mother was a suitable companion and co-laborer of such a patriot. The cradle hymns of the child were the songs of liberty. The power and competence of man for self-government were the topics which he most frequently heard discussed by the wise men of the day, and the inspiration thus caught gave form and pressure to his after life. Thus early imbued with the love of free institutions, educated by his father for the service of his country, and early led by WASHINGTON to its altar, he has stood before the world as one of its eminent statesmen. He has occupied, in turn, almost every place of honor which the country could give him, and for more than half a century, has been thus identified with its history. *****

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

6

When Mr. Davis had concluded his remarks, Mr. Benton, of Missouri, delivered a most beautiful eulogy on the character of Mr. Adams. He said :

"Mr. President: The voice of his native State has been heard, through one of the Senators of Massachusetts, announcing the death of her aged and most distinguished son. The voice of the other

Senator, (Mr. Webster,) is not heard, nor is his presence seen. A domestic calamity, known to us all, and felt by us all, confines him to the chamber of private grief, while the Senate is occupied with the public manifestations of a respect and sorrow which a national loss inspires. In the absence of that Senator, and as the member of this body longest here, it is not unfitting or unbecoming in me to second the motion which has been made for extending the last honors of the Senate to him who, forty-five years ago, was a member of this body, who, at the time of his death, was among the oldest members of the House of Representatives, and who, putting the years of his service together, was the oldest of all the members of the American Government.

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

66

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

Salaminian galley, to be launched only on extraordinary occasions, but he was the ready vessel, always launched when the duties of his station required it, be the occasion great or small. As President, as cabinet Minister, as Minister abroad, he examined all questions that came before him, and examined all in all their parts, in all the minutiae of their detail, as well as in all the vastness of their comprehension. As Senator, and as a member of the House of Representatives, the obscure committee-room was as much the witness of his laborious application to the drudgery of legislation, as the halls of the two Houses were to the ever ready speech, replete with knowledge, which instructed all hearers, enlightened all subjects, and gave dignity and ornament to debate.

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

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

At the conclusion of Mr. Benton's address, the following resolutions, introduced by Mr. Davis, were passed by the Senate :

"Resolved, That the Senate has received with deep sensibility the message from the House of Representatives announcing the death of the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, a Representative from the State of Massachusetts.

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

“Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn until Saturday next, the time appointed for the funeral.”

President Polk issued a Proclamation announcing to the nation its bereavement, and directing the suspension of all public business for the day. The public offices were clothed in mourning. Orders were issued from the War and Navy Departments, directing that at every military and naval station, on the day after the order should be received, the honors customary to the illustrious dead should be paid.

At 12 o'clock on Saturday, the 26th of February, the funeral took place in the capitol. It was a solemn, an imposing scene. The Hall of Representatives was hung in sable habiliments. The portraits of Washington and La Fayette, the beautiful statue of the Muse of History in the car of Time, and the vacant chair of the deceased, were wreathed in crape. In the midst, and the most conspicuous of all, was the coffin containing the remains of the illustrious dead, covered with its velvet pall. The President of the United States, and the Heads of Departments, the Members of both Houses of Congress, the Judges of the Supreme

Court, the Foreign Ministers, Officers of the Army and Navy, Members of State Legislatures, and an immense concourse of the great, the wise, and the good, were present, to bestow honor on all that remained of the statesman, the philosopher, and the Christian.

A discourse was delivered on the occasion, by the Rev. R. R. Gurley, chaplain to the House of Representatives, from Job xi. 17, 18—“And thine age shall be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning: and thou shalt be secure, because there is hope." The following are extracts from the sermon :—

"In some circumstances, on some occasions, we most naturally express our emotions in silence and in tears. What voice of man can add to the impressiveness and solemnity of this scene? The presence and aspect of this vast assembly, the Chief Magistrate, Counsellors, Judges, Senators, and Representatives of the nation, distinguished officers of the army and the navy, and the honored Ambassadors from foreign powers,-these symbols and badges of a universal mourning, darkening this hall into sympathy with our sorrow, leave no place for the question, ‘Know ye not that a prince and a great man is fallen in Israel?' Near to us, indeed, has come the invisible hand of the Almighty-that hand in which is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind; in this very hall, from yonder seat, which he so long occupied, in the midst of the representatives of the people, has it taken one full of years and honors, eminent, for more than half a century, in various departments of the public service; who adorned every station, even the highest, by his abilities and virtues; and whose influence, powerful in its beneficence, is felt in many, if not in all the States of the civilized world. *****

"Not more certainly is the body invigorated and preserved by suitable food, by manly exercises, by the vital air, than are the intellectual and moral faculties by the investigation and reception of