[Speech of Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States, at the
first annual banquet of the New England Society in the City of
Brooklyn, December 21, 1880. The President of the Society, Benjamin D.
Silliman, in introducing him, said: "Gentlemen, we are honored this
evening by the presence of an illustrious descendant of New England,
the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. [Cheers.] He is about retiring
from his high position, with the respect, admiration and the gratitude
of the people for the great wisdom, the pure purpose, the steady will
and the unwavering firmness with which he has administered the
government, preserved its honor and secured its property. [Loud
cheers.] I propose to you, as our first toast, 'The President of the
United States.'"]
MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:--We have often heard, we often
hear, the phrase "New England ideas." It is said, and I think said
truly, that these ideas have a large and growing influence in shaping
the affairs of the people of the United States. It is not meant, I
suppose, that the principles referred to in this phrase, are peculiar to
New England, but merely that in New England they are generally accepted,
and that perhaps there they had their first practical illustration.
These ideas, these principles generally termed New England ideas, and
New England principles, it seems to me, have had much to do with that
prosperity which we are now enjoying, and about which we are perhaps apt
to be too boastful, but for which it is certain we cannot be too
grateful. [Applause.]
The subject, New England ideas, is altogether too large a one for me, or
anybody, to discuss this evening. If it were to be done at length, in
protracted speaking, we have our friends here, able and with a
reputation for capacity in that way. Our friend, Mr. Evarts, for example
[applause], Mr. Beecher [applause], and I am confident that I shall be
excused for naming in this connection, above all, our friend General
Grant. [Loud applause.]
Leaving then to them the discussion of the larger topic, I must content
myself with the humbler duty of merely naming the New England ideas to
which I refer.
New England believes that every man and woman, under the law ought to
have an equal chance and an equal hope with every other man and woman
[applause], and believes that in a country where that is secured
individuals and society will have their highest development and the
largest allotment of human happiness. [Applause.] New England believes
that equal rights can be best secured in a country where every child is
provided freely with the means of education. [Applause.] New England
believes that the road--the only road, the sure road--to unquestioned
credit and a sound financial condition is the exact and punctual
fulfilment of every pecuniary obligation, public and private [applause],
according to its letter and spirit. [Applause.] New England believes in
the home, and in the virtues that make home happy [cries of "Good!"],
and New England will tolerate, so far as depends on her, no institutions
and no practices in any state or territory which are inconsistent with
the sacredness of the family relation. [Cries of "Good!"] New England
cherishes the sentiment of nationality and believes in a general
government strong enough to maintain its authority, to enforce the laws
and to preserve and to perpetuate the Union. [Applause.]
Now, with these New England ideas everywhere accepted and prevailing--to
repeat, with just and equal laws, administered under the watchful eyes
of educated voters; with honesty in all moneyed transactions; with the
New England home and the New England family as the foundation of
society; with national sentiments prevailing everywhere in the country;
we shall not lack that remaining crowning merit of New England life
which lends to every peopled landscape its chief interest and glory, the
spires pointing heavenward that tell to every man who sees them that the
descendants of the Pilgrims still hold to and cherish, and love that
which brought their fathers to this continent, which they here sought
and here found--freedom to worship God. [Long-continued applause.]