Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-01-28


his themes and his doucume nts embracing
the whole circle e-of Slavery Having laid
out work enough, as he said, in response 10
= question from a Southern member, to oc-
cupv two or three months, he began by an
exclamation of his assailanis, seriatim.-
His reply to Marshall was magnificent. In
the course of it, while responding to Mar
\ shall's proposit iton to impegch him for trea-
son, he turned suddenly upon him-Marshall
plamed himself upon his superior intellect
and said: ''the trainers of the Constitu-
ton have not left it for the puny mind of
the member from Kentucky 10 define what
treason is. They have declared it solely to
/ consist in isvying war against the United
States, aud giving aid and com fcrt to their
enemies. Let him study the dorument!''
In his reply to Wise, he was terribly
severe For once be made the naughty,
brassy Virainan blanch and quail. Wise
took an active part in this attempt to de-
grade the old man. 1t will be remembered
that, on the occasion of the Cilley Guel, the
I House appeared to be determined to expe;
all the members who had partici cipated in
that murder. Wise was one Of the number
! At critical stage Of the controversy, Mr..
Adams made speech against the consttu-
tional right of the House to expel a rem
ber without formal trial, ani subsequent.
/ ly made successful motion to lay the sub
ject en- the table. Thus Wise was saved.
! On the present occasion, in the course of
his reply TO wise's bitter attack. he fixed
/ his eve upon him, and, pointing his skinny
! finger steadily ut him, said: "At period
not far remote, when the members now sit
/ ting in that chair entered this Hall. pale
and haggard. his hands all dripping with the
/ red blood of a fellow member. and this
! House in its Indignation was about to expel
him from its presence, who interposed The
shield of the Constitution in defence of his
privileges, and saved him from disgrace!
And is this the return he renders me for
! that service!"
When the old man was uttering these
terrible words, Wise, who was sitting erect
at their commencement, taking notes, be-
gan to settle down lower and lower and
lower, al! eyes fixed upon him, till at their
conclusion, his abaShed countenance was
completely hidden behind his desk. No
convicted culprit, standing in the dock, and
wrlhing under the sentence OF Judge,
ever exhibited more pitiable spectacle
than did the cowed Viaginian
We must forbear further details Suffice
it to say, that. at the end OF the twelfth
day. the Shareholders, beaten at all points,
and driven from the field, while Mr. Adams
was only on the threshold of the discussion,
were glad to lay their own resolutions on
the able, and give up the contest.
Of Mr. Adams's rare parliamentary tact,
the celebrated strife over "b-oad seal' of
Nesg Jersey affords az instance A; the
opening o, the session, the Clerk for many
Gays refused to put any motion to the
Housa, though scores of resolutions were
offered, and he persisted in called roll of
membe:s which he had preparet-the House
be ne unable in the meantime to the cleo
ton of = Speaker, and standing in a ''dead
;"ck' OF Gisorgapzation. Finally, alter
long debates, Mr.. Adams made motion
that iir. Rhett I've forget at this moment
whether it was Rhe;t or Lewis Wilams,)
do lake the Chair temporarily, and preside
till Speaker be chosen. "Ah ha!n re-
sponded half hundred voices "but who
will put the question to vote!" 81 INTEND
To PUT IT MYSELF" instantly responded
MIR. Adams. In the tNinkiing of an eye,
the obstinate Clerk sank to the position of
a mere scribe, order rose out Of chaos, and
Mr. Adams himself was placed temporarily
in the Chair.
POsterity will regard the Congressional
career OF ME. Adams as the most ilIusirious
period OF his great lite. He served, he
saved, the cause of Liberty. The same
unerring tribunal will place his forensic dis
plays in the front raak of the manifold ex-
hlbtions of mind richly laden with the
spoils OF all sciences and all times That
a man who had borne no part in deliberatve
bodies, and had spent the greater portion of
his life in foreign Courts. where he rarely
heard the accents OF his mother tongue,
should, late in the evening of his days, en-
ter the most tumultuUus popular assembly
in the world, and for sixteen years, and un-
iii he reached the octogenar ian period, hold
The position OF the most acute parliamenta-
rian and the NEST dreaded debater of his
time, is without parallel in history.
The circumstances of his death were an
appropriate clos ing of his extraordinary
career. On sunny morning in Febr Jary,
1913, the House MAS thrown into one of its
widest, most ;trubu lent, moods. Half the
on thnir foot 81
Speaker. Our eyes tell upon Mr Adams
He was sitting in his usual seat, apparently
ca.m and unmoved by the tumult around
him. Instantly he turned very pa lid, his
lips moved, his hand nervously grasped his
desk. We thought he was trying to arise
and address the Chair. A moment after
wards, his body began TO incline over upon
the left arm of his seat, his head dropping
upon his breast. One cried out 10 mem
ber near him, "Look TO Mr.. Adams, he is
ialling!" The attention OF the assembly
was arrested, the uproar cea sed, members
sprang towards the dying statesman, the
| House adjourned, and the venerable sage
was borne to the Speakers room. Like
| Nelson, his spirit ebbed, his life went out
amlC the roar OF battle: so familiar, so mu5i-
cal, % his ear. Not TO compare him with
vulgar heroes, he was stricken down like
Catham, in the penitude of his fame, on
the theatre of his greatest achievements;
and he died under the dome of the Capitol,
which so often had echoed his eoquence,
and witnessed his immortal deeds.
"Glarnm ct venerable nomen
Genibus, ct mulrum nostrR fuod rrod1rat urbi.''
The treason trial of Mr. Adams reminds
one Of the ceusure OF Joshua R. Gildings.
! later in the same session,f for venturing to
: nfier in the House some moderate Anti
SIaycry resolutions His resignation, his
triumphant re-election, are freshly remem-
ber5d. Truly the present father OF the
House may say, "Tmes change, and men
! with them