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fications and other objects connected with the defence of the country. These are no part of the ordinary annual expenditures. How far it may be wise to go, in expenditures for purposes of this kind, may be a question; but whatever it is proper to expend, in public works for the defence of the country, may as well be expended in one year as in a series of years. Indeed, this is true policy and economy; for the more time which is consumed in laying out the money, the more of it will be abstracted by the agents who have the disbursing of it. If an individual has occasion to build a house, will he not do it in one season, or in as short a period as he can find any one to contract to do the job? He does not consider it economy to be several years about it; neither does he regard the outlay as a part of bis annual expenditures; he considers it as an investment, as an addition to his estate. What is true of an individual is true of the Government. Whatever it may be proper to expend on fortifications, ordnance, or other permanent means of defence, the shorter the period in which the money can be expended, the better, if there is no waste in the application. Neither are appropriations for purposes of this description to be regarded as a part of the annual expenditures of the Government, any more than the erection of a house is to be regarded as a part of the annual expenses of an individual. The calls for the maximum appropriations, for permanent objects of defence, are no evidence of profuse expenditure, as asserted, but of true economy, especially when we have money on hand that we have no other use for.

The compromise tariff act of 1833, to which the honorable Senator alluded with so much complacency, is not entirely irrelevant to the subject under consideration, as that law has in part contributed to produce the surplus which the gentleman seems so anxious to seize upon for distribution. He seems to look back upon that compromise as a bright spot in the record of his political life. The gentleman appears to have been partial to compromises, and has had a hand in many, of different descriptions. The tariff compromise, so far as it was a means of quieting, for a time, a distracting question, and of calming the troubled elements in one quarter, was a salutary measure; but the principles of the compromise were unsound and unwise. The reduction of the high duties was too slow on the one hand, whilst on the other the attempt to establish by compromise a uniform principle of imposing duties was either delusory or a gross assumption of power. In consideration of retaining the high rate of duties, subject to a gradual reduction for ten years, the principle of discrimination in regulating the duties is proposed to be relinquished. Those engaged or having capital invested in manufactures in 1833 were to become rich by the protection afforded to them during the ten years of high duties; and those who might become interested in manufactures near the close or after that period, were to be left to shift for themselves. There is no reason on earth why from fifty to seventy-five per cent. should be required to protect the manufacturing interests in 1833, which could be sustained by duties of twenty per cent. in 1842. Either the high rate of duties was not required, or the point of depression is so low as will sacrifice the manufacturing interests. The experience and skill requisite to the successful prosecution of most branches of manufactures had been acquired in 1855; and although there are constantly improvements taking place in all the arts, yet as these are as great in England and other manufacturing countries as in this, they will give no advantage or security to our manufactures. In regard to the attempt to settle, by an act of Congress, under the assumption that it is a compromise, a uniform rule by which all duties are to be imposed after the year 1842, if not altogether delusory, it can only be

[APRIL 28, 1836.

| regarded as a new scheme to amend the constitution. It would, in fact, be an amendment of the most important character. The duties on foreign importations, as the principal source of the public revenue, as well as incidentally affording protection to the manufacturing interests of the country, have been a subject of more legislation than any other, and must continue so for all time to come. The state of the Treasury, the growth of new interests at home, the decay of old ones, foreign legislation, and various other causes, will require frequent modifications of the revenue laws. To attempt, therefore, to restrict, limit, or regulate the power or action of Congress over this subject, by an ordinary law, or by any understanding or compromise among the leading members of Congress, as to the passage of that law, is preposterous. It is an attempt by one Congress to tie up the hands of their successors, and deprive them of that equality of power which the constitution has conferred on each successive Legislature. Had the high rate of duties been brought down to the proper point of reduction more rapidly, it would have lightened the taxes, and we should have had a less surplus in the Treasury to contend about.

As

Mr. President, having disposed of the extraneous and preliminary topics, I will proceed to consider the bill before the Senate. This measure, in any view which can be taken of it, is of the highest importance. The bill provides for distributing among the States, according to the federal principle of representation, the nett proceeds of the public lands for five years, commencing with the year 1833 and ending with the year 1837. amended at one time, it proposed to distribute the proceeds of the lands for nine years, from 1833 to 1841. That amendment has been abandoned by the friends of the bill, and it now stands as at first introduced. There are some minor principles in this bill, as the grant of certain portions of lands to the new States, and the allowance to those States of ten per cent. of the sales of public land within their territories, which I do not propose to notice. The bill as it now is, should it become a law, will distribute among the States about forty-five millions of dollars. Its friends calculate upon a large sum. Before the amendment was disagreed to, the bill would have distributed eighty-seven millions of dollars, provided the sales of the public lands for the ensuing five years should equal what the friends of the measure estimate them at-ten millions a year. I think, however, that estimate much too high. Eighty-seven millions would be nearly one half of the proceeds of all the lands now unsold in the States and Territories. The gross amount, at the minimum price, has been estimated by the Senator from New York [Mr. WRIGHT] at one hundred and eighty-seven millions of dollars. This bill, as it is, will distribute more than one quarter of the whole proceeds of the public lands in the States and Territories.

By a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, it appears that there are in the States and Territories 122,397,462 acres of lands surveyed and offered for sale, and which was unsold on the 30th September last, and 9,772,739 acres surveyed and not offered for sale, making 132,170,210 acres, to which the Indian title has been extinguished. There are, besides, 79,126,838 acres, to which the Indian title has not been extinguished; but this will cost nearly as much as we shall get for it. The bill, in its present form, will distribute a large share of the proceeds of the entire national domain. is retrospective in its operation, and will distribute all the money raised from the sale of the public lands since 1833, which will include nearly the entire balance now in the Treasury. The gross receipts for the sale of the public lands which will be distributed, should this bill pass, will amount to

It

APRIL 28, 1836.]

In 1833,

Land Bill.

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$29,682,981

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$3,967,681 from thirty to forty per cent. interest, it can hardly be 4,875,650 supposed that money will be extensively employed in 15,200,000 land speculations. All revulsions in business immediate5,439,650 ly affect the revenue, from whatever source derived, and hence the great fluctuations which our revenue has experienced, both from customs and the public lands. The receipts from the customs in 1816, were 36,306,874 dollars; in 1817, 26,283,348 dollars; in 1819, 20,283,608 dollars; in 1820, 15,005,612 dollars; and in 1821, 13,004,447 dollars. The year 1816 was the first after the war, which accounts for the great excess of importations; but from 1817 to 1821, a period of four years, the revenue was diminished more than one half, falling off from more than twenty-six millions to thirteen millions.

8,500,000 8,500,000 $46,682,981

This estimate for the remainder of the current year, and for 1837, is considerably below the calculations of the friends of this measure, as they consider that the sales will be nearly or quite at the rate they were during the last year, when they exceeded fifteen millions. But I have supposed that the pressure on the money market which now prevails, and will be likely to continue, will check the speculation in lands. The estimate, however, may be low."

In a financial view of this measure, the bill before the Senate may be regarded in the light of an appropriation bill. Should it become a law, it will take from the Treasury during the present year, about thirty-seven millions of dollars. The first question, therefore, is the effect it will have on the finances, and whether such a sweeping appropriation will not exhaust the Treasury, and render it difficult to carry on the different branches of the public service?

Without pretending to accuracy, the following statements and estimates of receipts and expenditures may throw some light on the subject of the finances of the

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The Senator from Tennessee [Mr. WHITE] and others have estimated the money now in the Treasury, and what will be received during the year, at seventy mil. Jions. I do not understand the process by which they make so large a sum, and am persuaded that it is altogether an over estimate. I do not claim any accuracy for the estimate I have made, but believe it will be found not to vary essentially from the truth. The calculation as to the customs is based on the assumption that the importation of dutiable articles will be equal the present year to the last, when the duties on imports were about nineteen millions. But by the compromise act of 1833, one tenth part of the excess of duty over twenty per cent. is taken off, which will amount to about one million of dollars, leaving for the duties of the whole year eighteen millions. The first quarter, it is true, has considerably exceeded that rate; but the great amount of importations the last quarter of 1835, and the first quarter of the present year, will be likely to occasion less importations the last three quarters of the pres ent year. In connexion with this cause, the extreme pressure on the money market in the commercial cities must occasion a check and reaction to all kinds of business. This cause will operate still more forcibly to check the sales of the public land, a great portion of which, the last year and the first quarter of the present, has been purchased on speculation. When good notes, as is said to be the case, are discounted in New York at

Speculations in public lands commenced in 1818, sales then being made on credit; and the receipts for lands the following year were 3,270,000 dollars; in 1820 they fell off one half. In the years 1823 and 1824 the annual receipts were less than one million, and last year the sales have produced more than fifteen millions. This has been the result of speculations, which cannot continue. It is not to be apprehended that the reaction which has commenced will be as severe or as protracted as that of 1819. The embarrassment and distress then continued for three years, and extended over the whole country. The Bank of the United States, which had exerted a controlling and pernicious influence in originating the spirit of overtrading and speculation, was also the principal instrument in occasioning the distress, as it was compelled, in self-defence, to make rapid and forced curtailments of its loans. From February to December it reduced its loans twelve millions of dollars, being nearly one third of the whole amount. period of distress, Mr. Crawford, in 1819, then Secretary of the Treasury, remarked: "Few instances are on record of sufferings so deep and extensive as those which have overspread the United States."

Of this

Let us now examine into the probable expenditures of the present year. It must not be forgotten that appropriations for the year are one thing, and the moneys actually drawn from the Treasury for public purposes are another thing.

The letter of the Secretary of the Treasury, addressed to Congress early in the session, contains the following estimates as to the appropriations and expenditures for the year 1836, viz:

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ury is only for the ordinary service of the year, and has no reference to the extraordinary expenses of the Florida Indian war, for fortifications, (except the ordinary appropriations for that purpose,) ordnance, increase of the navy, Indian treaties, or any other extraordinary objects of expenditure.

More than two millions have already been appropriated for the expenses of the Indian war in Florida, and as the hostile Seminoles have not been subdued, a considerable force must be kept there during the year, as little can be expected to be done during the warm season. Five millions will be a very moderate estimate for the expenses of this war, and it is to be feared they will exceed that sum. The two important Indian treaties now before the Senate, should they be ratified, will, it is understood, require an expenditure of about seven and a half millions; so that these two heads of extraordinary expenditure alone will amount to twelve and a half millions. But there will be others, amounting to several millions, independent of fortifications, increasing the navy, and all other objects of permanent defence. The frontiers of the States west of the Mississippi have become much exposed to Indian hostilities by the removal of nearly all the Indians east of the Mississippi to the country west of those States. There is said to be two hundred and forty thousand Indians west of that frontier. The war now raging in Texas will, from the known character of the Indians, be likely to enkindle a spirit of hostility among some of those tribes, and additional troops will be required for the defence of that exposed frontier. There is, I understand, a bill before the House providing for raising a regiment of dragoons, and authorizing the President to accept the services of companies of volunteers, not to exceed ten thousand men, for the defence of the western frontier. This bill will probably become a law, and will involve a considerable expenditure, probably not less than one or two millions.

These three heads of extraordinary expenditure alone, added to the ordinary disbursements of the year, will make about thirty-four millions and a half, which, deducted from fifty-four millions, the whole revenue of the year, would leave but nineteen and a half millions. What would be the situation of the Treasury, if this bill were to pass? It would draw from it the present year about thirty-seven millions and half. The sums given are the gross amount, from which some deductions are to be made. This would occasion a deficit of eighteen millions, without any appropriations (except the ordinary) for fortifications, ordnance, increasing the navy, or other permanent objects of defence. How is this deficiency to be supplied? There are but two ways. We must either raise the duties on imports, or borrow the money. If there was to be an increase of the customs, it must be done by restoring the duties on the free articles, as the rates of duties cannot be interfered with consistently with the compromise act of 1833. But the mode of doing it is not material; in any way, it will be a tax on the country. Will you distribute the money now in the Treasury among the States, and then raise, by increasing the taxes, fifteen or twenty millions for the public service? This is the question which Congress and the country are called on to decide. There can be no essential error in this statement; for if the estimate of the receipts from the public lands should be too low, it would not vary the result; for the whole proceeds of the land are to be distributed. Should this bill pass, the twenty-nine millions now in the Treasury, being the amount of proceeds from the lands for the years 1833, 1834, 1835, and the first quarter of the present year, would be distributed to the States in instalments, commencing in July, whether there was a dollar left in the freasuay or not. Are the people prepared to pay fif en or twenty millions in taxes, for the sake of having

[APRIL 28, 1836.

the money now in the Treasury, and which is wanted for the public service, divided among the States and squandered on works of internal improvements? All the objects, too, for the more complete defence of the country must be abandoned.

If the bill should not become a law, there will, according to the estimates and statements made, be a surplus at the close of the year of about nineteen millions. The various public and private bills before Congress will probably reduce it to two or three millions below that amount. Are there no national purposes to which this fund can be applied wisely and judiciously, for the common benefit of the whole Union? Is it not wanted for the more complete defence of the country? Is there any one, however averse to an extensive system of fortifications, who can doubt that this sum is wanted for fortifications, the increase of the navy, ordnance, and the improvement of navy yards? The question is not whether this sum can be judiciously and economically expended on these objects this year, for that is not necessary; but whether it is for the interest of the Union, whether it is wise and patriotic, to retain this surplus, now we have it, and apply it, as fast as it conveniently and economically can be, to the defences of the country. On this question I should think there could be but one opinion; the sum is less than one quarter what has been estimated by the engineer department and the navy commissioners, as being required for the objects specified.

On the subject of fortifications, and the defence of the country generally, the report of the Secretary of War recently made, is a most important and valuable docu. ment. His views are sound, judicious, and practical; they evince a thorough knowledge of the subject, and an eminent discrimination and judgment in the application of that knowledge. He does not contemplate a system of fortifications, for the protection of the sea coast, but only for the defence of certain points, as the large cities and navy yards; and for these purposes, he does not recommend large and strong fortifications, constructed to stand a regular siege. In the views of the Secretary of War, differing somewhat from those of the engineer department, the President has added his full concurrence.

The engineer department have estimated the expense for completing the military defences of the United States, including fortifications, ordnance, arsenals, depots, &c., at about sixty-one millions of dollars. This entimate is made upon a larger and more comprehensive scale of fortifications than the President and Secretary of War recommend. To complete the fortifications now under construction, the estimate is $11,609,444, and for the first class of new forts, they estimate $5,873,000; and for ordnance for the forts, $17,840,249. This is a subject on which I do not profess to be competent to form any opinion; but I have now, as I always have had, a strong aversion to an extensive system of fortifications; it does not seem to be consistent with the genius of our institutions, and has, in my mind, an intimate connexion with a standing army.

The board of navy commissioners estimate the expenditures for the naval purposes, as follows: For increase of the navy and purchase of materials for preservation, to be used in case of war, $17,760,000 For ordnance for the navy 1,800,000 For navy yards, 3,600,000

Total,

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$23,160,000

For all these important objects, connected with the permanent defence of the country, the surplus of the present year, amounting to from fifteen to twenty millions, together with the small surplus there may be the

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two ensuing years, cannot, it is believed, be deemed more than a reasonable and adequate provision. If any thing can add to the fitness and propriety of applying the present surplus to the permanent defences of the country, it is the consideration that this fund is not a surplus revenue, as seems to be supposed. Twentynine millions, out of the thirty-two in the Treasury, have been received for the sale of the public lands the last three years, and twenty millions during the past year and the first quarter of the present year. This fund has not accrued as a revenue, but from the sale of the public property-the sale of the national domain, the most valuable inheritance that any nation ever possessed, and which is rapidly wasting away. Is there not a peculiar fitness and propriety that this fund should be reinvested in permanent works for the common benefit and security of the whole country?

Mr. President, the most important view of this subject still remains. This must be regarded as a bill for the sequestration of the public lands, and the division of them, in whole or in part, among the States, and of course withdrawing this branch of revenue from the Government of the Union. Looking at this measure in this light, it is one of the highest importance, not so much in a financial point of view, as from its political bearings and influence. What may be the effects of a measure, resting on principles so new and dangerous, no one can foresee; but that its operation might be to change our political system, is perfectly clear to my mind. This measure has been attempted to be supported on two grounds, neither of which, it is believed, can be sustained:

1st. That it is constitutional, just, and expedient to divide the public lands among the States on general principles, and without any reference to the present state of the Treasury; and

2d. That it is proper, as a temporary measure to relieve the country from the evils of a redundant Treasury, by disposing of a surplus which is not wanted for the uses of the federal Government.

In relation to the last ground, it is sufficient to say, that it is not true in point of fact. There is no such surplus as this argument presupposes; and no surplus at all, which is not wanted for constitutional, legitimate, and highly useful objects, pertaining to the Government of the Union. I have already examined this question, and endeavored to show that the surplus at the end of the present year would not exceed twenty millions, and would, in all probability, fall short of that sum; which, upon the most moderate scale of providing for the more complete defence of the country, would be wanted for that object, and no doubt considerably more.

But, if there was a surplus, a distribution of it among the States would not be the proper remedy. It would be unwarrantable to attempt to remove a temporary evil by a measure resting on a new and dangerous principle. If there is an excess of revenue, which has, and is to continue to accumulate in our Treasury, the rightful and proper remedy is to remove the cause, to reduce the revenue. Stop the money from flowing into your Treas. ury, and it will then distribute itself among the people, which is the only just and constitutional distribution. This will be the only just distribution, because it will distribute the money not wanted for the purposes of this Government among the people, and in the exact proportions which they contribute towards the taxes.

It is true the present surplus has mainly accrued from the sales of the public lands; but it is within the power, and it is the solemn duty of Congress, so to shape their legislation as to prevent the accumulation of more money in the Treasury than is required for the constitutional purposes of this Government. And it is our duty so to regulate and restrict the sale of the public VOL. XII.-84

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[SENATE.

lands, or so to reduce the customs, as to avoid a surplus. Nothing can be more unjustifiable, or a greater abuse of legislation, than to draw more money from the people than is wanted for public purposes, whether by taxation or the sale of the public property. The accumulation of revenue last year was an extraordinary result from speculations in the public lands, which cannot continue. Still there is reason to apprehend that the money received from this source, whilst the imposts are at their present amount, will, for several years, occasion some excess in the revenue. And as the tariff act of 1833 prevents any essential change in the customs for several years, it appears to be necessary that there should be some further legislation calculated to regulate and limit the sales of the public lands. There are other than financial reasons in favor of such a measure. The national domain ought to be preserved for actual settlers for generations to come. What is not wanted for actual settlement should be held by the Government, especially when we have no occasion for the revenue derived from the sale of it. As long as it is held by the Government, the same advantages of emigration and settlement on the uncultivated lands, as are now enjoyed, will extend to future generations. These advantages are of great importance to the whole country, being a sure resource for the disappointed, the unfortunate in the old States, and all who have not the means to acquire an interest in the soil in the older settlements in the Union. In the unsettled lands, the vast extent of the public domain, every individual who is so disposed, however limited his means, can acquire an interest in the soil and become a freeholder. But if these lands are suffered to go into the hands of speculators and capitalists, at the rate they have the last year, the actual settlers will have to purchase of individuals instead of the United States, and may be compelled to pay ten dollars per acre for lands they can now get at one and a quarter. The capitalists of the country should not be suffered to monopolize the national domain, and thus interpose themselves between the Government and the actual settler. A law, properly guarded, confining the sales of the public lands to actual settlers, appears to be demanded by the highest considerations. With a view merely to regulate the revenue, the law might provide the maximum beyond which sales should not be made in one year. the matter now stands, no calculation can be made on this branch of revenue, as the receipts within a few years have varied from one million to fifteen millions, and the first quarter of the present year they have been at the rate of twenty millions.

As

Mr. President, I will now proceed to make some remarks on the main question presented by this bill, which is, the constitutionality, justice, and expediency of dividing the public lands among the States. This measure is too important, and rests on a principle too novel and dangerous, to be sustained by any temporary reasons, or any other conditions, than that it is constitutional, right, just, safe, and proper, to divide the public domain or the proceeds of it among the States, and take away this branch of revenue from the federal Government.

Before considering the objections to this measure, let me ask what are its advantages? It is claimed, in the first place, that by taking the money now in the deposite banks, and dividing it among the States, it will be put in circulation, and thus relieve the present pressure on the money market. This advantage would be temporary, and of little importance, if true; but the effect of the distribution would be directly the opposite. The banks, if called on to pay the money, would have to press their debtors, which would increase the distress; whilst the money, when distributed, would be withdrawn from use for several months, as the Legislatures of the States would have to be convened before any disposition could

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be made of it. But this matter, being entirely temporary, is of little moment.

The main benefit calculated upon, from the measure, is to increase the resources of the States. As the bill was first introduced, it directed the application of the money either to internal improvements or education. As it now is, it may be applied to any purpose whatever, and will be entirely subject to the disposal of the State Legislatures. They can apply it to their ordinary expenses, if so disposed. It is to be presumed, however, that in general it will be applied to works of internal improvements, and this may be regarded as the object of the bill. It is to provide for carrying on internal improvements by the funds of this Government, through the agency of the States. It is attempting to do indirectly what it is now admitted we cannot do directly. What will be the effect of the sudden application of nearly fifty millions of dollars to objects of this description? Will it not give an undue and dangerous impulse to the spirit of internal improvement? and does not that spirit now require rather to be checked than stimulated into greater activity? What will be the effect on the business of the country of withdrawing so large a capital from other pursuits, to be invested in railroads and canals? And this must be the result, as the funds of the Government are loaned out to individuals, who are employing them in the various departments of useful business; and they must be collected in, when the banks are required to pay over the money. It is an error to suppose that those funds are in the deposite banks. They are in the hands of individuals, and, should this bill pass, must be withdrawn from the debtors of the banks, and of course withdrawn from those branches of business in which they are now employed. Would not the great interests of the country suffer, by withdrawing so large a capital from them, and investing it in canals and railroads?

Would not this sudden impulse to internal improvement be likely to involve the States in extravagant and ruinous projects? A considerable portion of the works of this kind are of little or no value. The principal canal in my own State, continued by another in the State of Massachusetts, both of which have cost nearly one million of dollars, is of no value. Many in other States are of a similar character. It would seem that the moneys expended by the Government of the Union on canals and roads should admonish us against wasting the resources of the country on unimportant objects of this kind. Congress has appropriated nearly ten mil lions of dollars to roads and canals; about six millions on the Cumberland road; one million on the Delaware and Chesapeake canal; one million on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal; half a million on the Dismal Swamp canal; and some others. What return has ever been received for these vast expenditures? and what is the value of these expenditures? and what is the value of the stock of these canals? A bill is now pending for the assumption of the Dutch loan, due by the cities in this District, making about two millions more on account of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal.

How will the States apply these funds? Some of them are constructing works in behalf of the State, and will probably apply them in that way; but most of the States will invest the money in subscriptions to stock in corporations, and thus increase the power and influence of these dangerous monopolies.

Railroads are at this time the most popular kind of internal improvements, and when constructed by corporations, with the chartered privileges which have been conferred on them in the eastern States, are the most dangerous monopolies which have ever been permitted to exist in a free country. They are merely private ways, and no person can use them, or pass over them,

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[APRIL 28, 1836.

without the consent of the company. They are allow. ed to fix their own rate of tolls, whilst their advantages enable them to destroy all competition by stage lines, or other means of conveyance. Like all other monopolies, their advantages, whatever they may be, are enjoyed exclusively by the company. They are little or no benefit to the public, whilst they are a serious injury to the agricultural class, by throwing out of employment the great number of horses now used in stages, and other modes of conveyance, and destroying the market which was thus created for the products of farms.

It may be laid down as a general truth, that neither railroads nor canals are of general utility and advantage to the country, except where they tend to raise the price of the products of agriculture or increase the demand for labor. And these results are only produced by such canals or railroads as open a market, by supplying cheaper and better facilities of conveyance to portions of country which were deprived of one. In all other cases, railroads and canals are of no general utility, and add nothing to the common prosperity. Their advantages are confined to a very small class, whilst their disadvantages affect a very numerous class. The fallacy of these, and all other expedients for advancing the prosperity of the country, by any other means than by increasing and giving greater scope to its industry, must soon become manifest. Is it right and just to tax the people for objects of this kind? or to apply the funds of the whole people to purposes which can be beneficial only to a few, and those the wealthy classes?

But it is alleged, as another advantage of this measure, that it will settle the long agitated question of internal improvement as relates to this Government, will quiet the public mind, and strengthen the Union. I cannot concur in this opinion. Is it to be supposed that this question is to be settled by agitating it in a new and more dangerous form? What is this but the old question of internal improvement in a new and disguised form, and therefore the more dangerous?

The Senator from Kentucky [Mr. CLAY] says the West will not long submit to have all the public money expended on the seaboard. Sir, this is a slander on the West. Will the people of the western States wish to see the constitution violated, or any dangerous princi ples introduced into the Government, to secure what they may conceive to be an equal participation in the advantages of the expenditures of the public money? I I do not believe it; the gentleman does great injustice to that patriotic portion of the Union. I, as a citizen of the East, and a representative of an eastern State, will defend the West against this unworthy imputation. Neither can I admit the justice of this complaint; the West have their share of the public advantages. The disbursements in relation to the public lands, and the numerous grants which have been made of them for the purposes of education and internal improvements, are at least equivalent to all the benefits enjoyed by the people in the Atlantic States from the disbursements of the Government. It is a mistake to suppose that the public money expended at any place is essentially beneficial to the contiguous population. The supplies and property purchased may come from a distant part of the Union.

But whilst the advantages of this measure, either to the States or the Union, are of a doubtful character, the objections to it are of the most serious kind. The first difficulty is the very great doubt as to the power of Congress to make such a disposition of the proceeds of the public lands. With the exception of Louisiana and Florida, these lands were ceded by several of the States to the United States, and the rights and powers of this Government over them were derived from those cessions, which have been confirmed by the constitution. We must then look not only to the terms and conditions of

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