Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-02-21
MONDAY, fEBRUaRY ls. 1883.

recent speech on his Public Land bill is
worthy of statesman.
Gle would now call the attention of the
Senate TO the provisions of this bill, and their
equitable character as If respects the whole
of the common Union Having already
shewn that The fund itself was derived from
the common blood and common treasure of
the country-he would ask il il ought not
still TO be held for the common benefitp The
country enjoys, he was willing TO admit.
unexsmpled prosperity But did we hope
that we should exist as nation Tor centuries
10 Gomez Did we hone that our Union
would last as long as the Republics of anti
guilty. if not much longer? Aud are we, on
the strength of such expectations, TO make
wastelul disposition OK the rich patrimon,
which has been bequeathed to US? Are we
always to be free from wars. and troubles,
and difficulties? What nation had ALWAYS
been exempt from themp Look at Europe
from which we sprang. II had enjoyed, he
believed at this time, one of the longer in
teryals of peace which had been experienced
for several centuries 1t wss only seventeen
wears and a half since the battle Of Waterloo
was taught, and terminated the wars OF the
French Revolution and we now see the
whole of Europe apparently on the eve oil
general war And do we expect TO be FORE
yer at peace? Never to want money again?
Never 10 he in debit But to be free from
all eu,barrasments and debts hereafter? No
thinking man could indulge these chimerical
ideas-these vain speculations. What then
was il our duty to dop Now was the time,
above all others, when we should nurse and
take care of our resources. What nation Of
antiquity--what nation OF modern times
has ever possessed such vast resources as the
immense public domain-the capacious
womb of UNBORN Republics He had bad
occasion to remark either in his observations
last session. or in the report Of the Commit
tee on Manufacturers, that five hundred
years hence, il we discharged our duty ana
took care Of this important interest. they who
will come after US may be legisla,ing in this
very Hall, which he hoped would then be
standing, as it would stand upon this great
and absorbing subject OF the public domain
lie recoilected. during the late war, when
the distress Of the country was at height
when we wanted money--wanted credit
when our arms were paralyzed for want Of
the necessary means for sustaining the war;
be recoIIected how it then gladdened every
patriotic hert-when the exhaustncss ma
eloquently depicted hy member olthe other
House. Enough not only for that, hut for
fifty or hundred other wars, should we un
fortunately become involved in them Aud
now are we out Of debt; and il seem that we
are never again to be in debt--that we are
out OF difficulty, and never again to be in
difficulty: and a hundred schemes are sug
gested to dispose OF these lands because OF
our unbounded prosperity; as if we could
not too soon get rid Of the fund. Happier
would it be for Us, and happier too for pos
terity, should we be wise enough to husband
well ihis resource"
REVENUE COLLECTION BILL.
The Senate proceeded again on the 9Th
inst. to the Special Order of the Day, be-
ing the Bill making further provisions for
the collection Of the Revenue. The fol-
lowing is the conclusion of most admit
rable speech delivered by GEoReE N.
DALLAS, Senator Of the U. S. fromthe
State of Pennsylvania:
Sir, said Mr. ID, cannot find in the Con-
,tiiuiion, expressly or implicitly, warrant
for the course Of South Carolina, and can
therefore entertain no doubt Of our constitu-
donai power to enact this Bill into Law.
What are its tendencies and objectsP
1t is painful TO see the true character Of a
legislative measure so strangely perverted or
misconceived as this has been in the course
Of the present debate. We have it in print
before us; il has laid upon our desks for many
DAYS, liable to the strictesi examnatlon-it
hangs. inaccessible to vision, upon no lofty
pillar II has already travelled through the
press. and has been canyassed by thepeopfs
In variety of ways: it cannot now be be
formed nv mere rhetoric, nor hurled under a
v,,.rd az obionuy. Like the Constitution on
which 7 have been commenting. Its words
are pIain and ineligible, and i is meant Tor
the hon,e-hred unsopbisticated understand
ings Of our fellow citizens. Who cannot per
ceiye that 10 every one of its provisions, ~
all its possible action, it is purely and simply
defensvep II is illuminated with The decla'
ration 10 which a.Senator adverted, 'let us
alone and we will let you alone" tls called
into being by The ordinance, laws, and militia
nv, demonstrations Of South Carolina, and il
cannot work except as counteractiye OF q
vowed scheme to eyade, resist, and nuihy
our laws. These schemes. it is agreed,;on all
hands, must succeed if we supiBely fould our
arms. II they are legitimate and just, let
them succeed: If they are wrong and subver-
1--WE of our peace, our constitution. ana our
statutes, we must act, or give up the govern
O. I. 80 4