Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1855-01-18
OBJ Daily Spp.
THURSDAY. JANUARY IS. 1855.
A Mans Birthplace.

islature oppose Henry Wilson's election to the
q. S. Senate, because he said in the late Con-
stitutional Convention, " ! care nothing about
the place where man was born This ex-
preston. they say, ignores the principles of
the I" American party" A man who could
use such an expressioe as that is not, they
think, fit to be trusted with the interests of
great and enlightened party of intelligent
American freemen. Now, we do not think
there is any thing specially bad or wrong
tan might use it and not break any preeept
of his religion by doing SO. A philosopher
might use it and his reputation for wisdom
would not, we think be likely to suffer very
much from it. Indeed woman might use it
without the possibility of her modesty being
impugned thereby. If General Wilson never
said anything worse than, that she has said
many good things" as DR.. Brimble remarked
of Mr.. Toots.
Let us look at this little and see how it
is. We have steamers crossing the sea and
locomotives crossing the land They go to all
parts of the earth and OF the waters which sur
round the earth and they carry abroad with
the speed of the trained steed, the products of
every cline and the blessings of civilization.
They are great ministers of commerce, of COM
fort, and of christianity, bringing near to each
other all the gifts of nature and all the fami-
lies of men. The world is indebted to the sc.
r. r. a. e
great steamships and those swift locomotives
Does the world care anything about where
he was born: He might have been born in
Pekin or Timbucto). instead of Greenock, and
there still would have been no difference in
the magnitude OF the worlds obligation to
him.
The circumstance or place of a mans birth
is something that man is not responsible for,
and, consequently, is something that is not
worth caring much about. tits the MAN him
self that is the honor, not the accidents of the
man. Israel Putnam and Benedict Arnold
were both born in Connecticut, if we are not
mistaken, but the one was patriot and the
other was a traitor Who cares anything
about the place of their birth 1t is the true
man that we have pride in, and the traitor
that we blush for, independent of all advent-
tious circumstances. George the Third and
Robert Morris were both born i'll England;
but who pays the least regard to that fact
while he contemplates, in the former, king
ly tyrant, and recognizes, in the latter, the
man who, next to Washington, did most to
secure the blessings of republican liberty to
this goodly land: The Pilgrim Fathers were
born in Great Britain, and all the Know
Nothings were, of course, born in the United
States; yet who, in instituting a comparison
between the Pilgrim Fathers and the Know
Nothings, would make the question of their
birth any particular subject of discussion ,
The Pilgrim Fathers would still have COM
manded the worlds admiration, if they had
been born where the Know Nothings were
born; and, although the Know otllings
had been born where the Pilgrim Fathers first
saw the light, it would not have added to their
honor.
If there is any possible source of pride in
oAS PAaCe "a uiTt1, IL must De IOunu, not IN
the place itself, but in the associations con.
nected with the place. Amy healthy spot is,
in our estimation, as good as another to be
born in. The birth of child who, in future,
becomes great man, may give some eclat to
the spot where he was born but the spot it.
self can never confer honor on a mean soul,
nor detract from great one. What spot on
earth is half SO noble, in this view of the
thing, as the stable at Bethlehem, or those
other places in Judea where the Apostles were
born? This question of birth place is an old
question, but tits very frivolous one after all.
is usually made distinction by those who
have no other distinction over their fellowmen.
Bryant, Longfelow, Cooper, land Irving would,
we believe, blush to claim superiority over
SHAKESPEARE, Milton, Scott. and Burns, simply
because the former were born on the western
and the latter on the eastern shores of the At.
lantic. Such claim could be made grace
fully only by some noble Gam street Cove"
or Bowery Boy" who each could establish
his claim to five American grandfathers. 1t
will be well for the state, when the citizens
make virtue, and not an accident, the stand
ard of merit.