Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1822-02-14
RICHMOND, FEBRUARY II, lac!
SIR. CL.aY,S .SPEECIL

oh opening tue hehtuchs
SKETCH but may put them in possession OF the
rial points and circumstances.
Mr.. Clay commenced by observing that the
duty devolved upon him of opening the SUBJ
ject which, by the favor Of the General AS
sembly, his colleague and himself had now to
present to their consideration. He had never
felt himself in situation of more responsible
ty and embarrassment. The profound res
pect which he entertained for the General AS
sembly of Virginia; the honorable recOec-
tons, ancient and modern, associated with its
distinguished name the deep and vital inte-
rest which his state had in the objects
OF the commissions; the general eXpecta-
ton, which he would not disguise, he saw
had been excited, filled him with serious APP
prehensiOns to the manner i'm which he
should acqut himself 1t was impossible, he
said, to contemplate this Assembly without
recOllecting that it was here that the intIg-
nant and eloquent tongue OF Patrick Henry
first depicted the enormity and fatal conse-
quences of British pretension, and stimulated
the patriotirspirit ofresistance that it was
IN this very Hail, in that very form (pointng
to the Speakers chair that the bland, the
graceful, the accomplished and the enlighten-
ed Pendleton presided over one of the most
august assemblies that the world ever saw /;
aided by that illustriOus man who, to the stern
virtues of Cato united the Justice of AristIdes
10 whom, he hoped he should be excused
for making this public acknowledgment of
his gratitude for his generous patronage of
him, extended when he was an orphan bereft
alike ofpaternal and pecuniary assistance, and
to whose memory he begged permission to
pay the poor tribute of his highest veneration
that AT a later period, i'm 1899 il was from this
body issued that memorable paper which, for
the force and power of its reasoning, the good
temper that pervaded it, and its admirable
method, was unrivaed, and, which il it were
The suic production of its eminent author,
would SECURE Immortality to his respected
name. He was but too well aware also of the
activity OF misrepresentation, and the prev a
ience of mlsconception in regard 10 the laws
OF kentucky which were To he the subject of
consideration. And feeling his own incompe-
tency more than ever, he should be utterly
unable to sustain himself, under the pressure
oithese united causes, if he had not the en-
couraSmg consciousness that he was address
ing the General Assembly of state, at once
the parent OIL his own and the place of his natl
WITTY, IN whose generosity and kindness he
shond find Indulgence and countenance.
Mr.. g proceeded to call the attention OF
the Holseto theact of 1899, creating Kentucky
INTO an independent state, which was the basis
OF the compact between the two states on the
terms OF which lie expatiated at large. He adj
verted TO violation on the part of X. which he
had heard insinuatcd here, in respect to the
district oi country south of Tennessee river, in
torblddlng the location Of military warrants
after the LIST of May 1892. He commended
that the compact itself had retained To Vir.
Sinla the power of appropriating the lands, in
mat district up to that time that this appro-
priatlon could only be effected by location ofihe
warrants that the issuing of warrants was no
such appropriation that the warrant was an
authority to appropriate, but was of itself no
appropriation That the business Of this in
depreciation was manifest from the provision
40 the compact that Kentucky, after the lst of
May, was at liberty to dispose of the residue
oil thelands not appropriated, which she could
not do IL there were an unlimited time, after
hatperiod, during which the holders of war
rants were at liberty to locate them or not AT
Their pleasure. Passing from this topic, he
then proceeded to explain fully the several
Jaws for securing the bona 6de occupants oil
land compensation for the value of their i'm
provements. If the first law were more IA
yOrable TO The successful claimant, out of pos
session, than the second, and the second than
the third, it was because of the lapse of time,
during which he fOrebore TO come forward
ana assert ms right, and the consequent sup
position OF derelction of his caim-The
two first of those laws had been drawn in
last term of it, in a case in which one of the
parties had no interest, and on an exparte ar
Sumcnt, an opinion had been intimated thai
they were contrary to the compact 1t was
lar from his intention to add TO the ex-
asperation ofthe public mind against that au-
gust tribunal. He would allay, if he could,
rather than add fury to the storm. He owed
indeed to that court and particularly to the
distinguished native of Va. who presided in
IT. the expression of his testimony to the deep
concern, the anxious solicitude which they
evInced to have the subject of those laws fully
and fairly discussed, and he entertained the
strongest conviction that on reconsideration
tue question would be seenin different light
But he must, in great Difference, say, that, al
though the court had jurisdiction between
the parties, IN his Judgment it was doubtful il
II had over the sub ect because by the com
pact stipulation is expressly made for the
case of any violation Of it, by the appoint
4nent of a tribunal, and until there had been
refusal, by one ofthe parties 10 the compact
10 constitute that tribunal, the jurisdiction al
the instance OF at most collateral party, did
not appear to him to attach.
Mr.. Clay undertook then to defend the Jus.
tee and necessity of the several laws in ques-
ton. He here entered into "A copions expla
nation ofthe land laws Of Va; of the multitude
oil claims of the uncertainty of locations anC
entries, whichth the parties were mt liberty Il
direct, according TO their own fancy and Ca
price; OF the numerous inerlerences which
were the inevitable consequence the same
identical tract was frequently shingled over b,
dozen claims, the eagerness of adventurer:
being IN proportion to the richness of The
prize. Then the impossibility often of ascer
tanning even the existence of these claims:
known, of ascertaining the facts on which the,
depended; If the facts were known, the impo;,