"In this long career of public service Mr. Adams was distinguished not only by faithful attention to all the great duties of his stations, but to all their less and minor duties. He was not the Salaminian galley, to be launched only on extraordinary occasions, but he was the ready vessel, always launched when the duties of his station required it, be the occasion great or small. As President, as cabinet Minister, as Minister abroad, he examined all questions that came before him, and examined all in all their parts, in all the minutiae of their detail, as well as in all the vastness of their comprehension. As Senator, and as a member of the House of Representatives, the obscure committee-room was as much the witness of his laborious application to the drudgery of legislation, as the halls of the two Houses were to the ever ready speech, replete with knowledge, which instructed all hearers, enlightened all subjects, and gave dignity and ornament to debate.
"In the observance of all the proprieties of life, Mr. Adams was a most noble and impressive example. He cultivated the minor as well as the greater virtues. Wherever his presence could give aid and countenance to what was useful and honorable to man, there he was. In the exercises of the school and of the college—in the meritorious meetings of the agricultural, mechanical, and commercial societies—in attendance upon Divine worship—he gave the punctual attendance rarely seen but in those who are free from the weight of public cares.
"Punctual to every duty, death found him at the post of duty; and where else could it have found him, at any stage of his career, for the fifty years of his illustrious public life? From the time of his first appointment by Washington to his last election by the people of his native town, where could death have found him but at the post of duty? At that post, in the fullness of age in the ripeness of renown, crowned with honors, surrounded by his family, his friends, and admirers, and in the very presence of the national representation, he has been gathered to his fathers, leaving behind him the memory of public services which are the history of his country for half a century, and the example of a life, public and private, which should be the study and the model of the generations of his countrymen."
At the conclusion of Mr. Benton's address, the following resolutions, introduced by Mr. Davis, were passed by the Senate:—
"Resolved, That the Senate has received with deep sensibility the message from the House of Representatives announcing the death of the Hon. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, a Representative from the State of Massachusetts.
"Resolved, That, in token of respect for the memory of the deceased, the
Senate will attend his funeral at the hour appointed by the House of
Representatives, and will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty
days.
"Resolved, That, as a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn until Saturday next, the time appointed for the funeral."
President Polk issued a Proclamation announcing to the nation its bereavement, and directing the suspension of all public business for the day. The public offices were clothed in mourning. Orders were issued from the War and Navy Departments, directing that at every military and naval station, on the day after the order should be received, the honors customary to the illustrious dead should be paid.
At 12 o'clock on Saturday, the 26th of February, the funeral took place in the capitol. It was a solemn, an imposing scene. The Hall of Representatives was hung in sable habiliments. The portraits of Washington and La Fayette, the beautiful statue of the Muse of History in the car of Time, and the vacant chair of the deceased, were wreathed in crape. In the midst, and the most conspicuous of all, was the coffin containing the remains of the illustrious dead, covered with its velvet pall. The President of the United States, and the Heads of Departments, the Members of both Houses of Congress, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministers, Officers of the Army and Navy, Members of State Legislatures, and an immense concourse of the great, the wise, and the good, were present, to bestow honor on all that remained of the statesman, the philosopher, and the Christian.
A discourse was delivered on the occasion, by the Rev. R. R. Gurley, chaplain to the House of Representatives, from Job xi. 17, 18—"And thine age shall be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning: and thou shalt be secure, because there is hope." The following are extracts from the sermon:—