The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-03-17
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Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams Py Josiah
Quincy, LID. Boston Phillips Sampson, Com
pany 1850 Fer sale by Taylor Manry, Washing
ton, ID. C.
Those who wish to find in biographies the
information that Carlyle desired concerning
Margaret Fuller, what kind Of shoes and
stockings she wore, and what time she got up
in the morning" will be disappointed in this
book. 1t processes to comprise only !" the most
important events in the life of statesman,
and it deals almost solely with events that re
late to the State. In fact, Mr.. Adamss life for
many years was SO interviewer with that OF his
country, that the greater part Of his biography
is history. From the time when, a rosy-cheeked
boy, he held his mothers hand, and watched
with her the burning houses of Charleston, and
listened to the booming cannon Of Bunker
Hill, till the day, more than seventy years after
ward, when he fell with his harness on, amid
the scene of his conflicts and his victories, the
influences which shaped his country's destinies
were those that shaped his own. In the vol
ume before US, written professedly without eu-
logy, as without criticism, yet written by a CO.
temporary, relative, ~ and warm personal
friend, one whose vigorous youth ripened into
vigorous manhood in the midst of the scenes
which he describes, and in many of which he was
himself no unimportant actor, it would hardly be
reasonable to expect that GOODNESS ofjudgment
and absolute impartiality which would be justly
demanded of a more distant historian yet we
are by no means prepared to say that the YER
dict Of posterity will not be essentially that of
the worthy and venerable author before us.
The life of John Quincy Adams is one of
the most precious treasures which his genera
ton has bequeathed to us. Turning over these
pages, we find ourselves once more in that ma
jestic presence. The long silent voice-a voice
that was always raised for freedom and truth,
but had no tones for injustice-rings again in
our ears as of old. The air grows purer, the
breath freer, the form instinctively more erect,
and heart and arm are nerved anew for the
world-old contest. The life of this " Old Man
Eloquent" and the book, so far as it represents
his life, are replete with lessons of virtue and
wisdom. Whether young man in Russia,
sisting the temptations to extravaganza which
surround him, giving up his eountry-seat from
" considerations de finance" and frankly and
modestly avowing it at the inquiries Of the En-
peror, or reluctantly accepting from his father,
at the instance of Washington, the embassy to
Prussia, and entreating that he may be recalled
at the earliest moment compatible with the
public veal, or meeting the opportunities OF
his friends that he should expose the conduct
and motives of the rivals who maEgned him,
with the calm reply, The execution of my du-
ties is the only answer | can give to censure. |
will do absolutely nothing to promote any pre-
tensions my friends may think l have TO the
Presidency. Ny business is to serve the pub
lie to the best of my abilities in the station as
signed me, and not to intrigue for my own ad.
vancement. l never, by the most distant hint
to any one, expressed wish for any public
office, and shall not now begin TO ask for that
which, of all Others ought TO be most freely and
spontaneously bestowed" or dyowing and IN
variably pursuing his intentio5 to make integ-
rty and qualification the only criterions Of ap-
pointments to offce-to reno, no incumbent
on account of political hostility, and 10 appoint
no one from the sole consideration of political
adherence" declaring my system has been,
and continues TO be, to nominyte for reappOint-
ment all officers, for a term 'of years, who's,
commissions expire, unless official or moral
misconduct is charged and subStantiated against
them. | am impOrtuned TO serve my friends,
and reproached for neglecting them, because
will l;-;sa -ofSicars i:-;.l - IL, l.
cause they are my political Opponents, to pro
vide for my own partisans. This / rW not
do "-perfectly aware of the consequences OF
his impartialty, but choosing rather to fall in
upholding the Constitution of his country on its
true and pure principles, than to become the
abettor of corruption, and participator in It's
wages for the sake Of power or bravely and
completely defending the right of woman to
petition Congress on political subjects, or quiet
ly persisting in refusal TO vote on what he
considered an unconstitutional resolution. and
refusing also to avoid assuming such a respon.
sibility by absenting himself from the House,
as had been suggested, or indignantly and CON
temptuously hinging off the charges of treason
heaped upon that noble head, grown gray in its
country's service, by those who were not worthy
to unloose the latchets of his shoes always
everywhere, the great pure soul Of the man
shines through, till we are almost ready to say,
A" Behold an lsraelite indeed, in whom is no
guile"
And he was successful Successful not only
in the rewards that integrity cannot fail to
bring, but successful in attaining the ends which
smaller men PROSTATE their manhood to secure.
Successfully endowed with offices of the high
est trust, he outlived the hatred of rivals and
the reproaches of disappointed followers. 1t
was his eye and voice alone that quelled the
four days tumult in the House Visiting Gin
cinnat, to lay the cornerstone of their Obser-
vatory, his journey was triumphal march. his
entry that of eonquercr. Returning to the
House after a severe illness, the whole body
rose spontaneously as one man to receive him,
business was at once suspended, and he was
formally conducted to hin usual seat, And
when "the last of earth had come, and the
true soul had received full content" in "the
bosom of his Father and his God" mutitudes
Of the highest and best in the land attended
his obsequies. Members Of Congress from
every State in the Union followed northward
the funeral car, and helped to lay the sacred