The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-26

| The recent tour OF The ADMIN istratl0n through
Mem York, has given birth to multitude Of
very poor speeches. We really think that the
standard of American popular eloquence is fall
ing quite low. If any man has found single
passage of argument of information or of beau
ty, he has been Tucker than we.
fir. WEBSTER, who was detained by the III
ness of his son at Dunkirk, went on alore 10
Buffalo, and was there received with much dis
tinction--and made the longest speech deliver
ed during the tour.
We give the following extract as specimen,
aEd we insert il also, to show what is the pro-
gress of bidding in the North for national honors.
"Well, gentlemen, as we are here indulging
in sort of saturnalia, and as we aie talking
of ourselves n little --(cIies OF "who!" "go
oD"-let me say, that frcm that day to this we
have heard of no pretensions en- the part Of the
British government that it could send an officer
on board of any. American ship, and tlke from
her any human being whatever, and, never shall.
(egeat npplause.) Lord Ashburton, with whom
negotiated and corresp ended on that subject,
was judicious and wise man. lie was good
deal i'm this country. He was married in this
country. He knew something of this country;
and he saw various relations between this
country and England in far more philosophi
cal int of view than most others, nld he
stated in speech, which is on record some
where. i must admit that when British sub
ject, Irish, English, or Welsh, becomes al
American, and claims no longer the protection
of his own country. his own country has no
right to call him subject, ard to put him in 6
position to make war on his adopted country;
- ho al ID hat
count it among the dispensations of Providence,
that the new facilities of transporting men from
country to country, by the power of steam, and
quickly, are designed by higher wisdom" He
said, we lave more people than land, and you
have more land than people. Take as many
from us us you please. That seems to be the
order Of things; and it is not to be stopped"
| told him that was my opinion too.
Gentlemen, this emigration is not to be stop
ped; we must keep things as they are; we must
impress all who come here with the necessity Of
becoming Americans. We must teach them we
must endeavor to instill an American heart into
all their bosoms. (Applause.) Gentlemen, il
it were not 30 late in the evening would say Z
few more words-(Cres of "go on, go on,"D
about the public lands of this country, and the
best disposition 20 be made of them. What
shall we do with them! There they are
amounting to a vast extent of territory--rich in
its natural fertility but can any one tell me
what is the value of land unconnected with
cultivation and social life A thousand acres
would not, in such case, be of the valne of a
dollar. What is land worth in the extreme in
teritor! Land is theatre for the application
and exhibition of human labor and when labor |
goes there it creates its value, and without it it
is not worth rush from "Dan to Beersheba."
don't wish to say on every acre OF ground there
must be n settlement; but there must be human !
labor somewhere near it there must be some
thing besides the mathematical divisions appor-
tonng it into sections, half sections, and quarter
sections, before land is of any value whatever.
But, gentlemen we have had series of events
in our commercial relations. The commerce Of
the country is filling the Golfers of the country.
it hus supplied, and now supplies every want
! of the government What, then, shall we do
with the public lands? During last Congress,
ats @ere passed distributing large quantities OF
+hsIs- varying from 100 acres, or more down
To SRa,es to those who had rendered military
| service t. the country. This was all very well /;
nobody goes further than do in desiring to
make happy those who have borne arms in their
country's cause, as well as their widows and
orphans: but this does not appear to me to an
swer the exigencies of the case What is to be
done? what is to become of those who come to
this country and have nothingto buy land with!
That's the question, gentlemen; the last measure
proposed by me before the last Congress was
the short and simple proposition, that every man
of twenty one years of age, who would go on
any urcultivated land in the country and take
up 100 acres and cultivate it for five years, it
should be his and there was an end Of it, and if
his widow aud children did the same, they have
it, One of the great evils Of this military bounty
business is, that when warrants are issued,
manage it as you will, they fall into the HANDS
of spectators, and do not accrue to those whom
it was designed to benefit. They sell for
trihe, and they fall into the hands of spectators,
as ] have already stated. Let me tell you an
anecdote on this subect.--l brought forward
! this matter in the Senate of the United States,
and soon afterwards | received letter from
Europe, stating that it was wrong and unjust,
because it would interfere with the rights of
those who had purchased warrants, to settle on.
the public lands, as matter of speculation
(Laughter) | wrote to them that it was just
the thing wanted, | was glad it was so, and
wanted it should be so. My proposition was,
that these lands should not be alienated, that
they should be free of claims for debt, that they
should be free of debt, that they should not be
transferable, and if man left his land before
five years he should lose it.
Now, Mr.. WEBSTER, and other NortheIl
statesmen, may be infatuated enough TO sup