Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1848-03-25
NUMBER 5.
On the Death of John q. Adams.

Mr.. HOLMES, OF South Carolina, rose and
said; Mr.. Speaker: The mingled tones of
sorrow, like the voice of many wtaers, has
come unto us from a sister State-Massa-
chusetts weeping for her honored son. The
State have the honor in part to represent,
once endured, with yours, common suffer-
ling, hattled for a common cause, and re-
lolced in common triumph. Surely, then,
il is meet that in this the day of your afllic-
ton we should mingle our griets.
When great man falls, the nation mourns;
when patriarch is removed, the people
weep. Ours, my associates, is no common
bereavement, The chain which linked our
our hearts with the gifted spirits of former
times has been rudely snapped. The lips
from which flowed those living and glori-
Gus truths that our fathers uttered are clos
ed in DEATH Yes, my frerds, Death has
been among us He has not entered the
humble cottage of some unknown, ignoble
peasant; he has knocked audibly at the pal
ace of nationl' His footstep has been
heard in the Hall of a State He has Glow
Ell down his victim in the midst of the coun-
ellis of a people! He has borne in triumph
from among you the gravest, wisest, most
reverend head All he has taken him as
trophy who was once chief over many
States, adorned with virtue, aud learning,
and truth; he has borne at his charot-wheeis
a renowned one of the EARTH 8aa
There was no incident in the birth, the
life, the death, of Mr. ADAMS not intimate-
llywoven with the history the land. Born
in the night of his country's tribulation, he
heard the first murmurs of discomfort; he
saw the first efforts for deliverance. Whilst
yet little child he listened with eagerness
10 the whispers ofireedom as they breathed
from the lips of her almost inspired apostles:
he caught the fire that was then aided; his
eye heamed with the first re he watched
the day spring from on y n, and long be-
fore he departed from en- IA it was gracious
" vouchsafed unto him to behold the efiul-
gence Of her noontide glory.
His father saw the promise Of the son,
aud early led him hy the hand to drink of
The very fountains light and liberty itself.
His youthful thoughts were kindled with
the ideaIism of a republic, whose living
form and features he was destiled TO behold
: yisibly. Removed at an early age 10 a dis
tant country, he there, under the eye of his
father, was instructed in the rigid lore of
Franklin, as have heard him say. His in-
tellect was expanded by the conversations,
and inyigorated by the acute dispositions,
of the Academicians, whose fiery zeal, even
at that early period, was waking up the
mind of France TO deeper thoughts, holder
Inquiries and more matured refleclion---to
result ultimately, as we all know, in terrific
action. Returning 10 his country, he enter
ed into the cool cloisters ofthe college; pas
sed through the various stages 10 acquire
that discipline of mind which intense study
can alone impart; and thence, MS he was a
bout 10 emerge, appeared those buds of
promise which soon bossomcd into those
hlushing honors he afterwards wore so thick
around him. His was not the dreamy life
of the schools; bat he leant into the arena
of activity, TO run a career of glorious en-
ulation with the gifted spirits of the earth.
He saw the efforts to place his country on n
deep and stable foundation, where IL now
rests. He had seen the colonies emerge in-
To States, and the States cemented into Tn
ion, and realized, in the formation of this
coniederated republic, all that his ardent
hopes had pictured out in the recesses OF
schools. Young as he then was, he con-
ltributed, by the energy of his mind and the
vgor of bis pen, TO support the adnnistra-
ton of Washington, who, we have just been
told, transferred him at an early age 10 q
foreign court; scarcely initiated into its d.
lplonacy before his services were required
for another and more extended sphere
Passing from that, he returned 10 his own
country, & was placed by the suffragcs Of his
State in the chamber of the other end of this
Capitol; aud there, the activity of his mind,
the freedom of his thought, the indepen-
dence Of his action, rendered him 10 his
constituents for the time being unacceptable,
by uniting him to the policy of Mr.. Jeffer-
son. He retired from the halls of Cong
lress; but he went to no ignoble ease. Wear
led with the tolls, heated with the contests,
lowered with the dust Of politics, he with
drew TO the classic groves OF Cambridge,
and there he batIIed his weary mind in the
Epnre stream Of intellectual rest. Purified,
refreshed, inyigoraied, he came forth, after
severe study aud devout prayer, to do his
country service. He was sent Immediately
TO Russia, rs has been stated, not 10 repose
amidst the Injuries Of courts, or in rich sa-
looms amidst the glitter Of lights and the
swell Of voluptuous music, but to watch the
swell and play Of those shadowy pillows
with which all Europe heayed beneath the
lthr0es Of the great heart of France.
Mr.. ADAMS saw ari felt that the pulse of
freedom day by day beat feebler and feeb-
| Ter throughout the continent. lie counsell-
ed the Ministers Of Russia. He was one of
those that stimulated them to wake from
! their torpor, aud be had the satisfaction to
behold, from the frozen regions of the north,
those mighty hordes pour out upon the sun
ny nations of the south TO give deliverance
to People, States, and Powers. His own
country demanded his services, and he be-
came, with Gallatin and Clay, mediator
of that peace between two nations which
we trust shall exist forever, while the only
contest shall be those Of good will on earth
and mutual brotherhood.
He went-as his father had gone after
the first war Of the Revolution-upon the
termination OF the second war, to the Court
80. - IL. rof.a,uod pat Innsr hafs,ra