Throughout his life he had ever been a lover of man and of human freedom—­the best friend of his country—­the most faithful among the defenders of its institutions—­a sincere republican, and a true man.  But blinded by political prejudice, a large portion of his fellow-citizens refused the boon of credit for these qualities.  It remained for another stage of his life, another field of display, to correct them of this error, and to vindicate his character.  It was requisite that he should step down from his high position, disrobe himself of office, power and patronage, place himself beyond the reach of the remotest suspicion of a desire for political preferment and emolument, to satisfy the world that John Quincy Adams had from the beginning, been a pure-hearted patriot, and one of the noblest sons of the American Confederacy.  His new career was to furnish a luminous commentary on his past life, and to convince the most sceptical, of the justice of his claim to rank among the highest and best of American patriots.  Placed beyond the reach of any gift of office from the nation, with nothing to hope for, and nothing to fear in this respect, he was to write his name in imperishable characters, so high on the tablets of his country’s history and fame, as to be beyond the utmost reach of malignity or suspicion!  The door which led to this closing act of his dramatic life, was soon opened.

On returning to Quincy, one of the first things which received the attention of Mr. Adams, was the discharge of a filial duty towards his deceased parents, in the erection of a monument to their memory.  The elder Adams in his will, among other liberal bequests, had left a large legacy to aid in the erection of a new Unitarian church in Quincy.  The edifice was completed, and ex-President J. Q. Adams caused the monument to his father and mother to be erected within the walls.  It was a plain and simple design, consisting of a tablet, having recessed pilasters at the sides, with a base moulding and cornice; the whole supported by trusses at the base.  The material of which it was made was Italian marble; and the whole was surmounted by a fine bust of John Adams, from the chisel of Greenough, the American artist, then at Rome.  The inscription, one of the most feeling, appropriate, and classical specimens extant, was as follows:—­

“LIBERTATEM AMICITTAM FIDEM RETINEBIS. 
D. O. M.[Footnote:  Deo, Optimo, Maximo—­to God, the Best and Greatest.]
Beneath these Walls
Are deposited the Mortal Remains of
John Adams,
Son of John and Susanna (Boyalston) Adams,
Second President of the United States. 
Born 19-30 October, 1735. 
On the fourth of July, 1776,
He pledged his Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor
To the independence of his country. 
On the third of September, 1783,
Be affixed his Seal to the definitive Treaty with Great Britain
Which acknowledged that Independence,