Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1863-02-10
RTr. Cox ON PurItanisnn

The country owes the Hon. s s Cox, Of
Ohio, It's thanks for a thorough dissection Of
The pretensions, egotisms and hypoorisies Of
Paritansm. There IL an element, as Mr.. Cox
truly says, in New England character, which
ia ''born ia the bone and bred in the flesh"
and which, therefore, seems utterly irradicable
Il is energetic; IL Is active; Il pushes its way
everywhere, and II Is ever accompanied with
the idea that my doxy is orthodoxy, ard :hat
everybody else's doxy is heterodoxy." Such
sentiment ~ this as suhstratnm 10 society
cannot make liberal members. Hence It Is
the height OF folly 70 claim, as the Puritans
do, that the principles of liberty descend TO Us
from Plymouth Rock. In expoaing and in
showing the absurdity Of this position, Mr. Cox
has done great service. still, it's very diff
cult TO define with distinctness the exact influ-
enee OF Puritanism in our politics. Not all
Puritans are Abolitionists, nor all Abolition
lists Purtana ThAd. Stevens, for instance, is
as far from Puritan as can be imagined,
yet he is one Of the worst Abolihonists in the
land. On the contrary, the descendants OF
mauy New England families now in the South
are the strongest defenders Of the present re-
laton Of the races The truth seems to be that
the Puritan character, under the teachings OF
the Federal school of politicians, has been
intehs6ed, while,on the contrary, in the South
even the Cavalier element, the most devoted
defender Of royal prerogative, has, under the
teachings OF Jefferson and the influence OF
their form Of society, been transformed into
the most liberal aud genuine Democracy
| The blow, however, that Me-. Cox gives the
selEopinionated and arrogant zealots Of the
worst features OF Puritanism aud Federalism
is most severe and telling one. The address
we are pleased 10 say, places Mr. Cox far
above the mere politician. A vigorous and
able political orator we knew Mr.. Cox TO be-
| The public, however, we're not before fully
aware that he united, to full acquaintance
with all the New England isms, power to
philosophically anRlyse the mysticsms of the
Trauscendentalists, and trace them to their
sources II our Democratic speakers would
oitener leave the beaten track of politics and
attack the literary and philosophical preten-
sions OF the Emersohs, the Whipples the
! Beechers, &c, they would do the country an
immense service II is the fundamental phil.
osophy Of a people which, after all, sways
their action. The Democracy may get into
power temporarily but they never will again
control the government permanently, until
they uproot the entire New England anti
slavery philosophy; and hence the pretentious
egotists and superficial philosophers of New
England, who set themselves up as the Solons
OF this era, must be overthrown. The people
must not rely upon them for ideas or for liter
ature, but we must make Democratic litera
ture aud philosophy whose essence shall be
the pure principles Of genuine Democracy
Mr. Cox has pricked the bubble of these New
England pretenders He has dared to chal
lenge their arrogance and expose their shal
low claims to popular regard In this respect
we consider Mr.. Cox's speech of great weight
aud at some inconvenience have placed it
this week, at length before our readears II
is the only full, correct report published, emo
we trust all our readers will be sure and perust
it Caucasian