SENATE.]

Public Lands.

76

deavor to alleviate it as far as possible. But if there was happiest of all events for the Union. But why did the no foundation for it; if you discovered that it was merely gentleman from Illinois restrict his view to this single point? one portion of the Union demanding that which belong. The bill did not confine the States to colonization. What ed to the whole; if there was no just ground for com- was the bill? It presented three great objects for the plaint, would you, to gratify this murmuring portion of consideration of the States, out of which they were at the Union, give to it that which was the property of all? liberty freely to select. It proposed colonization, educaWould you behave like the weak and foolish parent, tion, and internal improvement, in the reimbursement of who, seeing one child crying for the bauble which another such debts as may have been incurred for internal impossessed, would unjustly take it away from the posses-provements in the States. The gentleman objects to this sor, and, by giving it to the other, set the one who had latter clause. But, Mr. C. would ask, why those States been bereaved crying also? Would you allay discontent, which have gone ahead in the cause of internal improveif discontent existed in a new State, by raising a more ment, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, should not be formidable and greater discontent in the other States? allowed to rid themselves of the debts which they may And would you not do this, if you dopted the partial, nar-have contracted? If they had outstripped the other row scheme of distribution which was proposed by the States, why should they be required to remain under substitute of the Committee on Public Lands? Beware, burdensome debts, and engage in new objects, perhaps Mr. President, on this, as on other great subjects of con-not wanted. tention, that you do not shift the theatre of discontent.

a

With regard to education and internal improvement,

Thus, it was

It becomes us to take care that we do not raise a storm these are objects in which all parts of the Union are infull of menace, not only to the integrity of the Union, terested. Education and internal improvement in any but to every great interest of the country. He could not part of the Union are objects which affect, more or less, conceive a more happy disposition of the proceeds of the interests of all other parts of the Union. There was the public lands, than that which was provided by this a restriction upon the States. They were not left without bill. It was supposed that five years would be neither limitation. The fund was directed according to the views too long nor too short a period for a fair experiment. In of Congress, and the States were not left unrestricted as case a war should break out, we may withdraw from its to its application. They were required to apply it to one peaceful destination a sum of from two and a half to three of three great objects, in which all parties were interestThus it had been shown that, according to the plan of and a half millions of dollars per annum, and apply it to ed, as objects of national importance. vigorous prosecution of the war-a sum which would pay the interest on sixty millions of dollars, which might the bill, the fund was to be applied, in times of peace, for be required to sustain the war, and a sum which is con- the benefit of the States which may stand in instant need stantly and progressively increasing. It proposes, now of the means which the General Government does not that the General Government has no use for the money, want, for the improvement of their moral and physical now that the surplus treasure is really a source of vexa-condition; and in war, the fund was to be resumed, and tious embarrassment to us, and gives rise to a succession applied to the general objects of the war. of projects, to supply for a short time a fund to the States to be applied, in peace or war, and, according to the prowhich want our assistance, to advance to them that which vision in the various acts of cession, the great object of we do not want, and which they will apply to great the common benefit of all the States would be kept in beneficial national purposes; and, should war take place, view. This ample resource would be preserved for all to divert it to the vigorous support of the war; and, when the vicissitudes to which this nation may be exposed; and it ceases, to apply it again to its peaceful purposes. And we should be enabled, if free from war for twenty or thus we may grow, from time to time, with a fund which thirty years, to acomplish most of the great objects of inwill endure for centuries, and which will augment with the ternal improvement, in the complétion of which the coungrowth of the nation aiding the States in seasons of peace, try feels an interest, should the States determine so to and sustaining the General Government in periods of war. apply it. But there was another and the greatest object of all The bill proposes to nurse and preserve this fund, to apply it when wanted to the purposes of the General Go- connected with the passage of this bill, to which, in convernment; and when its application is made to the States, clusion of this part of the subject, he was desirous to rewhat are the objects? The honorable Senator complains fer. He alluded to the effect of this measure on the duabout colonization; and asks what interest Illinois has in rability of our Union. He hoped he should not be misit? He (Mr. C.) was somewhat surprised at the question. taken when he made the suggestion, that, above all forHe supposed every part of the Union was interested in mer periods in this country, this was the moment when He it was most imperative upon every American statesman to the humane object of colonizing the free blacks.

supposed that if any part were exempt from the evils of bend all the efforts of his mind to the infusion of new a mixed population, it would still not be indifferent to the vigor into the Union. It was a melancholy fact, that in prosperity of less favored portions. The darkest spot all parts of the country the sentiment of union appeared in the map of our country is undoubtedly the condition to have been greatly weakened. It was a melancholy And every benevolent and patriotic fact that there was every where springing up, daily and of the African race. mind must hope that at some distant day it will be effaced. hourly, an apprehension of insecurity, a fear that our reHe did not speak of one part of the Union, Colonization has opened the only practicable scheme public cannot last, that it is destined to premature dis which, by draining first the country of free blacks, and solution. then, either by the authority of the States, or by individual but of all parts. This was a policy which unhappily preemancipation of those now held in slavery, holds out a vailed. Whatever course could restore confidence, produce hope of the ultimate deliverance of our country from this harmony, create a new attachment to the Union in all its great evil. Suppose that, fifty or a hundred years hence, parts, and which could prevent the greatest calamity that the country could be entirely rid of this African race; could befal this people, ought to receive the favorable would the gentleman from Illinois-would any gentleman attention of the Legislature. He would ask if there was -say that he should be indifferent to such an auspicious any project conceivable by man which was better calcuresult? In his judgment, if the people of the United lated to strengthen the Union than the bill which was States were ready to unite heartily in any practical now on the table? What was it? It proposed that a scheme, if there could be one devised, by which this sum amounting to about three millions of dollars, and country could be delivered from all portions of the African annually increasing, which, twenty years hence may be race amongst us, both free and bond, it would be the six millons, and forty years hence twelve millions, the

JANUARY 7, 1833.]

Public Lands.

[SENATE.

source from which the fund is drawn being specifically dence. Now, at this moment, old James Masterton, who ceded or acquired for the benefit of the whole Union, lives near Lexington, and is eighty years old, excepted, shall be annually and parentally distributed by this Govern- he did not recollect a single individual, or the descendment through the whole confederacy, amongst all parts ants of any individual, who had remained on the lands of it, for the purpose of improving the moral and physical which they had originally settled. The settlers acquired condition of the whole. Let this project go into opera- their lands, made their entries, and then disposed of them tion: let all the States be satisfied that it will last as long for bear skins, rifles, or any other marketable commodity. as the fund from which it is to be distributed, as long as With regard to the settlement and the cultivation of the almost exhaustless public domain shall continue, and the soil, in the project of the committee, there is no spewe shall cement this Union by the strongest of ties for cification of any improvement required; there is no confive hundred years to come. What State will then be dition for the cultivation of any specific quantity, nor in disposed to go out of the confederacy, and sacrifice the any defined mode. What does the amendment propose? great advantages administered by this Government? What It allows any man, whether rich or poor, to acquire the State in the Union will be disposed to give up the advan- right of settling the land, by paying, fifty cents an acre. tage of this annual dividend, with all the rich fruits which Here is a man who will send one son, or substitute, to set are to result from the improved moral and physical con- up a cabin and cultivate half an acre on one side of his dition of its people, and go forth in its forlorn, weak, and farm; another, who may set out his potatoes, plant some destitute condition, an outcast without hope, the scorn of corn, and raise a few pumpkins on the other side, and so its neighbors, an object of contempt with foreign powers, on, to acquire their patents; and they will afterwards find and exposed to the insults of the meanest of them, and their way into the market, and be sold as cheap as milieven to the aggressions of lawless pirates? Pass this bill, tary patents have been sold at the brokers' on Pennsylvania and satisfy the States of this confederacy that this fund, Avenue. which is constantly increasing, is to be applied forever, How many of the soldiers, during the late war, are now in time of peace, to them, for the great objects which are to be found residing on their lands? All their patents were specified, and, in time of war, o free them from that disposed of for a mere song, and go into the hands of taxation which would be incident to a state of war--my speculators in our great cities. He had heard of a single life (said Mr. C.) on the sufficiency of the security individual in New York, holding at this moment a princiwhich this would present for the continuance of the Union. pality in Illinois, and who is retarding the settlement of No section, no State, will be found so lost to its own in-that part of the country by holding up the lands at an exterest, as to be induced to cut itself loose, and to aban-travagant price. Land is not the only want of man; he don its participation forever in this rich and growing re- must have money to meet his necessities, and gratify his pleasures; and many have less inclination to the occupaOne or two words on the question immediately before tions of agriculture than to other pursuits. He regretted the Senate, and he would conclude. That question was that every man did not appreciate farming as he did. But to substitute a new proposition, by adopting the amend- it is impossible to change the characters of men. Many ment proposed by the Committee on the Public Lands, who are eager for land desire it not for the purpose of in lieu of the other bill. And what was this new project? cultivation, but will part with it as soon as they have nomiIt was at one stroke to cut down three-fifths of the reve-nally complied with the conditions which the laws prenue derived from the public lands. The minimum price scribe. He objected to the amendment, because its beneof these lands is now $1 25 per acre, and it is proposed fits were not confined to the poor settlers, and on account to reduce it to fifty cents per acre, on all the lands which of its inequality. What chance would the people of remain unsold at public auction. It thus proposes, by a Virginia, Kentucky, New York, or Pennsylvania, stand single provision, to take three-fifths from this fund; and with the people of Illinois, who were well acquainted with what does it propose to do afterwards? the vacant land around them?

source.

[Here Mr. C. read a clause from the bill of the committee.]

We had been told by the President, as well as by the gentleman from Illinois, that population is more important Now this was not a project for the poor. No such to the country than land; and the sentiment is undoubtedly thing. Any man, without any regard to the amount of true. It should be recollected, however, that the mere his wealth, or his condition, may settle down on the lands, transfer of population from one section of the country, and acquire a right to them by five years' cultivation; but or from one part of a State to another, adds nothing to he has to settle upon the lands. By the proclamation the sum total. If it be so important to augment and not issued by the King of Great Britain in the year 1763, and to shift the population of the United States, the privilege afterwards by the Royal Colonial Governments, and by se- of settlement should be held out to foreigners, to induce veral of the States which subsequently became indepen- them to come her and increase our numbers. When dent, this condition of cultivation has been required to Georgia distributed her lands by a lottery, although one perfect the title to waste land; and yet, invariably, as far man might obtain more lands than he possessed before, it as his knowledge went, this provision had been dispensed produced no increase in the population of the State. It with, or been considered a mere nullity. There were was not a shifting, but an increasing population which was various kinds of settlements formerly required by Vir-desirable. He wished that our country was densely poginia.

[Here Mr. C. specified the various conditions, but was not distinctly heard.]

pulated, from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and that all were endowed with our principles and love of liberty, and our devotion to human rights. But he She required that the individual should settle on the could not, because he felt this sentiment, consent to be land. Now, what did they do? They went on the lands, caught by a project which, altogether delusive, whilst its and put up a small cabin, somewhat resembling those tendency is to sacrifice the public domain, leaves the total which are set up in Kentucky as traps to catch wild tur- amount of our population identically the same. keys, and this was considered an improvement! Well, Pass the amendment of the committee, and the lands with regard to the cultivation of the soil; sometimes they will be swept by those who are on the spot; but the poturned up the earth and planted a few hills of corn; and pulation will remain precisely as it is now. The scheme, this was considered cultivation. The settlers gained their while it would destroy the public domain, would engenobject, and there was no attempt to exact a too rigid der speculation, and lead to numerous frauds and evasions; observance of the conditions. No one sat down upon and, while fraught with palpable injustice to the people his property with a view to make it bis permanent resi- in all other parts of the Union, would be found to be far

SENATE.]

Public Lands.--Documents, &c.-South Carolina Resolutions.

[JAN. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 1833.

less conducive to the prosperity of the new States than the obtaining copies of their own papers. It was therefore proposed distribution of the proceeds of the lands. considered right to cause the expense of making authentiHe had not intended, when he came into the Senate, to cated copies to be paid by the Government. make more than a very few observations; and regretted Mr. HOLMES expressed regret that the committee that he had been induced to take up so much time. He had come to this conclusion, and that they could not hoped, however, that the Senate would excuse the length reconcile it to their sense of duty to intrust these into which he had been betrayed by the deep feeling papers into the hands of a commissioner. He would inwhich he entertained of the vast importance of the sub- quire of the chairman of the committee whether any ject which was now under consideration, resulting from a trouble had been taken to ascertain if authenticated cothorough conviction that no measure which does not em- pies of the documents could be received as evidence by brace the interests of all the people of the United States the commissioners under the French treaty, while the ought to receive the favorable consideration of Congress. originals were in existence? He thought it doubtful wheHe trusted that the Senate would reject the amendment, ther such copies would be received as sufficient, while and settle forever, on the basis of comprehensive equity the originals were to be had. He believed that such also proposed by this bill, this important question, which, if was the opinion of the clerk of this commission, with not speedily and permanently settled, was more likely to whom he had had some conversation on the subject. He produce dissension throughout the country than any other wished to know if there had been a discussion of this point subject which at this time pressed itself upon the conside- in the committee. ration of Congress. Mr. FORSYTH replied that this point had not been

In conclusion, he should only invoke the Senate to ex-discussed. It had, he presumed, been taken for granted tend to his bill the same favor which it had received at that authenticated copies of the documents, made under the last session.

The Senate then adjourned.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 8.

The sitting to-day was occupied principally in acting on sundry appropriation bills, and on executive business. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9.

After disposing of various private bills, the Senate resumed the subject of the

PUBLIC LANDS.

Mr. BIBB addressed the Senate about an hour and a half on the subject, when he yielded to a motion for adjournment.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 10.

DOCUMENTS IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT. The following resolution offered yesterday, by Mr. FORSYTH, was taken up:

the authority of an act of Congress, would be taken as sufficient evidence before any tribunal. The removal of the documents from the State Department could not take place without a violation of the existing treaty with Spain; and if they were removed, whenever a new treaty was made, they might be found travelling throughout the country, from hand to hand, and might, not without difficulty, be replaced in the department.

The resolution was then agreed to.

PUBLIC LANDS.

The Senate then proceeded to the special order of the day, being the bill to appropriate for a limited time the proceeds of the public lands, &c.

The question being on the amendment reported by the Committee on the Public Lands—

Mr. BIBB resumed the remarks which he commenced yesterday, and concluded them.

The question was then about to be taken, when Mr. KANE suggested that a gentleman who wished to address the Senate was now absent, and he would, to Resolved, That the Committee on Finance be instructed give him an opportunity to be present, move to lay the to provide, by appropriation, for the employment of bill on the table for the present. temporary clerks in the Department of State, to furnish, The motion was subsequently withdrawn, and, after during the continuance of the commission under the treaty some conversation, a motion, submitted by Mr. BIBB, to of indemnity with France, authenticated copies of such postpone the further consideration of the bill and amendof the documents and vouchers deposited in that department, and to make it the special order for to-morrow, ment, according to the stipulations of the treaty of 1819, was agreed to. with Spain, as may be required by individuals, or by the commission for the elucidation of claims under the said treaty with France.

After executive business--adjourned.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESOLUTIONS. Mr. MILLER presented certain resolutions of the Legislature of South Carolina, in reply to the proclamation of the President, viz:

Mr. FORSYTH briefly explained that this subject had been sent to the Committee on Foreign Relations by a resolution which was offered by the Senator from Maine (Mr. HOLMES.) The committee had considered the subject, and in a conversation with the head of the State Department, he had received the assurance from the Se- Resolved, That the power vested by the constitution cretary, that the department had every disposition to ren- and laws in the President of the United States to issue der such facilities to the individuals interested, as would his proclamation does not authorize him in that mode to be within its sphere of duty and its means; but that it had interfere, whenever he may think fit, in the affairs of the not the power to permit the original documents to be respective States, or that he should use it as a means of taken from the department, or the dispensable labor promulgating Executive exposition of the constitution, which would be necessary to make the requisite copies. with the sanction of force; thus superseding the action of The committee, on consideration, had deemed that they the other departments of the General Government. could not, consistently with the contract made with Spain, Resolved, That it is not competent to the President of authorize the removal of the documents. They there- the United States to order, by proclamation, the constifore directed their attention to the best mode of obtaining tuted authorities of a State to repeal their legislation; authenticated copies, which would be sufficient for the and that the late attempt of the President to do so is unpurposes of the claimants. The clerks in the department constitutional, and manifests a disposition to arrogate and were too fully occupied to permit their labor to be trans-exercise a power utterly destructive of liberty. ferred to this object; and it was deemed unjust to throw Resolved, That the opinions of the President in regard on the claimants themselves the expense of making or to the rights of the States are erroneous and dangerous,

JAN. 11, 12, 1833.]

South Carolina Resolutions.-Public Lands.

So the motion to postpone was agreed to.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12.

[SENATE

leading not only to the establishment of a consolidated mour, Silsbee, Sprague, Tomlinson, Waggaman, WebGovernment in the stead of our free confederacy, but the ster--21. concentration of all power in the chief Executive. Resolved, That each State of this Union has the right, whenever it may deem such course necessary for the preservation of its liberty, or vital interest, to secede peaceably from the Union; and that there is no constitutional power in the General Government, much less in the Executive Department of that Government, to retain by force such State in the Union.

Resolved, That the primary and paramount allegiance of the citizens of this State, native or adopted, is of right

due to this State.

Resolved, That the declaration of the President of the United States, in his said proclamation, of his personal feelings and retaliations towards the State of South Carolina, is rather an appeal to the loyalty of subjects than to the patriotism of citizens; and is a blending of official and individual character heretofore unknown in our state papers, and revolting to our conceptions of political propriety.

A bill granting a township of land to each of the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Alabama, for the promotion of female education, was taken up in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. EWING moved to amend the bill, by inserting the State of Ohio before the State of Indiana, which was agreed to.

The bill was then reported to the Senate, and the amendment was concurred in.

Mr. CLAY moved to lay the bill on the table for the present, which was agreed to.-Yeas 19, nays 12.

PUBLIC LANDS.

The Senate then passed to the consideration of the spe cial order of the day, being the bill to appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, &c. The question being on the amendment proposed by the Committee on Public Lands, substituting a bill to reduce the price of the public lands:

Resolved, That the undisguised indulgence of personal hostility in the said proclamation would be unworthy the animadversions of this Legislature, but for the solemn and official form of the instrument which is made its ve- Mr. BUCKNER rose and remarked, that he was thankhicle. ful to the Senate for the kindness shown him in having Resolved, That the principal doctrines and purposes postponed this subject on his account, and, though he felt contained in the said proclamation are inconsistent with his health somewhat improved, yet he felt both unwil any just idea of a limited Government, and subversive of ling and unprepared, from bodily debility, to engage in the rights of the States and the liberties of the people; this discussion; nor would he do so, was he not impelled and, if submitted to in silence, would lay a broad founda- by a deep sense of duty to his constituents. He had tion for the establishment of monarchy. waited for others, abler thap himself to do justice to the Resolved, That while this Legislature has witnessed with subject, to lead in the debate. The subject had been so sorrow such a relaxation of the spirit of our institutions, ably and so frequently debated heretofore, that he apthat a President of the United States dares venture upon prehended Senators had generally formed their opinions this high-handed measure, it regards with indignation the upon it. He was not so vain as to believe he could shed menaces which are directed against it, and the concen- much new light on the question, whereby to convince any tration of a standing army on our borders; that the State one, or to change the opinion of any one already formed. will repel force by force, and, relying on the blessing of God, will maintain its liberty at all hazards.

Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be sent to our Members of Congress, to be laid before that body, The resolutions were read and laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

PUBLIC LANDS.

The Senate then proceeded to the consideration of the bill to appropriate, for a limited time, the proceeds of the public lands, &c.

Mr. BUCKNER, who was entitled to the floor, assigned indisposition as a reason for asking further indulgence, and moved to postpone the bill and amendment, and make it the special order for to-morrow.

Mr. CLAY objected to the postponement, as there would be other opportunities for the gentleman from Missouri to be heard before the final disposition of the bill. If the gentleman would permit it to be engrossed, he would himself consent to put off the question on its passage, until the gentleman should have had an opportunity to make his observations.

Mr. BUCKNER stated that his object would be defeated by that course, as he wished to be heard against the engrossment.

After a few remarks from Mr. POINDEXTER and Mr. FORSYTH, the question was put on the motion to postpone, and decided as follows:

He would, therefore, endeavor to avoid fatiguing the Senate, by travelling over the ground heretofore occupied by those who had preceded him. He did not speak for the paltry purpose of being heard either, or of making a display, but because he considered it a question of great interest to his immediate constituents, to all the new States, and the whole American people: and he knew his constituents to be alive to this interest. His object was faithfully to represent them, and to convince the whole American people that, though we may fail in our wishes, yet that we are not ignorant of our rights, and that the fear of failure shall not dismay us from the attempt to assert and maintain them, and to assure those who oppose us that we shall continue to press them until justice be done us. He considered the bill, as reported by the Committee on Manufactures, which is the bill now introduced by the Senator from Kentucky, to contain principles not only hostile to the interest of the new States, but deleterious to the welfare and prosperity of the whole nation. He proposed,

1. To consider the bill.

2. To review some of the arguments urged in support of it.

3. To consider the proposed amendment.

4. To notice the argument of the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. CLAY) against the amendment, and also his argument in support of the bill.

I am opposed (said Mr. B.) to the bill, because I conYEAS.-Messrs. Benton, Bibb, Black, Brown, Buckner, sider it unequal, unjust, and unconstitutional; unequal, Calhoun, Dallas, Forsyth, Grundy, Hendricks, Hill, Kane, and consequently unjust, because the sums of money King, Mangum, Miller, Moore, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, heretofore appropriated and applied to the use of the Smith, Tipton, Tyler, White, Williams-24. old States are much greater than those sums applied NAYS-Messrs. Bell, Chambers, Clay, Clayton, Dud- to the use of the new States. See, sir, what has ley, Ewing, Foot, Frelinghuysen, Holmes, Johnston, been appropriated for the erection of light-houses, Knight, Naudain, Poindexter, Prentiss, Robbins, Sey-breakwater improvements of the ports and harbors, for VOL. IX.--6

SENATE.]

Public Lands.

[JAN 12, 1833.

and, not content with this, we were still compelled to surrender the right of the State to tax the land sold to individuals for five years after the sale; and we were required never to assert the right of the States to the lands within their limits. It required that those new States should never interfere with the primary right of these United States to dispose of the soil. Thus, you see, we paid dear enough for the five per cent. But, sir, we get, say the friends to this bill, an additional advantage of twelve and a half per cent. Now, sir, look at the provisions of the bill, and the favor it confers on other States, and the losses and inconveniences the new States sustain; and this great boon sinks into contempt-its inequality and injustice are manifest.

fortifications, for the benefit of those old States, and likewise for the internal improvement of those same States. Then see, sir, what sums, I may say from the date of this Government, have, from time to time, not only been laid out and expended for the benefit of the old States, but see how the citizens of those States have been benefited by circulating those vast sums among them. Now, also, look to the great sums that are paid to the people of those States as officers of the General Government; not less than five hundred thousand dollars yearly are paid from the treasury in this way to the State of New York, and seventy thousand to the State of Maine, and all the other old States in like proportion. Now, see how much has been paid in this way to the new States-how much has been paid to Missouri. I invite gentlemen just to turn This bill contains another principle which is excessively over their documents, and they will see all this. Before odious to me. It asserts the doctrine that the General this distribution is made, this thing ought to be equalized; Government have a right, and ought, to direct and control if it is a matter of contract, if we consider this as a settle- the funds of the States. In this it is disrespectful to the ment of partnership account, (and, indeed, so it has been sovereignty of the States. If we grant this, let the States treated by its friends,) the account ought to be fairly dispose of them to their minds, and let not Congress dicstated from the commencement of the firm. Then we tate to them; it corrupts and demoralizes the habits of the ought to go back to the date of the Government, and see people, by tempting them to idleness, and begetting the what was put in stock, who has drawn out, and then make habit of looking to the treasury for money, and the means a fair dividend of the stock on hand. This bill does not do of living-creating the habit, on the part of candidates this, but, without any just rule, arbitrarily says, each shall for seats in the Legislatures and Congress, of making vain, have so much. This bill makes no allowance for the fu- corrupt, and improper moneyed promises to the people; ture increase of the population of the new States; this it thus destroying the freedom and purity of elections, and should do. Our population is increasing every day, whilst substituting a hope of pecuniary reward for correct printhat of the old States is stationary. Our territory is much ciple and patriotism; thus polluting the pure streams of greater than that of the old States; and in this the provi- legislation, by producing a scramble, first, here for the sion of the bill bears no just proportion. It is the terri- money, and then in the State Legislature for its appropriatory, it is the face of the country, that we ought to im-tion. Every neighborhood will want it, and that which prove; and where there is greatest need for improvement, can give the most votes to a candidate will get it: thus the there ought the greatest sums to be applied. But this is strongest neighborhood, and not the most destitute and not the case under this bill. Little Delaware gets within needy, will get the appropriation of the money; and not one share of the same amount that Missouri gets, when the poor but the rich will be aided by this fund, for all many of the counties in Missouri are larger than all Dela- objects of schools and internal improvements; this must ware, and need as much improvement; and every other inevitably be the case; and the most influential leaders of State, though most of them are much smaller in district, religious societies will get the colonial amount. But, Mr. gets as much and more than Missouri, under the provi- President, any or all of this amount can be applied to any▾ sions of this bill. It is clear, from this view of the sub-or all of the three objects specified. Does not every one ject, that there is no system of equality and justice in the see that these three interests will eternally be warring bill. This bill contemplates the establishment of a great with each other for the whole amount? The fanatics will system of internal improvements, to be carried on by the want all for the colony of Liberia; the friends to internal proceeds of the public lands; and the new States furnish improvement will want it all applied to objects of internal the whole sum, (the lands being in those States.) And improvement, whilst others will say, let us have schools; yet those who have the most land, and will contribute and thus you will see, in all sections, a bitter war between most to this great scheme, will get less. The people of them for the money. Can it be good policy to create such the new States will never be content with this; for, talk a source of strife in society, which must pervade all neighas you may, you never can make them believe they have borhoods, and destroy all social harmony? Sir, the bill no superior claim, much less will you make them believe is delusive-is well calculated to deceive and to captivate they have less claim than the old States, as this bill clearly the people. Whilst it presents the cup of hope, yet asserts. Apart from all other considerations, the location within is contained the gilded pill of bitterness and death: of these lands amongst us (protected as they are by the it is deceptive, and offers favor and benefits that are not different acts of Congress forced upon the new States) real, whilst it professes to bestow moneyed favors on the embarrasses these States, and operates greatly to their dis- people. Yet, the truth is, that the people are actually advantage; and besides, the constant improvement of the paying a tax to make the sum thus pretended to be becountry in which they lie, by the citizens of these States, stowed. I am opposed to this mode of legislating; we enhances the value of the public domain thus proposed to ought not to do an act which may mislead and deceive the be parcelled out by the bill. And are we to have nothing people; all our acts should be open, so that the people, in consideration of all this? But the Senator says, we get who have a right to review our work, may see and underseventeen and one-half per cent. more than the old States. stand what we have done. Was there ever a greater delusion (to use no stronger word) than this? Sir, let us examine this bounty, and its virtue fades before the power of truth and justice.

Now, sir, five per cent., which is part of this seventeen and one-half, is actually the right of the new States now, under former compacts palmed, I will say, on us, when we were minors, before we were allowed to come into the Union; although, by treaty and compact, we had a right to come in without conditions. And what were the conditions extorted from us? Sir, we were compelled to surrender the right to tax the lands of the United States;

Sir, there is another principle in the bill very mischievous in its consequences, which is this: it is well calculated to disturb the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of a certain description of property in the slave-holding States. Does not every one in those States know, that the more those unfortunate beings are tantalized with a hope of emancipation, the more ungovernable they are, and, consequently, the more wretched they are? If we then furnish the means, do we not invite the intermeddling by fanatics with those people? and will this not be an evil greatly to be dreaded? and wherever there are many free