The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-24 00:00:00

THE LAND SYSTEII.

Under our present land system, limiting the minimum
price at which the public lands can be entered to one
dollar and 25 cents. per acre, large quantities of lands of
interior quality remain unsold, because they will not com-
mand that price. From the records of the General Land-
office it appears, that of the public lands remaining un-
sold in the several states and territories in which they
are situated, 39,105,577 acres have been in the market,
subject to entry more than twenty years ; 49,638,644
acres for more than fifteen years ; 73,074,600 acres fur
more than ten years, and 106,176,961 acres for more than
five years. Much the largeEt portion of these lands will
continue to be unsaleable at the minimum price at which
they are permitted to be sold, so long as large territories
of lands from which the more valuable prtions have not
been selected are annually brought into market by the
Government. With the view to the sale and settlement
of these inferior lands, I recommend that the price be
graduated and reduced below the present minimum rate,
confining the sales at the reduced prices to settlers and
cultivators, in limited quantities. If graduated and
reduced in price for a limited term to one dollar per
acre, and after the expiration of that period for a
second and third term to lower rates, a large portion
of these lands would be purchased, and many worthy
citizens who are unable to pay higher rates could pur-
chase homes for themselves and their families. By adopt-
ing the policy of graduation and reduction of price, these
inferior lands will be sold for their real value, while the
states in which they lie will be freed from the incon-
venience, if not injustice, to which they are subjected, in
consequence of the United States continuing to hold
large quantities of public lands within their borders, and
not liable to taxation for the support of their local go-
vernments.
I recommend the continuance of the policy of granting
pre-emption, in its most liberal extent, to all those who
have settled or may hereafter settle on the public lands,
whether surveyed or unsurveyed, to which the Indian
title may have been extinguished at the time of settle-
ment. It has been found by experience, that in conse-
quence of combinations of purchasers and other causes,
a very small quantity of the public lands, when sold at
public auction, commands a higher price than the
minimum price established by duty. The settlers on
the public lands are, however, but rarely able to
secure their homes and improvements at the public
sales at that rate ; because these combinations, by
means of the capital they command, and their superior
ability to purchase, render it impossible for the
settler to compete with them in the market. By putting
down all competition, these combinations of capitalists
and speculators are usually enabled to purchase the
lands, including the improvements of the settlers, at the
minimum price of the Government, and either turn them
out of their homes, or extort from them, according to
their ability to pay, double or quadruple the amount paid
for them to the Government. It is to the enterprise and
perseverance of the hardy pioneers of the west, who
penetrate the wilderness with their families, suffer the
dangers, the privations, and hardships attending the set-
tlement of a new country, and prepare the way for the
body of emigrants who, in the course of a few years,
usually follow them, that we are in a great degree in-
debted for the rapid extension and aggrandisement of our
country.

Experience has proved that no portion of our popula-
tion are more patriotic than the hardy and brave men of
the frontier, or more ready to obey the call of their coun-
try, and to defend her rights and her honour, vrhenevcr
and by whatever enemy assailed. They should be pro-
tected from the grasping speculator, and secured, at the
minimum price of the public lands, in the humble hones
which they have improved by their labour. With this
end in view, all vexatious or unnecessary restrictions
imposed upon them by the existing pre-emption laws
should be repealed or modified. It is the true policy of
the Government to afford facilities to its citisens to be-
come the owners of small portions of our vast public do-
main at low and moderate rates.

The present system of managing the mineral lands of
the United States is believed to be radically defective..
More than a million of acres of the public lands, sup-
posed to contain lead and other minerals, have been re-
served from sale, and numerous leases upon them have
been granted to individuals upon a stipulated rent. The
system of granting leases has proved to be not only un-
profitable to the Government, but unsatisfactory to the
citizens who have gone upon the lands, and must, if con-
tinued, lay the foundation of much future difficulty be-
tween the Government and the lessees. According to
the official records, the amount of rents received by the
Government for the years 1841, 1842, 1843, and 1844,
was 6,354 dolls. 74 cents, while the expenses of the
system during the same period, including salaries of su-
perintendents, agents, clerks, and incidental expenses,
was 26,111 dolls. 11 cents.—the income being less than
one-fourth of the expenses. To this pecuniary loss may
be added the injury sestained by the public in conse-
quence of the destruction of timber and the careless and
wasteful manner of working the mines. The system has
given rise to much litigation between the United States
and individual citizens, producing irritation and excite-
ment in the mineral region, and involving the Govern-
ment in heavy additional expenditures. It is believed
that similar losses and embarrassments will continue to
occur while the present system of leasing these lands re-
mains unchanged. These lands are now under the au-
ptrintendence and care of the war department, with the
ordinary duties of which they have no proper or natural
connexion. I recommend the repeal of the present
system, and that the lands be placed under the super-
intendence and management of the General Land-office
as other public lands, and be brought into market
and sold upon such terms as Congress in their wisdom
may prescribe, reserving to the Government an equit-
able per centage of the gross amount of mineral pro-
duct, and that the pre-emption principle be extended to
resident miners and settlers upon them, at the minimum
price which may be established by Congress. 1 refer
you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of War
for information respecting the present situation of the
army, and its operations during the past year ; the state
of our defences ; the condition of the public works, and
our relations with the various Indian tribes within our

limits, or upon our borders. I invite your attention to
the suggestions contained in that report, in relation to
these prominent objects of national interest.

THE ARMY.

When orders were given during the put summer
for concentrating a military force on the western
frontier of Texas, our troops were widely dispersed,
and in small detachments, occupying posts re..
mete from each other. The prompt and one.
ditious manner in which an army, embracing
more than half our peace establishment, was
drawn together on an emergency so sudden, reflects
great credit on the officers who were entrusted with the
execution of these orders, as well as upon the discipline
of the army itself. To be in strength to protect and
defend the people and territory of Texas, in the
event that Mexico should commence hostilities or invade
her territories with a large army which she threatened,
I authorised the general assigned to the command of the
army of occupation to make requisitions for additional
forces from several of the states nearest the Texan ter-
ritories, and which could most expeditiously furnish
them, if in his opinion a larger force than that under
his command, and the auxiliary aid which, under like
circumstances, he was authorised to receive from Texas,
should be required. The contingency upon which the
exercise of this authority depended has not occurred.
The circumstances under which the two companies of
state artillery from the city of New Orleans were sent to
Texas, and mustered into the service of the United
States, are fully stated in the report of the Secretary of
War. I recommend to Congress that provision be made
for the payment of these troops, as well as a small num-
ber of Texan volunteers, whom the commanding general
thought it necessary to receive or muster into our service.
During the last summer the Ist Regiment of Dragoons
made extensive excursions through the Indian country
on her borders, a part of them advancing nearly to the
possessions of the Hudson's Bay Company in the north,
and a part as far as the South Pass of the Rocky Moun-
tains, and the head waters of the tributary streams of
the Colorado of the West. The exhibition of this mi-
litary force among the Indian tribes in those distant
regions, and the councils held with them by the cora-
-1 menders of the expeditions, it is believed, will have a
salutary influence in restraining them from hostilities
among themselves, and maintaining friendly relations
between them and the United States. An interesting
account of one of these excursions accompanies the re-
port of the Secretary at War. Under the directions of
the War Department, Brevet Captain Fremont, of the
corps of Topographical Engineers, has been employed
since 1842 in exploring the country west of the Mis-
sissippi and beyond the Rocky Mountains. Two expe-
ditions have already been brought to a close, and the
reports of that scientific and enterprising officer have
furnished much interesting and valuable information.
Ho is now engaged in a third expedition ; but it is not

expected that this arduous service will be completed in
season to enable me to communicate the result to Con-
gress at the present sessi,,n.
THE INDIAN TRIBES.
Our relations with the Indian tribes are of a favour-
able character. The policy of removing them to a coun-
try designed for their permenant residence, west of the
Mississippi, and without the limits of the organised
states and teritories, is better appreciated by them than it
was a few years ago ; while education is now attended to,
and the habits of civilised life are gaining ground among
them.
Serious difficulties of long standing continue to distract
the several parties into which the Cherokees are unhap-
pily divided.3The efforts of the Government to adjust the
difficulties between them have heretofore proved unsuc-
cessful ; and there remains no probability that this desir-
able object can be accomplished without the aid of fur-
ther legislation by Congress. I will at an early period
of your session, present the subject for your conside-
ration, accompanied with an exposition of the com-
plaints and claims of the several parties into which the
nation is divided, with a view to the adoption of such
measures by Congress as may enable the Executive to
do justice to them respectively, and to put an end, if pos-
sible, to the dissensions which have long prevailled, and
still prevail among them
THE NAVY.

I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy
for the present condition of thakbranch of the national
defence; and for grave suggestions, having for their ob-
ject the increase of its efficiency and a greater economy
in its management. The orders which have been given
have been executed with promptness and fidelity. A
larger force than has often formed one squadron under
our flag was readily concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico,
and apparently without unusual effort. It is especially
to be observed, that, notwithstanding the union of so
considerable a force, no act was committed that even
the jealousy of an irritated power could construe as an
act of aggression • and that the commander of the
squadron and'his Officers, in strict conformity with their
instructions, holding:themselves ever ready for the most
active duty, hare achieved the still purer glory of con-
tributing to the
.preservation of peace. It is believed
that at all our foreign stations the honour of our flag has
been maintained, and that, generally, our ships of war
have been distinguished for their good discipline and
order. lam happy to add, that the display of maritime
force which was required by the events of the summer
has been made wholly within the usual appropriations
for the service of the year, so that no additional appro-
priations are required.
The commerce of the United States, and with it the
navigating interest, have steadily and rapidly increased
since the organisation of our Government, until it is
believed we are now second to but one in power in the
world, and at no distant day we shall probably be in-
ferior to none. Exposed as they must be, it has been a
wise policy to afford to these important interests pro-
tection with our ships of war, distributed in the great
highways of trade throughout the world. For more than
thirty years appropriations have been made, and annually
expended, for the gradual increase of our naval forces.
In peace, our navy performs the important duty of pro-
tecting our commerce; and, in the event of war, will be,
as it has been, a most efficient means of defence.
The successful use of steam navigation on the ocean
has been followed by the introduction of war steamers
in great and increasing numbers into the navies of the
principal maritime powers of the world. A due regard
to our own safety and to an efficient protection to
our large and increasing commerce demands a cor-
responding increase on our part. No country has
greater facilities for the construction of vessels of this
description than ours, or can promise itself greater ad-
vantages from their employment. They are admirably
adapted to the protection of our commerce, to the
rapid transmission of intelligence, and to the coast de-
fence. In pursuance of the wise policy of a gradual in-
crease of our navy, large supplies of live oak timber and
other materials for ship-building have been collected,
and are now under shelter, and in a state of good pre-
servation, while iron steamers can be built with great
facility in various parts of the Union. The use of iron
as a material, especially in the construction of steamers,
which can enter with safety many of the harbours along
our coast now inaccessible to vessels of greater draught,
and the practicability of constructing them in the inte-
rior, strongly recommends that liberal appropriations
should be made for this important object. Whatever
may have been our policy in the earlier stages of the
government, when the nation was in its infancy, our
shipping interests and commerce comparatively small,
our resources limited, our population spare, and scarcely
extending beyond the limits of the original thirteen
States, that policy must be essentially different now that
we have grown from three to more than twenty
millions of people ; that our commerce, carried in our
own ships, is found in every sea, and that our ter-
ritorial boundaries and settlements have been so
greatly expanded. Neither our commerce, nor our
long line of coast on the ocean and on the lakes,
can be successfully defended against foreign ag-
gression by means of fortifications alone. These aro
essential at important commercial and military points,
but our chief reliance for this object must be a well
organised and efficient navy. The benefits resulting
from such a navy are not confined to the Atlantic states.
The productions of the interior, or which seek a market
abroad, are directly dependent on the safety and freedom
of our commerc. The occupation of the Belize below
New Orleans by a hostile force would embarrass, if not
stagnate, the whole export trade of the Mississippi, and
affect the value of the agricultural products of the entire
valley of that mighty river and its tributaries.
It has never been our policy to maintain large stand-
ing armies in time of peace. They are contrary to the
genius of free institutions, would impose heavy burdens
on the people, and be dangerous to public liberty. Oar
reliance for protection and defence on the land must be
mainly on our citizen soldiers, who will be ever ready,
as they have ever been ready in times past, to rush with
alacrity, at the call of their country, to her defence.
This description of force, however, cannot defend our
coasts, harbours, and inland seas, nor protect our com-
merce on the ocean or the lakes. These must be pro-
tected by our navy.
Considering an increased naval force, and especially
of steam-vessels, corresponding with our growth and
importance as a nation, and proportioned to the in-
creased and increasing naval power of other nations, of
vast importance as regards our safety, and the great
and growing interests to be protected by it, I recom-
mend the subject to the favourable consideration of
Congress.