es ie eben ed We ke on Ate gem eet tt Vee a gine UNIVE! “ity Off ALLINOH ARY ¥! AT URBANA UiiAMPA IG STACKS. CENTRAL CIRCULATION AND BOOKSTACKS The person borrowing this material is re- sponsible for its renewal or return before the Latest Date stamped below. You may be charged a minimum fee of $75.00 for each non-returned or lost item. Theft, mutilation, or defacement of library materials can be causes for student disciplinary action. All materials owned by the University of Illinois Library are the property of the State of Illinois and are protected by Article 16B of IIlinois Criminal Law and Procedure. TO RENEW, CALL (217) 333-8400. University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign BEC 15 200 When renewing by phone, write new due date below previous due date. L162 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2021 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohnquincyOOsewa | = 4 j 4 1 ' _ rh x { ~ A * . ? = ~ * 5 = * - ss 4 ——— s a om . i} rf « ‘ es * . } 4 = ‘re Z - 7 : ’ Me a . i ¥ m WSS y . AWS SS SSS SSSQ“ : WAX x : SN SSeS MS. A JOHN QUINCY AD i boyd Ey aad a OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, E SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. BY WILLIAM H. SEWARD. “THIS IS THE END OF EARTH—I AM CONTENT.” PHILADELPHIA : PORTER & COATES. ke $ al anoviier Meh aes Sea oe
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PREFACE.
Tue claims of this volume are humble. For more
than half a century Jonn Quincy Apams had occu-
pied a prominent position before the American people,
and filled a large space in his country’s history. His
career was protracted to extreme old age. He out-
lived political enmity and party rancor. His purity
of life—his elevated and patriotic principles of action
—his love of country, and devotion to its interests—
his advocacy of human freedom, and the rights of man
—brought all to honor and love him. Admiring legis-
lators hung with rapture on the lips of “the Old Man
Eloquent,’ and millions eagerly perused the senti-
ments he uttered, as they were scattered by the press
in every town and hamlet of the Western Continent.
At his decease, there was a general desire expressed
for a history of his life and times. A work of this de-
scription was understood to be in preparation by his
family. It was not probable, however, that this could
appear under several years, and when published,
would undoubtedly be placed, by its size and cost, be-
xii PREFACE.
yond the reach of the great mass of readers. In
view of these circumstances, there was an evident
want of a volume of more limited compass—a book
which would come within the means of the people
generally,—and adapted not only for libraries, and the
higher classes of society, but would find its way into
the midst of those moving in the humbler walks of life.
To supply this want, the present work has been pre-
pared. The endeavor has been made to compress .
within a brief compass, the principal events. of the life
of Mr. Adams, and the scenes in which he participated ;
and to portray the leading traits of character which
distinguished him from his contemporaries. It has
been the aim to present such an aspect of the history
and principles of this wonderful man, as shall do jus-
tice to his memory, and afford an example which the
youth of America may profitably imitate in seeking
for a model by which to shape their course through
life. How far this end has been attained, an intelli-
gent and candid public must determine.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Ancestry, Birth, and Childhood of John seas
Adams . ‘
CHAPTER II.
John Quincy Adams studies law—His Practice—Engages
in Public Life—Appointed Minister to the Hague.
CHAPTER III.
Mr. Adams transferred to Berlin—His Marriage—Lite-
rary Pursuits—Travels in Silesia—Negotiates Treaties
with Sweden and Prussia—Recalled to the United
States
CHAPTER IV.
Mr. Adams’ Return to the United States—Elected to the
Massachusetts Senate—A ppointed U.S. Senator—Sup-
ports Mr. Jefferson—Professor of Rhetoric and Belles
Lettres—Appointed Minister to Russia. rp ata
CHAPTER V.
Mr. Adams’ arrival at St. Petersburg—His Letters to
his Son on the Bible—His Religious Opinions—Russia
Xili
PAGE
17
45
63
82
xiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
offers Mediation between Great Britain and the United
States—Proceeds to Ghent to negotiate for Peace—Vis-
its Paris—Appointed Minister at St. James—Arrives
in London. . : ; : : ; : : coor
CHAPTER VI.
Mr. Adams appointed Secretary of State—Arrives in the
United States—Public Dinners in New York and Bos-
ton—Takes up his Residence in Washington—Defends
Gen. Jackson in the Florida Invasion—Recognition of
South American Independence—Greek Revolution . 1138
CHAPTER VII.
Mr. Adams’ nomination to the Presidency—Spirited
Presidential Campaign—No choice by the People—
Election goes to the House of Representatives—Mr.
Adams elected President—His Inauguration—Forms
his Cabinet . ; ‘ 3 : ‘ 5 : . 187
CHAPTER VIII.
Charges of Corruption against Mr. Clay and Mr, Adams—
Mr. Adams enters upon his duties as President—Visit
of La Fayette—Tour through the United States—Mr.
Adams delivers him a Farewell Address—Departs
from the United States. ° «0 s)) 4s. 3 eee
CHAPTER IX.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—Their Correspond-
ence—Their Death—Mr. Webster’s Eulogy—John Q.
Adams visits Quincy—His Speech at the Public School
Dinner in Faneuil Hall. : ‘ ‘ ; ; . 187
CHAPTER X.
Mr. Adams’ Administration—Refuses to remove political
opposers from office—Urges the importance of Internal
CONTENTS. xv
PAGE
Improvements—Appoints Commissioners to. the Con-
gress of Panama—His policy toward the Indian
Tribes—His Speech on breaking ground for the Ches-
apeake and Ohio Canal—Bitter opposition to his Ad-
ministration—Fails of re-election to the Presidency—
Retires from office ; ; : : : : . 202
CHAPTER XI.
Mr. Adams’ multiplied attainments—Visited by South-
ern Gentlemen—His Report on Weights and Meas-
ures—His Poetry—Erects a Monument to the memory
of his Parents—Elected Member of Congress—Letter
to the Bible Society—Delivers Eulogy on Death of ex-
President Monroe . ; ; ° ‘ , ° . 232
CHAPTER XII.
Mr. Adams takes his seat in Congress—His Position and
Habits as a Member—His Independence of Party—
His Eulogy on the Death of ex-President James Mad-
ison—His advocacy of the Right of Petition, and Op-
position to Slavery — Insurrection in Texas— Mr.
Adams makes known its ulterior object. . P . 254
CHAPTER XIII.
Mr. Adams presents Petitions for the Abolishment of
Slavery—Opposition of Southern Members—Exciting
Scenes in the House of Representatives—Marks of
Confidence in Mr.Adams. . . . .«. « . 280
CHAPTER XIV.
Mr. Adams’ firmness in discharge of duty—His exertions
in behalf of the Amistad Slaves—His connection with
the Smithsonian Bequest—Tour through Canada and
New York—His reception at Buffalo—Visits Niagara
Falls—Attends worship with the Tuscarora Indians—
XVi CONTENTS.
PAGE
His receptian at Rochester—at Auburn—at Albany—
at Pittsfield—Visits Cincinnati—Assists in laying the
Corner Stone of an Observatory . : f A . 800
CHAPTER XV.
Mr, Adams’ Last Appearance in Public at Boston—His
Health—Lectures on his Journey to Washington—Re-
mote Cause of his Decease—Struck with Paralysis—
Leaves Quincy for Washington for the last time—His
final Sickness in the House of Representatives—His
Death—The Funeral at Washington—Removal of the
Body to Quincy—Its Interment . ° : ° . 825
EULOGY. : ; Re als 0 Re ee
THE LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
CHAPTER I.
THE ANCESTRY, BIRTH, AND CHILDHOOD, OF JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS.
THE Puritan Pilgrims of the May-Flower landed on
Plymouth Rock, and founded the Colony of Massa-
-chusetts, on the 21st day of December, 1620.
Henry ApAms, the founder of the Adams family in
America, fled from ecclesiastical oppression in Eng-
land, and joined the colony at a very early period, but
at what precise time is not recorded. He erected his
humble dwelling at a place within the present town of
Quincy, then known as Mount Wo.LnasTon, and is
believed to have been an inhabitant when the first
Christian Church was gathered there in 1639. On the
organization of the town of Braintree, which com-
prised the place of his residence, he was elected Clerk
of the Town. He died on the eighth day of October,
1646. His memory is preserved by a plain granite
monument, erected in the burial-ground at Quincy,
17
18 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
by Joun ApaAms, President of the United States, and
bearing this inscription :—
In fMlemory
OF
HENRY ADAMS,
Who took his flight from the Dragon Persecution in Devonshire, in
England, and alighted with eight sons, near Mount Wollaston.
One of the sons returned to England, and after taking time
to explore the country, four removed to Medfield and
the neighboring towns ; two to Chelmsford. One
only, Joseph, who lies here at his left hand,
remained here, who was an original pro-
prietor in the Township of Braintree,
incorporated in the year 1639.
This stone, and several others, have been placed in this yard, by a
great-great-grandson, from a veneration of the piety, humility, sim-
plicity, prudence, patience, temperance, frugality, industry, and per-
severance of his ancestors, in hopes of recommending an imitation of
their virtues to their posterity.
Joseph Adams, the son of Henry Adams mentioned
in the above inscription, died on the sixth of Decem-
ber, 1694, aged sixty-eight years. Joseph, the next in
succession, died February 12th, 1736, at the age of
eighty-four years. His son John Adams, was a Dea-
con of the Church at Quincy, and died May 25th,
1761, aged seventy years. This John Adams was the
father of him who was destined to give not only un-
dying fame to his ancient family, but a new and power-
ful impulse to the cause of Human Freedom throughout
the world.
JoHN ADAms, son of John Adams and Susannah
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 19
Boylston Adams, was born at Quincy on the nine-
teenth day of October (old style), 1735. He received
the honors of Harvard University in 1755, and then,
in pursuance of a good old New England custom,
which made those who had enjoyed the benefits of a
public education, in turn impart those benefits to the
public, he was occupied for a time in teaching.
It ought to encourage all young men in straitened
circumstances, desirous of obtaining a profession and
of rising to eminence, to know that John Adams, who
became £0 illustrious by talents and achievements as to
lend renown to the office of President of the United
States, pursued the study of the law under the incon-
veniences resulting from his occupation as an instruc-
tor in a Grammar School.
John Adams was an eminent and successful lawyer,
but it was not the design of his existence that his tal-
ents should be wasted in the contentions of the courts.
The British Parliament, as soon as the colonies had
attracted their notice, commenced a system of legisla-
tion known as the Colonial System, the object of
which was to secure to the mother country a monop-
oly of their trade, and to prevent their rising to a con-
dition of strength and independence. The effect of
this system was to prevent all manufactures in the Col-
onies, and all trade with foreign countries, and even
‘with the adjacent plantations.
The Colonies remonstrated in vain against this pol-
icy, but owing to popular dissatisfaction, the regula-
20 LIFE OF JOHN QUiNCY ADAMS.
tions were not rigidly enforced. At length an Order
in Council was passed, which directed the officers of
the customs in Massachusetts Bay, to execute the acts
of trade. A question arose in the Supreme Court of
that province in 1761, upon the constitutional right of
the British Parliament to bind the Colonies. The trial
produced great excitement. The cause was argued
for the Crown by the King’s Attorney-General, and
against the laws by James Otis.
It will be seen that the question thus involved was
the very one that was finally submitted to the arbi-
trament of arms in the American Revolution. The
speech of Otis on the occasion, was an effort of sur-
passing ability. John Adams was a witness, and he
recorded his opinion of it, and his opinion of the mag-
nitude of the question, thus: :
‘““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 au-
thorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, a
rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away
all before him. American INDEPENDENCE was then
and there born. Every man of an unusually crowded
audience, appeared to me to go away ready to take up
arms against Writs of Assistance.”
Speaking on the same subject, on another occasion,
John Adams said that “James Otis then and there
breathed into this nation the breath of life.”
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 21
Fiom that day John Adams was-an enthusiast for
the independence of his country.
In 1764 he married Abigail, daughter of the Rever
end William Smith, of Weymouth. The mother of
John Quincy Adams was a woman of great beauty
and high intellectual endowments, and she combined,
with the proper accomplishments of her sex, a sweet-
ness of disposition, and a generous sympathy with the
patriotic devotion of her illustrious husband.
In 1765, the British Parliament, in contempt of the
discontent of the Colonies, presumptuously passed the
Stamp Act; a law which directed taxed stamped pa-
ver to be used in all legal instruments in the Colonies.
The validity of the law was denied; and while Patrick
Henry was denouncing it in Virginia, James Otis and
John Adams argued. against it before the Governor
and Council of Massachusetts.
The occasion called forth from John Adams a “ Dis-
sertation on the Canon and Feudal Laws,’—a work,
which although it was of a general character in regard
to government, yet manifested democratic sentiments
unusual in those times, and indicated that republican
institutions were the proper institutions for the Amer-
ican People.
The resistance to the stamp act throughout the Col-
onies procured its repeal in 1766. But the British
Government accompanied the repeal with an ungra-
cious declaratory act, by which they asserted “that
the Parliament had, and of right ought to have, power
2
22 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
to bind the Colonies, in all cases whatsoever.” In the
next year a law was passed, which imposed duties in
the Colonies, on glass, paper, paints, and tea. The
spirit of insubordination manifested itself throughout
the Colonies, and, inasmuch as it radiated from Boston,
British ships of war were stationed in its harbor,
and two regiments of British troops were thrown in
the town, to compel obedience. John Adams had
now become known as the most intrepid, zealous,
and indefatigable opposer of British usurpation. The
Crown tried upon him in vain the royal arts so suc-
cessful on the other side of the Atlantic. The Gover-
nor and Counc;] offered him the place of Advocate
General in the Court of Admiralty, an office of great
value; he declined it, “decidedly, peremptorily, but re-
spectfully.”
At this interesting crisis, Joun Quincy Apams was
born, at Quincy, on the 11th of July, 1767. A lesson,
full of instruction concerning the mingled influences
of piety and patriotism in New England, at that time,
is furnished to us by the education of the younger
Adams. Nor can we fail to notice that each of those
virtues retained its relative power over him, through-
out his long and eventful life. He was brought into
the church and baptized on the day after that on
which he was born.
John Quincy Adams, in one of his letters, thus men-
tions the circumstances of his baptism:
“ The house at Mount Wollaston has a peculiar in-
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 23
terest to me, as the dwelling of my great-grandfather,
whose name I bear. The incident which gave rise to
this circumstance is not without its moral to my heart.
He was dying, when I was baptized ; and his daughter,
my grandmother, present at my birth, requested that I
might receive his name. The fact, recorded by my
father at the time, has connected with that portion of
my name, a charm of mingled sensibility and devotion.
It was filial tenderness that gave the name. It was
the name of one passing from earth to immortality.
These have been among the strongest links of my at-
tachment to the name of Quincy, and have been to
me, through life, a perpetual admonition to do nothing
unworthy of it.” |
It cannot be doubted that the character of the per-
son from whom, in such affecting circumstances, he
derived an honorable patronymic, was an object of
emulation. John Quincy was a gentleman of wealth,
education, and influence. He was for a long time
Speaker of the House of Representatives in Massachu-
setts, and during many years one of His Majesty’s
Provincial Council. He was a faithful representative,
and throughout his public services, a vigorous defender
of the rights and liberties of the Colony. Exemplary
in private life, and earnest in piety, he enjoyed the
public confidence, through a civil career of forty years’
duration.
The American Revolution was rapidly hurrying on
during the infancy of John Quincy Adams. In 1769
24 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
the citizens of Boston held a meeting in which they
instructed their representatives in the Provincial Leg-
islature to resist the usurpations of the British Govern-
ment. John Adams was chairman of the committee
that prepared these instructions, and his associates
were Richard Dana and Joseph Warren, the same dis-
tinguished patriot who gave up his life as one of the
earliest sacrifices to freedom, in the battle of Bunker
Hill.
Those instructions were expressed in the bold and
decided tone of John Adams, and they increased the
public excitement in the province, by the earnestness
with which they insisted on the removal of the British
troops from Boston.
The popular irritation increased, until on the 5th of
March, 1770, a collision occurred between the troops
and some of the inhabitants of Boston, in which five
citizens were killed, and many wounded. This was
called the Bloody Massacre. The exasperated inhab-
itants were with difficulty restrained from retaliating
this severity by an extermination of all the British
troops.
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 233
familiar with modern history, with diplomacy and
international law, and the politics of America and
Europe for the last two or three centuries.
In other departments he appeared equally at home.
His acquaintance was familiar with the classics, and
several modern languages. In oratory, rhetoric, and
the various departments of belles lettres, his attain
ments were of more than an ordinary character. His
commentaries on Desdemona, and others of Shak-
speare’s characters, show that he was no mean critic,
in the highest walks of literature, and in all that pertains
to human character.
The following interesting account of an interview
with ex-President Adams, by a southern yentleman, in
10. Report on Weights and Measures, 1821; 11. Oration at Washing-
ton, 1821; 12. Duplicate Letters; the Fisheries and the Mississippi,
1822; 13. Oration to the citizens of Quincy, 1831; 14. Oration on the
Death of James Monroe, 1831; 15. Dermot McMorrogh, or the Con-
quest of Ireland, 1832; 16. Letters to Edward Livingston, on Free
Masonry, 1833; 17. Letters to William L. Stone, on the entered appren-
tice’s oath, 1833; 18. Oration on the Life and Character of Lafayette,
1835; 19. Oration on the Life and Character of James Madison, 1836;
20. The Characters of Shakspeare, 1837; 21. Oratiom delivered at
Newburyport, 1837; 22. Letters to his Constituents of the Twelfth
Congressional District of Massachusetts, 1837; 23. The Jubilee of the
Constitution, 1839; 24. A Discourse on Education, delivered at Brain-
tree, 1840; 25. An Address at the Observatory, Cincinnati, 1843.
Among the unpublished works of Mr. Adams, besides his Diary, which
extends over half a century, and would probably make some two dozen
stout octavos, are Memoirs of the earlier Public and Private Life of
John Adams, second President of the United States, in three volumes ;
Reports and Speeches on Public Affairs; Poems, including two new
cantos of Dermot McMorrogh, a Translation of Oberon, and numerous
Essays and Discourses ”
234 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
1834, afforas some just conceptions of the versatility
df his genius, and the profoundness of his erudition :—
“ Yesterday, accompanied by my friend T., I paid a visit to the
venerable ex-President, at his residence in Quincy. A violent rain
setting in as soon as we arrived, gave us from five to nine o’clock
© listen to the learning of this man of books. His residence is a
plain, very plain one: the room into which we were ushered, (the.
drawing-room, I suppose,) was furnished in true republican style.
It is probably of ancient construction, as I perceived two beams
projecting from the low ceiling, in the manner of the beams ina
ship’s cabin. Prints commemorative of political events, and the old
family portraits, hung about the room; common straw matting
covered the floor, and two candlesticks, bearing sperm candles,
ornamented the mantle-piece. The personal appearance of the ex-
President himself corresponds with the simplicity of his furniture.
He resembles rather a substantial, well-fed farmer, than one who
has wielded the destinies of this mighty Confederation, and been
bred in the ceremony and etiquette of an European Court. In fact,
he appears to possess none of that sternness of character which
you would suppose to belong to one a large part of whose life has
been spent in political warfare, or, at any rate, amidst scenes requir-
ing a vast deal of nerve and inflexibility.
“ Mrs. Adams is described in a word —a lady. She has all the
warmth of heart and ease of manner that mark the character of the
southern ladies, and from which it would be no easy matter to dis-
tinguish her.
“ The ex-President was the chief talker. He spoke with infinite
ease, drawing upon his vast resources with the. certainty of one
who has his lecture before him ready written. The whole of his
conversation, which steadily he maintained for nearly four hours,
was a continued stream of light. Well contented was I to be a
listener. His subjects were the architecture of the middle ages; the
stained glass of that period; sculpture, émbracing monuments par-
ticularly. On this subject his opinion of Mrs. Nightingale’s monu-
ment in Westminster Abbey, differs from all others that I have
seen or heard. He places it above every other in the Abbey, and
observed in relation to it, that the spectator ‘saw nothing else.
Milton, Shakspeare, Shenstone, Pope, Byron, and Southey were in
.
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 235
turnremarkedupon. He gave Pope a wonderfully high character.
and remarked that one of his chief beauties was the skill exhibited
in varying the cesural pause—quoting from various parts of his
author, to illustrate his remarks more fully. Hesaid very little on
the politics of the country. He spoke at considerable length of
Sheridan and Burke, both of whom he had heard, and could de-
scribe with the most graphic effect. He also spoke of Junius ;
and it is remarkable that he should place him so far above the
best of his contemporaries. He spoke of him as a bad man; but
maintained, as a writer, that he had never been equalled.
‘‘The conversation never flagged for a moment; and on the
whole, I shall remember my visit to Quincy, as amongst the
most instructive and pleasant I ever passed,’’
As a theologian, Mr. Adams was familiar with the
tenets of the various denominations which compose the
great Christian family, and acquainted with the prin-
cipal arguments by which they support their peculiar
views. While entertaining decided opinions of his
own, which he did not hesitate to avow on all proper
occasions, he was tolerant of the sentiments of all who
differed from him. He deemed it one of the most
sacred rights of every American citizen, and of every
human being, to worship God according to the dic-
tates of his own conscience, without let or hindrance,
our laws equally tolerating, and equally protecting
very sect.
In the most abstruse sciences he was equally at
home. His report to Congress, while Secretary of
State, on Weights and Measures was very elaborate,
and evinced a deep and careful research into this im-
portant but most difficult subject. That report was
236 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
of the utmost value. Adopting the philosophica: and
unchangeable basis of the modern French system of
mensuration, an arc of the meridian, it laid the founda
tion for the accurate manipulations and scientific cal-
culations of the late Professor Hassler, which have
furnished an unerring standard of Weights and Meas-
ures to the people of this country. In a very learned
notice of “ Measures, Weights, and Money,” by Col.
Pasley, Royal Engineer, F. R. S., published in London,
in 1834, he pays the following well-merited compliment
to Mr. Adams :—
“JT cannot pass over the labors of former writers, without ac-
knowledging in particular, the benefit which I have derived, whilst
investigating tl.e historical part of my subject, from a book printed
at Washington, in 1821, as an official Report on Weights and
Measures, made by a distinguished American statesman, Mr. John
Quincy Adams, to the Senate of the United States, of which he was
afterwards President. This author has thrown more light into the
history of our old English weights and measures, than all former
writers on.the same subject. His views of historical facts, even
where occasionally in opposition to the reports of our own Par-
liamentary Committees, appear to me to be the most correct. For
my own part, [ confess that I do not think I could have seen my
way into the history of English weights and measures, in the feudal
ages, without his guidance.”
To his other accomplishments Mr. Adams added
that of a poet. His pretensions in this departmen
were humble, yet many of his productions, thrown off
hastily, no doubt, during brief respites from severer
labors, possess no little merit. A few specimens will
not be uninteresting to the reader.
LIFE O# JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. at
The following stanzas are from a hymn by Mr.
Adams for the celebration of the 4th of July, 1831,
t ‘Quincy, Mass. :—
“ Sing to the Lord a song of praise;
Assemble, ye who love his name ;
Let congregated millions raise
Triumphant glory’s loud acclaim.
From earth’s remotest regions come ;
Come, greet your Maker, and your King ;
With harp, with timbrel, and with drum,
His praise let hill and valley sing.
* * * * * * *
Go forth in arms ; Jehovah reigns ;
Their graves let foul oppressors find ;
Bind all their sceptred kings in chains ;
Their peers with iron fetters bind.
Then to the Lord shall praise ascend ;
Then all mankind, with one accord,
And freedom’s voice, till time shall end,
In pealing anthems, praise the Lord.”
| The lines which follow were inscribed to the sun-
dial under the window of the hall of the House of
Representatives, at Washington :—
“Thou silent herald of Time’s silent flight!
Say, couldst thou speak, what warning voice were thine ?
Shade, who canst only show how others shine!
Dark, sullen witness of resplendent light
In day’s broad glare, and when the noontide bright
Of laughing fortune sheds the ray divine,
Thy ready favors cheer us—but decline
The clouds of morning and the gloom of night.
Yet are thy counsels faithful, just and wise ;
They bid us sieze the moments as they pass—
238 IIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Snatch the retrieveless sunbeam as it flies,
Nor lose one sand of life’s revolving glass—
Aspiring still, with energy sublime,
By virtuous deeds to give eternity to Time.”
It is seldom that ines more pure and beautiful can
be found, than the following on the death of children :—
“ Sure, to the mansions of the blest
When infant innocence ascends,
Some angel brighter than the rest
The spotless spirit’s flight attends.
“On wings of ecstacy they rise,
Beyond where worlds material roll,
Till some fair sister of the skies
Receives the unpolluted soul.
“ There at the Almighty Father’s hand,
Nearest the throne of living light,
The choirs of infant seraphs stand,
And dazzling shine, where all are bright.
*« The inextinguishable beam,
With dust united at our birth,
Sheds a more dim, discolored gleam,
The more it lingers upon earth :
“ Closed is the dark abode of clay,
The stream of glory faintly burns,
Nor unobscured the lucid ray
To its own native fount returns :
“ But when the Lord of mortal breath
Decrees his bounty to resume,
Aud points the silent shaft of death,
Which speeds an infant to the tomb,
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 239
* No passion fierce, no low desire,
Has quenched the radiance of the flame ;
Back to its God the living fire
Returns, unsullied, as it came.”
The heart which could turn aside from the stern
conflicts of the political world, and utter sentiments so
chaste and tender, must have been the residence of the
sweetest and noblest emotions of man.
Having taken final leave, as he believed, of the duties
of public life, and retired to the beloved shades of
Quincy, it was the desire and intention of Mr. Adams
to devote the remainder of his days to the peaceful
pursuits of literature. It had long been his purpose,
whenever opportunity should offer, to write a history of
the life and times of his venerated father, “the elder
Adams.” His heart was fixed on this design, and
some introductory labors had been commenced. But
an overruling Providence had a widely different work
in preparation for him.
If Mr. Adams had been permitted to follow the beut
of his own feelings at that time—if he had continued in
the retirement he had so anxiously sought as a rest
from the toils of half a century —the brightest page of
his wonderful history would have remained forever un-
written. He would have been remembered as a dis-
creet and trusty diplomatist, an able statesman, a suc-
cessful politician, a capable President, and an honest
aad honorable man! This would, indeed, have been
240 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
a measure of renown with which most men would have
been content, and which few of the most fortunate sons
of earth can ever attain. He was abundantly satisfied
with it. He asked for nothing more—he expected
nothing more this side the grave. But it was not
enough! Fame was wreathing brighter garlands
a more worthy chaplet, for his brow. A higher, nobler
task was before him, than any enterprize which had
claimed his attention. His long and distinguished ca-
reer—his varied and invaluable experience—had been
but a preparation to enable him to enter upon the real
work of life for which he was raised up. .
The world did not yet know John Quincy Adams
Long as he had~been before the public, the mass had
thus far failed to read him aright. Hitherto circum
stances had placed him in collision with aspiring men.
He stood in their way to station and power. There
was a motive to conceal his virtues and magnify his
faults. He had never received from his opposers the
smallest share of credit really due to him for patriot-
ism, self-devotion, and purity of purpose. Even his
most devoted friends did not fully appreciate these
yualities in him. During his long public service, he
had ever been an object of hatred and vituperation to
a class of minds utterly incapable of estimating his
talents or comprehending his high principles of action.
In the heat of political struggles, no abuse, no defama-
tion, were too great to heap upon him. Misrepresent-
ation, duplicity, malignity, did their worst. Did he
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 241
utte: a patriotic sentiment, it was charged to hypocrisy
and political cunning. Did he do a noble deed, worthy
‘to be recorded in letters of gold—sacrificing party
predilections and friendship to support the interest of
his country, and uphold the reputation and dignity of
its Government—it was attributed to a wretched pan-
dering for the emoluments of office. Did he endeavor
to exercise the powers entrusted to him as President
in such a manner as to preserve peace at home and
abroad, develope the internal resources of the nation,
improve facilities for transportation and travel, protect
and encourage the industry of the country, and in
every department promote the permanent prosperity
and welfare of the people—it was allowed to be nothing
more than the arts of an intriguer, seeking a re-
election to the Presidency. Yea, it was declared in
advance, that, “if his administration should be as pure
as the angels in heaven,” it should be overthrown.
Did he exhibit the plain simplicity of a true republican
in his dress and manners, and economy in all his
expenditures, it was attributed to parsimony and mean-
ness! A majority of his countrymen had been de-
ceived as to his principles and character, and sacrificed
him politically on the altar of prejudice and party spirit.
Throughout his life he had ever been a lover of man
and of human freedom—the best friend of his country
—the most faithful! among the detenders of its insti-
tutions—a sincere republican, and a true man. But
blinded by volitical prejudice, a large portion of his
242 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
fellow-citizens refused the boon of credit for these
qualities. It remained for another stage of his life
another ‘field of display, to correct them of this error,
and to vindicate his character. It was requisite that
he should step down from his high position, disrobe
himself of office, power and patronage, piace himself
beyond the reach of the remotest suspicion of a desire
for political preferment and emolument, to satisfy the
world that John Quincy Adams had from the begin-
ning, been a pure-hearted patriot, and one off the
noblest sons of the American Confederacy. His new
career was to furnish a luminous commentary on his
past life, and to convince the most sceptical, of the
justice of his claim to rank among the highest and best
of American patriots. Placed beyond the reach of
any gift of office from the nation, with nothing to hope
for, and nothing tu fear in this respect, he was to write
his name in imperishable characters, so high on the
tablets of his country’s history and fame, as to be be;
yond the utmost reach of malignity or suspicion! The
door which led to this closing act of his dramatic life,
was soon opened.
On returning to Quincy, one of the first things
which received the attention of Mr. Adams, was the
discharge of a filial duty towards his deceased parents,
in the erection of a monument to their memory. The
elder Adams in his will, among other liberal bequests,
had left a large legacy to aid in the erection of a new
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 243
Unitarian church in Quincy. The edifice was com-
pleted, and ex-President J. Q. Adams caused the monu-
ment to his father and mother te be erected within the
walls. It was a plain and simple design, consisting of a
tablet, having recessed pilasters at the sides, with a base
moulding and cornice; the whole supported by trusses
at the base. The material of which it was made was
Italian marble; and the whole was surmounted by a
fine bust of John Adams, from the chisel of Greenough,
the American artist, then at Rome. The inscription,
one of the most feeling, appropriate, and classica!
specimens extant, was as follows :—
“ LIBERTATEM AMICITTAM FIDEM RETINEBIS,
iO. Dit
Beneath these Walls
Are deposited the Mortal Remains of
JOHN ADAMS,
Son of John and Susanna (Boyalston) Adams,
Second President of the United States.
Born 19-30 October, 1735.
On the fourth of July, 1776,
He pledged his Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor
To the INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY.
On the third of September, 1783,
Ye affixed his Seal to the definitive Treaty with Great Britain,
Which acknowledged that Independence,
And consummated the redemption of his pledge.
On the fourth of July, 1826,
He was summoned
To the Independence of Immortality,
And to the JUDGMENT OF HIS GOD.
This House will bear witness to his Piety:
This Town, his Birth-place, to his Munificence:
History to his Patriotism :
Posterity to the Depth and Compass of his Mind.
* Deo, Optimo, Mazimo--to God, the Best and Greatest.
244 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
At his side
Sleeps till the Trump shall sound,
ABIGAIL,
His beloved and only Wife,
Daughter of William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith.
In every relation of Life, a pattern
Of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal, and Social Virtue.
Born 11-22 November, 1744.
Deceased 28 October, 1818, °
Aged 74.
Married 25 October, 1764.
During a union of more than half a century,
They survived, in Harmony of Sentiment, Principle and Affection,
The Tempests of Civil Commotion ;
Meeting undaunted, and surmounting
The Terrors and Trials of that Revolution
Which secured the Freedom of their Country ;
Improved the Condition of their Times;
And brightened the Prospects of Futurity
To the Race of Man upon Earth.
PILGRIM:
From lives thus spent thy earthly Duties learn;
From Fancy’s Dreams to active Virtue turn:
Let Freedom, Friendship, Faith thy Soul engage,
And serve, like them, thy Country and thy Age.”
Mr. Adams had remained in the retirement of Quincy
but little more than a single year, when the following
paragraph appeared in the public prints throughout the
country :—
“Mr. Adams, late President of the United States, is named as a
candidate for Congress, from the district of Massachusetts now
represented by Mr. Richardson, who declines a xe-election.”
It would be difficult to describe the surprise created
o, this announcement, in every quarter of the Union
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 245
Speculation was at fault. Would he accept or reject
such a nomination? By a large class it was deemed
impossible that one who had occupied positions so ele-
vated—who had received the highest honors the nation
-could bestow upon him—would consent to serve the
people of a single district, in a capacity so humble,
comparatively, as a Representative in Congress. Such
a thing was totally unheard of. The people, however,
of the Plymouth congressional district in which he re-
sided, met and duly nominated him for the proposed
office. All doubts as to his acceptance of the nomina-
tion were speedily dispelled by the appearance of a
letter from Mr. Adams, in the Columbian Sentinel,
Oct., 15, 1830, in which he says :—
“If my fellow-citizens of the district should think proper to call
for such services as it may be in my power to render them, by rep-
resenting them in the twenty-second Congress, I am not aware of
any sound principle which would justify me in withholding them.
To the manifestations of confidence on the part of those portions
of the people who, at two several meetings, have seen fit to present
my name for the suffrages of the district, 1 am duly and deeply
sensible.”
In due time the election was held, and Mr. Adams
was returned to Congress, by a vote nearly unanimous.
From that time forward for seventeen years, and to the
hour of his death, he occupied the post of Representa-
tive in Congress from the Plymouth district, in Massa-
chusetts, with unswerving fidelity, and distinguished
nonor.
There can be no doubt that many of the best friends
16 .
246 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
of Mr. Adams seriously questioned the propriety ot his
appearing as a Representative in the halls of Congress.
It was a step never before taken by an ex-President of
the United States. They apprehended it might be de
rogatory to his dignity, and injurious to his reputation
aud fame, to enter into the strifes, and take part in the
litigations and contentions which characterize the na-
tional House of Representatives. Moreover, they were
fearful that in measuring himself, as he necessarily must,
in the decline of life, with younger men in the prime
of their days, who were urged by the promptings of
ambition to tax every capacity of their nature, he might
injure his well-earned reputation for strength of intel-
lect, eloquence and statesmanship. But these mis-
givings were groundless. In the House of Repre-
sentatives, as in all places where Mr. Adams was
associated with others, he arose immediately to the
head of his compeers. So far from suffering in his
reputation, it was immeasurably advanced during his
long congressional career. New powers were devel-
oped—new traits of character were manifested—new
and repeated instances of devotion to principle and the
rights of man were made known—which added a
brighter lustre to his already widely-extended fame
He exhibited a fund of knowledge so vast and profound
—a familiarity so perfect with nearly every topic which
claimed the attentior of Congress—he could bring forth
from his well-replenished storehouse of memory so vast
an anay of facts, shedding light upon subjec‘s deeply
LIFE OF JOHN QUINGY ADAMB. 247
obscured to others—displayed such readiness and powet
in debate, pouring out streams of purest eloquence, or
launching forth the most scathing denunciations when
he deemed them called for—that his most bitter op-
posers, while trembling before his sarcasm, and dread-
ng his assaults, could not but grant him the meed of
their highest admiration. Well did he deserve the
title conferred upon him by general consent, of “the
Old Man Eloquent !”
Had Mr. Adams followed the bent of his own in-
clinations—-had he consulted simply his personal ease
and comfort—he would probably never have appeared
again in public life. Having received the highest dis
tinctions his country could bestow upon him, blessec
with an ample fortune, and possessing all the elements
of domestic comfort, he would have passed the evening
of his earthly sojourn in peaceful tranquillity, at the
mansion of his fathers in Quincy. But it was one of
the sacred rules in this distinguished statesman’s life, tc
yield implicit obedience to the demands of duty. His
immediate neighbors and fellow-citizens called him to
their service in the national councils. He was con-
scious of the possession of talents, knowledge, experi-
ence, and all the qualifications which would enable
him to become highly useful, not only in acting as the
representative of his direct constituents, but in pro-
moting the welfare of our common country. This
conviction once becoming fixed in his mind, decided
his course. He felt he had no chowe left but to cam
248 LiFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
ply unhesit.atingly with the demand which had been
made upon his patriotism. In adopting this resolution
—in consenting, after having been once at the head of
the National Government, to assume again the labors
of public life.in a subordinate station, wholly divested
of power and patronage, urged by no influence but the
claims of duty, governed by no motive but a simple
desire te serve his country and promote the well-being
of his feliow-man—Mr. Adams presented a spectacle ot
inoral sublimity unequalled in the annals of nations !
For many years Mr. Adams was a member, and
one of the Vice Presidents, of the American Bible
Society. In reply to an invitation to attend its anni-
versary in 1830, he wrote the following letter :—
“ Sir :—Your fetter of the 22d of March was duly received ; and
while regreting my inability to attend personally at the celebration
of the anniversary of the institution, on the 13th of next month, I
pray you, sir, to be assured of the gratification which I have
experienced in learning the success which has attended the benevo-
lent exertions of the American Bible Society.
“In the decease of. Judge Washington, they have lost an able
and valuable associate, whose direct co-operation, not less than his
laborious and exemplary life, contributed to promote the cause of
the Redeemer. Yet not for him, nor for themselves by the loss of
him, are they called to sorrow as without hope; for lives like his
shine but as purer and brighter lights in the world, after the lamp
which fed them is extinct, than before.
“The distribution of Bibles, if the simplest, is not the least
efficacious of the means of extending the blessings of the Gospel
to the remotest corners of the earth; for the Comforter is in the
sacred volume: and among the receivers of that million of copies
distributed by the Society, who shall number the multitudes
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 249
awakened thereby, with good will to man in their hearts, and with
the song of the Lamb upon their lips ?
“The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Who-
ever believes in the divine inspiration of the holy Scriptures, must
hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth.
Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of
mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to
be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the
Bible proceed and prosper, till the Lord shall have made ‘ bare his
holy arm in the eyes of all the nations ; and all the ends of the
earth shall see the salvation of our God.’
“ With many respects to the Board of Managers, please to accept
the good wishes of your friend and fellow-citizen,
“ Joun Quincy ADAMs.”
On the 4th of July, 1831, at half past three o’clock
in the afternoon, the venerable James Mownrog, fifth
~ President of the United States, departed life, aged 78
years. He died at the residence of his son-in-law,
Samuel L. Gouverneur, Esq., in the city of New York.
His decease had been for some days expected; but
life lingered until the anniversary of his country’s
independence, when his spirit took its departure to a
better world. Throughout the United States, honors
were paid to his memory by hoisting of flags at half
mast, the tolling of bells, firing of minute guns, the
passing of resolutions, and delivery of eulogies. He
was, emphatically, a great and good man, respected and
beloved by the people of all parties, without exception.
There are few instances in the history of the world, of
more remarkable coincidences than the death of three
Presidents of the United States, who took most promi-
nent parts in proclaiming and achieving the independ-
250 LIFE OF JOHN QU NCY ADAMS.
ence of our country, on the anniversary of the day
when the declaration of that independence was made to
the world. The noise of the firing of cannon, in cele
brating the day, caused the eyes of the dying Monroe to
open inquiringly. When the occasion of these rejoic
ings was communicated to him, a look of intelligence
indicated that he understood the character of the day.
At this anniversary of our National Independence,
Mr. Adams delivered an oration before the citizens of
Quincy. It was an able and eloquent production. ©
The following were the concluding paragraphs. In
reference to nullification, which was threatened by
some of the Southern States, he said :—
*“ The event of a conflict in arms, between the Union and one of
its members, whether terminating in victory or defeat, would be but
an alternative of calamity to all. In the holy records of antiquity,
we have two examples of a confederation ruptured by the sever-
ance of its members, one of which resulted, after three desperate
battles, in the extermination of the seceding tribe. And the vic-
torious people, instead of exulting in shouts of triumph, came to the
house of God, and abode there till even, before God; and lifted up
their voices, and wept sore, and said,—O Lord God of Israel why is
this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lack-
ing in Israel? The other was a successful example of resistance
against tyrannical taxation, and severed forever the confederacy,
the fragments forming separate kingdoms ; and from that day their
history presents an unbroken series of disastrous alliances, and
exterminating wars—of assassinations, conspiracies, revolts, and
rebellions, until both parts of the confederacy sunk into tributary
servitude to the nations around them; till the countrymen of David
and Solomon hung their harps upon the willows of Babylon, and
were totally lost amidst the multitudes of the Chaldean and Assyrian
monarchies, ‘ the most despised portion of their slaves ’
“In these mournful memorials of their fate, we may behold the
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 251
sure, too sure prcgnostication of our own, from the hour when force
shall be substituted for deliberation, in the settlement of our con-
stitutional questions. This is the deplorable alternative—the extir-
pation of the seceding member, or the never-ceasing struggle of
two rival confederacies, ultimately bending the neck of both under
the yoke of foreign domination, or the despotic sovereignty of a
conqueror at home. May heaven avert the omen! ‘The destinies,
not only of our posterity, but of the human race, are at stake.
“ Let no such melancholy forebodings intrude upon the festivities
of this anniversary. Serene skies and balmy breezes are not con-
genial to the climate of freedom. Progressive improvement in the
condition of man, is apparently the purpose of a superintending
Providence. ‘That purpose will not be disappointed. In no delu-
sion of national vanity, but with a feeling of profound gratitude to
the God of our fathers, let us indulge in the cheering hope and be-
lief, that our country and her people have been selected as instru-
ments for preparing and maturing much of the good yet in reserve
for the welfare and happiness of the human race. Much good has
already been effected by the solemn proclamation of our prin-
ciples—much more by the illustration of our example. ‘The
tempest which threatens desolation may be destined only to purify
the atmosphere. It is not in tranquil ease and enjoyment that
the active energies of mankind are displayed. oils and dan-
gers are trials of the soul. Doomed to the first by his sentence at
the fall, man by submission converts them into pleasures. The last
are, since the fall, the conditions of his existence. ‘To see them in
advance, to guard against them by all the suggestions of prudence,
to meet them with the composure of unyielding resistance, and to
abide with firm resignation the final dispensation of Him who rules
the ball—these are the dictates of philosophy—these are the pre-
cepts of religion—these are the principles and consolations of pa-
triotism—these remain when all is lost—and of these is composed
the spirit of independence—the spirit embodied in that heautiful pers
sonification of the poet, which may each of you, my countrymen,
to the last hour of his life, apply to himself,—
‘Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart, and eagle eye!
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.’
252 L’ FE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
“Tn the course of nature, the voice which now addresses you
“must soon cease to be heard upon earth. Life and all which it in-
herits lose their value as it draws iowards its close. But for most
of you, my friends and neighbors, long and many years of futurity
are yet in store. May they be years of freedom—years of pros-
perity—years of happiness, ripening for immortality! But, were
ihe breath which now gives utterance to my feelings the last vital
air I should draw, my expiring words to you and your children
should be, Independence and Union forever !”
A few weeks subsequent to the death of ex-Presi-
dent Monroe, Mi. Adams delivered an interesting and
able eulogy on his life and character, before the public
authorities of the city of Boston, in Faneuil Hall. In
drawing to a conclusion, he used the following lan-
guage :—
“Our country, by the bountiful dispensations of a gracious
Heaven, is, and for a series of years has been, blessed with pro-
found peace. But when the first father of our race had exhibited
before him, by the archangel sent to announce his doom, and to—
console him in his fall, the fortunes and misfortunes of his descend-
ants, he saw that the deepest of their miseries would befal them
while favored with all the blessings of peace; and in the bitterness
of his anguish he exclaimed :-—
‘ Now I see
Peace to corrupt, no less than war to waste.’
“Tt is the very fervor of the noonday sun, in the cloudless atmos-
here of a summer sky, which breeds
‘the sweeping whirlwind’s sway,
That, hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.’
“You have insured the gallant ship which ploughs the waves,
freighted with your lives and your children’s fortunes, from the fury
of the tempest above, and from the treachery of the wave beneath.
Beware of the danger against which you can aione insure your-
selves —the latent defect of the gallant ship itself. Pass but a few
+
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 253
short days, and forty years will have elapsed since the voice of him
who addresses you, speaking to your fathers from this hallowed
spot, gave for you, in the face of Heaven, the solemn pledge, that
if, in the course of your career on earth, emergencies should arise,
calling for the exercise of those energies and virtues which, in
times of tranquillity and peace remain by the will of Heaven dor-
mant in the human bosom, you would prove yourselves not un-
worthy the sires who had toiled, and fought, and bled, for the inde-
pendence of the country. Nor has that pledge been unredeemed.
You have maintained through times of trial and danger the inher-
itance of freedom, of union, of independence bequeathed you vy
your forefathers. It remains for you only to transmit the same
peerless legacy, unimpaired, to your children of the next succeeding
age. ‘To this end, let us join in humble supplication to the Founder
of empires and the Creator of a]l worlds, that he would continue to
your posterity the smiles which his favor has bestowed upon you;
and, since ‘it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,’ that he
would enlighten and lead the advancing generation in the way they
should go. That in all the perils, and all the mischances which
may threaten or befall uur United Republic, in after times, he would
raise up from among your sons deliverers to enlighten her councils,
to defend her freedom, and if need be, to lead her armies to victory
And should the gloom of the year of independence ever again over-
spread the sky, or the metropolis of your empire be once more des-
tined to smart under the scourge of an invader’s hand,* that there
never may be found wanting among the children of your country,
a warrior to bleed, a statesman to counsel, a chief to direct and
govern, inspired with all the virtues, and endowed with all the
faculties which have been so signally displayed in the life of JamEs
Monroe.”
* Alluding to the burning of the city of Washington, in the war of
1812.
CHAPTER XII.
MR. ADAMS TAKES HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS——HIS POSITION AND
HABITS AS A MEMBER—HIS INDEPENDENCE OF PARTY—HIS
EULOGY ON THE DEATH OF EX-PRESIDENT JAMES MADISON
— HIS ADVOCACY OF THE RIGHT OF PETITION, AND OPPO-
SITION TO SLAVERY—INSURRECTION IN TEXAS-——-MR. ADAMS
MAKES KNOWN ITS ULTERIOR OBJECT.
Mr. Apams took his seat in the House of Represent-
atives without ostentation, in December, 1831. His
appearance there produced a profound sensation. It
was the first time an ex-President had ever entered
that Hallin the capacity of amember. He was received
with the highest marks of respect. It presented a
singular spectacle to behold members of Congress
who, when Mr. Adams was President, had charged him
with every species of political corruption, and loaded
his name with the most opprobrious epithets, now
vieing with one another in bestowing upon him the
highest marks of respect and confidence. That which
they denied the President, they freely yielded to the
Man. It was the true homage which virtue and
patriotism must ever receive—more honorable, and far
more grateful to its object, than all the servility and
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 255
flattery which power and patronage can so easily
purchase.
The degree of confidence reposed in Mr. Adams
was manifested by his being placed at once at the
head of the Committee on Manufactures. This is
always a responsible station ; but it was peculiarly so at
that time. The whole Union was highly agitated on the
subject of the tariff. The friends of domestic manu-
factures at the North, insisted upon high protective
duties, to sustain the mechanical and manufacturing
interests of the country against a ruinous foreign com-
petition. The Southern States resisted these measures
as destructive to their interests, and remonstrated with
the utmost vehemence against them—in which they
were joined by a large portion of the Democratic party
throughout the North. Mr. Adams, with enlarged
views of national unity and general prosperity, coun-
selled moderation to both parties. As Chairman of the
Committee on Manufactures, he strove to produce
such a compromise between the conflicting interests, as
should yield each section\a fair protection, and restore
narmony and fraternity among the people.
So important were Mr. Adams’ services deemed in
the Committee on Manufactures, that, on proposing to
resign his post as Chairman, to fulfil other duties which
claimed his attention, he was besought by ail parties
to relinquish his purpose. Mr. Cambreleng, of N. Y.,
a political op}\onent of Mr. Adams, said, “It was not a
pleasant duty to oppose the request of any member of
256 LIFE OF JOHN QUINUY ADAMS.
the House, particularly one of his character. He did
so with infinite regret in the present instance; and he
certainly would not take such a course, but for the
important consequences that might result from assent-
ing to the wishes of the distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts. He had reached the conclusion, not
without infinite pain and reluctance, that the harmony,
if not the existence of our Confederacy, depends, at this
crisis, upon the arduous, prompt, and patriotic efforts
of a few eminent men. He believed that much might
be done by the gentleman from Massachusetts.”
In the same tone of high compliment, Mr. Barbour,
of Virginia, said, “that to refuse anything that could
be asked by the gentleman from Massachusetts gave
him pain, great pain. He said it was with unaffected
sincerity he declared, that the member from Massachu-
setts (with whom he was associated in the committee)
had not only fulfilled all his duties with eminent ability,
in the committee, but in a spirit and temper that com-
manded his grateful acknowledgments, and excited his
highest admiration. Were it permitted him to make a
personal appeal to the gentleman, he would have done
so in advance of this motion. He would have appealed
to him as a patriot, as a statesman, as a philanthropist,
and above all as an American, feeling the full force of
all his duties, and touched by all a incentives to
lofty action—to forbear this request.”
These complimentary appeals were well ied
by Mr Adams, and show most emphatically the high
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 257
position he occupied in the esteem and confidence of
the entire House of Representatives, on becoming a
member thereof. But, with the modesty of true great-
ness, it was painful to him to hear these encomiums
uttered in his own presence. He arose, and begged
the House, in whatever further action it might take
upon the subject, to refrain from pursuing this strain.
“T have been most deeply affected,” he said, “ by what
has already passed. I have felt, in the strongest man-
ner, the impropriety of my being in the House while
such remarks were made; being very conscious that
_ sentiments of an opposite kind might have been uttered
with far more propriety, and have probably been with-
held in consequence of my presence.”
Mr. Adams carried with him into Congress all his
previous habits of industry and close application to
business. He was emphatically a hard worker. Few
men-spent more hours in the twenty-four in assiduous
labor. He would take no active part in any matter—
would engage in the discussion of no topic—and would
not commit himself on any question—until he had
sounded it to its nether depths, and explored all its
ramifications, all its bearings and influences, and had
thoroughly become master of the subject. To gain
this information no toil was too great, no application
too severe. It was in this manner that he was enabled
to overwhelm with surprise his cotemporaries in Con-
gress, by the profundity of his knowledge. No subject
could he started, no question discussed, on which he
258 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
was not perfectly at home. Without hesitation or mis:
take, he could pour forth a stream of facts, dates, names,
places, accompanied with narrations, anecdotes, reflec-
tions and arguments, until tle matter was thoroughly
sifted and laid bare in all its parts and properties, to the
understanding of the most casual observer. The te-
nacity and correctness of his memory was proverbial.
Alas, for the man who questioned the correctness of his
statements, his facts, or dates. Sure discomfiture await-
ed him. His mind was a perfect calendar, a store-house,
a mine of knowledge, in relation to all past events con-
nected with the history of his country and his age.
In connection with his other exemplary virtues, Mr.
Adams was prompt, faithful, unwearied, in the dis-
charge of all his public duties. The oldest member of
the House, he was at the same time the most punctual
—the first at his post ; the last to retire from the labors
of the day. His practice in these respects could well
put younger members to the blush. While many
others might be negligent in their attendance, saunter-
ing in idleness, engaged in frivolous amusements, or.
even in dissipation, he was always at his post. No
call of the House was necessary—no Sergeant-at-arms
need be despatched—to bring him within the Hall of
Representatives. He was the last to move an ad-
journment, or to adopt any device to consume time or
neglect the public business for personal convenience
or gratification. In every respect he was a model
legislator. His example can be most profitalxy 1m-
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 259
itated by those who would arise to eminence in the
councils of the nation.
“My seat was, for two years, by his side, and it would have
scarcely more surprised me to miss one of the marble columns
of the Hall from its pedestal than to see his chair empty. * * *
I shall, perhaps, be pardoned for introducing here a slight persona!
recollection, which serves, in some degree, to illustrate his habits
‘I'he sessions of the last two days of (I think) the twenty-third Con-
gress, were prolonged, the one for nineteen, and the other for seven-
teen hours. At the close of the last day’s session, he remained in
the hall of the House the last seated member of the body. One after
another, the members had gone home; many of them for hours.
The hall—brilliantly lighted up, and gaily attended, as was, and
perhaps is still, the custom at the beginning the last evening of a
session—had become cold, dark, and cheerless. Of the members
who remained, to prevent the public business from dying for want
of a yuorum, most but himself were sinking from exhaustion, although
they had probably taken their meals at the usual hours, in the
course of the day. After the adjournment, I went up to Mr.
Adams’ seat, to join company with him, homeward; and as I knew
ne came to the House at eight o’clock in the morning, and it was
then past midnight, I expressed a hope that he had taken some
refreshment in the course of the day. He said he had not left his
seat; but holding up a bit of hard bread in his fingers, gave me t
understand in what way he had sustained nature.”*
The following reminiscence will further illustrate
Mr. Adams’ habits of industry and endurance at a
ater day, as well as show his views in regard to the
‘amous “ Expunging Resolution.”
“ On a cold and dreary morning, in the month of January, 1837, |
went to the capitol of the United States, at a very early hour, to
writ? out a very long speech I had reported for an honorable gentle-
man, who wished to look well in print; and on entering the hall
i SN ene _—
* Edward Everett.
260 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
of the House of Representatives, I found Mr. Adams, 45 early
as the hour was, in his seat, busily engaged in writing. He
and myself were the only persons present; even the industrious Mr.
Follansbee, the then doorkeeper, had not made his appearance, with
his assistants and pages, to distribute copies of the journal and the
usual documents.
“As I made it a rule never to speak to Mr. Adams, unless he
spoke first, said nothing; but took my seat in the reportess’ gallery,
and went to work. I had written about half an hour, when the
venerable statesman appeared at my desk, and was pleased to say
that | was a very industrious man. I thanked him fo- the compli-
ment, and, in return, remarked, that, as industrious as I might be, I
could not keep pace with him, ‘for, said I,‘I fourd you here,
sir, when I came in.’
“+ T believe I was a little early, sir,’ he replied ; ‘ but, as there is
to be a closing debate to-day, in the Senate, on the expunging reso-
lution, which I feel inclined to hear, I thought I would come down
at an unusual hour, this morning, and dispatch a little writing before
the Senate was called to order.’
“* Do you think the expunging resolution will be disposed of te-
day ?’ I inquired.
“JT understand it will,’ he rejoined. ‘I hope so, at least,’ he
added, ‘for I think the country has already become weary of it,
and is impatient for a decision. It has already absorbed more
time than should have been devoted to it.’
“¢ Tt will pass, I suppose, sir ?’ |
“* Qh, certainly ; and by a very decided majority. The adminis
tration is too strong for the opposition; and the affair will call upa
strict party vote. Ofcourse Mr. Clay’s resolution will be expunged,
and the journal will not be violated.’
“Twas somewhat surprised at the remark, and, in return, ob-
served that I had always understood that it was on the constitutional
ground, that the expunging process could not be effected without
destroying the journal, that the opponents of the measure had based
themselves.
“<«Tt is true, sir, that that has been the grave and somewhat tenable
argument in the Senate ; butit isa fallacy, after all,’ he replied. ‘ The
constitution, sir, it is true, renders it imperative on both Houses to
keep a correct journal of its proceedings ; and all this can be done,
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 261
ud any portion of it may be expunged, without violating that instru-
ment. For instance, sir, a resolution is adopted to-day, is entered
on the journal, and to-morrow is expunged—and still the journal
remains correct, and the constitution is not violated. For the act
oy which the expungation is effected is recorded on the journal ; the
expunged resolution becomes a matter of record, and thus every-
thing stands fair and correct. The constitution is a sacred docu-
iment, and should not be violated; but how often is it strictly
adhered to, to the very letter? There are, sir,some men in the world
who make great parade about their devotion to the “dear constitu
tion,’—men, sir, who make its sacred character a hobby, and who,
nevertheless, are perfectly reckless of its violation, if the ends of
party are to be accomplished by its abjuration.’
“There was a degree of sarcasm blended with his enunciation
of the ‘dear constitution,’ which induced me to think it possible
that he intended some personal allusion when he repeated the words.
In this I might, and might not, have erred.
“*In what way, Mr. Adams,’ I inquired, ‘is this expunging pro-
cess to be accomplished ? Is the objectionable resolution to be erased
from the journal with a pen; or is the leaf that contains it to be
cut out ?’
“¢ Neither process is to be resorted to, as I understand it,’ he
replied. ‘ ‘The resolution will remain in the book; black lines will
be drawn around it, and across it from right angles, and the word “ ex-
punged,” will be written on the face of it. It will, to all intents and
purposes, still stand on the face of the book. There are precedents
in parliamentary journalism for the guidance of the Senate, and I
suppose they will be adopted.’
“He then proceeded to give me a very graphic and interesting
description of an expunging process that took place in the British
Parliament in the reign of James the First, of England, which 1]
would repeat, if time and space allowed. He detained me a long
time, in narrating precedents, and commenting on them; and then
abruptly bringing the subject to a close, left me to pursue my labors.
* Soon after the House had been called to order, immediately after
the chaplain had said his prayers—for that was a ceremonial that
Mr. Adams always observed—I saw him leave his seat, and proceed,
as I supposed, to the Senate chamber. After an hour or two had
elapsed, I went into the Senate, and there found him, standing out-
17
262 LIFE OF JOHN QUINUY ADAMS,
side of the bar, listening, with all imaginable attention, to Mr. Feliz
Grundy, who was delivering himself of some brief remarks he had
to utter on the subject. ‘
“ At nine o'clock in the evening, as I fumbled my way through
the badly-lighted rotunda, having just escaped from a caucus that
had been holding ‘a secret session,’ in the room of the committee
on public lands, I descried a light issuing from the vestibule of the
Senate chamber, which apprized me that ‘the most dignified body
on earth’ was still in session. Impelled by a natural curiosity, I
proceeded towards the council chamber of the right reverend signors ;
and, just as I reached the door, Mr. Adams stepped out. I inquired
if the resolution had been disposed of.
“« No, sir, he replied ; ‘ nor is it probable that it will be to-night !
A Senator from North Carolina is yet on the floor ; and, as it does not
appear likely that he will yield it very soon, and as I am somewhat
faint and weary, I think I shall go home.’
“The night was very stormy. Snow was falling fast; the moon
which had e
6
—— not yet fill’d her horns,’
had receded beneath ‘the western horizon; and, as the capitol was
but sadly lighted, I offered iny services to the venerable sage of
Quincy, and at the same time asked leave to conduct him to his
dwelling.
“Sir, said he, ‘lam indebted to you for your proffered kindness ;
but I need not the service of anyone. I am somewhat advanced in
life, but not yet, by the blessing of God, infirm; or what Doctor
Johnson would call “superfluous ;” and you may recollect what
old Adam says in the play of “ As you like it :”
“ For in my youth I never did apply
Ffot and rebellious liquors in my blood.” ?”
“For the first time in my life, I found Mr. Adams a little inclined
to be facetious; and I was glad of it—for it was to me a kind of
assurance that my presence was not absolutely unwelcome.
“The salutation being over, and Mr. Adams having consented
that I should see him down the steps of the capitol, I proceeded on-
ward, and soon found myself, with my revered convoy, in the
vicinity of the western gate of the capitol grounds. ‘The wind
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 263
whistled a dismal tale,’ as we trudged onward, looking in vain for
acab; and the snow and sleet, which, early in the day, had mantled
the earth, was now some twelve inches deep on Pennsylvania
avenue. [insisted on going onward; but Mr. Adams objected, and
bidding me good night somewhat unceremoniously, told me, almost
in as many words, that my farther attendance was unwelcome.
“ As I left him, he drew his ‘ Boston wrapper’ still closer around
him, hitched up his mittens, and with elastic step breasted a wintry
storm that might have repelled even the more elastic movement
of juvenility, and wended up the avenue. Although I cannot irrev-
erently say that he
‘ Whistled as he went, for want of thought,’
I fancy that his mind was so deeply imbued with the contemplation
of affairs of state, and especially in contemplating the expunging
_ resolution, that he arrived at his home long before he was aware
that he had threaded the distance between the capitol and the
Presidential square.”*
Although elected to the House of Representatives as
a Whig, and usually acting with that party, yet Mr.
Adams would never acknowledge that fealty to party
could justify a departure from the conscientious dis-
charge of duty. He went with his party as far as he
helieved his party was right and its proceedings calcu-
lated to promote the welfare of the country. But no
party claims, no smiles nor frowns, could induce him
to sanction any measure which he believed prejudicial
to the interest of the people. Hence, during his con-
gressional career, the Whigs occasionally found him a
decided opposer of their policy and measures, on ques-
tions where he deemed they had mistaken the true
* Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams, by an Old Colony
Man—New York Atlas.
264 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
course. In this he was but true to his principles. char
acter, and whole past history. It was not that he loved
his political party or friends less, but that he loved what
he viewed as conducive to the welfare of the nation,
more.
The same principle of action governed him in refer -
ence to his political opponents. In general he threw
his influence against the administration of Gen. Jack-
son, under a sincere conviction that its policy was in-
jurious to the welfare of our common country. But to
every measure which he could sanction, he did not
hesitate to yield the support of all his energies.
An instance of this description occurred in relation
to the treaty: of indemnity with France. For nearly
forty years, negotiations had been pending in vain with
the French Government, to procure an indemnity for
spoliations of American commerce, during the French
Revolution and Republic. On the 4th of July, 1831,
Mr. Rives, the American Minister to France, succeeded
in concluding a treaty with that country, securing to
American merchants an indemnity of five millions of
dollars. But although the treaty was duly ratified by
both Governments, the French Chamber of Deputies
obstinately refused, for several years, to vote an appro-
priation of money to fulfil its stipulations. In 1835,
Gen. Jackson determined on strong measures to bring
the French Government to the discharge of its obliga-
tions. He accordingly sent a message to Congress,
recommending, in the event of further delay on the
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 265
part cf France, that letters of marque and reprisal be
issued against the commerce of France, and at the
same time instructed Mr. Edward Livingston, our
Minister at that day at the Court of St. Cloud, to de-
mand his passports, and retire to London. In all these
steps, which resulted in bringing France to a-speedy
fulfilment of the treaty, Mr. Adams yielded his unre-
served support to the administration. He _ believed
Gen. Jackson, in resorting to compulsory measures,
was pursuing a course called for alike by the honor
and the interest of the country, and he did not hesitate
to give him a cordial support, notwithstanding he was
a political opponent. Inaspeech made by Mr. Adams
on the subject, in the House of Representatives, he
said :—
“ Sir, if we do not unite with the President of the United States
in an effort to compel the French Chamber of Deputies to carry out
the provisions of this treaty, we shall become the scorn, the con-
tempt, the derision and the reproach of all mankind! Sir, this
treaty has been ratified on both sides of the ocean; it has received
the sign manual of the sovereign of France, through His Imperial
Majesty’s principal Minister of State; it has been ratified by the
Senate of this Republic; it has been sanctioned by Almighty God ;
and still we are told, in a voice potential, in the other wing of this
capitol, that the arrogance of France,—nay, sir, not of France, but
of her Chamber of Deputies —the insolence of the French Cham
bers, must be submitted to, and we must come down to the lower
degradation of re-opening negotiations to attain that which has al-
ready been acknowledged to be our due! Sir, is this a specimen
of your boasted chivalry ? Isthis an evidence of .he existence of that
heroic valor which has so often led our arms on to glory and im-
‘mortality : Re-open negotiation, sir, with France? Do it, and soon
you will find your flag insulted, dishonored, and trodden in the dust
266 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
by the pigmy States of Asia and Africa—by the very banditti of the
earth. Sir, the only negotiations, says the President of the United
States, that he would encounter, should be at the cannon’s mouth!”
The effect produced by this speech was tremendous
on all sides; and, for a while, the House was lost in the
excitement it afforded. The venerable orator took his
seat; and, as he sank into it, the very walls shook with
the thundering applause he had awakened.
On the 28th of June, 1836, the venerable ex-Presi-
dent James Mapison, departed life at Montpelier, Va.,
in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He had filled a
prominent’ place in the history of our Government,
from its first organization. As a statesman, he was
unsurpassed in critical acumen, in profundity of knowl-
edge, in an understanding of constitutional Government,
and its adaptation to the rights and interests of the
people. His writings are an invaluable legacy to his
countrymen, and will be studied and quoted for ages
to come. “His public acts were a noble commentary
upon his political principles—his private life an illus-
tration of the purest virtues of the heart.”
When a message from the President, announcing
the death of Mr. Madison, was received in the House
of Representatives, Mr. Adams arose and said :—
“By the general sense of the House, it is with perfect propriety
that the delegation from the commonwealth of Virginia have taken
the lead in the melancholy duty of proposing the measures suitable
to be adopted as testimoniais of the vereration due, from the Legis-
\
LIFE OF JOHN QUINUY ADAMS. 2u7
lature of the Union, to the memory of the departed patriot and sage,
the native of their soil, and the citizen of their community.
“Tt is not without some hesitation, and some diffidence, that 1
have risen to offer in my own behalf, and in that of my colleagues
upon this floor, and of our common constituents, to join our voice,
at once of mourning and exultation, at the event announced to both
Houses of Congress, by the message from the President of the
United States—of mourning at the bereavement which has befallen
dur common country, by the decease of one of her most illustrious
sons—of exultation at the spectacle afforded to the observation of
the civilized world, and for the emulation of after times, by the close
of a life of usefulness and of glory, after forty years of service in
trusts of the highest dignity and splendor that a confiding country
could bestow, succeeded by twenty years of retirement and private
life, not inferior; in the estimation of the virtuous and the wise, to
the honors of the highest station that ambition can ever attain.
“Of the public life of James Madison what could I say that is
not deeply impressed upon the memory and upon the heart of every
one within the sound of my voice? Of his private life, what but
must meet an echoing shout of applause from every voice within
this hail? Is it not in a pre-eminent degree by emanation from his
mind, that we are assembled here as the representatives of the
people and the States of this Union? Is it not transcendently by
his exertions that we all address each other here by the endearing
appellation of countrymen and fellow-citizens? Of that band of
benefactors of the human race, the founders of the Constitution of
the United States, James Madison is the last who has gone to his
reward. ‘Their glorious work has survived them all. They have
transmitted the precious bond of union to us, now entirely a suc-
ceeding generation to them. May it never cease to be a voice of
admonition to us, of our duty to transmit the inheritance unimpaired
to our children of the rising age.
“ Of the personal relations of this great man, which gave rise to
the long career of public service in which twenty years of my own
life has been engaged, it becomes me not to speak. The fulness
_ of the heart must be silent, even to the suppression of the overflow-
ings of gratitude and affection.”
To the year 1835, the career. of Mr. Adams in
Qbc LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Congress had been marked by no signal display of.
characteristics peculiar to himself, other than such as
the world had long been familiar with in his previous
history. He had succeeded in maintaining his reputa-
tion for patriotism, devotion to principle, political
sagacity and wisdom, and his fame as a public debater
and eloquent speaker. But no new development of
qualities unrecognized before had been made. From
that year forward, however, ne placed himse:* ‘n a new
attitude before the country, and entered upon a career
which eclipsed all his former services, and added a
lustre to his fame which will glow in unrivalled splen-
dor as long ds human freedom is prized on earth. It
can hardly ve necessary to state that allusion is here
made to his advocacy of the Right of Petition, and his
determined hostility to slavery. At an age when most
men would leave the stormy field of public life, and
retire to the quiet seclusion of domestic comfort, these
great topics inspirited Mr. Adams with a renewed
vigor. With all the ardor and zeal of youth, he placed
himself in the front rank of the battle which ensued,
plunged into the very midst of the melee, and, witha
dauntless courage, that won the plaudits of the world,
neld aloft the banner of freedom in the Halls of Con-
gress, when other hearts quailed and fell back! He
led “the forlorn hope” to the assault of the bulwarks
of slavery, when the most sanguine believed his
almost superhuman labors would be all in vain. In
these contests a spirit blazed out from his noble soul
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 269
which electrified the nation with admiration. In his
intrepid bearing amid these scenes he fully personified
the couplet quoted in one of his orations :—
“Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye !
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.”
The first act in the career of Mr. Adams as a Mem-
ber of Congress, was in relation to slavery. On the
12th of December, 1831, it being the second week of
the first session of the twenty-second Congress, he
presented fifteen petitions, all numerously signed, from
sundry inhabitants of Pennsylvania, praying for the
abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District
of Columbia. In presenting these petitions, Mr. Adams
remarked, that although the petitioners were not of his
immediate constituents, yet he did not deem himself at
liberty to decline presenting their petitions, the trans-
mission of which to him manifested a confidence in
him for which he was bound to be grateful. From a
letter which had accompanied the petitions, he inferred
that they came from members of the Society of Friends
or Quakers; a body of men, he declared, than whom
there was no more respectable and worthy class of citi-
zens—none who more strictly made their lives a com
mentary on their professions; a body of men comprising,
in his firm opinion, as much of human virtue, and as
little of human infirmity, as any other equal number of
men, of any denomination, upon the face of the globe
LL
270 IIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
The petitions for the abolition of the slave trade
in the District of Columbia, Mr. Adams considered
relating to a proper subject for the legislation of Con-
gress. But he did not give his countenance to those
which prayed for the abolition of slavery in that District.
Not that he would approbate the system of slavery;
for he was, and in fact had been through life, its most
determined foe. But he believed the time had not
then arrived for the discussion of that subject in Con-
gress. It was his settled conviction that a premature
agitation of slavery in the national councils would
greatly retard, rather than facilitate, the abolition of
that giant evil—as the most salutary medicines,” he
declared in illustration, “unduly administered, were the
most deadly of poisons.”
The position taken by Mr. Adams, in presenting
these petitions, was evidently misunderstood by many,
and especially by Abolitionists. They construed it
into a disposition on his part to sanction, or at least to
succumb unresistingly, to the inhumanity and enormity
of the slave institution. In this conclusion they sig-
nally erred. Mr. Adams, by birth, education, all the
associations of his life, and the fixed principles of his
moral and political character, was an opposer of slavery
in every form. No man felt more keenly the wretched
absurdity of professing to base our Government on the
“self-evident truth, that all men are created equal, and
endowed by their Creator with an unalienable right to
life, Zéberty, and the pursuit of happiness’”—of pro
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 271
claiming our Union the abode of liberty, the “home
of the free,” the asylum of the oppressed—whi.e hold-
ing in our midst millions of fellow-beings manacled in
hopeless bondage! No man was more anxious to
correct this: disgraceful misnomer, and wipe away its
dark stain from our national escutcheon at the earliest
practicable moment. But he was a statesman of pro-
found knowledge and far-reaching sagacity. He
possessed the rare quality of being able to “bide his
time” in all enterprizes. Great as he felt the enormity
of American slavery to be, he would not, in seeking te
remove it, select a time so unseasonable, and adopt
measures so unwise, as would result, Samson-like, in
removing the pillars of our great political fabric, and
crushing the glorious Union, formed by the wisdom
and cemented by the blood of our Revolutionary
Fathers, into a mass of ruins.
Believing there was a time to withhold and atime
to strike, he would patiently wait until the sentiment
of the American people became sufficiently ripened,
under the increasing light and liberality of the age, te
permit slavery to be lawfully and peaceably removed,
while the Union should remain unweakened and un
touched—the pride of our hearts, the admiration of the
world. Hence, in his early career, he saw no _ pro-
pitious moment for such a work. While discharging
the duties of U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and
President, an attempt in that direction would have
resulted in an aggravation of the evils of slavery, and
Tie LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
a strengthening of the institution. Nor on first enters
ing Congress did he conceive the time to be fully come
to engage in that agitation of the momentous subject
which, when once commenced in earnest, would never
cease until either slavery would be abolished, as far as
Congress possessed constitutional power, or the Union
become rent in twain! But he evidently saw that
time was at hand—even at the door—and he prepared
nimself for the contest.
In 1835, the people of Texas took up arms in open
rebellion against the Government of Mexico. That
Province had been settled chiefly by emigrants from
the Southern and Southwestern States. Many of
them had taken their slaves with them. But the
Mexican Government, to their enduring honbr be it
said, abolished slavery throughout that Republic. The
ostensible object of the Texian insurrection was to
resist certain schemes of usurpation alleged against
Santa Anna, at that time President of Mexico. At the
present day, however, after having witnessed the en-
tire progress and consummation of the scheme, it is
abundantly evident, that from the beginning there was
a deliberate and well-digested plan to re-establish
slavery in Texas—annex that province to the United
States—and thus immensely increase the slave terri-
‘ory and influence in the Union.
At the first blast of the Texian bugle, thousands of
volunteers from the slaveholding States rushed to the
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 273
standard of “the lone star.” Agents were sent to the
United States to create an interest in behalf of Texas
—the most inflammatory appeals were made to the peo-
ple of the Union—and armed bodies of American citi-
zens were openly formed in the South, and transported
without concealment to the seat of the insurrection.
President Jackson reminded the inhabitants of the
United States of their obligations to observe neutrality in
the contest between Mexicoand its rebellious province.
At the same time, Gen. Gaines, with a body of U.S.
troops, was ordered to take up a position within the
borders of Texas. The avowed object of this move-
ment was to protect the people of the Southwestern
frontiers from the incursions of Indian tribes in the
employment of Mexico. But the presence of such a
body of troops could not but exert an influence favor-
able to the measures and objects of Texas; and _ be-
sides, it afterwards appeared the Indians had no dispo-
sition to take sides with Mexico, or to make any
depredations on the territories of the United States.
A call was made on Congress for an appropriation of
a million of dollars to carry on these military opera-
tions, the entire tendency of which was to encourage
Texas in its attempt to throw off the Mexican alle-
giance and re-establish slavery.
The source from whence the authorities of Texas
were confidently looking for assistance, and the ulterior
object at which they were aiming in their insurrection
—viz.: annexation to the United States, and thus add
274 . LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
ing territory and strength to the institution of slavery
—are clearly revealed in the following extracts from a
letter addressed by Gen. Houston, commander of the
Texian forces, to Gen. Dunlap, of Nashville, Tenn :—
“ Near Sabine, July, 2, 1836.
To Gen. DunuaP:
Sir :—Your favor of the 1st of June reached me last evening.
U regret so much delay will necessarily result before you can reach
us. We will need your aid, and that speedily. The enemy, in large
numbers, are reported to bein Texas. * * * * * The army with which
they first entered Texas is broken up and dispersed by desertion
and other causes. If they get another army of the extent proposed,
it must be composed of new recruits, and men pressed into service.
They will not possess the mechanical efficiency of discipline which
gives the Mexican troops the only advantage they have. They will
easily be routed by a very inferior force. For a portion.of that
force, we shall be obliged to look to the United States! It cannot
reach us too soon. ‘There is but one feeling in Texas, in my opin-
ion, and that is, to establish the independence of Texas, and To BE
ATTACHED TO THE UnitED States! * * * * * March as speedily as
possible, with all the aid you can bring, and I doubt not but you
will be gratified with your reception and situation.”
The whole plan succeeded beyond the anticipation
of its most sanguine projectors. Aided by men and
means from the United States, Texas established its
independence—organized a government—incorperated
slavery into its constitution so thoroughly as to guard
against the remotest attempt ever to remove it—and
by a process unsurpassed in the annals of politica
intrigue, in due time became annexed to the North
American Union. In this accession of a territory
‘om which several large States will eventually be
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 275
carved out, the slave power of the United States ob-
tained a signal advantage, of which it will not be
backward to avail itself in the time of its need. A
faithful history of this entire movement is yet to be
written.
Mr. Adams, with his well-known and _ long-tried
sagacity, saw at a glance the whole design of the
originators of the Texas insurrection. While most
people were averse to the belief that a project was
seriously on foot to sever a large and free province
from the Mexican Republic and annex it to the Union
as slave territory, he read the design in legible char-
acters from the beginning. In a speech made in the
House of Representatives, in May, 1836, in ‘reference
to the call for a million of dollars, for purposes already
stated, Mr. Adams unriddled the Texian project with
the vision of a prophet.
“ Have we not seen American citizens,” said Mr. Adams, “ going
from all parts of the country to carry on the war of this province
against the united Government of Mexico? Who were those who
fell at Alamo? Who are now fighting under the command of the
hero* of Texian fame? And have we not been called upon in this
House, to recognize Texian independence? It seems that Gen.
Gaines considers this a war in defence of ‘ our Texians.’ ”
Mr. Cambreleng explained that the word “ neigh-
bors,” had been accidentally omitted in Gen. Gaines’
dispatch. -
Mr. Adams continued :—* Was this an intention to conquer Texas,
ee os
——
* General Houston.
276 LIFE GF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
to re-establish that slavery which had been abolished by the United
Mexican States? If that was the case, and we were to be drawn
into an acknowledgment of their independence, and then, by that
preliminary act, by that acknowledgment, if we were upon their
application to admit Texas to become a part of the United States,
then the House ought to be informed of it. I shall be for no such
war, nor for making any such addition to our territory. * * * * * * ]
hope Congress will take care to go into no war for the re-establish-
ment of slavery where it has been abolished—that they will go into
no war in behalf of ‘our Texians,’ or ‘our Texian neighbors’—
and that they will go into no war with a foreign power, without
other cause than the acquisition of territory.”
In a speech delivered a few days subsequent to the
above, Mr. Adams used the following language :—
“It is said that one of the earliest acts of this administration was
a proposal, made at a time when there was already much ill-humor
in Mexico against the United States, that she should cede to the
United States a very large portion of her territory—large enough
to constitute nine States equal in extent to Kentucky. It must be
confessed that a device better calculated to produce jealousy, sus-
picion, ill-will and hatred, could not have been contrived. It is
further affirmed that this overture, offensive in itself, was made
precisely at the time when a swarm of colonists from these United
States, were covering the Mexican border with land-jobbing, and
with slaves, introduced in defiance of Mexican laws, by which
slavery had been abolished throughout the Republic. ‘The war
now raging in Texas is a Mexican civil war, and a war for the re-
establishment of slavery where it was abolished. It is not a servile
war, but a war between slavery and emancipation, and every possi
ble effort has been made to drive us into the war on the side of
slavery.”
_ “When, in the year 1836, resolutions to recognize the ‘ndepend
ence of Texas came up in the House of Representatives, Mr
Adams opposed then: with great energy and eloquence, and pro
voked a most ardent and violent debate. Mr. Waddy Thompson
then a Representative in Congress, and subsequently Minister to
Mexico, advocated the passage of the resolutions; and, in doing so,
LIFE OF JUHN QUINCY ADAMS. 274
said that Mr. Adams, in negotiating the Florida treaty, actually ceded
to Mexico the whole of Texas, a province that was part and parcel
of this Union.
“ Mr. Adams immediately arrested the speech of Mr. Thompson,
and denied the impeachment. Mr. Thompson rejoined, and, to
strengthen his position, quoted some remarks Gen. Jackson had
made on the subject, confirmatory of the charge of having sacrificed
the national domain, in the Florida negotiation.
“Mr. Adams replied with great warmth; and went into a minute
and interesting narrative of the whole transaction. Among other
things, he said that, before the Florida treaty was signed, he took it
to Gen. Jackson, to obtain his opinion of it ; and that it was uncon-
ditionally approved by him.
“ Mr. Thompson was surprised at the announcement of this fact.
It weakened his position very materially ; and he resumed his seat a
defeated antagonist. So said the House of Representatives, with
scarcely the exception of a member.
“ Mr. Adams continued his defence. ‘ At that time,’ said he,
‘General Jackson was in this city, on exciting business connected
with the Seminole war; and, after the treaty had been concluded,
and only wanted the signatures of the contracting parties, the then
President of the United States directed me to cail on General Jack-
son, in my official capacity as Secretary of State, and obtain his
opinion in reference to boundaries. I did call. General Jackson,
sir, was at that time holding his quarters in the hotel at the other
end of the avenue; now kept by Mr. Azariah Fuller, but then under
the management of Jonathan McCarty. ‘The day was exceedingly
warm, and, on entering General Jackson’s parlor, I found him much
exhausted by excitement, and the intensity of the weather. I made
known to him the object of my visit; when he replied that I would
greatly oblige him if I would excuse him from looking into the
matter then. “Leave the papers with me, sir, till to-morrow, or
the next day, and I will examine them.” I did leave them, sir ;
and the next day ealled for the hero’s opinion and decision. Sir, I
recollect the occurrence perfectly well ; General Jackson was still
unwell; and the papers, with an accompanying map, were spread
before him. With his cane, sir, he pointed to the boundaries, as
chey had been agreed upon by the parties; and, sir, witn a very
emphatic expression, which I need not xepeat, he affirmed them.’
* 18
278 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
“ This debate, whilst yet warm from the hands of the reporters,
reached General Jackson; and was at once pressed upon his atten-_
tion. Its contradiction and refutation were deemed matters of par-
amount importance. The old soldier did not hesitate long to act in
the matter, and speedily there appeared_in the Globe newspaper a
letter, signed Andrew Jackson, denying, in unqualified and uncon-
ditional terms, everything that Mr. Adams had uttered. He denied
having been in Washington at the time Mr. Adams designated ;
but afterwards, being convinced that he was in error, in this fact
ovly he corrected himself, but denied most positively that he had
seen the Florida treaty, or Mr. Adams, at the time of its negotiation,
or that he had had the remotest agency or connection with the
transaction.
“ Mr. Adams responded, and appealed to his diary, where every-
thing was set forth with the utmost precision and accuracy. The
year, day of the month, and of the week, and the very hour of the
day, all were faithfully recorded.
“ The affair produced much sensation at Washington ; and even
the most determined advocates of General Jackson believed that he,
and not Mr. Adams, was in error. No one would, or could for a
moment, believe that Mr. Adams ‘ had made a false report.’
“ Whilst this controversy was pending, [ called at the Presidential
mansion, one afternoon, when General Jackson, strange to say,
happened to be alone. He said that he was very glad to see me,
because he would like to hear, from one who had an opportunity of
seeing more of the press than he saw, what was the exact state of
public opinion, in regard to the controversy.
“« As far as] am capable of judging, Mr. President,’ I replied,
‘the people appear to be unanimous in the opinion that there is a
misunderstanding, a misapprehension, between you and Mr. Adams;
for no one imagines, for a moment, that either of you would mis-
represent facts! Mr. Adams is a man of infinite method; he is
generally accurate, and, in this instance, it appears that he is sus-
tained by his diary.’ i.
‘““*His diary! don’t tell me anything more about his diary!
Sir, that diary comes up on all occasions—one would think that its
pages were as immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians!
Nir, that diary will be the death of me! I wonder if James Monroe
kept a diary' If he did, it is to be hoped that it will be looked to,
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 279
to see if it contains anvthing about this Adams and Don Onis treaty.
Sir, I did not see it; I was not consulted about it.’
“The old hero was exceedingly vehement, and was proceeding to
descant with especial violence, when he was interrupted by the en-
trance of Mr. Secretary Woodbury, and I never heard another
word about the matter. A question of veracity between the parties
was raised, and was never adjudicated. Both went down to the
grave before any definite light was cast on the subject; but the
world had decided that General Jackson was in error.*
* Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams, by an Old Colony
Man.
CHAPTER XIII.
MWR. ADAMS PRESENTS PETITIONS FOR THE ABOLISHMENT OF
SLAVERY—OPPOSITION OF SOUTHERN MEMBERS—EXCITING
SCENES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—MARKS OF
CONFIDENCE IN MR. ADAMS.
In the meantime, during the years 1836 and 1837,
the public mind in the Northern States, became fully
aroused to the enormities of American slavery—its en- —
croachments on the rights and interests of the free
States—the undue influence it was exercising in our
national councils—and the evident determination to
enlarge its borders and its evils, by the addition of new
and large territories. Petitions for the abolition of
slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia
and the Territories, began to pour into Congress, from
every section of the East and North. These were gen-
erally presented by Mr. Adams. His age and experi-
ence—his well-known influence in the House of Rep-
resentatives—his patriotism, and his intrepid advocacy
of human freedom—inspired the confidence of the
people of the free States, and led them to entrust te
him their petitions. With scrupulous fidelity he per
formed the duty thus imposed upon him. Whoever
petitions might come from—whatever the nature of
LIFE OF ©SHN QUINCY ADAMS. 28]
their prayer—whether for such objects as he could
sanction or not—if they were clothed in respectful
language, Mr. Adams felt himself under an imperative
obligation to present them to Congress. For several
sessions at this period, few days passed without his pre-
senting more or less petitions having some relation to
the subject of slavery.
The southern members of Congress became alarmed
at these demonstrations, and determined to arrest them,
even at the sacrifice, if need be, of the right of petition
—the most sacred privilege of freemen. On the 8th
of Feb., 1836, a committee was raised by the House of
Representatives, to take into consideration what dis-
position should be made of petitions and memorials for
the abolition of slavery and the slave trade, in the Dis-
trict of Columbia, and report thereon. This committee
consisted of Messrs. Pinckney of South Carolina,
Hanier of Ohio, Pierce of New Hampshire, Hardin
of Kentucky, Jarvis of Maine, Owens of Georgia,
Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, Dromgoole of Virginia,
and Turrill of New York. On the 18th of May, the
committee made a lengthy and unanimous report
through Mr. Pinckney, recommending the adoption
of the following resolutions :—
“Resolved, That Congress possesses no constitutional authority
to interfere in any wa with the institution of slavery in any of the
States of this Confederacy.
“Resolved, That Congress ought not to interfere in any way
nth slavery in the District of Columbia.
“ And whereas, It is extremely important and desirable that the
282 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
agitation of this subject should be finally arrested, for the purpose
of restoring tranquillity to the public mind, your committee respect
fully recommend the adoption of the following additional resolu-
tion, viz. :—
“ Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions
or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent whatever, to the
subject of slavery, or the abolition of slavery, shall, without being
either printed or referred, be laid upon the table, and that no further
action whatever shall be had thereon.”
When the first of these resolutions was taken up,
Mr. Adams said, if the House would allow him five
minutes’ time, he would prove the resolution to be
untrue. His request was denied.
On the third resolution Mr. Adams refused to vote,
and sent to the Speaker's chair the following declara-
tion, demanding that it should be placed on the journa.
of the House, there to stand to the latest posterity :—
“JT hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, of the rules of this House, and of the
rights of my constituents.”
Notwithstanding the rule embodied in this resolution
virtually trampled the right of petition into the dust,
yet it was adopted by the House, bya large majority.
But Mr. Adams was not to be deterred by this arbitrary
restriction, from a faithful discharge of his duty as a
representative of the people. Petitions on the subject
of slavery continued to be transmitted to him in in-
creased numbers. With unwavering firmness—against
a bitter and unscrupulous opposition, exasperated to
the highest pitch by his pertinacity—amidst a perfect
tempest of vituperation:- and abuse—-he persevered in
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 283
presenting these petitions, one by one, to the amount
Ss -metimes of two hundred in a day—demanding the
action of the House on each separate petition.
His position amid these scenes was in the highest
degree illustrious and sublime. An old man, with the
weight of years upon him, forgetful of the elevated
stations he had occupied, and the distinguished honors
received for past services, turning away from the re-:
pose which age so greatly needs, and laboring, amidst
scorn and derision, and threats of expulsion and assas-
sination, to maintain the sacred right of petition for the
poorest and humblest in the Jand—insisting that the
voice of a free people should be heard by their repre-
sentatives, when they would speak in condemnation of
human slavery and call upon them to maintain the
principles of liberty embodied in the immortal Declar-
ation of Independence—was a spectacle unwitnessed
before in the history of legislation. A few specimens
of these transactions will enable the reader to judge
of the trials Mr. Adams was compelled to endure in
the discharge of his.duties, and also of his moral courage
and indomitable perseverance, amid the most appalling
circumstances.
On the 6th of Jan., 1837, Mr. Adams presented the petition ot
one hundred and fifty women, whom he stated to be the wives and
daughters of his immediate constituents, praying for the abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia, and moved that the petition
be read.
IMr. Glascock objected to its reception.
Mr. Parks moved that the preliminary motion, on the reception of
the petition, be laid on the table, which was carried.
284 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Mr. Adams said, that if he had understood the decision of me
Speaker in this case, it was not the petition itself which was laid
upon the table, but the motion to receive. .n order to save the
time of the House, he wished to give notice that he should call up
that motion, for decision, every day, so long as he should be per-
mited to do so by the House; because he should not consider his
duty accomplished so long as the petition was not received, and so
long as the House had not decided that it would not receive it.
Mr. Pinckney rose to a question of order, and inquired if there
was now any question pending before the House?
The Speaker said, he had understood the gentleman from Mas-
sachusetts as merely giving notice of a motion hereafter to be
made. In doing so, it certainly was not in order to enter into
debate.
Mr. Adams said, that so long as freedom of speech was allowed
to him as a member of that House, he would call up that question
until it should be decided.
Mr. Adams was called to order.
Mr, A. said, he would then have the honor of presenting to the
House the petition of two hundred and twenty-eight women, the
wives and daughters of his immediate constituents ; and as a part
of the speech which he intended to make, he would take the liberty
of reading the petition. It was not long, and would not consume
much time.
Mr. Glascock objected to the reception of the petition.
Mr. Adams proceeded to read, that the petitioners, inhabitants of
South Weymouth, in the State of Massachusetts, “impressed with
the sinfulness of slavery, and keenly aggrieved by its existence ‘n
a part of our country over which Congress ——”
Mr. Pinckney rose to a question of order. Had the gentle an
from Massachusetts a right, under the rule, to read the petition ?
The Speaker said, the gentleman from Massachusetts haa a
right to make a statement of the contents of the petition.
Mr. Pinckney desired the decision of the Speaker as to whether
a gentleman had a right to read a petition.
Mr. Adams said he was reading the petition as a part of his
speech, and he took this to be one of the privileges of a member of
the House. It was a privilege he would exercise till he should be
deprived of it by some positive act.
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 285
The Speaker repeated that the gentleman from Massachusetts
had a right to make a brief statement of the contents of the petition.
It was not for the Speaker to decide whether that brief statement
“should be made in the gentleman’s own language, or whether he
should look over the petition, and take his statement from that.
Mr. Adams.—At the time my friend from South Carolina
The Speaker said the gentleman must proceed to state the con-
ents of the petition.
Mr. Adams.—I am doing so, sir.
The Speaker.—Not in the opinion of the chair.
Mr. Adams.—{ was at this point of the petition—* Keenly
agerieved by its existence in a part of our country over which Con-
zress possesses exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever ?
Loud cries of “ Order,” “ Order !”
Mr. Adams.—“*Do most earnestly petition your honorable
body 9
Mr. Chambers of Kentucky rose to a point of order.
Mr. Adams.—“ Immediately to abolish slavery in the District of
”
Columbia
Mr. Chambers reiterated his call to order, and the Speaker
directed Mr. Adams to take his seat.
Mr. Adams proceeded with great rapidity of enunciation, and ina
very loud tone of voice—* And to declare every human being freé
who sets foot upon its soil !”’
The confusion in the hall at this time was very great. The
Speaker decided that it was not in order for a member to read a
petition, whether it was long or short.
Mr. Adams appealed from any decision which went to establish
the principle that a member of the House should not have the power
to read what he chose. He had never before heard of such a thing.
If this practice was to be reversed, let the decision stand upon record,
and let it appear how entirely the freedom of speech was suppressed
in this House. If the reading of a paper was to be suppressed in
his person, so help him God, he would only consent to it as a matter
of record.
Mr. Adams finished the petition. The petitioners “ respectfully
announce their intention to present the same petition yearly before
this honorable body, that it might at least be a memorial in the ho}
sause of human freedom that they had done what they could.”
~
286 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS,
These words were read amidst tumultuous cries for “order,”
Tom every part of the House. The petiticn was finally received,
and laid upon the table.
Other scenes of a still ‘more exciting character soon
occurred.
On the 7th of February, 1837, after Mr. Adams had offered soine
two hundred or more abolition petitions, he came to a halt; and,
without yielding the floor, employed himself in packing up his bud-
get. He was about resuming his seat, when he took up a paper,
and hastily glancing at it, exclaimed, in a shrill tone—
“ Mr. Speaker, I have in my possession a petition of a somewhat
extraordinary character ; and I wish to inquire of the chair if it be
in order to present it.”
“If the gentleman “from Massachusetts,” said the Speaker, “ will
inform the chair what the character of the petition is, it will prob-
ably be able to decide on the subject.”
“ Sir,” ejaculated Mr. Adams, “ the petition is signed by eleven
slaves of the town of Fredericksburgh, in the county of Culpepper,
in the state of Virginia. It is one of those petitions which, it has
occurred to my mind, are not what they purport to be. It is signed
partly by persons who cannot write, by making their marks, and
partly by persons whose handwriting would manifest that they have
received the education of slaves. The petition declares itself to be
from slaves, and I am requested to present it. I will send it to the
chair.”
The Speaker (Mr. Polk,) who habitually extended to Mr. Adams
every courtesy and kindness imaginable, was taken by surprise, and
found himself involved in a dilemma. Giving his chair one of those
hitches which ever denoted his excitement, he said that a petition
from slaves was a novelty, and involved a question that he did not
feel called upon to decide. He would like to take time to consider
it; and, in the meantime, would refer it to the House.
The House was very thin at the time, and little attention was paid
to what was going on, till the excitement of the Speaker attracted
the attention of Mr. Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, who impatiently,
and under great excitement, rose and inquired what the petition was.
Mr. Speaker afforded the required information. Mr. Lewis, for-
getting all aiscretion, whilst he frothed at the mouth, turned towards
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 287
Mr. Adams, and ejaculated at the top of his voice, “ By G—d. sir
this is not to be endured any longer !”
“Treason! treason!” screamed a half dozen other members.
Expel the old scoundrel; put him out; do not let him disgrace
the House any longer !”
“ Get up a resolution to meet the case,” exclaimed a member from
North Carolina.
Mr. George C. Dromgoole, who had acquired a very favorable
reputation as a parliamentarian, was selected as the very man who,
of all others, was most capable of drawing up a resolution that
would meet and cover the emergency. He produced a resolution
with a preamble, in which it was stated, substantially, that, whereas
the Hon. John Quincy Adams, a representative from Massachusetts,
had presented to the House of Representatives a petition signed by
negro slaves, thus “ giving color to an idea” that bondmen were capa-
ble of exercising the right of petition, it was “ Resolved, That he be
taken to the bar of the House, and be censured by the Speaker
thereof.”
Mr. Haynes said, the true motion, in his judgment, would be to
move that the petition be rejected.
Mr. Lewis hoped that no motion of that kind would come from
any gentleman from a slaveholding section of the country.
Mr. Haynes said he would cheerfully withdraw his motion.
Mr. Lewis was glad the motion was withdrawn. He believed
that the House should punish severely such an infraction of its de
corum and its rules; and he called on the members from the slave
holding States to come forward now and demand of the House the
punishment of the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. Grantland, of Georgia, would second the motion, and go all
lengths in support of it.
Mr. Lewis said, that if the House would inflict no punishment
for such flagrant violations of its dignity as this, it would be better
for the Representatives from the slaveholding States to go home at
once. ,
_ Mr. Alford said, if the gentleman from Massachusetts intended
to present this petition, the moment it was presented he should
move, as an act of justice to the South, which he in part repre-
sented, and which he conceived had been treated with indignity,
that it be taken from the House and burnt; and he hoped that every
288 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
man who was a friend to the constitution, would support nim,
There must be an end to this constant attempt to raise excitement,
or the Union could not exist much longer. The moment any man
should disgrace the Government under which he lived, by present-
ing a petition from slaves, praying for emancipation, he hoped that
petition would, by order of the House, be committed to the flames.
Mr. Waddy Thompson moved the following resolution :—
“ Resolved, That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by the attempt
just made by him to introduce a petition purporting on its face to
be from slaves, has been guilty of a gross disrespect to this House,
and that he be instantly brought to the bar, to receive the severe
censure of the Speaker.”
The idea of bringing the venerable ex-President to the bar, like
a culprit, to receive a reprimand from a comparatively youthful
Speaker, would be a spectacle so disgraceful, and withal so absurd,
that the proposition met with no favor. An easier way to repri-
mand was devised. Mr. Haynes introduced the following resolu-
tion :—
“ Resolved, That John Quincy Adams, a Representative from the
State of Massachusetts, has rendered himself justly liable to the
severest censure of this House, and is censured accordingly, for
having attempted to present to the House the petition of slaves.”
Several other resolutions and propositions, from members of
slaveholding States, were submitted to the House; but none proved
satisfactory even to themselves. Mr. Adams, unmeved by the tem-
pest which raged around him, defended himself, and the integrity of
his purpose, with the distinguished ability and eloquence which
characterized all his public labors.
“In regard to the resolutions now before the House,” said he,
“as they all concur in naming me, and in charging me with high
crimes and misdemeanors, and in calling me to the bar of the House
to answer for my crimes, I have thought it was my duty to remain
silent, until it should be the pleasure of the House to act either on
one or the other of these resolutions. I suppose that if I shall be
brought to the bar of the House, I shall not be struck mute by the
previous question, before [ have an opportunity to say a word or
two in my own defence. * * * * * *
“ Now, as to the fact what the petition was for, I simply state to
the rentleman from Alabama, (Mr. D. H. Lewis.) who has sent to
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 289
the table a resolution assuming that this petition was for the aboli-
tion of slavery—I state to him that he is mistaken. He must
amend his resolution ; for if the House should choose to read this
petition, I can state to them they would find it something very much
the reverse of that which the resolution states it to be. And if the
gentleman from Alabama still chooses to bring me to the bar of
te House, he must amend his resolution in a very important par-
ticular ; for he may probably have to put into it, that my crime has
been for attempting to introduce the petition of slaves that slavery
should not be abolished. * * * * * *
* Sir, it is well known, that from the time I entered this House,
down to the present day, I have felt it a sacred duty to present any
petition, couched in respectful language, from any citizen of the
United States, be its object what it may ; be the prayer of it that in
which I could concur, or that to which I was utterly opposed. It
is for the sacred right of petition that I have adopted this course.
* * ** * ** * Where is your law which says that the mean, and the
low, and the degraded, shall be deprived of the right of petition, if
their moral character is not good? Where, in the land of freemen,
was the right of petition ever placed on the exclusive basis of
morality and virtue? Petition is supplication—it is entreaty—it is
prayer! And where is the degree of vice or immorality which
shall deprive the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or to
pray for mercy? Where is such a law to be found? It does not
belong to the most abject despotism! There is no absolute monarch
on earth, who is not compelled, by the constitution of his country, to
receive the petitions of his people, whosoever they may be. The
Sultan of Constantinople cannot walk the streets and refuse to re-
ceive petitions from the meanest and vilest of the land. This is the
law even of despotism. And what does your law say? Does it
say that, before presenting a petition, you shall look into it, and
see whether it comes from the virtuous, and the great, and the
mighty? No sir; it says no such thing. The right of petition be-
iongs to all. And so far from refusing to present a petition because
‘t might come from those low in the estimation of the world, it would
_ be en additional incentive, if such incentive were wanting.
“But I must admit,” continued Mr. Adams, sarcastically, “ that
when evor comes into the question, there may be other consider-
ations. It is possible that this House, which seems to consider it
290 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
© great a crite to attempt to offer a petition from slaves, may, for
augiit 1 know, say that freemen, if not of the carnation, shall be de
nrived cf the rent of petition, in the sense of the House.”
When southern members saw that, in their haste, they had not
tarried to ascertsin the nature of the petition, and that it prayed for
the perpetuation, instead of the abolition of slavery, their position
became so ludicrous, that their exasperation was greatly increased.
At the time the petition was announced by Mr. Adams, the House
was very thin; but the excitement it produced soon filled it; and,
besides, the sergeant-at-arms had been instructed to arrest and bring
in all absentees. The excitement commenced at about one o’clock,
and continued until seven o’clock in the evening, when the House
adjourned. Mr. Adams stood at his desk, resolutely refusing to be
seated till the matter was disposed of, alleging that if he were guilty,
he was not entitled to a seat among high and honorable men.
When Mr. Droomgoole’s resolution was read to the House for its
consideration, Mr. Adams yielded to it one of those sarcastic sneers
which he was in the habit of giving, when provoked to satire; and
said—* Mr. Speaker, if I understand the resolution of the honorable
gentleman from Virginia, it charges me with being guilty of * giving
color to an idea!” The whole House broke forth in one common
irrepressible peal of laughter. ‘he Droomgoole resolution was
actually laughed out of existence. The House now found that it -
had got itself in a dilemma,—that Mr. Adams was too much for it;
and, at last, adjourned, leaving the affair in the position in which
they found it.
For several days this subject continued to agitate the Ties
Mr. Adams not only warded off the virulent attacks made upon him,
but carried the war so effectually into the camp of his enemies, that,
becoming heartily tired of the contest, they repeatedly endeavored
to get rid of the whole subject by laying it on the table. To this
Mr. Adams objected. He insisted that it should be thoroughly can-
vassed. Immense excitement ensued. Call after cali of the House
was made. Mr. Henry A. Wise, who was, at the time, engaged
on the Reuben Whitney affair, was sent for, with an accompanying
message that the stability of the Union was in danger!
Breathless, and impatient, Mr. Wise made his appearance, and
inquired what was the matter. He was informed.
* Andis that all?” ejaculated Mr. Wise. ‘“ The gentleman from
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 29}
Massachusetts has presented a petition signed by slaves! Well,
sir, and what of that? Is anybody harmed by it? Sir, in my
opinion, slaves are the very persons who should petition. Mine,
sir, pray to me, and [ listen to them; and shall not the feeble sup-
plicate? Sir, I see no danger,—the country, I believe, is safe.”
At length the exciting subject was brought to a termination, by
the passage of the following preamble and resolutions; much
softened, it will be seen, in comparison with the measures first
proposed :— j
“ An inquiry having been made by an honorable gentlemaa from
Massachusetts, whether a paper which he held in his hand, pur-
porting to be a petition from certain slaves, and declaring themselves
to be slaves, came within the order of the House of the 1&th of
January,* and the said paper not having been received by the
Speaker, he stated that in a case so extraordinary and novel, he
would take the advice and counsel of the House.
“ Resolved, That this House cannot receive said petition without
disregarding its own dignity, the rights of a large class of citizens
of the South and West, and the Constitution of the United States.
“ Resolved, That slaves do not possess the right of petition secured
to the citizens of the United States by the constitution.”
The slave petition is believed to have been a counterfeit, manu-
factured by certain members from slaveholding States, and was sent
to Mr. Adams by the way of experiment —with the double design
of ascertaining if he could be imposed upon; and, if the deception
succeeded, those who got it up were curious to know if the ven-
erable statesman would redeem his pledge, and present a petizion,
no matter who it came from. He was too wily not to detect the
plot at the outset; he knew that all was a hoax; but, he resolved
to present the paper, and then turn the tables on its authors.t
On the 20th of December, 1838, Mr. Adams presented a petition
praying for the establishment of international relations with the
Republic of Hayti, and moved that it be referred to the Committee
* This order was the same as that adopted by the House on the 18th
of May, 1836. See p. 281.
+ Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams, by an Old Colony
Man.
282. LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
on Foreign Affairs, with instructions to consider and report thereon
This motion was opposed with great warmth by members from
slaveholding States. Mr. Adams was repeatedly interrupted during
hhe delivery of the brief speech he made on the occasion.
Mr. Bynum insisted that the gentleman from Massachusetts
should take his seat, under the rule. If, however, he was per-
‘nitted to proceed, Mr. B. hoped some gentleman of the slaveholding
yortion of the House weuld be allowed to answer him.
Mr. Adams.—Sir, I hope so. Only open our mouths, gentlemen;
hat is all we ask, and you may answer as much as you please.
Mr. Bynum.—lI object to the gentleman proceeding further with
iis cbservations, except by consent of the House. If we have
rules we had better either obey them or burn them.
The House voted, by 114 to 47, to allow Mr. Adams to proceed.
In continuing his speech, Mr. Adams said, that even admitting
the object of the petitioners is abolition, as has been alleged, they
had the right to petition for that too; for every individual in the
country had a right to be an abolitionist. The great men of the
Revolution were abolitionists, and if any man denies it, I will prove it.
Mr. Wise.—I deny it.
The Speaker said this was out of order.
Mr. Adams.—I feel obliged to the gentleman from Virginia for
giving me the invitation, and J will now prove what I say.
The Speaker said this did not form any part of the question
~efore the House.
Mr. Adams.—George Washington, in articulo mortis, by his last
will and testament, before God, his Creator, emancipated his slaves.
Mr. Wise.—Because he had no children.
The Speaker again interposed, and said the gentleman could not
go into that question. It was entirely out of order.
Mr. Adams.—I did but accept the invitation of the gentleman
from Virginia. I do not wish to go further. I simply take the
position that George Washington was an abolitionist in the most
extensive sense of the term; and I defy any man in this House to
the discussion, and to prove to tne contrary if he can.
The Speaker called Mr. Adams to order.
Mr Adams.—Well, sir, I was stating the high authority which
is to ve found for the principles of abolition. Does the gentleman
from Virginia deny that Thomas Jefferson was an abolitionist ?
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 293
Mr. Wise.--I do.
The Speaker again interposed.
Mr. Adams.—Well, sir, then I come back to my position, that
every man in this country has a right to be an abolitionist, and that
in being so he offends no law, but, in my opinion, obeys the most
sacred of all laws.
The motion to instruct the committee, was finally laid upon the
table.
Mr. Adams was evidently anxious to engage in a
legitimate discussion, in the House of Representatives,
of the subject of slavery in all its bearings, influences,
and results. Such adiscussion, coolly and deliberately
entered upon, by men of the most distinguished abili-
ties in the nation, could not but have been pregnant
with lasting good, not only to the North, but also to
the South and the entire country. To afford oppor-
tunity for a dignified and profitable investigation of
this momentous topic, Mr. Adams, on the 25th of Feb.,
1839, proposed the following amendments to the Con-
stitution of the United States :—
“ Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives in Con-
gress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring therein, That
the following amendments to the Constitution of the United States
be proposed to the several States of the Union, which, when ratified
by three-fourths of the legislatures of said States, shall become and
be a part of the Constitution of the United States :-—
“1. From and after the 4th day of July, 1842, there shall be
throughout the United States no hereditary slavery; but on and
after that day, every child born within the United States, their terri-
tories or jurisdiction, shall be born free.
“9. With the exception of the territory of Florida, there shall
henceforth never be admitted into this Union, any State, the con-
stitution of which shall tolerate within the same the existence of
slavery. ra
294 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
_ “3, From and after the 4th day of July, 1845, there shall be
neither slavery nor slave trade, at the seat of Government of the
United States.”
Instead of meeting and canvassing, in a manly and
nonorable manner, the vitally important question in
volved in these propositions, the slaveholding Repre-
“sentatives objected to its coming before the House for
consideration, in any form whatever. In this instance,
as in most others, where the merits of slavery are in-
volved, the supporters of that institution manifested a
timidity, a want of confidence in its legitimacy, of the
most suspicious nature. If slavery is lawful and de-
fensible—if it violates no true principle among men,
no human right. bestowed by the Creator—if it can be
tolerated and perpetuated in harmony with republican
institutions and our Declaration of Independence—
if its existence in the bosom of the Confederacy
involves no incongruity, and is calculated to promote -
the prosperity and stability of the Union, or the wel-
fare of the slaveholding States themselves—these are
facts which can be made evident to the world, by the
unsurpassed abilities of southern statesmen. Why,
then, object to a candid and fearless investigation of
the subject? But if slavery is the reverse of all this—
if it is a moral poison, contaminating and blighting
everything connected with it, and containing the seeds
of its own dissolution sooner or later—-why should
wise, sagacious politicians, prudent and honest men,
alr] conscientious Christians, shut their eyes and turn
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 295
away from a fact so appalling and so dangerous. No
man of intelligence can hope, in this age of the world,
to perpetuate that which is wrong and destructive, by
bravado and threatening—by refusing to look it in the
face, or to allow others to scrutinize it.. Error must
pass away. ‘T'ruth, however unpalatable, or however
it may be obscured for a season, must eventually tri-
umph. The very exertions of its supporters to perpe-
tuate wrong, will but hasten its death.
“Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again ;
Th’ eternal years of God are hers:
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among her worshippers.”
Notwithstanding the course Mr. Adams felt himself
compelled to pursue led him frequently into collision
with a large portion of the Members of the House of
Representatives, and caused them sometimes, in the
heat of excitement, to forget the deference due his
age, his experience, and commanding abilities, yet there
was ever a deep, under-current feeling of veneration
for him, pervading all hearts. Those who were ex-
cited to the highest pitch of frenzy by his proceedings,
could not but admire the singleness of his purpose, and
his undaunted courage in discharging his duties. On
all subjects aside from slavery, his influence in the
House has never been surpassed. Whenever he arose
1c speak, it was a signal for a general abandonment of
etlessness and inattention. Members dropped their
296 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
newspapers and pamphlets—knots of consulting politi-
cians in different parts of the Hall were dissolved—
Representatives came hastily in from lobbies, com-
mittee-rooms, the surrounding grounds—and all eagerly
clustered around his chair to listen to words of wis-
- dom, patriotism, and truth, as they dropped burning
from the lips of ‘the old man eloquent!’ The con-
fidence placed in him in emergencies, was unbounded.
A case in point is afforded in the history of the diffi-
culty occasioned by the double delegation from New
Jersey.
On the opening of the 26th Congress, in December, 1839, in
consequence of a two-fold delegation from New-Jersey, the House
was unable, for some time, to complete its organization, and pre-
sented to the country and the world the perilous and discreditable
aspect of the assembled Representatives of the people, unable to form
themselves into a constitutional body. On first assembling, the
House has no officers, and the Clerk of the preceding Congress acts,
by usage, as chairman of the body, till a Speaker is chosen. On
this occasion, after reaching the State of New Jersey, the acting
Clerk declined to proceed in calling the roll, and refused to enter-
tain any of the motions which were made for the purpose of extri-
cating the House from its embarrassment. Many of the ablest and
most judicious members had addressed the House in vain, and there
was nothing but confusion and disorder in prospect.
The fourth day opened, and still confusion was triumphant.
But the hour of disenthrallment was at hand, and a scene was
presented which sent the mind back to those days when Cromwell
uttered the exclamation—* Sir Harry Vane! wo unto yon, Sir Harry
Vane !”,—and in an instant dispersed the famous Rump Parliament.
Mr. Adams, from the opening of this scene of confusion and
anarchy, had maintained a profound silence. He appeared to be
engaged most of the time in writing. To a common observer, he
seemed to be reckless of everything around him—but nothing, not
the slightest incident, escaped him. The fourth day cf the struggie
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 297
had now commenced; Mr. Hugh H. Garland, the Clerk, was
directed to call the roll again.
He commenced with Maine, as was usual in those days, and
was proceding toward Massachusetts. I turned, and saw that
Mr. Adams was ready to get the floor at the earliest moment
possible. His keen eye was riveted on the Clerk; his hands
clasped the front edge of his desk, where he awlays placed them
to assist him in rising. He looked, in the language of Otway,
like the
iT
os
fowler, eager for his prey.”
‘“‘New Jersey !’’ ejaculated Mr. Hugh H. Garland, “and the
Clerk has to repeat that #
Mr. Adams sprang to the floor !
“ [ rise to interrupt the Clerk,” was his first ejaculation.
* Silence, silence,” resounded through the hall ; “ hear him, hear
him! Here what he has to say; hear John Quincy Adams!” was
the unanimous ejaculation on all sides.
In an instant, the most profound silence reigned throughout the
Hall—you might have heard a leaf of paper fall in any part of it—
and every eye wasriveted on the venerable Nestor of Massachusetts
—the purest of statesmen, and the noblest of men! He paused for
a moment; and, having given Mr. Garland a
ieee
— withering look!”
he proceeded to address the multitude :
“Tt was not my intention,” said he, “to take any part in these
extraordinary proceedings. I had hoped that this House would suc-
ceed in organizing itself; that a Speaker and Clerk would be
elected, and that the ordinary business of legislation would be pro-
gressed in. This is not the time, or place, to discuss the merits of
the conflicting claimants for seats from New Jersey; that subject
belongs to the House of Represeutatives, which, by the constitution,
is made the ultimate arbiter of the qualifications of its members.
But what a spectacle we here present! We degrade and disgrace
ourselves: we degrade and disgrace our constituents and the
country. We do not, and cannot organize; and why? Because
the Clerk of this House, the mere Clerk, whom we create, whom we
employ, and whose existence depends upon our will, usurps the
throne, and sets us, the Representatives, the vicegerents of the whole
298 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
American people, at defiance, and holds us in contempt! And what
is this Clerk of yours? Is he to control the destinies of sixteen
millions of freemen? Is he to suspend, by his mere negative, the
functions of Government, and put an end to this Congress? He re-
fuses to call the roll! It is in your power to compel him to call it,
if he will not do it voluntarily. [Here he was interrupted by a
member, who said that he was authorized to say that compulsion
could not reach the Clerk, who had avowed that he would resign,
rather than call the State of New Jersey.]| Well, sir, then let him
resign,” continued Mr. Adams, “ and we may possibly discover some
way by which we can get along, without the aid of his all-powerful
talent, learning and genius. If we cannot organize in any other
way—if this Clerk of yours wiil not consent to our discharging the
trusts confided to us by our constituents, then let us imitate the ex-
ample of the Virginia House of Burgesses, which, when the colonial
Governor Dinwiddie ordered it to disperse, refused to obey the im-
perious and insulting mandate, and, like men "
The multitude could not contain or repress their enthusiasm any
longer, but saluted the eloquent and indignant speaker, and intercept-
ed him with loud and deafening cheers, which seemed to shake the
capitol to its centre. ‘The very Genii of applause, and enthusiasm
seemed to float in the atmosphere of the Hall, and every heart ex-
panded with an indescribable feeling of pride and exultation. The
turmoil, the darkness, the very “ chaos of anarchy,” which had, for
three successive days, pervaded the American Congress, was dis-
pelled by the magic, the talismanic eloquence of a single man; and,
once more the wheels of Government and of Legislation were put
in motion.*
Having, by this powerful appeal, brought the yet unorganized as-
sembly to a perception of its hazardous position, he submitted a mo-
tion requiring the acting Clerk to proceed in calling the roll. This
and similar motions had already been made by other members. The
difficulty was, that the acting Clerk declined to entertain them. Ac-
cordingly, Mr. Adams was immediately interrupted by a burst of
voices demanding, “ How shall the question be put?” “ Who will
put the question?” The voice of Mr. Adams was heard above the
tumult, “I intend to put the question myself!” That word brought
order out of chaos. ‘There was the master mind.
—— —
* Reminiscences—by an Old Colony Man. ~
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 299
As soon as the multitude had recovered itself, and the excitement
of irrepressible enthusiasm had abated, Mr. Richard Barnwell Rhett,
of South Carolina, leaped upon one of the desks, waved his hand,
and exclaimed :
“JT move that the Honorable John Quincy Adams take the chair
of the Speaker of this House, and officiate as presiding officer, till
the House be organized by the election of its constitutional officers!
As many as are agreed to this will say ay; those S
He had not an opportunity to complete the sentence—* those who
are not agreed, will say no,’—for one universal, deafening, thunder-
ing «zy, responded to the nomination.
Hereupon, it was moved and ordered that Lewis Williams, of
North Carolina, and Richard Barnwell Rhett, conduct John Quincy
Adams to the chair.
Well did Mr. Wise, of Virginia, say, “Sir, l regard it as the
proudest hour of your life; and if, when you shall be gathered to
vour fathers, I were asked to select the words which, in my judg-
ment, are best calculated to give at once the character of the man,
I would inscribe upon your tomb this sentence, ‘ I will put the ques-
tion myself.’ ”’*
* In a public address, Mr. Adams once quoted the well known words
of Tacitus, Annal. vi. 39—“ Par negotiis neque supra” —applying them
to a distinguished man, lately deceased. A lady wrote to inquire
whence they came. Mr. Adams informed her, and added, that they
could not be adequately translated in less than seven words in English
The lady replied that they might be well translated in five—Equal fo,
not above, duty—but better in three—JoHn Quincy ADamMs.—Massa-
chusetts Quarterly Review.
CHAPTER XIV.
\
MR. ADAMS FIRMNESS IN DISCHARGE OF DUTY—HIS EXEB-
TIONS IN BEHALF OF THE AMISTAD SLAVES—HIS CONNEXION
WITH THE SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST—TOUR THROUGH CANADA
AND NEW YORK -— HIS RECEPTION AT BUFFALO — VISITS
NIAGARA FALLS—ATTENDS WORSHIP WITH THE TUSCARORA
INDIANS—HIS RECEPTION AT ROCHESTER——-AT AUBURN—AT
ALBANY—AT PITTSFIELD—VISITS CINCINNATI-——ASSISTS IN
LAYING THY CORNER STONE OF AN OBSERVATORY.
Ir would be impossible, in the limit prescribed to
these pages, to detail the numerous scenes and occur-
rences of a momentous nature, in which Mr. Adams
took a prominent part during his services in the House
of Representatives. The path he marked out for him-
self at the commencement of his congressional career, -
was pursued with unfaltering fidelity to the close of
ife. His was the rare honor of devoting himself, un-
eservedly, to his legitimate duties as a Representative
f the people while in Congress, and to nothing else.
He believed the halls of the Capitol were no place for
political intrigue ; and that a member of Congress, in-
stead of studying to shape his course to make political
capital or to subserve party ends, should devote him-
self rigidly and solely to the interests of his constitu
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 30)
ents. His practice corresponded with histheory. His
speeches, his votes, his entire labors in Congress, were
confined strictly to practical subjects, vitally connected
with the great interests of our common country, and
had no political or party bearing, other than such as
truth and public good might possess.
His hostility to slavery and the assumptions and
usurpations of slave power in the councils of the nation,
continued to the day of his death. At the commence-
ment of each session of Congress, he demanded that
the infamous “ gag rule,’ which forbid the presentation
of petitions on the subject of slavery, should be abol-
ished. But despite its continuance, he persisted in
handing in petitions from the people of every class,
complexion and condition. He did not hesitate to lay
before the House of Representatives a petition from
Haverhill, Mass., for the dissolution of the Union!
Although opposed in his whole soul to the prayer of
the petitioners, yet he believed himself sacredly bound
to listen with due respect to every request of the peo-
ple, when couched in respectful terms.
In vain did the supporters of slavery endeavor to
arrest his course, and to seal his lips in silence. In
vain did they threaten assassination—expulsion trom
the House—indictment before the grand jury of the
District of Columbia. In vain did they declare that he
should “ be made amenable to another tribunal, [mob-
‘aw] and as an incendiary, be brought to condign pur -
ishment.” ‘ My life on it,” said a southern memb ¢
M*
302 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
“if he presents that petition from slaves, we shall yet
see him within the walls of the penitentiary.” All
these attempts at brow-beating moved him not a tittle.
Firm he stood to his duty, despite the storms of angry
passion which howled around him, and with withering
rebukes repelled the assaults of hot-blooded opponents,
as the proud old headland, jutting far into ocean’s
bosom, tosses high, in worthless spray, the dark moun-'
tain billows which in wrath beat upon it.
“Do the gentlemen from the South,” said he, “think they can
frighten me by their threats? If that be their object, let me tell
them, sir, they have mistaken their man. Iam not to be frightened
from the discharge of a sacred duty, by their indignation, by their
violence, nor, sir, by all the grand juries in the universe. I have
done only my duty; and I shall do it again under the same circum-
stances, even though they recur to-morrow.”
“ Though aged, he was so iron of limb,
None of the youth could cope with him ;
And the foes whom he singly kept at bay,
Outnumbered his thin hairs of silver grey.”
a
Nor was Mr. Adams without encouragement in his
trying position. His immediate constituents, at their
primary meetings, repeatedly sent up a cheering voice
in strong and earnest resolutions, approving heartily
his course, and urging him to perseverance therein.
The Legislatures of Massachusetts and Vermont,
rallied to his support. In solemn convocation they
protested against the virtual annihilation of the right
of petition—against slavery and the slave trade in the
District of Columbia—gave their entire sanction to the
principles advocated hy Mr. Adams, and pledged their
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 303
countenance to all measures calculated to sustain
them.
Large bodies of people in the Eastern, Northern,
and Middle States, sympathized with him in his sup-
port of the most sacred of privileges bestowed on man
Representative after Representative were sent to Con-
gress, who gathered around him, and co-operated with
him in his holy warfare against the iron rule which
slavery had been enabled to establish in the national
Legislature. With renewed energy he resisted the
mighty current which was undermining the founda-
tions of the Republic, and bearing away upon its turbid
waters the liberties of the people. And he resisted
not in vain.
The brave old man lived to see his labors, in this
department of duty, crowned with abundant success.
One after another the cohorts of slavery gave way
before the incessant assaults, the unwearied persever-
ance, of Mr. Adams, and the faithful compeers who
were sent by the people to his support. At length, in
1845, the obnoxious “gag rule” was rescinded, and
Congress consented to receive, and treat respectfully,
all petitions on the subject of slavery. This was a
moral triumph which amply compensated Mr. Adams
for all the labors he had put forth, and for aii the
" trials he had endured to achieve it.
Yes; he “ lived to hear that subject which of all others had been
forbidden an entrance into the Halls of Congress, fairly broached
He tived to listen, with a delight all his own, to a high-souled, whole-
304 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
hearted speech on the slave question, from his colleague, Mr. °°‘
frey —a speech, of which it is not too high praise to say, that
would not have disparaged the exalted reputation of Mr. Adams,
had he made it himself. Aye, more, he lived to see the whole
House of Representatives—the members from the South, not less
than those from the North, attentive and respectful listeners to tha
speech of an hour’s length, on the political as well as moral aspeet
of slavery in this Republic. What a triumph! At the close of
it, the moral conqueror exclaimed, ‘God be praised; the seals are
broken, the door is open.’ ”’*
If anything were wanting to crown the fame of Mr.
Adams, in the Jast days of life, with imperishable honor,
or to add, if possible, new brilliancy to the beams of
his setting sun, it is found in his advocacy of the free-
dom of the Amistad slaves.
A ship-load of negroes had been stolen from Africa,
contrary to the law of nations, of humanity and of
God, and surreptitiously smuggled, in the night, into
the Island of Cuba. This act was piracy, according to
the law of Spain, and of all Governments in Christen-
dom, and the perpetrators thereof, had they been de-
tected, would have been punished with death. Imme-
diately after the landing of these unfortunate Africans,
about thirty-six of them were purchased of the slave-
pirates, by two Spaniards named Don Jose Ruiz and
Don Pedro Montes, who shipped them for Guanaja,
Cuba, in the schooner “ Amistad.’’ When three days
out from Havana, the Africans rose, killed the captain
and crew, and took possession of the vessel—sparing
the lives of their purchasers, Ruiz and Montes. This
* Rev. S. J. May.
LIFE OF JOHN QU:NCY ADAMS. 305
transaction was unquestionably justifiable on the part
of the negroes. They had been stolen from their
native land—had fallen into the hands of pirates and
robbers, and reduced to abject slavery. According to
the first law of nature—the law of self-defence—im-
planted in the bosom of every human being by the
Creator, they were justified in taking any measures
necessary to restore them to the enjoyment of that
freedom which was theirs by birthright.
The negroes being unable to manage the schooner,
compelled Ruiz and Montes to navigate her, and
directed them to shape her course for Africa; for it
was their design to return to their native land. But
they were deceived by the two Spaniards, who brought
the schooner to the coast of the United States, where
she was taken possession of by Lieut. Gedney, of the
U. S. surveying brig Washington, a few miles off Mon-
tauk Point, and brought into New London, Conn. The
two Spaniards claimed the Africans as their property ;
ard the Spanish Minister demanded of the President
of the United States, that they be delivered up to the
proper authorities, and taken back to Havana, to be
tried for piracy and murder. The matter was brought
before the District Court of Connecticut.
In the mean time President Van Buren ordered the
U. S. schooner Grampus, Lieut. John 8S. Paine, to
repair to New Haven, to be in readiness to convey
the Africans to Havana, should such be the decision
of the Court. But the Court decided that the Govern-
306 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
ment of the United States had no authority to retura
them into slavery; and directed that they be conveyed
in one of our public ships to the shores of Africa, frem
whence they had but recently been torn away. From
this decision the U. S. District Attorney appealed to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
These transactions attracted the attention of the
whole people of the Union, and naturally excited the
sympathy of the masses, pro and con, as they wei
favorable or unfavorable to the institution of slavery
Who should defend, in the Supreme Court, these poor
outcasts—ignorant, degraded, wretched—who, fired
with a noble energy, had burst the shackles of slavery,
and by a wave of fortune had been thrown into the
midst of a people professing freedom, vet keeping their
feet on the necks of millions of slaves? The eyes of
all the friends of human rights turned instinctively te .
Joun Quincy Apams. Nor were their expectations
disappointed. Without hesitation he espoused the
cause of the Amistad negroes. At the age of seventy-
four, he appeared in the Supreme Court of the United
States to advocate their cause. He entered upon this
labor with the enthusiasm of a youthful barrister, and
displayed forensic talents, a critical knowledge of law,
and of the inalienable rights of man, which would have
added to the renown of the most eminent jurists of
the day.
“When he went to the Supreme Court, after an
absence of thirty years, and arose to defend a body of
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 307
riendless negroes, torn from their home and most un-
justly held in thrall—when he asked the Judges to
excuse him at once both for the trembling faults of age
and the inexperience of youth, having labored so Jong
elsewhere that he had forgotten the rules of court—
when he summed up the conclusion of the whole mat-
ter, and brought before those judicial but yet moisten-
ing eyes, the great men whom he had once met there—
Chase, Cushing, Martin, Livingston, and Marshal J/'m-
self; and while he remembered that they were ‘s,one,
gone, all gone,’ remembered also the eternal Justice
that is never gone—the sight was sublime. It was
not an old patrician of Rome, who had been Consul,
Dictator, coming out of his honored retirement at the
Senate’s call, to stand in the Forum to levy new
armies, marshal them to victory afresh, and gain
thereby new laurels for his brow; but it was a plain
citizen of America, who had held an office far greater
than that of Consul, King, or Dictator, his hand red-
dened by no man’s blood, expecting no honors, but
coming in the name of justice, to plead for the slave,
for the poor barbarian negro of Africa, for Cinque and
Grabbo, for their deeds comparing them to Harmodius
and Aristogeiton, whose classic memory made each
bosom thrill. That was worth all his honors—it was
worth while to live fourscore years for that.”*
This effort of Mr. Adams was crowned with com-
plete success. The Supreme Court decided that the
* Theodore Parker.
308 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Africans were entitled to their freedom, and ordersa
them to be liberated. In due time they were enabled,
by the assistance of thé charitable, to sail for Africa,
and take with them many of the implements of civil:
ized life. They arrived in safety at Sierre Leone, and
were allowed once more to mingle with their friends,
and enjoy God’s gift of freedom, in a Pagan land—
having fortunately escaped from a cruel and life-long
bondage, in the midst of a Christian people.
In reply to a letter requesting Mr. Adams to write
out his argument in this case, he concludes as follows :
“I shall endeavor, as you desire, to write out, in full
extent, my argument before the Court, in which all
this was noticed and commented upon. If it has no
other effect, I hope it will at least have that of admon-
ishing the free people of this Union to keep perpetually
watchful eyes upon every act of their executive ad-
ministration, having any relation to the subject of
slavery.”
In availing the country of the benefit of the “Smith-
sonian Bequest,” and in founding the “ Smithsonian In-
stitute” at Washington, Mr. Adams took an active part.
He repeatedly called the attention of Congress to the
subject, until he succeeded in causing a bill to be
passed providing for the establishment of the Institute.
He was appointed one of the Regents of the Institute,
which office he held until his death.
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 309
In the summer of 1848, Mr. Adams visited Lebanon
Springs, N. Y., for the benefit of his health, which had
oecome somewhat impaired, and also the health of a
cherished member of his family. He designed to
devote only four or five days to this journey; but he
was so highly pleased with the small portion of the
State of New York he saw at Lebanon Springs, that
ne was induced to proceed further. He visited Sara-
toga, Lake George, Lower Canada, Montreal and
(Juebec. Returning, he ascended the St. Lawrence
and the Lakes as far as Niagara Falls and Buffalo,
and by the way of Rochester, Auburn, Utica and
Albany, sought his home in Quincy with health greatly
improved.
Although Mr. Adams had many bitter enemies—
made so by his fearless independence, and the stern
integrity with which he discharged the public duties
entrusted to him—yet in the hearts of the people he
ever occupied the highest position. They not only
respected and admired the politician, the statesman,
but they venerated the man! they loved him for his
purity, his philanthropy, his disinterested patriotism,
his devotion to freedom and human rights. All this
was manifested during his tour through New York.
It was marked in its whole extent by demonstrations
of the highest attention and respect from people of
all parties. Public greetings, processions, celebrations,
met him and accompanied him at every step of his
journey. Never since the visit of La Fayette had
20
310 LIFE 9F JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
such an anxious desire to honor a great and good man
been manifested by the entire mass of the people
His progress was one continued triumphal procession
“T may say,” exclaimed Mr. Adams, near the close of
his tour, “ without being charged with pride or vanity
I have come not alone, for the whole people of the
State of New York have been my companions !”
At Buffalo he was received with every possible
demonstration of respect. The national ensign was
streaming from an hundred masts, and the wharves,
and the decks and rigging of the vessels, were crowded
by thousands anxious to catch a glimpse of the re-
nowned statesman and patriot, who was greeted by
repeated cheers. Hon. Millard Fillmore addressed
him with great eloquence. The following is the ccn-
clusion of his speech :—
“ You see around you, sir, no political partisans seeking to pro-
mote some sinister purpose ; but you see here assembled the people
of our infant city, without distinction of party, sex, age, or con- .
dition —all, all anxiously vieing with each other to show their
respect and esteem for your public services and private worth.
Here are gathered, in this vast multitude of what must appear to
you strange faces, thousands whose hearts have vibrated to the
chord of sympathy which your written speeches have touched.
Here is reflecting age, and ardent youth, and lisping childhood, to
all of whom your venerated name is as dear as household words—
all anxious to feast their eyes by a sight of that extraordinary and
venerable man, of whom they have heard, and read, and thought so
much—all anxious to hear the voice of that ‘ o/d man eloquent,’ on
whose lips wisdom has distilled her choicest nectar. Here, sir, you
see them all, and read in their eager, joy-gladdened countenances,
and brightly-beaming eyes, a welcome—a thrice-told, heart-felt,
soul-stirring welcome to ‘the man whom they delight to honor.’
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 311
Mr. Adams responded to this speech in a strain
of most interesting remarks. He commenced as
~ follows :—
“*] must request your indulgence for a moment’s pause to tak
breath. If you inquire why I ask this indulgence, it is because
Iam so overpowered by the eloquence of my friend, the chairman
of the Committee of Ways and Means, (whom I have been so long
accustomed to refer to in that capacity, that, with your permission. !
will continue so to denominate him now,) that I have no words left te
answer him. For so liberal has he been in bestowing that eloquence
upon me which he himself possesses in so eminent a degree, that
while he was ascribing to me talents so far above my own con-
sciousness in that regard, I was all the time imploring the god of
eloquence to give me, at least at this moment, a few words to justify
him before you in making that splendid panegyric which he has
been pleased to bestow upon me; and that the flattering picture
which he has presented to you, may not immediately be defaced
before your eyes by what you should hear from me. * * * * * *
In concluding his remarks he said :—‘ Of your attachment to
mora] principle I have this day had another and pleasing proof in
the dinner of which I have partaken in the steamer, in which, by
your kindness, I have been conveyed to this place. It was a sump-
tuous dinner, but at which temperance was the presiding power.
congratulate you on the evidence there exhibited of your attach-
ment to moral principle, in your co-operation in that great move-
ment which is promoting the happiness and elevation of man in
every quarter of the globe.
“ And here you wil] permit me to allude to an incident which has
occurred in my recent visit to Canada, in which I perceived the co-
operation of the people of that Province in the same great moral
reformation. While at Quebec, I visited the falls of Montmorenci,
a cataract which, but for yours, would be among the greatest won-
ders of nature. In going to it, I passed through the parish of Beau-
port, and there, by the side of the way, I saw a column with an in-
scription upon its pedestel, which I had the curiosity to stop and
read. It was erected by the people of Beauport in gratitude to the
V.rgin, for her goodness in promoting the cause of temperance in
$12 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
that parish. Perhaps I do not sufficiently sympathize with the
people of Beauport in attributing to the Virgin so direct an influence
upon this moral reform; but in the spirit with which they erected
that monument I do most cordially sympathize with them. For,
under whatever influence the cause may be promoted, the cause
itself can never fail to make its votaries wiser and better men. I
cannot make a speech. My heart is too full, and my voice too
feeble. Farewell! And with that farewell, may the blessings of
heaven be upon you throughout your lives !”
Mr. Adams was greatly delighted with his visit to
Niagara Falls. A letter-writer thus describes it :—
“ Mr. Adams seems incapable of fatigue, either physical or mental.
After a drive in the morning to Lewiston, he stopped, on his return
to the Falls, at the whirlpool. The descent to the water’s edge,
which is not often made, is, as you will remember, all but vertical,
down a steep of some three hundred and sixty feet. One of the
party was about going down, when Mr. Adams remarked that he
would accompany him. Gen. Porter and the other gentlemen
present remonstrated, and told him it was a very severe under-
taking for a young and hearty man, and that he would find it, in
such a hot day, quite impracticable. He seemed, however, to know
his capacities; and this old man, verging on four score years, not
only made the descent, but clambered over almost impracticable
rocks along the margin of the river, to obtain-the various views pre-
sented at different points. The return was not easy, but he was
quite adequate to the labor; and after resting a few minutes at the
summit, resumed his ride, full of spirits and of animated and in-
structive conversation. After dinner, he crossed over to Goat
Island, and beheld the cataract from the various points, and con-
tinued his explorations until all was obscured by darkness. He
seemed greatly impressed by the wonderful contrast presented by
the scene of rage and repose—of the wild and furious dashing of
the mighty river down the rapids, with its mad plunge over the
precipice—and the sullen stillness of the abyss of waters below.
I wish I could repeat to you his striking conversation during these
rambles, replete with brilliant classical allusions, historical illustra
tions, and the most minute, and as it seemed to me, universal infor:
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 313
mation. * * * * * * [ sincerely concur with the worthy captain of
one of our steamboats, who said to me the other day,—‘ Oh, that we
could take the engine out of the old “ Adams,” and put it into a new
hull ?”
During his visit at the Falls, Mr. Adams, on a Sab-
bath morning, accompanied by Gen. Porter, visited the
remnant of the Tuscarora Indians, and attended di-
vine service in their midst. At the conclusion of the
sermon, Mr. Adams made a brief address to the Indians,
which is thus described by the letter-writer alluded to
above :—
“ Mr. Adams alluded to his advanced age, and said this was the
first time he had ever looked upon their beautiful fields and forests
—that he was truly happy to meet them there and join with them in
the worship of our common Parent—reminded them that in years
past he had addressed them from the position which he then occu-
pied, in language, at once that of his station and his heart, as ‘his
children’—and that now, as a private citizen, he hailed themin terms
of equal warmth and endearment, as his ‘ brethren and sisters.’
He alluded, with a simple eloquence which seemed to move the
Indians much, to the equal care and love with which God regards
all his children, whether savage or civilized, and to the common
destiny which awaits them hereafter, however various their lot here.
He touched briefly and forcibly on the topics of the sermon which
they had heard, and concluded with a beautiful and touching ben
ediction upon them.” »
At Rochester immense multitudes assembled to re-
ceive Mr. Adams. He was welcomed in an eloquent
address from the Mayor. of the city. The following
are a few extracts from the reply of Mr. Adams :—
“Mr Mayor and Fellow-citizens :—I fear you expect from ine a
speech. If it were in my power, oppressec as T am with mingled
314 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
astonishment and gratitude at what I have experienced and now see
of your kindness, to make a speech, I would gratify you with one
adorned with all the chaste yet simple eloquence which are com-
bined in the address to which you have just listened from your worthy
Mayor. But it is not in my power. You may probably think there
is some affectation on my part, in pretending inability to addres
you, knowing as many of you do, that I have often addressed as
semblies like this. But I hope for greater indulgence from you
than this. I trust you will consider that I have seen and spoken to
multitudes like that now before me, but that these multitudes had
frowning faces. Those I could meet, and to thoseI could speak.
But to you, whose every face is expressive of generous affection—
to you, in whose every countenance I see kindness and friendship—
I cannot speak. It is too much for me. It overcomes my powers
of speech. It is a new scene to me. * * * * * *
“ Amongst the sentiments which I have expressed, and the obser-
vations which I have made during my brief tour through this portion
of your State, it was impossible for me to forego a constant com-
parison with what New York was in other days, and what it is
now. I first set my feet upon the soil of the now Empire State, in
1785. I then visited the city of New York,—at that time a town
of 18,000 inhabitants. I tarried, while in that city, at the house of
John Jay—a man whom I name, and whom all will remember, as
one of the most illustrious of the distinguished patriots who carried
our beloved country through the dark period of the Revolution. Mr.
Jay, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, under the Congress of the
Federation, was laying the foundation of a house in Broadway, but
which was separated by the distance of a quarter of a mile from any
other dwelling. At that time, being eighteen years of age, I received
an invitation to visit western New York; and I have regretted
often, but never more than now, that I had not accepted that invita-
tion. Oh! what would I not have given to have seen this part of
this great State then, that I might be able to contrast it with what it
nowlis. F705 %
“Tt has seemed to me as if in this region the God of nature in-
‘ended to make a more sublime display of his power, than in any
other portion of the world. He has done so in physical nature—in
che majestic cataract, whose sound you can almost hear—in forest
and in field—in the mind of man among you. In what has been
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 315
accomplished to make your city what it is, the aged have done the
most. ‘The middle aged may say we will improve upon what has
yeen done; and the young, we shall accomplish still more than
our fathers. That, fellow-citizens, was the boast in the ancient
Spartan procession —a procession which was divided into three
classes—the old, the middle-aged, and the young. They had a
saying which each class repeated in turn. The aged said—
‘ We have been, in days of old,
Wise and gentle, brave and bold.’
‘The middle-aged said—
‘We, in turn, your place supply $
Who doubts it, let them come and try.’
And the boys said—
‘Hereafter, at our country’s call,
We promise to surpass you all.’
And so it will be with you—-each in your order.”
At Auburn every possible token of respect was paid
to the venerable statesman. A committee consisting
of ex-Gov. Seward, Judge Conklin, Judge Miller,
Luman Sherwood, P. H. Perry, S. A. Goodwin, James
C. Wood, and J. L. Doty, Esqs., proceeded to Canan-
daigua to meet Mr. Adams. At half past nine o’clock
in the evening, Mr. Adams, accompanied by the com-
mittee, arrived in Auburn. He was received by a
torch-light procession, composed of the Auburn Guards,
the Firemen, and an immense concourse of citizens,
and conducted to the mansion of Gov. Seward, where
he thus briefly addressed the people :—
“ Fellow-citizens :—Notwithstanding the glow with which these
brilliant torch-lights illuminate my welcome among you, I can only
acknow edge your kindness, on this occasion, by assuring you that
316 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
to-morrow taorning, by the light of the blessed sun, I hope to take
every one of you by the hand, and express feelings too strong for
immediate utterance.”
On the following morning at six o’clock, Mr. Adams
visited the State Prison, and made many inquiries con-
cerning the discipline of the prison, and its success in
the prevention of crime and reformation of offenders.
At 9 o’clock he met the citizens in the First Presby-
terian church, where he was addressed by Gov.
Seward, as follows :—
“Sir :—I am charged with the very honorable and most agree-
able duty, of expressing to you the reverence and affectionate
esteem of my fellow-citizens, assembled in your presence.
“ A change has come over the spirit of your journey, since your
steps have turned towards your ancestral sea-side home. An ex-
cursion to invigorate health impaired by labors, too arduous for age,
in the public councils, and expected to be quiet and contemplative,
has become one of fatigue and excitement. Rumors of your ad-
vance escape before you, and a happy and grateful community rise
up in their clustering cities, towns, and villages, impede your way
with demonstrations of respect and kindness, and convert your
unpretending journey into a triumphal progress. Such honors
frequently attend public functionaries, and such an one may some-
times find it difficult to determine how much of the homage he re-
ceives is paid to his own worth, how much proceeds from the
habitual reverence of good republican citizens to constituted elective
authority, and how much from the spirit of venal adulation.
“You, sir, labor under no such embarrassment. The office you
hold, though honorable, is purely legislative, and such as we can
bestow by our immediate suffrage on one of ourselves. You con-
ferred personal benefits sparingly when you held the patronage of
the nation. That patronage you have relinquished, and can never
regain. Your hands will be uplifted often, during your remaining
days, to invoke blessings on your country, but never again to dis-
tribute honors or reward among your countrymen. The homage
LifE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 317
paid you, dear sir, is sincere, for it has its sources in the just senti-
ments and irrepressible affections of a free people, their love of
truth, their admiration of wisdom, their reverence for virtue, and
their gratitude for beneficence.
“Nor need you fear that enthusiasm exaggerates your title to the
public regard. Your fellow-citizens, in spite of political prudence,
could not avoid honoring you on grounds altogether irrespective of
personal merit. John Adams, who has gone to receive the reward
of the just, was one of the most efficient and illustrious founders of
this Empire, and afterwards its Chief Ruler. The son of such a
father would, in any other age, and even in this age, in any other
country than this, have been entitled, by birth alone, to a sceptre.
We not merely deny hereditary claims to civil trust, but regard
even hereditary distinction with jealousy. And this circumstance
enhances justly the estimate of your worth. For when before has
it happened that in such a condition of society the son has, by mere
civic achievement, attained the eminence of such a sire, and effaced
remembrance of birth by justly acquired renown ?
“The hand we now so eagerly grasp, was pressed in confidence
and friendship by: the Father of our Country. The wreath we place
on your honored brow, received its earliest leaves from the hand of
Washington. We cannot expect, with the agency of free and uni-
versal suffrage, to be always governed by the wise and the good.
But surely your predecessors in the Chief Magistracy, were men
such as never before successively wielded power in any State.
They differed in policy as they must, and yet, throughout their sev-
eral dynasties, without any sacrifice of personal independence, and
while passing from immature youth to ripened age, you were coun-
sellor and minister to them all. We seem therefore, in this inter-
view with you, to come into the presence of our departed chiefs ;
the majestic shade of Washington looks down upon us ; we hear the
bold and manly eloquence of the elder Adams; and we listen to the
voices of the philosophic and sagacious Jefferson, the refined and
modest Madison, and the generous and faithful Monroe.
“ Alife of such eminent patriotism and fidelity found its proper
reward in your elevation tothe eminence from which you had justly
derived so many honors. Although your administration of the gov-
ernment is yet too recent for impartial history,or wnbounded eulogy,
N
318 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
our grateful remembrance of it is evinced by the congratulations
you now receive from your fellow-citizens.
“ But your claims to the veneration of your countrymen do not
end here. Your predecessors descended from the Chief Magistracy
to enjoy, in repose and tranquillity, honors even greater than those
which belonged to that eminent station. It was reserved for you
to illustrate the important truths, that offices and trusts are not the
end of public service, but are merely incidents in the life of the true
American citizen; that duties remain when the highest trust is re-
signed; and that there is scope for a pure and benevolent ambition
beyond even the Presidency of the United States of America.
“ You have devoted the energies of a mind unperverted, the learn-
ing and experience acqaired through more than sixty years, and
even the influence and fame derived from your high career of pub-
lic service, to the great cause of universal liberty. ‘The praises we
bestow are already echoed back to us by voices which come rich
and full across the Atlantic, hailing you as the indefatigable cham-
pion of humanity—not the humanity which embraces a single race
or clime, but that humanity which regards the whole family of
May. Such salutations as these cannot be mistaken. They come
not from your contemporaries, for they are gone—you are not of
this generation, but of the Past, spared to hear the voice of Pos-
TERITY. The greetings you receive come up from the dark and
uncertain FUTURE. ‘They are the whisperings of posthumous
Fame—fame which impatiently awaits your departure, and which,
spreading wider and growing more and more distinct, will award
to Joan Quincy ADAMS a name to live with that of WAsHING-
TON !”
The audience expressed their sympathy with this
wddress by long and enthusiastic cheering. When
order was restored, Mr. Adams rose, evidently under
great and unaffected embarrassment.
He replied to the speech in an address of about half
an hour, during which the attention of his audience
was riveted upon the speaker, with intense interest
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 319
and affection. He declared the embarrassment he felt
im speaking. He was sensible that his fellow-citizens
had laid aside all partizan feelings in coming up to
greet him. He desired to speak what would not
wound the feelings of any one. He was grateful
deeply grateful, to them all. But on what subject of
public interest could a public man speak, that would
find harmony among an intelligent, thinking people?
There were such subjects, but he could not speak of
them.
The people of Western New York had always been
eminently just and generous to him, and had recently
proved their kindness on various occasions, by inviting
him to address the State Agricultural Society on
agriculture. But his life had been spent in the closet,
in diplomacy, or in the cabinet ; and he had not learned
the practice, or even the theory of agriculture. After
what he had seen of the harvests of Western New
York, bursting with food for the sustenance of man, for
him to address the people of such a district on agricul-
ture, would be as absurd as the vanity of the rhetorician
who went to Carthage to instruct Hannibal in the art of
war. He had been solicited to address the young. In
his life time he had been an instructor of youth, and,
strange as from his present display they might think it, he
had instructed them in the art of eloquence. And there
was no more honorable office on earth than instructing
the young. But the schools and seminaries had passed
him, while he was engaged in other pursuits; and for
320 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
him now to attempt to instruct the young of this gen
eration, would evince only the garrulousness of age.
He had been invited to discourse on internal im-
provement; but that was a subject he feared to touch
On one point, however, all men agreed. All were in
favor of internal improvement. But there was a bal-
ance between the reasonable sacrifices of this genera-
tion, and the burden it had a right to cast upon pos-
terity, and every individual might justly claim to hold
his balance for himself. One thing, however, he was
sure he might assume with safety. In looking over the
State of New York, upon its canals and railroads, which
brought the borders of the State into contiguity, and its
citizens in every part into communion with each other
he was sure that all rejoiced, and might well glory in
what had been accomplished.
Mr. A. said he had read and endeavored to inform
himself concerning prison discipline, a subject deeply
interesting to the peace, good order, and welfare, ot
society ; but after his examination of the penitentiary
here, he was satisfied that he was yet a learner, instead
of being able to give instruction on that important
subject.
He had been asked to enlist in the growing army
of temperance, and discourse on that cause, so deeply
cherished by every well wisher of our country. And
he would cheerfully speak ; but other and more devoted
men had occupied the field, and what was left for him
to say on temperance ? In passing through Catholic
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 321
Lower Canada he saw a column erected to the Virgin
Mary, in gratitude for her promotion of the temperance
caise. If indeed the blessed Virgin did lend her aid
to that great work, it would almost win him to worship
at her shrine, although he belonged to that class of
people who rejected the invocation of saints.
He felt, therefore, that he had no subject on which
to address them, but himself and his own public life.
The experience of an old man, related by himself,
would, he feared, be more irksome than profitable.
“ What, then, am I to say? I am summoned here
to speak, and to reply to what has been said to me by
my respected friend, your late Chief Magistrate. And
what is the theme he has given me? It is myself.
And what can I say on such a subject? To know
that he entertains, or that you entertain for me the
sentiments he has expressed, absolutely overpowers
me. I cannot goon. The only answer I can make,
is a declaration, that during my public service, now
protracted to nearly the age of eighty, | have endea-
vored to serve my country honestly and faithfully.
How imperfectly I have done this, none seem so sen-
sible as myself. I must stop. I can only repeat
thanks, thanks, thanks to you, one and all, and implore
the blessings of God upon you and your children.”
At the conclusion of this reply, Mr. Adams was
introduced to a large number of the ladies and gentle-
men assembled in the church. He then returned to
the American Hotel, where he remained an_ hour,
322 LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
receiving the visits of the citizens of the adjoining
towns. At 11 o'clock the Auburn Guards escorted
Mr. Adams and the committee, followed by a large
procession, to the car-house. Accompanied by Gov.
Seward, Judge Miller, Hon. Christopher Morgan, the
committee, Auburn Guards, and a number of the citi-
zens of Auburn, he was conveyed in an extra train of
cars, In an hour and five minutes, to Syracuse.
At Syracuse, at Utica, at Albany, the same spon-
taneous outgushing manifestations of respect and affec-
tion met him that had hitherto attended his journey
in every populous place through which he passed. In
his reply to the address of Mr. Barnard, at Albany, he
concluded in the following words :—
“ Lingering as I am on the stage of public life, and, as many of
you may think, lingering beyond the period when nature calls for
repose—while I remain in the station which I now occupy in the
Congress of the United States, if you, my hearers, as an assembly,
or if any one among you, as an individual, have any object or pur-
pose to promote, or any end to secure that he believes can in any
way advance his interests or increase his happiness, then, in the
name of God, I ask you éo send your petitions to me! (‘Tremendous
cheering.) I hope this is not trespassing too far on politics.
(Laughter, and cheers.) I unhesitatingly promise you, one and all,
that if I can in any way serve you in that station, I will do it most
cheerfully ; regarding it as the choicest blessing of God, if I shall
thus be enabled to make some just return for the kind attentions
which you have this day bestowed upon me.”
In his route homeward, Mr. Adams was received
and entertained in a very handsome manner by the
people of Pittsfield, Mass. He was addressed by Hon
LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 323
George N. Briggs, who alluded, in eloquent terms, to
his long and distinguished public services. Mr.
Adams, in reply, spoke of the scenes amidst which he
had passed his early youth, and of the influence which
they exerted in forming his character and shaping his
purposes. “In 1775,” said he, “the minute men from
a hundred towns in the province were marching, at a
moment’s warning, to the scene of opening war. Many
of them called at my father’s house in Quincy, and
received the hospitality of John Adams. All were
lodged in the house which the house would contain ;
others in the barns, and wherever they could find a
place. There were then in my father’s kitchen some
dozen or two of pewter spoons; and I well recollect
going into the kitchen and seeing some of the men
engaged in running those spoons into bullets for the
use of the troops! Do you wonder,” said he, “that a
boy of seven years of age, who witnessed this scene,
should be a patriot ?” z
In the fall of the same year, Mr. Adams received an
invitation from the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, to
visit that city, and assist in the ceremony of laying the
corner stone of an observatory, to be erected on an em-
inence called MountIda. Theinvitation was accepted.
On his journey to Cincinnati, the same demonstrations
of respect, the same eagerness to honor the aged patri-
arch were manifested in the various cities and towns
through which he passed, as on his summer tour.
324 ’ LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
The ceremony of laying the corner stone took place
on the 9th of November, 1843. Mr. Adams delivered
an address on the occasion, replete with eloquence,
wisdom, philosophy, and religion. The following
beautiful extract will afford a specimen :—
“ ‘The various difficult, and, in many respects, opposite motives
which have impelled mankind to the study of the stars, have had a
singular effect in complicating and confounding the recommendation
of the science. Religion, idolatry, superstition, curiosity, the thirst
for knowledge, the passion for penetrating the secrets of nature,
the warfare of the huntsman by night and by day against the beast
of the forest and of the field, the meditations of the shepherd in the
custody and wanderings of his flocks, the influence of the revolving
seasons of the year, and the successive garniture of the firmament
upon the labors of the husbandman, upon the seed time and the
harvest, the blooming of flowers, the ripening of the vintage, the
polar pilot of the navigator, and the mysterious magnet of the mar-
iner—all, in harmonious action, stimulate the child of earth and of
heaven to interrogate the dazzling splendors of the sky, to reveal to
him the laws of their own existence.
“ He has his own comforts, his own happiness, his own existence,
identified with theirs. He sees the Creator in creation, and calls
upon creation to declare the glory of the Creator. When Pytha-
goras, the philosopher of the Grecian schools, conceived that more
than earthly idea of ‘the music of the spheres——when the great
dramatist of nature could inspire the lips of his lover on the moon-
tight green with the beloved of his soul, to say to her :—
‘Sit, Jessica.—Look how the floor of Heaven
Is thick inlaid with pattens of bright gold!
‘There’s not the smallest orb which thou beholdest,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still choiring to the young eyed cherubim!’
‘