I turned, and saw that Mr.Adams was ready to get the floor at the earliest moment possible.

His keen eye was riveted on the Clerk; his hands clasped the front edge of his desk, where he always placed them to assist him in rising.

He looked, in the language of Otway, like the "-- fowler, eager for his prey." "New Jersey!" ejaculated Mr.Hugh H.Garland, "and the Clerk has to repeat that--" Mr.Adams sprang to the floor! "I rise to interrupt the Clerk," was his first ejaculation.
"Silence, silence," resounded through the hall; "hear him, hear him! Here what he has to say; hear John Quincy Adams!" was the unanimous ejaculation on all sides.
In an instant, the most profound silence reigned throughout the Hall--you might have heard a leaf of paper fall in any part of it--and every eye was riveted on the venerable Nestor of Massachusetts--the purest of statesmen, and the noblest of men! He paused for a moment; and, having given Mr.Garland a "-- withering look!" he proceeded to address the multitude: "It was not my intention," said he, "to take any part in these extraordinary proceedings.

I had hoped that this House would succeed in organizing itself; that a Speaker and Clerk would be elected, and that the ordinary business of legislation would be progressed in.

This is not the time, or place, to discuss the merits of the conflicting claimants for seats from New Jersey; that subject belongs to the House of Representatives, which, by the constitution, is made the ultimate arbiter of the qualifications of its members.