“3.  From and after the 4th day of July, 1845, there shall be neither slavery nor slave trade, at the seat of Government of the United States.”

Instead of meeting and canvassing, in a manly and honorable manner, the vitally important question involved in these propositions, the slaveholding Representatives objected to its coming before the House for consideration, in any form whatever.  In this instance, as in most others, where the merits of slavery are involved, the supporters of that institution manifested a timidity, a want of confidence in its legitimacy, of the most suspicious nature.  If slavery is lawful and defensible—­if it violates no true principle among men, no human right bestowed by the Creator—­if it can be tolerated and perpetuated in harmony with republican institutions and our Declaration of Independence—­if its existence in the bosom of the Confederacy involves no incongruity, and is calculated to promote the prosperity and stability of the Union, or the welfare of the slaveholding States themselves—­these are facts which can be made evident to the world, by the unsurpassed abilities of southern statesmen.  Why, then, object to a candid and fearless investigation of the subject?  But if slavery is the reverse of all this—­if it is a moral poison, contaminating and blighting everything connected with it, and containing the seeds of its own dissolution sooner or later—­why should wise, sagacious politicians, prudent and honest men, and conscientious Christians, shut their eyes and turn away from a fact so appalling and so dangerous.  No man of intelligence can hope, in this age of the world, to perpetuate that which is wrong and destructive, by bravado and threatening—­by refusing to look it in the face, or to allow others to scrutinize it.  Error must pass away.  Truth, however unpalatable, or however it may be obscured for a season, must eventually triumph.  The very exertions of its supporters to perpetuate wrong, will but hasten its death.

  “Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again;
     Th’ eternal years of God are hers: 
   But Error, wounded, writhes with pain,
     And dies among her worshippers.”

Notwithstanding the course Mr. Adams felt himself compelled to pursue led him frequently into collision with a large portion of the Members of the House of Representatives, and caused them sometimes, in the heat of excitement, to forget the deference due his age, his experience, and commanding abilities, yet there was ever a deep, under-current feeling of veneration for him, pervading all hearts.  Those who were excited to the highest pitch of frenzy by his proceedings, could not but admire the singleness of his purpose, and his undaunted courage in discharging his duties.  On all subjects aside from slavery, his influence in the House has never been surpassed.  Whenever he arose to speak, it was a signal for a general abandonment of listlessness and inattention.  Members dropped