Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1841-07-17

bill which direct the objects 10 which the grants
and funds disribu ted shall be applied by the Sta
The committee submit. that these provisions art
! liable 10 be construed into an assumption on tht
part OF Congress OF guardianship over The States
TO which the general government has no claim
and which IL Is not necessary IN this case shG
should exercise if she had. The Committee are
disposed to leave the objects towhch The funds
distributed shall be appropriated 70 be selected by
The States directly Interested, not doubling but
that, ia the appropriation, sucn OBJECTS viii be Sc
lected by them, as the best inieres. of The States
and people, and their experience sail, from Time
to time, designate.
The committee have also stricken from the bill
the limitation to the time the act shall contin-
in force. leaving that matter TO the action OF
! a subsequent Congress, should the measure meet
the just expectations of its fienes and secure the
appreciation of the nation, when rs operation shall
have been seen md felt by the ,eople, 1t will OF
course remain the law Of the Land; on the contra
ry, should the anticipations and orebodngs of its
opponents be realized, and public opinion demand
its repeal, il viii be but the work. of day to
pass act for that purpose; may not be i'm
proper here to remark, that sound policy requires
that our legislation should in al cases, assume as
settled a form possible.
The Committee have also intoduced n n amend
ment that will more effectually place the States
hereafter admitted upon footiIg with the other
new States. These are the princIpal amendments
that struck the committee as necessary to be made
to the form Of the bill, far the distribution
principle concerned.
The committee instructed to inquire into
the eXpedIency of incorporating the pre- -emption
principle, with the provisions of the bill, and after
much reflection, they are OF the opinion that the
two subjects are not incongruots, but are suttl-
GENTLY german be united in the same bill.
The committee, therefore. desI'ous OF guarding
the interests, and consulting the wishes of as
large n portion of our fellow citizens as possible,
and OF granting to the pioneers OF the west such
privileges may do them ample Justice IN pro-
vlding and securing TO themselves and families
freehold homes, have proposed to amend the bill,
by the Incorporation, in district sections, OF pre-
emption measure, which they hope may be found
to contain the necessary visions, restrictions,
and limitations, 10 secure TO the bona tde actual
settler, who alone is entitled 10 considerations the
benefit Of his settlement and Improvement upon a
quantity of the public lands not exceeding one
hundred and sixty acres, at he minimum price,
and excluding every possibility of the pre-emp-
ton privileges inurIng to the benefit Of any per.
ment proposed, i, is believed, contains some new
a nd valuable provisions which may render II &C
ceptable to some who have opposed former pre-
empion laws, while IFS utility &c the honest set
tier will not be in the least impaired.
The committee have noticed all the material
amendments they proposed 10 the bill. The prop
ositon submitted by resolutions of inquiry by a
Senator from Mississippi, and the Senator from
Tennessee, the committee have not thought prop
err TO act definitely upon, except the presumption
principle proposed by the former. Surprising
tina, their merits would appropriately, "a,
the proper time, be brought bebre the Senate in
separate bills and believing that the bill for the
distribution of the proceeds OF tle sales of the
public lands was sufficiently imptrtan, in selfto
exclude from it all amendments calculated to pre-
vent a distinct expression on its merits. The
pre-emption principle like that O distribution, is
no, a new one. 1t has received the sane ton of
Congress repeatedly, and public opinion has rat
fled the measure: hence II Is believed that the
connection of the two measure cannot embarrass
either The committee, there fo,e report the bill,
with the proposed amendments, br the action of
the Senate.