At the conclusion of the address, a general plaudit burst forth from the vast assemblage, which continued some minutes.  Mr. Adams then descended from the chair, and, proceeding to the Judges’ table, received from the Chief Justice a volume of the Laws of the United States, from which he read, with a loud voice, the oath of office.  The plaudits and cheers of the multitude were at this juncture repeated, accompanied by salutes of artillery from without.

The congratulations which then poured in from every side occupied the hands, and could not but reach the heart, of President Adams.  The meeting between him and his venerated predecessor, had in it something peculiarly affecting.  General Jackson was among the earliest of those who took the hand of the President; and their looks and deportment towards each other were a rebuke to that littleness of party spirit which can see no merit in a rival, and feel no joy in the honor of a competitor.

Shortly after 1 o’clock, the procession commenced leaving the hall.  The President was escorted back as he came.  On his arrival at his residence, he received the compliments and respects of a great number of ladies and gentlemen, who called on him to tender their congratulations.  The proceedings of the day were closed by an “inaugural ball” in the evening.  Among the guests present, were the President and Vice-President.  Ex-President Monroe, a number of foreign ministers, with many civil, military, and naval officers.[Footnote:  National Intelligencer.]

Mr. Adams’s Inaugural Address is as follows:—­

“In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our federal constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence, and in that of heaven, to bind myself, by the solemnities of a religious obligation, to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me, in the station to which I have been called.

“In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed, in the fulfilment of those duties, my first resort will be to that constitution which I shall swear, to the best of my ability, to preserve, protect, and defend.  That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words, declares the purposes to which these, and the whole action of the Government instituted by it, should be invariably and sacredly devoted—­to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union, in their successive generations.  Since the adoption of this social compact, one of these generations has passed away.  It is the work of our forefathers.  Administered by some of the most eminent men, who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the