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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31210-8.txt b/31210-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fb331c --- /dev/null +++ b/31210-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10468 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume +1., by James Fenimore Cooper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. + Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts + +Author: James Fenimore Cooper + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31210] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +THE + +REDSKINS; + +OR, + +INDIAN AND INJIN: + +BEING THE CONCLUSION OF THE + +LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS. + +BY THE + +AUTHOR OF "THE PATHFINDER," "DEERSLAYER," +"TWO ADMIRALS," ETC. + + In every work regard the writer's end; + None e'er ran compass more than they intend. + POPE. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +VOL. I. + + +NEW YORK: + +PUBLISHED BY BURGESS & STRINGER, + +1846. + +Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by + +J. FENIMORE COOPER, + +in the clerk's office of the District Court for the Northern District +of New York. + + +STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book closes the series of the Littlepage Manuscripts, which have +been given to the world, as containing a fair account of the comparative +sacrifices of time, money and labour, made respectively by the landlord +and the tenants, on a New York estate; together with the manner in which +usages and opinions are changing among us; as well as certain of the +reasons of these changes. The discriminating reader will probably be +able to trace in these narratives the progress of those innovations on +the great laws of morals which are becoming so very manifest in +connection with this interest, setting at naught the plainest principles +that God has transmitted to man for the government of his conduct, and +all under the extraordinary pretence of favouring liberty! In this +downward course, our picture embraces some of the proofs of that +looseness of views on the subject of certain species of property which +is, in a degree perhaps, inseparable from the semi-barbarous condition +of a new settlement; the gradation of the squatter, from him who merely +makes his pitch to crop a few fields in passing, to him who carries on +the business by wholesale; and last, though not least in this catalogue +of marauders, the anti-renter. + +It would be idle to deny that the great principle which lies at the +bottom of anti-rentism, if principle it can be called, is the +assumption of a claim that the interests and wishes of numbers are to be +respected, though done at a sacrifice of the clearest rights of the few. +That this is not liberty, but tyranny in its worst form, every +right-thinking and right-feeling man must be fully aware. Every one who +knows much of the history of the past, and of the influence of classes, +must understand, that whenever the educated, the affluent and the +practised, choose to unite their means of combination and money to +control the political destiny of a country, they become irresistible; +making the most subservient tools of those very masses who vainly +imagine _they_ are the true guardians of their own liberties. The +well-known election of 1840 is a memorable instance of the power of such +a combination; though that was a combination formed mostly for the mere +purposes of faction, sustained perhaps by the desperate designs of the +insolvents of the country. Such a combination was necessarily wanting in +union among the affluent; it had not the high support of principles to +give it sanctity, and it affords little more than the proof of the power +of money and leisure, when applied in a very doubtful cause, in wielding +the masses of a great nation, to be the instruments of their own +subjection. No well-intentioned American legislator, consequently, ought +ever to lose sight of the fact, that each invasion of the right which he +sanctions is a blow struck against liberty itself, which, in a country +like this, has no auxiliary so certain or so powerful as justice. + +The State of New York contains about 43,000 square miles of land; or +something like 27,000,000 of acres. In 1783, its population must have +been about 200,000 souls. With such a proportion between people and +surface it is unnecessary to prove that the husbandman was not quite as +dependent on the landholder, as the landholder was dependent on the +husbandman. This would have been true, had the State been an island; but +we all know it was surrounded by many other communities similarly +situated, and that nothing else was so abundant as land. All notions of +exactions and monopolies, therefore, must be untrue, as applied to those +two interests at that day. + +In 1786-7, the State of New York, then in possession of all powers on +the subject, abolished entails, and otherwise brought its law of real +estate in harmony with the institutions. At that time, hundreds, perhaps +thousands, of the leases which have since become so obnoxious, were in +existence. With the attention of the State drawn directly to the main +subject, no one saw anything incompatible with the institutions in them. +_It was felt that the landlords had bought the tenants to occupy their +lands by the liberality of their concessions_, and that the latter were +the obliged parties. Had the landlords of that day endeavoured to lease +for one year, or for ten years, no tenants could have been found for +wild lands; but it became a different thing, when the owner of the soil +agreed to part with it for ever, in consideration of a very low rent, +granting six or eight years free from any charge whatever, and +consenting to receive the product of the soil itself in lieu of money. +Then, indeed, men were not only willing to come into the terms, but +eager; the best evidence of which is the fact, that the same tenants +might have bought land, out and out, in every direction around them, +had they not preferred the easier terms of the leases. Now, that these +same men, or their successors, have become rich enough to care more to +be rid of the encumbrance of the rent than to keep their money, the +rights of the parties certainly are not altered. + +In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into operation; New +York being a party to its creation and conditions. By that Constitution, +the State deliberately deprived itself of the power to touch the +covenants of these leases, without conceding the power to any other +government; unless it might be through a change of the Constitution +itself. As a necessary consequence, these leases, in a legal sense, +belong to the institutions of New York, instead of being opposed to +them. Not only is the spirit of the institutions in harmony with these +leases, but so is the letter also. Men must draw a distinction between +the "spirit of the institutions" and their own "spirits;" the latter +being often nothing more than a stomach that is not easily satisfied. It +would be just as true to affirm that domestic slavery is opposed to the +institutions of the United States, as to say the same of these leases. +It would be just as rational to maintain, because A. does not choose to +make an associate of B., that he is acting in opposition to the "spirit +of the institutions," inasmuch as the Declaration of Independence +advances the dogmas that men are born equal, as it is to say it is +opposed to the same spirit, for B. to pay rent to A. according to his +covenant. + +It is pretended that the durable leases are feudal in their nature. We +do not conceive this to be true; but, admitting it to be so, it would +only prove that feudality, to this extent, is a part of the institutions +of the State. What is more, it would become a part over which the State +itself has conceded all power of control, beyond that which it may +remotely possess as one, out of twenty-eight communities. As respects +this feudal feature, it is not easy to say where it must be looked for. +It is not to be found in the simple fact of paying rent, for that is so +general as to render the whole country feudal, could it be true; it +cannot be in the circumstance that the rent is to be paid "in kind," as +it is called, and in labour, for that is an advantage to the tenant, by +affording him the option, since the penalty of a failure leaves the +alternative of paying in money. It must be, therefore, that these leases +are feudal because they run for ever! Now the length of the lease is +clearly a concession to the tenant, and was so regarded when received; +and there is not probably a single tenant, under lives, who would not +gladly exchange his term of possession for that of one of these +detestable durable leases! + +Among the absurdities that have been circulated on this subject of +feudality, it has been pretended that the well-known English statute of +"_quia emptores_" has prohibited fines for alienation; or that the +quarter-sales, fifth-sales, sixth-sales, &c. of our own leases were +contrary to the law of the realm, when made. Under the common law, in +certain cases of feudal tenures, the fines for alienation were an +incident of the tenure. The statute of _quia emptores_ abolished that +general principle, but it in no manner forbade parties _to enter into +covenants of the nature of quarter-sales_, did they see fit. The common +law gives all the real estate to the eldest son. Our statute divides the +real estate among the nearest of kin, without regard even to sex. It +might just as well be pretended that the father cannot devise all his +lands to his eldest son, under our statute, as to say that the law of +Edward I. prevents parties from _bargaining_ for quarter-sales. Altering +a provision of the common law does not preclude parties from making +covenants similar to its ancient provisions. + +Feudal tenures were originally divided into two great classes; those +which were called the military tenures, or knight's service, and +_soccage_. The first tenure was that which became oppressive in the +progress of society. Soccage was of two kinds; free and villian. The +first has an affinity to our own system, as connected with these leases; +the last never existed among us at all. When the knight's service, or +military tenures of England were converted into free soccage, in the +reign of Charles II., the concession was considered of a character so +favourable to liberty as to be classed among the great measures of the +time; one of which was the _habeas corpus_ act! + +The only feature of our own leases, in the least approaching "villian +soccage," is that of the "day's works." But every one acquainted with +the habits of American life, will understand that husbandmen, in +general, throughout the northern States, would regard it as an advantage +to be able to pay their debts in this way; and the law gives them an +option, since a failure to pay "in kind," or "in work," merely incurs +the forfeiture of paying what the particular thing is worth, in money. +In point of fact, money has always been received for these "day's +works," and at a stipulated price. + +But, it is pretended, whatever may be the equity of these leasehold +contracts, they are offensive to the tenants, and ought to be abrogated, +for the peace of the State. The State is bound to make all classes of +men respect its laws, and in nothing more so than in the fulfilment of +their legal contracts. The greater the number of the offenders, the +higher the obligation to act with decision and efficiency. To say that +these disorganizers _ought_ not to be put down, is to say that crime is +to obtain impunity by its own extent; and to say that they _cannot_ be +put down "under our form of government," is a direct admission that the +government is unequal to the discharge of one of the plainest and +commonest obligations of all civilized society. If this be really so, +the sooner we get rid of the present form of government the better. The +notion of remedying _such_ an evil by concession, is as puerile as it is +dishonest. The larger the concessions become, the greater will be the +exactions of a cormorant cupidity. As soon as quiet is obtained by these +means, in reference to the leasehold tenures, it will be demanded by +some fresh combination to attain some other end. + +When Lee told Washington, at Monmouth, "Sir, your troops will not stand +against British grenadiers," Washington is said to have answered, "Sir, +you have never tried them." The same reply might be given to those +miserable traducers of this republic, who, in order to obtain votes, +affect to think there is not sufficient energy in its government to put +down so bare-faced an attempt as this of the anti-renters to alter the +conditions of their own leases to suit their own convenience. The county +of Delaware has, of itself, nobly given the lie to the assertion, the +honest portion of its inhabitants scattering the knaves to the four +winds, the moment there was a fair occasion made for them to act. A +single, energetic proclamation from Albany, calling a "spade a spade," +and not affecting to gloss over the disguised robbery of these +anti-renters, and laying just principles fairly before the public mind, +would of itself have crushed the evil in its germ. The people of New +York, in their general capacity, are not the knaves their servants +evidently suppose. + +The assembly of New York, in its memorable session of 1846, has taxed +the rents on long leases; thus, not only taxing the same property twice, +but imposing the worst sort of income-tax, or one aimed at a few +individuals. It has "thimble-rigged" in its legislation, as Mr. Hugh +Littlepage not unaptly terms it; endeavouring to do that indirectly, +which the Constitution will not permit it to do directly. In other +words, as it can pass no direct law "impairing the obligation of +contracts," while it _can_ regulate descents, it has enacted, so far as +one body of the legislature has power to enact anything, that on the +_death_ of a landlord the tenant may convert his lease into a mortgage, +on discharging which he shall hold his land in fee! + +We deem the first of these measures far more tyrannical than the attempt +of Great Britain to tax her colonies, which brought about the +revolution. It is of the same general character, that of unjust +taxation; while it is attended by circumstances of aggravation that +were altogether wanting in the policy of the mother country. This is not +a tax for revenue, which is not needed; but a tax to "choke off" the +landlords, to use a common American phrase. It is clearly taxing +_nothing_, or it is taxing the same property twice. It is done to +conciliate three or four thousand voters, who are now in the market, at +the expense of three or four hundred who, it is known, are not to be +bought. It is unjust in its motives, its means and its end. The measure +is discreditable to civilization, and an outrage on liberty. + +But, the other law mentioned is an atrocity so grave, as to alarm every +man of common principle in the State, were it not so feeble in its +devices to cheat the Constitution, as to excite contempt. This +extraordinary power is exercised because the legislature _can_ control +the law of descents, though it cannot "impair the obligation of +contracts!" Had the law said at once that on the death of a landlord +each of his tenants should _own_ his farm in fee, the ensemble of the +fraud would have been preserved, since the "law of descents" would have +been so far regulated as to substitute one heir for another; but +changing the _nature_ of a contract, with a party who has nothing to do +with the succession at all, is not so very clearly altering, or +amending, the law of descents! It is scarcely necessary to say that +every reputable court in the country, whether State or Federal, would +brand such a law with the disgrace it merits. + +But the worst feature of this law, or attempted law, remains to be +noticed. It would have been a premium on murder. Murder _has_ already +been committed by these anti-renters, and that obviously to effect +their ends; and they were to be told that whenever you shoot a landlord, +as some have already often shot _at_ them, you can convert your +leasehold tenures into tenures in fee! The mode of valuation is so +obvious, too, as to deserve a remark. A master was to settle the +valuation on testimony. The witnesses of course would be "the +neighbours," and a whole patent could swear for each other! + +As democrats we protest most solemnly against such bare-faced frauds, +such palpable cupidity and covetousness being termed anything but what +they are. If they come of any party at all, it is the party of the +devil. Democracy is a lofty and noble sentiment. It does not rob the +poor to make the rich richer, nor the rich to favour the poor. It is +just, and treats all men alike. It does not "impair the obligations of +contracts." It is not the friend of a canting legislation, but, meaning +right, dare act directly. There is no greater delusion than to suppose +that true democracy has anything in common with injustice or roguery. + +Nor is it an apology for anti-rentism, in any of its aspects, to say +that leasehold tenures are inexpedient. The most expedient thing in +existence is to do right. Were there no other objection to this +anti-rent movement than its corrupting influence, that alone should set +every wise man in the community firmly against it. We have seen too much +of this earth, to be so easily convinced that there is any disadvantage, +nay that there is not a positive advantage in the existence of large +leasehold estates, when they carry with them no political power, as is +the fact here. The common-place argument against them, that they defeat +the civilization of a country, is not sustained by fact. The most +civilized countries on earth are under this system; and this system, +too, not entirely free from grave objections which do not exist among +ourselves. That a poorer class of citizens have originally leased than +have purchased lands in New York, is probably true; and it is equally +probable that the effects of this poverty, and even of the tenure in the +infancy of a country, are to be traced on the estates. But this is +taking a very one-sided view of the matter. The men who became tenants +in moderate but comfortable circumstances, would have been mostly +labourers on the farms of others, but for these leasehold tenures. That +is the benefit of the system in a new country, and the ultra friend of +humanity, who decries the condition of a tenant, should remember that if +he had not been in this very condition, he might have been in a worse. +It is, indeed, one of the proofs of the insincerity of those who are +decrying leases, on account of their aristocratic tendencies, that their +destruction will necessarily condemn a numerous class of agriculturists, +either to fall back into the ranks of the peasant or day-labourer, or to +migrate, as is the case with so many of the same class in New England. +In point of fact, the relation of landlord and tenant is one entirely +natural and salutary, in a wealthy community, and one that is so much in +accordance with the necessities of men, that no legislation can long +prevent it. A state of things which will not encourage the rich to hold +real estate would not be desirable, since it would be diverting their +money, knowledge, liberality, feelings and leisure, from the +improvement of the soil, to objects neither so useful nor so +praiseworthy. + +The notion that every husbandman is to be a freeholder, is as Utopian in +practice, as it would be to expect that all men were to be on the same +level in fortune, condition, education and habits. As such a state of +things as the last never yet did exist, it was probably never designed +by divine wisdom that it should exist. The whole structure of society +must be changed, even in this country, ere it could exist among +ourselves, and the change would not have been made a month before the +utter impracticability of such a social fusion would make itself felt by +all. + +We have elsewhere imputed much of the anti-rent feeling to provincial +education and habits. This term has given the deepest offence to those +who were most obnoxious to the charge. Nevertheless, our opinion is +unchanged. We know that the distance between the cataract of Niagara and +the Massachusetts line is a large hundred leagues, and that it is as +great between Sandy Hook and the 45th parallel of latitude. Many +excellent things, moral and physical, are to be found within these +limits, beyond a question; but we happen to know by an experience that +has extended to other quarters of the world, for a term now exceeding +forty years, that more are to be found beyond them. If "honourable +gentlemen" at Albany fancy the reverse, they must still permit us to +believe they are too much under the influence of provincial notions. + + + + +THE REDSKINS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and + She said--Thou wert my daughter; and thy father + Was duke of Milan; and his only heir + A princess;--no worse issued." + + _Tempest._ + + +My uncle Ro and myself had been travelling together in the East, and had +been absent from home fully five years, when we reached Paris. For +eighteen months neither of us had seen a line from America, when we +drove through the barriers, on our way from Egypt, viâ Algiers, +Marseilles, and Lyons. Not once, in all that time, had we crossed our +own track, in a way to enable us to pick up a straggling letter; and all +our previous precautions to have the epistles meet us at different +bankers in Italy, Turkey, and Malta, were thrown away. + +My uncle was an old traveller--I might almost say, an old resident--in +Europe; for he had passed no less than twenty years of his fifty-nine +off the American continent. A bachelor, with nothing to do but to take +care of a very ample estate, which was rapidly increasing in value by +the enormous growth of the town of New York, and with tastes early +formed by travelling, it was natural he should seek those regions where +he most enjoyed himself. Hugh Roger Littlepage was born in 1786--the +second son of my grandfather, Mordaunt Littlepage, and of Ursula +Malbone, his wife. My own father, Malbone Littlepage, was the eldest +child of that connexion; and he would have inherited the property of +Ravensnest, in virtue of his birthright, had he survived his own +parents; but, dying young, I stepped into what would otherwise have been +his succession, in my eighteenth year. My uncle Ro, however, had got +both Satanstoe and Lilacsbush; two country-houses and farms, which, +while they did not aspire to the dignity of being estates, were likely +to prove more valuable, in the long run, than the broad acres which were +intended for the patrimony of the elder brother. My grandfather was +affluent; for not only had the fortune of the Littlepages centred in +him, but so did that of the Mordaunts, the wealthier family of the two, +together with some exceedingly liberal bequests from a certain Col. +Dirck Follock, or Van Valkenburgh; who, though only a very distant +connexion, chose to make my great-grandmother's, or Anneke Mordaunt's, +descendants his heirs. We all had enough; my aunts having handsome +legacies, in the way of bonds and mortgages, on an estate called +Mooseridge, in addition to some lots in town; while my own sister, +Martha, had a clear fifty thousand dollars in money. I had town-lots, +also, which were becoming productive; and a special minority of seven +years had made an accumulation of cash that was well vested in New York +State stock, and which promised well for the future. I say a "special" +minority; for both my father and grandfather, in placing, the one, +myself and a portion of the property, and the other the remainder of my +estate, under the guardianship and ward of my uncle, had made a +provision that I was not to come into possession until I had completed +my twenty-fifth year. + +I left college at twenty; and my uncle Ro, for so Martha and myself +always called him, and so he was always called by some twenty cousins, +the offspring of our three aunts;--but my uncle Ro, when I was done with +college, proposed to finish my education by travelling. As this was only +too agreeable to a young man, away we went, just after the pressure of +the great panic of 1836-7 was over, and our "lots" were in tolerable +security, and our stocks safe. In America it requires almost as much +vigilance to _take care_ of property, as it does industry to acquire it. + +Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage--by the way, I bore the same name, though I +was always called Hugh, while my uncle went by the different +appellations of Roger, Ro, and Hodge, among his familiars, as +circumstances had rendered the associations sentimental, affectionate, +or manly--Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, Senior, then, had a system of his +own, in the way of aiding the scales to fall from American eyes, by +means of seeing more clearly than one does, or can, at home, let him +belong where he may, and in clearing the specks of provincialism from +off the diamond of republican water. He had already seen enough to +ascertain that while "our country," as this blessed nation is very apt +on all occasions, appropriate or not, to be called by all who belong to +it, as well as by a good many who do not, could teach a great deal to +the old world, there was a possibility--just a _possibility_, remark, is +my word--that it might also learn a little. With a view, therefore, of +acquiring knowledge seriatim, as it might be, he was for beginning with +the hornbook, and going on regularly up to the belles-lettres and +mathematics. The manner in which this was effected deserves a notice. + +Most American travellers land in England, the country farthest advanced +in material civilization; then proceed to Italy, and perhaps to Greece, +leaving Germany, and the less attractive regions of the north, to come +in at the end of the chapter. My uncle's theory was to follow the order +of time, and to begin with the ancients and end with the moderns; +though, in adopting such a rule, he admitted he somewhat lessened the +pleasure of the novice; since an American, fresh from the fresher fields +of the western continent, might very well find delight in memorials of +the past, more especially in England, which pall on his taste, and +appear insignificant, after he has become familiar with the Temple of +Neptune, the Parthenon, or what is left of it, and the Coliseum. I make +no doubt that I lost a great deal of passing happiness in this way, by +beginning at the beginning, or by beginning in Italy, and travelling +north. + +Such was our course, however; and, landing at Leghorn, we did the +peninsula effectually in a twelvemonth; thence passed through Spain up +to Paris, and proceeded on to Moscow and the Baltic, reaching England +from Hamburg. When we had got through with the British isles, the +antiquities of which seemed flat and uninteresting to me, after having +seen those that were so much more _antique_, we returned to Paris, in +order that I might become a man of the world, if possible, by rubbing +off the provincial specks that had unavoidably adhered to the American +diamond while in its obscurity. + +My uncle Ro was fond of Paris, and he had actually become the owner of a +small hotel in the faubourg, in which he retained a handsome furnished +apartment for his own use. The remainder of the house was let to +permanent tenants; but the whole of the first floor, and of the +_entresol_, remained in his hands. As a special favour, he would allow +some American family to occupy even his own apartment--or rather +_appartement_, for the words are not exactly synonymous--when he +intended to be absent for a term exceeding six months, using the money +thus obtained in keeping the furniture in repair, and his handsome suite +of rooms, including a _salon_, _salle à manger_, _ante-chambre_, +_cabinet_, several _chambres à coucher_, and a _boudoir_--yes, a male +_boudoir_! for so he affected to call it--in a condition to please even +his fastidiousness. + +On our arrival from England, we remained an entire season at Paris, all +that time rubbing the specks off the diamond, when my uncle suddenly +took it into his head that we ought to see the East. He had never been +further than Greece, himself; and he now took a fancy to be my companion +in such an excursion. We were gone two years and a half, visiting +Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Petra, the Red Sea, +Egypt quite to the second cataracts, and nearly the whole of Barbary. +The latter region we threw in, by way of seeing something out of the +common track. But so many hats and travelling-caps are to be met with, +now-a-days, among the turbans, that a well-mannered Christian may get +along almost anywhere without being spit upon. This is a great +inducement for travelling generally, and ought to be so especially to an +American, who, on the whole, incurs rather more risk now of suffering +this humiliation at home, than he would even in Algiers. But the animus +is everything in morals. + +We had, then, been absent two years and a half from Paris, and had not +seen a paper or received a letter from America in eighteen months, when +we drove through the barrier. Even the letters and papers received or +seen previously to this last term, were of a private nature, and +contained nothing of a general character. The "twenty millions"--it was +only the other day they were called the "twelve millions"--but, the +"twenty millions," we knew, had been looking up amazingly after the +temporary depression of the moneyed crisis it had gone through; and the +bankers had paid our drafts with confidence, and without extra charges, +during the whole time we had been absent. It is true, Uncle Ro, as an +experienced traveller, went well fortified in the way of credit--a +precaution by no means unnecessary with Americans, after the cry that +had been raised against us in the old world. + +And here I wish to say one thing plainly, before I write another line. +As for falling into the narrow, self-adulatory, provincial feeling of +the American who has never left his mother's apron-string, and which +causes him to swallow, open-mouthed, all the nonsense that is uttered to +the world in the columns of newspapers, or in the pages of your yearling +travellers, who go on "excursions" before they are half instructed in +the social usages and the distinctive features of their own country, I +hope I shall be just as far removed from such a weakness, in any passing +remark that may flow from my pen, as from the crime of confounding +principles and denying facts in a way to do discredit to the land of my +birth and that of my ancestors. I have lived long enough in the "world," +not meaning thereby the south-east corner of the north-west township of +Connecticut, to understand that we are a vast way behind older nations, +in _thought_ as well as deed, in many things; while, on the opposite +hand, they are a vast way behind us in others. I see no patriotism in +concealing a wholesome truth; and least of all shall I be influenced by +the puerility of a desire to hide anything of this nature, because I +cannot communicate it to my countrymen without communicating it to the +rest of the world. If England or France had acted on this narrow +principle, where would have been their Shakspeares, their Sheridans, +their Beaumonts and Fletchers, and their Molieres! No, no! great +national truths are not to be treated as the gossiping surmises of +village crones. He who reads what I _write_, therefore, must expect to +find what I _think_ of matters and things, and not exactly what he may +happen to think on the same subjects. Any one is at liberty to compare +opinions with me; but I ask the privilege of possessing some small +liberty of conscience in what is, far and near, proclaimed to be the +_only_ free country on the earth. By "far and near," I mean from the St. +Croix to the Rio Grande, and from Cape Cod to the entrance of St. Juan +de Fuca; and a pretty farm it makes, the "interval" that lies between +these limits! One may call it "far and near" without the imputation of +obscurity, or that of vanity. + +Our tour was completed, in spite of all annoyances; and here we were +again, within the walls of magnificent Paris! The postilions had been +told to drive to the hotel, in the rue St. Dominique; and we sat down to +dinner, an hour after our arrival, under our own roof. My uncle's tenant +had left the apartment a month before, according to agreement; and the +porter and his wife had engaged a cook, set the rooms in order, and +prepared everything for our arrival. + +"It must be owned, Hugh," said my uncle, as he finished his soup that +day, "one _may_ live quite comfortably in Paris, if he possess the +_savoir vivre_. Nevertheless, I have a strong desire to get a taste of +native air. One may say and think what he pleases about the Paris +pleasures, and the Paris _cuisine_, and all that sort of things; but +"home is home, be it ever so homely." A 'd'Inde aux truffes' is capital +eating; so is a turkey with cranberry sauce. I sometimes think I could +fancy even a pumpkin pie, though there is not a fragment of the rock of +Plymouth in the granite of my frame." + +"I have always told you, sir, that America is a capital eating and +drinking country, let it want civilization in other matters, as much as +it may." + +"Capital for eating and drinking, Hugh, if you can keep clear of the +grease, in the first place, and find a real cook, in the second. There +is as much difference between the cookery of New England, for instance, +and that of the Middle States, barring the Dutch, as there is between +that of England and Germany. The cookery of the Middle States, and of +the Southern States, too, though that savours a little of the West +Indies--but the cookery of the Middle States is English, in its best +sense; meaning the hearty, substantial, savoury dishes of the English in +their true domestic life, with their roast-beef underdone, their +beefsteaks done to a turn, their chops full of gravy, their +mutton-broth, legs-of-mutton, _et id omne genus_. We have some capital +things of our own, too; such as canvass-backs, reedbirds, sheepshead, +shad, and blackfish. The difference between New England and the Middle +States is still quite observable, though in my younger days it was +_patent_. I suppose the cause has been the more provincial origin, and +the more provincial habits, of our neighbours. By George! Hugh, one +could fancy clam-soup just now, eh!" + +"Clam-soup, sir, well made, is one of the most delicious soups in the +world. If the cooks of Paris could get hold of the dish, it would set +them up for a whole season." + +"What is 'crême de Bavière,' and all such nick-nacks, boy, to a good +plateful of clam-soup? Well made, as you say--made as a cook of Jennings +used to make it, thirty years since. Did I ever mention that fellow's +soup to you before, Hugh?" + +"Often, sir. I have tasted very excellent clam-soup, however, that he +never saw. Of course you mean soup just flavoured by the little +hard-clam--none of your vulgar _potage_ à la soft-clam?" + +"Soft-clams be hanged! they are not made for gentlemen to eat. Of course +I mean the hard-clam, and the small clam, too-- + + Here's your fine clams, + As white as snow; + On Rockaway + These clams do grow. + +The cries of New York are quite going out, like everything else at home +that is twenty years old. Shall I send you some of this eternal _poulet +à la Marengo?_ I wish it were honest American boiled fowl, with a +delicate bit of shoat-pork alongside of it. I feel amazingly _homeish_ +this evening, Hugh!" + +"It is quite natural, my dear uncle Ro; and I own to the 'soft +impeachment' myself. Here have we both been absent from our native land +five years, and half that time almost without hearing from it. We know +that Jacob"--this was a free negro who served my uncle, a relic of the +old domestic system of the colonies, whose name would have been Jaaf, or +Yop, thirty years before--"has gone to our banker's for letters and +papers; and that naturally draws our thoughts to the other side of the +Atlantic. I dare say we shall both feel relieved at breakfast to-morrow, +when we shall have read our respective despatches." + +"Come, let us take a glass of wine together, in the good old York +fashion, Hugh. Your father and I, when boys, never thought of wetting +our lips with the half-glass of Madeira that fell to our share, without +saying, 'Good health, Mall!' 'Good health, Hodge!'" + +"With all my heart, uncle Ro. The custom was getting to be a little +obsolete even before I left home; but it is almost an American custom, +by sticking to us longer than to most people." + +"Henri!" + +This was my uncle's maitre d'hotel, whom he had kept at board-wages the +whole time of our absence, in order to make sure of his ease, quiet, +taste, skill, and honesty, on his return. + +"Monsieur!" + +"I dare say"--my uncle spoke French exceedingly well for a foreigner; +but it is better to translate what he said as we go--"I dare say this +glass of vin de Bourgogne is very good; it _looks_ good, and it came +from a wine-merchant on whom I can rely; but Mons. Hugh and I are going +to drink together, à l'Amèricaine, and I dare say you will let us have a +glass of Madeira, though it is somewhat late in the dinner to take it." + +"Tres volontiers, Messieurs--it is my happiness to oblige you." + +Uncle Ro and I took the Madeira together; but I cannot say much in +favour of its quality. + +"What a capital thing is a good Newtown pippin!" exclaimed my uncle, +after eating a while in silence. "They talk a great deal about their +_poire beurrée_, here at Paris; but, to my fancy, it will not compare +with the Newtowners we grow at Satanstoe, where, by the way, the fruit +is rather better, I think, than that one finds across the river, at +Newtown itself." + +"They are capital apples, sir; and your orchard at Satanstoe is one of +the best I know, or rather what is left of it; for I believe a portion +of your trees are in what is now a suburb of Dibbletonborough?" + +"Yes, blast that place! I wish I had never parted with a foot of the old +neck, though I did rather make money by the sale. But money is no +compensation for the affections." + +"_Rather_ make money, my dear sir! Pray, may I ask what Satanstoe was +valued at, when you got it from my grandfather?" + +"Pretty well up, Hugh; for it was, and indeed _is_, a first-rate farm. +Including sedges and salt-meadows, you will remember that there are +quite five hundred acres of it, altogether." + +"Which you inherited in 1829?" + +"Of course; that was the year of my father's death. Why, the place was +thought to be worth about thirty thousand dollars at that time; but land +was rather low in Westchester in 1829." + +"And you sold two hundred acres, including the point, the harbour, and a +good deal of the sedges, for the moderate modicum of one hundred and ten +thousand, cash. A tolerable sale, sir!" + +"No, not cash. I got only eighty thousand down, while thirty thousand +were secured by mortgage." + +"Which mortgage you hold yet, I dare say, if the truth were told, +covering the whole city of Dibbletonborough. A city ought to be good +security for thirty thousand dollars?" + +"It is not, nevertheless, in this case. The speculators who bought of me +in 1835 laid out their town, built a hotel, a wharf, and a warehouse, +and then had an auction. They sold four hundred lots, each twenty-five +feet by a hundred, regulation size, you see, at an average of two +hundred and fifty dollars, receiving one-half, or fifty thousand +dollars, down, and leaving the balance on mortgage. Soon after this, the +bubble burst, and the best lot at Dibbletonborough would not bring, +under the hammer, twenty dollars. The hotel and the warehouse stand +alone in their glory, and will thus stand until they fall, which will +not be a thousand years hence, I rather think." + +"And what is the condition of the town-plot?" + +"Bad enough. The landmarks are disappearing; and it would cost any man +who should attempt it, the value of his lot, to hire a surveyor to find +his twenty-five by a hundred." + +"But your mortgage is good?" + +"Ay, good in one sense; but it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer to +foreclose it. Why, the equitable interests in that town-plot, people the +place of themselves. I ordered my agent to commence buying up the +rights, as the shortest process of getting rid of them; and he told me +in the very last letter I received, that he had succeeded in purchasing +the titles to three hundred and seventeen of the lots, at an average +price of ten dollars. The remainder, I suppose, will have to be +absorbed." + +"Absorbed! That is a process I never heard of, as applied to land." + +"There is a good deal of it done, notwithstanding, in America. It is +merely including within your own possession, adjacent land for which no +claimant appears. What can I do? No owners are to be found; and then my +mortgage is always a title. A possession of twenty years under a +mortgage is as good as a deed in fee-simple, with full covenants of +warranty, barring minors and _femmes covert_." + +"You did better by Lilacsbush?" + +"Ah, _that_ was a clean transaction, and has left no drawbacks. +Lilacsbush being on the island of Manhattan, one is sure there will be a +town there, some day or other. It is true, the property lies quite eight +miles from the City Hall; nevertheless, it has a value, and can always +be sold at something near it. Then the plan of New York is made and +recorded, and one can find his lots. Nor can any man say when the town +will not reach Kingsbridge." + +"You got a round price for the Bush, too, I have heard, sir?" + +"I got three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, in hard cash. I +would give no credit, and have every dollar of the money, at this +moment, in good six per cent. stock of the States of New York and Ohio." + +"Which some persons in this part of the world would fancy to be no very +secure investment." + +"More fools they. America is a glorious country, after all, Hugh; and it +is a pride and a satisfaction to belong to it. Look back at it, as I +can remember it, a nation spit upon by all the rest of Christendom----" + +"You must at least own, my dear sir," I put in, somewhat pertly, +perhaps, "the example might tempt other people; for, if ever there was a +nation that is assiduously spitting on itself, it is our own beloved +land." + +"True, it has that nasty custom in excess, and it grows worse instead of +better, as the influence of the better mannered and better educated +diminishes; but this is a spot on the sun--a mere flaw in the diamond, +that friction will take out. But what a country--what a glorious +country, in truth, it is! You have now done the civilized parts of the +old world pretty thoroughly, my dear boy, and must be persuaded, +yourself, of the superiority of your native land." + +"I remember you have always used this language, uncle Ro; yet have you +passed nearly one-half of your time _out_ of that glorious country, +since you have reached man's estate." + +"The mere consequence of accidents and tastes. I do not mean that +America is a country for a bachelor, to begin with; the means of +amusement for those who have no domestic hearths, are too limited for +the bachelor. Nor do I mean that society in America, in its ordinary +meaning, is in any way as well-ordered, as tasteful, as well-mannered, +as agreeable, or as instructive and useful, as society in almost any +European country I know. I have never supposed that the man of leisure, +apart from the affections, could ever enjoy himself half as much at +home, as he may enjoy himself in this part of the world; and I am +willing to admit that, intellectually, most gentlemen in a great +European capital live as much in one day, as they would live in a week +in such places as New York, and Philadelphia, and Baltimore." + +"You do not include Boston, I perceive, sir." + +"Of Boston I say nothing. They take the mind hard, there, and we had +better let such a state of things alone. But as respects a man or woman +of leisure, a man or woman of taste, a man or woman of refinement +generally, I am willing enough to admit that, _cæteris paribus_, each +can find far more enjoyment in Europe than in America. But the +philosopher, the philanthropist, the political economist--in a word, +the patriot, may well exult in such elements of profound national +superiority as may be found in America." + +"I hope these elements are not so profound but they can be dug up at +need, uncle Ro?" + +"There will be little difficulty in doing that, my boy. Look at the +equality of the laws, to begin with. They are made on the principles of +natural justice, and are intended for the benefit of society--for the +poor as well as the rich." + +"Are they also intended for the rich as well as the poor?" + +"Well, I will grant you a slight blemish is beginning to appear, in that +particular. It is a failing incidental to humanity, and we must not +expect perfection. There is certainly a slight disposition to legislate +for numbers, in order to obtain support at the polls, which has made the +relation of debtor and creditor a little insecure, possibly; but +prudence can easily get along with that. It is erring on the right side, +is it not, to favour the poor instead of the rich, if either is to be +preferred?" + +"Justice would favour neither, but treat all alike. I have always heard +that the tyranny of numbers was the worst tyranny in the world." + +"Perhaps it is, where there is actually tyranny, and for a very obvious +reason. One tyrant is sooner satisfied than a million, and has even a +greater sense of responsibility. I can easily conceive that the Czar +himself, if disposed to be a tyrant, which I am far from thinking to be +the case with Nicholas, might hesitate about doing that, under his +undivided responsibility, which one of our majorities would do, without +even being conscious of the oppression it exercised, or caring at all +about it. But, on the whole, we do little of the last, and not in the +least enough to counterbalance the immense advantages of the system." + +"I have heard very discreet men say that the worst symptom of our system +is the gradual decay of justice among us. The judges have lost most of +their influence, and the jurors are getting to be law-makers, as well as +law-breakers." + +"There is a good deal of truth in that, I will acknowledge, also; and +you hear it asked constantly, in a case of any interest, not which party +is in the right, but _who_ is on the jury. But I contend for no +perfection; all I say is, that the country is a glorious country, and +that you and I have every reason to be proud that old Hugh Roger, our +predecessor and namesake, saw fit to transplant himself into it, a +century and a half since." + +"I dare say now, uncle Ro, it would strike most Europeans as singular that +a man should be proud of having been born an American--Manhattanese, as +you and I both were." + +"All that may be true, for there have been calculated attempts to bring +us into discredit of late, by harping on the failure of certain States +to pay the interest on their debts. But all that is easily answered, and +more so by you and me as New Yorkers. There is not a nation in Europe +that would pay its interest, if those who are taxed to do so had the +control of these taxes, and the power to say whether they were to be +levied or not." + +"I do not see how that mends the matter. These countries tell us that +such is the effect of your _system_ there, while we are too honest to +allow such a system to _exist_ in this part of the world." + +"Pooh! all gammon, that. They prevent the existence of our system for +very different reasons, and they coerce the payment of the interest on +their debts that they may borrow more. This business of repudiation, as +it is called, however, has been miserably misrepresented; and there is +no answering a falsehood by an argument. No American State has +repudiated its debt, that I know of, though several have been unable to +meet their engagements as they have fallen due." + +"_Unable_, uncle Ro?" + +"Yes, _unable_--that is the precise word. Take Pennsylvania, for +instance; that is one of the richest communities in the civilized world; +its coal and iron alone would make any country affluent, and a portion +of its agricultural population is one of the most affluent I know of. +Nevertheless, Pennsylvania, owing to a concurrence of events, _could_ +not pay the interest on her debt for two years and a half, though she is +doing it now, and will doubtless continue to do it. The sudden breaking +down of that colossal moneyed institution, the _soi-disant_ Bank of the +United States, after it ceased to be in reality a bank of the +government, brought about such a state of the circulation as rendered +payment, by any of the ordinary means known to government, _impossible_. +I know what I say, and repeat _impossible_. It is well known that many +persons, accustomed to affluence, had to carry their plate to the mint, +in order to obtain money to go to market. Then something may be +attributed to the institutions, without disparaging a people's honesty. +Our institutions are popular, just as those of France are the reverse; +and the people, they who were on the spot--the home creditor, with his +account unpaid, and with his friends and relatives in the legislature, +and present to aid him, contended for his own money, before any should +be sent abroad." + +"Was that exactly right, sir?" + +"Certainly not; it was exactly wrong, but very particularly natural. Do +you suppose the King of France would not take the money for his civil +list, if circumstances should compel the country to suspend on the debt +for a year or two, or the ministers their salaries? My word for it, each +and all of them would prefer themselves as creditors, and act +accordingly. Every one of these countries has suspended in some form or +other, and in many instances balanced the account with the sponge. Their +clamour against us is altogether calculated with a view to political +effect." + +"Still, I wish Pennsylvania, for instance, had continued to pay, at +every hazard." + +"It is well enough to wish, Hugh; but it is wishing for an +impossibility. Then you and I, as New Yorkers, have nothing to do with +the debt of Pennsylvania, no more than London would have to do with the +debt of Dublin or Quebec. _We_ have always paid _our_ interest, and, +what is more, paid it more honestly, if honesty be the point, than even +England has paid hers. When _our_ banks suspended, the State paid its +interest in as much paper as would buy the specie in open market; +whereas England made paper legal tender, and paid the interest on her +debt in it for something like five-and-twenty years, and, that, too, +when her paper was at a large discount. I knew of one American who held +near a million of dollars in the English debt, on which he had to take +unconvertible paper for the interest for a long series of years. No, no! +this is all gammon, Hugh, and is not to be regarded as making us a whit +worse than our neighbours. The equality of our laws is the fact in +which I glory!" + +"If the rich stood as fair a chance as the poor, uncle Ro." + +"There _is_ a screw loose there, I must confess; but it amounts to no +great matter." + +"Then the late bankrupt law?" + +"Ay, that was an infernal procedure--that much I will acknowledge, too. +It was special legislation enacted to pay particular debts, and the law +was repealed as soon as it had done its duty. That is a much darker spot +in our history than what is called repudiation, though perfectly honest +men voted for it." + +"Did you ever hear of a farce they got up about it at New York, just +after we sailed?" + +"Never; what was it, Hugh? though American plays are pretty much all +farces." + +"This was a little better than common, and, on the whole, really clever. +It is the old story of Faust, in which a young spendthrift sells +himself, soul and body, to the devil. On a certain evening, as he is +making merry with a set of wild companions, his creditor arrives, and, +insisting on seeing the master, is admitted by the servant. He comes on, +club-footed and behorned, as usual, and betailed, too, I believe; but +Tom is not to be scared by trifles. He insists on his guest's being +seated, on his taking a glass of wine, and then on Dick's finishing his +song. But, though the rest of the company had signed no bonds to Satan, +they had certain outstanding book-debts, which made them excessively +uncomfortable; and the odour of brimstone being rather strong, Tom +arose, approached his guest, and desired to know the nature of the +particular business he had mentioned to his servant. 'This bond, sir,' +said Satan, significantly. 'This bond? what of it, pray? It seems all +right.' 'Is not that your signature?' 'I admit it.' 'Signed in your +blood?' 'A conceit of your own; I told you at the time that ink was just +as good in law.' 'It is past due, seven minutes and fourteen seconds.' +'So it is, I declare! but what of that?' 'I demand payment.' 'Nonsense! +no one thinks of paying now-a-days. Why, even Pennsylvania and Maryland +don't pay.' 'I insist on payment.' 'Oh! you do, do you?' Tom draws a +paper from his pocket, and adds, magnificently, 'There, then, if you're +so urgent--there is a discharge under the new bankrupt law, signed Smith +Thompson.' This knocked the devil into a cocked-hat at once." + +My uncle laughed heartily at my story; but, instead of taking the matter +as I had fancied he might, it made him think better of the country than +ever. + +"Well, Hugh, we have wit among us, it must be confessed," he cried, with +the tears running down his cheeks, "if we have some rascally laws, and +some rascals to administer them. But here comes Jacob with his letters +and papers--I declare, the fellow has a large basket-full." + +Jacob, a highly respectable black, and the great-grandson of an old +negro named Jaaf, or Yop, who was then living on my own estate at +Ravensnest, had just then entered, with the porter and himself lugging +in the basket in question. There were several hundred newspapers, and +quite a hundred letters. The sight brought home and America clearly and +vividly before us; and, having nearly finished the dessert, we rose to +look at the packages. It was no small task to sort our mail, there being +so many letters and packages to be divided. + +"Here are some newspapers I never saw before," said my uncle, as he +tumbled over the pile; "'The Guardian of the Soil'--that must have +something to do with Oregon." + +"I dare say it has, sir. Here are at least a dozen letters from my +sister." + +"Ay, _your_ sister is single, and can still think of her brother; but +mine are married, and one letter a-year would be a great deal. This is +my dear old mother's hand, however; that is something. Ursula Malbone +would never forget her child. Well, _bon soir_, Hugh. Each of us has +enough to do for one evening." + +"_Au revoir_, sir. We shall meet at ten to-morrow, when we can compare +our news, and exchange gossip." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd 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 à 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 +four-score; 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 newcomers of my day, who had +appeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odours +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 allusion, 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 for ever, reserving an 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 +neighbourhood, 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 danger themselves. In order that you may not only understand me, +but may understand facts that are of the last importance to your own +pocket, 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 entrusted 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 favour 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 over-ruling 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 clamour, 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 favourable view of humanity, sir." + +"I speak of the world as I have found it in both hemispheres, or, as +your neighbour 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 colour 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 debts 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 afterwards. 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 guarantied _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 recognise 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 favourable 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 for ever: 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 for ever. 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, either +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 is 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, has occurred on the +Livingston property, in Hardenberg--in short, in eight or ten counties +of the State. Even among the _bonâ 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 half a +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 recognise either. I have seen ministers of the +gospel just as dogged, just as regardless of general morality, and just +as indifferent 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 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 guarantied 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 in 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 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 interests; 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 +favourable 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 some new estate, 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 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 honourable 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 +honoured 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. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "O, when shall I visit the land of my birth, + The loveliest land on the face of the earth? + When shall I those scenes of affection explore, + Our forests, our fountains, + Our hamlets, our mountains, + With the pride of our mountains, the maid I adore?" + + MONTGOMERY. + + +It was truly news for an American, who had been so long cut off from +intelligence from home, thus suddenly to be told that some of the scenes +of the middle ages--scenes connected with real wrongs and gross abuses +of human rights--were about to be enacted in his own land; that country +which boasted itself, not only to be the asylum of the oppressed, but +the conservator of the right. I was grieved at what I had heard, for, +during my travels, I had cherished a much-loved image of justice and +political excellence, that I now began to fear must be abandoned. My +uncle and myself decided at once to return home, a step that indeed was +required by prudence. I was now of an age to enter into the full +possession of my own property (so far as "new laws and new lords" would +permit); and the letters received by my late guardian, as well as +certain newspapers, communicated the unpleasant fact that a great many +of the tenants of Ravensnest had joined the association, paid tribute +for the support of "Injins," and were getting to be as bad as any of the +rest of them, so far as designs and schemes to plunder were concerned, +though they still paid their rents. The latter circumstance was ascribed +by our agent to the fact that many leases were about to fall in, and it +would be in my power to substitute more honest and better disposed +successors for the present occupants of the several farms. Measures were +taken accordingly for quitting Paris as soon as possible, so that we +might reach home late in the month of May. + +"If we had time, I would certainly throw in a memorial or two to the +legislature," observed my uncle, a day or two before we proceeded to +Havre to join the packet. "I have a strong desire to protest against the +invasion of my rights as a freeman that is connected with some of their +contemplated laws. I do not at all like the idea of being abridged of +the power of hiring a farm for the longest time I can obtain it, which +is one of the projects of some of the ultra reformers of free and equal +New York. It is wonderful, Hugh, into what follies men precipitate +themselves as soon as they begin to run into exaggerations, whether of +politics, religion, or tastes. Here are half of the exquisite +philanthropists who see a great evil affecting the rights of human +nature in one man's hiring a farm from another for as long a term as he +can obtain it, who are at the very extreme in their opinions on free +trade! So free-trade are some of the journals which think it a capital +thing to prevent landlords and tenants from making their own bargains, +that they have actually derided the idea of having established fares for +hackney-coaches, but that it would be better to let the parties stand in +the rain and higgle about the price, on the free-trade principle. Some +of these men are either active agents in stimulating the legislature to +rob the citizen of this very simple control of his property, or passive +lookers-on while others do it." + +"Votes, sir, votes." + +"It is, indeed, votes, sir, votes; nothing short of votes could +reconcile these men to their own inconsistencies. As for yourself, Hugh, +it might be well to get rid of that canopied pew----" + +"Of what canopied pew? I am sure I do not understand you." + +"Do you forget that the family-pew in St. Andrew's Church, at +Ravensnest, has a wooden canopy over it--a relic of our colonial +opinions and usages?" + +"Now you mention it, I do remember a very clumsy, and, to own the truth, +a very ugly thing, that I have always supposed was placed there, by +those who built the church, by way of ornament." + +"That ugly thing, by way of ornament, was intended for a sort of canopy, +and was by no means an uncommon distinction in the State and colony, as +recently as the close of the last century. The church was built at the +expense of my grandfather, Gen. Littlepage, and his bosom friend and +kinsman, Col. Dirck Follock, both good Whigs and gallant defenders of +the liberty of their country. They thought it proper that the +Littlepages should have a canopied pew, and that is the state in which +they caused the building to be presented to my father. The old work +still stands; and Dunning writes me that, among the other arguments used +against your interests, is the fact that your pew is thus distinguished +from those of the rest of the congregation." + +"It is a distinction no man would envy me, could it be known that I have +ever thought the clumsy, ill-shaped thing a nuisance, and detestable as +an ornament. I have never even associated it in my mind with personal +distinction, but have always supposed it was erected with a view to +embellish the building, and placed over our pew as the spot where such +an excrescence would excite the least envy." + +"In all that, with one exception, you have judged quite naturally. Forty +years ago, such a thing might have been done, and a majority of the +parishioners would have seen in it nothing out of place. But that day +has gone by; and you will discover that, on your own estate, and in the +very things created by your family and yourself, you will actually have +fewer rights of any sort, beyond those your money will purchase, than +any man around you. The simple fact that St. Andrew's Church was built +by your great-grandfather, and by him presented to the congregation, +will diminish your claim to have a voice in its affairs with many of the +congregation." + +"This is so extraordinary, that I musk ask the reason." + +"The reason is connected with a principle so obviously belonging to +human nature generally, and to American nature in particular, that I +wonder you ask it. It is envy. Did that pew belong to the Newcomes, for +instance, no one would think anything of it." + +"Nevertheless, the Newcomes would make themselves ridiculous by sitting +in a pew that was distinguished from those of their neighbours. The +absurdity of the contrast would strike every one." + +"And it is precisely because the absurdity does not exist in your case, +that your seat is envied. No one envies absurdity. However, you will +readily admit, Hugh, that a church, and a church-yard, are the two last +places in which human distinctions ought to be exhibited. All are equal +in the eyes of Him we go to the one to worship, and all are equal in the +grave. I have ever been averse to everything like worldly distinction in +a congregation, and admire the usage of the Romish Church in even +dispensing with pews altogether. Monuments speak to the world, and have +a general connexion with history, so that they may be tolerated to a +certain point, though notorious liars." + +"I agree with you, sir, as to the unfitness of a church for all +distinctions, and shall be happy on every account to get rid of my +canopy, though that has an historical connexion, also. I am quite +innocent of any feeling of pride while sitting under it, though I will +confess to some of shame at its quizzical shape, when I see it has +attracted the eyes of intelligent strangers." + +"It is but natural that you should feel thus; for, while we may miss +distinctions and luxuries to which we have ever been accustomed, they +rarely excite pride in the possessor, even while they awaken envy in the +looker-on." + +"Nevertheless, I cannot see what the old pew has to do with the rents, +or my legal rights." + +"When a cause is bad, everything is pressed into it that it is believed +may serve a turn. No man who had a good legal claim for property, would +ever think of urging any other; nor would any legislator who had sound +and sufficient reasons for his measures--reasons that could properly +justify him before God and man for his laws--have recourse to slang to +sustain him. If these anti-renters were right, they would have no need +of secret combinations, of disguises, blood-and-thunder names, and +special agents in the legislature of the land. The right requires no +false aid to make it appear the right; but the wrong must get such +support as it can press into its service. Your pew is called +aristocratic, though it confers no political power; it is called a +patent of nobility, though it neither gives nor takes away; and it is +hated, and you with it, for the very reason that you can sit in it and +not make yourself ridiculous. I suppose you have not examined very +closely the papers I gave you to read?" + +"Enough so to ascertain that they are filled with trash." + +"Worse than trash, Hugh; with some of the loosest principles, and most +atrocious feelings, that degrade poor human nature. Some of the +reformers propose that no man shall hold more than a thousand acres of +land, while others lay down the very intelligible and distinct principle +that no man ought to hold more than he can use. Even petitions to that +effect, I have been told, have been sent to the legislature." + +"Which has taken care not to allude to their purport, either in debate +or otherwise, as I see nothing to that effect in the reports." + +"Ay, I dare say the slang-whangers of those honourable bodies will +studiously keep all such enormities out of sight, as some of them +doubtless hope to step into the shoes of the present landlords, as soon +as they can get the feet out of them which are now in. But these are the +projects and the petitions in the columns of the journals, and they +speak for themselves. Among other things, they say it is nobility to be +a landlord." + +"I see by the letter of Mr. Dunning, that they have petitioned the +legislature to order an inquiry into my title. Now, we hold from the +crown----" + +"So much the worse, Hugh. Faugh! hold from a crown in a republican +country! I am amazed you are not ashamed to own it. Do you not know, +boy, that it has been gravely contended in a court of justice that, in +obtaining our national independence from the King of Great Britain, the +people conquered all his previous grants, which ought to be declared +void and of none effect?" + +"That is an absurdity of which I had not heard," I answered, laughing; +"why, the people of New York, who held all their lands under the crown, +would in that case have been conquering them for other persons! My good +grandfather and great-grandfather, both of whom actually fought and bled +in the revolution, must have been very silly thus to expose themselves +to take away their own estates, in order to give them to a set of +immigrants from New England and other parts of the world!" + +"Quite justly said, Hugh," added my uncle, joining in the laugh. "Nor is +this half of the argument. The State, too, in its corporate character, +has been playing swindler all this time. You may not know the fact, but +I as your guardian do know, that the quit-rents reserved by the crown +when it granted the lands of Mooseridge and Ravensnest, were claimed by +the State; and that, wanting money to save the people from taxes, it +commuted with us, receiving a certain gross sum in satisfaction of all +future claims." + +"Ay, _that_ I did not know. Can the fact be shown?" + +"Certainly--it is well known to all old fellows like myself, for it was +a very general measure, and very generally entered into by all the +landholders. In our case, the receipts are still to be found among the +family-papers. In the cases of the older estates, such as those of the +Van Rensselaers, the equity is still stronger in their favour, since the +conditions to hold the land included an obligation to bring so many +settlers from Europe within a given time; conditions that were fulfilled +at great cost, as you may suppose, and on which, in truth, the colony +had its foundation." + +"How much it tells against a people's honesty to wish to forget such +facts, in a case like this!" + +"There is nothing forgotten, for the facts were probably never known to +those who prate about the conquered rights from the crown. As you say, +however, the civilization of a community is to be measured by its +consciousness of the existence of all principles of justice, and a +familiarity with its own history. The great bulk of the population of +New York have no active desire to invade what is right in this anti-rent +struggle, having no direct interests at stake; _their_ crime is a +passive inactivity, which allows those who are either working for +political advancement, or those who are working to obtain other men's +property, to make use of them, through their own laws." + +"But is it not an embarrassment to such a region as that directly around +Albany, to have such tenures to the land, and for so large a body of +people to be compelled to pay rent, in the very heart of the State, as +it might be, and in situations that render it desirable to leave +enterprise as unshackled as possible?" + +"I am not prepared to admit this much, even, as a general principle. One +argument used by these anti-renters is, for instance, that the +patroons, in their leases, reserved the mill-seats. Now, what if they +did? Some one must own the mill-seats; and why not the Patroon as well +as another? To give the argument any weight, not as law, not as morals, +but as mere expediency, it must be shown that the patroons would not let +these mill-seats at as low rents as any one else; and my opinion is that +they would let them at rents of not half the amount that would be asked, +were they the property of so many individuals, scattered up and down the +country. But, admitting that so large an estate of this particular sort +has some inconveniences in that particular spot, can there be two +opinions among men of integrity about the mode of getting rid of it? +Everything has its price, and, in a business sense, everything is +entitled to its price. No people acknowledge this more than the +Americans, or practise on it so extensively. Let the Rensselaers be +tempted by such offers as will induce them to sell, but do not let them +be invaded by that most infernal of all acts of oppression, special +legislation, in order to bully or frighten them from the enjoyment of +what is rightfully their own. If the State think such a description of +property injurious in its heart, let the State imitate England in her +conduct towards the slave-holders--_buy_ them out; not _tax_ them out, +and _wrong_ them out, and _annoy_ them out. But, Hugh, enough of this at +present; we shall have much more than we want of it when we get home. +Among my letters, I have one from each of my other wards." + +"'Still harping on my daughter,' sir!" I answered, laughing. "I hope +that the vivacious Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, and the meek Miss Anne +Marston, are both perfectly well?" + +"Both in excellent health, and both write charmingly. I must really let +you see the letter of Henrietta, as I do think it is quite creditable to +her: I will step into my room and get it." + +I ought to let the reader into a secret here that will have some +connexion with what is to follow. A dead-set had been made at me, +previously to leaving home, to induce me to marry either of three young +ladies--Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, Miss Anne Marston, and Miss +Opportunity Newcome. The advances in the cases of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke and Miss Anne Marston came from my uncle Ro, who, as their +guardian, had a natural interest in their making what he was pleased to +think might be a good connexion for either; while the advances on +account of Miss Opportunity Newcome came from herself. Under such +circumstances, it may be well to say who these young ladies actually +were. + +Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke was the daughter of an Englishman of good +family, and some estate, who had emigrated to America and married, under +the impulse of certain theories in politics which induced him to imagine +that this was the promised land. I remember him as a disappointed and +dissatisfied widower, who was thought to be daily growing poorer under +the consequences of indiscreet investments, and who at last got to be so +very English in his wishes and longings, as to assert that the common +Muscovy was a better bird than the canvas-back! He died, however, in +time to leave his only child an estate which, under my uncle's excellent +management, was known by me to be rather more than one hundred and +seventy-nine thousand dollars, and which produced a nett eight thousand +a-year. This made Miss Henrietta a belle at once; but, having a prudent +friend in my grandmother, as yet she had not married a beggar. I knew +that uncle Ro went quite as far as was proper, in his letters, in the +way of hints touching myself; and my dear, excellent, honest-hearted, +straightforward old grandmother had once let fall an expression, in one +of her letters to myself, which induced me to think that these hints had +actually awakened as much interest in the young lady's bosom, as could +well be connected with what was necessarily nothing but curiosity. + +Miss Anne Marston was also an heiress, but on a very diminished scale. +She had rather more than three thousand a-year in buildings in town, and +a pretty little sum of about sixteen thousand dollars laid by out of its +savings. She was not an only child, however, having two brothers, each +of whom had already received as much as the sister, and each of whom, as +is very apt to be the case with the heirs of New York merchants, was +already in a fair way of getting rid of his portion in riotous living. +Nothing does a young American so much good, under such circumstances, as +to induce him to travel. It makes or breaks at once. If a downright +fool, he is plucked by European adventurers in so short a time, that the +agony is soon over. If only vain and frivolous, because young and +ill-educated, the latter being a New York endemic, but with some +foundation of native mind, he lets his whiskers grow, becomes fuzzy +about the chin, dresses better, gets to be much better mannered, soon +loses his taste for the low and vulgar indulgences of his youth, and +comes out such a gentleman as one can only make who has entirely thrown +away the precious moments of youth. If tolerably educated in boyhood, +with capacity to build on, the chances are that the scales will fall +from his eyes very fast on landing in the old world--that his ideas and +tastes will take a new turn--that he will become what nature intended +him for, an intellectual man; and that he will finally return home, +conscious alike of the evils and blessings, the advantages and +disadvantages, of his own system and country--a wiser, and it is to be +hoped a better man. How the experiment had succeeded with the Marstons, +neither myself nor my uncle knew; for they had paid their visit while we +were in the East, and had already returned to America. As for Miss Anne, +she had a mother to take care of her mind and person, though I had +learned she was pretty, sensible and discreet. + +Miss Opportunity Newcome was a belle of Ravensnest, a village on my own +property; a rural beauty, and of rural education, virtues, manners and +habits. As Ravensnest was not particularly advanced in civilization, or, +to make use of the common language of the country, was not a very +"aristocratic place," I shall not dwell on her accomplishments, which +did well enough for Ravensnest, but would not essentially ornament my +manuscript. + +Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid, who was the son of Jason, of the +house of Newcome. In using the term "house," I adopt it understandingly; +for the family had dwelt in the same tenement, a leasehold property of +which the fee was in myself, and the dwelling had been associated with +the name of Newcome from time immemorial; that is, for about eighty +years. All that time had a Newcome been the tenant of the mill, tavern, +store and farm, that lay nearest the village of Ravensnest, or Little +Nest, as it was commonly called; and it may not be impertinent to the +moral of my narrative if I add that, for all that time, and for +something longer, had I and my ancestors been the landlords. I beg the +reader to bear this last fact in mind, as there will soon be occasion to +show that there was a strong disposition in certain persons to forget +it. + +As I have said, Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid. There was also a +brother, who was named Seneca, or Sene_ky_, as he always pronounced it +himself, the son of Ovid, the son of Jason, the first of the name at +Ravensnest. This Seneca was a lawyer, in the sense of a license granted +by the Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as by the Court of Common +Pleas, in and for the county of Washington. As there had been a sort of +hereditary education among the Newcomes for three generations, beginning +with Jason, and ending with Seneca; and, as the latter was at the bar, I +had occasionally been thrown into the society of both brother and +sister. The latter, indeed, used to be fond of visiting the Nest, as my +house was familiarly called, Ravensnest being its true name, whence +those of the "patent" and village; and as Opportunity had early +manifested a partiality for my dear old grandmother, and not less dear +young sister, who occasionally passed a few weeks with me during the +vacations, more especially in the autumns, I had many occasions of being +brought within the influence of her charms--opportunities that, I feel +bound to state, Opportunity did not neglect. I have understood that her +mother, who bore the same name, had taught Ovid the art of love by a +very similar demonstration, and had triumphed. That lady was still +living, and may be termed Opportunity the Great, while the daughter can +be styled Opportunity the Less. There was very little difference between +my own years and those of the young lady; and, as I had last passed +through the fiery ordeal at the sinister age of twenty, there was not +much danger in encountering the risk anew, now I was five years older. +But I must return to my uncle and the letter of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke. + +"Here it is, Hugh," cried my guardian, gaily; "and a capital letter it +is! I wish I could read the whole of it to you; but the two girls made +me promise never to show their letters to any one, which could mean only +you, before they would promise to write anything to me beyond +commonplaces. Now, I get their sentiments freely and naturally, and the +correspondence is a source of much pleasure to me. I think, however, I +might venture just to give you one extract." + +"You had better not, sir; there would be a sort of treachery in it, that +I confess I would rather not be accessary to. If Miss Coldbrooke do not +wish me to read what she writes, she can hardly wish that you should +read any of it to me." + +Uncle Ro glanced at me, and I fancied he seemed dissatisfied with my +_nonchalance_. He read the letter through to himself, however, laughing +here, smiling there, then muttering "capital!" "good!" "charming girl!" +"worthy of Hannah More!" &c. &c., as if just to provoke my curiosity. +But I had no desire to read "Hannah More," as any young fellow of +five-and-twenty can very well imagine, and I stood it all with the +indifference of a stoic. My guardian had to knock under, and put the +letters in his writing-desk. + +"Well, the girls will be glad to see us," he said, after a moment of +reflection, "and not a little surprised. In my very last letter to my +mother, I sent them word that we should not be home until October; and +now we shall see them as early as June, at least." + +"Patt will be delighted, I make no doubt. As for the other two young +ladies, they have so many friends and relations to care for, that I +fancy our movements give them no great concern." + +"Then you do both injustice, as their letters would prove. They take the +liveliest interest in our proceedings, and speak of my return as if they +look for it with the greatest expectation and joy." + +I made my uncle Ro a somewhat saucy answer; but fair-dealing compels me +to record it. + +"I dare say they do, sir," was my reply; "but what young lady does not +look with '_expectation_ and joy' for the return of a friend, who is +known to have a long purse, from Paris!" + +"Well, Hugh, you deserve neither of those dear girls; and, if I can help +it, you shall have neither." + +"Thank'ee, sir!" + +"Poh! this is worse than silly--it is rude. I dare say neither would +accept you, were you to offer to-morrow." + +"I trust not, sir, for her own sake. It would be a singularly palpable +demonstration were either to accept a man she barely knew, and whom she +had not seen since she was fifteen." + +Uncle Ro laughed, but I could see he was confoundedly vexed; and, as I +loved him with all my heart, though I did not love match-making, I +turned the discourse, in a pleasant way, on our approaching departure. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do, Hugh," cried my uncle, who was a good deal +of a boy in some things, for the reason, I suppose, that he was an old +bachelor; "I'll just have wrong names entered on board the packet, and +we'll surprise all our friends. Neither Jacob nor your man will betray +us, we know; and, for that matter, we can send them both home by the way +of England. Each of us has trunks in London to be looked after, and let +the two fellows go by the way of Liverpool. That is a good thought, and +occurred most happily." + +"With all my heart, sir. My fellow is of no more use to me at sea than +an automaton would be, and I shall be glad to get rid of his rueful +countenance. He is a capital servant on terrâ firma, but a perfect Niobe +on the briny main." + +The thing was agreed on; and, a day or two afterwards, both our +body-servants, that is to say, Jacob the black and Hubert the German, +were on their way to England. My uncle let his apartment again, for he +always maintained I should wish to bring my bride to pass a winter in +it; and we proceeded to Havre in a sort of incognito. There was little +danger of our being known on board the packet, and we had previously +ascertained that there was not an acquaintance of either in the ship. +There was a strong family resemblance between my uncle and myself, and +we passed for father and son in the ship, as old Mr. Davidson and young +Mr. Davidson, of Maryland--or Myr-r-land, as it is Doric to call that +state. We had no concern in this part of the deception, unless +abstaining from calling my supposed father "uncle," as one would +naturally do in strange society, can be so considered. + +The passage itself--by the way, I wish all landsmen would be as accurate +as I am here, and understand that a "voyage" means "out" and "home," or +"thence" and "back again," while a "passage" means from place to +place--but our passage was pregnant with no events worth recording. We +had the usual amount of good and bad weather, the usual amount of eating +and drinking, and the usual amount of ennui. The latter circumstance, +perhaps, contributed to the digesting of a further scheme of my uncle's, +which it is now necessary to state. + +A re-perusal of his letters and papers had induced him to think the +anti-rent movement a thing of more gravity, even than he had first +supposed. The combination on the part of the tenants, we learned also +from an intelligent New Yorker who was a fellow-passenger, extended much +further than our accounts had given us reason to believe; and it was +deemed decidedly dangerous for landlords, in many cases, to be seen on +their own estates. Insult, personal degradation, or injury, and even +death, it was thought, might be the consequences, in many cases. The +blood actually spilled had had the effect to check the more violent +demonstrations, it is true; but the latent determination to achieve +their purposes was easily to be traced among the tenants, in the face of +all their tardy professions of moderation, and a desire for nothing but +what was right. In this case, what was right was the letter and spirit +of the contracts; and nothing was plainer than the fact that these were +not what was wanted. + +Professions pass for nothing, with the experienced, when connected with +a practice that flatly contradicts them. It was only too apparent to all +who chose to look into the matter, and that by evidence which could not +mislead, that the great body of the tenants in various counties of New +York were bent on obtaining interests in their farms that were not +conveyed by their leases, without the consent of their landlords, and +insomuch that they were bent on doing that which should be +discountenanced by every honest man in the community. The very fact that +they supported, or in any manner connived at, the so-called "Injin" +system, spoke all that was necessary as to their motives; and, when we +come to consider that these "Injins" had already proceeded to the +extremity of shedding blood, it was sufficiently plain that things must +soon reach a crisis. + +My uncle Roger and myself reflected on all these matters calmly, and +decided on our course, I trust, with prudence. As that decision has +proved to be pregnant with consequences that are likely to affect my +future life, I shall now briefly give an outline of what induced us to +adopt it. + +It was all-important for us to visit Ravensnest in person, while it +might be hazardous to do so openly. The 'Nest house stood in the very +centre of the estate, and, ignorant as we were of the temper of the +tenants, it might be indiscreet to let our presence be known; and +circumstances favoured our projects of concealment. We were not expected +to reach the country at all until autumn, or "fall," as that season of +the year is poetically called in America; and this gave us the means of +reaching the property unexpectedly, and, as we hoped, undetected. Our +arrangement, then, was very simple, and will be best related in the +course of the narrative. + +The packet had a reasonably short passage, as we were twenty-nine days +from land to land. It was on a pleasant afternoon in May when the +hummock-like heights of Navesink were first seen from the deck; and, an +hour later, we came in sight of the tower-resembling sails of the +coasters which were congregating in the neighbourhood of the low point +of land that is so very appropriately called _Sandy_ Hook. The +light-houses rose out of the water soon after, and objects on the shore +of New Jersey next came gradually out of the misty back-ground, until we +got near enough to be boarded, first by the pilot, and next by the +news-boat; the first preceding the last for a wonder, news usually being +far more active, in this good republic, than watchfulness to prevent +evil. My uncle Ro gave the crew of this news-boat a thorough scrutiny, +and, finding no one on board her whom he had ever before seen, he +bargained for a passage up to town. + +We put our feet on the Battery just as the clocks of New York were +striking eight. A custom-house officer had examined our carpet-bags and +permitted them to pass, and we had disburthened ourselves of the effects +in the ship, by desiring the captain to attend to them. Each of us had a +town-house, but neither would go near his dwelling; mine being only kept +up in winter, for the use of my sister and an aunt who kindly took +charge of her during the season, while my uncle's was opened +principally for his mother. At that season, we had reason to think +neither was tenanted but by one or two old family servants; and it was +our cue also to avoid them. But "Jack Dunning," as my uncle always +called him, was rather more of a friend than of an agent; and he had a +bachelor establishment in Chamber Street that was precisely the place we +wanted. Thither, then, we proceeded, taking the route by Greenwich +Street, fearful of meeting some one in Broadway by whom we might be +recognised. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + _Cit._ "Speak, speak." + + _1 Cit._ "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?" + + _Cit._ "Resolved, resolved." + + _1 Cit._ "First you know, Caius Marcus is chief enemy to the people." + + _Cit._ "We know't, we know't." + + _1 Cit._ "Let's kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. + + Is't a verdict?" + + _Coriolanus._ + + +The most inveterate Manhattanese, if he be anything of a man of the +world, must confess that New York is, after all, but a Rag-Fair sort of +a place, so far as the eye is concerned. I was particularly struck with +this fact, even at that hour, as we went stumbling along over an +atrociously bad side-walk, my eyes never at rest, as any one can +imagine, after five years of absence. I could not help noting the +incongruities; the dwellings of marble, in close proximity with +miserable, low constructions in wood; the wretched pavements, and, above +all, the country air, of a town of near four hundred thousand souls. I +very well know that many of the defects are to be ascribed to the rapid +growth of the place, which gives it a sort of hobbledehoy look; but, +being a Manhattanese by birth, I thought I might just as well own it +all, at once, if it were only for the information of a particular +portion of my townsmen, who may have been under a certain delusion on +the subject. As for comparing the Bay of New York with that of Naples on +the score of beauty, I shall no more be guilty of any such folly, to +gratify the cockney feelings of Broadway and Bond street, than I should +be guilty of the folly of comparing the commerce of the ancient +Parthenope with that of _old_ New York, in order to excite complacency +in the bosom of some bottegajo in the Toledo, or on the Chiaja. Our +fast-growing Manhattan is a great town in its way--a wonderful +place--without a parallel, I do believe, on earth, as a proof of +enterprise and of the accumulation of business; and it is not easy to +make such a town appear ridiculous by any jibes and innuendoes that +relate to the positive things of this world, though nothing is easier +than to do it for itself by setting up to belong to the sisterhood of +such places as London, Paris, Vienna and St. Petersburg. There is too +much of the American notion of the omnipotence of numbers among us +Manhattanese, which induces us to think that the higher rank in the +scale of places is to be obtained by majorities. No, no; let us remember +the familiar axiom of "ne sutor ultra crepidum." New York is just the +queen of "business," but not yet the queen of the world. Every man who +travels ought to bring back something to the common stock of knowledge; +and I shall give a hint to my townsmen, by which I really think they may +be able to tell for themselves, as by feeling a sort of moral pulse, +when the town is rising to the level of a capital. When simplicity takes +the place of pretension, is one good rule; but, as it may require a good +deal of practice, or native taste, to ascertain this fact, I will give +another that is obvious to the senses, which will at least be strongly +symptomatic; and that is this: When _squares_ cease to be called +_parks_; when horse-bazaars and fashionable streets are not called +Tattersalls and Bond street; when _Washington_ Market is rechristened +_Bear_ Market, and Franklin and Fulton and other great philosophers and +inventors are plucked of the unmerited honours of having shambles named +after them; when _commercial_ is not used as a prefix to emporium; when +people can return from abroad without being asked "if they are +reconciled to their country," and strangers are not interrogated at the +second question, "how do you like _our city?_" then may it be believed +that the town is beginning to go alone, and that it may set up for +itself. + +Although New York is, out of all question, decidedly provincial, +labouring under the peculiar vices of provincial habits and provincial +modes of thinking, it contains many a man of the world, and some, too, +who have never quitted their own firesides. Of this very number was the +Jack Dunning, as my uncle Ro called him, to whose house in Chamber +street we were now proceeding. + +"If we were going anywhere but to Dunning's," said my uncle, as we +turned out of Greenwich street, "I should have no fear of being +recognised by the servants; for no one here thinks of keeping a man six +months. Dunning, however, is of the old school, and does not like new +faces; so he will have no Irishman at his door, as is the case with two +out of three of the houses at which one calls, now-a-days." + +In another minute we were at the bottom of Mr. Dunning's "stoup"--what +an infernal contrivance it is to get in and out at the door by, in a +hotty-cold climate like ours!--but, there we were, and I observed that +my uncle hesitated. + +"_Parlez au_ SUISSE," said I; "ten to one he is fresh from some +Bally-this, or Bally-that." + +"No, no; it must be old Garry the nigger"--my uncle Ro was of the old +school himself, and _would_ say "nigger"--"Jack can never have parted +with Garry." + +"Garry" was the diminutive of Garret, a somewhat common Dutch christian +name among us. + +We rang, and the door opened--in about five minutes. Although the terms +"aristocrat" and "aristocracy" are much in men's mouths in America just +now, as well as those of "feudal" and the "middle ages," and this, too, +as applied to modes of living as well as to leasehold tenures, there is +but one porter in the whole country; and he belongs to the White House, +at Washington. I am afraid even that personage, royal porter as he is, +is often out of the way; and the reception he gives when he _is_ there, +is not of the most brilliant and princely character. When we had waited +three minutes, my uncle Ro said-- + +"I am afraid Garry is taking a nap by the kitchen-fire; I'll try him +again." + +Uncle Ro did try again, and, two minutes later, the door opened. + +"What is your pleasure?" demanded the _Suisse_, with a strong brogue. + +My uncle started back as if he had met a sprite; but he asked if Mr. +Dunning was at home. + +"He is, indeed, sir." + +"Is he alone, or is he with company?" + +"He is, indeed." + +"But _what_ is he, indeed?" + +"He is _that_." + +"Can you take the trouble to explain which _that_ it is? Has he company, +or is he alone?" + +"Just _that_, sir. Walk in, and he'll be charmed to see you. A fine +gentleman is his honour, and pleasure it is to live with him, I'm sure!" + +"How long is it since you left Ireland, my friend?" + +"Isn't it a mighty bit, now, yer honour!" answered Barney, closing the +door. "T'irteen weeks, if it's one day." + +"Well, go ahead, and show us the way. This is a bad omen, Hugh, to find +that Jack Dunning, of all men in the country, should have changed his +servant--good, quiet, lazy, respectable, old, grey-headed Garry the +nigger--for such a bogtrotter as that fellow, who climbs those stairs as +if accustomed only to ladders." + +Dunning was in his library on the second floor, where he passed most of +his evenings. His surprise was equal to that which my uncle had just +experienced, when he saw us two standing before him. A significant +gesture, however, caused him to grasp his friend and client's hand in +silence; and nothing was said until the _Swiss_ had left the room, +although the fellow stood with the door in his hand a most inconvenient +time, just to listen to what might pass between the host and his guests. +At length we got rid of him, honest, well-meaning fellow that he was, +after all; and the door was closed. + +"My last letters have brought you home, Roger?" said Jack, the moment he +_could_ speak; for feeling, as well as caution, had something to do with +his silence. + +"They have, indeed. A great change must have come over the country, by +what I hear; and one of the very worst symptoms is that you have turned +away Garry, and got an Irishman in his place." + +"Ah! old men must die, as well as old principles, I find. My poor fellow +went off in a fit last week, and I took that Irishman as a _pis aller_. +After losing poor Garry, who was born a slave in my father's house, I +became indifferent, and accepted the first comer from the intelligence +office." + +"We must be careful, Dunning, not to give up too soon. But hear my +story, and then to other matters." + +My uncle then explained his wish to be incognito, and his motive. +Dunning listened attentively, but seemed uncertain whether to dissent or +approve. The matter was discussed briefly, and then it was postponed for +further consideration. + +"But how comes on this great moral dereliction, called anti-rentism? Is +it on the wane, or the increase?" + +"On the wane, to the eye, perhaps; but on the increase so far as +principles, the right, and facts, are concerned. The necessity of +propitiating votes is tempting politicians of all sides to lend +themselves to it; and there is imminent danger now that atrocious wrongs +will be committed under the form of law." + +"In what way _can_ the law touch an existing contract? The Supreme Court +of the United States will set that right." + +"That is the only hope of the honest, let me tell you. It is folly to +expect that a body composed of such men as usually are sent to the State +Legislature, can resist the temptation to gain power by conciliating +numbers. _That is out of the question._ Individuals of these bodies may +resist, but the tendency there will be as against the few, and in favour +of the many, bolstering their theories by clap-traps and slang political +phrases. The scheme to tax the rents, under the name of quit-rents, will +be resorted to, in the first place." + +"That will be a most iniquitous proceeding, and would justify resistance +just as much as our ancestors were justified in resisting the taxation +of Great Britain." + +"It would more so, for here we have a written covenant to render +taxation equal. The landlord already pays one tax on each of these +farms--a full and complete tax, that is reserved from the rent in the +original bargain with the tenant; and now the wish is to tax the rents +themselves; and this not to raise revenue, for that is confessedly not +wanted, but most clearly with a design to increase the inducements for +the landlords to part with their property. If that can be done, the +sales will be made on the principle that none but the tenant must be, as +indeed no one else _can_ be, the purchaser; and then we shall see a +queer exhibition--men parting with their property under the pressure of +a clamour that is backed by as much law as can be pressed into its +service, with a monopoly of price on the side of the purchaser, and all +in a country professing the most sensitive love of liberty, where the +prevailing class of politicians are free-trade men!" + +"There is no end of these inconsistencies among politicians." + +"There is no end of knavery when men submit to 'noses,' instead of +principles. Call things by their right names, Ro, as they deserve to be. +This matter is so plain, that he who runs can read." + +"But will this scheme of taxation succeed? It does not effect us, for +instance, as our leases are for three lives." + +"Oh! that is nothing; for you they contemplate a law that will forbid +the letting of land, for the future, for a period longer than five +years. Hugh's leases will soon be falling in, and then he can't make a +slave of any man for a longer period than five years." + +"Surely no one is so silly as to think of passing such a law, with a +view to put down aristocracy, and to benefit the tenant!" I cried, +laughing. + +"Ay, you may laugh, young sir," resumed Jack Dunning; "but such _is_ the +intention. I know very well what will be your course of reasoning; you +will say, the longer the lease, the better for the tenant, if the +bargain be reasonably good; and landlords cannot ask more for the use of +their lands than they are really worth in this country, there happening +to be more lands than there are men to work it. No, no; landlords rather +get less for their lands than they are worth, instead of more, for that +plain reason. To compel the tenant to take a lease, therefore, for a +term as short as five years, is to injure him, you think; to place him +more at the control of his landlord, through the little interests +connected with the cost and trouble of moving, and through the natural +desire he may possess to cut the meadows he has seeded, and to get the +full benefit of manure he has made and carted. I see how you reason, +young sir; but you are behind the age--you are sadly behind the age." + +"The age is a queer one, if I am! All over the world it is believed that +long leases are favours, or advantages, to tenants; and nothing can make +it otherwise, _cæteris paribus_. Then what good will the tax do, after +violating right and moral justice, if not positive law, to lay it? On a +hundred dollars of rent, I should have to pay some fifty-five cents of +taxes, as I am assessed on other things at Ravensnest; and does anybody +suppose I will give up an estate that has passed through five +generations of my family, on account of a tribute like that!" + +"Mighty well, sir--mighty well, sir! This is fine talk; but I would +advise you not to speak of _your_ ancestors at all. Landlords can't name +_their_ ancestors with impunity just now." + +"I name mine only as showing a reason for a natural regard for my +paternal acres." + +"That you might do, if you were a tenant; but not as a landlord. In a +landlord, it is aristocratic and intolerable pride, and to the last +degree offensive--as Dogberry says, 'tolerable and not to be endured.'" + +"But it is a _fact_, and it is natural one should have some feelings +connected with it." + +"The more it is a fact, the less it will be liked. People associate +social position with wealth and _estates_, but not with farms; and the +longer one has such things in a family, the worse for them!" + +"I do believe, Jack," put in my uncle Ro, "that the rule which prevails +all over the rest of the world is reversed here, and that with us it is +thought a family's claim is lessened, and not increased, by time." + +"To be sure it is!" answered Dunning, without giving me a chance to +speak. "Do you know that you wrote me a very silly letter once, from +Switzerland, about a family called de Blonay, that had been seated on +the same rock, in a little castle, some six or eight hundred years, and +the sort of respect and veneration the circumstance awakened? Well, all +that was very foolish, as you will find when you pay your incognito +visit to Ravensnest. I will not anticipate the result of your schooling; +but, go to school." + +"As the Rensselaers and other great landlords, who have states on +durable leases, will not be very likely to give them up, except on terms +that will suit themselves, for a tax as insignificant as that mentioned +by Hugh," said my uncle, "what does the legislature anticipate from +passing the law?" + +"That its members will be called the friends of the people, and not the +friends of the landlords. Would any man tax his friends, if he could +help it?" + +"But what will that portion of the people who compose the anti-renters +gain by such a measure?" + +"Nothing; and their complaints will be just as loud, and their longings +as active, as ever. Nothing that can have any effect on what they wish, +will be accomplished by any legislation in the matter. One committee of +the assembly has actually reported, you may remember, that the State +might assume the lands, and sell them to the tenants, or some one else; +or something of the sort." + +"The constitution of the United States must be Hugh's ægis." + +"And that alone will protect him, let me tell you. But for that noble +provision of the constitution of the Federal Government, his estate +would infallibly go for one-half its true value. There is no use in +mincing things, or in affecting to believe men more honest than they +are--AN INFERNAL FEELING OF SELFISHNESS IS SO MUCH TALKED OF, AND CITED, +AND REFERRED TO, ON ALL OCCASIONS, IN THIS COUNTRY, THAT A MAN ALMOST +RENDERS HIMSELF RIDICULOUS WHO APPEARS TO REST ON PRINCIPLE." + +"Have you heard what the tenants of Ravensnest aim at, in particular?" + +"They want to get Hugh's lands, that's all; nothing more, I can assure +you." + +"On what conditions, pray?" demanded I. + +"As you 'light of chaps,' to use a saying of their own. Some even +profess a willingness to pay a fair price." + +"But I do not wish to sell for even a fair price. I have no desire to +part with property that is endeared to me by family feeling and +association. I have an expensive house and establishment on my estate, +which obtains its principal value from the circumstance that it is so +placed that I can look after my interests with the least inconvenience +to myself. What can I do with the money but buy another estate? and I +prefer this that I have." + +"Poh! boy, you can shave notes, you'll recollect," said uncle Ro, drily. +"The calling is decided to be honourable by the highest tribunal; and no +man should be above his business." + +"You have no right, sir, in a free country," returned the caustic Jack +Dunning, "to prefer one estate to another, more especially when other +people want it. Your lands are leased to honest, hard-working tenants, +who can eat their dinners without silver forks, and whose ancestors----" + +"Stop!" I cried, laughing; "I bar all ancestry. No man has a right to +ancestry in a free country, you'll remember!" + +"That means landlord-ancestry; as for tenant-ancestry, one can have a +pedigree as long as the Maison de Levis. No, sir; every tenant you have +has every right to demand that his sentiment of family feeling should be +respected. His father planted that orchard, and he loves the apples +better than any other apples in the world----" + +"And my father procured the grafts, and made him a present of them." + +"His grandfather cleared that field, and converted its ashes into pots +and pearls----" + +"And _my_ grandfather received that year ten shillings of rent, for land +off which his received two hundred and fifty dollars for his ashes." + +"His great-grandfather, honest and excellent man--nay, super-honest and +confiding creature--first 'took up' the land when a wilderness, and with +his own hands felled the timber, and sowed the wheat." + +"And got his pay twenty-fold for it all, or he would not have been fool +enough to do it. I had a great-grandfather, too; and I hope it will not +be considered aristocratic if I venture to hint as much. He--a +dishonest, pestilent knave, no doubt--leased that very lot for six years +without any rent at all, in order that the 'poor, confiding creature' +might make himself comfortable, before he commenced paying his sixpence +or shilling an acre rent for the remainder of three lives, with a moral +certainty of getting a renewal on the most liberal terms known to a new +country; and who knew, the whole time, he could buy land in fee, within +ten miles of his door, but who thought _this_ a better bargain than +_that_." + +"Enough of this folly," cried uncle Ro, joining in the laugh; "we all +know that, in our excellent America, he who has the highest claims to +anything, must affect to have the least, to stifle the monster envy; +and, being of one mind as to principles, let us come to facts. What of +the girls, Jack, and of my honoured mother?" + +"She, noble, heroic woman! she is at Ravensnest at this moment; and, as +the girls would not permit her to go alone, they are all with her." + +"And did you, Jack Dunning, suffer them to go unattended into a part of +the country that is in open rebellion?" demanded my uncle, +reproachfully. + +"Come, come! Hodge Littlepage, this is very sublime as a theory, but not +so clear when reduced to practice. I did not go with Mrs. Littlepage and +her young fry, for the good and substantial reason that I did not wish +to be 'tarred and feathered.'" + +"So you leave them to run the risk of being 'tarred and feathered' in +your stead?" + +"Say what you will about the cant of freedom that is becoming so common +among us, and from which we were once so free; say what you will, Ro, of +the inconsistency of those who raise the cry of 'feudality,' and +'aristocracy,' and 'nobility,' at the very moment they are manifesting a +desire for exclusive rights and privileges in their own persons; say +what you will of dishonesty, envy, that prominent American vice, +knavery, covetousness, and selfishness; and I will echo all you can +utter;--but do not say that a woman can be in serious danger among any +material body of Americans, even if anti-renters, and mock-redskins in +the bargain." + +"I believe you are right there, Jack, on reflection. Pardon my warmth; +but I have lately been living in the old world, and in a country in +which women were not long since carried to the scaffold on account of +their politics." + +"Because they meddled with politics. Your mother is in no serious +danger, though it needs nerve in a woman to be able to think so. There +are few women in the State, and fewer of her time of life anywhere, that +would do what she has done; and I give the girls great credit for +sticking by her. Half the young men in town are desperate at the thought +of three such charming creatures thus exposing themselves to insult. +Your mother has only been sued." + +"Sued! Whom does she owe, or what can she have done to have brought this +indignity on her?" + +"You know, or ought to know, how it is in this country, Littlepage; we +must have a little law, even when most bent on breaking it. A downright, +straight-forward rascal, who openly sets law at defiance, is a wonder. +Then we have a great talk of liberty when plotting to give it the +deepest stab; and religion even gets to share in no small portion of our +vices. Thus it is that the anti-renters have dragged in the law in aid +of their designs. I understand one of the Rensselaers has been sued for +money borrowed in a ferry-boat to help him across a river under his own +door, and for potatoes bought by his wife in the streets of Albany!" + +"But neither of the Rensselaers need borrow money to cross the ferry, as +the ferry-men would trust him; and no lady of the Rensselaer family ever +bought potatoes in the streets of Albany, I'll answer for it." + +"You have brought back some knowledge from your travels, I find!" said +Jack Dunning, with comic gravity. "Your mother writes me that _she_ has +been sued for twenty-seven pairs of shoes furnished her by a shoemaker +whom she never saw, or heard of, until she received the summons!" + +"This, then, is one of the species of annoyances that has been adopted +to bully the landlords out of their property?" + +"It is; and if the landlords have recourse even to the covenants of +their leases, solemnly and deliberately made, and as solemnly guarantied +by a fundamental law, the cry is raised of 'aristocracy' and +'oppression' by these very men, and echoed by many of the creatures who +get seats in high places among us--or what _would_ be high places, if +filled with men worthy of their trusts." + +"I see you do not mince your words, Jack." + +"Why should I? Words are all that is left me. I am of no more weight in +the government of this State than that Irishman, who let you in just +now, will be, five years hence--less, for he will vote to suit a +majority; and, as I shall vote understandingly, my vote will probably do +no one any good." + +Dunning belonged to a school that mingles a good deal of speculative and +impracticable theory, with a great deal of sound and just principles; +but who render themselves useless because they will admit of no +compromises. He did not belong to the class of American _doctrinaires_, +however, or to those who contend--no, not _contend_, for no one does +that any longer in this country, whatever may be his opinion on the +subject--but those who _think_ that political power, as in the last +resort, should be the property of the few; for he was willing New York +should have a very broad constituency. Nevertheless, he was opposed to +the universal suffrage, in its wide extent, that does actually exist; as +I suppose quite three-fourths of the whole population are opposed to it, +in their hearts, though no political man of influence, now existing, has +the moral calibre necessary to take the lead in putting it down. Dunning +deferred to principles, and not to men. He well knew that an infallible +whole was not to be composed of fallible parts; and while he thought +majorities ought to determine many things, that there are rights and +principles that are superior to even such _unanimity_ as man can +manifest, and much more to their majorities. But Dunning had no selfish +views connected with his political notions, wanting no office, and +feeling no motive to affect that which he neither thought nor wished. He +never had quitted home, or it is highly probable his views of the +comparative abuses of the different systems that prevail in the world +would have been essentially modified. Those he saw had unavoidably a +democratic source, there being neither monarch nor aristocrat to produce +any other; and, under such circumstances, as abuses certainly abound, it +is not at all surprising that he sometimes a little distorted facts, and +magnified evils. + +"And my noble, high-spirited, and venerable mother has actually gone to +the Nest to face the enemy!" exclaimed my uncle, after a thoughtful +pause. + +"She has, indeed; and the noble, high-spirited, though not venerable, +young ladies have gone with her," returned Mr. Dunning, in his caustic +way. + +"All three, do you mean?" + +"Every one of them--Martha, Henrietta, and Anne." + +"I am surprised that the last should have done so. Anne Marston is such +a meek, quiet, peace-loving person, that I should think _she_ would have +preferred remaining, as she naturally might have done, without exciting +remark, with her own mother." + +"She has not, nevertheless. Mrs. Littlepage _would_ brave the +anti-renters, and the three maidens _would_ be her companions. I dare +say, Ro, you know how it is with the gentle sex, when they make up their +minds?" + +"My girls are all good girls, and have given me very little trouble," +answered my uncle, complacently. + +"Yes, I dare say that may be true. You have only been absent from home +five years, this trip." + +"An attentive guardian, notwithstanding, since I left you as a +substitute. Has my mother written to you since her arrival among the +hosts of the Philistines?" + +"She has, indeed, Littlepage," answered Dunning, gravely; "I have heard +from her three times, for she writes to urge my not appearing on the +estate. I did intend to pay her a visit; but she tells me that it might +lead to a violent scene, and can do no good. As the rents will not be +due until autumn, and Master Hugh is now of age and was to be here to +look after his own affairs, I have seen no motive for incurring the risk +of the tarring and feathering. We American lawyers, young gentleman, +wear no wigs." + +"Does my mother write herself, or employ another?" inquired my uncle, +with interest. + +"She honours me with her own hand. Your mother writes much better than +you do yourself, Roger." + +"That is owing to her once having carried chain, as she would say +herself. Has Martha written to you?" + +"Of course. Sweet little Patty and I are bosom friends, as you know." + +"And does she say anything of the Indian and the negro?" + +"Jaaf and Susquesus? To be sure she does. Both are living still, and +both are well. I saw them myself, and even ate of their venison, so +lately as last winter." + +"Those old fellows must have each lived a great deal more than his +century, Jack. They were with my grandfather in the old French war, as +active, useful men--older, then, than _my_ grandfather!" + +"Ay! a nigger or a redskin, before all others, for holding on to life, +when they have been temperate. Let me see--that expedition of +Abercrombie's was about eighty years since; why, these fellows must be +well turned of their hundred, though Jaap is rather the oldest, judging +from appearances." + +"I believe no one knows the age of either. A hundred each has been +thought, now, for many years. Susquesus was surprisingly active, too, +when I last saw him--like a healthy man of eighty." + +"He has failed of late, though he actually shot a deer, as I told you, +last winter. Both the old fellows stray down to the Nest, Martha writes +me; and the Indian is highly scandalized at the miserable imitations of +his race that are now abroad. I have even heard that he and Yop have +actually contemplated taking the field against them. Seneca Newcome is +their especial aversion." + +"How is Opportunity?" I inquired. "Does she take any part in this +movement?" + +"A decided one, I hear. She is anti-rent, while she wishes to keep on +good terms with her landlord; and that is endeavouring to serve God and +Mammon. She is not the first, however, by a thousand, that wears two +faces in this business." + +"Hugh has a deep admiration of Opportunity," observed my uncle, "and you +had needs be tender in your strictures. The modern Seneca, I take it, is +dead against us?" + +"Seneky wishes to go to the legislature, and of course he is on the side +of votes. Then his brother is a tenant at the mill, and naturally wishes +to be the landlord. He is also interested in the land himself. One thing +has struck me in this controversy as highly worthy of notice; and it is +the _naïveté_ with which men reconcile the obvious longings of +covetousness with what they are pleased to fancy the principles of +liberty! When a man has worked a farm a certain number of years, he +boldly sets up the doctrine that the fact itself gives him a high moral +claim to possess it for ever. A moment's examination will expose the +fallacy by which these sophists apply the flattering unction to their +souls. They work their farms under a lease, and in virtue of its +covenants. Now, in a moral sense, all that time can do in such a case, +is to render these covenants the more sacred, and consequently more +binding; but these worthies, whose morality is all on one side, imagine +that these time-honoured covenants give them a right to fly from their +own conditions during their existence, and to raise pretensions far +exceeding anything they themselves confer, the moment they cease." + +"Poh, poh! Jack; there is no need of refining at all, to come at the +merits of such a question. This is a civilized country, or it is not. If +it be a civilized country, it will respect the rights of property, and +its own laws; and if the reverse, it will not respect them. As for +setting up the doctrine, at this late day, when millions and millions +are invested in this particular species of property, that the leasehold +tenure is opposed to the _spirit_ of institutions of which it has +substantially formed a part, ever since those institutions have +themselves had an existence, it requires a bold front, and more capacity +than any man at Albany possesses, to make the doctrines go down. Men may +run off with the notion that the _tendencies_ to certain abuses, which +mark every system, form their spirit; but this is a fallacy that a very +little thought will correct. Is it true that proposals have actually +been made, by these pretenders to liberty, to appoint commissioners to +act as arbitrators between the landlords and tenants, and to decide +points that no one has any right to raise?" + +"True as Holy Writ; and a regular 'Star Chamber' tribunal it would be! +It is wonderful, after all, how extremes do meet!" + +"That is as certain as the return of the sun after night. But let us now +talk of our project, Jack, and of the means of getting among these +self-deluded men--deluded by their own covetousness--without being +discovered; for I am determined to see them, and to judge of their +motives and conduct for myself." + +"Take care of the tar-barrel, and of the pillow-case of feathers, +Roger!" + +"I shall endeavour so to do." + +We then discussed the matter before us at length and leisurely. I shall +not relate all that was said, as it would be going over the same ground +twice, but refer the reader to the regular narrative. At the usual hour, +we retired to our beds, retaining the name of Davidson, as convenient +and prudent. Next day Mr. John Dunning busied himself in our behalf, and +made himself exceedingly useful to us. In his character of an old +bachelor, he had many acquaintances at the theatre; and through his +friends of the green-room he supplied each of us with a wig. Both my +uncle and myself spoke German reasonably well, and our original plan was +to travel in the characters of immigrant trinket and essence pedlars. +But I had a fancy for a hand-organ and a monkey; and it was finally +agreed that Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, senior, was to undertake this +adventure with a box of cheap watches and gilded trinkets; while Mr. +Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior, was to commence his travels at home, in +the character of a music-grinder. Modesty will not permit me to say all +I might, in favour of my own skill in music in general; but I sang well +for an amateur, and played, both on the violin and flute, far better +than is common. + +Everything was arranged in the course of the following day, our wigs of +themselves completely effecting all the disguises that were necessary. +As for my uncle, he was nearly bald, and a wig was no great encumbrance; +but my shaggy locks gave me some trouble. A little clipping, however, +answered the turn; and I had a hearty laugh at myself, in costume, that +afternoon, before Dunning's dressing-room glass. We got round the felony +law, about being armed and disguised, by carrying no weapons but our +tools in the way of trade. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "And she hath smiles to earth unknown---- + Smiles, that with motion of their own + Do spread, and sink, and rise; + That come and go with endless play + And ever, as they pass away, + Are hidden in her eyes." + + WORDSWORTH. + + +I was early in costume the following morning. I question if my own +mother could have known me, had she lived long enough to see the +whiskers sprout on my cheeks, and to contemplate my countenance as a +man. I went into Dunning's library, drew the little hurdy-gurdy from its +hiding-place, slung it, and began to play St. Patrick's Day in the +Morning, with spirit, and, I trust I may add, with execution. I was in +the height of the air, when the door opened, and Barney thrust his +high-cheeked-bone face into the room, his mouth as wide open as that of +a frozen porker. + +"Where the divil did ye come from?" demanded the new footman, with the +muscles of that vast aperture of his working from grin to grim, and grim +to grin again. "Yee's wilcome to the tchune; but how comes ye here?" + +"I coomes vrom Halle, in Preussen. Vat isht your vaterland?" + +"Be yees a Jew?" + +"Nein--I isht a goot Christian. Vilt you haf Yankee Tootle?" + +"Yankee T'under! Ye'll wake up the masther, and he'll be displais'd, +else ye might work upon t'at tchune till the end of time. That I should +hear it here, in my own liberary, and ould Ireland t'ree thousand +laigues away!" + +A laugh from Dunning interrupted the dialogue, when Barney vanished, no +doubt anticipating some species of American punishment for a presumed +delinquency. Whether the blundering, well-meaning, honest fellow really +ascertained who we were that breakfasted with his master, I do not +know; but we got the meal and left the house without seeing his face +again, Dunning having a young yellow fellow to do the service of the +table. + +I need scarcely say that I felt a little awkward at finding myself in +the streets of New York in such a guise; but the gravity and +self-possession of my uncle were a constant source of amusement to me. +He actually sold a watch on the wharf before the boat left it, though I +imputed his success to the circumstance that his price was what a +brother dealer, who happened to be trading in the same neighbourhood, +pronounced "onconscionably low." We took a comfortable state-room +between us, under the pretence of locking-up our property, and strolled +about the boat, gaping and looking curious, as became our class. + +"Here are at least a dozen people that I know," said my uncle, as we +were lounging around--loafing around, is the modern Doric--about the +time that the boat was paddling past Fort Washington; "I have +reconnoitred in all quarters, and find quite a dozen. I have been +conversing with an old school-fellow, and one with whom I have ever +lived in tolerable intimacy, for the last ten minutes, and find my +broken English and disguise are perfect. I am confident my dear mother +herself would not recognise me." + +"We can then amuse ourselves with my grandmother and the young ladies," +I answered, "when we reach the Nest. For my part, it strikes me that we +had better keep our own secret to the last moment." + +"Hush! As I live, there is Seneca Newcome this moment! He is coming this +way, and we must be Germans again." + +Sure enough, there was 'Squire Seneky, as the honest farmers around the +Nest call him; though many of them must change their practices, or it +will shortly become so absurd to apply the term "honest" to them, that +no one will have the hardihood to use it. Newcome came slowly towards +the forecastle, on which we were standing; and my uncle determined to +get into conversation with him, as a means of further proving the virtue +of our disguises, as well as possibly of opening the way to some +communications that might facilitate our visit to the Nest. With this +view, the pretended pedlar drew a watch from his pocket, and, offering +it meekly to the inspection of the quasi lawyer, he said-- + +"Puy a vatch, shentlemans?" + +"Hey! what? Oh! a watch," returned Seneca, in that high, condescending, +vulgar key, with which the salt of the earth usually affect to treat +those they evidently think much beneath them in intellect, station, or +some other great essential, at the very moment they are bursting with +envy, and denouncing as aristocrats all who are above them. "Hey! a +watch, is it? What countryman are you, friend?" + +"A Charmans--ein Teutscher." + +"A German--ine Tycher is the place you come from, I s'pose?" + +"Nein--ein Teutscher isht a Charman." + +"Oh, yes! I understand. How long have you been in Ameriky?" + +"Twelf moont's." + +"Why, that's most long enough to make you citizens. Where do you live?" + +"Nowhere; I lifs jest asht it happens--soometimes here, ant soometimes +dere." + +"Ay, ay! I understand--no legal domicile, but lead a wandering life. +Have you many of these watches for sale?" + +"Yees--I haf asht many as twenty. Dey are as sheep as dirt, and go like +pig clocks." + +"And what may be your price for this?" + +"Dat you can haf for only eight tollars. Effery poty wilt say it is +golt, dat doesn't know petter." + +"Oh! it isn't gold then--I swan!"--what this oath meant I never exactly +knew, though I suppose it to be a puritan mode of saying "I swear!" the +attempts to cheat the devil in this way being very common among their +pious descendants, though even "Smith Thompson" himself can do no man +any good in such a case of conscience--"I swan! you come plaguy near +taking even me in! Will you come down from that price any?" + +"If you wilt gif me some atfice, perhaps I may. You look like a goot +shentlemans, and one dat woultn't sheat a poor Charmans; ant effery poty +wants so much to sheat de poor Charmans, dat I will take six, if you +will drow in some atfice." + +"Advice? You have come to the right man for that! Walk a little this +way, where we shall be alone. What is the natur' of the matter--action +on the case, or a tort?" + +"Nein, nein! it isht not law dat I wants, put atfice." + +"Well, but advice leads to law, ninety-nine times in a hundred." + +"Ya, ya!" answered the pedlar, laughing; "dat may be so; put it isht not +what I vants--I vants to know vere a Charman can trafel wit' his goots +in de coontry, and not in de pig towns." + +"I understand you--six dollars, hey! That sounds high for such a looking +watch"--he had just before mistaken it for gold--"but I'm always the +poor man's friend, and despise aristocracy"--what Seneca hated with the +strongest hate, he ever fancied he _despised_ the most, and by +aristocracy he merely understood gentlemen and ladies, in the true +signification of the words--"why, I'm always ready to help along the +honest citizen. If you could make up your mind, now, to part with this +one watch for nawthin', I think I could tell you a part of the country +where you might sell the other nineteen in a week." + +"Goot!" exclaimed my uncle, cheerfully. "Take him--he ist your broberty, +and wilcome. Only show me de town where I canst sell de nineteen +udders." + +Had my uncle Ro been a true son of peddling, he would have charged a +dollar extra on each of the nineteen, and made eleven dollars by his +present liberality. + +"It is no town at all--only a township," returned the literal Seneca. +"Did you expect it would be a city?" + +"Vat cares I? I woult radder sell my vatches to goot, honest, country +men, dan asht to de best burghers in de land." + +"You're my man! The right spirit is in you. I hope you're no patroon--no +aristocrat?" + +"I don't know vat isht badroon, or vat isht arishtocrat." + +"No! You are a happy man in your ignorance. A patroon is a nobleman who +owns another man's land; and an aristocrat is a body that thinks himself +better than his neighbours, friend." + +"Well, den, I isht no badroon, for I don't own no land at all, not even +mine own; and I ishn't petter asht no poty at all." + +"Yes, you be; you've only to think so, and you'll be the greatest +gentleman of 'em all." + +"Well, den, I will dry and dink so, and be petter asht de greatest +shentlemans of dem all. But dat won't do, nudder, as dat vilt make me +petter dan you; for you are one of de greatest of dem all, shentlemans." + +"Oh! as for me, let me alone. I scorn being on their level. I go for +'Down with the rent!' and so'll you, too, afore you've been a week in +our part of the country." + +"Vat isht de rent dat you vants to git down?" + +"It's a thing that's opposed to the spirit of the institutions, as you +can see by my feelin's at this very moment. But no matter! I'll keep the +watch, if you say so, and show you the way into that part of the +country, as your pay." + +"Agreet, shentlemans. Vat I vants is atfice, and vat you vants is a +vatch." + +Here uncle Ro laughed so much like himself, when he ought clearly to +have laughed in broken English, that I was very much afraid he might +give the alarm to our companion; but he did not. From that time, the +best relations existed between us and Seneca, who, in the course of the +day, recognised us by sundry smiles and winks, though I could plainly +see he did not like the anti-aristocratic principle sufficiently to wish +to seem too intimate with us. Before we reached the islands, however, he +gave us directions where to meet him in the morning, and we parted, when +the boat stopped alongside of the pier at Albany that afternoon, the +best friends in the world. + +"Albany! dear, good old Albany!" exclaimed my uncle Ro, as we stopped on +the draw of the bridge to look at the busy scene in the basin, where +literally hundreds of canal-boats were either lying to discharge or to +load, or were coming and going, to say nothing of other craft; "dear, +good old Albany! you are a town to which I ever return with pleasure, +for you at least never disappoint me. A first-rate country-place you +are; and, though I miss your quaint old Dutch church, and your +rustic-looking old _English_ church from the centre of your principal +street, almost every change _you_ make is respectable. I know nothing +that tells so much against you as changing the name of Market street by +the paltry imitation of Broadway; but, considering that a horde of +Yankees have come down upon you since the commencement of the present +century, you are lucky that the street was not called the Appian Way. +But, excellent old Albany! whom even the corruptions of politics cannot +change in the core, lying against thy hillside, and surrounded with thy +picturesque scenery, there is an air of respectability about thee that I +admire, and a quiet prosperity that I love. Yet, how changed since my +boyhood! Thy simple stoups have all vanished; thy gables are +disappearing; marble and granite are rising in thy streets, too, but +they take honest shapes, and are free from the ambition of mounting on +stilts; thy basin has changed the whole character of thy once +semi-sylvan, semi-commercial river; but it gives to thy young manhood an +appearance of abundance and thrift that promise well for thy age!" + +The reader may depend on it that I laughed heartily at this rhapsody; +for I could hardly enter into my uncle's feelings. Albany is certainly a +very good sort of a place, and relatively a more respectable-looking +town than the "_commercial_ emporium," which, after all, externally, is +a mere huge expansion of a very marked mediocrity, with the pretension +of a capital in its estimate of itself. But Albany lays no claim to be +anything more than a provincial town, and in that class it is highly +placed. By the way, there is nothing in which "_our_ people," to speak +idiomatically, more deceive themselves, than in their estimate of what +composes a capital. It would be ridiculous to suppose that the +representatives of such a government as this could impart to any place +the tone, opinions, habits and manners of a capital; for, if they did, +they would impart it on the novel principle of communicating that which +they do not possess in their own persons. Congress itself, though +tolerably free from most shackles, including those of the constitution, +is not up to that. In my opinion, a man accustomed to the world might be +placed blindfolded in the most finished quarter of New York, and the +place has new quarters in which the incongruities I have already +mentioned do not exist, and, my life on it, he could pronounce, as soon +as the bandage was removed, that he was not in a town where the tone of +a capital exists. The last thing to make a capital is trade. Indeed, the +man who hears the words "business" and "the merchants" ringing in his +ears, may safely conclude, _de facto_, that he is not in a capital. Now, +a New-York village is often much less rustic than the villages of the +most advanced country of Europe; but a New-York town is many degrees +below any capital of a large State in the old world. + +Will New York ever be a capital? Yes--out of all question, yes. But the +day will not come until after the sudden changes of condition which +immediately and so naturally succeeded the revolution, have ceased to +influence ordinary society, and those above again impart to those below +more than they receive. This restoration to the natural state of things +must take place, as soon as society gets settled; and there will be +nothing to prevent a town living under our own institutions--spirit, +_tendencies_ and all--from obtaining the highest tone that ever yet +prevailed in a capital. The folly is in anticipating the natural course +of events. Nothing will more hasten these events, however, than a +literature that is controlled, not by the lower, but by the higher +opinion of the country; which literature is yet, in a great degree, to +be created. + +I had dispensed with the monkey, after trying to get along with the +creature for an hour or two, and went around only with my music. I would +rather manage an army of anti-renters than one monkey. With the +hurdy-gurdy slung around my neck, therefore, I followed my uncle, who +actually sold another watch before we reached a tavern. Of course we did +not presume to go to Congress Hall, or the Eagle, for we knew we should +not be admitted. This was the toughest part of our adventures. I am of +opinion my uncle made a mistake; for he ventured to a second-class +house, under the impression that one of the sort usually frequented by +men of our supposed stamp might prove too coarse for us, altogether. I +think we should have been better satisfied with the coarse fare of a +coarse tavern, than with the shabby-genteel of the house we blundered +into. In the former, everything would have reminded us, in a way we +expected to be reminded, that we were out of the common track; and we +might have been amused with the change, though it is one singularly hard +to be endured. I remember to have heard a young man, accustomed from +childhood to the better habits of the country, but who went to sea a +lad, before the mast, declare that the coarseness of his shipmates, and +there is no vulgarity about a true sailor, even when coarsest, gave him +more trouble to overcome, than all the gales, physical sufferings, +labour, exposures and dangers, put together. I must confess, I have +found it so, too, in my little experience. While acting as a strolling +musician, I could get along with anything better than the coarse habits +which I encountered at the table. Your silver-forkisms, and your purely +conventional customs, as a matter of course, no man of the world +attaches any serious importance to; but there are conventionalities that +belong to the fundamental principles of civilized society, which become +second nature, and with which it gets to be hard, indeed, to dispense. I +shall say as little as possible of the disagreeables of my new trade, +therefore, but stick to the essentials. + +The morning of the day which succeeded that of our arrival at Albany, my +uncle Ro and I took our seats in the train, intending to go to Saratoga, +viâ Troy. I wonder the Trojan who first thought of playing this +travestie on Homer, did not think of calling the place Troyville, or +Troyborough! That would have been semi-American, at least, whereas the +present appellation is so purely classical! It is impossible to walk +through the streets of this neat and flourishing town, which already +counts its twenty thousand souls, and not have the images of Achilles, +and Hector, and Priam, and Hecuba, pressing on the imagination a little +uncomfortably. Had the place been called Try, the name would have been a +sensible one; for it is trying all it can to get the better of Albany; +and, much as I love the latter venerable old town, I hope Troy may +succeed in its trying to prevent the Hudson from being bridged. By the +way, I will here remark, for the benefit of those who have never seen +any country but their own, that there is a view on the road between +Schenectady and this Grecian place, just where the heights give the +first full appearance of the valley of the Hudson, including glimpses of +Waterford, Lansingburg and Albany, with a full view of both Troys, +which gives one a better idea of the affluence of European scenery, than +almost any other spot I can recall in America. To my hurdy-gurdy: + +I made my first essay as a musician in public beneath the windows of the +principal inn of Troy. I cannot say much in favour of the instrument, +though I trust the playing itself was somewhat respectable. This I know +full well, that I soon brought a dozen fair faces to the windows of the +inn, and that each was decorated with a smile. Then it was that I +regretted the monkey. Such an opening could not but awaken the dormant +ambition of even a "patriot" of the purest water, and I will own I was +gratified. + +Among the curious who thus appeared, were two whom I at once supposed to +be father and daughter. The former was a clergyman, and, as I fancied by +something in his air, of "_the_ Church," begging pardon of those who +take offence at this exclusive title, and to whom I will just give a +hint in passing. Any one at all acquainted with mankind, will at once +understand that no man who is certain of possessing any particular +advantage, ever manifests much sensibility because another lays claim to +it also. In the constant struggles of the jealous, for instance, on the +subject of that universal source of jealous feeling, social position, +the man or woman who is conscious of claims never troubles himself or +herself about them. For them the obvious fact is sufficient. If it be +answered to this that the pretension of "_the_ Church" is exclusive, I +shall admit it is, and "conclusive," too. It is not exclusive, however, +in the sense urged, since no one denies that there are many branches to +"the Church," although those branches do not embrace everything. I would +advise those who take offence at "our" styling "ourselves" "_the_ +Church," to style themselves "_the_ Church," just as they call all their +parsons bishops, and see who will care about it. That is a touchstone +which will soon separate the true metal from the alloy. + +My parson, I could easily see, was a _Church_ clergyman--not a +_meeting_-house clergyman. How I ascertained that fact at a glance, I +shall not reveal; but I also saw in his countenance some of that +curiosity which marks simplicity of character: it was not a vulgar +feeling, but one which induced him to beckon me to approach a little +nearer. I did so, when he invited me in. It was a little awkward, at +first, I must acknowledge, to be beckoned about in this manner; but +there was something in the air and countenance of the daughter that +induced me not to hesitate about complying. I cannot say that her beauty +was so _very_ striking, though she was decidedly pretty; but the +expression of her face, eyes, smile, and all put together, was so +singularly sweet and feminine, that I felt impelled by a sympathy I +shall not attempt to explain, to enter the house, and ascend to the door +of a parlour that I saw at once was public, though it then contained no +one but my proper hosts. + +"Walk in, young man," said the father, in a benevolent tone of voice. "I +am curious to see that instrument; and my daughter here, who has a taste +for music, wishes it as much as I do myself. What do you call it?" + +"Hurty-gurty," I answered. + +"From what part of the world do you come, my young friend?" continued +the clergyman, raising his meek eyes to mine still more curiously. + +"Vrom Charmany; vrom Preussen, vere did reign so late de good Koenig +Wilhelm." + +"What does he say, Molly?" + +So the pretty creature bore the name of Mary! I liked the Molly, too; it +was a good sign, as none but the truly respectable dare use such +familiar appellations in these ambitious times. Molly sounded as if +these people had the _aplomb_ of position and conscious breeding. Had +they been vulgar, it would have been Mollissa. + +"It is not difficult to translate, father," answered one of the sweetest +voices that had ever poured its melody on my ear, and which was rendered +still more musical by the slight laugh that mingled with it. "He says he +is from Germany--from Prussia, where the good King William lately +reigned." + +I liked the "father," too--that sounded refreshing, after passing a +night among a tribe of foul-nosed adventurers in humanity, every one of +whom had done his or her share towards caricaturing the once pretty +appellatives of "Pa" and "Ma." A young lady may still say "Papa," or +even "Mamma," though it were far better that she said "Father" and +"Mother;" but as for "Pa" and "Ma," they are now done with in +respectable life. They will not even do for the nursery. + +"And this instrument is a hurdy-gurdy?" continued the clergyman. "What +have we here--the name spelt on it?" + +"Dat isht de maker's name--_Hochstiel fecit_." + +"Fecit!" repeated the clergyman; "is that German?" + +"Nein--dat isht Latin; _facio_, _feci_, _factum_, _facere_--_feci_, +_feciste_, FECIT. It means make, I suppose you know." + +The parson looked at me, and at my dress and figure, with open surprise, +and smiled as his eye glanced at his daughter. If asked why I made this +silly display of lower-form learning, I can only say that I chafed at +being fancied a mere every-day street musician, that had left his monkey +at home, by the charming girl who stood gracefully bending over her +father's elbow, as the latter examined the inscription that was stamped +on a small piece of ivory which had been let into the instrument. I +could see that Mary shrunk back a little under the sensitive feeling, so +natural to her sex, that she was manifesting too much freedom of manner +for the presence of a youth who was nearer to her own class than she +could have supposed it possible for a player on the hurdy-gurdy to be. A +blush succeeded; but the glance of the soft blue eye that instantly +followed, seemed to set all at rest, and she leaned over her father's +elbow again. + +"You understand Latin, then?" demanded the parent, examining me over his +spectacles from head to foot. + +"A leetle, sir--just a ferry leetle. In my coontry, efery mans isht +obliget to be a soldier some time, and them t'at knows Latin can be made +sergeants and corporals." + +"That is Prussia, is it?" + +"Ya--Preussen, vere so late did reign de goot Koenig Wilhelm." + +"And is Latin much understood among you? I have heard that, in Hungary, +most well-informed persons even speak the tongue." + +"In Charmany it isht not so. We all l'arnts somet'ing, but not all dost +l'arn efery t'ing." + +I could see a smile struggling around the sweet lips of that dear girl, +after I had thus delivered myself, as I fancied, with a most accurate +inaccuracy; but she succeeded in repressing it, though those provoking +eyes of hers continued to laugh, much of the time our interview lasted. + +"Oh! I very well know that in Prussia the schools are quite good, and +that your government pays great attention to the wants of all classes," +rejoined the clergyman; "but I confess some surprise that _you_ should +understand anything of Latin. Now, even in this country, where we boast +so much----" + +"Ye-e-s," I could not refrain from drawling out, "dey does poast a great +teal in dis coontry!" + +Mary actually laughed; whether it was at my words, or at the somewhat +comical manner I had assumed--a manner in which simplicity was _tant +soit peu_ blended with irony--I shall not pretend to say. As for the +father, his simplicity was of proof; and, after civilly waiting until my +interruption was done, he resumed what he had been on the point of +saying. + +"I was about to add," continued the clergyman, "that even in this +country, where we boast so much"--the little minx of a daughter passed +her hand over her eyes, and fairly coloured with the effort she made not +to laugh again--"of the common schools, and of their influence on the +public mind, it is not usual to find persons of your condition who +understand the dead languages." + +"Ye-e-s," I replied; "it isht my condition dat misleats you, sir. Mine +fat'er wast a shentlemans, and he gifet me as goot an etication as de +Koenig did gif to de Kron Prinz." + +Here, my desire to appear well in the eyes of Mary caused me to run into +another silly indiscretion. How I was to explain the circumstance of the +son of a Prussian gentleman, whose father had given him an education as +good as that which the King of his country had given to its Crown +Prince, being in the streets of Troy, playing on a hurdy-gurdy, was a +difficulty I did not reflect on for a moment. The idea of being thought +by that sweet girl a mere uneducated boor, was intolerable to me; and I +threw it off by this desperate falsehood--false in its accessories, but +true in its main facts--as one would resent an insult. Fortune favoured +me, however, far more than I had any right to expect. + +There is a singular disposition in the American character to believe +every well-mannered European at least a count. I do not mean that those +who have seen the world are not like other persons in this respect; but +a very great proportion of the country never has seen any other world +than a world of "business." The credulity on this subject surpasseth +belief; and, were I to relate facts of this nature that might be +established in a court of justice, the very parties connected with them +would be ready to swear that they are caricatures. Now, well-mannered I +trust I am, and, though plainly dressed and thoroughly disguised, +neither my air nor attire was absolutely mean. As my clothes were new, I +was neat in my appearance; and there were possibly some incongruities +about the last, that might have struck eyes more penetrating than those +of my companions. I could see that both father and daughter felt a +lively interest in me, the instant I gave them reason to believe I was +one of better fortunes. So many crude notions exist among us on the +subject of convulsions and revolutions in Europe, that I dare say, had I +told any improbable tale of the political condition of Prussia, it would +have gone down; for nothing so much resembles the ignorance that +prevails in America, generally, concerning the true state of things in +Europe, as the ignorance that prevails in Europe, generally, concerning +the true state of things in America. As for Mary, her soft eyes seemed +to me to be imbued with thrice their customary gentleness and +compassion, as she recoiled a step in native modesty, and gazed at me, +when I had made my revelation. + +"If such is the case, my young friend," returned the clergyman, with +benevolent interest, "you ought, and _might_ easily be placed in a +better position than this you are now in. Have you any knowledge of +Greek?" + +"Certainly--Greek is moch study in Charmany." + +'In for a penny, in for a pound,' I thought. + +"And the modern languages--do you understand any of them?" + +"I speaks de five great tongues of Europe, more ast less well; and I read +dem all, easily." + +"The _five_ tongues!" said the clergyman, counting on his fingers; +"what can they be, Mary?" + +"French, and German, and Spanish, and Italian, I suppose, sir." + +"These make but four. What can be the fifth, my dear?" + +"De yoong laty forgets de Englisch. De Englisch is das funf." + +"Oh! yes, the English!" exclaimed the pretty creature, pressing her lips +together to prevent laughing in my face. + +"True--I had forgotten the English, not being accustomed to think of it +as a mere European tongue. I suppose, young man, you naturally speak the +English less fluently than any other of your five languages?" + +"Ya!" + +Again the smile struggled to the lips of Mary. + +"I feel a deep interest in you as a stranger, and am sorry we have only +met to part so soon. Which way shall you be likely to direct your steps, +my Prussian young friend?" + +"I go to a place which is callet Ravensnest--goot place to sell vatch, +dey tells me." + +"Ravensnest!" exclaimed the father. + +"Ravensnest!" repeated the daughter, and that in tones which put the +hurdy-gurdy to shame. + +"Why, Ravensnest is the place where I live, and the parish of which I am +the clergyman--the Protestant Episcopal clergyman, I mean." + +This, then, was the Rev. Mr. Warren, the divine who had been called to +our church the very summer I left home, and who had been there ever +since! My sister Martha had written me much concerning these people, and +I felt as if I had known them for years. Mr. Warren was a man of good +connexions, and some education, but of no fortune whatever, who had gone +into _the_ Church--it was the church of his ancestors, one of whom had +actually been an English bishop, a century or two ago--from choice, and +contrary to the wishes of his friends. As a preacher, his success had +never been great; but for the discharge of his duties no man stood +higher, and no man was more respected. The living of St. Andrew's, +Ravensnest, would have been poor enough, had it depended on the +contributions of the parishioners. These last gave about one hundred and +fifty dollars a-year, for their share of the support of a priest. I +gave another hundred, as regularly as clock-work, and had been made to +do so throughout a long minority; and my grandmother and sister made up +another fifty between them. But there was a glebe of fifty acres of +capital land, a wood-lot, and a fund of two thousand dollars at +interest; the whole proceeding from endowments made by my grandfather, +during his lifetime. Altogether, the living may have been worth a clear +five hundred dollars a year, in addition to a comfortable house, hay, +wood, vegetables, pasture, and some advantages in the way of small +crops. Few country clergymen were better off than the rector of St. +Andrew's, Ravensnest, and all as a consequence of the feudal and +aristocratic habits of the Littlepages, though I say it, perhaps, who +might better not, in times like these. + +My letters had told me that the Rev. Mr. Warren was a widower; that Mary +was his only child; that he was a _truly_ pious, not a _sham_-pious, and +a really zealous clergyman; a man of purest truth, whose word was +gospel--of great simplicity and integrity of mind and character; that he +never spoke evil of others, and that a complaint of this world and its +hardships seldom crossed his lips. He loved his fellow-creatures, both +naturally and on principle; mourned over the state of the diocese, and +greatly preferred piety even to high-churchism. High-churchman he was, +nevertheless; though it was not a high-churchmanship that outweighed the +loftier considerations of his Christian duties, and left him equally +without opinions of his own in matters of morals, and without a proper +respect, in practice, for those that he had solemnly vowed to maintain. + +His daughter was described as a sweet-tempered, arch, modest, sensible, +and well-bred girl, that had received a far better education than her +father's means would have permitted him to bestow, through the +liberality and affection of a widowed sister of her mother's, who was +affluent, and had caused her to attend the same school as that to which +she had sent her own daughters. In a word, she was a most charming +neighbour; and her presence at Ravensnest had rendered Martha's annual +visits to the "old house" (built in 1785) not only less irksome, but +actually pleasant. Such had been my sister's account of the Warrens and +their qualities, throughout a correspondence of five years. I have even +fancied that she loved this Mary Warren better than she loved any of her +uncle's wards, herself of course excepted. + +The foregoing flashed through my mind, the instant the clergyman +announced himself; but the coincidence of our being on the way to the +same part of the country, seemed to strike him as forcibly as it did +myself. What Mary thought of the matter, I had no means of ascertaining. + +"This is singular enough," resumed Mr. Warren. "What has directed your +steps towards Ravensnest?" + +"Dey tell mine ooncle 'tis goot place to sell moch vatch." + +"You have an uncle, then? Ah! I see him there in the street, showing a +watch at this moment to a gentleman. Is your uncle a linguist, too, and +has he been as well educated as you seem to be yourself?" + +"Certain--he moch more of a shentleman dan ast de shentleman to whom he +now sell vatch." + +"These must be the very persons," put in Mary, a little eagerly, "of +whom Mr. Newcome spoke, as the"--the dear girl did not like to say +pedlars, after what I had told them of my origin; so she added--"dealers +in watches and trinkets, who intended to visit our part of the country." + +"You are right, my dear, and the whole matter is now clear. Mr. Newcome +said he expected them to join us at Troy, when we should proceed in the +train together as far as Saratoga. But here comes Opportunity herself, +and her brother cannot be far off." + +At that moment, sure enough, my old acquaintance, Opportunity Newcome, +came into the room, a public parlour, with an air of great +self-satisfaction, and a _nonchalance_ of manner that was not a little +more peculiar to herself than it is to most of her caste. I trembled for +my disguise, since, to be quite frank on a very delicate subject, +Opportunity had made so very dead a set at me--"setting a cap" is but a +pitiful phrase to express the assault I had to withstand--as scarcely to +leave a hope that her feminine instinct, increased and stimulated with +the wish to be mistress of the Nest house, could possibly overlook the +thousand and one personal peculiarities that must still remain about +one, whose personal peculiarities she had made her particular study. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "O, sic a geek she gave her head, + And sic a toss she gave her feather; + Man, saw ye ne'er a bonnier lass + Before, among the blooming heather?" + + ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. + + +"Ah! here are some charming French _vignettes_!" cried Opportunity, +running up to a table where lay some inferior coloured engravings, that +were intended to represent the cardinal virtues, under the forms of +tawdry female beauties. The workmanship was French, as were the +inscriptions. Now, Opportunity knew just enough French to translate +these inscriptions, simple and school-girl as they were, as wrong as +they could possibly be translated, under the circumstances. + +"_La Vertue_," cried Opportunity, in a high, decided way, as if to make +sure of an audience "_The_ Virtue; _La Solitude_," pronouncing the last +word in a desperately English accent, "_The_ Solitude; La Charité, _The_ +Charity. It is really delightful, Mary, as 'Sarah Soothings' would say, +to meet with these glimmerings of taste in this wilderness of the +world." + +I wondered who the deuce "Sarah Soothings" could be, but afterwards +learned this was the nom-de-guerre of a female contributor to the +magazines, who, I dare say, silly as she might be, was never silly +enough to record the sentiments Opportunity had just professed to +repeat. As for _The la Charité_, and _The la Vertue_, they did not in +the least surprise me; for Martha, the hussy, often made herself merry +by recording that young lady's _tours de force_ in French. On one +occasion I remember she wrote me, that when Opportunity wished to say +_On est venu me chercher_, instead of saying "I am come for," in homely +English, which would have been the best of all, she had flown off in the +high flight of "Je suis venue pour." + +Mary smiled, for she comprehended perfectly the difference between _la +Solitude_ and _the_ Solitude; but she said nothing. I must acknowledge +that I was so indiscreet as to smile also, though, Opportunity's back +being turned towards us, these mutual signs of intelligence that escaped +us both through the eyes, opened a species of communication that, to me +at least, was infinitely agreeable. + +Opportunity, having shown the owner of the strange figure at which she +had just glanced on entering the room, that she had studied French, now +turned to take a better look at him. I have reason to think my +appearance did not make a very happy impression on her; for she tossed +her head, drew a chair, seated herself in the manner most opposed to the +descent of down, and opened her budget of news, without the least regard +to my presence, and apparently with as little attention to the wishes +and tastes of her companions. Her accent, and jumping, hitching mode of +speaking, with the high key in which she uttered her sentiments, too, +all grated on my ears, which had become a little accustomed to different +habits, in young ladies in particular, in the other hemisphere. I +confess myself to be one of those who regard an even, quiet, graceful +mode of utterance, as even a greater charm in a woman than beauty. Its +effect is more lasting, and seems to be directly connected with the +character. Mary Warren not only pronounced like one accustomed to good +society; but the modulations of her voice, which was singularly sweet by +nature, were even and agreeable, as is usual with well-bred women, and +as far as possible from the jerking, fluttering, now rapid, now drawling +manner of Opportunity. Perhaps, in this age of "loose attire," loose +habits, and free and easy deportment, the speech denotes the gentleman, +or the lady, more accurately than any other off-hand test. + +"Sen is enough to wear out anybody's patience!" exclaimed Opportunity. +"We must quit Troy in half an hour; and I have visits that I ought to +pay to Miss Jones, and Miss White, and Miss Black, and Miss Green, and +Miss Brown, and three or four others; and I can't get him to come near +me." + +"Why not go alone?" asked Mary, quietly. "It is but a step to two or +three of the houses, and you cannot possibly lose your way. I will go +with you, if you desire it." + +"Oh! lose my way? no, indeed! I know it too well for that. I wasn't +educated in Troy, not to know something of the streets. But it looks so, +to see a young lady walking in the streets without a beau! I never wish +to cross a room in company without a beau; much less to cross a street. +No; if Sen don't come in soon, I shall miss seeing every one of my +friends, and that will be a desperate disappointment to us all; but it +can't be helped: walk without a beau I _will not_, if I never see one of +them again." + +"Will you accept of me, Miss Opportunity?" asked Mr. Warren. "It will +afford me pleasure to be of service to you." + +"Lord! Mr. Warren, you don't think of setting up for a beau at your time +of life, do you? Everybody would see that you're a clergyman, and I +might just as well go alone. No, if Sen don't come in at once, I must +lose my visits; and the young ladies will be so put out about it, I +know! Araminta Maria wrote me, in the most particular manner, never to +go through Troy without stopping to see _her_, if I didn't see another +mortal; and Kathe_rine_ Clotilda has as much as said she would never +forgive me if I passed her door. But Seneca cares no more for the +friendships of young ladies, than he does"--Miss Newcome pronounced this +word "doos," notwithstanding her education, as she did "been," "ben," +and fifty others just as much out of the common way--"But Seneca cares +no more for the friendships of young ladies, than he does for the young +patroon. I declare, Mr. Warren, I believe Sen will go crazy unless the +anti-renters soon get the best of it; he does nothing but think and talk +of 'rents,' and 'aristocracy,' and 'poodle usages,' from morning till +night." + +We all smiled at the little mistake of Miss Opportunity, but it was of +no great consequence; and I dare say she knew what she meant as well as +most others who use the same term, though they spell it more accurately. +"Poodle usages" are quite as applicable to anything now existing in +America, as "feudal usages." + +"Your brother is then occupied with a matter of the last importance to +the community of which he is a member," answered the clergyman, gravely. +"On the termination of this anti-rent question hangs, in my judgment, a +vast amount of the future character, and much of the future destiny, of +Yew York." + +"I wonder, now! I'm surprised to hear you say this, Mr. Warren, for +generally you're thought to be unfriendly to the movement. Sen says, +however, that everything looks well, and that _he_ believes the tenants +will get their lands throughout the State before they've done with it. +He tells me we shall have Injins enough this summer at Ravensnest. The +visit of old Mrs. Littlepage has raised a spirit that will not easily be +put down, he says." + +"And why should the visit of Mrs. Littlepage to the house of her +grandson, and to the house built by her own husband, and in which she +passed the happiest days of her life, 'raise a spirit,' as you call it, +in any one in that part of the country?" + +"Oh! you're episcopal, Mr. Warren; and we all know how the Episcopals +feel about such matters. But, for my part, I don't think the Littlepages +are a bit better than the Newcomes, though I won't liken them to some I +could name at Ravensnest; but I don't think they are any better than +you, yourself; and why should they ask so much more of the law than +other folks?" + +"I am not aware that they do ask more of the law than others; and, if +they do, I'm sure they obtain less. The law in this country is virtually +administered by jurors, who take good care to graduate justice, so far +as they can, by a scale suited to their own opinions, and, quite often, +to their prejudices. As the last are so universally opposed to persons +in Mrs. Littlepage's class in life, if there be a chance to make her +suffer, it is pretty certain it will be improved." + +"Sen says he can't see why he should pay rent to a Littlepage, any more +than a Littlepage should pay rent to him." + +"I am sorry to hear it, since there is a very sufficient reason for the +former, and no reason at all for the latter. Your brother uses the land +of Mr. Littlepage, and that is a reason why he should pay him rent. If +the case were reversed, then, indeed, Mr. Littlepage should pay rent to +your brother." + +"But what reason is there that these Littlepages should go on from +father to son, from generation to generation, as our landlords, when +we're just as good as they. It's time there was some change. Besides, +only think, we've been at the mills, now, hard upon eighty years, +grandpa having first settled there; and we have had them very mills, +now, for three generations among us." + +"High time, therefore, Opportunity, that there should be some change," +put in Mary, with a demure smile. + +"Oh! you're so intimate with Marthy Littlepage, I'm not surprised at +anything _you_ think or say. But reason is reason, for all that. I +haven't the least grudge in the world against young Hugh Littlepage; if +foreign lands haven't spoilt him, as they say they're desperate apt to +do, he's an agreeable young gentleman, and I can't say that _he_ used to +think himself any better than other folks." + +"I should say none of the family are justly liable to the charge of so +doing," returned Mary. + +"Well, I'm amazed to hear you say _that_, Mary Warren. To my taste, +Marthy Littlepage is as disagreeable as she can be. If the anti-rent +cause had nobody better than she is to oppose it, it would soon +triumph." + +"May I ask, Miss Newcome, what particular reason you have for so +thinking?" asked Mr. Warren, who had kept his eye on the young lady the +whole time she had been thus running on, with an interest that struck me +as somewhat exaggerated, when one remembered the character of the +speaker, and the value of her remarks. + +"I think so, Mr. Warren, because everybody says so," was the answer. "If +Marthy Littlepage don't think herself better than other folks, why don't +she _act_ like other folks. Nothing is good enough for her in her own +conceit." + +Poor little Patt, who was the very _beau idéal_ of nature and +simplicity, as nature and simplicity manifest themselves under the +influence of refinement and good-breeding, was here accused of fancying +herself better than this ambitious young lady, for no other reason than +the fact of the little distinctive peculiarities of her air and +deportment, which Opportunity had found utterly unattainable, after one +or two efforts to compass them. In this very fact is the secret of a +thousand of the absurdities and vices that are going up and down the +land at this moment, like raging lions, seeking whom they may devour. +Men often turn to their statutebooks and constitution to find the +sources of obvious evils, that, in truth, have their origin in some of +the lowest passions of human nature. The entrance of Seneca at that +moment, however, gave a new turn to the discourse, though it continued +substantially the same. I remarked that Seneca entered with his hat on, +and that he kept his head covered during most of the interview that +succeeded, notwithstanding the presence of the two young ladies and the +divine. As for myself, I had been so free as to remove my cap, though +many might suppose it was giving myself airs, while others would have +imagined it was manifesting a degree of respect to human beings that was +altogether unworthy of freemen. It is getting to be a thing so +particular and aristocratic to take off the hat on entering a house, +that few of the humbler democrats of America now ever think of it! + +As a matter of course, Opportunity upbraided her delinquent brother for +not appearing sooner to act as her beau; after which, she permitted him +to say a word for himself. That Seneca was in high good-humour, was +easily enough to be seen; he even rubbed his hands together in the +excess of his delight. + +"Something has happened to please Sen," cried the sister, her own mouth +on a broad grin, in her expectation of coming in for a share of the +gratification. "I wish you would get him to tell us what it is, Mary; +he'll tell _you_ anything." + +I cannot describe how harshly this remark grated on my nerves. The +thought that Mary Warren could consent to exercise even the most distant +influence over such a man as Seneca Newcome, was to the last degree +unpleasant to me; and I could have wished that she would openly and +indignantly repel the notion. But Mary Warren treated the whole matter +very much as a person who was accustomed to such remarks would be apt to +do. I cannot say that she manifested either pleasure or displeasure; but +a cold indifference was, if anything, uppermost in her manner. Possibly, +I should have been content with this; but I found it very difficult to +be so. Seneca, however, did not wait for Miss Warren to exert her +influence to induce him to talk, but appeared well enough disposed to do +it of his own accord. + +"Something _has_ happened to please me, I must own," he answered; "and I +would as lief Mr. Warren should know what it is, as not. Things go ahead +finely among us anti-renters, and we shall carry all our p'ints before +long!" + +"I wish I were certain no points would be carried but those that ought +to be carried, Mr. Newcome," was the answer. "But what has happened, +lately, to give a new aspect to the affair?" + +"We're gaining strength among the politicians. Both sides are beginning +to court us, and the 'spirit of the institutions' will shortly make +themselves respected." + +"I am delighted to hear that! It is in the intention of the institutions +to repress covetousness, and uncharitableness, and all frauds, and to do +nothing but what is right," observed Mr. Warren. + +"Ah! here comes my friend the travelling jeweller," said Seneca, +interrupting the clergyman, in order to salute my uncle, who at that +instant showed himself in the door of the room, cap in hand. "Walk in, +Mr. Dafidson, since that is your name: Rev. Mr. Warren--Miss Mary +Warren--Miss Opportunity Newcome, my sister, who will be glad to look at +your wares. The cars will be detained on some special business, and we +have plenty of time before us." + +All this was done with a coolness and indifference of manner which went +to show that Seneca had no scruples whatever on the subject of whom he +introduced to any one. As for my uncle, accustomed to these free and +easy manners, and probably not absolutely conscious of the figure he cut +in his disguise, he bowed rather too much like a gentleman for one of +his present calling, though my previous explanation of our own connexion +and fallen fortunes had luckily prepared the way for this deportment. + +"Come in, Mr. Dafidson, and open your box--my sister may fancy some of +your trinkets; I never knew a girl that didn't." + +The imaginary pedlar entered, and placed his box on a table near which I +was standing, the whole party immediately gathering around it. My +presence had attracted no particular attention from either Seneca or his +sister, the room being public, and my connexion with the vender of +trinkets known. In the mean time, Seneca was too full of his good news +to let the subject drop; while the watches, rings, chains, brooches, +bracelets, &c. &c., were passed under examination. + +"Yes, Mr. Warren, I trust we are about to have a complete development of +the spirit of our institutions, and that in futur' there will be no +privileged classes in New York, at least." + +"The last will certainly be a great gain, sir," the divine coldly +answered. "Hitherto, those who have most suppressed the truth, and who +have most contributed to the circulation of flattering falsehoods, have +had undue advantages in America." + +Seneca, obviously enough, did not like this sentiment; but I thought, by +his manner, that he was somewhat accustomed to meeting with such rebuffs +from Mr. Warren. + +"I suppose you will admit there _are_ privileged classes now among us, +Mr. Warren?" + +"I am ready enough to allow that, sir; it is too plain to be denied." + +"Wa-all, I should like to hear _you_ p'int 'em out; that I might see if +we agree in our sentiments." + +"Demagogues are a highly privileged class. The editors of newspapers are +another highly privileged class; doing things, daily and hourly, which +set all law and justice at defiance, and invading, with perfect +impunity, the most precious rights of their fellow-citizens. The power +of both is enormous; and, as in all cases of great and irresponsible +power, both enormously abuse it." + +"Wa-all, that's not my way of thinking at all. In my judgment, the +privileged classes in this country are your patroons and your landlords; +men that's not satisfied with a reasonable quantity of land, but who +wish to hold more than the rest of their fellow-creatur's." + +"I am not aware of a single privilege that any patroon--of whom, by the +way, there no longer exists one, except in name--or any landlord, +possesses over any one of his fellow-citizens." + +"Do you call it no privilege for a man to hold all the land there may +happen to be in a township? I call that a great privilege; and such as +no man should have in a free country. Other people want land as well as +your Van Renssalaers and Littlepages; and other people mean to have it, +too." + +"On that principle, every man who owns more of any one thing than his +neighbour is privileged. Even I, poor as I am, and am believed to be, am +privileged over you, Mr. Newcome. I own a cassock, and have two gowns, +one old and one new, and various other things of the sort, of which you +have not one. What is more, I am privileged in another sense; since I +can _wear_ my cassock and gown, and bands, and _do_ wear them often; +whereas you cannot wear one of them all without making yourself laughed +at." + +"Oh! but them are not privileges I care anything about; if I did I would +put on the things, as the law does not prohibit it." + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Newcome; the law does prohibit you from wearing +_my_ cassock and gown contrary to my wishes." + +"Wa-all, wa-all, Mr. Warren; we never shall quarrel about that; I don't +desire to wear your cassack and gown." + +"I understand you, then; it is only the things that you _desire_ to use +that you deem it a privilege for the law to leave me." + +"I am afraid we shall never agree, Mr. Warren, about this anti-rent +business; and I'm very sorry for it, as I wish particularly to think as +you do," glancing his eye most profanely towards Mary as he spoke. "I am +for the movement-principle, while you are too much for the stand-still +doctrine." + +"I am certainly for remaining stationary, Mr. Newcome, if progress mean +taking away the property of old and long established families in the +country, to give it to those whose names are not to be found in our +history; or, indeed, to give it to any but those to whom it rightfully +belongs." + +"We shall never agree, my dear sir, we shall never agree;" then, turning +towards my uncle with the air of superiority that the vulgar so easily +assume--"What do _you_ say to all this, friend Dafidson--are you up-rent +or down-rent?" + +"Ja, mynheer," was the quiet answer; "I always downs mit der rent vens +I leave a house or a garten. It is goot to pay de debts; ja, it ist +herr goot." + +This answer caused the clergyman and his daughter to smile, while +Opportunity laughed outright. + +"You won't make much of your Dutch friend, Sen," cried this buoyant +young lady; "he says you ought to keep on paying rent!" + +"I apprehend Mr. Dafidson does not exactly understand the case," +answered Seneca, who was a good deal disconcerted, but was bent on +maintaining his point. "I have understood you to say that you are a man +of liberal principles, Mr. Dafidson, and that you've come to America to +enjoy the light of intelligence and the benefits of a free government." + +"Ja; ven I might coome to America, I say, vell, dat 'tis a goot coontry, +vhere an honest man might haf vhat he 'arns, ant keep it, too. Ja, ja! +dat ist vhat I say, ant vhat I dinks." + +"I understand you, sir; you come from a part of the world where the +nobles eat up the fat of the land, taking the poor man's share as well +as his own, to live in a country where the law is, or soon will be, so +equal that no citizen will dare to talk about his _estates_, and hurt +the feelin's of such as haven't got any." + +My uncle so well affected an innocent perplexity at the drift of this +remark as to make me smile, in spite of an effort to conceal it. Mary +Warren saw that smile, and another glance of intelligence was exchanged +between us; though the young lady immediately withdrew her look, a +little consciously and with a slight blush. + +"I say that you like equal laws and equal privileges, friend Dafidson," +continued Seneca, with emphasis; "and that you have seen too much of the +evils of nobility and of feudal oppression in the old world, to wish to +fall in with them in the new." + +"Der nobles ant der feudal privileges ist no goot," answered the +trinket-pedlar, shaking his head with an appearance of great distaste. + +"Ay, I knew it would be so; you see, Mr. Warren, no man who has ever +lived under a feudal system can ever feel otherwise." + +"But what have we to do with feudal systems, Mr. Newcome? and what is +there in common between the landlords of New York and the nobles of +Europe, and between their leases and feudal tenures?" + +"What is there? A vast deal too much, sir, take my word for it. Do not +our very governors, even while ruthlessly calling on one citizen to +murder another----" + +"Nay, nay, Mr. Newcome," interrupted Mary Warren, laughing, "the +governors call on the citizens _not_ to murder each other." + +"I understand you, Miss Mary; but we shall make anti-renters of you both +before we are done. Surely, sir, there is a great deal too much +resemblance between the nobles of Europe and our landlords, when the +honest and free-born tenants of the last are obliged to pay tribute for +permission to live on the very land that they till, and which they cause +to bring forth its increase." + +"But men who are not noble let their lands in Europe; nay, the very +serfs, as they become free and obtain riches, buy lands and let them, in +some parts of the old world, as I, have heard and read." + +"All feudal, sir. The whole system is pernicious and feudal, serf or no +serf." + +"But, Mr. Newcome," said Mary Warren, quietly, though with a sort of +demure irony in her manner that said she was not without humour, and +understood herself very well, "even you let your land--land that you +lease, too, and which you do not own, except as you hire it from Mr. +Littlepage." + +Seneca gave a hem, and was evidently disconcerted; but he had too much +of the game of the true progressive movement--which merely means to +_lead_ in changes, though they may lead to the devil--to give the matter +up. Repeating the hem, more to clear his brain than to clear his throat, +he hit upon his answer, and brought it out with something very like +triumph. + +"That is one of the evils of the present system, Miss Mary. Did I own +the two or three fields you mean, and to attend to which I have no +leisure, I might _sell_ them; but now, it is impossible, since I can +give no deed. The instant my poor uncle dies--and he can't survive a +week, being, as you must know, nearly gone--the whole property, mills, +tavern, farms, timber-lot and all, fall in to young Hugh Littlepage, +who is off frolicking in Europe, doing no good to himself or others, +I'll venture to say, if the truth were known. That is another of the +hardships of the feudal system; it enables one man to travel in +idleness, wasting his substance in foreign lands, while it keeps another +at home, at the plough-handles and the cart-tail." + +"And why do you suppose Mr. Hugh Littlepage wastes his substance, and is +doing himself and country no good in foreign lands, Mr. Newcome? That is +not at all the character I hear of him, nor is it the result that I +expect to see from his travels." + +"The money he spends in Europe might do a vast deal of good at +Ravensnest, sir." + +"For my part, my dear sir," put in Mary again, in her quiet but pungent +way, "I think it remarkable that neither of our late governors has seen +fit to enumerate the facts just mentioned by Mr. Newcome among those +that are opposed to the spirit of the institutions. It is, indeed, a +great hardship that Mr. Seneca Newcome cannot sell Mr. Hugh Littlepage's +land." + +"I complain less of that," cried Seneca, a little hastily, "than of the +circumstance that all my rights in the property must go with the death +of my uncle. _That_, at least, even you, Miss Mary, must admit is a +great hardship." + +"If your uncle were unexpectedly to revive, and live twenty years, Mr. +Newcome----" + +"No, no, Miss Mary," answered Seneca, shaking his head in a melancholy +manner; "_that_ is absolutely impossible. It would not surprise me to +find him dead and buried on our return." + +"But, admit that you may be mistaken, and that your lease should +continue--you would still have a rent to pay?" + +"Of that I wouldn't complain in the least. If Mr. Dunning, Littlepage's +agent, will just promise, in as much as half a sentence, that we can get +a new lease on the old terms, I'd not say a syllable about it." + +"Well, here is one proof that the system has its advantages!" exclaimed +Mr. Warren, cheerfully. "I'm delighted to hear you say this; for it is +something to have a class of men among us whose simple promises, in a +matter of money, have so much value! It is to be hoped that their +example will not be lost." + +"Mr. Newcome has made an admission I am also glad to hear," added Mary, +as soon as her father had done speaking. "His willingness to accept a +new lease on the old terms is a proof that he has been living under a +good bargain for himself hitherto, and that down to the present moment +he has been the obliged party." + +This was very simply said, but it bothered Seneca amazingly. As for +myself, I was delighted with it, and could have kissed the pretty, arch +creature who had just uttered the remark; though I will own that as much +might have been done without any great reluctance, had she even held her +tongue. As for Seneca, he did what most men are apt to do when they have +the consciousness of not appearing particularly well in a given point of +view he endeavoured to present himself to the eyes of his companions in +another. + +"There is one thing, Mr. Warren, that I think you will admit ought not +to be," he cried, exultingly, "whatever Miss Mary thinks about it; and +that is, that the Littlepage pew in your church ought to come down." + +"I will not say that much, Mr. Newcome, though I rather think my +daughter will. I believe, my dear, you are of Mr. Newcome's way of +thinking in respect to this canopied pew, and also in respect to the old +hatchments?" + +"I wish neither was in the church," answered Mary, in a low voice. + +From that moment I was fully resolved neither should be, as soon as I +got into a situation to control the matter. + +"In that I agree with you entirely, my child," resumed the clergyman; +"and were it not for this movement connected with the rents, and the +false principles that have been so boldly announced of late years, I +might have taken on myself the authority, as rector, to remove the +hatchments. Even according to the laws connected with the use of such +things, they should have been taken away a generation or two back. As to +the pew, it is a different matter. It is private property; was +constructed with the church, which was built itself by the joint +liberality of the Littlepages and mother Trinity; and it would be a most +ungracious act to undertake to destroy it under such circumstances, and +more especially in the absence of its owner." + +"You agree, however, that it ought not to be there?" asked Seneca, with +exultation. + +"I wish with all my heart it were not. I dislike every thing like +worldly distinction in the house of God; and heraldic emblems, in +particular, seem to me very much out of place where the cross is seen to +be in its proper place." + +"Wa-all, now, Mr. Warren, I can't say I much fancy crosses about +churches either. What's the use in raising vain distinctions of any +sort. A church is but a house, after all, and ought so to be regarded." + +"True," said Mary, firmly; "but the house of God." + +"Yes, yes, we all know, Miss Mary, that you Episcopalians look more at +outward things, and more respect outward things, than most of the other +denominations of the country." + +"Do you call leases 'outward things,' Mr. Newcome?" asked Mary, archly; +"and contracts, and bargains, and promises, and the rights of property, +and the obligation to 'do as you would be done by?'" + +"Law! good folks," cried Opportunity, who had been all this time +tumbling over the trinkets, "I wish it was 'down with the rent' for +ever, with all my heart; and that not another word might ever be said on +the subject. Here is one of the prettiest pencils, Mary, I ever did see; +and its price is only four dollars. I wish, Sen, you'd let the rent +alone, and make me a present of this very pencil." + +As this was an act of which Seneca had not the least intention of being +guilty, he merely shifted his hat from one side of his head to the +other, began to whistle, and then he coolly left the room. My uncle Ro +profited by the occasion to beg Miss Opportunity would do him the honour +to accept the pencil as an offering from himself. + +"You an't surely in earnest!" exclaimed Opportunity, flushing up with +surprise and pleasure. "Why, you told me the price was four dollars; and +even that seems to me desperate little!" + +"Dat ist de price to anudder," said the gallant trinket-dealer; "but dat +ist not de price to you, Miss Opportunity. Ve shall trafel togedder; ant +vhen ve gets to your coontry, you vill dell me de best houses vhere I +might go mit my vatches ant drinkets." + +"That I will; and get you in at the Nest House, in the bargain," cried +Opportunity, pocketing the pencil without further parley. + +In the mean time my uncle selected a very neat seal, the handsomest he +had, being of pure metal, and having a real topaz in it, and offered it +to Mary Warren, with his best bow. I watched the clergyman's daughter +with anxiety, as I witnessed the progress of this _galantérie_, doubting +and hoping at each change of the ingenuous and beautiful countenance of +her to whom the offering was made. Mary coloured, smiled, seemed +embarrassed, and, as I feared, for a single moment doubting; but I must +have been mistaken, as she drew back, and, in the sweetest manner +possible, declined to accept the present. I saw that Opportunity's +having just adopted a different course added very much to her +embarrassment, as otherwise she might have said something to lessen the +seeming ungraciousness of the refusal. Luckily for herself, however, she +had a gentleman to deal with, instead of one in the station that my +uncle Ro had voluntarily assumed. When this offering was made, the +pretended pedlar was ignorant altogether of the true characters of the +clergyman and his daughter, not even knowing that he saw the rector of +St. Andrew's, Ravensnest. But the manner of Mary at once disabused him +of an error into which he had fallen through her association with +Opportunity, and he now drew back himself with perfect tact, bowing and +apologizing in a way that I thought must certainly betray his disguise. +It did not, however; for Mr. Warren, with a smile that denoted equally +satisfaction at his daughter's conduct, and a grateful sense of the +other's intended liberality, but with a simplicity that was of proof, +turned to me and begged a tune on the flute which I had drawn from my +pocket and was holding in my hand, as expecting some such invitation. + +If I have any accomplishment, it is connected with music; and +particularly with the management of the flute. On this occasion I was +not at all backward about showing off, and I executed two or three airs, +from the best masters, with as much care as if I had been playing to a +salon in one of the best quarters of Paris. I could see that Mary and +her father were both surprised at the execution, and that the first was +delighted. We had a most agreeable quarter of an hour together; and +might have had two, had not Opportunity--who was certainly well named, +being apropos of everything--began of her own accord to sing, though not +without inviting Mary to join her. As the latter declined this public +exhibition, as well as my uncle Ro's offering, Seneca's sister had it +all to herself; and she sang no less than three songs, in quick +succession, and altogether unasked. I shall not stop to characterize the +music or the words of these songs, any further than to say they were +all, more or less, of the Jim Crow school, and executed in a way that +did them ample justice. + +As it was understood that we were all to travel in the same train, the +interview lasted until we were ready to proceed; nor did it absolutely +terminate then. As Mary and Opportunity sat together, Mr. Warren asked +me to share his seat, regardless of the hurdy-gurdy; though my attire, +in addition to its being perfectly new and neat, was by no means of the +mean character that it is usual to see adorning street-music in general. +On the whole, so long as the instrument was not _en evidence_, I might +not have seemed very much out of place seated at Mr. Warren's side. In +this manner we proceeded to Saratoga, my uncle keeping up a private +discourse the whole way with Seneca, on matters connected with the rent +movement. + +As for the divine and myself, we had also much interesting talk +together. I was questioned about Europe in general and Germany in +particular; and had reason to think my answers gave surprise as well as +satisfaction. It was not an easy matter to preserve the Doric of my +assumed dialect, though practice and fear contributed their share to +render me content to resort to it. I made many mistakes, of course, but +my listeners were not the persons to discover them. I say my listeners, +for I soon ascertained that Mary Warren, who sat on the seat directly +before us, was a profoundly attentive listener to all that passed. This +circumstance did not render me the less communicative, though it did +increase the desire I felt to render what I said worthy of such a +listener. As for Opportunity, she read a newspaper a little while, +munched an apple a very little while, and slept the rest of the way. But +the journey between modern Troy and Saratoga is not a long one, and was +soon accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "I will tell you; + If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little), + Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer." + + MENENIUS AGRIPPA. + + +At the springs we parted, Mr. Warren and his friends finding a +conveyance, with their own horses, in readiness to carry them the +remainder of the distance. As for my uncle and myself, it was understood +that we were to get on in the best manner we could, it being expected +that we should reach Ravensnest in the course of a day or two. According +to the theory of our new business, we ought to travel on foot, but we +had a reservation _in petto_ that promised us also the relief of a +comfortable wagon of some sort or other. + +"Well," said my uncle, the moment we had got far enough from our new +acquaintances to be out of ear-shot, "I must say one thing in behalf of +Mr. Seneky, as he calls himself, or Sen, as his elegant sister calls +him, and that is, that I believe him to be one of the biggest scoundrels +the state holds." + +"This is not drawing his character _en beau_," I answered, laughing. +"But why do you come out so decidedly upon him at this particular +moment?" + +"Because this particular moment happens to be the first in which I have +had an opportunity to say anything since I have known the rascal. You +must have remarked that the fellow held me in discourse from the time we +left Troy until we stopped here." + +"Certainly; I could see that his tongue was in motion unceasingly: what +he said, I have to conjecture." + +"He said enough to lay bare his whole character. Our subject was +anti-rent, which he commenced with a view to explain it to a foreigner; +but I managed to lead him on, step by step, until he let me into all his +notions and expectations on the subject. Why, Hugh, the villain actually +proposed that you and I should enlist, and turn ourselves into two of +the rascally mock redskins." + +"Enlist! Do they still persevere so far as to keep up that organization, +in the very teeth of the late law?" + +"The law! What do two or three thousand voters care for any penal law, +in a country like this? Who is to enforce the law against them? Did they +commit murder, and were they even convicted, as _might_ happen under the +excitement of such a crime, they very well know nobody would be hanged. +Honesty is always too passive in matters that do not immediately press +on its direct interests. It is for the interest of every honest man in +the State to set his face against this anti-rent movement, and to do all +he can, by his vote and influence, to put it down into the dirt, out of +which it sprang, and into which it should be crushed; but not one in a +hundred, even of those who condemn it _toto cælo_, will go a foot out of +their way even to impede its progress. All depends on those who have the +power; and they will exert that power so as to conciliate the active +rogue, rather than protect the honest man. You are to remember that the +laws are executed here on the principle that 'what is everybody's +business is nobody's business.'" + +"You surely do not believe that the authorities will wink at an open +violation of the laws!" + +"That will depend on the characters of individuals; most will, but some +will not. You and I would be punished soon enough, were there a chance, +but the mass would escape. Oh! we have had some precious disclosures in +our corner of the car! The two or three men who joined Newcome are from +anti-rent districts, and seeing me with their friend, little reserve has +been practised. One of those men is an anti-rent lecturer; and, being +somewhat didactic, he favoured me with some of his arguments, +_seriatim_." + +"How! Have they got to lectures? I should have supposed the newspapers +would have been the means of circulating their ideas." + +"Oh, the newspapers, like hogs swimming too freely, have cut their own +throats; and it seems to be fashionable, just at this moment, not to +believe them. Lecturing is the great moral lever of the nation at +present." + +"But a man can lie in a lecture, as well as in a newspaper." + +"Out of all question; and if many of the lecturers are of the school of +this Mr. Holmes--'Lecturer Holmes,' as Seneca called him--but, if many +are of _his_ school, a pretty set of liberty-takers with the truth must +they be." + +"You detected him, then, in some of these liberties?" + +"In a hundred: nothing was easier than for a man in my situation to do +that; knowing, as I did, so much of the history of the land-titles of +the State. One of his arguments partakes so largely of the weak side of +our system, that I must give it to you. He spoke of the gravity of the +disturbances--of the importance to the peace and character of the State +of putting an end to them; and then, by way of corollary to his +proposition, produced a scheme for changing the titles, IN ORDER TO +SATISFY THE PEOPLE!" + +"The people, of course, meaning the tenants; the landlords and _their_ +rights passing for nothing." + +"That is one beautiful feature of the morality--an eye, or a cheek, if +you will--but here is the _nose_, and highly Roman it is. A certain +portion of the community wish to get rid of the obligations of their +contracts; and finding it cannot be done by law, they resort to means +that are opposed to all law, in order to effect their purposes. Public +law-breakers, violators of the public peace, they make use of their own +wrong as an argument for perpetuating another that can be perpetuated in +no other way. I have been looking over some of the papers containing +proclamations, &c., and find that both law-makers and law-breakers are +of one mind as to this charming policy. Without a single manly effort to +put down the atrocious wrong that is meditated, the existence of the +wrong itself is made an argument for meeting it with concessions, and +thus sustaining it. Instead of using the means the institutions have +provided for putting down all such unjust and illegal combinations, the +combinations are a sufficient reason of themselves why the laws should +be altered, and wrong be done to a few, in order that many may be +propitiated, and their votes secured." + +"This is reasoning that can be used only where real grievances exist. +But there are no real grievances in the case of the tenants. They may +mystify weak heads in the instance of the Manor leases, with their +quarter sales, fat hens, loads of wood and days' works; but my leases +are all on three lives, with rent payable in money, and with none of the +conditions that are called feudal, though no more feudal than any other +bargain to pay articles in kind. One might just as well call a bargain +made by a butcher to deliver pork for a series of years feudal. However, +feudal or not, my leases, and those of most other landlords, are running +on lives; and yet, by what I can learn, the discontent is general; and +the men who have solemnly bargained to give up their farms at the +expiration of the lives are just as warm for the 'down-rent' and titles +in fee, as the Manor tenants themselves! They say that the obligations +given for actual purchases are beginning to be discredited." + +"You are quite right; and there is one of the frauds practised on the +world at large. In the public documents, only the Manor leases, with +their pretended feudal covenants and their perpetuity, are kept in view, +while the combination goes to _all_ leases, or nearly all, and certainly +to all _sorts_ of leases, where the estates are of sufficient extent to +allow of the tenants to make head against the landlords. I dare say +there are hundreds of tenants, even on the property of the Renssalaers, +who are honest enough to be willing to comply with their contracts if +the conspirators would let them; but the rapacious spirit is abroad +among the occupants of other lands, as well as among the occupants of +theirs, and the government considers its existence a proof that +concessions should be made. The discontented must be appeased, right or +not!" + +"Did Seneca say anything on the subject of his own interests?" + +"He did; not so much in conversation with me, as in the discourse he +held with 'Lecturer Holmes.' I listened attentively, happening to be +familiar, through tradition and through personal knowledge, with all the +leading facts of the case. As you will soon be called on to act in that +matter for yourself, I may as well relate them to you. They will serve, +also, as guides to the moral merits of the occupation of half the farms +on your estate. These are things, moreover, you would never know by +public statements, since all the good bargains are smothered in silence, +while those that may possibly have been a little unfavourable to the +tenant are proclaimed far and near. It is quite possible that, among the +many thousands of leased farms that are to be found in the State, some +bad bargains may have been made by the tenants; but what sort of a +government is that which should undertake to redress evils of this +nature? If either of the Renssalaers, or you yourself, were to venture +to send a memorial to the Legislature setting forth the grievances _you_ +labour under in connection with this very 'mill-lot'--and serious losses +do they bring to you, let me tell you, though grievances, in the proper +sense of the term, they are not--you and your memorial would be met with +a general and merited shout of ridicule and derision. One man has no +rights, as opposed to a dozen." + +"So much difference is there between _'de la Rochefocauld et de la +Rochefoucauld_.'" + +"All the difference in the world: but let me give you the facts, for +they will serve as a rule by which to judge of many others. In the first +place, my great-grandfather Mordaunt, the 'patentee,' as he was called, +first let the mill-lot to the grandfather of this Seneca, the tenant +then being quite a young man. In order to obtain settlers, in that early +day, it was necessary to give them great advantages, for there was +vastly more land than there were people to work it. The first lease, +therefore, was granted on highly advantageous terms to that Jason +Newcome, whom I can just remember. He had two characters; the one, and +the true, which set him down as a covetous, envious, narrow-minded +provincial, who was full of cant and roguery. Some traditions exist +among us of his having been detected in stealing timber, and in various +other frauds. In public he is one of those virtuous and hard-working +pioneers who have transmitted to their descendants all their claims, +those that are supposed to be moral, as well as those that are known to +be legal. This flummery may do for elderly ladies, who affect snuff and +bohea, and for some men who have minds of the same calibre, but they are +not circumstances to influence such legislators and executives as are +fit to be legislators and executives. Not a great while before my +father's marriage, the said Jason still living and in possession, the +lease expired, and a new one was granted for three lives, or twenty-one +years certain, of which one of the lives is still running. That lease +was granted, on terms highly favourable to the tenant, sixty years +since, old Newcome, luckily for himself and his posterity, having named +this long-lived son as one of his three lives. Now Seneky, God bless +him! is known to lease a few of the lots that have fallen to his share +of the property for more money than is required to meet all your rent on +the whole. Such, in effect, has been the fact with that mill-lot for the +last thirty years, or even longer; and the circumstance of the great +length of time so excellent a bargain has existed, is used as an +argument why the Newcomes ought to have a deed of the property for a +nominal price; or, indeed, for no price at all, if the tenants could +have their wishes." + +"I am afraid there is nothing unnatural in thus perverting principles; +half mankind appear to me really to get a great many of their notions +_dessus dessous_." + +"Half is a small proportion; as you will find, my boy, when you grow +older. But was it not an impudent proposal of Seneca, when he wished you +and me to join the corps of 'Injins?'" + +"What answer did you make? Though I suppose it would hardly do for us to +go disguised and armed, now that the law makes it a felony, even while +our motive, at the bottom, might be to aid the law." + +"Catch me at that act of folly! Why, Hugh, could they prove such a crime +on either of _us_, or any one connected with an old landed family, we +should be the certain victims. No governor would dare pardon _us_. No, +no; clemency is a word reserved for the obvious and confirmed rogues." + +"We might get a little favour on the score of belonging to a very +powerful body of offenders." + +"True; I forgot that circumstance. The more numerous the crimes and the +criminals, the greater the probability of impunity; and this, too, not +on the general principle that power cannot be resisted, but on the +particular principle that a thousand or two votes are of vast +importance, where three thousand can turn an election. God only knows +where this thing is to end!" + +We now approached one of the humbler taverns of the place, where it was +necessary for those of our apparent pretensions to seek lodgings, and +the discourse was dropped. It was several weeks too early in the season +for the Springs to be frequented, and we found only a few of those in +the place who drank the waters because they really required them. My +uncle had been an old stager at Saratoga--a beau of the "purest water," +as he laughingly described himself--and he was enabled to explain all +that it was necessary for me to know. An American watering-place, +however, is so very much inferior to most of those in Europe, as to +furnish very little, in their best moments, beyond the human beings they +contain, to attract the attention of the traveller. + +In the course of the afternoon we availed ourselves of the opportunity +of a return vehicle to go as far as Sandy Hill, where we passed the +night. The next morning, bright and early, we got into a hired wagon and +drove across the country until near night, when we paid for our passage, +sent the vehicle back, and sought a tavern. At this house, where we +passed the night, we heard a good deal of the "Injins" having made their +appearance on the Littlepage lands, and many conjectures as to the +probable result. We were in a township, or rather on a property that was +called Mooseridge, and which had once belonged to us, but which, having +been sold, and in a great measure paid for by the occupants, no one +thought of impairing the force of the covenants under which the parties +held. The most trivial observer will soon discover that it is only when +something is to be gained that the aggrieved citizen wishes to disturb a +covenant. Now, I never heard any one say a syllable against either of +the covenants of his lease under which he held his farm, let him be ever +so loud against those which would shortly compel him to give it up! Had +I complained of the fact--and such facts abounded--that my predecessors +had incautiously let farms at such low prices that the lessees had been +enabled to pay the rents for half a century by subletting small portions +of them, as my uncle Ro had intimated, I should be pointed at as a +fool. "Stick to your bond" would have been the cry, and "Shylock" would +have been forgotten. I do not say that there is not a vast difference +between the means of acquiring intelligence, the cultivation, the +manners, the social conditions, and, in some senses, the social +obligations of an affluent landlord and a really hard-working, honest, +well-intentioned husbandman, his tenant--differences that should dispose +the liberal and cultivated gentleman to bear in mind the advantages he +has perhaps inherited, and not acquired by his own means, in such a way +as to render him, in a certain degree, the repository of the interests +of those who hold under him; but, while I admit all this, and say that +the community which does not possess such a class of men is to be +pitied, as it loses one of the most certain means of liberalizing and +enlarging its notions, and of improving its civilization, I am far from +thinking that the men of this class are to have their real superiority +of position, with its consequences, thrown into their faces only when +they are expected to give, while they are grudgingly denied it on all +other occasions! There is nothing so likely to advance the habits, +opinions, and true interests of a rural population, as to have them all +directed by the intelligence and combined interests that ought to mark +the connection between landlord and tenant. It may do for one class of +political economists to prate about a state of things which supposes +every husbandman a freeholder, and rich enough to maintain his level +among the other freeholders of the State. But we all know that as many +minute gradations in means must and do exist in a community, as there +exists gradations in characters. A majority soon will, in the nature of +things, be below the level of the freeholder, and by destroying the +system of having landlords and tenants, two great evils are created--the +one preventing men of large fortunes from investing in lands, as no man +will place his money where it will be insecure or profitless, thereby +cutting off real estate generally from the benefits that might be and +would be conferred by their capital, as well as cutting it off from the +benefits of the increased price which arise from having such buyers in +the market; and the other is, to prevent any man from being a husbandman +who has not the money necessary to purchase a farm. But they who want +farms _now_, and they who will want votes next November, do not look +quite so far ahead as that, while shouting "equal rights," they are, in +fact, for preventing the poor husbandman from being anything but a +day-labourer. + +We obtained tolerably decent lodgings at our inn, though the profoundest +patriot America possesses, if he know anything of other countries, or of +the best materials of his own, cannot say much in favour of the sleeping +arrangements of an ordinary country inn. The same money and the same +trouble would render that which is now the very _beau idéal_ of +discomfort, at least tolerable, and in many instances good. But who is +to produce this reform? According to the opinions circulated among us, +the humblest hamlet we have has already attained the highest point of +civilization; and as for the people, without distinction of classes, it +is universally admitted that they are the best educated, the acutest, +and the most intelligent in Christendom;--no, I must correct myself; +they are all this, except when they are in the act of leasing lands, and +then the innocent and illiterate husbandmen are the victims of the arts +of designing landlords, the wretches![1] + +We passed an hour on the piazza, after eating our supper, and there +being a collection of men assembled there, inhabitants of the hamlet, we +had an opportunity to get into communication with them. My uncle sold a +watch, and I played on the hurdy-gurdy, by way of making myself popular. +After this beginning, the discourse turned on the engrossing subject of +the day, anti-rentism. The principal speaker was a young man of about +six-and-twenty, of a sort of shabby genteel air and appearance, whom I +soon discovered to be the attorney of the neighbourhood. His name was +Hubbard, while that of the other principal speaker was Hall. The last +was a mechanic, as I ascertained, and was a plain-looking working-man of +middle age. Each of these persons seated himself on a common "kitchen +chair," leaning back against the side of the house, and, of course, +resting on the two hind legs of the rickety support, while he placed his +own feet on the rounds in front. The attitudes were neither graceful nor +picturesque, but they were so entirely common as to excite no surprise. +As for Hall, he appeared perfectly contented with his situation, after +fidgeting a little to get the two supporting legs of his chair just +where he wanted them; but Hubbard's eye was restless, uneasy, and even +menacing, for more than a minute. He drew a knife from his pocket--a +small, neat pen-knife only, it is true--gazed a little wildly about him, +and just as I thought he intended to abandon his nicely poised chair, +and to make an assault on one of the pillars that upheld the roof of the +piazza, the innkeeper advanced, holding in his hand several narrow slips +of pine board, one of which he offered at once to 'Squire Hubbard. This +relieved the attorney, who took the wood, and was soon deeply plunged +in, to me, the unknown delights of whittling. I cannot explain the +mysterious pleasure that so many find in whittling, though the +prevalence of the custom is so well known. But I cannot explain the +pleasure so many find in chewing tobacco, or in smoking. The precaution +of the landlord was far from being unnecessary, and appeared to be taken +in good part by all to whom he offered "whittling-pieces," some six or +eight in the whole. The state of the piazza, indeed, proved that the +precaution was absolutely indispensable, if he did not wish to see the +house come tumbling down about his head. In order that those who have +never seen such thing may understand their use, I will go a little out +of the way to explain. + +The inn was of wood, a hemlock frame with a "siding" of clap-boards. In +this there was nothing remarkable, many countries of Europe, even, still +building principally of wood. Houses of lath and plaster were quite +common, until within a few years, even in large towns. I remember to +have seen some of these constructions, while in London, in close +connection with the justly celebrated Westminster Hall; and of such +materials is the much-talked-of miniature castle of Horace Walpole, at +Strawberry Hill. But the inn of Mooseridge had some pretensions to +architecture, besides being three or four times larger than any other +house in the place. A piazza it enjoyed, of course; it must be a pitiful +village inn that does not: and building, accessaries and all, rejoiced +in several coats of a spurious white lead. The columns of this piazza, +as well as the clap-boards of the house itself however, exhibited the +proofs of the danger of abandoning your true whittler to his own +instincts. Spread-eagles, five points, American flags, huzzahs for Polk! +the initials of names, and names at full length, with various other +similar conceits, records, and ebullitions of patriotic or party-otic +feelings, were scattered up and down with an affluence the said volumes +in favour of the mint in which they had been coined. But the most +remarkable memorial of the industry of the guests was to be found on one +of the columns; and it was one at a corner, too, and consequently of +double importance to the superstructure--unless, indeed, the house were +built on that well-known principle of American architecture of the last +century, which made the architrave uphold the pillar, instead of the +pillar the architrave. The column in question was of white pine, as +usual--though latterly, in brick edifices, bricks and stucco are much +resorted to--and, at a convenient height for the whittlers, it was +literally cut two-thirds in two. The gash was very neatly made--that +much must be said for it--indicating skill and attention; and the +surfaces of the wound were smoothed in a manner to prove that +appearances were not neglected. + +"Vat do das?" I asked of the landlord, pointing to this gaping wound in +the main column of his piazza. + +"That! Oh! That's only the whittlers," answered the host, with a +good-natural smile. + +Assuredly the Americans _are_ the best-natured people on earth! Here was +a man whose house was nearly tumbling down about his ears--always bating +the principle in architecture just named--and he could smile as Nero may +be supposed to have done when fiddling over the conflagration of Rome. + +"But vhy might de vhittler vhittle down your house?" + +"Oh! this is a free country, you know, and folks do pretty much as they +like in it," returned the still smiling host. "I let 'em cut away as +long as I dared, but it was high time to get out 'whittling-pieces' I +believe you must own. It's best always to keep a ruff (roof) over a +man's head, to be ready for bad weather. A week longer would have had +the column in two." + +"Vell, I dinks I might not bear dat! Vhat ist mein house ist mein house, +ant dey shall not so moch vittles." + +"By letting 'em so much vittles there, they so much vittles in the +kitchen; so you see there is policy in having your under-pinnin' knocked +away sometimes, if it's done by the right sort of folks." + +"You're a stranger in these parts, friend?" observed Hubbard, +complacently, for by this time his "whittling-piece" was reduced to a +shape, and he could go on reducing it, according to some law of the art +of whittling, with which I am not acquainted. "We are not so particular +in such matters as in some of your countries in the old world." + +"Ja--das I can see. But does not woot ant column cost money in America, +someding?" + +"To be sure it does. There is not a man in the country who would +undertake to replace that pillar with a new one, paint and all, for less +than ten dollars." + +This was an opening for a discussion on the probable cost of putting a +new pillar into the place of the one that was injured. Opinions +differed, and quite a dozen spoke on the subject; some placing the +expense as high as fifteen dollars, and others bringing it down as low +as five. I was struck with the quiet and self-possession with which each +man delivered his opinion, as well as with the language used. The +accent was uniformly provincial, that of Hubbard included, having a +strong and unpleasant taint of the dialect of New England in it; and +some of the expressions savoured a little of the stilts of the +newspapers; but, on the whole, the language was sufficiently accurate +and surprisingly good, considering the class in life of the speakers. +The conjectures, too, manifested great shrewdness and familiarity with +practical things, as well as, in a few instances, some reading. Hall, +however, actually surprised me. He spoke with a precision and knowledge +of mechanics that would have done credit to a scholar, and with a +simplicity that added to the influence of what he said. Some casual +remark induced me to put in--"Vell, I might s'pose an Injin voult cut so +das column, but I might not s'pose a vhite man could." This opinion gave +the discourse a direction towards anti-rentism, and in a few minutes it +caught all the attention of my uncle Ro and myself. + +"This business is going ahead after all!" observed Hubbard, evasively, +after others had had their say. + +"More's the pity," put in Hall. "It might have been put an end to in a +month, at any time, and ought to be put an end to in a civilized land." + +"You will own, neighbour Hall, notwithstanding, it would be a great +improvement in the condition of the tenants all over the State, could +they change their tenures into freeholds." + +"No doubt 't would; and so it would be a great improvement in the +condition of any journeyman in my shop if he could get to be the boss. +But that is not the question here, the question is, what right has the +State to say any man shall sell his property unless he wishes to sell +it? A pretty sort of liberty we should have if we all held our houses +and gardens under such laws as that supposes!" + +"But do we not all hold our houses and gardens, and farms, too, by some +such law?" rejoined the attorney, who evidently respected his +antagonist, and advanced his own opinions cautiously. "If the public +wants land to use, it can take it by paying for it." + +"Yes, to _use_; but use is everything. I've read that old report of the +committee of the House, and don't subscribe to its doctrines at all. +Public 'policy,' in that sense, doesn't at all mean public 'use.' If +land is wanted for a road, or a fort, or a canal, it must be taken, +under a law, by appraisement, or the thing could not be had at all; but +to pretend, because one side to a contract wishes to alter it, that the +State has a right to interfere, on the ground that the discontented can +be bought off in this way easier and cheaper than they can be made to +obey the laws, is but a poor way of supporting the right. The same +principle, carried out, might prove it would be easier to buy off +pickpockets by compromising than to punish them. Or it would be easy to +get round all sorts of contracts in this way." + +"But all governments use this power when it becomes necessary, neighbour +Hall." + +"That word _necessary_ covers a great deal of ground, 'Squire Hubbard. +The most that can be made of the necessity here is to say it is cheaper, +and may help along parties to their objects better. No man doubts that +the State of New York can put down these anti-renters; and, I trust, +_will_ put them down, so far as force is concerned. There is, then, no +other necessity in the case, to begin with, than the necessity which +demagogues always feel, of getting as many votes as they can." + +"After all, neighbour Hall, these votes are pretty powerful weapons in a +popular government." + +"I'll not deny that; and now they talk of a convention to alter the +constitution, it is a favourable moment to teach such managers they +shall not abuse the right of suffrage in this way." + +"How is it to be prevented? You are an universal suffrage man, I know?" + +"Yes, I'm for universal suffrage among honest folks; but do not wish to +have my rulers chosen by them that are never satisfied without having +their hands in their neighbours' pockets. Let 'em put a clause into the +constitution providing that no town, or village, or county shall hold a +poll within a given time after the execution of process has been openly +resisted in it. That would take the conceit out of all such +law-breakers, in very short order." + +It was plain that this idea struck the listeners, and several even +avowed their approbation of the scheme aloud. Hubbard received it as a +new thought, but was more reluctant to admit its practicability. As +might be expected from a lawyer accustomed to practise in a small way, +his objections savoured more of narrow views than of the notions of a +statesman. + +"How would you determine the extent of the district to be +disfranchised?" he asked. + +"Take the legal limits as they stand. If process be resisted openly by a +combination strong enough to look down the agents of the law in a town, +disfranchise that town for a given period; if in more than one town, +disfranchise the offending towns; if a county, disfranchise the whole +county." + +"But, in that way you would punish the innocent with the guilty." + +"It would be for the good of all; besides, you punish the innocent for +the guilty, or _with_ the guilty rather, in a thousand ways. You and I +are taxed to keep drunkards from starving, because it is better to do +that than to offend humanity by seeing men die of hunger, or tempting +them to steal. When you declare martial law you punish the innocent with +the guilty, in one sense; and so you do in a hundred cases. All we have +to ask is, if it be not wiser and better to disarm demagogues, and those +disturbers of the public peace who wish to pervert their right of +suffrage to so wicked an end, by so simple a process, than to suffer +them to effect their purposes by the most flagrant abuse of their +political privileges?" + +"How would you determine _when_ a town should lose the right of voting?" + +"By evidence given in open court. The judges would be the proper +authority to decide in such a case; and they would decide, beyond all +question, nineteen times in twenty, right. It is the interest of every +man who is desirous of exercising the suffrage on right principles, to +give him some such protection against them that wish to exercise the +suffrage on wrong. A peace-officer can call on the _posse comitatus_ or +on the people to aid him; if enough appear to put down the rebels, well +and good; but if enough do not appear, let it be taken as proof that the +district is not worthy of giving the votes of freemen. They who abuse +such a liberty as man enjoys in this country are the least entitled to +our sympathies. As for the mode, that could easily be determined, as +soon as you settled the principle." + +The discourse went on for an hour, neighbour Hall giving his opinions +still more at large. I listened equally with pleasure and surprise. +"These, then, after all," I said to myself, "are the real bone and sinew +of the country. There are tens of thousands of this sort of men in the +State, and why should they be domineered over, and made to submit to a +legislation and to practices that are so often without principle, by the +agents of the worst part of the community? Will the honest for ever be +so passive, while the corrupt and dishonest continue so active?" On my +mentioning these notions to my uncle, he answered: + +"Yes; it ever has been so, and, I fear, ever will be so. _There_ is the +curse of this country," pointing to a table covered with newspapers, the +invariable companion of an American inn of any size. "So long as men +believe what they find _there_, they can be nothing but dupes or +knaves." + +"But there is good in newspapers." + +"That adds to the curse. If they were nothing but lies, the world would +soon reject them; but how few are able to separate the true from the +false! Now, how few of these papers speak the truth about this very +anti-rentism! Occasionally an honest man in the corps does come out; but +where one does this, ten affect to think what they do not believe, in +order to secure votes;--votes, votes, votes. In that simple word lies +all the mystery of the matter." + +"Jefferson said, if he were to choose between a government without +newspapers, or newspapers without a government, he would take the last." + +"Ay, Jefferson did not mean newspapers as they are now. I am old enough +to see the change that has taken place. In his day, three or four fairly +convicted lies would damn any editor; now, there are men that stand up +under a thousand. I'll tell you what, Hugh, this country is jogging on +under two of the most antagonist systems possible--Christianity and the +newspapers. The first is daily hammering into every man that he is a +miserable, frail, good-for-nothing being, while the last is eternally +proclaiming the perfection of the people and the virtues of +self-government." + +"Perhaps too much stress ought not to be laid on either." + +"The first is certainly true, under limitations that we all understand; +but as to the last, I will own I want more evidence than a newspaper +eulogy to believe it." + +After all, my uncle Ro is sometimes mistaken; though candour compels me +to acknowledge that he is very often right. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "I see thee still; + Remembrance, faithful to her trust, + Calls thee in beauty from the dust; + Thou comest in the morning light, + Thou 'rt with me through the gloomy night; + In dreams I meet thee as of old: + Then thy soft arms my neck enfold, + And thy sweet voice is in my ear: + In every sense to memory dear + I see thee still." + + SPRAGUE. + + +It was just ten in the morning of the succeeding day when my uncle Ro +and myself came in sight of the old house at the Nest. I call it _old_, +for a dwelling that has stood more than half a century acquires a touch +of the venerable, in a country like America. To me it was truly old, the +building having stood there, where I then saw it, for a period more than +twice as long as that of my own existence, and was associated with all +my early ideas. From childhood I had regarded that place as my future +home, as it had been the home of my parents and grand-parents, and, in +one sense, of those who had gone before them for two generations more. +The whole of the land in sight--the rich bottoms, then waving with +grass--the side-hills, the woods, the distant mountains--the orchards, +dwellings, barns, and all the other accessaries of rural life that +appertained to the soil, were mine, and had thus become without a +single act of injustice to any human being, so far as I knew and +believed. Even the red man had been fairly bought off by Herman +Mordaunt, the patentee, and so Susquesus, the Redskin of Ravensnest, as +our old Onondago was often called, had ever admitted the fact to be. It +was natural that I should love an estate thus inherited and thus +situated. NO CIVILIZED MAN, NO MAN, INDEED, SAVAGE OR NOT, HAD EVER BEEN +THE OWNER OF THOSE BROAD ACRES, BUT THOSE WHO WERE OF MY OWN BLOOD. This +is what few besides Americans _can_ say; and when it can be said truly, +in parts of the country where the arts of life have spread, and amid the +blessings of civilization, it becomes the foundation of a sentiment so +profound, that I do not wonder those adventurers-errant who are flying +about the face of the country, thrusting their hands into every man's +mess, have not been able to find it among their other superficial +discoveries. Nothing can be less like the ordinary cravings of avarice +than the feeling that is thus engendered; and I am certain that the +general tendency of such an influence is to elevate the feelings of him +who experiences it. + +And there were men among us, high in political station--high as such men +ever can get, for the consequence of having such men in power is to draw +down station itself nearer to their own natural level--but men in power +had actually laid down propositions in political economy which, if +carried out, would cause me to sell all that estate, reserving, perhaps, +a single farm for my own use, and reinvest the money in such a way as +that the interest I obtained might equal my present income! It is true, +this theory was not directly applied to me, as my farms were to fall in +by the covenants of their leases, but it had been directly applied to +Stephen and William Van Rensselaer, and, by implication, to others; and +my turn might come next. What business had the Rensselaers, or the +Livingstons, or the Hunters, or the Littlepages, or the Verplancks, or +the Morgans, or the Wadsworths, or five hundred others similarly placed, +to entertain "sentiments" that interfered with "business," or that +interfered with the wishes of any straggling Yankee who had found his +way out of New England, and wanted a particular farm on his own terms? +It is aristocratic to put sentiment in opposition to trade; and TRADE +ITSELF IS NOT TO BE TRADE ANY LONGER THAN ALL THE PROFIT IS TO BE FOUND +ON THE SIDE OF NUMBERS. Even the principles of holy trade are to be +governed by majorities! + +Even my uncle Ro, who never owned a foot of the property, could not look +at it without emotion. He too had been born there--had passed his +childhood there--and loved the spot without a particle of the grovelling +feeling of avarice. He took pleasure in remembering that our race had +been the only owners of the soil on which he stood, and had that very +justifiable pride which belongs to enduring respectability and social +station. + +"Well, Hugh," he cried, after both of us had stood gazing at the grey +walls of the good and substantial, but certainly not very beautiful +dwelling, "here we are, and we now may determine on what is next to be +done. Shall we march down to the village, which is four miles distant, +you will remember, and get our breakfasts there?--shall we try one of +your tenants?--or shall we plunge at once _in medias res_, and ask +hospitality of my mother and your sister?" + +"The last might excite suspicion, I fear, sir. Tar and feathers would be +our mildest fate did we fall into the hands of the Injins." + +"Injins! Why not go at once to the wigwam of Susquesus, and get out of +him and Yop the history of the state of things. I heard them speaking of +the Onondago at our tavern last night, and while they said he was +generally thought to be much more than a hundred, that he was still like +a man of eighty. That Indian is full of observation, and may let us into +some of the secrets of his brethren." + +"They can at least give us the news from the family; and though it might +seem in the course of things for pedlars to visit the Nest House, it +will be just as much so for them to halt at the wigwam." + +This consideration decided the matter, and away we went towards the +ravine or glen, on the side of which stood the primitive-looking hut +that went by the name of the "wigwam." The house was a small cabin of +logs, neat and warm, or cool, as the season demanded. As it was kept up, +and was whitewashed, and occasionally furnished anew by the +landlord--the odious creature! he who paid for so many similar things +in the neighbourhood--it was never unfit to be seen, though never of a +very alluring, cottage-like character. There was a garden, and it had +been properly made that very season, the negro picking and pecking about +it, during the summer, in a way to coax the vegetables and fruits on a +little, though I well knew that the regular weedings came from an +assistant at the Nest, who was ordered to give it an eye and an +occasional half-day. On one side of the hut there was a hog-pen and a +small stable for a cow; but on the other the trees of the virgin forest, +which had never been disturbed in that glen, overshadowed the roof. This +somewhat poetical arrangement was actually the consequence of a +compromise between the tenants of the cabin, the negro insisting on the +accessories of his rude civilization, while the Indian required the +shades of the woods to reconcile him to his position. Here had these two +singularly associated beings--the one deriving his descent from the +debased races of Africa, and the other from the fierce but lofty-minded +aboriginal inhabitant of this continent--dwelt nearly for the whole +period of an ordinary human life. The cabin itself began to look really +ancient, while those who dwelt in it had little altered within the +memory of man! Such instances of longevity, whatever theorists may say +on the subject, are not unfrequent among either the blacks or the +"natives," though probably less so among the last than among the first, +and still less so among the first of the northern than of the southern +sections of the republic. It is common to say that the great age so +often attributed to the people of these two races is owing to ignorance +of the periods of their births, and that they do not live longer than +the whites. This may be true, in the main, for a white man is known to +have died at no great distance from Ravensnest, within the last +five-and-twenty years, who numbered more than his six score of years; +but aged negroes and aged Indians are nevertheless so common, when the +smallness of their whole numbers is remembered, as to render the fact +apparent to most of those who have seen much of their respective people. + +There was no highway in the vicinity of the wigwam, for so the cabin was +generally called, though wigwam, in the strict meaning of the word, it +was not. As the little building stood in the grounds of the Nest House, +which contain two hundred acres, a bit of virgin forest included, and +exclusively of the fields that belonged to the adjacent farm, it was +approached only by foot-paths, of which several led to and from it, and +by one narrow, winding carriage-road, which, in passing for miles +through the grounds, had been led near the hut, in order to enable my +grandmother and sister, and, I dare say, my dear departed mother, while +she lived, to make their calls in their frequent airings. By this +sweeping road we approached the cabin. + +"There are the two old fellows, sunning themselves this fine day!" +exclaimed my uncle, with something like tremor in his voice, as we drew +near enough to the hut to distinguish objects. "Hugh, I never see these +men without a feeling of awe, as well as of affection. They were the +friends, and one was the slave of my grandfather; and as long as I can +remember, have they been aged men! They seem to be set up here as +monuments of the past, to connect the generations that are gone with +those that are to come." + +"If so, sir, they will soon be all there is of their sort. It really +seems to me that, if things continue much longer in their present +direction, men will begin to grow jealous and envious of history itself, +because its actors have left descendants to participate in any little +credit they may have gained." + +"Beyond all contradiction, boy, there is a strange perversion of the old +and natural sentiments on this head among us. But you must bear in mind +the fact, that of the two millions and a half the State contains, not +half a million, probably, possess any of the true York blood, and can +consequently feel any of the sentiments connected with the birth-place +and the older traditions of the very society in which they live. A great +deal must be attributed to the facts of our condition; though I admit +those facts need not, and ought not to unsettle principles. But look at +those two old fellows! There they are, true to the feelings and habits +of their races, even after passing so long a time together in this hut. +There squats Susquesus on a stone, idle and disdaining work, with his +rifle leaning against the apple-tree; while Jaaf--or Yop, as I believe +it is better to call him--is pecking about in the garden, still a slave +at his work, in fancy at least." + +"And which is the happiest, sir--the industrious old man or the idler?" + +"Probably each finds most happiness in indulging his own early habits. +The Onondago never _would_ work, however, and I have heard my father +say, great was his happiness when he found he was to pass the remainder +of his days in _otium cum dignitate_, and without the necessity of +making baskets." + +"Yop is looking at us; had we not better go up at once and speak to +them?" + +"Yop may stare the most openly, but my life on it the Indian _sees_ +twice as much. His faculties are the best, to begin with; and he is a +man of extraordinary and characteristic observation. In his best days +nothing ever escaped him. As you say, we will approach." + +My uncle and myself then consulted on the expediency of using broken +English with these two old men, of which, at first, we saw no necessity; +but when we remembered that others might join us, and that our +communications with the two might be frequent for the next few days, we +changed our minds, and determined rigidly to observe our incognitos. + +As we came up to the door of the hut, Jaaf slowly left his little garden +and joined the Indian, who remained immoveable and unmoved on the stone +which served him for a seat. We could see but little change in either +during the five years of our absence, each being a perfect picture, in +his way, of extreme but not decrepit old age in the men of his race. Of +the two, the black--if black he could now be called, his colour being a +muddy grey--was the most altered, though that seemed scarcely possible +when I saw him last. As for the Trackless, or Susquesus, as he was +commonly called, his temperance throughout a long life did him good +service, and his half-naked limbs and skeleton-like body, for he wore +the summer dress of his people, appeared to be made of a leather long +steeped in a tannin of the purest quality. His sinews, too, though much +stiffened, seemed yet to be of whip-cord, and his whole frame a species +of indurated mummy that retained its vitality. The colour of the skin +was less red than formerly, and more closely approached to that of the +negro, as the latter now was, though perceptibly different. + +"Sago--sago," cried my uncle, as we came quite near, seeing no risk in +using that familiar semi-Indian salutation.[2] "Sago, sago, dis charmin' +mornin; in my tongue, dat might be _guten tag_." + +"Sago," returned the Trackless, in his deep, guttural voice, while old +Yop brought two lips together that resembled thick pieces of overdone +beef-steak, fastened his red-encircled gummy eyes on each of us in turn, +pouted once more, working his jaws as if proud of the excellent teeth +they still held, and said nothing. As the slave of a Littlepage, he held +pedlars as inferior beings; for the ancient negroes of New York ever +identified themselves, more or less, with the families to which they +belonged, and in which they so often were born. "Sago," repeated the +Indian, slowly, courteously, and with emphasis, after he had looked a +moment longer at my uncle, as if he saw something about him to command +respect. + +"Dis ist charmin' day, frients," said uncle Ro, placing himself coolly +on a log of wood that had been hauled for the stove, and wiping his +brow. "Vat might you calls dis coontry?" + +"Dis here?" answered Yop, not without a little contempt. "Dis is York +Colony; where you come from to ask sich a question?" + +"Charmany. Dat ist far off, but a goot coontry; ant dis ist goot +coontry too." + +"Why you leab him, den, if he be good country, eh?" + +"Vhy you leaf Africa, canst you dell me dat?" retorted uncle Ro, +somewhat coolly. + +"Nebber was dere," growled old Yop, bringing his blubber lips together +somewhat in the manner the boar works his jaws when it is prudent to get +out of his way. "I'm York-nigger born, and nebber seen no Africa; and +nebber want to see him, nudder." + +It is scarcely necessary to say that Jaaf belonged to a school by which +the term of "coloured gentleman" was never used. The men of his time and +stamp called themselves "niggers;" and ladies and gentlemen of that age +took them at their word, and called them "niggers" too; a term that no +one of the race ever uses now, except in the way of reproach, and which, +by one of the singular workings of our very wayward and common nature, +he is more apt to use than any other, when reproach is intended. + +My uncle paused a moment to reflect before he continued a discourse that +had not appeared to commence under very flattering auspices. + +"Who might lif in dat big stone house?" asked uncle Ro, as soon as he +thought the negro had had time to cool a little. + +"Anybody can see you no Yorker, by dat werry speech," answered Yop, not +at all mollified by such a question. "Who _should_ lib dere but Gin'ral +Littlepage?" + +"Vell, I dought he wast dead, long ago." + +"What if he be? It's his house, and he lib in it; and ole _young_ missus +lib dere too." + +Now, there had been three generations of generals among the Littlepages, +counting from father to son. First, there had been Brigadier General +Evans Littlepage, who held that rank in the militia, and died in service +during the revolution. The next was Brigadier General Cornelius +Littlepage, who got his rank by brevet, at the close of the same war, in +which he had actually figured as a colonel of the New York line. Third, +and last, was my own grandfather, Major General Mordaunt Littlepage: he +had been a captain in his father's regiment at the close of the same +struggle, got the brevet of major at its termination, and rose to be a +Major General of the militia, the station he held for many years before +he died. As soon as the privates had the power to elect their own +officers, the position of a Major General in the militia ceased to be +respectable, and few gentlemen could be induced to serve. As might have +been foreseen, the militia itself fell into general contempt, where it +now is, and where it will ever remain until a different class of +officers shall be chosen. The people can do a great deal, no doubt, but +they cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." As soon as officers +from the old classes shall be appointed, the militia will come up; for +in no interest in life is it so material to have men of certain habits, +and notions, and education, in authority, as in those connected with the +military service. A great many fine speeches may be made, and much +patriotic eulogy expended on the intrinsic virtue and intelligence of +the people, and divers projects entertained to make "citizen-soldiers," +as they are called; but citizens never can be, and never will be turned +into soldiers at all, good or bad, until proper officers are placed over +them. To return to Yop-- + +"Bray vhat might be der age of das laty dat you callet _olt_ young +missus?" asked my uncle. + +"Gosh! she nutten but gal--born sometime just a'ter ole French war. +Remember her well 'nough when she Miss Dus Malbone. Young masser +Mordaunt take fancy to her, and make her he wife." + +"Vell, I hopes you hafn't any objection to der match?" + +"Not I; she clebber young lady den, and she werry clebber young lady +now." + +And this of my venerable grandmother, who had fairly seen her four-score +years! + +"Who might be der master of das big house now?" + +"Gin'ral Littlepage, doesn't I tell ye! Masser Mordaunt's name, _my_ +young master. Sus, dere, only Injin; he nebber so lucky as hab a good +master. Niggers gettin' scarce, dey tells me, now-a-days, in dis world!" + +"Injins, too, I dinks; dere ist no more redskins might be blenty." + +The manner in which the Onondago raised his figure, and the look he +fastened on my uncle, were both fine and startling. As yet he had said +nothing beyond the salutation; but I could see he now intended to +speak. + +"New tribe," he said, after regarding us for half a minute intently; +"what you call him--where he come from?" + +"Ja, ja--das ist der anti-rent redskins. Haf you seen 'em, Trackless?" + +"Sartain; come to see me--face in bag--behave like squaw; poor +Injin--poor warrior!" + +"Yees, I believes dat ist true enough. I can't bear soch Injin!--might +not be soch Injin in world. Vhat you call 'em, eh?" + +Susquesus shook his head slowly, and with dignity. Then he gazed +intently at my uncle; after which he fastened his eyes, in a similar +manner on me. In this manner his looks turned from one to the other for +some little time, when he again dropped them to the earth, calmly and in +silence. I took out the hurdy-gurdy, and began to play a lively air--one +that was very popular among the American blacks, and which, I am sorry +to say, is getting to be not less so among the whites. No visible effect +was produced on Susquesus, unless a slight shade of contempt was visible +on his dark features. With Jaaf, however, it was very different. Old as +he was, I could see a certain nervous twitching of the lower limbs, +which indicated that the old fellow actually felt some disposition to +dance. It soon passed away, though his grim, hard, wrinkled, dusky, grey +countenance continued to gleam with a sort of dull pleasure for some +time. There was nothing surprising in this, the indifference of the +Indian to melody being almost as marked as the negro's sensitiveness to +its power. + +It was not to be expected that men so aged would be disposed to talk +much. The Onondago had ever been a silent man; dignity and gravity of +character uniting with prudence to render him so. But Jaaf was +constitutionally garrulous, though length of days had necessarily much +diminished the propensity. At that moment a fit of thoughtful and +melancholy silence came over my uncle, too, and all four of us continued +brooding on our own reflections for two or three minutes after I had +ceased to play. Presently the even, smooth approach of carriage-wheels +was heard, and a light, summer vehicle that was an old acquaintance, +came whirling round the stable, and drew up within ten feet of the spot +where we were all seated. + +My heart was in my mouth, at this unexpected interruption, and I could +perceive that my uncle was scarcely less affected. Amid the flowing and +pretty drapery of summer shawls, and the other ornaments of the female +toilet, were four youthful and sunny faces, and one venerable with +years. In a word, my grandmother, my sister, and my uncle's two other +wards, and Mary Warren, were in the carriage; yes, the pretty, gentle, +timid, yet spirited and intelligent daughter of the rector was of the +party, and seemingly quite at home and at her ease, as one among +friends. She was the first to speak even, though it was in a low, quiet +voice, addressed to my sister, and in words that appeared extorted by +surprise. + +"There are the very two pedlars of whom I told you, Martha," she said, +"and now you may hear the flute well played." + +"I doubt if he can play better than Hugh," was my dear sister's answer. +"But we'll have some of his music, if it be only to remind us of him who +is so far away." + +"The music we can and will have, my child," cried my grandmother, +cheerfully; "though _that_ is not wanted to remind us of our absent boy. +Good morrow, Susquesus; I hope this fine day agrees with you." + +"Sago," returned the Indian, making a dignified and even graceful +forward gesture with one arm, though he did not rise. "Weadder +good--Great Spirit good, dat reason. How squaws do?" + +"We are all well, I thank you, Trackless. Good morrow, Jaaf; how do +_you_ do, this fine morning?" + +Yop, or Jaap, or Jaaf, rose tottering, made a low obeisance, and then +answered in the semi-respectful, semi-familiar manner of an old, +confidential family servant, as the last existed among our fathers: + +"T'ank 'ee, Miss Dus, wid all my heart," he answered. "Pretty well +to-day; but ole Sus, he fail, and grow ol'er and ol'er desp'ate fast!" + +Now, of the two, the Indian was much the finest relic of human powers, +though he was less uneasy and more stationary than the black. But the +propensity to see the mote in the eye of his friend, while he forgot the +beam in his own, was a long-established and well-known weakness of +Jaaf, and its present exhibition caused everybody to smile. I was +delighted with the beaming, laughing eyes of Mary Warren in particular, +though she said nothing. + +"I cannot say I agree with you, Jaaf," returned my smiling grandmother. +"The Trackless bears his years surprisingly; and I think I have not seen +him look better this many a day than he is looking this morning. We are +none of us as young as we were when we first became acquainted, +Jaaf--which is now near, if not quite, three-score years ago." + +"You nuttin' but gal, nudder," growled the negro. "Ole Sus be raal ole +fellow; but Miss Dus and Masser Mordaunt, dey get married only tudder +day. Why _dat_ was a'ter de revylooshen!" + +"It was, indeed," replied the venerable woman, with a touch of +melancholy in her tones; "but the revolution took place many, many a +long year since!" + +"Well, now, I be surprise, Miss Dus! How you call _dat_ so long, when he +only be tudder day?" retorted the pertinacious negro, who began to grow +crusty, and to speak in a short, spiteful way, as if displeased by +hearing that to which he could not assent. "Masser Corny was little ole, +p'r'aps, if he lib, but all de rest ob you nuttin' but children. Tell me +one t'ing, Miss Dus, be it true dey's got a town at Satanstoe?" + +"An attempt was made, a few years since, to turn the whole country into +towns, and, among other places, the Neck; but I believe it will never be +anything more than a capital farm." + +"So besser. _Dat_ good land, I tell you! One acre down dere wort' more +dan twenty acre up here." + +"My grandson would not be pleased to hear you say that, Jaaf." + +"Who your grandson, Miss Dus. Remember you hab little baby tudder day; +but baby can't hab baby." + +"Ah, Jaaf, my old friend, my babies have long since been men and women, +and are drawing on to old age. One, and he was my first born, is gone +before us to a better world, and _his_ boy is now your young master. +This young lady, that is seated opposite to me, is the sister of that +young master, and she would be grieved to think you have forgotten her." + +Jaaf laboured under the difficulty so common to old age; he was +forgetful of things of more recent date, while he remembered those which +had occurred a century ago! The memory is a tablet that partakes of the +peculiarity of all our opinions and habits. In youth it is easily +impressed, and the images then engraved on it are distinct, deep and +lasting, while those that succeed become crowded, and take less root, +from the circumstance of finding the ground already occupied. In the +present instance, the age was so great that the change was really +startling, the old negro's recollections occasionally coming on the mind +like a voice from the grave. As for the Indian, as I afterwards +ascertained, he was better preserved in all respects than the black; his +great temperance in youth, freedom from labour, exercise in the open +air, united to the comforts and abundance of semi-civilized habits, that +had now lasted for near a century, contributing to preserve both mind +and body. As I now looked at him, I remembered what I had heard in +boyhood of his history. + +There had ever been a mystery about the life of the Onondago. If any one +of our set had ever been acquainted with the facts, it was Andries +Coejemans, a half-uncle of my dear grandmother, a person who has been +known among us by the _sobriquet_ of the Chainbearer. My grandmother had +told me that "uncle Chainbearer," as we all called the old relative, +_did_ know all about Susquesus, in his time--the reason why he had left +his tribe, and become a hunter, and warrior, and runner among the +pale-faces--and that he had always said the particulars did his red +friend great credit, but that he would reveal it no further. So great, +however, was uncle Chainbearer's reputation for integrity, that such an +opinion was sufficient to procure for the Onondago the fullest +confidence of the whole connection, and the experience of four-score +years and ten had proved that this confidence was well placed. Some +imputed the sort of exile in which the old man had so long lived to +love; others to war; and others, again, to the consequences of those +fierce personal feuds that are known to occur among men in the savage +state. But all was just as much a mystery and matter of conjecture, now +we were drawing near to the middle of the nineteenth century, as it had +been when our forefathers were receding from the middle of the +eighteenth! To return to the negro. + +Although Jaaf had momentarily forgotten me, and quite forgotten my +parents, he remembered my sister, who was in the habit of seeing him so +often. In what manner he connected her with the family, it is not easy +to say; but he knew her not only by sight, but by name, and, as one +might say, by blood. + +"Yes, yes," cried the old fellow, a little eagerly, '_champing_' his +thick lips together, somewhat as an alligator snaps his jaws, "yes, I +knows Miss Patty, of course. Miss Patty is werry han'some, and grows +han'somer and han'somer ebbery time I sees her--yah, yah, yah!" The +laugh of that old negro sounded startling and unnatural, yet there was +something of the joyous in it, after all, like every negro's laugh. +"Yah, yah, yah! Yes, Miss Patty won'erful han'some, and werry like Miss +Dus. I s'pose, now, Miss Patty wast born about 'e time dat Gin'ral +Washington die." + +As this was a good deal more than doubling my sister's age, it produced +a common laugh among the light-hearted girls in the carriage. A gleam of +intelligence that almost amounted to a smile also shot athwart the +countenance of the Onondago, while the muscles of his face worked, but +he said nothing. I had reason to know afterwards that the tablet of his +memory retained its records better. + +"What friends have you with you to-day, Jaaf," inquired my grandmother, +inclining her head towards us pedlars graciously, at the same time; a +salutation that my uncle Ro and myself rose hastily to acknowledge. + +As for myself, I own honestly that I could have jumped into the vehicle +and kissed my dear grandmother's still good-looking but colourless +cheeks, and hugged Patt, and possibly some of the others, to my heart. +Uncle Ro had more command of himself; though I could see that the sound +of his venerable parent's voice, in which the tremour was barely +perceptible, was near overcoming him. + +"Dese be pedlar, ma'am, I do s'pose," answered the black. "Dey's got +box wid somet'in' in him, and dey's got new kind of fiddle. Come, young +man, gib Miss Dus a tune--a libely one; sich as make an ole nigger +dance." + +I drew round the hurdy-gurdy, and was beginning to flourish away, when a +gentle, sweet voice, raised a little louder than usual by eagerness, +interrupted me. + +"Oh! not that thing, not that; the flute, the flute!" exclaimed Mary +Warren, blushing to the eyes at her own boldness, the instant she saw +that she was heard, and that I was about to comply. + +It is hardly necessary to say that I bowed respectfully, laid down the +hurdy-gurdy, drew the flute from my pocket, and, after a few flourishes, +commenced playing one of the newest airs, or melodies, from a favourite +opera. I saw the colour rush into Martha's cheeks the moment I had got +through a bar or two, and the start she gave satisfied me that the dear +girl remembered her brother's flute. I had played on that very +instrument ever since I was sixteen, but I had made an immense progress +in the art during the five years just passed in Europe. Masters at +Naples, Paris, Vienna and London had done a great deal for me; and I +trust I shall not be thought vain if I add, that nature had done +something, too. My excellent grandmother listened in profound attention, +and all four of the girls were enchanted. + +"That music is worthy of being heard in a room," observed the former, as +soon as I concluded the air; "and we shall hope to hear it this evening, +at the Nest House, if you remain anywhere near us. In the mean time, we +must pursue our airing." + +As my grandmother spoke she leaned forward, and extended her hand to me, +with a benevolent smile. I advanced, received the dollar that was +offered, and, unable to command my feelings, raised the hand to my lips, +respectfully but with fervour. Had Martha's face been near me, it would +have suffered also. I suppose there was nothing in this respectful +salutation that struck the spectators as very much out of the way, +foreigners having foreign customs, but I saw a flush in my venerable +grandmother's cheek, as the carriage moved off. _She_ had noted the +warmth of the manner. My uncle had turned away, I dare say to conceal +the tears that started to his eyes, and Jaaf followed towards the door +of the hut, whither my uncle moved, in order to do the honours of the +place. This left me quite alone with the Indian. + +"Why no kiss _face_ of grandmodder?" asked the Onondago, coolly and +quietly. + +Had a clap of thunder broken over my head, I could not have been more +astonished! The disguise that had deceived my nearest relations--that +had baffled Seneca Newcome, and had set at naught even his sister +Opportunity--had failed to conceal me from that Indian, whose faculties +might be supposed to have been numbed with age! + +"Is it possible that you know me, Susquesus!" I exclaimed, signing +towards the negro at the same time, by way of caution; "that you +remember me, at all! I should have thought this wig, these clothes, +would have concealed me." + +"Sartain," answered the aged Indian, calmly. "Know young chief +soon as see him; know fader--know mudder; know gran'fader, +gran'mudder--great-gran'fader; _his_ fader, too; know all. Why +forget young chief?" + +"Did you know me before I kissed my grandmother's hand, or only by that +act?" + +"Know as soon as see him. What eyes good for, if don't know? Know uncle, +dere, sartain; welcome home!" + +"But you will not let others know us, too, Trackless? We have always +been friends, I hope?" + +"Be sure, friends. Why ole eagle, wid white head, strike young pigeon? +Nebber hatchet in 'e path between Susquesus and any of de tribe of +Ravensnest. Too ole to dig him up now." + +"There are good reasons why my uncle and myself should not be known for +a few days. Perhaps you have heard something of the trouble that has +grown up between the landlords and the tenants, in the land?" + +"What dat trouble?" + +"The tenants are tired of paying rent, and wish to make a new bargain, +by which they can become owners of the farms on which they live." + +A grim light played upon the swarthy countenance of the Indian: his lips +moved, but he uttered nothing aloud. + +"Have you heard anything of this, Susquesus?" + +"Little bird sing sich song in my ear--didn't like to hear it." + +"And of Indians who are moving up and down the country, armed with +rifles and dressed in calico?" + +"What tribe, dem Injin," asked the Trackless, with a quickness and a +fire I did not think it possible for him to retain. "What 'ey do, +marchin' 'bout?--on war-path, eh?" + +"In one sense they may be said to be so. They belong to the anti-rent +tribe; do you know such a nation?" + +"Poor Injin dat, b'lieve. Why come so late?--why no come when 'e foot of +Susquesus light as feather of bird?--why stay away till pale-faces +plentier dan leaf on tree, or snow in air? Hundred year ago, when dat +oak little, sich Injin might be good; now, he good for nuttin'." + +"But you will keep our secret, Sus?--will not even tell the negro who we +are?" + +The Trackless simply nodded his head in assent. After this he seemed to +me to sink back in a sort of brooding lethargy, as if indisposed to +pursue the subject. I left him to go to my uncle, in order to relate +what had just passed. Mr. Roger Littlepage was as much astonished as I +had been myself, at hearing that one so aged should have detected us +through disguises that had deceived our nearest of kin. But the quiet +penetration and close observation of the man had long been remarkable. +As his good faith was of proof, however, neither felt any serious +apprehension of being betrayed, as soon as he had a moment for +reflection. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, + A cottage of gentility; + And the devil did grin, for his darling sin + Is the pride that apes humility." + + _Devil's Thoughts._ + + +It was now necessary to determine what course we ought next to pursue. +It might appear presuming in men of our pursuits to go to the Nest +before the appointed time; and did we proceed on to the village, we +should have the distance between the two places to walk over twice, +carrying our instruments and jewel-box. After a short consultation, it +was decided to visit the nearest dwellings, and to remain as near my own +house as was practicable, making an arrangement to sleep somewhere in +its immediate vicinity. Could we trust any one with our secret, our fare +would probably be all the better; but my uncle thought it most prudent +to maintain a strict incognito until he had ascertained the true state +of things in the town. + +We took leave of the Indian and the negro, therefore, promising to visit +them again in the course of that or the succeeding day, and followed the +path that led to the farm-house. It was our opinion that we might, at +least, expect to meet with friends in the occupants of the home farm. +The same family had been retained in possession there for three +generations, and being hired to manage the husbandry and to take care of +the dairy, there was not the same reason for the disaffection, that was +said so generally to exist among the tenantry, prevailing among them. +The name of this family was Miller, and it consisted of the two heads +and some six or seven children, most of the latter being still quite +young. + +"Tom Miller was a trusty lad, when I knew much of him," said my uncle, +as we drew near to the barn, in which we saw the party mentioned, at +work; "and he is said to have behaved well in one or two alarms they +have had at the Nest, this summer; still, it may be wiser not to let +even him into our secret as yet." + +"I am quite of your mind, sir," I answered; "for who knows that he has +not just as strong a desire as any of them to own the farm on which he +lives? He is the grandson of the man who cleared it from the forest, and +has much the same title as the rest of them." + +"Very true; and why should not that give him just as good a right to +claim an interest in the farm, beyond that he has got under his contract +to work it, as if he held a lease? He who holds a lease gets no right +beyond his bargain; nor does this man. The one is paid for his labour by +the excess of his receipts over the amount of his annual rent, while the +other is paid partly in what he raises, and partly in wages. In +principle there is no difference whatever, not a particle; yet I +question if the veriest demagogue in the State would venture to say that +the man, or the family, which works a farm for hire, even for a hundred +years, gets the smallest right to say he shall not quit it, if its owner +please, as soon as his term of service is up!" + +"'The love of money is the root of all evil;' and when that feeling is +uppermost, one can never tell what a man will do. The bribe of a good +farm, obtained for nothing, or for an insignificant price, is sufficient +to upset the morality of even Tom Miller." + +"You are right, Hugh; and here is one of the points in which our +political men betray the cloven foot. They write, and proclaim, and make +speeches, as if the anti-rent troubles grew out of the durable lease +system solely, whereas we all know that it is extended to all +descriptions of obligations given for the occupancy of land--life +leases, leases for a term of years, articles for deeds, and bonds and +mortgages. It is a wide-spread, though not yet universal attempt of +those who have the least claim to the possession of real estate, to +obtain the entire right, and that by agencies that neither the law nor +good morals will justify. It is no new expedient for partizans to place +_en evidence_ no more of their principles and intentions than suits +their purposes. But, here we are within ear-shot, and must resort to the +High Dutch. _Guten tag, guten tag_," continued uncle Ro, dropping +easily into the broken English of our masquerade, as we walked into the +barn, where Miller, two of his older boys, and a couple of hired men +were at work, grinding scythes and preparing for the approaching +hay-harvest. "It might be warm day, dis fine mornin'." + +"Good day, good day," cried Miller, hastily, and glancing his eye a +little curiously at our equipments. "What have you got in your +box--essences?" + +"Nein; vatches and drinkets;" setting down the box and opening it at +once, for the inspection of all present. "Von't you burchase a goot +vatch, dis bleasant mornin'?" + +"Be they ra-al gold?" asked Miller, a little doubtingly. "And all them +chains and rings, be they gold too?" + +"Not true golt; nein, nein, I might not say dat. But goot enough golt +for blain folks, like you and me." + +"Them things would never do for the grand quality over at the big +house!" cried one of the labourers who was unknown to me, but whose name +I soon ascertained was Joshua Brigham, and who spoke with a sort of +malicious sneer that at once betrayed _he_ was no friend. "You mean 'em +for poor folks, I s'pose?" + +"I means dem for any bodies dat will pay deir money for 'em," answered +my uncle. "Vould you like a vatch?" + +"That would I; and a farm, too, if I could get 'em cheap," answered +Brigham, with a sneer he did not attempt to conceal. "How do you sell +farms to-day?" + +"I haf got no farms; I sells drinkets and vatches, but I doesn't sell +farms. Vhat I haf got I vill sell, but I cannot sells vhat I haf not +got." + +"Oh! you'll get all you want if you'll stay long enough in this country! +This is a free land, and just the place for a poor man; or it will be, +as soon as we get all the lords and aristocrats out of it." + +This was the first time I had ever heard this political blarney with my +own ears, though I had understood it was often used by those who wish to +give to their own particular envy and covetousness a grand and sounding +air. + +"Vell, I haf heards dat in America dere might not be any noples ant +aristocrats," put in my uncle, with an appearance of beautiful +simplicity; "and dat dere ist not ein graaf in der whole coontry." + +"Oh! there's all sorts of folks here, just as they are to be found +elsewhere," cried Miller, seating himself coolly on the end of the +grindstone-frame, to open and look into the mysteries of one of the +watches. "Now, Josh Brigham, here, calls all that's above him in the +world aristocrats, but he doesn't call all that's below him his equals." + +I liked that speech; and I liked the cool, decided way in which it was +uttered. It denoted, in its spirit, a man who saw things as they are, +and who was not afraid to say what he thought about them. My uncle Ro +was surprised, and that agreeably, too, and he turned to Miller to +pursue the discourse. + +"Den dere might not be any nopility in America, after all?" he asked, +inquiringly. + +"Yes, there's plenty of such lords as Josh here, who want to be +uppermost so plaguily that they don't stop to touch all the rounds of +the ladder. I tell him, friend, he wants to get on too fast, and that he +mustn't set up for a gentleman before he knows how to behave himself." + +Josh looked a little abashed at a rebuke that came from one of his own +class, and which he must have felt, in secret, was merited. But the +demon was at work in him, and he had persuaded himself that he was the +champion of a quality as sacred as liberty, when, in fact, he was simply +and obviously doing neither more nor less than breaking the tenth +commandment. He did not like to give up, while he skirmished with +Miller, as the dog that has been beaten already two or three times +growls over a bone at the approach of his conqueror. + +"Well, thank heaven," he cried, "_I_ have got some spirit in my body." + +"That's very true, Joshua," answered Miller, laying down one watch and +taking up another; "but it happens to be an evil spirit." + +"Now, here's them Littlepages; what makes them better than other folks?" + +"You had better let the Littlepages alone, Joshua, seein' they're a +family that you know nothing at all about." + +"I don't want to know them; though I _do_ happen to know all I want to +know. I despise 'em." + +"No you don't, Joshy, my boy; nobody despises folks they talk so +spitefully about. What's the price of this here watch, friend?" + +"Four dollars," said my uncle, eagerly, falling lower than was prudent, +in his desire to reward Miller for his good feeling and sound +sentiments. "Ja, ja--you might haf das vatch for four dollars." + +"I'm afraid it isn't good for anything," returned Miller, feeling the +distrust that was natural at hearing a price so low. "Let's have another +look at its inside." + +No man, probably, ever bought a watch without looking into its works +with an air of great intelligence, though none but a mechanician is any +wiser for his survey. Tom Miller acted on this principle, for the good +looks of the machine he held in his hand, and the four dollars, tempted +him sorely. It had its effect, too, on the turbulent and envious Joshua, +who seemed to understand himself very well in a bargain. Neither of the +men had supposed the watches to be of gold, for though the metal that is +in a watch does not amount to a great deal, it is usually of more value +than all that was asked for the "article" now under examination. In +point of fact, my uncle had this very watch "invoiced to him" at twice +the price he now put it at. + +"And what do you ask for this?" demanded Joshua, taking up another watch +of very similar looks and of equal value to the one that Miller still +retained open in his hand. "Won't you let this go for three dollars?" + +"No; der brice of dat is effery cent of forty dollars," answered uncle +Ro, stubbornly. + +The two men now looked at the pedlar in surprise. Miller took the watch +from his hired man, examined it attentively, compared it with the other, +and then demanded its price anew. + +"_You_ might haf eider of dem vatches for four dollars," returned my +uncle, as I thought, incautiously. + +This occasioned a new surprise, though Brigham fortunately referred the +difference to a mistake. + +"Oh!" he said, "I understood you to say _forty_ dollars. Four dollars is +a different matter." + +"Josh," interrupted the more observant and cooler-headed Miller, "it is +high time, now, you and Peter go and look a'ter them sheep. The conch +will soon be blowing for dinner. If you want a trade, you can have one +when you get back." + +Notwithstanding the plainness of his appearance and language, Tom Miller +was captain of his own company. He gave this order quietly, and in his +usual familiar way, but it was obviously to be obeyed without a +remonstrance. In a minute the two hired men were off in company, leaving +no one behind in the barn but Miller, his sons, and us two. I could see +there was a motive for all this, but did not understand it. + +"Now _he's_ gone," continued Tom quietly, but laying an emphasis that +sufficiently explained his meaning, "perhaps you'll let me know the true +price of this watch. I've a mind for it, and may be we can agree." + +"Four dollars," answered my uncle, distinctly. "I haf said you might haf +it for dat money, and vhat I haf said once might always be." + +"I will take it, then. I almost wish you had asked eight, though four +dollars saved is suthin' for a poor man. It's so plaguy cheap I'm a +little afraid on 't; but I'll ventur'. There; there's your money, and in +hard cash." + +"Dank you, sir. Won't das ladies choose to look at my drinkets?" + +"Oh! if you want to deal with ladies who buy chains and rings, the Nest +House is the place. My woman wouldn't know what to do with sich things, +and don't set herself up for a fine lady at all. That chap who has just +gone for the sheep is the only great man we have about this farm." + +"Ja, ja; he ist a nople in a dirty shirt: ja, ja; why hast he dem pig +feelin's?" + +"I believe you have named them just as they ought to be, _pig's_ +feelin's. It's because he wishes to thrust his own snout all over the +trough, and is mad when he finds anybody else's in the way. We're +getting to have plenty of such fellows up and down the country, and an +uncomfortable time they give us. Boys, I _do_ believe it will turn out, +a'ter all, that Josh is an Injin!" + +"I _know_ he is," answered the oldest of the two sons, a lad of +nineteen; "where else should he be so much of nights and Sundays, but +at their trainin's?--and what was the meanin' of the calico bundle I saw +under his arm a month ago, as I told you on at the time?" + +"If I find it out to be as you say, Harry, he shall tramp off of this +farm. I'll have no Injins here!" + +"Vell I dought I dit see an olt Injin in a hut up yonder ast by der +woots!" put in my uncle, innocently. + +"Oh! that is Susquesus, an Onondago; he is a true Injin, and a +gentleman; but we have a parcel of the mock gentry about, who are a pest +and an eye-sore to every honest man in the country. Half on 'em are +nothing but thieves in mock Injin dresses. The law is ag'in 'em, right +is ag'in 'em, and every true friend of liberty in the country ought to +be ag'in 'em." + +"Vhat ist der matter in dis coontry? I hear in Europe how America ist a +free lant, ant how efery man hast his rights; but since I got here dey +do nothin' but talk of barons, and noples, and tenants, and arisdograts, +and all der bat dings I might leaf behint me, in der olt worlt." + +"The plain matter is, friend, that they who have got little, en_vy_ them +that's got much; and the struggle is to see which is the strongest. On +the one side is the law, and right, and bargains, and contracts; and on +the other thousands--not of dollars, but of men. Thousands of voters; +d'ye understand?" + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstands; dat ist easy enough. But vhy do dey dalk so +much of noples and arisdograts?--ist der noples and arisdograts in +America?" + +"Well, I don't much understand the natur' of sich things; there +sartainly is a difference in men, and a difference in their fortun's, +and edications, and such sort of things." + +"Und der law, den, favours der rich man at der cost of der poor, in +America, too, does it? Und you haf arisdograts who might not pay taxes, +and who holt all der offices, and get all der pooblic money, and who ist +petter pefore de law, in all dings, dan ast dem dat be not arisdograts? +Is it so?" + +Miller laughed outright, and shook his head at this question, continuing +to examine the trinkets the whole time. + +"No, no, my friend, we've not much of _that_, in this part of the world, +either. Rich men get very few offices, to begin with; for it's an +argooment in favour of a man for an office, that he's poor, and _wants_ +it. Folks don't so much ask who the office wants, as who wants the +office. Then, as for taxes, there isn't much respect paid to the rich, +on that score. Young 'Squire Littlepage pays the tax on this farm +directly himself, and it's assessed half as high ag'in, all things +considered, as any other farm on his estate." + +"But dat ist not right." + +"Right! Who says it is?--or who thinks there is anything right about +assessments, anywhere? I have heard assessors, with my own ears, use +such words as these:--'Sich a man is rich, and can afford to pay,' and +'sich a man is poor, and it will come hard on him.' Oh! they kiver up +dishonesty, now-a-days, under all sorts of argooments." + +"But der law; der rich might haf der law on deir side, surely?" + +"In what way, I should like to know? Juries be everything, and juries +will go accordin' to their feelin's, as well as other men. I've seen the +things with my own eyes. The county pays just enough a-day to make poor +men like to be on juries, and they never fail to attend, while them that +can pay their fines stay away, and so leave the law pretty much in the +hands of one party. No rich man gains his cause, unless his case is so +strong it can't be helped." + +I had heard this before, there being a very general complaint throughout +the country of the practical abuses connected with the jury system. I +have heard intelligent lawyers complain, that whenever a cause of any +interest is to be tried, the first question asked is not "what are the +merits?" "which has the law and the facts on his side?" but "who is +likely to be on the jury?"--thus obviously placing the composition of +the jury before either law or evidence. Systems may have a very fair +appearance on paper and as theories, that are execrable in practice. As +for juries, I believe the better opinion of the intelligent of all +countries is, that while they are a capital contrivance to resist the +abuse of power in narrow governments, in governments of a broad +constituency they have the effect, which might easily be seen, of +placing the control of the law in the hands of those who would be most +apt to abuse it; since it is adding to, instead of withstanding and +resisting the controlling authority of the State, from which, in a +popular government, most of the abuses must unavoidably proceed. + +As for my uncle Ro, he was disposed to pursue the subject with Miller, +who turned out to be a discreet and conscientious man. After a very +short pause, as if to reflect on what had been said, he resumed the +discourse. + +"Vhat, den, makes arisdograts in dis coontry?" asked my uncle. + +"Wa-a-l"--no man but an American of New England descent, as was the case +with Miller, can give this word its attic sound--"Wa-a-l, it's hard to +say. I hear a great deal about aristocrats, and I read a great deal +about aristocrats, in this country, and I know that most folks look upon +them as hateful, but I'm by no means sartain I know what an aristocrat +is. Do you happen to know anything about it, friend?" + +"Ja, ja; an arisdograt ist one of a few men dat hast all de power of de +government in deir own hands." + +"King! That isn't what we think an aristocrat in this part of the world. +Why, we call them critturs here DIMIGOGUES! Now, young 'Squire +Littlepage, who owns the Nest House, over yonder, and who is owner of +all this estate, far and near, is what _we_ call an aristocrat, and he +hasn't power enough to be named town clerk, much less to anything +considerable, or what is worth having." + +"How can he be an arisdograt, den?" + +"How, sure enough, if your account be true! I tell you 'tis the +dimigogues that be the aristocrats of America. Why, Josh Brigham, who +has just gone for the sheep, can get more votes for any office in the +country than young Littlepage!" + +"Berhaps dis young Littlebage ist a pat yoong man?" + +"Not he; he's as good as any on 'em, and better than most. Besides, if +he was as wicked as Lucifer, the folks of the country don't know +anything about it, sin' he's be'n away ever sin' he has be'n a man." + +"Vhy, den, gan't he haf as many votes as dat poor, ignorant fellow might +haf?--das ist ott." + +"It is odd, but it's true as gospel. _Why_, it may not be so easy to +tell. Many men, many minds, you know. Some folks don't like him because +he lives in a big house; some hate him because they think he is better +off than they are themselves; others mistrust him because he wears a +fine coat; and some pretend to laugh at him because he got his property +from his father, and grand'ther, and so on, and didn't make it himself. +Accordin' to some folks' notions, now-a-days, a man ought to enj'y only +the property he heaps together himself." + +"If dis be so, your Herr Littlebage ist no arisdograt." + +"Wa-a-l, that isn't the idee, hereaway. We have had a great many +meetin's, latterly, about the right of the people to their farms; and +there has been a good deal of talk at them meetin's consarnin' +aristocracy and feudal tenors; do you know what a feudal tenor is, too?" + +"Ja; dere ist moch of dat in Teutchland--in mine coontry. It ist not +ferry easy to explain it in a few vords, but der brincipal ding ist dat +der vassal owes a serfice to hist lort. In de olten dimes dis serfice +vast military, und dere ist someding of dat now. It ist de noples who +owe der feudal serfice, brincipally, in mine coontry, and dey owes it to +de kings and brinces." + +"And don't you call giving a chicken for rent feudal service, in +Germany?" + +Uncle Ro and I laughed, in spite of our efforts to the contrary, there +being a pathos in this question that was supremely ridiculous. Curbing +his merriment, however, as soon as he could, my uncle answered the +question. + +"If der landlordt hast a right to coome and dake as many chickens as he +bleases, und ast often ast he bleases, den dat wouldt look like a feudal +right; but if de lease says dat so many chickens moost be paid a-year, +for der rent, vhy dat ist all der same as baying so much moneys; und it +might be easier for der tenant to bay in chicken ast it might be to bay +in der silver. Vhen a man canst bay his debts in vhat he makes himself, +he ist ferry interpentent." + +"It does seem so, I vow! Yet there's folks about here, and some at +Albany, that call it feudal for a man to have to carry a pair of fowls +to the landlord's office, and the landlord an aristocrat for asking it!" + +"But der man canst sent a poy, or a gal, or a nigger, wid his fowls, if +he bleases?" + +"Sartain; all that is asked is that the fowls should come." + +"Und vhen der batroon might owe hist tailor, or hist shoemaker, must he +not go to hist shop, or find him and bay him vhat he owes, or be suet +for der debt?" + +"That's true, too; boys, put me in mind of telling that to Josh, this +evening. Yes, the greatest landlord in the land must hunt up his +creditor, or be sued, all the same as the lowest tenant." + +"Und he most bay in a partic'lar ding; he most bay in golt or silver?" + +"True; lawful tender is as good for one as 'tis for t'other." + +"Und if your Herr Littlebage signs a baper agreein' to gif der apples +from dat orchart to somebody on his landts, most he send or carry der +apples, too?" + +"To be sure; that would be the bargain." + +"Und he most carry der ferry apples dat grows on dem ferry drees, might +it not be so?" + +"All true as gospel. If a man contracts to sell the apples of one +orchard, he can't put off the purchaser with the apples of another." + +"Und der law ist der same for one ast for anudder, in dese t'ings?" + +"There is no difference; and there should be none." + +"Und der batroons und der landlordts wants to haf der law changet, so +dat dey may be excuset from baying der debts accordin' to der bargains, +und to gif dem atfantages over der poor tenants?" + +"I never heard anything of the sort, and don't believe they want any +such change." + +"Of vhat, den, dost der beople complain?" + +"Of having to pay rent at all; they think the landlords ought to be made +to sell their farms, or give them away. Some stand out for the last." + +"But der landlordts don't vant to sell deir farms; und dey might not be +made to sell vhat ist deir own, and vhat dey don't vant to sell, any +more dan der tenants might be made to sell deir hogs and deir sheep, +vhen dey don't vant to sell dem." + +"It does seem so, boys, as I've told the neighbours, all along. But +I'll tell this Dutchman all about it. Some folks want the State to look +a'ter the title of young Littlepage, pretending he has no title." + +"But der State wilt do dat widout asking for it particularly, vill it +not?" + +"I never heard that it would." + +"If anybody hast a claim to der broperty, vilt not der courts try it?" + +"Yes, yes--in that way; but a tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord." + +"Vhy should he? He canst haf no title but his landlort's, and it vould +be roguery and cheatery to let a man get into der bossession of a farm +under der pretence of hiring it, und den coome out und claim it as +owner. If any tenant dinks he hast a better right dan his landlort, he +can put der farm vhere it vast before he might be a tenant, und den der +State wilt examine into der title, I fancys." + +"Yes, yes--in that way; but these men want it another way. What they +want is for the State to set up a legal examination, and turn the +landlords off altogether, if they can, and then let themselves have the +farms in their stead." + +"But dat would not be honest to dem dat hafen't nothing to do wid der +farms. If der State owns der farms, it ought to get as moch as it can +for dem, and so safe _all_ der people from baying taxes. It looks like +roguery, all roundt." + +"I believe it is that, and nothing else! As you say, the State will +examine into the title as it is, and there is no need of any laws about +it." + +"Would der State, dink you, pass a law dat might inquire into de +demandts dat are made against der batroons, vhen der tratesmen sent in +deir bills?" + +"I should like to see any patroon ask sich a thing! He would be laughed +at, from York to Buffalo." + +"Und he would desarf it. By vhat I see, frient, your denants be der +arisdograts, und der landlordts der vassals." + +"Why you see--what may your name be?--as we're likely to become +acquainted, I should like to know your name." + +"My name is Greisenbach, und I comes from Preussen." + +"Well, Mr. Greisenbach, the difficulty about aristocracy is this. Hugh +Littlepage is rich, and his money gives him advantages that other men +can't enj'y. Now, that sticks in some folks' crops." + +"Oh! den it ist meant to divite broperty in dis coontry; und to say no +man might haf more ast anudder?" + +"Folks don't go quite as far as that, yet; though some of their talk +does squint that-a-way, I must own. Now, there are folks about here that +complain that old Madam Littlepage and her young ladies don't visit the +poor." + +"Vell, if deys be hard-hearted, und hast no feelin's for der poor and +miseraple----" + +"No, no; that is not what I mean, neither. As for that sort of poor, +everybody allows they do more for _them_ than anybody else about here. +But they don't visit the poor that isn't in want." + +"Vell, it ist a ferry coomfortable sort of poor dat ist not in any vant. +Berhaps you mean dey don't associate wid 'em, as equals?" + +"That's it. Now, on that head, I must say there is some truth in the +charge, for the gals over at the Nest never come here to visit my gal, +and Kitty is as nice a young thing as there is about." + +"Und Gitty goes to visit the gal of the man who lives over yonter, in de +house on der hill?" pointing to a residence of a man of the very +humblest class in the town. + +"Hardly! Kitty's by no means proud, but I shouldn't like her to be too +thick there." + +"Oh! you're an arisdograt, den, after all; else might your daughter +visit dat man's daughter." + +"I tell you, Grunzebach, or whatever your name may be," returned Miller, +a little angrily, though a particularly good-natured man in the main, +"that _my_ gal shall _not_ visit old Steven's da'ghters." + +"Vell, I'm sure she might do as she bleases; but I dinks der +Mademoiselles Littlepage might do ast dey pleases, too." + +"There is but one Littlepage gal; if you saw them out this morning in +the carriage, you saw two York gals and parson Warren's da'ghter with +her." + +"Und dis parson Warren might be rich, too?" + +"Not he; he hasn't a sixpence on 'arth but what he gets from the parish. +Why he is so poor his friends had to edicate his da'ghter, I have heern +say, over and over!" + +"Und das Littlepage gal und de Warren gal might be goot friends?" + +"They are the thickest together of any two young women in this part of +the world. I've never seen two gals more intimate. Now, there's a young +lady in the town, one Opportunity Newcome, who, one might think, would +stand before Mary Warren at the big house, any day in the week, but she +doesn't! Mary takes all the shine out on her." + +"Which ist der richest, Obbordunity or Mary?" + +"By all accounts Mary Warren has nothing, while Opportunity is thought +to come next to Matty herself, as to property, of all the young gals +about here. But Opportunity is no favourite at the Nest." + +"Den it would seem, after all, dat dis Miss Littlebage does not choose +her friends on account of riches. She likes Mary Warren, who ist boor, +und she does not like Obbordunity, who ist vell to do in de vorlt. +Berhaps der Littlepages be not as big arisdograts as you supposes." + +Miller was bothered, while I felt a disposition to laugh. One of the +commonest errors of those who, from position and habits, are unable to +appreciate the links which connect cultivated society together, is to +refer everything to riches. Riches, in a certain sense, as a means and +through their consequences, may be a principal agent in dividing society +into classes; but, long after riches have taken wings, their fruits +remain, when good use has been made of their presence. So untrue is the +vulgar opinion--or it might be better to say the opinion of the +vulgar--that money is the one tie which unites polished society, that it +is a fact which all must know who have access to the better circles of +even our own commercial towns, that those circles, loosely and +accidentally constructed as they are, receive with reluctance, nay, +often sternly exclude, vulgar wealth from their associations, while the +door is open to the cultivated who have nothing. The young, in +particular, seldom think much of money, while family connections, early +communications, similarity of opinions, and, most of all, of tastes, +bring sets together, and often keep them together long after the golden +band has been broken. + +But men have great difficulty in comprehending things that lie beyond +their reach; and money being apparent to the senses, while refinement, +through its infinite gradations, is visible principally, and, in some +cases, exclusively to its possessors, it is not surprising that common +minds should refer a tie that, to them, would otherwise be mysterious, +to the more glittering influence, and not to the less obvious. Infinite, +indeed, are the gradations of cultivated habits; nor are as many of them +the fruits of caprice and self-indulgence as men usually suppose. There +is a common sense, nay, a certain degree of wisdom, in the laws of even +etiquette, while they are confined to equals, that bespeak the respect +of those who understand them. As for the influence of associations on +men's manners, on their exteriors, and even on their opinions, my uncle +Ro has long maintained that it is so apparent that one of his time of +life could detect the man of the world, at such a place as Saratoga +even, by an intercourse of five minutes; and what is more, that he could +tell the class in life from which he originally emerged. He tried it, +the last summer, on our return from Ravensnest, and I was amused with +his success, though he made a few mistakes, it must be admitted. + +"That young man comes from the better circles, but he has never +travelled," he said, alluding to one of a group which still remained at +table; "while he who is next him _has_ travelled, but commenced badly." +This may seem a very nice distinction, but I think it is easily made. +"There are two brothers, of an excellent family in Pennsylvania," he +continued, "as one might know from the name; the eldest has travelled, +the youngest has not." This was a still harder distinction to make, but +one who knew the world as well as my uncle Ro could do it. He went on +amusing me by his decisions--all of which were respectable, and some +surprisingly accurate--in this way for several minutes. Now, like has an +affinity to like, and in this natural attraction is to be found the +secret of the ordinary construction of society. You shall put two men of +superior minds in a room full of company, and they will find each other +out directly, and enjoy the accident. The same is true as to the mere +modes of thinking that characterize social castes; and it is truer in +this country, perhaps, than most others, from the mixed character of +our associations. Of the two, I am really of opinion that the man of +high intellect, who meets with one of moderate capacity, but of manners +and social opinions on a level with his own, has more pleasure in the +communication than with one of equal mind, but of inferior habits. + +That Patt should cling to one like Mary Warren seemed to me quite as +natural as that she should be averse to much association with +Opportunity Newcome. The money of the latter, had my sister been in the +least liable to such an influence, was so much below what she had been +accustomed, all her life, to consider affluence, that it would have had +no effect, even had she been subject to so low a consideration in +regulating her intercourse with others. But this poor Tom Miller could +not understand. He could "only reason from what he knew," and he knew +little of the comparative notions of wealth, and less of the powers of +cultivation on the mind and manners. He was struck, however, with a fact +that did come completely within the circle of his own knowledge, and +that was the circumstance that Mary Warren, while admitted to be poor, +was the bosom friend of her whom he was pleased to call, sometimes, the +"Littlepage gal." It was easy to see he felt the force of this +circumstance; and it is to be hoped that, as he was certainly a wiser, +he also became a better man, on one of the most common of the weaknesses +of human frailty. + +"Wa-a-l," he replied to my uncle's last remark, after fully a minute of +silent reflection, "I don't know! It would seem so, I vow; and yet it +hasn't been my wife's notion, nor is it Kitty's. You're quite upsetting +my idees about aristocrats; for though I like the Littlepages, I've +always set 'em down as desp'rate aristocrats." + +"Nein, nein; dem as vat you calls dimigogues be der American +arisdograts. Dey gets all der money of der pooblic, and haf all der +power, but dey gets a little mads because dey might not force demselves +on der gentlemen and laties of der coontry, as vell as on der lands und +der offices!" + +"I swan! I don't know but this may be true! A'ter all, I don't know what +right anybody has to complain of the Littlepages." + +"Does dey dreat beoples vell, as might coome to see dem?" + +"Yes, indeed! if folks treat _them_ well, as sometimes doesn't happen. +I've seen hogs here"--Tom was a little Saxon in his figures, but their +nature will prove their justification--"I've seen hogs about here, bolt +right in before old Madam Littlepage, and draw their chairs up to her +fire, and squirt about the tobacco, and never think of even taking off +their hats. Them folks be always huffy about their own importance, +though they never think of other people's feelin's." + +We were interrupted by the sound of wheels, and looking round, we +perceived that the carriage of my grandmother had driven up to the +farm-house door, on its return home. Miller conceived it to be no more +than proper to go and see if he were wanted, and we followed him slowly, +it being the intention of my uncle to offer his mother a watch, by way +of ascertaining if she could penetrate his disguise. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Will you buy any tape, + Or lace for your cape?-- + Come to the pedlar, + Money's a medler + That doth utter all men's ware-a." + + _Winter's Tale._ + + +There they sat, those four young creatures, a perfect galaxy of bright +and beaming eyes. There was not a plain face among them; and I was +struck with the circumstance of how rare it was to meet with a youthful +and positively ugly American female. Kitty, too, was at the door by the +time we reached the carriage, and she also was a blooming and +attractive-looking girl. It was a thousand pities that she spoke, +however; the vulgarity of her utterance, tone of voice, cadences, and +accent, the latter a sort of singing whine, being in striking contrast +to a sort of healthful and vigorous delicacy that marked her +appearance. All the bright eyes grew brighter as I drew nearer, carrying +the flute in my hand; but neither of the young ladies spoke. + +"Buy a vatch, ma'ams," said uncle Ro, approaching his mother, cap in +hand, with his box open. + +"I thank you, friend; but I believe all here are provided with watches +already." + +"Mine ist ferry sheaps." + +"I dare say they may be," returned dear grandmother, smiling; "though +cheap watches are not usually the best. Is that very pretty pencil +gold?" + +"Yes, ma'ams; it ist of _goot_ gold. If it might not be, I might not say +so." + +I saw suppressed smiles among the girls; all of whom, however, were too +well-bred to betray to common observers the sense of the ridiculous that +each felt at the equivoque that suggested itself in my uncle's words. + +"What is the price of this pencil," asked my grandmother. + +Uncle Roger had too much tact to think of inducing his mother to make a +purchase as he had influenced Miller, and he mentioned something near +the true value of the "article," which was fifteen dollars. + +"I will take it," returned my grandmother, dropping three half eagles +into the box; when, turning to Mary Warren, she begged her acceptance of +the pencil, with as much respect in her manner as if she solicited +instead of conferred a favour. + +Mary Warren's handsome face was covered with blushes; she looked +pleased, and she accepted the offering, though I thought she hesitated +one moment about the propriety of so doing, most probably on account of +its value. My sister asked to look at this little present, and after +admiring it, it passed from hand to hand, each praising its shape and +ornaments. All my uncle's wares, indeed, were in perfect good taste, the +purchase having been made of an importer of character, and paid for at +some cost. The watches, it is true, were, with one or two exceptions, +cheap, as were most of the trinkets; but my uncle had about his person a +watch, or two, and some fine jewelry, that he had brought from Europe +himself, expressly to bestow in presents, among which had been the +pencil in question, and which he had dropped into the box but a moment +before it was sold. + +"Wa-a-l, Madam Littlepage," cried Miller, who used the familiarity of +one born on the estate, "this is the queerest watch-pedlar I've met +with, yet. He asks fifteen dollars for that pencil, and only four for +this watch!" showing his own purchase as he concluded. + +My grandmother took the watch in her hand, and examined it attentively. + +"It strikes me as singularly cheap!" she remarked, glancing a little +distrustfully, as I fancied, at her son, as if she thought he might be +selling his brushes cheaper than those who only stole the materials, +because he stole them ready made. "I know that these watches are made +for very little in the cheap countries of Europe, but one can hardly see +how this machinery was put together for so small a sum." + +"I has 'em, matam, at all brices," put in my uncle. + +"I have a strong desire to purchase a _good_ lady's watch, but should a +little fear buying of any but a known and regular dealer." + +"You needn't fear us, ma'am," I ventured to say. "If we might sheat +anypodies, we shouldn't sheat so goot a laty." + +I do not know whether my voice struck Patt's ear pleasantly, or a wish +to see the project of her grandmother carried out at once, induced my +sister to interfere; but interfere she did, and that by urging her aged +parent to put confidence in us. Years had taught my grandmother caution, +and she hesitated. + +"But all these watches are of base metal, and I want one of good gold +and handsome finish," observed my grandmother. + +My uncle immediately produced a watch that he had bought of Blondel, in +Paris, for five hundred francs, and which was a beautiful little +ornament for a lady's belt. He gave it to my grandmother, who read the +name of the manufacturer with some little surprise. The watch itself was +then examined attentively, and was applauded by all. + +"And what may be the price of this?" demanded my grandmother. + +"One hoondred dollars, matam; and sheaps at dat." + +Tom Miller looked at the bit of tinsel in his own hand, and at the +smaller, but exquisitely-shaped "article" that my grandmother held up to +look at, suspended by its bit of ribbon, and was quite as much puzzled +as he had evidently been a little while before, in his distinctions +between the rich and the poor. Tom was not able to distinguish the base +from the true; that was all. + +My grandmother did not appear at all alarmed at the price, though she +cast another distrustful glance or two, over her spectacles, at the +imaginary pedlar. At length the beauty of the watch overcame her. + +"If you will bring this watch to yonder large dwelling, I will pay you +the hundred dollars for it," she said; "I have not as much money with me +here." + +"Ja, ja--ferry goot; you might keep das vatch, laty, and I will coome +for der money after I haf got some dinners of somebodys." + +My grandmother had no scruple about accepting of the credit, of course, +and she was about to put the watch in her pocket, when Patt laid her +little gloved hand on it, and cried-- + +"Now, dearest grandmother, let it be done at once--there is no one but +us three present, you know!" + +"Such is the impatience of a child!" exclaimed the elder lady, laughing. +"Well, you shall be indulged. I gave you that pencil for a keep-sake, +Mary, only _en attendant_, it having been my intention to offer a watch, +as soon as a suitable one could be found, as a memorial of the sense I +entertain of the spirit you showed during that dark week in which the +anti-renters were so menacing. Here, then, is such a watch as I might +presume to ask you to have the goodness to accept." + +Mary Warren seemed astounded! The colour mounted to her temples; then +she became suddenly pale. I had never seen so pretty a picture of gentle +female distress--a distress that arose from conflicting, but creditable +feelings. + +"Oh! Mrs. Littlepage!" she exclaimed, after looking in astonishment at +the offering for a moment, and in silence. "You cannot have intended +that beautiful watch for me!" + +"For you, my dear; the beautiful watch is not a whit too good for my +beautiful Mary." + +"But, dear, _dear_ Mrs. Littlepage, it is altogether too handsome for my +station--for my means." + +"A lady can very well wear such a watch; and you are a lady in every +sense of the word, and so you need have no scruples on that account. As +for the means, you will not misunderstand me if I remind you that it +will be bought with my means, and there can be no extravagance in the +purchase." + +"But we are so poor, and that watch has so rich an appearance! It +scarcely seems right." + +"I respect your feelings and sentiments, my dear girl, and can +appreciate them. I suppose you know I was once as poor, nay, much poorer +than you are, yourself." + +"You, Mrs. Littlepage! No, that can hardly be. You are of an affluent +and very respectable family, I know." + +"It is quite true, nevertheless, my dear. I shall not affect extreme +humility, and deny that the Malbones did and do belong to the gentry of +the land, but my brother and myself were once so much reduced as to toil +with the surveyors, in the woods, quite near this property. We had then +no claim superior to yours, and in many respects were reduced much +lower. Besides, the daughter of an educated and well-connected clergyman +has claims that, in a worldly point of view alone, entitle her to a +certain consideration. You will do me the favour to accept my offering?" + +"Dear Mrs. Littlepage! I do not know how to refuse _you_, or how to +accept so rich a gift! You will let me consult my father, first?" + +"That will be no more than proper, my dear," returned my beloved +grandmother, quietly putting the watch into her own pocket; "Mr. Warren, +luckily, dines with us, and the matter can be settled before we sit down +to table." + +This ended the discussion, which had commenced under an impulse of +feeling that left us all its auditors. As for my uncle and myself, it is +scarcely necessary to say we were delighted with the little scene. The +benevolent wish to gratify, on the one side, with the natural scruples +on the other, about receiving, made a perfect picture for our +contemplation. The three girls, who were witnesses of what passed, too +much respected Mary's feelings to interfere, though Patt restrained +herself with difficulty. As to Tom Miller and Kitty, they doubtless +wondered why "Warren's gal" was such a fool as to hesitate about +accepting a watch that was worth a hundred dollars. This was another +point they did not understand. + +"You spoke of dinner," continued my grandmother, looking at my uncle. +"If you and your companion will follow us to the house, I will pay you +for the watch, and order you a dinner in the bargain." + +We were right down glad to accept this offer, making our bows and +expressing our thanks, as the carriage whirled off. We remained a +moment, to take our leave of Miller. + +"When you've got through at the Nest," said that semi-worthy fellow, +"give us another call here. I should like my woman and Kitty to have a +look at your finery, before you go down to the village with it." + +With a promise to return to the farm-house, we proceeded on our way to +the building which, in the familiar parlance of the country, was called +the Nest, or the Nest House, from Ravensnest, its true name, and which +Tom Miller, in his country dialect, called the "Neest." The distance +between the two buildings was less than half a mile, the grounds of the +family residence lying partly between them. Many persons would have +called the extensive lawns which surrounded my paternal abode a park, +but it never bore that name with us. They were too large for a paddock, +and might very well have come under the former appellation; but, as +deer, or animals of any sort, except those that are domestic, had never +been kept within it, the name had not been used. We called them the +grounds--a term which applies equally to large and small enclosures of +this nature--while the broad expanse of verdure which lies directly +under the windows goes by the name of the lawn. Notwithstanding the +cheapness of land among us, there has been very little progress made in +the art of landscape gardening; and if we have anything like park +scenery, it is far more owing to the gifts of a bountiful nature than to +any of the suggestions of art. Thanks to the cultivated taste of +Downing, as well as to his well-directed labours, this reproach is +likely to be soon removed, and country life will acquire this pleasure, +among the many others that are so peculiarly its own. After lying for +more than twenty years--a stigma on the national taste--disfigured by +ravines or gullies, and otherwise in a rude and discreditable condition, +the grounds of the White House have been brought into a condition to +denote that they are the property of a civilized country. The Americans +are as apt at imitation as the Chinese, with a far greater disposition +to admit of change; and little beyond good models are required to set +them on the right track. But it is certain that, as a nation, we have +yet to acquire nearly all that belongs to the art I have mentioned that +lies beyond avenues of trees, with an occasional tuft of shrubbery. The +abundance of the latter, that forms the wilderness of sweets, the +_masses_ of flowers that spot the surface of Europe, the beauty of +curved lines, and the whole finesse of surprises, reliefs, back-grounds +and vistas, are things so little known among us as to be almost +"arisdogratic," as my uncle Ro would call the word. + +Little else had been done at Ravensnest than to profit by the native +growth of the trees, and to take advantage of the favourable +circumstances in the formation of the grounds. Most travellers imagine +that it might be an easy thing to lay out a park in the virgin forest, +as the axe might spare the thickets, and copses, and woods, that +elsewhere are the fruits of time and planting. This is all a mistake, +however, as the rule; though modified exceptions may and do exist. The +tree of the American forest shoots upward toward the light, growing so +tall and slender as to be unsightly; and even when time has given its +trunk is due size, the top is rarely of a breadth to ornament a park or +a lawn, while its roots, seeking their nourishment in the rich alluvium +formed by the decayed leaves of a thousand years, lie too near the +surface to afford sufficient support after losing the shelter of its +neighbours. It is owing to reasons like these that the ornamental +grounds of an American country-house have usually to be commenced _ab +origine_, and that natural causes so little aid in finishing them. + +My predecessors had done a little towards assisting nature, at the Nest, +and what was of almost equal importance, in the state of knowledge on +this subject as it existed in the country sixty years since, they had +done little to mar her efforts. The results were, that the grounds of +Ravensnest possess a breadth that is the fruit of the breadth of our +lands, and a rural beauty which, without being much aided by art, was +still attractive. The herbage was kept short by sheep, of which one +thousand, of the fine wool, were feeding on the lawns, along the slopes, +and particularly on the distant heights, as we crossed the grounds on +our way to the doors. + +The Nest House was a respectable New York country dwelling, as such +buildings were constructed among us in the last quarter of the past +century, a little improved and enlarged by the second and third +generations of its owners. The material was of stone, the low cliff on +which it stood supplying enough of an excellent quality; and the shape +of the main _corps de batiment_ as near a square as might be. Each face +of this part of the constructions offered five windows to view, this +being almost the prescribed number for a country residence in that day, +as three have since got to be in towns. These windows, however, had some +size, the main building being just sixty feet square, which was about +ten feet in each direction larger than was common so soon after the +revolution. But wings had been added to the original building, and that +on a plan which conformed to the shape of a structure in square logs, +that had been its predecessor on its immediate site. These wings were +only of a story and a half each, and doubling on each side of the main +edifice just far enough to form a sufficient communication, they ran +back to the very verge of a cliff some forty feet in height, +overlooking, at their respective ends, a meandering rivulet, and a wide +expanse of very productive flats, that annually filled my barns with hay +and my cribs with corn. Of this level and fertile bottom-land there was +near a thousand acres, stretching in three directions, of which two +hundred belonged to what was called the Nest Farm. The remainder was +divided among the farms of the adjacent tenantry. This little +circumstance, among the thousand-and-one other atrocities that were +charged upon me, had been made a ground of accusation, to which I shall +presently have occasion to advert. I shall do this the more readily, +because the fact has not yet reached the ears and set in motion the +tongues of legislators--Heaven bless us, how words do get corrupted by +too much use!--in their enumeration of the griefs of the tenants of the +State. + +Everything about the Nest was kept in perfect order, and in a condition +to do credit to the energy and taste of my grandmother, who had ordered +all these things for the last few years, or since the death of my +grandfather. This circumstance, connected with the fact that the +building was larger and more costly than those of most of the other +citizens of the country, had, of late years, caused Ravensnest to be +termed an "aristocratic residence." This word "aristocratic," I find +since my return home, has got to be a term of expansive signification, +its meaning depending on the particular habits and opinions of the +person who happens to use it. Thus, he who chews tobacco thinks it +aristocratic in him who deems the practice nasty not to do the same; the +man who stoops accuses him who is straight in the back of having +aristocratic shoulders; and I have actually met with one individual who +maintained that it was excessively aristocratic to pretend not to blow +one's nose with his fingers. It will soon be aristocratic to maintain +the truth of the familiar Latin axiom of "_de gustibus non disputandum +est_." + +As we approached the door of the Nest House, which opened on the piazza +that stretched along three sides of the main building, and the outer +ends of both wings, the coachman was walking his horses away from it, on +the road that led to the stables. The party of ladies had made a +considerable circuit after quitting the farm, and had arrived but a +minute before us. All the girls but Mary Warren had entered the house, +careless on the subject of the approach of two pedlars; she remained, +however, at the side of my grandmother, to receive us. + +"I believe in my soul," whispered uncle Ro, "that my dear old mother has +a secret presentiment who we are, by her manifesting so much +respect.--T'ousand t'anks, matam, t'ousand t'anks," he continued, +dropping into his half-accurate half-blundering broken English, "for dis +great honour, such as we might not expect das laty of das house to wait +for us at her door." + +"This young lady tells me that she has seen you before, and that she +understands you are both persons of education and good manners, who have +been driven from your native country by political troubles. Such being +the case, I cannot regard you as common pedlars. I have known what it +was to be reduced in fortune,"--my dear grandmother's voice trembled a +little--"and can feel for those who thus suffer." + +"Matam, dere might be moch trut' in some of dis," answered my uncle, +taking off his cap, and bowing very much like a gentleman, an act in +which I imitated him immediately. "We _haf_ seen petter tays; and my +son, dere, hast peen edicatet at an university. But we are now poor +pedlars of vatches, und dem dat might make moosic in der streets." + +My grandmother looked as a lady would look under such circumstances, +neither too free to forget present appearances, nor coldly neglectful of +the past. She knew that something was due to her own household, and to +the example she ought to set it, while she felt that far more was due to +the sentiment that unites the cultivated. We were asked into the house, +were told a table was preparing for us, and were treated with a generous +and considerate hospitality that involved no descent from her own +character, or that of the sex; the last being committed to the keeping +of every lady. + +In the mean time, business proceeded with my uncle. He was paid his +hundred dollars; and all his stores of value, including rings, brooches, +ear-rings, chains, bracelets, and other trinkets that he had intended as +presents to his wards, were produced from his pockets, and laid before +the bright eyes of the three girls--Mary Warren keeping in the back +ground, as one who ought not to look on things unsuited to her fortune. +Her father had arrived, however, had been consulted, and the pretty +watch was already attached to the girdle of the prettier waist. I +fancied the tear of gratitude that still floated in her serene eyes was +a jewel of far higher price than any my uncle could exhibit. + +We had been shown into the library, a room that was in the front of the +house, and of which the windows all opened on the piazza. I was at first +a little overcome, at thus finding myself, and unrecognized, under the +paternal roof, and in a dwelling that was my own, after so many years of +absence. Shall I confess it! Everything appeared diminutive and mean, +after the buildings to which I had been accustomed in the old world. I +am not now drawing comparisons with the palaces of princes, and the +abodes of the great, as the American is apt to fancy, whenever anything +is named that is superior to the things to which he is accustomed; but +to the style, dwellings, and appliances of domestic life that pertain to +those of other countries who have not a claim in anything to be +accounted my superiors--scarcely my equals. In a word, American +aristocracy, or that which it is getting to be the fashion to stigmatize +as aristocratic, would be deemed very democratic in most of the nations +of Europe. Our Swiss brethren have their chateaux and their habits that +are a hundred times more aristocratic than anything about Ravensnest, +without giving offence to liberty; and I feel persuaded, were the +proudest establishment in all America pointed out to a European as an +aristocratic abode, he would be very apt to laugh at it, in his sleeve. +The secret of this charge among ourselves is the innate dislike which is +growing up in the country to see any man distinguished from the mass +around him in anything, even though it should be in merit. It is nothing +but the expansion of the principle which gave rise to the traditionary +feud between the "plebeians and patricians" of Albany, at the +commencement of this century, and which has now descended so much +farther than was then contemplated by the _soi-disant_ "plebeians" of +that day, as to become quite disagreeable to their own descendants. But +to return to myself-- + +I will own that, so far from finding any grounds of exultation in my own +aristocratical splendour, when I came to view my possessions at home, I +felt mortified and disappointed. The things that I had fancied really +respectable, and even fine, from recollection, now appeared very +common-place, and in many particulars mean. "Really," I found myself +saying _sotto voce_, "all this is scarcely worthy of being the cause of +deserting the right, setting sound principles at defiance, and of +forgetting God and his commandments!" Perhaps I was too inexperienced to +comprehend how capacious is the maw of the covetous man, and how +microscopic the eye of envy. + +"You are welcome to Ravensnest," said Mr. Warren, approaching and +offering his hand in a friendly way, much as he would address any other +young friend; "we arrived a little before you, and I have had my ears +and eyes open ever since, in the hope of hearing your flute, and of +seeing your form in the highway, near the parsonage, where you promised +to visit me." + +Mary was standing at her father's elbow, as when I first saw her, and +she gazed wistfully at my flute, as she would not have done had she seen +me in my proper attire, assuming my proper character. + +"I danks you, sir," was my answer. "We might haf plenty of times for a +little moosic, vhen das laties shall be pleaset to say so. I canst blay +Yankee Doodle, Hail Coloombias, and der 'Star Spangled Banner,' und all +dem airs, as dey so moch likes at der taverns and on der road." + +Mr. Warren laughed, and he took the flute from my hand, and began to +examine it. I now trembled for the incognito! The instrument had been +mine for many years, and was a very capital one, with silver keys, +stops, and ornaments. What if Patt--what if my dear grandmother should +recognise it! I would have given the handsomest trinket in my uncle's +collection to get the flute back again into my own hands; but, before an +opportunity offered for that, it went from hand to hand, as the +instrument that had produced the charming sounds heard that morning, +until it reached those of Martha. The dear girl was thinking of the +jewelry, which, it will be remembered, was rich, and intended in part +for herself, and she passed the instrument on, saying, hurriedly,-- + +"See, dear grandmother, this is the flute which you pronounced the +sweetest toned of any you had ever heard!" + +My grandmother took the flute, started, put her spectacles closer to her +eyes, examined the instrument, turned pale--for her cheeks still +retained a little of the colour of their youth--and then cast a glance +hurriedly and anxiously at me. I could see that she was pondering on +something profoundly in her most secret mind, for a minute or two. +Luckily the others were too much occupied with the box of the pedlar to +heed her movements. She walked slowly out of the door, almost brushing +me as she passed, and went into the hall. Here she turned, and, catching +my eye, she signed for me to join her. Obeying this signal, I followed, +until I was led into a little room, in one of the wings, that I well +remembered as a sort of private parlour attached to my grandmother's own +bed-room. To call it a _boudoir_ would be to caricature things, its +furniture being just that of the sort of room I have mentioned, or of a +plain, neat, comfortable, country parlour. Here my grandmother took her +seat on a sofa, for she trembled so she could not stand, and then she +turned to gaze at me wistfully, and with an anxiety it would be +difficult for me to describe. + +"Do not keep me in suspense!" she said, almost awfully in tone and +manner, "am I right in my conjecture?" + +"Dearest grandmother, you are!" I answered, in my natural voice. + +No more was needed: we hung on each other's necks, as had been my wont +in boyhood. + +"But who is that pedlar, Hugh?" demanded my grandmother, after a time. +"Can it possibly be Roger, my son?" + +"It is no other; we have come to visit you, incog." + +"And why this disguise?--Is it connected with the troubles?" + +"Certainly; we have wished to take a near view with our own eyes, and +supposed it might be unwise to come openly, in our proper characters." + +"In this you have done well; yet I hardly know how to welcome you, in +your present characters. On no account must your real names be revealed. +The demons of tar and feathers, the sons of liberty and equality, who +illustrate their principles as they do their courage, by attacking the +few with the many, would be stirring, fancying themselves heroes and +martyrs in the cause of justice, did they learn you were here. Ten armed +and resolute men might drive a hundred of them, I do believe; for they +have all the cowardice of thieves, but they are heroes with the unarmed +and feeble. Are you safe, yourselves, appearing thus disguised, under +the new law?" + +"We are not armed, not having so much as a pistol; and that will protect +us." + +"I am sorry to say, Hugh, that this country is no longer what I once +knew it. Its justice, if not wholly departed, is taking to itself wings, +and its blindness, not in a disregard of persons, but in a faculty of +seeing only the stronger side. A landlord, in my opinion, would have but +little hope, with jury, judge, or executive, for doing that which +thousands of the tenants have done, still do, and will continue to do, +with perfect impunity, unless some dire catastrophe stimulates the +public functionaries to their duties, by awakening public indignation." + +"This is a miserable state of things, dearest grandmother; and what +makes it worse, is the cool indifference with which most persons regard +it. A better illustration of the utter selfishness of human nature +cannot be given, than in the manner in which the body of the people look +on, and see wrong thus done to a few of their number." + +"Such persons as Mr. Seneca Newcome would answer, that the public +sympathises with the poor, who are oppressed by the rich, because the +last do not wish to let the first rob them of their estates! We hear a +great deal of the strong robbing the weak, all over the world, but few +among ourselves, I am afraid, are sufficiently clear-sighted to see how +vivid an instance of the truth now exists among ourselves." + +"Calling the tenants the strong, and the landlords the weak?" + +"Certainly; numbers make strength, in this country, in which all power +in practice, and most of it in theory, rests with the majority. Were +there as many landlords as there are tenants, my life on it, no one +would see the least injustice in the present state of things." + +"So says my uncle: but I hear the light steps of the girls--we must be +on our guard." + +At that instant Martha entered, followed by all three of the girls, +holding in her hand a very beautiful Manilla chain that my uncle had +picked up in his travels, and had purchased as a present to my future +wife, whomsoever she might turn out to be, and which he had had the +indiscretion to show to his ward. A look of surprise was cast by each +girl in succession, as she entered the room, on me, but neither said, +and I fancy neither thought much of my being shut up there with an old +lady of eighty, after the first moment. Other thoughts were uppermost at +the moment. + +"Look at this, dearest grandmamma!" cried Patt, holding up the chain as +she entered the room. "Here is just the most exquisite chain that was +ever wrought, and of the purest gold; but the pedlar refuses to part +with it!" + +"Perhaps you do not offer enough, my child; it is, indeed, very, very +beautiful; pray what does he say is its value?" + +"One hundred dollars, he says; and I can readily believe it, for its +weight is near half the money. I do wish Hugh were at home; I am certain +he would contrive to get it, and make it a present to me!" + +"Nein, nein, young lady," put in the pedlar, who, a little +unceremoniously, had followed the girls into the room, though he knew, +of course, precisely where he was coming; "dat might not be. Dat chain +is der broperty of my son, t'ere, und I haf sworn it shalt only be gifen +to his wife." + +Patt coloured a little, and she pouted a good deal; then she laughed +outright. + +"If it is only to be had on those conditions, I am afraid I shall never +own it," she said, saucily, though it was intended to be uttered so low +as not to reach my ears. "I will pay the hundred dollars out of my own +pocket-money, however, if that will buy it. Do say a good word for me, +grandmamma!" + +How prettily the hussy uttered that word of endearment, so different +from the "paw" and "maw" one hears among the dirty-noses that are to be +found in the mud-puddles! But our grand-parent was puzzled, for she knew +with whom she had to deal, and of course saw that money would do +nothing. Nevertheless, the state of the game rendered it necessary to +say and do something that might have an appearance of complying with +Patty's request. + +"Can I have more success in persuading you to change your mind, sir?" +she said, looking at her son in a way that let him know at once, or at +least made him suspect at once, that she was in his secret. "It would +give me great pleasure to be able to gratify my grand-daughter, by +making her a present of so beautiful a chain." + +My uncle Ro advanced to his mother, took the hand she had extended with +the chain in it, in order the better to admire the trinket, and he +kissed it with a profound respect, but in such a manner as to make it +seem to the lookers-on an act of European usage, rather than what it +was, the tempered salute of a child to his parent. + +"Laty," he then said, with emphasis, "if anyboty might make me change a +resolution long since made, it would be one as fenerable, und gracious, +und goot as I am sartain you most be. But I haf vowet to gif dat chain +to das wife of mine son, vhen he might marry, one day, some bretty young +American; und it might not be." + +Dear grandmother smiled; but now she understood that it was really +intended the chain was to be an offering to my wife, she no longer +wished to change its destination. She examined the bauble a few moments, +and said to me-- + +"Do you wish this, as well as your un--father, I should say? It is a +rich present for a poor man to make." + +"Ja, ja, laty, it ist so; but vhen der heart goes, golt might be t'ought +sheap to go wid it." + +The old lady was half ready to laugh in my face, at hearing this attempt +at Germanic English; but the kindness, and delight, and benevolent +tenderness of her still fine eyes, made me wish to throw myself in her +arms again, and kiss her. Patt continued to _bouder_ for a moment or two +longer, but her excellent nature soon gave in, and the smiles returned +to her countenance, as the sun issues from behind a cloud in May. + +"Well, the disappointment may and must be borne," she said, +good-naturedly; "though it is much the most lovely chain I have ever +seen." + +"I dare say the right person will one day find one quite as lovely to +present to you!" said Henrietta Coldbrook, a little pointedly. + +I did not like this speech. It was an allusion that a well-bred young +woman ought not to have made, at least before others, even pedlars; and +it was one that a young woman of a proper tone of feeling would not be +apt to make. I determined from that instant the chain should never +belong to Miss Henrietta, though she was a fine, showy girl, and though +such a decision would disappoint my uncle sadly. I was a little +surprised to see a slight blush on Patt's cheek, and then I remembered +something of the name of the traveller, Beekman. Turning towards Mary +Warren, I saw plain enough that she was disappointed because my sister +was disappointed, and for no other reason in the world. + +"Your grandmother will meet with another chain, when she goes to town, +that will make you forget this," she whispered, affectionately, close +at my sister's ear. + +Patt smiled, and kissed her friend with a warmth of manner that +satisfied me these two charming young creatures loved each other +sincerely. But my dear old grandmother's curiosity had been awakened, +and she felt a necessity for having it appeased. She still held the +chain, and as she returned it to me, who happened to be nearest to her, +she said-- + +"And so, sir, your mind is sincerely made up to offer this chain to your +future wife?" + +"Yes, laty; or what might be better, to das yoong frau, before we might +be marriet." + +"And is your choice made?" glancing round at the girls, who were grouped +together, looking at some other trinkets of my uncle's. "Have you chosen +the young woman who is to possess so handsome a chain?" + +"Nein, nein," I answered, returning the smile, and glancing also at the +group; "dere ist so many peautiful laties in America, one needn't be in +a hurry. In goot time I shalt find her dat ist intended for me." + +"Well, grandmamma," interrupted Patt, "since nobody can have the chain, +unless on certain conditions, here are the three other things that we +have chosen for Ann, Henrietta, and myself, and they are a ring, a pair +of bracelets, and a pair of ear-rings. The cost, altogether, will be two +hundred dollars; can you approve of that?" + +My grandmother, now she knew who was the pedlar, understood the whole +matter, and had no scruples. The bargain was soon made, when she sent us +all out of the room, under the pretence we should disturb her while +settling with the watch-seller. Her real object, however, was to be +alone with her son, not a dollar passing between them, of course. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Our life was changed. Another love + In its lone woof began to twine; + But oh! the golden thread was wove + Between my sister's heart and mine." + + WILLIS. + + +Half an hour later, uncle Ro and myself were seated at table, eating our +dinners as quietly as if we were in an inn. The footman who had set the +table was an old family servant, one who had performed the same sort of +duty in that very house for a quarter of a century. Of course he was not +an American, no _man_ of American birth ever remaining so long a time in +an inferior station, or in any station so low as that of a +house-servant. If he has good qualities enough to render it desirable to +keep him, he is almost certain to go up in the world; if not, one does +not care particularly about having him. But Europeans are less elastic +and less ambitious, and it is no uncommon thing to find one of such an +origin remaining a long time in the same service. Such had been the fact +with this man, who had followed my own parents from Europe, when they +returned from their marriage tour, and had been in the house on the +occasion of my birth. From that time he had continued at the Nest, never +marrying, nor ever manifesting the smallest wish for any change. He was +an Englishman by birth; and what is very unusual in a servant of that +country, when transferred to America, the "letting-up," which is certain +to attend such a change from the depression of the original condition to +that in which he is so suddenly placed, had not made him saucy. An +American is seldom what is called impudent, under any circumstances; he +is careless, nay ignorant of forms; pays little or no purely +conventional respect; does not understand half the social distinctions +which exist among the higher classes of even his own countrymen, and +fancies there are equalities in things about which, in truth, there is +great inequality between himself and others, merely because he has been +taught that all men are equal in rights; but he is so unconscious of any +pressure as seldom to feel a disposition to revenge himself by +impudence. + +But, while John was not impudent either, he had a footman's feeling +towards those whom he fancied no better than himself. He had set the +table with his customary neatness and method, and he served the soup +with as much regularity as he would have done had we sat there in our +proper characters, but then he withdrew. He probably remembered that the +landlord, or upper servant of an English hotel, is apt to make his +appearance with the soup, and to disappear as that disappears. So it was +with John; after removing the soup, he put a dumb-waiter near my uncle, +touched a carving-knife or two, as much as to say "help yourselves," and +quitted the room. As a matter of course, our dinner was not a very +elaborate one, it wanting two or three hours to the regular time of +dining, though my grandmother had ordered, in my hearing, one or two +delicacies to be placed on the table, that had surprised Patt. Among the +extraordinary things for such guests was wine. The singularity, however, +was a little explained by the quality commanded, which was Rhenish. + +My uncle Ro was a little surprised at the disappearance of John; for, +seated in that room, he was so accustomed to his face, that it appeared +as if he were not half at home without him. + +"Let the fellow go," he said, withdrawing his hand from the bell-cord, +which he had already touched to order him back again; "we can talk more +freely without him. Well, Hugh, here you are, under your own roof, +eating a charitable dinner, and treated as hospitably as if you did not +own all you can see for a circle of five miles around you. It was a +lucky idea of the old lady's, by the way, to think of ordering this +Rudesheimer, in our character of Dutchmen! How amazingly well she is +looking, boy!" + +"Indeed she is; and I am delighted to see it. I do not know why my +grandmother may not live these twenty years; for even that would not +make her near as old as Sus, who, I have often heard her say, was a +middle-aged man when she was born." + +"True; she seems like an elder sister to me, rather than as a mother, +and is altogether a most delightful old woman. But, if we had so +charming an old woman to receive us, so are there also some very +charming _young_ women--hey, Hugh?" + +"I am quite of your way of thinking, sir; and must say I have not, in +many a day, seen two as charming creatures as I have met with here." + +"_Two_!--umph; a body would think _one_ might suffice. Pray, which may +be the two, Master Padishah?" + +"Patt and Mary Warren, of course. The other two are well enough, but +these two are excellent." + +My uncle Ro looked grum, but he said nothing for some time. Eating is +always an excuse for a broken conversation, and he ate away as if +resolute not to betray his disappointment. But it is a hard matter for a +gentleman to do nothing but eat at table, and so was obliged to talk. + +"Everything looks well here, after all, Hugh," observed my uncle. "These +anti-renters may have done an infinite deal of harm in the way of +abusing principles, but they do not seem to have yet destroyed any +material things." + +"It is not their cue, sir. The crops are their own; and as they hope to +own the farms, it would be scarcely wise to injure what, no doubt, they +begin to look on as their own property, too. As for the Nest House, +grounds, farm, &c., I dare say they will be very willing to leave me +them for a while longer, provided they can get everything else away from +me." + +"For a time longer, at least; though that is the folly of those who +expect to get along by concessions; as if men were ever satisfied with +the yielding of a part, when they ask that which is wrong in itself, +without sooner or later expecting to get the whole. As well might one +expect the pickpocket who had abstracted a dollar, to put back +two-and-sixpence change. But things really look well, around the place." + +"So much the better for us. Though, to my judgment and taste, Miss Mary +Warren looks better than anything else I have yet seen in America." + +Another "umph" expressed my uncle's dissatisfaction--displeasure would +be too strong a word--and he continued eating. + +"You have really some good Rhenish in your cellar, Hugh," resumed uncle +Ro, after tossing off one of the knowing green glasses full--though I +never could understand why any man should wish to drink his wine out of +green, when he might do it out of crystal. "It must have been a purchase +of mine, made when we were last in Germany, and for the use of my +mother." + +"As you please, sir; it neither adds nor subtracts from the beauty of +Martha and her friend." + +"Since you are disposed to make these boyish allusions, be frank with +me, and say, at once, how you like my wards." + +"Meaning, of course, sir, my own sister exclusively. I will be as +sincere as possible, and say that, as to Miss Marston, I have no opinion +at all; and as to Miss Coldbrook, she is what, in Europe, would be +called a 'fine' woman." + +"You can say nothing as to her mind, Hugh, for you have had no +opportunity for forming an opinion." + +"Not much of a one, I will own. Nevertheless, I should have liked her +better had she spared the allusion to the 'proper person' who is one day +to forge a chain for my sister, to begin with." + +"Poh, poh; that is the mere squeamishness of a boy. I do not think her +in the least pert or forward, and your construction would be _tant soit +peu_ vulgar." + +"Put your own construction on it, _mon oncle_; _I_ do not like it." + +"I do not wonder young men remain unmarried; they are getting to be so +ultra in their tastes and notions." + +A stranger might have retorted on an old bachelor, for such a speech, by +some allusion to his own example; but I well knew that my uncle Ro had +once been engaged, and that he lost the object of his passion by death, +and too much respected his constancy and true sentiments ever to joke on +such subjects. I believe he felt the delicacy of my forbearance rather +more than common, for he immediately manifested a disposition to relent, +and to prove it by changing the subject. + +"We can never stay here to-night," he said. "It would be at once to +proclaim our names--our name, I might say--a name that was once so +honoured and beloved in this town, and which is now so hated!" + +"No, no; not as bad as that. We have done nothing to merit hatred." + +"_Raison de plus_ for hating us so much the more heartily. When men are +wronged, who have done nothing to deserve it, the evil-doer seeks to +justify his wickedness to himself by striving all he can to calumniate +the injured party; and the more difficulty he finds in doing that to his +mind, the more profound is his hatred. Rely on it, we are most sincerely +disliked here, on the spot where we were once both much beloved. Such is +human nature." + +At that moment John returned to the room, to see how we were getting on, +and to count his forks and spoons, for I saw the fellow actually doing +it. My uncle, somewhat indiscreetly, I fancied, but by merely following +the chain of thought then uppermost in his mind, detained him in +conversation. + +"Dis broperty," he said, inquiringly, "is de broperty of one Yeneral +Littlepage, I hears say?" + +"Not of the General, who was Madam Littlepage's husband, and who has +long been dead, but of his grandson, Mr. Hugh." + +"Und vhere might he be, dis Mr. Hugh?--might he be at hand, or might he +not?" + +"No; he's in Europe; that is to say, in Hengland." John thought England +covered most of Europe, though he had long gotten over his wish to +return. "Mr. Hugh and Mr. Roger be both habsent from the country, just +now." + +"Dat ist unfortunate, for dey dells me dere might be moch troobles here +abouts, and Injin-acting." + +"There is, indeed; and a wicked thing it is, that there should be +anything of the sort." + +"Und vhat might be der reason of so moch troobles?--and vhere ist der +blame?" + +"Well, that is pretty plain, I fancy," returned John, who, in +consequence of being a favoured servant at head-quarters, fancied +himself a sort of cabinet minister, and had much pleasure in letting his +knowledge be seen. "The tenants on this estate wants to be landlords; +and as they can't be so, so long as Mr. Hugh lives and won't let 'em, +why they just tries all sorts of schemes and plans to frighten people +out of their property. I never go down to the village but I has a talk +with some of them, and that in a way that might do them some good, if +anything can." + +"Und vhat dost you say?--und vid whom dost you talk, as might do dem +moch goot?" + +"Why, you see, I talks more with one 'Squire Newcome, as they calls him, +though he's no more of a real 'squire than you be--only a sort of an +attorney, like, such as they has in this country. You come from the old +countries, I believe?" + +"Ja, ja--dat ist, yes--we comes from Charmany; so you can say vhat you +bleases." + +"They has queer 'squires in this part of the world, if truth must be +said. But that's neither here nor there, though I give this Mr. Seneca +Newcome as good as he sends. What is it you wants, I says to him?--you +can't all be landlords--somebody must be tenants; and if you didn't want +to be tenants, how come you to be so? Land is plenty in this country, +and cheap too; and why didn't you buy your land at first, instead of +coming to rent of Mr. Hugh; and now when you _have_ rented, to be +quarrelling about the very thing you did of your own accord?" + +"Dere you didst dell 'em a goot t'ing; and vhat might der 'Squire say to +dat?" + +"Oh! he was quite dumb-founded, at first; then he said that in old +times, when people first rented these lands, they didn't _know_ as much +as they do now, or they never would have done it." + +"Und you could answer dat; or vast it your durn to be dum-founded?" + +"I pitched it into him, as they says; I did. Says I, how's this, says +I--you are for ever boasting how much you Americans know--and how the +people knows everything that ought to be done, about politics and +religion--and you proclaim far and near that your yeomen are the salt of +the earth--and yet you don't know how to bargain for your leases! A +pretty sort of wisdom is this, says I! I had him there; for the people +round about here is only too sharp at a trade." + +"Did he own dat you vast right, and dat he vast wrong, dis Herr 'Squire +Newcome?" + +"Not he; he will never own anything that makes against his own doctrine, +unless he does it ignorantly. But I haven't told you half of it. I told +him, says I, how is it you talk of one of the Littlepage family cheating +you, when, as you knows yourselves, you had rather have the word of one +of that family than have each other's bonds, says I. You know, sir, it +must be a poor landlord that a tenant can't and won't take his word: and +this they all know to be true; for a gentleman as has a fine estate is +raised above temptation, like, and has a pride in him to do what is +honourable and fair; and, in my opinion, it is good to have a few such +people in a country, if it be only to keep the wicked one from getting +it altogether in his own keeping." + +"Und did you say dat moch to der 'Squire?" + +"No; that I just says to you two, seeing that we are here, talking +together in a friendly way; but a man needn't be ashamed to say it +anywhere, for it's a religious truth. But I says to him, Newcome, says +I, you, who has been living so long on the property of the Littlepages, +ought to be ashamed to wish to strip them of it; but you're not +satisfied with keeping gentlemen down quite as much out of sight as you +can, by holding all the offices yourselves, and taking all the money of +the public you can lay your hands on for your own use, but you wants to +trample them under your feet, I says, and so take your revenge for being +what you be, says I." + +"Vell, my friend," said my uncle, "you vast a bolt man to dell all dis +to der beoples of dis coontry, vhere, I have heard, a man may say just +vhat he hast a mind to say, so dat he dost not sbeak too moch trut!" + +"That's it--that's it; you have been a quick scholar, I find. I told +this Mr. Newcome, says I, you're bold enough in railing at kings and +nobles, for you very well know, says I, that they are three thousand +miles away from you, and can do you no harm; but you would no more dare +get up before your masters, the people, here, and say what you really +think about 'em, and what I have heard you say of them in private, than +you would dare put your head before a cannon, as the gunner touched it +off. Oh! I gave him a lesson, you may be sure!" + +Although there was a good deal of the English footman in John's logic +and feeling, there was also a good deal of truth in what he said. The +part where he accused Newcome of holding one set of opinions in private, +concerning _his_ masters, and another in public, is true to the life. +There is not, at this moment, within the wide reach of the American +borders, one demagogue to be found who might not, with justice, be +accused of precisely the same deception. There is not one demagogue in +the whole country, who, if he lived in a monarchy, would not be the +humblest advocate of men in power, ready to kneel at the feet of those +who stood in the sovereign's presence. There is not, at this instant, a +man in power among us a senator or a legislator, who is now the seeming +advocate of what he wishes to call the rights of the tenants, and who is +for overlooking principles and destroying law and right, in order to +pacify the anti-renters by extraordinary concessions, that would not be +among the foremost, under a monarchial system, to recommend and support +the freest application of the sword and the bayonet to suppress what +would then be viewed, ay, and be termed, "the rapacious longings of the +disaffected to enjoy the property of others without paying for it." All +this is certain; for it depends on a law of morals that is infallible. +Any one who wishes to obtain a clear index to the true characters of the +public men he is required to support, or oppose, has now the +opportunity; for each stands before a mirror that reflects him in his +just proportions, and in which the dullest eye has only to cast a +glance, in order to view him from head to foot. + +The entrance of my grandmother put a stop to John's discourse. He was +sent out of the room on a message, and then I learned the object of this +visit. My sister had been let into the secret of our true characters, +and was dying to embrace me. My dear grandmother, rightly enough, had +decided it would be to the last degree unkind to keep her in ignorance +of our presence; and, the fact known, nature had longings which must be +appeased. I had myself been tempted twenty times, that morning, to +snatch Patt to my heart and kiss her, as I used to do just after my +beard began to grow, and she was so much of a child as to complain. The +principal thing to be arranged, then, was to obtain an interview for me +without awakening suspicion in the observers. My grandmother's plan was +arranged, however, and she now communicated it to us. + +There was a neat little dressing-room annexed to Martha's bed-room; in +that the meeting was to take place. + +"She and Mary Warren are now there, waiting for your appearance, +Hugh----" + +"Mary Warren!--Does she, then, know who I am?" + +"Not in the least; she has no other idea than that you are a young +German, of good connections and well educated, who has been driven from +his own country by political troubles, and who is reduced to turn his +musical taste and acquisitions to account, in the way you seem to do, +until he can find some better employment. All this she had told us +before we met you, and you are not to be vain, Hugh, if I add, that your +supposed misfortunes, and great skill with the flute, and good +behaviour, have made a friend of one of the best and most true-hearted +girls I ever had the good fortune to know. I say good _behaviour_, for +little, just now, can be ascribed to good _looks_." + +"I hope I am not in the least revolting in appearance, in this disguise. +For my sister's sake----" + +The hearty laugh of my dear old grandmother brought me up, and I said no +more; colouring, I believe, a little, at my own folly. Even uncle Ro +joined in the mirth, though I could see he wished Mary Warren even +safely translated along with her father, and that the latter was +Archbishop of Canterbury. I must acknowledge that I felt a good deal +ashamed of the weakness I had betrayed. + +"You are very well, Hugh, darling," continued my grandmother; "though I +must think you would be more interesting in your own hair, which is +curling, than in that lank wig. Still, one can see enough of your face +to recognise it, if one has the clue; and I told Martha, at the first, +that I was struck with a certain expression of the eyes and smile that +reminded me of her brother. But, there they are, Mary and Martha, in the +drawing-room, waiting for your appearance. The first is so fond of +music, and, indeed, is so practised in it, as to have been delighted +with your flute; and she has talked so much of your skill as to justify +us in seeming to wish for a further exhibition of your skill. Henrietta +and Ann, having less taste that way, have gone together to select +bouquets, in the green-house, and there is now an excellent opportunity +to gratify your sister. I am to draw Mary out of the room, after a +little while, when you and Martha may say a word to each other in your +proper characters. As for you, Roger, you are to open your box again, +and I will answer for it _that_ will serve to amuse your other wards, +should they return too soon from their visit to the gardener." + +Everything being thus explained, and our dinner ended, all parties +proceeded to the execution of the plan, each in his or her designated +mode. When my grandmother and I reached the dressing-room, however, +Martha was not there, though Mary Warren was, her bright but serene eyes +full of happiness and expectation. Martha had retired to the inner room +for a moment, whither my grandmother, suspecting the truth, followed +her. As I afterwards ascertained, my sister, fearful of not being able +to suppress her tears on my entrance, had withdrawn, in order to +struggle for self-command without betraying our secret. I was told to +commence an air, without waiting for the absent young lady, as the +strain could easily be heard through the open door. + +I might have played ten minutes before my sister and grandmother came +out again. Both had been in tears, though the intense manner in which +Mary Warren was occupied with the harmony of my flute, probably +prevented her from observing it. To me, however, it was plain enough; +and glad was I to find that my sister had succeeded in commanding her +feelings. In a minute or two my grandmother profited by a pause to rise +and carry away with her Mary Warren, though the last left the room with +a reluctance that was very manifest. The pretence was a promise to meet +the divine in the library, on some business connected with the +Sunday-schools. + +"You can keep the young man for another air, Martha," observed my +grandmother, "and I will send Jane to you, as I pass her room." + +Jane was my sister's own maid, and her room was close at hand, and I +dare say dear grandmother gave her the order, in Mary Warren's presence, +as soon as she quitted the room, else might Mary Warren well be +surprised at the singularity of the whole procedure; but Jane did not +make her appearance, nevertheless. As for myself, I continued to play as +long as I thought any ear was near enough to hear me; then I laid aside +my flute. In the next instant Patt was in my arms, where she lay some +time weeping, but looking inexpressibly happy. + +"Oh! Hugh, what a disguise was this to visit your own house in!" she +said, as soon as composed enough to speak. + +"Would it have done to come here otherwise? You know the state of the +country, and the precious fruits our boasted tree of liberty is bringing +forth. The owner of the land can only visit his property at the risk of +his life!" + +Martha pressed me in her arms in a way to show how conscious she was of +the danger I incurred in even thus visiting her; after which we seated +ourselves, side by side, on a little divan, and began to speak of those +things that were most natural to a brother and sister who so much loved +each other, and who had not met for five years. My grandmother had +managed so well as to prevent all interruption for an hour, if we saw +fit to remain together, while to others it should seem as if Patt had +dismissed me in a few minutes. + +"Not one of the other girls suspect, in the least, who you are," said +Martha, smiling, when we had got through with the questions and answers +so natural to our situation. "I am surprised that Henrietta has not, for +_she_ prides herself on her penetration. She is as much in the dark as +the others, however." + +"And Miss Mary Warren--the young lady who has just left the room--has +she not some _small_ notion that I am not a common Dutch music-grinder?" + +Patt laughed, and that so merrily as to cause the tones of her sweet +voice to fill me with delight, as I remembered what she had been in +childhood and girlhood five years before, and she shook her bright +tresses off her cheeks ere she would answer. + +"No, Hugh," she replied, "she fancies you an _uncommon_ Dutch +music-grinder; an _artiste_ that not only grinds, but who dresses up his +harmonies in such a way as to be palatable to the most refined taste. +How came Mary to think you and my uncle two reduced German gentlemen?" + +"And does the dear girl believe--that is, does Miss Mary Warren do us so +much honour, as to imagine that?" + +"Indeed she does, for she told us as much as soon as she got home; and +Henrietta and Ann have made themselves very merry with their +speculations on the subject of Miss Warren's great incognito. They call +you Herzog von Geige." + +"Thank them for that." I am afraid I answered a little too pointedly, +for I saw that Patt seemed surprised. "But your American towns are just +such half-way things as to spoil young women; making them neither +refined and polished as they might be in real capitals, while they are +not left the simplicity and nature of the country." + +"Well, Master Hugh, this is being very cross about a very little, and +not particularly complimentary to your own sister. And why not _your_ +American towns, as well as _ours_?--are you no longer one of us?" + +"Certainly; one of _yours_, always, my dearest Patt, though not one of +every chattering girl who may set up for a _belle_, with her Dukes of +Fiddle! But, enough of this;--you like the Warrens?" + +"Very much so; father and daughter. The first is just what a clergyman +should be; of a cultivation and intelligence to fit him to be any man's +companion, and a simplicity like that of a child. You remember his +predecessor--so dissatisfied, so selfish, so lazy, so censorious, so +unjust to every person and thing around him, and yet so exacting; and, +at the same time, so----" + +"What? Thus far you have drawn his character well; I should like to hear +the remainder." + +"I have said more than I ought already; for one has an idea that, by +bringing a clergyman into disrepute, it brings religion and the church +into discredit, too. A priest must be a _very_ bad man to have injurious +things said of him, in this country, Hugh." + +"That is, perhaps, true. But you like Mr. Warren better than him who has +left you?" + +"A thousand times, and in all things. In addition to having a most pious +and sincere pastor, _we_ have an agreeable and well-bred neighbour, from +whose mouth, in the five years that he has dwelt here, I have not heard +a syllable at the expense of a single fellow-creature. You know how it +is apt to be with the other clergy and ours, in the country--for ever at +swords' points; and if not actually quarrelling, keeping up a hollow +peace." + +"That is only too true--or used to be true, before I went abroad." + +"And it is so now, elsewhere, I'll answer for it, though it be so no +longer here. Mr. Warren and Mr. Peck seem to live on perfectly amicable +terms, though as little alike at bottom as fire and water." + +"By the way, how do the clergy of the different sects, up and down the +country, behave on the subject of anti-rent?" + +"I can answer only from what I hear, with the exception of Mr. Warren's +course. _He_ has preached two or three plain and severe sermons on the +duty of honesty in our worldly transactions, one of which was from the +tenth commandment. Of course he said nothing of the particular trouble, +but everybody must have made the necessary application of the +home-truths he uttered. I question if another voice has been raised, far +and near, on the subject, although I have heard Mr. Warren say the +movement threatens more to demoralize New York than anything that has +happened in his time." + +"And the man down at the village?" + +"Oh, he goes, of course, with the majority. When was one of that set +ever known to oppose his parish, in anything?" + +"And Mary is as sound and as high-principled as her father?" + +"Quite so; though there has been a good deal said about the necessity of +Mr. Warren's removing, and giving up St. Andrew's, since he preached +against covetousness. All the anti-renters say, I hear, that they know +he meant _them_; and that they won't put up with it." + +"I dare say; each one fancying he was almost called out by name: that is +the way, when conscience works." + +"I should be very, very sorry to part with Mary; and almost as much so +to part with her father. There is one thing, however, that Mr. Warren +himself thinks we had better have done, Hugh; and that is to take down +the canopy from over our pew. You can have no notion of the noise that +foolish canopy is making up and down the country." + +"I shall _not_ take it down. It is my property, and there it shall +remain. As for the canopy, it was a wrong distinction to place in a +church, I am willing to allow; but it never gave offence until it has +been thought that a cry against it would help to rob me of my lands at +half price, or at no price at all, as it may happen." + +"All that may be true; but if improper for a church, why keep it?" + +"Because I do not choose to be bullied out of what is my own, even +though I care nothing about it. There might have been a time when the +canopy was unsuited to the house of God, and that was when those who saw +it might fancy it canopied the head of a fellow-creature who had higher +claims than themselves to divine favour; but, in times like these, when +men estimate merit by beginning at the other end of the social scale, +there is little danger of any one's falling into the mistake. The canopy +shall stand, little as I care about it: now, I would actually prefer it +should come down, as I can fully see the impropriety of making any +distinctions in the temple; but it shall stand until concessions cease +to be dangerous. It is a right of property, and as such I will maintain +it. If others dislike it, let them put canopies over their pews, too. +The best test, in such a matter, is to see who could bear it. A pretty +figure Seneca Newcome would cut, for instance, seated in a canopied pew! +Even his own set would laugh at him; which, I fancy, is more than they +yet do at me." + +Martha was disappointed; but she changed the subject. We next talked of +our own little private affairs, as they were connected with smaller +matters. + +"For whom is that beautiful chain intended, Hugh?" asked Patt, +laughingly. "I can now believe the pedlar when he says it is reserved +for your future wife. But who is that wife to be? Will her name be +Henrietta or Ann?" + +"Why not ask, also, if it will be Mary?--why exclude one of your +companions, while you include the other two?" + +Patt started--seemed surprised; her cheeks flushed, and then I saw that +pleasure was the feeling predominant. + +"Am I too late to secure that jewel, as a pendant to my chain?" I asked, +half in jest, half seriously. + +"Too soon, at least, to attract it by the richness and beauty of the +bauble. A more natural and disinterested girl than Mary Warren does not +exist in the country." + +"Be frank with me, Martha, and say at once; has she a favoured suitor?" + +"Why, this seems really serious!" exclaimed my sister, laughing. "But, +to put you out of your pain, I will answer, I know of but one. One she +has certainly, or female sagacity is at fault." + +"But is he one that is favoured? You can never know how much depends on +your answer." + +"Of that you can judge for yourself. It is 'Squire Seneky Newcome, as he +is called hereabouts--the brother of the charming Opportunity, who still +reserves herself for you." + +"And they are as rank anti-renters as any male and female in the +country." + +"They are rank Newcomites; and that means that each is for himself. +Would you believe it, but Opportunity really gives herself airs with +Mary Warren!" + +"And how does Mary Warren take such an assumption?" + +"As a young person should--quietly and without manifesting any feeling. +But there is something quite intolerable in one like Opportunity +Newcome's assuming a superiority over any true lady! Mary is as well +educated and as well connected as any of us, and is quite as much +accustomed to good company; while Opportunity--" here Patt laughed, and +then added, hurriedly, "but you know Opportunity as well as I do." + +"Oh! yes; she is _la_ vertue, or _the_ virtue, and _je suis venue, +pour_." + +The latter allusion Patt understood well enough, having laughed over the +story a dozen times; and she laughed again when I explained the affair +of "_the_ solitude." + +Then came a fit of sisterly feeling. Patt insisted on taking off my wig, +and seeing my face in its natural dress. I consented to gratify her, +when the girl really behaved like a simpleton. First she pushed about my +curls until they were arranged to suit the silly creature, when she ran +back several steps, clapped her hands in delight, then rushed into my +arms and kissed my forehead and eyes, and called me "her brother"--her +"only brother"--her "dear, _dear_ Hugh," and by a number of other such +epithets, until she worked herself, and me too, into such an excess of +feeling that we sat down, side by side, and each had a hearty fit of +crying. Perhaps some such burst as this was necessary to relieve our +minds, and we submitted to it wisely. + +My sister wept the longest, as a matter of course; but, as soon as she +had dried her eyes, she replaced the wig, and completely restored my +disguise, trembling the whole time lest some one might enter and detect +me. + +"You have been very imprudent, Hugh, in coming here at all," she said, +while thus busy. "You can form no notion of the miserable state of the +country, or how far the anti-rent poison has extended, or the malignant +nature of its feeling. The annoyances they have attempted with dear +grandmother are odious; _you_ they would scarcely leave alive." + +"The country and the people must have strangely altered, then, in five +years. Our New York population has hitherto had very little of the +assassin-like character. Tar and feathers are the blackguards', and have +been the petty tyrants' weapons, from time immemorial, in this country; +but not the knife." + +"And can anything sooner or more effectually alter a people than +longings for the property of others? Is not the 'love of money the root +of all evil?'--and what right have we to suppose our Ravensnest +population is better than another, when that sordid feeling is +thoroughly aroused? You know you have written me yourself, that all the +American can or does live for is money." + +"I have written you, dear, that the country, in its present condition, +leaves no other incentive to exertion, and therein it is cursed. +Military fame, military rank, even, are unattainable, under our system: +the arts, letters and science, bring little or no reward; and there +being no political rank that a man of refinement would care for, men +must live for money, or live altogether for another state of being. But +I have told you, at the same time, Martha, that, notwithstanding all +this, I believe the American a less mercenary being, in the ordinary +sense of the word, than the European; that two men might be bought, for +instance, in any European country, for one here. This last I suppose to +be the result of the facility of making a living, and the habits it +produces." + +"Never mind causes; Mr. Warren says there is a desperate intention to +rob existing among these people, and that they are dangerous. As yet +they do a little respect women, but how long they will do that one +cannot know." + +"It may all be so. It _must_ be so, respecting what I have heard and +read; yet this vale looks as smiling and as sweet, at this very moment, +as if an evil passion never sullied it! But, depend on my prudence, +which tells me that we ought now to part. I shall see you again and +again before I quit the estate, and you will, of course, join us +somewhere--at the Springs, perhaps--as soon as we find it necessary or +expedient to decamp." + +Martha promised this, of course, and I kissed her, previously to +separating. No one crossed my way as I descended to the piazza, which +was easily done, since I was literally at home. I lounged about on the +lawn a few minutes, and then, showing myself in front of the library +windows, I was summoned to the room, as I had expected. + +Uncle Ro had disposed of every article of the fine jewelry that he had +brought home as presents for his wards. The pay was a matter to be +arranged with Mrs. Littlepage, which meant no pay at all; and, as the +donor afterwards told me, he liked this mode of distributing the various +ornaments better than presenting them himself, as he was now certain +each girl had consulted her own fancy. + +As the hour of the regular dinner was approaching, we took our leave +soon after, not without receiving kind and pressing invitations to +visit the Nest again ere we left the township. Of course we promised all +that was required, intending most faithfully to comply. On quitting the +house we returned towards the farm, though not without pausing on the +lawn to gaze around us on a scene so dear to both, from recollection, +association, and interest. But I forget, this is aristocratical; the +landlord has no right to sentiments of this nature, which are feelings +that the sublimated liberty of the law is beginning to hold in reserve +solely for the benefit of the tenant! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "There shall be, in England, seven halfpenny loaves sold for a + penny: the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make + it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, and + in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass." + + _Jack Cade._ + + +"I do not see, sir," I remarked, as we moved on from the last of these +pauses, "why the governors and legislators, and writers on this subject +of anti-rentism, talk so much of feudality, and chickens, and days' +works, and durable leases, when we have none of these, while we have all +the disaffection they are said to produce." + +"You will understand that better as you come to know more of men. No +party alludes to its weak points. It is just as you say; but the +proceedings of your tenants, for instance, give the lie to the theories +of the philanthropists, and must be kept in the back-ground. It is true +that the disaffection has not yet extended to one-half, or to one-fourth +of the leased estates in the country, perhaps not to one-tenth, if you +take the number of the landlords as the standard, instead of the extent +of their possessions, but it certainly _will_, should the authorities +tamper with the rebels much longer." + +"If they tax the incomes of the landlords under the durable rent +system, why would not the parties aggrieved have the same right to take +up arms to resist such an act of oppression as our fathers had in 1776?" + +"Their cause would be better; for that was only a constructive right, +and one dependent on general principles, whereas this is an attempt at a +most mean evasion of a written law, the meanness of the attempt being +quite as culpable as its fraud. Every human being knows that such a tax, +so far as it has any object beyond that of an election-sop, is to choke +off the landlords from the maintenance of their covenants, which is a +thing that no State _can_ do directly, without running the risk of +having its law pronounced unconstitutional by the courts of the United +States, if, indeed, not by its own courts." + +"The Court of Errors, think you?" + +"The Court of Errors is doomed, by its own abuses. Catiline never abused +the patience of Rome more than that mongrel assembly has abused the +patience of every sound lawyer in the State. '_Fiat justitia, ruat +coelum_,' is interpreted, now, into 'Let justice be done, and the court +fall.' No one wishes to see it continued, and the approaching convention +will send it to the Capulets, if it do nothing else to be commended. It +was a pitiful imitation of the House of Lords system, with this striking +difference; the English lords are men of education, and men with a vast +deal at stake, and their knowledge and interests teach them to leave the +settlement of appeals to the legal men of their body, of whom there are +always a respectable number, in addition to those in possession of the +woolsack and the bench; whereas our Senate is a court composed of small +lawyers, country doctors, merchants, farmers, with occasionally a man of +really liberal attainments. Under the direction of an acute and honest +judge, as most of our true judges actually are, the Court of Errors +would hardly form such a jury as would allow a creditable person to be +tried by his peers, in a case affecting character, for instance, and +here we have it set up as a court of the last resort, to settle points +of law!" + +"I see it has just made a decision in a libel suit, at which the +profession sneers." + +"It has, indeed. Now look at that very decision, for instance, as the +measure of its knowledge. An editor of a newspaper holds up a literary +man to the world as one anxious to obtain a small sum of money, in order +to put it into Wall street, for 'shaving purposes.' Now, the only +material question raised was the true signification of the word +'shaving.' If to say a man is a 'shaver,' in the sense in which it is +applied to the use of money, be bringing him into discredit, then was +the plaintiff's declaration sufficient; if not, it was insufficient, +being wanting in what is called an 'innuendo.' The dictionaries, and men +in general, understand by 'shaving,' 'extortion,' and nothing else. To +call a man a 'shaver' is to say he is an 'extortioner,' without going +into details. But, in Wall street, and among money-dealers, certain +transactions that, in their eyes, and by the courts, are not deemed +discreditable, have of late been brought within the category of +'shaving.' Thus it is technically, or by convention among bankers, +termed 'shaving' if a man buy a note at less than its face, which is a +legal transaction. On the strength of this last circumstance, _as is set +forth in the published opinions_, the highest Court of Appeals in New +York has decided that it does not bring a man into discredit to say he +is a 'shaver!'--thus making a conventional signification of the brokers +of Wall street higher authority for the use of the English tongue than +the standard lexicographers, and all the rest of those who use the +language! On the same principle, if a set of pickpockets at the Five +Points should choose to mystify their trade a little by including the +term 'to filch' the literal _borrowing_ of a pocket-handkerchief, it +would not be a libel to accuse a citizen of 'filching his neighbor's +handkerchief!'" + +"But the libel was uttered to the _world_, and not to the brokers of +Wall Street only, who might possibly understand their own terms." + +"Very true; and was uttered in a newspaper that carried the falsehood to +Europe; for the writer of the charge, when brought up for it, publicly +admitted that he had no ground for suspecting the literary man of any +such practices. _He_ called it a '_joke_.' Every line of the context, +however, showed it was a malicious charge. The decision is very much as +if a man who is sued for accusing another of 'stealing' should set up a +defense that he meant 'stealing' hearts, for the word is sometimes used +in _that_ sense. When men use epithets that convey discredit in their +general meaning, it is their business to give them a special +signification in their own contexts, if such be their real intention. +But I much question if there be a respectable money-dealer, even in Wall +street, who would not swear, if called on in a court of justice so to +do, that _he_ thought the general charge of 'shaving' discreditable to +any man." + +"And you think the landlords whose rents were taxed, sir, would have a +moral right to resist?" + +"Beyond all question; as it would be an income tax on them only, of all +in the country. What is more, I am fully persuaded that two thousand men +embodied to resist such tyranny would look down the whole available +authority of the State; inasmuch as I do not believe citizens could be +found to take up arms to enforce a law so flagrantly unjust. Men will +look on passively and see wrongs inflicted, that would never come out to +support them by their own acts. But we are approaching the farm, and +there is Tom Miller and his hired men waiting our arrival." + +It is unnecessary to repeat, in detail, all that passed in this our +second visit to the farm-house. Miller received us in a friendly manner, +and offered us _a_ bed, if we would pass the night with him. This +business of _a_ bed had given us more difficulty than anything else, in +the course of our peregrinations. New York has long got over the +"two-man" and "three-man bed" system, as regards its best inns. At no +respectable New York inn is a gentleman now asked to share even his +room, without an apology and a special necessity, with another, much +less his bed; but the rule does not hold good as respects pedlars and +music-grinders. We had ascertained that we were not only expected to +share the same bed, but to occupy that bed in a room filled with other +beds. There are certain things that get to be second nature, and that no +masquerading will cause to go down; and, among others, one gets to +dislike sharing his room and his tooth-brush. This little difficulty +gave us more trouble that night, at Tom Miller's, than anything we had +yet encountered. At the taverns, bribes had answered our purpose; but +this would not do so well at a farm residence. At length the matter was +got along with by putting me in the garret, where I was favoured with a +straw bed under my own roof, the decent Mrs. Miller making many +apologies for not having a feather-smotherer, in which to "squash" me. I +did not tell the good woman that I never used feathers, summer or +winter; for, had I done so, she would have set me down as a poor +creature from "oppressed" Germany, where the "folks" did not know how to +live. Nor would she have been so much out of the way _quoad_ the beds, +for in all my journeyings I never met with such uncomfortable sleeping +as one finds in Germany, off the Rhine and out of the large towns.[3] + +While the negotiation was in progress I observed that Josh Brigham, as +the anti-rent disposed hireling of Miller's was called, kept a watchful +eye and an open ear on what was done and said. Of all men on earth, the +American of that class is the most "distrustful," as he calls it +himself, and has his suspicions the soonest awakened. The Indian on the +war-path--the sentinel who is posted in a fog, near his enemy, an hour +before the dawn of day--the husband that is jealous, or the priest that +has become a partisan, is not a whit more apt to fancy, conjecture, or +assert, than the American of that class who has become "distrustful." +This fellow, Brigham, was the very beau idéal of the suspicious school, +being envious and malignant, as well as shrewd, observant, and covetous. +The very fact that he was connected with the "Injins," as turned out to +be the case, added to his natural propensities the consciousness of +guilt, and rendered him doubly dangerous. The whole time my uncle and +myself were crossing over and figuring in, in order to procure for each +a room, though it were only a closet, his watchful, distrustful looks +denoted how much he saw in our movements to awaken curiosity, if not +downright suspicion. When all was over, he followed me to the little +lawn in front of the house, whither I had gone to look at the familiar +scene by the light of the setting sun, and began to betray the nature of +his own suspicions by his language. + +"The old man" (meaning my uncle Ro) "must have plenty of gold watches +about him," he said, "to be so plaguy partic'lar consarnin' his bed. +Pedlin' sich matters is a ticklish trade, I guess, in some parts?" + +"Ja; it ist dangerous somevhere, but it might not be so in dis goot +coontry." + +"Why did the old fellow, then, try so hard to get that little room all +to himself, and shove you off into the garret? We hired men don't like +the garret, which is a hot place in summer." + +"In Charmany one man hast ever one bed," I answered, anxious to get rid +of the subject. + +I bounced a little, as "one has one-half of a bed" would be nearer to +the truth, though the other half might be in another room. + +"Oh! that's it, is't? Wa-a-l, every country has its ways, I s'pose. +Jarmany is a desp'ate aristocratic land, I take it." + +"Ja; dere ist moch of de old feudal law, and feudal coostum still +remaining in Charmany." + +"Landlords a plenty, I guess, if the truth was known. Leases as long as +my arm, I calkerlate?" + +"Vell, dey do dink, in Charmany, dat de longer might be de lease, de +better it might be for de denant." + +As that was purely a German sentiment, or at least not an American +sentiment, according to the notions broached by statesmen among +ourselves, I made it as Dutch as possible by garnishing it well with +d's. + +"That's a droll idee! Now, we think, here, that a lease is a bad thing; +and the less you have of a bad thing, the better." + +"Vell, dat _ist_ queer; so queer ast I don't know! Vhat vill dey do as +might help it?" + +"Oh! the Legislature will set it all right. They mean to pass a law to +prevent any more leases at all." + +"Und vill de beople stand dat? Dis ist a free coontry, effery body dells +me, and vilt der beoples agree not to hire lands if dey vants to?" + +"Oh! you see we wish to choke the landlords off from their present +leases; and, by and bye, when _that_ is done, the law can let up again." + +"But ist dat right? Der law should be joost, and not hold down and let +oop, as you calls it." + +"You don't understand us yet, I see. Why that's the prettiest and the +neatest legislation on airth! That's just what the bankrupt law did." + +"Vhat did der bankroopt law do, bray? Vhat might you mean now?--I don't +know." + +"Do! why it did wonders for some on us, I can tell you! It paid our +debts, and let us up when we was down; and that's no trifle, I can tell +you. I took 'the benefit,' as it is called, myself." + +"You!--you might take der benefit of a bankroopt law! You, lifing here +ast a hiret man, on dis farm!" + +"Sartain; why not? All a man wanted, under _that_ law, was about $60 to +carry him through the mill; and if he could rake and scrape that much +together, he might wipe off as long a score as he pleased. I had been +dealin' in speckylation, and that's a make or break business, I can tell +you. Well, I got to be about $423.22 wuss than nothin'; but, having +about $90 in hand, I went through the mill without getting cogged the +smallest morsel! A man doos a good business, to my notion, when he can +make 20 cents pay a whull dollar of debt." + +"Und you did dat goot business?" + +"You may say that; and now I means to make anti-rentism get me a farm +cheap--what _I_ call cheap; and that an't none of your $30 or $40 an +acre, I can tell you!" + +It was quite clear that Mr. Joshua Brigham regarded these transactions +as so many Pragmatic Sanctions, that were to clear the moral and legal +atmospheres of any atoms of difficulty that might exist in the forms of +old opinions, to his getting easily out of debt, in the one case, and +suddenly rich in the other. I dare say I looked bewildered, but I +certainly felt so, at thus finding myself face to face with a low knave, +who had a deliberate intention, as I now found, to rob me of a farm. It +is certain that Joshua so imagined, for, inviting me to walk down the +road with him a short distance, he endeavoured to clear up any moral +difficulties that might beset me, by pursuing the subject. + +"You see," resumed Joshua, "I will tell you how it is. These Littlepages +have had this land long enough, and it's time to give poor folks a +chance. The young spark that pretends to own all the farms you see, far +and near, never _did_ any thing for 'em in his life; only to be his +father's son. Now, to my notion, a man should do suthin' for his land, +and not be obligated for it to mere natur'. This is a free country, and +what right has one man to land more than another?" + +"Or do his shirt, or do his dobacco, or do his coat, or do anyding +else." + +"Well, I don't go as far as that. A man has a right to his clothes, and +maybe to a horse or a cow, but he has no right to all the land in +creation. The law gives a right to a cow as ag'in' execution." + +"Und doesn't der law gif a right to der landt, too? You most not depend +on der law, if you might succeed." + +"We like to get as much law as we can on our side. Americans like law: +now, you'll read in all the books--_our_ books, I mean, them that's +printed here--that the Americans be the most lawful people on airth, and +that they'll do more for the law than any other folks known!" + +"Vell, dat isn't vhat dey says of der Americans in Europe; nein, nein, +dey might not say dat." + +"Why, don't you think it is so? Don't you think this the greatest +country on airth, and the most lawful?" + +"Vell, I don'ts know. Das coontry ist das coontry, and it ist vhat it +ist, you might see." + +"Yes; I thought you would be of my way of thinking, when we got to +understand each other." Nothing is easier than to mislead an American on +the estimate foreigners place on them: in this respect they are the most +deluded people living, though, in other matters, certainly among the +shrewdest. "That's the way with acquaintances, at first; they don't +always understand one another: and then you talk a little thick, like. +But now, friend, I'll come to the p'int--but first swear you'll not +betray me." + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstandst; I most schwear I won't bedray you: das ist +goot." + +"But, hold up your hand. Stop; of what religion be you?" + +"Gristian, to be sure. I might not be a Chew. Nein, nein; I am a ferry +bat Gristian." + +"We are all bad enough, for that matter; but I lay no stress on _that_. +A little of the devil in a man helps him along, in this business of +ourn. But you must be suthin' more than a Christian, I s'pose, as we +don't call _that_ bein' of any religion at all, in this country. Of what +_supportin'_ religion be you?" + +"Soobortin'; vell, I might not oonderstands dat. Vhat ist soobortin' +religion? Coomes dat vrom Melanchton and Luther?--or coomes it vrom der +Pope? Vhat ist dat soobortin' religion?" + +"Why, what religion do you _patronize_? Do you patronize the standin' +order, or the kneelin' order?--or do you patronize neither? Some folks +thinks its best to lie down at prayer, as the least likely to divert the +thoughts." + +"I might not oonderstand. But nefer mindt der religion, and coome to der +p'int dat you mentioned." + +"Well, that p'int is this. You're a Jarman, and can't like aristocrats, +and so I'll trust you; though, if you do betray me, you'll never play on +another bit of music in this country, or any other! If you want to be an +Injin, as good an opportunity will offer to-morrow as ever fell in a +man's way!" + +"An Injin! Vhat goot vill it do to be an Injin? I dought it might be +better to be a vhite man, in America?" + +"Oh! I mean only an anti-rent Injin. We've got matters so nicely fixed +now, that a chap can be an Injin without any paint at all, or any +washin' or scrubbin', but can convart himself into himself ag'in, at any +time, in two minutes. The wages is good and the work light; then we have +rare chances in the stores, and round about among the farms. The law is +that an Injin must have what he wants, and no grumblin', and we take +care to want enough. If you'll be at the meetin', I'll tell you how +you'll know me." + +"Ja, ja--dat ist goot; I vill be at der meetin', sartainly. Vhere might +it be?" + +"Down at the village. The word came up this a'ternoon, and we shall all +be on the ground by ten o'clock." + +"Vilt der be a fight, dat you meet so bunctually, and wid so moch +spirit?" + +"Fight! Lord, no; who is there to fight, I should like to know? We are +pretty much all ag'in the Littlepages, and there's none of them on the +ground but two or three women. I'll tell you how it's all settled. The +meetin' is called on the deliberative and liberty-supportin' plan. I +s'pose you know we've all sorts of meetin's in this country?" + +"Nein; I dought dere might be meetin's for bolitics, vhen der beople +might coome, but I don't know vhat else." + +"Is't possible! What, have you no 'indignation meetin's' in Jarmany? We +count a great deal on our indignation meetin's, and both sides have'em +in abundance, when things get to be warm. Our meetin' to-morrow is for +deliberation and liberty-principles generally. We may pass some +indignation resolutions about aristocrats, for nobody can bear them +critturs in this part of the country, I can tell you." + +Lest this manuscript should get into the hands of some of those who do +not understand the real condition of New York society, it may be well to +explain that "aristocrat" means, in the parlance of the country, no +other than a man of gentleman-like tastes, habits, opinions and +associations. There are gradations among the aristocracy of the State, +as well as among other men. Thus he who is an aristocrat in a hamlet, +would be very democratic in a village; and he of the village might be no +aristocrat in the town, at all; though, in the towns generally, indeed +always, when their population has the least of a town character, the +distinction ceases altogether, men quietly dropping into the traces of +civilized society, and talking or thinking very little about it. To see +the crying evils of American aristocracy, then, one must go into the +country. There, indeed, a plenty of cases exist. Thus, if there happen +to be a man whose property is assessed at twenty-five per cent. above +that of all his neighbours--who must have right on his side bright as a +cloudless sun to get a verdict, if obliged to appeal to the laws--who +pays fifty per cent. more for everything he buys, and receives fifty per +cent. less for everything he sells, than any other person near him--who +is surrounded by rancorous enemies, in the midst of a seeming state of +peace--who has everything he says and does perverted, and added to, and +lied about--who is traduced because his dinner-hour is later than that +of "other folks"--who don't stoop, but is straight in the back--who +presumes to doubt that this country in general, and his own township in +particular, is the focus of civilization--who hesitates about signing +his name to any flagrant instance of ignorance, bad taste, or worse +morals, that his neighbours may get up in the shape of a petition, +remonstrance, or resolution--depend on it that man is a prodigious +aristocrat, and one who, for his many offences and manner of lording it +over mankind, deserves to be banished. I ask the reader's pardon for so +abruptly breaking in upon Joshua's speech, but such very different +notions exist about aristocrats, in different parts of the world, that +some such explanation was necessary in order to prevent mistakes. I have +forgotten one mark of the tribe that is, perhaps, more material than all +the rest, which must not be omitted, and is this:--If he happen to be a +man who prefers his own pursuits to public life, and is regardless of +"popularity," he is just guilty of the unpardonable sin. The "people" +will forgive anything sooner than this; though there are "folks" who +fancy it as infallible a sign of an aristocrat not to chew tobacco. But, +unless I return to Joshua, the reader will complain that I cause him to +stand still. + +"No, no," continued Mr. Brigham; "anything but an aristocrat for me. I +hate the very name of the sarpents, and wish there warn't one in the +land. To-morrow we are to have a great anti-rent lecturer out----" + +"A vhat?" + +"A lecturer; one that lectur's, you understand, on anti-rentism, +temperance, aristocracy, government, or any other grievance that may +happen to be uppermost. Have you no lecturers in Jarmany?" + +"Ja, ja; dere ist lecturers in das universities--blenty of dem." + +"Well, we have 'em universal and partic'lar, as we happen to want 'em. +To-morrow we're to have one, they tell me, the smartest man that has +appeared in the cause. He goes it strong, and the Injins mean to back +him up, with all sorts of shrieks and whoopin's. Your hurdy-gurdy, +there, makes no sort of music to what our tribe can make when we fairly +open our throats." + +"Vell, dis ist queer! I vast told dat der Americans vast all +philosophers, und dat all dey didt vast didt in a t'oughtful and sober +manner; und now you dells me dey screams deir arguments like Injins!" + +"That we do! I wish you'd been here in the hard-cider and log-cabin +times, and you'd a seen reason and philosophy, as you call it! I was a +whig that summer, though I went democrat last season. There's about five +hundred on us in this county that make the most of things, I can tell +you. What's the use of a vote, if a body gets nothin' by it? But +to-morrow you'll see the business done up, and matters detarmined for +this part of the world, in fine style. We know what we're about, and we +mean to carry things through quite to the end." + +"Und vhat do you means to do?" + +"Well, seein' that you seem to be of the right sort, and be so likely to +put on the Injin shirt, I'll tell you all about it. We mean to get good +and old farms at favourable rates. That's what we mean to do. The +people's up and in 'arnest, and what the people want they'll have! This +time they want farms, and farms they must have. What's the use of havin' +a government of the people, if the people's obliged to want farms? We've +begun ag'in' the Renssalaers, and the durables, and the quarter-sales, +and the chickens; but we don't, by no manner of means, think of eending +there. What should we get by that? A man wants to get suthin' when he +puts his foot into a matter of this natur'. We know who's our fri'nds +and who's our inimies! Could we have some men I could name for +governors, all would go clear enough the first winter. We would tax the +landlords out, and law 'em about in one way and another, so as to make +'em right down glad to sell the last rod of their lands, and that cheap, +too!" + +"Und who might own dese farms, all oop and down der coontry, dat I +sees?" + +"As the law now stands, Littlepage owns 'em; but if we alter the law +enough, he wun't. If we can only work the Legislature up to the stickin' +p'int, we shall get all we want. Would you believe it, the man wun't +sell a single farm, they say; but wishes to keep every one on 'em for +himself! Is that to be borne in a free country? They'd hardly stand that +in Jarmany, I'm thinkin'. A man that is such an aristocrat us to refuse +to sell anything, I despise." + +"Veil, dey stand to der laws in Charmany, and broperty is respected in +most coontries. You vouldn't do away wid der rights of broperty, if you +mights, I hopes?" + +"Not I. If a man owns a watch, or a horse, or a cow, I'm for having the +law such that a poor man can keep 'em, even ag'in execution. We're +getting the laws pretty straight on them p'ints, in old York, I can tell +you; a poor man, let him be ever so much in debt, can hold on to a +mighty smart lot of things, now-a-days, and laugh at the law right in +its face! I've known chaps that owed as much as $200, hold on to as good +as $300; though most of their debts was for the very things they held on +to!" + +What a picture is this, yet is it not true? A state of society in which +a man can contract a debt for a cow, or his household goods, and laugh +at his creditor when he seeks his pay, on the one hand; and on the +other, legislators and executives lending themselves to the chicanery of +another set, that are striving to deprive a particular class of its +rights of property, directly in the face of written contracts! This is +straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel, with a vengeance; and +all for votes! Does any one really expect a community can long exist, +favoured by a wise and justice-dispensing Providence, in which such +things are coolly attempted--ay, and coolly done? It is time that the +American began to see things as they are, and not as they are _said_ to +be, in the speeches of governors, fourth of July orations, and +electioneering addresses. I write warmly, I know, but I feel warmly; and +I write like a man who sees that a most flagitious attempt to rob him is +tampered with by some in power, instead of being met, as the boasted +morals and intelligence of the country would require, by the stern +opposition of all in authority. Curses--deep, deep curses--ere long, +will fall on all who shrink from their duty in such a crisis. Even the +very men who succeed, if succeed they should, will, in the end, curse +the instruments of their own success.[4] + +"A first-rate lecturer on feudal tenors," (Joshua was not in the least +particular in his language, but, in the substance, he knew what he was +talking about as well as some who are in high places,) "chickens and +days' works. We expect a great deal from this man, who is paid well for +coming." + +"Und who might bay him?--der State?" + +"No--we haven't got to that _yet_; though some think the State will +_have_ to do it, in the long run. At present the tenants are taxed so +much on the dollar, accordin' to rent, or so much an acre, and that way +the needful money is raised. But one of our lecturers told us, a time +back, that it was money put out at use, and every man ought to keep an +account of what he give, for the time was not far off when he would get +it back, with double interest. 'It is paid now for a reform,' he said, +'and when the reform is obtained, no doubt the State would feel itself +so much indebted to us all, that it would tax the late landlords until +we got all our money back again, and more too." + +"Dat vould pe a bretty speculation; ja, dat might be most bootiful!" + +"Why, yes; it wouldn't be a bad operation, living on the inimy, as a +body might say. But you'll not catch our folks livin' on themselves, I +can tell you. That they might do without societies. No, we've an object; +and when folks has an object, they commonly look sharp a'ter it. We +don't let on all we want and mean openly: and you'll find folks among us +that'll deny stoutly that anti-renters has anything to do with the Injin +system; but folks an't obliged to believe the moon is _all_ cheese, +unless they've a mind to. Some among us maintain that no man ought to +hold more than a thousand acres of land, while others think natur' has +laid down the law on that p'int, and that a man shouldn't hold more +than he has need on." + +"Und vich side dost you favour?--vich of dese obinions might not be +yours?" + +"I'm not partic'lar, so I get a good farm. I should like one with +comfortable buildin's on 't, and one that hasn't been worked to death. +For them two principles I think I'd stand out; but, whether there be +four hundred acres, or four hundred and fifty, or even five hundred, I'm +no way onaccomadatin'. I expect there'll be trouble in the eend, when we +come to the division, but I'm not the man to make it. I s'pose I shall +get my turn at the town offices, and other chances, and, givin' me my +rights in them, I'll take up with almost any farm young Littlepage has, +though I should rather have one in the main valley here, than one more +out of the way; still, I don't set myself down as at all partic'lar." + +"Und vhat do you expect to bay Mr. Littlepage for der farm, ast you +might choose?" + +"That depends on sarcumstances. The Injins mainly expect to come in +cheap. Some folks think it's best to pay suthin', as it might stand +ag'in' law better, should it come to that; while other some see no great +use in paying anything. Them that's willing to pay, mainly hold out for +paying the principal of the first rents." + +"I doesn't oonderstandt vhat you means py der brincipal of der first +rents." + +"It's plain enough, when you get the lay on 't. You see, these lands +were let pretty low, when they were first taken up from the forest, in +order to get folks to live here. That's the way we're obliged to do in +America, or people won't come. Many tenants paid no rent at all for six, +eight, or ten years; and a'ter that, until their three lives run out, as +it is called, they paid only sixpence an acre, or six dollars and a +quarter on the hundred acres. That was done, you see, to buy men to come +here at all; and you can see by the price that was paid, how hard a time +they must have had on 't. Now, some of our folks hold that the whull +time ought to be counted--that which was rent free, and that which was +not--in a way that I'll explain to you; for I'd have you to know I +haven't entered into this business without looking to the right and the +wrong on't." + +"Exblain, exblain; I might hear you exblain, and you most exblain." + +"Why, you're in a hurry, friend Griezenbach, or whatever your name be. +But I'll explain, if you wish it. S'pose, now, a lease run thirty +years--ten on nothin', and twenty on sixpences. Well, a hundred +sixpences make fifty shillings, and twenty times fifty make a thousand, +as all the rent paid in thirty years. If you divide a thousand by +thirty, it leaves thirty-three shillings and a fraction"--Joshua +calculated like an American of his class, accurately and with +rapidity--"for the average rent of the thirty years. Calling +thirty-three shillings four dollars, and it's plaguy little more, we +have that for the interest, which, at 7 per cent., will make a principal +of rather more than fifty dollars, though not as much as sixty. As sich +matters ought to be done on liberal principles, they say that Littlepage +ought to take fifty dollars, and give a deed for the hundred acres." + +"Und vhat might be der rent of a hoondred acres now?--he might get more +dan sixpence to-day?" + +"That he does. Most all of the farms are running out on second, and some +on third leases. Four shillings an acre is about the average of the +rents, accordin' to circumstances." + +"Den you dinks der landtlort ought to accept one year's rent for der +farms?" + +"I don't look on it in that light. He ought to take fifty dollars for a +hundred acres. You forget the tenants have paid for their farms, over +and over again, in rent. They _feel_ as if they have paid enough, and +that it was time to stop." + +Extraordinary as this reasoning may seem in most men's minds, I have +since found it is a very favourite sentiment among anti-renters. "Are we +to go on, and pay rent for ever?" they ask, with logical and virtuous +indignation! + +"Und vhat may be der aferage value of a hoondred acre farm, in dis part +of de coontry?" I inquired. + +"From two thousand five hundred to three thousand dollars. It would be +more, but tenants won't put good buildings on farms, you know, seein' +that they don't own them. I heard one of our leaders lamentin' that he +didn't foresee what times was comin' to, when he repaired his old house, +or he would have built a new one. But a man can't foretell everything. I +dare say many has the same feelin's, now." + +"Den you dinks Herr Littlebage ought to accept $50 for vhat is worth +$2500? Das seem ferry little." + +"You forget the back rent that has been paid, and the work the tenant +has done. What would the farm be good for without the work that has been +done on it?" + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstandst; and vhat vould der work be goot for vidout der +landt on vhich it vast done?" + +This was rather an incautious question to put to a man as distrustful +and rogueish as Joshua Brigham. The fellow cast a lowering and +distrustful look at me; but ere there was time to answer, Miller, of +whom he stood in healthful awe, called him away to look after the cows. + +Here, then, I had enjoyed an opportunity of hearing the opinions of one +of my own hirelings on the interesting subject of my right to my own +estate. I have since ascertained that, while these sentiments are +sedulously kept out of view in the proceedings of the government, which +deals with the whole matter as if the tenants were nothing but martyrs +to hard bargains, and the landlords their task-masters, of greater or +less lenity, they are extensively circulated in the "infected +districts," and are held to be very sound doctrines by a large number of +the "bone and sinew of the land." Of course the reasoning is varied a +little, to suit circumstances, and to make it meet the facts. But of +this school is a great deal, and a very great deal, of the reasoning +that circulates on the leased property; and, from what I have seen and +heard already, I make no doubt that there are _quasi_ legislators among +us who, instead of holding the manly and only safe doctrine which ought +to be held on such a subject, and saying that these deluded men should +be taught better, are ready to cite the very fact that such notions do +exist as a reason for the necessity of making concessions, in order to +keep the peace at the cheapest rate. That profound principle of +legislation, which concedes the right in order to maintain quiet, is +admirably adapted to forming sinners; and, if carried out in favour of +all who may happen to covet their neighbour's goods, would, in a short +time, render this community the very paradise of knaves. + +As for Joshua Brigham, I saw no more of him that night; for he quitted +the farm on leave, just as it got to be dark. Where he went I do not +know; but the errand on which he left us could no longer be a secret to +me. As the family retired early, and we ourselves were a good deal +fatigued, everybody was in bed by nine o'clock, and, judging from +myself, soon asleep. Previously to saying "good night," however, Miller +told us of the meeting of the next day, and of his intention to attend +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!" + "Silence." + + _King Henry VI._ + + +After an early breakfast, next morning, the signs of preparation for a +start became very apparent in the family. Not only Miller, but his wife +and daughter, intended to go down to "Little Neest," as the hamlet was +almost invariably called in that fragment of the universe, in +contradistinction to the "Neest" proper. I found afterwards that this +very circumstance was cited against me in the controversy, it being +thought _lèse majesté_ for a private residence to monopolize the major +of the proposition, while a hamlet had to put up with the minor; the +latter, moreover, including two taverns, which are exclusively the +property of the public, there being exclusiveness with the public as +well as with aristocrats--more especially in all things that pertain to +power or profit. As to the two last, even Joshua Brigham was much more +of an aristocrat than I was myself. It must be admitted that the +Americans are a humane population, for they are the only people who deem +that bankruptcy gives a claim to public favour.[5] + +As respects the two "Nests," had not so much more serious matter been in +agitation, the precedence of the names might actually have been taken up +as a question of moment. I have heard of a lawsuit in France, touching a +name that has been illustrious in that country for a period so long as +to extend beyond the reach of man--as, indeed, was apparent by the +matter in controversy--and which name has obtained for itself a high +place in the annals of even our own republic. I allude to the House of +Grasse, which was seated, prior to the revolution, and may be still, at +a place called Grasse, in the southern part of the kingdom, the town +being almost as famous for the manufacture of pleasant things as the +family for its exploits in arms. About a century since, the Marquis de +Grasse is said to have had a _procés_ with his neighbours of the place, +to establish the fact whether the family gave its name to the town, or +the town gave its name to the family. The Marquis prevailed in the +struggle, but greatly impaired his fortune in achieving that new +victory. As my house, or its predecessor, was certainly erected and +named while the site of Little Nest was still in the virgin forest, one +would think its claims to the priority of possession beyond dispute; but +such might not prove to be the case on a trial. There are two histories +among us, as relates to both public and private things; the one being as +nearly true as is usual, while the other is invariably the fruits of the +human imagination. Everything depending so much on majorities, that soon +gets to be the most authentic tradition which has the most believers; +for, under the system of numbers, little regard is paid to superior +advantages, knowledge, or investigation, all depending on 3 as against +2, which makes 1 majority. I find a great deal of this spurious history +is getting to be mixed up with the anti-rent controversy, facts coming +out daily that long have lain dormant in the graves of the past. These +facts affect the whole structure of the historical picture of the State +and colony, leaving touches of black where the pencil had originally put +in white, and placing the high lights where the shadows have before +always been understood to be. In a word, men are telling the stories as +best agrees with their present views, and not at all as they agree with +fact. + +It was the intention of Tom Miller to give my uncle Ro and me a dearborn +to ourselves, while he drove his wife, Kitty and a _help_, as far as the +"Little Neest," in a two-horse vehicle that was better adapted to such a +freight. Thus disposed of, then, we all left the place in company, just +as the clock in the farm-house entry struck nine. I drove our horse +myself; and _mine_ he was, in fact, every hoof, vehicle and farming +utensil on the Nest farm, being as much my property, under the _old_ +laws, as the hat on my head. It is true, the Millers had now been fifty +years or more, nay, nearly sixty, in possession, and by the _new_ mode +of construction it is possible some may fancy that we had paid them +wages so long for working the land, and for using the cattle and +utensils, that the title, in a moral sense, had passed out of me, in +order to pass into Tom Miller. If use begets a right, why not to a wagon +and horse, as well as to a farm. + +As we left the place I gazed wistfully towards the Nest House, in the +hope of seeing the form of some one that I loved, at a window, on the +lawn, or in the piazza. Not a soul appeared, however, and we trotted +down the road a short distance in the rear of the other wagon, +conversing on such things as came uppermost in our minds. The distance +we had to go was about four miles, and the hour named for the +commencement of the lecture, which was to be the great affair of the +day, had been named at eleven. This caused us to be in no hurry, and I +rather preferred to coincide with the animal I drove, and move very +slowly, than hurry on, and arrive an hour or two sooner than was +required. In consequence of this feeling on our part, Miller and his +family were soon out of sight, it being their wish to obtain as much of +the marvels of the day as was possible. + +The road, of course, was perfectly well known to my uncle and myself; +but, had it not been, there was no danger of missing our way, as we had +only to follow the general direction of the broad valley through which +it ran. Then Miller had considerately told us that we must pass two +churches, or a church and a "meetin'-'us'," the spires of both of which +were visible most of the way, answering for beacons. Referring to this +term of "meeting-house," does it not furnish conclusive evidence, of +itself, of the inconsistent folly of that wisest of all earthly beings, +man? It was adopted in contradistinction from, and in direct opposition +to, the supposed idolatrous association connected with the use of the +word "church," at a time when certain sects would feel offended at +hearing their places of worship thus styled; whereas, at the present +day, those very sectarians are a little disposed to resent this +exclusive appropriation of the proscribed word by the sects who have +always adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight degree, +"arisdogradic!" I am a little afraid that your out-and-outers in +politics, religion, love of liberty, and other human excellences, are +somewhat apt to make these circuits in their eccentric orbits, and to +come out somewhere quite near the places from which they started. + +The road between the Nest House and Little Nest, the hamlet, is rural, +and quite as agreeable as is usually found in a part of the country that +is without water-views or mountain scenery. Our New York landscapes are +rarely, nay, never grand, as compared with the noble views one finds in +Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and the finer parts of Europe; but we have a +vast many that want nothing but a finish to their artificial accessories +to render them singularly agreeable. Such is the case with the principal +vale of Ravensnest, which, at the very moment we were driving through +it, struck my uncle and myself as presenting a picture of rural +abundance, mingled with rural comfort, that one seldom sees in the old +world, where the absence of enclosures, and the concentration of the +dwellings in villages, leave the fields naked and with a desolate +appearance, in spite of their high tillage and crops. + +"This is an estate worth contending for, now," said my uncle, as we +trotted slowly on, "although it has not hitherto been very productive to +its owner. The first half century of an American property of this sort +rarely brings much to its proprietor beyond trouble and vexation." + +"And after that time the tenant is to have it, pretty much at his own +price, as a reward for his own labour!" + +"What evidences are to be found, wherever the eye rests, of the +selfishness of man, and his unfitness to be left to the unlimited +control of his own affairs! In England they are quarrelling with the +landlords, who _do_ compose a real aristocracy, and make the laws, about +the manner in which they protect themselves and the products of their +estates; while here the true owner of the soil is struggling against the +power of numbers, with the people, who are the only aristocrats we +possess, in order to maintain his right of property in the simplest and +most naked form! A common vice is at the bottom of both wrongs, and that +is the vice of selfishness." + +"But how are abuses like those of which we complain here--abuses of the +most formidable character of any that can exist, since the oppressors +are so many, and so totally irresponsible by their numbers--to be +avoided, if you give the people the right of self-government?" + +"God help the nation where self-government, in its literal sense, +exists, Hugh! The term is conventional, and, properly viewed, means a +government in which the source of authority is the body of the nation, +and does not come from any other sovereign. When a people that has been +properly educated by experience calmly selects its agents, and coolly +sets to work to adopt a set of principles to form its fundamental law or +constitution, the machine is on the right track, and will work well +enough so long as it is kept there; but this running off, and altering +the fundamental principles every time a political faction has need of +recruits, is introducing tyranny in its worst form--a tyranny that is +just as dangerous to real liberty as hypocrisy is to religion!" + +We were now approaching St. Andrew's church and the rectory, with its +glebe, the latter lying contiguous to the church-yard, or, as it is an +Americanism to say, the "graveyard." There had been an evident +improvement around the rectory since I had last seen it. Shrubbery had +been planted, care was taken of the fences, the garden was neatly and +well worked, the fields looked smooth, and everything denoted that it +was "new lords and new laws." The last incumbent had been a whining, +complaining, narrow-minded, selfish and lazy priest, the least estimable +of all human characters, short of the commission of the actual and +higher crimes; but his successor had the reputation of being a devout +and real Christian--one who took delight in the duties of his holy +office, and who served God because he loved him. I am fully aware how +laborious is the life of a country priest, and how contracted and mean +is the pittance he in common receives, and how much more he merits than +he gets, if his reward were to be graduated by things here. But this +picture, like every other, has its different sides, and occasionally men +do certainly enter the church from motives as little as possible +connected with those that ought to influence them. + +"There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," observed my uncle, as +we passed the rectory. "Can it be that he intends visiting the village +also, on an occasion like this?" + +"Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Patt has given of him be +true," I answered. "She tells me he has been active in endeavouring to +put down the covetous spirit that is getting uppermost in the town, and +has even preached boldly, though generally, against the principles +involved in the question. The other man, they say, goes for popularity, +and preaches and prays with the anti-renters." + +No more was said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit of wood, a +part of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a thousand acres in +extent, stretched down from the hills along some broken and otherwise +little valuable land, and had been reserved from the axe to meet the +wants of some future day. It was mine, therefore, in the fullest sense +of the word; and, singular as it may seem, one of the grounds of +accusation brought against me and my predecessors was that we had +_declined leasing it_! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused for having +leased our land, and, on the other, for not having leased it. The fact +is, we, in common with other extensive landlords, are expected to use +our property as much as possible for the particular benefit of other +people, while those other people are expected to use _their_ property as +much as possible for their own particular benefit. + +There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out again in the +open country, at about a mile and a half's distance from the hamlet. On +our left this little forest did not extend more than a hundred rods, +terminating at the edge of the rivulet--or _creek_, as the stream is +erroneously called, and for no visible reason but the fact that it was +only a hundred feet wide--which swept close under the broken ground +mentioned at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretched +away for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and confounded +with other portions of wood that had been reserved for the farms on +which they grew. As is very usual in America, in cases where roads pass +through a forest, a second growth had shot up on each side of this +highway, which was fringed for the whole distance with large bushes of +pine, hemlock, chestnut and maple. In some places these bushes almost +touched the track, while in others a large space was given. We were +winding our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its centre, at +a point where no house was visible--and no house, indeed, stood within +half a mile of us--with the view in front and in rear limited to some +six or eight rods in each direction by the young trees, when our ears +were startled by a low, shrill, banditti-like whistle. I must confess +that my feelings were anything but comfortable at that interruption, for +I remembered the conversation of the previous night. I thought by the +sudden jump of my uncle, and the manner he instinctively felt where he +ought to have had a pistol, to meet such a crisis, that he believed +himself already in the hands of the Philistines. + +A half minute sufficed to tell us the truth. I had hardly stopped the +horse, in order to look around me, when a line of men, all armed and +disguised, issued in single file from the bushes, and drew up in the +road, at right angles to its course. There were six of these "Injins," +as they are called, and, indeed, call themselves, each carrying a rifle, +horn and pouch, and otherwise equipped for the field. The disguises were +very simple, consisting of a sort of loose calico hunting-shirt and +trowsers that completely concealed the person. The head was covered by a +species of hood, or mask, equally of calico, that was fitted with holes +for the eyes, nose and mouth, and which completed the disguise. There +were no means of recognizing a man thus equipped, unless it might be by +the stature, in cases in which the party was either unusually tall or +unusually short. A middle-sized man was perfectly safe from recognition, +so long as he did not speak and could keep his equipments. Those who did +speak altered their voices, as we soon found, using a jargon that was +intended to imitate the imperfect English of the native owners of the +soil. Although neither of us had ever seen one of the gang before, we +knew these disturbers of the public peace to be what in truth they were, +the instant our eyes fell on them. One could not well be mistaken, +indeed, under the circumstances in which we were placed; but the +tomahawks that one or two carried, the manner of their march, and other +pieces of mummery that they exhibited, would have told us the fact, had +we met them even in another place. + +My first impulse was to turn the wagon, and to endeavour to lash the +lazy beast I drove into a run. Fortunately, before the attempt was made, +I turned my head to see if there was room for such an exploit, and saw +six others of these "Injins" drawn across the road behind us. It was now +so obviously the wisest course to put the best face on the matter, that +we walked the horse boldly up to the party in front, until he was +stopped by one of the gang taking him by the bridle. + +"Sago, sago," cried one who seemed to act as a chief, and whom I shall +thus designate, speaking in his natural voice, though affecting an +Indian pronunciation. "How do, how do?--where come from, eh?--where go, +eh?--What you say, too--up rent or down rent, eh?" + +"Ve ist two Charmans," returned uncle Ro, in his most desperate dialect, +the absurdity of men who spoke the same language resorting to such +similar means of deception tempting me sorely to laugh in the fellows' +faces; "Ve ist two Charmans dat ist goin' to hear a man's sbeak about +bayin' rent, und to sell vatches. Might you buy a vatch, goot +shentlemans." + +Although the fellows doubtless knew who we were, so far as our assumed +characters went, and had probably been advised of our approach, this +bait took, and there was a general jumping up and down, and a common +pow-wowing among them, indicative of the pleasure such a proposal gave. +In a minute the whole party were around us, with some eight or ten more +who appeared from the nearest bushes. We were helped out of the wagon +with a gentle violence that denoted their impatience. As a matter of +course, I expected that all the trinkets and watches, which were of +little value, fortunately, would immediately disappear; for who could +doubt that men engaged in attempting to rob on so large a scale as these +fellows were engaged in, would hesitate about doing a job on one a +little more diminutive. I was mistaken, however; some sort of +imperceptible discipline keeping those who were thus disposed, of whom +there must have been some in such a party, in temporary order. The horse +was left standing in the middle of the highway, right glad to take his +rest, while we were shown the trunk of a fallen tree, near by, on which +to place our box of wares. A dozen watches were presently in the hands +of as many of these seeming savages, who manifested a good deal of +admiration at their shining appearance. While this scene, which was half +mummery and half nature, was in the course of enactment, the chief +beckoned me to a seat on the further end of the tree, and, attended by +one or two of his companions, he began to question me as follows: + +"Mind tell truth," he said, making no very expert actor in the way of +imitation. "Dis 'Streak o' Lightning,'" laying his hand on his own +breast, that I might not misconceive the person of the warrior who bore +so eminent a title; "no good lie to him--know ebbery t'ing afore he ask, +only ask for fun--what do here, eh?" + +"Ve coomes to see der Injins and der beoples at der village, dat ve +might sell our vatches." + +"Dat all; sartain?--can call 'down rent,' eh?" + +"Dat ist ferry easy; 'down rent, eh?'" + +"Sartain Jarman, eh?--you no spy?--you no sent here by gubbernor, +eh?--landlord no pay you, eh?" + +"Vhat might I spy? Dere ist nothin' do spy, but mans vid calico faces. +Vhy been you afraid of der governor?--I dinks der governors be ferry +goot frients of der anti-rents." + +"Not when we act this way. Send horse, send foot a'ter us, den. T'ink +good friend, too, when he dare." + +"He be d----d!" bawled out one of the tribe, in as good, homely, rustic +English as ever came out of the mouth of a clown. "If he's our friend, +why did he send the artillery and horse down to Hudson?--and why has he +had Big Thunder up afore his infarnal courts? He be d----d!" + +There was no mistaking this outpouring of the feelings; and so "Streak +o' Lightning" seemed to think too, for he whispered one of the tribe, +who took the plain-speaking Injin by the arm and led him away, grumbling +and growling, as the thunder mutters in the horizon after the storm has +passed on. For myself, I made several profitable reflections concerning +the inevitable fate of those who attempt to "serve God and Mammon." This +anti-rentism is a question in which, so far as a governor is concerned, +there is but one course to pursue, and that is to enforce the laws by +suppressing violence, and leaving the parties to the covenants of leases +to settle their differences in the courts, like the parties to any other +contracts. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Many a +landlord has made a hard bargain for himself; and I happen to know of +one case in particular, in which a family has long been, and is still, +kept out of the enjoyment of a very valuable estate, as to any benefit +of importance, purely by the circumstance that a weak-minded possessor +of the property fancied he was securing souls for paradise by letting +his farms on leases for ninety-nine years, at nominal rents, with a +covenant that the tenant should go twice to a particular church! Now, +nothing is plainer than that it is a greater hardship to the citizen who +is the owner of many farms so situated, than to the citizen who is the +lessee of only one with a hard covenant; and, on general principles, the +landlord in question would be most entitled to relief, since one man who +suffers a good deal is more an object of true commiseration than many +who suffer each a little. What would a governor be apt to say if my +landlord should go with his complaints to the foot of the executive +chair, and tell him that the very covenant which had led his predecessor +into the mistake of thus wasting his means was openly disregarded; that +farms worth many thousands of dollars had now been enjoyed by the +tenants for near a century for mere nominal rents, and that the owner +of the land in fee had occasion for his property, &c. &c. Would the +governor recommend legislative action in that case? Would the _length_ +of _such_ leases induce him to recommend that no lease should exceed +five years in duration? Would the landlords who should get up a corps of +Injins to worry their tenants into an abandonment of their farms be the +objects of commiseration?--and would the law slumber for years over +_their_ rebellions and depredations, until two or three murders aroused +public indignation? Let them answer that know. As a landlord, I should +be sorry to incur the ridicule that would attend even a public complaint +of the hardships of such a case. A common sneer would send me to the +courts for my remedy, if I had one, and the whole difference between the +"if and ifs" of the two cases would be that a landlord gives but one +vote, while his tenants may be legion.[6] + +"He be d----d," muttered the plain-speaking Injin, as long as I could +hear him. As soon as released from his presence, Streak of Lightning +continued his examination, though a little vexed at the undramatical +character of the interruption. + +"Sartain no spy, eh?--sartain gubbernor no send him, eh?--sartain come +to sell watch, eh?" + +"I coomes, as I tell ye, to see if vatches might be solt, und not for +der gubbernor; I neffer might see der mans." + +As all this was true, my conscience felt pretty easy on the score of +whatever there might be equivocal about it. + +"What folks think of Injin down below, eh?--what folks say of anti-rent, +eh?--hear him talk about much?" + +"Vell, soome does dink anti-rent ist goot, und soome does dink anti-rent +ist bad. Dey dinks as dey wishes." + +Here a low whistle came down the road, or rather down the bushes, when +every Injin started up; each man very fairly gave back the watch he was +examining, and in less than half a minute we were alone on the log. This +movement was so sudden that it left us in a little doubt as to the +proper mode of proceeding. My uncle, however, coolly set about +replacing his treasures in their box, while I went to the horse, which +had shaken off his head-stall, and was quietly grazing along the +road-side. A minute or two might have been thus occupied, when the +trotting of a horse and the sound of wheels announced the near approach +of one of those vehicles which have got to be almost national; a +dearborn, or a one-horse wagon. As it came out from behind a screen of +bushes formed by a curvature in the road, I saw that it contained the +Rev. Mr. Warren and his sweet daughter. + +The road being narrow, and our vehicle in its centre, it was not +possible for the newcomers to proceed until we got out of the way, and +the divine pulled up as soon as he reached the spot where we stood. + +"Good morning, _gentlemen_," said Mr. Warren, cordially, and using a word +that, in _his_ mouth, I felt meant all it expressed. "Good morning, +_gentlemen_. Are you playing Handel to the wood-nymphs, or reciting +eclogues?" + +"Neider, neider, Herr Pastor; we meet wid coostomers here, und dey has +joost left us," answered uncle Ro, who certainly enacted his part with +perfect _àplomb_, and the most admirable mimicry as to manner. "_Guten +tag, guten tag_. Might der Herr Pastor been going to der village?" + +"We are. I understand there is to be a meeting there of the misguided +men called anti-renters, and that several of my parishioners are likely +to be present. On such an occasion I conceive it to be my duty to go +among my own particular people, and whisper a word of advice. Nothing +can be farther from my notions of propriety than for a clergyman to be +mingling and mixing himself up with political concerns in general, but +this is a matter that touches morality, and the minister of God is +neglectful of his duty who keeps aloof when a word of admonition might +aid in preventing some wavering brother from the commission of a +grievous sin. This last consideration has brought me out to a scene I +could otherwise most heartily avoid." + +This might be well enough, I said to myself, but what has your daughter +to do in such a scene? Is the mind of Mary Warren, then, after all, no +better than vulgar minds in general?--and can she find a pleasure in the +excitement of lectures of this cast, and in that of public meetings? No +surer test can be found of cultivation, than the manner in which it +almost intuitively shrinks from communion unnecessarily with tastes and +principles below its own level; yet here was the girl with whom I was +already half in love--and that was saying as little as could be said, +too--actually going down to the "Little Neest" to hear an itinerant +lecturer on political economy utter his crudities, and to see and be +seen! I was grievously disappointed, and would at the moment have +cheerfully yielded the best farm on my estate to have had the thing +otherwise. My uncle must have had some similar notion, by the remark he +made. + +"Und doost das _jung frau_ go to see der Injins, too; to bersuade 'em +dey ist fery vicked?" + +Mary's face had been a little pale for her, I thought, as the wagon drew +up; but it immediately became scarlet. She even suffered her head to +droop a little, and then I perceived that she cast an anxious and tender +glance at her father. I cannot say whether this look were or were not +intended for a silent appeal, unconsciously made; but the father, +without even seeing it, acted as if he fancied it might be. + +"No, no," he said, hurriedly; "this dear girl is doing violence to all +her feelings but one, in venturing to such a place. Her filial piety has +proved stronger than her fears and her tastes, and when she found that +go I would, no argument of mine could persuade her to remain at home. I +hope she will not repent it." + +The colour did not quit Mary's face, but she looked grateful at finding +her true motives appreciated; and she even smiled, though she said +nothing. My own feelings underwent another sudden revulsion. There was +no want of those tastes and inclinations that can alone render a young +woman attractive to any man of sentiment, but there was high moral +feeling and natural affection enough to overcome them in a case in which +she thought duty demanded the sacrifice! It was very little probable +that anything would or could occur that day to render the presence of +Mary Warren in the least necessary or useful; but it was very pleasant +to me and very lovely in her to think otherwise, under the strong +impulses of her filial attachment. + +Another idea, however, and one far less pleasant, suggested itself to +the minds of my uncle and myself, and almost at the same instant; it +was this: the conversation was carried on in a high key, or loud enough +to be heard at some little distance, the horse and part of the wagon +interposing between the speakers; and there was the physical certainty +that some of those whom we knew to be close at hand, in the bushes, must +hear all that was said, and might take serious offence at it. Under this +apprehension, therefore, my uncle directed me to remove our own vehicle +as fast as possible, in order that the clergyman might pass. Mr. Warren, +however, was in no hurry to do this, for he was utterly ignorant of the +audience he had, and entertained that feeling towards us that men of +liberal acquirements are apt to feel when they see others of similar +educations reduced by fortune below their proper level. He was +consequently desirous of manifesting his sympathy with us, and would not +proceed, even after I had opened the way for him. + +"It is a painful thing," continued Mr. Warren, "to find men mistaking +their own cupidity for the workings of a love of liberty. To me nothing +is more palpable than that this anti-rent movement is covetousness +incited by the father of evil; yet you will find men among us who fancy +they are aiding the cause of free institutions by joining in it, when, +in truth, they are doing all they can to bring them into discredit, and +to insure their certain downfall, in the end." + +This was sufficiently awkward; for, by going near enough to give a +warning in a low voice, and have that warning followed by a change in +the discourse, we should be betraying ourselves, and might fall into +serious danger. At the very moment the clergyman was thus speaking I saw +the masked head of Streak o' Lightning appearing through an opening in +some small pines that grew a little in the rear of the wagon, a position +that enabled him to hear every syllable that was uttered. I was afraid +to act myself, and trusted to the greater experience of my uncle. +Whether the last also saw the pretended chief was more than I knew, but +he decided to let the conversation go on, rather leaning to the +anti-rent side of the question, as the course that could do no serious +evil, while it might secure our own safety. It is scarcely necessary to +say all these considerations glanced through our minds so swiftly as to +cause no very awkward or suspicious pause in the discourse. + +"B'rhaps dey doosn't like to bay rent?" put in my uncle, with a +roughness of manner that was in accordance with the roughness of the +sentiment. "Beoples might radder haf deir landts for nuttin', dan bay +rents for dem." + +"In that case, then, let them go and buy lands for themselves; if they +do not wish to pay rent, why did they agree to pay rent?" + +"May be dey changes deir minds. Vhat is goot to-day doosn't always seem +goot to-morrow." + +"That may be true; but we have no right to make others suffer for our +own fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be better for the whole +community that so large a tract of land as that included in the Manor of +Rensselaerwyck, for instance, and lying as it does in the very heart of +the State, should be altogether in the hands of the occupants, than have +it subject to the divided interest that actually exists; but it does not +follow that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent means. +In either of the latter cases the injury done the community would be +greater than if the present tenures were to exist a thousand years. I +dare say much the larger portion of those farms can be bought off at a +moderate advance on their actual money-value; and that is the way to get +rid of the difficulty; not by bullying owners out of their property. If +the State finds a political consideration of so much importance for +getting rid of the tenures, let the State tax itself to do so, and make +a liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants will offer, and I'll +answer for it the landlords will not stand so much in their own way as +to decline good prices." + +"But, maybes dey won't sell all der landts; dey may wants to keep some +of dem." + +"They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right to juggle or +legislate them out of their property. The Legislature of this State has +quite lately been exhibiting one of the most pitiable sights the world +has seen in my day. It has been struggling for months to find a way to +get round the positive provisions of laws and constitutions, in order +to make a sacrifice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of the +many." + +"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dime--haw, haw, haw!" exclaimed my +uncle. + +Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. The coarseness of manner +that my uncle had assumed effected its object with the Injins, but it +almost destroyed the divine's previous good opinion of our characters, +and quite upset his notions of our refinement and principles. There was +no time for explanations, however; for, just as my uncle's broad and +well-acted "haw, haw, haw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in the +bushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and leaping +out from their cover, filling the road in all directions, immediately +around the wagons. + +Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, and I saw +her arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of involuntary +movement, as if she would protect him at all hazards. Then she seemed to +rally, and from that instant her character assumed an energy, an +earnestness, a spirit and an intrepidity that I had least expected in +one so mild in aspect, and so really sweet in disposition. + +All this was unnoticed by the Injins. They had their impulses, too, and +the first thing they did was to assist Mr. Warren and his daughter to +alight from their wagon. This was done, not without decorum of manner, +and certainly not without some regard to the holy office of one of the +parties, and to the sex of the other. Nevertheless, it was done neatly +and expeditiously, leaving us all, Mr. Warren and Mary, my uncle and +myself, with a cluster of some fifty Injins around us, standing in the +centre of the highway. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "No toil in despair, + No tyrant, no slave, + No bread-tax is there, + With a maw like the grave." + + +All this was so suddenly done as scarce to leave us time to think. There +was one instant, notwithstanding, while two Injins were assisting Mary +Warren to jump from the wagon, when my incognito was in great danger. +Perceiving that the young lady was treated with no particular +disrespect, I so far overcame the feeling as to remain quiet, though I +silently changed my position sufficiently to get near her elbow, where I +could and did whisper a word or two of encouragement. But Mary thought +only of her father, and had no fears for herself. She saw none but him, +trembled only for him, dreaded and hoped for him alone. + +As for Mr. Warren himself, he betrayed no discomposure. Had he been +about to enter the desk, his manner could not have been more calm. He +gazed around him, to ascertain if it were possible to recognise any of +his captors, but suddenly turned his head away, as if struck with the +expediency of not learning their names, even though it had been +possible. He might be put on the stand as a witness against some +misguided neighbour, did he know his person. All this was so apparent in +his benevolent countenance, that I think it struck some among the +Injins, and still believe it may have had a little influence on their +treatment of him. A pot of tar and a bag of feathers had been brought +into the road when the gang poured out of the bushes, but whether this +were merely accidental, or it had originally been intended to use them +on Mr. Warren, I cannot say. The offensive materials soon and silently +disappeared, and with them every sign of any intention to offer personal +injury. + +"What have I done that I am thus arrested in the public highway, by men +armed and disguised, contrary to law?" demanded the divine, as soon as +the general pause which succeeded the first movement invited him to +speak. "This is a rash and illegal step, that may yet bring repentance." + +"No preachee now," answered Streak o' Lightning; "preachee for meetin', +no good for road." + +Mr. Warren afterwards admitted to me that he was much relieved by this +reply, the substitution of the word "meeting" for "church" giving him +the grateful assurance that _this_ individual, at least, was not one of +his own people. + +"Admonition and remonstrance may always be useful when crime is +meditated. You are now committing a felony, for which the State's prison +is the punishment prescribed by the laws of the land, and the duties of +my holy office direct me to warn you of the consequences. The earth +itself is but one of God's temples, and his ministers need never +hesitate to proclaim his laws on any part of it." + +It was evident that the calm severity of the divine, aided, no doubt, by +his known character, produced an impression on the gang, for the two who +had still hold of his arms released them, and a little circle was now +formed, in the centre of which he stood. + +"If you will enlarge this circle, my friends," continued Mr. Warren, +"and give room, I will address you here, where we stand, and let you +know my reasons why I think your conduct ought to be----" + +"No, no--no preachee here," suddenly interrupted Streak o' Lightning; +"go to village, go to meetin'-'us'--preachee there.--Two preacher, +den.--Bring wagon and put him in. March, march; path open." + +Although this was but an "Injin" imitation of "Indian" sententiousness, +and somewhat of a caricature, everybody understood well enough what was +meant. Mr. Warren offered no resistance, but suffered himself to be +placed in Miller's wagon, with my uncle at his side, without opposition. +Then it was, however, that he bethought himself of his daughter, though +his daughter had never ceased to think of him. I had some little +difficulty in keeping her from rushing into the crowd, and clinging to +his side. Mr. Warren rose, and, giving her an encouraging smile, bade +her be calm, told her he had nothing to fear, and requested that she +would enter his own wagon again and return home, promising to rejoin her +as soon as his duties at the village were discharged. + +"Here is no one to drive the horse, my child, but our young German +acquaintance. The distance is very short, and if he will thus oblige me, +he can come down to the village with the wagon, as soon as he has seen +you safe at our own door." + +Mary Warren was accustomed to defer to her father's opinions, and she so +far submitted, now, as to permit me to assist her into the wagon, and to +place myself at her side, whip in hand, proud of and pleased with the +precious charge thus committed to my care. These arrangements made, the +Injins commenced their march, about half of them preceding, and the +remainder following the wagon that contained their prisoner. Four, +however, walked on each side of the vehicle, thus preventing the +possibility of escape. No noise was made, and little was said; the +orders being given by signs and signals, rather than by words. + +Our wagon continued stationary until the party had got at least a +hundred yards from us, no one giving any heed to our movements. I had +waited thus long for the double purpose of noting the manner of the +proceedings among the Injins, and to obtain room to turn at a spot in +the road a short distance in advance of us, and which was wider than +common. To this spot I now walked the horse, and was in the act of +turning the animal's head in the required direction, when I saw Mary +Warren's little gloved hand laid hurriedly on the reins. She endeavoured +to keep the head of the horse in the road. + +"No, no," said the charming girl, speaking earnestly, as if she would +not be denied, "we will follow my father to the village. I may not, must +not, _cannot_ quit him!" + +The time and place were every way propitious, and I determined to let +Mary Warren know who I was. By doing it I might give her confidence in +me at a moment when she was in distress, and encourage her with the hope +that I might also befriend her father. At any rate, I was determined to +pass for an itinerant Dutch music-grinder with _her_ no longer. + +"Miss Mary, Miss Warren," I commenced, cautiously, and with quite as +much hesitation and diffidence of feeling as of manner, "I am not what I +seem--that is, I am no music-grinder." + +The start, the look, and the alarm of my companion, were all eloquent +and natural. Her hand was still on the reins, and she now drew on them +so hard as actually to stop the horse. I thought she intended to jump +out of the vehicle, as a place no longer fit for her. + +"Be not alarmed, Miss Warren," I said, eagerly, and, I trust, so +earnestly as to inspire a little confidence. "You will not think the +worse of me at finding I am your countryman instead of a foreigner, and +a gentleman instead of a music-grinder. I shall do all you ask, and will +protect you with my life." + +"This is so extraordinary!--so unusual!--The whole country appears +unsettled! Pray, sir, if you are not the person whom you have +represented yourself to be, who are you?" + +"One who admires your filial love and courage--who honours you for them +both. I am the brother of your friend, Martha--I am Hugh Littlepage!" + +The little hand now abandoned the reins, and the dear girl turned half +round on the cushion of the seat, gazing at me in mute astonishment! I +had been cursing in my heart the lank locks of the miserable wig I was +compelled to wear, ever since I had met with Mary Warren, as +unnecessarily deforming and ugly, for one might have as well a becoming +as a horridly unbecoming disguise. Off went my cap, therefore, and off +went the wig after it, leaving my own shaggy curls for the sole setting +of my face. + +Mary made a slight exclamation as she gazed at me, and the deadly +paleness of her countenance was succeeded by a slight blush. A smile, +too, parted her lips, and I fancied she was less alarmed. + +"Am I forgiven, Miss Warren?" I asked; "and will you recognise me for +the brother of your friend?" + +"Does Martha--does Mrs. Littlepage know of this?" the charming girl at +length asked. + +"Both; I have had the happiness of being embraced by both my +grandmother and my sister. You were taken out of the room, yesterday, by +the first, that I might be left alone with the last, for that very +purpose!" + +"I see it all, now; yes, I thought it singular then, though I felt there +could be no impropriety in any of Mrs. Littlepages' acts. Dearest +Martha! how well she played her part, and how admirably she has kept +your secret!" + +"It is very necessary. You see the condition of the country, and will +understand that it would be imprudent in me to appear openly, even on my +own estate. I have a written covenant authorizing me to visit every farm +near us, to look after my own interests; yet, it may be questioned if it +would be safe to visit one among them all, now that the spirits of +misrule and covetousness are up and doing." + +"Replace your disguise at once, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, eagerly; +"do--do not delay an instant." + +I did as desired, Mary watching the process with interested, and, at the +same time, amused eyes. I thought she looked as sorry as I felt myself +when that lank, villanous wig was again performing its office. + +"Am I as well arranged as when we first met, Miss Warren? Do I appear +again the music-grinder?" + +"I see no difference," returned the dear girl, laughing. How musical and +cheering to me were the sounds of her voice in that little burst of +sweet, feminine merriment. "Indeed, indeed, I do not think even Martha +could know you now, for the person you the moment before seemed." + +"My disguise is, then, perfect. I was in hopes it left a little that my +friends might recognise, while it effectually concealed me from my +enemies." + +"It does--oh! it does. Now I know who you are, I find no difficulty in +tracing in your features the resemblance to your portrait in the family +gallery, at the Nest. The eyes, too, cannot be altered without +artificial brows, and those you have not." + +This was consoling; but all that time Mr. Warren and the party in front +had been forgotten. Perhaps it was excusable in two young persons thus +situated, and who had now known each other a week, to think more of what +was just then passing in the wagon, than to recollect the tribe that +was marching down the road, and the errand they were on. I felt the +necessity, however, of next consulting my companion as to our future +movements. Mary heard me in evident anxiety, and her purpose seemed +unsettled, for she changed colour under each new impulse of her +feelings. + +"If it were not for one thing," she answered, after a thoughtful pause, +"I should insist on following my father." + +"And what may be the reason of this change of purpose?" + +"Would it be altogether safe for _you_, Mr. Littlepage, to venture again +among those misguided men?" + +"Never think of me, Miss Warren. You see I have been among them already +undetected, and it is my intention to join them again, even should I +first have to take you home. Decide for yourself." + +"I will, then, follow my father. My presence may be the means of saving +him from some indignity." + +I was rejoiced at this decision, on two accounts; of which one might +have been creditable enough to me, while the other, I am sorry to say, +was rather selfish. I delighted in the dear girl's devotion to her +parent, and I was glad to have her company as long as possible that +morning. Without entering into a very close analysis of motives, +however, I drove down the road, keeping the horse on a very slow gait, +being in no particular hurry to quit my present fair companion. + +Mary and I had now a free, and, in some tense, a confidential dialogue. +Her manner towards me had entirely changed; for, while it maintained the +modesty and _retenue_ of her sex and station, it displayed much of that +frankness which was the natural consequence of her great intimacy at the +Nest, and; as I have since ascertained, of her own ingenuous nature. The +circumstance, too, that she now felt she was with one of her own class, +who had opinions, habits, tastes and thoughts like her own, removed a +mountain of restraint, and made her communications natural and easy. I +was near an hour, I do believe, in driving the two miles that lay +between the point where the Injins had been met and the village, and in +that hour Mary Warren and I became better acquainted than would have +been the case, under ordinary circumstances, in a year. + +In the first place, I explained the reasons and manner of my early and +unexpected return home, and the motives by which I had been governed in +thus coming in disguise on my own property. Then I said a little of my +future intentions, and of my disposition to hold out to the last against +every attempt on my rights, whether they might come from the open +violence and unprincipled designs of those below, or the equally +unprincipled schemes of those above. A spurious liberty and political +cant were things that I despised, as every intelligent and independent +man must; and I did not intend to be persuaded I was an aristocrat, +merely because I had the habits of a gentleman, at the very moment when +I had less political influence than the hired labourers in my own +service. + +Mary Warren manifested a spirit and an intelligence that surprised me. +She expressed her own belief that the proscribed classes of the country +had only to be true to themselves to be restored to their just rights, +and that on the very principle by which they were so fast losing them. +The opinions she thus expressed are worthy of being recorded. + +"Everything that is done in that way," said this gentle, but admirable +creature, "has hitherto been done on a principle that is quite as false +and vicious as that by which they are now oppressed. We have had a great +deal written and said, lately, about uniting people of property, but it +has been so evidently with an intention to make money rule, and that in +its most vulgar and vicious manner, that persons of right feelings would +not unite in such an effort; but it does seem to me, Mr. Littlepage, +that if the gentlemen of New York could form themselves into an +association in defence of their rights, and for nothing else, and let it +be known that they would not be robbed with impunity, they are numerous +enough and powerful enough to put down this anti-rent project by the +mere force of numbers. Thousands would join them for the sake of +principles, and the country might be left to the enjoyment of the fruits +of liberty, without getting any of the fruits of its cant." + +This is a capital idea, and might easily be carried out. It requires +nothing but a little self-denial, with the conviction of the necessity +of doing something, if the downward tendency is to be ever checked +short of civil war, and a revolution that is to let in despotism in its +more direct form; despotism, in the indirect, is fast appearing among +us, as it is. + +"I have heard of a proposition for the Legislature to appoint special +commissioners, who are to settle all the difficulties between the +landlords and tenants," I remarked, "a scheme in the result of which +some people profess to have a faith. I regard it as only one of the many +projects that have been devised to evade the laws and institutions of +the country, as they now exist." + +Mary Warren seemed thoughtful for a moment; then her eye and face +brightened, as if she were struck with some thought suddenly; after +which the colour deepened on her cheek, and she turned to me as if half +doubting, and yet half desirous of giving utterance to the idea that was +uppermost. + +"You wish to say something, Miss Warren?" + +"I dare say it will be very silly--and I hope you won't think it +pedantic in a girl, but really it does look so to me--what difference +would there be between such a commission and the Star-Chamber judges of +the Stuarts, Mr. Littlepage?" + +"Not much in general principles, certainly, as both would be the +instruments of tyrants; but a very important one in a great essential. +The Star-Chamber courts were legal, whereas this commission would be +flagrantly illegal; the adoption of a special tribunal to effect certain +purposes that could exist only in the very teeth of the constitution, +both in its spirit and its letter. Yet this project comes from men who +prate about the 'spirit of the institutions,' which they clearly +understand to be their own spirit, let that be what it may." + +"Providence, I trust, will not smile on such desperate efforts to do +wrong!" said Mary Warren, solemnly. + +"One hardly dare look into the inscrutable ways of a Power that has its +motives so high beyond our reach. Providence permits much evil to be +done, and is very apt to be, as Frederic of Prussia expressed it, on the +side of strong battalions, so far as human vision can penetrate. Of one +thing, however, I feel certain, and that is that they who are now the +most eager to overturn everything to effect present purposes, will be +made to repent of it bitterly, either in their own persons, or in those +of their descendants." + +"That is what is meant, my father says, by visiting 'the sins of the +fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.' But +there is the party, with their prisoners, just entering the village. Who +is your companion, Mr. Littlepage?--One hired to act as an assistant?" + +"It is my uncle, himself. You have often heard, I should think, of Mr. +Roger Littlepage?" + +Mary gave a little exclamation at hearing this, and she almost laughed. +After a short pause she blushed brightly, and turned to me as she said-- + +"And my father and I have supposed you, the one a pedlar, and the other +a street-musician!" + +"But bedlars and moosic-grinders of goot etications, as might be +panishet for deir bolitics." + +Now, indeed, she laughed out, for the long and frank dialogue we had +held together made this change to broken English seem as if a third +person had joined us. I profited by the occasion to exhort the dear girl +to be calm, and not to feel any apprehension on the subject of her +father. I pointed out how little probable it was that violence would be +offered to a minister of the gospel, and showed her, by the number of +persons that had collected in the village, that it was impossible he +should not have many warm and devoted friends present. I also gave her +permission to, nay, requested she would, tell Mr. Warren the fact of my +uncle's and my own presence, and the reasons of our disguises, trusting +altogether to the very obvious interest the dear girl took in our +safety, that she would add, of her own accord, the necessary warning on +the subject of secresy. Just as this conversation ended we drove into +the hamlet, and I helped my fair companion to alight. + +Mary Warren now hastened to seek her father, while I was left to take +care of the horse. This I did by fastening him to the rails of a fence, +that was lined for a long distance by horses and wagons drawn up by the +way-side. Surprisingly few persons in the country, at this day, are seen +on horseback. Notwithstanding the vast difference in the amount of the +population, ten horsemen were to be met with forty years ago, by all +accounts, on the highways of the State, for one to-day. The well-known +vehicle, called a dearborn, with its four light wheels and mere shell of +a box, is in such general use as to have superseded almost every other +species of conveyance. Coaches and chariots are no longer met with, +except in the towns; and even the coachee, the English sociable, which +was once so common, has very generally given way to a sort of +carriage-wagon, that seems a very general favourite. My grandmother, who +did use the stately-looking and elegant chariot in town, had nothing but +this carriage-wagon in the country; and I question if one-half of the +population of the State would know what to call the former vehicle, if +they should see it. + +As a matter of course, the collection of people assembled at Little Nest +on this occasion had been brought together in dearborns, of which there +must have been between two and three hundred lining the fences and +crowding the horse-sheds of the two inns. The American countryman, in +the true sense of the word, is still quite rustic in many of his +notions; though, on the whole, less marked in this particular than his +European counterpart. As the rule, he has yet to learn that the little +liberties which are tolerated in a thinly-peopled district, and which +are of no great moment when put in practice under such circumstances, +become oppressive and offensive when reverted to in places of much +resort. The habits of popular control, too, come to aid in making them +fancy that what everybody does in their part of the country can have no +great harm in it. It was in conformity with this _tendency_ of the +institutions, perhaps, that very many of the vehicles I have named were +thrust into improper places, stopping up the footways, impeding the +entrances to doors, here and there letting down bars without permission, +and garnishing orchards and pastures with one-horse wagons. Nothing was +meant by all these liberties beyond a desire to dispose of the horses +and vehicles in the manner easiest to their owners. Nevertheless, there +was some connection between the institutions and these little liberties +which some statesmen might fancy existed in the _spirit_ of the former. +This, however, was a capital mistake, inasmuch as the _spirit_ of the +institutions is to be found in the laws, which prohibit and punish all +sorts of trespasses, and which are enacted expressly to curb the +_tendencies_ of human nature! No, no, as my uncle Ro says, nothing can +be less alike, sometimes, than the _spirit_ of institutions and their +_tendencies_. + +I was surprised to find nearly as many females as men had collected at +the Little Nest on this occasion. As for the Injins, after escorting Mr. +Warren as far as the village, as if significantly to admonish him of +their presence, they had quietly released him, permitting him to go +where he pleased. Mary had no difficulty in finding him, and I saw her +at his side, apparently in conversation with Opportunity and her +brother, Seneca, as soon as I moved down the road, after securing the +horse. The Injins themselves kept a little aloof, having my uncle in +their very centre; not as a prisoner, for it was clear no one suspected +his character, but as a pedlar. The watches were out again, and near +half of the whole gang seemed busy in trading, though I thought that +some among them were anxious and distrustful. + +It was a singular spectacle to see men who were raising the cry of +"aristocracy" against those who happened to be richer than themselves, +while they did not possess a single privilege or power that, +substantially, was not equally shared by every other man in the country, +thus openly arrayed in defiance of law, and thus violently trampling the +law under their feet. What made the spectacle more painful was the +certainty that was obtained by their very actions on the ground, that no +small portion of these Injins were mere boys, led on by artful and +knavish men, and who considered the whole thing as a joke. When the laws +fall so much into disrepute as to be the subjects of jokes of this sort, +it is time to inquire into their mode of administration. Does any one +believe that fifty landlords could have thus flown into the face of a +recent enactment, and committed felony openly, and under circumstances +that had rendered their intentions no secret, for a time long enough to +enable the authorities to collect a force sufficient to repress them? My +own opinion is, that had Mr. Stephen Rensselaer, and Mr. William +Rensselaer, and Mr. Harry Livingston, and Mr. John Hunter, and Mr. +Daniel Livingston, and Mr. Hugh Littlepage, and fifty more that I could +name, been caught armed and disguised, in order to _defend_ the rights +of property that are solemnly guarantied in these institutions, of +which it would seem to be the notion of some that it is the "spirit" to +dispossess them, we should all of us have been the inmates of States' +prisons, without legislators troubling themselves to pass laws for our +liberation! This is another of the extraordinary features of American +aristocracy, which almost deprives the noble of the every-day use and +benefit of the law. It would be worth our while to lose a moment in +inquiring into the process by which such strange results are brought +about, but it is fortunately rendered unnecessary by the circumstance +that the principle will be amply developed in the course of the +narrative. + +A stranger could hardly have felt the real character of this meeting by +noting the air and manner of those who had come to attend it. The "armed +and disguised" kept themselves in a body, it is true, and maintained, in +a slight degree, the appearance of distinctness from "the people," but +many of the latter stopped to speak to these men, and were apparently on +good terms with them. Not a few of the gentler sex, even, appeared to +have acquaintances in the gang; and it would have struck a political +philosopher from the other hemisphere with some surprise, to have seen +the "people" thus tolerating fellows who were openly trampling on a law +that the "people" themselves had just enacted! A political philosopher +from among ourselves, however, might have explained the seeming +contradiction by referring it to the "spirit of the institutions." If +one were to ask Hugh Littlepage to solve the difficulty, he would have +been very apt to answer that the "people" of Ravensnest wanted to compel +him to sell lands which he did not wish to sell, and that not a few of +them were anxious to add to the compulsory bargains conditions as to +price that would rob him of about one-half of his estate; and that what +the Albany philosophers called the "spirit of the institutions," was, in +fact, a "spirit of the devil," which the institutions were expressly +designed to hold in subjection! + +There was a good deal of out-door management going on, as might be seen +by the private discussions that were held between pairs, under what is +called the "horse-shedding" process. This "horse-shedding" process, I +understand, is well known among us, and extends not only to politics, +but to the administration of justice. Your regular "horse-shedder" is +employed to frequent taverns where jurors stay, and drops hints before +them touching the merits of causes known to be on the calendars; +possibly contrives to get into a room with six or eight beds, in which +there may accidentally be a juror, or even two, in a bed, when he drops +into a natural conversation on the merits of some matter at issue, +praises one of the parties, while he drops dark hints to the prejudice +of the other, and makes his own representations of the facts in a way to +scatter the seed where he is morally certain it will take root and grow. +All this time he is not conversing with a juror, not he; he is only +assuming the office of the judge by anticipation, and dissecting +evidence before it has been given, in the ear of a particular friend. It +is true there is a law against doing anything of the sort; it is true +there is law to punish the editor of a newspaper who shall publish +anything to prejudice the interests of litigants; it is true the +"horse-shedding process" is flagrantly wicked, and intended to destroy +most of the benefits of the jury-system; but, notwithstanding all this, +the "spirit of the institutions" carries everything before it, and men +regard all these laws and provisions, as well as the eternal principles +of right, precisely as if they had no existence at all, or as if a +freeman were above the law. He makes the law, and why should he not +break it? Here is another effect of the "spirit of the institutions." + +At length the bell rang, and the crowd began to move towards the +"meetin'-us." This building was not that which had been originally +constructed, and at the raising of which, I have heard it said, my dear +old grandmother, then a lovely and spirited girl of nineteen, had been +conspicuous for her coolness and judgment, but a far more pretending +successor. The old building had been constructed on the true model of +the highest dissenting spirit--a spirit that induced its advocates to +quarrel with good taste as well as religious dogmas, in order to make +the chasm as wide as possible--while in this, some concessions had been +made to the temper of the times. I very well remember the old +"meetin'-us" at the "Little Nest," for it was pulled down to give place +to its more pretending successor after I had attained my sixteenth year. +A description of both may let the reader into the secret of our rural +church architecture. + +The "old Neest meetin'-us," like its successor, was of a hemlock frame, +covered with pine clap-boards, and painted white. Of late years, the +paint had been of a most fleeting quality, the oil seeming to evaporate, +instead of striking in and setting, leaving the colouring matter in a +somewhat decomposed condition, to rub off by friction and wash away in +the rains. The house was a stiff, formal parallelogram, resembling a man +with high shoulders, appearing to be "stuck up." It had two rows of +formal, short and ungraceful windows, _that_ being a point in orthodoxy +at the period of its erection. It had a tower, uncouth, and in some +respects too large and others too small, if one can reconcile the +contradiction; but there are anomalies of this sort in art, as well as +in nature. On top of this tower stood a long-legged belfry, which had +got a very dangerous, though a very common, propensity in ecclesiastical +matters; in other words, it had begun to "cant." It was this diversion +from the perpendicular which had suggested the necessity of erecting a +new edifice, and the building in which the "lecture" on feudal tenures +and aristocracy was now to be delivered. + +The new meeting-house at Little Nest was a much more pretending edifice +than its predecessor. It was also of wood, but a bold diverging from +"first principles" had been ventured on, not only in physical, but in +the moral church. The last was "new-school;" as, indeed, was the first. +What "new-school" means, in a spiritual sense, I do not exactly know, +but I suppose it to be some improvement on some other improvement of the +more ancient and venerable dogmas of the sect to which it belongs. These +improvements on improvements are rather common among us, and are +favourably viewed by a great number under the name of progress; though +he who stands at a little distance can, half the time, discover that the +parties in progress very often come out at the precise spot from which +they started. + +For my part, I find so much wisdom in the bible--so profound a knowledge +of human nature, and of its tendencies--counsel so comprehensive and so +safe, and this solely in reference to the things of this life, that I do +not believe everything is progress in the right direction because it +sets us in motion on paths that are not two thousand years old! I +believe that we have quite as much that ought to be kept, as of that +which ought to be thrown away; and while I admit the vast number of +abuses that have grown up in the old world, under the "spirit of _their_ +institutions," as our philosophers would say, I can see a goodly number +that are also growing up here, certainly not under the same "spirit," +unless we refer them both, as a truly wise man would, to our common and +miserable nature. + +The main departure from first principles, in the sense of material +things, was in the fact that the new meeting-house had only _one_ row of +windows, and that the windows of that row had the pointed arch. The time +has been when this circumstance would have created a schism in the +theological world; and I hope that my youth and inexperience will be +pardoned, if I respectfully suggest that a pointed arch, or any other +arch in _wood_, ought to create another in the world of taste. + +But in we went, men, women and children; uncle Ro, Mr. Warren, Mary, +Seneca, Opportunity, and all, the Injins excepted. For some reason +connected with their policy, those savages remained outside, until the +whole audience had assembled in grave silence. The orator was in, or on +a sort of stage, which was made, under the new-light system in +architecture, to supersede the old, inconvenient, and ugly pulpit, +supported on each side by two divines, of what denomination I shall not +take on myself to say. It will be sufficient if I add Mr. Warren was not +one of them. He and Mary had taken their seats quite near the door, and +under the gallery. I saw that the rector was uneasy the moment the +lecturer and his two supporters entered the pulpit, and appeared on the +stage; and at length he arose, and followed by Mary, he suddenly left +the building. In an instant I was at their side, for it struck me +indisposition was the cause of so strange a movement. Fortunately, at +this moment, the whole audience rose in a body, and one of the ministers +commenced an extempore prayer. + +At that instant, the Injins had drawn themselves up around the building, +close to its sides, and under the open windows, in a position that +enabled them to hear all that passed. As I afterwards learned, this +arrangement was made with an understanding with those within, one of +the ministers having positively refused to address the throne of Grace +so long as any of the tribe were present. Well has it been said, that +man often strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "I tell thee, Jack Cade, the clothier means to dress the commonwealth + and turn it, and put a new nap upon it." + + _King Henry VI._ + + +As I knew Mary must have communicated to her father my real name, I did +not hesitate, as I ought to have done in my actual dress and in my +assumed character, about following them, in order to inquire if I could +be of any service. I never saw distress more strongly painted in any +man's countenance than it was in that of Mr. Warren, when I approached. +So very obvious, indeed, was his emotion, that I did not venture to +obtrude myself on him, but followed in silence; and he and Mary slowly +walked, side by side, across the street to the stoop of a house, of +which all the usual inmates had probably gone in the other direction. +Here, Mr. Warren took a seat, Mary still at his side, while I drew near, +standing before him. + +"I thank you, Mr. Littlepage," the divine at length said, with a smile +so painful it was almost haggard, "for, so Mary tells me you should be +called--I thank you for this attention, sir--but, it will be over in +another minute--I feel better now, and shall be able to command myself." + +No more was then said, concerning the reason of this distress; but Mary +has since explained to me its cause. When her father went into the +meeting-house, he had not the smallest idea that anything like a +religious service would be dragged into the ceremonies of such a day. +The two ministers on the stage first gave him the alarm; when a most +painful struggle occurred in his mind, whether or not he should remain, +and be a party to the mockery of addressing God in prayer, in an +assembly collected to set at naught one of the plainest of his +laws--nay, with banded felons drawn up around the building, as principal +actors in the whole mummery. The alternative was for him, a minister, of +the altar, to seem to quit those who were about to join in prayer, and +to do this moreover under circumstances which might appear to others as +if he rejected all worship but that which was in accordance with his own +views of right, a notion that would be certain to spread far and near, +greatly to the prejudice of his own people. But the first, as he viewed +the matter, involved a species of blasphemy; and yielding to his +feelings, he took the decided step he had, intending to remain out of +the building, until the more regular business of the day commenced. + +It is certain Mr. Warren, who acted under the best impulse of christian +feeling, a reverence for God, and a profound wish not to be a party in +offending him with the mockery of worship under such circumstances, has +lost much influence, and made many enemies, by the step he then took. +The very same feeling which has raised the cry of aristocracy against +every gentleman who dwells in sufficiently near contact with the masses +to distinguish his habits from those around him; which induces the +eastern emigrant, who comes from a state of society where there are no +landlords, to fancy those he finds here ought to be pulled down, because +he is not a landlord himself; which enables the legislator to stand up +in his place, and unblushingly talk about feudal usages, at the very +instant he is demonstrating that equal rights are denied to those he +would fain stigmatize as feudal lords, has extended to religion, and the +church of which Mr. Warren was a minister, is very generally accused of +being aristocratic, too! This charge is brought because it has claims +which other churches affect to renounce and reject as forming no part of +the faith; but the last cannot remain easy under their own decisions; +and while they shout, and sing that they have found "a church without a +bishop," they hate the church that has a bishop, because it has +something they do not possess themselves, instead of pitying its deluded +members, if they believe them wrong. This will not be admitted +generally, but it is nevertheless true; and betrays itself in a hundred +ways. It is seen in the attempt to _call_ their own priests bishops, in +the feeling so manifest whenever a cry can be raised against their +existence, and in the _general_ character of these theological rallies, +whenever they do occur. + +For one, I see a close analogy between my own church, as it exists in +this country, and comparing it with that from which it sprung, and to +those which surround it, and the true political circumstances of the two +hemispheres. In discarding a vast amount of surplusage, in reducing the +orders of the ministry, in practice, as well as in theory, to their +primitive number ... three and in rejecting all connection with the +State, the American branch of the Episcopal Church has assumed the +position it was desirous to fill; restoring, as near as may be, the +simplicity of the apostolical ages, while it does not disregard the +precepts and practices of the apostles themselves. It has not set itself +above antiquity and authority, but merely endeavoured to sustain them, +without the encumbrances of more modern abuses. Thus, too, has it been +in political things. No attempt has been made to create new organic +social distinctions in this country, but solely to disencumber those +that are inseparable from the existence of all civilized society, of the +clumsy machinery with which the expedients of military oppressors had +invested them. The real sages of this country, in founding its +institutions, no more thought of getting rid of the landlords of the +country, than the Church thought of getting rid of its bishops. The +first knew that the gradations of property were an inevitable incident +of civilization; that it would not be wise, if it were possible, to +prevent the affluent from making large investments in the soil; and that +this could not be done in practice, without leaving the relation of +landlord and tenant. Because landlords, in other parts of the world, +possessed privileges that were not necessary to the natural or simple +existence of the character, was no reason for destroying the character +itself; any more than the fact that the bishops of England possess an +authority the apostles knew nothing of, rendered it proper for the +American branch of the church to do away with an office that came from +the apostles. But, envy and jealousy do not pause to reflect on such +things; it is enough for _them_, in the one case that you and yours +have estates, and occupy social positions, that I and mine do not, and +cannot easily, occupy and possess; _therefore_ I will oppose you, and +join my voice to the cry of those who wish to get their farms for +nothing; and in the other, that you have bishops when we can have none, +without abandoning our present organization and doctrines. + +I dwell on these points at some little length, because the movements of +Mr. Warren and myself, at that moment, had a direct influence on the +circumstances that will soon be related. It is probable that fully +one-half of those collected in the Little Nest meeting-house, that +morning, as they stood up, and lent a sort of one-sided and listless +attention to the prayer, were thinking of the scandalous and +aristocratical conduct of Mr. Warren, in "goin' out o' meetin' just as +meetin' went to prayers!" Few, indeed, were they who would be likely to +ascribe any charitable motive for the act; and probably not one of those +present thought of the true and conscientious feeling that had induced +it. So the world wags! It is certain that a malignant and bitter feeling +was got up against the worthy rector on that occasion, and for that act, +which has not yet abated, and which will not abate in many hundreds, +until the near approach of death shall lay bare to them the true +character of so many of their own feelings. + +It was some minutes before Mr. Warren entirely regained his composure. +At length he spoke to me, in his usual benevolent and mild way, saying a +few words that were complimentary, on the subject of my return, while he +expressed his fears that my uncle Ro and myself had been imprudent in +thus placing ourselves, as it might be, in the lion's jaws. + +"You have certainly made your disguises so complete," he added, smiling, +"as to have escaped wonderfully well so far. That you should deceive +Mary and myself is no great matter, since neither of us ever saw you +before; but, the manner in which your nearest relatives have been +misled, is surprising. Nevertheless, you have every inducement to be +cautious, for hatred and jealousy have a penetration that does not +belong even to love." + +"We think we are safe, sir," I answered, "for we are certainly within +the statute. We are too well aware of our miserable aristocratical +condition to place ourselves within the grasp of the law, for such are +our eminent privileges as a landed nobility, that we are morally certain +either of us would not only be sent to the state's prison were he to be +guilty of the felony those Injins are committing, and will commit, with +perfect impunity, but that he would be kept there, as long as a single +tear of anguish could be wrung from one of those who are classed with +the aristocracy. Democracy alone finds any sympathy in the ordinary +administration of American justice." + +"I am afraid that your irony has only too much truth in it. But the +movement around the building would seem to say that the real business of +the day is about to commence, and we had better return to the church." + +"Those men in disguise are watching us, in a most unpleasant and +alarming manner," said Mary Warren, delighting me far more by the +vigilance she thus manifested in my behalf, than alarming me by the +fact. + +That we were watched, however, became obviously apparent, as we walked +towards the building, by the actions of some of the Injins. They had +left the side of the church where they had posted themselves during the +prayer, and head was going to head, among those nearest to us; or, it +would be nearer to appearances, were I to say bunch of calico was going +to bunch of calico, for nothing in the form of a head was visible among +them. Nothing was said to Mr. Warren and Mary, however, who were +permitted to go into the meeting-house, unmolested; but two of these +disguised gentry placed themselves before me, laying their rifles across +my path, and completely intercepting my advance. + +"Who you?" abruptly demanded one of the two;--"where go--where come +from?" + +The answer was ready, and I trust it was sufficiently steady. + +"I coomes from Charmany, und I goes into der kerch, as dey say in mine +coontry; what might be callet meetin'-us, here." + +What might have followed, it is not easy to say, had not the loud, +declamatory voice of the lecturer just then been heard, as he commenced +his address. This appeared to be a signal for the tribe to make some +movement, for the two fellows who had stopped me, walked silently away, +though bag of calico went to bag of calico, as they trotted off +together, seemingly communicating to each other their suspicions. I took +advantage of the opening, and passed into the church, where I worked my +way through the throng, and got a seat at my uncle's side. + +I have neither time, room, nor inclination to give anything like an +analysis of the lecture. The speaker was fluent, inflated, and anything +but logical. Not only did he contradict himself, but he contradicted the +laws of nature. The intelligent reader will not require to be reminded +of the general character of a speech that was addressed to the passions +and interests of such an audience, rather than to their reason. He +commented, at first, on the particular covenants of the leases on the +old estates of the colony, alluding to the quarter-sales, chickens, +days' work, and durable tenures, in the customary way. The reservation +of the mines, too, was mentioned as a tyrannical covenant, precisely as +if a landlord were obliged to convey any more of the rights that were +vested in him, than he saw fit; or the tenant could justly claim more +than he had hired! This man treated all these branches of the subject, +as if the tenants had acquired certain mysterious interests by time and +occupation, overlooking the fact that the one party got just as good a +title as the other by this process; the lease being the instrument +between them, that was getting to be venerable. If one party grew old as +a tenant, so did the other as a landlord. I thought that this lecturer +would have been glad to confine himself to the Manor leases, that being +the particular branch of the subject he had been accustomed to treat; +but, such was not the precise nature of the job he was now employed to +execute. At Ravensnest, he could not flourish the feudal grievance of +the quarter-sales, the "four fat fowls," the "days' works," and the +_length_ of the leases. Here it was clearly his cue to say nothing of +the three first, and to complain of the _shortness_ of the leases, as +mine were about to fall in, in considerable numbers. Finding it was +necessary to take new ground, he determined it should be bold ground, +and such as would give him the least trouble to get along with. + +As soon as the lecturer had got through with his general heads, and felt +the necessity of coming down to particulars, he opened upon the family +of Littlepage, in a very declamatory way. What had they ever done for +the country, he demanded, that _they_ should be lords in the land? By +some process known to himself, he had converted landlords into lords in +the land, and was now aiming to make the tenants occupy the latter +station--nay, both stations. Of course, some services of a public +character, of which the Littlepages might boast, were not touched upon +at all, everything of that nature being compressed into what the +lecturer and his audience deemed serving the people, by helping to +indulge them in all their desires, however rapacious or wicked. As +everybody who knows anything of the actual state of matters among us, +must be aware how rarely the "people" hear the truth, when their own +power and interests are in question, it is not surprising that a very +shallow reasoner was enabled to draw wool over the eyes of the audience +of Ravensnest on that particular subject. + +But my interest was most awakened when this man came to speak of myself. +It is not often that a man enjoys the same opportunity as that I then +possessed to hear his own character delineated, and his most private +motives analyzed. In the first place, the audience were told that this +"young Hugh Littlepage had never done anything for the land that he +proudly, and like a great European noble, he calls his 'estate.' Most of +you, fellow-citizens, can show your hard hands, and recall the burning +suns under which you have opened the swarth, through those then lovely +meadows yonder, as _your_ titles to these farms. But, Hugh Littlepage +never did a day's work in his life"--ten minutes before he had been +complaining of the "days' work" in the Manor leases as indignities that +a freeman ought not to submit to--"no, fellow-citizens, he never had +that honour, and never will have it, until by a just division of his +property, or what he now _calls_ his property, you reduce him to the +necessity of labouring to raise the crops he wants to consume." + +"Where is this Hugh Littlepage at this very moment? In Paris, +squandering _your_ hard earnings in riotous living, according to the +best standards of aristocracy. He lives in the midst of abundance, +dresses richly and fares richly, while _you_ and _yours_ are eating the +sweat of your brows. He is no man for a pewter spoon and two-pronged +fork! No, my countrymen! He must have a _gold_ spoon for some of his +dishes, and you will find it hard to believe--plain, unpretending, +republican farmers as you are, but it is not the less true--he must have +forks of _silver_! Fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his +knife into his mouth, as you and I do, in eating--as all plain, +unpretending republicans do--for the world. It would choke him; no, he +keeps _silver_ forks to touch his anointed lips!" Here there was an +attempt to get up something like applause, but it totally failed. The +men of Ravensnest had been accustomed all their lives to see the +Littlepages in the social station they occupied; and, after all, it did +not seem so very extraordinary that we should have silver forks, any +more than that others should have silver spoons. The lecturer had the +tact to see that he had failed on this point, and he turned to another. + +The next onset was made against our title. Whence did it come? demanded +the lecturer. From the king of England; and the people had conquered the +country from that sovereign, and put themselves in his place. Now, is it +not a good principle in politics, that to the victors belong the spoils? +He believed it was; and that in conquering America, he was of opinion +that the people of America had conquered the land, and that they had a +right to take the land, and to keep it. Titles from kings he did not +respect much; and he believed the American people, generally, did not +think much of them. If Hugh Littlepage wished an "estate," as he called +it, let him come to the people and "sarve _them_," and see what sort of +an estate _they_ would give him. + +But there was one portion of his speech which was so remarkable, that I +must attempt to give it, as it was uttered. It was while the lecturer +was expatiating on this subject of titles, that he broke out in the +following language:--"Don't talk to me," he bellowed--for by this time +his voice had risen to the pitch of a methodist's, in a +camp-meeting--"Don't talk to me of antiquity, and time, and length of +possession, as things to be respected. They're nawthin--jest nawthin' +at all. Possession's good in law, I'll admit; and I contind that's jest +what the tenants has. They've got the lawful possession of this very +property, that layeth (not eggs, but) up and down, far and near, and all +around; a rich and goodly heritage, when divided up among hard-working +and honest folks; but too much, by tens of thousands of acres, for a +young chap, who is wasting his substance in foreign lands, to hold. I +contind that the tenants has this very, precise, lawful possession, at +this blessed moment, only the law won't let 'em enj'y it. It's all owing +to that accursed law, that the tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord. You see by this one fact, fellow-citizens, that they are a +privileged class, and ought to be brought down to the level of gin'ral +humanity. You can set up title ag'in anybody else, but you shan't set up +title ag'in a landlord. I know what is said in the primisis," shaking +his head, in derision of any arguments on the other side of this +particular point; "I know that circumstances alter cases. I can see the +hardship of one neighbour's coming to another, and asking to borrow or +hire his horse for a day, and then pretendin' to hold him on some other +ketch. But horses isn't land; you must all allow _that_. No, if horses +_was_ land, the case would be altered. Land is an element, and so is +fire, and so is water, and so is air. Now, who will say that a freeman +hasn't a right to air, hasn't a right to water, and, on the same +process, hasn't a right to land? He _has_, fellow-citizens--he _has_. +These are what are called in philosophy elementary rights; which is the +same thing as a right to the elements, of which land is one, and a +principal one. I say a principal one; for, if there was no land to stand +on, we should drop away from air, and couldn't enj'y _that_; we should +lose all our water in vapour, and couldn't put it to millin' and +manafacterin' purposes; and where could we build our fires? No; land is +the _first_ elementary right, and connected with it comes the first and +most sacred right to the elements. + +"I do not altogether disregard antiquity, neither. No; I respect and +revere pre-emption rights; for they fortify and sustain the right to the +elements. Now, I do not condemn squattin', as some doos. It's actin' +accordin' to natur', and natur' is right. I respect and venerate a +squatter's possession; for it's held under the sacred principle of +usefulness. It says, 'go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose,' +and means 'progress.' That's an antiquity I respect. I respect the +antiquity of your possessions here, _as tenants_; for it is a +hard-working and useful antiquity--an antiquity that increases and +multiplies. If it be said that Hugh Littlepage's ancestors--your noble +has his 'ancestors,' while us 'common folks' are satisfied with +forefathers"--[this hit took with a great many present, raising a very +general laugh]--"but if this Hugh's ancestors did pay anything for the +land, if I was you, fellow-citizens, I'd be gin'rous, and let him have +it back ag'in. Perhaps his forefathers gave a cent an acre to the +king--may be, two; or say sixpence, if you will. I'd let him have his +sixpence an acre back again, by way of shutting his mouth. No; I'm for +nawthin' that's ungin'rous." + +"Fellow-citizens, I profess to be what is called a Democrat. I know that +many of you be what is called Whigs--but I apprehend there is'nt much +difference between us on the subject of this system of leasing land. We +are all republicans, and leasing farms is anti-republican. Then, I wish +to be liberal even to them I commonly oppose at elections, and I will +freely admit, then, on the whull, the Whigs have rather out-done us +Democrats, on the subject of this anti-rentism. I am sorry to be obliged +to own in it, but it must be confessed that, while in the way of +governors, there hasn't been much difference--yes, put 'em in a bag, and +shake 'em up, and you'd hardly know which would come out first--which +has done himself the most immortal honour, which has shown himself the +most comprehensive, profound and safe statesman; I know that some of our +people complain of the governors for ordering out troops ag'in the +Injins, but they could not _help_ that--they wouldn't have done it, in +my judgment, had there been any way of getting round it; but the law was +too strong for them, so they druv' in the Injins, and now they join us +in putting down aristocracy, and in raising up gin'ral humanity. No; I +don't go ag'in the governors, though many doos." + +"But I profess to be a Democrat, and I'll give an outline of my +principles, that all may see why they can't, and don't, and never will +agree with aristocracy or nobility, in any form or shape. I believe one +man is as good as another in all things. Neither birth, nor law, nor +edication, nor riches, nor poverty, nor anything else can ever make any +difference in this principle, which is sacred, and fundamental, and is +the chief stone of the corner in true Democracy. One man is as good as +another, I say, and has just the same right to the enj'yment of 'arth +and its privileges, as any other man. I think the majority ought to rule +in all things, and that it is the duty of the minority to submit. Now, +I've had this here sentiment thrown back upon me, in some places where I +have spoken, and been asked 'how is this--the majority must rule, and +the minority must submit--in that case, the minority is'nt as good as +the majority in practice, and hasn't the same right. They are made to +own what they think ought not to be done?' The answer to this is so +plain, I wonder a sensible man can ask the question, for all the +minority has to do, is to join the majority, to have things as they want +'em. The road is free, and it is this open road that makes true liberty. +Any man can fall in with the majority, and sensible folks commonly do, +when they can find it, and that makes a person not only a man, as the +saying is, but a FREEMAN, a still more honourable title." + +"Fellow-citizens, a great movement is in progress, "Go ahead!" is the +cry, and the march is onward; our thoughts already fly about on the +wings of the lightning, and our bodies move but little slower, on the +vapour of steam--soon our principles will rush ahead of all, and let in +the radiance of a glorious day of universal reform, and loveliness, and +virtue and charity, when the odious sound of _rent_ will never be heard, +when every man will set down under his own apple, or cherry tree, if not +under his own fig tree. + +"I am a Democrat,--yes, a Democrat. Glorious appellation! I delight in +it! It is my pride, my boast, my very virtue. Let but the people truly +rule, and all must come well. The people has no temptation to do wrong. +If they hurt the state, they hurt themselves, for they are the state. Is +a man likely to hurt himself? Equality is my axiom. Nor, by equality, do +I mean your narrow pitiful equality before the law, as it is sometimes +tarmed, for that may be no equality at all; but, I mean an equality that +is substantial, and which must be restored, when the working of the law +has de_ran_ged it. Fellow-citizens, do you know what leap-year means? I +dare say some of you don't, the ladies in partic'lar not giving much +attention to astronomy. Well, I have inquired, and it is this:--The +'arth revolves around the sun in a year, as we all know. And we count +three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, we all know. But, the 'arth +is a few hours longer than three hundred and sixty-five days, in making +its circuit--nearly six hours longer. Now, everybody knows that 4 times +6 makes 24, and so a twenty-ninth day is put into February, every fourth +year, to restore the lost time; another change being to be made a long +distance ahead to settle the fractions. Thus will it be with Democracy. +Human natur' can't devise laws yet, that will keep all things on an +exactly equal footing, and political leap-years must be introduced into +the political calendar, to restore the equilibrium. In astronomy, we +must divide up anew the hours and minutes; in humanity, we must, from +time to time, divide up the land." + +But, I cannot follow this inflated fool any longer; for he was quite as +much of fool as of knave, though partaking largely of the latter +character. It was plain that he carried many of his notions much farther +than a good portion of his audience carried theirs; though, whenever he +touched upon anti-rentism, he hit a chord that vibrated through the +whole assembly. That the tenants ought to own their farms, and pay no +more rents, AND POCKET ALL THE BENEFITS OF THEIR OWN PREVIOUS LABOURS, +THOUGH THESE LABOURS HAD BEEN CONSIDERED IN THE EARLIER RENTS, AND WERE, +INDEED, STILL CONSIDERED, IN THE LOW RATES AT WHICH THE LANDS WERE LET, +was a doctrine all could understand; and few were they, I am sorry to +say, who did not betray how much self-love and self-interest had +obscured the sense of right. + +The lecture, such as it was, lasted more than two hours; and when it was +done, an individual rose, in the character of a chairman--when did three +Americans ever get together to discuss anything, that they had not a +chairman and secretary, and all the parliamentary forms?--and invited +any one present, who might entertain views different from the speaker, +to give his opinion. Never before did I feel so tempted to speak in +public. My first impulse was to throw away the wig, and come out in my +own person, and expose the shallow trash that had just been uttered. I +believe even I, unaccustomed as I was to public speaking, could easily +have done this, and I whispered as much to my uncle, who was actually on +his feet, to perform the office for me, when the sound of "Mr. +Chairman," from a different part of the church, anticipated him. Looking +round, I recognised at once the face of the intelligent mechanic, named +Hall, whom we had met at Mooseridge, on our way to the Nest. I took my +seat, at once, perfectly satisfied that the subject was in good hands. + +This speaker commenced with great moderation, both of manner and tone, +and, indeed, he preserved them throughout. His utterance, accent and +language, of course, were all tinctured by his habits and associations; +but his good sense and his good principles were equally gifts from +above. More of the "true image of his maker" was to be found in that one +individual than existed in fifty common men. He saw clearly, spoke +clearly, and demonstrated effectively. As he was well known in that +vicinity and generally respected, he was listened to with profound +attention, and spoke like a man who stood in no dread of tar and +feathers. Had the same sentiments been delivered by one in a fine coat, +and a stranger, or even by myself, who had so much at stake, very many +of them would have been incontinently set down as aristocratic, and not +to be tolerated, the most sublimated lover of equality occasionally +falling into these little contradictions. + +Hall commenced by reminding the audience that they all knew him, and +knew he was no landlord. He was a mechanic, and a labouring man, like +most of themselves, and had no interest that could be separate from the +general good of society. This opening was a little homage to prejudice, +since reason is reason, and right right, let them come whence they will. +"I, too, am a democrat," he went on to say, "but I do not understand +democracy to mean anything like that which has been described by the +last speaker. I tell that gentleman plainly, that if he is a democrat, I +am none; and if I am a democrat, he is none. By democracy I understand a +government in which the sovereign power resides in the body of the +nation; and not in a few, or in one. But this principle no more gives +the body of the people authority to act wrong, than in a monarchy, in +which the sovereign power resides in one man, that one man has a right +to act wrong. By equality, I do not understand anything more than +equality before the law--now, if the law had said that when the late +Malbone Littlepage died, his farms should go not to his next of kin, or +to his devisee, but to his neighbours, then that would have been the law +to be obeyed, although it would be a law destructive of civilization, +since men would never accumulate property to go to the public. Something +nearer home is necessary to make men work, and deny themselves what they +like. + +"The gentleman has told us of a sort of political leap-year that is to +regulate the social calender. I understand him to mean that when +property has got to be unequal, it must be divided up, in order that men +may make a new start. I fear he will have to dispense with leap years, +and come to leap months, or leap weeks, ay, or even to leap days; for, +was the property of this township divided up this very morning, and in +this meetin'-us, it would get to be unequal before night. Some folks +can't keep money when they have it; and others can't keep their hands +off it. + +"Then, again, if Hugh Littlepage's property is to be divided, the +property of all of Hugh Littlepage's neighbours ought to be divided too, +to make even an _appearance_ of equality; though it would be but an +_appearance_ of equality, admitting that were done, since Hugh +Littlepage has more than all the rest of the town put together. Yes, +fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage pays, at this moment, one-twentieth of +the taxes of this whole county. That is about the proportion of +Ravensnest; and that tax, in reality, comes out of his pockets, as much +the greater part of the taxes of Rensselaer and Albany counties, if you +will except the cities they contain, are paid by the Rensselaers. It +won't do to tell me the tenants pay the taxes, for I know better. We all +know that the probable amount of the taxes is estimated in the original +bargain, and is so much deducted from the rent, and comes out of the +landlord if it come out of anybody. There is a good reason why the +tenant should pay it, and a reason that is altogether in his interest; +because the law would make his oxen, and horses, and carts liable for +the taxes, should the landlord neglect to pay the taxes. The collector +always sells personals for a tax if he can find them on the property; +and by deducting it from the rent, and paying it himself, the tenant +makes himself secure against that loss. To say that a tenant don't take +any account of the taxes he will be likely to pay, in making his +bargain, is as if one should say he is _non com_. and not fit to be +trusted with his own affairs. There are men, in this community, I am +sorry to say, who wish a law passed to tax the rents on durable leases, +or on all leases, in order to choke the landlords off from their claims, +but such men are true friends to neither justice nor their country. Such +a law would be a tax on the incomes of a particular class of society, +and on no other. It is a law that would justify the aggrieved parties in +taking up arms to resist it, unless the law would give 'em relief, as I +rather think it would. By removing into another State, however, they +would escape the tax completely, laugh at those who framed it, who would +incur the odium of doing an impotent wrong, and get laughed at as well +as despised, besides injuring the State by drawing away its money to be +spent out of its limits. Think, for one moment, of the impression that +would be made of New York justice, if a hundred citizens of note and +standing were to be found living in Philadelphia or Paris, and +circulating to the world the report that they were exiles to escape a +special taxation! The more the matter was inquired into, the worse it +must appear; for men may say what they please, to be ready ag'in +election time, as there is but one piece, or parcel of property to tax, +it is an income tax, and nothing else. What makes the matter still worse +is, that every man of sense will know that it is taxing the same person +twice, substantially for the same thing, since the landlord has the +direct land tax deducted from the rent in the original bargain. + +"As for all this cry about aristocracy, I don't understand it. Hugh +Littlepage has just as good a right to his ways as I have to mine. The +gentleman says he needs gold spoons and silver forks to eat with. Well, +what of that? I dare say the gentleman himself finds a steel knife and +fork useful, and has no objection to a silver, or, at least, to a +pewter spoon. Now, there are folks that use wooden forks, or no forks, +and who are glad to get horn spoons; and _they_ might call that +gentleman himself an aristocrat. This setting of ourselves up as the +standard in all things is anything but liberty. If I don't like to eat +my dinner with a man who uses a silver fork, no man in this country can +compel me. On the other hand, if young Mr. Littlepage don't like a +companion who chews tobacco, as I do, he ought to be left to follow his +own inclination. + +"Then, this doctrine that one man's as good as another has got two sides +to it. One man ought to have the same general rights as another, I am +ready to allow; but if one man is as _good_ as another, why do we have +the trouble and cost of elections? We might draw lots, as we do for +jurors, and save a good deal of time and money. We all know there is +ch'ice in men, and I think that so long as the people have their ch'ice +in sayin' who shall and who shall not be their agents, they've got all +they have any right to. So long as this is done, the rest of the world +may be left to follow their own ways, provided they obey the laws. + +"Then, I am no great admirer of them that are always telling the people +they're parfect. I know this county pretty well, as well as most in it; +and if there be a parfect man in Washington county, I have not yet +fallen in with him. Ten millions of imparfect men won't make one parfect +man, and so I don't look for perfection in the people any more than I do +in princes. All I look for in democracy is to keep the reins in so many +hands as to prevent a few from turning everything to their own account; +still, we mustn't forget that, when a great many do go wrong, it is much +worse than when a few go wrong. + +"If my son didn't inherit the property of Malbone Littlepage, neither +will Malbone Littlepage's son inherit mine. We are on a footing in that +respect. As to paying rent, which some persons think so hard, what would +they do if they had no house to live in, or farm to work? If folks wish +to purchase houses and farms, no one can prevent them if they have money +to do it with; and if they have not, is it expected other people are to +provide them with such things out of their own----" + +Here the speaker was interrupted by a sudden whooping, and the Injins +came pressing into the house in a way to drive in all the aisles before +them. Men, women and children leaped from the windows, the distance +being trifling, while others made their escape by the two side-doors, +the Injins coming in only by the main entrance. In less time than it +takes to record the fact, the audience had nearly all dispersed. + + + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Mr. Hugh Littlepage writes a little sharply, but there is +truth in all he says, at the bottom. His tone is probably produced by +the fact that there is so serious an attempt to deprive him of his old +paternal estate, an attempt which is receiving support in high quarters. +In addition to this provocation, the Littlepages, as the manuscript +shows farther on, are traduced, as one means of effecting the objects of +the anti-renters; no man, in any community in which it is necessary to +work on public sentiment in order to accomplish such a purpose, ever +being wronged without being calumniated. As respects the inns, truth +compels me, as an old traveller, to say that Mr. Littlepage has much +reason for what he says. I have met with a better bed in the lowest +French tavern I ever was compelled to use, and in one instance I slept +in an inn frequented by carters, than in the best purely country inn in +America. In the way of neatness, however, more is usually to be found in +our New York village taverns than in the public hotels of Paris itself. +As for the hit touching the intelligence of the people, it is merited; +for I have myself heard subtle distinctions drawn to show that the +"people" of a former generation were not as knowing as the "people" of +this, and imputing the covenants of the older leases to that +circumstance, instead of imputing them to their true cause, the opinions +and practices of the times. Half a century's experience would induce me +to say that the "people" were never particularly dull in making a +bargain.--EDITOR. + +[2] The editor has often had occasion to explain the meaning of +terms of this nature. The colonists caught a great many words from the +Indians they first knew, and used them to all other Indians, though not +belonging to their languages; and these other tribes using them as +English, a sort of limited _lingua frança_ has grown up in the country +that everybody understands. It is believed that "moccasin," "squaw," +"pappoose," "sago," "tomahawk," "wigwam," &c. &c. all belong to this +class of words. There can be little doubt that the _sobriquet_ of +"Yankees" is derived from "Yengeese," the manner in which the tribes +nearest to New England pronounced the word "English." It is to this hour +a provincialism of that part of the country to pronounce this word +"_Eng_-lish" instead of "_Ing_-lish," its conventional sound. The change +from "_Eng_-lish" to "_Yen-geese_" is very trifling.--EDITOR. + +[3] As the "honourable gentleman from Albany" does not seem to +understand the precise signification of "provincial," I can tell him +that one sign of such a character is to admire a bed at an American +country inn.--EDITOR. + +[4] That Mr. Hugh Littlepage does not feel or express himself +too strongly on the state of things that has now existed among us for +long, long years, the following case, but one that illustrates the +melancholy truth among many, will show. At a time when the tenants of an +extensive landlord, to whom tens of thousands were owing for rent, were +openly resisting the law, and defeating every attempt to distrain, +though two ordinary companies of even armed constables would have put +them down, the sheriff entered the house of that very landlord, and +levied on his furniture for debt. Had that gentleman, on the just and +pervading principle that he owed no allegiance to an authority that did +not protect him, resisted the sheriff's officer, _he_ would have gone to +the State's prison; and there he might have staid until his last hour of +service was expended.--EDITOR. + +[5] Absurd as this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and for a +reason that is creditable, rather than the reverse--a wish to help along +the unfortunate. It is a great mistake, however, as a rule, to admit +of any other motive for selecting for public trusts, than +qualification.--EDITOR. + +[6] This is no invented statement, but strictly one that is +true, the writer having himself a small interest in a property so +situated; though he has not yet bethought him of applying to the +Legislature for relief.--EDITOR. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: +Misprints and punctuation errors corrected. + + Page 23, "fourscore" changed to "four-score". + Page 83, Single quote changed to double quote. + Page 94, Removed double quote. + Page 113, Other versions of text read "good-natured" instead of + "good-natural". + Page 139, Removed open quotes. + Page 144, "bathos" changed to "pathos". + Page 178, "Pat" changed to "Patt". + Page 195, "Ja" changed to "ja". + Page 196, "eend" changed to "end". + Page 212, "gobbernor" changed to "gubbernor". + Page 233, Removed duplicate word "to". + +Ligatures removed in ASCII Version: c[oe]lum to coelum. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, +Volume 1., by James Fenimore Cooper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + +***** This file should be named 31210-8.txt or 31210-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31210/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Fenimore Cooper. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body + + { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + } + + body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 13px; + font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0em; + color: #ababab; + background-color: inherit; + } + + .center { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } + + .right { text-align: right; margin-right: 1em; } + + .smcap { font-variant: small-caps; } + + hr { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + width: 65%; + } + + blockquote { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + } + + ins { + text-decoration:none; + border-bottom: thin dotted gray; + } + + ul { list-style-type: none; } + + div.right { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: 2em + } + + div.notes { + background-color: #ccccff; + color: #000000; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 0.5em; + } + + p.cap:first-letter { + float: left; + margin-right: .05em; + padding-top: .025em; + font-size: 150%; + line-height: .8em; + width: auto; + } + + .dcap { + text-transform: uppercase; + } + +/* Footnotes */ + .footnotes { + border: dashed 1px; + } + + .footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em; + } + + .footnote .label { + position: absolute; + right: 84%; + text-align: right; + } + + .fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; + } + +/* Poetry */ + table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + + div.centered { + text-align: center; + } + + div.centered table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: left; + } + + .poet { + text-align: right; + } + + .pi2 { + margin-left: 2em; + } + + .pi4 { + margin-left: 4em; + } + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume +1., by James Fenimore Cooper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. + Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts + +Author: James Fenimore Cooper + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31210] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> + +<h2><ins title="Transcriber's note: This table of contents is not in the original but is provided as an aid to the reader.">CONTENTS</ins></h2> +<ul class="off"> +<li><a href="#TITLE">Title page</a></li> +<li><a href="#PREFACE">Preface</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Chapter I.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Chapter II.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Chapter III.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Chapter IV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Chapter V.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Chapter VI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chapter VII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Chapter VIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Chapter IX.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Chapter X.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Chapter XI.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Chapter XII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">Chapter XIII.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Chapter XIV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Chapter XV.</a></li> +<li><a href="#FOOTNOTES">Footnotes</a></li> +<li><a href="#Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes</a></li> + +</ul> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr /> + +<h1><small><a name="TITLE" id="TITLE"></a>THE</small><br /> + +REDSKINS;<br /> + +<small>OR,</small><br /> + +INDIAN AND INJIN:</h1> + +<h3>BEING THE CONCLUSION OF THE</h3> + +<h2>LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS.</h2> + +<h4>BY THE</h4> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "THE PATHFINDER," "DEERSLAYER,"<br /> +"TWO ADMIRALS," ETC.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +In every work regard the writer's end;<br /> +None e'er ran compass more than they intend.<br /></p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Pope.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<h3>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h3> + +<h2>VOL. I.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<h4>NEW YORK:<br /> +PUBLISHED BY BURGESS & STRINGER,<br /> +1846.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h4>Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by</h4> + +<h3>J. FENIMORE COOPER,</h3> + +<h4>in the clerk's office of the District Court for the Northern District +of New York.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<h5>STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN, PHILADELPHIA.</h5> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">This</span> book closes the series of the Littlepage Manuscripts, which have +been given to the world, as containing a fair account of the comparative +sacrifices of time, money and labour, made respectively by the landlord +and the tenants, on a New York estate; together with the manner in which +usages and opinions are changing among us; as well as certain of the +reasons of these changes. The discriminating reader will probably be +able to trace in these narratives the progress of those innovations on +the great laws of morals which are becoming so very manifest in +connection with this interest, setting at naught the plainest principles +that God has transmitted to man for the government of his conduct, and +all under the extraordinary pretence of favouring liberty! In this +downward course, our picture embraces some of the proofs of that +looseness of views on the subject of certain species of property which +is, in a degree perhaps, inseparable from the semi-barbarous condition +of a new settlement; the gradation of the squatter, from him who merely +makes his pitch to crop a few fields in passing, to him who carries on +the business by wholesale; and last, though not least in this catalogue +of marauders, the anti-renter.</p> + +<p>It would be idle to deny that the great principle which lies at the +bottom of anti-rentism, if principle it can be called, is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> +assumption of a claim that the interests and wishes of numbers are to be +respected, though done at a sacrifice of the clearest rights of the few. +That this is not liberty, but tyranny in its worst form, every +right-thinking and right-feeling man must be fully aware. Every one who +knows much of the history of the past, and of the influence of classes, +must understand, that whenever the educated, the affluent and the +practised, choose to unite their means of combination and money to +control the political destiny of a country, they become irresistible; +making the most subservient tools of those very masses who vainly +imagine <i>they</i> are the true guardians of their own liberties. The +well-known election of 1840 is a memorable instance of the power of such +a combination; though that was a combination formed mostly for the mere +purposes of faction, sustained perhaps by the desperate designs of the +insolvents of the country. Such a combination was necessarily wanting in +union among the affluent; it had not the high support of principles to +give it sanctity, and it affords little more than the proof of the power +of money and leisure, when applied in a very doubtful cause, in wielding +the masses of a great nation, to be the instruments of their own +subjection. No well-intentioned American legislator, consequently, ought +ever to lose sight of the fact, that each invasion of the right which he +sanctions is a blow struck against liberty itself, which, in a country +like this, has no auxiliary so certain or so powerful as justice.</p> + +<p>The State of New York contains about 43,000 square miles of land; or +something like 27,000,000 of acres. In 1783, its population must have +been about 200,000 souls. With such a proportion between people and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> +surface it is unnecessary to prove that the husbandman was not quite as +dependent on the landholder, as the landholder was dependent on the +husbandman. This would have been true, had the State been an island; but +we all know it was surrounded by many other communities similarly +situated, and that nothing else was so abundant as land. All notions of +exactions and monopolies, therefore, must be untrue, as applied to those +two interests at that day.</p> + +<p>In 1786-7, the State of New York, then in possession of all powers on +the subject, abolished entails, and otherwise brought its law of real +estate in harmony with the institutions. At that time, hundreds, perhaps +thousands, of the leases which have since become so obnoxious, were in +existence. With the attention of the State drawn directly to the main +subject, no one saw anything incompatible with the institutions in them. +<i>It was felt that the landlords had bought the tenants to occupy their +lands by the liberality of their concessions</i>, and that the latter were +the obliged parties. Had the landlords of that day endeavoured to lease +for one year, or for ten years, no tenants could have been found for +wild lands; but it became a different thing, when the owner of the soil +agreed to part with it for ever, in consideration of a very low rent, +granting six or eight years free from any charge whatever, and +consenting to receive the product of the soil itself in lieu of money. +Then, indeed, men were not only willing to come into the terms, but +eager; the best evidence of which is the fact, that the same tenants +might have bought land, out and out, in every direction around them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> +had they not preferred the easier terms of the leases. Now, that these +same men, or their successors, have become rich enough to care more to +be rid of the encumbrance of the rent than to keep their money, the +rights of the parties certainly are not altered.</p> + +<p>In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into operation; New +York being a party to its creation and conditions. By that Constitution, +the State deliberately deprived itself of the power to touch the +covenants of these leases, without conceding the power to any other +government; unless it might be through a change of the Constitution +itself. As a necessary consequence, these leases, in a legal sense, +belong to the institutions of New York, instead of being opposed to +them. Not only is the spirit of the institutions in harmony with these +leases, but so is the letter also. Men must draw a distinction between +the "spirit of the institutions" and their own "spirits;" the latter +being often nothing more than a stomach that is not easily satisfied. It +would be just as true to affirm that domestic slavery is opposed to the +institutions of the United States, as to say the same of these leases. +It would be just as rational to maintain, because A. does not choose to +make an associate of B., that he is acting in opposition to the "spirit +of the institutions," inasmuch as the Declaration of Independence +advances the dogmas that men are born equal, as it is to say it is +opposed to the same spirit, for B. to pay rent to A. according to his +covenant.</p> + +<p>It is pretended that the durable leases are feudal in their nature. We +do not conceive this to be true; but, admitting it to be so, it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +only prove that feudality, to this extent, is a part of the institutions +of the State. What is more, it would become a part over which the State +itself has conceded all power of control, beyond that which it may +remotely possess as one, out of twenty-eight communities. As respects +this feudal feature, it is not easy to say where it must be looked for. +It is not to be found in the simple fact of paying rent, for that is so +general as to render the whole country feudal, could it be true; it +cannot be in the circumstance that the rent is to be paid "in kind," as +it is called, and in labour, for that is an advantage to the tenant, by +affording him the option, since the penalty of a failure leaves the +alternative of paying in money. It must be, therefore, that these leases +are feudal because they run for ever! Now the length of the lease is +clearly a concession to the tenant, and was so regarded when received; +and there is not probably a single tenant, under lives, who would not +gladly exchange his term of possession for that of one of these +detestable durable leases!</p> + +<p>Among the absurdities that have been circulated on this subject of +feudality, it has been pretended that the well-known English statute of +"<i>quia emptores</i>" has prohibited fines for alienation; or that the +quarter-sales, fifth-sales, sixth-sales, &c. of our own leases were +contrary to the law of the realm, when made. Under the common law, in +certain cases of feudal tenures, the fines for alienation were an +incident of the tenure. The statute of <i>quia emptores</i> abolished that +general principle, but it in no manner forbade parties <i>to enter into +covenants of the nature of quarter-sales</i>, did they see fit. The common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +law gives all the real estate to the eldest son. Our statute divides the +real estate among the nearest of kin, without regard even to sex. It +might just as well be pretended that the father cannot devise all his +lands to his eldest son, under our statute, as to say that the law of +Edward I. prevents parties from <i>bargaining</i> for quarter-sales. Altering +a provision of the common law does not preclude parties from making +covenants similar to its ancient provisions.</p> + +<p>Feudal tenures were originally divided into two great classes; those +which were called the military tenures, or knight's service, and +<i>soccage</i>. The first tenure was that which became oppressive in the +progress of society. Soccage was of two kinds; free and villian. The +first has an affinity to our own system, as connected with these leases; +the last never existed among us at all. When the knight's service, or +military tenures of England were converted into free soccage, in the +reign of Charles II., the concession was considered of a character so +favourable to liberty as to be classed among the great measures of the +time; one of which was the <i>habeas corpus</i> act!</p> + +<p>The only feature of our own leases, in the least approaching "villian +soccage," is that of the "day's works." But every one acquainted with +the habits of American life, will understand that husbandmen, in +general, throughout the northern States, would regard it as an advantage +to be able to pay their debts in this way; and the law gives them an +option, since a failure to pay "in kind," or "in work," merely incurs +the forfeiture of paying what the particular thing is worth, in money. +In point of fact, money has always been received for these "day's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +works," and at a stipulated price.</p> + +<p>But, it is pretended, whatever may be the equity of these leasehold +contracts, they are offensive to the tenants, and ought to be abrogated, +for the peace of the State. The State is bound to make all classes of +men respect its laws, and in nothing more so than in the fulfilment of +their legal contracts. The greater the number of the offenders, the +higher the obligation to act with decision and efficiency. To say that +these disorganizers <i>ought</i> not to be put down, is to say that crime is +to obtain impunity by its own extent; and to say that they <i>cannot</i> be +put down "under our form of government," is a direct admission that the +government is unequal to the discharge of one of the plainest and +commonest obligations of all civilized society. If this be really so, +the sooner we get rid of the present form of government the better. The +notion of remedying <i>such</i> an evil by concession, is as puerile as it is +dishonest. The larger the concessions become, the greater will be the +exactions of a cormorant cupidity. As soon as quiet is obtained by these +means, in reference to the leasehold tenures, it will be demanded by +some fresh combination to attain some other end.</p> + +<p>When Lee told Washington, at Monmouth, "Sir, your troops will not stand +against British grenadiers," Washington is said to have answered, "Sir, +you have never tried them." The same reply might be given to those +miserable traducers of this republic, who, in order to obtain votes, +affect to think there is not sufficient energy in its government to put +down so bare-faced an attempt as this of the anti-renters to alter the +conditions of their own leases to suit their own convenience. The county<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> +of Delaware has, of itself, nobly given the lie to the assertion, the +honest portion of its inhabitants scattering the knaves to the four +winds, the moment there was a fair occasion made for them to act. A +single, energetic proclamation from Albany, calling a "spade a spade," +and not affecting to gloss over the disguised robbery of these +anti-renters, and laying just principles fairly before the public mind, +would of itself have crushed the evil in its germ. The people of New +York, in their general capacity, are not the knaves their servants +evidently suppose.</p> + +<p>The assembly of New York, in its memorable session of 1846, has taxed +the rents on long leases; thus, not only taxing the same property twice, +but imposing the worst sort of income-tax, or one aimed at a few +individuals. It has "thimble-rigged" in its legislation, as Mr. Hugh +Littlepage not unaptly terms it; endeavouring to do that indirectly, +which the Constitution will not permit it to do directly. In other +words, as it can pass no direct law "impairing the obligation of +contracts," while it <i>can</i> regulate descents, it has enacted, so far as +one body of the legislature has power to enact anything, that on the +<i>death</i> of a landlord the tenant may convert his lease into a mortgage, +on discharging which he shall hold his land in fee!</p> + +<p>We deem the first of these measures far more tyrannical than the attempt +of Great Britain to tax her colonies, which brought about the +revolution. It is of the same general character, that of unjust +taxation; while it is attended by circumstances of aggravation that +were altogether wanting in the policy of the mother country. This is not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span> +a tax for revenue, which is not needed; but a tax to "choke off" the +landlords, to use a common American phrase. It is clearly taxing +<i>nothing</i>, or it is taxing the same property twice. It is done to +conciliate three or four thousand voters, who are now in the market, at +the expense of three or four hundred who, it is known, are not to be +bought. It is unjust in its motives, its means and its end. The measure +is discreditable to civilization, and an outrage on liberty.</p> + +<p>But, the other law mentioned is an atrocity so grave, as to alarm every +man of common principle in the State, were it not so feeble in its +devices to cheat the Constitution, as to excite contempt. This +extraordinary power is exercised because the legislature <i>can</i> control +the law of descents, though it cannot "impair the obligation of +contracts!" Had the law said at once that on the death of a landlord +each of his tenants should <i>own</i> his farm in fee, the ensemble of the +fraud would have been preserved, since the "law of descents" would have +been so far regulated as to substitute one heir for another; but +changing the <i>nature</i> of a contract, with a party who has nothing to do +with the succession at all, is not so very clearly altering, or +amending, the law of descents! It is scarcely necessary to say that +every reputable court in the country, whether State or Federal, would +brand such a law with the disgrace it merits.</p> + +<p>But the worst feature of this law, or attempted law, remains to be +noticed. It would have been a premium on murder. Murder <i>has</i> already +been committed by these anti-renters, and that obviously to effect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> +their ends; and they were to be told that whenever you shoot a landlord, +as some have already often shot <i>at</i> them, you can convert your +leasehold tenures into tenures in fee! The mode of valuation is so +obvious, too, as to deserve a remark. A master was to settle the +valuation on testimony. The witnesses of course would be "the +neighbours," and a whole patent could swear for each other!</p> + +<p>As democrats we protest most solemnly against such bare-faced frauds, +such palpable cupidity and covetousness being termed anything but what +they are. If they come of any party at all, it is the party of the +devil. Democracy is a lofty and noble sentiment. It does not rob the +poor to make the rich richer, nor the rich to favour the poor. It is +just, and treats all men alike. It does not "impair the obligations of +contracts." It is not the friend of a canting legislation, but, meaning +right, dare act directly. There is no greater delusion than to suppose +that true democracy has anything in common with injustice or roguery.</p> + +<p>Nor is it an apology for anti-rentism, in any of its aspects, to say +that leasehold tenures are inexpedient. The most expedient thing in +existence is to do right. Were there no other objection to this +anti-rent movement than its corrupting influence, that alone should set +every wise man in the community firmly against it. We have seen too much +of this earth, to be so easily convinced that there is any disadvantage, +nay that there is not a positive advantage in the existence of large +leasehold estates, when they carry with them no political power, as is +the fact here. The common-place argument against them, that they defeat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> +the civilization of a country, is not sustained by fact. The most +civilized countries on earth are under this system; and this system, +too, not entirely free from grave objections which do not exist among +ourselves. That a poorer class of citizens have originally leased than +have purchased lands in New York, is probably true; and it is equally +probable that the effects of this poverty, and even of the tenure in the +infancy of a country, are to be traced on the estates. But this is +taking a very one-sided view of the matter. The men who became tenants +in moderate but comfortable circumstances, would have been mostly +labourers on the farms of others, but for these leasehold tenures. That +is the benefit of the system in a new country, and the ultra friend of +humanity, who decries the condition of a tenant, should remember that if +he had not been in this very condition, he might have been in a worse. +It is, indeed, one of the proofs of the insincerity of those who are +decrying leases, on account of their aristocratic tendencies, that their +destruction will necessarily condemn a numerous class of agriculturists, +either to fall back into the ranks of the peasant or day-labourer, or to +migrate, as is the case with so many of the same class in New England. +In point of fact, the relation of landlord and tenant is one entirely +natural and salutary, in a wealthy community, and one that is so much in +accordance with the necessities of men, that no legislation can long +prevent it. A state of things which will not encourage the rich to hold +real estate would not be desirable, since it would be diverting their +money, knowledge, liberality, feelings and leisure, from the +improvement of the soil, to objects neither so useful nor so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> +praiseworthy.</p> + +<p>The notion that every husbandman is to be a freeholder, is as Utopian in +practice, as it would be to expect that all men were to be on the same +level in fortune, condition, education and habits. As such a state of +things as the last never yet did exist, it was probably never designed +by divine wisdom that it should exist. The whole structure of society +must be changed, even in this country, ere it could exist among +ourselves, and the change would not have been made a month before the +utter impracticability of such a social fusion would make itself felt by +all.</p> + +<p>We have elsewhere imputed much of the anti-rent feeling to provincial +education and habits. This term has given the deepest offence to those +who were most obnoxious to the charge. Nevertheless, our opinion is +unchanged. We know that the distance between the cataract of Niagara and +the Massachusetts line is a large hundred leagues, and that it is as +great between Sandy Hook and the 45th parallel of latitude. Many +excellent things, moral and physical, are to be found within these +limits, beyond a question; but we happen to know by an experience that +has extended to other quarters of the world, for a term now exceeding +forty years, that more are to be found beyond them. If "honourable +gentlemen" at Albany fancy the reverse, they must still permit us to +believe they are too much under the influence of provincial notions.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + +<h1>THE REDSKINS.</h1> + +<hr style="width: 25%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and<br /> +She said—Thou wert my daughter; and thy father<br /> +Was duke of Milan; and his only heir<br /> +A princess;—no worse issued."</p> +<p class="poet"><i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">My</span> uncle Ro and myself had been travelling together in the East, and had +been absent from home fully five years, when we reached Paris. For +eighteen months neither of us had seen a line from America, when we +drove through the barriers, on our way from Egypt, viâ Algiers, +Marseilles, and Lyons. Not once, in all that time, had we crossed our +own track, in a way to enable us to pick up a straggling letter; and all +our previous precautions to have the epistles meet us at different +bankers in Italy, Turkey, and Malta, were thrown away.</p> + +<p>My uncle was an old traveller—I might almost say, an old resident—in +Europe; for he had passed no less than twenty years of his fifty-nine +off the American continent. A bachelor, with nothing to do but to take +care of a very ample estate, which was rapidly increasing in value by +the enormous growth of the town of New York, and with tastes early +formed by travelling, it was natural he should seek those regions where +he most enjoyed himself. Hugh Roger Littlepage was born in 1786—the +second son of my grandfather, Mordaunt Littlepage, and of Ursula +Malbone, his wife. My own father, Malbone Littlepage, was the eldest +child of that connexion; and he would have inherited the property of +Ravensnest, in virtue of his birthright, had he survived his own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +parents; but, dying young, I stepped into what would otherwise have been +his succession, in my eighteenth year. My uncle Ro, however, had got +both Satanstoe and Lilacsbush; two country-houses and farms, which, +while they did not aspire to the dignity of being estates, were likely +to prove more valuable, in the long run, than the broad acres which were +intended for the patrimony of the elder brother. My grandfather was +affluent; for not only had the fortune of the Littlepages centred in +him, but so did that of the Mordaunts, the wealthier family of the two, +together with some exceedingly liberal bequests from a certain Col. +Dirck Follock, or Van Valkenburgh; who, though only a very distant +connexion, chose to make my great-grandmother's, or Anneke Mordaunt's, +descendants his heirs. We all had enough; my aunts having handsome +legacies, in the way of bonds and mortgages, on an estate called +Mooseridge, in addition to some lots in town; while my own sister, +Martha, had a clear fifty thousand dollars in money. I had town-lots, +also, which were becoming productive; and a special minority of seven +years had made an accumulation of cash that was well vested in New York +State stock, and which promised well for the future. I say a "special" +minority; for both my father and grandfather, in placing, the one, +myself and a portion of the property, and the other the remainder of my +estate, under the guardianship and ward of my uncle, had made a +provision that I was not to come into possession until I had completed +my twenty-fifth year.</p> + +<p>I left college at twenty; and my uncle Ro, for so Martha and myself +always called him, and so he was always called by some twenty cousins, +the offspring of our three aunts;—but my uncle Ro, when I was done with +college, proposed to finish my education by travelling. As this was only +too agreeable to a young man, away we went, just after the pressure of +the great panic of 1836-7 was over, and our "lots" were in tolerable +security, and our stocks safe. In America it requires almost as much +vigilance to <i>take care</i> of property, as it does industry to acquire it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage—by the way, I bore the same name, though I +was always called Hugh, while my uncle went by the different +appellations of Roger, Ro, and Hodge, among his familiars, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +circumstances had rendered the associations sentimental, affectionate, +or manly—Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, Senior, then, had a system of his +own, in the way of aiding the scales to fall from American eyes, by +means of seeing more clearly than one does, or can, at home, let him +belong where he may, and in clearing the specks of provincialism from +off the diamond of republican water. He had already seen enough to +ascertain that while "our country," as this blessed nation is very apt +on all occasions, appropriate or not, to be called by all who belong to +it, as well as by a good many who do not, could teach a great deal to +the old world, there was a possibility—just a <i>possibility</i>, remark, is +my word—that it might also learn a little. With a view, therefore, of +acquiring knowledge seriatim, as it might be, he was for beginning with +the hornbook, and going on regularly up to the belles-lettres and +mathematics. The manner in which this was effected deserves a notice.</p> + +<p>Most American travellers land in England, the country farthest advanced +in material civilization; then proceed to Italy, and perhaps to Greece, +leaving Germany, and the less attractive regions of the north, to come +in at the end of the chapter. My uncle's theory was to follow the order +of time, and to begin with the ancients and end with the moderns; +though, in adopting such a rule, he admitted he somewhat lessened the +pleasure of the novice; since an American, fresh from the fresher fields +of the western continent, might very well find delight in memorials of +the past, more especially in England, which pall on his taste, and +appear insignificant, after he has become familiar with the Temple of +Neptune, the Parthenon, or what is left of it, and the Coliseum. I make +no doubt that I lost a great deal of passing happiness in this way, by +beginning at the beginning, or by beginning in Italy, and travelling +north.</p> + +<p>Such was our course, however; and, landing at Leghorn, we did the +peninsula effectually in a twelvemonth; thence passed through Spain up +to Paris, and proceeded on to Moscow and the Baltic, reaching England +from Hamburg. When we had got through with the British isles, the +antiquities of which seemed flat and uninteresting to me, after having +seen those that were so much more <i>antique</i>, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> returned to Paris, in +order that I might become a man of the world, if possible, by rubbing +off the provincial specks that had unavoidably adhered to the American +diamond while in its obscurity.</p> + +<p>My uncle Ro was fond of Paris, and he had actually become the owner of a +small hotel in the faubourg, in which he retained a handsome furnished +apartment for his own use. The remainder of the house was let to +permanent tenants; but the whole of the first floor, and of the +<i>entresol</i>, remained in his hands. As a special favour, he would allow +some American family to occupy even his own apartment—or rather +<i>appartement</i>, for the words are not exactly synonymous—when he +intended to be absent for a term exceeding six months, using the money +thus obtained in keeping the furniture in repair, and his handsome suite +of rooms, including a <i>salon</i>, <i>salle à manger</i>, <i>ante-chambre</i>, +<i>cabinet</i>, several <i>chambres à coucher</i>, and a <i>boudoir</i>—yes, a male +<i>boudoir</i>! for so he affected to call it—in a condition to please even +his fastidiousness.</p> + +<p>On our arrival from England, we remained an entire season at Paris, all +that time rubbing the specks off the diamond, when my uncle suddenly +took it into his head that we ought to see the East. He had never been +further than Greece, himself; and he now took a fancy to be my companion +in such an excursion. We were gone two years and a half, visiting +Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Petra, the Red Sea, +Egypt quite to the second cataracts, and nearly the whole of Barbary. +The latter region we threw in, by way of seeing something out of the +common track. But so many hats and travelling-caps are to be met with, +now-a-days, among the turbans, that a well-mannered Christian may get +along almost anywhere without being spit upon. This is a great +inducement for travelling generally, and ought to be so especially to an +American, who, on the whole, incurs rather more risk now of suffering +this humiliation at home, than he would even in Algiers. But the animus +is everything in morals.</p> + +<p>We had, then, been absent two years and a half from Paris, and had not +seen a paper or received a letter from America in eighteen months, when +we drove through the barrier. Even the letters and papers received or +seen pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>viously to this last term, were of a private nature, and +contained nothing of a general character. The "twenty millions"—it was +only the other day they were called the "twelve millions"—but, the +"twenty millions," we knew, had been looking up amazingly after the +temporary depression of the moneyed crisis it had gone through; and the +bankers had paid our drafts with confidence, and without extra charges, +during the whole time we had been absent. It is true, Uncle Ro, as an +experienced traveller, went well fortified in the way of credit—a +precaution by no means unnecessary with Americans, after the cry that +had been raised against us in the old world.</p> + +<p>And here I wish to say one thing plainly, before I write another line. +As for falling into the narrow, self-adulatory, provincial feeling of +the American who has never left his mother's apron-string, and which +causes him to swallow, open-mouthed, all the nonsense that is uttered to +the world in the columns of newspapers, or in the pages of your yearling +travellers, who go on "excursions" before they are half instructed in +the social usages and the distinctive features of their own country, I +hope I shall be just as far removed from such a weakness, in any passing +remark that may flow from my pen, as from the crime of confounding +principles and denying facts in a way to do discredit to the land of my +birth and that of my ancestors. I have lived long enough in the "world," +not meaning thereby the south-east corner of the north-west township of +Connecticut, to understand that we are a vast way behind older nations, +in <i>thought</i> as well as deed, in many things; while, on the opposite +hand, they are a vast way behind us in others. I see no patriotism in +concealing a wholesome truth; and least of all shall I be influenced by +the puerility of a desire to hide anything of this nature, because I +cannot communicate it to my countrymen without communicating it to the +rest of the world. If England or France had acted on this narrow +principle, where would have been their Shakspeares, their Sheridans, +their Beaumonts and Fletchers, and their Molieres! No, no! great +national truths are not to be treated as the gossiping surmises of +village crones. He who reads what I <i>write</i>, therefore, must expect to +find what I <i>think</i> of matters and things, and not exactly what he may +happen to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> think on the same subjects. Any one is at liberty to compare +opinions with me; but I ask the privilege of possessing some small +liberty of conscience in what is, far and near, proclaimed to be the +<i>only</i> free country on the earth. By "far and near," I mean from the St. +Croix to the Rio Grande, and from Cape Cod to the entrance of St. Juan +de Fuca; and a pretty farm it makes, the "interval" that lies between +these limits! One may call it "far and near" without the imputation of +obscurity, or that of vanity.</p> + +<p>Our tour was completed, in spite of all annoyances; and here we were +again, within the walls of magnificent Paris! The postilions had been +told to drive to the hotel, in the rue St. Dominique; and we sat down to +dinner, an hour after our arrival, under our own roof. My uncle's tenant +had left the apartment a month before, according to agreement; and the +porter and his wife had engaged a cook, set the rooms in order, and +prepared everything for our arrival.</p> + +<p>"It must be owned, Hugh," said my uncle, as he finished his soup that +day, "one <i>may</i> live quite comfortably in Paris, if he possess the +<i>savoir vivre</i>. Nevertheless, I have a strong desire to get a taste of +native air. One may say and think what he pleases about the Paris +pleasures, and the Paris <i>cuisine</i>, and all that sort of things; but +"home is home, be it ever so homely." A 'd'Inde aux truffes' is capital +eating; so is a turkey with cranberry sauce. I sometimes think I could +fancy even a pumpkin pie, though there is not a fragment of the rock of +Plymouth in the granite of my frame."</p> + +<p>"I have always told you, sir, that America is a capital eating and +drinking country, let it want civilization in other matters, as much as +it may."</p> + +<p>"Capital for eating and drinking, Hugh, if you can keep clear of the +grease, in the first place, and find a real cook, in the second. There +is as much difference between the cookery of New England, for instance, +and that of the Middle States, barring the Dutch, as there is between +that of England and Germany. The cookery of the Middle States, and of +the Southern States, too, though that savours a little of the West +Indies—but the cookery of the Middle States is English, in its best +sense; meaning the hearty, substantial, savoury dishes of the English in +their true do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>mestic life, with their roast-beef underdone, their +beefsteaks done to a turn, their chops full of gravy, their +mutton-broth, legs-of-mutton, <i>et id omne genus</i>. We have some capital +things of our own, too; such as canvass-backs, reedbirds, sheepshead, +shad, and blackfish. The difference between New England and the Middle +States is still quite observable, though in my younger days it was +<i>patent</i>. I suppose the cause has been the more provincial origin, and +the more provincial habits, of our neighbours. By George! Hugh, one +could fancy clam-soup just now, eh!"</p> + +<p>"Clam-soup, sir, well made, is one of the most delicious soups in the +world. If the cooks of Paris could get hold of the dish, it would set +them up for a whole season."</p> + +<p>"What is 'crême de Bavière,' and all such nick-nacks, boy, to a good +plateful of clam-soup? Well made, as you say—made as a cook of Jennings +used to make it, thirty years since. Did I ever mention that fellow's +soup to you before, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"Often, sir. I have tasted very excellent clam-soup, however, that he +never saw. Of course you mean soup just flavoured by the little +hard-clam—none of your vulgar <i>potage</i> à la soft-clam?"</p> + +<p>"Soft-clams be hanged! they are not made for gentlemen to eat. Of course +I mean the hard-clam, and the small clam, too—</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +Here's your fine clams,<br /> +As white as snow;<br /> +On Rockaway<br /> +These clams do grow. +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>The cries of New York are quite going out, like everything else at home +that is twenty years old. Shall I send you some of this eternal <i>poulet +à la Marengo?</i> I wish it were honest American boiled fowl, with a +delicate bit of shoat-pork alongside of it. I feel amazingly <i>homeish</i> +this evening, Hugh!"</p> + +<p>"It is quite natural, my dear uncle Ro; and I own to the 'soft +impeachment' myself. Here have we both been absent from our native land +five years, and half that time almost without hearing from it. We know +that Jacob"—this was a free negro who served my uncle, a relic of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +old domestic system of the colonies, whose name would have been Jaaf, or +Yop, thirty years before—"has gone to our banker's for letters and +papers; and that naturally draws our thoughts to the other side of the +Atlantic. I dare say we shall both feel relieved at breakfast to-morrow, +when we shall have read our respective despatches."</p> + +<p>"Come, let us take a glass of wine together, in the good old York +fashion, Hugh. Your father and I, when boys, never thought of wetting +our lips with the half-glass of Madeira that fell to our share, without +saying, 'Good health, Mall!' 'Good health, Hodge!'"</p> + +<p>"With all my heart, uncle Ro. The custom was getting to be a little +obsolete even before I left home; but it is almost an American custom, +by sticking to us longer than to most people."</p> + +<p>"Henri!"</p> + +<p>This was my uncle's maitre d'hotel, whom he had kept at board-wages the +whole time of our absence, in order to make sure of his ease, quiet, +taste, skill, and honesty, on his return.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur!"</p> + +<p>"I dare say"—my uncle spoke French exceedingly well for a foreigner; +but it is better to translate what he said as we go—"I dare say this +glass of vin de Bourgogne is very good; it <i>looks</i> good, and it came +from a wine-merchant on whom I can rely; but Mons. Hugh and I are going +to drink together, à l'Amèricaine, and I dare say you will let us have a +glass of Madeira, though it is somewhat late in the dinner to take it."</p> + +<p>"Tres volontiers, Messieurs—it is my happiness to oblige you."</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro and I took the Madeira together; but I cannot say much in +favour of its quality.</p> + +<p>"What a capital thing is a good Newtown pippin!" exclaimed my uncle, +after eating a while in silence. "They talk a great deal about their +<i>poire beurrée</i>, here at Paris; but, to my fancy, it will not compare +with the Newtowners we grow at Satanstoe, where, by the way, the fruit +is rather better, I think, than that one finds across the river, at +Newtown itself."</p> + +<p>"They are capital apples, sir; and your orchard at Sa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>tanstoe is one of +the best I know, or rather what is left of it; for I believe a portion +of your trees are in what is now a suburb of Dibbletonborough?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, blast that place! I wish I had never parted with a foot of the old +neck, though I did rather make money by the sale. But money is no +compensation for the affections."</p> + +<p>"<i>Rather</i> make money, my dear sir! Pray, may I ask what Satanstoe was +valued at, when you got it from my grandfather?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty well up, Hugh; for it was, and indeed <i>is</i>, a first-rate farm. +Including sedges and salt-meadows, you will remember that there are +quite five hundred acres of it, altogether."</p> + +<p>"Which you inherited in 1829?"</p> + +<p>"Of course; that was the year of my father's death. Why, the place was +thought to be worth about thirty thousand dollars at that time; but land +was rather low in Westchester in 1829."</p> + +<p>"And you sold two hundred acres, including the point, the harbour, and a +good deal of the sedges, for the moderate modicum of one hundred and ten +thousand, cash. A tolerable sale, sir!"</p> + +<p>"No, not cash. I got only eighty thousand down, while thirty thousand +were secured by mortgage."</p> + +<p>"Which mortgage you hold yet, I dare say, if the truth were told, +covering the whole city of Dibbletonborough. A city ought to be good +security for thirty thousand dollars?"</p> + +<p>"It is not, nevertheless, in this case. The speculators who bought of me +in 1835 laid out their town, built a hotel, a wharf, and a warehouse, +and then had an auction. They sold four hundred lots, each twenty-five +feet by a hundred, regulation size, you see, at an average of two +hundred and fifty dollars, receiving one-half, or fifty thousand +dollars, down, and leaving the balance on mortgage. Soon after this, the +bubble burst, and the best lot at Dibbletonborough would not bring, +under the hammer, twenty dollars. The hotel and the warehouse stand +alone in their glory, and will thus stand until they fall, which will +not be a thousand years hence, I rather think."</p> + +<p>"And what is the condition of the town-plot?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Bad enough. The landmarks are disappearing; and it would cost any man +who should attempt it, the value of his lot, to hire a surveyor to find +his twenty-five by a hundred."</p> + +<p>"But your mortgage is good?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, good in one sense; but it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer to +foreclose it. Why, the equitable interests in that town-plot, people the +place of themselves. I ordered my agent to commence buying up the +rights, as the shortest process of getting rid of them; and he told me +in the very last letter I received, that he had succeeded in purchasing +the titles to three hundred and seventeen of the lots, at an average +price of ten dollars. The remainder, I suppose, will have to be +absorbed."</p> + +<p>"Absorbed! That is a process I never heard of, as applied to land."</p> + +<p>"There is a good deal of it done, notwithstanding, in America. It is +merely including within your own possession, adjacent land for which no +claimant appears. What can I do? No owners are to be found; and then my +mortgage is always a title. A possession of twenty years under a +mortgage is as good as a deed in fee-simple, with full covenants of +warranty, barring minors and <i>femmes covert</i>."</p> + +<p>"You did better by Lilacsbush?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, <i>that</i> was a clean transaction, and has left no drawbacks. +Lilacsbush being on the island of Manhattan, one is sure there will be a +town there, some day or other. It is true, the property lies quite eight +miles from the City Hall; nevertheless, it has a value, and can always +be sold at something near it. Then the plan of New York is made and +recorded, and one can find his lots. Nor can any man say when the town +will not reach Kingsbridge."</p> + +<p>"You got a round price for the Bush, too, I have heard, sir?"</p> + +<p>"I got three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, in hard cash. I +would give no credit, and have every dollar of the money, at this +moment, in good six per cent. stock of the States of New York and Ohio."</p> + +<p>"Which some persons in this part of the world would fancy to be no very +secure investment."</p> + +<p>"More fools they. America is a glorious country, after all, Hugh; and it +is a pride and a satisfaction to belong to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> it. Look back at it, as I +can remember it, a nation spit upon by all the rest of Christendom——"</p> + +<p>"You must at least own, my dear sir," I put in, somewhat pertly, +perhaps, "the example might tempt other people; for, if ever there was a +nation that is assiduously spitting on itself, it is our own beloved +land."</p> + +<p>"True, it has that nasty custom in excess, and it grows worse instead of +better, as the influence of the better mannered and better educated +diminishes; but this is a spot on the sun—a mere flaw in the diamond, +that friction will take out. But what a country—what a glorious +country, in truth, it is! You have now done the civilized parts of the +old world pretty thoroughly, my dear boy, and must be persuaded, +yourself, of the superiority of your native land."</p> + +<p>"I remember you have always used this language, uncle Ro; yet have you +passed nearly one-half of your time <i>out</i> of that glorious country, +since you have reached man's estate."</p> + +<p>"The mere consequence of accidents and tastes. I do not mean that +America is a country for a bachelor, to begin with; the means of +amusement for those who have no domestic hearths, are too limited for +the bachelor. Nor do I mean that society in America, in its ordinary +meaning, is in any way as well-ordered, as tasteful, as well-mannered, +as agreeable, or as instructive and useful, as society in almost any +European country I know. I have never supposed that the man of leisure, +apart from the affections, could ever enjoy himself half as much at +home, as he may enjoy himself in this part of the world; and I am +willing to admit that, intellectually, most gentlemen in a great +European capital live as much in one day, as they would live in a week +in such places as New York, and Philadelphia, and Baltimore."</p> + +<p>"You do not include Boston, I perceive, sir."</p> + +<p>"Of Boston I say nothing. They take the mind hard, there, and we had +better let such a state of things alone. But as respects a man or woman +of leisure, a man or woman of taste, a man or woman of refinement +generally, I am willing enough to admit that, <i>cæteris paribus</i>, each +can find far more enjoyment in Europe than in America. But the +philosopher, the philanthropist, the political economist—in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> a word, +the patriot, may well exult in such elements of profound national +superiority as may be found in America."</p> + +<p>"I hope these elements are not so profound but they can be dug up at +need, uncle Ro?"</p> + +<p>"There will be little difficulty in doing that, my boy. Look at the +equality of the laws, to begin with. They are made on the principles of +natural justice, and are intended for the benefit of society—for the +poor as well as the rich."</p> + +<p>"Are they also intended for the rich as well as the poor?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I will grant you a slight blemish is beginning to appear, in that +particular. It is a failing incidental to humanity, and we must not +expect perfection. There is certainly a slight disposition to legislate +for numbers, in order to obtain support at the polls, which has made the +relation of debtor and creditor a little insecure, possibly; but +prudence can easily get along with that. It is erring on the right side, +is it not, to favour the poor instead of the rich, if either is to be +preferred?"</p> + +<p>"Justice would favour neither, but treat all alike. I have always heard +that the tyranny of numbers was the worst tyranny in the world."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is, where there is actually tyranny, and for a very obvious +reason. One tyrant is sooner satisfied than a million, and has even a +greater sense of responsibility. I can easily conceive that the Czar +himself, if disposed to be a tyrant, which I am far from thinking to be +the case with Nicholas, might hesitate about doing that, under his +undivided responsibility, which one of our majorities would do, without +even being conscious of the oppression it exercised, or caring at all +about it. But, on the whole, we do little of the last, and not in the +least enough to counterbalance the immense advantages of the system."</p> + +<p>"I have heard very discreet men say that the worst symptom of our system +is the gradual decay of justice among us. The judges have lost most of +their influence, and the jurors are getting to be law-makers, as well as +law-breakers."</p> + +<p>"There is a good deal of truth in that, I will acknowledge, also; and +you hear it asked constantly, in a case of any interest, not which party +is in the right, but <i>who</i> is on the jury. But I contend for no +perfection; all I say is, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> the country is a glorious country, and +that you and I have every reason to be proud that old Hugh Roger, our +predecessor and namesake, saw fit to transplant himself into it, a +century and a half since."</p> + +<p>"I dare say now, uncle Ro, it would strike most Europeans as singular +that a man should be proud of having been born an +American—Manhattanese, as you and I both were."</p> + +<p>"All that may be true, for there have been calculated attempts to bring +us into discredit of late, by harping on the failure of certain States +to pay the interest on their debts. But all that is easily answered, and +more so by you and me as New Yorkers. There is not a nation in Europe +that would pay its interest, if those who are taxed to do so had the +control of these taxes, and the power to say whether they were to be +levied or not."</p> + +<p>"I do not see how that mends the matter. These countries tell us that +such is the effect of your <i>system</i> there, while we are too honest to +allow such a system to <i>exist</i> in this part of the world."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! all gammon, that. They prevent the existence of our system for +very different reasons, and they coerce the payment of the interest on +their debts that they may borrow more. This business of repudiation, as +it is called, however, has been miserably misrepresented; and there is +no answering a falsehood by an argument. No American State has +repudiated its debt, that I know of, though several have been unable to +meet their engagements as they have fallen due."</p> + +<p>"<i>Unable</i>, uncle Ro?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, <i>unable</i>—that is the precise word. Take Pennsylvania, for +instance; that is one of the richest communities in the civilized world; +its coal and iron alone would make any country affluent, and a portion +of its agricultural population is one of the most affluent I know of. +Nevertheless, Pennsylvania, owing to a concurrence of events, <i>could</i> +not pay the interest on her debt for two years and a half, though she is +doing it now, and will doubtless continue to do it. The sudden breaking +down of that colossal moneyed institution, the <i>soi-disant</i> Bank of the +United States, after it ceased to be in reality a bank of the +government, brought about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> such a state of the circulation as rendered +payment, by any of the ordinary means known to government, <i>impossible</i>. +I know what I say, and repeat <i>impossible</i>. It is well known that many +persons, accustomed to affluence, had to carry their plate to the mint, +in order to obtain money to go to market. Then something may be +attributed to the institutions, without disparaging a people's honesty. +Our institutions are popular, just as those of France are the reverse; +and the people, they who were on the spot—the home creditor, with his +account unpaid, and with his friends and relatives in the legislature, +and present to aid him, contended for his own money, before any should +be sent abroad."</p> + +<p>"Was that exactly right, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not; it was exactly wrong, but very particularly natural. Do +you suppose the King of France would not take the money for his civil +list, if circumstances should compel the country to suspend on the debt +for a year or two, or the ministers their salaries? My word for it, each +and all of them would prefer themselves as creditors, and act +accordingly. Every one of these countries has suspended in some form or +other, and in many instances balanced the account with the sponge. Their +clamour against us is altogether calculated with a view to political +effect."</p> + +<p>"Still, I wish Pennsylvania, for instance, had continued to pay, at +every hazard."</p> + +<p>"It is well enough to wish, Hugh; but it is wishing for an +impossibility. Then you and I, as New Yorkers, have nothing to do with +the debt of Pennsylvania, no more than London would have to do with the +debt of Dublin or Quebec. <i>We</i> have always paid <i>our</i> interest, and, +what is more, paid it more honestly, if honesty be the point, than even +England has paid hers. When <i>our</i> banks suspended, the State paid its +interest in as much paper as would buy the specie in open market; +whereas England made paper legal tender, and paid the interest on her +debt in it for something like five-and-twenty years, and, that, too, +when her paper was at a large discount. I knew of one American who held +near a million of dollars in the English debt, on which he had to take +unconvertible paper for the interest for a long series of years. No, no! +this is all gammon, Hugh, and is not to be regarded as making us a whit +worse than our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> neighbours. The equality of our laws is the fact in +which I glory!"</p> + +<p>"If the rich stood as fair a chance as the poor, uncle Ro."</p> + +<p>"There <i>is</i> a screw loose there, I must confess; but it amounts to no +great matter."</p> + +<p>"Then the late bankrupt law?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, that was an infernal procedure—that much I will acknowledge, too. +It was special legislation enacted to pay particular debts, and the law +was repealed as soon as it had done its duty. That is a much darker spot +in our history than what is called repudiation, though perfectly honest +men voted for it."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear of a farce they got up about it at New York, just +after we sailed?"</p> + +<p>"Never; what was it, Hugh? though American plays are pretty much all +farces."</p> + +<p>"This was a little better than common, and, on the whole, really clever. +It is the old story of Faust, in which a young spendthrift sells +himself, soul and body, to the devil. On a certain evening, as he is +making merry with a set of wild companions, his creditor arrives, and, +insisting on seeing the master, is admitted by the servant. He comes on, +club-footed and behorned, as usual, and betailed, too, I believe; but +Tom is not to be scared by trifles. He insists on his guest's being +seated, on his taking a glass of wine, and then on Dick's finishing his +song. But, though the rest of the company had signed no bonds to Satan, +they had certain outstanding book-debts, which made them excessively +uncomfortable; and the odour of brimstone being rather strong, Tom +arose, approached his guest, and desired to know the nature of the +particular business he had mentioned to his servant. 'This bond, sir,' +said Satan, significantly. 'This bond? what of it, pray? It seems all +right.' 'Is not that your signature?' 'I admit it.' 'Signed in your +blood?' 'A conceit of your own; I told you at the time that ink was just +as good in law.' 'It is past due, seven minutes and fourteen seconds.' +'So it is, I declare! but what of that?' 'I demand payment.' 'Nonsense! +no one thinks of paying now-a-days. Why, even Pennsylvania and Maryland +don't pay.' 'I insist on payment.'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> 'Oh! you do, do you?' Tom draws a +paper from his pocket, and adds, magnificently, 'There, then, if you're +so urgent—there is a discharge under the new bankrupt law, signed Smith +Thompson.' This knocked the devil into a cocked-hat at once."</p> + +<p>My uncle laughed heartily at my story; but, instead of taking the matter +as I had fancied he might, it made him think better of the country than +ever.</p> + +<p>"Well, Hugh, we have wit among us, it must be confessed," he cried, with +the tears running down his cheeks, "if we have some rascally laws, and +some rascals to administer them. But here comes Jacob with his letters +and papers—I declare, the fellow has a large basket-full."</p> + +<p>Jacob, a highly respectable black, and the great-grandson of an old +negro named Jaaf, or Yop, who was then living on my own estate at +Ravensnest, had just then entered, with the porter and himself lugging +in the basket in question. There were several hundred newspapers, and +quite a hundred letters. The sight brought home and America clearly and +vividly before us; and, having nearly finished the dessert, we rose to +look at the packages. It was no small task to sort our mail, there being +so many letters and packages to be divided.</p> + +<p>"Here are some newspapers I never saw before," said my uncle, as he +tumbled over the pile; "'The Guardian of the Soil'—that must have +something to do with Oregon."</p> + +<p>"I dare say it has, sir. Here are at least a dozen letters from my +sister."</p> + +<p>"Ay, <i>your</i> sister is single, and can still think of her brother; but +mine are married, and one letter a-year would be a great deal. This is +my dear old mother's hand, however; that is something. Ursula Malbone +would never forget her child. Well, <i>bon soir</i>, Hugh. Each of us has +enough to do for one evening."</p> + +<p>"<i>Au revoir</i>, sir. We shall meet at ten to-morrow, when we can compare +our news, and exchange gossip."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd corn,<br /> +Hanging the head at Ceres' plenteous load?"</p> +<p class="poet">King Henry VI. +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">I did</span> 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 <i>salle à manger</i>, and ready to eat his breakfast. I +hastened up stairs, sleeping in the <i>entresol</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>"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 <i>know</i> that my grandmother was perfectly +well, six weeks since."</p> + +<p>"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 +<ins title="Original reads 'fourscore'.">four-score</ins>; but she naturally wishes to +see us, and you in particular. Grandchildren are ever the pets with +grandmothers."</p> + +<p>"I am glad to hear all this, sir; for I was really afraid, on entering +the room, that you had received some unpleasant news."</p> + +<p>"And is all your news pleasant, after so long a silence?"</p> + +<p>"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. <i>That</i> is +impossible; for you know when we left her, at fifteen, she had every +promise of great beauty."</p> + +<p>"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 ap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>pearance. 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."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>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 newcomers of my day, who had +appeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odours +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.</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"You will still adhere to your asseverations of never having been the +victim of Cupid, I find, sir."</p> + +<p>"Hugh, Hugh! let us trifle no more. There <i>is</i> news from home that has +almost broken my heart."</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> 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.</p> + +<p>"May I ask the nature of this news?" I then ventured to inquire.</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"I do not exactly understand your allusion, sir."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> being leases for ever, reserving an 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.'"</p> + +<p>"And are there any new difficulties in relation to the manor rents?"</p> + +<p>"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 +neighbourhood, or the country itself a glorious country."</p> + +<p>"This is so serious, sir, that, were it not that your looks denote the +contrary, I might be disposed to doubt your words."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Surely, my dear uncle, you cannot seriously apprehend anything of that +nature from our order-loving, law-loving, property-loving Americans!"</p> + +<p>"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 danger themselves. In order that you may not only understand me, +but may understand facts that are of the last importance to your own +pocket, I will first tell you what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> 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 <i>he</i> put it down <i>instanter</i>."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should rather think that roguery would not be apt to prosper, +while the execution of the laws was entrusted to such a man. The age of +such politicians, however, seems to have ended among us."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>he</i> <span class="smcap">put the evil down</span>. 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."</p> + +<p>"All this occurred before we went to the East. I had supposed <i>those</i> +anti-renters, as they were called, had been effectually put down."</p> + +<p>"In appearance they were. But the very governor who called the militia +into the field, referred the subject of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> '<i>griefs</i>' 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."</p> + +<p>"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 favour of the landlords?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Then you think, sir, that this matter has gained force from the +circumstance that so many votes depend on it?"</p> + +<p>"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 over-ruling 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."</p> + +<p>"Of what particular griefs do the tenants complain?"</p> + +<p>"You mean the Rensselaer tenants, I suppose? Why, they <i>complain</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"Well, what of that? A bargain to allow of quarter sales is just as fair +as any other bargain."</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> 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."</p> + +<p>"The last would be apt to raise a pretty cry of tyranny and feudality in +America!"</p> + +<p>"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 clamour, 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 <i>impartial</i>; 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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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 +<i>well</i> made, and <i>well</i> administered. But the sad reality shows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> 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 <i>do</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"You do not take a very favourable view of humanity, sir."</p> + +<p>"I speak of the world as I have found it in both hemispheres, or, as +your neighbour 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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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 <i>shall</i> 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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> 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."</p> + +<p>"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 colour it. The +tenant had no rights at all until he got his lease, and can have no +rights which that lease does not confer."</p> + +<p>"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! <i>We</i> have seen enough of America, +Hugh, to know that most husbandmen would be delighted to have the +privilege of paying their debts 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 <i>aristocratic</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"But, if I remember rightly, uncle Ro, these little matters were always +commuted for in money."</p> + +<p>"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 afterwards. 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 guaran<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>tied <i>by</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"How do you make it out that they form a part of the institutions, sir?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they mean, sir, to their spirit, or to their tendency."</p> + +<p>"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 recognise 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 favourable to the tenant than any other."</p> + +<p>"I shall have to ask you to explain this to me, sir, being too ignorant +to comprehend it."</p> + +<p>"Why, these leases are perpetual, and the tenant cannot be dispossessed. +The longer a lease is, other things being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> 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 for ever: 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 for ever. 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 <span class="smcap">not disposed, no honest man, +under any system, ought to do anything to compel him so to do</span>, either +directly or indirectly; <span class="smcap">and no truly honest man would."</span></p> + +<p>I put some of the words of my uncle Ro in small capitals, as the spirit +of the <i>times</i>, not of the <i>institutions</i>, renders such hints necessary. +But, to continue our dialogue:</p> + +<p>"I understand you now, sir, though the distinction you make between the +<i>spirit</i> of the institutions and their <i>tendencies</i> is what I do not +exactly comprehend."</p> + +<p>"It is very easily explained. The spirit of the institutions is their +<i>intention</i>; their tendencies is the natural direction they take under +the impulses of human motives, which are always corrupt and corrupting. +The 'spirit' refers to what things <i>ought</i> to be; the 'tendencies,' to +what they <i>are</i>, or are <i>becoming</i>. 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 +<i>follow</i> 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 <i>spirit</i>, I +utterly deny."</p> + +<p>"You will allow that institutions have their spirit, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> ought always +to be respected, in order to preserve harmony?"</p> + +<p>"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 <i>grave</i> +abuses have followed from our institutions; but this matter looks +frightfully serious; for I have not told you half, Hugh."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, sir! I beg you will believe me quite equal to hearing the +worst."</p> + +<p>"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<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> 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, has occurred on the +Livingston property, in Hardenberg—in short, in eight or ten counties +of the State. Even among the <i>bonâ fide</i> 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."</p> + +<p>"In the name of what is sacred and right, what has the government of the +State been doing all this time?"</p> + +<p>"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 half a +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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>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!"</p> + +<p>"Do you apprehend any serious civil war?"</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>"That is certainly a grief not to be maintained by reason in a civilized +country, and in a christian community."</p> + +<p>"Umph! Christianity, like liberty, suffers fearfully in human hands; one +is sometimes at a loss to recognise either. I have seen ministers of the +gospel just as dogged, just as regardless of general morality, and just +as indifferent to the right, in upholding <i>their</i> 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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>certainly +treated this matter as if the tenants actually had griefs; when in truth +their sole oppression is in being obliged 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."</p> + +<p>"Why, what can the man have done?"</p> + +<p>"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!"</p> + +<p>"This is a very extraordinary interference in a public functionary; +because one of the parties to a contract that is solemnly guarantied by +the law, chooses to complain of its <i>nature</i>, rather than of its +<i>conditions</i>, to pretend to throw the weight of his even assumed +authority into the scales on either side of the question!"</p> + +<p>"And that in 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 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>compromise."</p> + +<p>"You astonish me, sir! What is the precise nature of his +recommendation?"</p> + +<p>"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 <i>aristocratic</i> 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!"</p> + +<p>"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 interests; 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 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>themselves into their places?"</p> + +<p>"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 +favourable 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 some new estate, when it suits the pleasure of his +tenants to buy him out."</p> + +<p>"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?"</p> + +<p>"Not they," said my uncle Ro, laughing. "No, no! they would sell the +Manor-House, and 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 honourable 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 +honoured and esteemed accordingly."</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"O, when shall I visit the land of my birth,<br /> +The loveliest land on the face of the earth?<br /> +When shall I those scenes of affection explore,<br /> +<span class="pi2">Our forests, our fountains,<br /></span> +<span class="pi2">Our hamlets, our mountains,<br /></span> +With the pride of our mountains, the maid I adore?"</p> + +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Montgomery.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It</span> was truly news for an American, who had been so long cut off from +intelligence from home, thus suddenly to be told that some of the scenes +of the middle ages—scenes connected with real wrongs and gross abuses +of human rights—were about to be enacted in his own land; that country +which boasted itself, not only to be the asylum of the oppressed, but +the conservator of the right. I was grieved at what I had heard, for, +during my travels, I had cherished a much-loved image of justice and +political excellence, that I now began to fear must be abandoned. My +uncle and myself decided at once to return home, a step that indeed was +required by prudence. I was now of an age to enter into the full +possession of my own property (so far as "new laws and new lords" would +permit); and the letters received by my late guardian, as well as +certain newspapers, communicated the unpleasant fact that a great many +of the tenants of Ravensnest had joined the association, paid tribute +for the support of "Injins," and were getting to be as bad as any of the +rest of them, so far as designs and schemes to plunder were concerned, +though they still paid their rents. The latter circumstance was ascribed +by our agent to the fact that many leases were about to fall in, and it +would be in my power to substitute more honest and better disposed +successors for the present occupants of the several farms. Measures were +taken accordingly for quitting Paris as soon as possible, so that we +might reach home late in the month of May.</p> + +<p>"If we had time, I would certainly throw in a memorial <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>or two to the +legislature," observed my uncle, a day or two before we proceeded to +Havre to join the packet. "I have a strong desire to protest against the +invasion of my rights as a freeman that is connected with some of their +contemplated laws. I do not at all like the idea of being abridged of +the power of hiring a farm for the longest time I can obtain it, which +is one of the projects of some of the ultra reformers of free and equal +New York. It is wonderful, Hugh, into what follies men precipitate +themselves as soon as they begin to run into exaggerations, whether of +politics, religion, or tastes. Here are half of the exquisite +philanthropists who see a great evil affecting the rights of human +nature in one man's hiring a farm from another for as long a term as he +can obtain it, who are at the very extreme in their opinions on free +trade! So free-trade are some of the journals which think it a capital +thing to prevent landlords and tenants from making their own bargains, +that they have actually derided the idea of having established fares for +hackney-coaches, but that it would be better to let the parties stand in +the rain and higgle about the price, on the free-trade principle. Some +of these men are either active agents in stimulating the legislature to +rob the citizen of this very simple control of his property, or passive +lookers-on while others do it."</p> + +<p>"Votes, sir, votes."</p> + +<p>"It is, indeed, votes, sir, votes; nothing short of votes could +reconcile these men to their own inconsistencies. As for yourself, Hugh, +it might be well to get rid of that canopied pew——"</p> + +<p>"Of what canopied pew? I am sure I do not understand you."</p> + +<p>"Do you forget that the family-pew in St. Andrew's Church, at +Ravensnest, has a wooden canopy over it—a relic of our colonial +opinions and usages?"</p> + +<p>"Now you mention it, I do remember a very clumsy, and, to own the truth, +a very ugly thing, that I have always supposed was placed there, by +those who built the church, by way of ornament."</p> + +<p>"That ugly thing, by way of ornament, was intended for a sort of canopy, +and was by no means an uncommon distinction in the State and colony, as +recently as the close of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>the last century. The church was built at the +expense of my grandfather, Gen. Littlepage, and his bosom friend and +kinsman, Col. Dirck Follock, both good Whigs and gallant defenders of +the liberty of their country. They thought it proper that the +Littlepages should have a canopied pew, and that is the state in which +they caused the building to be presented to my father. The old work +still stands; and Dunning writes me that, among the other arguments used +against your interests, is the fact that your pew is thus distinguished +from those of the rest of the congregation."</p> + +<p>"It is a distinction no man would envy me, could it be known that I have +ever thought the clumsy, ill-shaped thing a nuisance, and detestable as +an ornament. I have never even associated it in my mind with personal +distinction, but have always supposed it was erected with a view to +embellish the building, and placed over our pew as the spot where such +an excrescence would excite the least envy."</p> + +<p>"In all that, with one exception, you have judged quite naturally. Forty +years ago, such a thing might have been done, and a majority of the +parishioners would have seen in it nothing out of place. But that day +has gone by; and you will discover that, on your own estate, and in the +very things created by your family and yourself, you will actually have +fewer rights of any sort, beyond those your money will purchase, than +any man around you. The simple fact that St. Andrew's Church was built +by your great-grandfather, and by him presented to the congregation, +will diminish your claim to have a voice in its affairs with many of the +congregation."</p> + +<p>"This is so extraordinary, that I musk ask the reason."</p> + +<p>"The reason is connected with a principle so obviously belonging to +human nature generally, and to American nature in particular, that I +wonder you ask it. It is envy. Did that pew belong to the Newcomes, for +instance, no one would think anything of it."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, the Newcomes would make themselves ridiculous by sitting +in a pew that was distinguished from those of their neighbours. The +absurdity of the contrast would strike every one."</p> + +<p>"And it is precisely because the absurdity does not exist in your case, +that your seat is envied. No one envies absurdity. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>However, you will +readily admit, Hugh, that a church, and a church-yard, are the two last +places in which human distinctions ought to be exhibited. All are equal +in the eyes of Him we go to the one to worship, and all are equal in the +grave. I have ever been averse to everything like worldly distinction in +a congregation, and admire the usage of the Romish Church in even +dispensing with pews altogether. Monuments speak to the world, and have +a general connexion with history, so that they may be tolerated to a +certain point, though notorious liars."</p> + +<p>"I agree with you, sir, as to the unfitness of a church for all +distinctions, and shall be happy on every account to get rid of my +canopy, though that has an historical connexion, also. I am quite +innocent of any feeling of pride while sitting under it, though I will +confess to some of shame at its quizzical shape, when I see it has +attracted the eyes of intelligent strangers."</p> + +<p>"It is but natural that you should feel thus; for, while we may miss +distinctions and luxuries to which we have ever been accustomed, they +rarely excite pride in the possessor, even while they awaken envy in the +looker-on."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, I cannot see what the old pew has to do with the rents, +or my legal rights."</p> + +<p>"When a cause is bad, everything is pressed into it that it is believed +may serve a turn. No man who had a good legal claim for property, would +ever think of urging any other; nor would any legislator who had sound +and sufficient reasons for his measures—reasons that could properly +justify him before God and man for his laws—have recourse to slang to +sustain him. If these anti-renters were right, they would have no need +of secret combinations, of disguises, blood-and-thunder names, and +special agents in the legislature of the land. The right requires no +false aid to make it appear the right; but the wrong must get such +support as it can press into its service. Your pew is called +aristocratic, though it confers no political power; it is called a +patent of nobility, though it neither gives nor takes away; and it is +hated, and you with it, for the very reason that you can sit in it and +not make yourself ridiculous. I suppose you have not examined very +closely the papers I gave you to read?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p><p>"Enough so to ascertain that they are filled with trash."</p> + +<p>"Worse than trash, Hugh; with some of the loosest principles, and most +atrocious feelings, that degrade poor human nature. Some of the +reformers propose that no man shall hold more than a thousand acres of +land, while others lay down the very intelligible and distinct principle +that no man ought to hold more than he can use. Even petitions to that +effect, I have been told, have been sent to the legislature."</p> + +<p>"Which has taken care not to allude to their purport, either in debate +or otherwise, as I see nothing to that effect in the reports."</p> + +<p>"Ay, I dare say the slang-whangers of those honourable bodies will +studiously keep all such enormities out of sight, as some of them +doubtless hope to step into the shoes of the present landlords, as soon +as they can get the feet out of them which are now in. But these are the +projects and the petitions in the columns of the journals, and they +speak for themselves. Among other things, they say it is nobility to be +a landlord."</p> + +<p>"I see by the letter of Mr. Dunning, that they have petitioned the +legislature to order an inquiry into my title. Now, we hold from the +crown——"</p> + +<p>"So much the worse, Hugh. Faugh! hold from a crown in a republican +country! I am amazed you are not ashamed to own it. Do you not know, +boy, that it has been gravely contended in a court of justice that, in +obtaining our national independence from the King of Great Britain, the +people conquered all his previous grants, which ought to be declared +void and of none effect?"</p> + +<p>"That is an absurdity of which I had not heard," I answered, laughing; +"why, the people of New York, who held all their lands under the crown, +would in that case have been conquering them for other persons! My good +grandfather and great-grandfather, both of whom actually fought and bled +in the revolution, must have been very silly thus to expose themselves +to take away their own estates, in order to give them to a set of +immigrants from New England and other parts of the world!"</p> + +<p>"Quite justly said, Hugh," added my uncle, joining in the laugh. "Nor is +this half of the argument. The State, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>too, in its corporate character, +has been playing swindler all this time. You may not know the fact, but +I as your guardian do know, that the quit-rents reserved by the crown +when it granted the lands of Mooseridge and Ravensnest, were claimed by +the State; and that, wanting money to save the people from taxes, it +commuted with us, receiving a certain gross sum in satisfaction of all +future claims."</p> + +<p>"Ay, <i>that</i> I did not know. Can the fact be shown?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly—it is well known to all old fellows like myself, for it was +a very general measure, and very generally entered into by all the +landholders. In our case, the receipts are still to be found among the +family-papers. In the cases of the older estates, such as those of the +Van Rensselaers, the equity is still stronger in their favour, since the +conditions to hold the land included an obligation to bring so many +settlers from Europe within a given time; conditions that were fulfilled +at great cost, as you may suppose, and on which, in truth, the colony +had its foundation."</p> + +<p>"How much it tells against a people's honesty to wish to forget such +facts, in a case like this!"</p> + +<p>"There is nothing forgotten, for the facts were probably never known to +those who prate about the conquered rights from the crown. As you say, +however, the civilization of a community is to be measured by its +consciousness of the existence of all principles of justice, and a +familiarity with its own history. The great bulk of the population of +New York have no active desire to invade what is right in this anti-rent +struggle, having no direct interests at stake; <i>their</i> crime is a +passive inactivity, which allows those who are either working for +political advancement, or those who are working to obtain other men's +property, to make use of them, through their own laws."</p> + +<p>"But is it not an embarrassment to such a region as that directly around +Albany, to have such tenures to the land, and for so large a body of +people to be compelled to pay rent, in the very heart of the State, as +it might be, and in situations that render it desirable to leave +enterprise as unshackled as possible?"</p> + +<p>"I am not prepared to admit this much, even, as a general principle. One +argument used by these anti-renters is, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>for instance, that the +patroons, in their leases, reserved the mill-seats. Now, what if they +did? Some one must own the mill-seats; and why not the Patroon as well +as another? To give the argument any weight, not as law, not as morals, +but as mere expediency, it must be shown that the patroons would not let +these mill-seats at as low rents as any one else; and my opinion is that +they would let them at rents of not half the amount that would be asked, +were they the property of so many individuals, scattered up and down the +country. But, admitting that so large an estate of this particular sort +has some inconveniences in that particular spot, can there be two +opinions among men of integrity about the mode of getting rid of it? +Everything has its price, and, in a business sense, everything is +entitled to its price. No people acknowledge this more than the +Americans, or practise on it so extensively. Let the Rensselaers be +tempted by such offers as will induce them to sell, but do not let them +be invaded by that most infernal of all acts of oppression, special +legislation, in order to bully or frighten them from the enjoyment of +what is rightfully their own. If the State think such a description of +property injurious in its heart, let the State imitate England in her +conduct towards the slave-holders—<i>buy</i> them out; not <i>tax</i> them out, +and <i>wrong</i> them out, and <i>annoy</i> them out. But, Hugh, enough of this at +present; we shall have much more than we want of it when we get home. +Among my letters, I have one from each of my other wards."</p> + +<p>"'Still harping on my daughter,' sir!" I answered, laughing. "I hope +that the vivacious Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, and the meek Miss Anne +Marston, are both perfectly well?"</p> + +<p>"Both in excellent health, and both write charmingly. I must really let +you see the letter of Henrietta, as I do think it is quite creditable to +her: I will step into my room and get it."</p> + +<p>I ought to let the reader into a secret here that will have some +connexion with what is to follow. A dead-set had been made at me, +previously to leaving home, to induce me to marry either of three young +ladies—Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, Miss Anne Marston, and Miss +Opportunity Newcome. The advances in the cases of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke and Miss Anne Marston came from my uncle Ro, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>who, as their +guardian, had a natural interest in their making what he was pleased to +think might be a good connexion for either; while the advances on +account of Miss Opportunity Newcome came from herself. Under such +circumstances, it may be well to say who these young ladies actually +were.</p> + +<p>Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke was the daughter of an Englishman of good +family, and some estate, who had emigrated to America and married, under +the impulse of certain theories in politics which induced him to imagine +that this was the promised land. I remember him as a disappointed and +dissatisfied widower, who was thought to be daily growing poorer under +the consequences of indiscreet investments, and who at last got to be so +very English in his wishes and longings, as to assert that the common +Muscovy was a better bird than the canvas-back! He died, however, in +time to leave his only child an estate which, under my uncle's excellent +management, was known by me to be rather more than one hundred and +seventy-nine thousand dollars, and which produced a nett eight thousand +a-year. This made Miss Henrietta a belle at once; but, having a prudent +friend in my grandmother, as yet she had not married a beggar. I knew +that uncle Ro went quite as far as was proper, in his letters, in the +way of hints touching myself; and my dear, excellent, honest-hearted, +straightforward old grandmother had once let fall an expression, in one +of her letters to myself, which induced me to think that these hints had +actually awakened as much interest in the young lady's bosom, as could +well be connected with what was necessarily nothing but curiosity.</p> + +<p>Miss Anne Marston was also an heiress, but on a very diminished scale. +She had rather more than three thousand a-year in buildings in town, and +a pretty little sum of about sixteen thousand dollars laid by out of its +savings. She was not an only child, however, having two brothers, each +of whom had already received as much as the sister, and each of whom, as +is very apt to be the case with the heirs of New York merchants, was +already in a fair way of getting rid of his portion in riotous living. +Nothing does a young American so much good, under such circumstances, as +to induce him to travel. It makes or breaks at once. If a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>downright +fool, he is plucked by European adventurers in so short a time, that the +agony is soon over. If only vain and frivolous, because young and +ill-educated, the latter being a New York endemic, but with some +foundation of native mind, he lets his whiskers grow, becomes fuzzy +about the chin, dresses better, gets to be much better mannered, soon +loses his taste for the low and vulgar indulgences of his youth, and +comes out such a gentleman as one can only make who has entirely thrown +away the precious moments of youth. If tolerably educated in boyhood, +with capacity to build on, the chances are that the scales will fall +from his eyes very fast on landing in the old world—that his ideas and +tastes will take a new turn—that he will become what nature intended +him for, an intellectual man; and that he will finally return home, +conscious alike of the evils and blessings, the advantages and +disadvantages, of his own system and country—a wiser, and it is to be +hoped a better man. How the experiment had succeeded with the Marstons, +neither myself nor my uncle knew; for they had paid their visit while we +were in the East, and had already returned to America. As for Miss Anne, +she had a mother to take care of her mind and person, though I had +learned she was pretty, sensible and discreet.</p> + +<p>Miss Opportunity Newcome was a belle of Ravensnest, a village on my own +property; a rural beauty, and of rural education, virtues, manners and +habits. As Ravensnest was not particularly advanced in civilization, or, +to make use of the common language of the country, was not a very +"aristocratic place," I shall not dwell on her accomplishments, which +did well enough for Ravensnest, but would not essentially ornament my +manuscript.</p> + +<p>Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid, who was the son of Jason, of the +house of Newcome. In using the term "house," I adopt it understandingly; +for the family had dwelt in the same tenement, a leasehold property of +which the fee was in myself, and the dwelling had been associated with +the name of Newcome from time immemorial; that is, for about eighty +years. All that time had a Newcome been the tenant of the mill, tavern, +store and farm, that lay nearest the village of Ravensnest, or Little +Nest, as it was commonly called; and it may not be impertinent to the +moral <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>of my narrative if I add that, for all that time, and for +something longer, had I and my ancestors been the landlords. I beg the +reader to bear this last fact in mind, as there will soon be occasion to +show that there was a strong disposition in certain persons to forget +it.</p> + +<p>As I have said, Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid. There was also a +brother, who was named Seneca, or Sene<i>ky</i>, as he always pronounced it +himself, the son of Ovid, the son of Jason, the first of the name at +Ravensnest. This Seneca was a lawyer, in the sense of a license granted +by the Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as by the Court of Common +Pleas, in and for the county of Washington. As there had been a sort of +hereditary education among the Newcomes for three generations, beginning +with Jason, and ending with Seneca; and, as the latter was at the bar, I +had occasionally been thrown into the society of both brother and +sister. The latter, indeed, used to be fond of visiting the Nest, as my +house was familiarly called, Ravensnest being its true name, whence +those of the "patent" and village; and as Opportunity had early +manifested a partiality for my dear old grandmother, and not less dear +young sister, who occasionally passed a few weeks with me during the +vacations, more especially in the autumns, I had many occasions of being +brought within the influence of her charms—opportunities that, I +feel bound to state, Opportunity did not neglect. I have understood that +her mother, who bore the same name, had taught Ovid the art of love by a +very similar demonstration, and had triumphed. That lady was still +living, and may be termed Opportunity the Great, while the daughter can +be styled Opportunity the Less. There was very little difference between +my own years and those of the young lady; and, as I had last passed +through the fiery ordeal at the sinister age of twenty, there was not +much danger in encountering the risk anew, now I was five years older. +But I must return to my uncle and the letter of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke.</p> + +<p>"Here it is, Hugh," cried my guardian, gaily; "and a capital letter it +is! I wish I could read the whole of it to you; but the two girls made +me promise never to show their letters to any one, which could mean only +you, before they would promise to write anything to me beyond +commonplaces. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>Now, I get their sentiments freely and naturally, and the +correspondence is a source of much pleasure to me. I think, however, I +might venture just to give you one extract."</p> + +<p>"You had better not, sir; there would be a sort of treachery in it, that +I confess I would rather not be accessary to. If Miss Coldbrooke do not +wish me to read what she writes, she can hardly wish that you should +read any of it to me."</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro glanced at me, and I fancied he seemed dissatisfied with my +<i>nonchalance</i>. He read the letter through to himself, however, laughing +here, smiling there, then muttering "capital!" "good!" "charming girl!" +"worthy of Hannah More!" &c. &c., as if just to provoke my curiosity. +But I had no desire to read "Hannah More," as any young fellow of +five-and-twenty can very well imagine, and I stood it all with the +indifference of a stoic. My guardian had to knock under, and put the +letters in his writing-desk.</p> + +<p>"Well, the girls will be glad to see us," he said, after a moment of +reflection, "and not a little surprised. In my very last letter to my +mother, I sent them word that we should not be home until October; and +now we shall see them as early as June, at least."</p> + +<p>"Patt will be delighted, I make no doubt. As for the other two young +ladies, they have so many friends and relations to care for, that I +fancy our movements give them no great concern."</p> + +<p>"Then you do both injustice, as their letters would prove. They take the +liveliest interest in our proceedings, and speak of my return as if they +look for it with the greatest expectation and joy."</p> + +<p>I made my uncle Ro a somewhat saucy answer; but fair-dealing compels me +to record it.</p> + +<p>"I dare say they do, sir," was my reply; "but what young lady does not +look with '<i>expectation</i> and joy' for the return of a friend, who is +known to have a long purse, from Paris!"</p> + +<p>"Well, Hugh, you deserve neither of those dear girls; and, if I can help +it, you shall have neither."</p> + +<p>"Thank'ee, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Poh! this is worse than silly—it is rude. I dare say <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>neither would +accept you, were you to offer to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"I trust not, sir, for her own sake. It would be a singularly palpable +demonstration were either to accept a man she barely knew, and whom she +had not seen since she was fifteen."</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro laughed, but I could see he was confoundedly vexed; and, as I +loved him with all my heart, though I did not love match-making, I +turned the discourse, in a pleasant way, on our approaching departure.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what I'll do, Hugh," cried my uncle, who was a good deal +of a boy in some things, for the reason, I suppose, that he was an old +bachelor; "I'll just have wrong names entered on board the packet, and +we'll surprise all our friends. Neither Jacob nor your man will betray +us, we know; and, for that matter, we can send them both home by the way +of England. Each of us has trunks in London to be looked after, and let +the two fellows go by the way of Liverpool. That is a good thought, and +occurred most happily."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart, sir. My fellow is of no more use to me at sea than +an automaton would be, and I shall be glad to get rid of his rueful +countenance. He is a capital servant on terrâ firma, but a perfect Niobe +on the briny main."</p> + +<p>The thing was agreed on; and, a day or two afterwards, both our +body-servants, that is to say, Jacob the black and Hubert the German, +were on their way to England. My uncle let his apartment again, for he +always maintained I should wish to bring my bride to pass a winter in +it; and we proceeded to Havre in a sort of incognito. There was little +danger of our being known on board the packet, and we had previously +ascertained that there was not an acquaintance of either in the ship. +There was a strong family resemblance between my uncle and myself, and +we passed for father and son in the ship, as old Mr. Davidson and young +Mr. Davidson, of Maryland—or Myr-r-land, as it is Doric to call that +state. We had no concern in this part of the deception, unless +abstaining from calling my supposed father "uncle," as one would +naturally do in strange society, can be so considered.</p> + +<p>The passage itself—by the way, I wish all landsmen would be as accurate +as I am here, and understand that a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>"voyage" means "out" and "home," or +"thence" and "back again," while a "passage" means from place to +place—but our passage was pregnant with no events worth recording. We +had the usual amount of good and bad weather, the usual amount of eating +and drinking, and the usual amount of ennui. The latter circumstance, +perhaps, contributed to the digesting of a further scheme of my uncle's, +which it is now necessary to state.</p> + +<p>A re-perusal of his letters and papers had induced him to think the +anti-rent movement a thing of more gravity, even than he had first +supposed. The combination on the part of the tenants, we learned also +from an intelligent New Yorker who was a fellow-passenger, extended much +further than our accounts had given us reason to believe; and it was +deemed decidedly dangerous for landlords, in many cases, to be seen on +their own estates. Insult, personal degradation, or injury, and even +death, it was thought, might be the consequences, in many cases. The +blood actually spilled had had the effect to check the more violent +demonstrations, it is true; but the latent determination to achieve +their purposes was easily to be traced among the tenants, in the face of +all their tardy professions of moderation, and a desire for nothing but +what was right. In this case, what was right was the letter and spirit +of the contracts; and nothing was plainer than the fact that these were +not what was wanted.</p> + +<p>Professions pass for nothing, with the experienced, when connected with +a practice that flatly contradicts them. It was only too apparent to all +who chose to look into the matter, and that by evidence which could not +mislead, that the great body of the tenants in various counties of New +York were bent on obtaining interests in their farms that were not +conveyed by their leases, without the consent of their landlords, and +insomuch that they were bent on doing that which should be +discountenanced by every honest man in the community. The very fact that +they supported, or in any manner connived at, the so-called "Injin" +system, spoke all that was necessary as to their motives; and, when we +come to consider that these "Injins" had already proceeded to the +extremity of shedding blood, it was sufficiently plain that things must +soon reach a crisis.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>My uncle Roger and myself reflected on all these matters calmly, and +decided on our course, I trust, with prudence. As that decision has +proved to be pregnant with consequences that are likely to affect my +future life, I shall now briefly give an outline of what induced us to +adopt it.</p> + +<p>It was all-important for us to visit Ravensnest in person, while it +might be hazardous to do so openly. The 'Nest house stood in the very +centre of the estate, and, ignorant as we were of the temper of the +tenants, it might be indiscreet to let our presence be known; and +circumstances favoured our projects of concealment. We were not expected +to reach the country at all until autumn, or "fall," as that season of +the year is poetically called in America; and this gave us the means of +reaching the property unexpectedly, and, as we hoped, undetected. Our +arrangement, then, was very simple, and will be best related in the +course of the narrative.</p> + +<p>The packet had a reasonably short passage, as we were twenty-nine days +from land to land. It was on a pleasant afternoon in May when the +hummock-like heights of Navesink were first seen from the deck; and, an +hour later, we came in sight of the tower-resembling sails of the +coasters which were congregating in the neighbourhood of the low point +of land that is so very appropriately called <i>Sandy</i> Hook. The +light-houses rose out of the water soon after, and objects on the shore +of New Jersey next came gradually out of the misty back-ground, until we +got near enough to be boarded, first by the pilot, and next by the +news-boat; the first preceding the last for a wonder, news usually being +far more active, in this good republic, than watchfulness to prevent +evil. My uncle Ro gave the crew of this news-boat a thorough scrutiny, +and, finding no one on board her whom he had ever before seen, he +bargained for a passage up to town.</p> + +<p>We put our feet on the Battery just as the clocks of New York were +striking eight. A custom-house officer had examined our carpet-bags and +permitted them to pass, and we had disburthened ourselves of the effects +in the ship, by desiring the captain to attend to them. Each of us had a +town-house, but neither would go near his dwelling; mine being only kept +up in winter, for the use of my sister and an aunt who kindly took +charge of her during the season, while my uncle's was opened +principally for his mother. At that season, we had reason to think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +neither was tenanted but by one or two old family servants; and it was +our cue also to avoid them. But "Jack Dunning," as my uncle always +called him, was rather more of a friend than of an agent; and he had a +bachelor establishment in Chamber Street that was precisely the place we +wanted. Thither, then, we proceeded, taking the route by Greenwich +Street, fearful of meeting some one in Broadway by whom we might be +recognised.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +<i>Cit.</i> "Speak, speak."<br /> +1 <i>Cit.</i> "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?"<br /> +<i>Cit.</i> "Resolved, resolved."<br /> +1 <i>Cit.</i> "First you know, Caius Marcus is chief enemy to the people."<br /> +<i>Cit.</i> "We know't, we know't."<br /> +1 <i>Cit.</i> "Let's kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price.<br /> +<span class="pi4">Is't a verdict?"</span></p> +<p class="poet"><i>Coriolanus.</i> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The</span> most inveterate Manhattanese, if he be anything of a man of the +world, must confess that New York is, after all, but a Rag-Fair sort of +a place, so far as the eye is concerned. I was particularly struck with +this fact, even at that hour, as we went stumbling along over an +atrociously bad side-walk, my eyes never at rest, as any one can +imagine, after five years of absence. I could not help noting the +incongruities; the dwellings of marble, in close proximity with +miserable, low constructions in wood; the wretched pavements, and, above +all, the country air, of a town of near four hundred thousand souls. I +very well know that many of the defects are to be ascribed to the rapid +growth of the place, which gives it a sort of hobbledehoy look; but, +being a Manhattanese by birth, I thought I might just as well own it +all, at once, if it were only for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>the information of a particular +portion of my townsmen, who may have been under a certain delusion on +the subject. As for comparing the Bay of New York with that of Naples on +the score of beauty, I shall no more be guilty of any such folly, to +gratify the cockney feelings of Broadway and Bond street, than I should +be guilty of the folly of comparing the commerce of the ancient +Parthenope with that of <i>old</i> New York, in order to excite complacency +in the bosom of some bottegajo in the Toledo, or on the Chiaja. Our +fast-growing Manhattan is a great town in its way—a wonderful +place—without a parallel, I do believe, on earth, as a proof of +enterprise and of the accumulation of business; and it is not easy to +make such a town appear ridiculous by any jibes and innuendoes that +relate to the positive things of this world, though nothing is easier +than to do it for itself by setting up to belong to the sisterhood of +such places as London, Paris, Vienna and St. Petersburg. There is too +much of the American notion of the omnipotence of numbers among us +Manhattanese, which induces us to think that the higher rank in the +scale of places is to be obtained by majorities. No, no; let us remember +the familiar axiom of "ne sutor ultra crepidum." New York is just the +queen of "business," but not yet the queen of the world. Every man who +travels ought to bring back something to the common stock of knowledge; +and I shall give a hint to my townsmen, by which I really think they may +be able to tell for themselves, as by feeling a sort of moral pulse, +when the town is rising to the level of a capital. When simplicity takes +the place of pretension, is one good rule; but, as it may require a good +deal of practice, or native taste, to ascertain this fact, I will give +another that is obvious to the senses, which will at least be strongly +symptomatic; and that is this: When <i>squares</i> cease to be called +<i>parks</i>; when horse-bazaars and fashionable streets are not called +Tattersalls and Bond street; when <i>Washington</i> Market is rechristened +<i>Bear</i> Market, and Franklin and Fulton and other great philosophers and +inventors are plucked of the unmerited honours of having shambles named +after them; when <i>commercial</i> is not used as a prefix to emporium; when +people can return from abroad without being asked "if they are +reconciled to their country," and strangers are not interrogated at the +second question, "how do you like <i>our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> city?</i>" then may it be believed +that the town is beginning to go alone, and that it may set up for +itself.</p> + +<p>Although New York is, out of all question, decidedly provincial, +labouring under the peculiar vices of provincial habits and provincial +modes of thinking, it contains many a man of the world, and some, too, +who have never quitted their own firesides. Of this very number was the +Jack Dunning, as my uncle Ro called him, to whose house in Chamber +street we were now proceeding.</p> + +<p>"If we were going anywhere but to Dunning's," said my uncle, as we +turned out of Greenwich street, "I should have no fear of being +recognised by the servants; for no one here thinks of keeping a man six +months. Dunning, however, is of the old school, and does not like new +faces; so he will have no Irishman at his door, as is the case with two +out of three of the houses at which one calls, now-a-days."</p> + +<p>In another minute we were at the bottom of Mr. Dunning's "stoup"—what +an infernal contrivance it is to get in and out at the door by, in a +hotty-cold climate like ours!—but, there we were, and I observed that +my uncle hesitated.</p> + +<p>"<i>Parlez au</i> <span class="smcap">Suisse</span>," said I; "ten to one he is fresh from some +Bally-this, or Bally-that."</p> + +<p>"No, no; it must be old Garry the nigger"—my uncle Ro was of the old +school himself, and <i>would</i> say "nigger"—"Jack can never have parted +with Garry."</p> + +<p>"Garry" was the diminutive of Garret, a somewhat common Dutch christian +name among us.</p> + +<p>We rang, and the door opened—in about five minutes. Although the terms +"aristocrat" and "aristocracy" are much in men's mouths in America just +now, as well as those of "feudal" and the "middle ages," and this, too, +as applied to modes of living as well as to leasehold tenures, there is +but one porter in the whole country; and he belongs to the White House, +at Washington. I am afraid even that personage, royal porter as he is, +is often out of the way; and the reception he gives when he <i>is</i> there, +is not of the most brilliant and princely character. When we had waited +three minutes, my uncle Ro said—</p> + +<p>"I am afraid Garry is taking a nap by the kitchen-fire; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>I'll try him +again."</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro did try again, and, two minutes later, the door opened.</p> + +<p>"What is your pleasure?" demanded the <i>Suisse</i>, with a strong brogue.</p> + +<p>My uncle started back as if he had met a sprite; but he asked if Mr. +Dunning was at home.</p> + +<p>"He is, indeed, sir."</p> + +<p>"Is he alone, or is he with company?"</p> + +<p>"He is, indeed."</p> + +<p>"But <i>what</i> is he, indeed?"</p> + +<p>"He is <i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>"Can you take the trouble to explain which <i>that</i> it is? Has he company, +or is he alone?"</p> + +<p>"Just <i>that</i>, sir. Walk in, and he'll be charmed to see you. A fine +gentleman is his honour, and pleasure it is to live with him, I'm sure!"</p> + +<p>"How long is it since you left Ireland, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it a mighty bit, now, yer honour!" answered Barney, closing the +door. "T'irteen weeks, if it's one day."</p> + +<p>"Well, go ahead, and show us the way. This is a bad omen, Hugh, to find +that Jack Dunning, of all men in the country, should have changed his +servant—good, quiet, lazy, respectable, old, grey-headed Garry the +nigger—for such a bogtrotter as that fellow, who climbs those stairs as +if accustomed only to ladders."</p> + +<p>Dunning was in his library on the second floor, where he passed most of +his evenings. His surprise was equal to that which my uncle had just +experienced, when he saw us two standing before him. A significant +gesture, however, caused him to grasp his friend and client's hand in +silence; and nothing was said until the <i>Swiss</i> had left the room, +although the fellow stood with the door in his hand a most inconvenient +time, just to listen to what might pass between the host and his guests. +At length we got rid of him, honest, well-meaning fellow that he was, +after all; and the door was closed.</p> + +<p>"My last letters have brought you home, Roger?" said Jack, the moment he +<i>could</i> speak; for feeling, as well as caution, had something to do with +his silence.</p> + +<p>"They have, indeed. A great change must have come <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>over the country, by +what I hear; and one of the very worst symptoms is that you have turned +away Garry, and got an Irishman in his place."</p> + +<p>"Ah! old men must die, as well as old principles, I find. My poor fellow +went off in a fit last week, and I took that Irishman as a <i>pis aller</i>. +After losing poor Garry, who was born a slave in my father's house, I +became indifferent, and accepted the first comer from the intelligence +office."</p> + +<p>"We must be careful, Dunning, not to give up too soon. But hear my +story, and then to other matters."</p> + +<p>My uncle then explained his wish to be incognito, and his motive. +Dunning listened attentively, but seemed uncertain whether to dissent or +approve. The matter was discussed briefly, and then it was postponed for +further consideration.</p> + +<p>"But how comes on this great moral dereliction, called anti-rentism? Is +it on the wane, or the increase?"</p> + +<p>"On the wane, to the eye, perhaps; but on the increase so far as +principles, the right, and facts, are concerned. The necessity of +propitiating votes is tempting politicians of all sides to lend +themselves to it; and there is imminent danger now that atrocious wrongs +will be committed under the form of law."</p> + +<p>"In what way <i>can</i> the law touch an existing contract? The Supreme Court +of the United States will set that right."</p> + +<p>"That is the only hope of the honest, let me tell you. It is folly to +expect that a body composed of such men as usually are sent to the State +Legislature, can resist the temptation to gain power by conciliating +numbers. <i>That is out of the question.</i> Individuals of these bodies may +resist, but the tendency there will be as against the few, and in favour +of the many, bolstering their theories by clap-traps and slang political +phrases. The scheme to tax the rents, under the name of quit-rents, will +be resorted to, in the first place."</p> + +<p>"That will be a most iniquitous proceeding, and would justify resistance +just as much as our ancestors were justified in resisting the taxation +of Great Britain."</p> + +<p>"It would more so, for here we have a written covenant to render +taxation equal. The landlord already pays one tax on each of these +farms—a full and complete tax, that is reserved from the rent in the +original bargain with the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>tenant; and now the wish is to tax the rents +themselves; and this not to raise revenue, for that is confessedly not +wanted, but most clearly with a design to increase the inducements for +the landlords to part with their property. If that can be done, the +sales will be made on the principle that none but the tenant must be, as +indeed no one else <i>can</i> be, the purchaser; and then we shall see a +queer exhibition—men parting with their property under the pressure of +a clamour that is backed by as much law as can be pressed into its +service, with a monopoly of price on the side of the purchaser, and all +in a country professing the most sensitive love of liberty, where the +prevailing class of politicians are free-trade men!"</p> + +<p>"There is no end of these inconsistencies among politicians."</p> + +<p>"There is no end of knavery when men submit to 'noses,' instead of +principles. Call things by their right names, Ro, as they deserve to be. +This matter is so plain, that he who runs can read."</p> + +<p>"But will this scheme of taxation succeed? It does not effect us, for +instance, as our leases are for three lives."</p> + +<p>"Oh! that is nothing; for you they contemplate a law that will forbid +the letting of land, for the future, for a period longer than five +years. Hugh's leases will soon be falling in, and then he can't make a +slave of any man for a longer period than five years."</p> + +<p>"Surely no one is so silly as to think of passing such a law, with a +view to put down aristocracy, and to benefit the tenant!" I cried, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Ay, you may laugh, young sir," resumed Jack Dunning; "but such <i>is</i> the +intention. I know very well what will be your course of reasoning; you +will say, the longer the lease, the better for the tenant, if the +bargain be reasonably good; and landlords cannot ask more for the use of +their lands than they are really worth in this country, there happening +to be more lands than there are men to work it. No, no; landlords rather +get less for their lands than they are worth, instead of more, for that +plain reason. To compel the tenant to take a lease, therefore, for a +term as short as five years, is to injure him, you think; to place him +more at the control of his landlord, through the little interests +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>connected with the cost and trouble of moving, and through the natural +desire he may possess to cut the meadows he has seeded, and to get the +full benefit of manure he has made and carted. I see how you reason, +young sir; but you are behind the age—you are sadly behind the age."</p> + +<p>"The age is a queer one, if I am! All over the world it is believed that +long leases are favours, or advantages, to tenants; and nothing can make +it otherwise, <i>cæteris paribus</i>. Then what good will the tax do, after +violating right and moral justice, if not positive law, to lay it? On a +hundred dollars of rent, I should have to pay some fifty-five cents of +taxes, as I am assessed on other things at Ravensnest; and does anybody +suppose I will give up an estate that has passed through five +generations of my family, on account of a tribute like that!"</p> + +<p>"Mighty well, sir—mighty well, sir! This is fine talk; but I would +advise you not to speak of <i>your</i> ancestors at all. Landlords can't name +<i>their</i> ancestors with impunity just now."</p> + +<p>"I name mine only as showing a reason for a natural regard for my +paternal acres."</p> + +<p>"That you might do, if you were a tenant; but not as a landlord. In a +landlord, it is aristocratic and intolerable pride, and to the last +degree offensive—as Dogberry says, 'tolerable and not to be endured.'"</p> + +<p>"But it is a <i>fact</i>, and it is natural one should have some feelings +connected with it."</p> + +<p>"The more it is a fact, the less it will be liked. People associate +social position with wealth and <i>estates</i>, but not with farms; and the +longer one has such things in a family, the worse for them!"</p> + +<p>"I do believe, Jack," put in my uncle Ro, "that the rule which prevails +all over the rest of the world is reversed here, and that with us it is +thought a family's claim is lessened, and not increased, by time."</p> + +<p>"To be sure it is!" answered Dunning, without giving me a chance to +speak. "Do you know that you wrote me a very silly letter once, from +Switzerland, about a family called de Blonay, that had been seated on +the same rock, in a little castle, some six or eight hundred years, and +the sort of respect and veneration the circumstance awakened? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Well, all +that was very foolish, as you will find when you pay your incognito +visit to Ravensnest. I will not anticipate the result of your schooling; +but, go to school."</p> + +<p>"As the Rensselaers and other great landlords, who have states on +durable leases, will not be very likely to give them up, except on terms +that will suit themselves, for a tax as insignificant as that mentioned +by Hugh," said my uncle, "what does the legislature anticipate from +passing the law?"</p> + +<p>"That its members will be called the friends of the people, and not the +friends of the landlords. Would any man tax his friends, if he could +help it?"</p> + +<p>"But what will that portion of the people who compose the anti-renters +gain by such a measure?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing; and their complaints will be just as loud, and their longings +as active, as ever. Nothing that can have any effect on what they wish, +will be accomplished by any legislation in the matter. One committee of +the assembly has actually reported, you may remember, that the State +might assume the lands, and sell them to the tenants, or some one else; +or something of the sort."</p> + +<p>"The constitution of the United States must be Hugh's ægis."</p> + +<p>"And that alone will protect him, let me tell you. But for that noble +provision of the constitution of the Federal Government, his estate +would infallibly go for one-half its true value. There is no use in +mincing things, or in affecting to believe men more honest than they +are—<span class="smcap">an infernal feeling of selfishness is so much talked of, and cited, +and referred to, on all occasions, in this country, that a man almost +renders himself ridiculous who appears to rest on principle.</span>"</p> + +<p>"Have you heard what the tenants of Ravensnest aim at, in particular?"</p> + +<p>"They want to get Hugh's lands, that's all; nothing more, I can assure +you."</p> + +<p>"On what conditions, pray?" demanded I.</p> + +<p>"As you 'light of chaps,' to use a saying of their own. Some even +profess a willingness to pay a fair price."</p> + +<p>"But I do not wish to sell for even a fair price. I have no desire to +part with property that is endeared to me by family feeling and +association. I have an expensive house <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>and establishment on my estate, +which obtains its principal value from the circumstance that it is so +placed that I can look after my interests with the least inconvenience +to myself. What can I do with the money but buy another estate? and I +prefer this that I have."</p> + +<p>"Poh! boy, you can shave notes, you'll recollect," said uncle Ro, drily. +"The calling is decided to be honourable by the highest tribunal; and no +man should be above his business."</p> + +<p>"You have no right, sir, in a free country," returned the caustic Jack +Dunning, "to prefer one estate to another, more especially when other +people want it. Your lands are leased to honest, hard-working tenants, +who can eat their dinners without silver forks, and whose ancestors——"</p> + +<p>"Stop!" I cried, laughing; "I bar all ancestry. No man has a right to +ancestry in a free country, you'll remember!"</p> + +<p>"That means landlord-ancestry; as for tenant-ancestry, one can have a +pedigree as long as the Maison de Levis. No, sir; every tenant you have +has every right to demand that his sentiment of family feeling should be +respected. His father planted that orchard, and he loves the apples +better than any other apples in the world——"</p> + +<p>"And my father procured the grafts, and made him a present of them."</p> + +<p>"His grandfather cleared that field, and converted its ashes into pots +and pearls——"</p> + +<p>"And <i>my</i> grandfather received that year ten shillings of rent, for land +off which his received two hundred and fifty dollars for his ashes."</p> + +<p>"His great-grandfather, honest and excellent man—nay, super-honest and +confiding creature—first 'took up' the land when a wilderness, and with +his own hands felled the timber, and sowed the wheat."</p> + +<p>"And got his pay twenty-fold for it all, or he would not have been fool +enough to do it. I had a great-grandfather, too; and I hope it will not +be considered aristocratic if I venture to hint as much. He—a +dishonest, pestilent knave, no doubt—leased that very lot for six years +without any rent at all, in order that the 'poor, confiding creature' +might make himself comfortable, before he commenced paying his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>sixpence +or shilling an acre rent for the remainder of three lives, with a moral +certainty of getting a renewal on the most liberal terms known to a new +country; and who knew, the whole time, he could buy land in fee, within +ten miles of his door, but who thought <i>this</i> a better bargain than +<i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>"Enough of this folly," cried uncle Ro, joining in the laugh; "we all +know that, in our excellent America, he who has the highest claims to +anything, must affect to have the least, to stifle the monster envy; +and, being of one mind as to principles, let us come to facts. What of +the girls, Jack, and of my honoured mother?"</p> + +<p>"She, noble, heroic woman! she is at Ravensnest at this moment; and, as +the girls would not permit her to go alone, they are all with her."</p> + +<p>"And did you, Jack Dunning, suffer them to go unattended into a part of +the country that is in open rebellion?" demanded my uncle, +reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Come, come! Hodge Littlepage, this is very sublime as a theory, but not +so clear when reduced to practice. I did not go with Mrs. Littlepage and +her young fry, for the good and substantial reason that I did not wish +to be 'tarred and feathered.'"</p> + +<p>"So you leave them to run the risk of being 'tarred and feathered' in +your stead?"</p> + +<p>"Say what you will about the cant of freedom that is becoming so common +among us, and from which we were once so free; say what you will, Ro, of +the inconsistency of those who raise the cry of 'feudality,' and +'aristocracy,' and 'nobility,' at the very moment they are manifesting a +desire for exclusive rights and privileges in their own persons; say +what you will of dishonesty, envy, that prominent American vice, +knavery, covetousness, and selfishness; and I will echo all you can +utter;—but do not say that a woman can be in serious danger among any +material body of Americans, even if anti-renters, and mock-redskins in +the bargain."</p> + +<p>"I believe you are right there, Jack, on reflection. Pardon my warmth; +but I have lately been living in the old world, and in a country in +which women were not long since carried to the scaffold on account of +their politics."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><p>"Because they meddled with politics. Your mother is in no serious +danger, though it needs nerve in a woman to be able to think so. There +are few women in the State, and fewer of her time of life anywhere, that +would do what she has done; and I give the girls great credit for +sticking by her. Half the young men in town are desperate at the thought +of three such charming creatures thus exposing themselves to insult. +Your mother has only been sued."</p> + +<p>"Sued! Whom does she owe, or what can she have done to have brought this +indignity on her?"</p> + +<p>"You know, or ought to know, how it is in this country, Littlepage; we +must have a little law, even when most bent on breaking it. A downright, +straight-forward rascal, who openly sets law at defiance, is a wonder. +Then we have a great talk of liberty when plotting to give it the +deepest stab; and religion even gets to share in no small portion of our +vices. Thus it is that the anti-renters have dragged in the law in aid +of their designs. I understand one of the Rensselaers has been sued for +money borrowed in a ferry-boat to help him across a river under his own +door, and for potatoes bought by his wife in the streets of Albany!"</p> + +<p>"But neither of the Rensselaers need borrow money to cross the ferry, as +the ferry-men would trust him; and no lady of the Rensselaer family ever +bought potatoes in the streets of Albany, I'll answer for it."</p> + +<p>"You have brought back some knowledge from your travels, I find!" said +Jack Dunning, with comic gravity. "Your mother writes me that <i>she</i> has +been sued for twenty-seven pairs of shoes furnished her by a shoemaker +whom she never saw, or heard of, until she received the summons!"</p> + +<p>"This, then, is one of the species of annoyances that has been adopted +to bully the landlords out of their property?"</p> + +<p>"It is; and if the landlords have recourse even to the covenants of +their leases, solemnly and deliberately made, and as solemnly guarantied +by a fundamental law, the cry is raised of 'aristocracy' and +'oppression' by these very men, and echoed by many of the creatures who +get seats in high places among us—or what <i>would</i> be high places, if +filled with men worthy of their trusts."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p><p>"I see you do not mince your words, Jack."</p> + +<p>"Why should I? Words are all that is left me. I am of no more weight in +the government of this State than that Irishman, who let you in just +now, will be, five years hence—less, for he will vote to suit a +majority; and, as I shall vote understandingly, my vote will probably do +no one any good."</p> + +<p>Dunning belonged to a school that mingles a good deal of speculative and +impracticable theory, with a great deal of sound and just principles; +but who render themselves useless because they will admit of no +compromises. He did not belong to the class of American <i>doctrinaires</i>, +however, or to those who contend—no, not <i>contend</i>, for no one does +that any longer in this country, whatever may be his opinion on the +subject—but those who <i>think</i> that political power, as in the last +resort, should be the property of the few; for he was willing New York +should have a very broad constituency. Nevertheless, he was opposed to +the universal suffrage, in its wide extent, that does actually exist; as +I suppose quite three-fourths of the whole population are opposed to it, +in their hearts, though no political man of influence, now existing, has +the moral calibre necessary to take the lead in putting it down. Dunning +deferred to principles, and not to men. He well knew that an infallible +whole was not to be composed of fallible parts; and while he thought +majorities ought to determine many things, that there are rights and +principles that are superior to even such <i>unanimity</i> as man can +manifest, and much more to their majorities. But Dunning had no selfish +views connected with his political notions, wanting no office, and +feeling no motive to affect that which he neither thought nor wished. He +never had quitted home, or it is highly probable his views of the +comparative abuses of the different systems that prevail in the world +would have been essentially modified. Those he saw had unavoidably a +democratic source, there being neither monarch nor aristocrat to produce +any other; and, under such circumstances, as abuses certainly abound, it +is not at all surprising that he sometimes a little distorted facts, and +magnified evils.</p> + +<p>"And my noble, high-spirited, and venerable mother has actually gone to +the Nest to face the enemy!" exclaimed my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>uncle, after a thoughtful +pause.</p> + +<p>"She has, indeed; and the noble, high-spirited, though not venerable, +young ladies have gone with her," returned Mr. Dunning, in his caustic +way.</p> + +<p>"All three, do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Every one of them—Martha, Henrietta, and Anne."</p> + +<p>"I am surprised that the last should have done so. Anne Marston is such +a meek, quiet, peace-loving person, that I should think <i>she</i> would have +preferred remaining, as she naturally might have done, without exciting +remark, with her own mother."</p> + +<p>"She has not, nevertheless. Mrs. Littlepage <i>would</i> brave the +anti-renters, and the three maidens <i>would</i> be her companions. I dare +say, Ro, you know how it is with the gentle sex, when they make up their +minds?"</p> + +<p>"My girls are all good girls, and have given me very little trouble," +answered my uncle, complacently.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I dare say that may be true. You have only been absent from home +five years, this trip."</p> + +<p>"An attentive guardian, notwithstanding, since I left you as a +substitute. Has my mother written to you since her arrival among the +hosts of the Philistines?"</p> + +<p>"She has, indeed, Littlepage," answered Dunning, gravely; "I have heard +from her three times, for she writes to urge my not appearing on the +estate. I did intend to pay her a visit; but she tells me that it might +lead to a violent scene, and can do no good. As the rents will not be +due until autumn, and Master Hugh is now of age and was to be here to +look after his own affairs, I have seen no motive for incurring the risk +of the tarring and feathering. We American lawyers, young gentleman, +wear no wigs."</p> + +<p>"Does my mother write herself, or employ another?" inquired my uncle, +with interest.</p> + +<p>"She honours me with her own hand. Your mother writes much better than +you do yourself, Roger."</p> + +<p>"That is owing to her once having carried chain, as she would say +herself. Has Martha written to you?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Sweet little Patty and I are bosom friends, as you know."</p> + +<p>"And does she say anything of the Indian and the negro?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>"Jaaf and Susquesus? To be sure she does. Both are living still, and +both are well. I saw them myself, and even ate of their venison, so +lately as last winter."</p> + +<p>"Those old fellows must have each lived a great deal more than his +century, Jack. They were with my grandfather in the old French war, as +active, useful men—older, then, than <i>my</i> grandfather!"</p> + +<p>"Ay! a nigger or a redskin, before all others, for holding on to life, +when they have been temperate. Let me see—that expedition of +Abercrombie's was about eighty years since; why, these fellows must be +well turned of their hundred, though Jaap is rather the oldest, judging +from appearances."</p> + +<p>"I believe no one knows the age of either. A hundred each has been +thought, now, for many years. Susquesus was surprisingly active, too, +when I last saw him—like a healthy man of eighty."</p> + +<p>"He has failed of late, though he actually shot a deer, as I told you, +last winter. Both the old fellows stray down to the Nest, Martha writes +me; and the Indian is highly scandalized at the miserable imitations of +his race that are now abroad. I have even heard that he and Yop have +actually contemplated taking the field against them. Seneca Newcome is +their especial aversion."</p> + +<p>"How is Opportunity?" I inquired. "Does she take any part in this +movement?"</p> + +<p>"A decided one, I hear. She is anti-rent, while she wishes to keep on +good terms with her landlord; and that is endeavouring to serve God and +Mammon. She is not the first, however, by a thousand, that wears two +faces in this business."</p> + +<p>"Hugh has a deep admiration of Opportunity," observed my uncle, "and you +had needs be tender in your strictures. The modern Seneca, I take it, is +dead against us?"</p> + +<p>"Seneky wishes to go to the legislature, and of course he is on the side +of votes. Then his brother is a tenant at the mill, and naturally wishes +to be the landlord. He is also interested in the land himself. One thing +has struck me in this controversy as highly worthy of notice; and it is +the <i>naïveté</i> with which men reconcile the obvious longings of +covetousness with what they are pleased to fancy the principles of +liberty! When a man has worked a farm a cer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>tain number of years, he +boldly sets up the doctrine that the fact itself gives him a high moral +claim to possess it for ever. A moment's examination will expose the +fallacy by which these sophists apply the flattering unction to their +souls. They work their farms under a lease, and in virtue of its +covenants. Now, in a moral sense, all that time can do in such a case, +is to render these covenants the more sacred, and consequently more +binding; but these worthies, whose morality is all on one side, imagine +that these time-honoured covenants give them a right to fly from their +own conditions during their existence, and to raise pretensions far +exceeding anything they themselves confer, the moment they cease."</p> + +<p>"Poh, poh! Jack; there is no need of refining at all, to come at the +merits of such a question. This is a civilized country, or it is not. If +it be a civilized country, it will respect the rights of property, and +its own laws; and if the reverse, it will not respect them. As for +setting up the doctrine, at this late day, when millions and millions +are invested in this particular species of property, that the leasehold +tenure is opposed to the <i>spirit</i> of institutions of which it has +substantially formed a part, ever since those institutions have +themselves had an existence, it requires a bold front, and more capacity +than any man at Albany possesses, to make the doctrines go down. Men may +run off with the notion that the <i>tendencies</i> to certain abuses, which +mark every system, form their spirit; but this is a fallacy that a very +little thought will correct. Is it true that proposals have actually +been made, by these pretenders to liberty, to appoint commissioners to +act as arbitrators between the landlords and tenants, and to decide +points that no one has any right to raise?"</p> + +<p>"True as Holy Writ; and a regular 'Star Chamber' tribunal it would be! +It is wonderful, after all, how extremes do meet!"</p> + +<p>"That is as certain as the return of the sun after night. But let us now +talk of our project, Jack, and of the means of getting among these +self-deluded men—deluded by their own covetousness—without being +discovered; for I am determined to see them, and to judge of their +motives and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>conduct for myself."</p> + +<p>"Take care of the tar-barrel, and of the pillow-case of feathers, +Roger!"</p> + +<p>"I shall endeavour so to do."</p> + +<p>We then discussed the matter before us at length and leisurely. I shall +not relate all that was said, as it would be going over the same ground +twice, but refer the reader to the regular narrative. At the usual hour, +we retired to our beds, retaining the name of Davidson, as convenient +and prudent. Next day Mr. John Dunning busied himself in our behalf, and +made himself exceedingly useful to us. In his character of an old +bachelor, he had many acquaintances at the theatre; and through his +friends of the green-room he supplied each of us with a wig. Both my +uncle and myself spoke German reasonably well, and our original plan was +to travel in the characters of immigrant trinket and essence pedlars. +But I had a fancy for a hand-organ and a monkey; and it was finally +agreed that Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, senior, was to undertake this +adventure with a box of cheap watches and gilded trinkets; while Mr. +Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior, was to commence his travels at home, in +the character of a music-grinder. Modesty will not permit me to say all +I might, in favour of my own skill in music in general; but I sang well +for an amateur, and played, both on the violin and flute, far better +than is common.</p> + +<p>Everything was arranged in the course of the following day, our wigs of +themselves completely effecting all the disguises that were necessary. +As for my uncle, he was nearly bald, and a wig was no great encumbrance; +but my shaggy locks gave me some trouble. A little clipping, however, +answered the turn; and I had a hearty laugh at myself, in costume, that +afternoon, before Dunning's dressing-room glass. We got round the felony +law, about being armed and disguised, by carrying no weapons but our +tools in the way of trade.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +And she hath smiles to earth unknown——<br /> +Smiles, that with motion of their own<br /> +Do spread, and sink, and rise;<br /> +That come and go with endless play<br /> +And ever, as they pass away,<br /> +Are hidden in her eyes."</p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Wordsworth.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">I was</span> early in costume the following morning. I question if my own +mother could have known me, had she lived long enough to see the +whiskers sprout on my cheeks, and to contemplate my countenance as a +man. I went into Dunning's library, drew the little hurdy-gurdy from its +hiding-place, slung it, and began to play St. Patrick's Day in the +Morning, with spirit, and, I trust I may add, with execution. I was in +the height of the air, when the door opened, and Barney thrust his +high-cheeked-bone face into the room, his mouth as wide open as that of +a frozen porker.</p> + +<p>"Where the divil did ye come from?" demanded the new footman, with the +muscles of that vast aperture of his working from grin to grim, and grim +to grin again. "Yee's wilcome to the tchune; but how comes ye here?"</p> + +<p>"I coomes vrom Halle, in Preussen. Vat isht your vaterland?"</p> + +<p>"Be yees a Jew?"</p> + +<p>"Nein—I isht a goot Christian. Vilt you haf Yankee Tootle?"</p> + +<p>"Yankee T'under! Ye'll wake up the masther, and he'll be displais'd, +else ye might work upon t'at tchune till the end of time. That I should +hear it here, in my own liberary, and ould Ireland t'ree thousand +laigues away!"</p> + +<p>A laugh from Dunning interrupted the dialogue, when Barney vanished, no +doubt anticipating some species of American punishment for a presumed +delinquency. Whether the blundering, well-meaning, honest fellow really +ascertained who we were that breakfasted with his master, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>I do not +know; but we got the meal and left the house without seeing his face +again, Dunning having a young yellow fellow to do the service of the +table.</p> + +<p>I need scarcely say that I felt a little awkward at finding myself in +the streets of New York in such a guise; but the gravity and +self-possession of my uncle were a constant source of amusement to me. +He actually sold a watch on the wharf before the boat left it, though I +imputed his success to the circumstance that his price was what a +brother dealer, who happened to be trading in the same neighbourhood, +pronounced "onconscionably low." We took a comfortable state-room +between us, under the pretence of locking-up our property, and strolled +about the boat, gaping and looking curious, as became our class.</p> + +<p>"Here are at least a dozen people that I know," said my uncle, as we +were lounging around—loafing around, is the modern Doric—about the +time that the boat was paddling past Fort Washington; "I have +reconnoitred in all quarters, and find quite a dozen. I have been +conversing with an old school-fellow, and one with whom I have ever +lived in tolerable intimacy, for the last ten minutes, and find my +broken English and disguise are perfect. I am confident my dear mother +herself would not recognise me."</p> + +<p>"We can then amuse ourselves with my grandmother and the young ladies," +I answered, "when we reach the Nest. For my part, it strikes me that we +had better keep our own secret to the last moment."</p> + +<p>"Hush! As I live, there is Seneca Newcome this moment! He is coming this +way, and we must be Germans again."</p> + +<p>Sure enough, there was 'Squire Seneky, as the honest farmers around the +Nest call him; though many of them must change their practices, or it +will shortly become so absurd to apply the term "honest" to them, that +no one will have the hardihood to use it. Newcome came slowly towards +the forecastle, on which we were standing; and my uncle determined to +get into conversation with him, as a means of further proving the virtue +of our disguises, as well as possibly of opening the way to some +communications that might facilitate our visit to the Nest. With this +view, the pretended pedlar drew a watch from his pocket, and, offer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>ing +it meekly to the inspection of the quasi lawyer, he said—</p> + +<p>"Puy a vatch, shentlemans?"</p> + +<p>"Hey! what? Oh! a watch," returned Seneca, in that high, condescending, +vulgar key, with which the salt of the earth usually affect to treat +those they evidently think much beneath them in intellect, station, or +some other great essential, at the very moment they are bursting with +envy, and denouncing as aristocrats all who are above them. "Hey! a +watch, is it? What countryman are you, friend?"</p> + +<p>"A Charmans—ein Teutscher."</p> + +<p>"A German—ine Tycher is the place you come from, I s'pose?"</p> + +<p>"Nein—ein Teutscher isht a Charman."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I understand. How long have you been in Ameriky?"</p> + +<p>"Twelf moont's."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's most long enough to make you citizens. Where do you live?"</p> + +<p>"Nowhere; I lifs jest asht it happens—soometimes here, ant soometimes +dere."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay! I understand—no legal domicile, but lead a wandering life. +Have you many of these watches for sale?"</p> + +<p>"Yees—I haf asht many as twenty. Dey are as sheep as dirt, and go like +pig clocks."</p> + +<p>"And what may be your price for this?"</p> + +<p>"Dat you can haf for only eight tollars. Effery poty wilt say it is +golt, dat doesn't know petter."</p> + +<p>"Oh! it isn't gold then—I swan!"—what this oath meant I never exactly +knew, though I suppose it to be a puritan mode of saying "I swear!" the +attempts to cheat the devil in this way being very common among their +pious descendants, though even "Smith Thompson" himself can do no man +any good in such a case of conscience—"I swan! you come plaguy near +taking even me in! Will you come down from that price any?"</p> + +<p>"If you wilt gif me some atfice, perhaps I may. You look like a goot +shentlemans, and one dat woultn't sheat a poor Charmans; ant effery poty +wants so much to sheat de poor Charmans, dat I will take six, if you +will drow in some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>atfice."</p> + +<p>"Advice? You have come to the right man for that! Walk a little this +way, where we shall be alone. What is the natur' of the matter—action +on the case, or a tort?"</p> + +<p>"Nein, nein! it isht not law dat I wants, put atfice."</p> + +<p>"Well, but advice leads to law, ninety-nine times in a hundred."</p> + +<p>"Ya, ya!" answered the pedlar, laughing; "dat may be so; put it isht not +what I vants—I vants to know vere a Charman can trafel wit' his goots +in de coontry, and not in de pig towns."</p> + +<p>"I understand you—six dollars, hey! That sounds high for such a looking +watch"—he had just before mistaken it for gold—"but I'm always the +poor man's friend, and despise aristocracy"—what Seneca hated with the +strongest hate, he ever fancied he <i>despised</i> the most, and by +aristocracy he merely understood gentlemen and ladies, in the true +signification of the words—"why, I'm always ready to help along the +honest citizen. If you could make up your mind, now, to part with this +one watch for nawthin', I think I could tell you a part of the country +where you might sell the other nineteen in a week."</p> + +<p>"Goot!" exclaimed my uncle, cheerfully. "Take him—he ist your broberty, +and wilcome. Only show me de town where I canst sell de nineteen +udders."</p> + +<p>Had my uncle Ro been a true son of peddling, he would have charged a +dollar extra on each of the nineteen, and made eleven dollars by his +present liberality.</p> + +<p>"It is no town at all—only a township," returned the literal Seneca. +"Did you expect it would be a city?"</p> + +<p>"Vat cares I? I woult radder sell my vatches to goot, honest, country +men, dan asht to de best burghers in de land."</p> + +<p>"You're my man! The right spirit is in you. I hope you're no patroon—no +aristocrat?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know vat isht badroon, or vat isht arishtocrat."</p> + +<p>"No! You are a happy man in your ignorance. A patroon is a nobleman who +owns another man's land; and an aristocrat is a body that thinks himself +better than his neighbours, friend."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p> + +"Well, den, I isht no badroon, for I don't own no land at all, not even +mine own; and I ishn't petter asht no poty at all."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you be; you've only to think so, and you'll be the greatest +gentleman of 'em all."</p> + +<p>"Well, den, I will dry and dink so, and be petter asht de greatest +shentlemans of dem all. But dat won't do, nudder, as dat vilt make me +petter dan you; for you are one of de greatest of dem all, shentlemans."</p> + +<p>"Oh! as for me, let me alone. I scorn being on their level. I go for +'Down with the rent!' and so'll you, too, afore you've been a week in +our part of the country."</p> + +<p>"Vat isht de rent dat you vants to git down?"</p> + +<p>"It's a thing that's opposed to the spirit of the institutions, as you +can see by my feelin's at this very moment. But no matter! I'll keep the +watch, if you say so, and show you the way into that part of the +country, as your pay."</p> + +<p>"Agreet, shentlemans. Vat I vants is atfice, and vat you vants is a +vatch."</p> + +<p>Here uncle Ro laughed so much like himself, when he ought clearly to +have laughed in broken English, that I was very much afraid he might +give the alarm to our companion; but he did not. From that time, the +best relations existed between us and Seneca, who, in the course of the +day, recognised us by sundry smiles and winks, though I could plainly +see he did not like the anti-aristocratic principle sufficiently to wish +to seem too intimate with us. Before we reached the islands, however, he +gave us directions where to meet him in the morning, and we parted, when +the boat stopped alongside of the pier at Albany that afternoon, the +best friends in the world.</p> + +<p>"Albany! dear, good old Albany!" exclaimed my uncle Ro, as we stopped on +the draw of the bridge to look at the busy scene in the basin, where +literally hundreds of canal-boats were either lying to discharge or to +load, or were coming and going, to say nothing of other craft; "dear, +good old Albany! you are a town to which I ever return with pleasure, +for you at least never disappoint me. A first-rate country-place you +are; and, though I miss your quaint old Dutch church, and your +rustic-looking old <i>Eng<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>lish</i> church from the centre of your principal +street, almost every change <i>you</i> make is respectable. I know nothing +that tells so much against you as changing the name of Market street by +the paltry imitation of Broadway; but, considering that a horde of +Yankees have come down upon you since the commencement of the present +century, you are lucky that the street was not called the Appian Way. +But, excellent old Albany! whom even the corruptions of politics cannot +change in the core, lying against thy hillside, and surrounded with thy +picturesque scenery, there is an air of respectability about thee that I +admire, and a quiet prosperity that I love. Yet, how changed since my +boyhood! Thy simple stoups have all vanished; thy gables are +disappearing; marble and granite are rising in thy streets, too, but +they take honest shapes, and are free from the ambition of mounting on +stilts; thy basin has changed the whole character of thy once +semi-sylvan, semi-commercial river; but it gives to thy young manhood an +appearance of abundance and thrift that promise well for thy age!"</p> + +<p>The reader may depend on it that I laughed heartily at this rhapsody; +for I could hardly enter into my uncle's feelings. Albany is certainly a +very good sort of a place, and relatively a more respectable-looking +town than the "<i>commercial</i> emporium," which, after all, externally, is +a mere huge expansion of a very marked mediocrity, with the pretension +of a capital in its estimate of itself. But Albany lays no claim to be +anything more than a provincial town, and in that class it is highly +placed. By the way, there is nothing in which "<i>our</i> people," to speak +idiomatically, more deceive themselves, than in their estimate of what +composes a capital. It would be ridiculous to suppose that the +representatives of such a government as this could impart to any place +the tone, opinions, habits and manners of a capital; for, if they did, +they would impart it on the novel principle of communicating that which +they do not possess in their own persons. Congress itself, though +tolerably free from most shackles, including those of the constitution, +is not up to that. In my opinion, a man accustomed to the world might be +placed blindfolded in the most finished quarter of New York, and the +place has new quarters in which the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>incongruities I have already +mentioned do not exist, and, my life on it, he could pronounce, as soon +as the bandage was removed, that he was not in a town where the tone of +a capital exists. The last thing to make a capital is trade. Indeed, the +man who hears the words "business" and "the merchants" ringing in his +ears, may safely conclude, <i>de facto</i>, that he is not in a capital. Now, +a New-York village is often much less rustic than the villages of the +most advanced country of Europe; but a New-York town is many degrees +below any capital of a large State in the old world.</p> + +<p>Will New York ever be a capital? Yes—out of all question, yes. But the +day will not come until after the sudden changes of condition which +immediately and so naturally succeeded the revolution, have ceased to +influence ordinary society, and those above again impart to those below +more than they receive. This restoration to the natural state of things +must take place, as soon as society gets settled; and there will be +nothing to prevent a town living under our own institutions—spirit, +<i>tendencies</i> and all—from obtaining the highest tone that ever yet +prevailed in a capital. The folly is in anticipating the natural course +of events. Nothing will more hasten these events, however, than a +literature that is controlled, not by the lower, but by the higher +opinion of the country; which literature is yet, in a great degree, to +be created.</p> + +<p>I had dispensed with the monkey, after trying to get along with the +creature for an hour or two, and went around only with my music. I would +rather manage an army of anti-renters than one monkey. With the +hurdy-gurdy slung around my neck, therefore, I followed my uncle, who +actually sold another watch before we reached a tavern. Of course we did +not presume to go to Congress Hall, or the Eagle, for we knew we should +not be admitted. This was the toughest part of our adventures. I am of +opinion my uncle made a mistake; for he ventured to a second-class +house, under the impression that one of the sort usually frequented by +men of our supposed stamp might prove too coarse for us, altogether. I +think we should have been better satisfied with the coarse fare of a +coarse tavern, than with the shabby-genteel of the house we blundered +into. In the former, everything would have reminded us, in a way we +expected to be reminded, that we were out of the com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>mon track; and we +might have been amused with the change, though it is one singularly hard +to be endured. I remember to have heard a young man, accustomed from +childhood to the better habits of the country, but who went to sea a +lad, before the mast, declare that the coarseness of his shipmates, and +there is no vulgarity about a true sailor, even when coarsest, gave him +more trouble to overcome, than all the gales, physical sufferings, +labour, exposures and dangers, put together. I must confess, I have +found it so, too, in my little experience. While acting as a strolling +musician, I could get along with anything better than the coarse habits +which I encountered at the table. Your silver-forkisms, and your purely +conventional customs, as a matter of course, no man of the world +attaches any serious importance to; but there are conventionalities that +belong to the fundamental principles of civilized society, which become +second nature, and with which it gets to be hard, indeed, to dispense. I +shall say as little as possible of the disagreeables of my new trade, +therefore, but stick to the essentials.</p> + +<p>The morning of the day which succeeded that of our arrival at Albany, my +uncle Ro and I took our seats in the train, intending to go to Saratoga, +viâ Troy. I wonder the Trojan who first thought of playing this +travestie on Homer, did not think of calling the place Troyville, or +Troyborough! That would have been semi-American, at least, whereas the +present appellation is so purely classical! It is impossible to walk +through the streets of this neat and flourishing town, which already +counts its twenty thousand souls, and not have the images of Achilles, +and Hector, and Priam, and Hecuba, pressing on the imagination a little +uncomfortably. Had the place been called Try, the name would have been a +sensible one; for it is trying all it can to get the better of Albany; +and, much as I love the latter venerable old town, I hope Troy may +succeed in its trying to prevent the Hudson from being bridged. By the +way, I will here remark, for the benefit of those who have never seen +any country but their own, that there is a view on the road between +Schenectady and this Grecian place, just where the heights give the +first full appearance of the valley of the Hudson, including glimpses of +Waterford, Lansingburg <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>and Albany, with a full view of both Troys, +which gives one a better idea of the affluence of European scenery, than +almost any other spot I can recall in America. To my hurdy-gurdy:</p> + +<p>I made my first essay as a musician in public beneath the windows of the +principal inn of Troy. I cannot say much in favour of the instrument, +though I trust the playing itself was somewhat respectable. This I know +full well, that I soon brought a dozen fair faces to the windows of the +inn, and that each was decorated with a smile. Then it was that I +regretted the monkey. Such an opening could not but awaken the dormant +ambition of even a "patriot" of the purest water, and I will own I was +gratified.</p> + +<p>Among the curious who thus appeared, were two whom I at once supposed to +be father and daughter. The former was a clergyman, and, as I fancied by +something in his air, of "<i>the</i> Church," begging pardon of those who +take offence at this exclusive title, and to whom I will just give a +hint in passing. Any one at all acquainted with mankind, will at once +understand that no man who is certain of possessing any particular +advantage, ever manifests much sensibility because another lays claim to +it also. In the constant struggles of the jealous, for instance, on the +subject of that universal source of jealous feeling, social position, +the man or woman who is conscious of claims never troubles himself or +herself about them. For them the obvious fact is sufficient. If it be +answered to this that the pretension of "<i>the</i> Church" is exclusive, I +shall admit it is, and "conclusive," too. It is not exclusive, however, +in the sense urged, since no one denies that there are many branches to +"the Church," although those branches do not embrace everything. I would +advise those who take offence at "our" styling "ourselves" "<i>the</i> +Church," to style themselves "<i>the</i> Church," just as they call all their +parsons bishops, and see who will care about it. That is a touchstone +which will soon separate the true metal from the alloy.</p> + +<p>My parson, I could easily see, was a <i>Church</i> clergyman—not a +<i>meeting</i>-house clergyman. How I ascertained that fact at a glance, I +shall not reveal; but I also saw in his countenance some of that +curiosity which marks simplicity of character: it was not a vulgar +feeling, but one which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>induced him to beckon me to approach a little +nearer. I did so, when he invited me in. It was a little awkward, at +first, I must acknowledge, to be beckoned about in this manner; but +there was something in the air and countenance of the daughter that +induced me not to hesitate about complying. I cannot say that her beauty +was so <i>very</i> striking, though she was decidedly pretty; but the +expression of her face, eyes, smile, and all put together, was so +singularly sweet and feminine, that I felt impelled by a sympathy I +shall not attempt to explain, to enter the house, and ascend to the door +of a parlour that I saw at once was public, though it then contained no +one but my proper hosts.</p> + +<p>"Walk in, young man," said the father, in a benevolent tone of voice. "I +am curious to see that instrument; and my daughter here, who has a taste +for music, wishes it as much as I do myself. What do you call it?"</p> + +<p>"Hurty-gurty," I answered.</p> + +<p>"From what part of the world do you come, my young friend?" continued +the clergyman, raising his meek eyes to mine still more curiously.</p> + +<p>"Vrom Charmany; vrom Preussen, vere did reign so late de good Koenig +Wilhelm."</p> + +<p>"What does he say, Molly?"</p> + +<p>So the pretty creature bore the name of Mary! I liked the Molly, too; it +was a good sign, as none but the truly respectable dare use such +familiar appellations in these ambitious times. Molly sounded as if +these people had the <i>aplomb</i> of position and conscious breeding. Had +they been vulgar, it would have been Mollissa.</p> + +<p>"It is not difficult to translate, father," answered one of the sweetest +voices that had ever poured its melody on my ear, and which was rendered +still more musical by the slight laugh that mingled with it. "He says he +is from Germany—from Prussia, where the good King William lately +reigned."</p> + +<p>I liked the "father," too—that sounded refreshing, after passing a +night among a tribe of foul-nosed adventurers in humanity, every one of +whom had done his or her share towards caricaturing the once pretty +appellatives of "Pa" and "Ma." A young lady may still say "Papa," or +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>even "Mamma," though it were far better that she said "Father" and +"Mother;" but as for "Pa" and "Ma," they are now done with in +respectable life. They will not even do for the nursery.</p> + +<p>"And this instrument is a hurdy-gurdy?" continued the clergyman. "What +have we here—the name spelt on it?"</p> + +<p>"Dat isht de maker's name—<i>Hochstiel fecit</i>."</p> + +<p>"Fecit!" repeated the clergyman; "is that German?"</p> + +<p>"Nein—dat isht Latin; <i>facio</i>, <i>feci</i>, <i>factum</i>, <i>facere</i>—<i>feci</i>, +<i>feciste</i>, <span class="smcap">fecit</span>. It means make, I suppose you know."</p> + +<p>The parson looked at me, and at my dress and figure, with open surprise, +and smiled as his eye glanced at his daughter. If asked why I made this +silly display of lower-form learning, I can only say that I chafed at +being fancied a mere every-day street musician, that had left his monkey +at home, by the charming girl who stood gracefully bending over her +father's elbow, as the latter examined the inscription that was stamped +on a small piece of ivory which had been let into the instrument. I +could see that Mary shrunk back a little under the sensitive feeling, so +natural to her sex, that she was manifesting too much freedom of manner +for the presence of a youth who was nearer to her own class than she +could have supposed it possible for a player on the hurdy-gurdy to be. A +blush succeeded; but the glance of the soft blue eye that instantly +followed, seemed to set all at rest, and she leaned over her father's +elbow again.</p> + +<p>"You understand Latin, then?" demanded the parent, examining me over his +spectacles from head to foot.</p> + +<p>"A leetle, sir—just a ferry leetle. In my coontry, efery mans isht +obliget to be a soldier some time, and them t'at knows Latin can be made +sergeants and corporals."</p> + +<p>"That is Prussia, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Ya—Preussen, vere so late did reign de goot Koenig Wilhelm."</p> + +<p>"And is Latin much understood among you? I have heard that, in Hungary, +most well-informed persons even speak the tongue."</p> + +<p>"In Charmany it isht not so. We all l'arnts somet'ing, but not all dost +l'arn efery t'ing."</p> + +<p>I could see a smile struggling around the sweet lips of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>that dear girl, +after I had thus delivered myself, as I fancied, with a most accurate +inaccuracy; but she succeeded in repressing it, though those provoking +eyes of hers continued to laugh, much of the time our interview lasted.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I very well know that in Prussia the schools are quite good, and +that your government pays great attention to the wants of all classes," +rejoined the clergyman; "but I confess some surprise that <i>you</i> should +understand anything of Latin. Now, even in this country, where we boast +so much——"</p> + +<p>"Ye-e-s," I could not refrain from drawling out, "dey does poast a great +teal in dis coontry!"</p> + +<p>Mary actually laughed; whether it was at my words, or at the somewhat +comical manner I had assumed—a manner in which simplicity was <i>tant +soit peu</i> blended with irony—I shall not pretend to say. As for the +father, his simplicity was of proof; and, after civilly waiting until my +interruption was done, he resumed what he had been on the point of +saying.</p> + +<p>"I was about to add," continued the clergyman, "that even in this +country, where we boast so much"—the little minx of a daughter passed +her hand over her eyes, and fairly coloured with the effort she made not +to laugh again—"of the common schools, and of their influence on the +public mind, it is not usual to find persons of your condition who +understand the dead languages."</p> + +<p>"Ye-e-s," I replied; "it isht my condition dat misleats you, sir. Mine +fat'er wast a shentlemans, and he gifet me as goot an etication as de +Koenig did gif to de Kron Prinz."</p> + +<p>Here, my desire to appear well in the eyes of Mary caused me to run into +another silly indiscretion. How I was to explain the circumstance of the +son of a Prussian gentleman, whose father had given him an education as +good as that which the King of his country had given to its Crown +Prince, being in the streets of Troy, playing on a hurdy-gurdy, was a +difficulty I did not reflect on for a moment. The idea of being thought +by that sweet girl a mere uneducated boor, was intolerable to me; and I +threw it off by this desperate falsehood—false in its accessories, but +true in its main facts—as one would resent an insult. Fortune favoured +me, however, far more than I had any <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>right to expect.</p> + +<p>There is a singular disposition in the American character to believe +every well-mannered European at least a count. I do not mean that those +who have seen the world are not like other persons in this respect; but +a very great proportion of the country never has seen any other world +than a world of "business." The credulity on this subject surpasseth +belief; and, were I to relate facts of this nature that might be +established in a court of justice, the very parties connected with them +would be ready to swear that they are caricatures. Now, well-mannered I +trust I am, and, though plainly dressed and thoroughly disguised, +neither my air nor attire was absolutely mean. As my clothes were new, I +was neat in my appearance; and there were possibly some incongruities +about the last, that might have struck eyes more penetrating than those +of my companions. I could see that both father and daughter felt a +lively interest in me, the instant I gave them reason to believe I was +one of better fortunes. So many crude notions exist among us on the +subject of convulsions and revolutions in Europe, that I dare say, had I +told any improbable tale of the political condition of Prussia, it would +have gone down; for nothing so much resembles the ignorance that +prevails in America, generally, concerning the true state of things in +Europe, as the ignorance that prevails in Europe, generally, concerning +the true state of things in America. As for Mary, her soft eyes seemed +to me to be imbued with thrice their customary gentleness and +compassion, as she recoiled a step in native modesty, and gazed at me, +when I had made my revelation.</p> + +<p>"If such is the case, my young friend," returned the clergyman, with +benevolent interest, "you ought, and <i>might</i> easily be placed in a +better position than this you are now in. Have you any knowledge of +Greek?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly—Greek is moch study in Charmany."</p> + +<p>'In for a penny, in for a pound,' I thought.</p> + +<p>"And the modern languages—do you understand any of them?"</p> + +<p>"I speaks de five great tongues of Europe, more ast less well; and I read +dem all, easily."</p> + +<p>"The <i>five</i> tongues!" said the clergyman, counting on his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>fingers; +"what can they be, Mary?"</p> + +<p>"French, and German, and Spanish, and Italian, I suppose, sir."</p> + +<p>"These make but four. What can be the fifth, my dear?"</p> + +<p>"De yoong laty forgets de Englisch. De Englisch is das funf."</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes, the English!" exclaimed the pretty creature, pressing her lips +together to prevent laughing in my face.</p> + +<p>"True—I had forgotten the English, not being accustomed to think of it +as a mere European tongue. I suppose, young man, you naturally speak the +English less fluently than any other of your five languages?"</p> + +<p>"<ins title="Single quote changed to double quote.">Ya!"</ins></p> + +<p>Again the smile struggled to the lips of Mary.</p> + +<p>"I feel a deep interest in you as a stranger, and am sorry we have only +met to part so soon. Which way shall you be likely to direct your steps, +my Prussian young friend?"</p> + +<p>"I go to a place which is callet Ravensnest—goot place to sell vatch, +dey tells me."</p> + +<p>"Ravensnest!" exclaimed the father.</p> + +<p>"Ravensnest!" repeated the daughter, and that in tones which put the +hurdy-gurdy to shame.</p> + +<p>"Why, Ravensnest is the place where I live, and the parish of which I am +the clergyman—the Protestant Episcopal clergyman, I mean."</p> + +<p>This, then, was the Rev. Mr. Warren, the divine who had been called to +our church the very summer I left home, and who had been there ever +since! My sister Martha had written me much concerning these people, and +I felt as if I had known them for years. Mr. Warren was a man of good +connexions, and some education, but of no fortune whatever, who had gone +into <i>the</i> Church—it was the church of his ancestors, one of whom had +actually been an English bishop, a century or two ago—from choice, and +contrary to the wishes of his friends. As a preacher, his success had +never been great; but for the discharge of his duties no man stood +higher, and no man was more respected. The living of St. Andrew's, +Ravensnest, would have been poor enough, had it depended on the +contributions of the parishioners. These last gave about one hundred and +fifty dollars <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>a-year, for their share of the support of a priest. I +gave another hundred, as regularly as clock-work, and had been made to +do so throughout a long minority; and my grandmother and sister made up +another fifty between them. But there was a glebe of fifty acres of +capital land, a wood-lot, and a fund of two thousand dollars at +interest; the whole proceeding from endowments made by my grandfather, +during his lifetime. Altogether, the living may have been worth a clear +five hundred dollars a year, in addition to a comfortable house, hay, +wood, vegetables, pasture, and some advantages in the way of small +crops. Few country clergymen were better off than the rector of St. +Andrew's, Ravensnest, and all as a consequence of the feudal and +aristocratic habits of the Littlepages, though I say it, perhaps, who +might better not, in times like these.</p> + +<p>My letters had told me that the Rev. Mr. Warren was a widower; that Mary +was his only child; that he was a <i>truly</i> pious, not a <i>sham</i>-pious, and +a really zealous clergyman; a man of purest truth, whose word was +gospel—of great simplicity and integrity of mind and character; that he +never spoke evil of others, and that a complaint of this world and its +hardships seldom crossed his lips. He loved his fellow-creatures, both +naturally and on principle; mourned over the state of the diocese, and +greatly preferred piety even to high-churchism. High-churchman he was, +nevertheless; though it was not a high-churchmanship that outweighed the +loftier considerations of his Christian duties, and left him equally +without opinions of his own in matters of morals, and without a proper +respect, in practice, for those that he had solemnly vowed to maintain.</p> + +<p>His daughter was described as a sweet-tempered, arch, modest, sensible, +and well-bred girl, that had received a far better education than her +father's means would have permitted him to bestow, through the +liberality and affection of a widowed sister of her mother's, who was +affluent, and had caused her to attend the same school as that to which +she had sent her own daughters. In a word, she was a most charming +neighbour; and her presence at Ravensnest had rendered Martha's annual +visits to the "old house" (built in 1785) not only less irksome, but +actually pleasant. Such had been my sister's account of the Warrens and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>their qualities, throughout a correspondence of five years. I have even +fancied that she loved this Mary Warren better than she loved any of her +uncle's wards, herself of course excepted.</p> + +<p>The foregoing flashed through my mind, the instant the clergyman +announced himself; but the coincidence of our being on the way to the +same part of the country, seemed to strike him as forcibly as it did +myself. What Mary thought of the matter, I had no means of ascertaining.</p> + +<p>"This is singular enough," resumed Mr. Warren. "What has directed your +steps towards Ravensnest?"</p> + +<p>"Dey tell mine ooncle 'tis goot place to sell moch vatch."</p> + +<p>"You have an uncle, then? Ah! I see him there in the street, showing a +watch at this moment to a gentleman. Is your uncle a linguist, too, and +has he been as well educated as you seem to be yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Certain—he moch more of a shentleman dan ast de shentleman to whom he +now sell vatch."</p> + +<p>"These must be the very persons," put in Mary, a little eagerly, "of +whom Mr. Newcome spoke, as the"—the dear girl did not like to say +pedlars, after what I had told them of my origin; so she added—"dealers +in watches and trinkets, who intended to visit our part of the country."</p> + +<p>"You are right, my dear, and the whole matter is now clear. Mr. Newcome +said he expected them to join us at Troy, when we should proceed in the +train together as far as Saratoga. But here comes Opportunity herself, +and her brother cannot be far off."</p> + +<p>At that moment, sure enough, my old acquaintance, Opportunity Newcome, +came into the room, a public parlour, with an air of great +self-satisfaction, and a <i>nonchalance</i> of manner that was not a little +more peculiar to herself than it is to most of her caste. I trembled for +my disguise, since, to be quite frank on a very delicate subject, +Opportunity had made so very dead a set at me—"setting a cap" is but a +pitiful phrase to express the assault I had to withstand—as scarcely to +leave a hope that her feminine instinct, increased and stimulated with +the wish to be mistress of the Nest house, could possibly overlook the +thousand and one personal peculiarities that must still remain about +one, whose personal peculiarities she had made her particular study.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"O, sic a geek she gave her head,<br /> +And sic a toss she gave her feather;<br /> +Man, saw ye ne'er a bonnier lass<br /> +Before, among the blooming heather?"</p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Allan Cunningham.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">"Ah!</span> here are some charming French <i>vignettes</i>!" cried Opportunity, +running up to a table where lay some inferior coloured engravings, that +were intended to represent the cardinal virtues, under the forms of +tawdry female beauties. The workmanship was French, as were the +inscriptions. Now, Opportunity knew just enough French to translate +these inscriptions, simple and school-girl as they were, as wrong as +they could possibly be translated, under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>"<i>La Vertue</i>," cried Opportunity, in a high, decided way, as if to make +sure of an audience "<i>The</i> Virtue; <i>La Solitude</i>," pronouncing the last +word in a desperately English accent, "<i>The</i> Solitude; La Charité, <i>The</i> +Charity. It is really delightful, Mary, as 'Sarah Soothings' would say, +to meet with these glimmerings of taste in this wilderness of the +world."</p> + +<p>I wondered who the deuce "Sarah Soothings" could be, but afterwards +learned this was the nom-de-guerre of a female contributor to the +magazines, who, I dare say, silly as she might be, was never silly +enough to record the sentiments Opportunity had just professed to +repeat. As for <i>The la Charité</i>, and <i>The la Vertue</i>, they did not in +the least surprise me; for Martha, the hussy, often made herself merry +by recording that young lady's <i>tours de force</i> in French. On one +occasion I remember she wrote me, that when Opportunity wished to say +<i>On est venu me chercher</i>, instead of saying "I am come for," in homely +English, which would have been the best of all, she had flown off in the +high flight of "Je suis venue pour."</p> + +<p>Mary smiled, for she comprehended perfectly the differ<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>ence between <i>la +Solitude</i> and <i>the</i> Solitude; but she said nothing. I must acknowledge +that I was so indiscreet as to smile also, though, Opportunity's back +being turned towards us, these mutual signs of intelligence that escaped +us both through the eyes, opened a species of communication that, to me +at least, was infinitely agreeable.</p> + +<p>Opportunity, having shown the owner of the strange figure at which she +had just glanced on entering the room, that she had studied French, now +turned to take a better look at him. I have reason to think my +appearance did not make a very happy impression on her; for she tossed +her head, drew a chair, seated herself in the manner most opposed to the +descent of down, and opened her budget of news, without the least regard +to my presence, and apparently with as little attention to the wishes +and tastes of her companions. Her accent, and jumping, hitching mode of +speaking, with the high key in which she uttered her sentiments, too, +all grated on my ears, which had become a little accustomed to different +habits, in young ladies in particular, in the other hemisphere. I +confess myself to be one of those who regard an even, quiet, graceful +mode of utterance, as even a greater charm in a woman than beauty. Its +effect is more lasting, and seems to be directly connected with the +character. Mary Warren not only pronounced like one accustomed to good +society; but the modulations of her voice, which was singularly sweet by +nature, were even and agreeable, as is usual with well-bred women, and +as far as possible from the jerking, fluttering, now rapid, now drawling +manner of Opportunity. Perhaps, in this age of "loose attire," loose +habits, and free and easy deportment, the speech denotes the gentleman, +or the lady, more accurately than any other off-hand test.</p> + +<p>"Sen is enough to wear out anybody's patience!" exclaimed Opportunity. +"We must quit Troy in half an hour; and I have visits that I ought to +pay to Miss Jones, and Miss White, and Miss Black, and Miss Green, and +Miss Brown, and three or four others; and I can't get him to come near +me."</p> + +<p>"Why not go alone?" asked Mary, quietly. "It is but a step to two or +three of the houses, and you cannot possibly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>lose your way. I will go +with you, if you desire it."</p> + +<p>"Oh! lose my way? no, indeed! I know it too well for that. I wasn't +educated in Troy, not to know something of the streets. But it looks so, +to see a young lady walking in the streets without a beau! I never wish +to cross a room in company without a beau; much less to cross a street. +No; if Sen don't come in soon, I shall miss seeing every one of my +friends, and that will be a desperate disappointment to us all; but it +can't be helped: walk without a beau I <i>will not</i>, if I never see one of +them again."</p> + +<p>"Will you accept of me, Miss Opportunity?" asked Mr. Warren. "It will +afford me pleasure to be of service to you."</p> + +<p>"Lord! Mr. Warren, you don't think of setting up for a beau at your time +of life, do you? Everybody would see that you're a clergyman, and I +might just as well go alone. No, if Sen don't come in at once, I must +lose my visits; and the young ladies will be so put out about it, I +know! Araminta Maria wrote me, in the most particular manner, never to +go through Troy without stopping to see <i>her</i>, if I didn't see another +mortal; and Kathe<i>rine</i> Clotilda has as much as said she would never +forgive me if I passed her door. But Seneca cares no more for the +friendships of young ladies, than he does"—Miss Newcome pronounced this +word "doos," notwithstanding her education, as she did "been," "ben," +and fifty others just as much out of the common way—"But Seneca cares +no more for the friendships of young ladies, than he does for the young +patroon. I declare, Mr. Warren, I believe Sen will go crazy unless the +anti-renters soon get the best of it; he does nothing but think and talk +of 'rents,' and 'aristocracy,' and 'poodle usages,' from morning till +night."</p> + +<p>We all smiled at the little mistake of Miss Opportunity, but it was of +no great consequence; and I dare say she knew what she meant as well as +most others who use the same term, though they spell it more accurately. +"Poodle usages" are quite as applicable to anything now existing in +America, as "feudal usages."</p> + +<p>"Your brother is then occupied with a matter of the last importance to +the community of which he is a member," answered the clergyman, gravely. +"On the termination of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>this anti-rent question hangs, in my judgment, a +vast amount of the future character, and much of the future destiny, of +Yew York."</p> + +<p>"I wonder, now! I'm surprised to hear you say this, Mr. Warren, for +generally you're thought to be unfriendly to the movement. Sen says, +however, that everything looks well, and that <i>he</i> believes the tenants +will get their lands throughout the State before they've done with it. +He tells me we shall have Injins enough this summer at Ravensnest. The +visit of old Mrs. Littlepage has raised a spirit that will not easily be +put down, he says."</p> + +<p>"And why should the visit of Mrs. Littlepage to the house of her +grandson, and to the house built by her own husband, and in which she +passed the happiest days of her life, 'raise a spirit,' as you call it, +in any one in that part of the country?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you're episcopal, Mr. Warren; and we all know how the Episcopals +feel about such matters. But, for my part, I don't think the Littlepages +are a bit better than the Newcomes, though I won't liken them to some I +could name at Ravensnest; but I don't think they are any better than +you, yourself; and why should they ask so much more of the law than +other folks?"</p> + +<p>"I am not aware that they do ask more of the law than others; and, if +they do, I'm sure they obtain less. The law in this country is virtually +administered by jurors, who take good care to graduate justice, so far +as they can, by a scale suited to their own opinions, and, quite often, +to their prejudices. As the last are so universally opposed to persons +in Mrs. Littlepage's class in life, if there be a chance to make her +suffer, it is pretty certain it will be improved."</p> + +<p>"Sen says he can't see why he should pay rent to a Littlepage, any more +than a Littlepage should pay rent to him."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to hear it, since there is a very sufficient reason for the +former, and no reason at all for the latter. Your brother uses the land +of Mr. Littlepage, and that is a reason why he should pay him rent. If +the case were reversed, then, indeed, Mr. Littlepage should pay rent to +your brother."</p> + +<p>"But what reason is there that these Littlepages should <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>go on from +father to son, from generation to generation, as our landlords, when +we're just as good as they. It's time there was some change. Besides, +only think, we've been at the mills, now, hard upon eighty years, +grandpa having first settled there; and we have had them very mills, +now, for three generations among us."</p> + +<p>"High time, therefore, Opportunity, that there should be some change," +put in Mary, with a demure smile.</p> + +<p>"Oh! you're so intimate with Marthy Littlepage, I'm not surprised at +anything <i>you</i> think or say. But reason is reason, for all that. I +haven't the least grudge in the world against young Hugh Littlepage; if +foreign lands haven't spoilt him, as they say they're desperate apt to +do, he's an agreeable young gentleman, and I can't say that <i>he</i> used to +think himself any better than other folks."</p> + +<p>"I should say none of the family are justly liable to the charge of so +doing," returned Mary.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm amazed to hear you say <i>that</i>, Mary Warren. To my taste, +Marthy Littlepage is as disagreeable as she can be. If the anti-rent +cause had nobody better than she is to oppose it, it would soon +triumph."</p> + +<p>"May I ask, Miss Newcome, what particular reason you have for so +thinking?" asked Mr. Warren, who had kept his eye on the young lady the +whole time she had been thus running on, with an interest that struck me +as somewhat exaggerated, when one remembered the character of the +speaker, and the value of her remarks.</p> + +<p>"I think so, Mr. Warren, because everybody says so," was the answer. "If +Marthy Littlepage don't think herself better than other folks, why don't +she <i>act</i> like other folks. Nothing is good enough for her in her own +conceit."</p> + +<p>Poor little Patt, who was the very <i>beau idéal</i> of nature and +simplicity, as nature and simplicity manifest themselves under the +influence of refinement and good-breeding, was here accused of fancying +herself better than this ambitious young lady, for no other reason than +the fact of the little distinctive peculiarities of her air and +deportment, which Opportunity had found utterly unattainable, after one +or two efforts to compass them. In this very fact is the secret of a +thousand of the absurdities and vices that are going up and down the +land at this moment, like raging lions, seeking whom they may devour. +Men often turn to their statute<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>books and constitution to find the +sources of obvious evils, that, in truth, have their origin in some of +the lowest passions of human nature. The entrance of Seneca at that +moment, however, gave a new turn to the discourse, though it continued +substantially the same. I remarked that Seneca entered with his hat on, +and that he kept his head covered during most of the interview that +succeeded, notwithstanding the presence of the two young ladies and the +divine. As for myself, I had been so free as to remove my cap, though +many might suppose it was giving myself airs, while others would have +imagined it was manifesting a degree of respect to human beings that was +altogether unworthy of freemen. It is getting to be a thing so +particular and aristocratic to take off the hat on entering a house, +that few of the humbler democrats of America now ever think of it!</p> + +<p>As a matter of course, Opportunity upbraided her delinquent brother for +not appearing sooner to act as her beau; after which, she permitted him +to say a word for himself. That Seneca was in high good-humour, was +easily enough to be seen; he even rubbed his hands together in the +excess of his delight.</p> + +<p>"Something has happened to please Sen," cried the sister, her own mouth +on a broad grin, in her expectation of coming in for a share of the +gratification. "I wish you would get him to tell us what it is, Mary; +he'll tell <i>you</i> anything."</p> + +<p>I cannot describe how harshly this remark grated on my nerves. The +thought that Mary Warren could consent to exercise even the most distant +influence over such a man as Seneca Newcome, was to the last degree +unpleasant to me; and I could have wished that she would openly and +indignantly repel the notion. But Mary Warren treated the whole matter +very much as a person who was accustomed to such remarks would be apt to +do. I cannot say that she manifested either pleasure or displeasure; but +a cold indifference was, if anything, uppermost in her manner. Possibly, +I should have been content with this; but I found it very difficult to +be so. Seneca, however, did not wait for Miss Warren to exert her +influence to induce him to talk, but appeared well enough disposed to do +it of his own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>accord.</p> + +<p>"Something <i>has</i> happened to please me, I must own," he answered; "and I +would as lief Mr. Warren should know what it is, as not. Things go ahead +finely among us anti-renters, and we shall carry all our p'ints before +long!"</p> + +<p>"I wish I were certain no points would be carried but those that ought +to be carried, Mr. Newcome," was the answer. "But what has happened, +lately, to give a new aspect to the affair?"</p> + +<p>"We're gaining strength among the politicians. Both sides are beginning +to court us, and the 'spirit of the institutions' will shortly make +themselves respected."</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to hear that! It is in the intention of the institutions +to repress covetousness, and uncharitableness, and all frauds, and to do +nothing but what is right," observed Mr. Warren.</p> + +<p>"Ah! here comes my friend the travelling jeweller," said Seneca, +interrupting the clergyman, in order to salute my uncle, who at that +instant showed himself in the door of the room, cap in hand. "Walk in, +Mr. Dafidson, since that is your name: Rev. Mr. Warren—Miss Mary +Warren—Miss Opportunity Newcome, my sister, who will be glad to look at +your wares. The cars will be detained on some special business, and we +have plenty of time before us."</p> + +<p>All this was done with a coolness and indifference of manner which went +to show that Seneca had no scruples whatever on the subject of whom he +introduced to any one. As for my uncle, accustomed to these free and +easy manners, and probably not absolutely conscious of the figure he cut +in his disguise, he bowed rather too much like a gentleman for one of +his present calling, though my previous explanation of our own connexion +and fallen fortunes had luckily prepared the way for this deportment.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Mr. Dafidson, and open your box—my sister may fancy some of +your trinkets; I never knew a girl that didn't."</p> + +<p>The imaginary pedlar entered, and placed his box on a table near which I +was standing, the whole party immediately gathering around it. My +presence had attracted no particular attention from either Seneca or his +sister, the room being public, and my connexion with the vender of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>trinkets known. In the mean time, Seneca was too full of his good news +to let the subject drop; while the watches, rings, chains, brooches, +bracelets, &c. &c., were passed under examination.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Warren, I trust we are about to have a complete development of +the spirit of our institutions, and that in futur' there will be no +privileged classes in New York, at least."</p> + +<p>"The last will certainly be a great gain, sir," the divine coldly +answered. "Hitherto, those who have most suppressed the truth, and who +have most contributed to the circulation of flattering falsehoods, have +had undue advantages in America."</p> + +<p>Seneca, obviously enough, did not like this sentiment; but I thought, by +his manner, that he was somewhat accustomed to meeting with such rebuffs +from Mr. Warren.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you will admit there <i>are</i> privileged classes now among us, +Mr. Warren?"</p> + +<p>"I am ready enough to allow that, sir; it is too plain to be denied."</p> + +<p>"Wa-all, I should like to hear <i>you</i> p'int 'em out; that I might see if +we agree in our sentiments."</p> + +<p>"Demagogues are a highly privileged class. The editors of newspapers are +another highly privileged class; doing things, daily and hourly, which +set all law and justice at defiance, and invading, with perfect +impunity, the most precious rights of their fellow-citizens. The power +of both is enormous; and, as in all cases of great and irresponsible +power, both enormously abuse it."</p> + +<p>"Wa-all, that's not my way of thinking at all. In my judgment, the +privileged classes in this country are your patroons and your landlords; +men that's not satisfied with a reasonable quantity of land, but who +wish to hold more than the rest of their fellow-creatur's."</p> + +<p>"I am not aware of a single privilege that any patroon—of whom, by the +way, there no longer exists one, except in name—or any landlord, +possesses over any one of his fellow-citizens."</p> + +<p>"Do you call it no privilege for a man to hold all the land there may +happen to be in a township? I call that a great privilege; and such as +no man should have in a free <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>country. Other people want land as well as +your Van Renssalaers and Littlepages; and other people mean to have it, +too."</p> + +<p>"On that principle, every man who owns more of any one thing than his +neighbour is privileged. Even I, poor as I am, and am believed to be, am +privileged over you, Mr. Newcome. I own a cassock, and have two gowns, +one old and one new, and various other things of the sort, of which you +have not one. What is more, I am privileged in another sense; since I +can <i>wear</i> my cassock and gown, and bands, and <i>do</i> wear them often; +whereas you cannot wear one of them all without making yourself laughed +at."</p> + +<p>"Oh! but them are not privileges I care anything about; if I did I would +put on the things, as the law does not prohibit it."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, Mr. Newcome; the law does prohibit you from wearing +<i>my</i> cassock and gown contrary to my wishes."</p> + +<p>"Wa-all, wa-all, Mr. Warren; we never shall quarrel about that; I don't +desire to wear your cassack and gown."</p> + +<p>"I understand you, then; it is only the things that you <i>desire</i> to use +that you deem it a privilege for the law to leave me."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid we shall never agree, Mr. Warren, about this anti-rent +business; and I'm very sorry for it, as I wish particularly to think as +you do," glancing his eye most profanely towards Mary as he spoke. "I am +for the movement-principle, while you are too much for the stand-still +doctrine."</p> + +<p>"I am certainly for remaining stationary, Mr. Newcome, if progress mean +taking away the property of old and long established families in the +country, to give it to those whose names are not to be found in our +history; or, indeed, to give it to any but those to whom it rightfully +belongs."</p> + +<p>"We shall never agree, my dear sir, we shall never agree;" then, turning +towards my uncle with the air of superiority that the vulgar so easily +assume—"What do <i>you</i> say to all this, friend Dafidson—are you up-rent +or down-rent?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, mynheer," was the quiet <ins title="Removed double quotes.">answer;</ins> +"I always downs mit der rent vens I leave a house or a garten. It is goot to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +pay de debts; ja, it ist herr goot."</p> + +<p>This answer caused the clergyman and his daughter to smile, while +Opportunity laughed outright.</p> + +<p>"You won't make much of your Dutch friend, Sen," cried this buoyant +young lady; "he says you ought to keep on paying rent!"</p> + +<p>"I apprehend Mr. Dafidson does not exactly understand the case," +answered Seneca, who was a good deal disconcerted, but was bent on +maintaining his point. "I have understood you to say that you are a man +of liberal principles, Mr. Dafidson, and that you've come to America to +enjoy the light of intelligence and the benefits of a free government."</p> + +<p>"Ja; ven I might coome to America, I say, vell, dat 'tis a goot coontry, +vhere an honest man might haf vhat he 'arns, ant keep it, too. Ja, ja! +dat ist vhat I say, ant vhat I dinks."</p> + +<p>"I understand you, sir; you come from a part of the world where the +nobles eat up the fat of the land, taking the poor man's share as well +as his own, to live in a country where the law is, or soon will be, so +equal that no citizen will dare to talk about his <i>estates</i>, and hurt +the feelin's of such as haven't got any."</p> + +<p>My uncle so well affected an innocent perplexity at the drift of this +remark as to make me smile, in spite of an effort to conceal it. Mary +Warren saw that smile, and another glance of intelligence was exchanged +between us; though the young lady immediately withdrew her look, a +little consciously and with a slight blush.</p> + +<p>"I say that you like equal laws and equal privileges, friend Dafidson," +continued Seneca, with emphasis; "and that you have seen too much of the +evils of nobility and of feudal oppression in the old world, to wish to +fall in with them in the new."</p> + +<p>"Der nobles ant der feudal privileges ist no goot," answered the +trinket-pedlar, shaking his head with an appearance of great distaste.</p> + +<p>"Ay, I knew it would be so; you see, Mr. Warren, no man who has ever +lived under a feudal system can ever feel otherwise."</p> + +<p>"But what have we to do with feudal systems, Mr. Newcome? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>and what is +there in common between the landlords of New York and the nobles of +Europe, and between their leases and feudal tenures?"</p> + +<p>"What is there? A vast deal too much, sir, take my word for it. Do not +our very governors, even while ruthlessly calling on one citizen to +murder another——"</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, Mr. Newcome," interrupted Mary Warren, laughing, "the +governors call on the citizens <i>not</i> to murder each other."</p> + +<p>"I understand you, Miss Mary; but we shall make anti-renters of you both +before we are done. Surely, sir, there is a great deal too much +resemblance between the nobles of Europe and our landlords, when the +honest and free-born tenants of the last are obliged to pay tribute for +permission to live on the very land that they till, and which they cause +to bring forth its increase."</p> + +<p>"But men who are not noble let their lands in Europe; nay, the very +serfs, as they become free and obtain riches, buy lands and let them, in +some parts of the old world, as I, have heard and read."</p> + +<p>"All feudal, sir. The whole system is pernicious and feudal, serf or no +serf."</p> + +<p>"But, Mr. Newcome," said Mary Warren, quietly, though with a sort of +demure irony in her manner that said she was not without humour, and +understood herself very well, "even you let your land—land that you +lease, too, and which you do not own, except as you hire it from Mr. +Littlepage."</p> + +<p>Seneca gave a hem, and was evidently disconcerted; but he had too much +of the game of the true progressive movement—which merely means to +<i>lead</i> in changes, though they may lead to the devil—to give the matter +up. Repeating the hem, more to clear his brain than to clear his throat, +he hit upon his answer, and brought it out with something very like +triumph.</p> + +<p>"That is one of the evils of the present system, Miss Mary. Did I own +the two or three fields you mean, and to attend to which I have no +leisure, I might <i>sell</i> them; but now, it is impossible, since I can +give no deed. The instant my poor uncle dies—and he can't survive a +week, being, as you must know, nearly gone—the whole property, mills, +tavern, farms, timber-lot and all, fall in to young Hugh Littlepage, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>who is off frolicking in Europe, doing no good to himself or others, +I'll venture to say, if the truth were known. That is another of the +hardships of the feudal system; it enables one man to travel in +idleness, wasting his substance in foreign lands, while it keeps another +at home, at the plough-handles and the cart-tail."</p> + +<p>"And why do you suppose Mr. Hugh Littlepage wastes his substance, and is +doing himself and country no good in foreign lands, Mr. Newcome? That is +not at all the character I hear of him, nor is it the result that I +expect to see from his travels."</p> + +<p>"The money he spends in Europe might do a vast deal of good at +Ravensnest, sir."</p> + +<p>"For my part, my dear sir," put in Mary again, in her quiet but pungent +way, "I think it remarkable that neither of our late governors has seen +fit to enumerate the facts just mentioned by Mr. Newcome among those +that are opposed to the spirit of the institutions. It is, indeed, a +great hardship that Mr. Seneca Newcome cannot sell Mr. Hugh Littlepage's +land."</p> + +<p>"I complain less of that," cried Seneca, a little hastily, "than of the +circumstance that all my rights in the property must go with the death +of my uncle. <i>That</i>, at least, even you, Miss Mary, must admit is a +great hardship."</p> + +<p>"If your uncle were unexpectedly to revive, and live twenty years, Mr. +Newcome——"</p> + +<p>"No, no, Miss Mary," answered Seneca, shaking his head in a melancholy +manner; "<i>that</i> is absolutely impossible. It would not surprise me to +find him dead and buried on our return."</p> + +<p>"But, admit that you may be mistaken, and that your lease should +continue—you would still have a rent to pay?"</p> + +<p>"Of that I wouldn't complain in the least. If Mr. Dunning, Littlepage's +agent, will just promise, in as much as half a sentence, that we can get +a new lease on the old terms, I'd not say a syllable about it."</p> + +<p>"Well, here is one proof that the system has its advantages!" exclaimed +Mr. Warren, cheerfully. "I'm delighted to hear you say this; for it is +something to have a class of men among us whose simple promises, in a +matter of money, have so much value! It is to be hoped that their +example <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>will not be lost."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Newcome has made an admission I am also glad to hear," added Mary, +as soon as her father had done speaking. "His willingness to accept a +new lease on the old terms is a proof that he has been living under a +good bargain for himself hitherto, and that down to the present moment +he has been the obliged party."</p> + +<p>This was very simply said, but it bothered Seneca amazingly. As for +myself, I was delighted with it, and could have kissed the pretty, arch +creature who had just uttered the remark; though I will own that as much +might have been done without any great reluctance, had she even held her +tongue. As for Seneca, he did what most men are apt to do when they have +the consciousness of not appearing particularly well in a given point of +view he endeavoured to present himself to the eyes of his companions in +another.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing, Mr. Warren, that I think you will admit ought not +to be," he cried, exultingly, "whatever Miss Mary thinks about it; and +that is, that the Littlepage pew in your church ought to come down."</p> + +<p>"I will not say that much, Mr. Newcome, though I rather think my +daughter will. I believe, my dear, you are of Mr. Newcome's way of +thinking in respect to this canopied pew, and also in respect to the old +hatchments?"</p> + +<p>"I wish neither was in the church," answered Mary, in a low voice.</p> + +<p>From that moment I was fully resolved neither should be, as soon as I +got into a situation to control the matter.</p> + +<p>"In that I agree with you entirely, my child," resumed the clergyman; +"and were it not for this movement connected with the rents, and the +false principles that have been so boldly announced of late years, I +might have taken on myself the authority, as rector, to remove the +hatchments. Even according to the laws connected with the use of such +things, they should have been taken away a generation or two back. As to +the pew, it is a different matter. It is private property; was +constructed with the church, which was built itself by the joint +liberality of the Littlepages and mother Trinity; and it would be a most +ungracious act to undertake to destroy it under such circumstances, and +more <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>especially in the absence of its owner."</p> + +<p>"You agree, however, that it ought not to be there?" asked Seneca, with +exultation.</p> + +<p>"I wish with all my heart it were not. I dislike every thing like +worldly distinction in the house of God; and heraldic emblems, in +particular, seem to me very much out of place where the cross is seen to +be in its proper place."</p> + +<p>"Wa-all, now, Mr. Warren, I can't say I much fancy crosses about +churches either. What's the use in raising vain distinctions of any +sort. A church is but a house, after all, and ought so to be regarded."</p> + +<p>"True," said Mary, firmly; "but the house of God."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, we all know, Miss Mary, that you Episcopalians look more at +outward things, and more respect outward things, than most of the other +denominations of the country."</p> + +<p>"Do you call leases 'outward things,' Mr. Newcome?" asked Mary, archly; +"and contracts, and bargains, and promises, and the rights of property, +and the obligation to 'do as you would be done by?'"</p> + +<p>"Law! good folks," cried Opportunity, who had been all this time +tumbling over the trinkets, "I wish it was 'down with the rent' for +ever, with all my heart; and that not another word might ever be said on +the subject. Here is one of the prettiest pencils, Mary, I ever did see; +and its price is only four dollars. I wish, Sen, you'd let the rent +alone, and make me a present of this very pencil."</p> + +<p>As this was an act of which Seneca had not the least intention of being +guilty, he merely shifted his hat from one side of his head to the +other, began to whistle, and then he coolly left the room. My uncle Ro +profited by the occasion to beg Miss Opportunity would do him the honour +to accept the pencil as an offering from himself.</p> + +<p>"You an't surely in earnest!" exclaimed Opportunity, flushing up with +surprise and pleasure. "Why, you told me the price was four dollars; and +even that seems to me desperate little!"</p> + +<p>"Dat ist de price to anudder," said the gallant trinket-dealer; "but dat +ist not de price to you, Miss Opportunity. Ve shall trafel togedder; ant +vhen ve gets to your coontry, you vill dell me de best houses vhere I +might go mit my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>vatches ant drinkets."</p> + +<p>"That I will; and get you in at the Nest House, in the bargain," cried +Opportunity, pocketing the pencil without further parley.</p> + +<p>In the mean time my uncle selected a very neat seal, the handsomest he +had, being of pure metal, and having a real topaz in it, and offered it +to Mary Warren, with his best bow. I watched the clergyman's daughter +with anxiety, as I witnessed the progress of this <i>galantérie</i>, doubting +and hoping at each change of the ingenuous and beautiful countenance of +her to whom the offering was made. Mary coloured, smiled, seemed +embarrassed, and, as I feared, for a single moment doubting; but I must +have been mistaken, as she drew back, and, in the sweetest manner +possible, declined to accept the present. I saw that Opportunity's +having just adopted a different course added very much to her +embarrassment, as otherwise she might have said something to lessen the +seeming ungraciousness of the refusal. Luckily for herself, however, she +had a gentleman to deal with, instead of one in the station that my +uncle Ro had voluntarily assumed. When this offering was made, the +pretended pedlar was ignorant altogether of the true characters of the +clergyman and his daughter, not even knowing that he saw the rector of +St. Andrew's, Ravensnest. But the manner of Mary at once disabused him +of an error into which he had fallen through her association with +Opportunity, and he now drew back himself with perfect tact, bowing and +apologizing in a way that I thought must certainly betray his disguise. +It did not, however; for Mr. Warren, with a smile that denoted equally +satisfaction at his daughter's conduct, and a grateful sense of the +other's intended liberality, but with a simplicity that was of proof, +turned to me and begged a tune on the flute which I had drawn from my +pocket and was holding in my hand, as expecting some such invitation.</p> + +<p>If I have any accomplishment, it is connected with music; and +particularly with the management of the flute. On this occasion I was +not at all backward about showing off, and I executed two or three airs, +from the best masters, with as much care as if I had been playing to a +salon in one of the best quarters of Paris. I could see that Mary and +her father <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>were both surprised at the execution, and that the first was +delighted. We had a most agreeable quarter of an hour together; and +might have had two, had not Opportunity—who was certainly well named, +being apropos of everything—began of her own accord to sing, though not +without inviting Mary to join her. As the latter declined this public +exhibition, as well as my uncle Ro's offering, Seneca's sister had it +all to herself; and she sang no less than three songs, in quick +succession, and altogether unasked. I shall not stop to characterize the +music or the words of these songs, any further than to say they were +all, more or less, of the Jim Crow school, and executed in a way that +did them ample justice.</p> + +<p>As it was understood that we were all to travel in the same train, the +interview lasted until we were ready to proceed; nor did it absolutely +terminate then. As Mary and Opportunity sat together, Mr. Warren asked +me to share his seat, regardless of the hurdy-gurdy; though my attire, +in addition to its being perfectly new and neat, was by no means of the +mean character that it is usual to see adorning street-music in general. +On the whole, so long as the instrument was not <i>en evidence</i>, I might +not have seemed very much out of place seated at Mr. Warren's side. In +this manner we proceeded to Saratoga, my uncle keeping up a private +discourse the whole way with Seneca, on matters connected with the rent +movement.</p> + +<p>As for the divine and myself, we had also much interesting talk +together. I was questioned about Europe in general and Germany in +particular; and had reason to think my answers gave surprise as well as +satisfaction. It was not an easy matter to preserve the Doric of my +assumed dialect, though practice and fear contributed their share to +render me content to resort to it. I made many mistakes, of course, but +my listeners were not the persons to discover them. I say my listeners, +for I soon ascertained that Mary Warren, who sat on the seat directly +before us, was a profoundly attentive listener to all that passed. This +circumstance did not render me the less communicative, though it did +increase the desire I felt to render what I said worthy of such a +listener. As for Opportunity, she read a newspaper a little while,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +munched an apple a very little while, and slept the rest of the way. But +the journey between modern Troy and Saratoga is not a long one, and was +soon accomplished.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"I will tell you;<br /> +If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little),<br /> +Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer."</p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Menenius Agrippa.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">At</span> the springs we parted, Mr. Warren and his friends finding a +conveyance, with their own horses, in readiness to carry them the +remainder of the distance. As for my uncle and myself, it was understood +that we were to get on in the best manner we could, it being expected +that we should reach Ravensnest in the course of a day or two. According +to the theory of our new business, we ought to travel on foot, but we +had a reservation <i>in petto</i> that promised us also the relief of a +comfortable wagon of some sort or other.</p> + +<p>"Well," said my uncle, the moment we had got far enough from our new +acquaintances to be out of ear-shot, "I must say one thing in behalf of +Mr. Seneky, as he calls himself, or Sen, as his elegant sister calls +him, and that is, that I believe him to be one of the biggest scoundrels +the state holds."</p> + +<p>"This is not drawing his character <i>en beau</i>," I answered, laughing. +"But why do you come out so decidedly upon him at this particular +moment?"</p> + +<p>"Because this particular moment happens to be the first in which I have +had an opportunity to say anything since I have known the rascal. You +must have remarked that the fellow held me in discourse from the time we +left Troy until we stopped here."</p> + +<p>"Certainly; I could see that his tongue was in motion <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>unceasingly: what +he said, I have to conjecture."</p> + +<p>"He said enough to lay bare his whole character. Our subject was +anti-rent, which he commenced with a view to explain it to a foreigner; +but I managed to lead him on, step by step, until he let me into all his +notions and expectations on the subject. Why, Hugh, the villain actually +proposed that you and I should enlist, and turn ourselves into two of +the rascally mock redskins."</p> + +<p>"Enlist! Do they still persevere so far as to keep up that organization, +in the very teeth of the late law?"</p> + +<p>"The law! What do two or three thousand voters care for any penal law, +in a country like this? Who is to enforce the law against them? Did they +commit murder, and were they even convicted, as <i>might</i> happen under the +excitement of such a crime, they very well know nobody would be hanged. +Honesty is always too passive in matters that do not immediately press +on its direct interests. It is for the interest of every honest man in +the State to set his face against this anti-rent movement, and to do all +he can, by his vote and influence, to put it down into the dirt, out of +which it sprang, and into which it should be crushed; but not one in a +hundred, even of those who condemn it <i>toto cælo</i>, will go a foot out of +their way even to impede its progress. All depends on those who have the +power; and they will exert that power so as to conciliate the active +rogue, rather than protect the honest man. You are to remember that the +laws are executed here on the principle that 'what is everybody's +business is nobody's business.'"</p> + +<p>"You surely do not believe that the authorities will wink at an open +violation of the laws!"</p> + +<p>"That will depend on the characters of individuals; most will, but some +will not. You and I would be punished soon enough, were there a chance, +but the mass would escape. Oh! we have had some precious disclosures in +our corner of the car! The two or three men who joined Newcome are from +anti-rent districts, and seeing me with their friend, little reserve has +been practised. One of those men is an anti-rent lecturer; and, being +somewhat didactic, he favoured me with some of his arguments, +<i>seriatim</i>."</p> + +<p>"How! Have they got to lectures? I should have supposed the newspapers +would have been the means of circulating <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>their ideas."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the newspapers, like hogs swimming too freely, have cut their own +throats; and it seems to be fashionable, just at this moment, not to +believe them. Lecturing is the great moral lever of the nation at +present."</p> + +<p>"But a man can lie in a lecture, as well as in a newspaper."</p> + +<p>"Out of all question; and if many of the lecturers are of the school of +this Mr. Holmes—'Lecturer Holmes,' as Seneca called him—but, if many +are of <i>his</i> school, a pretty set of liberty-takers with the truth must +they be."</p> + +<p>"You detected him, then, in some of these liberties?"</p> + +<p>"In a hundred: nothing was easier than for a man in my situation to do +that; knowing, as I did, so much of the history of the land-titles of +the State. One of his arguments partakes so largely of the weak side of +our system, that I must give it to you. He spoke of the gravity of the +disturbances—of the importance to the peace and character of the State +of putting an end to them; and then, by way of corollary to his +proposition, produced a scheme for changing the titles, <span class="smcap">in order to +satisfy the people</span>!"</p> + +<p>"The people, of course, meaning the tenants; the landlords and <i>their</i> +rights passing for nothing."</p> + +<p>"That is one beautiful feature of the morality—an eye, or a cheek, if +you will—but here is the <i>nose</i>, and highly Roman it is. A certain +portion of the community wish to get rid of the obligations of their +contracts; and finding it cannot be done by law, they resort to means +that are opposed to all law, in order to effect their purposes. Public +law-breakers, violators of the public peace, they make use of their own +wrong as an argument for perpetuating another that can be perpetuated in +no other way. I have been looking over some of the papers containing +proclamations, &c., and find that both law-makers and law-breakers are +of one mind as to this charming policy. Without a single manly effort to +put down the atrocious wrong that is meditated, the existence of the +wrong itself is made an argument for meeting it with concessions, and +thus sustaining it. Instead of using the means the institutions have +provided for putting down all such unjust and illegal combinations, the +combinations are a sufficient reason of themselves why the laws should +be altered, and wrong be done to a few, in order that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>many may be +propitiated, and their votes secured."</p> + +<p>"This is reasoning that can be used only where real grievances exist. +But there are no real grievances in the case of the tenants. They may +mystify weak heads in the instance of the Manor leases, with their +quarter sales, fat hens, loads of wood and days' works; but my leases +are all on three lives, with rent payable in money, and with none of the +conditions that are called feudal, though no more feudal than any other +bargain to pay articles in kind. One might just as well call a bargain +made by a butcher to deliver pork for a series of years feudal. However, +feudal or not, my leases, and those of most other landlords, are running +on lives; and yet, by what I can learn, the discontent is general; and +the men who have solemnly bargained to give up their farms at the +expiration of the lives are just as warm for the 'down-rent' and titles +in fee, as the Manor tenants themselves! They say that the obligations +given for actual purchases are beginning to be discredited."</p> + +<p>"You are quite right; and there is one of the frauds practised on the +world at large. In the public documents, only the Manor leases, with +their pretended feudal covenants and their perpetuity, are kept in view, +while the combination goes to <i>all</i> leases, or nearly all, and certainly +to all <i>sorts</i> of leases, where the estates are of sufficient extent to +allow of the tenants to make head against the landlords. I dare say +there are hundreds of tenants, even on the property of the Renssalaers, +who are honest enough to be willing to comply with their contracts if +the conspirators would let them; but the rapacious spirit is abroad +among the occupants of other lands, as well as among the occupants of +theirs, and the government considers its existence a proof that +concessions should be made. The discontented must be appeased, right or +not!"</p> + +<p>"Did Seneca say anything on the subject of his own interests?"</p> + +<p>"He did; not so much in conversation with me, as in the discourse he +held with 'Lecturer Holmes.' I listened attentively, happening to be +familiar, through tradition and through personal knowledge, with all the +leading facts of the case. As you will soon be called on to act in that +matter for yourself, I may as well relate them to you. They will serve, +also, as guides to the moral merits of the occu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>pation of half the farms +on your estate. These are things, moreover, you would never know by +public statements, since all the good bargains are smothered in silence, +while those that may possibly have been a little unfavourable to the +tenant are proclaimed far and near. It is quite possible that, among the +many thousands of leased farms that are to be found in the State, some +bad bargains may have been made by the tenants; but what sort of a +government is that which should undertake to redress evils of this +nature? If either of the Renssalaers, or you yourself, were to venture +to send a memorial to the Legislature setting forth the grievances <i>you</i> +labour under in connection with this very 'mill-lot'—and serious losses +do they bring to you, let me tell you, though grievances, in the proper +sense of the term, they are not—you and your memorial would be met with +a general and merited shout of ridicule and derision. One man has no +rights, as opposed to a dozen."</p> + +<p>"So much difference is there between <i>'de la Rochefocauld et de la +Rochefoucauld</i>.'"</p> + +<p>"All the difference in the world: but let me give you the facts, for +they will serve as a rule by which to judge of many others. In the first +place, my great-grandfather Mordaunt, the 'patentee,' as he was called, +first let the mill-lot to the grandfather of this Seneca, the tenant +then being quite a young man. In order to obtain settlers, in that early +day, it was necessary to give them great advantages, for there was +vastly more land than there were people to work it. The first lease, +therefore, was granted on highly advantageous terms to that Jason +Newcome, whom I can just remember. He had two characters; the one, and +the true, which set him down as a covetous, envious, narrow-minded +provincial, who was full of cant and roguery. Some traditions exist +among us of his having been detected in stealing timber, and in various +other frauds. In public he is one of those virtuous and hard-working +pioneers who have transmitted to their descendants all their claims, +those that are supposed to be moral, as well as those that are known to +be legal. This flummery may do for elderly ladies, who affect snuff and +bohea, and for some men who have minds of the same calibre, but they are +not circumstances to influence <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>such legislators and executives as are +fit to be legislators and executives. Not a great while before my +father's marriage, the said Jason still living and in possession, the +lease expired, and a new one was granted for three lives, or twenty-one +years certain, of which one of the lives is still running. That lease +was granted, on terms highly favourable to the tenant, sixty years +since, old Newcome, luckily for himself and his posterity, having named +this long-lived son as one of his three lives. Now Seneky, God bless +him! is known to lease a few of the lots that have fallen to his share +of the property for more money than is required to meet all your rent on +the whole. Such, in effect, has been the fact with that mill-lot for the +last thirty years, or even longer; and the circumstance of the great +length of time so excellent a bargain has existed, is used as an +argument why the Newcomes ought to have a deed of the property for a +nominal price; or, indeed, for no price at all, if the tenants could +have their wishes."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid there is nothing unnatural in thus perverting principles; +half mankind appear to me really to get a great many of their notions +<i>dessus dessous</i>."</p> + +<p>"Half is a small proportion; as you will find, my boy, when you grow +older. But was it not an impudent proposal of Seneca, when he wished you +and me to join the corps of 'Injins?'"</p> + +<p>"What answer did you make? Though I suppose it would hardly do for us to +go disguised and armed, now that the law makes it a felony, even while +our motive, at the bottom, might be to aid the law."</p> + +<p>"Catch me at that act of folly! Why, Hugh, could they prove such a crime +on either of <i>us</i>, or any one connected with an old landed family, we +should be the certain victims. No governor would dare pardon <i>us</i>. No, +no; clemency is a word reserved for the obvious and confirmed rogues."</p> + +<p>"We might get a little favour on the score of belonging to a very +powerful body of offenders."</p> + +<p>"True; I forgot that circumstance. The more numerous the crimes and the +criminals, the greater the probability of impunity; and this, too, not +on the general principle that power cannot be resisted, but on the +particular principle <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>that a thousand or two votes are of vast +importance, where three thousand can turn an election. God only knows +where this thing is to end!"</p> + +<p>We now approached one of the humbler taverns of the place, where it was +necessary for those of our apparent pretensions to seek lodgings, and +the discourse was dropped. It was several weeks too early in the season +for the Springs to be frequented, and we found only a few of those in +the place who drank the waters because they really required them. My +uncle had been an old stager at Saratoga—a beau of the "purest water," +as he laughingly described himself—and he was enabled to explain all +that it was necessary for me to know. An American watering-place, +however, is so very much inferior to most of those in Europe, as to +furnish very little, in their best moments, beyond the human beings they +contain, to attract the attention of the traveller.</p> + +<p>In the course of the afternoon we availed ourselves of the opportunity +of a return vehicle to go as far as Sandy Hill, where we passed the +night. The next morning, bright and early, we got into a hired wagon and +drove across the country until near night, when we paid for our passage, +sent the vehicle back, and sought a tavern. At this house, where we +passed the night, we heard a good deal of the "Injins" having made their +appearance on the Littlepage lands, and many conjectures as to the +probable result. We were in a township, or rather on a property that was +called Mooseridge, and which had once belonged to us, but which, having +been sold, and in a great measure paid for by the occupants, no one +thought of impairing the force of the covenants under which the parties +held. The most trivial observer will soon discover that it is only when +something is to be gained that the aggrieved citizen wishes to disturb a +covenant. Now, I never heard any one say a syllable against either of +the covenants of his lease under which he held his farm, let him be ever +so loud against those which would shortly compel him to give it up! Had +I complained of the fact—and such facts abounded—that my predecessors +had incautiously let farms at such low prices that the lessees had been +enabled to pay the rents for half a century by subletting small portions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>of them, as my uncle Ro had intimated, I should be pointed at as a +fool. "Stick to your bond" would have been the cry, and "Shylock" would +have been forgotten. I do not say that there is not a vast difference +between the means of acquiring intelligence, the cultivation, the +manners, the social conditions, and, in some senses, the social +obligations of an affluent landlord and a really hard-working, honest, +well-intentioned husbandman, his tenant—differences that should dispose +the liberal and cultivated gentleman to bear in mind the advantages he +has perhaps inherited, and not acquired by his own means, in such a way +as to render him, in a certain degree, the repository of the interests +of those who hold under him; but, while I admit all this, and say that +the community which does not possess such a class of men is to be +pitied, as it loses one of the most certain means of liberalizing and +enlarging its notions, and of improving its civilization, I am far from +thinking that the men of this class are to have their real superiority +of position, with its consequences, thrown into their faces only when +they are expected to give, while they are grudgingly denied it on all +other occasions! There is nothing so likely to advance the habits, +opinions, and true interests of a rural population, as to have them all +directed by the intelligence and combined interests that ought to mark +the connection between landlord and tenant. It may do for one class of +political economists to prate about a state of things which supposes +every husbandman a freeholder, and rich enough to maintain his level +among the other freeholders of the State. But we all know that as many +minute gradations in means must and do exist in a community, as there +exists gradations in characters. A majority soon will, in the nature of +things, be below the level of the freeholder, and by destroying the +system of having landlords and tenants, two great evils are created—the +one preventing men of large fortunes from investing in lands, as no man +will place his money where it will be insecure or profitless, thereby +cutting off real estate generally from the benefits that might be and +would be conferred by their capital, as well as cutting it off from the +benefits of the increased price which arise from having such buyers in +the market; and the other is, to prevent any man from being a husbandman +who has not the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>money necessary to purchase a farm. But they who want +farms <i>now</i>, and they who will want votes next November, do not look +quite so far ahead as that, while shouting "equal rights," they are, in +fact, for preventing the poor husbandman from being anything but a +day-labourer.</p> + +<p>We obtained tolerably decent lodgings at our inn, though the profoundest +patriot America possesses, if he know anything of other countries, or of +the best materials of his own, cannot say much in favour of the sleeping +arrangements of an ordinary country inn. The same money and the same +trouble would render that which is now the very <i>beau idéal</i> of +discomfort, at least tolerable, and in many instances good. But who is +to produce this reform? According to the opinions circulated among us, +the humblest hamlet we have has already attained the highest point of +civilization; and as for the people, without distinction of classes, it +is universally admitted that they are the best educated, the acutest, +and the most intelligent in Christendom;—no, I must correct myself; +they are all this, except when they are in the act of leasing lands, and +then the innocent and illiterate husbandmen are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>the victims of the arts +of designing landlords, the wretches!<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>We passed an hour on the piazza, after eating our supper, and there +being a collection of men assembled there, inhabitants of the hamlet, we +had an opportunity to get into communication with them. My uncle sold a +watch, and I played on the hurdy-gurdy, by way of making myself popular. +After this beginning, the discourse turned on the engrossing subject of +the day, anti-rentism. The principal speaker was a young man of about +six-and-twenty, of a sort of shabby genteel air and appearance, whom I +soon discovered to be the attorney of the neighbourhood. His name was +Hubbard, while that of the other principal speaker was Hall. The last +was a mechanic, as I ascertained, and was a plain-looking working-man of +middle age. Each of these persons seated himself on a common "kitchen +chair," leaning back against the side of the house, and, of course, +resting on the two hind legs of the rickety support, while he placed his +own feet on the rounds in front. The attitudes were neither graceful nor +picturesque, but they were so entirely common as to excite no surprise. +As for Hall, he appeared perfectly contented with his situation, after +fidgeting a little to get the two supporting legs of his chair just +where he wanted them; but Hubbard's eye was restless, uneasy, and even +menacing, for more than a minute. He drew a knife from his pocket—a +small, neat pen-knife only, it is true—gazed a little wildly about him, +and just as I thought he intended to abandon his nicely poised chair, +and to make an assault on one of the pillars that upheld the roof of the +piazza, the innkeeper advanced, holding in his hand several narrow slips +of pine board, one of which he offered at once to 'Squire Hubbard. This +relieved the attorney, who took the wood, and was soon deeply plunged +in, to me, the unknown delights of whittling. I cannot explain the +mysterious pleasure that so many find in whittling, though the +prevalence of the custom is so well known. But I cannot explain the +pleasure so many find in chewing tobacco, or in smoking. The precaution +of the landlord was far from being unnecessary, and appeared to be taken +in good part by all to whom he offered "whittling-pieces," some six or +eight in the whole. The state of the piazza, indeed, proved that the +precaution was absolutely indispensable, if he did <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>not wish to see the +house come tumbling down about his head. In order that those who have +never seen such thing may understand their use, I will go a little out +of the way to explain.</p> + +<p>The inn was of wood, a hemlock frame with a "siding" of clap-boards. In +this there was nothing remarkable, many countries of Europe, even, still +building principally of wood. Houses of lath and plaster were quite +common, until within a few years, even in large towns. I remember to +have seen some of these constructions, while in London, in close +connection with the justly celebrated Westminster Hall; and of such +materials is the much-talked-of miniature castle of Horace Walpole, at +Strawberry Hill. But the inn of Mooseridge had some pretensions to +architecture, besides being three or four times larger than any other +house in the place. A piazza it enjoyed, of course; it must be a pitiful +village inn that does not: and building, accessaries and all, rejoiced +in several coats of a spurious white lead. The columns of this piazza, +as well as the clap-boards of the house itself however, exhibited the +proofs of the danger of abandoning your true whittler to his own +instincts. Spread-eagles, five points, American flags, huzzahs for Polk! +the initials of names, and names at full length, with various other +similar conceits, records, and ebullitions of patriotic or party-otic +feelings, were scattered up and down with an affluence the said volumes +in favour of the mint in which they had been coined. But the most +remarkable memorial of the industry of the guests was to be found on one +of the columns; and it was one at a corner, too, and consequently of +double importance to the superstructure—unless, indeed, the house were +built on that well-known principle of American architecture of the last +century, which made the architrave uphold the pillar, instead of the +pillar the architrave. The column in question was of white pine, as +usual—though latterly, in brick edifices, bricks and stucco are much +resorted to—and, at a convenient height for the whittlers, it was +literally cut two-thirds in two. The gash was very neatly made—that +much must be said for it—indicating skill and attention; and the +surfaces of the wound were smoothed in a manner to prove that +appearances were not neglected.</p> + +<p>"Vat do das?" I asked of the landlord, pointing to this <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>gaping wound in +the main column of his piazza.</p> + +<p>"That! Oh! That's only the whittlers," answered the host, with a +<ins title="Other versions of text read 'good-natured'.">good-natural</ins> smile.</p> + +<p>Assuredly the Americans <i>are</i> the best-natured people on earth! Here was +a man whose house was nearly tumbling down about his ears—always bating +the principle in architecture just named—and he could smile as Nero may +be supposed to have done when fiddling over the conflagration of Rome.</p> + +<p>"But vhy might de vhittler vhittle down your house?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! this is a free country, you know, and folks do pretty much as they +like in it," returned the still smiling host. "I let 'em cut away as +long as I dared, but it was high time to get out 'whittling-pieces' I +believe you must own. It's best always to keep a ruff (roof) over a +man's head, to be ready for bad weather. A week longer would have had +the column in two."</p> + +<p>"Vell, I dinks I might not bear dat! Vhat ist mein house ist mein house, +ant dey shall not so moch vittles."</p> + +<p>"By letting 'em so much vittles there, they so much vittles in the +kitchen; so you see there is policy in having your under-pinnin' knocked +away sometimes, if it's done by the right sort of folks."</p> + +<p>"You're a stranger in these parts, friend?" observed Hubbard, +complacently, for by this time his "whittling-piece" was reduced to a +shape, and he could go on reducing it, according to some law of the art +of whittling, with which I am not acquainted. "We are not so particular +in such matters as in some of your countries in the old world."</p> + +<p>"Ja—das I can see. But does not woot ant column cost money in America, +someding?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure it does. There is not a man in the country who would +undertake to replace that pillar with a new one, paint and all, for less +than ten dollars."</p> + +<p>This was an opening for a discussion on the probable cost of putting a +new pillar into the place of the one that was injured. Opinions +differed, and quite a dozen spoke on the subject; some placing the +expense as high as fifteen dollars, and others bringing it down as low +as five. I was struck with the quiet and self-possession with which each +man delivered his opinion, as well as with the language used. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>accent was uniformly provincial, that of Hubbard included, having a +strong and unpleasant taint of the dialect of New England in it; and +some of the expressions savoured a little of the stilts of the +newspapers; but, on the whole, the language was sufficiently accurate +and surprisingly good, considering the class in life of the speakers. +The conjectures, too, manifested great shrewdness and familiarity with +practical things, as well as, in a few instances, some reading. Hall, +however, actually surprised me. He spoke with a precision and knowledge +of mechanics that would have done credit to a scholar, and with a +simplicity that added to the influence of what he said. Some casual +remark induced me to put in—"Vell, I might s'pose an Injin voult cut so +das column, but I might not s'pose a vhite man could." This opinion gave +the discourse a direction towards anti-rentism, and in a few minutes it +caught all the attention of my uncle Ro and myself.</p> + +<p>"This business is going ahead after all!" observed Hubbard, evasively, +after others had had their say.</p> + +<p>"More's the pity," put in Hall. "It might have been put an end to in a +month, at any time, and ought to be put an end to in a civilized land."</p> + +<p>"You will own, neighbour Hall, notwithstanding, it would be a great +improvement in the condition of the tenants all over the State, could +they change their tenures into freeholds."</p> + +<p>"No doubt 't would; and so it would be a great improvement in the +condition of any journeyman in my shop if he could get to be the boss. +But that is not the question here, the question is, what right has the +State to say any man shall sell his property unless he wishes to sell +it? A pretty sort of liberty we should have if we all held our houses +and gardens under such laws as that supposes!"</p> + +<p>"But do we not all hold our houses and gardens, and farms, too, by some +such law?" rejoined the attorney, who evidently respected his +antagonist, and advanced his own opinions cautiously. "If the public +wants land to use, it can take it by paying for it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, to <i>use</i>; but use is everything. I've read that old report of the +committee of the House, and don't subscribe to its doctrines at all. +Public 'policy,' in that sense, doesn't <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>at all mean public 'use.' If +land is wanted for a road, or a fort, or a canal, it must be taken, +under a law, by appraisement, or the thing could not be had at all; but +to pretend, because one side to a contract wishes to alter it, that the +State has a right to interfere, on the ground that the discontented can +be bought off in this way easier and cheaper than they can be made to +obey the laws, is but a poor way of supporting the right. The same +principle, carried out, might prove it would be easier to buy off +pickpockets by compromising than to punish them. Or it would be easy to +get round all sorts of contracts in this way."</p> + +<p>"But all governments use this power when it becomes necessary, neighbour +Hall."</p> + +<p>"That word <i>necessary</i> covers a great deal of ground, 'Squire Hubbard. +The most that can be made of the necessity here is to say it is cheaper, +and may help along parties to their objects better. No man doubts that +the State of New York can put down these anti-renters; and, I trust, +<i>will</i> put them down, so far as force is concerned. There is, then, no +other necessity in the case, to begin with, than the necessity which +demagogues always feel, of getting as many votes as they can."</p> + +<p>"After all, neighbour Hall, these votes are pretty powerful weapons in a +popular government."</p> + +<p>"I'll not deny that; and now they talk of a convention to alter the +constitution, it is a favourable moment to teach such managers they +shall not abuse the right of suffrage in this way."</p> + +<p>"How is it to be prevented? You are an universal suffrage man, I know?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm for universal suffrage among honest folks; but do not wish to +have my rulers chosen by them that are never satisfied without having +their hands in their neighbours' pockets. Let 'em put a clause into the +constitution providing that no town, or village, or county shall hold a +poll within a given time after the execution of process has been openly +resisted in it. That would take the conceit out of all such +law-breakers, in very short order."</p> + +<p>It was plain that this idea struck the listeners, and several even +avowed their approbation of the scheme aloud. Hubbard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>received it as a +new thought, but was more reluctant to admit its practicability. As +might be expected from a lawyer accustomed to practise in a small way, +his objections savoured more of narrow views than of the notions of a +statesman.</p> + +<p>"How would you determine the extent of the district to be +disfranchised?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Take the legal limits as they stand. If process be resisted openly by a +combination strong enough to look down the agents of the law in a town, +disfranchise that town for a given period; if in more than one town, +disfranchise the offending towns; if a county, disfranchise the whole +county."</p> + +<p>"But, in that way you would punish the innocent with the guilty."</p> + +<p>"It would be for the good of all; besides, you punish the innocent for +the guilty, or <i>with</i> the guilty rather, in a thousand ways. You and I +are taxed to keep drunkards from starving, because it is better to do +that than to offend humanity by seeing men die of hunger, or tempting +them to steal. When you declare martial law you punish the innocent with +the guilty, in one sense; and so you do in a hundred cases. All we have +to ask is, if it be not wiser and better to disarm demagogues, and those +disturbers of the public peace who wish to pervert their right of +suffrage to so wicked an end, by so simple a process, than to suffer +them to effect their purposes by the most flagrant abuse of their +political privileges?"</p> + +<p>"How would you determine <i>when</i> a town should lose the right of voting?"</p> + +<p>"By evidence given in open court. The judges would be the proper +authority to decide in such a case; and they would decide, beyond all +question, nineteen times in twenty, right. It is the interest of every +man who is desirous of exercising the suffrage on right principles, to +give him some such protection against them that wish to exercise the +suffrage on wrong. A peace-officer can call on the <i>posse comitatus</i> or +on the people to aid him; if enough appear to put down the rebels, well +and good; but if enough do not appear, let it be taken as proof that the +district is not worthy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>of giving the votes of freemen. They who abuse +such a liberty as man enjoys in this country are the least entitled to +our sympathies. As for the mode, that could easily be determined, as +soon as you settled the principle."</p> + +<p>The discourse went on for an hour, neighbour Hall giving his opinions +still more at large. I listened equally with pleasure and surprise. +"These, then, after all," I said to myself, "are the real bone and sinew +of the country. There are tens of thousands of this sort of men in the +State, and why should they be domineered over, and made to submit to a +legislation and to practices that are so often without principle, by the +agents of the worst part of the community? Will the honest for ever be +so passive, while the corrupt and dishonest continue so active?" On my +mentioning these notions to my uncle, he answered:</p> + +<p>"Yes; it ever has been so, and, I fear, ever will be so. <i>There</i> is the +curse of this country," pointing to a table covered with newspapers, the +invariable companion of an American inn of any size. "So long as men +believe what they find <i>there</i>, they can be nothing but dupes or +knaves."</p> + +<p>"But there is good in newspapers."</p> + +<p>"That adds to the curse. If they were nothing but lies, the world would +soon reject them; but how few are able to separate the true from the +false! Now, how few of these papers speak the truth about this very +anti-rentism! Occasionally an honest man in the corps does come out; but +where one does this, ten affect to think what they do not believe, in +order to secure votes;—votes, votes, votes. In that simple word lies +all the mystery of the matter."</p> + +<p>"Jefferson said, if he were to choose between a government without +newspapers, or newspapers without a government, he would take the last."</p> + +<p>"Ay, Jefferson did not mean newspapers as they are now. I am old enough +to see the change that has taken place. In his day, three or four fairly +convicted lies would damn any editor; now, there are men that stand up +under a thousand. I'll tell you what, Hugh, this country is jogging on +under two of the most antagonist systems possible—Christianity and the +newspapers. The first is daily hammering into every man that he is a +miserable, frail, good-for-nothing being, while the last is eternally +proclaiming the perfection of the people and the virtues of +self-government."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps too much stress ought not to be laid on either."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The first is certainly true, under limitations that we all understand; +but as to the last, I will own I want more evidence than a newspaper +eulogy to believe it."</p> + +<p>After all, my uncle Ro is sometimes mistaken; though candour compels me +to acknowledge that he is very often right.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +<span class="pi4">"I see thee still;<br /></span> +Remembrance, faithful to her trust,<br /> +Calls thee in beauty from the dust;<br /> +Thou comest in the morning light,<br /> +Thou 'rt with me through the gloomy night;<br /> +In dreams I meet thee as of old:<br /> +Then thy soft arms my neck enfold,<br /> +And thy sweet voice is in my ear:<br /> +In every sense to memory dear<br /> +<span class="pi4">I see thee still."</span></p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Sprague.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It</span> was just ten in the morning of the succeeding day when my uncle Ro +and myself came in sight of the old house at the Nest. I call it <i>old</i>, +for a dwelling that has stood more than half a century acquires a touch +of the venerable, in a country like America. To me it was truly old, the +building having stood there, where I then saw it, for a period more than +twice as long as that of my own existence, and was associated with all +my early ideas. From childhood I had regarded that place as my future +home, as it had been the home of my parents and grand-parents, and, in +one sense, of those who had gone before them for two generations more. +The whole of the land in sight—the rich bottoms, then waving with +grass—the side-hills, the woods, the distant mountains—the orchards, +dwellings, barns, and all the other accessaries of rural life that +appertained to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>soil, were mine, and had thus become without a +single act of injustice to any human being, so far as I knew and +believed. Even the red man had been fairly bought off by Herman +Mordaunt, the patentee, and so Susquesus, the Redskin of Ravensnest, as +our old Onondago was often called, had ever admitted the fact to be. It +was natural that I should love an estate thus inherited and thus +situated. <span class="smcap">No civilized man, no man, indeed, savage or not, had ever been +the owner of those broad acres, but those who were of my own blood.</span> This +is what few besides Americans <i>can</i> say; and when it can be said truly, +in parts of the country where the arts of life have spread, and amid the +blessings of civilization, it becomes the foundation of a sentiment so +profound, that I do not wonder those adventurers-errant who are flying +about the face of the country, thrusting their hands into every man's +mess, have not been able to find it among their other superficial +discoveries. Nothing can be less like the ordinary cravings of avarice +than the feeling that is thus engendered; and I am certain that the +general tendency of such an influence is to elevate the feelings of him +who experiences it.</p> + +<p>And there were men among us, high in political station—high as such men +ever can get, for the consequence of having such men in power is to draw +down station itself nearer to their own natural level—but men in power +had actually laid down propositions in political economy which, if +carried out, would cause me to sell all that estate, reserving, perhaps, +a single farm for my own use, and reinvest the money in such a way as +that the interest I obtained might equal my present income! It is true, +this theory was not directly applied to me, as my farms were to fall in +by the covenants of their leases, but it had been directly applied to +Stephen and William Van Rensselaer, and, by implication, to others; and +my turn might come next. What business had the Rensselaers, or the +Livingstons, or the Hunters, or the Littlepages, or the Verplancks, or +the Morgans, or the Wadsworths, or five hundred others similarly placed, +to entertain "sentiments" that interfered with "business," or that +interfered with the wishes of any straggling Yankee who had found his +way out of New England, and wanted a particular farm on his own terms? +It is aristocratic to put sentiment in opposition to trade; and <span class="smcap">trade +itself is not to be trade any longer than all the profit is to be found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +on the side of numbers.</span> Even the principles of holy trade are to be +governed by majorities!</p> + +<p>Even my uncle Ro, who never owned a foot of the property, could not look +at it without emotion. He too had been born there—had passed his +childhood there—and loved the spot without a particle of the grovelling +feeling of avarice. He took pleasure in remembering that our race had +been the only owners of the soil on which he stood, and had that very +justifiable pride which belongs to enduring respectability and social +station.</p> + +<p>"Well, Hugh," he cried, after both of us had stood gazing at the grey +walls of the good and substantial, but certainly not very beautiful +dwelling, "here we are, and we now may determine on what is next to be +done. Shall we march down to the village, which is four miles distant, +you will remember, and get our breakfasts there?—shall we try one of +your tenants?—or shall we plunge at once <i>in medias res</i>, and ask +hospitality of my mother and your sister?"</p> + +<p>"The last might excite suspicion, I fear, sir. Tar and feathers would be +our mildest fate did we fall into the hands of the Injins."</p> + +<p>"Injins! Why not go at once to the wigwam of Susquesus, and get out of +him and Yop the history of the state of things. I heard them speaking of +the Onondago at our tavern last night, and while they said he was +generally thought to be much more than a hundred, that he was still like +a man of eighty. That Indian is full of observation, and may let us into +some of the secrets of his brethren."</p> + +<p>"They can at least give us the news from the family; and though it might +seem in the course of things for pedlars to visit the Nest House, it +will be just as much so for them to halt at the wigwam."</p> + +<p>This consideration decided the matter, and away we went towards the +ravine or glen, on the side of which stood the primitive-looking hut +that went by the name of the "wigwam." The house was a small cabin of +logs, neat and warm, or cool, as the season demanded. As it was kept up, +and was whitewashed, and occasionally furnished anew by the +landlord—the odious creature! he who paid for so <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>many similar things +in the neighbourhood—it was never unfit to be seen, though never of a +very alluring, cottage-like character. There was a garden, and it had +been properly made that very season, the negro picking and pecking about +it, during the summer, in a way to coax the vegetables and fruits on a +little, though I well knew that the regular weedings came from an +assistant at the Nest, who was ordered to give it an eye and an +occasional half-day. On one side of the hut there was a hog-pen and a +small stable for a cow; but on the other the trees of the virgin forest, +which had never been disturbed in that glen, overshadowed the roof. This +somewhat poetical arrangement was actually the consequence of a +compromise between the tenants of the cabin, the negro insisting on the +accessories of his rude civilization, while the Indian required the +shades of the woods to reconcile him to his position. Here had these two +singularly associated beings—the one deriving his descent from the +debased races of Africa, and the other from the fierce but lofty-minded +aboriginal inhabitant of this continent—dwelt nearly for the whole +period of an ordinary human life. The cabin itself began to look really +ancient, while those who dwelt in it had little altered within the +memory of man! Such instances of longevity, whatever theorists may say +on the subject, are not unfrequent among either the blacks or the +"natives," though probably less so among the last than among the first, +and still less so among the first of the northern than of the southern +sections of the republic. It is common to say that the great age so +often attributed to the people of these two races is owing to ignorance +of the periods of their births, and that they do not live longer than +the whites. This may be true, in the main, for a white man is known to +have died at no great distance from Ravensnest, within the last +five-and-twenty years, who numbered more than his six score of years; +but aged negroes and aged Indians are nevertheless so common, when the +smallness of their whole numbers is remembered, as to render the fact +apparent to most of those who have seen much of their respective people.</p> + +<p>There was no highway in the vicinity of the wigwam, for so the cabin was +generally called, though wigwam, in the strict meaning of the word, it +was not. As the little building <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>stood in the grounds of the Nest House, +which contain two hundred acres, a bit of virgin forest included, and +exclusively of the fields that belonged to the adjacent farm, it was +approached only by foot-paths, of which several led to and from it, and +by one narrow, winding carriage-road, which, in passing for miles +through the grounds, had been led near the hut, in order to enable my +grandmother and sister, and, I dare say, my dear departed mother, while +she lived, to make their calls in their frequent airings. By this +sweeping road we approached the cabin.</p> + +<p>"There are the two old fellows, sunning themselves this fine day!" +exclaimed my uncle, with something like tremor in his voice, as we drew +near enough to the hut to distinguish objects. "Hugh, I never see these +men without a feeling of awe, as well as of affection. They were the +friends, and one was the slave of my grandfather; and as long as I can +remember, have they been aged men! They seem to be set up here as +monuments of the past, to connect the generations that are gone with +those that are to come."</p> + +<p>"If so, sir, they will soon be all there is of their sort. It really +seems to me that, if things continue much longer in their present +direction, men will begin to grow jealous and envious of history itself, +because its actors have left descendants to participate in any little +credit they may have gained."</p> + +<p>"Beyond all contradiction, boy, there is a strange perversion of the old +and natural sentiments on this head among us. But you must bear in mind +the fact, that of the two millions and a half the State contains, not +half a million, probably, possess any of the true York blood, and can +consequently feel any of the sentiments connected with the birth-place +and the older traditions of the very society in which they live. A great +deal must be attributed to the facts of our condition; though I admit +those facts need not, and ought not to unsettle principles. But look at +those two old fellows! There they are, true to the feelings and habits +of their races, even after passing so long a time together in this hut. +There squats Susquesus on a stone, idle and disdaining work, with his +rifle leaning against the apple-tree; while Jaaf—or Yop, as I believe +it is better to call him—is pecking about in the garden, still a slave +at his work, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>fancy at least."</p> + +<p>"And which is the happiest, sir—the industrious old man or the idler?"</p> + +<p>"Probably each finds most happiness in indulging his own early habits. +The Onondago never <i>would</i> work, however, and I have heard my father +say, great was his happiness when he found he was to pass the remainder +of his days in <i>otium cum dignitate</i>, and without the necessity of +making baskets."</p> + +<p>"Yop is looking at us; had we not better go up at once and speak to +them?"</p> + +<p>"Yop may stare the most openly, but my life on it the Indian <i>sees</i> +twice as much. His faculties are the best, to begin with; and he is a +man of extraordinary and characteristic observation. In his best days +nothing ever escaped him. As you say, we will approach."</p> + +<p>My uncle and myself then consulted on the expediency of using broken +English with these two old men, of which, at first, we saw no necessity; +but when we remembered that others might join us, and that our +communications with the two might be frequent for the next few days, we +changed our minds, and determined rigidly to observe our incognitos.</p> + +<p>As we came up to the door of the hut, Jaaf slowly left his little garden +and joined the Indian, who remained immoveable and unmoved on the stone +which served him for a seat. We could see but little change in either +during the five years of our absence, each being a perfect picture, in +his way, of extreme but not decrepit old age in the men of his race. Of +the two, the black—if black he could now be called, his colour being a +muddy grey—was the most altered, though that seemed scarcely possible +when I saw him last. As for the Trackless, or Susquesus, as he was +commonly called, his temperance throughout a long life did him good +service, and his half-naked limbs and skeleton-like body, for he wore +the summer dress of his people, appeared to be made of a leather long +steeped in a tannin of the purest quality. His sinews, too, though much +stiffened, seemed yet to be of whip-cord, and his whole frame a species +of indurated mummy that retained its vitality. The colour of the skin +was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>less red than formerly, and more closely approached to that of the +negro, as the latter now was, though perceptibly different.</p> + +<p>"Sago—sago," cried my uncle, as we came quite near, seeing no risk in +using that familiar semi-Indian salutation.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> "Sago, sago, dis charmin' +mornin; in my tongue, dat might be <i>guten tag</i>."</p> + +<p>"Sago," returned the Trackless, in his deep, guttural voice, while old +Yop brought two lips together that resembled thick pieces of overdone +beef-steak, fastened his red-encircled gummy eyes on each of us in turn, +pouted once more, working his jaws as if proud of the excellent teeth +they still held, and said nothing. As the slave of a Littlepage, he held +pedlars as inferior beings; for the ancient negroes of New York ever +identified themselves, more or less, with the families to which they +belonged, and in which they so often were born. "Sago," repeated the +Indian, slowly, courteously, and with emphasis, after he had looked a +moment longer at my uncle, as if he saw something about him to command +respect.</p> + +<p>"Dis ist charmin' day, frients," said uncle Ro, placing himself coolly +on a log of wood that had been hauled for the stove, and wiping his +brow. "Vat might you calls dis coontry?"</p> + +<p>"Dis here?" answered Yop, not without a little contempt. "Dis is York +Colony; where you come from to ask sich a question?"</p> + +<p>"Charmany. Dat ist far off, but a goot coontry; ant <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>dis ist goot +coontry too."</p> + +<p>"Why you leab him, den, if he be good country, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Vhy you leaf Africa, canst you dell me dat?" retorted uncle Ro, +somewhat coolly.</p> + +<p>"Nebber was dere," growled old Yop, bringing his blubber lips together +somewhat in the manner the boar works his jaws when it is prudent to get +out of his way. "I'm York-nigger born, and nebber seen no Africa; and +nebber want to see him, nudder."</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to say that Jaaf belonged to a school by which +the term of "coloured gentleman" was never used. The men of his time and +stamp called themselves "niggers;" and ladies and gentlemen of that age +took them at their word, and called them "niggers" too; a term that no +one of the race ever uses now, except in the way of reproach, and which, +by one of the singular workings of our very wayward and common nature, +he is more apt to use than any other, when reproach is intended.</p> + +<p>My uncle paused a moment to reflect before he continued a discourse that +had not appeared to commence under very flattering auspices.</p> + +<p>"Who might lif in dat big stone house?" asked uncle Ro, as soon as he +thought the negro had had time to cool a little.</p> + +<p>"Anybody can see you no Yorker, by dat werry speech," answered Yop, not +at all mollified by such a question. "Who <i>should</i> lib dere but Gin'ral +Littlepage?"</p> + +<p>"Vell, I dought he wast dead, long ago."</p> + +<p>"What if he be? It's his house, and he lib in it; and ole <i>young</i> missus +lib dere too."</p> + +<p>Now, there had been three generations of generals among the Littlepages, +counting from father to son. First, there had been Brigadier General +Evans Littlepage, who held that rank in the militia, and died in service +during the revolution. The next was Brigadier General Cornelius +Littlepage, who got his rank by brevet, at the close of the same war, in +which he had actually figured as a colonel of the New York line. Third, +and last, was my own grandfather, Major General Mordaunt Littlepage: he +had been a captain in his father's regiment at the close of the same +struggle, got the brevet of major at its termination, and rose to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>be a +Major General of the militia, the station he held for many years before +he died. As soon as the privates had the power to elect their own +officers, the position of a Major General in the militia ceased to be +respectable, and few gentlemen could be induced to serve. As might have +been foreseen, the militia itself fell into general contempt, where it +now is, and where it will ever remain until a different class of +officers shall be chosen. The people can do a great deal, no doubt, but +they cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." As soon as officers +from the old classes shall be appointed, the militia will come up; for +in no interest in life is it so material to have men of certain habits, +and notions, and education, in authority, as in those connected with the +military service. A great many fine speeches may be made, and much +patriotic eulogy expended on the intrinsic virtue and intelligence of +the people, and divers projects entertained to make "citizen-soldiers," +as they are called; but citizens never can be, and never will be turned +into soldiers at all, good or bad, until proper officers are placed over +them. To return to Yop—</p> + +<p>"Bray vhat might be der age of das laty dat you callet <i>olt</i> young +missus?" asked my uncle.</p> + +<p>"Gosh! she nutten but gal—born sometime just a'ter ole French war. +Remember her well 'nough when she Miss Dus Malbone. Young masser +Mordaunt take fancy to her, and make her he wife."</p> + +<p>"Vell, I hopes you hafn't any objection to der match?"</p> + +<p>"Not I; she clebber young lady den, and she werry clebber young lady +now."</p> + +<p>And this of my venerable grandmother, who had fairly seen her four-score +years!</p> + +<p>"Who might be der master of das big house now?"</p> + +<p>"Gin'ral Littlepage, doesn't I tell ye! Masser Mordaunt's name, <i>my</i> +young master. Sus, dere, only Injin; he nebber so lucky as hab a good +master. Niggers gettin' scarce, dey tells me, now-a-days, in dis world!"</p> + +<p>"Injins, too, I dinks; dere ist no more redskins might be blenty."</p> + +<p>The manner in which the Onondago raised his figure, and the look he +fastened on my uncle, were both fine and startling. As yet he had said +nothing beyond the salutation; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>but I could see he now intended to +speak.</p> + +<p>"New tribe," he said, after regarding us for half a minute intently; +"what you call him—where he come from?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—das ist der anti-rent redskins. Haf you seen 'em, Trackless?"</p> + +<p>"Sartain; come to see me—face in bag—behave like squaw; poor +Injin—poor warrior!"</p> + +<p>"Yees, I believes dat ist true enough. I can't bear soch Injin!—might +not be soch Injin in world. Vhat you call 'em, eh?"</p> + +<p>Susquesus shook his head slowly, and with dignity. Then he gazed +intently at my uncle; after which he fastened his eyes, in a similar +manner on me. In this manner his looks turned from one to the other for +some little time, when he again dropped them to the earth, calmly and in +silence. I took out the hurdy-gurdy, and began to play a lively air—one +that was very popular among the American blacks, and which, I am sorry +to say, is getting to be not less so among the whites. No visible effect +was produced on Susquesus, unless a slight shade of contempt was visible +on his dark features. With Jaaf, however, it was very different. Old as +he was, I could see a certain nervous twitching of the lower limbs, +which indicated that the old fellow actually felt some disposition to +dance. It soon passed away, though his grim, hard, wrinkled, dusky, grey +countenance continued to gleam with a sort of dull pleasure for some +time. There was nothing surprising in this, the indifference of the +Indian to melody being almost as marked as the negro's sensitiveness to +its power.</p> + +<p>It was not to be expected that men so aged would be disposed to talk +much. The Onondago had ever been a silent man; dignity and gravity of +character uniting with prudence to render him so. But Jaaf was +constitutionally garrulous, though length of days had necessarily much +diminished the propensity. At that moment a fit of thoughtful and +melancholy silence came over my uncle, too, and all four of us continued +brooding on our own reflections for two or three minutes after I had +ceased to play. Presently the even, smooth approach of carriage-wheels +was heard, and a light, summer vehicle that was an old acquaintance, +came whirling round the stable, and drew up within ten feet of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>the spot +where we were all seated.</p> + +<p>My heart was in my mouth, at this unexpected interruption, and I could +perceive that my uncle was scarcely less affected. Amid the flowing and +pretty drapery of summer shawls, and the other ornaments of the female +toilet, were four youthful and sunny faces, and one venerable with +years. In a word, my grandmother, my sister, and my uncle's two other +wards, and Mary Warren, were in the carriage; yes, the pretty, gentle, +timid, yet spirited and intelligent daughter of the rector was of the +party, and seemingly quite at home and at her ease, as one among +friends. She was the first to speak even, though it was in a low, quiet +voice, addressed to my sister, and in words that appeared extorted by +surprise.</p> + +<p>"There are the very two pedlars of whom I told you, Martha," she said, +"and now you may hear the flute well played."</p> + +<p>"I doubt if he can play better than Hugh," was my dear sister's answer. +"But we'll have some of his music, if it be only to remind us of him who +is so far away."</p> + +<p>"The music we can and will have, my child," cried my grandmother, +cheerfully; "though <i>that</i> is not wanted to remind us of our absent boy. +Good morrow, Susquesus; I hope this fine day agrees with you."</p> + +<p>"Sago," returned the Indian, making a dignified and even graceful +forward gesture with one arm, though he did not rise. "Weadder +good—Great Spirit good, dat reason. How squaws do?"</p> + +<p>"We are all well, I thank you, Trackless. Good morrow, Jaaf; how do +<i>you</i> do, this fine morning?"</p> + +<p>Yop, or Jaap, or Jaaf, rose tottering, made a low obeisance, and then +answered in the semi-respectful, semi-familiar manner of an old, +confidential family servant, as the last existed among our fathers:</p> + +<p>"T'ank 'ee, Miss Dus, wid all my heart," he answered. "Pretty well +to-day; but ole Sus, he fail, and grow ol'er and ol'er desp'ate fast!"</p> + +<p>Now, of the two, the Indian was much the finest relic of human powers, +though he was less uneasy and more stationary than the black. But the +propensity to see the mote in the eye of his friend, while he forgot the +beam in his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>own, was a long-established and well-known weakness of +Jaaf, and its present exhibition caused everybody to smile. I was +delighted with the beaming, laughing eyes of Mary Warren in particular, +though she said nothing.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say I agree with you, Jaaf," returned my smiling grandmother. +"The Trackless bears his years surprisingly; and I think I have not seen +him look better this many a day than he is looking this morning. We are +none of us as young as we were when we first became acquainted, +Jaaf—which is now near, if not quite, three-score years ago."</p> + +<p>"You nuttin' but gal, nudder," growled the negro. "Ole Sus be raal ole +fellow; but Miss Dus and Masser Mordaunt, dey get married only tudder +day. Why <i>dat</i> was a'ter de revylooshen!"</p> + +<p>"It was, indeed," replied the venerable woman, with a touch of +melancholy in her tones; "but the revolution took place many, many a +long year since!"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I be surprise, Miss Dus! How you call <i>dat</i> so long, when he +only be tudder day?" retorted the pertinacious negro, who began to grow +crusty, and to speak in a short, spiteful way, as if displeased by +hearing that to which he could not assent. "Masser Corny was little ole, +p'r'aps, if he lib, but all de rest ob you nuttin' but children. Tell me +one t'ing, Miss Dus, be it true dey's got a town at Satanstoe?"</p> + +<p>"An attempt was made, a few years since, to turn the whole country into +towns, and, among other places, the Neck; but I believe it will never be +anything more than a capital farm."</p> + +<p>"So besser. <i>Dat</i> good land, I tell you! One acre down dere wort' more +dan twenty acre up here."</p> + +<p>"My grandson would not be pleased to hear you say that, Jaaf."</p> + +<p>"Who your grandson, Miss Dus. Remember you hab little baby tudder day; +but baby can't hab baby."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Jaaf, my old friend, my babies have long since been men and women, +and are drawing on to old age. One, and he was my first born, is gone +before us to a better world, and <i>his</i> boy is now your young master. +This young <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>lady, that is seated opposite to me, is the sister of that +young master, and she would be grieved to think you have forgotten her."</p> + +<p>Jaaf laboured under the difficulty so common to old age; he was +forgetful of things of more recent date, while he remembered those which +had occurred a century ago! The memory is a tablet that partakes of the +peculiarity of all our opinions and habits. In youth it is easily +impressed, and the images then engraved on it are distinct, deep and +lasting, while those that succeed become crowded, and take less root, +from the circumstance of finding the ground already occupied. In the +present instance, the age was so great that the change was really +startling, the old negro's recollections occasionally coming on the mind +like a voice from the grave. As for the Indian, as I afterwards +ascertained, he was better preserved in all respects than the black; his +great temperance in youth, freedom from labour, exercise in the open +air, united to the comforts and abundance of semi-civilized habits, that +had now lasted for near a century, contributing to preserve both mind +and body. As I now looked at him, I remembered what I had heard in +boyhood of his history.</p> + +<p>There had ever been a mystery about the life of the Onondago. If any one +of our set had ever been acquainted with the facts, it was Andries +Coejemans, a half-uncle of my dear grandmother, a person who has been +known among us by the <i>sobriquet</i> of the Chainbearer. My grandmother had +told me that "uncle Chainbearer," as we all called the old relative, +<i>did</i> know all about Susquesus, in his time—the reason why he had left +his tribe, and become a hunter, and warrior, and runner among the +pale-faces—and that he had always said the particulars did his red +friend great credit, but that he would reveal it no further. So great, +however, was uncle Chainbearer's reputation for integrity, that such an +opinion was sufficient to procure for the Onondago the fullest +confidence of the whole connection, and the experience of four-score +years and ten had proved that this confidence was well placed. Some +imputed the sort of exile in which the old man had so long lived to +love; others to war; and others, again, to the consequences of those +fierce personal feuds that are known to occur among men in the s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>avage +state. But all was just as much a mystery and matter of conjecture, now +we were drawing near to the middle of the nineteenth century, as it had +been when our forefathers were receding from the middle of the +eighteenth! To return to the negro.</p> + +<p>Although Jaaf had momentarily forgotten me, and quite forgotten my +parents, he remembered my sister, who was in the habit of seeing him so +often. In what manner he connected her with the family, it is not easy +to say; but he knew her not only by sight, but by name, and, as one +might say, by blood.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes," cried the old fellow, a little eagerly, '<i>champing</i>' his +thick lips together, somewhat as an alligator snaps his jaws, "yes, I +knows Miss Patty, of course. Miss Patty is werry han'some, and grows +han'somer and han'somer ebbery time I sees her—yah, yah, yah!" The +laugh of that old negro sounded startling and unnatural, yet there was +something of the joyous in it, after all, like every negro's laugh. +"Yah, yah, yah! Yes, Miss Patty won'erful han'some, and werry like Miss +Dus. I s'pose, now, Miss Patty wast born about 'e time dat Gin'ral +Washington die."</p> + +<p>As this was a good deal more than doubling my sister's age, it produced +a common laugh among the light-hearted girls in the carriage. A gleam of +intelligence that almost amounted to a smile also shot athwart the +countenance of the Onondago, while the muscles of his face worked, but +he said nothing. I had reason to know afterwards that the tablet of his +memory retained its records better.</p> + +<p>"What friends have you with you to-day, Jaaf," inquired my grandmother, +inclining her head towards us pedlars graciously, at the same time; a +salutation that my uncle Ro and myself rose hastily to acknowledge.</p> + +<p>As for myself, I own honestly that I could have jumped into the vehicle +and kissed my dear grandmother's still good-looking but colourless +cheeks, and hugged Patt, and possibly some of the others, to my heart. +Uncle Ro had more command of himself; though I could see that the sound +of his venerable parent's voice, in which the tremour was barely +perceptible, was near overcoming him.</p> + +<p>"Dese be pedlar, ma'am, I do s'pose," answered the black. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>"Dey's got +box wid somet'in' in him, and dey's got new kind of fiddle. Come, young +man, gib Miss Dus a tune—a libely one; sich as make an ole nigger +dance."</p> + +<p>I drew round the hurdy-gurdy, and was beginning to flourish away, when a +gentle, sweet voice, raised a little louder than usual by eagerness, +interrupted me.</p> + +<p>"Oh! not that thing, not that; the flute, the flute!" exclaimed Mary +Warren, blushing to the eyes at her own boldness, the instant she saw +that she was heard, and that I was about to comply.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to say that I bowed respectfully, laid down the +hurdy-gurdy, drew the flute from my pocket, and, after a few flourishes, +commenced playing one of the newest airs, or melodies, from a favourite +opera. I saw the colour rush into Martha's cheeks the moment I had got +through a bar or two, and the start she gave satisfied me that the dear +girl remembered her brother's flute. I had played on that very +instrument ever since I was sixteen, but I had made an immense progress +in the art during the five years just passed in Europe. Masters at +Naples, Paris, Vienna and London had done a great deal for me; and I +trust I shall not be thought vain if I add, that nature had done +something, too. My excellent grandmother listened in profound attention, +and all four of the girls were enchanted.</p> + +<p>"That music is worthy of being heard in a room," observed the former, as +soon as I concluded the air; "and we shall hope to hear it this evening, +at the Nest House, if you remain anywhere near us. In the mean time, we +must pursue our airing."</p> + +<p>As my grandmother spoke she leaned forward, and extended her hand to me, +with a benevolent smile. I advanced, received the dollar that was +offered, and, unable to command my feelings, raised the hand to my lips, +respectfully but with fervour. Had Martha's face been near me, it would +have suffered also. I suppose there was nothing in this respectful +salutation that struck the spectators as very much out of the way, +foreigners having foreign customs, but I saw a flush in my venerable +grandmother's cheek, as the carriage moved off. <i>She</i> had noted the +warmth of the manner. My uncle had turned away, I dare say to conceal +the tears that started to his eyes, and Jaaf followed towards <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>the door +of the hut, whither my uncle moved, in order to do the honours of the +place. This left me quite alone with the Indian.</p> + +<p>"Why no kiss <i>face</i> of grandmodder?" asked the Onondago, coolly and +quietly.</p> + +<p>Had a clap of thunder broken over my head, I could not have been more +astonished! The disguise that had deceived my nearest relations—that +had baffled Seneca Newcome, and had set at naught even his sister +Opportunity—had failed to conceal me from that Indian, whose faculties +might be supposed to have been numbed with age!</p> + +<p>"Is it possible that you know me, Susquesus!" I exclaimed, signing +towards the negro at the same time, by way of caution; "that you +remember me, at all! I should have thought this wig, these clothes, +would have concealed me."</p> + +<p>"Sartain," answered the aged Indian, calmly. "Know young chief soon as +see him; know fader—know mudder; know gran'fader, +gran'mudder—great-gran'fader; <i>his</i> fader, too; know all. Why forget +young chief?"</p> + +<p>"Did you know me before I kissed my grandmother's hand, or only by that +act?"</p> + +<p>"Know as soon as see him. What eyes good for, if don't know? Know uncle, +dere, sartain; welcome home!"</p> + +<p>"But you will not let others know us, too, Trackless? We have always +been friends, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Be sure, friends. Why ole eagle, wid white head, strike young pigeon? +Nebber hatchet in 'e path between Susquesus and any of de tribe of +Ravensnest. Too ole to dig him up now."</p> + +<p>"There are good reasons why my uncle and myself should not be known for +a few days. Perhaps you have heard something of the trouble that has +grown up between the landlords and the tenants, in the land?"</p> + +<p>"What dat trouble?"</p> + +<p>"The tenants are tired of paying rent, and wish to make a new bargain, +by which they can become owners of the farms on which they live."</p> + +<p>A grim light played upon the swarthy countenance of the Indian: his lips +moved, but he uttered nothing aloud.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p><p>"Have you heard anything of this, Susquesus?"</p> + +<p>"Little bird sing sich song in my ear—didn't like to hear it."</p> + +<p>"And of Indians who are moving up and down the country, armed with +rifles and dressed in calico?"</p> + +<p>"What tribe, dem Injin," asked the Trackless, with a quickness and a +fire I did not think it possible for him to retain. "What 'ey do, +marchin' 'bout?—on war-path, eh?"</p> + +<p>"In one sense they may be said to be so. They belong to the anti-rent +tribe; do you know such a nation?"</p> + +<p>"Poor Injin dat, b'lieve. Why come so late?—why no come when 'e foot of +Susquesus light as feather of bird?—why stay away till pale-faces +plentier dan leaf on tree, or snow in air? Hundred year ago, when dat +oak little, sich Injin might be good; now, he good for nuttin'."</p> + +<p>"But you will keep our secret, Sus?—will not even tell the negro who we +are?"</p> + +<p>The Trackless simply nodded his head in assent. After this he seemed to +me to sink back in a sort of brooding lethargy, as if indisposed to +pursue the subject. I left him to go to my uncle, in order to relate +what had just passed. Mr. Roger Littlepage was as much astonished as I +had been myself, at hearing that one so aged should have detected us +through disguises that had deceived our nearest of kin. But the quiet +penetration and close observation of the man had long been remarkable. +As his good faith was of proof, however, neither felt any serious +apprehension of being betrayed, as soon as he had a moment for +reflection.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"He saw a cottage with a double coach-house,<br /> +A cottage of gentility;<br /> +And the devil did grin, for his darling sin<br /> +Is the pride that apes humility."</p> +<p class="poet"><i>Devil's Thoughts.</i> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">It</span> was now necessary to determine what course we ought next to pursue. +It might appear presuming in men of our pursuits to go to the Nest +before the appointed time; and did we proceed on to the village, we +should have the distance between the two places to walk over twice, +carrying our instruments and jewel-box. After a short consultation, it +was decided to visit the nearest dwellings, and to remain as near my own +house as was practicable, making an arrangement to sleep somewhere in +its immediate vicinity. Could we trust any one with our secret, our fare +would probably be all the better; but my uncle thought it most prudent +to maintain a strict incognito until he had ascertained the true state +of things in the town.</p> + +<p>We took leave of the Indian and the negro, therefore, promising to visit +them again in the course of that or the succeeding day, and followed the +path that led to the farm-house. It was our opinion that we might, at +least, expect to meet with friends in the occupants of the home farm. +The same family had been retained in possession there for three +generations, and being hired to manage the husbandry and to take care of +the dairy, there was not the same reason for the disaffection, that was +said so generally to exist among the tenantry, prevailing among them. +The name of this family was Miller, and it consisted of the two heads +and some six or seven children, most of the latter being still quite +young.</p> + +<p>"Tom Miller was a trusty lad, when I knew much of him," said my uncle, +as we drew near to the barn, in which we saw the party mentioned, at +work; "and he is said to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>have behaved well in one or two alarms they +have had at the Nest, this summer; still, it may be wiser not to let +even him into our secret as yet."</p> + +<p>"I am quite of your mind, sir," I answered; "for who knows that he has +not just as strong a desire as any of them to own the farm on which he +lives? He is the grandson of the man who cleared it from the forest, and +has much the same title as the rest of them."</p> + +<p>"Very true; and why should not that give him just as good a right to +claim an interest in the farm, beyond that he has got under his contract +to work it, as if he held a lease? He who holds a lease gets no right +beyond his bargain; nor does this man. The one is paid for his labour by +the excess of his receipts over the amount of his annual rent, while the +other is paid partly in what he raises, and partly in wages. In +principle there is no difference whatever, not a particle; yet I +question if the veriest demagogue in the State would venture to say that +the man, or the family, which works a farm for hire, even for a hundred +years, gets the smallest right to say he shall not quit it, if its owner +please, as soon as his term of service is up!"</p> + +<p>"'The love of money is the root of all evil;' and when that feeling is +uppermost, one can never tell what a man will do. The bribe of a good +farm, obtained for nothing, or for an insignificant price, is sufficient +to upset the morality of even Tom Miller."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Hugh; and here is one of the points in which our +political men betray the cloven foot. They write, and proclaim, and make +speeches, as if the anti-rent troubles grew out of the durable lease +system solely, whereas we all know that it is extended to all +descriptions of obligations given for the occupancy of land—life +leases, leases for a term of years, articles for deeds, and bonds and +mortgages. It is a wide-spread, though not yet universal attempt of +those who have the least claim to the possession of real estate, to +obtain the entire right, and that by agencies that neither the law nor +good morals will justify. It is no new expedient for partizans to place +<i>en evidence</i> no more of their principles and intentions than suits +their purposes. But, here we are within ear-shot, and must resort to the +High Dutch. <i>Guten tag, guten tag</i>," continued <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>uncle Ro, dropping +easily into the broken English of our masquerade, as we walked into the +barn, where Miller, two of his older boys, and a couple of hired men +were at work, grinding scythes and preparing for the approaching +hay-harvest. "It might be warm day, dis fine mornin'."</p> + +<p>"Good day, good day," cried Miller, hastily, and glancing his eye a +little curiously at our equipments. "What have you got in your +box—essences?"</p> + +<p>"Nein; vatches and drinkets;" setting down the box and opening it at +once, for the inspection of all present. "Von't you burchase a goot +vatch, dis bleasant mornin'?"</p> + +<p>"Be they ra-al gold?" asked Miller, a little doubtingly. "And all them +chains and rings, be they gold too?"</p> + +<p>"Not true golt; nein, nein, I might not say dat. But goot enough golt +for blain folks, like you and me."</p> + +<p>"Them things would never do for the grand quality over at the big +house!" cried one of the labourers who was unknown to me, but whose name +I soon ascertained was Joshua Brigham, and who spoke with a sort of +malicious sneer that at once betrayed <i>he</i> was no friend. "You mean 'em +for poor folks, I s'pose?"</p> + +<p>"I means dem for any bodies dat will pay deir money for 'em," answered +my uncle. "Vould you like a vatch?"</p> + +<p>"That would I; and a farm, too, if I could get 'em cheap," answered +Brigham, with a sneer he did not attempt to conceal. "How do you sell +farms to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I haf got no farms; I sells drinkets and vatches, but I doesn't sell +farms. Vhat I haf got I vill sell, but I cannot sells vhat I haf not +got."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you'll get all you want if you'll stay long enough in this country! +This is a free land, and just the place for a poor man; or it will be, +as soon as we get all the lords and aristocrats out of it."</p> + +<p>This was the first time I had ever heard this political blarney with my +own ears, though I had understood it was often used by those who wish to +give to their own particular envy and covetousness a grand and sounding +air.</p> + +<p>"Vell, I haf heards dat in America dere might not be any noples ant +aristocrats," put in my uncle, with an appearance of beautiful +simplicity; "and dat dere ist not ein graaf <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>in der whole coontry."</p> + +<p>"Oh! there's all sorts of folks here, just as they are to be found +elsewhere," cried Miller, seating himself coolly on the end of the +grindstone-frame, to open and look into the mysteries of one of the +watches. "Now, Josh Brigham, here, calls all that's above him in the +world aristocrats, but he doesn't call all that's below him his equals."</p> + +<p>I liked that speech; and I liked the cool, decided way in which it was +uttered. It denoted, in its spirit, a man who saw things as they are, +and who was not afraid to say what he thought about them. My uncle Ro +was surprised, and that agreeably, too, and he turned to Miller to +pursue the discourse.</p> + +<p>"Den dere might not be any nopility in America, after all?" he asked, +inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there's plenty of such lords as Josh here, who want to be +uppermost so plaguily that they don't stop to touch all the rounds of +the ladder. I tell him, friend, he wants to get on too fast, and that he +mustn't set up for a gentleman before he knows how to behave himself."</p> + +<p>Josh looked a little abashed at a rebuke that came from one of his own +class, and which he must have felt, in secret, was merited. But the +demon was at work in him, and he had persuaded himself that he was the +champion of a quality as sacred as liberty, when, in fact, he was simply +and obviously doing neither more nor less than breaking the tenth +commandment. He did not like to give up, while he skirmished with +Miller, as the dog that has been beaten already two or three times +growls over a bone at the approach of his conqueror.</p> + +<p>"Well, thank heaven," he cried, "<i>I</i> have got some spirit in my body."</p> + +<p>"That's very true, Joshua," answered Miller, laying down one watch and +taking up another; "but it happens to be an evil spirit."</p> + +<p>"Now, here's them Littlepages; what makes them better than other folks?"</p> + +<p>"You had better let the Littlepages alone, Joshua, seein' they're a +family that you know nothing at all about."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to know them; though I <i>do</i> happen to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>know all I want to +know. I despise 'em."</p> + +<p>"No you don't, Joshy, my boy; nobody despises folks they talk so +spitefully about. What's the price of this here watch, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Four dollars," said my uncle, eagerly, falling lower than was prudent, +in his desire to reward Miller for his good feeling and sound +sentiments. "Ja, ja—you might haf das vatch for four dollars."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it isn't good for anything," returned Miller, feeling the +distrust that was natural at hearing a price so low. "Let's have another +look at its inside."</p> + +<p>No man, probably, ever bought a watch without looking into its works +with an air of great intelligence, though none but a mechanician is any +wiser for his survey. Tom Miller acted on this principle, for the good +looks of the machine he held in his hand, and the four dollars, tempted +him sorely. It had its effect, too, on the turbulent and envious Joshua, +who seemed to understand himself very well in a bargain. Neither of the +men had supposed the watches to be of gold, for though the metal that is +in a watch does not amount to a great deal, it is usually of more value +than all that was asked for the "article" now under examination. In +point of fact, my uncle had this very watch "invoiced to him" at twice +the price he now put it at.</p> + +<p>"And what do you ask for this?" demanded Joshua, taking up another watch +of very similar looks and of equal value to the one that Miller still +retained open in his hand. "Won't you let this go for three dollars?"</p> + +<p>"No; der brice of dat is effery cent of forty dollars," answered uncle +Ro, stubbornly.</p> + +<p><ins title="Removed open quotes.">The</ins> two men now looked at the pedlar in +surprise. Miller took the watch from his hired man, examined it +attentively, compared it with the other, and then demanded its price +anew.</p> + +<p>"<i>You</i> might haf eider of dem vatches for four dollars," returned my +uncle, as I thought, incautiously.</p> + +<p>This occasioned a new surprise, though Brigham fortunately referred the +difference to a mistake.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he said, "I understood you to say <i>forty</i> dollars. Four dollars is +a different matter."</p> + +<p>"Josh," interrupted the more observant and cooler-headed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>Miller, "it is +high time, now, you and Peter go and look a'ter them sheep. The conch +will soon be blowing for dinner. If you want a trade, you can have one +when you get back."</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the plainness of his appearance and language, Tom Miller +was captain of his own company. He gave this order quietly, and in his +usual familiar way, but it was obviously to be obeyed without a +remonstrance. In a minute the two hired men were off in company, leaving +no one behind in the barn but Miller, his sons, and us two. I could see +there was a motive for all this, but did not understand it.</p> + +<p>"Now <i>he's</i> gone," continued Tom quietly, but laying an emphasis that +sufficiently explained his meaning, "perhaps you'll let me know the true +price of this watch. I've a mind for it, and may be we can agree."</p> + +<p>"Four dollars," answered my uncle, distinctly. "I haf said you might haf +it for dat money, and vhat I haf said once might always be."</p> + +<p>"I will take it, then. I almost wish you had asked eight, though four +dollars saved is suthin' for a poor man. It's so plaguy cheap I'm a +little afraid on 't; but I'll ventur'. There; there's your money, and in +hard cash."</p> + +<p>"Dank you, sir. Won't das ladies choose to look at my drinkets?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! if you want to deal with ladies who buy chains and rings, the Nest +House is the place. My woman wouldn't know what to do with sich things, +and don't set herself up for a fine lady at all. That chap who has just +gone for the sheep is the only great man we have about this farm."</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja; he ist a nople in a dirty shirt: ja, ja; why hast he dem pig +feelin's?"</p> + +<p>"I believe you have named them just as they ought to be, <i>pig's</i> +feelin's. It's because he wishes to thrust his own snout all over the +trough, and is mad when he finds anybody else's in the way. We're +getting to have plenty of such fellows up and down the country, and an +uncomfortable time they give us. Boys, I <i>do</i> believe it will turn out, +a'ter all, that Josh is an Injin!"</p> + +<p>"I <i>know</i> he is," answered the oldest of the two sons, a lad of +nineteen; "where else should he be so much of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>nights and Sundays, but +at their trainin's?—and what was the meanin' of the calico bundle I saw +under his arm a month ago, as I told you on at the time?"</p> + +<p>"If I find it out to be as you say, Harry, he shall tramp off of this +farm. I'll have no Injins here!"</p> + +<p>"Vell I dought I dit see an olt Injin in a hut up yonder ast by der +woots!" put in my uncle, innocently.</p> + +<p>"Oh! that is Susquesus, an Onondago; he is a true Injin, and a +gentleman; but we have a parcel of the mock gentry about, who are a pest +and an eye-sore to every honest man in the country. Half on 'em are +nothing but thieves in mock Injin dresses. The law is ag'in 'em, right +is ag'in 'em, and every true friend of liberty in the country ought to +be ag'in 'em."</p> + +<p>"Vhat ist der matter in dis coontry? I hear in Europe how America ist a +free lant, ant how efery man hast his rights; but since I got here dey +do nothin' but talk of barons, and noples, and tenants, and arisdograts, +and all der bat dings I might leaf behint me, in der olt worlt."</p> + +<p>"The plain matter is, friend, that they who have got little, en<i>vy</i> them +that's got much; and the struggle is to see which is the strongest. On +the one side is the law, and right, and bargains, and contracts; and on +the other thousands—not of dollars, but of men. Thousands of voters; +d'ye understand?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—I oonderstands; dat ist easy enough. But vhy do dey dalk so +much of noples and arisdograts?—ist der noples and arisdograts in +America?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't much understand the natur' of sich things; there +sartainly is a difference in men, and a difference in their fortun's, +and edications, and such sort of things."</p> + +<p>"Und der law, den, favours der rich man at der cost of der poor, in +America, too, does it? Und you haf arisdograts who might not pay taxes, +and who holt all der offices, and get all der pooblic money, and who ist +petter pefore de law, in all dings, dan ast dem dat be not arisdograts? +Is it so?"</p> + +<p>Miller laughed outright, and shook his head at this question, continuing +to examine the trinkets the whole time.</p> + +<p>"No, no, my friend, we've not much of <i>that</i>, in this part of the world, +either. Rich men get very few offices, to begin <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>with; for it's an +argooment in favour of a man for an office, that he's poor, and <i>wants</i> +it. Folks don't so much ask who the office wants, as who wants the +office. Then, as for taxes, there isn't much respect paid to the rich, +on that score. Young 'Squire Littlepage pays the tax on this farm +directly himself, and it's assessed half as high ag'in, all things +considered, as any other farm on his estate."</p> + +<p>"But dat ist not right."</p> + +<p>"Right! Who says it is?—or who thinks there is anything right about +assessments, anywhere? I have heard assessors, with my own ears, use +such words as these:—'Sich a man is rich, and can afford to pay,' and +'sich a man is poor, and it will come hard on him.' Oh! they kiver up +dishonesty, now-a-days, under all sorts of argooments."</p> + +<p>"But der law; der rich might haf der law on deir side, surely?"</p> + +<p>"In what way, I should like to know? Juries be everything, and juries +will go accordin' to their feelin's, as well as other men. I've seen the +things with my own eyes. The county pays just enough a-day to make poor +men like to be on juries, and they never fail to attend, while them that +can pay their fines stay away, and so leave the law pretty much in the +hands of one party. No rich man gains his cause, unless his case is so +strong it can't be helped."</p> + +<p>I had heard this before, there being a very general complaint throughout +the country of the practical abuses connected with the jury system. I +have heard intelligent lawyers complain, that whenever a cause of any +interest is to be tried, the first question asked is not "what are the +merits?" "which has the law and the facts on his side?" but "who is +likely to be on the jury?"—thus obviously placing the composition of +the jury before either law or evidence. Systems may have a very fair +appearance on paper and as theories, that are execrable in practice. As +for juries, I believe the better opinion of the intelligent of all +countries is, that while they are a capital contrivance to resist the +abuse of power in narrow governments, in governments of a broad +constituency they have the effect, which might easily be seen, of +placing the control of the law in the hands of those who would be most +apt to abuse it; since it is adding to, instead of withstanding and +resisting the con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>trolling authority of the State, from which, in a +popular government, most of the abuses must unavoidably proceed.</p> + +<p>As for my uncle Ro, he was disposed to pursue the subject with Miller, +who turned out to be a discreet and conscientious man. After a very +short pause, as if to reflect on what had been said, he resumed the +discourse.</p> + +<p>"Vhat, den, makes arisdograts in dis coontry?" asked my uncle.</p> + +<p>"Wa-a-l"—no man but an American of New England descent, as was the case +with Miller, can give this word its attic sound—"Wa-a-l, it's hard to +say. I hear a great deal about aristocrats, and I read a great deal +about aristocrats, in this country, and I know that most folks look upon +them as hateful, but I'm by no means sartain I know what an aristocrat +is. Do you happen to know anything about it, friend?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja; an arisdograt ist one of a few men dat hast all de power of de +government in deir own hands."</p> + +<p>"King! That isn't what we think an aristocrat in this part of the world. +Why, we call them critturs here <span class="smcap">dimigogues</span>! Now, young 'Squire +Littlepage, who owns the Nest House, over yonder, and who is owner of +all this estate, far and near, is what <i>we</i> call an aristocrat, and he +hasn't power enough to be named town clerk, much less to anything +considerable, or what is worth having."</p> + +<p>"How can he be an arisdograt, den?"</p> + +<p>"How, sure enough, if your account be true! I tell you 'tis the +dimigogues that be the aristocrats of America. Why, Josh Brigham, who +has just gone for the sheep, can get more votes for any office in the +country than young Littlepage!"</p> + +<p>"Berhaps dis young Littlebage ist a pat yoong man?"</p> + +<p>"Not he; he's as good as any on 'em, and better than most. Besides, if +he was as wicked as Lucifer, the folks of the country don't know +anything about it, sin' he's be'n away ever sin' he has be'n a man."</p> + +<p>"Vhy, den, gan't he haf as many votes as dat poor, ignorant fellow might +haf?—das ist ott."</p> + +<p>"It is odd, but it's true as gospel. <i>Why</i>, it may not be so easy to +tell. Many men, many minds, you know. Some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>folks don't like him because +he lives in a big house; some hate him because they think he is better +off than they are themselves; others mistrust him because he wears a +fine coat; and some pretend to laugh at him because he got his property +from his father, and grand'ther, and so on, and didn't make it himself. +Accordin' to some folks' notions, now-a-days, a man ought to enj'y only +the property he heaps together himself."</p> + +<p>"If dis be so, your Herr Littlebage ist no arisdograt."</p> + +<p>"Wa-a-l, that isn't the idee, hereaway. We have had a great many +meetin's, latterly, about the right of the people to their farms; and +there has been a good deal of talk at them meetin's consarnin' +aristocracy and feudal tenors; do you know what a feudal tenor is, too?"</p> + +<p>"Ja; dere ist moch of dat in Teutchland—in mine coontry. It ist not +ferry easy to explain it in a few vords, but der brincipal ding ist dat +der vassal owes a serfice to hist lort. In de olten dimes dis serfice +vast military, und dere ist someding of dat now. It ist de noples who +owe der feudal serfice, brincipally, in mine coontry, and dey owes it to +de kings and brinces."</p> + +<p>"And don't you call giving a chicken for rent feudal service, in +Germany?"</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro and I laughed, in spite of our efforts to the contrary, there +being a <ins title="Original reads 'bathos'.">pathos</ins> in this question that was +supremely ridiculous. Curbing his merriment, however, as soon as he +could, my uncle answered the question.</p> + +<p>"If der landlordt hast a right to coome and dake as many chickens as he +bleases, und ast often ast he bleases, den dat wouldt look like a feudal +right; but if de lease says dat so many chickens moost be paid a-year, +for der rent, vhy dat ist all der same as baying so much moneys; und it +might be easier for der tenant to bay in chicken ast it might be to bay +in der silver. Vhen a man canst bay his debts in vhat he makes himself, +he ist ferry interpentent."</p> + +<p>"It does seem so, I vow! Yet there's folks about here, and some at +Albany, that call it feudal for a man to have to carry a pair of fowls +to the landlord's office, and the landlord an aristocrat for asking it!"</p> + +<p>"But der man canst sent a poy, or a gal, or a nigger, wid his fowls, if +he bleases?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p><p>"Sartain; all that is asked is that the fowls should come."</p> + +<p>"Und vhen der batroon might owe hist tailor, or hist shoemaker, must he +not go to hist shop, or find him and bay him vhat he owes, or be suet +for der debt?"</p> + +<p>"That's true, too; boys, put me in mind of telling that to Josh, this +evening. Yes, the greatest landlord in the land must hunt up his +creditor, or be sued, all the same as the lowest tenant."</p> + +<p>"Und he most bay in a partic'lar ding; he most bay in golt or silver?"</p> + +<p>"True; lawful tender is as good for one as 'tis for t'other."</p> + +<p>"Und if your Herr Littlebage signs a baper agreein' to gif der apples +from dat orchart to somebody on his landts, most he send or carry der +apples, too?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure; that would be the bargain."</p> + +<p>"Und he most carry der ferry apples dat grows on dem ferry drees, might +it not be so?"</p> + +<p>"All true as gospel. If a man contracts to sell the apples of one +orchard, he can't put off the purchaser with the apples of another."</p> + +<p>"Und der law ist der same for one ast for anudder, in dese t'ings?"</p> + +<p>"There is no difference; and there should be none."</p> + +<p>"Und der batroons und der landlordts wants to haf der law changet, so +dat dey may be excuset from baying der debts accordin' to der bargains, +und to gif dem atfantages over der poor tenants?"</p> + +<p>"I never heard anything of the sort, and don't believe they want any +such change."</p> + +<p>"Of vhat, den, dost der beople complain?"</p> + +<p>"Of having to pay rent at all; they think the landlords ought to be made +to sell their farms, or give them away. Some stand out for the last."</p> + +<p>"But der landlordts don't vant to sell deir farms; und dey might not be +made to sell vhat ist deir own, and vhat dey don't vant to sell, any +more dan der tenants might be made to sell deir hogs and deir sheep, +vhen dey don't vant to sell dem."</p> + +<p>"It does seem so, boys, as I've told the neighbours, all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>along. But +I'll tell this Dutchman all about it. Some folks want the State to look +a'ter the title of young Littlepage, pretending he has no title."</p> + +<p>"But der State wilt do dat widout asking for it particularly, vill it +not?"</p> + +<p>"I never heard that it would."</p> + +<p>"If anybody hast a claim to der broperty, vilt not der courts try it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—in that way; but a tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord."</p> + +<p>"Vhy should he? He canst haf no title but his landlort's, and it vould +be roguery and cheatery to let a man get into der bossession of a farm +under der pretence of hiring it, und den coome out und claim it as +owner. If any tenant dinks he hast a better right dan his landlort, he +can put der farm vhere it vast before he might be a tenant, und den der +State wilt examine into der title, I fancys."</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—in that way; but these men want it another way. What they +want is for the State to set up a legal examination, and turn the +landlords off altogether, if they can, and then let themselves have the +farms in their stead."</p> + +<p>"But dat would not be honest to dem dat hafen't nothing to do wid der +farms. If der State owns der farms, it ought to get as moch as it can +for dem, and so safe <i>all</i> der people from baying taxes. It looks like +roguery, all roundt."</p> + +<p>"I believe it is that, and nothing else! As you say, the State will +examine into the title as it is, and there is no need of any laws about +it."</p> + +<p>"Would der State, dink you, pass a law dat might inquire into de +demandts dat are made against der batroons, vhen der tratesmen sent in +deir bills?"</p> + +<p>"I should like to see any patroon ask sich a thing! He would be laughed +at, from York to Buffalo."</p> + +<p>"Und he would desarf it. By vhat I see, frient, your denants be der +arisdograts, und der landlordts der vassals."</p> + +<p>"Why you see—what may your name be?—as we're likely to become +acquainted, I should like to know your name."</p> + +<p>"My name is Greisenbach, und I comes from Preussen."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Greisenbach, the difficulty about aristocracy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>is this. Hugh +Littlepage is rich, and his money gives him advantages that other men +can't enj'y. Now, that sticks in some folks' crops."</p> + +<p>"Oh! den it ist meant to divite broperty in dis coontry; und to say no +man might haf more ast anudder?"</p> + +<p>"Folks don't go quite as far as that, yet; though some of their talk +does squint that-a-way, I must own. Now, there are folks about here that +complain that old Madam Littlepage and her young ladies don't visit the +poor."</p> + +<p>"Vell, if deys be hard-hearted, und hast no feelin's for der poor and +miseraple——"</p> + +<p>"No, no; that is not what I mean, neither. As for that sort of poor, +everybody allows they do more for <i>them</i> than anybody else about here. +But they don't visit the poor that isn't in want."</p> + +<p>"Vell, it ist a ferry coomfortable sort of poor dat ist not in any vant. +Berhaps you mean dey don't associate wid 'em, as equals?"</p> + +<p>"That's it. Now, on that head, I must say there is some truth in the +charge, for the gals over at the Nest never come here to visit my gal, +and Kitty is as nice a young thing as there is about."</p> + +<p>"Und Gitty goes to visit the gal of the man who lives over yonter, in de +house on der hill?" pointing to a residence of a man of the very +humblest class in the town.</p> + +<p>"Hardly! Kitty's by no means proud, but I shouldn't like her to be too +thick there."</p> + +<p>"Oh! you're an arisdograt, den, after all; else might your daughter +visit dat man's daughter."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, Grunzebach, or whatever your name may be," returned Miller, +a little angrily, though a particularly good-natured man in the main, +"that <i>my</i> gal shall <i>not</i> visit old Steven's da'ghters."</p> + +<p>"Vell, I'm sure she might do as she bleases; but I dinks der +Mademoiselles Littlepage might do ast dey pleases, too."</p> + +<p>"There is but one Littlepage gal; if you saw them out this morning in +the carriage, you saw two York gals and parson Warren's da'ghter with +her."</p> + +<p>"Und dis parson Warren might be rich, too?"</p> + +<p>"Not he; he hasn't a sixpence on 'arth but what he gets from the parish. +Why he is so poor his friends had to edicate <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>his da'ghter, I have heern +say, over and over!"</p> + +<p>"Und das Littlepage gal und de Warren gal might be goot friends?"</p> + +<p>"They are the thickest together of any two young women in this part of +the world. I've never seen two gals more intimate. Now, there's a young +lady in the town, one Opportunity Newcome, who, one might think, would +stand before Mary Warren at the big house, any day in the week, but she +doesn't! Mary takes all the shine out on her."</p> + +<p>"Which ist der richest, Obbordunity or Mary?"</p> + +<p>"By all accounts Mary Warren has nothing, while Opportunity is thought +to come next to Matty herself, as to property, of all the young gals +about here. But Opportunity is no favourite at the Nest."</p> + +<p>"Den it would seem, after all, dat dis Miss Littlebage does not choose +her friends on account of riches. She likes Mary Warren, who ist boor, +und she does not like Obbordunity, who ist vell to do in de vorlt. +Berhaps der Littlepages be not as big arisdograts as you supposes."</p> + +<p>Miller was bothered, while I felt a disposition to laugh. One of the +commonest errors of those who, from position and habits, are unable to +appreciate the links which connect cultivated society together, is to +refer everything to riches. Riches, in a certain sense, as a means and +through their consequences, may be a principal agent in dividing society +into classes; but, long after riches have taken wings, their fruits +remain, when good use has been made of their presence. So untrue is the +vulgar opinion—or it might be better to say the opinion of the +vulgar—that money is the one tie which unites polished society, that it +is a fact which all must know who have access to the better circles of +even our own commercial towns, that those circles, loosely and +accidentally constructed as they are, receive with reluctance, nay, +often sternly exclude, vulgar wealth from their associations, while the +door is open to the cultivated who have nothing. The young, in +particular, seldom think much of money, while family connections, early +communications, similarity of opinions, and, most of all, of tastes, +bring sets together, and often keep them together long after the golden +band has been broken.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>But men have great difficulty in comprehending things that lie beyond +their reach; and money being apparent to the senses, while refinement, +through its infinite gradations, is visible principally, and, in some +cases, exclusively to its possessors, it is not surprising that common +minds should refer a tie that, to them, would otherwise be mysterious, +to the more glittering influence, and not to the less obvious. Infinite, +indeed, are the gradations of cultivated habits; nor are as many of them +the fruits of caprice and self-indulgence as men usually suppose. There +is a common sense, nay, a certain degree of wisdom, in the laws of even +etiquette, while they are confined to equals, that bespeak the respect +of those who understand them. As for the influence of associations on +men's manners, on their exteriors, and even on their opinions, my uncle +Ro has long maintained that it is so apparent that one of his time of +life could detect the man of the world, at such a place as Saratoga +even, by an intercourse of five minutes; and what is more, that he could +tell the class in life from which he originally emerged. He tried it, +the last summer, on our return from Ravensnest, and I was amused with +his success, though he made a few mistakes, it must be admitted.</p> + +<p>"That young man comes from the better circles, but he has never +travelled," he said, alluding to one of a group which still remained at +table; "while he who is next him <i>has</i> travelled, but commenced badly." +This may seem a very nice distinction, but I think it is easily made. +"There are two brothers, of an excellent family in Pennsylvania," he +continued, "as one might know from the name; the eldest has travelled, +the youngest has not." This was a still harder distinction to make, but +one who knew the world as well as my uncle Ro could do it. He went on +amusing me by his decisions—all of which were respectable, and some +surprisingly accurate—in this way for several minutes. Now, like has an +affinity to like, and in this natural attraction is to be found the +secret of the ordinary construction of society. You shall put two men of +superior minds in a room full of company, and they will find each other +out directly, and enjoy the accident. The same is true as to the mere +modes of thinking that characterize social castes; and it is truer in +this country, perhaps, than most others, from the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>mixed character of +our associations. Of the two, I am really of opinion that the man of +high intellect, who meets with one of moderate capacity, but of manners +and social opinions on a level with his own, has more pleasure in the +communication than with one of equal mind, but of inferior habits.</p> + +<p>That Patt should cling to one like Mary Warren seemed to me quite as +natural as that she should be averse to much association with +Opportunity Newcome. The money of the latter, had my sister been in the +least liable to such an influence, was so much below what she had been +accustomed, all her life, to consider affluence, that it would have had +no effect, even had she been subject to so low a consideration in +regulating her intercourse with others. But this poor Tom Miller could +not understand. He could "only reason from what he knew," and he knew +little of the comparative notions of wealth, and less of the powers of +cultivation on the mind and manners. He was struck, however, with a fact +that did come completely within the circle of his own knowledge, and +that was the circumstance that Mary Warren, while admitted to be poor, +was the bosom friend of her whom he was pleased to call, sometimes, the +"Littlepage gal." It was easy to see he felt the force of this +circumstance; and it is to be hoped that, as he was certainly a wiser, +he also became a better man, on one of the most common of the weaknesses +of human frailty.</p> + +<p>"Wa-a-l," he replied to my uncle's last remark, after fully a minute of +silent reflection, "I don't know! It would seem so, I vow; and yet it +hasn't been my wife's notion, nor is it Kitty's. You're quite upsetting +my idees about aristocrats; for though I like the Littlepages, I've +always set 'em down as desp'rate aristocrats."</p> + +<p>"Nein, nein; dem as vat you calls dimigogues be der American +arisdograts. Dey gets all der money of der pooblic, and haf all der +power, but dey gets a little mads because dey might not force demselves +on der gentlemen and laties of der coontry, as vell as on der lands und +der offices!"</p> + +<p>"I swan! I don't know but this may be true! A'ter all, I don't know what +right anybody has to complain of the Littlepages."</p> + +<p>"Does dey dreat beoples vell, as might coome to see dem?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed! if folks treat <i>them</i> well, as sometimes doesn't happen.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +I've seen hogs here"—Tom was a little Saxon in his figures, but their +nature will prove their justification—"I've seen hogs about here, bolt +right in before old Madam Littlepage, and draw their chairs up to her +fire, and squirt about the tobacco, and never think of even taking off +their hats. Them folks be always huffy about their own importance, +though they never think of other people's feelin's."</p> + +<p>We were interrupted by the sound of wheels, and looking round, we +perceived that the carriage of my grandmother had driven up to the +farm-house door, on its return home. Miller conceived it to be no more +than proper to go and see if he were wanted, and we followed him slowly, +it being the intention of my uncle to offer his mother a watch, by way +of ascertaining if she could penetrate his disguise.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"Will you buy any tape,<br /> +Or lace for your cape?—<br /> +Come to the pedlar,<br /> +Money's a medler<br /> +That doth utter all men's ware-a."</p> +<p class="poet"><i>Winter's Tale.</i> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">There</span> they sat, those four young creatures, a perfect galaxy of bright +and beaming eyes. There was not a plain face among them; and I was +struck with the circumstance of how rare it was to meet with a youthful +and positively ugly American female. Kitty, too, was at the door by the +time we reached the carriage, and she also was a blooming and +attractive-looking girl. It was a thousand pities that she spoke, +however; the vulgarity of her utterance, tone of voice, cadences, and +accent, the latter a sort of singing whine, being in striking contrast +to a sort of healthful and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>vigorous delicacy that marked her +appearance. All the bright eyes grew brighter as I drew nearer, carrying +the flute in my hand; but neither of the young ladies spoke.</p> + +<p>"Buy a vatch, ma'ams," said uncle Ro, approaching his mother, cap in +hand, with his box open.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, friend; but I believe all here are provided with watches +already."</p> + +<p>"Mine ist ferry sheaps."</p> + +<p>"I dare say they may be," returned dear grandmother, smiling; "though +cheap watches are not usually the best. Is that very pretty pencil +gold?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, ma'ams; it ist of <i>goot</i> gold. If it might not be, I might not say +so."</p> + +<p>I saw suppressed smiles among the girls; all of whom, however, were too +well-bred to betray to common observers the sense of the ridiculous that +each felt at the equivoque that suggested itself in my uncle's words.</p> + +<p>"What is the price of this pencil," asked my grandmother.</p> + +<p>Uncle Roger had too much tact to think of inducing his mother to make a +purchase as he had influenced Miller, and he mentioned something near +the true value of the "article," which was fifteen dollars.</p> + +<p>"I will take it," returned my grandmother, dropping three half eagles +into the box; when, turning to Mary Warren, she begged her acceptance of +the pencil, with as much respect in her manner as if she solicited +instead of conferred a favour.</p> + +<p>Mary Warren's handsome face was covered with blushes; she looked +pleased, and she accepted the offering, though I thought she hesitated +one moment about the propriety of so doing, most probably on account of +its value. My sister asked to look at this little present, and after +admiring it, it passed from hand to hand, each praising its shape and +ornaments. All my uncle's wares, indeed, were in perfect good taste, the +purchase having been made of an importer of character, and paid for at +some cost. The watches, it is true, were, with one or two exceptions, +cheap, as were most of the trinkets; but my uncle had about his person a +watch, or two, and some fine jewelry, that he had brought from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>Europe +himself, expressly to bestow in presents, among which had been the +pencil in question, and which he had dropped into the box but a moment +before it was sold.</p> + +<p>"Wa-a-l, Madam Littlepage," cried Miller, who used the familiarity of +one born on the estate, "this is the queerest watch-pedlar I've met +with, yet. He asks fifteen dollars for that pencil, and only four for +this watch!" showing his own purchase as he concluded.</p> + +<p>My grandmother took the watch in her hand, and examined it attentively.</p> + +<p>"It strikes me as singularly cheap!" she remarked, glancing a little +distrustfully, as I fancied, at her son, as if she thought he might be +selling his brushes cheaper than those who only stole the materials, +because he stole them ready made. "I know that these watches are made +for very little in the cheap countries of Europe, but one can hardly see +how this machinery was put together for so small a sum."</p> + +<p>"I has 'em, matam, at all brices," put in my uncle.</p> + +<p>"I have a strong desire to purchase a <i>good</i> lady's watch, but should a +little fear buying of any but a known and regular dealer."</p> + +<p>"You needn't fear us, ma'am," I ventured to say. "If we might sheat +anypodies, we shouldn't sheat so goot a laty."</p> + +<p>I do not know whether my voice struck Patt's ear pleasantly, or a wish +to see the project of her grandmother carried out at once, induced my +sister to interfere; but interfere she did, and that by urging her aged +parent to put confidence in us. Years had taught my grandmother caution, +and she hesitated.</p> + +<p>"But all these watches are of base metal, and I want one of good gold +and handsome finish," observed my grandmother.</p> + +<p>My uncle immediately produced a watch that he had bought of Blondel, in +Paris, for five hundred francs, and which was a beautiful little +ornament for a lady's belt. He gave it to my grandmother, who read the +name of the manufacturer with some little surprise. The watch itself was +then examined attentively, and was applauded by all.</p> + +<p>"And what may be the price of this?" demanded my <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>grandmother.</p> + +<p>"One hoondred dollars, matam; and sheaps at dat."</p> + +<p>Tom Miller looked at the bit of tinsel in his own hand, and at the +smaller, but exquisitely-shaped "article" that my grandmother held up to +look at, suspended by its bit of ribbon, and was quite as much puzzled +as he had evidently been a little while before, in his distinctions +between the rich and the poor. Tom was not able to distinguish the base +from the true; that was all.</p> + +<p>My grandmother did not appear at all alarmed at the price, though she +cast another distrustful glance or two, over her spectacles, at the +imaginary pedlar. At length the beauty of the watch overcame her.</p> + +<p>"If you will bring this watch to yonder large dwelling, I will pay you +the hundred dollars for it," she said; "I have not as much money with me +here."</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—ferry goot; you might keep das vatch, laty, and I will coome +for der money after I haf got some dinners of somebodys."</p> + +<p>My grandmother had no scruple about accepting of the credit, of course, +and she was about to put the watch in her pocket, when Patt laid her +little gloved hand on it, and cried—</p> + +<p>"Now, dearest grandmother, let it be done at once—there is no one but +us three present, you know!"</p> + +<p>"Such is the impatience of a child!" exclaimed the elder lady, laughing. +"Well, you shall be indulged. I gave you that pencil for a keep-sake, +Mary, only <i>en attendant</i>, it having been my intention to offer a watch, +as soon as a suitable one could be found, as a memorial of the sense I +entertain of the spirit you showed during that dark week in which the +anti-renters were so menacing. Here, then, is such a watch as I might +presume to ask you to have the goodness to accept."</p> + +<p>Mary Warren seemed astounded! The colour mounted to her temples; then +she became suddenly pale. I had never seen so pretty a picture of gentle +female distress—a distress that arose from conflicting, but creditable +feelings.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mrs. Littlepage!" she exclaimed, after looking in astonishment at +the offering for a moment, and in silence. "You cannot have intended +that beautiful watch for me!"</p> + +<p>"For you, my dear; the beautiful watch is not a whit <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>too good for my +beautiful Mary."</p> + +<p>"But, dear, <i>dear</i> Mrs. Littlepage, it is altogether too handsome for my +station—for my means."</p> + +<p>"A lady can very well wear such a watch; and you are a lady in every +sense of the word, and so you need have no scruples on that account. As +for the means, you will not misunderstand me if I remind you that it +will be bought with my means, and there can be no extravagance in the +purchase."</p> + +<p>"But we are so poor, and that watch has so rich an appearance! It +scarcely seems right."</p> + +<p>"I respect your feelings and sentiments, my dear girl, and can +appreciate them. I suppose you know I was once as poor, nay, much poorer +than you are, yourself."</p> + +<p>"You, Mrs. Littlepage! No, that can hardly be. You are of an affluent +and very respectable family, I know."</p> + +<p>"It is quite true, nevertheless, my dear. I shall not affect extreme +humility, and deny that the Malbones did and do belong to the gentry of +the land, but my brother and myself were once so much reduced as to toil +with the surveyors, in the woods, quite near this property. We had then +no claim superior to yours, and in many respects were reduced much +lower. Besides, the daughter of an educated and well-connected clergyman +has claims that, in a worldly point of view alone, entitle her to a +certain consideration. You will do me the favour to accept my offering?"</p> + +<p>"Dear Mrs. Littlepage! I do not know how to refuse <i>you</i>, or how to +accept so rich a gift! You will let me consult my father, first?"</p> + +<p>"That will be no more than proper, my dear," returned my beloved +grandmother, quietly putting the watch into her own pocket; "Mr. Warren, +luckily, dines with us, and the matter can be settled before we sit down +to table."</p> + +<p>This ended the discussion, which had commenced under an impulse of +feeling that left us all its auditors. As for my uncle and myself, it is +scarcely necessary to say we were delighted with the little scene. The +benevolent wish to gratify, on the one side, with the natural scruples +on the other, about receiving, made a perfect picture for our +contemplation. The three girls, who were witnesses of what passed, too +much respected Mary's feelings to interfere, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>though Patt restrained +herself with difficulty. As to Tom Miller and Kitty, they doubtless +wondered why "Warren's gal" was such a fool as to hesitate about +accepting a watch that was worth a hundred dollars. This was another +point they did not understand.</p> + +<p>"You spoke of dinner," continued my grandmother, looking at my uncle. +"If you and your companion will follow us to the house, I will pay you +for the watch, and order you a dinner in the bargain."</p> + +<p>We were right down glad to accept this offer, making our bows and +expressing our thanks, as the carriage whirled off. We remained a +moment, to take our leave of Miller.</p> + +<p>"When you've got through at the Nest," said that semi-worthy fellow, +"give us another call here. I should like my woman and Kitty to have a +look at your finery, before you go down to the village with it."</p> + +<p>With a promise to return to the farm-house, we proceeded on our way to +the building which, in the familiar parlance of the country, was called +the Nest, or the Nest House, from Ravensnest, its true name, and which +Tom Miller, in his country dialect, called the "Neest." The distance +between the two buildings was less than half a mile, the grounds of the +family residence lying partly between them. Many persons would have +called the extensive lawns which surrounded my paternal abode a park, +but it never bore that name with us. They were too large for a paddock, +and might very well have come under the former appellation; but, as +deer, or animals of any sort, except those that are domestic, had never +been kept within it, the name had not been used. We called them the +grounds—a term which applies equally to large and small enclosures of +this nature—while the broad expanse of verdure which lies directly +under the windows goes by the name of the lawn. Notwithstanding the +cheapness of land among us, there has been very little progress made in +the art of landscape gardening; and if we have anything like park +scenery, it is far more owing to the gifts of a bountiful nature than to +any of the suggestions of art. Thanks to the cultivated taste of +Downing, as well as to his well-directed labours, this reproach is +likely to be soon removed, and country life will acquire this pleasure, +among the many others that are so peculiarly its own. After lying for +more than twenty years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>—a stigma on the national taste—disfigured by +ravines or gullies, and otherwise in a rude and discreditable condition, +the grounds of the White House have been brought into a condition to +denote that they are the property of a civilized country. The Americans +are as apt at imitation as the Chinese, with a far greater disposition +to admit of change; and little beyond good models are required to set +them on the right track. But it is certain that, as a nation, we have +yet to acquire nearly all that belongs to the art I have mentioned that +lies beyond avenues of trees, with an occasional tuft of shrubbery. The +abundance of the latter, that forms the wilderness of sweets, the +<i>masses</i> of flowers that spot the surface of Europe, the beauty of +curved lines, and the whole finesse of surprises, reliefs, back-grounds +and vistas, are things so little known among us as to be almost +"arisdogratic," as my uncle Ro would call the word.</p> + +<p>Little else had been done at Ravensnest than to profit by the native +growth of the trees, and to take advantage of the favourable +circumstances in the formation of the grounds. Most travellers imagine +that it might be an easy thing to lay out a park in the virgin forest, +as the axe might spare the thickets, and copses, and woods, that +elsewhere are the fruits of time and planting. This is all a mistake, +however, as the rule; though modified exceptions may and do exist. The +tree of the American forest shoots upward toward the light, growing so +tall and slender as to be unsightly; and even when time has given its +trunk is due size, the top is rarely of a breadth to ornament a park or +a lawn, while its roots, seeking their nourishment in the rich alluvium +formed by the decayed leaves of a thousand years, lie too near the +surface to afford sufficient support after losing the shelter of its +neighbours. It is owing to reasons like these that the ornamental +grounds of an American country-house have usually to be commenced <i>ab +origine</i>, and that natural causes so little aid in finishing them.</p> + +<p>My predecessors had done a little towards assisting nature, at the Nest, +and what was of almost equal importance, in the state of knowledge on +this subject as it existed in the country sixty years since, they had +done little to mar her efforts. The results were, that the grounds of +Ravensnest <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>possess a breadth that is the fruit of the breadth of our +lands, and a rural beauty which, without being much aided by art, was +still attractive. The herbage was kept short by sheep, of which one +thousand, of the fine wool, were feeding on the lawns, along the slopes, +and particularly on the distant heights, as we crossed the grounds on +our way to the doors.</p> + +<p>The Nest House was a respectable New York country dwelling, as such +buildings were constructed among us in the last quarter of the past +century, a little improved and enlarged by the second and third +generations of its owners. The material was of stone, the low cliff on +which it stood supplying enough of an excellent quality; and the shape +of the main <i>corps de batiment</i> as near a square as might be. Each face +of this part of the constructions offered five windows to view, this +being almost the prescribed number for a country residence in that day, +as three have since got to be in towns. These windows, however, had some +size, the main building being just sixty feet square, which was about +ten feet in each direction larger than was common so soon after the +revolution. But wings had been added to the original building, and that +on a plan which conformed to the shape of a structure in square logs, +that had been its predecessor on its immediate site. These wings were +only of a story and a half each, and doubling on each side of the main +edifice just far enough to form a sufficient communication, they ran +back to the very verge of a cliff some forty feet in height, +overlooking, at their respective ends, a meandering rivulet, and a wide +expanse of very productive flats, that annually filled my barns with hay +and my cribs with corn. Of this level and fertile bottom-land there was +near a thousand acres, stretching in three directions, of which two +hundred belonged to what was called the Nest Farm. The remainder was +divided among the farms of the adjacent tenantry. This little +circumstance, among the thousand-and-one other atrocities that were +charged upon me, had been made a ground of accusation, to which I shall +presently have occasion to advert. I shall do this the more readily, +because the fact has not yet reached the ears and set in motion the +tongues of legislators—Heaven bless us, how words do get corrupted by +too much use!—in their enumeration of the griefs of the tenants of the +State.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p><p>Everything about the Nest was kept in perfect order, and in a condition +to do credit to the energy and taste of my grandmother, who had ordered +all these things for the last few years, or since the death of my +grandfather. This circumstance, connected with the fact that the +building was larger and more costly than those of most of the other +citizens of the country, had, of late years, caused Ravensnest to be +termed an "aristocratic residence." This word "aristocratic," I find +since my return home, has got to be a term of expansive signification, +its meaning depending on the particular habits and opinions of the +person who happens to use it. Thus, he who chews tobacco thinks it +aristocratic in him who deems the practice nasty not to do the same; the +man who stoops accuses him who is straight in the back of having +aristocratic shoulders; and I have actually met with one individual who +maintained that it was excessively aristocratic to pretend not to blow +one's nose with his fingers. It will soon be aristocratic to maintain +the truth of the familiar Latin axiom of "<i>de gustibus non disputandum +est</i>."</p> + +<p>As we approached the door of the Nest House, which opened on the piazza +that stretched along three sides of the main building, and the outer +ends of both wings, the coachman was walking his horses away from it, on +the road that led to the stables. The party of ladies had made a +considerable circuit after quitting the farm, and had arrived but a +minute before us. All the girls but Mary Warren had entered the house, +careless on the subject of the approach of two pedlars; she remained, +however, at the side of my grandmother, to receive us.</p> + +<p>"I believe in my soul," whispered uncle Ro, "that my dear old mother has +a secret presentiment who we are, by her manifesting so much +respect.—T'ousand t'anks, matam, t'ousand t'anks," he continued, +dropping into his half-accurate half-blundering broken English, "for dis +great honour, such as we might not expect das laty of das house to wait +for us at her door."</p> + +<p>"This young lady tells me that she has seen you before, and that she +understands you are both persons of education and good manners, who have +been driven from your native country by political troubles. Such being +the case, I cannot <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>regard you as common pedlars. I have known what it +was to be reduced in fortune,"—my dear grandmother's voice trembled a +little—"and can feel for those who thus suffer."</p> + +<p>"Matam, dere might be moch trut' in some of dis," answered my uncle, +taking off his cap, and bowing very much like a gentleman, an act in +which I imitated him immediately. "We <i>haf</i> seen petter tays; and my +son, dere, hast peen edicatet at an university. But we are now poor +pedlars of vatches, und dem dat might make moosic in der streets."</p> + +<p>My grandmother looked as a lady would look under such circumstances, +neither too free to forget present appearances, nor coldly neglectful of +the past. She knew that something was due to her own household, and to +the example she ought to set it, while she felt that far more was due to +the sentiment that unites the cultivated. We were asked into the house, +were told a table was preparing for us, and were treated with a generous +and considerate hospitality that involved no descent from her own +character, or that of the sex; the last being committed to the keeping +of every lady.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, business proceeded with my uncle. He was paid his +hundred dollars; and all his stores of value, including rings, brooches, +ear-rings, chains, bracelets, and other trinkets that he had intended as +presents to his wards, were produced from his pockets, and laid before +the bright eyes of the three girls—Mary Warren keeping in the back +ground, as one who ought not to look on things unsuited to her fortune. +Her father had arrived, however, had been consulted, and the pretty +watch was already attached to the girdle of the prettier waist. I +fancied the tear of gratitude that still floated in her serene eyes was +a jewel of far higher price than any my uncle could exhibit.</p> + +<p>We had been shown into the library, a room that was in the front of the +house, and of which the windows all opened on the piazza. I was at first +a little overcome, at thus finding myself, and unrecognized, under the +paternal roof, and in a dwelling that was my own, after so many years of +absence. Shall I confess it! Everything appeared diminutive and mean, +after the buildings to which I had been accustomed in the old world. I +am not now drawing comparisons <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>with the palaces of princes, and the +abodes of the great, as the American is apt to fancy, whenever anything +is named that is superior to the things to which he is accustomed; but +to the style, dwellings, and appliances of domestic life that pertain to +those of other countries who have not a claim in anything to be +accounted my superiors—scarcely my equals. In a word, American +aristocracy, or that which it is getting to be the fashion to stigmatize +as aristocratic, would be deemed very democratic in most of the nations +of Europe. Our Swiss brethren have their chateaux and their habits that +are a hundred times more aristocratic than anything about Ravensnest, +without giving offence to liberty; and I feel persuaded, were the +proudest establishment in all America pointed out to a European as an +aristocratic abode, he would be very apt to laugh at it, in his sleeve. +The secret of this charge among ourselves is the innate dislike which is +growing up in the country to see any man distinguished from the mass +around him in anything, even though it should be in merit. It is nothing +but the expansion of the principle which gave rise to the traditionary +feud between the "plebeians and patricians" of Albany, at the +commencement of this century, and which has now descended so much +farther than was then contemplated by the <i>soi-disant</i> "plebeians" of +that day, as to become quite disagreeable to their own descendants. But +to return to myself—</p> + +<p>I will own that, so far from finding any grounds of exultation in my own +aristocratical splendour, when I came to view my possessions at home, I +felt mortified and disappointed. The things that I had fancied really +respectable, and even fine, from recollection, now appeared very +common-place, and in many particulars mean. "Really," I found myself +saying <i>sotto voce</i>, "all this is scarcely worthy of being the cause of +deserting the right, setting sound principles at defiance, and of +forgetting God and his commandments!" Perhaps I was too inexperienced to +comprehend how capacious is the maw of the covetous man, and how +microscopic the eye of envy.</p> + +<p>"You are welcome to Ravensnest," said Mr. Warren, approaching and +offering his hand in a friendly way, much as he would address any other +young friend; "we arrived <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>a little before you, and I have had my ears +and eyes open ever since, in the hope of hearing your flute, and of +seeing your form in the highway, near the parsonage, where you promised +to visit me."</p> + +<p>Mary was standing at her father's elbow, as when I first saw her, and +she gazed wistfully at my flute, as she would not have done had she seen +me in my proper attire, assuming my proper character.</p> + +<p>"I danks you, sir," was my answer. "We might haf plenty of times for a +little moosic, vhen das laties shall be pleaset to say so. I canst blay +Yankee Doodle, Hail Coloombias, and der 'Star Spangled Banner,' und all +dem airs, as dey so moch likes at der taverns and on der road."</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren laughed, and he took the flute from my hand, and began to +examine it. I now trembled for the incognito! The instrument had been +mine for many years, and was a very capital one, with silver keys, +stops, and ornaments. What if Patt—what if my dear grandmother should +recognise it! I would have given the handsomest trinket in my uncle's +collection to get the flute back again into my own hands; but, before an +opportunity offered for that, it went from hand to hand, as the +instrument that had produced the charming sounds heard that morning, +until it reached those of Martha. The dear girl was thinking of the +jewelry, which, it will be remembered, was rich, and intended in part +for herself, and she passed the instrument on, saying, hurriedly,—</p> + +<p>"See, dear grandmother, this is the flute which you pronounced the +sweetest toned of any you had ever heard!"</p> + +<p>My grandmother took the flute, started, put her spectacles closer to her +eyes, examined the instrument, turned pale—for her cheeks still +retained a little of the colour of their youth—and then cast a glance +hurriedly and anxiously at me. I could see that she was pondering on +something profoundly in her most secret mind, for a minute or two. +Luckily the others were too much occupied with the box of the pedlar to +heed her movements. She walked slowly out of the door, almost brushing +me as she passed, and went into the hall. Here she turned, and, catching +my eye, she signed for me to join her. Obeying this signal, I followed, +until I was led into a little room, in one of the wings, that I <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>well +remembered as a sort of private parlour attached to my grandmother's own +bed-room. To call it a <i>boudoir</i> would be to caricature things, its +furniture being just that of the sort of room I have mentioned, or of a +plain, neat, comfortable, country parlour. Here my grandmother took her +seat on a sofa, for she trembled so she could not stand, and then she +turned to gaze at me wistfully, and with an anxiety it would be +difficult for me to describe.</p> + +<p>"Do not keep me in suspense!" she said, almost awfully in tone and +manner, "am I right in my conjecture?"</p> + +<p>"Dearest grandmother, you are!" I answered, in my natural voice.</p> + +<p>No more was needed: we hung on each other's necks, as had been my wont +in boyhood.</p> + +<p>"But who is that pedlar, Hugh?" demanded my grandmother, after a time. +"Can it possibly be Roger, my son?"</p> + +<p>"It is no other; we have come to visit you, incog."</p> + +<p>"And why this disguise?—Is it connected with the troubles?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; we have wished to take a near view with our own eyes, and +supposed it might be unwise to come openly, in our proper characters."</p> + +<p>"In this you have done well; yet I hardly know how to welcome you, in +your present characters. On no account must your real names be revealed. +The demons of tar and feathers, the sons of liberty and equality, who +illustrate their principles as they do their courage, by attacking the +few with the many, would be stirring, fancying themselves heroes and +martyrs in the cause of justice, did they learn you were here. Ten armed +and resolute men might drive a hundred of them, I do believe; for they +have all the cowardice of thieves, but they are heroes with the unarmed +and feeble. Are you safe, yourselves, appearing thus disguised, under +the new law?"</p> + +<p>"We are not armed, not having so much as a pistol; and that will protect +us."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to say, Hugh, that this country is no longer what I once +knew it. Its justice, if not wholly departed, is taking to itself wings, +and its blindness, not in a disregard of persons, but in a faculty of +seeing only the stronger side. A landlord, in my opinion, would have but +little hope, with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>jury, judge, or executive, for doing that which +thousands of the tenants have done, still do, and will continue to do, +with perfect impunity, unless some dire catastrophe stimulates the +public functionaries to their duties, by awakening public indignation."</p> + +<p>"This is a miserable state of things, dearest grandmother; and what +makes it worse, is the cool indifference with which most persons regard +it. A better illustration of the utter selfishness of human nature +cannot be given, than in the manner in which the body of the people look +on, and see wrong thus done to a few of their number."</p> + +<p>"Such persons as Mr. Seneca Newcome would answer, that the public +sympathises with the poor, who are oppressed by the rich, because the +last do not wish to let the first rob them of their estates! We hear a +great deal of the strong robbing the weak, all over the world, but few +among ourselves, I am afraid, are sufficiently clear-sighted to see how +vivid an instance of the truth now exists among ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Calling the tenants the strong, and the landlords the weak?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; numbers make strength, in this country, in which all power +in practice, and most of it in theory, rests with the majority. Were +there as many landlords as there are tenants, my life on it, no one +would see the least injustice in the present state of things."</p> + +<p>"So says my uncle: but I hear the light steps of the girls—we must be +on our guard."</p> + +<p>At that instant Martha entered, followed by all three of the girls, +holding in her hand a very beautiful Manilla chain that my uncle had +picked up in his travels, and had purchased as a present to my future +wife, whomsoever she might turn out to be, and which he had had the +indiscretion to show to his ward. A look of surprise was cast by each +girl in succession, as she entered the room, on me, but neither said, +and I fancy neither thought much of my being shut up there with an old +lady of eighty, after the first moment. Other thoughts were uppermost at +the moment.</p> + +<p>"Look at this, dearest grandmamma!" cried Patt, holding up the chain as +she entered the room. "Here is just the most exquisite chain that was +ever wrought, and of the purest gold; but the pedlar refuses to part +with it!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you do not offer enough, my child; it is, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>deed, very, very +beautiful; pray what does he say is its value?"</p> + +<p>"One hundred dollars, he says; and I can readily believe it, for its +weight is near half the money. I do wish Hugh were at home; I am certain +he would contrive to get it, and make it a present to me!"</p> + +<p>"Nein, nein, young lady," put in the pedlar, who, a little +unceremoniously, had followed the girls into the room, though he knew, +of course, precisely where he was coming; "dat might not be. Dat chain +is der broperty of my son, t'ere, und I haf sworn it shalt only be gifen +to his wife."</p> + +<p>Patt coloured a little, and she pouted a good deal; then she laughed +outright.</p> + +<p>"If it is only to be had on those conditions, I am afraid I shall never +own it," she said, saucily, though it was intended to be uttered so low +as not to reach my ears. "I will pay the hundred dollars out of my own +pocket-money, however, if that will buy it. Do say a good word for me, +grandmamma!"</p> + +<p>How prettily the hussy uttered that word of endearment, so different +from the "paw" and "maw" one hears among the dirty-noses that are to be +found in the mud-puddles! But our grand-parent was puzzled, for she knew +with whom she had to deal, and of course saw that money would do +nothing. Nevertheless, the state of the game rendered it necessary to +say and do something that might have an appearance of complying with +Patty's request.</p> + +<p>"Can I have more success in persuading you to change your mind, sir?" +she said, looking at her son in a way that let him know at once, or at +least made him suspect at once, that she was in his secret. "It would +give me great pleasure to be able to gratify my grand-daughter, by +making her a present of so beautiful a chain."</p> + +<p>My uncle Ro advanced to his mother, took the hand she had extended with +the chain in it, in order the better to admire the trinket, and he +kissed it with a profound respect, but in such a manner as to make it +seem to the lookers-on an act of European usage, rather than what it +was, the tempered salute of a child to his parent.</p> + +<p>"Laty," he then said, with emphasis, "if anyboty might <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>make me change a +resolution long since made, it would be one as fenerable, und gracious, +und goot as I am sartain you most be. But I haf vowet to gif dat chain +to das wife of mine son, vhen he might marry, one day, some bretty young +American; und it might not be."</p> + +<p>Dear grandmother smiled; but now she understood that it was really +intended the chain was to be an offering to my wife, she no longer +wished to change its destination. She examined the bauble a few moments, +and said to me—</p> + +<p>"Do you wish this, as well as your un—father, I should say? It is a +rich present for a poor man to make."</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja, laty, it ist so; but vhen der heart goes, golt might be t'ought +sheap to go wid it."</p> + +<p>The old lady was half ready to laugh in my face, at hearing this attempt +at Germanic English; but the kindness, and delight, and benevolent +tenderness of her still fine eyes, made me wish to throw myself in her +arms again, and kiss her. Patt continued to <i>bouder</i> for a moment or two +longer, but her excellent nature soon gave in, and the smiles returned +to her countenance, as the sun issues from behind a cloud in May.</p> + +<p>"Well, the disappointment may and must be borne," she said, +good-naturedly; "though it is much the most lovely chain I have ever +seen."</p> + +<p>"I dare say the right person will one day find one quite as lovely to +present to you!" said Henrietta Coldbrook, a little pointedly.</p> + +<p>I did not like this speech. It was an allusion that a well-bred young +woman ought not to have made, at least before others, even pedlars; and +it was one that a young woman of a proper tone of feeling would not be +apt to make. I determined from that instant the chain should never +belong to Miss Henrietta, though she was a fine, showy girl, and though +such a decision would disappoint my uncle sadly. I was a little +surprised to see a slight blush on Patt's cheek, and then I remembered +something of the name of the traveller, Beekman. Turning towards Mary +Warren, I saw plain enough that she was disappointed because my sister +was disappointed, and for no other reason in the world.</p> + +<p>"Your grandmother will meet with another chain, when she goes to town, +that will make you forget this," she whispered, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>affectionately, close +at my sister's ear.</p> + +<p>Patt smiled, and kissed her friend with a warmth of manner that +satisfied me these two charming young creatures loved each other +sincerely. But my dear old grandmother's curiosity had been awakened, +and she felt a necessity for having it appeased. She still held the +chain, and as she returned it to me, who happened to be nearest to her, +she said—</p> + +<p>"And so, sir, your mind is sincerely made up to offer this chain to your +future wife?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, laty; or what might be better, to das yoong frau, before we might +be marriet."</p> + +<p>"And is your choice made?" glancing round at the girls, who were grouped +together, looking at some other trinkets of my uncle's. "Have you chosen +the young woman who is to possess so handsome a chain?"</p> + +<p>"Nein, nein," I answered, returning the smile, and glancing also at the +group; "dere ist so many peautiful laties in America, one needn't be in +a hurry. In goot time I shalt find her dat ist intended for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, grandmamma," interrupted Patt, "since nobody can have the chain, +unless on certain conditions, here are the three other things that we +have chosen for Ann, Henrietta, and myself, and they are a ring, a pair +of bracelets, and a pair of ear-rings. The cost, altogether, will be two +hundred dollars; can you approve of that?"</p> + +<p>My grandmother, now she knew who was the pedlar, understood the whole +matter, and had no scruples. The bargain was soon made, when she sent us +all out of the room, under the pretence we should disturb her while +settling with the watch-seller. Her real object, however, was to be +alone with her son, not a dollar passing between them, of course.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"Our life was changed. Another love<br /> +<span class="pi2">In its lone woof began to twine;<br /></span> +But oh! the golden thread was wove<br /> +<span class="pi2">Between my sister's heart and mine."<br /></span></p> +<p class="poet"><span class="smcap">Willis.</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">Half</span> an hour later, uncle Ro and myself were seated at table, eating our +dinners as quietly as if we were in an inn. The footman who had set the +table was an old family servant, one who had performed the same sort of +duty in that very house for a quarter of a century. Of course he was not +an American, no <i>man</i> of American birth ever remaining so long a time in +an inferior station, or in any station so low as that of a +house-servant. If he has good qualities enough to render it desirable to +keep him, he is almost certain to go up in the world; if not, one does +not care particularly about having him. But Europeans are less elastic +and less ambitious, and it is no uncommon thing to find one of such an +origin remaining a long time in the same service. Such had been the fact +with this man, who had followed my own parents from Europe, when they +returned from their marriage tour, and had been in the house on the +occasion of my birth. From that time he had continued at the Nest, never +marrying, nor ever manifesting the smallest wish for any change. He was +an Englishman by birth; and what is very unusual in a servant of that +country, when transferred to America, the "letting-up," which is certain +to attend such a change from the depression of the original condition to +that in which he is so suddenly placed, had not made him saucy. An +American is seldom what is called impudent, under any circumstances; he +is careless, nay ignorant of forms; pays little or no purely +conventional respect; does not understand half the social distinctions +which exist among the higher classes of even his own countrymen, and +fancies there are equalities in things about which, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>truth, there is +great inequality between himself and others, merely because he has been +taught that all men are equal in rights; but he is so unconscious of any +pressure as seldom to feel a disposition to revenge himself by +impudence.</p> + +<p>But, while John was not impudent either, he had a footman's feeling +towards those whom he fancied no better than himself. He had set the +table with his customary neatness and method, and he served the soup +with as much regularity as he would have done had we sat there in our +proper characters, but then he withdrew. He probably remembered that the +landlord, or upper servant of an English hotel, is apt to make his +appearance with the soup, and to disappear as that disappears. So it was +with John; after removing the soup, he put a dumb-waiter near my uncle, +touched a carving-knife or two, as much as to say "help yourselves," and +quitted the room. As a matter of course, our dinner was not a very +elaborate one, it wanting two or three hours to the regular time of +dining, though my grandmother had ordered, in my hearing, one or two +delicacies to be placed on the table, that had surprised Patt. Among the +extraordinary things for such guests was wine. The singularity, however, +was a little explained by the quality commanded, which was Rhenish.</p> + +<p>My uncle Ro was a little surprised at the disappearance of John; for, +seated in that room, he was so accustomed to his face, that it appeared +as if he were not half at home without him.</p> + +<p>"Let the fellow go," he said, withdrawing his hand from the bell-cord, +which he had already touched to order him back again; "we can talk more +freely without him. Well, Hugh, here you are, under your own roof, +eating a charitable dinner, and treated as hospitably as if you did not +own all you can see for a circle of five miles around you. It was a +lucky idea of the old lady's, by the way, to think of ordering this +Rudesheimer, in our character of Dutchmen! How amazingly well she is +looking, boy!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed she is; and I am delighted to see it. I do not know why my +grandmother may not live these twenty years; for even that would not +make her near as old as Sus, who, I have often heard her say, was a +middle-aged <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>man when she was born."</p> + +<p>"True; she seems like an elder sister to me, rather than as a mother, +and is altogether a most delightful old woman. But, if we had so +charming an old woman to receive us, so are there also some very +charming <i>young</i> women—hey, Hugh?"</p> + +<p>"I am quite of your way of thinking, sir; and must say I have not, in +many a day, seen two as charming creatures as I have met with here."</p> + +<p>"<i>Two</i>!—umph; a body would think <i>one</i> might suffice. Pray, which may +be the two, Master Padishah?"</p> + +<p>"Patt and Mary Warren, of course. The other two are well enough, but +these two are excellent."</p> + +<p>My uncle Ro looked grum, but he said nothing for some time. Eating is +always an excuse for a broken conversation, and he ate away as if +resolute not to betray his disappointment. But it is a hard matter for a +gentleman to do nothing but eat at table, and so was obliged to talk.</p> + +<p>"Everything looks well here, after all, Hugh," observed my uncle. "These +anti-renters may have done an infinite deal of harm in the way of +abusing principles, but they do not seem to have yet destroyed any +material things."</p> + +<p>"It is not their cue, sir. The crops are their own; and as they hope to +own the farms, it would be scarcely wise to injure what, no doubt, they +begin to look on as their own property, too. As for the Nest House, +grounds, farm, &c., I dare say they will be very willing to leave me +them for a while longer, provided they can get everything else away from +me."</p> + +<p>"For a time longer, at least; though that is the folly of those who +expect to get along by concessions; as if men were ever satisfied with +the yielding of a part, when they ask that which is wrong in itself, +without sooner or later expecting to get the whole. As well might one +expect the pickpocket who had abstracted a dollar, to put back +two-and-sixpence change. But things really look well, around the place."</p> + +<p>"So much the better for us. Though, to my judgment and taste, Miss Mary +Warren looks better than anything else I have yet seen in America."</p> + +<p>Another "umph" expressed my uncle's dissatisfaction<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>—displeasure would +be too strong a word—and he continued eating.</p> + +<p>"You have really some good Rhenish in your cellar, Hugh," resumed uncle +Ro, after tossing off one of the knowing green glasses full—though I +never could understand why any man should wish to drink his wine out of +green, when he might do it out of crystal. "It must have been a purchase +of mine, made when we were last in Germany, and for the use of my +mother."</p> + +<p>"As you please, sir; it neither adds nor subtracts from the beauty of +Martha and her friend."</p> + +<p>"Since you are disposed to make these boyish allusions, be frank with +me, and say, at once, how you like my wards."</p> + +<p>"Meaning, of course, sir, my own sister exclusively. I will be as +sincere as possible, and say that, as to Miss Marston, I have no opinion +at all; and as to Miss Coldbrook, she is what, in Europe, would be +called a 'fine' woman."</p> + +<p>"You can say nothing as to her mind, Hugh, for you have had no +opportunity for forming an opinion."</p> + +<p>"Not much of a one, I will own. Nevertheless, I should have liked her +better had she spared the allusion to the 'proper person' who is one day +to forge a chain for my sister, to begin with."</p> + +<p>"Poh, poh; that is the mere squeamishness of a boy. I do not think her +in the least pert or forward, and your construction would be <i>tant soit +peu</i> vulgar."</p> + +<p>"Put your own construction on it, <i>mon oncle</i>; <i>I</i> do not like it."</p> + +<p>"I do not wonder young men remain unmarried; they are getting to be so +ultra in their tastes and notions."</p> + +<p>A stranger might have retorted on an old bachelor, for such a speech, by +some allusion to his own example; but I well knew that my uncle Ro had +once been engaged, and that he lost the object of his passion by death, +and too much respected his constancy and true sentiments ever to joke on +such subjects. I believe he felt the delicacy of my forbearance rather +more than common, for he immediately manifested a disposition to relent, +and to prove it by changing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>the subject.</p> + +<p>"We can never stay here to-night," he said. "It would be at once to +proclaim our names—our name, I might say—a name that was once so +honoured and beloved in this town, and which is now so hated!"</p> + +<p>"No, no; not as bad as that. We have done nothing to merit hatred."</p> + +<p>"<i>Raison de plus</i> for hating us so much the more heartily. When men are +wronged, who have done nothing to deserve it, the evil-doer seeks to +justify his wickedness to himself by striving all he can to calumniate +the injured party; and the more difficulty he finds in doing that to his +mind, the more profound is his hatred. Rely on it, we are most sincerely +disliked here, on the spot where we were once both much beloved. Such is +human nature."</p> + +<p>At that moment John returned to the room, to see how we were getting on, +and to count his forks and spoons, for I saw the fellow actually doing +it. My uncle, somewhat indiscreetly, I fancied, but by merely following +the chain of thought then uppermost in his mind, detained him in +conversation.</p> + +<p>"Dis broperty," he said, inquiringly, "is de broperty of one Yeneral +Littlepage, I hears say?"</p> + +<p>"Not of the General, who was Madam Littlepage's husband, and who has +long been dead, but of his grandson, Mr. Hugh."</p> + +<p>"Und vhere might he be, dis Mr. Hugh?—might he be at hand, or might he +not?"</p> + +<p>"No; he's in Europe; that is to say, in Hengland." John thought England +covered most of Europe, though he had long gotten over his wish to +return. "Mr. Hugh and Mr. Roger be both habsent from the country, just +now."</p> + +<p>"Dat ist unfortunate, for dey dells me dere might be moch troobles here +abouts, and Injin-acting."</p> + +<p>"There is, indeed; and a wicked thing it is, that there should be +anything of the sort."</p> + +<p>"Und vhat might be der reason of so moch troobles?—and vhere ist der +blame?"</p> + +<p>"Well, that is pretty plain, I fancy," returned John, who, in +consequence of being a favoured servant at head-quarters, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>fancied +himself a sort of cabinet minister, and had much pleasure in letting his +knowledge be seen. "The tenants on this estate wants to be landlords; +and as they can't be so, so long as Mr. Hugh lives and won't let 'em, +why they just tries all sorts of schemes and plans to frighten people +out of their property. I never go down to the village but I has a talk +with some of them, and that in a way that might do them some good, if +anything can."</p> + +<p>"Und vhat dost you say?—und vid whom dost you talk, as might do dem +moch goot?"</p> + +<p>"Why, you see, I talks more with one 'Squire Newcome, as they calls him, +though he's no more of a real 'squire than you be—only a sort of an +attorney, like, such as they has in this country. You come from the old +countries, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—dat ist, yes—we comes from Charmany; so you can say vhat you +bleases."</p> + +<p>"They has queer 'squires in this part of the world, if truth must be +said. But that's neither here nor there, though I give this Mr. Seneca +Newcome as good as he sends. What is it you wants, I says to him?—you +can't all be landlords—somebody must be tenants; and if you didn't want +to be tenants, how come you to be so? Land is plenty in this country, +and cheap too; and why didn't you buy your land at first, instead of +coming to rent of Mr. Hugh; and now when you <i>have</i> rented, to be +quarrelling about the very thing you did of your own accord?"</p> + +<p>"Dere you didst dell 'em a goot t'ing; and vhat might der 'Squire say to +dat?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! he was quite dumb-founded, at first; then he said that in old +times, when people first rented these lands, they didn't <i>know</i> as much +as they do now, or they never would have done it."</p> + +<p>"Und you could answer dat; or vast it your durn to be dum-founded?"</p> + +<p>"I pitched it into him, as they says; I did. Says I, how's this, says +I—you are for ever boasting how much you Americans know—and how the +people knows everything that ought to be done, about politics and +religion—and you proclaim far and near that your yeomen are the salt of +the earth—and yet you don't know how to bargain for your <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>leases! A +pretty sort of wisdom is this, says I! I had him there; for the people +round about here is only too sharp at a trade."</p> + +<p>"Did he own dat you vast right, and dat he vast wrong, dis Herr 'Squire +Newcome?"</p> + +<p>"Not he; he will never own anything that makes against his own doctrine, +unless he does it ignorantly. But I haven't told you half of it. I told +him, says I, how is it you talk of one of the Littlepage family cheating +you, when, as you knows yourselves, you had rather have the word of one +of that family than have each other's bonds, says I. You know, sir, it +must be a poor landlord that a tenant can't and won't take his word: and +this they all know to be true; for a gentleman as has a fine estate is +raised above temptation, like, and has a pride in him to do what is +honourable and fair; and, in my opinion, it is good to have a few such +people in a country, if it be only to keep the wicked one from getting +it altogether in his own keeping."</p> + +<p>"Und did you say dat moch to der 'Squire?"</p> + +<p>"No; that I just says to you two, seeing that we are here, talking +together in a friendly way; but a man needn't be ashamed to say it +anywhere, for it's a religious truth. But I says to him, Newcome, says +I, you, who has been living so long on the property of the Littlepages, +ought to be ashamed to wish to strip them of it; but you're not +satisfied with keeping gentlemen down quite as much out of sight as you +can, by holding all the offices yourselves, and taking all the money of +the public you can lay your hands on for your own use, but you wants to +trample them under your feet, I says, and so take your revenge for being +what you be, says I."</p> + +<p>"Vell, my friend," said my uncle, "you vast a bolt man to dell all dis +to der beoples of dis coontry, vhere, I have heard, a man may say just +vhat he hast a mind to say, so dat he dost not sbeak too moch trut!"</p> + +<p>"That's it—that's it; you have been a quick scholar, I find. I told +this Mr. Newcome, says I, you're bold enough in railing at kings and +nobles, for you very well know, says I, that they are three thousand +miles away from you, and can do you no harm; but you would no more dare +get up before your masters, the people, here, and say what you <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>really +think about 'em, and what I have heard you say of them in private, than +you would dare put your head before a cannon, as the gunner touched it +off. Oh! I gave him a lesson, you may be sure!"</p> + +<p>Although there was a good deal of the English footman in John's logic +and feeling, there was also a good deal of truth in what he said. The +part where he accused Newcome of holding one set of opinions in private, +concerning <i>his</i> masters, and another in public, is true to the life. +There is not, at this moment, within the wide reach of the American +borders, one demagogue to be found who might not, with justice, be +accused of precisely the same deception. There is not one demagogue in +the whole country, who, if he lived in a monarchy, would not be the +humblest advocate of men in power, ready to kneel at the feet of those +who stood in the sovereign's presence. There is not, at this instant, a +man in power among us a senator or a legislator, who is now the seeming +advocate of what he wishes to call the rights of the tenants, and who is +for overlooking principles and destroying law and right, in order to +pacify the anti-renters by extraordinary concessions, that would not be +among the foremost, under a monarchial system, to recommend and support +the freest application of the sword and the bayonet to suppress what +would then be viewed, ay, and be termed, "the rapacious longings of the +disaffected to enjoy the property of others without paying for it." All +this is certain; for it depends on a law of morals that is infallible. +Any one who wishes to obtain a clear index to the true characters of the +public men he is required to support, or oppose, has now the +opportunity; for each stands before a mirror that reflects him in his +just proportions, and in which the dullest eye has only to cast a +glance, in order to view him from head to foot.</p> + +<p>The entrance of my grandmother put a stop to John's discourse. He was +sent out of the room on a message, and then I learned the object of this +visit. My sister had been let into the secret of our true characters, +and was dying to embrace me. My dear grandmother, rightly enough, had +decided it would be to the last degree unkind to keep her in ignorance +of our presence; and, the fact known, nature had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>longings which must be +appeased. I had myself been tempted twenty times, that morning, to +snatch Patt to my heart and kiss her, as I used to do just after my +beard began to grow, and she was so much of a child as to complain. The +principal thing to be arranged, then, was to obtain an interview for me +without awakening suspicion in the observers. My grandmother's plan was +arranged, however, and she now communicated it to us.</p> + +<p>There was a neat little dressing-room annexed to Martha's bed-room; in +that the meeting was to take place.</p> + +<p>"She and Mary Warren are now there, waiting for your appearance, +Hugh——"</p> + +<p>"Mary Warren!—Does she, then, know who I am?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least; she has no other idea than that you are a young +German, of good connections and well educated, who has been driven from +his own country by political troubles, and who is reduced to turn his +musical taste and acquisitions to account, in the way you seem to do, +until he can find some better employment. All this she had told us +before we met you, and you are not to be vain, Hugh, if I add, that your +supposed misfortunes, and great skill with the flute, and good +behaviour, have made a friend of one of the best and most true-hearted +girls I ever had the good fortune to know. I say good <i>behaviour</i>, for +little, just now, can be ascribed to good <i>looks</i>."</p> + +<p>"I hope I am not in the least revolting in appearance, in this disguise. +For my sister's sake——"</p> + +<p>The hearty laugh of my dear old grandmother brought me up, and I said no +more; colouring, I believe, a little, at my own folly. Even uncle Ro +joined in the mirth, though I could see he wished Mary Warren even +safely translated along with her father, and that the latter was +Archbishop of Canterbury. I must acknowledge that I felt a good deal +ashamed of the weakness I had betrayed.</p> + +<p>"You are very well, Hugh, darling," continued my grandmother; "though I +must think you would be more interesting in your own hair, which is +curling, than in that lank wig. Still, one can see enough of your face +to recognise it, if one has the clue; and I told Martha, at the first, +that I was struck with a certain expression of the eyes and smile <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>that +reminded me of her brother. But, there they are, Mary and Martha, in the +drawing-room, waiting for your appearance. The first is so fond of +music, and, indeed, is so practised in it, as to have been delighted +with your flute; and she has talked so much of your skill as to justify +us in seeming to wish for a further exhibition of your skill. Henrietta +and Ann, having less taste that way, have gone together to select +bouquets, in the green-house, and there is now an excellent opportunity +to gratify your sister. I am to draw Mary out of the room, after a +little while, when you and Martha may say a word to each other in your +proper characters. As for you, Roger, you are to open your box again, +and I will answer for it <i>that</i> will serve to amuse your other wards, +should they return too soon from their visit to the gardener."</p> + +<p>Everything being thus explained, and our dinner ended, all parties +proceeded to the execution of the plan, each in his or her designated +mode. When my grandmother and I reached the dressing-room, however, +Martha was not there, though Mary Warren was, her bright but serene eyes +full of happiness and expectation. Martha had retired to the inner room +for a moment, whither my grandmother, suspecting the truth, followed +her. As I afterwards ascertained, my sister, fearful of not being able +to suppress her tears on my entrance, had withdrawn, in order to +struggle for self-command without betraying our secret. I was told to +commence an air, without waiting for the absent young lady, as the +strain could easily be heard through the open door.</p> + +<p>I might have played ten minutes before my sister and grandmother came +out again. Both had been in tears, though the intense manner in which +Mary Warren was occupied with the harmony of my flute, probably +prevented her from observing it. To me, however, it was plain enough; +and glad was I to find that my sister had succeeded in commanding her +feelings. In a minute or two my grandmother profited by a pause to rise +and carry away with her Mary Warren, though the last left the room with +a reluctance that was very manifest. The pretence was a promise to meet +the divine in the library, on some business connected with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>the +Sunday-schools.</p> + +<p>"You can keep the young man for another air, Martha," observed my +grandmother, "and I will send Jane to you, as I pass her room."</p> + +<p>Jane was my sister's own maid, and her room was close at hand, and I +dare say dear grandmother gave her the order, in Mary Warren's presence, +as soon as she quitted the room, else might Mary Warren well be +surprised at the singularity of the whole procedure; but Jane did not +make her appearance, nevertheless. As for myself, I continued to play as +long as I thought any ear was near enough to hear me; then I laid aside +my flute. In the next instant Patt was in my arms, where she lay some +time weeping, but looking inexpressibly happy.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Hugh, what a disguise was this to visit your own house in!" she +said, as soon as composed enough to speak.</p> + +<p>"Would it have done to come here otherwise? You know the state of the +country, and the precious fruits our boasted tree of liberty is bringing +forth. The owner of the land can only visit his property at the risk of +his life!"</p> + +<p>Martha pressed me in her arms in a way to show how conscious she was of +the danger I incurred in even thus visiting her; after which we seated +ourselves, side by side, on a little divan, and began to speak of those +things that were most natural to a brother and sister who so much loved +each other, and who had not met for five years. My grandmother had +managed so well as to prevent all interruption for an hour, if we saw +fit to remain together, while to others it should seem as if +<ins title="Original reads 'Pat'.">Patt</ins> had dismissed me in a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"Not one of the other girls suspect, in the least, who you are," said +Martha, smiling, when we had got through with the questions and answers +so natural to our situation. "I am surprised that Henrietta has not, for +<i>she</i> prides herself on her penetration. She is as much in the dark as +the others, however."</p> + +<p>"And Miss Mary Warren—the young lady who has just left the room—has +she not some <i>small</i> notion that I am not a common Dutch music-grinder?"</p> + +<p>Patt laughed, and that so merrily as to cause the tones of her sweet +voice to fill me with delight, as I remembered what she had been in +childhood and girlhood five years be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>fore, and she shook her bright +tresses off her cheeks ere she would answer.</p> + +<p>"No, Hugh," she replied, "she fancies you an <i>uncommon</i> Dutch +music-grinder; an <i>artiste</i> that not only grinds, but who dresses up his +harmonies in such a way as to be palatable to the most refined taste. +How came Mary to think you and my uncle two reduced German gentlemen?"</p> + +<p>"And does the dear girl believe—that is, does Miss Mary Warren do us so +much honour, as to imagine that?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed she does, for she told us as much as soon as she got home; and +Henrietta and Ann have made themselves very merry with their +speculations on the subject of Miss Warren's great incognito. They call +you Herzog von Geige."</p> + +<p>"Thank them for that." I am afraid I answered a little too pointedly, +for I saw that Patt seemed surprised. "But your American towns are just +such half-way things as to spoil young women; making them neither +refined and polished as they might be in real capitals, while they are +not left the simplicity and nature of the country."</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Hugh, this is being very cross about a very little, and +not particularly complimentary to your own sister. And why not <i>your</i> +American towns, as well as <i>ours</i>?—are you no longer one of us?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly; one of <i>yours</i>, always, my dearest Patt, though not one of +every chattering girl who may set up for a <i>belle</i>, with her Dukes of +Fiddle! But, enough of this;—you like the Warrens?"</p> + +<p>"Very much so; father and daughter. The first is just what a clergyman +should be; of a cultivation and intelligence to fit him to be any man's +companion, and a simplicity like that of a child. You remember his +predecessor—so dissatisfied, so selfish, so lazy, so censorious, so +unjust to every person and thing around him, and yet so exacting; and, +at the same time, so——"</p> + +<p>"What? Thus far you have drawn his character well; I should like to hear +the remainder."</p> + +<p>"I have said more than I ought already; for one has an idea that, by +bringing a clergyman into disrepute, it brings <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>religion and the church +into discredit, too. A priest must be a <i>very</i> bad man to have injurious +things said of him, in this country, Hugh."</p> + +<p>"That is, perhaps, true. But you like Mr. Warren better than him who has +left you?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand times, and in all things. In addition to having a most pious +and sincere pastor, <i>we</i> have an agreeable and well-bred neighbour, from +whose mouth, in the five years that he has dwelt here, I have not heard +a syllable at the expense of a single fellow-creature. You know how it +is apt to be with the other clergy and ours, in the country—for ever at +swords' points; and if not actually quarrelling, keeping up a hollow +peace."</p> + +<p>"That is only too true—or used to be true, before I went abroad."</p> + +<p>"And it is so now, elsewhere, I'll answer for it, though it be so no +longer here. Mr. Warren and Mr. Peck seem to live on perfectly amicable +terms, though as little alike at bottom as fire and water."</p> + +<p>"By the way, how do the clergy of the different sects, up and down the +country, behave on the subject of anti-rent?"</p> + +<p>"I can answer only from what I hear, with the exception of Mr. Warren's +course. <i>He</i> has preached two or three plain and severe sermons on the +duty of honesty in our worldly transactions, one of which was from the +tenth commandment. Of course he said nothing of the particular trouble, +but everybody must have made the necessary application of the +home-truths he uttered. I question if another voice has been raised, far +and near, on the subject, although I have heard Mr. Warren say the +movement threatens more to demoralize New York than anything that has +happened in his time."</p> + +<p>"And the man down at the village?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he goes, of course, with the majority. When was one of that set +ever known to oppose his parish, in anything?"</p> + +<p>"And Mary is as sound and as high-principled as her father?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so; though there has been a good deal said about the necessity of +Mr. Warren's removing, and giving up St. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>Andrew's, since he preached +against covetousness. All the anti-renters say, I hear, that they know +he meant <i>them</i>; and that they won't put up with it."</p> + +<p>"I dare say; each one fancying he was almost called out by name: that is +the way, when conscience works."</p> + +<p>"I should be very, very sorry to part with Mary; and almost as much so +to part with her father. There is one thing, however, that Mr. Warren +himself thinks we had better have done, Hugh; and that is to take down +the canopy from over our pew. You can have no notion of the noise that +foolish canopy is making up and down the country."</p> + +<p>"I shall <i>not</i> take it down. It is my property, and there it shall +remain. As for the canopy, it was a wrong distinction to place in a +church, I am willing to allow; but it never gave offence until it has +been thought that a cry against it would help to rob me of my lands at +half price, or at no price at all, as it may happen."</p> + +<p>"All that may be true; but if improper for a church, why keep it?"</p> + +<p>"Because I do not choose to be bullied out of what is my own, even +though I care nothing about it. There might have been a time when the +canopy was unsuited to the house of God, and that was when those who saw +it might fancy it canopied the head of a fellow-creature who had higher +claims than themselves to divine favour; but, in times like these, when +men estimate merit by beginning at the other end of the social scale, +there is little danger of any one's falling into the mistake. The canopy +shall stand, little as I care about it: now, I would actually prefer it +should come down, as I can fully see the impropriety of making any +distinctions in the temple; but it shall stand until concessions cease +to be dangerous. It is a right of property, and as such I will maintain +it. If others dislike it, let them put canopies over their pews, too. +The best test, in such a matter, is to see who could bear it. A pretty +figure Seneca Newcome would cut, for instance, seated in a canopied pew! +Even his own set would laugh at him; which, I fancy, is more than they +yet do at me."</p> + +<p>Martha was disappointed; but she changed the subject. We next talked of +our own little private affairs, as they were connected with smaller +matters.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p><p>"For whom is that beautiful chain intended, Hugh?" asked Patt, +laughingly. "I can now believe the pedlar when he says it is reserved +for your future wife. But who is that wife to be? Will her name be +Henrietta or Ann?"</p> + +<p>"Why not ask, also, if it will be Mary?—why exclude one of your +companions, while you include the other two?"</p> + +<p>Patt started—seemed surprised; her cheeks flushed, and then I saw that +pleasure was the feeling predominant.</p> + +<p>"Am I too late to secure that jewel, as a pendant to my chain?" I asked, +half in jest, half seriously.</p> + +<p>"Too soon, at least, to attract it by the richness and beauty of the +bauble. A more natural and disinterested girl than Mary Warren does not +exist in the country."</p> + +<p>"Be frank with me, Martha, and say at once; has she a favoured suitor?"</p> + +<p>"Why, this seems really serious!" exclaimed my sister, laughing. "But, +to put you out of your pain, I will answer, I know of but one. One she +has certainly, or female sagacity is at fault."</p> + +<p>"But is he one that is favoured? You can never know how much depends on +your answer."</p> + +<p>"Of that you can judge for yourself. It is 'Squire Seneky Newcome, as he +is called hereabouts—the brother of the charming Opportunity, who still +reserves herself for you."</p> + +<p>"And they are as rank anti-renters as any male and female in the +country."</p> + +<p>"They are rank Newcomites; and that means that each is for himself. +Would you believe it, but Opportunity really gives herself airs with +Mary Warren!"</p> + +<p>"And how does Mary Warren take such an assumption?"</p> + +<p>"As a young person should—quietly and without manifesting any feeling. +But there is something quite intolerable in one like Opportunity +Newcome's assuming a superiority over any true lady! Mary is as well +educated and as well connected as any of us, and is quite as much +accustomed to good company; while Opportunity—" here Patt laughed, and +then added, hurriedly, "but you know Opportunity as well as I do."</p> + +<p>"Oh! yes; she is <i>la</i> vertue, or <i>the</i> virtue, and <i>je suis <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>venue, +pour</i>."</p> + +<p>The latter allusion Patt understood well enough, having laughed over the +story a dozen times; and she laughed again when I explained the affair +of "<i>the</i> solitude."</p> + +<p>Then came a fit of sisterly feeling. Patt insisted on taking off my wig, +and seeing my face in its natural dress. I consented to gratify her, +when the girl really behaved like a simpleton. First she pushed about my +curls until they were arranged to suit the silly creature, when she ran +back several steps, clapped her hands in delight, then rushed into my +arms and kissed my forehead and eyes, and called me "her brother"—her +"only brother"—her "dear, <i>dear</i> Hugh," and by a number of other such +epithets, until she worked herself, and me too, into such an excess of +feeling that we sat down, side by side, and each had a hearty fit of +crying. Perhaps some such burst as this was necessary to relieve our +minds, and we submitted to it wisely.</p> + +<p>My sister wept the longest, as a matter of course; but, as soon as she +had dried her eyes, she replaced the wig, and completely restored my +disguise, trembling the whole time lest some one might enter and detect +me.</p> + +<p>"You have been very imprudent, Hugh, in coming here at all," she said, +while thus busy. "You can form no notion of the miserable state of the +country, or how far the anti-rent poison has extended, or the malignant +nature of its feeling. The annoyances they have attempted with dear +grandmother are odious; <i>you</i> they would scarcely leave alive."</p> + +<p>"The country and the people must have strangely altered, then, in five +years. Our New York population has hitherto had very little of the +assassin-like character. Tar and feathers are the blackguards', and have +been the petty tyrants' weapons, from time immemorial, in this country; +but not the knife."</p> + +<p>"And can anything sooner or more effectually alter a people than +longings for the property of others? Is not the 'love of money the root +of all evil?'—and what right have we to suppose our Ravensnest +population is better than another, when that sordid feeling is +thoroughly aroused? You know you have written me yourself, that all the +American can or does live for is money."</p> + +<p>"I have written you, dear, that the country, in its pre<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>sent condition, +leaves no other incentive to exertion, and therein it is cursed. +Military fame, military rank, even, are unattainable, under our system: +the arts, letters and science, bring little or no reward; and there +being no political rank that a man of refinement would care for, men +must live for money, or live altogether for another state of being. But +I have told you, at the same time, Martha, that, notwithstanding all +this, I believe the American a less mercenary being, in the ordinary +sense of the word, than the European; that two men might be bought, for +instance, in any European country, for one here. This last I suppose to +be the result of the facility of making a living, and the habits it +produces."</p> + +<p>"Never mind causes; Mr. Warren says there is a desperate intention to +rob existing among these people, and that they are dangerous. As yet +they do a little respect women, but how long they will do that one +cannot know."</p> + +<p>"It may all be so. It <i>must</i> be so, respecting what I have heard and +read; yet this vale looks as smiling and as sweet, at this very moment, +as if an evil passion never sullied it! But, depend on my prudence, +which tells me that we ought now to part. I shall see you again and +again before I quit the estate, and you will, of course, join us +somewhere—at the Springs, perhaps—as soon as we find it necessary or +expedient to decamp."</p> + +<p>Martha promised this, of course, and I kissed her, previously to +separating. No one crossed my way as I descended to the piazza, which +was easily done, since I was literally at home. I lounged about on the +lawn a few minutes, and then, showing myself in front of the library +windows, I was summoned to the room, as I had expected.</p> + +<p>Uncle Ro had disposed of every article of the fine jewelry that he had +brought home as presents for his wards. The pay was a matter to be +arranged with Mrs. Littlepage, which meant no pay at all; and, as the +donor afterwards told me, he liked this mode of distributing the various +ornaments better than presenting them himself, as he was now certain +each girl had consulted her own fancy.</p> + +<p>As the hour of the regular dinner was approaching, we took our leave +soon after, not without receiving kind and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>pressing invitations to +visit the Nest again ere we left the township. Of course we promised all +that was required, intending most faithfully to comply. On quitting the +house we returned towards the farm, though not without pausing on the +lawn to gaze around us on a scene so dear to both, from recollection, +association, and interest. But I forget, this is aristocratical; the +landlord has no right to sentiments of this nature, which are feelings +that the sublimated liberty of the law is beginning to hold in reserve +solely for the benefit of the tenant!</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<blockquote><p>"There shall be, in England, seven halfpenny loaves sold for a +penny: the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make +it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, and +in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass."</p></blockquote> + +<div class="right"><i>Jack Cade.</i></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">"I do</span> not see, sir," I remarked, as we moved on from the last of these +pauses, "why the governors and legislators, and writers on this subject +of anti-rentism, talk so much of feudality, and chickens, and days' +works, and durable leases, when we have none of these, while we have all +the disaffection they are said to produce."</p> + +<p>"You will understand that better as you come to know more of men. No +party alludes to its weak points. It is just as you say; but the +proceedings of your tenants, for instance, give the lie to the theories +of the philanthropists, and must be kept in the back-ground. It is true +that the disaffection has not yet extended to one-half, or to one-fourth +of the leased estates in the country, perhaps not to one-tenth, if you +take the number of the landlords as the standard, instead of the extent +of their possessions, but it certainly <i>will</i>, should the authorities +tamper with the rebels much longer."</p> + +<p>"If they tax the incomes of the landlords under the durable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>rent +system, why would not the parties aggrieved have the same right to take +up arms to resist such an act of oppression as our fathers had in 1776?"</p> + +<p>"Their cause would be better; for that was only a constructive right, +and one dependent on general principles, whereas this is an attempt at a +most mean evasion of a written law, the meanness of the attempt being +quite as culpable as its fraud. Every human being knows that such a tax, +so far as it has any object beyond that of an election-sop, is to choke +off the landlords from the maintenance of their covenants, which is a +thing that no State <i>can</i> do directly, without running the risk of +having its law pronounced unconstitutional by the courts of the United +States, if, indeed, not by its own courts."</p> + +<p>"The Court of Errors, think you?"</p> + +<p>"The Court of Errors is doomed, by its own abuses. Catiline never abused +the patience of Rome more than that mongrel assembly has abused the +patience of every sound lawyer in the State. '<i>Fiat justitia, ruat +cœlum</i>,' is interpreted, now, into 'Let justice be done, and the court +fall.' No one wishes to see it continued, and the approaching convention +will send it to the Capulets, if it do nothing else to be commended. It +was a pitiful imitation of the House of Lords system, with this striking +difference; the English lords are men of education, and men with a vast +deal at stake, and their knowledge and interests teach them to leave the +settlement of appeals to the legal men of their body, of whom there are +always a respectable number, in addition to those in possession of the +woolsack and the bench; whereas our Senate is a court composed of small +lawyers, country doctors, merchants, farmers, with occasionally a man of +really liberal attainments. Under the direction of an acute and honest +judge, as most of our true judges actually are, the Court of Errors +would hardly form such a jury as would allow a creditable person to be +tried by his peers, in a case affecting character, for instance, and +here we have it set up as a court of the last resort, to settle points +of law!"</p> + +<p>"I see it has just made a decision in a libel suit, at which the +profession sneers."</p> + +<p>"It has, indeed. Now look at that very decision, for instance, as the +measure <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>of its knowledge. An editor of a newspaper holds up a literary +man to the world as one anxious to obtain a small sum of money, in order +to put it into Wall street, for 'shaving purposes.' Now, the only +material question raised was the true signification of the word +'shaving.' If to say a man is a 'shaver,' in the sense in which it is +applied to the use of money, be bringing him into discredit, then was +the plaintiff's declaration sufficient; if not, it was insufficient, +being wanting in what is called an 'innuendo.' The dictionaries, and men +in general, understand by 'shaving,' 'extortion,' and nothing else. To +call a man a 'shaver' is to say he is an 'extortioner,' without going +into details. But, in Wall street, and among money-dealers, certain +transactions that, in their eyes, and by the courts, are not deemed +discreditable, have of late been brought within the category of +'shaving.' Thus it is technically, or by convention among bankers, +termed 'shaving' if a man buy a note at less than its face, which is a +legal transaction. On the strength of this last circumstance, <i>as is set +forth in the published opinions</i>, the highest Court of Appeals in New +York has decided that it does not bring a man into discredit to say he +is a 'shaver!'—thus making a conventional signification of the brokers +of Wall street higher authority for the use of the English tongue than +the standard lexicographers, and all the rest of those who use the +language! On the same principle, if a set of pickpockets at the Five +Points should choose to mystify their trade a little by including the +term 'to filch' the literal <i>borrowing</i> of a pocket-handkerchief, it +would not be a libel to accuse a citizen of 'filching his neighbor's +handkerchief!'"</p> + +<p>"But the libel was uttered to the <i>world</i>, and not to the brokers of +Wall Street only, who might possibly understand their own terms."</p> + +<p>"Very true; and was uttered in a newspaper that carried the falsehood to +Europe; for the writer of the charge, when brought up for it, publicly +admitted that he had no ground for suspecting the literary man of any +such practices. <i>He</i> called it a '<i>joke</i>.' Every line of the context, +however, showed it was a malicious charge. The decision is very much as +if a man who is sued for accusing another of 'stealing' should set up a +defense that he meant 'stealing' hearts, for the word is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>sometimes used +in <i>that</i> sense. When men use epithets that convey discredit in their +general meaning, it is their business to give them a special +signification in their own contexts, if such be their real intention. +But I much question if there be a respectable money-dealer, even in Wall +street, who would not swear, if called on in a court of justice so to +do, that <i>he</i> thought the general charge of 'shaving' discreditable to +any man."</p> + +<p>"And you think the landlords whose rents were taxed, sir, would have a +moral right to resist?"</p> + +<p>"Beyond all question; as it would be an income tax on them only, of all +in the country. What is more, I am fully persuaded that two thousand men +embodied to resist such tyranny would look down the whole available +authority of the State; inasmuch as I do not believe citizens could be +found to take up arms to enforce a law so flagrantly unjust. Men will +look on passively and see wrongs inflicted, that would never come out to +support them by their own acts. But we are approaching the farm, and +there is Tom Miller and his hired men waiting our arrival."</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to repeat, in detail, all that passed in this our +second visit to the farm-house. Miller received us in a friendly manner, +and offered us <i>a</i> bed, if we would pass the night with him. This +business of <i>a</i> bed had given us more difficulty than anything else, in +the course of our peregrinations. New York has long got over the +"two-man" and "three-man bed" system, as regards its best inns. At no +respectable New York inn is a gentleman now asked to share even his +room, without an apology and a special necessity, with another, much +less his bed; but the rule does not hold good as respects pedlars and +music-grinders. We had ascertained that we were not only expected to +share the same bed, but to occupy that bed in a room filled with other +beds. There are certain things that get to be second nature, and that no +masquerading will cause to go down; and, among others, one gets to +dislike sharing his room and his tooth-brush. This little difficulty +gave us more trouble that night, at Tom Miller's, than anything we had +yet encountered. At the taverns, bribes had answered our purpose; but +this would not do so well at a farm residence. At length the matter was +got along with by putting me in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>the garret, where I was favoured with a +straw bed under my own roof, the decent Mrs. Miller making many +apologies for not having a feather-smotherer, in which to "squash" me. I +did not tell the good woman that I never used feathers, summer or +winter; for, had I done so, she would have set me down as a poor +creature from "oppressed" Germany, where the "folks" did not know how to +live. Nor would she have been so much out of the way <i>quoad</i> the beds, +for in all my journeyings I never met with such uncomfortable sleeping +as one finds in Germany, off the Rhine and out of the large towns.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>While the negotiation was in progress I observed that Josh Brigham, as +the anti-rent disposed hireling of Miller's was called, kept a watchful +eye and an open ear on what was done and said. Of all men on earth, the +American of that class is the most "distrustful," as he calls it +himself, and has his suspicions the soonest awakened. The Indian on the +war-path—the sentinel who is posted in a fog, near his enemy, an hour +before the dawn of day—the husband that is jealous, or the priest that +has become a partisan, is not a whit more apt to fancy, conjecture, or +assert, than the American of that class who has become "distrustful." +This fellow, Brigham, was the very beau idéal of the suspicious school, +being envious and malignant, as well as shrewd, observant, and covetous. +The very fact that he was connected with the "Injins," as turned out to +be the case, added to his natural propensities the consciousness of +guilt, and rendered him doubly dangerous. The whole time my uncle and +myself were crossing over and figuring in, in order to procure for each +a room, though it were only a closet, his watchful, distrustful looks +denoted how much he saw in our movements to awaken curiosity, if not +downright suspicion. When all was over, he followed me to the little +lawn in front of the house, whither I had gone to look at the familiar +scene by the light of the setting sun, and began to betray the nature of +his own suspicions by his language.</p> + +<p>"The old man" (meaning my uncle Ro) "must have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>plenty of gold watches +about him," he said, "to be so plaguy partic'lar consarnin' his bed. +Pedlin' sich matters is a ticklish trade, I guess, in some parts?"</p> + +<p>"Ja; it ist dangerous somevhere, but it might not be so in dis goot +coontry."</p> + +<p>"Why did the old fellow, then, try so hard to get that little room all +to himself, and shove you off into the garret? We hired men don't like +the garret, which is a hot place in summer."</p> + +<p>"In Charmany one man hast ever one bed," I answered, anxious to get rid +of the subject.</p> + +<p>I bounced a little, as "one has one-half of a bed" would be nearer to +the truth, though the other half might be in another room.</p> + +<p>"Oh! that's it, is't? Wa-a-l, every country has its ways, I s'pose. +Jarmany is a desp'ate aristocratic land, I take it."</p> + +<p>"Ja; dere ist moch of de old feudal law, and feudal coostum still +remaining in Charmany."</p> + +<p>"Landlords a plenty, I guess, if the truth was known. Leases as long as +my arm, I calkerlate?"</p> + +<p>"Vell, dey do dink, in Charmany, dat de longer might be de lease, de +better it might be for de denant."</p> + +<p>As that was purely a German sentiment, or at least not an American +sentiment, according to the notions broached by statesmen among +ourselves, I made it as Dutch as possible by garnishing it well with +d's.</p> + +<p>"That's a droll idee! Now, we think, here, that a lease is a bad thing; +and the less you have of a bad thing, the better."</p> + +<p>"Vell, dat <i>ist</i> queer; so queer ast I don't know! Vhat vill dey do as +might help it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! the Legislature will set it all right. They mean to pass a law to +prevent any more leases at all."</p> + +<p>"Und vill de beople stand dat? Dis ist a free coontry, effery body dells +me, and vilt der beoples agree not to hire lands if dey vants to?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you see we wish to choke the landlords off from their present +leases; and, by and bye, when <i>that</i> is done, the law can let up again."</p> + +<p>"But ist dat right? Der law should be joost, and not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>hold down and let +oop, as you calls it."</p> + +<p>"You don't understand us yet, I see. Why that's the prettiest and the +neatest legislation on airth! That's just what the bankrupt law did."</p> + +<p>"Vhat did der bankroopt law do, bray? Vhat might you mean now?—I don't +know."</p> + +<p>"Do! why it did wonders for some on us, I can tell you! It paid our +debts, and let us up when we was down; and that's no trifle, I can tell +you. I took 'the benefit,' as it is called, myself."</p> + +<p>"You!—you might take der benefit of a bankroopt law! You, lifing here +ast a hiret man, on dis farm!"</p> + +<p>"Sartain; why not? All a man wanted, under <i>that</i> law, was about $60 to +carry him through the mill; and if he could rake and scrape that much +together, he might wipe off as long a score as he pleased. I had been +dealin' in speckylation, and that's a make or break business, I can tell +you. Well, I got to be about $423.22 wuss than nothin'; but, having +about $90 in hand, I went through the mill without getting cogged the +smallest morsel! A man doos a good business, to my notion, when he can +make 20 cents pay a whull dollar of debt."</p> + +<p>"Und you did dat goot business?"</p> + +<p>"You may say that; and now I means to make anti-rentism get me a farm +cheap—what <i>I</i> call cheap; and that an't none of your $30 or $40 an +acre, I can tell you!"</p> + +<p>It was quite clear that Mr. Joshua Brigham regarded these transactions +as so many Pragmatic Sanctions, that were to clear the moral and legal +atmospheres of any atoms of difficulty that might exist in the forms of +old opinions, to his getting easily out of debt, in the one case, and +suddenly rich in the other. I dare say I looked bewildered, but I +certainly felt so, at thus finding myself face to face with a low knave, +who had a deliberate intention, as I now found, to rob me of a farm. It +is certain that Joshua so imagined, for, inviting me to walk down the +road with him a short distance, he endeavoured to clear up any moral +difficulties that might beset me, by pursuing the subject.</p> + +<p>"You see," resumed Joshua, "I will tell you how it is. These Littlepages +have had this land long enough, and it's time to give poor folks a +chance. The young spark that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>pretends to own all the farms you see, far +and near, never <i>did</i> any thing for 'em in his life; only to be his +father's son. Now, to my notion, a man should do suthin' for his land, +and not be obligated for it to mere natur'. This is a free country, and +what right has one man to land more than another?"</p> + +<p>"Or do his shirt, or do his dobacco, or do his coat, or do anyding +else."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't go as far as that. A man has a right to his clothes, and +maybe to a horse or a cow, but he has no right to all the land in +creation. The law gives a right to a cow as ag'in' execution."</p> + +<p>"Und doesn't der law gif a right to der landt, too? You most not depend +on der law, if you might succeed."</p> + +<p>"We like to get as much law as we can on our side. Americans like law: +now, you'll read in all the books—<i>our</i> books, I mean, them that's +printed here—that the Americans be the most lawful people on airth, and +that they'll do more for the law than any other folks known!"</p> + +<p>"Vell, dat isn't vhat dey says of der Americans in Europe; nein, nein, +dey might not say dat."</p> + +<p>"Why, don't you think it is so? Don't you think this the greatest +country on airth, and the most lawful?"</p> + +<p>"Vell, I don'ts know. Das coontry ist das coontry, and it ist vhat it +ist, you might see."</p> + +<p>"Yes; I thought you would be of my way of thinking, when we got to +understand each other." Nothing is easier than to mislead an American on +the estimate foreigners place on them: in this respect they are the most +deluded people living, though, in other matters, certainly among the +shrewdest. "That's the way with acquaintances, at first; they don't +always understand one another: and then you talk a little thick, like. +But now, friend, I'll come to the p'int—but first swear you'll not +betray me."</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—I oonderstandst; I most schwear I won't bedray you: das ist +goot."</p> + +<p>"But, hold up your hand. Stop; of what religion be you?"</p> + +<p>"Gristian, to be sure. I might not be a Chew. Nein, nein; I am a ferry +bat Gristian."</p> + +<p>"We are all bad enough, for that matter; but I lay no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>stress on <i>that</i>. +A little of the devil in a man helps him along, in this business of +ourn. But you must be suthin' more than a Christian, I s'pose, as we +don't call <i>that</i> bein' of any religion at all, in this country. Of what +<i>supportin'</i> religion be you?"</p> + +<p>"Soobortin'; vell, I might not oonderstands dat. Vhat ist soobortin' +religion? Coomes dat vrom Melanchton and Luther?—or coomes it vrom der +Pope? Vhat ist dat soobortin' religion?"</p> + +<p>"Why, what religion do you <i>patronize</i>? Do you patronize the standin' +order, or the kneelin' order?—or do you patronize neither? Some folks +thinks its best to lie down at prayer, as the least likely to divert the +thoughts."</p> + +<p>"I might not oonderstand. But nefer mindt der religion, and coome to der +p'int dat you mentioned."</p> + +<p>"Well, that p'int is this. You're a Jarman, and can't like aristocrats, +and so I'll trust you; though, if you do betray me, you'll never play on +another bit of music in this country, or any other! If you want to be an +Injin, as good an opportunity will offer to-morrow as ever fell in a +man's way!"</p> + +<p>"An Injin! Vhat goot vill it do to be an Injin? I dought it might be +better to be a vhite man, in America?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I mean only an anti-rent Injin. We've got matters so nicely fixed +now, that a chap can be an Injin without any paint at all, or any +washin' or scrubbin', but can convart himself into himself ag'in, at any +time, in two minutes. The wages is good and the work light; then we have +rare chances in the stores, and round about among the farms. The law is +that an Injin must have what he wants, and no grumblin', and we take +care to want enough. If you'll be at the meetin', I'll tell you how +you'll know me."</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—dat ist goot; I vill be at der meetin', sartainly. Vhere might +it be?"</p> + +<p>"Down at the village. The word came up this a'ternoon, and we shall all +be on the ground by ten o'clock."</p> + +<p>"Vilt der be a fight, dat you meet so bunctually, and wid so moch +spirit?"</p> + +<p>"Fight! Lord, no; who is there to fight, I should like to know? We are +pretty much all ag'in the Littlepages, and there's none of them on the +ground but two or three women. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>I'll tell you how it's all settled. The +meetin' is called on the deliberative and liberty-supportin' plan. I +s'pose you know we've all sorts of meetin's in this country?"</p> + +<p>"Nein; I dought dere might be meetin's for bolitics, vhen der beople +might coome, but I don't know vhat else."</p> + +<p>"Is't possible! What, have you no 'indignation meetin's' in Jarmany? We +count a great deal on our indignation meetin's, and both sides have'em +in abundance, when things get to be warm. Our meetin' to-morrow is for +deliberation and liberty-principles generally. We may pass some +indignation resolutions about aristocrats, for nobody can bear them +critturs in this part of the country, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>Lest this manuscript should get into the hands of some of those who do +not understand the real condition of New York society, it may be well to +explain that "aristocrat" means, in the parlance of the country, no +other than a man of gentleman-like tastes, habits, opinions and +associations. There are gradations among the aristocracy of the State, +as well as among other men. Thus he who is an aristocrat in a hamlet, +would be very democratic in a village; and he of the village might be no +aristocrat in the town, at all; though, in the towns generally, indeed +always, when their population has the least of a town character, the +distinction ceases altogether, men quietly dropping into the traces of +civilized society, and talking or thinking very little about it. To see +the crying evils of American aristocracy, then, one must go into the +country. There, indeed, a plenty of cases exist. Thus, if there happen +to be a man whose property is assessed at twenty-five per cent. above +that of all his neighbours—who must have right on his side bright as a +cloudless sun to get a verdict, if obliged to appeal to the laws—who +pays fifty per cent. more for everything he buys, and receives fifty per +cent. less for everything he sells, than any other person near him—who +is surrounded by rancorous enemies, in the midst of a seeming state of +peace—who has everything he says and does perverted, and added to, and +lied about—who is traduced because his dinner-hour is later than that +of "other folks"—who don't stoop, but is straight in the back—who +presumes to doubt that this country in general, and his own township in +particular, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>is the focus of civilization—who hesitates about signing +his name to any flagrant instance of ignorance, bad taste, or worse +morals, that his neighbours may get up in the shape of a petition, +remonstrance, or resolution—depend on it that man is a prodigious +aristocrat, and one who, for his many offences and manner of lording it +over mankind, deserves to be banished. I ask the reader's pardon for so +abruptly breaking in upon Joshua's speech, but such very different +notions exist about aristocrats, in different parts of the world, that +some such explanation was necessary in order to prevent mistakes. I have +forgotten one mark of the tribe that is, perhaps, more material than all +the rest, which must not be omitted, and is this:—If he happen to be a +man who prefers his own pursuits to public life, and is regardless of +"popularity," he is just guilty of the unpardonable sin. The "people" +will forgive anything sooner than this; though there are "folks" who +fancy it as infallible a sign of an aristocrat not to chew tobacco. But, +unless I return to Joshua, the reader will complain that I cause him to +stand still.</p> + +<p>"No, no," continued Mr. Brigham; "anything but an aristocrat for me. I +hate the very name of the sarpents, and wish there warn't one in the +land. To-morrow we are to have a great anti-rent lecturer out——"</p> + +<p>"A vhat?"</p> + +<p>"A lecturer; one that lectur's, you understand, on anti-rentism, +temperance, aristocracy, government, or any other grievance that may +happen to be uppermost. Have you no lecturers in Jarmany?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, <ins title="Original reads 'Ja'.">ja</ins>; dere ist lecturers in das +universities—blenty of dem."</p> + +<p>"Well, we have 'em universal and partic'lar, as we happen to want 'em. +To-morrow we're to have one, they tell me, the smartest man that has +appeared in the cause. He goes it strong, and the Injins mean to back +him up, with all sorts of shrieks and whoopin's. Your hurdy-gurdy, +there, makes no sort of music to what our tribe can make when we fairly +open our throats."</p> + +<p>"Vell, dis ist queer! I vast told dat der Americans vast all +philosophers, und dat all dey didt vast didt in a t'oughtful and sober +manner; und now you dells me dey screams <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>deir arguments like Injins!"</p> + +<p>"That we do! I wish you'd been here in the hard-cider and log-cabin +times, and you'd a seen reason and philosophy, as you call it! I was a +whig that summer, though I went democrat last season. There's about five +hundred on us in this county that make the most of things, I can tell +you. What's the use of a vote, if a body gets nothin' by it? But +to-morrow you'll see the business done up, and matters detarmined for +this part of the world, in fine style. We know what we're about, and we +mean to carry things through quite to the <ins title="Original reads 'eend'.">end</ins>."</p> + +<p>"Und vhat do you means to do?"</p> + +<p>"Well, seein' that you seem to be of the right sort, and be so likely to +put on the Injin shirt, I'll tell you all about it. We mean to get good +and old farms at favourable rates. That's what we mean to do. The +people's up and in 'arnest, and what the people want they'll have! This +time they want farms, and farms they must have. What's the use of havin' +a government of the people, if the people's obliged to want farms? We've +begun ag'in' the Renssalaers, and the durables, and the quarter-sales, +and the chickens; but we don't, by no manner of means, think of eending +there. What should we get by that? A man wants to get suthin' when he +puts his foot into a matter of this natur'. We know who's our fri'nds +and who's our inimies! Could we have some men I could name for +governors, all would go clear enough the first winter. We would tax the +landlords out, and law 'em about in one way and another, so as to make +'em right down glad to sell the last rod of their lands, and that cheap, +too!"</p> + +<p>"Und who might own dese farms, all oop and down der coontry, dat I +sees?"</p> + +<p>"As the law now stands, Littlepage owns 'em; but if we alter the law +enough, he wun't. If we can only work the Legislature up to the stickin' +p'int, we shall get all we want. Would you believe it, the man wun't +sell a single farm, they say; but wishes to keep every one on 'em for +himself! Is that to be borne in a free country? They'd hardly stand that +in Jarmany, I'm thinkin'. A man that is such an aristocrat us to refuse +to sell anything, I despise."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>"Veil, dey stand to der laws in Charmany, and broperty is respected in +most coontries. You vouldn't do away wid der rights of broperty, if you +mights, I hopes?"</p> + +<p>"Not I. If a man owns a watch, or a horse, or a cow, I'm for having the +law such that a poor man can keep 'em, even ag'in execution. We're +getting the laws pretty straight on them p'ints, in old York, I can tell +you; a poor man, let him be ever so much in debt, can hold on to a +mighty smart lot of things, now-a-days, and laugh at the law right in +its face! I've known chaps that owed as much as $200, hold on to as good +as $300; though most of their debts was for the very things they held on +to!"</p> + +<p>What a picture is this, yet is it not true? A state of society in which +a man can contract a debt for a cow, or his household goods, and laugh +at his creditor when he seeks his pay, on the one hand; and on the +other, legislators and executives lending themselves to the chicanery of +another set, that are striving to deprive a particular class of its +rights of property, directly in the face of written contracts! This is +straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel, with a vengeance; and +all for votes! Does any one really expect a community can long exist, +favoured by a wise and justice-dispensing Providence, in which such +things are coolly attempted—ay, and coolly done? It is time that the +American began to see things as they are, and not as they are <i>said</i> to +be, in the speeches of governors, fourth of July orations, and +electioneering addresses. I write warmly, I know, but I feel warmly; and +I write like a man who sees that a most flagitious attempt to rob him is +tampered with by some in power, instead of being met, as the boasted +morals and intelligence of the country would require, by the stern +opposition of all in authority. Curses—deep, deep curses—ere long, +will fall on all who shrink from their duty in such a crisis. Even the +very men who succeed, if succeed they should, will, in the end, curse +the instruments of their own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>success.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>"A first-rate lecturer on feudal tenors," (Joshua was not in the least +particular in his language, but, in the substance, he knew what he was +talking about as well as some who are in high places,) "chickens and +days' works. We expect a great deal from this man, who is paid well for +coming."</p> + +<p>"Und who might bay him?—der State?"</p> + +<p>"No—we haven't got to that <i>yet</i>; though some think the State will +<i>have</i> to do it, in the long run. At present the tenants are taxed so +much on the dollar, accordin' to rent, or so much an acre, and that way +the needful money is raised. But one of our lecturers told us, a time +back, that it was money put out at use, and every man ought to keep an +account of what he give, for the time was not far off when he would get +it back, with double interest. 'It is paid now for a reform,' he said, +'and when the reform is obtained, no doubt the State would feel itself +so much indebted to us all, that it would tax the late landlords until +we got all our money back again, and more too."</p> + +<p>"Dat vould pe a bretty speculation; ja, dat might be most bootiful!"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; it wouldn't be a bad operation, living on the inimy, as a +body might say. But you'll not catch our folks livin' on themselves, I +can tell you. That they might do without societies. No, we've an object; +and when folks has an object, they commonly look sharp a'ter it. We +don't let on all we want and mean openly: and you'll find folks among us +that'll deny stoutly that anti-renters has anything to do with the Injin +system; but folks an't obliged to believe the moon is <i>all</i> cheese, +unless they've a mind to. Some among us maintain that no man ought to +hold more than a thousand acres of land, while others think natur' has +laid down the law on that p'int, and that a man shouldn't hold <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>more +than he has need on."</p> + +<p>"Und vich side dost you favour?—vich of dese obinions might not be +yours?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not partic'lar, so I get a good farm. I should like one with +comfortable buildin's on 't, and one that hasn't been worked to death. +For them two principles I think I'd stand out; but, whether there be +four hundred acres, or four hundred and fifty, or even five hundred, I'm +no way onaccomadatin'. I expect there'll be trouble in the eend, when we +come to the division, but I'm not the man to make it. I s'pose I shall +get my turn at the town offices, and other chances, and, givin' me my +rights in them, I'll take up with almost any farm young Littlepage has, +though I should rather have one in the main valley here, than one more +out of the way; still, I don't set myself down as at all partic'lar."</p> + +<p>"Und vhat do you expect to bay Mr. Littlepage for der farm, ast you +might choose?"</p> + +<p>"That depends on sarcumstances. The Injins mainly expect to come in +cheap. Some folks think it's best to pay suthin', as it might stand +ag'in' law better, should it come to that; while other some see no great +use in paying anything. Them that's willing to pay, mainly hold out for +paying the principal of the first rents."</p> + +<p>"I doesn't oonderstandt vhat you means py der brincipal of der first +rents."</p> + +<p>"It's plain enough, when you get the lay on 't. You see, these lands +were let pretty low, when they were first taken up from the forest, in +order to get folks to live here. That's the way we're obliged to do in +America, or people won't come. Many tenants paid no rent at all for six, +eight, or ten years; and a'ter that, until their three lives run out, as +it is called, they paid only sixpence an acre, or six dollars and a +quarter on the hundred acres. That was done, you see, to buy men to come +here at all; and you can see by the price that was paid, how hard a time +they must have had on 't. Now, some of our folks hold that the whull +time ought to be counted—that which was rent free, and that which was +not—in a way that I'll explain to you; for I'd have you to know I +haven't entered into this business without <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>looking to the right and the +wrong on't."</p> + +<p>"Exblain, exblain; I might hear you exblain, and you most exblain."</p> + +<p>"Why, you're in a hurry, friend Griezenbach, or whatever your name be. +But I'll explain, if you wish it. S'pose, now, a lease run thirty +years—ten on nothin', and twenty on sixpences. Well, a hundred +sixpences make fifty shillings, and twenty times fifty make a thousand, +as all the rent paid in thirty years. If you divide a thousand by +thirty, it leaves thirty-three shillings and a fraction"—Joshua +calculated like an American of his class, accurately and with +rapidity—"for the average rent of the thirty years. Calling +thirty-three shillings four dollars, and it's plaguy little more, we +have that for the interest, which, at 7 per cent., will make a principal +of rather more than fifty dollars, though not as much as sixty. As sich +matters ought to be done on liberal principles, they say that Littlepage +ought to take fifty dollars, and give a deed for the hundred acres."</p> + +<p>"Und vhat might be der rent of a hoondred acres now?—he might get more +dan sixpence to-day?"</p> + +<p>"That he does. Most all of the farms are running out on second, and some +on third leases. Four shillings an acre is about the average of the +rents, accordin' to circumstances."</p> + +<p>"Den you dinks der landtlort ought to accept one year's rent for der +farms?"</p> + +<p>"I don't look on it in that light. He ought to take fifty dollars for a +hundred acres. You forget the tenants have paid for their farms, over +and over again, in rent. They <i>feel</i> as if they have paid enough, and +that it was time to stop."</p> + +<p>Extraordinary as this reasoning may seem in most men's minds, I have +since found it is a very favourite sentiment among anti-renters. "Are we +to go on, and pay rent for ever?" they ask, with logical and virtuous +indignation!</p> + +<p>"Und vhat may be der aferage value of a hoondred acre farm, in dis part +of de coontry?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"From two thousand five hundred to three thousand dollars. It would be +more, but tenants won't put good buildings on farms, you know, seein' +that they don't own them. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>I heard one of our leaders lamentin' that he +didn't foresee what times was comin' to, when he repaired his old house, +or he would have built a new one. But a man can't foretell everything. I +dare say many has the same feelin's, now."</p> + +<p>"Den you dinks Herr Littlebage ought to accept $50 for vhat is worth +$2500? Das seem ferry little."</p> + +<p>"You forget the back rent that has been paid, and the work the tenant +has done. What would the farm be good for without the work that has been +done on it?"</p> + +<p>"Ja, ja—I oonderstandst; and vhat vould der work be goot for vidout der +landt on vhich it vast done?"</p> + +<p>This was rather an incautious question to put to a man as distrustful +and rogueish as Joshua Brigham. The fellow cast a lowering and +distrustful look at me; but ere there was time to answer, Miller, of +whom he stood in healthful awe, called him away to look after the cows.</p> + +<p>Here, then, I had enjoyed an opportunity of hearing the opinions of one +of my own hirelings on the interesting subject of my right to my own +estate. I have since ascertained that, while these sentiments are +sedulously kept out of view in the proceedings of the government, which +deals with the whole matter as if the tenants were nothing but martyrs +to hard bargains, and the landlords their task-masters, of greater or +less lenity, they are extensively circulated in the "infected +districts," and are held to be very sound doctrines by a large number of +the "bone and sinew of the land." Of course the reasoning is varied a +little, to suit circumstances, and to make it meet the facts. But of +this school is a great deal, and a very great deal, of the reasoning +that circulates on the leased property; and, from what I have seen and +heard already, I make no doubt that there are <i>quasi</i> legislators among +us who, instead of holding the manly and only safe doctrine which ought +to be held on such a subject, and saying that these deluded men should +be taught better, are ready to cite the very fact that such notions do +exist as a reason for the necessity of making concessions, in order to +keep the peace at the cheapest rate. That profound principle of +legislation, which concedes the right in order to maintain quiet, is +admirably adapted to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>forming sinners; and, if carried out in favour of +all who may happen to covet their neighbour's goods, would, in a short +time, render this community the very paradise of knaves.</p> + +<p>As for Joshua Brigham, I saw no more of him that night; for he quitted +the farm on leave, just as it got to be dark. Where he went I do not +know; but the errand on which he left us could no longer be a secret to +me. As the family retired early, and we ourselves were a good deal +fatigued, everybody was in bed by nine o'clock, and, judging from +myself, soon asleep. Previously to saying "good night," however, Miller +told us of the meeting of the next day, and of his intention to attend +it.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> +<p> +"He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!"<br /> +"Silence."</p> +<p class="poet"><i>King Henry VI.</i> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">After</span> an early breakfast, next morning, the signs of preparation for a +start became very apparent in the family. Not only Miller, but his wife +and daughter, intended to go down to "Little Neest," as the hamlet was +almost invariably called in that fragment of the universe, in +contradistinction to the "Neest" proper. I found afterwards that this +very circumstance was cited against me in the controversy, it being +thought <i>lèse majesté</i> for a private residence to monopolize the major +of the proposition, while a hamlet had to put up with the minor; the +latter, moreover, including two taverns, which are exclusively the +property of the public, there being exclusiveness with the public as +well as with aristocrats—more especially in all things that pertain to +power or profit. As to the two last, even Joshua Brigham was much more +of an aristocrat than I was myself. It must be admitted that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>the +Americans are a humane population, for they are the only people who deem +that bankruptcy gives a claim to public favour.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>As respects the two "Nests," had not so much more serious matter been in +agitation, the precedence of the names might actually have been taken up +as a question of moment. I have heard of a lawsuit in France, touching a +name that has been illustrious in that country for a period so long as +to extend beyond the reach of man—as, indeed, was apparent by the +matter in controversy—and which name has obtained for itself a high +place in the annals of even our own republic. I allude to the House of +Grasse, which was seated, prior to the revolution, and may be still, at +a place called Grasse, in the southern part of the kingdom, the town +being almost as famous for the manufacture of pleasant things as the +family for its exploits in arms. About a century since, the Marquis de +Grasse is said to have had a <i>procés</i> with his neighbours of the place, +to establish the fact whether the family gave its name to the town, or +the town gave its name to the family. The Marquis prevailed in the +struggle, but greatly impaired his fortune in achieving that new +victory. As my house, or its predecessor, was certainly erected and +named while the site of Little Nest was still in the virgin forest, one +would think its claims to the priority of possession beyond dispute; but +such might not prove to be the case on a trial. There are two histories +among us, as relates to both public and private things; the one being as +nearly true as is usual, while the other is invariably the fruits of the +human imagination. Everything depending so much on majorities, that soon +gets to be the most authentic tradition which has the most believers; +for, under the system of numbers, little regard is paid to superior +advantages, knowledge, or investigation, all depending on 3 as against +2, which makes 1 majority. I find a great deal of this spurious history +is getting to be mixed up with the anti-rent controversy, facts coming +out daily that long have lain dormant in the graves of the past. These +facts <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>affect the whole structure of the historical picture of the State +and colony, leaving touches of black where the pencil had originally put +in white, and placing the high lights where the shadows have before +always been understood to be. In a word, men are telling the stories as +best agrees with their present views, and not at all as they agree with +fact.</p> + +<p>It was the intention of Tom Miller to give my uncle Ro and me a dearborn +to ourselves, while he drove his wife, Kitty and a <i>help</i>, as far as the +"Little Neest," in a two-horse vehicle that was better adapted to such a +freight. Thus disposed of, then, we all left the place in company, just +as the clock in the farm-house entry struck nine. I drove our horse +myself; and <i>mine</i> he was, in fact, every hoof, vehicle and farming +utensil on the Nest farm, being as much my property, under the <i>old</i> +laws, as the hat on my head. It is true, the Millers had now been fifty +years or more, nay, nearly sixty, in possession, and by the <i>new</i> mode +of construction it is possible some may fancy that we had paid them +wages so long for working the land, and for using the cattle and +utensils, that the title, in a moral sense, had passed out of me, in +order to pass into Tom Miller. If use begets a right, why not to a wagon +and horse, as well as to a farm.</p> + +<p>As we left the place I gazed wistfully towards the Nest House, in the +hope of seeing the form of some one that I loved, at a window, on the +lawn, or in the piazza. Not a soul appeared, however, and we trotted +down the road a short distance in the rear of the other wagon, +conversing on such things as came uppermost in our minds. The distance +we had to go was about four miles, and the hour named for the +commencement of the lecture, which was to be the great affair of the +day, had been named at eleven. This caused us to be in no hurry, and I +rather preferred to coincide with the animal I drove, and move very +slowly, than hurry on, and arrive an hour or two sooner than was +required. In consequence of this feeling on our part, Miller and his +family were soon out of sight, it being their wish to obtain as much of +the marvels of the day as was possible.</p> + +<p>The road, of course, was perfectly well known to my uncle and myself; +but, had it not been, there was no danger of missing our way, as we had +only to follow the gene<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>ral direction of the broad valley through which +it ran. Then Miller had considerately told us that we must pass two +churches, or a church and a "meetin'-'us'," the spires of both of which +were visible most of the way, answering for beacons. Referring to this +term of "meeting-house," does it not furnish conclusive evidence, of +itself, of the inconsistent folly of that wisest of all earthly beings, +man? It was adopted in contradistinction from, and in direct opposition +to, the supposed idolatrous association connected with the use of the +word "church," at a time when certain sects would feel offended at +hearing their places of worship thus styled; whereas, at the present +day, those very sectarians are a little disposed to resent this +exclusive appropriation of the proscribed word by the sects who have +always adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight degree, +"arisdogradic!" I am a little afraid that your out-and-outers in +politics, religion, love of liberty, and other human excellences, are +somewhat apt to make these circuits in their eccentric orbits, and to +come out somewhere quite near the places from which they started.</p> + +<p>The road between the Nest House and Little Nest, the hamlet, is rural, +and quite as agreeable as is usually found in a part of the country that +is without water-views or mountain scenery. Our New York landscapes are +rarely, nay, never grand, as compared with the noble views one finds in +Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and the finer parts of Europe; but we have a +vast many that want nothing but a finish to their artificial accessories +to render them singularly agreeable. Such is the case with the principal +vale of Ravensnest, which, at the very moment we were driving through +it, struck my uncle and myself as presenting a picture of rural +abundance, mingled with rural comfort, that one seldom sees in the old +world, where the absence of enclosures, and the concentration of the +dwellings in villages, leave the fields naked and with a desolate +appearance, in spite of their high tillage and crops.</p> + +<p>"This is an estate worth contending for, now," said my uncle, as we +trotted slowly on, "although it has not hitherto been very productive to +its owner. The first half century of an American property of this sort +rarely brings much to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>its proprietor beyond trouble and vexation."</p> + +<p>"And after that time the tenant is to have it, pretty much at his own +price, as a reward for his own labour!"</p> + +<p>"What evidences are to be found, wherever the eye rests, of the +selfishness of man, and his unfitness to be left to the unlimited +control of his own affairs! In England they are quarrelling with the +landlords, who <i>do</i> compose a real aristocracy, and make the laws, about +the manner in which they protect themselves and the products of their +estates; while here the true owner of the soil is struggling against the +power of numbers, with the people, who are the only aristocrats we +possess, in order to maintain his right of property in the simplest and +most naked form! A common vice is at the bottom of both wrongs, and that +is the vice of selfishness."</p> + +<p>"But how are abuses like those of which we complain here—abuses of the +most formidable character of any that can exist, since the oppressors +are so many, and so totally irresponsible by their numbers—to be +avoided, if you give the people the right of self-government?"</p> + +<p>"God help the nation where self-government, in its literal sense, +exists, Hugh! The term is conventional, and, properly viewed, means a +government in which the source of authority is the body of the nation, +and does not come from any other sovereign. When a people that has been +properly educated by experience calmly selects its agents, and coolly +sets to work to adopt a set of principles to form its fundamental law or +constitution, the machine is on the right track, and will work well +enough so long as it is kept there; but this running off, and altering +the fundamental principles every time a political faction has need of +recruits, is introducing tyranny in its worst form—a tyranny that is +just as dangerous to real liberty as hypocrisy is to religion!"</p> + +<p>We were now approaching St. Andrew's church and the rectory, with its +glebe, the latter lying contiguous to the church-yard, or, as it is an +Americanism to say, the "graveyard." There had been an evident +improvement around the rectory since I had last seen it. Shrubbery had +been planted, care was taken of the fences, the garden was neatly and +well worked, the fields looked smooth, and everything <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>denoted that it +was "new lords and new laws." The last incumbent had been a whining, +complaining, narrow-minded, selfish and lazy priest, the least estimable +of all human characters, short of the commission of the actual and +higher crimes; but his successor had the reputation of being a devout +and real Christian—one who took delight in the duties of his holy +office, and who served God because he loved him. I am fully aware how +laborious is the life of a country priest, and how contracted and mean +is the pittance he in common receives, and how much more he merits than +he gets, if his reward were to be graduated by things here. But this +picture, like every other, has its different sides, and occasionally men +do certainly enter the church from motives as little as possible +connected with those that ought to influence them.</p> + +<p>"There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," observed my uncle, as +we passed the rectory. "Can it be that he intends visiting the village +also, on an occasion like this?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Patt has given of him be +true," I answered. "She tells me he has been active in endeavouring to +put down the covetous spirit that is getting uppermost in the town, and +has even preached boldly, though generally, against the principles +involved in the question. The other man, they say, goes for popularity, +and preaches and prays with the anti-renters."</p> + +<p>No more was said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit of wood, a +part of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a thousand acres in +extent, stretched down from the hills along some broken and otherwise +little valuable land, and had been reserved from the axe to meet the +wants of some future day. It was mine, therefore, in the fullest sense +of the word; and, singular as it may seem, one of the grounds of +accusation brought against me and my predecessors was that we had +<i>declined leasing it</i>! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused for having +leased our land, and, on the other, for not having leased it. The fact +is, we, in common with other extensive landlords, are expected to use +our property as much as possible for the particular benefit of other +people, while those other people are expected to use <i>their</i> property as +much as possible for their own particular <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>benefit.</p> + +<p>There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out again in the +open country, at about a mile and a half's distance from the hamlet. On +our left this little forest did not extend more than a hundred rods, +terminating at the edge of the rivulet—or <i>creek</i>, as the stream is +erroneously called, and for no visible reason but the fact that it was +only a hundred feet wide—which swept close under the broken ground +mentioned at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretched +away for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and confounded +with other portions of wood that had been reserved for the farms on +which they grew. As is very usual in America, in cases where roads pass +through a forest, a second growth had shot up on each side of this +highway, which was fringed for the whole distance with large bushes of +pine, hemlock, chestnut and maple. In some places these bushes almost +touched the track, while in others a large space was given. We were +winding our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its centre, at +a point where no house was visible—and no house, indeed, stood within +half a mile of us—with the view in front and in rear limited to some +six or eight rods in each direction by the young trees, when our ears +were startled by a low, shrill, banditti-like whistle. I must confess +that my feelings were anything but comfortable at that interruption, for +I remembered the conversation of the previous night. I thought by the +sudden jump of my uncle, and the manner he instinctively felt where he +ought to have had a pistol, to meet such a crisis, that he believed +himself already in the hands of the Philistines.</p> + +<p>A half minute sufficed to tell us the truth. I had hardly stopped the +horse, in order to look around me, when a line of men, all armed and +disguised, issued in single file from the bushes, and drew up in the +road, at right angles to its course. There were six of these "Injins," +as they are called, and, indeed, call themselves, each carrying a rifle, +horn and pouch, and otherwise equipped for the field. The disguises were +very simple, consisting of a sort of loose calico hunting-shirt and +trowsers that completely concealed the person. The head was covered by a +species of hood, or mask, equally of calico, that was fitted with holes +for the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>eyes, nose and mouth, and which completed the disguise. There +were no means of recognizing a man thus equipped, unless it might be by +the stature, in cases in which the party was either unusually tall or +unusually short. A middle-sized man was perfectly safe from recognition, +so long as he did not speak and could keep his equipments. Those who did +speak altered their voices, as we soon found, using a jargon that was +intended to imitate the imperfect English of the native owners of the +soil. Although neither of us had ever seen one of the gang before, we +knew these disturbers of the public peace to be what in truth they were, +the instant our eyes fell on them. One could not well be mistaken, +indeed, under the circumstances in which we were placed; but the +tomahawks that one or two carried, the manner of their march, and other +pieces of mummery that they exhibited, would have told us the fact, had +we met them even in another place.</p> + +<p>My first impulse was to turn the wagon, and to endeavour to lash the +lazy beast I drove into a run. Fortunately, before the attempt was made, +I turned my head to see if there was room for such an exploit, and saw +six others of these "Injins" drawn across the road behind us. It was now +so obviously the wisest course to put the best face on the matter, that +we walked the horse boldly up to the party in front, until he was +stopped by one of the gang taking him by the bridle.</p> + +<p>"Sago, sago," cried one who seemed to act as a chief, and whom I shall +thus designate, speaking in his natural voice, though affecting an +Indian pronunciation. "How do, how do?—where come from, eh?—where go, +eh?—What you say, too—up rent or down rent, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Ve ist two Charmans," returned uncle Ro, in his most desperate dialect, +the absurdity of men who spoke the same language resorting to such +similar means of deception tempting me sorely to laugh in the fellows' +faces; "Ve ist two Charmans dat ist goin' to hear a man's sbeak about +bayin' rent, und to sell vatches. Might you buy a vatch, goot +shentlemans."</p> + +<p>Although the fellows doubtless knew who we were, so far as our assumed +characters went, and had probably been advised of our approach, this +bait took, and there was a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>general jumping up and down, and a common +pow-wowing among them, indicative of the pleasure such a proposal gave. +In a minute the whole party were around us, with some eight or ten more +who appeared from the nearest bushes. We were helped out of the wagon +with a gentle violence that denoted their impatience. As a matter of +course, I expected that all the trinkets and watches, which were of +little value, fortunately, would immediately disappear; for who could +doubt that men engaged in attempting to rob on so large a scale as these +fellows were engaged in, would hesitate about doing a job on one a +little more diminutive. I was mistaken, however; some sort of +imperceptible discipline keeping those who were thus disposed, of whom +there must have been some in such a party, in temporary order. The horse +was left standing in the middle of the highway, right glad to take his +rest, while we were shown the trunk of a fallen tree, near by, on which +to place our box of wares. A dozen watches were presently in the hands +of as many of these seeming savages, who manifested a good deal of +admiration at their shining appearance. While this scene, which was half +mummery and half nature, was in the course of enactment, the chief +beckoned me to a seat on the further end of the tree, and, attended by +one or two of his companions, he began to question me as follows:</p> + +<p>"Mind tell truth," he said, making no very expert actor in the way of +imitation. "Dis 'Streak o' Lightning,'" laying his hand on his own +breast, that I might not misconceive the person of the warrior who bore +so eminent a title; "no good lie to him—know ebbery t'ing afore he ask, +only ask for fun—what do here, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Ve coomes to see der Injins and der beoples at der village, dat ve +might sell our vatches."</p> + +<p>"Dat all; sartain?—can call 'down rent,' eh?"</p> + +<p>"Dat ist ferry easy; 'down rent, eh?'"</p> + +<p>"Sartain Jarman, eh?—you no spy?—you no sent here by gubbernor, +eh?—landlord no pay you, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Vhat might I spy? Dere ist nothin' do spy, but mans vid calico faces. +Vhy been you afraid of der governor?—I dinks der governors be ferry +goot frients of der anti-rents."</p> + +<p>"Not when we act this way. Send horse, send foot a'ter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>us, den. T'ink +good friend, too, when he dare."</p> + +<p>"He be d——d!" bawled out one of the tribe, in as good, homely, rustic +English as ever came out of the mouth of a clown. "If he's our friend, +why did he send the artillery and horse down to Hudson?—and why has he +had Big Thunder up afore his infarnal courts? He be d——d!"</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking this outpouring of the feelings; and so "Streak +o' Lightning" seemed to think too, for he whispered one of the tribe, +who took the plain-speaking Injin by the arm and led him away, grumbling +and growling, as the thunder mutters in the horizon after the storm has +passed on. For myself, I made several profitable reflections concerning +the inevitable fate of those who attempt to "serve God and Mammon." This +anti-rentism is a question in which, so far as a governor is concerned, +there is but one course to pursue, and that is to enforce the laws by +suppressing violence, and leaving the parties to the covenants of leases +to settle their differences in the courts, like the parties to any other +contracts. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Many a +landlord has made a hard bargain for himself; and I happen to know of +one case in particular, in which a family has long been, and is still, +kept out of the enjoyment of a very valuable estate, as to any benefit +of importance, purely by the circumstance that a weak-minded possessor +of the property fancied he was securing souls for paradise by letting +his farms on leases for ninety-nine years, at nominal rents, with a +covenant that the tenant should go twice to a particular church! Now, +nothing is plainer than that it is a greater hardship to the citizen who +is the owner of many farms so situated, than to the citizen who is the +lessee of only one with a hard covenant; and, on general principles, the +landlord in question would be most entitled to relief, since one man who +suffers a good deal is more an object of true commiseration than many +who suffer each a little. What would a governor be apt to say if my +landlord should go with his complaints to the foot of the executive +chair, and tell him that the very covenant which had led his predecessor +into the mistake of thus wasting his means was openly disregarded; that +farms worth many thousands of dollars had now been enjoyed by the +tenants for near a century for mere nominal rents, and that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>the owner +of the land in fee had occasion for his property, &c. &c. Would the +governor recommend legislative action in that case? Would the <i>length</i> +of <i>such</i> leases induce him to recommend that no lease should exceed +five years in duration? Would the landlords who should get up a corps of +Injins to worry their tenants into an abandonment of their farms be the +objects of commiseration?—and would the law slumber for years over +<i>their</i> rebellions and depredations, until two or three murders aroused +public indignation? Let them answer that know. As a landlord, I should +be sorry to incur the ridicule that would attend even a public complaint +of the hardships of such a case. A common sneer would send me to the +courts for my remedy, if I had one, and the whole difference between the +"if and ifs" of the two cases would be that a landlord gives but one +vote, while his tenants may be legion.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>"He be d——d," muttered the plain-speaking Injin, as long as I could +hear him. As soon as released from his presence, Streak of Lightning +continued his examination, though a little vexed at the undramatical +character of the interruption.</p> + +<p>"Sartain no spy, eh?—sartain gubbernor no send him, eh?—sartain come +to sell watch, eh?"</p> + +<p>"I coomes, as I tell ye, to see if vatches might be solt, und not for +der <ins title="Original reads 'gobbernor'.">gubbernor</ins>; I neffer might see der mans."</p> + +<p>As all this was true, my conscience felt pretty easy on the score of +whatever there might be equivocal about it.</p> + +<p>"What folks think of Injin down below, eh?—what folks say of anti-rent, +eh?—hear him talk about much?"</p> + +<p>"Vell, soome does dink anti-rent ist goot, und soome does dink anti-rent +ist bad. Dey dinks as dey wishes."</p> + +<p>Here a low whistle came down the road, or rather down the bushes, when +every Injin started up; each man very fairly gave back the watch he was +examining, and in less than half a minute we were alone on the log. This +movement was so sudden that it left us in a little doubt as to the +proper mode of proceeding. My uncle, however, coolly set <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>about +replacing his treasures in their box, while I went to the horse, which +had shaken off his head-stall, and was quietly grazing along the +road-side. A minute or two might have been thus occupied, when the +trotting of a horse and the sound of wheels announced the near approach +of one of those vehicles which have got to be almost national; a +dearborn, or a one-horse wagon. As it came out from behind a screen of +bushes formed by a curvature in the road, I saw that it contained the +Rev. Mr. Warren and his sweet daughter.</p> + +<p>The road being narrow, and our vehicle in its centre, it was not +possible for the newcomers to proceed until we got out of the way, and +the divine pulled up as soon as he reached the spot where we stood.</p> + +<p>"Good morning, <i>gentlemen</i>," said Mr. Warren, cordially, and using a word +that, in <i>his</i> mouth, I felt meant all it expressed. "Good morning, +<i>gentlemen</i>. Are you playing Handel to the wood-nymphs, or reciting +eclogues?"</p> + +<p>"Neider, neider, Herr Pastor; we meet wid coostomers here, und dey has +joost left us," answered uncle Ro, who certainly enacted his part with +perfect <i>àplomb</i>, and the most admirable mimicry as to manner. "<i>Guten +tag, guten tag</i>. Might der Herr Pastor been going to der village?"</p> + +<p>"We are. I understand there is to be a meeting there of the misguided +men called anti-renters, and that several of my parishioners are likely +to be present. On such an occasion I conceive it to be my duty to go +among my own particular people, and whisper a word of advice. Nothing +can be farther from my notions of propriety than for a clergyman to be +mingling and mixing himself up with political concerns in general, but +this is a matter that touches morality, and the minister of God is +neglectful of his duty who keeps aloof when a word of admonition might +aid in preventing some wavering brother from the commission of a +grievous sin. This last consideration has brought me out to a scene I +could otherwise most heartily avoid."</p> + +<p>This might be well enough, I said to myself, but what has your daughter +to do in such a scene? Is the mind of Mary Warren, then, after all, no +better than vulgar minds in general?—and can she find a pleasure in the +excitement of lectures of this cast, and in that of public meetings? No +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>surer test can be found of cultivation, than the manner in which it +almost intuitively shrinks from communion unnecessarily with tastes and +principles below its own level; yet here was the girl with whom I was +already half in love—and that was saying as little as could be said, +too—actually going down to the "Little Neest" to hear an itinerant +lecturer on political economy utter his crudities, and to see and be +seen! I was grievously disappointed, and would at the moment have +cheerfully yielded the best farm on my estate to have had the thing +otherwise. My uncle must have had some similar notion, by the remark he +made.</p> + +<p>"Und doost das <i>jung frau</i> go to see der Injins, too; to bersuade 'em +dey ist fery vicked?"</p> + +<p>Mary's face had been a little pale for her, I thought, as the wagon drew +up; but it immediately became scarlet. She even suffered her head to +droop a little, and then I perceived that she cast an anxious and tender +glance at her father. I cannot say whether this look were or were not +intended for a silent appeal, unconsciously made; but the father, +without even seeing it, acted as if he fancied it might be.</p> + +<p>"No, no," he said, hurriedly; "this dear girl is doing violence to all +her feelings but one, in venturing to such a place. Her filial piety has +proved stronger than her fears and her tastes, and when she found that +go I would, no argument of mine could persuade her to remain at home. I +hope she will not repent it."</p> + +<p>The colour did not quit Mary's face, but she looked grateful at finding +her true motives appreciated; and she even smiled, though she said +nothing. My own feelings underwent another sudden revulsion. There was +no want of those tastes and inclinations that can alone render a young +woman attractive to any man of sentiment, but there was high moral +feeling and natural affection enough to overcome them in a case in which +she thought duty demanded the sacrifice! It was very little probable +that anything would or could occur that day to render the presence of +Mary Warren in the least necessary or useful; but it was very pleasant +to me and very lovely in her to think otherwise, under the strong +impulses of her filial attachment.</p> + +<p>Another idea, however, and one far less pleasant, suggested itself to +the minds of my uncle and myself, and almost <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>at the same instant; it +was this: the conversation was carried on in a high key, or loud enough +to be heard at some little distance, the horse and part of the wagon +interposing between the speakers; and there was the physical certainty +that some of those whom we knew to be close at hand, in the bushes, must +hear all that was said, and might take serious offence at it. Under this +apprehension, therefore, my uncle directed me to remove our own vehicle +as fast as possible, in order that the clergyman might pass. Mr. Warren, +however, was in no hurry to do this, for he was utterly ignorant of the +audience he had, and entertained that feeling towards us that men of +liberal acquirements are apt to feel when they see others of similar +educations reduced by fortune below their proper level. He was +consequently desirous of manifesting his sympathy with us, and would not +proceed, even after I had opened the way for him.</p> + +<p>"It is a painful thing," continued Mr. Warren, "to find men mistaking +their own cupidity for the workings of a love of liberty. To me nothing +is more palpable than that this anti-rent movement is covetousness +incited by the father of evil; yet you will find men among us who fancy +they are aiding the cause of free institutions by joining in it, when, +in truth, they are doing all they can to bring them into discredit, and +to insure their certain downfall, in the end."</p> + +<p>This was sufficiently awkward; for, by going near enough to give a +warning in a low voice, and have that warning followed by a change in +the discourse, we should be betraying ourselves, and might fall into +serious danger. At the very moment the clergyman was thus speaking I saw +the masked head of Streak o' Lightning appearing through an opening in +some small pines that grew a little in the rear of the wagon, a position +that enabled him to hear every syllable that was uttered. I was afraid +to act myself, and trusted to the greater experience of my uncle. +Whether the last also saw the pretended chief was more than I knew, but +he decided to let the conversation go on, rather leaning to the +anti-rent side of the question, as the course that could do no serious +evil, while it might secure our own safety. It is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>scarcely necessary to +say all these considerations glanced through our minds so swiftly as to +cause no very awkward or suspicious pause in the discourse.</p> + +<p>"B'rhaps dey doosn't like to bay rent?" put in my uncle, with a +roughness of manner that was in accordance with the roughness of the +sentiment. "Beoples might radder haf deir landts for nuttin', dan bay +rents for dem."</p> + +<p>"In that case, then, let them go and buy lands for themselves; if they +do not wish to pay rent, why did they agree to pay rent?"</p> + +<p>"May be dey changes deir minds. Vhat is goot to-day doosn't always seem +goot to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"That may be true; but we have no right to make others suffer for our +own fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be better for the whole +community that so large a tract of land as that included in the Manor of +Rensselaerwyck, for instance, and lying as it does in the very heart of +the State, should be altogether in the hands of the occupants, than have +it subject to the divided interest that actually exists; but it does not +follow that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent means. +In either of the latter cases the injury done the community would be +greater than if the present tenures were to exist a thousand years. I +dare say much the larger portion of those farms can be bought off at a +moderate advance on their actual money-value; and that is the way to get +rid of the difficulty; not by bullying owners out of their property. If +the State finds a political consideration of so much importance for +getting rid of the tenures, let the State tax itself to do so, and make +a liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants will offer, and I'll +answer for it the landlords will not stand so much in their own way as +to decline good prices."</p> + +<p>"But, maybes dey won't sell all der landts; dey may wants to keep some +of dem."</p> + +<p>"They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right to juggle or +legislate them out of their property. The Legislature of this State has +quite lately been exhibiting one of the most pitiable sights the world +has seen in my day. It has been struggling for months to find a way to +get round <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>the positive provisions of laws and constitutions, in order +to make a sacrifice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of the +many."</p> + +<p>"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dime—haw, haw, haw!" exclaimed my +uncle.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. The coarseness of manner +that my uncle had assumed effected its object with the Injins, but it +almost destroyed the divine's previous good opinion of our characters, +and quite upset his notions of our refinement and principles. There was +no time for explanations, however; for, just as my uncle's broad and +well-acted "haw, haw, haw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in the +bushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and leaping +out from their cover, filling the road in all directions, immediately +around the wagons.</p> + +<p>Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, and I saw +her arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of involuntary +movement, as if she would protect him at all hazards. Then she seemed to +rally, and from that instant her character assumed an energy, an +earnestness, a spirit and an intrepidity that I had least expected in +one so mild in aspect, and so really sweet in disposition.</p> + +<p>All this was unnoticed by the Injins. They had their impulses, too, and +the first thing they did was to assist Mr. Warren and his daughter to +alight from their wagon. This was done, not without decorum of manner, +and certainly not without some regard to the holy office of one of the +parties, and to the sex of the other. Nevertheless, it was done neatly +and expeditiously, leaving us all, Mr. Warren and Mary, my uncle and +myself, with a cluster of some fifty Injins around us, standing in the +centre of the highway.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem"> + +<tr><td> + +<p> +"No toil in despair,<br /> +<span class="pi2">No tyrant, no slave,<br /></span> +No bread-tax is there,<br /> +<span class="pi2">With a maw like the grave."</span> +</p> + +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">All</span> this was so suddenly done as scarce to leave us time to think. There +was one instant, notwithstanding, while two Injins were assisting Mary +Warren to jump from the wagon, when my incognito was in great danger. +Perceiving that the young lady was treated with no particular +disrespect, I so far overcame the feeling as to remain quiet, though I +silently changed my position sufficiently to get near her elbow, where I +could and did whisper a word or two of encouragement. But Mary thought +only of her father, and had no fears for herself. She saw none but him, +trembled only for him, dreaded and hoped for him alone.</p> + +<p>As for Mr. Warren himself, he betrayed no discomposure. Had he been +about to enter the desk, his manner could not have been more calm. He +gazed around him, to ascertain if it were possible to recognise any of +his captors, but suddenly turned his head away, as if struck with the +expediency of not learning their names, even though it had been +possible. He might be put on the stand as a witness against some +misguided neighbour, did he know his person. All this was so apparent in +his benevolent countenance, that I think it struck some among the +Injins, and still believe it may have had a little influence on their +treatment of him. A pot of tar and a bag of feathers had been brought +into the road when the gang poured out of the bushes, but whether this +were merely accidental, or it had originally been intended to use them +on Mr. Warren, I cannot say. The offensive materials soon and silently +disappeared, and with them every sign of any intention to offer personal +injury.</p> + +<p>"What have I done that I am thus arrested in the public highway, by men +armed and disguised, contrary to law?" <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>demanded the divine, as soon as +the general pause which succeeded the first movement invited him to +speak. "This is a rash and illegal step, that may yet bring repentance."</p> + +<p>"No preachee now," answered Streak o' Lightning; "preachee for meetin', +no good for road."</p> + +<p>Mr. Warren afterwards admitted to me that he was much relieved by this +reply, the substitution of the word "meeting" for "church" giving him +the grateful assurance that <i>this</i> individual, at least, was not one of +his own people.</p> + +<p>"Admonition and remonstrance may always be useful when crime is +meditated. You are now committing a felony, for which the State's prison +is the punishment prescribed by the laws of the land, and the duties of +my holy office direct me to warn you of the consequences. The earth +itself is but one of God's temples, and his ministers need never +hesitate to proclaim his laws on any part of it."</p> + +<p>It was evident that the calm severity of the divine, aided, no doubt, by +his known character, produced an impression on the gang, for the two who +had still hold of his arms released them, and a little circle was now +formed, in the centre of which he stood.</p> + +<p>"If you will enlarge this circle, my friends," continued Mr. Warren, +"and give room, I will address you here, where we stand, and let you +know my reasons why I think your conduct ought to be——"</p> + +<p>"No, no—no preachee here," suddenly interrupted Streak o' Lightning; +"go to village, go to meetin'-'us'—preachee there.—Two preacher, +den.—Bring wagon and put him in. March, march; path open."</p> + +<p>Although this was but an "Injin" imitation of "Indian" sententiousness, +and somewhat of a caricature, everybody understood well enough what was +meant. Mr. Warren offered no resistance, but suffered himself to be +placed in Miller's wagon, with my uncle at his side, without opposition. +Then it was, however, that he bethought himself of his daughter, though +his daughter had never ceased to think of him. I had some little +difficulty in keeping her from rushing into the crowd, and clinging to +his side. Mr. Warren rose, and, giving her an encouraging smile, bade +her be calm, told her he had nothing to fear, and requested that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>she +would enter his own wagon again and return home, promising to rejoin her +as soon as his duties at the village were discharged.</p> + +<p>"Here is no one to drive the horse, my child, but our young German +acquaintance. The distance is very short, and if he will thus oblige me, +he can come down to the village with the wagon, as soon as he has seen +you safe at our own door."</p> + +<p>Mary Warren was accustomed to defer to her father's opinions, and she so +far submitted, now, as to permit me to assist her into the wagon, and to +place myself at her side, whip in hand, proud of and pleased with the +precious charge thus committed to my care. These arrangements made, the +Injins commenced their march, about half of them preceding, and the +remainder following the wagon that contained their prisoner. Four, +however, walked on each side of the vehicle, thus preventing the +possibility of escape. No noise was made, and little was said; the +orders being given by signs and signals, rather than by words.</p> + +<p>Our wagon continued stationary until the party had got at least a +hundred yards from us, no one giving any heed to our movements. I had +waited thus long for the double purpose of noting the manner of the +proceedings among the Injins, and to obtain room to turn at a spot in +the road a short distance in advance of us, and which was wider than +common. To this spot I now walked the horse, and was in the act of +turning the animal's head in the required direction, when I saw Mary +Warren's little gloved hand laid hurriedly on the reins. She endeavoured +to keep the head of the horse in the road.</p> + +<p>"No, no," said the charming girl, speaking earnestly, as if she would +not be denied, "we will follow my father to the village. I may not, must +not, <i>cannot</i> quit him!"</p> + +<p>The time and place were every way propitious, and I determined to let +Mary Warren know who I was. By doing it I might give her confidence in +me at a moment when she was in distress, and encourage her with the hope +that I might also befriend her father. At any rate, I was determined to +pass for an itinerant Dutch music-grinder with <i>her</i> no longer.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>"Miss Mary, Miss Warren," I commenced, cautiously, and with quite as +much hesitation and diffidence of feeling as of manner, "I am not what I +seem—that is, I am no music-grinder."</p> + +<p>The start, the look, and the alarm of my companion, were all eloquent +and natural. Her hand was still on the reins, and she now drew on them +so hard as actually to stop the horse. I thought she intended to jump +out of the vehicle, as a place no longer fit for her.</p> + +<p>"Be not alarmed, Miss Warren," I said, eagerly, and, I trust, so +earnestly as to inspire a little confidence. "You will not think the +worse of me at finding I am your countryman instead of a foreigner, and +a gentleman instead of a music-grinder. I shall do all you ask, and will +protect you with my life."</p> + +<p>"This is so extraordinary!—so unusual!—The whole country appears +unsettled! Pray, sir, if you are not the person whom you have +represented yourself to be, who are you?"</p> + +<p>"One who admires your filial love and courage—who honours you for them +both. I am the brother of your friend, Martha—I am Hugh Littlepage!"</p> + +<p>The little hand now abandoned the reins, and the dear girl turned half +round on the cushion of the seat, gazing at me in mute astonishment! I +had been cursing in my heart the lank locks of the miserable wig I was +compelled to wear, ever since I had met with Mary Warren, as +unnecessarily deforming and ugly, for one might have as well a becoming +as a horridly unbecoming disguise. Off went my cap, therefore, and off +went the wig after it, leaving my own shaggy curls for the sole setting +of my face.</p> + +<p>Mary made a slight exclamation as she gazed at me, and the deadly +paleness of her countenance was succeeded by a slight blush. A smile, +too, parted her lips, and I fancied she was less alarmed.</p> + +<p>"Am I forgiven, Miss Warren?" I asked; "and will you recognise me for +the brother of your friend?"</p> + +<p>"Does Martha—does Mrs. Littlepage know of this?" the charming girl at +length asked.</p> + +<p>"Both; I have had the happiness of being embraced by <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>both my +grandmother and my sister. You were taken out of the room, yesterday, by +the first, that I might be left alone with the last, for that very +purpose!"</p> + +<p>"I see it all, now; yes, I thought it singular then, though I felt there +could be no impropriety in any of Mrs. Littlepages' acts. Dearest +Martha! how well she played her part, and how admirably she has kept +your secret!"</p> + +<p>"It is very necessary. You see the condition of the country, and will +understand that it would be imprudent in me to appear openly, even on my +own estate. I have a written covenant authorizing me to visit every farm +near us, to look after my own interests; yet, it may be questioned if it +would be safe to visit one among them all, now that the spirits of +misrule and covetousness are up and doing."</p> + +<p>"Replace your disguise at once, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, eagerly; +"do—do not delay an instant."</p> + +<p>I did as desired, Mary watching the process with interested, and, at the +same time, amused eyes. I thought she looked as sorry as I felt myself +when that lank, villanous wig was again performing its office.</p> + +<p>"Am I as well arranged as when we first met, Miss Warren? Do I appear +again the music-grinder?"</p> + +<p>"I see no difference," returned the dear girl, laughing. How musical and +cheering to me were the sounds of her voice in that little burst of +sweet, feminine merriment. "Indeed, indeed, I do not think even Martha +could know you now, for the person you the moment before seemed."</p> + +<p>"My disguise is, then, perfect. I was in hopes it left a little that my +friends might recognise, while it effectually concealed me from my +enemies."</p> + +<p>"It does—oh! it does. Now I know who you are, I find no difficulty in +tracing in your features the resemblance to your portrait in the family +gallery, at the Nest. The eyes, too, cannot be altered without +artificial brows, and those you have not."</p> + +<p>This was consoling; but all that time Mr. Warren and the party in front +had been forgotten. Perhaps it was excusable in two young persons thus +situated, and who had now known each other a week, to think more of what +was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>just then passing in the wagon, than to recollect the tribe that +was marching down the road, and the errand they were on. I felt the +necessity, however, of next consulting my companion as to our future +movements. Mary heard me in evident anxiety, and her purpose seemed +unsettled, for she changed colour under each new impulse of her +feelings.</p> + +<p>"If it were not for one thing," she answered, after a thoughtful pause, +"I should insist on following my father."</p> + +<p>"And what may be the reason of this change of purpose?"</p> + +<p>"Would it be altogether safe for <i>you</i>, Mr. Littlepage, to venture again +among those misguided men?"</p> + +<p>"Never think of me, Miss Warren. You see I have been among them already +undetected, and it is my intention to join them again, even should I +first have to take you home. Decide for yourself."</p> + +<p>"I will, then, follow my father. My presence may be the means of saving +him from some indignity."</p> + +<p>I was rejoiced at this decision, on two accounts; of which one might +have been creditable enough to me, while the other, I am sorry to say, +was rather selfish. I delighted in the dear girl's devotion to her +parent, and I was glad to have her company as long as possible that +morning. Without entering into a very close analysis of motives, +however, I drove down the road, keeping the horse on a very slow gait, +being in no particular hurry to quit my present fair companion.</p> + +<p>Mary and I had now a free, and, in some tense, a confidential dialogue. +Her manner towards me had entirely changed; for, while it maintained the +modesty and <i>retenue</i> of her sex and station, it displayed much of that +frankness which was the natural consequence of her great intimacy at the +Nest, and; as I have since ascertained, of her own ingenuous nature. The +circumstance, too, that she now felt she was with one of her own class, +who had opinions, habits, tastes and thoughts like her own, removed a +mountain of restraint, and made her communications natural and easy. I +was near an hour, I do believe, in driving the two miles that lay +between the point where the Injins had been met and the village, and in +that hour Mary Warren and I became better acquainted than would have +been the case, under <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>ordinary circumstances, in a year.</p> + +<p>In the first place, I explained the reasons and manner of my early and +unexpected return home, and the motives by which I had been governed in +thus coming in disguise on my own property. Then I said a little of my +future intentions, and of my disposition to hold out to the last against +every attempt on my rights, whether they might come from the open +violence and unprincipled designs of those below, or the equally +unprincipled schemes of those above. A spurious liberty and political +cant were things that I despised, as every intelligent and independent +man must; and I did not intend to be persuaded I was an aristocrat, +merely because I had the habits of a gentleman, at the very moment when +I had less political influence than the hired labourers in my own +service.</p> + +<p>Mary Warren manifested a spirit and an intelligence that surprised me. +She expressed her own belief that the proscribed classes of the country +had only to be true to themselves to be restored to their just rights, +and that on the very principle by which they were so fast losing them. +The opinions she thus expressed are worthy of being recorded.</p> + +<p>"Everything that is done in that way," said this gentle, but admirable +creature, "has hitherto been done on a principle that is quite as false +and vicious as that by which they are now oppressed. We have had a great +deal written and said, lately, about uniting people of property, but it +has been so evidently with an intention to make money rule, and that in +its most vulgar and vicious manner, that persons of right feelings would +not unite in such an effort; but it does seem to me, Mr. Littlepage, +that if the gentlemen of New York could form themselves into an +association in defence of their rights, and for nothing else, and let it +be known that they would not be robbed with impunity, they are numerous +enough and powerful enough to put down this anti-rent project by the +mere force of numbers. Thousands would join them for the sake of +principles, and the country might be left to the enjoyment of the fruits +of liberty, without getting any of the fruits of its cant."</p> + +<p>This is a capital idea, and might easily be carried out. It requires +nothing but a little self-denial, with the conviction of the necessity +of doing something, if the downward <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>tendency is to be ever checked +short of civil war, and a revolution that is to let in despotism in its +more direct form; despotism, in the indirect, is fast appearing among +us, as it is.</p> + +<p>"I have heard of a proposition for the Legislature to appoint special +commissioners, who are to settle all the difficulties between the +landlords and tenants," I remarked, "a scheme in the result of which +some people profess to have a faith. I regard it as only one of the many +projects that have been devised to evade the laws and institutions of +the country, as they now exist."</p> + +<p>Mary Warren seemed thoughtful for a moment; then her eye and face +brightened, as if she were struck with some thought suddenly; after +which the colour deepened on her cheek, and she turned to me as if half +doubting, and yet half desirous of giving utterance to the idea that was +uppermost.</p> + +<p>"You wish to say something, Miss Warren?"</p> + +<p>"I dare say it will be very silly—and I hope you won't think it +pedantic in a girl, but really it does look so to me—what difference +would there be between such a commission and the Star-Chamber judges of +the Stuarts, Mr. Littlepage?"</p> + +<p>"Not much in general principles, certainly, as both would be the +instruments of tyrants; but a very important one in a great essential. +The Star-Chamber courts were legal, whereas this commission would be +flagrantly illegal; the adoption of a special tribunal to effect certain +purposes that could exist only in the very teeth of the constitution, +both in its spirit and its letter. Yet this project comes from men who +prate about the 'spirit of the institutions,' which they clearly +understand to be their own spirit, let that be what it may."</p> + +<p>"Providence, I trust, will not smile on such desperate efforts to do +wrong!" said Mary Warren, solemnly.</p> + +<p>"One hardly dare look into the inscrutable ways of a Power that has its +motives so high beyond our reach. Providence permits much evil to be +done, and is very apt to be, as Frederic of Prussia expressed it, on the +side of strong battalions, so far as human vision can penetrate. Of one +thing, however, I feel certain, and that is that they who are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>now the +most eager to overturn everything to effect present purposes, will be +made to repent of it bitterly, either in their own persons, or in those +of their descendants."</p> + +<p>"That is what is meant, my father says, by visiting 'the sins of the +fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.' But +there is the party, with their prisoners, just entering the village. Who +is your companion, Mr. Littlepage?—One hired to act as an assistant?"</p> + +<p>"It is my uncle, himself. You have often heard, I should think, of Mr. +Roger Littlepage?"</p> + +<p>Mary gave a little exclamation at hearing this, and she almost laughed. +After a short pause she blushed brightly, and turned to me as she said—</p> + +<p>"And my father and I have supposed you, the one a pedlar, and the other +a street-musician!"</p> + +<p>"But bedlars and moosic-grinders of goot etications, as might be +panishet for deir bolitics."</p> + +<p>Now, indeed, she laughed out, for the long and frank dialogue we had +held together made this change to broken English seem as if a third +person had joined us. I profited by the occasion to exhort the dear girl +to be calm, and not to feel any apprehension on the subject of her +father. I pointed out how little probable it was that violence would be +offered to a minister of the gospel, and showed her, by the number of +persons that had collected in the village, that it was impossible he +should not have many warm and devoted friends present. I also gave her +permission to, nay, requested she would, tell Mr. Warren the fact of my +uncle's and my own presence, and the reasons of our disguises, trusting +altogether to the very obvious interest the dear girl took in our +safety, that she would add, of her own accord, the necessary warning on +the subject of secresy. Just as this conversation ended we drove into +the hamlet, and I helped my fair companion to alight.</p> + +<p>Mary Warren now hastened to seek her father, while I was left to take +care of the horse. This I did by fastening him to the rails of a fence, +that was lined for a long distance by horses and wagons drawn up by the +way-side. Surprisingly few persons in the country, at this day, are seen +on horseback. Notwithstanding the vast difference in the amount of the +population, ten horsemen were to be met <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>with forty years ago, by all +accounts, on the highways of the State, for one to-day. The well-known +vehicle, called a dearborn, with its four light wheels and mere shell of +a box, is in such general use as to have superseded almost every other +species of conveyance. Coaches and chariots are no longer met with, +except in the towns; and even the coachee, the English sociable, which +was once so common, has very generally given way to a sort of +carriage-wagon, that seems a very general favourite. My grandmother, who +did use the stately-looking and elegant chariot in town, had nothing but +this carriage-wagon in the country; and I question if one-half of the +population of the State would know what to call the former vehicle, if +they should see it.</p> + +<p>As a matter of course, the collection of people assembled at Little Nest +on this occasion had been brought together in dearborns, of which there +must have been between two and three hundred lining the fences and +crowding the horse-sheds of the two inns. The American countryman, in +the true sense of the word, is still quite rustic in many of his +notions; though, on the whole, less marked in this particular than his +European counterpart. As the rule, he has yet to learn that the little +liberties which are tolerated in a thinly-peopled district, and which +are of no great moment when put in practice under such circumstances, +become oppressive and offensive when reverted to in places of much +resort. The habits of popular control, too, come to aid in making them +fancy that what everybody does in their part of the country can have no +great harm in it. It was in conformity with this <i>tendency</i> of the +institutions, perhaps, that very many of the vehicles I have named were +thrust into improper places, stopping up the footways, impeding the +entrances to doors, here and there letting down bars without permission, +and garnishing orchards and pastures with one-horse wagons. Nothing was +meant by all these liberties beyond a desire to dispose of the horses +and vehicles in the manner easiest to their owners. Nevertheless, there +was some connection between the institutions and these little liberties +which some statesmen might fancy existed in the <i>spirit</i> of the former. +This, however, was a capital mistake, inasmuch as the <i>spirit</i> of the +institutions is to be found in the laws, which prohibit and punish all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>sorts of trespasses, and which are enacted expressly to curb the +<i>tendencies</i> of human nature! No, no, as my uncle Ro says, nothing can +be less alike, sometimes, than the <i>spirit</i> of institutions and their +<i>tendencies</i>.</p> + +<p>I was surprised to find nearly as many females as men had collected at +the Little Nest on this occasion. As for the Injins, after escorting Mr. +Warren as far as the village, as if significantly to admonish him of +their presence, they had quietly released him, permitting him to go +where he pleased. Mary had no difficulty in finding him, and I saw her +at his side, apparently in conversation with Opportunity and her +brother, Seneca, as soon as I moved down the road, after securing the +horse. The Injins themselves kept a little aloof, having my uncle in +their very centre; not as a prisoner, for it was clear no one suspected +his character, but as a pedlar. The watches were out again, and near +half of the whole gang seemed busy in trading, though I thought that +some among them were anxious and distrustful.</p> + +<p>It was a singular spectacle to see men who were raising the cry of +"aristocracy" against those who happened to be richer than themselves, +while they did not possess a single privilege or power that, +substantially, was not equally shared by every other man in the country, +thus openly arrayed in defiance of law, and thus violently trampling the +law under their feet. What made the spectacle more painful was the +certainty that was obtained by their very actions on the ground, that no +small portion of these Injins were mere boys, led on by artful and +knavish men, and who considered the whole thing as a joke. When the laws +fall so much into disrepute as to be the subjects of jokes of this sort, +it is time to inquire into their mode of administration. Does any one +believe that fifty landlords could have thus flown into the face of a +recent enactment, and committed felony openly, and under circumstances +that had rendered their intentions no secret, for a time long enough to +enable the authorities to collect a force sufficient to repress them? My +own opinion is, that had Mr. Stephen Rensselaer, and Mr. William +Rensselaer, and Mr. Harry Livingston, and Mr. John Hunter, and Mr. +Daniel Livingston, and Mr. Hugh Littlepage, and fifty more that I could +name, been caught armed and disguised, in order to <i>defend</i> the rights +of property <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>that are solemnly guarantied in these institutions, of +which it would seem to be the notion of some that it is the "spirit" to +dispossess them, we should all of us have been the inmates of States' +prisons, without legislators troubling themselves to pass laws for our +liberation! This is another of the extraordinary features of American +aristocracy, which almost deprives the noble of the every-day use and +benefit of the law. It would be worth our while to lose a moment in +inquiring into the process by which such strange results are brought +about, but it is fortunately rendered unnecessary by the circumstance +that the principle will be amply developed in the course of the +narrative.</p> + +<p>A stranger could hardly have felt the real character of this meeting by +noting the air and manner of those who had come to attend it. The "armed +and disguised" kept themselves in a body, it is true, and maintained, in +a slight degree, the appearance of distinctness from "the people," but +many of the latter stopped to speak to these men, and were apparently on +good terms with them. Not a few of the gentler sex, even, appeared to +have acquaintances in the gang; and it would have struck a political +philosopher from the other hemisphere with some surprise, to have seen +the "people" thus tolerating fellows who were openly trampling on a law +that the "people" themselves had just enacted! A political philosopher +from among ourselves, however, might have explained the seeming +contradiction by referring it to the "spirit of the institutions." If +one were to ask Hugh Littlepage to solve the difficulty, he would have +been very apt to answer that the "people" of Ravensnest wanted to compel +him to sell lands which he did not wish to sell, and that not a few of +them were anxious to add to the compulsory bargains conditions as to +price that would rob him of about one-half of his estate; and that what +the Albany philosophers called the "spirit of the institutions," was, in +fact, a "spirit of the devil," which the institutions were expressly +designed to hold in subjection!</p> + +<p>There was a good deal of out-door management going on, as might be seen +by the private discussions that were held between pairs, under what is +called the "horse-shedding" process. This "horse-shedding" process, I +understand, is well known among us, and extends not only to politics, +but to the administration of justice. Your regular "horse-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>shedder" is +employed to frequent taverns where jurors stay, and drops hints before +them touching the merits of causes known to be on the calendars; +possibly contrives to get into a room with six or eight beds, in which +there may accidentally be a juror, or even two, in a bed, when he drops +into a natural conversation on the merits of some matter at issue, +praises one of the parties, while he drops dark hints to the prejudice +of the other, and makes his own representations of the facts in a way to +scatter the seed where he is morally certain it will take root and grow. +All this time he is not conversing with a juror, not he; he is only +assuming the office of the judge by anticipation, and dissecting +evidence before it has been given, in the ear of a particular friend. It +is true there is a law against doing anything of the sort; it is true +there is law to punish the editor of a newspaper who shall publish +anything to prejudice the interests of litigants; it is true the +"horse-shedding process" is flagrantly wicked, and intended to destroy +most of the benefits of the jury-system; but, notwithstanding all this, +the "spirit of the institutions" carries everything before it, and men +regard all these laws and provisions, as well as the eternal principles +of right, precisely as if they had no existence at all, or as if a +freeman were above the law. He makes the law, and why should he not +break it? Here is another effect of the "spirit of the institutions."</p> + +<p>At length the bell rang, and the crowd began to move towards the +"meetin'-us." This building was not that which had been originally +constructed, and at the raising of which, I have heard it said, my dear +old grandmother, then a lovely and spirited girl of nineteen, had been +conspicuous for her coolness and judgment, but a far more pretending +successor. The old building had been constructed on the true model of +the highest dissenting spirit—a spirit that induced its advocates to +quarrel with good taste as well as religious dogmas, in order to make +the chasm as wide as possible—while in this, some concessions had been +made to the temper of the times. I very well remember the old +"meetin'-us" at the "Little Nest," for it was pulled down to give place +to its more pretending successor after I had attained my sixteenth year. +A description of both may let the reader into the secret of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>our rural +church architecture.</p> + +<p>The "old Neest meetin'-us," like its successor, was of a hemlock frame, +covered with pine clap-boards, and painted white. Of late years, the +paint had been of a most fleeting quality, the oil seeming to evaporate, +instead of striking in and setting, leaving the colouring matter in a +somewhat decomposed condition, to rub off by friction and wash away in +the rains. The house was a stiff, formal parallelogram, resembling a man +with high shoulders, appearing to be "stuck up." It had two rows of +formal, short and ungraceful windows, <i>that</i> being a point in orthodoxy +at the period of its erection. It had a tower, uncouth, and in some +respects too large and others too small, if one can reconcile the +contradiction; but there are anomalies of this sort in art, as well as +in nature. On top of this tower stood a long-legged belfry, which had +got a very dangerous, though a very common, propensity in ecclesiastical +matters; in other words, it had begun to "cant." It was this diversion +from the perpendicular which had suggested the necessity of erecting a +new edifice, and the building in which the "lecture" on feudal tenures +and aristocracy was now to be delivered.</p> + +<p>The new meeting-house at Little Nest was a much more pretending edifice +than its predecessor. It was also of wood, but a bold diverging from +"first principles" had been ventured on, not only in physical, but in +the moral church. The last was "new-school;" as, indeed, was the first. +What "new-school" means, in a spiritual sense, I do not exactly know, +but I suppose it to be some improvement on some other improvement of the +more ancient and venerable dogmas of the sect to which it belongs. These +improvements on improvements are rather common among us, and are +favourably viewed by a great number under the name of progress; though +he who stands at a little distance can, half the time, discover that the +parties in progress very often come out at the precise spot from which +they started.</p> + +<p>For my part, I find so much wisdom in the bible—so profound a knowledge +of human nature, and of its tendencies—counsel so comprehensive and so +safe, and this solely in reference to the things of this life, that I do +not believe everything is progress in the right direction because it +sets us in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>motion on paths that are not two thousand years old! I +believe that we have quite as much that ought to be kept, as of that +which ought to be thrown away; and while I admit the vast number of +abuses that have grown up in the old world, under the "spirit of <i>their</i> +institutions," as our philosophers would say, I can see a goodly number +that are also growing up here, certainly not under the same "spirit," +unless we refer them both, as a truly wise man would, to our common and +miserable nature.</p> + +<p>The main departure from first principles, in the sense of material +things, was in the fact that the new meeting-house had only <i>one</i> row of +windows, and that the windows of that row had the pointed arch. The time +has been when this circumstance would have created a schism in the +theological world; and I hope that my youth and inexperience will be +pardoned, if I respectfully suggest that a pointed arch, or any other +arch in <i>wood</i>, ought to create another in the world of taste.</p> + +<p>But in we went, men, women and children; uncle Ro, Mr. Warren, Mary, +Seneca, Opportunity, and all, the Injins excepted. For some reason +connected with their policy, those savages remained outside, until the +whole audience had assembled in grave silence. The orator was in, or on +a sort of stage, which was made, under the new-light system in +architecture, to supersede the old, inconvenient, and ugly pulpit, +supported on each side by two divines, of what denomination I shall not +take on myself to say. It will be sufficient if I add Mr. Warren was not +one of them. He and Mary had taken their seats quite near the door, and +under the gallery. I saw that the rector was uneasy the moment the +lecturer and his two supporters entered the pulpit, and appeared on the +stage; and at length he arose, and followed by Mary, he suddenly left +the building. In an instant I was at their side, for it struck me +indisposition was the cause of so strange a movement. Fortunately, at +this moment, the whole audience rose in a body, and one of the ministers +commenced an extempore prayer.</p> + +<p>At that instant, the Injins had drawn themselves up around the building, +close to its sides, and under the open windows, in a position that +enabled them to hear all that passed. As I afterwards learned, this +arrangement was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>made with an understanding with those within, one of +the ministers having positively refused to address the throne of Grace +so long as any of the tribe were present. Well has it been said, that +man often strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel!</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<blockquote><p>"I tell thee, Jack Cade, the clothier means <ins title="Removed duplicate word 'to'.">to</ins> dress the commonwealth and turn it, and put a new nap upon it."</p></blockquote> + +<div class="right"><i>King Henry VI.</i></div> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">As</span> I knew Mary must have communicated to her father my real name, I did +not hesitate, as I ought to have done in my actual dress and in my +assumed character, about following them, in order to inquire if I could +be of any service. I never saw distress more strongly painted in any +man's countenance than it was in that of Mr. Warren, when I approached. +So very obvious, indeed, was his emotion, that I did not venture to +obtrude myself on him, but followed in silence; and he and Mary slowly +walked, side by side, across the street to the stoop of a house, of +which all the usual inmates had probably gone in the other direction. +Here, Mr. Warren took a seat, Mary still at his side, while I drew near, +standing before him.</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Mr. Littlepage," the divine at length said, with a smile +so painful it was almost haggard, "for, so Mary tells me you should be +called—I thank you for this attention, sir—but, it will be over in +another minute—I feel better now, and shall be able to command myself."</p> + +<p>No more was then said, concerning the reason of this distress; but Mary +has since explained to me its cause. When her father went into the +meeting-house, he had not the smallest idea that anything like a +religious service would be dragged into the ceremonies of such a day. +The two ministers on the stage first gave him the alarm; when a most +painful struggle occurred in his mind, whether or not he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>should remain, +and be a party to the mockery of addressing God in prayer, in an +assembly collected to set at naught one of the plainest of his +laws—nay, with banded felons drawn up around the building, as principal +actors in the whole mummery. The alternative was for him, a minister, of +the altar, to seem to quit those who were about to join in prayer, and +to do this moreover under circumstances which might appear to others as +if he rejected all worship but that which was in accordance with his own +views of right, a notion that would be certain to spread far and near, +greatly to the prejudice of his own people. But the first, as he viewed +the matter, involved a species of blasphemy; and yielding to his +feelings, he took the decided step he had, intending to remain out of +the building, until the more regular business of the day commenced.</p> + +<p>It is certain Mr. Warren, who acted under the best impulse of christian +feeling, a reverence for God, and a profound wish not to be a party in +offending him with the mockery of worship under such circumstances, has +lost much influence, and made many enemies, by the step he then took. +The very same feeling which has raised the cry of aristocracy against +every gentleman who dwells in sufficiently near contact with the masses +to distinguish his habits from those around him; which induces the +eastern emigrant, who comes from a state of society where there are no +landlords, to fancy those he finds here ought to be pulled down, because +he is not a landlord himself; which enables the legislator to stand up +in his place, and unblushingly talk about feudal usages, at the very +instant he is demonstrating that equal rights are denied to those he +would fain stigmatize as feudal lords, has extended to religion, and the +church of which Mr. Warren was a minister, is very generally accused of +being aristocratic, too! This charge is brought because it has claims +which other churches affect to renounce and reject as forming no part of +the faith; but the last cannot remain easy under their own decisions; +and while they shout, and sing that they have found "a church without a +bishop," they hate the church that has a bishop, because it has +something they do not possess themselves, instead of pitying its deluded +members, if they believe them wrong. This will not be admitted +generally, but <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>it is nevertheless true; and betrays itself in a hundred +ways. It is seen in the attempt to <i>call</i> their own priests bishops, in +the feeling so manifest whenever a cry can be raised against their +existence, and in the <i>general</i> character of these theological rallies, +whenever they do occur.</p> + +<p>For one, I see a close analogy between my own church, as it exists in +this country, and comparing it with that from which it sprung, and to +those which surround it, and the true political circumstances of the two +hemispheres. In discarding a vast amount of surplusage, in reducing the +orders of the ministry, in practice, as well as in theory, to their +primitive number ... three and in rejecting all connection with the +State, the American branch of the Episcopal Church has assumed the +position it was desirous to fill; restoring, as near as may be, the +simplicity of the apostolical ages, while it does not disregard the +precepts and practices of the apostles themselves. It has not set itself +above antiquity and authority, but merely endeavoured to sustain them, +without the encumbrances of more modern abuses. Thus, too, has it been +in political things. No attempt has been made to create new organic +social distinctions in this country, but solely to disencumber those +that are inseparable from the existence of all civilized society, of the +clumsy machinery with which the expedients of military oppressors had +invested them. The real sages of this country, in founding its +institutions, no more thought of getting rid of the landlords of the +country, than the Church thought of getting rid of its bishops. The +first knew that the gradations of property were an inevitable incident +of civilization; that it would not be wise, if it were possible, to +prevent the affluent from making large investments in the soil; and that +this could not be done in practice, without leaving the relation of +landlord and tenant. Because landlords, in other parts of the world, +possessed privileges that were not necessary to the natural or simple +existence of the character, was no reason for destroying the character +itself; any more than the fact that the bishops of England possess an +authority the apostles knew nothing of, rendered it proper for the +American branch of the church to do away with an office that came from +the apostles. But, envy and jealousy do not pause to reflect on such +things; it is enough for <i>them</i>, in the one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>case that you and yours +have estates, and occupy social positions, that I and mine do not, and +cannot easily, occupy and possess; <i>therefore</i> I will oppose you, and +join my voice to the cry of those who wish to get their farms for +nothing; and in the other, that you have bishops when we can have none, +without abandoning our present organization and doctrines.</p> + +<p>I dwell on these points at some little length, because the movements of +Mr. Warren and myself, at that moment, had a direct influence on the +circumstances that will soon be related. It is probable that fully +one-half of those collected in the Little Nest meeting-house, that +morning, as they stood up, and lent a sort of one-sided and listless +attention to the prayer, were thinking of the scandalous and +aristocratical conduct of Mr. Warren, in "goin' out o' meetin' just as +meetin' went to prayers!" Few, indeed, were they who would be likely to +ascribe any charitable motive for the act; and probably not one of those +present thought of the true and conscientious feeling that had induced +it. So the world wags! It is certain that a malignant and bitter feeling +was got up against the worthy rector on that occasion, and for that act, +which has not yet abated, and which will not abate in many hundreds, +until the near approach of death shall lay bare to them the true +character of so many of their own feelings.</p> + +<p>It was some minutes before Mr. Warren entirely regained his composure. +At length he spoke to me, in his usual benevolent and mild way, saying a +few words that were complimentary, on the subject of my return, while he +expressed his fears that my uncle Ro and myself had been imprudent in +thus placing ourselves, as it might be, in the lion's jaws.</p> + +<p>"You have certainly made your disguises so complete," he added, smiling, +"as to have escaped wonderfully well so far. That you should deceive +Mary and myself is no great matter, since neither of us ever saw you +before; but, the manner in which your nearest relatives have been +misled, is surprising. Nevertheless, you have every inducement to be +cautious, for hatred and jealousy have a penetration that does not +belong even to love."</p> + +<p>"We think we are safe, sir," I answered, "for we are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>certainly within +the statute. We are too well aware of our miserable aristocratical +condition to place ourselves within the grasp of the law, for such are +our eminent privileges as a landed nobility, that we are morally certain +either of us would not only be sent to the state's prison were he to be +guilty of the felony those Injins are committing, and will commit, with +perfect impunity, but that he would be kept there, as long as a single +tear of anguish could be wrung from one of those who are classed with +the aristocracy. Democracy alone finds any sympathy in the ordinary +administration of American justice."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid that your irony has only too much truth in it. But the +movement around the building would seem to say that the real business of +the day is about to commence, and we had better return to the church."</p> + +<p>"Those men in disguise are watching us, in a most unpleasant and +alarming manner," said Mary Warren, delighting me far more by the +vigilance she thus manifested in my behalf, than alarming me by the +fact.</p> + +<p>That we were watched, however, became obviously apparent, as we walked +towards the building, by the actions of some of the Injins. They had +left the side of the church where they had posted themselves during the +prayer, and head was going to head, among those nearest to us; or, it +would be nearer to appearances, were I to say bunch of calico was going +to bunch of calico, for nothing in the form of a head was visible among +them. Nothing was said to Mr. Warren and Mary, however, who were +permitted to go into the meeting-house, unmolested; but two of these +disguised gentry placed themselves before me, laying their rifles across +my path, and completely intercepting my advance.</p> + +<p>"Who you?" abruptly demanded one of the two;—"where go—where come +from?"</p> + +<p>The answer was ready, and I trust it was sufficiently steady.</p> + +<p>"I coomes from Charmany, und I goes into der kerch, as dey say in mine +coontry; what might be callet meetin'-us, here."</p> + +<p>What might have followed, it is not easy to say, had not the loud, +declamatory voice of the lecturer just then been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>heard, as he commenced +his address. This appeared to be a signal for the tribe to make some +movement, for the two fellows who had stopped me, walked silently away, +though bag of calico went to bag of calico, as they trotted off +together, seemingly communicating to each other their suspicions. I took +advantage of the opening, and passed into the church, where I worked my +way through the throng, and got a seat at my uncle's side.</p> + +<p>I have neither time, room, nor inclination to give anything like an +analysis of the lecture. The speaker was fluent, inflated, and anything +but logical. Not only did he contradict himself, but he contradicted the +laws of nature. The intelligent reader will not require to be reminded +of the general character of a speech that was addressed to the passions +and interests of such an audience, rather than to their reason. He +commented, at first, on the particular covenants of the leases on the +old estates of the colony, alluding to the quarter-sales, chickens, +days' work, and durable tenures, in the customary way. The reservation +of the mines, too, was mentioned as a tyrannical covenant, precisely as +if a landlord were obliged to convey any more of the rights that were +vested in him, than he saw fit; or the tenant could justly claim more +than he had hired! This man treated all these branches of the subject, +as if the tenants had acquired certain mysterious interests by time and +occupation, overlooking the fact that the one party got just as good a +title as the other by this process; the lease being the instrument +between them, that was getting to be venerable. If one party grew old as +a tenant, so did the other as a landlord. I thought that this lecturer +would have been glad to confine himself to the Manor leases, that being +the particular branch of the subject he had been accustomed to treat; +but, such was not the precise nature of the job he was now employed to +execute. At Ravensnest, he could not flourish the feudal grievance of +the quarter-sales, the "four fat fowls," the "days' works," and the +<i>length</i> of the leases. Here it was clearly his cue to say nothing of +the three first, and to complain of the <i>shortness</i> of the leases, as +mine were about to fall in, in considerable numbers. Finding it was +necessary to take new ground, he determined it should be bold ground, +and such as would give him the least <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>trouble to get along with.</p> + +<p>As soon as the lecturer had got through with his general heads, and felt +the necessity of coming down to particulars, he opened upon the family +of Littlepage, in a very declamatory way. What had they ever done for +the country, he demanded, that <i>they</i> should be lords in the land? By +some process known to himself, he had converted landlords into lords in +the land, and was now aiming to make the tenants occupy the latter +station—nay, both stations. Of course, some services of a public +character, of which the Littlepages might boast, were not touched upon +at all, everything of that nature being compressed into what the +lecturer and his audience deemed serving the people, by helping to +indulge them in all their desires, however rapacious or wicked. As +everybody who knows anything of the actual state of matters among us, +must be aware how rarely the "people" hear the truth, when their own +power and interests are in question, it is not surprising that a very +shallow reasoner was enabled to draw wool over the eyes of the audience +of Ravensnest on that particular subject.</p> + +<p>But my interest was most awakened when this man came to speak of myself. +It is not often that a man enjoys the same opportunity as that I then +possessed to hear his own character delineated, and his most private +motives analyzed. In the first place, the audience were told that this +"young Hugh Littlepage had never done anything for the land that he +proudly, and like a great European noble, he calls his 'estate.' Most of +you, fellow-citizens, can show your hard hands, and recall the burning +suns under which you have opened the swarth, through those then lovely +meadows yonder, as <i>your</i> titles to these farms. But, Hugh Littlepage +never did a day's work in his life"—ten minutes before he had been +complaining of the "days' work" in the Manor leases as indignities that +a freeman ought not to submit to—"no, fellow-citizens, he never had +that honour, and never will have it, until by a just division of his +property, or what he now <i>calls</i> his property, you reduce him to the +necessity of labouring to raise the crops he wants to consume."</p> + +<p>"Where is this Hugh Littlepage at this very moment? In Paris, +squandering <i>your</i> hard earnings in riotous living, according to the +best standards of aristocracy. He lives in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>the midst of abundance, +dresses richly and fares richly, while <i>you</i> and <i>yours</i> are eating the +sweat of your brows. He is no man for a pewter spoon and two-pronged +fork! No, my countrymen! He must have a <i>gold</i> spoon for some of his +dishes, and you will find it hard to believe—plain, unpretending, +republican farmers as you are, but it is not the less true—he must have +forks of <i>silver</i>! Fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his +knife into his mouth, as you and I do, in eating—as all plain, +unpretending republicans do—for the world. It would choke him; no, he +keeps <i>silver</i> forks to touch his anointed lips!" Here there was an +attempt to get up something like applause, but it totally failed. The +men of Ravensnest had been accustomed all their lives to see the +Littlepages in the social station they occupied; and, after all, it did +not seem so very extraordinary that we should have silver forks, any +more than that others should have silver spoons. The lecturer had the +tact to see that he had failed on this point, and he turned to another.</p> + +<p>The next onset was made against our title. Whence did it come? demanded +the lecturer. From the king of England; and the people had conquered the +country from that sovereign, and put themselves in his place. Now, is it +not a good principle in politics, that to the victors belong the spoils? +He believed it was; and that in conquering America, he was of opinion +that the people of America had conquered the land, and that they had a +right to take the land, and to keep it. Titles from kings he did not +respect much; and he believed the American people, generally, did not +think much of them. If Hugh Littlepage wished an "estate," as he called +it, let him come to the people and "sarve <i>them</i>," and see what sort of +an estate <i>they</i> would give him.</p> + +<p>But there was one portion of his speech which was so remarkable, that I +must attempt to give it, as it was uttered. It was while the lecturer +was expatiating on this subject of titles, that he broke out in the +following language:—"Don't talk to me," he bellowed—for by this time +his voice had risen to the pitch of a methodist's, in a +camp-meeting—"Don't talk to me of antiquity, and time, and length of +possession, as things to be respected. They're nawthin—jest <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>nawthin' +at all. Possession's good in law, I'll admit; and I contind that's jest +what the tenants has. They've got the lawful possession of this very +property, that layeth (not eggs, but) up and down, far and near, and all +around; a rich and goodly heritage, when divided up among hard-working +and honest folks; but too much, by tens of thousands of acres, for a +young chap, who is wasting his substance in foreign lands, to hold. I +contind that the tenants has this very, precise, lawful possession, at +this blessed moment, only the law won't let 'em enj'y it. It's all owing +to that accursed law, that the tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord. You see by this one fact, fellow-citizens, that they are a +privileged class, and ought to be brought down to the level of gin'ral +humanity. You can set up title ag'in anybody else, but you shan't set up +title ag'in a landlord. I know what is said in the primisis," shaking +his head, in derision of any arguments on the other side of this +particular point; "I know that circumstances alter cases. I can see the +hardship of one neighbour's coming to another, and asking to borrow or +hire his horse for a day, and then pretendin' to hold him on some other +ketch. But horses isn't land; you must all allow <i>that</i>. No, if horses +<i>was</i> land, the case would be altered. Land is an element, and so is +fire, and so is water, and so is air. Now, who will say that a freeman +hasn't a right to air, hasn't a right to water, and, on the same +process, hasn't a right to land? He <i>has</i>, fellow-citizens—he <i>has</i>. +These are what are called in philosophy elementary rights; which is the +same thing as a right to the elements, of which land is one, and a +principal one. I say a principal one; for, if there was no land to stand +on, we should drop away from air, and couldn't enj'y <i>that</i>; we should +lose all our water in vapour, and couldn't put it to millin' and +manafacterin' purposes; and where could we build our fires? No; land is +the <i>first</i> elementary right, and connected with it comes the first and +most sacred right to the elements.</p> + +<p>"I do not altogether disregard antiquity, neither. No; I respect and +revere pre-emption rights; for they fortify and sustain the right to the +elements. Now, I do not condemn squattin', as some doos. It's actin' +accordin' to natur', and natur' is right. I respect and venerate a +squatter's possession; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>for it's held under the sacred principle of +usefulness. It says, 'go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose,' +and means 'progress.' That's an antiquity I respect. I respect the +antiquity of your possessions here, <i>as tenants</i>; for it is a +hard-working and useful antiquity—an antiquity that increases and +multiplies. If it be said that Hugh Littlepage's ancestors—your noble +has his 'ancestors,' while us 'common folks' are satisfied with +forefathers"—[this hit took with a great many present, raising a very +general laugh]—"but if this Hugh's ancestors did pay anything for the +land, if I was you, fellow-citizens, I'd be gin'rous, and let him have +it back ag'in. Perhaps his forefathers gave a cent an acre to the +king—may be, two; or say sixpence, if you will. I'd let him have his +sixpence an acre back again, by way of shutting his mouth. No; I'm for +nawthin' that's ungin'rous."</p> + +<p>"Fellow-citizens, I profess to be what is called a Democrat. I know that +many of you be what is called Whigs—but I apprehend there is'nt much +difference between us on the subject of this system of leasing land. We +are all republicans, and leasing farms is anti-republican. Then, I wish +to be liberal even to them I commonly oppose at elections, and I will +freely admit, then, on the whull, the Whigs have rather out-done us +Democrats, on the subject of this anti-rentism. I am sorry to be obliged +to own in it, but it must be confessed that, while in the way of +governors, there hasn't been much difference—yes, put 'em in a bag, and +shake 'em up, and you'd hardly know which would come out first—which +has done himself the most immortal honour, which has shown himself the +most comprehensive, profound and safe statesman; I know that some of our +people complain of the governors for ordering out troops ag'in the +Injins, but they could not <i>help</i> that—they wouldn't have done it, in +my judgment, had there been any way of getting round it; but the law was +too strong for them, so they druv' in the Injins, and now they join us +in putting down aristocracy, and in raising up gin'ral humanity. No; I +don't go ag'in the governors, though many doos."</p> + +<p>"But I profess to be a Democrat, and I'll give an outline of my +principles, that all may see why they can't, and don't, and never will +agree with aristocracy or nobility, in any form or shape. I believe one +man is as good as an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>other in all things. Neither birth, nor law, nor +edication, nor riches, nor poverty, nor anything else can ever make any +difference in this principle, which is sacred, and fundamental, and is +the chief stone of the corner in true Democracy. One man is as good as +another, I say, and has just the same right to the enj'yment of 'arth +and its privileges, as any other man. I think the majority ought to rule +in all things, and that it is the duty of the minority to submit. Now, +I've had this here sentiment thrown back upon me, in some places where I +have spoken, and been asked 'how is this—the majority must rule, and +the minority must submit—in that case, the minority is'nt as good as +the majority in practice, and hasn't the same right. They are made to +own what they think ought not to be done?' The answer to this is so +plain, I wonder a sensible man can ask the question, for all the +minority has to do, is to join the majority, to have things as they want +'em. The road is free, and it is this open road that makes true liberty. +Any man can fall in with the majority, and sensible folks commonly do, +when they can find it, and that makes a person not only a man, as the +saying is, but a <span class="smcap">freeman</span>, a still more honourable title."</p> + +<p>"Fellow-citizens, a great movement is in progress, "Go ahead!" is the +cry, and the march is onward; our thoughts already fly about on the +wings of the lightning, and our bodies move but little slower, on the +vapour of steam—soon our principles will rush ahead of all, and let in +the radiance of a glorious day of universal reform, and loveliness, and +virtue and charity, when the odious sound of <i>rent</i> will never be heard, +when every man will set down under his own apple, or cherry tree, if not +under his own fig tree.</p> + +<p>"I am a Democrat,—yes, a Democrat. Glorious appellation! I delight in +it! It is my pride, my boast, my very virtue. Let but the people truly +rule, and all must come well. The people has no temptation to do wrong. +If they hurt the state, they hurt themselves, for they are the state. Is +a man likely to hurt himself? Equality is my axiom. Nor, by equality, do +I mean your narrow pitiful equality before the law, as it is sometimes +tarmed, for that may be no equality at all; but, I mean an equality that +is substantial, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>and which must be restored, when the working of the law +has de<i>ran</i>ged it. Fellow-citizens, do you know what leap-year means? I +dare say some of you don't, the ladies in partic'lar not giving much +attention to astronomy. Well, I have inquired, and it is this:—The +'arth revolves around the sun in a year, as we all know. And we count +three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, we all know. But, the 'arth +is a few hours longer than three hundred and sixty-five days, in making +its circuit—nearly six hours longer. Now, everybody knows that 4 times +6 makes 24, and so a twenty-ninth day is put into February, every fourth +year, to restore the lost time; another change being to be made a long +distance ahead to settle the fractions. Thus will it be with Democracy. +Human natur' can't devise laws yet, that will keep all things on an +exactly equal footing, and political leap-years must be introduced into +the political calendar, to restore the equilibrium. In astronomy, we +must divide up anew the hours and minutes; in humanity, we must, from +time to time, divide up the land."</p> + +<p>But, I cannot follow this inflated fool any longer; for he was quite as +much of fool as of knave, though partaking largely of the latter +character. It was plain that he carried many of his notions much farther +than a good portion of his audience carried theirs; though, whenever he +touched upon anti-rentism, he hit a chord that vibrated through the +whole assembly. That the tenants ought to own their farms, and pay no +more rents, <span class="smcap">and pocket all the benefits of their own previous labours, +though these labours had been considered in the earlier rents, and were, +indeed, still considered, in the low rates at which the lands were let</span>, +was a doctrine all could understand; and few were they, I am sorry to +say, who did not betray how much self-love and self-interest had +obscured the sense of right.</p> + +<p>The lecture, such as it was, lasted more than two hours; and when it was +done, an individual rose, in the character of a chairman—when did three +Americans ever get together to discuss anything, that they had not a +chairman and secretary, and all the parliamentary forms?—and invited +any one present, who might entertain views different from the speaker, +to give his opinion. Never before did I feel so <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>tempted to speak in +public. My first impulse was to throw away the wig, and come out in my +own person, and expose the shallow trash that had just been uttered. I +believe even I, unaccustomed as I was to public speaking, could easily +have done this, and I whispered as much to my uncle, who was actually on +his feet, to perform the office for me, when the sound of "Mr. +Chairman," from a different part of the church, anticipated him. Looking +round, I recognised at once the face of the intelligent mechanic, named +Hall, whom we had met at Mooseridge, on our way to the Nest. I took my +seat, at once, perfectly satisfied that the subject was in good hands.</p> + +<p>This speaker commenced with great moderation, both of manner and tone, +and, indeed, he preserved them throughout. His utterance, accent and +language, of course, were all tinctured by his habits and associations; +but his good sense and his good principles were equally gifts from +above. More of the "true image of his maker" was to be found in that one +individual than existed in fifty common men. He saw clearly, spoke +clearly, and demonstrated effectively. As he was well known in that +vicinity and generally respected, he was listened to with profound +attention, and spoke like a man who stood in no dread of tar and +feathers. Had the same sentiments been delivered by one in a fine coat, +and a stranger, or even by myself, who had so much at stake, very many +of them would have been incontinently set down as aristocratic, and not +to be tolerated, the most sublimated lover of equality occasionally +falling into these little contradictions.</p> + +<p>Hall commenced by reminding the audience that they all knew him, and +knew he was no landlord. He was a mechanic, and a labouring man, like +most of themselves, and had no interest that could be separate from the +general good of society. This opening was a little homage to prejudice, +since reason is reason, and right right, let them come whence they will. +"I, too, am a democrat," he went on to say, "but I do not understand +democracy to mean anything like that which has been described by the +last speaker. I tell that gentleman plainly, that if he is a democrat, I +am none; and if I am a democrat, he is none. By democracy I understand a +government in which the sovereign power resides <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>in the body of the +nation; and not in a few, or in one. But this principle no more gives +the body of the people authority to act wrong, than in a monarchy, in +which the sovereign power resides in one man, that one man has a right +to act wrong. By equality, I do not understand anything more than +equality before the law—now, if the law had said that when the late +Malbone Littlepage died, his farms should go not to his next of kin, or +to his devisee, but to his neighbours, then that would have been the law +to be obeyed, although it would be a law destructive of civilization, +since men would never accumulate property to go to the public. Something +nearer home is necessary to make men work, and deny themselves what they +like.</p> + +<p>"The gentleman has told us of a sort of political leap-year that is to +regulate the social calender. I understand him to mean that when +property has got to be unequal, it must be divided up, in order that men +may make a new start. I fear he will have to dispense with leap years, +and come to leap months, or leap weeks, ay, or even to leap days; for, +was the property of this township divided up this very morning, and in +this meetin'-us, it would get to be unequal before night. Some folks +can't keep money when they have it; and others can't keep their hands +off it.</p> + +<p>"Then, again, if Hugh Littlepage's property is to be divided, the +property of all of Hugh Littlepage's neighbours ought to be divided too, +to make even an <i>appearance</i> of equality; though it would be but an +<i>appearance</i> of equality, admitting that were done, since Hugh +Littlepage has more than all the rest of the town put together. Yes, +fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage pays, at this moment, one-twentieth of +the taxes of this whole county. That is about the proportion of +Ravensnest; and that tax, in reality, comes out of his pockets, as much +the greater part of the taxes of Rensselaer and Albany counties, if you +will except the cities they contain, are paid by the Rensselaers. It +won't do to tell me the tenants pay the taxes, for I know better. We all +know that the probable amount of the taxes is estimated in the original +bargain, and is so much deducted from the rent, and comes out of the +landlord if it come out of anybody. There is a good reason why the +tenant should pay it, and a reason that is altogether in his interest; +because <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>the law would make his oxen, and horses, and carts liable for +the taxes, should the landlord neglect to pay the taxes. The collector +always sells personals for a tax if he can find them on the property; +and by deducting it from the rent, and paying it himself, the tenant +makes himself secure against that loss. To say that a tenant don't take +any account of the taxes he will be likely to pay, in making his +bargain, is as if one should say he is <i>non com</i>. and not fit to be +trusted with his own affairs. There are men, in this community, I am +sorry to say, who wish a law passed to tax the rents on durable leases, +or on all leases, in order to choke the landlords off from their claims, +but such men are true friends to neither justice nor their country. Such +a law would be a tax on the incomes of a particular class of society, +and on no other. It is a law that would justify the aggrieved parties in +taking up arms to resist it, unless the law would give 'em relief, as I +rather think it would. By removing into another State, however, they +would escape the tax completely, laugh at those who framed it, who would +incur the odium of doing an impotent wrong, and get laughed at as well +as despised, besides injuring the State by drawing away its money to be +spent out of its limits. Think, for one moment, of the impression that +would be made of New York justice, if a hundred citizens of note and +standing were to be found living in Philadelphia or Paris, and +circulating to the world the report that they were exiles to escape a +special taxation! The more the matter was inquired into, the worse it +must appear; for men may say what they please, to be ready ag'in +election time, as there is but one piece, or parcel of property to tax, +it is an income tax, and nothing else. What makes the matter still worse +is, that every man of sense will know that it is taxing the same person +twice, substantially for the same thing, since the landlord has the +direct land tax deducted from the rent in the original bargain.</p> + +<p>"As for all this cry about aristocracy, I don't understand it. Hugh +Littlepage has just as good a right to his ways as I have to mine. The +gentleman says he needs gold spoons and silver forks to eat with. Well, +what of that? I dare say the gentleman himself finds a steel knife and +fork useful, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>and has no objection to a silver, or, at least, to a +pewter spoon. Now, there are folks that use wooden forks, or no forks, +and who are glad to get horn spoons; and <i>they</i> might call that +gentleman himself an aristocrat. This setting of ourselves up as the +standard in all things is anything but liberty. If I don't like to eat +my dinner with a man who uses a silver fork, no man in this country can +compel me. On the other hand, if young Mr. Littlepage don't like a +companion who chews tobacco, as I do, he ought to be left to follow his +own inclination.</p> + +<p>"Then, this doctrine that one man's as good as another has got two sides +to it. One man ought to have the same general rights as another, I am +ready to allow; but if one man is as <i>good</i> as another, why do we have +the trouble and cost of elections? We might draw lots, as we do for +jurors, and save a good deal of time and money. We all know there is +ch'ice in men, and I think that so long as the people have their ch'ice +in sayin' who shall and who shall not be their agents, they've got all +they have any right to. So long as this is done, the rest of the world +may be left to follow their own ways, provided they obey the laws.</p> + +<p>"Then, I am no great admirer of them that are always telling the people +they're parfect. I know this county pretty well, as well as most in it; +and if there be a parfect man in Washington county, I have not yet +fallen in with him. Ten millions of imparfect men won't make one parfect +man, and so I don't look for perfection in the people any more than I do +in princes. All I look for in democracy is to keep the reins in so many +hands as to prevent a few from turning everything to their own account; +still, we mustn't forget that, when a great many do go wrong, it is much +worse than when a few go wrong.</p> + +<p>"If my son didn't inherit the property of Malbone Littlepage, neither +will Malbone Littlepage's son inherit mine. We are on a footing in that +respect. As to paying rent, which some persons think so hard, what would +they do if they had no house to live in, or farm to work? If folks wish +to purchase houses and farms, no one can prevent them if they have money +to do it with; and if they have not, is it expected other people are to +provide them with such things <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>out of their own——"</p> + +<p>Here the speaker was interrupted by a sudden whooping, and the Injins +came pressing into the house in a way to drive in all the aisles before +them. Men, women and children leaped from the windows, the distance +being trifling, while others made their escape by the two side-doors, +the Injins coming in only by the main entrance. In less time than it +takes to record the fact, the audience had nearly all dispersed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="END_OF_VOL_I" id="END_OF_VOL_I"></a>END OF VOL. I.</h2> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Mr. Hugh Littlepage writes a little sharply, but there is +truth in all he says, at the bottom. His tone is probably produced by +the fact that there is so serious an attempt to deprive him of his old +paternal estate, an attempt which is receiving support in high quarters. +In addition to this provocation, the Littlepages, as the manuscript +shows farther on, are traduced, as one means of effecting the objects of +the anti-renters; no man, in any community in which it is necessary to +work on public sentiment in order to accomplish such a purpose, ever +being wronged without being calumniated. As respects the inns, truth +compels me, as an old traveller, to say that Mr. Littlepage has much +reason for what he says. I have met with a better bed in the lowest +French tavern I ever was compelled to use, and in one instance I slept +in an inn frequented by carters, than in the best purely country inn in +America. In the way of neatness, however, more is usually to be found in +our New York village taverns than in the public hotels of Paris itself. +As for the hit touching the intelligence of the people, it is merited; +for I have myself heard subtle distinctions drawn to show that the +"people" of a former generation were not as knowing as the "people" of +this, and imputing the covenants of the older leases to that +circumstance, instead of imputing them to their true cause, the opinions +and practices of the times. Half a century's experience would induce me +to say that the "people" were never particularly dull in making a +bargain.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The editor has often had occasion to explain the meaning of +terms of this nature. The colonists caught a great many words from the +Indians they first knew, and used them to all other Indians, though not +belonging to their languages; and these other tribes using them as +English, a sort of limited <i>lingua frança</i> has grown up in the country +that everybody understands. It is believed that "moccasin," "squaw," +"pappoose," "sago," "tomahawk," "wigwam," &c. &c. all belong to this +class of words. There can be little doubt that the <i>sobriquet</i> of +"Yankees" is derived from "Yengeese," the manner in which the tribes +nearest to New England pronounced the word "English." It is to this hour +a provincialism of that part of the country to pronounce this word +"<i>Eng</i>-lish" instead of "<i>Ing</i>-lish," its conventional sound. The change +from "<i>Eng</i>-lish" to "<i>Yen-geese</i>" is very trifling.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> As the "honourable gentleman from Albany" does not seem to +understand the precise signification of "provincial," I can tell him +that one sign of such a character is to admire a bed at an American +country inn.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> That Mr. Hugh Littlepage does not feel or express himself +too strongly on the state of things that has now existed among us for +long, long years, the following case, but one that illustrates the +melancholy truth among many, will show. At a time when the tenants of an +extensive landlord, to whom tens of thousands were owing for rent, were +openly resisting the law, and defeating every attempt to distrain, +though two ordinary companies of even armed constables would have put +them down, the sheriff entered the house of that very landlord, and +levied on his furniture for debt. Had that gentleman, on the just and +pervading principle that he owed no allegiance to an authority that did +not protect him, resisted the sheriff's officer, <i>he</i> would have gone to +the State's prison; and there he might have staid until his last hour of +service was expended.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Absurd as this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and for a +reason that is creditable, rather than the reverse—a wish to help along +the unfortunate. It is a great mistake, however, as a rule, to admit of +any other motive for selecting for public trusts, than +qualification.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This is no invented statement, but strictly one that is +true, the writer having himself a small interest in a property so +situated; though he has not yet bethought him of applying to the +Legislature for relief.—<span class="smcap">Editor</span>.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="notes"> + +<p class="center"><span class="u"><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber's Notes</span></p> + +<p>Misprints and punctuation errors corrected. Hover over underlined +<ins title="Like this">word</ins> in the text to see the corrections made.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="u">Corrections</span></p> + +<ul> + +<li><a href="#Page_23">Page 23</a>, "fourscore" changed to "four-score".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_83">Page 83</a>, Single quote changed to double quote.</li> +<li><a href="#Page_94">Page 94</a>, Removed double quote.</li> +<li><a href="#Page_113">Page 113</a>, Other versions of text read "good-natured" instead of "good-natural".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_139">Page 139</a>, Removed open quotes.</li> +<li><a href="#Page_144">Page 144</a>, "bathos" changed to "pathos".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_178">Page 178</a>, "Pat" changed to "Patt".</li> + +<li><a href="#Page_195">Page 195</a>, "Ja" changed to "ja".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_196">Page 196</a>, "eend" changed to "end".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_212">Page 212</a>, "gobbernor" changed to "gubbernor".</li> +<li><a href="#Page_233">Page 233</a>, Removed duplicate word "to".</li> + +</ul> + +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, +Volume 1., by James Fenimore Cooper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + +***** This file should be named 31210-h.htm or 31210-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31210/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, Volume 1. + Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts + +Author: James Fenimore Cooper + +Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31210] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +THE + +REDSKINS; + +OR, + +INDIAN AND INJIN: + +BEING THE CONCLUSION OF THE + +LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS. + +BY THE + +AUTHOR OF "THE PATHFINDER," "DEERSLAYER," +"TWO ADMIRALS," ETC. + + In every work regard the writer's end; + None e'er ran compass more than they intend. + POPE. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. + +VOL. I. + + +NEW YORK: + +PUBLISHED BY BURGESS & STRINGER, + +1846. + +Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by + +J. FENIMORE COOPER, + +in the clerk's office of the District Court for the Northern District +of New York. + + +STEREOTYPED BY J. FAGAN, PHILADELPHIA. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book closes the series of the Littlepage Manuscripts, which have +been given to the world, as containing a fair account of the comparative +sacrifices of time, money and labour, made respectively by the landlord +and the tenants, on a New York estate; together with the manner in which +usages and opinions are changing among us; as well as certain of the +reasons of these changes. The discriminating reader will probably be +able to trace in these narratives the progress of those innovations on +the great laws of morals which are becoming so very manifest in +connection with this interest, setting at naught the plainest principles +that God has transmitted to man for the government of his conduct, and +all under the extraordinary pretence of favouring liberty! In this +downward course, our picture embraces some of the proofs of that +looseness of views on the subject of certain species of property which +is, in a degree perhaps, inseparable from the semi-barbarous condition +of a new settlement; the gradation of the squatter, from him who merely +makes his pitch to crop a few fields in passing, to him who carries on +the business by wholesale; and last, though not least in this catalogue +of marauders, the anti-renter. + +It would be idle to deny that the great principle which lies at the +bottom of anti-rentism, if principle it can be called, is the +assumption of a claim that the interests and wishes of numbers are to be +respected, though done at a sacrifice of the clearest rights of the few. +That this is not liberty, but tyranny in its worst form, every +right-thinking and right-feeling man must be fully aware. Every one who +knows much of the history of the past, and of the influence of classes, +must understand, that whenever the educated, the affluent and the +practised, choose to unite their means of combination and money to +control the political destiny of a country, they become irresistible; +making the most subservient tools of those very masses who vainly +imagine _they_ are the true guardians of their own liberties. The +well-known election of 1840 is a memorable instance of the power of such +a combination; though that was a combination formed mostly for the mere +purposes of faction, sustained perhaps by the desperate designs of the +insolvents of the country. Such a combination was necessarily wanting in +union among the affluent; it had not the high support of principles to +give it sanctity, and it affords little more than the proof of the power +of money and leisure, when applied in a very doubtful cause, in wielding +the masses of a great nation, to be the instruments of their own +subjection. No well-intentioned American legislator, consequently, ought +ever to lose sight of the fact, that each invasion of the right which he +sanctions is a blow struck against liberty itself, which, in a country +like this, has no auxiliary so certain or so powerful as justice. + +The State of New York contains about 43,000 square miles of land; or +something like 27,000,000 of acres. In 1783, its population must have +been about 200,000 souls. With such a proportion between people and +surface it is unnecessary to prove that the husbandman was not quite as +dependent on the landholder, as the landholder was dependent on the +husbandman. This would have been true, had the State been an island; but +we all know it was surrounded by many other communities similarly +situated, and that nothing else was so abundant as land. All notions of +exactions and monopolies, therefore, must be untrue, as applied to those +two interests at that day. + +In 1786-7, the State of New York, then in possession of all powers on +the subject, abolished entails, and otherwise brought its law of real +estate in harmony with the institutions. At that time, hundreds, perhaps +thousands, of the leases which have since become so obnoxious, were in +existence. With the attention of the State drawn directly to the main +subject, no one saw anything incompatible with the institutions in them. +_It was felt that the landlords had bought the tenants to occupy their +lands by the liberality of their concessions_, and that the latter were +the obliged parties. Had the landlords of that day endeavoured to lease +for one year, or for ten years, no tenants could have been found for +wild lands; but it became a different thing, when the owner of the soil +agreed to part with it for ever, in consideration of a very low rent, +granting six or eight years free from any charge whatever, and +consenting to receive the product of the soil itself in lieu of money. +Then, indeed, men were not only willing to come into the terms, but +eager; the best evidence of which is the fact, that the same tenants +might have bought land, out and out, in every direction around them, +had they not preferred the easier terms of the leases. Now, that these +same men, or their successors, have become rich enough to care more to +be rid of the encumbrance of the rent than to keep their money, the +rights of the parties certainly are not altered. + +In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into operation; New +York being a party to its creation and conditions. By that Constitution, +the State deliberately deprived itself of the power to touch the +covenants of these leases, without conceding the power to any other +government; unless it might be through a change of the Constitution +itself. As a necessary consequence, these leases, in a legal sense, +belong to the institutions of New York, instead of being opposed to +them. Not only is the spirit of the institutions in harmony with these +leases, but so is the letter also. Men must draw a distinction between +the "spirit of the institutions" and their own "spirits;" the latter +being often nothing more than a stomach that is not easily satisfied. It +would be just as true to affirm that domestic slavery is opposed to the +institutions of the United States, as to say the same of these leases. +It would be just as rational to maintain, because A. does not choose to +make an associate of B., that he is acting in opposition to the "spirit +of the institutions," inasmuch as the Declaration of Independence +advances the dogmas that men are born equal, as it is to say it is +opposed to the same spirit, for B. to pay rent to A. according to his +covenant. + +It is pretended that the durable leases are feudal in their nature. We +do not conceive this to be true; but, admitting it to be so, it would +only prove that feudality, to this extent, is a part of the institutions +of the State. What is more, it would become a part over which the State +itself has conceded all power of control, beyond that which it may +remotely possess as one, out of twenty-eight communities. As respects +this feudal feature, it is not easy to say where it must be looked for. +It is not to be found in the simple fact of paying rent, for that is so +general as to render the whole country feudal, could it be true; it +cannot be in the circumstance that the rent is to be paid "in kind," as +it is called, and in labour, for that is an advantage to the tenant, by +affording him the option, since the penalty of a failure leaves the +alternative of paying in money. It must be, therefore, that these leases +are feudal because they run for ever! Now the length of the lease is +clearly a concession to the tenant, and was so regarded when received; +and there is not probably a single tenant, under lives, who would not +gladly exchange his term of possession for that of one of these +detestable durable leases! + +Among the absurdities that have been circulated on this subject of +feudality, it has been pretended that the well-known English statute of +"_quia emptores_" has prohibited fines for alienation; or that the +quarter-sales, fifth-sales, sixth-sales, &c. of our own leases were +contrary to the law of the realm, when made. Under the common law, in +certain cases of feudal tenures, the fines for alienation were an +incident of the tenure. The statute of _quia emptores_ abolished that +general principle, but it in no manner forbade parties _to enter into +covenants of the nature of quarter-sales_, did they see fit. The common +law gives all the real estate to the eldest son. Our statute divides the +real estate among the nearest of kin, without regard even to sex. It +might just as well be pretended that the father cannot devise all his +lands to his eldest son, under our statute, as to say that the law of +Edward I. prevents parties from _bargaining_ for quarter-sales. Altering +a provision of the common law does not preclude parties from making +covenants similar to its ancient provisions. + +Feudal tenures were originally divided into two great classes; those +which were called the military tenures, or knight's service, and +_soccage_. The first tenure was that which became oppressive in the +progress of society. Soccage was of two kinds; free and villian. The +first has an affinity to our own system, as connected with these leases; +the last never existed among us at all. When the knight's service, or +military tenures of England were converted into free soccage, in the +reign of Charles II., the concession was considered of a character so +favourable to liberty as to be classed among the great measures of the +time; one of which was the _habeas corpus_ act! + +The only feature of our own leases, in the least approaching "villian +soccage," is that of the "day's works." But every one acquainted with +the habits of American life, will understand that husbandmen, in +general, throughout the northern States, would regard it as an advantage +to be able to pay their debts in this way; and the law gives them an +option, since a failure to pay "in kind," or "in work," merely incurs +the forfeiture of paying what the particular thing is worth, in money. +In point of fact, money has always been received for these "day's +works," and at a stipulated price. + +But, it is pretended, whatever may be the equity of these leasehold +contracts, they are offensive to the tenants, and ought to be abrogated, +for the peace of the State. The State is bound to make all classes of +men respect its laws, and in nothing more so than in the fulfilment of +their legal contracts. The greater the number of the offenders, the +higher the obligation to act with decision and efficiency. To say that +these disorganizers _ought_ not to be put down, is to say that crime is +to obtain impunity by its own extent; and to say that they _cannot_ be +put down "under our form of government," is a direct admission that the +government is unequal to the discharge of one of the plainest and +commonest obligations of all civilized society. If this be really so, +the sooner we get rid of the present form of government the better. The +notion of remedying _such_ an evil by concession, is as puerile as it is +dishonest. The larger the concessions become, the greater will be the +exactions of a cormorant cupidity. As soon as quiet is obtained by these +means, in reference to the leasehold tenures, it will be demanded by +some fresh combination to attain some other end. + +When Lee told Washington, at Monmouth, "Sir, your troops will not stand +against British grenadiers," Washington is said to have answered, "Sir, +you have never tried them." The same reply might be given to those +miserable traducers of this republic, who, in order to obtain votes, +affect to think there is not sufficient energy in its government to put +down so bare-faced an attempt as this of the anti-renters to alter the +conditions of their own leases to suit their own convenience. The county +of Delaware has, of itself, nobly given the lie to the assertion, the +honest portion of its inhabitants scattering the knaves to the four +winds, the moment there was a fair occasion made for them to act. A +single, energetic proclamation from Albany, calling a "spade a spade," +and not affecting to gloss over the disguised robbery of these +anti-renters, and laying just principles fairly before the public mind, +would of itself have crushed the evil in its germ. The people of New +York, in their general capacity, are not the knaves their servants +evidently suppose. + +The assembly of New York, in its memorable session of 1846, has taxed +the rents on long leases; thus, not only taxing the same property twice, +but imposing the worst sort of income-tax, or one aimed at a few +individuals. It has "thimble-rigged" in its legislation, as Mr. Hugh +Littlepage not unaptly terms it; endeavouring to do that indirectly, +which the Constitution will not permit it to do directly. In other +words, as it can pass no direct law "impairing the obligation of +contracts," while it _can_ regulate descents, it has enacted, so far as +one body of the legislature has power to enact anything, that on the +_death_ of a landlord the tenant may convert his lease into a mortgage, +on discharging which he shall hold his land in fee! + +We deem the first of these measures far more tyrannical than the attempt +of Great Britain to tax her colonies, which brought about the +revolution. It is of the same general character, that of unjust +taxation; while it is attended by circumstances of aggravation that +were altogether wanting in the policy of the mother country. This is not +a tax for revenue, which is not needed; but a tax to "choke off" the +landlords, to use a common American phrase. It is clearly taxing +_nothing_, or it is taxing the same property twice. It is done to +conciliate three or four thousand voters, who are now in the market, at +the expense of three or four hundred who, it is known, are not to be +bought. It is unjust in its motives, its means and its end. The measure +is discreditable to civilization, and an outrage on liberty. + +But, the other law mentioned is an atrocity so grave, as to alarm every +man of common principle in the State, were it not so feeble in its +devices to cheat the Constitution, as to excite contempt. This +extraordinary power is exercised because the legislature _can_ control +the law of descents, though it cannot "impair the obligation of +contracts!" Had the law said at once that on the death of a landlord +each of his tenants should _own_ his farm in fee, the ensemble of the +fraud would have been preserved, since the "law of descents" would have +been so far regulated as to substitute one heir for another; but +changing the _nature_ of a contract, with a party who has nothing to do +with the succession at all, is not so very clearly altering, or +amending, the law of descents! It is scarcely necessary to say that +every reputable court in the country, whether State or Federal, would +brand such a law with the disgrace it merits. + +But the worst feature of this law, or attempted law, remains to be +noticed. It would have been a premium on murder. Murder _has_ already +been committed by these anti-renters, and that obviously to effect +their ends; and they were to be told that whenever you shoot a landlord, +as some have already often shot _at_ them, you can convert your +leasehold tenures into tenures in fee! The mode of valuation is so +obvious, too, as to deserve a remark. A master was to settle the +valuation on testimony. The witnesses of course would be "the +neighbours," and a whole patent could swear for each other! + +As democrats we protest most solemnly against such bare-faced frauds, +such palpable cupidity and covetousness being termed anything but what +they are. If they come of any party at all, it is the party of the +devil. Democracy is a lofty and noble sentiment. It does not rob the +poor to make the rich richer, nor the rich to favour the poor. It is +just, and treats all men alike. It does not "impair the obligations of +contracts." It is not the friend of a canting legislation, but, meaning +right, dare act directly. There is no greater delusion than to suppose +that true democracy has anything in common with injustice or roguery. + +Nor is it an apology for anti-rentism, in any of its aspects, to say +that leasehold tenures are inexpedient. The most expedient thing in +existence is to do right. Were there no other objection to this +anti-rent movement than its corrupting influence, that alone should set +every wise man in the community firmly against it. We have seen too much +of this earth, to be so easily convinced that there is any disadvantage, +nay that there is not a positive advantage in the existence of large +leasehold estates, when they carry with them no political power, as is +the fact here. The common-place argument against them, that they defeat +the civilization of a country, is not sustained by fact. The most +civilized countries on earth are under this system; and this system, +too, not entirely free from grave objections which do not exist among +ourselves. That a poorer class of citizens have originally leased than +have purchased lands in New York, is probably true; and it is equally +probable that the effects of this poverty, and even of the tenure in the +infancy of a country, are to be traced on the estates. But this is +taking a very one-sided view of the matter. The men who became tenants +in moderate but comfortable circumstances, would have been mostly +labourers on the farms of others, but for these leasehold tenures. That +is the benefit of the system in a new country, and the ultra friend of +humanity, who decries the condition of a tenant, should remember that if +he had not been in this very condition, he might have been in a worse. +It is, indeed, one of the proofs of the insincerity of those who are +decrying leases, on account of their aristocratic tendencies, that their +destruction will necessarily condemn a numerous class of agriculturists, +either to fall back into the ranks of the peasant or day-labourer, or to +migrate, as is the case with so many of the same class in New England. +In point of fact, the relation of landlord and tenant is one entirely +natural and salutary, in a wealthy community, and one that is so much in +accordance with the necessities of men, that no legislation can long +prevent it. A state of things which will not encourage the rich to hold +real estate would not be desirable, since it would be diverting their +money, knowledge, liberality, feelings and leisure, from the +improvement of the soil, to objects neither so useful nor so +praiseworthy. + +The notion that every husbandman is to be a freeholder, is as Utopian in +practice, as it would be to expect that all men were to be on the same +level in fortune, condition, education and habits. As such a state of +things as the last never yet did exist, it was probably never designed +by divine wisdom that it should exist. The whole structure of society +must be changed, even in this country, ere it could exist among +ourselves, and the change would not have been made a month before the +utter impracticability of such a social fusion would make itself felt by +all. + +We have elsewhere imputed much of the anti-rent feeling to provincial +education and habits. This term has given the deepest offence to those +who were most obnoxious to the charge. Nevertheless, our opinion is +unchanged. We know that the distance between the cataract of Niagara and +the Massachusetts line is a large hundred leagues, and that it is as +great between Sandy Hook and the 45th parallel of latitude. Many +excellent things, moral and physical, are to be found within these +limits, beyond a question; but we happen to know by an experience that +has extended to other quarters of the world, for a term now exceeding +forty years, that more are to be found beyond them. If "honourable +gentlemen" at Albany fancy the reverse, they must still permit us to +believe they are too much under the influence of provincial notions. + + + + +THE REDSKINS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and + She said--Thou wert my daughter; and thy father + Was duke of Milan; and his only heir + A princess;--no worse issued." + + _Tempest._ + + +My uncle Ro and myself had been travelling together in the East, and had +been absent from home fully five years, when we reached Paris. For +eighteen months neither of us had seen a line from America, when we +drove through the barriers, on our way from Egypt, via Algiers, +Marseilles, and Lyons. Not once, in all that time, had we crossed our +own track, in a way to enable us to pick up a straggling letter; and all +our previous precautions to have the epistles meet us at different +bankers in Italy, Turkey, and Malta, were thrown away. + +My uncle was an old traveller--I might almost say, an old resident--in +Europe; for he had passed no less than twenty years of his fifty-nine +off the American continent. A bachelor, with nothing to do but to take +care of a very ample estate, which was rapidly increasing in value by +the enormous growth of the town of New York, and with tastes early +formed by travelling, it was natural he should seek those regions where +he most enjoyed himself. Hugh Roger Littlepage was born in 1786--the +second son of my grandfather, Mordaunt Littlepage, and of Ursula +Malbone, his wife. My own father, Malbone Littlepage, was the eldest +child of that connexion; and he would have inherited the property of +Ravensnest, in virtue of his birthright, had he survived his own +parents; but, dying young, I stepped into what would otherwise have been +his succession, in my eighteenth year. My uncle Ro, however, had got +both Satanstoe and Lilacsbush; two country-houses and farms, which, +while they did not aspire to the dignity of being estates, were likely +to prove more valuable, in the long run, than the broad acres which were +intended for the patrimony of the elder brother. My grandfather was +affluent; for not only had the fortune of the Littlepages centred in +him, but so did that of the Mordaunts, the wealthier family of the two, +together with some exceedingly liberal bequests from a certain Col. +Dirck Follock, or Van Valkenburgh; who, though only a very distant +connexion, chose to make my great-grandmother's, or Anneke Mordaunt's, +descendants his heirs. We all had enough; my aunts having handsome +legacies, in the way of bonds and mortgages, on an estate called +Mooseridge, in addition to some lots in town; while my own sister, +Martha, had a clear fifty thousand dollars in money. I had town-lots, +also, which were becoming productive; and a special minority of seven +years had made an accumulation of cash that was well vested in New York +State stock, and which promised well for the future. I say a "special" +minority; for both my father and grandfather, in placing, the one, +myself and a portion of the property, and the other the remainder of my +estate, under the guardianship and ward of my uncle, had made a +provision that I was not to come into possession until I had completed +my twenty-fifth year. + +I left college at twenty; and my uncle Ro, for so Martha and myself +always called him, and so he was always called by some twenty cousins, +the offspring of our three aunts;--but my uncle Ro, when I was done with +college, proposed to finish my education by travelling. As this was only +too agreeable to a young man, away we went, just after the pressure of +the great panic of 1836-7 was over, and our "lots" were in tolerable +security, and our stocks safe. In America it requires almost as much +vigilance to _take care_ of property, as it does industry to acquire it. + +Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage--by the way, I bore the same name, though I +was always called Hugh, while my uncle went by the different +appellations of Roger, Ro, and Hodge, among his familiars, as +circumstances had rendered the associations sentimental, affectionate, +or manly--Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, Senior, then, had a system of his +own, in the way of aiding the scales to fall from American eyes, by +means of seeing more clearly than one does, or can, at home, let him +belong where he may, and in clearing the specks of provincialism from +off the diamond of republican water. He had already seen enough to +ascertain that while "our country," as this blessed nation is very apt +on all occasions, appropriate or not, to be called by all who belong to +it, as well as by a good many who do not, could teach a great deal to +the old world, there was a possibility--just a _possibility_, remark, is +my word--that it might also learn a little. With a view, therefore, of +acquiring knowledge seriatim, as it might be, he was for beginning with +the hornbook, and going on regularly up to the belles-lettres and +mathematics. The manner in which this was effected deserves a notice. + +Most American travellers land in England, the country farthest advanced +in material civilization; then proceed to Italy, and perhaps to Greece, +leaving Germany, and the less attractive regions of the north, to come +in at the end of the chapter. My uncle's theory was to follow the order +of time, and to begin with the ancients and end with the moderns; +though, in adopting such a rule, he admitted he somewhat lessened the +pleasure of the novice; since an American, fresh from the fresher fields +of the western continent, might very well find delight in memorials of +the past, more especially in England, which pall on his taste, and +appear insignificant, after he has become familiar with the Temple of +Neptune, the Parthenon, or what is left of it, and the Coliseum. I make +no doubt that I lost a great deal of passing happiness in this way, by +beginning at the beginning, or by beginning in Italy, and travelling +north. + +Such was our course, however; and, landing at Leghorn, we did the +peninsula effectually in a twelvemonth; thence passed through Spain up +to Paris, and proceeded on to Moscow and the Baltic, reaching England +from Hamburg. When we had got through with the British isles, the +antiquities of which seemed flat and uninteresting to me, after having +seen those that were so much more _antique_, we returned to Paris, in +order that I might become a man of the world, if possible, by rubbing +off the provincial specks that had unavoidably adhered to the American +diamond while in its obscurity. + +My uncle Ro was fond of Paris, and he had actually become the owner of a +small hotel in the faubourg, in which he retained a handsome furnished +apartment for his own use. The remainder of the house was let to +permanent tenants; but the whole of the first floor, and of the +_entresol_, remained in his hands. As a special favour, he would allow +some American family to occupy even his own apartment--or rather +_appartement_, for the words are not exactly synonymous--when he +intended to be absent for a term exceeding six months, using the money +thus obtained in keeping the furniture in repair, and his handsome suite +of rooms, including a _salon_, _salle a manger_, _ante-chambre_, +_cabinet_, several _chambres a coucher_, and a _boudoir_--yes, a male +_boudoir_! for so he affected to call it--in a condition to please even +his fastidiousness. + +On our arrival from England, we remained an entire season at Paris, all +that time rubbing the specks off the diamond, when my uncle suddenly +took it into his head that we ought to see the East. He had never been +further than Greece, himself; and he now took a fancy to be my companion +in such an excursion. We were gone two years and a half, visiting +Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Petra, the Red Sea, +Egypt quite to the second cataracts, and nearly the whole of Barbary. +The latter region we threw in, by way of seeing something out of the +common track. But so many hats and travelling-caps are to be met with, +now-a-days, among the turbans, that a well-mannered Christian may get +along almost anywhere without being spit upon. This is a great +inducement for travelling generally, and ought to be so especially to an +American, who, on the whole, incurs rather more risk now of suffering +this humiliation at home, than he would even in Algiers. But the animus +is everything in morals. + +We had, then, been absent two years and a half from Paris, and had not +seen a paper or received a letter from America in eighteen months, when +we drove through the barrier. Even the letters and papers received or +seen previously to this last term, were of a private nature, and +contained nothing of a general character. The "twenty millions"--it was +only the other day they were called the "twelve millions"--but, the +"twenty millions," we knew, had been looking up amazingly after the +temporary depression of the moneyed crisis it had gone through; and the +bankers had paid our drafts with confidence, and without extra charges, +during the whole time we had been absent. It is true, Uncle Ro, as an +experienced traveller, went well fortified in the way of credit--a +precaution by no means unnecessary with Americans, after the cry that +had been raised against us in the old world. + +And here I wish to say one thing plainly, before I write another line. +As for falling into the narrow, self-adulatory, provincial feeling of +the American who has never left his mother's apron-string, and which +causes him to swallow, open-mouthed, all the nonsense that is uttered to +the world in the columns of newspapers, or in the pages of your yearling +travellers, who go on "excursions" before they are half instructed in +the social usages and the distinctive features of their own country, I +hope I shall be just as far removed from such a weakness, in any passing +remark that may flow from my pen, as from the crime of confounding +principles and denying facts in a way to do discredit to the land of my +birth and that of my ancestors. I have lived long enough in the "world," +not meaning thereby the south-east corner of the north-west township of +Connecticut, to understand that we are a vast way behind older nations, +in _thought_ as well as deed, in many things; while, on the opposite +hand, they are a vast way behind us in others. I see no patriotism in +concealing a wholesome truth; and least of all shall I be influenced by +the puerility of a desire to hide anything of this nature, because I +cannot communicate it to my countrymen without communicating it to the +rest of the world. If England or France had acted on this narrow +principle, where would have been their Shakspeares, their Sheridans, +their Beaumonts and Fletchers, and their Molieres! No, no! great +national truths are not to be treated as the gossiping surmises of +village crones. He who reads what I _write_, therefore, must expect to +find what I _think_ of matters and things, and not exactly what he may +happen to think on the same subjects. Any one is at liberty to compare +opinions with me; but I ask the privilege of possessing some small +liberty of conscience in what is, far and near, proclaimed to be the +_only_ free country on the earth. By "far and near," I mean from the St. +Croix to the Rio Grande, and from Cape Cod to the entrance of St. Juan +de Fuca; and a pretty farm it makes, the "interval" that lies between +these limits! One may call it "far and near" without the imputation of +obscurity, or that of vanity. + +Our tour was completed, in spite of all annoyances; and here we were +again, within the walls of magnificent Paris! The postilions had been +told to drive to the hotel, in the rue St. Dominique; and we sat down to +dinner, an hour after our arrival, under our own roof. My uncle's tenant +had left the apartment a month before, according to agreement; and the +porter and his wife had engaged a cook, set the rooms in order, and +prepared everything for our arrival. + +"It must be owned, Hugh," said my uncle, as he finished his soup that +day, "one _may_ live quite comfortably in Paris, if he possess the +_savoir vivre_. Nevertheless, I have a strong desire to get a taste of +native air. One may say and think what he pleases about the Paris +pleasures, and the Paris _cuisine_, and all that sort of things; but +"home is home, be it ever so homely." A 'd'Inde aux truffes' is capital +eating; so is a turkey with cranberry sauce. I sometimes think I could +fancy even a pumpkin pie, though there is not a fragment of the rock of +Plymouth in the granite of my frame." + +"I have always told you, sir, that America is a capital eating and +drinking country, let it want civilization in other matters, as much as +it may." + +"Capital for eating and drinking, Hugh, if you can keep clear of the +grease, in the first place, and find a real cook, in the second. There +is as much difference between the cookery of New England, for instance, +and that of the Middle States, barring the Dutch, as there is between +that of England and Germany. The cookery of the Middle States, and of +the Southern States, too, though that savours a little of the West +Indies--but the cookery of the Middle States is English, in its best +sense; meaning the hearty, substantial, savoury dishes of the English in +their true domestic life, with their roast-beef underdone, their +beefsteaks done to a turn, their chops full of gravy, their +mutton-broth, legs-of-mutton, _et id omne genus_. We have some capital +things of our own, too; such as canvass-backs, reedbirds, sheepshead, +shad, and blackfish. The difference between New England and the Middle +States is still quite observable, though in my younger days it was +_patent_. I suppose the cause has been the more provincial origin, and +the more provincial habits, of our neighbours. By George! Hugh, one +could fancy clam-soup just now, eh!" + +"Clam-soup, sir, well made, is one of the most delicious soups in the +world. If the cooks of Paris could get hold of the dish, it would set +them up for a whole season." + +"What is 'creme de Baviere,' and all such nick-nacks, boy, to a good +plateful of clam-soup? Well made, as you say--made as a cook of Jennings +used to make it, thirty years since. Did I ever mention that fellow's +soup to you before, Hugh?" + +"Often, sir. I have tasted very excellent clam-soup, however, that he +never saw. Of course you mean soup just flavoured by the little +hard-clam--none of your vulgar _potage_ a la soft-clam?" + +"Soft-clams be hanged! they are not made for gentlemen to eat. Of course +I mean the hard-clam, and the small clam, too-- + + Here's your fine clams, + As white as snow; + On Rockaway + These clams do grow. + +The cries of New York are quite going out, like everything else at home +that is twenty years old. Shall I send you some of this eternal _poulet +a la Marengo?_ I wish it were honest American boiled fowl, with a +delicate bit of shoat-pork alongside of it. I feel amazingly _homeish_ +this evening, Hugh!" + +"It is quite natural, my dear uncle Ro; and I own to the 'soft +impeachment' myself. Here have we both been absent from our native land +five years, and half that time almost without hearing from it. We know +that Jacob"--this was a free negro who served my uncle, a relic of the +old domestic system of the colonies, whose name would have been Jaaf, or +Yop, thirty years before--"has gone to our banker's for letters and +papers; and that naturally draws our thoughts to the other side of the +Atlantic. I dare say we shall both feel relieved at breakfast to-morrow, +when we shall have read our respective despatches." + +"Come, let us take a glass of wine together, in the good old York +fashion, Hugh. Your father and I, when boys, never thought of wetting +our lips with the half-glass of Madeira that fell to our share, without +saying, 'Good health, Mall!' 'Good health, Hodge!'" + +"With all my heart, uncle Ro. The custom was getting to be a little +obsolete even before I left home; but it is almost an American custom, +by sticking to us longer than to most people." + +"Henri!" + +This was my uncle's maitre d'hotel, whom he had kept at board-wages the +whole time of our absence, in order to make sure of his ease, quiet, +taste, skill, and honesty, on his return. + +"Monsieur!" + +"I dare say"--my uncle spoke French exceedingly well for a foreigner; +but it is better to translate what he said as we go--"I dare say this +glass of vin de Bourgogne is very good; it _looks_ good, and it came +from a wine-merchant on whom I can rely; but Mons. Hugh and I are going +to drink together, a l'Americaine, and I dare say you will let us have a +glass of Madeira, though it is somewhat late in the dinner to take it." + +"Tres volontiers, Messieurs--it is my happiness to oblige you." + +Uncle Ro and I took the Madeira together; but I cannot say much in +favour of its quality. + +"What a capital thing is a good Newtown pippin!" exclaimed my uncle, +after eating a while in silence. "They talk a great deal about their +_poire beurree_, here at Paris; but, to my fancy, it will not compare +with the Newtowners we grow at Satanstoe, where, by the way, the fruit +is rather better, I think, than that one finds across the river, at +Newtown itself." + +"They are capital apples, sir; and your orchard at Satanstoe is one of +the best I know, or rather what is left of it; for I believe a portion +of your trees are in what is now a suburb of Dibbletonborough?" + +"Yes, blast that place! I wish I had never parted with a foot of the old +neck, though I did rather make money by the sale. But money is no +compensation for the affections." + +"_Rather_ make money, my dear sir! Pray, may I ask what Satanstoe was +valued at, when you got it from my grandfather?" + +"Pretty well up, Hugh; for it was, and indeed _is_, a first-rate farm. +Including sedges and salt-meadows, you will remember that there are +quite five hundred acres of it, altogether." + +"Which you inherited in 1829?" + +"Of course; that was the year of my father's death. Why, the place was +thought to be worth about thirty thousand dollars at that time; but land +was rather low in Westchester in 1829." + +"And you sold two hundred acres, including the point, the harbour, and a +good deal of the sedges, for the moderate modicum of one hundred and ten +thousand, cash. A tolerable sale, sir!" + +"No, not cash. I got only eighty thousand down, while thirty thousand +were secured by mortgage." + +"Which mortgage you hold yet, I dare say, if the truth were told, +covering the whole city of Dibbletonborough. A city ought to be good +security for thirty thousand dollars?" + +"It is not, nevertheless, in this case. The speculators who bought of me +in 1835 laid out their town, built a hotel, a wharf, and a warehouse, +and then had an auction. They sold four hundred lots, each twenty-five +feet by a hundred, regulation size, you see, at an average of two +hundred and fifty dollars, receiving one-half, or fifty thousand +dollars, down, and leaving the balance on mortgage. Soon after this, the +bubble burst, and the best lot at Dibbletonborough would not bring, +under the hammer, twenty dollars. The hotel and the warehouse stand +alone in their glory, and will thus stand until they fall, which will +not be a thousand years hence, I rather think." + +"And what is the condition of the town-plot?" + +"Bad enough. The landmarks are disappearing; and it would cost any man +who should attempt it, the value of his lot, to hire a surveyor to find +his twenty-five by a hundred." + +"But your mortgage is good?" + +"Ay, good in one sense; but it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer to +foreclose it. Why, the equitable interests in that town-plot, people the +place of themselves. I ordered my agent to commence buying up the +rights, as the shortest process of getting rid of them; and he told me +in the very last letter I received, that he had succeeded in purchasing +the titles to three hundred and seventeen of the lots, at an average +price of ten dollars. The remainder, I suppose, will have to be +absorbed." + +"Absorbed! That is a process I never heard of, as applied to land." + +"There is a good deal of it done, notwithstanding, in America. It is +merely including within your own possession, adjacent land for which no +claimant appears. What can I do? No owners are to be found; and then my +mortgage is always a title. A possession of twenty years under a +mortgage is as good as a deed in fee-simple, with full covenants of +warranty, barring minors and _femmes covert_." + +"You did better by Lilacsbush?" + +"Ah, _that_ was a clean transaction, and has left no drawbacks. +Lilacsbush being on the island of Manhattan, one is sure there will be a +town there, some day or other. It is true, the property lies quite eight +miles from the City Hall; nevertheless, it has a value, and can always +be sold at something near it. Then the plan of New York is made and +recorded, and one can find his lots. Nor can any man say when the town +will not reach Kingsbridge." + +"You got a round price for the Bush, too, I have heard, sir?" + +"I got three hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, in hard cash. I +would give no credit, and have every dollar of the money, at this +moment, in good six per cent. stock of the States of New York and Ohio." + +"Which some persons in this part of the world would fancy to be no very +secure investment." + +"More fools they. America is a glorious country, after all, Hugh; and it +is a pride and a satisfaction to belong to it. Look back at it, as I +can remember it, a nation spit upon by all the rest of Christendom----" + +"You must at least own, my dear sir," I put in, somewhat pertly, +perhaps, "the example might tempt other people; for, if ever there was a +nation that is assiduously spitting on itself, it is our own beloved +land." + +"True, it has that nasty custom in excess, and it grows worse instead of +better, as the influence of the better mannered and better educated +diminishes; but this is a spot on the sun--a mere flaw in the diamond, +that friction will take out. But what a country--what a glorious +country, in truth, it is! You have now done the civilized parts of the +old world pretty thoroughly, my dear boy, and must be persuaded, +yourself, of the superiority of your native land." + +"I remember you have always used this language, uncle Ro; yet have you +passed nearly one-half of your time _out_ of that glorious country, +since you have reached man's estate." + +"The mere consequence of accidents and tastes. I do not mean that +America is a country for a bachelor, to begin with; the means of +amusement for those who have no domestic hearths, are too limited for +the bachelor. Nor do I mean that society in America, in its ordinary +meaning, is in any way as well-ordered, as tasteful, as well-mannered, +as agreeable, or as instructive and useful, as society in almost any +European country I know. I have never supposed that the man of leisure, +apart from the affections, could ever enjoy himself half as much at +home, as he may enjoy himself in this part of the world; and I am +willing to admit that, intellectually, most gentlemen in a great +European capital live as much in one day, as they would live in a week +in such places as New York, and Philadelphia, and Baltimore." + +"You do not include Boston, I perceive, sir." + +"Of Boston I say nothing. They take the mind hard, there, and we had +better let such a state of things alone. But as respects a man or woman +of leisure, a man or woman of taste, a man or woman of refinement +generally, I am willing enough to admit that, _caeteris paribus_, each +can find far more enjoyment in Europe than in America. But the +philosopher, the philanthropist, the political economist--in a word, +the patriot, may well exult in such elements of profound national +superiority as may be found in America." + +"I hope these elements are not so profound but they can be dug up at +need, uncle Ro?" + +"There will be little difficulty in doing that, my boy. Look at the +equality of the laws, to begin with. They are made on the principles of +natural justice, and are intended for the benefit of society--for the +poor as well as the rich." + +"Are they also intended for the rich as well as the poor?" + +"Well, I will grant you a slight blemish is beginning to appear, in that +particular. It is a failing incidental to humanity, and we must not +expect perfection. There is certainly a slight disposition to legislate +for numbers, in order to obtain support at the polls, which has made the +relation of debtor and creditor a little insecure, possibly; but +prudence can easily get along with that. It is erring on the right side, +is it not, to favour the poor instead of the rich, if either is to be +preferred?" + +"Justice would favour neither, but treat all alike. I have always heard +that the tyranny of numbers was the worst tyranny in the world." + +"Perhaps it is, where there is actually tyranny, and for a very obvious +reason. One tyrant is sooner satisfied than a million, and has even a +greater sense of responsibility. I can easily conceive that the Czar +himself, if disposed to be a tyrant, which I am far from thinking to be +the case with Nicholas, might hesitate about doing that, under his +undivided responsibility, which one of our majorities would do, without +even being conscious of the oppression it exercised, or caring at all +about it. But, on the whole, we do little of the last, and not in the +least enough to counterbalance the immense advantages of the system." + +"I have heard very discreet men say that the worst symptom of our system +is the gradual decay of justice among us. The judges have lost most of +their influence, and the jurors are getting to be law-makers, as well as +law-breakers." + +"There is a good deal of truth in that, I will acknowledge, also; and +you hear it asked constantly, in a case of any interest, not which party +is in the right, but _who_ is on the jury. But I contend for no +perfection; all I say is, that the country is a glorious country, and +that you and I have every reason to be proud that old Hugh Roger, our +predecessor and namesake, saw fit to transplant himself into it, a +century and a half since." + +"I dare say now, uncle Ro, it would strike most Europeans as singular that +a man should be proud of having been born an American--Manhattanese, as +you and I both were." + +"All that may be true, for there have been calculated attempts to bring +us into discredit of late, by harping on the failure of certain States +to pay the interest on their debts. But all that is easily answered, and +more so by you and me as New Yorkers. There is not a nation in Europe +that would pay its interest, if those who are taxed to do so had the +control of these taxes, and the power to say whether they were to be +levied or not." + +"I do not see how that mends the matter. These countries tell us that +such is the effect of your _system_ there, while we are too honest to +allow such a system to _exist_ in this part of the world." + +"Pooh! all gammon, that. They prevent the existence of our system for +very different reasons, and they coerce the payment of the interest on +their debts that they may borrow more. This business of repudiation, as +it is called, however, has been miserably misrepresented; and there is +no answering a falsehood by an argument. No American State has +repudiated its debt, that I know of, though several have been unable to +meet their engagements as they have fallen due." + +"_Unable_, uncle Ro?" + +"Yes, _unable_--that is the precise word. Take Pennsylvania, for +instance; that is one of the richest communities in the civilized world; +its coal and iron alone would make any country affluent, and a portion +of its agricultural population is one of the most affluent I know of. +Nevertheless, Pennsylvania, owing to a concurrence of events, _could_ +not pay the interest on her debt for two years and a half, though she is +doing it now, and will doubtless continue to do it. The sudden breaking +down of that colossal moneyed institution, the _soi-disant_ Bank of the +United States, after it ceased to be in reality a bank of the +government, brought about such a state of the circulation as rendered +payment, by any of the ordinary means known to government, _impossible_. +I know what I say, and repeat _impossible_. It is well known that many +persons, accustomed to affluence, had to carry their plate to the mint, +in order to obtain money to go to market. Then something may be +attributed to the institutions, without disparaging a people's honesty. +Our institutions are popular, just as those of France are the reverse; +and the people, they who were on the spot--the home creditor, with his +account unpaid, and with his friends and relatives in the legislature, +and present to aid him, contended for his own money, before any should +be sent abroad." + +"Was that exactly right, sir?" + +"Certainly not; it was exactly wrong, but very particularly natural. Do +you suppose the King of France would not take the money for his civil +list, if circumstances should compel the country to suspend on the debt +for a year or two, or the ministers their salaries? My word for it, each +and all of them would prefer themselves as creditors, and act +accordingly. Every one of these countries has suspended in some form or +other, and in many instances balanced the account with the sponge. Their +clamour against us is altogether calculated with a view to political +effect." + +"Still, I wish Pennsylvania, for instance, had continued to pay, at +every hazard." + +"It is well enough to wish, Hugh; but it is wishing for an +impossibility. Then you and I, as New Yorkers, have nothing to do with +the debt of Pennsylvania, no more than London would have to do with the +debt of Dublin or Quebec. _We_ have always paid _our_ interest, and, +what is more, paid it more honestly, if honesty be the point, than even +England has paid hers. When _our_ banks suspended, the State paid its +interest in as much paper as would buy the specie in open market; +whereas England made paper legal tender, and paid the interest on her +debt in it for something like five-and-twenty years, and, that, too, +when her paper was at a large discount. I knew of one American who held +near a million of dollars in the English debt, on which he had to take +unconvertible paper for the interest for a long series of years. No, no! +this is all gammon, Hugh, and is not to be regarded as making us a whit +worse than our neighbours. The equality of our laws is the fact in +which I glory!" + +"If the rich stood as fair a chance as the poor, uncle Ro." + +"There _is_ a screw loose there, I must confess; but it amounts to no +great matter." + +"Then the late bankrupt law?" + +"Ay, that was an infernal procedure--that much I will acknowledge, too. +It was special legislation enacted to pay particular debts, and the law +was repealed as soon as it had done its duty. That is a much darker spot +in our history than what is called repudiation, though perfectly honest +men voted for it." + +"Did you ever hear of a farce they got up about it at New York, just +after we sailed?" + +"Never; what was it, Hugh? though American plays are pretty much all +farces." + +"This was a little better than common, and, on the whole, really clever. +It is the old story of Faust, in which a young spendthrift sells +himself, soul and body, to the devil. On a certain evening, as he is +making merry with a set of wild companions, his creditor arrives, and, +insisting on seeing the master, is admitted by the servant. He comes on, +club-footed and behorned, as usual, and betailed, too, I believe; but +Tom is not to be scared by trifles. He insists on his guest's being +seated, on his taking a glass of wine, and then on Dick's finishing his +song. But, though the rest of the company had signed no bonds to Satan, +they had certain outstanding book-debts, which made them excessively +uncomfortable; and the odour of brimstone being rather strong, Tom +arose, approached his guest, and desired to know the nature of the +particular business he had mentioned to his servant. 'This bond, sir,' +said Satan, significantly. 'This bond? what of it, pray? It seems all +right.' 'Is not that your signature?' 'I admit it.' 'Signed in your +blood?' 'A conceit of your own; I told you at the time that ink was just +as good in law.' 'It is past due, seven minutes and fourteen seconds.' +'So it is, I declare! but what of that?' 'I demand payment.' 'Nonsense! +no one thinks of paying now-a-days. Why, even Pennsylvania and Maryland +don't pay.' 'I insist on payment.' 'Oh! you do, do you?' Tom draws a +paper from his pocket, and adds, magnificently, 'There, then, if you're +so urgent--there is a discharge under the new bankrupt law, signed Smith +Thompson.' This knocked the devil into a cocked-hat at once." + +My uncle laughed heartily at my story; but, instead of taking the matter +as I had fancied he might, it made him think better of the country than +ever. + +"Well, Hugh, we have wit among us, it must be confessed," he cried, with +the tears running down his cheeks, "if we have some rascally laws, and +some rascals to administer them. But here comes Jacob with his letters +and papers--I declare, the fellow has a large basket-full." + +Jacob, a highly respectable black, and the great-grandson of an old +negro named Jaaf, or Yop, who was then living on my own estate at +Ravensnest, had just then entered, with the porter and himself lugging +in the basket in question. There were several hundred newspapers, and +quite a hundred letters. The sight brought home and America clearly and +vividly before us; and, having nearly finished the dessert, we rose to +look at the packages. It was no small task to sort our mail, there being +so many letters and packages to be divided. + +"Here are some newspapers I never saw before," said my uncle, as he +tumbled over the pile; "'The Guardian of the Soil'--that must have +something to do with Oregon." + +"I dare say it has, sir. Here are at least a dozen letters from my +sister." + +"Ay, _your_ sister is single, and can still think of her brother; but +mine are married, and one letter a-year would be a great deal. This is +my dear old mother's hand, however; that is something. Ursula Malbone +would never forget her child. Well, _bon soir_, Hugh. Each of us has +enough to do for one evening." + +"_Au revoir_, sir. We shall meet at ten to-morrow, when we can compare +our news, and exchange gossip." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + "Why droops my lord, like over-ripen'd 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 +four-score; 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 newcomers of my day, who had +appeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered their odours +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 allusion, 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 for ever, reserving an 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 +neighbourhood, 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 danger themselves. In order that you may not only understand me, +but may understand facts that are of the last importance to your own +pocket, 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 entrusted 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 favour 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 over-ruling 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 clamour, 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 favourable view of humanity, sir." + +"I speak of the world as I have found it in both hemispheres, or, as +your neighbour 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 colour 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 debts 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 afterwards. 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 guarantied _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 recognise 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 favourable 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 for ever: 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 for ever. 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, either +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 is 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, has 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 half a +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 recognise either. I have seen ministers of the +gospel just as dogged, just as regardless of general morality, and just +as indifferent 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 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 guarantied 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 in 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 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 interests; 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 +favourable 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 some new estate, 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 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 honourable 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 +honoured 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. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + "O, when shall I visit the land of my birth, + The loveliest land on the face of the earth? + When shall I those scenes of affection explore, + Our forests, our fountains, + Our hamlets, our mountains, + With the pride of our mountains, the maid I adore?" + + MONTGOMERY. + + +It was truly news for an American, who had been so long cut off from +intelligence from home, thus suddenly to be told that some of the scenes +of the middle ages--scenes connected with real wrongs and gross abuses +of human rights--were about to be enacted in his own land; that country +which boasted itself, not only to be the asylum of the oppressed, but +the conservator of the right. I was grieved at what I had heard, for, +during my travels, I had cherished a much-loved image of justice and +political excellence, that I now began to fear must be abandoned. My +uncle and myself decided at once to return home, a step that indeed was +required by prudence. I was now of an age to enter into the full +possession of my own property (so far as "new laws and new lords" would +permit); and the letters received by my late guardian, as well as +certain newspapers, communicated the unpleasant fact that a great many +of the tenants of Ravensnest had joined the association, paid tribute +for the support of "Injins," and were getting to be as bad as any of the +rest of them, so far as designs and schemes to plunder were concerned, +though they still paid their rents. The latter circumstance was ascribed +by our agent to the fact that many leases were about to fall in, and it +would be in my power to substitute more honest and better disposed +successors for the present occupants of the several farms. Measures were +taken accordingly for quitting Paris as soon as possible, so that we +might reach home late in the month of May. + +"If we had time, I would certainly throw in a memorial or two to the +legislature," observed my uncle, a day or two before we proceeded to +Havre to join the packet. "I have a strong desire to protest against the +invasion of my rights as a freeman that is connected with some of their +contemplated laws. I do not at all like the idea of being abridged of +the power of hiring a farm for the longest time I can obtain it, which +is one of the projects of some of the ultra reformers of free and equal +New York. It is wonderful, Hugh, into what follies men precipitate +themselves as soon as they begin to run into exaggerations, whether of +politics, religion, or tastes. Here are half of the exquisite +philanthropists who see a great evil affecting the rights of human +nature in one man's hiring a farm from another for as long a term as he +can obtain it, who are at the very extreme in their opinions on free +trade! So free-trade are some of the journals which think it a capital +thing to prevent landlords and tenants from making their own bargains, +that they have actually derided the idea of having established fares for +hackney-coaches, but that it would be better to let the parties stand in +the rain and higgle about the price, on the free-trade principle. Some +of these men are either active agents in stimulating the legislature to +rob the citizen of this very simple control of his property, or passive +lookers-on while others do it." + +"Votes, sir, votes." + +"It is, indeed, votes, sir, votes; nothing short of votes could +reconcile these men to their own inconsistencies. As for yourself, Hugh, +it might be well to get rid of that canopied pew----" + +"Of what canopied pew? I am sure I do not understand you." + +"Do you forget that the family-pew in St. Andrew's Church, at +Ravensnest, has a wooden canopy over it--a relic of our colonial +opinions and usages?" + +"Now you mention it, I do remember a very clumsy, and, to own the truth, +a very ugly thing, that I have always supposed was placed there, by +those who built the church, by way of ornament." + +"That ugly thing, by way of ornament, was intended for a sort of canopy, +and was by no means an uncommon distinction in the State and colony, as +recently as the close of the last century. The church was built at the +expense of my grandfather, Gen. Littlepage, and his bosom friend and +kinsman, Col. Dirck Follock, both good Whigs and gallant defenders of +the liberty of their country. They thought it proper that the +Littlepages should have a canopied pew, and that is the state in which +they caused the building to be presented to my father. The old work +still stands; and Dunning writes me that, among the other arguments used +against your interests, is the fact that your pew is thus distinguished +from those of the rest of the congregation." + +"It is a distinction no man would envy me, could it be known that I have +ever thought the clumsy, ill-shaped thing a nuisance, and detestable as +an ornament. I have never even associated it in my mind with personal +distinction, but have always supposed it was erected with a view to +embellish the building, and placed over our pew as the spot where such +an excrescence would excite the least envy." + +"In all that, with one exception, you have judged quite naturally. Forty +years ago, such a thing might have been done, and a majority of the +parishioners would have seen in it nothing out of place. But that day +has gone by; and you will discover that, on your own estate, and in the +very things created by your family and yourself, you will actually have +fewer rights of any sort, beyond those your money will purchase, than +any man around you. The simple fact that St. Andrew's Church was built +by your great-grandfather, and by him presented to the congregation, +will diminish your claim to have a voice in its affairs with many of the +congregation." + +"This is so extraordinary, that I musk ask the reason." + +"The reason is connected with a principle so obviously belonging to +human nature generally, and to American nature in particular, that I +wonder you ask it. It is envy. Did that pew belong to the Newcomes, for +instance, no one would think anything of it." + +"Nevertheless, the Newcomes would make themselves ridiculous by sitting +in a pew that was distinguished from those of their neighbours. The +absurdity of the contrast would strike every one." + +"And it is precisely because the absurdity does not exist in your case, +that your seat is envied. No one envies absurdity. However, you will +readily admit, Hugh, that a church, and a church-yard, are the two last +places in which human distinctions ought to be exhibited. All are equal +in the eyes of Him we go to the one to worship, and all are equal in the +grave. I have ever been averse to everything like worldly distinction in +a congregation, and admire the usage of the Romish Church in even +dispensing with pews altogether. Monuments speak to the world, and have +a general connexion with history, so that they may be tolerated to a +certain point, though notorious liars." + +"I agree with you, sir, as to the unfitness of a church for all +distinctions, and shall be happy on every account to get rid of my +canopy, though that has an historical connexion, also. I am quite +innocent of any feeling of pride while sitting under it, though I will +confess to some of shame at its quizzical shape, when I see it has +attracted the eyes of intelligent strangers." + +"It is but natural that you should feel thus; for, while we may miss +distinctions and luxuries to which we have ever been accustomed, they +rarely excite pride in the possessor, even while they awaken envy in the +looker-on." + +"Nevertheless, I cannot see what the old pew has to do with the rents, +or my legal rights." + +"When a cause is bad, everything is pressed into it that it is believed +may serve a turn. No man who had a good legal claim for property, would +ever think of urging any other; nor would any legislator who had sound +and sufficient reasons for his measures--reasons that could properly +justify him before God and man for his laws--have recourse to slang to +sustain him. If these anti-renters were right, they would have no need +of secret combinations, of disguises, blood-and-thunder names, and +special agents in the legislature of the land. The right requires no +false aid to make it appear the right; but the wrong must get such +support as it can press into its service. Your pew is called +aristocratic, though it confers no political power; it is called a +patent of nobility, though it neither gives nor takes away; and it is +hated, and you with it, for the very reason that you can sit in it and +not make yourself ridiculous. I suppose you have not examined very +closely the papers I gave you to read?" + +"Enough so to ascertain that they are filled with trash." + +"Worse than trash, Hugh; with some of the loosest principles, and most +atrocious feelings, that degrade poor human nature. Some of the +reformers propose that no man shall hold more than a thousand acres of +land, while others lay down the very intelligible and distinct principle +that no man ought to hold more than he can use. Even petitions to that +effect, I have been told, have been sent to the legislature." + +"Which has taken care not to allude to their purport, either in debate +or otherwise, as I see nothing to that effect in the reports." + +"Ay, I dare say the slang-whangers of those honourable bodies will +studiously keep all such enormities out of sight, as some of them +doubtless hope to step into the shoes of the present landlords, as soon +as they can get the feet out of them which are now in. But these are the +projects and the petitions in the columns of the journals, and they +speak for themselves. Among other things, they say it is nobility to be +a landlord." + +"I see by the letter of Mr. Dunning, that they have petitioned the +legislature to order an inquiry into my title. Now, we hold from the +crown----" + +"So much the worse, Hugh. Faugh! hold from a crown in a republican +country! I am amazed you are not ashamed to own it. Do you not know, +boy, that it has been gravely contended in a court of justice that, in +obtaining our national independence from the King of Great Britain, the +people conquered all his previous grants, which ought to be declared +void and of none effect?" + +"That is an absurdity of which I had not heard," I answered, laughing; +"why, the people of New York, who held all their lands under the crown, +would in that case have been conquering them for other persons! My good +grandfather and great-grandfather, both of whom actually fought and bled +in the revolution, must have been very silly thus to expose themselves +to take away their own estates, in order to give them to a set of +immigrants from New England and other parts of the world!" + +"Quite justly said, Hugh," added my uncle, joining in the laugh. "Nor is +this half of the argument. The State, too, in its corporate character, +has been playing swindler all this time. You may not know the fact, but +I as your guardian do know, that the quit-rents reserved by the crown +when it granted the lands of Mooseridge and Ravensnest, were claimed by +the State; and that, wanting money to save the people from taxes, it +commuted with us, receiving a certain gross sum in satisfaction of all +future claims." + +"Ay, _that_ I did not know. Can the fact be shown?" + +"Certainly--it is well known to all old fellows like myself, for it was +a very general measure, and very generally entered into by all the +landholders. In our case, the receipts are still to be found among the +family-papers. In the cases of the older estates, such as those of the +Van Rensselaers, the equity is still stronger in their favour, since the +conditions to hold the land included an obligation to bring so many +settlers from Europe within a given time; conditions that were fulfilled +at great cost, as you may suppose, and on which, in truth, the colony +had its foundation." + +"How much it tells against a people's honesty to wish to forget such +facts, in a case like this!" + +"There is nothing forgotten, for the facts were probably never known to +those who prate about the conquered rights from the crown. As you say, +however, the civilization of a community is to be measured by its +consciousness of the existence of all principles of justice, and a +familiarity with its own history. The great bulk of the population of +New York have no active desire to invade what is right in this anti-rent +struggle, having no direct interests at stake; _their_ crime is a +passive inactivity, which allows those who are either working for +political advancement, or those who are working to obtain other men's +property, to make use of them, through their own laws." + +"But is it not an embarrassment to such a region as that directly around +Albany, to have such tenures to the land, and for so large a body of +people to be compelled to pay rent, in the very heart of the State, as +it might be, and in situations that render it desirable to leave +enterprise as unshackled as possible?" + +"I am not prepared to admit this much, even, as a general principle. One +argument used by these anti-renters is, for instance, that the +patroons, in their leases, reserved the mill-seats. Now, what if they +did? Some one must own the mill-seats; and why not the Patroon as well +as another? To give the argument any weight, not as law, not as morals, +but as mere expediency, it must be shown that the patroons would not let +these mill-seats at as low rents as any one else; and my opinion is that +they would let them at rents of not half the amount that would be asked, +were they the property of so many individuals, scattered up and down the +country. But, admitting that so large an estate of this particular sort +has some inconveniences in that particular spot, can there be two +opinions among men of integrity about the mode of getting rid of it? +Everything has its price, and, in a business sense, everything is +entitled to its price. No people acknowledge this more than the +Americans, or practise on it so extensively. Let the Rensselaers be +tempted by such offers as will induce them to sell, but do not let them +be invaded by that most infernal of all acts of oppression, special +legislation, in order to bully or frighten them from the enjoyment of +what is rightfully their own. If the State think such a description of +property injurious in its heart, let the State imitate England in her +conduct towards the slave-holders--_buy_ them out; not _tax_ them out, +and _wrong_ them out, and _annoy_ them out. But, Hugh, enough of this at +present; we shall have much more than we want of it when we get home. +Among my letters, I have one from each of my other wards." + +"'Still harping on my daughter,' sir!" I answered, laughing. "I hope +that the vivacious Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, and the meek Miss Anne +Marston, are both perfectly well?" + +"Both in excellent health, and both write charmingly. I must really let +you see the letter of Henrietta, as I do think it is quite creditable to +her: I will step into my room and get it." + +I ought to let the reader into a secret here that will have some +connexion with what is to follow. A dead-set had been made at me, +previously to leaving home, to induce me to marry either of three young +ladies--Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke, Miss Anne Marston, and Miss +Opportunity Newcome. The advances in the cases of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke and Miss Anne Marston came from my uncle Ro, who, as their +guardian, had a natural interest in their making what he was pleased to +think might be a good connexion for either; while the advances on +account of Miss Opportunity Newcome came from herself. Under such +circumstances, it may be well to say who these young ladies actually +were. + +Miss Henrietta Coldbrooke was the daughter of an Englishman of good +family, and some estate, who had emigrated to America and married, under +the impulse of certain theories in politics which induced him to imagine +that this was the promised land. I remember him as a disappointed and +dissatisfied widower, who was thought to be daily growing poorer under +the consequences of indiscreet investments, and who at last got to be so +very English in his wishes and longings, as to assert that the common +Muscovy was a better bird than the canvas-back! He died, however, in +time to leave his only child an estate which, under my uncle's excellent +management, was known by me to be rather more than one hundred and +seventy-nine thousand dollars, and which produced a nett eight thousand +a-year. This made Miss Henrietta a belle at once; but, having a prudent +friend in my grandmother, as yet she had not married a beggar. I knew +that uncle Ro went quite as far as was proper, in his letters, in the +way of hints touching myself; and my dear, excellent, honest-hearted, +straightforward old grandmother had once let fall an expression, in one +of her letters to myself, which induced me to think that these hints had +actually awakened as much interest in the young lady's bosom, as could +well be connected with what was necessarily nothing but curiosity. + +Miss Anne Marston was also an heiress, but on a very diminished scale. +She had rather more than three thousand a-year in buildings in town, and +a pretty little sum of about sixteen thousand dollars laid by out of its +savings. She was not an only child, however, having two brothers, each +of whom had already received as much as the sister, and each of whom, as +is very apt to be the case with the heirs of New York merchants, was +already in a fair way of getting rid of his portion in riotous living. +Nothing does a young American so much good, under such circumstances, as +to induce him to travel. It makes or breaks at once. If a downright +fool, he is plucked by European adventurers in so short a time, that the +agony is soon over. If only vain and frivolous, because young and +ill-educated, the latter being a New York endemic, but with some +foundation of native mind, he lets his whiskers grow, becomes fuzzy +about the chin, dresses better, gets to be much better mannered, soon +loses his taste for the low and vulgar indulgences of his youth, and +comes out such a gentleman as one can only make who has entirely thrown +away the precious moments of youth. If tolerably educated in boyhood, +with capacity to build on, the chances are that the scales will fall +from his eyes very fast on landing in the old world--that his ideas and +tastes will take a new turn--that he will become what nature intended +him for, an intellectual man; and that he will finally return home, +conscious alike of the evils and blessings, the advantages and +disadvantages, of his own system and country--a wiser, and it is to be +hoped a better man. How the experiment had succeeded with the Marstons, +neither myself nor my uncle knew; for they had paid their visit while we +were in the East, and had already returned to America. As for Miss Anne, +she had a mother to take care of her mind and person, though I had +learned she was pretty, sensible and discreet. + +Miss Opportunity Newcome was a belle of Ravensnest, a village on my own +property; a rural beauty, and of rural education, virtues, manners and +habits. As Ravensnest was not particularly advanced in civilization, or, +to make use of the common language of the country, was not a very +"aristocratic place," I shall not dwell on her accomplishments, which +did well enough for Ravensnest, but would not essentially ornament my +manuscript. + +Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid, who was the son of Jason, of the +house of Newcome. In using the term "house," I adopt it understandingly; +for the family had dwelt in the same tenement, a leasehold property of +which the fee was in myself, and the dwelling had been associated with +the name of Newcome from time immemorial; that is, for about eighty +years. All that time had a Newcome been the tenant of the mill, tavern, +store and farm, that lay nearest the village of Ravensnest, or Little +Nest, as it was commonly called; and it may not be impertinent to the +moral of my narrative if I add that, for all that time, and for +something longer, had I and my ancestors been the landlords. I beg the +reader to bear this last fact in mind, as there will soon be occasion to +show that there was a strong disposition in certain persons to forget +it. + +As I have said, Opportunity was the daughter of Ovid. There was also a +brother, who was named Seneca, or Sene_ky_, as he always pronounced it +himself, the son of Ovid, the son of Jason, the first of the name at +Ravensnest. This Seneca was a lawyer, in the sense of a license granted +by the Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as by the Court of Common +Pleas, in and for the county of Washington. As there had been a sort of +hereditary education among the Newcomes for three generations, beginning +with Jason, and ending with Seneca; and, as the latter was at the bar, I +had occasionally been thrown into the society of both brother and +sister. The latter, indeed, used to be fond of visiting the Nest, as my +house was familiarly called, Ravensnest being its true name, whence +those of the "patent" and village; and as Opportunity had early +manifested a partiality for my dear old grandmother, and not less dear +young sister, who occasionally passed a few weeks with me during the +vacations, more especially in the autumns, I had many occasions of being +brought within the influence of her charms--opportunities that, I feel +bound to state, Opportunity did not neglect. I have understood that her +mother, who bore the same name, had taught Ovid the art of love by a +very similar demonstration, and had triumphed. That lady was still +living, and may be termed Opportunity the Great, while the daughter can +be styled Opportunity the Less. There was very little difference between +my own years and those of the young lady; and, as I had last passed +through the fiery ordeal at the sinister age of twenty, there was not +much danger in encountering the risk anew, now I was five years older. +But I must return to my uncle and the letter of Miss Henrietta +Coldbrooke. + +"Here it is, Hugh," cried my guardian, gaily; "and a capital letter it +is! I wish I could read the whole of it to you; but the two girls made +me promise never to show their letters to any one, which could mean only +you, before they would promise to write anything to me beyond +commonplaces. Now, I get their sentiments freely and naturally, and the +correspondence is a source of much pleasure to me. I think, however, I +might venture just to give you one extract." + +"You had better not, sir; there would be a sort of treachery in it, that +I confess I would rather not be accessary to. If Miss Coldbrooke do not +wish me to read what she writes, she can hardly wish that you should +read any of it to me." + +Uncle Ro glanced at me, and I fancied he seemed dissatisfied with my +_nonchalance_. He read the letter through to himself, however, laughing +here, smiling there, then muttering "capital!" "good!" "charming girl!" +"worthy of Hannah More!" &c. &c., as if just to provoke my curiosity. +But I had no desire to read "Hannah More," as any young fellow of +five-and-twenty can very well imagine, and I stood it all with the +indifference of a stoic. My guardian had to knock under, and put the +letters in his writing-desk. + +"Well, the girls will be glad to see us," he said, after a moment of +reflection, "and not a little surprised. In my very last letter to my +mother, I sent them word that we should not be home until October; and +now we shall see them as early as June, at least." + +"Patt will be delighted, I make no doubt. As for the other two young +ladies, they have so many friends and relations to care for, that I +fancy our movements give them no great concern." + +"Then you do both injustice, as their letters would prove. They take the +liveliest interest in our proceedings, and speak of my return as if they +look for it with the greatest expectation and joy." + +I made my uncle Ro a somewhat saucy answer; but fair-dealing compels me +to record it. + +"I dare say they do, sir," was my reply; "but what young lady does not +look with '_expectation_ and joy' for the return of a friend, who is +known to have a long purse, from Paris!" + +"Well, Hugh, you deserve neither of those dear girls; and, if I can help +it, you shall have neither." + +"Thank'ee, sir!" + +"Poh! this is worse than silly--it is rude. I dare say neither would +accept you, were you to offer to-morrow." + +"I trust not, sir, for her own sake. It would be a singularly palpable +demonstration were either to accept a man she barely knew, and whom she +had not seen since she was fifteen." + +Uncle Ro laughed, but I could see he was confoundedly vexed; and, as I +loved him with all my heart, though I did not love match-making, I +turned the discourse, in a pleasant way, on our approaching departure. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do, Hugh," cried my uncle, who was a good deal +of a boy in some things, for the reason, I suppose, that he was an old +bachelor; "I'll just have wrong names entered on board the packet, and +we'll surprise all our friends. Neither Jacob nor your man will betray +us, we know; and, for that matter, we can send them both home by the way +of England. Each of us has trunks in London to be looked after, and let +the two fellows go by the way of Liverpool. That is a good thought, and +occurred most happily." + +"With all my heart, sir. My fellow is of no more use to me at sea than +an automaton would be, and I shall be glad to get rid of his rueful +countenance. He is a capital servant on terra firma, but a perfect Niobe +on the briny main." + +The thing was agreed on; and, a day or two afterwards, both our +body-servants, that is to say, Jacob the black and Hubert the German, +were on their way to England. My uncle let his apartment again, for he +always maintained I should wish to bring my bride to pass a winter in +it; and we proceeded to Havre in a sort of incognito. There was little +danger of our being known on board the packet, and we had previously +ascertained that there was not an acquaintance of either in the ship. +There was a strong family resemblance between my uncle and myself, and +we passed for father and son in the ship, as old Mr. Davidson and young +Mr. Davidson, of Maryland--or Myr-r-land, as it is Doric to call that +state. We had no concern in this part of the deception, unless +abstaining from calling my supposed father "uncle," as one would +naturally do in strange society, can be so considered. + +The passage itself--by the way, I wish all landsmen would be as accurate +as I am here, and understand that a "voyage" means "out" and "home," or +"thence" and "back again," while a "passage" means from place to +place--but our passage was pregnant with no events worth recording. We +had the usual amount of good and bad weather, the usual amount of eating +and drinking, and the usual amount of ennui. The latter circumstance, +perhaps, contributed to the digesting of a further scheme of my uncle's, +which it is now necessary to state. + +A re-perusal of his letters and papers had induced him to think the +anti-rent movement a thing of more gravity, even than he had first +supposed. The combination on the part of the tenants, we learned also +from an intelligent New Yorker who was a fellow-passenger, extended much +further than our accounts had given us reason to believe; and it was +deemed decidedly dangerous for landlords, in many cases, to be seen on +their own estates. Insult, personal degradation, or injury, and even +death, it was thought, might be the consequences, in many cases. The +blood actually spilled had had the effect to check the more violent +demonstrations, it is true; but the latent determination to achieve +their purposes was easily to be traced among the tenants, in the face of +all their tardy professions of moderation, and a desire for nothing but +what was right. In this case, what was right was the letter and spirit +of the contracts; and nothing was plainer than the fact that these were +not what was wanted. + +Professions pass for nothing, with the experienced, when connected with +a practice that flatly contradicts them. It was only too apparent to all +who chose to look into the matter, and that by evidence which could not +mislead, that the great body of the tenants in various counties of New +York were bent on obtaining interests in their farms that were not +conveyed by their leases, without the consent of their landlords, and +insomuch that they were bent on doing that which should be +discountenanced by every honest man in the community. The very fact that +they supported, or in any manner connived at, the so-called "Injin" +system, spoke all that was necessary as to their motives; and, when we +come to consider that these "Injins" had already proceeded to the +extremity of shedding blood, it was sufficiently plain that things must +soon reach a crisis. + +My uncle Roger and myself reflected on all these matters calmly, and +decided on our course, I trust, with prudence. As that decision has +proved to be pregnant with consequences that are likely to affect my +future life, I shall now briefly give an outline of what induced us to +adopt it. + +It was all-important for us to visit Ravensnest in person, while it +might be hazardous to do so openly. The 'Nest house stood in the very +centre of the estate, and, ignorant as we were of the temper of the +tenants, it might be indiscreet to let our presence be known; and +circumstances favoured our projects of concealment. We were not expected +to reach the country at all until autumn, or "fall," as that season of +the year is poetically called in America; and this gave us the means of +reaching the property unexpectedly, and, as we hoped, undetected. Our +arrangement, then, was very simple, and will be best related in the +course of the narrative. + +The packet had a reasonably short passage, as we were twenty-nine days +from land to land. It was on a pleasant afternoon in May when the +hummock-like heights of Navesink were first seen from the deck; and, an +hour later, we came in sight of the tower-resembling sails of the +coasters which were congregating in the neighbourhood of the low point +of land that is so very appropriately called _Sandy_ Hook. The +light-houses rose out of the water soon after, and objects on the shore +of New Jersey next came gradually out of the misty back-ground, until we +got near enough to be boarded, first by the pilot, and next by the +news-boat; the first preceding the last for a wonder, news usually being +far more active, in this good republic, than watchfulness to prevent +evil. My uncle Ro gave the crew of this news-boat a thorough scrutiny, +and, finding no one on board her whom he had ever before seen, he +bargained for a passage up to town. + +We put our feet on the Battery just as the clocks of New York were +striking eight. A custom-house officer had examined our carpet-bags and +permitted them to pass, and we had disburthened ourselves of the effects +in the ship, by desiring the captain to attend to them. Each of us had a +town-house, but neither would go near his dwelling; mine being only kept +up in winter, for the use of my sister and an aunt who kindly took +charge of her during the season, while my uncle's was opened +principally for his mother. At that season, we had reason to think +neither was tenanted but by one or two old family servants; and it was +our cue also to avoid them. But "Jack Dunning," as my uncle always +called him, was rather more of a friend than of an agent; and he had a +bachelor establishment in Chamber Street that was precisely the place we +wanted. Thither, then, we proceeded, taking the route by Greenwich +Street, fearful of meeting some one in Broadway by whom we might be +recognised. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + _Cit._ "Speak, speak." + + _1 Cit._ "You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?" + + _Cit._ "Resolved, resolved." + + _1 Cit._ "First you know, Caius Marcus is chief enemy to the people." + + _Cit._ "We know't, we know't." + + _1 Cit._ "Let's kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. + + Is't a verdict?" + + _Coriolanus._ + + +The most inveterate Manhattanese, if he be anything of a man of the +world, must confess that New York is, after all, but a Rag-Fair sort of +a place, so far as the eye is concerned. I was particularly struck with +this fact, even at that hour, as we went stumbling along over an +atrociously bad side-walk, my eyes never at rest, as any one can +imagine, after five years of absence. I could not help noting the +incongruities; the dwellings of marble, in close proximity with +miserable, low constructions in wood; the wretched pavements, and, above +all, the country air, of a town of near four hundred thousand souls. I +very well know that many of the defects are to be ascribed to the rapid +growth of the place, which gives it a sort of hobbledehoy look; but, +being a Manhattanese by birth, I thought I might just as well own it +all, at once, if it were only for the information of a particular +portion of my townsmen, who may have been under a certain delusion on +the subject. As for comparing the Bay of New York with that of Naples on +the score of beauty, I shall no more be guilty of any such folly, to +gratify the cockney feelings of Broadway and Bond street, than I should +be guilty of the folly of comparing the commerce of the ancient +Parthenope with that of _old_ New York, in order to excite complacency +in the bosom of some bottegajo in the Toledo, or on the Chiaja. Our +fast-growing Manhattan is a great town in its way--a wonderful +place--without a parallel, I do believe, on earth, as a proof of +enterprise and of the accumulation of business; and it is not easy to +make such a town appear ridiculous by any jibes and innuendoes that +relate to the positive things of this world, though nothing is easier +than to do it for itself by setting up to belong to the sisterhood of +such places as London, Paris, Vienna and St. Petersburg. There is too +much of the American notion of the omnipotence of numbers among us +Manhattanese, which induces us to think that the higher rank in the +scale of places is to be obtained by majorities. No, no; let us remember +the familiar axiom of "ne sutor ultra crepidum." New York is just the +queen of "business," but not yet the queen of the world. Every man who +travels ought to bring back something to the common stock of knowledge; +and I shall give a hint to my townsmen, by which I really think they may +be able to tell for themselves, as by feeling a sort of moral pulse, +when the town is rising to the level of a capital. When simplicity takes +the place of pretension, is one good rule; but, as it may require a good +deal of practice, or native taste, to ascertain this fact, I will give +another that is obvious to the senses, which will at least be strongly +symptomatic; and that is this: When _squares_ cease to be called +_parks_; when horse-bazaars and fashionable streets are not called +Tattersalls and Bond street; when _Washington_ Market is rechristened +_Bear_ Market, and Franklin and Fulton and other great philosophers and +inventors are plucked of the unmerited honours of having shambles named +after them; when _commercial_ is not used as a prefix to emporium; when +people can return from abroad without being asked "if they are +reconciled to their country," and strangers are not interrogated at the +second question, "how do you like _our city?_" then may it be believed +that the town is beginning to go alone, and that it may set up for +itself. + +Although New York is, out of all question, decidedly provincial, +labouring under the peculiar vices of provincial habits and provincial +modes of thinking, it contains many a man of the world, and some, too, +who have never quitted their own firesides. Of this very number was the +Jack Dunning, as my uncle Ro called him, to whose house in Chamber +street we were now proceeding. + +"If we were going anywhere but to Dunning's," said my uncle, as we +turned out of Greenwich street, "I should have no fear of being +recognised by the servants; for no one here thinks of keeping a man six +months. Dunning, however, is of the old school, and does not like new +faces; so he will have no Irishman at his door, as is the case with two +out of three of the houses at which one calls, now-a-days." + +In another minute we were at the bottom of Mr. Dunning's "stoup"--what +an infernal contrivance it is to get in and out at the door by, in a +hotty-cold climate like ours!--but, there we were, and I observed that +my uncle hesitated. + +"_Parlez au_ SUISSE," said I; "ten to one he is fresh from some +Bally-this, or Bally-that." + +"No, no; it must be old Garry the nigger"--my uncle Ro was of the old +school himself, and _would_ say "nigger"--"Jack can never have parted +with Garry." + +"Garry" was the diminutive of Garret, a somewhat common Dutch christian +name among us. + +We rang, and the door opened--in about five minutes. Although the terms +"aristocrat" and "aristocracy" are much in men's mouths in America just +now, as well as those of "feudal" and the "middle ages," and this, too, +as applied to modes of living as well as to leasehold tenures, there is +but one porter in the whole country; and he belongs to the White House, +at Washington. I am afraid even that personage, royal porter as he is, +is often out of the way; and the reception he gives when he _is_ there, +is not of the most brilliant and princely character. When we had waited +three minutes, my uncle Ro said-- + +"I am afraid Garry is taking a nap by the kitchen-fire; I'll try him +again." + +Uncle Ro did try again, and, two minutes later, the door opened. + +"What is your pleasure?" demanded the _Suisse_, with a strong brogue. + +My uncle started back as if he had met a sprite; but he asked if Mr. +Dunning was at home. + +"He is, indeed, sir." + +"Is he alone, or is he with company?" + +"He is, indeed." + +"But _what_ is he, indeed?" + +"He is _that_." + +"Can you take the trouble to explain which _that_ it is? Has he company, +or is he alone?" + +"Just _that_, sir. Walk in, and he'll be charmed to see you. A fine +gentleman is his honour, and pleasure it is to live with him, I'm sure!" + +"How long is it since you left Ireland, my friend?" + +"Isn't it a mighty bit, now, yer honour!" answered Barney, closing the +door. "T'irteen weeks, if it's one day." + +"Well, go ahead, and show us the way. This is a bad omen, Hugh, to find +that Jack Dunning, of all men in the country, should have changed his +servant--good, quiet, lazy, respectable, old, grey-headed Garry the +nigger--for such a bogtrotter as that fellow, who climbs those stairs as +if accustomed only to ladders." + +Dunning was in his library on the second floor, where he passed most of +his evenings. His surprise was equal to that which my uncle had just +experienced, when he saw us two standing before him. A significant +gesture, however, caused him to grasp his friend and client's hand in +silence; and nothing was said until the _Swiss_ had left the room, +although the fellow stood with the door in his hand a most inconvenient +time, just to listen to what might pass between the host and his guests. +At length we got rid of him, honest, well-meaning fellow that he was, +after all; and the door was closed. + +"My last letters have brought you home, Roger?" said Jack, the moment he +_could_ speak; for feeling, as well as caution, had something to do with +his silence. + +"They have, indeed. A great change must have come over the country, by +what I hear; and one of the very worst symptoms is that you have turned +away Garry, and got an Irishman in his place." + +"Ah! old men must die, as well as old principles, I find. My poor fellow +went off in a fit last week, and I took that Irishman as a _pis aller_. +After losing poor Garry, who was born a slave in my father's house, I +became indifferent, and accepted the first comer from the intelligence +office." + +"We must be careful, Dunning, not to give up too soon. But hear my +story, and then to other matters." + +My uncle then explained his wish to be incognito, and his motive. +Dunning listened attentively, but seemed uncertain whether to dissent or +approve. The matter was discussed briefly, and then it was postponed for +further consideration. + +"But how comes on this great moral dereliction, called anti-rentism? Is +it on the wane, or the increase?" + +"On the wane, to the eye, perhaps; but on the increase so far as +principles, the right, and facts, are concerned. The necessity of +propitiating votes is tempting politicians of all sides to lend +themselves to it; and there is imminent danger now that atrocious wrongs +will be committed under the form of law." + +"In what way _can_ the law touch an existing contract? The Supreme Court +of the United States will set that right." + +"That is the only hope of the honest, let me tell you. It is folly to +expect that a body composed of such men as usually are sent to the State +Legislature, can resist the temptation to gain power by conciliating +numbers. _That is out of the question._ Individuals of these bodies may +resist, but the tendency there will be as against the few, and in favour +of the many, bolstering their theories by clap-traps and slang political +phrases. The scheme to tax the rents, under the name of quit-rents, will +be resorted to, in the first place." + +"That will be a most iniquitous proceeding, and would justify resistance +just as much as our ancestors were justified in resisting the taxation +of Great Britain." + +"It would more so, for here we have a written covenant to render +taxation equal. The landlord already pays one tax on each of these +farms--a full and complete tax, that is reserved from the rent in the +original bargain with the tenant; and now the wish is to tax the rents +themselves; and this not to raise revenue, for that is confessedly not +wanted, but most clearly with a design to increase the inducements for +the landlords to part with their property. If that can be done, the +sales will be made on the principle that none but the tenant must be, as +indeed no one else _can_ be, the purchaser; and then we shall see a +queer exhibition--men parting with their property under the pressure of +a clamour that is backed by as much law as can be pressed into its +service, with a monopoly of price on the side of the purchaser, and all +in a country professing the most sensitive love of liberty, where the +prevailing class of politicians are free-trade men!" + +"There is no end of these inconsistencies among politicians." + +"There is no end of knavery when men submit to 'noses,' instead of +principles. Call things by their right names, Ro, as they deserve to be. +This matter is so plain, that he who runs can read." + +"But will this scheme of taxation succeed? It does not effect us, for +instance, as our leases are for three lives." + +"Oh! that is nothing; for you they contemplate a law that will forbid +the letting of land, for the future, for a period longer than five +years. Hugh's leases will soon be falling in, and then he can't make a +slave of any man for a longer period than five years." + +"Surely no one is so silly as to think of passing such a law, with a +view to put down aristocracy, and to benefit the tenant!" I cried, +laughing. + +"Ay, you may laugh, young sir," resumed Jack Dunning; "but such _is_ the +intention. I know very well what will be your course of reasoning; you +will say, the longer the lease, the better for the tenant, if the +bargain be reasonably good; and landlords cannot ask more for the use of +their lands than they are really worth in this country, there happening +to be more lands than there are men to work it. No, no; landlords rather +get less for their lands than they are worth, instead of more, for that +plain reason. To compel the tenant to take a lease, therefore, for a +term as short as five years, is to injure him, you think; to place him +more at the control of his landlord, through the little interests +connected with the cost and trouble of moving, and through the natural +desire he may possess to cut the meadows he has seeded, and to get the +full benefit of manure he has made and carted. I see how you reason, +young sir; but you are behind the age--you are sadly behind the age." + +"The age is a queer one, if I am! All over the world it is believed that +long leases are favours, or advantages, to tenants; and nothing can make +it otherwise, _caeteris paribus_. Then what good will the tax do, after +violating right and moral justice, if not positive law, to lay it? On a +hundred dollars of rent, I should have to pay some fifty-five cents of +taxes, as I am assessed on other things at Ravensnest; and does anybody +suppose I will give up an estate that has passed through five +generations of my family, on account of a tribute like that!" + +"Mighty well, sir--mighty well, sir! This is fine talk; but I would +advise you not to speak of _your_ ancestors at all. Landlords can't name +_their_ ancestors with impunity just now." + +"I name mine only as showing a reason for a natural regard for my +paternal acres." + +"That you might do, if you were a tenant; but not as a landlord. In a +landlord, it is aristocratic and intolerable pride, and to the last +degree offensive--as Dogberry says, 'tolerable and not to be endured.'" + +"But it is a _fact_, and it is natural one should have some feelings +connected with it." + +"The more it is a fact, the less it will be liked. People associate +social position with wealth and _estates_, but not with farms; and the +longer one has such things in a family, the worse for them!" + +"I do believe, Jack," put in my uncle Ro, "that the rule which prevails +all over the rest of the world is reversed here, and that with us it is +thought a family's claim is lessened, and not increased, by time." + +"To be sure it is!" answered Dunning, without giving me a chance to +speak. "Do you know that you wrote me a very silly letter once, from +Switzerland, about a family called de Blonay, that had been seated on +the same rock, in a little castle, some six or eight hundred years, and +the sort of respect and veneration the circumstance awakened? Well, all +that was very foolish, as you will find when you pay your incognito +visit to Ravensnest. I will not anticipate the result of your schooling; +but, go to school." + +"As the Rensselaers and other great landlords, who have states on +durable leases, will not be very likely to give them up, except on terms +that will suit themselves, for a tax as insignificant as that mentioned +by Hugh," said my uncle, "what does the legislature anticipate from +passing the law?" + +"That its members will be called the friends of the people, and not the +friends of the landlords. Would any man tax his friends, if he could +help it?" + +"But what will that portion of the people who compose the anti-renters +gain by such a measure?" + +"Nothing; and their complaints will be just as loud, and their longings +as active, as ever. Nothing that can have any effect on what they wish, +will be accomplished by any legislation in the matter. One committee of +the assembly has actually reported, you may remember, that the State +might assume the lands, and sell them to the tenants, or some one else; +or something of the sort." + +"The constitution of the United States must be Hugh's aegis." + +"And that alone will protect him, let me tell you. But for that noble +provision of the constitution of the Federal Government, his estate +would infallibly go for one-half its true value. There is no use in +mincing things, or in affecting to believe men more honest than they +are--AN INFERNAL FEELING OF SELFISHNESS IS SO MUCH TALKED OF, AND CITED, +AND REFERRED TO, ON ALL OCCASIONS, IN THIS COUNTRY, THAT A MAN ALMOST +RENDERS HIMSELF RIDICULOUS WHO APPEARS TO REST ON PRINCIPLE." + +"Have you heard what the tenants of Ravensnest aim at, in particular?" + +"They want to get Hugh's lands, that's all; nothing more, I can assure +you." + +"On what conditions, pray?" demanded I. + +"As you 'light of chaps,' to use a saying of their own. Some even +profess a willingness to pay a fair price." + +"But I do not wish to sell for even a fair price. I have no desire to +part with property that is endeared to me by family feeling and +association. I have an expensive house and establishment on my estate, +which obtains its principal value from the circumstance that it is so +placed that I can look after my interests with the least inconvenience +to myself. What can I do with the money but buy another estate? and I +prefer this that I have." + +"Poh! boy, you can shave notes, you'll recollect," said uncle Ro, drily. +"The calling is decided to be honourable by the highest tribunal; and no +man should be above his business." + +"You have no right, sir, in a free country," returned the caustic Jack +Dunning, "to prefer one estate to another, more especially when other +people want it. Your lands are leased to honest, hard-working tenants, +who can eat their dinners without silver forks, and whose ancestors----" + +"Stop!" I cried, laughing; "I bar all ancestry. No man has a right to +ancestry in a free country, you'll remember!" + +"That means landlord-ancestry; as for tenant-ancestry, one can have a +pedigree as long as the Maison de Levis. No, sir; every tenant you have +has every right to demand that his sentiment of family feeling should be +respected. His father planted that orchard, and he loves the apples +better than any other apples in the world----" + +"And my father procured the grafts, and made him a present of them." + +"His grandfather cleared that field, and converted its ashes into pots +and pearls----" + +"And _my_ grandfather received that year ten shillings of rent, for land +off which his received two hundred and fifty dollars for his ashes." + +"His great-grandfather, honest and excellent man--nay, super-honest and +confiding creature--first 'took up' the land when a wilderness, and with +his own hands felled the timber, and sowed the wheat." + +"And got his pay twenty-fold for it all, or he would not have been fool +enough to do it. I had a great-grandfather, too; and I hope it will not +be considered aristocratic if I venture to hint as much. He--a +dishonest, pestilent knave, no doubt--leased that very lot for six years +without any rent at all, in order that the 'poor, confiding creature' +might make himself comfortable, before he commenced paying his sixpence +or shilling an acre rent for the remainder of three lives, with a moral +certainty of getting a renewal on the most liberal terms known to a new +country; and who knew, the whole time, he could buy land in fee, within +ten miles of his door, but who thought _this_ a better bargain than +_that_." + +"Enough of this folly," cried uncle Ro, joining in the laugh; "we all +know that, in our excellent America, he who has the highest claims to +anything, must affect to have the least, to stifle the monster envy; +and, being of one mind as to principles, let us come to facts. What of +the girls, Jack, and of my honoured mother?" + +"She, noble, heroic woman! she is at Ravensnest at this moment; and, as +the girls would not permit her to go alone, they are all with her." + +"And did you, Jack Dunning, suffer them to go unattended into a part of +the country that is in open rebellion?" demanded my uncle, +reproachfully. + +"Come, come! Hodge Littlepage, this is very sublime as a theory, but not +so clear when reduced to practice. I did not go with Mrs. Littlepage and +her young fry, for the good and substantial reason that I did not wish +to be 'tarred and feathered.'" + +"So you leave them to run the risk of being 'tarred and feathered' in +your stead?" + +"Say what you will about the cant of freedom that is becoming so common +among us, and from which we were once so free; say what you will, Ro, of +the inconsistency of those who raise the cry of 'feudality,' and +'aristocracy,' and 'nobility,' at the very moment they are manifesting a +desire for exclusive rights and privileges in their own persons; say +what you will of dishonesty, envy, that prominent American vice, +knavery, covetousness, and selfishness; and I will echo all you can +utter;--but do not say that a woman can be in serious danger among any +material body of Americans, even if anti-renters, and mock-redskins in +the bargain." + +"I believe you are right there, Jack, on reflection. Pardon my warmth; +but I have lately been living in the old world, and in a country in +which women were not long since carried to the scaffold on account of +their politics." + +"Because they meddled with politics. Your mother is in no serious +danger, though it needs nerve in a woman to be able to think so. There +are few women in the State, and fewer of her time of life anywhere, that +would do what she has done; and I give the girls great credit for +sticking by her. Half the young men in town are desperate at the thought +of three such charming creatures thus exposing themselves to insult. +Your mother has only been sued." + +"Sued! Whom does she owe, or what can she have done to have brought this +indignity on her?" + +"You know, or ought to know, how it is in this country, Littlepage; we +must have a little law, even when most bent on breaking it. A downright, +straight-forward rascal, who openly sets law at defiance, is a wonder. +Then we have a great talk of liberty when plotting to give it the +deepest stab; and religion even gets to share in no small portion of our +vices. Thus it is that the anti-renters have dragged in the law in aid +of their designs. I understand one of the Rensselaers has been sued for +money borrowed in a ferry-boat to help him across a river under his own +door, and for potatoes bought by his wife in the streets of Albany!" + +"But neither of the Rensselaers need borrow money to cross the ferry, as +the ferry-men would trust him; and no lady of the Rensselaer family ever +bought potatoes in the streets of Albany, I'll answer for it." + +"You have brought back some knowledge from your travels, I find!" said +Jack Dunning, with comic gravity. "Your mother writes me that _she_ has +been sued for twenty-seven pairs of shoes furnished her by a shoemaker +whom she never saw, or heard of, until she received the summons!" + +"This, then, is one of the species of annoyances that has been adopted +to bully the landlords out of their property?" + +"It is; and if the landlords have recourse even to the covenants of +their leases, solemnly and deliberately made, and as solemnly guarantied +by a fundamental law, the cry is raised of 'aristocracy' and +'oppression' by these very men, and echoed by many of the creatures who +get seats in high places among us--or what _would_ be high places, if +filled with men worthy of their trusts." + +"I see you do not mince your words, Jack." + +"Why should I? Words are all that is left me. I am of no more weight in +the government of this State than that Irishman, who let you in just +now, will be, five years hence--less, for he will vote to suit a +majority; and, as I shall vote understandingly, my vote will probably do +no one any good." + +Dunning belonged to a school that mingles a good deal of speculative and +impracticable theory, with a great deal of sound and just principles; +but who render themselves useless because they will admit of no +compromises. He did not belong to the class of American _doctrinaires_, +however, or to those who contend--no, not _contend_, for no one does +that any longer in this country, whatever may be his opinion on the +subject--but those who _think_ that political power, as in the last +resort, should be the property of the few; for he was willing New York +should have a very broad constituency. Nevertheless, he was opposed to +the universal suffrage, in its wide extent, that does actually exist; as +I suppose quite three-fourths of the whole population are opposed to it, +in their hearts, though no political man of influence, now existing, has +the moral calibre necessary to take the lead in putting it down. Dunning +deferred to principles, and not to men. He well knew that an infallible +whole was not to be composed of fallible parts; and while he thought +majorities ought to determine many things, that there are rights and +principles that are superior to even such _unanimity_ as man can +manifest, and much more to their majorities. But Dunning had no selfish +views connected with his political notions, wanting no office, and +feeling no motive to affect that which he neither thought nor wished. He +never had quitted home, or it is highly probable his views of the +comparative abuses of the different systems that prevail in the world +would have been essentially modified. Those he saw had unavoidably a +democratic source, there being neither monarch nor aristocrat to produce +any other; and, under such circumstances, as abuses certainly abound, it +is not at all surprising that he sometimes a little distorted facts, and +magnified evils. + +"And my noble, high-spirited, and venerable mother has actually gone to +the Nest to face the enemy!" exclaimed my uncle, after a thoughtful +pause. + +"She has, indeed; and the noble, high-spirited, though not venerable, +young ladies have gone with her," returned Mr. Dunning, in his caustic +way. + +"All three, do you mean?" + +"Every one of them--Martha, Henrietta, and Anne." + +"I am surprised that the last should have done so. Anne Marston is such +a meek, quiet, peace-loving person, that I should think _she_ would have +preferred remaining, as she naturally might have done, without exciting +remark, with her own mother." + +"She has not, nevertheless. Mrs. Littlepage _would_ brave the +anti-renters, and the three maidens _would_ be her companions. I dare +say, Ro, you know how it is with the gentle sex, when they make up their +minds?" + +"My girls are all good girls, and have given me very little trouble," +answered my uncle, complacently. + +"Yes, I dare say that may be true. You have only been absent from home +five years, this trip." + +"An attentive guardian, notwithstanding, since I left you as a +substitute. Has my mother written to you since her arrival among the +hosts of the Philistines?" + +"She has, indeed, Littlepage," answered Dunning, gravely; "I have heard +from her three times, for she writes to urge my not appearing on the +estate. I did intend to pay her a visit; but she tells me that it might +lead to a violent scene, and can do no good. As the rents will not be +due until autumn, and Master Hugh is now of age and was to be here to +look after his own affairs, I have seen no motive for incurring the risk +of the tarring and feathering. We American lawyers, young gentleman, +wear no wigs." + +"Does my mother write herself, or employ another?" inquired my uncle, +with interest. + +"She honours me with her own hand. Your mother writes much better than +you do yourself, Roger." + +"That is owing to her once having carried chain, as she would say +herself. Has Martha written to you?" + +"Of course. Sweet little Patty and I are bosom friends, as you know." + +"And does she say anything of the Indian and the negro?" + +"Jaaf and Susquesus? To be sure she does. Both are living still, and +both are well. I saw them myself, and even ate of their venison, so +lately as last winter." + +"Those old fellows must have each lived a great deal more than his +century, Jack. They were with my grandfather in the old French war, as +active, useful men--older, then, than _my_ grandfather!" + +"Ay! a nigger or a redskin, before all others, for holding on to life, +when they have been temperate. Let me see--that expedition of +Abercrombie's was about eighty years since; why, these fellows must be +well turned of their hundred, though Jaap is rather the oldest, judging +from appearances." + +"I believe no one knows the age of either. A hundred each has been +thought, now, for many years. Susquesus was surprisingly active, too, +when I last saw him--like a healthy man of eighty." + +"He has failed of late, though he actually shot a deer, as I told you, +last winter. Both the old fellows stray down to the Nest, Martha writes +me; and the Indian is highly scandalized at the miserable imitations of +his race that are now abroad. I have even heard that he and Yop have +actually contemplated taking the field against them. Seneca Newcome is +their especial aversion." + +"How is Opportunity?" I inquired. "Does she take any part in this +movement?" + +"A decided one, I hear. She is anti-rent, while she wishes to keep on +good terms with her landlord; and that is endeavouring to serve God and +Mammon. She is not the first, however, by a thousand, that wears two +faces in this business." + +"Hugh has a deep admiration of Opportunity," observed my uncle, "and you +had needs be tender in your strictures. The modern Seneca, I take it, is +dead against us?" + +"Seneky wishes to go to the legislature, and of course he is on the side +of votes. Then his brother is a tenant at the mill, and naturally wishes +to be the landlord. He is also interested in the land himself. One thing +has struck me in this controversy as highly worthy of notice; and it is +the _naivete_ with which men reconcile the obvious longings of +covetousness with what they are pleased to fancy the principles of +liberty! When a man has worked a farm a certain number of years, he +boldly sets up the doctrine that the fact itself gives him a high moral +claim to possess it for ever. A moment's examination will expose the +fallacy by which these sophists apply the flattering unction to their +souls. They work their farms under a lease, and in virtue of its +covenants. Now, in a moral sense, all that time can do in such a case, +is to render these covenants the more sacred, and consequently more +binding; but these worthies, whose morality is all on one side, imagine +that these time-honoured covenants give them a right to fly from their +own conditions during their existence, and to raise pretensions far +exceeding anything they themselves confer, the moment they cease." + +"Poh, poh! Jack; there is no need of refining at all, to come at the +merits of such a question. This is a civilized country, or it is not. If +it be a civilized country, it will respect the rights of property, and +its own laws; and if the reverse, it will not respect them. As for +setting up the doctrine, at this late day, when millions and millions +are invested in this particular species of property, that the leasehold +tenure is opposed to the _spirit_ of institutions of which it has +substantially formed a part, ever since those institutions have +themselves had an existence, it requires a bold front, and more capacity +than any man at Albany possesses, to make the doctrines go down. Men may +run off with the notion that the _tendencies_ to certain abuses, which +mark every system, form their spirit; but this is a fallacy that a very +little thought will correct. Is it true that proposals have actually +been made, by these pretenders to liberty, to appoint commissioners to +act as arbitrators between the landlords and tenants, and to decide +points that no one has any right to raise?" + +"True as Holy Writ; and a regular 'Star Chamber' tribunal it would be! +It is wonderful, after all, how extremes do meet!" + +"That is as certain as the return of the sun after night. But let us now +talk of our project, Jack, and of the means of getting among these +self-deluded men--deluded by their own covetousness--without being +discovered; for I am determined to see them, and to judge of their +motives and conduct for myself." + +"Take care of the tar-barrel, and of the pillow-case of feathers, +Roger!" + +"I shall endeavour so to do." + +We then discussed the matter before us at length and leisurely. I shall +not relate all that was said, as it would be going over the same ground +twice, but refer the reader to the regular narrative. At the usual hour, +we retired to our beds, retaining the name of Davidson, as convenient +and prudent. Next day Mr. John Dunning busied himself in our behalf, and +made himself exceedingly useful to us. In his character of an old +bachelor, he had many acquaintances at the theatre; and through his +friends of the green-room he supplied each of us with a wig. Both my +uncle and myself spoke German reasonably well, and our original plan was +to travel in the characters of immigrant trinket and essence pedlars. +But I had a fancy for a hand-organ and a monkey; and it was finally +agreed that Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, senior, was to undertake this +adventure with a box of cheap watches and gilded trinkets; while Mr. +Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior, was to commence his travels at home, in +the character of a music-grinder. Modesty will not permit me to say all +I might, in favour of my own skill in music in general; but I sang well +for an amateur, and played, both on the violin and flute, far better +than is common. + +Everything was arranged in the course of the following day, our wigs of +themselves completely effecting all the disguises that were necessary. +As for my uncle, he was nearly bald, and a wig was no great encumbrance; +but my shaggy locks gave me some trouble. A little clipping, however, +answered the turn; and I had a hearty laugh at myself, in costume, that +afternoon, before Dunning's dressing-room glass. We got round the felony +law, about being armed and disguised, by carrying no weapons but our +tools in the way of trade. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + "And she hath smiles to earth unknown---- + Smiles, that with motion of their own + Do spread, and sink, and rise; + That come and go with endless play + And ever, as they pass away, + Are hidden in her eyes." + + WORDSWORTH. + + +I was early in costume the following morning. I question if my own +mother could have known me, had she lived long enough to see the +whiskers sprout on my cheeks, and to contemplate my countenance as a +man. I went into Dunning's library, drew the little hurdy-gurdy from its +hiding-place, slung it, and began to play St. Patrick's Day in the +Morning, with spirit, and, I trust I may add, with execution. I was in +the height of the air, when the door opened, and Barney thrust his +high-cheeked-bone face into the room, his mouth as wide open as that of +a frozen porker. + +"Where the divil did ye come from?" demanded the new footman, with the +muscles of that vast aperture of his working from grin to grim, and grim +to grin again. "Yee's wilcome to the tchune; but how comes ye here?" + +"I coomes vrom Halle, in Preussen. Vat isht your vaterland?" + +"Be yees a Jew?" + +"Nein--I isht a goot Christian. Vilt you haf Yankee Tootle?" + +"Yankee T'under! Ye'll wake up the masther, and he'll be displais'd, +else ye might work upon t'at tchune till the end of time. That I should +hear it here, in my own liberary, and ould Ireland t'ree thousand +laigues away!" + +A laugh from Dunning interrupted the dialogue, when Barney vanished, no +doubt anticipating some species of American punishment for a presumed +delinquency. Whether the blundering, well-meaning, honest fellow really +ascertained who we were that breakfasted with his master, I do not +know; but we got the meal and left the house without seeing his face +again, Dunning having a young yellow fellow to do the service of the +table. + +I need scarcely say that I felt a little awkward at finding myself in +the streets of New York in such a guise; but the gravity and +self-possession of my uncle were a constant source of amusement to me. +He actually sold a watch on the wharf before the boat left it, though I +imputed his success to the circumstance that his price was what a +brother dealer, who happened to be trading in the same neighbourhood, +pronounced "onconscionably low." We took a comfortable state-room +between us, under the pretence of locking-up our property, and strolled +about the boat, gaping and looking curious, as became our class. + +"Here are at least a dozen people that I know," said my uncle, as we +were lounging around--loafing around, is the modern Doric--about the +time that the boat was paddling past Fort Washington; "I have +reconnoitred in all quarters, and find quite a dozen. I have been +conversing with an old school-fellow, and one with whom I have ever +lived in tolerable intimacy, for the last ten minutes, and find my +broken English and disguise are perfect. I am confident my dear mother +herself would not recognise me." + +"We can then amuse ourselves with my grandmother and the young ladies," +I answered, "when we reach the Nest. For my part, it strikes me that we +had better keep our own secret to the last moment." + +"Hush! As I live, there is Seneca Newcome this moment! He is coming this +way, and we must be Germans again." + +Sure enough, there was 'Squire Seneky, as the honest farmers around the +Nest call him; though many of them must change their practices, or it +will shortly become so absurd to apply the term "honest" to them, that +no one will have the hardihood to use it. Newcome came slowly towards +the forecastle, on which we were standing; and my uncle determined to +get into conversation with him, as a means of further proving the virtue +of our disguises, as well as possibly of opening the way to some +communications that might facilitate our visit to the Nest. With this +view, the pretended pedlar drew a watch from his pocket, and, offering +it meekly to the inspection of the quasi lawyer, he said-- + +"Puy a vatch, shentlemans?" + +"Hey! what? Oh! a watch," returned Seneca, in that high, condescending, +vulgar key, with which the salt of the earth usually affect to treat +those they evidently think much beneath them in intellect, station, or +some other great essential, at the very moment they are bursting with +envy, and denouncing as aristocrats all who are above them. "Hey! a +watch, is it? What countryman are you, friend?" + +"A Charmans--ein Teutscher." + +"A German--ine Tycher is the place you come from, I s'pose?" + +"Nein--ein Teutscher isht a Charman." + +"Oh, yes! I understand. How long have you been in Ameriky?" + +"Twelf moont's." + +"Why, that's most long enough to make you citizens. Where do you live?" + +"Nowhere; I lifs jest asht it happens--soometimes here, ant soometimes +dere." + +"Ay, ay! I understand--no legal domicile, but lead a wandering life. +Have you many of these watches for sale?" + +"Yees--I haf asht many as twenty. Dey are as sheep as dirt, and go like +pig clocks." + +"And what may be your price for this?" + +"Dat you can haf for only eight tollars. Effery poty wilt say it is +golt, dat doesn't know petter." + +"Oh! it isn't gold then--I swan!"--what this oath meant I never exactly +knew, though I suppose it to be a puritan mode of saying "I swear!" the +attempts to cheat the devil in this way being very common among their +pious descendants, though even "Smith Thompson" himself can do no man +any good in such a case of conscience--"I swan! you come plaguy near +taking even me in! Will you come down from that price any?" + +"If you wilt gif me some atfice, perhaps I may. You look like a goot +shentlemans, and one dat woultn't sheat a poor Charmans; ant effery poty +wants so much to sheat de poor Charmans, dat I will take six, if you +will drow in some atfice." + +"Advice? You have come to the right man for that! Walk a little this +way, where we shall be alone. What is the natur' of the matter--action +on the case, or a tort?" + +"Nein, nein! it isht not law dat I wants, put atfice." + +"Well, but advice leads to law, ninety-nine times in a hundred." + +"Ya, ya!" answered the pedlar, laughing; "dat may be so; put it isht not +what I vants--I vants to know vere a Charman can trafel wit' his goots +in de coontry, and not in de pig towns." + +"I understand you--six dollars, hey! That sounds high for such a looking +watch"--he had just before mistaken it for gold--"but I'm always the +poor man's friend, and despise aristocracy"--what Seneca hated with the +strongest hate, he ever fancied he _despised_ the most, and by +aristocracy he merely understood gentlemen and ladies, in the true +signification of the words--"why, I'm always ready to help along the +honest citizen. If you could make up your mind, now, to part with this +one watch for nawthin', I think I could tell you a part of the country +where you might sell the other nineteen in a week." + +"Goot!" exclaimed my uncle, cheerfully. "Take him--he ist your broberty, +and wilcome. Only show me de town where I canst sell de nineteen +udders." + +Had my uncle Ro been a true son of peddling, he would have charged a +dollar extra on each of the nineteen, and made eleven dollars by his +present liberality. + +"It is no town at all--only a township," returned the literal Seneca. +"Did you expect it would be a city?" + +"Vat cares I? I woult radder sell my vatches to goot, honest, country +men, dan asht to de best burghers in de land." + +"You're my man! The right spirit is in you. I hope you're no patroon--no +aristocrat?" + +"I don't know vat isht badroon, or vat isht arishtocrat." + +"No! You are a happy man in your ignorance. A patroon is a nobleman who +owns another man's land; and an aristocrat is a body that thinks himself +better than his neighbours, friend." + +"Well, den, I isht no badroon, for I don't own no land at all, not even +mine own; and I ishn't petter asht no poty at all." + +"Yes, you be; you've only to think so, and you'll be the greatest +gentleman of 'em all." + +"Well, den, I will dry and dink so, and be petter asht de greatest +shentlemans of dem all. But dat won't do, nudder, as dat vilt make me +petter dan you; for you are one of de greatest of dem all, shentlemans." + +"Oh! as for me, let me alone. I scorn being on their level. I go for +'Down with the rent!' and so'll you, too, afore you've been a week in +our part of the country." + +"Vat isht de rent dat you vants to git down?" + +"It's a thing that's opposed to the spirit of the institutions, as you +can see by my feelin's at this very moment. But no matter! I'll keep the +watch, if you say so, and show you the way into that part of the +country, as your pay." + +"Agreet, shentlemans. Vat I vants is atfice, and vat you vants is a +vatch." + +Here uncle Ro laughed so much like himself, when he ought clearly to +have laughed in broken English, that I was very much afraid he might +give the alarm to our companion; but he did not. From that time, the +best relations existed between us and Seneca, who, in the course of the +day, recognised us by sundry smiles and winks, though I could plainly +see he did not like the anti-aristocratic principle sufficiently to wish +to seem too intimate with us. Before we reached the islands, however, he +gave us directions where to meet him in the morning, and we parted, when +the boat stopped alongside of the pier at Albany that afternoon, the +best friends in the world. + +"Albany! dear, good old Albany!" exclaimed my uncle Ro, as we stopped on +the draw of the bridge to look at the busy scene in the basin, where +literally hundreds of canal-boats were either lying to discharge or to +load, or were coming and going, to say nothing of other craft; "dear, +good old Albany! you are a town to which I ever return with pleasure, +for you at least never disappoint me. A first-rate country-place you +are; and, though I miss your quaint old Dutch church, and your +rustic-looking old _English_ church from the centre of your principal +street, almost every change _you_ make is respectable. I know nothing +that tells so much against you as changing the name of Market street by +the paltry imitation of Broadway; but, considering that a horde of +Yankees have come down upon you since the commencement of the present +century, you are lucky that the street was not called the Appian Way. +But, excellent old Albany! whom even the corruptions of politics cannot +change in the core, lying against thy hillside, and surrounded with thy +picturesque scenery, there is an air of respectability about thee that I +admire, and a quiet prosperity that I love. Yet, how changed since my +boyhood! Thy simple stoups have all vanished; thy gables are +disappearing; marble and granite are rising in thy streets, too, but +they take honest shapes, and are free from the ambition of mounting on +stilts; thy basin has changed the whole character of thy once +semi-sylvan, semi-commercial river; but it gives to thy young manhood an +appearance of abundance and thrift that promise well for thy age!" + +The reader may depend on it that I laughed heartily at this rhapsody; +for I could hardly enter into my uncle's feelings. Albany is certainly a +very good sort of a place, and relatively a more respectable-looking +town than the "_commercial_ emporium," which, after all, externally, is +a mere huge expansion of a very marked mediocrity, with the pretension +of a capital in its estimate of itself. But Albany lays no claim to be +anything more than a provincial town, and in that class it is highly +placed. By the way, there is nothing in which "_our_ people," to speak +idiomatically, more deceive themselves, than in their estimate of what +composes a capital. It would be ridiculous to suppose that the +representatives of such a government as this could impart to any place +the tone, opinions, habits and manners of a capital; for, if they did, +they would impart it on the novel principle of communicating that which +they do not possess in their own persons. Congress itself, though +tolerably free from most shackles, including those of the constitution, +is not up to that. In my opinion, a man accustomed to the world might be +placed blindfolded in the most finished quarter of New York, and the +place has new quarters in which the incongruities I have already +mentioned do not exist, and, my life on it, he could pronounce, as soon +as the bandage was removed, that he was not in a town where the tone of +a capital exists. The last thing to make a capital is trade. Indeed, the +man who hears the words "business" and "the merchants" ringing in his +ears, may safely conclude, _de facto_, that he is not in a capital. Now, +a New-York village is often much less rustic than the villages of the +most advanced country of Europe; but a New-York town is many degrees +below any capital of a large State in the old world. + +Will New York ever be a capital? Yes--out of all question, yes. But the +day will not come until after the sudden changes of condition which +immediately and so naturally succeeded the revolution, have ceased to +influence ordinary society, and those above again impart to those below +more than they receive. This restoration to the natural state of things +must take place, as soon as society gets settled; and there will be +nothing to prevent a town living under our own institutions--spirit, +_tendencies_ and all--from obtaining the highest tone that ever yet +prevailed in a capital. The folly is in anticipating the natural course +of events. Nothing will more hasten these events, however, than a +literature that is controlled, not by the lower, but by the higher +opinion of the country; which literature is yet, in a great degree, to +be created. + +I had dispensed with the monkey, after trying to get along with the +creature for an hour or two, and went around only with my music. I would +rather manage an army of anti-renters than one monkey. With the +hurdy-gurdy slung around my neck, therefore, I followed my uncle, who +actually sold another watch before we reached a tavern. Of course we did +not presume to go to Congress Hall, or the Eagle, for we knew we should +not be admitted. This was the toughest part of our adventures. I am of +opinion my uncle made a mistake; for he ventured to a second-class +house, under the impression that one of the sort usually frequented by +men of our supposed stamp might prove too coarse for us, altogether. I +think we should have been better satisfied with the coarse fare of a +coarse tavern, than with the shabby-genteel of the house we blundered +into. In the former, everything would have reminded us, in a way we +expected to be reminded, that we were out of the common track; and we +might have been amused with the change, though it is one singularly hard +to be endured. I remember to have heard a young man, accustomed from +childhood to the better habits of the country, but who went to sea a +lad, before the mast, declare that the coarseness of his shipmates, and +there is no vulgarity about a true sailor, even when coarsest, gave him +more trouble to overcome, than all the gales, physical sufferings, +labour, exposures and dangers, put together. I must confess, I have +found it so, too, in my little experience. While acting as a strolling +musician, I could get along with anything better than the coarse habits +which I encountered at the table. Your silver-forkisms, and your purely +conventional customs, as a matter of course, no man of the world +attaches any serious importance to; but there are conventionalities that +belong to the fundamental principles of civilized society, which become +second nature, and with which it gets to be hard, indeed, to dispense. I +shall say as little as possible of the disagreeables of my new trade, +therefore, but stick to the essentials. + +The morning of the day which succeeded that of our arrival at Albany, my +uncle Ro and I took our seats in the train, intending to go to Saratoga, +via Troy. I wonder the Trojan who first thought of playing this +travestie on Homer, did not think of calling the place Troyville, or +Troyborough! That would have been semi-American, at least, whereas the +present appellation is so purely classical! It is impossible to walk +through the streets of this neat and flourishing town, which already +counts its twenty thousand souls, and not have the images of Achilles, +and Hector, and Priam, and Hecuba, pressing on the imagination a little +uncomfortably. Had the place been called Try, the name would have been a +sensible one; for it is trying all it can to get the better of Albany; +and, much as I love the latter venerable old town, I hope Troy may +succeed in its trying to prevent the Hudson from being bridged. By the +way, I will here remark, for the benefit of those who have never seen +any country but their own, that there is a view on the road between +Schenectady and this Grecian place, just where the heights give the +first full appearance of the valley of the Hudson, including glimpses of +Waterford, Lansingburg and Albany, with a full view of both Troys, +which gives one a better idea of the affluence of European scenery, than +almost any other spot I can recall in America. To my hurdy-gurdy: + +I made my first essay as a musician in public beneath the windows of the +principal inn of Troy. I cannot say much in favour of the instrument, +though I trust the playing itself was somewhat respectable. This I know +full well, that I soon brought a dozen fair faces to the windows of the +inn, and that each was decorated with a smile. Then it was that I +regretted the monkey. Such an opening could not but awaken the dormant +ambition of even a "patriot" of the purest water, and I will own I was +gratified. + +Among the curious who thus appeared, were two whom I at once supposed to +be father and daughter. The former was a clergyman, and, as I fancied by +something in his air, of "_the_ Church," begging pardon of those who +take offence at this exclusive title, and to whom I will just give a +hint in passing. Any one at all acquainted with mankind, will at once +understand that no man who is certain of possessing any particular +advantage, ever manifests much sensibility because another lays claim to +it also. In the constant struggles of the jealous, for instance, on the +subject of that universal source of jealous feeling, social position, +the man or woman who is conscious of claims never troubles himself or +herself about them. For them the obvious fact is sufficient. If it be +answered to this that the pretension of "_the_ Church" is exclusive, I +shall admit it is, and "conclusive," too. It is not exclusive, however, +in the sense urged, since no one denies that there are many branches to +"the Church," although those branches do not embrace everything. I would +advise those who take offence at "our" styling "ourselves" "_the_ +Church," to style themselves "_the_ Church," just as they call all their +parsons bishops, and see who will care about it. That is a touchstone +which will soon separate the true metal from the alloy. + +My parson, I could easily see, was a _Church_ clergyman--not a +_meeting_-house clergyman. How I ascertained that fact at a glance, I +shall not reveal; but I also saw in his countenance some of that +curiosity which marks simplicity of character: it was not a vulgar +feeling, but one which induced him to beckon me to approach a little +nearer. I did so, when he invited me in. It was a little awkward, at +first, I must acknowledge, to be beckoned about in this manner; but +there was something in the air and countenance of the daughter that +induced me not to hesitate about complying. I cannot say that her beauty +was so _very_ striking, though she was decidedly pretty; but the +expression of her face, eyes, smile, and all put together, was so +singularly sweet and feminine, that I felt impelled by a sympathy I +shall not attempt to explain, to enter the house, and ascend to the door +of a parlour that I saw at once was public, though it then contained no +one but my proper hosts. + +"Walk in, young man," said the father, in a benevolent tone of voice. "I +am curious to see that instrument; and my daughter here, who has a taste +for music, wishes it as much as I do myself. What do you call it?" + +"Hurty-gurty," I answered. + +"From what part of the world do you come, my young friend?" continued +the clergyman, raising his meek eyes to mine still more curiously. + +"Vrom Charmany; vrom Preussen, vere did reign so late de good Koenig +Wilhelm." + +"What does he say, Molly?" + +So the pretty creature bore the name of Mary! I liked the Molly, too; it +was a good sign, as none but the truly respectable dare use such +familiar appellations in these ambitious times. Molly sounded as if +these people had the _aplomb_ of position and conscious breeding. Had +they been vulgar, it would have been Mollissa. + +"It is not difficult to translate, father," answered one of the sweetest +voices that had ever poured its melody on my ear, and which was rendered +still more musical by the slight laugh that mingled with it. "He says he +is from Germany--from Prussia, where the good King William lately +reigned." + +I liked the "father," too--that sounded refreshing, after passing a +night among a tribe of foul-nosed adventurers in humanity, every one of +whom had done his or her share towards caricaturing the once pretty +appellatives of "Pa" and "Ma." A young lady may still say "Papa," or +even "Mamma," though it were far better that she said "Father" and +"Mother;" but as for "Pa" and "Ma," they are now done with in +respectable life. They will not even do for the nursery. + +"And this instrument is a hurdy-gurdy?" continued the clergyman. "What +have we here--the name spelt on it?" + +"Dat isht de maker's name--_Hochstiel fecit_." + +"Fecit!" repeated the clergyman; "is that German?" + +"Nein--dat isht Latin; _facio_, _feci_, _factum_, _facere_--_feci_, +_feciste_, FECIT. It means make, I suppose you know." + +The parson looked at me, and at my dress and figure, with open surprise, +and smiled as his eye glanced at his daughter. If asked why I made this +silly display of lower-form learning, I can only say that I chafed at +being fancied a mere every-day street musician, that had left his monkey +at home, by the charming girl who stood gracefully bending over her +father's elbow, as the latter examined the inscription that was stamped +on a small piece of ivory which had been let into the instrument. I +could see that Mary shrunk back a little under the sensitive feeling, so +natural to her sex, that she was manifesting too much freedom of manner +for the presence of a youth who was nearer to her own class than she +could have supposed it possible for a player on the hurdy-gurdy to be. A +blush succeeded; but the glance of the soft blue eye that instantly +followed, seemed to set all at rest, and she leaned over her father's +elbow again. + +"You understand Latin, then?" demanded the parent, examining me over his +spectacles from head to foot. + +"A leetle, sir--just a ferry leetle. In my coontry, efery mans isht +obliget to be a soldier some time, and them t'at knows Latin can be made +sergeants and corporals." + +"That is Prussia, is it?" + +"Ya--Preussen, vere so late did reign de goot Koenig Wilhelm." + +"And is Latin much understood among you? I have heard that, in Hungary, +most well-informed persons even speak the tongue." + +"In Charmany it isht not so. We all l'arnts somet'ing, but not all dost +l'arn efery t'ing." + +I could see a smile struggling around the sweet lips of that dear girl, +after I had thus delivered myself, as I fancied, with a most accurate +inaccuracy; but she succeeded in repressing it, though those provoking +eyes of hers continued to laugh, much of the time our interview lasted. + +"Oh! I very well know that in Prussia the schools are quite good, and +that your government pays great attention to the wants of all classes," +rejoined the clergyman; "but I confess some surprise that _you_ should +understand anything of Latin. Now, even in this country, where we boast +so much----" + +"Ye-e-s," I could not refrain from drawling out, "dey does poast a great +teal in dis coontry!" + +Mary actually laughed; whether it was at my words, or at the somewhat +comical manner I had assumed--a manner in which simplicity was _tant +soit peu_ blended with irony--I shall not pretend to say. As for the +father, his simplicity was of proof; and, after civilly waiting until my +interruption was done, he resumed what he had been on the point of +saying. + +"I was about to add," continued the clergyman, "that even in this +country, where we boast so much"--the little minx of a daughter passed +her hand over her eyes, and fairly coloured with the effort she made not +to laugh again--"of the common schools, and of their influence on the +public mind, it is not usual to find persons of your condition who +understand the dead languages." + +"Ye-e-s," I replied; "it isht my condition dat misleats you, sir. Mine +fat'er wast a shentlemans, and he gifet me as goot an etication as de +Koenig did gif to de Kron Prinz." + +Here, my desire to appear well in the eyes of Mary caused me to run into +another silly indiscretion. How I was to explain the circumstance of the +son of a Prussian gentleman, whose father had given him an education as +good as that which the King of his country had given to its Crown +Prince, being in the streets of Troy, playing on a hurdy-gurdy, was a +difficulty I did not reflect on for a moment. The idea of being thought +by that sweet girl a mere uneducated boor, was intolerable to me; and I +threw it off by this desperate falsehood--false in its accessories, but +true in its main facts--as one would resent an insult. Fortune favoured +me, however, far more than I had any right to expect. + +There is a singular disposition in the American character to believe +every well-mannered European at least a count. I do not mean that those +who have seen the world are not like other persons in this respect; but +a very great proportion of the country never has seen any other world +than a world of "business." The credulity on this subject surpasseth +belief; and, were I to relate facts of this nature that might be +established in a court of justice, the very parties connected with them +would be ready to swear that they are caricatures. Now, well-mannered I +trust I am, and, though plainly dressed and thoroughly disguised, +neither my air nor attire was absolutely mean. As my clothes were new, I +was neat in my appearance; and there were possibly some incongruities +about the last, that might have struck eyes more penetrating than those +of my companions. I could see that both father and daughter felt a +lively interest in me, the instant I gave them reason to believe I was +one of better fortunes. So many crude notions exist among us on the +subject of convulsions and revolutions in Europe, that I dare say, had I +told any improbable tale of the political condition of Prussia, it would +have gone down; for nothing so much resembles the ignorance that +prevails in America, generally, concerning the true state of things in +Europe, as the ignorance that prevails in Europe, generally, concerning +the true state of things in America. As for Mary, her soft eyes seemed +to me to be imbued with thrice their customary gentleness and +compassion, as she recoiled a step in native modesty, and gazed at me, +when I had made my revelation. + +"If such is the case, my young friend," returned the clergyman, with +benevolent interest, "you ought, and _might_ easily be placed in a +better position than this you are now in. Have you any knowledge of +Greek?" + +"Certainly--Greek is moch study in Charmany." + +'In for a penny, in for a pound,' I thought. + +"And the modern languages--do you understand any of them?" + +"I speaks de five great tongues of Europe, more ast less well; and I read +dem all, easily." + +"The _five_ tongues!" said the clergyman, counting on his fingers; +"what can they be, Mary?" + +"French, and German, and Spanish, and Italian, I suppose, sir." + +"These make but four. What can be the fifth, my dear?" + +"De yoong laty forgets de Englisch. De Englisch is das funf." + +"Oh! yes, the English!" exclaimed the pretty creature, pressing her lips +together to prevent laughing in my face. + +"True--I had forgotten the English, not being accustomed to think of it +as a mere European tongue. I suppose, young man, you naturally speak the +English less fluently than any other of your five languages?" + +"Ya!" + +Again the smile struggled to the lips of Mary. + +"I feel a deep interest in you as a stranger, and am sorry we have only +met to part so soon. Which way shall you be likely to direct your steps, +my Prussian young friend?" + +"I go to a place which is callet Ravensnest--goot place to sell vatch, +dey tells me." + +"Ravensnest!" exclaimed the father. + +"Ravensnest!" repeated the daughter, and that in tones which put the +hurdy-gurdy to shame. + +"Why, Ravensnest is the place where I live, and the parish of which I am +the clergyman--the Protestant Episcopal clergyman, I mean." + +This, then, was the Rev. Mr. Warren, the divine who had been called to +our church the very summer I left home, and who had been there ever +since! My sister Martha had written me much concerning these people, and +I felt as if I had known them for years. Mr. Warren was a man of good +connexions, and some education, but of no fortune whatever, who had gone +into _the_ Church--it was the church of his ancestors, one of whom had +actually been an English bishop, a century or two ago--from choice, and +contrary to the wishes of his friends. As a preacher, his success had +never been great; but for the discharge of his duties no man stood +higher, and no man was more respected. The living of St. Andrew's, +Ravensnest, would have been poor enough, had it depended on the +contributions of the parishioners. These last gave about one hundred and +fifty dollars a-year, for their share of the support of a priest. I +gave another hundred, as regularly as clock-work, and had been made to +do so throughout a long minority; and my grandmother and sister made up +another fifty between them. But there was a glebe of fifty acres of +capital land, a wood-lot, and a fund of two thousand dollars at +interest; the whole proceeding from endowments made by my grandfather, +during his lifetime. Altogether, the living may have been worth a clear +five hundred dollars a year, in addition to a comfortable house, hay, +wood, vegetables, pasture, and some advantages in the way of small +crops. Few country clergymen were better off than the rector of St. +Andrew's, Ravensnest, and all as a consequence of the feudal and +aristocratic habits of the Littlepages, though I say it, perhaps, who +might better not, in times like these. + +My letters had told me that the Rev. Mr. Warren was a widower; that Mary +was his only child; that he was a _truly_ pious, not a _sham_-pious, and +a really zealous clergyman; a man of purest truth, whose word was +gospel--of great simplicity and integrity of mind and character; that he +never spoke evil of others, and that a complaint of this world and its +hardships seldom crossed his lips. He loved his fellow-creatures, both +naturally and on principle; mourned over the state of the diocese, and +greatly preferred piety even to high-churchism. High-churchman he was, +nevertheless; though it was not a high-churchmanship that outweighed the +loftier considerations of his Christian duties, and left him equally +without opinions of his own in matters of morals, and without a proper +respect, in practice, for those that he had solemnly vowed to maintain. + +His daughter was described as a sweet-tempered, arch, modest, sensible, +and well-bred girl, that had received a far better education than her +father's means would have permitted him to bestow, through the +liberality and affection of a widowed sister of her mother's, who was +affluent, and had caused her to attend the same school as that to which +she had sent her own daughters. In a word, she was a most charming +neighbour; and her presence at Ravensnest had rendered Martha's annual +visits to the "old house" (built in 1785) not only less irksome, but +actually pleasant. Such had been my sister's account of the Warrens and +their qualities, throughout a correspondence of five years. I have even +fancied that she loved this Mary Warren better than she loved any of her +uncle's wards, herself of course excepted. + +The foregoing flashed through my mind, the instant the clergyman +announced himself; but the coincidence of our being on the way to the +same part of the country, seemed to strike him as forcibly as it did +myself. What Mary thought of the matter, I had no means of ascertaining. + +"This is singular enough," resumed Mr. Warren. "What has directed your +steps towards Ravensnest?" + +"Dey tell mine ooncle 'tis goot place to sell moch vatch." + +"You have an uncle, then? Ah! I see him there in the street, showing a +watch at this moment to a gentleman. Is your uncle a linguist, too, and +has he been as well educated as you seem to be yourself?" + +"Certain--he moch more of a shentleman dan ast de shentleman to whom he +now sell vatch." + +"These must be the very persons," put in Mary, a little eagerly, "of +whom Mr. Newcome spoke, as the"--the dear girl did not like to say +pedlars, after what I had told them of my origin; so she added--"dealers +in watches and trinkets, who intended to visit our part of the country." + +"You are right, my dear, and the whole matter is now clear. Mr. Newcome +said he expected them to join us at Troy, when we should proceed in the +train together as far as Saratoga. But here comes Opportunity herself, +and her brother cannot be far off." + +At that moment, sure enough, my old acquaintance, Opportunity Newcome, +came into the room, a public parlour, with an air of great +self-satisfaction, and a _nonchalance_ of manner that was not a little +more peculiar to herself than it is to most of her caste. I trembled for +my disguise, since, to be quite frank on a very delicate subject, +Opportunity had made so very dead a set at me--"setting a cap" is but a +pitiful phrase to express the assault I had to withstand--as scarcely to +leave a hope that her feminine instinct, increased and stimulated with +the wish to be mistress of the Nest house, could possibly overlook the +thousand and one personal peculiarities that must still remain about +one, whose personal peculiarities she had made her particular study. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "O, sic a geek she gave her head, + And sic a toss she gave her feather; + Man, saw ye ne'er a bonnier lass + Before, among the blooming heather?" + + ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. + + +"Ah! here are some charming French _vignettes_!" cried Opportunity, +running up to a table where lay some inferior coloured engravings, that +were intended to represent the cardinal virtues, under the forms of +tawdry female beauties. The workmanship was French, as were the +inscriptions. Now, Opportunity knew just enough French to translate +these inscriptions, simple and school-girl as they were, as wrong as +they could possibly be translated, under the circumstances. + +"_La Vertue_," cried Opportunity, in a high, decided way, as if to make +sure of an audience "_The_ Virtue; _La Solitude_," pronouncing the last +word in a desperately English accent, "_The_ Solitude; La Charite, _The_ +Charity. It is really delightful, Mary, as 'Sarah Soothings' would say, +to meet with these glimmerings of taste in this wilderness of the +world." + +I wondered who the deuce "Sarah Soothings" could be, but afterwards +learned this was the nom-de-guerre of a female contributor to the +magazines, who, I dare say, silly as she might be, was never silly +enough to record the sentiments Opportunity had just professed to +repeat. As for _The la Charite_, and _The la Vertue_, they did not in +the least surprise me; for Martha, the hussy, often made herself merry +by recording that young lady's _tours de force_ in French. On one +occasion I remember she wrote me, that when Opportunity wished to say +_On est venu me chercher_, instead of saying "I am come for," in homely +English, which would have been the best of all, she had flown off in the +high flight of "Je suis venue pour." + +Mary smiled, for she comprehended perfectly the difference between _la +Solitude_ and _the_ Solitude; but she said nothing. I must acknowledge +that I was so indiscreet as to smile also, though, Opportunity's back +being turned towards us, these mutual signs of intelligence that escaped +us both through the eyes, opened a species of communication that, to me +at least, was infinitely agreeable. + +Opportunity, having shown the owner of the strange figure at which she +had just glanced on entering the room, that she had studied French, now +turned to take a better look at him. I have reason to think my +appearance did not make a very happy impression on her; for she tossed +her head, drew a chair, seated herself in the manner most opposed to the +descent of down, and opened her budget of news, without the least regard +to my presence, and apparently with as little attention to the wishes +and tastes of her companions. Her accent, and jumping, hitching mode of +speaking, with the high key in which she uttered her sentiments, too, +all grated on my ears, which had become a little accustomed to different +habits, in young ladies in particular, in the other hemisphere. I +confess myself to be one of those who regard an even, quiet, graceful +mode of utterance, as even a greater charm in a woman than beauty. Its +effect is more lasting, and seems to be directly connected with the +character. Mary Warren not only pronounced like one accustomed to good +society; but the modulations of her voice, which was singularly sweet by +nature, were even and agreeable, as is usual with well-bred women, and +as far as possible from the jerking, fluttering, now rapid, now drawling +manner of Opportunity. Perhaps, in this age of "loose attire," loose +habits, and free and easy deportment, the speech denotes the gentleman, +or the lady, more accurately than any other off-hand test. + +"Sen is enough to wear out anybody's patience!" exclaimed Opportunity. +"We must quit Troy in half an hour; and I have visits that I ought to +pay to Miss Jones, and Miss White, and Miss Black, and Miss Green, and +Miss Brown, and three or four others; and I can't get him to come near +me." + +"Why not go alone?" asked Mary, quietly. "It is but a step to two or +three of the houses, and you cannot possibly lose your way. I will go +with you, if you desire it." + +"Oh! lose my way? no, indeed! I know it too well for that. I wasn't +educated in Troy, not to know something of the streets. But it looks so, +to see a young lady walking in the streets without a beau! I never wish +to cross a room in company without a beau; much less to cross a street. +No; if Sen don't come in soon, I shall miss seeing every one of my +friends, and that will be a desperate disappointment to us all; but it +can't be helped: walk without a beau I _will not_, if I never see one of +them again." + +"Will you accept of me, Miss Opportunity?" asked Mr. Warren. "It will +afford me pleasure to be of service to you." + +"Lord! Mr. Warren, you don't think of setting up for a beau at your time +of life, do you? Everybody would see that you're a clergyman, and I +might just as well go alone. No, if Sen don't come in at once, I must +lose my visits; and the young ladies will be so put out about it, I +know! Araminta Maria wrote me, in the most particular manner, never to +go through Troy without stopping to see _her_, if I didn't see another +mortal; and Kathe_rine_ Clotilda has as much as said she would never +forgive me if I passed her door. But Seneca cares no more for the +friendships of young ladies, than he does"--Miss Newcome pronounced this +word "doos," notwithstanding her education, as she did "been," "ben," +and fifty others just as much out of the common way--"But Seneca cares +no more for the friendships of young ladies, than he does for the young +patroon. I declare, Mr. Warren, I believe Sen will go crazy unless the +anti-renters soon get the best of it; he does nothing but think and talk +of 'rents,' and 'aristocracy,' and 'poodle usages,' from morning till +night." + +We all smiled at the little mistake of Miss Opportunity, but it was of +no great consequence; and I dare say she knew what she meant as well as +most others who use the same term, though they spell it more accurately. +"Poodle usages" are quite as applicable to anything now existing in +America, as "feudal usages." + +"Your brother is then occupied with a matter of the last importance to +the community of which he is a member," answered the clergyman, gravely. +"On the termination of this anti-rent question hangs, in my judgment, a +vast amount of the future character, and much of the future destiny, of +Yew York." + +"I wonder, now! I'm surprised to hear you say this, Mr. Warren, for +generally you're thought to be unfriendly to the movement. Sen says, +however, that everything looks well, and that _he_ believes the tenants +will get their lands throughout the State before they've done with it. +He tells me we shall have Injins enough this summer at Ravensnest. The +visit of old Mrs. Littlepage has raised a spirit that will not easily be +put down, he says." + +"And why should the visit of Mrs. Littlepage to the house of her +grandson, and to the house built by her own husband, and in which she +passed the happiest days of her life, 'raise a spirit,' as you call it, +in any one in that part of the country?" + +"Oh! you're episcopal, Mr. Warren; and we all know how the Episcopals +feel about such matters. But, for my part, I don't think the Littlepages +are a bit better than the Newcomes, though I won't liken them to some I +could name at Ravensnest; but I don't think they are any better than +you, yourself; and why should they ask so much more of the law than +other folks?" + +"I am not aware that they do ask more of the law than others; and, if +they do, I'm sure they obtain less. The law in this country is virtually +administered by jurors, who take good care to graduate justice, so far +as they can, by a scale suited to their own opinions, and, quite often, +to their prejudices. As the last are so universally opposed to persons +in Mrs. Littlepage's class in life, if there be a chance to make her +suffer, it is pretty certain it will be improved." + +"Sen says he can't see why he should pay rent to a Littlepage, any more +than a Littlepage should pay rent to him." + +"I am sorry to hear it, since there is a very sufficient reason for the +former, and no reason at all for the latter. Your brother uses the land +of Mr. Littlepage, and that is a reason why he should pay him rent. If +the case were reversed, then, indeed, Mr. Littlepage should pay rent to +your brother." + +"But what reason is there that these Littlepages should go on from +father to son, from generation to generation, as our landlords, when +we're just as good as they. It's time there was some change. Besides, +only think, we've been at the mills, now, hard upon eighty years, +grandpa having first settled there; and we have had them very mills, +now, for three generations among us." + +"High time, therefore, Opportunity, that there should be some change," +put in Mary, with a demure smile. + +"Oh! you're so intimate with Marthy Littlepage, I'm not surprised at +anything _you_ think or say. But reason is reason, for all that. I +haven't the least grudge in the world against young Hugh Littlepage; if +foreign lands haven't spoilt him, as they say they're desperate apt to +do, he's an agreeable young gentleman, and I can't say that _he_ used to +think himself any better than other folks." + +"I should say none of the family are justly liable to the charge of so +doing," returned Mary. + +"Well, I'm amazed to hear you say _that_, Mary Warren. To my taste, +Marthy Littlepage is as disagreeable as she can be. If the anti-rent +cause had nobody better than she is to oppose it, it would soon +triumph." + +"May I ask, Miss Newcome, what particular reason you have for so +thinking?" asked Mr. Warren, who had kept his eye on the young lady the +whole time she had been thus running on, with an interest that struck me +as somewhat exaggerated, when one remembered the character of the +speaker, and the value of her remarks. + +"I think so, Mr. Warren, because everybody says so," was the answer. "If +Marthy Littlepage don't think herself better than other folks, why don't +she _act_ like other folks. Nothing is good enough for her in her own +conceit." + +Poor little Patt, who was the very _beau ideal_ of nature and +simplicity, as nature and simplicity manifest themselves under the +influence of refinement and good-breeding, was here accused of fancying +herself better than this ambitious young lady, for no other reason than +the fact of the little distinctive peculiarities of her air and +deportment, which Opportunity had found utterly unattainable, after one +or two efforts to compass them. In this very fact is the secret of a +thousand of the absurdities and vices that are going up and down the +land at this moment, like raging lions, seeking whom they may devour. +Men often turn to their statutebooks and constitution to find the +sources of obvious evils, that, in truth, have their origin in some of +the lowest passions of human nature. The entrance of Seneca at that +moment, however, gave a new turn to the discourse, though it continued +substantially the same. I remarked that Seneca entered with his hat on, +and that he kept his head covered during most of the interview that +succeeded, notwithstanding the presence of the two young ladies and the +divine. As for myself, I had been so free as to remove my cap, though +many might suppose it was giving myself airs, while others would have +imagined it was manifesting a degree of respect to human beings that was +altogether unworthy of freemen. It is getting to be a thing so +particular and aristocratic to take off the hat on entering a house, +that few of the humbler democrats of America now ever think of it! + +As a matter of course, Opportunity upbraided her delinquent brother for +not appearing sooner to act as her beau; after which, she permitted him +to say a word for himself. That Seneca was in high good-humour, was +easily enough to be seen; he even rubbed his hands together in the +excess of his delight. + +"Something has happened to please Sen," cried the sister, her own mouth +on a broad grin, in her expectation of coming in for a share of the +gratification. "I wish you would get him to tell us what it is, Mary; +he'll tell _you_ anything." + +I cannot describe how harshly this remark grated on my nerves. The +thought that Mary Warren could consent to exercise even the most distant +influence over such a man as Seneca Newcome, was to the last degree +unpleasant to me; and I could have wished that she would openly and +indignantly repel the notion. But Mary Warren treated the whole matter +very much as a person who was accustomed to such remarks would be apt to +do. I cannot say that she manifested either pleasure or displeasure; but +a cold indifference was, if anything, uppermost in her manner. Possibly, +I should have been content with this; but I found it very difficult to +be so. Seneca, however, did not wait for Miss Warren to exert her +influence to induce him to talk, but appeared well enough disposed to do +it of his own accord. + +"Something _has_ happened to please me, I must own," he answered; "and I +would as lief Mr. Warren should know what it is, as not. Things go ahead +finely among us anti-renters, and we shall carry all our p'ints before +long!" + +"I wish I were certain no points would be carried but those that ought +to be carried, Mr. Newcome," was the answer. "But what has happened, +lately, to give a new aspect to the affair?" + +"We're gaining strength among the politicians. Both sides are beginning +to court us, and the 'spirit of the institutions' will shortly make +themselves respected." + +"I am delighted to hear that! It is in the intention of the institutions +to repress covetousness, and uncharitableness, and all frauds, and to do +nothing but what is right," observed Mr. Warren. + +"Ah! here comes my friend the travelling jeweller," said Seneca, +interrupting the clergyman, in order to salute my uncle, who at that +instant showed himself in the door of the room, cap in hand. "Walk in, +Mr. Dafidson, since that is your name: Rev. Mr. Warren--Miss Mary +Warren--Miss Opportunity Newcome, my sister, who will be glad to look at +your wares. The cars will be detained on some special business, and we +have plenty of time before us." + +All this was done with a coolness and indifference of manner which went +to show that Seneca had no scruples whatever on the subject of whom he +introduced to any one. As for my uncle, accustomed to these free and +easy manners, and probably not absolutely conscious of the figure he cut +in his disguise, he bowed rather too much like a gentleman for one of +his present calling, though my previous explanation of our own connexion +and fallen fortunes had luckily prepared the way for this deportment. + +"Come in, Mr. Dafidson, and open your box--my sister may fancy some of +your trinkets; I never knew a girl that didn't." + +The imaginary pedlar entered, and placed his box on a table near which I +was standing, the whole party immediately gathering around it. My +presence had attracted no particular attention from either Seneca or his +sister, the room being public, and my connexion with the vender of +trinkets known. In the mean time, Seneca was too full of his good news +to let the subject drop; while the watches, rings, chains, brooches, +bracelets, &c. &c., were passed under examination. + +"Yes, Mr. Warren, I trust we are about to have a complete development of +the spirit of our institutions, and that in futur' there will be no +privileged classes in New York, at least." + +"The last will certainly be a great gain, sir," the divine coldly +answered. "Hitherto, those who have most suppressed the truth, and who +have most contributed to the circulation of flattering falsehoods, have +had undue advantages in America." + +Seneca, obviously enough, did not like this sentiment; but I thought, by +his manner, that he was somewhat accustomed to meeting with such rebuffs +from Mr. Warren. + +"I suppose you will admit there _are_ privileged classes now among us, +Mr. Warren?" + +"I am ready enough to allow that, sir; it is too plain to be denied." + +"Wa-all, I should like to hear _you_ p'int 'em out; that I might see if +we agree in our sentiments." + +"Demagogues are a highly privileged class. The editors of newspapers are +another highly privileged class; doing things, daily and hourly, which +set all law and justice at defiance, and invading, with perfect +impunity, the most precious rights of their fellow-citizens. The power +of both is enormous; and, as in all cases of great and irresponsible +power, both enormously abuse it." + +"Wa-all, that's not my way of thinking at all. In my judgment, the +privileged classes in this country are your patroons and your landlords; +men that's not satisfied with a reasonable quantity of land, but who +wish to hold more than the rest of their fellow-creatur's." + +"I am not aware of a single privilege that any patroon--of whom, by the +way, there no longer exists one, except in name--or any landlord, +possesses over any one of his fellow-citizens." + +"Do you call it no privilege for a man to hold all the land there may +happen to be in a township? I call that a great privilege; and such as +no man should have in a free country. Other people want land as well as +your Van Renssalaers and Littlepages; and other people mean to have it, +too." + +"On that principle, every man who owns more of any one thing than his +neighbour is privileged. Even I, poor as I am, and am believed to be, am +privileged over you, Mr. Newcome. I own a cassock, and have two gowns, +one old and one new, and various other things of the sort, of which you +have not one. What is more, I am privileged in another sense; since I +can _wear_ my cassock and gown, and bands, and _do_ wear them often; +whereas you cannot wear one of them all without making yourself laughed +at." + +"Oh! but them are not privileges I care anything about; if I did I would +put on the things, as the law does not prohibit it." + +"I beg your pardon, Mr. Newcome; the law does prohibit you from wearing +_my_ cassock and gown contrary to my wishes." + +"Wa-all, wa-all, Mr. Warren; we never shall quarrel about that; I don't +desire to wear your cassack and gown." + +"I understand you, then; it is only the things that you _desire_ to use +that you deem it a privilege for the law to leave me." + +"I am afraid we shall never agree, Mr. Warren, about this anti-rent +business; and I'm very sorry for it, as I wish particularly to think as +you do," glancing his eye most profanely towards Mary as he spoke. "I am +for the movement-principle, while you are too much for the stand-still +doctrine." + +"I am certainly for remaining stationary, Mr. Newcome, if progress mean +taking away the property of old and long established families in the +country, to give it to those whose names are not to be found in our +history; or, indeed, to give it to any but those to whom it rightfully +belongs." + +"We shall never agree, my dear sir, we shall never agree;" then, turning +towards my uncle with the air of superiority that the vulgar so easily +assume--"What do _you_ say to all this, friend Dafidson--are you up-rent +or down-rent?" + +"Ja, mynheer," was the quiet answer; "I always downs mit der rent vens +I leave a house or a garten. It is goot to pay de debts; ja, it ist +herr goot." + +This answer caused the clergyman and his daughter to smile, while +Opportunity laughed outright. + +"You won't make much of your Dutch friend, Sen," cried this buoyant +young lady; "he says you ought to keep on paying rent!" + +"I apprehend Mr. Dafidson does not exactly understand the case," +answered Seneca, who was a good deal disconcerted, but was bent on +maintaining his point. "I have understood you to say that you are a man +of liberal principles, Mr. Dafidson, and that you've come to America to +enjoy the light of intelligence and the benefits of a free government." + +"Ja; ven I might coome to America, I say, vell, dat 'tis a goot coontry, +vhere an honest man might haf vhat he 'arns, ant keep it, too. Ja, ja! +dat ist vhat I say, ant vhat I dinks." + +"I understand you, sir; you come from a part of the world where the +nobles eat up the fat of the land, taking the poor man's share as well +as his own, to live in a country where the law is, or soon will be, so +equal that no citizen will dare to talk about his _estates_, and hurt +the feelin's of such as haven't got any." + +My uncle so well affected an innocent perplexity at the drift of this +remark as to make me smile, in spite of an effort to conceal it. Mary +Warren saw that smile, and another glance of intelligence was exchanged +between us; though the young lady immediately withdrew her look, a +little consciously and with a slight blush. + +"I say that you like equal laws and equal privileges, friend Dafidson," +continued Seneca, with emphasis; "and that you have seen too much of the +evils of nobility and of feudal oppression in the old world, to wish to +fall in with them in the new." + +"Der nobles ant der feudal privileges ist no goot," answered the +trinket-pedlar, shaking his head with an appearance of great distaste. + +"Ay, I knew it would be so; you see, Mr. Warren, no man who has ever +lived under a feudal system can ever feel otherwise." + +"But what have we to do with feudal systems, Mr. Newcome? and what is +there in common between the landlords of New York and the nobles of +Europe, and between their leases and feudal tenures?" + +"What is there? A vast deal too much, sir, take my word for it. Do not +our very governors, even while ruthlessly calling on one citizen to +murder another----" + +"Nay, nay, Mr. Newcome," interrupted Mary Warren, laughing, "the +governors call on the citizens _not_ to murder each other." + +"I understand you, Miss Mary; but we shall make anti-renters of you both +before we are done. Surely, sir, there is a great deal too much +resemblance between the nobles of Europe and our landlords, when the +honest and free-born tenants of the last are obliged to pay tribute for +permission to live on the very land that they till, and which they cause +to bring forth its increase." + +"But men who are not noble let their lands in Europe; nay, the very +serfs, as they become free and obtain riches, buy lands and let them, in +some parts of the old world, as I, have heard and read." + +"All feudal, sir. The whole system is pernicious and feudal, serf or no +serf." + +"But, Mr. Newcome," said Mary Warren, quietly, though with a sort of +demure irony in her manner that said she was not without humour, and +understood herself very well, "even you let your land--land that you +lease, too, and which you do not own, except as you hire it from Mr. +Littlepage." + +Seneca gave a hem, and was evidently disconcerted; but he had too much +of the game of the true progressive movement--which merely means to +_lead_ in changes, though they may lead to the devil--to give the matter +up. Repeating the hem, more to clear his brain than to clear his throat, +he hit upon his answer, and brought it out with something very like +triumph. + +"That is one of the evils of the present system, Miss Mary. Did I own +the two or three fields you mean, and to attend to which I have no +leisure, I might _sell_ them; but now, it is impossible, since I can +give no deed. The instant my poor uncle dies--and he can't survive a +week, being, as you must know, nearly gone--the whole property, mills, +tavern, farms, timber-lot and all, fall in to young Hugh Littlepage, +who is off frolicking in Europe, doing no good to himself or others, +I'll venture to say, if the truth were known. That is another of the +hardships of the feudal system; it enables one man to travel in +idleness, wasting his substance in foreign lands, while it keeps another +at home, at the plough-handles and the cart-tail." + +"And why do you suppose Mr. Hugh Littlepage wastes his substance, and is +doing himself and country no good in foreign lands, Mr. Newcome? That is +not at all the character I hear of him, nor is it the result that I +expect to see from his travels." + +"The money he spends in Europe might do a vast deal of good at +Ravensnest, sir." + +"For my part, my dear sir," put in Mary again, in her quiet but pungent +way, "I think it remarkable that neither of our late governors has seen +fit to enumerate the facts just mentioned by Mr. Newcome among those +that are opposed to the spirit of the institutions. It is, indeed, a +great hardship that Mr. Seneca Newcome cannot sell Mr. Hugh Littlepage's +land." + +"I complain less of that," cried Seneca, a little hastily, "than of the +circumstance that all my rights in the property must go with the death +of my uncle. _That_, at least, even you, Miss Mary, must admit is a +great hardship." + +"If your uncle were unexpectedly to revive, and live twenty years, Mr. +Newcome----" + +"No, no, Miss Mary," answered Seneca, shaking his head in a melancholy +manner; "_that_ is absolutely impossible. It would not surprise me to +find him dead and buried on our return." + +"But, admit that you may be mistaken, and that your lease should +continue--you would still have a rent to pay?" + +"Of that I wouldn't complain in the least. If Mr. Dunning, Littlepage's +agent, will just promise, in as much as half a sentence, that we can get +a new lease on the old terms, I'd not say a syllable about it." + +"Well, here is one proof that the system has its advantages!" exclaimed +Mr. Warren, cheerfully. "I'm delighted to hear you say this; for it is +something to have a class of men among us whose simple promises, in a +matter of money, have so much value! It is to be hoped that their +example will not be lost." + +"Mr. Newcome has made an admission I am also glad to hear," added Mary, +as soon as her father had done speaking. "His willingness to accept a +new lease on the old terms is a proof that he has been living under a +good bargain for himself hitherto, and that down to the present moment +he has been the obliged party." + +This was very simply said, but it bothered Seneca amazingly. As for +myself, I was delighted with it, and could have kissed the pretty, arch +creature who had just uttered the remark; though I will own that as much +might have been done without any great reluctance, had she even held her +tongue. As for Seneca, he did what most men are apt to do when they have +the consciousness of not appearing particularly well in a given point of +view he endeavoured to present himself to the eyes of his companions in +another. + +"There is one thing, Mr. Warren, that I think you will admit ought not +to be," he cried, exultingly, "whatever Miss Mary thinks about it; and +that is, that the Littlepage pew in your church ought to come down." + +"I will not say that much, Mr. Newcome, though I rather think my +daughter will. I believe, my dear, you are of Mr. Newcome's way of +thinking in respect to this canopied pew, and also in respect to the old +hatchments?" + +"I wish neither was in the church," answered Mary, in a low voice. + +From that moment I was fully resolved neither should be, as soon as I +got into a situation to control the matter. + +"In that I agree with you entirely, my child," resumed the clergyman; +"and were it not for this movement connected with the rents, and the +false principles that have been so boldly announced of late years, I +might have taken on myself the authority, as rector, to remove the +hatchments. Even according to the laws connected with the use of such +things, they should have been taken away a generation or two back. As to +the pew, it is a different matter. It is private property; was +constructed with the church, which was built itself by the joint +liberality of the Littlepages and mother Trinity; and it would be a most +ungracious act to undertake to destroy it under such circumstances, and +more especially in the absence of its owner." + +"You agree, however, that it ought not to be there?" asked Seneca, with +exultation. + +"I wish with all my heart it were not. I dislike every thing like +worldly distinction in the house of God; and heraldic emblems, in +particular, seem to me very much out of place where the cross is seen to +be in its proper place." + +"Wa-all, now, Mr. Warren, I can't say I much fancy crosses about +churches either. What's the use in raising vain distinctions of any +sort. A church is but a house, after all, and ought so to be regarded." + +"True," said Mary, firmly; "but the house of God." + +"Yes, yes, we all know, Miss Mary, that you Episcopalians look more at +outward things, and more respect outward things, than most of the other +denominations of the country." + +"Do you call leases 'outward things,' Mr. Newcome?" asked Mary, archly; +"and contracts, and bargains, and promises, and the rights of property, +and the obligation to 'do as you would be done by?'" + +"Law! good folks," cried Opportunity, who had been all this time +tumbling over the trinkets, "I wish it was 'down with the rent' for +ever, with all my heart; and that not another word might ever be said on +the subject. Here is one of the prettiest pencils, Mary, I ever did see; +and its price is only four dollars. I wish, Sen, you'd let the rent +alone, and make me a present of this very pencil." + +As this was an act of which Seneca had not the least intention of being +guilty, he merely shifted his hat from one side of his head to the +other, began to whistle, and then he coolly left the room. My uncle Ro +profited by the occasion to beg Miss Opportunity would do him the honour +to accept the pencil as an offering from himself. + +"You an't surely in earnest!" exclaimed Opportunity, flushing up with +surprise and pleasure. "Why, you told me the price was four dollars; and +even that seems to me desperate little!" + +"Dat ist de price to anudder," said the gallant trinket-dealer; "but dat +ist not de price to you, Miss Opportunity. Ve shall trafel togedder; ant +vhen ve gets to your coontry, you vill dell me de best houses vhere I +might go mit my vatches ant drinkets." + +"That I will; and get you in at the Nest House, in the bargain," cried +Opportunity, pocketing the pencil without further parley. + +In the mean time my uncle selected a very neat seal, the handsomest he +had, being of pure metal, and having a real topaz in it, and offered it +to Mary Warren, with his best bow. I watched the clergyman's daughter +with anxiety, as I witnessed the progress of this _galanterie_, doubting +and hoping at each change of the ingenuous and beautiful countenance of +her to whom the offering was made. Mary coloured, smiled, seemed +embarrassed, and, as I feared, for a single moment doubting; but I must +have been mistaken, as she drew back, and, in the sweetest manner +possible, declined to accept the present. I saw that Opportunity's +having just adopted a different course added very much to her +embarrassment, as otherwise she might have said something to lessen the +seeming ungraciousness of the refusal. Luckily for herself, however, she +had a gentleman to deal with, instead of one in the station that my +uncle Ro had voluntarily assumed. When this offering was made, the +pretended pedlar was ignorant altogether of the true characters of the +clergyman and his daughter, not even knowing that he saw the rector of +St. Andrew's, Ravensnest. But the manner of Mary at once disabused him +of an error into which he had fallen through her association with +Opportunity, and he now drew back himself with perfect tact, bowing and +apologizing in a way that I thought must certainly betray his disguise. +It did not, however; for Mr. Warren, with a smile that denoted equally +satisfaction at his daughter's conduct, and a grateful sense of the +other's intended liberality, but with a simplicity that was of proof, +turned to me and begged a tune on the flute which I had drawn from my +pocket and was holding in my hand, as expecting some such invitation. + +If I have any accomplishment, it is connected with music; and +particularly with the management of the flute. On this occasion I was +not at all backward about showing off, and I executed two or three airs, +from the best masters, with as much care as if I had been playing to a +salon in one of the best quarters of Paris. I could see that Mary and +her father were both surprised at the execution, and that the first was +delighted. We had a most agreeable quarter of an hour together; and +might have had two, had not Opportunity--who was certainly well named, +being apropos of everything--began of her own accord to sing, though not +without inviting Mary to join her. As the latter declined this public +exhibition, as well as my uncle Ro's offering, Seneca's sister had it +all to herself; and she sang no less than three songs, in quick +succession, and altogether unasked. I shall not stop to characterize the +music or the words of these songs, any further than to say they were +all, more or less, of the Jim Crow school, and executed in a way that +did them ample justice. + +As it was understood that we were all to travel in the same train, the +interview lasted until we were ready to proceed; nor did it absolutely +terminate then. As Mary and Opportunity sat together, Mr. Warren asked +me to share his seat, regardless of the hurdy-gurdy; though my attire, +in addition to its being perfectly new and neat, was by no means of the +mean character that it is usual to see adorning street-music in general. +On the whole, so long as the instrument was not _en evidence_, I might +not have seemed very much out of place seated at Mr. Warren's side. In +this manner we proceeded to Saratoga, my uncle keeping up a private +discourse the whole way with Seneca, on matters connected with the rent +movement. + +As for the divine and myself, we had also much interesting talk +together. I was questioned about Europe in general and Germany in +particular; and had reason to think my answers gave surprise as well as +satisfaction. It was not an easy matter to preserve the Doric of my +assumed dialect, though practice and fear contributed their share to +render me content to resort to it. I made many mistakes, of course, but +my listeners were not the persons to discover them. I say my listeners, +for I soon ascertained that Mary Warren, who sat on the seat directly +before us, was a profoundly attentive listener to all that passed. This +circumstance did not render me the less communicative, though it did +increase the desire I felt to render what I said worthy of such a +listener. As for Opportunity, she read a newspaper a little while, +munched an apple a very little while, and slept the rest of the way. But +the journey between modern Troy and Saratoga is not a long one, and was +soon accomplished. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "I will tell you; + If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little), + Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer." + + MENENIUS AGRIPPA. + + +At the springs we parted, Mr. Warren and his friends finding a +conveyance, with their own horses, in readiness to carry them the +remainder of the distance. As for my uncle and myself, it was understood +that we were to get on in the best manner we could, it being expected +that we should reach Ravensnest in the course of a day or two. According +to the theory of our new business, we ought to travel on foot, but we +had a reservation _in petto_ that promised us also the relief of a +comfortable wagon of some sort or other. + +"Well," said my uncle, the moment we had got far enough from our new +acquaintances to be out of ear-shot, "I must say one thing in behalf of +Mr. Seneky, as he calls himself, or Sen, as his elegant sister calls +him, and that is, that I believe him to be one of the biggest scoundrels +the state holds." + +"This is not drawing his character _en beau_," I answered, laughing. +"But why do you come out so decidedly upon him at this particular +moment?" + +"Because this particular moment happens to be the first in which I have +had an opportunity to say anything since I have known the rascal. You +must have remarked that the fellow held me in discourse from the time we +left Troy until we stopped here." + +"Certainly; I could see that his tongue was in motion unceasingly: what +he said, I have to conjecture." + +"He said enough to lay bare his whole character. Our subject was +anti-rent, which he commenced with a view to explain it to a foreigner; +but I managed to lead him on, step by step, until he let me into all his +notions and expectations on the subject. Why, Hugh, the villain actually +proposed that you and I should enlist, and turn ourselves into two of +the rascally mock redskins." + +"Enlist! Do they still persevere so far as to keep up that organization, +in the very teeth of the late law?" + +"The law! What do two or three thousand voters care for any penal law, +in a country like this? Who is to enforce the law against them? Did they +commit murder, and were they even convicted, as _might_ happen under the +excitement of such a crime, they very well know nobody would be hanged. +Honesty is always too passive in matters that do not immediately press +on its direct interests. It is for the interest of every honest man in +the State to set his face against this anti-rent movement, and to do all +he can, by his vote and influence, to put it down into the dirt, out of +which it sprang, and into which it should be crushed; but not one in a +hundred, even of those who condemn it _toto caelo_, will go a foot out of +their way even to impede its progress. All depends on those who have the +power; and they will exert that power so as to conciliate the active +rogue, rather than protect the honest man. You are to remember that the +laws are executed here on the principle that 'what is everybody's +business is nobody's business.'" + +"You surely do not believe that the authorities will wink at an open +violation of the laws!" + +"That will depend on the characters of individuals; most will, but some +will not. You and I would be punished soon enough, were there a chance, +but the mass would escape. Oh! we have had some precious disclosures in +our corner of the car! The two or three men who joined Newcome are from +anti-rent districts, and seeing me with their friend, little reserve has +been practised. One of those men is an anti-rent lecturer; and, being +somewhat didactic, he favoured me with some of his arguments, +_seriatim_." + +"How! Have they got to lectures? I should have supposed the newspapers +would have been the means of circulating their ideas." + +"Oh, the newspapers, like hogs swimming too freely, have cut their own +throats; and it seems to be fashionable, just at this moment, not to +believe them. Lecturing is the great moral lever of the nation at +present." + +"But a man can lie in a lecture, as well as in a newspaper." + +"Out of all question; and if many of the lecturers are of the school of +this Mr. Holmes--'Lecturer Holmes,' as Seneca called him--but, if many +are of _his_ school, a pretty set of liberty-takers with the truth must +they be." + +"You detected him, then, in some of these liberties?" + +"In a hundred: nothing was easier than for a man in my situation to do +that; knowing, as I did, so much of the history of the land-titles of +the State. One of his arguments partakes so largely of the weak side of +our system, that I must give it to you. He spoke of the gravity of the +disturbances--of the importance to the peace and character of the State +of putting an end to them; and then, by way of corollary to his +proposition, produced a scheme for changing the titles, IN ORDER TO +SATISFY THE PEOPLE!" + +"The people, of course, meaning the tenants; the landlords and _their_ +rights passing for nothing." + +"That is one beautiful feature of the morality--an eye, or a cheek, if +you will--but here is the _nose_, and highly Roman it is. A certain +portion of the community wish to get rid of the obligations of their +contracts; and finding it cannot be done by law, they resort to means +that are opposed to all law, in order to effect their purposes. Public +law-breakers, violators of the public peace, they make use of their own +wrong as an argument for perpetuating another that can be perpetuated in +no other way. I have been looking over some of the papers containing +proclamations, &c., and find that both law-makers and law-breakers are +of one mind as to this charming policy. Without a single manly effort to +put down the atrocious wrong that is meditated, the existence of the +wrong itself is made an argument for meeting it with concessions, and +thus sustaining it. Instead of using the means the institutions have +provided for putting down all such unjust and illegal combinations, the +combinations are a sufficient reason of themselves why the laws should +be altered, and wrong be done to a few, in order that many may be +propitiated, and their votes secured." + +"This is reasoning that can be used only where real grievances exist. +But there are no real grievances in the case of the tenants. They may +mystify weak heads in the instance of the Manor leases, with their +quarter sales, fat hens, loads of wood and days' works; but my leases +are all on three lives, with rent payable in money, and with none of the +conditions that are called feudal, though no more feudal than any other +bargain to pay articles in kind. One might just as well call a bargain +made by a butcher to deliver pork for a series of years feudal. However, +feudal or not, my leases, and those of most other landlords, are running +on lives; and yet, by what I can learn, the discontent is general; and +the men who have solemnly bargained to give up their farms at the +expiration of the lives are just as warm for the 'down-rent' and titles +in fee, as the Manor tenants themselves! They say that the obligations +given for actual purchases are beginning to be discredited." + +"You are quite right; and there is one of the frauds practised on the +world at large. In the public documents, only the Manor leases, with +their pretended feudal covenants and their perpetuity, are kept in view, +while the combination goes to _all_ leases, or nearly all, and certainly +to all _sorts_ of leases, where the estates are of sufficient extent to +allow of the tenants to make head against the landlords. I dare say +there are hundreds of tenants, even on the property of the Renssalaers, +who are honest enough to be willing to comply with their contracts if +the conspirators would let them; but the rapacious spirit is abroad +among the occupants of other lands, as well as among the occupants of +theirs, and the government considers its existence a proof that +concessions should be made. The discontented must be appeased, right or +not!" + +"Did Seneca say anything on the subject of his own interests?" + +"He did; not so much in conversation with me, as in the discourse he +held with 'Lecturer Holmes.' I listened attentively, happening to be +familiar, through tradition and through personal knowledge, with all the +leading facts of the case. As you will soon be called on to act in that +matter for yourself, I may as well relate them to you. They will serve, +also, as guides to the moral merits of the occupation of half the farms +on your estate. These are things, moreover, you would never know by +public statements, since all the good bargains are smothered in silence, +while those that may possibly have been a little unfavourable to the +tenant are proclaimed far and near. It is quite possible that, among the +many thousands of leased farms that are to be found in the State, some +bad bargains may have been made by the tenants; but what sort of a +government is that which should undertake to redress evils of this +nature? If either of the Renssalaers, or you yourself, were to venture +to send a memorial to the Legislature setting forth the grievances _you_ +labour under in connection with this very 'mill-lot'--and serious losses +do they bring to you, let me tell you, though grievances, in the proper +sense of the term, they are not--you and your memorial would be met with +a general and merited shout of ridicule and derision. One man has no +rights, as opposed to a dozen." + +"So much difference is there between _'de la Rochefocauld et de la +Rochefoucauld_.'" + +"All the difference in the world: but let me give you the facts, for +they will serve as a rule by which to judge of many others. In the first +place, my great-grandfather Mordaunt, the 'patentee,' as he was called, +first let the mill-lot to the grandfather of this Seneca, the tenant +then being quite a young man. In order to obtain settlers, in that early +day, it was necessary to give them great advantages, for there was +vastly more land than there were people to work it. The first lease, +therefore, was granted on highly advantageous terms to that Jason +Newcome, whom I can just remember. He had two characters; the one, and +the true, which set him down as a covetous, envious, narrow-minded +provincial, who was full of cant and roguery. Some traditions exist +among us of his having been detected in stealing timber, and in various +other frauds. In public he is one of those virtuous and hard-working +pioneers who have transmitted to their descendants all their claims, +those that are supposed to be moral, as well as those that are known to +be legal. This flummery may do for elderly ladies, who affect snuff and +bohea, and for some men who have minds of the same calibre, but they are +not circumstances to influence such legislators and executives as are +fit to be legislators and executives. Not a great while before my +father's marriage, the said Jason still living and in possession, the +lease expired, and a new one was granted for three lives, or twenty-one +years certain, of which one of the lives is still running. That lease +was granted, on terms highly favourable to the tenant, sixty years +since, old Newcome, luckily for himself and his posterity, having named +this long-lived son as one of his three lives. Now Seneky, God bless +him! is known to lease a few of the lots that have fallen to his share +of the property for more money than is required to meet all your rent on +the whole. Such, in effect, has been the fact with that mill-lot for the +last thirty years, or even longer; and the circumstance of the great +length of time so excellent a bargain has existed, is used as an +argument why the Newcomes ought to have a deed of the property for a +nominal price; or, indeed, for no price at all, if the tenants could +have their wishes." + +"I am afraid there is nothing unnatural in thus perverting principles; +half mankind appear to me really to get a great many of their notions +_dessus dessous_." + +"Half is a small proportion; as you will find, my boy, when you grow +older. But was it not an impudent proposal of Seneca, when he wished you +and me to join the corps of 'Injins?'" + +"What answer did you make? Though I suppose it would hardly do for us to +go disguised and armed, now that the law makes it a felony, even while +our motive, at the bottom, might be to aid the law." + +"Catch me at that act of folly! Why, Hugh, could they prove such a crime +on either of _us_, or any one connected with an old landed family, we +should be the certain victims. No governor would dare pardon _us_. No, +no; clemency is a word reserved for the obvious and confirmed rogues." + +"We might get a little favour on the score of belonging to a very +powerful body of offenders." + +"True; I forgot that circumstance. The more numerous the crimes and the +criminals, the greater the probability of impunity; and this, too, not +on the general principle that power cannot be resisted, but on the +particular principle that a thousand or two votes are of vast +importance, where three thousand can turn an election. God only knows +where this thing is to end!" + +We now approached one of the humbler taverns of the place, where it was +necessary for those of our apparent pretensions to seek lodgings, and +the discourse was dropped. It was several weeks too early in the season +for the Springs to be frequented, and we found only a few of those in +the place who drank the waters because they really required them. My +uncle had been an old stager at Saratoga--a beau of the "purest water," +as he laughingly described himself--and he was enabled to explain all +that it was necessary for me to know. An American watering-place, +however, is so very much inferior to most of those in Europe, as to +furnish very little, in their best moments, beyond the human beings they +contain, to attract the attention of the traveller. + +In the course of the afternoon we availed ourselves of the opportunity +of a return vehicle to go as far as Sandy Hill, where we passed the +night. The next morning, bright and early, we got into a hired wagon and +drove across the country until near night, when we paid for our passage, +sent the vehicle back, and sought a tavern. At this house, where we +passed the night, we heard a good deal of the "Injins" having made their +appearance on the Littlepage lands, and many conjectures as to the +probable result. We were in a township, or rather on a property that was +called Mooseridge, and which had once belonged to us, but which, having +been sold, and in a great measure paid for by the occupants, no one +thought of impairing the force of the covenants under which the parties +held. The most trivial observer will soon discover that it is only when +something is to be gained that the aggrieved citizen wishes to disturb a +covenant. Now, I never heard any one say a syllable against either of +the covenants of his lease under which he held his farm, let him be ever +so loud against those which would shortly compel him to give it up! Had +I complained of the fact--and such facts abounded--that my predecessors +had incautiously let farms at such low prices that the lessees had been +enabled to pay the rents for half a century by subletting small portions +of them, as my uncle Ro had intimated, I should be pointed at as a +fool. "Stick to your bond" would have been the cry, and "Shylock" would +have been forgotten. I do not say that there is not a vast difference +between the means of acquiring intelligence, the cultivation, the +manners, the social conditions, and, in some senses, the social +obligations of an affluent landlord and a really hard-working, honest, +well-intentioned husbandman, his tenant--differences that should dispose +the liberal and cultivated gentleman to bear in mind the advantages he +has perhaps inherited, and not acquired by his own means, in such a way +as to render him, in a certain degree, the repository of the interests +of those who hold under him; but, while I admit all this, and say that +the community which does not possess such a class of men is to be +pitied, as it loses one of the most certain means of liberalizing and +enlarging its notions, and of improving its civilization, I am far from +thinking that the men of this class are to have their real superiority +of position, with its consequences, thrown into their faces only when +they are expected to give, while they are grudgingly denied it on all +other occasions! There is nothing so likely to advance the habits, +opinions, and true interests of a rural population, as to have them all +directed by the intelligence and combined interests that ought to mark +the connection between landlord and tenant. It may do for one class of +political economists to prate about a state of things which supposes +every husbandman a freeholder, and rich enough to maintain his level +among the other freeholders of the State. But we all know that as many +minute gradations in means must and do exist in a community, as there +exists gradations in characters. A majority soon will, in the nature of +things, be below the level of the freeholder, and by destroying the +system of having landlords and tenants, two great evils are created--the +one preventing men of large fortunes from investing in lands, as no man +will place his money where it will be insecure or profitless, thereby +cutting off real estate generally from the benefits that might be and +would be conferred by their capital, as well as cutting it off from the +benefits of the increased price which arise from having such buyers in +the market; and the other is, to prevent any man from being a husbandman +who has not the money necessary to purchase a farm. But they who want +farms _now_, and they who will want votes next November, do not look +quite so far ahead as that, while shouting "equal rights," they are, in +fact, for preventing the poor husbandman from being anything but a +day-labourer. + +We obtained tolerably decent lodgings at our inn, though the profoundest +patriot America possesses, if he know anything of other countries, or of +the best materials of his own, cannot say much in favour of the sleeping +arrangements of an ordinary country inn. The same money and the same +trouble would render that which is now the very _beau ideal_ of +discomfort, at least tolerable, and in many instances good. But who is +to produce this reform? According to the opinions circulated among us, +the humblest hamlet we have has already attained the highest point of +civilization; and as for the people, without distinction of classes, it +is universally admitted that they are the best educated, the acutest, +and the most intelligent in Christendom;--no, I must correct myself; +they are all this, except when they are in the act of leasing lands, and +then the innocent and illiterate husbandmen are the victims of the arts +of designing landlords, the wretches![1] + +We passed an hour on the piazza, after eating our supper, and there +being a collection of men assembled there, inhabitants of the hamlet, we +had an opportunity to get into communication with them. My uncle sold a +watch, and I played on the hurdy-gurdy, by way of making myself popular. +After this beginning, the discourse turned on the engrossing subject of +the day, anti-rentism. The principal speaker was a young man of about +six-and-twenty, of a sort of shabby genteel air and appearance, whom I +soon discovered to be the attorney of the neighbourhood. His name was +Hubbard, while that of the other principal speaker was Hall. The last +was a mechanic, as I ascertained, and was a plain-looking working-man of +middle age. Each of these persons seated himself on a common "kitchen +chair," leaning back against the side of the house, and, of course, +resting on the two hind legs of the rickety support, while he placed his +own feet on the rounds in front. The attitudes were neither graceful nor +picturesque, but they were so entirely common as to excite no surprise. +As for Hall, he appeared perfectly contented with his situation, after +fidgeting a little to get the two supporting legs of his chair just +where he wanted them; but Hubbard's eye was restless, uneasy, and even +menacing, for more than a minute. He drew a knife from his pocket--a +small, neat pen-knife only, it is true--gazed a little wildly about him, +and just as I thought he intended to abandon his nicely poised chair, +and to make an assault on one of the pillars that upheld the roof of the +piazza, the innkeeper advanced, holding in his hand several narrow slips +of pine board, one of which he offered at once to 'Squire Hubbard. This +relieved the attorney, who took the wood, and was soon deeply plunged +in, to me, the unknown delights of whittling. I cannot explain the +mysterious pleasure that so many find in whittling, though the +prevalence of the custom is so well known. But I cannot explain the +pleasure so many find in chewing tobacco, or in smoking. The precaution +of the landlord was far from being unnecessary, and appeared to be taken +in good part by all to whom he offered "whittling-pieces," some six or +eight in the whole. The state of the piazza, indeed, proved that the +precaution was absolutely indispensable, if he did not wish to see the +house come tumbling down about his head. In order that those who have +never seen such thing may understand their use, I will go a little out +of the way to explain. + +The inn was of wood, a hemlock frame with a "siding" of clap-boards. In +this there was nothing remarkable, many countries of Europe, even, still +building principally of wood. Houses of lath and plaster were quite +common, until within a few years, even in large towns. I remember to +have seen some of these constructions, while in London, in close +connection with the justly celebrated Westminster Hall; and of such +materials is the much-talked-of miniature castle of Horace Walpole, at +Strawberry Hill. But the inn of Mooseridge had some pretensions to +architecture, besides being three or four times larger than any other +house in the place. A piazza it enjoyed, of course; it must be a pitiful +village inn that does not: and building, accessaries and all, rejoiced +in several coats of a spurious white lead. The columns of this piazza, +as well as the clap-boards of the house itself however, exhibited the +proofs of the danger of abandoning your true whittler to his own +instincts. Spread-eagles, five points, American flags, huzzahs for Polk! +the initials of names, and names at full length, with various other +similar conceits, records, and ebullitions of patriotic or party-otic +feelings, were scattered up and down with an affluence the said volumes +in favour of the mint in which they had been coined. But the most +remarkable memorial of the industry of the guests was to be found on one +of the columns; and it was one at a corner, too, and consequently of +double importance to the superstructure--unless, indeed, the house were +built on that well-known principle of American architecture of the last +century, which made the architrave uphold the pillar, instead of the +pillar the architrave. The column in question was of white pine, as +usual--though latterly, in brick edifices, bricks and stucco are much +resorted to--and, at a convenient height for the whittlers, it was +literally cut two-thirds in two. The gash was very neatly made--that +much must be said for it--indicating skill and attention; and the +surfaces of the wound were smoothed in a manner to prove that +appearances were not neglected. + +"Vat do das?" I asked of the landlord, pointing to this gaping wound in +the main column of his piazza. + +"That! Oh! That's only the whittlers," answered the host, with a +good-natural smile. + +Assuredly the Americans _are_ the best-natured people on earth! Here was +a man whose house was nearly tumbling down about his ears--always bating +the principle in architecture just named--and he could smile as Nero may +be supposed to have done when fiddling over the conflagration of Rome. + +"But vhy might de vhittler vhittle down your house?" + +"Oh! this is a free country, you know, and folks do pretty much as they +like in it," returned the still smiling host. "I let 'em cut away as +long as I dared, but it was high time to get out 'whittling-pieces' I +believe you must own. It's best always to keep a ruff (roof) over a +man's head, to be ready for bad weather. A week longer would have had +the column in two." + +"Vell, I dinks I might not bear dat! Vhat ist mein house ist mein house, +ant dey shall not so moch vittles." + +"By letting 'em so much vittles there, they so much vittles in the +kitchen; so you see there is policy in having your under-pinnin' knocked +away sometimes, if it's done by the right sort of folks." + +"You're a stranger in these parts, friend?" observed Hubbard, +complacently, for by this time his "whittling-piece" was reduced to a +shape, and he could go on reducing it, according to some law of the art +of whittling, with which I am not acquainted. "We are not so particular +in such matters as in some of your countries in the old world." + +"Ja--das I can see. But does not woot ant column cost money in America, +someding?" + +"To be sure it does. There is not a man in the country who would +undertake to replace that pillar with a new one, paint and all, for less +than ten dollars." + +This was an opening for a discussion on the probable cost of putting a +new pillar into the place of the one that was injured. Opinions +differed, and quite a dozen spoke on the subject; some placing the +expense as high as fifteen dollars, and others bringing it down as low +as five. I was struck with the quiet and self-possession with which each +man delivered his opinion, as well as with the language used. The +accent was uniformly provincial, that of Hubbard included, having a +strong and unpleasant taint of the dialect of New England in it; and +some of the expressions savoured a little of the stilts of the +newspapers; but, on the whole, the language was sufficiently accurate +and surprisingly good, considering the class in life of the speakers. +The conjectures, too, manifested great shrewdness and familiarity with +practical things, as well as, in a few instances, some reading. Hall, +however, actually surprised me. He spoke with a precision and knowledge +of mechanics that would have done credit to a scholar, and with a +simplicity that added to the influence of what he said. Some casual +remark induced me to put in--"Vell, I might s'pose an Injin voult cut so +das column, but I might not s'pose a vhite man could." This opinion gave +the discourse a direction towards anti-rentism, and in a few minutes it +caught all the attention of my uncle Ro and myself. + +"This business is going ahead after all!" observed Hubbard, evasively, +after others had had their say. + +"More's the pity," put in Hall. "It might have been put an end to in a +month, at any time, and ought to be put an end to in a civilized land." + +"You will own, neighbour Hall, notwithstanding, it would be a great +improvement in the condition of the tenants all over the State, could +they change their tenures into freeholds." + +"No doubt 't would; and so it would be a great improvement in the +condition of any journeyman in my shop if he could get to be the boss. +But that is not the question here, the question is, what right has the +State to say any man shall sell his property unless he wishes to sell +it? A pretty sort of liberty we should have if we all held our houses +and gardens under such laws as that supposes!" + +"But do we not all hold our houses and gardens, and farms, too, by some +such law?" rejoined the attorney, who evidently respected his +antagonist, and advanced his own opinions cautiously. "If the public +wants land to use, it can take it by paying for it." + +"Yes, to _use_; but use is everything. I've read that old report of the +committee of the House, and don't subscribe to its doctrines at all. +Public 'policy,' in that sense, doesn't at all mean public 'use.' If +land is wanted for a road, or a fort, or a canal, it must be taken, +under a law, by appraisement, or the thing could not be had at all; but +to pretend, because one side to a contract wishes to alter it, that the +State has a right to interfere, on the ground that the discontented can +be bought off in this way easier and cheaper than they can be made to +obey the laws, is but a poor way of supporting the right. The same +principle, carried out, might prove it would be easier to buy off +pickpockets by compromising than to punish them. Or it would be easy to +get round all sorts of contracts in this way." + +"But all governments use this power when it becomes necessary, neighbour +Hall." + +"That word _necessary_ covers a great deal of ground, 'Squire Hubbard. +The most that can be made of the necessity here is to say it is cheaper, +and may help along parties to their objects better. No man doubts that +the State of New York can put down these anti-renters; and, I trust, +_will_ put them down, so far as force is concerned. There is, then, no +other necessity in the case, to begin with, than the necessity which +demagogues always feel, of getting as many votes as they can." + +"After all, neighbour Hall, these votes are pretty powerful weapons in a +popular government." + +"I'll not deny that; and now they talk of a convention to alter the +constitution, it is a favourable moment to teach such managers they +shall not abuse the right of suffrage in this way." + +"How is it to be prevented? You are an universal suffrage man, I know?" + +"Yes, I'm for universal suffrage among honest folks; but do not wish to +have my rulers chosen by them that are never satisfied without having +their hands in their neighbours' pockets. Let 'em put a clause into the +constitution providing that no town, or village, or county shall hold a +poll within a given time after the execution of process has been openly +resisted in it. That would take the conceit out of all such +law-breakers, in very short order." + +It was plain that this idea struck the listeners, and several even +avowed their approbation of the scheme aloud. Hubbard received it as a +new thought, but was more reluctant to admit its practicability. As +might be expected from a lawyer accustomed to practise in a small way, +his objections savoured more of narrow views than of the notions of a +statesman. + +"How would you determine the extent of the district to be +disfranchised?" he asked. + +"Take the legal limits as they stand. If process be resisted openly by a +combination strong enough to look down the agents of the law in a town, +disfranchise that town for a given period; if in more than one town, +disfranchise the offending towns; if a county, disfranchise the whole +county." + +"But, in that way you would punish the innocent with the guilty." + +"It would be for the good of all; besides, you punish the innocent for +the guilty, or _with_ the guilty rather, in a thousand ways. You and I +are taxed to keep drunkards from starving, because it is better to do +that than to offend humanity by seeing men die of hunger, or tempting +them to steal. When you declare martial law you punish the innocent with +the guilty, in one sense; and so you do in a hundred cases. All we have +to ask is, if it be not wiser and better to disarm demagogues, and those +disturbers of the public peace who wish to pervert their right of +suffrage to so wicked an end, by so simple a process, than to suffer +them to effect their purposes by the most flagrant abuse of their +political privileges?" + +"How would you determine _when_ a town should lose the right of voting?" + +"By evidence given in open court. The judges would be the proper +authority to decide in such a case; and they would decide, beyond all +question, nineteen times in twenty, right. It is the interest of every +man who is desirous of exercising the suffrage on right principles, to +give him some such protection against them that wish to exercise the +suffrage on wrong. A peace-officer can call on the _posse comitatus_ or +on the people to aid him; if enough appear to put down the rebels, well +and good; but if enough do not appear, let it be taken as proof that the +district is not worthy of giving the votes of freemen. They who abuse +such a liberty as man enjoys in this country are the least entitled to +our sympathies. As for the mode, that could easily be determined, as +soon as you settled the principle." + +The discourse went on for an hour, neighbour Hall giving his opinions +still more at large. I listened equally with pleasure and surprise. +"These, then, after all," I said to myself, "are the real bone and sinew +of the country. There are tens of thousands of this sort of men in the +State, and why should they be domineered over, and made to submit to a +legislation and to practices that are so often without principle, by the +agents of the worst part of the community? Will the honest for ever be +so passive, while the corrupt and dishonest continue so active?" On my +mentioning these notions to my uncle, he answered: + +"Yes; it ever has been so, and, I fear, ever will be so. _There_ is the +curse of this country," pointing to a table covered with newspapers, the +invariable companion of an American inn of any size. "So long as men +believe what they find _there_, they can be nothing but dupes or +knaves." + +"But there is good in newspapers." + +"That adds to the curse. If they were nothing but lies, the world would +soon reject them; but how few are able to separate the true from the +false! Now, how few of these papers speak the truth about this very +anti-rentism! Occasionally an honest man in the corps does come out; but +where one does this, ten affect to think what they do not believe, in +order to secure votes;--votes, votes, votes. In that simple word lies +all the mystery of the matter." + +"Jefferson said, if he were to choose between a government without +newspapers, or newspapers without a government, he would take the last." + +"Ay, Jefferson did not mean newspapers as they are now. I am old enough +to see the change that has taken place. In his day, three or four fairly +convicted lies would damn any editor; now, there are men that stand up +under a thousand. I'll tell you what, Hugh, this country is jogging on +under two of the most antagonist systems possible--Christianity and the +newspapers. The first is daily hammering into every man that he is a +miserable, frail, good-for-nothing being, while the last is eternally +proclaiming the perfection of the people and the virtues of +self-government." + +"Perhaps too much stress ought not to be laid on either." + +"The first is certainly true, under limitations that we all understand; +but as to the last, I will own I want more evidence than a newspaper +eulogy to believe it." + +After all, my uncle Ro is sometimes mistaken; though candour compels me +to acknowledge that he is very often right. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "I see thee still; + Remembrance, faithful to her trust, + Calls thee in beauty from the dust; + Thou comest in the morning light, + Thou 'rt with me through the gloomy night; + In dreams I meet thee as of old: + Then thy soft arms my neck enfold, + And thy sweet voice is in my ear: + In every sense to memory dear + I see thee still." + + SPRAGUE. + + +It was just ten in the morning of the succeeding day when my uncle Ro +and myself came in sight of the old house at the Nest. I call it _old_, +for a dwelling that has stood more than half a century acquires a touch +of the venerable, in a country like America. To me it was truly old, the +building having stood there, where I then saw it, for a period more than +twice as long as that of my own existence, and was associated with all +my early ideas. From childhood I had regarded that place as my future +home, as it had been the home of my parents and grand-parents, and, in +one sense, of those who had gone before them for two generations more. +The whole of the land in sight--the rich bottoms, then waving with +grass--the side-hills, the woods, the distant mountains--the orchards, +dwellings, barns, and all the other accessaries of rural life that +appertained to the soil, were mine, and had thus become without a +single act of injustice to any human being, so far as I knew and +believed. Even the red man had been fairly bought off by Herman +Mordaunt, the patentee, and so Susquesus, the Redskin of Ravensnest, as +our old Onondago was often called, had ever admitted the fact to be. It +was natural that I should love an estate thus inherited and thus +situated. NO CIVILIZED MAN, NO MAN, INDEED, SAVAGE OR NOT, HAD EVER BEEN +THE OWNER OF THOSE BROAD ACRES, BUT THOSE WHO WERE OF MY OWN BLOOD. This +is what few besides Americans _can_ say; and when it can be said truly, +in parts of the country where the arts of life have spread, and amid the +blessings of civilization, it becomes the foundation of a sentiment so +profound, that I do not wonder those adventurers-errant who are flying +about the face of the country, thrusting their hands into every man's +mess, have not been able to find it among their other superficial +discoveries. Nothing can be less like the ordinary cravings of avarice +than the feeling that is thus engendered; and I am certain that the +general tendency of such an influence is to elevate the feelings of him +who experiences it. + +And there were men among us, high in political station--high as such men +ever can get, for the consequence of having such men in power is to draw +down station itself nearer to their own natural level--but men in power +had actually laid down propositions in political economy which, if +carried out, would cause me to sell all that estate, reserving, perhaps, +a single farm for my own use, and reinvest the money in such a way as +that the interest I obtained might equal my present income! It is true, +this theory was not directly applied to me, as my farms were to fall in +by the covenants of their leases, but it had been directly applied to +Stephen and William Van Rensselaer, and, by implication, to others; and +my turn might come next. What business had the Rensselaers, or the +Livingstons, or the Hunters, or the Littlepages, or the Verplancks, or +the Morgans, or the Wadsworths, or five hundred others similarly placed, +to entertain "sentiments" that interfered with "business," or that +interfered with the wishes of any straggling Yankee who had found his +way out of New England, and wanted a particular farm on his own terms? +It is aristocratic to put sentiment in opposition to trade; and TRADE +ITSELF IS NOT TO BE TRADE ANY LONGER THAN ALL THE PROFIT IS TO BE FOUND +ON THE SIDE OF NUMBERS. Even the principles of holy trade are to be +governed by majorities! + +Even my uncle Ro, who never owned a foot of the property, could not look +at it without emotion. He too had been born there--had passed his +childhood there--and loved the spot without a particle of the grovelling +feeling of avarice. He took pleasure in remembering that our race had +been the only owners of the soil on which he stood, and had that very +justifiable pride which belongs to enduring respectability and social +station. + +"Well, Hugh," he cried, after both of us had stood gazing at the grey +walls of the good and substantial, but certainly not very beautiful +dwelling, "here we are, and we now may determine on what is next to be +done. Shall we march down to the village, which is four miles distant, +you will remember, and get our breakfasts there?--shall we try one of +your tenants?--or shall we plunge at once _in medias res_, and ask +hospitality of my mother and your sister?" + +"The last might excite suspicion, I fear, sir. Tar and feathers would be +our mildest fate did we fall into the hands of the Injins." + +"Injins! Why not go at once to the wigwam of Susquesus, and get out of +him and Yop the history of the state of things. I heard them speaking of +the Onondago at our tavern last night, and while they said he was +generally thought to be much more than a hundred, that he was still like +a man of eighty. That Indian is full of observation, and may let us into +some of the secrets of his brethren." + +"They can at least give us the news from the family; and though it might +seem in the course of things for pedlars to visit the Nest House, it +will be just as much so for them to halt at the wigwam." + +This consideration decided the matter, and away we went towards the +ravine or glen, on the side of which stood the primitive-looking hut +that went by the name of the "wigwam." The house was a small cabin of +logs, neat and warm, or cool, as the season demanded. As it was kept up, +and was whitewashed, and occasionally furnished anew by the +landlord--the odious creature! he who paid for so many similar things +in the neighbourhood--it was never unfit to be seen, though never of a +very alluring, cottage-like character. There was a garden, and it had +been properly made that very season, the negro picking and pecking about +it, during the summer, in a way to coax the vegetables and fruits on a +little, though I well knew that the regular weedings came from an +assistant at the Nest, who was ordered to give it an eye and an +occasional half-day. On one side of the hut there was a hog-pen and a +small stable for a cow; but on the other the trees of the virgin forest, +which had never been disturbed in that glen, overshadowed the roof. This +somewhat poetical arrangement was actually the consequence of a +compromise between the tenants of the cabin, the negro insisting on the +accessories of his rude civilization, while the Indian required the +shades of the woods to reconcile him to his position. Here had these two +singularly associated beings--the one deriving his descent from the +debased races of Africa, and the other from the fierce but lofty-minded +aboriginal inhabitant of this continent--dwelt nearly for the whole +period of an ordinary human life. The cabin itself began to look really +ancient, while those who dwelt in it had little altered within the +memory of man! Such instances of longevity, whatever theorists may say +on the subject, are not unfrequent among either the blacks or the +"natives," though probably less so among the last than among the first, +and still less so among the first of the northern than of the southern +sections of the republic. It is common to say that the great age so +often attributed to the people of these two races is owing to ignorance +of the periods of their births, and that they do not live longer than +the whites. This may be true, in the main, for a white man is known to +have died at no great distance from Ravensnest, within the last +five-and-twenty years, who numbered more than his six score of years; +but aged negroes and aged Indians are nevertheless so common, when the +smallness of their whole numbers is remembered, as to render the fact +apparent to most of those who have seen much of their respective people. + +There was no highway in the vicinity of the wigwam, for so the cabin was +generally called, though wigwam, in the strict meaning of the word, it +was not. As the little building stood in the grounds of the Nest House, +which contain two hundred acres, a bit of virgin forest included, and +exclusively of the fields that belonged to the adjacent farm, it was +approached only by foot-paths, of which several led to and from it, and +by one narrow, winding carriage-road, which, in passing for miles +through the grounds, had been led near the hut, in order to enable my +grandmother and sister, and, I dare say, my dear departed mother, while +she lived, to make their calls in their frequent airings. By this +sweeping road we approached the cabin. + +"There are the two old fellows, sunning themselves this fine day!" +exclaimed my uncle, with something like tremor in his voice, as we drew +near enough to the hut to distinguish objects. "Hugh, I never see these +men without a feeling of awe, as well as of affection. They were the +friends, and one was the slave of my grandfather; and as long as I can +remember, have they been aged men! They seem to be set up here as +monuments of the past, to connect the generations that are gone with +those that are to come." + +"If so, sir, they will soon be all there is of their sort. It really +seems to me that, if things continue much longer in their present +direction, men will begin to grow jealous and envious of history itself, +because its actors have left descendants to participate in any little +credit they may have gained." + +"Beyond all contradiction, boy, there is a strange perversion of the old +and natural sentiments on this head among us. But you must bear in mind +the fact, that of the two millions and a half the State contains, not +half a million, probably, possess any of the true York blood, and can +consequently feel any of the sentiments connected with the birth-place +and the older traditions of the very society in which they live. A great +deal must be attributed to the facts of our condition; though I admit +those facts need not, and ought not to unsettle principles. But look at +those two old fellows! There they are, true to the feelings and habits +of their races, even after passing so long a time together in this hut. +There squats Susquesus on a stone, idle and disdaining work, with his +rifle leaning against the apple-tree; while Jaaf--or Yop, as I believe +it is better to call him--is pecking about in the garden, still a slave +at his work, in fancy at least." + +"And which is the happiest, sir--the industrious old man or the idler?" + +"Probably each finds most happiness in indulging his own early habits. +The Onondago never _would_ work, however, and I have heard my father +say, great was his happiness when he found he was to pass the remainder +of his days in _otium cum dignitate_, and without the necessity of +making baskets." + +"Yop is looking at us; had we not better go up at once and speak to +them?" + +"Yop may stare the most openly, but my life on it the Indian _sees_ +twice as much. His faculties are the best, to begin with; and he is a +man of extraordinary and characteristic observation. In his best days +nothing ever escaped him. As you say, we will approach." + +My uncle and myself then consulted on the expediency of using broken +English with these two old men, of which, at first, we saw no necessity; +but when we remembered that others might join us, and that our +communications with the two might be frequent for the next few days, we +changed our minds, and determined rigidly to observe our incognitos. + +As we came up to the door of the hut, Jaaf slowly left his little garden +and joined the Indian, who remained immoveable and unmoved on the stone +which served him for a seat. We could see but little change in either +during the five years of our absence, each being a perfect picture, in +his way, of extreme but not decrepit old age in the men of his race. Of +the two, the black--if black he could now be called, his colour being a +muddy grey--was the most altered, though that seemed scarcely possible +when I saw him last. As for the Trackless, or Susquesus, as he was +commonly called, his temperance throughout a long life did him good +service, and his half-naked limbs and skeleton-like body, for he wore +the summer dress of his people, appeared to be made of a leather long +steeped in a tannin of the purest quality. His sinews, too, though much +stiffened, seemed yet to be of whip-cord, and his whole frame a species +of indurated mummy that retained its vitality. The colour of the skin +was less red than formerly, and more closely approached to that of the +negro, as the latter now was, though perceptibly different. + +"Sago--sago," cried my uncle, as we came quite near, seeing no risk in +using that familiar semi-Indian salutation.[2] "Sago, sago, dis charmin' +mornin; in my tongue, dat might be _guten tag_." + +"Sago," returned the Trackless, in his deep, guttural voice, while old +Yop brought two lips together that resembled thick pieces of overdone +beef-steak, fastened his red-encircled gummy eyes on each of us in turn, +pouted once more, working his jaws as if proud of the excellent teeth +they still held, and said nothing. As the slave of a Littlepage, he held +pedlars as inferior beings; for the ancient negroes of New York ever +identified themselves, more or less, with the families to which they +belonged, and in which they so often were born. "Sago," repeated the +Indian, slowly, courteously, and with emphasis, after he had looked a +moment longer at my uncle, as if he saw something about him to command +respect. + +"Dis ist charmin' day, frients," said uncle Ro, placing himself coolly +on a log of wood that had been hauled for the stove, and wiping his +brow. "Vat might you calls dis coontry?" + +"Dis here?" answered Yop, not without a little contempt. "Dis is York +Colony; where you come from to ask sich a question?" + +"Charmany. Dat ist far off, but a goot coontry; ant dis ist goot +coontry too." + +"Why you leab him, den, if he be good country, eh?" + +"Vhy you leaf Africa, canst you dell me dat?" retorted uncle Ro, +somewhat coolly. + +"Nebber was dere," growled old Yop, bringing his blubber lips together +somewhat in the manner the boar works his jaws when it is prudent to get +out of his way. "I'm York-nigger born, and nebber seen no Africa; and +nebber want to see him, nudder." + +It is scarcely necessary to say that Jaaf belonged to a school by which +the term of "coloured gentleman" was never used. The men of his time and +stamp called themselves "niggers;" and ladies and gentlemen of that age +took them at their word, and called them "niggers" too; a term that no +one of the race ever uses now, except in the way of reproach, and which, +by one of the singular workings of our very wayward and common nature, +he is more apt to use than any other, when reproach is intended. + +My uncle paused a moment to reflect before he continued a discourse that +had not appeared to commence under very flattering auspices. + +"Who might lif in dat big stone house?" asked uncle Ro, as soon as he +thought the negro had had time to cool a little. + +"Anybody can see you no Yorker, by dat werry speech," answered Yop, not +at all mollified by such a question. "Who _should_ lib dere but Gin'ral +Littlepage?" + +"Vell, I dought he wast dead, long ago." + +"What if he be? It's his house, and he lib in it; and ole _young_ missus +lib dere too." + +Now, there had been three generations of generals among the Littlepages, +counting from father to son. First, there had been Brigadier General +Evans Littlepage, who held that rank in the militia, and died in service +during the revolution. The next was Brigadier General Cornelius +Littlepage, who got his rank by brevet, at the close of the same war, in +which he had actually figured as a colonel of the New York line. Third, +and last, was my own grandfather, Major General Mordaunt Littlepage: he +had been a captain in his father's regiment at the close of the same +struggle, got the brevet of major at its termination, and rose to be a +Major General of the militia, the station he held for many years before +he died. As soon as the privates had the power to elect their own +officers, the position of a Major General in the militia ceased to be +respectable, and few gentlemen could be induced to serve. As might have +been foreseen, the militia itself fell into general contempt, where it +now is, and where it will ever remain until a different class of +officers shall be chosen. The people can do a great deal, no doubt, but +they cannot make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear." As soon as officers +from the old classes shall be appointed, the militia will come up; for +in no interest in life is it so material to have men of certain habits, +and notions, and education, in authority, as in those connected with the +military service. A great many fine speeches may be made, and much +patriotic eulogy expended on the intrinsic virtue and intelligence of +the people, and divers projects entertained to make "citizen-soldiers," +as they are called; but citizens never can be, and never will be turned +into soldiers at all, good or bad, until proper officers are placed over +them. To return to Yop-- + +"Bray vhat might be der age of das laty dat you callet _olt_ young +missus?" asked my uncle. + +"Gosh! she nutten but gal--born sometime just a'ter ole French war. +Remember her well 'nough when she Miss Dus Malbone. Young masser +Mordaunt take fancy to her, and make her he wife." + +"Vell, I hopes you hafn't any objection to der match?" + +"Not I; she clebber young lady den, and she werry clebber young lady +now." + +And this of my venerable grandmother, who had fairly seen her four-score +years! + +"Who might be der master of das big house now?" + +"Gin'ral Littlepage, doesn't I tell ye! Masser Mordaunt's name, _my_ +young master. Sus, dere, only Injin; he nebber so lucky as hab a good +master. Niggers gettin' scarce, dey tells me, now-a-days, in dis world!" + +"Injins, too, I dinks; dere ist no more redskins might be blenty." + +The manner in which the Onondago raised his figure, and the look he +fastened on my uncle, were both fine and startling. As yet he had said +nothing beyond the salutation; but I could see he now intended to +speak. + +"New tribe," he said, after regarding us for half a minute intently; +"what you call him--where he come from?" + +"Ja, ja--das ist der anti-rent redskins. Haf you seen 'em, Trackless?" + +"Sartain; come to see me--face in bag--behave like squaw; poor +Injin--poor warrior!" + +"Yees, I believes dat ist true enough. I can't bear soch Injin!--might +not be soch Injin in world. Vhat you call 'em, eh?" + +Susquesus shook his head slowly, and with dignity. Then he gazed +intently at my uncle; after which he fastened his eyes, in a similar +manner on me. In this manner his looks turned from one to the other for +some little time, when he again dropped them to the earth, calmly and in +silence. I took out the hurdy-gurdy, and began to play a lively air--one +that was very popular among the American blacks, and which, I am sorry +to say, is getting to be not less so among the whites. No visible effect +was produced on Susquesus, unless a slight shade of contempt was visible +on his dark features. With Jaaf, however, it was very different. Old as +he was, I could see a certain nervous twitching of the lower limbs, +which indicated that the old fellow actually felt some disposition to +dance. It soon passed away, though his grim, hard, wrinkled, dusky, grey +countenance continued to gleam with a sort of dull pleasure for some +time. There was nothing surprising in this, the indifference of the +Indian to melody being almost as marked as the negro's sensitiveness to +its power. + +It was not to be expected that men so aged would be disposed to talk +much. The Onondago had ever been a silent man; dignity and gravity of +character uniting with prudence to render him so. But Jaaf was +constitutionally garrulous, though length of days had necessarily much +diminished the propensity. At that moment a fit of thoughtful and +melancholy silence came over my uncle, too, and all four of us continued +brooding on our own reflections for two or three minutes after I had +ceased to play. Presently the even, smooth approach of carriage-wheels +was heard, and a light, summer vehicle that was an old acquaintance, +came whirling round the stable, and drew up within ten feet of the spot +where we were all seated. + +My heart was in my mouth, at this unexpected interruption, and I could +perceive that my uncle was scarcely less affected. Amid the flowing and +pretty drapery of summer shawls, and the other ornaments of the female +toilet, were four youthful and sunny faces, and one venerable with +years. In a word, my grandmother, my sister, and my uncle's two other +wards, and Mary Warren, were in the carriage; yes, the pretty, gentle, +timid, yet spirited and intelligent daughter of the rector was of the +party, and seemingly quite at home and at her ease, as one among +friends. She was the first to speak even, though it was in a low, quiet +voice, addressed to my sister, and in words that appeared extorted by +surprise. + +"There are the very two pedlars of whom I told you, Martha," she said, +"and now you may hear the flute well played." + +"I doubt if he can play better than Hugh," was my dear sister's answer. +"But we'll have some of his music, if it be only to remind us of him who +is so far away." + +"The music we can and will have, my child," cried my grandmother, +cheerfully; "though _that_ is not wanted to remind us of our absent boy. +Good morrow, Susquesus; I hope this fine day agrees with you." + +"Sago," returned the Indian, making a dignified and even graceful +forward gesture with one arm, though he did not rise. "Weadder +good--Great Spirit good, dat reason. How squaws do?" + +"We are all well, I thank you, Trackless. Good morrow, Jaaf; how do +_you_ do, this fine morning?" + +Yop, or Jaap, or Jaaf, rose tottering, made a low obeisance, and then +answered in the semi-respectful, semi-familiar manner of an old, +confidential family servant, as the last existed among our fathers: + +"T'ank 'ee, Miss Dus, wid all my heart," he answered. "Pretty well +to-day; but ole Sus, he fail, and grow ol'er and ol'er desp'ate fast!" + +Now, of the two, the Indian was much the finest relic of human powers, +though he was less uneasy and more stationary than the black. But the +propensity to see the mote in the eye of his friend, while he forgot the +beam in his own, was a long-established and well-known weakness of +Jaaf, and its present exhibition caused everybody to smile. I was +delighted with the beaming, laughing eyes of Mary Warren in particular, +though she said nothing. + +"I cannot say I agree with you, Jaaf," returned my smiling grandmother. +"The Trackless bears his years surprisingly; and I think I have not seen +him look better this many a day than he is looking this morning. We are +none of us as young as we were when we first became acquainted, +Jaaf--which is now near, if not quite, three-score years ago." + +"You nuttin' but gal, nudder," growled the negro. "Ole Sus be raal ole +fellow; but Miss Dus and Masser Mordaunt, dey get married only tudder +day. Why _dat_ was a'ter de revylooshen!" + +"It was, indeed," replied the venerable woman, with a touch of +melancholy in her tones; "but the revolution took place many, many a +long year since!" + +"Well, now, I be surprise, Miss Dus! How you call _dat_ so long, when he +only be tudder day?" retorted the pertinacious negro, who began to grow +crusty, and to speak in a short, spiteful way, as if displeased by +hearing that to which he could not assent. "Masser Corny was little ole, +p'r'aps, if he lib, but all de rest ob you nuttin' but children. Tell me +one t'ing, Miss Dus, be it true dey's got a town at Satanstoe?" + +"An attempt was made, a few years since, to turn the whole country into +towns, and, among other places, the Neck; but I believe it will never be +anything more than a capital farm." + +"So besser. _Dat_ good land, I tell you! One acre down dere wort' more +dan twenty acre up here." + +"My grandson would not be pleased to hear you say that, Jaaf." + +"Who your grandson, Miss Dus. Remember you hab little baby tudder day; +but baby can't hab baby." + +"Ah, Jaaf, my old friend, my babies have long since been men and women, +and are drawing on to old age. One, and he was my first born, is gone +before us to a better world, and _his_ boy is now your young master. +This young lady, that is seated opposite to me, is the sister of that +young master, and she would be grieved to think you have forgotten her." + +Jaaf laboured under the difficulty so common to old age; he was +forgetful of things of more recent date, while he remembered those which +had occurred a century ago! The memory is a tablet that partakes of the +peculiarity of all our opinions and habits. In youth it is easily +impressed, and the images then engraved on it are distinct, deep and +lasting, while those that succeed become crowded, and take less root, +from the circumstance of finding the ground already occupied. In the +present instance, the age was so great that the change was really +startling, the old negro's recollections occasionally coming on the mind +like a voice from the grave. As for the Indian, as I afterwards +ascertained, he was better preserved in all respects than the black; his +great temperance in youth, freedom from labour, exercise in the open +air, united to the comforts and abundance of semi-civilized habits, that +had now lasted for near a century, contributing to preserve both mind +and body. As I now looked at him, I remembered what I had heard in +boyhood of his history. + +There had ever been a mystery about the life of the Onondago. If any one +of our set had ever been acquainted with the facts, it was Andries +Coejemans, a half-uncle of my dear grandmother, a person who has been +known among us by the _sobriquet_ of the Chainbearer. My grandmother had +told me that "uncle Chainbearer," as we all called the old relative, +_did_ know all about Susquesus, in his time--the reason why he had left +his tribe, and become a hunter, and warrior, and runner among the +pale-faces--and that he had always said the particulars did his red +friend great credit, but that he would reveal it no further. So great, +however, was uncle Chainbearer's reputation for integrity, that such an +opinion was sufficient to procure for the Onondago the fullest +confidence of the whole connection, and the experience of four-score +years and ten had proved that this confidence was well placed. Some +imputed the sort of exile in which the old man had so long lived to +love; others to war; and others, again, to the consequences of those +fierce personal feuds that are known to occur among men in the savage +state. But all was just as much a mystery and matter of conjecture, now +we were drawing near to the middle of the nineteenth century, as it had +been when our forefathers were receding from the middle of the +eighteenth! To return to the negro. + +Although Jaaf had momentarily forgotten me, and quite forgotten my +parents, he remembered my sister, who was in the habit of seeing him so +often. In what manner he connected her with the family, it is not easy +to say; but he knew her not only by sight, but by name, and, as one +might say, by blood. + +"Yes, yes," cried the old fellow, a little eagerly, '_champing_' his +thick lips together, somewhat as an alligator snaps his jaws, "yes, I +knows Miss Patty, of course. Miss Patty is werry han'some, and grows +han'somer and han'somer ebbery time I sees her--yah, yah, yah!" The +laugh of that old negro sounded startling and unnatural, yet there was +something of the joyous in it, after all, like every negro's laugh. +"Yah, yah, yah! Yes, Miss Patty won'erful han'some, and werry like Miss +Dus. I s'pose, now, Miss Patty wast born about 'e time dat Gin'ral +Washington die." + +As this was a good deal more than doubling my sister's age, it produced +a common laugh among the light-hearted girls in the carriage. A gleam of +intelligence that almost amounted to a smile also shot athwart the +countenance of the Onondago, while the muscles of his face worked, but +he said nothing. I had reason to know afterwards that the tablet of his +memory retained its records better. + +"What friends have you with you to-day, Jaaf," inquired my grandmother, +inclining her head towards us pedlars graciously, at the same time; a +salutation that my uncle Ro and myself rose hastily to acknowledge. + +As for myself, I own honestly that I could have jumped into the vehicle +and kissed my dear grandmother's still good-looking but colourless +cheeks, and hugged Patt, and possibly some of the others, to my heart. +Uncle Ro had more command of himself; though I could see that the sound +of his venerable parent's voice, in which the tremour was barely +perceptible, was near overcoming him. + +"Dese be pedlar, ma'am, I do s'pose," answered the black. "Dey's got +box wid somet'in' in him, and dey's got new kind of fiddle. Come, young +man, gib Miss Dus a tune--a libely one; sich as make an ole nigger +dance." + +I drew round the hurdy-gurdy, and was beginning to flourish away, when a +gentle, sweet voice, raised a little louder than usual by eagerness, +interrupted me. + +"Oh! not that thing, not that; the flute, the flute!" exclaimed Mary +Warren, blushing to the eyes at her own boldness, the instant she saw +that she was heard, and that I was about to comply. + +It is hardly necessary to say that I bowed respectfully, laid down the +hurdy-gurdy, drew the flute from my pocket, and, after a few flourishes, +commenced playing one of the newest airs, or melodies, from a favourite +opera. I saw the colour rush into Martha's cheeks the moment I had got +through a bar or two, and the start she gave satisfied me that the dear +girl remembered her brother's flute. I had played on that very +instrument ever since I was sixteen, but I had made an immense progress +in the art during the five years just passed in Europe. Masters at +Naples, Paris, Vienna and London had done a great deal for me; and I +trust I shall not be thought vain if I add, that nature had done +something, too. My excellent grandmother listened in profound attention, +and all four of the girls were enchanted. + +"That music is worthy of being heard in a room," observed the former, as +soon as I concluded the air; "and we shall hope to hear it this evening, +at the Nest House, if you remain anywhere near us. In the mean time, we +must pursue our airing." + +As my grandmother spoke she leaned forward, and extended her hand to me, +with a benevolent smile. I advanced, received the dollar that was +offered, and, unable to command my feelings, raised the hand to my lips, +respectfully but with fervour. Had Martha's face been near me, it would +have suffered also. I suppose there was nothing in this respectful +salutation that struck the spectators as very much out of the way, +foreigners having foreign customs, but I saw a flush in my venerable +grandmother's cheek, as the carriage moved off. _She_ had noted the +warmth of the manner. My uncle had turned away, I dare say to conceal +the tears that started to his eyes, and Jaaf followed towards the door +of the hut, whither my uncle moved, in order to do the honours of the +place. This left me quite alone with the Indian. + +"Why no kiss _face_ of grandmodder?" asked the Onondago, coolly and +quietly. + +Had a clap of thunder broken over my head, I could not have been more +astonished! The disguise that had deceived my nearest relations--that +had baffled Seneca Newcome, and had set at naught even his sister +Opportunity--had failed to conceal me from that Indian, whose faculties +might be supposed to have been numbed with age! + +"Is it possible that you know me, Susquesus!" I exclaimed, signing +towards the negro at the same time, by way of caution; "that you +remember me, at all! I should have thought this wig, these clothes, +would have concealed me." + +"Sartain," answered the aged Indian, calmly. "Know young chief +soon as see him; know fader--know mudder; know gran'fader, +gran'mudder--great-gran'fader; _his_ fader, too; know all. Why +forget young chief?" + +"Did you know me before I kissed my grandmother's hand, or only by that +act?" + +"Know as soon as see him. What eyes good for, if don't know? Know uncle, +dere, sartain; welcome home!" + +"But you will not let others know us, too, Trackless? We have always +been friends, I hope?" + +"Be sure, friends. Why ole eagle, wid white head, strike young pigeon? +Nebber hatchet in 'e path between Susquesus and any of de tribe of +Ravensnest. Too ole to dig him up now." + +"There are good reasons why my uncle and myself should not be known for +a few days. Perhaps you have heard something of the trouble that has +grown up between the landlords and the tenants, in the land?" + +"What dat trouble?" + +"The tenants are tired of paying rent, and wish to make a new bargain, +by which they can become owners of the farms on which they live." + +A grim light played upon the swarthy countenance of the Indian: his lips +moved, but he uttered nothing aloud. + +"Have you heard anything of this, Susquesus?" + +"Little bird sing sich song in my ear--didn't like to hear it." + +"And of Indians who are moving up and down the country, armed with +rifles and dressed in calico?" + +"What tribe, dem Injin," asked the Trackless, with a quickness and a +fire I did not think it possible for him to retain. "What 'ey do, +marchin' 'bout?--on war-path, eh?" + +"In one sense they may be said to be so. They belong to the anti-rent +tribe; do you know such a nation?" + +"Poor Injin dat, b'lieve. Why come so late?--why no come when 'e foot of +Susquesus light as feather of bird?--why stay away till pale-faces +plentier dan leaf on tree, or snow in air? Hundred year ago, when dat +oak little, sich Injin might be good; now, he good for nuttin'." + +"But you will keep our secret, Sus?--will not even tell the negro who we +are?" + +The Trackless simply nodded his head in assent. After this he seemed to +me to sink back in a sort of brooding lethargy, as if indisposed to +pursue the subject. I left him to go to my uncle, in order to relate +what had just passed. Mr. Roger Littlepage was as much astonished as I +had been myself, at hearing that one so aged should have detected us +through disguises that had deceived our nearest of kin. But the quiet +penetration and close observation of the man had long been remarkable. +As his good faith was of proof, however, neither felt any serious +apprehension of being betrayed, as soon as he had a moment for +reflection. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, + A cottage of gentility; + And the devil did grin, for his darling sin + Is the pride that apes humility." + + _Devil's Thoughts._ + + +It was now necessary to determine what course we ought next to pursue. +It might appear presuming in men of our pursuits to go to the Nest +before the appointed time; and did we proceed on to the village, we +should have the distance between the two places to walk over twice, +carrying our instruments and jewel-box. After a short consultation, it +was decided to visit the nearest dwellings, and to remain as near my own +house as was practicable, making an arrangement to sleep somewhere in +its immediate vicinity. Could we trust any one with our secret, our fare +would probably be all the better; but my uncle thought it most prudent +to maintain a strict incognito until he had ascertained the true state +of things in the town. + +We took leave of the Indian and the negro, therefore, promising to visit +them again in the course of that or the succeeding day, and followed the +path that led to the farm-house. It was our opinion that we might, at +least, expect to meet with friends in the occupants of the home farm. +The same family had been retained in possession there for three +generations, and being hired to manage the husbandry and to take care of +the dairy, there was not the same reason for the disaffection, that was +said so generally to exist among the tenantry, prevailing among them. +The name of this family was Miller, and it consisted of the two heads +and some six or seven children, most of the latter being still quite +young. + +"Tom Miller was a trusty lad, when I knew much of him," said my uncle, +as we drew near to the barn, in which we saw the party mentioned, at +work; "and he is said to have behaved well in one or two alarms they +have had at the Nest, this summer; still, it may be wiser not to let +even him into our secret as yet." + +"I am quite of your mind, sir," I answered; "for who knows that he has +not just as strong a desire as any of them to own the farm on which he +lives? He is the grandson of the man who cleared it from the forest, and +has much the same title as the rest of them." + +"Very true; and why should not that give him just as good a right to +claim an interest in the farm, beyond that he has got under his contract +to work it, as if he held a lease? He who holds a lease gets no right +beyond his bargain; nor does this man. The one is paid for his labour by +the excess of his receipts over the amount of his annual rent, while the +other is paid partly in what he raises, and partly in wages. In +principle there is no difference whatever, not a particle; yet I +question if the veriest demagogue in the State would venture to say that +the man, or the family, which works a farm for hire, even for a hundred +years, gets the smallest right to say he shall not quit it, if its owner +please, as soon as his term of service is up!" + +"'The love of money is the root of all evil;' and when that feeling is +uppermost, one can never tell what a man will do. The bribe of a good +farm, obtained for nothing, or for an insignificant price, is sufficient +to upset the morality of even Tom Miller." + +"You are right, Hugh; and here is one of the points in which our +political men betray the cloven foot. They write, and proclaim, and make +speeches, as if the anti-rent troubles grew out of the durable lease +system solely, whereas we all know that it is extended to all +descriptions of obligations given for the occupancy of land--life +leases, leases for a term of years, articles for deeds, and bonds and +mortgages. It is a wide-spread, though not yet universal attempt of +those who have the least claim to the possession of real estate, to +obtain the entire right, and that by agencies that neither the law nor +good morals will justify. It is no new expedient for partizans to place +_en evidence_ no more of their principles and intentions than suits +their purposes. But, here we are within ear-shot, and must resort to the +High Dutch. _Guten tag, guten tag_," continued uncle Ro, dropping +easily into the broken English of our masquerade, as we walked into the +barn, where Miller, two of his older boys, and a couple of hired men +were at work, grinding scythes and preparing for the approaching +hay-harvest. "It might be warm day, dis fine mornin'." + +"Good day, good day," cried Miller, hastily, and glancing his eye a +little curiously at our equipments. "What have you got in your +box--essences?" + +"Nein; vatches and drinkets;" setting down the box and opening it at +once, for the inspection of all present. "Von't you burchase a goot +vatch, dis bleasant mornin'?" + +"Be they ra-al gold?" asked Miller, a little doubtingly. "And all them +chains and rings, be they gold too?" + +"Not true golt; nein, nein, I might not say dat. But goot enough golt +for blain folks, like you and me." + +"Them things would never do for the grand quality over at the big +house!" cried one of the labourers who was unknown to me, but whose name +I soon ascertained was Joshua Brigham, and who spoke with a sort of +malicious sneer that at once betrayed _he_ was no friend. "You mean 'em +for poor folks, I s'pose?" + +"I means dem for any bodies dat will pay deir money for 'em," answered +my uncle. "Vould you like a vatch?" + +"That would I; and a farm, too, if I could get 'em cheap," answered +Brigham, with a sneer he did not attempt to conceal. "How do you sell +farms to-day?" + +"I haf got no farms; I sells drinkets and vatches, but I doesn't sell +farms. Vhat I haf got I vill sell, but I cannot sells vhat I haf not +got." + +"Oh! you'll get all you want if you'll stay long enough in this country! +This is a free land, and just the place for a poor man; or it will be, +as soon as we get all the lords and aristocrats out of it." + +This was the first time I had ever heard this political blarney with my +own ears, though I had understood it was often used by those who wish to +give to their own particular envy and covetousness a grand and sounding +air. + +"Vell, I haf heards dat in America dere might not be any noples ant +aristocrats," put in my uncle, with an appearance of beautiful +simplicity; "and dat dere ist not ein graaf in der whole coontry." + +"Oh! there's all sorts of folks here, just as they are to be found +elsewhere," cried Miller, seating himself coolly on the end of the +grindstone-frame, to open and look into the mysteries of one of the +watches. "Now, Josh Brigham, here, calls all that's above him in the +world aristocrats, but he doesn't call all that's below him his equals." + +I liked that speech; and I liked the cool, decided way in which it was +uttered. It denoted, in its spirit, a man who saw things as they are, +and who was not afraid to say what he thought about them. My uncle Ro +was surprised, and that agreeably, too, and he turned to Miller to +pursue the discourse. + +"Den dere might not be any nopility in America, after all?" he asked, +inquiringly. + +"Yes, there's plenty of such lords as Josh here, who want to be +uppermost so plaguily that they don't stop to touch all the rounds of +the ladder. I tell him, friend, he wants to get on too fast, and that he +mustn't set up for a gentleman before he knows how to behave himself." + +Josh looked a little abashed at a rebuke that came from one of his own +class, and which he must have felt, in secret, was merited. But the +demon was at work in him, and he had persuaded himself that he was the +champion of a quality as sacred as liberty, when, in fact, he was simply +and obviously doing neither more nor less than breaking the tenth +commandment. He did not like to give up, while he skirmished with +Miller, as the dog that has been beaten already two or three times +growls over a bone at the approach of his conqueror. + +"Well, thank heaven," he cried, "_I_ have got some spirit in my body." + +"That's very true, Joshua," answered Miller, laying down one watch and +taking up another; "but it happens to be an evil spirit." + +"Now, here's them Littlepages; what makes them better than other folks?" + +"You had better let the Littlepages alone, Joshua, seein' they're a +family that you know nothing at all about." + +"I don't want to know them; though I _do_ happen to know all I want to +know. I despise 'em." + +"No you don't, Joshy, my boy; nobody despises folks they talk so +spitefully about. What's the price of this here watch, friend?" + +"Four dollars," said my uncle, eagerly, falling lower than was prudent, +in his desire to reward Miller for his good feeling and sound +sentiments. "Ja, ja--you might haf das vatch for four dollars." + +"I'm afraid it isn't good for anything," returned Miller, feeling the +distrust that was natural at hearing a price so low. "Let's have another +look at its inside." + +No man, probably, ever bought a watch without looking into its works +with an air of great intelligence, though none but a mechanician is any +wiser for his survey. Tom Miller acted on this principle, for the good +looks of the machine he held in his hand, and the four dollars, tempted +him sorely. It had its effect, too, on the turbulent and envious Joshua, +who seemed to understand himself very well in a bargain. Neither of the +men had supposed the watches to be of gold, for though the metal that is +in a watch does not amount to a great deal, it is usually of more value +than all that was asked for the "article" now under examination. In +point of fact, my uncle had this very watch "invoiced to him" at twice +the price he now put it at. + +"And what do you ask for this?" demanded Joshua, taking up another watch +of very similar looks and of equal value to the one that Miller still +retained open in his hand. "Won't you let this go for three dollars?" + +"No; der brice of dat is effery cent of forty dollars," answered uncle +Ro, stubbornly. + +The two men now looked at the pedlar in surprise. Miller took the watch +from his hired man, examined it attentively, compared it with the other, +and then demanded its price anew. + +"_You_ might haf eider of dem vatches for four dollars," returned my +uncle, as I thought, incautiously. + +This occasioned a new surprise, though Brigham fortunately referred the +difference to a mistake. + +"Oh!" he said, "I understood you to say _forty_ dollars. Four dollars is +a different matter." + +"Josh," interrupted the more observant and cooler-headed Miller, "it is +high time, now, you and Peter go and look a'ter them sheep. The conch +will soon be blowing for dinner. If you want a trade, you can have one +when you get back." + +Notwithstanding the plainness of his appearance and language, Tom Miller +was captain of his own company. He gave this order quietly, and in his +usual familiar way, but it was obviously to be obeyed without a +remonstrance. In a minute the two hired men were off in company, leaving +no one behind in the barn but Miller, his sons, and us two. I could see +there was a motive for all this, but did not understand it. + +"Now _he's_ gone," continued Tom quietly, but laying an emphasis that +sufficiently explained his meaning, "perhaps you'll let me know the true +price of this watch. I've a mind for it, and may be we can agree." + +"Four dollars," answered my uncle, distinctly. "I haf said you might haf +it for dat money, and vhat I haf said once might always be." + +"I will take it, then. I almost wish you had asked eight, though four +dollars saved is suthin' for a poor man. It's so plaguy cheap I'm a +little afraid on 't; but I'll ventur'. There; there's your money, and in +hard cash." + +"Dank you, sir. Won't das ladies choose to look at my drinkets?" + +"Oh! if you want to deal with ladies who buy chains and rings, the Nest +House is the place. My woman wouldn't know what to do with sich things, +and don't set herself up for a fine lady at all. That chap who has just +gone for the sheep is the only great man we have about this farm." + +"Ja, ja; he ist a nople in a dirty shirt: ja, ja; why hast he dem pig +feelin's?" + +"I believe you have named them just as they ought to be, _pig's_ +feelin's. It's because he wishes to thrust his own snout all over the +trough, and is mad when he finds anybody else's in the way. We're +getting to have plenty of such fellows up and down the country, and an +uncomfortable time they give us. Boys, I _do_ believe it will turn out, +a'ter all, that Josh is an Injin!" + +"I _know_ he is," answered the oldest of the two sons, a lad of +nineteen; "where else should he be so much of nights and Sundays, but +at their trainin's?--and what was the meanin' of the calico bundle I saw +under his arm a month ago, as I told you on at the time?" + +"If I find it out to be as you say, Harry, he shall tramp off of this +farm. I'll have no Injins here!" + +"Vell I dought I dit see an olt Injin in a hut up yonder ast by der +woots!" put in my uncle, innocently. + +"Oh! that is Susquesus, an Onondago; he is a true Injin, and a +gentleman; but we have a parcel of the mock gentry about, who are a pest +and an eye-sore to every honest man in the country. Half on 'em are +nothing but thieves in mock Injin dresses. The law is ag'in 'em, right +is ag'in 'em, and every true friend of liberty in the country ought to +be ag'in 'em." + +"Vhat ist der matter in dis coontry? I hear in Europe how America ist a +free lant, ant how efery man hast his rights; but since I got here dey +do nothin' but talk of barons, and noples, and tenants, and arisdograts, +and all der bat dings I might leaf behint me, in der olt worlt." + +"The plain matter is, friend, that they who have got little, en_vy_ them +that's got much; and the struggle is to see which is the strongest. On +the one side is the law, and right, and bargains, and contracts; and on +the other thousands--not of dollars, but of men. Thousands of voters; +d'ye understand?" + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstands; dat ist easy enough. But vhy do dey dalk so +much of noples and arisdograts?--ist der noples and arisdograts in +America?" + +"Well, I don't much understand the natur' of sich things; there +sartainly is a difference in men, and a difference in their fortun's, +and edications, and such sort of things." + +"Und der law, den, favours der rich man at der cost of der poor, in +America, too, does it? Und you haf arisdograts who might not pay taxes, +and who holt all der offices, and get all der pooblic money, and who ist +petter pefore de law, in all dings, dan ast dem dat be not arisdograts? +Is it so?" + +Miller laughed outright, and shook his head at this question, continuing +to examine the trinkets the whole time. + +"No, no, my friend, we've not much of _that_, in this part of the world, +either. Rich men get very few offices, to begin with; for it's an +argooment in favour of a man for an office, that he's poor, and _wants_ +it. Folks don't so much ask who the office wants, as who wants the +office. Then, as for taxes, there isn't much respect paid to the rich, +on that score. Young 'Squire Littlepage pays the tax on this farm +directly himself, and it's assessed half as high ag'in, all things +considered, as any other farm on his estate." + +"But dat ist not right." + +"Right! Who says it is?--or who thinks there is anything right about +assessments, anywhere? I have heard assessors, with my own ears, use +such words as these:--'Sich a man is rich, and can afford to pay,' and +'sich a man is poor, and it will come hard on him.' Oh! they kiver up +dishonesty, now-a-days, under all sorts of argooments." + +"But der law; der rich might haf der law on deir side, surely?" + +"In what way, I should like to know? Juries be everything, and juries +will go accordin' to their feelin's, as well as other men. I've seen the +things with my own eyes. The county pays just enough a-day to make poor +men like to be on juries, and they never fail to attend, while them that +can pay their fines stay away, and so leave the law pretty much in the +hands of one party. No rich man gains his cause, unless his case is so +strong it can't be helped." + +I had heard this before, there being a very general complaint throughout +the country of the practical abuses connected with the jury system. I +have heard intelligent lawyers complain, that whenever a cause of any +interest is to be tried, the first question asked is not "what are the +merits?" "which has the law and the facts on his side?" but "who is +likely to be on the jury?"--thus obviously placing the composition of +the jury before either law or evidence. Systems may have a very fair +appearance on paper and as theories, that are execrable in practice. As +for juries, I believe the better opinion of the intelligent of all +countries is, that while they are a capital contrivance to resist the +abuse of power in narrow governments, in governments of a broad +constituency they have the effect, which might easily be seen, of +placing the control of the law in the hands of those who would be most +apt to abuse it; since it is adding to, instead of withstanding and +resisting the controlling authority of the State, from which, in a +popular government, most of the abuses must unavoidably proceed. + +As for my uncle Ro, he was disposed to pursue the subject with Miller, +who turned out to be a discreet and conscientious man. After a very +short pause, as if to reflect on what had been said, he resumed the +discourse. + +"Vhat, den, makes arisdograts in dis coontry?" asked my uncle. + +"Wa-a-l"--no man but an American of New England descent, as was the case +with Miller, can give this word its attic sound--"Wa-a-l, it's hard to +say. I hear a great deal about aristocrats, and I read a great deal +about aristocrats, in this country, and I know that most folks look upon +them as hateful, but I'm by no means sartain I know what an aristocrat +is. Do you happen to know anything about it, friend?" + +"Ja, ja; an arisdograt ist one of a few men dat hast all de power of de +government in deir own hands." + +"King! That isn't what we think an aristocrat in this part of the world. +Why, we call them critturs here DIMIGOGUES! Now, young 'Squire +Littlepage, who owns the Nest House, over yonder, and who is owner of +all this estate, far and near, is what _we_ call an aristocrat, and he +hasn't power enough to be named town clerk, much less to anything +considerable, or what is worth having." + +"How can he be an arisdograt, den?" + +"How, sure enough, if your account be true! I tell you 'tis the +dimigogues that be the aristocrats of America. Why, Josh Brigham, who +has just gone for the sheep, can get more votes for any office in the +country than young Littlepage!" + +"Berhaps dis young Littlebage ist a pat yoong man?" + +"Not he; he's as good as any on 'em, and better than most. Besides, if +he was as wicked as Lucifer, the folks of the country don't know +anything about it, sin' he's be'n away ever sin' he has be'n a man." + +"Vhy, den, gan't he haf as many votes as dat poor, ignorant fellow might +haf?--das ist ott." + +"It is odd, but it's true as gospel. _Why_, it may not be so easy to +tell. Many men, many minds, you know. Some folks don't like him because +he lives in a big house; some hate him because they think he is better +off than they are themselves; others mistrust him because he wears a +fine coat; and some pretend to laugh at him because he got his property +from his father, and grand'ther, and so on, and didn't make it himself. +Accordin' to some folks' notions, now-a-days, a man ought to enj'y only +the property he heaps together himself." + +"If dis be so, your Herr Littlebage ist no arisdograt." + +"Wa-a-l, that isn't the idee, hereaway. We have had a great many +meetin's, latterly, about the right of the people to their farms; and +there has been a good deal of talk at them meetin's consarnin' +aristocracy and feudal tenors; do you know what a feudal tenor is, too?" + +"Ja; dere ist moch of dat in Teutchland--in mine coontry. It ist not +ferry easy to explain it in a few vords, but der brincipal ding ist dat +der vassal owes a serfice to hist lort. In de olten dimes dis serfice +vast military, und dere ist someding of dat now. It ist de noples who +owe der feudal serfice, brincipally, in mine coontry, and dey owes it to +de kings and brinces." + +"And don't you call giving a chicken for rent feudal service, in +Germany?" + +Uncle Ro and I laughed, in spite of our efforts to the contrary, there +being a pathos in this question that was supremely ridiculous. Curbing +his merriment, however, as soon as he could, my uncle answered the +question. + +"If der landlordt hast a right to coome and dake as many chickens as he +bleases, und ast often ast he bleases, den dat wouldt look like a feudal +right; but if de lease says dat so many chickens moost be paid a-year, +for der rent, vhy dat ist all der same as baying so much moneys; und it +might be easier for der tenant to bay in chicken ast it might be to bay +in der silver. Vhen a man canst bay his debts in vhat he makes himself, +he ist ferry interpentent." + +"It does seem so, I vow! Yet there's folks about here, and some at +Albany, that call it feudal for a man to have to carry a pair of fowls +to the landlord's office, and the landlord an aristocrat for asking it!" + +"But der man canst sent a poy, or a gal, or a nigger, wid his fowls, if +he bleases?" + +"Sartain; all that is asked is that the fowls should come." + +"Und vhen der batroon might owe hist tailor, or hist shoemaker, must he +not go to hist shop, or find him and bay him vhat he owes, or be suet +for der debt?" + +"That's true, too; boys, put me in mind of telling that to Josh, this +evening. Yes, the greatest landlord in the land must hunt up his +creditor, or be sued, all the same as the lowest tenant." + +"Und he most bay in a partic'lar ding; he most bay in golt or silver?" + +"True; lawful tender is as good for one as 'tis for t'other." + +"Und if your Herr Littlebage signs a baper agreein' to gif der apples +from dat orchart to somebody on his landts, most he send or carry der +apples, too?" + +"To be sure; that would be the bargain." + +"Und he most carry der ferry apples dat grows on dem ferry drees, might +it not be so?" + +"All true as gospel. If a man contracts to sell the apples of one +orchard, he can't put off the purchaser with the apples of another." + +"Und der law ist der same for one ast for anudder, in dese t'ings?" + +"There is no difference; and there should be none." + +"Und der batroons und der landlordts wants to haf der law changet, so +dat dey may be excuset from baying der debts accordin' to der bargains, +und to gif dem atfantages over der poor tenants?" + +"I never heard anything of the sort, and don't believe they want any +such change." + +"Of vhat, den, dost der beople complain?" + +"Of having to pay rent at all; they think the landlords ought to be made +to sell their farms, or give them away. Some stand out for the last." + +"But der landlordts don't vant to sell deir farms; und dey might not be +made to sell vhat ist deir own, and vhat dey don't vant to sell, any +more dan der tenants might be made to sell deir hogs and deir sheep, +vhen dey don't vant to sell dem." + +"It does seem so, boys, as I've told the neighbours, all along. But +I'll tell this Dutchman all about it. Some folks want the State to look +a'ter the title of young Littlepage, pretending he has no title." + +"But der State wilt do dat widout asking for it particularly, vill it +not?" + +"I never heard that it would." + +"If anybody hast a claim to der broperty, vilt not der courts try it?" + +"Yes, yes--in that way; but a tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord." + +"Vhy should he? He canst haf no title but his landlort's, and it vould +be roguery and cheatery to let a man get into der bossession of a farm +under der pretence of hiring it, und den coome out und claim it as +owner. If any tenant dinks he hast a better right dan his landlort, he +can put der farm vhere it vast before he might be a tenant, und den der +State wilt examine into der title, I fancys." + +"Yes, yes--in that way; but these men want it another way. What they +want is for the State to set up a legal examination, and turn the +landlords off altogether, if they can, and then let themselves have the +farms in their stead." + +"But dat would not be honest to dem dat hafen't nothing to do wid der +farms. If der State owns der farms, it ought to get as moch as it can +for dem, and so safe _all_ der people from baying taxes. It looks like +roguery, all roundt." + +"I believe it is that, and nothing else! As you say, the State will +examine into the title as it is, and there is no need of any laws about +it." + +"Would der State, dink you, pass a law dat might inquire into de +demandts dat are made against der batroons, vhen der tratesmen sent in +deir bills?" + +"I should like to see any patroon ask sich a thing! He would be laughed +at, from York to Buffalo." + +"Und he would desarf it. By vhat I see, frient, your denants be der +arisdograts, und der landlordts der vassals." + +"Why you see--what may your name be?--as we're likely to become +acquainted, I should like to know your name." + +"My name is Greisenbach, und I comes from Preussen." + +"Well, Mr. Greisenbach, the difficulty about aristocracy is this. Hugh +Littlepage is rich, and his money gives him advantages that other men +can't enj'y. Now, that sticks in some folks' crops." + +"Oh! den it ist meant to divite broperty in dis coontry; und to say no +man might haf more ast anudder?" + +"Folks don't go quite as far as that, yet; though some of their talk +does squint that-a-way, I must own. Now, there are folks about here that +complain that old Madam Littlepage and her young ladies don't visit the +poor." + +"Vell, if deys be hard-hearted, und hast no feelin's for der poor and +miseraple----" + +"No, no; that is not what I mean, neither. As for that sort of poor, +everybody allows they do more for _them_ than anybody else about here. +But they don't visit the poor that isn't in want." + +"Vell, it ist a ferry coomfortable sort of poor dat ist not in any vant. +Berhaps you mean dey don't associate wid 'em, as equals?" + +"That's it. Now, on that head, I must say there is some truth in the +charge, for the gals over at the Nest never come here to visit my gal, +and Kitty is as nice a young thing as there is about." + +"Und Gitty goes to visit the gal of the man who lives over yonter, in de +house on der hill?" pointing to a residence of a man of the very +humblest class in the town. + +"Hardly! Kitty's by no means proud, but I shouldn't like her to be too +thick there." + +"Oh! you're an arisdograt, den, after all; else might your daughter +visit dat man's daughter." + +"I tell you, Grunzebach, or whatever your name may be," returned Miller, +a little angrily, though a particularly good-natured man in the main, +"that _my_ gal shall _not_ visit old Steven's da'ghters." + +"Vell, I'm sure she might do as she bleases; but I dinks der +Mademoiselles Littlepage might do ast dey pleases, too." + +"There is but one Littlepage gal; if you saw them out this morning in +the carriage, you saw two York gals and parson Warren's da'ghter with +her." + +"Und dis parson Warren might be rich, too?" + +"Not he; he hasn't a sixpence on 'arth but what he gets from the parish. +Why he is so poor his friends had to edicate his da'ghter, I have heern +say, over and over!" + +"Und das Littlepage gal und de Warren gal might be goot friends?" + +"They are the thickest together of any two young women in this part of +the world. I've never seen two gals more intimate. Now, there's a young +lady in the town, one Opportunity Newcome, who, one might think, would +stand before Mary Warren at the big house, any day in the week, but she +doesn't! Mary takes all the shine out on her." + +"Which ist der richest, Obbordunity or Mary?" + +"By all accounts Mary Warren has nothing, while Opportunity is thought +to come next to Matty herself, as to property, of all the young gals +about here. But Opportunity is no favourite at the Nest." + +"Den it would seem, after all, dat dis Miss Littlebage does not choose +her friends on account of riches. She likes Mary Warren, who ist boor, +und she does not like Obbordunity, who ist vell to do in de vorlt. +Berhaps der Littlepages be not as big arisdograts as you supposes." + +Miller was bothered, while I felt a disposition to laugh. One of the +commonest errors of those who, from position and habits, are unable to +appreciate the links which connect cultivated society together, is to +refer everything to riches. Riches, in a certain sense, as a means and +through their consequences, may be a principal agent in dividing society +into classes; but, long after riches have taken wings, their fruits +remain, when good use has been made of their presence. So untrue is the +vulgar opinion--or it might be better to say the opinion of the +vulgar--that money is the one tie which unites polished society, that it +is a fact which all must know who have access to the better circles of +even our own commercial towns, that those circles, loosely and +accidentally constructed as they are, receive with reluctance, nay, +often sternly exclude, vulgar wealth from their associations, while the +door is open to the cultivated who have nothing. The young, in +particular, seldom think much of money, while family connections, early +communications, similarity of opinions, and, most of all, of tastes, +bring sets together, and often keep them together long after the golden +band has been broken. + +But men have great difficulty in comprehending things that lie beyond +their reach; and money being apparent to the senses, while refinement, +through its infinite gradations, is visible principally, and, in some +cases, exclusively to its possessors, it is not surprising that common +minds should refer a tie that, to them, would otherwise be mysterious, +to the more glittering influence, and not to the less obvious. Infinite, +indeed, are the gradations of cultivated habits; nor are as many of them +the fruits of caprice and self-indulgence as men usually suppose. There +is a common sense, nay, a certain degree of wisdom, in the laws of even +etiquette, while they are confined to equals, that bespeak the respect +of those who understand them. As for the influence of associations on +men's manners, on their exteriors, and even on their opinions, my uncle +Ro has long maintained that it is so apparent that one of his time of +life could detect the man of the world, at such a place as Saratoga +even, by an intercourse of five minutes; and what is more, that he could +tell the class in life from which he originally emerged. He tried it, +the last summer, on our return from Ravensnest, and I was amused with +his success, though he made a few mistakes, it must be admitted. + +"That young man comes from the better circles, but he has never +travelled," he said, alluding to one of a group which still remained at +table; "while he who is next him _has_ travelled, but commenced badly." +This may seem a very nice distinction, but I think it is easily made. +"There are two brothers, of an excellent family in Pennsylvania," he +continued, "as one might know from the name; the eldest has travelled, +the youngest has not." This was a still harder distinction to make, but +one who knew the world as well as my uncle Ro could do it. He went on +amusing me by his decisions--all of which were respectable, and some +surprisingly accurate--in this way for several minutes. Now, like has an +affinity to like, and in this natural attraction is to be found the +secret of the ordinary construction of society. You shall put two men of +superior minds in a room full of company, and they will find each other +out directly, and enjoy the accident. The same is true as to the mere +modes of thinking that characterize social castes; and it is truer in +this country, perhaps, than most others, from the mixed character of +our associations. Of the two, I am really of opinion that the man of +high intellect, who meets with one of moderate capacity, but of manners +and social opinions on a level with his own, has more pleasure in the +communication than with one of equal mind, but of inferior habits. + +That Patt should cling to one like Mary Warren seemed to me quite as +natural as that she should be averse to much association with +Opportunity Newcome. The money of the latter, had my sister been in the +least liable to such an influence, was so much below what she had been +accustomed, all her life, to consider affluence, that it would have had +no effect, even had she been subject to so low a consideration in +regulating her intercourse with others. But this poor Tom Miller could +not understand. He could "only reason from what he knew," and he knew +little of the comparative notions of wealth, and less of the powers of +cultivation on the mind and manners. He was struck, however, with a fact +that did come completely within the circle of his own knowledge, and +that was the circumstance that Mary Warren, while admitted to be poor, +was the bosom friend of her whom he was pleased to call, sometimes, the +"Littlepage gal." It was easy to see he felt the force of this +circumstance; and it is to be hoped that, as he was certainly a wiser, +he also became a better man, on one of the most common of the weaknesses +of human frailty. + +"Wa-a-l," he replied to my uncle's last remark, after fully a minute of +silent reflection, "I don't know! It would seem so, I vow; and yet it +hasn't been my wife's notion, nor is it Kitty's. You're quite upsetting +my idees about aristocrats; for though I like the Littlepages, I've +always set 'em down as desp'rate aristocrats." + +"Nein, nein; dem as vat you calls dimigogues be der American +arisdograts. Dey gets all der money of der pooblic, and haf all der +power, but dey gets a little mads because dey might not force demselves +on der gentlemen and laties of der coontry, as vell as on der lands und +der offices!" + +"I swan! I don't know but this may be true! A'ter all, I don't know what +right anybody has to complain of the Littlepages." + +"Does dey dreat beoples vell, as might coome to see dem?" + +"Yes, indeed! if folks treat _them_ well, as sometimes doesn't happen. +I've seen hogs here"--Tom was a little Saxon in his figures, but their +nature will prove their justification--"I've seen hogs about here, bolt +right in before old Madam Littlepage, and draw their chairs up to her +fire, and squirt about the tobacco, and never think of even taking off +their hats. Them folks be always huffy about their own importance, +though they never think of other people's feelin's." + +We were interrupted by the sound of wheels, and looking round, we +perceived that the carriage of my grandmother had driven up to the +farm-house door, on its return home. Miller conceived it to be no more +than proper to go and see if he were wanted, and we followed him slowly, +it being the intention of my uncle to offer his mother a watch, by way +of ascertaining if she could penetrate his disguise. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Will you buy any tape, + Or lace for your cape?-- + Come to the pedlar, + Money's a medler + That doth utter all men's ware-a." + + _Winter's Tale._ + + +There they sat, those four young creatures, a perfect galaxy of bright +and beaming eyes. There was not a plain face among them; and I was +struck with the circumstance of how rare it was to meet with a youthful +and positively ugly American female. Kitty, too, was at the door by the +time we reached the carriage, and she also was a blooming and +attractive-looking girl. It was a thousand pities that she spoke, +however; the vulgarity of her utterance, tone of voice, cadences, and +accent, the latter a sort of singing whine, being in striking contrast +to a sort of healthful and vigorous delicacy that marked her +appearance. All the bright eyes grew brighter as I drew nearer, carrying +the flute in my hand; but neither of the young ladies spoke. + +"Buy a vatch, ma'ams," said uncle Ro, approaching his mother, cap in +hand, with his box open. + +"I thank you, friend; but I believe all here are provided with watches +already." + +"Mine ist ferry sheaps." + +"I dare say they may be," returned dear grandmother, smiling; "though +cheap watches are not usually the best. Is that very pretty pencil +gold?" + +"Yes, ma'ams; it ist of _goot_ gold. If it might not be, I might not say +so." + +I saw suppressed smiles among the girls; all of whom, however, were too +well-bred to betray to common observers the sense of the ridiculous that +each felt at the equivoque that suggested itself in my uncle's words. + +"What is the price of this pencil," asked my grandmother. + +Uncle Roger had too much tact to think of inducing his mother to make a +purchase as he had influenced Miller, and he mentioned something near +the true value of the "article," which was fifteen dollars. + +"I will take it," returned my grandmother, dropping three half eagles +into the box; when, turning to Mary Warren, she begged her acceptance of +the pencil, with as much respect in her manner as if she solicited +instead of conferred a favour. + +Mary Warren's handsome face was covered with blushes; she looked +pleased, and she accepted the offering, though I thought she hesitated +one moment about the propriety of so doing, most probably on account of +its value. My sister asked to look at this little present, and after +admiring it, it passed from hand to hand, each praising its shape and +ornaments. All my uncle's wares, indeed, were in perfect good taste, the +purchase having been made of an importer of character, and paid for at +some cost. The watches, it is true, were, with one or two exceptions, +cheap, as were most of the trinkets; but my uncle had about his person a +watch, or two, and some fine jewelry, that he had brought from Europe +himself, expressly to bestow in presents, among which had been the +pencil in question, and which he had dropped into the box but a moment +before it was sold. + +"Wa-a-l, Madam Littlepage," cried Miller, who used the familiarity of +one born on the estate, "this is the queerest watch-pedlar I've met +with, yet. He asks fifteen dollars for that pencil, and only four for +this watch!" showing his own purchase as he concluded. + +My grandmother took the watch in her hand, and examined it attentively. + +"It strikes me as singularly cheap!" she remarked, glancing a little +distrustfully, as I fancied, at her son, as if she thought he might be +selling his brushes cheaper than those who only stole the materials, +because he stole them ready made. "I know that these watches are made +for very little in the cheap countries of Europe, but one can hardly see +how this machinery was put together for so small a sum." + +"I has 'em, matam, at all brices," put in my uncle. + +"I have a strong desire to purchase a _good_ lady's watch, but should a +little fear buying of any but a known and regular dealer." + +"You needn't fear us, ma'am," I ventured to say. "If we might sheat +anypodies, we shouldn't sheat so goot a laty." + +I do not know whether my voice struck Patt's ear pleasantly, or a wish +to see the project of her grandmother carried out at once, induced my +sister to interfere; but interfere she did, and that by urging her aged +parent to put confidence in us. Years had taught my grandmother caution, +and she hesitated. + +"But all these watches are of base metal, and I want one of good gold +and handsome finish," observed my grandmother. + +My uncle immediately produced a watch that he had bought of Blondel, in +Paris, for five hundred francs, and which was a beautiful little +ornament for a lady's belt. He gave it to my grandmother, who read the +name of the manufacturer with some little surprise. The watch itself was +then examined attentively, and was applauded by all. + +"And what may be the price of this?" demanded my grandmother. + +"One hoondred dollars, matam; and sheaps at dat." + +Tom Miller looked at the bit of tinsel in his own hand, and at the +smaller, but exquisitely-shaped "article" that my grandmother held up to +look at, suspended by its bit of ribbon, and was quite as much puzzled +as he had evidently been a little while before, in his distinctions +between the rich and the poor. Tom was not able to distinguish the base +from the true; that was all. + +My grandmother did not appear at all alarmed at the price, though she +cast another distrustful glance or two, over her spectacles, at the +imaginary pedlar. At length the beauty of the watch overcame her. + +"If you will bring this watch to yonder large dwelling, I will pay you +the hundred dollars for it," she said; "I have not as much money with me +here." + +"Ja, ja--ferry goot; you might keep das vatch, laty, and I will coome +for der money after I haf got some dinners of somebodys." + +My grandmother had no scruple about accepting of the credit, of course, +and she was about to put the watch in her pocket, when Patt laid her +little gloved hand on it, and cried-- + +"Now, dearest grandmother, let it be done at once--there is no one but +us three present, you know!" + +"Such is the impatience of a child!" exclaimed the elder lady, laughing. +"Well, you shall be indulged. I gave you that pencil for a keep-sake, +Mary, only _en attendant_, it having been my intention to offer a watch, +as soon as a suitable one could be found, as a memorial of the sense I +entertain of the spirit you showed during that dark week in which the +anti-renters were so menacing. Here, then, is such a watch as I might +presume to ask you to have the goodness to accept." + +Mary Warren seemed astounded! The colour mounted to her temples; then +she became suddenly pale. I had never seen so pretty a picture of gentle +female distress--a distress that arose from conflicting, but creditable +feelings. + +"Oh! Mrs. Littlepage!" she exclaimed, after looking in astonishment at +the offering for a moment, and in silence. "You cannot have intended +that beautiful watch for me!" + +"For you, my dear; the beautiful watch is not a whit too good for my +beautiful Mary." + +"But, dear, _dear_ Mrs. Littlepage, it is altogether too handsome for my +station--for my means." + +"A lady can very well wear such a watch; and you are a lady in every +sense of the word, and so you need have no scruples on that account. As +for the means, you will not misunderstand me if I remind you that it +will be bought with my means, and there can be no extravagance in the +purchase." + +"But we are so poor, and that watch has so rich an appearance! It +scarcely seems right." + +"I respect your feelings and sentiments, my dear girl, and can +appreciate them. I suppose you know I was once as poor, nay, much poorer +than you are, yourself." + +"You, Mrs. Littlepage! No, that can hardly be. You are of an affluent +and very respectable family, I know." + +"It is quite true, nevertheless, my dear. I shall not affect extreme +humility, and deny that the Malbones did and do belong to the gentry of +the land, but my brother and myself were once so much reduced as to toil +with the surveyors, in the woods, quite near this property. We had then +no claim superior to yours, and in many respects were reduced much +lower. Besides, the daughter of an educated and well-connected clergyman +has claims that, in a worldly point of view alone, entitle her to a +certain consideration. You will do me the favour to accept my offering?" + +"Dear Mrs. Littlepage! I do not know how to refuse _you_, or how to +accept so rich a gift! You will let me consult my father, first?" + +"That will be no more than proper, my dear," returned my beloved +grandmother, quietly putting the watch into her own pocket; "Mr. Warren, +luckily, dines with us, and the matter can be settled before we sit down +to table." + +This ended the discussion, which had commenced under an impulse of +feeling that left us all its auditors. As for my uncle and myself, it is +scarcely necessary to say we were delighted with the little scene. The +benevolent wish to gratify, on the one side, with the natural scruples +on the other, about receiving, made a perfect picture for our +contemplation. The three girls, who were witnesses of what passed, too +much respected Mary's feelings to interfere, though Patt restrained +herself with difficulty. As to Tom Miller and Kitty, they doubtless +wondered why "Warren's gal" was such a fool as to hesitate about +accepting a watch that was worth a hundred dollars. This was another +point they did not understand. + +"You spoke of dinner," continued my grandmother, looking at my uncle. +"If you and your companion will follow us to the house, I will pay you +for the watch, and order you a dinner in the bargain." + +We were right down glad to accept this offer, making our bows and +expressing our thanks, as the carriage whirled off. We remained a +moment, to take our leave of Miller. + +"When you've got through at the Nest," said that semi-worthy fellow, +"give us another call here. I should like my woman and Kitty to have a +look at your finery, before you go down to the village with it." + +With a promise to return to the farm-house, we proceeded on our way to +the building which, in the familiar parlance of the country, was called +the Nest, or the Nest House, from Ravensnest, its true name, and which +Tom Miller, in his country dialect, called the "Neest." The distance +between the two buildings was less than half a mile, the grounds of the +family residence lying partly between them. Many persons would have +called the extensive lawns which surrounded my paternal abode a park, +but it never bore that name with us. They were too large for a paddock, +and might very well have come under the former appellation; but, as +deer, or animals of any sort, except those that are domestic, had never +been kept within it, the name had not been used. We called them the +grounds--a term which applies equally to large and small enclosures of +this nature--while the broad expanse of verdure which lies directly +under the windows goes by the name of the lawn. Notwithstanding the +cheapness of land among us, there has been very little progress made in +the art of landscape gardening; and if we have anything like park +scenery, it is far more owing to the gifts of a bountiful nature than to +any of the suggestions of art. Thanks to the cultivated taste of +Downing, as well as to his well-directed labours, this reproach is +likely to be soon removed, and country life will acquire this pleasure, +among the many others that are so peculiarly its own. After lying for +more than twenty years--a stigma on the national taste--disfigured by +ravines or gullies, and otherwise in a rude and discreditable condition, +the grounds of the White House have been brought into a condition to +denote that they are the property of a civilized country. The Americans +are as apt at imitation as the Chinese, with a far greater disposition +to admit of change; and little beyond good models are required to set +them on the right track. But it is certain that, as a nation, we have +yet to acquire nearly all that belongs to the art I have mentioned that +lies beyond avenues of trees, with an occasional tuft of shrubbery. The +abundance of the latter, that forms the wilderness of sweets, the +_masses_ of flowers that spot the surface of Europe, the beauty of +curved lines, and the whole finesse of surprises, reliefs, back-grounds +and vistas, are things so little known among us as to be almost +"arisdogratic," as my uncle Ro would call the word. + +Little else had been done at Ravensnest than to profit by the native +growth of the trees, and to take advantage of the favourable +circumstances in the formation of the grounds. Most travellers imagine +that it might be an easy thing to lay out a park in the virgin forest, +as the axe might spare the thickets, and copses, and woods, that +elsewhere are the fruits of time and planting. This is all a mistake, +however, as the rule; though modified exceptions may and do exist. The +tree of the American forest shoots upward toward the light, growing so +tall and slender as to be unsightly; and even when time has given its +trunk is due size, the top is rarely of a breadth to ornament a park or +a lawn, while its roots, seeking their nourishment in the rich alluvium +formed by the decayed leaves of a thousand years, lie too near the +surface to afford sufficient support after losing the shelter of its +neighbours. It is owing to reasons like these that the ornamental +grounds of an American country-house have usually to be commenced _ab +origine_, and that natural causes so little aid in finishing them. + +My predecessors had done a little towards assisting nature, at the Nest, +and what was of almost equal importance, in the state of knowledge on +this subject as it existed in the country sixty years since, they had +done little to mar her efforts. The results were, that the grounds of +Ravensnest possess a breadth that is the fruit of the breadth of our +lands, and a rural beauty which, without being much aided by art, was +still attractive. The herbage was kept short by sheep, of which one +thousand, of the fine wool, were feeding on the lawns, along the slopes, +and particularly on the distant heights, as we crossed the grounds on +our way to the doors. + +The Nest House was a respectable New York country dwelling, as such +buildings were constructed among us in the last quarter of the past +century, a little improved and enlarged by the second and third +generations of its owners. The material was of stone, the low cliff on +which it stood supplying enough of an excellent quality; and the shape +of the main _corps de batiment_ as near a square as might be. Each face +of this part of the constructions offered five windows to view, this +being almost the prescribed number for a country residence in that day, +as three have since got to be in towns. These windows, however, had some +size, the main building being just sixty feet square, which was about +ten feet in each direction larger than was common so soon after the +revolution. But wings had been added to the original building, and that +on a plan which conformed to the shape of a structure in square logs, +that had been its predecessor on its immediate site. These wings were +only of a story and a half each, and doubling on each side of the main +edifice just far enough to form a sufficient communication, they ran +back to the very verge of a cliff some forty feet in height, +overlooking, at their respective ends, a meandering rivulet, and a wide +expanse of very productive flats, that annually filled my barns with hay +and my cribs with corn. Of this level and fertile bottom-land there was +near a thousand acres, stretching in three directions, of which two +hundred belonged to what was called the Nest Farm. The remainder was +divided among the farms of the adjacent tenantry. This little +circumstance, among the thousand-and-one other atrocities that were +charged upon me, had been made a ground of accusation, to which I shall +presently have occasion to advert. I shall do this the more readily, +because the fact has not yet reached the ears and set in motion the +tongues of legislators--Heaven bless us, how words do get corrupted by +too much use!--in their enumeration of the griefs of the tenants of the +State. + +Everything about the Nest was kept in perfect order, and in a condition +to do credit to the energy and taste of my grandmother, who had ordered +all these things for the last few years, or since the death of my +grandfather. This circumstance, connected with the fact that the +building was larger and more costly than those of most of the other +citizens of the country, had, of late years, caused Ravensnest to be +termed an "aristocratic residence." This word "aristocratic," I find +since my return home, has got to be a term of expansive signification, +its meaning depending on the particular habits and opinions of the +person who happens to use it. Thus, he who chews tobacco thinks it +aristocratic in him who deems the practice nasty not to do the same; the +man who stoops accuses him who is straight in the back of having +aristocratic shoulders; and I have actually met with one individual who +maintained that it was excessively aristocratic to pretend not to blow +one's nose with his fingers. It will soon be aristocratic to maintain +the truth of the familiar Latin axiom of "_de gustibus non disputandum +est_." + +As we approached the door of the Nest House, which opened on the piazza +that stretched along three sides of the main building, and the outer +ends of both wings, the coachman was walking his horses away from it, on +the road that led to the stables. The party of ladies had made a +considerable circuit after quitting the farm, and had arrived but a +minute before us. All the girls but Mary Warren had entered the house, +careless on the subject of the approach of two pedlars; she remained, +however, at the side of my grandmother, to receive us. + +"I believe in my soul," whispered uncle Ro, "that my dear old mother has +a secret presentiment who we are, by her manifesting so much +respect.--T'ousand t'anks, matam, t'ousand t'anks," he continued, +dropping into his half-accurate half-blundering broken English, "for dis +great honour, such as we might not expect das laty of das house to wait +for us at her door." + +"This young lady tells me that she has seen you before, and that she +understands you are both persons of education and good manners, who have +been driven from your native country by political troubles. Such being +the case, I cannot regard you as common pedlars. I have known what it +was to be reduced in fortune,"--my dear grandmother's voice trembled a +little--"and can feel for those who thus suffer." + +"Matam, dere might be moch trut' in some of dis," answered my uncle, +taking off his cap, and bowing very much like a gentleman, an act in +which I imitated him immediately. "We _haf_ seen petter tays; and my +son, dere, hast peen edicatet at an university. But we are now poor +pedlars of vatches, und dem dat might make moosic in der streets." + +My grandmother looked as a lady would look under such circumstances, +neither too free to forget present appearances, nor coldly neglectful of +the past. She knew that something was due to her own household, and to +the example she ought to set it, while she felt that far more was due to +the sentiment that unites the cultivated. We were asked into the house, +were told a table was preparing for us, and were treated with a generous +and considerate hospitality that involved no descent from her own +character, or that of the sex; the last being committed to the keeping +of every lady. + +In the mean time, business proceeded with my uncle. He was paid his +hundred dollars; and all his stores of value, including rings, brooches, +ear-rings, chains, bracelets, and other trinkets that he had intended as +presents to his wards, were produced from his pockets, and laid before +the bright eyes of the three girls--Mary Warren keeping in the back +ground, as one who ought not to look on things unsuited to her fortune. +Her father had arrived, however, had been consulted, and the pretty +watch was already attached to the girdle of the prettier waist. I +fancied the tear of gratitude that still floated in her serene eyes was +a jewel of far higher price than any my uncle could exhibit. + +We had been shown into the library, a room that was in the front of the +house, and of which the windows all opened on the piazza. I was at first +a little overcome, at thus finding myself, and unrecognized, under the +paternal roof, and in a dwelling that was my own, after so many years of +absence. Shall I confess it! Everything appeared diminutive and mean, +after the buildings to which I had been accustomed in the old world. I +am not now drawing comparisons with the palaces of princes, and the +abodes of the great, as the American is apt to fancy, whenever anything +is named that is superior to the things to which he is accustomed; but +to the style, dwellings, and appliances of domestic life that pertain to +those of other countries who have not a claim in anything to be +accounted my superiors--scarcely my equals. In a word, American +aristocracy, or that which it is getting to be the fashion to stigmatize +as aristocratic, would be deemed very democratic in most of the nations +of Europe. Our Swiss brethren have their chateaux and their habits that +are a hundred times more aristocratic than anything about Ravensnest, +without giving offence to liberty; and I feel persuaded, were the +proudest establishment in all America pointed out to a European as an +aristocratic abode, he would be very apt to laugh at it, in his sleeve. +The secret of this charge among ourselves is the innate dislike which is +growing up in the country to see any man distinguished from the mass +around him in anything, even though it should be in merit. It is nothing +but the expansion of the principle which gave rise to the traditionary +feud between the "plebeians and patricians" of Albany, at the +commencement of this century, and which has now descended so much +farther than was then contemplated by the _soi-disant_ "plebeians" of +that day, as to become quite disagreeable to their own descendants. But +to return to myself-- + +I will own that, so far from finding any grounds of exultation in my own +aristocratical splendour, when I came to view my possessions at home, I +felt mortified and disappointed. The things that I had fancied really +respectable, and even fine, from recollection, now appeared very +common-place, and in many particulars mean. "Really," I found myself +saying _sotto voce_, "all this is scarcely worthy of being the cause of +deserting the right, setting sound principles at defiance, and of +forgetting God and his commandments!" Perhaps I was too inexperienced to +comprehend how capacious is the maw of the covetous man, and how +microscopic the eye of envy. + +"You are welcome to Ravensnest," said Mr. Warren, approaching and +offering his hand in a friendly way, much as he would address any other +young friend; "we arrived a little before you, and I have had my ears +and eyes open ever since, in the hope of hearing your flute, and of +seeing your form in the highway, near the parsonage, where you promised +to visit me." + +Mary was standing at her father's elbow, as when I first saw her, and +she gazed wistfully at my flute, as she would not have done had she seen +me in my proper attire, assuming my proper character. + +"I danks you, sir," was my answer. "We might haf plenty of times for a +little moosic, vhen das laties shall be pleaset to say so. I canst blay +Yankee Doodle, Hail Coloombias, and der 'Star Spangled Banner,' und all +dem airs, as dey so moch likes at der taverns and on der road." + +Mr. Warren laughed, and he took the flute from my hand, and began to +examine it. I now trembled for the incognito! The instrument had been +mine for many years, and was a very capital one, with silver keys, +stops, and ornaments. What if Patt--what if my dear grandmother should +recognise it! I would have given the handsomest trinket in my uncle's +collection to get the flute back again into my own hands; but, before an +opportunity offered for that, it went from hand to hand, as the +instrument that had produced the charming sounds heard that morning, +until it reached those of Martha. The dear girl was thinking of the +jewelry, which, it will be remembered, was rich, and intended in part +for herself, and she passed the instrument on, saying, hurriedly,-- + +"See, dear grandmother, this is the flute which you pronounced the +sweetest toned of any you had ever heard!" + +My grandmother took the flute, started, put her spectacles closer to her +eyes, examined the instrument, turned pale--for her cheeks still +retained a little of the colour of their youth--and then cast a glance +hurriedly and anxiously at me. I could see that she was pondering on +something profoundly in her most secret mind, for a minute or two. +Luckily the others were too much occupied with the box of the pedlar to +heed her movements. She walked slowly out of the door, almost brushing +me as she passed, and went into the hall. Here she turned, and, catching +my eye, she signed for me to join her. Obeying this signal, I followed, +until I was led into a little room, in one of the wings, that I well +remembered as a sort of private parlour attached to my grandmother's own +bed-room. To call it a _boudoir_ would be to caricature things, its +furniture being just that of the sort of room I have mentioned, or of a +plain, neat, comfortable, country parlour. Here my grandmother took her +seat on a sofa, for she trembled so she could not stand, and then she +turned to gaze at me wistfully, and with an anxiety it would be +difficult for me to describe. + +"Do not keep me in suspense!" she said, almost awfully in tone and +manner, "am I right in my conjecture?" + +"Dearest grandmother, you are!" I answered, in my natural voice. + +No more was needed: we hung on each other's necks, as had been my wont +in boyhood. + +"But who is that pedlar, Hugh?" demanded my grandmother, after a time. +"Can it possibly be Roger, my son?" + +"It is no other; we have come to visit you, incog." + +"And why this disguise?--Is it connected with the troubles?" + +"Certainly; we have wished to take a near view with our own eyes, and +supposed it might be unwise to come openly, in our proper characters." + +"In this you have done well; yet I hardly know how to welcome you, in +your present characters. On no account must your real names be revealed. +The demons of tar and feathers, the sons of liberty and equality, who +illustrate their principles as they do their courage, by attacking the +few with the many, would be stirring, fancying themselves heroes and +martyrs in the cause of justice, did they learn you were here. Ten armed +and resolute men might drive a hundred of them, I do believe; for they +have all the cowardice of thieves, but they are heroes with the unarmed +and feeble. Are you safe, yourselves, appearing thus disguised, under +the new law?" + +"We are not armed, not having so much as a pistol; and that will protect +us." + +"I am sorry to say, Hugh, that this country is no longer what I once +knew it. Its justice, if not wholly departed, is taking to itself wings, +and its blindness, not in a disregard of persons, but in a faculty of +seeing only the stronger side. A landlord, in my opinion, would have but +little hope, with jury, judge, or executive, for doing that which +thousands of the tenants have done, still do, and will continue to do, +with perfect impunity, unless some dire catastrophe stimulates the +public functionaries to their duties, by awakening public indignation." + +"This is a miserable state of things, dearest grandmother; and what +makes it worse, is the cool indifference with which most persons regard +it. A better illustration of the utter selfishness of human nature +cannot be given, than in the manner in which the body of the people look +on, and see wrong thus done to a few of their number." + +"Such persons as Mr. Seneca Newcome would answer, that the public +sympathises with the poor, who are oppressed by the rich, because the +last do not wish to let the first rob them of their estates! We hear a +great deal of the strong robbing the weak, all over the world, but few +among ourselves, I am afraid, are sufficiently clear-sighted to see how +vivid an instance of the truth now exists among ourselves." + +"Calling the tenants the strong, and the landlords the weak?" + +"Certainly; numbers make strength, in this country, in which all power +in practice, and most of it in theory, rests with the majority. Were +there as many landlords as there are tenants, my life on it, no one +would see the least injustice in the present state of things." + +"So says my uncle: but I hear the light steps of the girls--we must be +on our guard." + +At that instant Martha entered, followed by all three of the girls, +holding in her hand a very beautiful Manilla chain that my uncle had +picked up in his travels, and had purchased as a present to my future +wife, whomsoever she might turn out to be, and which he had had the +indiscretion to show to his ward. A look of surprise was cast by each +girl in succession, as she entered the room, on me, but neither said, +and I fancy neither thought much of my being shut up there with an old +lady of eighty, after the first moment. Other thoughts were uppermost at +the moment. + +"Look at this, dearest grandmamma!" cried Patt, holding up the chain as +she entered the room. "Here is just the most exquisite chain that was +ever wrought, and of the purest gold; but the pedlar refuses to part +with it!" + +"Perhaps you do not offer enough, my child; it is, indeed, very, very +beautiful; pray what does he say is its value?" + +"One hundred dollars, he says; and I can readily believe it, for its +weight is near half the money. I do wish Hugh were at home; I am certain +he would contrive to get it, and make it a present to me!" + +"Nein, nein, young lady," put in the pedlar, who, a little +unceremoniously, had followed the girls into the room, though he knew, +of course, precisely where he was coming; "dat might not be. Dat chain +is der broperty of my son, t'ere, und I haf sworn it shalt only be gifen +to his wife." + +Patt coloured a little, and she pouted a good deal; then she laughed +outright. + +"If it is only to be had on those conditions, I am afraid I shall never +own it," she said, saucily, though it was intended to be uttered so low +as not to reach my ears. "I will pay the hundred dollars out of my own +pocket-money, however, if that will buy it. Do say a good word for me, +grandmamma!" + +How prettily the hussy uttered that word of endearment, so different +from the "paw" and "maw" one hears among the dirty-noses that are to be +found in the mud-puddles! But our grand-parent was puzzled, for she knew +with whom she had to deal, and of course saw that money would do +nothing. Nevertheless, the state of the game rendered it necessary to +say and do something that might have an appearance of complying with +Patty's request. + +"Can I have more success in persuading you to change your mind, sir?" +she said, looking at her son in a way that let him know at once, or at +least made him suspect at once, that she was in his secret. "It would +give me great pleasure to be able to gratify my grand-daughter, by +making her a present of so beautiful a chain." + +My uncle Ro advanced to his mother, took the hand she had extended with +the chain in it, in order the better to admire the trinket, and he +kissed it with a profound respect, but in such a manner as to make it +seem to the lookers-on an act of European usage, rather than what it +was, the tempered salute of a child to his parent. + +"Laty," he then said, with emphasis, "if anyboty might make me change a +resolution long since made, it would be one as fenerable, und gracious, +und goot as I am sartain you most be. But I haf vowet to gif dat chain +to das wife of mine son, vhen he might marry, one day, some bretty young +American; und it might not be." + +Dear grandmother smiled; but now she understood that it was really +intended the chain was to be an offering to my wife, she no longer +wished to change its destination. She examined the bauble a few moments, +and said to me-- + +"Do you wish this, as well as your un--father, I should say? It is a +rich present for a poor man to make." + +"Ja, ja, laty, it ist so; but vhen der heart goes, golt might be t'ought +sheap to go wid it." + +The old lady was half ready to laugh in my face, at hearing this attempt +at Germanic English; but the kindness, and delight, and benevolent +tenderness of her still fine eyes, made me wish to throw myself in her +arms again, and kiss her. Patt continued to _bouder_ for a moment or two +longer, but her excellent nature soon gave in, and the smiles returned +to her countenance, as the sun issues from behind a cloud in May. + +"Well, the disappointment may and must be borne," she said, +good-naturedly; "though it is much the most lovely chain I have ever +seen." + +"I dare say the right person will one day find one quite as lovely to +present to you!" said Henrietta Coldbrook, a little pointedly. + +I did not like this speech. It was an allusion that a well-bred young +woman ought not to have made, at least before others, even pedlars; and +it was one that a young woman of a proper tone of feeling would not be +apt to make. I determined from that instant the chain should never +belong to Miss Henrietta, though she was a fine, showy girl, and though +such a decision would disappoint my uncle sadly. I was a little +surprised to see a slight blush on Patt's cheek, and then I remembered +something of the name of the traveller, Beekman. Turning towards Mary +Warren, I saw plain enough that she was disappointed because my sister +was disappointed, and for no other reason in the world. + +"Your grandmother will meet with another chain, when she goes to town, +that will make you forget this," she whispered, affectionately, close +at my sister's ear. + +Patt smiled, and kissed her friend with a warmth of manner that +satisfied me these two charming young creatures loved each other +sincerely. But my dear old grandmother's curiosity had been awakened, +and she felt a necessity for having it appeased. She still held the +chain, and as she returned it to me, who happened to be nearest to her, +she said-- + +"And so, sir, your mind is sincerely made up to offer this chain to your +future wife?" + +"Yes, laty; or what might be better, to das yoong frau, before we might +be marriet." + +"And is your choice made?" glancing round at the girls, who were grouped +together, looking at some other trinkets of my uncle's. "Have you chosen +the young woman who is to possess so handsome a chain?" + +"Nein, nein," I answered, returning the smile, and glancing also at the +group; "dere ist so many peautiful laties in America, one needn't be in +a hurry. In goot time I shalt find her dat ist intended for me." + +"Well, grandmamma," interrupted Patt, "since nobody can have the chain, +unless on certain conditions, here are the three other things that we +have chosen for Ann, Henrietta, and myself, and they are a ring, a pair +of bracelets, and a pair of ear-rings. The cost, altogether, will be two +hundred dollars; can you approve of that?" + +My grandmother, now she knew who was the pedlar, understood the whole +matter, and had no scruples. The bargain was soon made, when she sent us +all out of the room, under the pretence we should disturb her while +settling with the watch-seller. Her real object, however, was to be +alone with her son, not a dollar passing between them, of course. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "Our life was changed. Another love + In its lone woof began to twine; + But oh! the golden thread was wove + Between my sister's heart and mine." + + WILLIS. + + +Half an hour later, uncle Ro and myself were seated at table, eating our +dinners as quietly as if we were in an inn. The footman who had set the +table was an old family servant, one who had performed the same sort of +duty in that very house for a quarter of a century. Of course he was not +an American, no _man_ of American birth ever remaining so long a time in +an inferior station, or in any station so low as that of a +house-servant. If he has good qualities enough to render it desirable to +keep him, he is almost certain to go up in the world; if not, one does +not care particularly about having him. But Europeans are less elastic +and less ambitious, and it is no uncommon thing to find one of such an +origin remaining a long time in the same service. Such had been the fact +with this man, who had followed my own parents from Europe, when they +returned from their marriage tour, and had been in the house on the +occasion of my birth. From that time he had continued at the Nest, never +marrying, nor ever manifesting the smallest wish for any change. He was +an Englishman by birth; and what is very unusual in a servant of that +country, when transferred to America, the "letting-up," which is certain +to attend such a change from the depression of the original condition to +that in which he is so suddenly placed, had not made him saucy. An +American is seldom what is called impudent, under any circumstances; he +is careless, nay ignorant of forms; pays little or no purely +conventional respect; does not understand half the social distinctions +which exist among the higher classes of even his own countrymen, and +fancies there are equalities in things about which, in truth, there is +great inequality between himself and others, merely because he has been +taught that all men are equal in rights; but he is so unconscious of any +pressure as seldom to feel a disposition to revenge himself by +impudence. + +But, while John was not impudent either, he had a footman's feeling +towards those whom he fancied no better than himself. He had set the +table with his customary neatness and method, and he served the soup +with as much regularity as he would have done had we sat there in our +proper characters, but then he withdrew. He probably remembered that the +landlord, or upper servant of an English hotel, is apt to make his +appearance with the soup, and to disappear as that disappears. So it was +with John; after removing the soup, he put a dumb-waiter near my uncle, +touched a carving-knife or two, as much as to say "help yourselves," and +quitted the room. As a matter of course, our dinner was not a very +elaborate one, it wanting two or three hours to the regular time of +dining, though my grandmother had ordered, in my hearing, one or two +delicacies to be placed on the table, that had surprised Patt. Among the +extraordinary things for such guests was wine. The singularity, however, +was a little explained by the quality commanded, which was Rhenish. + +My uncle Ro was a little surprised at the disappearance of John; for, +seated in that room, he was so accustomed to his face, that it appeared +as if he were not half at home without him. + +"Let the fellow go," he said, withdrawing his hand from the bell-cord, +which he had already touched to order him back again; "we can talk more +freely without him. Well, Hugh, here you are, under your own roof, +eating a charitable dinner, and treated as hospitably as if you did not +own all you can see for a circle of five miles around you. It was a +lucky idea of the old lady's, by the way, to think of ordering this +Rudesheimer, in our character of Dutchmen! How amazingly well she is +looking, boy!" + +"Indeed she is; and I am delighted to see it. I do not know why my +grandmother may not live these twenty years; for even that would not +make her near as old as Sus, who, I have often heard her say, was a +middle-aged man when she was born." + +"True; she seems like an elder sister to me, rather than as a mother, +and is altogether a most delightful old woman. But, if we had so +charming an old woman to receive us, so are there also some very +charming _young_ women--hey, Hugh?" + +"I am quite of your way of thinking, sir; and must say I have not, in +many a day, seen two as charming creatures as I have met with here." + +"_Two_!--umph; a body would think _one_ might suffice. Pray, which may +be the two, Master Padishah?" + +"Patt and Mary Warren, of course. The other two are well enough, but +these two are excellent." + +My uncle Ro looked grum, but he said nothing for some time. Eating is +always an excuse for a broken conversation, and he ate away as if +resolute not to betray his disappointment. But it is a hard matter for a +gentleman to do nothing but eat at table, and so was obliged to talk. + +"Everything looks well here, after all, Hugh," observed my uncle. "These +anti-renters may have done an infinite deal of harm in the way of +abusing principles, but they do not seem to have yet destroyed any +material things." + +"It is not their cue, sir. The crops are their own; and as they hope to +own the farms, it would be scarcely wise to injure what, no doubt, they +begin to look on as their own property, too. As for the Nest House, +grounds, farm, &c., I dare say they will be very willing to leave me +them for a while longer, provided they can get everything else away from +me." + +"For a time longer, at least; though that is the folly of those who +expect to get along by concessions; as if men were ever satisfied with +the yielding of a part, when they ask that which is wrong in itself, +without sooner or later expecting to get the whole. As well might one +expect the pickpocket who had abstracted a dollar, to put back +two-and-sixpence change. But things really look well, around the place." + +"So much the better for us. Though, to my judgment and taste, Miss Mary +Warren looks better than anything else I have yet seen in America." + +Another "umph" expressed my uncle's dissatisfaction--displeasure would +be too strong a word--and he continued eating. + +"You have really some good Rhenish in your cellar, Hugh," resumed uncle +Ro, after tossing off one of the knowing green glasses full--though I +never could understand why any man should wish to drink his wine out of +green, when he might do it out of crystal. "It must have been a purchase +of mine, made when we were last in Germany, and for the use of my +mother." + +"As you please, sir; it neither adds nor subtracts from the beauty of +Martha and her friend." + +"Since you are disposed to make these boyish allusions, be frank with +me, and say, at once, how you like my wards." + +"Meaning, of course, sir, my own sister exclusively. I will be as +sincere as possible, and say that, as to Miss Marston, I have no opinion +at all; and as to Miss Coldbrook, she is what, in Europe, would be +called a 'fine' woman." + +"You can say nothing as to her mind, Hugh, for you have had no +opportunity for forming an opinion." + +"Not much of a one, I will own. Nevertheless, I should have liked her +better had she spared the allusion to the 'proper person' who is one day +to forge a chain for my sister, to begin with." + +"Poh, poh; that is the mere squeamishness of a boy. I do not think her +in the least pert or forward, and your construction would be _tant soit +peu_ vulgar." + +"Put your own construction on it, _mon oncle_; _I_ do not like it." + +"I do not wonder young men remain unmarried; they are getting to be so +ultra in their tastes and notions." + +A stranger might have retorted on an old bachelor, for such a speech, by +some allusion to his own example; but I well knew that my uncle Ro had +once been engaged, and that he lost the object of his passion by death, +and too much respected his constancy and true sentiments ever to joke on +such subjects. I believe he felt the delicacy of my forbearance rather +more than common, for he immediately manifested a disposition to relent, +and to prove it by changing the subject. + +"We can never stay here to-night," he said. "It would be at once to +proclaim our names--our name, I might say--a name that was once so +honoured and beloved in this town, and which is now so hated!" + +"No, no; not as bad as that. We have done nothing to merit hatred." + +"_Raison de plus_ for hating us so much the more heartily. When men are +wronged, who have done nothing to deserve it, the evil-doer seeks to +justify his wickedness to himself by striving all he can to calumniate +the injured party; and the more difficulty he finds in doing that to his +mind, the more profound is his hatred. Rely on it, we are most sincerely +disliked here, on the spot where we were once both much beloved. Such is +human nature." + +At that moment John returned to the room, to see how we were getting on, +and to count his forks and spoons, for I saw the fellow actually doing +it. My uncle, somewhat indiscreetly, I fancied, but by merely following +the chain of thought then uppermost in his mind, detained him in +conversation. + +"Dis broperty," he said, inquiringly, "is de broperty of one Yeneral +Littlepage, I hears say?" + +"Not of the General, who was Madam Littlepage's husband, and who has +long been dead, but of his grandson, Mr. Hugh." + +"Und vhere might he be, dis Mr. Hugh?--might he be at hand, or might he +not?" + +"No; he's in Europe; that is to say, in Hengland." John thought England +covered most of Europe, though he had long gotten over his wish to +return. "Mr. Hugh and Mr. Roger be both habsent from the country, just +now." + +"Dat ist unfortunate, for dey dells me dere might be moch troobles here +abouts, and Injin-acting." + +"There is, indeed; and a wicked thing it is, that there should be +anything of the sort." + +"Und vhat might be der reason of so moch troobles?--and vhere ist der +blame?" + +"Well, that is pretty plain, I fancy," returned John, who, in +consequence of being a favoured servant at head-quarters, fancied +himself a sort of cabinet minister, and had much pleasure in letting his +knowledge be seen. "The tenants on this estate wants to be landlords; +and as they can't be so, so long as Mr. Hugh lives and won't let 'em, +why they just tries all sorts of schemes and plans to frighten people +out of their property. I never go down to the village but I has a talk +with some of them, and that in a way that might do them some good, if +anything can." + +"Und vhat dost you say?--und vid whom dost you talk, as might do dem +moch goot?" + +"Why, you see, I talks more with one 'Squire Newcome, as they calls him, +though he's no more of a real 'squire than you be--only a sort of an +attorney, like, such as they has in this country. You come from the old +countries, I believe?" + +"Ja, ja--dat ist, yes--we comes from Charmany; so you can say vhat you +bleases." + +"They has queer 'squires in this part of the world, if truth must be +said. But that's neither here nor there, though I give this Mr. Seneca +Newcome as good as he sends. What is it you wants, I says to him?--you +can't all be landlords--somebody must be tenants; and if you didn't want +to be tenants, how come you to be so? Land is plenty in this country, +and cheap too; and why didn't you buy your land at first, instead of +coming to rent of Mr. Hugh; and now when you _have_ rented, to be +quarrelling about the very thing you did of your own accord?" + +"Dere you didst dell 'em a goot t'ing; and vhat might der 'Squire say to +dat?" + +"Oh! he was quite dumb-founded, at first; then he said that in old +times, when people first rented these lands, they didn't _know_ as much +as they do now, or they never would have done it." + +"Und you could answer dat; or vast it your durn to be dum-founded?" + +"I pitched it into him, as they says; I did. Says I, how's this, says +I--you are for ever boasting how much you Americans know--and how the +people knows everything that ought to be done, about politics and +religion--and you proclaim far and near that your yeomen are the salt of +the earth--and yet you don't know how to bargain for your leases! A +pretty sort of wisdom is this, says I! I had him there; for the people +round about here is only too sharp at a trade." + +"Did he own dat you vast right, and dat he vast wrong, dis Herr 'Squire +Newcome?" + +"Not he; he will never own anything that makes against his own doctrine, +unless he does it ignorantly. But I haven't told you half of it. I told +him, says I, how is it you talk of one of the Littlepage family cheating +you, when, as you knows yourselves, you had rather have the word of one +of that family than have each other's bonds, says I. You know, sir, it +must be a poor landlord that a tenant can't and won't take his word: and +this they all know to be true; for a gentleman as has a fine estate is +raised above temptation, like, and has a pride in him to do what is +honourable and fair; and, in my opinion, it is good to have a few such +people in a country, if it be only to keep the wicked one from getting +it altogether in his own keeping." + +"Und did you say dat moch to der 'Squire?" + +"No; that I just says to you two, seeing that we are here, talking +together in a friendly way; but a man needn't be ashamed to say it +anywhere, for it's a religious truth. But I says to him, Newcome, says +I, you, who has been living so long on the property of the Littlepages, +ought to be ashamed to wish to strip them of it; but you're not +satisfied with keeping gentlemen down quite as much out of sight as you +can, by holding all the offices yourselves, and taking all the money of +the public you can lay your hands on for your own use, but you wants to +trample them under your feet, I says, and so take your revenge for being +what you be, says I." + +"Vell, my friend," said my uncle, "you vast a bolt man to dell all dis +to der beoples of dis coontry, vhere, I have heard, a man may say just +vhat he hast a mind to say, so dat he dost not sbeak too moch trut!" + +"That's it--that's it; you have been a quick scholar, I find. I told +this Mr. Newcome, says I, you're bold enough in railing at kings and +nobles, for you very well know, says I, that they are three thousand +miles away from you, and can do you no harm; but you would no more dare +get up before your masters, the people, here, and say what you really +think about 'em, and what I have heard you say of them in private, than +you would dare put your head before a cannon, as the gunner touched it +off. Oh! I gave him a lesson, you may be sure!" + +Although there was a good deal of the English footman in John's logic +and feeling, there was also a good deal of truth in what he said. The +part where he accused Newcome of holding one set of opinions in private, +concerning _his_ masters, and another in public, is true to the life. +There is not, at this moment, within the wide reach of the American +borders, one demagogue to be found who might not, with justice, be +accused of precisely the same deception. There is not one demagogue in +the whole country, who, if he lived in a monarchy, would not be the +humblest advocate of men in power, ready to kneel at the feet of those +who stood in the sovereign's presence. There is not, at this instant, a +man in power among us a senator or a legislator, who is now the seeming +advocate of what he wishes to call the rights of the tenants, and who is +for overlooking principles and destroying law and right, in order to +pacify the anti-renters by extraordinary concessions, that would not be +among the foremost, under a monarchial system, to recommend and support +the freest application of the sword and the bayonet to suppress what +would then be viewed, ay, and be termed, "the rapacious longings of the +disaffected to enjoy the property of others without paying for it." All +this is certain; for it depends on a law of morals that is infallible. +Any one who wishes to obtain a clear index to the true characters of the +public men he is required to support, or oppose, has now the +opportunity; for each stands before a mirror that reflects him in his +just proportions, and in which the dullest eye has only to cast a +glance, in order to view him from head to foot. + +The entrance of my grandmother put a stop to John's discourse. He was +sent out of the room on a message, and then I learned the object of this +visit. My sister had been let into the secret of our true characters, +and was dying to embrace me. My dear grandmother, rightly enough, had +decided it would be to the last degree unkind to keep her in ignorance +of our presence; and, the fact known, nature had longings which must be +appeased. I had myself been tempted twenty times, that morning, to +snatch Patt to my heart and kiss her, as I used to do just after my +beard began to grow, and she was so much of a child as to complain. The +principal thing to be arranged, then, was to obtain an interview for me +without awakening suspicion in the observers. My grandmother's plan was +arranged, however, and she now communicated it to us. + +There was a neat little dressing-room annexed to Martha's bed-room; in +that the meeting was to take place. + +"She and Mary Warren are now there, waiting for your appearance, +Hugh----" + +"Mary Warren!--Does she, then, know who I am?" + +"Not in the least; she has no other idea than that you are a young +German, of good connections and well educated, who has been driven from +his own country by political troubles, and who is reduced to turn his +musical taste and acquisitions to account, in the way you seem to do, +until he can find some better employment. All this she had told us +before we met you, and you are not to be vain, Hugh, if I add, that your +supposed misfortunes, and great skill with the flute, and good +behaviour, have made a friend of one of the best and most true-hearted +girls I ever had the good fortune to know. I say good _behaviour_, for +little, just now, can be ascribed to good _looks_." + +"I hope I am not in the least revolting in appearance, in this disguise. +For my sister's sake----" + +The hearty laugh of my dear old grandmother brought me up, and I said no +more; colouring, I believe, a little, at my own folly. Even uncle Ro +joined in the mirth, though I could see he wished Mary Warren even +safely translated along with her father, and that the latter was +Archbishop of Canterbury. I must acknowledge that I felt a good deal +ashamed of the weakness I had betrayed. + +"You are very well, Hugh, darling," continued my grandmother; "though I +must think you would be more interesting in your own hair, which is +curling, than in that lank wig. Still, one can see enough of your face +to recognise it, if one has the clue; and I told Martha, at the first, +that I was struck with a certain expression of the eyes and smile that +reminded me of her brother. But, there they are, Mary and Martha, in the +drawing-room, waiting for your appearance. The first is so fond of +music, and, indeed, is so practised in it, as to have been delighted +with your flute; and she has talked so much of your skill as to justify +us in seeming to wish for a further exhibition of your skill. Henrietta +and Ann, having less taste that way, have gone together to select +bouquets, in the green-house, and there is now an excellent opportunity +to gratify your sister. I am to draw Mary out of the room, after a +little while, when you and Martha may say a word to each other in your +proper characters. As for you, Roger, you are to open your box again, +and I will answer for it _that_ will serve to amuse your other wards, +should they return too soon from their visit to the gardener." + +Everything being thus explained, and our dinner ended, all parties +proceeded to the execution of the plan, each in his or her designated +mode. When my grandmother and I reached the dressing-room, however, +Martha was not there, though Mary Warren was, her bright but serene eyes +full of happiness and expectation. Martha had retired to the inner room +for a moment, whither my grandmother, suspecting the truth, followed +her. As I afterwards ascertained, my sister, fearful of not being able +to suppress her tears on my entrance, had withdrawn, in order to +struggle for self-command without betraying our secret. I was told to +commence an air, without waiting for the absent young lady, as the +strain could easily be heard through the open door. + +I might have played ten minutes before my sister and grandmother came +out again. Both had been in tears, though the intense manner in which +Mary Warren was occupied with the harmony of my flute, probably +prevented her from observing it. To me, however, it was plain enough; +and glad was I to find that my sister had succeeded in commanding her +feelings. In a minute or two my grandmother profited by a pause to rise +and carry away with her Mary Warren, though the last left the room with +a reluctance that was very manifest. The pretence was a promise to meet +the divine in the library, on some business connected with the +Sunday-schools. + +"You can keep the young man for another air, Martha," observed my +grandmother, "and I will send Jane to you, as I pass her room." + +Jane was my sister's own maid, and her room was close at hand, and I +dare say dear grandmother gave her the order, in Mary Warren's presence, +as soon as she quitted the room, else might Mary Warren well be +surprised at the singularity of the whole procedure; but Jane did not +make her appearance, nevertheless. As for myself, I continued to play as +long as I thought any ear was near enough to hear me; then I laid aside +my flute. In the next instant Patt was in my arms, where she lay some +time weeping, but looking inexpressibly happy. + +"Oh! Hugh, what a disguise was this to visit your own house in!" she +said, as soon as composed enough to speak. + +"Would it have done to come here otherwise? You know the state of the +country, and the precious fruits our boasted tree of liberty is bringing +forth. The owner of the land can only visit his property at the risk of +his life!" + +Martha pressed me in her arms in a way to show how conscious she was of +the danger I incurred in even thus visiting her; after which we seated +ourselves, side by side, on a little divan, and began to speak of those +things that were most natural to a brother and sister who so much loved +each other, and who had not met for five years. My grandmother had +managed so well as to prevent all interruption for an hour, if we saw +fit to remain together, while to others it should seem as if Patt had +dismissed me in a few minutes. + +"Not one of the other girls suspect, in the least, who you are," said +Martha, smiling, when we had got through with the questions and answers +so natural to our situation. "I am surprised that Henrietta has not, for +_she_ prides herself on her penetration. She is as much in the dark as +the others, however." + +"And Miss Mary Warren--the young lady who has just left the room--has +she not some _small_ notion that I am not a common Dutch music-grinder?" + +Patt laughed, and that so merrily as to cause the tones of her sweet +voice to fill me with delight, as I remembered what she had been in +childhood and girlhood five years before, and she shook her bright +tresses off her cheeks ere she would answer. + +"No, Hugh," she replied, "she fancies you an _uncommon_ Dutch +music-grinder; an _artiste_ that not only grinds, but who dresses up his +harmonies in such a way as to be palatable to the most refined taste. +How came Mary to think you and my uncle two reduced German gentlemen?" + +"And does the dear girl believe--that is, does Miss Mary Warren do us so +much honour, as to imagine that?" + +"Indeed she does, for she told us as much as soon as she got home; and +Henrietta and Ann have made themselves very merry with their +speculations on the subject of Miss Warren's great incognito. They call +you Herzog von Geige." + +"Thank them for that." I am afraid I answered a little too pointedly, +for I saw that Patt seemed surprised. "But your American towns are just +such half-way things as to spoil young women; making them neither +refined and polished as they might be in real capitals, while they are +not left the simplicity and nature of the country." + +"Well, Master Hugh, this is being very cross about a very little, and +not particularly complimentary to your own sister. And why not _your_ +American towns, as well as _ours_?--are you no longer one of us?" + +"Certainly; one of _yours_, always, my dearest Patt, though not one of +every chattering girl who may set up for a _belle_, with her Dukes of +Fiddle! But, enough of this;--you like the Warrens?" + +"Very much so; father and daughter. The first is just what a clergyman +should be; of a cultivation and intelligence to fit him to be any man's +companion, and a simplicity like that of a child. You remember his +predecessor--so dissatisfied, so selfish, so lazy, so censorious, so +unjust to every person and thing around him, and yet so exacting; and, +at the same time, so----" + +"What? Thus far you have drawn his character well; I should like to hear +the remainder." + +"I have said more than I ought already; for one has an idea that, by +bringing a clergyman into disrepute, it brings religion and the church +into discredit, too. A priest must be a _very_ bad man to have injurious +things said of him, in this country, Hugh." + +"That is, perhaps, true. But you like Mr. Warren better than him who has +left you?" + +"A thousand times, and in all things. In addition to having a most pious +and sincere pastor, _we_ have an agreeable and well-bred neighbour, from +whose mouth, in the five years that he has dwelt here, I have not heard +a syllable at the expense of a single fellow-creature. You know how it +is apt to be with the other clergy and ours, in the country--for ever at +swords' points; and if not actually quarrelling, keeping up a hollow +peace." + +"That is only too true--or used to be true, before I went abroad." + +"And it is so now, elsewhere, I'll answer for it, though it be so no +longer here. Mr. Warren and Mr. Peck seem to live on perfectly amicable +terms, though as little alike at bottom as fire and water." + +"By the way, how do the clergy of the different sects, up and down the +country, behave on the subject of anti-rent?" + +"I can answer only from what I hear, with the exception of Mr. Warren's +course. _He_ has preached two or three plain and severe sermons on the +duty of honesty in our worldly transactions, one of which was from the +tenth commandment. Of course he said nothing of the particular trouble, +but everybody must have made the necessary application of the +home-truths he uttered. I question if another voice has been raised, far +and near, on the subject, although I have heard Mr. Warren say the +movement threatens more to demoralize New York than anything that has +happened in his time." + +"And the man down at the village?" + +"Oh, he goes, of course, with the majority. When was one of that set +ever known to oppose his parish, in anything?" + +"And Mary is as sound and as high-principled as her father?" + +"Quite so; though there has been a good deal said about the necessity of +Mr. Warren's removing, and giving up St. Andrew's, since he preached +against covetousness. All the anti-renters say, I hear, that they know +he meant _them_; and that they won't put up with it." + +"I dare say; each one fancying he was almost called out by name: that is +the way, when conscience works." + +"I should be very, very sorry to part with Mary; and almost as much so +to part with her father. There is one thing, however, that Mr. Warren +himself thinks we had better have done, Hugh; and that is to take down +the canopy from over our pew. You can have no notion of the noise that +foolish canopy is making up and down the country." + +"I shall _not_ take it down. It is my property, and there it shall +remain. As for the canopy, it was a wrong distinction to place in a +church, I am willing to allow; but it never gave offence until it has +been thought that a cry against it would help to rob me of my lands at +half price, or at no price at all, as it may happen." + +"All that may be true; but if improper for a church, why keep it?" + +"Because I do not choose to be bullied out of what is my own, even +though I care nothing about it. There might have been a time when the +canopy was unsuited to the house of God, and that was when those who saw +it might fancy it canopied the head of a fellow-creature who had higher +claims than themselves to divine favour; but, in times like these, when +men estimate merit by beginning at the other end of the social scale, +there is little danger of any one's falling into the mistake. The canopy +shall stand, little as I care about it: now, I would actually prefer it +should come down, as I can fully see the impropriety of making any +distinctions in the temple; but it shall stand until concessions cease +to be dangerous. It is a right of property, and as such I will maintain +it. If others dislike it, let them put canopies over their pews, too. +The best test, in such a matter, is to see who could bear it. A pretty +figure Seneca Newcome would cut, for instance, seated in a canopied pew! +Even his own set would laugh at him; which, I fancy, is more than they +yet do at me." + +Martha was disappointed; but she changed the subject. We next talked of +our own little private affairs, as they were connected with smaller +matters. + +"For whom is that beautiful chain intended, Hugh?" asked Patt, +laughingly. "I can now believe the pedlar when he says it is reserved +for your future wife. But who is that wife to be? Will her name be +Henrietta or Ann?" + +"Why not ask, also, if it will be Mary?--why exclude one of your +companions, while you include the other two?" + +Patt started--seemed surprised; her cheeks flushed, and then I saw that +pleasure was the feeling predominant. + +"Am I too late to secure that jewel, as a pendant to my chain?" I asked, +half in jest, half seriously. + +"Too soon, at least, to attract it by the richness and beauty of the +bauble. A more natural and disinterested girl than Mary Warren does not +exist in the country." + +"Be frank with me, Martha, and say at once; has she a favoured suitor?" + +"Why, this seems really serious!" exclaimed my sister, laughing. "But, +to put you out of your pain, I will answer, I know of but one. One she +has certainly, or female sagacity is at fault." + +"But is he one that is favoured? You can never know how much depends on +your answer." + +"Of that you can judge for yourself. It is 'Squire Seneky Newcome, as he +is called hereabouts--the brother of the charming Opportunity, who still +reserves herself for you." + +"And they are as rank anti-renters as any male and female in the +country." + +"They are rank Newcomites; and that means that each is for himself. +Would you believe it, but Opportunity really gives herself airs with +Mary Warren!" + +"And how does Mary Warren take such an assumption?" + +"As a young person should--quietly and without manifesting any feeling. +But there is something quite intolerable in one like Opportunity +Newcome's assuming a superiority over any true lady! Mary is as well +educated and as well connected as any of us, and is quite as much +accustomed to good company; while Opportunity--" here Patt laughed, and +then added, hurriedly, "but you know Opportunity as well as I do." + +"Oh! yes; she is _la_ vertue, or _the_ virtue, and _je suis venue, +pour_." + +The latter allusion Patt understood well enough, having laughed over the +story a dozen times; and she laughed again when I explained the affair +of "_the_ solitude." + +Then came a fit of sisterly feeling. Patt insisted on taking off my wig, +and seeing my face in its natural dress. I consented to gratify her, +when the girl really behaved like a simpleton. First she pushed about my +curls until they were arranged to suit the silly creature, when she ran +back several steps, clapped her hands in delight, then rushed into my +arms and kissed my forehead and eyes, and called me "her brother"--her +"only brother"--her "dear, _dear_ Hugh," and by a number of other such +epithets, until she worked herself, and me too, into such an excess of +feeling that we sat down, side by side, and each had a hearty fit of +crying. Perhaps some such burst as this was necessary to relieve our +minds, and we submitted to it wisely. + +My sister wept the longest, as a matter of course; but, as soon as she +had dried her eyes, she replaced the wig, and completely restored my +disguise, trembling the whole time lest some one might enter and detect +me. + +"You have been very imprudent, Hugh, in coming here at all," she said, +while thus busy. "You can form no notion of the miserable state of the +country, or how far the anti-rent poison has extended, or the malignant +nature of its feeling. The annoyances they have attempted with dear +grandmother are odious; _you_ they would scarcely leave alive." + +"The country and the people must have strangely altered, then, in five +years. Our New York population has hitherto had very little of the +assassin-like character. Tar and feathers are the blackguards', and have +been the petty tyrants' weapons, from time immemorial, in this country; +but not the knife." + +"And can anything sooner or more effectually alter a people than +longings for the property of others? Is not the 'love of money the root +of all evil?'--and what right have we to suppose our Ravensnest +population is better than another, when that sordid feeling is +thoroughly aroused? You know you have written me yourself, that all the +American can or does live for is money." + +"I have written you, dear, that the country, in its present condition, +leaves no other incentive to exertion, and therein it is cursed. +Military fame, military rank, even, are unattainable, under our system: +the arts, letters and science, bring little or no reward; and there +being no political rank that a man of refinement would care for, men +must live for money, or live altogether for another state of being. But +I have told you, at the same time, Martha, that, notwithstanding all +this, I believe the American a less mercenary being, in the ordinary +sense of the word, than the European; that two men might be bought, for +instance, in any European country, for one here. This last I suppose to +be the result of the facility of making a living, and the habits it +produces." + +"Never mind causes; Mr. Warren says there is a desperate intention to +rob existing among these people, and that they are dangerous. As yet +they do a little respect women, but how long they will do that one +cannot know." + +"It may all be so. It _must_ be so, respecting what I have heard and +read; yet this vale looks as smiling and as sweet, at this very moment, +as if an evil passion never sullied it! But, depend on my prudence, +which tells me that we ought now to part. I shall see you again and +again before I quit the estate, and you will, of course, join us +somewhere--at the Springs, perhaps--as soon as we find it necessary or +expedient to decamp." + +Martha promised this, of course, and I kissed her, previously to +separating. No one crossed my way as I descended to the piazza, which +was easily done, since I was literally at home. I lounged about on the +lawn a few minutes, and then, showing myself in front of the library +windows, I was summoned to the room, as I had expected. + +Uncle Ro had disposed of every article of the fine jewelry that he had +brought home as presents for his wards. The pay was a matter to be +arranged with Mrs. Littlepage, which meant no pay at all; and, as the +donor afterwards told me, he liked this mode of distributing the various +ornaments better than presenting them himself, as he was now certain +each girl had consulted her own fancy. + +As the hour of the regular dinner was approaching, we took our leave +soon after, not without receiving kind and pressing invitations to +visit the Nest again ere we left the township. Of course we promised all +that was required, intending most faithfully to comply. On quitting the +house we returned towards the farm, though not without pausing on the +lawn to gaze around us on a scene so dear to both, from recollection, +association, and interest. But I forget, this is aristocratical; the +landlord has no right to sentiments of this nature, which are feelings +that the sublimated liberty of the law is beginning to hold in reserve +solely for the benefit of the tenant! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "There shall be, in England, seven halfpenny loaves sold for a + penny: the three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make + it felony to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in common, and + in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass." + + _Jack Cade._ + + +"I do not see, sir," I remarked, as we moved on from the last of these +pauses, "why the governors and legislators, and writers on this subject +of anti-rentism, talk so much of feudality, and chickens, and days' +works, and durable leases, when we have none of these, while we have all +the disaffection they are said to produce." + +"You will understand that better as you come to know more of men. No +party alludes to its weak points. It is just as you say; but the +proceedings of your tenants, for instance, give the lie to the theories +of the philanthropists, and must be kept in the back-ground. It is true +that the disaffection has not yet extended to one-half, or to one-fourth +of the leased estates in the country, perhaps not to one-tenth, if you +take the number of the landlords as the standard, instead of the extent +of their possessions, but it certainly _will_, should the authorities +tamper with the rebels much longer." + +"If they tax the incomes of the landlords under the durable rent +system, why would not the parties aggrieved have the same right to take +up arms to resist such an act of oppression as our fathers had in 1776?" + +"Their cause would be better; for that was only a constructive right, +and one dependent on general principles, whereas this is an attempt at a +most mean evasion of a written law, the meanness of the attempt being +quite as culpable as its fraud. Every human being knows that such a tax, +so far as it has any object beyond that of an election-sop, is to choke +off the landlords from the maintenance of their covenants, which is a +thing that no State _can_ do directly, without running the risk of +having its law pronounced unconstitutional by the courts of the United +States, if, indeed, not by its own courts." + +"The Court of Errors, think you?" + +"The Court of Errors is doomed, by its own abuses. Catiline never abused +the patience of Rome more than that mongrel assembly has abused the +patience of every sound lawyer in the State. '_Fiat justitia, ruat +coelum_,' is interpreted, now, into 'Let justice be done, and the court +fall.' No one wishes to see it continued, and the approaching convention +will send it to the Capulets, if it do nothing else to be commended. It +was a pitiful imitation of the House of Lords system, with this striking +difference; the English lords are men of education, and men with a vast +deal at stake, and their knowledge and interests teach them to leave the +settlement of appeals to the legal men of their body, of whom there are +always a respectable number, in addition to those in possession of the +woolsack and the bench; whereas our Senate is a court composed of small +lawyers, country doctors, merchants, farmers, with occasionally a man of +really liberal attainments. Under the direction of an acute and honest +judge, as most of our true judges actually are, the Court of Errors +would hardly form such a jury as would allow a creditable person to be +tried by his peers, in a case affecting character, for instance, and +here we have it set up as a court of the last resort, to settle points +of law!" + +"I see it has just made a decision in a libel suit, at which the +profession sneers." + +"It has, indeed. Now look at that very decision, for instance, as the +measure of its knowledge. An editor of a newspaper holds up a literary +man to the world as one anxious to obtain a small sum of money, in order +to put it into Wall street, for 'shaving purposes.' Now, the only +material question raised was the true signification of the word +'shaving.' If to say a man is a 'shaver,' in the sense in which it is +applied to the use of money, be bringing him into discredit, then was +the plaintiff's declaration sufficient; if not, it was insufficient, +being wanting in what is called an 'innuendo.' The dictionaries, and men +in general, understand by 'shaving,' 'extortion,' and nothing else. To +call a man a 'shaver' is to say he is an 'extortioner,' without going +into details. But, in Wall street, and among money-dealers, certain +transactions that, in their eyes, and by the courts, are not deemed +discreditable, have of late been brought within the category of +'shaving.' Thus it is technically, or by convention among bankers, +termed 'shaving' if a man buy a note at less than its face, which is a +legal transaction. On the strength of this last circumstance, _as is set +forth in the published opinions_, the highest Court of Appeals in New +York has decided that it does not bring a man into discredit to say he +is a 'shaver!'--thus making a conventional signification of the brokers +of Wall street higher authority for the use of the English tongue than +the standard lexicographers, and all the rest of those who use the +language! On the same principle, if a set of pickpockets at the Five +Points should choose to mystify their trade a little by including the +term 'to filch' the literal _borrowing_ of a pocket-handkerchief, it +would not be a libel to accuse a citizen of 'filching his neighbor's +handkerchief!'" + +"But the libel was uttered to the _world_, and not to the brokers of +Wall Street only, who might possibly understand their own terms." + +"Very true; and was uttered in a newspaper that carried the falsehood to +Europe; for the writer of the charge, when brought up for it, publicly +admitted that he had no ground for suspecting the literary man of any +such practices. _He_ called it a '_joke_.' Every line of the context, +however, showed it was a malicious charge. The decision is very much as +if a man who is sued for accusing another of 'stealing' should set up a +defense that he meant 'stealing' hearts, for the word is sometimes used +in _that_ sense. When men use epithets that convey discredit in their +general meaning, it is their business to give them a special +signification in their own contexts, if such be their real intention. +But I much question if there be a respectable money-dealer, even in Wall +street, who would not swear, if called on in a court of justice so to +do, that _he_ thought the general charge of 'shaving' discreditable to +any man." + +"And you think the landlords whose rents were taxed, sir, would have a +moral right to resist?" + +"Beyond all question; as it would be an income tax on them only, of all +in the country. What is more, I am fully persuaded that two thousand men +embodied to resist such tyranny would look down the whole available +authority of the State; inasmuch as I do not believe citizens could be +found to take up arms to enforce a law so flagrantly unjust. Men will +look on passively and see wrongs inflicted, that would never come out to +support them by their own acts. But we are approaching the farm, and +there is Tom Miller and his hired men waiting our arrival." + +It is unnecessary to repeat, in detail, all that passed in this our +second visit to the farm-house. Miller received us in a friendly manner, +and offered us _a_ bed, if we would pass the night with him. This +business of _a_ bed had given us more difficulty than anything else, in +the course of our peregrinations. New York has long got over the +"two-man" and "three-man bed" system, as regards its best inns. At no +respectable New York inn is a gentleman now asked to share even his +room, without an apology and a special necessity, with another, much +less his bed; but the rule does not hold good as respects pedlars and +music-grinders. We had ascertained that we were not only expected to +share the same bed, but to occupy that bed in a room filled with other +beds. There are certain things that get to be second nature, and that no +masquerading will cause to go down; and, among others, one gets to +dislike sharing his room and his tooth-brush. This little difficulty +gave us more trouble that night, at Tom Miller's, than anything we had +yet encountered. At the taverns, bribes had answered our purpose; but +this would not do so well at a farm residence. At length the matter was +got along with by putting me in the garret, where I was favoured with a +straw bed under my own roof, the decent Mrs. Miller making many +apologies for not having a feather-smotherer, in which to "squash" me. I +did not tell the good woman that I never used feathers, summer or +winter; for, had I done so, she would have set me down as a poor +creature from "oppressed" Germany, where the "folks" did not know how to +live. Nor would she have been so much out of the way _quoad_ the beds, +for in all my journeyings I never met with such uncomfortable sleeping +as one finds in Germany, off the Rhine and out of the large towns.[3] + +While the negotiation was in progress I observed that Josh Brigham, as +the anti-rent disposed hireling of Miller's was called, kept a watchful +eye and an open ear on what was done and said. Of all men on earth, the +American of that class is the most "distrustful," as he calls it +himself, and has his suspicions the soonest awakened. The Indian on the +war-path--the sentinel who is posted in a fog, near his enemy, an hour +before the dawn of day--the husband that is jealous, or the priest that +has become a partisan, is not a whit more apt to fancy, conjecture, or +assert, than the American of that class who has become "distrustful." +This fellow, Brigham, was the very beau ideal of the suspicious school, +being envious and malignant, as well as shrewd, observant, and covetous. +The very fact that he was connected with the "Injins," as turned out to +be the case, added to his natural propensities the consciousness of +guilt, and rendered him doubly dangerous. The whole time my uncle and +myself were crossing over and figuring in, in order to procure for each +a room, though it were only a closet, his watchful, distrustful looks +denoted how much he saw in our movements to awaken curiosity, if not +downright suspicion. When all was over, he followed me to the little +lawn in front of the house, whither I had gone to look at the familiar +scene by the light of the setting sun, and began to betray the nature of +his own suspicions by his language. + +"The old man" (meaning my uncle Ro) "must have plenty of gold watches +about him," he said, "to be so plaguy partic'lar consarnin' his bed. +Pedlin' sich matters is a ticklish trade, I guess, in some parts?" + +"Ja; it ist dangerous somevhere, but it might not be so in dis goot +coontry." + +"Why did the old fellow, then, try so hard to get that little room all +to himself, and shove you off into the garret? We hired men don't like +the garret, which is a hot place in summer." + +"In Charmany one man hast ever one bed," I answered, anxious to get rid +of the subject. + +I bounced a little, as "one has one-half of a bed" would be nearer to +the truth, though the other half might be in another room. + +"Oh! that's it, is't? Wa-a-l, every country has its ways, I s'pose. +Jarmany is a desp'ate aristocratic land, I take it." + +"Ja; dere ist moch of de old feudal law, and feudal coostum still +remaining in Charmany." + +"Landlords a plenty, I guess, if the truth was known. Leases as long as +my arm, I calkerlate?" + +"Vell, dey do dink, in Charmany, dat de longer might be de lease, de +better it might be for de denant." + +As that was purely a German sentiment, or at least not an American +sentiment, according to the notions broached by statesmen among +ourselves, I made it as Dutch as possible by garnishing it well with +d's. + +"That's a droll idee! Now, we think, here, that a lease is a bad thing; +and the less you have of a bad thing, the better." + +"Vell, dat _ist_ queer; so queer ast I don't know! Vhat vill dey do as +might help it?" + +"Oh! the Legislature will set it all right. They mean to pass a law to +prevent any more leases at all." + +"Und vill de beople stand dat? Dis ist a free coontry, effery body dells +me, and vilt der beoples agree not to hire lands if dey vants to?" + +"Oh! you see we wish to choke the landlords off from their present +leases; and, by and bye, when _that_ is done, the law can let up again." + +"But ist dat right? Der law should be joost, and not hold down and let +oop, as you calls it." + +"You don't understand us yet, I see. Why that's the prettiest and the +neatest legislation on airth! That's just what the bankrupt law did." + +"Vhat did der bankroopt law do, bray? Vhat might you mean now?--I don't +know." + +"Do! why it did wonders for some on us, I can tell you! It paid our +debts, and let us up when we was down; and that's no trifle, I can tell +you. I took 'the benefit,' as it is called, myself." + +"You!--you might take der benefit of a bankroopt law! You, lifing here +ast a hiret man, on dis farm!" + +"Sartain; why not? All a man wanted, under _that_ law, was about $60 to +carry him through the mill; and if he could rake and scrape that much +together, he might wipe off as long a score as he pleased. I had been +dealin' in speckylation, and that's a make or break business, I can tell +you. Well, I got to be about $423.22 wuss than nothin'; but, having +about $90 in hand, I went through the mill without getting cogged the +smallest morsel! A man doos a good business, to my notion, when he can +make 20 cents pay a whull dollar of debt." + +"Und you did dat goot business?" + +"You may say that; and now I means to make anti-rentism get me a farm +cheap--what _I_ call cheap; and that an't none of your $30 or $40 an +acre, I can tell you!" + +It was quite clear that Mr. Joshua Brigham regarded these transactions +as so many Pragmatic Sanctions, that were to clear the moral and legal +atmospheres of any atoms of difficulty that might exist in the forms of +old opinions, to his getting easily out of debt, in the one case, and +suddenly rich in the other. I dare say I looked bewildered, but I +certainly felt so, at thus finding myself face to face with a low knave, +who had a deliberate intention, as I now found, to rob me of a farm. It +is certain that Joshua so imagined, for, inviting me to walk down the +road with him a short distance, he endeavoured to clear up any moral +difficulties that might beset me, by pursuing the subject. + +"You see," resumed Joshua, "I will tell you how it is. These Littlepages +have had this land long enough, and it's time to give poor folks a +chance. The young spark that pretends to own all the farms you see, far +and near, never _did_ any thing for 'em in his life; only to be his +father's son. Now, to my notion, a man should do suthin' for his land, +and not be obligated for it to mere natur'. This is a free country, and +what right has one man to land more than another?" + +"Or do his shirt, or do his dobacco, or do his coat, or do anyding +else." + +"Well, I don't go as far as that. A man has a right to his clothes, and +maybe to a horse or a cow, but he has no right to all the land in +creation. The law gives a right to a cow as ag'in' execution." + +"Und doesn't der law gif a right to der landt, too? You most not depend +on der law, if you might succeed." + +"We like to get as much law as we can on our side. Americans like law: +now, you'll read in all the books--_our_ books, I mean, them that's +printed here--that the Americans be the most lawful people on airth, and +that they'll do more for the law than any other folks known!" + +"Vell, dat isn't vhat dey says of der Americans in Europe; nein, nein, +dey might not say dat." + +"Why, don't you think it is so? Don't you think this the greatest +country on airth, and the most lawful?" + +"Vell, I don'ts know. Das coontry ist das coontry, and it ist vhat it +ist, you might see." + +"Yes; I thought you would be of my way of thinking, when we got to +understand each other." Nothing is easier than to mislead an American on +the estimate foreigners place on them: in this respect they are the most +deluded people living, though, in other matters, certainly among the +shrewdest. "That's the way with acquaintances, at first; they don't +always understand one another: and then you talk a little thick, like. +But now, friend, I'll come to the p'int--but first swear you'll not +betray me." + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstandst; I most schwear I won't bedray you: das ist +goot." + +"But, hold up your hand. Stop; of what religion be you?" + +"Gristian, to be sure. I might not be a Chew. Nein, nein; I am a ferry +bat Gristian." + +"We are all bad enough, for that matter; but I lay no stress on _that_. +A little of the devil in a man helps him along, in this business of +ourn. But you must be suthin' more than a Christian, I s'pose, as we +don't call _that_ bein' of any religion at all, in this country. Of what +_supportin'_ religion be you?" + +"Soobortin'; vell, I might not oonderstands dat. Vhat ist soobortin' +religion? Coomes dat vrom Melanchton and Luther?--or coomes it vrom der +Pope? Vhat ist dat soobortin' religion?" + +"Why, what religion do you _patronize_? Do you patronize the standin' +order, or the kneelin' order?--or do you patronize neither? Some folks +thinks its best to lie down at prayer, as the least likely to divert the +thoughts." + +"I might not oonderstand. But nefer mindt der religion, and coome to der +p'int dat you mentioned." + +"Well, that p'int is this. You're a Jarman, and can't like aristocrats, +and so I'll trust you; though, if you do betray me, you'll never play on +another bit of music in this country, or any other! If you want to be an +Injin, as good an opportunity will offer to-morrow as ever fell in a +man's way!" + +"An Injin! Vhat goot vill it do to be an Injin? I dought it might be +better to be a vhite man, in America?" + +"Oh! I mean only an anti-rent Injin. We've got matters so nicely fixed +now, that a chap can be an Injin without any paint at all, or any +washin' or scrubbin', but can convart himself into himself ag'in, at any +time, in two minutes. The wages is good and the work light; then we have +rare chances in the stores, and round about among the farms. The law is +that an Injin must have what he wants, and no grumblin', and we take +care to want enough. If you'll be at the meetin', I'll tell you how +you'll know me." + +"Ja, ja--dat ist goot; I vill be at der meetin', sartainly. Vhere might +it be?" + +"Down at the village. The word came up this a'ternoon, and we shall all +be on the ground by ten o'clock." + +"Vilt der be a fight, dat you meet so bunctually, and wid so moch +spirit?" + +"Fight! Lord, no; who is there to fight, I should like to know? We are +pretty much all ag'in the Littlepages, and there's none of them on the +ground but two or three women. I'll tell you how it's all settled. The +meetin' is called on the deliberative and liberty-supportin' plan. I +s'pose you know we've all sorts of meetin's in this country?" + +"Nein; I dought dere might be meetin's for bolitics, vhen der beople +might coome, but I don't know vhat else." + +"Is't possible! What, have you no 'indignation meetin's' in Jarmany? We +count a great deal on our indignation meetin's, and both sides have'em +in abundance, when things get to be warm. Our meetin' to-morrow is for +deliberation and liberty-principles generally. We may pass some +indignation resolutions about aristocrats, for nobody can bear them +critturs in this part of the country, I can tell you." + +Lest this manuscript should get into the hands of some of those who do +not understand the real condition of New York society, it may be well to +explain that "aristocrat" means, in the parlance of the country, no +other than a man of gentleman-like tastes, habits, opinions and +associations. There are gradations among the aristocracy of the State, +as well as among other men. Thus he who is an aristocrat in a hamlet, +would be very democratic in a village; and he of the village might be no +aristocrat in the town, at all; though, in the towns generally, indeed +always, when their population has the least of a town character, the +distinction ceases altogether, men quietly dropping into the traces of +civilized society, and talking or thinking very little about it. To see +the crying evils of American aristocracy, then, one must go into the +country. There, indeed, a plenty of cases exist. Thus, if there happen +to be a man whose property is assessed at twenty-five per cent. above +that of all his neighbours--who must have right on his side bright as a +cloudless sun to get a verdict, if obliged to appeal to the laws--who +pays fifty per cent. more for everything he buys, and receives fifty per +cent. less for everything he sells, than any other person near him--who +is surrounded by rancorous enemies, in the midst of a seeming state of +peace--who has everything he says and does perverted, and added to, and +lied about--who is traduced because his dinner-hour is later than that +of "other folks"--who don't stoop, but is straight in the back--who +presumes to doubt that this country in general, and his own township in +particular, is the focus of civilization--who hesitates about signing +his name to any flagrant instance of ignorance, bad taste, or worse +morals, that his neighbours may get up in the shape of a petition, +remonstrance, or resolution--depend on it that man is a prodigious +aristocrat, and one who, for his many offences and manner of lording it +over mankind, deserves to be banished. I ask the reader's pardon for so +abruptly breaking in upon Joshua's speech, but such very different +notions exist about aristocrats, in different parts of the world, that +some such explanation was necessary in order to prevent mistakes. I have +forgotten one mark of the tribe that is, perhaps, more material than all +the rest, which must not be omitted, and is this:--If he happen to be a +man who prefers his own pursuits to public life, and is regardless of +"popularity," he is just guilty of the unpardonable sin. The "people" +will forgive anything sooner than this; though there are "folks" who +fancy it as infallible a sign of an aristocrat not to chew tobacco. But, +unless I return to Joshua, the reader will complain that I cause him to +stand still. + +"No, no," continued Mr. Brigham; "anything but an aristocrat for me. I +hate the very name of the sarpents, and wish there warn't one in the +land. To-morrow we are to have a great anti-rent lecturer out----" + +"A vhat?" + +"A lecturer; one that lectur's, you understand, on anti-rentism, +temperance, aristocracy, government, or any other grievance that may +happen to be uppermost. Have you no lecturers in Jarmany?" + +"Ja, ja; dere ist lecturers in das universities--blenty of dem." + +"Well, we have 'em universal and partic'lar, as we happen to want 'em. +To-morrow we're to have one, they tell me, the smartest man that has +appeared in the cause. He goes it strong, and the Injins mean to back +him up, with all sorts of shrieks and whoopin's. Your hurdy-gurdy, +there, makes no sort of music to what our tribe can make when we fairly +open our throats." + +"Vell, dis ist queer! I vast told dat der Americans vast all +philosophers, und dat all dey didt vast didt in a t'oughtful and sober +manner; und now you dells me dey screams deir arguments like Injins!" + +"That we do! I wish you'd been here in the hard-cider and log-cabin +times, and you'd a seen reason and philosophy, as you call it! I was a +whig that summer, though I went democrat last season. There's about five +hundred on us in this county that make the most of things, I can tell +you. What's the use of a vote, if a body gets nothin' by it? But +to-morrow you'll see the business done up, and matters detarmined for +this part of the world, in fine style. We know what we're about, and we +mean to carry things through quite to the end." + +"Und vhat do you means to do?" + +"Well, seein' that you seem to be of the right sort, and be so likely to +put on the Injin shirt, I'll tell you all about it. We mean to get good +and old farms at favourable rates. That's what we mean to do. The +people's up and in 'arnest, and what the people want they'll have! This +time they want farms, and farms they must have. What's the use of havin' +a government of the people, if the people's obliged to want farms? We've +begun ag'in' the Renssalaers, and the durables, and the quarter-sales, +and the chickens; but we don't, by no manner of means, think of eending +there. What should we get by that? A man wants to get suthin' when he +puts his foot into a matter of this natur'. We know who's our fri'nds +and who's our inimies! Could we have some men I could name for +governors, all would go clear enough the first winter. We would tax the +landlords out, and law 'em about in one way and another, so as to make +'em right down glad to sell the last rod of their lands, and that cheap, +too!" + +"Und who might own dese farms, all oop and down der coontry, dat I +sees?" + +"As the law now stands, Littlepage owns 'em; but if we alter the law +enough, he wun't. If we can only work the Legislature up to the stickin' +p'int, we shall get all we want. Would you believe it, the man wun't +sell a single farm, they say; but wishes to keep every one on 'em for +himself! Is that to be borne in a free country? They'd hardly stand that +in Jarmany, I'm thinkin'. A man that is such an aristocrat us to refuse +to sell anything, I despise." + +"Veil, dey stand to der laws in Charmany, and broperty is respected in +most coontries. You vouldn't do away wid der rights of broperty, if you +mights, I hopes?" + +"Not I. If a man owns a watch, or a horse, or a cow, I'm for having the +law such that a poor man can keep 'em, even ag'in execution. We're +getting the laws pretty straight on them p'ints, in old York, I can tell +you; a poor man, let him be ever so much in debt, can hold on to a +mighty smart lot of things, now-a-days, and laugh at the law right in +its face! I've known chaps that owed as much as $200, hold on to as good +as $300; though most of their debts was for the very things they held on +to!" + +What a picture is this, yet is it not true? A state of society in which +a man can contract a debt for a cow, or his household goods, and laugh +at his creditor when he seeks his pay, on the one hand; and on the +other, legislators and executives lending themselves to the chicanery of +another set, that are striving to deprive a particular class of its +rights of property, directly in the face of written contracts! This is +straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel, with a vengeance; and +all for votes! Does any one really expect a community can long exist, +favoured by a wise and justice-dispensing Providence, in which such +things are coolly attempted--ay, and coolly done? It is time that the +American began to see things as they are, and not as they are _said_ to +be, in the speeches of governors, fourth of July orations, and +electioneering addresses. I write warmly, I know, but I feel warmly; and +I write like a man who sees that a most flagitious attempt to rob him is +tampered with by some in power, instead of being met, as the boasted +morals and intelligence of the country would require, by the stern +opposition of all in authority. Curses--deep, deep curses--ere long, +will fall on all who shrink from their duty in such a crisis. Even the +very men who succeed, if succeed they should, will, in the end, curse +the instruments of their own success.[4] + +"A first-rate lecturer on feudal tenors," (Joshua was not in the least +particular in his language, but, in the substance, he knew what he was +talking about as well as some who are in high places,) "chickens and +days' works. We expect a great deal from this man, who is paid well for +coming." + +"Und who might bay him?--der State?" + +"No--we haven't got to that _yet_; though some think the State will +_have_ to do it, in the long run. At present the tenants are taxed so +much on the dollar, accordin' to rent, or so much an acre, and that way +the needful money is raised. But one of our lecturers told us, a time +back, that it was money put out at use, and every man ought to keep an +account of what he give, for the time was not far off when he would get +it back, with double interest. 'It is paid now for a reform,' he said, +'and when the reform is obtained, no doubt the State would feel itself +so much indebted to us all, that it would tax the late landlords until +we got all our money back again, and more too." + +"Dat vould pe a bretty speculation; ja, dat might be most bootiful!" + +"Why, yes; it wouldn't be a bad operation, living on the inimy, as a +body might say. But you'll not catch our folks livin' on themselves, I +can tell you. That they might do without societies. No, we've an object; +and when folks has an object, they commonly look sharp a'ter it. We +don't let on all we want and mean openly: and you'll find folks among us +that'll deny stoutly that anti-renters has anything to do with the Injin +system; but folks an't obliged to believe the moon is _all_ cheese, +unless they've a mind to. Some among us maintain that no man ought to +hold more than a thousand acres of land, while others think natur' has +laid down the law on that p'int, and that a man shouldn't hold more +than he has need on." + +"Und vich side dost you favour?--vich of dese obinions might not be +yours?" + +"I'm not partic'lar, so I get a good farm. I should like one with +comfortable buildin's on 't, and one that hasn't been worked to death. +For them two principles I think I'd stand out; but, whether there be +four hundred acres, or four hundred and fifty, or even five hundred, I'm +no way onaccomadatin'. I expect there'll be trouble in the eend, when we +come to the division, but I'm not the man to make it. I s'pose I shall +get my turn at the town offices, and other chances, and, givin' me my +rights in them, I'll take up with almost any farm young Littlepage has, +though I should rather have one in the main valley here, than one more +out of the way; still, I don't set myself down as at all partic'lar." + +"Und vhat do you expect to bay Mr. Littlepage for der farm, ast you +might choose?" + +"That depends on sarcumstances. The Injins mainly expect to come in +cheap. Some folks think it's best to pay suthin', as it might stand +ag'in' law better, should it come to that; while other some see no great +use in paying anything. Them that's willing to pay, mainly hold out for +paying the principal of the first rents." + +"I doesn't oonderstandt vhat you means py der brincipal of der first +rents." + +"It's plain enough, when you get the lay on 't. You see, these lands +were let pretty low, when they were first taken up from the forest, in +order to get folks to live here. That's the way we're obliged to do in +America, or people won't come. Many tenants paid no rent at all for six, +eight, or ten years; and a'ter that, until their three lives run out, as +it is called, they paid only sixpence an acre, or six dollars and a +quarter on the hundred acres. That was done, you see, to buy men to come +here at all; and you can see by the price that was paid, how hard a time +they must have had on 't. Now, some of our folks hold that the whull +time ought to be counted--that which was rent free, and that which was +not--in a way that I'll explain to you; for I'd have you to know I +haven't entered into this business without looking to the right and the +wrong on't." + +"Exblain, exblain; I might hear you exblain, and you most exblain." + +"Why, you're in a hurry, friend Griezenbach, or whatever your name be. +But I'll explain, if you wish it. S'pose, now, a lease run thirty +years--ten on nothin', and twenty on sixpences. Well, a hundred +sixpences make fifty shillings, and twenty times fifty make a thousand, +as all the rent paid in thirty years. If you divide a thousand by +thirty, it leaves thirty-three shillings and a fraction"--Joshua +calculated like an American of his class, accurately and with +rapidity--"for the average rent of the thirty years. Calling +thirty-three shillings four dollars, and it's plaguy little more, we +have that for the interest, which, at 7 per cent., will make a principal +of rather more than fifty dollars, though not as much as sixty. As sich +matters ought to be done on liberal principles, they say that Littlepage +ought to take fifty dollars, and give a deed for the hundred acres." + +"Und vhat might be der rent of a hoondred acres now?--he might get more +dan sixpence to-day?" + +"That he does. Most all of the farms are running out on second, and some +on third leases. Four shillings an acre is about the average of the +rents, accordin' to circumstances." + +"Den you dinks der landtlort ought to accept one year's rent for der +farms?" + +"I don't look on it in that light. He ought to take fifty dollars for a +hundred acres. You forget the tenants have paid for their farms, over +and over again, in rent. They _feel_ as if they have paid enough, and +that it was time to stop." + +Extraordinary as this reasoning may seem in most men's minds, I have +since found it is a very favourite sentiment among anti-renters. "Are we +to go on, and pay rent for ever?" they ask, with logical and virtuous +indignation! + +"Und vhat may be der aferage value of a hoondred acre farm, in dis part +of de coontry?" I inquired. + +"From two thousand five hundred to three thousand dollars. It would be +more, but tenants won't put good buildings on farms, you know, seein' +that they don't own them. I heard one of our leaders lamentin' that he +didn't foresee what times was comin' to, when he repaired his old house, +or he would have built a new one. But a man can't foretell everything. I +dare say many has the same feelin's, now." + +"Den you dinks Herr Littlebage ought to accept $50 for vhat is worth +$2500? Das seem ferry little." + +"You forget the back rent that has been paid, and the work the tenant +has done. What would the farm be good for without the work that has been +done on it?" + +"Ja, ja--I oonderstandst; and vhat vould der work be goot for vidout der +landt on vhich it vast done?" + +This was rather an incautious question to put to a man as distrustful +and rogueish as Joshua Brigham. The fellow cast a lowering and +distrustful look at me; but ere there was time to answer, Miller, of +whom he stood in healthful awe, called him away to look after the cows. + +Here, then, I had enjoyed an opportunity of hearing the opinions of one +of my own hirelings on the interesting subject of my right to my own +estate. I have since ascertained that, while these sentiments are +sedulously kept out of view in the proceedings of the government, which +deals with the whole matter as if the tenants were nothing but martyrs +to hard bargains, and the landlords their task-masters, of greater or +less lenity, they are extensively circulated in the "infected +districts," and are held to be very sound doctrines by a large number of +the "bone and sinew of the land." Of course the reasoning is varied a +little, to suit circumstances, and to make it meet the facts. But of +this school is a great deal, and a very great deal, of the reasoning +that circulates on the leased property; and, from what I have seen and +heard already, I make no doubt that there are _quasi_ legislators among +us who, instead of holding the manly and only safe doctrine which ought +to be held on such a subject, and saying that these deluded men should +be taught better, are ready to cite the very fact that such notions do +exist as a reason for the necessity of making concessions, in order to +keep the peace at the cheapest rate. That profound principle of +legislation, which concedes the right in order to maintain quiet, is +admirably adapted to forming sinners; and, if carried out in favour of +all who may happen to covet their neighbour's goods, would, in a short +time, render this community the very paradise of knaves. + +As for Joshua Brigham, I saw no more of him that night; for he quitted +the farm on leave, just as it got to be dark. Where he went I do not +know; but the errand on which he left us could no longer be a secret to +me. As the family retired early, and we ourselves were a good deal +fatigued, everybody was in bed by nine o'clock, and, judging from +myself, soon asleep. Previously to saying "good night," however, Miller +told us of the meeting of the next day, and of his intention to attend +it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + "He knows the game; how true he keeps the wind!" + "Silence." + + _King Henry VI._ + + +After an early breakfast, next morning, the signs of preparation for a +start became very apparent in the family. Not only Miller, but his wife +and daughter, intended to go down to "Little Neest," as the hamlet was +almost invariably called in that fragment of the universe, in +contradistinction to the "Neest" proper. I found afterwards that this +very circumstance was cited against me in the controversy, it being +thought _lese majeste_ for a private residence to monopolize the major +of the proposition, while a hamlet had to put up with the minor; the +latter, moreover, including two taverns, which are exclusively the +property of the public, there being exclusiveness with the public as +well as with aristocrats--more especially in all things that pertain to +power or profit. As to the two last, even Joshua Brigham was much more +of an aristocrat than I was myself. It must be admitted that the +Americans are a humane population, for they are the only people who deem +that bankruptcy gives a claim to public favour.[5] + +As respects the two "Nests," had not so much more serious matter been in +agitation, the precedence of the names might actually have been taken up +as a question of moment. I have heard of a lawsuit in France, touching a +name that has been illustrious in that country for a period so long as +to extend beyond the reach of man--as, indeed, was apparent by the +matter in controversy--and which name has obtained for itself a high +place in the annals of even our own republic. I allude to the House of +Grasse, which was seated, prior to the revolution, and may be still, at +a place called Grasse, in the southern part of the kingdom, the town +being almost as famous for the manufacture of pleasant things as the +family for its exploits in arms. About a century since, the Marquis de +Grasse is said to have had a _proces_ with his neighbours of the place, +to establish the fact whether the family gave its name to the town, or +the town gave its name to the family. The Marquis prevailed in the +struggle, but greatly impaired his fortune in achieving that new +victory. As my house, or its predecessor, was certainly erected and +named while the site of Little Nest was still in the virgin forest, one +would think its claims to the priority of possession beyond dispute; but +such might not prove to be the case on a trial. There are two histories +among us, as relates to both public and private things; the one being as +nearly true as is usual, while the other is invariably the fruits of the +human imagination. Everything depending so much on majorities, that soon +gets to be the most authentic tradition which has the most believers; +for, under the system of numbers, little regard is paid to superior +advantages, knowledge, or investigation, all depending on 3 as against +2, which makes 1 majority. I find a great deal of this spurious history +is getting to be mixed up with the anti-rent controversy, facts coming +out daily that long have lain dormant in the graves of the past. These +facts affect the whole structure of the historical picture of the State +and colony, leaving touches of black where the pencil had originally put +in white, and placing the high lights where the shadows have before +always been understood to be. In a word, men are telling the stories as +best agrees with their present views, and not at all as they agree with +fact. + +It was the intention of Tom Miller to give my uncle Ro and me a dearborn +to ourselves, while he drove his wife, Kitty and a _help_, as far as the +"Little Neest," in a two-horse vehicle that was better adapted to such a +freight. Thus disposed of, then, we all left the place in company, just +as the clock in the farm-house entry struck nine. I drove our horse +myself; and _mine_ he was, in fact, every hoof, vehicle and farming +utensil on the Nest farm, being as much my property, under the _old_ +laws, as the hat on my head. It is true, the Millers had now been fifty +years or more, nay, nearly sixty, in possession, and by the _new_ mode +of construction it is possible some may fancy that we had paid them +wages so long for working the land, and for using the cattle and +utensils, that the title, in a moral sense, had passed out of me, in +order to pass into Tom Miller. If use begets a right, why not to a wagon +and horse, as well as to a farm. + +As we left the place I gazed wistfully towards the Nest House, in the +hope of seeing the form of some one that I loved, at a window, on the +lawn, or in the piazza. Not a soul appeared, however, and we trotted +down the road a short distance in the rear of the other wagon, +conversing on such things as came uppermost in our minds. The distance +we had to go was about four miles, and the hour named for the +commencement of the lecture, which was to be the great affair of the +day, had been named at eleven. This caused us to be in no hurry, and I +rather preferred to coincide with the animal I drove, and move very +slowly, than hurry on, and arrive an hour or two sooner than was +required. In consequence of this feeling on our part, Miller and his +family were soon out of sight, it being their wish to obtain as much of +the marvels of the day as was possible. + +The road, of course, was perfectly well known to my uncle and myself; +but, had it not been, there was no danger of missing our way, as we had +only to follow the general direction of the broad valley through which +it ran. Then Miller had considerately told us that we must pass two +churches, or a church and a "meetin'-'us'," the spires of both of which +were visible most of the way, answering for beacons. Referring to this +term of "meeting-house," does it not furnish conclusive evidence, of +itself, of the inconsistent folly of that wisest of all earthly beings, +man? It was adopted in contradistinction from, and in direct opposition +to, the supposed idolatrous association connected with the use of the +word "church," at a time when certain sects would feel offended at +hearing their places of worship thus styled; whereas, at the present +day, those very sectarians are a little disposed to resent this +exclusive appropriation of the proscribed word by the sects who have +always adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight degree, +"arisdogradic!" I am a little afraid that your out-and-outers in +politics, religion, love of liberty, and other human excellences, are +somewhat apt to make these circuits in their eccentric orbits, and to +come out somewhere quite near the places from which they started. + +The road between the Nest House and Little Nest, the hamlet, is rural, +and quite as agreeable as is usually found in a part of the country that +is without water-views or mountain scenery. Our New York landscapes are +rarely, nay, never grand, as compared with the noble views one finds in +Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and the finer parts of Europe; but we have a +vast many that want nothing but a finish to their artificial accessories +to render them singularly agreeable. Such is the case with the principal +vale of Ravensnest, which, at the very moment we were driving through +it, struck my uncle and myself as presenting a picture of rural +abundance, mingled with rural comfort, that one seldom sees in the old +world, where the absence of enclosures, and the concentration of the +dwellings in villages, leave the fields naked and with a desolate +appearance, in spite of their high tillage and crops. + +"This is an estate worth contending for, now," said my uncle, as we +trotted slowly on, "although it has not hitherto been very productive to +its owner. The first half century of an American property of this sort +rarely brings much to its proprietor beyond trouble and vexation." + +"And after that time the tenant is to have it, pretty much at his own +price, as a reward for his own labour!" + +"What evidences are to be found, wherever the eye rests, of the +selfishness of man, and his unfitness to be left to the unlimited +control of his own affairs! In England they are quarrelling with the +landlords, who _do_ compose a real aristocracy, and make the laws, about +the manner in which they protect themselves and the products of their +estates; while here the true owner of the soil is struggling against the +power of numbers, with the people, who are the only aristocrats we +possess, in order to maintain his right of property in the simplest and +most naked form! A common vice is at the bottom of both wrongs, and that +is the vice of selfishness." + +"But how are abuses like those of which we complain here--abuses of the +most formidable character of any that can exist, since the oppressors +are so many, and so totally irresponsible by their numbers--to be +avoided, if you give the people the right of self-government?" + +"God help the nation where self-government, in its literal sense, +exists, Hugh! The term is conventional, and, properly viewed, means a +government in which the source of authority is the body of the nation, +and does not come from any other sovereign. When a people that has been +properly educated by experience calmly selects its agents, and coolly +sets to work to adopt a set of principles to form its fundamental law or +constitution, the machine is on the right track, and will work well +enough so long as it is kept there; but this running off, and altering +the fundamental principles every time a political faction has need of +recruits, is introducing tyranny in its worst form--a tyranny that is +just as dangerous to real liberty as hypocrisy is to religion!" + +We were now approaching St. Andrew's church and the rectory, with its +glebe, the latter lying contiguous to the church-yard, or, as it is an +Americanism to say, the "graveyard." There had been an evident +improvement around the rectory since I had last seen it. Shrubbery had +been planted, care was taken of the fences, the garden was neatly and +well worked, the fields looked smooth, and everything denoted that it +was "new lords and new laws." The last incumbent had been a whining, +complaining, narrow-minded, selfish and lazy priest, the least estimable +of all human characters, short of the commission of the actual and +higher crimes; but his successor had the reputation of being a devout +and real Christian--one who took delight in the duties of his holy +office, and who served God because he loved him. I am fully aware how +laborious is the life of a country priest, and how contracted and mean +is the pittance he in common receives, and how much more he merits than +he gets, if his reward were to be graduated by things here. But this +picture, like every other, has its different sides, and occasionally men +do certainly enter the church from motives as little as possible +connected with those that ought to influence them. + +"There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," observed my uncle, as +we passed the rectory. "Can it be that he intends visiting the village +also, on an occasion like this?" + +"Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Patt has given of him be +true," I answered. "She tells me he has been active in endeavouring to +put down the covetous spirit that is getting uppermost in the town, and +has even preached boldly, though generally, against the principles +involved in the question. The other man, they say, goes for popularity, +and preaches and prays with the anti-renters." + +No more was said, but on we went, soon entering a large bit of wood, a +part of the virgin forest. This wood, exceeding a thousand acres in +extent, stretched down from the hills along some broken and otherwise +little valuable land, and had been reserved from the axe to meet the +wants of some future day. It was mine, therefore, in the fullest sense +of the word; and, singular as it may seem, one of the grounds of +accusation brought against me and my predecessors was that we had +_declined leasing it_! Thus, on the one hand, we were abused for having +leased our land, and, on the other, for not having leased it. The fact +is, we, in common with other extensive landlords, are expected to use +our property as much as possible for the particular benefit of other +people, while those other people are expected to use _their_ property as +much as possible for their own particular benefit. + +There was near a mile of forest to pass before we came out again in the +open country, at about a mile and a half's distance from the hamlet. On +our left this little forest did not extend more than a hundred rods, +terminating at the edge of the rivulet--or _creek_, as the stream is +erroneously called, and for no visible reason but the fact that it was +only a hundred feet wide--which swept close under the broken ground +mentioned at this point. On our right, however, the forest stretched +away for more than a mile, until, indeed, it became lost and confounded +with other portions of wood that had been reserved for the farms on +which they grew. As is very usual in America, in cases where roads pass +through a forest, a second growth had shot up on each side of this +highway, which was fringed for the whole distance with large bushes of +pine, hemlock, chestnut and maple. In some places these bushes almost +touched the track, while in others a large space was given. We were +winding our way through this wood, and had nearly reached its centre, at +a point where no house was visible--and no house, indeed, stood within +half a mile of us--with the view in front and in rear limited to some +six or eight rods in each direction by the young trees, when our ears +were startled by a low, shrill, banditti-like whistle. I must confess +that my feelings were anything but comfortable at that interruption, for +I remembered the conversation of the previous night. I thought by the +sudden jump of my uncle, and the manner he instinctively felt where he +ought to have had a pistol, to meet such a crisis, that he believed +himself already in the hands of the Philistines. + +A half minute sufficed to tell us the truth. I had hardly stopped the +horse, in order to look around me, when a line of men, all armed and +disguised, issued in single file from the bushes, and drew up in the +road, at right angles to its course. There were six of these "Injins," +as they are called, and, indeed, call themselves, each carrying a rifle, +horn and pouch, and otherwise equipped for the field. The disguises were +very simple, consisting of a sort of loose calico hunting-shirt and +trowsers that completely concealed the person. The head was covered by a +species of hood, or mask, equally of calico, that was fitted with holes +for the eyes, nose and mouth, and which completed the disguise. There +were no means of recognizing a man thus equipped, unless it might be by +the stature, in cases in which the party was either unusually tall or +unusually short. A middle-sized man was perfectly safe from recognition, +so long as he did not speak and could keep his equipments. Those who did +speak altered their voices, as we soon found, using a jargon that was +intended to imitate the imperfect English of the native owners of the +soil. Although neither of us had ever seen one of the gang before, we +knew these disturbers of the public peace to be what in truth they were, +the instant our eyes fell on them. One could not well be mistaken, +indeed, under the circumstances in which we were placed; but the +tomahawks that one or two carried, the manner of their march, and other +pieces of mummery that they exhibited, would have told us the fact, had +we met them even in another place. + +My first impulse was to turn the wagon, and to endeavour to lash the +lazy beast I drove into a run. Fortunately, before the attempt was made, +I turned my head to see if there was room for such an exploit, and saw +six others of these "Injins" drawn across the road behind us. It was now +so obviously the wisest course to put the best face on the matter, that +we walked the horse boldly up to the party in front, until he was +stopped by one of the gang taking him by the bridle. + +"Sago, sago," cried one who seemed to act as a chief, and whom I shall +thus designate, speaking in his natural voice, though affecting an +Indian pronunciation. "How do, how do?--where come from, eh?--where go, +eh?--What you say, too--up rent or down rent, eh?" + +"Ve ist two Charmans," returned uncle Ro, in his most desperate dialect, +the absurdity of men who spoke the same language resorting to such +similar means of deception tempting me sorely to laugh in the fellows' +faces; "Ve ist two Charmans dat ist goin' to hear a man's sbeak about +bayin' rent, und to sell vatches. Might you buy a vatch, goot +shentlemans." + +Although the fellows doubtless knew who we were, so far as our assumed +characters went, and had probably been advised of our approach, this +bait took, and there was a general jumping up and down, and a common +pow-wowing among them, indicative of the pleasure such a proposal gave. +In a minute the whole party were around us, with some eight or ten more +who appeared from the nearest bushes. We were helped out of the wagon +with a gentle violence that denoted their impatience. As a matter of +course, I expected that all the trinkets and watches, which were of +little value, fortunately, would immediately disappear; for who could +doubt that men engaged in attempting to rob on so large a scale as these +fellows were engaged in, would hesitate about doing a job on one a +little more diminutive. I was mistaken, however; some sort of +imperceptible discipline keeping those who were thus disposed, of whom +there must have been some in such a party, in temporary order. The horse +was left standing in the middle of the highway, right glad to take his +rest, while we were shown the trunk of a fallen tree, near by, on which +to place our box of wares. A dozen watches were presently in the hands +of as many of these seeming savages, who manifested a good deal of +admiration at their shining appearance. While this scene, which was half +mummery and half nature, was in the course of enactment, the chief +beckoned me to a seat on the further end of the tree, and, attended by +one or two of his companions, he began to question me as follows: + +"Mind tell truth," he said, making no very expert actor in the way of +imitation. "Dis 'Streak o' Lightning,'" laying his hand on his own +breast, that I might not misconceive the person of the warrior who bore +so eminent a title; "no good lie to him--know ebbery t'ing afore he ask, +only ask for fun--what do here, eh?" + +"Ve coomes to see der Injins and der beoples at der village, dat ve +might sell our vatches." + +"Dat all; sartain?--can call 'down rent,' eh?" + +"Dat ist ferry easy; 'down rent, eh?'" + +"Sartain Jarman, eh?--you no spy?--you no sent here by gubbernor, +eh?--landlord no pay you, eh?" + +"Vhat might I spy? Dere ist nothin' do spy, but mans vid calico faces. +Vhy been you afraid of der governor?--I dinks der governors be ferry +goot frients of der anti-rents." + +"Not when we act this way. Send horse, send foot a'ter us, den. T'ink +good friend, too, when he dare." + +"He be d----d!" bawled out one of the tribe, in as good, homely, rustic +English as ever came out of the mouth of a clown. "If he's our friend, +why did he send the artillery and horse down to Hudson?--and why has he +had Big Thunder up afore his infarnal courts? He be d----d!" + +There was no mistaking this outpouring of the feelings; and so "Streak +o' Lightning" seemed to think too, for he whispered one of the tribe, +who took the plain-speaking Injin by the arm and led him away, grumbling +and growling, as the thunder mutters in the horizon after the storm has +passed on. For myself, I made several profitable reflections concerning +the inevitable fate of those who attempt to "serve God and Mammon." This +anti-rentism is a question in which, so far as a governor is concerned, +there is but one course to pursue, and that is to enforce the laws by +suppressing violence, and leaving the parties to the covenants of leases +to settle their differences in the courts, like the parties to any other +contracts. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Many a +landlord has made a hard bargain for himself; and I happen to know of +one case in particular, in which a family has long been, and is still, +kept out of the enjoyment of a very valuable estate, as to any benefit +of importance, purely by the circumstance that a weak-minded possessor +of the property fancied he was securing souls for paradise by letting +his farms on leases for ninety-nine years, at nominal rents, with a +covenant that the tenant should go twice to a particular church! Now, +nothing is plainer than that it is a greater hardship to the citizen who +is the owner of many farms so situated, than to the citizen who is the +lessee of only one with a hard covenant; and, on general principles, the +landlord in question would be most entitled to relief, since one man who +suffers a good deal is more an object of true commiseration than many +who suffer each a little. What would a governor be apt to say if my +landlord should go with his complaints to the foot of the executive +chair, and tell him that the very covenant which had led his predecessor +into the mistake of thus wasting his means was openly disregarded; that +farms worth many thousands of dollars had now been enjoyed by the +tenants for near a century for mere nominal rents, and that the owner +of the land in fee had occasion for his property, &c. &c. Would the +governor recommend legislative action in that case? Would the _length_ +of _such_ leases induce him to recommend that no lease should exceed +five years in duration? Would the landlords who should get up a corps of +Injins to worry their tenants into an abandonment of their farms be the +objects of commiseration?--and would the law slumber for years over +_their_ rebellions and depredations, until two or three murders aroused +public indignation? Let them answer that know. As a landlord, I should +be sorry to incur the ridicule that would attend even a public complaint +of the hardships of such a case. A common sneer would send me to the +courts for my remedy, if I had one, and the whole difference between the +"if and ifs" of the two cases would be that a landlord gives but one +vote, while his tenants may be legion.[6] + +"He be d----d," muttered the plain-speaking Injin, as long as I could +hear him. As soon as released from his presence, Streak of Lightning +continued his examination, though a little vexed at the undramatical +character of the interruption. + +"Sartain no spy, eh?--sartain gubbernor no send him, eh?--sartain come +to sell watch, eh?" + +"I coomes, as I tell ye, to see if vatches might be solt, und not for +der gubbernor; I neffer might see der mans." + +As all this was true, my conscience felt pretty easy on the score of +whatever there might be equivocal about it. + +"What folks think of Injin down below, eh?--what folks say of anti-rent, +eh?--hear him talk about much?" + +"Vell, soome does dink anti-rent ist goot, und soome does dink anti-rent +ist bad. Dey dinks as dey wishes." + +Here a low whistle came down the road, or rather down the bushes, when +every Injin started up; each man very fairly gave back the watch he was +examining, and in less than half a minute we were alone on the log. This +movement was so sudden that it left us in a little doubt as to the +proper mode of proceeding. My uncle, however, coolly set about +replacing his treasures in their box, while I went to the horse, which +had shaken off his head-stall, and was quietly grazing along the +road-side. A minute or two might have been thus occupied, when the +trotting of a horse and the sound of wheels announced the near approach +of one of those vehicles which have got to be almost national; a +dearborn, or a one-horse wagon. As it came out from behind a screen of +bushes formed by a curvature in the road, I saw that it contained the +Rev. Mr. Warren and his sweet daughter. + +The road being narrow, and our vehicle in its centre, it was not +possible for the newcomers to proceed until we got out of the way, and +the divine pulled up as soon as he reached the spot where we stood. + +"Good morning, _gentlemen_," said Mr. Warren, cordially, and using a word +that, in _his_ mouth, I felt meant all it expressed. "Good morning, +_gentlemen_. Are you playing Handel to the wood-nymphs, or reciting +eclogues?" + +"Neider, neider, Herr Pastor; we meet wid coostomers here, und dey has +joost left us," answered uncle Ro, who certainly enacted his part with +perfect _aplomb_, and the most admirable mimicry as to manner. "_Guten +tag, guten tag_. Might der Herr Pastor been going to der village?" + +"We are. I understand there is to be a meeting there of the misguided +men called anti-renters, and that several of my parishioners are likely +to be present. On such an occasion I conceive it to be my duty to go +among my own particular people, and whisper a word of advice. Nothing +can be farther from my notions of propriety than for a clergyman to be +mingling and mixing himself up with political concerns in general, but +this is a matter that touches morality, and the minister of God is +neglectful of his duty who keeps aloof when a word of admonition might +aid in preventing some wavering brother from the commission of a +grievous sin. This last consideration has brought me out to a scene I +could otherwise most heartily avoid." + +This might be well enough, I said to myself, but what has your daughter +to do in such a scene? Is the mind of Mary Warren, then, after all, no +better than vulgar minds in general?--and can she find a pleasure in the +excitement of lectures of this cast, and in that of public meetings? No +surer test can be found of cultivation, than the manner in which it +almost intuitively shrinks from communion unnecessarily with tastes and +principles below its own level; yet here was the girl with whom I was +already half in love--and that was saying as little as could be said, +too--actually going down to the "Little Neest" to hear an itinerant +lecturer on political economy utter his crudities, and to see and be +seen! I was grievously disappointed, and would at the moment have +cheerfully yielded the best farm on my estate to have had the thing +otherwise. My uncle must have had some similar notion, by the remark he +made. + +"Und doost das _jung frau_ go to see der Injins, too; to bersuade 'em +dey ist fery vicked?" + +Mary's face had been a little pale for her, I thought, as the wagon drew +up; but it immediately became scarlet. She even suffered her head to +droop a little, and then I perceived that she cast an anxious and tender +glance at her father. I cannot say whether this look were or were not +intended for a silent appeal, unconsciously made; but the father, +without even seeing it, acted as if he fancied it might be. + +"No, no," he said, hurriedly; "this dear girl is doing violence to all +her feelings but one, in venturing to such a place. Her filial piety has +proved stronger than her fears and her tastes, and when she found that +go I would, no argument of mine could persuade her to remain at home. I +hope she will not repent it." + +The colour did not quit Mary's face, but she looked grateful at finding +her true motives appreciated; and she even smiled, though she said +nothing. My own feelings underwent another sudden revulsion. There was +no want of those tastes and inclinations that can alone render a young +woman attractive to any man of sentiment, but there was high moral +feeling and natural affection enough to overcome them in a case in which +she thought duty demanded the sacrifice! It was very little probable +that anything would or could occur that day to render the presence of +Mary Warren in the least necessary or useful; but it was very pleasant +to me and very lovely in her to think otherwise, under the strong +impulses of her filial attachment. + +Another idea, however, and one far less pleasant, suggested itself to +the minds of my uncle and myself, and almost at the same instant; it +was this: the conversation was carried on in a high key, or loud enough +to be heard at some little distance, the horse and part of the wagon +interposing between the speakers; and there was the physical certainty +that some of those whom we knew to be close at hand, in the bushes, must +hear all that was said, and might take serious offence at it. Under this +apprehension, therefore, my uncle directed me to remove our own vehicle +as fast as possible, in order that the clergyman might pass. Mr. Warren, +however, was in no hurry to do this, for he was utterly ignorant of the +audience he had, and entertained that feeling towards us that men of +liberal acquirements are apt to feel when they see others of similar +educations reduced by fortune below their proper level. He was +consequently desirous of manifesting his sympathy with us, and would not +proceed, even after I had opened the way for him. + +"It is a painful thing," continued Mr. Warren, "to find men mistaking +their own cupidity for the workings of a love of liberty. To me nothing +is more palpable than that this anti-rent movement is covetousness +incited by the father of evil; yet you will find men among us who fancy +they are aiding the cause of free institutions by joining in it, when, +in truth, they are doing all they can to bring them into discredit, and +to insure their certain downfall, in the end." + +This was sufficiently awkward; for, by going near enough to give a +warning in a low voice, and have that warning followed by a change in +the discourse, we should be betraying ourselves, and might fall into +serious danger. At the very moment the clergyman was thus speaking I saw +the masked head of Streak o' Lightning appearing through an opening in +some small pines that grew a little in the rear of the wagon, a position +that enabled him to hear every syllable that was uttered. I was afraid +to act myself, and trusted to the greater experience of my uncle. +Whether the last also saw the pretended chief was more than I knew, but +he decided to let the conversation go on, rather leaning to the +anti-rent side of the question, as the course that could do no serious +evil, while it might secure our own safety. It is scarcely necessary to +say all these considerations glanced through our minds so swiftly as to +cause no very awkward or suspicious pause in the discourse. + +"B'rhaps dey doosn't like to bay rent?" put in my uncle, with a +roughness of manner that was in accordance with the roughness of the +sentiment. "Beoples might radder haf deir landts for nuttin', dan bay +rents for dem." + +"In that case, then, let them go and buy lands for themselves; if they +do not wish to pay rent, why did they agree to pay rent?" + +"May be dey changes deir minds. Vhat is goot to-day doosn't always seem +goot to-morrow." + +"That may be true; but we have no right to make others suffer for our +own fickleness. I dare say, now, that it might be better for the whole +community that so large a tract of land as that included in the Manor of +Rensselaerwyck, for instance, and lying as it does in the very heart of +the State, should be altogether in the hands of the occupants, than have +it subject to the divided interest that actually exists; but it does not +follow that a change is to be made by violence, or by fraudulent means. +In either of the latter cases the injury done the community would be +greater than if the present tenures were to exist a thousand years. I +dare say much the larger portion of those farms can be bought off at a +moderate advance on their actual money-value; and that is the way to get +rid of the difficulty; not by bullying owners out of their property. If +the State finds a political consideration of so much importance for +getting rid of the tenures, let the State tax itself to do so, and make +a liberal offer, in addition to what the tenants will offer, and I'll +answer for it the landlords will not stand so much in their own way as +to decline good prices." + +"But, maybes dey won't sell all der landts; dey may wants to keep some +of dem." + +"They have a right to say yes or no, while we have no right to juggle or +legislate them out of their property. The Legislature of this State has +quite lately been exhibiting one of the most pitiable sights the world +has seen in my day. It has been struggling for months to find a way to +get round the positive provisions of laws and constitutions, in order +to make a sacrifice of the rights of a few, to secure the votes of the +many." + +"Votes ist a goot ding, at election dime--haw, haw, haw!" exclaimed my +uncle. + +Mr. Warren looked both surprised and offended. The coarseness of manner +that my uncle had assumed effected its object with the Injins, but it +almost destroyed the divine's previous good opinion of our characters, +and quite upset his notions of our refinement and principles. There was +no time for explanations, however; for, just as my uncle's broad and +well-acted "haw, haw, haw" was ended, a shrill whistle was heard in the +bushes, and some forty or fifty of the Injins came whooping and leaping +out from their cover, filling the road in all directions, immediately +around the wagons. + +Mary Warren uttered a little scream at this startling scene, and I saw +her arm clinging to that of her father, by a sort of involuntary +movement, as if she would protect him at all hazards. Then she seemed to +rally, and from that instant her character assumed an energy, an +earnestness, a spirit and an intrepidity that I had least expected in +one so mild in aspect, and so really sweet in disposition. + +All this was unnoticed by the Injins. They had their impulses, too, and +the first thing they did was to assist Mr. Warren and his daughter to +alight from their wagon. This was done, not without decorum of manner, +and certainly not without some regard to the holy office of one of the +parties, and to the sex of the other. Nevertheless, it was done neatly +and expeditiously, leaving us all, Mr. Warren and Mary, my uncle and +myself, with a cluster of some fifty Injins around us, standing in the +centre of the highway. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + "No toil in despair, + No tyrant, no slave, + No bread-tax is there, + With a maw like the grave." + + +All this was so suddenly done as scarce to leave us time to think. There +was one instant, notwithstanding, while two Injins were assisting Mary +Warren to jump from the wagon, when my incognito was in great danger. +Perceiving that the young lady was treated with no particular +disrespect, I so far overcame the feeling as to remain quiet, though I +silently changed my position sufficiently to get near her elbow, where I +could and did whisper a word or two of encouragement. But Mary thought +only of her father, and had no fears for herself. She saw none but him, +trembled only for him, dreaded and hoped for him alone. + +As for Mr. Warren himself, he betrayed no discomposure. Had he been +about to enter the desk, his manner could not have been more calm. He +gazed around him, to ascertain if it were possible to recognise any of +his captors, but suddenly turned his head away, as if struck with the +expediency of not learning their names, even though it had been +possible. He might be put on the stand as a witness against some +misguided neighbour, did he know his person. All this was so apparent in +his benevolent countenance, that I think it struck some among the +Injins, and still believe it may have had a little influence on their +treatment of him. A pot of tar and a bag of feathers had been brought +into the road when the gang poured out of the bushes, but whether this +were merely accidental, or it had originally been intended to use them +on Mr. Warren, I cannot say. The offensive materials soon and silently +disappeared, and with them every sign of any intention to offer personal +injury. + +"What have I done that I am thus arrested in the public highway, by men +armed and disguised, contrary to law?" demanded the divine, as soon as +the general pause which succeeded the first movement invited him to +speak. "This is a rash and illegal step, that may yet bring repentance." + +"No preachee now," answered Streak o' Lightning; "preachee for meetin', +no good for road." + +Mr. Warren afterwards admitted to me that he was much relieved by this +reply, the substitution of the word "meeting" for "church" giving him +the grateful assurance that _this_ individual, at least, was not one of +his own people. + +"Admonition and remonstrance may always be useful when crime is +meditated. You are now committing a felony, for which the State's prison +is the punishment prescribed by the laws of the land, and the duties of +my holy office direct me to warn you of the consequences. The earth +itself is but one of God's temples, and his ministers need never +hesitate to proclaim his laws on any part of it." + +It was evident that the calm severity of the divine, aided, no doubt, by +his known character, produced an impression on the gang, for the two who +had still hold of his arms released them, and a little circle was now +formed, in the centre of which he stood. + +"If you will enlarge this circle, my friends," continued Mr. Warren, +"and give room, I will address you here, where we stand, and let you +know my reasons why I think your conduct ought to be----" + +"No, no--no preachee here," suddenly interrupted Streak o' Lightning; +"go to village, go to meetin'-'us'--preachee there.--Two preacher, +den.--Bring wagon and put him in. March, march; path open." + +Although this was but an "Injin" imitation of "Indian" sententiousness, +and somewhat of a caricature, everybody understood well enough what was +meant. Mr. Warren offered no resistance, but suffered himself to be +placed in Miller's wagon, with my uncle at his side, without opposition. +Then it was, however, that he bethought himself of his daughter, though +his daughter had never ceased to think of him. I had some little +difficulty in keeping her from rushing into the crowd, and clinging to +his side. Mr. Warren rose, and, giving her an encouraging smile, bade +her be calm, told her he had nothing to fear, and requested that she +would enter his own wagon again and return home, promising to rejoin her +as soon as his duties at the village were discharged. + +"Here is no one to drive the horse, my child, but our young German +acquaintance. The distance is very short, and if he will thus oblige me, +he can come down to the village with the wagon, as soon as he has seen +you safe at our own door." + +Mary Warren was accustomed to defer to her father's opinions, and she so +far submitted, now, as to permit me to assist her into the wagon, and to +place myself at her side, whip in hand, proud of and pleased with the +precious charge thus committed to my care. These arrangements made, the +Injins commenced their march, about half of them preceding, and the +remainder following the wagon that contained their prisoner. Four, +however, walked on each side of the vehicle, thus preventing the +possibility of escape. No noise was made, and little was said; the +orders being given by signs and signals, rather than by words. + +Our wagon continued stationary until the party had got at least a +hundred yards from us, no one giving any heed to our movements. I had +waited thus long for the double purpose of noting the manner of the +proceedings among the Injins, and to obtain room to turn at a spot in +the road a short distance in advance of us, and which was wider than +common. To this spot I now walked the horse, and was in the act of +turning the animal's head in the required direction, when I saw Mary +Warren's little gloved hand laid hurriedly on the reins. She endeavoured +to keep the head of the horse in the road. + +"No, no," said the charming girl, speaking earnestly, as if she would +not be denied, "we will follow my father to the village. I may not, must +not, _cannot_ quit him!" + +The time and place were every way propitious, and I determined to let +Mary Warren know who I was. By doing it I might give her confidence in +me at a moment when she was in distress, and encourage her with the hope +that I might also befriend her father. At any rate, I was determined to +pass for an itinerant Dutch music-grinder with _her_ no longer. + +"Miss Mary, Miss Warren," I commenced, cautiously, and with quite as +much hesitation and diffidence of feeling as of manner, "I am not what I +seem--that is, I am no music-grinder." + +The start, the look, and the alarm of my companion, were all eloquent +and natural. Her hand was still on the reins, and she now drew on them +so hard as actually to stop the horse. I thought she intended to jump +out of the vehicle, as a place no longer fit for her. + +"Be not alarmed, Miss Warren," I said, eagerly, and, I trust, so +earnestly as to inspire a little confidence. "You will not think the +worse of me at finding I am your countryman instead of a foreigner, and +a gentleman instead of a music-grinder. I shall do all you ask, and will +protect you with my life." + +"This is so extraordinary!--so unusual!--The whole country appears +unsettled! Pray, sir, if you are not the person whom you have +represented yourself to be, who are you?" + +"One who admires your filial love and courage--who honours you for them +both. I am the brother of your friend, Martha--I am Hugh Littlepage!" + +The little hand now abandoned the reins, and the dear girl turned half +round on the cushion of the seat, gazing at me in mute astonishment! I +had been cursing in my heart the lank locks of the miserable wig I was +compelled to wear, ever since I had met with Mary Warren, as +unnecessarily deforming and ugly, for one might have as well a becoming +as a horridly unbecoming disguise. Off went my cap, therefore, and off +went the wig after it, leaving my own shaggy curls for the sole setting +of my face. + +Mary made a slight exclamation as she gazed at me, and the deadly +paleness of her countenance was succeeded by a slight blush. A smile, +too, parted her lips, and I fancied she was less alarmed. + +"Am I forgiven, Miss Warren?" I asked; "and will you recognise me for +the brother of your friend?" + +"Does Martha--does Mrs. Littlepage know of this?" the charming girl at +length asked. + +"Both; I have had the happiness of being embraced by both my +grandmother and my sister. You were taken out of the room, yesterday, by +the first, that I might be left alone with the last, for that very +purpose!" + +"I see it all, now; yes, I thought it singular then, though I felt there +could be no impropriety in any of Mrs. Littlepages' acts. Dearest +Martha! how well she played her part, and how admirably she has kept +your secret!" + +"It is very necessary. You see the condition of the country, and will +understand that it would be imprudent in me to appear openly, even on my +own estate. I have a written covenant authorizing me to visit every farm +near us, to look after my own interests; yet, it may be questioned if it +would be safe to visit one among them all, now that the spirits of +misrule and covetousness are up and doing." + +"Replace your disguise at once, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, eagerly; +"do--do not delay an instant." + +I did as desired, Mary watching the process with interested, and, at the +same time, amused eyes. I thought she looked as sorry as I felt myself +when that lank, villanous wig was again performing its office. + +"Am I as well arranged as when we first met, Miss Warren? Do I appear +again the music-grinder?" + +"I see no difference," returned the dear girl, laughing. How musical and +cheering to me were the sounds of her voice in that little burst of +sweet, feminine merriment. "Indeed, indeed, I do not think even Martha +could know you now, for the person you the moment before seemed." + +"My disguise is, then, perfect. I was in hopes it left a little that my +friends might recognise, while it effectually concealed me from my +enemies." + +"It does--oh! it does. Now I know who you are, I find no difficulty in +tracing in your features the resemblance to your portrait in the family +gallery, at the Nest. The eyes, too, cannot be altered without +artificial brows, and those you have not." + +This was consoling; but all that time Mr. Warren and the party in front +had been forgotten. Perhaps it was excusable in two young persons thus +situated, and who had now known each other a week, to think more of what +was just then passing in the wagon, than to recollect the tribe that +was marching down the road, and the errand they were on. I felt the +necessity, however, of next consulting my companion as to our future +movements. Mary heard me in evident anxiety, and her purpose seemed +unsettled, for she changed colour under each new impulse of her +feelings. + +"If it were not for one thing," she answered, after a thoughtful pause, +"I should insist on following my father." + +"And what may be the reason of this change of purpose?" + +"Would it be altogether safe for _you_, Mr. Littlepage, to venture again +among those misguided men?" + +"Never think of me, Miss Warren. You see I have been among them already +undetected, and it is my intention to join them again, even should I +first have to take you home. Decide for yourself." + +"I will, then, follow my father. My presence may be the means of saving +him from some indignity." + +I was rejoiced at this decision, on two accounts; of which one might +have been creditable enough to me, while the other, I am sorry to say, +was rather selfish. I delighted in the dear girl's devotion to her +parent, and I was glad to have her company as long as possible that +morning. Without entering into a very close analysis of motives, +however, I drove down the road, keeping the horse on a very slow gait, +being in no particular hurry to quit my present fair companion. + +Mary and I had now a free, and, in some tense, a confidential dialogue. +Her manner towards me had entirely changed; for, while it maintained the +modesty and _retenue_ of her sex and station, it displayed much of that +frankness which was the natural consequence of her great intimacy at the +Nest, and; as I have since ascertained, of her own ingenuous nature. The +circumstance, too, that she now felt she was with one of her own class, +who had opinions, habits, tastes and thoughts like her own, removed a +mountain of restraint, and made her communications natural and easy. I +was near an hour, I do believe, in driving the two miles that lay +between the point where the Injins had been met and the village, and in +that hour Mary Warren and I became better acquainted than would have +been the case, under ordinary circumstances, in a year. + +In the first place, I explained the reasons and manner of my early and +unexpected return home, and the motives by which I had been governed in +thus coming in disguise on my own property. Then I said a little of my +future intentions, and of my disposition to hold out to the last against +every attempt on my rights, whether they might come from the open +violence and unprincipled designs of those below, or the equally +unprincipled schemes of those above. A spurious liberty and political +cant were things that I despised, as every intelligent and independent +man must; and I did not intend to be persuaded I was an aristocrat, +merely because I had the habits of a gentleman, at the very moment when +I had less political influence than the hired labourers in my own +service. + +Mary Warren manifested a spirit and an intelligence that surprised me. +She expressed her own belief that the proscribed classes of the country +had only to be true to themselves to be restored to their just rights, +and that on the very principle by which they were so fast losing them. +The opinions she thus expressed are worthy of being recorded. + +"Everything that is done in that way," said this gentle, but admirable +creature, "has hitherto been done on a principle that is quite as false +and vicious as that by which they are now oppressed. We have had a great +deal written and said, lately, about uniting people of property, but it +has been so evidently with an intention to make money rule, and that in +its most vulgar and vicious manner, that persons of right feelings would +not unite in such an effort; but it does seem to me, Mr. Littlepage, +that if the gentlemen of New York could form themselves into an +association in defence of their rights, and for nothing else, and let it +be known that they would not be robbed with impunity, they are numerous +enough and powerful enough to put down this anti-rent project by the +mere force of numbers. Thousands would join them for the sake of +principles, and the country might be left to the enjoyment of the fruits +of liberty, without getting any of the fruits of its cant." + +This is a capital idea, and might easily be carried out. It requires +nothing but a little self-denial, with the conviction of the necessity +of doing something, if the downward tendency is to be ever checked +short of civil war, and a revolution that is to let in despotism in its +more direct form; despotism, in the indirect, is fast appearing among +us, as it is. + +"I have heard of a proposition for the Legislature to appoint special +commissioners, who are to settle all the difficulties between the +landlords and tenants," I remarked, "a scheme in the result of which +some people profess to have a faith. I regard it as only one of the many +projects that have been devised to evade the laws and institutions of +the country, as they now exist." + +Mary Warren seemed thoughtful for a moment; then her eye and face +brightened, as if she were struck with some thought suddenly; after +which the colour deepened on her cheek, and she turned to me as if half +doubting, and yet half desirous of giving utterance to the idea that was +uppermost. + +"You wish to say something, Miss Warren?" + +"I dare say it will be very silly--and I hope you won't think it +pedantic in a girl, but really it does look so to me--what difference +would there be between such a commission and the Star-Chamber judges of +the Stuarts, Mr. Littlepage?" + +"Not much in general principles, certainly, as both would be the +instruments of tyrants; but a very important one in a great essential. +The Star-Chamber courts were legal, whereas this commission would be +flagrantly illegal; the adoption of a special tribunal to effect certain +purposes that could exist only in the very teeth of the constitution, +both in its spirit and its letter. Yet this project comes from men who +prate about the 'spirit of the institutions,' which they clearly +understand to be their own spirit, let that be what it may." + +"Providence, I trust, will not smile on such desperate efforts to do +wrong!" said Mary Warren, solemnly. + +"One hardly dare look into the inscrutable ways of a Power that has its +motives so high beyond our reach. Providence permits much evil to be +done, and is very apt to be, as Frederic of Prussia expressed it, on the +side of strong battalions, so far as human vision can penetrate. Of one +thing, however, I feel certain, and that is that they who are now the +most eager to overturn everything to effect present purposes, will be +made to repent of it bitterly, either in their own persons, or in those +of their descendants." + +"That is what is meant, my father says, by visiting 'the sins of the +fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generations.' But +there is the party, with their prisoners, just entering the village. Who +is your companion, Mr. Littlepage?--One hired to act as an assistant?" + +"It is my uncle, himself. You have often heard, I should think, of Mr. +Roger Littlepage?" + +Mary gave a little exclamation at hearing this, and she almost laughed. +After a short pause she blushed brightly, and turned to me as she said-- + +"And my father and I have supposed you, the one a pedlar, and the other +a street-musician!" + +"But bedlars and moosic-grinders of goot etications, as might be +panishet for deir bolitics." + +Now, indeed, she laughed out, for the long and frank dialogue we had +held together made this change to broken English seem as if a third +person had joined us. I profited by the occasion to exhort the dear girl +to be calm, and not to feel any apprehension on the subject of her +father. I pointed out how little probable it was that violence would be +offered to a minister of the gospel, and showed her, by the number of +persons that had collected in the village, that it was impossible he +should not have many warm and devoted friends present. I also gave her +permission to, nay, requested she would, tell Mr. Warren the fact of my +uncle's and my own presence, and the reasons of our disguises, trusting +altogether to the very obvious interest the dear girl took in our +safety, that she would add, of her own accord, the necessary warning on +the subject of secresy. Just as this conversation ended we drove into +the hamlet, and I helped my fair companion to alight. + +Mary Warren now hastened to seek her father, while I was left to take +care of the horse. This I did by fastening him to the rails of a fence, +that was lined for a long distance by horses and wagons drawn up by the +way-side. Surprisingly few persons in the country, at this day, are seen +on horseback. Notwithstanding the vast difference in the amount of the +population, ten horsemen were to be met with forty years ago, by all +accounts, on the highways of the State, for one to-day. The well-known +vehicle, called a dearborn, with its four light wheels and mere shell of +a box, is in such general use as to have superseded almost every other +species of conveyance. Coaches and chariots are no longer met with, +except in the towns; and even the coachee, the English sociable, which +was once so common, has very generally given way to a sort of +carriage-wagon, that seems a very general favourite. My grandmother, who +did use the stately-looking and elegant chariot in town, had nothing but +this carriage-wagon in the country; and I question if one-half of the +population of the State would know what to call the former vehicle, if +they should see it. + +As a matter of course, the collection of people assembled at Little Nest +on this occasion had been brought together in dearborns, of which there +must have been between two and three hundred lining the fences and +crowding the horse-sheds of the two inns. The American countryman, in +the true sense of the word, is still quite rustic in many of his +notions; though, on the whole, less marked in this particular than his +European counterpart. As the rule, he has yet to learn that the little +liberties which are tolerated in a thinly-peopled district, and which +are of no great moment when put in practice under such circumstances, +become oppressive and offensive when reverted to in places of much +resort. The habits of popular control, too, come to aid in making them +fancy that what everybody does in their part of the country can have no +great harm in it. It was in conformity with this _tendency_ of the +institutions, perhaps, that very many of the vehicles I have named were +thrust into improper places, stopping up the footways, impeding the +entrances to doors, here and there letting down bars without permission, +and garnishing orchards and pastures with one-horse wagons. Nothing was +meant by all these liberties beyond a desire to dispose of the horses +and vehicles in the manner easiest to their owners. Nevertheless, there +was some connection between the institutions and these little liberties +which some statesmen might fancy existed in the _spirit_ of the former. +This, however, was a capital mistake, inasmuch as the _spirit_ of the +institutions is to be found in the laws, which prohibit and punish all +sorts of trespasses, and which are enacted expressly to curb the +_tendencies_ of human nature! No, no, as my uncle Ro says, nothing can +be less alike, sometimes, than the _spirit_ of institutions and their +_tendencies_. + +I was surprised to find nearly as many females as men had collected at +the Little Nest on this occasion. As for the Injins, after escorting Mr. +Warren as far as the village, as if significantly to admonish him of +their presence, they had quietly released him, permitting him to go +where he pleased. Mary had no difficulty in finding him, and I saw her +at his side, apparently in conversation with Opportunity and her +brother, Seneca, as soon as I moved down the road, after securing the +horse. The Injins themselves kept a little aloof, having my uncle in +their very centre; not as a prisoner, for it was clear no one suspected +his character, but as a pedlar. The watches were out again, and near +half of the whole gang seemed busy in trading, though I thought that +some among them were anxious and distrustful. + +It was a singular spectacle to see men who were raising the cry of +"aristocracy" against those who happened to be richer than themselves, +while they did not possess a single privilege or power that, +substantially, was not equally shared by every other man in the country, +thus openly arrayed in defiance of law, and thus violently trampling the +law under their feet. What made the spectacle more painful was the +certainty that was obtained by their very actions on the ground, that no +small portion of these Injins were mere boys, led on by artful and +knavish men, and who considered the whole thing as a joke. When the laws +fall so much into disrepute as to be the subjects of jokes of this sort, +it is time to inquire into their mode of administration. Does any one +believe that fifty landlords could have thus flown into the face of a +recent enactment, and committed felony openly, and under circumstances +that had rendered their intentions no secret, for a time long enough to +enable the authorities to collect a force sufficient to repress them? My +own opinion is, that had Mr. Stephen Rensselaer, and Mr. William +Rensselaer, and Mr. Harry Livingston, and Mr. John Hunter, and Mr. +Daniel Livingston, and Mr. Hugh Littlepage, and fifty more that I could +name, been caught armed and disguised, in order to _defend_ the rights +of property that are solemnly guarantied in these institutions, of +which it would seem to be the notion of some that it is the "spirit" to +dispossess them, we should all of us have been the inmates of States' +prisons, without legislators troubling themselves to pass laws for our +liberation! This is another of the extraordinary features of American +aristocracy, which almost deprives the noble of the every-day use and +benefit of the law. It would be worth our while to lose a moment in +inquiring into the process by which such strange results are brought +about, but it is fortunately rendered unnecessary by the circumstance +that the principle will be amply developed in the course of the +narrative. + +A stranger could hardly have felt the real character of this meeting by +noting the air and manner of those who had come to attend it. The "armed +and disguised" kept themselves in a body, it is true, and maintained, in +a slight degree, the appearance of distinctness from "the people," but +many of the latter stopped to speak to these men, and were apparently on +good terms with them. Not a few of the gentler sex, even, appeared to +have acquaintances in the gang; and it would have struck a political +philosopher from the other hemisphere with some surprise, to have seen +the "people" thus tolerating fellows who were openly trampling on a law +that the "people" themselves had just enacted! A political philosopher +from among ourselves, however, might have explained the seeming +contradiction by referring it to the "spirit of the institutions." If +one were to ask Hugh Littlepage to solve the difficulty, he would have +been very apt to answer that the "people" of Ravensnest wanted to compel +him to sell lands which he did not wish to sell, and that not a few of +them were anxious to add to the compulsory bargains conditions as to +price that would rob him of about one-half of his estate; and that what +the Albany philosophers called the "spirit of the institutions," was, in +fact, a "spirit of the devil," which the institutions were expressly +designed to hold in subjection! + +There was a good deal of out-door management going on, as might be seen +by the private discussions that were held between pairs, under what is +called the "horse-shedding" process. This "horse-shedding" process, I +understand, is well known among us, and extends not only to politics, +but to the administration of justice. Your regular "horse-shedder" is +employed to frequent taverns where jurors stay, and drops hints before +them touching the merits of causes known to be on the calendars; +possibly contrives to get into a room with six or eight beds, in which +there may accidentally be a juror, or even two, in a bed, when he drops +into a natural conversation on the merits of some matter at issue, +praises one of the parties, while he drops dark hints to the prejudice +of the other, and makes his own representations of the facts in a way to +scatter the seed where he is morally certain it will take root and grow. +All this time he is not conversing with a juror, not he; he is only +assuming the office of the judge by anticipation, and dissecting +evidence before it has been given, in the ear of a particular friend. It +is true there is a law against doing anything of the sort; it is true +there is law to punish the editor of a newspaper who shall publish +anything to prejudice the interests of litigants; it is true the +"horse-shedding process" is flagrantly wicked, and intended to destroy +most of the benefits of the jury-system; but, notwithstanding all this, +the "spirit of the institutions" carries everything before it, and men +regard all these laws and provisions, as well as the eternal principles +of right, precisely as if they had no existence at all, or as if a +freeman were above the law. He makes the law, and why should he not +break it? Here is another effect of the "spirit of the institutions." + +At length the bell rang, and the crowd began to move towards the +"meetin'-us." This building was not that which had been originally +constructed, and at the raising of which, I have heard it said, my dear +old grandmother, then a lovely and spirited girl of nineteen, had been +conspicuous for her coolness and judgment, but a far more pretending +successor. The old building had been constructed on the true model of +the highest dissenting spirit--a spirit that induced its advocates to +quarrel with good taste as well as religious dogmas, in order to make +the chasm as wide as possible--while in this, some concessions had been +made to the temper of the times. I very well remember the old +"meetin'-us" at the "Little Nest," for it was pulled down to give place +to its more pretending successor after I had attained my sixteenth year. +A description of both may let the reader into the secret of our rural +church architecture. + +The "old Neest meetin'-us," like its successor, was of a hemlock frame, +covered with pine clap-boards, and painted white. Of late years, the +paint had been of a most fleeting quality, the oil seeming to evaporate, +instead of striking in and setting, leaving the colouring matter in a +somewhat decomposed condition, to rub off by friction and wash away in +the rains. The house was a stiff, formal parallelogram, resembling a man +with high shoulders, appearing to be "stuck up." It had two rows of +formal, short and ungraceful windows, _that_ being a point in orthodoxy +at the period of its erection. It had a tower, uncouth, and in some +respects too large and others too small, if one can reconcile the +contradiction; but there are anomalies of this sort in art, as well as +in nature. On top of this tower stood a long-legged belfry, which had +got a very dangerous, though a very common, propensity in ecclesiastical +matters; in other words, it had begun to "cant." It was this diversion +from the perpendicular which had suggested the necessity of erecting a +new edifice, and the building in which the "lecture" on feudal tenures +and aristocracy was now to be delivered. + +The new meeting-house at Little Nest was a much more pretending edifice +than its predecessor. It was also of wood, but a bold diverging from +"first principles" had been ventured on, not only in physical, but in +the moral church. The last was "new-school;" as, indeed, was the first. +What "new-school" means, in a spiritual sense, I do not exactly know, +but I suppose it to be some improvement on some other improvement of the +more ancient and venerable dogmas of the sect to which it belongs. These +improvements on improvements are rather common among us, and are +favourably viewed by a great number under the name of progress; though +he who stands at a little distance can, half the time, discover that the +parties in progress very often come out at the precise spot from which +they started. + +For my part, I find so much wisdom in the bible--so profound a knowledge +of human nature, and of its tendencies--counsel so comprehensive and so +safe, and this solely in reference to the things of this life, that I do +not believe everything is progress in the right direction because it +sets us in motion on paths that are not two thousand years old! I +believe that we have quite as much that ought to be kept, as of that +which ought to be thrown away; and while I admit the vast number of +abuses that have grown up in the old world, under the "spirit of _their_ +institutions," as our philosophers would say, I can see a goodly number +that are also growing up here, certainly not under the same "spirit," +unless we refer them both, as a truly wise man would, to our common and +miserable nature. + +The main departure from first principles, in the sense of material +things, was in the fact that the new meeting-house had only _one_ row of +windows, and that the windows of that row had the pointed arch. The time +has been when this circumstance would have created a schism in the +theological world; and I hope that my youth and inexperience will be +pardoned, if I respectfully suggest that a pointed arch, or any other +arch in _wood_, ought to create another in the world of taste. + +But in we went, men, women and children; uncle Ro, Mr. Warren, Mary, +Seneca, Opportunity, and all, the Injins excepted. For some reason +connected with their policy, those savages remained outside, until the +whole audience had assembled in grave silence. The orator was in, or on +a sort of stage, which was made, under the new-light system in +architecture, to supersede the old, inconvenient, and ugly pulpit, +supported on each side by two divines, of what denomination I shall not +take on myself to say. It will be sufficient if I add Mr. Warren was not +one of them. He and Mary had taken their seats quite near the door, and +under the gallery. I saw that the rector was uneasy the moment the +lecturer and his two supporters entered the pulpit, and appeared on the +stage; and at length he arose, and followed by Mary, he suddenly left +the building. In an instant I was at their side, for it struck me +indisposition was the cause of so strange a movement. Fortunately, at +this moment, the whole audience rose in a body, and one of the ministers +commenced an extempore prayer. + +At that instant, the Injins had drawn themselves up around the building, +close to its sides, and under the open windows, in a position that +enabled them to hear all that passed. As I afterwards learned, this +arrangement was made with an understanding with those within, one of +the ministers having positively refused to address the throne of Grace +so long as any of the tribe were present. Well has it been said, that +man often strains at a gnat, and swallows a camel! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + "I tell thee, Jack Cade, the clothier means to dress the commonwealth + and turn it, and put a new nap upon it." + + _King Henry VI._ + + +As I knew Mary must have communicated to her father my real name, I did +not hesitate, as I ought to have done in my actual dress and in my +assumed character, about following them, in order to inquire if I could +be of any service. I never saw distress more strongly painted in any +man's countenance than it was in that of Mr. Warren, when I approached. +So very obvious, indeed, was his emotion, that I did not venture to +obtrude myself on him, but followed in silence; and he and Mary slowly +walked, side by side, across the street to the stoop of a house, of +which all the usual inmates had probably gone in the other direction. +Here, Mr. Warren took a seat, Mary still at his side, while I drew near, +standing before him. + +"I thank you, Mr. Littlepage," the divine at length said, with a smile +so painful it was almost haggard, "for, so Mary tells me you should be +called--I thank you for this attention, sir--but, it will be over in +another minute--I feel better now, and shall be able to command myself." + +No more was then said, concerning the reason of this distress; but Mary +has since explained to me its cause. When her father went into the +meeting-house, he had not the smallest idea that anything like a +religious service would be dragged into the ceremonies of such a day. +The two ministers on the stage first gave him the alarm; when a most +painful struggle occurred in his mind, whether or not he should remain, +and be a party to the mockery of addressing God in prayer, in an +assembly collected to set at naught one of the plainest of his +laws--nay, with banded felons drawn up around the building, as principal +actors in the whole mummery. The alternative was for him, a minister, of +the altar, to seem to quit those who were about to join in prayer, and +to do this moreover under circumstances which might appear to others as +if he rejected all worship but that which was in accordance with his own +views of right, a notion that would be certain to spread far and near, +greatly to the prejudice of his own people. But the first, as he viewed +the matter, involved a species of blasphemy; and yielding to his +feelings, he took the decided step he had, intending to remain out of +the building, until the more regular business of the day commenced. + +It is certain Mr. Warren, who acted under the best impulse of christian +feeling, a reverence for God, and a profound wish not to be a party in +offending him with the mockery of worship under such circumstances, has +lost much influence, and made many enemies, by the step he then took. +The very same feeling which has raised the cry of aristocracy against +every gentleman who dwells in sufficiently near contact with the masses +to distinguish his habits from those around him; which induces the +eastern emigrant, who comes from a state of society where there are no +landlords, to fancy those he finds here ought to be pulled down, because +he is not a landlord himself; which enables the legislator to stand up +in his place, and unblushingly talk about feudal usages, at the very +instant he is demonstrating that equal rights are denied to those he +would fain stigmatize as feudal lords, has extended to religion, and the +church of which Mr. Warren was a minister, is very generally accused of +being aristocratic, too! This charge is brought because it has claims +which other churches affect to renounce and reject as forming no part of +the faith; but the last cannot remain easy under their own decisions; +and while they shout, and sing that they have found "a church without a +bishop," they hate the church that has a bishop, because it has +something they do not possess themselves, instead of pitying its deluded +members, if they believe them wrong. This will not be admitted +generally, but it is nevertheless true; and betrays itself in a hundred +ways. It is seen in the attempt to _call_ their own priests bishops, in +the feeling so manifest whenever a cry can be raised against their +existence, and in the _general_ character of these theological rallies, +whenever they do occur. + +For one, I see a close analogy between my own church, as it exists in +this country, and comparing it with that from which it sprung, and to +those which surround it, and the true political circumstances of the two +hemispheres. In discarding a vast amount of surplusage, in reducing the +orders of the ministry, in practice, as well as in theory, to their +primitive number ... three and in rejecting all connection with the +State, the American branch of the Episcopal Church has assumed the +position it was desirous to fill; restoring, as near as may be, the +simplicity of the apostolical ages, while it does not disregard the +precepts and practices of the apostles themselves. It has not set itself +above antiquity and authority, but merely endeavoured to sustain them, +without the encumbrances of more modern abuses. Thus, too, has it been +in political things. No attempt has been made to create new organic +social distinctions in this country, but solely to disencumber those +that are inseparable from the existence of all civilized society, of the +clumsy machinery with which the expedients of military oppressors had +invested them. The real sages of this country, in founding its +institutions, no more thought of getting rid of the landlords of the +country, than the Church thought of getting rid of its bishops. The +first knew that the gradations of property were an inevitable incident +of civilization; that it would not be wise, if it were possible, to +prevent the affluent from making large investments in the soil; and that +this could not be done in practice, without leaving the relation of +landlord and tenant. Because landlords, in other parts of the world, +possessed privileges that were not necessary to the natural or simple +existence of the character, was no reason for destroying the character +itself; any more than the fact that the bishops of England possess an +authority the apostles knew nothing of, rendered it proper for the +American branch of the church to do away with an office that came from +the apostles. But, envy and jealousy do not pause to reflect on such +things; it is enough for _them_, in the one case that you and yours +have estates, and occupy social positions, that I and mine do not, and +cannot easily, occupy and possess; _therefore_ I will oppose you, and +join my voice to the cry of those who wish to get their farms for +nothing; and in the other, that you have bishops when we can have none, +without abandoning our present organization and doctrines. + +I dwell on these points at some little length, because the movements of +Mr. Warren and myself, at that moment, had a direct influence on the +circumstances that will soon be related. It is probable that fully +one-half of those collected in the Little Nest meeting-house, that +morning, as they stood up, and lent a sort of one-sided and listless +attention to the prayer, were thinking of the scandalous and +aristocratical conduct of Mr. Warren, in "goin' out o' meetin' just as +meetin' went to prayers!" Few, indeed, were they who would be likely to +ascribe any charitable motive for the act; and probably not one of those +present thought of the true and conscientious feeling that had induced +it. So the world wags! It is certain that a malignant and bitter feeling +was got up against the worthy rector on that occasion, and for that act, +which has not yet abated, and which will not abate in many hundreds, +until the near approach of death shall lay bare to them the true +character of so many of their own feelings. + +It was some minutes before Mr. Warren entirely regained his composure. +At length he spoke to me, in his usual benevolent and mild way, saying a +few words that were complimentary, on the subject of my return, while he +expressed his fears that my uncle Ro and myself had been imprudent in +thus placing ourselves, as it might be, in the lion's jaws. + +"You have certainly made your disguises so complete," he added, smiling, +"as to have escaped wonderfully well so far. That you should deceive +Mary and myself is no great matter, since neither of us ever saw you +before; but, the manner in which your nearest relatives have been +misled, is surprising. Nevertheless, you have every inducement to be +cautious, for hatred and jealousy have a penetration that does not +belong even to love." + +"We think we are safe, sir," I answered, "for we are certainly within +the statute. We are too well aware of our miserable aristocratical +condition to place ourselves within the grasp of the law, for such are +our eminent privileges as a landed nobility, that we are morally certain +either of us would not only be sent to the state's prison were he to be +guilty of the felony those Injins are committing, and will commit, with +perfect impunity, but that he would be kept there, as long as a single +tear of anguish could be wrung from one of those who are classed with +the aristocracy. Democracy alone finds any sympathy in the ordinary +administration of American justice." + +"I am afraid that your irony has only too much truth in it. But the +movement around the building would seem to say that the real business of +the day is about to commence, and we had better return to the church." + +"Those men in disguise are watching us, in a most unpleasant and +alarming manner," said Mary Warren, delighting me far more by the +vigilance she thus manifested in my behalf, than alarming me by the +fact. + +That we were watched, however, became obviously apparent, as we walked +towards the building, by the actions of some of the Injins. They had +left the side of the church where they had posted themselves during the +prayer, and head was going to head, among those nearest to us; or, it +would be nearer to appearances, were I to say bunch of calico was going +to bunch of calico, for nothing in the form of a head was visible among +them. Nothing was said to Mr. Warren and Mary, however, who were +permitted to go into the meeting-house, unmolested; but two of these +disguised gentry placed themselves before me, laying their rifles across +my path, and completely intercepting my advance. + +"Who you?" abruptly demanded one of the two;--"where go--where come +from?" + +The answer was ready, and I trust it was sufficiently steady. + +"I coomes from Charmany, und I goes into der kerch, as dey say in mine +coontry; what might be callet meetin'-us, here." + +What might have followed, it is not easy to say, had not the loud, +declamatory voice of the lecturer just then been heard, as he commenced +his address. This appeared to be a signal for the tribe to make some +movement, for the two fellows who had stopped me, walked silently away, +though bag of calico went to bag of calico, as they trotted off +together, seemingly communicating to each other their suspicions. I took +advantage of the opening, and passed into the church, where I worked my +way through the throng, and got a seat at my uncle's side. + +I have neither time, room, nor inclination to give anything like an +analysis of the lecture. The speaker was fluent, inflated, and anything +but logical. Not only did he contradict himself, but he contradicted the +laws of nature. The intelligent reader will not require to be reminded +of the general character of a speech that was addressed to the passions +and interests of such an audience, rather than to their reason. He +commented, at first, on the particular covenants of the leases on the +old estates of the colony, alluding to the quarter-sales, chickens, +days' work, and durable tenures, in the customary way. The reservation +of the mines, too, was mentioned as a tyrannical covenant, precisely as +if a landlord were obliged to convey any more of the rights that were +vested in him, than he saw fit; or the tenant could justly claim more +than he had hired! This man treated all these branches of the subject, +as if the tenants had acquired certain mysterious interests by time and +occupation, overlooking the fact that the one party got just as good a +title as the other by this process; the lease being the instrument +between them, that was getting to be venerable. If one party grew old as +a tenant, so did the other as a landlord. I thought that this lecturer +would have been glad to confine himself to the Manor leases, that being +the particular branch of the subject he had been accustomed to treat; +but, such was not the precise nature of the job he was now employed to +execute. At Ravensnest, he could not flourish the feudal grievance of +the quarter-sales, the "four fat fowls," the "days' works," and the +_length_ of the leases. Here it was clearly his cue to say nothing of +the three first, and to complain of the _shortness_ of the leases, as +mine were about to fall in, in considerable numbers. Finding it was +necessary to take new ground, he determined it should be bold ground, +and such as would give him the least trouble to get along with. + +As soon as the lecturer had got through with his general heads, and felt +the necessity of coming down to particulars, he opened upon the family +of Littlepage, in a very declamatory way. What had they ever done for +the country, he demanded, that _they_ should be lords in the land? By +some process known to himself, he had converted landlords into lords in +the land, and was now aiming to make the tenants occupy the latter +station--nay, both stations. Of course, some services of a public +character, of which the Littlepages might boast, were not touched upon +at all, everything of that nature being compressed into what the +lecturer and his audience deemed serving the people, by helping to +indulge them in all their desires, however rapacious or wicked. As +everybody who knows anything of the actual state of matters among us, +must be aware how rarely the "people" hear the truth, when their own +power and interests are in question, it is not surprising that a very +shallow reasoner was enabled to draw wool over the eyes of the audience +of Ravensnest on that particular subject. + +But my interest was most awakened when this man came to speak of myself. +It is not often that a man enjoys the same opportunity as that I then +possessed to hear his own character delineated, and his most private +motives analyzed. In the first place, the audience were told that this +"young Hugh Littlepage had never done anything for the land that he +proudly, and like a great European noble, he calls his 'estate.' Most of +you, fellow-citizens, can show your hard hands, and recall the burning +suns under which you have opened the swarth, through those then lovely +meadows yonder, as _your_ titles to these farms. But, Hugh Littlepage +never did a day's work in his life"--ten minutes before he had been +complaining of the "days' work" in the Manor leases as indignities that +a freeman ought not to submit to--"no, fellow-citizens, he never had +that honour, and never will have it, until by a just division of his +property, or what he now _calls_ his property, you reduce him to the +necessity of labouring to raise the crops he wants to consume." + +"Where is this Hugh Littlepage at this very moment? In Paris, +squandering _your_ hard earnings in riotous living, according to the +best standards of aristocracy. He lives in the midst of abundance, +dresses richly and fares richly, while _you_ and _yours_ are eating the +sweat of your brows. He is no man for a pewter spoon and two-pronged +fork! No, my countrymen! He must have a _gold_ spoon for some of his +dishes, and you will find it hard to believe--plain, unpretending, +republican farmers as you are, but it is not the less true--he must have +forks of _silver_! Fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his +knife into his mouth, as you and I do, in eating--as all plain, +unpretending republicans do--for the world. It would choke him; no, he +keeps _silver_ forks to touch his anointed lips!" Here there was an +attempt to get up something like applause, but it totally failed. The +men of Ravensnest had been accustomed all their lives to see the +Littlepages in the social station they occupied; and, after all, it did +not seem so very extraordinary that we should have silver forks, any +more than that others should have silver spoons. The lecturer had the +tact to see that he had failed on this point, and he turned to another. + +The next onset was made against our title. Whence did it come? demanded +the lecturer. From the king of England; and the people had conquered the +country from that sovereign, and put themselves in his place. Now, is it +not a good principle in politics, that to the victors belong the spoils? +He believed it was; and that in conquering America, he was of opinion +that the people of America had conquered the land, and that they had a +right to take the land, and to keep it. Titles from kings he did not +respect much; and he believed the American people, generally, did not +think much of them. If Hugh Littlepage wished an "estate," as he called +it, let him come to the people and "sarve _them_," and see what sort of +an estate _they_ would give him. + +But there was one portion of his speech which was so remarkable, that I +must attempt to give it, as it was uttered. It was while the lecturer +was expatiating on this subject of titles, that he broke out in the +following language:--"Don't talk to me," he bellowed--for by this time +his voice had risen to the pitch of a methodist's, in a +camp-meeting--"Don't talk to me of antiquity, and time, and length of +possession, as things to be respected. They're nawthin--jest nawthin' +at all. Possession's good in law, I'll admit; and I contind that's jest +what the tenants has. They've got the lawful possession of this very +property, that layeth (not eggs, but) up and down, far and near, and all +around; a rich and goodly heritage, when divided up among hard-working +and honest folks; but too much, by tens of thousands of acres, for a +young chap, who is wasting his substance in foreign lands, to hold. I +contind that the tenants has this very, precise, lawful possession, at +this blessed moment, only the law won't let 'em enj'y it. It's all owing +to that accursed law, that the tenant can't set up a title ag'in his +landlord. You see by this one fact, fellow-citizens, that they are a +privileged class, and ought to be brought down to the level of gin'ral +humanity. You can set up title ag'in anybody else, but you shan't set up +title ag'in a landlord. I know what is said in the primisis," shaking +his head, in derision of any arguments on the other side of this +particular point; "I know that circumstances alter cases. I can see the +hardship of one neighbour's coming to another, and asking to borrow or +hire his horse for a day, and then pretendin' to hold him on some other +ketch. But horses isn't land; you must all allow _that_. No, if horses +_was_ land, the case would be altered. Land is an element, and so is +fire, and so is water, and so is air. Now, who will say that a freeman +hasn't a right to air, hasn't a right to water, and, on the same +process, hasn't a right to land? He _has_, fellow-citizens--he _has_. +These are what are called in philosophy elementary rights; which is the +same thing as a right to the elements, of which land is one, and a +principal one. I say a principal one; for, if there was no land to stand +on, we should drop away from air, and couldn't enj'y _that_; we should +lose all our water in vapour, and couldn't put it to millin' and +manafacterin' purposes; and where could we build our fires? No; land is +the _first_ elementary right, and connected with it comes the first and +most sacred right to the elements. + +"I do not altogether disregard antiquity, neither. No; I respect and +revere pre-emption rights; for they fortify and sustain the right to the +elements. Now, I do not condemn squattin', as some doos. It's actin' +accordin' to natur', and natur' is right. I respect and venerate a +squatter's possession; for it's held under the sacred principle of +usefulness. It says, 'go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose,' +and means 'progress.' That's an antiquity I respect. I respect the +antiquity of your possessions here, _as tenants_; for it is a +hard-working and useful antiquity--an antiquity that increases and +multiplies. If it be said that Hugh Littlepage's ancestors--your noble +has his 'ancestors,' while us 'common folks' are satisfied with +forefathers"--[this hit took with a great many present, raising a very +general laugh]--"but if this Hugh's ancestors did pay anything for the +land, if I was you, fellow-citizens, I'd be gin'rous, and let him have +it back ag'in. Perhaps his forefathers gave a cent an acre to the +king--may be, two; or say sixpence, if you will. I'd let him have his +sixpence an acre back again, by way of shutting his mouth. No; I'm for +nawthin' that's ungin'rous." + +"Fellow-citizens, I profess to be what is called a Democrat. I know that +many of you be what is called Whigs--but I apprehend there is'nt much +difference between us on the subject of this system of leasing land. We +are all republicans, and leasing farms is anti-republican. Then, I wish +to be liberal even to them I commonly oppose at elections, and I will +freely admit, then, on the whull, the Whigs have rather out-done us +Democrats, on the subject of this anti-rentism. I am sorry to be obliged +to own in it, but it must be confessed that, while in the way of +governors, there hasn't been much difference--yes, put 'em in a bag, and +shake 'em up, and you'd hardly know which would come out first--which +has done himself the most immortal honour, which has shown himself the +most comprehensive, profound and safe statesman; I know that some of our +people complain of the governors for ordering out troops ag'in the +Injins, but they could not _help_ that--they wouldn't have done it, in +my judgment, had there been any way of getting round it; but the law was +too strong for them, so they druv' in the Injins, and now they join us +in putting down aristocracy, and in raising up gin'ral humanity. No; I +don't go ag'in the governors, though many doos." + +"But I profess to be a Democrat, and I'll give an outline of my +principles, that all may see why they can't, and don't, and never will +agree with aristocracy or nobility, in any form or shape. I believe one +man is as good as another in all things. Neither birth, nor law, nor +edication, nor riches, nor poverty, nor anything else can ever make any +difference in this principle, which is sacred, and fundamental, and is +the chief stone of the corner in true Democracy. One man is as good as +another, I say, and has just the same right to the enj'yment of 'arth +and its privileges, as any other man. I think the majority ought to rule +in all things, and that it is the duty of the minority to submit. Now, +I've had this here sentiment thrown back upon me, in some places where I +have spoken, and been asked 'how is this--the majority must rule, and +the minority must submit--in that case, the minority is'nt as good as +the majority in practice, and hasn't the same right. They are made to +own what they think ought not to be done?' The answer to this is so +plain, I wonder a sensible man can ask the question, for all the +minority has to do, is to join the majority, to have things as they want +'em. The road is free, and it is this open road that makes true liberty. +Any man can fall in with the majority, and sensible folks commonly do, +when they can find it, and that makes a person not only a man, as the +saying is, but a FREEMAN, a still more honourable title." + +"Fellow-citizens, a great movement is in progress, "Go ahead!" is the +cry, and the march is onward; our thoughts already fly about on the +wings of the lightning, and our bodies move but little slower, on the +vapour of steam--soon our principles will rush ahead of all, and let in +the radiance of a glorious day of universal reform, and loveliness, and +virtue and charity, when the odious sound of _rent_ will never be heard, +when every man will set down under his own apple, or cherry tree, if not +under his own fig tree. + +"I am a Democrat,--yes, a Democrat. Glorious appellation! I delight in +it! It is my pride, my boast, my very virtue. Let but the people truly +rule, and all must come well. The people has no temptation to do wrong. +If they hurt the state, they hurt themselves, for they are the state. Is +a man likely to hurt himself? Equality is my axiom. Nor, by equality, do +I mean your narrow pitiful equality before the law, as it is sometimes +tarmed, for that may be no equality at all; but, I mean an equality that +is substantial, and which must be restored, when the working of the law +has de_ran_ged it. Fellow-citizens, do you know what leap-year means? I +dare say some of you don't, the ladies in partic'lar not giving much +attention to astronomy. Well, I have inquired, and it is this:--The +'arth revolves around the sun in a year, as we all know. And we count +three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, we all know. But, the 'arth +is a few hours longer than three hundred and sixty-five days, in making +its circuit--nearly six hours longer. Now, everybody knows that 4 times +6 makes 24, and so a twenty-ninth day is put into February, every fourth +year, to restore the lost time; another change being to be made a long +distance ahead to settle the fractions. Thus will it be with Democracy. +Human natur' can't devise laws yet, that will keep all things on an +exactly equal footing, and political leap-years must be introduced into +the political calendar, to restore the equilibrium. In astronomy, we +must divide up anew the hours and minutes; in humanity, we must, from +time to time, divide up the land." + +But, I cannot follow this inflated fool any longer; for he was quite as +much of fool as of knave, though partaking largely of the latter +character. It was plain that he carried many of his notions much farther +than a good portion of his audience carried theirs; though, whenever he +touched upon anti-rentism, he hit a chord that vibrated through the +whole assembly. That the tenants ought to own their farms, and pay no +more rents, AND POCKET ALL THE BENEFITS OF THEIR OWN PREVIOUS LABOURS, +THOUGH THESE LABOURS HAD BEEN CONSIDERED IN THE EARLIER RENTS, AND WERE, +INDEED, STILL CONSIDERED, IN THE LOW RATES AT WHICH THE LANDS WERE LET, +was a doctrine all could understand; and few were they, I am sorry to +say, who did not betray how much self-love and self-interest had +obscured the sense of right. + +The lecture, such as it was, lasted more than two hours; and when it was +done, an individual rose, in the character of a chairman--when did three +Americans ever get together to discuss anything, that they had not a +chairman and secretary, and all the parliamentary forms?--and invited +any one present, who might entertain views different from the speaker, +to give his opinion. Never before did I feel so tempted to speak in +public. My first impulse was to throw away the wig, and come out in my +own person, and expose the shallow trash that had just been uttered. I +believe even I, unaccustomed as I was to public speaking, could easily +have done this, and I whispered as much to my uncle, who was actually on +his feet, to perform the office for me, when the sound of "Mr. +Chairman," from a different part of the church, anticipated him. Looking +round, I recognised at once the face of the intelligent mechanic, named +Hall, whom we had met at Mooseridge, on our way to the Nest. I took my +seat, at once, perfectly satisfied that the subject was in good hands. + +This speaker commenced with great moderation, both of manner and tone, +and, indeed, he preserved them throughout. His utterance, accent and +language, of course, were all tinctured by his habits and associations; +but his good sense and his good principles were equally gifts from +above. More of the "true image of his maker" was to be found in that one +individual than existed in fifty common men. He saw clearly, spoke +clearly, and demonstrated effectively. As he was well known in that +vicinity and generally respected, he was listened to with profound +attention, and spoke like a man who stood in no dread of tar and +feathers. Had the same sentiments been delivered by one in a fine coat, +and a stranger, or even by myself, who had so much at stake, very many +of them would have been incontinently set down as aristocratic, and not +to be tolerated, the most sublimated lover of equality occasionally +falling into these little contradictions. + +Hall commenced by reminding the audience that they all knew him, and +knew he was no landlord. He was a mechanic, and a labouring man, like +most of themselves, and had no interest that could be separate from the +general good of society. This opening was a little homage to prejudice, +since reason is reason, and right right, let them come whence they will. +"I, too, am a democrat," he went on to say, "but I do not understand +democracy to mean anything like that which has been described by the +last speaker. I tell that gentleman plainly, that if he is a democrat, I +am none; and if I am a democrat, he is none. By democracy I understand a +government in which the sovereign power resides in the body of the +nation; and not in a few, or in one. But this principle no more gives +the body of the people authority to act wrong, than in a monarchy, in +which the sovereign power resides in one man, that one man has a right +to act wrong. By equality, I do not understand anything more than +equality before the law--now, if the law had said that when the late +Malbone Littlepage died, his farms should go not to his next of kin, or +to his devisee, but to his neighbours, then that would have been the law +to be obeyed, although it would be a law destructive of civilization, +since men would never accumulate property to go to the public. Something +nearer home is necessary to make men work, and deny themselves what they +like. + +"The gentleman has told us of a sort of political leap-year that is to +regulate the social calender. I understand him to mean that when +property has got to be unequal, it must be divided up, in order that men +may make a new start. I fear he will have to dispense with leap years, +and come to leap months, or leap weeks, ay, or even to leap days; for, +was the property of this township divided up this very morning, and in +this meetin'-us, it would get to be unequal before night. Some folks +can't keep money when they have it; and others can't keep their hands +off it. + +"Then, again, if Hugh Littlepage's property is to be divided, the +property of all of Hugh Littlepage's neighbours ought to be divided too, +to make even an _appearance_ of equality; though it would be but an +_appearance_ of equality, admitting that were done, since Hugh +Littlepage has more than all the rest of the town put together. Yes, +fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage pays, at this moment, one-twentieth of +the taxes of this whole county. That is about the proportion of +Ravensnest; and that tax, in reality, comes out of his pockets, as much +the greater part of the taxes of Rensselaer and Albany counties, if you +will except the cities they contain, are paid by the Rensselaers. It +won't do to tell me the tenants pay the taxes, for I know better. We all +know that the probable amount of the taxes is estimated in the original +bargain, and is so much deducted from the rent, and comes out of the +landlord if it come out of anybody. There is a good reason why the +tenant should pay it, and a reason that is altogether in his interest; +because the law would make his oxen, and horses, and carts liable for +the taxes, should the landlord neglect to pay the taxes. The collector +always sells personals for a tax if he can find them on the property; +and by deducting it from the rent, and paying it himself, the tenant +makes himself secure against that loss. To say that a tenant don't take +any account of the taxes he will be likely to pay, in making his +bargain, is as if one should say he is _non com_. and not fit to be +trusted with his own affairs. There are men, in this community, I am +sorry to say, who wish a law passed to tax the rents on durable leases, +or on all leases, in order to choke the landlords off from their claims, +but such men are true friends to neither justice nor their country. Such +a law would be a tax on the incomes of a particular class of society, +and on no other. It is a law that would justify the aggrieved parties in +taking up arms to resist it, unless the law would give 'em relief, as I +rather think it would. By removing into another State, however, they +would escape the tax completely, laugh at those who framed it, who would +incur the odium of doing an impotent wrong, and get laughed at as well +as despised, besides injuring the State by drawing away its money to be +spent out of its limits. Think, for one moment, of the impression that +would be made of New York justice, if a hundred citizens of note and +standing were to be found living in Philadelphia or Paris, and +circulating to the world the report that they were exiles to escape a +special taxation! The more the matter was inquired into, the worse it +must appear; for men may say what they please, to be ready ag'in +election time, as there is but one piece, or parcel of property to tax, +it is an income tax, and nothing else. What makes the matter still worse +is, that every man of sense will know that it is taxing the same person +twice, substantially for the same thing, since the landlord has the +direct land tax deducted from the rent in the original bargain. + +"As for all this cry about aristocracy, I don't understand it. Hugh +Littlepage has just as good a right to his ways as I have to mine. The +gentleman says he needs gold spoons and silver forks to eat with. Well, +what of that? I dare say the gentleman himself finds a steel knife and +fork useful, and has no objection to a silver, or, at least, to a +pewter spoon. Now, there are folks that use wooden forks, or no forks, +and who are glad to get horn spoons; and _they_ might call that +gentleman himself an aristocrat. This setting of ourselves up as the +standard in all things is anything but liberty. If I don't like to eat +my dinner with a man who uses a silver fork, no man in this country can +compel me. On the other hand, if young Mr. Littlepage don't like a +companion who chews tobacco, as I do, he ought to be left to follow his +own inclination. + +"Then, this doctrine that one man's as good as another has got two sides +to it. One man ought to have the same general rights as another, I am +ready to allow; but if one man is as _good_ as another, why do we have +the trouble and cost of elections? We might draw lots, as we do for +jurors, and save a good deal of time and money. We all know there is +ch'ice in men, and I think that so long as the people have their ch'ice +in sayin' who shall and who shall not be their agents, they've got all +they have any right to. So long as this is done, the rest of the world +may be left to follow their own ways, provided they obey the laws. + +"Then, I am no great admirer of them that are always telling the people +they're parfect. I know this county pretty well, as well as most in it; +and if there be a parfect man in Washington county, I have not yet +fallen in with him. Ten millions of imparfect men won't make one parfect +man, and so I don't look for perfection in the people any more than I do +in princes. All I look for in democracy is to keep the reins in so many +hands as to prevent a few from turning everything to their own account; +still, we mustn't forget that, when a great many do go wrong, it is much +worse than when a few go wrong. + +"If my son didn't inherit the property of Malbone Littlepage, neither +will Malbone Littlepage's son inherit mine. We are on a footing in that +respect. As to paying rent, which some persons think so hard, what would +they do if they had no house to live in, or farm to work? If folks wish +to purchase houses and farms, no one can prevent them if they have money +to do it with; and if they have not, is it expected other people are to +provide them with such things out of their own----" + +Here the speaker was interrupted by a sudden whooping, and the Injins +came pressing into the house in a way to drive in all the aisles before +them. Men, women and children leaped from the windows, the distance +being trifling, while others made their escape by the two side-doors, +the Injins coming in only by the main entrance. In less time than it +takes to record the fact, the audience had nearly all dispersed. + + + + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Mr. Hugh Littlepage writes a little sharply, but there is +truth in all he says, at the bottom. His tone is probably produced by +the fact that there is so serious an attempt to deprive him of his old +paternal estate, an attempt which is receiving support in high quarters. +In addition to this provocation, the Littlepages, as the manuscript +shows farther on, are traduced, as one means of effecting the objects of +the anti-renters; no man, in any community in which it is necessary to +work on public sentiment in order to accomplish such a purpose, ever +being wronged without being calumniated. As respects the inns, truth +compels me, as an old traveller, to say that Mr. Littlepage has much +reason for what he says. I have met with a better bed in the lowest +French tavern I ever was compelled to use, and in one instance I slept +in an inn frequented by carters, than in the best purely country inn in +America. In the way of neatness, however, more is usually to be found in +our New York village taverns than in the public hotels of Paris itself. +As for the hit touching the intelligence of the people, it is merited; +for I have myself heard subtle distinctions drawn to show that the +"people" of a former generation were not as knowing as the "people" of +this, and imputing the covenants of the older leases to that +circumstance, instead of imputing them to their true cause, the opinions +and practices of the times. Half a century's experience would induce me +to say that the "people" were never particularly dull in making a +bargain.--EDITOR. + +[2] The editor has often had occasion to explain the meaning of +terms of this nature. The colonists caught a great many words from the +Indians they first knew, and used them to all other Indians, though not +belonging to their languages; and these other tribes using them as +English, a sort of limited _lingua franca_ has grown up in the country +that everybody understands. It is believed that "moccasin," "squaw," +"pappoose," "sago," "tomahawk," "wigwam," &c. &c. all belong to this +class of words. There can be little doubt that the _sobriquet_ of +"Yankees" is derived from "Yengeese," the manner in which the tribes +nearest to New England pronounced the word "English." It is to this hour +a provincialism of that part of the country to pronounce this word +"_Eng_-lish" instead of "_Ing_-lish," its conventional sound. The change +from "_Eng_-lish" to "_Yen-geese_" is very trifling.--EDITOR. + +[3] As the "honourable gentleman from Albany" does not seem to +understand the precise signification of "provincial," I can tell him +that one sign of such a character is to admire a bed at an American +country inn.--EDITOR. + +[4] That Mr. Hugh Littlepage does not feel or express himself +too strongly on the state of things that has now existed among us for +long, long years, the following case, but one that illustrates the +melancholy truth among many, will show. At a time when the tenants of an +extensive landlord, to whom tens of thousands were owing for rent, were +openly resisting the law, and defeating every attempt to distrain, +though two ordinary companies of even armed constables would have put +them down, the sheriff entered the house of that very landlord, and +levied on his furniture for debt. Had that gentleman, on the just and +pervading principle that he owed no allegiance to an authority that did +not protect him, resisted the sheriff's officer, _he_ would have gone to +the State's prison; and there he might have staid until his last hour of +service was expended.--EDITOR. + +[5] Absurd as this may seem, it is nevertheless true, and for a +reason that is creditable, rather than the reverse--a wish to help along +the unfortunate. It is a great mistake, however, as a rule, to admit +of any other motive for selecting for public trusts, than +qualification.--EDITOR. + +[6] This is no invented statement, but strictly one that is +true, the writer having himself a small interest in a property so +situated; though he has not yet bethought him of applying to the +Legislature for relief.--EDITOR. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: +Misprints and punctuation errors corrected. + + Page 23, "fourscore" changed to "four-score". + Page 83, Single quote changed to double quote. + Page 94, Removed double quote. + Page 113, Other versions of text read "good-natured" instead of + "good-natural". + Page 139, Removed open quotes. + Page 144, "bathos" changed to "pathos". + Page 178, "Pat" changed to "Patt". + Page 195, "Ja" changed to "ja". + Page 196, "eend" changed to "end". + Page 212, "gobbernor" changed to "gubbernor". + Page 233, Removed duplicate word "to". + +Ligatures removed in ASCII Version: c[oe]lum to coelum. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Redskins; or, Indian and Injin, +Volume 1., by James Fenimore Cooper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REDSKINS *** + +***** This file should be named 31210.txt or 31210.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/2/1/31210/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Susan Carr and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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