ing of cannon, in celebrating the day, caused the eyes of the dying
Monroe to open inquiringly. When the occasion of these rejoicings was
communicated to him, a look of intelligence indicated that he understood
the character of the day.

At this anniversary of our National Independence, Mr. Adams delivered an
oration before the citizens of Quincy. It was an able and eloquent
production. The following were the concluding paragraphs. In reference to
nullification, which was threatened by some of the Southern States, he
said:--

"The event of a conflict in arms, between the Union and one of its
members, whether terminating in victory or defeat, would be but an
alternative of calamity to all. In the holy records of antiquity, we have
two examples of a confederation ruptured by the severance of its members,
one of which resulted, after three desperate battles, in the extermination
of the seceding tribe. And the victorious people, instead of exulting in
shouts of triumph, came to the house of God, and abode there till even,
before God; and lifted up their voices, and wept sore, and said,--O Lord
God of Israel why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be
to-day one tribe lacking in Israel? The other was a successful example of
resistance against tyrannical taxation, and severed forever the
confederacy, the fragments forming separate kingdoms; and from that day
their history presents an unbroken series of disastrous' alliances, and
exterminating wars--of assassinations, conspiracies, revolts, and
rebellions, until both parts of the confederacy sunk into tributary
servitude to the nations around them; till the countrymen of David and
Solomon hung their harps upon the willows of Babylon, and were totally
lost amidst the multitudes of the Chaldean and Assyrian monarchies, 'the
most despised portion of their slaves.'

"In these mournful memorials of their fate, we may behold the sure, too
sure prognostication of our own, from the hour when force shall be
substituted for deliberation, in the settlement of our constitutional
questions. This is the deplorable alternative--the extirpation of the
seceding member, or the never-ceasing struggle of two rival confederacies,
ultimately bending the neck of both under the yoke of foreign domination,
or the despotic sovereignty of a conqueror at home. May heaven avert the
omen! The destinies, not only of our posterity, but of the human race, are
at stake.

"Let no such melanchol