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