Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-01-10
The New England society.
SPEECH OF Hon. JOINT. HOFFMAN.

Ing OF the fuSrlmS, aG DelnOnlCo y, NeW
York, last month, the following speech was
made by+Mayor Hoffman, in response to. the
sentiment, of The City of New York - -
Mr.. President and Gentlemen-I am =ex-
ceedingly obliged to you for the very cordial
greeting you have given me, andsfora the toast
YOU have just given to the City Of New York.
It has been read without comment or orna-
mentation. daughter a Whether it is sup
posed by the New England Society that l am
the ornament and commentary OF the city
(laughterl my .Knick erbocker modesty would
not permit me to inquire If we're a New
Misunderstanding from what. | heard here
to night-vI should In the true spirit Of New
England modesty Qaughter) assert tthatl was
a living representation Of Gthe truth thatthe
people ofNeW York are able to govern them
selves CCheers and laughter / must confess
that I do not feel entirely at home here. loud
laughter i find when get into a New Eng
land church that | hear always mixture Of
piety and politics. Laughter. x l find when
I come to "a New England, dinner IAN equally
remarkable mixture of politics and pastry. - 80
Continued laughter) lean digest the piety
and pastry although they, even, are pretty
hard to digest sometimes, according to my
ideas--but have constitutional aversion to
some of the politics, and must be allowed to
express it. !tLaughter and applause.) 1 do
it, Of course, with all respect to the great mass
of the people who are within the sound Of my
voice, and /. should be sorry if anything 1
should say should tone them down at all, after
the very extravagant and extreme 'laudatlons L
have heard of New. England, but1l must be
permitted to look at things from my Own point:
MY friend, Mr.. Beecher, | think l may call
4 L h0I IN. tn
Quarrel much with each other, says that Yam
KEGS In New Y ork have a hard time of tt
Well, they are permitted to live here. That
Is some consolation to them. Laughter. -
They are permitted to enter upon all branches
of trade and commerce here, and make pretty
much all the money; that is great consolation
to them Loud laughter and cheering. y.
They are permitted to express their sentiments
very freely here, and that, with their notions
of individual liberty, is a still greater consola-
ton to them (cheers), and they are, permitted
at New England dinner, at a French restau-s
rant, to :eat pork and beans, which is no more
like the pork and beans of their ancestors than
is the luxurious style in which they live here
like the simple style in which their ancestors.
lived in New England Loud laughter and
applause. - Now, if these things be all true,
how can the Rev. Mr.. Beecher-as he is an
advocate of truth in so many cases-how can
he stand up here and say that the Yankees
have hard time in New Y ork l have lis
tened with great pleasure to his remarks He
has talked about the, great Ideas OF the Purl-
tans, about;their opinions OF the rights of con-
science, and how they impress truth Sand mo-
raHty upon the world. So they do (cheers)--
their own notions Of i'll (Uproarious laughter
And yet cannot forget and certainly there IS
no heresy in quoting a New. England writer
upon New England man-that it has been
said that the Puritan's idea Of hell was a place
where everybody was allowed to think as he
pleased: (Laughter.(at Ls.a eco
Nov, IN saying what have said, and in
quoting what the New England writer says,
[ think Isay. nothing disrespectiful to the Pur
ancharacter of the New Engl element in
our nation. They have their own notions and
opinions, and i am sorry to say, from my stand
ing point, they1fhave had avery unhappy way
of enforcing them upon the country. But |
hope the time will come, and | believe it is
coming, when they, with all the rest of the
people of this country, will concede the right
of every man to think as he pleases, and act as
he pleases,, provided that in his thinking and
acting, he does not, interfere with the public
order and the rights of person and property.
(Applause. )os3 9aa1 10 asas.a.5 Il
Now, perhaps 1 ought to- stop, but [ am
not going to- daughter and voices, go on >
Go on My friend the President here in
tended should stop at this point for he gave
me q very bold hint in the, course OF his re-
marks. He knew Itwas Knickerbocker, and
that is what he meant when he said the old
maxim was that "speech was silver, but silence
was gold" It may be that he meant it, for
the President of the st. Nicholas Society--if
so he will, be able to defend the Knickerbockers
of. that society Z Myfriend Choate, who has
madea very happy and eloquent speech to-
night as he always does, has advanced some
new views of reconstruction which pleased me
immensely. Applause. ! He spoke Of the
times when New England men will go to live in
theSouth, and will take with them their pianos,
among other things. x sincerely hope when
they take that property down there, they won't
take any which they originally brought from
there during the war--according to popular
rumorlao( Great laughter ID ti. a5s as.sesea
In the present disorganized condition of the
Sontherns States, with the courts in, to say the
least, avery bad condition, notwithstanding
that my old friend, Judge Busted, ,zlis down
there administering the law, replevin suits may
be plenty although judgments may be doubtful
I,would suggest that instead of taking their
pianos: they take their tuning forks: (Laugh-
ter:1a Now, gentlemen, some illusions have
been made, to my constituents in New YOrk--
not very respectful allusions, l think, TO my
Lishconstituents. Gen. Sickles has referred
to the, fact that when we get Irelana for the
Alabama claims, we shall be able to get Offices
t9rNalI IlYnur Irish. friends who desire them.
Laughter: am free to say, gentlemen, that
mat would be very great relief to me, Loud
1agghter; And it affords another reason why
ishattafways insist, as 7 do now insist, that
he.Aabama laims shallsbe settled, and the