ut affectation; if all
these, united with a sportive vein of humor, an inoffensive temper,
and an angelic purity of heart;--if all these, in their combination,
are the qualities suitable for an Attorney-General of the United
States, in him they were all eminently combined.

"But it is not my purpose to pronounce his eulogy. That pleasing
task has been assigned to abler hands, and to a more suitable
occasion. He will there be presented in other, though not less
interesting lights. As the penetrating delineator of manners and
character in the British Spy; as the biographer of Patrick Henry,
dedicated to the young men of your native commonwealth; as the
friend and delight of the social circle; as the husband and father
in the bosom of a happy, but now most afflicted family;--in all
these characters I have known, admired, and loved him; and now
witnessing, from the very windows of this hall, the last act of
piety and affection over his remains, I have felt as if this house
could scarcely fulfil its high and honorable duties to the country
which he had served, without some slight, be it but a transient,
notice of his decease. The addition which I propose to the journal
of yesterday's adjournment would be such a notice. It would give his
name an honorable place on the recorded annals of his country, in a
manner equally simple and expressive. I will only add that, while I
feel it incumbent upon me to make this proposal, I am sensible that
it is not a fit subject for debate; and, if objected to, I desire
you to consider it as withdrawn."

Mr. Adams proceeds: "When the question of agreeing to the proposed
addition was put by the Speaker, Joel K. Mann, of Pennsylvania,
precisely the rankest Jackson man in the house, said 'No.' There was a
general call upon him, from all quarters of the house, to withdraw his
objection; but he refused. Blair, of South Carolina, rose, and asked if
the manifest sense of the house could be defeated by one objection. The
Speaker said I had requested that my proposal should be considered as
withdrawn if an objection should be made, but the house was competent to
give the instruction, upon motion made. I was then called upon by
perhaps two thirds of the house,--'Move, move, move,'--and said, I had
hoped the proposal would have obtained the unanimous assent of the
house, and as only one objection had been mad