New Bridge-street, Oct. 12, 1818.
Dear Sir,
I have been out of town the whole of last week, or I intended to have written to you, on the subject of the farms at Havering. I now beg to inform you the Commissioners have not come to any determination as to the time of letting either of the farms, only they are to be let, and not sold; and have desired me to obtain offers from any person desirous of treating with me for a lease of either of the farms. I shall therefore feel myself happy to receive in writing any proposal that you may be disposed to make, and it shall be forwarded in the proper way, in the same manner as some other offers already made will be forwarded. I shall be prepared very shortly to make some agreement with you, as to your present holding, and, for your continuing until Michaelmas next, before which time I hope and trust the whole of those farms will be disposed of in some way or other.
I am yours, most truly,
E. DRIVER.
The farms not being to be sold, as Mr. Elsee had been induced to hope they would be, and the conditions in some printed particulars forwarded to him by Mr. Driver, not appearing to leave room for any advantageous holding under the crown, he declined making any proposals, and was only anxious to get extricated as speedily as possible from the farm, which he had continued to hold at the earnest request of Mr. Driver, and with a view to facilitate any arrangements on the part of the crown; as every day’s holding was injurious to Mr. Elsee, when he ceased to have the prospect of being either the purchaser or lessee. [19]
The farms, however, were let before the Christmas of 1818; and Mr. Elsee requested Mr. Driver to inform the gentleman who had taken them, and had entered upon that of Hall, that Mr. Elsee was desirous of letting him have possession of the other, and to sell him any thing upon the premises, whenever it would suit him. Mr. Driver promised to communicate this offer to the new tenant, and then, for the first time, said, “he had not yet done with Miss Ladbrook’s executors; that he meant to make them pay, double the rent that Mr. Elsee had paid them, for the time he had held the farm, since her lease expired, as she had never given the crown possession of that part of the land.”
Mr. Elsee thought it impossible the Surveyor could be in earnest, in such a monstrous and ridiculous proposition; and replied, “surely, you obtained possession, when you entered on Hall’s part; for at the time you surveyed Hall’s part of the farm, and took possession of that, you also went over and surveyed the part held by me; and you know very well that possession has been offered to you again and again. You have also given me directions to get boards painted and fixed up at different parts, of both farms, to warn people from sporting and shooting, and you have afterwards paid me for these things, while I have done every thing in my power to accommodate you, by staying on the farm at your own particular request.”
This reply should have been conclusive, for if the crown were not in possession, the fault rested only with its own Surveyor. No wish to hold over was entertained either by the executors, or by the tenant at will; nor was there, in fact, any holding over, for Mr. Driver had taken actual possession, had directed the rent to be paid to the crown, and acted as the possessor of the property on behalf of the crown. It was therefore a paltry quibble, and a meanness of which any landlord should have been ashamed, to have taken advantage of a mere informality, if it had existed, which however does not appear to have been the case, as the land had only been held at all at the Surveyor’s own particular request.
Mr. Driver, however, for some purpose of his own, thought proper to disregard the justice of the case, and replied that “Mr. Elsee was not the tenant of the crown; that Miss Ladbrook’s executors had behaved very ill; that there was no complaint whatever against Mr. Elsee, who could come upon the executors for any injury that he might sustain; that he (Mr. Driver) was determined to bring an action of ejectment against the executors; that Mr. Elsee’s crops would be seized on the premises the next summer, and that he might sue the executors for the damages.” [23] Mr. Elsee, who saw in the consequent expence nothing but mischief to all parties, except Mr. Driver, if the threat were really carried into execution, waited upon the solicitors of the executors of Miss Ladbrook, informed them what had passed, and begged them to see Mr. Driver, and make an arrangement to prevent the seizure of the crops, and the unpleasant results of such a litigation.—These respectable solicitors, Messrs. Windus and Holtaway, were not to be frightened; they knew the man they had to deal with, and after some severe remarks on the Surveyor’s conduct, they declared that they would have nothing to say to him, that they had never held over, and that he might do his worst.
With this answer Mr. Elsee returned to Mr. Driver, who had left word that the report was to be made to Messrs. Jones and Green, the solicitors to the office of woods and forests, to whom Mr. Elsee repaired, and was then informed by Mr. Jones that he did not think the crown would require more rent than had been paid to Miss Ladbrook; but that he would see Mr. Pillar, and make enquiry at the office, and acquaint Mr. Elsee with the result; which, by the bye, he never did.
The Surveyor proceeded as he had threatened he would, with his action of ejectment; and during its progress, he forwarded a long agreement to Mr. Elsee for his signature, the effect of which was to put him in the place of the executors, when judgment should have been obtained against them, and leave him entirely at the mercy of the crown. This agreement, too, had been framed without any consultation with Mr. Elsee, upon its conditions, some of which were contrary to the custom of farming leases, and all of them framed in opposition to the situation and interest of a tenant at will, which the Surveyor had declared him to be, and not in any way a tenant of the crown. This attempt to encrease the responsibility of Mr. Elsee was answered, of course, by a refusal to sign it; the agreement was returned, and Mr. Elsee waited upon the Surveyor, and pointed out to him that he was not liable to any conditions, and still less to the unreasonable ones attempted to be imposed upon him—that there was no legal claim upon him for dung [25]—that he had paid for it on his entrance upon the farm, and it would be his property when he should give up possession. To this the Surveyor replied, that he had let the farm on such conditions, and the new tenant was to do the same during his lease. It was then enquired by what right the Surveyor made such conditions with respect to this farm in particular, since he had not made them with respect to Heaton’s? The Surveyor made answer, that they “would be made to leave all their dung,” which, however, was not the case, for in the following summer the crops of that farm, and also the dung, were sold by the owner. [26]
It was further remarked to the Surveyor in this conversation, that spit dung was specified, and that it was not always to be procured; to which the Surveyor said it was so stated in all leases, meaning that, or an equivalent in other manure. Mr. Elsee again insisted that the dung was as much his property as the hay and corn; and further objected to the expence of the agreement as unnecessary, as the Surveyor knew he was ready to quit the farm at any time. The Surveyor, notwithstanding all this, held to his purpose, [27] and pretended that the thing must be done regularly; that the whole of the expence would not be more than 60l. or 70l. that the crown would pay half, and would further give time from Michaelmas 1819, to the following Lady-day, to thrash out the corn, and otherwise dispose of the property to the best advantage—that the crown besides would pay for all improvements, laying down ploughed fields to grass, &c. In spite of these temptations Mr. Elsee refused to sign; had he remained firm in this refusal, and acted upon the advice of his friends, many of whom recommended him not to put himself in the power of the Surveyor by his signature, he might have saved himself some thousands of pounds, and a degree of personal and family anxiety even more to be deplored than his pecuniary loss. [28]
In this time the Surveyor had proceeded in his action of ejectment, and as the day for the service of the declaration approached, Mr. Elsee was applied to for his final decision as to signing the agreement; and he found himself compelled to submit, even as it was, with a reference to arbitration as to terms, &c. or to close the doors upon all reconciliation, and entail upon his property the disastrous consequences of a law-suit, with the crown for an antagonist. [29]