paratively small territorial surface of Europe, there are existing
upwards of one hundred and thirty of these light-houses in the skies;
while, throughout the whole American hemisphere, there is not one. If we
reflect a moment upon the discoveries which, in the last four centuries,
have been made in the physical constitution of the universe, by the means
of these buildings, and of observers stationed in them, shall we doubt of
their usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a year passes over
our heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which
we must fain receive at second hand from Europe, are we not cutting
ourselves off from the means of returning light for light, while we have
neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe, and the earth
revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes?"

It is humiliating to reflect that neither of these recommendations
received an encouraging response from Congress. The latter suggestion,
indeed, excited the ridicule of many of the opposers of Mr. Adams, and "a
light-house in the skies," became a term of reproach in their midst. In
this, however, it must be confessed, their ridicule was greatly at the
expense of their intelligence, their public spirit, and their devotion to
the highest interests of man. There are few reflections more mortifying to
an American citizen, than that while so large a portion of the resources
of the national Government have been exhausted in prosecuting party
measures, rewarding partisan services, and promoting sectional and
personal schemes, little or nothing has been devoted to the encouragement
of the arts and sciences, and the cultivation of those higher walks of
human attainment which exalt and refine a people, and fit them for the
purest and sweetest enjoyments of life.

It was during the first year of his administration, that the attention of
Mr. Adams was called to a proposed Congress of all the Republics on the
American Continent, to meet at Panama. The objects designed to be
accomplished by such a Congress have been variously stated. It has been
believed by some to have been called for the purpose of opposing a
supposed project, entertained by the Allied Powers of Europe, of combining
for the purpose of reducing the American Republics to their former
condition of European vassalage. Be this as it may, the Panama Congress,
among its objects, aimed at the cementing of the friendly relations of all
t