SENATE.]

Public Lands.

virtuous people over whom he presides. I hold these honorable Senators to their word, and leave them the alternative of surrendering the constitutional difficulty which they have so earnestly urged, or of retracting the eulogy which they have so eloquently pronounced on this message.

[JAN. 19, 1833.

Could such a reduction be made with sufficient guards against a combination of speculators, who might unite with a large capital to purchase all the valuable lands subject to entry at the numerous land offices? I apprehend that this would be found impracticable.

The reduction of the price of the lands of the United States, professedly for the benefit of the poor man, is calculated to raise hopes and expectations which can never be realized.

The discretion, thus admitted by the Chief Magistrate to be vested in Congress, has been asserted in another form by the opponents of the bill, when they urged the policy (and of course the power) of ceding the whole of the No one is more anxious than I am to encourage emilands remaining unsold to the several States in which they gration to the new States, and grant facilities to the emiare situated. Does such a proposition conform to the deeds grant in making a permanent settlement with his family of cession so often mentioned, and so much relied on to de- on the waste lands of those States, and thereby not only feat the distribution among the States of the money arising obtain a home, where by honest industry he may provide from the sales of these lands? If the action of Congress is the means of their comfortable subsistence, but contribute restrained by these deeds, in respect to the distribution for to open the forests, and redeem them from their state of the common benefit of all the States, under what rule rude nativity to a condition fit for profitable cultivation. of construction do honorable gentlemen propose to bring But I cannot believe that the plan of the Executive the sweeping power which they claim to transfer the en-will be productive of these beneficial results to the poor tire domain to the States within whose chartered limits who may find their way into the Western wilderness. they are situated? When we speak in general terms of reducing the pubBut the President has carried out this broad principle of lic lands to a price which may bring them within the reach discretion by a plan of his own for the final adjustment of of the poorest individual, there is something peculiarly the public lands, which is commended by honorable Sen-pleasing to the ear, which challenges instant and unqualiators as a scheme founded in wisdom, and the most pro-fied approbation, without the reflection and investigation found statesman-like policy. Permit me, sir, to read ano-so necessary to correct the judgment on all questions of ther paragraph from his message, comprising the plan grave legislation. The popular voice is raised in favor of which he recommends, and to offer some of my own re- the benevolent proposition, and the error is not seen unflections on the practical effects which might be expected til it leads to the most deleterous consequences. if it should be the pleasure of Congress to adopt it. The President, after maturely considering this great subject, arrives at the following conclusion:

The true policy of the Government consists in fixing the price of the public lands at a rate which will enable a poor man to obtain a quarter-section for a moderate "It seems to me to be our true policy that the public sum, in case he takes possession, and cultivates it for a lands shall cease, as soon as practicable, to be a source of certain number of years, but, at the same time, to preserve revenue, and that they be sold to settlers, in limited par- the minimum price now established by law, which will cels, at a price barely sufficient to reimburse the United effectually prevent large bodies of land from falling into States the expense of the present system, and the cost the hands of moneyed capitalists, who may form themselves arising under our Indian compacts. The advantages of into companies for that purpose, if the sales are made at a accurate surveys and undoubted titles, now secured to lower minimum, and thereby render such investments purchasers, seem to forbid the abolition of the present sys-profitable to those who make them. tem, because none can be substituted which will more If we put the lands in market at twenty-five cents per perfectly accomplish these important ends. It is desirable, acre, my word for it, we shall very soon hear of compahowever, that in convenient time this machinery be with- nies, from one extreme of the Union to the other, with drawn from the States, and that the right of soil, and the their millions of dollars, and their agents dispersed over future disposition of it, be surrendered to the States, re-all our land districts, whose business it will be to sespectively, in which it lies."

lect the choice lands, and hold them at a price at least This, sir, I consider a clear recognition of the power of equal to their real value, which will operate to make tenCongress to reduce the price of the public lands, or to ants of the poor emigrants, who will thus be excluded from transfer them to the States whose jurisdiction extends over the privilege now enjoyed, of going into the land offices, them; and the question arises, shall we concur in the re- and becoming the owners of small tracts at a price withcommendation of the President, or preserve the present in the means of every man who labors for the maintesystem, and appropriate the money to objects intimately nance of himself and family.

connected with the convenience and prosperity of the The proposition has not received the slightest attention country at large? The right to make grants of land to the from the Committee on the Public Lands, to which the States, without a valuable consideration, or to sell them whole subject was referred by the Senate; that important at a nominal price to individuals, involves an authority, if part of the message of the President has been entirely Congress shall so decide, to dispose of the proceeds in any overlooked; and why is it resorted to in debate, and commanner which may be judged expedient.

mended as a "statesman-like" view of this great question This point being established, which I humbly conceive by the opponents of the bill? Why do those Senators it has been, I shall next examine the plan proposed by the dwell on the beauty of the system, and tell us of the adPresident, in reference to its probable operation on the vantages which it offers to the settlers, who may remove prosperity of the new States, and the benefits which it is to the new States, and yet submit no definite proposition supposed to confer on emigrants who have not the means to carry it into effect? Sir, it is manifest that the arguof procuring lands at the present minimum price at ment is used ad captandum, to mislead the people of the which they are directed to be sold at private sale. new States, and excite their opposition to the liberal terms If we estimate the sum paid for the extinguishment of of distribution contained in the bill, under the specious Indian title at the average which corresponds with for- guise of a desire to grant the lands for a consideration mer purchases, of four cents per acre, and add the usual merely nominal, and ultimately to cede the waste lands to expenses attending the surveys, and all other expendi- the States wherein they are situated, to be disposed of for tures incident to the sales, the public lands might be safe- their exclusive benefit; a system which no one seriously ly brought down to twenty-five cents per acre, to meet believes will ever be sanctioned by Congress, and which the demands on the treasury under the existing land no one has ventured to bring forward with the proper details for the consideration of the Senate. The question

system.

JAN. 19, 1833.]

Public Lands.

[SENATE.

which it involves is of the highest importance, because it ate, that, a short time after the close of the war of the reis evident that the system will effectually transfer the pub-volution, Virginia adopted the plan of selling her domain, lic lands from the Government to companies, and subject by issuing what were called treasury warrants, at the rethe emigrants to the onerous terms of the agents of those duced price of two cents per acre, to be located, at the discompanies; thereby making them tenants at will, instead cretion of the purchaser, on any vacant land within the of being the independent proprietors of the soil, at a mo- commonwealth. This might seem to have been low derate price, under the existing, well regulated system of enough to give every man in the State a fair opportunity laws providing for the disposal of the lands of the United of becoming a freeholder, and of making a permanent setStates at the respective land offices established for that tlement for his family.

purpose. Under the existing system, the surveys are But was that the result of the policy? No, sir; it attractmade with great care and accuracy by surveyors ap-ed the attention of moneyed men, companies were formed, pointed and paid by the Government; correct maps both in Europe and America; and the vast mountain region are made of the country, designating each tract of land in western Virginia was explored by agents of these comfor sale, by legal subdivisions, from an entire township panies, and surveyors, who located large bodies of lands, down to one-eighth of a section. These maps are open and obtained grants or patents for the trifling sum of two to every one who may desire to purchase. All the officers cents per acre; and thus hundreds of thousands of acres of necessary to carry into effect the public and private sales, land were in many instances granted to a single individuand the safe keeping of the records of titles, are appoint-al, while the poor man, who emigrated with his family to ed, and their salaries from year to year paid, by the Gov- that part of the State, was entirely excluded from a particiernment. No country in the world has ever devised a pation in the benefits of the law, and was compelled either system for the disposal of its domain combining so many to purchase at a high rate from the wealthy speculator, or advantages, and such ample security to those who become set down as his tenant, and labor to improve the country, purchasers, as that which now exists in the United States; not as the proprietor in his own right of the soil, but as shall we then abandon it for some new untried experiment, a temporary occupant, liable to be removed at the will of the effects of which no one can calculate with any degree his wealthy landlord. These were the consequences of an of certainty? I think not. From every view which I attempt to favor the poor by putting the public lands of have been enabled to take of the subject, after the most that State in market, at a price which would bring them careful investigation of all its bearings, I cannot bring my within the means of the poorest citizens; and similar remind to the conclusion that it would be sound policy to dis-sults may be confidently looked for if Congress should turb the regulations heretofore adopted, and now in opera- now legislate on the same principles, under a belief that it tion, for the sale and settlement of the public lands, except in will encourage emigration to the new States, and promote the cases specified in the several amendments which I have the welfare of the laboring classes, who may remove to had the honor to lay on the table, and which have been published for the use of the Senate. Of these amendments I shall speak hereafter. Under the existing laws, a poor man may become the bona fide owner of a quarter-section of valuable land, for the small consideration of one hundred dol- But it is said that the existing system operates as a heavy lars; and he may, if he chooses, purchase half that number tax on the people of these new States; that it withdraws of acres, which, in many of the new States, where slavery from them millions of dollars, which are expended in other is not tolerated, would be fully adequate to all his wants, sections of the Union; and that one of the provisions of and furnish a comfortable settlement for his family. An this bill authorizes its expenditure in removing free peoindustrious frugal man would never find it difficult to ob-ple of color to be colonized in Africa.

the rich country in the great valley of the Mississippi. Sir, we do not want humble tenants, but independent freemen, who are lords of their own habitations, to fill up the population of that fertile and growing portion of the republic.

tain the small sum necessary to make such a purchase, and We are told, also, that the abstraction of the revenue thereby at once become a freeholder, and independent of arising from the sales of the public lands, from the general all the world in the enjoyment of his own domicile. But purposes of the treasury, will perpetuate the present high what would be his condition if, by a sudden reduction of rate of duties on foreign importations, of which the Souththe minimum price to twenty-five cents per acre, we in-ern States so loudly, and I will add, so justly complain. vite speculators into the market, whose investments will Mr. President, I ask if there be any solid foundation on enable them to locate all the valuable lands, and hold them which these objections rest? Sir, permit me to say, and as lords proprietors, to be disposed of at their pleasure, I do so with the utmost sincerity, that if those views of on such terms, and at such rates, as will be productive of the policy under consideration are correct, in all or either the largest amount of profit? No man can shut his eyes of the enumerated cases, I should be disposed to go as to the evil consequences of those monopolies on emigra- far as any honorable gentleman on this floor in my oppotion, and the character of the increasing population of the sition to this bill. But, to my mind, they are the offspring new States. For independent freeholders we should sub-of the imagination, and cannot be supported by any solid stitute large masses of laboring tenants, who cultivate the reason whatever. soil, as the menials of some wealthy landlord, who fattens on the spoils of the industry and hard earnings of this valuable class of our citizens. These results must happen if we do not guard against them by law, which shall at the same time protect the poor man and keep the public lands at a price a little above the speculating point.

I will inquire, first, Is the purchase of a tract of land by an individual from the Government a tax on the purchaser, under any circumstances? Nothing can be more clear to me than that it is not. Sir, it is purely a matter of contract, by which a man may improve his condition in life, and for a small sum acquire property, which, when reduced to possession, will be worth three or four times the amount of money paid for it.

The experiments which have been made by the States on this subject clearly demonstrate that a reduction to a very low standard of the price of waste and unappropri- Can any distinction be drawn between purchasers of ated lands, with a view to extend benefits to the poor, by real estate from a body politic and corporate, or a natural enabling that class of the community to become the own- person? I presume not: they are founded on the same ers of the soil in small parcels for actual cultivation, has general law of contracts; and it might with the same proinvariably resulted in favor of monopolies and moneyed pricty be contended that an emigrant who bargains with capitalists. a land company for a quarter-section of land, pays a tax The example of Virginia illustrates, in a very striking to the Government, from which the company purchased manner, the practical effects of such a system. Sir, the it, as to allege that it constitutes a tax on the original purfact must be familiar to almost every member of the Sen-chaser. In either case, it is a voluntary contract, to

SENATE.]

Public Lands.

[JAN. 19, 1833.

which each party assents, and nothing more. But if it be hands, that the public domain is the common property of a tax, it is worthy of inquiry to what extent the burden all the States, to be used for their common benefit. On falls exclusively on the people who now reside in the new this ground the whole argument against this measure has States. Let us take the case of a citizen of Massachu- been based. If, then, the States think proper to dispense setts or Virginia, or any one of the old States, who re- with this source of revenue for national purposes, when moves into Mississippi. He takes with him two thousand it is no longer wanted, and to distribute it in just and equidollars in money, or a greater or smaller sum, which he table proportions among themselves, to be applied to the immediately vests in the purchase of a portion of the pub- beneficent and highly valuable objects of internal imlic lands; this amount of money did not previously be- provements, the education of youth, and, if they please, long to Mississippi; it is an accumulation brought into the to colonization of free people of color, is there any danState by the emigrant; and if it be a tax paid into the ger that they will corrupt themselves by such a use of a treasury, it falls on the State from which the money is fund acknowledged to belong to them, as a body of political withdrawn, and not on the State into which it may be sovereignties? The idea appears to me to be both novel carried by the owner for his own individual purposes. and absurd. The natural effect will be precisely the conSir, I utterly deny that such a transaction can be proper- trary. It will render the States more independent; it ly regarded in the nature of a tax on any one who chooses will put an end to the long disputed questions on the poto buy the lands of the United States, for his own conve- licy and constitutionality of internal improvements by the nience or advantage. The next subject of inquiry is, the General Government. Our table will not hereafter be appropriation which each State may make of its distribu- crowded with petitions and memorials for appropriations tive share of the public lands. to open roads and canals from every quarter of the coun

The power is denied to Congress to appropriate money try. Each State will look to its own resources for acto internal improvements and education, of which I have complishing its own internal works of improvement, and already spoken. But the most objectionable feature of will, to that extent at least, feel a corresponding indepenthe bill seems to be that which relates to the colonization dence on the action of Congress. It will bind the States of free people of color. I admit, sir, that an appropria- together by a stronger cord of union, and diffuse among tion by Congress of the money in the treasury for this them a feeling of brotherly kindness and affection. The object would be a usurpation of power not to be en- face of the whole country will be adorned and beautified dured. The power has not been claimed in this discus- by an inexhaustible income, which from year to year will sion, and is not incorporated in the bill. No appropria- open to the eye new roads for the accommodation of tration is either made, or contemplated to be made, by Con-velling, and the transportation of agricultural products to gress, in aid of the colonization of free people of color. a suitable and profitable market, and new avenues to inWe know that memorials have been presented from the ternal commerce, by means of canals, and the improveslave-holding States of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, ment of our numerous rivers. If, sir, these results are to North Carolina, and, I believe, Tennessee, praying Con- be expected, as I think they may be, from the passage of gress to act on this subject, and grant them the necessary the bill, the corrupting influences so much deprecated means for transporting their free black population to Li-will vanish into thin air, and leave us in the enjoyment of beria. These memorials have been suffered silently to a glorious sunshine of prosperity and union. sleep on our files-they have not been acted on. But On the other branch of this inquiry, relating to the efnow, when the public debt is paid, when the public lands, fects of this distribution on the existing tariff of duties, pledged by the national faith to its payment, are redeem- I confess my great surprise at the conflicting arguments ed, and remain at the disposition of Congress, for the which have been urged by honorable Senators opposed to common benefit of all the States, we propose to give the bill. to each State its proper proportion of this fund; and we The President recommends to Congress to dispense answer the States who have asked assistance in accom- altogether with the public lands as a source of revenue to plishing this benevolent object, so intimately connected the treasury! He says, and truly says, that it is not neces with their safety and prosperity, by authorizing their re- sary or proper to bring their proceeds into the general spective Legislatures to use the funds to which they may scope of the expenses of the Government. I have albe entitled for this purpose, if, in their discretion, they ready expressed my disapprobation of his plan. may think fit to do so. Is there any violation of the con- honorable gentlemen have said that they deem it full of stitution in according to the States this privilege? Are wisdom, sound policy, and patriotism, and yet they turn honorable gentlemen afraid to trust this power to the re- round, and gravely tell us that this bill ought to be rejectpresentatives of the people of their respective States? ed, because it withdraws three millions of dollars from Is my honorable colleague [Mr. BLACK] unwilling to the national treasury to be distributed among the States, confide this discretion to the Legislature of Mississippi? and, as a necessary consequence, requires that amount to If he is, I can only say that I am not. Each State will be supplied by imposts on foreign importations. Both the decide for itself, without the dictation of Congress, or any message and the bill are founded on the postulatum of department of the Federal Government, how far its in- dispensing with the lands of the United States as a source terests may or may not be promoted, by giving the fund of revenue; they differ only in the mode of carrying this for the removal of what are denominated free negroes, principle into effect; and while the one is extolled as a or applying it to the other great purposes enumerated in "statesman-like" view of the question, the other is dethe bill. I am willing, for one, sir, to repose in the States nounced as No 3 in the measures proposed to perpetuthis confidence, without the slightest apprehension that it will be either abused or perverted.

But

ate on the people an odious and exorbitant tariff of duties. If, sir, it may be designated as No. 1, or No. 3, in The honorable Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. GRUNDY,] the catalogue of the honorable gentlemen who consider and the honorable Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON, it connected with the question of imposts, it follows, in have declaimed with much vehemence against the pro- that respect, the policy of the Executive; and I have yet posed distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the to learn on what principles they can approve the one, public lands among the States, on the ground of its ten- and condemn the other. But there is, in fact, no such condency to corrupt the States, and extend over them the nexion as the Senators imagine between the two quesdeleterious influences of this Government. Sir, it is the tions; they are wholly separate and distinct, founded on first time in my life that I have ever heard it seriously considerations of policy, entirely independent, and in no contended that either men or Governments were to be manner whatever affiliated. Sir, we all know that the corrupted with their own money. It is agreed on all public lands, bring what they may from time to time into

JAN. 19, 1833.]

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[SENATE.

the Treasury, never have, and never will, control our the original bill reported at the last session of Congress, policy in levying imposts and regulating foreign com- but were incorporated, on my motion, as amendments, merce. High duties are often imposed to retaliate the in- when it came before the Senate. I frankly own that justice of other nations with whom we have commercial had they been negatived, I should have voted against the relations; sometimes they are necessary to meet the ordi- bill in the shape in which it was at first presented by the nary expenditures of Government; but in every system of honorable Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. CLAY.] They revenue which has been framed, since the adoption of the were, however, adopted, and to my mind they place the federal constitution, the protection of domestic industry new States on a footing, in the proposed distribution, highand the arts has, to a greater or less extent, formed an in-ly advantageous to them; and, as a Senator from one of gredient. These important considerations, whether col- those States, I cannot withhold from the measure my supfectively or separately, have uniformly governed our legis-port. By the first section of the bill, there is set apart to lation in taxing articles of consumption imported into the each of the new States 12 per centum on the nett proUnited States; and I defy contradiction when I say, that ceeds of the public lands, within the limits of those States in no instance can it be shown that the revenue derived respectively, which may be sold from and after the 31st from the public lands has been regarded as furnishing a day of December, 1832. The terms of the compacts enreason for reducing or raising the rate of duties on im-tered into by these States with the Government of the posts. But I find it difficult, sir, if not impracticable, to United States, on their admission into the Union, stipulatdetect, by any direct researches, the incongruities and ed that 5 per centum on the sales of the public lands was palpable contradictions, both of principle and fact, which to be paid to each of the said States for certain specified have been interwoven into this debate by the ingenuity of purposes. The aggregate amount, then, to which each honorable Senators, who feel the necessity of resorting to State will be entitled before a general distribution is made, these conflicting arguments from the peculiar position if this bill shall become a law, is 173 per centum on the which they occupy. nett amount of the sales of the public lands within its lim

This sum so reserved is to be applied to some "object or objects of internal improvement or education within the said States, under the direction of their respective Legislatures."

They dare not condemn the President, who tells them its. plainly that the public debt is, in effect, paid, and that in future the public lands ought not to be looked to as a source of revenue; and, as in duty bound, they oppose the passage of this bill, because it accords in that particular with the views of the President! At one time we are told The 5th section of the bill, in addition to the sum directthat the distributive principle is illusory; that there will be ed to be paid to each of the new States by the 1st section, no money to divide, after defraying the expenses of sale, to which I have referred, grants to the States of Mississipand the price given to the Indian tribes for their right of pi, Louisiana and Missouri, a quantity of five hundred occupancy; at another time we are admonished that three thousand acres of land, and to the State of Indiana one millions of dollars will be taken from the treasury and hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred and seventydivided among the States, which must be replaced by a two acres; to the State of Illinois twenty thousand acres, high rate of duties. We are warmly and zealously urged and to the State of Alabama one hundred thousand acres to bring down the public lands to a nominal price, and of land, lying within the limits of said States, respectively, no longer consider them a part of our revenue system; and to be selected in such manner as the Legislatures thereof then we are gravely told that this precise measure which shall direct, and located in parcels, conformably to secthey recommend is fraught with incalculable mischiefs, tional divisions and subdivisions, of not less than three and is more particularly injurious, as it will operate to fas- hundred and twenty acres in any one location. ten on the Southern States the present tariff for the protection of domestic manufactures. These are a few only of the many opposite extremes to which honorable gentlemen are driven in making out something like an argument against the measure under consideration.

The nett proceeds of the sales of the lands so granted are to be faithfully applied to works of internal improvement within the aforesaid States, respectively.

It is further provided, that nothing in the bill contained shall be construed to the "prejudice of future applica tions for a reduction of the price of the public lands, or to the prejudice of applications for a transfer of the public lands, on reasonable terms, to the States within which they lie, nor to impair the power of Congress to make such future disposition of the public lands, or any part thereof, as it may see fit."

These liberal grants, both in land and money, are made to the new States, besides the equal proportion to which they are entitled, according to their respective federal representative population, under the general distribution.

The only material difference between the plan of the Executive, and that contained in the bill, consists in the question-shall we abandon our present land system, and put the lands at a price which will simply restore to the Government the cost of surveying and selling them, which I have estimated at twenty-five cents per acre, and thereby tempt moneyed men and speculators into the market, who will very soon take the place of the Government, as the owners of all the valuable lands which have been surveyed? Or shall we adhere to the laws heretofore passed on that subject, for the real advantage of the labor- Combining the 17 per cent., which is to be deducted ing class who migrate to the new States, and use the pro- before the distribution of the residue of the common fund, ceeds as directed in the second section of the bill? After with the amount which will accrue to each new State as the most careful investigation of this great question, in re-its proportion, I have estimated the whole as amounting ference to its operation on the interests of the whole coun- to about thirty per cent. on the sales which may be made try, I have formed the deliberate and decided opinion, in each State. This estimate must, of course, depend on the that our wise and well-digested code of land laws ought to be preserved, with slight modifications; and I can perceive no sound objection to the distribution of the nett proceeds provided for in the bill.

It cannot fail to produce beneficial results both to the old and the new States, and especially to the latter, as shall endeavor to prove clearly and conclusively, I hope, before I resume my seat.

I

Mr. P. then proceeded to examine the special provisions of the bill in favor of the new States. Sir, said he, the provisions to which I am about to refer were not in VOL. IX.--10

quantity of land which may be sold in each year, and may vary according to that standard. I respectfully ask, sir, if these grants are not liberal, far transcending the donations made at any former period of our history to any one of the States within which the public lands are situated? To me it appears that if this offer is rejected, we may indulge a lingering hope of obtaining our ultimate wish by a transfer of the entire domain for a century to come, and at last it will be but a dream, and end in cruel disappointment.

Nor can I bring my mind to the conclusion, that such a result, if it were to happen at this time, would be pro

SENATE.]

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[JAN. 19, 1833.

ductive of greater pecuniary benefits to the new States, In addition to these large sums, which may be wholly than the annuity which it is now proposed to grant them, applied to the endowment of colleges, seminaries of Some of us, at least, know that Kentucky opened an of learning, and common schools, at the discretion of the fice for the sale of her waste lands, and they were sold. Legislature, we have the grant of five hundred thousand But was the State treasury replenished by these sales? acres of land, for works of internal improvements, which, No, sir; it was made a popular theme on which unworthy if judiciously located, will be more than adequate to all men appealed to those interested, and by that means the expenditures required to render our rivers navigable; thrust themselves into the legislative halls, for the very pur- open canals for internal commerce; and to construct the pose of postponing, and finally surrendering the debt, in- great roads leading through the State, which are so necescurred by the purchasers to the State. Who can doubt that sary to connect the interior with the market towns, at the same scenes would be acted over in any State having which the planter annually delivers his bulky articles of the disposal of a large extent of unappropriated territory? agriculture.

But if I am wrong in this opinion, I cannot be mistaken These are the eminent benefits placed within our in the other view which I have taken of the subject-grasp; and shall we, who represent the people, and are that a cession by the old States of their interest in the pub- bound by the most solemn obligations to advance their lic domain is not to be expected, until the existing Gov- interests on all proper occasions, cast them from us in ernment shall be overthrown, and a new one erected on pursuit of objects which can never be attained, or on its ruins. some vague notions of political economy, too remote to be brought into active operation, and resting on speculative opinions, which have no solid foundation, and are unworthy of a moment's consideration, in the progress of sober legislation, for purposes of practical utility to the country?

Shall we act wisely in rejecting a present good, because it falls short of the utmost limit of our hopes and expectations? I think not. But, sir, I beg the indulgence of the Senate, while I offer some views of the practical operation of this bill on the State which I have the honor, in part, to represent on this floor.

Thirty years have elapsed since the public lands in Mississippi were put in market, and seventeen years since that State was admitted into the Federal Union.

Sir, I cannot consent to place myself before my constituents in that attitude. I know, and feel, the importance of the relief which the passage of this bill will afford them; and so far as the influence of my vote will contriWhat, sir, during this whole period, have we gained bute to that desirable end, they shall not be disappointed. from the sales, made under the authority of the United The grant of land, if properly located, immediately after States, of their lands within our limits? Why, sir, sub- the first sales are closed, may be estimated at the average stantially nothing. The miserable pittance of five per value of three dollars per acre. The State would thus cent. on these sales was given us by compact, for which require a fund of one million five hundred thousand dolwe gave in return a much greater amount, by our agree- lars, which, with the annual income from the sales of land ment not to levy a tax on the lands sold by the Govern- for five years, could not, in my judgment, fall much, if ment until the expiration of five years after the sale. any, below the enormous sum of two millions of dollars. What shall we gain in thirty years to come, if this bill does. Sir, the people of the State, I am persuaded, cannot not become a law? I answer-nothing, which can be turn- be so far blinded by party feelings, or party factions, as ed to any profitable account. not to see and appreciate the enviable condition in which these large grants will place them.

Let us then inquire what will be the reasonable amount of income to the State, if we receive hereafter seventeen and a half per cent. on sales within the State, an equal dividend on the entire sales throughout the United States, and a sweeping grant of five hundred thousand acres of land, to be located in half-sections, under the direction of the Legislature?

The sales of the past year have amounted to something over two hundred thousand dollars, but that does not furnish a proper standard by which to estimate the probable amount of sales in future years; or, at any rate, for the period to which this bill is limited.

The Choctaw tribe of Indians have recently ceded to the United States the whole of their lands east of the river Mississippi, of which about eleven millions of acres lie within the boundaries of the State of Mississippi.

Be that as it may, I am here to perform my duty, in the discharge of the high trust confided to me; and I shall fearlessly act on all subjects, brought to the consideration of the Senate, according to my honest convictions of what is due to the honor and prosperity of those whom I represent.

But my honorable colleague, [Mr. BLACK,] and the Senator from Missouri, [Mr. BENTON,] have taunted us with the insinuation that these grants are put into the bill, as a douceur or bonus, to enlist the support of Senators who represent the new States.

They proceed to tell us that they spurn the bonus, and refuse the service for which it is offered.

The honorable Senators have my permission to apply any epithet to these grants which may best accord with The Chickasaw tribe have also entered into a treaty, of their own peculiar taste, and, so far as it may concern which I am not now at liberty to speak, as it has not been themselves, to act in obedience to their own impressions, ratified by the Senate. however fallacious they may be, or however coarse the

The surveys of the Chocktaw purchase are rapidly language employed to convey these impressions. progressing, and it is believed that they will be thrown I can only say for myself, "let the galled jade wince; into market in the course of the present year. I calmy withers are unwrung."

culate that, so soon as these sales are opened, the nett Sir, for what purpose am I sent here, if it be not to adproceeds, for several years to come, will average about vocate measures, conferring benefits on my constituents? five hundred thousand dollars. But I deem it quite within Was it ever heard before, that a Senator, who, looking the bounds of moderation, to put the average for five with a vigilant eye into the actual condition of the State years at three hundred thousand dollars. At this latter which had honored him with its confidence, sought, on all estimate, the annual income of the State, at seventeen proper occasions, an opportunity to advance its interests, and a half per cent., would be fifty-two thousand five and promote its welfare, thereby subjected himself to the hundred dollars, making, in the whole period of five imputation of accepting a bonus as a consideration for his years, the round sum of two hundred and sixty thousand vote?

dollars, or thereabouts. This is exclusive of the amount Is there a single Senator present who is not liable to which we should receive on the general dividend, which the imputation? would not fall short more than eight or ten per cent. of the sum specially reserved to the State,

Sir, I beg leave to tell the honorable gentlemen, who have introduced this new rule of parliamentary ethics,