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made prior to the passage thercof, and by denying any preemption to such as had opened a farm, but not built a house, as to render said law a curse rather than a blessing to the great mass of community in the new States; and whereas, during the present unparallelled scarcity of money, it is next to impossible for the poor man, however industrious he may be, to accumulate by his own labor within twelve months, a sufficient sum of money to enter him a home, while the application describing the land filed in the proper office remains as an unerring directory to guide the ruthless speculator to the little home of the occupant; and whereas, by the 10th section of the act aforesaid, an invidious distinc tion is made between the citizen and the alien who has not filed bis declaration under the naturalization laws of the United States, so as to deny to the latter any pre-emption right whatever, though he may be a native of the land of De Kalb, Pulaski, of Montgomery, or of La Fayette; and whereas, neither those who furnished us with men or money in our revolutionary struggle, or their descendants, should be denied the privilege of a home in our country, and a participation in the laws of the land, in common with our own citizens; and whereas, a liberal policy should be pursued by our government, so as to secure to the ardent but oppressed lover of liberty throughout the world, a home and an asylum in the land of Washington; and whereas, it is unjust in principle to impose taxes and other burthens of Government upon aliens in common with native born citizens, while we deny to them equal rights and privileges under our laws; and whereas, the price of our public lands that have long been in market, should be so reduced as to place it within the power of every industrious man, however poor he may be, to secure a home for himself and family; therefore,

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate conInstructions curring herein, That our Senators in Congress be instructed,

and our Representatives requested to use their utmost exertions to procure the passage of a permanent pre-emption law, embracing not the shadow merely but the substance, which will secure to the actual settler, with as little cost as possible, for a term of years, a home upon any unoccupied and unap propriated tract of Government land on which he may open a farm or build a dwelling house.

Resolved, That such restrictions and provisions be incorporated in said law as will effectually prevent land speculators and others from entering any tract occupied as aforesaid, withcut having first purchased the improvement of the proper

owner.

Resolved, That said law repudiate all invidious distinctions made between aliens and native born citizens, so far as procuring a home in our country and interest in our soil is concerned.

Resolved, That they also use their best exertions to procure the passage of a graduation law, with such restrictions and safe guards as will confine its beneficial operations to the actu al settler.

Resolved, That the Governor be and is hereby requested to forward a copy of this preamble and resolutions to each of our members in Congress.

PASSED,

PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS in relation to the State debt.

WHEREAS, the State of Illinois, in common with many of her Preamble sister States of this Union, is now laboring under financial embarrassment; and whereas, under our former policy public works were commenced and prosecuted, and vast and extravagant schemes of internal improvements adopted, utterly disproportioned to our resources and means; and whereas, these measures had their origin in the delusions incident to one of those periodical excitements which, in Europe as well as in this country, have led States and individuals into inordinate speculations, uniformly terminating in bankruptcy and ruin; and whereas, under the influence of this delusion, former Legislatures have contracted debts in times of great apparent prosperity which we are now, in a period of depression and financial adversity, utterly un ble to liquidate; and whereas, doubts are said to exist in the minds of our public creditors as to the intention of the people of this State respecting the legal and moral obligations of fulfilling these contracts and paying these debts; and whereas, it is essential to the well-being of nations, as it is of individuals, to maintain an unblemished reputation and sustain their dignity and honor, and that every individual in the nation is interested in sustaining and preserving that honor, not only from disgrace, but even from suspicion; and whereas, this Legislature has been recently elected by the people, is imbued with their opinions and feelings, and is fully cognizant of their intentions respecting this subject, they deem it due to themselves, to the people they represent, to the public creditors, and to their hitherto unsullied fame in the eyes of the world, to promulgate the following resolutions embodying the sentiments of the People of the State of Illinois:

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concur ring herein, That we fully recognize the legal and moral obligations of discharging, with punctuality, every debt contracted by any authorized agent or agents of this State for a good and valuable consideration; and that the revenues and resources of the State shall be appropriated for that purpose

as soon as they can be made available without impoverishing and oppressing the people.

Resolved, That our failure hitherto to meet our obligations has not arisen from any intention on the part of the Legisla ture, or any respectable portion of the people, to repudiate or evade these obligations, and that we utterly detest and abhor the repudiation of just debts by States or individuals as immoral, dishonorable, and destructive of public and private character.

Resolved, That such failure is wholly attributable to causes involving the commercial nations of Europe as well as this country, over which we had but limited control, that seduced by an inflated currency and the consequent apparent prosperity, we contracted these debts vainly hoping that a corresponding state of prosperity would enable us to develope our rich resources and make them available to meet our obligations; that a rapid and almost unprecedented contraction and depreciation of the currency caused a corresponding depreciation in the value of property, crippled our resources, dried up the sources of revenue, and produced universal embarrassment and pressure, which can only be removed by the slow operations of active and patient industry.

Resolved, That the inflation of the currency had its origin and aliment in the overaction of the credit system, both in England and this country, that each nation contributed to swell the tide of excitement and speculation, which a few years ago rolled over both nations, and to which cach in its turn became a victim, that its consequences were manifested in England by embarrassment and distress, and multitudes of failures and bankruptcies in 1839; and that the manifestations of such effects from the operation of similar causes in so rich and powerful a country should be a sufficient apology for the inability of a people, circumstanced as we are, to meet our obligations without a suspicion of base or dishonorable motives.

Resolved, That we do not regard a failure on the part of individuals or nations to pay their debts as base or dishonorable, when such failure proceeds from inability, and inevitable circumstances that history furnishes examples of other nations, now high on the roll of fame, where circumstances not more imperious than ours, such as the South Sea speculation in England, and the Mississippi bubble in France, compelled a sacrifice of public and private obligations, without impairing the character and honor of those nations.

Resolved, That the actual debt of Illinois, for which no means are appropriated, is not insurmountable, when compared with our great natural resources-that our population, in a few years, according to the rates of augmentation, will amount to one million of people, and that our wealth and resources will be increased in a greater ratio-that the surplus productions of our rich soil, even with our present population, would

be amply sufficient to enable us to meet all our liabilities, could they be converted into money at reasonable prices; and that we must only await with patience, that period, which cannot be remote, when sufficient amount of sound a currency will be in circulation to secure to our agricultural population a fair price for their productions, and enable them to pay all necessary taxes, to meet the wants of the government at home, and discharge with integrity all our obligations to our creditors abroad.

PASSED, 21st Feb., 1843.

MEMORIAL AND RESOLUTIONS on the subject of the navigation of the Mississippi.

navigation of

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: Your Memorial memorialists, the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, concerning would respectfully represent to your honorable body that the western rivers free and unmolested navigation of the river Mississippi, not only along the western border of our naturally rich and luxuriant State, (more than six hundred miles in extent) but from the falls of St. Anthony to New Orleans and the Gulf, is a consideration which lies at the very foundation of western enterprise and prosperity, to say nothing of the vast and multifarious benefit to the whole Union arising therefrom. Since our great river is the national channel through which our agricultural and other products of the vast country, of which it is the drain, must find a market-while those products are annually increasing to an extent almost to defy belief, the dangers of navigation seem to increase in a corresponding ratio. The immense losses of property, as well as of human life, upon this great highway for our commerce have become a subject of deep and abiding interest to all classes in the west. The mighty wrecks, the vast quantities of scattered and decaying property, and the dreadful manifestations of consequent distress which sofrequently present themselves to the eye of the traveller along the Mississippi, particularly between the mouth of the Ohio and the city of Alton, are startling in their character, and call aloud to the philanthropist and statesman to use their exertions to prevent the recurrence of similar calamities.

Your memorialists have not at hand any certain data by which to ascertain the loss of human life and of valuable property, by reason of snags, sawyers, and other obstructions, which mechanical power, properly applied, can remove; but do not hesitate to say that many hundred lives and more than a million of dollars of property, with which steamboats were freighted, have been lost and destroyed within the last year alone.

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To no power competent to the removal of the evil can your memorialists apply but to your honorable body. No means are within the control of any of the States watered by the Mississippi sufficient for the undertaking, and your memorialists are assured that in the just exercise of those powers delegated to you by the Constitution, the grievances of which they complain can be wholly removed; to this end your memorialists would respectfully suggest the propriety of organizing at once an efficient corps, skilled in operations of the kind, to be in service at all seasons when it is practicable to work; and would earnestly pray your honorable body, in tender consideration of the premises, to make appropriationS commensurate with the magnitude and importance of the work, and continue them annually until the great object is accomplished. Your memorialists fully believe that if such a corps be organized, and such appropriations made, the obstructions will be removed in a few years and our citizens relieved from those great losses of property, to which they have been so long exposed, diminishing as they have so enormously the profits of their labor and skill. Whilst liberal appropriations are made for similar purposes to other portions the Union, and of which we do not complain, your memorialists believe a just regard to the great, diversified, and important interests of the valley of the Mississippi will prompt your honorable body to adopt, at the earliest possible moment, the most efficient measures to accomplish the object set forth in this their memorial, and by so doing advance the interests of a people whose great dependence is upon the safe navigation of their great and majestic river; and at the same time render that vast out-let of the western world what nature intended it to be, a source of State and National pride and prosperity; and your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, That our Senators in Congress be instructed to present the foregoing memorial to the Congress of the United States, and that those Senators be further instructed, and our Representatives requested, to use their best endeavors to procure the passage of a law, having for its object the removal of the obstructions in said memorial mentioned.

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing memorial and resolutions to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress.

PASSED,

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