* * * * * * * *

“It cannot be denied, but by those who would dispute against the sun, that with America, and in America, a new era commences in human affairs.  This era is distinguished by free representative governments, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly-awakened and an unconquerable spirit of free inquiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge through the community, such as has been before altogether unknown and unheard of.  America, America, our country, fellow-citizens, our own dear and native land, is inseparably connected, fast bound up, in fortune and by fate, with these great interests.  If they fall, we fall with them; if they stand, it will be because we have upholden them.  Let us contemplate, then, this connection, which binds the prosperity of others to our own; and let us manfully discharge all the duties which it imposes.  If we cherish the virtues and the principles of our fathers, heaven will assist us to carry on the work of human liberty, and human happiness.  Auspicious omens cheer us:  great examples are before us:  our own firmament now shines brightly upon our path:  Washington is in the clear upper sky.  These other stars have now joined the American constellation; they circle around their centre, and the heavens beam with a new light.  Beneath this illumination, let us walk the course of life, and at its close devoutly commend our beloved country, the common parent of us all, to the Divine Benignity.”

During this visit at the East, at this time, President J. Q. Adams attended the annual examination of the public schools in Boston, and was present at the public dinner given in Faneuil Hall, to the school committee, teachers, and most meritorious scholars.  In reply to a complimentary toast from the Mayor, Mr. Adams responded as follows:—­

“Mr. Mayor, and my fellow-citizens of Boston:—­A few days since, we were assembled in this Hall, as the house of mourning—­in commemoration of the two last survivors of that day which had proclaimed at once our independence and our existence as a nation.  We are now assembled within the same walls, at the house of feasting—­at the festival of fathers rejoicing in the progressive improvement of their children.

“We have been told by the wisest man of antiquity, that it is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting.  How emphatically true would that sentence be, if the house of mourning were always such as this hall but so recently exhibited!—­a mourning of gratitude—­a mourning of faithful affection—­a mourning full of consolation and joy.  And yet, could the wisest of men now look down upon this happy meeting—­of parents partaking together of the bounties of Providence, in mutual gratulation with each other at the advances of their offspring in moral and intellectual cultivation—­would he, could he, my friends, have said that it is better to go to the house of mourning than to such a house of feasting?