How momentous the era!  How deeply fraught with the prosperity of the American Republic—­with the progress of man—­the freedom of nations—­the happiness of succeeding generations!  How could he, who for years had prominently and nobly stood forth, as the leader of the hosts contending for the rights and the liberties of humanity, be spared from his post at such a juncture?  Who could put on his armor?—­who wield his weapons?—­who “lead a forlorn hope,” or mount a deadly breach in battles which might yet be waged between the sons of freedom and the propagators of slavery?  But the loss was to be experienced.  A wise and good Providence had so ordered.  The sands of his life had run out.  A voice from on high called him away from earth’s stormy struggles, to bright and peaceful scenes in the spirit land.  He could no longer tarry.  Death found the faithful veteran at his post, with his harness on.  How applicable the words of Scott, on the departure of Pitt:—­

  “Hadst thou but lived, though stripp’d of power,
   A watchman on the lonely tower,
   Thy thrilling trump had roused the land,
   When fraud or danger were at hand;
   By thee, as by the beacon-light,
   Our pilots had kept course aright;
   As some proud column, though alone,
   Thy strength had propp’d the tottering throne. 
   Now is the stately column broke,
   The beacon-light is quenched in smoke,
   The trumpet’s silver sound is still,
   The warder silent on the hill! 
   O think how, to his latest day,
   When death, just hovering, claimed his prey,
   With Palinure’s unaltered mood,
   Firm at his dangerous post he stood;
   Each call for needful rest repell’d,
   With dying hand the rudder held,
   Till, in his fall, with fateful sway,
   The steerage of the realm gave way.”

It has been supposed by some that the remote cause of Mr. Adams’s death was a severe injury he received by a fall in the House of Representatives, in June, 1840.  The accident is thus described by an eye witness:—­

“It had been a very warm day, and the debates had partaken of extraordinary excitement, when, a few moments before sunset, the House adjourned, and most of the members had sought relief from an oppressive atmosphere, in the arbors and recesses of the adjoining Congressional gardens.

“At that time I held a subordinate clerkship in the House, which usually confined me, the larger portion of the day not devoted to debate, to one of the committee rooms; whilst the balance of the day I occupied as a reporter.