260 HELDERBERG WAR. [CHAP. XXXIX. 



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, Virginia 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 com 

 panion 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 through 

 out many populous counties have now been in arms for eight 

 years, to resist payment of rents due to their landlords, in spite 

 of the decisions of the courts of law against them. Large con 

 tributions have been made toward an insurrectionary fund one 

 of its objects being to support a newspaper, edited Ijy a Chartist 

 refugee from England, in which the most dangerous anti-social 

 doctrines 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 proceedings reflect on the political administration of 

 affairs in New York, it is the fact that the insurgents would 

 probably have succumbed ere this, had they not been buoyed up 

 by hopes of legislative interference in their favor, held out to them 

 by popularity-hunting candidates for the governorship, and other 

 official places. 



In the newspapers of the day, a scene described as having 

 occurred at the close of the legislative session in Albany excited 

 my curiosity. One of the members of the House of Representa 

 tives moved a vote of thanks &quot; to the gentlemen of the third 

 house for the regularity of their attendance and the courtesy 

 with which they had conducted themselves.&quot; The motion was 

 seconded, read from the chair amidst great laughter, and then 

 * Vol. i. p. 68. 



