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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“You do not look at things couleur de rose, Uncle Tom,”
Sarah smilingly observed.
“Because I am not a young lady of twenty, who is well satis-
fied with herself and her advantages. There is but one character for which I have a greater contempt than that of a senseless
grumbler, who regards all things à tort et à travers, and who
cries, there is nothing good in the world.”
“And what is the exception, sir?”
“The man who is puffed up with conceit, and fancies all
around him perfection, when so much of it is the reverse; who
ever shouts `liberty,’ in the midst of the direst oppression.”
“But direst oppression is certainly no term to be applied to
anything in New York!”
“You think not? What would you say to a state of society in
which the law is available to one class of citizens only, in the
way of compulsion, and not at all, in the way of protection?”
“I do not understand you, sir; here, it is our boast that all
are protected, alike.”
“Ay, so far as boasting goes, we are beyond reproach. But
what are the facts? Here is a man that owes money. The law is
appealed to, to compel payment. Verdict is rendered, and execution issued. The sheriff enters his house, and sells his very
furniture, to extort the amount of the debt from him.”
“That is his misfortune, sir. Such things must happen to all
debtors who cannot, or will not, pay.”
“If this were true, I should have nothing to say. Imagine
this very debtor to be also a creditor; to have debts due to him,
of many times the sums that he owes, but which the law will
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
not aid him in collecting. For him, the law is all oppression no
protection.”
“But, surely, Uncle Tom, nothing of the sort exists here!”
“Surely, Miss Sarah Wilmeter, such things do exist here in
practice, whatever may be the theory on the subject; what is
more, they exist under the influence of facts that are directly
connected with the working of the institutions. My case is not
supposititious, at all, but real. Several landlords have quite recently felt all the rigours of the law as debtors, when it was a
dead letter to them, in their character of creditors. This has
actually happened, and that more than once; and it might happen a hundred times, were the landlords more in debt. In the
latter case, it would be an every – day occurrence.”
“What, sir,” exclaimed Michael Millington; “the law en-
force, when it will not protect?”
“That it does, young man, in many interests that I could
point out to you. But here is as flagrant a case of unmitigated
tyranny as can be cited against any country in Christendom. A
citizen is sold out of house and home, under process of law, for
debt; and when he asks for the use of the same process of law
to collect his undeniable dues, it is, in effect, denied him. And
this among the people who boast that their independence is
derived from a spirit that would not be taxed! A people who
are hourly shouting hosannas in honour of their justice!”
“It cannot be, Uncle Tom, that this is done, in terms,” cried
the astounded nephew.
“If, by terms, you mean professions of justice, and liberty,
and equal rights, they are fair enough; in all those particulars
we are irreproachable. As `professors’ no people can talk more
volubly or nearer to the point I allude only to facts.”
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“But these facts may be explained qualified are not as fla-
grant as they seem under your statement?” “In what manner?”
“Why, sir, this is but a temporary evil, perhaps.”
“It has lasted, not days, nor weeks, nor months, but years.
What is more, it is an evil that has not occurred in a corner,
where it might be overlooked; but it exists within ten miles of
your capital, in plain sight of your legislators, and owes its impunity solely to their profound deference to votes. In a word, it
is a part of the political system under which we live; and that
far more so than any disposition to tyranny that might happen
to manifest itself in an individual king.”
“Do not the tenants who refuse to pay, fancy that their
landlords have no right to their estates, and does not the
whole difficulty arise from misapprehension?” asked Michael,
a little timidly.
“What would that have to do with the service of process, if
it were true? When a sheriff’s officer comes among these men,
they take his authority from him, and send him away empty.
Rights are to be determined only by the law, since they are
derived from the law; and he who meets the law at the threshold, and denies it entrance, can never seriously pretend that
he resists because the other party has no claims. No, no, young
gentleman this is all a fetch. The evil is of years’ standing; it is
of the character of the direst oppression, and of oppression of
the worst sort, that of many oppressing a few; cases in which
the sufferer is cut off from sympathy, as you can see by the
apathy of the community, which is singing hosannas to its
own perfection, while this great wrong is committed under its
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
very nose. Had a landlord oppressed his tenants, their clamour
would have made itself heard throughout the land. The worst
feature in the case, is that which connects the whole thing so
very obviously with the ordinary working of the institutions. If
it were merely human covetousness struggling against the institutions, the last might prove the strongest; but it is cupidity,
of the basest and most transparent nature, using the institutions themselves to effect its purpose.”
“I am surprised that something was not done by the last
convention to meet the evil!” said Jack, who was much struck
with the enormity of the wrong, placed before his eyes in
its simplest form, as it had been by his direct – minded and
clear – headed kinsman.
“That is because you do not know what a convention has
got to be. Its object is to push principles into impracticable extremes, under the silly pretension of progress, and not to abate
evils. I made a suggestion myself, to certain members of that
convention, which, in my poor judgment, would have effectually cured this disease; but no member had the courage to
propose it. Doubtless, it would have been useless had it been
otherwise.”
“It was worth the trial, if such were likely to be its result.
What was your plan, sir?”
“Simply to disfranchise any district in which the law could
not be enforced by means of combinations of its people. On
application to the highest court of the state, an order might be
granted that no polls should be held in one, or more, towns,
or counties, in which combinations existed of a force sufficient
to prevent the laws from being put in force. Nothing could be
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
more just than to say that men who will not obey the law shall
not have a voice in making it, and to me it really seems that
some such provision would be the best possible expedient to
check this growing evil. It would be choking the enemy with
his own food.”
“Why was it not done, sir?”
“Simply because our sages were speculating on votes, and
not on principles. They will talk to you like so many books
touching the vices of all foreign systems, but are ready to die
in defence of the perfection of their own.”
“Why was it necessary to make a new constitution, the oth-
er day,” asked Sarah, innocently, “if the old one was so very
excellent?”
“Sure enough the answer might puzzle wiser heads than
yours, child. Perfection requires a great deal of tinkering, in
this country. We scarcely adopt one plan that shall secure everybody’s rights and liberties, than another is broached, to secure some newly – discovered rights and liberties. With the
dire example before them, of the manner in which the elective
franchise is abused, in this anti – rent movement, the sages
of the land have just given to the mass the election of judges;
as beautiful a scheme for making the bench coalesce with the
jury – box, as human ingenuity could invent!”
As all present knew that Mr. Dunscomb was bitterly op-
posed to the new constitution, no one was surprised at this
last assertion. It did create wonder, however, in the minds of
all three of the ingenuous young persons, when the fact an
undeniable and most crushing one it is, too, so far as any high
pretension to true liberty is concerned was plainly laid before
25
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
them, that citizens were to be found in New York against whom
the law was rigidly enforced, while it was powerless in their behalf. We have never known this aspect of the case presented to
any mind, that it did not evidently produce a deep impression,
for the moment; but, alas! “What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business,” and few care for the violation of a principle,
when the wrong does not affect themselves. These young folk
were, like all around them, unconscious even that they dwelt
in a community in which so atrocious a wrong was daily done,
and, for the moment, were startled when the truth was placed
before their eyes. The young men, near friends, and, by certain
signs, likely to be even more closely united, were much addicted to speculating on the course of events, as they conceived
them to be tending, in other countries. Michael Millington,
in particular, was a good deal of a general politician, having
delivered several orations, in which he had laid some stress
on the greater happiness of the people of this much favoured
land, over those of all other countries, and especially on the
subject of equal rights. He was too young, yet, to have learned
the wholesome truth, that equality of rights, in practice, exists nowhere; the ingenuity and selfishness of man finding the
means to pervert to narrow purposes, the most cautious laws
that have ever been adopted in furtherance of a principle that
would seem to be so just. Nor did he know that the Bible contains all the wisdom and justice, transmitted as divine precepts,
that are necessary to secure to every man all that it is desirable
to possess here below.
The conversation was terminated by the entrance of a
fourth colloquist, in the person of Edward MeBrain, M. D., who
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
was not only the family physician, but the bosom friend of the
lawyer. The two liked each other on the principle of loving
their opposites. One was a bachelor, the other was about to
marry his third wife; one was a little of a cynic, the other much
of a philanthropist; one distrustful of human nature, the other
too confiding; one cautious to excess, the other absolutely impetuous, whenever anything strongly interested his feelings.
They were alike in being Manhattanese by birth, somewhat
a novelty in a New Yorker; in being equally graduates of Columbia, and classmates; in a real love of their fellow – creatures; in goodness of heart, and in integrity. Had either been
wanting in these last great essentials, the other could not have
endured him.
27
CHAPTER II
O change! stupendous change!
There lies the soulless clod;
The sun eternal breaks
The new immortal wakes
Wakes with his God.
Mrs. Southey.
As Dr. McBrain entered the room, the two young men and
Sarah, after saluting him like very familiar acquaintances,
passed out into what the niece called her “garden.” Here she
immediately set her scissors at work in clipping roses, violets,
and other early flowers, to make bouquets for her companions.
That of Michael was much the largest and most tasteful; but
this her brothe did not remark, as he was in a brown study,
reflecting on the singularity of the circumstance that the Constitution of the United States should not be the “palladium of
his political and religious liberties.” Jack saw, for the first time
in his life, that a true knowledge of the constitution was not to
be found floating about in society, and that “there was more in
the nature of the great national compact than was dreamt of
in his philosophy.”
“Well, Ned,” said the lawyer, holding out his hand kindly,
but not rising from his chair, “what has brought you here so
early? Has old Martha spoilt your tea?”
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THE WAYS OF THE HOUR
“Not at all; I have paid this visit, as it might be, profession-
ally.”
“Professionally! I never was better in my life; and set you
down as a false prophet, or no doctor, if you like that better, for
the gout has not even given a premonitory hint, this spring;
and I hope, now I have given up Sauterne altogether, and take
but four glasses of Madeira at dinner”
“Two, too many.”
“I’ll engage to drink nothing but sherry, Ned, if you’ll con-
sent to four, and that without any of those forbidding looks.”
“Agreed; sherry has less acidity, and consequently less gout,
than Madeira. But my business here this morning, though professional, does not relate to my craft, but to your own.’
“To the law? Now I take another look at you, I do see trou-
ble in your physiognomy; am I not to draw the marriage settlements, after all?”
“There are to be none. The new law gives a woman the en-
tire control of all her property, they tell me, and I suppose she
will not expect the control of mine.”
“Umph! Yes, she ought to be satisfied with things as they
are, for she will remain mistress of all her cups and saucers,
even, ay, and of her houses and lands, in the bargain. Hang me,
if I would ever marry, when the contract is so one – sided.”
“You never did, when the contract was t’ other – sided. For
my part, Tom, I’m disposed to leave a woman mistress of her
own. The experiment is worth the trial, if it be only to see the
use she will make of her money.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“You are always experimenting among the women, and are
about to try a third wife. Thank Heaven, I’ve got on sixty years,
quite comfortably, without even one.”
“You have only half lived your life. No old bachelor mean-
ing a man after forty knows anything of real happiness. It is
necessary to be married, in order to be truly happy.”
“I wonder you did not add, `two or three times.’ But you
may make this new contract with greater confidence than either of the others. I suppose you have seen this new divorce
project that is, or has been, before the legislature?”
“Divorce! I trust no such foolish law will pass. This calling
marriage a `contract,’ too, is what I never liked. It is something
far more than a `contract,’ in my view of the matter.”
“Still, that is what the law considers it to be. Get out of
this new scrape, Ned, if you can with any honour, and remain
an independent freeman for the rest of your days. I dare say
the widow could soon find some other amorous youth to place
her affections on. It matters not much whom a woman loves,
provided she love. Of this, I’m certain, from seeing the sort of
animals so many do love.”
“Nonsense; a bachelor talking of love, or matrimony, usu-
ally makes a zany of himself. It is terra incognita to you, my
boy, and the less you say about it, the better. You are the only
human being, Tom, I ever met with, who has not, some time or
other, been in love. I really believe you never knew what the
passion is.”
“I fell in love, early in life, with a certain my lord Coke, and
have remained true to my first attachment. Besides, I saw I had
an intimate friend who would do all the marrying that was
30
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