated. Before the close 
 of Jefferson's administration, Adams had expressed his appro- 
 bation of the course of policy pursued by his successful com- 
 petitor ; and the disciples and successors of Jefferson recurred 
 to those measures of his predecessor, of which experience had 
 demonstrated the wisdom of the necessity. Between the ven- 
 erable chiefs themselves, a mutual confidence was re-estab- 
 lished, and from their respective retirements they maintained 
 at intervals a friendly correspondence, terminating only with 
 their lives. 
 
 Thus these illustrious statesmen not only survived the 
 causes by which they had been so long and w idely separated, 
 but lived to revive the sympathies, and realize the hopes, 
 which had united them in early life ; to witness the triumph 
 of those principles for which they had mutually contended: 
 and to enjoy in the reputation, prosperity, and union of their 
 country, the reward of those services, which, whether in con- 
 cert or apart, they both had rendered it. And when thej 
 died, as if Heaven had deigned to approve those services, 
 and hallow that reward, they died together ! How mysterious ! 
 yet how mcrcifui the event ! And what an instructive specta- 
 cle do not we, my countrymen, present, who are here with 
 one accoid assembled, to pay the last sad tribute to their 
 worth! We, wlio participated in the exasperated passions 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 121 
 
 and fierce contentions by which they were once separated and 
 estranged ; who were arrayed under their respective banners, 
 friend against friend, and brother against brotlier, now here 
 united heart and voice, to solemnize with equal rites, thei? 
 common obsequies ! 
 
 Such deaths as theirs, indeed, we cannot mourn ; but come 
 to celebrate, in joy for the mercy they reveal, in thankfulness 
 for the admonition they impart. The commemoration of 
 events like these — the contemplation of a scene like this, el- 
 evate our thoughts from Earth to Heaven, lead us to look 
 more reverently on the ways of Providence, and points us to 
 the source of every temporal good. 1 hey serve to endear 
 the more to us our public institutions, and to assure us of their 
 excellence and stability. They inculcate lessons of forbear- 
 ance and moderation to regulate our own future conduct, and 
 enforce those precepts of good will and charity to others, 
 which bear the impress of divine authority, JNor are they 
 intended for ourselves alone : the events we celebrate, the 
 spectacle we here present, will have their influence in anoth- 
 er land, and swell the bosoms of another people. If these 
 signal coincidences in the lives and deaths of our departed 
 sages — if the prolonged existence of their sole remaining col- 
 league — of him who hazarded the richest venture on our In- 
 dependence, and still survives, its living monument; if these 
 be deemed to indicate a divine approval of the cause of free- 
 dom, they hold forth a beacon of encouragement to deserted 
 Greece, sufficient to rouse her from despair ; and though aban- 
 doned by surrounding Christendom, the descendants of the 
 warriors of Constantine, will discern afar off in the west, a sign 
 as palpably revealed from Heaven, as that which led their an- 
 cestors to victory. 
 
 But while we indulge these fervent wishes for the success 
 of others, let us not foster a presumptuous hope, my country- 
 men, in favor of ourselves. Let us never forget, that in pro- 
 portion to the benefits bestowed on us, are our obligations and 
 responsibility increased ; and let us endeavor to avoid the 
 
128 EULOGIES ON, &C. 
 
 dangers incident to too strong a confidence of security. Let 
 us resolve to convert every benignant dispensation to its ob- 
 vious ends of practical improvement ; and whilst we draw a 
 veil over the frailties of the dead, and cherish the remembrance 
 of their virtues, let us frequently recur to the examples of their 
 lives, and advert to the union of their souls in death. Should 
 the institutions of our country be assailed by intestine vio- 
 lence, or their existence threatened by local jealousies and 
 geographical distinctions, let us revert to the national princi- 
 ples and catholic feelings of the two great chieftains of the 
 Noith and South ; and remember the auspicious day that 
 blended their kindred spirits in one admonitory death. And 
 whilst thus studious to repress the germs of rising animosities, 
 let the remembrance of our past dissentions be buried in the 
 graves of ADAMS and of JEFFERSON. 
 
PRONOUNCED IN FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH-CAROLINA, 
 
 July 20th, 1826. 
 
 BY HENRY POTTER. 
 
 Friends and fellow citizens, — " Hozo are the mighty 
 fallen,^'' was the song of lamentation, by the immortal He- 
 brew lyric Poet, over the remains of a devoted friend and an 
 insidious foe. But we have met this day to express our sor- 
 row and sympathies, for the loss, not of enemies, nor oiordi- 
 nary friends, but of two illustrious patriarchs and founders of 
 American freedom. It becomes us then, especially, in the 
 spirit of lamentation, to exclaim, " how are the mighty fallen." 
 The immortal spirits of Thomas JelTerson and John Adams 
 have taken their flight from this world, and have winged their 
 way to their God and our God — to return no more forever. 
 And though their material parts shall moulder in the silent 
 tomb, till the morning of the resurrection, yet their deeds shall 
 live in the hearts of their countrymen, and their fame shall 
 survive as long as history lasts. 
 
 From the death of Noah, the life of man began gradually to 
 decrease, till it shrunk into its present little measure of three 
 score years and ten. But let it not be said, that because an 
 all-wise and gracious Providence hath seen fit to lengthen out 
 the lives of these distinguished men beyond the ordinary term, 
 they have outlived their usefulness and that their disease, 
 long expected, is not a subject for sorrow. As an aged father 
 is to his little domestic circle, so are these worthy patriots to 
 the whole nation. And if the affections (or weakness if you 
 
130 EULOGIES ON 
 
 please) of dutiful children for a revered and departed parent, 
 however aged and enervated, manifest thems^elves in grief for 
 the bereavement, why should not the same affections, from 
 the same human nature, flow in sorrow for two departed po- 
 litical fathers and benefactors ? — But it must be apparent to 
 all who have marked the character of societies, and "'caught 
 the manners living as they rise," that man, while he lives r s- 
 pected, retains much of his influence, even to the greatest age. 
 And it is well known that the names of Jefferson and Adams, 
 were, to their last moments, held in the profoundest respect 
 and veneration. And their minds, though much worn, and 
 even dethroned of the fancy and corruscations of jouth, were 
 yet active and sound. Their opinions were highly respected 
 by an intelligent community, and all their conversations and 
 letters were lessons of instruction. They were, indeed, like 
 cities set on a hill, which could not be hid — and the American 
 people were in the habit of looking up to them as the living 
 epistles of practical liberty, to be read of all men. But when 
 we look at the letter of Thomas Jefferson written but a few 
 days before his death, and while he was languishing, who can 
 doubt the energy of his mind ? I should look around, perhaps 
 in vain, for a man of a/iyage, who, on such an occasion, could 
 write with more perspicuity and force. — And here we might 
 adopt the sentiments of an eminent poet : 
 
 The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed, 
 Lets in new light through chinks that time has made. 
 
 And now let us pause. — For whom are we sorrowing? 
 Whose eulog} are we attempting to speak ? What means your 
 sable altars and your badges of grief? Ah, my friends, ihey 
 are the mute emblems of woe — they represent the feelings of 
 the nation. And while we are employed in rendering our 
 public demonstrations of honor and respect for the deceased, 
 we are persuaded that the whole " American people are sym- 
 pathizing with us : for as in water, face answereth to face, so 
 the heart of man to man." It is a national calamity. A 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 131 
 
 nation mourns a nation's loss. Liberty weeps over her fa- 
 vorite sons, and agesyet to come will bow with reverence and 
 gratitude before the lofty monument which their labors have 
 erected. 
 
 Neither time nor opportunity permits me to attempt any 
 tiling like a chronicle of these two great men ; but as some 
 allusion to their public characters is expected of me I shall 
 cursorily notice some of the leading characteristics and facts 
 in their eventful lives. 
 
 John Adams, the venerated patriot and statesman, was born 
 the 19th of October, 1735 — he graduated in 1755 — com- 
 menced the study of the law in 1759, and continued in his 
 profession until 1774, when, his reputation for talents, inde- 
 pendence, and Roman energy, attracted public notice and 
 brought him into the public service. As a legislator and as a di- 
 plomatist, his talents shone conspicuously ; and his stern and 
 unyielding integrity, Fabricius-like, elevated him above all 
 suspicion, and commanded the respect even of his political 
 enemies. His diplomatic services in Europe, in the mo^ 
 critical and trying times, and on the most delicate subjects, 
 were enough, of themselves, to wreath his brow with never 
 withering laurels : but we are to look to Congress Hall for his 
 greatest achievements. There we see the displays of his el- 
 oquence and the manifestations of his undaunted patriotism, 
 There we behold him bearing an honorable and conspicuous 
 part in laying the chief corner-stone in the great temple of 
 liberty. And so bold and conclusive were his arguments, en- 
 forced by a resistless eloquence, that the wavering were fixed, 
 the timid encouraged, and all were resolved to support the 
 independence of their country, on the pledge of " their lives, 
 their fortunes, and their sacre-i honor.''^ In this hour of terror 
 and of darkness, his genius penetrated the gloom, and with a 
 prophetic glimpse through the dim light of distant futurity, 
 foretold the coming glories of his country — and was suffered 
 to witness, at the lapse of half a century, the fulfilment of his 
 prophecy. He entered Congress in '74. was on the Commit- 
 
132 EULOGIES ON 
 
 tee that drafted the Declarationof Independence— supported 
 it with all the powers of his mind, and signed it as an earnest 
 of the pledge it contains. He was the first Vice-President of 
 the United States, in '89, and succeeded Washington as Presi- 
 dent in '96 — exhibiting in every station, superior talents and 
 virtue. And at the protracted age of 91 years and upwards, 
 covered with honors, the good old patriarch literally sunk 
 under the weight of his years. On thenriorning of the 4th of 
 July, he rose without any naarked increase of debility, re- 
 joicing that he had been spared to witness the Jubilee of his 
 country's freedom, but became quite ill about noon, and then 
 gradually grew worse, and at 6 o'clock fell asleep, to wake 
 no more in this world. But the angel of death was not per- 
 mitted to call him hence until his heart Avas cheered with the 
 !oud acclamations of the Jubilee — a day precious in his mem- 
 ory — a day hallowed by its mighty deed, and by its mightier 
 consequences — the day with which the name of the venera- 
 ble patriot will ever be identified. With the descending sun 
 he departed. 
 
 His defence of the American Constitutions, is a fair 
 specimen of the powers of his mind, and of his talents 
 is a writer — a work, which, considering the time and circum- 
 stances under which it was written, places the author in the 
 highest ranks in political science. He is said to have been a 
 !nost interesting object even in his last days. His extreme 
 old age, though feeble, was still manly and spirited. He con- 
 Tcrsed with apparent satisfaction, with intelligence, and with 
 a copious memory of events and agents. He had not lost his 
 patriotic fire, nor even the characteristic earnestness of his 
 concern in the affairs of his country. The general effect of 
 his presence was powerful, and almost unique, when to the 
 impressions produced by those circumstances, was added the 
 recollection of the eminent, perilous, intense part which he 
 had borne in proposing and achieving the National Indepen- 
 dence ; of the various exalted and arduous public stations 
 which he had fiilled ; of his extensive learning, his sound mor- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 133 
 
 als, his simple personal habits, his warm affections, and his 
 thorough, inflexible Americanism. And the great Mr. Jeffer- 
 son, his political rival, but private friend, in 1816, emphat- 
 ically remarked, that his federal predecessor was the very 
 hfe of the Congress of '76 — that he urged the assertion of In- 
 dependence, privately and officially, with incredible zeal and 
 eloquence, and that no man could love his country more, serve 
 her with keener perseverance, or act with more gen- 
 eral rectitude than John Adams. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson was born the 2d of April, 1743. He re- 
 ceived the highest honors at William and Mary College, (his 
 Alma Mater) and studied law under the celebrated George 
 Wythe. Before the age of 25, he was a distinguished mem- 
 ber of the legislature of Virginia, and took an active part in 
 all the measures they adopted in opposition to the usurpations 
 of Great Britain. In the Congress of '75, he is said to have 
 been the author of the protest against the offensive proposi- 
 tions of Lord North. He drew the preamble to the Declara- 
 tion ofRights adopted in Virginia — but above all, he was the 
 author of the Declaration of Independence. And here, per- 
 haps, we ought to stop ; his measure of fame appears to be 
 full — all his other brilliant deeds are merged in this colossal 
 act. Here is a sort of epic point in the great political drama. 
 To be the author of this immortal instrument — this great 
 charter of the rights and liberties of man — this bold and de- 
 cisive, but wise and necessary exploit, is far more honorable 
 than the conquest of nations ; and, in the moral estimate, in- 
 finitely more grand than the subjugation of the world. All 
 the chivalrous deeds and heroic achievements of your Alex- 
 anders, your Ceesars, and your Buonaparte's, when compared 
 with this, dwindle into nothing. 
 
 But I am not permitted to end here ; important facts and 
 
 events press upon me ; and the foremost in the train is, the 
 
 act of religious toleration — drawn up and carried through the 
 
 Legislature of Virginia, by this great and good man. The 
 
 world had for centuries been groaning under the burden of 
 
 18 
 
134 EULOGIES ON 
 
 their religious task-masters : it was saddled with a domi- 
 nant and domineering hierarchy ; the consciences of men had 
 been committed to the custody of mercenary bigots : and, thus 
 enslaved, they were compelled to submit, either to the horrid 
 death of the Inquisition, or, by the miserable gaol delivery of 
 auto-de-fe, step forth into the kindled faggot ; or else, in mild- 
 er form, where reason had resumed some of her empire, to 
 compromise with conscience, by a treasonable barter of the 
 soul's hope, or to remain stedfast, and thereby forfeit many of 
 the most important civil rights which by nature belong to man. 
 Against' this ecclesiastical tyrany — this mighty engine of op- 
 pression and blood, who could be found hardy enough to lay 
 the axe to the root of the evil tree ? It was in vain to look to 
 the old world, where bigotry, with her train of prejudices and 
 malignant passions, had established, and still continued the 
 unnatural and ungodly policy : and it was hardly to be ex- 
 pected that a son of this infant republic, (herself yet in the 
 cradle) would dare to beard the lion and set the captive mind 
 at liberty. Yet this glorious deed was performed by the in- 
 trepid Jefferson. His lofty and independent genius indited 
 the preamble of that act which extinguished dominant reli- 
 gious establishments in the United States, forever ; and which 
 has laid the foundation for religious toleration throughout 
 Christendom. This act has justly procured for him the ap- 
 plause of the world. His argument is unanswerable, and the 
 sentiment, and language will serve as a standard of excellence. 
 In his last days he breathed out the same sentiments and 
 opinions : and it would be well if our children were taught to 
 read and to treasure up in their minds the language and prin- 
 ciples of this sacred document. Indeed it becomes us all, 
 while we are sitting unmolested under our vine and fig-tree, 
 to remember with gratitude that we owe our religious free- 
 dom principally to Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 The subject of our present remarks, after retiring from Con- 
 gress, was engaged in the arduous and responsible task of re- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 135 
 
 rising the laws of Virginia ; this done, he was elected Govern- 
 or of the State, at the most gloomy period of the revolution. 
 
 In '84, he was sent ( with Franklin and Adams) under a 
 plenipotentiary commission to the several powers of Europe, 
 for treaties of Commerce. In '89 he returned, and on his ar- 
 rival was appointed by Washington, the first Secretary of 
 State. And in this department, his correspondence with the 
 French and English Ministers, is a proud monument of his 
 genius ; and his official reports are ample attestations of the 
 correct and enlarged views of the Philosopher and Financier. 
 In '97, he was elected Vice President, and, four years after, 
 President of the U. States, where for eight years he conducted 
 the government with a strength of talent, a purity of purpose, 
 and a respect of constitutional principles, which serve as a 
 model for his successors. In these difficult offices, with 
 scarcely any interval between them, he laboured not for him- 
 self, but for his country and for the happiness of man ; and 
 this too, at the most trying period of our history. His latter 
 dajs were employed, principally, in rearing a Colossean Sem- 
 inary of learning, which may one day vie with a Cambridge or 
 an Oxford. Thus lived this friend of man until he attained 
 his 84th year. He inherited from his father an ample patri- 
 mony, but the public service, and his free hospitality and 
 unbounded benevolence and charity reduced him to poverty ; 
 and before his country could manifest their gratitude by re- 
 pairing, his fortunes, his taper ceased to burn — his silver 
 chord was loosed — his immortal spirit sped beyond the boun- 
 dary of time — he was gathered to his fathers. So passed 
 away the Philosopher, the Patriot, the Statesman and the 
 Philanthropist — the pride of his country — the benefactor of 
 man. And if talents the most rare, virtues the most conspic- 
 uous, and services the most useful, can entitle any man to glo- 
 ry in this Hfe, the reputation of Thomas Jefferson will be 
 among the brightest th?it history will have to record. 
 
 The day of his renown was the day of his death. It 
 had been his ardent desire to breathe the free air of the 
 
136 EULOGIES ON 
 
 50th Anniversary, and then to depart in peace ; and a mer- 
 ciful Providence preserved his life beyond all human calcula- 
 tion, until about 1 o'clock of the day of Jubilee, when the 
 applause and gratitude of a whole nation were, at that very 
 moment, rehearsing his wondrous work, and repeating his 
 praises. His death has given additional interest to a day his 
 life had rendered so illustrious. 
 
 Acquiescence (he said ten days previous to his death) is a 
 duty, under circumstances not placed among those we are 
 permitted to control. He breathed out the most fervent 
 wishes for the good of his country, and ftjr the success of the 
 political principles to which he was so ardently attached. — 
 He died without pain — the spark of life seeming rather to go 
 out itself by lack of fuel, than to be blown out. He professed 
 to be resigned to the willof Providence, and declared that he 
 wished to die in peace with all the world. Peace to thy ash- 
 es, thou venerated patriarch. National joy is now turned 
 into national sorrow ! The brightest star has fallen from the 
 brilliant galaxy of American Statesmen. "Recorded honors 
 will gather around his tomb, and thicken o'er him." His 
 death will produce a deep sensation throughout the civilized 
 world. Even his former enemies will become his warm eulo- 
 gists. And if the single act of writing and proposing the Dec- 
 laration of Independence extorted the applause of some of the 
 greatest men on the other side of the Atlantic, and raised in 
 our behalf, the voice of Chatham, in the sublimest etTusjions of 
 eloquence, and after him, of Fox, Burke, and Sheridan, 
 what impression must the congregated deeds of his benevo- 
 lent life make upon an admiring world ? His fame he has left 
 us as a legacy and it becomes us to dwell upon it. His life, 
 his fortune, and his sacred honour, were pledged to support 
 the independence of America — and he most faithfully redeem- 
 ed the pledge. He developed and modelled the genius and 
 character of our free institutions, and gave practical illustra- 
 tions and permanence to our republican government and prin*- 
 ciples ; and in the fulness of his benevolent heart he said " all 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 1 37 
 
 are Federalists, all are Republicans." And he lived to see 
 the parties so blended as to lose their former asperity, and al- 
 most to forget their distinguishing names. Great indeed is 
 the sum of good which this great and good man has done for 
 us. And, as his humanity was not limited by points and par- 
 allels, his heart embraced the human family and his works 
 were intended for the happiness of every people. In the 
 temple of fame, he will occupy a niche, on the American 
 platform, where will be arrayed, Washington and Franklin, and 
 Rittenhouse and Adams, and .a host of other worthies of our 
 revolution ; and on the world's broad canvass of great men, he 
 will ever stand in bold relief. 
 
 In the death of Jefferson and Adams there is a very re- 
 markable coincidence of facts and circumstances. They 
 were both bred to the bar — both patriots of the first order — 
 both signers and advocates of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, both espoused the cause of liberty, with all their pow- 
 ers, during the revolutionary struggle — both were foreign 
 ministers, and both were American Presidents. They both 
 lived beyond the ordinary time allotted for the life of man — 
 the health of both had been declining and had threatened 
 their dissolution — and on the memorable 4th of July, the 
 Jubilee of American Freedom, while the cannon's peal was 
 roaring, the trump of jubilee soundmg, the acclamations of 
 joy floating in the heavens, and while gratitude filled the 
 hearts and praises employed the tongues of ten millions of 
 free people, at that very moment, (wonderful to relate,) these 
 hoary-headed compatriots, were first cheered by freedom's 
 joyful sound, and then both their wheels were broken at the 
 cistern and ceased to move. These strange events are to be 
 resolved into the sovereign will of Him who disposes all 
 events, who is the dispenser of every comfort and mercy and 
 who will do right. It was His good pleasure to preserve the 
 lives of these eminent apostles of liberty, and to give them 
 the vision of that noted day, and to enable them (in their own 
 
138 EULOGIES ON, &C. 
 
 language) to breathe its free air. But the ways of Provi- 
 dence are far above the ken of mortal, finite creatures. 
 " Know, all the ways of God to man are just ; 
 And, where you can't unriddle, learn to trust." 
 
 That tliese great men were fallible, is a truth which none 
 Avill controvert. To find a being faultless you must rise 
 above this world. Let us then bury the faults of our fathers 
 with them — let us endeavor to imitate their virtues, and to 
 profit by their wise precepts and examples. Let us, in a 
 word, make a wise improvement of all the deaUngs of Jeho- 
 vah, with his creatures upon the earth, however dark and 
 mysterious they may seem to us. One generation goeth and 
 another cometh. We have succeeded to our fathers, and we 
 shall presently be succeeded by another generation. Let us 
 then, my dear friends and fellow-citizens, act well our parts 
 and we shall find our reward. 
 
 And now, may the fame of the illustrious patriarchs whose 
 loss we this day deplore, be as perpetual as time — may the 
 monument of freedom which they have contributed to erect 
 in our land, be as durable as the mountains — and may the tree 
 of liberty which has been planted in our soil, and which has 
 flourished for half a century, continue to flourish as the palm 
 tree, to grow as the cedars of Lebanon, and as an evergreen, 
 to continue its verdure until time shall be no more — and let 
 all the people say, Amen ! 
 
PRONOUNCED AT HALLOWELL, MAINE, 
 
 July, 1826, 
 
 BY PELEG SPRAGUE. 
 
 It is good for us to be here. We are assembled to pay 
 our tribute of resjDect to the memory of distinguished bene- 
 factors ; to indulge in recollections of exalted virtues and 
 resplendent talents devoted to the service of our country and 
 of mankind. Adams and Jefferson are no more ! They, 
 whose names are associated with all that belongs to us — are 
 intertwined with whatever is dear in the recollections of 
 youth, and all that is valuable in the possessions of manhood 
 — which were pronounced with reverence by trembling age, 
 and lisping infancy ; and admired throughout the civilized 
 world — they have passed away — the shroud, the coffin, and 
 the hearse have received them ; the long train has followed 
 them in sable, solemn silence, and the tomb has echoed to 
 the hollow tread of the mourners ! 
 
 To do justice to one such man would far transcend my 
 feeble powers. How doubly impossible where both arc 
 combined! If the task }ou have assigned me required this, 
 I should indeed shrink from it in despair. But we are as- 
 sembled to do them homage, not in the vain expectation of 
 adding to their glory, but to obey the impulse of our own 
 feelings, and to prove that we appreciate, and are worthy to 
 retain the blessings we have derived from them. The occa- 
 sion does not call for the minutiae of their lives and charac- 
 ters, and I shall attempt only, in a humble manner, to dwell, 
 for a {ew moments, on their prominent features, and present 
 
140 EULOGIES ON 
 
 in connexion some plain reflections upon the nature, extent, 
 and elFects of their labors. 
 
 We inquire not who were the progenitors of such men. — 
 No ancestry could add to that lustre, which will gild their 
 descendants for ages to come. 
 
 As their celebrity is derived from their intellect, it would 
 be most interesting, if time permitted, to trace the early cul- 
 tivation and the whole training of their minds. Both re- 
 ceived their education at public colleges, and both studied 
 the profession of the law. 
 
 Mr. Adams made such distinguished progress in this pro- 
 fession that, at an early age, the office of Chief Justice of his 
 native State was tendered to him ; but he declined its ac- 
 ceptance. His successful defence of the British officers 
 tried for murder at the time of the Boston massacre, when 
 popular indignation against them had been excited almost to 
 fury, shows at once his power and independence of mind, 
 and his high sense of justice and professional duty. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson rendered a most important service to his 
 State, by aiding in the revisal of all the Colonial and British 
 statutes in force in Virgmia, and reducing them, with a part 
 of the comon law, to one code. He divested them of their 
 aristocratical features and feudal barbarisms ; and by abol- 
 ishing entails, and the rights of primogeniture, decreed the 
 equal distribution of estates among children — the true agra- 
 rian law of republics, beneath which the greatest masses of 
 wealth soon melt away. 
 
 Their course of legal study and professional exertion was 
 admirably adapted to prepare them both for their destined 
 career ; to strengthen, enlarge and liberalize the mind ; to 
 give clear views of natural rights, and the violations of them 
 by human institutions. I know it is said that this profession 
 tends to narrow and contract the sphere of thought. It does 
 so, where the attention is fixed with microscopic vision, upon 
 its rigid forms and the artificial processes of mere technichal 
 deduction ; where precedentSj like the decrees of Fate, de- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 141 
 
 mand a blind submission, and inveterate absurdities are bow- 
 ed down to, with superstitious awe, which holds the intellect 
 in bondage, and shrinks from improvement as impiety. But 
 those of whom we speak regarded law in its true exalted 
 character ; the rule of human action founded on right and 
 reason, designed for the security and happiness of all ration- 
 al beings — the fountain of all human societies and human en- 
 joyment. Its origin ar>d its objects : the foundation and the 
 fabric, were by them viewed with a comprehensive eye. and 
 examined with an unyielding scrutiny ; calling into exercise 
 the most enlarged comprehension and the most vigorous 
 grasp of intellect. 
 
 In 1 770, Mr. Adams began his political career as represen- 
 tative from the town of Boston. In 1774, being elected to 
 the council, he had the honor of being negatived by Gov- 
 ernor Gage on account of his political conduct. 
 
 Mr. JetTerson was scarcely more than twenty-one years of 
 age when he was elected a member of the legislature of Vir- 
 ginia. Thus, like the father of his country, he was called 
 early into the public service. While they were yet scarcely 
 hardened into manhood, to Washington as a military com- 
 mander, Virginia entrusted the lives of her citizens and the 
 safety of her frontier ; and Jefferson mingled his counsels 
 among the reverend and the grave in her halls of legisla- 
 tion. Such was the policy of Virginia, which has nourished 
 her great men, and clustered around her so many brilliant 
 names, and gave her, for a time, such preponderating sway 
 in the national council. Whenever a new luminary was dis- 
 covered emerging from her horizon, she scattered no mists 
 of prejudice nor clouds of distrust before him, but courted 
 his earliest beams and gloried in his meridian splendor. 
 
 Adams and Jefferson in the colonial assemblies of Mas- 
 sachusetts and Virginia, and in the Continental Congress, 
 were among the earliest and most strenuous opposers of Brit* 
 ish aggre.-sion. They were conspicuously active in the meas- 
 ures which led to, and maintained our Independence. Ther 
 19 
 
142 EULOGIES ON 
 
 knew well the magnitude of the undertaking, but they knew 
 also the immense importance of our severance from the 
 mother country. They early foresaw that it was to be a 
 con testof blood ; but they saw too that the object was worth 
 all the cost of sacrifices and dangers, through which it was to 
 be attained. It is for the essential part they took in the great 
 work of our Revolution that we owe them our profoundest 
 gratitude. A work, the magnitude of which, cannot be exag- 
 gerated — its value can never be estimated. 
 
 There are those indeed, who, dazzled by the glory of Brit- 
 ain, are apt to think that there is nothing so forbidding in a 
 connexion with her, and that there could not be much dan- 
 ger under the dominion of so brave, so free, and refined a na- 
 tion. We may concede to them all that is asked for her arts, 
 her literature, and her science ; for the measured freedom 
 which she enjoys, and the watchfulness and vigor with which 
 she guards and maintains her rights. But we are not to for- 
 get the principles of human nature, and that history and ob- 
 servation teach us that those who are most jealous of their 
 own freedom, are often the most ready to bind the yoke and 
 wield the lash of servitude upon others. The refined Athe- 
 nian and the lofty Roman had their slaves, and the invincible 
 Spartans, their helots ; and even in a portion of our own 
 thrice blessed rountry, we see the high-minded, the free, and 
 the chivalric, holding their fellow men in bondage. But why 
 do we seek other illustrations when the example of Britain 
 herself is before us ? Look at her treatment of her colonies, 
 hardly excepting even those now remaining on this side 
 the Atlantic, from whose poverty she can filch no wealth, 
 and who, being contiguous to us and in full view of our un- 
 restrained happiness, are held by so feeble a tie, that, if she 
 attempt to straighten, she must sunder it. 
 
 Look at Ireland — whose green fields have been scorched 
 by oppression, and where the fruits of Heaven are blasted 
 by the breath of man ! See her emaciated sons ; with star- 
 vation on the one hand, and the gibbet on the other — they 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 143 
 
 crawl into their low, mud-built huts to carry to famishing 
 children only a communion of wretchedness ! Look at In- 
 dia — where Ambition has reddened his hands in the blood of 
 millions ; and Rapine has rioted on their spoils ! — where 
 Avarice has been sent to glean the fields which War and 
 Desolation had reaped ! 
 
 I trust that I speak from no prejudice, much less from any 
 narrow spirit of hostiHty towards England. But I would 
 have you appreciate the freedom you enjoy, and the merits 
 of those who gave it. I know that much, very much, of the 
 wrong, which Britain inflicts upon others, results inevitably 
 from her own condition. Her sense of justice yields to the 
 necessities of her own excessive population. But this ren- 
 ders not her connexion the less disastrous. The Lion is in- 
 deed of noble nature, but when his own whelps cry out for 
 hunger, le^ all beware of his embrace. 
 
 It is mere delusion to suppose that we should have es- 
 caped the deadly effects of England's unrestrained dominion, 
 if our fathers had not resisted. Had they yielded to her 
 claim of right " to bind us in all cases whatsoever," it is vain 
 to say that our Independence would only have been for a short 
 time delayed. She would have hound our infant-giant limbs 
 in fetters, and stinted them forever of their fair proportions. 
 Our people would not have multiplied as now — our commerce 
 would not have covered every sea, nor our extended fields 
 gloried in their harvests ; — but the forest would still have 
 frowned around us, and poverty, and weakness, and depend- 
 ence have been our portion. This is the thraldom — such are 
 the miseries from which Adams and Jefferson have redeemed 
 us, and honored and blessed be their names forever. 
 
 The Continental Congress was the theatre of their severest 
 trials and highest glory. Among the measures of that august 
 assembly, the Declaration of our Independence stands pre- 
 eminent. Every thing connected with it excites deep and 
 acute interest. The motion " that these States are, and of 
 right ought, to be, free and independent," was made by Rich- 
 
144 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ard Henry Lee, and, as it has been asserted, at the instance 
 of Mr. Adams. The committee on this motion consisted of 
 JetJerson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston, by whom 
 Jefferson and Adams were appointed a sub-committee, and 
 then the making of the original draught of the Declaration was 
 devolved on Mr. Jefferson alone. That which he presented 
 was approved by Mr. Adams, then by the whole committee, 
 and reported to the Congress without the change of a single 
 syllable. Some portions of the original were stricken out by 
 that body before its adoption. Among which was a most el- 
 oquent and impressive invective against the king, for having 
 introduced negro slavery into the Colonies, and still contin- 
 uing the slave trade ; which Mr. Jefferson's friends would not 
 permit to remain, but they could not deprive him of the honor 
 of having proposed it. 
 
 The Declaration, in its present form, was adopted by vote 
 of the Congress, and subscribed by its members, on the 4th of 
 July, 1776, the most important day, politically speaking, that 
 the world has ever seen. Our admiration of this instrument 
 is raised, not merely by the unequalled elegance and eleva- 
 tion of its style, but by the matchless thoughts that strike so 
 forcibly upon the heart — by the principles it developes, and 
 that firmness of purpose, which gives form and vigor to those 
 principles ; and that spirit, which breathes them into life, and 
 energy, and action. But it is as a great, solemn political act, 
 that it demands our highest veneration. What had the world 
 ever seen that was equal, that approached to it ? Go to an- 
 tiquity — to Greece, to Rome — travel over France, Spain, 
 Germany, and the whole ofmodern continental Europe. All 
 was comparative gloom : political science had not risen. Go 
 to the isles of the sea — to Britain, then the most free ofnations : 
 and Englishmen would proudly point you to their Magna 
 Charta, as their most valuable birthright, and the greatest bul- 
 wark of liberty which any nation had raised. It was so. And 
 yet how does it dwindle in the contrast with our Declaration 
 of hidependence, which was a greater era in the history of 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 145 
 
 mankind, than Magna Charta was, in the history of England. 
 The latter was a concession, extorted by armed barons from 
 their Sovereign. It was, what it is called, a charter^ from the 
 King, as the fountain of all right and power. He was their 
 lord and master — the ultimate owner of all the soil in the 
 kingdom; and this was Migrant, forced it is true, but still a 
 grant, from his grace and favor, allowing the exercise of some 
 rights to his subjects, and consenting to some limits to his roy- 
 al prerogative* 
 
 The former is not a grant of privileges to a portion of a 
 single nation — it is a Declaration, by a whole people, of what 
 before existed, and will always exist, the native equality of the 
 human race, as the true foundation of all political, of all hu- 
 man institutions. It was an assertion, that we held our rights, 
 as we hold our existence, by no charter, except from the 
 King of Kings. It vindicated the dignity of our nature. It 
 rested upon this "one inextinguishable truth, which never 
 has been and never can be wholly eradicated from the human 
 heart, placed as it is, in the very core and centre of it by its 
 Maker, that man was not made the property of nian — that hu- 
 man power is a trust for human benefit, and that when it is 
 abused, resistance becomes justice and duty." 
 
 This great truth was proclaimed to the world, with a voice 
 that reached over oceans and continents, and found an instant 
 response in every human breast. I cannot exaggerate to my- 
 self the effects it will produce, not merely upon this country, 
 but upon the future condition of the human race. Its power 
 was soon felt in the tremendous revolutions of France, and the 
 convulsive throes for liberty throughout Europe. 
 
 But it may be asked, how could those scenes, of horror and 
 of crime, have flowed from the pure and beneficent principles 
 of that Declaration ? The answer is ready. The soil of France 
 was not prepared for the seeds of liberty, and falsehood, im- 
 piety, and unbridled passion sprung up. The immense pop- 
 ulace were there sunk in the depths of brutal ignorance. It 
 bad been for ages the policy of the civil rulers and the clergy 
 
146 EULOGIES ON 
 
 to keep the people in profound darkness, as the means of per- 
 petuating their own power. The mind and the body were 
 both held in thraldom. An arbitrary government had pros- 
 trated them to the earth, and a catholic priesthood had thrown 
 over them the pall of bigotry, through which no ray J rum 
 above could penetrate. Groujid into the dust, they felt like 
 men, though they could not see like men. They knew that 
 they were wronged, but knew not the means of redress ; and, 
 rising in their wrath, were indiscriminate in their vengeance. 
 The people, there, were the strong man., who had been shorn 
 of his locks, and bound in fetters, and his eyes sealed up from 
 the light of Heaven, and his toil and agony were made the 
 profit and the sport of lords and nobles ! No wonder, that in 
 his blindness and his rage, he laid hold of the pillars of the 
 fabric, which sustained them, and buried himself and his op- 
 pressors in undistinguished ruin. 
 
 But the convulsions and miseries of Europe, since our rev- 
 olution, have not been in vain. They afford lessons to rulers 
 and subjects which cannot be forgotten. Inquiry has been 
 excited, knowledge is extending, the rights and duties of man 
 are becoming better understood, and must in their progress be 
 universally asserted and exercised. By the effects of our 
 Declaration of Independence, South America has been eman- 
 cipated, Europe enlightened, and Greece, unhappy Greece, 
 aroused from her lethargy of centuries. 
 
 Mr. Adam's participation in this great measure is not less 
 honorable than that of his illustrious colleague. His whole 
 soul seemed wrapt up in the issue. His eflforts were unremit- 
 ted. ••' Instant^m season and out of season" — in the Congress, 
 and out of it — in conversation and in debate, he exerted all 
 his powers of persuasion, and poured forth his highest strains 
 of eloquence ; and by the aid of Him, who " touched Isaiah's 
 hallowed lips with fire," he moved the heart and convinced 
 the mind, and his glorious purpose was accomplished. To 
 have been, the one the author, and the other the most effi- 
 cient advocate of that Declaration, is fame enough for both. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 147 
 
 It has placed them on the highest pinnacle of human greatness, 
 and their names will go down with unfading glory to future 
 ages. 
 
 But it was not by this act alone that Jefferson and Adams 
 were distinguished in the Continental Congress. In that as- 
 sembly of glowing patriots, they were always among the most 
 ardent : with the daring and fearless, they were among the 
 boldest : with the unyielding — among the firmest : and with 
 the sagacious — the wisest. And when we say that they were 
 eminently conspicuous in the old Congress at Philadelphia, in 
 order to understand the full merit of such distinction, we must 
 recollect who were the men that composed that body. If 
 we examine their individual characters, their state papers 
 and their public acts, we shall, with the celebrated Chatham, 
 yield them collectively our unqualified admiration. It is dif- 
 ficult to speak of them with simple justice, without appearing 
 to use the language of extravagant eulogium. For all, who 
 have not well considered, will think it incredible that they 
 should have been men of such overshadowing greatness. But 
 it should be remembered that great occasions make great men. 
 That it is amidst political revolutions that powerful minds are 
 formed and called into action. The sparks of genius are 
 struck out by the concussion, and the fury of the blast but in- 
 creases the intensity of its fires. In the calm of peace, intellect 
 may be torpid, or the inferior and unworthy, by the little arts 
 of intrigue, may rise to place and power. But when the storm 
 rages, and all feel that they are embarked together upon the 
 waves — then, when the timid quail, and the feeble tremble, 
 and the short-sighted are confounded — none but the strong 
 hand, and the firm heart, and the unblenched eye, can hold 
 the helm and direct the course. It is amidst the war of the el- 
 ements that the master spirits rule. 
 
 Mr. Adams was removed from the Congress to other scenes 
 of important duty and usefulness. In August, 1 779, he was 
 sent to Europe as a Commissioner of peace. The public ship, 
 on board which he embarked, was commanded by the gallant 
 
148 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Commodore Tucker, now living, and a citizen of this State, 
 who took more guns from the enemy, during the revolution- 
 ary war, than any other naval commander, and who has been 
 far less known and rewarded than his merits deserved. One 
 occurrence on their passage is worthy of relation, as illustrat- 
 ing the characters of both. Discovering an enemy's ship, 
 neither could resist the temptation to engage, although against 
 the dictates of prudent duty. Tucker, however, stipulated 
 that Mr. Adams should remain in the lower part of the ship a? 
 a place of safety. But no sooner had the battle commenced 
 than he was seen on deck, with a musket in his hands, fight- 
 ing as a common marine. The Commodore peremptorily or- 
 dered him below, but, called instantly away, it was not until 
 considerable time had elapsed, that he discovered this public 
 minister still at his post, intently engaged in firing upon the en- 
 my. Advancing, he exclaimed, why are you here. Sir ? I am 
 commanded by the Continental Congress to carry you in safe- 
 ty to Europe, and 1 will do it : and, seizing him in his arms, 
 forcibly carried him from the scene of dangfer. 
 
 Mr. Adams remained in Europe during the remainder of 
 the war, and for some time after, and went from court to court 
 unceasingly exerting himself for the benefit of his country. 
 He succeeded in negotiating a loan at Amsterdam ; and a 
 treaty of amity and commerce, and also a convention with 
 the Netherlands, both of which were signed in October, 1782. 
 He was engaged in negotiating the treaty with Great Britain 
 which terminated the war, and his name is subscribed to the 
 provisional articles of peace of November, 1782; the armis- 
 tice declaring a cessation of hostilities, of January, 1783 ; and 
 the definitive treaty of peace of September of the same year. 
 He was subsequently Ambassador to the court of St. James, 
 and one of the negotiators of the treaty of 1785, with 
 Prussia. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson remained in the United States, continuing 
 his efforts for the general good, in the several capacities of 
 Delegate to Congress, a Member of the Legislature and Gov- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 149 
 
 crnor of Virginia. In 1784 he was associated with Adams, 
 Franklin, Jay and Laurens, in a plenipotentiary commission 
 to the several powers of Europe, and in July, 1785, signed 
 the treaty of amity and commerce with Prussia. 
 
 In 1781, Mr. Jetferson composed his Notes on Virginia, 
 and in the years 1786 and 1787, Mr. Adams wrote his De- 
 fence of the American Constitutions. Both are works of 
 great and deserved celebrity. 
 
 Under our present federal constitution, Mr. Adams was 
 twice elected to the Vice- Presidency, and succeeded Gen. 
 Washington in the office of President. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson successively filled the stations of Secre- 
 tary of State, Vice-President, and President of the United 
 States. 
 
 The terms, for which they had severally been elected, 
 having expired, both retired from the highest offices and 
 greatest honors which this, or any country could affi[)rd, to the 
 retreats of private life : in which they were exemplars of pu- 
 rity, hospitality and usefulness. Mr. Jefferson, at Monticello, 
 devoting his time to the University of Virginia; and Mr. 
 Adams, at Quincy, holding up the lamp of his experience for 
 the guidance of others. 
 
 Mr. Adams was of an ardent temperament. His intellect 
 was marked with great fervor and great strength. Some- 
 times rapid almost to precipitancy, yet immoveably fixed in its 
 purposes. Of untiring industry, and unyielding persever- 
 ance, he was characterized by active moral courage. Scenes 
 where others were appalled, but nerved him to greater en- 
 ergy- 
 Mr. Jefferson was constitutionally calm, circumspect, and 
 
 philosophic. His views were clear and comprehensive. He 
 investigated closely and reflected much before he proceeded 
 to action, and having marked out his course with extensive 
 knowledge and deep thought, advajiced in it with uiideviating 
 step. 
 
 20 
 
150 EULOGIES ON 
 
 The minds of both seized their subjects with a giant's pow- 
 er ; but one seemed to embrace the most, and the other to 
 grasp the closest. They were both learned ; but yielded to 
 no dogmas, and were trammelled by no systems. Enriched 
 by the spoils of ages, they did not bend beneath the weight of 
 their own wealth ; but it increased their inborn independence 
 — they stood more firmly erect, and fearlessly surveyed the 
 Heavens and the earth. Wherever truth would lead, they 
 dared to follow : and they cared not if they shook the world 
 with their opinions, if they but scattered the clouds, and let in 
 light upon the mind. 
 
 I propose not to dwell upon that period of their lives 
 when they were at the head of contending parties. I would 
 not on this day strike a single chord that may not be attuned to 
 harmony. In the awful silence of the tomb, passion is hush- 
 ed, and its fires burn not amid the damps of death. What- 
 ever we may think of the correctness of their respective 
 opinions, or the policy of their measures, we may at least 
 accord to each of them honesty and singleness of intention. — 
 In this we shall but follow their own example, who' in later 
 life have born willing testimony to the merits of each other 
 — Adams proclaiming the services of Jefferson, and Jeffer- 
 son asserting that Adams was emphatically the. great man of 
 the Congress which declared our Independence. While 
 we lament their temporary alienation, we have the consola- 
 tion to know that personal friendship, and harmony of polit- 
 ical views were fully restored long before the close of life. — 
 It was grateful, it was ennobling, to see those great and good 
 men, whose hearts, in early time, had been bound and knit 
 together, but who, for a while, had been estranged from each 
 other, again unite in the cordial embrace, and the strong sym- 
 pathy, which death itself was not to sunder, but in which, 
 they were to pass together to another world. The streams 
 of their lives were united near their sources, and joined in 
 one current, had forced their way through mounds of earth, 
 and swept over appalling barriers — but, at length, divided 
 in their course, by a rough island of rock, they rushed by its 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. l5l 
 
 opposing sides with turbulent and emulous rapidity — until, at 
 last, their waters were commingled in peace, and flowed on, 
 tranquil and majestic, into the ocean of eternity. 
 
 We contemplate their departure without any thing of the 
 bitterness of despair, and with little even of the poignancy of 
 grief, but with a soothing sadness and a melancholy pleasure. 
 We mourn indeed ; but it is with the feelings in which we 
 view the closing of the year, when nature herself is falling to 
 decay, and seems to be putting on the shroud of death. We 
 must be solemn ; for it is a memento, which comes home to 
 our own hearts, and tells us, that however bright the tide or 
 proud the waves on which we ride, they bear us swiftly to 
 silence and night. 
 
 They had lived to reap the richest of earthly rewards in 
 the abundant success of all their labors. They had seen the 
 institutions, which they had established, survive the violence 
 of internal excitement, and the shock of foreign war ; and our 
 country rich, powerful and populous, beyond what the most 
 glowing visions of their youth had dared to depict. They 
 had seen the expansion of the soul, when the pressure of big- 
 otry and tyranny was removed ; and the free spirit go forth 
 in its majesty — penetrating the dark recesses of Spanish op- 
 pression in the South ; and invading the strong holds of Tur- 
 kish despotism in the East ; and iron thrones melting before 
 that fire whose early flame their breath had fanned. They 
 had lived to become the patriarchs of America, and saw their 
 children in the land of promise ; — and one of them beheld the 
 destinies of this far extended and enlightened people, safely 
 reposing in the hands of his own Patriot Son, pre-eminent for 
 wisdom and virtue. The men of other days — their compan- 
 ions and their friends, had passed away ; and new genera- 
 tions had risen up to call them blessed. Their labors were 
 finished — the mimber of their days was full — they had lived 
 enough for themselves, for their country, and mankind. It 
 Qnly remained to them, that their last prayer should be an- 
 swered in the wonderful, we may almost be permitted to 
 
152 EULOaiES ON 
 
 say, the miraculous coincidences of their departure, which 
 have given new interest to a day, which was before above 
 all days of political celebration. They passed indeed through 
 the valley of the shadow of death, but it was lighted up by 
 the brightness of their own day of Jubilee — their spirits arose 
 upon the songs of joy, and the prayers of gratitude of mill- 
 ions, whom they had made free — and had the prophet lent 
 his " chariot of fire," and his " horses of fire," their ascent 
 could hardly have been more glorious ! 
 
 It remains to us to cherish their memory, and emulate 
 their virtues, by perpetuating and extending the blessings 
 which they have bequeathed. So long as we preserve our 
 country, their fame cannot die, for it is reflected from the sur- 
 face of every thing that is beautiful and valuable in our land. 
 We cannot recur too often, nor dwell too long upon the lives 
 and characters of such men ; for our own will take something 
 of their form and impression from those on which -they rest. — 
 If we inhale the moral atmosphere in which they moved, we 
 must feel its purifying and invigorating influence. If we 
 raise our thoughts to their elevation, our minds will be ex- 
 panded and ennobled, in beholding the immeasurable dis- 
 tance beneath, and around us. " Can we breathe the pure 
 mountain air, and not be refreshed ; can we walk abroad 
 amidst the beautiful and the grand of the works of creation, 
 and feel no kindling of devotion ? 
 
 Our country has been sometimes reproached for not erect- 
 ing monuments and statues to her departed worthies. But 
 what avails the monument of brass and stone ? Sink its 
 foundations deep ; raise it as high as human ken ; when the 
 rolling years press on — it falls — they sweep over it, and leave 
 not a trace of its gloomy grandeur. Erect the statue of mar- 
 ble ; it is cold and lifeless — Time clasps it — and it becomes 
 dust in his hands. But the patriot-statesmen and philanthro- 
 pists, like those whom we this day commemorate, who have 
 been the instruments of Providence in adding to the numbers 
 and happiness of the human race ; who have peopled and 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 153 
 
 gladdened new regions — their memorials are every where ! 
 Their statues are man ; living, feeling, intelligent, adoring 
 man ; bearing the image of his maker ; having the impress 
 of divinity. These shall endure, by constant succession, 
 through countless ages, and vigorous in the embrace of Time, 
 become more and more abundant. Their momiments, are the 
 everlasting hills which they have clothed with verdure — their 
 praises, are sounds of health and joy, in vallies which they 
 have made fruitful — to them incense daily rises, in the per- 
 fumes of fragrant fields, which they have spread with cultiva- 
 tion — fair cities proclaim their glory — gorgeous mansions 
 speak their munificence — their names are inscribed on the 
 goodly habitations of men ; and on those hallowed temples 
 of God, whose spires ever point to the Heaven, which, we 
 trust, has received them. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT BRIDGEWATER, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 August 2f', 1826. 
 
 BY JOHN A. SHAW. 
 
 Closely allied to love of country, is gratitude to its ben- 
 efactors. How can we survey the blessings which throng 
 around us, which endear to us our native land, without 
 grateful emotions towards those men, by whose exertions 
 they were acquired. When our fathers are withdrawn from 
 the scene of their earthly labors, does not the heart dictate, 
 that those, who are enjoying the fruits of their services, should 
 pay a tribute of respect to their memory? Yes, fellow citi- 
 zens, we have come together to indulge in a few reflections, 
 on reviewing the eventful lives and valuable services of 
 JOHN ADAMS and THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 Were we to permit the departure of these venerable men to 
 pass unnoticed, we should seem ungrateful to Heaven for the 
 favors which it has granted us, through their instrumentality. 
 No circumstance ought more forcibly to draw our attention 
 to the great work, in which Providence was the guide and 
 the shield of our fathers, than the removal of those men 
 who were his agents in effecting it. When we call up in re- 
 view the incidents of their lives and the result of their labors, 
 we bring into remembrance the most signal dispensations of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Though the fathers of our Independence have gone from 
 mortal view, and a respectful notice of this event is due to 
 the illustrious deceased, can we call it a mournful dispensa- 
 tion ? Is there not rather cause of devout exultation, that 
 two distinguished survivor* of the revolutionary struggle have 
 
156 EULOGIES ON 
 
 been spared so long ; two who have successively held the 
 highest office in our republic ? I would call this a sacred rath- 
 er than a mournful season. The event which has brought 
 us together, ought to arrest the busy thoughts of man, and fill 
 the soul with admiration of the wondrous and beneficent 
 works of God. Is it not rather a day when it becomes every 
 man, who values the blessings of civil and religious freedom, 
 to commune with his own heart, and form some faint concep- 
 tion of what Heaven has done for the land of his birth ? 
 
 These aged pilgrims asked not for lengthened life. After 
 laboring long in the cause of man, after bearing the burthen 
 and heat of the day, they had received every reward the 
 world could give. Having themselves held the highest posts 
 of honor, they had lived to see their children also elevated by 
 the spontaneous voice of their fellow-citizens. They had 
 lived to behold their children's children commencing their 
 career in the happiest land, on which the beams of Heaven 
 ever fell ; a land powerful and happy by their exertions. — 
 More than this, they had lived to behold a complete fulfilment 
 of their sanguine hopes, in the expanded greatness and con- 
 solidated strength of a pure Republic. What more could be 
 asked for these venerable patriarchs, who had far outlived 
 nearly all the associates o f their active days, than that their 
 freed spirits might be released from the bondage of the flesh, 
 on that august hour when millions were remembering, with 
 grateful hearts, their revolutionary services ; when a great 
 nation were celebrating the day dear to freedom, the day 
 which will ever be the festival of liberty ? 
 
 The present occasion forbids us to speak at length of the 
 public course of these great men. For this would require 
 no less than a history of our country. I will therefore touch 
 briefly on what the circumstances, under which we arc assem- 
 bled, seem to require. 
 
 This section of our country has the honor of having been 
 the birth-place of John Adams. He was born on the 19th of 
 October, O. S. 1735, in that part of Braintree, which has 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 157 
 
 since been incorporated by the name of Quincy. He was 
 the fourth in descent from Henry Adams, who settled in that 
 neighborhood, near two centuries ago. It appears that he, 
 like many of our forefathers, left his native land, to follow un- 
 molested the dictates of a purer faith, and enjoy the privi- 
 leges of a purer government. The following is from the in- 
 scription on his tomb stone in the Quincy burial ground. — 
 " In memory of Henry Adams who took his flight from the 
 Dragon Persecution, in Devonshire, Eng. and alighted with 
 eight sons near Mt. Wollaston." He was also descended, 
 in another line, from John Alden, one of the pilgrim foun- 
 ders of the Plymouth Colony, in 1620. He received his 
 education at Cambridge. His professional calling was that 
 of the law. So eminent was his standing at the bar, that, 
 at an early age, he was appointed chief-justice of the State, 
 which office he declined. He was distinguished for his talents 
 decision, firmness, and deep sense of official duty, by the part 
 he took, in conjunction with Josiah Quincy, jr. in defence of 
 the British soldiers who perpetratred the " Boston Massacre" 
 in 1770. But his profession was soon sacrificed to the po- 
 litical interests of his country. 
 
 He was one of the earliest friends of liberty; was one of 
 the first, if not the very first of those that acted in the revo- 
 lution, who foresaw the independence and power of what now 
 forms the United States. In the Congress of 1776, he was 
 known as the ablest advocate of independence. When the 
 decisive step was determined on, the following was moved by 
 Richard H. Lee of Virginia, and seconded by Mr. Adams, 
 " Resolved that these United Colonies are, and of right ought 
 to be, free and independent states ; and that all pohtical 
 connexion between them and G. Britain is and ought to be 
 totally dissolved." This was on the 7th of June. While 
 the resolution was under debate, Mr. Adams enforced its ne* 
 cessit^ by an eloquent and resistless argument which bore 
 down all opposition. Mr. JeflTerson, Mr. Adams, Mr. 
 
 Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. R. R. Livingston, were 
 21 
 
158 EULOGIES or? 
 
 appo'nted a committee to prepare a Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, in conformity with the resolution. Mr. Jefferson 
 and Mr. Adams were deputed by the committee, and the 
 instrument, as is well known, was drafted by Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 The Declaration, after the omission of about a fifth, and 
 some other slight amendments, was unanimously adopted on 
 the 4th of July, 1776. JVlr. Adams put a just estimate on 
 the importance of this favorite measure. On the 5th, he 
 writes to a friend, " Yesterday was decided the greatest ques- 
 tion which was ever decided among men. A resolution was 
 passed unanimously, 'that these United States are, and of 
 right ought to be, free and independent states.' The day is 
 passed. The 4th of July '76, will be a memorable epoch in 
 the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be cel- 
 ebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary 
 festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliv- 
 erance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God." — - 
 Venerable Apostle of Liberty ! and didst thou live to behold 
 what then filled thy mighty soul with enthusiastic hope ! — 
 Well mightest thou exclaim on its fiftieth anniversary, with 
 thy expiring breath, " this is a great, a good day !" Yea it was 
 indeed a great, a good day ; and with it will be forever asso- 
 ciated the name of JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 He did not remit his exertions on the adoption of this 
 measure, but continued active in the work he had fearlessly 
 begun. While his countrymen at home were struggling in 
 the embattled field, his services were no less important 
 abroad. He was sent a commissioner to France in '78, and 
 returned in '79. He recommended to Congress every step 
 that might tend to strengthen the alliance with that country j 
 but such was his jealousy of every thing hostile to the princi- 
 ples of liberty, that he advised them, invariably ''to guard 
 against their principles in government, and the manners that 
 were so opposite to the constitution of America, and the 
 character of a young people, who might hereafter be called 
 to form establishments for a great nation." In '82 Mr. Adams 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 159 
 
 uegotiated a treaty with the Republic of Holland, and by ob- 
 taining a loan, rendered his country essential service ; for it 
 was at a crisis when their resources had been drained by a 
 long and expensive war, their paper currency become use- 
 less, and no foundation laid for public credit. He was short- 
 ly after this negotiation directed by Congress to repair to 
 Paris and assist in concluding a peace between Great Britain 
 and her revolted Colonies, then standing on the equal ground 
 of Independent States. In '84 he was united with Mr. Jeffer- 
 son and Dr. Franklin in a commission to treat with nearly all 
 the powers of Europe. In '85 he was sent as an ambassador 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 On the adoption of our constitution he was elected Vice- 
 President, and received the full confidence of General 
 Washington, then President. In '97 he succeeded the Fath- 
 er of his country as President. It was a stormy season. 
 The public mind, throughout the civilized world, was in a 
 state of high excitement. A fermentation was at work 
 among the political elements, which set calculation at defi- 
 ance. Whatever difference of opinion may exist with regard 
 to the measures of his administration ; the uniform tenor of 
 his conduct in those times, when patriotism was no cheap 
 commodity, shew at this day beyond a doubt that he was at 
 all times the ardent friend of liberty. At the close of the 
 term for which he was elected, Mr. Jefferson by a small 
 majority was preferred to him. In 1801 he retired to the an- 
 cient residence of his fathers at Quincy, from which he did 
 not permit politics to call him, except for a short time in two 
 instances. Having been the principle author of the constitu- 
 tion of this state, when the convention was called to revise it 
 in 1820, he was elected a member and unanimously chosen 
 its president. On his declining this latter honor from the 
 infirmities of age, resolutions were unanimously passed by 
 this great assembly, expressing their deep sense of his merits 
 and public services. He was also the same year an elector 
 of President and Vice President. 
 
160 EULOGIES ON 
 
 In private life his character was pure. He was a steadfast 
 believer in the religion of Christ. He scrupulously perform- 
 ed all the duties of private and domestic life ; and no stain 
 can attach to his memory, as a man and christain. To his 
 paternal instructions we are chiefly indebted for the services 
 of that illustrious statesman, who is now at the head of our na- 
 tion. The weaker traits of his character were such as are 
 seldom separated from an open, bold, confiding, and indepen- 
 dent spirit. In his advanced age his mind was vigorous. He 
 was serene and tranquil to the last. 
 
 About four weeks before his death, his native town invited 
 him, as usual, to join them in the observance of the late an- 
 niversary. The following was his reply. " June 7th. — 
 The present feeble state of my health will not permit me to 
 indulge the hope of participating, with more than by my best 
 wishes, in the joys and festivities and the solemn services of 
 that day, on which will be completed the 50th year from its 
 birth, the Independence of the United States. A remarkable 
 epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future his- 
 tory to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to 
 the use or the abuse of those political institutions by which 
 they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind." 
 
 Mr. Adams was the author of an interesting and able work 
 in defence of the American constitutions, published a short 
 time before the adoption of our present form of government. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON was born in Albemarle county, 
 Virginia, on the 2d of April, O. S. 1743. He received the 
 highest honors at the College of William and Mary in his 
 native state, and was bred to the bar. By the age of twenty- 
 five, he was a distinguished member of the Virginia legisla- 
 ture. Being a devoted friend to equal rights, he labored, and 
 with success, to give to the laws of his state a more repub- 
 lican character. A law forbidding the further importation of 
 slaves, a law for the abolition of entails, which broke in upon 
 the hereditary aristocracy of the state, also a law to abolish 
 the principle of primogeniture, a law giving equal inheritance 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 161 
 
 to sons and daughters, and a law for the security of religious 
 freedom, were all prepared by him, and carried chiefly by 
 his efforts. In '75 he was sent to the general Congress at 
 Philadelphia. Although he put in no claim to the palm of 
 eloquence, he was distinguished for the firmness of his senti- 
 ments, and the felicity and vigor of his compositions. Of the 
 committee appointed to draw up the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, he was elected by a higher vote than any other 
 member. It has already been said, while speaking of his 
 illustrious associate, that he was the author of the imperisha- 
 ble document which declared us " free, sovereign and inde- 
 pendent states." In '79 and '80 he was governor of 
 Virginia. His " Notes on Virginia," which were written in 
 '81, are an able specimen of his talents for composition, and 
 evince the correctness of his political opinions. In '84 he 
 was appointed minister to France. In October '89 he obtain- 
 ed leave to return home. While on his passage, he was 
 nominated by President Washington, Secretary of Foreign 
 Affairs. His correspondence with the French and English 
 ministers while in this station, is a proud monument of his 
 genius. This office he resigned on the last day of '93, In 
 '97 he was made Vice President, and four years after, Pres- 
 ident. In 1803 a treaty under his instruction was negotiated 
 with France, by which the extensive territory of Louisana was 
 annexed with the United States. Whatever may be thought 
 of some measures of his policy, the acquisition of a territory 
 equal in extent to the former United States, and which alone 
 Gould secure to us the undisturbed navigation of a river, 
 whose branches are spread through a fertile country equal to 
 the half of Europe — this acquisition by peaceful means, had 
 he no other claim on posterity, would render his name memo- 
 rable, so long as our Republic shall endure. He retired from 
 office in March, 1809. Since that time he has been engaged 
 in a work, on which, in his declining days, he reflected with 
 peculiar satisfaction. *' My whole labors," to repeat his 
 •wn words, " have now for many years been devoted to the 
 
162 EULOGIES ON 
 
 University of Virginia. I claim some share in this great 
 work of regeneration, and I stand pledged to follow it up, 
 through the remnant of life remaining to me." This venera- 
 ble statesman and philosopher, who had helped to lay the 
 foundation of a mighty nation, thought the work but half 
 accomplished, till the best means of education were made ac- 
 cessible to his countrymen. Let it bring home to our minds 
 the obvious truth, that only an enlightened people can be 
 free. 
 
 On the 24th of June, a few days before his death, he re- 
 turned an answer to an invitation from the City of Washing- 
 ton to unite with them in celebrating the 50th anniversary of 
 American Independence. It is proper on this occasion to 
 repeat an extract from it, not only because it is one of the last 
 paragraphs he ever penned, but because it shews the vigor of 
 his mind at that late hour, and is replete with such sentiments 
 as republicans should ever cherish. " It adds sensibly," he 
 writes, "to the sufferings of sickness to be deprived by it of a 
 personal participation in the rejoicings of that day : but acqui- 
 esence is a duty under circumstances not placed among those 
 we are permitted to control. I should indeed with peculiar 
 delight, have met and exchanged their congratulations, per- 
 sonally, with the small band, the remnant of that host of wor- 
 thies who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful 
 election we were to make for our country, between submis- 
 sion and the sword ; and to have enjoyed with them the 
 consolatory fact that our fellow-citizens after half a centurj 
 of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice 
 we made. May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, 
 (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the 
 signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monk- 
 ish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind 
 themselves, and to assume the blessing and security of self- 
 government. The form which we have substituted restores 
 the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom 
 of opinion. All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 163 
 
 man. The general spread of the lights of science has already 
 laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of 
 mankind has notbeen born with saddles on their backs, nor a 
 favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legiti- 
 mately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for 
 others ; for ourselves let the annual return of this day forever 
 refresh our recollections of these rights, and undimiuished de- 
 votion to them." 
 
 These venerable men, of whose public course I have now 
 attempted to sketch an outline, died as they had lived ; their 
 country to the last, dear to their hearts, and its Independence 
 the darling theme which lingered on their quivering lips. 
 They have gone. But the remembrance of their glorious 
 deeds will never die. Poor is the pittance of renown which 
 the world's conqueror receives, empty as the idle wind, tran- 
 sient as the shooting star, compared with that gratitude which 
 embalms in the hearts of the free, the patriot's never-dying 
 name. Their days were lengthened out far beyond the com- 
 mon age of man ; for Heaven had destined them to behold 
 during half a century, the success of that cause in which they 
 had spent the prime of their days ; the progress of that work 
 which has beat down principalities and powers, going on con- 
 quering and to conquer, and which will one day efface every 
 vestige of usurping power from an emancipated world. Heav- 
 en has already set its seal to their revolutionary services. 
 When was the hand of Providence more clearly seen than in 
 the close of their eventful lives ? But on a subject which has 
 filled, and will continue to fill, all hearts with devout wonder 
 and amazement, I need not enlarge. When centuries shall 
 have rolled away, and the mists of time shall have shed around 
 our revolutionary conflict the guise of a romantic age — when 
 the fancies of the poet shall have mmgled with the truths of 
 history, scarcely will the world refrain from classing this 
 act of Heaven with the prodigies and marvels of a fabled 
 era. 
 
 To what distinguished period of eighty or ninety years can 
 we be referred, fellow citizens, which can bear any compar- 
 
164 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ison, if we except the rise of Christianity, with the times of 
 these great men ? What a catalogue of wondrous deeds would 
 be unfolded, were there to be spread before us, not a full 
 record of its strange events, but of those transactions only, in 
 which they bore a conspicuous part ? They had seen their 
 own generations pass away, and a new race of men rai.^ed to 
 till the places of their fathers. They had seen most of the 
 civilized world transformed by revolution. In their day ma- 
 ny of the monuments of the bigotry and tyranny of former 
 times had crumbled to the dust. A world they had seen on 
 the march of improvement. What period can exhibit such 
 advances in science, arts, and useful inventions, in a develop- 
 ment of the true principles of civil and religious liberty, in exer- 
 tions for the spread of Christian truth, and in every thing that 
 tends to meliorate, refine, and exalt the condition of man- 
 kind ? The human mind is to feeble in its powers, too narrow 
 in its compass, to form a just, a comprehensive view of this 
 stupendous age. And is it too much to say that the fathers 
 of American liberty have held the foremost place in these 
 great transactions ? Are we transported beyond the bounds of 
 probability, when we say that our own revolution was made 
 the moving cause in this amazing series ? That the illustri- 
 ous men of whom we are now speaking were important agents 
 in the design of Providence, compared with the Isapoleons, 
 Alexanders, and Wellingtons, who have followed them on this 
 vast theatre ? Was not our revolution the shock which first 
 roused the slumbering nations, taught them they had rights, 
 and urged them to assert them ? Of one thing we are certain : 
 it has presented the first form, the first successful experiment 
 of a well balanced Republic ; the fairest page in the history 
 of government. 
 
 So peculiar is the condition of our country compared with 
 any state which ever rose beyond the ocean, that it was doul>t- 
 less designed to present to the world's admiring view,the first 
 model of a great and pure Republic. It was destined to be- 
 gin the work of political regeneration. And let us, let every 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. ^ 166 
 
 generation which shall follow us, be induced to carry forward 
 the good work, not only by what we owe to the memory of 
 our fathers and the claims of posterity, but by the animating 
 thought, that, so long as our free institutions shall remain, a 
 standing monitor will be before the nations of the earth, to 
 warn them of the evils of arbitrary power, and to teach them 
 the lesson of repubhcan happiness. To us is assigned the van 
 in the march of free institutions ; and these venerable men, 
 whose memories we this day cherish with grateful hearts, to- 
 gether with their illustrious compatriots, have prepared the 
 way. 
 
 Hail happy period ! when civil liberty joined with Chris- 
 tian faith, shall emancipate the world from the fetters ot des- 
 potism and the galling chains of sin. Freedom must rest on 
 the basis of public information and public virtue. This prop- 
 osition, though often repeated, is no oftener advanced than its 
 obvious importance requires. And what so efficacious as the 
 sanctions of eternal truth, as that light from above, which 
 gilds alike the lowly roof and vaulted dome, to animate, to 
 cheer, to purify, and guide us in the way of virtue, peace and 
 equal rights ? The politician may rear his well proportioned 
 fabric, but unless the light of Christianity be there, unless its 
 purifying spirit shed around its holy power, degeneracy and 
 corruption will sap the foundation. Not that it interferes 
 with forms of government, for its kingdom is not of this world. 
 Its powerful influence is a moral influence. It designs no re- 
 forms but those of personal character. It exalfs a people, only 
 byits power on the hearts of those who compose it. In pro- 
 portion as pure Christianity prevails — I mean the religion 
 taught by^^hrist, not that which has falsely assumed its name, 
 not that which has been made " a pick-lock to a place," not 
 that which, in unholy league with civil powers, has tyrannized 
 over both the body and the soul — in proportion as divine phi- 
 losophy prevails, man will respect the rights of his brother 
 man, and be ready to obey the easy rule of liberty. The 
 Christain raises in his mind no structure of the future happi- 
 
 22 
 
166 EULOGIPg ON 
 
 ness and glory of the world, without resting it on the firm and 
 broad foundation of gospel truth. He who is the servant of 
 sin cannot be the Lord's freeman ; and he is as little qualified 
 to be a good citizen of a free Republic. A corrupt commu- 
 nity must ere long be an enslaved community. 
 
 To form a correct estimate of the value of those services 
 "which Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson rendered to their coun- 
 try, look back to the circumstances under which they asserted 
 its independence. The story of the unarmed and defenceless 
 state of our fathers, and of the formidable power of their op- 
 pressor, has been again and again repeated. Destitute were 
 they of a treasury, navy, well appointed army, and foreign al- 
 lies ; destitute of every munition of war which the gigantic 
 power of Britain made necessary for the struggle. At such a 
 period, with a disaffected minority in the middle colonies, 
 these men resolved to lead the way in declaring their countij 
 free. They did not wait to follow in the track of others. 
 They were governed by no time-serving poJicy, but stood 
 forth in the foremost rank, to encourage the faint hearted and 
 uphold the weak. They were no needy adventurers who had 
 nothing to hazard ; they were not men of ruined fortunes seek- 
 ing to repair their loss by the chances of civil war — they were 
 not desperate spirits embarking in a desperate enterprize, 
 because no change could make their condition worse. 1 ney 
 had both honorably entered on their professional course. 1 he 
 road to wealth and distinction was already opened before 
 them, and the favor of a monarchy ready to visit them with 
 its dazzling honors. Had they consulted fear instead of duty, 
 the love of ease in preference to love of country, their names 
 would never have adorned the charter of our rights. Indeed 
 had the influence of but a few such men been thrown ii.tothe 
 opposite scale, the insidious encroachments of ministerial 
 policy would have gone too far for successful resistance. But 
 Ihey chose to meet oppression at the threshold, and hazard 
 all for liberty. They were ready to brave suffering and death 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 167 
 
 in'every form that tyrannic power contrives for those who 
 despise its sway. They trusted, that, whatever might be 
 their own lot, Heaven was just, and would one day establish 
 the liberties of that people who dared to assert and defend 
 them. One of these patriots thus writes on the [B.] 6th of 
 July, '76. " I am well aware of the toil and blood and treas- 
 ure it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and 
 defend these States ; yet through all the gloom I can see a 
 ray of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more 
 than all the means : and that posterity will triumph." Yesj 
 fellow citizens, it is owing to the wisdom and firmness of men 
 like these, that "reason, faith, and conscience are all our 
 own," that our country is the strong hold of freedom, and the 
 hope of the world. 
 
 In shewing our respect for the memory of these benefac= 
 tors, it is not necessary to exhibit them as faultless : for they 
 were subject to like passions with ourselves. But although 
 they may have had their faults, both as men and politicians, 
 what does not our country owe to the founders of its liberties ? 
 What American heart will not warm at the name of men who 
 embarked all in the cause of American freedom ? And what- 
 ever may be thought of some few measures of their respect- 
 ive administrations, while they were at the head of our gov- 
 ernment ; what country, during those twelve years, was so 
 well governed, what land was so prosperous and happy as 
 ours ? When we have allowed all that principle, or even pre- 
 judice, can suggest ; how grateful to the heart of an Ameri- 
 can, is the history of that period, compared with the corrup- 
 tions, oppressions, burthensome exactions, and absurd wars 
 of hereditary governments ? Let it also be borne in mind that 
 our constitution was then in its infancy. It had been but 
 eight years in operation when Mr. Adams succeeded to the 
 presidency. And surely it was no easy task to satisfy public 
 expectation, when following that man who was " first in war, 
 first in peace," first in every thing which makes man good 
 
168 EULOGIES ON 
 
 and great. It ought likewise to be observed, that, during the 
 administration of Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, the wars of 
 Europe gave the world a different aspect from what it ever 
 had before, from what it may be expected ever to present 
 again. Many of you heard the distant roar of that pohtical 
 tornado which shook the old world to its centre, and scarcely 
 spared the new. We have lived to see the storm dispersed ; 
 and though we cannot say that no cloud now dims the horizon 
 of the world, we can rejoice that the cheering beams of inde- 
 pendence, peace, and equal rights, shed their full radiance on 
 the favored shores and plains of America. Encouraged by 
 the example of those men whose memories we honor, nearly 
 a whole continent has risen to the rank of freemen : and the 
 work, though discouraged and opposed by the potentates of 
 the old world, is every where proceeding with silent but re- 
 sistless energy. Nations have been born in a day ; and if we 
 reflect how slow is the work of reform, every reasonable wish 
 of the philanthropist must be realized, should it require 
 even centuries to bring other countries to a condition like 
 ours. 
 
 How can we show our respect for the memory of the illus- 
 trious dead, so well, as by remaining firm to the principles 
 which guided them ? They acted on the belief that Americans 
 are able to govern themselves ; that the people are the foun- 
 tain of power; that hereditary rank, and entailed or exclu- 
 sive privileges, are inconsistent with the rights of man ; that 
 government is designed for the benefit of the governed, not 
 that posts of honor and trust are established to gratify the am- 
 bition and pride of those who seek to hold them. What then 
 can be said of factions formed to raise or depress individuals, 
 without regard to our country's interest, what of opposition 
 to wholesome measures merely because they proceed from a 
 certain source, what of combinations formed without regard 
 to principles, only for the purpose of perpetuating power in 
 certain hands ? What can be said of designs like these, but that 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 169 
 
 they are inconsistent with the doctrines of our repubhcan 
 fathers ? Will Americans derive no instruction from the ex- 
 ample held out by the latter days of those revolutionary pa- 
 triots, who had been rival candidates for the highest elective 
 office on earth? Will those who equally love their country, 
 who are equally attached to its independence and its free in- 
 stitutions, will they permit themselves to be broken into fac- 
 tions by party feuds, and thus dispirit the friends and encour- 
 age the enemies of free government in other countries ? These 
 great men conscious that they designed the same end, how- 
 ever they might have differed or erred in their course, when 
 the perplexities and irritations of the day had gone by, return- 
 ed to their former intimacy. With this example before us, 
 as the legacy of our departed fathers, shall the cry of faction 
 break in upon our peace, to drive from the nation's confidence 
 the able and the faithful ? Forbid it, illustrious shades! Such 
 is not the voice which speaks from the tombs of Jefferson and 
 Adams. - 
 
 Let it not, however, be understood that we are silently to 
 acquiesce in measures which we disapprove. Public opin- 
 ion should circulate free as air. The measures of public men 
 should be fearlessly discussed. Rulers should feel their res- 
 ponsibility. The first encroachment of power should be 
 promptly met. So thought the men who led the way to in- 
 dependence, and by acting as they thought, became our polit- 
 ical saviours. But the resistance which may be sometimes 
 required of their posterity, needs not the weapons of carnal 
 warfare. Mind is the moving, the controling power of free 
 institutions. For so long as the purity of elections shall be 
 preserved, and the qualifications of candidates impartially 
 weighed, httle can be feared from mal-administration. As 
 our rulers are but a deputation of the people, it is not possi- 
 ble, if the people are awake to their own duties, that any pol- 
 icy to their disadvantage can be long pursued. Every thing 
 depends on a free exercise of the elective right. It is the 
 
170 EULOGIES ON 
 
 lever which will never fail to throw incapacity or corruption 
 from its centre. 
 
 The discouragement of sectional jealousies, was also a sen- 
 timent they cherished. They would not that we should hear 
 of opposing interests in the North and in the South, of inter- 
 fering claims from the East and the West ; but that all men 
 should rally round the standard of their common country. Of 
 all parties, those formed by geographical lines would soonest 
 weaken the national compact. Our constitution was formed 
 in a spirit of conciliation and compromise ; and let the same 
 spirit preserve it. 
 
 No, venerable Fathers, your American children can never 
 be so ungrateful as to trifle with the rights secured by your 
 prompt resistance, your manly firmness, by your toils and sac- 
 rifices. They cannot with sacrilegious hand profane that 
 temple of liberty, which was founded in your wisdom, and ce- 
 mented by the blood of the brave ; that temple in which all 
 nations will one day worship. We will revere your memory : 
 we will cherish the sentiments which guided you to freedom. 
 When we look around on the expanding greatness of our 
 powerful Republic — on its inexhaustible resources, when our 
 hearts glow at the happiness which lights the smile of joy in 
 every corner of our land •, your names shall be associated 
 with all its glory. 
 
 Happy men ! to have been the instruments of Heaven in 
 such a cause. Happy, to have been spared so long as to be- 
 hold the success of your toils, and the accomplishment of all 
 your hopes. Happy in the gratitude of favored millions, 
 happy in the august scene which closed your earthly course 
 on that memorable day, and bore the testimony of Heaven to 
 your exalted services ! Your memory is embalmed in the 
 hearts of your countrymen. The waves of time, in their re- 
 sistless course, will bear down the names of heroes and of 
 kings ; but the glory of your deeds shall rise above the flood, 
 enduring as the everlasting hills, and on it shall rest the light 
 of ages. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 171 
 
 Poor is the tribute we can bring. Your monument is the 
 freedom of your country ; and your eulogy, the praise of ran- 
 somed millions. 
 
 NOTE A- 
 
 The resolution for the Declaration of Independence was passed 
 unanimously, only as it regarded States. Individuals of the con- 
 vention opposed it. A majority of the Pennsylvania delegation 
 had previously opposed it ; but the absence of two of their dele- 
 gates on the final vote, left a majority in its favor. It was oppo- 
 sed because it was thought to be premature. 
 
 B. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Adams is quoted as it is usually printed. It 
 was, in reality, dated the 3d of July, and referred to the adoption 
 of the resolution of Independence. The Declaration was not 
 signed and published till the 4th. The quotation on the 1 58th page 
 is from the same letter. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 August 2, 1826. 
 
 BY SAx^IUEL L. KNAPP, 
 
 It is recorded of an orator of antiquity, that when he was 
 about to speak in public, he addressed a prayer to the gods, 
 "that not a word might unawares escape him, unsuitable to 
 the occasion." Be that prayer in my liturgy this day. 
 
 Young Gentlemen of Boston ; I come at your request, 
 not with a basket of sweet-scented flowers, to deck the bier 
 of virgin loveliness fallen with a broken heart ; nor to raise 
 loud lamentations over the youthful warrior, sleeping in hia 
 shroud ; or to breathe a people's feverish despondency at 
 the sudden death of a great man, taken from us in the midst 
 of usefulness, while the cares of a nation were upon him.— 
 But to lead you to meditate at the grave of two departed pa* 
 triarchs, who, having borne the heat and burthen of the day, 
 and enjoyed in repose the cool of the evening of life, quietly 
 sunk to rest, full o^ '•'■ immortal longings,'''' 
 
 To commemorate the illustrious dead, is a dictate of na- 
 ture, and has been the practice in all ages, especially among 
 an enlightened people ; who, fearful that the fleeting breath 
 of praise would not be suflScient to preserve the names of 
 their great men, erected tombs, monuments and pyramids, to 
 perpetuate the fame of those who had benefitted mankind. — 
 The Egyptians sat in judgment upon those who died, and de- 
 creed the sort of burial and sarcophagus the deceased had 
 merited. From this people came the most rational disposi- 
 23 
 
174 EULOGIES ON 
 
 tion of departed souls that ever imagination formed, and one 
 which revelation has since in part sanctioned. The Athe- 
 nians not only pronounced funeral orations, and publicly 
 mourned individuals as they deceased, but once a year held 
 a solemn festival in honor of the mighty dead. The Ro- 
 mans were still more careful to pay funeral honors where 3j 
 they were deserved. Every great man had his orator to 
 speak at his funeral, from Junius Brutus to Julius Coesar, 
 and the memory of their virtues was preserved by the balmy 
 breath of friendship and love. The Holy Bible, to which 
 we turn for precepts and examples, abounds with eulogies on 
 the dead. The Psalmist of Israel pronounced an imperish- 
 able panegyric upon the untimely fate of Saul and Jonathan, 
 in which their virtues only were named in the hallowed strain 
 of affection ; other things were left to the chronicles of the 
 day. This was not the momentary burst of grief, but was 
 intended for permanent effect. It was an epic record of 
 the virtues of '■'•the mighty who had fall n,^'' "the meas- 
 ure of which he ordered to be taught to the children of 
 
 Judah." 
 
 In a republic like ours, it is peculiarly proper to pay funer- 
 al honors to those who assisted in giving us freedom and fame. 
 Their reputation is identified with our national history, and 
 it can never be fully understood without an acquaintance 
 with the motives, the talents and deeds of our fathers. 
 
 The actors in our revolutionary conflict have been falling 
 away, one after another, like the leaves of autumn, until the 
 number left were but few, and those scattered through the 
 country. The list of our provincial congress is nearly a full 
 starred catalogue, and of the signers of the Declaration of 
 Independence, but three only remained when the fiftieth year 
 bad come, and the jubilee was sounded through the land. — 
 On thiit mem arable day, demonstrations of joy were extend- 
 ded through a great and happy country — twelve millions of 
 people raised their united voices to God, in gratitude and 
 thanksgiving for all his manifold kindnesses to our nation, and 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. J75 
 
 for preserving the lives of three venerable patriarchs, who 
 had survived to see the prosperity of their country, after 
 half a hundred years from the hour of doubt and danger in 
 which they were called to act. The festivities and the day 
 were ended — the next morning's sun arose — the public knell 
 was struck and the cry was, that the sage of Quincy died yes- 
 terday. Singular occurrence ! Wonderful event ! What 
 a happy hour in which to leave the world ! — were the ejacu- 
 lations from every tongue. The mathematician was calcu- 
 lating the chances of such a death, the superstitious viewed 
 it as miraculous, and the judicious saw in the event the hand 
 of that Providence, without whose notice 7wt a sparrow falls 
 to the ground. While this knell was still vibrating on our 
 ears, and wonder was still sitting on the countenances of all, 
 that death-note was struck again ; it came from city to city, 
 on the southern breeze, and told a tale of still greater won- 
 der — that at the noon-tide of the jubilee, the angel of death 
 had summoned the great philosopher and philanthropist of 
 Monticello to immortality. The hand of God was seen by 
 all ; and a whole people are now falling upon their knees to 
 acknowledge Him the wise ruler of the universe, who in the 
 midst of his chastenings, shows his love for the beings he has 
 created ; and we are now at the altar, as it were, with the 
 ashes of these patriarchs before us, to express our gratitude 
 that they lived so long and expired as they did. 
 
 At the funeral solemnities we can do but little more than 
 show a few of the garments the deceased made for a naked 
 land, and pluck as we follow the funeral car, a sprig or two 
 of evergreen to drop into the fresh made grave ; and as the 
 earth closes over them, put down a head and a foot stone, in 
 order to show the future architect where to place the menu-: 
 ment, when the materials shall be collected for the purpose. 
 It is seldom that the mourner at the grave writes the inscrip- 
 tion on the marble that covers it. 
 
 Only one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence 
 now survives — the venerable Charles Carroll, of Maryland, 
 
176 EULOGIES ON 
 
 is the last of that sacred band. But he is not alone in the 
 world, for millions claim kindred to him, and new-born gen- 
 erations wear him in their hearts, and support him in their 
 arms ; and if their prayers can avail, he will tarry a little 
 longer, to receive the affectionate attentions of a grateful 
 people. 
 
 But, however, to show the justice of the praise we may 
 bestow, it is necessary to narrate some of the events of their 
 lives but is impossible, in a short discourse, at this time, to 
 do but little more than go from date to date in their annals, 
 and to offer a few remarks as we pass along ; leaving it to 
 the future historian and biographer to delineate their char- 
 acters in the minuteness the subjects demand. 
 
 John Adams was born at Qunicj'^, then a part of Braintree, 
 October 19th, 1735. He was educated at Harvard Universi- 
 ty, and graduated in 1755. While at college he was distin- 
 guished for all those characteristics which mark the future 
 great man. His learned and evangelical friend and class- 
 mate, the Rev. Dr. Hemmenway, often spoke of the honesty, 
 openness and decision of character which he displayed while 
 an under-graduate, and illustrated his opinions by numerous 
 anecdotes. From Cambridge he went to Worcester, and for 
 a time instructed in the grammar school in that town ; and 
 studied the profession of the law with Mr. Putnam, a barrister 
 of eminence. By him he was introduced to the celebrated 
 Jeremy Gridley, then Attorney General of the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay. At the tirst interview they became 
 friends. Gridley at once proposed Mr. Adams for admission 
 to the bar of Suffolk, and took him into special favor. Soon 
 after his admission, Mr. Gridley led his young friend into a 
 private chamber, with an air of secrecy, and pointing to a 
 book case, said, sir, there is a secret of my eminence, and of 
 which you may avail yourself if you please. It was a pretty 
 good collection of treatises on the civil law, with the insti- 
 tutes, of Justinian. It was, indeed, a field which had not 
 been very widely opened to the lawyers of the day. In this 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 177 
 
 place Mr. Adams spent his days and nights, until he made 
 himself a good master of the code. It may seem strange to 
 us of the pre!«ent time, to find that there was so much empir- 
 icism in a profession now so far from mystery. Yet it was, 
 unquestionably, the case in that day. And those acquainted 
 with the urbanity of the present judges in our country, can 
 hardly imagine how difficult it was for a young lawyer to go 
 on against the overbearing and austere manner of every crea- 
 ture, great or small, then called a judge. Mr. Adams first 
 discovered his lofty spirit of mdependence, by breaking in 
 upon these encroachments of arbitrary power. The learn- 
 ing and spirit of the young advocate were soon taken notice 
 of by the bar and made known to his clients. As early as 
 1765, he was associated with Otis and others in the great 
 cause of liberty, in appearing before the Governor and Coun- 
 cil to argue with them upon the stamp act, and to insist, at 
 all events, "• that the courts should administer justice without 
 stamped papery He had been about twelve years at the 
 bar when he was called upon to act as of counsel for Cap- 
 tain Preston and his soldiers, who were to be tried for an al- 
 leged murder of certain citizens of Boston. Mr. Adams 
 was well aware of the popular indignation against these pris- 
 oners, and he was at this time a representative of Boston in 
 file general court, which office depends entirely upon popular 
 favor ; but he knew what was due to his profession and to 
 himself, and hazarded the consequences. The trial was well 
 managed. The captain was severed in his trial from the sol- 
 diers, who were tried first, and their defence rested, in part, 
 upon the orders, real or supposed, given by the officer to his 
 men to fire. This was, in a good measure, successful. On the 
 trial of Capt. Preston, no such order to fire could be proved. 
 The result was as it should have been, an acquittal. It was 
 a glorious thing that the counsel and jury had nerve sufficient 
 to breast the torrent of public feeling. It showed Britain that 
 she had not a mere mob to deal with, but resolute and deter- 
 mined men, who could restrain themselves. " Such mm arc 
 
178 EULOGIES ON 
 
 dangerous to arbitrary pozoer.^^ At this time, Gridley was 
 dead, and the intellectual lamp of Otis was flickering and 
 decreasing, if, indeed, the ray of reason was partially left ; 
 and Mr. Adams had but few to contend with him in the race. 
 Sewall and Leonard, were leaning to the side of power, and 
 were supporting the ministry in the papers of the day. Mr. 
 Adams appeared under a feigned name, as was the usual 
 mode of discussing subjects at that time, and met the crown 
 writers with great vigor and success. He soon saw that the 
 question must be settled by arms, and calmly made up his 
 mind for the event, even to martyrdom. He knew the spirit 
 of New England and her resources ; and he insisted that the 
 former could never be destroyed, however long the struggle 
 might last. Not a single word ever escaped him that looked 
 like doubt or despair. When the question of Independence 
 was agitated in the continental congresss, he was fully pre- 
 pared — his soul was lighted up by its fires, and his mouth 
 was filled with the arguments it inspired. So full and so 
 forcible was his reasoning on this subject, that when he had 
 finished his speech on some previous motion, which involved 
 the merits of this question, even his friends were astonished 
 that he had matured the subject so well. 
 
 In 1780, Mr. Adams was sent to Holland, with full powers 
 from congress to negociate for a loan, for that body had seen 
 the pernicious effects of a paper currency without some of 
 the precious metals to redeem it, in part, if not to a full ex- 
 tent. Money at all events must be had. The sword-arm of 
 the nation would have soon fallen from its socket, without 
 this sinew of war. Holland was rich, and, as we hoped, kind- 
 ly disposed to these colonies, for she had once redeemed 
 herself from a foreign yoke, and had, of course, a sympathy 
 for those making similar exertions ; still she was a cautious 
 merchant, and although not without patriotic sentiments, 
 made shrewd calculations upon the chances of our success in 
 the struggle, and of our future ability to refund the loan, if suc- 
 cessful. The minister saw at a glance the disposition of the au- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 179 
 
 thorities, and the course to be pursued, and set about it with- 
 out delay. It was to make them acquainted with us ; to deve- 
 lope our resources and capacities, if we were successful ; to 
 explain the extent of our country ; the nature of the soil and its 
 productions; the hardihood, enterprise and industry of the 
 people ; their frugal habits, their simplicity and purity of man- 
 ners, and the rapid increase of population. All these were to 
 be made clear before the vaults of the bank could be opened. 
 That we had no money at that time, was nothing to them, for 
 their mercantile and financial sagacity had established some 
 new axioms in political economy. Nations had been consid- 
 ered rich in proportion to the sums in the treasury ; they 
 thought a nation wealthy when the people had industrious 
 habits and ready means of business, and could pursue it with- 
 out shackles. Mr. Adams spared no pains to give them cor- 
 rect information. The Dutch were convinced, and the loan 
 effected. A courtier with flexible principles and polished 
 manners, with sufficient means for display, and for less hon- 
 est purposes, may gain fame as a negociator, at an easy price ; 
 but to leave a country almost unknown to the great mass of Eu- 
 ropeans, and in a state of revolutionary war, and under these 
 circumstances to ask for money — the worst of all matters of 
 negociation — and to obtain it by intelligence, and energy of 
 character, has no parallel in the history of diplomacy. 
 
 Mr. Adams was one of the commissioners who signed the 
 treaty of peace in 1783. His share in that great business 
 will hereafter be more fully known, but it is not improper to 
 say at this tjnfie, that to him we are indebted for the preser- 
 vation of the fisheries. 
 
 As our first minister to England, he conducted with so 
 much judgment, dignity, and courtesy, as to exalt himself 
 and his country, and to conciliate the feelings and to gain 
 the respect and confidence of the one he was nigh. 
 
 As Vice President of the United States, he presided over 
 the senate with impartiality, readiness, dignity and intelli- 
 gence ; never yielding his rights to obstreperous contumely, 
 
180 EULOGIES ON 
 
 for party purposes, or ever infringing the rights of others, 
 by petalent assumptions of prerogative. 
 
 Of him as President we shall say nothing, for fear of bring- 
 ing up, in the minds of some, an allusion to politics, which 
 are banished from these consecrated walls on this day ; but 
 it can give no pain to any one to hear it said, that in his ad- 
 ministration, Truxton, Preble, Shaw, and others, ushered in 
 the dawn of our naval fame. 
 
 Thomas Jetferson was born in Virginia, on the second day 
 of April, 1743. He was educated at William and Mary Col- 
 lege, and on leaving this seminary he went into the office of 
 Chancellor Wythe, a gentleman of great celebrity in his day, 
 Mr. Jefferson commenced practice quite young, and soon 
 acquired distinction in his profession. In 1 769 he was found 
 in the legislature of Virginia, as an active member. He 
 took an enlarged view of the principles of a free government, 
 and expressed them with great boldness. In 1774 he wrote 
 and published his " summary view of the rights of British 
 America," which gave him no small share of fame, which was 
 still greatly increased by his reply, prepared as one of the 
 committee of the assembly, to the propositions of the British 
 Minister to the Governor of Virginia. In 1775 he took his 
 seat as a member of the general congress, at Philadelphia. — 
 Virginia had then felt but little of the encroachment of arbi- 
 trary power, but Mr. Jefferson saw that yielding principles 
 would invite aggressions. In this august body he soon be- 
 came conspicuous. The fame he had acquired in his native 
 state followed him to Philadelphia, and his exertions there 
 were well calculated to secure and enhance it. It was his 
 good fortune while in this body to draft the Declaration of 
 Independence. The subject had been privately discussed and 
 settled, and the remaining question then was, on the form in 
 which it should come before the world in justification of the 
 procedure. 
 
 In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was made Governor of Virginia -j 
 and during his administration, that "traitor-fiend," Bene- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. I8l 
 
 diet Arnold, made an incursion into Virginia, with a formida- 
 ble force, and the Governor had no troops to oppose him. — 
 Some of the Hotspurs of the day thought he might have done 
 something to have checked the progress of the enemy, but 
 time has settled the question in favor of the course Mr. Jef- 
 ferson pursued, as wise and correct. In 1781, when we had 
 hardly seen an American book upon statistics, Mr. Jefier- 
 son wrote his Notes on Virginia, to answer and refute the as- 
 sertion, " that man was belittled in America,'''' as had been 
 stated by some prejudiced travellers from Europe. In 1782 
 he was appointed to join our envoys in France, but before 
 he could get ready to sail, a treaty of peace had been signed; 
 and on hearing of this news, he considered his voyage unne- 
 cessary. In 1784 he was a commissioner with Dr. Franklin 
 and Mr. Adams, to attend to our national affairs in Europe, 
 with full powers to make treaties with such nations as should 
 be thought advisable. A treat} was at this time made with 
 Prussia, When Dr. Franklin returned to America, Mr, 
 Jefferson was appointed his successor in France. The po- 
 litical feuds in that country, at that time, prevented any fur- 
 ther negociations with the government, and gave the Ameri- 
 can Minister an opportunity to enjoy the society of the learn- 
 ed men who then figured at Paris. In 1789 he returned to 
 his native country, and instantly on his arrival was appointed 
 Secretary of State under President Washington, which office 
 he resigned in 1794. In 1797, he was elected Vice Presi- 
 dent of the United States, and in 1801, President, in which of- 
 fice he continued eight years, and then retired to private life. 
 He lived in a period, as his cotemporary did, of difficulty and 
 trial, with friends and enemies, calmly pursuing his own 
 course. When his advocates and his opposers are gone, the 
 furture historian will discuss the merits of his administration. 
 Since his retirement from the duties of office, he has been 
 constantly engaged in some plan for the good of mankind. — 
 Being one of the early converts to the efficacy of vaccination, 
 
 as a preventative of that awful scourge of mankind, the small 
 
 24 
 
182 EULOGIES ON 
 
 pox, he not only labored to extend the blessing throughout 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia, bat also to the aborigines of 
 our western wilds, to whom this pestilence was even more 
 dreadful than to civilized society. The medical skill of the 
 natives of the forest did not reach even an assuagent of this 
 malady. They opposed flight or moral courage to the dread 
 of an attack of this disease. Whole tribes were swept away 
 at once. This philanthropist exerted himself to bring the 
 Indians to a belief in this preventative ; and coming from 
 so great and kind a father as Mr. Jefferson, they thought 
 that it must have been sent him from the Great Spirit, and 
 they yielded to the process of inoculation without opposi- 
 tion. 
 
 The first continental congress, of which Mr. Adams and 
 Mr. Jefferson were members, was an assemblage of truly 
 great men. In times of danger, all eyes rest on the most 
 able and worthy. It is only in times of party and animosity, 
 that we trust our dearest interests with those, who, forgetting 
 their own dignity, will act only on narrow principles, for self- 
 ish purposes. It was a band of men who wore no concealed 
 dagger for their enemies, but which spoke a thousand, in their 
 calm, cautious, and manly proceedings. The fate of unborn 
 millions was in their charge. With them every talent found 
 its appropriate use. Danger and responsibility seemed to 
 purge their mental vision with euphrasy, to ken the peculiar 
 traits ofcharacter each possessed. The martial air, the spot- 
 less integrity, and the well tried ability and courage of Wash- 
 ington, pointed him out for a leader of the armies to be raised 
 in support of the measures which had been, or were about to 
 be adopted. They wisely acted in conclave on all important 
 questions, that the world at large, nor even their own friends 
 around them, should witness any disagreement among the 
 members of that body. Franklin, that great reader of the 
 characters of men, and of the disposition of nations, was early 
 sent abroad to conciliate, to examine, to report, and to act, 
 when it should be thought wise and expedient so to do. Lau- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 183 
 
 rens and Lee were sometimes with him, before Adams was 
 sent to join him — men of fashion and honor, and who repre- 
 sented an important portion of our country. To show the 
 wisdom of that body, from those who first assembled at Phi- 
 ladelphia to those who acted at ihe close of the war, we need 
 only examine their journals, manifestos, and other state pa- 
 pers. They contain no boastings, no furious denunciations of 
 those stung to madness, whose fury increases their weakness ; 
 no overwhelming joy at success ; but those calm remonstran- 
 ces, those dignified upbraidings, those cautious expressions of 
 self respect, which carried with them the soul of high resolve 
 and unyielding purpose. The gaze of the world was upon 
 them. The friends of freedom were wishing them success, 
 and the advocates for powers, dominions, and thrones, loadr 
 ingthem with imprecations, and denouncing them as rebels. 
 Such, amidst all these things, was the firmness of their step, 
 and the rapidity of their march, that their friends increased 
 and their enemies were diminished. The great nations of 
 Europe were directly engaged in the struggle, and hope grew 
 fresher every hour, as the conflict proceeded. The little fluc- 
 tuations of hope and fear, at home, were carefully concealed 
 from those at a distance. At length success crowned their 
 labors, and peace came with some of its blessings and many of 
 its dangers. It required as much talent, or more, to form a 
 government suited to our wants, capacities and interests ; one 
 which would contain principles sufficiently expansive for 
 present purposes and for our future growth, as it did to resist 
 oppression and to direct the means to the ends in obtaining 
 freedom. All was achieved, and the leading men in every part 
 of our country who exerted themselves in this second Hercu- 
 lean labor, ought to be remembered as well as those who per- 
 formed the first. In truth, they were nearly all the same 
 persons, a few only had grown up to assist them. 
 
 It is common in the history of man, to find those who for 
 years had been rivals for power and fame when living, become 
 co-heirs of glory when dead. Ancient and modern times are 
 
1^4 EULOGIES ON 
 
 full of such instances. The two great rival statesmen, Cimon 
 and Pericles, who alternately swayed the volatile opinions of 
 the Athenians, and wielded the thunder of that important Re- 
 puhhc, found the same honest historian, who freely discussed 
 their several merits, and left it on record ; and the great war- 
 riors of Rome, C;esar and Pompey, have been united, and 
 compared in all ages succeeding that in which they lived. In 
 more modern times, Holland and Chatham have come down 
 to us together, and their sons, Fox and Pitt, who for more ihan 
 twenty years were the theme of admiration of one party or 
 the other in England, are now placed side by side in their 
 graves, and their eloquence, and their deeds, are written on 
 the same page of history ; so it has been, so it v/ill be. If 
 ordinary men chance to die in high places, the eulogist is con- 
 strained to cull from the harrcnheath of their lives, here and 
 there a flower to make up a garland for their hearse, but when 
 truly great men leave the world, we may speak of them be- 
 fore their ashes are cold, as if they had been dead a century. 
 The men whose decease we have met to commemorate, were 
 great men. Adams was a man of robust intellect and of mar- 
 tial feelings ; he had in his elements much of the old New- 
 England hardihood, and that quickness which they had to feel 
 an insult. Jefferson was shrewd, quick, philosophical and 
 excursive in his views, and kept at all times such a command 
 over his temper, that no one could discover the workings of 
 his soul. The deep discerner of character of ancient days, 
 if he had studied these men, would probably have said, the 
 former belonged to the school of Socrates, and the latter 
 to that of Seneca. Their minds were not only ditferent in 
 their elementary properties, but education had made the dif- 
 ference still wider. Adams was born and educated on the 
 seaboard, and practised law in a seaport ' whose merchants 
 were princes, and whose traffickers were among the honora- 
 ble of the earth.' He entered deeply into the views of this 
 class of men — and commerce, and its protector, a navy, were 
 the desire of his heart from the first dawn of the Revolution. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 185 
 
 Jefferson was a planter, the son of a planter, and his first im- 
 pressions were of extended lands and literary and philosoph- 
 ical ease. Agricultural pursuits had morecharms for him than 
 commerce. The productions of their pens also mark the dif- 
 ference in their mode of thinking and reasoning. Adams 
 grasped at facts drawn from practical life, and instantly rea- 
 soned upon them. Jefferson saw man and his nature through 
 generalities, and formed his opinions by philosophical induc- 
 tions of a more theoretical cast. In the writings of Adams, 
 you sometimes find the abruptness and singularity of the lan- 
 guage of prophecy ; in those of Jefferson, the sweet wander- 
 ings of the descriptive, and the lovely creations of tlie in- 
 ventive muse. When these great men first met, the 
 subject was so important they were called to consider, 
 that not only they, but most of their compeers, seemed made 
 with similar feelings and dispositions. There was such a ne- 
 cessity of concert and harmony, that the lights and shades of 
 character could not be minutely displayed. When the great 
 labor was finished, there was more leasure to compare opin- 
 ions on subjects which were minor in their nature and 
 effect. 
 
 In a few years after our constitution was established, but 
 when the machine was hardly in operation, in all its parts, an 
 event happened which divided the opinions of the wise, and 
 shook many of the settled axioms in politics. This was the 
 French Revolution. Adams, reasoning from the nature of 
 man as he had practically found him, had fears from the first, 
 that freedom would gain but little by the throes and struggles 
 for liberty in France. The note of joy for deliverance, to his 
 ear, contained the fearful tone of delirium. His letter to Dr. 
 Price, an enthusiastic believer in the success of the lovers of 
 freedom, contains a view of the subject that seems bordering 
 upon that prescient wisdom which belongs to superior beings. 
 He had seen France, when she ' before the cross believed and 
 slept,' and had watched her encyclopedists and illuminees, and 
 beheld them silently laying their trains and maturing their 
 plans for the awful explosion. He feared that in breaking 
 
 \ 
 
186 EULOGIES ON 
 
 their chain?, the hmhs they bound would be lacerated and de- 
 stroyed. Jctrcrson lived with these men of letters, and saw 
 them through the lovely medium of literature and the sciences, 
 and discovered so many of them to be honest and amiable, 
 and wishing for no more than every good man could ask, and 
 defending their theories with all the beauties of rhetoric and 
 the charms of eloquence, he believed with these disciples of 
 liberty, that after a few spasms of frenzy, France would en- 
 joy the blessings of an ameliorated government. In this opin- 
 ion he vras supported by many politicians of great experience 
 in every civilized country, and it was too delightful a vision 
 for a philanthropist suddenly to give up. Every thing done 
 in France had a bearing upon the U. States. The coal was 
 takenfrom our altar by which the fire was kindled there, and we 
 were proud to think that it first descended from heaven to us. 
 Gratitude to the French nation for assisting us in our struggle, 
 united to an inborn love of freedom, blinded the eyes and in- 
 fluenced the judgments of many honest and fair minded men. 
 Every politician cast his horoscope and made his own astro- 
 locrical calculations at the birth of the French revolution, and 
 this country w^as bewildered in the disagreement of results. 
 
 I rejoice for my country that these great minds assimilated 
 in so many things, and differed in so many others. There 
 was much to be done for the growth of the country in every de- 
 partment of a great Repubhc. No mind could embrace all 
 branches of duty. No one individual could think of every thing 
 necessary to be done. While Franklin was stealing the light- 
 ning from the clouds, Washington was taking lessons from 
 British generals. If Fulton and Perkins had been village pol- 
 iticians, it would have been, in all probability, a long time be- 
 fore we should have seen a stereotype check-plate, or wit- 
 nessed the rapid movements of a steam-boat. If Adams had 
 been a midland agriculturalist, our navy, of which he is now 
 justly styled the father, might to this day have consisted of a 
 {^^ small vessels fit only for coasting about our waters, and 
 perhaps with the addition of a few feeble floating batteries for 
 scacoast defence. Or if Jeflerson had been a great military 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 187 
 
 commander, fund of the pomp, pride, and circumstance of war, 
 Louisiania might not have been ours to this day. It is true, 
 that we might have possessed it by conquest, after a waste of 
 lives and treasure ; but such possessions are always uncertain. 
 The territory won by war, is always ready to change masters, 
 and never loses its thirst for blood, and a disposition to con- 
 vulsions ; but when obtained by fair purchase and common 
 consent, its landmarks are permanent, its disposition quiel, 
 and the title deeds are recorded in the annals of history, and 
 considered legal by all nations. 
 
 In many opinions and acts these great men resembled each 
 other ; both labored incessantly in their native States ; each 
 assisted in framing the Constitution of the Commonwealth in 
 which he resided. There is hardly' an institution in Massachu- 
 setts, for the improvement of the arts, sciences and letters, to 
 which Mr. Adams did not largely contribute — and Jetierson's 
 name is asynonyme of the University of Virginia ; and to him 
 are we indebted for the charter of the Phi Beta Kappa Soci- 
 ety, which he brought from Germany, an Alpha of which is 
 extended to six colleges in the United States. It is an admi- 
 rable incentive to literary ambition. Both were free from 
 that disease so incident to old age — that malady which checks 
 the best impulses of the heart, and in time impairs the mind 
 by deadening the moral sense — avarice. Jefferson after all 
 his opportunities to amass wealth, died poor, and Adams was 
 not rich. They labored for others, and forgot themselves, in 
 that prosperous period in our history, when it almost literally 
 rained gold. In another instance they were alike — in youth 
 they had the gravity of years, and in old age the freshness of 
 youth. The elixir they drank to give an imperishable bloom 
 to their minds, was the rich and varied literature of the day ; 
 they kept pace with the rapid current of knowledge as it flow- 
 ed along, and seized every new publication with the eager- 
 ness of a fresh appetite. Their lives prove to us that the 
 method of embalming the mental faculties is not lost : it is to 
 keep them in the perpetual sunshine of vigorous intellects, and 
 
JiiS EULOGIES ON 
 
 braced up by the outpourings of kindred spirits. The exten- 
 sive correspondence, their numerous acquaintances and their 
 rank in society necessarily brought upon them, and of which, 
 at times, they complained as onerous, probably did much to 
 keep up a heaUhy mental action. They were obliged to 
 think on such a variety of subjects, and condense their 
 thoughts in giving pertinent answers to a thousand questions, 
 that their faculties could not slumber. They were often teased 
 by repeated intrusion, but no querulous expression ever escaped 
 them. Nothing of that drivelling about the virtues and in- 
 telligence of a former age, and its superiority over the pres- 
 ent ever came from their pens. Every day, visitors from all 
 parts of the world thronged to their hospitable mansions, and 
 were honored with a cordial reception. The politicians of 
 every party were seen in their saloons, and men of every re- 
 ligious creed came to them for counsel and assistance in build- 
 ing up their establishments. No two men in this, or any oth- 
 er country, have done so much for religious fi-eedom as Ad- 
 ams and Jefferson — and, without this, all liberty is a mockery. 
 Thus blessing and being blessed, these patriarchs marched on 
 to the confines of time, and united in eternity. Their rep- 
 utations are now the common property of the nation, and the 
 care of preserving them for future generations is now commit- 
 ted to this — to the young, in a particular manner ; for they 
 have come forward since the bitterness of party distinctions 
 has been lost. Alive to every thing which is connected with 
 the honor and prosperity of their country, they feel none of 
 the irritations which existed with their fathers. The feuds 
 of former days are matters of history, not of remembrance to 
 them. It is affectionate, pious and patriotic, to cherish the 
 memories of those who left us this goodly heritage — this land 
 ofliberty,of knowledge, of free institutions, and of glorious 
 prospects — this land where no exclusive orders exist, except 
 those created by virtue, wisdom and genius. To the dead of 
 our country we are not only indebted for our places and our 
 social and moral habits, but for the fountains of thought and 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 180 
 
 lessons of wisdom which they have transmitted to us. While 
 their precepts are before us, their example should not be for- 
 gotten. Their characters should be traced on the walls of 
 the house of God, and written on monuments of stone. 
 
 How full of interest is the thought, that many, \ery many, 
 of you who are present this day, will live in health and vigor 
 until the next Jubilee shall come, and a century shall have 
 been completed since the birth day of our nation ; and not a 
 few of those now in active life, and v»e!l acquainted with ihe 
 history of the past fifty years, not from books alone, but from 
 living chronicles, may also see that day. The youth of this 
 age have caught the spirit of their fathers, and will carry a 
 double portion of it to transmit to the next. The first bviild- 
 ers of this grand political fabric are gone, or gathering them- 
 selves in their beds to die ; those who now support the great 
 work of freedom will soon follow them ; and you, young men, 
 must be prepared to take the burden upon yourselves. But 
 be not impatient for the task ; rather be anxious to qualify 
 yourself for it when it comes. When in the course of nature 
 and Providence you must take the places of your fathers, 
 bring to your high destinies lessons of wisdom drawn from 
 those gone before you. Your advantages are of a much 
 higher grade than those your ancestors enjoyed. They found 
 the way through the forest by the blazed tries and the faint 
 trails of those who had pioneered the way, and sometimes 
 were obliged to go on when there was no track of civilization 
 to be seen. Public high-ways are now prepared for you to 
 travel, and mile-stones are placed ail along the road, to guide 
 and cheer you on thejourney. In the morning of life, all is 
 pleasant and peaceful ; but as you advance, you will find that 
 it is the fate of man, to act, to suffer, and to mi-urn ; but 
 knowledge, virtue, philosophy and religion, will teach you 
 how to Siustain yourselves in every part you have to perlorm 
 in life. Be true to yourselves, and your country will be safe. 
 
 Tlie youths of Rome, once a year, left the sacred groves of 
 
 Egeria, to visit the tomb of Numa, the founder of the reli- 
 25 
 
190 EULOGIES ON 
 
 gious rites, the civil institutions, and literary taste of the coun- 
 try. On that hallowed ground, they caught the inspiration 
 of virtue and the love of learning, and returned with a fond- 
 er relish for the fountains of knowledge and a quickened de- 
 votion to the god of wisdom. Go, ye young men of my 
 country, oftener than once a year, to visit the tombs of your 
 fathers. No man ever was great who did not live much among 
 the dead. To gather true lessons of experience, we must 
 travel back through every age of time to the birth of creation, 
 and contemplate the progress of each succeeding generation. 
 The youthful soldier braces his nerves and warms his soul by 
 thinking on those who fell in the cause of liberty, from the 
 battle of Marathon to that which closed the last scene of the 
 great drama of our Revolution. The youthful speaker kin- 
 dles his genius at the perpetual lamps which are burning in 
 the tombs of the oraiors of antiquity; and the young states- 
 man draws his maxims of wisdom and prudence from the codes 
 and commentaries of the master spirits of former ages. We 
 are no longer the new men of the new world. We have a 
 noble inheritance in the fame of our ancesters. To value 
 this possession justly, we must imitate their virtues, by raising 
 the standard of information and purifying the currents of free- 
 dom. Some Plutarch, we trust, will soon arise in our coun- 
 try, gifted with all the requisites of the biographer, who will 
 weave in one bright wreath of glory, the great men we have 
 mourned as they rested from their labors. 
 
 On the page sparkling with gems of rare merit, set by such 
 a hand, shall appear other worthies than those we are this day 
 called to commemorate. On the ample page, by such a hand, 
 the Cato of that age, the elder Adams, shall be found shining 
 in the adamantine firmness of his stern virtues. There shall 
 be minutely traced the effects of a religious character upon 
 the turbulent waves of popular commotion, and the tones of 
 liberty, so appalling to an oppressor's ear, shall be preserved 
 in thought to bo thundered in the ears of tyrants to the end of 
 time. There too, shall be seen the quick and intelligent eye 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. I9l 
 
 of Paine, flashing with the fires of an indignant spirit, as when 
 he put his hand to the Declaration of Independence, and swore, 
 on his country's altar, to dieindefence, or live to enjoy the bles- 
 sings of freedom. High up the escutcheon, and boldly on the 
 embiazonment, shall polished Hancock stand,wearingthetriple 
 wreath of honor — for his services as a statesman — for his mu- 
 nificent donations to public institutions — and for his constant 
 exertions as a patron of literature and the art«, united to a fos- 
 tering care of geniusand merit of every description. Theie also 
 the youthful President of the Continental Congress, full of he- 
 roism, adorned with the charms of literature and the graces of 
 eloquence — fierce to his enemies as the chafed lion, but to 
 those engaged in the same cause with him, ' sweet as summer,' 
 shall stand forth, radiant in imperishable glory, and be hailed 
 in every coming age as the first great martyr of liberty. The 
 value of the sacrifice shall not be forgotten when the bust shall 
 crumble and the column fall, and those gods of the earth who 
 trusted to ' pyrimidic pride' for immortality, shall be remem- 
 bered no more. By his side shall stand, crowned with unfa- 
 ding laurels, the hero of Bunker Hill, who raised the first re- 
 doubt of liberty, and laid each sod with an invocation to the 
 spirits of the brave provincials sleeping in their beds of glory 
 on our frontiers.* This little mound was watered by the 
 blood of the brave, and from it sprang such deathless flowere 
 to bind the warrior's brow, as grow on Grecian plains and 
 Helvetian hills. 
 
 Not only in prose, but in verse shall they be celebrated ; 
 for some future Homer shall arise and erect in epic glory, and 
 by the magic of numbers, another Pantheon of mind, and place 
 in his proper niche each worthy of the Revolution, from aged 
 
 *Colonel Prescott, during the night previous to the battle of Bun- 
 ker Hill, while erecting the redoubt, frequently reminded his of- 
 ficers and men of the reputation the provincials had won at Lake 
 George and Ticonderoga, at which places he had been with sev" 
 eral of them, and earnestly entreated them not to tarnish that fame 
 so nobly acquired. 
 
192 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Nestor to fierce Ajax, and all accomplished Hector. There 
 by the subiiinity, the fire, the sweetness, the elegance, and the 
 truth of his poetry, shall those who reasoned and those who 
 fought, find eternal fame in the faithfulness of his delineations. 
 From these youths of the schools, now with us, may the biog- 
 rapher and the poet come — ihey have caught the spirit of this, 
 and will breathe it to another age. 
 
 The light shining on one ancient grave, will reach to anoth- 
 er, until their commingled radiance will form a pillar of fire 
 to guide posterity through e/ery night of danger that may 
 come upon our nation. If darkness should gather around and 
 shroud as, the brave defenders of their country will be ena- 
 bled by its blaze to whet thfiir swords on the tombs of Wash- 
 ington and Greene, and the statesmen to read their duty in the 
 epitaphs of Adams and Jeiierson. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 August 2, 1826. 
 
 BY DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 This is an unaccustomed spectacle. For the first time, 
 Fellow-Citizens, badges of mourning shroud the columns and 
 overhang the arches of this hall. These walls, which were 
 consecrated, so long ago, to the cause of American liberty, 
 which witnessed her infant struggles, and rung with the 
 shouts of earliest victories, proclaim, now, that distinguish- 
 ed friends and champions of that great cause have fallen. 
 It is right that it should be thus. The tears which flow, and 
 the honors that are paid, when the Founders of the republic 
 die, give hope that the republic itself may be immortal It is 
 fit, that by public assembly and solemn observance, by an- 
 them and by eulogy, we commemorate the services of nation- 
 al benefactors, extol their virtues, and render thanks to God 
 for eminent blessings, early given and long continued, to our 
 favored country. 
 
 ADAMS and JEFFERSON are no more ; and we are 
 assembled, Fellow-Citizens, the aged, the middle aged and the 
 young, by the spontaneous impulse of all, under the author- 
 ity of the municipal government, with the presence of the 
 Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth, and others its of- 
 ficial representatives, the university, and the learned soci- 
 eties, to bear our part, in those manilestations of respect and 
 gratitude, which universally pervade the land. Adams and 
 Jefferson are no more. On our fiftieth anniversary, the 
 great day of National Jubilee, in the very hour of public re- 
 
191 EULOGIES ON 
 
 joicing, in the midst of echoing and re-echoing voices of 
 thanksgiving, while their own names were on all tongues, 
 they took their flight, together, to the world of spirits. 
 
 If it be true that no one can safely be pronounced happy 
 while he lives ; if that event which terminates hfe, can alone 
 crown its honor? and its g^ory, what felicity is here! The 
 great epic of their lives, how happily concluded ! Poetry 
 itself has hardly closed illustrious lives, and finished the ca- 
 reer of earthly renown, by such a consummation. If we had 
 the power, we could not wish to reverse this dispensation of 
 the Divine Providence. The great objects of life were ac- 
 comphshed, the drama was ready to be closed ; it has clos- 
 ed ; our patriots have fallen ; but so fallen, at such age, with 
 such coincidence, on such a day, that we cannot rationally la- 
 ment that that end has come, which we knew could not be 
 long deferred. 
 
 Neither of these great men, fellow-citizens, could have died, 
 at any time, without leaving an immense void in our Ameri- 
 can society. They have been so intimately, and for so long a 
 time, blended with the history of the country, and especially 
 so united, in our thoughts and recollections, with the events 
 of the Revolution, that the death of either would have touch- 
 ed the strings of public sympathy. We should have felt that 
 one great link, connecting us with former times, was broken ; 
 that we had lost something more, as it were, of the presence of 
 the Revolution itself, and of the act of Independence, and 
 were driven on, by another great remove, from the days of our 
 country's early distinction, to meet posterity, and to mix with 
 the future. Like the mariner, whom the ocean and the winds 
 carry along, till he sees the stars which have directed his 
 course, and lighted his pathless way, descend, one by one, be- 
 neath the rising horizon, we should have felt that the stream 
 of time had borne us onward, till another great luminary, 
 whose light had cheered us, and whose guidance we had fol- 
 lowed, had sunk away from our sight. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 195 
 
 But the concurrence of their death, on the anniversary of 
 Independence, has naturally awakened stronger emotions. 
 Both had been presidents, both had lived to great age, both 
 were early patriots, and both were distinguished and ever 
 honored by their immediate agency in the act of Independ- 
 ence. It cannot but seem striking, and extraordinary, that 
 these two should live to see the fiftieth year from the date of 
 that act ; that they should complete that year ; and that then, 
 on the day which had fast linked forever their own fame with 
 their country's glory, the heavens should open to receive them 
 both at once. As their lives themselves were the gifts of 
 Providence, who is not willing to recognize in their happy 
 termination, as well as in their long continuance, proofs that 
 our country, and its benefactors, are objects of His care ? 
 
 Adams and Jefferson, I have said, are no more. As human 
 beings, indeed, they are no more. They are no more, as in 
 1776, bold and fearless advocates of Independence ; no more 
 as on subsequent periods, the head of the government ; no 
 more as we have recently seen them, aged and venerable ob- 
 jects of admiration and regard. They are no more. They 
 are dead. But how little is there, of the great and good, 
 which can die! To their country they yet live, and live for 
 ever. They live in all that perpetuates the remembrance of 
 men on earth ; in the recorded proofs of their own great ac- 
 tions, in the offspring of their intellect, in the deep engraved 
 lines of public gratitude, and in the respect and homage of 
 mankind. They live in their example ; and they live, em- 
 phatically, and will live in the influence which their lives and 
 efforts, their principles and opinions, now exercise, and will 
 continue to exercise, on the atfairs of men, not only in their 
 own country, but throughout the civilized world. A superior 
 and commanding human intellect, a truly great man, wlien 
 Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, 
 burning bright for a while, and then expiring, giving place to 
 returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as 
 vrell as radiant light, with power to enkmdie the common 
 
196 EULOGIES ON 
 
 mass of human mind ; so that when it ghmmers, in its own 
 decay, and finally goes out in death, no night follows, but it 
 leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact 
 of its own spirit. Bacon died ; but the human understanding, 
 roused, by the touch of his miraculous wand, to a perception 
 'of the true philosophy, and the just mode of inquiring after 
 truth, has kept on its course, successfully and gloriously. — 
 Newton died ; yet the courses of the spheres are still known, 
 and they yet move on, in the orbits which he saw, and 
 described for them, in the infinity of space. 
 
 No two men now live, fellow-citizens, perhaps it may be 
 doubted, whether any two men have ever lived, in one age? 
 who, more than those we now commemorate, have impressed 
 their own sentiments, in regard to politics and government, 
 on mankind, infused their own opinions more deeply into the 
 opinions of others, or given a more lasting direction to the 
 current of human thought. Their work doth not perish with 
 them. The tree which they assisted to plant, will flourish, al- 
 though they water it and protect it no longer ; for it has struck 
 its roots deep, it has sent them to the very centre ; no storm, 
 not of force to burst the orb, can overturn it ; its branches 
 spread wide ; they stretch their protecting arms broader and 
 broader, and its top is destined to reach the heavens. We 
 are not deceived. There is no delusion here. No age will 
 come, in which the American Revolution will appear less than 
 it is, one of the greatest events in human history. No age 
 will come, in which it will cease to be seen and felt, on either 
 continent, that a mighty stop, a great advance, not only in 
 American aifairs, but in human affairs, w as made on the 4th 
 of July, 177G. And no age will come, we trust, so ignorant 
 or so unjust, as not to see and acknowledge the efficient agen- 
 cy of these we now honor, in producing that momentous 
 event. 
 
 We arc not assembled, therefore, fellow-citizens, as men 
 overwhelmed with calamity by the sudden disruption of the 
 tics of friendship or affection, or as in despair for the Repub- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 197 
 
 iic, by the untimely blightings of its hopes. Death has not 
 surprised us by an unseasonable blow. We have, indeed, 
 seen the tomb close, but it has closed only over mature years, 
 over long protracted public service, over the weakness of 
 age, and over life itself, only when the ends of living had been 
 fulfilled. These suns, as they rose, slowly and steadily, 
 amidst clouds and storms, in ther ascendant, so they have 
 not rushed from their meridian, to sink suddenly in the west. 
 Like the mildness, the serenity, the continuing benignity of 
 a summer's day, they have gone down with slow descending, 
 grateful, long lingering light ; and now that they are beyond 
 the visible margin of the world, good omens cheer us from 
 " the bright track of their fiery car !" 
 
 There were many points of similarity in the lives and for- 
 tunes of these great men. They belonged to the same pro- 
 fession, and had pursued its studies and its practice, for un- 
 equal lengths of time indeed, but with diligence and effect. — - 
 Both were learned and able lawyers. They were natives 
 and inhabitants, respectively, of those two of the colonies, 
 which, at the revolution, were the largest and most powerful, 
 and which naturally had a lead in the political affairs of the 
 times. When the colonies became, in some degree, united, 
 by the assembling of a general congress, they were brought 
 to act together, in its deliberations, not indeed at the sam& 
 time, but both at early periods. Each had already manifes- 
 ted his attachment to the cause of the country, as well as his 
 ability to maintain it, by printed addresses, public speeches, 
 extensive correspondence, and whatever other mode could 
 be adopted, for the purpose of exposing the encroachments 
 of the British parliament and animating the people to a manly 
 resistance. Both were not only decided, but early friends 
 of independence. While others yet doubted, they were re- 
 solved ; where others hesitated, they pressed forward. They 
 were both members of the committee for preparmg the 
 Declaration of Independence, and they constituted the sub- 
 committee, appointed by the other members to make the 
 26 
 
198 EULOGIES ON 
 
 draught. They left their seats in the congress, being called 
 to other public employments, at periods not remote from 
 each other, although one of them returned to it, afterwards, 
 for a short time. Neither of them was of the assembly of 
 great men which formed the present constitution, and neither 
 was at any time member of congress under its provisions. — 
 Both have been publick ministers abroad, both Vice-Presi- 
 dents, and both Presidents. These coincidences are now 
 singularly crowned and completed. They have died, togeth- 
 er ; and they died on the anniversary of liberty. 
 
 When many of us were last in this place, Fellow-Citizens, 
 it was on the day of that anniversay. We were met to enjoy 
 the festivities belonging to the occasion, and to manifest our 
 grateful homage to our political fathers. 
 
 We did not, we cold not here, forget our venerable neigh- 
 bor of Quincy. We knew that we were standing, at a time 
 of high and palmy prosperity, where he had stood, in the hour 
 of utmost peril ; that we saw nothing but liberty and security, 
 where he had met the frown of power ; that we were enjoy- 
 ing everything, where he had hazarded everything ; and just 
 and sincere plaudits rose to his name, from the crowds which 
 filled this area, and hung over these galleries. He whose 
 grateful duty it was to speak to us, on that day, of the virtues 
 of our fathers had, indeed admonished us that time and 
 years were about to level his venerable frame with the dust. 
 But he bade us hope, that " the sound of a nation's joy, rush- 
 ing from our cities, ringing from our valleys, echoing from 
 our hills, might yet break the silence of his aged ear; that 
 the rising blessings of grateful millions might yet visit, with 
 glad light, his decaying vision." Alas ! that vision was then 
 closing forever. Alas! the silence which was then settling 
 on that aged ear, was an everlasting silence ! For, lo ! in the 
 very moment of our festivities, his freed spirit ascended to 
 God who gave it ! Human aid and human solace terminate 
 at the grave ; or we would gladly have borne him upward, 
 on a nation's outspread hands ; we would have accompa- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 199 
 
 nied him, and with the blessings of millions and the prayers 
 of millions, commended him to the Divine favor. 
 
 While still indulging our thoughts on the coincidence of the 
 death of this venerable man with the anniversary of Indepen- 
 dence, we learn that Jefferson, too, has fallen ; and that 
 these aged patriots, these illustrious fellow laborers, had left 
 our world together. May not such events raise the sugges- 
 tion that they are not undesigned, and that Heaven does so 
 order things, as sometimes to attract strongly the attention, 
 aiid excite the thoughts of men ? The occurrence has added 
 new interest to our anniversary, and will be remembered, in 
 all time to come. 
 
 The occasion, fellow-citizens, requires some account of 
 the lives and services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. 
 This duty must necessarily be performed with great brevity, 
 and in the discharge of it 1 shall be obliged to confine myself, 
 principally, to those parts of their history and character 
 which belonged to them as public men. 
 
 John Adams was born at Quincy, then part of the ancient 
 town of Braintree, on the 1 9th day of October, (Old Style) 
 1735. He was a descendant of the Puritans, his ancestors 
 having early emigrated from England, and settled in Massa- 
 chusets. Discovering early a strong love of reading and of 
 knowledge, together with marks of great strength and activi- 
 ty of mind, proper care was taken by his worthy father, to pro- 
 vide for his education. He pursued his youthful studies in 
 Braintree, under Mr. Marsh, a teacher whose fortune it was 
 that Josiah Quincy, Jr. as well as the subject of these remarks, 
 should receive from him his instruction in the rudiments of clas- 
 sical literature. Having been admitted, in 1 75 1 , a member of 
 Harvard College, Mr. Adams was graduated, in course, in 
 1755 ; and on the catalogue of that Insitution, his name, at 
 the time of his death, was second among the living Alumni, 
 being preceded only by that of the venerable Holyoke. With 
 what degree of reputation he left the University, is not now 
 precisely known. We know only that he was distinguished, 
 
200 EULOGIES ON 
 
 in a class which numbered Locke and Hemenway amang its 
 members. Choosing the law for his j rofession, he com- 
 menced and prosecuted its studies at Worcester, under the di- 
 rection of Samuel Putnam, a gentleman whom he has himself 
 described as an acute man, an able and learned lawyer, and 
 as in large professional practice at that time. In 1758, he 
 was admitted to the bar, and commenced business in Brain- 
 tree. He is understood to have made his first considerable 
 effort, or to have attained his first signal success, at Plym- 
 outh, on one of those occasions which furnish the earliest op- 
 portunity for distinction to many young men of the profession, 
 a jury trial, and a criminal cause. His business naturally grew 
 with his reputation, and his residence in the vicinity atforded 
 the opportunity, as his growing eminence gave the power, of 
 entering on the larger field of practice which the capital pre- 
 sented. In 1766, he removed his residence to Boston, still 
 continuing his attendence on the neighboring circuits, and not 
 unfrequently called to remote parts of the Province. In 1 770 
 his professional firmness was brought to a test of some sever- 
 ity, on the application of the British officers and soldiers to 
 undertake their defence, on the trial of the indictments found 
 against them on account of the transactions of the memorable 
 5th of March. He seems to have thought, on this occasion, 
 that a man can no more abandon the proper duties of his pro- 
 fession, than he can abandon other duties. The event prov- 
 ed, that as he judged well for his own reputation, so he judged 
 well, also, for the interest and permanent fame of his country. 
 The result of that trial proved, that notwithstanding the high 
 degree of excitement then existing, in consequence of the meas- 
 ures of the British government, a jury of Massachusetts would 
 not deprive the most reckless enemies, even the officers of that 
 standing army, quartered among them, which they so perfect- 
 ly abhorred, of any part of that protection which the law, in 
 its mildest and most indulgent interpretation, afforded to per- 
 sons accused of crimes. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 201 
 
 Without pursuing Mr. Adams' professional course further, 
 suffice it to say, that on the first estabhshment of the judicial 
 tribunals under the authority of the State, in 1776, he re- 
 ceived an offer of the high and responsible station of Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court. But he was destined for anoth- 
 er and a ditferent career. From early life the bent of his 
 mind was towards politics ; a propensity, which the state of 
 the times, if it did not create, doubtless very much strength- 
 ened. Public subjects must have occupied the thoughts and 
 filled up the conversation in the circles in which he then 
 moved ; and the interesting questions, at that time just aris- 
 ing, could not but seize on a mind like his, ardent, sanguine 
 and patriotic. The letter, fortunately preserved, written by 
 him at Worcester so early as the 12th of October, 1755, is a 
 proof of very comprehensive views, and uncommon depth of 
 reflection, in a young man not yet quite twenty. In this letter 
 he predicted the transfer of power, and the establishment of a 
 new seat of empire in America ; he predicted, also, the in- 
 crease of pdpulation in the colonies ; and anticipated their 
 naval distinction, and foretold that all Europe combined, could 
 not subdue them. All this is said, not on a public occasion, 
 or for effect, but in the style of sober and friendly correspon- 
 dence, as the result of his own thoughts. ' I sometimes retire,' 
 said he, at the close of the letter, 'and laying things together, 
 form some reflections pleasing to myself. The produce of 
 one of these reveries you have read above.'* This prognosti- 
 
 * l-'xtract of a letter written by John Adams, dated at Worces- 
 ter, Massachusetts, October 12, 1755. 
 
 ' Soon after the reformation, a few people came over into this 
 new world, for conscience sake. Perhaps this apparently trivial 
 incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America. It 
 looks likely to me ; for, if we can remove the turbulent Gallicks, 
 our people, according to the exactest computations, will in another 
 century, become more numerous than England itself. Should 
 this be the case, since we have, I may say all the naval stores of 
 
202 EULOGIES ON 
 
 cation, so early in his own life, so early in the history of the 
 country, of Independence, of vast increase of numbers, of na- 
 val force, of such augmented power as might defy all Europe, 
 is remarkable. It is more remarkable, that its author should 
 live to see fulfilled to the letter, what could have seemed to 
 others, at the time, but the extravagance of youthful fancy. 
 His earliest political feelings were thus strongly American ; 
 and from this ardent attachment to his native soil he never 
 departed. 
 
 While still living at Quincy, and at the age of twenty-four, 
 Mr. Adams was present, in this town, on the argument be- 
 fore the Supreme Court respecting Writs of Assistance^ and 
 heard the celebrated and patriotic speech of James Otis. — 
 Unquestionably, that was a masterly performance. No 
 flighty declamation about liberty, no superficial discussion of 
 popular topics, it was a learned, penetrating, convicting, con- 
 stitutional argument, expressed in a strain of high and resolute 
 patriotism. He grasped the question, then pending between 
 England and her Colonies, with the strength of a lion ; and if 
 he sometimes sported, it was only because the lion himself is 
 sometimes playful. Its success appears to have been as great 
 as its merits, and its impression was widely felt. Mr. Adams 
 himself seems never to have lost the feeling it produced, and 
 to have entertained constantly the fullest conviction of its im- 
 portant effects. 'I do say,' he observes, ' in the most solemn 
 
 the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain a mastery of the 
 seas ; and the united force of all Europe will not be able to sub- 
 due us. The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves 
 is to disunite us. 
 
 ' Be not surprised that I am turned politician. This whole 
 town is immersed in politics. The interests of nations, and all of 
 the dira of war, make the t^ubject ol every conversation. 1 sitawd 
 hear, and after having been led through a ma/e of sage observa- 
 tions, I sometimes retire, and laying thingp igether, tbrm some 
 reflections pleasing to myself. The prouuce oi oue of these 
 reveries you have read above.* 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 203 
 
 manner, that Mr. Otis' Oration against Writs of Assistance, 
 breathed into this nation the breath of Hfe.' 
 
 In 1765 Mr. Adams laid before the pubhc, what I suppose 
 to be first printed performance, except essays for the period- 
 ical press, a Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law. — 
 The object of this work was to show that our New England 
 ancestors, in consenting to exile themselves from their native 
 land, were actuated, mainly by the desire of delivering them- 
 selves from the power of the hierarchy, and from the monar- 
 chical and aristocratical political system of the other conti- 
 nent ; to make this truth bear with effect on the politics of 
 the times. Its tone is uncommonly bold and animated, for 
 that period. He calls on the people, not only to defend, but 
 to study and understand their rights and privileges ; urges 
 earnestly the necessity of diffusing general knowledge, in- 
 vokes the clergy and the bar, the colleges and academies, and 
 all others who have the ability and the means, to expose the 
 insidious designs of arbi trary power, to resist its approaches, 
 and to be persuaded that there is a settled design on foot to 
 enslave all America. 'Be it remembred,' says the author, 
 * that liberty must, at all hazards, be supported. We have a 
 right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our 
 fathers have earned it, and bought it for us, at the expense 
 of their ease, their estate, their pleasure and their blood. And 
 liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge 
 among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their 
 nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing 
 in vain, hhs given them understandings, and a desire to know ; 
 but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, 
 indefeasible right to that most dreaded and envied kind of 
 knowledge, I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers. 
 Rulers are no more than attornies, agents, and trustees of the 
 people ; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously 
 betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to 
 revoke the authority, that they themselves have deputed, and 
 to constitute other and better agents, attornies and trustees.' 
 
*204 EULOGIES ON 
 
 The citizens of this town conferred on Mr. Adams his first 
 political distinction, and clothed him with his first political 
 trust, by electing him one of their representatives, in 1770. — 
 Before this time he had become extensively known through- 
 out the province, as well by the part he had acted in relation 
 to public allairs, as by the exercise of his professional ability. 
 He was among those who took the deepest interest in the 
 controversy with England, and whether in or out of the Le- 
 gislature, his time and talents were alike devoted to the 
 cause. In the years 1773 and 1774 he was chosen a coun- 
 sellor, by the members of the General Court, but rejected by 
 Governor Hutchinson, in the former of those years, and by 
 Governor Gage in the latter. 
 
 The time was now at hand, however, when the affairs of 
 the colonies urgently demanded united councils. An open 
 rupture with the parent State appeared inevitable, and it 
 was but the dictate of prudence, that those who were united 
 by a common interest and a common danger, should protect 
 that interest and guard against that danger, by united efforts. 
 A General Congress of Delgates from all the colonies, having 
 been proposed and agreed to, the House of Representatives, 
 on the 17th of June 1774, elected James Bowdoin, Thomas 
 CusHiNG, Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat 
 Paine, delgates from Massachusetts. This appointment was 
 made at Salem where the General Court had been convened 
 by Governor Gage, in the last hour of the existence of a 
 House of Representatives under the provincial Charter. — 
 While engaged in this important business, the Governor hav- 
 ing been informed of what was passing, sent his secretary with 
 a message dissolving the General Court. The secretary find- 
 ing the door locked, directed the messenger to go in and in- 
 form the speaker that the Secretary was at the door with a 
 message from the Governor. The messenger returned, and 
 informed the secretary that orders of the House were that the 
 doors should be kept fast ; whereupon the secretary soon af- 
 ter read a proclamation, dissolving the General Court upon 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON 205 
 
 the stairs. Thus terminated, forever, the actual exercise of 
 the political power of England in or over Massachusetts. — 
 The four last named delegates accepted their appointments, 
 and took their seats in Congress, the first day of its meeting, 
 September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. 
 
 The proceedings of the first Congress are well known, and 
 have been universally admired. It is in vain that we would 
 look for superior proofs of wisdom, talent, and patriotism. — 
 Lord Chatham said, that for himself, he must declare, that 
 he had studied and admired the free states of antiquity, the 
 master states of the world, but that for solidity of reasoning, 
 force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no body of men 
 could stand in preference to this Congress. It is hardly infe- 
 rior praise to say, that no production of that great man him- 
 self can be pronounced superior to several of the papers pub- 
 lished as the proceedings of this most able, most firm, most 
 patriotic assembly. There is indeed, nothing, superior to 
 them in the range of political disquisition. They not only- 
 embrace, illustrate and enforce every thing which political 
 philosophy, the love of liberty, and the spirit of free inquiry 
 had antecedently produced, but they add new and striking 
 views of their own, and apply the whole, with irresistible 
 force, in support of the cause which had drawn them togeth- 
 er. 
 
 Mr. Adams was a constant attendant on the deliberations 
 of this body and bore an active part in its important measures. 
 He was of the committee to state the rights of the colonies, 
 and of that also which reported the address to the king. 
 
 As it was in the Continental Congress, fellow-citizens, that 
 those whose deaths have given rise to this occasion, were 
 first brought together, and called on to unite their industry 
 and their ability in the service of the country, let us now turn 
 to the other of these distinguished men, and take a brief notice 
 of his life, up to the period when he appeared within the walls 
 of Congress. 
 
 27 
 
206 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, descended from ancestors who had 
 been settled in Virginia for some generations, was born near 
 the spot on which he died, in the county of Albemarle, on the 
 2d of April, (O. S.) 1743. His youthful studies were pursued 
 in the neighborhood of his father's residence, until he was 
 removed to the college of William and Mary, the highest hon- 
 ors of which he in due time received. Having left the college 
 with reputation, he applied himself to the study of the law, 
 under the tuition of George Wythe, one of the highest judicial 
 names of which that state can boast. At an early age he was 
 elected a member of the Legislature, in which he had no soon- 
 er appeared, than he distinguished himself, by knowledge, ca- 
 pacity, and promptitude. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson appears to have been imbued with an early love 
 of letters and science, and to have cherished a strong dispo- 
 sition to pursue these objects, to the physical sciences, espe- 
 cially, and to ancient classic literature, he is understood to 
 have had a warm attachment, and never entirely to have lost 
 sight of them, in the midst of the busiest occupations. But 
 the times were times for action, rather than for contempla- 
 tion. The country was to be defended, and to be saved, be- 
 fore it could be enjoyed. Philosophic leisure and literary 
 pursuits, and even the objects of professional attention, were 
 all necessarily postponed to the urgent calls of the public 
 service. The exigency of the country made the same de- 
 mand on Mr. Jefferson that it made on others who had the 
 ability and the disposition to serve it ; and he obeyed the 
 call ; thinking and feeling, in this respect, with the great 
 Roman orator ; Quis enim est tarn cupidus, in perspicienda cog- 
 noscendaquererum natura, vt, si ei tractnnti contemplantique res 
 cognitione dignissimas subito sit allatum pericidwn disi rimen- 
 que patrice, cui subvenire opitularique possif, non ilia omnia 
 rclinquat aique abjiciat, etium si dimimerare se stellas, aid 
 metiri mundi magniludinem posse arbitretur ? 
 
 Entering, with all his heart, into the cause of liberty, his 
 ■ability, patriotism, and power with the pen, naturally drew 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 207 
 
 upon kim a large participation in the most important con- 
 cerns. Wherever he was, there was found a soul devoted to 
 the cause, power to defend and maintain it, and willingness to 
 incur all its hazards. In 1774 he published a Summary 
 View of the Rights of British America, a valuable production 
 among those intended to show the dangers which threatened 
 the liberties of the country, and to encourage the people in 
 their defence. In June 1775 he was elected a member of the 
 Continental Congress, as successor to Peyton Randolph, 
 who had retired on account of ill health, and took his seat in 
 that body on the 2 1 st of the same month. 
 
 And now fellow-citizens, without pursuing the biography 
 of these illustrious men further for the present, let us turn our 
 attention to the most prominent act of their lives, their parti- 
 cipation in the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Preparatory to the introduction of that important measure, 
 a committee, at the head of which was Mr. Adams, had re- 
 ported a resolution, which congress adopted the 10th of May 
 recommending, in substance, to all the colonies which had 
 not already established governments suited to the exigencies 
 of their atfairs, to adopt such government, as would, in the opin- 
 ion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the hap- 
 piness and safety of their constituents in particular, and Amer- 
 ica in general. 
 
 This significant vote was soon followed by the direct prop- 
 osition, which Richard Hemry Lee had the honor to submit 
 to congress, by resolution, on the 7th day of June. The pub- 
 lished journal does not expressly state it, but there is no doubtj 
 I suppose, that this resolution was in the same words, when 
 originally submitted by Mr Lee, as when finally passed. — 
 Having been discussed, on Saturday the 8ih, and Monday the 
 10th of June, this resolution was on the last mentioned day 
 postponed, for further consideration, to the first day of July ; 
 and at the same time it was voted, that, a committee be ap- 
 pointed to prepare a declaration, to the effect of the reso- 
 ution. This committee was elected by ballot, on the follow- 
 
208 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ing day, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
 Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Liv- 
 ingston. 
 
 It is usual when committees are elected by ballot, that 
 their members are arranged, in order, according to the number 
 of votes which each has received. Mr. Jefferson, therefore, 
 had received the highest and Mr. Adams the next highest num- 
 ber of votes. The difference is said to have been but of a sin- 
 gle vote. Mr. Jetferson and Mr. Adams, standing thus at the 
 head of the committee, wereieqnested, by the other members, 
 to act as a sub-committee, to prepare the draft ; and Mr. Jef- 
 ferson drew up the paper. The original draft, as brought by 
 him from his study, and submitted to the other members of the 
 committee, with interlineations in the hand-writing of Dr. 
 Franklin, and others in that of Mr. Adams, was in Mr. JetTer- 
 son's possession at the time of his death. The merit of this 
 paper is Mr. Jefferson's. Some changes were made in it, on 
 tiie suggestion of other members of the committee, and others 
 by Congress while it was under discussion. But noi:e of them 
 altered the tone, the frame, the arrangement, or the general 
 character of the instrument. As a composition, the Declara- 
 tion is Mr. Jefferson's. It is the production of his mind, and 
 the high honor of it belongs to him, clearly and absolutely. 
 
 It has sometimes been said, as if it were a derogation from 
 the merits of this paper, that it contains nothing new ; that it 
 only states grounds of proceeding, and presses topics of argu- 
 ment, which had often been stated and pressed before. But 
 it was not the object of the Declaration to produce any thing 
 new. It was not to invent reasons for Independence, but to 
 state those which governed the Congress. For great and 
 sufficient causes it was proposed to declare Independence ; 
 and the proper business of the paper to be drawn, was to set 
 forth (hose causes, and justify the authors of the measure, in 
 any event of fortune, to the country, and to posterity. The 
 cause of American Independence moreover, was now to be 
 presented to the world, in such manner, if it might so be, as to 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 209 
 
 engage its sympathy, to command its respect, to attract its 
 admiration ; and iu an assembly of most able and distinguish- 
 ed men, Thomas Jefferson had the high honor of being the 
 selected advocate of this cause. To say that he performed his 
 great work well, would be doing him injustice. To say that 
 he did excellently well, admirably well, would be inadequate 
 and halting praise. Let us rather say, that he so discharged 
 the duty assigned him, that all Americans may well rejoice 
 that the work ofdrawingthe title deed of their liberties devolv- 
 ed on his hands. 
 
 With all its merits, there are those who have thought that 
 there was one thing in the Declaration to be regretted ; and 
 that is the asperity and apparent anger with which it speaks of 
 the person of the king ; the industrious ability with which it ac- 
 cumulates and charges upon him, all the injuries which the 
 colonies had suffered from the mother country. Possibly 
 some degree of injustice, now or hereafter, at home or abroad, 
 may be done to the character of Mr. Jefferson, if this part of 
 the Declaration be not placed in its proper light. Anger or 
 resentment, certainly, much less personal reproach and invec- 
 tive, could not properly find place, in a composition of such 
 high dignity, and of such lofty and permanent character. 
 
 A single reflection on the original ground of dispute, be- 
 tween England and the Colonies, is suflScicnt to remove any 
 unfavorable impression, in this respect. 
 
 The inhabitants of all the colonies, while colonies, admit- 
 ted themselves bound by their allegiance to the king ; but 
 they disclaimed, altogether the authority of parliament ; hold- 
 ing themselves, in this respect, to resemble the condition of 
 Scotland and Ireland, before the respective unions of those 
 kingdoms with England, when they acknowledged allegiance 
 to the same king, but each had its separate legislature. The 
 tie, therefore, which our revolution was to break, did not sub- 
 sist between us and the British parhament, or between us and 
 the British government, in the aggregate ; but directly be- 
 tween us and the king himself. The colonies had never ad- 
 
210 EULGIES Oi\ 
 
 mitted themselves subject to parliament. That was precise- 
 ly the point of the original controversy. They had uniform- 
 ly denied that parliament had authority to make laws for 
 them. There was, therefore, no subjection to parliament to 
 be thrown off.* But allegiance to the king did exist, and had 
 been uniformly acknowledged ; and down to 1775 the most 
 solemn assurances had been given that it was not intended to 
 break that allegiance, or to throw it off. Therefore, as the 
 direct object, and only effect of the Declaration, according to 
 the principles on which the controversy had been maintained, 
 on our part, was to sever the tie of allegiance which bound us 
 to the king, it was properly and necessarily founded on acts 
 of the crown itself, as its justifying causes. Parliament is not 
 90 much as mentioned, in the whole instrument. When odious 
 and oppressive acts are referred to, it is done by charging 
 the king with confederating, with others, '^ in pretended acts 
 of legislation ;' the object being constantly, to hold the king 
 himself directly responsible for those measures which were 
 the grounds of separation. Even the precedent of the Eng- 
 lish revolution was not overlooked, and in this case, as well as 
 in that, occasion was found to say that the king had abdicated 
 the government. Consistency with the principles upon which 
 resistance began, and with all the previous state papers issued 
 by congress, required that the Declaration should be bottomed 
 
 *This question, of the power of parliament over the colonies, 
 was discussed with singular ability, by Gov. Hutchinson on the 
 one side, and the house of representatives of Massachusetts on the 
 other, in 1773. The argument of the house is in the form of an 
 answer to the governor's message, and was reported by Mr. Samuel 
 Adams, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Hawley, Mr. Bowers, Mr. Hobson, Mr. 
 Foster, Mr. Philips, and Mr. Thayer. As the power of the parlia- 
 ment had been acknovvlef^ged, so far at least as to affect us by laws 
 of trade, it was not easy to settle the line of distinction. It was 
 thought howe\er to be very clear, that the charters of the colo- 
 nies had exempted them from the general legislation of the Brit- 
 ish parliament. See Massachusetts State Papers, p. 351. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.. 21 1 
 
 on themisgovernment of the king ; and therefore it was proper- 
 ly framed with that aim and to that end. The king was known 
 indeed to have acted as in other cases, by his ministers, and 
 with his parhament ; but as our ancestors had never admitted 
 themselves subject either to ministers or to parliament, there 
 were no reasons to be given for now refusing obedience to 
 their authority. This clear and obvious necessity of founding 
 the Declaration on the misconduct of the king himself, gives to 
 that instrument its personal application, and its character of 
 direct and pointed accusation. 
 
 The Declaration having been reported to congress, by the 
 committee, the resolution itself was taken up and debated on 
 the first day of July, and again on the second, on which lasl 
 day it was agreed to and adopted, in these words. 
 
 Resolved, That these united colonies are and of right oughi 
 to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved 
 from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political 
 connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is and 
 ought to be totally dissolved. 
 
 Having thus passed the main resolution. Congress proceed- 
 ed to consider the reported draft of the Declaration. It was 
 discussed on the second, and third, and fourth days of the 
 month, in committee of the whole ; and on the last of those 
 days, being reported from that committee, it received the 
 final approbation and sanction of Congress. It was ordered 
 at the same time, that copies be sent to the several States, and 
 that it be proclaimed at the head of the army. The Declara- 
 tion thus published, did not bear the names of the members, 
 for as yet it had not been signed by them. It was authenti, 
 cated, like other papers of the congress, by the signatures of 
 the President and Secretary. On the 19th of July, as ap- 
 pears by the secret journal, Congress ' Resolved, that the Dec- 
 laration, passed on the fourth, be fairly engrossed on parch- 
 ment, with the title and style of' The unanimous Declaration 
 of the Thirteen United States of America ; and that the same, 
 when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.' — 
 
212 
 
 EULOGIES ON 
 
 And on the second day of August, following, ' the Declaration, 
 being engrossed and compared at the table, was signed by the 
 members.' So that it happens, fellow-citizens, that we pay 
 these honors to their memory, on the anniversary of that day, 
 on wliich these great men actually signed their names to the 
 Declaration. The Declaration was thus made, that is, it pass- 
 ed, and was adopted, as an act of Congress, on the fourth of 
 July ; it was then signed and certified by the president and 
 secretary, like other acts. The fourth of July, therefore, is 
 the Anniversary of the Declaration. But the signatures of 
 the members present were made to it, being then engrossed 
 on parchment, on the second day of August. Absent mem- 
 bers afterwards signed, as they came in ; and indeed it bears 
 the names of some who were not chosen members of Con- 
 gress, until after the fourth of July. The interest belonging 
 to the subject, will be sufficient, I hope to justify these de- 
 tails. 
 
 The Congress of the Revolution, fellow-citizens, sat with 
 closed doors, and no report of its debates was ever taken. — 
 The discussion, therefore, which accompanied this great 
 measure, has never been preserved, except in memory, and 
 by tradition. But it is, I believe, doing no injustice to others, 
 to say, that the general opinion was, and uniformly has been, 
 that in debate, on the side of independence, John Adams had 
 no equal. The great author of the Declaration himself has 
 expressed that opinion uniformly and strongly. ' John Ad- 
 ams,' said he, in the hearing of him who has now the honor 
 to address you, ' John Adams was our Colossus on the floor. 
 Not graceful, not elegant, not always fluent in his public ad- 
 dresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and 
 of expression, which moved us from our seats.' 
 
 Forthe part which he was here to perform, Mr. Adams doubt- 
 less was eminently fitted. He possessed a bold spirit, which 
 disregarded danger, and a sanguine reliance on the goodness 
 of the cause, and the virtues of the people, which led him to 
 overlook all obstacles. His character, too, had been formed 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 213 
 
 in troubled times. He had been rocked in the early storms 
 of the controversy, and had acquired a decision and a hardi- 
 hood, proportioned to the severity of the discipline which he 
 had undergone. 
 
 He not only loved the American cause devoutly, but had 
 studied and understood it. It was all familiar to him. He 
 had tried his powers, on the questions which it involved, often, 
 and in various ways ; and had brought to their consideration 
 whatever of argument or illustration the history of his own 
 country, the history of England, or the stores of ancient or of 
 legal learning could furnish. Every grievance, enumerated 
 in the |ong catalogue of the Declaration, had been the sub- 
 ject of his discussion, and the object of his remonstrance and 
 reprobation. From 1760, the colonies, the rights of the col- 
 onies, the liberties of the colonies, and the wrongs inflicted on 
 the colonies, had engaged his constant attention; and it has 
 surprised those, who have had the opportunity of observing, 
 with what full remembrance, and with what prompt recollec- 
 tion, he could refer, in his extreme old age, to every act of 
 Parliament affecting the colonies, distinguishing and stating 
 their respective titles, sections, and provisions ; and to all the 
 colonial memorials, remonstrances, and petitions, with what- 
 ever else belonged to the intimate and exact history of the 
 times from that year to 1775. It was in his own judgment, 
 between these years, that the American people came to a full 
 understanding and thorough knowledge of their rights, and to 
 a fixed resolution of maintaining them, and bearing himself 
 an active part in all important transactions, the controversy 
 with England being then, in effect, the business of his life, facts, 
 dates and particulars made an impression which was never ef- 
 faced. He was prepared, therefore, by education and disci- 
 phne, as well as by natural talent and natural temperament, 
 for the part which he was now to act. 
 
 The eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general char- 
 acter, and formed, indeed, a part of it. It was bold, manly, 
 
 and energetic ; and such the crisis required. When public 
 
 28 
 
2J4 EULOGIES ON 
 
 bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, wben 
 great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, noth- 
 ing is valuable, in speech, farther than it is connected with 
 high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, 
 and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. 
 True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It can- 
 not be brought from far. Labor and learning may toll for it, 
 but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be mar- 
 shalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must ex- 
 ist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affiected 
 passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may 
 aspire after it, they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, 
 like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the burst- 
 ing forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original, native 
 force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly orna- 
 ments, and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust 
 men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their 
 children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. 
 Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all 
 elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels 
 rebuked, and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. 
 Then, patriotism is eloquent ; then self-devotion is eloquent. 
 The clear conception, out-running the deductions of logic, the 
 high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking 
 on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every fea- 
 ture, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to his 
 object — this, this is eloquence ; or rather it is something great- 
 er and higher than eloquence, it is action, noble, sublime, god- 
 like action. 
 
 In July 1776, the controversy had passed the state of argu- 
 ment. An appeal had been made to force, and opposing ar- 
 mies were in the field. Congress, then, was to decide wheth- 
 er the tie which had so long bound us to the parent State, was 
 to be severed at once, and severed forever. All the colonies 
 had signified their resolution to abide by this decision, and the 
 people looked for it with the most intense anxiety. And sure- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 215 
 
 iy, fellow-citizens, never, never were men called to a more 
 important political deliberation. If we contemplate it from 
 the point where they then stood, no question could be more 
 full of interest ; if we look at it now, and judge of its import- 
 ance by its effects, it appears in still greater magnitude. 
 
 Let us, then, bring before us the assembly, which was about 
 to decide a question thus big with the fate of empire. Let 
 us open their doors, and look in upon their deliberations. Let 
 us survey the anxious and care-worn countenances, let us hear 
 the firm-toned voices, of this band of patriots. 
 
 Hancock presides over the solemn sitting ; and one of those 
 not yet prepared to pronounce for absolute independence, is 
 on the floor, and is urging his reasons for dissenting from the 
 Declaration. 
 
 ' Let us pause ! This step, once taken, cannot be retraced. 
 This resolution, once passed, will cut off all hope of reconcil- 
 iation. If success attend the arms of England, we shall then 
 be no longer colonies, with charters, and with privileges ; these 
 will all be forfeited by this act ; and we shall be in the con- 
 dition of other conquered people, at the mercy of the conque- 
 rors. For ourselves, we may be ready to run the hazard ; 
 but are we ready to carry the country to that length ? Is suc- 
 cess so probable as to justify it ? Where is the military, where 
 the naval power, by which we are to resist the whole strength 
 of the arm of England, for she will exert that strength to the 
 utmost ? Can we rely on the constancy and perseverance of 
 the people ? or will they not act, as the people of other coun- 
 tries have acted, and wearied with a long war, submit, in the 
 end, to a worse oppression ? While we stand on our old 
 ground, and insist on redress of grievances, we know we are 
 right, and are not answerable for consequences. Nothing, 
 then, can be imputable to us. But if we now change our ob- 
 ject, carry our pretensions further, and set up for absolute In- 
 dependence, we shall lose the sympathy of mankind. We 
 shall no longer be defending what we possess, but struggling 
 for something which we never did possess, and which we have 
 
216 EULOGIES ON 
 
 solemnly and uniformly disclaimed all intention of pursuing, 
 from the very outset of the troubles. Abandoning thus our 
 old ground, of resistance only to arbitrary acts of oppression, 
 the nations will believe the whole to have been mere pretence, 
 and they will look on us, not as injured, but as ambitious sub- 
 jects. I shudder, before this responsibility. It will be on us, 
 if relinquishing the ground we have stood on so long, and stood 
 on so safely, we now proclaim Independence, and carry on the 
 war for that object, while these cities burn, these pleasant 
 fields whiten and bleach with the bones of their owners, and 
 these streams run blood. It will be upon us, it will be upon 
 us, if failing to maintain this unseasonable and ill-judged Dec- 
 laration, a sterner despotism, maintained by military power, 
 shall be established over our posterity, when we ourselves, 
 given up by an exhausted, a harassed, a misled people, shall 
 have expiated our rashness and atoned for our presumption, 
 on the scaffold.' 
 
 It was for Mr. Adams to reply to arguments like these. We 
 know his opinions, and we know his character. He would 
 commence with his accustomed directness and earnest- 
 ness. 
 
 ' Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand, 
 and my heart, to this vote. It is true, indeed, that in the be- 
 ginning, we ainaed not at Independence. But there's a Di- 
 vinity which shapes our ends^ The injustice of England has 
 driven us to arms ; and, blinded to her own interest for our 
 good, she has obstinately persisted, till Independence is now 
 within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is 
 ours. Why then should we defer the Declaration ? Is any 
 man so weak as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, 
 which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, 
 or safety to his own life, and his own honor ? Are not you, 
 sir, who sit in that chair, is not he, our venerable colleague 
 near you, are you not both already the proscribed and pre- 
 destined objects of punishment and of vengeance ? Cut off 
 from all hope of royal clemency, what are you, what can you 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 217 
 
 be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws ? If we 
 postpone Independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up 
 the war? Do we mean to submit to the measures of parlia- 
 ment, Boston port-bill and all ? Do we mean to submit, and 
 consent that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our 
 country and its rights trodden down in the dust ? I know we 
 do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do we in- 
 tend to violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into 
 by men, that plighting, before God, of our sacred honor to 
 Washington, when putting him forth to incur the dangers of 
 war, as well as the political hazards of the times, we promised 
 to adhere to him, in every extremity, with our fortunes and 
 our lives ? I know there is not a man here, who would not 
 rather see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or an 
 earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith 
 fall to the ground. For myself, having, twelve months ago, 
 in this place, moved you, that George Washington be appoint- 
 ed commander of the forces, raised or to be raised, for defence 
 of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning, 
 and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or 
 waver, in the support I gave him. The war, then, must go on. 
 We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why 
 put off longer the Declaration of Independence? That meas- 
 ure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. The 
 nations will then treat with us, which they never can do while 
 we acknowledge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sove- 
 reign. Nay, I maintain that England herself, will sooner treat 
 for peace with us on the footing of Independence, than con- 
 sent, by repealing her acts, to acknowledge that her whole 
 conduct towards us has been a course of injustice and oppres- 
 sion. Her pride will be less wounded, by submitting to that 
 course of things which now predestinates our Independence, 
 than by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious 
 subjects. The former she would regard as the result of for- 
 tune ; the latter she would feel as her own deep disgrace. 
 Why then, why then, sir, do we not as soon as possible, change 
 
218 EULOGIES OX 
 
 this from a civil to a national war ? And since we must fight 
 it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the 
 benefits of victory, if we gain the victory ? 
 
 If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. 
 The cause will raise up armies ; the cause will create navies. 
 The people, the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, 
 and will carr}' themselves, gloriously, through this struggle. I 
 care not how fickle other people have been found. I know 
 the people of these colonies, and I know that resistance to 
 British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts and can- 
 not be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed its 
 willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the Decla- 
 ration will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead 
 of a long and bloody war for restoration of privileges, for re- 
 dress of grievances, for chartered immunities, held under a 
 British king, set before them the glorious object of entire In- 
 dependence, and it will breathe into them anew the breath of 
 life. Read this Declaration at the head of the army; every 
 sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow 
 uttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Pub- 
 lish it from the pulpit ; religion will approve it, and the love 
 of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand with 
 it, or fall with it. Send it to the public halls ; proclaim it 
 there ; let them hear it, who heard the first roar of the ene- 
 my's cannon ; let them see it, who saw their brothers and their 
 sons fall on the field of Bunker-Hill, and in the streets of Lex- 
 ington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its sup- 
 
 \ port. 
 
 A Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see, I see 
 
 clearly through this day's business. You and I indeed, may 
 rue it. We may not live to the time, when this Declaration 
 shall be made good. We may die ; die, colonists ; die, slaves ; 
 die, it may be, ignominiously and on the scaffold. Be it so. 
 Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven that my country 
 shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be 
 ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 219 
 
 may. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least 
 the hope of a country, and that a free country. 
 
 But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that 
 this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, and it may 
 cost blood ; but it will stand, and it will richly compensate 
 for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the 
 brightness of the future, as the sun in Heaven. We shall make 
 this a glorious, an immortal day. When we are in our graves, 
 our children will honor it. They will celebrate it, with 
 thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. 
 On its annual return they will shed tears, copious, gushing 
 tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, 
 but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, 
 I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this meas- 
 ure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that 
 I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to 
 Btake upon it ; and I leave otY, as I begun, that live or die, sur- 
 vive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sen- 
 timent, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying senti- 
 ment ; Independence, noio ; and independence forever.' 
 L And so that day shall be honored, illustrious prophet and 
 patriot ! so that day shall be honored, and as often as it re- 
 turns, thy renown shall come along with it, and the glory of 
 thy life, like the day of thy death, shall not fail from the re- 
 membrance of men. 
 
 It would be unjust, fellow-citizens, on this occasion, while 
 we express our veneration for him who is the immediate sub- 
 ject of these remarks, were we to omit a most respectful, af- 
 fectionate, and grateful mention of those other great men, his 
 colleagues, who stood with him, and with the same spirit, the 
 same devotion, took part in the interesting transaction. Han- 
 cock, the proscribed Hancock, exiled from his home by a mil- 
 itary governor, cut off, by proclamation, from the mercy of 
 the crown, heaven reserved, for him, the distinguished honor 
 of putting this great question to the vote, and of writing his own 
 name first, and most conspicuously, on that parchment which 
 
220 EULOGIES ON 
 
 spoke defiance to the power of the crown of England. There, 
 too, is the name of that other proscribed patriot, Samuel Ad- 
 ams ; a man who hungered and tiiirsted for the Independence 
 of his country ; who thought the Declaration halted and hn- 
 gered, being himself not only ready, but eager, for it, long be- 
 fore it was proposed ; a man of the deepest sagacity, the clear- 
 est foresight, and the profoundest judgment in men. And 
 there is Gerry, himself among the earliest and the foremost of 
 the patriots, found, when the battle of Lexington summoned 
 them to common councils, by the side of Warren ; a man who 
 lived to serve his country at home and abroad, and to die in 
 the second place in the government. There, too, is the in- 
 flexible, the upright, the Spartan character, Robert Treat 
 Paine. He, also, lived to serve his country through the strug- 
 gle, and then withdrew from her councils, only that he might 
 give his labors and his life to his native State, in another rela- 
 tion. These names, fellow-citizens, are the treasures of the 
 commonwealth ; and they are treasures which grow brighter 
 by time. 
 
 It is now necessary to resume, and to finish with great brev- 
 ity, the notice of the lives of those, whose virtues and servi- 
 ces we have met to commemorate. 
 
 Mr. Adams remained in congress from its first meeting, till 
 November 1777, when he was appointed minister to France. 
 He proceeded on that service, in the February following, em- 
 barking in the Boston frigate, on the shore of his native town, 
 at the foot of Mount Wollaston. The year following, he was 
 appointed commissioner to treat of peace with England. Re^ 
 turning to the United States, he was delegate from Braintree 
 in the convention for framing the constitution of this Common-* 
 wealth, in 1 780. At the latter end of the same year, he again 
 went abroad, in the diplomatic service of the country, and was 
 employed at various courts, and occupied with various nego- 
 tiations, until 1788. The particulars of these interesting and 
 important services this occasion does not allow time to re- 
 late. In 1782 he concluded our first treaty with Holland. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 221 
 
 ^ His negotiations with that Repubhc, his efforts to persuade 
 the States-General to recognize our Independence, his inces- 
 sant and indefatigable exertions to represent the American 
 cause favorably, on the Continent, and to counteract the de- 
 signs of its enemies, open and secret ; and his successful 
 undertaking to obtain loans, on the credit of a nation yet new 
 and unknown, are among his most arduous, most useful, most 
 honorable services. It was his fortune to bear a part in the 
 negotiation for peace with England, and in something more 
 than six years from the Declaration which he had so strenu- 
 ously supported, he had the satisfaction to see the minister 
 plenipotentiary of the crown subscribe to the instrument which 
 declared thathis ' Britannic Majesty acknowledged the United 
 States, to be free, sovereign, and independent.' In these im- 
 portant transactions, Mr. Adams' conduct received the mark- 
 ed approbation of Congress, and of the country. 
 
 While abroad, in 1787, he published his Defence of the 
 American Constitutions ; a work of merit, and ability, though 
 composed with haste, on the spur of a particular occasion, in 
 the midst of other occupations, and under circumstances not 
 admitting of careful revision. The immediate object of the 
 work was to counteract the weight of opinions advanced by 
 several popular European writers of that day, Mr. Turgot, the 
 Abbe de Mably, and Dr. Price, at a time when the people of 
 the United States were employed in forming and revising their 
 systems of government. 
 
 Returning to the United States in 1788, he found the new 
 government about going into operation, and was himself elect- 
 ed the first Vice-President, a situation which he filled with 
 reputation for eight years, at the expiration of which he was 
 raised to the Presidential chair, as immediate successor to the 
 immortal Washington. In this high station he was succeeded 
 by Mr. Jefferson, after a memorable controversy, between 
 their respective friends, in 180) ; and from that period his 
 manner of life has been known to all who hear me. He ha» 
 lived, for five-and-twenty years, with every enjoyment that 
 39 • 
 
222 xEULOGlES ON 
 
 could render old age happy. Not inattentive to the occur- 
 rences of the times, political cares have yet not materially, or 
 for any long time, disturbed his repose. In 1820 he acted as 
 elector of President and Vice-President, and in the same year 
 we saw him, then at the age of eighty -five, a member of the 
 convention of this Commonwealth, called to revise the Con- 
 stitution. Forty years before, he had been one of those who 
 formed that Constitution ; and he had now the pleasure of wit- 
 nessing that there was little which the people desired to 
 change. Possessing all his faculties to the end of his long life, 
 with an unabated love of reading and contemplation, in the 
 centre of interesting circles of friendship and affection, he was 
 blessed, in his retirement, with whatever of repose and feli- 
 city, the condition of man allows. He had also other enjoy- 
 ments. He saw around him that prosperity and general hap- 
 piness, which had been the object of his public cares and la- 
 bors. No man ever beheld more clearly, and for a longer 
 time, the great and beneficial effects of the services rendered 
 by himself to his country. That liberty, which he so early 
 defended, that Independence of which he was so able an advo- 
 cate and supporter, he saw, we trust, firmly and securely es- 
 tablished. The population of the country thickened around 
 him faster, and extended wider, than his own sanguine predic- 
 tions had anticipated ; and the wealth, respectability, and 
 power of the nation sprang up to a magnitude, which it is quite 
 impossible he could have expected to witness, in his day. He 
 lived, also, to behold those principles of civil freedom, which 
 had been developed, established, and practically applied in 
 America, attract attention, command respect, and awaken im- 
 itation, in other regions of the globe: and well might, and well 
 did he, exclaim, ' Where will the consequences of the Amer- 
 ican Revolution end !' 
 
 If any thing yet remain to fill this cup of happiness, let it 
 be added, that he lived to see a great and intelligent people 
 bestow the highest honor in their gift, where he had bestowed 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 223 
 
 his own kindest parental affections, and lodged his fondest 
 hopes. Thus honored in life, thus happy at death, he saw 
 the Jubilee, and he died ; and with the last prayers which 
 trembled on his lips, was the fervent supplication for his 
 country, ' Independence forever.' 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, having been occupied in the years 1778 and 
 J 779, in the important service of revising the laws of Vir- 
 ginia, was elected Governor of that State, as successor to 
 Patrick Henry, and held the situation when the State was in- 
 vaded b) the British arms. In 1781 he published his Notes 
 on Virginia, a work which attracted attention in Europe as 
 well as America, dispelled many misconceptions respecting 
 this continent, and gave its author a place among men distin- 
 guished for science. In November 1783, he again took his 
 seat in the Continental Congress, but in May following was 
 appointed Minister Plenipotentiary, to act abroad, in the ne- 
 gotiation of commercial treaties, with Dr. Franklin and Mr, 
 Adams. He proceeded to France, in execution of this mis- 
 sion, embarking at Boston ; and that was the only occasion 
 on which he ever visited this place. In 1 785 he was appoint- 
 ed minister to France, the duties of which situation he con- 
 tinued to perform, until October 1789, when he obtained 
 leave to retire, just on the eve of that tremendous Revolu- 
 tion which has so much agitated the world, in our times. — 
 Mr. Jefferson's discharge of his diplomatic duties was mark- 
 ed by great ability, diligence, and patriotism ; and while he 
 resided at Paris, in one of the most interesting periods, his 
 character for intelligence, his love of knowledge, and of the 
 society of learned men, distinguished him in the highest cir- 
 cles of the French capital. No court in Europe had, at that 
 time, in Paris a representative commanding or enjoying high- 
 er regard, for political knowledge or for general attainment, 
 than the minister of this then infant republic. Immediately 
 on his return to his native country, at the organization of the 
 government under the present Constitution, his talents and 
 experience recommended him to President Washington, for 
 
224 EULOGIES ON 
 
 the first office in his gift. He was placed at the head of the 
 Department of State. In this situation, also, he manifested 
 conspicuous ability. His correspondence with the ministers 
 of other powers residing here, and his instructions to our own 
 diplomatic agents abroad, are among our ablest State Papers. 
 A thorough knowledge of the laws and usages of nations, per- 
 fect acquaintance with the immediate subject before him, 
 great felicity, and still greater facility, in writing, shew them- 
 selves in whatever effort his official situation called on him 
 to make. It is believed, by competent judges, that the di- 
 plomatic intercourse of the government of the United States, 
 from the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774 to 
 the present time, taken together, would not suffer, in respect 
 to the talent with which it has been conducted, by compar- 
 ison with anything which other and older States can produce ; 
 and to the attainment of this respectability and distinction, 
 Mr. Jefferson has contributed his full part. 
 
 On the retirement of General Washington from the pres- 
 idency, and the election of Mr. Adams to that office, in 1797, 
 he was chosen Vice-President. While presiding, in this ca- 
 pacity, over the deliberations of the senate, he compiled and 
 published a Manual of Parliamentary Practice, a work of 
 more labor and more merit, than is indicated by its size. — 
 It is now received, as the general standard, by which pro- 
 ceedings are regulated, not only in both Houses of Congress, 
 but in most of the other legislative bodies in the country. — 
 In 1801, he was elected President, in opposition to Mr. 
 Adams, and re-elected in 1805, by a vote approaching towards 
 unanimity. 
 
 From the time of his final retirement from public life, in 
 .1807, Mr. Jefferson lived, as became a wise man. Surround- 
 ed by affectionate friends, his ardor in the pursuit of knowl- 
 edge undiminished, with uncommon health, and unbroken 
 spirits, he was able to enjoy largely the rational pleasures of 
 life, and to partake in that public prosperity, which he had 
 so much contributed to produce. His kindness and hospital- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSOx\. 225 
 
 ity, the charm of his conversation, the ease of his manners, 
 the extent of his acquirements, and especially the full store 
 of levolutionary incidents, which he possessed, and which he 
 knew when and how to dispense, rendered his abode in a 
 high degree attractive to his admiring countrymen, while his 
 high public and scientific character drew towards him every 
 intelligent and educated traveller from abroad. Both Mr, 
 Adams and Mr. Jefferson had the pleasure of knowing that 
 the respect, which they so largely received, was not paid to 
 their official stations. They were not men made great by 
 office ; but great men on whom the country for its own benefit 
 had conferred office. There was that in them, which office 
 did not give, and which the relinquishment of office did not, 
 and could not, take away. In their retirement, in the midst 
 of their fellow-citizens, themselves private citizens, they 
 enjoyed as high regard and esteem, as when filling the most 
 important places of public trust. 
 
 There remained to Mr. Jefferson yet one other work of 
 patriotism and beneficence, the establishment of a University 
 in his native state. To this object he devoted years of inces- 
 sant and anxious attention, and by the enlightened liberality 
 of the legislature of Virginia, and the co-operation of other 
 able and zealous friends, he lived to see it accomplished. — 
 May all success attend this infant seminary ; and may those 
 who enjoy its advantages, as often as their eyes shall rest on 
 the neighboring height, recollect what they owe to their dis- 
 interested and indefatigable benefactor ; and may letters hon- 
 or him who thus labored in the cause of letters. 
 
 Thus useful, and thus respected, passed the old age of 
 Thomas Jefferson. But time was on its ever-ceaseless wing, 
 and was now bringing the last hour of this illustrious man. — 
 He saw its approach, with undisturbed serenity. He count- 
 ed the moments, as they passed, and beheld that his last sands 
 were falling. That day, too, was at hand, which he bad 
 helped to make immortal. One wish, one hope — if it were 
 notpresumptuous— beat in his fainting breast. Could it be 
 
226 EULOGIES ON 
 
 SO — might it please God — he would desire — once more — to 
 see the sun — once more to look abroad on the scene around 
 him, on the great day of liberty. Heaven m its mercy, ful- 
 lilled that prayer. He saw that sun — he enjoyed its sacred 
 light — he thanked God for this mercy, and bowed his aged 
 head to the grave. " Fel x, non vilte tanlum claritate, sed 
 etiam opportunitate mortis.^ 
 
 The last public labor of Mr. Jefferson naturally suggests 
 the expression of the high praise which is due, both to him 
 and to Mr. Adams, for their uniform and zealous attachment 
 to learning, and to the cause of general knowledge. Of the 
 advantages of learning, indeed, and of literary accomplish- 
 ments, their own characters were striking recommendations, 
 and illustrations. They were scholars, ripe and good schol- 
 ars ; widely acquainted with ancient, as well as modern lit- 
 erature, and not altogether uninstructed in the deeper scien- 
 ces. Their acquirements, doubtless, were different, and so 
 were the particular objects, of their literary pursuits ; as their 
 states and characters, in these respects, differed like those of 
 other men. Being also, men of busy lives, with great objects, 
 requring action, constantly before them, their attainments in 
 letters did not become showy, or obtrusive. Yet, I would 
 hazard the opinion, that if we could now ascertain all the 
 causes which gave them eminence and distinction, in the 
 midst of the great men with whom they acted, we should find, 
 not among the least, their early acquisition in Hterature, the 
 resources which it furnished, the promptitude and facility 
 which it communicated, and the wide field it opened, for anal- 
 ogy and illustration ; giving them, thus, on every subject, a 
 larger view, and a broader range, as well for discussion, as 
 for the government of their own conduct. 
 
 Literature sometimes, and pretentions to it much oftener, 
 disgusts, by appearing to hang loosely on the character, like 
 something foreign or extraneous, not a part, but an ill-adjust- 
 ed appendage ; or by seeming to overload and weigh it down, 
 by its unsightly bulk, like the productions of bad taste in ar- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 227 
 
 ehitecture, where there is massy and cumbrous ornament, 
 without strength or sohdity of column. This has exposed 
 learning, and especially classical learning, to reproach. — 
 Men have seen that it might exist, without mental superior- 
 ity, without vigor, without good taste, and without utility. 
 But, in such cases, classical learning has only not inspired 
 natural talent ; or, at most, it has but made original feeble- 
 ness of intellect, and natural bluntness of preception, some- 
 thing more conspicuous. The question, after all, if it be a 
 question, is, whether literature, ancient as well as modern, does 
 not assist a good understanding, improve natural good taste, 
 add polished armour to native strength, and render its pos- 
 sessor, not only more capable of deriving private happiness 
 from contemplation and reflection, but more accomplished, 
 also, for action, in the atTairs of life, and especially for public 
 action. Those whose memories we now honor, were learn- 
 ed men ; but their learning was kept in its proper place, and 
 made subservient to the uses and objects of life. They were 
 scholars not common, nor superficial ; but their scholarship 
 was so in keeping with their character, so blended and in- 
 wrought, that careless observers, or bad judges, not seeing an 
 ostentatious display of it, might infer that it did not exist; 
 forgetting or not knowing, that classical learning, in men 
 who act in conspicuous public stations, perform duties which 
 exercise the faculty of writing, or address popular, deliber- 
 ative, or judicial bodies, is often felt, where it is little seen, 
 and sometimes felt more effectually, because it is not seen 
 at all. 
 
 But the cause of knowledge, in a more enlarged sense, the 
 cause of general knowledge and of popular education, had 
 no warmer friends, nor more powerful advocates, than Mr. 
 Adams and Mr. Jefferson. On this foundation, they knew, 
 the whole republican system rested ; and this great and all- 
 important truth they strove to impress, by all the means in 
 their power. In the early publication, already referred to, 
 Mr. Adams expresses the strong andjust sentiment, that the 
 
2*28 ^ EULGIES ON 
 
 education of the poor is more important, even to the ricb 
 themselves, than all their own riches. On this great truth, 
 indeed, is founded that unrivalled, that invaluable political 
 and moral institution, our own blessing, and the glory of our 
 fathers, the New-England system of free schools. 
 
 As the promotion of knowledge had been the object of 
 their regard through life, so these great men made it the sub- 
 ject of their testamentary bounty. Mr. Jefferson is under- 
 stood to have bequeathed his library to the university, and 
 that of Mr. Adams is bestowed on the inhabitants of Quincy, 
 
 Mr. Adams, and Mr. Jefferson, fellow citizens, were suc- 
 cessively Presidents of the United States. The comparative 
 merits of their respective administrations for a long time agit- 
 ated and divided public opinion. They were rivals, each 
 supported by numerous and powerful portions of the people, 
 for the highest office. This contest, partly the cause, and 
 partly the consequence, of the long existence of two great po- 
 litical parties in the country, is now part of the history of our 
 government. We may naturally regret, that any thing should 
 have occurred to create difference and discord, between those 
 who had acted harmoniously and efficiently in the great con- 
 cerns of the revolution. But this is not the time, nor this the 
 occasion, for entering into the grounds of that difference, 
 or for attempting to discusis the merits of the questions which 
 it involves. As practical questions, they were canvassed, 
 when the measures wdiich they regarded were acted on and 
 adopted ; and as belonging to history, the time has not come 
 for their consideration. 
 
 It is, perhaps, not wonderful, that when the Constitution 
 of the United States went first into operation, different opin- 
 ions should be entertained, as to the extent of the powers 
 conferred by it. Here was a natural source of diversity of 
 sentiment. It is still less wonderful, that that event, about 
 contemporary with our government, under the present Con- 
 stitution, which so entirely shocked all Europe, and disturb- 
 «d our relations with her leading powers, should be thought, 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 229 
 
 by different men, to have different bearings on our own pros- 
 perity ; and that the early measures, adopted by our govern- 
 ment, in consequence of this new state of things, should be 
 seen in opposite lights. It is for the future historian, when 
 what now remains of prejudice and misconception shall have 
 passed away, to state these different opinions, and pronounce 
 impartial judgment. In the meantime, all good men re- 
 joice, and well may rejoice, that the sharpest differences 
 sprung out of measures, which, whether right or wrong, have 
 ceased, with the exigencies that gave them birth, and have 
 left no permanent effect, either on the Constitution, or on the 
 general prosperity of the country. This remark, I am 
 aware, may be supposed to have its exception, in one meas- 
 ure, the alteration of the Constitution, as to the mode of 
 choosing President ; but it is true, in its general application. 
 Thus the course of policy pursued towards France, in 1798, 
 on the one hand, and the measures of commercial restriction, 
 commenced in 1807, on the other, both subjects of warm and 
 severe opposition, have passed away, and left nothing behind 
 them. They were temporary, and whether wise or unwise, 
 their consequences were limited to their respective occa- 
 sions. It is equally clear, at the same time, and it is equally 
 gratifying, that those measures of both administrations, which 
 were of durable importance, and which drew after them in- 
 teresting and long remaining consequences, have received 
 general approbation. Such was the organization, or rather 
 the creation, of the navy, in the administration of Mr. Adams j 
 such the acquisition of Louisiana, in that of Mr. Jefferson. — 
 The country, it may safely be added, is not likely to be wil- 
 ling either to approve, or to reprobate, indiscriminately, and 
 in the aggregate, all the measures of either, or of any, admin- 
 istration. The dictate of reason and of justice is, that, hold- 
 ing each one his own sentiments on the points of difference, 
 we imitate the great men themselves, in the forbearance 
 
 and moderation which they have cherished, and in the mutua'l 
 30 
 
230 EULOGIES ON 
 
 respect and kindness which they have been so much inchned 
 to feel and to reciprocate. 
 
 No men, fellow-citizens, ever served their country with 
 more entire exemption from every imputation of selfish and 
 mercenary motive than those to whose memory we are pay- 
 ing these proofs of respect. A suspicion of any disposition 
 to enrich themselves, or to profit by their pubHc employ- 
 ments, never rested on either. No sordid motive approach- 
 ed them. The inheritance which they have left to their 
 children, is of their character and their fame. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I will detain you no longer by this faint 
 and feeble tribute to the memory of the illustrious dead. — 
 Even in other hands, adequate justice could not be perform- 
 ed, within the limits of this occasion. Their heighest, their 
 best praise, is your deep conviction of their merits, your af- 
 fectionate gratitude for their labors and services. It is not 
 my voice, it is this cessation of ordinary pursuits, this arrest- 
 ing of all attention, these solemn ceremonies, and this crowd- 
 ed house, which speak their eulogy. Their fame, indeed, is 
 safe. That is now treasured up, beyond the reach of acci- 
 dent. Although no sculptured marble should rise to their 
 -memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet 
 will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honor- 
 ed. Marble columns may, indeed, moulder into dust, time 
 may erase all impress from the crumbling stone, but their 
 fame remains ; for with American Liberty it rose, and with 
 American Liberty only can it perish. It was the last swell- 
 ing peal of yonder choir, " Their bodies are buried in peace, 
 but their name liveth evermore^ I catch that solemn song, 
 I echo that lofty strain of funeral triumph, " Their name liv- 
 eth evermore.^^ 
 
 Of the illustrious signers of the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence there now remains only Charles Carroll. He 
 seems an aged oak, standing alone on the plain, which time 
 has spared a little longer, after all its contemporaries have 
 been levelled with the dust. Venerable object! we delight 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 231 
 
 to gather round its trunk, while yet it stands, and to dwell 
 beneath its shadow. Sole survivor of an assembly of as great 
 men as the world has witnessed, in a transaction, one of the 
 most important that history records, what thoughts, what 
 interesting reflections must fill his elevated and devout soul ! 
 If he dwell on the past, how touching its recollections ; if he 
 survey the present, how happy, how joyous, how full of the 
 fruition of that hope, which his ardent patriotism indulged ; 
 if he glance at the future, how does the prospect of his conn* 
 try's advancement almost bewilder his weakened concep- 
 tion ! Fortunate, distinguished patriot ! Interesting relie 
 of the past ! Let him know that while we honor the dead, 
 we do not forget the living ; and that there is not a heart here 
 which does not fervently pray, that Heaven may keep him 
 yet back from the society of his companions. 
 
 And now, fellow-citizens, let us not retire from this occa< 
 sion, without a deep and solemn conviction of duties which 
 have devolved upon us. This lovely land, this glorious lib- 
 erty, these benign institutions, the dear purchase of our fa- 
 thers, are oi^rs ; ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to 
 transmit. Generations past, and generations to come, hold us 
 responsible for this sacred trust. Our fathers, from behind, 
 admonish us, with their anxious paternal voices, posterity 
 calls out 10 us, from the bosom of the future, the world turns 
 hither its solicitous eyes — all, all conjure us to act wisely, and 
 faithfully, in the relation which we sustain. We can never, 
 indeed, pay the debt which is upon us ; but by virtue, by 
 morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good princi- 
 ple and every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessing, 
 through our day, and to leave it unimpaired to our children. 
 Let us feel deeply how much, of what we are and of what 
 we possess, we owe to this liberty, and these institutions of 
 government. Nature has, indeed, given us a soil, which 
 yieldsbounteously to thehands of industry, the mighty and 
 fruitful ocean is before us, and the skies over our heads shed 
 health and vigor. But what are lands, and seas, and skies, 
 
232 EULOGIES ON 
 
 to civilized man, without society, without knowledge, with- 
 out morals, without religious culture ; and how can these be 
 enjoyed, in all their extent, and all their excellence, but un- 
 der the protection of wise institutions and a free government ? 
 Fellow-citizens, there is not one of us, there is not one of us 
 here present, who does not at this moment, and at every mo- 
 ment, experience, in his own condition, and in the condition 
 of those most near and dear to him, the influence and the 
 benefits of this liberty, and these institutions. Let us then 
 acknowledge the blessing, let us feel it deeply and powerfully, 
 let us cherish a strong affection for it, and resolve to maintain 
 and perpetuate it. The blood of our fathers, let it not have 
 been shed in vain ; the great hope of prosperity, let it not 
 be blasted. 
 
 The striking attitude, too, in which we stand to the world 
 around us, a topic to which, I fear, I advert too often, and 
 dwell on too long, cannot be altogether omitted here. Nei- 
 ther individuals nor nations can perform their part well, until 
 they Understand and feel its importance, and comprehend and 
 justly appreciate all the duties belonging to it. It is not to 
 inflate national vanity, nor to swell a light and empty feeling 
 of self-importance, but it is that we may judge justly of our sit- 
 uation, and of our own duties, that I earnestly urge this con- 
 sideration of our position, and our character, among the na- 
 tions of the earth. It can not be denied, but by those who 
 would dispute against the sun, that with America, and in 
 America, a new era, commences in human affairs. This era 
 is distinguished by Free Representative Governments, by en-, 
 tire religious liberty, by improved systems of national inter- 
 course, by a newly awakened, and an unconquerable spirit 
 of free inquiry, aiid by a diffusion of knowledge through the 
 community, such as has been before altogether unknown and 
 unheard of. America, America, our country, fellow-citizenSj 
 our own dear and native land, is inseparably connected, fast 
 bo'md up, in for'une and by fate, with these great interests. — 
 If they fall, we fall with them ; if they stand, it will be be- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 233 
 
 cause we have upholden them. Let us contemplate, then, 
 this connexion, which binds the prosperity of others to our 
 own ; and let us manfully discharge all the duties which it 
 imposes. If we cherish the virtues and the principles of our 
 fathers. Heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human 
 liberty and human happiness. Auspicious omens cheer us. 
 Great examples are before us. Our own firmament now 
 shines brightly upon our path. Washington is in the clear 
 upper sky. These other stars have now joined the Ameri- 
 can constellation ; they circle round their centre, and the 
 Heavens beam with new light. Beneath this illumination, 
 let us walk the course of life, and at its close devoutly 
 commend our beloved country, the common parent of us all, 
 to the Divine Benignity. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS, 
 August 10, 1826. 
 
 BY JOSEPH E. SPRAGUE. 
 
 THE greatest talents and the most powerful eloquence of 
 the age, have already poured forth the libations of national feel- 
 ing, to the memories of the illustrious dead, in Faneuil Hall, 
 the Cradle of Liberty, and at the foot of Bunker's consecrated 
 Hill. An attempt on our part to add any thing to these dis- 
 tinguished services, would be equally unavailing and pre- 
 sumptuous. But, fellow-citizens, it is our duty to bring our 
 humble offering to the memories of our common political 
 fathers. The rivulet unites with the majestic river in its trib- 
 ute to the deep ; and although our notes should be as low as 
 the last reverberation of an echo, still they should be sound- 
 ed. 
 
 Public sentiment exerts arbitrary control over human ac- 
 tions. The sanctions of religion and law are but Lilliputian 
 ties to restrain its operation. We frequently see the most dis- 
 tinguished men assume the arm of the assassin, and expose 
 themselves to deadly weapons, in contests, which their reason 
 and their consciences condemn, and do acts, which the laws 
 of heaven and society stamp as murder ; because public 
 opinion in their country requires it, to vindicate and pre- 
 serve unsulHed that fame, which is justly dearer to man than 
 Mfe itself. If such is the arbitrary influence of public sentiment 
 how important is it, that it should be properly regulated, and 
 that every opportunity should be seized to give it a right di- 
 rection. "What occasion so appropriate, what so effectual, as 
 to hold up to society for imitation, those whose actions were 
 models for human ronrlnrt, and whose lives illustrated every 
 
236 EULOGIES ON 
 
 virtue. The greater respect you pay such men, the higher 
 the veneration you inspire for their characters. If you can 
 induce men to admire the virtues personified, they will most 
 surely practice them. They will not abuse what they love. 
 It is preposterous to suppose that any person devoted to a vir- 
 tue, can fall a victim to its opposite vice. Exalted virtues and 
 public services demand our highest gratitude ; and this grat- 
 itude is the greatest incentive to others. They merit, that 
 they too may receive it. One of the strongest motives to a 
 virtuous life, is the desire implanted in our bosoms, to live 
 after death in the memory of posterity. 
 
 These, fellow-citizens, are the reasons which should in- 
 duce us to pay every tribute of gratitude and every mark of 
 respect to those virtuous and distinguished patriots to com- 
 memorate whose departure we are now assembled. Search 
 history from creation to the deluge, and from the deluge un- 
 til the present day, and where can we find men whose lives 
 have been more virtuous, patriotic or useful, or who better 
 deserve to be exhibited as models for mankind ? If the moral 
 virtues gave proportion to the form, here Phidias might sculp- 
 ture perfection, and Stuart know that his models surpassed 
 those of ancient Greece. 
 
 The solid foundation of our liberties rests on the system of 
 Christianity, Although in its first promulgation, its maxims 
 opposed sudden violent and unavailing opposition to those 
 in authority, yet, in its general tenor, it teaches the natural 
 equality of man, and of course his equal rights, not only to 
 life, and the bounties of nature, but also to liberty and self- 
 government. The same book which enjoins on " slaves to 
 obey their masters," at the same time directs masters "to 
 give that which is just and equal to their slaves," for that they 
 also have a master in heaven, " who hath no respect to per- 
 sons." It teaches those who would rule, that governments 
 are instituted not for their gratification, but for the benefit of 
 their subjects. "Whosoever will be chief among you, let 
 him be your servant." It declares that in the day of deso- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 237 
 
 Intion, it shall be " as with the slave, so with the master." — 
 It brings the master and his servant to the same communion, 
 and teaches them that each has an immortal spirit under the 
 protection of one who knows no distinction of rank. It de- 
 presses the proud, the haughty, and the elevated, by de- 
 clarmg to them that their honors and elevation cease with 
 their breath ; that they can carry nothing with them be}'Ond 
 the grave ; that their honors and elevation on earth give them 
 no title to rank in heaven ; that they will be judged there by 
 the single standard of moral worth. It elevates the low and 
 depressed with the assurance, that if they act well their part 
 on earth, no distinction of rank this side the grave can bar 
 their advancement to the highest posts in heaven. Such 
 principles are utterly subversive of all right to enslave our 
 fellow-creatures, and of the "dark ribaldry" of a divine rights 
 to hereditary rank. 
 
 These, fellow-citizens, are the republican doctrines of your 
 religion, when it is understood in its simplicity, and purified 
 from the absurd commentaries of those, who have erected 
 religious establishments, and connected them with their po- 
 litical systems. To unite Church and State, and make them 
 mutually support each other, it is necessary to give to the 
 Scriptures an unnatural and servile interpretation. 
 
 It was in the Holy Scriptures that the Puritans learnt their 
 lessons of civil and religious liberty. Equally averse to the 
 slavery of the mind and person, they fled at the same time 
 from the Hierarchy and the Aristocracy of the old world, and 
 commenced the settlement of the new. Here for ages they 
 were permitted, without interruption, to enjoy a degree of 
 liberty unknown in the mother country. At last their pros- 
 perity excited the avarice of the parent state. The colonies 
 had always voluntarily contributed most liberally* to the 
 
 *Mr. Otis, in a speech in the legislature, September 8, 1762, 
 says, " This province has since the year 1754, levied for his ma- 
 jesty's service as soldiers and seamen, near thirty thousand men, 
 besides what have been otherwise emploved. One vear in par- 
 
 .^1 ' 
 
238 EULOGIES ON 
 
 prosperity of the mother country. But now her cupidity 
 sought to relieve her own burthens, by imposing them on the 
 colonies; to bind them witliout their consent, by the acts of 
 a body in which they were not represented. The principles 
 of liberty implanted by the Puritans in their descendants, 
 had taken too deep root to be easily shaken. They denied 
 the authority thus to bind them. They resisted it, and this 
 resistance produced the v^merican revolution. The taxes 
 imposed on them were light, and much easier to be borne 
 than the cost of any opposition. But they regarded not the 
 amount. They saw in the principle, the arbitrary principle 
 of tyranny, and they determined to risk property, honor, and 
 life, rather than submit to it. 
 
 It was amid the scenes of the American revolution, that the 
 two patriarchs, whose memories we would now embalm, acted 
 their first and most distinguished parts. 
 
 The American revolution, and the erection of free govern- 
 ments consequent to it, form the most important era in histo- 
 ry ; the most appalling to hereditary rank and aristocratic 
 pride. Our systems of government approximate to perfec- 
 tion, and are susceptible of but little improvement. They 
 unite the greatest strength in the government with the most 
 entire liberty in the people. They afford such an example to 
 the world, that if we are true to our ancestors, true to our- 
 selves, they must eventually be universally adopted. It was 
 the part taken by Adams and Jefferson, in disenthralling us 
 from colonial servitude, and erecting governments, which 
 will always be considered as " stupendous fabrics of human 
 wisdom,*' that calls us at this time to pay the homage of 
 ceaseless gratitude to their memories. 
 
 The history of John Adams and Thomas Jetlerson is the 
 history of their country during its most critical and interesting 
 
 licular, it was said, that every fifth man was employed, in one 
 shape or another. We have raised sums for the support of this 
 war, that the last generation could hardly have formed an idea of. 
 We are now deeply in debt." 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 239 
 
 periods. To do them full justice, is the duty of the historian . 
 it is our task merely, to give a bold outline of their propor, 
 tions. Their private virtues and exalted moral worth are 
 proper topics for the sacred desk. The discussion of their 
 literary character belongs to the learned societies, of which 
 they were the members and the heads. It was their patriot- 
 ism and political character which connected them with socie- 
 ty ; and these are the proper themes for our present discus- 
 sion. 
 
 The most appropriate manner of pursuing this discussion 
 would be to group these illustrious and venerable men in the 
 ditferent scenes in which they have acted together, and to show 
 the similarity of their services. But this field has been al- 
 ready occupied by the eloquent advocate of Greece. It will 
 not answer for the lesser lights to follow in the path of the 
 Sun ; that our course may be seen, we must pursue it below 
 the illuminated horizon. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson* was educated at William and Mary, 
 the College of his native State, and to the profession of the 
 law, under the celebrated Chancellor Wythe, one of the sign- 
 ers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1764, being 
 then only twenty-one years of age, he was elected a repre- 
 sentative of his native county in the Legislature of Virgin- 
 ia ; of which he soon became a distinguished member. He was 
 peculiarly fortunate in most of the events of his life. Like 
 the celebrated Addison, he held the pen of the ready and 
 accomplished writer, without the ability to distinguish him-. 
 self as a debater. Those who have had any experience in 
 public assemblies, know the difficulties which the most tal- 
 ented encounter, if they are unable to speak in public. Yet 
 this circumstance formed no barrier to Mr. Jefferson's ad- 
 vancement. His mind was richly stored with legal and po- 
 itical science, and from every source of miscellaneous learn- 
 
 * He was born April 13 (2), 1743, in Albemarle county, Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
240 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ing. His powers of conversation were unequalled. He 
 fascinated all who approached him, and such was the magic 
 power he possessed over men's minds, that whilst they were 
 imbibing his opinions, they imagined he was advocating 
 theirs. He took an early, open, and decided part in favor of 
 the revolution. In 1774, he published a "Summary View 
 of the Rights of British America ;" and in 1773, the duty was 
 assigned him by the Legislature of his state, of replying to 
 Lord North's propositions. On the 21st of June 1775, he 
 took his seat in the Continental Congress, in place of Peyton 
 Randolph, the first President, who died the ensuing autumn. 
 Whilst a member of Congress, he was placed on many impor- 
 tant conunittees, particularly those in which the aid of an 
 able writer was required. Before he had been a vA^eek in 
 Congress, he was placed on the committee to prepare the 
 Declaration to be published by Washington on his taking 
 command of the army. On the 10th of May, 1776, Con- 
 gress passed a resolution, and a preamble to it on the 15th, 
 which is considered by the historians of Europe and America 
 as the assumption of Independence. On the 28th of the same 
 month, it was " Resolved, That an animated address be pub- 
 lished, to impress the minds of the people with the necessity of 
 now stepping forward to save their country, their freedom, 
 and their property." Mr. Jefferson was appointed chair- 
 man of the committee to prepare this address. On the 7th 
 of June, Richard Henry Lee moved the resolution for Inde- 
 pendence. On the 10th a committee was ordered to draft a 
 Declaration. The same evening Mr. Lee was summoned 
 home by sickness in his family ; and on the 11th, when the 
 committee was appointed, Mr. Jefferson was placed at its 
 head. The Declaration is his draft, without material altera- 
 tion ; and this charter of our liberties, which announces to 
 the world the commencement of the American era, will 
 wreathe his brow with imperishable lustre. On the 26th 
 of September, 1776, he was appointed Commissioner to 
 France. The situation of his family compelled him to de- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON, 24 1 
 
 cline this appointment. In October, 1776, he resigned his 
 Beat in Congress, and was elected a member of the House of 
 Delegates. From 1777 to 1779, he was employed with 
 Wythe and Pendleton in framing a code of laws for Virginia. 
 In 1779 he succeeded Patrick Henry as Governor of Virgin- 
 ia, and was re-elected to that office the succeeding year. — 
 During his administration the state was invaded by Bene- 
 dict Arnold. Mr. Jefferson's conduct was impeached, and 
 an enquiry ordered. He was furnished with interrogatories 
 by the gentleman [Mr. Nicholas] who moved the enquiry. — 
 To meet the accusation, he went into (he House of Delegates, 
 in place of a member who resigned to give him the opportu- 
 nity. To Mr. Nicholas, his accuser, he sent his justification. 
 Mr. Nicholas was satisfied, he acknowledged his error, and 
 refused to go on with the enquiry. Mr. Jefferson, however, 
 read in his place, the interrogatories and his justification. — 
 A vote of thanks unanimously passed for his " impartial, up- 
 right, and attentive administration, whilst in office." In 1781, 
 he wrote his celebrated Notes on Virginia. The story of Lo- 
 gan was denied, and he was most severely censured by the 
 heirs of Col. Cresap ; but his vindication was most com- 
 plete, and he established the fact beyond dispute. In 1782 
 he was appointed a Commissioner to treat of peace with 
 Great Britain, but before he sailed, the news of the signature 
 of the treaty arrived. In 1783, he was again elected, and 
 took his seat in Congress in November. In 1784 he was 
 joined in a commission to the several Courts of Europe, and 
 sailed from Boston in July of that year. He remained 
 abroad, as Minister to France, until 1789. On his return 
 that year, he was appointed first Secretary of State under the 
 Constitution. In this department he continued during the 
 whole of the first and part of the second terms of Washing- 
 ton's Presidency. Differing in opinion with the other mem- 
 bers of the Cabinet, he resigned that situation and retired to 
 his seat at Monticello. Whilst he continued in this depart- 
 ment, the foreign affairs of the country were much embar- 
 
242 EULOGIES ON 
 
 rassed, particularly our relations with France and England. — 
 His correspondence with the ministers of those powers is vo- 
 luminous, distinguished for its ability, and that felicity of com- 
 position which characterises most of the productions of his 
 pen. Amongst his labours in this department, were elabo- 
 rate Reports, on Money, on the Fisheries, on the Restrictions 
 on Commerce, and on Weights and Measures. 
 
 According to the provisions of the Constitution, no elector 
 can vote for two candidates belonging to the same State. Wash- 
 ingtonbeing a Virginian, Mr. Jefferson therefore was not brought 
 forward as a candidate for the Presidency at the two first 
 elections. During Washington's administration, the operations 
 and construction of the Constitution, the French revolution, 
 the treaty with England, and local causes divided the country 
 into two great parties. After Washington resigned, these par- 
 ties rallied around Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson as their can- 
 didates for the presidency ; and so equal was the contest, that 
 Mr. Adams was chosen in 1796, by only three votes more 
 than Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson, under the provisions of 
 the Constitution, became Vice-President. In this office he 
 presided with great dignity, and during his continuance in it, 
 compiled his Manual, the text-book of all our legislative 
 bodies. At the ensuing election, these great men were again 
 rivals, and again the people were equally divided between 
 them ; Mr. Jefferson, in this contest, although successful, 
 having only four votes more than Mr. Adams. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's administration was peculiarly successful, and he was re- 
 elected by a vote nearly unanimous — a unanimity under our 
 form of government, and at such a period, most extraordinary. 
 The vote subsequently given to Mr. Monroe, although more 
 nearly unanimous, was not so extraordinary. The last vote 
 was given in one of those calms which always succeed violent 
 storms ; the other during the fury of the tempest. 
 
 A view of the administrations of Mr. Adams and Mr. Jef- 
 ferson is not within the compass of a single discourse. If it 
 was, we could not enter on it. We have been too deeply en- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 243" 
 
 gaged as actors, yet to be able to pass a candid judgment upon 
 their merits. To discuss them, would open wounds which 
 have not yet healed, and excite feelings which should have no 
 existence here. As early, constant and devoted friends of Mr. 
 Jefferson's administration, we fearlessly commit it to history ; 
 touching only on two of its measures, the Embargo, and the 
 purchase of Louisiana. In relation to the Embargo, the most 
 odious measure of that administration, we have neither hope 
 nor wish of making converts to our opinion. But for ourselves, 
 we thought it at the time a wise expedient to avoid the bar- 
 barous and desolating conflicts of war. We were happy that 
 the experiment was made before a resort to war. It was the 
 appeal of humanity against a savage custom. We are satis- 
 fied that it is an experiment which should never be repeated ; 
 it might give to the desperate enterprise of our citizens an un- 
 fortunate direction. The acquisition of Louisiana is the most 
 important measure since we became a nation. It would alone 
 perpetuate the fame of any administration. It has been ob- 
 jected that our country was already sufficiently extended, and 
 that by this step its bonds would be weakened, and its union 
 and Constitution endangered. But Mr. Madison, to whom, 
 more than any other individual, we are indebted for our pres- 
 ent Constitution, has demonstrated in the Federalist, that our 
 government is stronger in, and better adapted to, an extend- 
 ed empire, than a small state. That factions are the great en- 
 emies of free governments; that the most fruitful sources of 
 factions are sectional feelings ; and that the more extended a 
 nation, the less powerful is any section or any faction. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson has been the great benefactor of his own 
 State. He has successfully contended against the aristocratic 
 laws of entail and primogeniture, and in favor ofthe equal dis- 
 tribution of estates. He contended also against the church 
 establishment, until it was overthrown. And expecting that 
 a Convention would be hcJden to form a constitution for Vir- 
 ginia, in 1783, he drafted a Constitution to be proposed to 
 Ihcm. Nor did his labors end here ; he contended, without 
 
244 EULOGIES ON 
 
 success however, against the aristocratic and unequal features 
 in the Constitution of Virginia, by which " the majority of the 
 men in that State who pay forits support are unrepresented ;" 
 and the unequal manner in which the State is districted for sen- 
 ators and representatives ; and the concentration in the same 
 hands of all the powers of government, legislative, executive 
 and judiciary. But his noblest etrort, though unsuccessful, 
 has been for the emancipation of slaves, and the abolition of 
 this standing reproach to our country and human nature. Had 
 his measures been successful, instead of numbering slaves by 
 millions, they would now be reduced to a few thousands. 
 The following eloquent paragraph on this subject, was report- 
 ed by him as part of the Declaration of Independence, but 
 stricken out by Congress : 
 
 "He (the King of England) has waged war against human 
 nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, 
 in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, 
 carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur 
 miserable death in their transportation thither. This pirati- 
 cal warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare 
 of the christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep 
 open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has 
 prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative at- 
 tempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce ; and 
 that this assemblage of horrors might want no distinguishing 
 dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among 
 us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, 
 by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them ; 
 thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties 
 of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit 
 against the lives of another." 
 
 The last act of his life was the establishment of the Uni- 
 versity of Virginia, of which he was Rector. History affords 
 no example of a private individual, by the force of his influ- 
 ence, having commenced and carried so near to perfection 
 such an establishment. Such, fellow-citizens, was Thomas 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 245 
 
 Jefferson, the statesman, the philosopher, and the patriot, the 
 friend of his own country, and the benefactor of nnankind. The 
 measures of no other individual in our country have ever ac- 
 quired equal popularity. He lived to see his name used as 
 an epithet to designate a popular and correct administration 
 of government ; and died on the day which his own act had 
 consecrated. 
 
 John Adams* stood next to our venerable Holyoke on the 
 catalogue of our University. He had already acquired celeb- 
 rity, and was a distinguished barrister at the commencement 
 of our revolution. He was early employed to contest the va- 
 lidity of the Stamp Act, and to deny in the courts of law the 
 necessity of using Stamps. From the first moment of the con- 
 test, he embarked earnestly in it, and during this perilous pe- 
 riod stood in the midst of the furnace. A direct desi endant 
 of the Puritans, he possessed all their virtues ; an invincible 
 courage, and an inflexible love of civil and religious liberty. 
 Before 1 765, he was a distinguished writer in the public news- 
 papers in favor of the rights of the colonies, and that year he 
 published a dissertation on the feudal and canon law, which 
 attracted so much attention as to be republished in England. 
 It breathes throughout the purest spirit of hberty.t His tal- 
 ents, and the course he pursued, soon rendered him conspicu- 
 ous as a most dangerous opponent to the government; and 
 with a view to silence him. Gov. Barnard offered him in 1768, 
 through his friend Sewall, the office of Advocate General]: in 
 the Court of Admiralty -, this oflice he promptly declined. In 
 1770 he was elected a representative from Boston. During 
 the same year, he was called upon to perform a duty which 
 
 *John Adams was born in Braintree, October 30(19,) 1735; 
 he graduated in 1755. Edward A. Holyoke graduated in 1746, 
 and is 98 years old. 
 
 tSee Note A. 
 
 I" An office very lucrative at that time, and a sure road to the 
 highest favors of Government in America." 
 32 
 
216 EULOGIES ON 
 
 demonstrated the elevation of his character, and his high 
 sense of justice and professional duty. The people of Boston 
 becoming exasperated at being made a military garrison, made 
 an attack on the soldiery ; the soldiers fired in self-defence, 
 and several persons were killed. What an opportunity this 
 for a demagogue to inflame the passions, and raise himself to 
 popularity by joining in their extravagance. But this was 
 not John Adams' character. He chose to vindicate the jus- 
 tice of his country, as well as to proclaim her wrongs. The; 
 soldiers were indicted for murder — he undertook their de- 
 fence — was most successful in it — and nothing which occurred 
 during the revolution, is more honorable to our character than 
 this act of justice. Whilst he continued in the legislature of 
 Massachusetts, he took an active part in their proceedings. 
 and in writing those elaborate documents, the Massachusetts 
 State Papers * It 1773 and 1774, he was elected Counsellor, 
 but negatived both years by the Governor.! During the same 
 year, he was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
 After his election, his friend Mr. Sewall, the King's Attorney 
 General, requested a private interview, and remonstrated 
 against his going to Congress. He told him " that Great Brit- 
 ain was determined on her system ; her power was irresistible, 
 and would be destructive to him, and all those who should per- 
 severe in opposition to her designs." Mr. Adams replied to 
 him, " I know Great Britain has determined on her system, 
 and that very determination determines me on mine ,• that he 
 knew I had been constant and uniform in opposition to her 
 measures ; that the die was now cast ; I had passed the Ru- 
 bicon — swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my 
 country, was my unalterable determination." 
 
 With such feelings and principles he took his seat in Con- 
 gress, the first day of their session, September 5, 1774, and 
 continued constant in his attendance during all their sessions 
 until November 1777, a fortnight only before he was apj-oint- 
 
 *Note B. INote C. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 247 
 
 ed commissioner to France. In 1 776 he was appointed Chief 
 Justice of Massachusetts, but preferring the post of danger he 
 declined the office. At the close of the first session, Novem- 
 ber 1774, on his return to Massachusetts, he found his friend 
 Sewall employed in writing in support of the Crown side of 
 the controversy, under the signature of Massachusettensis ; to 
 him he replied in twelve elaborate numbers, under the signa- 
 ture of Novanglus. Thus his time in Congress and at home, 
 was devoted to his country.* To estimate the nature of Mr. 
 Adams' labors in Congress, it is only necessary to turn over 
 the journals. He was on more committees than any other 
 member; almost every measure of importance, in some stage, 
 was committed to him. He was chairman of the board of war ; 
 also of the board of appeals ; he was on the committees to give 
 instructions to foreign ministers — to give commissions and in- 
 structions to the military officers — on committees to prepare 
 various addresses — on the medical department — on the post 
 office. His duties must have been more laborious than those 
 of any officer under any government on earth.! 
 
 The Independence of the Colonies, was Mr. Adams' earlyj 
 and constant aim. With a prophetic spirit, he foretold it in 
 a letter from Worcester in 1735, when only 19 years old.§ 
 
 *Massachusetts at this period, by the advice of Congress, (to 
 whom they had applied) had assumed to act independently of the 
 Royal government. The House in July chose a Council, who 
 exercised the authority of the old Council and of the Governor. 
 Mr. Adams was chosen a member of this Council, and took his 
 seat during the recess of Congress He was again chosen the 
 next year, but declined. 
 
 tHe served on ninety committees — twice as many as any other 
 member, except Richard Henry Lee and Samuel Adams. And 
 although it was the policy to put Virginia generally at the head, 
 he was chairman of twenty-five committees. In September 1776, 
 he was appointed, with Franklin and Rutledge, to meet Lord 
 Howe, and learn his authority and propositions. — Note D. 
 INote E. ^Nofe F. 
 
248 EULOGIES ON 
 
 So thoroughly satisfied were they in the other Colonies that 
 Mr. Adams and his colleagues were for Independence, that 
 before they reached Philadelphia in 1774, they were warned 
 by the most respectable men of the middle slates, that they 
 must not in Congress or in private conversation ut^er a word 
 concerning Independence ; — that it was as unpopular as the 
 stamp act itself ; that they were so much suspected of aiming 
 at Independence, that they must not attempt to lead; but that 
 as Virginia was the largest state, and was not suspected, they 
 must yield the lead to her. Actuated by no personal motives, 
 he was willing to sacrifice his own consequence, and that of 
 his section, to the common good ; and to allay all jealousy, he 
 consented to perform a subordinate part, in those scenes in 
 which he was really the great actor. 
 
 All the delegates from the other Colonies* at this time be- 
 lieved that England would be broiightto terms without resort- 
 ing to Independence. It was early rumored in the city of 
 Philadelphia, that John Adams was for Independence. Those 
 opposed to it, represented him in the most odious point of 
 light — and he was pointed at as he passed the streets, and 
 avoided like a pestilence. Still he persevered — every day he 
 gained proselytes to his belief — and at last, on the 6th of May, 
 1776, he moved a resolution, which was adopted on the 15th, 
 that the Colonies should form governments independent of the 
 Crown. This act is justly considered in history as the as- 
 sumption of Independence, and to him it owed its passage. 
 Between that day and the 7th of June, many of the Stales had 
 expressed opinions in favor of Independence. Virginia had 
 given instructions to her delegates; in conformity therewith, 
 Richard Henry Lee, designated for that purpose by his col- 
 leagues, on that day moved a resolution for Independence, 
 which was seconded bj John Adams. On the 1 1th of June, 
 the committee to prepare the Declaration was appointed. 
 The committees of Congress were then chosen by ballot, the 
 
 *I^ote G. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSOiN. 249 
 
 one who had the highest vote being chairman. Mr. Adams 
 says, that Mr. Jefferson was so frank, prompt, exphcit and de- 
 cisive on committees, that he seized upon his heart, and that on 
 this occasion he gave him his vote, and did all in his power to 
 procure him the votes of others. It was important not only to 
 get a vote in favor of Independence, but that the vote should 
 be unanimous. The policy of great Britain was such as Mr. 
 Adams predicted that it would be — to divide and conquer.* 
 If they could have prevented a few of the States from joining 
 in the Declaration of Independence, it would have been una- 
 Vaihng. Its whole strength depended on the unanimity with 
 which it should be adopted. It was a fearful day of darkness 
 and doubt. Some of the delegates continued to oppose Inde- 
 pendence. Two or three Colonics had not yet been heard 
 from ; and to give time to hear from them, the subject was 
 postponed until July 1. On that day, instructions had been 
 received from all the Colonies ; still they were discretionary, 
 and the measure was yet opposed. It was a great and event- 
 ful day, for our country and mankind. The eloquent and pol- 
 ished Dickenson made a solemn appeal against the measure. 
 To all objections, John Adams replied with a resistless and 
 overpowering eloquence. He is said never to have spoken 
 as he did on this occasion. It was a speech of unexampled 
 energy. He threw his whole soul into the subject — 
 
 " Crowds rose to vengeance as his accents rung, 
 And INDEPENDENCE thunder 'd from his tongue." 
 
 When the question was first taken, it is said that even Dr. 
 Franklin did not vote for it ; and when on this day it was de- 
 cided in committee of the whole, Delaware was divided, and 
 Pennsylvania opposed. The question was taken on the next 
 day in the House, and a similar decision occurred.! The 
 
 *Note F. 
 fJohn Adams, in his letter to his wife, dated July 3, 1776, says 
 the vote passed without one dissenting colony the day previous. 
 A letter of Gov. M'Kean states, that the vote was not unanimous 
 until the 4th, and that he sent an express for Mr. Rodney, who did 
 not arrive until that day. 
 
250 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Declaration was then debated until the 4th. Mr. Rodney 
 having arrived from Delaware, and two of the Pennsylvania 
 delegates being absent, the vote then passed unanimously. 
 Without the ardent, persevering and undaunted support of 
 John Adams, our Independence might have been lost. In the 
 language of Mr. Jeflferson, he was " the Colossus of that Con- 
 gress — the pillar of support to the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, and its ablest advocate and defender." In that day of 
 darkness, he stood first among the foremost, and in his own 
 emphatic language, " breathed into that body the breath of 
 life." 
 
 " In his eye 
 The inextinguishable spark, which fires 
 The souls of Patriots, whilst his brow supports 
 Undaunted valor, and contempt of death." 
 
 This was not the only act of that period which entitles him 
 to our gratitude. A commander-in-chief of the Army was to 
 be appointed. Gen. Ward, of his own State, then had the 
 chief command — the New-England delegation were united 
 for him. At a meeting witli them, Mr. Adams opposed their 
 views, and proposed Gen. Washington — he was resisted, and 
 he left them, declaring that the next day Washington should 
 be nominated. It was done accordingly at his instance by 
 Gov. Johnson of Maryland,'* and he was unanimously chosen. 
 
 In 1777 Mr. Adams was appointed Commissioner to 
 France. He sailed in the winter, and a fleet was despatched 
 to intercept him.t Before he arrived in France he had to 
 run the gauntlet through three hostile fleets, and endured the 
 hazard of as many tremendous storms. If he had been cap- 
 tured, he would like LaurensJ have been confined to the tow- 
 er, with no companion but his warder, deprived of all means 
 
 *Tlie paternal uncle of the lady of John Q,. Adams. tNote I. 
 
 } On his passage to Holland, in 1779, as minister from the Uni" 
 ted States, he was captured, and confined more than fourteen 
 months in the tower. See Note K. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 251 
 
 ol" correspondence, with his friends, and without any pros- 
 pect of hberation, until like Sidney he was led to the block. 
 He was superceded by a plenipotentiary commission to 
 Franklin. This course was taken because in the language of 
 Congress, " suspicions and animosities existed among the 
 commissioners, highly prejudicial to the honor and interest 
 of the United States." This vote of censure was passed in 
 April 1779. It was reported in general terms including all 
 the commissioners, but was amended so as to name five of 
 them, and except John Adams. Thus he was acquitted from 
 all participation in these dissentions. On his return, he was 
 chosen a member from Braintree of the Convention to frame 
 our Constitution. The Constitution of our State was one of 
 the earliest of the present Constitutions, and it has served in 
 its leading features and principles as a model for the United 
 States and State Constitutions. John and Samuel Adams were 
 designated as a sub-committee to draft the Constitution. — 
 The Constitution is the draft of John Adams, the address to 
 *he people, of Samuel Adams. After remaining at home a few 
 months, in September 1779 he was appointed sole commis- 
 sioner to conclude a treaty of peace. In I 780 he received a 
 vote of thanks from Congress, for his "industrious attention 
 to the interest and honor of the country." He remained 
 abroad until after the treaty of peace, associated in various 
 commissions. Whilst in Holland, by a most laborious 
 course he wrote our country into credit, and by his replies on 
 the resources and prospects of our country, to Dr. Calkoen, 
 he procured a recognition of our Independence, a treaty of 
 commerce, and a loan. But his great and most distinguished 
 negociation was in relation to the treaty of peace. Our cdm* 
 missioners were instructed to consult with France in their ne- 
 gociation, and Dr. Franklin felt bound b) the instructious. — 
 But Adams and Jay, finding that France was acting ag;ainst 
 us; that she wished to deprive us of the navigation of the 
 Mississippi, and the fisheries ; to bound us by the Ohio, and 
 to cause us to treat before a recognition of Independence ; 
 
252 EULOGIES ON 
 
 resolved no longer to consult the Count de Vergennes, the 
 French minister, and he knew nothing of their having agreed 
 with the British minister, until they produced to him the trea- 
 ty already signed. * It is impossihle without seeing their cor- 
 respondence to estimate the services of Adams and Jay at 
 that period. But the part then acted by Mr. Adams was only 
 second to his course in relation to Independence. 
 
 In 1785, he was appointed first minister to London. In 
 his introduction to the King, his genuine character appears 
 most conspicuous. It was a most interesting scene, delicate 
 for the minister, and humiliating to the King. The richest 
 jewel had been reft from his crown, and one of his rebel sub- 
 jects was to be received by him as the representative of his 
 severed dominion. The King was disposed to act magnan- 
 imously. He knew that Mr. Adams was disgusted with the 
 intrigues of the French Court. When he was presented, he 
 complimented him by expressing his pleasure at receiving 
 a minister who had no prejudices in favor of France, the nat- 
 ural enemy of his crown. What, fellow-citizens, would have 
 been the reply of one of the courtiers of the old world ? — 
 He would have said, " Your Majesty has judged rightly — my 
 prejudices are all in favor of our mother country, to whom, 
 although circumstances have led to a separation, wc are yet 
 allied by the strongest ties of affinity." Not such, however, 
 Was the answer of John Adams — his honesty could assume no 
 mask. His reply was, " May it please your majesty, I have 
 no prejudices but for my own country." In 1787, while yet 
 in London, he published his most elaborate work, in three 
 volumes octavo ; a Defence of our Constitutions against 
 themultifarious attacks on them.j In October of that year, 
 at his own request, permission was given him to return after 
 February 1788. At the same time. Congress adopted the 
 
 * Note L. 
 t In 1790 Mr. Adams published his celebrated Discourses on 
 Davilla, which make a volume of 250 pages octavo. — Note M. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 253 
 
 following resolution : " Resolved, that Congress entertain a 
 hiirh sense of the services which Mr. Adams has rendered to 
 the United States, in the execution of the various important 
 trusts which they have from time to time committed to him ; 
 and that the thanks of Congress be presented to him for the 
 patriotism, perseverance, integrity and diligence with which 
 he has ably and faithfully served his country." Such was 
 the testimonial of his country, at the termination of his rev- 
 olutionary and diplomatic career. 
 
 The Constitution was now to go into operation. Two 
 candidates were to be voted for by each elector for the two 
 first offices, without any designation of office. The two suc- 
 cessful candidates were Washington and Adams. That 
 Washington might be elected President, many of the electors 
 withheld their votes from Adams. Why were these votes 
 kept back from Adams, and given to other candidates ? Why 
 this fear of having an equal vote with Washington ? He was 
 a distinguished civilian — the office was a civil office — and 
 the services of the other candidate had been principally mili- 
 tary. The answer, fellow-citizens, is to be found in the na- 
 ture of their employments. There is a halo lustre which 
 surrounds military services, which captivates the sense and 
 enchains the judgment. The pomp and circumstance of 
 war impose a dread and reverence, and the Military Chief is 
 commonly considered a demi-god. Every one in the coun* 
 try knew the virtues of Washington ; they had seen his pat- 
 riotic devotion to his country ; his forbearance against the 
 most malignant attacks, and his fortitude under every trial. — 
 They saw in him, not only these virtues, and a host of others 
 which marked his character, but they also attributed to him, 
 merits, to which he had no claim — those which, with his char- 
 acteristic modesty, he would have been the first to disavow. 
 In the various actions in which he was engaged, much must 
 have been due to those who co-operated with him ; but it is 
 almost universally the case, that the commander-in-chief en- 
 grosses the whole glory of his troops. How different is the 
 33 
 
254 EULOGIES ON 
 
 case of the civilian. Look at the labors of Adams, of which 
 we have given you but a defective and imperfect view. Not 
 an hundred men in the country could have been acquainted 
 with any part of them — they appeared anonymously, or un- 
 der assumed titles ; they were concealed in the secret con- 
 claves of Congress, or the more secret cabinets of Princes. — 
 Such services are never known to the public ; or if known, 
 only in history, when the actors of the day have passed from 
 the stage, and the motives for longer concealment cease to 
 exist. 
 
 In the office of Vice President, Mr. Adams presided with 
 great dignity. He was uniformly consulted by Washington 
 as if he had been a member of the cabinet. At the close of 
 Washington's administration, when he left the Senate to as- 
 sume the Presidency, as his successor, he states in his address 
 — " It is a recollection of which nothing can ever deprive 
 me, and it will be a source of comfort to me through the re- 
 mainder of my life, that on the one hand, I have for eight 
 years held the second situation under our Constitution, in per- 
 fect and uninterrupted harmony with the first, without envy 
 in the one, or jealousy in the other, so on the other hand, I 
 have never had the smallest misunderstanding with any mem- 
 ber of the Senate." 
 
 The same motives which induced us to pass over the ad- 
 ministration of Mr. Jefferson, direct us to a similar course 
 with that of his predecessor. Nothing however can be more 
 unjust, than to charge any President with the whole odium 
 of the measures adopted by Congress during his administra- 
 tion. When Congress is divided into parties, and at all oth- 
 er times, many measures will pass, to which the President 
 (although he disapproves them) must give his signature. — 
 The Constitution, indeed, gives the President in the first in- 
 stance equal power in the enactment of laws, with either 
 House of Congress. But this power no President has yet ex- 
 ercised, unless he considered the measure as trenching on the 
 Constitution. Of those measures which rendered Mr. Adams* 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 255 
 
 administration unpopular, some yet remain unrepealed, some 
 have been adopted by his successors, and others are said to 
 have passed contrary to his wishes. No one w^ill now ques- 
 tion his enlightened policy in relation to the navy, of which 
 he is justly styled the father. None can now doubt the ne- 
 cessity of a different organization of the Judiciary. -When 
 the curtain is withdrawn which conceals the motives of human 
 conduct, it may be seen, that Mr. Adams has deserved most 
 where he has been most severely censured. 
 
 No other individuals have held both of the first offices in 
 the country, except Jefferson and Adams. None have held 
 them for so long a period. Each was three times elected by 
 the people, and each continued twelve years in these offices. 
 After Mr. Adams' retirement to private life, the foreign rela- 
 tions of our country were again very much involved. But 
 with true magnanimity he came forward and advocated her 
 rights, although at the same time he knew he was yielding sup- 
 port to the administration of his successful rival. With his 
 nervous pen he sustained our commercial rights, but most of 
 all the rights of our mariners. His letter on the inadmissible 
 principles of the British King's proclamation, is an argument 
 against impressment which cannot be answered. It is an act 
 of justice to his political opponents to state that they became 
 sensible of his merits, and solicited him to become the Gov- 
 ernor of this Commonwealth. In 1820 he was President of 
 the Electoral College. The same year he was elected al- 
 most unanimously President of the Convention for amending 
 our Constitution ; and in this assembly of the first men of all 
 parties, a spontaneous tribute was paid to his exalted worth, 
 in a series of resolutions which were unanimously adopted.* 
 
 Such, fellow-citizens, have been the services of John 
 Adams, and such are the solid foundations of his fame. As 
 we ascend the mount of history, and rise above the vapors 
 of party prejudice, which floating at its base, refract the rays 
 of light, and give to every thing a colored hue, we shall all 
 
 * Note N. 
 
256 EULOGIES ON 
 
 acknowledge that we owe our Independence more to John 
 Adams than to any other created being, and that he was the 
 GREAT LEADER of the American Revohition. 
 
 Of all the enjoyments heaven allots to man, none exceeds 
 that of a parent at the prosperity and virtues of his child. — 
 How full then must have been Mr. Adams' cup, at seeing 
 those who opposed him, elevate his son to the most exalted 
 station on earth, and at witnessing that son's administration. 
 
 In paying the tribute of justice to John Adams, we cannot 
 forget that most heroic, accomplished and excellent woman, 
 who cheered him through the dark hours of the revolution, 
 and supported him under all the trials of life, whose name he 
 could never hear repeated without his eyes being suffused 
 with tears, and his heart swelling so as to choak his utter- 
 ance. In no way can we do more justice to her heroic spirit 
 than by presenting you an extract from her Spartan letter to 
 a gentleman in London, dated on her husband's birth-day, 
 1777. " Heaven is our witness, that we do not rejoice in the 
 eflfusionof bloodor the carnage of the human species; but 
 having forced us to draw the sword, we are determined never 
 to sheathe it slaves of Britain. Our cause, Sir, is, I trust, the 
 cause of truth and justice, and will finally prevail, though 
 the combined force of earth and hell shall rise against them. 
 To this cause I have sacrificed much of my own personal 
 happiness, by giving up to the councils of America one of 
 my nearest connexions, and living for more than three years 
 in a state of widowhood." 
 
 In private life, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were the de- 
 light of all those who visited them. Between them all rival- 
 ry had ceased, and given place to the purest friendship. — 
 What a sublime lesson to rival partizans ! Each in turn had 
 been the subject of the most gross misrepresentations, and the 
 whole vocabulary of slander had been exhausted on each, 
 by supporters of the other. Still it did not for a moment in- 
 terrupt their harmonious intercourse. When we look back 
 •n the vehemence of party, and see how it assails without 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 257 
 
 cause the most exalted virtues, we should always distrust its 
 guidance. It is but too often the expedient of worthless n^en 
 to raise themselves into notice for the most selfish purposes. 
 We have seen men of the most estimable characters, and cor- 
 rect ideas on other subects, looking on each other as mon- 
 sters, and the charities of life dissolved between the most 
 genial spirits, merely from jealousy and suspicion, each im- 
 puting to others, opinions which neither entertained, and 
 which both disclaimed. Such is the effect of viewing objects 
 through the false mediums of passion and prejudice. Hence, 
 let all learn that the characters of men in free states are not 
 to be judged by what is said of them amid the canvass of 
 elections. 
 
 Fellow-citizens — The work for which your fathers toiled 
 is accomplished. He who stood foremost in the hour of peril, 
 with his expiring breath has pronounced it good. Cherish 
 the memories of your fathers. Imitate their virtues — prac- 
 tice their charities — sacrifice at their shrine party animosity — 
 judge men more by their actions than by their professions — 
 if others differ from you in opinion, learn also that you differ 
 from them, and that " every difference of opinion is not a 
 difference of principle." If you thus act, you will not only 
 insure the perpetuity of your institutions, but their universal 
 adoption. 
 
 The Independence of his country was the ruling passion 
 of Mr. Adams, and " he felt his ruling passion strong in 
 death." His last sentiment to his countrymen M'as " inde- 
 pendence FOREVBR." And his last words show that when 
 he was sensible that the scene was closing, his thoughts still 
 lingered on this subject — "jefferson survives." This is 
 unquestionably the translation of this sentence : " I am going 
 — but Jefferson, he who acted with me on the great day of 
 our country's deliverance, outlives me." Heaven, however, 
 had otherwise ordered it, and Jefferson was first summoned 
 to his rewards within the hour that Adams thus spoke of him, 
 and at the same hour in which the Declaration of Indepen- 
 
25B EULOGIES ON 
 
 dence was adopted. But Adams survived — and his career 
 too terminated on the same day, and at the hour of the pub- 
 hcation of that Declaration. Wonderful coincidence ! * 
 
 Of all the conscript fathers whose names are enrolled on 
 the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll alone sur- 
 vives. To him is due all the honors which the great actors 
 of that day merit, but he was not one of those who voted for 
 our Independence. He was then the richest man in the Col- 
 onies, and a Catholic. In February 1776, he was associated 
 as a commissioner to Canada with Franklin and Chase, and 
 he was requested to take with him his brother, the venerable 
 Catholic Archbishop, (for they possessed great influence) in 
 order to induce the Catholics in Canada to join us. He was 
 elected to Congress after he returned from Canada, July 4, 
 1776, and he took his seat on the 1 8th. The Declaration 
 of Independence was not engrossed or signed until August 2, 
 when he signed at the same time with those who had voted 
 for its adoption.! 
 
 On the Jubilee of our Independence, then, only two of 
 those, by whose vote it had been decreed, were among the 
 living, Jefferson and Adams — the two who had been selected 
 to draft the Declaration. At noon, he whose mind had con- 
 ceived and produced that instrument, was summoned by the 
 angel of death. Adams then, its great advocate and defender, 
 and the pillar of its suppport, alone survived ; but the de- 
 cree had gone forth, and he too was called on high. On the 
 4th of July 1776, the Heavens were covered with weeping 
 clouds — but beyond those clouds these patriots discerned the 
 sunshine of their country's triumph. On the 4th of July 
 1826, the Heavens again wept — but it was at the departure 
 
 * James Otis, the great Leader at the commencement of the 
 revolution, who was deprived of his reason by the brutal attack 
 of a band ot ruffians, headed by a Commissioner of the Customs, 
 for his patriotic course, was killed by lightning. 
 tKote O. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 259 
 
 of those patriots. As they ascended, the artillery of the skies 
 responded to that of earth ; and the radiant bow which then 
 spanned the arch of heaven, gave assurance that the offer- 
 ings of these patriots had been accepted, that their prayers 
 had been heard, and that the freedom which they had pur- 
 chased should endure forever. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens — We mourn not the departure of these 
 illustrious men. Could they have chosen the day of their 
 death, it would have heen the one decreed by Providence. 
 Could their friends or their country have chosen otherwise ? 
 When youth is cut down amidst its bloom and fragrance, we 
 cannot withhold the tears of regret ; but when the golden 
 bowl is broken and the silver cord is loosed, when life is spun 
 out to the last moment of enjoyment, and the cup of honor 
 is full ; then death comes a welcome messenger to release us 
 from suffering, and to unbar to us the gates of immortality. 
 
 " To live with fame, 
 The Gods allow to many ; but to die 
 With equal lustre is a blessing Heaven 
 Selects from all her choicest boons of fate, 
 And with a sparing hand on few bestows." 
 
 Had their deaths occurred on any other day, monuments 
 and statues might have been erected to them, and their mem- 
 ories would have been consecrated in history. But monu- 
 ments and statues decay, and in the revolutions of time, his- 
 tory itself becomes obscure and lost. But Heaven designed 
 them a nobler memorial ; it inscribed their names on the fore- 
 head of time, and encircled them with sun-beams. As long as 
 time shall endure — as long as the sun shall mark the year in 
 his circuit throu^ the heavens — whenever the Fourth of July 
 arrives, mankind will see in his rising beams the rays of liber- 
 ty, and in his meridian path the names of the two Patriots, 
 who consecrated the dav to freedom, and ascended to their 
 rewards on its Jubilee. 
 
260 EULOGIES ON 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE A. 
 
 To show the opinions maintained and advocated by John Adams 
 before he was thirty years okl, and eleven years before the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, the following extracts from his treatise 
 on the Canon and Feudal Law, were quoted in the Eulogy : — 
 
 " It was the great strugghi between the people and this confed- 
 eracy of temporal and spiritual tyranny, that peopled America. It 
 was not religion alone, as is commonly supposed, but it was a love 
 of univcr.^alWherty, and an hatred, a dread, an horror of the infer- 
 nal confederacy before described, that projected, conducted and 
 accomplished the settlement of America." 
 
 " They saw clearly, that of all the nonsense and delusion which 
 had ever passed through the mind of man, none had ever been 
 more extravagant than the notions of absolution, indelible charac- 
 ters, uninterrupted successions, and the rest of those fantastical 
 ideas, derived from the canon law, which had thrown such a glare 
 of mystery, sanctity, reverence, and right reverend eminence and 
 holiness around the idea of a priest, as no mortal could deserve, 
 and as always must, from the constitution of human nature, be 
 dangerous in society. For this reason they demolished the whole 
 system of Diocesean Episcopacy, and deriding, as all reasonable 
 and impartial men must do, the ridiculous fancies of sanctified 
 effluvia from Episcopal fingers, they established sacerdotal ordina- 
 tion, on the foundation of the Bible and common sense." 
 
 " The adventurers [the Puritans] had an utter contempt for all 
 that dark ribaldry of hereditary indefeasible right — the Lord's 
 anointed — and the divine miraculous original of government — 
 with which the priesthood had enveloped the feudal monarch in 
 clouds and mysteries, from which they had deduced the most mis- 
 chievous of all doctrines, that of passive obedH?hce and non-re- 
 sistance. They knew that government was a plain, simple and 
 intelligible thing, founded in nature and reason, and quite com- 
 prehensible by common sense. They detested all the base servi- 
 ces and servile dependencies of the feudal system, and they thought 
 all such slavish subordinations were equally inconsistent with the 
 constitution of human nature, and that religious liberty with 
 which Jesus had made tiiem free." 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 2('l 
 
 " Be it remembered, however, that liberty must at all hazards 
 be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. 
 But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at 
 the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their 
 blood. And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowl- 
 edge among the people, who have a right from the frame of their 
 nature to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in 
 vain, has given them understandings and a desire to know ; but 
 besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, indefeasible, di- 
 vine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I 
 mean of the characters and conduct of their Rulers. Rulers are 
 no more than attorneys, agents, trustees of the people — and if the 
 cause, the interest and trust is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly 
 trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority that 
 they themselves have deputed, and to constitute abler and better 
 agents, attorneys and trustees. And the preservation of the means 
 of knowledge, among the lowest ranks, is of more importance to 
 the public, than all the property of all the rich men in the country. 
 It is even of more consequence to the rich themselves and to their 
 posterity " 
 
 This work is spoken of by Mr. Hollis, of London, as the best 
 American work that had then crossed the Atlantic. This remark 
 is in a copy owned by Hon. Edward Everett, which Mr. Hollis 
 sent to Andrew Elliot, D. D. 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 In 1769, he was chairman of the committee that was chosen by 
 the town of Boston, who drew up the instructions to their repre- 
 sentatives to resist the encroachments of the crown. His col- 
 leagues on this committee were R. Dana and Gen. Warren. The 
 same year he drew up similar instructions from the town of Brain- 
 tree to their representatives. In the Legislature he served on 
 many important committees. He was on the commitiee that re- 
 ported the address and protest to the Governor against the General 
 Court being holden at Cambridge. When the House finally con- 
 sented to go on with business, notwithstanding the Governor re- 
 fused to adjourn them to Boston, he was one of the minority who 
 voted against the measure. He was chairman of the committee 
 who drew up the answer to the Governor's message in relation to 
 the enacting style of laws ; in which he contended, that by omit- 
 ting the words " in General Court assembled," it was intended to 
 reduce the province to the footing of a little corporation in Eng- 
 land, and by degrees to pare away not only the appearance, but 
 the substance of authority in the General Court of the Province. 
 He was appointed on a committee to prepare a plan for the en- 
 couragement of arts, agriculture, manufactures and commerce, 
 and on another committee to correspond with the agent in Eng- 
 
 34 
 
2G2 EULOGIES OK 
 
 land, and with the other Colonies. Hancock and Samuel Adams 
 were associated with him. In 1774 he was one of the committee 
 of the town of Boston on the Port Bill. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 In 1773 two others were negatived as Counsellors with him — in 
 1774 eleven others. " Tim ministerial regulation for paying the 
 salary of the Judges, which rendered them wholly dependent on 
 the Crown, was the occasion of a learned and able discussion in 
 the public papers, by William Brattle, senior member of the Coun- 
 cil, and John Adams, who had already taken an active part in 
 support of civil liberty, and was distinguished for his great talents 
 and legal acquirements. Mr. Adams' essays were written with 
 great learning and ability, and had a happy effect in enlightening 
 the public mind on a question of very great importance It sub- 
 jected him, indeed, to the displeasure of Gov. Hutchinson and the 
 ministerial party ; and at the next election in May, when chosen 
 by the Assembly into the Council, the Governor gave his negative 
 1o the choice. These essays were published in the Boston Ga- 
 zette, of February 1773, under Mr. Adams' proper signature, and 
 would make a pamphlet of 50 or GO pages." — Bradford's lUassa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 " Some time after the Declaration of Independence, Lord 
 Howe requested an interview with some members of Congress. 
 The proposition was a considerable time in agitation : Mr. Adams 
 voted against it — it was however carried in the affirmative, and he 
 (Mr. Adams) was himself chosen one of the committee to wait on 
 his Lordship. Dr. Franklin and Mr. Rutledge were the two 
 other commissioners. The choice of such characters indicated 
 plainly enough that the Americans were not inclined to give up 
 any part of the essential point of Independence. His Lordship 
 immediately sent as a hostage one of his principal officers, but the 
 throe commissioners were generous enough to bring him back 
 with tliem. Lord Howe, having come to the place of landing, 
 could not help expressing to them how pleased he was at this ex- 
 treme confidence, and to confess that he had never received any 
 mark of honor that had so much gratified him. Tlie three com- 
 missioners walked through an army of 20,000 men : and it was 
 observed, that this threatening show, which was doubtless afi'ected 
 to give a more imposing idea of the British forces, did not excite 
 the least alteration in the countenances of the.se three illustrious 
 characters — they walked through the army as if they had been the 
 Generals of it. 
 
 " After those insinuating civilities of which his Lordship was 
 master, he opened the conversation, by observing that he could not. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 263 
 
 view them as commissioners from Congress, but that as he was 
 authorized to confer with any individual, of any influence in the 
 Colonies, on the means of restoring peace, he was happy in the 
 present occasion. The Delegates replied, that as they were sent 
 only to hear what his Lordship had to say, he might consider them 
 as he pleased, but that, as to them, they could not look upon them- 
 selves in any other character except in that which they had re- 
 ceived from Congress " You may vieio me in any light you 
 please, said Mr. Adams, "except in that of a British subject.'''' 
 This so confounded his Lordship, that the business could not even 
 be entered upon, aud the three commissioners returned." 
 
 NOTE E. 
 
 To show how early Mr. Adams' thoughts were turned to the 
 subject of Independence, we subjoin some interesting extracts 
 from his letters. He considered that James Otis was the great 
 leader at the commencement of the revolution, and that next to 
 him came Oxenbridge I'hatclier. Mr. Adams thus speaks of him : 
 — " 1 speak from personal knowledge. From 1758 to 17G5, I at- 
 tended every superior and inferior court in Boston, and recollect 
 not one, in which he did not invite me home to spend evenings 
 with him, wlien he made me converse with him as well as I could, 
 on ail subjects of religion, morals, law, politics, history, philoso- 
 phy, belles lettres, theology, mythology, cosmogony, metaphysics, 
 ^c. But his favorite subject was politics, and the impending 
 threatening system of parliamentary taxation and universal gov- 
 ernment over the Colonies. On this subject he was so anxious 
 and agitated, that I have no doubt that it occasioned his prema- 
 ture death From the time when he argued the question of writs 
 of assistance, to his death, he considered the King, ministry, par- 
 liament and nation of Great Britain, as determined to new model 
 the Colonies from the foundation, to annul all their charters ; to 
 constitute them all royal governments ; to raise a revenue in 
 America by parliamentary taxation ; to apply that revenue to pay 
 the salaries of governors, judges, and all other crown officers ; and 
 after all this, to raise as large a revenue as they pleased, to be ap- 
 plied to national purposes at the exchequer in England ; and fur- 
 ther to establish Bishops, and the whole system of the Church of 
 England, tythes and all, throughout all British America. This 
 system, he said, if it was suffered to prevail, would extinguish the 
 flame of liberty all over the world ; that America would be em- 
 ployed as an engine to batter down all the miserable remains of 
 liberty in Great Britain and Ireland, where only, any semblance 
 of liberty was left in the world." 
 
 Speaking of the arguments in Salem on writs of assistance, he 
 says, after consultation tiie court ordered the question to be argued 
 at the next February term, in Boston, in 176L After going 
 
264 EULOGIES ON 
 
 through the other actors, he says — but " Otis was a flame of fire ? 
 Witli a promptitude of classical allusion, a depth of research, a ra- 
 pid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal 
 authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a ra- 
 pid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before 
 him. American Independence was then and there born. 
 The seeds of patriots and heroes to defend the Non Sine Diis An- 
 imosus Infans, to defend the vigorous youth, were then and there 
 sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to 
 me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of 
 assistance. '1'hen and there was the first scene of the 
 first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great 
 Britain. Then and there the child Independence was 
 born. In fifteen yeaks, viz. in 1776, he grew up to man- 
 hood, and declared himself free !" 
 
 " The first Charter, the Charter of James I. is more like a trea- 
 ty between independent sovereigns, than like a charter of grant 
 of privileges from a sovereign to his subjects. Our ancestors were 
 tempted by the prospect and {)romisc of a government of their own, 
 independent in religion, government, commerce, manufactures, 
 and every thing else, excepting one or two articles of trifling im- 
 portance." 
 
 " Independence of English Clmrch and State, was the funda- 
 mental principle of the first colonization, has been its general prin- 
 ciple for two hundred years, and now I hope is past dispute." 
 
 " Who then was the author, inventor, discoverer of Independ- 
 ence ? The only true answer must be, the first emigrants, and 
 the proof of it is in the charter of James I. When we say that 
 Otis, [S] Adams, Mayhew, Henry, Lee, Jefferson, &c. were au- 
 thors of Independence, we ought to say they were only awakeners 
 and revivers of the original fundamental principle of Coloniza- 
 tion." 
 
 NOTE F. 
 
 " Worcester, Oct. 12, 1755. — Soon after the reformation, a few 
 people came over into this new world, for conscience sake. Per- 
 haps this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of 
 empire into America. It looks likely to me, if we can remove the 
 turbulent Gallicks, our people according to the exactest computa- 
 tions, will in anotlier century become more numerous than Eng- 
 land herself. Should this be the case, since we have, I may say, 
 all the naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to 
 obtain the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all 
 Europe will not be able to subdue us. i'he only way to keep us 
 from setting up for ourselves, is to disunite us. Divide et impera 
 — Keep us in distinct colonies, and then some great men in each 
 colony, desiring the monarchy of the whole, they will destroy each 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSOIV. 265 
 
 Other's influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. Be not sur- 
 prised that I am turned politician ; the whole town is immersed 
 in politics. 'J'lie interest of nations, and all the (lira of war, make 
 the subject of every conversation. I sit and hear, and after hav- 
 ing been led through a maze of sage observations, £ sometimes 
 retire, and by laying things together, form some reflections pleas- 
 ing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries you have 
 read above." 
 
 NOTE G. 
 
 Patrick Henry agreed with Mr. Adams (1774) that the meas- 
 ures that had been adopted would have no effect,^ but would be 
 totally lost on the government — " Washington only was in douot. 
 The other delegates from Virginia returned to their State in full 
 confidence, that all our grievances would be redressed. The last 
 words that Richard Henry Lee said to me, when we parted, were, 
 " we shall infoUibh/ carry all our points — i/ou will be conipleteli/ 
 relieved — nil the offensive acts will be repealed — the army andjlett 
 rvill he recalled, and Britain loill give up her foolish project.^'' 
 
 J. Adams. 
 
 NOTE H. 
 
 That this was considered the decisive step, and that involving 
 the deepest responsibility in the members, will be seen in Rees' 
 Cyclopedia, Annual Register, Marshall, Botta, Gordon, &c. Tlie 
 representatives, in voting on this subject, acted on their own res- 
 ponsibility ; in voting for Independence, they acted on the instruc- 
 tions of the Colonial Legislatures, and with the assurance of their 
 support. Gordon says, the Pennsylvania Assembly withdrew from 
 its union with Congress, upon the < ongressional resolve of May 
 15, for suppressing all authority derived from the Crown of Great 
 Britain, in the United Colonies. The committee of Philadelphia 
 apprehended that by this step an appeal was made to the people ; 
 they called a Convention to bring about a re-union, and to form a 
 government. The deputies of the people assembled, and in full 
 provincial conference, June 24, unanimously declared their wil- 
 lingness to concur in a vote of Independence. A change in their 
 delegates followed. Mr Dickinson opposed openly and upon 
 principle, the Declaration, and was therefore removed. The Ma- 
 ryland Convention had instructed their delegation in December to 
 oppose Independence. These, therefore, having given their vote 
 against it, withdrew. Judge Chase was strongly attached to it; 
 he returned from Conirress to Maryland, procured County instruc- 
 tions to the members of the Contention, by which they were in- 
 duced to alter their own instructions. Judge Chase sent an ac- 
 • ount of it to his friend in Congress, (John Adams) as follows : 
 
266 EULOGIES ON 
 
 " Annapolis, June 28 — Friday evening, nine o'clock. I am this 
 moment from the House to procure an express to follow the post, 
 with an unanimous vote of our convention for Independence, &lc. 
 {See the glorious effect of county instructions ; our people have 
 fire, if not smothered." 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 An anecdote of Mr. Adams' conduct on this passage, is going 
 the rounds, which is incorrect. The correct account is this : 
 Tucker saw a large English ship showing a tier of guns, and asked 
 Mr Adams' consent to take her ; this was granted. Upon hail- 
 ing her, she answered by a broadside. Mr. Adams had been re- 
 quested to retire to the cock-pit — but Tucker looking forward, 
 observed Mr. Adams among the marines, ivith a musket in his hand^ 
 hacing privatelif applied to the officer of the marines for a gun, 
 and tilling his station among them. At this sight, Capt. Tucker 
 became alarmed, for he was responsible for the safety of Mr, Ad- 
 ams, and walking up to the ambassador, desired to know how he 
 came there ; upon which the other smiled, gave up his gun, and 
 went immediately below. Nor was this the only time he had 
 shouldered the musket. After the Boston massacre, he says, "We 
 were all upon a level ; no man was exempted. I had the honor 
 to be summoned in my turn, and attended at the State House with 
 my musket and bayonet, my broad-sword and cartridge box, under 
 the command of the famous Paddock. I know you will laugh at 
 my military figure ; but I believe there was not a more obedient 
 soldier in the regiment, nor one more impartial between the peo- 
 ple and the regulars. In this character I was on duty all night in 
 turn." 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 Mr. Laurens, then late President of Congress, and minister to 
 Holland, aged fifty-six, was captured, and confined to the tower, 
 until the British Government being desirous of peace. Lord Shel- 
 burne solicited him to go over to France, and assist in the scheme 
 of pacification with America. He signed the treaty with Adams, 
 Jay, and Franklin. His commitment was accompanied with or- 
 ders " to confine him a close prisoner — to be locked up every 
 night — to be in custody of two warders — not to suffer him to be 
 out of their sight one moment, day or night — to allow him no liber- 
 ty of speaking to any person, nor to permit any person to speak to 
 him — to deprive him of the use of pen and ink — to suffer no letter 
 to be brought to him, nor any to go from hun." In this situation, 
 worn down by the goui, and other diseases, the offer was made to 
 him, if he would " barely say he was sorry for what had passed, 
 that a pardon should be granted to him ;" he answered, I will 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSOX. 267 
 
 never subscribe to my own infamy, and to the dishonor of my 
 children. In 1781, his son was minister to France ; he was re- 
 quested to write to his son, if he wouhi withdraw from that Court, 
 it might procure his father's release. His reply was — " My son is 
 of age, and has i. will of his own. If I could write to him as you 
 request, it would have no effect. He would only conclude that 
 confinement and persuasion had intimidated and overcome me I 
 know him well. He loves me well, and would lay down his life 
 to save mine ; but I am sure nothing would tempt him to sacrifice 
 his honor, and I applaud him." 
 
 NOTE L. 
 
 Mr. Adams having been for fifteen months one of the commis- 
 sioners of the war department, and a principal suggester of the 
 terms to be offered to France for forming a treaty of alliance, was 
 in 1777 elected one of the commissioners to the Court of Versailles. 
 The dignity and consistency that he exhibited, and his integrity 
 and high idea of virtue, were inauspicious to the intrigues of that 
 Court. The subtle Vergennes, aware of this, exerted all his influ- 
 ence to procure his recal. When the office of commissioners was 
 superceded by the appointment of a minister plenipotentiary, Mr. 
 Adams returned to America. Congress at length judged it ex- 
 pedient to come to the choice of a commissioner to reside in Eu- 
 rope, vested with full powers to conclude a treaty of peace with 
 Great Britain. Mr. Adams and Jay were proposed, and twice the 
 votes were equally divided. Mr. Jay was at that time President 
 of Congress, and in addition to the influence which the chair must 
 have given him, Mr. Adams was opposed by the whole influence 
 of the French minister. The balloting was adjourned, and in the 
 mean time Congress agreed to send an envoy to his Catholic Ma- 
 jesty, and Mr. Jay was appointed. Mr. Adams was then elected 
 minister for negociating the peace. In 1781, Mr. Adan\s was 
 commissioned minister plenipotentiary to the States General of 
 the United Provinces, and empowered to negociate a loan. The 
 ability with which he executed this commission, defeated the in- 
 trigues of the British minister, and seemed to this country a pow- 
 erful ally. The measures pursued by Mr. Adams in Holland, 
 were displeasing to M. Vergennes, as they counteracted his ma- 
 ncpuvres, and he strove to have the whole business of peace taken 
 out of Mr. Adams' hands. Congress were too faithful to their 
 trust to comply with this, but to get rid of the importunity of that 
 Court, joined Franklin, Jay and Laurens in the commission v, ith 
 him. The acquisition of territory and the fishery, obtain':.! by 
 the treaty of peace, is known to have been in great measure ow- 
 ing to the well directed exertions of AdaiT;.i and Jay And in 
 this they were traversed at every movement by the minister of the 
 Court of Versailles, It seems strange, but it is true, that it was 
 
268 EULOGIES ON 
 
 the policy of Vergennes, to secure privileges not only to Spain, 
 but to Great Britain also, lather than the United States. 
 
 NOTE M. , 
 
 " The professed intention of the work is to refute the opinions 
 of M Turgot, the Abbe He Mably, and Doctor Price, who had de- 
 clared themselves dissatisfied with the constitutions of the differ- 
 ent States of America. M. Turgot had observed in his letter to 
 Dr. Price, that the Americans " have established three bodies, 
 viz. a governor, council, and house of representatives, merely be- 
 cause there is in England, a king, a house of lords, and a house of 
 commons, as if this equilibrium, which in England may be a ne- 
 cessary check to the enormous influence of royalty, could be of 
 any use in republics founded upon the equality of all the citizens." 
 M. Turgot recommends collecting all authority into one centre ; 
 meanmg that one single representative assembly, shou'd have the 
 entire control of the lives, liberty, and property of the people. 
 These gentlemen were all of high reputation, and likely to make 
 an impression on the minds of the Americans. This was a gloomy 
 period in our history — without an efficient federal government — 
 without revenue — without public credit. At this time our faithful 
 Ambassador, attentive to the honor as well as the interests of his 
 country, produced the defence of the American Constitutions — 
 a performance calculated to prevent his fellow-citizens being mis- 
 led by mistaken philosophers, or their own passions and prejudi- 
 ces ; to inculcate upon them the true principles of freedom and 
 laws ; and to give the American character, and the republican 
 system, that respectability in the eyes of Europe, of which they 
 were then grievously deficient." 
 
 NOTE N. 
 
 IN CONVENTION— iVToy. 15, 1820. 
 
 Whereas the Honorable John Ad.\ms, a member of this Con- 
 vention, and elected the President thereof, has for more than half 
 a century devoted the great powers of his mind and his profound 
 wisdom and learning, to the service of his country and man- 
 kind : 
 
 In fearlessly vindicating the rights of the North American pro- 
 vinces against the usurpations and encroachments of the superin- 
 tendant government : 
 
 In difiVising a knowledge of the principles of civil liberty among 
 his fellow subjects, and excitin^; them to d firm and resolute de- 
 fence of the privileges of freemen : 
 
 In early conceiving, asserting and maintaining the justice and 
 practicability of establishing the independence of the United Sates 
 of America : 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 269 
 
 In giving the powerful aid of his political knowledge in the for- 
 mation of the Constitution of this his native State, which Consti- 
 tution became in a great measure the model of those which were 
 subsequently formed : 
 
 In conciliating the favor of foreign powers, and obtaining 
 their countenance and support in the arduous struggle for inde- 
 pendence : 
 
 In negociating the treaty of peace, which secured forever the 
 sovereignty of the United States, and in defeating all attempts to 
 prevent it, and especially in preserving in that treaty the vital in- 
 terest of the New England States : 
 
 In demonstrating to the world in his defence of the constitu- 
 tions of the several United States, the contested principle, since 
 admitted as an axiom, that checks and balances in legislative pow- 
 er, are essential to true liberty : 
 
 In devoting his time and talents to the service of the nation in 
 the high and important trusts of Vice President and President of 
 the United States : 
 
 And 1-istly, in passing an honorable old age in dignified retire- 
 ment, in the practice of all the domestic virtues, thus exhibiting to 
 his countrymen and to posterity an example of true greatness of 
 mind and of genuine patriotism : 
 
 Therefore, Resoived, that the members of this Convention, re- 
 presenting the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do 
 joyfully avail themselves of this opportunity to testify their respect 
 and gratitude to this eminent patriot and statesman, for the great 
 services rendered by him to his country, and their high gratifica- 
 tion that at this late period of life, he is permitted by Divine Pro- 
 vidence to assist them with his counsel in revising the Constitu- 
 tion which forty years ago his wisdom and prudence assisted to 
 form. 
 
 Resolved, that a committee of twelve be appointed by the chair 
 to communicate this proceeding to the Hon. John Adams, to in- 
 form him of his election to preside in this body, and to introduce 
 him to the chair of this Convention. 
 
 NOTE O. 
 
 Dr. Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll, commission- 
 ers to form a union between the people of the United Colonies and 
 those of Canada, left New York in the beginningof April, on their 
 way tliither. As the priesls have been prevailed upon to refuse 
 the sacrament to those of the Canadians who are deemed rebels, 
 and as it acts powerfully against the American interest, a priest is 
 gone from Maryland to perform all the needful services of the Ko- 
 mish religion. — Gordon. 
 
 35 
 
270 EULOGIES ON" 
 
 FAMILY, WILLS, ^c. 
 
 /Is evert/ thing relating to these great men, will he interesting td 
 the world, we subjoin at the request of a friend whose judgment 
 ice value highh/, all loe can learn (in season for this publication) 
 of their families, Sfc. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was married January 1, 1772, to a daughter of 
 Mr. Wayles, an eminent lawyer in Virginia. Mrs. Jefferson died 
 in the autumn of 1782, leaving two daugluers. One of these 
 daughters married John W. Eppes, a distinguished member of 
 Congress from Virginia. Mrs. Eppes died, leaving two children, 
 one of whom alone survived in 1817 — who we believe has died 
 since. Mr. Jefferson's other daughter married J homas Mann 
 Randolph, late Governor of Virginia. Gov. Randolph possessed 
 an estate near Monticelio, but his family generally formed part of 
 that assembled at Monticello. Mrs. Randolph "has had, I un- 
 derstand, eleven children, two or three of whom have died. She 
 had two daughters married ; she lost a married daughter last win- 
 ter, Mrs Bankhead. Her son, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, the 
 executor of his grandfather, is about ".^4 or 25 years old ; he has, 
 I think, but one brother." Mr. Jefferson mentions in his will, 
 two grand-sons-in-law, Nicholas P. Trist, and Joseph Coolidge of 
 Boston 
 
 Mr. Jefferson gave his Library to the University of Virginia, 
 and his valuable manuscripts and papers to his grandson and ex- 
 ecutor, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. 
 
 The University of Virginia has requested permission to erect a 
 monument over Mr. Jefferson's remains. 
 
 None of our Presidents have had sons, except John Adams and 
 his son John Q. Adams. Neither Washington nor Madison had 
 any children. Jefferson and Monroe only daughters. 
 
 John Adams was married in 1764, to Abigail, the second daugh- 
 ter of the late Rev. William Smith, the respectable clergyman of 
 Weymouth. She died Oct. 31, 1818 
 
 Their eldest child was a daughter now deceased. She was 
 married in England in 1785, to Col. William Stevens Smith, who 
 had served in the army as assistant inspector general and Aid to 
 Washington, but was then Secretary of legation. Three of their 
 children survive, two sons, and one daughter, the wife of John P. 
 Dewint, ofFishkill, N. Y. 
 
 Their second child was John Q. Adams, married in London in 
 1797, to Louisa Katharine, daughter of Joshua Johnson, Esq. of 
 Maryland, then Consul at London. They have tliree sons, George 
 Washington, now representative from Boston in our Legislature, 
 and two younger sons. The second son, John Adams, private se- 
 cretary to the President, was born July 4. 
 
 Their third child was diaries Adams, now deceased. He mar- 
 ried the sister of Col. Smith, now living, and left two daughters.. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 271 
 
 The one the wife of Alexander B. Johnson, Esq. of Utica, N. Y. 
 who has several children ; the other, tlie widow of Charles T. 
 Clark, Esq. who has a daughter, and who resided with her grand- 
 father. 
 
 Their youngest child was the Hon. Thomas Boylston Adams> 
 late Judge of the Common Pleas, and member of the Executive 
 Council, who married the daughter of Joseph Harrod, Esq. of Ha- 
 verhill, and has six children, all minors, two daughters and four 
 sons. They lived in the family with the late President after the 
 death of Mrs. Adams. 
 
 Mr. Adams bequeathed to his son John Q,. Adams, his mansion 
 house and valuable papers. He gave to the town of Quincy a val- 
 uable lot of land, estimated at 10,000 dollars, to erect a granite 
 house, for the church of which he was a member for sixty years. 
 He also bequeathed another lot of land to the town for an Acade- 
 my, and his Library of more than 2000 volumes for the use of that 
 Academy. 
 
 LETTER 
 
 From Mr. Jefferson to Mr. Adams, on the death of his Wife. 
 MoNTicELLo, November 13, 1818. 
 
 The public papers, my dear friend, announce the fatal event of 
 which your letter of October 20th, had given me ominous forebod- 
 ing. Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the loss of every 
 form of connexion which can rive the human heart, I know well, 
 and feel what you have lost, — what you have suffered, — are suffer- 
 ing, — and have yet to endure. The same trials have taught me, 
 that for ills so immeasurable, time and silence are the only medi- 
 cines. I will not therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh 
 the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling sincerely, my 
 tears with yours, will I say a word more, where words are vain ; 
 but that it is of some comfort to us both, that the term is not very 
 distant, at which we are to deposit in the same cerement, our sor- 
 rows, and suffering bodies ; and to ascend in essence, to an ecsta- 
 tic meeting with the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we 
 shall still love, and never lose again. God bless you and support 
 you under your heavy affliction, THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
IM 
 
 PRONOUNCED AT PORTSMOUTH, NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 
 August lOtb, 1826. 
 
 BY EDWARD TURNER. 
 
 We have assembled, my Friends and Countrymen, to 
 discharge duties of no ordinary character ; duties, which con- 
 cern not only ourselves, but our children, and our country, 
 even to the most distant generations. We have convened, to 
 render to the illustrious dead, the public honors, which liber- 
 al feeling and lively gratitude demand. We have come to 
 this place, to transcribe from the roll of fame the names of 
 two of the most eminent men of our country, and register 
 their characters on the tables of our hearts. We are here to 
 offer them a tribute, which to withhold would be a criminal 
 neglect, the guilt of which would bear a direct proportion to 
 the civic virtues they possessed, and to the political bless- 
 ings they were instrumental in procuring for, and contirming 
 to the land of their birth. To eulogize departed worth, is 
 not to be considered as an act of mere ostentation, or as an 
 unmeaning or unimportant service ; nor do we engage in it 
 from a servile compliance with custom. Our obligations 
 are of a higher character ; we have nobler ends ; we are ac- 
 tuated by purer motives. The voice of reason, and of the 
 nation commands, that the record of the deeds of our sages 
 and patriots should not perish, when their bodies are con- 
 signed to the earth ; and the period, when the public sensi- 
 bility is most powerfully excited, is justly considered the most 
 favorable to those impressions, which it is a nation's honor to 
 receive and retain. 
 
 Scarcely had the cheerful peal, that proclaimed our na- 
 tional jubilee, ceased to sound, than the knell of death an- 
 
271 EULOGIES ON 
 
 nounced the dcj)arlurc of the valued and venerated men, 
 whose virtues, labors and services we have assembled to 
 commemorate. The intelligence of the decease of John 
 Adams and Thomas Jefferson embraced circumstances, 
 which, though at first, they seemed to forbid belief; yet being 
 confirmed, are to be regarded as striking instances of the ex- 
 ercise of that all-directing power which presides over life and 
 death. Surely, the special providence of God was never more 
 apparent nor more affecting, than in the events of which we 
 are speaking. The distinguished individuals, who, at the 
 commencement of the train of events, which led to a separa- 
 tion of the American Colonies from the parent country, en- 
 tered together the field of their common exertions, shared the 
 deep solicitudes, which the most inauspicious circumstances 
 must have often inspired, encountered the obstacles and dan- 
 gers, which interposed between them and the objects of their 
 great designs, lived to behold their united efTorts crowned 
 with complete success, to participate the honors, which a 
 grateful people conferred, and were then, in the full maturity 
 of their years, gathered to their fathers on the same day, the 
 day, on which fifty years before, they gave their suffrages to 
 that memorable instrument, which declared our country "free, 
 sovereign and independent." They did not just ascend the 
 mount, and survey at a distance the good land ; but they par- 
 took liberally of its fruits, and long enjoyed the solacing 
 pleasures of its peaceful shades. They died in the land, the 
 inheritance of which they had done so much to obtain ; their 
 sepulchres are with us ; they are known, and will be distin- 
 guished to the latest periods of time. 
 
 In following these men of renown through the long course 
 of labour, of duty, and of care, which they fearlessly and un- 
 deviatingly pursued, and in bringing into view the protracted 
 toils that they sustained, the cruel dangers with which they 
 were menaced, and the immense magnitude of the objects, 
 which engrossed the action of their powerful minds, we can* 
 not but admire and adore that perfect wisdom, which adapts 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 275' 
 
 all means to their appointed ends, bringing forth the instru- 
 ment of its work, when they become necessary, and by call- 
 ing into exercise, talents and powers, undiscovered before, 
 perfects its plans and accomplishes its purposes. The sup- 
 porting promise, " as thy day is, so shall thy strength be," 
 is not solely applicable to individuals, or small communities ; 
 nations, when engaged in a righteous cause, may appropriate 
 the declaration to themselves, without incurring the charge 
 of perverting the words of inspiration. When Israel had 
 borne the oppressions of Egyptian tyranny, till the evils with 
 which they were afflicted could no longer be endured, Moses 
 was raised up, and qualified by a propercourseof education and 
 discipline, to be the deliverer and ruler of the chosen tribes. 
 The eye of the Omniscient God, which traces minutely all 
 causes to their remotest effects, had marked him out, as ne- 
 cessary to the temporal salvation of the covenant people. — 
 It was foreseen, that the talents and instrumentality of that 
 eminent person would be requisite ; and the same power 
 that gave them their direction, associated with their possess- 
 or, other important characters, whose counsels and efforts, 
 in th^ir respective departments, would add weight to his au- 
 thority, and contribute to promote and secure the welfare of 
 the whole nation. When the American Colonies were tirst 
 roused to a sense of their wrongs, where were the men, who 
 were to form their deliberative bodies, preside in their coun- 
 sels, and give efficiency to the measures, that might be pro- 
 posed for the common security ? Where were the military 
 chieftains, who were to conduct their armies to the field, 
 stimulate them to deeds of noble daring, and lead them to 
 victory ? Whom had this nation "to comfort her, among all 
 the sons she had brought up ?" Where was Patrick Henry? 
 Where were Jefferson, the Adamses, and Hancock ? Where 
 was Washington ? Yet, when the crisis of our country's des- 
 tiny approached, the men, whose services were most impor- 
 tant to promote the benevolent intentions of Providence, 
 sprang forth, invested with all the attributes, which should 
 
276 EULOGIES ON 
 
 claim a nation's confidence, and secure its gratitude. It is 
 thus, thatbj a wise constitution of the human mind, splendid 
 talents are elicited by new, untried and momentous events. — 
 Great men are produced for great occasions. Inauspicious 
 circumstances, that would deter others from action, are, with 
 such men, of small account. The perils which dishearten the 
 weak, the terrors that alarm the timid, have no influence on 
 great minds except to inflame their zeal, animate their pow- 
 ers, and fix their resolution. What an instructive lesson do 
 we receive from such examples. Even in this hour of 
 mournful visitation, we are cheered with the most enlivening 
 hopes. America ! Though thy sages and heroes sleep in dust, 
 let no cloud of doubt obscure thy future prospects, " instead 
 of the fathers shall be the children :" and should an enemy 
 again assail thy dearest rights, and attempt to wrest from thee 
 thy highest privileges, future Jetfersons, Adamses, and Frank- 
 lins shall rise up to assert thy dignity and to plead thy cause, 
 and future Washingtons, to unsheath the sword, to repel the 
 ruthless invader ! 
 
 The elevated characters, that we have convened to con- 
 template, were formed under circumstances, which demand 
 particular consideration, to prepare us to make a just esti- 
 mate of their merits. Jefferson and Adams had been engaged 
 in the practice of an honorable profession, before the com- 
 mencement of the revolution ; they had attained a degree of 
 celebrity, which the laudable ambition they possessed was 
 daily increasing. In addition to the fact that their country 
 o])ened a wide and promising field for the exertion of their 
 splendid abilities, it is natural to suppose, that the parent 
 government would seek in the profession of the law, for such 
 to aid their measures and forward their views, as, from the 
 course of their studies, the nature of their pursuits, and the 
 characters of their minds, would be most likely to exercise a 
 commanding influence on public sentiment. The efforts of 
 such men were courted with promises, with gifts, with oflices. 
 The inducements to loyalty to the throne of Britain, could not 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 277 
 
 have been few in number or small in magnitude. The records 
 of the transactions connected with the revolution, will show 
 of how little weight these circumstances were cons dered in 
 the view of men, whose political virtue was proof ai,ainst all 
 the allurements that are held out, to induce them to de- 
 nounce or desert the holy cause in which they engaged. 
 
 The Declaration of hidependence was draughted by Jeffer- 
 son, and warmly supported by Adams, as an act induced by a 
 deep sense of duty to their bleeding country. This celebrat- 
 ed instrument was not the production of a restless, factious 
 spirit ; it was not the work of a noisy demagogue ; nor was 
 it the mere ebullition produced by the contending elements 
 which form, and often annihilate a party. This instrument 
 was not the wild conception of a needy, desperate adventurer, 
 who might possibly gain something by an experiment, while 
 certain he had nothing to lose ; it was the result of cool and 
 careful deliberation, assisted by enlightened reason, and 
 sanctioned by sound judgment. The Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence was designed to exhibit the injuiies, that our coun- 
 try had so long borne with patience, to assert in the face of the 
 world, the inalienable rights of man, and to lodge a solemn 
 appeal to all nations for the correctness of its principles, and 
 to the Searcher of hearts, for the rectitude of the intentions of 
 its framers. The boldness of proposing and advocating this 
 measure with the strength of mind, the fearlessness, and the 
 decision of character, necessary to an act of this nature, can- 
 not but strike us with admiration. Probably, at the distance 
 of time between that transaction and the period in which we 
 hve, we may not all be able to enter fully into the feelings of 
 the immediate agents ; and hence, we may not be prepar- 
 ed to refer their conduct to any settled rule of action with 
 which we are acquainted. When the patriots, who are the 
 subjects of our present reflections, were so ardently engaged 
 in their important exertions, were they, or were they not ac- 
 tuated by the feelings, the solicitudes, and the hopes, that ap- 
 pear to be common to our species ? When they placed their 
 36 
 
27B EULOGIES ON 
 
 signatures to an instrument, which, seemed to be nothing les* 
 than a bold challenge to the wrath of a king, and to ministeri- 
 al vengeance to do their worst, had they no conceptions of the 
 value of the objects which they put at hazard? Were their 
 well earned fame, their property, whether inherited or acquir- 
 ed, of no account ? They had families ; had they forgotten the 
 blandishments of domestic society ? And when they trod 
 amidst the dangers of their dark and perilous course, did not 
 the mild, but persuasive voice of feminine affection arrest 
 their steps, with the pathetic appeal to congugal and paternal 
 sensibilities : 
 
 " Thy wife, thy infants in thy danger share ?" 
 We are not to suppose, that their affections were extin- 
 guished, or completely neutralized. Those eminent men 
 thought and acted, as all others in similar circumstances would 
 have done when influenced and governed by the spirit of true 
 patriotism. Though the exercise of this noble and gener- 
 ous spirit, may, like charity, begin at home, yet it will not end 
 there. Patriotism associates the interests of an individual, 
 andof his family, with those of his country. With his coun- 
 try, the true patriot is contented to stand or fall. We can 
 never too much admire, or to closely imitate this ennobling, 
 godlike principle. The men whose memories we have as* 
 sembled to honor, had foreseen the sacrifices, which the mo- 
 mentous crisis demanded ; t"he altar was erected ; they knew 
 that their country would expect from them a liberal contribu- 
 tion ; they had counted the cost ; they had disciplined their 
 hearts to a surrender of every inferior object. They not only 
 brought their part of the oblation with a willing mind, but 
 were ready to officiate at the offering. It was this spirit 
 which actuated our decea ed worthies ; it was this which 
 procured your liberty and ii.dependence ; and such were the 
 circumstances in which the Declaration of Independence was 
 adopted and proclaimed, that nothing which it contains ap- 
 pears more true, or more affecting, than the concluding sen- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 279 
 
 iiment of its framers, that in defence of the frincirles which 
 they have assserted, " they mutually pledged to each other, 
 their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." 
 
 But those distinguished patriots were not raised up by 
 Providence to kindle a flame, which they possessed not the 
 disposition or the power to feed ; from the commencement 
 of their generous efforts, they gave themselves unreservedly 
 to their country, recognizing her right to their continued ser- 
 vices, to support and perpetuate whatever their previous ex- 
 ertions had acquired. When the revolution had been two 
 years in progress, Adams received the appointment of com- 
 missioner to the court of France, where his conduct was hon- 
 ored with the approbation of his country. Having returned 
 from Europe, he was a member of the convention for fram- 
 ing the Constitution of Massachusetts, a considerable part 
 of which he draughted. We next find him associated with 
 Franklin, Jay, and Laurens, in a commission with full powers 
 for concluding a treaty of peace with Great Britain. He 
 negotiated a treaty with the Dutch provinces, and obtained a 
 loan, on terms no less creditable to his diplomatic wis- 
 dom, than advantageous to the American States. After this, 
 he was appointed with Franklin and Jay to form a treaty of 
 commerce with England. When the measure of sending a 
 Minister to the Court of St. James, was deemed expedient, 
 Adams vi^as chosen to the distinguished office. He was elect- 
 ed the first Vice-President under the new Constitution, was 
 re-elected to the same office, and discharged its duties with 
 fidelity. He was then elected President of the United 
 States. In these brief notices, we do no more, we attempt no 
 more, than just to run the eye along the luminous path which 
 the patriot trod, to mark the testimonials that strike us at 
 every step, of his abilities, and of his country's confidence. — 
 But it was not in the councils of the nation only, or in the ar- 
 duous and perplexing duties of foreign missions, or the elevat- 
 ed stations that he filled at home, that the attachment and 
 fidelity of Adams to our interests were exhibited. He, who 
 
280 EULOGIES 0J» 
 
 had so often raised his voice to explain and enforce the great 
 principles, that were to form the basis of the national com- 
 pact, afterwards wrote an able " defence of the American 
 Constitutions ;" thus transmitting to posterity a record of po- 
 litical wisdom, w orthy to be read and admired, when the elo- 
 quent tongue of the author should be silent in death. 
 
 Jelferson, as we have seen, was early in the field, where 
 his eminent talents were exhibited, with the greatest effect. — 
 Engaged with his co-patriot in every prominent and impor- 
 tant measure, that occupied the attention, and distinguisiied 
 the character of the continental congress, he was destined 
 to a similar career of future public service, to equally high 
 responsibilities, and to the same honors and rewards of a 
 grateful republic. In the third year of the revolution, Jeffer- 
 son was chosen by congress, minister to France, with Dean 
 and Franklin ; but he declined the ofhce. His native state 
 next demanded his services, conjointly with those of Wythe 
 and Pendleton, in revising her laws ; and the business of this 
 commission was executed with much labour and great abili- 
 ty. He was then elected governor of Virginia ; and three 
 years after, was again chosen a member of congress. When 
 the war had closed, a pleiwpotentiary commission was appoin- 
 ted, addressed to the several European powers for the pur- 
 pose of concluding treaties of commerce, in which Jefferson 
 was associated with Franklin and Adams. He succeeded 
 Franklin as minister at the court of France. Under the new 
 Constitution, he was appointed the first secretary of state in 
 which office he continued four years. At the close of this 
 term, he was elected Vice-President of the United States. — 
 The sense which the country entertained of the past services 
 of Jefferson, was expressed by twice electing him to the high 
 and responsible office of chief Magistrate of the Union. The 
 writings of Jetferson give evidence of vigorous intellect, of ex- 
 tensive reading, and of deep reilection. His " Notes on Vir- 
 ginia,'* display a mind devoted to philosophical research and 
 physical science, while they are distinguished by chastenesa 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 281 
 
 of style and classic taste. It is greatly to the honor of this 
 venerable sage, that he devoted the closing period of his life, 
 which had been filled with usefulness, to the establishment 
 of the University, which was long, with him, an object of the 
 deepest interest ; and the success, which Povidence gave to 
 his unremitted efforts, must have contributed to render tran- 
 quil his last hours, and to shed the rays of peace on his depart- 
 ing spirit. 
 
 The sound principles which Jefferson advocated were con- 
 sidered by him, as applying eq\ially to religious as to civil 
 freedom. Accordingly, we find him employed with the ut- 
 most engagedness, activity, and perseverance in endeavoring 
 to diffuse a tolerant spirit among the inhabitants of the an- 
 cient dominion, to give scope to honest inquiry, to estab- 
 lish the doctrine, that in matters of faith, we are accountable 
 only to God, and to place religion on that basis, where alone 
 it has the promise of its author's support, and where, in pro- 
 portion as itshould be free from the restraints of human laws, 
 uncharitable zeal should take a milder temperature, and per- 
 secution lose its power. Success has attended these measures. 
 The benefits that have resulted have been generally acknowl- 
 edged ; and they are certainly experienced in our own sec- 
 tion of the country, by the various orders of professing chris- 
 tians. 
 
 Jn attempting to sketch the outlines of the characters of 
 our lamented political fathers, we have viewed them as able 
 statesmen, as sound politicians, as unwavering patriots. We 
 have contemplated them as the benefactors of our country, as 
 the friends of the human race. Further than this, we are 
 not prepared, nor is it necessary to go. We do not feel au- 
 thorised to bring their religious opinions to our own fallible 
 standard, nor even to be minute in endeavoring to ascertain 
 what their peculiar religious opinions were. We cannot con- 
 sent to violate the liberal precepts which they have inculcat- 
 ed, and which were intended to guard the sacred rights of con- 
 science, and secure and defend religious freedom. We will 
 
282 EULOGIES 05 
 
 not judge of men but by their practice. And if those of whom 
 the occasion has called us to speak, have faithfully discharged 
 the duties assigned them, we are, and ought to be satisfied ; 
 and to the high tribunal of Heaven, to the perfect standard of 
 eternal justice, v/e cheerfully submit the rest. 
 
 Nor does it come within the province of the speaker, or 
 make an appropriate duty of this solemn occasion, to balance 
 the merits of the respective acts, or administrations of Adams 
 and Jefferson. This is not the time to make invidious dis- 
 tinctions between men of their acknowledged political virtue, 
 if it should be alleged, that they committed errors, it is only 
 saying, that they were men of like passions with others. And 
 no truth is more evident than this : that neither the deepest 
 intellect, nor the brightest talents, nor the most elevated sta- 
 tions exempt men from those defects which we observe in 
 others of inferior endowments and subordinate rank. Great- 
 ness does not confer infallibility. "Great men are not al- 
 ways wise." We are to consider, too, that great and good 
 men may be, and often are, actuated by principles, the recti- 
 tude of which, none can dispute, while yet, the measures that 
 they pursue may be diflerent ; and that even the same man 
 may adopt and follow a course at one time, which he will 
 avoid at another. Such variations are perfectly compatible 
 with moral and political integrity. In surveying the circum- 
 stances with which Adams and Jefferson were surrounded, we 
 shall find it extremely difficult to persuade ourselves, unless 
 our perceptions are vitiated by prejudice, that either the one 
 or the other was ever hostile to the interests, or disposed to 
 trample on the rights of the American people. The situa- 
 tions of those men formed a guaranty for the sincerity of their 
 hearts and the integrity of their principles. From their first out- 
 set in their political course, they maintained a doctrine, that, 
 while it exposed them to the indignation of the government 
 against whose acts they strongly protested, associated them 
 with the people of this country, and connected their interestSj 
 their safety, and happiness with those of the humblest citizen. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 283 
 
 Having denounced as absurd, thedoctrine of hereditary rights, 
 of pecuHar and exclusive privileges, having labored to abolish 
 the artificial distinctions, which pride and power had estab- 
 lished between the different ranks of society, and thus given 
 to a listening and believing people the first lessons in the sci- 
 ence of self-government, they had passed a limit over which 
 they could not return ; they had arrived at a point from which 
 there was no safe retreat. Their property, their honor, their 
 success in life, all were dependent on the consistency of their 
 political principles, on their steady attachment to the holy 
 cause, which they were among the first to espouse and defend. 
 Their only security lay in carrying up with as great rapidity as 
 prudence would dictate, the superstructure, whose foundation 
 their own hands had laid ; nor could they, at any stage of its 
 progress, have been so mentally blind, as to have indulged 
 a wish to apply their gigantic strength to shake the pillars of 
 the edifice, whose fall would inevitably involve them in its 
 ruin. 
 
 To these circumstances we may add the consideration of 
 ihe difficulties and dangers, which the patriots of the revolu- 
 tion had to encounter, before they could suppose that their la- 
 bors were finished, or the safety of the country secured. It is 
 often easier to excite the public mind to action, than to re- 
 strict that action to reasonable bounds. It is frequently a less 
 difticult task, to effect a change in popular opinion and na- 
 tional institutions, than to conduct a people safely through un- 
 tried scenes, and new experiments, while their means of ac- 
 complishing an object are few, and apparently inefficient, and 
 establish them in a state of quietness, felicity, and content- 
 ment. The venerated sages, Adams and Jefferson, must 
 have foreseen the obstacles that opposed their progress. They 
 had to deal with men of different pabsions, who had, or im- 
 agined they had, various and opposing interests to support. 
 It was a part, and not a small part of the business of the great 
 and- good men, who bore so large a share of public duty in the 
 most perilous times, to enlighten the ignorant, to confirm the 
 
2B4 EULOGIES ON 
 
 wavering, to encourage the irresolute, and to imbue the minds 
 of all classes with the intelligence and public spirit, without 
 which their generous exertions must have terminated in de- 
 feat. When your Independence was acknowledged, still the 
 great work was but half completed. The same agents who 
 had produced this event, were to be again employed in con- 
 solidating the interests of the infant republic ; in forming and 
 establishing civil and political institutions, designed not for a 
 temporary continuance, but for perpetuity ; in adjusting the 
 checks and balances of the new, and in a degree, complicated 
 mechanism of government, and in giving to all its parts that 
 beautiful proportion, that exact harmony, and that indistruct- 
 ible compactness, which render it the admiration of the wise 
 and liberal of all nations, and will prove the means of extend- 
 ing its blessings and consummating its glory. How well the 
 illustrious Adams and Jelferson fuKilled these arduous duties, 
 the deep solemnity of this audience, the exercises that our 
 municipal authorities have called us to attend, and the tone of 
 mournful feeling which is heard from all parts of our country, 
 will most satisfactorily declare. 
 
 In what manner, my friends and fellow-citizens, shall we 
 hallow the memories of the departed worthies, to whose ar- 
 duous services we owe our political privileges, the exercise of 
 our civil and religious rights, the exalted station that our 
 country holds, and the excellence, the strength and perman- 
 ancy of our public institutions ? These public services may 
 express our sensibilities ; the slow and solemn procession, the 
 mournful dirge, the funeral gloom in which this house of prayer 
 is enshrouded, may indeed form associations in our minds, 
 which may prove friendly to patriotism, and induce the ac- 
 tion of generous and ennobling principles. May we realize 
 all the good, that an occasion like this can produce. But let 
 us not imagine, that these transactions, or even others more 
 imposing, will cancel the debt of gratitude due to the fathers 
 of our nation. We may erect statues to their memories ; but 
 the unsparing hand of time will decompose the sculptured 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 285 
 
 marble. We may build splendid mausoleums over their re- 
 mains ; but ihey will fall into decay, or their monumei;tal in- 
 scriptions become effaced. We would have a more im| erisli- 
 able record. Our nation's gratitude to her most valuco and 
 venerated citizens, her highest honors for the sages wlio toil- 
 ed, and the heroes who bled in her defence, must be founded 
 in the heart, and exhibited in the practice of national virtue. 
 The great examples we have had before us, should be clo(?ely 
 imitated, and transmitted to posterity. If we would detend 
 and maintain the liberties we now enjoy ; if we would sup- 
 port the constitutions of our government, which are at once 
 our security and our boast; if we would perpetuate our na- 
 tional character, we must ardently cherish the great principles 
 of the revolution, and labor to preserve them from infringe- 
 ment or perversion. The strength and durability ofour gov- 
 ernfhent essentially depend on a wise improvement of the 
 means of instruction ; and with these we are favored above 
 other nations of the earth. Let it be considered our duty, our 
 interest, our pleasure, to accomplish our part of the important 
 work, which others commenced, and have prosecuted with 
 such astonishing success. Let our children learn irum us to 
 revere and love the institutions which are designed to make 
 them good men, good citizens, and enlightened patriots ; and 
 let us give evidence to the world, that we have reached that 
 elevated point, " when wisdom and knowltd^e form the sta- 
 bility of our times." 
 
 37 
 
PRONOUNCED AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. 
 August 3, 1826, 
 
 BY FELEX GRUNDY. 
 
 Fellow-Citizens — This is no day of joy. Amidst peace, 
 plenty, and prosperity, the whole land mourns : and, my 
 friends, we have much cause of grief — the sage of Monticello 
 and the sage of Quincy, are no more ! On the great day of 
 America — a day rendered glorious by their own illustrious 
 deeds — a day on which a nation of freemen was born : yes 
 on the first American Jubilee, when all hearts were rejoicing 
 and all tongues sounding their praises, these mighty spirits 
 took their departure. What day so fit for them to die ! 
 Well might each exclaim, " Lord, now lettest thou thy ser- 
 vant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the salvation 
 of my country." I have seen her in trouble and distress, 
 in peril and in danger ; but now she is safe. The princi- 
 ples laid down in the Declaiation of Independence have 
 been tested by half a century. In peace, the march of my 
 countrymen has been prosperous and happy ; in war, suc- 
 cessful and victorious. The great truth, which makes ty- 
 rants and despots tremble, is at length demonstrated, " that 
 freemen art capable of self government.'*^ 
 
 To private friendship, we relinquish the pleasant duty of 
 dwelling on their social and private virtues : we know them 
 only as great national benefactors. 
 
 The British government had, on various occasions, assert- 
 ed the right of taxing the American colonies, and exercising 
 over them, an absolute control in all cases whatsoever. Tp 
 
288 EULOGIES ON 
 
 be taxed — to be governed without a voice in the government, 
 was a doctrine too inconsistent with the rights of man to be 
 tolerated. J'etitions and remonstrances had been employed 
 to obtain redress of grievances, and all had proved unavail- 
 ing. At length the Congress of 1776 convened in Philadel- 
 phia, where the most serious subject that ever occupied the 
 thoughts of man, with regard to earthly things, was proposed, 
 discussed and decided upon. 
 
 On Friday, the 7th day of June, Richard Henry Lee, a 
 delegate from Virginia, moved the following resolution, "That 
 these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and 
 Independent States ; and that all political connection between 
 them and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be to- 
 tally dissolved." This motion was seconded by Mr. Adams, 
 who afterwards supported it with all his powers of elo- 
 quence. On the next day the resolution was discussed in a 
 committee of the whole House. On the Monday following, 
 the discussion was continued, the resolution reported to the 
 House, and the following order taken : " That the consider- 
 ation of the resolution be postponed to the first Monday in 
 July next, and in the meanwhile, that no time be lost, in case 
 the Congress agree thereto, a committee be appointed to 
 prepare a Declaration to the effect of said resolution." 
 
 The Committee elected by the Congress, consisted of 
 Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger 
 Sherman, and R. R. Livingston. Mr. Jefferson received 
 the highest vote, and was of course chairman, Mr. Adams the 
 hext highest number, being but one vote below Mr. Jeffer- 
 son. The duty of preparing this important instrument was 
 confided to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, to commemorate 
 whose deaths we have this day met together. 
 
 Here, fellow-citizens, at this eventful period, the great 
 work of liberty was formally and fully begun. The conscript 
 fathers had met in counsel — they held their sessions in secret 
 —the genius of liberty had taken her flight from the old, she 
 had no resting-place but in the new world — she presided 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 289 
 
 in our deliberations. The subject of Annerican Indepen- 
 dence was taken up, on which the happiness of millions de- 
 pended ; a measure, the effects of which Avere not to be con- 
 fined to the present generation, nor limited to the extent of 
 the British Colonies. Well was it that they should consider 
 the act about to be done. Should this step be taken, and a 
 failure ensue, confiscations and gibbets stood presented to the 
 view ; and death awaited not only them, but the best portion 
 of the country ; but if crowned with success, behold even 
 then, the sacrifices to be met, the dangers to be encountered — 
 our cities sacked and reduced to ashes a great por- 
 tion of the country overrun by a licentious soldiery, head- 
 ed by men controlled by the mandates of an enraged and 
 maddened tyrant. The expense of blood and treasure, 
 none could calculate ; the merciless savage, alike regard- 
 less of the mother and the child, was to be let loose upon 
 our defenceless frontier ; and in the Southern Colonies a 
 servile war, still more desolating in its character, was to 
 be kindled. With whom was this contest to be ? With 
 Great Britain — a nation rich in all the means of war — 
 powerful armies, commanded by experienced generals — 
 ample resources for the employment of the mercenary sol- 
 diers of other nations — an unbounded credit — a nation that 
 claimed the ocean for her own, and might, in the pride of 
 her powers exclaim — 
 
 " My march is on the mountain wave, 
 My home is on the deep." 
 
 Go back with me, my countrymen, to those days of uncer- 
 tainty and fearful apprehension, and view the condition of 
 the Colonies. Have they armies ? No. Have they officers 
 of well tried skill ? But one who has had the benefit of ex- 
 perience, and he reared a farmer, not a soldier. Have they 
 a supply of munitions of war ? None equal to the occasion. 
 Have they a Navy ? None that deserves the name. Have 
 they money equal to the undertaking ? No, nor credit suffi- 
 
290 EULOGIES ON 
 
 cient to borrow. Can they procure foreign aid ? That is 
 uncertain and depends upon contingencies. 
 
 Here is fearful odds ; but what is the prize to be contend- 
 ed for ? Liberty ; a pearl beyond all price : therefore, trust- 
 ing in the God of battles, and in the stout and determined 
 hearts, and the untrembling nerves of honest freemen, the 
 Congress resolved to be free or die ! Their trust was not 
 in vain, God was with them ! Yes, my friends, he was on our 
 side ; he taught our Senators wisdom ; he banished from 
 them the councils of fear, and nerved the hearts of our coun- 
 trymen ; he led us through the wilderness of the revolution ; 
 he was a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, 
 and our Chief, more fortunate than Israel's, not only saw the 
 promised land, but dwelt in it many years. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had prepared the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, had submitted it to the inspection of Mr. Adams, no 
 amendments were suggested, it was laid before the whole 
 Committee, approved and reported to the House as originally 
 drawn — there some alterations were made, of which, Mr. 
 Adams when writing an account of its transaction says, " The 
 Congress cut off about a quarter part of it, as he expected 
 they would do, but they obliterated some of the best of it, 
 and left all that was exceptionable, if any was." 
 
 The instrument is complete, and each compatriot in suc- 
 cession advances and affixes his name, in testimony that he 
 had pledged " his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor,'''' to 
 that which was true. The deed is done, and proclamation 
 of it is made to American freemen, not now the subject of a 
 foreign monarch. 
 
 Washington, for the honor of whose birth, not seven cities 
 alone, but more than seven nations might have contended, 
 had not the title of America been too clear to admit of con« 
 troversy, was called forth to command the armies of this new 
 made nation — he was ably supported bj Greene and others, 
 whose deeds of valor you have often read and heard recounted. 
 While others were encountering the dangers and difficulties 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 29l 
 
 of the field, were Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams idle specta- 
 tors of passing events ? far otherwise : all the masterspirits 
 were at work, toiling in the cabinet or the field ; rousing the 
 drooping spirits of their countrymen ; awakening the people 
 of Great Britain to a sense of the injustice inflicted by their 
 government, upon their friends and unoffending kinsmen on 
 this side of the Atlantic ; in contriving the ways and means 
 of feeding and clothing our armies, and in procuring foreign 
 aid. These were employments worthy of statesmen and of 
 patriots. 
 
 At last the contest ended ; the gloomy period of the revo- 
 lution passed away, and the pleasing spectacle is presented 
 of a nation redeemed from the shackles and chains of slavery 
 — a treaty was entered into, and Great Britain, weary of th e 
 contest, ackowledged our Independence. 
 
 Our connexion with other nations was then to be formed ; 
 envoys were sent to the courts of Europe to enter into trea - 
 ties of amity and commerce. To whom for so important ji 
 service could our country have turned with more confidence 
 ihan to those who had first proclaimed her rights ? to none : 
 and hence Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams, with another re- 
 nowned and fearless patriot, Dr. Franklin, were selected for 
 these important objects ; they fulfilled in their mission the 
 high andjust expectations of their countrymen. 
 
 The first election under the Federal Constitution arrived ; 
 he, who had led the nation to victory, Independence, and 
 glory, was preferred to the chief magistracy ; Mr. Adams to 
 the Vice Presidency ; Mr. Jefferson was selected by the 
 President as the Secretary of State. Here the high estima- 
 tion in which they were held by their country is still manifest- 
 ed — one is chosen to the second office in the gift of the peo- 
 ple — the other is made one of the principal counsellors of the 
 state, and confidential adviser of the chief magistrate. Be- 
 tween these distinguished individuals, even before General 
 Washington retired from the Presidential chair, it became 
 apparent that essential difierences in poUtical opinion pre- 
 
EULOGIES ON 
 
 yailed ; they differed as to the mode of administering the 
 government, or rather as to the powers that might be legiti- 
 mately exercised, while by the friends and advocates of their 
 respective principles and opinions, each was looked to as 
 best qualitied to succeed him who had emphatically entitled 
 himself to the appellation of " Father of his Country." 
 y Mr. Adams was elected President, and Mr. Jefferson Vice- 
 'resident. It will be recollected, that at that period the elect- 
 rs did not designate the individual who was voted for as 
 resident — each voted for two persons, and he who received 
 thie highest number of votes was to be the President, and he 
 wlio obtained the next highest, the Vice-President. The 
 pebple of the United States still called for the services of 
 bolh. 
 
 The scheme of our government was then new ; the history 
 of other nations furnished nothing like it, or resembling it ; 
 whether upon a full experiment it would stand, or as all for- 
 mp Republics had done, fall, was a subject on which wise 
 mpn doubted and greatly feared. 
 
 During the administration of Mr. Adams, his opinions and 
 plan of administering the government, and those of Mr. Jef- 
 ftrson, were brought fully before the American people ; they 
 yere examined, discussed and compared, and by a decisive 
 Tote, the nation declared that the principles of the latter were 
 those by which it ought to be governed. Upon this event- 
 Mr. Adams retired to his native state, where he has spent the 
 remainder of his life as became the patriot and sage, in dis- 
 pensing good around him, and in preparing to meet his final 
 judge. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson entered upon his duties as Chief Magistrate 
 on the 4th of March, 1 801, and, on that day exhibited to the 
 American people in his inaugural address, those great and sal- 
 utary principles upon which this government required to be 
 administered. He proclaimed, "equal and exact justice to 
 all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or politi- 
 cal } peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations : 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 293 
 
 entangling alliances with none — the support of the state gov- 
 ernments in all their rights, as the most competent adminis- 
 trations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks 
 against anti-republican tendencies. The preservation of the 
 general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the 
 sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad — a jeal- 
 ous care of the right of election by the people, a mild and safe 
 corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of rev- 
 olution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided — absolute 
 acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital princi- 
 ples of Republics, from which there is no appeal but to force 
 — a well disciplined militia, our reliance in peace, and for 
 the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them — the 
 supremacy of the civil over the military authority — economy 
 in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened — 
 the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of 
 the public faith — encouragement of agriculture, and commerce 
 as its handmaid — the diffusion of information, and the arraign- 
 ment of all abuses at the bar of public reason — freedom of 
 religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person, under 
 the protection of the habeas corpus, and trials by juries ina- 
 partially selected." 
 
 He also inculcated the principles that the people themselves 
 were the legitimate sovereigns of this land ; that an equal por- 
 tion of the sovereign power was possessed by each individual: 
 that public officers were public servants, and responsible to 
 the people for their public acts — that the will of the people 
 should be obeyed by their representatives. 
 
 These, fellow-citizens, were the doctrines taught by this 
 great apostle of civil liberty ; they should form a portion of 
 the creed of every American statesman — when they are de- 
 parted from, the Republic is in danger. 
 
 Nor were these principles advanced by Mr. Jefferson only 
 when he was highly elevated in office — while a member of the 
 Virginia assembly, ini order to prevent the accumulation of 
 
 large masses of property in single families, we behold him as- 
 
 38 
 
"294 EULOGIES ON 
 
 sistihg in breaking down the entailments of landed estates, in 
 destroying the right of primogeniture, and in estabhshing that 
 reJigious freedom which enabled each individual to worship 
 his God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and 
 without being taxed to support a church, the mode of 
 worship and principles of which his judgment did not ap- 
 prove. 
 
 All these measures were designed and calculated to produce 
 the great end "that the few should not rule and oppress the 
 many." 
 
 See the course of his administration ; he made good all he 
 promised. The general and state governments moved on 
 harmoniously, each confined within its proper and constitu- 
 tional sphere. 
 
 At the end of eight years, he declined a re-election, and re- 
 tired to his country seat in Virginia — even here he could not 
 be idle ; he could not live without toiling for his country — 
 he entered on the establishment of the great central col- 
 lege, and labored as assiduously to rear and give it stability 
 and permanency as he had done in establishing this Re- 
 public. 
 
 Fit employment for the statesman and philosopher. He 
 knew, full well, that liberty and knowledge Avere fond asso- 
 ciates, and would dwell together, and that a well informed and 
 virtuous people could not be made slaves. 
 
 His house was the home of the men of science of all nations 
 wlio visited our country. Did they wish to learn the pecu- 
 liarities of our governments in their practical operations, who 
 so fit to be enquired of as him, who of all others, had done 
 most in giving to these operations their proper tendencies? 
 and who, of all men living, best understood the genius of his 
 countrymen — were they anxious to learn whatever was strange 
 and curious in the new world in the productions of nature, in 
 him they found a philosopher who had already explored 
 through the hidden recesses of her wondrous works, ready to 
 communicate the information they desired. Our own coun- 
 trymen, young and old, resorted to him as the Nestor of the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 295 
 
 age, to learn wisdom from the accents which fell from his 
 tongue. 
 
 The love of liberty, the rights of man, was his ruling pas- 
 sion. When laboring under his final and fatal illness, perhaps 
 the last letter that the hand that penned your liberties ever 
 wrote, he says — " may it," (meaning our Independence) " be 
 to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some sooner, to 
 others later, but finally to all) the signal of arousing men to 
 burst their chains under which monkish ignorance and super- 
 stition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and assume 
 the blessings 6f security and self-government. The form we 
 have substituted restores the free right to the unbounded ex- 
 ercise of reason and freedom of opinion ; all eyes are opened, 
 or opening to the rights of man. The general spread of the 
 lights of science has already laid open to every view, the pal- 
 pable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been ' born 
 with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted 
 and spurred, to ride them legitimately by the grace of 
 God.' " 
 
 He had seen the Spanish American Provinces break their 
 chains, elevate themselves among the nations of the earth, 
 and adopting our political institutions as their model. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson died at that hour of the day, on the 4th of 
 July last, on which he had been engaged fifty years before in 
 reading to Congress, for their adoption, the Declaration of In- 
 dependence — the great Charter of our liberties : Fortunate — ■ 
 most fortunate man, to link together, at the same moment of 
 time, immortality on earth with immortality beyond the 
 grave. 
 
 Mr. Adams, too, on the same day, and at that moment of it 
 when our political fathers were proclaiming to the citizens 
 assembled around the Capitol in Philadelphia, the result of 
 their deliberations, breathed his last, fcitrange ! wonderful co- 
 incidence of events ! Is this the effect of accident and blind 
 chance ? Or has that God, who holds in his hands the desti- 
 nies of nations and of men, designed these things as a;i 
 
296 EULOGIES ON 
 
 evidence of the permanency and perpetuity of our institu- 
 tions ? 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had expressed, a short time before his death, 
 a strong desire that he might live, again to see that day. Mr. 
 Adams, when he heard its rejoicings, exclaimed, " It is a great 
 and glorious day." God seems to have granted to these fa- 
 vored men the privilege of ratifying and sealing, by their deaths 
 the great deeds of their Hves. 
 
 They are gone to the grave ; yet shall they live, and al- 
 though their bodies perish, still in the recollection of their 
 country will their deeds survive. Through all time, while 
 liberty shall endure, will the awful peril of that moment be re- 
 membered, when a scattered people, few in number, pro- 
 claimed their dependence dissolved ; and stood proudly forth 
 among the nations of the earth. At home, hope and antici- 
 pation were on tiptoe ; while abroad, it was every where 
 maintained (hat man cannot rule himself, and quickly must their 
 institutions fail — but, behold, fifty years have rolled over us 
 and still happiness and prosperity go hand in hand along with 
 us. In this we have cause of joy for this abundant cause of 
 gratitude towards our fathers, whose exertions secured for us 
 so rich an inheritance — be all their virtues remembered, their 
 foibles and errors forgotten. 
 
 What remains for us to do ? See that lonely, venerable man, 
 Charles Carroll of Carrollton ; of all the patriarchs, who seal- 
 ed our Independence, he alone remains — he has lived so long 
 in this world, that he has become a stranger in it — when he 
 asks for the companions of his early life, who toiled and la- 
 bored with him for his country's good ; when he surveys the 
 labors of the Congress of 1776, and enquires for its mighty 
 actors, all, all are gone, and he is left alone. — Now, even now, 
 he is saying, " age is on my tongue, my eyes are dim, my soul 
 has failed, and memory fails on my mind ; 1 hear the call of 
 years ; roll on ye dark brown years, ye bring no joy on your 
 course ; let the tomb open, for my strength has failed — the 
 sons of freedom are gone to rest.'* 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 297 
 
 For him, my friends, let us indulge in one fond wish, that 
 his life may be lengthened out so long as it can be comfortable 
 to him — and at last, on some future 4th of July, he, like those 
 whose deaths we this day commemorate, may make his exit 
 from this world, and that his immortal spirit may take its flight 
 to the realms on high, where may he meet his old compan- 
 ions and friends, hailing and welcoming him to these mansions 
 of eternal rest : for this end, let a prayer-hearing and prayer- 
 granting God be now addressed. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT CHARLESTON, SOUTH-CAROLINA, 
 
 August 3, 1826. 
 
 BY WILLIAM JOHNSON. 
 
 It is not my practice, my respected fellow-citizens, to 
 introduce myself to my auditors with an apology, but with 
 unaffected humility would I bespeak your benevolence on 
 this occasion, to one who has long since abandoned the ros- 
 trum to another generation. Happy that land, in which, as 
 the aged fall away, a new race succeeds, full of integrity, in- 
 telligence, and patriotism. Then it is, that the hoary veter- 
 an, before whose eyes the invisible hand hath Written, " Pre- 
 pare for thy departure !" cheerfully retires to the shades of 
 meditation, happy in the conviction Ihat he consigns his be- 
 loved country into hands that will never abandon her. Then 
 it is that when convened to shed the tear of gratitude upon 
 the urns of great and distinguished benefactors, as one by one 
 they drop into the gulf of eternity, we can lift our hearts in 
 humble gratitude to Him, who has spared them to us long 
 enough to breathe their spirit into a multitude of survivors. 
 The call of those survivors I obey. Who would hesitate ? 
 when summoned by a generous public, animated by the no- 
 blest feelings, to give a voice to their gratitude, a direction 
 to their meditations. 
 
 Nor is it from the living only that the summons comes. — 
 A voice rises from the tomb, inviting and encouraging. 
 
 Where are we ? 
 
 Surrounded by the mouldering remains of the venerated 
 dead. And among the mementos of mortality that lie so 
 thick around us, how often do we read the simple legend of 
 
300 EULOGIES ON 
 
 some fellow labourer of the immortal Jefferson ? If it be 
 given to the disembodied spirit to mingle in the affairs of life, 
 with what joy may they not hover over the solemnities of this 
 occasion ! And may we not imagine them even now whisper- 
 ing to the bosoms of this crowded assembly, " Well done, 
 our faithful children ; in the ceremonies of this day, we be- 
 hold the best assurance that we too shall not be forgotten. — 
 In the display of respectful gratitude here exhibited, we re- 
 cognise the welcome earnest of the only return we ask for our 
 sacrifices — gratitude to your benefactors, and fidelity to your 
 country." 
 
 Yes, departed patriots ! with filial piety shall your humble 
 worth be often remembered. Subordinate necessarily is that 
 duty which devolves on the far greater part of mankind ; yet 
 he who zealously and faithfully fills the little orbit which cir- 
 cumscribes his services, is not the less an object of gratitude, 
 because not called on to do more. 
 
 And may not he who addresses you, be permitted to mix 
 up with higher motives, feelings of a more humble and indi- 
 vidual nature ? The incense of public praise, will not as- 
 cend with the less grateful odour, because co-mingled with 
 the aspirations of individual gratitude. 
 
 Think not, my most respected auditors, that I mean to 
 venture upon a vain and unappropriate effort to excite your 
 feelings or elicit your tears. Strongly marked as has been 
 the exit of the great man whom we now meet to commemo- 
 rate, I address myself to too enlightened an audience, to be 
 carried away by fortuitous circumstances, however singularly 
 combined. Yet, in the remotest ages in which our history 
 shall be recounted, will the pious reader pause, and reflect 
 on the singular coincidences that marked the late departure 
 of our two venerable Patriots. The days of superstition, 
 when singular combinations of natural events were construed 
 into omens of good or evil, have long since gone by. Yet 
 who so insensible as not to f§cl that a more solemn interest 
 will henceforward be shed over the celebration of our na- 
 tional festival ! 
 
ADAMS AKD JEFFERSON. 301 
 
 It was, indeed, their day ; Providence marked it as such. 
 Annually for half a century, had they enjoyed together tlie 
 outpourings of a nation's gratitude on its return ; and well 
 might they, on that anniversary, which was so peculiarly 
 marked both by religious and political feeling, unite in the 
 pious ejaculation, "■ Let now thy servants depart in peace, 
 for our eyes have seen the salvation of our country." 
 
 Together they came forth in their strength ; together they 
 toiled for the same glorious object, and together they closed 
 their eyes upon its happy attainment. And, notwithstanding 
 all the envenomed slanders of settish and irritated partizai-s, 
 they lived to give to the world the most touching proof that, 
 however differing in their views aud measures, that deep 
 rooted esteem, which a knowledge of each other's vvorth. ac- 
 quired in the hour of severest probation, had planted in each 
 other's bosoms, remained to the last unshaken. There is 
 such a moral beauty, such a moral excellence, in the inci- 
 cident to which 1 allude, that I hesitate not to place it at 
 the head of the catalogue of their praises. It was a sublime 
 example, to a nation that looked to them for examples. Nay, 
 to the christian world. Long and ardent had been their 
 political struggles ; animated and envenomed the altercations 
 of their adherents. Alternately victor and vanquished, how 
 could they be so great as to have resisted the access of un- 
 kindly feelings ! Yet they were so great ; unkindly feelings 
 were all sacrificed at the shrine of their religion and their 
 country. What has destroyed half the republics that have 
 gone before us ? Individual animosities, pride of opinion, 
 the struggle for power, long nurtured hatred, a patient wait- 
 ing for revenge. How edifying the example of those two great 
 men, rising superior to the weakness of our nature, and with 
 the most friendly greeting, cheering each other on their jour- 
 ney to the grave ! When in future times, among the angry 
 passions which political discussions will excite, the foiled 
 aspirant for popular distinction, shall feel engei dering in his 
 bosom those pernicious propensities which so often sacritice 
 
 39 
 
302 EULOGIES ON 
 
 all considerations to private or to party feelings •, let the 
 bright example of these mighty Patriots come over his re- 
 collection, beautifully exempUfying the aphorism of the wise 
 man, " He that ruleth his spirit, is greater than he who taketh 
 a city." 
 
 Heaven has expressed its approbation of this great exam- 
 ple by enforcing it in their deaths. And shall not v^^e, my 
 fellow-citizens, improve the singular coincidence, of their be- 
 ing thus consigned to the common resting place of all, on that 
 same day on which they had once united all in the most glo- 
 rious of struggles ; into a solemn injunction from Heaven, to 
 let our dissensions rest with them forever ? Enough have we 
 been distracted ; not by party ; for among high-minded and 
 virtuous men, the most opposite measures are pursued with- 
 out invading the courtesies of private life ; but by the furi- 
 ous zealot, or the selfish and vindictive intriguer, whose 
 views had nothing in them of a virtuous feeling. 
 
 I make no apology for noticing first in order, those traits of 
 character which exhibit the moral greatness of Mr. Jeflferson. 
 Need I inculcate on this audience, wherein consists the true 
 dignity of man ? or whereon must rest the basis of our re- 
 publican institutions ? Animal courage is the attribute of 
 millions ; nay, often a mere factious quality ; yet in its place 
 deserving of high praise, and justly commanding the admira- 
 tion of the world. But far above this, ranks that sublime at- 
 tribute, which, gathered in itself, and supported by no power 
 but a consciousness of its own honourable purposes, can pur- 
 sue the course of wisdom and of virtue, in defiance of all the 
 demons of malice, envy, and calumny — nay in defiance of 
 what is infinitely harder to be borne, of the frowns and mena- 
 ces of a misguided public. From the remotest antiquity, 
 this has been regarded as the great mind's distinguishing at- 
 tribute. 
 
 In how eminent a degree did this quality distinguish him 
 whom we now meet to commemorate. Abused, calumnia- 
 ted, misrepresented, mocked, and ridiculed, as it was his fate 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 303 
 
 to be, through many a painful year of his existence, never 
 was his temper for a moment discomposed. There was a 
 philosophic calm diffused over his most ordinary actions, a 
 perfect repose of the passions, which triumphed over perse- 
 cution. 
 
 Yet this was by no means the result of natural tempera- 
 ment ; nature made his feelings vivacious in the extreme ; it 
 was acquired from reflection ; a system formed upon study, 
 observation and experience, and reduced to practice by a 
 firmness which could not be turned aside from a purpose 
 deliberately formed. 
 
 Who is there but must have been struck with that wonder- 
 ful preservation of intellect which he exhibited to the latest 
 hour ! Those who shared the honour of his correspondence, 
 can furnish specimens of the most recent dates, abounding in 
 all that strength, neatness, order and originality, which dis- 
 tinguished the compositions of his best days. Let it not be 
 imagined that this protracted preservation of our mental 
 powers, proceeds alone from their original strength. With- 
 out tranquillity of mind, self-command, evenness of tem- 
 per, habits of order, of temperance and industry, l^e most 
 powerful intellect will waste itself by its very intensity. — 
 Genius is ever accompanied with extraordinary sensibility ; 
 and unless happily combined with those moral and intellect- 
 ual restraints which are necessary to control the impetuosity 
 of its movements, it shines like the meteor, which dazzles, 
 alarms, and explodes, but imparts nothing of that warmth, 
 which animates and beautifies nature to-day, remains undi- 
 minished for to-morrow. 
 
 The time is now arrived when the labours of his study will 
 be made known to the world ; and nothing but the well or- 
 dered economy of time from which he never departed, will 
 account for their immensity. But the day never dawned 
 upon his slumbers ; every moment had its appropriate em- 
 ployment or amusement ; and of these not a (ew were set 
 apart for social converse and the society of his family. — - 
 Then it was, that he exhibited a striking illustration of the 
 
304 EULOGIES ON 
 
 truth, that greatness is perfectly compatible with every thing 
 that is amiable and engai^ing in man. Nay, in him it wa> ac- 
 com;ianied with the most striking simpHcity of character and 
 even hniiiility of deportment. He who had otxupied so im- 
 portant a page in the history of his country ; who had pos- 
 sessed a popularity and inlluence exceeicd hy one only ; 
 who had tilled every station of dignity or trust, to which his 
 country could invite him ; who had shone conspicuous at the 
 most brilliant court in Europe ; he to whom the events of no 
 age were unknown ; no secrets of nature unexplored ; no 
 slijdy. no science unsubdued ; became when at the social 
 hearth, as simple as a child ; distinguished only by the suavi- 
 t} of his deportment; an instinctive facility in making every 
 one happy ; and the vivacity and naviete of those sallies, by 
 which he animated conversation, without detracting from its 
 attic elevation. 
 
 Such was the private man ; and in his early habits we sec 
 the germ of that greatness, to the developement of which we 
 have all been witnesses. Time well improved, talents assid- 
 uously cultivated, passions carefully disciplined, and the 
 whole directed by a heart, abounding in Probity, Patriotism, 
 and Benevolence. 
 
 The birth, parentage, early history, and early acquirements 
 of Mr. Jefferson, belong to his biographer ; we meet to com- 
 memorate the patriot, the philosopher, the benefactor of.man- 
 kind : Him who burst upon the world, crowned with that 
 halo of glory, our natior.al manifesto. ^Vho shall attempt 
 its eulogy ? Has it ever been heard with impatience ? ever 
 heard without elevating the feelings and thrilling the heart of 
 an audience ? It is one of those works which all commentary 
 must prejudice. It is all light, all strength, all t.uth. The 
 nation was electritied upon its dissemination, and ihe circle 
 of its influence will extend until it embraces the whole hab- 
 itable earth : It is the common manifesto of an oppressed 
 world : the iEgis, that covers the prostrate and torlorn, while 
 it flashes conviction and confusion in the face of the op- 
 pressor. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 305 
 
 But I come not here to herald the praise of one to the ex- 
 clusion of the just claims of other Patriots. The modest au- 
 thor himself never pretended to any higher praise, than that 
 of having caught the spirit, and embodied the thoughts of his 
 high associates. Nor need we hesitate to claim our share of 
 its exalted merits. How delighted has he who has the honour 
 to address you, listened with all the feelings of a Carolinian, 
 whilst its eloquent author dilated on the bold, the towering 
 spirit of a Gadsden, the impetuous, the overwhelming elo- 
 quence of the elder, and the bland, the winning virtues of the 
 younger Rutledge. Nor was the firm, the fearless patriotism 
 of a Middleton and a Lynch forgotten. 
 
 From this time the talents of Mr. Jefferson became the 
 property of his country ; for two short intervals only up to 
 the termination of his second rresidency, was he ever re- 
 lieved from public employment. 
 
 As the successor of the immortal Henry, the first Revolu- 
 tionary Governor of Virginia, he was called from the second 
 Congress to preside over the counsels of his native state. — 
 His enemies have often affected to speak slightly of his servi- 
 ces in that station. Time will not permit us to pause long 
 upon services in which we did not participate. But here the 
 general interest of the Union demanded his devoted attention. 
 And, notwithstanding the sneers of some, and the affected 
 coldness of others, it is in the power of him who now address- 
 es you, to bear witness, from authentic original documents, 
 that never duties were discharged with more devoted zeal. — 
 What could he do ? The men and the treasures of Virginia 
 had been lavished in defending the North and the South.- — 
 Her last army fell in defending us ; the remains of it were 
 entombed in our prison ships, the bones of thousands of her 
 sons are commingled with our soil. Virginia was left defence- 
 less in defending others ; the enemy saw her exposure, and 
 in overwhelming her, boasted that he would reach the heart 
 of rebellion. His whole efforts, were turned against that 
 devoted state. And ina government prostrate and exhaust- 
 
306 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ed, in a country overwhelmed by devastating arniie.'-, he fell 
 himself called upon, " to take care that the republic sustained 
 no injury ;" he did assume the dictator ; he exercised arbi- 
 trary power ; because no other powders could meet the exi- 
 gency of the occasion. He becanf>e the object of public odi- 
 um, because the public good required the sacrifice. The 
 flood of popular indignation for awhile boie him down ; but 
 it was to rise with renovated lustre, above censure and above 
 resentment. Whenever a candid history of his administra- 
 tion in Virginia shall appear, every humiliating incident will 
 disappear, and the picture be exhibited of the devoted and 
 enlightened patriot, exerting every nerve and incurring every 
 vexation, because the honour of the country required, that 
 every other consideration should be abandoned. 
 
 The leisure of a year's retirement which followed his ad- 
 ministration of Virginia, gave to the world that work which, 
 under no other title than " Notes on Virginia," stands unri- 
 valled among American productions. A work which con- 
 nected him with the Literati of his time and introduced him 
 into the most celebrated associations of those, who adorned 
 by their learning, the age in which they flourish. A work, 
 which vindicated his country and the new world against the 
 calumnies and errors of the old ; and which, by developing 
 the resources, tracing out the policy, and scanning the high 
 destinies of his native state, gave a happy impetus and direc- 
 tion, to the studies and efibrts of the rising generation. 
 
 It was impossible that such a man should continue long in 
 retirement. The returning good sense of his native state, 
 soon brought him again into Congress ; and when peace and 
 victory, had crowned the struggles of his country, we find 
 him associated in Europe with two great names in the mo- 
 mentous work of adjusting our commercial relations. In the 
 hands of Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, it is supereroga- 
 tion to say that the duty was ably discharged. Let the com- 
 mercial prosperity that distinguished our country " speak 
 their praises." 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 307 
 
 Nor were the six years spent by Mr. Jefferson at the Court 
 of Verseilles, less beneficially employed. His zeal, and gen- 
 eral attention to the interests of the country, were here stri- 
 kingly exemplified. Not confining himself to the signal priv- 
 ileges acquired by negotiation to the growers of our great 
 staples, he sought to transfer to the husbandry of our coun* 
 try, every object of industry, which he saw contributing to 
 the wealth or the comfort of the European states. Not an im- 
 provement in agriculture, not an animal of value, not an article 
 of cultivation came to his knowledge, that he did not seek to 
 bestow upon his own country. The gift of Minerva to the 
 Athenians, the source of so much wealth and comfort to three 
 quarters of the world, he was particularly anxious to make 
 our own. And many a flourishing tree, now tendering us in 
 vain the luxury of its fruits, and reproaching our inattention 
 to its value, was transplanted here by his benificent hand. 
 
 At that time we were but imperfectly acquainted with the 
 arts, the politics and corruptions of the old world ; still less 
 with its embellishments and improvements. It required a 
 mind like Jefferson's to bring home to us that kind of informa- 
 tion which is acquired only by close and discriminating scru- 
 tiny. His leisure was sedulously improved under the most 
 signal advantages ; and when, upon the adoption of the pres- 
 ent Constitution, he was called by Washington to take charge 
 o( the port-feuille of the department of state, he came to it, 
 full of that kind of information, which enabled him to organ- 
 ize its administration, and to discharge its high and then pe- 
 culiarly perplexing duties, with ease to himself and with sig- 
 nal relief to his high employer. Were there no other monu- 
 ments remaining of the range and power of his talents, the 
 reports elicited from him at this time by various resolves of 
 Congress, would perpetuate his fame. 
 
 Comprehensive, voluminous, minute ; they present the 
 most astonishing variety of talent, uniformly accompanied 
 with truth of discrimination, and justness of thought. The 
 policy, resources, relations, and obligatioos of the countrr. 
 
 I 
 
308 EULOGFES ON 
 
 are scanned with the eye of a master, and grasped hi a 
 giant's embrace. 
 
 Is the perplexed subject of a standard of weights and 
 measures presented to his mind ? One would imagine it 
 the only subject that had ever occupied his thoughts. 
 The politician retires ; and the sciences pour forth all 
 their stores. He pervades all nature ; he mounts into the 
 firmament ; and with the finger of the mathematician, the 
 geographer, and astronomer, points to the only means in 
 nature, by which science can here be gratified by pre- 
 scribing to the arts. 
 
 Are the value, the protection, the political bearings of the 
 Fisheries to be reported on ? The sage of Monticello de- 
 scends from the mountain to the ocean ; he grasps the line 
 and the oar ; every sea is ransacked ; every market explored ; 
 the ocean to be cultivated ; a rich harvest to be gathered from 
 its barren waves ; and the hardy son of the trident to be fos- 
 tered, that he may bear our enterprise and our thunder to 
 wherever the ocean flows. 
 
 In fine, my fellow-citizens, those reports leave very little or- 
 iginal matter for his successors. lu them we see the imitation 
 and the outline of the policy hitherto pursued by a paternal 
 government. And the whole discussed in a style of beautiful 
 simplicity ; with that point and conciseness which constitute, 
 the chief excellence of productions intended for popular pe- 
 rusal. 
 
 Yet these were not the productions of leasure and tranquil- 
 lity ; they were composed in the midst of all those perilous dis- 
 cussions in which the intemperate zeal of foreign agents, if not 
 the immoral views of foreign governments, then involved us. 
 Those discussions which drew from the same pen that able, 
 learned, impartial, and triumphant correspondence which car- 
 ried conviction and confusion to the Ministers of France and 
 Great Britain. Here too, the policy of the States, in anoth- 
 er of their relations, their diplomatic and social intercourse 
 is ably delineated and fearlessly established ; established on 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 309 
 
 a basis that can never be shaken ; the basis of moral truth — 
 of universal and impartial benevolence ; recognising all gov- 
 ernments as equal — all mankind as the common care of be- 
 nevolent governments. 
 
 The struggle throughout was to maintain peace to our coun- 
 try in the midst of the conflicts that convulsed Europe ; a 
 peace regarded with equal jealousy by both rivals ; by the 
 one as too auspicious to our growing commerce ; by the other 
 as inconsistent with her claims on our gratitude. But peace 
 was necessary to our prosperity ; the broils and intrigues of Eu- 
 rope were to be avoided ; and it is edifying to behold the firm, 
 the unassuming, and at length indignant pertinacity with which 
 the arts, the intrigues, and the insolence of foreign agents 
 were encountered and repelled. 
 
 The memory of these times has now in a great measure 
 past away ; and history has yet to do impartial justice to the 
 distinguished actors in those troubled scenes. But the time 
 is now fast approaching for calm and candid discussion : 
 When the angry passions of man will be allayed ; the judg- 
 ment unwarped by excitement and prejudice ; the heart no 
 longer swelling with hatred, disappointment, and revenge ; 
 nor the mind carried away by the reciprocal imputations of 
 unworthy motives : when the tendency of opinions and meas- 
 ures shall be examined by the test of reason and experience, 
 in minds resolved on deciding with impartial justice. Pos- 
 terity is never unjust, and seldom decides erroneously. But 
 posterity must be informed and reasoned with, and rescued 
 from those deceptions which are practised even on posterity. 
 
 It has been the singular good fortune of Mr. Jefferson to 
 have lived, as it were, to hear the judgment of posterity upon 
 himself. At least on that part of his conduct which drew 
 upon him the severest animadversions from his contempora- 
 ries, under circumstances which forbade an attempt at vindi- 
 cation. Never was man's honour and self-denial put more 
 severely to the test than his, while subjected to the imputa- 
 tions connected with his resignation as Secretary of State* 
 
 40 
 
310 EULOGIES ON 
 
 How could he defend himself ? His hps were sealed upon 
 the occurrences of the cabinet : not less by the sanction of an 
 oath than by considerations of honour and delicacy. And 
 had he been free to reveal them, how could he tell the pub- 
 Uc that the immaculate father of his country had been precip- 
 itated into erroneous counsels by mistaken advisers ? The 
 very errors of Washington are sacred in the eyes of his coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 At length, however, the private journals and occurrences 
 of that cabinet became matter of history: and Mr. Jeffer- 
 son's vindication claims reference to no other exhibit than the 
 annals of the country. Let him have the benefit of facts 
 stripped of whatever might obscure facts ; and we rest the 
 decision of posterity upon his conduct there, where, as to 
 him, no partiality can be suspected. 
 
 By reference to the only history of the times that has yet 
 been attempted, it will be distinctly seen, that in the com- 
 mencement of the government under the present Constitution, 
 doctrines were advocated which are now altogether ex- 
 ploded. Executive and judicial powers, granted to the gov- 
 ernment in its aggregate capacity, were claimed and exercis- 
 ed by some of the departments as direct grants to themselves ; 
 or as necessary incidents to their creation without the aid of 
 legislative enactment. The error arose from an imperfect 
 view of the distribution of powers under the Constitution ; so 
 imperfect that the executive will be there found exercising 
 powers purely judicial ; the judiciary assuming jurisdiction to 
 punish acts, which no law of Congress had declared a crime ; 
 and the cabinet adopting rules to regulate the conduct of for- 
 eigners within our limits, and then calling upon the governors 
 of states to use the military arm, in giving to those regula- 
 tions the force of laws. 
 
 Yet in all this there was nothing wanting but Constitutional 
 power, to justify the acts of the administration. The conduct 
 of the cabinet was dictated by a paternal and enlightened re- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 311 
 
 gard to the public good, and the abstract policy of their meas- 
 ures, is now mostly sanctioned by being engrafted into the 
 laws of Congress. Still, however, the precedent was danger- 
 ous in the extreme : it made the judicial and executive depart- 
 ments independent of the legislative, where the Constitution 
 did not sanction that independence, and left few limits to their 
 power besides their own moderation or discretion in assum- 
 ing it. On this ground it was opposed ; and in the discus- 
 sion arising out of that opposition, commenced the alterca- 
 tions which distracted the cabinet. To Mr. Jefferson's well 
 known opinions on this subject we appeal for the doctrines 
 which he espoused. 
 
 Incidentally it happened, that the conflicting opinions in the 
 cabinet favored the French or British interests, and from this 
 small beginning sprang those reciprocal imputations of French 
 or British feelings, which, I trust, we are all now equally 
 ready to retract. 
 
 That Mr. Jefferson had his prejudices against Great Bri- 
 tain, is not to be denied ; that he had his predilections for 
 France, I believe equally true. Man without his partialities 
 is but an unsocial animal ; and must be more or less than hu- 
 man, if he loves not where he has been caressed, or dislikes 
 not where he has been injured. 
 
 Distrust of Great Britain had been nurtured in him from 
 his childhood ; it "grew with his growth, and strengthened 
 with his strength ;" it was associated with every feehngthat 
 bound him to his country ; and let any one read the simple 
 tale, to be found authenticated by his own signature, of the 
 disgraceful injuries inflicted on him individually by a British 
 commander, a British nobleman, and he will not wonder if a 
 secret antipathy should lurk for life beneath his better feel- 
 ings. And as for France ; who that had partaken for six 
 years of its blandishments ; that regarded it as the land of La 
 Fayette ; as the friend that had aided when there was none to 
 help ; but would excuse a predilection so natural, so amiable. 
 It is not in the extinguishment of such feelings that greatness 
 
312 EULOGIES ON 
 
 consists ; where is the proof that such feehngs were ever 
 permitted to influence his official conduct ? 
 
 At this time it was that the country hecame distracted by 
 intrigues and cabals of Britain and France ; and it is among 
 the most conspicuous instances of the good fortune of Mr. 
 Jefferson, that his correspondence with their ministers has 
 furnished the most triumphant proof of a dignified impartiality 
 sustained by the most eminent ability. Yet history has re- 
 corded, " that a partiality to France was conspicuous through 
 the whole of that correspondence." 
 
 Partiality ! Is this the appropriate name of that glow of sa- 
 cred gratitude which then pervaded every bosom towards the 
 nation that had aided us in grappling with the leviathan ? 
 Who would have dared at that time to disavow a partiality to 
 France ? 
 
 If any, I forbear to them. 
 
 But it was no mere partiality to P"" ranee which had enlisted 
 the feelings of the American people in the cause of France. 
 It was a higher and a nobler sentiment ; it was that which ev- 
 ery American glories to avow when contemplating the tri- 
 umphs of our sisters of South America ; or when listening to 
 the struggles of the suffering, perishing Greek. It was a sa- 
 cred sympathy with an awakened nation breaking its chains 
 and asserting the common cause of oppressed man. It is 
 true, it was driven to madness, but by whom ? Let those who 
 combined to make a common cause of kings against people, 
 of hierarchies and despotism against the liberties of mankind, 
 bear the odium of the folly and misery of that period. 
 
 The imputation cannot be sustained, that Mr. Jefferson was 
 ever carried beyond a temperate partiality into that excess 
 which would have dictated measures inconsistent with the 
 interests of our beloved country. Nor is it less unfounded 
 that he ever unreasonably withheld "' the right hand of fel- 
 lowship" from the rival of France. 
 
 How was it possible, at the time of which I now speak, to 
 behold in that rival less than an insidious friend, if not an 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 313 
 
 open foe ? Our western country embroiled by intrigues ; 
 our western posts withheld with an obvious view to pounce 
 upon the country they commanded; our flag insulted; our 
 seamen torn from us ; and our commerce prostrated by the 
 most insidious blow ever aimed by one nation at the vitals of 
 another ; these all combined to excite a feeling ; but it was a 
 feeling altogether American. 
 
 Our late war has taught that rival to respect us ; and her 
 subsequent advances have been cordially reciprocated both 
 nationally and individually. An American may now receive 
 a Briton to his bosom, without a feeling of jealousy, or a sense 
 of degredation. 
 
 In 1793, the altercations in the cabinet, and, as Mr. Jef- 
 ferson thought, the concerted opposition of the treasury and 
 war departments against his influence in the administration, 
 drove him from that cabinet. But that he left it in the ut- 
 most harmony with the venerated chief magistrate of the 
 country, admits of positive demonstration. 
 
 To a letter of Washington's, full of the kindest expressions 
 of personal gratitude and oflicial confidence, Mr. JetTerson's 
 answer breathes nothing but the most perfect reciprocation. 
 " As often," says he, " as I may recall the vexations I have 
 endured, your approbation will be a great and precious con- 
 solation. It was not without a struggle that I yielded to the 
 very urgent motives which impelled me to relinquish a sta- 
 tion in which I could hope to be in any degree instrumental 
 in promoting the success of any administration under your 
 direction ; a struggle which would have been far greater had 
 I supposed that the prospect of future usefulness was propor- 
 tioned to the sacrifices to be made. 
 
 '' Whatever may be my destination hereafter, I entreat you 
 to be persuaded, (not the less for my having been sparing in 
 professions) that I shall never cease to render a just tribute to 
 those eminent and excellent qualities which have been alrea- 
 dy productive of so many blessings to your country — that 
 you will always have my fervent wishes for your public and 
 
314 EULOGIES ON 
 
 personal felicity, and that it will be my pride to cultivate a 
 continuance of that esteem, regard, and friendship, of which 
 you do me the honour to assure me." 
 
 And never my fellow-citizens, did he swerve in thought, 
 word, or action, from the pledge contained in that letter. 
 
 The time that transpired between the years '93 and '97. 
 was the noon-tide of Mr. Jefferson's life. It was spent amidst 
 all the delights that elegant retirement, cultivated taste, a 
 tranquil mind, a clear conscience, an affectionate family, and 
 intellectual society, could concentrate. 
 
 Upon the retirement of General Washington from the 
 Presidency, the choice of the people fell upon the two vene- 
 rated men whose exit has been so singularly combined. To- 
 gether they rose to the highest offices in the gift of their 
 country, and together we will hope, have arisen to " higher 
 habitations, eternal in the heavens." 
 
 The office of Vice-President is one of the highest dignity ; 
 tut not calculated for the display of conspicuous talents. Its 
 leading duties are those of Moderator of a deliberative as- 
 sembly. To discharge these with judgment, firmness, con- 
 sistency, and impartiality, is, however, no simple duty in times 
 of party excitement. But it was not enough for Mr. Jeffer- 
 son to study and fulfil these duties for himself alone ; with his 
 habitual attention to the good of others, the results of his in- 
 vestigations and experience were embodied in that little vol- 
 ume, which now gives the law to deliberative assemblies 
 through the union. 
 
 While, however, the philosopher was calmly prosecuting, 
 in his chamber, the most appropriate service that his leisure 
 could be devoted to ; the continent rang from north to south, 
 with the most virulent and savage abuse of him, that it was 
 possible for the vilest of passions to heap upon their victim : 
 and it must be acknowledged that his partizans were not far 
 behind his opponents in recrimination. 
 
 The canvass for the election of 1801, was warm and an- 
 imated ; conducted with much ability, and we regret w« 
 cannot add, with much liberality and candor,^ 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 31 5 
 
 It eventuated in the elevation of Mr. Jefferson to the 
 Presidency. In that decision South CaroHna acted a con- 
 spicuous part ; she gave the deciding vote. And never 
 surely was a vote given under circumstances of greater self- 
 denial. 
 
 Amons: the rivals of Mr. Jefferson, was the most venerated 
 of her sons ; one, in whose talents, integrity and wisdom, was 
 reposed such high trust, that party considerations were aban- 
 doned to give place to it. Of the two votes then required to 
 be indiscriminately given,the one was sacred to Jefferson ; the 
 other was tendered to the venerable Pinckney. Had he ac- 
 cepted it, he had been President. But it pleased Him who di- 
 rects counsels to his own wise purposes, that it should be 
 otherwise; and on the 4th of March, 1801, Thomas Jefferson 
 entered on the Presidency. 
 
 With him commenced a new era in the administration of 
 the government. 
 
 I come not here, my fellow-citizens, to contrast the merits 
 of parties or of measures. It is no time, when convened 
 around the grave of our departed friend ; to give place to hu- 
 man pride and party triumph. Mutual charity to each oth* 
 er's intentions, a cordial forgiveness of injuries, gratitude to 
 Him who sent us able rulers, and who has so signally blessed 
 their efforts to serve us ; these and these alone are the appro- 
 priate sentiments on this occasion. What eulogy can compare 
 wiht that feeling which has here brought together all parties, 
 all ages, all denominations, in one signal expression of grati- 
 tude. What eulogy so great as that sentiment which brings us 
 together as one people, animated by one soul, no longer dis- 
 tracted by party animosities, irritated by injurious suspicions, 
 not glancing at each other the angry eye of jealousy and dis- 
 trust, but uniting as one loving family, in the obsequies of a 
 venerated parent ! As the grave closes over the remains of 
 our departed benefactor, so let memory close over the past, 
 or let it be recalled only to guard us against its recurrence ! 
 
31G EULOGIES ON 
 
 There is every reason to believe that our jealousies have 
 arisen from mutual misunderstandings. Confident I am, that 
 the party-tenets avowed by Mr. Jefferson are so simple, so 
 unexceptionable, that they need but be explained to command 
 the approbation of every candid mind. 
 
 May not one among the humblest, though not least confi- 
 dential of his correspondents, be permitted to deliver them re- 
 cently authenticated under his own signature ? 
 
 Monticello, June 1G,'23. — " Our object was" (says he) " to 
 maintain the will of the majority of the convention, and of the 
 people themselves ; we believed with them, that man was a 
 rational animal, endowed by nature with rights, and with an 
 innate sense of justice, and that he could be restrained from 
 wrong, and protected in right, by moderate powers confined 
 to persons of his own choice, and held to their duties by de- 
 pendence on his own will. We believed, that the complicat- 
 ed organization of kings, nobles, and priests was not the 
 wisest nor best to effect the happiness of associated man ; 
 that wisdom and virtue were not hereditary ; that the trap- 
 pings of such a machinery, consumed by their expense, those 
 earnings of industry they were meant to prot ect; and by the 
 inequalities they produced exposed liberty to sufferance. — 
 We believed that men enjoying in ease and security the full 
 fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on 
 the side of law and order, habituated to think for themselves 
 and to follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily 
 and safely governed, than with minds nourished in error, and 
 vitiated and abused, as in Europe, by ignorance, indigence, 
 and oppression. The cherishment of the people then was 
 our principle. 
 
 '* Composed as we were of the landed and labouring inter- 
 ests of the country, we could not be less anxious for a govern- 
 ment of law and order than were the inhabitants of the cities, 
 and whether our efforts to save the principles and form of 
 our Constitution have not been salutary, let the present repub- 
 lican freedom, order, and prosperity of our country determine. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 317 
 
 History may distort truth, and will distort it for a time, by 
 the superior eiforts at justification of those who are con- 
 scious of needing it most. Nor will the opening scenes of 
 our present government be seen in their true aspect, until 
 the letters of the day, now held in private hoards, shall be 
 broken up and laid open to public view. What a treasure 
 will be found in Gen. Washington's cabinet in the hands of 
 as candid a friend to truth as he was himself !" &c. 
 
 As to the doctrines and views of Mr. Jef?erson's political 
 opponents, let us hope he altogether misunderstood them. — 
 Certain I am, that of those whom I have known, few, very 
 few would have hesitated to abandon their leaders had they 
 suspected them of the views which have been confidently at- 
 tributed to them. I mean not to vindicate the opinions of 
 Mr. Jefferson on this subject, or examine the evidence upon 
 which those opinions were adopted. But 1 will say that 
 however erroneous those views may be, he was sincere in en- 
 tertaining them : and that, entertaining them, it was impossi- 
 ble he could have done otherwise than sound the alarm — than 
 awaken the attention of the nation to the subject — than cry out 
 to us, " Watch, and what 1 say unto you, 1 say untoall, Watcl)." 
 
 The time of feverish apprehension is, we hope, gone by. — 
 The establishment of certain great principles in the construc- 
 tion of the constitution, and in the administration of the general 
 government has banished apprehension. But to the remotest 
 ages of our existence, the spirit of Jefferson will sound the 
 cry from +he watchtower — " Beware ;" And woe to those 
 days when a salutary watchfulness shall give place to a 
 supine confidence or indolent inattention : a manly acquies- 
 cence in the exercise of constitutional powers ; indulgence 
 to the errors, and confidence in the motives of an administra- 
 tion, are entirely consistent with a guarded examination of 
 their views and measures. 
 
 We claim it as the just attribute of Mr. Jefferson's admin- 
 istration, that he practically illustrated those maxims o( gov- 
 ernment which he inculcated on his adherents. What in- 
 41 
 
318 EULOGIES ON 
 
 stance can be adduced of his favoring the application of 
 either of those two great engines of public patronage — the ex- 
 penditure of public monc_y, or the multiplication of public 
 appointments ? His administration was literailj the reign of 
 frugality. Nor yet of parsimou}' : for when some great na- 
 tional object presented itself, no oite was more ready to draw 
 upon the public purse. It was not the expenditure of money 
 that he dreaded ; it was the expenditure of money where it 
 could corrupt, by creating that bane of morals and indepen- 
 dence, a money influence. 
 
 Witness the purchase of Louisiana ; the greatest political 
 event next to our revolution that our histor_y will ever com- 
 memorate ; a bloodless conquest of a country exceeduig in 
 extent the greatest monarchy in Europe. Posterity will do 
 justice to thi? mighty acquisition ; but the mind at the present 
 day is lost in its very vastiiess. Tliere is no country like the 
 vailey of the Mississippi on the face of the globe. — Follow the 
 mighty ampitheatre of rocks that nature has heaped around 
 it. Trace the ten thousand rivers that unite their waters in 
 the might) Mississippi ; count the happy millions that already 
 crowd and animate their banks — loading their channels with 
 a mighty produce. Then see the whole, bound by the hand 
 of nature in chains which God alone can sever, to a perpetual 
 union at one little coniiCcting point ; and by that point fast- 
 ening itself by every tie of interest, consanguinity, and feel- 
 ing, to the remotest promontory on our Atlantic coast. A few 
 short years have done all this ; and yet ages are now before 
 us : ages in which myriads are destined to multiply throughr 
 out its widespread territory, extending the greatness and the 
 happiness of our country from sea to sea. 
 
 What would we have been without the acquisition of Louis- 
 iana? What were we before it ? God and nature fixed the 
 unalterable decree, that the nation which held New-Orleans 
 should govern the whole of that vast region. France, S])ain, 
 and Great-Britain, had bent their envious eyes upon it. And 
 their intrigues, if matured, would eventually have torn from us 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 319 
 
 that vast Paradise which reposes upon the western waters. 
 Mark the watchfulness, the foresight, the decision, the pa* 
 ternal care of our lamented benefactor. With unsleeping 
 anxiety he maintains the peace of our country, and turns the 
 wars and follies of others to our unspeakable benefit. Nor to 
 ours alone. 
 
 Other conquests bring with them misery and oppression to 
 the luckless inhabitant. This brought emancipation, civil 
 and religious freedom, laws, wealth, and the glories of the 8th 
 of January. 
 
 But time will not permit us to dwell upon this fertile sub- 
 ject; nor can I indulge myself with exhibiting how the coun- 
 try thus acquired, and thus crowned with blessings, was res- 
 cued from conspiracy. Nor how its remotest recesses were 
 explored ; the bounds of human knowledge extended ; new 
 objects for national enterprise presented ; commercial and ag- 
 ricultural activity animated ; and a port given to the world 
 which is destined to whiten with the sails of a mighty com- 
 merce. 
 
 I must hasten onward. 
 
 To say that Thomas Jefferson committed faults, is but to 
 say that Thomas Jefferson was human. But whence 
 comes it that those faults never deprived him of your confi- 
 dence ? 
 
 You well knew that the polar star of his conduct was his 
 country's good ; and although he might have committed er- 
 rors, you manfully sustained him because his motives were 
 pure, and the general views of his policy consistent with the 
 true interests of his country. A more striking example of re- 
 publican virtue than that patient resignation, and magnani- 
 mous self-denial, with v;'hich you have at times submitted to 
 every privation, rather than impugn his counsels, has never 
 been exhibited on earth. Though the distressing operation 
 of those measures upon yourselves were certain and " tangi- 
 ble to the sense," while their benefits were remote, specula- 
 tive, and problematical -, your confidence in his purity, and 
 
320 fcULOGIES ON 
 
 your firmness in sustaining his pacific policy, bore you through 
 the heaviest trials. Thousands who never doubted that the 
 experiment would fail, suppressed their opinions and cheered 
 others by their examples, still hoping that their own anticipa- 
 tions might prove grouiidless. 
 
 Why did Thomas Jeilerson detest war, and fear the too 
 rapid increase of a navy ? 
 
 In war, he saw demoralization, vicissitude, expense, de- 
 ran/ement of finances, loss of valuable lives, diversion from 
 the arts of peace, and above all, the certain increase of ex- 
 ecutive influence and possible involvement in European pol- 
 itics. 
 
 In a navy, the spectre that haunted him was impressments, 
 a consequence scarcely to be avoided in its progress. To 
 which, among other considerations may be added, the inequal- 
 ity of the public burthen to the prejudice ofthe South and W est. 
 Where would the money be expended ? One portion of the 
 union would derive from it wealth, employment, and greatness, 
 in return for their contributions, while another would pay most 
 and receive no pecuniary remuneration. There may have 
 been something of a southern feeling lurking beneath this last 
 consideration; but it has the sanction of the most rigid jus- 
 tice ; and this equality of distribution constituted a favorite 
 principle in his administration ; one which he struggled in 
 vain to maintain. 
 
 But at last, my fellow-citizens, what credit to those who 
 ditfered from him on a subject on which now all concur. Was 
 not our navy the aitificer of its own fortunes ? Did not our 
 seamen fight themselves into popularity ? And who understood 
 the policy, the cheapness, the necessity of a navy, until illu- 
 minated by a ray, shot from one of our own sons ? 
 
 Look through the whole range of the political career of our 
 departed friend, and there is not an error which had not its 
 origin in a tremulous anxiety for the safety of that posterity 
 over whose interests he ever watched with paternal solici- 
 tude. Public opinion has indeed settled down into a convic- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 321 
 
 tion that he committed errors, and yet must not time and ex- 
 perience decide the question? Who knows whether our con- 
 clusions may not be the result of less profound views of the 
 tendency of measures ? National virtue, national freedom, 
 true national greatness, the happy issue of a mighty exi-eri- 
 inent in the government of the world — these were the purposes 
 that absorbed his attention. But may not our views be too 
 much limited to national wealth and national display ? Have 
 we thought well of the consequences that we may draw upon 
 posterity ? What if avarice, and seltishness, and national 
 vanity should supplant the love of country ? What if those 
 noxious weeds should be cherished and watered into a growth 
 that shall choke those simple and manly virtues without which 
 man cares not by whom he is governed ? What profiteth it a 
 nation if it gain the whole world and lose its own liberty ? Our 
 warriors of the revolution were not dandled in the lap of 
 pleasure, nor pampered with foreign luxuries. They sought not 
 for subsistence amidst the shoals and quicksands of moneyed 
 institutions, nor fought for those trappings which too often 
 deck a nation's greatness, only to conceal the misery and cor- 
 ruption that are accumulated in its room. 
 
 It was among the heaviest of the allegations against Mr. 
 Jefferson, that he was the enemy of commerce. JNever, my 
 fellow-citizens, was a greater calumny uttered. It is among 
 the greatest misfortunes of the world, that profound men are 
 often misunderstood and mistrusted. We cannot keep pace 
 with their conception, and are reluctant to acknowledge that 
 superiority which humbles us. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson thought with hundreds of wise men before 
 him, that commerce was the means, not the end of society. 
 That civil and religious freedom, intellectual and moral im- 
 provement, security while tilling the earth, and protection 
 while pursuing our fortunes just as our will and our talents di- 
 rect us, were the great purposes of the social compact. That 
 commerce ought to be cherished ; but cherished as the hand- 
 maid of agriculture and the arts, He knew tli|jt avarice was 
 
322 EULOGIES OiV 
 
 the besetting sin of a republican government. That the very 
 security with which property was possessed, not less than the 
 influence which it confers ; operating with some of the lead- 
 ing propensities of our nature, fostered a devotion to its ac- 
 quisition which he would have directed to more exalted ob- 
 jects. He dreaded the noxious and baneful influence of a 
 passion for gain — in its progress degrading to national charac- 
 ter ; dangerous to the tranquillity of the world ; fatal to every 
 ennobling sentiment ; destructive to every social feeling ; and 
 when become the ruling principle of a government, converting 
 man into a ferocious animal. He dreaded the possible 
 growth of that most degrading of all aristocracies, which, hav- 
 ing its basis in the distribution of pecuniary favors, like the 
 wand of Circe, converts men into swine: that power before 
 which the stately port of the freemen shrinks into the cringe 
 and smile of the knave or more degraded sycophant. He 
 dreaded giving new impetus to that spirit of speculation, fraud 
 and management, which had its origin in the pecuniary em- 
 barrassments of one war, and has in our time been carried to a 
 most alarming and demoralizing perfection in the progress or 
 upon the incidents of another. He dreaded the extinction of 
 a spirit of liberal and enlightened commerce in the intrigues 
 and artifice of the remorseless spectator. 
 
 Are we prepared to say that his apprehensions will never 
 be realized ? 
 
 Had he not foreseen the difficulty of preserving in its purity 
 that honorable calling which connects the remotest nations 
 of the earth into one society, difTuses to all the enjoyments of 
 each, illustrates the triumphs of mind over the powers of the 
 mighty deep, and sheds the lights of science and religion into 
 the remotest corners of the world in which man has sought for 
 subsistence or concealed himself from oppression — Com- 
 merce had ranked among the most cherished objects of Mr. 
 Jefferson's solicitude. 
 
 But what want we with assertions on this subject, when his 
 own report o# cooimerce is among the annals of the coun- 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 323 
 
 try ? It is a subject on which his friends have much to 
 boast. 
 
 Look at the recent and conspicuous changes which the most 
 commercial country on earth is now engrafting into her com- 
 mercial policy ; then look at the Secretary's report of '93, 
 and say if it was not he, who having first acted so conspicu- 
 ous a part in breaking the shackles of civil and religious bon- 
 dage ; if it was not he, around whose grave we now meet to 
 pour the voice of gratitude and praise ; who struck the fetters 
 from the cramped limbs of commerce. Yes, he it was who 
 aimed the first blow at that warfare of restrictions and dis- 
 criminations on which the selfishness, the ignorance, the av- 
 arice, and the quackery of governments and ministers have 
 been so long exhausting their powers ; and which, by forcing* 
 upon individual man every petty artifice of idemnity and eva- 
 sion, has done so much to corrupt and degrade the commer- 
 cial world. 
 
 I come not here, my fellow-citizens, to deal out to you a 
 tissue of vague and general eulogy. Declamation belongs not 
 to my subject nor my habits, and would carry with it but a 
 poor compliment to such an audience as 1 address. Nor doe? 
 a formal and ordinary recurrence to proof comport with the 
 nature of my undertaking. But on this subject I must be in- 
 dulged with a reference to a document replete with interest ; 
 and communicate to you his sentiments in his own lan- 
 guage. 
 
 " Instead," says he, " of embarrassing commerce under 
 piles of regulating laws, duties and prohibitions, it is desir- 
 able that it should be relieved from its shackles in all parts 
 of the world. Would even a single nation begin with the 
 United States this system of free commerce, it would be ad- 
 visable to begin it with that nation. But should any nation, 
 contrary to the wishes of America, suppose it may better find 
 its advantage by continuing its systems of prohibitions, duties 
 and regulations, it would behove the United States to protect 
 their citizens, their commerce, and navigation by counter reg- 
 
324 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ulations, duties, and prohibitions." " Were the ocean, which is 
 the common property of all, open to the industry of all, so that 
 every person and every vessel should be free to take employ- 
 ment wherever it could be found, the United States would 
 certainly not set the example of appropriating to themselves 
 exclusively, any portion of the common stock of occupation. 
 But if particular nations grasp at undue shares, and more es- 
 pecially, if they seize on the means of the United States to 
 convert them into aliment for their own strength, and with- 
 draw them from the support of those to whom they belong, 
 defensive and protecting measures become necessary." 
 
 Here we have an epitome of his whole commercial system. 
 " Let us give to commerce the charter of the winds ;" but if 
 tiations will not meet us in our liberal views ; if they will still 
 embairass us, and in common with us the whole commercial 
 world, with their inveterate follies ; we must meet them in 
 legislation ; if they violate our security, we must meet them 
 in battle. 
 
 And we have met them, my fellow-citizens, both in legisla- 
 tion and in battle ; and it has pleased the God of battles and 
 the Dispenser of Justice, to prosper us in both. 
 
 After serving the full period to which public opinion and 
 the example of the father of his country have limited the ser- 
 vice of a President, it is a circumstance among the most 
 striking of the felicitous progress of Mr. Jeflerson, that he re- 
 tired from office with undiminished popularity. To the lot 
 of very few indeed of his successors, can this good fortune 
 ever be expected to fall ; and fortunate indeed must he be 
 deemed, who could retain his popularity amidst the multiplied 
 trials to which the fidelity of Mr. Jefferson's friends were 
 subjected. 
 
 I will not say that it was his signal good fortune to have 
 triumphed over opposition ; his triumph was of a much more • 
 exalted nature ; he triumphed over opinion, and lived to see 
 his fellow-citizens amalgamate into a mass, truly national ; re- 
 alizing th^ benevolent sentiment of his inaugural address. " all 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 325 
 
 federalists, all republicans." Nay, more ; he lived to tri- 
 umph over calumny and envy. That tongue which seldom 
 ceases to disturb the pillow of the great man's rest, until he 
 slumber no more upon earth ; that dart whose point is ever 
 raised against the great man's bosom, until he ceases to cast 
 into the shade the hand that lifts it. had long since sought some 
 other object ere the summons came to him to depart. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, it is with no ordinary regret that I feel 
 constrained to hurry over the latter da} s of Mr. Jetierson. 
 They indeed exhibit him " like the sun in his evening decli- 
 nation, remitting his splendor, but retaining his greatness, ad 
 pleasing more, although he dazzled less." It is in retirement 
 that true greatness waits to be exhibited. In the world, nirin 
 may rise superior to others ; here he rises superior to himself. 
 The noble Grecian who had led the armies of his country in 
 many a successful battle, shrunk not from the eye of the min- 
 ister of the proudest monarch on earth, when detected in the 
 most humble sports. 
 
 Did time now permit us to visit the hospitable mansion, I 
 would beg leave first to conduct you to the generous hall of 
 the Philosoper of Monticello, crowded by visiters who paid 
 homage to his virtues ; thence to that library, whose shelves 
 once groaned beneath the congregated learning of every age 
 and language, now, alas! stripped by his necessities : thence 
 to the lengthened vista and shaded grotto, sacred to contem- 
 plation and to social converse ; thence to the laboratory, 
 where wholesome exercise was elegantly combmed with prac- 
 tical- ingenuity: thence to the scenes of agricultural and sci- 
 entific experiment, where curiosity and science were made 
 the ministering handmaids to the good of mankind : thence to 
 the last great work of a great and good man ever intent on 
 the services of his fellow men — the rising edifices of the great- 
 est literary institution ever projected in America. It is not a 
 Leuctra, or a Muntinea ; for we surround not the grave of 
 one whose trophies were " garments rolled in blood." Yet it 
 
 was the daughter of his old age ; its promotion was the gi'eat 
 
 42 
 
326 EULOGIES ON 
 
 care of his life ; and its success, among the last lingering wish- 
 es that connected him with the world. 
 
 But from this and all other objects, I would hasten to lead 
 you to a scene possessing an interest exceeding all these. I 
 would conduct you to the nursery ; there to behold the ven- 
 erable grandsire ; him who has filled so conspicuous a place in 
 the history of the age ; to whom the most dignified and hon- 
 orable employments have been familiar ; and whom every 
 intellectual enjoyment has courted through life ; him, relin- 
 quishing all, to become the delighted tutor of a blooming ofT- 
 spring. 
 
 Here, my fellow-citizens, I would leave you ; this is your 
 legacy, bequeathed to you on his death-bed. 
 
 But you had not waited for this solemn bequest of an ex- 
 piring parent ; the decree had already gone forth, which per- 
 petuated to the Athenians the honorable record, " that this 
 city had given so many proofs of her benevolence and 
 humanity, that she was deservedly admired by all the 
 world." 
 
 The descendants of the virtuous Aristides were main- 
 tained and endowed at the expense of a grateful country. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I have not on this solemn occasion, made 
 one effort to excite your feelings, or once called on you to 
 mourn. This is not one of those incidents on which griei or 
 lamentation is appropriate, or even permitted. Death is a 
 debt incurred by all at our birth ; aiid he has lived to little 
 purpose who, when loaded with years and honors, and carrying 
 with him the blessings of posterity and a grateful country, can- 
 not say with our departed friend, " I have done my duty on 
 earth; 1 fear not to meet my maker." And we his survivors 
 have lived to little purpose, if when convened around his 
 grave, with pious resignation to the will of Him, " in whose 
 hand our times are," the predominant feeling of the moment 
 is not, a grateful sense of that mercy which has spared to us 
 so long his example, his counsels and his services. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 327 
 
 There is indeed one subject of regret which claims no com- 
 mon sympathy. Who but must mourn over the recollection 
 that his declining years were embittered by the most painful 
 sacrifices ; tortured by the most distressing anticipations ; em- 
 barrassed by the most humiliating cares ; and clouded by the 
 most afflicting prospects. 
 
 We follow a pauper to the tomb. Jefferson a pauper! 
 Gracious Heaven, to what is our country destined ! Must 
 eminence, and services, and distinguished station, entail pov- 
 erty on all who boasted your favor and enjoyed your confi- 
 dence ? Who then will aspire to serve you ? Who ? but the 
 incompetent or unworthy. 
 
 There are incidents to distinguished stations, my fellow- 
 citizens, which if not unavoidable, few can escape ; and those 
 few are rather censured than applauded. When the earliest 
 and most distinguished of our foreign benefactors lately vis- 
 ited our shores, and rumor brought it to our ears, that fortune 
 had dealt unkindly by him, who but felt himself ennobled by 
 the ready liberality by which dignity and comfort were restor- 
 ed to his declining years 1 And who but must regret that we 
 have been prevented from extending an equal liberality to 
 another of our earliest and greatest benefactors ? 1 would 
 envy the prompt benevolence of a sister state, that emotion 
 of gratitude that swelled his aged heart, that tear of thankful- 
 ness that filled his closing eye, when her ready hand came to 
 drive away from his death-bed, the vultures that hovered over 
 it. 
 
 But why, I hear you ask, why were his necessities conceal- 
 ed from us ? Why was it not earlier communicated, that the 
 sources of hospitality were dried up ; that embarrassment and 
 penury were pressing hard on his declining years? And why 
 at last resort to means so unprecedented to obtain relief? My 
 friends, let due allowance be made for ten thousand delicate 
 circumstances that crowded around his situation. To beg in 
 the genteelest form, is revolting to a delicate mind. On whom 
 should he cast himself? The public? But how could he, wh.o 
 
328 EULOGIES ON, &C. 
 
 al! iiis life, had been the declared enemy of pensions, of "ine- 
 cutes. aud gratuities, consent to the inconsistency ? Consent 
 to furnish a precedent uncongenial with the spirit of our gov- 
 ernment ? a precedent threatening intrigue, patronage and 
 corruption ? 
 
 Should be cast himself on ind ividual munificence? A com^ 
 moa nicDdicant ? It w as impossible. The only medium which 
 presented itselfwas that which he adopted — a voluntary sac- 
 rifice of property and grandeur at the shrine of justice, in the 
 on'y way in which that sacrifice could be made to answer the 
 cnd« ofjustice. 
 
 What now are mausoleums and statues to him whose whole 
 life was simplicity personified ? whose monument is history, 
 whose name and form are upon the hearts of his countrymen. 
 What had been his reply, 'lad distinctions to his memory been 
 propounded to him, as the alternative for satisfying his credit- 
 ors, or consoling his family? " Let my bones whiten on the 
 sands of Lybia," he had said ; " but let no one suffer for hav- 
 ing confided in me. Give my remains to the fowls of the air ; 
 but give relief and protection to my desolate offspring." 
 
 My friends, the closing incidents of this great man's life, 
 were necessary to give a finish to his character. His time, 
 his talents, his wealth, he had already lavished wherever hos- 
 pitality, benevolence, public spirit, or duty demanded. Mis- 
 placed confidence, unavoidable expenses, and the vicissitudes 
 of the markets and the seasons, had exhausted his resources. 
 The clamours of creditors arose. What then remained to 
 him ? His feeUngs — his home — his tomb ! These too were 
 abandoned. W^hat now remains ? His fame — his family. 
 These — these, my fellow-citizens, henceforward, are ours. 
 
PRONOUNCED AT ALEXANDRIA, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. ' 
 
 August 10, 1826, If^ i i 
 
 BY WILLIAM F. THORNTON. V| 
 
 The funeral knell that waked us from our dreams — the 
 slow and gloomy march that brought us to this fane — and 
 those solemn sounds of prayer and anthem, still lingering in 
 our ears — tell us, my fellow-citizens, that a melancholy oc- 
 currence — great and calamitous — has called us together. An 
 occurrence, more interesting in its character, and more uni- 
 versal in its impression upon the public feeling, than any that 
 has attracted our attention, since the beloved Washington 
 was removed from the scenes of his earthly glory. 
 
 When a renowned statesman, a worthy patriot, or a gallant 
 soldier, sinks into the silent tomb, we give vent to our wont- 
 ed flow of patriotism, and exclaim in the fullness of our 
 hearts — " A great man has fallen in Israel !" But if such be 
 the strain of panegyric on ordinary occasions, — when the de- 
 parted worthy leaves many an equal, and many a superior 
 behind him, — where shall I find language to discharge that 
 sacred duty, which your kindness and misplaced confidence 
 have imposed upon me. 
 
 No ordinary men were they whom now we mourn. In all 
 the vicissitudes of life, and in their peaceful communion with 
 death they were truly great. Great in the intuitive powers 
 of mind and great in knowledge and wisdom. In virtue, in 
 patriotism, in philanthropy, and in every quality that exalts 
 and adorns our nature, they were great in a pre-eminent de- 
 gree. But, alas ! where are they now ? Gone to " that 
 
330 EULOGIES ON 
 
 undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller re- 
 turns." Yes, my fellow-citizens, it has pleased the Alnnighty 
 disposer of events, to summon into his august presence, those 
 illustrious and venerated fathers of the Republic — JEFFER- 
 SON and ADAMS. And impelled by an all-pervading grat- 
 itude for tliejr services, we have assembled to pay the last 
 sad tribute of affectionate regard to their memories ; to offer 
 up the homage of the heart to superior excellence ; and to 
 mingle our fervent orisons to heaven, with feeble and un- 
 worthy eulogies of the lamented dead. 
 
 Surely, 1 may say — the beauty of our Israel is gone ! — 
 "how are the mighty fallen !" But they have fallen, full of 
 years and full of honors ; and the blessings of emancipated 
 millions have followed their spirits to those regions where 
 life is v\ithout end, and where sorrow never enters. We 
 mourn their fall as becomes a bereaved and grateful children, 
 and yet, we find a balm in the reflection, that they had risen 
 to the most elevated height in the love and veneration of man- 
 kind, and that the felicitous termination of their mortal ca- 
 reer triumphantly paralyzed the sting of Death, and denied 
 to the Grave, its accustomed victory. Thanks to that om- 
 nipotent Being, who speaks us into life, and returns us to the 
 dust at his pleasure, they have been called from time to 
 eternity in a manner every way suited to their transcendent 
 merits. Nor is their glorious exit more profitable to their 
 own imperishable fame, than it is auspicious to the interests, 
 and gratifying to the feelings of those who inherit the rich 
 fruits of their virtuous devotion to liberty. 
 
 From the earliest periods of political association, — whether 
 we derive our information from authentic history, from tradi- 
 tion or from legends, — it has been the usage of nations to 
 consecrate some day to their existence as an independent 
 community, or to their deliverance from the rude grasp of re- 
 lentless oppression. Some distinguished incident, in their 
 political careers, has been selected by all, and conspicuously 
 honored, that it might be contemplated as the cause of their 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 331 
 
 elevation, while they were yet in prosperity ; and that, when 
 overtaken by adversity, they might recur to the subject of 
 their veneration with a melancholy pleasure, and derive from 
 it a stimulus to noble sentiments, and daring enterprise. — 
 Rome had her national festivals — Greece her Olympic 
 Games — and ancient Jerusalem burned hallowed incense on 
 her altars — commemorative of her deliverance from slavery, 
 and from sacrilegious pollution. So universal, indeed, has 
 been the salutary practice, and so important has it been con- 
 sidered in its influence upon the governmental concerns of 
 men, that those whose legends and history atlbrd no striking 
 occurrence entitled to commemoration, have invariably re- 
 sorted to fiction to supply the deficiency. That, however, is 
 not the condition of the States which compose this favored 
 Empire. They have been spared the necessity of that re- 
 sort, — as well while they were Colonies of the parent country, 
 as since their glorious elevation to the rank of a free and pow- 
 erful nation. The blood of our heroes, and the wisdom of 
 our statesmen, have imprinted on the fairest page of history, 
 many an incident which ourselves delight to dwell upon ; and 
 which our children, and our children's children, will proudly 
 own as the work of their fathers. 
 
 Among these incidents, my fellow citizens, is 07ie, so grand 
 in its design, so bold in its execution and so momentous in its 
 consequences, that it soars above all the deeds of men — and 
 to after generations, will be a pillar of cloud by day, and a 
 pillar of (ire by night, to guide and cheer them on their march 
 to greatness. That bright and glorious incident, — need I 
 tell you, my friends, — is the unanimous declaration, by a 
 band of patriots, that all men were born free and equal : — and 
 that these once persecuted colonies are, and of right ought to 
 be, free and independent States. 
 
 This important act was no idle parade to intimidate an 
 enemy or to draw upon its authors the empty applause of the 
 world. — No — It was the offspring of lofty souls, determined to 
 be free or to die in the holy struggle. They knew that no 
 
332 EULOGIES ON 
 
 compromise could secure them from the vengeance of an am- 
 bitious, and remorseless parent — They were aware of the toil, 
 the blood and the treasure, it would cost themselves, and per- 
 haps their children. And with a firm reliance on a. protect- 
 ing providence they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and 
 their sacred honor to support the high ground they had ta- 
 ken. 
 
 That they received the divine aid which they implored — 
 and that they never swerved from their magnanimous pur- 
 pose — the present moral and political supremacy of our coun- 
 try sufficiently attest. 
 
 Who is not proud of such a Declaration emanated from the 
 land of his birth. — O ! it is an immortal Instrument ; worthy 
 its immortal author, and worthy him, who was acknowledged 
 to be the Pillar of its support. To tyrants, it is the hand 
 upon the wall. — It is the manifesto of a nation's wrongs, in- 
 flicted by a cruel King — the charter of a nation's rights sealed 
 with the approbation of a just GOD. 
 
 Well may the day, that boasts an act so wise and chival- 
 rous, claim to be the fairest and the noblest in the calendar, — 
 for it is the birth-day of hberty in the land of her choice ; — a 
 land that has nourished her in peace and in war ; and extended 
 her fame and power, to every part of the world, where the 
 rays of her glory have not been refracted by the impenetra- 
 ble darkness that is the atmosphere of ignorance. 
 
 Such, my fellow-citizens, is the day which has been wisely 
 selected as our National Festival ; and fifty years of calms 
 and storms have seen us constant in our free devotion. 
 
 When the day of Jubilee had come, and millions of free- 
 men were assembled around the altars of Liberty to celebrate 
 the triumph of the rights of man over the impious pretensions 
 of kings and of patriotism over reckless ambition ; when 
 hundreds of eloquent tongues, and the deafening peals of can- 
 non, where proclaiming the precious truth that American?, are 
 competent to wield a government — emanating from the peo- 
 ple, and based upon their will ; when the pious Christian was 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 333 
 
 returning thanks for the privilege of worshipping in his own 
 way, and propagating his peculiar tenets, without persecu- 
 tion, and without tithes ; and when every bosom swelled with 
 gratitude to the virtuous patriots whose wisdom and energy 
 had produced such signal benefits — how foreign from our 
 minds, in the midst of these rejoicings, was the thought, that 
 we should soon be called upon to mourn at once, the fall of 
 two of our greatest benefactors — the author and the support- 
 er of the Declaration of Independence. Little did we think 
 indeed, whilst around the festive board, on that joyful day, — 
 offering the strongest testimonials of regard, of reverence, and 
 of love to these venerated sages, — that they had bid us a long 
 and last farewell, and were, at that moment, winging their 
 way to a world of spirits! Wonderful, mysterious, awful co- 
 incidence ! In vain do we look to the annals of humanity for 
 another to compare with it. — It is a theme that will fill the 
 world. It is a great and sublime picture for ourselves and 
 our children to contemplate. — It may be regarded, in fact, 
 as the seal of divinity stamping alike with immortality, our 
 liberties and their departed authors. We still enjoy those 
 liberties my countrymen ; let us not forget the friends who 
 gave them. Let their names and their deeds descend from 
 generation to generation, until the commissioned Angel 
 •' shall put one foot on the earth, and the other foot on the" 
 sea, and lift up his hand and swear, that time shall be no lon- 
 ger." 
 
 To pretend to delineate, with any degree of accuracy, the 
 peculiar traits of character, or the inestimable services of 
 such men as Jefferson and Adams, would be as uninstructive to 
 you, as for me it would be difficult and presuming. The his- 
 tory of their actions, — replete with eviderxes of their motives 
 — has long been indelibly written on your hearts ; and has 
 exhibited, to the world, models of pure benevolence, and self- 
 created greatness — equalled only in " the father of I is coun- 
 try" — "above all Greek, above ail Roman praise." How vain, 
 
 ihen. would be the essay, to recapitulate their deeds, or enu- 
 
 .43 
 
334 EULOGIES ON 
 
 merate all the virtues which were concentrated in the 
 bosoms of these eminent men. How much more vain the at- 
 tempt, to place their characters in a more favorable light, than 
 that in which jou are wont to view them. 
 
 But if I cannot instruct you — or shed any additional lustre 
 on the attributes of men, whose everlasting fame needs not- 
 the aid of eulogy — still a comprehensive view of their lives 
 and qualities, may awaken many grateful recollections, and 
 perhaps, prove an incentive to imitate their virtues, if not to 
 emulate their public services. Influenced by these consid- 
 erations, — every celebrated nation of antiquity mourned over 
 the tombs of the patriots and heroes, who established or pre- 
 served the institutions of their country ; and we act a politic 
 — as well as filial part, in following their example. 
 
 Jefferson and Adams were patriots, in the most unlimited 
 and exalted sense of the word. From the first dawning of 
 manhood, to the very instant of their dissolution, they were 
 distinguished by every quality which characterises the great, 
 the wise and the good. Their history is the history of a na- 
 tion — presenting one continued chain of munificent and 
 noble acts. Like their immortal companions, — Washington, 
 Franklin, Samuel Adams, Henry, Hancock, Lee, and a host 
 of others — they lived for their country, not for themselves; 
 and every moment of their protracted existence on earth, was 
 zealously devoted to the welfare of their species. To vindi- 
 cate the rights of the oppressed, and to elevate man to the 
 high moral rank allotted him by his Creator, was the darling 
 ambition of their souls ; and gallantly pledging themselves 
 for its achievment, every faculty of their stupendous minds 
 was exerted with a zeal and constancy which no barrier 
 could successfully resist. Lucid and determined in their 
 views, — they descended to no narrow policy — no crafty 
 blandishments — no unhallowed means to advance their pop- 
 ularity, or to aggrandise (heir fame; — but risked their for- 
 tunes, their reputations, and their existence, to redeem a peo- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 336 
 
 pie from Colonial bondage ; and to uphold them in theiv 
 well-earned freedom. 
 
 So many and striking are the coincidences in tlieir lives, 
 and so eminently were they serviceable to their country, that 
 I shall find but little occasion to separate them. Their desti- 
 nies were one —so should be their eulogies. 
 
 They were educated at the most flourishing institutions in 
 their respective States, and each was honored with the highs- 
 est rewards that his Alma Mater could bestow. Equally en- 
 dowed with minds of the most unlimited capacity, and equal- 
 ly learned in every branch of knowledge that could render 
 them useful citizens, or agreeable companions, they rose, 
 while yet in the bloom of life, to the first order of scholars, 
 philosophers, and statesmen. Both directed their attention 
 to the science of Law — and both became, at an early period, 
 the brightest ornaments of their profession. Before they had 
 attained the age,at which the judgment is supposed to be ripe, 
 they were valuable and conspicuous members of their res- 
 pective Colonial Legislatures ; and by their spirited opposi- 
 tion to the oppressive measures of the mother country, provok- 
 ed the resentment of the Royal Governors, and the perse- 
 cution of the slavish minions of power. But neither threats, 
 temptations, nor flattery, could wean them from the cause 
 they had espoused. They persevered with undaunted spirit, 
 and gradually prepared the people for the awful conflict, 
 which a few penetrating minds had long foreseen must be the 
 result of the weak and wicked policy pursued by the mother 
 country. To use the words of Mr. Adams, " Britain had 
 been filled with folly, and America with wisdom." The 
 most skilful writers and orators had been pensioned by their 
 government, to bewilder the reason of Englishmen ; and to 
 induce the belief that taxation, without representation, was 
 no tyranny — that the mother country possessed an unlimited 
 control over the lives and fortunes of her colonial subjects — 
 and that all America was filled with a degenerate race of be- 
 ings. But while doctrines like these were gathering strength 
 
336 EULOGIES ON 
 
 on the other side of the Atlantic, the people of America were 
 daily becoming more and more enlightened. The wisdom 
 of JelTerson and Adams, and their able associates, was pen- 
 etrating the minds of their countrymen — arousing them from 
 the lethargy of habitual submission — teaching them the unali- 
 enable rights of man, and urging the imperious obligation of 
 claiming those rights at the expense of their blood. JeflTer- 
 son was an Epaminondas in the South, and Adams, a Pelopidas 
 in the North. If they gathered no laurels on the crimsoned 
 field of battle, still the similitude is good. They were the 
 master spirits of the moral regeneration — the impulse that 
 moved the colonies to resistance — the bands that bound the 
 feeble rods together — the bone and sinew of the nation's 
 strength. 
 
 When I speak thus of Adams and Jefferson, think not, my 
 fellow citizens, that I mean to detract from the glory, or the 
 ineffable services of your immortal Washington. No — I 
 Avould place another wreath on his brow, if I thought that a 
 LEAF of the one which he wears, could yield to the frosts of 
 a million of ages. The tongue that would dare to depress 
 him, no longer exists. His fame is beyond the reach of detrac- 
 tion. And in all time to come, faithful history will award him 
 his rank — " First in war, first in peace — first in the hearts of 
 his countrymen." 
 
 But Jefferson and Adams live next in our affections, and 
 have claims upon our gratitude, as strong as those of their il- 
 lustrious compatriot. 
 
 When the clouds, which had long been gathering over the 
 heads of our fathers, were fully concentrated — and, at last, 
 condensed into torrents cS oppression, cruelty and death — 
 Jefferson and Adams were called to the Congress of the Unit- 
 ed Colonies — and, with a confidence and Roman firmness, 
 that inspired all around them, led the way to the momentous 
 events which shook the political world to its centre, and car- 
 ried consternation and ruin into the strongest holds of Icgiti- 
 macv. No art was left untried to awe fhem into submission. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 337 
 
 or buy them into the service of the crown. But fear was a 
 stranger to their hearts, and they were men without their 
 price. They saw through the gloom that surrounded them, 
 the brightness of the coming light ; and, regardless of danger, 
 hurled defiance in the teeth of the greatest power extant, 
 
 Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston form- 
 ed the ever memorable Committee which was instructed to 
 report a Declaration of Independence ; but to Jefferson and 
 Adams alone — as a Sub-Committee — was resigned the glori- 
 ous task. The out stood unrivalled in the strength and beau- 
 ty of composition ; — the other, in that wonderful talent, 
 which persuades or convinces at will. Hence, to the pen of 
 a Jefferson is the world indebted for that master-piece of hu- 
 man skill — and to the resistless eloquence of an Adams 
 for its (inal adoption by the most august assembly that ever 
 met on the earth. 
 
 Nor were these purest of patriots jealous of each other's 
 honors. 
 
 Mr. Adams often declared, that none — but the one who did 
 — could have produced that immortal paper : — and Mr. Jef- 
 ferson — when consulted about an ornamental engraving of the 
 precious document — replied — " No man better merited, than 
 John Adams, a most conspicuous place in the design. He was 
 \he pillar of its support on the floor of Congress : its ablest 
 advocate and defender against the multifarious assaults it en- 
 countered." 
 
 It is needless, fellow-citizens, to dwell minutely upon their 
 various services in " those times that tried men's souls." 
 Suffice it to say, that they ever inviolable kept the faith which 
 they phghted. They turned not aside from the path of their 
 duty — but, wending their way with renewed perseverance, 
 laid a solid foundation for the liberties of the world. 
 
 There is a sublimity in the contemplation of such moral 
 bravery and sterling integrity, which no language can de- 
 scribe. Few there are who would not have yielded under 
 such peculiar circumstances. They were above the frowns 
 
338 EULOGIES ON 
 
 of pecuniary fortune — high in the estimation of their fellow- 
 citizens — and could have enjoyed any post or profit of honor, 
 in the gift of their king. As selfish individuals — their course 
 would have been rash and ridiculous, for they had every thing 
 to lose and nothing to gain — but they were Patriots and Phi- 
 lantkropisis, — who considered honor, wealth, ease, and pow- 
 er, as mere fleeting bubbles, when compared with the vast 
 importance of arresting the lawless march of despotism. Con- 
 sequently they fearlessly put on the armour of patriotism, and 
 during the long and gloomy contest that desolated their coun- 
 try, and spared not age or sex — never was the thought of sub- 
 mission for a moment entertained. A just Providence led 
 them to victory — and a grateful people rewarded their fideli- 
 ty. They enjoyed the confidence of Washington, to the day 
 of his death — filled the most exalted stations that could be 
 given to man — lived as long as their lives could be useful — 
 and died when their deaths could add lustre to their memo- 
 ries, and strength to the cause they had lived for. It is true, 
 that there were days, when conflicting interests and opposite 
 opinions, poured upon them the virulence of party anathemas, 
 and the aspersions of disappointed ambition ; — but they lived 
 to see the beams of patriotism dispelling the mists of envy and 
 prejudice — and to hear their bitterest enemies speak of their 
 names with reverence. / was never the enemy of either — 
 but, before I had judged for myself, I was led to admire the 
 one — and question the heart of the other. I have examined 
 them since, with attention and calmness ; and I speak of them 
 now, in all the sincerity that belongs to my nature. 
 
 As the champions of opposite parties, they will ever, per- 
 haps, be the subjects of opposite censure. Yet, whatever 
 opinions we may entertain of the results of their political 
 measures, as tending to the best interests of their country — 
 it is impossible to withhold from such men, that high respect 
 which is due to their unwearied application of superior pow- 
 ers of thought — and that gratitude which we owe them, for 
 the exercise of those powers, in the accomplishment of our 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 339 
 
 Independence and national happiness. As public benefac- 
 tors, none have been more bountiful, none more disinterested. 
 Let us equal, if we can, their love and magnanimity — Let 
 their merits be traced on adamant — their errors on the sands 
 of the lonely beach. 
 
 But it was not on the theatre of politics alone, that they 
 acted so well their parts. The reputation which tliey ac- 
 quired in the discharge of their public duties, was amply sus- 
 tained by the great respectability of their private lives. Their 
 moral characters were unimpeachable. Guided in their in- 
 tercourse with the social world, by the same correct judg- 
 ment and love of justice, which characterised their writings, 
 and governed their official actions, they were eminently dis- 
 tinguished through life, by the prudence, the purity, and the 
 dignified propriety of their conduct. A love of business and 
 useful employment, was one of their ruling passions, in every 
 condition of life. It raised them to eminence, in literature, 
 science, and politics ; and enabled them to leave to the world 
 extensive chronicles of those eventful times, which established 
 a new era in the relations of man. They knew not — they 
 asked not, to rest from their labors. Every minute of the 
 morning, and the meridian of their glorious day, was appro- 
 priated to the calls of their country •, and the leisure, which 
 they enjoyed in the evening, was devoted to schemes of 
 social improvement in their respective neighborhoods, and to 
 great public undertakings for the cultivation of the rising gen- 
 ius of their land. This love of employment, tempered v/ith 
 discretion, and united to eminent talents, and inflexible integ- 
 rity — while it secured, to the last, their own relish of life — 
 was remarkably calculated to endear them to their friends, 
 and to render them enviable members of any society to which 
 they belonged. Accordingly, there have been no men more 
 universally respected by those who knew them intimately ; 
 more sincerely esteemed in the circle of their acquaintance, 
 or more tenderly beloved by those who enjoyed the blessings 
 of their private and domestic connection. If you would know 
 
340 EULOGIES ON 
 
 their standing as neighbors, go to the vicinities of Monticello 
 and Quincy — go ask of the tears that still moisten their graves. 
 As husbands, their affection and love were proverbial. As 
 fathers, let that child of sorrow, who was willed to her coun- 
 tr)^ speak in behalf of an idolized parent — and let /«m who 
 iills the high station of a Nation's Chief Magistrate, tell what 
 the watchful tenderness of a sire may do for his son. 
 
 Thus far, I have felt itmy duty to review them together : — 
 For a while, 1 must speak of them separately. 
 
 Mr. JetTerson was a man, designed by nature to fill a bright 
 and instructive page in the world's history. — And, not by ti- 
 tles, by fortune, or by birth-right power — but by means, alone, 
 of his own solid worth, he has gloriously fulfilled his desti- 
 
 With ever}^ thing that is noble, beautiful, grand, or sublime, 
 in the character and institutions of his country — his name is 
 inseparably associated. As soon as the laws of the land would 
 permit his native Colony to avail herself of his light, he rose 
 resplendently from obscurity — and thence, until he calmly 
 sunk below the horizon of his temporal career, he shined a 
 star of the first magnitude — never eclipsed — seldom cloud- 
 ed. 
 
 In every station to which he was called, he distinguished 
 himself for zeal, integrity, unwavering firmness — and more 
 than requisite aptitude. The first signs of Liberty in the 
 South, and the Bill of Rights, and the Statute-Book of his 
 State : — the Journals of local and general legislation ; — the 
 most delicate and difficult International Negociations ; — the 
 Constitution of his country ; — the Rules and Regulations of 
 parliamentary procedure; — the great measures of Economy 
 and Pacification, which enabled us ofterwards to triumph in 
 the second war of Independence; — the annals of Philosophy, 
 Science, and the Arts ; and that imperishable Declaration, 
 which lives the nucleus of universal freedom — all — all, bear, 
 in distinct characters, the impress of his wonderful mind. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 341 
 
 I will not fatigue you with a recital of details, already fa- 
 miliar to you ; but a glance at the causes of his distinction 
 may not be amiss. 
 
 He was endowed with an extraordinary power of intense 
 reflection — a spirit of profound and patient investigation — 
 an acuteness in the discovery of truth, and a perspicuity in its 
 developement, of which the world has witnessed but few ex- 
 amples. Possessing a mind well balanced in itself, by the 
 nice proportion and adjustment of its faculties, he never in- 
 clined to those eccentricities, either of opinion or of action, 
 which is too often the lot of exalted genius. Free from all 
 tincture of envy, hatred, or malice — he delighted in the pros- 
 perity of his companions, and in the fame, even of those, who, 
 by the world, were considered his rivals. 
 
 Tiie history of man, of nations, and of nature — natural phi- 
 losophy — mathematics — and above all, experience — the great 
 fountain of wisdom, were the sources from which he drew his 
 mighty knowledge. Nothing that was worth knowing, was 
 indifferent to him. No wealth, no political advancement, no 
 ambition of fame, had the least charm for him, when compared 
 with his desire to elevate the character and happiness of his 
 country, and to discover and develope the immutable princi- 
 ples of truth — applying those principles to every relation of 
 man, and encouraging all around him to disenthral themselves 
 from doctrines not based upon reason, and to exercise their 
 own powers of reflection ; for despotism, whether philosoph- 
 ical, political, or religious, was odious in his sight. 
 
 Sensible of the estimation in which he was held by his coun- 
 trymen, he dwelt on the thought of his successful career, with 
 a satisfaction which he did not affect to conceal. He spoke, 
 with exultation, of his agency in prohibiting the further im- 
 portation of slaves ; in abolishing entails, and the principle of 
 primogeniture ; and in the successful attack upon the estab- 
 lishment of a dominant religion. But, of all the services 
 which he had rendered his country or State, he seemed to 
 dwell upon none with more enthusiastic delight, than upon 
 44 
 
342 EULOGIES ON 
 
 those connected with the University of Virginia. '• I claim," 
 he said, " some share in the merit of this great work of regen- 
 eration. My whole labors, for many years, have been devot- 
 ed to it, and I stand pledged to follow it up through the rem- 
 nant of life remaining to me." And faithfully he did. He 
 not only founded and directed the progress of the institution, 
 but he assumed, with promptness, the arduous duties of the 
 Rector; and the stability of his habits, the universality of his 
 acquirements, the gentleness of his manners, the benignity of 
 his disposition, and that warm interest in the happiness of 
 others, which led him so constantly to promote it — were qual- 
 ities which eminently fitted him for the station. 
 
 I have often listened with rapture to the narratives of those 
 who have seen the Philosopher in the midst of his youthful 
 friends. In this society, he appeared entirely to forget that he 
 had once wielded the destinies of the freest, the happiest, and, 
 in every other respect than physical power, the greatest na- 
 tion on earth. He entered into cheerful conversation, with 
 such as could overcome the diffidence — produced by their 
 awful veneration for his character and years — and, like anoth- 
 er Socrates, let none depart without some new acquisition to 
 his treasure of knowledge — and some new impression of the 
 vast importance of imitating his bright example. His mind 
 was wholly absorbed in this favorite employment. No fa- 
 tigue was too great for him, and no financial impediment could 
 damp his ardor. By patience and perseverance, ingenuity 
 and argument — he gradually obtained the means necessary to 
 the accomplishment of his work ; and with all the care, re- 
 search and reflection, that he would have bestowed upon the 
 Constitution of an Empire — he drew up a Code of Laws for 
 its Government, and secured for it a successful operation, and 
 a profound respect. 
 
 How abundantly gratifying to philanthropy is the contem- 
 plation of a well regulated mind, enlarged by knowledge, 
 kindled by genius, and lighted up with virtue — directing its 
 powerful energies to the good of man through the intellectual 
 
ADAMS AND .TEFFP.RSONh 343 
 
 improvement of the rising generation. No man better knew 
 than Mr. Jefferson the incalculable advantages of education. 
 He had scrutinized its influence in the developement and di- 
 rection of our moral and intellectual faculties, and was aware 
 that it was the principal source of his own usefulness. It is 
 education, indeed, which teaches man to respect the voice of 
 reason, and follow her as the guide of his conduct — reminds 
 him of the necessities of subordination to government laws, 
 and expands his seltish feelings into virtuous patriotism — 
 unites him with friends, and the great family of mankmd, and 
 swells his bosom with the purest benevolence. It exalts his 
 thoughts to another world, and gives constancy to his virtues 
 amidst the trials of life, and a serenity to his mind amidst its 
 evils. It is, in a word, the mainspring of power and pre-em- 
 inence — the bulwark of our happiness — the palladium of our 
 liberties. It was the opinion of Madam De Stael — as ex- 
 pressed to our distinguished fellow-citizen, Henry Clay, that 
 "a people who have received the benefits of the lights of ed- 
 ucation, never can be conquered — though assailed b^ the unit- 
 ed powers of the earth ; for the mind, when enriched and 
 expanded — spurns the prowess of the despot, and looking 
 forward with elevated eye, beholds its own greatness, and 
 laughs at the puny assaults of the ignorant invader." " A 
 nation, uneducated," said this accomplished woman — " never 
 can be free" — and never was a remark more substantially 
 true : for whithersoever we turn our eyes we behold its veri- 
 fication. No wonder, then, that such a man as Jefferson 
 should have given the remnant of his life to the establishment 
 of a University — and that in his last hour, he should have 
 breathed the warmest aspirations for its prosperity. 
 
 So lived, my fellow-citizens, the Sage of Monticello. — 
 And when the glorious day, on which he wished to die, arriv- 
 ed — he exclaimed — " 1 have done for mankind all that I 
 could : I now resign my soul, v ithout fear, to my God — and 
 my daughter to my country." — And the angel of death bore 
 him away to the mansions of eternal bliss. 
 
344 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Let us return, for a moment, to his immortal compan- 
 ion. 
 
 Among the illustrious men, who achieved the Independence 
 of our country, Mr. Adams was perhaps, the first, that — look- 
 ing down the long vista of years, contemplated the future con- 
 sequence of America, and predicted her political separation 
 from the old world. Twenty-one years before our glorious 
 era — and a year before he attained the age of manhood, he 
 foretold that the seat of empire would soon be transferred to 
 his native land. " If we can remove the turbulent Gallicks" 
 — he said, " our people will in another century, become more 
 numerous than England itself — And since we have all the na- 
 val stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to get the 
 mastery of the seas — and then the united force of all Europe 
 will not be able to subdue us." How prophetic were the 
 words of that BOY ! Three fourths of the century have not 
 yet elapsed, and the turbulent Gallicks have been subdued — 
 a collossal empire, extending from ocean to ocean, and as free 
 as its eagles, has burst upon the astonished vision of Kings, 
 and carried dismay to their hearts ; twelve millions of free- 
 men enjoy the fruits of their own labor — Cities have risen in 
 the midst of the forest — the late haunt of the savage, is the 
 seat of the sciences, and the Star Spangled Banner floats in 
 triumph and glory where a foe rears his Mg\s, or a sea rolls its 
 waves. And can you forget, my fellow-citizens, that John 
 Adams foresaw these blessings, and devoted his life to secure 
 them ? Never — Never — Teach your children to cherish and 
 revere his memory. Tell them, that in those fearful days, 
 when the affairs of America were desperate, and Adams was 
 solicited by an influential friend to abandon her cause — that 
 the j>atriot indignantly declared, " he would first see the peo- 
 ple, grovelling in the dust, and his own hands bound, and his 
 body tied to the stake, before he would swerve from his duty, 
 or abandon the principles which he had avowed, and which 
 he had pledged his sacred honor to maintain." Tell them 
 that he was true to his principles, and redeemed his pledge 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 345 
 
 to the admiration of the world, and to the eternal honor of his 
 country. Tell them that he was the bosom friend of Wash- 
 ington — and received from that best of men the most unequiv- 
 ocal manifestations of his confidence and esteem. 
 
 Though Mr. Adams' course, as a President, was disap- 
 proved by a majority of his fellow-citizens ; — and, though 
 mortification attended him to his retirement — still he contin- 
 ued the friend of his country ; — and when clouds and difficul- 
 ties again overshadowed her — he was the warmest advocate of 
 her endangered rights, and of every measure that was calcu- 
 lated to sustain them. Resentment was soon expelled from 
 his bosom — His country required the aid of his pen — and he 
 wielded it with such irresistible energy, that even those who 
 had arrayed themselves against his administration, acknowl- 
 edged his services, and the disinterestedness of his mo- 
 tives. 
 
 But whatever becomes of his fame, as a ruler — there can 
 be no dispute on the subject of his general character — nor of 
 his penetrating mind — his glowing patriotism — and his devo- 
 tion to what he believed to be the interests of his country. 
 His merits, after every deduction which party spirit, in its 
 most inflamed moments could ask — leave him in possession 
 of one of the highest niches in the temple of Fame — and en- 
 title him to be ranked, next to Washington and Jeiferson — 
 as the most important benefactor of the liberties of man, and 
 one of the most elhcient instruments in the attainment of our 
 enviable rank in the family of nations. He was always an 
 untiring laborer in the cause of philanthropy and virtue — was 
 distinguished for the fervent piety and mora! excellence of his 
 own life ; and while his numerous political opponents, were 
 unable to attach the slightest stain to his reputation, his ac- 
 quaintances and friends have highly extolled his private worth. 
 He was truly a good man ; he lived for his country — and when 
 the measure of his days was full — he heard the trumpet sound 
 the Jubilee of Freedom — and died with " Independence for- 
 ever." quivering on his lips. 
 
31(5 EULOGIES ON, &C. 
 
 To such men as these, my fellow-citizens, we owe not the 
 mere passing emotion of gratitude, which, like the swell of the 
 mountain stream, is gone when the rain has abated — but, rath- 
 er like the mighty current, that sweeps from the father of 
 rivers to the Canadian shores, our admiration of their deeds, 
 and our veneration of their virtues, should be the constant 
 theme of applause, and the pervading principle of our Nation- 
 al Character. They should be handed down to posterity as 
 models of human perfection. They may have had their 
 faults — and who has not ? — But if they had them — thank God 
 — I am ignorant — nor would 1 name them, did I know them. 
 Their services and their foibles — for they must have been 
 few and venial — perhaps unavoidable — and should be re- 
 membered far less, than the hills and the valleys when we 
 apeak of the globe — or the spots on the sun when we think of 
 his splendor. 
 
jB'BrEd@@'^B 
 
 PRONOUNCED AT PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 August 24, 182G. ,, - i| 
 
 BY WILLIAM WILKINS. 
 
 WE are assembled to perform a solemn and affecting 
 office. Death has entered into the midst of the great family 
 of the nation, and has struck down its venerable heads. We 
 come together now, in this sacred chamber, to commune over 
 our deprivation, and to draw from the irreparable loss the sad, 
 but salutary reflection, to which it should give rise. 
 
 Yes, my fellow-citizens, you have reason to mourn ; and 
 surely, it is demanded neither by Religion, nor by Philosophy, 
 that we should suppress the feelings which now swell our 
 hearts and tremble on our lips. 
 
 It has indeed been said, with truth, that the performance of a 
 virtuous action carries with it its own reward. But does it be- 
 come those who have been most disinterestedly benefitted to 
 recite this frigid aphorism in answer to the claims of their ben- 
 efactors ? Doubtless, the patriots of our revolution, in their 
 arduous and dangerous labours in the slow and gradual 
 achievement of the glorious work, anticipating the blessings 
 which would fall upon this country, enjoyed, in their feelings, 
 reflections, all the reward of self-approbation, btill there is 
 much — there is every thing, due, from us. The good offices 
 of these men made us what we are, and raised our country to 
 a height of unrivalled political eminence. All that we can 
 now give them is our gratitude and veneration. And by the 
 evidence we afford of these will our attachment to the great 
 objects for which they contended be discerned. If enfran- 
 
348 EULOGIES ON 
 
 chisement be dear to us, so should the men who obtained it, 
 be dear to us — If the principles of '74, '5, and '6, be prized by 
 us, so ought we to cherish the names of those who brought 
 them into hght, and so admirably manifested them to the 
 world. 
 
 Can you, the descendants of such ancestors, remember the 
 years '75, '6, and '7, and yet not Aveep over the recently bro- 
 ken graves of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson ? They 
 were the foremost in that small and insulated congress, who 
 finding an effort made to prostrate their countrymen in the 
 dust of vassalage, did, in the midst of gloom and discourage- 
 ment, risk, imminently, yet boldly risk, their lives, their for- 
 tunes and their honour, until they raised and elevated them to 
 the manly posture of American Freemen. And now you 
 succeed to the rich inheritance ; to the incalculable patrimo- 
 ny of rights, of free institutions and of civil and religious liber- 
 ty ; an estate rich beyond any power of numbers to count, 
 and, in value not to be computed in gold or in sil ver. 
 
 In commemoration of the merits, the public and private 
 virtues and the services of these men, no panegyric can be 
 deemed too lofty. To present indeed in a just light their ac- 
 knowledged claims upon the publicgratitude ; to eulogise their 
 constant patriotism, their heroic proceedings, magnanimous 
 actions, brilliant traits of moral courage, and elevated powers 
 of mind, would require an orator gifted like one of themselves. 
 How rash, then, would such an effort be on the part of him who 
 now addresses you. He knows too well the measure of his own 
 powers to attempt it. He would shrink, indeed, altogether from 
 the honorable task imposed on him, were it not for the consol- 
 atory reflection that the subject is one on which all your hearts 
 go along with him, and on which it would seem diliicult for 
 the humblest capacity to be wearisome. 
 
 Yes, my friends, to pronounce the best funeral oration upon 
 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, you have but to point to 
 that intense feeling of veneration which pervades the Union, 
 fills your cities, and penetrates the humblest and most remote 
 
ADAMS AND JEFf^ERSON. 349 
 
 hamlet of the republic — to the affliction of the people at their 
 earthly separation from two of their best and well tried 
 friends — to the profound respect of every philanthropist and 
 lover of the rights of man. 
 
 There is one course indeed which may be pursued by the 
 unpretending, and which I shall timorously adventure upon 
 with a view to present a correct delineation and a true eulogy 
 of their characters — I mean, by tracing by their unwearying 
 footsteps through the principal incidents of their eventful 
 lives. The prominent and elevated positions into which 
 they were thrown by the wants and perils of their country, 
 render those footsteps plainly marked and easy to be follow- 
 ed. I cannot speak for them, but their actions shall elo- 
 quently proclaim their merits. 
 
 Their deaths like their lives, were strangely assimilated, 
 and well may they together share in equal portions the grief 
 of a bereaved country. They died on the 4th of July, when 
 the voice of exulting millions, ascending to Heaven, pro- 
 claimed the result of their labours in the prosperous enjoy- 
 ment of liberty and peace ; that the very hour of our national 
 freedom might be the more sacred and revered. 
 
 In all the circumstances attending their dissolution, there is 
 much to console us. Almighty God, who had so highly en- 
 dowed them, and who had carried them through the multi- 
 plied perils of their wonderfully protracted lives, continuing 
 his gracious protection until the last moment, allowed them 
 to depart without a pang. Hope, celestial resignation, and 
 prayers for their country, accou panied their tranquil pas- 
 sage to immortality. They were permitted to reach an age, 
 with the full preservation of their eminent faculties, which 
 but rarely falls to the lot of man. We delight in the fact, 
 that they were graciously allowed, for so many years, to re- 
 main in the midst of their countrymen, witnessing the prac- 
 tical effects of that rational system of government which had 
 been put into operation under such fearful and heavy respon- 
 sibility. It would seem, as if Providence had kept them 
 
 45 
 
350 EULOGIES ON 
 
 among us for half a century as hostages for the truth and 
 sincerity of their early doctrines and declarations ! 
 
 But they are now gone. Wc are standing over their 
 graves — graves of our political parents. We are approachr 
 ing to take a last look of all that is earthly of them. Shall 
 one unhallowed thought, then mingle with the solemn and af- 
 fecting impulse of such a moment ? Shall we be found occu- 
 pied in coldly endeavoring to recall the little foibles of ei- 
 ther? Shall memory be taxed to call up some supposed act 
 of harshness or severity — some infirmity of temper — some 
 instance of rigorous discipline in our early years ? We can- 
 not be so unnatural ! Our swelling hearts have room for 
 nothing but the remembrance of their numberless virtues — of 
 the days and nights during which they anxiously watched over 
 our infancy — of the perils and privations which they cheer- 
 fully and fearlessly encountered; and of the unrivalled pros- 
 perity for which we are now indebted to them. 
 
 If, in those differences of opinion which honestly arise in 
 every country, and are incident to our nature, aught may have 
 been done by either of these great men to offend, forget it. — 
 Imitate their own example. Recollect the perfect harmony 
 which arose, and the delightful and affectionate recollections 
 which they cherished in retirement on a calm and deliberate 
 retrospect. They recurred to early days ; the one acknowl- 
 edging the transcendant talents and devotion to the common 
 cause of the accomplished draftsman of ihe Declaration of In- 
 dependence ; and the other the intrepid actions and elo- 
 quence of its ablest advocate upon the floor of congress. — 
 The intimacy and affection of June and July '76, seemed to 
 be revived, mellowed and enriched by the years that had pas- 
 sed ! In 1826 they were as affectionately allied, and as confi- 
 dential in their intercourse, as they had been in the chamber 
 ofthe sub-committee on the 11th of June, 1776. 
 
 It would be in the highest degree interesting, but, at this 
 moment, impracticable, to examine the origin, and trace the 
 progress of the American Colonies, through their subordinate 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 35 Jr 
 
 condition up to the time when they assumed Iheir station 
 amongst the nations of the earth. 1 must be content with re- 
 ferring to one or two leading incidents immediately prece- 
 ding that continental congress which brought into such useful 
 action and threw before the world, in such vivid colours, the 
 great men of whom we speak. 
 
 Our ancestors were always distinguished for a bold spirit 
 of thought and action, brought with them in their escape from 
 religious intolerance and regal persecution. And this spirit, 
 from an early period, was attended by the secret and anxious 
 hope of future union and eventful freedom. Notwithstan- 
 ding this spirit and this hope, they were uniformly and zeal- 
 ously devoted to England in the wars in which she became in- 
 volved. 
 
 The many and patriotic services of the colonies during the 
 French war of 1755, failed to soften the tempers of those for 
 whom they had fought, and produced no relaxation of the 
 spirit of domination. Instead of being followed by a single 
 liberal and magnanimous action, the Stamp Act was the boon 
 they received ; and this odious law, spreading universal fer- 
 ment and alarm, produced the first temporary congress ol 
 colonial delegates, recommended in the first instance by 
 Massachusetts, and which assembled at New- York on the first 
 Tuesday of October, 1765. After adopting some dignified, 
 but pacific measures, they dissolved, and a change in the Brit- 
 ish ministry of the following year, was succeeded by a repeal 
 of the Stamp Act. — This display of " grace and condescen- 
 sion," as it was termed, although accompanied with the as- 
 sertion of the power and right of Great Britain to bind the 
 colonies in all cases whatsoever, was received with much joy 
 in a great portion of the country. 
 
 This pacifying repeal Avas followed by eight years of ap- 
 parent repose, but really of feverish inquietude. At times 
 indeed all bitterness seemed to be forgotten, but the wounds 
 inflicted had been deep, and the notions of American rights 
 strongly impressed. During this period too, the early patri- 
 
362 . EULOGIES ON 
 
 ots, such as Henry and Lee, Randolph, Samuel Adams, Otis 
 and Jetierson and John Adams, lost no opportunity which 
 presented of pointing to those wounds, and of asserting those 
 rights boldly and distinctly. 
 
 The crisis rapidly approached — the Boston Port -bill and 
 the bill for the special government of Massachusetts Bay eject- 
 ed a general coalition and simultaneous measures in many of 
 the colon es tending to a general resistance. Early in the 
 spring of '74, for the purpose of union in action and delibera- 
 tion, an annual congress was recommended and acceded to 
 by all the colonies, except Georgia, which did not join the 
 ^^eneral association until in the month of July of the follow- 
 ing year. 
 
 On the 4th day of September, '74, the Delegates from 
 eleven provinces (those of North Carolina not arriving until 
 10 days afterwards) appeared in the City of Philadelphia, the 
 place selected by the committees of correspondence ; and on 
 the next day, assembled in Carpenter's Hall. 
 
 Under a short notice and with the materials within our 
 reach, it is difficult to ascertain and to enumerate in detail 
 all the various labors of these patriots during the tumultu- 
 ous years which immediately preceded the meeting of the 
 first congress. But it is well known that they were warmly 
 and actively engaged in making preparation for a systematic 
 and coalesced resistance. 
 
 These wise and penetrating men, with others dispersed 
 over the colonies, foiesaw that a great event was approaching, 
 and that to meet it with efl'ect and to insure a happy result, 
 the primary object was to produce a change of feeling and of 
 sentiment in the people — to dissolve their attachment to the 
 old order of things — to rouse them to unanimity and perse- 
 verance in the plan which might be adopted — in short, to ef- 
 fect a moral revolution in the colonial community. 
 
 The task was a difficult and perilous one, every way wor- 
 thy of such men. They had to sever bonds of the strongest 
 kind ; they had to overcome the timidity of the weak, the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 353 
 
 Scruples of the cautious, and the settled prejudices and at- 
 tachments of the people growing out of their education and 
 long established habits. They had to break down the pow- 
 er of families holding influential oftices scattered over the 
 country. They had to combat the pride of ancestry and the 
 impulses of blood and of aftinity ; and it was, at first regard- 
 ed by many as an act of filial impiety to think of separating 
 from what was affectionately called" the mother country." — 
 Notwithstanding these difficulties the work is undertaken. 
 The elder patriot labors in the north, the younger in the 
 south — the change is produced and the vital determination 
 made. 
 
 It is the august Congress of '74, and those annually succeed- 
 ing it, which introduce, and hold up to us, the characters 
 and services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson upon a 
 more enlarged canvass and in a light and colours more bold 
 and interesting. But, before we speak of them in their asso- 
 ciated career, let us go back and trace them individually to 
 the period at which we have now arrived. 
 
 John Adams, descended from ancestors whose devotion to 
 liberal priciples had thrown them among the first settlers 
 of Massachusetts, was born in that state on the 19th of Octo- 
 ber 1735. He was an assiduous student of Cambridge col- 
 lege, at which he graduated in his 20th year. Learned and 
 well instructed himself, like many distinguished American 
 statesmen his early years were occupied in the instruction of 
 others, and imparting to the youth of his neighborhood the 
 knowledge which he had acquired. It is probable that whilst 
 thus engaged, with that industry which always characterized 
 him, he also devoted himself to the study of the Law, for he 
 was admitted to the bar in 1 759. He continued the honorable 
 and successful practice of his profession, until his time and tal- 
 ents were given to the service of the oppressed colonies. 
 
 It is to be presumed, also, that no inconsiderable part of 
 this period of his life was devoted to that enlarged and pro- 
 found inquiry into the history and principles of government 
 
354 EULOGIES ON 
 
 by which his own opinions were unalterably fixed, and he was 
 prepared so ably to maintain and enforce them. Then, too, 
 were doubtless accumulated the materials of ihe celebrated 
 work subsequently published on the American constitutions. 
 Thus in the dead watches of the night, was he faithfully en- 
 gaged, whilst others slept, in arranging and burnishing his 
 weapons for the contest which he well knew the dawn would 
 bring with it. 
 
 In 1770 he represented the city of Boston in the legisla- 
 ture of Massachusetts ; and about this time his professional 
 eminence obtained him a tender of the office of chief justice 
 of the colony ; but it is not unlikely that his prophetic spirit 
 foreseeing the advance of great political events in which he 
 was decided to stand forth, determined him to decline as he 
 did, this compliment from his native state. 
 
 Advancing in the confidence of the people, in the year 
 1771 he was chosen by them a member of the Council 5 but. 
 at this time, the two great parties having become distinctly 
 marked, and his opinions being open as day. Governor Gage, 
 holding a negative upon the choice of the people, erased his 
 name, with twelve others, from the return. Thus was he early 
 marked by ministerial proscription, as the adversary of op- 
 pression and the friend of the aggrieved. 
 
 This imperious exercise of authority neither subdues him 
 nor lessens him in the estimation of his constituents. When 
 an annual congress was decided upon, he was selected to 
 represent Massachusetts in that body, and commissioned, " to 
 " deliberate and determine upon wise and proper measures 
 " to be by them recommended to all the colonies, for the re- 
 " covery and establishment of their just rights and liberties, 
 " civil and religious." 
 
 This delicate, and then most dangerous trust, brings Mr. 
 Adams, upon the first day of its session, immediately into 
 the view of the colonies as a member of the first annual Con- 
 gress. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 355 
 
 , We will return and follow Mr. Jefferson in bis early years 
 until he also becomes an illustrious member of the continen- 
 tal congress. 
 
 Chesterfield county in Virginia has the honour of being the 
 birth place of this renowned man. — Nearly eight years young- 
 er than his great associate, he was born on the 2d of April 
 1643, and, like him too, descended from ancestors of high rep- 
 utation who were among the earliest emigrants to that 
 state which justly claims their descendant as one of her 
 brightest sons. 
 
 At the college of William and Mary he displayed those 
 early talents which he employed at maturity with so much 
 success for the happiness of man, and bore a^vay the first hon- 
 ors of the Institution. He subsequently studied, and practi- 
 ced the law with signal success and with the most elevated 
 sense of honour. 
 
 As soon as his years would allow it, he was put in the com- 
 mission of the peace for his native county, and at this early 
 age he became a member of the state legislature, and soon 
 rendered himself conspicuous hy his participation in the ear- 
 ly and decisive measures of resistance of this colony. He con- 
 tinued, annually, to be constituted a member of the house of 
 delegates, and to exert in every way his wonderful and ver- 
 satile talents on the side of free principles. On the 27th of 
 March 1775, then approaching his 32d year, he received a 
 peculiar mark of distinction in being elected to congress as 
 the successor of Peyton Randolph, 
 
 Turn to almost any period in the biography of the two illus- 
 irious men whose recent loss we deplore and how strangely 
 do they assimilate ! — Jefferson, just past the age of manhood 
 is found in his native state, resisting the domination of Eng- 
 land and predicting the future freedom and greatness of his 
 country. And Adams, in his native state, just approaching 
 the year of manhood and upwards of twenty years before the 
 day of our Independence, appears as disclosed by a prophet- 
 ic letter of his, to open the book of the future destines of his 
 
356 EULOGIES ON 
 
 country, and to point to the very page in which it is written 
 that, " the great seat of empire will be transferred into 
 America" — that nothing can prevent us " from setting up for 
 ourselves" but " disunion" — that " in another century our 
 " people will become more numerous than England her- 
 " self" — " the mastery of the sea" shn 11 be ours, and "all 
 " Europe shall not subdue us." 
 
 In the first congress of '74, they were not colleagues ; but 
 although personally separated, there is still to be marked that 
 happy coincidence of conduct which accompanied them 
 through so many eventful years. 
 
 In this congress, whilst Mr. Adams, as a colonial delegate, 
 was joining in a " declaration of rights," in " the associa- 
 tion of non-importation, and for encouraging domestic man- 
 ufactures," in a petition to the King, in addresses to the peo- 
 ple of England, of Ireland, and the Colonies, and encourage- 
 ing and inviting union, Mr. Jefferson, in the Virginia assem- 
 bly, with equal energy and with the same great objects in 
 view, was found enforcing, in person and through the press, 
 " the rights of British America." And it is a well ascertained 
 fact, too, that they both at this early period, were among the 
 few determined spirits who meant never to stop short of the 
 point of Independence, whatever conciliatory expressions it 
 might be thought politic, at times to throw out. The con- 
 gress of '74, having continued its session for fifty-three days, 
 adjourned to the 10th of May '75. 
 
 Upon returning to his home after the close of this session; 
 and again mingling with his fellow-citizens, Mr. Adams re- 
 ceived a highly complimentary vote of thanks from his state. 
 and was re-elected to the next congress. 
 
 This congress of '75, not to be driven from its mighty pur- 
 pose, and undismayed by the unnatural and bloody com- 
 mencement of hostilities at Lexington on the 19th of the pre- 
 ceding month, punctual to their appointment, met in Phila- 
 delphia on the ] 0th May. Upon that day Mr. Adams took 
 his seat, and was joined by Mr. Jefferson on the 21st of the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 357 
 
 following month. And here, as they had before been united 
 in feelings and principles, they now become more closely 
 connected in personal intimacy and confidence. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson's fame for talents, literary acquirements and 
 love of country, had preceded him, and placed him at once 
 high in the confidence of his associates. He was immediately 
 added to the committee appointed to draw up a declaration 
 to be published by General Washington upon his arrival at 
 the Camp before Boston^and was also, with Mr. Adams, pla- 
 ced upon the committee to consider and report upon Lord 
 North's famous resolution of the 20th of February '75, claim- 
 ing the right in the ministry to appropriate all money raised 
 by the colonies. His powerful and eloquent reply to this 
 measure, acquired him new honour, and proved to those 
 around him, that he was admirably adapted to convince or to 
 confound the adversaries of his country, and to give the most 
 eiRcient aid in the formation of a new republic. 
 
 This venerable congress (with the exception of a recess 
 from the 1st of August to the 5th of September,) continued 
 its labours without intermission ; and whilst our two lamen- 
 ted patriots were in their seats and actively employed, and 
 when all the zeal and talents of the country were demanded by 
 the decisive and momentous questions then under delibera- 
 tion, they were re-elected again and again. The Journals 
 bear on every page the most honourable testimony to their 
 incessant activity, to the many and important duties which 
 their zeal, industry and talents cast upon them, both jointly 
 and separately. 
 
 One fact, occurring six days before Mr. JeflTerson took his 
 seat, and distinguishing the 15th day of June, '75, is worthy 
 of especial commemoration. At this time the sword had not 
 only been drawn, but the blood of our unoffending country- 
 men had been shed. A hostile army was on the land, and a 
 hostile fleet on our waters. War was inevitable — and that 
 war, it was seen, must be a war for independence. The 
 
 covmtry was determined, but its military means were known 
 4fi 
 
358 EULOGIES ON 
 
 to consist of mere groups of undisciplined recruits, drafted 
 men and volunteers ; of husbandmen who had hastily rushed 
 from their ploughs on hearing the alarm of murder at Lex- 
 ington. These patriotic bands were without a leader. — 
 Congress had resolved to appoint a Commander-in-Chief. 
 One deeply interested in the good cause, of nerve and mar' 
 tial prowess suited for the mighty crisis, was wanting — Who 
 shall be chosen ? It was an awful and momentous question. 
 — Every bosom throbs with the most intense anxiety — a sol- 
 emn suspense hangs over the hall of congress. At this mo- 
 ment, upon the 15th of June, '75, John Adams rises in his 
 place, his penetrating and prophetic eye glancing upon every 
 man of the nation, rests upon the first man of all nations : and 
 the deep and solemn suspense is broken by his nomination of 
 George Washington ! Hurried by his unaffected delicacy, 
 the object of this motion has scarcely time to escape from the 
 hall, until an unanimous ballot sanctions the happy nomina- 
 tion. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to pause, for a moment, after 
 naming this most exalted and beloved personage, in order to 
 ask what were the indications of character which led to his 
 selection. — Washington, at this time was a plain Virginia far- 
 mer. He had led no armies to victory — he had not passed 
 even his early years at any foreign school of military science. 
 Why, then, was attention turned on him ? For those quali- 
 ties which, when possessed in an extraordinary degree, may 
 be manifested in every sphere of life, and in almost every va- 
 riety of situation. He was cool and sedate, and brave and sa- 
 gacious. Yes, my friends, these qualities had been manifes- 
 ted — conspicuously manifested — almost within the range of 
 our vision from this spot ! 
 
 At the age of twenty-one, when youth is ordinarily prone 
 to luxurious and enervating excess, Washington, as if in anti- 
 cipation of what awaited him, had, by unremitted and strenu- 
 ous occupation — by a life of the most rigid temperance — pre- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 35 9 
 
 pared a body, which seems almost to have corresponded in 
 hardihood with the spirit which it contained. 
 
 Under the orders of Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, he 
 traversed the western country in the year 1 753, making his 
 way through every variety of toil and danger. Of this most 
 interesting Expedition we have a Journal kept by himself. He 
 reached the Allegheny River on the 22d Nov. 1 733, nearly 
 seventy-three years ago. Standing at the place now occupi- 
 ed by the Point brewery, he thus speaks of the spot on which 
 your City stands. " As 1 got down before the canoe, I spent 
 some time in viewing the rivers, and the land in the fork, 
 which I think extremely well suited for a fort, as it has the 
 absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point 
 is twenty or twenty-five feet above the common surface of 
 the water ; and a considerable bottom of flat, well timbered 
 land around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are 
 each a quarter of a mile, or more across, and run here very 
 nearly at right angles ; Allegheny, bearing north-east ; and 
 Monongahela, south-east. The former of these two is a very 
 rapid and swift running water, the other deep and still, with* 
 out any preceptible fall." 
 
 From this place he proceeded towards Lake Erie, to visit 
 the French posts. On his return, scenes occurred to which 
 we can hardly even now refer without painful and breathless 
 interest. Not very far from here, he and a single compan- 
 ion were way laid by a party of French Indians. From the 
 description, this must have been somewhere in what is now 
 the adjoining county of Butler. One Indian took his aim at 
 less than fifteen paces. What a crisis ! If that rifle shot had 
 taken effect in the woods of Butler county, we might now be 
 British Colonists ! But Heaven had otherwise ordained — the 
 rifle missed — the Indian was taken prisoner. " We kept 
 him," says the Journal, " until about nine o'clock at nighty 
 then let him go, and walked all the remaining part ol the night 
 without making any stop, that we might get the start, so far, 
 as to be out of the reach of their pursuit the next day, since 
 
360 EULOGIES ON 
 
 we were well assured they would follow our track as soon as 
 it was light. The next day we continued travelling until 
 quite dark, and got to the river about two miles above Shan- 
 napins. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it 
 was not, only about fifty yards from each shore : the ice 1 
 suppose had broken up above, for it was driving in vast 
 quantities. 
 
 " There was no way forgetting over but on a raft ; which 
 we set about, with but one poor hatchet, and finished just after 
 sun setting. This was a whole day's work : we next got it 
 launched, then went on board of it, and set off : but before 
 we were half way over, we were jammed in the ice, in such a 
 manner, that we expected every moment our raft to sink, and 
 ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to try to stop 
 the raft, that the ice might pass by ; when the rapidity of the 
 stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that 
 it jerked me out into ten feet water : but I fortunately saved 
 myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwith- 
 standing all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but 
 were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and 
 
 make to it." 
 
 This island was, probably, the first one below Pine-creek, 
 
 now know as Hare's Island. " The cold," continues the 
 
 Journal, " was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had all his 
 
 fingers, and some of his toes frozen, and the water was shut 
 
 up so hard, that we had no dilticulty in getting oil the island, 
 
 on the ice, in the morning, and went to Mr. Frazier's, at the 
 
 mouth of Turtle creek." 
 
 The patience, the prudence, the fortitude, displayed 
 throughout this expedition by Washington, enchained the 
 confidence of the Executive ; and on the memorable field of 
 Braddock, within nine miles of your city, he acted a part 
 which is too familiar to you to authorise rne to dwell upon it. 
 
 Do 1, indeud, appear, to you to have already turned aside 
 from the subject ? You must not think so. The facts to 
 which I have adverted, taken in connection with the subso- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 30 1 
 
 quent history of this great man, convey a lesson which cannot 
 be too often inculcated. They speak confidence and hope to 
 the humblest citizen of the republic. They tell us to what 
 description of men attention is turned at moments of peril and 
 emergency. Reliance is placed, not on the mere circum- 
 stance of an individual having worn, through life, the glitter- 
 ing insignia of the military profession. No ! You find that at 
 this awful moment there is called as it were from the woods, 
 a man whose rigid discipline of mind, and of body — whose 
 sound judgment and unyielding perseverance ; whose solidity 
 of character and steadfast moral principles give assurance that 
 he will not rashly assume the discharge of a duty ; but that 
 when he does so, every obstacle will be trampled on in his on- 
 ward course. Such was the man whom John Adams nom- 
 inated. History has put its seal on the wisdom of the 
 choice ! 
 
 It is interesting to observe, too, that upon the 17th of June 
 '75, the very day of the battle of Bunker's hill, the patriotic 
 member signalized by this nomination, was engaged in con- 
 gress in completing the commission of General Washington, 
 and joining in an unanimous resolution that they would 
 "maintain, and assist, and adhere to him, with their lives and 
 fortunes in the cause." 
 
 During the session of '75 and '6, a period of the most aw- 
 ful responsibility, and when the paroxism of public feeling 
 was at its height, and dangers immediate and terrifying glar- 
 ed upon them — Jefferson and Adams were unmoved and stcd- 
 fast in the discharge of their duties. The astonishing perse- 
 verance and industry of these men cannot be given to you in 
 detail, but the estimate may be formed of (he whole by a 
 brief recital of part. 
 
 During this time we find them on 70 committees. On the 
 10th May '76, the elder of these patriarchs was the chairman o 
 the Committee upon the motion recommending to the several 
 colonies to adopt such separate governments as the represen- 
 tatives of the people might think most conducive to their safe- 
 
362 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ty and happiness. And in his report, he takes the bold and 
 decided position, that "the oath of allegiance to the crown 
 " ought not to be taken, that all regal authority should cease, 
 " and the powers of government be exercised by the people 
 " themselves." 
 
 On the 23d May '76, he was on each of the committees of 
 conference with Generals Washington, Gates and Mifflin, up- 
 on the occupation of certain Forts in Canada, and to concert 
 the plan of military operations for the next campaign. And 
 w hen this committee of conference reported and recommend- 
 ed the adoption of energetic measures, it was " resolved that 
 an animated address be published to impress the minds of the 
 people with the necessity of now stepping forward to save 
 their country, their freedom and property." Mr. Jefferson 
 was made the chairman of the committee and drafted " the 
 animated address." 
 
 Mr. Adams was also upon the committee instructed to form 
 a plan of foreign treaties, and on the 13th June '76, he was 
 made chairman of the Board of War and Ordnance. 
 
 The months of June and July in this year were the most 
 eventful of any in your history ; the first, memorable for " the 
 resolve of Independence" and the other for the " Declaration" 
 of it, to the Nations of the Earth. 
 
 Actual hostilities, the union and impulse given to the public 
 feeling, the resolutions of the assemblies of the colonies, the 
 proceedings of Congress, at which I have barely glanced, 
 combined to indicate the rapid approach of the great effort — 
 the resolution to be free. It advanced with a pace steady and 
 erect, yet unattended by a single propitious and encouraging 
 incident — yes one faint ray did beam on the Patriots of the 
 Revolution from the south, emitted by the fortunate result of 
 the attack on Fort Moultrie in the beginning of June. But 
 they were not flushed by a great victory, or under any evan- 
 escent exultation. They were not roused to a sudden and 
 momentary confidence by unexpected reinforcement,or stimu- 
 lated by the prospect of foreign alliance. It reached them at 
 
AIJAMS AND JEFFERSON. 363 
 
 a moment of national depression — when the whole numerical 
 amount of their army did not exceed 10,000 inexperienced 
 men, and no small part of these rendered ineffective by sick- 
 ness, temporary engagements, and want of many of the most 
 essential necessaries of war. 
 
 It reached them, too, at a moment when the seat of war 
 was closely advancing upon the very city in which the effort 
 was to be consummated, and when reinforcement emboldened 
 the enemy ; for General Howe, with the fleet of his brother 
 immediately following him, landed upon Staten Island on the 
 very day of Independence. 
 
 This great effort was destined to be made on the 7th of 
 June, a day in our political Calendar second only to the 4th 
 of the succeeding month. On that day, the 7th June '76, a 
 Patriot, fearless, as those whose recent deaths we deplore, 
 whose virtuous name is interwoven with the fairest pages of 
 your history, Richard Henry Lee, in the infancy and depres- 
 sion of his country, undismayed by the weakness of its friends, 
 and unawed by the strength of its enemies, rose, and to the 
 devoted band around him, moved, " that these United Colo- 
 " nies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent 
 " states ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
 " British crown ; and that all political connection between 
 " them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, to- 
 *' tally dissolved." 
 
 How sublime the proposition ! How grand and abundant 
 the theme ! With you upon whom the blessings have fallen, 
 how full of mingled pride and gratitude must be your reflec- 
 tion on the retrospect ! 
 
 This great and intrepid motion was received by the assem- 
 bly to whom it was made with a correspondent solemnity and 
 sense of responsibility. The dignified and awful silence which 
 followed, was broken by the voice of John Adams, who rose, 
 and seconded the motion ! This was not a proposition to re- 
 monstrate : not merely to resist aggression and an infraction 
 
364 EULOCJIES ON 
 
 of rights ; but a majestic determination to dismember a migh- 
 ty empire ; to give life to a new nation ! 
 
 A detail of this event cannot be uninteresting. It is the 
 brightest portion of that luminous career to which our eyes 
 are directed. The resolution, in committee of the whole, was 
 debated on the 8th, 9th and 1 0th, and in the forenoon of this 
 last day it was agreed that it be " reported to the house" and 
 its further consideration postponed until Monday the first day 
 of July, a committee in the mean while, to be appointed to 
 prepare " the Declaration." 
 
 This postponement, until the first of July, did not proceed 
 from any wavering, or wish to temporize, or fear of responsi- 
 bility ; but for the politic purpose of giving Pennsylvania and 
 Maryland time to instruct their delegates in congress to con- 
 cur in the vote for Independence. The instructions to this 
 effect from Pennsylvania were laid before congress upon the 
 25th of June, and from Maryland upon the 1st of July. 
 
 In proportion as important events crowd upon Congress, 
 and as duties become more delicate and dangerous, Mr. Adams 
 and Mr. Jefferson grow in the confidence of the body, and in 
 their own personal intimacy and affection. 
 
 On the 1 1th of June the committee to prepare the Declara- 
 tion of Independence was selected. Mr. Lee, the celebrated 
 mover of " Independency," in consequence of the news of a 
 domestic affliction, left Philadelphia upon the morning of that 
 day. Mr. Jefferson was a silent, and, supposed to be, one of 
 the youngest members of the house — but the admiration of 
 bis talents, and confidence in his zeal for his country, were 
 unbounded, and he was made the chairman of this interest- 
 ing committee. Mr. Adams, receiving one vote less, was the 
 second named, together with Dr. Franklin of Pennsylvaaia. 
 Mr. Sherman of Connecticut, and Mr. Livingston, of New- 
 York. They met and intrusted the important duty to Mr. 
 Jefferson and Mr. Adams. The two remained together ; and 
 e?icb insisted that the other should draft the instrument, when 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 365 
 
 these mutual compliments are terminated by Mr. Jefferson — 
 •• well if you are decided, 1 will try and do the best I can." 
 
 In a day or two the draft was submitted to the committee, 
 approved of, and reported to the House, without alteration, 
 on Friday the 28th of June. 
 
 In the animated Debate which ensued upon Mr. Lee's 
 *' Resolution" and Mr. Jeiferson's '' Declaration," and upon 
 which hung the fate of the nation — in this great agony of the 
 conllict — it is admitted that Mr. Adams was the foremost 
 champion on the side of Independence. Thirty-seven years 
 after this eloquent discussion, the accomplished penmaii of 
 the Declaration declares that " Mr. Adams was the pillar of 
 " its support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and 
 " defender against the multifarious assaults it encountered," 
 
 On the 2d of July '* the resolution" was adopted, and the 
 discussion of the " Declaration" postponed until one o'clock 
 of the 4th, when an illustrious vote in the aflirmative decided 
 the destinies of the Colonies and elevated them to the rank of 
 an independent nation. 
 
 The Declaration of Independence was promulgated at four 
 o'clock, in the State-House yard of Philadelphia, to the peo- 
 ple, who, from that moment, date their restoration to sove- 
 reignty. Two weeks afterwards the Declaration was order- 
 ed to be fairly engrossed on parchment; to be styled "The 
 unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of Amer- 
 ica" and " to be signed by every member of Congress." 
 
 On the 2d day ot August following, when our affairs had 
 become more gloomy, shortly before the battle of Long Isl- 
 and, and when General Washington must have foreseen that 
 he would be obliged to abandon the posts of New-York, he- 
 roically pursuing their steady course and looking to their own 
 determined spirits for their only encouragement, the members 
 of Congress, walk to the clerk's table and unanimously sign 
 the memorable instrument ! 
 
 This delay in engrossing the Declaration gave to some del- 
 egates from Pennsylvania an opportunity of signing it, who 
 '47 
 
366 EULOGIES ON 
 
 had not been members on the 4th. For in the mean time 
 Pennsylvania made her election, leaving out the delegates 
 who voted against the Declaration, with the exception of that 
 national benefactor Robert Morris. 
 
 Think not fora moment, that a sluggish, or indifferent spirit 
 marked in those times, our own Pennsylvania. She was 
 staunch and steadfast from first to last. But her population 
 was distinguished by the calmness and deliberation, no less 
 than by the determined character of her Founder. That she 
 was indifferent to the great principles asserted in the memo- 
 rable Declaration, no one can believe. She had been taught 
 from her infancy the doctrine there inculcated. Yes, people 
 of Pennsylvania ! let us not forget the illustrious dead, how- 
 ever remote from the present time. To some of you it may 
 not be known that William Penn, so long ago as the year 1681, 
 proclaimed, boldly and distinctly, the very principles which 
 were re-asserted in 177^. The definition which this great 
 man has left tons of civil and political liberty, cannot be improv- 
 ed upon. The world has since been struggling to realize it. 
 In a few words, marked by the chaste and beautiful simplicity 
 of his style, he declares that that country only is free " where 
 the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws," — Less 
 than this, he says, is tyranny, more than this, is anarchy. To 
 attain this enviable state of things has since been the object of 
 every virtuous patriot. Wherever an oppressed people shall 
 succeed in throwing off the galling yoke of tyranny, they will 
 only be where William Penn declared that God and nature 
 entitled them to be. And you, people of Pennsylvania ! if 
 ever your fair fabric should be overturned by foreign or intes- 
 tine violence, and tyranny result as the natural conse- 
 quence, you will, to your shame and confusion, find this sen- 
 timent placed under its original corner stone ! Your ancestors 
 were not thus guilty. When the state of things was really 
 found to exist which is set forth so truly in the Declaration ; 
 when it was ascertained that the laws did not rule, but were 
 suspended by military violence ; when the people, so far from 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 367 
 
 being "a party to those laws," were ignominiously put aside 
 and trampled upon — then was the definition of tyranny com- 
 plete ! The crisis had arrived which the mild and benev- 
 olent founder of Pennsylvania had declared to be intolerable. 
 She then did her part. Well may we be proud of the vener- 
 able Commonwealth under which we live, and great is the 
 responsibility to the rights of man, which has thus been de- 
 volved upon us! 
 
 But time urges, and we must hasten, in justice to our task, 
 to take a momentary retrospect of the Continental Congress 
 of'75--'6 
 
 This body was hastily brought together and kept compact 
 only by the pressure of the occasion ; some delegates with 
 powers vaguely restricted, others with authority, general and 
 unlimited. It was a mass in which light and heat seem to 
 have been generated only by the restless activity and force of 
 its own elements. — The powers of the Government were not 
 distributed. Congress was obliged to assume and exercise ev- 
 ery kmd of function ; executive, legislative, military, naval, 
 and sometimes judicial ; and we are frequently at a loss wheth- 
 er most to adinire its bold and lofty declarations, or its inde- 
 fatigable attention to the humblest matters of detail. The 
 wonderful — the restless — the minute — the pervading anxiety 
 of these men in relation to the cause in which they had enga« 
 ged, can be learned only from their proceedings. Had those 
 proceedings fallen into the hands of Burgoyne or Cornwallis 
 previous to their respective captures, they would have fur- 
 nished an inexhaustible fund of merriment. We ourselves, 
 but for the glorious and imperishable result of this earnest, 
 all-engrossing zeal, might be disposed to smile at them. At 
 one moment you find them discussing fundamental principles 
 in relation to the civil and religious rights of man, and the 
 next occupied with a fiscal appropiiation of" one dollar and 
 eight cents." — Again, you find them planning foreign allian- 
 ces, and at the next moment voting to some gallant volunteer 
 company, '• half a keg of powder and fifty flints" — and at one 
 
368 EULOGIES Oi\ 
 
 sitting, in this medley of business, were to be found, mingled 
 together on their table, Despatches from the Commander-in- 
 Cnief, Correspondence with foreign ministers, Bills of Rights, 
 and Letters frxjm an Indian agent at "• Fort Pitt" about" strings 
 of wampum !" Thus perseveringly weaving the minutest 
 thread of that net which entangled, and finally subdued the 
 British Lion. 
 
 For honor not to be shaken — for a perseverance not to be 
 remitted, the old Continental Congress has no parallel in his- 
 tory. If for the pure and elevated principles which these men 
 then professed — if for " the Resolution" and " Declaration of 
 Independence," they merit the deepest veneration and the 
 loftiest praise, what additional honor will you not bestow upon 
 them when you contemplate the heroic firmness and moral 
 courage with which they maintained their principles and pur- 
 sued their steadfast course ? Nothing couldappal them ! Re- 
 gardless of their own safety, they never thought for one mo- 
 ment of abandoning the Declaration they had made. They 
 had weighed the consequences, and were prepared to meet 
 the event. They were true to themselves and true to their 
 country. They would make no surrender ; listen to no terms 
 founded on pardon, or a resumption of the condition of British 
 subjects; nor court any foreign alliance not based upon the 
 perfect freedom and fair equality of trade. 
 
 At one day the hostile bands approach Philadelphia. The 
 clang of their arms almost re-echoes in the fiall of Indepen- 
 dence. At another, our forces being driven back and discom- 
 fitted, the enemy victoriously takes possession of the City. — 
 Yet this body of representatives is not dissolved. They ad- 
 journ, and in a few days }0u find them at Baltimore, at Lan- 
 caster and at York, in cool and dispassionate delibera- 
 tion. 
 
 The year 1776 terminates the joint labors in Congress of 
 Mr. Adams and Mr. JefFerson. 
 
 In the fall of this year the latter was called upon by his na- 
 tive State to act upon a commission to revise her code of laws: 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 369 
 
 to adapt them to the " late change" in the principles of the 
 government, and make them " more congenial to the repub- 
 lican spirit." The completion of this work in June '79, es- 
 tablished his reputation as a great law maker, and gave a 
 permanent stamp to his liberal and philanthropic principles. 
 The prohibition of the " execrable commerce" in slaves ; the 
 foundation of schools for general education ; the recognition 
 of the right of expatriation ; the abolition of entails and the 
 right of primogeniture, and the establishment of religious tol- 
 eration, are among the striking characteristics imparted to 
 it by Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 His occupation in this arduous task, so necessary to the se- 
 curity and prosperity of his native State, induced him, it 
 is presumed, to decline in '78 the acceptance of a mission to 
 France. 
 
 Virginia, proud of distinguishing this favorite son, in the 
 turbulent years of '79 and '80 placed him, as the successor of 
 Patrick Henry, in the highest office of the State. And in '81, 
 willing to serve his fellow-citizens in any station, wetind him 
 descending from the chair of chief Magistrate and occupying 
 again a seat in the Legislature. 
 
 It was during this anxious period that his habits of industry 
 and vigor of intellect enabled him at intervals, to draw from 
 his public avocations the time necessary to compose his cele- 
 brated " Notes on Virginia." This work, the merits of whir h 
 are too well known to authorise me to dwell on them, happily 
 displays the refined taste and varied resources no less than 
 the liberal and enlightened principles and character of its au- 
 thor. I will only mention that, in the '' Defence of the vVmer- 
 ican Constitutions" by Mr. Adams, he seeks occasion to ad- 
 vert to this performance of his compeer — a fact which seems 
 to fall in, strikingly, with that coincidence between them con- 
 summated on the fourth day of last month. 
 
 The year '82 would again have found him closely associa- 
 ted with Mr. Adams in the important mission for concluding 
 a treaty of peace — thus giving to these statesmen the honor of 
 
370 EULOGIES ON 
 
 terminating a war they had so conspicuously aided m eoni- 
 mencing and prosecuting — but the news of the signing of the 
 preliminaries of peace arrived at the moment he was about 
 to embark. 
 
 Thus accidentally kept at home, his fellow-citiaens, as if 
 there could be no interval in his public services, returned him 
 as a member of Congress for the year '83. 
 
 By recurring to Mr. Adams and briefly tracing him to this 
 period, we shall immediately find these unwearied patriots 
 again in close association, and performing important offices 
 abroad. 
 
 Mr. Adams' labors in Congress were closed at the end of 
 the year 1777, by his becoming our Minister to France. He 
 soon however returned to America ; and the short succeeding 
 interval at home was filled up by his taking a principal part in 
 framing a new Constitution for Massachusetts, and in commu- 
 nicating his views to Congress upon the importance of an al- 
 liance with France. 
 
 f He was suffered to remain but a short time in this compar- 
 ative retirement, when he was again sent to Europe as a com- 
 missioner to the States General of the United Netherlands ; 
 and in this character rendered most timely and essential ser- 
 vices to his country by the large loans of money which 
 he obtained, and by the treaty of amity and commerce of 
 '82. 
 
 In this year he was one of the Ministers of the U. S. who 
 negotiated and signed the preliminary articles, and in the next 
 year the definitive Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. The 
 highly favorable terms of this treaty excited the surprise even 
 of the friendly European powers, as well as a vehement cla- 
 mor in Great Britain. The interests of our country were 
 faithfully attended to, and the zeal, wisdom, firmness and di- 
 plomatic address of the American negotiators universally ac- 
 knowledged. From us a peculiar expression of gratitude 
 seems to be due to them since we know that a struggle was ne- 
 cessary ia order to obtain the ample western boundary, and 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 371 
 
 the free navigation of the Mississippi, eventually secured by 
 the Treaty. Mr. Jefi'erson, as has been stated, was not a 
 party to it. But does the wonderful parallelism of conduct 
 to which we have so often referred, cease here, and leave Him 
 with no corresponding claim upon the affections of the West? 
 Not so. — Who can cast his eyes towards the Pacific, or the 
 Gulph of Mexico ; can contemplate the deep and spreading 
 stream of population — of wealth — of universal plenty and 
 happiness — the boundless theatre opened for the exercise of 
 government on the principles of the Revolution : who can 
 witness all this without a benediction on him who acquired 
 for us that vast territory, and paid toward the consideration 
 not one drop of his country's blood ? How happy, too, the 
 contrast between the policy of Mr. Jefferson and that which 
 shortly before our deliverance had refused to allow the Col- 
 onists, at their own hazard and expense, to settle the beauti- 
 ful valley of the Ohio ! But let not a grateful impulse lead me 
 too far from my task as an humble annalist. 
 
 Continuing in Europe, Mr. Adams was joined with Mr. 
 Jefferson in a general commission for making treaties of com- 
 merce with European powers ; and under this authority they 
 concluded treaties with the King of Prussia and the Emperor 
 of Morocco. 
 
 In 1785, whilst Mr. Jefferson was Minister Plenipotentiary 
 at the Court of our early ally, the ill-fated Louis XVI. Mr. 
 Adams filled the same honorable station in Great Britain, ap- 
 pearing as the dignified representative of a free people, before 
 a Monarch who but a short time before had contemptuously 
 withheld from him and them the rights secured to the mean- 
 est of his other subjects. 
 
 Thus, alike intrusted with the maintenance of the honor 
 and rights of their country abroad, they met in London, upon 
 the subject of the commercial inteiests of the United States ; 
 but, owing to the nature of our then confederation, failed to 
 form the desired connections. 
 
372 EULOGIES ON 
 
 Tn '88 Mr. Adams returned home, and was met by this most 
 flattering resolution : " Resolved^ That Congress entertain a 
 high sense of the services which Mr. Adams has reridered to the 
 United States in the execution of the various important trusts 
 which they have, from time to time, committed to him; and 
 that the thanks of Congress be presented to him for the pat- 
 riotism, perseverance, integrity and dihgence with which he 
 has ably and faithfully served his country." 
 
 The succeeding year of '89 brought Mr. Jefferson from Pa- 
 ri*, and restored him to his grateful country. He was receiv- 
 ed with open arms ; and hardly had he set foot on the shorer 
 of Virginia, when he was met by the commission of Secretary 
 of State, from General Washington. 
 
 Thus again, in the first administration under the new fed- 
 eral compact, and during that trying period which involved 
 the preservation of our just and dignified neutrality, he is once 
 more placed directly by the side of Mr. Adams, then the first 
 Vice-President of the United States. 
 
 The purest honors and the highest exaltation await them. 
 A great and delivered Nation, mindful of the perils they had 
 encountered and the imperishable benefactions they had be- 
 stowed, by its free choice raises each of them successively to 
 the second and to the first office of the Republic. And after 
 each had given upwards of forty years of active service to his 
 country, they withdraw, followed by the admiration of the 
 good and the wise, to the place of their birth, and to the bosom 
 oftheir families, at diflferent periods, but at the same venerable 
 age. Released from the harassing cares of government, they 
 become, in private life, the rejoicing spectators oftheir own 
 great works, and the happy examples of every domestic and 
 social virtue. 
 
 What an admirable illustration is thus furnished of the prin- 
 ciples which they had avowed at the outset of their career I 
 They retire without commotion, and undisturbed by one feel- 
 ing of disappointed ambition. The transition from the high- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 37.3 
 
 est earthly distinction to perfect privacy, is as tranquil as an 
 ordinary domestic transaction. 
 
 Yet such men could not look upon public affairs with cold 
 indifference. They could never weary of well doing. Dur- 
 ing the late war, they watched with the liveliest interest the 
 principles and progress of the contest. The elder of the two, 
 when upon the verge of four-score years, put out a paper in 
 defence of Seamen's Rights, irresistible in argument, and 
 powerful as the work of his younger days. Mr. Jefferson, 
 reverting to his early love of literature and science, is found 
 the active patron of both, and in the office of Rector of the 
 Virginia University, anxiously providing for the adequate ed- 
 ucation of the future Statesmen and Patriots of our country. 
 But amidst these soothing occupations he, too, was roused by 
 the hostile tread of the enemy on our shores. We are in- 
 formed, that, amongst his papers, is the copy of a letter which 
 he addressed to the then President of the United States, on 
 occasion of the capture of Washington City, and which is rep- 
 resented to be a master-piece of eloquent and patriotic en- 
 thusiasm. We may imagine some of its spirit-stirring topics : 
 Its reference to the experience of the Revolution — to the 
 capture of Philadelphia in 1777 — to the gloomy anticipations 
 of that period — and to the bright result which finally re- 
 warded the steady and undismayed exertions of the patriot? 
 of that day. 
 
 But, the splendor of military achievement, it may be said, 
 
 does not surround the names of Adams and of Jefferson. 
 
 True, it does not ; and what better evidence could be oflTered 
 
 of their extraordinary merit, than the homage universally 
 
 proff*ered to men, the arduous scene of whose labors has so few 
 
 comparative charms for the eye and the imagination ? Their 
 
 Country kept them from the field. It assigned to them other 
 
 duties of a most critical and arduous character. But, though 
 
 they did little of the manual labor of fighting, their spirit was 
 
 infused into every part of the contest. And when permitted, 
 
 we find them promptly and resolutelv encountering every per- 
 48 
 
374 EULOGIES ON 
 
 sonal hazard. The unwearied and efficient exertiona of Jef- 
 ferson in relation to the mihtary operations in Virginia at one 
 of the most alarming periods of the Revolution, repeatedly 
 merited and received the applause of Congress. Mr. Adams' 
 intrepidity is well known. It was even lamented that his 
 daring spirit sometimes led to a needless exposure of his in- 
 valuable life. Whilst on his way to France in the Boston 
 frigate an engagement took place with a British ship. As 
 Minister Plenipotentiary he had obviously nothing to do with 
 the approaching light 5 and he was urged to go below. But, 
 his blood was roused — he forget his Diplomacy — the enemy 
 was in sight ; and, seizing a musket, he threw himself at once 
 into a position of the severest exposure. 
 
 Thus, fellow-citizens, have Ihastily and unskilfully brought 
 to your view some of the more prominent events in the career 
 of the two mighty spirits who have just passed into immor- 
 tality. 
 
 But do not think that the consequences of their principles 
 and actions are to be comprised within the space — protracted 
 as it was — of their own existence. No. The defeat of the 
 enemy, and the acknowledgment of our Independence — the 
 establishment of a new government and its successful opera- 
 tion — are not The American Revolution. They are glorious 
 parts, but do not constitute the whole of this great work. It 
 is now consummating in the vast and increasing change of pub- 
 lic feeling and sentiment — in the invigorated tone given to 
 Man — in the great lesson furnished by the practical applica- 
 tion of those principles which had been before regarded as the 
 dreams of speculative enthusiasm. It is this rnoral Revolu- 
 tion — this new confidence in ourselves — this successful rising 
 against the despotism of ancient prejudices — it is this which 
 gives a character to the epoch created by our ancestors. The 
 triumph is complete. Its resistless consequences cannot be 
 stayed. They are already seen wherever beams the hallowed 
 light of Christianity ! Turn your eyes in any direction, fellow- 
 citizens, and you will see the American Revolution on its rap- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 375 
 
 id progress. Look at yourselves. See the noble stream 
 which passes your city. How many years is it since its op- 
 posite bank was only known as the hunting ground of the sav- 
 age ? But, the prophetic eye of Washington had seen of what 
 such a country was capable. And how have his anticipa- 
 tions been realized under the new and irresistible impulse 
 given to human exertion by civil and religious Liberty ! Look 
 at the scene of his peril and exposure in your own immediate 
 neighborhood! In place of the rude bark camp, you are, at this 
 moment, substituting the most costly and magniticent internal 
 improvements of the age. You came out of the Revolution a 
 military out-post. Now, you are a prosperous and happy 
 city of 1 2,000 inhabitants. At that time the few adventurous 
 Indian traders were the armed sentinels by night, over their 
 goods and their families ; and where they then stacked their 
 arms, you now see the richest piles of the finest fabrics of hu- 
 man art and industry ! Where the savage then bartered his 
 peltry and his game, you now have, busily revolving and con- 
 verting into articles of domestic utility, the most skilful and 
 complicated machinery, collected from the inventions of the 
 old and the new world. This is The. American Revolution^ 
 and here gratitude is due ! 
 
 Look a little further — cast your eyes along the great valley 
 of the West. There you will find the wilderness converted 
 into flourishing Republics, holding a new population greater 
 than the first union of the States could boast of. This won- 
 derful creation, is The American Revolution. 
 
 Look still further. Approach the Isthmus, and gaze be- 
 yond it upon the South. See how the people are awakening 
 from their long and heavy sleep ! They feel the freshness and 
 invigoration of that great morn, which has brought light and 
 life in its train. They stand erect and shake off the dreary 
 torpor of ages. New Empires are seen to rise, founded on 
 the principles of our Independence and modelled after our 
 free institutions. Here is The American Rerolutimu and here 
 also is gratitude due. 
 
376 EULOGIES OiV 
 
 Cross the Atlantic. If, as you approach the shore, you see 
 busy in the navigation of each bay and river that mighty pow- 
 er first practically applied in America, is not here an omen 
 that the quickening impulse of our free institutions will also 
 be there speedily and universally recognised ? Yes ! the long- 
 ing eyes of every people are turned towards a Government 
 moving like ours, in all its parts, on the purest and the sim- 
 plest principles. The mob of Kings may assemble again and 
 again, and denounce and tear to pieces the beautiful model ; 
 but the history and the principles of its action are here record- 
 ed ; truth will not go back — it defies their impotent malice. 
 The awakened energy of the people must have way ; and if il 
 be not suffered safely to impel the vast machinery of Govern- 
 ment, will manifest its terrific strength in bursting destructively 
 from its confinement. The contest between the oppressed 
 and the oppressors maybe fearful, but the result must be glo- 
 rious and happy ; and when equal rights and well administer- 
 ed laws shall take the place of corrupt and irresponsible 
 agents, then will be seen The American Revolution, and then 
 shall be freshly honoured the names of Jefferson and of 
 Adams. 
 
 If such, my countrymen, be the blessings which we have re- 
 alized — and such the cheering prospects of mankind — do not 
 forget that on us devolves the care of preserving this majestic 
 Monument in all its fair proportions. We, too, may have 
 our day of trial. 'Jhc bitterest animosity of the worst men 
 is excited by the spectacle of our prosperity. Potentates, 
 whose bands of disciplined mercenaries can hardly be num- 
 bered, would rejoice and feel more secure, if our Republic 
 rhould be overturned, or its principles and character be 
 brought into disrepute by intestine violence and confusion. 
 The proud sentiments, then, which we triumphantly proclaim 
 in the midst of security and peace may require to be sustain- 
 ed in another manner, at moments of peril and distraction. 
 Will you at such a crisis be found wanting ? Will you forget 
 the ft-elings and the professions of this day, or manfully 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 377 
 
 rouse yourselves to emulate the stern and inllexible forti- 
 tude — the noble assumption of responsibility — the sublime 
 self-devotion — the dauntless resolution of Adams and of Jef- 
 ferson ? 
 
 We are about to turn from their graves ; to leave them to 
 a sacred repose. Should the free soil w^hich now covers 
 their hallowed remains be ever over-run by successful inva- 
 sion — should accursed faction or irregular ambition ever 
 get the mastery — should a lethargic and ignoble spirit 
 ever lead us to compromise the principles of the Revolution ; 
 remember that these Tombs will be our reproach. We must 
 steal to them at midnight and deface, in shame, the epitaph 
 which our hand is now tracing ; and the Pilgrim of other 
 climes who comes to bend at this shrine of Freedom, may 
 well turn on our degeneracy the bitter glance of scorn. But 
 1 will not dwell on this odious picture. Let us rather with 
 joyful anticipation look through the long course of years, 
 and see how each successive generation, as it is taught the 
 virtues and services of these Founders of the Republic, will 
 learn the severe and sacred duties which result from the in- 
 calculable benetits conferred. Oh ! never whilst the memo- 
 ry of such men remains, can their descendants pollute the 
 history of our nation ! 
 
 By their united labours, their sufferings, their dangers. 
 and their well earned fame — by their calm retirement to 
 the sphere of social kindness and affectionate intercourse 
 — by the bright career of national glory which they were 
 enabled to open and to pursue — by the exalted serenity 
 with which they looked forward to the end of their mortal 
 course — by the solemn coincidence with which they yielded 
 up their spirits on the Jubilee of our national freedom — by 
 all the great and affecting incidents which distinguished them 
 in life, and mark the hour of their departure, let us yiow, and 
 our descendants forever, be admonished to venerate, cher- 
 ish, and preserve inviolate the Institutions they have be- 
 queathed to us ! 
 
PRONOUNCED AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, 
 October 19, 1826. 
 
 BY WILLIAM WIRT. 
 
 The scenes which have been lately passing in our country, 
 and of which this meeting is a continuance, are full of moral 
 instruction. They hold up to the world a lesson of wis- 
 dom by which all may profit, if Heaven shall grant them the 
 discretion to turn it to its use. The spectacle, in all its parts, 
 has, indeed, been most solemn and impressive ; and, though 
 the first impulse be now past, the time has not yet come, and 
 never will it come, when we can contemplate it, without re- 
 newed emotion. 
 
 In the structure of their characters ; in the course of their 
 action ; in the striking coincidences which marked their high 
 career ; in the lives and in the deaths of the illustrious men, 
 whose virtues and services we have met to commemorate — 
 and in that voice of admiration and gratitude which has since 
 burst, with one accord, from the twelve millions of freemen 
 who people these States, there is a moral sublimity which 
 overwhelms the mind, and hushes all its powers into silent 
 amazement ! 
 
 The European, who should have heard the sound without 
 
 apprehending the cause, would be apt to inquire, " What is 
 
 " the meaning of all this ? what had these men done to elicit 
 
 " this unanimous and splendid acclamation ? Why has the 
 
 " whole American nation risen up, as one man, to do them hon- 
 
 "or, and oiferto them this enthusiastic homage of the heart ? 
 
 *' Were they mighty warriors, and was the peal that we have 
 
 49 
 
380 EULOGIES ON 
 
 " heard, the shout of victory ? Were they great commanders, 
 " returning from their distant conquests, surrounded with the 
 " spoils of war, and was this the sound of their triumphal pro- 
 " cession ? Were they covered with martial glory in any form, 
 " and was this ' the noisy wave of the multitude rolling back 
 "at their approach ?' " Nothing of all this : No ; they were 
 peaceful and aged patriots, who, having served their country 
 together, through their long and useful lives, had now sunk 
 together to the tomb. They had not fought battles ; but they 
 had formed and moved the great machinery of which battles 
 \ were only a small, and, comparatively, trivial consequence. 
 \ They had not commanded armies ; but they had commanded 
 I the master springs of the nation, on which all its great political, 
 as well as military movements depended. By the wisdom 
 and energy of their counsels, and by the potent mastery of 
 their spirits, they had contributed pre-eminently to produce 
 a mighty Revolution, which has changed the aspect of the 
 world. A Revolution which, in one-half of that world, has 
 already restored man to his " long lost liberty ;" and govern- 
 ment to its only legitimate object, the happiness of the Peo- 
 ple : and, on the other hemisphere, has thrown a light so 
 strong, that even the darkness of despotism is beginning to re- 
 cede. Compared with the solid glory of an achievement like 
 this, what are battles, and what the pomp of war, but the poor 
 and fleeting pageants of a theatre ? What were the selfish and 
 petty strides of Alexander, to conquer a little section of a sav- 
 age world, compared with this generous, this magnificent ad- 
 vance towards the emancipation of the entire world ! 
 
 And this, be it remembered, has been the fruit of intellec- 
 tual exertion ! the triumph of mind ! What a proud testi- 
 mony does it bear to the character of our nation, that they 
 are abie to make a proper estimate of services like these ! 
 That while, in other countries, the senseless mob fall down 
 in stup*.da<l;niiatioa, before the bloody wheels of the conquer- 
 or even of the conqueror by accident — in this, our People 
 
 lise with one accord, to pay fA«i>>omage to intellect and vir- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 381 
 
 tue ! What a cheering pledge does it give of the stability of 
 our institutions, that while abroad, the yet benighted multi- 
 tude are prostrating themselves before the idols which their 
 own hands have fashioned into Kings, here, in this land of 
 the free, our People are every where starting up, with one im- 
 pulse, to follow with their acclamations the ascending spirits 
 of the great Fathers of the Republic ! This is a spectacle of 
 which we may be permitted to be proud. It honors our 
 country no less than the illustrious dead. And could those 
 great Patriots speak to us from the tomb, they would tell us 
 that they have more pleasure in the testimony which these 
 honors bear to the character of their country, than in that 
 which they bear to their individual services. They now see 
 as they were seen, while in the body, and know the nature of 
 the feeling from which these honors flow. It is love for love. 
 It is the gratitude of an enlightened nation to the noblest or- 
 der of benefactors. It is the only glory worth the aspiration 
 of a generous spirit. Who would not prefer this living tomb 
 in the hearts of his countrymen, to the proudest mausoleum 
 that the Genius of Sculpture could erect ! 
 
 Man has been said to be the creature of accidental position. 
 The cast of his character has been thought to depend, materi- 
 ally, on the age, the country, and the circumstances, in which 
 he has lived. To a considerable extent, the remark is, no 
 doubt, true. Cromwell, had he been born in a Repubhc, 
 might have been "guiltless of his country's blood;" and, but 
 for those civil commotions which had wrought his great mind 
 into tempest, even Milton might have rested " mute and in- 
 glorious." The occasion is, doubtless, necessary to develop 
 the talent, whatsoever it may be ; but the talent must exist, in 
 embryo at least, or no occasion can quicken it into life. And 
 it must exist, too, under the check of strong virtues ; or the 
 same occasion that quickens it into life, will be extremely apt 
 to urge it on to crime. The hero who finished his career at 
 St. Helena, extraordinary as he was, is a far more common 
 character in the history of the world, than he who sleeps in 
 
3812 EULOGIES ON 
 
 our neighbourhood, embalmed in his country's tears — or than 
 those whom we have now met to mourn and to honor. 
 
 Jefferson and Adams were great men by nature. Not 
 great and eccentric minds " shot madly from their spheres" 
 to affright the world and scatter pestilence in their course ; 
 but minds whose strong and steady light, restrained within 
 their proper orbits by the happy poise of their characters, 
 came to cheer and to gladden a world that had been buried 
 for ages in political night. They were heaven-called aven- 
 gers of degraded man. They came to lift him to the station 
 for which God had formed him, and to put to flight those idiot 
 superstitions with which tyrants had contrived to inthrall his 
 reason and his liberty. And that Being who had sent vhem 
 upon this mission, had fitted them, pre-eminently, for his glo- 
 rious work. He filled their hearts with a love of country 
 which burned strong within them, even in death. He gave 
 them a power of understanding which no sophistry could 
 baffle, no art elude ; and a moral heroism which no dangers 
 could appal. Careless of themselves, reckless, of all person- 
 al consequences, trampling under foot that petty ambition of 
 office and honor which constitutes the master-passion of 
 little minds, they bent all their mighty powers to the task for 
 which they had been delegated — the freedom of their beloved 
 country, and the restoration of fallen man. They felt that 
 they were Apostles o{ human liberty ; and well did they ful- 
 fil their high commission. They rested not until they had 
 accomplished their work at home, and given such an impulse 
 to the great ocean of mind, that they saw the waves rolling on 
 the farthest shore, bc^fore they were called to their reward. 
 And then left the world, hand in hand, exulting, as they rose, 
 in the success of their labors. 
 
 From this glance at the consummation of their lives, it falls 
 within the purpose that has drawn us together, to look back 
 at the incidents by which these great men were prepared and 
 led on to their destiny. The field is wide and tempting ; and 
 in this rich field, there is a double harvest to be gathered.— 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 383 
 
 But the occasion is limited in point of time. With all the 
 brevity, therefore, compatible with the subject, let us pro- 
 ceed to recall the more prominent incidents, leaving to their 
 biographers those which we must reluctantly omit. And let 
 me hope that the recapitulation, however devoid of interest 
 in itself, will be endured, if not enjoyed, for the sake of those 
 to whom it relates. The review will unavoidably carry us 
 back to scenes of no pleasant nature, which once occurred 
 between our country and a foreign nation with which we now 
 maintain the happiest relations of peace and amity ; towards 
 which, at this day, we cherish no other feelings than those of 
 the sincerest respect and good will ; and with whose national 
 glory, indeed, as the land of our forefathers, we feel ourselves, 
 in a great measure, identified. If, therefore, there should be 
 any one within the sound of my voice, to whom the language 
 of this retrospect might otherwise seem harsh,* I trust it 
 will be borne in mind that we are Americans, assembled on 
 a purely American occasion, and that we are speaking of 
 things as they were, not as they are ; for, in the language of 
 our departed fathers, " though enemies in war, in peace we 
 are friends," 
 
 The hand of Heaven was kindly manifested even in the 
 place of birth assigned to our departed fathers. Their lots 
 were cast in two distant States, forming links in the same ex- 
 tended chain of colonies. The one, to borrow the language of 
 Isaiah, was called " from the North" and " the rising of the 
 sun ;" the other, from the South, where he shews his glory iu 
 the meridian. The colonies, though held together by their 
 allegiance to a common crown, had separate local govern- 
 ments, separate local interests, and a strikingly contrasted cast 
 of character. The intercourse between them had been rare ; 
 the sympathies consequently weak ; and these sympathies 
 still further weakened by certain rivalries, prejudices, and 
 jealousies, the result of their mutual ignorance of each other, 
 
 *The British Minister was present. 
 
384 EULOGIES o^ 
 
 which were extremely unpropitious to that concerted action on 
 which the success of the great work of Independence rested. 
 To effect this work, it was necessary that men should arise in 
 the dilferent quarters of the Continent, with a reach of mind 
 sufficiently extended to look over and beyond this field of 
 prejudice, and mark the great point in which the interest of 
 the whole united ; and, with this reach of muid, that they 
 should combine a moral power of sufficient force to make 
 even the discordant materials around them harmoniously, sub- 
 servient to the great end to be accomplished. It pleased 
 Heaven to give us such men, and so to plant them on the 
 theatre of action, as to ensure the concert that the occasion 
 demanded. And in that constellation of the great and the 
 good, rose the two stars of first magnitude to which our at- 
 tention is now to be confined. 
 
 Adams and Jeiferson were born, the Jirst in Massachusetts 
 on the 19th of October, 1735 ; the last in Virginia, on the 
 2d of April, 1743. On the earliest opening of their charac- 
 ters, it vvas manifest that they were marked for distinction. — 
 They both displayed that thirst for knowledge, that restless 
 spirit of inquiry, that ferved sensibility, and that bold, fear- 
 less independence of thought, which are among the surest 
 prognostics of exalted talent ; and, fortunately for them, as 
 well as for their country and mankind, the Universities in 
 their respective neighborhoods opened to their use, all the 
 fountains of ancient and modern learning. With what appe- 
 tite they drank at these fountains, we need no testimony of 
 witnesses to inform us. The living streams which afterwards 
 flowed from their own lips and pens, are the best witnesses 
 that can be called, of their youthful studies. They were, in- 
 deed, of that gifted order of minds, to which early instruction 
 is of little other use than to inform them of their own pow- 
 ers and to indicate the objects of human knowledge. Edu- 
 cation was not with them, as with minor characters, an at- 
 tempt to plant new talents and new qualities in a strange and 
 reluctant soil. It was the development, merely of thoge 
 
ADAMS AND lEFFERSON. 385 
 
 whkh already existed. Thus, the pure and disinterested pa- 
 triotism of Aristides, the firmness of Cato, and the devotion 
 of Curtius, only awakened the principles that were sleeping 
 in their young hearts, and touched the responding chords with 
 which Heaven had attuned them. The statesman-like vigor 
 of Pericles, and the spirit-stirring energy of Demosthenes, 
 only roused their own lion powers and informed them of their 
 strength. Aristotle, and Bacon and Sidney, and Locke, 
 could do little more than to disclose to them their native 
 capacity for the profound investigation and ascertainment of 
 truth ; and Newton taught their power to range among the 
 stars. In short, every model to which they looked, and every 
 great master to whom they appealed, only moved into life 
 the scarcely dormant energies with which Heaven had endued 
 them ; and they came forth from the discipline, not decora- 
 ted for pomp, but armed for battle. 
 
 From this first coincidence, in the character of their minds 
 and studies, let us proceed to another. They both turned 
 their attention to the same profession, the profession of the 
 law ; and they both took up the study of this profession on the 
 same enlarged scale which was so conspicuous in all their other 
 intellectual operations. They had been taught by Hooker to 
 look with reTerence upon the science of the law : for, he had 
 told them that " her seat was the bosom of God, her voice the 
 harmony of the world." Pursued in the spirit, on the extended 
 plan, and with the noble aim, with which they pursued it, may 
 it not be said, without the hazard of illiberal construction,t hat 
 there was no profession in this country to which Heaven 
 could have directed their choice, so well fitted to prepare 
 them for the eventful struggle which was coming on, 
 
 Mr. Adams, we are told, commenced his legal studies, and 
 passed through the initiatory course, under William Putnam, 
 of Worcester ; but, the crowu of preparation was placed on 
 his head by Jeremiah Gridley.* Gridley was a man of first 
 
 * Mr. Samuel L. Knapp's Address on the Death of Adaais and 
 Jefferson. 
 
386 EULOGIES ON 
 
 rate learning and vigor, and as good a judge of character as 
 he was of law. He had been the legal preceptor, also, some 
 years before, of the celebrated James Otis : and, proud of his 
 two pupils, he was wont to say of them at the bar, with play- 
 ful affection, that " he had raised two young eagles who were 
 one day or other to peck out his eyes."* The two young 
 eagles were never known to treat their professional father 
 with irreverence ; but how well they fulfilled his prediction 
 of their future eminence, has been already well told by the 
 elegant biographer of one, and remains to furnish a rich theme 
 for that of the other. 
 
 It was in the commencement of his legal studies, and when 
 he was yet but a boy, that Mr. Adams wrote that letter from 
 Worcester which has been recently given to the world. — 
 Considering the age of the writer, and the point of time at 
 which it was written, that letter may be pronounced, without 
 hyperbole, a mental phenomenon, and far better entitled to 
 the character of a prophecy, than the celebrated passage from 
 the Medea of Senaca, which Bacon has quoted as a prophecy 
 of the discovery of America. 
 
 Before I call your attention more particularly to this letter, 
 it is proper to remark, that Mr. Adams lived at a time, and 
 among men, well fitted to evoke his youthful powers. Mas- 
 sachusetts had been, from its earliest settlement, a theatre of 
 almost constant political contention. The spirit of liberty 
 which had prompted the pilgrims to bid adieu to the land and 
 tombs of their fathers, and to brave the horrors of an exile to 
 the wilds of America, accompanied them to the forests which 
 they came to subdue ; and questions of political right and pow- 
 er, between the parent country and the colony, were continu- 
 ally arising, to call that spirit into action, and to keep it bright 
 and strong. These were a peculiar People, a stern and 
 hardy race, the children of the storm ; inured from the cradle 
 to the most frightful hardships which they came to regard as 
 
 * Mr. Knapp's Life of Gridley. 
 
ADA.MS AND JEFFERSON. 387 
 
 their daily pastime, their minds, as well as their bodies, gath- 
 ered new strength from the fearful elements that were war- 
 ring around them, and whatever they dared to meditate as 
 right, that they dared and never failed to accomplish. The 
 robust character of the fathers descended upon their children, 
 and with it, also, came the same invigorating contests. Vio- 
 lations of their charters, unconstitutional restraints upon their 
 trade, and perpetual collisions with the royal Governors sent 
 over to bend or to break them, had converted that province 
 into an arena, in which the strength of mind had been tried 
 against mind, for a century, before the tug of the Revolution 
 came. And these were no puerile sports. They wore (lie 
 stern struggle of intellectual force, for power on the one lian.d, 
 and liberty on the other. And from that discipline there 
 came forth such men as such a struggle only seems capable of 
 generating; rough, and strong, and bold, and daring ; meet- 
 ing their adversaries, foot to foot, on tlie field of argument, and 
 beating them off that field by the superior vigor of their blows. 
 
 Praecipitemque Daren, ardens ag;it aequore toto: 
 Nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra. 
 Nee mora, uec requies. 
 
 From this school issued those men so well formed for the 
 sturdy business of life and who shine so brightly in the annals 
 of Massachusetts — Mayhew, and Hawley, and Thacher, and 
 Otis, and Hancock, and a host of others, of the same strono- 
 stamp of character: men as stout of heart as of mind, and 
 breathing around them an atmosphere of patriotic energv, 
 which it was impossible to inhale without partaking of their 
 spirit. 
 
 Such was the atmosphere which it was the fortune of John 
 Adams to breathe, even from his infancy. Such were the 
 high examples before him. From this proud eyry it was, that 
 this young eagle first opened his eyes upon the sun and the 
 ocean, and learned to plume his own wings for the darin«y 
 flight. 
 
 His letter from Worcester bears date on the 1 2th of Octo- 
 ber, 175S, He was consequently then only in his tweiitieth 
 
 SO 
 
388 EULOGIES ON 
 
 year. At that time, remember, that no thought of a separa- 
 tion from the parent country had ever touched these shores. 
 The conversations to which he alludes, were upon the topics 
 of the day, and went no farther than to a discussion of the 
 rights of the colony, considered as a colony of the British em- 
 pire. These were the hints which set his young mind in mo- 
 tion, and this is the letter which they produced : 
 
 Worcester, October 12, 1755. 
 " Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into 
 
 "this New World for conscience' sake. Perhaps this ap- 
 " parently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of em- 
 " pire into America. It looks likely to me, if we can remove 
 " the turbulent Gallicks, our people, according to the exact- 
 " est computations, will, in another century, become more nu- 
 " merous than England herself. Should this be the case, since 
 " we have, I may say, all the naval stores of the nation in our 
 "hands, it will be easy to obtain the mastery of the seas 5 and 
 "then the united force of all Europe will not be able to sub- 
 " due us. [Here we see the first germ of the American Navy.] 
 " The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves, is to 
 " disunite us. Divide et impera. Keep us in distinct colo- 
 "nies, and then some great men in each colony, desiring the 
 " monarchy of the whole, will destroy each other's influ- 
 " ence, and keep the country in equilibrio. Be not surpri- 
 " sed that I am turned politician ; the whole town is immersed 
 " in politics. The interests of nations, and all the dira of 
 " war, make the subject of every conversation. I sit and hear, 
 " and, after having been led through a maze of sage observa- 
 "tions, I sometimes retire, and, by laying things together, 
 " form some reflections pleasing to myself. The produce of 
 " one of these reveries you have read above." 
 
 Here we mark the political dawn of the mind of this great 
 man. His country, her resources, her independence, her 
 glory, were the first objects of his thoughts, as they were the 
 last. Here, too, we see the earliest proof of that bold and ad- 
 venturous turn for speculation, that sagacious flashing into fu- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 389 
 
 iurity, and that sanguine anticipation, which became so con- 
 spicuous in his after life. He calls this letter a reverie ; but, 
 connecting it with his ardent character and his future career, 
 there is reason to believe, that it was a reverie which produ- 
 ced in him all the effect of a prophetic vision, and opened to 
 him a perspective which was never afterwards closed. 
 
 An incident soon occurred to give brighter tinting and 
 stronger consistency to this dream of his youth ; and this may 
 be considered as among the most efficient of those means, de- 
 vised by the wisdom of Providence, to shape the character and 
 point the energies of this high-minded young man to the ad- 
 vancement of the great destiny that awaited his country. 
 The famous question oi writs of assistance was argued, in hi& 
 presence, in Boston, in February, 1761. These writs were a 
 kind of general search-warrants, transferable by manual deliv- 
 ery from one low tool of power to another, and without any re- 
 turn ; which put at the mercy of these vulgar wretches, for an 
 indefinite period, the domestic privacy, the peace and comfort, 
 of the most respectable inhabitants in the colony ; and even 
 the sanctuary of female delicacy and devotion. The author- 
 ity of the British tribunals in the province, themselves the in- 
 struments of a tyrant's will, to iasue such writs, was the pre- 
 cise question to be discussed. The champion in opposition to 
 the power was the great Otis. Of the character of his argu- 
 ment, and its effect upon Mr. Adams, we are not left to con- 
 jecture ; he has given it to us, himself, in his own burning 
 phraseology. " Otis was a flame of fire ! With a promptitude 
 " of classical allusion, a depth of research, a rapid summary of 
 " historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, 
 "a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid tor- 
 " rent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before 
 " him. American Independence was then and there bornJ'^ 
 And he adds — " Every man of an immense crowded audience 
 " appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms 
 " against writs of assistance." 
 
390 EULOGIES ON 
 
 The " immense crowded audience," it is probable, left the 
 hall with no impressions beyond the particular subject of de- 
 bate. They were ready to take arms against writs of assist- 
 ancf. Not so with Mr. Adams. In him the '" splendid con- 
 jfiagration of Otis" had set the to a mind whose action it was 
 not easy to restrain within narrow limits ; a mind already 
 looking out on the wide expanse of the future, and apparently 
 waiting only for the occasion, to hold up to his countrymen 
 tl;' c-:reat revolving light of Independence, above the darkness 
 of ine coming storm. In him American Independence was 
 then and there born : and, appealing to his own bosom, he 
 was justified in saying, as he has done, on another occasion, in 
 the most solemn terms, " that James Otis, then and there, 
 '' first breathed into this nation the breath of life." 
 
 The flame thus given to his enthusiasm was never permit- 
 ted to subside. The breach between the two countries grew 
 widerand wider, until from being an excited spectator, he soon 
 became a vigorous and most efficient actor. In his thirtieth 
 year, be gave to his country, that powerful work " The Dis- 
 sertation on the Canon and Feudal Law." It is but to read 
 those extracts from this work which have been recently diffu- 
 sed among us from the North, to see that it was not limited in 
 its purpose to the specific questions which had then arisen. 
 The discussion travels far beyond these questions, and bears 
 all (he marks of a profound and comprehensive design, to pre- 
 pare the country for a separation from Great Britain. It is a 
 review of the whole system of the British institutions, and 
 a most powerful assault upon those heresies, civil and reli- 
 gious, which constituted the outposts of that system. Be- 
 sides the solid instruction which it conveys on the true the- 
 ory of government, and the deep and impressive exhortation 
 with which it urges the necessity of correct information to 
 the People, it seems to have been the leading object of the 
 work to disenchant his countrymen of that reverence for the 
 institutions of the parent country which still lingered around 
 their hearts, and to teach them to look upon these institutions. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 391 
 
 not only with indifference, but with aversion and contempt. 
 Hence those burning sarcasms which he flings into every story 
 of the citadel, until the whole editice is wrapt in flames. It is, 
 indeed, a work eminently fitted for the speedy regeneration of 
 the country. The whole tone of the essay is so raised and 
 bold, that it sounds like a trumpet-call to arms. And the 
 haughty defiance which he hurls into the face of the oppres- 
 sors of his country, is so brave and uncompromising, as to 
 leave no doubt that, whatever might be the temper of the rest 
 of the community, the author had already laid his hand upon 
 the altar, and sworn that his country should be free. 
 
 All this fire, however, was tempered with judgment, and 
 guided by the keenest and most discriminating sagacity ; and 
 if his character was marked with the stubborn firmness of the 
 Pilgrim, it was because he was supported by the Pilgrim's con- 
 scious integrity. Another incident soon occurred to place 
 these qualities in high relief. In the progress of the quarrel, 
 Great Britain had quartered an army in Boston, to supply the 
 place of argument, and enforce that submission which she 
 could not command. The immediate consequence was, col- 
 lision and affray between the soldiery and the citizens ; and, 
 in one of those affrays, on the 5th of November, 1770, the 
 British captain, Preston, gave the fatal order to fire ! Several 
 were killed, and many more were wounded. It is easy to im- 
 agine the storm that instantly arose. The infuriated populace 
 were, with great difliculty, restrained by the leading men of 
 the town, from sating their vengeance upon the spot. Disap- 
 pointed of this, they were loud, and even frantic, in their cry 
 for the vengeance of law. Yet there was no murder in 
 the case : for, in this instance it had happened that they were 
 themselves the assailants. Preston was arrested for trial : 
 and Mr. Adams then standing in the van of the profession, as 
 well as that of the patriots, was called upon to undertake his 
 defence. How was he to act ? It is easy to know how a lit- 
 tle, time-serving politician, or even a man of ordinary firm- 
 ness, would have acted ; the one would have thrown himself 
 
392 EULOGIES ON 
 
 on the popular current, and the other would have been swept 
 along bj it, and joined in the public cry for the victim. But 
 Adams belonged to a higher order of character. He was 
 formed not only to impel and guide the torrent ; but to head 
 that torrent too, when it had taken a wrong direction, and 
 " to roll it back upon its source." He was determined that 
 the world should distinguish between a petty commotion of 
 angry spirits, and the noble stand made by an enlightened na- 
 tion in a just and noble cause. He was resolved that that 
 pure and elevated cause should not be soiled and debased by 
 an act of individual injustice. He undertook the defence, 
 supported by his younger, but distinguished associate, Josiah 
 Quincy ; and, far from flattering the angry passions around 
 him, he called upon the jury, in their presence, " to be deaf, 
 ^^ deaf as adders, to the clamors of the populace ,•" and they 
 were so. To their honor, a jury drawn from the excited peo- 
 ple of Boston, acquitted the prisoner : and to their equal hon- 
 or, that very populace, instead of resenting the language and 
 conduct of his advocate, loaded him immediately with addi- 
 tional proofs of their confidence. These were the people, 
 who, according to some European notions, are incapable of 
 any agency in their own government. By their systems, de- 
 liberately planned for the purpose, they first degrade and 
 brutalize their people, and then descant on their unfitness for 
 self-rule. The man of America, it seems, is the only man fit 
 for republican government ! But man is every where the 
 same, and requires only to be enlightened, to assert the na- 
 tive dignity of his character. 
 
 Mr. Adams was now among the most conspicuous cham- 
 pions of the colonial cause in Massachusetts. In the same 
 year to which we have just adverted, 1 770, he had been elec- 
 ted a member of the Provincial Legislature: and he thence- 
 forth took a high and commanding part in every public meas- 
 ure ; displaying, on every occasion, the same consistent 
 character; the same sagacity to pierce the night of the 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 393 
 
 future ; the same bold and dauntless front ; the same nerve 
 of the Nemean lion. 
 
 The time had now come for concerted action among the 
 Colonies : and, accordingly, on the 5th September, 1774, the 
 first Continental Congress met at Philadelphia. With what 
 emotions Mr. Adams witnessed this great movement of the 
 nation, it is easy for those who know his ardent character, to 
 imagine. Nor, are we left to our imaginations alone. He 
 had been elected a member of that body ; and immediately 
 on his election, an incident occured which relieves us from 
 the necessity of conjecturing the state of his feelings. His 
 friend Sewall, the Attorney General, hearing of his election, 
 sent for him, and he came ; when Sewall, with all the solici- 
 tude and importunity of friendship, sought to divert him from 
 his purpose of taking his seat in Congress : he represented to 
 him that Great Britain was determined on her purpose : that 
 her power was irresistible, and would be destructive to him 
 and all who should persevere in opposition to her designs. — 
 " I know," replied the dauntless and high-souled patriot, 
 " that Great Britain has determined on her system ; and that 
 " very determination, determines me on mine. You know 
 " that I have been constant and uniform in opposition to her 
 " designs. The die is now cast. I have passed the Rubicon. 
 " Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish with my coim- 
 " try, is my unalterable determination." He accordingly 
 took his seat : and with what activity and effect he dischar- 
 ged its duties, the journals of the day sufficiently attest. 
 
 Of that august and venerable body, the old Continental 
 Congress, what can be said that would not fall below the oc- 
 casion ? What that would not sound like a puerile and tumid 
 effort, to exaggerate the praise of a body which was above 
 all praise ? Let me turn from any attempt at description to 
 your own hearts, where that body lies entombed with all you 
 hold most sacred. To that Congress, let future statesmen 
 look and learn what it is to be a patriot. There was no self. 
 No petty intrigue for power. No despicable faction for in- 
 
394 EULOGIES ON 
 
 dividual honors. None of those feuds, the fruit of an unhal- 
 lowed ambition, which converted the Revolution of France 
 into a mere contest for the command of the guillotine ; and 
 which have, now, nearly disarmed unhappy Greece, in the sa- 
 cred war she is waging for the tombs of her illustrious dead. 
 No : of our Great Fathers we may say with truth, what was 
 said of the Romans in their golden age ; " with them the Re- 
 " public was in all ; for that alone they consulted ; the only 
 " faction they formed was against the common enemy : their 
 " minds, their bodies were exerted sincerely, and greatly and 
 " nobly exerted, not for personal power, but for the liberties 
 " the honor, the glory of their country." May the time nev- 
 er come, when an allusion to their virtues can give any other 
 feelings than those of pleasure and pride to their descen- 
 dants. 
 
 Having in this imperfect manner, fellow-citizens, touched 
 rather than traced the incidents by which Mr. Adams was 
 prepared and conducted into the scenes of the Revolution, 
 let us turn to the great luminary of the South. 
 
 Virginia, as you know, had been settled by other causes 
 than those which had peopled Massachusetts ; and the Colo- 
 nists themselves were of a different character. The first at- 
 tempts at settlement in that quarter of the world had been 
 conducted as you remember, under the auspices of the gal- 
 lant Raleigh, that " man of wit and man of the sword," as 
 Sir Edward Coke tauntingly called him, and certainly one of 
 the brightest flowers in the courts of Elizabeth and James. — 
 He did not live to make a permanent establishment in Vir- 
 ginia ; but, his genius seems, nevertheless, to have presided 
 over the State, and to have stamped his own character on her 
 distinguished sons. Virginia had experienced none of those 
 early and long continued conflicts which had contributed to 
 form the robust character of the North ; on the contrary, du- 
 ring the century that Massachusetts had been buffeting with 
 the slorm, Virginia, resting on a halcyon sea, had been culti- 
 vating the graces of science, and literature, and the genial el- 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 395 
 
 egancies of social life. But, her moral and intellectual char- 
 acter was not less firm and vigorous than that of her Northern 
 sister : for the invader came, and Athens as well as Sparta, 
 was found ready to do her duty, and to do it too, bravely, 
 ably, heroically. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Jefferson's appearance, the society of 
 Virginia was much diversified, and reflected, pretty distinctly, 
 an image of that of England. There was first, the landed 
 aristocracy, shadowing forth the order of English nobility : 
 then the sturdy yeomanry, common to them both ; and last, 
 aycEcw/wm of beings, as they were called by Mr. Jefferson, 
 corresponding with the mass of the English plebeians. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, by birth, belonged to the aristocracy : but, 
 the idle and voluptuous life which marked that order had no 
 charms for a mind like his. He relished better the strong, 
 unsophisticated, and racy character of the yeomanry, and 
 attached himself, of choice, to that body. Born to an inher- 
 itance, then deemed immense, and with a decided taste for 
 literature and science, it would not have been surprising if he 
 had devoted himself, exclusively, to the luxury of his studies, 
 and left the toils and the hazards of public action to others. — 
 But he was naturally ardent, and fond of action, and of ac- 
 tion too, on a great scale ; and, so readily did he kindle in the 
 feelings that were playing around him, that he could no more 
 have stood still while his country was agitated, than the war 
 horse can sleep under the sound of the trumpet. 
 
 He was a republican and a philanthropist from the earliest 
 dawn of his ch iracter. He read with a sort of poetic illusion, 
 which indentified him with every scene that his author spread 
 before him. Enraptured with the brighter ages of republi- 
 can Greece and Rome, he had followed, with an aching heart, 
 the march of history which had told him of the desolation of 
 those fairest portions of the earth ; and had seen, with dismay 
 and indignation, that swarm of monarchies, the progeny of 
 the Scandinavian hive, under which genius and liberty were 
 
 now every where crushed. He loved his own country with 
 
 51 
 
y96 EULOGIES ON 
 
 a passion not less intense, deep, and holy, than that of his 
 great corn-patriot : and with this love, he combined an ex- 
 panded philanthropy which encircled the globe. From the 
 working of the strong energies within him, there arose an 
 early vision, too, which cheered his youth and accompanied 
 him through life — the vision of emancipated man throughout 
 the world. Nor was this a dream of the morning that pass- 
 ed awray and was forgotten. On the contrary, like the 
 Heaven-descended banner of Constantine, he hailed it as an 
 omen of certain victory, and girded his loins for the onset, 
 with the omnipotence oftruth. 
 
 On his early studies we have already touched. The study 
 of the law he pursued under George Wythe ; a man of Ro- 
 man stamp, in Rome's best age. Here he acquired that un- 
 rivaled neatness, system, and method in business, which, 
 through all his future life, and in every otfice that he filled, 
 gave him, in effect, the hundred hands of Briareus ; here, too, 
 following the giant step of his master, he travelled the whole 
 round of the civil and common law. From the same exam- 
 ple, he caught that untiring- spirit of investigation which nev- 
 er left a subiect till he had searched it to the bottom, and of 
 which we have so noble a specimen in his correspondence 
 with Mr. Hammond, oa the subject of British debts. In 
 short, Mr. Wythe performed for him, what Jeremiah Grid- 
 ley had done for Mr. Adams ; he placed on his head the 
 crown of legal preparation : and well did it become him. — 
 Permit me, here, to correct an error which seems to have pre- 
 vailed. It has been thought that Mr. Jefferson made no fig- 
 ure at the bar : but the case was far otherwise. There are 
 «till extant, in his own fair and neat hand, in the manner of 
 his master, a number of arguments which were delivered by 
 him at the bar upon some of the most intricate questions of 
 the law ; which, if they shall ever see the light will vindicate 
 hi:> claim to the first honors of the profession. It is true he 
 was not distinguisVed in popular debate ; why he was not so. 
 has ofien been matter of surprise to those who have seen hi* 
 
AJ)AMS AND JEFFERSON. 397 
 
 eloquence on paper and heard it in conversation. He had all 
 the attributes of the mind, and the heart and the soul, which 
 are essential to eloquence of the highest order. The only de- 
 fect was a physical one ; he wanted volume and compass of 
 voice for a large deliberative assembly ; and his voice, from 
 the excess of his sensibilty, instead of rising with his feelings 
 and conceptions, sunk under their pressure, and became gut- 
 tural and inarticulate. The consciousness of this infirmity 
 repressed any attempt in a large body in which he knew he 
 must fail. But h s voice was all suriicient for the purposes of 
 judicial debate ; and there is no reason to doubt that, if the 
 service of his country had not called him away so soon from 
 his profession, his fame as a lawyer would now have stood up- 
 on the same distinguished ground which he confessedly occu- 
 pies as a statesman, an author, and a scholar. 
 
 It was not until 1764, when the Parliament of Great Brit- 
 ain passed its resolutions preparatory to the stamp act, that 
 Virginia seems to have been thoroughly startled from her re- 
 pose. Her Legislature was then in session ; and her patri- 
 ots, taking the alarm, remonstrated promptly and firmly 
 against this assumed power. The remonstrance, however, 
 was, as usual, disregarded, and the stamp act came. But it 
 came to meet, on the floor of the House, an unlooked-for 
 champion, whom Heaven had just raised up for the good of his 
 country and of mankind. I speak of that untutored child of 
 nature, Patrick Henry, who had now, for the first time, left 
 his native forests to show the metal of which he was made, 
 and " give the world assurance of a man." 
 
 The assembly met in the city of Williamsburg, where Mr. 
 Jefferson was still pursuing the study of the law. Mr. Hen- 
 ry's celebrated resolutions against the stamp act were intro- 
 duced in May, 1765. How they were resisted, and how 
 maintained, has been already stated to the world, in terms 
 that have been pronounced extravagant, by those who mod- 
 estly consider themselves as furnishing a fair standard of Rev- 
 olutionary excellence. The coldest glow-worm in the 
 
398 EULOGIES ON 
 
 hedge, is about as fair a standard of the power of the sun. — 
 To the present purpose, it is only necessary to remark, that 
 Mr. Jefferson was present at this debate, and has left us an 
 account of it, in his own words. He was then he says, but a 
 student, and stood in the door of communication between the 
 House and the lobby, where he heard the whole of this mag- 
 nificent debate. The opposition to the last resolution was 
 most vehement ; the debate upon it, to use his own strong lan- 
 guage, " most bloody :" but he adds, torrents of sublime elo- 
 oqueuce from Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of John- 
 son, prevailed ; and the resolution was carried by a single 
 vote, I well remember, he continues, the cry of " treason," 
 by the Speaker, echoed from every part of the House, against 
 Mr. Henry : I well remember his pause, and the admirable 
 address with which he recovered himself and baffled the 
 charge thus vociferated. 
 
 He here alludes, as you must perceive, to that memorable 
 exclamation of Mr. Henry, now become almost too familiar 
 for quotation : " Cassar had his Brutus, Charles the First his 
 " Cromwell, and George the Third (" Treason i" cried the 
 " Speaker. " Treason ! treason !" echoed the House ; ) — 
 " may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the 
 " most of it." 
 
 While I am presenting to you this picture of Mr. Jefferson 
 in his youth, listening to the almost super-human eloquence 
 of Henry on the great subject which formed the hinge of the 
 American Revolution, are you not forcibly reminded of the 
 parallel scene which had passed only four years before, in the 
 Hall of Justice in Boston : Mr. Adams catching from Otis, 
 " the breath of life ?" How close the parallel, and how ii:ter- 
 esting the incident! Who can think of these two young men, 
 destined themselves to make so great afigure in the future his- 
 tory of their country, thus lighting the fires of their own genius 
 at the altars of Henry and of Otis, without being reminded of 
 another picture, which has been exhibited to us by an histori- 
 an of Rome: The younger Scipio Africanus, then in his 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 399 
 
 military noviciate, standing a youthful spectator on a bilinear 
 Carthage, and looking down upon the battle-field on which 
 those veteran generals, Hamilcar and Massanissa, were dri- 
 ving, with so much glory, the car of war ! Whether Otis or 
 Henvy Jirst breathed into this nation the breath of life, (a 
 question merely for curious and friendly speculation,) it 
 is very certain that they breathed into their two young hear- 
 ers, that breath which has made them both immortal. 
 
 From this day, forth, Mr. JetTerson, young as he was, stood 
 forward as a champion for his country. It was now in the fire 
 of his youth, that he adopted those mottos for his seals, so 
 well remembered in Virginia : " Ab eo liber tas, a quo spir- 
 itus," and " Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." He 
 joined the band of the brave who were for the boldest meas- 
 ures : and by the light, the contagious spirit and vigor of his 
 conversation, as well as by his enchanting and powerful pen, 
 he contributed eminently to lift Virginia to that height which 
 placed her by the side of her Northern sister. It is an histor- 
 ical fact well known to us all, that these two great States, 
 then by far the most populous and powerful in the Union, 
 led off, as it was natural and fit that they should do, all the 
 strong measures that ended in the Declaration of Indepen- 
 dence. Together, and stroke for stroke, they breasted the 
 angry surge, and threw it aside " with hearts of controversy," 
 until they reached that shore from which we now look back 
 with so much pride and triumph. 
 
 It was in his thirtieth year, as you remember, that Mr. Ad- 
 ams gave to the world his first great work, the Dissertation 
 on the Canon and Feudal Law ; and it was about the same 
 period of his life, that Mr. JelFerson produced his first great 
 political work, " A Summary View of the Rights of British 
 America." The history of this work is somewhat curious 
 and interesting, and I give it to you on the authority of Mr. 
 Jefferson hiuiself. He had been elected a member of that 
 State Convention of Virginia which, in August, 1774, appoin- 
 ted the first Delegates to the Continental Congress. Arrest- 
 
400 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ed bj sickness on his way to Williamsbjirg, he sent forward, 
 to be laid on the table, a draught of instructions to the Del- 
 egates whom Virginia should send. This was read by the 
 members, and Mc^ published it, under the title of "A Sum- 
 mary View of the Rights of British America." A copy of this 
 work having found its way to England, it received from the pen 
 of the celebrated Burke such alterations as adapted it to the 
 purposes of the opposition there, and it there re-appeared in 
 a new edition ; an honor which, as Mr. Jefierso'n afterwards 
 learned, occasioned the insertion of his name in a bill of at- 
 tainder, which, however, never saw the light. So far Mr. 
 Jefferson. Let me add, that the old inhabitants of Williams- 
 burg, a few years back, well remembered the effect of that 
 work on Lord Dunmore, then the royal Governor of the 
 State. His fury broke out in the most indecent and unmiti- 
 gated language. Mr. Jefferson's name was marked high on 
 his list of proscription, and the victnn was only reprieved 
 until the rebellion should be crushed ; but that rebellion be- 
 came revolution, and the high priest of the meditated sacrifice 
 was sent to howl his disappointment to the hills and winds of 
 his native Scotland. 
 
 In the next year, 1775, Mr. Jefferson, young as he was, 
 was singled out by the Virginian Legislature, to answer Lord 
 North's famous " conciliatory proposition," called, in the lan- 
 guage of the day, his " olive branch." But it was an olive 
 branch that hid the guileful serpent, or, in the language of Mr. 
 Adams, " it was an asp in a basket of flowers." The answer 
 stands upon the records of the country. Cool, calm, close, 
 full of compressed energy and keen sagacity ; while, at the 
 same time it preserves the most perfect decorum, it is one of 
 the most nervous and manly productions even of that age of 
 men. 
 
 The second Congress met on the 10th of May, 1775. Mr. 
 Adams was, of course, again, a member. Mr. Jefferson hav- 
 ing been deputed, contijigently, (to supply the place of Pey- 
 ton Randolph,) did not take his seat at the commencement of 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 401 
 
 the session. Of the political works of this Congress, as well 
 as of the preceding, their petitions, memorials, remonstran- 
 ces, to the Throne, to the Parliament, to the People of Eng- 
 land, of Ireland, and of Canada, I have forborne to speak, be- 
 cause they are familiar to you all. Let it suffice to say, that, 
 in the estimation of so great a judge as Lord Chatham, they 
 were such as had never been surpassed even in the master 
 States of the world, in ancient Greece and Rome; and, al- 
 though they produced no good effect on the unhappy monarch 
 of Britain ; though Pharaoh's heart was hardened so that they 
 moved not him, they moved all heaven and all earth besides, 
 and opened a passage for our fathers through the great deep. 
 
 The plot of the awful drama now began to thicken. The 
 sword had been drawn. The battles of Lexington and Con- 
 cord had been fought ; and Warren, the rose of American 
 chivalry, had been cut down, in his bloom, on that hill which 
 his death has hallowed. The blood which had been shed in 
 Massachusetts cried from the ground in every quarter of the 
 Union. Congress heard that cry, and resolved on war. 
 Troops were ordered to be raised. A Commander-in-Chief 
 came to be appointed, and General Ward of Massachusetts 
 was put in nomination. Here we have an incident in the life 
 of Mr. Adams most strikingly characteristic of the man. Giv- 
 ing to the winds all local prepossessions, and looking only to 
 the cause that filled his soul, the cause of his country, he 
 prompted and sustained the nomination of that patriot hero 
 whom the Almighty, in his goodness, had formed for the occa- 
 sion. W^ashington was elected, and the choice was ratified 
 in Heaven. He accepted his commission on the very day on 
 which the soul of Warren winged its flight from Bunker Hill, 
 and well did he avenge the death of that youthful hero. 
 
 Five days after General Washington's appointment, Mr. 
 Jefferson, for the first time, took his seat as a member of Con- 
 gress ; and here, for the first time, met the two illustrious men 
 whom we are endeavouring to commemorate. They met, and 
 
402 EULOGIES ON 
 
 at once became friends — to part no more, but for a short sea- 
 son, and then to be rc-united, both for time and eternity. 
 
 There was now open war between Great Britain and her 
 colonies. Yet the latter looked no farther than resistance to 
 the specific power of the parent country to tax them at plea- 
 sure. A dissolution of the union had not yet been contem- 
 plated, either by Congress or the nation ; and many of those 
 who had voted for the war, would have voted, and did after- 
 wards vote, against that dissolution. 
 
 Such was the state of things under which the Congress of 
 1776 assembled, when Adams and Jefferson again met. It 
 was, as you know, in this Congress, that the question of Amer- 
 ican Independence came, for the first time, to be discussed ; 
 and never, certainly, has a more momentous question been 
 discussed in any age or in any country ; for, it was fraught, 
 not only with the destinies of this wide extended continent, 
 but, as the event has shown, and is still showing, with the des- 
 tinies of man, all over the world. 
 
 How fearful that question then was, no one can tell but 
 those who forgetting all that has since past, can transport 
 themselves back to the time, and plant their feet on the 
 ground which those patriots then occupied. " Shadows, 
 clouds, and darkness" then covered all the future, and the pres- 
 ent was full only of danger and terror. A more unequal con- 
 test never was proposed. It was, indeed, as it was thens aid 
 to be, the shepherd boy of Israel going forth to battle against 
 the giant of Gath ; and there were yet among us, enough to 
 tremble when they heard that giant say, " Come to me, and I 
 will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the 
 field." But, there were those who never trembled — who 
 knew that there was a God in Israel, and who were willing to 
 commit their cause " to his even-handed justice," and his Al- 
 mighty power. That their great trust was in Him, is mani- 
 fest from the remarks that were continually breaking from the 
 lips of the patriots. Thus, the patriot Hawley, when pressed 
 upon the inequality of the contest, couid only answer, " We 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 493 
 
 must put to sea — Providence will bring us into port ;" and 
 Patrick Henry, when urged upon the same topic, exclaimed, 
 " True, true ; but there is a God above, who rules and over- 
 rules the destinies of nations." 
 
 Amid this appalling array that surrounded them, the first to 
 enter the breach, sword in hand, was John Adams — the vision 
 of his youth at his heart, and his country in e\ery nerve. On 
 the sixth of May, he otTered, in committt e oi ihe whole, the 
 significant resolution, that the colonies should form govern- 
 ments independent of the crown. This was the harbinger of 
 more important measures, and seems to have been put for- 
 ward to feel the pulse of the House. The resolution, alter a 
 bloody struggle, was adopted on the 15th day of May follow- 
 ing. On the 7th of June, by previous concert, Richard 
 Henry Lee moved the great resolution of lndej)endence, and 
 was seconded by John Adams ; and " then came the tug of 
 war." The debate upon it was continued from the 7th to 
 the 10th, when the further consideration of it was postponed 
 to the 1st of July, and at the same time a committee of five 
 was appointed to prepare, provisionally, a draught of a De- 
 claration of Independence. At the head of this important 
 committee, which was then appointed by a vote of the 
 House, although he was probably the youngest member, and 
 one of the youngest men in the House, (for he had served on- 
 ly part of the former session, and was but thirty-two jears of 
 age,) stands the name of Thomas Jefferson — Mr. Adanls 
 :stands next. And these two gentlemen having been deputed 
 a sub-committee to prepare the draught, that draught, at Mr. 
 Adams' earnest importunity, was prepared by his more youth- 
 ful friend. Of this transaction Mr. Adams is himself the his- 
 torian, and the authorship of the Declaration, though once 
 disputed, is thus placed forever beyo:id the reach of question. 
 
 The final debate on the resolution was postponed, as we 
 
 have seen, for nearly a month. In the mean time, all who 
 
 are conversant with the course of action of all deliberative 
 
 bodies, know how much is done by conversation among the 
 
 members. It is not often, indeed, that proselytes are made 
 
 52 
 
404 EULOGIES ON 
 
 on great questions by public debate. On such questions, 
 opinions are far more frequently forntetl in private, and so 
 formed that debate is seldom known to change them. Hence 
 the value of the out-of-door talent of chamber consultation, 
 where objections candidly stated are candidly, calmly, and 
 mildly discussed ; where neither pride, nor shame, nor anger, 
 take part in the discussion, nor stand in the way of a correct 
 conclusion : but where every thing being conducted frankly, 
 delicately, respectfully, and kindly, the better cause and the 
 better reasoner are almost always sure of success. In this 
 kind of service, as well as in all that depended on the power of 
 composition, Mr. Jefferson was as much a master-magician, 
 as his eloquent friend Adams was in debate. They were, 
 in truth, hemispheres of the same golden globe, and required 
 only to be brought and put tofjether, to prove that they were 
 parts of the same heaven-formed whole. 
 
 On the present occasion, however, much still remained to 
 be effected by debate. The first of July came, and the great 
 debate on the resolution for Independence was resumed, 
 with fresh spirit. The discussion was again protracted for two 
 days, which, in addition to the former three, were sufiicient, in 
 that age, to call out all the speaking talent of the House. 
 Botta, the Italian historian of our Revolution, has made Mr. 
 Dickinson and Mr. Lee the principal speakers on the oppo- 
 site sides of this question ; and availing himself of that dra- 
 matic license of ancient historians, which the fidelity of mod- 
 ern history has exploded, he has drawn, from his own fancy, 
 two orations, which he has put into the mouths of those 
 distinguished men. With no disposition to touch, with a hos- 
 tile hand, one leaf of the well-earned laurels of Mr. Lee, 
 (which every American would feel far more pleasure in con- 
 tributing to brighten and to cherish,) and with no feelings but 
 those of reverence and gratitude for the memory of the other 
 great patriots who assisted in that debate, may we not sa} , 
 and are we not bound injustice to say, that Botta is mistaken 
 in the relative prominency of one, at least, of his prolocutors ? 
 Mr. Jefferson has told us that " the Colossus of that Congress 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 405 
 
 '^^ — the great pillar of support to the Declaration of Indepen- 
 " dence, and its ahlest advocate and champion on the floor of 
 " the House, was John Adams." How he supported it, can 
 now be only matter of imagination : for, the debate was con- 
 ducted with closed doors, and there was no reporter on the 
 floor to catch the strains hving as they rose. I will not at- 
 tempt what Mr. Adams himself, if he were alive, could not ac^ 
 complish. He might recall the topics of argument : but with 
 regard to those flashes of inspiration, those bursts of passion, 
 which grew out of the awful feelings of the moment, they are 
 gone for ever, with the reality of the occasion : and the happi- 
 est effort of fancy to supply their place, (by me, at least,) 
 would bear no better resemblance to the original, than the 
 petty cripitations of an artiflcial volcano, to the sublime ex- 
 plosions of thundering ^tna. Waiving, therefore, the exam- 
 ple of Botta, let it suffice for us to know that in that moment of 
 dirkness, of terror, and of consternation, when the election 
 was to be made between an attempt at liberty and Indepen- 
 dence on the one hand, and defeat, subjugation, and death, on 
 the other, the courage of Adams, in the true spirit of he- 
 roism, rose in proportion to the dangers that pressed around 
 him ; and that he poured forth that only genuine eloquence, 
 the eloquence of the soul, which, in the language of Mr, Jef- 
 ferson, " moved his hearers from their seats." The objec- 
 tions of his adversaries were seen no longer but in a state of 
 wreck ; floating, in broken fragments, on the billows of the 
 storm : and over rocks, over breakers, and amid ingulphing 
 whirlpools, that every where surrounded him, he brought the 
 gallant ship of the nation safe into port. 
 
 It was on the evening of the day on which this great victory 
 was achieved, (before which, in moral grandeur, the trophies 
 of Marengo and the Nile fade away,) and while his mind was 
 yet rolling with the agitation of the recent tempest, that he 
 wrote that letter to the venerable partner of his bosom, which 
 has now become matter of history •, in which after announcing 
 the adoption of the resolution, he foretells the future glories 
 of his country, and the honors with which the returning anni- 
 
406 EULOGIES ON 
 
 vcf-ary of her Declaration of Independence would be hailed, 
 till time should be no more. That which strikes us on the 
 first j-ernsal of this letter, is, tlie prophetic character with 
 which it is stamped, and the exactness with which its predic- 
 tions have been fulfilled. But, his bingraj.her will remark in 
 it another character : the deep political calculation of results, 
 through which the mind of the writer, according to its habit, 
 had flashed ; and the firm and undoubting confidence with 
 which, in spite of those appearances that alarmed and misled 
 weake- minds, he looked to the triumphant close of the 
 struggle. 
 
 The resolution having been carried, the draught of the 
 Declaration came to be exammed in detail ; and, so faultless 
 had it issued from the hands of its author, that it was adopted 
 as he had prepared it, pruned only of a few of its brightest 
 inherent beauties, through a prudent deference to some of 
 the States. It was adopted about noon of the Fourth, and 
 proclaimed to an exulting nation, on the evening of the same 
 day. 
 
 That brave and animated band who signed it — where are 
 they now ? What heart does not sink at the question ? One 
 only survives: Cn/iULES Carroll, ofCarrollton — a noble 
 specimen of the age that has gone by, and now the single ob- 
 ject of that a^e. on whoii the veneration and prayers of his 
 country are concentrated. The rest have bequeathed to us 
 the immortal record of iheW virtue and patriotism, and have 
 ascended to a brighter reward than man can confer. 
 
 Of that instrument to which you listen with reverence on 
 every returning anniversary of its adoption, " which forms the 
 ornanent of our halls, and the first political lesson of our chil- 
 dren," it is needless to speak. You know that in its origin 
 and object, it was a statement of the causes which had com- 
 pelled our Fathers to separate themselves from Great Brit- 
 ain, and to declare these States free and independent. It 
 was the voice of the American Nation addressing herself to 
 the other Nations of the Earth : and the address is, in all res- 
 pects, worthy of this noble personification. It is the great 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 407 
 
 argument of America in vindication of her course ; and as Mr. 
 Adams had been the Colossus of the cause on the floor of 
 Congress, his illustrious friend, the author of this instrument, 
 may well be pronounced to have been its Colossus on the 
 theatre of the World. 
 
 The decisive step which fixed the destiny of the nation had 
 now been taken : and that step was irrevocable. " The die 
 was now indeed, cast. The Rubicon had been crossed," 
 etTectually, finally, for ever. There was no return but to 
 chains, to slavery, and death. No such backward step 
 was meditated by the firm hearts that led on the march of the 
 nation : but, confiding in the justice of Heaven, and the final 
 triumph of truth, they moved forward in solid phalanx, and 
 with martial step, regardless of the tempest that was breaking 
 around them. 
 
 Their confidence in the favor and protection of Heaven, 
 however, strong and unshaken as it was, did not dispose them 
 to relax their own exertions, nor to neglect the earthly means 
 of securing their triumph. They were not of the number of 
 those who call upon Hercules, and put not their own shoul- 
 ders to the wheel. Our adversary was one of the most pow- 
 erful nations on earth. Our whole strength consisted of a 
 few stout hearts and a good cause. But, we were wofully defi- 
 cient in all the sinews of war : we wanted men, we wanted 
 arms, we wanted money ; and these could be procured only 
 from abroad. But the intervening ocean was covered with 
 the fleets of the enemy ; and the patriot Laurens, one of their 
 captives, was already a prisoner in the Tower of London. — 
 Who was there to undertake this perilous service ? He who 
 was ever ready to peril any service in the cause of his coun- 
 try : John Adams. Congress knew their man, and did not 
 hesitate on the choice. Appointed a minister to France, he 
 promptly obeyed the sacred call, and, with a brave and fear- 
 less heart, he ran the gauntlet through the hostile fleet, and 
 arrived in safety. Passing from Court to Court, he pleaded 
 the cause of his country with all the resistless energy of 
 truth ; and availing himself, adroitly, of the selfish passions 
 
40B EULOGIES ON 
 
 and interests of those Courts, he ceased not to ply his efforts, 
 with matchless dexterity, until the objects of his mission were 
 completely attained. With the exception of one short inter- 
 val of a return home, in ''19, when he aided in giving form to 
 the Constitution of his native State, he remained abroad, in 
 France, in Holland — wherever he could be most useful — in 
 the strenuous, faithful and successful service of his country, 
 receiving repeated votes of thanks from Congress, till the 
 storm was over, and peace and liberty came to crown his feli- 
 city, and realize the cherished vision of his youth. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, meanwhile, was not less strenuously and 
 successfully engaged at home, in forwarding and confirming 
 the great objects of the Revolution, and making it a revolution 
 of mind, as well as of government. Marking, with that saga- 
 city which distinguished him, the series of inventions by 
 which tyranny had contrived to tutor the mind to subjection, 
 and educate it in habits of servile subordination, he pro- 
 ceeded, in Virginia, with the aid of Pendleton and Wythe, to 
 break off the manacles, one by one, and deliver the impris- 
 oned intellect from this debasing sorcery. The law of en- 
 tails, that feudal contrivance to foster and nourish a vicious 
 aristocracy at the expense of the community, had, at a previ- 
 ous period, been broken up, on their suggestion ; and property 
 was left to circulate freely, and impart health and vigor to the 
 operations of society. The law of primogeniture, that other 
 feudal contrivance to create and keep up an artificial inequal- 
 ity among men whom their Creator had made equal, was now 
 repealed, and the parent and his children were restored to 
 their natural relation. And, above all, that daring usurpa- 
 tion on the rights of the Creator, as well as the creature, 
 which presumes to dictate to man what he shall believe, and 
 in what form he shall offer the worship of his heart, and this, 
 too, for the vile purpose of strengthening the hands of a tem- 
 poral tyrant, by feeding and pampering the tools of his pow- 
 er, was indignantly demolished, and the soul was restored to 
 its free communion with the God who gave it. 
 
 The preamble to the bill establishing religious freedom in 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 409 
 
 Virginia, is one of the most morally sublime of human pro- 
 ductions. By its great author it was always esteemed as one 
 of his happiest efforts, and the measure itself one of his best 
 services, as the short and modest epitaph left by him attests. 
 Higher praise cannot and need not be given to it, than to say, 
 it is in all respects worthy of the pen which wrote the Decla- 
 ration of Independence : that it breathes the same lofty and 
 noble spirit ; and is a lit companion for that immortal instru- 
 ment. 
 
 The legislative enactments that have been mentioned, form 
 a small part, only, of an entire revision of the laws of Vir- 
 ginia. The collection of bills passed by these great men, 
 (one hundred and twenty-six in number,) presents a system 
 of jurisprudence, so comprehensive, profound, and beautiful, 
 so perfectly, so happily adapted to the new state of things, 
 that, if its authors had never done any thing else, impartial 
 history would have assigned them a place by the side of Solon 
 and Lycurgus. 
 
 In 1779, Mr. Jefferson was called to assume the helm 
 of government in Virginia, in succession to Patrick Henry. — 
 He took that helm, at the moment when war, for the first 
 time, had entered the limits of the Commonwealth. With 
 what strength, fidelity and ability he held it, under the most 
 trying circumstances, the highest testimonials now stand on 
 the journals of Congress, as well as those of Virginia. It is 
 true that a poor attempt was made, in after times, to wound 
 the honor of his administration. But he bore a charmed char- 
 acter ; and this, like every other blow that has ever been 
 aimed at it, only recoiled to crush his accuser, and to leave 
 him the brighter and stronger for the assault. 
 
 In 1781, his alert and active mind, which watched the ris- 
 ing character of his new-born country, with all the jealous 
 vigilance of an anxius father, found a new occasion to call 
 him into the intellectual field. Our country was yet but im- 
 perfectly known in Europe. It? face, its soil, its physical ca- 
 pacities, its animals, and even the men who inhabited it, were 
 so little known, as to have furnished to philosophers abroad a 
 
i\0 EULOGIES ON 
 
 theme of unfounded and degrading speculation. Those vis- 
 ionaries, dreanning over theories which they wanted the 
 means or the inchnation to confront w ith facts, had advan- 
 ced, among others, the fantastic notion that even man degen- 
 erated by transplantation to America. To refute this inso- 
 lent position, and to place his country before Europe and the 
 world on the elevated ground she was entitled to hold, the 
 Notes on Virginia were prepared and published. He there 
 pointed to Washington, to Franklin, and to Rittenhouse, as 
 being alone sufficient to exterminate this heresy ; and we 
 may now point to Jefferson and to Adams, as sufficient to an- 
 nihilate it. This pure and proud offering on the altar of his 
 country, " The Notes on Virginia," honored its author 
 abroad not less than at home; and when shortly afterwards, 
 the public service called him to Europe, it gave him a prompt 
 and distinguished passport into the highest circles of science 
 and literature. 
 
 Thus actively and usefully employed in guarding the fame, 
 and advancing the honor and happiness of his country, the 
 war of the Revolution came to its close; and, on the 19th of 
 October, 1781, of which this day is the anniversary, Great Bri- 
 tain bowed to the ascendency of our cause. Her last effec- 
 tive army struck her standard on the heights of York, and 
 peace and independence came to bless our land. 
 
 Mr. Adams was still abroad when this great consummation 
 of his early hopes took place : and, although the war was over, 
 a difficult task still remained to be performed. The terms of 
 peace were yet to be arranged, and to be arranged under cir- 
 cumstances of the most complicated embarrassment. That 
 the acknowledgment of our independence was to be its first 
 and indispensable condition, was well understood ; and Mr. 
 Adams, then at the Hague, with that decision which always 
 marked his character, refused to leave his post and take part 
 in the negociation at Paris, until the powers of the British 
 commissioner should be so enlarged as to authorize him to 
 make that acknowledgment unequivocally. I will not detain 
 you by a rehearsal of what you so well know, the difficulties 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 31 1 
 
 and intricacies by which this negociation was protracted. 
 Suffice it to say, that the firmness and skill of the American 
 Commissioners triumphed on every point. The tiiaty of 
 peace was executed ; and the last seal was thus put to the 
 independence of these States. 
 
 Thus closed the great drama of the American Revolution. 
 And here for a moment let us pause. If the services of our 
 departed fathers had closed at this point, as it did with many of 
 their compatriots — with too many, if the wishes and prayers 
 of their country could have averted it — what obligations, what 
 honors, should we not owe to their memories ! What would 
 not the world owe to them ! But, as if they had not already 
 done enough, as if, indeed, they had done nothing, while any 
 thing yet remained to be done, they were ready with renova- 
 ted youth and elastic step, to take a new start in the career of 
 their emancipated country. 
 
 The Federal Constitution was adopted, and a new leaf was 
 turned in the history of man. With what characters the page 
 should be inscribed — whether it should open a great asra of 
 permanent good to the human family, or pass away like a por- 
 tent of direful evil, was now to depend on the wisdom and 
 virtue of America. At this time our two great patriots were 
 both abroad in the public service: Mr. Adams in England, 
 where, in 1 787, he refuted, by his great work " The Defence 
 of the American Constitutions," the wild theories of Turgot, 
 De Mably, and Price ; and Mr. JefTerson in France, where he 
 was presenting in hi? own person a living and splendid refu- 
 tation of the notion of degeneracy in the American man. On 
 the adoption of the Federal Constitution, they were both call- 
 ed home, to lend the weight of their character and talents 
 to this new and momentous experiment on the capacity of 
 man for self-government. Mr. Adams was called to fill the 
 second office under the new Government, the first having 
 been justly conferred by the rule " detfr fortiori ;" and Mr. 
 •Jefferson, to take the direction of the highest Executive De- 
 partment. The office of Vice President afforded, as you are 
 aware, no scope for the public display of talent. But the 
 
 53 
 
412 EULOGIES ON 
 
 leisure which it allowed, enabled Mr. Adams to pour ouf, 
 from his full-fraught mind, another great political work, his 
 Discourses on Davilla ; and, while he presided over the Se- 
 nate with unexceptionable dignity and propriety. President 
 Washington always found in him an able and honest adviser, 
 in whom his confidence was implicit and unbounded. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson had a theatre that called for action. The 
 Department of State was now, for the first time to be organi- 
 zed. Its operations were all to be moulded into system, and 
 an intellectual character was to be given to it, as well as the 
 Government to which it belonged, before this nation and be- 
 fore the world. The frequent calls made by Congress for re- 
 ports on the most abtruse questions of science connected with 
 Government, and on those vast and novel and multifarious 
 subjects of political economy, peculiar to this wide extend- 
 ed and diversified continent : discussions with the ministers of 
 foreign Governments, more especially with those of Franceand 
 England and Spain, on those great and agitating questions of 
 international law, which were then continually arising ; and 
 instructions to our own Ministers abroad, resident at the 
 Courts of the great belligerent powers, and who had conse- 
 quently the most delicate and discordant interests to manage : 
 presented a series of labors for the mind, which few, very few 
 men in this or any other country could have sustained with 
 reputation. How Mr. Jefferson acquitted himself you all 
 know. It is one of the peculiarities of his character to have 
 discharged the duties of every office to which he was called, 
 with such exact, appropriate, and felicitous ability, that he 
 seemed, for the time, to have been born for that alone. As 
 an evidence of the unanimous admiration of the matchless 
 skill and talent with which he discharged the duties of this of- 
 fice, I hope it may be mentioned, without awaking any asper- 
 ity of feeling, that when, at a subsequent period, he was put 
 in nomination by his friends for the office of President, his 
 adversaries publicly ob;ected — " that Nature had made him- 
 only for a Secretary of State." 
 President Washington having set the great example, which 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 41J 
 
 has ingrafted on the Constitution as firmly as if it had formed 
 one of its express provisions, the principle of retiring from 
 the office of President at the end of eight years, Mr. Adams 
 succeeded him, and Mr. Jeiferson followed Mr. Adams in 
 the office of Vice President. 
 
 Mr. Adams came into the office of President at a time of 
 great commotion, produced chiefly by the progress of the rev- 
 olution in France, and those strong sympathies which it nat- 
 urally generated here. The spirit of party was high, and in 
 the feverish excitement of the day much was said and done, 
 on both sides, which the voice of impartial history, if it shall 
 descend to such details, will unquestionably condemn, and 
 which the candid and the good on both sides lived, themselves, 
 to regret. One incident I will mention, because it is equally 
 honorable to both the great men whom we are uniting in these 
 obsequies. In Virginia, where the opposition ran high, the 
 younger politicians of the day, taking their tone from the pub- 
 lic Journals, have, on more occasions than one, in the pre- 
 sence of Mr. JetTerson, imputed to Mr. Adams a concealed 
 design to sap the foundations of the Republic, and to supply 
 its place with a Monarchy, on the British model. The uni- 
 form answer of Mr. JetTerson to this charge will never be for- 
 gotten by those who have heard it, and of whom (as I have 
 recently had occasion to prove) there are many still living, be- 
 sides the humble individual who is now addressing you. It 
 was this : " Gentlemen, you do not know that man : there is 
 " not upon this earth a more perfectly honest man than John 
 "Adams. Concealment is no part of his character ; of that 
 "he is utterly incapable : it is not in his nature to meditate 
 " any thing that he would not publish to the world. The 
 " measures of the General Government are a fair subject for 
 "ditference of opinion. But do not found your opinions on 
 " the notion, that there is the smallest spice of dishonesty, 
 " moral or political, in the character of John Adams : for, I 
 " know him well., and I repeat it, that a man more perfectly 
 "honest never issued from the hands of his Creator." And 
 
411 EULOGIES ON 
 
 such is now, and has long been, the unanimous opinion of hie 
 countrymen. 
 
 Of the measures adopted during his administration you do 
 not expect me to speak. I should offend against your own 
 sense of propriety, were I to attempt it. We are here, to 
 mingle together over the grave of the departed patriot, our 
 feelings of reverence and gratitude for services whose merit 
 we all acknowledge : and cold must be the heart which does 
 not see and feel, in his life, enough to admire and to love, with- 
 out striking one string that could produce one unhallowed 
 note. History and biography will do ample justice to every 
 part of his character, public and private ; and impartial pos- 
 terity will correct whatever errors of opinion may have been 
 committed to his prejudice by his cotemporaries. Let it suf- 
 fice for us, at this time, to know, that he administered the Gov- 
 ernment with a pure, and honest, and upright heart ; and that 
 whatever he advised, flowed from the master passion of his 
 breast, a holy and all-absorbing love for the happiness and 
 honor of his country. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, holding the Vice Presidency, did not leave 
 even that negative office, as, indeed, he never left any other, 
 without marking its occupancy with some useful and perma- 
 nent vestige. For, it was during this term, that he digested 
 and compiled that able manual which now gives the law of 
 proceeding, not only to the two Houses of Congress, but to all 
 the Legislatures of the States throughout the Union. 
 
 On Mr. Adams' retirement, pursuing the destiny which 
 seems to have tied them together, Mr. Jefferson again follow- 
 ed him in the othce which he had vacated, the Presidency of 
 the United States : and he had the good fortune to find, or to 
 make, a smoother sea. The violence of the party storm 
 gradually abated, and he was soon able to pursue his peaceful 
 course without any material interruption. Having forborne, 
 for the obvious reasons which have been suggested, to touch 
 the particulars of Mr. Adams' administration, the same for- 
 bearance, for the same reasons, must be exercised with regard 
 to Mr. Jefferson. But, forbearing details, it will be no depar- ■■ 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 4 1 5 
 
 ture from this rule to state in general the facts : that Mr. Jef- 
 erson continued at the helm for eight years, the term which 
 the example of Washington had consecrated ; that he so ad- 
 ministered the Government as to meet the admiration and 
 applause of a great majority of his countrymen, as the over- 
 whelming suffrage at his second election attests : that by that 
 majority he was thought to have presented a perfect model of 
 a republican administration, on the true basis, and in the true 
 spirit of the Constitution •, and that, by them the measures of 
 all the succeeding administrations have been continually 
 brought to the standard of Mr. Jefferson's, as to an establish- 
 ed and unquestionable test, and approved or condemned in 
 proportion to their accordance with that standard. These 
 are facts which are known to you all. Another fact 1 will 
 mention, because it redounds so highly to the honor of his 
 magnanimous and patriotic rival. It is this : that that part of 
 Mr. Jefferson's administration, and of his successor treading 
 in his steps, which was most violently opposed, the policy 
 pursued towards the British Government subsequent to 1806, 
 received the open, public, and powerful support of the pen, 
 as well as the tongue, of the great sage of Quincy. The ban- 
 ished Aristides never gave a nobler proof of pure and disin- 
 terested patriotism. It was a genuine emanation from the al- 
 tar of the Revolution, and in perfect accordance with the 
 whole tenor of the life of our illustrious patriot sage. 
 
 Waving all comment on Mr. Jefferson's public measures, 
 there is yet a minor subject, which, standing where we do, 
 there seems to be a peculiar propriety in noticing ; for, small 
 as it is, it is strikingly characteristic of the man, and we have 
 an immediate interest in the subject. It is this : the great 
 objects of national concern, and the great measures which 
 he was continually projecting and executing for the public 
 good, on a new and vast scheme of policy wholly his own, and 
 stamped with all the vigor and grandeur of his Olympic mind, 
 although they were such as would not only have engrossed 
 but overwhelmed almost any other man, did not even give full 
 employment to him ; but with that versatile and restless activ* 
 
416 EULOGIES ON 
 
 ity which was prone to busy itself usefully and efficaciously 
 with all around him, he found time to amuse himself and to 
 gratify his natural taste for the beautiful, by directing and over- 
 looking in person, (as many of you can witness) the improve- 
 ments and ornaments of this city of the nation : and it is to 
 his taste and industry that we owe, among other things which 
 it were needless to enumerate, this beautiful avenue,* which 
 he left in such order as to excite the admiration of all who ap- 
 proached us. 
 
 Having closed his administration, he was followed by the ap- 
 plause, the gratitude, and blessings of his country, into that re- 
 tirement which no man was ever better fitted to grace and en- 
 joy. And from this retirement, together with his precursor, the 
 venerable patriarch of Quincy, could enjoy, that supreme of 
 all earthly happiness, the retrospect of a life well and greatly 
 spent in the service of his country and mankind. The suc- 
 cessful warrior, who has desolated whole empires for his own 
 aggrandizement, the successful usurper of his country's rights 
 and liberties, may have their hours of swelling pride, in which 
 they may look back with a barbarous joy upon the triumph 
 cf their talents, and feast upon the adulation of the sycophants 
 that surround them ; but, night and silence come ; and con- 
 science takes her turn. The bloody field rises upon the 
 startled imagination. The shades of the slaughtered inno- 
 cent stalk, in terrific procession before the couch. The ago- 
 nizing cry of countless widows and orphans invades the ear. 
 The bloody dagger of the assassin plays, in airy terror, before 
 the vision. Violated liberty lifts her avenging lance, and a 
 down-trodden nation rises, before them, in all the majesty of 
 its wrath. What, what are the hours of a splendid wretch 
 like this, compared with those that shed their poppies and 
 their roses upon the pillows of our peaceful and virtuous 
 patriots ! Every night bringing to them the balm and health of 
 repose, and every morning offering to them " their history in 
 
 ♦Pennsylvania Avenue. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 417 
 
 a nation's eyes !" This, this it is to be greatly virtuous : and 
 be this the only ambition that shall ever touch an American 
 bosom ! 
 
 Still unexhausted by such a life of service in the cause of his 
 country, Mr. Jefferson found yet another and most appropriate 
 employment for his old age : the erection of a scat of science 
 in his native State. The University of Virginia is his work. 
 His, the first conception : his, the whole impulse and direc- 
 tion ; his, the varied and beautiful architecture, and the en- 
 tire superintendence of its erection : the whole scheme of its 
 studies, its organization, and government, are his. He is, 
 therefore, indeed the father of the University of Virginia. — 
 That it may fulfil to the full extent, the great and patriotic 
 purposes and hopes of its founder, cannot fail to be the wish of 
 every American bosom. This was the last and crowning la- 
 bor of Mr. Jefferson's life : a crown so poetically appropri- 
 ate, that fancy might well suppose it to have been wreathed 
 and placed on his brow by the hand of the epic muse her- 
 self. 
 
 It is the remark of one of the most elegant writers of anti- 
 quity, in the beautiful essay which he has left us " on Old 
 Age," that " to those who have not within themselves the 
 resources of living well and happily, every age is oppressive ; 
 but that to those who have, nothing is an evil which the neces- 
 sity of nature brings along with it." How rich our two pat- 
 riots were in these interiial resources, you all know. How 
 lightly they bore the burthen of increasing years was appar- 
 ent from the cheerfulness and vigor with which, after having 
 survived the age to which they properly belonged, they con- 
 tinued to live among their posterity. How happy they were 
 in their domestic relations, how beloved by their neighbors 
 and friends, how revered and honored by their country and 
 by the friends of liberty in every quarter of the world, is a 
 matter of open and public notoriety. Their houses were the 
 constant and thronged resort of the votaries of virtue, and sci- 
 ence, and genius, and patriotism, from every portion of the 
 
418 EULOGIES ON 
 
 civilized globe ; and no one ever left them without confess- 
 ing that his highest expectations had been realized, and even 
 surpassed, in the interview. 
 
 Of*' the chief of the Argonauts," as Mr. Jefferson so clas- 
 sically and so happily styled his illustrious friend of the North, 
 it is my misfortune to be able to speak only by report. But 
 every representation concurs, in drawing the same pleasing 
 and affecting picture of the Roman simplicity in which that 
 Father of his Country lived ; of the frank, warm, cordial, and 
 elegant reception that he gave to all who approached him : 
 of the interesting kindness with which he disbursed the gol- 
 den treasures ofhis experience, and shed around him the rays 
 of his descending sun. His conversation was rich in anec- 
 dote and characters of the times that were past ; rich in po- 
 litical and moral instruction ; full of that best of wisdom, 
 which is learnt from real life, and flowing from his heart with 
 that warm and honest frankness, that fervor of feehng and 
 force of diction, which so strikingly distinguished him in the 
 meridian of his life. Many of us heard that simple and touch- 
 ing account given of a parting scene with him, by one of our 
 eloquent divines : When he rose up from that little couch be- 
 hind the door, on which he was wont to rest his aged and 
 M'eary limbs, and with his silver locks hanging on each side of 
 his honest face, stretched forth that pure hand, which was 
 never soiled even by a suspicion, and gave his kind and parting 
 benediction. Such was the bhssful and honored retirement 
 of the sage of Quincy. Happy the life which, verging upon 
 a century, had met with but one serious political disappoint- 
 ment ! and even for that, he had hved to receive a golden 
 atonement, " even in that quarter in which he had gan.ered 
 up his heart." 
 
 Let us now turn for a moment to the patriot of the South. 
 The Roman moralist, in that great w(rk which he has left 
 for the government of man in all the offices of life, has descend- 
 ed even to prescribe the kind of habitation in which an hon- 
 ored and distinguished man should dwell. It should not, he 
 says, be small, and mean, and sordid : nor, on the other hand 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 419 
 
 extended with profuse and wanton extravagance. It should 
 be large enough to receive and accommodate the visiters which 
 such a man never fails to attract, and suited in its Oi-aaments, 
 as well as its dimensions, to the character and fortune oi the in- 
 dividual. Monticello has now lost its great charm. Tiiosie 
 of you who have not already visited it, will not be very a-^t to 
 visit it, hereafter: and, fiomthe feelings which you Gftisnsh 
 for its departed owner, I persuade myself that you wiii not 
 be displeased with a brief and rapid sketch of tiiat abode of 
 domestic bliss, that temple of science. Nor is it, mdeed. for- 
 eign to the express purpose of this meeting, which, in looking 
 to " his life and character," naturally embraces his home and 
 his domestic habits. Can any thing be inditferent to us, which 
 was so dear to him, and which was a subject of such just ad- 
 miration to the hundreds and thousands that were continually 
 resorting to it, as to an object of pious pilgrimage ? 
 
 The Mansion House at Monticello was built aud furnished 
 in the days of his prosperity. In its dimensions, its architec- 
 ture, its arrangements, and ornaments, it is such a one as be- 
 came the character and fortune of the man. It stands upon 
 an elhptic plain, formed by cutting down the apex of a moun- 
 tain ; and, on the West, stretching away to the North and the 
 South, it commands a view of the Blue Ridge for a hundred 
 and fifty miles, and brings under the eye one of the boldest 
 and most beautiful horizons in the world : while, on the East, it 
 presents an extent of prospect, bounded only by the spherical 
 form of the earth, in which nature seems to sleep in eternal 
 repose, as if to form one of her finest contrasts with the rude 
 and rolling grandeur on the West. In the wide prospect, and 
 scattered to the North and South, are several detached moun- 
 tains, which contribute to animate and diversify this enchant- 
 ing landscape : and among them, to the South, Williss' Moun- 
 tain, which is so interestingly depicted in his Notes. From 
 this summit, the Philosopher was wont to enjoy that spectacle, 
 among the sublimest of Nature's operations, the looming of 
 the distant mountains ; and to watch the motions of the plan- 
 ets, and the greater revolution of the celestial sphere. From 
 this summit, too, the patriot could look down, with uninter- 
 
 55 
 
420 tULOGlES ON 
 
 rupted vision, upon the wide expanse of the world around, for 
 which he considered himself born; and upward, to the open 
 and vaulted Heavens which he seemed to approach, as if to 
 keep him continually in mind of his high responsibility. It it 
 indeed a prospect in which you see and feel, at once, that 
 nothing mean or little could live. It is a scene fit to nourish 
 those great and high-souled principles which formed the ele- 
 ments of his character, and was a most noble and appropriate 
 post, for such a sentinel, over the rights and liberties of man. 
 
 Approaching the house on the East, the visiter instinctively- 
 paused, to cast around one thrilling glance at this magnificent 
 panorama : and then passed to the vestibule, where, if he had 
 not been previously informed, he would immediately perceive 
 that he was entering the house of no common man. In the 
 spacious and lofty hall which opens before him, he marks no 
 tawdry and unmeaning ornaments : but before, on the right, 
 on the left, all around, the eye is struck and gratified with ob- 
 jects of science and taste, so classed and arranged as to pro- 
 duce their finest effect. On one side, specimens of sculpture 
 set out, in such order, as to exhibit at a covp d^ceil, the histor- 
 ical progress of that art ; from the first rude attempts of the 
 aborigines of our country, up to that exquisite and finished 
 bust of the great patriot himself, from the master hand of Ca- 
 racci. On the other side, the visiter sees displayed a vast col- 
 lection of specimens of Indian art, their paintings, weapons, 
 ornaments, and manufactures ; on another, an array of the 
 fossil productions of our country, mineral and animal ; the 
 polished remains of those colossal monsters that once trod our 
 forests, and are no more; and a variegated display of the 
 branching honors of those " monarchs of the waste," that still 
 people the wilds of the American Continent. 
 
 From this hall he was ushered into a noble saloon, from 
 which the glorious landscape of the West again burst upon his 
 view ; and which, within, is hung thick around with the fin- 
 est productions of the pencil — historical paintings of the most 
 striking subjects from all countries, and all ages ; the por- 
 traits of distinguished men and patriots, both of Europe and 
 America, and medaUions and engravings in endless profusion. 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 421 
 
 While the visiter was yet lost in the contemplation of these 
 treasures of the arts and sciences, he was startled by the ap- 
 proach of a strong and sprightly step, and turning with in- 
 stinctive reverence to the door of entrance, he was nnet by 
 the tall, and animated, and stately figure of the patriot himself 
 — his countenance beaming with intelligence and benignity, 
 and his outstretched hand, with its strong and cordial pressure, 
 confirming the courteous welcme of his lips. And then came 
 that charm of manner and conversation that passes all de- 
 scription — so cheerful — so unassuming — so free, and easy, 
 and frank, and kind, and gay — that even the young, and over- 
 awed, and embarrassed visiter at once forgot his fears, and felt 
 himself by the side of an old and familiar friend. There was 
 no effort, no ambition in the conversation of the philosopher. 
 It was as simple and unpretending as nature itself. And 
 while in this easy manner he was pouring out instruction, like 
 light from an inexhaustible solar fountain, he seemed con- 
 tinually to be asking, instead of giving information. The vis- 
 iter felt himself lifted by the contact, into a new and nobler 
 region of thought, and became surprised at his own buoyancy 
 and vigor. He could not, indeed, help being astounded, now 
 and then, at those transcendant leaps of the mind, which he 
 saw made without the slightest exertion, and the ease with 
 which this wonderful man played with subjects which he had 
 been in the habit of considering among the argumenta crucis 
 of the intellect. And then there seemed to be no end to his 
 knowledge. He was a thorough master of every subject that 
 was touched. From the details of the humblest mechanic 
 art, up to the highest summit of science, he was perfectly at 
 his ease, and, every where at home. There seemed to be no 
 longer any terra incognita of the human understanding : for, 
 what the visiter had thought so, he now found reduced to a fa- 
 miliar garden walk ; and all this carried off so lightly, so play- 
 fully, so gracefully, so engagingly, that he won every heart 
 that approached him, as certainly as he astonished every mind. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was wont to remark, that be never left the 
 conversation of Dr. Franklm without carrying away with him 
 
422 EULOGIES ON 
 
 something new and useful. How often, and how truly, has 
 the same remark been made of him. Nor is this wonderful, 
 when we reflect, that, that mind of matchless vigor and ver- 
 satility had been, all his life, intensely engaged in conversing 
 with the illustrious dead, or following the march of science 
 in every land, or bearing away, on its own steady and pow- 
 erful wing, into new and unexplored regions of thought. 
 
 Shall 1 follow him to the table of his elegant hospitality, 
 aid :how h'm to you in the bosom of his enchanting family '. 
 Alas ! tliose attic days are gone ; that sparkling eye is 
 queiu'hcd ; that voice of pure and delicate afFection, whicli 
 ran v.ithsuch brilliancy and effect through the whole compass 
 ofcoSioquial music, now bright with wit, now melting with 
 tenderness, is liushed forever in the grave ! But let me leave 
 a theme on which friendship and gratitude have, I fear, al- 
 ready been tempted to linger too long. 
 
 .There was one solace of the declining years of both these 
 great men, which must not be passed. It is that correspon- 
 dence which arose between them, after their retirement from 
 public life. That correspondence, it is to be hoped, will be 
 given to the world. If it ever shall, I speak from knowledge 
 when I say, it will be found to be one of the most interesting 
 and affecting that the world has ever seen. That " cold 
 cloud" which had hung for a time over their friendship, pass- 
 ed away with the conflict out of which it had grown, and the 
 attachment of their early life returned in all its force. They 
 hrid both now bid adieu, a final adieu, to all public employ- 
 ments, and were done with all th^^ agitating passions of life. 
 They were dead to the ambitious world ; and this correspon- 
 dence resembles, more than any thing else, one of those con- 
 versations in the Elysium of the aiicicnts, which the shades of 
 the departed great were supposed by them to hold, with re- 
 gard to the aliairs of the world they had left. 'There are the 
 same playful allusions to the points of difference that had 
 divided their parties : the same mutual, and light, and unim- 
 passioned raillery on their own past misconceptions and mis- 
 takes \ the same mutual and just admiration and respect foi 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON, 423 
 
 their many virtues and services to mankind. That corres- 
 pondence was, to them both, one of the most genial emplo}'- 
 ments of their old age : and it reads a lesson of wisdom on the 
 bitterness of party spirit, by which the wise and the good will 
 not fail to profit. 
 
 Besides this affectionate intercourse between them, you are 
 aware of the extensive correspondence which they maintain- 
 ed with others, and of which some idea may be formed by 
 those letterswh ich, since their death, have already broken up- 
 on us through the press, from quarters so entirely unexpect- 
 ed. They were considered as the living historians of the 
 Revolution and of the past age, as well as oracles of wisdom to 
 all who consulted them. Their habit in this particular seems 
 to have been the same ; never to omit answering any re- 
 spectful letter they received, no matter how obscure the indi- 
 vidual, or how insig'-ificant the subject. With Mr. Jefferson 
 this was a sacred law, and as he always wrote at a polygraphic 
 desk, copies have been preserved of every letter. His corres- 
 pondence travelled far beyond his own country, and embra- 
 ced within its circle many of the most distinguished men of his 
 age in Europe. What a feast for the mind may we not ex- 
 pect from the published letters of these excellent men ! They 
 were both masters in this way, though somewhat contrasted. 
 Mr. Adams, plain, nervous, and emphatic, the thought couch- 
 ed in the fewest and strongest words, and striking with a kind 
 of epigrammatic force. Mr. Jefferson, flowing with easy and 
 careless melody, the language at the same time pruned of eve- 
 ry redundant word, and giving the thought with the happiest 
 precision, the aptest words dropping unbidden and unsought 
 into their places, as if they had fallen from the skies ; and so 
 beautiful, so felicitious, as to fill the mind with a succession of 
 dehghtful surprises, while the judgment is, at the same time, 
 made captive by the closely compacted energy of the argu- 
 ment. Mr. Jefferson's style is so easy and harmonious, as to 
 have led superficial readers to remark, that he was deficient 
 in strength : as if ruggedness and abruptness were essential to 
 strength. Mr. Jefferson's strength was inherent in the 
 
424 EULOGIES ON 
 
 thoughts and conceptions, though hidden by the hght and 
 graceful vestments which he threw over them. The internal 
 divinity existed and was felt, though concealed under the finely 
 harmonized form of the man ; and if he did not exhibit himself 
 in his comj5ositions with the insignia of Hercules, the shaggy 
 lion's skin and the knotted club ; he bore the full quiver and the 
 silver bow of Apollo ; and every polished shaft that he loos- 
 ened from the string, told with unerring and fatal precision : 
 
 These two great men, so eminently distinguished among 
 the patriots of the Revolution, and so illustrious by their sub- 
 sequent services, became still more so, by having so long sur- 
 vived all that were most highly conspicuous among their coe- 
 vals. All the stars of first magnitude, in the equatorial 
 and tropical regions had long since gone down, and still they 
 remained. Still they stood full in view, like those two resplen- 
 dent constellations near the opposite poles, which never set 
 to the inhabitants of the neighbouring zones. 
 
 But, they too were doomed at length to set : and such was 
 their setting as no American bosom can ever forget ! 
 
 In the midst of their fast decaying strength, and when it was 
 seen that the approach of death was certain, their country 
 a'ld its glory still occupied their thoughts, and circulated with 
 the last blood that was ebbing to their hearts. Those who 
 surrounded the death-bed of Mr. Jeflerson report, that in the 
 few short intervals ofdelirium that occurred, his mind mani- 
 festly relapsed to the age of the Revolution. He talked, in 
 broken sentences, of the Committees of Safety, and the rest of 
 that great machinery which he imagined to be still in action. 
 One of his exclamations was, " Warn the Committee to be on 
 " their guard ;" and he instantly rose in his bed, with the help 
 of his attendants, and went through the act of writing a hur- 
 ried note. But these intervals were few and short. His reason 
 was almost constantly upon her throne, and the only aspiration 
 he was heard to breathe, was the prayer, that he might live to 
 see the Fourth of July. When that day came, all that he was 
 heard to whisper, was the repeated ejaculation, — " J^imc 
 
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 425 
 
 Domine dimittas,''^ Now, Lord. let thy servant depart in peace! 
 And the ;>rayer of the patriot was heard and answered. 
 
 The Patriarch of Quincy, too, with the same certainty of 
 death before him, prated only for the protraction of his life to 
 the same day. His prayer was also heard : and when a messen- 
 ger from the neighboring festivities, unapprized of his danger, 
 was deputed to ask him for the honor of a toast, he showed 
 the object on which his dying eyes were fixed, and exclaimed 
 with energy, " Independence for ever !" His country first. 
 his country last, his country always ! 
 
 "O save my country — Heaven ! he said — and died !" 
 Hitherto, Fellow citizens, the Fourth of July had been cel- 
 ebrated among us, only as the anniversary of our Indepen- 
 dence, and its votaries had been merely human beings. But 
 at its last recurrence — the great Jubilee of the nation — the 
 anniversary, it may well be termed, of the liberty of man — 
 Heaven, itself, mingled visibly in the celebration, and hal- 
 lowed the day anew by a double apotheosis. Is there one 
 among us to whom this language seems too strong ? Let him 
 recall his own feelings, and the objection will vanish. When 
 the report first reached us, of the death of the great man 
 whose residence was nearest, who among us was not struck 
 with the circumstance that he should have been removed on 
 the day of his own highest glory ? And who, after the first 
 shock of the intelligence, had passed, did not feel a thrill of 
 mournful delight at the characteristic beauty of the close of 
 such a fife. But while our bosoms were yet swelling with 
 admiration at this singularly beautiful coincidence, when the 
 second report immediately followed, of the death of the great 
 
 sage of Quincy, on the same day — I appeal to yourselves 
 
 is there a voice that was not hushed, is there a heart that did 
 not quail, at this close manifestation of the hand of Heaven in 
 our affairs! Philosophy, recovered of her supprise, may af- 
 fect to treat the coincidence as fortuitous. But Philoso- 
 phy herself was mute, at the moment, under the pressure of 
 the feeling that these illustrious men had ravher been transia- 
 ted, than had died. It is in vain to tell us that men die by 
 
426 EULOGIES ON, ^C. 
 
 thousands every day in the year, all over the world. The 
 wonder is not that two men have died on the same day, but 
 that two such men, after having performed ao many and such 
 splendid services in the cause of liberty — after the multitude 
 of other coincidences which seem to have linked their desti- 
 nies together — after having lived so long together, the objects 
 of their country's joint veneration — after having been spared 
 to witness the great triumph of their toils at home — and look- 
 ed together from Pisgah's top on the sublime effect of that 
 grand impulse which they had given to the same glorious 
 cause throughout the world, should on this fiftieth anniversa- 
 ry of the day on which they had ushered that cause into light, 
 be both caught up to Heaven, together, in the midst of their 
 raptures ! Is there a being, of heart so obdurate and sceptical, 
 as not to feel the hand and hear the voice of Heaven in this 
 wonderful dispensation ? And may we not, with reverence, 
 interpret its language ? Is it not this ? " These are my belov- 
 " ed servants, in whom I am well pleased. They have finr 
 " ished the work for which I sent them into the v/orld : and 
 " are now called to their reward. Go ye, and do likewise ."' 
 
 One circumstance, alone, remains to be noticed. In aprivaie 
 memorandum found among some other obituary papers and 
 relics of Mr. Jefferson, is a suggestion, in case a memorial over 
 him should ever be thought of, that a granite obelisk, of small 
 dimensions, should be erected, with the following inscription : 
 
 HERE WAS BURIED 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 
 Author of the Declaration of Independence, 
 
 Of the Statutes of Virginia, for Religious Freedom, 
 
 And Father of the University of Virginia. 
 
 All the long catalogue of his great, and splendid, and glori- 
 rious services, reduced to this brief and modest summary ! 
 
 Thus lived and thus died our sainted Patriots! May their 
 spirits still continue to hover over their countrymen, inspire 
 all their counsels, and guide them in the same virtuous and 
 noble path ! And may that God, in whose hands are the is- '^ 
 
 sues of all things, confirm and perpetuate, to us^ the inestima- • "' 
 bleboon which, through their agency, he has bestowed ; and 
 make our Columbia, the bright exemplar, for all the strug- 
 ling sons of liberty around the globe ! 
 
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