ut to his neighbours, then that would have been the law
to be obeyed, although it would be a law destructive of civilization,
since men would never accumulate property to go to the public. Something
nearer home is necessary to make men work, and deny themselves what they
like.

"The gentleman has told us of a sort of political leap-year that is to
regulate the social calender. I understand him to mean that when
property has got to be unequal, it must be divided up, in order that men
may make a new start. I fear he will have to dispense with leap years,
and come to leap months, or leap weeks, ay, or even to leap days; for,
was the property of this township divided up this very morning, and in
this meetin'-us, it would get to be unequal before night. Some folks
can't keep money when they have it; and others can't keep their hands
off it.

"Then, again, if Hugh Littlepage's property is to be divided, the
property of all of Hugh Littlepage's neighbours ought to be divided too,
to make even an _appearance_ of equality; though it would be but an
_appearance_ of equality, admitting that were done, since Hugh
Littlepage has more than all the rest of the town put together. Yes,
fellow-citizens, Hugh Littlepage pays, at this moment, one-twentieth of
the taxes of this whole county. That is about the proportion of
Ravensnest; and that tax, in reality, comes out of his pockets, as much
the greater part of the taxes of Rensselaer and Albany counties, if you
will except the cities they contain, are paid by the Rensselaers. It
won't do to tell me the tenants pay the taxes, for I know better. We all
know that the probable amount of the taxes is estimated in the original
bargain, and is so much deducted from the rent, and comes out of the
landlord if it come out of anybody. There is a good reason why the
tenant should pay it, and a reason that is altogether in his interest;
because the law would make his oxen, and horses, and carts liable for
the taxes, should the landlord neglect to pay the taxes. The collector
always sells personals for a tax if he can find them on the property;
and by deducting it from the rent, and paying it himself, the tenant
makes himself secure against that loss. To say that a tenant don't take
any account of the taxes he will be likely to pay, in making his
bargain, is as if one should say he is _non com_. and not fit to be
trusted with his own affairs. There are men, in this community, I am
sorry to say, who