-"2 
 
 LIB R A RY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 01 KT OK 
 
 Received W~\ 271892 , 7 
 ccessions No. LL^ H1L Shelf No. 
 
 I - 
 
 V, 26 
 
THE 
 
 REDSKINS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 INDIAN AND INJIN 
 
 BEING THE CONCLUSION OF THE 
 
 BY J. FENIMORE COOLER, 
 
 in every work regard the writer s end ; 
 
 None e er can compass more than they intend.- -Po 
 
 COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 STRINGER AND TOWNSEND, 
 
 1857. 
 
THE EEDSKINS. 
 
 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. 
 
P5 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Tms book closes the series of the Littlepage Ma* 
 nuscripts, which have been given to the world, as 
 containing a fair account of the comparative sacri 
 fices 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 opi 
 nions 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 narra 
 tives 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 1 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 condi 
 tion of a new settlement ; the gradation of the squat 
 ter, from him who merely makes his pitch to crop a 
 few fields in passing, to him who carries on the busi 
 ness 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 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 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 combina 
 tion ; 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 want 
 ing 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 in 
 struments of their own subjection. No well-inten 
 tioned 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 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 about 200,000 souls. With such a proportion be 
 tween 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, there 
 fore, must be untrue, as applied to those two interests 
 at that day. 
 
 In 1786-7, the State of New York, then in posses 
 sion of all powers on the subject, abolished entails, 
 and otherwise brought its law of real estate in har 
 mony 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. 
 
VI PREPACK. 
 
 out and out, in every direction aroand 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 de 
 liberately 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 " spi 
 rits;" 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 as 
 sociate of B., that he is acting in opposition to the 
 " spirit of the institutions," inasmuch as the Declara 
 tion 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 feuda, 
 in their nature. We do not conceive this to be true 
 
PREFACE. VII 
 
 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 pos 
 sess 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, there 
 fore, that these leases are feudal because they run for 
 ever ! Now the length of the lease is clearly a con 
 cession to the tenant, and was so regarded when re 
 ceived; 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 dura 
 ble 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 emp- 
 tores" 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 inci 
 dent 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 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 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, with 
 out 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 bargain 
 ing 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 pro 
 gress 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 mili 
 tary 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 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 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 govern 
 ment 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 pre 
 sent 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 grena 
 diers," 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 
 *o bare-faced an attempt as this of the anti-renters 
 1 
 
X PREFACE, 
 
 to alter the conditions of their own leases to suit theit 
 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 ses 
 sion 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 legisla 
 tion, as Mr. Hugh Littlepage not unaptly terms it ; 
 endeavouring to do that indirectly, which the Con 
 stitution 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 de 
 scents, it has enacted, so far as one body of the legis 
 lature 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 taxa 
 tion ; while it is attended by circumstances of aggra* 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vation 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 pro 
 perty 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 legis 
 lature 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 de 
 scents ! 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. Mulder has already been 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 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 wit 
 nesses 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 senti 
 ment. 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 obliga 
 tions 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 injus 
 tice or roguery. 
 
 Nor is it an apology for anti-rentism, in any of 
 its aspects, to say that leasehold tenures are inexpe 
 dient. 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 advan 
 tage in the existence of large leasehold estates, when 
 they carry with them no political power, as is the 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 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 proba 
 ble 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 th.e 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, in 
 deed, 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 necessi 
 ties of men, that no legislation can long prevent it. 
 A state of things which will not encourage the rich 
 10 hold real estate would not be desirable, since it 
 would be diverting their money, knowledge, liber- 
 1* 
 
I 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ality, feelings and leisure, from the improvement of 
 the soil, to objects neither so useful nor so praise 
 worthy. 
 
 The notion that every husbandman is to be a free 
 holder, 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 fell 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 lati 
 tude. Many excellent things, moral and physical, 
 are to be found within these limits, beyond a ques 
 tion ; 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 ui 
 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 eld 
 est child of that connexion ; and he would have inherited 
 the property of Ravensnest, in virtue of his birthright, had 
 
8 T II E RED SKINS. 
 
 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 
 t-states, 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 nos 
 only had the fortune of the Littlepages centred in him, but 
 so did that of the Mordaunts, the wealthier family of the 
 cwo, 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 pro 
 ductive ; 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 graadfathe/, 
 in placing, the one, myself and a portion of the property, 
 and the other the remainder of my estate, under the guar 
 dianship 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 Mar 
 tha 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 wa)*-, I bore the same 
 name, though I was always called Hugh, while my uncle 
 .vent by the different appellations of Roger, Ro, and Hodge s 
 
THE REDSKINS. 9 
 
 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 se 
 riatim, as it might be, he was for beginning with the horn 
 book, and going on regularly up to the belles-lettres and 
 mathematics. The manner in which this was effected de 
 serves a notice. 
 
 Most American travellers land in England, the country 
 "arthest 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 espe 
 cially in England, which pall on his taste, and appear insig 
 nificant, after he has become familiar with the Temple of 
 Neptune, the Parthenon, or what is left of it, and the Coli 
 seum. 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 Mos 
 cow and the Baltic, reaching England from Hamburg. 
 When we had got through with the British isles, the anti 
 quities of which seemed flat and uninteresting to me, after 
 having seen those that were so much more antiqucj we 
 
10 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 syno 
 nymous when he intended to be absent for a term exceed 
 ing 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 d 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 sea 
 son 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, 
 t^etra, 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 Chris 
 tian 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 humili 
 ation at home, than he would even in Algiers. But the 
 animus is everything in morals. 
 
 We had, then, been absent two years and a J.alf 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 pro- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 11 
 
 viously to this last term, were of a private nature, and con 
 tained nothing of a general character. The " twenty mil 
 lions" 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 depres 
 sion 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 year 
 ling travellers, who go on "excursions" before they are 
 half instructed in the social usages and the distinctive fea 
 tures of their own country,.! 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 oppo 
 site hand, they are a vast way behind us in others. I see no 
 patriotism in concealing a wholesome truth ; and least of all 
 ishall 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 narrovr 
 principle, where would have been their Shakspeares, their 
 Sheridans, their Beaumonts and Fletchers, and their Mo- 
 lieres ! 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 
 
12 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 think on the same subjects. Any one is at liberty to com 
 pare 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 1 
 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 dlnde aux t ruffes 7 is capi 
 tal eating ; so is a turkey with cranberry sauce. I some 
 times 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, SHT, 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 A 
 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 1 , savoury dishes of the English in their true do- 
 
THE REDSKINS. ** 
 
 mestic 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 observ 
 able, 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 pot- 
 age 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 1 I wish it were 
 honest American boiled fowl, with a delicate bit of shoat- 
 pork alongside of it. I feel amazingly homeisk this eve 
 ning, Hugh!" 
 
 " It is quite natural, my dear uncle Ro ; and I own to the 
 soft impeachment myself. Here have we both been ab 
 sent 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 tho 
 2 
 
14 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 Ma 
 deira 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 1 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 !" ex 
 claimed 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 rathei 
 better, I think, than that one finds across the river, at New- 
 town itself." 
 
 " They are capital apples, bir ; and your orchard at Sa- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 15 
 
 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 ?" 
 
 " 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, alto 
 gether." 
 
 " 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 thou 
 sand dollars at that time ; but land was rather low in West- 
 chester 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 tolera 
 ble 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 dol 
 lars?" 
 
 " 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?" 
 
16 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 Philadel 
 phia 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 ap 
 plied to land." 
 
 " There is a good deal of it done, notwithstanding, in 
 America. It is merely including within your own posses 
 sion, adjacent land for which no claimant appears. What 
 can I do ? No owners are to be found ; and then my mort 
 gage 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 audfemmes covert" 
 
 " You did better by Lilacsbush ?" 
 
 "Ah, that was a clean transaction, and has left no draw- 
 backs. Lilacsbush being on the isla4 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 17 
 
 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, some 
 what pertly, perhaps, " the example might tempt other peo 
 ple ; for, if ever there was a nation that is assiduously spit 
 ting on itself, it is our own beloved land." 
 
 " True, it has that nasty custom in excess, and it growa 
 worse instead of better, as the influence of the better man 
 nered 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 per 
 suaded, 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 do 
 mestic 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 sup 
 posed 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 Eu 
 ropean 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, ceeteris paribus, each can find 
 far more enjoyment in Europe than in America. But the 
 philosopher, the philanthropist, the political economist in 
 2* 
 
18 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 a word, the patriot, may well exult in such elements of pro 
 found 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 hu 
 manity, and we must not expect perfection. There is cer 
 tainly 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 pru 
 dence 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 V 
 
 " Justice would favour neither, but treat all alike. I havo 
 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 undi 
 vided 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 symp 
 tom 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 acknow- 
 ledge, 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 REDSKINS. 19 
 
 he country is a glorious country, and that you and I have 
 every reason to be proud that old Hugh Roger, our prede 
 cessor 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 Euro 
 peans 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 coun 
 tries 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 Pennsyl 
 vania, 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 popu 
 lation 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 institu 
 tion, the soi-disant Bank of the United States, after it ceased 
 to be in reality a bank of the government, brought about 
 
20 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 institu 
 tions, without disparaging a people s honesty. Our institu 
 tions are popular, just as those of France are the reverse; 
 and the people, they who were on the spot the home cre 
 ditor, with his account unpaid, and with his friends and 
 relatives in the legislature, and present to aid him, contend 
 ed for his own money, before any should be sent abroad." 
 " Was that exactly right, sir?" 
 
 " Certainly not ; it was exactly wrong, but very particu 
 larly natural. Do you suppose the King of France would 
 not lake 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 sus 
 pended in some form or other, and in many instances ba 
 lanced 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 Que 
 bec. We have always paid our interest, and, what is more, 
 paid it more honestly, if honesty be the point, than even 
 i^ngland 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, Hu<rh, and 
 is not to be regarded as making us a whit worse than out 
 
THE REDSKINS. 21 
 
 neighbours. The equality of our laws is the fact in which 
 I glory !" 
 
 " If the rich stood as fair a chance as the poor, unile 
 Ro." 
 
 " There is a screw loose there, I must confess ; but it 
 amounts to no great matter." 
 
 " Then the late bankrupt law ?" 
 
 "Ay, that wa^ 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, orr 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 t^e master, is admitted by the servant. He 
 comes on, club-footed and behorned, as usual, and betai ed, 
 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 exces 
 sively 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 men 
 tioned to his servant. This bond, sir, said Satan, signifi 
 cantly. This bond? what of it, pray ? It seems all right. 
 *Is not that your signature 1 ? I admit it. * Signed in 
 your blood ? <A conceit of your own ; I told you at the 
 lime 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 Pennsyl 
 vania and Maryland don t pay. *I insist on payment. 
 
22 THE REDSKIN 8. 
 
 < Oh ! you do, do you ? Tom draws a paper from his 
 pocket, and adds, magnificently, 4 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 con 
 fessed," he cried, with the tears running down his cheeks, 
 " if we have some rascally laws, and some rascals to admi 
 nister 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 Top, 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 hun 
 dred letters. The sight brought home and America clearly 
 and vividly before us ; and, having nearly finished the des 
 sert, 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 bro 
 ther ; 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Why droops my lord, like over-ripen d corn, 
 Hanging the head at Ceres plenteous load?" 
 
 King Henry VI. 
 
 [ DID not get into my bed that night until two, nor was I 
 ou 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, sleep 
 ing 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 her 
 self, written with her own blessed hand. My mother is in 
 excellent health for a woman of fourscore ; but she natu 
 rally wishes to see us, and you in particular. Grandchil 
 dren 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 unplea 
 sant 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 gene 
 rally 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 ap- 
 
24 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 pearance. Your sister is preparing for you an agreo*iHle 
 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 
 ner 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 ihis question. 
 A thorough New Yorker by birth, associations, alliances 
 and feelings, he held all the old names of the colony and 
 State in profound respect ; and I had often heard him sneer 
 at the manner in which the new-comers of my day, who 
 had appeared among us to blossom like the rose, scattered 
 their 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 feel 
 ing 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 expe 
 rienced 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 ho 
 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 25 
 
 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, in 
 deed, 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 dis 
 creditable 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 urihnr 
 oily too much a law of humanity to do that which is wrorv 
 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 an<3 forty thousand souls, this large surface was the 
 property of a single individual. Since his death, it has 
 become tb property of two, subject to the conditions of the 
 leases, of which by far the greater portion are what are 
 called du^ble." 
 
 " I ha ie heard all this, of course, sir, and know some 
 thing of it myself. But what is a durable lease 1 for I be 
 lieve 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, a.i we term them, in use among the landlords of 
 New Yu*c. Both give the tenant a permanent interest 
 
 3 
 
26 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 being leases for ever, reserring an annual rent, with the 
 right to distrain, and covenants of re-entry. But one clasa 
 of these leases gives tho tenant a right at any time to de 
 mand 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/ V 
 
 "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." 
 
 14 1 fear my words are only too true. Dunning has writ- 
 ler me a long account of his own, made out with the pre 
 cision of a lawyer ; and, in addition, he has sent me divers 
 papers, some of which openly contend for what is substan 
 tially 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 1 fear any open, declared agrarian statute ; for what 
 I apprehend is to come through indirect and gradual inno 
 vations on the right, that will be made to assume the delu 
 sive aspect of justice and equal rights, and thus undermine 
 tho principles of the people, before they are aware of the 
 danger themselves. In order that you may not only under- 
 stand me, but may understand facts that are of the last 
 importance to your own pocket, I will first tell you whal 
 
THE REDSKINS. 27 
 
 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 Living 
 stons ; but he put it down instanter." 
 
 11 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 no*t 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 TUT 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 dissa 
 tisfaction. 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, com 
 bined 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 wha 
 called the militia into the field, referred the subject of the 
 
28 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 griefs of the tenants to the legislature, as if they 
 actually aggrieved citizens, when in truth it was the land 
 lords, 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 proba 
 bly 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 viola 
 tions 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 ? W r hy, 
 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 
 andlord has no interest in the character and habits of his 
 
THE REDSKINS. 29 
 
 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 de 
 pendent 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 pro 
 perty, 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 re 
 maining. Now, on what principle can honest men pretend 
 that they have rights beyond the leases ? On the supposi 
 tion, even, that the bargains are hard, what have governors 
 and legislators to do with thrusting themselves in between 
 parties so situated, as special umpires 1 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 poli 
 tical 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 hun 
 dred 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 
 3* 
 
30 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 hemi 
 spheres, or, as your neighbour the magistrate Squire New- 
 come has it, the i 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 pay 
 ing the rent itself; and, by giving the landlord this check 
 on the transfer ci 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 te> 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 circum 
 stance 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 his covenant of quarter sale ; and it onl} 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 
 *vhich 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 privi 
 lege 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 fur 
 nish so much meat for a series of years, or a mail con 
 tractor 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 aris 
 tocratic 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 degrada 
 tion of taking them, and of putting them away in the larder. 
 {t seems to me that one is an offset to the other." 
 
 " But, if I remember rightly, uncle Ro, these little mat 
 ters were always commuted for in money." 
 
 " They always must lie at the option of the tenant, un 
 less 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 after 
 wards. The most surprising part of this whole transaction 
 is, thai, men among us hold the doctrine that these leasehold 
 estates are opposed to our institutions, when, being guaran- 
 
32 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 tied 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 offish 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 profes 
 sion 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 whea the State institutions were framed ; and, not 
 satisfied with this, we of New York, ia common with our 
 sister States, solemnly prohibited ourselves, ia the constitu 
 tion 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 tend 
 ency." 
 
 "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 pecu 
 niary 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 Rensse- 
 laers ; for the debtor on a book-debt can be sued al any 
 noment, whereas the tenant knows precisely when he has 
 o 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 33 
 
 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 im 
 possibility of controlling votes in this way in America, from 
 a variety of causes 1 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, 
 ^ince 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 HAN, 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 capi 
 tals, as the spirit of the times, not of the institutions, ren 
 ders 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 tenden 
 cies is what I do not exactly comprehend." 
 
 " It is very easily explained. The spirit of the institu 
 tions is their intention ; their tendencies is the natural direc 
 tion 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 re 
 strain 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 
 
34 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ought always to be respected, in order to preserve har 
 mony ?" 
 
 " Out of all question. The first great requisite of a poli 
 tical 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, for 
 tified 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 hav 
 ing had kings but it is just as certain that the tendencies 
 of a democracy are to abuses of another character. What 
 ever 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 every 
 thing 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 35 
 
 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 bondjide 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-princi 
 pled 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 consta 
 bulary force, and to have kept it in motion, as the anti- rent 
 ers 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 altoge 
 ther. 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 dis 
 graceful 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 ; bul 
 
36 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Dunning writes me this law is openly disregarded in Dela 
 ware and Schoharie, in particular, and that bodies of * In- 
 jins, 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 pre 
 sent incumbent has behaved perfectly well; while in others* 
 in my judgment, he has inflicted injuries oa the right that 
 it will require years to repair, if, indeed, they are ever re 
 paired." 
 
 " You surprise me, sir ; and this the more especially, as 
 I know you are generally of the same way of thinking, ora 
 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 ? J> 
 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 goveraors have 
 certainly treated this matter as if the tenants- actually had 
 
THE REDSKINS. 37 
 
 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 set 
 tling 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 sanc 
 tions !" 
 
 " 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 submis 
 sion, to the demands of numbers. Our executive has carried 
 his fatherly care even beyond this ; he has actually sug 
 gested the terms of a bargain by which he thinks the diffi 
 culty can be settled, which, in addition to the gross assump- 
 .ion of having a voice in a matter that in no manner belongs 
 lo him, has the palpable demerit of recommending a pecu 
 niary compromise that is flagrantly wrong as a mere pecu 
 niary compromise." 
 4 
 
33 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " You astonish me, sir ! What is the precise nature of 
 his recommendation ?" 
 
 " That the Rensselaers should receive such a cum from 
 each tenant as would produce an interest equal to u.e value 
 of the present rent. Now, in the first place, here is a Citi 
 zen 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 pur 
 chased 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 pe 
 cuniary 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 ?" 
 
THE REDSKINS. JU 
 
 " 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 mo 
 ment they view the suggestions of the governor as the pink 
 of modesty, and excessively favourable to equal rights ! J 
 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 tav 
 erns ; 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. 
 
40 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 1" 
 
 MONTGOMEBT. 
 
 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 excel 
 lence, 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 associa 
 tion, paid tribute for the support of " Injins," and were get 
 ting 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 ac 
 cordingly for quitting Paris as soon as possible, so that we 
 might reach home lato 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. - 4l 
 
 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 contem 
 plated 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 philan 
 thropists 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 il, 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 par 
 ties 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 cano 
 pied pew " 
 
 " Of what canopied pew 1 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 dis 
 tinction in the State and colony, as recently as the close of 
 the last century. The church was built at the expense of 
 4* 
 
42 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 my grandfather, Gen. Littiepage, and his bosom friend and 
 kinsman, Col. Dirck Pollock, 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 whLch they caused the building to be pre 
 sented to my father. The old work still stands ; and Dun 
 ning 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 bo 
 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 embel 
 lish the building, and placed over our pew as the spot where 
 such an excrescence would excite tho 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 actu 
 ally 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-grand 
 father, and by him presented to the congregation, will di 
 minish 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 ab 
 surdity. However, you will readily admit, Hugh, that a 
 
THE REDSKINS 
 
 43 
 
 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 everytning 
 ike 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 tole 
 rated 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 sit 
 ting under it, though I will confess to some of shame at its 
 quizzical shape, when I see it has attracted the eyes of Intel 
 ligent strangers." 
 
 " It is but natural that you should feel thus ; for, while 
 A^e may miss distinctions and luxuries to which we have 
 ever been accustomed, they rarely excite pride in the pos 
 sessor, 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 suffi 
 cient 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 dis 
 guises, 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 sup 
 port 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 
 o read ?" 
 
 " Enough so to ascertain that they are filled with trash." 
 
44 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 * Worse than trash, Hugh ; with some of the looses, 
 principles, and most atrocrous 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 nc 
 man ought to hold more than he can use. Even petitions 
 to that effect, I have been told, have been sent to the legis 
 lature." 
 
 " 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 lo 
 be a landlord." 
 
 " I see by the letter of Mr. Dunning, that they have pe 
 titioned 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 na 
 tional 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 an 
 swered, 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 
 ifought 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 
 
THEREDSKINS 45 
 
 his time. You may not know the fact, but I as your guai- 
 dian 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 my 
 self, fo- 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 tc< 
 bring so many settlers from Europe within a given time ; 
 conditions that were fulfilled at great cost, as you may sup 
 pose, and on which, in truth, the colony had its founda 
 tion." 
 
 " 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 un 
 shackled as possible?" 
 
 I am not prepared to admit this much, even, as a gene 
 ral principle. One argument used by these anti-renters is, 
 for instance, that the patroons, in their leases, reserved tha 
 
46 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 mill-seats. Now, what if they did ? Some one must own 
 the mill-seats; and why not the Patroon as well as another 1 
 To give the argument any weight, not as law, not as morals, 
 but as mere expediency, it must be shown that the patroona 
 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 par- 
 ticul-ar 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 1 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 tempt 
 ed by such offers as will induce them to sell, but do not let 
 them be invaded by that most infernal of all acts of oppres- 
 sion, 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, laugh 
 ing. " 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 Cold 
 brooke. Miss Anne Marston, and Miss Opportunity New- 
 come. The advances in the cases of Miss Henrietta Cold 
 brooke and Miss Anne Marston came from my uncle Ro 
 who, as their guardian, had a natural interest in their making 
 
THEREDSKINS. 47 
 
 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 Eng- 
 Jishman of good family, and some estate, who had emigrated 
 lo America and married, under the impulse of certain theo 
 ries 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 bet 
 ter 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 grand 
 another 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 necessa 
 rily 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 
 &f 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 adventureis in 
 
48 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 
 e.yes 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 Mars- 
 tons, neither myself nor my uncle knew; for they had paid 
 their visit while we were in the East, and had already re 
 turned 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 " aris 
 tocratic place," I shall not dwell on her accomplishments, 
 which did well enough for Ravensnest, but would not essen 
 tially 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 enant of the mill, tavern, store and farm, that lay near 
 est the village of Ravensnest, or Little Nest, as it was com 
 monly called; and it may not be impertinent to the moral 
 of my narrative if I add that, for all that time, and for 
 
 
THEREDSKINS. 49 
 
 something longer, had I and my ancestors been the land 
 lords. 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, 01 
 Sene/cy, 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 Washing 
 ton. 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 " pa 
 tent" 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 v/eeks 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, Opportu 
 nity 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 thj 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 common 
 places. Now, I get their sentiments freely and naturally 
 5 
 
50 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 acces 
 sary 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 dissa 
 tisfied with my nonchalance. He read the letter through to 
 himself, however, laughing here, smiling there, then mut 
 tering " 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-lwenty 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 giris 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 51 
 
 " I trust not, sir, for her own sake. It would be a singu- 
 iarly 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 11 tell you what I Ul do, Hugh," cried my uncle, who 
 was a good deal of a boy in some things, for the reason, 1 
 suppose, that he was an old bachelor ; " I 11 just have wrong 
 names entered on board the packet, and we 11 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. Pie is a capital ser 
 vant 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 ac 
 quaintance 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 sup 
 posed 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 
 
52 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 de 
 gradation, 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 demon 
 strations, 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 mat 
 ter, 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 land 
 lords, and insomuch that they were bent on doing that which 
 should be discountenanced by every honest man in the com 
 munity. The very fact that they supported, or in any man 
 ner 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 53 
 
 calmly, and decided on our course, I trust, with prudence. 
 As that decision has proved to be pregnant with conse 
 quences 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 indis 
 creet to let our presence be known ; and circumstances 
 favoured our projects of concealment. We were not ex 
 pected 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 unex 
 pectedly, 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 af 
 ternoon 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 pre 
 ceding 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 tho 
 rough 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 exa 
 mined our carpet-bags and permitted them to pass, and we 
 had disburthened ourselves of the effects in the ship, by de 
 siring 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. 
 5* 
 
54 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 V 
 
 1 Cit. " Let s kill him, and we 11 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 eya is con 
 cerned. 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 ima 
 gine, after five years of absence. I could not help noting 
 the incongruities ; the dwellings of marble, in close prox 
 imity 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 hobble 
 dehoy look; but, being a Manhattanese by birth, I thought 
 I might just as well own it all, at once, if it were only for 
 he information of a particular portion of my townsmen, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 55 
 
 who may have been under a certain delusion on the subject. 
 As for comparing the Bay of New York with that of Na 
 ples 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 compar 
 ing 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 won 
 derful 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 num 
 bers 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 com 
 mon 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 simpli 
 city 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 Tatter- 
 salle and Bond street; when Washington Market is re- 
 christened Bear Market, and Franklin and Fulton and other 
 great philosophers and inventors are plucked of the unme 
 rited honours of having shambles named after them ; when 
 commercial is not used as a prefix to emporium ; when peo 
 ple 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 
 
56 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 city ?" then may it be believed that the town is beginnkig 
 10 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 
 <x 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 m^ 
 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. Dun 
 ning 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 
 Rowas of the old school himself, and would say "nigger" 
 " Jack can never have parted with Garry." 
 
 " Garry" was the diminutive of Garret, a somewhat com 
 mon 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 per 
 sonage, royal porter as he is, is often out of the way ; and 
 the reception he gives when he is there, is not of the mos v , 
 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 ; 
 1 : 11 try him again." 
 
THEREDSKINS. 57 
 
 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 11 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 Bar 
 ney, 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 ac 
 customed 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 
 
58 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 oiler. 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 justi 
 fied 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, thar. 
 is reserved from the rent in the original bargain with the 
 tenant ; and now the wish is to tax the rents themselves ; 
 
THEREDSKINS. 59 
 
 end this not to raise revenue, for that is confessedly not 
 wanted, but most clearly with a design to increase the in 
 ducements 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, and where the prevailing class of politicians 
 are free-trade men !" 
 
 " There is no end of these inconsistencies among poli 
 ticians." 
 
 " 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 1 It does not 
 affect 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 pe 
 riod longer than five years. Huglrs 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 Dun 
 ning ; " 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 reason 
 ably 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 land 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 com 
 pel 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 inte 
 rests connected with the cost and trouble of moving, and 
 
GO THE REDSKINS. 
 
 through the natural desire he may possess to cut the mea* 
 dows he has seeded, and to get the full benefit of manure 
 he has made and carted. I see how you reason, young sir; 
 hut 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, cateris pari- 
 bus. Then what good will the tax do, after violating right 
 and moral justice, if not positive law, to lay it? On a hun 
 dred dollars of rent, I should have to pay some fifty-five 
 cents of taxes, as I am assessed on other things at Ravens- 
 nest ; 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. 5 " 
 
 " 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 less 
 ened, 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 61 
 
 pay your incognito visit to Ravensnest. I will not antici 
 pate the lesult of your schooling; but, go to school." 
 
 " As the Rensselaers and other great landlords, who have 
 estates 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 peo 
 ple, and not the friends of the landlords. Would any man 
 tax his friends, if he could help it 1" 
 
 " 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 affect 
 ing 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 RIDICU 
 LOUS 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 
 
 6 
 
62 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 value from the circumstance that it is so placed that I can 
 look after my interests with the least inconvenience to my- 
 self. 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 11 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 11 re 
 member !" 
 
 " 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 tim 
 ber, 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 63 
 
 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 unattend 
 ed 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 per 
 sons ; say what you will of dishonesty, envy, that promi 
 nent 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. Par 
 don 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 
 
64 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 foi 
 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 11 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 sum 
 mons !" 
 
 " This, then, is one of the species of annoyances that 
 has been adopted to bully the landlords out of their pro 
 perty?" 
 
 " 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." 
 
TIIEREDBKINS. 65 
 
 "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 constitu 
 ency. Nevertheless, he was opposed to the universal suf 
 frage, in its wide extent, that does actually exist ; as I sup 
 pose 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 unani 
 mity as man can manifest, and much more to their majori 
 ties. 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 nei 
 ther 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. 
 6* 
 
66 THE REDSKINS- 
 
 " 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 com 
 panions. 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, grave 
 ly ; " 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 67 
 
 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 grand 
 father 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 hun 
 dred, though Jaap is rather the oldest, judging from appear 
 ances." 
 
 " 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 iown to 
 the Nest, Martha writes me ; and the Indian is highly scan 
 dalized 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 New- 
 come 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 prin 
 ciples of liberty ! When a man has worked a farm a cer- 
 
68 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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." 
 
 " 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 doe- 
 trine, at this late day, when millions and millions are in 
 vested in this particular species of property, that the lease 
 hold tenure is opposed to the spirit of institutions of which 
 it has substantially formed a part, ever since those institu 
 tions 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 ex 
 tremes 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. OSf 
 
 " 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 acquaint 
 ances 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, how 
 ever, answered the turn ; and I had a hearty laugh at my 
 self, 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 toois 
 in the way of trade. 
 
70 THE RED SKINS. 
 
 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." 
 
 WORDSWOKTH 
 
 if- 
 
 I WAS early in costume the following morning. I ques 
 tion 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 work 
 ing 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 ?" 
 
 "Beyeesa Jew?" 
 
 " Nein I isht. a goot Christian. Vilt you haf Yankee 
 Tootle?" 
 
 "Yankee T under ! Ye 11 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 
 iiberary, 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. Whe 
 ther the blundering, well-meaning, honest fellow really 
 ascertained who we were that breakfasted with his master, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 71 
 
 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 suc 
 cess to the circumstance that his price was what a brother 
 dealer, who happened to be trading in the same neighbour 
 hood, 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 quar 
 ters, 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 mo 
 ment ! 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 to 
 wards 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. 
 
72 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ing 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 essen 
 tial, 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 ! Wil 
 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." 
 

 THE REDSKINS. 73 
 
 "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 
 nundred." 
 
 " 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 de 
 spise aristocracy" what Seneca hated with the strongest 
 hate, he ever fancied he despised the most, and by aristo 
 cracy 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 
 nmde 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 valches 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 
 7 
 
74 THEREDSKINS. 
 
 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 11 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 11 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 institu 
 tions, as you can see by my feelin s at this very moment. 
 But no matter ! I y 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 Eng- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 75 
 
 Ksh 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 hill 
 side, 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 boy 
 hood ! 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-commer 
 cial river ; but it gives to thy young manhood an appear 
 ance 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 " com 
 mercial emporium," which, after all, externally, is a mere 
 huge expansion of a very marked mediocrity, with the pre* 
 tension 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 repre 
 sentatives 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 
 tc 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, 
 
76 THEREDSKINS. 
 
 my life on it, he could pronounce, as soon as the bandagt 
 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 ad 
 vanced 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 ques 
 tion, 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 pur 
 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. No 
 thing will more hasten these events, however, than a litera 
 ture 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 actu 
 ally 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 77 
 
 mon track ; and we might have been amused with the 
 change, though it is one singularly hard to be endured. I re 
 member to have heard a young man, accustomed from child 
 hood to the better habits of the country, but who went to sea a 
 lad, before the mast, declare that the coarseness of his ship 
 mates, and there is no vulgarity about a true sailor, even 
 when coarsest, gave him more trouble to overcome, tjjan all 
 the gales, physical sufferings, labour, exposures and dan 
 gers, put together. I must confess, I have found it so, too, 
 in my little experience. While acting as a strolling musi 
 cian, I could get along with anything better than the coarse 
 habits which I encountered at the table. Your silver-fork- 
 isms, and your purely conventional customs, as a matter of 
 course, no man of the world attaches any serious import 
 ance 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 disagree 
 ables 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 Troybo- 
 rough ! 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 
 een 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, Lansing- 
 burg and Albany, with a full view of both Troys, which 
 7* 
 
78 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 nvo 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 him 
 self 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 " con 
 clusive," 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 
 
THE REDSKINS 
 
 79 
 
 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 counte 
 nance of the daughter that induced me not to hesitate about 
 complying. I cannot say that her beauty was so very strik 
 ing, though she was decidedly pretty ; but the expression 
 of^her face, eyes, smile, and all put together, was so singu 
 larly 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 
 wiine 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 
 
80 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 ?" 
 
 " Neijfl dat isht Latin ; facio, feci t 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 inscrip 
 tion that was stamped on a small piece of ivory which had 
 been let into the instrument. I could see that Mary shrdnk 
 back a little under the sensitive feeling, so natural to her 
 sex, tliat 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 Parnts somet ing, 
 but not all dost 1 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, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 81 
 
 wilh 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 interrup 
 tion 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 Pririz." 
 
 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. 
 
82 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 propor 
 tion of the country never has seen any other world than a 
 world of " business." The credulity on this subject sur- 
 passeth 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 reve 
 lation. 
 
 " If such is the case, my young friend," returned the cler 
 gyman, 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 Jive tongues !" said the clergyman, counting on hU 
 fingers ; " what can they be, Mary ?" 
 
THE REDSKINS. 83 
 
 " French, and German, and Spanish, and Italian, I sup 
 pose, 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 accus 
 tomed to think of it as a mere European tongue. I sup 
 pose, 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 tone 
 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 Epis 
 copal 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 agofrom 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 parish 
 ioners. These last gave about one hundred and fifty dollars 
 R-year, for their sharo of the support of a priest. I gave 
 
TIIEREDSKINS. 
 
 another hundred, as regularly as clock-work, and had been 
 made to do so throughout a long minority ; and my grand 
 mother 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 grandfa 
 ther, 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, per 
 haps, 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 clergy 
 man ; 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 pre 
 ferred 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 per 
 mitted 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. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 85 
 
 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 enongh, my old acquaintance, Op 
 portunity 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 per 
 sonal peculiarities that must still remain about one, whose 
 personal peculiarities she had made her particular study. 
 8 
 
86 
 
 THE REDS KINS 
 
 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 
 
 "An ! here are some charming French vignettes /" crieJ 
 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 cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 " La Vertue," cried Opportunity, in a high, decided way, 
 as if to make sure of an audience, " The Virtue ; La Soli 
 tude," 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 sen 
 timents 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 her- 
 self merry by recording that young lady s tours deforce 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 differ- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 87 
 
 ence 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 shpwn 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 op 
 posed 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 com 
 panions. Her accent, and jumping, hitching mode of speak 
 ing, with the high key in which she uttered her sentiments, 
 too, all grated on my ears, which had become a little accus 
 tomed to different habits, in young ladies in particular, in 
 the other hemisphere. ^ 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 drawl 
 ing 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 !" ex 
 claimed 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 possi 
 bly lose your way. I will go with you, if you desire it." 
 
88 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 disappoint 
 ment 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 Kmhenrae 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 friend 
 ships 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 
 
THfi REDSKINS. O 
 
 of the future character, and much of the future destiny, of 
 New 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 hus 
 band, 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 per 
 sons 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 
 8* 
 
90 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 bo 
 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 fc 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 1 ?" 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 statute- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 91 
 
 books and constitution to find the sources of obvious evils, 
 that, m truth, have their origin in some of the lowest pas 
 sions 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, notwithstand 
 ing the presence of the two young ladies and the divine. 
 As for myself, I had been so free as to remove my Ccip, 
 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 aris 
 tocratic 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 delin 
 quent 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 sis 
 ter, 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 11^ 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 indig 
 nantly 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 indif 
 ference was, if anything, uppermost in her manner. Pos 
 sibly, 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. 
 
92 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 insti 
 tutions will shortly make themselves respected." 
 
 " I am delighted to hear that ! It is in the intention of 
 the institutions to repress covetousness, and uncharitable- 
 ness, 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 man 
 ners, and probably not absolutely conscious of the figure he 
 cut in his disguise, he bowed rather too much like a gentle 
 man 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 imme 
 diately 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 kaowa. In the mean time, Seneca was too full of 
 
THE REDSKINS 93 
 
 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 com 
 plete 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 sup 
 pressed the truth, and who have most contributed to the cir 
 culation 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 accus 
 tomed to meeting with such rebuffs from Mr. Warren. 
 
 " I suppose you will admit there are privileged classes 
 now among us, Mr. Warren V 
 
 " 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 pre 
 cious 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 fel- 
 lowcilizens." 
 
 " 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 
 
94 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 
 vou have not one. What is more, I am privileged in ano 
 ther 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 pro- 
 hibit it." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Mr. Newcome ; the law does pro 
 hibit 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 su 
 periority that the vulgar so easily assume " What do you 
 say to all this, friend Dafidson are you up-rent or down- 
 rent?" 
 
 " Jn, mynheer," was the quiet answer ;" " I always downs 
 mit der rent vens J leave a house or a garten. It is goot ta 
 pay de debts ; ja, it ist herr goot." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 95 
 
 This answer caused the clergyman and his daughter to 
 Bmile, 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 discon 
 certed, but was bent on maintaining his point. " I have 
 understood you to say that you are a man of liberal princi 
 ples, Mr. Dafidson, and that you ve come to America to 
 enjoy the light of intelligence and the benefits of a free go 
 vernment." 
 
 " Ja ; ven I might coome to America, I say, veil, 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 coun 
 try where the law is, or soon will be, so equal that no citi 
 zen 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 con 
 sciously 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 noples ant der feudal privileges ist no goot," an 
 swered the trinket-pedlar, shaking his head with an appear 
 ance 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. New- 
 come? and what is there in common between the landlords 
 
96 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 ruth- 
 lessly 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 move 
 ment 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 Lit- 
 tlopage, who is off frolicking in Europe, doing no good to 
 
THE REDSKINS. 97 
 
 himself or others, I 11 venture to say, if the truth were 
 known. That is another of the hardships of the feudal sys 
 tem ; 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 
 nis substance, and is doing himself and country no good in 
 foreign lands, Mr. Newcome ? That is not at all the cha 
 racter 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 hard 
 ship that Mr. Seneca Newcome cannot sell Mr. Hugh Lit 
 tlepage 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 livs 
 twenty years, Mr. Newcome " 
 
 "No, no, Miss Mary," answered Seneca, shaking his 
 head in a melancholy manner ; " that is absolutely impos 
 sible. 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. Dun 
 ning, 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 advan 
 tages !" 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 mo 
 ney, have so much value ! It is to be hoped that their ex 
 ample will not be lost." 
 9 
 
98 THB REDSKINS. 
 
 " Mr. Newcome has made an admission I am also glad to 
 hear," added Mary, as soon as her father had done speak 
 ing. " His willingness to accept a new lease on the old 
 terms is a proof that he has been living under a good bar 
 gain for himself hitherto, and that down to the present mo 
 ment he has been the obliged party." 
 
 This was very simply said, but it bothered Seneca ama 
 zingly. 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 an 
 other. 
 
 " 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, rny 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 con 
 nected 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 
 nether Trinity ; and it would be a most ungracious act to 
 mdertake to destroy it under such circumstances, and more 
 especially in the absence of its owner." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 99 
 
 "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 he 
 raldic 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 Episcopa 
 lians look more at outward things, and more respect out 
 ward 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 in 
 tention 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 occa 
 sion 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 tola 
 me the price was four dollars ; and even that seems to me 
 desperate little !" 
 
 " Dat 1st 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." 
 
100 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 {k That I wil! ; and get you in at the Nest Hojse, in ihe 
 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 coun 
 tenance of her to whom the offering was made. Mary co 
 loured, 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 some 
 thing 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 vo 
 luntarily assumed. When this offering was made, the pre 
 tended 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 Opportu 
 nity, and he now drew back himself with perfect tact, bow 
 ing 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 daugh 
 ter 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 101 
 
 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 every- 
 Ihing began of her own accord to sing, though not with 
 out inviting Mary to join her. As the latter declined this 
 public exhibition, as well as my uncle Ro s offering, Sene 
 ca 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 
 theH 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 pro 
 ceed ; 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 in 
 strument 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 mat 
 ters connected with the rent movement. 
 
 As for the divine and myself, we had also much interest 
 ing talk together. I was questioned about Europe in gene 
 ral, 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 pro 
 foundly attentive listener to all that passed. This circum 
 stance 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 news 
 paper a little while, munched an apple a very little while, 
 9* 
 
102 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 11 bestow a small (of what you have little), 
 Patience, a while, you 11 hear the belly s answer." 
 
 MEICEHIUS AQHIFPA. 
 
 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. Accord 
 ing 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 <* 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 expecta 
 tions on the subject. Why, Hugh, the villain actually pro- 
 posed 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 en 
 force the law against them? Did they commit murder, and 
 were they even convicted, as might happen under the excite 
 ment 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 totu 
 ccelo, will go a foot out of their way even to impede its pro 
 gress. 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 1 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- 
 vent lecturer ; and, being somewhat didactic, he favoured me 
 with some of his arguments, seriatim" 
 
 " How ! Have they got to lectures ? I should have sup 
 posed the newspapers would have been the means of circu- 
 lat ; ng their ideas." 
 
104 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 news 
 paper." 
 
 " 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 dis 
 turbances 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 chang 
 ing the titles, IN ORDER TO SATISFY THE PEOPLE !" 
 
 " The people, of course, meaning the tenants ; the land* 
 lords 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 Ro 
 man it is. A certain portion of the community wish to get 
 rid of the obligations of their contracts ; and finding it can 
 not 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 look 
 ing 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 meet 
 ing 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 combina 
 tions 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 105 
 
 "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 rny leases are all 
 on three lives, with rent payable in money, and with none 
 of the conditions that are called feudal, though no more feu 
 dal than any other bargain to pay articles in kind. One 
 might just as well call a bargain made by a butcher to de 
 liver pork for a series of years feudal. However, feudal or 
 not, my leases, and those of most other landlords, are run 
 ning 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 
 fqr actual purchases are beginning to be discredited." 
 
 " You are quite right ; and there is one of the frauds prac 
 tised 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 combina 
 tion 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 t 
 comply with their contracts if the conspirators would let 
 them ; but the rapacious spirit is abroad among the occu 
 pants 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 in 
 terests ?" 
 
 " He did ; not so much in conversation with me, as in the 
 discourse he held with Lecturer Holmes. I listened at 
 tentively, 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 mat 
 ter for yourself, I may as well relate them to you. They 
 will serve, also, as guides to the moral merits of the occu 
 
106 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 pation of half the farms on your estate. These are things, 
 moreover, you would never know by public statements, 
 since all the good bargain s 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 Rochefou 
 cauld 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 Mor 
 daunt, 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 advanta 
 geous terms to that Jason Newcome, whom I can just re 
 member. 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 tradi 
 tions 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 trans 
 mitted 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 107 
 
 and executives. Not a great while before my father s mar- 
 riage, 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 favoura 
 ble 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 pervert 
 ing principles ; half mankind appear to me really to get a 
 great many of their notions dessus dessous" 
 
 11 Half is a small proportion ; as you will find, my boy, 
 when you grow older. But was it not an impudent pro 
 posal 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 ws, 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 nume 
 rous the crimes and the criminals, the greater the proba 
 bility of impunity ; and this, too, not on the general principle 
 that power cannot be resisted, but on the particular prin 
 ciple that a thousand or two votes are of vast importance, 
 
108 THE REDSKINS 
 
 vhere 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 pre 
 tensions 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 him 
 self and he was enabled to explain all that it was neces 
 sary for me to know. An American watering-place, how 
 ever, 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 coun 
 try 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" hav 
 ing made their appearance on the Litttepage lands, and many 
 conjectures as to the probable result. We were in a town 
 ship, 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 por 
 tions of them, as my uncle Ro had intimated, I should be 
 
THE REDSKINS. 109 
 
 pointed at as i 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 im 
 proving 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 ad 
 vance the habits, opinions, and true interests of a rural popu 
 lation, as to have them all directed by the intelligence and 
 combined interests that ought to mark the connection be 
 tween landlord and tenant. It may do for one class of po 
 litical economists to prate about a state of things which sup 
 poses every husbandman a freeholder, and rich enough to 
 maintain his level among the other freeholders of the St^te. 
 But we all know that as many minute gradations in means 
 must and do exist in a community, as there exists grada 
 tions in characters. A majority soon will, in the nature of 
 things, be below the level of the freeholder, and by destroy 
 ing 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 pre 
 vent any man from being a husbandman who has not the 
 money necessary to purchase a farm. But they who want 
 10 
 
110 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 farms nmv, 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 husband- 
 man from being anything but a day-labourer. 
 
 W obtained tolerably decent lodgings at our inn, though 
 the profoundest patriot America possesses, if he know any 
 thing 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 opi 
 nions 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 !* 
 
 * Mr. Hugh Littlepage writes a little sharply, bat 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 arid 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. 
 
THE REDSKINS. . Ill 
 
 We passed an hour on the piazza, after eating our sup 
 per, 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 popu 
 lar. After this beginning, the discourse turned on the en 
 grossing 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 alti 
 tudes 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 un 
 known delights of whittling. I cannot explain the myste 
 rious 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 
 
112 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 head. In order that those who have never seen such things 
 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 con 
 nection with the justly celebrated Westminster Hall ; and of 
 such materials is the much-talked-of miniature castle of 
 Horace Wai pole, at Strawberry Hill. But the inn of Moose- 
 ridge 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 that 
 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 im 
 portance to the superstructure unless, indeed, the house 
 were built on that well-known principle of American archi 
 tecture of the last century, which made the architrave up- 
 hotd the pillar, instead of the pillar the architrave. The 
 column in question was of white pine, as usual though lat 
 terly, in brick edifices, bricks and stucco are much resorted 
 to and, at a convenient height for the whittlers, it was lite- 
 raily cut two-thirds in two. The gash was very neatly 
 maae 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. 
 
TYlE REDSKINS. 113 
 
 " 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 archi 
 tecture 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." 
 
 " Veil, 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 vit 
 tles 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 in 
 jured. 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 de- 
 livered his opinion, as well as with the language used. The 
 accent was uniformly provincial, that of Hubbard included, 
 
114 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 having a strong and unpleasant taint of the dialect of Nevf 
 England in it ; and some of the expressions savoured a little 
 of the stilts of the newspapers ; but, on the whole, the lan 
 guage was sufficiently accurate and surprisingly good, con 
 sidering the class in life of the speakers. The conjectures, 
 too, manifested great shrewdness and familiarity with prac 
 tical 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 mo 
 to put in " Veil, 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 Hub- 
 bard, 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 free 
 holds." 
 
 " No doubt t would ; and so it would be a great improve 
 ment in the condition of any journeyman in my shop if ho 
 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 115 
 
 fort, or a canal, it must be taken, under a law, by appraise 
 ment, 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 support 
 ing 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 ne 
 cessity here is to say it is cheaper, and may help along par 
 ties 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 power 
 ful weapons in a popular government." 
 
 " I 11 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 suf- 
 *rage 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 neigh 
 bours 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. Hub- 
 bard received it as a new thought, but was more reluctant 
 
116 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 
 bo disfranchised ?" he asked. 
 
 " Take the legal limits as they stand. If process be re 
 sisted 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 thou 
 sand ways. You and I are taxed to keep drunkards from 
 starving, because it is better to do that than to offend hu 
 manity by seeing men die of hunger, or tempting them to 
 steal. When you declare martial law you punish the inno 
 cent with the guilty, in one sense; and so you do in a hun 
 dred 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 suf 
 frage 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 117 
 
 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 
 nis 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 thfc worst part of the community ? 
 Will the honest for ever be so passive, while the corrupt and 
 dishonest continue so active t" 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 co 
 vered with newspapers, the invariable companion of an Ame 
 rican 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 ! Occa 
 sionally 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 govern 
 ment without newspapers, or newspapers without a govern 
 ment, 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 Ml 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." 
 
118 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 evi 
 dence 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." 
 
 SPRAGTTE. 
 
 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 vene 
 rable, 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 child 
 hood 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, 
 ihe 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 119 
 
 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 or MY OWN BLOOD. This is what few besides Ame 
 ricans 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 sen 
 timent so profound, that I do not wonder those adventurers- 
 errant who are flying about the face of the country, thrust 
 ing 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 feel 
 ings 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, -reserv 
 ing, 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 implica 
 tion, to others ; and my turn might come next. What busi 
 ness 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 en 
 tertain " 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 par 
 ticular farm on his own terms ? It is aristocratic to put sen 
 timent in opposition to trade ; and TRADE ITSELF is NOT TO 
 
120 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 BE TRADE ANY LONGER THAN ALL THE PROFIT IS TO BE 
 POUND ON THE SIDE OF NUMBERS. Even the principles of 
 
 noly trade are to be governed by majorities ! 
 
 Even my uncle Ro, who never owned a foot of the pro 
 perty, 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 ava 
 rice. 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 respect- 
 ability 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 1 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 Sus- 
 quesus, 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 " wig 
 wam." 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 123 
 
 unfit to be seen, though never of a very alluring, cottage- 
 like character. There was a garden, and it had been pro 
 perly made that very season, the negro picking and pecking 
 about it, during the summer, in a way to coax the vegeta 
 bles and fruits on a little, though I well knew that the regu 
 lar 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 ci 
 vilization, while the Indian required the shades of the woods 
 to reconcile him to his position. Here had these two sin 
 gularly 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 re 
 public. It is common to say that the great age so often 
 attributed to the people of these two races is owing to igno 
 rance 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 ne 
 groes and aged Indians are nevertheless so common, when 
 the small ness 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 
 BO the cabin was generally called, though wigwam, in the 
 strict meaning of the word, it was not. ^As the little build 
 ing stood in the grounds of the Nest House, which contain 
 11 
 
122 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 two hundred acres, a bit of virgin forest included, and ex 
 clusively of the fields that belonged to the adjacent farm, it 
 *vas 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 
 .ed 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 distin 
 guish 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 ag 
 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 de 
 scendants to participate in any little credit they may have 
 gained," 
 
 " Beyond all contradiction, boy, tnere is a strange per 
 version 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 con 
 sequently 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 feeiings and habits 
 of their races, even after passing so long a time together in 
 this hut. There squats Susquesus on a stone, idle and dis 
 daining 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 123 
 
 " 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, how 
 ever, and I have heard my father say, great was his happi 
 ness when he found he was to pass the remainder of his 
 days in otium cum dignitatc, 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 charac 
 teristic 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 incog 
 nitos. 
 
 As we came up to the door of the hut, Jaaf slowly left his 
 little garden and joined the Indian, who remained immove- 
 able 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 co 
 lour 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 mum 
 my that retained its vitality. The colour of the skin was 
 less red than formerly, and more closely approached to that 
 
124 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of the negro, as the latter now was, though perceptibly dif 
 ferent. 
 
 " Sago sago," cried my uncle, as we came quite near, 
 seeing no risk in using that familiar semi-Indian salutation.* 
 " Sago, sago, dis charmin mornin ; in my tongue, dat mighi, 
 be guten tag" 
 
 " Sago," returned the Trackless, in his deep, guttural 
 voice, while old Yop brought two lips together that resem 
 bled 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, h 
 held pedlars as inferior beings ; for the ancient negroes ot 
 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, courteous 
 ly, 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." 
 
 *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 franqa 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 " Eng 
 lish." It is to this hour a provincialism of that part of the country to 
 pronounce this word " Eng-Yish" instead of " Ing-]\sh" its conven 
 tional sound. The change from " Eng-lish" to yew-geese" is very 
 trifling;. EDITOR. 
 
THB REDSKINS. 
 
 ** 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 blub 
 ber 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 re 
 proach, 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 ?" 
 
 " Veil, I dought he wast dead, long ago." 
 
 " What if he be ? It s his house, and he lib in it ; ana 
 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 mi-litia, and died in service during the revo 
 lution. The next was Brigadier General Cornelius Little- 
 page, 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 cap 
 tain in his father s regiment at the close of the same strug 
 gle, got the brevet of major at its termination, and rose to 
 be a Major General of the militia, the station he held for 
 11* 
 
126 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 gen 
 tlemen 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 no 
 tions, 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 oh the intrinsic 
 virtue and intelligence of the people, and divers projects en 
 tertained 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." 
 
 " Veil, 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, does n t I tell ye ! Masser Mor- 
 daunt 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 
 tke look he fastened on my uncle, were both fine and start 
 ing. As yet he had said nothing beyond the salutation ; 
 but I could see he now intended to speak. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 1 
 
 a New tribe," he said, after regarding us for half a mi 
 nute intently ; " what you call him where he come from?" 
 
 u j a? j a 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 fast 
 ened 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 dif 
 ferent. Old as he was, I could see a certain nervous twitch 
 ing 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 coun 
 tenance continued to gleam with a sort of dull pleasure for 
 some time. There was nothing surprising in this, the indif 
 ference 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 dis 
 posed to talk much. The Onondago had ever been a silent 
 man ; dignity and gravity of character uniting with pru 
 dence to render him so. But Jaaf was constitutionally gar 
 rulous, though length of days had necessarily much dimi 
 nished 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. 
 
i JS THE REDSKINS. 
 
 My heart was in my mouth, at this unexpected interrup 
 tion, and I could perceive that my uncle was scarcely less 
 u fleeted. Amid the flowing and pretty drapery of summer 
 s hawis, and the other ornaments of the female toilet, were 
 i our youthful and sunny faces, and one venerable with 
 \ ears. In a word, my grandmother, my sister, and my 
 uncle s two other wards, and Mary Warren, were in the 
 arriage ; 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 11 have some of his music, if il 
 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 mor 
 row, Jaaf; how do you do, this fine morning?" 
 
 Yop, or Jaap, or Jaaf, rose tottering, made a low obei 
 sance, and then answered in the semi-respectful, semi-fami 
 liar 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 sta 
 tionary 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 129 
 
 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 ac 
 quainted, 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 
 elere 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 
 
130 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 master, and she would be grieved to think you have forgot 
 ten her." 
 
 Jaaf laboured under the difficulty so common to old age- 
 he was forgetful of things of more recent date, while he re 
 membered 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 ascer 
 tained, 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 abun 
 dance 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 Onon- 
 dago. 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 experi 
 ence of four-score years and ten had proved that this confi 
 dence 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 per 
 sonal feuds that are known to occur among men in the sa 
 
THE REDSKINS. 131 
 
 vage stale. 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 re 
 turn 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, champ 
 ing 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 ne 
 gro 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 possi 
 bly 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," answe/ed the black. 
 * Dey s got box wid somet in in him, and dey s got new 
 
loX: THE REDS KINS* 
 
 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 littlo 
 louder than usual by eagerness, interrupted me. 
 
 " Oh ! not that thing, not that ; the flute, the flute !" ex- 
 claimed Mary Warren, blushing to the eyes at her own bold 
 ness, 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 
 i h rough a bar or two, and the start she gave satisfied me 
 ihat the dear girl remembered her brother s flute. I had 
 played on that very instrument ever since I was sixteen, but 
 1 had made an immense progress in the art during the five 
 years just passed in Europe. Masters at Naples, Paris, Vi 
 enna 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 pro 
 found attention, and all four of the girls were enchanted. 
 
 " That music is worthy of being heard in a room," ob 
 served 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. 1 * 
 
 As my grandmother spoke she leaned forward, and ex 
 tended her hand to me, with a benevolent smile. I ad 
 vanced, received the dollar that was offered, and, unable to 
 command my feelings, raised the hand to my lips, respect 
 fully 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 th hut, whither my uncle moved, in order to 
 
THE REDSKINS. 133 
 
 do the honours of the place. This left me quite alone with 
 the Indian. 
 
 " Why no kiss face of grandmodder ?" asked the Onon- 
 dago, 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 ex 
 claimed, 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 naudder ; 
 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 1 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 
 yoiung pigeon 7 Nebber hatchet in e path between Sus 
 quesus 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 ?" 
 
 " W hat dat trouble?" 
 
 " The tenants are tired of paying rent, and wish to make 
 a new bargain, by which they can become owners of the 
 forms 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 ?" 
 12 
 
134 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " Little bird sing sich song in my ear didn t like to 
 hear it." 
 
 " And of Indians who are moving up and down the coun 
 try, 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 le 
 thargy, 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 be 
 trayed, as soon as he had a moment for reflection. 
 
THE REDSKINS 
 
 135 
 
 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 dis 
 tance 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 ar 
 rangement to sleep somewhere in its immediate vicinity. 
 Could we trust any one with our secret, our fare would pro 
 bably be all the better; but my uncle thought it most pru 
 dent 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 
 

 136 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 bar 
 gain ; 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 what 
 ever, 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 trou 
 bles grew out of the durable lease system solely, whereas 
 we all know that it is extended to all descriptions of obliga 
 tions given for the occupancy of land life leases, leases for 
 a term of years, articles for deeds, and bonds and mort 
 gages. It is a wide-spread, though not yet universal at 
 tempt of those who have the least claim to the possession 
 of real estate, to obtain the entire right, and that by agen 
 cies 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 re- 
 sor, to the High Dutch. Guten tag, guten tag" continued 
 uncle Ro, dropping easily into the broken English of ou* 
 
THE REDSKINS. 137 
 
 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 morninV 
 
 " 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 1" 
 
 " 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 1" 
 
 " 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 un 
 known 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, Is 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 1" 
 
 " 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 11 get all you want if you 11 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. 
 
 " Veil, I haf heards dat in America dere might not be any 
 noples ant aristocrats," put in my uncle, with an appear- 
 a nee of beautiful simplicity ; " and dat dere ist not ein graaf 
 n der whole coontry." 
 12* 
 
138 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 * Oli ! 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 tha 
 mysteries of one of the watches. " Now, Josh Brigharn, 
 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 
 jyants 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 se 
 cret, 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 ap 
 proach of his conqueror. 
 
 " Well, thank heaven," he cried, " / 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 bet 
 ter 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." 
 
THE REDSKINS, 
 
 139 
 
 " No you don t, Joshy, my boy ; nobody despises folks 
 ihey 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 rn 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," an- 
 swered uncle Ro, stubbornly. 
 
 "The two men now looked at the pedlar in surprise. 
 Miller took the watch from his hired man, examined it at 
 tentively, 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 fortu 
 nately 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 
 
140 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 a ter them sheep. The conch will soon be blowing for din 
 ner. If you want a trade, you can have one when you get 
 back." 
 
 Notwithstanding the plainness of his appearance and lan 
 guage, 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 un 
 derstand 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 11 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 any 
 body else s in the way. We re getting to have plenty of 
 such fellows up and down the country, and an uncomforta 
 ble 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 REDSKINS. 141 
 
 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!" 
 
 " Veil I dought I dit see an olt Injin in a hut up yonder 
 ast by der wools !" put in my uncle, innocently. 
 
 " Oh ! that is Susquesus, an Onondago ; he is a true In 
 jin, and a gentleman ; but we have a parcel of the mock 
 gentry about, who are a pest and an eye-sore to every ho 
 nest 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 ba 
 rons, 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 lie- 
 tie, envy them that 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 thou 
 sands 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 arisdo 
 grats 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 ques 
 tion, 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 be 
 gin with ; for it s an argooment in favour of a man for an 
 
142 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 thia 
 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 any 
 thing 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 argoo- 
 ments." 
 
 " But der law ; der rich might haf der law on deir side, 
 surely ?" 
 
 " In what way, I should like to know? Juries be every 
 thing, 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 com 
 plaint throughout the country of the practical abuses con 
 nected with the jury system. I have heard intelligent law 
 yers 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 evi 
 dence. Systems may have a very fair appearance on paper 
 and as theories, that are execrable in practice. As for ju 
 ries, I believe the better opinion of the intelligent of all coun 
 tries 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 
 hnnds of those who would be most apt to abuse it ; since it 
 is adding to, instead of withstanding and resisting the con- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 143 
 
 trolling authority of the State, from which, in a popular go- 
 vernment, most of the abuses must unavoidably proceed. 
 
 As for my uncle Ro, he was disposed to pursue the sub 
 ject with Miller, who turned out to be a discreet and con 
 scientious rnan. 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-1, it s hard to say. I hear a great 
 deal about aristocrats, and I read a great deal about aristo 
 crats, in this country, and I know that most folks look upon 
 them as hateful, but I rrrby no means sartain I know what 
 an aristocrat is. Do you happen to know anything about 
 <t, 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 DIMI- 
 GOGUES ! 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 Little- 
 page !" 
 
 " 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, ig 
 norant fellow might haf? das ist ott." 
 
 " It is odd, but it s true as gospel. Why, it may not be 
 BO easy to tell. Many men, many minds, you know. Somo 
 folks don t like him because he lives in a big house ; some 
 
44 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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-1, 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 coon- 
 try. 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 
 lorl. In de olten dimes dis serfice vast military, und dere 
 ist someding of dat now. It ist de noples who owe der feu 
 dal serfice, brincipally, in mine coontry, and dey owes it tc 
 de kings und brinces." 
 
 " And don t you call giving a chicken for rent feudal ser 
 vice, in Germany ?" 
 
 Uncle Ro and I laughed, in spite of our efforts to the con 
 trary, there being a bathos in this question that was su 
 premely ridiculous. Curbing his merriment, however, a? 
 soon as he could, my uncle answered the question. 
 
 " If der landlord! hast a right to coome and dake as man) 
 cnickens as he bleases, und ast often ast he bleases, den daf 
 wouldt look like a feudal right ; but if de lease says dat sc 
 many chickens moost be paid a-year, for der rent, vhy daf 
 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 land 
 lord 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. 
 

 THE REDSKINS. 145 
 
 Und vhen der batroon might owe hist tailor, or hist 
 enoemaker, must he not go to hist shop, or find him and 
 bay him vhat he owes, or be suet for de^ debt ?" 
 
 " That s true, too; boys, put me in mmd 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 particular ding ; he most bay in 
 gclt 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 ap 
 ples 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 Ml tell this Dutchman all about it. Some folki 
 13 
 
140 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 particu 
 larly, vill it not?" 
 
 " I never heard that it would." 
 
 u 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 landlords, 
 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 ex 
 amination, 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 wilt 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 
 :B this. Hugh Littlepage is rich, and his money gives him 
 
THE REDSKINS. 147 
 
 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." 
 
 "Veil, 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." 
 
 " Veil, 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 resi 
 dence 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." - 
 
 " Veil, 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 gais 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 edi 
 sate his da ghter, I have heern say, over and over !" 
 
148 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " Und das Littlepage gal und de Warren gal might bo 
 goot friends ?" 
 
 " They are the thickest together of any two young wo 
 men 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 Op- 
 portunity is thought to come next to Matty herself, as to 
 property, of all the young gals about here. But Opportu 
 nity 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 veil to do in de vorlt. Berhaps der Littlepages be 
 rot 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 habite, 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 dividingsociety 
 into classes ; but, long after riches have taken wings, their 
 fruits remain, when good use has been made of their pre 
 sence. So untrue is the vulgar opinion or it might be bet 
 ter 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 acci 
 dentally constructed as they are, receive with reluctance, 
 nay, often sternly exclude, vulgar wealth from iheir associa 
 tions, while the door is open to the cultivated <vr_D have no- 
 thingr. 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 149 
 
 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 as 
 sociations 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 soci 
 ety. 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 
 13* 
 
150 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 commu 
 nication 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 vvith Opportunity Newcome. The money of the 
 latter, had my sister been in the least liable to such an in 
 fluence, was so much below what she had been accustomed, 
 all her life, to consider afiluence, 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 War 
 ren, 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 circum 
 stance ; 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-1," 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 poob- 
 lic, und 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 veil 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 veil, as might coome to see 
 dem?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed ! if folks treat them well, as sometimes 
 
THE REDSKINS. 151 
 
 doesn t happen. I ve seen hogs here" Tom was a little 
 Saxon in his figures, but their nature will prove their justi 
 fication " 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 tobacc, 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 look- 
 ing round, we perceived that the carriage of my grandmo 
 ther 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 laco for your cape 1 
 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 
 
152 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 1st 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 y ! 
 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 grandmo 
 ther. 
 
 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 War 
 ren, 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 o-f 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 orna 
 ments. All my uncle s wares, indeed, were in perfect good 
 taste, the purchase having been made of an importer of cha 
 racter, 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 153 
 
 which had been the pencil in question, and which he had 
 dropped into the box but a moment before it was sold. 
 
 " Wa-a-1, 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 exa 
 mined 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 regu 
 lar 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 plea 
 santly, or a wish to see the project of her grandmother car 
 ried out at once, induced my sister to interfere ; but inter 
 fere she did, and that by urging her aged parent to put 
 confidence in us. Years had taught my grandmother cau 
 tion, and she hesitated. 
 
 " But all these watches are of base metal, and I want one 
 of good gold and handsome finish," observed my grand 
 mother. 
 
 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 manu 
 facturer 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. 
 
154 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 rib 
 bon, 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." 
 
 ti j a? j a fe rr y goot ; you might keep das vatch, laty, und 
 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 Maj*y." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 155 
 
 ** 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 ap 
 pearance ! 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 af 
 fect 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 sur 
 veyors, 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 con 
 sult nay 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 con 
 templation. 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 
 
156 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Miller and Kitty, they doubtless wondered why " Warren s 
 gal" was such a fool ns 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, look 
 ing at my uncle. " If you and your companion will follow 
 ^Is 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, ils true name, and which Tom Miller, in 
 his country dialect, called the " Neest." The distance be 
 tween the two buildings was less than half a mile, the 
 grounds of the family residence lyig 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. Not 
 withstanding the cheapness of land among us, there has 
 been very little progress made in the art of landscape gar 
 dening ; 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 re 
 proach 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 
 
 
T HE REDSKINS. 
 
 157 
 
 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 men 
 tioned 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 " arisdo- 
 gratic," 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, how 
 ever, as the rule ; though modified exceptions may and do 
 exist. The tree of the American forest shoots upward to 
 ward the light, growing so tall and slender as to be un 
 sightly ; and even when time has given its trunk a 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 allu 
 vium 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 na 
 ture, 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, 
 14 
 
158 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 win 
 dows 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 ori 
 ginal building, and that on a plan which conformed to the 
 shape of a structure in square logs, that had been its prede 
 cessor 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 thou 
 sand acres, stretching in three directions, of which two hun 
 dred belonged to what was called the Nest Farm. The 
 lemainder was divided among the farms of the adjacent ten 
 antry. 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 159 
 
 n a condition to do credit to the energy and taste of ray 
 grandmother, who had ordered all these things for the last 
 few years, or since the death of my grandfather. This cir 
 cumstance, connected with the fact that the building was 
 larger and more costly than those of most of the other citi 
 zens of the country, had, of late years, caused Ravensnest 
 to be termed an " aristocratic residence." This word " aris 
 tocratic," 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 fin 
 gers. It will soon be aristocratic to maintain the truth of 
 the familiar Latin axiom of " de gustibus non disputandum 
 **. 
 
 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 coach 
 man was walking his horses away from it, on the road that 
 led to the stables. The party of ladies had made a consi 
 derable 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-accu 
 rate 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 can 
 not regard you as common pedlars. I have known what it 
 
160 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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," an- 
 swered my uncle, taking off his cap, and bowing very much 
 like a gentleman, an act in which I imitated him immedi 
 ately. " We haf seen petter tays ; und my son, dere, hast 
 peen edicatet at an university. But we are now poor ped 
 lars 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 senti 
 ment 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 in 
 volved 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 uncfe. 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 ab 
 sence. Shall I confess it ! Everything appeared diminu 
 tive and mean, after the buildings to which I had been ac 
 customed in the old world. I am not now drawing compa 
 risons with the palaces of princes, and the abodes of the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 161 
 
 great, as the American is apt to fancy, whenever anything 
 is named that is superior to the things to which he is accus 
 tomed ; but to the style, dwellings, and appliances of domes 
 tic 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 any 
 thing 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 se 
 cret of this charge among ourselves is the innate dislike 
 which is growing up in the country to see any man distin 
 guished 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 be 
 tween the " plebeians and patricians" of Albany, at the 
 commencement of this century, and which has now de 
 scended so much farther than was then contemplated by the 
 soi-disant " plebeians" of that day, as to become quite disa 
 greeable to their own descendants. But to return to my 
 self 
 
 I will own that, so far from finding any grounds of ex 
 ultation in my own aristocratical splendour, when I came 
 to view my possessions at home, I felt mortified and disap. 
 pointed. The things that I had fancied really respectable, 
 and even fine, from recollection, now appeared very com 
 mon-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 prin 
 ciples at defiance, and of forgetting God and his command 
 ments !" 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 
 * little before you, and I have had my ears and eyes open 
 
162 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 Co- 
 loombias, 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 recog 
 nise 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 pro 
 nounced 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 pro 
 foundly 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 163 
 
 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, comfort 
 able, 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 1" I answered, in my na 
 tural 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 grand 
 mother, 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 trou 
 bles?" 
 
 * 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 he 
 roes 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 cow 
 ardice 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 
 
164 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of the tenants have done, still do, and will contir ue to do, 
 with perfect impunity, unless some dire catastrophe stimu. 
 lates 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 our 
 selves, 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 m 
 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 injus 
 tice 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 pur 
 chased 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 nei 
 ther said, and I fancy neither thought much of my being 
 shut up there with an old lady of eighty, after the first mo 
 ment. 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, in 
 
THE REDSKINS. 165 
 
 deed, very, very beautiful ; pray what does he say is its 
 value?" 
 
 " One hundred dollars, he says ; and I can readily be 
 lieve 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 in 
 tended 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 ap 
 pearance 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 plea 
 sure 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 prder the better to ad 
 mire 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 tem 
 pered 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 
 
166 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 one as fenerable, und gracious, imd 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 bretly 
 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 *heap to go wid it." 
 
 The old lady was half ready to laugh in my face, at hear 
 ing 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 bonder 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 de 
 termined 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 tra 
 veller, 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 whis- 
 peied, affectionately, close at my sister s ear. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 167 
 
 Patt smiled, and kissed her friend with a warmth of man 
 ner 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, riein," I answered, returning the smile, and glanc 
 ing 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, Henri 
 etta, 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, un 
 derstood the whole matter, and had no scruples. The bar 
 gain 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. 
 
 - 
 
168 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 * Our life was changed. Another lore 
 
 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 ser 
 vant, 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 remain 
 ing 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 cer 
 tain to go up in the world ; if not, one does not care parti 
 cularly 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 occa 
 sion 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 ig 
 norant of forms ; pays little or no purely conventional re- 
 spect ; 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 160 
 
 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 impu 
 dence. 
 
 But, while John was not impudent either, he had a foot 
 man 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 regu 
 larity as he would have done had we sat there in our pro 
 per characters, but then he withdrew. He probably remem 
 bered that the landlord, or upper servant of an English hotel, 
 is apt to make his appearance with the soup, and to disap 
 pear as that disappears. So it was with John ; after re 
 moving 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 grand 
 mother 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 din 
 ner, 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 order 
 ing 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." 
 15 
 
170 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 conversa 
 tion, and he ate away as if resolute not to betray his disap 
 pointment. 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 
 riot 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 * 
 
THE REDSKINS. 171 
 
 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 know 
 ing 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 Mars- 
 ton, 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 sis 
 ter, 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 con 
 struction would be tant soil pen vulgar." 
 
 "Put your own construction on it, mon oncle ; Jdo 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 forbear 
 ance rather more than common, for he immediately mani 
 fested a disposition to relent, and to prove it by changing 
 .he subject. 
 
172 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 sin 
 cerely 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 con 
 versation. 
 
 " Dis broperty," he said, inquiringly, " is de broperty of 
 one Yeneral Littlepage, I hears say ?" 
 
 " Not of the General, who was Madam Littlepage s hus 
 band, 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 mucn 
 
THE REDSKINS. 173 
 
 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 
 nas 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 1 und vid whom dost you talk, 
 as might do dern 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?" 
 
 j a> j a 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 every 
 thing 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 
 teases ! A pretty sort of wisdom is this, says I ! I had him 
 15* 
 
174 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 tempta 
 tion, 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 satis 
 fied 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." 
 
 " Veil, 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 175 
 
 .hem 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 1" 
 
 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 
 nolding one set of opinions in private, concerning his mas 
 ters, and another in public, is true to the life. There is not, 
 at this moment, within the wide reach of the American bor 
 ders, one demagogue to be found who might not, with jus 
 tice, 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 recom 
 mend 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 cha 
 racters of the public men he is required to.support, or op 
 pose, 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 
 
176 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 fempted twenty times, that morning, to snatch Patt to my 
 heart and kiss her, as I used to do just after my beard be 
 i>an 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 ob 
 servers. My grandmother s plan was arranged, however, 
 and she now communicated it to us. 
 
 There was a neat little dressing-room annexed to Mar- 
 ?ha 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 
 ure a young German, of good connections and well educated, 
 who has been driven from his own country by political trou 
 bles, and who is reduced to turn his musical taste and ac 
 quisitions 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 for 
 tune 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 grand 
 mother ; " though I must think you would be more interest 
 ing 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 smils 
 that reminded me of her brother. But, there they are, Mary 
 
T HE R EDSKINS 
 
 177 
 
 and Martha, in the drawing-room, waiting for your appear- 
 ance. The first is so fond of music, and, indeed, is so prac 
 tised in it, as to have been delighted with your flute : and 
 she has talked so much of your skill as to justify us in seem- 
 ing 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 cha 
 racters. As for you, Roger, you are to open your box 
 again, and I will answer for it that will serve to amuse your 
 oFher 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, sus 
 pecting the truth, followed her. As I afterwards ascer 
 tained, 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 oc 
 cupied 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 com 
 manding 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. 
 
178 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " 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 appear 
 ance, 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 vi 
 siting 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 grand 
 mother 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 Pat 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 be- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 179 
 
 fore, 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 pa 
 latable to the most refined taste. How came Mary to think 
 you and my uncle two reduced German gentleman ?" 
 
 " 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 po 
 lished 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 intelli 
 gence to fit him to be any man s companion, and a simpli 
 city 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 ; 
 1 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 
 
ISO THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 agree 
 able 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 11 answer for it, though 
 it be so no longer here. Mr. Warren and Mr. Peck seem 
 fo live on perfectly amicable terms, though as little alike a 
 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 com 
 mandment. Of course he said nothing of the particular 
 trouble, but everybody must have made the necessary ap 
 plication of the home-truths he uttered. I question if ano 
 ther 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 any 
 thing? 
 
 " 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 18) 
 
 anti-renters say, 1 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 bet 
 ter have done, Hugh ; and that is to take down the canopy 
 from over cur 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 distinc 
 tion 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? * 
 16 
 
 
182 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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." 
 
 tr 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 sa 
 gacity 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 Se- 
 neky 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 fe 
 male 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 assump 
 tion?" 
 
 " As a young person should quietly and without mani 
 festing any feeling. But there is something quite intolerable 
 in one like Opportunity Newcome s assuming a superiority 
 over any true lady ! Mary is as we ll 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 REDSKINS. 133 
 
 The latter allusion Patt understood well enough, having 
 aughed 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 seve 
 ral 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 no 
 tion 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 fea 
 thers 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 
 1 love of money the root of all evil V and what right have 
 we to suppose our Ravensnest population is better than ano 
 ther, 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 pro- 
 
184 THE REDSKINS. * 
 
 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 o reward ; and there being no poli- 
 litical 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 mer 
 cenary 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 des 
 perate 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, pre 
 viously to separating. No one crossed my way as I de 
 scended to the piazza, which was easily done, since I was 
 literally at home. I lounged about on the lawn a few mi 
 nutes, and then, showing myself in front of the library win 
 dows, 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. Tho 
 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 orna 
 ments 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 1 , we 
 took our leave soon after, not without receiving kind and 
 pressing invitations to visit the Nest again ere we left the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 185 
 
 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 senti 
 ments 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 half-penny 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. 
 
 " 1 DO not see, sir," I remarked, as we moved on from 
 the last of these pauses, " why the governors and legisla 
 tors, and writers on this subject of anti-rentism, talk so 
 much of feudality, and chickens, and days works, and du 
 rable 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, in- 
 stead 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 dura 
 ble rent system, why would not the parties aggrieved have 
 
186 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the same right to take up arms to resist such an act of op 
 pression as our fathers had, in 1776 ?" 
 
 " Their cause would be better ; for that was only a con- 
 structive right, and one dependent on general principles, 
 whereas this is an attempt at a most mean evasion of a writ 
 ten 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 un 
 constitutional 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 inter 
 preted, now, into " Let justice be done, and the court fall." 
 No one wishes to see it continued, and the approaching con 
 vention 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 actu 
 ally 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!" 
 
 u 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 in- 
 stance, as the measure of its knowledge. An editor of a 
 
THE REDSKINS. 187 
 
 newspaper holds up a literary man to the world as one anx 
 ious to obtain a small sum of money, in order to put it into 
 Wall street, for shaving purposes. Now, the only ma 
 terial 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, under 
 stand by shaving, extortion, and nothing else. To 
 call a man a shaver is to say he is an extortioner, with 
 out going into details. But, in Wall street, and among mo 
 ney-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 tech 
 nically, or by convention among brokers, 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 it does not bring a man 
 into discredit to say he is a shaver ! thus making a con 
 ventional 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 lan 
 guage ! On the same principle, if a set of pick-pockets, at 
 the Five Points, should choose to mystify their trade a little 
 by including in the term to filch the literal borrowing of 
 a pocket-handkerchief, it would not be a libel to accuse a 
 citizen of filching his neighbour 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 car 
 ried 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 prac 
 tices. He called it a l jo?ceS 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 defence that he meant stealing* 
 hearts, for the word is sometimes used in that sense. When 
 
188 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 men use epithets that convey discredit in their general mean 
 ing, it is their business to give them a special signification 
 in their own contexts, if such be their real intention. Bui 
 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 lie 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 
 m 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 pe 
 regrinations. 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 ne 
 cessity, 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 en 
 countered. At the taverns, bribes had answered our pur 
 pose ; 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 189 
 
 my own roof, the decent Mrs. Miller making many apolo 
 gies for not having a feather-smotherer, in which to " squash" 
 me. I did not tell the good woman that I never used fea 
 thers, 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,* 
 
 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 
 nis 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 con 
 nected 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 fami 
 liar scene by the light of the setting sun, and began to be 
 tray the nature of his own suspicions by his language. 
 
 " The old man" (meaning my uncle Ro) " must havo 
 plenty of gold watches about him," he said, " to be so plaguy 
 
 * 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 coun 
 try inn. EDITOH. 
 
190 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 parfic lar consarnin his bed. Pedlin sich matters is a tick 
 lish 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 
 Httle 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-1, 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 coos- 
 turn still remaining in Charmany." 
 
 " Landlords a plenty, I guess, if the truth was known. 
 Leases as long as my arm, I calkerlate ?" 
 
 "Veil, dey do dink, in Charmany, dat de longer might 
 oe de lease, de better it might be for de <3enant." 
 
 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 pos 
 sible 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." 
 
 " Veil, 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, 
 efTery 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, und not 
 hold down und let oop, as you calls it." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 191 
 
 " 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 1 Vhat might you 
 njean 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 860 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 no- 
 thin ; 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 /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 dis 
 tance, he endeavoured to clear up any moral difficulties that 
 mighf 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 
 
192 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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." 9 
 
 " 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 11 read in all the books our 
 books, I mean, them that s printed here that the Ameri 
 cans be the most lawful people on airth, and that they 11 do 
 more for the law than any other folks known !" 
 
 " Veil, dat isn t vhat dey says of der Americans in Eu 
 rope ; 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?" 
 
 " Veil, I don ts know. Das coontry ist das coontry, und 
 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 11 come to the 
 p int but first swear you II not betray me." 
 
 " Ja, ja I oonderstandst ; I most schwear I won t be- 
 dray 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 ; T 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 193 
 
 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 1 
 religion be you ?" 
 
 " Soobortin ; veil, I might not oonderstands dat. Vhat 
 ist soobortin religion ? Coomes dat vrom Melanchton und 
 Luther? or coomes it vrom der Pope? Vhat ist dat soo 
 bortin religion ?" 
 
 "Why, what religion do you patronize? Do you pa 
 tronize 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 divart the thoughts." 
 
 " I might not oonderstand. But nefer mindt der religion, 
 und 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 11 trust you ; though, if you dc 
 betray me, you 11 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 mat 
 ters so nicely fixed now, that a chap can be an Injin with 
 out any paint at all, or any washin or scrubbin , but can 
 convart himself into himself ag in, at any time, in two mi 
 nutes. 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 11 be at the meetin , I 11 tell you how you 11 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 ter- 
 noon, 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 wo 
 men. I 11 tell vou how it s all settled. The meetin is 
 17 
 
194 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 called on the deliberative and liberty-supportin plan. ] 
 s pose you know we ve all sorts of meetin s in this coun 
 try ?" 
 
 " 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 meetinV 
 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 indig 
 nation 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 somo 
 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 pro- 
 perty 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 par 
 ticular, is the focus of civilization who hesitates about 
 
THE REDSKINS. 195 
 
 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 unpar 
 donable sin. The " people" will forgive anything sooner 
 than this ; though there are " folks" who fancy it as infal 
 lible a sign of an aristocrat not to chew tobacco. But, un 
 less 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 
 ofdem." 
 
 " Well, we have em universal and partic lar, as we hap 
 pen 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." 
 
 " Veil, dis ist queer ! I vast told dat der Americans vast 
 all philosophers, und dat all dey didt vast didt in a t ought- 
 ful and sober manner; und now you dells mo dey screams 
 deir arguments like Injins !" 
 
196 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " That we do ! I wish you d been here in the hard-cider 
 and log-cabin times, and you d a seen reason and philoso 
 phy, 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 
 \ou.. What s the use of a vote, if a body gets nothin bv 
 it? But to-morrow you 11 see the business done up, ana 
 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 eend." 
 
 " 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 11 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 ar- 
 nest, 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 Renssa- 
 laers, and the durables, and the quarter-sales, and the chick 
 ens ; 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 land 
 lords 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 und 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 aris 
 tocrat as to refuse to sell anything, I despise." 
 
 Veil, dey stand to der laws in Charmany, und broperty 
 
THE REDSKINS. 197 
 
 is respected in most coontries. You vouldn t do away wia 
 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 8200, hold on to 
 as good as 8300 ; 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 so 
 ciety 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 at 
 tempted ay, and coolly done? It is time that the Ameri 
 can began to see things as they are, and not as they are 
 said to be, in the speeches of governors, fourth of July ora 
 tions, 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, 1 as the boasted morals and 
 intelligence of the country would require, by the stern op 
 position 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/ 
 
 * 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 ex 
 tensive landlord, to whom tens of thousands were owing for rent, were 
 openly resisting the law, and defeating every attempt to distrain, though 
 17* 
 
198 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 u A first-rate lecturer on feudal tenors," (Joshua was not 
 ;n 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 ex 
 pect 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 ob 
 tained, no doubt the Slate 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." j . 
 
 " 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 11 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 11 find folks 
 among us that 11 deny stoutly that anti-renters has anything 
 to do with the Tnjin 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." 
 
 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 pro 
 tect 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. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 199 
 
 "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 hun 
 dred arid fifty, or even five hundred, I m no way onaccom- 
 adatin . 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 11 take up with 
 almost any farm young Littlepage has, though I should ra 
 ther have one in the main valley here, than one more out 
 of the way ; still, I don t set myself down as at all par 
 tic lar." 
 
 " Und vhat do you expect to bay Mr. Littlepage for der 
 farm, ast you might choose 1 ?" 
 
 "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 any 
 thing. 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 dol 
 lars 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 11 explain to you ; for I d 
 have you to know I haven t entered into this business with* 
 out looking to the right and the wrong on t." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " Exblain, exblain ; I might hear you exblain, and you 
 most exblain." 
 
 " Why, you re in a hurry, friend Griezenbach, or what 
 ever your name be. But I Ml explain, if you wish it. S pose, 
 now, a lease run thirty years ten on nothin , and twenty 
 <n sixpences. Well, a hundred sixpences make fifty shil 
 lings, and twenty times fifty make a thousand, as all the 
 rent paid in thirty years. If you divide a thousand by thirty, 
 t leaves thirty-three shillings and a fraction" Joshua cal- 
 rulated like an American of his class, accurately and with 
 rapidity " for the average rent of the thirty years. Call 
 ing 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 1 
 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 circum 
 stances." 
 
 " 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 dol 
 lars. It would be more, but tenants won t put good build 
 ings on farms, you know, seein* that they don t own them. 
 I heard one of our leaders lamentin that he didn t foresee 
 
THE REDSKINS. 201 
 
 what times was comin to, when he repaired his old house, 
 or he would have built a new one. But a man can t fore 
 tell 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 1 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 ha-s been done on it ?" 
 
 " Ja, ja I oonderstandst ; und 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 sub 
 ject 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 circum 
 stances, 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 no 
 tions do exist as a reason for the necessity of making con 
 cessions, 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 
 
202 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 may h.appen 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 cir- 
 cumstance was cited against me in the controversy, it being 
 thought Use 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 tne 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 203 
 
 only people who deem that bankruptcy gives a claim to 
 public favour.* 
 
 As respects the two " Nests," had not so much more se 
 rious 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 appa 
 rent 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 
 sealed, 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 cen 
 tury 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 cer 
 tainly 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 in- 
 variably 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 supe 
 rior 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 
 
 * 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. 
 
J04 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 tc 
 be. In a word, men are telling the stories as best agree* 
 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 dis 
 tance 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, Millef 
 and his family were soon out of sight, it being their wish to 
 obtain as much of the marvel s 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 dan. 
 ger of missing our way, as we had only to follow the geno- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 205 
 
 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 beacops. Referring to this term of " meeting-house," 
 does it not furnish conclusive evidence, of itself, of the in 
 consistent folly of that wisest of all earthly beings, man? 
 It was adopted in contradistinction from, and in direct op 
 position 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 secta 
 rians are a little disposed to resent this exclusive appropria 
 tion of the proscribed word by the sects who have always 
 adhered to it as offensively presuming, and, in a slight de 
 gree, " arisdogradic !" I am a little afraid that your out- 
 and-outers in politics, religion, love of liberty, and other hu 
 man 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 moun 
 tain 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 agree 
 able. Such is the case with the principal vale of Ravens- 
 nest, 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 sel 
 dom 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 
 pf an American property of this sort rarely brings much to 
 its Droorietor beyond trouble and vexation." 
 18 
 
206 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " And aftei 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 aris 
 tocracy, 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 aris 
 tocrats we possess, in order to maintain his right of pro 
 perty 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 peopfe the right of self-government ?" 
 
 " God help the nation where self-government, in its lite 
 ral 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 re 
 ligion !" 
 
 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 " grave 
 yard." 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 lasi 
 
THE REDSKINS. 207 
 
 incumbent had been a whining, complaining, narrow-minded, 
 selfish and lazy priest, the least estimable of all human cha 
 racters, short of the commission of the actual and higher 
 crimes ; but his successor had the reputation of being a de 
 vout 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 coun 
 try priest, and how contracted and mean is the pittance he 
 in common receives, and how much more he merits than he 
 gels, if his reward were to be graduated by things here. But 
 this picture, like every other, has its different sides, and oc 
 casionally men do certainly enter the church from motives 
 as little as possible connected with those that ought to influ 
 ence them. 
 
 " There is the wagon of Mr. Warren, at his door," ob 
 served my uncle, as we passed the rectory. " Can it bo 
 that he intends visiting the village also, on an occasion like 
 this?" 
 
 "Nothing more probable, sir, if the character Palt 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, exceed 
 ing 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 predeces 
 sors 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. 
 
208 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 re 
 membered the conversation of the previous night. I thought 
 by the sudden jump of my uncle, and the manner he in 
 stinctively 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* 
 
THE REDSKINS. 209 
 
 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 mid 
 dle-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 dis 
 turbers 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 endea 
 vour 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 tempt 
 ing 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 
 
 18* 
 
210 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 ex 
 pected 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 hesi 
 tate about doing a job on one a little more diminutive. I 
 was mistaken, however ; some sort of imperceptible disci 
 pline 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 a-t 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, " lay 
 ing 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 und der beoples at der vil 
 lage, dat ve might sell our vatches." 
 
 " Dat all ; sartain ? can call down rent, eh ?" 
 
 " Dat ist ferry easy ; down rent, eh T " 
 
 "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 tet 
 us, den. T ink good friend, too, when he dare " 
 
THE REDSKINS. 211 
 
 " 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 reflec 
 tions concerning the inevitable fate of those who attempt 
 to " serve God and Mammon." This anti-rentism is a ques 
 tion 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 cove 
 nants 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, an 
 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 citi 
 zen 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 wast 
 ing 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, 
 
212 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 &c. &c. Would the governor recommend legislative ac 
 tion in that case 1 Would the length of such leases induce 
 him to recommend that no lease should exceed five years if 
 duration? Would the landlords who should get up a corps 
 of Injins to worry their tenants into an abandonment of thoir 
 farms be the objects of commiseration 1 and wou d the law 
 slumber for years over their rebellions and depredations, 
 until two or three murders aroused public indignation 1 Let 
 them answer that know. As a landlord, I should be sorry 
 to incur the ridicule that would attend even a public com 
 plaint 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.* 
 
 " 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 gobbernor ; 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?" 
 
 " Veil, 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 hdf a minute we were alone on the log. This move 
 ment 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 
 
 * This is no invented statement, but strictly one that is true, the 
 writer having himself a small interest in a property so situated ; though 
 ho has not yet bethought him of applying to the Legislature for reliet 
 EDITOR. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 213 
 
 ihe horse, which had shaken off his head-stall, and was qui 
 etly 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 he- 
 hind 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 new-comers to proceed until we got 
 out of the way, and the divine pulled up as soon as ho 
 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 ex 
 pressed. " 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 cler 
 gyman to be mingling and mixing himself up with political 
 concerns in general, but this is a matter that touches mo 
 rality, and the minister of God is neglectful of his duty who 
 keeps aloof when a word of admonition might aid in pre 
 venting 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 
 
214 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 which it almost intuitively shrinks from communion unne 
 cessarily 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 lee- 
 turer 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. 
 
 " (Jrid doost das jung frau go to see der Injins, too ; to 
 bersuade em dey ist fery vicked ?" 
 
 Mary s face jjad 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 ar 
 gument 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 grate 
 ful at finding her true motives appreciated ; and she even 
 smiled, though she said nothing. My own feelings under 
 went 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 oT 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, sug 
 gested itself to the minds of my uncle and myself, and al 
 most at the same instant ; it was this : the conversation was 
 
THE REDSKINS. 215 
 
 carried on In a high key, or loud enough lo be heard at 
 some little distance7the horse and part of the wagon inter 
 posing 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, there 
 fore, 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 chat men of liberal acquirements are 
 apt to feel when they see others of similar educations re 
 duced by fortune below their proper level. He was conse 
 quently 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 betray 
 ing 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 sylla 
 ble 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 
 
216 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 them 
 selves; 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 conside 
 ration 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 11 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 217 
 
 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. 
 
218 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ; , v , 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 disre 
 spect, I so far overcame the feeling as to remain quiet, 
 though I silently changed my position sufficiently to get 
 near her elbow, where 1 could and did whisper a word or 
 two of encouragement. But Mary thought only of her fa 
 ther, 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 sud 
 denly turned his head away, as if struck with the expedi 
 ency 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 in. 
 tended to use them on Mr. Warren, I cannot say. The of 
 fensive 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 219 
 
 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 " meet 
 ing" for " church" giving him the grateful assurance that 
 this individual, at least, was not one of his own people. 
 
 " Admoaition and remonstrance may always be useful 
 when crime is meditated. You are now committing a felony, 
 for which the State & 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 hesi 
 tate 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 re 
 leased them, and a little circle was now formed, in the cen 
 tre 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 of 
 fered no resistance, but suffered himself to be placed in Mil- 
 ler 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 Tush- 
 ing into the crowd, and clinging to his side. Mr. Warren 
 rose, and, giving her an encouraging smile, bade her be 
 calm, told her lie had nothing to fear, and requested that 
 she would enter his own wagon again and return home, 
 
220 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 vil 
 lage 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 pre 
 ceding, and the remainder following the wagon that con 
 tained 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 di 
 rection, 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 de 
 termined 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 deter 
 mined to pass for an itinerant Dutch music-grinder with her 
 no longer. 
 
 " Miss Mary, Miss Warren," I commenced, cautiously, 
 
TIIE REDSKINS. 
 
 221 
 
 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 coun 
 tryman 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, there 
 fore, 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 
 19* 
 
222 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of the room, yesterday, by the first, that I might be lefl 
 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. Little- 
 pages 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 ques 
 tioned 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 inte 
 rested, and, at the same time, amused eyes. I thought she 
 looked as sorry as I felt myself when that lank, villanoua 
 wig was again performing its office. 
 
 " Am I as well arranged as when we first met, Miss War 
 ren ? 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. " In 
 deed, 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 ex 
 cusable 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 223 
 
 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 pur 
 pose?" 
 
 " 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 verv slow gait, 
 being in no particular hurry to quit my present fair com 
 panion. 
 
 Mary and I had now a free, and, in some sense, a con 
 fidential 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 in 
 genuous 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 be 
 came better acquainted than would have been the case, under 
 ordinary circumstances, in a year. 
 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 rny future inten- 
 ions, and of my disposition to hold out to the last against 
 f very attempt on my rights, whether they might come front 
 ihe open violence and unprincipled designs of those below, 
 c.r the equally unprincipled schemes of those above. A spu 
 rious 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 be 
 cause 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 pro 
 scribed classes of the country had only to be true to them 
 selves 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 
 fo me, Mr. Littlepage, that if the gentlemen of New York 
 would 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 pro 
 ject 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 convic 
 tion of the necessity of doing something, if the downward 
 tendency is to be ever checked short of civil war, and a 
 
THE REDSKINS. 225 
 
 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 ap. 
 point special commissioners, who are to settle all the diffi 
 culties 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 up 
 permost. 
 
 " 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. Little- 
 page ?" 
 
 ** 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. Pro 
 vidence 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 
 
226 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 purposes, will be made to repent of it bitterly, either in thei* 
 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 pri 
 soners, 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 dia 
 logue 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, re 
 quested 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 dis 
 tance 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, pn the highways of 
 
THE REDSKINS. 227 
 
 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 ques 
 tion 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 particu 
 lar 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 op 
 pressive 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 vehi 
 cles in the manner easiest to their owners. Nevertheless, 
 there was some connection between the institutions and 
 these little liberties which some statesmen might fancy ex 
 isted 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 
 orts of trespasses, arid which. are enacted expressly to curb 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 *he 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 pri 
 soner, 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 consi 
 dered 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 pro. 
 perty that are solemnly guarantied in these institutions, of 
 
THE REDSKINS. 229 
 
 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 unneces 
 sary 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 them 
 selves in a body, it is true, and maintained, in a slight de 
 gree, 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 
 o compel him to sell lands which he did not wish to sell, 
 <md tha: not a few of them were anxious to add to the com 
 pulsory 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 
 /act, a " spirit of the devil," which the institutions were ex 
 pressly 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 tho " 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- 
 20 
 
230 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 acci 
 dentally 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 representa 
 tions 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 as 
 suming the office of the judge by anticipation, and dissect 
 ing evidence before it has been given, in the ear of a parti 
 cular friend. It is true there is a law against doing any 
 thing 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 exist 
 ence 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 to 
 wards 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 pre 
 tending 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 REDSKINS. 231 
 
 The " old Neest meetin -us," like ils successor, was of a 
 nemlock 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 de 
 composed 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 ungrace 
 ful windows, that being a point in orthodoxy at the period 
 of its erection. It had a tower, uncouth, and in some re 
 spects 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 lop 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 " lec 
 ture" on feudal tenures and aristocracy was now to be deli- 
 vered. 
 
 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 ven 
 tured 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 improve 
 ments 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 pro- 
 found a knowledge of human nature, and of its tendencies 
 counsel so comprehensive and so safe, and this solely in re 
 ference to the things of this life, that I do not believe every 
 thing is progress in the right direction because it sets us in 
 motion on paths that are not two thousand years old ! I 
 
232 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 believe that we have quite as much that ought to be kept, 
 as of that which ought to be thrown away ; and while 1 
 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 theo 
 logical 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 5 
 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 sys 
 tem 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 pul 
 pit, 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 233 
 
 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 
 Q camel ! 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 " I tell thee, Jack Cade, the clothier means to to dress the common 
 health, 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 fol 
 lowing them, in order to inquire if I could be of any ser 
 vice. 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 thih 
 attention, sir but, it will be over in another minute I fee r - 
 better now, and shall be able to command myself." 
 
 No more was then said, concerning the reason of thifr 
 distress ; but Mary has since explained to me its cause. 
 When her father went into the meeting-house, he had not tht 
 smallest idea that anything like a religious service would h* 
 dragged into the ceremonies of such a day. The two mi 
 nisters on the stage first gave him the alarm ; when a mos* 
 painful struggle occurred in his mind, whether or not hi 
 should remain, and be a party to the mockery of addressing 
 20* 
 
234 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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, in 
 tending 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 im 
 pulse of Christian feeling, a reverence for God, and a pro 
 found 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 unblush- 
 ingly 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 them 
 selves, instead of pitying its deluded members, if they be 
 lieve them wrong. This will not be admitted generally, but 
 it is nevertheless true; and betrays itself in a hundred ways. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 235 
 
 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 theo 
 logical 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 Ame 
 rican branch of the Episcopal Church has assumed the posi 
 tion 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 expe 
 dients 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 invest 
 ments in the soil j and that this could not be done in prac 
 tice, 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 
 
236 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 positions, that I and mine do not, and cannot easily, occupy 
 and oossess ; 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 doc 
 trines. 
 
 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 feel 
 ing 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 :ome minutes before Mr. Warren entirely regained 
 his composure. At length he spoke to me, in his usual be 
 nevolent and mild way, saying a few words that were com 
 plimentary, on the subject of my return, while he expressed 
 his fears that my uncle Ro and myself had been impru 
 dent 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 
 cortainly within the statute. We are too well aware of our 
 
THE REDSKINS. 237 
 
 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. De 
 mocracy alone finds any sympathy in the ordinary admi 
 nistration 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 un 
 pleasant and alarming manner," said Mary Warren, delight 
 ing 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 appa 
 rent, 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 dis 
 guised gentry placed themselves before me, laying their 
 rifles across my path, and completely intercepting my ad 
 vance. 
 
 " 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 
 
238 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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 toge 
 ther, seemingly communicating to each other their suspi 
 cions. 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 any., 
 thing 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 du 
 rable 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. Find 
 ing 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. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 2o9 
 
 A3 soon as the lecturer had got through with his general 
 neads, and felt the necessity of coming down to particulars, 
 he opened upon the family of Littlepage, in a very declama 
 tory 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 
 ords 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 Little- 
 pages 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 Liltlepage 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, 
 
240 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 while you and yours are eating the sweat of your brows. 
 He is no man for a pewter spoon and two-pronged fork ! 
 N&, 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-citi 
 zens, Hugh Littlepage would not put his knife into his 
 mouth, as you and I do, in eating as. all plain, unpretend 
 ing 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 accus 
 tomed all their lives to see the Littlepages in the social sta 
 tion 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 1 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 pos 
 session, as things to be respected. They re nawthin jest 
 nawthin at all. Possession s good in law, I Ml admit ; anq 
 
THE REDSKINS. 24! 
 
 ! contind that s jest what the tenants has. They ve got the 
 lawful possession of this very property, that layeth (no! 
 eggs, but) up and down, far and near, and all around ; u 
 rich and goodly heritage, when divided up among hard 
 working and honest folks; but too much, by tens of thou 
 sands of acres, for a young chap, who is wasting his sub 
 stance in foreign lands, to hold. I contind that the tenants 
 has this very, precise, lawful possession, at this blessed mo 
 ment, only the law won t let em enj y it. It s all owing tc 
 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 particu 
 lar 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 pre- 
 tendin 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 
 hould 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 ta 
 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 posses* 
 sion ; for it s held under the sacred principle of usualness. 
 21 
 
242 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 It says, < go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose, 
 and means progress. That s an antiquity I respect. 1 
 respect the antiquity of your possessions here, as tenant*; 
 for it is a hard-working and useful antiquity an antiquity 
 that increases and multiplies. If it be said that Hugh Lit- 
 tlepage 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 
 Jaugh] "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 six- 
 pence, 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 Demo- 
 
 M-ato I know that many of you be what is called Whigs but 
 
 [ apprehend there is nt much difference between uson the 
 subject of this system of leasing land. We are all republi 
 cans, and leasing farms is anti-republican. Then, I wish 
 (o 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 com 
 plain of the governors for ordering out troops ag in the 
 Injins, but they could not kelp 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 out- 
 line^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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 243 
 
 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 funda 
 mental, 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 prac 
 tice, 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 appel 
 lation ! 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 substan 
 tial, and which must be restored, when the working of the 
 
244 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 law has deranged it. Fellow-citizens, do vou know what 
 leap-year means? I dare say some of you don t, the ladies 
 in particular 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 d-evise 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 BENE 
 FITS 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 ob 
 scured 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 se 
 cretary, 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. Mv first impulse was to throw 
 
THE REDSKINS. 245 
 
 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 through 
 out. 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 re 
 spected, 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 me 
 chanic, 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 un 
 derstand a government in which the sovereign power resides 
 in the body of the nation ; and not in a few, or in one. But 
 21* 
 
246 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 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. Mai bone Littlepage died, his farms should go 
 not to his next of kin, or to his devisee, but to his neigh 
 bours, 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 un 
 equal 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-twen 
 tieth 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 wun 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 any 
 body. 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 
 
THE REDSKINS. 247 
 
 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 samo 
 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 
 [ 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 use 
 ful, and has no objection to a silver, or, at least, to a pewter 
 
2 18 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 spoon. Now, there are folks that use wooden forks, or no 
 brks, and who are glad to get horn spoons ; and they might 
 rail that gentleman himself an aristocrat. This setting of 
 urselves up as the standard in all things is anything bu< 
 iiberty. 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 com- 
 i -inion 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 
 c.ost of elections? We might draw lots, as we do for jurors, 
 and save a good deal of time and money. We all know 
 here 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 Little- 
 page, 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, ia 
 it expected other people are to provide them with such things 
 out of their own " 
 
W II E REDSKINS. 249 
 
 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 d - 
 persed. 
 
 CHAPTEK XYI. 
 
 " And yet it is said, Labour in thy vocation : which is as much 
 as to say, let the magistrates be labouring men; and therefore 
 should we be magistrates." 
 
 King Henry VI. 
 
 IN a minute or two the tumult ceased, and a singular 
 scene presented itself. The church had four separate groups 
 or parties left in it, besides the Injins, who crowded the 
 main isle. The chairman, secretary, two ministers an-d lec 
 turer, remained perfectly tranquil in their seats, probably 
 understanding quite well they had nothing to fear from the 
 intruders. Mr. Warren and Mary were in another corner, 
 under the gallery, he having disdained flight, and prudently 
 kept his daughter at his side. My uncle and myself were 
 the pendants of the two last named, occupying the opposite 
 corner, also under the gallery. Mr. Hall, and two or three 
 friends who stuck by him, were in a pew near the wall, but 
 about half way down the church, the former erect on a seat, 
 where he had placed himself to speak. 
 
 " Proceed with your remarks, sir," coolly observed the 
 chairman, who was one of those paradoxical anti-renters 
 who has nothing to do with the Injins, though he knew all 
 about them, and, as I have been told, was actually foremost 
 in collecting and disbursing their pay. At this instant Se 
 neca Newcome sneaked in at a side door, keeping as far as 
 possible from the " disguised and armed," but curious to 
 ascertain what would come next. 
 
 As for Hall, he behaved with admirable self-possession. 
 He probably knew that his former auditors were collecting 
 
250 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 under the windows, and by raising his voice he would be 
 easily heard. At all events, he did elevate his voice, and 
 went on as if nothing had happened. 
 
 " I was about to say a word, Mr. Chairman, on the natur 
 of the two qualities that have, to me, at least, seemed up 
 permost in the lecturer s argooment" yes, this sensible, 
 well-principled man actually used that detestable sound, just 
 as I have written it, calling argument argooment what 
 a pity it is that so little attention is paid to the very first 
 principles of speaking the language well in this country, the 
 common schools probably doing more harm than they do 
 good in this respect " that have, to nr;e, at least, seemed 
 uppermost in the lecturer s argooment, and they are both 
 those that God himself has viewed as of so great importance 
 to our nature as to give his express commandments about 
 them. He has commanded us not to steal, and he has com 
 manded us not to covet our neighbour s goods ; proof suffi 
 cient that the possession of property is sanctioned by divine 
 authority, and that it is endowed with a certain sanctity of 
 privilege. Now for the application. 
 
 " You can do nothing as to leases in existence, because 
 the State can t impair a contract. A great deal is said about 
 this government s being one of the people, and that the peo 
 ple ought to do as they please. Now, I m a plain man, 
 and am talking to plain men, and mean to talk plainly. 
 That this is a government of the people, being a democracy, 
 or because the sovereign power, in the last resort, resides 
 in the body of the people, is true; but that this is a govern 
 ment of the people, in the common signification, or as too 
 many of the people themselves understand it, is not true. 
 This very interest, about which there is so much commo 
 tion, or the right to interfere with contracts, is put beyond 
 the people of the State by a clause in the constitution of the 
 United States. Now, the constitution of the United States 
 might be altered, making another provision saying that no 
 State shall ever pass any law to do away with the existence 
 of durable leases, and every man, woman and child in New 
 York be opposed to such a change, but they would have to 
 swallow it. Come, let us see what figures will do. There 
 are twenty-seven States in actual existence, and soon will 
 bo thirty. I don t care on which number you calculate ; 
 
THE REDSKINS. 251 
 
 say thirty, if you please, as that is likely to be the number 
 before the constitution could be altered. Well, twenty-three 
 of these States can put a clause into the constitution, saying 
 you shan t meddle with leases. This might leave the seven 
 most popular States, with every voter, opposed to the change. 
 I ve made a calculation, and find what the seven most popu 
 lous States had in 1840, and I find that more than half of 
 all the population of the country is contained in them seven 
 States, which can be made to submit to a minority. Nor 
 is this all ; the alteration may be carried by only one vote 
 in each of the twenty-three States, and, deducting these from 
 the electors in the seven dissenting States, you might have 
 a constitutional change made in the country against a ma 
 jority of say two millions ! It follows that the people, in 
 the common meaning, are not as omnipotent as some sup 
 pose. There s something stronger than the people, after 
 all, and that s principles, and if we go to work to tear to 
 pieces our own " 
 
 It was impossible to hear another word that the speaker 
 said. The idea that the people are not omnipotent, was one 
 little likely to find favour among any portion of the popula 
 tion that fancies themselves to be peculiarly the people. So 
 much accustomed to consider themselves invested with the 
 exercise of a power which, in any case, can be rightfully 
 exercised by only the whole people, have local assemblages 
 got to be, that they often run into illegal excesses, fancying 
 even their little fragment of the body politic infallible, as 
 well as omnipotent, in such matters at least. To have it 
 openly denied, therefore, that the popular fabric of American 
 institutions is so put together, as to leave it in the power of 
 a decided minority to change the organic law, as is unques 
 tionably the fact in theory, however little likely to occur in 
 practice, sounded in the ears of Mr. Hall s auditors like 
 political blasphemy. Those under the windows groaned, 
 while the gang in the aisle whooped and yelled, and that in 
 a fashion that had all the exaggeration of a caricature. It 
 was very apparent that there was an end of all the delibe 
 rative part of the proceedings of the day. 
 
 Hall seemed neither surprised nor uneasy. He wiped his 
 face very coolly, and then took his seat, leaving the Injins 
 to dance about the church, flourishing their rifles and knives, 
 
"2 52 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 in a way that might have frightened one less steady, ^s 
 for Mr. Warren, he led Mary out, though there was a mo^e- 
 ment that threatened to stop him. My uncle and myself 
 followed, the whooping and screaming being really unplea 
 sant to the ear. As to the chairman, the secretary, and tha 
 two ministers of the gospel, they kept their stations on the 
 stage, entirely self-possessed and unmolested. No one went 
 near them, a forbearance that must have been owing to the 
 often alleged fact that the real anti-renters, the oppressed 
 tenantry of New York, and these vile masqueraders, had 
 nothing to do with each other ! 
 
 One of the astounding circumstances of the times, is the 
 general prevalence of falsehood among us, and the almost 
 total suppression of truth. No matter what amount of evi 
 dence there may be to contradict a statement, or how often 
 it has been disproved, it is reaffirmed, with just as much 
 assurance, as if the matter had never been investigated ; ay, 
 and believed, as if its substance were uncontradicted. I am 
 persuaded there is no part of the world, in which it is more 
 difficult to get a truth into the public mind, when there is a 
 motive to suppress it, than among ourselves. This may 
 seem singular, when it is remembered how many journals 
 there are, which are uttered with the avowed purpose to 
 circulate information. Alas ! the machinery which can be 
 used to give currency to truth, is equally efficient in giving 
 currency to falsehood. There are so many modes, too, of 
 diluting truth, in addition to the downright lies which are 
 told, that I greatly question if one alleged fact, out of twenty 
 that goes the rounds of the public prints, those of the com 
 moner sort excepted, is true in all its essentials. It requires 
 so much integrity of purpose, so much discrimination, such 
 a sensitiveness of conscience, and often so large a degree of 
 self-sacrifice in men to speak nothing but truth, that one is 
 not to expect that their more vulgar and irresponsible agents 
 are to possess a quality that is so very rare among the very 
 best of the principals. 
 
 If I was glad to get out of the church myself, the reader 
 may depend on it, I was rejoiced when I saw Mr. Warren 
 leading Mary towards tne place where I had left his wagon r 
 as if about to quit a scene that now promised nothing but 
 clamour and wrangling, if not something more serious. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 253 
 
 Uncle Ro desired me to bring out the wagon in which we 
 had left the farm ; and, in the midst of a species of general 
 panic, in which the women, in particular, went flying about 
 in all directions, I proceeded- to comply. It was at this 
 moment that a general pause to all movements was pro 
 duced by the gang of Injins pouring out of the church, 
 oringing in their centre the late speaker, Mr. Hall. As the 
 chairman, secretary, lecturer, and the two " ministers of the 
 gospel," followed, it was conclusive ae to the termination of 
 anything like further discussion. 
 
 My uncle called me back, and I thought was disposed to 
 assist Hall, who, manfully supported by the two or three 
 friends that had stood by him the whole day, was now 
 moving towards us, surrounded by a cluster of wrangling 
 and menacing Injins; the whole party bearing no little 
 resemblance to a pack of village curs that sets upon the 
 strange dog that has ventured in among them. 
 
 Oaths and threats filled the air; and poor Hall s ears 
 were offended by an imputation that, I dare say, they then 
 heard for the first time. He was called a " d d aristo 
 crat." and a hireling in the pay of" d d aristocrats." To 
 
 all this, however, the sturdy and right-thinking blacksmith 
 was very indifferent; well knowing there was not a fact 
 connected with his existence, or a sentiment of his moral 
 being, that would justify any such charge. It was in an 
 swer to this deadly imputation that I first heard him speak 
 again, after he had been interrupted in the church. 
 
 " Call me what you please," he cried, in his clear, full 
 voice ; " I don t mind hard names. There isn t a man 
 among you who thinks I m an aristocrat, or the hireling of 
 any one ; but I hope I am not yet so great a knave as to 
 wish to rob a neighbour because he happens to be richer 
 than I am myself." 
 
 " Who gave Hugh Littlepage his land ?" demanded one, 
 in the midst of the gang, speaking without the affectation 
 of mimicry, though the covering to his head sufficiently 
 changed his voice. " You know, yourself, it came from 
 the king." 
 
 " He never worked for an acre of it !" bawled another. 
 * If he was a hard-working, honest man, like yourself, Tim 
 22 
 
254 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Hall, we might bear it ; but you know he is not. He s a 
 spendthrift and an aristocrat." 
 
 " I know that hard hands don t make a man honest, any 
 more than soft hands make him a rogue," answered Tim 
 Hall, with spirit. " As for the Littlepages, they are gentle 
 men in every sense of the word, and always have been. 
 Their word will pass even now, when the bond of many a 
 man who sets himself up ag in them wouldn t be looked at." 
 
 I was grateful and touched with this proof that a charac 
 ter, which I fully believed to be merited, was not lost on 
 one of the most intelligent men of his class, in that part of 
 the country. Envy, and covetousness, and malignancy, 
 may lie as they will, but the upright recognize the upright ; 
 the truly poor know who most assuage their sorrows and 
 relieve their wants ; and the real lover of liberty under 
 stands that its privileges are not to be interpreted altogether 
 in his own favour. I did not like the idea of such a man s 
 being ill-treated by a gang of disguised blackguards fel 
 lows, who added to the crime of violating a positive law, 
 the high moral offence of prostituting the sacred principles 
 of liberty, by professing to drag them into the service of a 
 cause, which wanted very little, in its range, to include all 
 the pickpockets and thieves in the land. 
 
 " They will do that noble fellow some injury, I fear," I 
 whispered to my uncle. 
 
 " If it were not for the mortification of admitting our dis 
 guise, I would go forward at once, and attempt to bring him 
 out of the crowd," was the answer. " But that will not do, 
 under the circumstances. Let us be patient, and observe 
 what is to follow." 
 
 " Tar and feathers !" shouted some one among the Injins ; 
 " Tar and feather him !" " Crop him, and send him home !" 
 answered others. " Tim Hall has gone over to the enemy," 
 added the Injin who asked whence I had my lands. 
 
 I fancied I knew that voice, and when its tones had been 
 repeated two or three times, it struck me it was that of 
 Seneca Newcome. That Seneca was an anti-renter, was 
 no secret ; but that he, a lawyer, would be guilty of the great 
 indiscretion of committing felony, was a matter about which 
 one might well entertain a doubt. To urge others to be 
 guilty, was a different matter, but to commit himself seemed 
 
THE REDSKINS. 255 
 
 unlikely. With a view to keep an eye on the figure I dis 
 trusted, I looked out for some mode by which he might be 
 known. A patch, or rather goar in the calico, answered 
 admirably, for on looking at others, I saw that this goar 
 was accidental, and peculiar to that particular dress, most 
 probably owing to a deficiency in the material originally 
 supplied. 
 
 All this time, which indeed was but a minute or two, the 
 tumult continued. The Injins seemed undetermined what 
 to do; equally afraid to carry out their menaces against 
 Hall, and unwilling to let him go. At the very instant 
 when we were looking for something serious, the storm 
 abated, and an unexpected calm settled on the scene. How 
 this was effected, I never knew ; though it is reasonable to 
 suppose an order had been communicated to the Injins, by 
 some signal that was known only to themselves. Of the 
 result there was no doubt; the crowd around Hall opened, 
 and that sturdy and uncompromising freeman came out of 
 it, wiping his face, looking heated and a little angry. He 
 did not yield, however, remaining near the spot, still sup- 
 oorted by the two or three friends who had accompanied him 
 from Mooseridge. 
 
 My uncle Ro, on reflection, conceived it wisest not to seem 
 in a hurry to quit the village, and as soon as I had ascer 
 tained that Mr. Warren had come to a similar decision, and 
 had actually taken refuge in the house of a parishioner, I 
 * was agreeable, as the English say. While the pedlar, 
 therefore, made a new display of his watches, I strolled 
 round among the crowd, Injins and others intermixed, to see 
 what could be seen, and to glean intelligence. In the course 
 of my wanderings, chance brought me close to the side of 
 the masquer in the dress with the goar. Tickling him gen- 
 tly on the elbow, I induced him to step a little aside with me, 
 where our conversation would not be overheard. 
 
 " Why might you be Injin gentleman as you be?" I 
 asked, with as much of an air of simplicity, as I could 
 assume. 
 
 The start with which this question was met, convinced 
 me I was right; and I scarce needed farther confirmation 
 of the justice of my suspicion. If I had, however, it was 
 afforded. 
 
256 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 "Why ask Injin dat?" returned the man with the 
 gear. 
 
 " Veil, dat might do, and it might not do, Squire New- 
 come ; but it might not do wid one as knows you as veil as 
 I know you. So dell me ; vy might you be Injin ?" 
 
 " Harkee," said Seneca, in his natural speech, and evi 
 dently much disturbed by my discovery; "you must, on no 
 account, let it be known who I am. You see, this Injin busi 
 ness is ticklish work, and the law might that is you could 
 get nothing by mentioning what you know, but as you have 
 said, as I m a gentleman, and an attorney at law, it wouldn t 
 sound well to have it said that I was caught dressed up in 
 this manner, playing Injin." 
 
 "Ja ja I oonderstants gentlemans might not do 
 sich dings, und not be laughed at dat s all." 
 
 " Ye-e-e-s that s all, as you say, so be careful what you 
 say, oV hint about it. Well, since you ve found me out, it s 
 my treat. What shall t be?" 
 
 This was not very elegant for a gentleman, and an at 
 torney at law, certainly, but, as it belonged to the school of 
 Mr. Newcome, it struck me it might not be prudent for me 
 to betray that I belonged to one of a different sort. Affect 
 ing contentment, therefore, I told him what he pleased, and 
 he led me to a store of all business, that was kept by his 
 brother, and in which, as I afterwards found, he himself 
 was a partner. Here he generously treated me tq a glass 
 of fiery whiskey, which I managed to spill in a way that 
 prevented my being choked. This was adroitly enough 
 effected, as a refusal to drink would have been taken as a 
 most suspicious circumstance in a German. As respects 
 Americans of my assumed class, I am happy to say it is now 
 more possible for one to refuse a glass than to accept it. It 
 says a good deal in favour of the population of a country, 
 when even the coachman declines his whet. Nevertheless, 
 a nation may become perfectly sober, and fall away with 
 fearful rapidity on other great essentials. On the subject of 
 sobriety, I agree altogether with my uncle, in thinking that 
 the Americans drink much less than most, if not less than any 
 European nation; the common notion that long prevailed to 
 the contrary in the country, being no more than the fruits 
 of the general disposition, in other people, to decry \emo- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 257 
 
 cracy, aided somewhat, perhaps, by the exaggerations that 
 are so common in all the published statistics of morals. 
 
 I remarked that very few even of the Injins drank, though 
 they now began to circulate freely among the crowd and in 
 the stores. Seneca left me as soon as he fancied he had 
 clenched my discretion with a treat, and I stood looking 
 round at the manner in which the "armed and disguised" 
 conducted themselves. One fellow, in particular, attracted 
 my attention ; and his deportment may be taken as a speci 
 men of that of many of his comrades. 
 
 I was soon struck by the fact that Orson Newcome, Se 
 neca s brother and partner, was obviously desirous of hav 
 ing as little to do with any of the Injins as possible. As 
 soon as one entered his store, he appeared uneasy; and 
 whenever one left it, he seemed glad. At first, I was in 
 clined to think that Orson, what names will not the great 
 eastern family adopt, before they have got through with their 
 catalogue! really, they seem to select their appellations 
 as they do so many other things, or to prove that they *ll 
 do as they please; but, Orson, I fancied at first, was influ 
 enced by principle, and did not care to conceal the disgust 
 he felt at such audacious and illegal proceedings. But I 
 soon discovered my mistake, by ascertaining the true cause 
 of his distaste for the presence of an Injin. 
 
 " Injin want calico, for shirt" said one of these worthies 
 significantly, to Orson, who, at first, affected not to hear 
 him. 
 
 The demand was repeated, however, with additional sig 
 nificance, when the cloth was reluctantly thrown on the 
 counter. 
 
 " Good," said the Injin, after examining the quality , 
 " cut Injin twenty yard good measure, hear !" 
 
 The calico was cut, with a sort of desperate submission ; 
 the twenty yards were folded, enveloped, and handed to the 
 customer, who coolly put the bundle under his arm, saying, 
 ns he turned to leave the store "Charge it to Down Rent." 
 
 The mystery of Orson s sullenness was now explained. 
 As invariably follows the abandonment of principle, the 
 tbmenters of wrong were suffering smartly through the en 
 croachments of their own agents. I ascertained, afterwards, 
 that those very Injins, who had been embodied in hundreds, 
 22* 
 
258 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 with a view to look down law, and right, and the sacred 
 character of contracts, had begun to carry out their main 
 principle; and were making all sorts of demands, on the 
 pockets and property of their very employers, under one 
 pretence or another, but with very obvious tendencies to 
 wards their own benefit. The " Spirit of anti-Rentism" was 
 beginning to develope itself in this form, under the system 
 of violence ; as, under that of legislative usurpation, and 
 legislative truckling to numbers, which is most to be feared 
 from the character of our representatives, it will as cer 
 tainly be developed, unless suppressed in the bud, by such 
 further demands on its complaisant ministers, as will either 
 compel them to repent of their first false step, will drive the 
 State to civil war, or wjll drive all the honest men out of it. 
 
 I did not remain long in the store. After quitting it, I 
 went in quest of Mr. Warren and Mary, anxious to know 
 if I could be of any service to them. The father thanked 
 me for this attention, and let me know that he was now 
 about to quit the village, as he saw others beginning to go 
 away, among whom were Hall, who was an old and much 
 valued acquaintance of his, and whom he had invited to stop 
 at the rectory to dine. He advised us to imitate the exam 
 ple, as there were strangers among the Injins, who might 
 be addicted to drinking. 
 
 On this information I hunted up my uncle, who had ac 
 tually sold most of his trinkets, and all his watches but one, 
 the secret of his great success being the smallness of his 
 prices. He sold for what he had bought, and in some in 
 stances for even less, quitting the place with the reputation 
 of being the most reasonable jewel-pedlar who had ever 
 appeared in it. 
 
 The road was beginning to be lined with vehicles carry 
 ing home the people who had collected to hear the lecture. 
 As this was the first occasion which offered for witnessing 
 such an exhibition, since my return, I examined the differ 
 ent parties we passed, with a view to comparison. There 
 is a certain air of rusticity, even in the large towns of Ame 
 rica, which one does not meet with in the capitals of the old 
 world. But the American country is less rustic than any 
 part of the world with which I am acquainted, England 
 alone excepted. Of course, in making such a remark, no 
 
THE REDSKINS. 259 
 
 allusion is intended to the immediate environs of very large 
 towns ; though I am far from certain that the population of 
 St. Ouen, the Runnymede of France, and which stands 
 within a league of the walls of Paris, would not have offered 
 a more decidedly rustic spectacle, than that which we then 
 saw. As respects females, this was very strikingly true ; 
 scarce one being visible who had that air of coarseness, and 
 ignorance, and vulgarity, which denotes a degraded condi 
 tion and a life of hardships. There was little apparent that 
 marked a peasantry in the moral sense of the word ; but the 
 whole population seemed to be at their ease, using neat and 
 well-kept vehicles; solid, active horses; and being them- 
 selves reasonably well, though not very tastefully clad. 
 Yet, all this was on i leased estate, under the dire oppres 
 sion of a landlord, and beneath the shadow of aristocracy ! 
 A short dialogue which took place bettveen my uncle and 
 two sturdy weather-beaten husbandmen, who drove their 
 horses to a short distance, on a walk at the side of ours, 
 made the impression produced by such facts deeper than it 
 might otherwise have been. I will relate it. 
 
 " You are Jarmans, I b lieve," commenced the oldest of 
 the two men, a grey-headed tenant of my own, of the name 
 of Holmes, who was well known to us both "Jarmans, 
 from the old countries, I hear?" 
 
 " Ja we bees from der olt coontries ; und dat is a great 
 vay off." 
 
 " Ye-e-s, I s pose it is I ve heern tell of them countries, 
 often. Doos the landlord system exist there ?" 
 
 " Ja dere ist landtlorts all ofer dis work, I do dinks; 
 und denants, doo." 
 
 " Well, and how is the plan liked there; or be folks think 
 ing of getting red (rid) on t ?" 
 
 " Nein how might dey gets red of it? It ist der law, 
 you might see, und vhat ist der law moost be done." 
 
 This answer puzzled old Holmes a good deal. He passed 
 a hand over his face, and turned ta his companion, one 
 Tubbs, also a tenant on my estate, as if to ask assistance. 
 Tubbs was one of the new school ; a school that makes 
 more laws than it respects, and belongs to the movement. 
 He is a man that fancies the world never knew anything 
 
260 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of principles, facts, or tendencies, until the commencement 
 of this century. 
 
 " What sort of a government had you, in your own coun 
 try?" demanded Tubbs. 
 
 " Bretty goot. Mein coontry was Preussen; und dat might 
 be t ought a bretty goot gofernment." 
 
 "Yes, but it s a kingly government, I take it; it seems 
 to me, I have heern tell of kings in that land." 
 
 " Ja, ja dere ist ein koenig one king. De last might 
 be der goet koenig Vilhelm, und now dere ist his son, who 
 ist a goot koenig, too, as I might dink. Ja, ja dere ist a 
 king." 
 
 " That explains it all," cried Tubbs, with a sort of tri 
 umph. " You see, they have a king, and so they have 
 tenants; but, here we have no king, and we have no need 
 of landlords. Every man, in a free country, should be his 
 own landlord ; that s my doctrine, and to that I ll stick. 
 
 " There is some reason in that, fri nd ; isn t that your 
 idee?" asked Holmes. 
 
 "Veil, I might not oonderstandt. Dost der shentlemans 
 object to landlordts, in his coontry, because dere might bo 
 landlordts in dem coontries ast might haf kings ?" 
 
 "That s it! That s just the reason on t, and the true 
 principle !" answered Tubbs. " Kings and liberty can t go 
 together, and landlords and liberty can t go together." 
 
 "But, might not der law in dis coontry be to haf land 
 lordts, too ? 1 hear dat it ist so." 
 
 " Yes, that is the law, as it stands ; but we mean to alter 
 it, all. We have got so many votes, now, as to be sure 
 to have both parties with us, at a gin ral election ; and give 
 us the go /errior on our side, with the sartainty of votes 
 enough to turn an election, and we re pretty confident of suc 
 cess. Votes is all that is wanting, in a truly free country, 
 for men to have things pretty much in their own way." 
 
 " Und dost you mean to haf not in dat might be in do 
 coontries ast haf kings?" 
 
 " To be sure not. What do we want of any of your 
 iordly contrivances, to make the rich richer, and the poor 
 noorer." 
 
 " Veil, you moost alter de law of nature, if do rich vilt 
 
THE REDSKINS. 261 
 
 not get riches, und de poor vill not feel dey be poor. Do 
 piple dells us dat de misery of de poor ist deir poverty." 
 
 " Ay, ay, bible talk don t go for much in politics. Sabba 
 days are set aside for the bible, and week days for public 
 and private matters. Now, here is Hugh Littlepage, of the 
 same flesh and blood as my neighbour Holmes and myself 
 b e no better and no worse ; yes, I m willing to allow he s 
 no worse, in the main, though in some things I do think we 
 might claim the preference; but I ll allow he s no worse, 
 for the sake of argooment. Each on us rents a farm of this 
 Littlepage, of a hundred acres good. Wa-a!, this land 
 we till, and crop, and labour, with bur hands, and the hands 
 of our sons, and hired help, perhaps ; and yet we have to 
 pay fifty dollars a-piece, annually, to that youngster Hugh 
 Littlepage, for rent ; which money he takes and squanders 
 where he pleases, in riotous livin , for t we know. Now, 
 is that right, I ask ; and isn t it an onsuitable state of things 
 for a republican country ?" 
 
 " Und you dinks yoong Littlebage might spend his money 
 in riotous linn in foreign landts?" 
 
 " Sartain that s the tale, hereabouts ; and I have seen a 
 man who knows another, that has an acquaintance who has 
 been in Paris, and who tells the people of his neighbourhood 
 that he stood at the door of the king s palace one day, and 
 actually saw both the Littlepages going in to pay tribute 
 unto Caesar, as it is called I suppose you know; and they 
 tell me that all that goes to see a king, has to kneel and kiss 
 his hand some say his toe. Do you happen to know how 
 it is in the old countries?" 
 
 " It ist not so ; I haf seen more kings as half a dozen, 
 und dey dost not kneel down and kiss deir*hants, except on 
 sartain business. Dey might not allvays hear what ist true, 
 n dis coontry." 
 
 " Wa-a-1, I don t know I never was there to see," an 
 swered Tubbs, in that peculiar manner, which, whenever it 
 ts used by an American, may safely be interpreted to mean, 
 "I ll not contradict you, but I ll believe what I please." 
 That is what I ve heern say. But, why should we pay 
 rent to young Littlepage to spend in riotous living?" 
 
 " I might not know, oonless you haf hiret his landt, und 
 
262 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 agrce t to pay him rent ; in which case you might do as you 
 agree t." 
 
 ** But when the bargain s of a kingly natur , I say no. 
 Every country has its natur , and every government has its 
 natur , and all things should be in conformity with natur . 
 Now its ag in natur to pay rent in a republican country. We 
 want nothing here, that s in common with lords and kings." 
 
 " Veil, den, you most alter your whole country. You 
 might not haf wifes und children ; you might not lif in 
 houses, and plough de landt ; you might not eat und drink, 
 und you might not wear any shirt." 
 
 Tubbs looked a little astonished. Like the Bourgeois 
 Gentilhomme, he was amazed to find he had been talking 
 prose all his life without knowing it. There is no question 
 that laws unsuitable to the institutions of a republic might 
 exist in a kingdom, but it is equally certain that the law 
 which compels the tenant to pay for the use of his house, or 
 farm, is not one of the number. Tubbs, however, had been 
 so thoroughly persuaded, by dint of talking, there was some- 
 ihing exceedingly anti-republican in one man s paying rent 
 Lo another, that he was not disposed to give the matter up 
 BO easily. 
 
 " Ay, ay," he answered, " we have many things in com 
 mon with kingdoms, as men, I must allow; but why should 
 we have anything in common of this aristocratic natur ? 
 A free country should contain freemen, and how can a man 
 be free if he doesn t own the land out of which he makes his 
 living?" 
 
 " Und if he makes his lifin out of anoder man s land, he 
 might be honest enough to pay for its use, I dinks." 
 
 " But*, we hold*t ought not to be another man s land, but 
 the land of him who works it." 
 
 " Dell me dis dost you efer let out a field to a poor 
 neighbour on shares?" 
 
 " Sartain ; we all do that, both to accommodate folks, and 
 to get crops when we are crowded with work ourselves." 
 
 " Und why might not all dat crop pelong to him dat works 
 de field ?" 
 
 " Oh ! that s doin business on a small scale, and can t do 
 anybody harm. But the American institutions never in- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 263 
 
 ended that there should be a great privileged class among 
 us, like the lords in Europe." 
 
 " Did you efer haf any difficulty in getting your hire for 
 a field dat might be so let out?" 
 
 " Sartain. There s miserable neighbours as well as them 
 that isn t. I had to sue the very last chap I had such deal- 
 in s with." 
 
 " Und dit das law let you haf your money?" 
 
 " To be sure it did ! What would law be good for, if it 
 didn t help a body to his rights?" 
 
 " Und dost den tenants of dis broperty let Hugh Littlebago 
 haf his rents, ast might be due?" 
 
 " That s a different thing, I tell you. Hugh Littlepage 
 has more than he wants, and spends his money in riotous 
 livin in foreign parts." 
 
 " Veil, und sooppose your neighpours might vants to ask 
 you what you do wit your tollars after you shall sell your 
 pork and beef, to see you mate goot use of it might dat be 
 liperty?" 
 
 " That ! Why, who do you think would trouble himself 
 about my arnin s. It s the big fish, only, that folks talk 
 about, and care about, in such matters." 
 
 " Den folks make Hugh Littlebage a big fish, by dair own 
 mettlin , und enfy, und cofetousness is it not so?" 
 
 " Harkee, fri nd, I some think you re leanin yourself to 
 kingly ways, and to the idees in which you was brought up. 
 Take my advice, and abandon all these notions as soon as 
 you can, for they ll never be popular in this part of the 
 world." 
 
 Popular ! How broad has the signification of this word 
 got to be ! In the eyes of two-thirds of the population it 
 already means, what is right/ Vox populi, vox del. To 
 what an extent is this little word made to entwine- itself 
 around all the interests of life! When it is deemed expe 
 dient to inculcate certain notions in the minds of the people, 
 the first argument used is to endeavour to persuade the inha 
 bitants of New York that the inhabitants of Pennsylvania 
 are already of that mind. A simulated public opinion is the 
 strongest argument used, indeed, on every occasion of the 
 public discussion of any disputed point. He that can count 
 the most voices is a better man than he who can give tho 
 
264 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 most reasons ; numbers carrying more weight with them, 
 than facts, or law. It is evident, that, while in some things, 
 such a system may work well, there are others, and those 
 of overshadowing importance, in which its tendency is direct 
 and fearful towards corruption. 
 
 As soon as Tubbs had given his admonition, he applied 
 the whip to his horse, and trotted on, leaving us to follow at 
 the best gait we could extort from Tom Miller s hack. 
 
 CHAPTER XYIL 
 
 If he were with me, King of Tuscarora, 
 
 Gazing as I upon thy portrait now, 
 In all its medalled, fringed, and bearded glory, 
 Its eyes dark beauty, and its thoughtful brow 
 
 Its brow, half-martial and half-diplomatic ; 
 
 Its eye, upsoaring, like an eagle s wings; 
 Well might he boast that we, the democratic, 
 
 Outrival Europe even in our kings." 
 
 Red Jacket. 
 
 MY uncle Ro said nothing, when the two tenants left us j 
 though I saw, by his countenance, that he felt all the ab 
 surdity of the stuff we had just been listening to. We had 
 got within half a mile of the woods, when eight Injins came 
 galloping up to a wagon that was directly behind us, and 
 which contained another of my tenants, with his eldest son, 
 a lad of sixteen, whom he had brought with him as a scho 
 lar, in having his sense of right unsettled by the selfish 
 mystification that was going on in the land ; a species of 
 fatherly care that was of very questionable merit. I said 
 there were eight of these Injins, but there were only four 
 horses, each ~beast carrying double. No sooner did the 
 leaders of the party reach the wagon I have mentioned 
 than it was stopped, and its owner was commanded to alight. 
 The man was a decided down-renter, but he obeyed the 
 order with a very ill grace; and did not obey at all, indeed, 
 until he was helped out of the wagon, by a little gentle 
 
T H E R D S K I N S . 26T) 
 
 violence of this fragment of his own corps d armee. The 
 boy was soon put into the highway, when two of the " dis 
 guised and armed" leaped into the vacant places, and drove 
 on, passing us at a furious pace, making a parting nod to 
 the owner of the vehicle, and consoling him for its tempo 
 rary loss, by calling out, "Injin want him Injin good 
 fellow you know." 
 
 Whether the discomfited farmer knew or not, we could 
 not tell ; but he looked as if he wished the Injins anywhere 
 but in their " happy hunting grounds." We drove on 
 laughing, for it was in human nature to be amused at such 
 an exhibition of the compulsory system, or of " liberty and 
 equality carried out ;" and more particularly so, when I 
 was certain that the " honest, hard-working, horny-hand 
 tiller of the soil," wanted to cheat me out of a farm ; or, to 
 put his case in the most favourable point of view, wanted 
 to compel me to sell him one at his own price. Nor did our 
 amusement stop here. Before we reached the woods, we 
 found Holmes and Tubbs in the highway, too ; the other 
 two worthies who had been mounted en croupe having dis 
 possessed them of their wagon also, and told them to 
 "charge it to Injin." We afterwards learned that this 
 practice was very general ; the owner recovering his horse 
 and team, in the course of a few days, by hearing it had 
 been left, secretly, at some tavern within a few miles of his 
 residence. As for old Holmes, he was in an honest indig 
 nation when we came up with him, while even Tubbs 
 looked soured and discontented, or as if he thought friends 
 were entitled to better treatment. 
 
 " Vhat ist der matter ?" cried out uncle Ro, who could 
 hardly keep from laughing the whole time; " vhat ist der 
 matter now ? Vhere might be your hantsome vaggin and 
 your gay horse ?" 
 
 "It s too bad ! yes, it s eeny most too bad !" grunted 
 Holmes. " Here am I, past three-score-and-ten, which is 
 the full time of man, the bible says and what the bible 
 says must be true, you know ! here have they trundled me 
 into the highway, as they would a sack of potatoes, and 
 loft me to walk every step of four miles to reach my own 
 door ! It s too bad it s eeny most too bad !" 
 23 
 
THE REDftJtf If ff. 
 
 "Oh dal might I/.- a trifle, COtTlpafC^ to vhat it vouM 
 b - to haf peen druridelled out of your farm." 
 
 " I know tj I know t ! I understand ! i s all n 
 for the good cause to put down aristocracy, 
 ni -n riUny emial, as the ];w intends them to be but this, 
 I say, in rjeny rno-.t too bad !" 
 
 1, nd you -.o oil !" 
 
 venty-. .ix, if I rn a day. My time can t lx: long, and 
 rny ! a k, they be. Ye-i, the bible ay a nvuj .s 
 
 . lirniUrfJ prr.-tty mu :h to thrf;r>BCore-and-tcn and I II 
 never stand out. . iVm the bible." 
 
 " Und vh;it rni;dit d<-r piplc ay apont ranting to haf 
 your r. . jjoots ?" 
 
 " It cries tb;it down flr^adfully ! Yes, there plenty of 
 th;jf. in the j, ood IxxA, I know from bavin heard it read 
 ny, n/jd havin rrad it rny-,e)f, t.hete three-fcore years; h 
 doo* cry it down, the most awfully. J -.hall teH the Jnjirm 
 thin, the- next time they want rny wagon. There s bible 
 
 ag in nil sieh practicef, 
 
 \)< ><>\. pook." 
 
 "That it is that it. i--. and r/reat is the consolation and 
 ho;,- that J have l.nown drawn from its pages. I m glad to 
 find that they set store by the bible- in Jar man v. / was 
 ; . r/ji/rhof the notion, we had most of t?/ . that. * 
 
 goi/r, in Arneriky, arifJ it s pleasant to find there- ix some 
 in Jar many." 
 
 All old Holmes was puffin," a foot, rny 
 
 Mri l<- Ro waikiri . hi. hor .-, in ord -r to enjoy hi- 
 
 " Oh ! j;i j,i, ja d:re rni^ht be xomr, religion left in <\<-r 
 oil worlt de puritans, as you might call dern, <\\>\ not pring 
 it all away." 
 
 " I) r/ood people them ! We </ot all our b - -nr- 
 
 curn>;t;nj . from our puritan forefathers. .Some folk 
 that, all Arn -iiky fi owing to thern very saints!" 
 
 ".fa urifj if it been not .o, nefer mind; for dey will bo 
 ftifl to get all Arneriky." 
 
 Holmes was mystified, but he k -pt tu / /in;/ on, Cfl 
 wi t ul glanccfl at our wa-. on, a . lie endf-;jvour :d to 
 Up with it. Fearful we rnivht trot, on and U-ave him, tho 
 old man rontinu -d thr ; < "our 
 
 authority for everything must corne from th - bible, a Ujr all. 
 
Til r: REDSKINS 
 
 ft tell* us wo hadn t ou^hf fo hear malice, and that * a rulo 
 I endivour to act up to; for an ol l man, you . <. c.jn f. 
 in-lulge his sinful nafur if h<: would. Now, I ve ; - 
 to Little Xeerft Io al.lend a Jjov/n K :,V Meclill , - but I bear 
 no more malice a? /m ll-jr/h f,it?i<-;/a;"-, riot I, no more than 
 if h : wern t a hit of my landlord ! All I w;inl of him in rny 
 fijrrn, on -,U ;h ;j .;in liv: hy, ;m l th ; h y u U?r mo. 
 
 I lo<^k on it UH droufJful hor 1 ?m J op[>ro,sivo I. hot. t.h<: hit.tl > 
 pAgQI iboul i n:F j /; fo I ; . UH hav tho [>lar:rj, wx;in that I 
 liav; v/ork : i it. now for lh ; tarrn of t.hrf: ; whull liv<?." 
 
 " L n J Joy agreet flat (Joy might soil you d<: farm, whon 
 dorn fJrrjo lifef wast u 
 
 " \o, not in downright language thoy didn t, aw I rnuwt 
 
 allow. In th<; w?jy of bargain, I mut own th : afivantagfj 
 
 Ofl tho ?.id: of Littlopa^o. That wa* HIM 
 
 : if you wjn t. drivo quito Hf> fairt, a I m 
 
 g ;ttin^ a litll*; out of wind, I ll t.<:ll you all afx>ut it. 
 
 i just what wo complain on ; th ; bargain bdrig *o mucb in 
 
 /our. Now, my lives /u/ttf hung 
 
 haven t f.K > ; .;ikuk?" ap^ iling to Tuhbn. " It n 
 
 r;vory hour of forty-five years win f tuck that lease, and one 
 
 life, that of rny old still in hein , a they call it, 
 
 h it x a Kort of hein that a body mi; hf a well not 
 
 h ;/: , . ;.-. . -. . .-.<. r-?, n j UUMJ I ; ( ,. |oD7 f, find 
 
 then that ft f set SO nr r rf of whieh I ve 
 
 made my livelihood rriont of rny life, and on wbieb I ve 
 brought up fourteen children, will go out of my hand** to 
 enrich Hugh LiUlcpar e, who% j/ot xo much now he Oftf/l 
 : it. at hum like h ,- ; hut must L o ah road, to 
 
 waste it in riotou* living, a they t/jll UM. Yew, on Jr.- 
 
 nd the legislature helps rne out of rr.y difFir- 1 : 
 don t -.ee hut. Hugh JJltlepage must get it all, n. 
 rich richer, and trie poor poorer/ " 
 
 " (, nd vhy D me to past Vfiy 
 
 own in Aweriky?" 
 
 That h je-,t it, v -. t rny owr only 
 
 by natur , like, and the aperet of the i 
 call it. i rn MW I don t kear much ho// I ,> , -.o it only 
 come*.. If the governor can only make the landlord* *^ll, 
 or even give away, he may *;irtainly count on rny upf>orf, 
 
J2G8 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 providin they don t put the prices too high. I hate high 
 prices, which is onsuitable to a free country." 
 
 " Fery drue. I sooppose your lease might gif you 
 dat farm quite reasonaple, as it might be mate so long 
 ago?" 
 
 " Only two shillings the acre," answered the old fellow, 
 with a knowing look, which as .much as boasted of the 
 capital bargain he had in the affair, "or twenty-five dollars 
 a year for a hundred acres. That s no great matter, I m 
 ready to allow ; but my lives havin held on so desp rately, 
 until land s got up to forty dollars an acre about here, I 
 can t no more expect sich another lay than I can expect to 
 go to Congress. I can rent that place, to-morrow mornin , 
 for 81 50. of as good money as any man can pay. - 
 
 " Und how much might you expect squire Littlebage 
 woult ask on a new lease ?" 
 
 " Some think as much as $62.50 ; though other some 
 think he would let it go to me for 850, for three lives longer. 
 The old gin ral told me when he signed the lease that I was 
 gettin a bargain, but, niver mind, said he, if I give you 
 good tarms, you ll make the better tenant, and 1 look to 
 posterity and their benefit as much as I dp to my own. If 
 I don t get the advantage I might, says he, my children, 
 or my children s children, will. A man mustn t altogether 
 live for himself in this world, especially if he has children. 
 Them was good idees, wasn t they ?" 
 
 " You might not dink differently. Und, how moch woulr 
 you love to bay for a deet of de farm ?" 
 
 " Wa-a-1, there s differences of opinion on that subject. 
 The most approved notion is, that Hugh Littlepage ought to 
 be made to give warrantees, with full. covenants, as it s call 
 ed.; and covenants is all in all, in a deed, you know " 
 
 "But might not be in a lease?" put in uncle Ro, some 
 what drily. 
 
 " That depinds But, some say them deeds ought to be 
 given, if the tenants allow the landlords the worth of the 
 land, when the patentee got it, and interest down to the pre 
 sent day. It does seem a desp rate price to pay for land, to 
 give principal and interest, and to throw in all that has been, 
 paid hesido?" 
 
THE REDSKINS. 209 
 
 " Haf you made a calculation, to see vhat it might come 
 to?" 
 
 " Shabbakuk has tell the gentleman, Shabbakuk, how 
 much you made it come to, the acre." 
 
 Shabbakuk was a far deeper rogue than his neighbour 
 Holmes. The last was merely a man of selfish and narrow 
 views, who, from passing a long life with no other object 
 before him than that of scraping together property, had got 
 his mind completely ensnared in the meshes of this world s 
 net; whereas, his companion took the initiative, as the 
 French have it, in knavery, and not only carried out, but 
 invented the schemes of the wicked. He clearly did not 
 like this appeal to his arithmetic, but having no suspicion to 
 whom he was talking, and fancying every man in the lower 
 conditions of life must be an ally in a plan to make the " rich, 
 poorer ; and the poor, richer ;" he was a little more commu- 
 nicative than might otherwise have been the case. After 
 reflecting a moment, he gave us his answer, reading from a 
 paper in his hand, on which the whole sum had been elabo 
 rately worked for the occasion of the late meeting. 
 
 " The land was worth ten cents an acre, maybe, when 
 the first Littlepage got it, and that is a liberal price. Now, 
 that was eighty years since, for we don t count old Herman 
 Mordaunt s time, as anything ; seeing that the land was 
 worth next to nothin , in his time. The interest on ten cents 
 at 7 per cent, is 7 mills a year, or 560 mills for 80 years. 
 This is without compound ; compound being unlawful, and 
 nothin ag in law should be taken into the account. Add 
 the 10 cents to the 560 mills, and you get 660 mills, or 
 66 cents. Now this sum, or a sum calculated on the same 
 principles, all the tenants are willing to pay for their farms,* 
 and if justice prevails they will get them." 
 
 " Dat seems but little to bay for landt dat might now rent 
 for a dollar an acre, each year." 
 
 " You forgit that the Littlepages have had the rent these 
 eighty years, the whuil time." 
 
 * In orjer that the reader may understand Mr. Hugh Littlepage is 
 not inventing, I will add that propositions still more extravagant than 
 these have been openly circulated among the anti-renters, up and doWt 
 Ihe country. EPITOH. 
 
 23* 
 
270 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " Und de denants haf hat de farms dese eighty years, d<3 
 whole time, too." 
 
 " Oh ! we put the land ag in the work. If my neighbour 
 Holmes, here, has had his farm forty-five years, so the farm 
 has had his work forty-five years, as an off-set. You may 
 depind on t the governor and the legislature understand all 
 that." 
 
 " If dey does," answered Uncle Ro, whipping his horse 
 into a trot, " dey must be fit for deir high stations. It is 
 goot for a country to haf great governors, and great legis- 
 ladurs. Guten Tag" 
 
 Away he went, leaving neighbour Holmes, Shabbakuk 
 Tubbs, the governor and legislature, with their joint morals, 
 wisdom, logic and philosophy, in the highway, together. 
 My uncle Ro shook his head, and then he laughed, as the 
 absurdity of what had just passed forced itself on his imagi 
 nation. 
 
 I dare say many may be found, who have openly pro 
 fessed principles and opinions identical, in substance, with 
 what has just been related here, who will be disposed to 
 deny them, when they are thrown into their faces. There 
 is nothing unusual in men s refusing to. recognise their own 
 children, when they are ashamed of the circumstances tha 
 brought them into being. But, in the course of this contro 
 versy, I have often heard arguments in discourse, and have 
 often read them in the journals, as they have been put into 
 the mouths of men in authority, and that too in their public 
 communications, which, stripped of their very thin coverings, 
 are pretty much on the level with those of Holmes and Tubbs. 
 I am aware that no governor has, as yet, alluded to the hard 
 ships of the tenants, under the limited leases, but it would 
 be idle to deny that the door has been opened to principles, 
 or, a want of principles, that must sweep away all such 
 property in the current of reckless popular clamour, unless 
 the evil be soon arrested. I say evil, for it must prove a 
 curse to any community to break down the securities of 
 property, as it is held in what has hitherto been thought its 
 most secure form, and, what is still of more importance in a 
 moral point of view, all to appease the cravings of cupidity, 
 as they are exhibited in the masses. 
 
 Wo were soon out of sight of Holmes and Tubbs, and in 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the woods. I confess that I expected, each instant, to over= 
 Sake Hall in the hands of the Injins ; for the movement 
 among that class of persons had appeared to me as one di 
 rected particularly against him. We saw nothing of the 
 .sort, however, and had nearly reached the northern limits 
 of the bit of forest, when we came in sight of the two 
 wagons which had been so cavalierly taken possession of, 
 and of the two horses ridden by the mounted mea. The 
 whole were drawn up on one side of the highway, under the 
 charge of a single Injin, in a manner to announce that we 
 were approaching a point of some interest. 
 
 My uncle and myself fully expected to be again stopped, 
 as we drov up to the place just mentioned ; not only was 
 he track of the road left clear, however, but we were suf 
 fered to pass without a question. All the horses had been 
 in a lather, as if driven very hard ; though, otherwise, there 
 was nothing to indicate trouble, if we except the presence 
 of the solitary sentinel. From this fellow, neither sign, nor 
 order molested us; but on we went, at Tom Miller s horse s 
 favourite amble, until we were so near the verge of the 
 wood, as to get a view into the open fields beyond. Here, 
 indeed, we obtained a sight of certain movements that, I 
 confess, gave me some little concern.. 
 
 Among the bushes that lined the highway, and which 
 have been already mentioned, I got a glimpse of several of 
 the " disguised and armed," who were evidently lying in 
 .ambush. Their number might ha-ve been twenty in all , 
 and, it was now sufficiently apparent, that those who had 
 pressed the wagons had been hurrying forward to re-enforce 
 their party. At this point, I felt quite certain we should 
 oe stopped ; but we were not. We were suffered to pass 
 without question, as we had just passed the wagons and 
 horses, though it must have been known to the party that 
 we were fully aware of their presence at .that particular- 
 spot. But, on we went, and were soon, unmolested, in the 
 open country. 
 
 It was not long, however, before the mystery was ex 
 plained. A road descended from the higher ground, which 
 lay to the westward of. us. a little on our left, and a party 
 of men was coming down it, at a quick walk, which, at 
 the first glance, I mistook for a detachment of the Injins ; 
 
272 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 i;ut which, at a second look, I ascertained to be composed 
 uf Indians, or real red men. The difference between the 
 t\vo is very great, as every American wiH at once admit, 
 ihough many who read this manuscript will be obliged to 
 rnc lor an explanation. There is "Indian" and "Injin." 
 The Injin is a white man, who, bent on an unworthy and 
 illegal purpose, is obliged to hide his face, and to perform 
 his task in disguise. The Indian is a red man, who is nei- 
 ilier afraid, nor ashamed, to show his countenance, equally 
 to friend or enemy. The first is the agent of designing 
 (iernagogues, the hireling of a discontented and grasping 
 -pint, who mocks at truth and right by calling himself one 
 who labours to carry out "the spirit of those Institutions" 
 * hich he dishonours and is afraid to trust ; while the other 
 
 erves himself only, and is afraid of nothing. One is skulk 
 ing from, and shirking the duties of civilization, while the 
 vher, though a savage, is, at least, true to his own profes 
 sions. 
 
 There they were, sure enough, a party of some sixteen 
 or eighteen of the real aborigines. It is not an uncommon 
 
 hing to meet with an Indian, or two, strolling about the 
 
 Country selling baskets formerly it was brooms of birch, 
 ",ut the march of improvement has nearly banished so rude 
 .1 manufacture from the country with a squaw, or two, in 
 
 ompany ; but it is now very unusual to meet a true Indian 
 irrior in the heart of the State, carrying his rifle and 
 tomahawk, as was the case with all those who were so 
 swiftly descending the road. My uncle Ro was quite as 
 much astonished as I was myself; and he pulled up at the 
 junction of the two highways, in order to await the arrival 
 of the strangers. 
 
 " These are real Redskins, Hugh and of a noble tribe," 
 cried my uncle, as a still nearer approach gave him a better 
 and better view. " Warriors of the West, out of all question, 
 with one white man in attendance what can such a party 
 possibly want at Ravensnest !" 
 
 " Perhaps the anti-renters intend to enlarge their plans, 
 and have a scheme to come out upon us, with an alliance 
 formed with the true sons of the forest- may they not intend 
 intimidation?" 
 
 " Whom could they thus intimidate, but their own wives 
 
THE REDSKINS. 27S 
 
 and children? But, here they come, in a noble body, and 
 we can speak to them. 7 
 
 There they did come, indeed ; seventeen of the finer spe 
 cimens of the Redskins, as they are now sometimes seen pass- 
 ing among us in bodies, moving to or from their distant 
 prairies ; for the white man has already forced the Indian, 
 with the bears, and the elk, and the moose, out of the forests 
 of America, upon those vast plains. 
 
 What is to be the end of the increase of this nation, is one 
 of the mysteries of Divine Providence. If faithful to the 
 right, if just, not in the sense of yielding to the clamours of 
 the many, but in the sense of good laws, if true to them 
 selves, the people of this republic may laugh at European 
 interference and European power, when brought to bear on 
 their home interests, as so much of the lumbering policy of 
 ages no longer suited to the facts and feelings of our own 
 times, and push on to the fulfilment of a destiny, which, if 
 carried out on the apparent designs of the ruler of the earth, 
 will leave that of all other States which have preceded us, 
 as much in the shade, as the mountain leaves the valley. But, 
 it must not be forgotten that the brightest dawns often usher 
 in the darkest days ; that the most brilliant youths frequently 
 precede manhoods of disappointment and baffled wishes ; 
 that even the professed man of God can fall away from his 
 vows and his faith, and finish a career that was commenced 
 in virtue and hope, in profligacy and sin. Nations are no 
 more safe from the influence of temptation than individuals, 
 and this has a weakness peculiarly its own. Instead of fall 
 ing back on its popular principle, in extremities, as its infal 
 lible safeguard, it is precisely in the irresponsible and grasp 
 ing character of that principle that its danger is to be appre 
 hended. That principle, which, kept within the limits of 
 right, is so admirably adapted to restraining the ordinary 
 workings of cupidity and selfishness, as they are familiarly 
 seen in narrow governments, when permitted to overrun the 
 boundaries placed for its control, becomes a torrent that has 
 broken out of its icy bed, in the Spring, and completely de 
 faces all that is beneficial or lovely, in either nature or art, 
 that may happen to lie in its course. As yet, the experi 
 ence of two centuries has offered nothing so menacing to 
 the future prosperity of this country, as the social fermenta- 
 
274 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 tion which is at this moment at work, in the State of New 
 York. On the result of this depends the solution of the all- 
 important question, whether principles are to rule this repub 
 lic, or men ; and these last, too, viewed in their most vulgar 
 and repulsive qualities, or as the mere creatures of self, in- 
 tead of being the guardians and agents of that which ought 
 to be. It is owing to this state of things, that we have al 
 ready seen a legislature occupied with discussing the modes 
 of evading the provisions of its own laws, and men who 
 ought to stand before the world, stern and uncompromising 
 in their public morals, manifesting a most pernicious inge 
 nuity in endeavouring to master and overreach each other 
 in wiHding the arts of the demagogue. 
 
 As the Indians entered the north and south road, or that 
 in which we had stopped, the whole party came to a halt, 
 with characteristic courtesy, as if to meet our wish to speak 
 to them. The foremost of the band, who was also the oldest, 
 being a man of sixty, if not older, nodded his head, and ut 
 tered the usual conventional salutation of" Sago, sago." 
 
 " Sago," said my uncle, and " Sago" put in I. 
 
 " How do ?" continued the Indian, who we now discovered 
 spoke English. " What call this country ?" 
 
 " This is Ravensnest. The village of Little Nest is about 
 a mile and a half on the other side of that wood." 
 
 The Indian now turned, and in his deep guttural tones 
 communicated this intelligence to his fellows. The informa 
 tion obviously was well received, which was as much as 
 saying that they had reached the end of their journey. Some 
 conversation next succeeded, delivered in brief, sententious 
 remarks, when the old chief again turned to us. I call him 
 chief, though it was evident that the whole party was com 
 posed of chiefs. This was apparent by their medals, their 
 fine appearance generally, and by their quiet, dignified, not 
 to say lofty, bearing. Each of them was in a light summer 
 attire, wearing the moccasin and leggings, &c. ; the calico 
 shirt, or a thin blanket, that was cast around the upper part 
 of the person, much as the Roman may be supposed to have 
 worn his toga ; all carrying the rifle, the bright, well-scoured 
 tomahawk, and the sheathed knife. Each, too, had his horn 
 and his bullet-pouch, and some of the more youthful were a 
 little elaborate in their ornaments, in the way of feathers, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 275 
 
 and such presents as they had received on their long jour 
 ney. Not one of them all, however, was painted. 
 
 " This Raven-nest, eh 1" continued the old chief, speaking 
 directly, hut with sufficient courtesy. 
 
 " As I have said. The village lies on the other side of 
 that wood ; the house from which the name is taken is a 
 mile and a half in the other direction." 
 
 This, too, was translated, and a low, but general expres 
 sion of pleasure was given. 
 
 " Any Injins bout here, eh ?" demanded the chief, looking 
 so earnestly at the same time as to surprise us both. 
 
 " Yes," answered my uncle. " There are Injins a party 
 is in the edge of the wood, there, within thirty rods of you 
 at this moment-." 
 
 With great rapidity this fact was communicated to the 
 eager listeners, and there was a sensation in the party , 
 though it was a sensation betrayed as such feelings are only 
 betrayed among the aborigines of this part of the world ; 
 quietly, reservedly, and with a coldness amounting nearly 
 Q indifference. We were amused, however, at noting how 
 much more interest this news awakened than would proba 
 bly have been excited had these red-men been told a town 
 !ike London was on the other side of the wood. As chil 
 dren are known to feel most interest in children, so did these 
 children of the forest seem to be most alive to an interest in 
 these unexpected neighbours, brethren of the same habits 
 and race, as they unquestionably imagined. After some 
 earnest discourse among themselves, the old chief, whose 
 name turned out to be Prairiefire, once more addressed 
 himself to us. 
 
 " What tribe, eh ? Know tribe ?" 
 
 " They are called Anti-rent Injins a new tribe in this 
 part of the country, and are not much esteemed." 
 
 " Bad Injin, eh ?" 
 
 " I am afraid so. They are not honest enough to go in 
 paint, but wear shirts over their faces."" 
 
 Another long and wondering conference succeeded. It 
 is to be supposed that such a tribe as that of the Anti-renters 
 was hitherto unknown among the American savages. The 
 first intelligence of the existence of such a .people would 
 naturally awaken great interest, and we were soon requested 
 
XI & THE REDSKINS. 
 
 lo show them the way to the spot where this unheard of 
 iribe might be found. This was going somewhat furthei 
 than my uncle had anticipated, hut he was not a man to beat 
 a retreat when he had once undertaken an enterprise. After 
 a short deliberation with himself, he signified his assent ; 
 and alighting from our wagon, we fastened Tom Miller s 
 horse to a stake of one of the fences, and set off, on foot, as 
 guides to our new brethren, in seeking the great tribe of the 
 Anti-renters ! We had not gone half the distance to the 
 woods before we met Holmes and Tubbs, who, getting a 
 cast in another wagon, until they reached the place where 
 .heir own vehicle was stationed, had recovered that, and 
 were now on their way home, apprehensive that some new 
 freak of their great allies might throw them out into the 
 highway again. This wagon, our own excepted, was the 
 only one that had yet emerged from the wood, the owners 
 of some twenty others preferring to remain in the back 
 ground until the development of the meeting between the 
 tribes should occur. 
 
 " What, in natur , does all this mean ?" exclaimed old 
 Holmes, as we approached him, reining in his horse, for the 
 purposes of a conference. " Is the governor sending out 
 ra-al Injins ag in us, in order to favour the landlords ?" 
 
 This was taking a harsh and most uncharitable view of 
 the course of the governor, for an anti-renter ; but that func 
 tionary having made the capital blunder of serving, altoge 
 ther, neither " God nor Mammon" in this great question, 
 must expect to take it right and left, as neither God nor 
 Mammon will be very likely to approve of his course. 
 
 " Veil, I don t know," was my uncle s answer. " Dese 
 ist ra-al red-men, und dem younder ist ra-al Injins, dat s 
 all. Vhat might bring dese warriors here, joost now, you 
 must ask of demselves, if you wants to 1 arn." 
 
 " There can be no harm in asking ; I m no way skeary 
 about redskins, having seen em often, and my father fit em 
 in his day, as I ve heern him tell. Sago, Sago." 
 
 " Sago," answered Prairiefire, with his customary cour 
 tesy. 
 
 "Where, in natur , do you red-men all come frotn, and 
 where can ye be goin ?" 
 
 It was apparent that Holmes belonged to a school that 
 
THE REDSKINS. 277 
 
 never hesitated about putting any question ; and that would 
 have an answer, if an answer was to be got. The old chief 
 had probably met with such pale-faces before, the untrained 
 American being certainly among the most diligent of all the 
 human beings of that class. But, on the other hand, the 
 red-man regards the indulgence of a too eager curiosity as 
 womanish, and unworthy of the self-command and dignity 
 of a warrior. The betraying of surprise, and the indulgence 
 ef a curiosity fit only for squaws, were two things that Prai- 
 riefire had doubtless been early told were unworthy of his 
 sex ; for to some such in-and-in breeding alone could be 
 referred the explanation of the circumstance that neither 
 Holmes manner, address, nor language, caused in him the 
 least expression of emotion. He answered the questions, 
 however, and that with a coldness that seemed of proof. 
 
 " Come from setting sun been to see Great Father, at 
 Washington go home," was the sententious reply. 
 
 " But, how come ye to pass by Ravensnest 1 I m afeared 
 the governor, and them chaps at Albany, must have a hand 
 in this, Shabbakuck?" 
 
 What Shabbakuck thought of the " governor, and them 
 chaps at Albany" is not known, as he did not see fit to 
 make any reply. His ordinary propensity to meddle was 
 probably awed by the appearance of these real Redskins. 
 
 " I say, why do ye come this-a-way ?" Holmes continued, 
 repeating his question. " If you ve been to Washington, 
 and found him to hum (Anglice, at home ), why didn t ye 
 go back by the way ye come ?" 
 
 " Come here to find Injin ; got no Injin here, eh?" 
 
 Injin ? why, of one sort we ve got more of the critturs 
 fnan a body can very well git along with. Of what colour 
 be the Injins you want to find? Be they of the pale-face 
 natur , or be they red like yourselves ?" 
 
 " Want to find red-man. He ole, now ; like top of dead 
 hemlock, wind blow t rough his branches till leaf all fall 
 off." 
 
 " By George, Hugh," whispered my uncle, " these red 
 skins are in search of old Susquesus !" Then entirely for 
 getting the necessity of maintaining his broken English in 
 the presence of his two Ravensnest listeners, Shabbakuck 
 Tubbs, in particular, he turned, somewhat inconsiderately 
 24 
 
278 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 for one of his years, -to the Prairiefire, and hastily r& 
 marked 
 
 " I can help you in your search. You are looking for a 
 warrior of the Onondagoes ; one who left his tribe a hun 
 dred summers ago, a red-man of great renown for finding 
 his path in the forest, and who would never taste fire-water 
 His name is Susquesus." 
 
 Until this moment, the only white man who was in com 
 pany with this strange party strange at least in our por 
 tion of the State of New York, though common enough, 
 perhaps, on the great thoroughfares of the country broke 
 silence. This man was an ordinary interpreter, who had 
 been sent with the party in case of necessity ; but being lit 
 tle more acquainted with the ways of civilization than those 
 whom he was to guide, he had prudently held his tongue 
 until he saw that he might be of some use. We afterwards 
 learned that the sub-agent who had accompanied the chiefs 
 to Washington, had profited by the wish of the Indians to 
 pay their passing homage to the " Withered Hemlock, tha; 
 still stands," as they poetically called Susquesus in thei* 
 own dialects for Indians of several tribes were present t? 
 pay a visit to his own relatives in Massachusetts, his pre 
 sence not being deemed necessary in such a purely pious 
 pilgrimage. 
 
 " You re right," observed the interpreter. " These chief? 
 have not come to look up any tribe, but there are two of 
 the ancient Onondagoes among them, and their traditions 
 tell of a chief, called Susquesus, that has outlived every 
 thing but tradition ; who left his own people long, long ago, 
 and who left a great name behind him for vartue, and that 
 is a thing a red-skin never forgets." 
 
 " And all these warriors have come fifty miles out of their 
 way, to pay this homage to Susquesus 1" 
 
 " Such has been their wish, and I asked permission of the 
 Bureau at Washington, to permit them to come. It costs 
 Uncle Sam $50 or a 8100 more than it otherwise might, 
 but such a visit will do all the warriois of the West a mil 
 lion of dollars of good ; no men honour right and justice 
 more than redskins, though it s in their own fashion." 
 
 " I am sure Uncle Sam has acted no more than right 
 eously, as I hope he always may act as respects these peo 
 
THE REDSKINS. 279 
 
 pie. Susquesus is an old friend of mine, and I will load 
 you to him." 
 
 " And who in natur be youV demanded Holmes, his cu 
 riosity starting off on a new track. 
 
 " Who am I? You shall know who I am," answered 
 uncle Ro, removing his wig, an action that I imitated on 
 the spot, "I am Roger Littlepage, the late trustee of this 
 estate, and this is Hugh Littlepage, its owner." Old 
 Holmes was good pluck in most matters ; of far better stuff 
 at the bottom, than the sneaking, snivelling, prating dema 
 gogue at his side; but by this discovery he was dumb 
 founded ! He looked at my uncle, then he looked at me ; 
 after which, he fastened a distressed and inquiring gaze on 
 Shabbakuck. As for the Indians, notwithstanding their ha 
 bitual self-command, a common " hugh !" was uttered among 
 them, when they saw two men, as it might be, thus scalping 
 themselves. Uncle Ro was excited, and his manner was, 
 in the least degree, theatrical, as with one hand he removed 
 his cap, and with the other his wig ; holding the last, with 
 an extended arm, in the direction of the Indians. As a red- 
 man is rarely guilty of any act of rudeness, unless he mean 
 to play the brute in good earnest, it is possible that the 
 Chippewa towards whom the hand which held the wig was 
 extended, mistook the attitude for an invitation to examine 
 that curious article, for himself. It is certain he gently 
 forced it from my uncle s grasp, and, in the twinkling of an 
 eye, all the savages were gathered round it, uttering many 
 but low and guarded expressions of surprise. Those men 
 were all chiefs, and they restrained their astonishment at 
 this point. Had there been any of the ignoble vulgar among 
 them, there is little doubt that the wig would have passed 
 from hand to hand, and been fitted to a dozen heads, already 
 shaved to receive it. 
 
280 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 The Gordon is gude in a hurry, 
 
 An Campbell is steel to the bane , 
 An Grant, an Mackenzie, an Murray, 
 
 An Cameron will truckle to nane." 
 
 HOGS. 
 
 THE interruption of this scene came from old Holmes, who 
 cried to his companion, on the high key in which it was 
 usual for him to speak : 
 
 "This is downright bad, Shabbakuk we ll never get 
 our leases a ter this !" 
 
 " Nobody can say" answered Tubbs, giving a loud hem, 
 as if determined to brazen the matter out. " Maybe the 
 gentleman will be glad to compromise the matter. It s 
 ag in law, I believe, for any one to appear on the highway 
 disguised and both the Squire Littlepages, you ll notice, 
 neighbour Holmes, be in the very middle of the road, and 
 both was disguised, only a minute ago." 
 
 " That s true. D ye think anything can be got out o 
 that 1 I want profitable proceeding." 
 
 Shabbakuk gave another hem, looked behind him, as if 
 to ascertain what had become of the Injins, for he clearly 
 did not fancy the real * article before him, and then he an 
 swered : 
 
 "We may get our farms, neighbour Holmes, if you ll 
 agree, as I m willin to do, to be reasonable about this mat- 
 ter, so long as Squire Littlepage wishes to hearken to his 
 own interests." 
 
 My uncle did not deign tor make any answer, but, know, 
 ing we had done nothing to bring us within the view of the 
 late statute, he turned towards the Indians, renewing his 
 offer to them to be their guide. 
 
 "The chiefs want very much to know who you are, an 
 how you two came by double scalps," said the interpreter, 
 smiling like one who understood for his own part, the nature 
 of a wig very well. 
 
-THE REDSKINS. 281 
 
 " Tell them that this young gentleman is Hugh Little- 
 page, and that I am his uncle. Hugh Littlepage is the 
 owner of the land that you see on every side of you." 
 
 The answer was communicated, and we waited for its 
 effect on the Indians. To our surprise, several of them soon 
 gathered around, evidently regarding us both, with interest 
 and respect. 
 
 " The claims of a landlord seem to be better understood 
 among these untutored savages, than among your own 
 tenants, Hugh," said my uncle. "But there goes old 
 Holmes, the inbred rogue, and his friend Shabbakuk, back 
 to the woods , we may have an affair on hand with his 
 Injins." 
 
 " I think not, sir. It does not appear to me that there is 
 valour enough in that tribe, to face this. In general, the 
 white man is fully a match for the redskin ; but it may be 
 doubted whether chiefs like these, would not prove too much 
 for twice their number of varlets, of the breed of yonder 
 skulking scoundrels." 
 
 " Why do the chiefs manifest so much interest in us?" 
 asked my uncle, of the interpreter. " Is it possible that they 
 pay so much respect to us, on account of our connection 
 with this estate ?" 
 
 " Not at all not at all. They know the difference be 
 tween a chief and a common man well enough, it is true," 
 was the answer ; " and twenty times, as we have come 
 down through the country, have they expressed their sur 
 prise to me, that so many common men should be chiefs, 
 among the pale-faces; but, they care nothing for riches. 
 He is the greatest man among them, who is best on a war 
 path, and at a council-fire ; though they do honour them 
 that has had great and useful ancestors." 
 
 " But, they seem to betray some unusual and extraordi 
 nary interest in us, too; perhaps they are surprised at see 
 ing gentlemen in such dresses ?" 
 
 " Lord, sir, what do men care for dresses, that are used 
 to see the heads of factories and forts, half the time dressed 
 in skins. They know that there be holidays and workin - 
 days ; times for every-day wear, and times for feathers and 
 paint. No no they look at you both, with so much in 
 erest, on account of their traditions." 
 24* 
 
282 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " Their traditions ! What can these have to do with us? 
 We have never had anything to do with Indians." 
 
 That s true of you, and may be true of your fathers; 
 but it s not true of some of your ancestors. Yesterday, after 
 we had got to our night s stopping-place, two of the chiefs, 
 this smallish man with the double plate on his breast,- and 
 that elderly warrior, who has been once scalped, as you can 
 see by his crown, began to tell of some of the treacheries of 
 their own tribe, which was once a Canada people. The 
 elderly chief related the adventures of a war-path, that led 
 out of Canada, across the large waters, down to a settle 
 ment where they expected to get a great many scalps, but 
 where in the end they lost more scalps than they found ; 
 and where they met Susquesus, the upright Onondago, as 
 they call him in that tongue, as well as the Yengeese owner 
 or" the land, at this very spot, whom they called by a name 
 something like your own, who was a warrior of great cour 
 age and skill by their traditions. They suppose you to be 
 the descendants of the last, and honour you accordingly ; 
 that sail." 
 
 " And, is it possible that these untutored beings have tra 
 ditions as reliable as this ?" 
 
 " Lord, if you could hear what they say among them 
 selves, about the lies that are read to them out of the pale 
 face prints, you would 1 arn how much store they set by 
 truth ! In my day, I have travelled through a hundred 
 miles of wilderness, by a path that was no better, nor any 
 worse, than an Indian tradition of its manner of running; 
 and a tradition that must have been, at least, a hundred 
 summers old. They know all about your forefathers, and 
 they know something about you, too, if you be the gentleman 
 that finds the upright Onondago, or the Withered Hemlock, 
 in his old age, with a wigwam, and keeps it filled with food 
 and fuel." 
 
 " Is this possible ! And all this is spoken of, and known 
 among the savages of the Far West ?" 
 
 " If you call these chiefs, savages," returned the interpre 
 ter, a little offended at hearing such a term applied to his 
 oest friends and constant associates. " To be sure they 
 have their ways, and so have the pale-faces ; but Injin ways 
 be not so very savage, when a body gets a little used to 
 
THE REDSKINS. 283 
 
 them. Now, I remember it was a long time before 1 could 
 get reconciled to seeing a warrior scalp his enemy ; but as J 
 reasoned on it, and entered into the spirit of the practice, 1 
 began to feel it was all right." 
 
 1 was walking just in front of my uncle, for we were in 
 motion again on our way to the wood, but could not help 
 turning and saying to him with a smile 
 
 "So it would seem that this matter of the spirit is to 
 be found in other places besides the legislature. There is 
 the spirit of scalping, as well as the spirit of the institu 
 tions ! " 
 
 " Ay, Hugh, and the spirit of fleecing, as a consequence 
 of what is profanely termed the last. But, it may be well 
 to go no nearer to the wood, than this spot. The Injins 1 
 have told you of are in these bushes in front, and they are 
 armed I leave you to communicate with them in any man 
 ner you please. They are about twenty in number." 
 
 The interpreter informed his chiefs of what had been said, 
 who spoke together in earnest consultation for a moment. 
 Then Prairiefire, himself, plucked a branch off the nearest 
 bush, and holding it up he advanced close to the cover, and 
 called out aloud, in some one, or in many of the different 
 dialects with which he was acquainted. I saw by the 
 moving of their branches, that men were in the bushes ; but 
 no answer of any sort was made. There was one savage 
 in our band, who betrayed manifest impatience at these 
 proceedings. He was a large, athletic Iowa chief, called in 
 English Flintyheart, and, as we subsequently learned, of great 
 renown for martial exploits. It was always difficult to hold 
 him in, when there was a prospect of scalps, and he was 
 now less restrained than common, from the circumstance of 
 his having no superior of his own particular tribe present. 
 After Prairiefire had called two or three limes in vain to the 
 party in the cover, Flintyhead stepped out, spoke a few 
 words, with energy and spirit, terminating his appeal by a 
 most effective, not to say appalling, whoop. That sound 
 was echoed back by most of the band, wrfbn they all broke 
 off, right and left, stealing more like snakes than bipeds to 
 the fences, under cover of which they glanced forward to 
 the wood, in which every man of them buried himself, in the 
 twinkling of an eye In vain had the interpreter called to 
 
284 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 them, to remind them where they were, and to tell them 
 that they might displease their Great Father, at Washington ; 
 and Prairiefire stood his ground, exposed to any shot the 
 supposed foe might send at him ; on they went, like so many 
 hounds that have struck a scent too strong to be held in re 
 straint by any whipper-in. 
 
 " They expect to find Injins," said the interpreter, in a 
 sort of despair, "and there s no holdin em back. There 
 can be no enemies of their n down here-a-way, and the agent 
 will be awfully angry if blood is drawn; though I shouldn t 
 mind it a bit if the party was some of them scoundrels, the 
 Sauks and Foxes, whom it s often a marcy to kill. It s 
 different down here, however, and I must say I wish this 
 nadn t happened." 
 
 My uncle and myself just waited long enough to hear 
 this, when we rushed forward, along the highway, and en 
 tered the wood, joined by Prairiefire, who, fancying by our 
 movement that all was right, now raised such a whoop him 
 self as to demonstrate it was not for want of * knowing how 
 that he had hitherto been silent. The road made a curve 
 at the very point where it penetrated the forest, and being 
 fringed with the bushes already mentioned, the two circum 
 stances shut out the view of what was passing behind the 
 scenes, until we reached the turn, where a common halt of 
 the wagons had been made, when the whole view burst 
 upon us at once in all its magnificence. 
 
 A rout of a grand army could scarcely have been more 
 picturesque ! The road was lined with vehicles, in full 
 retreat, to use a military term, or, to speak in the more 
 common parlance, scampering off. Every whip was in 
 active use, every horse was on the run, whilst half the 
 faces were turned behind their owners, the women sending 
 back screams to the whoops of the savages. As for the 
 Injins, they had instinctively abandoned the woods, and 
 poured down into the highway, speed like theirs demanding 
 open ground fo its finest display. Some had leaped into 
 wagons, piling themselves up among those virtuous wives 
 and daughters of that portion of the honest yeomanry who 
 had collected to devise the means of cheating me out of my 
 property. But, why dwell on this scene, since the exploits 
 of these Injins, for the last six years, have amply proved 
 
THE REDSKINS. 285 
 
 that the only thing in which they excel, is in running away. 
 They are heroes when a dozen can get round a single man 
 to tar and feather him ; valiant as a hundred against five or 
 six, and occasionally murderers, when each victim can be 
 destroyed by five or six bullets, to make sure of him. The 
 very cowardice of the scoundrels should render them loath 
 some to the whole community ; the dog that has spirit only 
 to hunt in packs being cur at the bottom. 
 
 I must add one other object to the view, however. Holmes 
 and Shabbakuk brought up the rear, and both were flogging 
 .heir devoted beast as if his employers I dare not call them 
 masters, as I might be accused of aristocracy for using so 
 offensive a term in this age of common-sense liberty, while 
 * employers is a very significant expression for the particu 
 lar occasion as if his employers, then, had left some 
 thing behind them, at Little Neest, and were hurrying 
 back to obtain it before it fell into other hands. Old Holmes 
 kept looking behind, as if chased by the covenants of forty 
 leases, while the " Spirit of the Institutions," headed by two 
 governors, and " the honourable gentleman from Albany," 
 was in full pursuit. If the " Spirit of the Institutions" was 
 really there, it was quite alone ; for I looked in vain for the 
 exhibition of any other spirit. In much less time than it has 
 taken me to write this account, the road was cleared, leaving 
 my uncle, myself, and Prairiefire, in quiet possession ; the 
 latter uttering a very significant " hugh !" as the last wagon 
 went out of sight in a cloud of dust. 
 
 It was but a moment, however, before our own tribe, 01 
 tribes would be more accurate, came down upon us, collect 
 ing in the road at the very spot where we stood. The yic- 
 tory had been bloodless, but it was complete. Not only had 
 the savage Indians completely routed the virtuous and much- 
 oppressed-by-aristocracy Injins, but they had captured two 
 specimens of virtue and depression in the persons of as 
 many of the band. So very significant and expressive was 
 the manner of the captives, that Flintyh eart, into whose 
 hands they had fallen, not only seemed to hold their scalps 
 in contempt, but actually had disdained to disarm them 
 There they stood, bundles of calico, resembling children in 
 swaddling-clothes, with nothing partaking of that natural 
 freedom of which tt.eir party love to boast, but their legs, 
 
286 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 which were left at perfect liberty, by way of a dernier re* 
 sort. My uncle now assumed a little authority, and com 
 manded these fellows to take off their disguises. He might 
 as well have ordered one of the oaks, or maples, to lay down 
 its leaves before the season came round ; for neither would 
 obey. 
 
 The interpreter, however, whose name was Manytongues, 
 rendered into English from the Indian dialects, was a man 
 of surprisingly few words, considering his calling, on an 
 occasion like this. Walking up to one of the prisoners, he 
 first disarmed him, and then removed his calico hood, ex 
 posing the discomfited countenance of Brigham, Tom Mil 
 ler s envious labourer. The " hughs !" that escaped the 
 Indians were very expressive, on finding that not only did 
 a pale-face countenance appear from beneath the covering, 
 but one that might be said to be somewhat paler than com 
 mon. Manytongues had a good deal of frontier waggery 
 about him, and, by this time he began to comprehend how 
 the land lay. Passing his hand over Josh s head, he coolly 
 remarked 
 
 " That scalp would be thought more of, in Iowa, than it s 
 ra-ally worth, I m thinking, if truth was said. But let us 
 see who we have here." 
 
 Suiting the action to the words, as it is termed, the inter 
 preter laid hold of the hood of the other captive, but did not 
 succeed in removing it without a sharp struggle. He effected 
 his purpose, assisted by two of the younger chiefs, who 
 stepped forward to aid him. I anticipated the result, for I 
 had early recognised the goar; but great was the surprise 
 of any uncle when he saw Seneca Newcome s well-known 
 face developed by the change ! 
 
 Seneca or, it might be better now to use his own favour 
 ite orthoepy, and call him Sene%, at once, for he had a 
 particularly sneaking look as he emerged from under the 
 calico, and this would be suiting the sound to appearances 
 Seneky, then, was in a " mingled tumult," as it is called, 
 of rage and shame. The first predominated, however, and, 
 as is only too common in cases of military disasters, instead 
 of attributing his capture to circumstan ces, the prowess of 
 his enemies, or any fault of his own, he sought to mitigate his 
 own disgrace by heaping disgrace on his comrade. Tnderfl ? 
 
THE REDSKINS. 287 
 
 he manner in which these men went at each other, as 
 soon as unsacked, reminded me of two game cocks that are 
 let out of their bags within three feet of each other, with this 
 exception neither crowed. 
 
 " This is all your fault, you cowardly dog," said Seneky, 
 almost fiercely, for shame had filled his face with blood. 
 " Had you kept on your feet, and riot run me down, in your 
 haste to get off, I might have retreated, and got clear with 
 the rest of them." 
 
 This assault was too much for Joshua, who gained spiri* 
 to answer by its rudeness and violence, not to say injus 
 tice ; for, as we afterwards ascertained, Newcome had actu 
 ally fallen in his eagerness to retreat ; and Brigham, so fai 
 from being the cause of his coming down, had only pre 
 vented his getting up, by falling on top of him. In this 
 prostrate condition they had further fallen into the hands of 
 their enemies. 
 
 " I want nothin from you, Squire Newcome," answered 
 Joshua, quite decidedly as to tone and manner ; " your cha 
 racter is well known, all up and down the country." 
 
 " What of my character? What have you got to say 
 ag in me or my character?" demanded the attorney at law, 
 in a tone of high defiance. " I want to see the man who 
 can say anything ag in my character." 
 
 This was pretty well, considering that the fellow had act 
 ually been detected in the commission of a felony; though 
 I suppose that difficulty would have been gotten over, in a 
 moral sense, by the claim of being taken while struggling 
 in defence of human rights, and the " spirit of the institu 
 tions." The defiance was too much for Brigham s patience, 
 and being fully assured, by this time, that he was not in 
 much danger of being scalped, he turned upon Seneca, and 
 cried, with something more than spirit, with downright ran 
 cour 
 
 " You re a pretty fri nd of the poor man, and of the 
 people, if truth must be said, an t you? Everybody in the 
 county that s in want of money knows what you be, you 
 d d shaver." 
 
 As the last words came out, Seneky s fist went in upon 
 Brigham s nose, causing the blood to flow freely. My uncle 
 
288 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Ro now thought it time to interfere, and he rebuked the 
 irritated lawyer with dignity. 
 
 " Why did he call me a d d shaver, then ?" retorted 
 
 Seneky, still angry and red. "I ll stand that from no 
 man." 
 
 " Why, what harm can there be in such a charge, Mr. 
 Newcome 1 You are a member of the bar, and ought to 
 understand -the laws of your country, and cannot stand in 
 need of being told that it has been decided by the highest 
 tribunal of your State that it is no reproach to be called a 
 shaver ! Some of the honourable members of that learned 
 body, indeed, seem to think, on the contrary, that it is matter 
 of commendation and congratulation. I am ashamed of 
 you, Mr. Newcome I m quite ashamed of you." 
 
 Seneky muttered something, in which I fancied I under 
 
 stood the words " the Court of Errors be d d," or " the 
 
 Court of Errors" might go to some very bad place, which 
 I will not name ; but I will not take on myself that any 
 man of decency could really use such irreverent language 
 about a body so truly eminent, though a person in a passion 
 is sometimes disposed to forget propriety. My uncle now 
 thought it time to put an end to this scene; and, without 
 deigning to enter into any explanations, he signified to Many- 
 tongues his readiness to lead his chiefs to the point where 
 they desired to go. 
 
 ct As to these two Injins.," he added, " their capture will 
 do us no honour ; and now we know who they are, they can 
 be taken at any time by the deputy sheriffs or constables. 
 It is hardly worth while to encumber your march with such 
 fellows." 
 
 The chiefs assented to this proposal, too, and we quitted 
 tha woods in a body, leaving Seneky and Joshua on the 
 giound. As we subsequently learned, our backs were no 
 sooner turned, than the last pitched into the first, and 
 pounded him not only until he owned he was " a shaver," 
 
 but that he was " a .d d shaver" in the bargain. Such 
 
 was the man, and such the class, that the deluded anti- 
 renters of New York wish to substitute, in a social sense, 
 for the ancient -landlords of the country ! A pretty top- 
 sheaf they would make to the stack of the community, and 
 
THE REDSKINS. 289 
 
 admirably would the grain be kept that was protected by 
 their covering ! One would like to see fellows of this morai 
 calibre interpreting their covenants ; and it would be a use 
 ful, though a painful lesson, to see the change effected for a 
 twelvemonth, in order to ascertain, after things had got back 
 into the old natural channel, how many would then wish to 
 " return, like the dog to his vomit, or the sow to her wal 
 lowing in the mire," 
 
 After giving some directions to Manytongues, my uncle 
 and I got into our wagon and drove up the road, leaving the 
 Indians to follow. The rendezvous was at the Nest, whither 
 we had now determined to proceed at once, and assume our 
 proper characters. In passing the rectory we found time 
 to stop and run in, to inquire after the welfare of Mr. and 
 Miss Warren. Great was my joy at learning they had 
 gone on to the Nest, where they were all to dine. This 
 intelligence did not tend to lessen the speed of Miller s horse, 
 or my horse it would be better to say, for I am the real 
 owner of everything on the Nest Farm, and shall probably 
 so remain, unless the "spirit of the Institutions" gets at my 
 property there, as well as in other places. In the course 
 of half an hour we drove on the lawn, and stopped at the 
 door. It will be recollected that the Indians had our wigs, 
 which had been left by my uncle and myself in their hands, 
 as things of no further use to us. Notwithstanding our 
 dresses, the instant we presented ourselves without these 
 instruments of disguise we were recognized, and the cry 
 went through the house and grounds that " Mr. Hugh had 
 come home !" I confess I was touched with some signs of 
 interest and feeling that escaped the domestics, as well as 
 those who belonged out of doors, when they saw me again 
 standing before them in health, if not in good looks. My 
 uncle, too, was welcome ; and there were a few minutes 
 during which I forgot all my grounds for vexation, and 
 was truly happy. 
 
 Although my grandmother, and sister, and Mary War- 
 len, all knew what the cry of "Mr. Hugh has got home" 
 meant, it brought everybody out upon the piazza. Mr. 
 Warren had related the events of the day, as far as he was 
 acquainted with them ; but even those who were in the se 
 cret, were surprised at our thus returning unwigged, and in 
 25 
 
290 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 our proper characters. As for myself, I could not but note 
 the manner in which the four girls came out to meet me. 
 Martha flew into my embrace, cast her arms around my 
 neck, kissing me six or eight times without stopping. Then 
 Miss Colebrooke came next, with Ann Marston leaning on 
 her arm, both smiling, though greatly surprised, and both 
 bright, and pretty, and lady-like. They were glad to see 
 me, and met my salutations frankly and like old friends ; 
 though I could see they did not fancy my dress in the least. 
 Mary Warren was behind them all, smiling, blushing, and 
 shy ; but it did not require two looks from me to make cer 
 tain that her welcome was as sincere as that of my older 
 friends. Mr. Warren was glad to have it in his power to 
 greet us openly, and to form an acquaintance with those, to 
 whose return he had now been looking with anxiety and 
 hope, for three or four years. 
 
 A few minutes sufficed for the necessary explanations, a 
 part of which, indeed, had already been made by those who 
 were previously in the secret; when my dear grandmother 
 and Patt insisted on our going up to our old room, and of 
 dressing ourselves in attire more suitable to our stations. 
 A plenty of summer clothes had been left behind us, and 
 our wardrobes had been examined that morning in anticipa 
 tion of our soon having need of them ; so that no great time 
 was necessary to make the change. I was a little fuller 
 than when I left home, but the clothes being loose, there 
 was no difficulty in equipping myself. I found a handsome 
 blue dress coat, that did very well, and vests and pantaloons, 
 ad libitum. Clothing is so much cheaper in Europe than 
 at home, that Americans who are well supplied, do not often 
 carry much with them when they go abroad ; and this had 
 been a rule with my uncle all his life. Each of us, more 
 over, habitually kept a supply of country attire at the Nest, 
 which we did not think of removing. In consequence of 
 these little domestic circumstances, as has been said, there 
 was no want of the means of putting my uncle and myself 
 on a level with others of our class, as respects outward ap 
 pearance, in that retired part of the country, at least. 
 
 The apartments of my uncle and myself were quite near 
 each other, in the north wing of the house ; as that which 
 looked in the direction of a part of the meadows under the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 291 
 
 cliff,. the wooded ravine, and the wigwam, or cabin, cf the 
 " Upright Onondago." The last was very plainly in view, 
 from the window of my dressing-room ; and I was standing 
 at the latter, contemplating the figures of the two old fellows, 
 as they sat basking in the sun, as was their practice of an 
 afternoon, when a tap at the door proved to be the announce 
 ment of the entrance of John. 
 
 " Well, John, my good fellow," I said, laughingly; "I 
 find a wig makes a great difference with your means of re 
 cognizing an old friend. I must thank you, nevertheless, 
 for the good treatment you gave me in my character of a 
 music-grinder." 
 
 " I am sure, Mr. Hugh, you are heartily welcome to my 
 services, come as you may to ask them. It was a most 
 surprisingest deception, sir, as I shall ever hadmit ; but I 
 thought the whole time you wasn t exactly what you seemed 
 to be, as I told Kitty as soon as I went down stairs : Kitty, 
 says I, them two pedlars is just the two genteelest pedlars 
 as hever I see in this country, and I shouldn t wonder if 
 they had known better days. But, now you have been to 
 see the hanti-renters with your own eyes, Mr. Hugh, what 
 do you think of them, if I may be so bold as to ask tho 
 question ?" 
 
 " Very much as I thought, before I had been to see them. 
 They are a set of fellows who are canting about liberty, at 
 the very moment when they are doing all they can to dis 
 credit its laws, and who mistake selfishness for patriotism ; 
 just as their backers in the State government are doing, by 
 using the same cant, when their object is nothing but votes. 
 If no tenant had a vote, this question would never have 
 been raised, or dreamt of but I see those two old fellows, 
 Jaaf and Sus, seem to enjoy themselves still." 
 
 " Indeed they do, sir, in the most surprisingest manner! 
 They was both antiquities, as we says in Hengland, when 
 I came to this country, sir and that was before you was 
 born, Mr. Hugh an age agone. But there they sits, sir, 
 day in and day out, looking like monumentals of past 
 times. The nigger" John had been long enough in the 
 country to catch the vernacular " The nigger grows uglier 
 and uglier every year, and that is most of a change I can 
 Bee in him; while I do think, sir, that the Indian grows 
 
292 . THE REDSKINS. 
 
 andsomer and andsomer. He s the andsomest old gen 
 tleman, sir, as I knows of, far and near !" 
 
 " Old gentleman /" What an expressive term that was, 
 in this case! No human being would ever think of calling 
 Jaaf an " old gentleman," even in these " aristocratic" days, 
 when " gentlemen" are plentier than blackberries ; while 
 any one might feel disposed thus to describe Susquesus. 
 The Onondago was a gentleman, in the best meaning of the 
 word ; though he may, and certainly did, want a great 
 deal in the way of mere conventional usages. As for John, 
 he never would have used the word to me, except in a case 
 in which he felt the party had a claim to the appellation. 
 
 " Susquesus is a magnificent sight, with his grey or 
 white head, fiery eyes, composed features, and impressive 
 air," I answered ; " and Jaaf is no beauty. How do the 
 old men get on together ?" 
 
 " Why, sir, they quarrel a good deal that is, the nigger 
 quarrels ; though the Indian is too much above him to mind 
 what he says. Nor will I say that Yop actually quarrels, 
 sir, for he has the greatest possible regard for his friend ; 
 but he aggravates in the most surprisingest manner just 
 like a nigger, howsever, I do suppose." 
 
 " They have wanted for nothing, I trust, during my ab 
 sence. Their table and other comforts have been seen to 
 carefully, I hope? 1 
 
 "JN"o fear of that, sir, so long as Mrs. Littlepage lives! 
 She has the affection of a child for the old men, and hae 
 everything provided for them that they can possibly want. 
 Betty Smith, sir you remember Betty, the widow of the old 
 coachman, that died when you was at college, sir well, 
 Betty has done nothing, these four years, but look after 
 them two old men. She keeps everything tidy in their 
 hut, and washes it out twice a week, and washes their 
 clothes for them, and darns, and sews, and cooks, and 
 looks after all their comforts. She lives hard by, in the 
 other cottage, sir, and has everything handy." 
 
 " I am glad of that. Does either of the old men ever 
 stray over as far as the Nest House now, John ?" Before 
 I went abroad, we had a visit from each, daily." 
 
 "That custom has fallen away a little, sir; though the 
 nigger comes much the oftenest. He is sure to be here 
 
THE REDSKINS. 293 
 
 once or twice a week, in good weather. Then he walks 
 into the kitchen, where he will sit sometimes for a whole 
 morning, telling the hardest stories, sir ha, ha, ha ! yes, 
 sir, just the hardest stories one ever heard !" 
 
 Why what can he have to say of that nature, that it 
 seems to amuse you so ?" 
 
 "According to his notion, sir, everything in the country 
 is falling away, and is inferior like to what it may have 
 been in his young flays. The turkeys arn t so large, sir; 
 and the fowls is poorer, sir; and the mutton isn t so fat, 
 sir ; and sich sort of enormities." 
 
 Here John laughed very heartily, though it was plain 
 enough he did not much fancy the comparisons. 
 
 " And Susquesus," I said, " he does not share in his 
 r riend s criticisms?" : , fl 
 
 " Sus never enters the kitchen, sir, at all. He knows that 
 all the quality and upper class come to the great door of the 
 house, and is too much of a gentleman to come in at any 
 other entrance. No, sir, I never saw Sus in the kitchen or 
 hoffices, at all ; nor does Mrs. Littlepage ave his table set 
 anywhere but in the hupper rooms, or on the piazza, when 
 she wishes to treat him to anything nice. The old gentle 
 man has what he calls his traditions, sir, and can tell a great 
 many stories of old times ; but they ar n t about turkeys, and 
 orses, and garden-stuff, and such things as Yop dwells on 
 so much, and so uncomfortably." 
 
 I now dismissed John, after again thanking him for his 
 civilities to one of my late appearance, and joined my uncle. 
 When we entered the little drawing-room, where the whole 
 party was waiting to meet us, previously to going to the 
 table, a common exclamation of pleasure escaped them all. 
 Martha again kissed me, declaring I was now Hugh ; that 
 I looked as she had expected to see Hugh ; that she would 
 now know me for Hugh, and many other similar things; 
 while my dear grandmother stood and parted my hair, and 
 gazed into my face with tears in her eyes, for I reminded 
 her of her first-born, who had died so young ! As for the 
 other ladies, the two heiress-wards of Uncle Ro seemed 
 smiling and friendly, and willing to renew our ancient ami 
 cable relations ; but Mary Warren still kept herself in tho 
 25* 
 
294 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 back-ground, though I thought by her modest and half 
 averted eye, and flushed cheeks, that she sympathized as 
 deeply in her friend Patt s present happiness as any of the 
 others ; possibly more deeply. 
 
 Before we went to the table I sent a servant to the top of 
 the house, with orders to look down the road, in order to 
 ascertain when my red friends might be expected. This 
 man reported that they were advancing along the highway, 
 and would probably reach the door in fte course of half an 
 hour. They had stopped ; and he thought that he could 
 perceive, by means of his glass, that they were painting their 
 faces, and otherwise arranging their toilets, in preparation 
 *br the anticipated interview. On receiving this information 
 we took our seats at table, expecting to be ready to receive 
 the chiefs, as soon as they should arrive. 
 
 Ours was a happy dinner. For the moment, the condi 
 tion of the country and the schemes of my tenants were for 
 gotten, and we chatted of those nearer interests and feelings 
 that naturally presented themselves to our minds at such a 
 time. At length dear grandmother pleasantly remarked 
 
 " You must have an instinct for the discovery of discre 
 tion, Hugh, for no one could have made a better choice of 
 a confidant than you did, while going to the village, this 
 morning." 
 
 Mary blushed like an Italian sky at eventide, and looked 
 down, to conceal her confusion. 
 
 " I do not know whether it was discretion or vanity, 
 grandmother," was my answer, " for I am conscious of 
 feeling an unconquerable reluctance to passing for a com 
 mon music-grinder in Miss Warren s eyes." 
 
 " Nay, Hugh," put in the saucy Patt, " I had told you 
 before that you passed for a very 7/wcommon music -grinder 
 in her eyes. As for the grinding, she said but little ; for it 
 was of the flute, and of the manner in which it was played, 
 that Miss Warren spoke the most eloquently." 
 
 The "Martha!" of Mary Warren, lowly, but half-re- 
 proachfully uttered, showed that the charming girl was be 
 ginning to be really distressed, and my observant parent 
 changed the discourse by a gentle and adroit expedient 
 such as a woman alone knows thoroughly how to put in 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 practice. It was simply handing Mr. Watren a plate of 
 greengages ; but the act was so performed as to change the 
 discourse. 
 
 During the whole of that meal I felt certain there was a 
 .secret, mysterious comrnunicatian between me and Mary 
 Warren, which, while it probably did escape the notice of 
 others, was perfectly evident to ourselves. This fact I felt 
 to be true; while there was a consciousness betrayed in 
 Mary s blushes, and even in her averted eyes, that I found 
 extremely eloquent on the same subject. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ** With look, like patient Job s, eschewing evil ; 
 With motions graceful as a bird s in air ; 
 Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil 
 That e er clinched fingers in a captive s hair." 
 
 Red Jacket. 
 
 ALTHOUGH an immense progress has been made in libe 
 rating this country from the domination of England, in the 
 way of opinion and usages, a good deal remains to be done 
 yet. Still, he who can look back forty years, must see the 
 great changes that have occurred in very many things ; and 
 it is to be hoped that he who lives forty years hence, will 
 fin-d very few remaining that have no better reasons for their 
 existence among ourselves than the example of a people so 
 remote, with a different climate, different social organization, 
 and different wants. I am for no more condemning a usage, 
 however, simply because it is English, than I am for ap 
 proving it, simply because it is English. I wish everything 
 to stand on its own merits, and feel certain that no nation 
 ever can become great, in the higher signification of the 
 term, until it ceases to imitate, because it is imitation of a 
 certain fixed model. One of the very greates-t evils of this 
 imitative spirit is even now developing itself in what is called 
 the " progress" of the country, which is assailing principles 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 that are as old as the existence of man, and vvhic, may 
 utmost be said to be eternal as social truths, at tht very 
 moment that notions derived from our ancestors are sub 
 mitted to in the highest places, the Senate of the United 
 States for example, that are founded in facts which not only 
 have no existence among ourselves, but which are positively 
 antagonist to such as have. So much easier is it to join in 
 ihe hurrah! of a " progress," than to ascertain whether it 
 is making in the right direction, or whether it be progress 
 at all. But, to return from things of moment to those of 
 less concern. 
 
 Among other customs to be condemned that we have 
 derived from England, is the practice of the men sitting at 
 table after the women have left it. Much as I may wish to 
 see this every-way offensive custom dcroe away with, and the 
 more polished and humanizing usage of all the rest of 
 r-hristendom adopted in its stead, I should feel ashamed at 
 finding, as I make no doubt I should find it, that our custom 
 would be abandoned within a twelvemonth after it might be 
 understood it was abandoned in En-gland. My uncle bad 
 long endeavoured to introduce into our own immediate circle 
 the practice of retaining the ladies at table for a reasonable 
 time, and of then quitting it with them at the expiration of 
 that time ; but it is hard to kick against the pricks/ Men 
 who fancy it society to meet at each other s houses to 
 drink wine, and taste wine, and talk about wine, and to 
 outdo each other in giving their guests the most costly 
 wines, are not to be diverted easily from their objects. The 
 bard-drinking days are past, but the hard * talking days are 
 in their vigour. If it could be understood, generally, that 
 even in England it is deemed vulgar to descant on the 
 liquor that is put upon the table, perhaps we might get rid 
 of the practice too. Vulgar in England I It is even 
 deemed vulgar here, by the right sort, as I am ready to 
 maintain, and indeed know of my own observation. That 
 one or two friends who are participating in the benefits of 
 some particularly benevolent bottle, should say a word in 
 commendation of its merits, is natural enough, and well 
 enough ; no one can reasonably find any fault with such a 
 sign of grateful feeling ; but I know of nothing more revoh- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 297 
 
 ing than to see twenty grave faces arrayed round a table, 
 employed as so many tasters at a Rhenish wine sale, while 
 the cheeks of their host look like those of Boreas, owing to 
 the process of sucking syphons. 
 
 When my dear grandmother rose, imitated by the four 
 bright-faced girls, who did as she set the example, and 
 said, as was customary with the old school, " Well, gen 
 tlemen, I leave you to your wine; but you will recollect 
 that you will be most welcome guests in the drawing- 
 room," my uncle caught her hand, and insisted she 
 should not quit us. There was something exceedingly 
 touching, to my eyes, -in the sort of intercourse, and in the 
 affection which existed between my uncle Ro and his mother. 
 A bachelor himself, while she was a widow, they were par 
 ticularly fond of each other ; and many is the time that I 
 have seen him go up to her, when we were alone, and pat 
 her cheeks, and then kiss them, as one might do so to a 
 much-beloved sister. My grandmother always received 
 these little liberties with perfect good-humour, arid with evi 
 dent affection. In her turn, I have frequently known her to 
 approach * Roger, as she always called him, and kiss his 
 bald head, in a way that denoted she vividly remembered 
 the time when he was an infant in her arms. On this occa 
 sion she yielded to his request, and resumed her seat, the 
 girls imitating her, nothing loth, as they had done in rising. 
 The conversation then, naturally enough, reverted to the 
 state of the country. 
 
 "It has much surprised me, that the men in authority 
 among us have confined all their remarks and statements to 
 the facts of the Rensselaer and Livingston estates/ observed 
 my grandmother, " when there are difficulties existing in 
 so many others." 
 
 " The explanation is very simple, my good mother," 
 answered uncle Ro. " The Rensselaer estates have the 
 quarter-sales, and chickens, and days works ; and there is 
 much of the ad captandum argument about such things, that 
 does very well to work up for political effect ; whereas, on 
 the other estates, these great auxiliaries must be laid aside. 
 It is just as certain, as it is that the sun has risen this day, 
 that an extensive and concerted plan exists to transfer the 
 freehold rights of the landlords, on nearly every property 
 
298 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 in the Slate, to the tenants ; and that, too, on conditions 
 unjustly favourable to the last ; but you will find nothing 
 of the sort in the messages of governors, or speeches of 
 legislators, who seem to think all is said, when they have 
 dwelt, on the expediency of appeasing the complaints of the 
 tenants, as a high political duty, without stopping to inquire 
 whether those complaints are founded in right or not. The 
 injury that will be done to the republic, by showing men 
 how much can be effected by clamour, is of itself incalcu 
 lable. It would take a generation to do away the evil con 
 sequences of the example, were the anti-rent combination 
 to be utterly defeated to-morrow." 
 
 " 1 find that the general argument against the landlords 
 is a want of title, in those cases in which nothing better can 
 be found," observed Mr. Warren. " The lecturer, to-day, 
 seemed to condemn any title that was derived from the 
 King, as defeated by the conquest over that monarch, by the 
 war of the revolution." 
 
 " A most charming consummation that would have been 
 for the heroic deeds of the Littlepages ! There were my 
 father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, all in arms, in 
 that war ; the two first as general officers, and the last as 
 a major ; and the result of all their hardships and dangers 
 is to be to rob themselves of their own property ! I am 
 aware that this silly pretence has been urged, even in a 
 court of justice ; but folly, and wrong, and madness, are 
 not yet quite ripe enough among us, to carry such a doc 
 trine down. As coming events cast their shacows before, 
 it is possible we are to take this very movement, however, 
 as the dawn of the approaching day of American reason, 
 and not as a twilight left by the departed rays of a sun of 
 a period of mental darkness." 
 
 " You surely do not apprehend, uncle Ro, that these 
 people can really get Hugh s lands away from him !" ex- 
 claimed Patt, reddening with anxiety and anger. 
 
 "No one can say, my dear; for, certainly, no one is 
 safe when opinions and acts, like those which have been 
 circulated and attempted among us of late years, can be 
 acted on without awakening very general indignation. Look 
 to the moneyed classes at this very moment," agonized and 
 excited on the subject of a war about Oregon a thing very 
 
THE REDSKINS. 299 
 
 jsttle likely to occur, though certainly possible; while they 
 manifest the utmost indifference to this anti-rentism, though 
 the positive existence of everything connected with just 
 social organization is directly involved in its fate. One is 
 a bare possibility, but it convulses the class I have named ; 
 while the other is connected with the existence of civilized 
 society itself; yet it has ceased to attract attention, and is 
 nearly forgotten ! Every man in the community, whose 
 means raise him at all above the common level, has a direct 
 interest in facing this danger, and in endeavouring to put it 
 down ; but scarcely any one appears to be conscious of the 
 importance of the crisis. We have only one or two more 
 steps to make, in order to become like Turkey ; a country 
 in which the wealthy are obliged to conceal their means, 
 in order to protect it from the grasp of the government ; 
 but no one seems to care at all about it 1" 
 
 " Some recent travellers among us have said that we have 
 nearly reached that pass already, as our rich affect great 
 simplicity and plainness in public, while they fill their houses 
 in private with all the usual evidences of wealth and luxury. 
 I think de Tocqueville, among others, makes that remark." 
 
 " Ay, that is merely one of the ordinarily sagacious re 
 marks of the European, who, by not understanding the Ame 
 rican history, confounds causes and makes mistakes. The 
 plainness of things in public is no more than an ancient 
 habit of the country, while the elegance and luxury in pri 
 vate are a very simple and natural consequence of the tastes 
 of women who live in a state of society in which they are 
 limited to the very minimum of refined habits and intellectual 
 pleasures. The writer who made this mistake is a very clever 
 man, and has exceeding merit, considering his means of ascer 
 taining truth ; but he has made very many similar blunders." 
 
 " Nevertheless, Mr. Littlepage," resumed the rector, who 
 was a gentleman, in all the senses of the word, and knew 
 the world, and the best part of it, too, even while he had 
 preserved an admirable simplicity of character, " changes 
 have certainly taken place among us, of the nature alluded 
 to by M. de Tocqueville." 
 
 "That is quite true, sir; but they have also taken place 
 elsewhere. When I was a boy, I can well remember to 
 have seen coaches-and-six in this country, and almost every 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 man of fortune drove his coach-and-four ; whereas, novr 
 such a thing is of the rarest occurrence possible. But the 
 same is true all over Christendom ; for when I first went to 
 Europe, coaches-and-six, with outriders, and all that sort of 
 state, was an every-day thing ; whereas it is now never, or 
 at least very seldom, seen. Improved roads, steam-boats, 
 and railroads, can produce such changes, without having 
 recourse to the oppression of the masses." 
 
 " I am sure," put in Patt, laughing, " if publicity be what 
 Mons. de Tocqueville requires, there is publicity enough in 
 New York ! All the new-fashioned houses are so construct 
 ed, with their low balconies and lower windows, that any 
 body can see in at their windows. If what I have read and 
 neard of a Paris house be true, standing between cour et 
 jardin, there is infinitely more of privacy there than here ; 
 and one might just as well say that the Parisians bury them 
 selves behind porte cochZres, and among trees, to escape the 
 attacks of the Faubourg St. Antoine, as to say we retreat 
 into our houses to be fine, lest the mobocracy would not 
 tolerate us." 
 
 " The girl has profited by your letters, I see, Hugh," said 
 my uncle, nodding his head in approbation ; " and what is 
 more, she makes a suitable application of her tuition, or 
 rather, of yours. No, no, all that is a mistake ; and, as* 
 Martha says, no houses are so much in the street as those 
 of the new styte in our own towns. It would be far more 
 just to say that, instead of retiring within doors to be fine, 
 as Patt calls it, unseen by envious neighbours, the Manhat- 
 tanese, in particular, turn their dwellings wrong side out, 
 lest their neighbours should take offence at not being per 
 mitted to see all that is going on within. But, neither is 
 true* The house is the mare showy because it is most under 
 woman s control ; and it would be just as near the truth to 
 say that the reason why the American men appear abroad 
 in plain blue, and black, and brown clothes, while their 
 wives and daughters are at home in silks and satins ay, 
 even in modern brocades is an apprehension of the masses, 
 as to ascribe the plainness of street life, compared to that 
 within doors, to the same cause. There is a good deal of 
 difference between a salon in the Faubourg, or the Chaussee 
 cPAutin, and even on the Boulevard des Itatiens. But, John 
 
THE REDSKINS. 301 
 
 is craning with his neck, out there on the piazza, as if our 
 red brethren were at hand." 
 
 So it was, in point of fact, and everybody now rose from 
 table, without ceremony, and went forth to meet our guests. 
 We had barely time to reach the lawn, the ladies having 
 run for their hats in the meantime, before Prairiefire, Flinty- 
 heart, Manytongues, and all the rest of them, came up, on 
 the sort of half trot that distinguishes an Indian s march. 
 
 Notwithstanding the change in our dresses, my uncle and 
 myself \vere instantly recognised, and courteously saluted 
 by the principal chiefs. Then our wigs were gravely of 
 fered to us, by two of the younger men ; but we declined 
 receiving them, begging the gentlemen who had them in 
 keeping, to do us the honour to accept them, as tokens of 
 our particular regard. This was done with great good will, 
 and with a pleasure that was much too obvious to be con 
 cealed. Half an hour later, I observed that each of the 
 young forest dandies had a wig on his otherwise naked head, 
 with a peacock s feather stuck quite knowingly in the lank 
 hair. The effect was somewhat ludicrous ; particularly on 
 the young ladies ; but I saw that each of the warriors him 
 self looked round, as if to ask for the admiration that he 
 felt his appearance ought to awaken ! 
 
 No sooner were the salutations exchanged, than the red- 
 men began to examine the house the cliff on which it stood 
 the meadows beneath, and the surrounding ground. At 
 first, we supposed, that they were struck with the extent and 
 solidity of the buildings, together with a certain air of finish 
 and neatness, that is not everywhere seen in America, even 
 in the vicinity of its better-class houses ; but Manytongues 
 soon undeceived us. My uncle asked him, why all the red- 
 men had broken off, and scattered themselves around the 
 buildings, some looking here, others pointing there, and all 
 manifestly earnest and much engaged with something; 
 though it was not easy to understand what that something 
 was ; in-ti mating his supposition that they might be struck 
 with the buildings. 
 
 " Lord bless ye, no sir," answered the interpreter ; " they 
 
 don t care a straw about the house, or any house. There s 
 
 Plintyheart, in particular ; he s a chief that you can no more 
 
 move with riches, and large housen, and sich like matters, 
 
 26 
 
302 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ,han you can make the Mississippi run up stream. When 
 we went to Uncle Sam s house, at Washington, he scarce 
 condescended to look at it ; and the Capitol had no more ef 
 fect on any on em, than if it had been a better sort of wig 
 wam ; not so much, for that matter, as Injins be curious in 
 wigwams. What s put em up, on a trail like, just now, is 
 he knowledge that this is the spot where a battle was fit, 
 something like ninety seasons ago, in which the Upright 
 Onondago was consarned, as well as some of their own peo 
 ple on t other side that s what s put em in commotion." 
 
 " And why does Flintyheart talk to those around him 
 with so much energy ; and point to the flats, and the cliff, 
 and the ravine yonder, that lies beyond the wigwam of 
 Susquesus?" 
 
 "Ah! Is that, then, the wigwam of the Upright Onon 
 dago !" exclaimed the interpreter, betraying some such inte 
 rest as one might manifest on unexpectedly being told that 
 he saw Mount Vernon or Monticello, for the first time in his 
 life. " Well, it s something to have seen that; though it 
 will be more to see the man himself; for all the tribes on the 
 upper prairies, are full of his story and his behaviour. No 
 Injin, since the time of Tamenund himself, has made as 
 much talk, of late years, as Susquesus, the Upright Onon 
 dago, unless it might be Tecumthe, perhaps. But, what oc 
 cupies Flintyheart, just at this moment, is an account of the 
 battle, in which his father s grandfather lost his life, though 
 he did not lose his scalp. That disgrace he is now telling 
 on em, he escaped, and glad enough is his descendant, that 
 it was so. It s no great matter to an Injin to be killed ; but 
 he d rather escape losing his scalp, or being struck at all by 
 the inimy, if it can possibly be made to turn out so. Now 
 he s talking of some young pale-face that was killed, whom 
 he calls Lover of Fun and, now he s got on some nigger, 
 who he says fit like a devil." 
 
 " All these persons are known to us, by our traditions, 
 also !" exclaimed my uncle, with more interest than I had 
 known him manifest for many a day. " But I m amazed to 
 find that the Indians retain so accurate an account of such 
 small matters, for so long a time." 
 
 " It isn t a small matter to them. Their battles is seldom 
 on a very great scale, and they make great account of any 
 
THE REDSKINS. 303 
 
 fckrimmage irt which noted warriors have fallen." Here 
 Manytongues paused for a minute, and listened attentively 
 to the discourse of the chiefs; after which he resumed his 
 explanations. " They have met with a great difficulty in 
 the house," he continued, " while everything else is right. 
 They understand the cliff of rocks, the position of the build 
 ings themselves, that ravine thereaway, and all the rest of 
 the things hereabouts, except the house." 
 
 " What may be the difficulty with the house ? Does it 
 not stand in the place it ought to occupy ?" 
 
 " That s just their difficulty. It does stand where it ought 
 to stand, but it isn t the right sort of house, though they say 
 the shape agrees well enough one side out to the fields, 
 like ; two sides running back to the cliff, and the cliff itself 
 for the other. But their traditions say that their warriors 
 indivour d to burn out your forefathers, and that they built 
 a fire again the side of the buildin , which they never would 
 have done had it been built of stone, as this house is built. 
 That s what partic larly puzzles them." 
 
 " Then their traditions are surprisingly minute and accu 
 rate ! The house which then stood on, or near this spot, 
 and which did resemble the present building in the ground 
 plan, was of squared logs, and might have been set on fire, 
 and an attempt was actually made to do so, but was suc 
 cessfully resisted. Your chiefs have had a true account; 
 but changes have been made here. The house of logs stood 
 near fifty years, when it was replaced by this dwelling, 
 .which was originally erected about sixty years ago, and 
 has been added to since, on the old design. No, no the 
 traditions are surprisingly accurate." 
 
 This gave the Indians great satisfaction, as soon as the 
 fact was communicated to them ; and from that instant all 
 their doubts and uncertainty were ended. Their own know 
 ledge of the progress of things in a settlement, gave them 
 the means of comprehending any other changes ; though the 
 shape of this building having so nearly corresponded with 
 that of which their traditions spoke, they had become em 
 barrassed by the difference in the material. While they 
 were still continuing their examinations, and ascertaining 
 localities to their own satisfaction, my uncle and myself 
 continued the discourse with Manytongues. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " I am curious to know," said my uncle, " what may be 
 he history of Susquesus, that a party of chiefs like these 
 should travel so far out of their way, to pay him the ho 
 mage of a visit. Is his great age the cause ?" 
 
 " That is one reason, sartainly ; though there is another, 
 that is of more account, but which is known only to them 
 selves. I have often tried to get the history out of them, 
 but never could succeed. As long as I can remember, the 
 Onondagoes, and Tus-caroras, and the Injins of the old New 
 York tribes, that have found their way up to the prairies, 
 have talked of the Upright Onondago, who must have been 
 an old man when I was born. Of late years, they have 
 talked more and more of him ; and so good an opportunity 
 offering to come and see him, there would have been great 
 disappointment out West, had it been neglected. His age 
 is, no doubt, one principal cause; but there is another, though 
 I have never been able to discover what it is." 
 
 " This Indian has been in communication, and connected 
 with my immediate family, now near, if not quite ninety 
 years. He was with my grandfather, Cornelius Littlepage, 
 in the attack on Ty, that was made by Abercrombie, in 
 1758 ; and here we are within twelve or thirteen years of a 
 century from that event. I believe my great-grandfather, 
 Herman Mordaunt, had even some previous knowledge of 
 him. As long as I can remember, he has been a grey 
 headed old man ; and we suppose both he and the negro 
 who lives with him, to have seen fully a hundred and twenty 
 years, if not more." 
 
 * Something of importance happened to Susquesus, or the 
 Trackless, as he was then called, about ninety-three winters 
 ago ; that much I ve gathered from what has fallen from 
 the chiefs at different times ; but, what that something was, 
 it has exceeded my means to discover. At any rate, it has 
 quite as much to do with this visit as the Withered Hemlock s 
 great age. Injins respect years ; and they respect wisdom 
 highly ; but they respect courage and justice most of all. 
 The tarm Upright has its meaning, depend on t." 
 
 We were greatly interested by all this, as indeed were my 
 grandmother and her sweet companions. Mary Warren, in 
 particular, manifested a lively interest in Susquesus history, 
 as was betrayed in a brief dialogue I now had with her, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 305 
 
 Walking to and fro in front of the piazza, while the rest of 
 the party were curiously watching the movements of the 
 still excited savages. 
 
 " My father and I have often visited the two old men, 
 and have been deeply interested in them," observed this 
 intelligent, yet simple-minded girl, "with the Indian, in 
 particular, we have felt a strong sympathy, for nothing is 
 plainer than the keenness with which he still feels on the 
 subject of his own people. We have been told that he is 
 often visited by red-men -or, at least, as often as any come 
 near him ; and they are said ever to exhibit a great reve 
 rence for his years, and respect for his character." 
 
 " This I know to be true, for I have frequently seen those 
 who have come to pay him visits. But they have usually 
 been merely your basket-making, half-and-half sort of sa 
 vages, who have possessed the characteristics of neither 
 race, entirely. This is the first instance in which I have 
 heard of so marked a demonstration of respect how is that, 
 dear grandmother? can you recall any other instance of 
 Susquesus s receiving such a decided mark of homage from 
 his own people as this ?" 
 
 * This is the third within my recollection, Hugh. Shortly 
 after my marriage, which was not long after the revolution, 
 as you may know, there was a party here on a visit to Sus- 
 quesus. It remained ten days. The chiefs it contained 
 were said to be Onondagoes altogether, or warriors of his 
 own particular people; and something like a misunderstand 
 ing was reported to have been made up; though what it was, 
 I confess I was too thoughtless then to inquire. Both my 
 father-in-law, and my uncle Chainbearer, it was always 
 believed, knew the whole of the Trackless story, though 
 neither ever related it to me. I do not believe your grand 
 father knew it," added the venerable speaker, with a sort of 
 lender regret, " or I think I should have heard it. But that 
 first visit was soon after Susquesus and Jaaf took possession 
 of their house, and it was reported, at the time, that the 
 strangers remained so long, in the hope of inducing Sus to 
 rejoin his tribe. If such was their wish, however, it failed; 
 for there he is now, and there he has ever been since ho 
 first went to the hut." 
 26* 
 
 N 
 
306 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 "And the second visit, grandmother you mentioned 
 that there were three." 
 
 " Oh ! tell us of them all, Mrs. Littlepage," added Mary 
 earnestly, blushing up to the eyes the moment after at her 
 own eagerness. My dear grandmother smiled benevo 
 lently on both, and I thought she looked a little archly at 
 us, as old ladies sometimes will, when the images of their 
 own youth recur to their minds. 
 
 " You appear to have a common sympathy in these red- 
 men, my children," she answered, Mary fairly blushing 
 scarlet at hearing herself thus coupled with me in the term 
 4 children, " and I have great pleasure in gratifying your 
 curiosity. The second great visit that Susquesus received 
 from Indians occurred the very year you were born, Hugh, 
 and then we really felt afraid we might lose the old man ; 
 so earnest were his own people in their entreaties that he 
 would go away with them. But he would not. Here he 
 has remained ever since, and a few weeks ago he told me 
 that here he should die. If these Indians hope to prevail 
 any better, I am sure they will be disappointed." 
 
 " So he told my father, also," added Mary Warren, " who 
 has often spoken to him of death, and has hoped to open 
 his eyes to the truths of the gospel." 
 
 "With what success, Miss Warren? That is a consum 
 mation which would terminate the old man s career most 
 worthily." 
 
 " With little, I fear," answered the charming girl, in a 
 low, melancholy tone. "At least, I know that my father 
 has been disappointed. Sus listens to him attentively, but 
 he manifests no feeling beyond respect for the speaker. At 
 tempts have been made to induce him to enter the church 
 before, but " 
 
 " You were about to add something, Miss Warren, which 
 still remains to be said." 
 
 " I can add it for her," resumed my grandmother, " for 
 certain I am that Mary Warren will never add it herself. 
 The fact is, as you must know, Hugh, from your own obser 
 nation, that Mr. Warren s predecessor was an unfaithful and 
 selfish servant of the church one who did little good to 
 any, not even himself. In this country it takes a good deal 
 
THE REDSKINS. 307 
 
 in a clergyman, to wear out the patience of a people; but it 
 can be done ; and when they once get to look at him 
 through the same medium as that with which other men are 
 viewed, a reaction follows, under which he is certain to suf 
 fer. We could all wish to throw a veil over the conduct of 
 the late incumbent of St. Andrew s, but it requires one so 
 much thicker and larger than common, that the task is not 
 easy. Mary has merely meant that better instruction, and 
 a closer attention to duty, might have done more for Track 
 less twenty years ago, than they can do to-day." 
 
 " How much injury, after all, faithless ministers can do 
 to the church of God ! One such bad example unsettles 
 more minds than twenty good examples keep steady." 
 
 " I do not know that, Hugh ; but of one thing 1 am cer 
 tain that more evil is done by pretending to struggle for 
 the honour of the church, by attempting to sustain its un 
 worthy ministers, than could be done by at once admitting 
 their offences, m cases that are clear. We all know that 
 the ministers of the altar are but men, and as such are to 
 be expected to fall certain to do so without Divine aid but 
 if we cannot make its ministers pure, we ought to do all we 
 can to keep the altar itself from contamination." 
 
 " Yes, yes, grandmother but the day has gone by for ex 
 officio religion in the American branch of the church" here 
 Mary Warren joined the other girls " at least. And it is 
 so best. Suspicions may be base and unworthy, but a blind 
 credulity is contemptible. If I see a chestnut forming on 
 yonder branch, it would be an act of exceeding folly in me 
 to suppose that the tree was a walnut, though all the nur 
 sery-men in the country were ready to swear to it." 
 
 My grandmother smiled, but she also walked away, when 
 I joined my uncle again. 
 
 " The interpreter tells me, Hugh," said the last, " thai 
 the chiefs wish to pay their first visit to the hut this evening. 
 Luckily, the old farm-house is empty just now, since Miller 
 has taken possession of the new one; and I have directed 
 Mr. Manytongues to establish himself there, while he and 
 his party remain here. There is a kitchen, all ready for 
 their use, and it is only to send over a few cooking utensils, 
 that is to say, a pot or two, and fifty bundles of straw, to 
 set them up in housekeeping. For*all this I have just given 
 
308 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 orders, not wishing to disturb you, or possibly unwilling to 
 lay down a guardian s authority ; and there is the straw 
 already loading up in yonder barn-yard. In half an hour 
 they may rank themselves among the pot-wollopers of Ra- 
 vensnest." 
 
 " Shall we go with them to the house before, or after they 
 have paid their visit to Susquesus?" 
 
 " Before, certainly. John has volunteered to go over and 
 let the Onondago know the honour that is intended him, and 
 to assist him in making his toilet; for the red- man would 
 not like to be taken in undress any more than another. 
 While this is doing, we can instal our guests in their new 
 abode, and see the preparations commenced for their supper. 
 As for the l lnjinsj there is little to apprehend from them, I 
 fancy, so long as we have a strong party of the real Simon 
 Pures within call." 
 
 After this, we invited the interpreter to lead his chiefs 
 towards the dwelling they were to occupy, preceding the 
 party ourselves, and leaving the ladies on the lawn. At that 
 season, the days were at the longest, and it would be plea- 
 santer to pay the visit to the hut in the cool of the evening 
 than to go at an earlier hour. My grandmother ordered 
 her covered wagon before we left her, intending to be pre 
 sent at an interview which everybody felt must be most inte 
 resting. 
 
 The empty building which was thus appropriated to the 
 use of the Indians was quite a century old, having been 
 erected by my ancestor, Herman Mordaunt, as the original 
 farm-house on his own particular farm. For a Jong time it 
 had been used in its original character ; and when it was 
 found convenient to erect another, in a more eligible spot, 
 and of more convenient form, this old structure had been 
 preserved as a relic, and from year to year its removal had 
 been talked of, but not effected. It remained, therefore, for 
 me to decide on its fate, unless, indeed, the l spirit of the 
 Institutions should happen to get hold of it, and take its 
 control out of my hands, along with that of the rest of 
 my property, by way of demonstrating to mankind how 
 thoroughly the great State of New York is imbued with a 
 love of rational liberty ! 
 
 As we walked towards the " old farm-house," Miller came 
 
THE REDSKINS. 309 
 
 from the other building to meet us. He had learned that 
 his friends, the pedlars, were his what shall I call myself? 
 4 Master would be the legal term, and it would be good 
 English ; but it would give the " honourable gentleman" 
 and his friends mortal offence, and I am not now to learn 
 that there are those among us who deny facts that are as 
 plain as the noses on their faces, and who fly right into the 
 face of the law whenever it is convenient. I shall not, 
 however, call myself a " boss" to please even these eminent 
 statesmen, and therefore must be content with using a term 
 that, if the moving spirits of the day can prevail, will soon 
 be sufficiently close in its signification, and call myself Tom 
 Miller s nothing. 
 
 It was enough to see that Miller was a good deal embar 
 rassed with the dilemma in which he was placed. For a 
 great many years he and his family had been in the employ 
 ment of me and mine, receiving ample pay, as all such men 
 ever do when they are so unfortunate as to serve a malig 
 nant aristocrat much higher pay than they would get in 
 the service of your Newcomes, and Holmeses, and Tubbses, 
 besides far better treatment in all essentials ; and now he had 
 -only to carry out the principles of the anti-renters to claim 
 the farm he and they had so long worked, as of right. Yes, 
 the same principles would just as soon give this hireling my 
 home and farm as it would give any tenant on my estate 
 that which he worked. It is true, one party received wages, 
 while the other paid rent ; but these facts do not affect the 
 principle at all ; since he who received the wages got no 
 other benefit from his toil, while he who paid the rent was 
 master of all the crops I beg pardon, the boss of all the 
 crops. The common title of both if any title at all exist 
 is the circumstance that each had expended his labour on a 
 particular farm, and consequently had a right to own it for 
 all future time. 
 
 Miller made some awkward apologies for not recognising 
 me, and endeavoured to explain away one or two little things 
 that he must have felt put him in rather an awkward posi 
 tion, but to which neither my uncle nor myself attached any 
 moment. We knew that poor Tom was human, and that 
 the easiest of all transgressions for a man to fall into were 
 those connected with his self-love; and that the temptation. 
 
310 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 to a man who has the consciousness of not being anywhers 
 near the summit of the social ladder, is a strong inducement 
 to err when he thinks there is a chance of getting up a 
 round or two; failing of success in which, it requires higher 
 feelings, and perhaps a higher station, than that of Tom 
 Miller s, not to leave him open to a certain demoniacal 
 gratification which so many experience at the prospect of 
 beholding others dragged down to their own level. We 
 heard Tom s excuses kindly, but did not commit ourselves 
 by promises or declarations of any sort. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 "Two hundred years ! two hundred years ! 
 How much of human power and pride, 
 What glorious hopes, what gloomy fears, 
 Have sunk beneath their noiseless tide !" 
 
 PlEHPOSTT. 
 
 IT wanted about an hour to sunset, or sun-down, to use 
 our common Americanism when we all left the new quar 
 ters of our red brethren, in order to visit the huts. As the 
 moment approached, it was easy to trace in the Indians the 
 evidence of strong interest; mingled, as we fancied, with a 
 little awe. Several of the chiefs had improved the interven 
 ing time, to retouch the wild conceits that they had previ 
 ously painted on their visages, rendering their countenances 
 still more appalling. Flintyheart, in particular, was con 
 spicuous in his grim embellishments ; though Prairiefire had 
 not laid any veil between the eye and his natural hue. 
 
 As the course of my narrative will now render it neces 
 sary to relate conversations that occurred in languages and 
 dialects of which I know literally nothing, it may be well to 
 say hero, once for all, that I got as close a translation of every 
 thing that passed, as it was possible to obtain, from Many- 
 tongues ; and wrote it all down, either on the spot, or immedi 
 ately after returning to the Nest. This explanation may be ne 
 
THE REDSKINS. 311 
 
 cossary in order to prevent some of those who may read 
 this manuscript, from fancying that I am inventing. 
 
 The carriage of my grandmother had left the door, filled 
 with its smiling freight, several minutes before we took up 
 our line of march. This last, however, was not done with 
 out a little ceremony, and some attention to order. As In 
 dians rarely march except in what is called " Indian file," 
 or singly, each man following in the footsteps of his leader, 
 such was the mode of advancing adopted on the present occa 
 sion. The Prairiefire led the line, as the oldest chief, and 
 the one most distinguished in council. Flintyheart was 
 second, while the others were arranged by some rule of 
 precedency that was known to themselves. As soon as the 
 line had formed, it commenced its march ; my uncle, the 
 interpreter, and myself walking at the side of Prairiefire, 
 while Miller, followed by half-a-dozen of the curious from 
 the Nest House and the farm, followed in the rear. 
 
 It will be remembered that John had been sent to the hut 
 to announce the intended visit. His stay had been much 
 longer than was anticipated ; but when the procession had 
 gone about half the distance it was to march, it was met by 
 this faithful domestic, on his return. The worthy fellow 
 wheeled into line, on my flank, and communicated what he 
 had to say while keeping up with the column. 
 
 " To own the truth, Mr. Hugh," he said, " the old man 
 was more moved by hearing that about fifty Indians had 
 come a long distance to see him " 
 
 "Seventeen you should have said seventeen, John; that 
 being the exact number." 
 
 " Is it, sir? Well, I declare that I thought there might 
 be fifty I once thought of calling em forty, sir, but it then 
 occurred to me that it might not be enough." All this time 
 John was looking over his shoulder to count the grave-look 
 ing warriors who followed in a line ; and satisfied of his 
 mistake, one of the commonest in the world for men of his 
 class, that of exaggeration, he resumed his report. " Well, 
 sir, I do believe you are right, and I have been a little hout. 
 But old Sus was quite moved, sir, when I told him of the 
 intended visit, and so I stayed to help the old gentleman to 
 dress and paint; for that nigger, Yop, is of no more use 
 now, you know, sir, than if he had never lived in a gentle* 
 
312 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 man s family at all. It must have been hawful times, sir 
 when the gentry of York had nothing but niggers to serve 
 ? em, sir." 
 
 " We did pretty well, John, notwithstanding," unswered 
 my uncle, who had a strong attachment to the old black 
 race, that once so generally filled all the menial stations of 
 the country, as is apt to be the case with all gentlemen 
 of fifty ; " we did pretty well, notwithstanding. Jaaf, how 
 ever, never acted strictly as a body-servant, though he was 
 my grandfather s own man." 
 
 " Well, sir, if there had been nobody but Yop at the hut, 
 Sus would never have been decently dressed and painted for 
 this occasion. As it is, I hope that you will be satisfied, 
 sir, for the old gentleman looks remarkably well ; Indian 
 fashion, you know, sir." 
 
 "Did the Onondago ask any questions?" 
 
 " Why, you know how it is with him in that particular, 
 Mr. Hugh. He s a very silent person, is Susquesus ; most 
 remarkable so when he as any one has can entertain him 
 with conversation. / talked most of the time myself, sir, 
 has I commonly does when I pays him a wisit. Indians is 
 remarkably silent, in general, I believe, sir." 
 
 " And whose idea was it to paint and dress yours, or 
 theOnondago s?" 
 
 " Why, sir, I supposes the hidear to be Indian, by origin, 
 though in this case it was my surgestion. Yes, sir, I 
 surgested the thought; though I will not take it on myself 
 to say Sus had not some hinclination that way, even before 
 I inted my hopinion." 
 
 "Did you think of the paint?" put in uncle Ro. "I do 
 not remember to have seen the Trackless in his paint these 
 thirty years. I once asked him to paint and dress on a 
 Fourth of July ; it was about the time you were born, 
 Hugh and I remember the old fellow s answer as well as 
 if it were given yesterday. When the tree ceases to bear 
 fruit, was the substance of his reply, blossoms only remind 
 the observer of its uselessness. 
 
 " 1 have heard that Susquesus was once considered very 
 eloquent, even for an Indian." 
 
 " ! remember him to have had some such reputation, 
 though I will not answer for its justice. Occasionally, I 
 
THE REDSKINS. , 313 
 
 have heard strong expressions in his brief, clipping manner 
 of speaking English, but, in common, he has been con 
 tent to be simple and taciturn. I remember to have heard 
 my father say that when be first made the acquaintance of 
 Susquesus, and that must have been quite sixty years since, 
 the old man had great apprehension of being reduced to 
 the mortifying necessity of making baskets and brooms ; 
 but, his dread on that subject once removed, he had ever 
 after seemed satisfied and without care." 
 
 " Without care is the condition of those who have least, 
 1 believe, sir. It would not be an easy matter for the 
 government of New York to devise ways and means to 
 deprive Sus of his farms, either by instituting suits for title, 
 destroying quarter-sales, laying taxes, or resorting to any 
 other of the ingenious expedients known to the Albany 
 politics." 
 
 My uncle did not answer for quite a minute ; when he 
 did, it was thoughtfully and with great deliberation of 
 manner. 
 
 " Your term of Albany Polities has recalled to my 
 mind," he said, " a consideration that has often forced itself 
 upon my reflections. There is doubtless an advantage- 
 nay, there may be a necessity for cutting up the local affairs 
 of this country, by entrusting their management to so many 
 local governments ; but there is, out of all question, one 
 great evil consequent on it. When legislators have the 
 great affairs of state on their hands, the making of war and 
 peace, the maintaining of armies, and the control of all those 
 interests which connect one country with another, the mind 
 gets to be enlarged, and with it the character and disposi 
 tion of the man. But, bring men together, who must act, 
 or appear incapable of acting, and set them at work upon 
 the smaller concerns of legislation, and it s ten to one but 
 they betray the narrowness of their education by the nar 
 rowness of their views. This is the reason of the vast dif 
 ference that every intelligent man knows to exist between 
 Albany and Washington." 
 
 " Do you then think our legislators so much inferior to 
 those of Europe ?" 
 
 " Only, as they are provincial ; which nine in ten neces 
 sarily are, since nine Americans in ten, even among the 
 
314 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 educated classes, are decidedly provincial. This term pro 
 vincial covers quite one-half of the distinctive sins of the 
 country, though many laugh at a deficiency, of which, in 
 the nature of things, they can have no notion, as purely 
 a matter of the imagination. The active communications 
 of the Americans certainly render them surprisingly little 
 obnoxious to such a charge, for their age and geographical 
 position. These last disadvantages produce effects, never 
 theless, that are perhaps unavoidable. When you have had 
 an opportunity of seeing something of the society of the 
 towns, for instance, after your intercourse with the world of 
 Europe, you will understand what I mean, for it is a dif 
 ference much more readily felt than described. Provin 
 cialism, however, may be defined as a general tendency to 
 the narrow views which mark a contracted association, and 
 an ignorance of the great world not in the sense of sta 
 tion solely, but in the sense of liberality, intelligence, and a 
 knowledge of all the varied interests of life. But, here we 
 are, at the hut." 
 
 There we were, sure enough. The evening- was delight 
 ful. Susquesus had seated himself on a stool, on the green 
 sward that extended for some distance around the door of 
 his habitation, and where he was a little in shade, protected 
 from the strong rays of a setting, but June, sun. A tree 
 cast its shadow over his person. Jaaf was posted on one 
 side, as no doubt, he himself thought best became his colour 
 and character. It is another trait of human nature, that 
 while the negro affects a great contempt and aversion for the 
 red-man, the Indian feels his own mental superiority to the 
 domestic slave. I had never seen Susquesus in so grand 
 costume, as that in which he appeared this evening. Ha 
 bitually he wore his Indian vestments; the leggings, moca- 
 sin, breech-piece, blanket or calico shirt, according to the 
 season ; but I had never before seen him in his ornaments 
 and paint. The first consisted of two medals which bore 
 the images, the one of George III, the other of his grand 
 father of two more, bestowed by the agents of the republic; 
 of large rings in his ears, that dropped nearly to his shoul 
 ders, and of bracelets formed of the teeth of some animal, 
 that, at first, I was afraid was a man. A tomahawk that 
 was kept as bright as friction could make it, and a sheathed 
 
THE RE >SKINS. 315 
 
 knife, were in his girdle, while his well-tried rifle stood lean 
 ing against a tree ; weapons that were now exhibited as 
 emblems of the past, since their owner could scarcely ren 
 der either very effective. The old man had used the paint 
 with unusual judgment for an Indian, merely tinging his 
 cheeks with a colour that served to give brightness to eyes 
 that had once been keen as intense expression could render 
 them, but which were now somewhat dimmed by age. In 
 other respects, nothing was changed in the customary neat 
 simplicity that reigned in and around the cabin, though Jaaf 
 had brought out, as if to sun, an old livery coat of his own, 
 that he had formerly worn, and a cocked hat, in which I 
 have been told he was wont actually to exhibit himself of 
 Sundays, and holidays ; reminders of the superiority of a 
 " nigger" over an " Injin." 
 
 Three or four rude benches, which belonged to the esta 
 blishment of the hut, were placed at a short distance in front, 
 of Susquesus, in. a sort of semicircle, for the reception of 
 his guests. Towards these benches, then, Prairiefire led the 
 way, followed by all the chiefs. Although they soon ranged 
 themselves in the circle, not one took his seat for fully a 
 minute. That time they all stood gazing intently, but reve 
 rently, towards the aged man before them, who returned 
 their look, as steadily and intently as it was given. Then, 
 at a signal from their leader, who on this occasion was Prai 
 riefire, every man seated himself. This change of position, 
 however, did not cause the silence to be broken ; but there 
 they all sat, for quite ten minutes, gazing at the Upright 
 Onondago, who, in his turn, kept hi-s look steadily fastened 
 on his visiters. It was during this interval of silence that 
 the carriage of my grandmother drove up, and stopped just 
 without the circle of grave, attentive Indians, not one of 
 whom even turned his head to ascertain who or what caused 
 the interruption. No one spoke ; my dear grandmother 
 being a profoundly attentive observer of the scene, while all 
 the bright faces around her, were so many eloquent pictures 
 of curiosity, blended with somo gentler and better feelings, 
 exhibited in the most pleasing form of which humanity is 
 susceptible. 
 
 At length Susquesus himself arose, which he did with 
 great dignity of manner, and without any visible bodily 
 
 
316 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 effort, and spoke. His voice was a little tremulous. ] 
 thought, though more through feeling than age; but, on the 
 whole, he was calm, and surprisingly connected and clear 
 considering his great age. Of course, I was indebted to 
 Manytongues for the interpretation of all that passed. 
 
 " Brethren," commenced Susquesus, " you are welcome. 
 You have travelled on a long, and crooked, and thorny path, 
 to find an old chief, whose tribe ought ninety summers ago 
 to have looked upon him as among the departed. I am 
 sorry no better sight will meet your eyes at the end of so 
 long a journey. I would make the path back toward the 
 setting sun broader and straighler if I knew how. But I 
 do not know how. I am old. The pine in the woods is 
 scarce older; the villages of the pale-faces, through so 
 many of which you have journeyed, are not half so old ; 
 I was born when the white race were like the moose on the 
 hills ; here and there one ; now they are like the pigeons 
 after they have hatched their young. When I was a boy 
 my young legs could never run out of the woods into a 
 clearing ; now, my old legs cannot carry me into the woods, 
 *hey are so far off. Everything is changed in the land, 
 but the red-man s heart. That is like the rock which never 
 alters. My children, you are welcome." 
 
 That speech, pronounced in the deep husky tones of ex 
 treme old age, yet relieved by the fire of a spirit that was 
 smothered rather than extinct, produced a profound impres 
 sion. A low murmur of admiration passed among the 
 guests, though neither rose to answer, until a sufficient time 
 had seemed to pass, in which the wisdom that they had just 
 been listeners to might make its proper impression. When 
 this pause was thought to be sufficiently long to have pro 
 duced its effect, Prairiefire, a chief more celebrated in coun 
 cil even than in the field, arose to answer. His speech, 
 freely translated, was in the following words. 
 
 "Father; your words are always wise they are al 
 ways true. The path between your wigwam and our vil 
 lages is a long one it is a crooked path, and many thorns 
 and stones have been found on it. But all difficulties may 
 be overcome. Two moons ago, we were at one end of it ; 
 now we are at the other end. We have come with two 
 notches on our sticks. One notch told us to go to the Great 
 
THE REDSKINS. 317 
 
 Council House of the Pale-face, to see our gret,t pale- face 
 Father the other notch told us to come here, to see our 
 great Red Father. We have been to the great Council 
 House of the ,Pale-faces ; we have seen Uncle Sam. His 
 arm is very long ; it reaches from the salt lake, the water 
 of which we tried to drink, but it is too salt, to our own 
 lakes, near the setting sun, of which the water is sweet. We 
 never tasted water that was salt before, and we do not find 
 it pleasant. We shall never taste it again ; it is not worth 
 while to come so far to drink water that is salt. 
 
 " Uncle Sam is a wise chief. He has many counsellors. 
 The council at his council-fire must be a great council it 
 has much to say. Its words ought to have some good in 
 them, they are so many. We thought of our Red Father, 
 while listening to them, and wanted to come here. We 
 have come here. We are glad to find our Red Father still 
 alive and well. The Great Spirit loves a just Indian, and 
 takes care of him. A hundred winters, in his eyes, are like 
 a single winter. We are thankful to him for having led us 
 by the crooked and long path, at the end of which we have 
 found the Trackless the Upright of the Onondagoes. I 
 have spoken." 
 
 A gleam of happiness shot into the swarthy lineaments 
 of Susquesus, as he heard, in his own language, a well- 
 merited appellation that had not greeted his ears for a period 
 as long as the ordinary life of man. It was a title, a cog 
 nomen that told the story of his connection with his tribe ; 
 and neither years, nor distance, nor new scenes, nor new 
 ties, nor wars, nor strifes had caused him to forget the 
 smallest incident connected with that tale. I gazed at the 
 olcf man with awe, as his countenance became illuminated 
 by the flood of recollections that was rushing into it, through 
 the channel of his memory, and the expressive glance my 
 uncle threw at me, said how much he was impressed, also. 
 One of the faculties of Manytongues was to be able to in 
 terpret, pari passu with the speaker ; and, standing between 
 us and the carriage, he kept up, sentence by sentence, a low 
 accompaniment of each speech, so that none of us lost a 
 syllable of what was said. 
 
 As soon as Prairiefire resumed his seat, another silence 
 succeeded. It lasted several minutes, during which the only 
 27* 
 
318 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 audible sounds were various discontented grunts, accompa 
 nied by suppressed mutterings on the part of old Jaaf, who 
 never could tolerate any Indian but his companion. That 
 the negro was dissatisfied with this extraordinary visit was 
 sufficiently apparent to us, but not one of 11 the red men 
 took heed of his deportment. Sus, who was nearest to him, 
 must have heard his low grumbling, but it did not induce 
 him to change his look from the countenances of those in 
 his front for a single moment. On the other hand, the visit- 
 ers themselves seemed totally unconscious of the negro s 
 presence, though in fact they were not, as subsequently ap 
 peared. In a word, the Upright Onondago was the centre 
 of attraction for them, all other things being apparently for 
 gotten for the time. 
 
 At length there was a slight movement among the red 
 skins, and another arose. This man was positively the 
 least well-looking of the whole party. His stature was lower 
 than that of the rest of the Indians ; his form was meagre 
 and ungraceful the last, at least, while his mind was in a 
 state of rest ; and his appearance, generally, was wanting 
 in that nobleness of exterior which so singularly marked 
 that of every one of his companions. As I afterwards 
 learned, the name of this Indian was Eaglesflight, being so 
 calfed from the soaring character of the eloquence in which 
 he had been known to indulge. On the present occasion, 
 though his manner was serious and his countenance inte 
 rested, the spirit within was not heaving with any of its ex 
 traordinary throes. Still, such a man could not rise to 
 speak, and avoid creating some slight sensation among his 
 expectant auditors. Guarded as are the red-men in gene 
 ral on the subject of betraying their emotions, we could 
 detect something like a suppressed movement among his 
 friends when Eaglesflight stood erect. The orator com 
 menced in a low but solemn manner, his tones changing 
 from the deep, impressive guttural, to the gentle and pa 
 thetic, in a way to constitute eloquence of itself. As I 
 listened, I fancied that never before did the human voice 
 seem to possess so much winning power. The utterance 
 was slow and impressive, as is usually the case with true 
 orators. 
 
 " The Great Spirit makes men differently," commenced 
 
THE REDS KINS. 319 
 
 Eaglesflighi. " Some are like willows, that bend with the 
 breeze and are broken in the storm. Some are pines, with 
 slender trunks, few branches, and a soft wood. Now and 
 then there is an oak among them, which grows on the prai 
 rie, stretching its branches a great way, and making a plea 
 sant shade. This wood is hard ; it lasts a long time. Why 
 has the Great Spirit made this difference in trees ? why 
 does the Great Spirit make this difference in men? There 
 is a reason for it. He knows it, though we may not. What 
 he does is always right 1 
 
 " I have heard orators at our Council Fires complain that 
 things should be as they are. They say that the land, and 
 the lakes, and the rivers, and the hunting-grounds, belong 
 to the red-man only, and that no other colour ought ever to 
 be seen there. The Great Spirit has thought otherwise, and 
 what he thinks happens. Men are of many colours. Some 
 are red, which is the colour of my father. Some are pale, 
 which is the colour of my friends. Some are black, which 
 is the colour of my father s friend. He is black, though old 
 age is changing his skin. All this is right; it comes from 
 the Great Spirit, and we must not complain. 
 
 " My father says he is very old that the pine in the 
 woods is scarce older. We know it. That is one reason 
 why we have come so far to see him, though there is ano 
 ther reason. My father knows what that other reason is 
 so do we. For a hundred winters and summers, that reason 
 has not gone out of our minds. The old men have told it 
 to the young men ; and the young men, when they have 
 grown older, have told it to their sons. In this way it has 
 reached our ears. How many bad Indians have lived in 
 that time, have died, and are forgotten ! It is the good In 
 dian that lives longest in our memories. We wish to forget 
 that the wicked ever were in our tribes. We never forget 
 the good. 
 
 " I have seen many changes. I am but a child, cam- 
 pared with my father ; but I feel the cold of sixty winters 
 in my bones. During all that time, the red-men have been 
 travelling towards the setting sun. I sometimes think I 
 shall live to reach it ! It must be a great way off, but the 
 man who never stops goes far. Let us go there, pale-faces 
 will follow. Why all this is, I do not know. My father is 
 
320 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 wiser than his son, and he may be able to tell us. I sit 
 iown to hear his answer." 
 
 Although Eaglesflight had spoken so quietly, and con 
 cluded in a manner so different from what I had expected, 
 there was a deep interest in what was now going on. The 
 particular reason why these red-men had come so far out 
 of their way to visit Susquesus had not yet been revealed, 
 as we all hoped would be the case ; but the profound rever 
 ence that these strangers, from the wilds of the far west, 
 manifested for our aged friend, gave every assurance that 
 when we did learn it, there would be no reason for disap 
 pointment. As usual, a pause succeeded the brief address 
 of the last speaker; after which, Susquesus once more 
 arose, and spoke. 
 
 " My children," he said, " I am very old. Fifty autumns 
 ago, when the leaves fell, I thought it was time for me to 
 pass on to the Happy Hunting-Grounds of my people, and 
 be a redskin again. But my name was not called. I have 
 been left alone here, in the midst of the pale-face fields, 
 and houses, and villages, without a single being of my own 
 colour and race to speak to. My head was almost grown 
 white. Still, as years came on my head, the spirit turned 
 more towards my youth. I began to forget the battles, and 
 hunts, and journeys of middle life, and to think of the 
 things seen when a young chief among the Onondagoes. 
 My day is now a dream, in which I dream of the past. 
 Why is the eye of Susquesus so far-seeing, after a hundred 
 winters and more? Can any one tell? I think not. We 
 do not understand the Great Spirit, and we do not under 
 stand his doings. Here I am, where I have been for half 
 my days. That big wigwam is the wigwam of my best 
 friends. Though their faces are pale, and mine is red, our 
 hearts have the same colour. I never forget them no, 
 not one of them. I see them all, from the oldest to the 
 youngest. They seem to be of my blood. This comes 
 from friendship, and many kindnesses. These are all the 
 pale-faces I now see. Red-men stand before my eyes in 
 all other places. My mind is with them. 
 
 " My children, you are young. Seventy winters are a 
 great many for one of you. It is not so with me. Why 
 I have been left standing alone here, near the hunting- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 321 
 
 grounds of our fathers, is more than I can say. So it is, 
 and it is right. A withered hemlock is sometimes seen, 
 standing by itself, in the fields of the pale-faces. I am 
 such a tree. It is not cut down, because the wood is of no 
 use, and even the squaws do not like it to cook by. When 
 the winds blow, they seem to blow around it. It is tired of 
 standing there alone, but it cannot fall. That tree wishes 
 for the axe, but no man puts the axe to its root. Its time 
 has not come. So it is with me my time has not come. 
 
 " Children, my days now are dreams of my tribe. I see 
 the wigwam of my father. It was the best in the village. 
 He was a chief, and venison was never scarce in* his lodge. 
 I see him- come off the war-path with many scalps on his 
 pole. He had plenty of wampum, and wore many medals. 
 The scalps on his pole were sometimes from red-men, some 
 times from pale-faces. He took them all himself. I see my 
 mother, too. She loved me as the she-bear loves her cubs. 
 I had brothers and sisters, and I see them, too. They 
 laugh and play, and seem happy. There is the spring 
 where we dipped up water in our gourds, and here is the 
 hill where we lay waiting for the warriors to come in from 
 the war-paths and the hunt. Everything looks pleasant to 
 me. That was a village of the Onondagoes, my own people, 
 and I loved them a hundred and twenty winters ago. I love 
 them now, as if the time were but one winter and one sum 
 mer. The mind does not feel time. For fifty seasons I 
 thought but little of my own people. My thoughts were on 
 the hunt and the war-path, and on the quarrels of the pale 
 faces, with whom I lived. Now, I say again, I think most 
 of the past, and of my young days. It is a great mystery 
 why we can see things that are so far off so plainly, and 
 cannot see things that are so near by. Still, it is so. 
 
 " Children, you ask why the red-men keep moving to 
 wards the setting sun, and why the pale-faces follow ? You 
 ask if the place where the sun sets will be ever reached, and 
 if pale-men will go there to plough and to build, and to cut 
 down the trees. He that has seen what has happened, 
 ought to know what will happen again. I am very old, but 
 I see nothing new. One day is like another. The same 
 fruits come each summer, and the winters are alike. The 
 bird builds in the same tree many times. 
 
322 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " My children, I have lived long among the pale-faces. 
 Still, my heart is of the same colour as my face. I have 
 never forgotten that I am a red-man ; never forgotten the 
 Onondagoes. When I was young, beautiful woods covered 
 these fields. Far and near the buck and the moose leaped 
 mong the trees. Nothing but the hunter stopped them. It 
 is all changed ! The plough has frightened away the deer. 
 The moose will not stay near the sound of the church-bell. 
 He does not know what it means. The deer goes first. 
 The red-man keeps on his trail, and the pale-face is never 
 far behind. So it has been since the big canoes of the 
 stranger first came into our waters ; so it will be until 
 another salt lake is reached beneath the setting sun. When 
 that other lake is seen, the red-man must stop, and die in 
 the open fields, where rum, and tobacco, and bread are 
 plenty, or march on into the great salt lake of the west and 
 be drowned. Why this is so I cannot tell. That it has been 
 so, I know ; that it will be so, I believe. There is a rea 
 son for it ; none can tell what that reason is but the Great 
 Spirit." 
 
 Susquesus had spoken calmly and clearly, and Many- 
 tongues translated as he proceeded, sentence by sentence. 
 So profound was the attention of the savage listeners that I 
 heard their suppressed breathings. We white men are so 
 occupied with ourselves, and our own passing concerns, look 
 on all other races of human beings as so much our inferiors, 
 that it is seldom we have time or inclination to reflect on the 
 consequences of our own acts. Like the wheel that rolls 
 along the highway, however, many is the inferior creature 
 that we heedlessly crush in our path. Thus has it been with 
 the red-man, and, as the Trackless had said, thus will it 
 continue to be. He will be driven to the salt lake of the far 
 west, where he must plunge in and be drowned, or turn and 
 die in the midst of abundance. 
 
 My uncle Ro knew more of the Indians, and of their ha 
 bits, than any one else of our party, unless it might be my 
 grandmother. She, indeed, had seen a good deal of them 
 in early life; and when quite a young girl, dwelling with 
 that uncle of her own who went by the sobriquet of the 
 " Chainbearer," she had even dwelt in the woods, near the 
 tribe of Susquesus, and had often heard him named there 
 
THE REDSnINS. 323 
 
 as an Indian in high repute, although he was even at that 
 distant day an exile from his peop.e. When our old friend 
 resumed his seat, she beckoned her son and myself to the 
 side of the carriage, and spoke to us on the subject of what 
 had just been uttered, the translation of Manytongues hav 
 ing been loud enough to let the whole party hear what he 
 said. 
 
 " This is not a visit of business, but one of ceremony 
 only," she said. : " To-morrow, probably, the real object of 
 the strangers will be made known. All that has passed, as 
 yet, has been complimentary, mixed with a little desire to 
 hear the wisdom of the sage. The red-man is never in a 
 hurry, impatience being a failing that he is apt to impute to 
 us women. Well, though we are females, we can wait. In 
 the mean time, some of us can weep, as you see is particu- 
 irly the case with Miss Mary Warren." 
 
 This was "true enough; the fine eyes of all four of the 
 girls glistening with tears, while the cheeks of the person 
 named were quite wet with those that had streamed down 
 them. At this allusion to such an excess of sympathy, the 
 young lady dried her eyes, and the colour heightened so 
 much in her face, that I thought it best to avert my looks. 
 While this by-play was going on, Prairiefire arose again, 
 and concluded the proceedings of that preliminary visit, by 
 making another short speech : 
 
 " Father," he said, " we thank you. What we have heard 
 will not be forgotten. All red-men are afraid of that Great 
 Salt Lake, under the setting sun, and in which some say it 
 dips every night. What you have told us, will make us 
 think more of it. We have come a great distance, and are 
 tired. We will now go to our wigwam, and eat, and sleep. 
 To-morrow, when the sun is up here," pointing to a part 
 of the heavens that would indicate something like nine 
 o clock, " we will come again, and open our ears. The 
 Great Spirit who has spared you so long, will spare you 
 until then, and we shall not forget to come. It is too plea 
 sant to us to be near you, for us to forget. Farewell." 
 
 The Indians now rose in a body, and stood regarding 
 Susquesus fully a minute, in profound silence, when they 
 Aled off at a quick pace, and followed their leader towards 
 their quarters for the night As the train noiselessly wound 
 
324 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 its way from before him, a shade passed athwart tho darH 
 countenance of the Trackless, and he smiled no more thai 
 day. 
 
 All this time the negro, the contemporary of the Indian, 
 kept muttering his discontent at seeing so many redskins in 
 his presence, unheeded and indeed unheard by his friend. 
 
 " What you do wid dem Injin," he growled, as the party 
 disappeared. " No good ebbercome of sich as dem. How 
 many time dey work debbletry in a wood, and you and I 
 not werry far off, Sus. How ole you got, redskin ; and 
 forgetful ! Nobody can hold out wid colour man. Gosh I 
 I do b lieve I lib for ebber, sometime ! It won erful to think 
 of, how long I stay on dis werry arth !" 
 
 Such exclamations were not uncommon with the aged 
 .Faaf, and no one noted them. He did not seem to expect 
 any answer himself, nor did any one appear to deem it at 
 all necessary to make one. As for the Trackless, he arose 
 with a saddened countenance, and moved into his hut like 
 one who wished to be left alone with his thoughts. My 
 grandmother ordered the carriage to move on, and the resi 
 of us returned to the house on foot. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 " With all thy rural echoes come, 
 Sweet comrade of the rosy day, 
 Wafting the wild bee s gentle hum, 
 Or cuckoo s plaintive roundelay. 
 
 CAMPBELL 
 
 THAT night was passed under my own roof, in the family 
 circle. Although my presence on the estate was now gene 
 rally known, to all who were interested in it, I cannot say 
 that I thought much of the anti-renters, or of any risks in 
 curred by the discovery. The craven spirit manifested by 
 the Injins in presence of the Indians, the assumed before 
 the real, had not a tendency to awaken much respect for tho 
 disaffected, and quite likely disposed me" to be more indiffer- 
 
 * 
 
THE REDSKINS. 325 
 
 cut to their proceedings, than I might otherwise have boeru 
 At all events, I was happy with Patt, and Mary, and my 
 uncle s wards, and did not give the disorganizers a thought, 
 until quite at the close of the evening. The manner in which 
 John went about to barricade the doors and windows, after 
 the ladies had retired, struck me unpleasantly, however, and 
 it did not fail to produce the same effect on my uncle. This 
 seemingly important duty was done, when my faithful mat- 
 tre-d hotel, for such, in a measure, was the Englishman s 
 station, came to me, and my uncle, who were waiting for 
 his appearance in the library, armed like Robinson Crusoe. 
 He brought us each a revolving pistol, and a rifle, with a 
 propo-r allowance of ammunition. 
 
 " Missus," so John persevered in calling my grandmothei, 
 though it was very unlike an English servant to do so, after 
 he had been in the country three months " Missus as bor 
 dered harms to be laid in, in quantities, Mr. Hugh, and 
 hall of us has our rifles and pistols, just like these. She 
 keeps some for herself and Miss Martha, in her own room 
 still, but as she supposes you can make better use of these 
 than the maids, I had her orders to bring them down out of 
 the maids room, and hpfFer them to yourselves, gentlemen. 
 They are hall loaded, and smart weapons be they." 
 
 " Surely there has been no occasion as yet, for using 
 such things as these !" exclaimed my uncle. 
 
 " One doesn t know, Mr. Roger, when the hinimy may 
 come. We have had only three alarms since the ladies ar 
 rived, and most luckily no blood was shed ; though we fired 
 at the hinimy, and the hinimy fired at us. When I says 
 no blood was spilt, I should add, on our side ; for there was 
 no way to know how much the anti s suffered, and they 
 hadn t good stone walls to cover them, as we ad on our side." 
 
 " Gracious Providence ! I had no notion of this ! Hugh, 
 the country is in a worse state than I had supposed, and 
 we ought not to leave the ladies here an hour after to 
 morrow !" 
 
 As the ladies who came within my uncle s category, did 
 not include Mary Warren, I did not take exactly the same 
 view of the subject as he did himself. Nothing further was 
 said on the subject, however; and shortly after each shoul 
 dered his rifle, and retired to his own room. 
 28 
 
326 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 It was past midnight when I reached my apartment, hut 
 I felt no inclination for sleep. That had been an important 
 day to me, one full of excitement, and I was still too much 
 under the influence of its circumstances to think of my bed. 
 There was soon a profound silence in the house, the closing 
 of doors and the sound of footsteps having ceased, and I went 
 to a window, to gaze on the scene without. There was a 
 three-quarters moon, which gave light enough to render all 
 the nearer objects of the landscape distinctly visible. Tho 
 view had nothing remarkable in it, but it was always rural 
 and pretty. The little river, and the broad meadows, wore 
 not to be seen from my side of the house, which commanded 
 the carriage road that wound through the lawn the farm 
 house the distant church the neat and pretty rectory 
 the dwelling of Mary, and a long reach of farms, that lay 
 along the valley, and on the broad breast of the rising 
 ground to the westward. 
 
 Everything, far and near, seemed buried in the quiet of 
 deep night. Even the cattle in the fields had lain down to 
 sleep; for, like man, they* love to follow the law of nature, 
 and divide the hours by light and darkness. John had placed 
 the candles- in my dressing-room, and closed the inner shut 
 ters ; but I had taken a seat by a window of the bed-room, 
 and sat in no other light but that which came from the moon, 
 which was now near setting. I might have been ruminating 
 on the events of the day half an hour or more, when I fan 
 cied some object was in motion on a path that led towards 
 the village, but which was quite distinct from the ordinary 
 highway. This path was private, indeed, running fully a 
 mile through my own farm and grounds, bounded for a con- 
 siderable distance by high fences on each side of it, and run - 
 ning among the copses and thickets of the lawn, as soon as 
 it emerged from the fields. It had been made in order to 
 enable my grandfather to ride to his fields, uninterrupted by 
 gates or bars ; and issuing into the bit of forest already de 
 scribed, it passed through that by a short cut, and enabled 
 us to reach the hamlet by a road that saved nearly a mile 
 in the whole distance. This path was often used by those 
 who left the Nest, or who came to it, in the saddle, but 
 rarely by any but those who belonged to the family. Though 
 old as the place itself, it was little known by others not suit 
 
 
THE REDSKINS. 327 
 
 ing the general taste for publicity, there not being a solitary 
 dwelling on it between the Nest House itself and the point 
 where it emerged into the highway, beyond the wood, which 
 was quite near to the village. 
 
 I could see the whole line of this private path, with the 
 exception, here and thsre, of intervals that were hid by trees 
 and thickets, from the point where it terminated until it en 
 tered the wood. There could be no mistake. Late as was 
 the hour, some one mounted was galloping along that path, 
 winding his or her way among the rails of the fences ; now 
 plainly visible, then lost to view. I had caught a glimpse 
 of this phantom, (for at that unusual hour, and by that delu 
 sive light, it required no great effort of the imagination thus 
 to fancy the equestrian,) just as it emerged from the wood, 
 and could not well be mistaken as to the accuracy of my 
 discovery. The path led through a pretty wooded ravine 
 in the lawn, and no sooner did I lose sight of this strange 
 object than I turned my eyes eagerly to the spot where it 
 ought to reappear, on emerging from its cover. 
 
 The path lay in shadow for twenty rods on quitting the 
 ravine, after which it wound across the lawn to the door, 
 for about twice that distance, in full moonlight. At the ter 
 mination of the shadow there was a noble oak, which stood 
 alone, and beneath its wide branches was a seat much fre 
 quented by the ladies in the heats of summer. My eye kept 
 moving from this point, where the light became strong, to 
 that where the path issued from the ravine. At the latter 
 it was just possible to distingufsh a moving object, and, sure 
 enough, there I got my next view of the person I was watch 
 ing. The horse came up the ascent on a gallop a pace 
 that was continued until its rider drew the rein beneath the 
 oak. Here, to my surprise, a female sprang from the sad 
 dle with great alacrity, and secured her steed within the 
 shadow of the tree. This was no sooner done than she 
 moved on towards the house, in much apparent haste. Fear 
 ful of disturbing the family, I now left my room on tiptoe, 
 and without a candle, the light of the moon penetrating the 
 passages in sufficient quantify to serve my purpose, descend 
 ing as fast as possible to the lower floor. Swift and prompt 
 as had been rny own movement, it had been anticipated by 
 another. To my great surprise, on reaching the little side- 
 
328 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 door to which the path led, and where the ladies had long 
 been accustomed to get into the saddle, when they used it, 
 I found a female figure, with her hand on the massive lock, 
 as if ready to turn its key at some expected summons. To 
 my great astonishment, on drawing nearer, I recognised, by 
 the faint light that penetrated through a little window over 
 the door, the person of Mary Warren ! 
 
 I certainly started at this unexpected discovery, but, if she 
 who caused that start in me submitted to any similar emo 
 tion, I did not discover it. She may have heard my step, 
 however, descending the stairs, and have been prepared for 
 the meeting. 
 
 " You have seen her, too, have you, Mr. Littlepage !" 
 exclaimed Mary, though she used the precaution to speak in 
 a suppressed tone. " What can have brought her here at 
 this late hour ?" 
 
 " You know who it is, then, Miss Warren ?" I answered, 
 feeling an indescribable pleasure succeed my surprise, as 1 
 remembered the dear girl, who was fully dressed, just as 
 she had left the drawing-room an hour before, must have 
 been gazing out upon the moonlight view as well as myself; 
 a species of romance that proved something like a similarity 
 of tastes, if not a secret sympathy between us. 
 
 " Certainly," returned Mary, steadily. * I cannot well 
 be mistaken in the person, I think. It is Opportunity New- 
 come." 
 
 " My hand was on the key, and I turned it in the lock. 
 A bar remained, and this I also removed, when we opened 
 the door. Sure enough, there came the person just named, 
 within ten feet of the steps, which she doubtless intended to 
 ascend. She manifested surprise on ascertaining who were 
 her porters, but hastened into the house, looking anxiously 
 behind her, as if distrustful of pursuit or observation. I led 
 the way to the library, lighted its lamp, and then turned to 
 my two silent companions, looking a request for expla 
 nation. 
 
 Opportunity was a young woman, in her twenty-sixth 
 year, and was not without considerable personal charms. 
 The exercise and excitement through which she had just 
 gone had heightened thn colour in her chocks, and rendornr! 
 her appearance unusually pleasing. Nevertheless, Oppor 
 
THE REDSKINS. 329 
 
 tunity was not a woman to awaken anything like the pas 
 sion of love in me, though I had long been aware such was 
 her purpose. I suspected that her present business was 
 connected with this scheme, I will own, and was prepared 
 to listen to her communication with distrust. As for Oppor 
 tunity herself, she hesitated about making her disclosures. 
 and the very first words she uttered were anything but deli. 
 cate or feminine. 
 
 " Well, I declare !" exclaimed Opportunity, " I did not 
 expect to find you two alone at this time of night !" 
 
 I could have given her tongue a twitch to cure it of its 
 propensity to speak evil, but concern for Mary Warren, in 
 duced me to turn anxiously towards her. Never did the 
 steady self-possession of perfect innocence better assert itself 
 than in the dear girl at this rude assault ; the innocence 
 which can leave no latent intention, or wish, to alarm the 
 feelings. 
 
 " We had all retired," answered the pure-minded girl, 
 " and everybody on my side of the house is in bed and 
 asleep, I believe ; but I did not feel any drowsiness, and was 
 sitting at a window, looking out upon the view by this lovely 
 moonlight, when I saw you ride out of the woods, and follow 
 ..he lane. As you came up to the oak I knew who it was, 
 Opportunity, and ran down to admit you ; for I was certain 
 something extraordinary must bring you here at this late 
 hour." 
 
 " Oh ! nothing extraordinary, at all !" cried Miss Oppor 
 tunity, in a careless way. " I love moonlight as well as 
 yourself, Mary, and am a desperate horsewoman, as you 
 know. I thought it would be romantic to gallop over to the 
 Nest, and go back between one and two in the morning. 
 Nothing more, I can assure you." 
 
 The coolness with which this was said amazed me not a 
 little, though I was not so silly as to believe a syllable of it. 
 Opportunity had a great deal of vulgar sentimentalism 
 about her, it is true such as some girls are apt to mistake 
 for refinement ; but she was not quite so bad as to travel 
 that lane, at midnight, and alone, without some special 
 object. It occurred to me that this object might be con 
 nected with her brother, and that she would naturally wish 
 lo make her communications privitely. We had all taken 
 28* 
 

 330 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 seats at a table which occupied the centre of the room, Mary 
 and myself quite near each other, and Opportunity at a dis- 
 tant angle. I wrote on a slip of paper a short request for 
 Mary to leave me alone with our visiter, and laid it under 
 her eyes, without exciting Opportunity s suspicion ; talking 
 to her, the whole time, about the night, and the weather, 
 and her ride. While we were thus engaged, Miss Warren 
 rose, and quietly glided out of the room. So silently was 
 this done, that I do net believe my remaining companion 
 was conscious of it at the moment. 
 
 " You have driven Mary Warren away, Miss Opportu 
 nity," I remarked, " by the hint about our being alone to 
 gether." 
 
 " Lord ! there s no great harm in that ! I am used to 
 being alone with gentlemen, and think nothing of it. But, 
 are we really alone, Mr. Hugh, and quite by ourselves?" 
 
 " Quite, as you see. Our two selves and Mary Warren 
 I believe to be the only persons in the house, out of our 
 beds. She has left us, a little hurt, perhaps, and we are 
 quite alone." 
 
 " Oh ! .As for Mary Warren s feelings, I don t mind 
 them much, Mr. Hugh. She s a good critter" yes, this 
 elegant young lady actually used that extraordinary word 
 v and as forgiving as religion. Besides, she s only the 
 episcopal clergyman s daughter; and, take your family 
 away, that s a denomination that would not stand long at 
 Ravensnest, I can tell- you." 
 
 " I am very glad, then, my family is not away, for it is 
 a denomination I both honour and love. So long as the 
 grasping and innovating spirit of the times leaves the Lit 
 tlepa^es anything, a fair portion of their means shall be 
 given to support that congregation. As for Miss Warren, 
 I am pleased to hear that her temperament is so forgiving." 
 
 "I know that well, and did not speak in the hope of 
 making any change in your views, Mr. Hugh. Mary War 
 ren, however, will not think much of my remark to-morrow, 
 I do not believe she thought half as much about it to-night 
 as I should have done, had it been made to we." 
 
 I fancy this was quite true ; Mary Warren having lis 
 tened to the insinuation as the guileless and innocent hoar 
 inrmendos that bring no consciousness with them, while Op- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 331 
 
 portunity s spirit would have been very apt to buckle on the 
 armour which practice had rendered well-fitting. 
 
 " You have not taken this long ride merely to admire the 
 moon, Miss Opportunity," Lnow carelessly remarked, will- 
 ing t& bring; things to a head. "If you would favour rne 
 with its reafobject, I should be pleased to learn it." 
 
 " What if Mary should be standing at the keyhole, lis 
 tening?" said this elegant critter, with the suspicion of a 
 vulgar mind. " I wouldn t have her hear what I ve got to 
 tell you, for a mint of money." 
 
 " I do not think there is much danger of that," I an 
 swered, rising notwithstanding, and throwing open the door. 
 " You perceive there is no one here, and we can converse 
 in safety." 
 
 Opportunity was not so easily satisfied. Of a gossiping, 
 craving disposition herself, in all things that pertain to curi 
 osity, it was not easy for her to imagine another could be 
 less guided by that feeling than herself. Rising, therefore, 
 she went on tiptoe to the passage, and examined it for 
 herself. Satisfied, at length, that we were not watched, 
 she returned to the room, closed the door softly, motioned 
 for me to be seated, placed herself quite near me, and then 
 appeared disposed to proceed to business. 
 
 " This has been a dreadful day, Mr. Hugh," the young 
 woman now commenced, actually looking sorrowful, as [ 
 make little doubt she really felt. " Who could have thought 
 that the street-musician was you, and that old German ped 
 lar of watches, Mr. Roger ! I declare, the world seems to 
 be getting upside-down, and folks don t know when they re 
 in their right places?" 
 
 " It was a foolish adventure, perhaps ; but it has let us 
 into some most important secrets." 
 
 "That s just the difficulty. I defend you all I can, 
 and tell my brothers that you ve not done anything they 
 would n t -do in a minute, if only half a farm depended on it, 
 while, in your case, it may be more than a hundred." 
 
 "Your brothers then complain of my having appeared 
 among the anti-renters, in disguise?" 
 
 " They do, desperately, Mr. Hugh, and seem quite put 
 out about it. They say it was ungenerous to come in that 
 Way into your own country, and steal their secrets from 
 
332 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 them ! I say all I can in your favour, but words wont pass 
 for much with men in such a taking. You know, Mr. 
 Hugh, I ve always been your friend, even from our childish 
 days, having got myself into more than one scrape to get 
 you out of them." 
 
 As Opportunity made this declaration, one a little loose 
 as to facts, by the way, she sighed gently, dropped her eyes, 
 and looked as conscious and confused as I believe it was at 
 all in her nature to appear. It was not my cue to betray un 
 due bashfulness at such a moment, and as for any scruples 
 on the subject of misleading a confiding heart, I should as 
 soon have thought of feeding an anaconda or a boa con 
 strictor with angle-worms. I took the young lady s hand, 
 therefore, squeezed it with as sentimental a pressure as I 
 knew how to use, and looked green enough about the eyes, 
 I dare say. 
 
 " You are only too good, Opportunity," I answered 
 " Yes, I have ever relied on you as a friend, and have never 
 doubted you would defend me, when I was not present to 
 defend myself." 
 
 Here I released the hand, a little apprehensive I might 
 have the young lady sobbing on my shoulder, unless some 
 little moderation were observed. Opportunity manifested a 
 reluctance to let go her hold, but what could a young woman 
 do, when the gentleman himself exhibited so much discre 
 tion? 
 
 " Yes, Seneky, in particular, is in a dreadful taking," she 
 resumed, " and to pacify him, I consented to ride over my 
 self, at this time of night, to let you know what is threat 
 ened." 
 
 " That is most kind of you , Opportunity ; and, as it is so 
 xate, had you not better tell your story at once, and then go 
 to a room and rest yourself, after so sharp a ride?" 
 
 " Tell my tale I will, for it s high time you heard it ; but, 
 as for rest, I must jump on my horse and gallop back the 
 moment the moon sets ; sleep I must in my own bed this 
 night. Of course you and Mary Warren will both be silent 
 as to my visit, since it has been made for your good." 
 
 I promised for myself and Mary, and then pressed my 
 companion to delay no longer in imparting the information 
 she had ridden so far to bring. The story was soon told 
 
THE REDSKINS. 333 
 
 and proved to he sufficiently alarming. One portion of the 
 facts I got directly from Opportunity herself, while another 
 has been subsequently gleaned from various sources, all 
 being certain. The particular circumstances were these : 
 When Seneca followed the band of " Injins" and his co- 
 anti-renters, in their precipitate retreat on the Camlet, his 
 revelations produced a general consternation. It then be 
 came known that the young Paris spendthrift was on his 
 own estate, that he had actually been among the disaffected 
 that day, had learned many of their secrets, and had proba 
 bly made black marks against certain of the tenants, whose 
 leases were nearly expired. Bad as this was, of itself, it 
 was not the worst of the matter. Nothing was more certain 
 than the fact that this young landlord knew a few of those 
 who had committed felony, and might have sundry highly 
 probable suspicions as to others. The guilty lay at his 
 mercy, as a matter of course ; and there was a sufficiency 
 of common sense left among these conspirators, to under 
 stand thai a man, who must feel that attempts were making 
 to rob him of his estate, would be very likely to turn the 
 tables on his assailants, did an occasion offer. When men 
 embark in an undertaking as innately nefarious as that of 
 anti-rentism certainly is, when it is stripped of its pretensions 
 and stands in- its naked deformity, they are not apt to stop 
 at trifles. To this desperate character of its mischief, the 
 country owes the general depression of truth that has ac 
 companied its career, its false and dangerous principles, its 
 confusion between right and wrong, and finally its murders. 
 It has been the miserable prerogative of demagogues alone, 
 to defend its career and its demoralization. Thus has it hap 
 pened, that the country has seen the same quasi legislators 
 legislators, by the vote of a party and the courtesy of the 
 country, if by no other tenure supporting, with an air of 
 high pretension, the very doubtful policy of attempting to 
 make men moral by statute law, on the one side, while 
 they go the full length of these property-depredators, on the 
 other ! In such a state of society, it is not surprising thai 
 any expedient should be adopted to intimidate and bully me 
 nto silence. It was consequently determined, in a conclave 
 of the chiefs, that a complaint should be made against my 
 uncle and myself, before an anti-rent justice of the peace, 
 
334 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 for felony under the recent statute, in appearing " diguised 
 and armed," as a means of preventing our complaints 
 against the real offenders. It is true, we were not in masks 
 but our disguises, nevertheless, were so effectual as possibly 
 to meet the contingency contemplated by the law, had we 
 been armed. As to weapons, however, we had been totally 
 and intentionally without anything of the sort ; but oaths 
 cost villains, like those engaged in this plot, very little. 
 Those oaths had been taken, and warrants were actually 
 signed by the magistrate, of which the service was suspended 
 at Seneca s solicitation, merely to enable the last to effect 
 a compromise. It was not thought sufficient, however, to 
 menace my uncle and myself with a prosecution of this 
 nature; intimidation of another sort was to be put in requi 
 sition, to enforce the dread of the legal proceedings ; a mea 
 sure which should let us see that our assailants were in 
 downright earnest. Opportunity had ascertained that some 
 thing serious was to be attempted, and she believed that very 
 night, though what it was precisely was more than she knew ; 
 or, knowing, was willing to communicate. 
 
 The object of this late visit, then, was to make terms for 
 her brother, or brothers ; to apprize me of some unknown 
 but pressing danger, and to obtain all that influence in my 
 breast lhat might fairly be anticipated from services so ma 
 terial. Beyond a question, I was fortunate in having such 
 a friend in the enemy s camp, though past experience had 
 taught me to be wary how I trusted my miserable and sensi 
 tive heart within the meshes of a net that had been so often 
 cast. 
 
 " I am very sensible of the importance of your services, 
 Miss Opportunity," I said, when tho voluble young lady had 
 told her tale, " and shall not fail to bear it in mind. As for 
 making any direct arrangement with your brother Seneca, 
 that is out of the question, since it would be compromising 
 felony, and subject me to punishment ; but I can be passive, 
 if I see fit, and your wishes will have great weight with me. 
 The attempt to arrest my uncle and myself, should it ever 
 be made, will only subject its instigators to action for mali 
 cious prosecutions,, and gives me no concern. It is v ,ry 
 doubtful how far we were disguised, in the sense of the 
 statute, and it is certain we were not armed, in any 
 
THE REDSKINS. 335 
 
 sense. Without perjury, therefore, such a prosecution must 
 fail 
 
 " Folks take desperate oaths in anti-rent times !" inter 
 rupted Opportunity, with a significant look. 
 
 " I am quite aware of that. Human testimony, at the 
 best, is very frail, and often to be distrusted ; but in seasons 
 of excitement, arid passion, and cupidity, it is common to 
 find it corrupt. The most material thing, at present, is to 
 know precisely the nature of the evil they meditate against 
 us." 
 
 Opportunity s eye did not turn away, as mine was fast 
 ened on her while she answered this question, but retained 
 all the steadiness of sincerity. 
 
 " I wish I could tell you, Mr. Hugh," she said; " but I 
 can say no more than I have. Some injury will be attempted 
 this night, I feel certain ; but what that injury will be, is 
 more than I know myself. I must now go home; for the 
 moon will be nearly down, and it would never do for me to 
 be seen by any of the antis. The little 1 have said in favour 
 of the Littlepages has made me enemies, as it is ; but I never 
 should be forgiven, was this ride to be known." 
 
 Opportunity now rose, and smiling on me, as any other 
 rover might be supposed to fire a parting broadside, in order 
 to render the recollection of her presence as memorable as 
 possible, she hurried away. I accompanied her to the oak, 
 as a matter of course, and assisted her into her saddle. Sun 
 dry little passages of country coquetry occurred during these 
 movements, and the young lady manifested a reluctance to 
 depart, even when all was ready, though she was in so great a 
 hurry. Her game was certainly as desperate as that of the 
 anti-renters themselves, but it was a game she was deter 
 mined to play out. The moon was not yet quite down, and 
 that circumstance served as a pretence for delay, while I 
 fancied that she might still have something in reserve to 
 communicate. 
 
 " This has been so kind in you, dear Opportunity," I 
 said, laying my hand gently on the one of hers which held 
 the bridle "so like old times so like yourself, indeed 
 that I scarce know how to thank you. But we shall live to 
 have old-fashioned times again, when the former communi- 
 talions can be opened among us. Those were happy days, 
 
336 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 when we all went galloping over the hills together ; mere 
 boys and girls, it is true, but delighted boys and girls I hope 
 you will allow." 
 
 " That they was" Opportunity s education and graces 
 did not extend to good grammar, in her ordinary discourse, 
 which many persons among us seem to fancy is anti-repub 
 lican " That they was ! And I should like to live em over 
 again. Never mind, Hugh ; you 11 live to put down these 
 people, and then you 11 settle and marry. You mean to 
 marry, of course?" 
 
 This was a pretty plain demonstration ; but I was used to 
 it, as what young man of fortune is not ? and a danger 
 known is a danger avoided. I pressed the hand I held gen 
 tly, relinquished it, and then observed, in a sombwhat dis 
 appointed tone 
 
 " Well, I ought not to ask again, what is the particular 
 injury I am to expect to-night. A brother is nearer than a 
 friend, I know ; and I can appreciate your difficulties." 
 
 Opportunity had actually given the spirited beast she 
 rode the rein, and was on the point of galloping off, when 
 these last words touched her heart. Leaning forward, and 
 oending her head down, so as to bring our faces within a 
 foot of each other, she said, in a low voice 
 
 " Fire is a good servant, but a hard master. A tea-kettle 
 of water thrown on it, at first, would have put out the last 
 great conflagration in York." 
 
 These words were no sooner uttered than the bold young 
 woman struck her horse a smart blow, and away she went 
 galloping over the turf with an almost noiseless hoof. I 
 watched her for a moment, and saw her descend into the 
 ravine ; when, left quite alone, there was abundant opportu 
 nity for reflection, though no longer any Opportunity to 
 look at. 
 
 " Fire !" That was an ominous word. It is the instru 
 ment of the low villain, and is an injury against which it is 
 difficult, indeed, to guard. It had been used in these anti-rent 
 troubles, though less, perhaps, than would have been the 
 case in almost any other country; the institutions of this, 
 even if they have introduced so many false and exaggerated 
 notions of liberty, having had a most beneficial effect in 
 cssening some of the other evils of humanity. Still, fire 
 
. THE REDSKINS. 8, }7 
 
 had been resorted to, and the term of * barn-burner had got 
 to be common among us; far more common, I rejoice to 
 say, than the practice which gave it birth. Nevertheless, 
 it was clearly of the last importance to certain persons at 
 Ravensnest to frighten me from complaining, since their 
 crimes could only lead them to the State s prison, were jus 
 tice done. I determined, therefore, not to lay my head on 
 a pillow that night, until assured that the danger was past. 
 
 The moon had now set, but the stars shed their twinkling 
 rays on the dusky landscape. I was not sorry for the 
 change, as it enabled me to move about with less risk of 
 being seen. The first thing was to seek some auxiliaries to 
 aid me in watching, and I at once decided to look for them 
 among my guests, the Indians. If " fire will fight fire," 
 Indian ought to be a match for Injin any day. There 
 is just the difference between these two classes of men, that 
 their names would imply. The one is natural, dignified, 
 polished in his way nay, gentleman-like ; while the other 
 is a sneaking scoundrel, and as vulgar as his own appella 
 tion. No one would think of calling these last masquerad 
 ing rogues " Indians ;" by common consent, even the most 
 particular purist in language terms them " Injins." " II y a 
 chapeau et ckapeau" and there are " Indian and Injin." 
 
 Without returning to the house, I took my way at once 
 towards the quarters of my red guests. Familiar with every 
 object around me, I kept so much within the shadows, and 
 moved across the lawn and fields by a route so hidden, that 
 there was not much risk of my being seen, even had there 
 been enemies on the look-out. The distance was not great, 
 and I soon stood at the foot of the little knoll on which the 
 old farm-house stood, sheltered in a manner by a dark row 
 of aged currants, which lined the bottom of an old and half- 
 deserted garden. Here I paused to look about me, and to 
 reflect a moment, before I proceeded any further. 
 
 There stood the good, old, substantial residence of my 
 fathers, in shadowy outline, looming large and massive in its 
 form and aspect. It might be fired, certainly, but not with 
 much facility, on its exterior. With the exception of its 
 roof, its piazza, and its outside-doors, little wood was exposed 
 to an incendiary without; and a slight degree of watchful 
 ness might suffice against such a danger. Then the law 
 29 
 
338 THE REDSKINS. . 
 
 punished arson of an inhabited dwelling with death, as it 
 should do, and your sneaking scoundrels seldom brave such 
 a penalty in this country. Much is said about the impo- 
 tency of the punishment of the gallows, but no man can tell 
 how many thousand times it has stayed the hand and caused 
 the heart to quail. Until some one can appear among us, 
 who is able to reveal this important secret, it is idle to talk 
 about the few cases in which it is known that the risk of 
 death has been insufficient to prevent crime. One thing we 
 all know ; other punishments exist, and crime is perpetrated 
 directly in their face, daily and hourly; and I cannot see 
 why such a circumstance should not be just as much of an 
 argument against the punishment of the penitentiary, as 
 against punishment by the gallows. For one, I am clearly 
 for keeping in existence the knowledge that there is a power 
 in the country, potent to sweep away the offender, when 
 cases of sufficient gravity occur to render the warning 
 wholesome. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 " 0, time and death ! with certain pace, 
 
 Though still unequal, hurrying on, 
 
 O erturning, in your awful race, 
 
 The cot, the palace, and the throne ! 
 Not always in the storm of war, 
 
 Nor by the pestilence that sweeps 
 
 From the plague-smitten realms afar, 
 
 Beyond the old and solemn deeps." 
 
 SAITDS. 
 
 BESIDES the house with its walls of stone, however, there 
 were numerous out-buildings. The carriage-house, stables, 
 and home-barn, were all of stone also ; but a brand thrown 
 into a haymow would easily produce a conflagration. 
 The barns, hay-ricks, &c., on the flats, and near the dwell 
 ing of Miller, were all of wood, according to the custom of 
 the country, and it was not death to set fire to a barn. The 
 
THE REDSKINS. 339 
 
 disguised and armed who should commit this last offence, 
 would incur no other risk than that which had already been 
 ncurred in carrying out his desperate plans. I thought of 
 hese things for a moment, when I opened a passage through 
 the currant-bushes, intending to pass by a breach in the de 
 cayed fence into the garden, and thus by a private way to 
 the house. To my astonishment, and in a slight degree to 
 my alarm, a man stood before me the instant I emerged 
 from the thicket. 
 
 " Who be where go what want?" demanded one of the 
 real red-skins, significantly ; this being a sentinel of the 
 party whose vigilance even my guarded approach had not 
 eluded. 
 
 I told him who I was, and that I came to seek the inter 
 preter, Manytongues. No sooner was I recognised, than my 
 red friend offered me his hand to shake, American fashion, 
 and seemed satisfied. He asked no question, manifested no 
 curiosity at this visit at an hour so unusual, and took it all 
 as one in ordinary life would receive a call in a morning 
 between the permitted hours of twelve and three. Something 
 had brought me there, he must have known ; but, what that 
 something was appeared to give him no concern. This man 
 accompanied me to the house, and pointed to the spot where 
 I should find the person I sought, snoring on his well-shaken 
 bundles of straw. 
 
 At the first touch of my finger, Manytongues awoke, and 
 stood erect. He recognised me in an instant, dark as was 
 the room, and touching my arm as a signal to follow, led 
 the way into the open air. After moving out of ear-shot, he 
 stopped and proceeded to business himself, like one accus 
 tomed to such interruptions. 
 
 "Anything stirring to-night?" demanded this frontier- 
 man, with the coolness of one who was ever ready. " Am 
 I to call my red-skins ; or is it only a notice that is to be 
 given ?" 
 
 " Of that you shall judge for yourself. You doubtless 
 know the condition of this part of the country, and the trou 
 bles that exist on the subject of the rents paid for the use of 
 the farms. What you saw to-day is a specimen of the 
 scenes that are now constantly acted among us." 
 
 " Colonel, I can t say I do rightly understand the state o 
 
340 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 things down here-a-way," drawled out the interpreter, aftei 
 yawning like a hound, and giving me the most favourite title 
 of the frontiers. " It seems to be neither one thing 1 nor 
 t other; nuther tomahawk nor law. I can understand both 
 of them, but this half-and-half sort of thing bothers me, and 
 puts me out. You ought to have law, or you hadn t ought ; 
 but what you have should be stuck to." 
 
 " You mean that you do not find this part of the country 
 either civilized or savage. Not submitting to the laws, nor 
 yet permitting the natural appeal to force?" 
 
 "Something 1 of that sort. The agent told me, when I 
 came on with this party of red-skins, that I was comin down 
 into a quarter of the country where there was justices of the 
 peace, and that no man, red or pale, could or should right 
 himself. So we ve all on us indivour d to go by that rule; 
 and I can qualify that not a critter has been shot or scalped 
 since we crossed the Mississippi. Some sich law was neces 
 sary among; us, as we came from different and hostile tribes, 
 and nothing would be easier than to breed a quarrel among 
 ourselves, if a body was so disposed. But, I must say, that 
 I m not only disapp inted myself, but most of my chiefs be 
 dreadfully disapp inted likewise." 
 
 " In what particular have you been most disappointed ?" 
 
 " In many matters. The first thing that set me a-think- 
 in was to hear folks read them newspapers. The way men 
 talk of each other, in them things, is wonderful, and to me 
 it s a surprise any s left, at the end of the year, to begin the 
 same game the next. Why, Colonel Littlepage " 
 
 " I am no colonel not even an ensign you must be 
 confounding me with some other of my family." 
 
 " You ought to be, sir, and I shall not do you the injus 
 tice to call you by any lower title. I ve known gentlemen 
 of not one-quarter your pretensions tarmed gin rals, out 
 West. I ve hunted on the prer-ies these twenty-five years, 
 and have now crossed the Upper Lakes six times, and know 
 what is due to a gentleman as well as any man. And so, 
 as I was sayin , Colonel Littlepage, was men to talk of each 
 other out on the prer-ies as they print of each other down 
 here among the meetin- uses, scalps would be so plenty as 
 to fall considerable in valie. I m not at all spiteful, but my 
 r eelin s has been r iled at only just hearing em things read, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 341 
 
 for, as for reading myself, that s a thing I never conde* 
 scended to. This somewhat prepared me for findin things 
 different as I got deeper into the settlements, and I ve not 
 been disapp inted so far as them expectations went it s the 
 old idee that s been crossed." 
 
 " I am not astonished to hear this, and agree with you 
 entirely in thinking that the nations which can withstand a 
 press of which the general character is as degraded as that 
 of this country, must be composed of beings of a highrr 
 order than man. But, to come to business; you must have 
 some notions of these mock savages, and of the people called 
 anti-renters ?" 
 
 " Sort o , and sort o not. I can t understand when a 
 man has agreed to pay rent, why he should not pay it. A 
 bargain is a bargain, and the word of a gentleman is as 
 good as his bond." 
 
 " These opinions would surprise some among us, a few 
 legislators included. They appear to think that the moral 
 test of every engagement is whether the parlies like it or 
 not." 
 
 " One word, if you please, Colonel. Do they give in as 
 much to complaints of the owners of the sile as to the com 
 plaints of them that hire the land in order to work it?" 
 
 "Not at all. The complaints of the landlords would not 
 find a single sympathetic chord in the breast of the softest 
 nearted politician in America, let them be ever so well- 
 founded. Surely, you, who are a rover on the prairies, can 
 have no great respect for land titles ?" 
 
 " The prer-ie is the prer-ie, Colonel, and men live and 
 act by prer-ie law on prer-ie ground. But right is right, too, 
 Colonel, as well as prer-ie is prer-ie; and I like to see it 
 per\ail. I do not think you will find a red-skin among all 
 the chiefs who are asleep under that roof who will not give 
 his voice ag in flying from the tarms of a solemn bargain. 
 A man must be well steeped in the ways of the law, I 
 should judge, to bring his mind to such an act." 
 
 " Do these red-men, then, know anything of the nature 
 of the difficulties that exist here?" 
 
 " They have heard on em, and have talked a good deal 
 together on the subject. It s opposite to the very natur of 
 an Indian, like, to agree to one thing, and to do another, 
 29* 
 
342 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 But, here is a Chippewa, who is on the look-out. I will ash 
 him a question, and you shall hear his answer." 
 
 Many tongues now spoke to the sentinel, who was saunter 
 ing near. After a brief exchange of questions and answera 
 in the tongue of the latter, the interpreter communicated what 
 had passed. 
 
 " This Chippewa has heard somewhere," he said, " that 
 there are folks in this part of the world who get into wig- 
 warns, by agreeing to pay rent for them, and, when once in 
 possession, they want to fly from their agreements, and 
 make the man they got it from prove his right to it. Is that 
 true, Colonel ?" 
 
 " It is true, out of all question, and not only do the tenants 
 wish to enact this treachery, but they have found others, 
 that call themselves legislators, wKo are willing to sustain 
 them in the fraud. It is much as if you should -borrow, or 
 hire a rifle for a day s sporting, and when the man who let 
 you have it, came to claim it at night, you should tell him 
 to prove he was the right owner." 
 
 " What s that to me? I got the rifle of him ; have no right 
 but such as he had ; and am bound to stand by my bargain. 
 No. no. Colonel ; not a redskin on the prer-ies but would 
 revolutionize at that ! But, what may have brought you 
 here, at this time o night? Them that sleep in beds, don t 
 like to quit them till mornin comes to tell em to rise." 
 
 I then gave Manytongues an account of the visit I had 
 received, without mentioning the name of Opportunity, how 
 ever, and related the nature of the warning I had heard. 
 The interpreter was, in no wise, disturbed at this prospect 
 of a collision with the Injins, against whom he had a grudge, 
 not only on account of the little affair of the preceding day, 
 but mainly in consequence of their having brought real 
 savages into discredit, by the craven and clumsy manner in 
 which they had carried out their imitation. 
 
 " Nothin better is to be expected from such critturs," he 
 observed, after we had discussed the matter together, at 
 some little length, " though fire is held to be lawful warfare, 
 even on the prer-ies. For my part, I m not at all sorry 
 there is something to do ; nor will my chiefs be melancholy 
 on this account, for it is dull work to he doing nothing, for 
 months and months at a time, but smoking at councils^ 
 
THE REDSKINS. 343 
 
 making speeches to folks who. live by talking, and eating 
 and drinking. Activity is the natur of a prer-ie man, and 
 tie s always glad to pick his flint, after a spell of consider 
 able quiet. I ll tell the Chippewa to step in, and bring out 
 the redskins, a ter which you can give your orders." 
 
 " I could wish watchfulness rather than violence. The 
 men can lie in watch, near the principal buildings, and it 
 might be well to have some water ready, to extinguish any 
 flames that may be lighted, before they get too far ahead." 
 
 " Just as you say, Colonel, for you are my Captain-Gene 
 ral. But, I can tell you how I did once, out on the prer-ies, 
 when I caught a rascal of a Sioux blowing a fire he had kin 
 dled at one of my own lodges. I just laid him on the flames, 
 and let him put them out himself by bleeding on them." 
 
 " We must have no violence, unless it become indispensa 
 ble to save the buildings. The law will not justify us, in 
 using our arms, except in the last extremity. Prisoners 1 
 wish you to take ; for they may serve as hostages, besides 
 furnishing examples to intimidate other offenders. I rely 
 on you to give due warning to our red friends, on this 
 subject." 
 
 The interpreter gave a sort of grunt, but he said nothing. 
 The conversation went no farther, however, just then ; for, 
 by this time, the Indians came stealing out of the house, 
 every man of them armed, looking dusky, prepared and full 
 of wariness. Manytongues did not keep them long, but 
 soon told his story. After this, his authority appeared, in a 
 great measure, to cease. Flinty heart was now the most 
 prominent of the party, though Prairiefire, and another war 
 rior, were also connected with the orders given to the rest. 
 I observed that Eaglesflight had no part in these arrange 
 ments, which were peculiarly military, though he appeared, 
 armed and ready, and went forth on the sudden call, like 
 the rest. In five minutes the Indians were all off, princi* 
 pally in pairs, leaving the interpreter and myself still stand 
 ing together, in front of the deserted house. 
 
 It was, by this time, past one o clock, and I thought it 
 probable my enemies would soon appear, if they came 
 that night. Accompanied by the interpreter, I took the 
 way towards the Nest House, it occurring to me that arms 
 night be wanted, in the course of the morning. On quit- 
 
344 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ling my room, the rifle and pistol provided by John had 
 been left there, and I thought of stealing into the house 
 ;>gain, obtaining those weapons, extinguish my lights, and 
 rejoin my present companion, without giving alarm to any 
 of the sleepers. 
 
 This plan was successfully executed, so far as ascending 
 >< my room and descending to the door were concerned, 
 hut there it met with an interruption. While in the very 
 act of closing the little postern, as we used to call it, by 
 way of pleasantry, I felt a small soft hand laid on the one 
 of my own which was drawing to the door after me. In 
 rm instant I had turned, and was at the side of Mary War 
 ren. I expressed my surprise at finding her still up, and 
 concern lest she might suffer in health, in consequence of 
 .so much unusual watchfulness. 
 
 * I could not sleep after what has passed to-night," she 
 answered, "without knowing the meaning of aH these 
 movements. I have been looking from my window, and 
 naw you assist Opportunity to get on her horse, and after 
 ward walk towards the old farm-house, where the Indians 
 are lodged. Tell me frankly, Mr. Littlepage, is there any 
 danger to be apprehended V 
 
 " I shall be frank with you, Mary" how easy and 
 pleasant it was to me to use this gentle familiarity, which 
 might now be assumed without appearing to be presump 
 tuous, under all the circumstances of our intercourse ; "I 
 shall be frank with you, Mary ; for I know that your pru 
 dence and self-command will prevent any unnecessary 
 alarm, while your watchfulness may be of use. There is 
 some reason to fear the brand." 
 
 The brand !" 
 
 " So Opportunity has given me reason to suppose ; and I 
 do not think she would have ridden the distance she did, at 
 such an hour, unless her business were serious. The brand 
 is the proper instrument of the anti-renter, and renders his 
 disguise convenient. I have got all the red-men on the 
 look-out, however ; and I do not think that mischief can be 
 done to-night, without its being detected. To-morrow, we 
 can appeal to the authorities for protection." 
 
 " I will not sleep this night !" exclaimed Mary, drawing 
 the light shawl she wore, as a protection against the air of 
 
THE REDSKINS. 345 
 
 that summer-night, more closely around her person, as o 
 sterner being might be supposed to gird on his armour in a 
 moment of peril. I care not for rest. They ought not, 
 they shall not, Mr. Littlepage, do you this wrong. Have 
 you apprehensions for this house?" 
 
 " One never knows. This house is not easily set fire to 
 from without, and I scarcely think there can be any enemy 
 within. The domestics are old and tried, and I do not believe 
 that either of them could be bought. I feel little apprehen 
 sion, therefore, from any within, while I confess to a good 
 deal from those without. Fire is such a dreadful foe, and 
 one is usually so helpless against its ravages in the coun 
 try ! I will not ask you to retire, for I know you will not 
 nay, cannot sleep ; but, by passing from window to win 
 dow, for the next hour, or until I rejoin you, your mind 
 will be occupied, and possibly some injury might be pre 
 vented. An unseen observer from a window might detect 
 an attempt that would escape those on the watch without." 
 
 " I will do so," said Mary, eagerly ; " and should I dis 
 cover anything, I will open a leaf of the shutter of my own 
 room. You can then see the light of the candle within, 
 and by coming at once to this door, you will find me here, 
 ready to let you know my discovery." 
 
 With this understanding we parted, but not until I had 
 shaken hands affectionately with this gentle-looking, but 
 really resolute and clear-headed girl. I rejoined Many- 
 tongues, who stood in the shadows of the piazza, where 
 there was no possibility of his being seen, except by one 
 quite near his person. After a brief explanation, we parted, 
 one taking the north side of the buildings, and the other the 
 south, in order to make certain no incendiary was at work 
 on either of the wings. 
 
 The Nest House was much less exposed to attempts like 
 those we apprehended, than most American dwellings. The 
 structure being of stone, left but little inflammable material 
 accessible ; and the doors, on the exterior, were only two 
 those already mentioned. There was a great gate, it is 
 true ; one large enough to admit a cart into the inner court, 
 on the southern face of the wing, beneath the arch of which 
 an incendiary might, indeed, make his attempt, though a 
 practised rogue would at once see the difficulties. Little 
 
346 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 wood was even there, beyond that of the massive gate itself 
 which, once burnt, would leave no further fuel for flames, 
 T examined the place, notwithstanding; and finding all safe 
 on my side of the building, I went to rejoin the interpreter, 
 who was to meet me at the foot of a fine beech, which spread 
 ts broad arms over the lawn, at the distance of about a 
 nundred yards from the house, and so nearly in its front, as 
 to afford us, in all respects, the most, eligible position for 
 sentinels on duty like ours, far or near. 
 
 At the foot of that beech I found Manytongues, and the 
 deep obscurity in which his form was embedded, was, of 
 itself, a high recommendation of the position. I did not see 
 him until almost near enough to touch him. He was seated 
 on a bench, and seemed entirely at his ease, like one accus 
 tomed to ambushes, vigilance, and midnight assaults. Wa 
 exchanged reports, ascertained all was well, and then I took 
 my seat at the interpreter s side, willing to beguile the time 
 by such discourse as occurred to my mind. 
 
 " That was a most interesting scene, last evening," I re 
 marked ; " the interview between Old Trackless and your 
 red companions ! I own a lively curiosity to know what 
 particular claim our aged friend has on those distant tribes 
 that chiefs of note have come so far to see him?" 
 
 " They have not come all the way from the prer-ies, to 
 this spot, on any such ar n d, though I do not question their 
 readiness to do so. In the first place, old age, when accom 
 panied by wisdom, and sobriety, and a good character, goes 
 a great way with savages, in gin ral. But, there is some 
 thing partic lar about the acts of Susquesus that I do not 
 know, which raises him higher than common in redskin 
 eyes. I intend to 1 arn what it is before we quit this country." 
 
 A pause succeeded ; then I spoke of the " prer-ies," as 
 almost all western men pronounce the word. I drew such 
 an outline of the life as I supposed my companion passed 
 there, thinking it might be agreeable to hear his own habits 
 and enjoyments extolled. 
 
 " I il tell you how it is, Colonel," returned the interpre 
 ter, with a little show of feeling ; much more than he had 
 previously manifested on any occasion during our short ac 
 quaintance ; " yes, I 11 jist tell you how it is. Prer-ie life 
 it delightsome to them that loves freedom and justice." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 347 
 
 * Freedom I can understand," said I, interrupting him, in 
 my surprise " but as for justice, I should think that laws 
 are absolutely necessary." 
 
 "Ay, that s a settlement idee, I know, but it s not as 
 true as some supposes. There is no court and jury like 
 this, Colonel," slapping the breech of his rifle with energy, 
 " and eastern powder conspired with Galena lead, makes 
 the best of attorneys. I ve tried both, and speak on sar- 
 tainty. Law druv me out upon the prer-ies, and love for 
 them keeps me there. Down this-a-way, you re neither one 
 thing nor tuther law nor rifle ; for, if you had law, as law 
 ought to be, you and I wouldn t be sitting here, at this time 
 of night, to prevent your mock Injins from setting fire to 
 your houses and barns." 
 
 There was only too much truth in this last position of 
 the straightforward interpreter to be gainsaid. After making 
 some proper allowances for the difficulties of the case, and 
 the unexpected circumstances, no impartial man could deny 
 that the laws had been trifled with, or things never would 
 have reached the pass they had : as Manytongues affirmed, 
 we had neither the protection of the law, nor the use of the 
 rifle. It ought to be written in letters of brass in all the 
 highways and places of resort in the country, that A STATE 
 
 CF SOCIETY WHICH PRETENDS TO THE PROTECTION THAT 
 BELONGS TO CIVILIZATION, AND FAILS TO GIVE IT, ONLY 
 MAKES THE CONDITION OF THE HONEST PORTION OF THE 
 COMMUNITY SO MUCH THE WORSE, BY DEPRIVING IT OF THE 
 PROTECTION CONFERRED BY NATURE, WITHOUT SUPPLYING 
 THE SUBSTITUTE. 
 
 I dare say the interpreter and I sat an hour under that 
 tree, conversing in low voices, on such matters and things 
 as came uppermost in our minds. There was a good deal 
 of true prer-ie philosophy in the opinions of my companion, 
 which is much as if one should say his notions were a mix 
 ture of clear natural justice and strong local prejudices. 
 The last sentiment he uttered was so very characteristic as 
 to merit particular notice. 
 
 " I ll tell you how it is, Colonel," he said, " right is 
 right, and nonsense is nonsense. If so be, we should hap 
 pen to catch one of these mocking rascals firing your 
 house or barn, it would be a smart chance at justice to settle 
 
;>1S THE REDSKINS. 
 
 things on the spot. If I had my way, I should just tie the 
 icliovv, hands and feet, and toss him into the flames to help 
 him along with his own work. A rascal makes the best of 
 kindling-wood!" 
 
 Just at that instant I saw an upper leaf of the inside shutter 
 of Mary Warren s room open, for my eye was resting on the 
 window at that very moment. The light had been brought 
 so near the opening as plainly to show the change, leaving no 
 doubt that my fair sentinel within had made some important 
 discovery. At such a summons I could not hesitate; but, tell 
 ing Many tongues to continue his watchfulness, I went across 
 the lawn with the steps of youth and haste. In two minutes 
 my hand was on the latch of the little door ; and, in two se 
 conds more, it was open, and I found myself standing in front 
 of Mary Warren. A gesture from her hand induced me to be 
 cautious, and closing the door silently, I asked an explanation. 
 
 " Speak not too loud," whispered the anxious girl, pre 
 serving a wonderful self-command, nevertheless, for the 
 extraordinary circumstances in which she was placed." I 
 have discovered them; they are here!" 
 
 " Here \ not in the house, surely ?" 
 
 " In the house itself! in the kitchen, where they are 
 kindling a fire on the floor at this instant. Come quickly; 
 there is not a moment to lose." 
 
 It may be well to explain here the arrangement of the 
 kitchens and offices, in order to render what is to follow the 
 more intelligible. The gateway mentioned cut the southern 
 wing of the house into two equal parts, the chambers, how 
 ever, extending the whole length, and of course passing 
 over it. On the western side of this gateway were certain 
 offices connected with the eating-rooms, and those eating- 
 rooms themselves. On the eastern side were the kitchen, 
 servants hall, scullery, &c., and a flight of narrow stairs 
 that led to the chambers occupied by the domestics. The 
 outside door to this latter portion of the building was be 
 neath the arch of the gateway, one corresponding to it 
 opening on its opposite side, and by means of which the 
 service was ordinarily made. There was a court, environed 
 on three of its sides by the main edifice, and by the two 
 long, low wings that have been so often mentioned, while it 
 was open on the fourth to the cliff. This cliff was low, 
 
THE REDSKINS. 349 
 
 and, while it was nearly perpendicular, it was possible for 
 an active man to ascend, or even to descend it, by clinging 
 to the rocks, which were sufficiently ragged to admit of 
 such an adventure. When a boy I had done both fifty 
 times, and it was a somewhat common experiment among 
 the male domestics and hirelings of the household. It 
 occurred to me at once that the incendiaries had most pro 
 bably entered the house by ascending the cliff, the kitchen 
 of itself furnishing all the materials to light a conflagration. 
 
 The reader will be assured that, after receiving the start 
 ling communication of Mary Warren, I did not stop to dis 
 cuss all these matters with her. My first impulse was to 
 desire her to run to the beech, and bid Manytongues join 
 me, but she refused to quit my side. 
 
 " No no no. You must not go to the kitchen alone," 
 she said, hurriedly. " There are two of them, and desperate 
 looking wretches are they, with their faces blackened, and 
 they have muskets. No no no. Come, / will accom 
 pany you." 
 
 I hesitated no longer, but moved forward, Mary keeping 
 close at my side. Fortunately, I had brought the rifle with 
 me, and the revolving pistol was in my pocket. We went 
 by the eating-rooms and offices, the course taken by Mary 
 herself on her watch ; and who, in looking through a small 
 window of one of the last, that opened beneath the gateway, 
 had discovered what was going on, by means of a similar 
 window in the kitchen. As we went, the noble girl told me 
 that she had kept moving through the lower rooms of the 
 whole house during the time I had been on watch out of 
 doors, and, attracted by the light that gleamed through these 
 windows, she had distinctly seen two men, with black 
 ened faces, kindling a fire in a corner of the kitchen, where 
 the flames must soon communicate with the stairs, by means 
 of which they would speedily reach the attics and the wood 
 work of the roof. Fortunately, the floors of all that part of 
 the house were made of bricks ; that of the servants hall 
 excepted, which was a room beyond the narrow passage 
 that contained the stairs. As soon as apprised of the danger, 
 Mary Warren had flown to the window of her own room, to 
 make the signal to me, and then to the door to meet me. 
 But three or four minutes had elapsed between tho time 
 30 
 
350 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 when she became apprised of the danger and that when we 
 were walking hurriedly to the window beneath the gateway 
 
 A bright light, which shone through the opposite window 
 announced the progress made by the incendiaries. Request- 
 ing Mary to remain where she was, I passed through tha 
 door, and descended to the pavement of the gateway. Tho 
 little window beneath the arch was too high for my pur 
 poses, when on that level, but there was a row of low win 
 dows that opened on the court. To one of these I moved 
 swiftly, and got a clear view of all that was passing within. 
 
 " There they are !" exclaimed Mary, who, neglectful of 
 my request, still kept close at my side. " Two men with 
 blackened faces, and the wood of which they have made 
 their fire is blazing brightly." 
 
 The fire, now I saw it, did not confirm the dread I felt 
 when I had it before me only in imagination. The stair- 
 way had an open plaze beneath it, and on the brick floor 
 below had the incendiaries built their pile. It was con 
 structed, at the bottom, of some of the common wood tha* 
 was found there, in readiness for the wants of the cook in 
 the morning, lighted by coals taken from the fire-place. A 
 considerable pile had been made with the wood, which was 
 now burning pretty freely, and the two rascals were busy 
 piling on the chairs when I first saw them. They had made 
 a good beginning, and in ten or fifteen minutes longer there 
 is no doubt that all that portion of the house would have been 
 in flames. 
 
 " You said they had muskets," I whispered to Mary. " Do 
 you see them now ?" 
 
 " No : when I saw them, each held his musket in one 
 hand, and worked with the other." 
 
 I could have shot the villains without difficulty or risk to 
 myself, but felt deeply averse to taking human life. Still, 
 there was the prospect of a serious struggle before me, and 
 I saw the necessity of obtaining assistance. 
 
 " Will you go to my uncle s room, Mary, and tell him to 
 rise immediately. Then to the front door of the house, and 
 call out, Manytongues, come here as fast as possible. It 
 will take but two minutes to do both, and I will watch these 
 rascals in the mean time." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 351 
 
 " I dread leaving you here alone with the wretches, Mr. 
 Littlepage," whispered Mary, gently. 
 
 An earnest entreaty on my part, however, induced her 
 to comply ; and, no sooner did the dear girl set about the 
 accomplishment of the task, than she flew rather than ran. 
 It did not seem to me a minute ere I heard her call to the in 
 terpreter. The night was so still, that, sweet as were those 
 tones, and busy as were the incendiaries, they heard them 
 too; or fancied they heard something which alarmed them. 
 They spoke to each other, looked intently at their infernal 
 work for a single instant, sought their arms, which were 
 standing in the corner of the kitchen, and were evidently 
 preparing to depart. 
 
 The crisis was near. There was not time to receive as 
 sistance before the two fellows would be out, and I must 
 either meet them in conflict, or suffer them to escape. My 
 first impression was to shoot down the leading man, and 
 grapple with the other ere he had time to prepare his arms. 
 But a timely thought prevented this hazardous step. The 
 incendiaries were retiring, and I had a doubt of the legality 
 of killing a retreating felon. I believed that my chances 
 before a jury would be far less than those of an ordinary 
 pick-pocket or highway robber, and had heard and read 
 enough to be certain there were thousands around me who 
 would fancy it a sufficient moral provocation for all which 
 had passed, that I held the fee of farms that other men de 
 sired to possess. 
 
 A majority of my countrymen will scout this idea as forced 
 and improbable. But, majorities are far from being infalli 
 ble in their judgments. Let any discreet and observant man 
 take a near view of that which is daily going on around him. 
 If he do not find in men this disposition to distort principles, 
 to pervert justice, and to attain their ends regardless of the 
 means, then will I admit I do not understand human nature, 
 as human nature exhibits its deformity in this blessed re 
 public of ours. 
 
 There was no time to lose, however; and the course 1 
 actually decided to take will be soonest told by relating 
 things as they occurred. I heard the door open, and was 
 ready for action. Whether the incendiaries intended to 
 retreat by the cliff, or to open the gate, which was barred 
 
352 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 within, I could not tell ; but I wsis ready for either alter 
 native. 
 
 No sooner did I hear a step on the pavement of the gate- 
 way than I discharged my rifle in the air. This was dona 
 as an alarm-signal. Clubbing the piece, I sprang forward, 
 and felled the foremost of the two, with a sharp blow on his 
 hat. The fellow came down on the pavement like an ox 
 under the axe of the slaughter-house. Dropping the rifle, I 
 bounded over his body, and grappled with his companion. 
 All this was done so rapidly as to take the rascals com 
 pletely by surprise. So sudden, indeed, was my assault on 
 the fellow who stood erect, that he was under the necessity 
 of dropping his rifle, and at it we went, clenched like bears 
 in the death-hug. I was young and active, but my antago 
 nist was the stronger man of the two. He had also the 
 advantage of being practised in wrestling, and I soon went 
 down, my enemy falling on top of me. Luckily, I fell on 
 the body of the other incendiary, who was just beginning to 
 discover signs of consciousness after the crushing blow he 
 had received. My chance would now have been small but 
 for assistance. The incendiary had caught my neck-hand 
 kerchief, and was twisting it to choke me, when I felt a 
 sudden relief. The light of the fire shone through the 
 kitchen doors, rendering everything distinct beneath the arch. 
 Mary came flying back just in time to rescue me. With a 
 resolution that did her honour, she caught up the rifle I had 
 dropped, and passed its small end between the bent arms of 
 my antagonist and his own back, raising it at the same time 
 like a lever. In the brief interval of breathing this ready 
 expedient gave me, I rallied my force, caught my enemy by 
 the throat, made a desperate effort, threw him off, and over 
 on his side, and was on my feet in an instant. Drawing the 
 pistol, I ordered the rascal to yield, or to take the conse 
 quences. The sight of this weapon secured the victory, the 
 black-faced villain shrinking back into a corner, begging 
 piteously not to be shot. At the next moment, the interpre 
 ter appeared under the arch, followed by a stream of red 
 skins, which had been turned in this direction by the alarm 
 given by my rifle. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 353 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 Ye say they all have passed away, 
 
 That noble race and brave ; 
 That their light canoes have variish d 
 
 From off the crested wave ; 
 That mid the forests where they roam d 
 
 There rings no hunter s shout ; 
 But their name is on your waters, 
 Ye may not wash it out." 
 
 MRS. SIGOUBWET. 
 
 DIRECTING Manytongues to secure the two incendiaries, 
 sprang into the kitchen to extinguish the flames. It was 
 nigh time, though Mary Warren had already anticipated me 
 here, too. She had actually thrown several dippers of water 
 upon the fire, which was beginning to crackle through the 
 pile of chairs, and had already succeeded in lessening the 
 flames. I knew that a hydrant stood in the kitchen itself, 
 which gave a full stream of water. Filling a pail, I threw 
 the contents on the flames ; and repeating the application, 
 in half a minute the room was filled with vapour, and to the 
 bright light succeeded a darkness that was so deep as to sug 
 gest the necessity of finding lamps and candles. 
 
 The tumult produced by the scene just described soon 
 brought all in the house to the spot. The domestics, male 
 and female, came tumbling down the stairs, under which the 
 fire had been lighted, and presently candles were seen glanc 
 ing about the house, in all directions. 
 
 " I declare, Mr. Hugh," cried John, the moment he had 
 taken a survey of the state of the kitchen, " this is worse 
 than Hireland, sir ! The Hamericans affect to laugh at the 
 poor Hirish, and calls their country savage, and hunfit to 
 be in abited, but nothing worse passes in it than is beginning 
 to pass ere. Them stairs would have been all in flames in 
 a few minutes, and them stairs once on fire, not one of hus, 
 up in the hattics, could ave escaped death ! Don t talk of 
 Hireland, after this!" 
 
 Poor John ! his prejudices are those of an Englishman of 
 30* 
 
354 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 his class, and that is saying as much in favour of theif 
 strength as can be well said of any prejudices. But, how 
 much truth was there in his remark ! The quiet manner in 
 which we assume superiority, in morals, order, justice and 
 virtue, over all other nations, really contains an instructive 
 lesson, if one will only regard things as they really are. I 
 have no wish to exaggerate the faults of my own country, 
 but certainly I shall not remorselessly conceal them, when 
 the most dangerous consequences are connected with such 
 a mistake. As a whole, the disorders, disturbances, and 
 convulsions of America have certainly been much fewer 
 than those of most, perhaps of all other Christian nations, 
 comparing numbers, and including the time since the great 
 experiment commenced. But, such ought to have been the 
 result of our facts, quite independently of national character. 
 The institutions leave nothing for the masses to struggle for, 
 and famine is unknown among us. But what does the other 
 side of the picture exhibit? Can any man point to a country 
 in Europe in which a great political movement has com 
 menced on a principle as barefacedly knavish as that of 
 transferring property from one class of men to another 
 That such a project does exist here, is beyond all just con 
 tradiction ; and it is equally certain that it has carried it* 
 devices into legislation, and is fast corrupting the govern 
 ment in its most efficient agents. John was right in saying 
 we ought not to turn up our noses at the ebullitions of abused 
 and trodden-on " Hireland," while our own skirts are to be 
 cleared of such sins against the plainest dictates of right. 
 
 The fire was extinguished, and the house was safe. The 
 kitchen was soon cleared of the steam and smoke, and in 
 their places appeared a cloud of redskins. Prairiefire, Ea 
 glesflight, and Flintyheart, were all there, examining the 
 effects of the fire, with stern and interested countenances. 1 
 looked round for Mary Warren ; but that gentle and singu- 
 larly feminine girl, after manifesting a presence of mind and 
 decision that would have done honour to a young man of 
 her own age, had shrunk back with sensitive consciousness, 
 and now concealed herself among the others -of her sex. 
 Her duty, so eminently useful and protective, had been per 
 formed, and she was only anxious to have it all forgotten 
 This I discovered only next day, however 
 
THE REDSKINS. 355 
 
 Manytongues had secured the incendiaries, and they 
 were now in the kitchen, also, with their hands tied toge 
 ther, and arms bound behind their backs, at the elbows. As 
 heir faces remained black, it. was out of my power to re- 
 coo nise either. The rascal who had been felled by the blow 
 of the rifle was yet confused in manner, and I ordered the 
 domestics to wash him, in the double expectation of bringing 
 him more completely to his senses, and of ascertaining who 
 he might be. 
 
 The work was soon done, and both objects were attained. 
 The cook used a. dishcloth with so much dexterity, that the 
 black-a-moor came out a white man, at the first application, 
 and he was soon as clean as a child that is about to be sent 
 to school, fresh from the hands of its nurse. The re 
 moval of the disguise brought out the abashed and fright 
 ened physiognomy of Joshua Brigham, Miller s hired man 
 or my hired man, in effect, as I paid him his wages. 
 
 Yes ! such was one of the effects of the pernicious opi 
 nions that had been so widely circulated in the land, during 
 the profound moral mania that was working its ravages 
 among us, with a fatality and danger that greatly exceed 
 those which accompanied the cholera. A fellow, who was 
 almost an inmate of my family, had not only conspired 
 with others to rob me of my property, on a large scale, but 
 he had actually carried his plot so far as to resort to the 
 brand and the rifle, as two of the agents to be employed in 
 carrying out his virtuous objects. Nor was this the result 
 of the vulgar disposition to steal ; it was purely a conse- 
 sequence of a widely-extended system, that is fast becoming 
 incorporated with the politics of the land, and which men, 
 relying on the efficacy of majorities, are bold enough to 
 stand up, in legislative halls, to defend.* 
 
 * In order that the reader who is not familiar with what is passing 
 in New York may not suppose that exaggerated terms are here used, 
 the writer will state a single expedient of the anti-renters in the legis 
 lature to obtain their ends. It is generally known that the Constitu 
 tion of the United States prevents the separate States from passing 
 laws impairing the obligations of contracts. But for this provision of 
 the Federal Constitution, it is probable, numbers would have succeed 
 ed, long ago, in obtaining the property of the few on their own terms, 
 wnid shouts in honour of liberty ! This provision, however, has prcved 
 
356 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 I confess that the discovery of the person of Joshua 
 Brigham rendered me a little curious to ascertain that of 
 his companion. Hester, the cook, was directed to take the 
 other child in hand, as soon as she had well wiped the 
 countenance of the one first unmasked. Nothing loth, the 
 good housewife set about her task, and the first dab of watef 
 she applied revealed the astounding fact that I had again 
 captured Seneca Newcome ! It will be remembered, that 
 the last time I saw these two men together, I left them 
 fighting in the highway. 
 
 I admit that this discovery shocked me. There never had 
 been a being of the Newcome tribe, from the grandfather, 
 who was its root at Ravensnest, down to Opportunity, who 
 had ever been esteemed, or respected among us. Trick 
 trick trick low cunning, and overreaching management, 
 had been the family trait, from the day Jason, of that name, 
 had rented the mill lot, down to the present hour. This I 
 had heard from my grandfather, my grandmother, my own 
 father, my uncle, my aunts and all, older than myself, who 
 belonged to me. Still, there they had been, and habit had 
 created a sort of feeling for them. There had, also, been a 
 species of pretension about the family, which brought them 
 more before us, than most of the families of the tenantry. 
 
 a stubborn obstacle, until the world, near the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, has been favoured with the following notable scheme to 
 effect the ends of those who <want farms and must have them. 
 The State can regulate, by statute, the law of descents. It has, accord 
 ingly, been solemnly proposed in the legislature of New York, that the 
 statute of descents should be so far altered, that when a landlord, hold 
 ing lands subject to certain leasehold tenures, dies, or a descent is cast, 
 that it shall be lawful for the tenants, on application to the chancellor, 
 to convert these leasehold tenures into mortgages, and to obtain the 
 fee-simple of the estates in payment of the debt ! In other words, A 
 leases a farm to B for ever, reserving a ground-rent, with covenants of 
 re-entry, &c. &c. B wishes a deed, but will not pay A s price. The 
 United States says the contract shall not be impaired, and the Legisla 
 ture of New York is illustrated by the expedient we have named, to 
 get over the provision of the Constitution ! 
 
 Since writing the foregoing, this law has actually passed the Assem 
 bly, though it has not been adopted by the Senate. The provision 
 included all leased property, when the leases were for more than 
 twenty-one years, or were on lives. EDITOH. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 357 
 
 The grandfather had received a sort of an education, and 
 -his practice had been continued, after a manner, down to 
 the unfortunate wretch who now stood a prisoner taken 
 flagrante delictu, and for a capital crime. Seneca could 
 never have made a gentleman, as the term is understood 
 among gentlemen ; but he belonged to a profession which 
 ought to raise a man materially above the level of the vulgar. 
 Opportunity, too, had received her quasi education, a far 
 more pretending one than that of my own Patt, but nothing 
 had been well taught to her ; not even reading, inasmuch as 
 she had a decided provincial pronunciation, which some 
 times grated on my nerves. But, Opportunity had feelings, 
 and could not have anticipated her own brother s intentions, 
 when she communicated the important information she had. 
 Opportunity, moreover, had more refinement than Seneca, 
 in consequence of having a more limited association, and she 
 might fall into despair, at this unexpected result of her 
 own acts ! 
 
 I was still reflecting on these things, when summoned to 
 my grandmother. She was in her own dressing-room, sur 
 rounded by the four girls ; just so many pictures of alarm, 
 interest, and female loveliness. Mary Warren, alone, was in 
 regular toilette; but the others, with instinctive coquetry, had 
 contrived to wrap themselves up, in a way to render them 
 handsomer than ever. As for my dear grandmother her 
 self, she had been told that the house was safe, but felt that 
 vague desire to see me, that was perhaps natural to the cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 " The state of the country is frightful," she said, when I 
 had answered a few of her questions, and had told her who 
 the prisoners really were; " and we can hardly remain here, 
 in safety. Think of one of the Newcomes and of Seneca, 
 in particular, with his profession and education, being en 
 gaged in such a crime !" 
 
 " Nay, grandmother," put in Patt, a little archly, " I never 
 yet heard you speak well of the Newcomes : you barely 
 tolerated Opportunity, in the hope of improving her." 
 
 " It is true, that the race is a bad one, and the circum 
 stances show what injury a set of fasle notions, transmitted 
 from father to son, for generations, may do in a family. 
 We cannot think of keeping these dear girls, here, one 
 
358 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 hour after to-morrow, Hugh. To-morrow, or to-day, for it 
 is now past two o clock, I see ; to-day is Sunday, and we 
 can go to church ; to-night we will be watchful, and Mon 
 day morning, your uncle shall start for Satanstoe, with all 
 three of the girls." 
 
 " I shall not leave my dear grandmother," rejoined Patt 
 " nor do I think it would be very kind to leave Mary War 
 ren behind us, in a place like this." 
 
 "I cannot quit my father," said Mary, herself, quietly, 
 but very ^firmly. " It is his duty to remain with his parish 
 ioners, and more so, now, that so many of them are mis 
 guided, than at any other time ; and it is always my duty, 
 and my pleasure, to remain with 7nm." 
 
 Was that acting? Was that Pharisaical? Or was it 
 genuine nature; pure filial affection and filial piety? Be 
 yond all question, it was the last; and had not the simple 
 tone, the earnest manner, and the almost alarmed eagerness, 
 with which the dear girl spoke, proclaimed as much, no one 
 could have looked in at that serene and guileless eye and 
 doubted. My grandmother smiled on the lovely earnest 
 speaker, in her kindest manner, took her hand, and charm 
 ingly observed 
 
 " Mary and I will remain together. Her father is in no 
 danger, for even anti-renters will respect a minister of the 
 gospel, and can be made to understand it is his duty to re 
 buke even their sins. As for the other girls, I think it is 
 our duty to insist that your uncle s wards, at least, should 
 no longer be exposed to dangers like those we have gone 
 through to-night." 
 
 The two young ladies, however, protested in the prettiest 
 manner possible, their determination not to quit "grand 
 mamma," as they affectionately termed their guardian s 
 mother; and while they were thus employed, my uncle Ro 
 entered the room, having just paid a visit to the kitchen. 
 
 " Here s a charming affair !" exclaimed the old bachelor, 
 as soon as in our midst. " Arson, anti-rentism, attempts at 
 murder, and all sorts of enormities, going hand in hand, in 
 the very heart of the wisest and best community that eartk 
 ever knew ; and the laws as profoundly asleep the whole 
 time, as if such gentle acts were considered meritorious, 
 This out-does repudiation twenty-fold, Hugh. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 359 
 
 " Ay, my dear sir, but it will not make a tithe of the talk. 
 Look at the newspapers that will be put into your hands to 
 morrow morning, fresh from Wall and Pine and Anne 
 streets. They will be in convulsions, if some unfortunate 
 wight of a Senator speak of adding an extra corporal to a 
 regiment of foot, as an alarming war-demonstration, or quote 
 the fall of a fancy stock that has not one cent of intrinsic 
 value, as if it betokened the downfall of a nation ; while 
 they doze over this volcano, which is raging and gathering 
 strength beneath the whole community, menacing destruc 
 tion to the nation itself, which is the father of stocks." 
 
 " The intense selfishness that is uppermost is a bad symp 
 tom, certainly ; and no one can say to what it will lead. 
 One thing is sure; it causes men to limit all their calcula 
 tions to the present moment ; and to abate a nuisance that 
 presses on our existing interests, they will jeopard every 
 thing that belongs to the future. But what are we to do 
 with Seneca Newcome, and his co-rascal, the other incen 
 diary ?" 
 
 " I had thought of referring that to your discretion, sir. 
 They have been guilty of arson, I suppose, and must take 
 their chances, like every-day criminals." 
 
 " Their chances will be very good ones, Hugh. Had you 
 been caught in Seneca Newcome s kitchen, setting fire to 
 his house, condign and merciless punishment would have 
 been your lot, beyond all controversy ; but their cases will 
 be very different. I ll bet you a hundred that they ll not 
 be convicted ; and a thousand that they are pardoned, if 
 convicted." 
 
 "Acquitted, sir, will be out of the question Miss War 
 ren and I saw them both, in the very act of building their 
 fire ; and there is plenty of testimony, as to their identity." 
 
 This indiscreet speech drew every eye on my late com 
 panion ; all the ladies, old and young, repeating the name 
 of "Mary !" in the pretty manner in which the sex expresses 
 surprise. As for Mary, herself, the poor blushing girl shrunk 
 back abashed, ashamed of she knew not what, unless it 
 migh, be in connection with some secret consciousness, at 
 finding herself so strangely associated with me. 
 
 " Miss Warren is, indeed, in her evening dress," said my 
 
360 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 grandmother, a little gravely, " and cannot have been in bed 
 this night. How has this happened, my dear?" 
 
 Thus called on, Mary Warren was of too guileless and 
 pure a mind, to hesitate in telling her tale. Every incident, 
 with which she had been connected, was simply and clearly 
 related, though she suppressed the name of our midnight 
 visiter, out of tenderness to Opportunity. All present were 
 too discreet to ask the name, and, I may add, all present 
 heard the narrative with a marked and approving interest. 
 When Mary had done, my grandmother kissed her, and 
 Patt, the generous creature, encircled her waist, with the 
 tenderness and affection of a sister, who felt for all the trials 
 the other had endured. 
 
 " It seems, then, we owe our safety to Mary, after all !" 
 exclaimed my good grandmother; "without her care and 
 watchfulness, Hugh might, most probably would, have re- 
 mained on the lawn, until it was too late to save the house, 
 or us." 
 
 "That is not all," added uncle Ro. "Any one could 
 have cried fire, or given a senseless alarm, but it is evi 
 dent from Miss Warren s account, unpremeditated and art 
 less as it is that, but for the cool and discreet manner in 
 which she played her part, not one-half of that which has 
 been done, would have been effected, and that the house 
 might have been lost. Nay, had these fellows surprised 
 Hugh, instead of Hugh s surprising them, we might have 
 been called on to deplore his loss." 
 
 I saw a common shudder in Patt and Mary, as they stood 
 encircling each other with their arms; but the last was evi 
 dently so pained, that I interfered for her relief. 
 
 " I do not see any possibility of escape for these incen 
 diaries," I said, turning to my uncle, " under the testimony 
 that can be offered, and am surprised to hear you suggest a 
 doubt of the result of the trial." 
 
 "You feel and reason like a very young man, Hugh; 
 one, who fancies things are much nearer what they ought 
 to be than facts will sustain. Justice is blind, now-a-days, 
 not as a proof of impartiality, but as a proof that she too 
 often sees only one side of a question. How will they es 
 cape I Perhaps the jury may fancy setting fire to a pile of 
 
THE REDSKINS. 361 
 
 v-ood, and certain chairs, is not setting fire to a house, let 
 the animus be as plain as the noses on their faces. Mark 
 me, Hugh Littlepage ; one month will not go by, before the 
 events of this very night will he tortured into an argument 
 in favour of anti-rentism." 
 
 A common exclamation, in which even my grandmother 
 joined, expressed the general dissent from this opinion. 
 
 " It is all very well, ladies," answered my uncle Ro, 
 coolly " all well enough, Master Hugh ; but let the issue 
 tell its own story. I have heard already other abuses of 
 the anti-renters urged as a reason why the laws should be 
 changed, in order that men may not be tempted beyond their 
 strength ; and why not use the same reasoning in favour of 
 this crime, when it has been used already, in cases of mur 
 der? The leasehold tenures make men commit murder, 
 it is said, and they ought to be destroyed, themselves. 
 The leasehold tenures make men commit arson, it will now 
 be said, and who desires to retain laws that induce men to 
 commit arson? " 
 
 " On the same principle it might b< pretended there should 
 be no such thing as personals, as they tempt men, beyond 
 what they can bear, to commit petty larceny." 
 
 " No doubt it could, and no doubt it would, if political 
 supremacy were to be the reward. There is nothing no 
 fallacy, no moral sophism, that would not be used to attain 
 such an end. But, it is late, and we ought to bethink us of 
 disposing of the prisoners for the night what means this 
 light ? The house is not on fire, after all !" 
 
 Sure enough, notwithstanding the closed shutters, and 
 drawn curtains of my grandmother s dressing-room, an 
 unusual light had penetrated to the place, filling us with 
 sudden and intense alarm. I opened the door, and found 
 the passages illuminated, though all within appeared tranquil 
 and safe. There was a clamour in the court, however, and 
 presently the fearful war-whoop of the savages rose on the 
 night air. The cries came from without, as I fancied, and 
 rushing to the little door, I was on the lawn in a moment, 
 when the mystery was solved. An extensive hay-barn, one 
 well filled with the remainder of the last year s crops, was 
 on fire, sending its forked and waving tongues of flame at 
 least a hundred feet into the air. It was merely a new ar- 
 31 
 
362 THE REDSKINS 
 
 gument against the leasehold tenures, and in favour of the 
 " spirit of the institutions," a little vividly pressed on the 
 human senses. Next year, it may figure in the message of 
 a governor, or the philanthropical efforts of some Albany 
 orator, if the same " spirit" prevail in the " institutions," aa 
 would seem to prevail this! Is a contract to be tolerated 
 which induces freemen to set barns on fire? 
 
 The barn that had been set on fire stood on the flats, be 
 low the cliff, and fully half a mile from the Nest. The con 
 flagration made a most brilliant blaze, and, as a matter of 
 course, produced an intense light. The loss to myself did 
 not exceed a few hundred dollars; and, while this particu 
 lar argument in favour of anti-rentism was not entirely 
 agreeable, it was not so grave as it might have been, had it 
 been urged on other buildings, and in the same mode. In 
 other words, I was not so much distressed with my loss as 
 not to be able to see the beauty of the scene ; particularly 
 as my uncle Ro whispered that Dunning had caused an in 
 surance to be effected in the Saratoga Mutual Assurance, 
 which would probably place a considerable portion of the 
 tenants in the unlooked-for category of those who were to 
 pay for their own frolic. 
 
 As it was too late to think of saving the barn and ricks, 
 and Miller, with his people, had already descended to the 
 spot to look after the fences, and any other object that might 
 be endangered by the flying embers, there was nothing for 
 us to do but to remain passive spectators. Truly, the scene 
 was one worthy of being viewed, and is not altogether unfit 
 for description. 
 
 The light of that burning barn extended for a great dis 
 tance, shining like what it was, an " evil deed in a naughty 
 world ;" for, notwithstanding the high authority of Shak- 
 speare, it is your "evil deeds," after all, that produce the 
 brightest blazes, and which throw the-ir beams the farthest, 
 in this state of probation in which we live. 
 
 The most remarkable objects in that remarkable scene 
 were the true and the false redskins the " Indians" and the 
 " Injius" both of whom were in motion on the meadows, 
 and both of whom were distinctly visible to us where wa 
 gtood, on the cliffs (the ladies being at their chamber win- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 363 
 
 dows), though I dare say they were not quite so obvious to 
 each other. 
 
 The Indians had formed themselves into a very open 
 order, and were advancing towards the other party in a 
 stealthy manner, by creeping on all-fours, or crouching like 
 catamounts to the earth, and availing themselves of every 
 thing like a cover that offered. The burning barn was be- 
 tween the two parties, and was a principal reason that the 
 " Injins" were not sooner aware of the risk they ran. The 
 last were a whooping, shouting, dancing, leaping band, of 
 some forty or fifty of the " disguised and armed," who were 
 quite near enough to the conflagration to enjoy it, without 
 being so near as to be necessarily connected with it. We 
 understood their presence and antics to be intended as so 
 many intimations of the secret agency they had had in the 
 depredations of the night, and as so many warnings how I 
 withstood the "spirit of the Institutions." 
 
 Manytongues, who had certain vague notions of the ne 
 cessity of his keeping on the windy side of the law, did not 
 accompany his red brethren, but came through the gateway 
 and joined my uncle and myself, as we stood beneath the 
 cover of a noble chestnut, on the verge of the cliff, watching 
 the course of things on the meadow. I expressed my sur 
 prise at seeing him there, and inquired if his presence might 
 not be needed by Flintyheart or Prairiefire. 
 
 "Not at all, not at all, Colonel," he answered with per 
 fect coolness. " The savages have no great need of an 
 intarpreter in the business they are on ; and if harm comes 
 of the meetin , it s perhaps best that the two parties should 
 not understand each other, in which case it might all be 
 looked on as an accident. I hope they ll not be particular 
 about scalps, for I told Flintyheart, as he" was leaving us, 
 the people of this part of the world did not like to be 
 scalped." 
 
 This was the only encouragement we received from the 
 interpreter, who appeared to think that matters were now 
 in the right train, and that every difficulty would soon be 
 disposed of, secvndum artem. The Injins,"however, viewed 
 tho affair differently, having no wish for a serious brush 
 with any one ; much less with enemies of the known cha- 
 -acter of red-skins. How they ascertained the presence of 
 
364 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 their foe I cannot say, though it is probable some one saw 
 them stealing along the meadows, in spite of all their care, 
 and gave the alarm. Alarm it was, sure enough; the party 
 of the previous day scarce retreating through the woods 
 with greater haste than the " disguised and armed" now 
 vanished. 
 
 Such has been the fact, as respects these men, in every 
 instance in which they have been brought in contact with 
 "armed bodies, though much inferior to their own in numbers. 
 Fierce enough, and even brutal, on a variety. of occasions 
 in which individuals have become subject to their power, in 
 all cases in which armed parties, however small, have been 
 sent against them, they have betrayed timidity and a dread 
 of making that very appeal to force, which, by their own 
 previous acts, they had insolently invited. Is it then true, 
 that these soi-disant * Injins" have not the ordinary courage 
 of their race, and that they are less than Americans, with 
 arms in their hands, and below the level of all around them 
 in spirit ? Such is not the case. The consciousness of guilt 
 has made them cowards ; they have found " that the king s 
 name is a tower of strength," and have shrunk from con 
 flicts, in which the secret warnings that come from on high 
 have told them that they were embodied in a wicked cause, 
 and contending for the attainment of wrong ends by unjus 
 tifiable means. Their conduct proves how easy it would 
 have been to suppress their depredations at the earliest day, 
 by a judicious application of the power of the State, and how 
 much they have to answer for who have neglected their duty 
 in this particular. 
 
 As soon as Flintyheart and his followers ascertained tha 
 the " disguised and armed" were actually off again, and that 
 they were hot to pass the morning in a skirmish, as no doubt 
 each man among them had hoped would to be the case, they 
 set up such whoops and cries as had not been heard on 
 those meadows during the last eighty years. The period 
 went beyond the memory of man since Indian warfare had 
 existed at Ravensnest, a few false alarms in the revolution 
 excepted. The effect of these yells was to hasten the re 
 treat, as was quite apparent to us on the cliffs ; but the saga 
 cious warriors of the Prairies knew too much to expose their 
 persons by approaching nearer to the blazing barn than 
 
THE REDSKINS. 365 
 
 might be prudent. On the contrary, seemingly satisfied 
 that nothing was to be done, and disdaining a parade of 
 service where no service was to be effected, they slowly re 
 tired from the meadows, regaining the cliffs by means 
 known to themselves. 
 
 This military demonstration, on the part of our red 
 brethren, was not without its useful consequences. It gave 
 the " Injins" an intimation of watchfulness, and of a readi 
 ness to meet them that prevented any new alarm that night, 
 and satisfied everybody at the Nest that our immediate dan 
 ger had come to an end. Not only was this the feeling of 
 my uncle and myself, but it was also the feeling of the fe 
 males, as we found on returning to the house, who had wit 
 nessed all that passed from the upper windows. After a 
 short interview with my grandmother, she consented to 
 retire, and preparations were made for settirTg a look-out, 
 and dismissing everybody to their beds again. Many- 
 tongues took charge of the watch, though he laughed at the 
 probability of there being any further disturbance that 
 night. . 
 
 " As for the redskins," he said, " they would as soon 
 sleep out under the trees, at this season of the year, as sleep 
 under a roof; and as for waking cats a nt their equals. 
 No no Colonel ; leave it all to me, and I ll carry you 
 through the night as quietly as if we were on the prer-ies 
 and living under good wholesome prer-ie law." 
 
 " As quietly, as if we were on the prairies !" We had 
 then reached that pass in New York, that after one burning, 
 a citizen might really hope to pass the remainder of his 
 night as quietly as if he were on the prairies ! And there 
 was that frothy, lumbering, useless machine, called a gov 
 ernment, at Albany, within fifty miles of us, as placid, as 
 self-satisfied, as much convinced that this was the greatest 
 people on earth, and itself their illustrious representatives, 
 as if the disturbed counties were so many gardens of Eden, 
 before sin and transgression had become known to it ! If 
 it was doing anything in the premises, it was probably 
 calculating the minimum the tenant should pay for the 
 landlord s land, when the latter might be sufficiently wor 
 ried to part with his estate. Perhaps, it was illustrating its 
 notions of liberty, by naming the precise sum that one citi- 
 31* 
 
366 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 zen ought to accept, in order that the covetous longings of 
 another should be satisfied ! 
 
 I was about to retire to my bed, for the first time tha 
 night, when my uncle Ro remarked it might be well to see 
 one of our prisoners at least. Orders had been given to 
 unbind the wretched men, and to keep them in an empty 
 store-room, which had no available outlet but the door 
 Thither we then repaired, and of course were admitted by 
 the sentinels, without a question. Seneca Newcome was 
 startled at my appearance, and I confess I was myself em 
 barrassed how to address him, from a wish to say nothing 
 that might appear like exultation on one side, or concession 
 on the other. My uncle, however, had no such scruples, 
 probably from better knowing his man ; accordingly, he 
 came to the point at once. 
 
 "The evit spirit must have got great ascendency in the 
 country, Seneca Newcome, when men of your knowledge, 
 dip so deeply into his designs," said Mr. Littlepage, sternly. 
 " What has my nephew ever done to incite you to come into 
 his house, as an incendiary, like a thief in the night?" 
 
 * Ask me no questions, Mr. Littlepage," surlily replied 
 the attorney, " for I shall answer none." 
 " And this miserable misguided creature who has been 
 your companion. The last we saw of these two men, Hugh, 
 hey were quarrelling in the highway, like cat and dog, and 
 there are signs about their faces that the interview became 
 still more hostile than it had been, after we left them." 
 
 " And here we find them together, companions in an en- 
 terprise of life and death !" 
 
 " It is ever thus with rogues. They will push their quar 
 rels to extremities, and make them up in an hour, when the 
 demon of rapine points to an object for common plunder. 
 You see the same spirit in politics, ay, and even in religion. 
 Men that have lived in hostility, for half their lives, con 
 tending for selfish objects, will suddenly combine their pow 
 ers to attain a common end, and work together like the 
 most true-hearted friends, so long as they see a chance of 
 effecting their wishes. If honesty were only one-half as 
 active as roguery, it would fare belter than it does. But the 
 honest man has his scruples ; his self-respect; his consis 
 tcncy, and most of all his principles, to mark out his course. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 and he cannot turn aside at each new impulse, like youi 
 pure knave to convert enemies into friends, and friends into 
 enemies. And you," turning to Josh Brigham, who was 
 looking surlily on " who have actually been eating Hugh 
 Littlepage s bread, what has he done, that you should come 
 at midnight, to burn him up like a caterpillar in the 
 spring?" 
 
 " He has had his farm long enough" muttered the fel 
 low " it s time that poor folks had some chance." 
 
 My uncle shrugged his shoulders ; then, as if he suddenly 
 recollected himself, he lifted his hat, bowed like a thorough 
 bred gentleman as he was, when he chose to be, wished 
 Seneca good night, and walked away. As we retired, he 
 expressed his conviction of the uselessness of remonstrance, 
 in this case, and of the necessity of suffering the law to take 
 its own course. It might be unpleasant to see a Newcome 
 actually hanged, but nothing short of that operation, he felt 
 persuaded would ever fetch up the breed in its evil courses. 
 Wearied with all that had passed, I now went to bed, and 
 slept soundly for the succeeding seven hours. As the house 
 was kept quiet by orders, everybody repaired the lost time, 
 the Nest being as quiet as in those days in which the law 
 ruled in the republic. 
 
368 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIT, 
 
 Well may we sing her beautie? 
 
 This pleasant land of ours, 
 Her sunny smiles, her golden fruits, 
 
 And all her world of flowers. 
 And well would they persuade us now r 
 
 In moments all too dear, 
 That, sinful though our hearts may be, 
 We have our Eden here." 
 
 SIMMS. 
 
 THE following day was Sunday. I did not rise uniif 
 nine, and when I withdrew the curtains and opened the shut 
 ters of my window, and looked out upon the lawn, and the 
 fields beyond it, and the blue void that canopied all, I thought 
 a lovelier day, or one more in harmony with the tranquil 
 character of the whole scene, never shone from the heavens. 
 I threw up the sash, and breathed the morning air which 
 filled my dressing-room, pregnant with the balms and odours 
 of the hundred sweet-smelling flowers and plants that em- 
 bellished the shrubberies. The repose of the Sabbath seemed 
 to rest on man and beast ; the bees and humming-birds that 
 buzzed about the flowers, even at their usual pursuits seemed 
 as if conscious of the sanctity of the day. I think no one 
 can be insensible to the difference there is between a Sabbath 
 in the country and any other day of the week. Most of 
 this, doubtless, is the simple consequence of abstaining from 
 labour; but, connected with the history of the festival, its 
 usual observances, and the holy calm that appears to reign 
 around, it is so very obvious and impressive, that a Sunday 
 in a mild day in June, is to me ever a delicious resting-place, 
 as a mere poetical pause in the bustling and turmoil of this 
 world s time. Such a day was that which succeeded the 
 night through which we had just passed, and it came most 
 opportunely to soothe the spirits, tranquillize the apprehen 
 sions, and afford a moment for sober reflection. 
 
 There lay the smouldering ruins of the barn, it is true; 
 a blackened monument of a wicked deed; but the mood 
 
THE REDSKINS. 369 
 
 which had produced this waste and wrong appeared to have 
 passed away ; and, in all other respects, far and near, the 
 farms of Ravensnest had never spread themselves before the 
 eye in colours more in consonance with the general bene 
 volence of a bountiful nature. For a moment, as I gazed 
 on the broad view, I felt all my earlier interests in it revive, 
 and am not ashamed to own that a profound feeling of gra 
 titude to God came over me when I recollected it was by his 
 Providence I was born the heir to such a scene, instead of 
 having my lot cast among the serfs and dependants of other 
 regions. 
 
 After standing at the window a minute, in contemplation 
 of that pleasing view, I drew back, suddenly and painfully 
 conscious of the character and extent of the combination that 
 existed to rob me of my rights in it. America no longer 
 seemed America to my eyes ; but, in place of its ancient 
 submission to the law, its quick distinction between right 
 and wrong, its sober and discriminating liberty, which 
 equally avoided submission to the injustice of power, and the 
 excesses of popular delusion, there had been substituted the 
 rapacity of the plunderer, rendered formidable by the insi 
 dious manner in which it was interwoven with political ma 
 chinery, and the truckling of the wretches entrusted with 
 authority ; men who were playing into the hands of dema 
 gogues, solely in order to secure majorities to perpetuate 
 their own influence. Was, then, the State really so corrupt 
 as to lend itself to projects as base as those openly main 
 tained by the anti-renters ? Far from it : four men out of 
 five, if not a larger proportion, must be, and indeed are, sen 
 sible of the ills that their success would entail on the com 
 munity, and would lift up heart and hand to-morrow to put 
 them down totally and without pity ; but they have made 
 themselves slaves of the lamp ; have enlisted in the ranks 
 of party, and dare not oppose their leaders, who wield them 
 as Napoleon wielded his masses, to further private views, 
 apostrophizing and affecting an homage to liberty all the 
 while ! Such is the history of man ! 
 
 When the family met in the breakfast-room, a singular 
 tranquillity prevailed among us. As for my grandmother, I 
 knew her spirit and early experience, and was not so much 
 surprised to find her calm and reasonable ; but these quali. 
 
370 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ties seemed imparted to her four young companions also, 
 Patt could laugh, and yield to her buoyant spirits, just tho 
 same as if nothing had occurred, while my uncle s other 
 wards maintained a lady-like quiet, that denoted anything 
 but apprehension. Mary Warren, however, surprised me 
 by her air and deportment. There she sat, in her place at 
 the table, looking, if possible, the most feminine, gentle, and 
 timid of the four. I could scarcely believe that the blushing, 
 retiring, modest pretty daughter of the rector could be tho 
 prompt, decided, and clear-headed young girl who had been 
 of so much service to me the past night, and to whose cool 
 ness and discretion, indeed, we were all indebted for the roof 
 that was over our heads, and some of us, most probably, for 
 our lives. 
 
 Notwithstanding this air of tranquillity, the breakfast was 
 a silent and thoughtful meal. Most of the conversation was 
 between my uncle and grandmother, and a portion of it re 
 lated to the disposal of the prisoners. There was no magis 
 trate within several miles of the Nest, but those who were 
 tainted with anti-rentism ; and to carry Seneca and his com 
 panion before a justice of the peace of this character, would 
 be, in effect, to let them go at large. Nominal bail would 
 be taken, and it is more than probable the constable em 
 ployed would have suffered a rescue, did they even deem it 
 necessary to go through this parade of performing their du 
 ties. My uncle, consequently, adopted the following plan. 
 He had caused the two incendiaries to be transferred to the 
 old farm-house, which happened to contain a perfectly dry 
 and empty cellar, and which had much of the security of a 
 dungeon, without the usual defects of obscurity and damp- 
 ness. The red-men had assumed the office of sentinels, one 
 having his station at the door, while another watched near 
 a window which admitted the light, while it was scarcely 
 large enough to permit the human body to squeeze through 
 it. The interpreter had received instructions from the agent 
 to respect the Christian Sabbath ; and no movement being 
 contemplated for the day, this little duty just suited their 
 lounging, idle habits, when in a state of rest. Food and 
 water, of course, had not been forgotten ; and there my 
 uncle Ro had left that portion of the business, intending to 
 have the delinquents carried to a distant magistrate, one of 
 
THE REDSKINS. 371 
 
 the Judges of the County, early on Monday morning. As 
 for the disturbers of the past night, no signs of them were 
 any longer visible ; and there being little extensive cover 
 near the Nest, no apprehension was felt of any surprise. 
 
 We were still at breakfast, when the tone of St. Andrew s 
 bell came floating, plaintively, through the air, as a sum 
 mons to prepare ourselves for the services of the day. It 
 was little more than a mile to the church, and the younger 
 ladies expressed a desire to walk. My grandmother, at 
 tended by her son, therefore, alone used the carriage, while 
 we young people went off in a body, on foot, half an hour 
 before the ringing of the second bell. Considering the state 
 of the country, and the history of the past night, I was 
 astonished at my own indifference on this occasion, no less 
 than at that of my charming companions ; nor was it long 
 before I gave utterance to the feeling. 
 
 " This America of ours is a queer place, it must be ad 
 mitted," I cried, as we crossed the lawn to take a foot-path 
 that would lead us, by pleasant pastures, quite to the church- 
 door without entering the high-way, except to cross it once ; 
 * here we have the whole neighbourhood as tranquil as if 
 crime never disturbed it, though it is not yet a dozen hours 
 since riot, arson, and perhaps murder, were in the contem 
 plation of hundreds of those who live on every side of us. 
 The change is wonderful !" 
 
 " But, you will remember it is Sunday, Hugh," put in 
 Patt. " All summer, when Sunday has come, we have had 
 a respite from disturbances and fears. In this part of the 
 country, the people are too religious to think of desecrating 
 the Sabbath by violence and armed bands. The anti-renters 
 would lose more than they would gain by pursuing a differ 
 cnt course." 
 
 I had little or no difficulty in believing this, it being no 
 unusual thing, among us, to find observances of this nature 
 clinging to the habits of thousands, long after the devout 
 feeling which had first instilled it into the race has become 
 extinct. Something very like it prevails in other countries, 
 and among even higher and more intellectual classes, where it 
 is no unusual thing to find the most profound outward respect 
 manifested towards the altar and its rites, by men who live 
 n the hourly neglect of the first and plainest commaadfr of 
 
372 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the decalogue. We are not aione, therefore, in this phari 
 saical spirit, which exists, in some mode or other, wherevej 
 man himself is to be found. 
 
 But, this equivocal piety was certainly manifested to a 
 striking degree, that day, at Ravensnest. The very men 
 who were almost desperate in their covetous longings ap 
 peared at church, and went through the service with as 
 much seeming devotion as if conscious of no evil ; and a 
 general truce appeared to prevail in the country, notwith 
 standing there must have been much bitterness of feeling 
 among the discomfited. Nevertheless, I could detect in the 
 countenances of many of the old tenants of the family, an 
 altered expression, and a coldness of the eye, which bespoke 
 anything but the ancient friendly feeling which had so long 
 existed between us. The solution was very simple ; dema 
 gogues had stirred up the spirit not of the Institutions, but 
 of covetousness, in their breasts; and so long as that evil 
 tendency predominated, there was little room for better 
 feelings. 
 
 " Now, I shall have another look at the canopied pew," 
 I cried, as we entered the last field, on our way to the 
 church. " That offensive, but unoffending, object had 
 almost gone out of my mind s eye, until my uncle recol 
 lected it, by intimating that Jack Dunning, as he calls his 
 friend and council, had written him it must come down." 
 
 " I agree with Mr. Dunning altogether," answered Mar 
 tha, quickly. " I wish with all my heart, Hugh, you would 
 order that hideous-looking thing to be taken away this very 
 week." 
 
 " Why this earnestness, my dear Patt? There has the 
 hideous thing been ever since the church was built, which 
 is now these three-score years, and no harm has come of 
 it, as I know." 
 
 " It is harm to be so ugly. It disfigures the church ; 
 and then I do not think distinctions of that sort are proper 
 for the house of God. I know this ever has been my 
 grandmother s opinion ; but finding her father-in-law and 
 husband desirous of such an ornament, she consented in 
 silence, during their lives." 
 
 " What do you say to all this, Miss Warren," I asked 
 turning to my companion, for by some secret influence 1 
 
THE REDSKINS. 373 
 
 was walking at her side. " Are you up canopy or * down 
 canopy ? " 
 
 " Down canopy, " answered Mary, firmly. " I am of 
 Mrs. Littlepage s opinion, that churches ought to contain as 
 little as possible to mark worldly distinctions. Such dis 
 tinctions are inseparable from life, I know ; but it is to pre 
 pare for death that we enter such buildings/ 
 
 " And your father, Miss Warren have you ever heard 
 him speak of my unfortunate pew ?" 
 
 Mary hesitated an instant, changed colour, then looked 
 up into my face with a countenance so ingenuous and 
 lovely, that I would have forgiven her even a severe com 
 ment on some act of folly of my own. 
 
 " My father is an advocate for doing away with pews 
 altogether," she answered, "and, of course, can have no 
 particular wish to preserve yours. He tells me, that in the 
 churches of the Romanists, the congregation sit, stand, or 
 kneel, promiscuously before the altar, or crowd around the 
 pulpit, without any distinctions of rank or persons. Surely, 
 that is better than bringing into the very temple the most 
 pitiful of all worldly classifications, that of mere money." 
 
 " It is better, Miss Warren ; and I wish, with all my 
 heart, the custom could be adopted here. But the church 
 that might best dispense with the support obtained from 
 pews, and which, by its size and architecture, is best fitted 
 to set the example of a new mode, has gone on in the old 
 way, I understand, and has its pews as well as another." 
 
 " Do we get our custom from England, Hugh?" demand 
 ed Martha. 
 
 "Assuredly; as we do most others, good, bad and indif 
 ferent. The property-notion would be very akely to prevail 
 in a country like England ; and then it is not absolutely true 
 that everybody sits in common, even in the churches of the 
 continent of the old world. The Seigneur, under the old 
 regime, in France, had his pew, usually ; and high dignita 
 ries of the State in no country are found mingling with the 
 mass of worshippers, unless it be in good company. It is 
 true, a duchesse will kneel in the crowd, in most Romish 
 churches, in the towns, for there are too many such persons 
 to accommodate all with privileged seats, and such honours 
 are reserved for the very great ; but in the country, there 
 32 
 
374 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 are commonly pews, in by-places, for the great personages 
 of the neighbourhood. VVe are not quite so bad as we fancy 
 ourselves, in this particular, though we might be better." 
 
 " But, you will allow that a canopied pew is unsuited to 
 this country, brother?" 
 
 " Not more to this, than to any other. I agree that it is 
 unsuited to all places of worship, where the petty differences 
 between men, which are created by their own usages, should 
 sink into insignificance, in the direct presence, as it might 
 be, of the power of God. But, in this country, I find a 
 spirit rising, which some persons would call the * spirit of 
 the Institutions, that is for ever denying men rewards, and 
 honours, and credit exactly in the degree in which they de 
 serve them. The moment a citizen s head is seen above the 
 crowd of faces around him, it becomes the mark of rotten 
 eggs, as if he were raised in the pillory, and his fellow- 
 creatures would not tolerate any difference in moral stature." 
 
 " How do you reconcile that with the great number of 
 Catos, and Brutuses, not to say of the Gracchi, that are to 
 be found among us?" asked Mary Warren, slily. 
 
 " Oh ! these are the mere creatures of party great men 
 for the nonce. They are used to serve the purposes of fac 
 tions, and are be-greated for the occasion. Thus it is, that 
 nine-tenths of the Catos you mention, are forgotten, even by 
 name, every political lustrum. But let a man rise, inde 
 pendently of the people, by his own merit, and see how the 
 people will tolerate him. Thus it is with my pew it is a 
 great pew, and become great without any agency of the 
 folks ; and the folks don t like it." 
 
 The girls laughed at this sally, as light-hearted, happy 
 girls will laugh at anything of the sort; and Patt put in her 
 retort, in her own direct, spirited manner. 
 
 " It is a great ugly thing, if that concession will flatter 
 your vanity," she said, "and I do entreat it may come 
 down greatly, this present week. Really, you can have no 
 notion, Hugh, how much talk it has made of late." 
 
 " I do not doubt it, my dear. The talk is all aimed a 
 the leases ; everything that can be thought of, being dragged 
 into the account against us poor landlords, in order to ren 
 der our cause unpopular, and thus increase the chances of 
 x>bbing us with impunity. The good, people of this State 
 
THE REDSKINS. 375 
 
 little imagine that the very evil that the enemies of the in 
 stitutions have long predicted, and which their friends have 
 as warmly repudiated, are now actively at work among us, 
 and that the great experiment is in imminent danger of 
 failing, at the very moment the people are loudly exulting 
 in its success. Let this attempt on property succeed, ever 
 so indirectly, AND IT WILL BE FOLLOWED UP BY OTHERS, 
 
 WHICH WILL AS INEVITABLY DRIVE US INTO DESPOTISM, AS 
 A KEFUGE AGAINST ANARCHY, AS EFFECT SUCCEEDS TO 
 
 CAUSE. The danger exists, now, in its very worst form- 
 that of political demagogueism and must be met, face to 
 face, and put down manfully, and on true principles, or, in 
 my poor judgment, we are gone. Cant is a prevailing vice 
 of the nation, more especially political and religious cant, 
 and cant can never be appeased by concessions. My cano 
 py shall stand, so long as anti-rentism exists at Ravensnest, 
 or be torn down by violence ; when men return to their 
 senses, and begin to see the just distinctions between meum 
 and lui/m, the cook may have it for oven-wood, any day in 
 the week." 
 
 As we were now about to cross the stile that communi 
 cated with the highway, directly in front of the church, the 
 conversation ceased, as unsuited to the place and the occa 
 sion. The congregation of St. Andrew s was small, as is 
 usually the case with the country congregations of its sect 
 which are commonly regarded with distrust by the descend 
 ants of the Puritans in particular, and not unfrequently with 
 strong aversion. The rowdy religion half-cant, half-blas 
 phemy that Cromwell and his associates entailed on so 
 many Englishmen, but which was not without a degree of 
 ferocious, narrow-minded sincerity about it, after all, has 
 probably been transmitted to this country, with more of its 
 original peculiarities than exist, at the present day, in any 
 other part of the world. Much of the narrow-mindedness 
 remains ; but, unhappily, when liberality does begin to show 
 itself in these sects, it is apt to take the character of latitu- 
 dinarianism. In a word, the exaggerations and false prin 
 ciples that were so common among the religious fanatics of 
 the American colonies in the seventeenth century, which 
 burnt witches, hanged Quakers, and denounced all but the 
 elect few, are now running their natural race, with the goal 
 
376 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of infidelity in open view before them. Thus will it be, also, 
 with the abuses of political liberty, which must as certainly 
 terminate in despotism, unless checked in season ; such 
 being, not the " spirit of the Institutions," but the tendency 
 of human nature, as connected with everything in which the 
 right is abandoned to sustain the wrong. 
 
 Mr. Warren, I found, was a popular preacher, notwith 
 standing the disfavour with which his sect was generally 
 regarded. A prejudiced and provincial people was natu 
 rally disposed to look at everything that differed from their 
 own opinions and habits with dislike; and the simple cir 
 cumstance that he belonged to a church that possessed bish 
 ops, was of itself tortured into a proof that his sect favoured 
 aristocracy and privileged classes. It is true that nearly 
 every other sect in the country had orders in the church, 
 under the names of ministers, elders, and deacons, and was 
 just as liable to the same criticism ; but then they did not 
 possess bishops, and having that which we do not happen to 
 have ourselves, usually constitutes the gist of an offence, in 
 cases of this sort. Notwithstanding these obstacles to popu 
 larity, Mr. Warren commanded the respect of all around him; 
 and, strange as it may seem, none the less because, of all 
 the clergy in that vicinity, he alone had dared to rebuke the 
 spirit of covetousness that was abroad, and which it suits the 
 morals of some among us to style the " spirit of the Institu 
 tions ;" a duty he had discharged on more than one occa 
 sion, with great distinctness and force, though temperately 
 and under the full influence of a profound feeling of Chris 
 tian charity. This conscientious course had given rise to 
 menaces and anonymous letters, the usual recourse of the 
 mean and cowardly ; but it had also increased the weight 
 of his character, and extorted the secret deference of many 
 who would gladly have entertained a different feeling towards 
 him, had it been in their power. 
 
 My grandmother and uncle were already seated in the 
 canopied pew when we pedestrians entered the church. 
 Mary Warren turned into another aisle, and proceeded to 
 the pew reserved for the rector, accompanied by my sisfer, 
 while the other two young ladies passed up to the chancel, 
 and took their customary places. I followed, and for the 
 first time in my life was seated beneath the offensive canopy 
 
THE REDSKINS. 377 
 
 vested with all the rights of ownership. By tho, term " cano 
 py," however, the reader is not to imagine anything like 
 festooned drapery crimson colours and gilded laces; our 
 ambition had never soared so high. The amount of the dis 
 tinction between this pew and any other in the church was 
 simply this : it was larger and more convenient than those 
 around it, an advantage which any other might have" equally 
 enjoyed who saw fit to pay for it, as had been the case with 
 us, and it was canopied with a heavy, clurmsy, ill-shaped 
 sort of a roof, that was a perfect caricature of the celebrated 
 baldachino of St. Peter s, in Rome. The first of these ad 
 vantages probably excited no particular envy, for it came 
 within the common rule of the country, of" play and pay;" 
 but as for the canopy, that was aristocratic, and was not to 
 be tolerated. Like the leasehold tenure, it was opposed to 
 the spirit of the Institutions. It is true, it did no real harm, 
 as an existing thing ; it is true, it had a certain use, as a 
 memorial of past opinions and customs ; it is true, it was 
 property, and could not be touched without interfering with 
 its privileges ; it is true, that every person who saw it se 
 cretly felt there was nothing, after all, so very inappropriate 
 in such a pew s belonging to a Littlepage ; and, most of all, 
 it was true that they who sat in it never fancied for a mo 
 ment that it made them any better or any worse than the 
 rest of their fellow-creatures. There it was, however ; and, 
 next to the feudal character of a lease, it was the most 
 offensive object then existing in Ravensnest. It may be 
 questioned if the cross, which occupied the place that, ac 
 cording to provincial orthodox} , a weathercock should have 
 adorned, or Mr. Warren s surplice, was oae-half as of 
 fensive. 
 
 When I raised my head, after the private devotions which 
 are customary with us semi-papishes, on entering a place 
 of worship, and looking around me, I found that the build 
 ing was crowded nearly to overflowing. A second glance 
 told me that nearly every eye was fastened on myself. At 
 first, the canopy having been uppermost so lately in my 
 mind, I fancied that the looks were directed at that; but I 
 soon became satisfied that I, in my own unworthy person, 
 was their object. I shall not stop to relate most of the idle 
 and silly reports that had got abroad, in con^ction with tho 
 32* 
 
378 THE REDSKINS 
 
 manner ana reason of my disguised appearance in the ham 
 let, the preceding day, or in connection with anything else, 
 though one of those reports was so very characteristic, and 
 so entirely peculiar to the subject in hand, that I cannot 
 omit it. That report was simply a rumour that I had caused 
 one of my own barns to be set on fire, the second night of 
 my arrival, in order to throw the odium of the act on those 
 " virtuous and hard-working husbandmen," who only main 
 tained an illegal and armed body on foot, just to bully and 
 worry me out of my property. Yes, there I sat ; altogether 
 unconscious of the honour done me; regarded by quite half 
 lhat congregation as the respected and just-minded youth, 
 who had devised and carried out precisely such a rascally 
 scheme. Now, no one who has not had the opportunity to 
 compare, can form any idea how much more potent and 
 formidable is the American " folks say," than the vulgar 
 reports of any other state of society. The French on dit is 
 a poor, pitiful report, placed by the side of this vast lever, 
 which, like that of Archimedes, only wants a stand for its 
 fulcrum, to move the world. The American " folks say" 
 has a certain omnipotence, so long as it lasts, which arises 
 from, not the spirit, but the character of the institutions, 
 themselves. In a country in which the people rule, * folks 
 are resolved that their say shall not pass for nothing. So 
 few doubt the justice of the popular decision, that holy writ, 
 itself, has not, in practical effect, one-half the power that 
 really belongs to one of these reports, so long as it suits the 
 common mind to entertain it. Few dare resist it; fewer 
 still call in question its accuracy; though, in sober truth, 
 is hardly ever right. It makes and unmakes reputation, for 
 vhe time being bien entendu; it even makes and unmakes 
 patriots, themselves. In short, though never quite truth, 
 and not often very much like the truth, paradoxical as it 
 may appear, it is truth, and nothing but the truth, pro hac 
 vice. Everybody knows, nevertheless, that there is no per 
 manency to what * folks say" about anything ; and that 
 * folks frequently, nay, almost invariably, " unsay" what 
 has been said six months before; yet, all submit to the au 
 thority of its dicta> so long as folks choose to say. The 
 only exception to this rule, and it merely proves it, is in the 
 case of political parties, when there are always two " folks 
 
THE REDSKINS. 379 
 
 eay" which flatly contradict each other; and sometimes 
 there are half-a-dozen, no two of which are ever precisely 
 alike! 
 
 There I sat, as I afterwards learned, " the observed of 
 all observers," merely because it suited the purposes of those 
 who wished to get away my estate to raise various reports to 
 my prejudice, not one of which, I am happy to have it in 
 my power to say, was in any manner true. The first good 
 look that I took at the congregation satisfied me that very 
 much the larger part of it consisted of those who did not 
 belong to St. Andrew s church. Curiosity, or some worse 
 feeling, had trebled the number of Mr. Warren s hearers 
 that day, or, it might be more correct to say, of m/ ob 
 servers. 
 
 There was no other interruption to the services than that 
 which was produced by the awkwardness of so many who 
 were strangers to the ritual. The habitual respect paid to 
 religious rites kept every one in order; and, in the midst of 
 a feeling that was as malignant and selfish as well could 
 exist under circumstances of so little provocation, I was safe 
 from violence, and even from insult. As for myself, little 
 was or could be known of my character and propensities at 
 Ravensnest. School, college, and travelling, with winter 
 residences in town, had made me a sort of stranger in my 
 own domain, and I was regarded through the covenants of 
 my leases, rather than through any known facts. The 
 same was true, though in a less degree, with my uncle, who 
 had lived so much abroad as to be considered a sort of half 
 foreigner, and one who preferred other countries to his own. 
 This is an offence that is rarely forgiven by the masses in 
 America, though it is probably the most venial sin that one 
 who has had the opportunities of comparing can commit. Old 
 nations offer so many more inducements than young nations 
 to tempt men of leisure and cultivation to reside in them, 
 that it is not surprising the travelled American should pre 
 fer Europe to his own quarter of the world ; but the jealousy 
 of a provincial people is not apt to forgive this preference. 
 For myself, I have heard it said, and I believe it to be true, 
 to a certain extent, that countries on the decline, supposing 
 them to have been onoe at the summit of civilization, make 
 pleasanter abodes for the idler than nations on the advance. 
 
380 THE REDSKINS 
 
 This is one of the reasons why Italy attracts so many mor 
 visiters than England, though climate must pass for some 
 thing in such a comparison. But these long absences, and 
 supposed preferences for foreign life, had made my uncle 
 Ro, in one sense, unpopular with the mass, which has been 
 taught to believe, by means of interested and fulsome eulo 
 gies on their own slate of society, that it implies something 
 more than a want of taste, almost a want of principle, to 
 prefer any other. This want of popularity, however, was 
 a good deal relieved by a .wide and deep conviction of my 
 uncle s probity, as well as of his liberality, his purse having 
 no more string to it than General Harrison s door was 
 thought to have of a latch. But the case was very different 
 with my grandmother. The early part of her life had been 
 spent at the Nest, and it was impossible so excellent a wo 
 man could be anything but respected. She had, in truth, 
 been a sore impediment with the anti-renters ; more espe 
 cially in carrying out that part of their schemes which is 
 connected with traduction, and its legitimate offspring, pre 
 judice. It would hardly do to traduce this noble-minded, 
 charitable, spirited, and just woman ; yet, hazardous as the 
 experiment must and did seem, it was attempted, and not 
 altogether without success. She was accused of an aristo 
 cratic preference of her own family to the families of other 
 people. Patt and I, it was urged, were only her grand 
 children, and had ample provision made for us in other 
 estates besides this, and a woman of Mrs. Littlepage s 
 time of life, it was said, who had one foot in the grave, 
 ought to have too much general philanthropy to give a pre 
 ference to the interests of mere grandchildren, over the inte 
 rests of the children of men who had paid her husband and 
 sons rent, now, for quite sixty years. This attack had 
 come from the pulpit, too, or the top of a molasses hogs 
 head, which was made a substitute for a pulpit, by an itine 
 rant preacher, who had taken a bit of job-work, in which 
 the promulgation of the tenets of the gospel and those of 
 anti-rentism was the great end in view. 
 
 As I have said, my good grandmother suffered somewhat 
 in public estimation, in consequence of this assault. It ia 
 true, had any one openly charged the circulators of this silly 
 calumny with their offence, they \vr jld have stoutly denied 
 
THE REDSKINS. 381 
 
 it ; but it was none the less certain that this charge, among 
 a hundred others, varying from it only in degree, and not 
 at all in character, was industriously circulated in order 
 to render the Littlepages unpopular; unpopularity being 
 among us the sin that is apt to entail all the evil consequences 
 of every other offence. 
 
 The reader who is not acquainted with the interior of our 
 social habits, must not suppose that I am colouring for effect. 
 So far from this, I am quite conscious of having kept the 
 tone of the picture down, it being an undeniable truth that 
 nothing of much interest, now-a-days, is left to the simple 
 decision of principles and laws, in this part of the country at 
 least. The supremacy of numbers is so great, that scarce 
 a private suit of magnitude is committed to a jury without 
 attempts, more or less direct, to influence the common mind 
 in favour of one side or the other, in the hope that the jurors 
 will be induced to think as the majority thinks. In Europe, 
 it is known that judges were, nay, are, visited and solicited 
 by the parties ; but, here, it is the public that must be treated 
 in the same way. I am far from wishing to blazon the de 
 fects of my own country, and I know from observation, that 
 corresponding evils, differing only in their exterior aspects, 
 and in their mode of acting, exist elsewhere; but these are 
 the forms in which some of our defects present themselves, 
 and he is neither a friend to his country, nor an honest man, 
 who wishes them to be bundled up and cloaked, instead of 
 being exposed, understood, and corrected. This notion of 
 4 nil nisi bene has done an infinite degree of harm to the 
 country ; and, through the country, to freedom. 
 
 I do not think the worship of the temple amounted to any 
 great matter that day in St. Andrew s Church, Ravensnest. 
 Quite half the congregation was blundering through the 
 liturgy, and every man who lost his place in the prayer- 
 book, or who could not find it at all, seemed to fancy it was 
 quite sufficient for the ritual of us semi-papists if he kept his 
 eye on me and my canopied pew. How many pharisees 
 were present, who actually believed that ] had caused my 
 own barn to be burned, in order to throw opprobrium on the 
 * virtuous, honest, and * hard-working tenants, and who 
 gave credit to the stories affecting my title, and all the rest 
 
382 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 of the stuff that calculating cupidity had set afloat in tho 
 country, I- have no way of knowing ; but subsequent circum 
 stances have given me reason to suppose they were not d 
 few. A great many men left the House of God that morn 
 ing, I make no doubt, whose whole souls were wrapped up 
 in effecting an act of the grossest injustice, professing to 
 themselves to thank God that they were not as wicked as 
 the being whom they desired to injure. 
 
 I stopped to say a word to Mr. Warren, in the vestry- 
 room, after the people were dismissed, for he had not passed 
 the night with us at the Nest, though his daughter had 
 After we had said a word about the occurrence of the morn 
 ing, the good rector, having heard a rumour of the arrest of 
 certain incendiaries, without knowing who they were, I 
 made a more general remark or two previously to quitting 
 the place. 
 
 " Your congregation was unusually large this morning, 
 sir," I said, smiling, " though not altogether as attentive as 
 it might have been." 
 
 "I owe it to your return, Mr. Littlepage, aided by the 
 events of the past day or two. At one moment I was afraid 
 that some secret project was on foot, and that the day and 
 place might be desecrated by some scene of disgraceful vio 
 lence. All has gone off well in that respect, however, and 
 I trust that no harm will come of this crowd. We Ameri 
 cans have a respect for sacred things which will ordinarily 
 protect the temple." 
 
 " Did you, then, think St. Andrew s ran any risk to-day, 
 sir?" 
 
 Mr. Warren coloured a little, and he hesitated an instant 
 before he answered. 
 
 "You doubtless know, young sir," .he said, " the nature 
 of the feeling that is now abroad in the country. With a 
 view to obtain its ends, anti-rentism drags every auxiliary 
 it can find into its ranks, and, among other things, it has 
 assailed your canopied pew. I own, that, at first, I appre 
 hended some assault might be contemplated on that." 
 
 "Let it come, sir; the pew shall be altered on a general 
 and right principle, but not until it is let alone by envy, 
 malice, and covetousness. It would be worse to make a con* 
 
THE REDSKINS. 383 
 
 cession to these than to let the pew stand another half cen 
 tury." 
 
 With these words in my mouth, I took my leave, hasten 
 ing on to overtake the girls in the fields. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 " There is a pure republic wild, yet strong 
 A fierce democracie, where all are true 
 
 To what themselves have voted, right or wrong, 
 
 And to their laws denominated blue; 
 (If red, they might to Draco s code belong.) 
 
 HALLECK. 
 
 SUCH was my haste in quitting the church, that I did not 
 turn to the right or the left. I saw the light, but well- 
 rounded form of Mary Warren loitering along with the rest 
 of the party, seemingly in waiting for me to join them ; 
 and crossing the road, I sprang upon the stile, and thence 
 to the ground, coming up with the girls at the next instant. 
 
 " What is the meaning of the crowd, Hugh?" asked my 
 sister, pointing down the road with the stick of her parasol, 
 as she put the question. 
 
 * Crowd ! I have seen no crowd. Everybody had left 
 the church before I quitted it, and all has gone off peacea 
 bly. Ha ! sure enough, that does look like a crowd yonder 
 in the highway. It seems an organized meeting, by George ! 
 Yes, there is the chairman, seated on the upper rail of the 
 fence, and the fellow with a bit of paper in his hand is 
 doubtless the secretary. Very American, and regular, all 
 that ! Some vile project is hatching, I 11 answer for it, under 
 the aspect of an expression of public opinion. See, there is 
 a chap speaking, and gesticulating manfully!" 
 
 We all stopped, for a moment, and stood looking at the 
 crowd, which really had all the signs of a public meeting 
 about it. There it had been, the girls told me, ever since 
 they had quitted the church, and seemingly engaged much 
 as it was at that moment. The spectacle was curious, and 
 the day being fine, while time did not press, we lingered in 
 
384 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the fields, occasionally stopping to look behind us, and 
 xvhat was going on in the highway. 
 
 In this manner, we might have walked half the distance 
 to the Nest, when, on turning to take another look, we per- 
 ceived that the crowd had dispersed ; some driving off in 
 the ever-recurring one-horse wagon, some on horseback 
 and others on foot. Three men, however, were walking 
 fast in our direction, as if desirous of overtaking us. They 
 had already crossed the stile, and were on thepath in the 
 field, a route rarely or never taken by any but those who 
 desired to come to the house. Under the circumstances, I 
 determined at once to stop and wait for them. First feeling 
 in my pocket, and making sure of the " revolver," which is 
 getting to - be an important weapon, now that private battle* 
 are fought not only " yard-arm and yard-arm," but by 
 regular " broadsides," starboard and larboard, I intimated 
 my intention to the girls. 
 
 " As these men are evidently coming in quest of me," I 
 remarked, " it may be as well, ladies, for you to continue 
 your walk towards home, while I wait for them on this 
 stile." 
 
 " Very true," answered Patt. " They can have little to 
 say that we shall wish to hear, and you will soon overtake 
 us. Remember, we dine at two on Sundays. Hugh ; the 
 evening service commencing at four, in this month." 
 
 " No, no," said Mary Warren, hurriedly, " we ought not, 
 cannot, quit Mr. Littlepage. These men may do him some 
 harm." 
 
 I was delighted with this simple, natural manifestation of 
 interest, as well as with the air of decision with which it 
 was made. Mary, herself, coloured at her own interest, 
 but did not the less maintain the ground she had taken. 
 
 " Why, of what use can we be to Hugh, dear, even ad 
 mitting what you say to be true ?" answered Patt ; " it were 
 better for us to hurry on to the house, and send those here 
 who can assist him in such a case, than stand by idle and 
 useless." 
 
 As if profiting by this hint, Miss Coldbrooke and Miss 
 Marston, who were already some little distance in advance, 
 went off* almost on a run, doubtless intending to put my 
 sister s project into execution. But Mary Warren stood 
 
THE REDSKINS. 385 
 
 firm, and Patt would not desert her friend, whatever mighi 
 have been her disposition to treat me with less consideration. 
 
 " It is true, we may not be able to assist Mr. Littlepage, 
 should violence be attempted," the first remarked ; " but vi 
 olence is, perhaps, what is least to be apprehended. These 
 wretched people so little regard truth, and they will be three 
 to one, if your brother be left alone ; that it is better we stay 
 and hear what is said, ia order that we may assert what 
 the facts really were, should these persons see fit to pervert 
 them, as too often happens." 
 
 Both Patt and myself were struck with the prudence and 
 sagacity of this suggestion ; and the former now came quite 
 near to the stile, on which I was still standing, with an air 
 as steady and resolute as that of Mary Warren herself. Just 
 then the three men approached. Two of them I knew by 
 came, though scarcely in person, while the third was a 
 otal stranger. The two of whom I had some knowledge, 
 ivere named Bunce and Mowatt, and were both tenants of 
 my own ; and, as I have since learned, warm anti-renters. 
 The stranger was a travelling demagogue, who had been at 
 the bottom of the whole affair connected with the late meet 
 ing, and who had made his two companions his tools. The 
 three came up to the stile, with an air of great importance, 
 nor could the dignity of their demeanour have been greater 
 had they been ambassadors extraordinary from the Emperor 
 of China. 
 
 " Mr. Littlepage," commenced Mr. Bunce, with a par 
 ticularly important physiognomy, " there has been a meet 
 ing of the public, this morning, at which these resolutions 
 was passed. We have been appointed a committee to de 
 liver a copy of them to you, and our duty is now performed, 
 by handing you this paper." 
 
 " Not unless I see fit to accept it, I presume, sir," was 
 my answer. 
 
 " I should think no man, in a free country, would refuse 
 to receive a set of resolutions that has been passed by a 
 meeting of his fellow-citizens." 
 
 " That might depend on circumstances ; the character of 
 the resolutions, in particular. The freedom of the country 
 it is, precisely, which gives one man the same right to say 
 33 
 
38G THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ho cares nothing about your resolutions, as it does you tfj 
 pass them." 
 
 "But you have not looked at the resolutions, sir and 
 until you do, you cannot know how you may like them." 
 
 " That is very true ; but I have looked at their bearers, 
 have seen their manner, and do not quite like the assump 
 tion of power which says any body of men can send me 
 resolutions, whether I like to receive them or not." 
 
 This declaration seemed to strike the committee aghast ! 
 The idea that one man should hesitate to submit himself to 
 a yoke imposed by a hundred, was so new and inconceiva 
 ble to those who deem majorities all in all, that they hardly 
 knew how to take it.* At first there was an obvious dis 
 position to resent the insult; then came reflection which 
 probably told them that such a course might not prove so 
 well, the whole terminating in a more philosophical deter 
 mination of getting along easily. 
 
 " Am I to understand, Mr. Littlepage, that you refuse to 
 accept the resolutions of a public meeting?" 
 
 " Yes ; of half-a-dozen public meetings put together, if 
 those resolutions are offensive, or are offered offensively." 
 
 * The prevalence of the notion of the omnipotence of majorities, i> 
 America, is so wide-spread and deep, among the people in general, a? 
 to form a distinctive trait in the national character. It is doing an 
 infinity of mischief, by being mistaken for the governing principle of 
 the institutions, when in fact it is merely a necessary expedient to de 
 cide certain questions which must be decided by somebody, and in some 
 mode or other. Kept in its proper sphere, the use of majorities is re 
 plete with justice, so far as justice can be exercised among men- 
 abused, it opens the highway to the most intolerable tyranny. As a 
 matter of course, the errors connected with this subject vary through 
 all the gradations of intellect and selfishness. The following anecdote 
 will give the reader some notion how the feeling impressed a stranger 
 shortly after his arrival in this country. 
 
 A year or two since, the writer had in his service an Irishman who 
 had been only two years in the country. It was a part of this man s 
 duty to look after the welfare of certain pigs, of which one occupied 
 tbe position of a runt. Has your honour looked at the pigs lately," 
 said the honest fellow, one day. No, not lately, Pat ; is there any 
 change." "That is there, indeed, sir, and a great change. The little 
 fellow is getting the majon.fi/ of the rest, and will make the best hog 
 of em all!" EDITOR. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 387 
 
 "As to the resolutions, you can know nothing, having 
 never seen them. Of the right of any number of the people 
 to pass such resolutions as they may think proper, I presume 
 there can he no question." 
 
 " Of that right, sir, there is a very great question, as has 
 been settled within the last few years, in our own Courts. 
 But, even if the right existed, and in as broad a way as you 
 seem to think, it would not form a right to force these reso 
 lutions on me." 
 
 " I am, then, to tell the people you refuse even to read 
 their resolutions, Squire Littlepage." 
 
 " You can tell them what you please, sir. I know of no 
 people, except in the legal sense, and under the limited 
 powers that they exercise by law. As for this new power, 
 which is rising up in the country, and has the impudence to 
 call itself the people, though composed of little knots of men 
 got together by management, and practised on by falsehood, 
 it has neither my respect nor dread ; and as I hold it in 
 contempt, I shall treat it with contempt, whenever it comes 
 n my way." 
 
 " I am, then, to tell the people of Ravensnest, you hold 
 them in contempt, sir." 
 
 " I authorize you to tell the people of Ravensnest nothing, 
 as coming from me, for I do not know that the people of 
 Ravensnest have employed you. If you will ask me, re 
 spectfully, as if you were soliciting a favour instead of de 
 manding a right, to read the contents of the paper you hold 
 in your hand, I may be willing to comply. What I object 
 to, is a handful of men s getting together, setting themselves 
 up as the people, pretending to authority in that capacity, 
 and claiming a right to force their notions on other folks." 
 
 The three committee-men now drew back a few paces, 
 and consulted together apart, for two or three minutes. 
 While they were thus employed, I heard the sweet gentle 
 voice of Mary Warren say at my elbow " Take their reso 
 lutions, Mr. Littlepage, and get rid of them. I dare say 
 they are very silly, but you will get rid of them all the 
 sooner, by receiving the paper." This was woman s ad 
 vice, which is a little apt to err on the side of concession, 
 when her apprehensions are aroused ; but I was spared the 
 pain of not complying with it, by the altered tone of the trio. 
 
388 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 who now came up to the stile again, having apparently 
 come to a final decision in the premises. 
 
 " Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, junior," said Bunce in a 
 solemn voice, and in a manner as precise as if he were 
 making some legal tender that was of the last importance , 
 and which required set phrases, "I now ask you, in a 
 most respectful manner, if you will consent to receive this 
 paper. It contains certain resolutions, .passed with great 
 unanimity by the people of Ravensnest, and which may be 
 found to affect you. I am directed respectfully to ask you, 
 if you will accept this copy of the said resolutions." 
 
 I cut the rest of the speech short by receiving the prof 
 fered paper, and I thought all three of the worthy ambassa 
 dors looked disappointed at my having done so. This gave 
 a new turn to my ideas, and had they now demanded their 
 resolutions back again, they should not have had them, so 
 long as the revolvers could do their duty. For a moment, 
 I do believe Bunce was for trying the experiment. He and 
 his companions would have been delighted to have it in 
 their power to run up and down the country crying out that 
 the aristocrat-landlord, young Littlepage, held the people in 
 contempt, and had refused even to accept the resolutions 
 they had deigned, in their majesty, to pass. As it was, 
 however, I had sufficiently rebuked the presumption of these 
 pretenders to liberty, avoided all the consequences of their 
 clamour in that behalf, and had an opportunity to gratify a 
 curiosity to know what the leaders of the meeting had been 
 about, and to read their resolutions. I say, the leaders of 
 the meeting, for it is very certain the meetings themselves, 
 on all such occasions, have no more to do with the forming, 
 or entertaining the opinions that are thus expressed, than if 
 they had been in Kamtschatka, the whole time. Folding 
 the paper, therefore, and putting it in my pocket, I bowed 
 to the committee, saying, as I descended the stile on the 
 other side of the fence 
 
 " It is well, gentlemen ; if the resolutions require any no 
 tice, they ll be sure to receive it. Public meetings held of a 
 Sunday are so unusual in this part of the world, that this 
 may have interest with that small portion of the State which 
 does not dweJl at Ravensnest." 
 
 I thought the committee was a little abashed; but the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 389 
 
 stranger, or tne travelling demagogue, caught at my words, 
 and answered as I walked away, in company with Patt and 
 Mary Warren 
 
 " The better day, the better deed. The matter related to 
 the Sabbath, and no time so suitable as the Sabbath to act 
 on it." 
 
 I will own I was dying with curiosity to read the resolu 
 tions, but dignity prevented any such thing until we had 
 reached a spot where the path led through a copse, that con 
 cealed us from observation. Once under that cover, how 
 ever, I eagerly drew out the paper, the two girls drawing 
 near to listen, with as lively an interest as that I felt myself 
 in the result. 
 
 " Here you may see at a glance," I cried, shaking open 
 the folds of the paper, ** the manner in which the people so 
 often pass their resolutions ! All this writing has a very 
 school-master air, and has been done with care and delibe 
 ration, whereas there was certainly no opportunity to make 
 a copy as fair as this of anything out in the highway where 
 the meeting was actually held. This proves that matters 
 have been cut and dried for the sovereign people, who, like 
 other monarchs, are saved a great deal of trouble by their 
 confidential servants." 
 
 " I dare say," said Patt, " two or three men down at the 
 village prepared everything-, and then brought their work 
 up to the meeting to be read and approved, and to go forth 
 as public sentiment." 
 
 If it were only honestly approved by even those who 
 heard it read, it would be another matter ; but two-thirds of 
 every meeting are nothing but dough-faces, that are moulded 
 to look whichever way the skilful manager may choose. But 
 let us see what these notable resolutions are ; we may like 
 them, possibly, after having read them." 
 
 " It is so extraordinary to have a public meeting of a 
 Sunday in this part of the world !" exclaimed Mary 
 Warren. 
 
 I now set about reading the contents of the paper, which, 
 at a glance, I saw had been very carefully prepared for pub 
 lication, and no doubt would soon figure in some of the 
 journals. Fortunately, this business has been so much over 
 done, and so many meetings are held that flatly contradi? 
 33* 
 

 390 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 each other, though all represent public sentiment, fire is 
 made so effectually to fight fire, that the whole procedure is 
 falling into contempt, and the public is actually losing the 
 great advantage which, under a more temperate use of its 
 power, it might possess, by making known from time to 
 time, as serious occasions offered, its true opinions and 
 wishes. As things actually are, every man of intelligence 
 is fully aware that simulated public opinions are much the 
 most noisy and active in the country, and he regards nothing 
 of the sort of which he hears or reads, unless he happen to 
 know something of the authority. It is the same with the 
 newspaper press generally ; into such deep discredit has it 
 fallen, that not only is its power to do evil much curtailed, 
 but it has nearly lost all power to do good ; for, by indulging 
 in licentiousness, and running into the habit of crying 
 " wolf," nobody is disposed to believe, were the beast actually 
 committing its ravages in the flocks of the nation. There 
 are but two ways for a man to regain a position from which 
 he has departed; the one is by manfully retracing his steps, 
 and the other is by making a circuit so complete that 
 all who choose to watch him may see and. understand all 
 sides of him, and estimate him accordingly. The last is 
 likely to be the career of demagogueism and the press; both 
 of which have already gone so far as to render retreat next 
 to impossible, and who can only regain any portion of public 
 confidence by being satisfied with completing their circuit, 
 and falling in the rear of the nation, content to follow those 
 whom it has been their craving ambition to lead. 
 
 " At a meeting of the citizens of Ravensnest," I began to 
 read aloud, " spontaneously Convened, June 22d, 1845, in 
 the public highway, after attending divine service in the 
 Episcopal meeting-house, according to the forms of the esta 
 blished denomination of England, on the church and state 
 system, Onesiphoras Hayden, Esquire, was called to the 
 chair, and Pulaski Todd, Esquire, was appointed Secretary. 
 After a luminous and eloquent exposition of the objects of 
 the meeting, and some most pungent strictures on aristociacy 
 and the rights of man, from Demosthenes Hewlett and John 
 Smith, Esquires, the following expression of public senti 
 ment was sustained by an undivided unanimity : Resolved 
 that a temperate expression of public opinion is useful to the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 391 
 
 rights of freemen, and is one of the most precious privileges 
 of freedom, as the last has been transmitted to us in a free 
 country by our ancestors, who fought and bled for free and 
 equal institutions on free and equal grounds. 
 
 Resolved, That we prize this privilege, and shall ever 
 watch over its exercise with vigilance, the price of liberty 
 
 " Resolved, That, as all men are equal in the eyes of the 
 law, so are they much more so in the eyes of God. 
 
 " Resolved, That meeting-houses are places constructed 
 for the convenience of the people, and that nothing ought to 
 be admitted into them that is opposed to public sentiment, 
 or which can possibly offend it. 
 
 " Resolved, That, in our judgment, the seat that is good 
 enough for one man is good enough for another ; that we 
 know no difference in families and races, and that pews 
 ought to be constructed on the principles of equality, as well 
 as laws. 
 
 " Resolved, That canopies are royal distinctions, and quite 
 unsuited to republicans ; and most of all, to republican meet 
 ing-houses. 
 
 " Resolved, That religion should be adapted to the insti 
 tutions of a country, and that a republican form of govern 
 ment is entitled to a republican form of religion ; and that 
 we do not see the principles of freedom in privileged seats 
 in the House of God." 
 
 " That resolution has been got up as a commentary on 
 what has been circulated so much, of late, in the newspa 
 pers," cried Mary Warren, quickly ; " in which it has been 
 advanced, as a recommendation of certain sects, that their 
 dogmas and church-government are more in harmony with 
 republicanism than certain others, our own church in 
 cluded." 
 
 " One would think," I answered, " if this conformity be 
 a recommendation, that it would be the duty of men to make 
 their institutions conform to the church, instead of the church s 
 conforming to the institutions." 
 
 " Yes ; but it is not the fashion to reason in this way, 
 now-a-days. Prejudice is just as much appealed to in mat 
 ters connected with religion, as with anything else." 
 . "Resolved," I continued to read, "That in placing a 
 canopy over his pew, in St. Andrew s meeting-house, Ra- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 vensnest, Gen. Cornelius Lilllepage conformed to the spiri 
 of a past age, rather than to the spirit of the present time, 
 and that we regard its continuance there as an aristociatical 
 assumption of a superiority that is opposed to the character 
 of the government, offensive to liberty, and dangerous as an 
 example." 
 
 " Really that is too bad !" exclaimed Patt, vexed at heart, 
 even while she laughed at the outrageous silliness of the 
 resolutions, and all connected with them. " Dear, liberal- 
 minded grandpapa, who fought and bled for that very liberty 
 about which these people cant so much, and who was actively 
 concerned in framing the very institutions that they do not 
 understand, and are constantly violating, is accused of being 
 false to what were notoriously his own principles !" 
 
 "Never mind that, my dear; there only remain three 
 more resolutions : let us hear them. Resolved, That we 
 see an obvious connection between crowned heads, patents 
 of nobility, canopied pews, personal distinctions, leasehold 
 tenures, land-LoRDS, days works, fat fowls, quarter-sales, 
 three-lives leases, and RENT. 
 
 " Resolved, That we are of opinion that, when the owners 
 of barns wish them destroyed, for any purpose whatever, 
 there is a mode less alarming to a neighbourhood than by 
 setting them on fire, and thus giving rise to a thousand re 
 ports and accusations that are wanting in the great merit of 
 truth. 
 
 " Resolved, That a fair draft be made of these resolu 
 tions, and a copy of them delivered to one Hugh Roger Lit- 
 ilepage, a citizen of Ravensnest, in the county of Washing 
 ton ; and that Peter Bunce, Esq., John Mowatt, Esq., and 
 Hezekiah Trott, Esq., be a committee to see that this act 
 be performed. 
 
 "Whereupon the meeting adjourned, sine die. Onesi- 
 phorus Hayden, chairman ; Pulaski Todd, secretary." 
 
 " Whe-e-e-w !" I whistled, " here *s gunpowder enough 
 for another Waterloo !" 
 
 " What means that last resolution, Mr. Littlepage ?" asked 
 Mary Warren, anxiously. " That about the barn." 
 
 " Sure enough ; there is a latent meaning there which has 
 ts sting. Can the scoundrels intend to insinuate that / 
 aused that barn to be set on fire !" 
 
THE REDSKINS. 393 
 
 " If they should, it is scarcely more than they have at- 
 .empted to do with every landlord they have endeavoured to 
 rob," said Patt, with spirit. " Calumny seems a natural 
 weapon of those who get their power by appealing to num 
 bers." 
 
 " That is natural enough, my dear sister ; since prejudice 
 and passion are quite as active agents as reason and facts, 
 in the common mind. But this is a slander that shall be 
 looked to. If I find that these men really wish to circulate a 
 report that I caused my own barn to be set on fire pshaw ! 
 nonsense, after all ; have we not Newcome, and that other 
 rascal in confinement, at this moment, for attempting to set 
 fire to my house ?" 
 
 "Be not too confident, Mr. Littlepage," said Mary, with 
 an anxiety so pointed that I could not but feel its flattery 
 " my dear father tells me he has lost most of his confidence 
 in innocence, except as One above all weaknesses shall be 
 the judge : this very story may be got up expressly to throw 
 distrust on your accusations against the two incendiaries 
 you have taken in the act. Remember how much of the 
 facts will depend on your own testimony." 
 
 " I shall have you to sustain me, Miss Warren, and the 
 juror is not living, who would hesitate to believe that to 
 which you will testify. But here we are approaching the 
 house ; we will talk no more on the subject, lest it distress 
 my grandmother." 
 
 We found all quiet at the Nest, no report of any sort 
 having come from the red-men. Sunday was like any other 
 day to them, with the exception that they so far deferred to 
 our habits, as to respect it, to a certain extent, while in our 
 presence. Some writers have imagined that the aborigines 
 of America are of the lost tribes of Israel ; but it seems to 
 me that such a people could never have existed apart, unin 
 fluenced by foreign association, and preserved no tradition, 
 no memorial of the Jewish Sabbath. Let this be as it may, 
 John, who met us at the door, which we reached just after 
 my uncle and grandmother, reported all quiet, so far as he 
 knew anything of the state of the farm-buildings. 
 
 " They got enough last night, I J se thinking, Mr. Hugh, 
 and has found out by this time, that it s better to light a fire 
 in one of their own cook-stoves, than come to light it on the 
 
394 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 floor of a gentleman s kitchen. I never heard it said, sir 
 that the Haraericans was as much Hirish as they oe Heng- 
 lish, but to me they seems to grow every day more like the 
 wild Hirishers, of whom we used to hear so much in Lun un. 
 Your honoured father, sir, would never have believed that 
 his own dwelling would be entered, at .night, by men who 
 are his very neighbours, and who act like burglariouses, as 
 if they were so many Newgate birds, no. Why, Mr. 
 Hugh, this Squire Newcome, as they call him, is an hattor- 
 ney, and has often dined here at the Nest. I have anded 
 him his soup, and fish, and wine, fifty times, just as if he 
 was a gentleman, and to his sister, Miss Hopportunity, too ; 
 and they to come to set fire to the house, at midnight !" 
 
 " You do Miss Opportunity injustice, John ; for she has 
 not had the least connection with the matter." 
 
 " Well, sir, nobody knows anything, now-a-days I de 
 clare, my eyes be getting weak, or there is the young lady, 
 at this very instant !" 
 
 "Young lady! where? you do not mean Opportunity 
 Newcome, surely." 
 
 " I does though, sir, and it s she, sure enough. If that 
 is n t Miss Hopportunity, the prisoner that the savages has 
 got up in the cellar of the old farm-house, isn t her 
 brother." 
 
 John was quite right ; there was Opportunity standing in 
 the very path, and at the very spot where I had last seen 
 her disappear from my sight, the past night. That spot 
 was just where the path plunged into the wooded ravine, and 
 so far was her person concealed by the descent, that we could 
 only perceive the head, and the upper part of the body. The 
 girl had shown herself just that much, in order to attract 
 my attention, in which she had no sooner succeeded, than, 
 by moving downward a few paces, she was entirely hid 
 from sight. Cautioning John to say nothing of what had 
 passed,! sprang down the steps, and walked in the direction 
 of the ravine, perfectly satisfied I was expected, and far 
 from certain that this visit did not portend further evil. 
 
 The distance was so short that I was soon at the verge 
 of the ravine, but when I reached it Opportunity had disap 
 peared. Owing to the thicket, her concealment was easily 
 obtained, while she might be within a few yards from me 
 
THE REDSKINS. 395 
 
 and I plunged downwards, bent only on ascertaining her 
 object. One gleam of distrust shot across my mind, 1 will 
 own, as I strided down the declivity ; but it was soon lost in 
 the expectation and curiosity that were awakened by the ap 
 pearance of the girl. 
 
 I believe it has already been explained, that in this part 
 of the lawn a deep, narrow ravine had been left in wood, and 
 that the bridle-path that leads to the hamlet had been carried 
 directly through it, for effect. This patch of wood may be 
 three or four acres in extent, following the course of the 
 ravine until it reaches the meadows, and it contains three or 
 four rustic seats, intended to be used in the warmer months. 
 As Opportunity was accustomed to all the windings and 
 turnings of the place, she had posted herself near one of 
 these seats, which stood in a dense thicket, but so near the 
 main path as to enable her to let me know where she was 
 to be found, by a low utterance of my name, as my tread 
 announced my approach. Springing up the by-path, I was 
 at her side in an instant. I do believe that, now she had so 
 far succeeded, the girl sunk upon the seat from inability to 
 stand. 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Hugh !" she exclaimed, looking at me with a 
 degree of nature and concern in her countenance that it was 
 not usual to see there " Sen my poor brother Sen what 
 have I done? what have I done?" 
 
 " Will you answer me one or two questions, Miss Oppor 
 tunity, with frankness, under the pledge that the replies 
 never shall be used to injure you or yours? This is a very 
 serious affair, and should be treated with perfect frankness." 
 
 " I will answer any thing to you any question you can 
 put me, though I might blush to do so but," laying her 
 hand familiarly, not to say tenderly on my arm " why 
 should we be Mr. Hugh and Miss Opportunity to each 
 other, when we were so long Hugh and Op ? Call me Op 
 again, and I shall feel that the credit of my family and the 
 happiness of poor Sen are, after all, in the keeping of a 
 true friend." 
 
 " No one can be more willing to do this than myself, my 
 dear Op, and I am willing to be Hugh again. But, you 
 know all that has passed." 
 
THE REDSKINS. 
 
 " [ do yes, the dreadful news has reached us, and 
 mother would n t leave me a moment s peace till I stole out 
 again to see you." 
 
 " Again ? Was your mother, then, acquainted with the 
 visit of last night?" 
 
 " Yes, yes she knew it all, and advised it all." 
 
 " Your mother is a most thoughtful and prudent parent," 
 I answered, biting my lip, " and I shall know hereaftei 
 how much I am indebted to her. To you, Opportunity, 1 
 owe the preservation of my house, and possibly the lives of 
 all who are most dear to me." 
 
 " Well, that s something, any how. There s no grief that 
 hasn t its relief. But, you must know, Hugh, that I never 
 could or did suppose that Sen himself would be so weak as 
 to come in his own person on such an errand ! I did n t 
 want telling to understand that, in anti-rent times, fire and 
 sword are the law, but, take him in general, Sen is alto 
 gether prudent and cautious. I d a bit my tongue off before 
 I M a got my own brother into so cruel a scrape. No, no 
 do n t think so ill of me as to suppose I came to tell of Sen !" 
 
 " It is enough for me that I know how much trouble you 
 took to warn me of danger. It is unnecessary for me to 
 think of you in any other light than that of a friend." 
 
 " Ah, Hugh ! how happy and merry we all of us used to 
 be a few years since ! That was before your Miss Cold- 
 brookes, and Miss Marstons, and Mary Warrens ever saw the 
 country. Then we did enjoy ourselves, and I hope such 
 times will return. If Miss Martha would only stick to old 
 friends, instead of running after new ones, Ravensnest 
 would be Ravensnest again." 
 
 " You are not to censure my sister for loving her own 
 closest associates best. She is several years our junior, 
 you will remember, and was scarcely of an age to be our 
 companion six years ago." 
 
 Opportunity had the grace to colour a little, for she had 
 only used Patt as a cloak to make her assaults on me, and 
 she knew as well as I did that my sister was good seven 
 years younger than herself. This feeling, however, was 
 but momentary, and she next turned to the real object of 
 this visit. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 397 
 
 " What am I to tell mother, Hugh ? You will let Sen 
 off, I know !" 
 
 I reflected, for the first time, on the hardships of the 
 case ; but felt a strong reluctance to allow incendiaries to 
 escape. 
 
 * The facts must be known, soon, all over the town," I 
 remarked. 
 
 " No fear of that : they are pretty much known, already. 
 News does fiyfast, at Ravensnest, all must admit." 
 
 " Ay, if it would only fly true. But, your brother can 
 hardly remain here, after such an occurrence." 
 
 " Lord ! How you talk ! If the law will only let him 
 alone, who d trouble him for this ? You havn t been home 
 long enough, to learn that folks don t think half as much of 
 setting fire to a house, in anti-rent times, as they d think of 
 a trespass, under the old-fashioned law. Anti-rent alters 
 the whole spirit." 
 
 How true was this ! And we have lads among us, who 
 have passed from their tenth to their eighteenth and twen 
 tieth years, in a condition of society that is almost hope 
 lessly abandoned to the most corrupting influence of all 
 the temptations that beset human beings. It is not surpris 
 ing that men begin to regard arson as a venial offence, 
 when the moral feeling of the community is thus unhinged, 
 and boys are suffered to grow into manhood, in the midst 
 of notions so fatal to every thing that is just and safe. 
 
 " But the law itself will not be quite as complaisant as the 
 folks. It will scarcely allow incendiaries to escape ; and 
 your brother would be compelled to flee the land." 
 
 " What of that? How many go off, and stay off for a 
 time ; and that s better than going up north to work at the 
 new prison. I m not a bit afraid of Sen s being hanged, for 
 these an t hanging times, in this country ; but it is some dis 
 grace to a family to have a member in the state s prison. 
 As for any punishment that is lasting, you can see how it 
 is, as well as I. There ve been men murdered about anti- 
 rentism, but, Lord ! the senators and assemblymen will 
 raise such a rumpus, if you go to punish them, that it won t 
 be long, if things go on as they have, before it will be 
 thought more honourable to be put in jail for shooting a 
 peace-officer, than to stay out of it, for not having done it, 
 34 
 
398 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Talk s all ; and if folks have a mind to make any thing hon 
 ourable, they ve only to say so often enough, to make it out." 
 
 Such were the notions of Miss Opportunity Newcome, 
 on the subject of modern morals, and how far was she from 
 the truth? I could not but smile at the manner in which 
 she treated things, though there was a homely and practical 
 common sense in her way of thinking, that was probably of 
 more efficiency than would have been the case with a more 
 refined and nicer code. She looked at things as they are, 
 and that is always something towards success. 
 
 As for myself, I was well enough disposed to consider 
 Opportunity, in this unfortunate affair of the fire, for it 
 would have been a cruel thing to suffer the girl to imagine 
 she had been an instrument in destroying her brother. It 
 is true, there is no great danger of a rogue s being hanged, 
 now-a-days, and Seneca was not sufficiently a gentleman, 
 though very tenacious of the title, to endanger his neck. 
 Had he been a landlord, and caught lighting a fire on the 
 kitchen-floor of one of the tenants, the State would not grow 
 hemp enough for his execution ; but it was a very different 
 thing to catch a tenant at that work. I could not but ask 
 myself, how many of the " honourable gentlemen" at Albany 
 would interfere in my behalf, had matters been reversed; for 
 this is the true mode of arriving at the spirit of the institu 
 tions ; or, rather, I have just as goqd a right to affirm such 
 is their * spirit, as any one has to assert that the lease-hold 
 tenure is opposed to them ; the laws and institutions them 
 selves, being equally antagonist to both. 
 
 The results of the interview I had with Opportunity were, 
 Istly, I kept my heart just where it was at its commence 
 ment, though I am not certain that it was in my own cus 
 tody ; 2dly, The young lady left me much encouraged on 
 the subject of the credit of the Newcomes, though I took 
 very good care not to put myself in her power, by promis 
 ing to compromise felony ; 3dly, I invited the sister tc 
 come openly to the Nest, that evening, as one of the means 
 to be employed in attaining her ends as respects Seneca, 
 be it remembered, not as respects me; and lastly, we parted 
 just as good friends as we ever had been, and entertaining 
 exactly the same views as regards each other. What those 
 views were, it may not be modest in me to record. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 399 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 " If men desire the rights of property, they must take their conse. 
 quences ; distinction in social classes. Without tho rights of property 
 civilization can hardly exist ; while the highest class of improvements 
 is probably the result of the very social distinctions that so many decry. 
 The great political problem to be solved, is to ascertain if the social 
 distinctions that are inseparable from civilization can really exist with 
 perfect equality in political rights. We are of opinion they can ; and 
 as much condemn him who vainly contends for a visionary and im 
 practicable social equality, as we do him who would deny to men 
 equal opportunities for advancement." 
 
 Political Essay. 
 
 MY interview with Opportunity Newcome remained a 
 secret between those who first knew of it. The evening 
 service in St. Andrew s was attended only by the usual con 
 gregation, all the curiosity of the, multitude seeming to have 
 been allayed by the visit in the morning. The remainder 
 of the day passed as usual, and, after enjoying a pleasant 
 even-tide, and the earlier hours of the night in the company 
 of the girls, I retired early to bed, and slept profoundly until 
 morning. My uncle Ro partook of my own philosophical 
 temper, and we encouraged each other in it by a short con 
 versation that occurred in his room before we respectively 
 retired to rest. 
 
 " I agree with you, Hugh," said my uncle, in reply to a 
 remark of my own ; " there is little use in making ourselves 
 unhappy about evils that we cannot help. If we* are to be 
 burnt up and stripped of our property, we shall be burnt up 
 and stripped of our property. I have a competency secured 
 in Europe, and we can all live on that, with economy, should 
 the worst come to the worst." 
 
 "It is a strange thing, to hear an American talk of 
 seeking a refuge of any sort in the old world !" 
 
 " If matters proceed in the lively manner they have for 
 the last ten years, you ll hear of it often. Hitherto, the rich 
 of Europe have been in the habit of laying by a penny in 
 America against an evil day ; but the time will soon come, 
 
400 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 unless there is a great change, when the rich of America will 
 return the compliment, in kind. We are worse off than if 
 we were in a state of nature, in many respects ; having our 
 hands tied by the responsibility that belongs to our position 
 and means, while those who choose to assail us are under a 
 mere nominal restraint. They make the magistrates, who 
 are altogether in their interests ; and they elect the sheriffs 
 who are to see the laws executed. The theory is, that the 
 people are sufficiently virtuous to perform all these duties 
 well ; but no provision has been made for the case in which 
 the people themselves happen to go astray, en masse." 
 
 " We have our governors and masters at Albany, sir." 
 
 "Yes, we have our governors and servants at Albany, 
 and there they are ! There has not been the time, probably, 
 since this infernal spirit first had its rise among us, that a 
 clear, manly, energetic, and well-principled proclamation, 
 alone, issued by the Governor of this State, would not have 
 aroused all the better feelings of the community, and put 
 this thing down ; but, small as would have been that tribute 
 to the right, it has never been paid, and, until we drop double- 
 distilled patriots, and have recourse again to the old-fashioned, 
 high-principled gentlemen for offices of mark, it never will 
 be done. Heaven preserve me from extra-virtuous, patri 
 otic, and enlightened citizens ; no good ever comes of them." 
 
 " I believe the wisest way, sir, is to make up our minds 
 that we have reached the point of reaction in the institutions, 
 and be ready to submit to the worst. I keep the revolver 
 well primed, and hope to escape being burnt up at least." 
 
 After a little more such discourse, we parted and sought 
 our pillows, and I can say that I never slept more soundly 
 in my life. If I did lose my estate, it was what other men 
 had suffered and survived, and why might not I as well as 
 another? It is true, those other men were, in the main, the 
 victims of what are called tyrants; but others, again, had 
 certainly been wronged by the masses. Thousands have 
 been impoverished in France, for instance, by the political 
 confiscations of the multitude, and thousands enriched by ill- 
 gotten gains, profiting by the calamities of those around 
 them ; and what has happened there might happen here. 
 Big words ought to pass for nothing. No man was ever o 
 whit more free because he was the whole time hriasting cf 
 
THE REDSKINS. 401 
 
 his liberty, and I was not now to learn that when numbers 
 did inflict a wrong, it was always of the most intolerable 
 character. Ordinarily, they were not much disposed to this 
 species of crime ; but men in masses were no more infalli 
 ble than individuals. In this philosophic mood, I slept. 
 
 I was awoke next morning by John s appearing at my 
 bedside, after having opened the shutter of my windows. 
 
 " I declare to you, Mr. Hugh," began this well-meaning, 
 but sometimes officious servant, " I don t know what will 
 come next at Ravensnest, now the evil spirit has got upper 
 most among the inhabitants !" 
 
 " Tut, tut, John what you call the evil spirit is only the 
 * Spirit of the Institutions ; and is to be honoured, instead 
 of disliked." 
 
 " Well, sir, I don t know what they calls it, for they talks 
 so much about the hinstitutions in this country, I never can 
 find out what they would be at. There was a hinstitution 
 near where I lived in my last place, at the West End, in 
 Lon on, and there they taught young masters to speak and 
 write Latin and Greek. But hinstitutions in IJamerica must 
 mean something, for them as doesn t know any more Latin 
 than I do seems to be quite hintimate with these Hamerican 
 hinstitutions. But, Mr. Hugh, would you, could you, be 
 lieve the people committed parricide last night ?" 
 
 " I am not at all surprised at it, for, to me, they have 
 seemed to be bent on matricide for some time, calling the 
 country their mother." 
 
 " It s hawful, sir it s truly hawful, when a whole people 
 commits such a crime as parricide ! I know d you would 
 be shocked to hear it, Mr. Hugh, and so I just came in to 
 let you know it." 
 
 " I am infinitely obliged to you for this attention, my 
 good fellow, and shall be still more so when you tell me all 
 about it." 
 
 " Yes, sir, most willingly, and most unwillingly, too. 
 But there s no use in iding the fact ; it s gone, Mr. Hugh !" 
 
 " What is gone, John ? Speak out, my good fellow ; 1 
 can bear it." 
 
 " The pew, sir or, rather that beautiful canopy that co 
 vered it, and made it look so much like the Lc-d Mayor s seat 
 34* 
 
402 THE REUSKINS. 
 
 in Guildhall. 1 ave hadmired and honoured that canopy 
 sir, as the most helegant hobject in this country, sir." 
 
 " So they have destroyed it at last, have they? Encour 
 aged and sustained by an expression of public sentiment, aa 
 proclaimed in a meeting that had a chairman and secretary, 
 they have actually cut it down, I suppose?" 
 
 " They have, sir ; and a pretty job they ve made of it. 
 There it stands, up at Miller s, hover his pig-pen !" 
 
 This was not a very heroic termination of the career of 
 the obnoxious canopy ; but it was one that made me laugh 
 heartily. John was a little offended at this levity, and he 
 soon left me to finish my toilet by myself. I dare say, 
 many of the honest folk of Ravensnest would have been as 
 much surprised as John himself, at the indifference I mani 
 fested at the fate of this dignified pew. But, certainly, so 
 far as my own social elevation, or social depression, were 
 concerned, I cared nothing about it. It left me just where I 
 w as neither greater nor otherwise ; and as for any monu 
 ments to let the world know who my predecessors had been, 
 or who I was at that moment, the country itself, or the part 
 of it in which we dwelt, was sufficient. Its history must 
 be forgotten, or changed, before our position could be mis 
 taken ; though I dare say, the time will come when some 
 extremely sublimated friend of equality will wish to extin 
 guish all the lights of the past, in order that there may not 
 exist that very offensive distinction of one man s name 
 being illustrated, while another man s name is not. The 
 pride of family is justly deemed the most offensive of all 
 pride, since a man may value himself on a possession to 
 which he has not the smallest claim in the way of personal 
 merit, while those of the highest personal claims are alto 
 gether deprived of an advantage, to the enjoyment of which 
 ancestors alone have created the right. Now, the institu 
 tions, both in their letter and their spirit, do favour justice. 
 in this particular, as far as they can ; though even they are 
 obliged to sustain one of the most potent agents to such dis 
 tinctions, by declaring, through the laws, that the child 
 shall succeed to the estate of the father. When we shall 
 get every thing straight, and as it ought to be, in this pro 
 gressive country, Heaven only knows ; for I find my tenants 
 stress on the fact that their fathers have leased my 
 
THE REDSKINS. 403 
 
 lands for generations, while they are quite willing to forget 
 that my fathers were the lessors all the while. 
 
 I found all four of the girls on the piazza, breathing the 
 air of as balmy a summer morning as a bountiful nature 
 ever bestowed. They had heard of the fate 6f the canopy, 
 which affected them differently, and somewhat according to 
 temperament. Henrietta Coldbrooke laughed at it violently, 
 and in a way I did not like ; your laughing young lady 
 rarely having much beyond merriment in her. I make 
 all allowance for youthful spirits, and a natural disposition 
 to turn things into fun ; but it was too much to laugh at this 
 exploit of the anti-renters, for quite half an hour together 
 I liked Anne Marston s manner of regarding it better. She 
 smiled a good deal, and laughed just enough to show that 
 she was not insensible to the effect of an absurdity ; and 
 then she looked as if she felt that a wrong had been done. 
 As for Patt, she was quite indignant at the insult ; nor was 
 she very backward in letting her opinions be known. But 
 Mary Warren s manner of viewing the affair pleased me 
 best, as indeed was fast getting to be the fact with most of 
 her notions and conceits. She manifested neither levity nor 
 resentment. Once or twice, when a droll remark escaped 
 Henrietta, she laughed a little ; a very little, and involunta 
 rily, as it might be just enough to prove that there was 
 fun in her when she would make some sensible observa 
 iion, to the effect that the evil temper that was up in the 
 country was the true part of the transaction that deserved 
 attention ; and that she felt this as well as saw it. Nobody 
 seemed to care for the canopy not even my excellent 
 grandmother, in whose youth the church had been built, 
 when distinctions of this sort were more in accordance with 
 the temper and habits of the times, than they are to-day. I 
 had been on the piazza just long enough to note this differ 
 ence in the manner of the girls, when my grandmother 
 joined us. 
 
 " Oh ! grandmother, have you heard what those wretches 
 of* Injins, as they are rightly named, have been doing with 
 the canopy of the pew?" cried Patt, who had been at the 
 bedside of our venerable parent, and kissed her an hour be 
 fore : " they have torn it down, and placed it over the pen 
 of the pigs !" 
 
404 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 A common laugh, in which Patt herself now joined, in 
 terrupted the answer for a moment, old Mrs. Littlepage her. 
 self manifesting a slight disposition to make one of the 
 amused. 
 
 " I have heard it all, my dear," returned my grandmo 
 ther, " and, on the whole, think the thing is well enough 
 gotten rid of. I do not believe it would have done for Hugh 
 to have had it taken down, under a menace, while it is per 
 haps better that it should no longer stand." 
 
 " Were such things common, in your youth, Mrs. Little- 
 uage ?" asked Mary Warren. 
 
 " Far from uncommon ; though less so in country than in 
 town churches. You will remember that we were but re 
 cently separated from England, when St. Andrew s was 
 built, and that most of the old colonial ideas prevailed among 
 us. People, in that day, had very different notions of social 
 station, from those which now exist ; and New York was, 
 in a certain sense, one of the most, perhaps the most aristo- 
 cratical colony in the country. It was somewhat so under 
 the Dutch, republicans as they were, with its patroons ; but 
 when the colony was transferred to the English, it became 
 a royal colony at once, and English notions were introduced 
 as a matter of course. In no other colony was there as 
 many manors, perhaps ; the slavery of the south introduc 
 ing quite a different system there, while the policy of Penn 
 and of New England, generally, was more democratic. I 
 apprehend, Roger, that we owe this anti-rent struggle, and 
 particularly the feebleness with which it is resisted, to the 
 difference of opinion that prevails among the people of New 
 England, who have sent so many immigrants among us, 
 and our own purely New York notions." 
 
 " You are quite right, my dear mother," answered my 
 uncle, " though New Yorkers, by descent, are not wanting 
 among the tenants, to sustain the innovation. The last act 
 either from direct cupidity, or to gain popularity with a set 
 whereas, as I view the matter, the first are influenced by 
 the notions of the state of society from which either they 
 themselves, or their parents, were directly derived. A very 
 large proportion of the present population of New York is 
 of New England origin. Perhaps one-third have this ex- 
 traction, either as born there, or as the sons or grandsons 
 
THE REDSKINS. 405 
 
 of those who were. Now, in New England generally, great 
 equality of condition exists, more especially when you rise 
 above the lower classes ; there being very few, out of the 
 large trading towns, who would be deemed rich in New 
 York, and scarcely such a thing as a large landholder, at 
 all. The relation of landlord and tenant, as connected with 
 what we should term estates, is virtually unknown to New 
 England ; though Maine may afford some exceptions. This 
 circumstance is owing to the peculiar origin of the people, 
 and to the fact that emigration has so long carried off the 
 surplus population ; the bulk of those who remain being able 
 to possess freeholds. There is a natural antipathy in men 
 who have been educated in such a state of society, to any 
 thing that seems to place others in positions they do not, 
 and cannot occupy themselves. Now, while the population 
 of New York may be one-third, perhaps, of New England 
 descent, arid consequently more or less of New England 
 notions, a much larger proportion of the lawyers, editors of 
 newspapers, physicians, and active politicians, are of that 
 class. We think little, and talk little of these circumstances ; 
 for no nation inquires into its moral influences, and what I 
 may call its political statistics, less than the Americans; 
 but they produce large consequences." 
 
 " Am I to understand you, sir, to say that anti-rentism 19 
 of New England origin?" 
 
 " Perhaps not. Its origin was probably more directly 
 derived, from the devil, who has tempted the tenants as he is 
 known once to have tempted the Saviour. The outbreak 
 was originally among the descendants of the Dutch, for they 
 happened to be the tenants, and, as for the theories that 
 have been broached, they savour more of the reaction of 
 European abuses, than of anything American at all ; and 
 least of all of anything from New England, where there is 
 generally a great respect for the rights of property, and un 
 usual reverence for the law. Still, I think we owe our 
 greatest danger to the opinions and habits of those of New 
 England descent among us." 
 
 " This seems a little paradoxical, uncle Ro, and I confess 
 I should like to hear it explained." 
 
 " I will endeavour so to do, and in as few words as pos 
 sible. The real danger is among those who influence legis- 
 
406 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 lation. Now, you will find hundreds of men among us, who 
 feel the vast importance of respecting contracts, who perceive 
 much of the danger of anti-rentisrn, and who wish to see it 
 defeated in its violent and most offensive forms, but who 
 lean against the great landlords, on account of those secret 
 iealousies which cause most men to dislike advantages in 
 which they do not share, and who would gladly enough see 
 all leases abolished, if it could be done without a too violent 
 conflict with justice. When you talk with these men, they 
 will make you the common-place but unmeaning profession 
 of wishing to see every husbandman the owner in fee of his 
 farm, instead of a tenant, and that it is a hardship to pay 
 rent, and quantities of such twaddle. Henry the Fourth, in 
 a much better spirit, is said to have wished that each of his 
 subjects had " une poule dans son pot" but that wish did 
 not put it there. So it is with this idle profession of wishing 
 to see every American husbandman a freeholder. We all 
 know such a state of society never did exist, and probably 
 never will ; and it is merely placing a vapid pretension to 
 philanthropy in the fore-ground of a picture that should 
 rigidly represent things as they are. For my part, I am 
 one of those who do not believe that this or any other country 
 would be any the better for dispensing with landlords and 
 tenants." 
 
 " Mr. Littlepage !" exclaimed Mary Warren, " you surely 
 do not mean that competency widely diffused, is not better 
 than wealth in a few hands, and poverty in a great many !" 
 
 " No, I shall not go as far as that ; but, I do say that 
 what this country most wants just now, is precisely the class 
 that is connected with the independence of character and 
 station, the leisure with its attendant cultivation and refine 
 ment, and the principles as well as taste that are connected 
 with all." 
 
 "Principles! Mr. Littlepage!" added my uncle s sweet 
 interlocutor ; " my father would hardly uphold that, though 
 he agrees with you in so much of what you say." 
 
 " I do not know that. I repeat the word principles ; for 
 when you have a class of men, who are removed from a 
 large range of temptations, without being placed above public 
 opinion, you got precisely those who are most likely to up- 
 hold that sort of secondary, but highly useful morals which 
 
THE REDSKINS. 407 
 
 are not directly derived from purely religious duties. 
 Against the last I shall not say one word, as it comes from 
 the grace, which is of the power of God, and is happily as 
 accessible to the poor as to the rich, and more too ; but, of 
 men as they are, not one in a hundred regulates his life by 
 a standard created under such impulses ; and even when they 
 do, the standard itself is, in some degree, qualified by the 
 ordinary notions, I apprehend. The Christian morality of an 
 East Indian is not identical with that of a Puritan, or that 
 of a man of highly cultivated mind, .with that of one who 
 has enjoyed fewer advantages. There is one class of prin 
 ciples, embracing all those that are adverse to the littlenesses 
 of daily practice, which is much the more extended among 
 the liberal-minded and educated, and it is to that set of prin 
 ciples I refer. Now we want a due proportion of that class 
 of men, as our society is getting to be organized ; of those 
 who are superior to meannesses." 
 
 " All this would be deemed atrociously aristocratic, were 
 it told in Gath !" exclaimed Patt, laughing. 
 
 " It is atrociously common sense, notwithstanding^" an 
 swered my uncle, who was not to be laughed out of any 
 thing he felt to be true ; " and the facts will show it. New 
 England early established a system of common schools, and 
 no part of the world, perhaps, has a population that is better 
 grounded in intelligence. This has been the case so long 
 as to put the people of Connecticut and Massachusetts, for 
 instance, as a whole, materially in advance of the people of 
 any other State, New York included ; although, by taking 
 the system from our eastern brethren, we are now doing 
 pretty well. Notwithstanding, who will say that New Eng 
 land is as far advanced, in many material things, as the 
 middle States. To begin with the kitchen her best cookery 
 is much below that of even the humbler classes of the true 
 middle States families : take her language for another test, 
 it is provincial and vulgar; and there is no exaggeration in 
 saying that the labouring classes of the middle States, if not 
 of New England origin, use better English than thousands 
 of educated men in New England itself. Both of these pe 
 culiarities, as I conceive, come from the fact that in one 
 part of the country there has been a class to give a tone 
 that does not exist in the other. The gentlemen of the larger 
 
408 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 towns in the east have an influence where they live, no 
 doubt ; but in the interior, as no one leads, all these matters 
 are left to the common mind to get along with, as well as it 
 can." 
 
 " Aristocratic, sir rank aristocracy !" 
 
 " If it be, has aristocracy, as you call it, which in this 
 instance must only mean decided social position, no advan 
 tages 1 Is not even a wealthy idler of some use in a nation 1 
 He contributes his full share to the higher civilization that 
 is connected with the tastes and refinements, and, in fact, 
 he forms it. In Europe they will tell you that a court is 
 necessary to such civilization ; but facts contradict the 
 theory. Social classes, no doubt, are ; but they can exist 
 independently of courts, as they can, have, do, and ever will 
 in the face of democracy. Now, connect this class with the 
 landed interest, and see how much your chances for mate 
 rial improvement are increased. Coke, of Norfolk, proba 
 bly conferred more benefit on the husbandry of England 
 than all the mere operatives that existed in his time. It is 
 from such men, indeed, from their enterprise and their 
 means, that nearly all the greater benefits come. The fine 
 wool of America is mainly owing to Livingston s connection 
 with land; and if you drive such men out of existence, you 
 must drive the benefits they confer with them. A body of 
 intelligent, well-educated, liberalized landlords, scatterea 
 through New York, would have more effect in advancing 
 the highest interests of the community than all the small 
 potato lawyers and governors you can name in a twelve 
 month. What is more, this is just the state of society in 
 which to reap all the benefits of such a class, without the 
 evils of a real aristocracy. They are and would be with 
 out any particular political power, and there is no danger 
 of corn-laws and exclusive legislation for their benefit. Rich 
 and poor we must have; and let any fair-minded man say 
 whether he wish a state of things in which the first shall 
 have no inducement to take an extended interest in real 
 estate, and the last no chance to become agriculturists, ex 
 cept as hired labourers?" 
 
 " You do not mince matters, uncle Ro," put in Patt, " and 
 will never go to Congress. 7 
 
 " That may be, my dear ; but I shall retain my own self. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 409 
 
 respect by fair dealing. What I say I mean, while many 
 who take the other side do not. I say that, in a country 
 like this, in which land is so abundant as to render the evils 
 of a general monopoly impossible, a landed gentry is pre 
 cisely what is most needed .for the higher order of civiliza 
 tion, including manners, tastes, and the minor principles, 
 and is the very class which, if reasonably maintained and 
 properly regarded, would do the most good at the least risk 
 of any social caste known. They have always existed in 
 New York, though with a lessening influence, and are the 
 reason, in my judgment, why we are so much before New 
 England in particular things, while certainly behind that 
 quarter of the country in many others that are dependent 
 on ordinary schooling." 
 
 " I like to hear a person maintain his opinions frankly 
 and manfully," said my grandmother ; " and this have you 
 done, Roger, from boyhood. My own family, on my fa 
 ther s side, was from New England, and I subscribe to a 
 great deal that you say ; and particularly to the part that 
 relates to the apathy of the public to this great wrong. It 
 is now time, however, to go to the breakfast-table, as John 
 has been bowing in the door, yonder, for the last minute or 
 two." 
 
 To breakfast we went ; and, notwithstanding incendiaries, 
 ^ anti-rentism, and canopies of pig-pens, a merry time we had 
 of it. Henrietta Coldbrooke and Anne Marston never came 
 out with more spirit, though in their several ways, than each 
 did that morning. I believe I looked a little surprised, for 
 I observed that my uncle stole occasional glances at me, 
 that seemed to say "there, my fine fellow, what do you 
 think of that, now ?" whenever either of his wards uttered 
 anything that he fancied cleverer than common. 
 
 " Have you heard, ma am," asked my uncle Ro of my 
 grandmother, " that we are to have old Sus and Jaaf here 
 at the Nest, shortly, and both in grand costume ? It seems 
 the red-men are about to depart, and there is to be smoking 
 of pipes, and a great council, which the Trackless fancies 
 will be more dignified if held in front of the house of his 
 pale-face friends, than if held at his own hut." 
 
 " How did you ascertain that, Roger ?" 
 
 " I have been at the wigwam, this morning, and have the 
 35 
 
410 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 fact directly from the Onondago, as well as from the inter 
 preter, whom I met there. By the way, Hugh, we must 
 shortly decide what is to be done with the prisoners, or we 
 shall have writs of habeas corpus served on us, to know 
 why we detain them." 
 
 " Is it possible, uncle Ro," for so his wards called him 
 habitually " to rescue a gentleman from the gallows by 
 marrying him?" asked Henrietta Coldbrooke, demurely. 
 
 " That is so strange a question, that as a guardian I fee 
 curious- to hear its meaning." 
 
 "Tell tell at once, Henrietta" said the other ward, 
 urging her companion to speak. " I will save your blushes, 
 and act as your interpreter. Miss Coldbrooke was honoured 
 by Mr. Seneca Newcome with this letter, within the last 
 twenty-four hours ; and, it being a family matter, I think it 
 ought to be referred to a family council." 
 
 " Nay, Anne," said the blushing Henrietta, " this is hardly 
 fair nor am I sure that it would be quite lady-like in me 
 to suffer that letter to be generally known particularly 
 known to you, it certainly is, already." 
 
 " Perhaps your reluctance to have it read d6es not extend 
 to me, Henrietta ?" said my uncle. 
 
 " Certainly not, sir; nor to my dear Mrs. Littlepage, nor 
 to Martha though I confess that I cannot see what interest 
 Mr. Hugh can have in the subject. Here it is ; take it and 
 read it when you please." 
 
 My uncle was pleased to read it on the spot. As he pro 
 ceeded, a frown collected on his brow, and he bit his lip, 
 like one provoked as well as vexed. Then he laughed, and 
 threw the letter on the table, where no one presumed to 
 molest it. As Henrietta Coldbrooke was blushing all this 
 time, though she laughed and seemed provoked, our curi 
 osity was so great and manifest, that my grandmother felt 
 an inclination to interfere. 
 
 " May not that letter be read aloud, for the benefit of all?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " There can be no particular reason for concealing it," 
 answered uncle Ro, spitefully. " The more it is known, 
 the more the fellow will be laughed at, as he deserves to 
 be." 
 
 "Will that be right, uncle Ro?" exclaimed Miss Cold 
 
THE REDSKIN S. 411 
 
 brooke, hastily. " Will it be treating a gentleman as 
 
 "Pshaw! it will not be treating a gentleman, at all. 
 The fellow is, at this moment, a prisoner for attempting to 
 set an inhabited house on fire, in the middle of the night." 
 
 Henrietta said no more ; and my grandmother took the 
 letter, and read it for the common benefit. I shall not copy 
 the effusion of Seneca, which was more cunning than phi 
 losophical ; but it contained a strong profession of love, 
 urged in a somewhat business manner, and a generous offer 
 of his hand to the heiress of eight thousand a-year. And 
 this proposal was made only a day or two before the fellow 
 was taken in the act, and at the very time he was the most 
 deeply engaged in his schemes of anti-rentism. 
 
 " There is a class of men among us," said my uncle, after 
 everybody had laughed at this magnificent offer, " who do 
 not seem to entertain a single idea of the proprieties. How 
 is it possible, or where could the chap have been bred, to 
 fancy for an instant that a young woman of fortune and 
 station, would marry him, and that, too, almost without an 
 acquaintance. I dare say Henrietta never spoke to him ten 
 times in her life." 
 
 " Not five, sir, and scarcely anything was said at either 
 of those five." 
 
 "And you answered the letter, my dear?" asked my 
 grandmother. " An answer ought not to have been forgot 
 ten ; though it might have properly come, in this case, from 
 your guardian." 
 
 " I answered it myself, ma am, not wishing to be laughed 
 at for my part of the affair. I declined the honour of Mr. 
 Seneca Newcome s hand." 
 
 " Well, if the truth must be said," put in Patt, drily, 1 
 did the same thing, only three weeks since." 
 
 " And I so lately as last week," added Anne Marston, 
 demurely. 
 
 I do not know that I ever saw my uncle Ro so strangely 
 affected. While everybody around him was laughing heart 
 ily, he looked grave, not to say fierce. Then he turned 
 suddenly to me, and said 
 
 " We must let him be hanged, Hugh. Were he to live 
 a thousand years he would never learn the fitness of things." 
 
 " You ll think better of this, sir, and become rn~-<? raer- 
 
412 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ciful. The man has only nobly dared. But I confess a 
 strong desire to ascertain if Miss Warren alone has escaped 
 his assaults." 
 
 Mary pretty Mary- she blushed scarlet, but shook her 
 head, and refused to give any answer. We all saw that her 
 feelings were not enlisted in the affair in any way ; but 
 there was evidently something of a more serious nature con 
 nected with Seneca s addresses to her than in connection 
 with his addresses to either of the others. As I have since 
 ascertained, he really had a sort of affection for Mary; and 
 I have been ready to pardon him the unprincipled and im 
 pudent manner in which he cast his flies towards the other 
 fish, in consideration of his taste in this particular. But 
 Mary herself would tell us nothing. 
 
 " You are not to think so much of this, Mr. Littlepage," 
 she cried, so soon as a little recovered from her confusion, 
 " since it is only acting on the great anti-rent principle, after 
 all. In the one case, it is only a wish to get good farms 
 cheap and in the other, good wives." 
 
 " In the one case, other men s farms and in the other, 
 other men s wives." 
 
 " Other men s wives, certainly, if wives at all," said Patt, 
 pointedly. " There is no Mr. Seneky Newcome there." 
 
 " We must let the law have its way, and the fellow be 
 hanged!" rejoined my uncle. " I could overlook the attempt 
 to burn the Nest House, but I cannot overlook this. Fel 
 lows of his class get everything dessus dessous, and I do not 
 wonder there is anti-rentism in the land. Such a matrimo 
 nial experiment could never have been attempted, as between 
 such parties, in any region but one tainted with anti-rentism, 
 or deluded by the devil." 
 
 "An Irishman would have included my grandmother in 
 his cast of the net ; that s the only difference, sir." 
 
 " Sure enough, why have you escaped, my dearest mother? 
 Vou, who have a fair widow s portion, too." 
 
 " Because the suitor was not an Irishman, as Hugh inti 
 mated, I know no other reason, Hodge. But a person so 
 devoted to the ladies must not suffer in the cruel way you 
 speak of. The wretch must be permitted to get off." 
 
 All the girls now joined with my grandmother in prefer 
 ring this, to them, very natural petition; and, for a few 
 
THE REDSKINS. 413 
 
 minutes, we heard of nothing but regrets, and solicitations 
 that Seneca might not be given up to the law. " Tender mer 
 cies of the law" might not be an unapt way to express the 
 idea, as it is now almost certain that the bigger the rogue, 
 the greater is the chance of escape. 
 
 " All this is very well, ladies ; mighty humane and femi 
 nine, and quite in character," answered my uncle; "but, 
 in the first place, there is such a thing as compounding 
 felony, and its consequences are not altogether agreeable ; 
 then, one is bound to consider the effect on society in general. 
 Here is a fellow who first endeavours to raise a flame in the 
 hearts of no less than four young ladies ; failing of which, 
 he takes refuge in lighting a fire in Hugh s kitchen. Do 
 you know, I am almost as much disposed to punish hirn for 
 the first of these offences as for the last?" 
 
 " There s a grand movement as is making among all the 
 redskins, ma am," said John, standing in the door of the 
 breakfast parlour, " and I did n t know but the ladies, and 
 Mr. Littlepage, and Mr. Hugh, would like to see it. Old 
 Sus is on his way here, followed by Yop, who comes grum 
 bling along after him, as if he did n t like the amusement 
 any way at all." 
 
 " Have any arrangements been made for the proper re 
 ception of our guests this morning, Roger?" 
 
 " Yes, ma am. At least, I gave orders to have benches 
 brought and placed under the trees, and plenty of tobacco 
 provided. Smoking is a great part of a council, I believe, 
 and we shall be ready to commence at that as soon as they 
 neet." 
 
 " Yes, sir, all is ready for em," resumed John. " Miller 
 has sent an orse cart to bring the benches, and we ve pro 
 vided as much baccy as they can use. The servants opes, 
 ma am, they can have permission to witness the ceremony. 
 It is n t often that civilized people can get a sight at real 
 savages." 
 
 My grandmother gave an assent, and there was a general 
 movement, preparatory to going on the lawn to witness the 
 parting interview between the Trackless and his visiters. 
 
 " You have been very considerate, Miss Warren," I 
 whispered Mary, as I helped her to put on her shawl " in 
 35* 
 
414 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 not betiaying what I fancy is the most important of aL 
 Seneca s love secrets." 
 
 " I confess these letters have surprised me," the dear girl 
 said thoughtfully, and with a look that seemed perplexed. 
 " No one would be apt to think very favourably of Mr. 
 Nevvcome ; yet it was by no means necessary to complete 
 his character, that one should think as ill as this." 
 
 I said no more, but these few words, which appeared to 
 escape Mary unconsciously and involuntarily, satisfied me 
 that Seneca had been seriously endeavouring to obtain an 
 interest in her heart notwithstanding her poverty. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 And underneath that face like summer s dreams, 
 Its lips as moveless, and its cheek as clear, 
 Slumbers a whirlwind of the heart s emotions, 
 Love, hatred, pride, hope, sorrow all save fear." 
 
 HALLECK. 
 
 THE only singularity connected with the great age of the 
 Indian and the negro, was the fact that they should have 
 been associates for near a century, and so long intimately 
 united in adventures and friendship. I say friendship, for 
 the term was not at all unsuited to the feeling that connected 
 these old men together, though they had so little in common, 
 in the way of character. While the Indian possessed all the 
 manly and high qualities of a warrior of the woods, of a 
 chief, and of one who had never acknowledged a superior, 
 the other was necessarily distinguished by many of the 
 wickednesses of a state of servitude ; the bitter consequences 
 of a degraded caste. Fortunately, both were temperate, by 
 no means an every-day virtue amon^ the red-men who dwelt 
 with the whites, though much more so with the blacks. But 
 Susquesus was born an Onondago, a tribe remarkable for 
 its sobriety, and at no period of his long life would he taste 
 
THE REDSKINS. 415 
 
 intoxicating drink, while Jaaf was essentially a sober 
 , though he had a thorough nigger relish for hard 
 cicrer. There can be little doubt that these two aged memo 
 rials of past ages, and almost forgotten generations, owed 
 their health and strength to their temperance, fortifying na 
 tural predispositions to tenacity of life. 
 
 It was always thought Jaaf was a little the senior of the 
 Indian, though the difference in their ages could not be 
 great. It is certain that the red-man retained much the 
 most of his bodily powers, though, for fifty years, he had 
 taxed them the least. Susquesus never worked ; never would 
 work in the ordinary meaning of the term. He deemed it 
 to be beneath his dignity as a warrior, and, I have heard it 
 said, that nothing but necessity could have induced him to 
 plant, or hoe, even when in his prime. So long as the 
 boundless forest furnished the deer, the moose, the beaver, 
 the bear, and the other animals that it is usual for the red- 
 man to convert into food, he had cared little for the fruits of 
 the earth, beyond those that were found growing in their 
 native state. His hunts were the last regular occupation 
 that the old man abandoned. He carried the rifle, and 
 threaded the woods with considerable vigour after he had 
 seen a hundred winters ; but the game deserted him, under 
 the never-dying process of clearing acre after acre, until 
 little of the native forest was left, with the exception of the 
 reservation of my own, already named, and the pieces of 
 woodland that are almost invariably attached to every Ame 
 rican farm, lending to the landscape a relief and beauty 
 that are usually wanting to the views of older countries. 
 It is this peculiarity which gives so many of the views of 
 the republic, nay, it may be said to all of them, so much of 
 the character of park-scenery when seen at a distance that 
 excludes the blemishes of a want of finish, and the coarser 
 appliances of husbandry. 
 
 With Jaaf, though he had imbibed a strong relish for the 
 forest, and for forest-life, it was different in many respects. 
 Accustomed to labour from childhood, he could not be kept 
 from work, even by his extreme old age. He had the hoe, 
 or the axe, or the spade in his hand daily, many years after 
 he could wield either to any material advantage. The little 
 he did in this way, now, was not done to kill thought, for he 
 
416 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 never had any to kill ; it was purely the effect of habit, and 
 of a craving desire to be Jaaf still, and to act his life ovef 
 again. 
 
 I am sorry to say that neither of these men had any 
 essential knowledge, or any visible feeling for the truths of 
 Christianity. A hundred years ago, little spiritual care was 
 extended to the black, and the difficulty of making an im 
 pression, in this way, on the Indian, has become matter of 
 history. Perhaps success best attends such efforts when the 
 pious missionary can penetrate to the retired village, and 
 disseminate his doctrines far from the miserable illustration 
 of their effects, thart is to be hourly traced, by the most casual 
 observer, amid the haunts of civilized men. That Christi 
 anity does produce a deep and benign influence on our social 
 condition cannot be doubted; but he who is only superficially 
 acquainted with Christian nations, as they are called, and 
 sets about tracing the effects of this influence, meets with so 
 many proofs of a contrary nature, as to feel a strong dispo 
 sition to doubt the truth of dogmas that seem so impotent. 
 It is quite likely such was the case with Susquesus, who had 
 passed all the earlier years of his exclusive association with 
 the pale-faces, on the flanks of armies, or among hunters, 
 surveyors, runners, and scouts ; situations that were not 
 very likely to produce any high notions of moral culture. 
 Nevertheless, many earnest and long-continued efforts had 
 been made to awaken in this aged Indian some notions of 
 the future state of a pale-face, and to persuade him to be 
 baptized. My grandmother, in particular, had kept this end 
 in view for quite half a century, but with no success. The 
 different clergy, of all denominations, had paid more or less 
 attention to this Indian, with the same object, though no visi 
 ble results had followed their efforts. Among others, Mr. 
 Warren had not overlooked this part of his duty, but he had 
 met with no more success than those who had been before 
 him. Singular as it seemed to some, though I saw nothing 
 strange in it, Mary Warren had joined m this benevolent 
 project with a gentle zeal, and affectionate and tender inte 
 rest, that promised to achieve more than had been even 
 hoped for these many years by her predecessors in the same 
 kind office. Her visits to the hut had been frequent, and I 
 earned that morning from Patt, that, " Though Mary her- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 417 
 
 lelf never spoke on the subject, enough has been seen by 
 others to leave no doubt that her gentle offices and prayers 
 had, at last, touched, in some slight degree, the marble-like 
 heart of the Trackless." 
 
 As for Jaaf, it is possible that it was his misfortune to be 
 a slave in a family that belonged to the Episcopal Church, a 
 sect that is so tempered and chastened in its religious rites, 
 and so far removed from exaggeration, as often to seem cold 
 to those who seek excitement, and fancy quiet and self-con 
 trol incompatible with a lively faith. Your priests are 
 unsuited to make converts among the people, said an enthu 
 siastic clergyman of another denomination to me, quite 
 lately. They cannot go among the brambles and thorns 
 without tearing their gowns and surplices. There may be 
 a certain degree of truth in this, though the obstacle exists 
 rather with the convert than with the missionary. The 
 vulgar love coarse excitement, and fancy that a profound 
 spiritual sensibility must needs awaken a powerful physical 
 sympathy. To such, groans, and sighs, and lamentations 
 must be not only audible to exist at all, but audible in a dra 
 matic and striking form with men, in order to be groans, and 
 sighs, and lamentations acceptable with God. It is certain, 
 at any rate, that the practices which reason, education, a 
 good taste, and a sound comprehension of Christian obliga 
 tions condemn, are, if not most effective, still effective with 
 the ignorant and coarse-minded. Thus may it have been 
 with Jaaf, who had not fallen kito the hands of the exagge 
 rated during that period of life when he was most likely to. 
 be aroused by their practices, and who now really seemed 
 to have lived beyond everything but the recollections con 
 nected with the persons and things he loved in youth. 
 
 As men, in the higher meaning of the term, the readei 
 will remember that Susquesus was ever vastly the superioi 
 of the black. Jaaf s intellect had suffered under the blight 
 which seems to have so generally caused the African mind 
 to wither, as we know that mind among ourselves ; while 
 that of his associate had ever possessed much of the loftiness 
 of a grand nature, left to its native workings by the impetus 
 of an unrestrained, though savage liberty. 
 
 Such were the characters of the two extraordinary men 
 
418 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 whom we now went forth to meet. By the time we reached 
 the lawn, they were walking slowly towards the piazza, 
 having got within the range of the shrubbery that immedi 
 ately surrounds, and sheds its perfume on the house. The 
 Indian led, as seemed to become his character and rank. 
 But Jaaf had never presumed on his years and indulgenciea 
 so far as to forget his condition. A slave he had been 
 born, a slave had he lived, and a slave he would die. This, 
 too, in spite of the law of emancipation, which had, in fact, 
 liberated him long ere he had reached his hundredth year. 
 I have been told that when my father announced to Jaaf the 
 fact that he and all his progeny, the latter of which was 
 very numerous, were free and at liberty to go and do 
 as they pleased, the old black was greatly dissatisfied. 
 " What good dat all do, Masser Malbone," he growled. 
 "Whey ey won t let well alone? Nigger be nigger, and 
 white gentle em be white gentle em. I speck, now, nuttin 
 but disgrace and poverty come on my breed ! We alway 
 hab been gentle em s nigger, and why can t ey let us be 
 gentle em s nigger, as long as we like ? Ole Sus hab liberty 
 all he life, and what good he get 1 Nuttin but poor red 
 sabbage, for all dat, and never be any t ing more. If he 
 could be gentle em s sabbage, I tell him, dat war somet ing ; 
 but, no, he too proud for dat ! Gosh ! so he only he own 
 sabbage i" 
 
 The Onondago was in high costume ; much higher even 
 than when he first received the visit of the prairie Indians. 
 The paint he used, gave new fire to eyes that age had cer 
 tainly dimmed, though they had not extinguished their light ; 
 and fierce and savage as was the conceit, it unquestionably 
 relieved the furrows of time. That red should be as much 
 the favourite colour of the redskin is, perhaps, as natural as 
 that our ladies should use cosmetics to imitate the lilies and 
 roses that are wanting. A grim fierceness, however, was 
 the aim of the Onondago ; it being his ambition, at that mo- 
 ment, to stand before his guests in the colours of a warrior. 
 Of the medals and wampum, and feathers, and blankets, and 
 moccasins, gay with the quills of the porcupine, tinged half 
 a dozen hues, and the tomahawk polished to the brightness 
 of silver, it is not necessary to say anything. So much haa 
 
THE REDSKINS. 419 
 
 been said, and written, and seen, of late, on such subjects, 
 that almost every one now knows how the North American 
 warrior appears, when he comes forth in his robes. 
 
 Nor had Jaaf neglected to do honour to a festival that 
 was so peculiarly in honour of his friend. Grumble he 
 would and did, throughout the whole of that day ; but he 
 was not the less mindful of the credit and honour of Sus- 
 quesus. It is the fashion of the times to lament the disap 
 pearance of the red-men from among us ; but, for my part, 
 [ feel much more disposed to mourn over the disappearance of 
 Ihe " nigger." I use the Doric, in place of the more moder.i 
 and mincing term of coloured man ; for the Doric alone 
 will convey to the American the meaning in which I wish 
 to be understood. I regret the " nigger ;" the old-fashioned, 
 careless, light-hearted, laborious, idle, roguish, honest, faith 
 ful, fraudulent, grumbling, dogmatical slave ; who was at 
 times good for nothing, and, again, the stay and support of 
 many a family. But, him I regret in particular is the domestic 
 slave, who identified himself with the interests, and most of 
 all with the credit of those he served, and who always played 
 the part of an humble privy counsellor, and sometimes that 
 of a prime minister. It is true, I had never seen Jaaf act 
 ing in the latter capacity, among us ; nor is it probable he 
 ever did exactly discharge such functions with any of his 
 old masters; but, he was a much indulged servant always 
 and had become so completely associated with us, by not only 
 long services, but by playing his part well and manfully in 
 divers of the wild adventures that are apt to characterize 
 the settlement of a new country, that we all of us thought of 
 him rather as an humble and distant relative, than as a slave. 
 Slave, indeed, he had not been for more than four-score 
 years, his manumission-papers having been signed and 
 regularly recorded as far back as that, though they re 
 mained a perfect dead letter, so far as the negro himself 
 was concerned. 
 
 The costume of Yop Littlepage, as this black was fami- 
 . arly called by all who knew anything of his existence, 
 and his great age, as well as that of Susquesus, had got 
 into more than one newspaper, was of what might be termed 
 the old school of the { nigger ! The coat was scarlet, with 
 buttons of mother-of-pearl, each as large as a half-dollar; 
 
1 1 30 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 his br^ches were sky blue ; the vest was green ; the stock* 
 ings striped blue and white, and the legs had no other pecu 
 liarities about them, than the facts that all that remained of 
 the calves were on the shins, and that they were stepped 
 nearer than is quite common to the centre of the foot ; the 
 heel-part of the latter, being about half as long as the part 
 connected with the toes. The shoes, indeed, were some 
 what conspicuous portions of the dress, having a length, and 
 breadth, and proportions that might almost justify a natural 
 ist in supposing that they were never intended for a human 
 being. But, the head and hat, according to Jaaf s own no 
 tion, contained the real glories of his toilette and person. 
 As for the last, it was actually laced, having formed a part 
 of my grandfather, Gen. Cornelius Littlepage s uniform in 
 the field, and the wool beneath it was as white as the snow 
 of the hills. This style of dress has long disappeared from 
 among the black race, as well as from among the whites ; 
 but vestiges of it were to be traced, my uncle tells me, in 
 his boyhood; particularly at the pinkster holidays, that pecu 
 liar festival of the negro. Notwithstanding the incongruities 
 of his attire, Yop Littlepage made a very respectable figure 
 on this occasion, the great age of both him and the Onon- 
 dago being the circumstances that accarded least with 
 their magnificence. 
 
 Notwithstanding the habitual grumbling of the negro, the 
 Indian always led when they made a movement. He 
 had led in the forest, on the early hunts and on the war 
 paths; he had led in their later excursions on the neigh 
 bouring hills ; he always led when it was their wont to 
 Stroll to the hamlet together, to witness the militia musters 
 and other similar striking events ; he even was foremost 
 when they paid their daily visits to the Nest ; and, now, he 
 came a little in advance, slow in movement, quiet, with lips 
 compressed, eye roving and watchful, and far from dim, and 
 his whole features wonderfully composed and noble, consi 
 dering the great number of years he had seen. Jaaf fol 
 lowed at the same gait, but a very different man in de 
 meanour and aspect. His face scarce seemed human, even 
 the colour of his skin, once so glistening and black, having 
 changed to a dirty grey, all its gloss having disappeared 
 while his lips were, perhaps, the most prominent feature 
 
THE REDSKINS. 421 
 
 l^hese, too, were in incessant motion, the old man working 
 his jaws, in a sort of second childhood ; or as the infant 
 biles its gurns to feel its nearly developed teeth, even when 
 he was not keeping up the almost unceasing accompani 
 ment of his grumbles. 
 
 As the old men walked towards us, and the men of the 
 prairies had not yet shown themselves, we all advanced to 
 meet the former. Every one of our party, the girls included, 
 shook hands with Susquesus, and wished him a good morn 
 ing. He knew my grandmother, and betrayed some strong 
 feeling, when he shook her hand. He knew Patt, and 
 nodded kindly in answer to her good wishes. He knew 
 Mary Warren, too, and held her hand a little time in his 
 own, gazing at her wistfully the while. My uncle Ro and 
 I were also recognised, his look at me being earnest and 
 long. The two other girls were courteously received, but 
 his feelings were little interested in them. A chair was 
 placed for Susquesus on the lawn, and he took his seat. 
 As for Jaaf, he walked slowly up to the party, took off his 
 fine cocked-hat, but respectfully refused the seat he too was 
 offered. Happening thus to be the last saluted, he was the 
 first with whom my grandmother opened the discourse. 
 
 " It is a pleasant sight, Jaaf, to see you, and our old 
 friend Susquesus, once more on the lawn of the old house." 
 
 " Not so berry ole house, Miss Duss, a ter all," answered 
 the negro, in his grumbling way. " Remem er him well 
 nough ; only built tudder day." 
 
 " It has been built three-score years, if you call that the 
 other day. I was then young myself; a bride happy and 
 blessed far beyond my deserts. Alas ! how changed have 
 things become since that time !" 
 
 " Yes, you won erful changed must say dat for you, 
 Miss Duss. I some time surprise myself so young a lady 
 get change so berry soon." 
 
 " Ah ! Jaaf, though it may seem a short time to you, 
 who are so much my senior, four-score years are a heavy 
 load to carry. I enjoy excellent health and spirits for my 
 years ; but age will assert its power." 
 
 " Remem er you, Miss Duss, like dat young lady dere, * 
 pointing at Patt " now you do seem won erful change. 
 Ole Sus, too, berry much alter of late can t hole out much 
 36 
 
422 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 longer, I do t ink. But Injin nebber hab much raal gril 
 in em." 
 
 " And you, my friend," continued my grandmother, 
 turning to Susquesus, who had sat motionless while she 
 was speaking to Jaaf " do you also see this great change 
 in me ? I have known you much longer than I have known 
 Jaaf; and your recollection of me must go back nearly to 
 childhood to the time when I first lived in the woods, as a 
 companion of my dear, excellent old uncle, Chainbearer." 
 
 "Why should Susquesus forget little wren? Hear song 
 now in his ear. No change at all in little wren, in Susque 
 sus eye." 
 
 " This is at least gallant, and worthy of an Onondago 
 chief. But, my worthy friend, age will make its mark even 
 on the trees ; and we cannot hope to escape it for ever !" 
 
 "No; bark smooth on young tree rough on ole tree. 
 Nebber forget Chainbearer. He s same age as Susquesus 
 little ole er, too. Brave warrior good man. Know him 
 when young hunter he dere when dat happen." 
 
 " When what happened, Susquesus ? I have long wished 
 to know what drove you from your people; and why you, 
 a red-man in your heart and habits, to the last, should have 
 so long lived among us pale-faces, away from your own 
 tribe. I can understand why you like us, and wish to pass 
 the remainder of your days with this family ; for I know 
 all that we have gone through together, and your early con 
 nection with my father-in-law, and his father-in-law, too ; 
 but the reason why you left your own people so young, and 
 have now lived near a hundred years away from them, is 
 what I could wish to hear, before the angel of death sum 
 mons one of us away." 
 
 While my grandmother was thus coming to the point, for 
 the first time in her life, on this subject, as she afterwards 
 told me, the Onondago s eye was never off her own. I 
 thought he seemed surprised ; then his look changed to sad 
 ness ; and bowing his head a little, he sat a long time, ap 
 parently musing on the past. The subject had evidently 
 aroused the strongest of the remaining feelings of the old 
 man, and the allusion to it had brought back images of 
 things long gone by, that were probably reviewed not alto 
 gether without pain. I think his head must have been 
 
THE REDSKINS. 423 
 
 bowed, and his face riveted on the ground, for quite a 
 minute. 
 
 " Chainbearer nebber say why ?" the old man suddenly 
 asked, raising his face again to look at my grandmother. 
 " Ole chief, too he know ; nebber talk of it, eh ?" 
 
 " Never. I have heard both my uncle and my father-in- 
 law say that they knew the reason why you left your 
 people, so many long, long, years ago, and that it did you 
 credit ; but neither ever said more. It is reported here, that 
 these red-men, who have come so far to see you, also know 
 it, and that it is one reason of their corning so much out of 
 their way to pay you a visit." 
 
 Susquesus listened attentively, though no portion of his 
 person manifested emotion but his eyes. All the rest of the 
 man seemed to be made of some material that was totally 
 without sensibility; but those restless, keen, still penetrating 
 eyes opened a communication with the being within, and 
 proved that the spirit was far younger than the tenement in 
 which it dwelt. Still, he made no revelation ; and our curi 
 osity, which was getting to be intense, was completely 
 baffled. It was even some little time before the Indian said 
 anything more at all. When he did speak, it was merely 
 to say 
 
 " Good. Chainbearer wise chief Gin ral wise, too. 
 Good in camp good at council-fire. Know when to talk 
 know what to talk." 
 
 How much further my dear grandmother might have 
 been disposed to -push the subject, I cannot say, for just 
 thqp, we saw the redskins coming out of their quarters, evi 
 dently about to cross from the old farm to the lawn, this 
 being their last visit to the Trackless, preparatory to depart 
 ing on their long journey to the prairies. Aware of all this, 
 she fell back, and my uncle led Susquesus to the tree, 
 where the benches were placed for the guests, I carrying 
 the chair in the rear. Everybody followed, even to all the 
 domestics who could be spared from the ordinary occupa 
 tions of the household. 
 
 The Indian and the negro were both seated ; and chairs 
 having been brought out for the members of the family, we 
 took o ir places near by, though so much in the back-ground 
 as not to appear obtrusive. 
 
424 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 The Indians of the prairies arrived in their customary 
 marching order, or in single files. Manytongues led, fol 
 lowed by Prairiefire; Flintyheart and Eaglesflight came 
 next, and the rest succeeded in a nameless but perfect order. 
 To our surprise, however, they brought the two prisoners 
 with them, secured with savage ingenuity, and in a way to 
 render escape nearly impossible. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell on the deportment of these 
 strangers, as they took their allotted places on the benches, 
 it being essentially the same as that described in their first 
 visit. The same interest, however, was betrayed in their 
 manner, nor did their curiosity or veneration appear to be 
 in the least appeased, by having passed a day, or two, in 
 the immediate vicinity of their subject. That this curiosity 
 and veneration proceeded, in some measure, from the great 
 age and extended experience of the Trackless was probable 
 enough, but I could not divest myself of the idea that there 
 lay something unusual behind all, which tradition had made 
 familiar to these sons of the soil, but which had become lost 
 to us. 
 
 The American savage enjoys one great advantage ovei 
 the civilized man of the same quarter of the world. His 
 raditions ordinarily are true, whereas, the multiplied means 
 of imparting intelligence among ourselves, has induced so 
 many pretenders to throw themselves into the ranks of the 
 wise and learned, that blessed, thrice blessed is he, whose 
 mind escapes the contamination of falsehood and prejudice. 
 Well would it be for men, if they oftener remembered that 
 the very facilities that exist to circulate the truth, are ^ust 
 so many facilities for circulating falsehood ; and that he who 
 believes even one-half of that which meets his eyes, in his 
 daily inquiries into passing events, is most apt to throw away 
 quite a moiety of .even that much credulity, on facts that 
 either never had an existence at all, or, which have been so 
 mutilated in the relation, that their eye-witnesses would be 
 the last to recognise them. 
 
 The customary silence succeeded the arrival of the visi- 
 ters ; then Eaglesflight struck fire with a flint, touched the 
 tobacco with the flame, and puffed at a very curiously carved 
 pipe, made of some soft stone of the interior, until he had 
 lighted it beyond any risk of its soon becoming extinguished 
 
THE REDSKINS. 425 
 
 This done, he rose, advanced with profound reverence in 
 his air, and presented it to Susquesus, who took it and 
 smoked for a few seconds, after which he returned it to him 
 from whom it had been received. This was a signal for 
 other pipes to be lighted, and one was offered to my uncle 
 and .myself, each of us making a puff or two ; and even 
 John and the other male domestics were not neglected. 
 Prairiefire, himself, paid the compliment to Jaaf. The negro 
 had noted what was passing, and was much disgusted with 
 the niggardliless which required the pipe to be so soon re 
 turned. This he did not care to conceal, as was obvious 
 by the crusty observation he made when the pipe was offered 
 to him. Cider and tobacco had, from time immemorial, been 
 the two great blessings of this black s existence, and he felt, 
 at seeing one standing ready to receive his pipe, after a puff 
 or two, much as he might have felt had one pulled the mug 
 from his mouth, after the second or third swallow. 
 
 " No need wait here" grumbled old Jaaf " when I 
 done, gib you de pipe, ag in ; nebber fear. Masser Corny, 
 or Masser Mai bone, or Masser Hugh dear me, I nebber 
 knows which be libbin and which be dead, I get so ole, now- 
 a-day ! But nebber mind if he be ole ; can smoke yet, and 
 don t lub Injin fashion of gibbin t ings ; and dat is gib him 
 and den take away, ag in. Nigger is nigger, "tnd Injin is 
 Injin ; and nigger best. Lord ! how many years I do see 
 I do see most get tire of libbin so long. Don t wait, Injin ; 
 when I done, you get pipe again, I say. Best not make ole 
 Jaaf too mad, or he dreadful !" 
 
 Although it is probable that Prairiefire did not understand 
 one-half of the negro s words, he comprehended his wish 
 to finish the tobacco, before he relinquished the pipe. This 
 was against all rule, and a species of slight on Indian 
 usages, but the red-man overlooked all, with the courtesy 
 of one trained in high society, and walked away as com 
 posedly as if everything were right. In these particulars 
 t v ne high-breeding of an Indian is always made apparent. 
 No one ever sees in his deportment, a shrug, or a half-con 
 cealed smile, or a look of intelligence; a wink or a nod, or 
 any other of that class of signs, or communications, which 
 it is usually deemed underbred to resort to in company. In 
 36* 
 
426 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 all things, he is dignified and quiet, whether it be the effec 4 
 of coldness, or the result of character. 
 
 The smoking now became general, but only as a cere- 
 mony; no one but Jaaf setting to with regularity to finish 
 his pipe. As for the black, his opinion of the superiority of 
 his own race over that of the red-man, was as fixed as his 
 consciousness of its inferiority to the white, and he would 
 have thought the circumstance that the present mode of 
 using tobacco was an Indian custom, a sufficient reason 
 why he himself should not adopt it. The smoking did not 
 last long, but was succeeded by a silent pause. Then 
 Prairiefire arose and spoke. 
 
 " Father," he commenced, " we are about to quit you. 
 Our squaws and pappooses, on the prairies, wish to see us ; 
 it is time for us to go. They are looking towards the great 
 salt lake for us ; we are looking towards the great fresh 
 water lakes for them. There the sun sets here it rises ; 
 the distance is great, and many strange tribes of pale-faces 
 live along the path. Our journey has been one of peace. 
 We have not hunted; we have taken no scalps; but we 
 have seen our Great Father, Uncle Sam, and we have seen 
 our Great Father, Susquesus ; we shall travel towards the 
 setting- sun satisfied. Father, our traditions are true; they 
 never lie.^A lying tradition is worse than a lying Indian. 
 What a. lying Indian says, deceives his friends, hiswife, his 
 children ; what a lying tradition says, deceives a tribe. Our 
 traditions are true ; they speak of the Upright Onondago. 
 All the tribes on the prairies have heard this tradition, and 
 are very glad. It is good to hear of justice; it is bad to 
 hear of injustice. Without justice an Indian is no better 
 than a wolf. No; there is not a tongue spoken on the 
 prairies which does not tell of that pleasant tradition. We 
 could not pass the wigwam of our father without turning 
 aside to look at him. Our squaws and pappooses wish to 
 see us, but they would have told us to come back, and turn 
 
 aside to look upon our father, had we forgotten to do so. 
 
 Why has my father seen so many winters ? It is the wil! 
 of the Manitou. The Great Spirit wants to keep him here 
 a little longer. He is like stones piled together to tell the 
 hunters where the pleasant path is to be found. All the red 
 
THE REDSKINS. 427 
 
 tne& who see him think of what is right. No; the Great 
 Spirit cannot yet spare my father from the earth, lest red- 
 men forget what is right. He is stones piled together." 
 
 Here Prairiefire ceased, sitting down amidst a low murmur 
 of applause. He had expressed the common feejing, and 
 met with the success usual to such efforts. Susquesus had 
 heard and understood all that was said, and I could perceive 
 that he felt it, though he betrayed less emotion on this occa 
 sion than he had done on the occasion of the previous inter 
 view. Then, the novelty of the scene, no doubt, contributed 
 to influence his feelings. A pause followed this opening 
 speech, and we were anxiously waiting for the renowned 
 orator, Eaglesflight, to rise, when a singular and somewhat 
 ludicrous interruption of the solemn dignity of the scene oc 
 curred. In the place of Eaglesflight, whom Manytongues 
 had given us reason to expect would now come forth with 
 energy and power, a much younger warrior arose and spoke, 
 commanding the attention of his listeners in a way to show 
 that he possessed their respect. We were told that thi^ 
 young warrior s name, rendered into English, was Deers- 
 foot, an appellation obtained on account of his speed, and 
 which we were assured he well merited. Much to our sur 
 prise, however, he addressed himself to Jaaf, Indian courtesy 
 requiring that something should be said to the constant friend 
 and tried associate of the Trackless. The reader may be 
 certain we were all much amused at this bit of homage, 
 though every one of us felt some little concern on the sub 
 ject of the answer it might elicit. Deersfoot delivered him 
 self, substantially, as follows: 
 
 " The Great Spirit sees all things ; he makes all things. 
 In his eyes, colour is nothing 1 . Although he made children 
 that he loved of a red colour, he made children that he loved 
 with pale-faces, too. He did not stop there. No; he said, 
 * I wish to see warriors and men with faces darker than the 
 skin of the bear. I will have warriors who shall frighten 
 their enemies by their countenances. He made black men. 
 My father is black ; his skin is neither red, like the skin of 
 Susquesus, nor while, like the skin of the young chief of 
 Ravensnest. It is now grey, with having had the sun shine 
 on it so many summers ; but it was once the colour of the 
 crow. Then it must have been pleasant to look at. My 
 
428 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 black father is very old. They tell me he is even older than 
 the Upright Onondago. The Manitou must be well pleased 
 with him, not to have called him away sooner. He has left 
 him in his wigwam, that all the black men may see whom 
 their Gteat Spirit loves. This is the tradition told to us by 
 our fathers. The pale men come from the rising sun, and 
 were born before the heat burned their skins. The black 
 men came from under the sun at noon-day, and their faces 
 were darkened by looking up above their heads to admire 
 the warmth that ripened their fruits. The red men were 
 born under the setting sun, and their faces were coloured 
 by the hues of the evening skies. The red man was born 
 here ; the pale man was born across the salt lake ; the black 
 man came from a country of his own, where the sun is al 
 ways above his head. What of that? We are brothers. 
 The Thicklips (this was the name by which the strangers 
 designated Jaaf, as we afterwards learned) is the friend of 
 Susquesus. They have lived in the same wigwam, now, 
 so many winters, that their venison and bear s-meat have 
 the same taste. They love one another. Whomsoever Sus 
 quesus loves and honours, all just Indians love and honour, 
 I have no more to say." 
 
 It is very certain that Jaaf would not have understood a 
 syllable that was uttered, in this address, had not Many- 
 tongues first given him to understand that Deersfoot was 
 talking to him in particular, and then translated the speak 
 er s language, word for word, and with great deliberation, 
 as each sentence was finished. Even this care might not 
 have sufficed to make the negro sensible of what was going 
 on, had not Patt gone to him, and told him in a manner and 
 voice to which he was accustomed, to attend to what was 
 said, and to endeavour, as soon as Deersfoot sat down, to 
 say something in reply. Jaaf was so accustomed to my 
 sister, and was so deeply impressed with the necessity of 
 obeying her, as one of his many * y ung missuses, which 
 he scarcely knew himself, that she succeeded in perfectly 
 arousing him ; and he astonished us all with the intelligence 
 of his very characteristic answer, which he did not fail to 
 deliver exactly as he had been directed to do. Previously 
 to beginning to speak, the negro champed his toothless 
 gums together, like a vexed swine ; but y ung missus had 
 
THE REDSKINS. 429 
 
 told him he must answer, and answer he did. It is proba 
 ble, also, that the old fellow had some sort of recollection 
 of such scenes, having been present, in his younger days, 
 at various councils held by the different tribes of New York; 
 among whom my grandfather, Gen. Mordaunt Littlepage, 
 had more than once been a commissioner. 
 
 " Well," Jaaf began, in a short, snappish manner, " s pose 
 nigger must say somet in . No berry great talker, cause I 
 no Injin. Nigger hab too much work to do, to talk all e 
 time. What you say bout where nigger come from, isn t 
 true. He come from Africa, as I hear em say, long time 
 ago. Ahs, me ! how ole I do get ! Sometime I t ink poor 
 ole black man be nebber to lie down and rest himself. It 
 do seem dat ebberybody take his rest but old Sus and me. 
 I berry strong, yet ; and git stronger and stronger, dough 
 won erful tired ; but Sus, he git weaker and weaker ebbery 
 day. Can t last long, now, poor Sus ! Ebberybody must 
 die, sometime. Ole, ole, ole Masser and Missus, fust dey 
 die. Den Masser Corny go; putty well adwanced, too. 
 Den come Masser Mordaunt s turn, and Masser Malbone, 
 and now dere anudder Masser Hugh. Well, dey putty 
 much all de sames to me. I lubs em all, and all on em 
 lubs me. Den Miss Duss count for somet in , but she be 
 libbin , yet. Most time she die, too, but don t seem to go. 
 Ahs, me ! how ole I do git ! Ha ! dere comes dem debbils 
 of Injins, ag in, and dis time we must clean em out ! Get 
 your rifle, Sus ; get your rifle, boy, and mind dat ole Jaaf 
 be at your elbow." 
 
 Sure enough, there the Injins did come ; but I must re 
 serve an account of what followed for the commence*nen 
 of the next Chapter. 
 
430 THE REDSKINS 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVIII. 
 
 "Hope that thy wrongs will be by the Great Spirit 
 Remember d and revenged when thou art gone ; 
 Sorrow that none are left thee to inherit 
 Thy name, thy fame, thy passions, and thy throne." 
 
 Red Jacket. 
 
 IT was a little remarkable that one as old and blear-eyed 
 as the negro, should be the first among us to discover the 
 approach of a large body of the Injins, who could not be 
 less than two hundred in number. The circumstance was 
 probably owing to the fact that, while every other eye was 
 riveted on the speaker, his eyes were fastened on nothing. 
 There the Injins did come, however, in force ; and this time, 
 apparently, without fear. The white American meets the 
 red-man with much confidence, when he is prepared for the 
 struggle ; and the result has shown that, when thrown upon 
 his resources, in the wilderness, and after he has been al 
 lowed time to gain a little experience, he is usually the most 
 formidable enemy. But a dozen Indians, of the stamp of 
 those who had here come to visit us, armed and painted, and 
 placed in the centre of one of our largest peopled Bounties, 
 would be sufficient to throw that county into a paroxysm of 
 fear. Until time were given for thought, and the opinions 
 of the judicious superseded the effects of rumour, nothing 
 but panic would prevail. Mothers would clasp their chil 
 dren to their bosoms, fathers would hold back their sons 
 from the slaughter, and even the heroes of the militia would 
 momentarily forget their ardour in the suggestions of pru 
 dence and forethought. 
 
 Such, in fact, had been the state of things in and about 
 Ravensnest, when Flintyheart so unexpectedly led his com 
 panions into the forest, and dispersed the virtuous and op 
 pressed tenants of my estate on their return from a meeting 
 held with but one virtuous object ; viz., that of transferring 
 the fee of the farms they occupied, from me to themselves. 
 No one doubted, at the moment, that in addition to the other 
 enormities committed by me and mine, I had obtained a 
 
THE REDSKINS. 431 
 
 body of savages from the far West, to meet the forces al 
 ready levied by the tenants, on a principle that it would not 
 do to examine very clearly. If I had done so, I am far from 
 certain that I should not have been perfectly justified in 
 morals; for an evil of that nature, that might at any time 
 be put down in a month, and which is suffered to exist 
 for years, through the selfish indifference of the community, 
 restores to every man his natural rights of self-defence ; 
 though I make no doubt, had I resorted to such means, I 
 should have been hanged, without benefit of philanthropists ; 
 the clergy in this country not being included in the class, 
 so far as suspension by the neck is concerned. 
 
 But the panic had disappeared, as soon as the truth be 
 came known concerning the true object of the visit of the 
 redskins. The courage of the " virtuous and honest" re 
 vived, and one of the first exhibitions of this renewed spirit was 
 the attempt to set fire to my house and barns. So serious a 
 demonstration, it was thought, would convince me of the real 
 power of the people, and satisfy us all that their wishes are 
 not to be resisted with impunity. As no one likes to have 
 his house and barns burned, it must be a singular being 
 who could withstand the influence of such a manifestation 
 of the " spirit of the Institutions ;" for it is just as reasonable 
 to suppose that the attempts of the incendiaries came within 
 their political category, as it is to suppose that the attempt 
 of the tenants to get a title beyond what was bestowed in 
 their leases, was owing to this cause. 
 
 That habit of deferring to externals, which is so genera] 
 in a certain class of our citizens, and which endures in mat 
 ters of religion long after the vital principle is forgotten, 
 prevented any serious outbreak on the next day, which was 
 the Sunday mentioned ; though the occasion was improved 
 to coerce by intimidation, the meeting and resolutions 
 having been regularly digested in secret conclave, among 
 the local leaders of anti-rentism, and carried out, as has 
 been -described. Then followed the destruction of the cano 
 py, another demonstration of the " spirit of the Institutions," 
 and as good an argument as any that has yet been offered, 
 in favour of the dogmas of the new political faith. Public 
 opinion is entitled to some relief, surely, when it betrays so 
 much excitement as to desecrate churches and to destroy 
 
432 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 private property. This circumstance of the canopy had 
 been much dwelt on, as a favourite anti-rent argument, and 
 it might now be considered that the subject was carried out 
 to demonstration. 
 
 By the time all this was effected, so completely had the 
 " Injins" got over their dread of the Indians, that it was with 
 difficulty the leaders of the former could prevent the most 
 heroic portion of their corps from following their blow at 
 the canopy by a coup de main against the old farm-house, 
 and its occupants. Had not the discretion of the leaders 
 been greater than that of their subordinates, it is very pro 
 bable blood would have been shed, between these quasi bel 
 ligerents. But the warriors of the Prairies were the guests 
 of Uncle Sam, and the old gentleman, after all, has a long 
 arm, and can extend it from Washington to Ravensnest 
 without much effort. He was not to be offended heedlessly, 
 therefore ; for his power was especially to be dreaded in 
 this matter of the covenants, without which Injins and agi 
 tation would be altogether unnecessary to attaining the great 
 object, the Albany politicians being so well disposed to do 
 all they can for the " virtuous and honest." Uncle Sam s 
 Indians, consequently, were held a good deal more in respect 
 than the laws of the State, and they consequently escaped 
 being murdered in their sleep. 
 
 When Jaaf first drew our attention to the Injins, they 
 were advancing, in a long line, by the highway, and at a 
 moderate pace ; leaving us time to shift our own position, 
 did we deem it necessary. My uncle was of opinion it 
 would never do to remain out on the lawn, exposed to so 
 great a superiority of force, and he took his measures ac 
 cordingly. In the first place, the females, mistresses and 
 maids and there were eight or ten of the last were re 
 quested to retire, at once, to the house. The latter, with 
 John at their head, were directed to close all the lower, out 
 side shutters of the building, and secure them within. This 
 done, and the gate and two outer doors fastened, it would 
 not be altogether without hazard to make an assault on our 
 fortress. As no one required a second request to move, 
 this part of the precautions was soon effected, and the house 
 placed in a species of temporary security. 
 
 While the foregoing was in the course jf execution, Sus- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 433 
 
 quesus and Jaaf were induced to change their positions, by 
 transferring themselves to the piazza. That change was 
 made, and the two old feilows were comfortably seated in 
 their chairs, again, before a single man of the redskins 
 moved a foot. There they all remained, motionless as so 
 many statues, with the exception that Flintyheart seemed to 
 be reconnoitring with his eyes, the thicket that fringed the 
 neighbouring ravine, and which formed a bit of dense cover, 
 as already described, of some considerable extent. 
 
 " Do you wish the redskins in the house, Colonel ?" asked 
 the interpreter, coolly, when matters had reached to this 
 pass ; " if you do, it s time to speak, or, they 11 soon be off, 
 like a flock of pigeons, into that cover. There ll be a fight 
 as sartain as they move, for there s no more joke and 
 making of faces about them critturs, than there is about a 
 mile-stone. So, it s best to speak in time." 
 
 No delay occurred after this hint was given. The request 
 of my uncle Ro that the chiefs would follow the Upright 
 Onondago, was just in time to prevent a flight; in the sense 
 of Manytongues, I mean, for it was not very likely these 
 warriors would literally run away. It is probable that they 
 would have preferred the cover of the woods as more natu 
 ral and familiar to them, but, I remarked, as the whole 
 party came on the piazza, that Flintyheart, in particular, 
 cast a quick, scrutinizing glance at the house, which said 
 in pretty plain language that he was examining its capa 
 bilities as a work of defence. The movement, however, 
 was made with perfect steadiness; and, what most surprised 
 us all, was the fact that not one of the chiefs appeared to pay 
 the slightest attention to their advancing foes; or, men 
 whom it was reasonable for them to suppose so considered 
 themselves to be. We imputed this extraordinary reserve 
 to force of character, and a desire to maintain a calm and 
 dignified deportment in the presence of Susquesus. If it 
 were really the latter motive that so completely restrained 
 every exhibition of impatience, apprehension, or disquietude, 
 they had every reason to congratulate themselves on the 
 entire success of their characteristic restraint on their 
 feelings. 
 
 The Injins were just appearing on the lawn as our 
 arrangements were completed. John had come to report 
 
434 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 every shutter secure, and the gate and little door barred 
 He also informed us that all the men and boys who could 
 be mustered, including gardeners, labourers, and stable peo 
 ple, to the number of five or six, were in the little passage, 
 armed ; where rifles were ready also for ourselves. In 
 short, the preparations that had been made by my grand 
 mother, immediately after her arrival, were now of use, and 
 enabled us to make a much more formidable resistance, sus 
 tained as we were by the party from the Prairies, than I 
 could have ever hoped for on so sudden an emergency. 
 
 Our arrangement was very simple. The ladies were 
 seated near the great door, in order that they might be 
 placed under cover the first, in the event of necessity ; Sus- 
 quesus and Jaaf had their chairs a little on one side, but 
 quite near this group, and the men from the far West occu 
 pied the opposite end of the piazza, whither the benches had 
 been removed, for their accommodation. Manytongues 
 stood between the two divisions of our company, ready to 
 interpret for either; while my uncle, myself, John, and two 
 or three of the other servants took position behind our aged 
 friends. Seneca and his fellow-incendiary were in the 
 midst of the chiefs. 
 
 It was just as the Injins had got fairly on the lawn that 
 we heard the clattering of hoofs, and every eye was turned 
 in the direction whence the sound proceeded. This was on 
 the side of the ravine, and to me it seemed from the first 
 that some one was approaching us through that dell. So it 
 proved, truly ; for soon Opportunity came galloping up the 
 path, and appeared in sight. She did not check her horse 
 until under the tree, where she alighted, by a single bound, 
 and hitching the animal to a hook in the tree, she moved 
 swiftly towards the house. My sister Patt advanced to the 
 steps of the piazza to receive this unexpected guest, and I 
 was just behind her to make my bow. But the salutations 
 of Opportunity were hasty and far from being very com 
 posed. She glanced around her, ascertained the precise con 
 dition of her brother, and, taking my arm, she led me into 
 the library with very little, or, indeed, with no ceremony; 
 for, to give this young woman her due, she was a person of 
 great energy when there was anything serious to be done. 
 The only sign of deviating, in the slightest degree, from the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 43f 
 
 object in view, was pausing one instant, in passing, to mako 
 her compliments to my grandmother. 
 
 " What, in the name of wonder, do you mean to do with 
 Sen /" demanded this active young lady, looking at me in 
 tently, with an expression half-hostile, half-tender. " You 
 are standing over an earthquake, Mr. Hugh, if you did but 
 know it." 
 
 Opportunity had confounded the effect with the cause, 
 but that was of little moment on an occasion so interest 
 ing. She was much in earnest, and I had learned by expe 
 rience that her hints and advice might be of great service 
 to us at the Nest. 
 
 " To what particular danger do you allude, my dear Op 
 portunity?" 
 
 " Ah, Hugh ! if things was only as they used to be, how 
 happy might we all be together here at Ravensnest ! But, 
 there is no time to talk of such things; for, as Sarah Sooth- 
 ings says, * the heart is most monopolized when grief is the 
 profoundest, and it is only when our sentiments rise freely 
 to the surface of the imagination, that the mind escapes the 
 shackles of thraldom. But, I haven t a minute for Sarah 
 Soothings, even, just now. Don t you see the Injins?" 
 
 " Quite plainly ; and they probably see my Indians. >! 
 
 " Oh ! they don t regard them now the least in the 
 world. At first, when they thought you might have hired 
 a set of desperate wretches to scalp the folks, there was 
 some misgivings ; but the whole story is now known, and 
 nobody cares a straw about them. If anybody s scalp is 
 taken, t will be their own. Why, the whole country is up, 
 and the report has gone forth, far and near, that you have 
 brought in with you a set of blood-thirsty savages from the 
 prairies to cut the throats of women and children, and drive 
 off the tenants, that you may get all the farms into your 
 own hands before the lives fall in. Some folks say, these 
 savages have had a list of all the lives named in your leases 
 given to them, and that they are to make way with all 
 such people first, that you may have the law as much as 
 possible on your side. You stand on an earthquake, Mr. 
 Hugh ; you do, indeed !" 
 
 " My dear Opportunity," I answered, laughing, " I am 
 infinitely obliged to you for all this attention to my interests, 
 
436 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 and freely own that on Saturday night you were of great 
 service to me; but I must now think that you magnify the 
 danger that you colour the picture too high." 
 
 "Not in the least. I do protest, you stand on an earth 
 quake ; and as your friend, I have ridden over here to tell 
 you as much, while there is yet time." 
 
 " To get off it, I suppose you mean. But how can all 
 these evil and blood-thirsty reports be abroad, when the 
 characters of the Western Indians are, as you own yourself, 
 understood, and the dread of them that did exist in the 
 town has entirely vanished 1 ? There is a contradiction in 
 this." 
 
 "Why, you know how it is, in anti-rent times. When 
 an excitement is needed, folks don t stick at facts very 
 closely, but repeat things, and make things, just as it hap 
 pens to be convenient." 
 
 " True ; I can understand this, and have no difficulty in 
 believing you now. But have you come here this morning 
 simply to let me know the danger which besets me from 
 this quarter?" 
 
 " I believe I m always only too ready to gallop over to 
 the Nest ! But everybody has some weakness or other, and 
 I suppose I am to be no exception to the rule," returned Op 
 portunity, who doubtless fancied the moment propitious to 
 throw in a volley towards achieving her great conquest, 
 and who reinforced that volley of words with such a glance 
 of the eye, as none but a most practised picaroon on the 
 sea of flirtation could have thrown. "But, Hugh I call 
 you Hugh, Mr. Littlepage, for you seem more like Hugh to 
 me, than like the proud, evil-minded aristocrat, and hard 
 hearted landlord, that folks want to make you out to be - 
 but I never could have told you what I did last night, had 
 supposed it would bring Sen into this difficulty." 
 
 " I can very well understand how unpleasantly you are 
 situated as respects your brother, Opportunity, and your 
 friendly services will not be forgotten in the management of 
 his affairs." 
 
 " If you are of this mind, why won t you suffer these 
 injins to get him out of the hands of your real savages," 
 returned Opportunity, coaxingly. " I 11 promise for him 
 
THE REDSKINS. 437 
 
 that Sen will go off, and stay off for some months, if you 
 insist on t ; when all is forgotten, he can come back again." 
 
 " Is the release of your brother, then, the object of this 
 visit from the Injins?" 
 
 " Partly so they re bent on having him. He s in all 
 the secrets of the anti-renters, and they re afraid for their 
 very lives, so long as he s in your hands. Should he get 
 a. little scared, and give up only one-quarter of what he 
 knows, there d be no peace in the county for a twelve 
 month." 
 
 At this instant, and before there was time to make an an 
 swer, I was summoned to the piazza, the Injins approach 
 ing so near as to induce my uncle to step to the door and 
 call my name in a loud voice. I was compelled to quit 
 Opportunity, who did not deem it prudent to show herself 
 among us, though her presence in the house, as an inter 
 cessor for her brother, could excite neither surprise nor re 
 sentment. 
 
 When I reached the piazza, the Injins had advanced as 
 far as the tree where we had first been posted, and there 
 they had halted, seemingly for a conference. In their rear, 
 Mr. Warren was walking hurriedly towards us, keeping the 
 direct line, regardless of those whom he well knew to be 
 inimical to him, and intent only on reaching the house 
 before it could be gained by the c disguised and armed. 
 This little circumstance gave rise to an incident of touching 
 interest, and which I cannot refrain from relating, though 
 it may interrupt the narration of matters that others may 
 possibly think of more moment. 
 
 Mr. Warren did not pass directly through the crowd of 
 rioters for such those people were, in effect, unless the 
 epithet should be changed to the still more serious one of 
 rebels but he made a little detour, in order to prevent a 
 collision that was unnecessary. When about half-way be 
 tween the tree and the piazza, however, the Injins gave a 
 discordant yell, and many of them sprang forward, as if in 
 haste to overtake, and probably to arrest, him. Just as we 
 all involuntarily arose, under a common feeling of interest 
 in the fate of the good rector, Mary darted from the piazza, 
 was af her father s side and in his arms so quickly, as to 
 seem to have flown there. Clinging to his side, she ajp- 
 37* 
 
438 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 peared to urge him towards us. But Mr. Warren adopted 
 a course much wiser than that of flight would have been. 
 Conscious of having said or done no more than his duty, 
 he stopped and faced his pursuers. The act of Mary War 
 ren had produced a check to the intended proceedings of 
 these lawless men, and the calm, dignified aspect of the 
 divine completed his conquest. The leaders of the Injins 
 paused, conferred together, when all who had issued from 
 the main body returned to their companions beneath the 
 tree, leaving Mr. Warren and his charming daughter at 
 liberty to join us unmolested, and with decorum. 
 
 The instant Mary Warren left the piazza on her pious 
 errand, I sprang forward to follow her with an impulse I 
 could not control. Although my own power over this im 
 pulsive movement was so small, that of my uncle and grand 
 mother was greater. The former seized the skirt of my 
 frock, and held me back by main strength, while the light 
 touch of the latter had even greater power. Both remon 
 strated, and with so much obvious justice, that I saw the 
 folly of what I was about in an instant, and abandoned my 
 iesign. Had / fallen into the hands of the anti-renters 
 their momentary triumph, at least, would have been com 
 plete. 
 
 Mr. Warren ascended the steps of the piazza with a mien 
 as unaltered, and an air as undisturbed, as if about to enter 
 his own church. The good old gentleman had so schooled 
 his feelings, and was so much accustomed to view himself 
 as especially protected, or as so ready to suffer, when in 
 the discharge of any serious duty, that I have had occasions 
 to ascertain fear was unknown to him. As for Mary, never 
 had she appeared so truly lovely, as she ascended the steps, 
 still clinging fondly and confidingly to his arm. The ex 
 citement of such a scene had brought more than the usual 
 quantity of blood into her face, and the brilliancy of her 
 eyes was augmented by that circumstance, perhaps ; but I 
 fancied that a more charming picture of feminine softness, 
 blended with the self-devotion of the child, could not have 
 been imagined by the mind of man. 
 
 Patt, dear, generous girl, sprang forward to embrace her 
 friend, which she did with warmth and honest fervour, and 
 my venerable grandmother kissed her on both cheeks, while 
 
THE REDSKINS. 439 
 
 the oth<r two girls were not backward in giving the cus 
 tomary signs of the sympathy of their sex. My uncle Ro 
 even went so far as gallantly to kiss her hand, causing the 
 poor girl s face to be suffused with blushes, while poor Hugh 
 was obliged to keep in the back-ground, and content him 
 self with looking his admiration. I got one glance, how 
 ever, from the sweet creature, that was replete with conso 
 lation, since it assured me that my forbearance was under 
 stood, and attributed to its right motive. 
 
 In that singular scene, the men of the prairies alone ap 
 peared to be unmoved. Even the domestics and workmen 
 had betrayed a powerful interest in this generous act of 
 Mary Warren s, the females all screaming in chorus, very 
 much as a matter of course. But, not an Indian moved. 
 Scarce one turned his eyes from the countenance of Sus- 
 quesus, though all must have been conscious that something 
 of interest was going on so near them, by the concern we 
 betrayed ; and all certainly knew that their enemies were 
 hard by. As respects the last, I have supposed the uncon 
 cern, or seeming unconcern of these western warriors, ought 
 to be ascribed to the circumstance of the presence of the 
 ladies, and an impression that there could be no very immi 
 nent risk of hostilities while the company then present re 
 mained together. The apathy of the chiefs seemed to be 
 extended to the interpreter, who was coolly lighting his pipe 
 at the very moment when the whole affair of the Warren 
 episode occurred; an occupation that was not interrupted 
 by the clamour and confusion among ourselves. 
 
 As there was a delay in the nearer approach of the Injins, 
 there was leisure to confer together for a moment. Mr. 
 Warren told us, therefore, that he had seen the disguised 
 and armed pass the rectory, and had followed in order to 
 act as a mediator between us and any contemplated harm. 
 
 " The destruction of the canopy of Hugh s pew, must 
 have given you a serious intimation that things were coming 
 to a head." observed my grandmother. 
 
 Mr. Warren had not heard of the affair of the canopy, at 
 all. Although living quite within sound of a hammer used 
 in the church, everything had been conducted with so much 
 management, that the canopy had been taken down, and 
 removed bodily, without any one in the rectory s knowing 
 
440 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the fact. The latter had become known at the Nest, solely 
 by the circumstance that the object which had so lately 
 canopied aristocracy in St. Andrew s, Ravensnest, was now 
 canopying pigs up at the farm-house. The good divine 
 expressed his surprise a little strongly, and, as I thought 
 his regrets a little indifferently. He was not one to counte 
 nance illegality and violence, and least of all that peculiarly 
 American vice, envy; but, on the other hand, he was not 
 one to look with favour on the empty distinctions, as set up 
 between men equally sinners and in need of grace to redeem 
 them from a common condemnation, in the house of God. 
 As the grave is known to be the great leveller of the human 
 race, so ought the church to be used as a preparatory step 
 in descending to the plain that all must occupy, in spirit at 
 least, before they can hope to be elevated to any, even of 
 the meanest places, among the many mansions of our Fa 
 ther s house ! 
 
 There was but a short breathing time given us, however, 
 before the Injins again advanced. It was soon evident they 
 did not mean to remain mere idle spectators of the scene 
 that was in the course of enactment on the piazza, but that 
 it was their intention to become actors, in some mode or 
 other. Forming themselves into a line, that savoured a 
 great deal more of the militia of this great republic than 
 of the warriors of the west, they came on tramping, with 
 the design of striking terror into our souls. Our arrange 
 ments were made, however, and on our part every thing was 
 conducted just as one could have wished. The ladies, in- 
 fluenced by my grandmother, retained their seats, near the 
 door; the men of the household were standing, but con 
 tinued stationary, while not an Indian stirred. As for Sus- 
 quesus, he had lived far beyond surprises and all emotions 
 of the lower class, and the men of the prairies appeared to 
 take their cues from him. So long as he continued immov 
 able, they seemed disposed to remain immovable also. 
 
 The distance between the tree and the piazza, did not 
 much exceed a hundred yards, and little time was necessary 
 to march across it. I remarked, however, that, contrary to 
 the laws of attraction, the nearer the Injins* line got to its 
 goal, the slower and more unsteady its movement became, 
 It also lost its formation, bending into curves, though its 
 
THE REDSKINS. 441 
 
 tramps became louder and louder, as if those who were in 
 rt, wished to keep alive their own courage by noise. When 
 within fifty feet of the steps, they ceased to advance at all, 
 merely stamping with their feet, as if hoping to frighten us 
 into flight. I thought this a favourable moment to do that 
 which it had been decided between my uncle and myself 
 ought to be done by me, as owner of the property these law 
 less men had thus invaded. Stepping to the front of the 
 piazza, I made a sign for attention. The tramping ceased 
 all at once, and I had a profound silence for my speech. 
 
 " You know me, all of you," I said, quietly I know, and 
 I trust firmly ; " and you know, therefore, that I am the 
 owner of this house and these lands. As such owner, I 
 order every man among you to quit the place, and to go 
 into the highway, or upon the property of some other per 
 son. Whoever remains, after this notice, will be a tres 
 passer, and the evil done by a trespasser is doubly serious 
 in the eyes of the law." 
 
 I uttered these words loud enough to be heard by every 
 body present, but I cannot pretend that they were attended 
 by much success. The calico bundles turned towards each 
 other, and there was an appearance of a sort of commotion, 
 but the leaders composed the people, the omnipotent people 
 in this instance, as they do in most others. The sovereignty 
 of the mass is a capital thing as a principle, and once in a 
 long while it evinces a great good in practice ; in a certain 
 sense, it is always working good, by holding a particular 
 class of most odious and intolerable abuses in check ; but, 
 as for the practice of every-day political management, their 
 imperial majesties, the sovereigns of America, of whom I 
 happen to be one, have quite as little connection with the 
 measures they are made to seem to demand, and to sustain, 
 as the Nawab of Oude ; if the English, who are so disin 
 terested as to feel a generous concern for the rights of man 
 kind, whenever the great republic adds a few acres to the 
 small paternal homestead, have left any such potentate in 
 existence. 
 
 So it was with the decision of the " disguised and armed," 
 on the occasion I am describing. They decided that no 
 other notice should be taken of my summons to quit, than a 
 contemptuous yell, though they had to ascertain from their 
 
442 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 leaders what they had decided before they knew themselves. 
 The shout was pretty general, notwithstanding, and it had 
 one good effect; that of satisfying the Injins, themselves, 
 that they had made a clear demonstration of their contempt 
 of my authority, which they fancied victory sufficient for 
 the moment ; nevertheless, the demonstration did not end 
 exactly here. Certain cries, and a brief dialogue, succeeded, 
 which it may be well to record. 
 
 " King Littlepage," called out one, from among the dis 
 guised and armed, what has become of your throne? St. 
 Andrew s meeting- us has lost its monarch s throne!" 
 
 " His pigs have set up for great aristocrats of late ; pre 
 sently they 11 want to be patroons." 
 
 " Hugh Littlepage, be a man ; come down to a level with 
 your fellow-citizens, and don t think yourself any bettef 
 than other folks. You re but flesh and blood, a ter all." 
 
 " Why don t you invite me to come and dine with you, 
 as well as priest Warren? I can eat, as well as any man 
 in the county, and as much." 
 
 " Yes, and he 11 drink, too, Hugh Littlepage ; so provide 
 your best liquor the day he s to be invited." 
 
 All this passed for wit among the Injins, and among that 
 portion of the "virtuous and honest and hard-working," who 
 not only kept them on foot, but on this occasion kept them 
 company also; it having since been ascertained that about 
 one-half of that band was actually composed of the tenants 
 of the Ravensnest farms. I endeavoured to keep myself 
 cool, and succeeded pretty well, considering the inducements 
 there were to be angry. Argument with such men was out 
 of the question, and knowing their numbers and physical 
 superiority, they held my legal rights in contempt. What 
 was probably worse than all, they knew that the law itself 
 was administered by the people, and that they had little to 
 apprehend, and did apprehend virtually nothing from any 
 of the pains and penalties it might undertake to inflict, should 
 recourse be had to it at any future day. Ten or a dozen 
 wily agents sent through the country to circulate lies, and 
 to visit the county town previously to, and during a trial, in 
 order to raise a party that will act more or less directly on 
 the minds of the jurors, with a newspaper or two to scatter 
 untruths and prejudices, would at least be as effective, at 
 
THE REDSKINS. 443 
 
 the critical moment, as the law, the evidence, and the right. 
 As for the judges, and their charges, they have lost most of 
 their influence, under the operation of this nefarious system, 
 and count but for very little in the administration of justice 
 either at Nisi Prius or at Oyer Terminer. These are me 
 lancholy truths, that any man who quits his theories and 
 descends into the arena of practice will soon ascertain to bo 
 such, to his wonder and alarm, if he be a novice and an 
 honest man. A portion of this unhappy state of things is a 
 consequence of the legislative tinkering that has destroyed 
 one of the most healthful provisions of the common law, in 
 prohibiting the judges to punish for contempt, unless for out 
 rages committed in open court. The press, in particular, 
 now profits by this impunity, and influences the decision of 
 nearly every case that can at all enlist public feeling. All 
 these things men feel, and few who are wrong care for the 
 law ; for those who are right, it is true, there is still some 
 danger. My uncle Ro says America is no more like what 
 America was in this respect twenty years since, than Kamt- 
 schatka is like Italy. For myself, I wish to state the truth 5 
 exaggerating nothing, nor yet taking refuge in a dastardly 
 concealment. 
 
 Unwilling to be browbeaten on the threshold of my own 
 Joor, I determined to say something ere I returned to my 
 ^lace. Men like these before me can never understand that 
 silence proceeds from contempt; and I fancied it best to 
 make some sort of a reply to the speeches I have recorded, 
 and to twenty more of the same moral calibre. Motioning 
 for silence, I again obtained it. 
 
 " I have ordered you to quit my lawn, in the character 
 of its owner," I said, " and, by remaining, you make your- 
 selves trespassers. As for what you have done to my 
 pew, I should thank you for it, had it not been done in vio 
 lation of the right ; for it was fully my intention to have 
 that canopy removed as soon as the feeling about it had 
 subsided. I am as much opposed to distinctions of any 
 sort in the house of God as any of you can be, and desire 
 them not for myself, or any belonging to me. I ask for 
 nothing but equal rights with all my fellow-citizens ; that 
 my propertj should be as much protected as theirs, but not 
 
4 14 THEREDSKINS. 
 
 more so. But, I do not conceive that you or any man has 
 a right to ask to share in my world s goods any more than 
 I have a right to ask to share in his ; that you can more 
 justly claim a portion of my lands than I can claim a share 
 in your cattle and crops. It is a poor rule that does not 
 work both ways." 
 
 " You re an aristocrat," cried one from among the In- 
 jins, " or you d be willing to let other men have as much 
 land as you ve got yourself. You re a patroon ; and all 
 patroons are aristocrats, and hateful. * 
 
 " An aristocrat," I answered, " is one of a few who wield 
 political power. The highest birth, the largest fortune, tho 
 most exclusive association would not make an aristocrat, 
 without the addition of a narrow political power. In this 
 country there are no aristocrats, because there is no narrow 
 political power. There is, however, a spurious aristocracy 
 which you do not recognize, merely because it does not 
 happen to be in the hands of gentlemen. Demagogues and 
 editors are your privileged classes, and consequently your 
 aristocrats, and none others. As for your landlord aristo 
 crats, listen to a true tale, which will satisfy you how far 
 they deserve to be called an aristocracy. Mark ! what I 
 now tell you is religious truth, and it deserves to be known 
 far and near, wherever your cry of aristocracy reaches. 
 There is a landlord in this State, a man of large means 
 who became liable for the debts of another to a considerable 
 amount. At the very moment when his rents could not be 
 collected, owing to your interference and the remissness of 
 those in authority to enforce the laws, the sheriff entered his 
 house, and sold its contents, in order to satisfy an execution- 
 against him ! There is American aristocracy for you, and 
 I am sorry to add American justice r as justice has got to be 
 administered among us." 
 
 I was not disappointed in the effect of this narration of 
 what is a sober truth. Wherever I have told it, it has con 
 founded even the most brawling demagogue, and momenta 
 rily revived in his breast some of those principles of right 
 which God originally planted there. American aristocracy, 
 in sooth ! Fortunate is the gentleman that can obtain even 
 a reluctant and meagre justice. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 445 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIX. 
 
 How far that little candle throws his beams ; 
 So shines a good deed in a naughty world." 
 
 SHAKSPEAHE, 
 
 I HAVE said that my narrative of the manner in which 
 justice is sometimes meted out among us was not without 
 its effect on even that rude band of selfish and envious riot 
 ers : rude, because setting at naught reason and the law ; 
 and selfish, because induced so to do by covetousness, and 
 the desire to substitute the tenants for those whom they fan 
 cied to be better off in the world than they were themselves. 
 A profound stillness succeeded ; and after the bundles of 
 calico had whispered one with another for a moment or two, 
 they remained quiet, seemingly indisposed, just then, at least, 
 to molest us any farther. I thought the moment favourable, 
 and fell back to my old station, determined to let things take 
 their own course. This change, and the profound stillness 
 that succeeded, brought matters back to the visit of the In 
 dians, and its object. 
 
 During the whole time occupied by the advance of the 
 " Injins," the men of the prairies and Susquesus had conti; 
 nued nearly as motionless as so many statues. It is true 
 that the eyes of Flintyheart were on the invaders, but he 
 managed to take good heed of them without betraying any 
 undue uneasiness or care. Beyond this, I do affirm that I 
 scarce noted a single sign of even vigilance among these 
 extraordinary beings ; though Manytongues afterwards gave 
 me to understand that they knew very well what they were 
 about ; and then I could not be watching the red-men the 
 whole time. Now that there was a pause, however, every 
 body and thing seemed to revert to the original visit, as natu 
 rally as if no interruption had occurred. Manytongues, by 
 way of securing attention, called on the Injins, in an autho 
 ritative voice, to offer no interruption to the proceedings ot 
 the chiefs, which had a species of religious sanctity, and waa 
 not D be too much interfered with, with impunity. 
 38 
 
446 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 * So long as you keep quiet, my warriors will not molest 
 you," he added ; " but if any man amongst you has ever 
 been on the prer-ies, he must understand enough of the natur 
 of a redskin to know that when he s in airnest he is in 
 airnest. Men who are on a journey three thousand rnilea 
 in length, don t turn aside for trifles, which is a sign that 
 serious business has brought these chiefs here." 
 
 Whether it was that this admonition produced an effect. 
 or that curiosity influenced the " disguised and armed," or 
 that they did not choose to proceed to extremities, or that 
 all three considerations had their weight, is more than I can 
 say ; but it is certain the whole band remained stationary, 
 quiet and interested observers of what now occurred, until 
 an interruption took place, which will be related in proper 
 time. Many tongues, who had posted himself near the centre 
 of the piazza, to interpret, now signified to the chiefs that 
 they might pursue their own purposes in tranquillity. After 
 a decent pause, the same young warrior who had " called 
 up" Jaaf, in the first instance, now rose again, and with a 
 refinement in politeness that would be looked for in vain in 
 most of the deliberative bodies of civilized men, adverted to 
 the circumstance that the negro had not finished his address, 
 and might have matter on his mind of which he wished to 
 be delivered. This was said simply, but distinctly ; and it 
 was explained to the negro by Manytongues, who assured 
 him not one among all the chiefs would say a word until 
 the last person " on his legs" had an opportunity of finish 
 ing his address. This reserve marks the deportment of 
 those whom we call savages ; men that have their own 
 fierce, and even ruthless customs, beyond all controversy, 
 but who possess certain other excellent qualities that do not 
 appear to flourish in the civilized state. 
 
 It was with a good deal of difficulty that we got old Jaaf 
 up again ; for, though a famous grumbler, he was not much 
 of an orator. As it was understood that no chief would 
 speak, however, until the black had exhausted his right, my 
 dear Patt had to go, and, laying one of her ivory-looking 
 hands on the shoulder of the grim old negro, persuade him 
 to rise and finish his speech. He knew her, and she sue- 
 ceeded ; it being worthy of remark, that while this aged 
 Dlack scarce remembered for an hour what occurred, con 
 
THE REDSKINS. 447 
 
 founding dates fearfully, often speaking of my grandmother 
 as Miss Dus, and as if she were still a girl, he knew every 
 one of the family then living, and honoured and loved us 
 accordingly, at the very moments he would fancy we had 
 been present at scenes that occurred when our great-grand 
 parents were young people. But to the speech 
 
 " What all. dem fellow want, bundle up in calico, like so 
 many squaw ?" growled out Jaaf, as soon as on his legs, 
 and looking intently at the Injins, ranged as they were in 
 a line four deep, quite near the piazza. " Why you let em 
 come, Masser Hugh, Masser Hodge, Masser Mai bone, Mas- 
 ser Mordaunt which you be here, now, I don t know, dere 
 so many, and it so hard to member ebbery t ing? Oh! I 
 so ole ! I do won er when my time come ! Dere Sus, too, 
 he good for nuttin at all. Once he great wal ker great 
 warrior great hunter pretty good fellow for redskin ; but 
 he quite wore out. Don t see much use why he lib any 
 longer. Injin good for nuttin when he can t hunt. Some 
 time he make basket and broom ; but dey uses better broom 
 now, and Injin lose dat business. What dem calico debbil 
 want here, eh, Miss Patty? Dere redskin, too two, t ree, 
 four all come to see Sus. W^on er nigger don t come to 
 see me! Ole black good as ole red-man. Where dern fel 
 low get all dat calico, and put over deir face ? Massei 
 Hodge, what all dat mean ?" 
 
 " These are anti-renters, Jaaf," my uncle coldly answer- 
 id, " Men that wish to own your Master Hugh s farms, 
 and relieve him from the trouble of receiving any more rent. 
 They cover their faces, I presume, to conceal their blushes, 
 the modesty of their natures sinking under the sense of 
 their own generosity." 
 
 Although it is not very probable that Jaaf understood 
 the whole of this speech, he comprehended a part ; for, so 
 thoroughly had his feelings been aroused on this subject, a 
 year or two earlier, when his mind was not quite so much 
 dimmed as at present, that the impression made was indeli 
 ble. The effect of what my uncle said, nevertheless, was 
 most apparent among the Injins, who barely escaped an 
 outbreak. My uncle has been blamed for imprudence, in 
 having resorted to irony on such an occasion ; but, after all, 
 I am far from sure good did not come of it. Of one thing, 
 
448 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 I am certain ; nothing is ever gained by temporizing on the 
 subject of principles; that which is right, had better always 
 be freely said, since it is from the sacrifices that are made 
 of the truth, as concessions to expediency, that error ob 
 tains one-half its power. Policy, or fear, or some other 
 motive kept the rising ire of the Injins under, however, and 
 no interruption occurred, in consequence of this speech. 
 
 " What you want here, fellow ?" demanded Jaaf, rough 
 ly^ and speaking as a scold would break out on some in 
 trusive boy. "Home wid ye! get out! Oh! 1 do grow 
 so ole ! I wish I was as I was when young for your sake, 
 you varmint ! What you want wid Masser Hugh s land ? 
 why dat you t ink to get gentle em s property, eh ? Mem 
 ber J e time when your fadder come creepin and beggin to 
 Masser Mordy, to ask just little farm to lib on, and be he 
 tenant, and try to do a little for he family, like ; and now 
 come, in calico bundle, to tell my Masser Hugh dat he shan t 
 be masser of he own land. Who you, I want to know, to 
 come and talk to gentle em in dis poor fashion? Go home 
 get out off wid you, or you hear what you don t like." 
 
 Now, while there was a good deal of " nigger" in this 
 argument, it was quite as good as that which was sometimes 
 advanced in support of the " spirit of the Institutions," more 
 especially that part of the latter which is connected with 
 " aristocracy" and " poodle usages." The negro had an 
 idea that all his " massers," old and young, were better than 
 the rest of the human race; while the advocates of the 
 modern movement seem to think that every right is concen 
 trated in the lower half of the great " republican family." 
 Every gentleman is no gentleman ; and every blackguard, 
 a gentleman, for one postulate of their great social proposi 
 tion ; and, what is more, every man in the least elevated 
 above the mass, unless so elevated by the mass, who con 
 sequently retain the power to pull him down again, has no 
 rights at all, when put in opposition to the cravings of num 
 bers. So, that after all, the negro was not much more ou 
 of the way, in his fashion of viewing things, than the phi- 
 .osophers of industrious honesty ! Happily, neither the 
 reasoning of one of these parties, nor that of the other, has 
 much influence on the actual state of things. Facts are 
 facts, and the flounderings of envy and covetousness can 
 
THE REDSKINS. 449 
 
 no more shut men s eyes to their existence, and prove that 
 black is white, than Jaaf s long-enduring and besetting 
 notion that the Litllepages are the great of the earth, can 
 make us more than what we certainly are. I have recorded 
 the negro s speech, simply to show some, who listen only to 
 the misstatements and opinions of those who wish to become 
 owners of other men s farms, that there are two sides to tho 
 question ; and, in the way of argument, I do not see but ono 
 is quite as good as the other. 
 
 One could hardly refrain from smiling, notwithstanding 
 the seriousness of the circumstances in which we were 
 placed, at the gravity of the Indians during the continuance 
 of this queer episode. Not one of them all rose, turned 
 round, or manifested the least impatience, or even curiosity. 
 The presence of two hundred armed men, bagged in calico, 
 did not induce them to look about them, though their pre 
 vious experience with this gallant corps may possibly have 
 led them to hold it somewhat cheap. 
 
 The time had now come for the Indians to carry out the 
 main design of their visit to Ravensnest, and Prairiefire 
 slowly arose to speak. The reader will understand that 
 Manytongues translated, sentence by sentence, all that pass 
 ed, he being expert in the different dialects of the tribes, some 
 of which had carried that of the Onondagoes to the prairies. 
 In this particular, the interpreter was a somewhat remark 
 able man, not only rendering what was said readily and 
 without hesitation, but energetically and with considerable 
 power. It may be well to add, however, that in writing out 
 the language I may have used English expressions that are 
 a little more choice, in some instances, than those given by 
 this uneducated person. 
 
 " Father," commenced Prairiefire, solemnly, and with a 
 dignity that it is not usual to find connected with modern 
 oratory ; the gestures he used being few, but of singular force 
 and significance "Father the minds of your children are 
 heavy. They have travelled over a long and thorny path, 
 with moccasins worn out, and feet that were getting sore ; 
 but their minds were light. They hoped to look at the face 
 of the Upright Onondago, when they got to the end of the 
 path. They have come to the end of that path, and they 
 see him. He looks as they expected he would look. He 
 38* 
 
450 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 is like an oak that lightning may burn, and the snows cover 
 with moss, but which a thousand storms and a hundred 
 winters cannot strip of its leaves. He looks like the oldest 
 oak in the forest. He is very grand. It is pleasant to look 
 on him. When we see him, we see a chief who knew our 
 fathers fathers, and their fathers fathers. That is a long 
 time ago. He is a tradition, and knows all things. There 
 is only one thing about him, that ought not to be. He was 
 born a red-man, but has lived so long with the pale-faces, 
 that when he does go away to the Happy Hunting-Grounds, 
 we are afraid the good spirits will mistake him for a pale 
 face, and point out the wrong path. Should this happen, 
 the red-men would lose the Upright of the Onondagoes, for 
 ever. It should not be My father does not wish it to 
 be. He will think better. He will come back among his 
 children, and leave his wisdom and advice among the peo 
 ple of his own colour. I ask him to do this. 
 
 " It is a long path, now, to the wigwams of red-men. It 
 was not so once, but the path has been stretched. It is a 
 very long path. Our young men travel it often, to visit the 
 graves of their fathers, and they know how long it is. My 
 tongue is not crooked, but it is straight ; it will not sing a 
 false song it tells my father the truth. The path is very 
 long. But the pale-faces are wonderful ! What have they 
 not done? What will they not do? They have made 
 canoes and sledges that fly swift as the birds. The deer 
 could not catch them. They have wings of fire, and never 
 weary. They go when men sleep. The path is long, but 
 it is soon travelled with such wings. My father can make 
 the journey, and not think of weariness. Let him try it. 
 His children will take good care of him. Uncle Sam will 
 give him venison, and he will want nothing. Then, when 
 he starts for the Happy Hunting-Grounds, he will not mis 
 take the path, and will live with red-men for ever." 
 
 A long, solemn pause succeeded this speech, which was 
 delivered with great dignity and emphasis. I could see that 
 Susquesus was touched with this request, and at the homage 
 paid his character, by having tribes from the prairies 
 tribes of which he had never even heard through traditions 
 n his younger days come so far to do justice to hla 
 character; to request him to go and die in their midst. P 
 
THE REDSKINS. 451 
 
 is true, he must have known that the fragments of the old 
 New York tribes had mostly found their way to those dis 
 tant regions ; nevertheless, it could not but be soothing to 
 learn that even they had succeeded in making so strong an 
 impression in his favour, by means of their representations. 
 Most men of his great age would have been insensible to feel 
 ings of this sort. Such, in a great degree, was the fact with 
 Jaaf ; but such was not the case with the Onondago. As he 
 had said in his former speech to his visiters, his mind dwelt 
 more on the scenes of his youth, and native emotions came 
 fresher to his spirit, now, than they had done even in middle 
 age. All that remained of his youthful fire seemed to be 
 awakened, and he did not appear that morning, except when 
 compelled to walk and in his outward person, to be a man 
 who had seen much more than his three-score years and ten. 
 
 As a matter of course, now that the chiefs from the prai 
 nes had so distinctly made known the great object of their 
 visit, and so vividly portrayed their desire to receive back, 
 into the bosom of their communities, one of their colour 
 and race, it remained for the Onondago to let the manner 
 in which he viewed this proposition be known. The- pro 
 found stillness that reigned around him must have assured 
 the old Indian how anxiously his reply was expected. It 
 extended even to the disguised and armed, who, by this 
 time, seemed to be as much absorbed in the interest of this 
 curious scene as any of us who occupied the piazza. I do 
 believe that anti-rentisrn was momentarily forgotten by all 
 parties tenants, as well as landlords; landlords, as well as 
 tenants. I dare say, Prairiefire had taken his seat three 
 minutes ere Susquesus arose; during all which time, the 
 deep stillness, of which I have spoken, prevailed. 
 
 " My children," answered the Onondago, whose voice 
 possessed just enough of the hollow tremulousness of age 
 to render it profoundly impressive, but who spoke so dis 
 tinctly as to be heard by all present " My children, we do 
 not know what will happen when we are young all is 
 young, too, that we see. It is when we grow old, that all 
 grows old with us. Youth is full of hope; but age is full 
 of eyes ; it sees things as they are. I have lived in my 
 wigwam alone, since the Great Spirit called out the name 
 of my mother, and she hurried away to the Happy Hunting- 
 
452 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Grounds to cook venison for my father, who was called 
 first. My father was a great warrior. You did not know 
 him. He was killed by the Delawares, more than a hun 
 dred winters ago. 
 
 " I have told you the truth. When my mother went 
 to cook venison for her husband, I was left alone in my 
 wigwam." 
 
 Here a long pause succeeded, during which Susquesus 
 appeared to be struggling with his own feelings, though he 
 continued erect, like a tree firmly rooted. As for the 
 chiefs, most of them inclined their bodies forward to listen, 
 so intense was their interest ; here and there one of their 
 number explaining in soft guttural tones, certain passages 
 in the speech to some other Indians, who did not fully com 
 prehend the dialect in which they were uttered. After a 
 time, Susquesus proceeded : " Yes, I lived alone. A young 
 squaw was to have entered my wigwam and staid there. 
 She never came. She wished to enter it, but she did not. 
 Another warrior had her promise, and it was right that she 
 should keep her word. Her mind was heavy at first, but 
 she lived to feel that it is good to be just. No squaw has 
 ever lived in any wigwam of mine. I did not think ever to 
 be a father : but see how different it has turned out ! I am 
 now the father of all red-men ! Every Indian warrior is 
 my son. You are my children ; I will own you when we 
 meet on the pleasant paths beyond the hunts you make to 
 day. You will call me father, and I will call you sons. 
 
 " That will be enough. You ask me to go on the long 
 path with you, and leave my bones on the prairies. I have 
 heard of those hunting-grounds. Our ancient traditions 
 told us of them. Towards the rising sun, they said, 
 is a great salt lake, and towards the setting sun, great 
 lakes of sweet water. Across the great salt lake is a dis 
 tant country, filled with pale-faces, who live in large vil 
 lages, and in the midst of cleared fields. Towards the set 
 ting sun were large cleared fields, too, but no pale-faces, and 
 few villages. Some of our wise men thought these fields 
 were the fields of red-men following the pale-faces round 
 after the sun ; some thought they were fields in which the 
 pale-faces were following them. I think this was the truth. 
 The red-man cannot hide himself in any corner, where the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 453 
 
 pale-face will not find him. The Great Spirit will have it 
 so. It is his will ; the red-man must submit. 
 
 " My sons, the journey you ask me to make is too long 
 for old age. I have lived with the pale-faces, until one-half 
 of my heart is white : though the other half is red. One- 
 half is filled with the traditions of my fathers, the other half 
 is filled with the wisdom of the stranger. I cannot cut my 
 heart in two pieces. It must all go with you, or all stay 
 here. The body must stay with the heart, and both must 
 remain where they have now dwelt so long. I thank you, 
 my children, but what you wish can never come to pass. 
 
 " You see a very old man, but you see a very unsettled 
 mind. There are red traditions and pale-face traditions. 
 Both speak of the Great Spirit, but only one speak of his 
 son. A soft voice has been whispering in my ear, lately, 
 much of the Son of God. Do they speak to you in that way 
 on the prairies? I know not what to think. I wish to 
 think what is right ; but it is not easy to understand." 
 
 Here Susquesus paused ; then he took his seat, with the 
 air of one who was at a loss how to explain his own feel 
 ings. Prairiefire waited a respectful time for him to con 
 tinue his address, but perceiving that he rose not, he stood 
 up, himself, to request a further explanation. 
 
 " My father has spoken wisdom," he said, * and his chil 
 dren have listened. They have not heard enough ; they 
 wish to hear more. If my father is tired of standing, he can 
 sit ; his children do not ask him to stand. They ask to 
 know where that soft voice came from, and what it said ?" 
 
 Susquesus did not rise, now, but he prepared for a reply. 
 Mr. Warren was standing quite near him, and Mary was 
 leaning on his arm. He signed for the father to advance a 
 step or two, in complying with which, the parent brought 
 forth the unconscious child also. 
 
 " See, my children," resumed Susquesus. " This is a 
 great medicine of the pale-faces. He talks always of the 
 Great Spirit, and of his goodness to men. It is his business 
 to talk of the Happy Hunting-Ground, and of good and bad 
 pale-faces. I cannot tell you whether he does any good or 
 not. Many such talk of these things constantly among the 
 whites, but I can see little change, and I have lived among 
 them, now, more than eighty winters and summers yes, 
 
454 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 near ninety. The land is changed so much, that I hardly 
 know it ; but the people do not alter. See, there ; here arc 
 men pale-faces in calico bags. Why do they run about, 
 and dishonour the red-man by calling themselves Injins? I 
 will tell you." 
 
 There was now a decided movement among the virtuous 
 and industrious, though a strong desire to hear the old man 
 out, prevented any violent interruption at that time. I 
 question if ever men listened more intently, than we all lent 
 our faculties now, to ascertain what the Upright of the Onon- 
 dagoes thought of anti-rentism. I received the opinions he 
 expressed with the greater alacrity, because I knew he was 
 a living witness of most of what he related, and because I 
 was clearly of opinion that he knew quite as much of the 
 subject as many who rose in the legislative halls to discuss 
 the subject. 
 
 " These men are not warriors," continued Susquesus. 
 " They hide their faces and they carry rifles, but they frighten 
 none but the squaws and pappooses. When they take a scalp, 
 it is because they are a hundred, and their enemies one. 
 They are not braves. Why do they come at all? What 
 do they want? They want the land of this young chief. 
 My children, ail the land, far and near, was ours. The 
 pale-faces came with their papers, and made laws, and said 
 * It is well ! We want this land. There is plenty farther 
 west for you red-men. Go there, and hunt, and fish, and 
 plant your corn, and leave us this land. Our red brethren 
 did as they were asked to do. The pale-faces had it 33 
 they wished. They made laws, and sold the land, as the 
 red-men sell the skins of beavers. When the money was 
 paid, each pale-face got a deed, and thought he owned all 
 that he had paid for. But the wicked spirit that drove out 
 the red-man is now about to drive off the pale-face chiefs. 
 It is the same devil, and it is no other. He wanted land 
 then, and he wants land now. There is one difference, and 
 it is this. When the pale-face drove off the red-man there 
 was no treaty between them. They had riot smoked toge 
 ther, and given wampum, and signed a paper. If they had, 
 it was to agree that the red-man should go away, and the 
 pale-face stay. When the pale-face drives off the pale-face, 
 there is a treaty ; they have smoked together, and given 
 
THE REDSKINS. 455 
 
 wampum, and signed a paper. This is the difference. In 
 dian will keep his word with Indian ; pale-face will not keep 
 his word with pale-face." 
 
 Susquesus stopped speaking, and the eye of every chief 
 was immediately, and for the first time that morning, turned 
 on the " disguised and armed" the " virtuous and hard 
 working." A slight movement occurred in the band, but 
 no outbreak took place ; and, in the midst of the sensation 
 that existed, Eaglesflight slowly arose. The nature, dignity 
 and ease of his manner more than compensated for his per 
 sonal appearance, and he now seemed to us all one of those 
 by no means unusual instances of the power of the mind to 
 overshadow, and even to obliterate, the imperfections of the 
 body. Before the effect of what Susquesus had just said 
 was lost, this eloquent and much-practised orator began his 
 address. His utterance was highly impressive, being so 
 deliberate, with pauses so well adjusted, as to permit Many- 
 tongues to give full effect to each syllable he translated. 
 
 " My brethren," said Eaglesflight, addressing the Injins 
 and the other auditors, rather than any one else, " you have 
 heard the words of age. They are the words of wisdom 
 They are the words of truth. The Upright of the Onon- 
 dagos cannot lie. He never could. The Great Spirit made 
 him a just Indian ; and, as the Great Spirit makes an In 
 dian, so he is. My brethren, I will tell you his story ; it 
 will be good for you to hear it. We have heard your story ; 
 first from the interpreter, now from Susquesus. It is a bad 
 story. We were made sorrowful when we heard it. What 
 is right, should be done ; what is wrong, should not be done. 
 There are bad red-men, and good red-men ; there are bad 
 pale-faces, and good pale-faces. The good red-men and 
 
 nd pale-faces do what is right ; the bad, what is wrong. 
 3 the same with both. The Great Spirit of the Indian 
 and the Great Spirit of the white man are alike; so are the 
 wicked spirits. There is no difference in this. 
 
 " My brethren, a red-man knows in his heart when he 
 does what is right, and when he does what is wrong. He 
 does not want to be told. He tells himself. His face is 
 red, and he cannot change colour. The paint is too thick. 
 When he tells himself how much wrong he has done, ho 
 
456 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 goes into the bushes, and is sorry. When he comes out, he 
 is a better man. 
 
 " My brethren, it is different with a pale-face. He is 
 white, and uses no stones for paint. When he tells himself 
 that he has done wrong, his face can paint itself. Every 
 body can see that he is ashamed. He does not go into the 
 bushes; it would do no good. He paints himself so quickly 
 that there is no time. He hides his face in a calico bag. 
 This is not good, but it is better than to be pointed at with 
 the finger. 
 
 "My brethren, the Upright of the Onondagoes has never 
 run into the bushes because he was ashamed. There has 
 been no need of it. He has not told himself he was wicked 
 He has not put his face in a calico bag ; he cannot paint 
 himself, like a pale-face. 
 
 " My brethren, listen ; I will tell you a story. A long 
 time ago everything was very different here. The clearings 
 were small, and the woods large. Then the red-men were 
 many, and the pale-faces few. Now it is different. You 
 know how it is, to-day. 
 
 " My brethren, I am talking of what was a hundred win 
 ters since. We were not born, then. Susquesus was then 
 young, and strong, and active. He could run with the deer, 
 and battle with the bear. He was a chief, because his fa 
 thers were chiefs before him. The Onondagoes knew him 
 and loved him. Not a war-path was opened, that he was 
 not the first to go on it. No other warrior could count so 
 many scalps. No young chief had so many listeners at the 
 Council-Fire. The Onondagoes were proud that they had 
 so great a chief, and one so young. They thought he would 
 live a long time, and they should see him, and be proud of 
 him for fifty winters more. 
 
 " My brethren, Susquesus has lived twice fifty winters 
 longer; but he has not lived them with his own people. 
 No; he has been a stranger among the Onondagoes all that 
 time. The warriors he knew are dead. The wigwams 
 that he went into, have fallen to the earth with time; the 
 graves have crumbled, and the sons sons of his companions 
 walk heavily with old age. Susquesus is there; you see 
 him ; he sees you. He can walk ; he speaks ; he sees : he 
 is a living tradition ! Why is this so? The Great Spirit 
 
THE REDSKINS. 457 
 
 has not called him away. He is a just Indian, and it is 
 good that he be kept here, that all red-men may know how 
 much he is loved. So long as he stays, no red-man need 
 want a calico bag. 
 
 " My brethren, the younger days of Susquesus, the 
 Trackless, were happy. When he had seen twenty win 
 ters, he was talked of in all the neighbouring tribes. The 
 scalp notches were a great many. When he had seen thirty 
 winters, no chief of the Onondagoes had more honour, or 
 more power. He was first among the Onondagoes. There 
 was but one fault in him. He did not take a squaw into 
 his wigwam. Death comes when he is not looked for ; so 
 does marriage. At length my father became like other 
 men, and wished for a squaw. It happened in this way. 
 
 " My brethren, red-men have laws, as well as the pale 
 faces. If there is a difference, it is in keeping those laws. 
 A law of the red-men gives every warrior his prisoners. If 
 he bring off a warrior, he is his ; if a squaw, she is his. 
 This is right. He can take the scalp of the warrior ; he 
 can take the squaw into his wigwam, if it be empty. A 
 warrior, named Waterfowl, brought in a captive girl of the 
 Delawares. She was called Ouithwith, and was handsomer 
 than the humming-bird. The Waterfowl had his ears open, 
 and heard how beautiful she was. He watched long to take 
 her, and he did take her. She was his, and he thought to 
 take her into his wigwam when it was empty. Three moons 
 passed, before that could be. In the meantime, Susquesus 
 saw Ouithwith, and Ouithwith saw Susquesus. Their eyes 
 were never off each other. He was the noblest moose of 
 the woods, in her eyes; she was the spotted-fawn, in his. 
 He wished to ask her to his wigwam ; she wished to go. 
 
 " My brethren, Susquesus was a great chief; the Water 
 fowl was only a warrior. One had power and authority 
 the other had neither. But there is authority among red- 
 men beyond that of the chief. It is the red-man s law. 
 Ouithwith belonged to the Waterfowl, and she did not be 
 long to Susquesus. A great council was held, and men dif 
 fered. Some said that so useful a chief, so renowned a 
 warrior as Susquesus, ought to be the husband of Ouilhwith 
 some said her husband ought to be the Waterfowl, for he 
 had brought her out from among the Delawares. A great 
 39 
 
453 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 difficulty arose on this question, and the whole Six Nations 
 took part in it. Many warriors were for the law, but most 
 were for Susquesus. They loved him, and thought he would 
 make the best husband for the Delaware girl. For six 
 moons the quarrel thickened, and a dark cloud gathered 
 over the path that led among the tribes. Warriors who had 
 taken scalps in company, looked at each other, as the pan 
 ther looks at the deer. Some were ready to dig up the 
 hatchet for the law ; some for the pride of the Onondagoes, 
 and the Humming-Bird of the Delawares. The squaws took 
 sides with Susquesus. Far and near, they met to talk to 
 gether, and they even threatened to light a Council-Fire, 
 and smoke around it, like warriors and chiefs. 
 
 "Brethren, things could not stand so another moon. 
 Ouithwith must go into the wigwam of the Waterfowl, or 
 into the wigwam of Susquesus. The squaws said she should 
 go into the wigwam of Susquesus ; and they met together, 
 and led her to his door. As she went along that path, 
 Ouithwith looked at her feet with her eyes, but her heart 
 leaped like the bounding fawn, when playing in the sun. 
 She did not go in at the door. The Waterfowl was there, 
 and forbade it. He had come alone ; his friends were but 
 few, while the heads and arms of the friends of Susquesus 
 were as plenty as the berries on the bush. 
 
 " My brethren, that command of the Waterfowl s was 
 like a wall of rock before the door of the Trackless s wig 
 wam. Ouithwith could not go in. The eyes of Susquesus 
 said * no, while his heart said yes. He offered the Wa 
 terfowl his rifle, his powder, aU his skins, his wigwam ; but 
 Waterfowl would rather have his prisoner, and answered, 
 no. J Take my scalp, he said ; you are strong and can 
 do it ; but do not take my prisoner. 
 
 " My brethren, Susquesus then stood up, in the midst of 
 the tribe, and opened his mind. < The Waterfowl is right, 
 he said. She is his, by our laws; and what the laws of 
 the red-man say, the red-man must do. When the war 
 rior is about to be tormented, and he asks for time to go 
 home and see his friends, does he not come back at the day 
 and hour agreed on? Shall I, Susquesus, the first chief of 
 the Onondagoes, be stronger than the law? No my face 
 would be for ever hid in the bushes, did that come to pass. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 459 
 
 It should not be it shall not be. Take her, Waterfowl-, 
 she is yours. Deal kindly by her, for she is as tender as 
 the wren when it first quits the nest. I must go into the 
 woods for a while. When my mind is at peace, Susquesus 
 will return. 
 
 " Brethren, the stillness in that tribe, while Susquesus was 
 getting his rifle, and his horn, and his best moccasins, and 
 his tomahawk, was like that which comes in the darkness. 
 Men saw him go, but none dare follow. He left no trail, 
 and he was called the Trackless. His mind was never at 
 peace, for he never came back. Summer and winter came 
 and went often before the Onondagoes heard of him among 
 the pale-faces. All that time the Waterfowl lived with Ouith- 
 with in his wigwam, and she bore him children. The chief 
 was gone, but the law remained. Go you, men of the pale 
 faces, who hide your shame in calico bags, and do the same. 
 Follow the example of an Indian be honest, like the Upright 
 of the Onondagoes!" 
 
 While this simple narrative was drawing to a close, I 
 could detect the signs of great uneasiness among the leaders 
 of the " calico bags." The biting comparison between 
 themselves and their own course, and an Indian and his 
 justice, was intolerable to them, for nothing has more con 
 duced to the abuses connected with anti-rentism than the 
 wide-spread delusion that prevails in the land concerning 
 the omnipotency of the masses. The error is deeply rooted 
 which persuades men that fallible parts can make an infal 
 lible whole. It was offensive to their self-conceit, and me 
 nacing to their success. A murmur ran through the assem 
 bly, and a shout followed. The Injins rattled their rifles, 
 most relying on intimidation to effect their purpose ; but a few 
 seemed influenced by a worse intention, and I have never 
 doubted that blood would have been shed in the next minute, 
 the Indians now standing to their arms, had not the sheriff 
 of the county suddenly appeared on the piazza, with Jack 
 Dunning at his elbow. This unexpected apparition produced 
 a pause, during which the * disguised and armed fell back 
 some twenty yards, and the ladies rushed into the house. As 
 for my uncle and myself, we were as much astonished as 
 any .here at this interruption. 
 
THE REDSKINS 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " Strong sense, deep feeling, passions strong, 
 A hate of tyrant and of knave, 
 A love of right, a scorn of wrong, 
 Of coward and of slave." 
 
 Halleck s Wild Rose of Atloway 
 
 ALTHOUGH experience has shown that the appearance of 
 a sheriff is by no means a pledge of the appearance of a 
 friend of the law in this anti-rent movement, in our instance 
 the fact happened to be so. It was known to the disguised 
 and armed that this functionary was disposed to do his duty.* 
 One of the rank absurdities into which democracy has fallen, 
 and democracy is no more infallible than individual demo 
 crats, has been to make the officers of the militia, and the 
 sheriffs of counties, elective. The consequences are, that 
 the militia is converted into a farce, and the execution of the 
 laws in a particular county is very much dependent on the 
 pleasure of that county to have them executed or not. The 
 !ast is a capital arrangement for the resident debtor, for in 
 stance, though absent creditors are somewhat disposed to 
 find fault. But all this is of no great moment, since the 
 theories for laws and governments in vogue just now are of 
 such a character as would render laws and governments 
 quite unnecessary at all, were they founded in truth. Re- 
 
 * The editor may as well say here, that, for obvious reasons, the 
 names, counties, &c., used in these manuscripts are feigned, the rea* 
 localities being close enough to those mentioned for the double pur- 
 poses of truth and fiction. As one of the " honourable gentlemen" of 
 the Legislature has quoted our references to provincial feelings and 
 notions, with a magnificence that proves how thoroughly he is a man 
 of the world himself, we will tell all the rest of the human race, who 
 may happen to read tkis book, that we have made this explanation lest 
 that comprehensive view of things, which has hitherto been so eager, 
 because a street and a house are named in the pages of a fiction, to 
 suppose that everybody is to believe they know the Terj individual who 
 dwelt in it, should fancy that our allusions are to this or that particuU* 
 functionary. EDITOH. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 46 
 
 stramts of all kinds can only be injurious when they are im- 
 posed on perfection ! 
 
 The instant the commotion commenced, and the ladies 
 fled, I took Seneca and his fellow-prisoner by the arm, and 
 led them into the library. This I did, conceiving it to be 
 unfair to keep prisoners in a situation of danger. This 1 
 did, too, without reflecting in the least on anything but the 
 character of the act. Returning to the piazza immediately, 
 I was not missed, and was a witness of all that passed. 
 
 As has been intimated, this particular sheriff was known 
 to be unfavourable to the anti-rent movement, and, no one 
 supposing he would appear in their midst unsupported, in such 
 a scene, the Injins fell back, thus arresting the danger of an 
 immediate collision. It has since been privately intimated 
 to me, that some among them, after hearing the narrative of 
 Eaglesflight, really felt ashamed that a red-skin should have 
 a more lively sense of justice than a white man. Whatever 
 may be said of the hardships of the tenants, and of" poodlo 
 usages," and of * aristocracy, and * fat hens, by the leaders 
 in this matter, it by no means follows that those leaders be 
 lieve in their own theories and arguments. On the contrary, 
 it is generally the case with such men, that they keep them 
 selves quite free from the excitement that it is their business 
 to awaken in others, resembling the celebrated John Wilkes, 
 who gravely said to George III., in describing the character 
 of .a former co-operator in agitation, " He was a Wilksite, 
 sir ; / never was." 
 
 The unexpected appearance of Dunning, the offending 
 agent, too, was not without its effect, for they who were 
 behind the curtains found it difficult to believe that he would 
 dare to show himself at Ravensnest without a sufficient sup 
 port. Those who thought thus, however, did not know 
 Jack Dunning. He had a natural and judicious aversion 
 to being tarred and feathered, it is true ; but, when it was 
 necessary to expose himself, no man did it more freely. Tho 
 explanation of his unlooked-for arrival is simply this. 
 
 Uneasy at our manner of visiting Ravensnest, this trust 
 worthy friend, after the delay of a day or two, determined 
 to follow us. On reaching the county he heard of the firing 
 of the barn, and of the attempt on the house, and went in 
 quest of the sheriff without a moment s delay. As the ob 
 39* 
 
462 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 ject of Dunning was to get the ladies out of the lion s den 
 he did not wait for the summoning of the posse comitatus; 
 but, hiring a dozen resolute fellows, they were armed, and 
 all set out in a body for the Nest. When within a mile or 
 two of the house, the rumour reached the party that we 
 were besieged ; and it became expedient to have recourse to 
 some manoeuvring, in order to throw succour into the gar 
 rison. Dunning was familiar with all the windings and 
 turnings of the place, having passed many a month at the 
 Nest with my uncle and father, both as man and boy , and 
 he knew the exact situation of the cliff, court, and of the 
 various peculiar features of the place. Among other arrange 
 ments that had been made of late years, a door had been 
 opened at the end of the long gallery which led through one 
 of the wings, and a flight of steps been built against the 
 rocks, by means of which certain paths and walks that 
 meandered through the meadows and followed the windings 
 of the stream might be reached. Dunning determined to 
 attempt an ascent from this quarter, trusting to making him 
 self heard by some one within, should he find the door fast 
 ened. Everything succeeded to his wishes, the cook, 
 alone, of all the household, being at her post in the other 
 wing, and seeing him the instant he presented himself on 
 the upper part of the steps. Jack Dunning s face was so 
 well known at the Nest, that the good woman did not hesi 
 tate a moment about admitting him, and he thus penetrated 
 into the buildings, followed by all his party. The last he 
 kept concealed by sending them into the chambers, while 
 he and the sheriff drew near the door, and heard most of 
 the speech of Eaglesflight, the attention of everybody being 
 given to the narrative. The reader knows the rest. 
 
 I might as well say at once, however, that Opportunity, 
 who, by her position, had seen the entrance of Dunning 
 and his party, no sooner found herself alone with the pri 
 soners, than she unbound them, and showed them the means 
 of flight, by the same passage, door and steps. At least, 
 suoh has been my supposition, for the sister has never been 
 questioned on the subject. Seneca and his co-rascal va 
 nished, and have not since been seen in our part of the 
 country. In consequence of the flight, no one has ever 
 complained ofeither for arson. The murder of Steele, the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 463 
 
 deputy-sheriff of Delaware, has given a check to the * Injin 
 system, and awakened a feeling in the country that was not 
 to be resisted, in that form at least, by men engaged in a 
 scheme so utterly opposed to the first principles of honesty 
 as anti-rentism. 
 
 When I regained the piazza, after thrusting Seneca into 
 the library, the Injins had fallen back to the distance of 
 twenty or thirty yards from the piazza, in evident con 
 fusion ; while the Indians, cool and collected, stood to their 
 arms, watchful as crouching panthers, but held in hand by the 
 calmness with which their leaders watched the progress of 
 events. The sheriff now required the first to disperse, as 
 violaters of the law ; with the penalties of which he menaced 
 them, in a voice sufficiently clear and distinct to make itself 
 audible. There was a moment during which the Injins 
 seemed undecided. They had come with the full intent to 
 inflict on my uncle and myself the punishment of the tar- 
 bucket, with the hope of frightening us into some sort of a 
 compromise ; the cowardly expedient of a hundred men s 
 attacking and annoying one being particularly in favour 
 with a certain class of those ultra-friends of liberty, who 
 fancy that they alone possess all the public virtue of the 
 nation, which public virtue justifies any of their acts. All 
 of a sudden, the entire body of these virtuous citizens, who 
 found it necessary to hide their blushes beneath calico, fell 
 rapidly back ; observing a little order at first, which soon 
 degenerated, however, into confusion, and shortly after into 
 a downright, scampering flight. The fact was, that Dun- 
 ning s men began to show themselves at the windows of 
 the chambers, thrusting muskets and rifles out before them, 
 and the * disguised and armed, as has invariably been the 
 case in the anti-rent disturbances, exhibited a surprising 
 facility at the retreat. If he is thrice-armed who hath his 
 quarrel just, ten times is he a coward who hath his quarrel 
 unjust. This is the simple solution of the cowardice that 
 has been so generally shown by those who have been en. 
 gaged in this Injin warfare; causing twenty to chase one, 
 secret attempts on the lives of sentinels, and all the other 
 violations of manly feeling that have disgraced the proceed 
 ings of the heroes. 
 
 As soon as released from all immediate apprehension or. 
 
464 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 the score of the Injins, we had time to attend to the Indians. 
 These warriors gazed after those who were caricaturing 
 their habits, and most of all their spirit, with silent con^ 
 tempt; and Prairiefire, who spoke a little English, said to me 
 with emphasis, " Poor Irijin poor tribe run away from 
 own whoop !" This was positively every syllable the men 
 of the prairies deigned to bestow on these disturbers of tho 
 public peace, the agents of covetousness, who prowl about 
 at night, like wolves, ready to seize the stray lamb, but are 
 quick to sneak off at the growl of the mastiff. One can 
 not express himself in terms too harsh of such wretches, 
 who in no instance have manifested a solitary spark of the 
 true spirit of freemen; having invariably quailed before 
 authority when that authority has assumed in the least the 
 aspect of its power, and as invariably trampled it under foot, 
 whenever numbers put danger out of the question. 
 
 Old Susquesus had been a quiet observer of all that 
 passed. He knew the nature of the disturbance, and under 
 stood everything material that was connected with the out 
 breaks. As soon as order was restored on the piazza, he 
 rose once more to address his guests. 
 
 " My children," he said, solemnly, " you hear my voice 
 for the last time. Even the wren cannot sing for ever. 
 The very eagle s wing gets tired in time. I shall soon cease 
 to speak. When I reach the happy hunting-grounds ef the 
 Onondagoes, I will tell the warriors I meet there of your 
 visit. Your fathers shall know that their sons still love 
 justice. Let the pale-faces sign papers, and laugh at them 
 afterwards. The promise of a red-man is his law. If he is 
 made a prisoner, and his conquerors wish to torment him, 
 they are too generous to do so without letting him go to his 
 tribe to take leave of his friends. When the time is reached, 
 he comes back. If he promises skins, he brings them, 
 though no law can follow into the woods to force him to do 
 so. His promise goes with him ; his promise is stronger 
 than chains it brings ^him back. 
 
 " My children, never forget this. You are not pale-faces, 
 to say one thing and do another. What you say, you do. 
 When you make a law, you keep it. This is right. No 
 red-man wants another s wigwam. If he wants a wigwam, 
 he builds one himself. It is not so with tho pale-faces. 
 
THE REDSKINS. 465 
 
 The man who has no wigwam tries to get away his neigh 
 bour s. While he does this, he reads in his bible and goes 
 to his church. I have sometimes thought, the more he reads 
 and prays, the more he tries to get into his neighbour s wig 
 warn. So it seems to an Indian, but it may not be so. 
 
 " My children, the red-man is his own master. He goes 
 and comes as he pleases. If the young men strike the war- 
 path, he can strike it, too. He can go on the war-path, or 
 the hunt, or he can stay in his wigwam. All he has to do, 
 is to keep his promise, not steal, and not to go into another 
 red-man s wigwam unasked. He is his own master. He 
 does not say so; he is so. How is it with the pale-faces? 
 They say they are free when the sun rises ; they say they 
 are free when the sun is over their heads; they say they 
 are free when the sun goes down behind the hills. They 
 never stop talking of their being their own masters. They 
 talk of that more than they read their bibles. I have lived 
 near a hundred winters among them, and know what they 
 are. They do that ; then they take away another s wig 
 wam. They talk of liberty ; then they say you shall have 
 this farm, you shan t have that. They, talk of liberty, and 
 call to one another to put on calico bags, that fifty men may 
 tar and feather one. They talk of liberty, and want every 
 thing their own way. 
 
 " My children, these pale-faces might go back with you 
 to the prairies, and learn to do what is right. I do not 
 wonder they hide their faces in bags. They feel ashamed ; 
 they ought to feel ashamed. 
 
 " My children, this is the last time you will hear my voice. 
 The tongue of an old man cannot move for ever. This is 
 my counsel : do what is right. The Great Spirit will tell 
 you what that is. Let it be done. What my son said of 
 me is true. It was hard to do ; the feelings yearned to do 
 otherwise, but it was not done. In a little time peace came 
 on my spirit, and I was glad. I could not go back to live 
 among my people, for I was afraid of doing what was 
 wrong. I staid among the pale-faces, and made friends here. 
 My children, farewell ; do what is right, and you will be 
 happier than the richest pale-face who does what is wrong." 
 
 Susquesus took his seat, and at the same time each of tho 
 redskins advanced and shook his hand. The Indians make 
 
466 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 few professions, but let their acts speak for them. Not a 
 syllable was uttered by one of those rude warriors as ho 
 took his leave of Susquesus. Each man had willingly paid 
 this tribute to one whose justice and self-denial were cele 
 brated in their traditions, and having paid it, he went his 
 way satisfied, if not altogether happy. Each man shook 
 hands, too, with all on the piazza, and to us they expressed 
 their thanks for their kind treatment. My uncle Ro had 
 distributed the remains of his trinkets among them, and they 
 left us with the most amicable feelings. Still there was 
 nothing dramatic in their departure. It was simple as 
 their arrival. They had come to see the Upright of the 
 Onondagoes, had fulfilled their mission, and were ready to 
 depart. Depart they did, and as I saw their line winding 
 along the highway, the episode of such a visit appeared to us 
 all more like a dream than reality. No interruption occurred 
 to the return of these men, and half an hour after they had 
 left the piazza we saw them winding their way up the hill, 
 descending which we had first seen them. 
 
 " Well, Hodge," said Jack Dunning, two or three hours 
 later, " what is your, decision ; will you remain here, or will 
 you go to your own place in Westchester." 
 
 " I will remain here until it is our pleasure to depart ; 
 *.hen we will endeavour to be as free as Indians, and go 
 where we please, provided always we do not go into our 
 neighbour s wigwam against his will." 
 
 Jack Dunning smiled, and he paced the library once or 
 twice before he resumed. 
 
 " They told me, as soon as I got into the county, that 
 you, and all belonging to you, were preparing to retreat tho 
 morning after the attempt to fire your house." 
 
 " One of those amiable perversions of the truth that so 
 much embellish the morality of the whole affair. What 
 men wish, they fancy, and what they fancy, they say. The 
 girls, even, protest they would not quit the house while it 
 has a roof to cover their heads. But, Jack, whence comes 
 this spirit ?" 
 
 " I should think that was the last question a reasonably 
 informed man need ask," answered Dunning, laughing. "It 
 is very plain where it comes from. It comes from the devil 
 and has every one of the characteristics of his han lywork 
 
THE REDSKINS. 467 
 
 In the first place, love of money, or covetousness, is at its 
 root. Then lies are its agents. Its first and most pre 
 tending lie is that of liberty, every principle of which it 
 tramples under foot. Then come in the fifty auxiliaries in 
 the way of smaller inventions, denying the facts of the 
 original settlement of the country, fabricating statements 
 concerning its progress, and asserting directly in the teeth 
 of truth, such statements as it is supposed will serve a turn.* 
 There can be no mistaking the origin of such contrivances, 
 or all that has been taught us of good and evil is a fiction. 
 Really, Hodge, I am astonished that so sensible a man should 
 have asked the question." 
 
 " Perhaps you are right, Jack ; but to what will it lead ?" 
 "Ay, that is not so easily answered. The recent events 
 in Delaware have aroused the better feelings of the country, 
 and there is no telling what it may do. One thing, how 
 ever, I hold to be certain ; the spirit connected with this 
 affair must be put down, thoroughly, effectually, completely, 
 or we are lost. Let it once be understood, in the country, 
 that men can control their own indebtedness, and fashion 
 contracts to suit their own purposes, by combinations and 
 numbers, and pandemonium would soon be a paradise com- 
 
 * The frightful propensity to effect its purposes by lying, has come 
 to such a head in the country, as seriously to threaten the subversion 
 of all justice. Without adverting to general facts, two circumstances 
 directly connected with this anti-rent question, force themselves on my 
 attention. They refer to large estates that were inherited by an 
 Englishman, who passed half of a long life in the country. In public 
 legislative documents it has been pretended that the question of his 
 title to his estates is still open, when the published reports of the 
 highest court of the country show that a decision was made in 
 his favour thirty years since; and, in reference to his heir, it has 
 been officially stated that he has invariably refused to give any leases 
 but such as run on lives. Now, it is of little moment whether this 
 be true or not, since the law allows every man to do as he may 
 please in this respect. But the fact, as I understand from the agent 
 who draws the leases, is precisely the reverse of that which has been 
 openly stated in this legislative document; THE PRESENT POSSESSOR 
 
 OP THE ESTATE IN QUESTION, HAYINO BEEN EARNESTLY SOLICITED 
 BT THE TENANTS TO GRANT NEW LEASES ON LIVES, AND ABSOLUTELY 
 
 REFUSED TO COMPLY ! In this instance the Legislature, doubtless, 
 nave been deceived by the interested representations of anti-renters, 
 EDITOR. 
 
438 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 pared to New York. There is not a single just ground of 
 complaint in the nature of any of these leases, whatevel 
 hardships may exist in particular cases ; but, admitting that 
 there were false principles of social life, embodied in the re 
 lation of landlord and tenant, as it exists among us, it would 
 be a far greater evil to attempt a reform under such a 
 combination, than to endure the original wrong" 
 
 " I suppose these gentry fancy themselves strong enough 
 to thrust their interests into politics, and hope to succeed by 
 that process. But anti-masonry, and various other schemes 
 of that sort have failed, hitherto, and this may fail along 
 with it. That is a redeeming feature of the institutions, 
 Jack ; you may humbug for a time, but the humbuggery is 
 not apt to last for ever. It is only to be regretted that the 
 really upright portion of the community are so long in 
 making themselves felt; would they only be one-half as 
 active as the miscreants, we should get along well enough." 
 
 " The result is unknown. The thing may be put down, 
 totally, effectually, and in a way to kill the snake, not scotch 
 it; or it may be met with only half-way measures; in which 
 case it will remain like a disease in the human system, 
 always existing, always menacing relapses, quite possibly to- 
 be the agent of the final destruction of the body." 
 
 My uncle, nevertheless, was as good as his word, and did 
 remain in the county, where he is yet. Our establishment 
 has received another reinforcement, however, and a change 
 occurred, shortly after our visit from the Injins, in the policy 
 of the anti-renters, the two giving us a feeling of security 
 that might otherwise have been wanting. The reinforce 
 ment came from certain young men, who have found their 
 way across from the springs, and become guests at the Nest. 
 They are all old acquaintances of mine, most of them school 
 fellows, and also admirers of the young ladies. Each of my 
 uncle s wards, the Coldbrooke and the Marston, has an ac 
 cepted lover, as we now discovered, chcumstances that have 
 left me unobstructed in pursuing my suit with Mary Warren. 
 I have found Patt a capital ally, for she loves the dear girl 
 almost as much as I do myself, and has been of great service 
 in the affair. I am conditionally accepted, though Mr. War 
 ren s consent has not been asked. Indeed, I much question 
 if tne good rector has the least suspicion of what is in the 
 
THE REDSKINS. 469 
 
 wind. As for my uncle Ro, he knew all about it, though I 
 have never breathed a syllable to him on the subject. For- 
 tunately, he is well satisfied with the choice made by his two 
 wards, and this has somewhat mitigated the disappointment. 
 
 My uncle Ro is not in the least mercenary ; and the cir 
 cumstance that Mary Warren has not a cent, gives him no 
 concern. He is, indeed, so rich himself that he knows it is 
 in his power to make any reasonable addition to my means, 
 and, if necessary, to place me above the dangers of anti- 
 rentism. The following is a specimen of his humour, and 
 of his manner of doing things when the humour takes him. 
 We were in the library one morning, about a week after the 
 Injins were shamed out of the field by the Indians, for that 
 was the secret of their final disappearance from our part of 
 the country ; but, one morning, about a week after their last 
 visit, my grandmother, my uncle, Patt and I were seated in 
 the library, chatting over matters and things, when my 
 uncle suddenly exclaimed 
 
 " By the way, Hugh, I have a piece of important news to 
 communicate to you ; news affecting your interests to the 
 tune of fifty thousand dollars." 
 
 " No more anti-rent dangers, I hope, Roger ?" said my 
 grandmother, anxiously. 
 
 " Hugh has little to apprehend from that source, just now. 
 The Supreme Court of the United States is his buckler, and 
 it is broad enough to cover his whole body. As for his fu 
 ture leases, if he will take my advice, he will not grant one 
 for a term longer than five years, and then his tenants will 
 become clamorous petitioners to the legislature to allow them 
 to make Iheir own bargains. Shame will probably bring 
 your free-trade-men round, and the time will come when 
 your double-distilled friends of liberty will begin to see it is 
 a very indifferent sort of freedom which will not permit a 
 wealthy landlord to part with his farms for a long period, or 
 a poor husbandman to make the best bargain in his power. 
 No, no ; Hugh has nothing serious to apprehend, just now 
 at least, from that source, whatever may come of it here 
 after. The loss to which I allude is much more certain, and 
 to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, I repeat." 
 
 " That is a good deal of money for me to lose, sir," I 
 answered, but little disturbed by the intelligence ; and ft 
 40 
 
470 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 might embarrass me lo raise so large a sum in a hurry 
 Nevertheless, I confess to no very great concern on the 
 subject, notwithstanding your announcement. I hafe no 
 debts, and the title to all I possess is indisputable, unless it 
 shall be decided that a royal grant is not to be tolerated by 
 republicans." 
 
 " All very fine, Master Hugh, but you forget that you are 
 die natural heir of my estate. Patt knows that she is to 
 have a slice of it when she marries, and I am now about to 
 make a settlement of just as much more on another young 
 lady, by way of marriage portion." 
 
 " Roger !" exclaimed my grandmother, " you surely do 
 not mean what you say ! Of as much more !" 
 
 " Of precisely that money, my dear mother. I have 
 taken a fancy to a young lady, and as I cannot marry her 
 myself, I am determined to make her a good match, so far 
 as money is concerned, for some one else." 
 
 " But why not marry her yourself?" I asked. " Older 
 men than yourself marry every day." 
 
 "Ay, widowers, I grant. you; they will marry until they 
 are a thousand ; but it is not so with us bachelors. Let a 
 man once get fairly past forty, and it is no easy matter to 
 bring him to the sacrifice. No, Jack Dunning s being here 
 is the most fortunate thing in the world, and so I have set 
 him at work to draw up a settlement on the young lady to 
 whom I refer, without any rights to her future husband, let 
 him turn out to be whom he may." 
 
 " It is Mary Warren !" exclaimed my sister, in a tone of 
 delight. 
 
 My uncle smiled, and he tried to look demure ; but I can 
 not say that he succeeded particularly well. 
 
 " It is it is it is Mary Warren, and uncle Ro means to 
 give her a fortune !" added Patt, bounding across the floor 
 like a young deer, throwing herself into her guardian s lap, 
 hugging and kissing him, as if she were nothing but a child, 
 though a fine young woman of nineteen. " Yes, it is Mary 
 Warren, and uncle Hodge is a delightful old gentleman 
 no, a delightful young gentleman, and were he only thirty 
 years younger he should have his own heiress for a wife 
 Good, dear, generous, sensible uncle Ro. This 
 
THE REDSKINS. 471 
 
 is so like him, after all his disappointment; for I know, 
 Hugh, his heart was set on your marrying Henrietta." 
 
 "And what has my marrying, or not marrying Henrietta, 
 to do with this settlement of fifty thousand dollars on Miss 
 Warren 1 The young ladies are not even connected, I be 
 lieve." 
 
 " Oh ! you know how all such things are managed," said 
 Patt, blushing and laughing at the passing allusion to 
 matrimony, even in another ; " Mary Warren will not bo 
 Mary Warren always." 
 
 " Who will she be, then ?" demanded uncle Ro, quickly. 
 
 But Patt was too true to the rights and privileges of her 
 sex to say anything directly that might seem to commit her 
 friend. She patted her uncle s cheek, therefore, like a saucy 
 minx as she was, coloured still higher, looked archly at 
 me, then averted her eyes consciously, as if betraying a se 
 cret, and returned to her seat as demurely as if the subject 
 had been one of the gravest character. 
 
 " But are you serious in what you have told us, Roger ?" 
 asked my grandmother, with more interest than I supposed 
 the dear old lady would be apt to feel on such a subject. 
 " Is not this settlement a matter of fancy ?" 
 
 " True as the gospel, my dear mother." 
 
 " And is Martha right ? Is Mary Warren really the fa 
 voured young lady ?" 
 
 " For a novelty, Patt is right." 
 
 " Does Mary Warren know of your intention, or has her 
 father been consulted in the matter ?" 
 
 "Both know of it; we had it all over together, last eve. 
 ning, and Mr. Warren consents." 
 
 " To what ?" I cried, springing to my feet, the emphasis 
 on the last word being too significant to be overlooked. 
 
 " To receive Hugh Roger Littlepage, which is my own 
 name, recollect, for a son-in-law ; and what is more, the 
 young lady * is agreeable. " 
 
 " We all know that she is more than agreeable," put in 
 Patt ; " she is delightful, excellent ; agreeable is no word to 
 apply to Mary Warren." 
 
 " Pshaw, girl ! . If you had travelled, now, you would 
 know that this expression is cockney English for agreeing to 
 a thing. Mary Warren agrees to become the wife of Hugh 
 
472 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 Roger Littlepage, and I settle fifty thousand dollars on her 
 in considbration of matrimony." " 
 
 " This Hugh Roger Littlepage," cried Patt, throwing an 
 arm around my neck ; " not that Hugh Roger Littlepage. 
 Do but add that, dearest, dearest uncle, and I will kiss you 
 for an hour." 
 
 " Excuse me, my child ; a fourth of that time would bo 
 as much as I could reasonably expect. I believe you are 
 right, however, as I do not remember that this Hugh Roger 
 had any connection with the affair, unless it were to give 
 his money. I shall deny none of your imputations." 
 
 Just as this was said, the door of the library was slowly 
 opened, and Mary Warren appeared. The moment she 
 saw who composed our party, she would have drawn back, 
 but my grandmother kindly bade her " come in." 
 
 " I was afraid of disturbing a family party, ma am," Mary 
 timidly answered. 
 
 Patt darted forward, threw her arm around Mary s waist, 
 and drew her into the room, closing and locking the door. 
 All this was done in a way to attract attention, and as if the 
 young lady wished to attract attention. We all smiled but 
 Mary, who seemed half pleased, half frightened. 
 
 " It is a family party," cried Patt, kissing her affianced 
 sister, " and no one else shall be admitted to it, unless good 
 Mr. Warren come to claim his place. Uncle Ro has told us 
 all about it, and we know all." 
 
 Mary hid her face in Patt s bosom, but it was soon drawn 
 out by my dear grandmother to kiss it ; then my uncle had his 
 turn, and Patt her s. After this, the whole party, except 
 Mary and I, slid out of the room, and yes, and then it 
 was my turn. 
 
 We are not yet married, but the day is named. The 
 same is true with respect to the two wards, and even Patt 
 blushes, and my grandmother smiles, occasionally, when 
 gentlemen who are travelling in Egypt just now, are named. 
 The last letters from young Beekman, they tell me, say that 
 he was then there. The three marriages are to take place 
 in St. Andrew s church, Mr. Warren being engaged to offi 
 ciate. 
 
 The reader will be surprised to hear two things. My en- 
 gagement with the daughter of a poor clergyman has pro- 
 
THE REDSKINS. 473 
 
 duced great scandal among the anti-renters, they v. r ho so 
 loudly decry aristocracy ! The objection is that the match 
 is not equal ! That equality which is the consequence of 
 social position, connections, education and similarity of 
 habits, thoughts, and, if you will, prejudices, is all thrown 
 away on these persons. They have no notion of its exist 
 ence ; but they can very well understand that the owner of 
 an unencumbered and handsome estate is richer than the 
 heiress of a poor divine, who can just make the year meet 
 on 8500 per annum. I let them grumble, as I know they 
 must and will find fault with something connected with my 
 self, until they have got away my land, or are satisfied it is 
 not to be had. As for Opportunity, I have been assured that 
 she threatens to sue me for a " breach of promise ;" nor 
 should I be at all surprised were she actually to make the 
 attempt. It is by no means unusual, when a person sets his 
 or her whole soul on a particular object, to imagine circum 
 stances favourable to his or her views, which never had an 
 existence; and Opportunity may fancy that what I have 
 heard has been " the buzzing in her own ear." Then the 
 quackery of legislatures has set the ladies at work in earnest, 
 and he will soon be a fortunate youth who can pass through 
 his days of celibacy without some desperate assault, legal or 
 moral, from the other sex. Besides, nothing can be out of 
 the way, when it is found that the more popular and most 
 numerous branch of the Legislature of New York really 
 believes it can evade that solemn provision of the Constitu 
 tion of the United States, which says " no state shall pass 
 any law impairing the obligations of contracts," by enacting, 
 as they can regulate the statute of descent, that whenever a 
 landlord dies, the tenant, by applying to the chancellor, can 
 have his leasehold tenure converted into a mortgage, on dis 
 charging which the land will be his, unencumbered ! We 
 have heard of a " thimble-rig administration" in England, 
 and really that industrious nation seems to have exported 
 the breed to this country. How many of those who voted 
 for such a law will like to see the ays and noes on the 
 journals of the assembly ten years hence ? If there should 
 be one such man left in the state, he will be an object of 
 humane commiseration. We have had many efforts at 
 legislative chicanery, and some that have been tolerably clever , 
 40* 
 
474 THE REDSKINS. 
 
 but this is a palpable experiment in the same way, made for 
 a reason that everybody understands, that has not even the 
 negative merit of ingenuity. Our own courts will probably 
 disregard it, should the Senate even concur ; and as for those 
 of the United States, they will, out of all doubt, treat it as it 
 ought to be treated, and brand it with ignominy. The next step 
 will be to pass a law regulating descents, as it is called, un 
 der the provisions of which the debtors of the deceased can 
 meet his obligations with a coin technically called " puppies." 
 
 Jaaf drivels away. The black occasionally mumbles out 
 his sentiments concerning past events, and the state of the 
 country. An anti-renter he regards as he would a thief, and 
 makes no bones of saying so. Sometimes he blunders on a 
 very good remark in connection with the subject, and one 
 he made no later than yesterday, is worthy of notice. 
 
 " What dem feller want, Masser Hugh 1" he demanded. 
 " Dey s got one half of deir farms, and now dey wants tud- 
 der half. S pose I own a co.w, or a sheep, in par nership, 
 what right I got to say I will have him all ? Gosh ! dere 
 no sich law in ole time. Den, who ebber see sich poor In- 
 jin ! Redskin mis rubble enough, make e bess of him, but 
 dis Injin so mis rubble dat I doesn t won er you can t bear 
 him. Oh ! how ole I do git I do t ink ole Sus can t last 
 much longer, too " 
 
 Old Susquesus still survives, but an object of great hatred 
 to all the anti-renters, far and near. The Injin system has 
 been broken up, temporarily at least, but the spirit which 
 brought it into existence survives under the hypocritical 
 aspect of " human rights." The Upright of the Ononda- 
 goes is insensible of the bad feeling which is so active 
 against him, nor is it probable that most of those who enter 
 tain this enmity are conscious of the reason ; which is 
 simply the fact that he is a man who respected laws to the 
 making of which he was a party, and preferred to sutler 
 rather than to be guilty of an act of injustice. 
 
NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 
 
 Here the manuscript of Mr. Hugh Roger Littlepage, jun., 
 terminates. That gentleman s feelings have probably for 
 bidden his relating events so recent as those which have 
 since occurred. It remains, therefore, for us to add a few 
 words. 
 
 Jaaf died about ten days since, railing at the redskins to 
 the last, and talking about his young massers and missuses 
 as long as he had breath. As for his own descendants, he 
 had not been heard to name them, for the last forty years. 
 
 Susquesus still survives, but the " Injins" are all defunct. 
 Public opinion has, at last, struck that tribe out of existence, 
 and it is hoped that their calico bags have been transmitted 
 to certain politicians among us, who, as certain as the sun 
 rises and sets, will find them useful to conceal their own 
 countenances, when contrition and shame come, as contrition 
 and shame will be sure to succeed such conduct as theirs. 
 
 It may be well to add a word on the subject of the tone 
 of this book. It is the language of a man who feels that he 
 has been grievously injured, and who writes with the ardour 
 of youth increased by the sense of wrong. As editors, we 
 have nothing more to do with that than to see, while calling 
 things by their right names, that language too strong for the 
 public taste should not be introduced into our pages. As to 
 the moral and political principles connected with this matter, 
 we are wholly of the side of the Messrs. Littlepages, though 
 we do not think it necessary to adopt all their phrases 
 phrases that may be natural to men in their situations, but 
 which would be out of place, perhaps, in the mouths of those 
 who act solely in the capacity of essayists and historians. 
 
 To conclude : Mr. Littlepage and Mary Warren were 
 married, in St. Andrew s church, a very few days since. 
 We met the young gentleman, on his wedding tour, no later 
 
476 NOTE Bt THE EDITOR. 
 
 than yesterday, and he assured us that, provided witli sucK 
 a companion, he was ready to change his domicile to any 
 other part of the Union, and that he had selected Washing 
 ton, for the express purpose of being favourably situated for 
 trying the validity of the laws of the United States, as op 
 posed to the " thimble-rigging" of the New York Legisla 
 ture. It is his intention to have every question connected 
 with the covenants of his leases, that of taxing the landlord 
 for property on which the tenant has covenanted to pay ah 
 taxes ; that of distress for rent, when distress must precede 
 the re-entry stipulated for by the leases ; and that of any 
 other trick or device which the brains of your " small-potato" 
 legislator may invent in order to wrong him out of his pro 
 perty. As for ourselves, we can only say, God give him 
 success ! for we are most deeply impressed that the more 
 valuable parts of the institutions of this country can be pre 
 served only by crushing into the dust this nefarious spirit 
 of cupidity, which threatens the destruction of all moral 
 feeling, and every sense of right, that remains among us. 
 
 In our view, Oregon, Mexico, and Europe, united against us, 
 do not threaten this nation with one-half as much real danger 
 as that which menaces it at this moment, from an enemv 
 that is now in possession of many of its strong-holds, and 
 which is incessantly working its evil under the cry of 
 liberty, while laying deeper the foundation of a most atrocious 
 tyranny. 
 
 I forgot to add, Mr. Littlepage significantly remarked, 
 at parting, that should Washington fail him, he has the 
 refuge of Florence open, where he can reside among the 
 other victims of oppression, with the advantage of being ad 
 mired as a refugee from republican tyranny. ^^^^gsss^^ 
 
 THE END. 
 
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