The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1857-06-27
New England, or What Others Say
of Us.


las its uses, and he is but small philosopher
md poor Christian who can derive no benz
it from what others, whether in truth or false
hood, allege against him. We are too apt to
think well of ourselves; to overlook defects
in our conduct and character which are con-
spicuous to the eyes of an observer, and
hence we recognize truth as well as poetry in
the well known lines of Burns -
90 wad some Power the giftie gle us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae monte blunder frae us,
And foolish notion;
What airs in dress and gait would lea'e us
And ev'n Devotion"
But, admitting that we are all somewhat blind
to our own faults, it by no means follows that
we should plead guilty to every charge upon
which an envious or malicious neighbor may
choose to arraign us, or in all cases leave to
others the task of vindicating our characters
for US What is allowable to individuals in
this matter, in their own behalf, is allowable
to them also, in behalf of the communities to
which they belong. and in whose history and
character they have common inheritance.
1t has long been customary with class OF
politicians in Congress to disparagc New
England institutions and traduce New Eng
land characters to affect great contempt ofits
Puritanic manners, inherited from the stern and
solemn gravity of its forefathers, and to take
great apparent delight i'll rehearsing. as if
they constituted our chief history, their own
variations of the "Salcm Witchcraft.' the
Persecution of the Quakcrs. with various cx-
tracts from the Connecticut Blue Laws and
the imaginary doings of the Hartford Con-
yention, as if similar things. neither in their
own States nor anywhere else had ever had
existence.
But New England has never wanted repre-
scntatiyes who could. when the occasion re-
quired it, vindcate its history, its institutions.
its policy III national affairs. and the character
of it's people from the aSperSionS of its tradu-
GERS; and 50 triumphant has been this vindi-
cation that few discreet politicians have of
late undertaken, ii. the halls of Congress. to
win any laurel> in the field Of argument by
as>ailiny New England and di>parasing its
history and institutions. Other in>tru-
mcnts of assault have been found more rclia-
bic there against the representatives of the
Puritan spirit and principles than the ordina-
nv weapons Of Congressional warfare: and so
the work Of disappearing the Puritan char
acter and the influence of Puritan principles
in our social and poIifca! relations has been
left to other men in less exposed situations.
TO ANONYMOUS writer's and hired vliiiers of
whatever differs from. or rises above their
own standard Of morals and manners. \ spe-
cimcn Of this mode Of drtrac,on We find
in the June number of Putnam Magazine
il an article STYLED. "Th" Question of Thea
tres" The writer SAYS
The early Legislation of New England re-
>cmbc> the Articles OF War" 50 pcrcmpto-
~ is il. 50 full OF prohibitions. One would
say that tn pcrvadiny spirit Of the thcocratic
law yi,cr> who organized the strongest colo
MES in America. and their ever present aim.
were the spirit of Moses in the desert. an,!
the aim of Joshua in Canaan. The ordinary
and bv no means agreeable tendencies OF vii
lagc life We're erected into social duties and
patriotic virtues Everybody kept an eve on
his neighbour. and the whole land seemed to
have .roancd beneath a regime which is only
TO hc described. in the words Of John MltoE
as a tvrannical dunccry within which no free
and splendid arts could flourish"
\ man. who is forever haunted by a sense
of duty let him be never so Senially organi-
zcd bv nature. cannot fail to become. in the
end self conscious. suspicious. and therefore
intrinsicallv unjust How much these attri-
butes dctract from a mans power of useful
ness, by diminishing his personal influence.
We need not say: but it j, a noteworthy fact
that. among the public men of this country
the pf.xoAM ralue of party leaders and pvlitl-
cal c!,icttain> has always been found to be in
an inverse ratio to the degree in which they
had undergone the influence and imbbcd the
temper Of New England. How much orr
national character has suffered from the de-
pressing atmosphere of Puritan opinion. it
would be impossible for Us. within the limits
of this paper. adequately to estimate how
much of the nervous over cXcitabilitv and
consequent deficiency of muscular persistence
which belongs to us. and makes it easier to
inausnrate a popular movement. and more
difficult to accomplish a popular object in
America, than in any other country tolerably
free. may be traced to this atmosphere. is a
question that deserves most careful and
elaborate examination. 1t cannot be answer
red by defamation about Plymouth Rock and
Bunker Hill, and it will force itself most
earnestly upon the attention of those who
most fairly compute and most heartily ac-
knowledge the benefits which America owes
to the fathers of New England
SO much for the self sacrifice and moral
heroism, the social and religious influences
and institutions of our New England fathers
influences and institutions which, inherited
and transmitted by their children, have n,r-
tured and sustained Religion, Law, Science
and the Arts, and given to them, within our
own limits, fuller development and more
comcly exhibition, and in other lands wider
influence than the world before has ever seen.
But alas for the ignorance and stupidity of
the Puritans. They had no faith in stage
players. They founded Churches and Col
leses and sent Missionaries among the Indi-
ans, but they never built Theatre, and did
not even consider it necessary or useful in
stitution. In their simplicity they never