The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-02-06

them and take possession Of Il for the United States
Ii cannot be done To individuals, in such case,
you can afford TO yield, and make compromised pu'
how will you stand when you have made States your
debtors3 The amendment establishes the relation oi
debtor and creditor between this Government anu On
tire States-wh neighboring with contiguous o.a.e'
with Of States, all having one common '''s
rest in the question, common character, anu yne
common debt. Do you expect from aeoiol my W
to collect your debt by any process ne .housn
idle estimate the honor and hdeh'y o. me Sea,es
as much as any man; what have we heard Tor the
last few wears from the other side OF the senate, pu
wild denunciaton of State extravagance-S'atc prom
pacy-and the dear blessed People TO be taxed 10 pay
Stale debts Suppose there comes shoI. crop :. ~
woud Il not be urged for not paying the
State debt And would you venture, under such
circumstances, to call upon them for your money
You dare not. Gentlemen have told you. In one
breath that you cannot protect your lands from the
squaters either by your tpstaves by your soldiers
and in the very next breath they say you can force
whole States TO comply with their contracts by the
power ofthe Judiciary Your army cannot remove
handful of individuals and yet you going to drive
the States by yeur Judiciary You cannot turn oil
poor squater who has sort of title, evidence or
pretence of title and yet you are by the most nugaiory
provisions Of this BILL TO Dust citizen OF state nav
ing deed from the State in his pocket and the whole
State power interposed between him and yonl If al
State shall declare that they will pay you doyouex
pect that individuals of that State will God forbid
should the day when this comes to be tried or
ducing it. You place the between two fires.
The State tells him to hold his land the General Go
vernment orders him to give up he is TO be hung
by the State If he dsobeys the State Government;
and if he obeys the State then he is TO he hung by the
General Government You never can enforce your
contract; the Judiciary is utterly incapable Of it, The
remedy which the amendment provides for the is
utterly inefficient. 1t is that, if the States refuse to
pay then the deeds made by the States to individuals
shall be vacated Pshaw! Why, as | have said,
with deed ALL the settlers have stood out against
you and you have been forced TO yield over and over
again; think you that, with State deed TO show,
and the State authority 10 shield them, they going
to march of their farms at the bidding of your mar
shalt He would be bold who would carry
process there say then that there great danger
in your establishing the pecunary relation OF debtor
and creditor with the States Ithey cannot pay what
will you dol They will resist in masses. They
have eighteen Senators this floor and is already
their boast that in ten years from this time they will
hold the balance ofpower, and that they will take the
land upon their own terms The remedy proposed by
the amendment is altogether fallacious 1t proposes
TO divert vested right, and to drive from lands
that he has bought and paid for.
Something of the same kind was once done by Con-
gress, (and the measure admit supported by my
self among others) by which the States became debt
ors TO this Government for distribution Of the
plus in the Treasury. And what has become of your
debt Who asks for it Who dare such de-
mand Have we not, in the very face Of this debt of
twenty-six millions due from the States, borrowed mo-
ney to supply the wants of the Government from day
TO dayi The Secretary of the Treasury tells US Of
twenty millions deposite with the States and
in the breath asks for issue of five millions of
Treasury notes A debt from the States! The States
cannot pay II; they will not pay il and dare not
ask them for it. would give you groat fol your
whole debt. Some difficulty will occur concerning it,
and you--will 70 give them all. Let us not then
take the first seplet not make debtors of States
too powerful for your management A contest will
arise and II they are too strong for you, you will be
subjected to them and if you too strong for them,
VIII be yet worse for they must be subjected to you
On these grounds am opposed to the scheme Of the
Senator for cession Of the public lands. trust
shall always be ready promote the interest othe new
States; but am not willing to such an inequality
OF DIVISION among them as that one man shall receive
90 acres of this domain while another man gets but
one acre cannot consent TO establish the relation
OF debtor and creditor with the States and so lose all
ihere IS one other objection to the measure to
which shall barely allude. am strongly impressed
nth the idea that, while the Old Dominion in ma
king US the cession of her territory wisely and eau
tiousy provided that the benefit should be raably d-
vded among all the States, land therefore among the
western States with the rest ye the main point of
view in which that cession is to be regarded is as f.
nancial transaction. In regard to the proposition for
distribution OF the proceeds, commonly known the
land bill of the distinguished gentleman to my right
(Mr CLAY,) occupy peculiar position. As an in
dependent proposition, have been against it but in
connection with the surplus revenue, was for IT, /
was for distribution OF the surplus accumu
lated IN the Treasury, and of the proceeds of the pub
TIC Ianus as forming part OF IT, we distributed both
the land revenue and that from the customs. We
have now the subject of the tariff opened again or
soon to be opened All questions before in regard
to the lands are complicated with the financial system
ofthe United States If had the control of matters,
l would set down five millions the income from the
public domain, and would then have moving scale
OF duties IN proportion to the wants of the Govern
ment But this is scarcely likely to be done The
tariff, suppose will be fixed, and movable with
nvewto give permanence TO great interests. That
q certain extent. Uermunent.
think, can doubt. How the proceeds of the public
lands are to be adjusted is different question. think
they should be adjusted contemporaneousy with the
tariff, or else suspended till the tariff is settled.
lcannot hut regard the proceeds of the sales of the
public lands portion and very important portion
OF the public revenue at all times but more especially
now, when there is public debt actually existing and
proposition before Congress to increase it, One of
the peculiar purposes to which the old Congress appro
priated the income of the public lands the pay
ment of the national debt We have, at this moment
an.acknowledged debt ofnear five millions. The Sec.
rotary OF the treasury demands increase of five
millions to meet present emergencies; and one
doubts that in deferred payments, in existing charges
in unsettled balances, and unadjusted claims there
are i've millions more ousta nding. Thus, on the 18th
March next, there will be national debt Of fifteen
millions. This is no time to give away any portion Of
our income neither 10 all the States nor TO portion of
them-neither to tweniy-six States nor TO nine. Ii
these proceeds TO be distracted from the general
treasury It were manestly best that they should be
disposed of TO the States generally. That would be
an approximation to justice and equity but the high
est justice and equty-the most honest and obvious
performance of our trusts to apply these funds the
payment of the national debt
The proposition of the Senator from Missouri to
appropriate these proceeds TO the Navy and the public
expenses is conceived in high spirit that il il well
calculated to enlist our sympathies and capvate the
Imagination. | heartily concur with him in his csti-
mate of the propriey oil doing something for the Ma
Wy That important branch of the public service has
been too much neglected 1t merits, at all times the
highest consideration. Its actual condition esacs our
most anxious attention. s glory and its usefulness
cannot be too highly estimated and fear it has fallen