HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



85 



Such was the spmt and purport of the meetings held 

 throughout the county. 



On the 14th of June, 1830, Col. Troup sent the follow- 

 ing instructions to Mr. M'Cay : 



" New York, 14th June, 1830. 



'^Dear Sir, — I have received your letter of the 9th ultimo, with 

 its inclosure. From them, and likewise from late proceedings of a 

 public nature in Steuben County, I learn, with no little surprise, that 

 my proposed plan for the relief of the settlers on the Pulteney Es- 

 tate in Steuben and Allegany Counties, as exhibited in my letter of 

 instructions to you of the 14th March last, is disagreeable to them ; 

 and especially that part of the plan which prescribes an appraise- 

 ment of the present value of the improvements on every lot as one 

 of the items to be taken into the account of its total value. It seems 

 that this part of the plan is so disagreeable to many of the settlers 

 that they have rejected it, and, in consequence of their rejection, 

 have resolved to suspend all payments to the agency. The suspen- 

 sion, I am informed, is to continue until I agree to their plan of 

 relief, which, I have constantly understood, consists in my consenting 

 arbitrarily to cut down their contract debts, without any discrimina- 

 tion, in the cases of the settlers, to the present value of wild lands, 

 exclusive of the value of the improvements on their lots, and in my 

 further consenting to give them new contracts for the lots at the price 

 of wild lands. 



Learning these to be the feelings and views of the settlers, it is 

 necessary for me to furnish you with additional instructions for your 

 government. 



" I very much regret that my plan of relief has proved so disagree- 

 able to the settlers. I formed it on mature reflection, and without 

 having the least possible motive of personal interest to bend my judg- 

 ment from the straight line of rectitude. The faithful management 

 of the estate intrusted to my charge places me on middle ground 

 between my principals and the settlers. I have, on the one side, to 

 perform to my principals the duties of diligence, justice, and integrity; 

 and, on the other side, to perform to the settlers the duties of justice, 

 liberality, and kindness. It was under a sense of these several duties, 

 most deeply impressed both on my mind and heart, that the plan was 

 formed. And, such being my duties, I was afterwards very happy to 

 find that the plan received the full approbation of able, discreet, and 

 honest counsel, to whom I submitted it for their consideration, but 

 more particularly for their consideration of the legal exercise of the 

 powers delegated to me as an agent. 



" It appeared to me that, as a discreet and faithful land-agent, I 

 would not be justified in acceding to the plan of relief proposed by 

 the settlers. I thought it was founded on arbitrary principles, which, 

 when carried into practice, would prove unjust to the persons I repre- 

 sent, and unequal towards the settlers themselves. 



" The reasons for this opinion are obvious. 



" The plan, by reducing debts differing widely from each other in 

 age, amount, and character, would assume an arbitrary rule, subject- 

 ing the estate to a heavy and, in a great majority of the cases, un- 

 necessary loss on the debts in different proportions from twenty-five 

 to seventy-five per cent. It would not render equal justice to the 

 settlers themselves; for the operation of an uniform rule of abate- 

 ment on debts, of various descriptions, could not fail, in many cases, 

 to exceed what the actual situation of the settlers in justice required. 

 It would often {)lace the settlers who had profitably enjoyed their 

 farms for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and had paid little or nothing 

 for them in the mean time, on a footing of equality with those who 

 had purchased their farms but recently; and on a more favorable 

 footing than those who had made frequent payments, or had quite ex- 

 tinguished their contract debts. That I have declined acceding to a 

 plan possessing such A^ery objectionable qualities will not seem ex- 

 traordinary to any man who sets a due value on his property, and 

 regards what is fair and just in his business transactions. 



'^ I supposed, on the contrary, that wy plan would afford all the 

 relief to the settlers that was proper to be granted by a discreet and 

 faithful land-agent, or that justice and equity demanded. This plan 

 was grounded on the fair value of every lot, which was to be ascer- 

 tained by appraising, separately,'the present value of the improved 

 land, and buildings, and the present value of the land remaining in a 

 state of nature. That the appraisement might be perfectly impar- 

 tial, it was to be made, under oath, by some independent, judicious, 



and honest farmer residing in Steuben or Allegany County, and not 

 subject to the influence either of the settlers or the land-office. The 

 lot having been appraised, and its total value ascertained by uniting 

 the value of its several parts, the contract debt was to be reduced, by 

 an abatement on just and equitable principles, to a sum considerably 

 below the appraised value of the farm. 



"But this reduction of the contract debt was not to take place in 

 favor of every settler indiscriminately, as there are settlers whose 

 cases are so circumstanced as to render any relief to them neither 

 necessary nor proper. In this class of cases are those, among others, 

 of second purchasers, who have lately bought contracts of the first 

 settlers, and paid them for their improvements, with express refer- 

 ence to the balances due on the contract debts. 



" The principles of justice and equity, to regulate the abatement pro- 

 posed, would naturally embrace various considerations, such as the 

 greatness or smallness of the price originally agreed to be paid for 

 the land, the accumulation of interest on the price, the present value 

 of the property, the enterprise, industry, and general good conduct of 

 the settler, his ability to pay, his hardships, losses, and misfortunes 

 since he settled on the estate, and other circumstances furnishing just 

 and equitable claims to liberality. In no instance, however, did I 

 intend to charge, in the renewed contract, more than was due on the 

 previous contract, though the value of the land should much exceed 

 the debt due on it, my object being to benefit the settler, and not to 

 injure him. But it should be remembered that the abatement, in- 

 stead of being designed by me as an act of mere benevolence, was to 

 be made as a matter of business; and therefore I meant to bound my 

 liberality by that honest and sound discretion which it was my duty 

 to observe in managing the property of other persons. 



*'Such are the principles on which the tico jjlans proposed for the 

 relief of the settlers are grounded; and I believe that when the arbi- 

 trary and unjust principles of the plan of the settlers are contrasted 

 with the rational and just principles of my plan, the contrast will 

 appear so glaring as to flash conviction on every reflecting and un- 

 prejudiced mind, that my conduct, far from meriting censure from 

 the settlers, is well entitled to their grateful acknowledgments. 



" But my proposed jo^an for the relief of the settlers went still farther. 

 I granted them easy annual installments for paying the equitably re- 

 duced balances due on their contracts ; and to facilitate their means 

 of payment, as Steuben and Allegany Counties depend on the uncer- 

 tain and hazardous navigation of the Susquehanna for a market for 

 the sale of produce, I permitted them to make payments in wheat 

 and cattle, taking wheat at seventy-five cents per bushel, and cattle 

 at liberal cash prices. It is matter of public notoriety that the price 

 of seventy-five cents per bushel for wheat is considerably above the 

 price that has for many years past prevailed in Steuben and Allegany 

 Counties; and as it is admitted that seventy-five cents per bushel will 

 yield the farmer a living profit, I readily agreed to allow that price. 



" Some of the contracts stipulate payments in wheat, but the greater 

 portion of the contracts oblige the settlers to pay their purchase- 

 moneys in cash. And yet I consented to take wheat and cattle in 

 payment on the cash contracts, though at the certainty of heavy 

 losses accruing to the agency from the operation. The losses will 

 arise from the expense and risk attending the transportation to the 

 seaboard, from the fluctuations of the market, and from bad debts ; 

 in all which respects the agency has heretofore suff'ered severely. 



"I presume I hazard nothing in saying that the facilities thus pro- 

 posed to be granted to the settlers for the payment of the equitably 

 reduced balances of their contract debts rendered my plan of relief 

 complete. I call it complete, for, by its natural effects, the debts of 

 the settlers obtaining relief would be reduced considerably below the 

 present worth of their farms, time would be gained for paying the 

 balances in easy installments, and a convenient and ready market, at 

 liberal prices, would be provided for the sale of their produce. Had 

 I carried my plan of relief to greater extent in essential particulars, 

 I should have thought myself unworthy of the important trust con- 

 fided tome by my principals; but I ask what more equitable and 

 what more liberal can the settlers reasonably desire of me? This 

 question will be promptly and rightly answered by every settler who 

 takes pride in performing his honest engagements. 



" The settlers voluntarily came and purchased their farms, without 

 the practice of any imposition by the agency, at the prices commonly 

 asked by land-holders at the time, and after having explored the lots, 

 and thereby qualified themselves to judge correctly of the situation, 

 nature, and value of the lands. They have occupied the farms for 



