Decatur, which rendered them peculiar favorites with the entire nation; and their death, occurring in the very prime of their days, and with attending incidents of a very aggravating character, was felt with universal and keen regret and sorrow.-— Naval History of the United States. Monroe Doctrine.—An important event of Monroe's administration was the recognition of the independence of the South American republics. In his annual message of 1823, Monroe declared that the American continents "are henceforth not to be considered as subject to future colonization by any European power." This is known as the "Monroe Doctrine." Visit of Lafayette.—In the summer of 1824, Lafayette arrived on a visit to this country, as a guest of the nation. His tour through the States was everywhere signalized by tokens of respect from a grateful people. Address to Lafayette.-Webster. [Extract from an oration delivered by Daniel Webster at the laying of the cornerstone of Bunker Hill monument, June 17, 1825; on which occasion the ceremony was performed by Lafayette, and the orator, during the course of his address, thus apostrophized the distinguished guest of the nation.] 1. SIR, we are assembled to commemorate the establishment of great public principles of liberty, and to do honor to the distinguished dead. The occasion is too severe for eulogy of the living. But, sir, your interesting relation to this country, the peculiar circumstances which surround you and surround us, call on me to express the happiness which we derive from your presence and aid in this solemn commemoration. 2. Fortunate, fortunate man! With what measure of devotion will you not thank God for the circumstances of your extraordinary life! You are connected with both hemispheres and with two generations. Heaven saw fit to ordain that the electric spark of liberty should be conducted, through you, from the New World to the Old; and we, who are now here to perform this duty of patriotism, have all of us long ago received it in charge from our fathers to cherish your name and your virtues. You will account it an instance of your good fortune, sir, that you crossed the seas to visit us at a time which enables you to be present at this solemnity. 3. You now behold the field, the renown of which reached you in the heart of France, and caused a thrill in your ardent bosom. You see the lines of the little redoubt thrown up by the incredible diligence of Prescott; defended, to the last extremity, by his lion-hearted valor; and within which the corner-stone of our monument has now taken its position. You see where Warren fell, and where Parker, Gardner, McCleary, Moore, and other early patriots fell with him. Those who survived that day, and whose lives have been prolonged to the present hour, are now around you. Some of them you have known in the trying scenes of the war. Behold! they now stretch forth their feeble arms to embrace you. Behold! they raise their trembling voices to invoke the blessing of God on you and yours forever. 4. Sir, you have assisted us in laying the foundation of this structure. You have heard us rehearse, with our feeble commendation, the names of departed patriots. Monuments and eulogy belong to the dead. We give them this day to Warren and his associates. On other occasions they have been given to your more immediate companions in arms, to Washington, to Greene, to Gates, to Sullivan, and to Lincoln. We have become reluctant to grant these, our highest and last honors, further. We would gladly hold them yet back from the little remnant of that immortal band. Serus in cœlum redeas. [Late may you return to the skies.] Illustrious as are your merits, yet far, oh, very distant be the day when any inscription shall bear your name, or any tongue pronounce its eulogy! Lafayette at Mount Vernon.-Levasseur. [From an account by Lafayette's secretary.] 1. AFTER a voyage of two hours, the guns of Fort Washington announced that we were approaching the last abode of the Father of his Country. At this solemn signal, to which the military band accompanying us responded by military strains, we went on deck, and the venerable soil of Mount Vernon was before us. At this view, an involuntary and spontaneous movement made us kneel. We landed in boats, and trod upon the ground so often trod by the feet of Washington. . 2. A carriage received General Lafayette, and the other visitors silently ascended the precipitous' path which conducted to the solitary habitation of Mount Vernon. In re-entering beneath this hospitable roof, which had sheltered him when the reign of terror tore him violently from his country and family, George Lafayette felt his heart sink within him, at no more finding him whose paternal care had softened his misfortunes; while his father sought with emotion for everything which reminded him of the companion of his glorious toils. 3. Three nephews of General Washington took Lafayette, his son, and myself, to conduct us to the tomb of their uncle; our numerous companions remained in the house. In a few minutes the cannon, thundering anew, announced that Lafayette rendered homage to the ashes of Washington. Simple and modest as he was during life, the tomb of the citizen-hero is scarcely perceived among the sombre cypresses by which it is surrounded. 4. A vault slightly elevated and clodded over,-a wooden door without inscriptions,--some withered and green garlands, indicate to the traveller who visits the spot, where rest in peace the puissant arms which broke the chains of his country. As we approached, the door was opened. Lafayette descended alone into the vault, and in a few minutes after reappeared, with his eyes overflowing with tears. He took his son and me by the hand, and led us into the tomb, where, by a sign, he indicated the coffin. We knelt reverentially, and rising, threw ourselves into the arms of Lafayette, mingling our tears with his. Death and Character of Lafayette.—Sumner. 1. THE time was now at hand when Lafayette's great career was to close. Being taken ill, at first with a cold, the Chamber of Deputies inquired of his son after his health; and upon the next day, May 20, 1834, he died, at the age of seventy-seven. The ruling passion was strong to the last. As at the beginning, so at the end, he was all for freedom; and the last lines traced by his hand, which he rose from his deathbed to write, attest his joy at that great act of emancipation' by which England, at an expense of a hundred million dollars, had given freedom to eight hundred thousand slaves. 2. "Nobly," he writes-and these were the last words of your benefactor-"nobly has the public treasure been employed." And these last words, speaking from the tomb, still sound in our ears. Such was Lafayette. At the tidings of his death, there was mourning in two hemispheres; and the saying of Pericles (per'i-kleez) was again fulfilled, for the whole earth was the sepulchre of the illustrious man. "Not to those chambers where the mighty rest, 3. Judge him by what he did throughout a long life, and you must confess his greatness. Judge him by the principles of his life, and you must bend with reverence before him. In all history he stands alone. There is no one who has done so much for human freedom. In youth showing the firmness of age, and in age showing the ardor of youth; trampling upon the prejudices of birth, upon the seductions of power, upon the blandishments of wealth, setting aside the favor even of that people whom he loved so well; whether placed at the height of worldly ambition, or plunged in the vaults of a dungeon, always true to the same principle. 4. Great he was, indeed; not as an author, although he has written what we are all glad to read; not as an orator, although he has spoken often and well; not as a soldier, although always brave, and often working miracles of genius; not as a statesman, although versed in government, and intuitively perceiving the relations of men and nations ;-not on these accounts is he great: but he is great as one of the world's benefactors, who possessed the largest measure of that greatest gift of God to man-the genius of beneficence. And great he is as an example, which, so long as history endures, shall teach all—the author, the orator, the soldier, the statesman, all alike to labor, and, if need be, to suffer, for human right. The fame of such a character, brightening with the advance of civilization, can find no limit except in earthly gratitude.-Oration on Lafayette. John Quincy Adams's Administration.—Election and Inauguration.-Four candidates were put in nomination to succeed President Monroe, and the consequence was that none of them had a majority of the electoral votes. The election then went to the House of Representatives, for the second time, Jefferson having been thus elected, in 1801; and John Quincy Adams was chosen the sixth President of the United States. His inauguration tcok place at Washington, on the 4th of March, 1825. Death of Adams and Jefferson.-On the fiftieth anniversary of American Independence, July 4th, 1826, occurred the death of the two venerable ex-presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. As this remarkable coincidence took place more than a year after the commencement of the tenth presidential term, John Adams lived to see his son president. When it is recollected that Adams and Jefferson were members of the committee that framed the Declaration of Independence; that both signed that important document; that both had been foreign ministers, vice-presidents, and presidents of the United States; and that each had lived to a venerable age, the coincidence of their deaths is indeed remarkable. Death of John Adams.-Theodore Parker. 1. ABLE-BODIED, able-minded, Mr. Adams gradually faded away. His hearing decayed, his eyes failed him, his hands were tremulous; but still the brave old soul held on, making the most of the wreck of life now drifting alone to the Islands of the Blessed. Independence Day, the great day of his life, drew near. It was its fiftieth anniversary. The Nation was to keep its solemn Jubilee, grateful to God and to his servants here below, for the blessings of the smiling and happy land. 2. A few days before the time, the town orator asked him for a" sentiment" to suit the approaching occasion. The old man, in his ninety-first year, infirm, feeble, and mortally sick in his bed, answered, "INDEPENDENCE FOREVER!" The day came and found him living, but fast losing his hold upon earth. "Thomas Jefferson still survives," said the old man---his coadjutor and his rival, yet his friend. These were his last words. 3. Soon after, while the land rang with cannons jubilant |