The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-01-21


poor which yields any sort OF timber, VIII 20 on ~
that price in many instances IL for no other reason
than TO keep of too near and announcement se'ue-
ment !.
In looking into the history Of our settlements, u
will be found generally if not universally, true 'ha'
the country fills with population, the inferior anu
refuse lands come to be priced, and go on hnu =,
precisely IN proportion as the poPu'aho" same nro
westwardly, and fills each locality in the SAINT .v
portion does land regarded refuse 90 on al.
so il will be to the end excepting only those Janus
covered with irreclamable swamps, OF some ohef ODD
stacles Of like difficulty. -, u.s. r.
INV own In the portion that know best, lands that
. had been much worn fry eighty years ago, turned
out and recovered with growth cannot be bought
any where, there as low as the Government price.
Sir the rrasping propensities of this Anglo Amer
can race OF ours with its Anglo Saxon blood, (smd
believe, sir TO be the greatest land robbers IN the
worldly would give the Government price, ay ana
more when the density of population threatened too
near propinquiy of some disagreeable neishoor'-
In Alabama find from this table, the most singu-
lar and extraordinary results. There the population
has filed and is yet filling. lnthe Cahawba ds'ne,
nearly all the lands have been sold for three four and
five times the amount Of the estimated value by the
land officers in 1928 And so il will be to the emu
To the base Of the Rocky Mountains, and when you
shall have scaled their lofty SUBMITS and passed 70 INC
western base il will continue TO be- uni me rest
less energies Of people shall be stayed by inc broad
Pacific would invoke the serious attention Of Sena
tors more conversant with these subjects than am 70
the marked contrast between tie estimates IN ioso ana
the actual results proved by the sales wiii ask
their attention the singular accuracy with which Inc
predictions Of the opponents OF graduation have been
verified by the results. In Ohio they have been com
petely tested and verified In Indiana, not so inily
but the experience is in rapid process OF develop
ment and all the indications augur similar results In
Missouri the experiment in its initiative process but
as far as It has gone gives the mos, haterng pro
mise of results equally satisfactory And SO OF all the
rest.
There is another feature of the bill to which feel
no less objection and which has been animavered ON
by the Senator fiom Kentucky near me, Mr.. Gay
think it presents strong objection to the oiii me
Government once felt severely the inconvenience OF
the credit system in reference the sale of our public
lands Its evils will not be forgotten This bull
reyves that credit system and substitutes It, to agrea
extent for the cash system now existing IL extends
credit professedly entire class OF purchasers
and practically and substantially to all A man seires
on tract of land before he pays for it and is to pay
for it within year How are you to get md Of him.
if he does not payl When the Convention of the
World" held in London, shall send here all its con-
stuents how are you to get rid of them II they fail
to pay for their land Does not your bill convert the
system of cash payments into system OF credit L
And what will be the consequence We shall have
petitioners besegng this and the other House OF Con-
grcss hosts Of sturdy beggars petiiioning for long
day. then to take part of dues and finally 10 fol-
give them their debt We have seen all this; and are
likely, should the bill pass, TO see II again.
We all remember the effect of the national plethora
in 1918 and 1879 You know how your ear was vex-
cd with perpetual petitions, until at last you were wea-
red out and you gave up 80 l-3 Of your demand and
allowed the debtors long time to make up the balance
So it will be here If man pays you in cash. It will
be a matter Of voluntary liberaity. All the better
land which might sell well at auction will be at once
seized upon, and credit Of necessity ensues.
Gentlemen complain of the illberaity Of the old
States They call them Shy locks, and say we demand
pound Of flesh, and all that. repel all such i'm
putations, far as they are directed against me. i
participate largely in the pride excited by the pro-
gress our Western States as the roudes OF all our
Western men. see with wonder and joy the daily
developments of that vast portion Of country and
am fully aware that it is ere long to become the cen
ire Of our political world. My constituents do not de-
mand Of me to become Shylock in their name; they
rejoice, as do, in the hourly expansion of this great
Republic; they exu in the extension Of its popula-
ton, bearing with it, in all directions the arts Of civil
lizaton the love ofberty and adherence to in
valuable Constitution. We are prepared to 60 far
gentlemen from the West themselves in doing ali
that with justice be done give stimulus the
growth Of the States of the Confederacy. But
really with, acknow ledge, hut very slight opportu-
nifty of forming an opinion, it does seem to me that the
charge of illberay as little sustained by facts and
reason as any accusation ever witnessed in my life.
What is the relation which these States bear the
Government while they yet remain in their state Of
territorial pupilage2 Have they not all been in
cesson the frstings and the nuseings of Congress
Have we not handled them upon the knees Of patron
age rocked them in the cradle of indulgence and fed
them like petted infants, with the money of this Gov
eminent If any thing, we have INDUCED them too
fondly till like other pets they have been in danger
OF becoming spoiled by over-much kindness Who
can deny that the West has been treated, here
with the utmost liberality2 Never have they asked
for either public private aid at hands and been
refused. We have given them lands and money and
have poured forth the chvary Of the old States for
their defence in danger. Surely they have just
grounds ofcompaint. Against me they certainly have
not for am ready to lend them all the aid in my pow
toward attaining that commanding position which
it is their destiny to attain.
But what, ask, is likely to be the effect of such
bill this upon the older Staes2 The public lands
constitute trust fund to be administered for the bene
Tit of all the States, and not for the sake Of throwing
into the West preternaural plethora of growth and
prosperity to infict injustice and injury upon the rest
of the Union. And yet what must be the effect Of
such bill on the strength and prospects of the old
States The enterprising the adventurous young
men will all flee to the West and leave the old States
TO weakness and decrepitude, and are be left
support the comparatively inert which they leave
behind. Yet in all that tends to elevate the human
charactein all that fosters moral and intellectual ex
celence, they might have enjoyed at least equal adj
vantages had they remained at home Certain it is
that North Carolina has put forth into the West and
Southwestern country mass of talent and energy
such as, had renamed there would have enabled my
State To hit her head proudly OF her
tiers in the great family of the Union And ought it
not TO be the aim of this Government infusc an
equal degree of health and vigor into every portion Of
tins wide Republic do our Western friends desire
to impoverished in order that they may be built
up and strengthened | well know that, should we
be invaded by foreign foe, our honor or safety
threatened with danger, the men of the West would
be the first to hasten to our side A more chivalrous
people does not exist upon earth; and generosity is
well known as forming prominent feature in their
character. And sure | am that, could they but alb
stract their minds for moment from the force of that
prejudice which has grown up with false system Of
administration of the public lands, the new States
would be the last TO desire by excessive and unnatu-