, 1841-01-16
From tie Globe.
* SIvArr. Dec. II. 1870.
PERMANENT PROSPECTIVE PRE-
EMpTlON LAW.


1I-lt Ip-N In W..
Agreeably 10 the notice given when Ill,
Senate was last in session. MIR. Benton rose
to ask leave to bring in a bill for the estah
llShrlent OF a permanent prospective ?Cc-cHp
ton law in favoroi Setiicrsna the public lands
and p~refaced his motion for the leave lie va,
about TO ask. with some remarks upon the
character OF the bi!! lie proposed To introduce
the appropriateness Of the present time fol
bringing 1t forward. lhc general utility OF tie
presumption system, and TIE public expecta,
ton to see it now permanently established.
He said that the presumption laws hereto
lore passed were temporary in their duration,
and retrospective in their operation; they
were only made 10 include settlers UP 10 4
limited day, and 10 remain in force for 4
limited period. The latest act of Ills kind
was passed on the 50ih day of June last. and
only included the settlers to that Lay. The
subsequent settlers received no benefit from
that act; they were now without protection
from law; and it was unjust and unequal to
make any distinction between The settlers be.
fore and since that day. All were equally
entitled to legislative protection, AMI 50
would be all future settlers: and instead at
extending this protection from time Ia time.
by temporary and limited laws. il was inst
and proper TO provide for all cases at once.
the future as well is the existing cases, hy
establishing a permanent prospective pre-
emptlon system, 10 operate regularly and
uniformly in all time to come.
This, said Mr.. T., has always Teen he
object of the friends OF the presumption !5Ws:
thoy always lUoLcd 10 Il permanent system:
and considered the temporary acts which
were passed as merely stepping stones and
entering-wedges 10 the main object. This
has been constantly expressed. and some
times attempted; and the suspicious moment
for a successful effort, So long desired, seems
now TO have arrived. All parties are now in
favor OF the policy which leads 10 the perml-
nent pre-emptIvc syatem. The summer ni
1910. and the Presidential canvass which
has inst terminated, has produced. or devel-
oped, 4 %unaninuty OF sentiment on this de-
sirable point. Tie actual Prcsiden, Mr.
Van BUREN, has long been in favor Of this
policy, and has SO expressed himself in re-
peated messages, 10 Congress: the President
elect General Harris1I) is represented To be
favorable 10 II also, and has had the benefit
OF that representation in the late Pres!den-
tIal canvass; the Democracy are the known
advocates OF p~re-emptiuns, and fought them
up, in many hard contested actions. to victory
and popularity; the FeAeralists, long their
enemy, have now seen the error other WAYS
and have become the foremost supporters of
the policy they had opposed. TIE poor man
and his ~synonyme, he iog-cabin. have be-
CON the absorbing objects. and the burning
themes OF their love and cloquence. They
celebrate them ia all forms. and wear the
S!1n o. the cabin III every article of dress aud
furniture. Now the cabin, the poor man
and the Pre-emptlon, 90 together: and lie
that loves one. must love the other. The
triple affections 90 together; and in these at
iections the Federalists of 1870 have shown
themselves TO be most deeply immersed
The gentlemen of this party have hctaken
themselves 10 the love oflog cabins. and all
their parnphernalia, with the fury and incon-
thence of a sudden and romantic affection.
They build them with their own hands, and
plously dedicate them-thev sing, dance.
drink, and speak in thcm-they attend them
day and night-they decorate them with APP
proprIate trappings with gourds, coonskins.
buck horns. beaver traps, and whatever else
denotes the real cabin of the poor man, and
the pre-emptioner-they devote themselves
to the service Of these rude edifices with a
zeal unknown 70 the degeneracy of modern
times. Like Pygmalion, they become mad
ly enumerated of the work Of their own
hands, and deliver up their lives to the enjoy
ment of its contemplation.
Mr.. B. said it would be incXcusable in
the friends Of the pre-emp,ion system not TO
take advantage Of this favorable conjunction
of parties and circumstances TO press the in
terest of the real inhabitants of log cabins
the frontier men of the new States and Ter
ritories-whose enterprise lays upon Tie
wilderness, whose courage protects the in
FAINT settlements, and whose labor reflects val
ue upon the national djmain. This is the
man whose toll demands our protection.-i
He builds a cabin, not in the city, but in the
woods: not with music Teasing, and crowded