“Alas, the sad and appalling ruins of death!  ‘This is the end of earth.’  Approach! lovers of pleasure, seekers after wisdom, aspirants, by pre-eminence in station, and power, and influence among men, to fame; see the end of human distinctions and earthly greatness!  Surely man walketh in a vain show; surely man in his best estate is altogether vanity.  How pertinent to this scene the words of Job:  ’He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.  He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.  He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death!’ How, indeed, is the mighty fallen, and the head of the wise laid low!  All flesh is grass—­all the glory of man as the flower of the field.  And shall this vast congregation soon be brought to the grave—­that house appointed for all the living?  Hear, then, the great announcement of the Son of God:  ’I am the resurrection and the life, and whosoever believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.’  Is it strange that he who communed so much with the future as the great statesman to whose virtues and memory we now pay this sad, final, solemn tribute of honor and affection, should, in the last conversation I ever had with him, have expressed both regret and astonishment at the indifference among too many of our public men to the truths and ordinances of our holy religion?  Is it to affect our hearts that he has been permitted to fall in the midst of us, to arouse us from this insensibility, and cause us to press towards the gates of the eternal city of God?  Let us bless God for another great example to shine upon us, that another star (we humbly trust) is planted amid the heavenly constellations to guide us to eternity!”

At the conclusion of the exercises in the capitol, a vast procession, escorted by military companies, conveyed the remains to the Congressional burying ground, where they were to rest until preparations for their removal to Quincy should be completed.

  “Sad was the pomp that yesterday beheld,
   As with the mourner’s heart the anthem swelled;
   The rich-plumed canopy, the gorgeous pall,
   The sacred march, and sable vested wall!—­
   These were not rites of inexpressive show,
   But hallowed as the types of real woe! 
   Illustrious deceased! a nation’s sighs,
   A nation’s heart, went with thine obsequies!”

The following letter of thanks from Mrs. Adams, addressed to the Speaker, was laid before the House of Representatives:—­

“Washington, February 29, 1848.  “Sir:  The resolutions in honor of my dear deceased husband, passed by the illustrious assembly over which you preside, and of which he at the moment of his death was a member, have been duly communicated to me.