controlling, to bring them into market no faster than good lands are supposed to be wanted for improvements, thereby preventing the accumulation of large tracts in few hands; and to apply the proceeds of the sales to the general purposes of the government; thus diminishing the amount to be raised from the people of the states by taxation, and giving each state its portion of the benefits to be derived from this common fund in a manner the most quiet, and at the same time, perhaps the most equi table that can be devised.

These provisions, with occasional enactments in behalf of special interests deemed entitled to the favor of government, have in their execution, produced results as beneficial upon the whole as could reasonably be expected in a matter so vast, so complicated, and so exciting. Upwards of seventy millions of acres have been sold, the greater part of which is believed to have been purchased for actual settlement. The population of the new states and territories created out of the public domain, increased between 1800 and 1830, from less than sixty thousand, to upwards of two millions three hundred thousand souls, constituting, at the latter period, about one fifth of the whole people of the United States. 'The increase since cannot be accurately known, but the whole may now be safely estimated at over three and a half millions of souls; composing nine states, the representatives of which constitute above one third of the Senate, and over one sixth of the House of the Representatives of the United States.

Thus has been formed a body of free and independent landholders, with a rapidity unequalled in the history of mankind; and this great result has been produced without leaving any thing for future adjustment between the government and its citizens. The system under which so much has been accomplished cannot be intrinsically bad, and with occasional modifications, to correct abuses, and adapt it to changes of circumstances, may, I think, be safely trusted for the future. There is, in the management of such extensive interests, much virtue in stability; and although great and obvious improvements should not be declined, changes should never be made

without the fullest examination, and the clearest demonstration of their practical utility.

In the history of the past, we have an assurance that this safe rule of action will not be departed from in relation to the public lands; nor is it believed that any necessity exists for interfering with the fundamental principles of the system, or that the public mind, even in the new states, is desirous of any radical alterations. On the contrary, the general disposition appears to be, to make such modifications and additions only as will more effectually carry out the original policy of filling our new states and territories with an industrious and independent population.

The modification most perseveringly pressed upon Congress, which has occupied so much of its time for years past, and will probably do so for a long time to come, if not sooner satisfactorily adjusted, is a reduction in the cost of such portions of the public lands as are ascertained to be unsaleable at the rate now established by law, and a graduation, according to their relative value, of the prices at which they may hereafter be sold. It is worthy of consideration whether justice may not be done to every interest in this matter, and a vexed question set at rest, perhaps forever, by a reasonable compromise of conflicting opinions. Hitherto, after being offered at public sale, lands have been disposed of at one uniform price, whatever difference there might be in their intrinsic value.

The leading considerations urged in favor of the measure referred to, are, that in almost all the land districts, and particularly in those in which the lands have been long surveyed and exposed to sale, there are still remaining numerous and large tracts of every gradation of value, from the government price downward; that these lands will not be purchased at the government price, so long as better can be conveniently obtained for the same amount; that there are large tracts which even the improvements of the adjacent lands will never raise to that price; and that the present uniform price, combined with their irregular value, operates to prevent a desirable compactness of settlement in the new states, and to retard the full de

velopement of that wise policy on which our land system is founded, to the injury not only of the several states where the lands lie, ut of the United States as a whole.

The remedy proposed has been a reduction in prices according to the length of time the lands have been in the market, without reference to any other circumstances. The certainty that the efflux of time would not always in such cases, and perhaps not even generally, furnish a true criterion of value; and the probability that persons residing in the vicinity, as the period for the reduction of prices approached, would postpone purchases they would otherwise make, for the purpose of availing themselves of the lower price, with other considerations of a similar character, have hitherto been successfully urged to defeat the graduation upon time.

May not all reasonable desires upon this subject be satisfied without encountering any of these objections? All will concede the abstract principle, that the price of the public lands should be proportioned to their relative value, so far as that can be accomplished without departing from the rule heretofore observed, requiring fixed prices in cases of private entries. The difficulty of the subject seems to lie in the mode of ascertaining what that value is. Would not the safest plan be that which has been adopted by many of the states as to the basis of taxation -an actual valuation of lands and classifications of them into different rates?

Would it not be practicable and expedient to cause the relative value of the public lands in the old districts, which have been for a certain length of time in market, to be appraised and classed into two or more rates below the present minimum price, by the officers now employed in this branch of the public service, or in any other mode deemed preferable, and to make those prices permanent, if upon the coming in of the report they shall prove satisfactory to Congress? Cannot all the objects of graduation be accomplished in this way, and the objections which have hitherto been urged against it, avoided? It would seem to me that such a step, with a restriction of the sales to limited quantities, and for actual improvement, would be free from all just exceptions.

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By the full exposition of the value of the lands thus furnished and extensively promulgated, persons living at a distance would be informed of their true condition, and enabled to enter into competition with those residing in the vicinity; the means of acquiring an independent home would be brought within the reach of many who are unable to purchase at present prices; the population of the new states would be more compact, and large tracts would be sold which would otherwise remain on hand; not only would the land be brought within the means of a large number of purchasers, but many persons possessed of greater means would be content to settle on a larger quantity of the poorer lands, rather than emigrate farther west in pursuit of a smaller quantity of better lands.

Such a measure would also seem to be more consistent with the policy of the existing laws-that of converting the public domain into cultivated farms owned by their occupants. That policy is not best promoted by sending emigration up the almost interminable streams of the west, to occupy in groups the best spots of land, leaving immense wastes behind them, and enlarging the frontier beyond the means of the government to afford it adequate protection; but in encouraging it to occupy, with reasonable denseness, the territory over which it advances, and find its best defence in the compact front which it presents to the Indian tribes. Many of you will bring to the consideration of the subject the advantage of local knowledge and greater experience, and all will be desirous of making an early and final disposition of every disturb ing question in regard to this important interest. If these suggestions shall in any degree contribute to the accomplishment of so important a result, it will afford me sincere satisfaction.

In some sections of the country most of the public lands have been sold, and the registers and receivers have little to do. It is a subject worthy of inquiry whether, in many cases, two or more districts may not be consolidated, and the number of persons employed in this business considerably reduced. Indeed, the time will come, when it will be the true policy of the general government

as to some of the states, to transfer to them, for a reasona ble equivalent, all the refuse and unsold lands, and to withdraw the machinery of the federal land offices altogether. All who take a comprehensive view of our federal system, and believe that one of its greatest excellencies consists in interfering as little as possible with the internal concerns of the states, look forward with great interest to this result.

A modification of the existing laws in respect to the prices of the public lands, might also have a favorable influence on the legislation of Congress, in relation to another branch of the subject. Many who have not the ability to buy at present prices, settle on those lands, with the hope of acquiring from their cultivation the means of purchasing under pre-emption laws, from time to time passed by Congress. For this encroachment on the rights of the United States, they excuse themselves under the plea of their own necessities; the fact that they dispossess nobody, and only enter upon the waste domain; that they give additional value to the public lands in their vicinity, and their intention ultimately to pay the government price. So much weight has from time to time been attached to these considerations, that Congress have passed laws giving actual settlers on the public lands a right of pre-emption to the tracts occupied by them, at the minimum price.

These laws have in all instances been retrospective in their operations; but in a few years after their passage, crowds of new settlers have been found on the public lands, for similar reasons, and under like expectations, who have been indulged with the same privilege. This course of legislation tends to impair public respect for the laws of the country. Either the laws to prevent intrusion upon the public lands should be executed, or, if that should be impracticable or inexpedient, they should be modified or repealed. If the public lands are to be considered as open to be occupied by any, they should, by law, be thrown open to all.

That which is intended, in all instances, to be legalized, should at once be made legal, that those who are disposed to conform to the laws, may enjoy at least equal