LETTER XI.
The quarrel begins in earne&longs;t and is carried
into the Law.—Conduct of the Managers
on both &longs;ides.—The fir&longs;t verdict in favour
of the Fore&longs;ters given at Saratoga
Hall.
DEAR SIR,
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The in&longs;ult which the fore&longs;ters
&longs;uppo&longs;ed to be put on them by the obstruction
of the road, as mentioned in my
la&longs;t, cau&longs;ed a &longs;erious alarm, and induced
them to call a meeting of the heads of the
&longs;everal families to con&longs;ult for their own
&longs;afety. The re&longs;ult of this meeting was to
endeavour by all peaceable means in their
power to effect an accommodation; but
if that &longs;hould fail, to prepare, in the be&longs;t
manner they could, to a&longs;&longs;ert and maintain
their rights, po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ions and properties.
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In pro&longs;ecution of the former part of
their plan, they wrote letters to Mr. Bull,
and to &longs;everal members of his family;
and with re&longs;pect to the latter part, they
came to a re&longs;olution to buy nothing more
of him till he &longs;hould change his mode of
conduct, and treat them as he had formerly
done.
In the letters which they wrote on this
occa&longs;ion, though they profe&longs;&longs;ed a great
deal of re&longs;pect and affection for the old
gentleman him&longs;elf; they omitted to &longs;end
their compliments to his wife. This was
more than madam could bear. She
therefore, after con&longs;ulting with her gambling
companions, determined upon the
two following points; fir&longs;t, that no answer
at all &longs;hould be given to the letter;
and &longs;econdly, that an action at law &longs;hould
be entered, and the tenants ejected from
their po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ions. She would not however
have come to this latter determination,
if &longs;he had not been a&longs;&longs;ured by
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persons who pretended thoroughly to understand
their family &longs;ecrets, that the foresters
would not dare to defend their title in
law; but on the fir&longs;t appearance of a legal
proce&longs;s, would &longs;ubmit to any terms of
accommodation which her lady&longs;hip might
think proper to impo&longs;e. Full of this
idea, &longs;he roundly &longs;wore that &longs;he would &longs;ee
them pro&longs;trate at her feet, before &longs;he
would make up the matter with them on
any terms whatever.
Influenced by her pa&longs;&longs;ions, Mr.
Bull's choler ro&longs;e to the highe&longs;t pitch.
As lord of the manor, he placed bailiffs
and blood hounds in the high way, and
denied all pa&longs;&longs;age to any per&longs;ons without
his licen&longs;e. He then called upon all the
coun&longs;ellors and attornies to whom he had
given a retaining fee, and who were very
numerous, to exert all their learning and
eloquence in maintaining his cau&longs;e, promising
them not only a regular payment of
their &longs;ees, but a generous allowance for
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di&longs;bur&longs;ements and incidental charges, to
be paid at &longs;ight by a draught on his
banker.
These &longs;agacious gentlemen, many of
whom were of Madam's own junto, finding
that they had a fat client, contrived
to hu&longs;band the job, and &longs;pin out the cau&longs;e
&longs;ecundum artem. They were old prosicients
in the &longs;cience, and knew very well
how to take double receipts of their stationers,
bailiffs, me&longs;&longs;engers, and other retainers,
i. e. one receipt for the exact &longs;um
paid, and another for double the &longs;ame
&longs;um; the&longs;e latter were always produced
as vouchers in the &longs;ettlement of accounts,
and in the glorious uncertainty of the law
were admitted under the name of duplicates.
It would divert you to &longs;ee the
numberle&longs;s items which they crouded into
their bills of co&longs;ts, and the various pleas
and pretences which were formed for demurring
and continuing the cau&longs;e from
one &longs;e&longs;&longs;ion to another; while they were
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feeding their client with the hope that in
every next &longs;e&longs;&longs;ion it would be decided.
On the other hand, the fore&longs;ters finding
that Mr. Bull had retained &longs;o many
learned coun&longs;ellors, &longs;ergeants and barri&longs;ters
in his &longs;ervice, and that he had by far the
longe&longs;t pur&longs;e, were obliged to u&longs;e the
greate&longs;t economy in conducting their defence.
On looking round to &longs;ee who was
the mo&longs;t prudent, the mo&longs;t deliberate, and
the mo&longs;t determined among them, and to
whom they might with &longs;afety commit their
cau&longs;e, they unanimou&longs;ly pitched upon
Walter Pipeweed's grand&longs;on George; who,
being elected their chief attorney, mode&longs;tly
accepted the office on this generous condition,
that they &longs;hould not in&longs;i&longs;t on his receiving
any fee or reward, becau&longs;e he conceived
that in &longs;erving them he was doing
no more than his duty. This in&longs;tance of
magnanimity was interpreted by them as
a &longs;ure omen of &longs;ucce&longs;s.
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George was a man of good understanding
and true &longs;punk; he had made
con&longs;iderable progre&longs;s in the &longs;tudy of the
law for his own amu&longs;ement, and had practised
at the bar in the defence of his own
family claims again&longs;t the encroachments
of old Lewis. His abilities were of &longs;uch
a nature as to ri&longs;e and &longs;hine with the opportunities
which called them into action.
This was al&longs;o the ca&longs;e with divers other
per&longs;ons in the families of the fore&longs;ters;
who would perhaps never have thought
of engaging in the &longs;tudy of the law, had
not this controver&longs;y been agitated; but
would have remained in the &longs;tate which is
thus elegantly de&longs;cribed by the poet.
“Full many a gem of pure&longs;t ray &longs;erene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blu&longs;h un&longs;een,
And wa&longs;te its &longs;weetne&longs;s on the de&longs;art air.”
This circum&longs;tance was predicted in the
hearing of Mr. Bull's wife, by a very
learned and hone&longs;t gentleman, who would
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have di&longs;&longs;uaded her from giving her husband
&longs;uch bad advice as to plunge himself
into that “deep ditch,” the law, out
of which there is no coming till the la&longs;t
farthing be paid. “If there are any &longs;eeds
of genius, &longs;aid this faithful advi&longs;er, they
are drawn into action by public ferments
and troubles; but might have remained
in time of tranquillity forever u&longs;ele&longs;s and
unknown, perhaps at the plough, under a
&longs;hed, or among the lowe&longs;t cla&longs;s of mechanics.”
[54] This &longs;age hint was totally
di&longs;regarded, becau&longs;e, as I before observed,
too much confidence was placed in a
&longs;et of advi&longs;ers, who pretended to know all
the family &longs;ecrets of the fore&longs;ters. But
the prediction was fully verified when this
law&longs;uit brought to the bar one from his
farm, and another from his merchandi&longs;e,
one from his &longs;hed, and another from his
&longs;hop,† till in fact they became a match,
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in point of numbers at lea&longs;t, for the
whole ho&longs;t of Mr. Bull's attornies.
The fir&longs;t action was brought again&longs;t
John Codline, who was deemed the mo&longs;t
&longs;urly and refractory of the whole number.
It was thought if he could be ca&longs;t, the
others would of cour&longs;e &longs;ubmit. In this
way of proceeding, Mr. Bull acted like that
&longs;pecies of dog which bears his name, and
which is known to attack his enemy by the
head.
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The cau&longs;e was learnedly argued at the
Court of Bunker hall, and the arguments
in favour of the fore&longs;ters made a very unexpected
and very deep impre&longs;&longs;ion on the
managers for Mr. Bull. They found it a
much more &longs;erious affair than they had
imagined, and thought it be&longs;t to &longs;top
&longs;hort and have the ca&longs;e hung up, that they
might con&longs;ult their books over again, and
prepare them&longs;elves by better authorities
and allegations at the next hearing. After
a long time they contrived to &longs;hift their
ground,[55] and let John alone. They advised
Mr. Bull to &longs;end for &longs;ome lawyers
out of Germany, who had been more u&longs;ed
to this game, and to lay an attachment on
the e&longs;tate of Peter Bullfrog, and the farm
called Cæ&longs;area; where they expected to
gain &longs;ome greater advantage, partly because
the tenancy was different, being
founded on courte&longs;y and not on lea&longs;e, and
partly becau&longs;e of the diffentions which
they heard were &longs;ub&longs;i&longs;ting in the&longs;e
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families. In this interval al&longs;o Madam Bull's
re&longs;entment was rai&longs;ed &longs;o high, that &longs;he
&longs;wore point blank that not one of the&longs;e
refractory &longs;coundrels &longs;hould enter her
hu&longs;band's doors nor have the lea&longs;t connection
with him, but that &longs;he would drive
them off from the land, and repeople the
fore&longs;t with another &longs;et of men.
When they had heard of this resolution,
the heads of all the families in one
of their con&longs;ultations, came to a determination
to publi&longs;h an adverti&longs;ement, &longs;etting
forth the various abu&longs;es and grievances
which they had &longs;uffered from Mr. Bull,
his wife, and her junto; and declaring
that they looked upon the country as their
own, and them&longs;elves as free from any obligations
to him, and at liberty to look out
for other markets, and invite other merchants
to form connexions with them.
This tran&longs;action was &longs;o important an era
in the controver&longs;y, that the fourth of July,
the day on which the adverti&longs;ement was
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dated, has ever &longs;ince been celebrated as a
day of fe&longs;tivity. The morning of that
anniver&longs;ary is u&longs;hered in with a firing of
guns and fluttering of pigeons. At noon
you may hear &longs;ome young lad &longs;pouting
a declamation in favour of free trade;
which is generally followed by a bowl of
punch and a rump of beef, and the day is
concluded with a &longs;ong and a dance.
In the progre&longs;s of the action, &longs;everal
points of law were argued at different
times with much &longs;kill and learning. On
one of the&longs;e occa&longs;ions George was reducto
a dilemma, and his opponents thought
him ab&longs;olutely &longs;ilenced; but &longs;uddenly
recollecting him&longs;elf, he ro&longs;e &longs;uperior to
them,[56] and compelled them again to
move for a continuance. Thus the cau&longs;e
was kept &longs;u&longs;pended till the third year was
almo&longs;t clo&longs;ed. At length a vaunting
braggadocio of a barri&longs;ter on Mr. Bull's
&longs;ide, who thought to carry all before him,
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was &longs;o completely an&longs;wered and confuted
in an ob&longs;tinate argument, that a verdict
was given at Saratoga hall in favour of
tho&longs;e plantations, which had been &longs;ued
for in the northern part of the manor.
This verdict relieved the fore&longs;ters in &longs;ome
degree, and it was hoped would prove a
good precedent for the deci&longs;ion of the
other &longs;uits which were meditating against
their brethren in the &longs;outhern
part.
The unfortunate barri&longs;ter was &longs;everely
reflected on by Mr. Bull's wife, for not
doing his duty; and he was obliged to
ju&longs;tify him&longs;elf by producing his instructions,
and by telling a number of &longs;erious
truths re&longs;pecting the fore&longs;t and the foresters,
which Mrs. Bull had often heard before
but would not believe. The relation
of the&longs;e truths was &longs;o very offen&longs;ive,
that &longs;he influenced her hu&longs;band never
more to employ him; and as he could get:
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no other bu&longs;ine&longs;s in the law, he has &longs;ince
betaken him&longs;elf to writing plays and romances.
eaf005.n54[54] Vide Debates in Parliament, March 16, 1775.
eaf005.dag14† This circum&longs;tance gave occa&longs;ion to the following
bagatelle, written, as is &longs;uppo&longs;ed, by &longs;ome di&longs;affected
or perhaps di&longs;appointed wag, in one of the families.
See folly on a lo&longs;ty &longs;eat,
And humble wi&longs;dom at her feet!
On hor&longs;eback &longs;ee the beggar ride,
With princes walking by his &longs;ide.
Pale Cri&longs;pin has his la&longs;t foregone,
To &longs;erve him&longs;elf and &longs;ave his town;
And Snip the taylor's &longs;hears are lo&longs;t,
Becau&longs;e he's got a higher po&longs;t.
So have I &longs;een the kitchen pot,
When &longs;et on coals profu&longs;ely hot,
Throw up its &longs;ediment to &longs;cum,
While bubbles dance amid&longs;t the foam.
eaf005.n55[55] March, 1776.
eaf005.n56[56] Trenton, 1776.
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Belknap, Jeremy, 1744-1798 [1792], The foresters, an American tale: being a sequel to the history of John Bull the clothier. In a series of letters to a friend (I. Thomas & E. T. Andrews, Boston) [word count] [eaf005].
