The Rangers | Page 5

They have other motives, and those, too, of a more dangerous character
to the public peace."
"And what may those motives be, if it be proper for me to inquire, sir?"
resumed the fair questioner.
"Why, in the first place," replied the sheriff, "they have an old and
inveterate grudge against New York, whose jurisdiction they are much
predisposed to resist. But to this they might have continued to demur
and submit, as they have done this side of the mountain, had New York

adopted the resolves of the Continental Congress of last December, and
come into the _American Association_, as it is called, which has no
less for its object, in reality, than the entire overthrow of all royal
authority in this country. But as our colony has nobly refused to do this,
they are now intent on committing a double treason--that of making
war on New York and the king too."
"Well, I should have little suspected," remarked Haviland, "that the
people of this section, who have shown themselves commendably
conservative, for the most part, had any intention of yielding to the
mob-laws of Ethan Allen, Warner, and others, who place the laws of
New York at defiance on the other side of the mountains; and much
less that they would heed the resolves of that self-constituted body of
knaves, ignoramuses, and rebels, calling themselves the Continental
Congress."
"Are you not too severe on that body of men, father?" said Miss
Haviland, lifting her expressive eye reprovingly to the face of the
speaker. "I have recently read over a list of the members of the
Congress; when I noticed among them the names of men, who, but a
short time since, stood very high, both for learning and worth, as I have
often heard you say yourself. Now, what has changed the characters of
these men so suddenly?"
"Why is it, Sabrey," said the old gentleman, with an air of petulance,
and without deigning any direct answer to the troublesome
question,--"why is it that you cannot take the opinion of your friends,
who know so much more than you do about these matters, instead of
raising, as I have noticed you have lately seemed inclined to do,
questions which seem to imply doubts of the correctness of the
measures of our gracious sovereign and his wise ministers?"
"Why, father," replied the other, with an ingenuous, but somewhat
abashed look, "if I have raised such questions, in relation to the quarrel
between the colonies and the mother country, I have gone on the
ground that the party which has the most right on its side would, of
course, have the best reasons for its measures; and as I have not always
been able to perceive good reasons for all the king's measures, I had
supposed you would be proud to give them."
The old gentleman, though evidently disturbed and angry at this reply,
did not seem inclined to push the debate any further with his daughter.

The other gentlemen, also, looked rather glum; and for many moments
not a word was spoken; when the other young lady, who had not yet
spoken, after glancing round on the gentlemen in seeming expectation
that those better reasons would be given, at length ventured to remark,--
"Well, for my part, it is enough for me that my friends all belong to the
loyal party; and whatever might be said, I know I should always feel
that they were in the right, and their opposers in the wrong."
"And in that, Jane, I think you are wise," responded Jones, with an
approving smile. "The complaints of these disaffected people are based
on mistaken notions. They are too ill informed, I fear, to appreciate the
justice and necessity of the measures of our ministers, or to understand
very clearly what they are quarrelling about."
"Ah, that is it," warmly responded Haviland. "That is what I have
always said of them. They don't understand their own rights, or what is
for their own good, and should be treated accordingly. And I think
some of our leading men miss it in trying to reason with them. Reason
with them! Ridiculous! As if the common people could understand an
argument!"
"You are perfectly right, squire," responded Peters, with eager
promptness. "My own experience among the lower classes fully
confirms your opinion. My business, for several years past, has brought
me often in contact with them, in a certain quarter; and I have found
them not only ignorant of what properly belongs to their own rights and
privileges, but jealous and obstinate to a degree that is excessively
annoying."
"Friend Peters probably alludes to his experience in the great republic
of Guilford," said Jones, archly.
"There and elsewhere," rejoined the former; "though I have seen quite
enough of republicanism _there_,