The Arkansas advocate., 1833-09-25

THE PUBLIC LANps---aIR. GLAY's BILL.
 NO. K.
 What ough 10 bc done.
 The first thing to be done is to preserve the public faith, The eonpacfs with the several States making cession ef lands. must be saeredly observed. 1le govern ment of the Unlon must retain IS control over the lands ceded and dispose of theiin for the common benefit of file '. iates.
 The second thing to be done IS, 10 se- daee the price of the pablie lands. This step IS as much for the common benefit as It Is for the proceeds to be paiI into inc common Treasury He palffy sst3tte iestI- oussy which would ossstIast f.stiiota. that the old States may incfease ia people and paupers, IS unworthy of our country and our age. We look upon the laws of cas- tern nations. the object of which is to forbid or prevent e1nigration, as acts of tsran..yy
 If Massachusetts or Virginia were to pass acts forbidding her citizens to remove into other States, she would be justly con- sldered as despotic as the Emperor of Chi ns. If the general government were to en- act laws against emigration from ihe East to the West, it would be denounced as op- pression and usurpation The right to seek happiness how and where he pleases, not interfering with iile right of others, IS one of mans most precious privileges. Beyond all others, a free government should not enlbarrass it's exercise. But is not a poIi- 5.,s which $ devised and formed l view of accomplishing that end, as bad l prinei- pie as a law2 fla policy be pursaedin re- lation to the public lands, which is intended to prevent emigration and has that effect, Is 1t not just as bad as if the same effect were produced by a direct act forbidding enligfa- ton! Does 1t change the principle because the means of etfectng the end-the acts of Congress intended to accomplish another?
 Ne say, if there be poor peoglf Ii the Eastern States who are willing al esir- ods to take up and cultivate the wsislssialnds of the republic, Is 1t not true policy rather to promote than retard their emigration! Is 1t not better that they should be lldepend- ent and happy in Ohio, than poor anG mis- efable in Massachusetts, Is il 1ot better that they should ssmultiply and repIsnish fhe earth' with mytiads of robust human be- ines, III the wide West, where Ia4f.4re iIl- yites them to enjoy the profusioa of her richest bounties, than that they should raise a puny offspring, feeble Ill f1iuel. weak in h.zszszz#t i'll = =
 some air and vicious habits of cities and workshops? Does not the common interest of the U. States consist in the increase of their hardy and honest population, the cHlti- Yation of their lands, and the preservation of public virtue and moralityl Is it not more for the common good that a thousand men should own farms iii the ites, woIsh thousand dollars each, than that tksy should live in poverty and dependence oil the seaboard, although by their labor af as- sociation of capitalists might add a million ofdollars to their already oyergrowlI wealth9 Where Is a father in Massachusetts who would not prefer that his own son should be an independent farmer in Ohio, rather than dependent laborer for a manufacturing company i'll his native State.
 There Is no man, when he well eonsid- CTS the matter, who will not decide, that 1t is the interest of mankind, the interest of the U. States, and we may add the interest of the old States themselves, rather to pro- mote emigration than retard it. What If thousands and tens of thousands do change their rresdence,-nature fills up their places with other thousands and tens of thousands. Long has emigration gone on from Eng land, to America, but has their population diminishedl No; 1t has increased much faster than before it tbegan. New England annually sends out her thousands and tens of thousands to the South and West; but does her population diminish? On the con- trary it increases with a rapidity equalled by no other country except those which are filled by emigrants. Had there never been any emigration from New England, does any one believe that her population would have been equal to the whole number ofheI children and their descendants scattered throughout the Unionl To our mind it is doubtful whether 1t would have been great CT than 1t Is now, and whether two millions 1 of the people who cultivate and enbelllsh other portions of our happy country, would now have been in existence.
 1t is a mystery, but experience seems to have established the fact, that an active emigration from one country to another, gives vigor and elasticity to both, which ex- hibits themselves not only in all sorts ofim- provements, but also, in an impetus to pop ulation. With the age of discovery and emigration in Europe, commenced the rap Id increase of population; III no county is emigration so great as ii talitcsi ssitistts, and in no country is the increase ofpopula- ton so rapid.
 ltis philanthrophy, as well as patriotism which counsels Us to make our western ld .. 1a.,s...- f ae n1ire11lenI as nossiIlIe to