New-York daily tribune., 1844-08-27

oetpexity. 50 that he shall not be Obliged 10
surnise any farther. 1t appears that patent
was granted-most unwisely and peFnlc'ouSiF'
"a wc must think-to the Van Renssclaers BY
the Dutch Government two centuries ago, ior
large tract of land, then wild and unaPprop'i-
ated, in The nc;ghborhocd of Albany ihis pa
ten. has been confirmed by the English before
and by the State Government since our lhce-
pendence. This makes I've are admitting ouT
opponents ground for the present. perfect ie-
gal ;ndefeasibe title in the Van Rensselaers.-
Very good Now there are living on those lanes
some $4,000 people, mainly the descendants OF
those who first settled aad improved them,
most Of them poor men, who have worked hard
to make the Improvements on the land and win"
must work hard for plain living. No@ wha.
VIC intended to Suggest which seems so un
f4thomable 10 our correspondent, was ths-thst
thc.e is an9tker right in this manor beside INC
righ, Of the Van Ransselaers-a right surely re-
coanjzsd in The Chancery Of Heaven though moi
in that of New.York. We say that the Van
Recsselaers ought, as Christian men, TO treat this
vast tenantry with every consideration and KIND
ness and to recognize that there is some night IN
those whose hard toll has made the lands what
they are as we'll as in those who hold the Dutch
patent. In short, what we would suggest
practically is this-that the Van Rensse!aers
should dismiss all their lawyers and sheniti, and
Just 90 right out among the tenants with open
hands and generous hearts, saying to each, " My
friends. we are the legal owner Of these lands:
YOU arc not You need them to use and culti-
vatc-we do not. We cannot give you our title If
VIC would, for it comes to US charged with
heavy deb, which we must pay. Now you owe
so much back.Ient; your annual rent Is so
much more, OF which the present value is so
much You cannot buy us out and pay oday 4:
but how much are you 1oilting to give for full
deed of your farm ?-the purchase money to be
charged upon it as "a mortgage, payable in
stated term of years. We come to you as true
men to true man /; be just TO US and we will
: be generous to you" We are sure that such
an appeal as this, made in the right spirit and at
the right time, would have been heartily respond.
ed TO; and that the tenants, thus provided with
an opportunity OF disencumbering their farms
and becoming freeholders, would have redoublcd
their industry and fmgaty, called home Their
sons from aw.offices and stores their daughters
from expensive boarding schools, if any are there,
and set resoluely TO work TO clear their farms OF
back-rent and qnit-rent, and leave independent
and comfortable homesteads TO their Children
Much irritation and heart-burning have been al
lowed TO grow up; but we are confident that this
course might ao,o be taken to the great advan-
tagc of all well-meaning parties. Then if there
remained perverse, dishonest tenants, who were
determined not to DO justice to the PATRONS. the
law might be put in force against them with great
propriety and alacrity, they being cut off by their
course from any share Of public sympathy.
AS to the right of the Van Rensselacrs to the
Manor with lis present limits being unquestion
ed, our correspondent must be aware that such is
not the case. 1t has been, it is questioned, both
on the ground Of unlincal descent in the claim
ants and that of the alleged extension of the
boundaries beyond the original grant or rightlul
claim But with this we did not medde be-
fore, and do not mean to now.
AS to the quit-rents being quite moderate, no
one has disputed it, but the estimate that the
Manor was worth from $40 to $75 per acre as
wild land is absurd. We presume the quit-rents
were fixed ON fair valuation of the lands at the
time the leases were given. Now if the Patroons
are willing to relinquish them for twenty years
purchase-that is for every $40 Of perpetual
quit-rent take cash or a good mortgage for 5000
we think that is a fair offer, which the tenants
ought heartily to accept. OEcoursc, there will be
cases where sterile soil or peculiar mis-
fortunes of the tenants would dictate lower
compromise, but, regarding it as general rule,
VIC think that fair and even favorable pre-.
position
AS to the exactiun OF Quarter. Sales, it cannot
be justified If the landlord does not like the new
tenant to whom an old one proposes to sell his
lease and improvements, it might be well to Sc
cure him the privilege Of taking the land back at
the price offered but to require that he shall have
it at quarter less than another man is lriliing
to give, is entirely without reason. 1t would
be Just US fair to stipulate that he might have
every product of the farm at pleasure for three
tourths of its market value
Our correspondents supposition that the Van
Renssclaers might as easily have leased their
lands from year to year, is purely absurd. What
man, not an idiot, would hire 900 acres of wild
land, agree to pay $50 or S25 a year for it, and
90 on clearing and improving it, under express
stipulation that the landlord might resume it at
oleasurc2
Now, many of the tenants, while patiently, la.
boriously changing the stubborn wilderness into
fruitful fields, have beer. overtaken by sickness in
their families or other mis:ortunes, and have
found themselves unable to pay the stipulated
rent. They have stated the fact from year 10
year to the old PATRON, now deceased, and he,
m the kindness of his Christian heart, has in
dulged them. He is now dead, leaving some OF
his tenants twenty, thirty, and even forty years