with the revenue; and reference should be had to it in regulating the same; and all our surplus may yet be required to preserve the integrity of the Union. The time has been when millions were ready for defence and protection; and I trust that it has not passed, but that these wrongs will soon be redressed.

Mr. TIPTON said that it had not been his purpose to trouble the Senate with a single word on the subject of the amendment he had offered, nor should he now have done so but for the call which had been made upon him by the Senator from Kentucky to state the reasons on which the amendment was grounded.

He should present these reasons as briefly as he was able, and, having done so, should trouble the Senate no further. No man (said Mr. T.) knows better than the Senator from Kentucky that, when the population first began to cross over the Ohio from his own State into what was then the Northwestern Territory, they had to encounter privations and difficulties in every form. They entered into a wilderness which had neither roads nor paths, but lay entirely in a state of nature. For this land they had to pay two dollars an acre. Those who settled the country had to construct roads and bridges and other improvements, which greatly increased the value of the land, and which they accomplished by their own labor, unaided by the General Government, except so far as the two per cent. fund might go toward the construction of highways, and also with the exception of certain sections of land given to the new States for the promotion of education. The first settlers in what is now the State of Ohio purchased all the land in that State which was worth two dollars, and that which was of poorer quality remained, much of it, unsold. The amendment which is now offered does not propose to reduce the price of all the public lands, but it provides that such as has remained in market for ten years withcut a purchaser shall be subject to entry at one dollar the acre, and such as has remained unsold for fifteen years at seventy-five cents. Should this amendment prevail, it will enable the old settlers of the country to add to their farms tracts of inferior land for purposes of timber or stone, which will not sell at the present price of one dollar and twenty-five cents. The people of the West have frequently urged the justice and expediency of a law of this kind; and so manifestly proper has it been admitted on all hands to be, that a bill for the purpose has once or twice passed the Senate, but has been lost in the other House for want of time. I now again introduce the principle, and ask its adoption, as a measure both of justice and of sound policy. Frequent complaints have been urged respecting trespassers on the public lands, who plunder them of timber and stone. If the lands could be obtained at a reduced price, the temptation to such trespasses would be diminished. We do not ask, I certainly do not, that the fresh lands should be reduced in price; nor have I heard such an idea so much as once advanced by any body within the last two years. The amendment refers only to that which has been in market for a course of years, and will not sell.

The Senator from Ohio, [Mr. EWING,] in speaking of the purchasers of the public land, defended them against what he considered unmerited and slanderous imputations. His remarks on that subject, however just, do not affect me. I neither am myself a speculator, nor do I denounce those who are. I consider the public land as fair an object of purchase and sale as any thing else. I consider it perfectly fair and honorable for any man who has capital to purchase those lands at Government price, and to sell them out for as much as he can get. But the Senator, white defending this class of persons, bore very hardly on those who make an improvement on the land with a view to pre-emptive rights, and, in his statements on that subject, be certainly went far beyond

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any thing that I have ever known in the Western country. I have myself lived in the midst of the public lands for thirty years, and I am persuaded the Senator has been misinformed. I accuse him of no intention to do injustice, for he did not pretend to speak from his own knowledge. He made a strong argument, as he always does, but it was based upon supposed facts, which do not actually exist. While I was for a short time absent from the Senate chamber, he introduced, as I have since been informed, certain articles of mutual com. pact among the settlers on the public lands, which it seems he received from a citizen of Indiana. Now, if, as I hope, he intends to publish those articles as an appendix to his speech, it is all I desire on that point. Let those articles be read by any unprejudiced persons, and they will be able to judge for themselves whether persons bidding against the members of this association at the public land sales are, as he represented, to be knocked down or shot down. There is nothing like it in the agreement, nor in fact. I have myself a personal acquaintance with Solon Robinson, the individual whose name is signed to a circular read by the Senator, and who is also the secretary of the association referred to, and I believe him to be an upright, honest, and honorable man. I also know many of the settlers in Lake county, and I know them to be an orderly, peaceable, and respectable body of men. They have gone into that country with a view to better their condition; and who will blame them for it? They engage to employ at the public sales all the means in their power to obtain their rights, by which I understand them of course to mean all lawful means. By your law of 1830 you gave, on certain conditions, to every settler a pre-emption right to a quarter section of land; and you thus held out an inducement to individuals to enter on your domain, with a prospect of getting a permanent home. They went there, believing that the same opportunity would be extended to them. They are in possession of the land. They have by their labor enhanced its value, and they are ready to pay for it the price you ask. Can you expect that these people shall stand still, and let speculators come and turn their wives and children out of doors? It is most unreasonable; but as to the guns and dirks that the gentleman apprehends so much, they never have been used, nor will they be. Congress has nothing to fear on that score. They ask that you shall allow them a pre-emptive right, and thus do no more than what is just. The land, it is true, is settling fast; and why should it not? And why should not the United States Treasury get the money for it, and then distribute that money among the States? I see in this no such great evil; but, on the other hand, it will be a great public evil to check the sales of the public lands.

The Senator from Ohio laments that, in some of the older States of the Union, especially in some parts of Virginia, the population is actually decreasing. The fact is new to me. I certainly never heard such a complaint before. But if it is the interest of the young people of Virginia to go out into the vast West, and there to seek for fortune and for fame, why should you try to prevent them from doing that very thing which you yourselves bave done? Many of the Senators whom I see around me are those who, in their youth, left the older States, and went out to seek their fortunes in the new; and shall these gentlemen seek to cut off others from the same advantages? Surely not. Their constituents, I am persuaded, do not require such a thing at their hands. It would, indeed, be a strange phenomenon in political economy, that, when the country has become rich and strong by this very process, her statesmen should turn round and say, we have too much public land in market; we must take measures to stop the sale of it. I am willing to modify the tariff in such a manner as to re

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cept to actual settlers, and in limited quantities, was taken up as the special order of the day.

Mr. WALKER moved an amendment, to except from the operations of the bill, and from pre-emptions, all lands occupied under the authority of the United States, and that have been or may be reserved by law for any special purpose, or for town lots; which amendment was agreed to.

After some remarks from Mr. RUGGLES,

On motion of Mr. WALKER, the amendment was further amended, by inserting a proviso that no written or verbal contract, mortgage, or other encumbrance, made with a view to evade the provisions of this act, shall be binding.

[JAN. 26, 1837.

of the old States to permit them in this way to provide for their children, and he apprehended that the new States would be equally benefited by being thus provided with such a meritorious class of settlers as the sons of the industrious and respectable farmers of the old States. Mr. B. said he had hoped that the Committee on Public Lands would have offered this amendment; but, as they had not done so, he had felt it his duty to submit it to the consideration of the Senate, trusting that no objection would be made to it.

Mr. CLAY said he was very glad the gentleman from Pennsylvania had offered the amendment, for it could not have come from a more appropriate quarter. But he would ask why there was to be any greater privilege in the case of a child of a provident and attentive father than in that of a son or daughter who might be left or

After some remarks in support of this amendment, by Messrs. WHITE, LINN, GRUNDY, and CLAY, it was adopted.

On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, the bill was here laid on the table, to allow him to make a motion with regard to the qualification of the

MICHIGAN SENATORS.

A message was then received from the President of the United States, by Mr. ANDREW JACKSON, jr., his secretary, stating that the President had signed the bill for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union on an equal footing with the original States.

The credentials of the Hon. JOHN NORVELL and the Hon. Lucius LYON, elected by the Legislature of the State of Michigan, on the 10th November, 1835, to represent that State in the Senate of the United States, were read by the Secretary; and,

On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, the usual oath to support the constitution of the United States was administered to Messrs. NORVELL and LYON by the Vice President, and they took their seats in the Senate.

PUBLIC LANDS.

On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, the land bill was again taken up; when

Mr. BUCHANAN submitted an amendment, to allow to fathers, in each of the States, having children between the ages of twelve and twenty-one years, or to mothers of such children, whose fathers are dead, to enter a section of land in the name of each child, the patent not to issue until the child, in whose name the entry is made, becomes of age.

Mr. BUCHANAN said that he had expected that the Committee on Public Lands would have submitted an amendment of the character of the one he had just offered; but inasmuch as they had not done so, he felt it his duty to offer it, and to state concisely the reason why, in his opinion, it should be adopted. In the old States of this Union it was well known that, when a father of a family gets a little forward in the world, there was nothing more common than for him to go into the new States for the purpose of purchasing land, as a provision for his children when they became of age. These people (Mr. B. said) seldom purchased more than a half section of land; and if gentlemen wished to restrict the operation of his amendment to this quantity, he should have no great objection to it. The land is thus purchased, (continued Mr. B.,) and as sure as the child for whom it is intended becomes twenty-one years of age, he goes out to the West with his wagon and horses, and farming implements, and becomes the very best settler that the new States can have. No speculation was intended by this mode of purchase, and none could possibly take place under it. It would be a great advantage to the citizens

the principle to the grandchild as well as to the child? He would suggest, then, to the Senator from Pennsylvania so to modify his amendment as to embrace that relation as well as the others.

Mr. WALKER said that it would be recollected by the Senate, that among the greatest objections to the bill was that raised by the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. EWING,] that it would increase instead of diminishing the land sales, by facilitating the entry of land; that individuals would not only enter lands in their own names, but in the names of all their children. Now, if these objections of the Senator from Ohio would apply to the bill itself, they would undoubtedly apply with still greater force to the amendment of the Senator from Pennsylvania. He did not himself, however, agree with the Senator from Ohio, and would have no objection to the amend ment of his friend from Pennsylvania, with a slight modification. The bill itself (Mr. W. said) provided for the entry of lands by minors, after arriving at the age of eighteen years. Therefore, if the gentleman would confine his amendment to minors between the ages of twelve and eighteen years, he would agree to it.

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, said his objection to the bill of the Senator from Mississippi was not to any of the particulars to which the gentleman had just referred, but it was that a father could enter in the name of his wife or child a tract of land, provided he lived near it, but that fatliers living in the old States had not that privilege. Now, he (Mr. E.) conceived this to be a great objection to the bill, for it was giving a great preference in favor of actual settlers, over those living at a distance; it was, in fact, placing it in the power of those resident on the spot to monopolize to the amount of threefold or fivefold more of the public lands than those living at a remote distance from them. He thought, then, that the bill should be modified, rather than the amendment, and so as to confine the entry of lands to parents in behalf of their children who may be between the age of twelve and twenty-one years.

Mr. BUCHANAN remarked that he did not wish to embarrass the bill by offering any provision to it which he did not deem absolutely necessary, in order to prevent a public good from being converted into a public evil; but he could not, representing as he did an agri cultural community, (many members of which were frequently going West with their children, whose wel. fare was of some importance,) forego this opportunity of proposing this amendment. He should like to know what course to pursue which would render his amend ment successful. If so, he would move to amend the bill as reported by the committee, by saying that the individual should enter at the age of twenty-one, instead of eighteen. He thought it was but proper that a youth, before arriving at the age of twenty-one, ought not to have any inducement offered him to quit the paternal He entertained the opinion that policy and pru

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dence required this course; and if he did not think that there was some danger to be apprehended in regard to the loss of the amendment, he should certainly make the modification which had been suggested to him; and if any gentleman would move to strike out "eighteen," and insert "twenty-one," he (Mr. B.) would then vote to carry his proposition into execution.

Mr. LINN suggested to the Senator from Pennsylvania that his amendment, as it stood now, would be more likely to receive the vote of the majority than if modified. Mr. L. said that if the amendment should prevail, it would be at variance with the whole object of the bill.

Mr. MORRIS contended, that if the amendment should prevail, the title of the bill should be changed. It ought to be entitled "A bill to encourage the settlement of the public lands by law." He repeated that if the amendment should be adopted, it would entirely destroy the great object intended to be accomplished by the bill, and open wide the flood-gates of speculation.

Mr. BAYARD remarked that the effect of the bill, as it at present stood, was to confine its benefits entirely to the inhabitants of the neighborhood, to the exclusion, in fact, of those living at a distance. He maintained that the right of entering lands should be given to the uncles of children, and also to guardians, as well as fathers and grandfathers, in behalf of the child or children whose parent may be dead.

Mr. MORRIS hoped the amendment, or substitute, for the original bill, as reported by the Committee on Public Lands, and amended, together with the amendment of the Senator from Pennsylvania, might be printed, and the further consideration of the subject postponed till to

Mr. LINN wanted the bill to be what it purported, to confine the sales of the public lands to actual settlers. That was all he desired.

Mr. BUCHANAN observed, that with all the favorable feelings he had for the interests of the West, he did not know that he could vote for this bill, unless it contained some such provision as the one he had submitted. Was this amendment to open wide the flood-gates of speculation? What was there in it to authorize such a prediction? How could speculation possibly be prac tised under it? If gentlemen thought the quantity of land too great, he cared not if they reduced it below a section; for so far as his constituents were concerned, he did not believe that one in a hundred of them ever purchased more than a quarter of a section.

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until all the amendments were printed. He did not know at present whether he would or would not make a modification of his amendment, but he certainly would contend for the principle it contained with all the ability he possessed.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, made some observations in favor of the motion of the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. MORRIS] He wished to see the bill in print in the shape in which it now stood, in order to thoroughly understanding it before voting, or agreeing to it as amended in committee. It was not now the bill it was as it came from the Committee on Public Lands, for it had undergone many amendments; and though a number of them were said to be verbal, yet he apprehended that they had materially changed the character of the original bill. The gentleman from Ohio said the amendment of the Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. BUCHANAN] would change the whole character of the bill; and if so, he could not vote for it; for the principal object they all had in view was to check speculation, lessen the geat amount of the land sales, and thus diminish a too redundant revenue. These were the objects for which the bill was introduced, and he wished, by having the bill printed as it then stood, to see how far it retained its original character. He was not disposed to enter into an examination of all the provisions of the bill now. He was not prepared to do so, in consequence of the changes that had been made in it by the many amend. ments which were called verbal, and which no Senator had been able to keep an exact account of. It was, therefore, necessary that the whole subject should be distinctly presented to the Senate before taking any further question on it, as nothing could be gained by hurrying the question before the details were arranged. He wished, further, to see what modification the Senator from Pennsylvania would give to his amendment.

After some remarks from Mr. WALKER in opposi. tion to the postponement,

The question was taken on Mr. MORRIS's motion, and the bill was postponed till to-morrow, and the amend ments of the committee, with the amendment proposed by Mr. BUCHANAN, were ordered to be printed.

TREASURY CIRCULAR.

Mr. WALKER moved to postpone the previous order, and take up the bill designating and limiting the funds receivable for dues by the United States. Mr. EWING expressed an opinion in favor of the motion, and

Mr. RUGGLES against it, inasmuch as it was intimately connected with the land bill, whose fate ought first to be ascertained.

Mr. CLAY said he thought gentlemen did not duly sympathize with those who were suffering embarrassment under the operation of the Treasury order. Every hour that order continued, it inflicted injury and degra dation on the West. He hoped the bill would be taken up, and called for the yeas and nays on the motion; which were ordered.

VOL. XIII.-36

Mr. KING, of Alabama, said he should vote for taking up the bill, because he believed it right and proper to legislate on the subject, and not because he considered the continuance of the Treasury order as in any way degrading. He could see no special connexion between this measure and the land bill, to require a delay of this bill. The action on the land bill should terminate. This measure should be carried independently of that.

Mr. MORRIS said, if the object was to take an immediate vote on the bill, he was opposed to taking it up. He was not now disposed to vote either for this bill or He was opposed to the Government's interfering in any way with the State institutions, either directly or indirectly, and banks were State institutions.