At three o'clock A.M. on a cloudy and somewhat chilly morning, left the
door of the Eagle in a very comfortable extra coach, which was chartered
to convey a freight of four persons to the mansion of Mr. C----e, lying
upon Otsego Lake, distant from Albany some sixty miles.
My companions were Mr. H----e, whom I had with me at starting, and Mr.
I. V. B----n, for whom we had agreed to halt at his hotel on the top of
the State House hill, and a long halt we had of it; for, having no great
confidence in our punctuality, he had very wisely, as far as his own
comfort was concerned, left orders to be called whenever we should
appear: and not a moment earlier was he in the least danger of being
roused, for we had to awaken one of the Irish waiters before he could be
come at; a task of no small difficulty. After some half-hour's delay at
the top of the hill, we set forward.
_Mem._--In future, always arrange on all early expeditions to have my
quarters beat up last.
Although the morning broke gloomily, the sun rose brave and bright, and
managed throughout the day to keep the field against both wind and
cloud, that sought to overcast him. For the most part, this line of
country is very tame, and offers little to compensate for the bad road
leading through it. The amusement, therefore, which a series of fine
landscapes affords the traveller not being found here, we had to draw
upon our own personal resources to banish weariness; happily these were
not wanting: the youngest of my friends was the son of a leading Whig,
or Oppositionist, and newly inoculated with the right degree of
political fervour becoming the time and his age; the senior was a Tory,
or of the Government party, possessed of much natural humour, and having
a thorough knowledge of the people.
Previous to starting, the young politician was bold in his assertion
that in Schoharie county,--that through which our route lay,--the Whig
interest was in the ascendant; this assertion his better instructed
opponent as stoutly contradicted, insisting on the contrary, that
Jacksonism was the political creed cherished as orthodox amongst the
country people.
The mode of coming at the true state of the parties was simple enough;
we had only, whilst halting to change horses or bait, to touch upon the
absorbing topic of the day, and the village loungers, landlord,
bar-keeper, and guests, might have been placed upon a canvassing roll
without a chance of error, so decidedly did they make "their love
known."
I soon discovered that the "ould Gineral" had a hollow thing of it on
this line of march, as, indeed, I have uniformly observed to be the case
in all the agricultural districts; and although it may be argued that
the confidence of these sons of the soil may neither be wisely nor well
placed, it must, I conceive, be on all hands admitted that it is at
least the result of honest conviction; for, if a stranger may be
permitted to judge, I should say, a more virtuous and right-meaning
class does not exist than the agriculturists generally of these States;
indeed it appears clear to me that it is to this great body of truly
independent electors the political seer must turn when he would desire
fairly to calculate the probable changes likely to be worked out in this
vast region. They are the owners of the land which their votes govern;
they are invulnerable to the anarchist and the mad agrarian; they are
observant and intelligent; and although liable, as are all men, to be
for a time hoodwinked, or led astray, by interested brawlers, only let
the veil be once lifted, and a glimpse afforded which shall inform them
that their property or the country's freedom are endangered, and they
will be found a rampart behind which all true patriots, the lovers of
order and country, may rally, and which they may hold impregnable
against the furious assault of the leveller, or the insidious sap of the
disguised despot.
But enough of this: _chacun a son metier_; yet here I am betrayed into a
homily where I only contemplated a jest. The truth is, my allusion to
this topic at all arose from the vivid recollection I still have of the
great fun I derived from this canvassing of my companions in support of
their opinions previously expressed.
At each new stopping-place, my Whig friend would jump out with eager
anticipations that here his majority would be made too palpable for
denial; after him would quickly stride his long-legged, long-headed
rival; and in a moment both were hard at it with the inmates of the
house.
At places where a weak minority gave signs of hardihood, I usually
adopted their side in argument; and, as I was fully _au fait_ to all the
slang of party at least, it became my business in promotion of fun, to
fan the flame, which in one instance had nearly ended in getting myself
and my allies turned out of an honest Jacksonian's house, who swore no
such libellous Whigs should drink at his bar. In fact, my ears being
kept on strict duty during our noisy debates, in order to determine the
exact moment for prudently backing out, I, in this case, concluded it
wise to anticipate the expulsion which was decreed by a large majority,
having caught certain ominous disjointed words, which, by the aid of a
copulative conjunction or two, would have read, "Take 'em down and duck
them in the river."
About two o'clock we reached the neat little village called Cherry
Valley, and, in a couple of hours after, entered upon the well-kept
domain of Mr. C----e. The view of the lake and mansion, as it is
approached from the main road, is exceedingly good; and, when the
spirited proprietor's tasteful designs shall be completed, will have no
equal in this country.
Our reception at Hyde-hall was as hospitable as heart could wish. It was
the birthday of our host's son; and we found a large party assembled,
amongst whom were three or four remarkably handsome women.
Otsego, or, as it is commonly called, Cooper's-Town Lake, has been best
described by the novelist of that name, in, I think, his admirable
American book, "The Last of the Mohicans." He looked upon it with the
eye of a poet and the love of a son; for he was born and passed his
boyhood upon its banks, and in the pretty town reflected in its clear
water the name of his father is perpetuated. The son has founded his
name upon a yet surer basis: towns may fall as they have risen, and
their founders be forgotten; but the pleasure we derive from genius
enshrines its possessor within our hearts, and transmits his name to be
a household word amongst our children. Ages may pass away, and empires
may flourish and may fade, but the hand of a Cicero will ever be found
to pluck the weeds from the tomb of an Archimedes!
This mansion, at which I continued for three or four days, is built
upon a natural terrace, part of a fine hill that juts out into the lake,
and creates a little bay that laves its south side, and forms a safe
harbour for the boats of the family, in one of which I remember to have
had the pleasure of making an exploring cruise under the infliction of
as pitiless a shower as ever a party of fair voyagers was pelted by.
On either hand range the bold finely-timbered hills by which the lake is
bordered, until, gradually rounding at the southern extremity, it
affords space for one of the neatest little towns I ever visited, and
whose white buildings and glittering vanes give a charming termination
to the view from Hyde, from which it is distant some eight or nine
miles; but the character of the vista, and there being only water
between, makes it look nearer by half this space.
On Monday, June 30th, after abiding three cold, wet days, quitted Mr.
C----e's family, drove along the bank of the lake to Cooper's Town, and
thence took stage for Utica, accompanied by my young Whig companion, who
now had the field of politics to himself; for our Tory friend had turned
upon his steps for Albany.
We did not reach Utica till late in the afternoon, the distance being
forty miles, and our rate of going not exceeding six miles per hour: we
made no halt here, but, hiring a carriage, immediately pushed for the
Retreat at Trenton Falls, which we did not arrive at until after ten
o'clock P.M. The people, however, were yet up, and with much civility
set to work to provide us with a broiled chicken and a fresh trout, over
which we quickly forgot a very rough day's ride.