Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-03-27

| ana emDarrasslnents OF the present times.
1t appears to me to be both Just and ex-
pedlent to allow a deduction of 37a per
cent to all who shall pay up on or be-
lore the Slst December next, without
interest, and with interest to those who
shall pay up at any time between that
day and the SON September, 1922; at
which latter period, the indulgence for
such as may be unable TO avail them-
selves of those proffered inducements
should commence. BY these meanss
every cent that could be commanded Tor
that purpose would be paid into your
treasury, and this awful subject would
be finally put to rest.
Let it not be supposed that the sue.
cess of the two first measures proposed
will be, in the least degree, affected by
the indulgence which is asked for those
whose peculiar situation will prevent
them from reIinquishing their lands, and
who may not be able TO avail themselves
of the proffered inducements to make
prompt payments.
You have, in the personal interest OF
the debtors for public land, the most eff
ficient guarantee against any such con-
sequence, unless you can suppose that
that energetic spring of human action
has much less influence upon them than
upon all the rest of mankind.
1t has been correctly assumed by tho
honorable Secretary of the Treasury, i'll
his annual report, that the extent of the
national domain will, for ages, enable
the government to determine the price
of unimproved land, similarly situated.
The effects produced by the practical
demonstration of such power, in the
reduction Of the price of public land,
and the quantity brought into market, as
has been stated by my colleague, and as
have already endeayored to show,
would of themselves be sufficient TO in
duce great majority of those debtors
to surrender their lands, even though
no relief whatever should be afforded
them.
| There can be no rational motive to in
| duce them, under existing circumstanc
TO wish TO keep unimproved lands. for
which they could not make prompt pay
ment upon the terms proposed. 1t
, would be madness itself to retain them
for the purposes Of speculation, since
: such an immense quantity of as good, or
: better, land can be purchased at lower
/ price; and, therefore, it may be fairly
, presumed that none would wish to av all
themselves of the latter measure of re-
: iiei, except such as have made improve
mcnts upon their lands, and may be I'M
/ able, from the pressure of the present
times, to make prompt payment. These
being the actual cultivators OF the soil,
the most needy. and at the same time the
most meritorious, and deserving of rec
lief, will not relinquish their lands,
though they may not be able to pay for
them within the time prescribed by law
but they will rely upon your future
mercy. The longer time you allow for
the operation OF the proposed induce
ments TO make prompt payments, the
more of them will be made, and the
fewer ofthese cases willremain. Some,
however, will necessarily still exist;
and, therefore, such cases ought to be
provided for, at this time, so as to pre-
vent the necessity Of our having to legis-
late again upon the sub ect.
Mr. President, said Mr.. E were any
reasoning wanting to prove that no sys-
TEN of coercion ought to be resorteti to
in less than two years, it is to be found
IN the late annual Treasury Report; Tor
| if, as is therein commended, the condition
| OF the currency in several of the states
in the Union; the exclusion from cir
culation in all the states west and
| tt,o Of
notes of the Bank of the United States
and its branches; and there being no
sound paper circulation in several Of
those states, prove "thata resort to in
ternat taxation, under such circuM-
stances, srould be TO require ofth citi-
zens Of those states 7uhat zconid be i'm.
POSSIBLE for them TO her3orm," and did
last year, and do this year, justify a re-
sort to loans to support the governments
in time of profound peace. If, l say,
these circumstances are sufficient 10
prove the inability of the whole people
of the United States to pay the amount
of the loan of the last year, or the amount
of the reported balance against the Trea-
sury on the first day of the present year,
a Jordori, they prove that the debtors for
public land, being part only ofthe popu-
lation of few ofthe very states in which
those causes of embarrassment have ope-
rated, and continue to operate, most pow
erfully, must be utterly unable to pay the
estimated sum that is proposed to be
drawn from them, which is but little
shot of the amount of the loan ofthe last
wear. or the reported deficit in the reye.