Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1870-01-12
For tho Journal
Puritanlsm aud Material Enterprise.

by JOHN N. srEARNs.
Excelsior is fitting motto for the American
people. All seem to be looking for improvement ;
the lettering Of their condition-the attainment
Of wealth, distinction or character, are their great
objects Of effort. For these toll, money, care and
anxiety are given as invested capital in the great
chances Of life. This spirit, which moves the
hearts of our people and inspires their ambitions
and enterprises, is not TO be lightly condemned ,
though, it once taxed the patience of very OK
ccllent Christian minister, who said Of his parish
toner's, in a certain town in Connecticut You
are restless, dissatisfied people, and know too
little, fear, of the peace of mind inspired by
heaven, bnt if you should, in Gods mercy, you
would not be there two hours before you would
propose some improvement
This element of national character, which in
spires the activities Of great people, is indigen-
Gus to the country, insomuch as it responds to
the history Of our experiences in the past, and
was begotten and born in the hard labor and tri-
their children, with the poverty and surroundings
that imposed task and toll and brainwork, as a
relief from wretchedness.
The cradle Of this nation was in the land Of the
Puritans. Though Plymouth Rock was eonse-
Grated by the deyotions Of Christian emgrants
from the Old World, their secular and social state
was born in the wilderness and while the pieiy
of their descendants has waned, the sef-reliance,
the enterprise, the Independence Of these old Pho
neers live in the characters of their children, and
have strengthened and increased in power, have
grown with the growth Of the country, and filled
the vast field open to enterprise with anxious
men and women willing 10 work, to how out
their fortunes from the rough materials 50 scat
tered over the land | have no controversy with
those who assume that the enterprise Of ou-
sturdy Puritan fathers was begotten of their reli-
gon for if that were 50, the forces 50 organized
as an active power, controlling and giving char
ncter TO the material interests and industrial
pursuits Of our people, survive as a living, &C
tive power while the creed or catechisms OF
the Puritan faith have been forgotten, or have
never been learned or comprehended Massachu-
sets, with Unitarian philosophers instead o
Christian preachers in so many of its parishes
has still the life Of the Puritans circulating
through all its industrial and commercial organ
izations. In this respect the spirit Of the Puri
tans lives wherever the sons and daughters 0
New England are scattered through this an,
other countries.
The recent civil war in the United States wa
simply an attempt of Shareholders to repress O
annihiate in the minds Of the north, the consciou
power which free enterprise and industry in
spire in the hearts Of their yotaries; in othei
words, to crush out the Puritanism Of the north
The rebel leaders studied to very little purpos,
| the extent and strength Of this independent self
reliance, inherited from our Puritan ancestors
They and their sympathizing friends at the nortl
threatened to turn New England out Of the Union
as if that would accomplish the objects Of the con
test. To threaten and to accomplish such pur
pose were two very different things for the hate,
Puritans," or free enterprise and free labor in
lluence controlled, not only New England, but tn
great north from Maine to Oregon. Maine mel
control the pneries and the lumber trade Of th,
State Of Michigan and the upper Mississippi
| Whole townships and even counties in Wisconsin
and Minnesota are chiefly settled by emigrant
from Vermont and New Hampshire Two grea
Pacific Railroads are controlled in their construc
ton and management by citizens Of Massachu
setts,-Oliyer Ames being President of the Unio
Pacific, and Francis b. Harper Of Boston, Of tn
South Pacific road, by way Of Santa Fe and tn
3jth parallel not to mention Charles Crocker an
others of the Central Pacific 10 turn New Eng
land out Of the Union would require the annih
lation Of the present controlling forces tina
shape and prosecute the enterprise and industrie
OF the nation. The war was not against Net
England butagainst the ideas which her scatterei
children had propagated through all the north
the notion that men live for the intelligent ex
ercise Of their physical and mental powers for tn
achievement Of success in the spheres opened b.
Providence for their efforts. The broad lands ask
ing cultivation the mines Of wealth to be deyel
oped from rocks and mountains the forests tina
have been preserved for thousand years to serv
the existing generation the manufacture o
crude and raw materials into rich and useful mer
yite our people to activity, inspire menta
elasticity above that realized from these source
in any other country.
In the old world, man in his aspirations is sub
ordinated TO the power of wealth, rank and posi-
ton in the government. lie can only reyolye il
the groove in which his father moved before him
If his father were a tailor, he can hope to be moth
ing more if coachman, then the son accept
the situation Of coachman as a most gracious fla.
yor and 50 through all the ranks of business, 0
learning and society the sort of fortune to b,
enjoyed or endured by each appears to have beer
made for him before he was born Town anC
police regulations, and the customs and habits o
society, favor this state of things. Elasticity 0
mind or enterprise must overcome all these artifi
cal difficulties, or find its sphere for success il
foreign country And it is remarkable will
what facility our immigrant friends adopt the phi
losophy of our Puritan enterprise in their materi
al interests and pursuits. Selfreliance, and
careful judgment of the chances for enterprise i
found as natural to an Englishman escaped from
the barborous prerogatye of power and publ,
opinion at home, as 10 ourselves lie may lool
back to his old home sometimes with measur
of reverence, but he looks forward to the futur
with newborn confidence in the chances of life
Not only is the foreign immigrant 50 converted +
our practical faith, but the South that made sucl
fierce attack on this material and secular Puri
tanism, is yet to succumb, not only to the powe
it has welded in arms, but to its living presenc
in the material regeneration to be wrought owe
the length and breadth of that fair land, whe
the war will only be remembered as one of tn
strange absurdites of our progress from cher
shed barbarism to refinement and civilization.
CANADA NO LONGER REFUoE FOR THIEVES AN
swNDLERs.-'rhe Quebec Mercury says that ye,
terday (Jan. ~ an important act passed at III
last session of the Dominion Parliament, wit