New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-09-06
THE TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, lsas.



always two sides and it is nat certain tina, there
simply the RICH, side and the wrong n there were
an examination of both would be advisable before
arriving at peremp,ory reversible decision but
human affairs and especially human controversies,
often present tangled skein Of right and wrong good
and evil. which patience, discernment aud impair
TALLY are requisite to unravel. Let US try and see
whether We can or cannot set forth both sides OF this
Anti Rent controversy. And first we will sum up
the positions Of the Landlords, the up-Kenters' -
the side q Law and Order
The Landlords claim to be the rghiful and Legal
owners Of large portion Of the soil OF This state
in tracts Of 900 20 100000 acres respectively
These Lands were granted 20 their ancestors b. the
then sovereign power, or purchased at later day
Of those 10 whom it had been granted. or On whom
the sovereignty had devOlyed. II the consideration
was small 80 was the value Of the land when grant
ed if it were but pepPer-corn an acre. or a
stipulation to locate many settlers upon IT, that
cannot invalidaic the grant II has descended from
the original grantee 10 the present holder IN each
case. with no question to title except such a.
arose among the heirs Of some OF the deceased land
lords. Tenants have paid when they could, or been
released from payment on plea Of nabilliy-no'
thing cl-c The present holder has perhaps but a
fourth Of his fathers patrimony, and being educated
with view TO his probable position, has no way OF
living bat a. a landlord and an income Of thousands
a year Is virtually necessary to him as one OF two
hundred is 10 a laboring man. Perhaps the estate
came TO him charged with heavy debts incurred by
his flther ia orbcarng press his tenants Tor heh
rent and these he must provide for from the estate
his only source Of income Probably his father was
emneutly charitable and philanthropc, and The son
desires and is expected 10 be no less The ianl-
" mansion always has been famed for its hospitality
how can he deprive it of that character He has
family who require education and an outfit in the
world. and thousand demands on his means which
the poor never dream Of Suppose he wished to give
the land TO the tenants he could not honestly do it
But the Law says is his his sense of justice says
il is his his idea of duty TO his children constrains
him to assert his rights, which the whole power OF
the State stands ready TO enforce. The rent very
moderate, and no higher than when the land was
worth not half so much The tenants have always
been treated with kindness and forbcarancc by
his family. Who can blame him if he regards their
present resistance loften by lawless and violent
grateful Who can reasonably expect him TO sur
render all he has
Now let us step over to the Anti Rent platform,
and look at the difficulty from mat side;
On The side OF some ridge or mountain, IN the most
rugged and sterile Of the inhabited portions of our
State lives poor farmer, mot merely poor man.
in the house built by his father and ON the farm
which he inherited from his father-such farm hay
ing been first taken on perpetual lease when EN-.
trcly wild by some ancestor OF the family. We
will suppose il to consist of go acres, at an annual
rent oftwenty cents an acre thirty two dollars
CHEAP enough, will be the general exclamation
But we have TO consider that only one half OF it
perhaps much less-has yet been redeemed from the
primitive wilderness and tina, by the toll OF the tenant
family alone-not penny of the expense falling ON
the landlord. Very often, more than half oft is so
rocky, so mountainous cut up with ravines, or so
sterile, that ii would not pay for clearing which
costs average sl2 per acre OF the cleared
portion one half is miserable sort OF bush pasture,
yielding very little. The tenant knows nothing OF
improvements in Agriculture, sneers at book farm
ing and tills just as his grandfather did, except
where the grandfather's system of tillagc has worn
have refused longer to grow All the yearly pro
duct OF this farm will yield less than $500 worth, of
which two,hiras is directly consumed in the fami-
w. the rest is pretty much morteaged TO the neigh
boring 'storekeepcrs before i, is harvested. Such
is fair picture of one half the farms and farming in
the PATRON district which is naturally little worse
cultivated than the OF the State. Ten bush
els OF corn to the acre and poor stuff at that about
as many of rye, a few poor cattle and some poa.
toes which il will cost half they worth to send to
market, are the farmers products He calls the
farm his own. did his father before him, looking
on the ren, merely as r. dsasreeable incumbrance
or formally, like one of the whlmsicaes by which
land is held in England ander feuda tenures
But the rent ia no abstraction. Every year must
see il paid though frosis kill crops fail or cattle die
II not paid IN the agent is after him. then the
sherf-thc latter may lawfully be sent first. II he
finds that he absolutely cannot pay he makes a jour
ney TO the landlord states his case, and is generally
excused But that only pcs,pones the evil day, he
has two rents to pay next year. with diminished
chance for forbcarancc. Sickness. death, any mis-
chance becomes the prctext for petition OF iorbear
the habi, Of not paying grows inveteraei If in
iugtus anu many a tenant IL now lnucOtcu lot
twenty years rent, which all he has in the world
would no, satisfy Very probably an indugent
landlord is in the long run an injury to his tenants
and unbendine severity is ultimate mercy
But these difficulties and the need Of resisting
them wake new thoughts in the tenants mind AT
home he is the equal of the best around him when
he approaches the landlord or agent 10 suPplca,e
s,yhearsnc, M, feels himself an inferior being. He
is slave addressing master, who has power to
work him deadly injury. He sees state OF luxury
and enjoyment as it seems wbi'h has no example
in his neighborhcod. Fair children. richly dressed,
devote their hours to pleasure, while his doomed
to cmbrownng toll those have every facility for
obtaining that knowledge whichis power while his
must be conicn, with the rudimcn,ary ins!ruc
ton obtained by casual attendance at the dis
trict school He returns home, and has ample oppor
tuni,y for cogita,ion-indccd he must think In the
long nights of winter he ponders on his difficulties
and perpexi,ics calculates the gross amount OF rent
a. h;ch his anccsfors and no have paid. and the