Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04

"O no American OF the colonial
period does the Nation on this
day. the sesquicentennial of
Il it's birth, owe deeper debt Of
gratitude than to John Adams.
And to make the remembrance Of that
recalled that the stern old patriot
| died hundred years ago today.
Irascible, vain, stubborn, suspicious
of men and almost wholly incapable
of handling them, he was, withal, a
patriot among patriots. pure in heart,
| in mind, in motives. Once he had de-
termined his course in the struggle
| between the colonies and Great
Britain. he proceeded by firm and un.
faltering steps to the contamination
Of the physical fact that his mind had
| reasoned out as inevitable. From the
hour that he heard Otis argue the
writs of assistance in the general
| court for the colony Of Massachusetts
by Congress of the Declaration of In
dependence, he labored with all of his
strength for an American nation.
others saw the form of liberty;
Adams saw the substance of independ-
ence. He was invaluable to the cause
Of freedom. A study of the times will
reveal the aptness Of men for particu-
lar labors. Jefferson was superior at
drafting resolutions: Franklin was a
Nestor Of wisdom; Sam Adams was a
fury let loose upon British rule: John
Adams was a tireless worker for inde-
pendence and an organized govern
ment in each of the separate colonies,
q general government for oil.
He writes in his autobiography: Eat
! the appointed time 18th of September.
1879, we returned to Philadelphia. and
Congress was reassembled
almost every day had something to
say about advising the States to insti-
tute governments, to express my total
despair Of any good from
any Of those things which were called
conciliatory measures. I constantly
insisted that we should be
driven to the necessity of declaring
ourselves Independent States, and that
we ought now to be employed in pre-
pairing a plan Of confederation for the
colonies and treaties - to-
gether with declaration of in
| ures, independence, confederation and
negotiations with foreign powers, par
ticularly France, ought to go hand in
hand, and be adopted all together.
These, and such as these, were my
constant and daily topics, sometimes
Of reasoning, and no doubt often of
defamation, from the meeting of Con-
gress in the Autumn Of ITS through
the whole Winter and Spring OF 1776."
Adams was listened to with great
respect by his colleagues. His pure
motives commanded it. To him defer
ence was paid in the debates on indie
pendence. His defense Of the British
soldiers charged with the Boston mas.
| sacre, in the face Of am outraged and
Infatuated public opinion. is one OF the
finest examples Of moral courage on
record. The "rebel' who could draw
such fine distinctions between patriot
ism and abstract duty must have high
conceptions Of the rights and duties OF
man, argued his townsfolk.
| In the month Of March. 1775, Adams
writes to Gates in New York: 1--WE
have hitherto conducted half a war
But you will see by tomor.
rows paper that for the future we
are likely to wage three.quarters Of q
war This IL not independ.
ency, you know 80: and with
an astuteness that saw through the
schemes Of the ministry to salve the
colonists he admonishes, "If q post or
| two should bring you unlimited lati.
tude of trade to all nations, and a
polite invitation to all nations to trade