The Arkansas banner., 1844-07-03


 ,, more fully on the subject, and endeapor to j expose this SYSTEM OF INIQUIFY" In the National IntelIigencer of the 5th
 February, 1888, the proceedings of the 2Ith
 January are published, and in them we find : the following, VIZ:
 ''1Jr. Tiptons. l will repeat as nearly as can what was Aid yesterday, and if go
 wrong, he (1Tr. Clay) can correct me l r understand that he denounced the settlers on the lands as lawless banditti of land robbers,
 unjustly grasRing at the public treasure. 'sHere Nr. Clay rose aid said thathe would
 repeat what he did say on the occasion refer red to by the honorable Senator from Indiana. :, g. He djd say Htat tte SQUAITERS oatbe public lands aeeye c LAWLESS RABBLE; lhat tbey might ds relI SEIZE UPON OUR q FORTS, OUR ARSENALS, OR ON THE PUBLIC TREASURE, aS j0 r3tsB o0t end / Sei@e oa tbe public lands
 " ".ur. IGpton resumed. The Senator ad- mitsA AWtthe expressions used by him amount ed to What have repeated"
 7 By MT. Clav's own witness, therefore, 1t is ;, proved, that he called the settlers on the pub
 lie lands, without discrimination, 'sSQUAT- j TIERS, ,"s' 4 LAWLESS RABBLE;2' and said
 < they might as well seize qpon our forfs, our
 arSeaals, or ou he public treaSure7 What {, Is that bat to call them PUBLIC ROBBERS? i?
 The report in the Globe varies very little from that in the lntellgencer IL includes
 the "public ships, y in Mir. CIay's eompari-
 son, and represents him as saying that 'sile achols pre-eaptioa sgstem Putfifed and cor- rapte3 aB l t0ucbcd.o
 Mir Claws abuse of the settlers created a great seusations and was severely commented | on by the friends of the bill.
 MT. Clay of ,ala5ama, said She did not know to whom the Senator from Kentucky alluded; but, if that Senator escaped the de- nunciations of the hardy pioneers of the west, { whom he had charged as violators of the law, trespassers who had seized upon the public property, and whom he had stigma
 tized as perpetrators of the most dsgraceful 7 frauds, in terms so injurious to their charac- ters and feelings, he would be fortunate in-
 deed''
 See Cong. Globe, 1337-8, page 143. :. h Senate, Jdauarg 27, 1838.-Mr. Nor-
 veil said, the Senator from Maryland seemed to suppose that this bill proposed 10 give q 3 bounty to the pre-emPtion settlers upon the public lands. This was mistake The bill 1 gave only preference to actual settlers upon these lands They were obliged 10 pay the | Government price for them. They were the = pioneers of the new States-the eultivators of the soil--the defenders of the country against . Indian aggression. Il was to them, in great
 degree, that the west was indebted for it's early E advances iii settlement, cultivation, and civil : ized comfort. They had made the wilder- |. ness blossom as the rose-the desert smile ? with gladness and joy. Was 1t proper 10 l deHounce such men as keaTtiesS tre8pa8Sers, :. .frandaleRt &peeHlators, robbers of tie public ! lands, as they had been denounced by the l Senator from Kentucky, Mr. Clay.n) Appendix 10 Cong. Globe, 129.
 Mr. Young of Illinois said, "Y es, Sir, it has been emphateally said by all honorable : Senator, Mir. Clay of keHtuekv,) tAat they l mightas well seize upon your forts and ar S senals, your ships=uPon the ocean, or plum :. der the money in your treasury, as thus 10 r seize upon the public lands, and appropriate e them to their use in violation of law, and
 against the just rights of the naton7 Sir, r the honorable Senator much mistakes the s character of this people. There is not, Mr.
 President, more peaceable, orderly, indus tfious, hosPitable people to be found in any ] comny.7
 r App. Cong. Globe, page 131.
 s.Senate, Jall 29, 1898. Mir. Lyon I let , these settlers have been denounced by the
 Senator from Kentucky Mr. Clay as land pirates,' 'plunderers,' 'robbersp Do they
 deserve such epithets? Whom have thev rob
 bed? Certainly not the Government They
 are ready to pay for the lands they occupy, all the Government could have sold them for.
 had the policy of the Senator from Kentucky
 been adopted, and the settlers kept of those
 lands. They have committed no waste, in- Jured no one, either the Government or any r individual They have in truth been of ser a vice to the Government, by giving additional value to lands lying in the neighborhood of their improvements, and thus enabling the / Government to sell those lands at an earlier
 period than t could have done had their im-
 proYements not been made.7
 App. Cong. Globe, page 128.
 Mr. Clay, followed Mir. Lyon and did not deny that the terms LAND PIRATFS.1' ?
 "PLUNDERERS7 and sROBBERS,o ex-
 pressed the ideas he intended to convey as to the character of the settlers on the public
 lands. A part of what he did say Is thus reported, viz
 Mr. Clay of Ky. Following Mr. Lyon.)
 "sir, said C. will meet them with the laws of the country. Let the lands be exposed to public sale, and afterwards at private sale,
 and then put in force, if necessary, the ex- istng laws, and REMOVE these LAWLESS ;, INTRUDERS from the property they have
 forcibly appropriated 10 their own use- What right had they to the public domain , more than any other description of PLUM
 DERERS 10 the goods they may seize upon i?
 An auctioneer has his warehouse broken open
 by q larless body Qf armed men; one man
 seizes upon bale, another upon hamper,
 and another upon something else, and says
 he has right to it at his own price, When
 other persons come to auction, and say, Ar.
 Auclioneer, why not give me these goods on
 as cheap terms as these centlemen who have