Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1840-01-16

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ar,ous cessions of lands have been made to this Co.
yernmen, but with money from her Treasury has she
bourht and paid for thcm and paid for them
than thew have yet paid back This is my assertion,
Purchase lu has Of Louisiana sI5,OO0,oO0
| Intareet maid thereon s,329 353
| Purchase of Florida a,UoooOu
Interest thereon l.ico,obu
Paid to Georgia I,%'o,ooo
Same purchase in Mississippi stock $4,000
Distinguishing Indian titles 'a,co1VCo
Snrvay of nnllic lands 3,250G00
land Office 100000
| Land Offices and officers 3,3OO000
SlI2,69I 1853
This is the purchase money paid and it is all that
propose count in this argument; for IT - sufficient
for the argument though not all that belongs 10 the ar
quInent The value of other lands given in exchange,
and the cost of getting possession, both belong to the
argument, and far exceed in amount the totay OF the
purchase money paid. Thus Florida cost, III money,
Sc iSG 000 but tins must be added Texas proper,
and the country between the Red RIVER and Arkansas
which was given in exchange, and The cost OF getting
possession OF Florida, when already three tunes eH-
cecds the price of the country and the possession not
yet obtained. So of other purchases upon u smaller
scale.
The whole amount Of money received from the sales
Of lands US have shown heretofore, is but hun
drcd and four millions OF dollars; that here clear
deficiency Of eight millions OF dollars under the head of
for themselves. huQ 10 tnlS TIE
millions distributed among the States and the deicen-
cy is thirty-sx millions And if TO this should still
add as fairly might the value of the lands wen in
exchange Spain and the Indians and the cost Of get
ting possession of our purchases alter We had made
them and the deficiency is many hundreds Of millions
But limit the argumen; to the sums paid out Tor pur-
chases, and received back for sales.
Thus the lands proved TO have answered no part
Of their destinaton-to have paid part of the public
deb;-not even have betrayed the expenses Of their
own ACQUISITION and managcmcnt-and that they are
al this time largely in deb; 70 the customs. This is
charge upon them which they ought tn pay; and II
constitutes strong objection 10 their alienation from
Federal and application TO local purposes. it is
s,rono objection, but not the strongest to This Hcna-
on A lar stronger one is found in the fact that al!
the lands held b. The United States have been purcaS
ed; that they arc PURCHASES, and not GIFTS and
have all been acquired By giving money for them
Now it is agreed that this money could not have been
divided among the States before It given for the
land: and If So is i possible that effect the d.
vision after il has been given for land b. the simple
process of rcconycrns the land into money; II So,
,han have p.e found out !Eost acc and flexible
thod of getting rid Of constitutional oastructcMs.
In round numbers the SUN Of one hundred and twelve
! millions have been paid for the public lands, and the
LARGEST par, Of that for those wic! called do
nations TO the Indians there have been PAID seventh:
,,yo millions Of dollars and t5 cSl;G us their q;
lies to the lands p.cScncd By the States 10 the Federal
Government; and this independent o the annultss yet
10 be paid and which represent capita! Q" several mil
lions These Indian purchases have cost far more than
Louisiana and Florida put together They result from
the cess:ons of The States-ccssion3 which have gene
rally been treated as donations OF the land, when they
were nothing but transfer OF the right purchase them
from the Indians The States did the SOIL the
Indians were The acknowledged owners. All that the
States claimed in tic soil was The right OF purchase
from the Indians and that right they coded TO the
r. States Some States would not ccdc that right, as
Massachusetts and Connect!cut and these have held
or 10 the soil ard have sold, selling IT, for their
own advantage. Massachusetts and Maine now derive
an annual income from the sale o, their lands. Con-
ncc.cut has received large sum from hers. Ii vas
VIRGINIA and Georgia that made the largest and most
effective cessons which coded the right OF purchase 10
the most extensive territories and dearly enough has
the T. States paid for the privilege OF buyng the In
man titles 10 what they ceded. Almost the whole OF
the seventy-two millions paid TO Indians has gone for
the extinction of their titles to the Virginia and Georgia
cessions; mere fragment Of it has gone TO the Indians
of Florida and Louisiana The Indians OF the South.
ern States and OF the Northwestern, have received al
most the whole; and besides this, Georgia received IN
money ard Mississippi land scrip 3,Go20u0 dollars
for her cesson besides the obligation TO extngush the
Indian title their lands within her limits Tor her own
benefit Thus is clear that the ccssions ironi the
States were not donations of land but cessions Of ju
rsdction with the transfer Of the right TO acquire from
the Indians The soil within their ancient colonial boun
daries and which, in regard the limits of the State,
were generally ex-terrtorie The paid TO the In.
dians and that paid to Georgia, make about seventy
five millions OF dollars which the purchases OF the In
dian titles have cost us while the purchases from
France and SPAIN the interest included, barely amount
10 thirty millions. The expense OF managing the whole
has amounted to about eight millions; making total
for the and management of the lands Of about one
hundred and twelve millions OF dollars
have gone over these details establish fact, and
which fact is vital 10 the argument that the whole OF
the lands owned BY the L. S purchases, rot dona-
tons; that they represent money drawn from the lrea.
sury and invested in land, and nov wearing the shape
of lands in the woods instead of dollars in the Ircasu
ry This is a fact now established Here, then, are
one hundred and twelve millions of dollars laid for
land and represented by land Here are one
hundred and twelve millions OF dollars converted into
land and this brings to the great constitutional cr-
ror on this point Before it converted, every one
adi,s that it could not have been divided among the
States Every admits that. Now, the question is,
can we divide the land? Or into money, and
divide the dollars Can cheat the Constitution BY
this transmutaon: Can We chea! ourselves, and the
country, b. such specimens of legislative sicaymy and
political Juggling? lfso, have discovered very
facc way of helping ourselves TO all that the Treasury
contains. We may begin with the one hundred and
twelve millions a. once, and then proceed converting
and rcconverting buying land and selling land, until
we have bought and divided that billion Of acres, csti-
mated! at billion and quarter Of dollars which IL
cured 50 largely in the debates the land bills when
they were first introduced, and when the national do
main was presented Is bait to national cupidty.
! This would seem to be enough; billion and quar-
ter would seem be enough but it is only the begin
ming of what may be done under this new process Of
converting and reconvertng, the Federal revenues, and
then dividing them It is the inning only Of what
NAV be done in this school of alchymy, with our
Constitution in its crucibe. The transmutation may be
made to reach all other property owned, to be own
ed BY the IT, States for the same clause which gives
Congress Authority to dispose Of the territory also gives
It authority to dispose OF all other property, belonging
to the L. States Here tlisn is and boundlcss
field 70. obtaining money for distribution Forts arse
nails armories, magazines, arms, and munitions OF war;
racks and hospitals public cdces of all kinds incud-
ing the Capitol in which sit lighthouses bank.
canal stock road stock; every thing in fact, which
comes under the name Of property, and which we now
thrown into the legislative crucble, transmitted from
an unconstitutional to constitutional subject of dis
tribuoa, and forthwith partitioned ont among the
States Bills TO divide the proceeds Of the sales of
."other property may then become familiar to our
legislation as bills divide the proceeds OF the public
lands now are; and instead Of limiting our dist-bu-