CHAP. XXXIX.] HELDERBEEG AVAR. 349 



Speaking of his adopted country, he exclaimed, &quot;We 

 have been left far behind in the race.&quot; I suggested, 

 that if, twenty-six years ago, a period had been fixed 

 upon by law for the emancipation of their slaves, Vir 

 ginia might, ere this, have been relieved of nearly all 

 her negro population, so great has been the migration 

 of negroes to the South. &quot; It is useless,&quot; he said, 

 &quot; to discuss the practicability of such a measure, while 

 the majority of our legislators, having been born 

 slave-holders, are not convinced of its desirability.&quot; 

 While my companion was absorbed in admiration at 

 the improvement of &quot; the Empire State,&quot; my thoughts 

 and feelings took a very different turn, when I learned 

 that &quot; the Helderberg war,&quot; which I have alluded to 

 in my former &quot; Travels,&quot;* is still going on, and seems 

 as far from a termination as ever. The agricultural 

 population throughout many populous counties have 

 now been in arms for eight years, to resist the pay 

 ment of rents due to their landlords, in spite of the 

 decisions of the courts of law against them. Large 

 contributions have been made towards an insurrec 

 tionary fund, one of its objects being to support 

 a newspaper, edited by a Chartist refugee from Eng 

 land, in which the most dangerous anti-social doc 

 trines are promulgated. The &quot; anti-renters &quot; have 

 not only set the whole militia of the State at defiance, 

 in more than one campaign, but have actually killed 

 a sheriff s officer, who was distraining for rent ! If 

 any thing could add to the disgrace which such pro 

 ceedings reflect on the political administration of 



Vol. i. p. 68. 



