The Chainbearer; Or, The Littlepage Manuscripts

  CHAPTER II.

  "Why droops my lord, like over-ripened corn, Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load?" --_King Henry VI._

  I did not get into my bed that night until two, nor was I out of ituntil half-past nine. It was near eleven when Jacob came to tell me hismaster was in the _salle a manger_, and ready to eat his breakfast. Ihastened up stairs, sleeping in the _entresol_, and was at table with myuncle in three minutes. I observed, on entering, that he was very grave,and I now perceived that a couple of letters, and several Americannewspapers, lay near him. His "Good-morrow, Hugh," was kind andaffectionate as usual, but I fancied it sad.

  "No bad news from home, I hope, sir?" I exclaimed, under the firstimpulse of feeling. "Martha's last letter is of quite recent date, andshe writes very cheerfully. I _know_ that my grandmother was perfectlywell six weeks since."

  "I know the same, Hugh, for I have a letter from herself, written withher own blessed hand. My mother is in excellent health for a woman offourscore; but she naturally wishes to see us, and you in particular.Grandchildren are ever the pets with grandmothers."

  "I am glad to hear all this, sir; for I was really afraid, on enteringthe room, that you had received some unpleasant news."

  "And is all your news pleasant, after so long a silence?"

  "Nothing that is disagreeable, I do assure you. Patt writes in charmingspirits, and I dare say is in blooming beauty by this time, though shetells me that she is generally thought rather plain. _That_ isimpossible; for you know when we left her, at fifteen, she had everypromise of great beauty."

  "As you say, it is impossible that Martha Littlepage should be anythingbut handsome; for fifteen is an age when, in America, one may safelypredict the woman's appearance. Your sister is preparing for you anagreeable surprise. I have heard old persons say that she was very likemy mother at the same time of life; and Dus Malbone was a sort of toastonce in the forest."

  "I dare say it is all as you think; more especially as there are severalallusions to a certain Harry Beekman in her letters, at which I shouldfeel flattered, were I in Mr. Harry's place. Do you happen to knowanything of such a family as the Beekmans, sir?"

  My uncle looked up in a little surprise at this question. A thorough NewYorker by birth, associations, alliances and feelings, he held all theold names of the colony and State in profound respect; and I had oftenheard him sneer at the manner in which the new-comers of my day, who hadappeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odorsthrough the land. It was but a natural thing that a community which hadgrown in population, in half a century, from half a million to twomillions and a half, and that as much by immigration from adjoiningcommunities as by natural increase, should undergo some change offeeling in this respect; but, on the other hand, it was just as naturalthat the true New Yorker should not.

  "Of course you know, Hugh, that it is an ancient and respected nameamong us," answered my uncle, after he had given me the look of surpriseI have already mentioned. "There is a branch of the Beekmans, orBakemans, as we used to call them, settled near Satanstoe; and I daresay that your sister, in her frequent visits to my mother, has met withthem. The association would be but natural; and the other feeling towhich you allude is, I dare say, but natural to the association, thoughI cannot say I ever experienced it."

  "You will still adhere to your asseverations of never having been thevictim of Cupid, I find, sir."

  "Hugh, Hugh! let us trifle no more. There is news from home that hasalmost broken my heart."

  I sat gazing at my uncle in wonder and alarm, while he placed both hishands on his face, as if to exclude this wicked world, and all itcontained, from his sight. I did not speak, for I saw that the oldgentleman was really affected, but waited his pleasure to communicatemore. My impatience was soon relieved, however, as the hands wereremoved, and I once more caught a view of my uncle's handsome, butclouded countenance.

  "May I ask the nature of this news?" I then ventured to inquire.

  "You may, and I shall now tell you. It is proper, indeed, that youshould hear all, and understand it all; for you have a direct interestin the matter, and a large portion of your property is dependent on theresult. Had not the manor troubles, as they were called, been spoken ofbefore we left home?"

  "Certainly, though not to any great extent. We saw something of it inthe papers, I remember, just before we went to Russia; and I recollectyou mentioned it as a discreditable affair to the State, though likelyto lead to no very important result."

  "So I then thought; but that hope has been delusive. There were somereasons why a population like ours should chafe under the situation ofthe estate of the late Patroon that I thought natural, thoughunjustifiable; for it is unhappily too much a law of humanity to do thatwhich is wrong, more especially in matters connected with the pocket."

  "I do not exactly understand your allusions, sir."

  "It is easily explained. The Van Rensselaer property is, in the firstplace, of great extent--the manor, as it is still called and once was,spreading east and west eight-and-forty miles, and north and southtwenty-four. With a few immaterial exceptions, including the sites ofthree or four towns, three of which are cities containing respectivelysix, twenty, and forty thousand souls, this large surface was theproperty of a single individual. Since his death, it has become theproperty of two, subject to the conditions of the leases, of which byfar the greater portion are what are called durable."

  "I have heard all this, of course, sir, and know something of it myself.But what is a durable lease? for I believe we have none of that natureat Ravensnest."

  "No; your leases are all for three lives, and most of them renewals atthat. There are two sorts of 'durable leases,' as we term them, in useamong the landlords of New York. Both give the tenant a permanentinterest, being leases forever, reserving annual rent, with the right todistrain and covenants of re-entry. But one class of these leases givesthe tenant a right at any time to demand a deed in fee-simple, on thepayment of a stipulated sum; while the other gives him no suchprivilege. Thus one class of these leases is called 'a durable leasewith a clause of redemption,' while the other is a simple 'durablelease.'"

  "And are there any new difficulties in relation to the manor rents?"

  "Far worse than that; the contagion has spread, until the greatest illsthat have been predicted from democratic institutions, by their worstenemies, seriously menace the country. I am afraid, Hugh, I shall not beable to call New York, any longer, an exception to the evil example of aneighborhood, or the country itself a glorious country."

  "This is so serious, sir, that, were it not that your looks denote thecontrary, I might be disposed to doubt your words."

  "I fear my words are only too true. Dunning has written me a longaccount of his own, made out with the precision of a lawyer; and, inaddition, he has sent me divers papers, some of which openly contend forwhat is substantially a new division of property, and what in effectwould be agrarian laws."

  "Surely, my dear uncle, you cannot seriously apprehend anything of thatnature from our order-loving, law-loving, property-loving Americans?"

  "Your last description may contain the secret of the whole movement. Thelove of property may be so strong as to induce them to do a great manythings they ought not to do. I certainly do not apprehend that anydirect attempt is about to be made in New York, to divide its property;nor do I fear any open, declared agrarian statute; for what I apprehendis to come through indirect and gradual innovations on the right, thatwill be made to assume the delusive aspect of justice and equal rights,and thus undermine the principles of the people, before they are awareof the dangers themselves. In order that you may not only understand me,but may understand facts that are of the last importance to your ownpockets, I will first tell you what has been done, and then tell youwhat I fear is to follow. The first difficulty--or, rather, the firstdifficulty of recent occurrence--arose at the death of the late Patroon.I say of recent occurrence, since D
unning writes me that, during theadministration of John Jay, an attempt to resist the payment of rent wasmade on the manor of the Livingstons; but _he_ put it down _instanter_."

  "Yes, I should rather think that roguery would not be apt to prosper,while the execution of the laws was intrusted to such a man. The age ofsuch politicians, however, seems to have ended among us."

  "It did not prosper. Governor Jay met the pretension as we all know sucha man would meet it; and the matter died away, and has been nearlyforgotten. It is worthy of remark, that _he_ PUT THE EVIL DOWN. But thisis not the age of John Jays. To proceed to my narrative: When the latePatroon died, there was due to him a sum of something like two hundredthousand dollars of back-rents, and of which he had made a specialdisposition in his will, vesting the money in trustees for a certainpurpose. It was the attempt to collect this money which first gave riseto dissatisfaction. Those who had been debtors so long were reluctant topay. In casting round for the means to escape from the payment of theirjust debts, these men, feeling the power that numbers ever give overright in America, combined to resist with others who again had in view aproject to get rid of the rents altogether. Out of this combination grewwhat have been called the 'manor troubles.' Men appeared in a sort ofmock-Indian dress, calico shirts thrown over their other clothes, andwith a species of calico masks on their faces, who resisted thebailiffs' processes, and completely prevented the collection of rents.These men were armed, mostly with rifles; and it was finally foundnecessary to call out a strong body of the militia, in order to protectthe civil officers in the execution of their duties."

  "All this occurred before we went to the East. I had supposed _those_anti-renters, as they were called, had been effectually put down."

  "In appearance they were. But the very governor who called the militiainto the field, referred the subject of the '_griefs_' of the tenants tothe legislature, as if they were actually aggrieved citizens, when intruth it was the landlords, or the Rensselaers--for at that time the'troubles' were confined to their property--who were the aggrievedparties. This false step has done an incalculable amount of mischief, ifit do not prove the entering wedge to rive asunder the institutions ofthe State."

  "It is extraordinary, when such things occur, that any man can mistakehis duty. Why were the tenants thus spoken of, while nothing was saidbeyond what the law compelled in favor of the landlords?"

  "I can see no reason but the fact that the Rensselaers were only two,and that the disaffected tenants were probably two thousand. With allthe cry of aristocracy, and feudality, and nobility, neither of theRensselaers, by the letter of the law, has one particle more ofpolitical power, or political right, than his own coachman or footman,if the last be a white man; while, in practice, he is in many thingsgetting to be less protected."

  "Then you think, sir, that this matter has gained force from thecircumstance that so many votes depend on it?"

  "Out of all question. Its success depends on the violations ofprinciples that we have been so long taught to hold sacred, that nothingshort of the overruling and corrupting influence of politics would dareto assail them. If there were a landlord to each farm, as well as atenant, universal indifference would prevail as to the griefs of thetenants; and if two to one tenant, universal indignation at theirimpudence."

  "Of what particular griefs do the tenants complain?"

  "You mean the Rensselaer tenants, I suppose? Why, they _complain_ ofsuch covenants as they can, though their deepest affliction is to befound in the fact that they do not own other men's lands. The Patroonhad quarter-sales on many of his farms--those that were let in the lastcentury."

  "Well, what of that? A bargain to allow of quarter-sales is just as fairas any other bargain."

  "It is fairer, in fact, than most bargains, when you come to analyze it,since there is a very good reason why it should accompany a perpetuallease. Is it to be supposed that a landlord has no interest in thecharacter and habits of his tenants? He has the closest interest in itpossible, and no prudent man should let his lands without holding somesort of control over the assignment of leases. Now, there are but twomodes of doing this; either by holding over the tenant a power throughhis interests, or a direct veto dependent solely on the landlord'swill."

  "The last would be apt to raise a pretty cry of tyranny and feudality inAmerica!"

  "Pretty cries on such subjects are very easily raised in America. Morepeople join in them than understand what they mean. Nevertheless, it isquite as just, when two men bargain, that he who owns every right in theland before the bargain is made, should retain this right over hisproperty, which he consents to part with only with limitations, as thathe should grant it to another. These men, in their clamor, forget that,until their leases were obtained, they had no right in their lands atall, and that what they have got is through those very leases of whichthey complain; take away the leases, and they would have no rightsremaining. Now on what principle can honest men pretend that they haverights beyond the leases? On the supposition, even, that the bargainsare hard, what have governors and legislators to do with thrustingthemselves in between parties so situated, as special umpires? I shouldobject to such umpires, moreover, on the general and controllingprinciple that must govern all righteous arbitration--your governors andlegislators are not _impartial_; they are political or party men, onemay say, without exception; and such umpires, when votes are in thequestion, are to be sorely distrusted. I would as soon trust myinterests to the decision of feed counsel, as trust them to suchjudges."

  "I wonder the really impartial and upright portion of the community donot rise in their might, and put this thing down--rip it up, root andbranch, and cast it away, at once."

  "That is the weak point of our system, which has a hundred strongpoints, while it has this besetting vice. Our laws are not only made,but they are administered, on the supposition that there are bothhonesty and intelligence enough in the body of the community to see them_well_ made, and _well_ administered. But the sad reality shows thatgood men are commonly passive, until abuses become intolerable; it beingthe designing rogue and manager who is usually the most active. Vigilantphilanthropists _do_ exist, I will allow; but it is in such smallnumbers as to effect little on the whole, and nothing at all whenopposed by the zeal of a mercenary opposition. No, no--little is ever tobe expected, in a political sense, from the activity of virtue; while agreat deal may be looked for from the activity of vice."

  "You do not take a very favorable view of humanity, sir."

  "I speak of the world as I have found it in both hemispheres, or, asyour neighbor the magistrate 'Squire Newcome has it, the 'fourhemispheres.' Our representation is, at the best, but an average of thequalities of the whole community, somewhat lessened by the fact that menof real merit have taken a disgust at a state of things that is not verytempting to their habits or tastes. As for a quarter-sale, I can see nomore hardship in it than there is in paying the rent itself; and, bygiving the landlord this check on the transfer of his lands, he compelsa compromise that maintains what is just. The tenant is not obliged tosell, and he makes his conditions accordingly, when he has a good tenantto offer in his stead. When he offers a bad tenant, he ought to pay forit."

  "Many persons with us would think it very aristocratic," I cried,laughingly, "that a landlord should have it in his power to say, I willnot accept this or that substitute for yourself."

  "It is just as aristocratic, and no more so, than it would be to put itin the power of the tenant to say to the landlord, you _shall_ acceptthis or that tenant at my hands. The covenant of the quarter-sale giveseach party a control in the matter; and the result has ever been acompromise that is perfectly fair, as it is hardly possible that thecircumstance should have been overlooked in making the bargain; and hewho knows anything of such matters, knows that every exaction of thissort is always considered in the rent. As for feudality, so long as thepower to alienate exists at all in the tenant, he does not hold by afeudal tenure. He has bought himself from all such tenures by
hiscovenant of quarter-sale; and it only remains to say whether, havingagreed to such a bargain in order to obtain this advantage, he shouldpay the stipulated price or not."

  "I understand you, sir. It is easy to come at the equity of this matter,if one will only go back to the original facts which color it. Thetenant had no rights at all until he got his lease, and can have norights which that lease does not confer."

  "Then the cry is raised of feudal privileges, because some of theRensselaer tenants are obliged to find so many days' work with theirteams, or substitutes, to the landlord, and even because they have topay annually a pair of fat fowls! _We_ have seen enough of America,Hugh, to know that most husbandmen would be delighted to have theprivilege of paying their debt in chickens and work, instead of inmoney, which renders the cry only so much the more wicked. But what isthere more feudal in a tenant's thus paying his landlord, than in abutcher's contracting to furnish so much meat for a series of years, ora mail contractor's agreeing to carry the mail in a four-horse coach fora term of years, eh? No one objects to the rent in wheat, and why shouldthey object to the rent in chickens? Is it because our republicanfarmers have got to be so _aristocratic_ themselves, that they do notlike to be thought poulterers? This is being aristocratic on the otherside. These dignitaries should remember that if it be plebeian tofurnish fowls, it is plebeian to receive them; and if the tenant has tofind an individual who has to submit to the degradation of tendering apair of fat fowls, the landlord has to find an individual who has tosubmit to the degradation of taking them, and of putting them away inthe larder. It seems to me that one is an offset to the other."

  "But if I remember rightly, uncle Ro, these little matters were alwayscommuted for in money."

  "They always must lie at the option of the tenant, unless the covenantswent to forfeiture, which I never heard that they did; for the failureto pay in kind at the time stipulated, would only involve a payment inmoney afterward. The most surprising part of this whole transaction is,that men among us hold the doctrine that these leasehold estates areopposed to our institutions, when, being guaranteed _by_ theinstitutions, they in truth form a part of them. Were it not for thesevery institutions, to which they are said to be opposed, and of whichthey virtually form a part, we should soon have a pretty kettle of fishbetween landlord and tenant."

  "How do you make it out that they form a part of the institutions, sir?"

  "Simply because the institutions have a solemn profession of protectingproperty. There is such a parade of this, that all our constitutionsdeclare that property shall never be taken without due form of law; andto read one of them, you would think the property of the citizen is heldquite as sacred as his person. Now, some of these very tenures existedwhen the State institutions were framed; and, not satisfied with this,we of New York, in common with our sister States, solemnly prohibitedourselves, in the Constitution of the United States, from ever meddlingwith them; nevertheless, men are found hardy enough to assert that athing which in fact belongs to the institutions, is opposed to them."

  "Perhaps they mean, sir, to their spirit, or to their tendency."

  "Ah! there may be some sense in that, though much less than thedeclaimers fancy. The spirit of institutions is their legitimate object;and it would be hard to prove that a leasehold tenure, with anyconditions of mere pecuniary indebtedness whatever, is opposed to anyinstitutions that recognize the full rights of property. The obligationto pay rent no more creates political dependency, than to give creditfrom an ordinary shop; not so much, indeed, more especially under suchleases as those of the Rensselaers; for the debtor on a book-debt can besued at any moment, whereas the tenant knows precisely when he has topay. There is the great absurdity of those who decry the system asfeudal and aristocratic; for they do not see that those very leases aremore favorable to the tenant than any other."

  "I shall have to ask you to explain this to me, sir, being too ignorantto comprehend it."

  "Why, these leases are perpetual, and the tenant cannot be dispossessed.The longer a lease is, other things being equal, the better it is forthe tenant, all the world over. Let us suppose two farms, the one leasedfor five years, and the other forever. Which tenant is most independentof the political influence of his landlord, to say nothing of theimpossibility of controlling votes in this way in America, from avariety of causes? Certainly he who has a lease forever. He is just asindependent of his landlord as his landlord can be of him, with theexception that he has rent to pay. In the latter case, he is preciselylike any other debtor--like the poor man who contracts debts with thesame store-keeper for a series of years. As for the possession of thefarm, which we are to suppose is a desirable thing for the tenant, he ofthe long lease is clearly most independent, since the other may beejected at the end of each five years. Nor is there the least differenceas to acquiring the property in fee, since the landlord may sell equallyin either case, if so disposed; and if NOT DISPOSED, NO HONEST MAN,UNDER ANY SYSTEM, OUGHT TO DO ANYTHING TO COMPEL HIM SO TO DO, directlyor indirectly; AND NO TRULY HONEST MAN WOULD."

  I put some of the words of my uncle Ro in small capitals, as the spiritof the _times_, not of the _institutions_, renders such hints necessary.But, to continue our dialogue:

  "I understand you now, sir, though the distinction you make between the_spirit_ of the institutions and their _tendencies_ is what I do notexactly comprehend."

  "It is very easily explained. The spirit of the institutions is their_intention_; their tendencies are the natural direction they take underthe impulses of human motives, which are always corrupt and corrupting.The 'spirit' refers to what things _ought_ to be; the 'tendencies,' towhat they _are_, or are _becoming_. The 'spirit' of all politicalinstitutions is to place a check on the natural propensities of men, torestrain them, and keep them within due bounds; while the tendencies_follow_ those propensities, and are, quite often, in direct oppositionto the spirit. That this outcry against leasehold tenures in America isfollowing the tendencies of our institutions, I am afraid is only tootrue; but that it is in any manner in compliance with their _spirit_, Iutterly deny."

  "You will allow that institutions have their spirit, which ought alwaysto be respected, in order to preserve harmony?"

  "Out of all question. The first great requisite of a political system isthe means of protecting itself; the second, to check its tendencies atthe point required by justice, wisdom, and good faith. In a despotism,for instance, the spirit of the system is, to maintain that one man, whois elevated above the necessities and temptations of a nation--who issolemnly set apart for the sole purpose of government, fortified bydignity, and rendered impartial by position--will rule in the mannermost conducive to the true interests of his subjects. It is just as muchthe theory of Russia and Prussia that their monarchs reign not for theirown good, but for the good of those over whom they are placed, as it isthe theory in regard to the President of the United States. We all knowthat the tendencies of a despotism are to abuses of a particularcharacter; and it is just as certain that the tendencies of a republic,or rather of a democratic republic--for republic of itself means butlittle, many republics having had kings--but it is just as certain thatthe tendencies of a democracy are to abuses of another character.Whatever man touches, he infallibly abuses; and this more in connectionwith the exercise of political power, perhaps, than in the management ofany one interest of life, though he abuses all, even to religion. Lessdepends on the nominal character of institutions, perhaps, than on theirability to arrest their own tendencies at the point required byeverything that is just and right. Hitherto, surprisingly few _grave_abuses have followed from our institutions; but this matter looksfrightfully serious; for I have not told you half, Hugh."

  "Indeed, sir! I beg you will believe me quite equal to hearing theworst."

  "It is true, anti-rentism did commence on the estate of the Rensselaers,and with complaints of feudal tenures, and of days' works, and fatfowls, backed by the extravagantly aristocratic pretension that a'manor' tenant was so much a
privileged being that it was beneath hisdignity, as a free man, to do that which is daily done bymail-contractors, stage-coach owners, victuallers, and even bythemselves, in their passing bargains to deliver potatoes, onions,turkeys, and pork, although they had solemnly covenanted with theirlandlords to pay the fat fowls, and to give the days' works. The feudalsystem has been found to extend much further, and 'troubles,' as theyare called, have broken out in other parts of the State. Resistance toprocess, and a cessation of the payment of rents, have occurred on theLivingston property, in Hardenberg--in short, in eight or ten countiesof the State. Even among the _bona fide_ purchasers on the HollandPurchase, this resistance has been organized, and a species of troopsraised, who appear disguised and armed wherever a levy is to be made.Several men have already been murdered, and there is the strongprobability of a civil war."

  "In the name of what is sacred and right, what has the government of theState been doing all this time?"

  "In my poor judgment, a great deal that it ought not to have done, andvery little that it ought. You know the state of politics at home, Hugh;how important New York is in all national questions, and how nearly tiedis her vote--less than ten thousand majority in a canvass of near a halfmillion of votes. When this is the case, the least-principled part ofthe voters attain an undue importance--a truth that has been abundantlyillustrated in this question. The natural course would have been toraise an armed constabulary force, and to have kept it in motion, as theanti-renters have kept their 'Injins' in motion, which would have soontired out the rebels, for rebels they are, who would thus have had tosupport one army in part, and the other altogether. Such a movement onthe part of the State, well and energetically managed, would have drawnhalf the 'Injins' at once from the ranks of disaffection to those ofauthority; for all that most of these men want is to live easy, and tohave a parade of military movements. Instead of that, the legislaturesubstantially did nothing, until blood was spilt, and the grievance hadgot to be not only profoundly disgraceful for such a State and such acountry, but utterly intolerable to the well-affected of the revoltedcounties, as well as to those who were kept out of the enjoyment oftheir property. Then, indeed, it passed the law which ought to have beenpassed the first year of the 'Injin' system--a law which renders itfelony to appear armed and disguised; but Dunning writes me this law isopenly disregarded in Delaware and Schoharie, in particular, and thatbodies of 'Injins,' in full costume and armed, of a thousand men, haveappeared to prevent levies or sales. Where it will end Heaven knows!"

  "Do you apprehend any serious civil war?"

  "It is impossible to say where false principles may lead, when they arepermitted to make head and to become widely disseminated, in a countrylike ours. Still, the disturbances, as such, are utterly contemptible,and could and would be put down by an energetic executive in ten daysafter he had time to collect a force to do it with. In some particulars,the present incumbent has behaved perfectly well; while in others, in myjudgment, he has inflicted injuries on the right that it will requireyears to repair, if, indeed, they are ever repaired."

  "You surprise me, sir; and this the more especially, as I know you aregenerally of the same way of thinking, on political subjects, with theparty that is now in power."

  "Did you ever know me to support what I conceived to be wrong, Hugh, onaccount of my political affinities?" asked my uncle, a littlereproachfully as to manner. "But let me tell you the harm that Iconceive has been done by all the governors who have had anything to dowith the subject; and that includes one of a party to which I amopposed, and two that are not. In the first place, they have all treatedthe matter as if the tenants had really some cause of complaint; when intruth all their griefs arise from the fact that other men will not letthem have their property just as they may want it, and in some respectson their own terms."

  "That is certainly a grief not to be maintained by reason in a civilizedcountry, and in a Christian community."

  "Umph! Christianity, like liberty, suffers fearfully in human hands; oneis sometimes at a loss to recognize either. I have seen ministers of thegospel just as dogged, just as regardless of general morality, and justas indiffer-to the right, in upholding _their_ parties, as I ever sawlaymen; and I have seen laymen manifesting tempers, in this respect,that properly belong to devils. But our governors have certainly treatedthis matter as if the tenants actually had griefs; when in truth theirsole oppression is in being obliged to to pay rents that are merelynominal, and in not being able to buy other men's property contrary totheir wishes, and very much at their own prices. One governor has evenbeen so generous as to volunteer a mode of settling disputes with which,by the way, he has no concern, there being courts to discharge thatoffice, that is singularly presuming on his part, to say the least, andwhich looks a confounded sight more like aristocracy, or monarchy, thananything connected with leasehold tenure."

  "Why, what can the man have done?"

  "He has kindly taken on himself the office of doing that for which Ifancy he can find no authority in the institutions, or in theirspirit--no less than advising citizens how they may conveniently managetheir own affairs so as to get over difficulties that he himselfsubstantially admits, while giving this very advice, are difficultiesthat the law sanctions."

  "This is a very extraordinary interference in a public functionary;because one of the parties to a contract that is solemnly guaranteed bythe law, chooses to complain of its _nature_, rather than of its_conditions_, to pretend to throw the weight of his even assumedauthority into the scales on either side of the question!"

  "And that is a popular government, Hugh, in which it tells so stronglyagainst a man to render him unpopular, that not one man in a million hasthe moral courage to resist public opinion, even when he is right. Youhave hit the nail on the head, boy; it is in the last degree presuming,and what would be denounced as tyrannical in any monarch in Europe. Buthe has lived in vain who has not learned that they who make the theloudest professions of a love of liberty, have little knowledge of thequality, beyond submission to the demands of numbers. Our executive hascarried his fatherly care even beyond this; he has actually suggestedthe terms of a bargain by which he thinks the difficulty can be settled,which, in addition to the gross assumption of having a voice in a matterthat in no manner belongs to him, has the palpable demerit ofrecommending a pecuniary compromise that is flagrantly wrong as a merepecuniary compromise."

  "You astonish me, sir! What is the precise nature of hisrecommendation?"

  "That the Rensselaers should receive such a sum from each tenant aswould produce an interest equal to the value of the present rent. Now,in the first place, here is a citizen who has got as much property as hewants, and who wishes to live for other purposes than to accumulate.This property is not only invested to his entire satisfaction, asregards convenience, security, and returns, but also in a way that isconnected with some of the best sentiments of his nature. It is propertythat has descended to him through ancestors for two centuries; propertythat is historically connected with his name--on which he was born, onwhich he has lived, and on which he has hoped to die; property, in aword, that is associated with all the higher feelings of humanity.Because some interloper, perhaps, who has purchased an interest in oneof his farms six months before, feels an _aristocratic_ desire not tohave a landlord, and wishes to own a farm in fee, that in fact he has noother right to than he gets through his lease, the Governor of the greatState of New York throws the weight of his official position against theold hereditary owner of the soil, by solemnly suggesting, in an officialdocument that is intended to produce an effect on public opinion, thathe should sell that which he does not wish to sell, but wishes to keep,and that at a price which I conceive is much below its true pecuniaryvalue. We have liberty with a vengeance, if these are some of itsantics!"

  "What makes the matter worse, is the fact that each of the Rensselaershas a house on his estate, so placed as to be convenient to look afterhis interest; which interests he is to be at the trouble of ch
anging,leaving him his house on his hands, because, forsooth, one of theparties to a plain and equitable bargain wishes to make betterconditions than he covenanted for. I wonder what his excellency proposesthat the landlords shall do with their money when they get it? Buy newestates, and build new houses, of which to be dispossessed when a newset of tenants may choose to cry out against aristocracy, anddemonstrate their own love for democracy by wishing to pull others downin order to shove themselves into their places?"

  "You are right again, Hugh; but it is a besetting vice of America toregard life as all means, and as having no end, in a worldly point ofview. I dare say men may be found among us who regard it as highlypresuming in any man to build himself an ample residence, and toannounce by his mode of living that he is content with his presentmeans, and does not wish to increase them, at the very moment they viewthe suggestions of the governor as the pink of modesty, and excessivelyfavorable to equal rights! I like that thought of yours about the house,too; in order to suit the 'spirit' of the New York institutions, itwould seem that a New York landlord should build on wheels, that he maymove his abode to a new State, when it suits the pleasure of his tenantsto buy him out."

  "Do you suppose the Rensselaers would take their money, the principal ofthe rent at seven per cent., and buy land with it, after theirexperience of the uncertainty of such possessions among us?"

  "Not they," said my uncle Ro, laughing. "No, no! they would sell theManor-House, and the Beverwyck, for taverns; and then any one might livein them who would pay the principal sum of the cost of a dinner; bagtheir dollars, and proceed forthwith to Wall Street, and commence theshaving of notes--that occupation having been decided, as I see by thelate arrivals, to be highly honorable and praiseworthy. Hitherto theyhave been nothing but drones; but, by the time they can go to the quickwith their dollars, they will become useful members of society, and behonored and esteemed accordingly."

  What next might have been said I do not know, for just then we wereinterrupted by a visit from our common banker, and the discourse wasnecessarily changed.