n this fact we see why
it is that he has always been distinguished for his purity of
motive, simplicity of manners, and republican plainness in his style
of living and in his intercourse with society. To the same causes
may be ascribed his firmness, his directness of purpose, and his
unyielding adherence to personal as well as political liberty. You
have recently seen him stand as unmoved as the rock of Gibraltar,
defending the right of petition, and the constitutional privileges
of the representatives of the people, assembled in Congress, though
fiercely assailed by friends and by foes.

"It is a remarkable fact that during the whole of his public life,
which has already continued more than half a century, he never
connected himself with a political party, or held himself bound to
support or oppose any measure for the purpose of advancing or
retarding the views of a party; but he has held himself free at all
times to pursue the course which duty pointed out, however he may
have been considered by some as adhering to a party. This fact
discloses the reason why he has been applauded at times, and at
other times censured, by every party which has existed under the
government. The truth is that, while the American people have been
divided into two great political sections, each contending for its
own aggrandizement, Mr. Adams has stood between them, uninfluenced
by either, contending for the aggrandizement of the nation. His
life has been in some respects _sui generis_; and I venture the
opinion that, generally, when his course has differed most from the
politicians opposed to him, it has tended most to the advancement
of the public good.

"As a proof of the desire Mr. Adams has always cherished for the
advancement of science, I might refer to his annual message to
Congress in December, 1825, in which he recommended the
establishment of a National University, and an Astronomical
Observatory, and referred to the hundred and thirty of those
'light-houses of the skies' existing in Europe, as casting a
reproach on our country for its unpardonable negligence on that
important subject. The manner in which that recommendation was
received and treated can never be forgotten. It must at this day be
a source of great comfort to that devoted friend of science that
those who yet survive