When it is recollected that Mr. Adams had changed no one of the many opinions that had exposed him to* odium, that in no degree had he departed from that straight-for- ward course, which had so frequently brought him into violent collision with the Democrats of the North and the slaveholders of the South—and that in his last days he had outraged popular patriotism by opposing an existing war, and attempting to cut off supphes from our victorious armies—surely the revulsion of public opinion in his favor is marvellous and unparalleled.
Whence came it that the same unchanged, inflexible, and dauntless man, scorning and defying public opinion, and scorning and defying it to his last breath—and who but lately was the object of such general hatred, that the representatives of the people spent a week in laboring to consiorn him "to the indig-nation of all true American citizens"—acquired such wonderful popularity, that rival politicians hurried to strew flowers upon his grave, and to let all the world know how very much they loved and admired him. The cause is to be found, first, in the entire confidence of the People in his integrity, and their admi- ration of his talents and moral courage ; and secondly, in the deference paid by pohticians to public opinion " right or wrong."
The magnificent spectacle he exhibited when alone, un- aided, and with but little sympathy he received and gloriously repelled the combined assault of the Northern Democracy and the slave interest, won for him the hearts of the common people.* They looked upon him as a moral phenomenon—a pubhc man who never flattered but often censured them—a politician who consulted duty and not " policy"—who feared God and not man—who talked as he voted, and voted as he talked—who went with his