Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1863-01-13
AlistrIlnnp.
About New England.

About New England.
Il is too late TO quarrel about the merits and
dement's Of the Puritan ancestry Of the New
Engan1ers Of to-day Their place in history has
been assigned 10 them by the verdc. Of the
world and whenever or wherever the record is
examined for what they said and whl tthey did
for ther faults and their virtues, for their short
coming' and their great doings-he who does not
take pride in the possession Of such blood as
ilVed in their veins, and in the inheritance Of
the principles that were the basis Of their action,
is either incapable Of appreciaIing or understand
ing What is noble in the race, or lsa knafe who,
TO serve purpose, would deny that the world is
lighted by the sun at roon.day. 1t is, We say,
too late to quarrel about the chhrac er Of the Pu-
riiins, because, we're history dumb, there stand
the six States Of New England, everlasting mon
uments Of the perpetuaiion Of the memory Of the
great qualities Of the men who built on Puritan
basis. Aud in spite Of thCo,d story by which
the pioneers Of the Mayhower have been assail-
ed IN spite Of that kind Of criticism which, n
fneerIng at long prayers, iorges the godi.aess Of
the men who made them, and that IN estimating
characters, takes account Of The blemishes only,
and converts the pecuIilriles Of an er into tnc
FINNiaA WIGS VI tut lulNlANdh VINO uJlliNlitA
therein in spite Of despotc reaction against what
New England las taught and lived, the fact re.
mains, and IS now confessed by all the world
lha' nowhere does Gods sun shine upon any
political community containing an equal number
OF people among whom liberty is so secure;
Among whom law and justice are so impartial
ly administered;
Among whom property Is so well guarded
Among whom education is % university dG
fused;
An ong whom there is such care ior the growth
and development Of the religious sentiments
Among whom there are 90 few poor;
Among whom there is such unlIrns, compre-
hen'ye and healthy philanthropy
Among whom there is such an amount Of
wealth so equally dislribued
Among whom there is such promise Of physical
rrogressi
Among whom the ownership Of land 10 fee
simple is so uniye,sal
Among whom labor is 30 much respected and
so well rewarded
Among whom progress, in all that purihes aud
ennob.es msnk nd, is so rapid
Among who women are 50 honored, or so VIZ
tuousi
Among whom government bears so easily and
IS so oheapy administered
Among whom happiness in the State, n the
family, and in the individual is so firmly founded
on an ndestfuetiole basis.
And Of the New England States, Massachu-
sets, whom sayemongers most hate, and whom
the hirelngs Of despoIlsm most abuse, il the fore
mos. in deyelo ment-lhe highest type Of a
Christian community aud pure democracy
s.l Al. anahtt uf a
New Eng land are only the partial fruiuon OF the
seed that The PuriIans planted. But We submit that
the men out Of whose principles and policy such
States have grown, are entitled to the world 5
gratitude and the worlds respect.
New England had great faults in the beginning
which she has not fully oulgrown and in her
progress she has picked up new ones thai mar the
work the Puritans did. But new and old are
both subordinate to the virtues Of the New Eng
land character which have carried teFyeni love
of liberty aud prompt obedience 10 law, we-de-
veloped religious sentiment, and pious regard for
education, healthy enterprise and high CONNER
cial integrity, as seedgerms which will hereafter
bear sweet lruit into every nook and corner OF the
country n which we live. In her care for the
masses, she has sometimes trenched upon the
rights Of individuals. In her zeal for the absolute
right, she has been, If that be possible, often too
iutolerent Of the law and custom that eonsecrated
hoary wrong. In her love Of what she believed
was the pure and ouly faith, she was too severe
upon those who departed from the standard that
she set up. In her haste TO get rich, she has not
always halted a. the boundary where trade ends
and fraud begins. In her consciousness OF wei,
doing and high deserving she has not ever been
an example of that modesty which adorns merit
most. In an age Of superstition, she bur. ed
witches and hung Quakers and at later day,
when not fully emancpated from the traditions
and practices of a barbarous age, her sons bought
and sod men like cattle in the shambles. The
ireeeom which is her heritage, is the active slim
ulant Of invention and inquiry that not unlrequenl-
ly produce grotesque and ridiculous theories ana
abnormal and misehievous results. But until We
can find one man upon whose record searched by
hostile eyes, there is no point upon which oeeo-
tons can be hung we must not hope TO discover
State 10 which no blame, during more than two
centuries Of busy, active and earnest life, can at
tach.
We take New England for what she is. We
reject the mythical New England about which
men, full Of popped corn and pumpkin pie, de-
claim at Pilgrim Festivals and that other New
England, which has been the spectre that haunted
Fourth OF July rsvelers at Boviekniie Gro. Roads
Whippy Swamp and Niggersyile, in the kingdom
OF South Csrolina. We take her with her virtues
and vices as they have teen inherited IRON an old
civilization or developed by new. We balance
the good against the bad, and we are compelled
to declare iha, in all these things which 20 to es
tablish and perpetua,e national liber., among TIC
masses, in all that makes intolerance hateful, il
all that promotes universal education, and in al
that promises " the greatest good 10 the greatest
number" she is without peer.
1t is not strange that, in this day, when th'
everlasting truths upon which New England ha
built, are engaged in a fierce conflict with lh'
barbarism which has descended 10 our countr,
ftnm An aaIher age. Nex ENGLAND Ihonld be con