The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-23 00:00:00

THE LAND SYSTEM.

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
inferior 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 for
more than ten years, and 106,176,961 acres for more than
five years. Much the largest 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 portions 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, whenever
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 homes
which they have improved by their labour. With this
end in view, all vexatious or unnecessary re: rictions
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 citizens 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 sustained 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 al,. su-
perintendence and care of the war department, with ihe
ordinary duties of which they hare Aio 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 wisilom
may prescribe, reserving to the Government an equit-
able per tentage 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
;he suggestions contained in that report, in relation to
:hese Fronainent objects of national interest.

THE ARMY.

When orders were given during the past 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 expe-
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
levent 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 com-
manders of the expeditions, it is believed, will have a
salutaryinfluence in restraining them from hostilities
among themselves, and maintaining friendly relations
between them and the United States. An interesting
account of one of these
Brevet
excursions
Fremont
accompanies, theof
h
corps
t e V re-
port of the Secretary at War. Under the directions of
en Captain
Topographical Engineers, has been employed
Noafr D ep a r tm
since 1842 in exploring the country west of the Mis-
sissippi and beyond the Roeky Mountains. Two expe-
ditions have already been brought to a close, and the
reports of that scientific and eeterprising.officer have
furnished much interesting and valuable infor raation.
He 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 session.

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.,lThe 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.