The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1848-02-24


this hall and bids of come away IS our CUSTOM
10 commit exclusively to colleague of the departed
member The solemn ceremony OF IT'S announcement
usage requires But the venerable man whomI
the destroying angel smote down in very presence
the book of whose great life is written and hnished
stood out far beyond the rest OF us upon broader and
higher elevation 1t is true he was the son OF Nlassa
chusets and to her belongs the proud honor OF haynI
given him birth But he more than the son OF Mas
sachusetts. He did not belong to her alone lie offered
himself 10 his country, and she made him her property
His fame his wisdom, and his works. all his coun-I
try's These are his rich and common legacy al
Ii is therefore, that OF the great national brotherhood
claim the precious privilege 10 cluster close around theA
children of Massachuses-to take part with them r1
this sad soemnity-to sympathse with them, and along
with hemtoglve utterance to sorrow-to our reve
rence-to veneaton for the departed dead-and our
deep atction In this great national bereavement did!
rse dare not attempt word of eulogy upon thl
lustrous dead nor dare venture to portray his exalted
character statesman the bright virtues of his pr
vae life. know how incompetent am to the performance
of such task trust that in due time, and upon someI
fitting occasion, this will be done by of theI
great and gifted inteecs of Massachusetts, But still II
hope may be permitted to say, that man has hereto
fore died. when member of this body who will fill sol
large space in his countrys history, who has stamp
ed deeply his impress on her institutions The solem
ny OF the occasion orbidsperhaPs the period mas no}
yet arrived for-the expression OF an unbiased opmonI
respecting the effect of this upon his countrys welfare
But when time shall have numbered with the dead us
who actors with him upon this great drama OF leI
when the partiaities of his friends and the
OF his enemies if any he have LETT behind, shall haveI
been buried in one common gravehe, and the work OIL
his great life, may be safely trusted to the truthful hiso
rian and to the Judgment OF an impartial poserty lei
this great and Just ordeal he with all the renowned andI
mighty of the earth who have gone before HIM, musrI
at last Andto its verdict those OF who knew
him best and most devoted to him. most willing!
10 commit him and all that he achieved The time, the|
place and the OF his DEATH all conspre to excte
the profoundest sensation everywhere, has done mi
this hall; and especially to teach what shadows wei
are, and what shadows pursue" to teach us how
vain and vaueless all struggles and contests here
for distinction or for powers and above all that no hu
greatness, fame, honor, high attainment
divine exaltaton of intellect, aught avail us TOT
the dread sentence of God upon poor mortal man
" Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return
Mr. NEWELL submitted the following resolution ins
addition to the series offered by Mr.. HUDSON, VIZ:
Resoivd That the in this hall Just vacated by the
death of the late John Quincy ADAMS be unoccupied or
thirty days; and that it, together with the hail. remain
clothed with the symbol OF mourning during that time.
Mr. MCDOWELL, of Virginia, rose and addressed the|
House as follows:
Such for half a century, Mr.. Speaker has been theI
eminent position OF Mr.. ADAMS in the eyes OF his coun
rymen his participation in the highest honors which i'll
theirs to give; his intimate association with con-
trolling events IN their national annals, and with the
formation of that public opinion which brough them
about such the veneraon and almost universal homagej
entertained Tor his intellect and virtues and SUCH in al
respects his great relations to this entire Union and to-
the daily thought OF It's growing millions, that this sadI
occasion the language of all its parts will be that oil
amenation and of tribute 1t not for Massachusetts,
TO alone over solitary and exc usve bereaye
ment 1t not for her to feel alone solitary and exclu
sve sorrow. No, sir; no! Her sister Commonwealth
gather to her side in this hour OF her iicon, and in
tertwnlng their with hers, they bend together ove
weeping as she weeps over sage,a patriot and states
1t in these great characteristics of indi
vdual and of public man that his country reverenced that
when living, and SUCH with painful of herI
loss will she deploe him that he is dead
Born in our revolutionary day. and brought up in early
and cherished intimacy with the fathers and founders oil
the republic he living bond connection between the
present and the pas-the venerable representative oil
the memories OF another and the Jealous, wachfu
and powerful one of the expectations interests, and
progressive knowledge OF his own.
There he sat with his intense eye upon everything thai
passed The picturesque and rare old man, unapproach
able by all others IN the unity OF his character and n
the thousandold anxeties which centred upon him. MOI
human being ever entered this hall without urningI
habuay and with heart felt Difference first him; and
few left it without pausng they went to pour Quit
their blessings upon that spirit OF conservation to theI
country which brought and which kept him here.
Standing upon the extreme boundary of human life |
and disdaining all the relaxations and exemptions of
his outer framework only crumbing away The
glorious engine within still worked unhurt unnjured
its wonted and its iron power, until the blow sent
from above which crushed it into fragments before US
And however appalling that blow, and however pro-
foundly smote upon feelings we behed its
extnguishing effect upon his where else could have
fallen so fifty upon him. Where else could he have
been relieved from the yoke Of his abors well in
hmselfhave been so willing TO have yielded up his life
upon the post of duty and by the side of that very
Capitol of his country, which all the hrobbings and|
hopes of his heart had been given, would the dying pa
rot be willing that those hopes and throbbing should
cease And where, but from this mansion house of lib
erty earth, could this dying Christian fifty go o
his manson-house of eternal liberty on high
But kindling to the imagination, and soothing even
10 the feelings is the death of Mr. ADAMS with all the
accessories and associations of this spot around him
how infinitely deeper is the interest which is given to i'll
by the conviction that he willing and ready to mee,I
it! He was happily spared by the preservation of hisI
rich faculties to the last, from becoming melanchoyI
spectacle of dotard and dwelling old age He was still
more happily spared by the just and WISE and truthful
of those faculties from becoming the melancholy and
revolving spectacle of irreveren and wicked old age
None knew better or felt more deeply than he that
"'Tis the whole oflife to live
Nor all OF death to die -
and hence for long years his life has been continuous
and beautiful illustration of the great truth that whilst
the lear OF man Is the contamination of all olIy the fear
OF God is the beginning of all wisdom To such an one
composure amid the pes of death and when tbe las,I
OF earth has come, supporting power frequently andI
dlvinely gwen and II 1t has not been permitted TO him
as to prophet OF Old to be spared the bitterness of DEATH
and to go TO the heaven that he looked for and that he
loved in chariot of fire, yet the eve of human fathI
his to the abode has been as speedy and as
safe. Instead of wearing away under the waste of dis
ease and passing through all the and Weaknesses
which dssOlvng nature generally undergoes blow oil
brief but mortal agony strikes him at into the tomb
and thus his spirit Instantly freed, goes right up to the
parent fountain from which it came. The messenger
calls, the soul is in heaven
At this moment of fresh affection, whilst standing in the
very presence of death, it is not go into any spe
cal review of the abors opinions of the departed