The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-02-17
Gen. Woodford's Tribute to New
England.

The New England creed, and the New
England doctrine Greed is belief, doctrine
is teaching. What New England believed,
New England bravely taught, and what
New England taught, New England has al
ways Loyalty lived up to. In what did New
England believe? First and foremost she be-
heved in men. She recognized that it was
for man that labor had wrought, that sci
ence had taught, that art had cultured, and
that Christ had died. When the Puritan
stood covered before the king, it was be-
cause he believed that the Puritan hat COW
cred an embryo state, and that man was
greater than king or throne. New England
believing in man, believed in liberty for
man. True, she passed her blue laws; true,
she burned her witches; but through all her
doings there ran this current of her better
thought; and just as the stream, muddy at
its source, grows brighter and fresher in its
course, so New England thought at last ran
clear, SO her thought is free to-day, and
man is free among New England hills, and
under New England laws, as he is free no.
where else on earth. New England believed
in men and liberty at Plymouth Rock, and
when On the shore of that far island on the
southern coast, one of New England's sons
lay buried with the dusky men he ed-for
they "buried Shaw with his niggers'' at
Fort Wagner-Shaw still represented New
England, and the New England ,dea OF
manhood and liberty. But New England
not only believed in men--she not only be-
lieved IN liberty for men, but she believed
in liberty that was regulated by law. She
recognized the doctrine of responsibility.
She recognizes forever the doctrine of pen
atty. She teaches that, saint or sinner, if a
man puts his finger in the fire it will be
burned; that, free or slave, if the State err
against justice, the State will suffer. Thus
she taught this final truth that penalty fol
lows The violation of law, and that the tru-
est liberty is the liberty that recognizes the
rights of others and bows to the sanctity Of
law And SO New England logically be.
leved in work. Her founders came and
they built the new State in the shadow OF
the old New England forest, and on the
hard soil of old New England rock. But
with work of brain and hand, New England
has made an Eden out of rock and wilder.
ness. More than this she believed in educa
ton. The clergymen who gathered theil
poor 300 books and founded Yale college
and those who founded Harvard. were the
same men that built the common school
Thus she educated her children through and
through. More than this, recognizing man
hood, recognizing liberty, recognizing re-
sponsibility, believing in work, believing il
education, New England believed in self
government, and she laid the town meeting
as the very cornerstone of our free institu
tions. The pendulum has swung far, but
believe, gentlemen, that this original Nez
England idea is the only seed corn from
which good government can come in fret
State-the town meeting. | would that w,
could go back here in our own loved CITY O
Brooklyn to the idea of the town meetin.
and have just what government and no bet
ter government than we are fit for and capa
BILE of giving to ourselves. New England be
lieved that the public service is for the pub
lie good, and not for the party or for thu
| politician. She believed, and this crowned
New England belief-New England believed
earnestly, manfully, loyalty, in the diyin,
| duty of believing. She recognized that faitl
underles human effort. She recognized
that there is divine power above; she rec
| ognized that there is an eternal hereafter
| She believed that no man does great worl
unless he is energized and impelled by th
| tremendous power of an absolute belief
| and 50 New England crowned all her cree,
with that sublime, that holitst, that highes
attitude of man, belief in what is above, be
lief in what is beyond, and in this belle
| New England has gone forth and conquere,
the thought and culture and compelled tn
| progress of our people.