"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 it
until half-past nine. It was near eleven when Jacob came to tell me his
master was in the _salle a manger_, and ready to eat his breakfast. I
hastened up stairs, sleeping in the _entresol_, and was at table with my
uncle in three minutes. I observed, on entering, that he was very grave,
and I now perceived that a couple of letters, and several American
newspapers, lay near him. His "Good-morrow, Hugh," was kind and
affectionate as usual, but I fancied it sad.
"No bad news from home, I hope, sir?" I exclaimed, under the first
impulse of feeling. "Martha's last letter is of quite recent date, and
she writes very cheerfully. I _know_ that my grandmother was perfectly
well six weeks since."
"I know the same, Hugh, for I have a letter from herself, written with
her own blessed hand. My mother is in excellent health for a woman of
fourscore; 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 entering
the 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 charming
spirits, and I dare say is in blooming beauty by this time, though she
tells me that she is generally thought rather plain. _That_ is
impossible; for you know when we left her, at fifteen, she had every
promise of great beauty."
"As you say, it is impossible that Martha Littlepage should be anything
but handsome; for fifteen is an age when, in America, one may safely
predict the woman's appearance. Your sister is preparing for you an
agreeable surprise. I have heard old persons say that she was very like
my mother at the same time of life; and Dus Malbone was a sort of toast
once in the forest."
"I dare say it is all as you think; more especially as there are several
allusions to a certain Harry Beekman in her letters, at which I should
feel flattered, were I in Mr. Harry's place. Do you happen to know
anything of such a family as the Beekmans, sir?"
My uncle looked up in a little surprise at this question. A thorough New
Yorker by birth, associations, alliances and feelings, he held all the
old names of the colony and State in profound respect; and I had often
heard him sneer at the manner in which the new-comers of my day, who had
appeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odors
through the land. It was but a natural thing that a community which had
grown in population, in half a century, from half a million to two
millions and a half, and that as much by immigration from adjoining
communities as by natural increase, should undergo some change of
feeling in this respect; but, on the other hand, it was just as natural
that the true New Yorker should not.
"Of course you know, Hugh, that it is an ancient and respected name
among us," answered my uncle, after he had given me the look of surprise
I have already mentioned. "There is a branch of the Beekmans, or
Bakemans, as we used to call them, settled near Satanstoe; and I dare
say that your sister, in her frequent visits to my mother, has met with
them. The association would be but natural; and the other feeling to
which you allude is, I dare say, but natural to the association, though
I cannot say I ever experienced it."
"You will still adhere to your asseverations of never having been the
victim of Cupid, I find, sir."
"Hugh, Hugh! let us trifle no more. There is news from home that has
almost broken my heart."
I sat gazing at my uncle in wonder and alarm, while he placed both his
hands on his face, as if to exclude this wicked world, and all it
contained, from his sight. I did not speak, for I saw that the old
gentleman was really affected, but waited his pleasure to communicate
more. My impatience was soon relieved, however, as the hands were
removed, and I once more caught a view of my uncle's handsome, but
clouded 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 you
should hear all, and understand it all; for you have a direct interest
in the matter, and a large portion of your property is dependent on the
result. Had not the manor troubles, as they were called, been spoken of
before we left home?"
"Certainly, though not to any great extent. We saw something of it in
the papers, I remember, just before we went to Russia; and I recollect
you mentioned it as a discreditable affair to the State, though likely
to lead to no very important result."
"So I then thought; but that hope has been delusive. There were some
reasons why a population like ours should chafe under the situation of
the estate of the late Patroon that I thought natural, though
unjustifiable; for it is unhappily too much a law of humanity to do that
which 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 first
place, of great extent--the manor, as it is still called and once was,
spreading east and west eight-and-forty miles, and north and south
twenty-four. With a few immaterial exceptions, including the sites of
three or four towns, three of which are cities containing respectively
six, twenty, and forty thousand souls, this large surface was the
property of a single individual. Since his death, it has become the
property of two, subject to the conditions of the leases, of which by
far 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 nature
at Ravensnest."
"No; your leases are all for three lives, and most of them renewals at
that. There are two sorts of 'durable leases,' as we term them, in use
among the landlords of New York. Both give the tenant a permanent
interest, being leases forever, reserving annual rent, with the right to
distrain and covenants of re-entry. But one class of these leases gives
the tenant a right at any time to demand a deed in fee-simple, on the
payment of a stipulated sum; while the other gives him no such
privilege. Thus one class of these leases is called 'a durable lease
with a clause of redemption,' while the other is a simple 'durable
lease.'"
"And are there any new difficulties in relation to the manor rents?"
"Far worse than that; the contagion has spread, until the greatest ills
that have been predicted from democratic institutions, by their worst
enemies, seriously menace the country. I am afraid, Hugh, I shall not be
able to call New York, any longer, an exception to the evil example of a
neighborhood, or the country itself a glorious country."
"This is so serious, sir, that, were it not that your looks denote the
contrary, I might be disposed to doubt your words."
"I fear my words are only too true. Dunning has written me a long
account of his own, made out with the precision of a lawyer; and, in
addition, he has sent me divers papers, some of which openly contend for
what is substantially a new division of property, and what in effect
would be agrarian laws."
"Surely, my dear uncle, you cannot seriously apprehend anything of that
nature from our order-loving, law-loving, property-loving Americans?"
"Your last description may contain the secret of the whole movement. The
love of property may be so strong as to induce them to do a great many
things they ought not to do. I certainly do not apprehend that any
direct 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 apprehend
is to come through indirect and gradual innovations on the right, that
will be made to assume the delusive aspect of justice and equal rights,
and thus undermine the principles of the people, before they are aware
of the dangers themselves. In order that you may not only understand me,
but may understand facts that are of the last importance to your own
pockets, I will first tell you what has been done, and then tell you
what I fear is to follow. The first difficulty--or, rather, the first
difficulty of recent occurrence--arose at the death of the late Patroon.
I say of recent occurrence, since Dunning writes me that, during the
administration of John Jay, an attempt to resist the payment of rent was
made 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 of
such politicians, however, seems to have ended among us."
"It did not prosper. Governor Jay met the pretension as we all know such
a man would meet it; and the matter died away, and has been nearly
forgotten. It is worthy of remark, that _he_ PUT THE EVIL DOWN. But this
is not the age of John Jays. To proceed to my narrative: When the late
Patroon died, there was due to him a sum of something like two hundred
thousand dollars of back-rents, and of which he had made a special
disposition in his will, vesting the money in trustees for a certain
purpose. It was the attempt to collect this money which first gave rise
to dissatisfaction. Those who had been debtors so long were reluctant to
pay. In casting round for the means to escape from the payment of their
just debts, these men, feeling the power that numbers ever give over
right in America, combined to resist with others who again had in view a
project to get rid of the rents altogether. Out of this combination grew
what have been called the 'manor troubles.' Men appeared in a sort of
mock-Indian dress, calico shirts thrown over their other clothes, and
with a species of calico masks on their faces, who resisted the
bailiffs' processes, and completely prevented the collection of rents.
These men were armed, mostly with rifles; and it was finally found
necessary to call out a strong body of the militia, in order to protect
the 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 militia
into the field, referred the subject of the '_griefs_' of the tenants to
the legislature, as if they were actually aggrieved citizens, when in
truth it was the landlords, or the Rensselaers--for at that time the
'troubles' were confined to their property--who were the aggrieved
parties. This false step has done an incalculable amount of mischief, if
it do not prove the entering wedge to rive asunder the institutions of
the State."
"It is extraordinary, when such things occur, that any man can mistake
his duty. Why were the tenants thus spoken of, while nothing was said
beyond 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 all
the cry of aristocracy, and feudality, and nobility, neither of the
Rensselaers, by the letter of the law, has one particle more of
political power, or political right, than his own coachman or footman,
if the last be a white man; while, in practice, he is in many things
getting to be less protected."
"Then you think, sir, that this matter has gained force from the
circumstance that so many votes depend on it?"
"Out of all question. Its success depends on the violations of
principles that we have been so long taught to hold sacred, that nothing
short of the overruling and corrupting influence of politics would dare
to assail them. If there were a landlord to each farm, as well as a
tenant, universal indifference would prevail as to the griefs of the
tenants; and if two to one tenant, universal indignation at their
impudence."
"Of what particular griefs do the tenants complain?"
"You mean the Rensselaer tenants, I suppose? Why, they _complain_ of
such covenants as they can, though their deepest affliction is to be
found in the fact that they do not own other men's lands. The Patroon
had quarter-sales on many of his farms--those that were let in the last
century."
"Well, what of that? A bargain to allow of quarter-sales is just as fair
as 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 perpetual
lease. Is it to be supposed that a landlord has no interest in the
character and habits of his tenants? He has the closest interest in it
possible, and no prudent man should let his lands without holding some
sort of control over the assignment of leases. Now, there are but two
modes of doing this; either by holding over the tenant a power through
his interests, or a direct veto dependent solely on the landlord's
will."
"The last would be apt to raise a pretty cry of tyranny and feudality in
America!"
"Pretty cries on such subjects are very easily raised in America. More
people join in them than understand what they mean. Nevertheless, it is
quite as just, when two men bargain, that he who owns every right in the
land before the bargain is made, should retain this right over his
property, which he consents to part with only with limitations, as that
he should grant it to another. These men, in their clamor, forget that,
until their leases were obtained, they had no right in their lands at
all, and that what they have got is through those very leases of which
they complain; take away the leases, and they would have no rights
remaining. Now on what principle can honest men pretend that they have
rights beyond the leases? On the supposition, even, that the bargains
are hard, what have governors and legislators to do with thrusting
themselves in between parties so situated, as special umpires? I should
object to such umpires, moreover, on the general and controlling
principle that must govern all righteous arbitration--your governors and
legislators are not _impartial_; they are political or party men, one
may say, without exception; and such umpires, when votes are in the
question, are to be sorely distrusted. I would as soon trust my
interests to the decision of feed counsel, as trust them to such
judges."
"I wonder the really impartial and upright portion of the community do
not rise in their might, and put this thing down--rip it up, root and
branch, and cast it away, at once."
"That is the weak point of our system, which has a hundred strong
points, while it has this besetting vice. Our laws are not only made,
but they are administered, on the supposition that there are both
honesty and intelligence enough in the body of the community to see them
_well_ made, and _well_ administered. But the sad reality shows that
good men are commonly passive, until abuses become intolerable; it being
the designing rogue and manager who is usually the most active. Vigilant
philanthropists _do_ exist, I will allow; but it is in such small
numbers as to effect little on the whole, and nothing at all when
opposed by the zeal of a mercenary opposition. No, no--little is ever to
be expected, in a political sense, from the activity of virtue; while a
great 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, as
your neighbor the magistrate 'Squire Newcome has it, the 'four
hemispheres.' Our representation is, at the best, but an average of the
qualities of the whole community, somewhat lessened by the fact that men
of real merit have taken a disgust at a state of things that is not very
tempting to their habits or tastes. As for a quarter-sale, I can see no
more hardship in it than there is in paying the rent itself; and, by
giving the landlord this check on the transfer of his lands, he compels
a compromise that maintains what is just. The tenant is not obliged to
sell, and he makes his conditions accordingly, when he has a good tenant
to offer in his stead. When he offers a bad tenant, he ought to pay for
it."
"Many persons with us would think it very aristocratic," I cried,
laughingly, "that a landlord should have it in his power to say, I will
not accept this or that substitute for yourself."
"It is just as aristocratic, and no more so, than it would be to put it
in the power of the tenant to say to the landlord, you _shall_ accept
this or that tenant at my hands. The covenant of the quarter-sale gives
each party a control in the matter; and the result has ever been a
compromise that is perfectly fair, as it is hardly possible that the
circumstance should have been overlooked in making the bargain; and he
who knows anything of such matters, knows that every exaction of this
sort is always considered in the rent. As for feudality, so long as the
power to alienate exists at all in the tenant, he does not hold by a
feudal tenure. He has bought himself from all such tenures by his
covenant of quarter-sale; and it only remains to say whether, having
agreed to such a bargain in order to obtain this advantage, he should
pay 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. The
tenant had no rights at all until he got his lease, and can have no
rights which that lease does not confer."
"Then the cry is raised of feudal privileges, because some of the
Rensselaer tenants are obliged to find so many days' work with their
teams, or substitutes, to the landlord, and even because they have to
pay annually a pair of fat fowls! _We_ have seen enough of America,
Hugh, to know that most husbandmen would be delighted to have the
privilege of paying their debt in chickens and work, instead of in
money, which renders the cry only so much the more wicked. But what is
there more feudal in a tenant's thus paying his landlord, than in a
butcher's contracting to furnish so much meat for a series of years, or
a mail contractor's agreeing to carry the mail in a four-horse coach for
a term of years, eh? No one objects to the rent in wheat, and why should
they object to the rent in chickens? Is it because our republican
farmers have got to be so _aristocratic_ themselves, that they do not
like to be thought poulterers? This is being aristocratic on the other
side. These dignitaries should remember that if it be plebeian to
furnish fowls, it is plebeian to receive them; and if the tenant has to
find an individual who has to submit to the degradation of tendering a
pair of fat fowls, the landlord has to find an individual who has to
submit to the degradation of taking them, and of putting them away in
the larder. It seems to me that one is an offset to the other."
"But if I remember rightly, uncle Ro, these little matters were always
commuted for in money."
"They always must lie at the option of the tenant, unless the covenants
went to forfeiture, which I never heard that they did; for the failure
to pay in kind at the time stipulated, would only involve a payment in
money afterward. The most surprising part of this whole transaction is,
that men among us hold the doctrine that these leasehold estates are
opposed to our institutions, when, being guaranteed _by_ the
institutions, they in truth form a part of them. Were it not for these
very institutions, to which they are said to be opposed, and of which
they virtually form a part, we should soon have a pretty kettle of fish
between 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 protecting
property. There is such a parade of this, that all our constitutions
declare that property shall never be taken without due form of law; and
to read one of them, you would think the property of the citizen is held
quite as sacred as his person. Now, some of these very tenures existed
when the State institutions were framed; and, not satisfied with this,
we of New York, in common with our sister States, solemnly prohibited
ourselves, in the Constitution of the United States, from ever meddling
with them; nevertheless, men are found hardy enough to assert that a
thing 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 the
declaimers fancy. The spirit of institutions is their legitimate object;
and it would be hard to prove that a leasehold tenure, with any
conditions of mere pecuniary indebtedness whatever, is opposed to any
institutions that recognize the full rights of property. The obligation
to pay rent no more creates political dependency, than to give credit
from an ordinary shop; not so much, indeed, more especially under such
leases as those of the Rensselaers; for the debtor on a book-debt can be
sued at any moment, whereas the tenant knows precisely when he has to
pay. There is the great absurdity of those who decry the system as
feudal and aristocratic; for they do not see that those very leases are
more favorable to the tenant than any other."
"I shall have to ask you to explain this to me, sir, being too ignorant
to 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 for
the tenant, all the world over. Let us suppose two farms, the one leased
for five years, and the other forever. Which tenant is most independent
of the political influence of his landlord, to say nothing of the
impossibility of controlling votes in this way in America, from a
variety of causes? Certainly he who has a lease forever. He is just as
independent of his landlord as his landlord can be of him, with the
exception that he has rent to pay. In the latter case, he is precisely
like any other debtor--like the poor man who contracts debts with the
same store-keeper for a series of years. As for the possession of the
farm, which we are to suppose is a desirable thing for the tenant, he of
the long lease is clearly most independent, since the other may be
ejected at the end of each five years. Nor is there the least difference
as to acquiring the property in fee, since the landlord may sell equally
in 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, directly
or indirectly; AND NO TRULY HONEST MAN WOULD."
I put some of the words of my uncle Ro in small capitals, as the spirit
of 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 not
exactly comprehend."
"It is very easily explained. The spirit of the institutions is their
_intention_; their tendencies are the natural direction they take under
the impulses of human motives, which are always corrupt and corrupting.
The 'spirit' refers to what things _ought_ to be; the 'tendencies,' to
what they _are_, or are _becoming_. The 'spirit' of all political
institutions is to place a check on the natural propensities of men, to
restrain them, and keep them within due bounds; while the tendencies
_follow_ those propensities, and are, quite often, in direct opposition
to the spirit. That this outcry against leasehold tenures in America is
following the tendencies of our institutions, I am afraid is only too
true; but that it is in any manner in compliance with their _spirit_, I
utterly deny."
"You will allow that institutions have their spirit, which ought always
to be respected, in order to preserve harmony?"
"Out of all question. The first great requisite of a political system is
the means of protecting itself; the second, to check its tendencies at
the point required by justice, wisdom, and good faith. In a despotism,
for instance, the spirit of the system is, to maintain that one man, who
is elevated above the necessities and temptations of a nation--who is
solemnly set apart for the sole purpose of government, fortified by
dignity, and rendered impartial by position--will rule in the manner
most conducive to the true interests of his subjects. It is just as much
the theory of Russia and Prussia that their monarchs reign not for their
own good, but for the good of those over whom they are placed, as it is
the theory in regard to the President of the United States. We all know
that the tendencies of a despotism are to abuses of a particular
character; and it is just as certain that the tendencies of a republic,
or rather of a democratic republic--for republic of itself means but
little, many republics having had kings--but it is just as certain that
the tendencies of a democracy are to abuses of another character.
Whatever man touches, he infallibly abuses; and this more in connection
with the exercise of political power, perhaps, than in the management of
any one interest of life, though he abuses all, even to religion. Less
depends on the nominal character of institutions, perhaps, than on their
ability to arrest their own tendencies at the point required by
everything that is just and right. Hitherto, surprisingly few _grave_
abuses have followed from our institutions; but this matter looks
frightfully serious; for I have not told you half, Hugh."
"Indeed, sir! I beg you will believe me quite equal to hearing the
worst."
"It is true, anti-rentism did commence on the estate of the Rensselaers,
and with complaints of feudal tenures, and of days' works, and fat
fowls, backed by the extravagantly aristocratic pretension that a
'manor' tenant was so much a privileged being that it was beneath his
dignity, as a free man, to do that which is daily done by
mail-contractors, stage-coach owners, victuallers, and even by
themselves, in their passing bargains to deliver potatoes, onions,
turkeys, and pork, although they had solemnly covenanted with their
landlords to pay the fat fowls, and to give the days' works. The feudal
system has been found to extend much further, and 'troubles,' as they
are called, have broken out in other parts of the State. Resistance to
process, and a cessation of the payment of rents, have occurred on the
Livingston property, in Hardenberg--in short, in eight or ten counties
of the State. Even among the _bona fide_ purchasers on the Holland
Purchase, this resistance has been organized, and a species of troops
raised, who appear disguised and armed wherever a levy is to be made.
Several men have already been murdered, and there is the strong
probability of a civil war."
"In the name of what is sacred and right, what has the government of the
State been doing all this time?"
"In my poor judgment, a great deal that it ought not to have done, and
very 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 tied
is her vote--less than ten thousand majority in a canvass of near a half
million of votes. When this is the case, the least-principled part of
the voters attain an undue importance--a truth that has been abundantly
illustrated in this question. The natural course would have been to
raise an armed constabulary force, and to have kept it in motion, as the
anti-renters have kept their 'Injins' in motion, which would have soon
tired out the rebels, for rebels they are, who would thus have had to
support one army in part, and the other altogether. Such a movement on
the part of the State, well and energetically managed, would have drawn
half the 'Injins' at once from the ranks of disaffection to those of
authority; for all that most of these men want is to live easy, and to
have a parade of military movements. Instead of that, the legislature
substantially did nothing, until blood was spilt, and the grievance had
got to be not only profoundly disgraceful for such a State and such a
country, but utterly intolerable to the well-affected of the revolted
counties, as well as to those who were kept out of the enjoyment of
their property. Then, indeed, it passed the law which ought to have been
passed the first year of the 'Injin' system--a law which renders it
felony to appear armed and disguised; but Dunning writes me this law is
openly disregarded in Delaware and Schoharie, in particular, and that
bodies of 'Injins,' in full costume and armed, of a thousand men, have
appeared 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 are
permitted to make head and to become widely disseminated, in a country
like ours. Still, the disturbances, as such, are utterly contemptible,
and could and would be put down by an energetic executive in ten days
after 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 my
judgment, he has inflicted injuries on the right that it will require
years to repair, if, indeed, they are ever repaired."
"You surprise me, sir; and this the more especially, as I know you are
generally of the same way of thinking, on political subjects, with the
party that is now in power."
"Did you ever know me to support what I conceived to be wrong, Hugh, on
account of my political affinities?" asked my uncle, a little
reproachfully as to manner. "But let me tell you the harm that I
conceive has been done by all the governors who have had anything to do
with the subject; and that includes one of a party to which I am
opposed, and two that are not. In the first place, they have all treated
the matter as if the tenants had really some cause of complaint; when in
truth all their griefs arise from the fact that other men will not let
them have their property just as they may want it, and in some respects
on their own terms."
"That is certainly a grief not to be maintained by reason in a civilized
country, and in a Christian community."
"Umph! Christianity, like liberty, suffers fearfully in human hands; one
is sometimes at a loss to recognize either. I have seen ministers of the
gospel just as dogged, just as regardless of general morality, and just
as indiffer-to the right, in upholding _their_ parties, as I ever saw
laymen; and I have seen laymen manifesting tempers, in this respect,
that properly belong to devils. But our governors have certainly treated
this matter as if the tenants actually had griefs; when in truth their
sole oppression is in being obliged to to pay rents that are merely
nominal, and in not being able to buy other men's property contrary to
their wishes, and very much at their own prices. One governor has even
been so generous as to volunteer a mode of settling disputes with which,
by the way, he has no concern, there being courts to discharge that
office, that is singularly presuming on his part, to say the least, and
which looks a confounded sight more like aristocracy, or monarchy, than
anything connected with leasehold tenure."
"Why, what can the man have done?"
"He has kindly taken on himself the office of doing that for which I
fancy he can find no authority in the institutions, or in their
spirit--no less than advising citizens how they may conveniently manage
their own affairs so as to get over difficulties that he himself
substantially admits, while giving this very advice, are difficulties
that 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 by
the law, chooses to complain of its _nature_, rather than of its
_conditions_, to pretend to throw the weight of his even assumed
authority into the scales on either side of the question!"
"And that is a popular government, Hugh, in which it tells so strongly
against a man to render him unpopular, that not one man in a million has
the moral courage to resist public opinion, even when he is right. You
have 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. But
he has lived in vain who has not learned that they who make the the
loudest professions of a love of liberty, have little knowledge of the
quality, beyond submission to the demands of numbers. Our executive has
carried his fatherly care even beyond this; he has actually suggested
the 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 matter
that in no manner belongs to him, has the palpable demerit of
recommending a pecuniary compromise that is flagrantly wrong as a mere
pecuniary compromise."
"You astonish me, sir! What is the precise nature of his
recommendation?"
"That the Rensselaers should receive such a sum from each tenant as
would 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 he
wants, and who wishes to live for other purposes than to accumulate.
This property is not only invested to his entire satisfaction, as
regards convenience, security, and returns, but also in a way that is
connected with some of the best sentiments of his nature. It is property
that has descended to him through ancestors for two centuries; property
that is historically connected with his name--on which he was born, on
which he has lived, and on which he has hoped to die; property, in a
word, that is associated with all the higher feelings of humanity.
Because some interloper, perhaps, who has purchased an interest in one
of his farms six months before, feels an _aristocratic_ desire not to
have a landlord, and wishes to own a farm in fee, that in fact he has no
other right to than he gets through his lease, the Governor of the great
State of New York throws the weight of his official position against the
old hereditary owner of the soil, by solemnly suggesting, in an official
document that is intended to produce an effect on public opinion, that
he 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 pecuniary
value. We have liberty with a vengeance, if these are some of its
antics!"
"What makes the matter worse, is the fact that each of the Rensselaers
has a house on his estate, so placed as to be convenient to look after
his interest; which interests he is to be at the trouble of changing,
leaving him his house on his hands, because, forsooth, one of the
parties to a plain and equitable bargain wishes to make better
conditions than he covenanted for. I wonder what his excellency proposes
that the landlords shall do with their money when they get it? Buy new
estates, and build new houses, of which to be dispossessed when a new
set of tenants may choose to cry out against aristocracy, and
demonstrate their own love for democracy by wishing to pull others down
in order to shove themselves into their places?"
"You are right again, Hugh; but it is a besetting vice of America to
regard life as all means, and as having no end, in a worldly point of
view. I dare say men may be found among us who regard it as highly
presuming in any man to build himself an ample residence, and to
announce by his mode of living that he is content with his present
means, and does not wish to increase them, at the very moment they view
the suggestions of the governor as the pink of modesty, and excessively
favorable to equal rights! I like that thought of yours about the house,
too; in order to suit the 'spirit' of the New York institutions, it
would seem that a New York landlord should build on wheels, that he may
move his abode to a new State, when it suits the pleasure of his tenants
to buy him out."
"Do you suppose the Rensselaers would take their money, the principal of
the rent at seven per cent., and buy land with it, after their
experience of the uncertainty of such possessions among us?"
"Not they," said my uncle Ro, laughing. "No, no! they would sell the
Manor-House, and the Beverwyck, for taverns; and then any one might live
in them who would pay the principal sum of the cost of a dinner; bag
their dollars, and proceed forthwith to Wall Street, and commence the
shaving of notes--that occupation having been decided, as I see by the
late arrivals, to be highly honorable and praiseworthy. Hitherto they
have been nothing but drones; but, by the time they can go to the quick
with their dollars, they will become useful members of society, and be
honored and esteemed accordingly."
What next might have been said I do not know, for just then we were
interrupted by a visit from our common banker, and the discourse was
necessarily changed.