New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-01-05

70 have caused good deal of auttering, and to
haze furnished special topic at the iate
Plymouth celebration of Forefsthers Day Two
men. from the most opposite quarters-men
whose sensations AZ finding themselves shoulder 10
sboulder in 4 common cause. must have been
LITTLE oueer-stepped forward on that occasion to
the rescue of the Pgrims-Edward Everett and
Wendell Phillips-snd their respective methods oil
doing battle with to Edinburgh reviewer were
highly Characteristic. Mr.. Everett not yent'irlng
70 he personally present at the festival being Kept
away perhaps by not very agreeable experiences
ON some recent similar public occasions, sent from
hi. ambush nj Boston toast, leyeled at the Edn'
burph reviewer, the text perhaps of one OF those
youthful sermons the delivery Of which used I" be
50 taking with the Boston ladies Let HIM that
sis without sin among you cast the hrst stone
This is very fair specimen OF Mr. Everett' Gus
tomary policy of running away in the FIRST place.
and a. he runs. cOntriying Ia get shot at me
enemy from under cover OF some lurking place; but
II /. a sort of arrumentua 0d hominem that would
make pretty short work with all criticisms while
il would reduce the business OF writing leading
articles almost to a sinecure; so that, ct course
we at least, can't be expected TO subscribe to IT,
Mr.. Phillips. in a style equally characteristic,
boldly takes the bull by the horns. Even he, how
ever does not venture TO defend the New-England
fathers az faultless or TO deny their rabd intoler-
snce. which is the great fault charged against
them. He attempts 10 justify the eulogies, OF
which in New England those fathers the yearly,
half.yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily and
we might even say hourly objects. A sort of family
worship of them ito speak, hayingthere been reg
ulary instituted he attempts to yindicate this wor'
shin on the ground-whst ground, reader, do you
suppose l--on the ground that we are TO see in the
New England fathers, not Themselves merely or
chiefly, but their posterity-the men OF New
England of to-day!
To the good old Calvnistic doctrine that Adam
s;nned and fell not for himself only but in repre-
sentative capacity, as the federal head of all his
posterity, or as the Ne@-England Primer ex-
presses il;
IN Adams fall
We sinned all"
Mr. Phillips, who adheres, we believe, TO the
Westminster catechsms embodied into the
New-EDgland platform, now proposes TO add in his
character We suppose, Of one of the new lights,
the idea of retroactive salvation for the fathers
by virtue of the merits of the children Had Mr..
Everett bit upon this new method of whitewssh-
ing the sepulchers of the prophets, We should not
have been in the least surprised at il; but in the
mouth of Mr. Wendell Phillips it seems to us
most rdiculously out of place. Has IT not been
almost the sole business of Mr.. Phillips and of the
set to which he belongs for at least these fifteen
wears past to represent the whole body of their
fellow countrymen IF the United States, and
especially those of New England, as utterly dead
in trespa,se, and sins-the best Of the New
England clergy as dumb dogs that do not bark, and
the greater part of them as dogs that bark, and
bite too How comes it, then, that Mr. Wendell
Phillips is sinitten 18th such sudden admiration for
the living SONS of New-England, and especially for
the late Speaker and Senator, Mr.. Robert c. Win
throp, whom, being there present, he singled out as
specimen of the sons whose virtues were to serve
as cloak for the weaknesses of the fathers 1t is
probable indeed, that this was but an ironical
compliment but if so, the irony is fatal TO the ar
gUlment
The lapse of time and the recuperative power Of
nature have partially relieved the children of New
England of the Characteristic deiormity of the
fathers. Great things to be expected in this
point OF view OF the rising generation; but in the
generation already on the stage the family deform
ity quite too plainly to be traced. With all the
superiority Of New-England in intelligence, educa
ton refinement and humanity superiority too
evident to be denied-there is no part of the coun
try Of which the ntOlerant, narrow, bigoted and
proscriptive policy of the KnOwNothings has taken
such hold; and how is this to be accounted for ex-
cept that the original sin of the fathers still mars
and yitiates the affections of the children!
The great merit of the New England Fathers
consisted in their pertinacious adherence to what
they Judged to be right, ut the greatest hazards
and most serious sacrifices For that let them
have oil due honor. Yet the liberty for which they
struggled was after all but the very narrOwest sort
of ltcrty-berty for themselves, liberty for the
members of the Congregational churches. For
liberty for any body else for liberty for all, hover er
two or three more enlightened souls among them
may have hit upon the idea the great body and
prevailing party of the New England Fathers had Ne
inclination whatever; but on the contrary, Ield il
in utter adherence. And so ngraincd is this faint
of bitter and marrow sectarianism into the New
England constitution, that hardly two three or half
Il dozen New England men can be pointed out ut
the moment who are entirely free from the bemish
Of it. Mr.. Phillips will pardon us for saying, with
all due respect for him aud his associates, that ii il
the easily besetting, cherished, and for that reason
most disastrous sin and weakness Of himself aud