University of Virginia Library

PREFACE.

The plot has thickened in the few short months
that have intervened since the appearance of the first
portion of our Manuscripts, and bloodshed has come
to deepen the stain left on the country by the widespread
and bold assertion of false principles. This
must long since have been foreseen; and it is perhaps
a subject of just felicitation, that the violence which
has occurred was limited to the loss of a single life,
when the chances were, and still are, that it will extend
to civil war. That portions of the community
have behaved nobly under this sudden outbreak of a
lawless and unprincipled combination to rob, is undeniable,
and ought to be dwelt on with gratitude
and an honest pride; that the sense of right of much
the larger portion of the country has been deeply
wounded, is equally true; that justice has been
aroused, and is at this moment speaking in tones of
authority to the offenders, is beyond contradiction:
but, while all this is admitted, and admitted not altogether
without hope, yet are there grounds for fear,
so reasonable and strong, that no writer who is faithful
to the real interests of his country ought, for a
single moment, to lose sight of them.

High authority, in one sense, or that of political
power, has pronounced the tenure of a durable lease
to be opposed to the spirit of the institutions! Yet
these tenures existed when the institutions were
formed, and one of the provisions of the institutions
themselves guarantees the observance of the covenants

under which the tenures exist. It would have
been far wiser, and much nearer to the truth, had
those who coveted their neighbours' goods been told
that, in their attempts to subvert and destroy the
tenures in question, they were opposing a solemn and
fundamental provision of law, and in so much opposing
the institutions. The capital error is becoming
prevalent, which holds the pernicious doctrine that
this is a government of men, instead of one of principles.
Whenever this error shall so far come to a
head as to get to be paramount in action, the well-disposed
may sit down and mourn over, not only the
liberties of their country, but over its justice and its
morals, even should men be nominally so free as to do
just what they please.

As the Littlepage Manuscripts advance, we find
them becoming more and more suited to the times in
which we live. There is an omission of one genetion,
however, owing to the early death of Mr. Malbone
Littlepage, who left an only son to succeed him.
This son has felt it to be a duty to complete the
series by an addition from his own pen. Without
this addition, we should never obtain views of Satanstoe,
Lilacsbush, Ravensnest, and Mooseridge, in their
present aspects; while with it, we may possibly obtain
glimpses that will prove not only amusing but
instructive.

There is one point on which, as editor of these
Manuscripts, we desire to say a word. It is thought
by a portion of our readers, that the first Mr. Littlepage
who has written, Cornelius of that name, has
manifested an undue asperity on the subject of the
New England character. Our reply to this charge

is as follows: In the first place, we do not pretend
to be answerable for all the opinions of those whose
writings are submitted to our supervision, any more
than we should be answerable for all the contradictory
characters, impulses, and opinions that might
be exhibited in a representation of fictitious characters,
purely of our own creation. That the Littlepages
entertained New York notions, and if the reader
will, New York prejudices, may be true enough; but
in pictures of this sort, even prejudices become facts
that ought not to be altogether kept down. Then,
New England has long since anticipated her revenge,
glorifying herself and underrating her neighbours in
a way that, in our opinion, fully justifies those who
possess a little Dutch blood, in expressing their sentiments
on the subject. Those who give so freely
should know how to take a little in return; and that
more especially, when there is nothing very direct or
personal in the hits they receive. For ourselves, we
have not a drop of Dutch or New England blood in
our veins, and only appear as a bottle-holder to one
of the parties in this set-to. If we have recorded
what the Dutchman says of the Yankee, we have
also recorded what the Yankee says, and that with
no particular hesitation, of the Dutchman. We know
that these feelings are bygones; but our Manuscripts,
thus far, have referred exclusively to the times in
which they certainly existed, and that, too, in a force
quite as great as they are here represented to be.

We go a little farther. In our judgment the false
principles that are to be found in a large portion of
the educated classes, on the subject of the relation
between landlord and tenant, are to be traced to the

provincial notions of those who have received their
impressions from a state of society in which no such
relations exist. The danger from the anti-rent doctrines
is most to be apprehended from these false
principles;—the misguided and impotent beings who
have taken the field in the literal sense, not being a
fourth part as formidable to the right, as those who
have taken it in the moral. There is not a particle
more of reason in the argument which says that there
should be no farmers, in the strict meaning of the
term, than there would be in that which said there
should be no journeymen connected with the crafts;
though it would not be easy to find a man to assert
the latter doctrine. We dare say, if there did happen
to exist a portion of the country in which the mechanics
were all “bosses,” it would strike those who
dwelt in such a state of society, that it would be singularly
improper and anti-republican for any man to
undertake journeywork.

On this subject we shall only add one word. The
column of society must have its capital as well as its
base. It is only perfect while each part is entire, and
discharges its proper duty. In New York the great
landholders long have, and do still, in a social sense,
occupy the place of the capital. On the supposition
that this capital is broken and hurled to the ground,
of what material will be the capital that must be
pushed into its place! We know of none half so
likely to succeed, as the country extortioner and the
country usurer! We would caution those who now
raise the cry of feudality and aristocracy, to have a
care of what they are about. In lieu of King Log,
they may be devoured by King Stork.