The Arkansas advocate., 1833-09-18

lands. ceases forever They revert 10 the States which granted them, or the new sovereienties which -havo since sprung mp upon them. Inc biii n part eoileeties the latter principle, by giving to the new States one eighth of the proceeds before Ii admits of any division.
 If the eonpacts boall made void and sci aside, as this bill in eject contenPlsles, each State will resume her rnaturai right tas it may be callet9 Q her own sol. ! ne right of Ohio, Indiana, ogc. 2c. n taeH soil, .si;llII Be sle same as that of kenthelzg Virainia and Massachusetts. Ohio may say to Kentucky, @what right have you, as you have sold and are now selling your own lands and putting the whole proceeds into your own Treasury, to demand of mo to give you q portion of the price of my iald!@ Ohio, or Indiana, or Illinois, or filssIssiPPt, or Alabama may say to Massachusetts, show dare you to demand of me share III the price of my lands, when you have been and are now selling the waste lands ot Maine, and putting the entire proceeds into your own Treasufy!" All the new States may say to the old, "your waste lands as well as ours were won in the war of the revolution, and the former are as mpcii ] common property as the latter. Throw IT. b the common fund those remaining 'ifsoei within your own limits, and a sum equal to the proceeds of all those you have disposed xof and then there will be some reason ia your demand to participate in the profits oi our l5tIitl sales. tie 2
 II, as Mr, Clay's Bill contomplates, the compacts of eession are to be disregarded, how can this reasoning be answered} How can 1t be maintained, that the old State or the United states, have any claim whatever to the waste lands in the new States? On what principle can t Do dcmanded, that seven eighths of the proceeds shall be thrown into q common fund for a general diYisioa1 There is no half way afeuia. Either the eompacts are still in force and the waste lands in Ohio are a common prop- erty, or they are not ill force, and those lands are the property of the State. Mr Glay's Bill treats them as void, and yet does it claim the power to seize upon and divide among al the States seven eights of d fund which according to the principle or rather total absence of principle, in which 1t originates, belongs exclusively to the State of Ohio.
 Let us not be misunderstood. We do not concede that these compacts are void. They constituted the very pillars on which the temple of Union was raised, and altho' 1t might now stand without their aid, having been. vastly enlarged and made 10 rest CT many other essential interests, yet these old works of a glorious age SS of glorious men, add to its strength, and ought to be saeredly preserved, if 1t were but as specimens ofthe labers Ss sdisinterestednessw whichd hdistingiiisif- edthe foundersef efthe Republic. They should be viewed as a part of the Constitution nay, they are the basis on whicha part of that immortal instrument rests. No; they must stand forever-even after the temple ol our Union ceases in any degree 10 rest upon them, unmutilated and undefaeed, ev- erlasting monuments ofthe wisdom and pat rotism of our fathers, and of the reverence of their children for the phghted faith of ou young Republic. The Athenians passed jaws to punish the inutiiatiou of statues ane monuments of stone, and shall we wanton. ly and unnecessarily, demolsh those more valuable monuments of patriotism aasi oi mind, which perpetuate the memory of oan heroic age, and teach us the difficulties and dangers encountered and yanquiahed by the men who then lived. No, no. We shall think better Of ourselves, and our children will think better ofUs, il we preserve, Witii religious care, the faith pligbted hy our la- thers. 1t will preserve our national moral ity-it will add ! century to the years of the Republic.
 1oaXg 1Xghat then shall he done2 In -onr naa