Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-02-26
The Extremes to which the System was
Carried-Murder and Arson Of
Frequent Occurrence.


! quarters that portion of Pic4rdy which bore
| the ominous name OF SaasteTTe, now generally
! written SGateTre; but it formerly extended
over Artois. Flanders, Champagne and the
| Lie OF France. At the present time it Ii
| practically restricted to three communes near
| Peronne. Under its regime, if land owner
| let farm or piece oil land to a tenant, no
| matter under what circumstances, what slip
| ulations In the lease, or other considerations,
| the tenant considered himself made thereby
| coproprietor in the land or the farm, as the
| case might be. The only clause in his lease
to which he paid any serious attention was
that concerning the payment of rent; every
| thing else was dead letter. The tenant claim
| ed the right TO sublet his farm, to begueath it.
to give away or to sell the right 10 its occupa-
| ton, and 20 forth. At the expiration of the
| lease the landlord might let the farm 10
another person, according to his legal right;
| but what would be the consequence? The
| Old tenant would, OF course, receive notice TO
! quit; he would straightway walk into a
| cabaret and pronounce ces mots sdcrdlnentdur-
'Je mai jdHldis fat d'ofroRt persoRBe jespere
bien que persOHHe ne men tera." This state
ment had the force of a sentence passed by
| Judge in his own favor. No person in the
! locality would become tenant OF the land
thus vacated So far az they were concerned,
! the land was to use modern language, "boy-
cotted." Many acres OF land have conse-
| quently been left uncultivated for very many
| years; NJ. Saudbreuil gives examples dating
back sixty years from the date of his speech,
and have myself received similar Informal
| ton from proprietor who last year had land
under similar disability. He would not
recognize the Droit de Morche therefore his
| land was "boycotted;" he could not cultivate
it himself, nor could he let il tc others.
This, however, is only what NJ. Saudbreul
| calls Ia force diRertje- but 10 give an idea OF
the active force of this conspiracy, for that
is its proper designation, it is necessary to
mention few characteristic crimes A pro-
prietor of two hundred acres not having
come to an agreement with his tenants for
| the renewal OF their leases, consolidated the
! whole into one farm, built a Stealing sufiiC-
| lent for the requirements OF a holding of
| that size, and let it to a Belgian farmer. In
four con-ecutive years, Immediately after
harvest, the farm buildings and the crops
were burnt to the ground, and at last the
tenant was obliged to thrash his corn as il
was reaped on the field. OF ordinary in
cendiary fires large crop might be gathered
| from the records, but evidence was very
rarely forthcoming to insure the conviction
| OF the culprit. Among murders, I may
mention that a priest was shot at his own
church door, and no witness to the crime
| could be made to give evidence; on another
occasion a man was shot dead during mass
| in the church itself, and although more than
| two hundred people were present, every
| one swore that he or she did not see who COM
| mitted the deed. A mayor of a commune
| became tenant of land that had been Guilt
waited by the owner during the ten previous
years, and before the first year of his tenancy
| was out he was murdered but no trace of the
assassin was ever discovered. / have selected
| these cases as being of unusual atrocity, but
common murders were numerous, and rarely
we're the murderers fouud guilty by the
| tribunals for want Of evidence. There is on
record, however, one remarkable case OF
man having been hanged for the murder of
| his successor as tenant of piece of land.
| The unwritten code OF the supporters of the
| Drou de Mdrche contained no provision for
such an event, and therefore the whole of
| those persons in the commune who pretended
| to possess the Droit de Aorche of the land
| which they occupied, were summoned to a
| consultation. The murderer was a married
! man, and the decision arrived at was hat
| the most well to- do unmarried laboreT in the
commune should Immediately marry the
| widow, the assembly undertaking TO SUI hscribe
for wedding present, ct Ia chose fat etseutee.
Every kind of "boycotting" WAS prac,iced
| toward the person and family of the depoi1-
| tetG, for by that name the incoming tenant
| was known, unless he paid the outgoing ten
| ant his Droit de Nd'che, and was even his
! nominee. But probably the extent OF this
| system may be measured by the fact that DO
body dared marry the daughter of the de-
| p0inteUr. Among other characteristics, The
| farmers insisted upon paying their rent in
| kind, and maintained that privilege as a
| symbol OF their copartnership in the land
| Frequently the landlord did not know, and
was not permitted to know, the names or
| persons of his tenants. Ii was maintained
! that so long as he was paid punctually the
rent which ne had stipulat, for, he had no
business to interfere, or even inquire as to
| the management of the properly. III the
proprietor wished to sell his land he must
| first offer it to the tenant, who claimed the
| DroI de Mn che in every sense; otherwise
| he would find no purchaser in the locality,
and one from a distance would share the
I same fate as an alien tenant.
In course of time the principles of the
Droit de Mdrche extended to other objects of
| hire; Tor instance, seats at church, places on
the market and so forth. The farm labor
| ers claimed the same right to retain, to sell,
to bequeath, or to give away their situations
| as plowmen, shepherds, harvestmen, etc.
| What the farmers had to do was TO pay the
| proper wages and not to inquire who did the
| work. In 1924 the outrages and disturb
ances in consequence of this action of the
| laborers became so serious that a special or
| der OF the council of state was issue impos-
ing severe penalties an the laborers who at
| tempted to exercise their assumed rights az
Just mentioned. Almost 10 this day some
| what similar claim has from to time been
put forward by laborers in the Belgian prov
ince of Haipaut; where also, as well as in
Belgian Flanders, there existed until the last
few years a modification of the Droit de
Marche. under the name of Maucais Gre.
Less than twenty years ago--viz., in 1864
that condition Of Picardy was sufficiently
grave to induce NJ. Saudbrenil, in his official
capacity, to deliver the speech to which | al
luded at the commencement OF this letter.
whole armory OF laws, passed by Louis XIV,
had been practically inoperative but a firm
administration Of the ordinary law, aided by
the construction OF railways and new roads,
soon produced sensible effect upon both
landlords and tenants; the former asserted
their rights, altered their rents to a money
basis cultivated their own lands took
more active interest in their affairs, and
jointly resisted the pretensioBs OF the iarDl-
ers. The French law never recognized in
any form or shape the Droit de MaTche or the
Mdurdis Gre, and so eventually, by vigorous
action on the part OF owners OF property and
the administration combined, the area of the
Droit de Marche gradu ally diminished. Indi-
vidually, believe that this result wss great
ly owing to the fact that one OF the customs
belonging to the DToit de liarche, in the teeth
OF the French law TO the contrary, was the
recognition OF the Drqh FAReSsc. 4 house
divided against itself cannot stand, and
doubtless with increased prosperity and
better education the younger children learned
to understand that the DrOa de MIrcte oper-
ated to their detriment.
Nevertheless, this remarkable custom died
hard, If it can be said even now to have &C
tually expired. AS late 1868, according
to NJ. Baudrillart, the Criminal Court of the
Department du Nord had no less than ten
cases of incendiarism before it, the motive of
which was attributed to the Drot de
Mdrche. The value OF this assumed right
at one time varied from e12 to GA per acre,
or, say from onef fourth to one-half of The
value OF the land. In 1867 NJ. Saudbreuil
stated that tenants who had been dispossesset;
OF their holdings, and had no hope of being
reinstated under the old regime, could obtain
fifty shilliDgs per acre and upward for their
pretensions. At the same time the actual
market value OF the Dnot had decreased
enormously, owing to the increase of reLt
exacted by the landlords with the aid OF the
tribunals