uprightness which have not been surpassed, he discharged his important trust to the lasting benefit of all the vital interests which tend to build up a great and prosperous people. And at the call of his country he relinquished the honors of office, and willingly retired to the private walks of life.

No man can doubt that Mr. Adams could look back upon his labors while President with the utmost satisfaction. "During his administration new and increased activity was imparted to those powers vested in the Federal Government for the development of the resources of the country, and the public revenue was liberally expended in prosecuting those liberal measures, to which the sanction of Congress had been deliberately given, as the settled policy of the Government.

"More than one million of dollars had been expended in enlarging and maintaining the light-house establishment-half a million in completing the public buildings-two millions in erecting arsenals, barracks, and furnishing the national armories-nearly the same amount had been expended in permanent additions to the naval establishment-upwards of three millions had been devoted to fortifying the sea-coast-and more than four millions expended in improving the internal communications between different parts of the country, and in procuring information, by scientific surveys, concerning its capacity for further improvement. Indeed, more had been directly effected by the aid of Government in this respect, during Mr. Adams'

administration, than during the administrations of all his predecessors. Other sums, exceeding a million, had been appropriated for objects of a lasting character, and not belonging to the annual expense of the Government; making in the whole nearly fourteen millions of dollars expended for the permanent benefit of the country, during this administration.

"At the same time the interest on the public debt was punctually paid, and the debt itself was in a constant course of reduction, having been diminished $30,373,188 during his administration, and leaving due on the 1st of January, 1829, $58,362,136. While these sums were devoted to increasing the resources and improving the condition of the country, and in discharging its pecuniary obligations, those claims. which were derived from what are termed the imperfect obligations of gratitude and humanity were not forgotten.

More than five millions of dollars were appropriated to solace the declining years of the surviving officers of the Revolution; and a million and a half expended in extinguishing the Indian title, and defraying the expense of the removal beyond the Mississippi of such tribes as were unqualified for a residence near civilized communities, and in promoting the civilization of those who, relying on the faith of the United States, preferred to remain on the lands which were the abodes of their fathers.

"In the condition which we have described -in

peace with all the world, with an increasing revenue, and with a surplus of $5,125,638 in the public treasury, -the administration of the Government of the United States was surrendered by Mr. Adams on the 3d of March, 1829."*

The "Georgia Constitutionalist" thus describes Mr. Adams' retirement from office :- "Mr. Adams is said to be in good health and spirits. The manner in which this gentleman retired from office is so replete with propriety and dignity, that we are sure history will record it as a laudable example to those who shall hereafter be required by the sovereign people to descend from exalted stations. It was a great matter with the ancients to die with decency, and there are some of our own day whose deaths are more admirable than their lives. Mr. Adams' deportment in the Presidency was lofty and proud; but the smile with which he throws aside the trappings of power, and the graceful propriety with which he takes leave of patronage and place, are truly commendable."

* American Annual Register.

CHAPTER XI.

MR. ADAMS' MULTIPLIED ATTAINMENTS-VISITED BY SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN-HIS REPORT ON WEIGHTS AND MEASURESHIS POETRY-ERECTS A MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY OF HIS PARENTS-ELECTED MEMBER OF CONGRESS-LETTER TO THE BIBLE SOCIETY-DELIVERS EULOGY ON DEATH OF EX-PRESIDENT MONROE.

Few public men in any country have possessed attainments more varied than were those of Mr. Adams. Every department of literature and science received more or less of his attention-every path of human improvement seems to have been explored by him. As a statesman, he was unrivalled in the profundity of his knowledge. His state papers-given to the world while Minister, Secretary of State, President, and Member of Congress-his numerous addresses, orations, and speeches, are astonishing in number, and in the learning they display. No man was more

*

* Aside from his state papers, official correspondence, and speeches, which would make many volumes, the Literary World gives the following list of the published writings of Mr. Adams:

"1. Oration at Boston, 1793; 2. Answer to Paine's Rights of Man, 1793; 3. Address to the Members of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society; 4. Letters on Silesia; 5. Letters on Silesia, 1804; 6. Inaugural Oration at Harvard College, 1806; 7. Letters to H. G. Otis, in reply to Timothy Pickering, 1808; 8. Review of the Works of Fisher Ames, 1809; 9. Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, two volumes, 1810;

familiar with modern history, with diplomacy and international law, and the politics of America and Europe for the last two or three centuries.

In other departments he appeared equally at home. His acquaintance was familiar with the classics, and several modern languages. In oratory, rhetoric, and the various departments of belles lettres, his attainments were of more than an ordinary character. His commentaries on Desdemona, and others of Shakspeare's characters, show that he was no mean critic, in the highest walks of literature, and in all that pertains to human character,

The following interesting account of an interview with ex-President Adams, by a southern gentleman, in

10. Report on Weights and Measures, 1821; 11. Oration at Washington, 1821; 12. Duplicate Letters; the Fisheries and the Mississippi, 1822; 13. Oration to the citizens of Quincy, 1831; 14. Oration on the Death of James Monroe, 1831; 15. Dermot McMorrogh, or the Conquest of Ireland, 1832; 16. Letters to Edward Livingston, on Free Masonry, 1833; 17. Letters to William L. Stone, on the entered apprentice's oath, 1833; 18. Oration on the Life and Character of Lafayette, 1835; 19. Oration on the Life and Character of James Madison, 1836; 20. The Characters of Shakspeare, 1837; 21. Oration delivered at Newburyport, 1837; 22. Letters to his Constituents of the Twelfth Congressional District of Massachusetts, 1837; 23. The Jubilee of the Constitution, 1839; 24. A Discourse on Education, delivered at Braintree, 1840; 25. An Address at the Observatory, Cincinnati, 1843.

Among the unpublished works of Mr. Adams, besides his Diary, which extends over half a century, and would probably make some two dozen stout octavos, are Memoirs of the earlier Public and Private Life of John Adams, second President of the United States, in three volumes; Reports and Speeches on Public Affairs; Poems, including two new cantos of Dermot McMorrogh, a Translation of Oberon, and numerous Essays and Discourses "