“It is not without some hesitation, and some diffidence, that I have risen to offer in my own behalf, and in that of my colleagues upon this floor, and of our common constituents, to join our voice, at once of mourning and exultation, at the event announced to both Houses of Congress, by the message from the President of the United States—­of mourning at the bereavement which has befallen our common country, by the decease of one of her most illustrious sons—­of exultation at the spectacle afforded to the observation of the civilized world, and for the emulation of after times, by the close of a life of usefulness and of glory, after forty years of service in trusts of the highest dignity and splendor that a confiding country could bestow, succeeded by twenty years of retirement and private life, not inferior, in the estimation of the virtuous and the wise, to the honors of the highest station that ambition can ever attain.

“Of the public life of James Madison what could I say that is not deeply impressed upon the memory and upon the heart of every one within the sound of my voice?  Of his private life, what but must meet an echoing shout of applause from every voice within this hall?  Is it not in a pre-eminent degree by emanation from his mind, that we are assembled here as the representatives of the people and the States of this Union?  Is it not transcendently by his exertions that we all address each other here by the endearing appellation of countrymen and fellow-citizens?  Of that band of benefactors of the human race, the founders of the Constitution of the United States, James Madison is the last who has gone to his reward.  Their glorious work has survived them all.  They have transmitted the precious bond of union to us, now entirely a succeeding generation to them.  May it never cease to be a voice of admonition to us, of our duty to transmit the inheritance unimpaired to our children of the rising age.

“Of the personal relations of this great man, which gave rise to the long career of public service in which twenty years of my own life has been engaged, it becomes me not to speak.  The fulness of the heart must be silent, even to the suppression of the overflowings of gratitude and affection.”  To the year 1835, the career of Mr. Adams in Congress had been marked by no signal display of characteristics peculiar to himself, other than such as the world had long been familiar with in his previous history.  He had succeeded in maintaining his reputation for patriotism, devotion to principle, political sagacity and wisdom, and his fame as a public debater and eloquent speaker.  But no new development of qualities unrecognized before had been made.  From that year forward, however, he placed himself in a new attitude before the country, and entered upon a career which eclipsed all his former services, and added a lustre to his fame which will glow in unrivalled splendor as long as human freedom is prized on earth.