ccident or enthusiasm could not bestow, and which
adulation would tarnish) from the transcendent merit of which it is the
voluntary testimony.

"May you long enjoy that liberty which is so dear to you, and to which
your name will ever be so dear; may your own virtues and a nation's
prayers obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of your days, and
the choicest of future blessings. For our country's sake, for the sake
of republican liberty, it is our earnest wish that your example may be
the guide of your successors; and thus, after being the ornament and
safeguard of the present age, become the patrimony of our descendants."

When the committee presented this address to the house, some of the more
zealous of the opposition, among whom was Mr. Giles, of Virginia, warmly
opposed it. He moved that the whole of it in which the character and
influence of the president were eulogized should be expunged. He
expressed his belief that the _want_ of "wisdom and firmness" in the
administration had conducted the affairs of the nation to a crisis which
threatened greater calamities than any that had before occurred. He did
not regret the president's retiring from office. He hoped he would do
so, and enjoy the happiness that awaited him in retirement. He believed
that it would more conduce to that happiness that he should retire, than
if he should remain in office. He believed that the government of the
United States, founded on the broad basis of the people, required no
single man to administer it. The people were competent to manage
governmental affairs; and they would be in a calamitous situation
indeed, if one man were essential to the existence of the government. He
believed that there were a thousand men in the United States capable of
filling the presidential chair, and he was willing to trust to the
discernment of the people in making a proper choice. Though the voice of
all America should declare the president's retiring a calamity, he could
not join in the declaration, because he did not conceive it to be a
misfortune. He had always, he said, disapproved of the measures of the
administration in regard to foreign relations, and so had many members
of the house, and he should not now disavow former opinions, without
being first convinced of having been in error. He perceived more cause
than ever for adhering to his old opinions. The course of events had
pointed out their propriety; and, if he was not much mistaken, a cris