Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-01-30
CONGRESS.

Foot came up for consideration, the question being
on the amendment OF Mr.. Woodbury.:
Resolved, That the committee on the Public lands
be instructed inquire into the cxpediency OF imt-
ting for certain period ne sacs OF public lands to
such lands only have heretofore been offered for
SALE and subject to entry nc tha minimum price
And Also whether the Office Of Surveyor General mny
be abolished without dctritncnt 10 the public in
tsreet
Mr Foot offered modification of his resolution,
which he Said was prepared with rtov OF meeting
the objections Of gentlemen.
Mr. WEBSTER said, although no might be among
these who the necessity for the resolution, yet
nc was not who any harm IN II. IL confer
red no new power the committee IN public lands
But whatever he might think OF the resolution after
what had fallen from Senator from South Caroline
fMr. Haync) he could not avoid saying what impress
sion it had made OH his mind If he saw no necessi.
" for ,hc first resolution still fcss did he the
ccesity for the amendment Of tho Senator from
New Hampshire, mir. Woodbury. II was the fact
that we had much land in the market, could u be
supposed that any law necessary To expedite
tho sale of the Public Lands, or to throw any moro
into tho market. He thought the great evil, far
there evil, the increase of population hni
not kept UP with the quantity of lands thrown into
the market. What need was not acres, but
hands. There was land enough, selling them at
prices nearly nominal, no giving them away. could
accelerate the population beyond present increase.
The Senator from s. Carolina seems TO think the
policy ofthe u. States has been that Of hard step
mother towards tho Western couidry DC had au-
dcd to the policy OF European powers in planting cob
onies Was there any analogy between the cases on
which a salesman could stand. and make on arc,,-
mcnt' w ere the Western settlements cooniek3-
Had they fed from the law of the country? Farfrom
it-they had gone under the shadov ofthe wing Of
the preeent country. Bad not the United States
paid millions millions for distinguishing Indian IL
ties, and for the defence of the people. Vas there
any comparison between that and European policy,
Fake the State Of Ohio-Whcn did she bcs-in 10
have a respectable eSistcncc9 You Know that down
TO the year 80 or "a, the only settlements were
little village on the Muskingum and perhaps another
hQ Grsl ht hc
from the victory Of Wayne, in %. In IS years.
here was State of million and a half Of people
Was this a proof of happiness, Tho State had run
away from tho old thirteen States. II would bo pc.-
ilous for any say that this experiment had not
succeeded. He looked with wonder and Management
at the wisdom which bad governed the country and
arranged the subject OF the Public Lends, and Civ
en- an impetus TO the population, which had conc on
increasing almost until the present moment.
Our public lands u'ere derived from four principal
sources. The cession by the State at tho close of
the war; then the cesson of Georgia. then the pur-
chpse of Louisiana; then tho purchase of Florida
Were not the lands pledged 10 the public deb, But
this was not the original mort gage The first pledro
was TO the whole States for the 'public good and
Virginia among those States. When this session
vas made some of tho States were filed to their
chartered limits, while Of them contained vas,
quantities of unsettled crown land. During the Re
evolutionary war, the smaller States complained he
remonsrance vas that their cession by the States OF
aportion OF the crown land, which by political ne
cessity would become the property of the States
would benefit the States, holding them, rs we'll as
otheFs.-lu Congress, in I780, the States were 70
quested to make these cessions, and Congress reso
we'd that the lands thus acquired should be held for
the common benefit, aud be led and disposed of
IN such manner as Congress should direct receiving
tnese iands under those express stpuletons, It
possible that Congress could give these lands nwav3
Couid they consider 1t IN any way tbon as SO much
money in the Treasury
IL would be found that other atutvs di,yo.,-, OF
lands on the same grounds did Virginia Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, and North Carolina, did the
same. The U. States received them under stioula-
lions which good foith required them to OBSERVE
One of them that the q. s.. should not govern
them long as Territories. the u. States not
done this? Had not the States been admitted as soon
as there was any plausible reason for it, States ha-
wing twenty members IN the House, and two mem-
bers here. and given all their support to admit a
State with equal power here, which would have but
one member in the house. This was a vast dispro-
portion of political power. But he did not know
that any person had opposed the introduction on that
ground He had not--his friends lad not
The condition that they should form a common
fhnd, had been observed The money received from
them had gone into the public Treasury, and had
thence been disposed Of for the public necessities
Che system Of the Government vas in exact pursu-
ance with the resolution. II was necessary for the
government not only to hold but to settIe.-There
was no man in the country Of strong arms, who had
not the opinion of becoming free man, of standing
on his own soil. WAS this the conduct of a hard
step-motler? If different policy had been pursued
1T would have been a breach of duty. He thought |
from reproach.
The gentleman from South Carolina said he did
not regard the public domain source Of revenue;
that the distribution Of large revenue tended ,n
consolidate the Government and corrupt the people
There we're men in the country whose opinion led ,
them to think 1t desirabeto weaken every thing lea ding
10 what they Gull consolidation, but which he called
the Union. Those who formed the Government told !
us that their whole object had been To consolidate
the Government. They meant he did, union-
Those to whom he alluded, would sec it 20 arranged
uat there should be no control beyond the Temporal
ry expediency to 60 into it, or 90 out of il, as a
matter OF opinion; tho people who thought il "tme
TO calculate the value of the Union" who said they
would not suffer the control OF tho Union after July
81; be thought 1t dangerous to the Union that
sncp opinions should bo disseminated. lie was an
Dnionlst-he was National Rcpublican-be was in .
iaVor oil such consultations held the Government
togGther' and enabled them 10 sit there. He wish
ed the Union might be preserved by showing that i,
was useful TO ourselves; for its benGcence It's utility
lts glory. He wished the children to see ne their