The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-24

| greater eclat and distinction in this metrop-
oils than in any New England city, and
men of New England birth are becoming
less prominent in the festival OF
the three principal speakers at the
dinner last evening only Secretary
Evarts was born in a State lying east Of the
Hudson River. Senator Blaine is a native
of Pennsylvania and Secretary Sherman Of
Ohio. 1t is singular fact that the most
eminent public man of New England at
present is an adopted son, and that the most
eminent living lawyer and statesman OF New
England birth has long been citizen of
New York. In all periods of our history
it has been very ordinary spectacle to see
emigrants from New England rising to the
highest distinction in politics. in business,
in literature, in science, in every walk
where success is won by great abilities;
but, so far as we can recollect, Sena-
tor Blaine is the only man who
ever rose to influence and eminence
after emigrating to New England from an
other State. Mr.. Blaine did not emigrate to
Massachusetts, and that he has no very
profound reverence for Massachusetts as
sumption was attested last winter when he
laid rough hands on the idol, and the Mas
sachusetts Senators did not shine in their
attempt to rebuke him. The Websters and
the Summers have disappeared and the old
New England influence has proved bar
rem sceptre in the hands Of their native
born successors
barren sceptre in their grippe.
Thence to be wrenched by an unhneal hand.
No son OF theirs succeeding.
But although Mr.. Blaine is not liDeal
heir he is not on unworthy successor; or, at
any rate, he has eclipsed the new generation
Of New England statesmen. The great
position he has won by moving in the
opposite direction from the many able men
who have emigrated from New England is
things in contemporary history. It is
almost as odd as the ascendancy Of Lord
Beaconsfeld in the tory party Of England,
once so prolific of great statesmen.
New York has never failed in just and ad-
miring appreciation of her eminent citi-
zens Of New England birth. Mr.. Evarts,
Mr.. Bryant, Mr.. Greeley and Professor
Morse in our own time, and Rufus King in
an earlier period have stood as high
in local estimation as citizens Of
New York birth Of equal capacity
and usefulness. The most illustrious of
our adopted citizens did not come to us
from New England, but from one of the
Of oil our acquisitions from the Eastern
States, but Of the most distinguished
Of our native citizens, pales before
his. The fact that Hamilton's pre-.
eminence is so freely accorded by
| all New Workers and by the descendants
| Of its most ancient and honored families.
evinces the iberality Of New York feeling
and its freedom from petty narrowness.
We are as proud Of our adopted as Of our
native sons and make no distinction be-
tween them, regarding talents, worth and
usefulness as the sole titles to esteem.
We can afford to be just to men who
| come here either from sister States or from
other parts of the world, because if in some
instances they match, they have never.
| except in the case Of Hamilton, over
matched our indigenous talents. We know
Of no New England statesman who can be
| compared with our De Witt Clinton, whose
genius opened the way for the settlement
Of the great West. We know Of no New
! England jurist who, in universal estima-
ton, is quite the peer of our Chancellor
Kent. 1t was our Fulton that revolution
| lied the commerce Of the world by applying
steam to navigation. 1t was our Cooper
and our Irving that first made Ameri-
can literature respectable. If Mr.. Evarts,
the foremost of our present lawyers,
is of New England parentage, Mr.. Conk-
ling, the foremost of our present statesmen,
was born, like his father before him, on the
soil Of New York. This metropolis collects
tribute from the talents of all the States Of
the Union, and is proud of all such access
sions. She is more generous in ac-
cording them their just praise from
the belief that our native stock Of
abilities will not die out We listen
with unwearied pleasure to praise of the
Pilgrim Fathers, and are beginning to pride
ourselves on the fact that this city has be-
come the chief theatre for the commcmora-
| ton of their virtues, their self-sacrificing
| spirit, the nobleness Of their aims, and
their salutary influence in moulding the
public sentiment of the country. They
have, indeed, contributed more to
the spirit of freedom than to the
structure of our institutions, the federal
constitution having been created by other
hands and our national Jurisprudence being
chiefly the work Of the illustrious Chief
Justice Marshall. The descendants Of the
Pilgrims acted leading and noble part in
the American Revolution and in our great
civil war, but they opposed the second
war with England and the Mexican war
which brought lustre to our arms and solid
advantages to the nation, and they de-