Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1851-01-30

!
general charge and expenditure and shall be faith-
FULLY and bona de disposed of for that purpose lana
Jor no other use or purpose 1ohatsoeuer.
/ Within the years 1888, 1856 and 1857 Massacbu
setts, Connecticut, and South Carolina. coded the
claims upon similar conditions The federal govern
nent went into operation under the existing constu
only provision OF that constitution which has direc
bearing on the subject Of the public lands, viz:
lhe congress shall have power to dispose OF and
territory or other property belonging to the u States
and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as
| particular State. VI VI "''
mus the constitution left all the compacts before made
Ia full force and the right OF all parties renamed the
same under the new government they were under the
| confederation. ~ ~
The deed OF cession of North Carolina was executed
IN Decemoer i1s9 and accepted by act of Congress
approved April 3D. 1880 The third condition Of the
cesslon was in the following words viz:
That all the lands intended to be coded bv v;rtue
OF this act to the United States of America and not
Appropriated as before mentioned shall be considered
States OF America, North Carolina incusiy, accord;nn
TO their respective and usual prouortons of the
charge and expenditure and shall be faithfully disposed
whatever" "a p'"poS7
The cession of Georgia completed on the 18th
June 1902 and in its leading condition is precisely like
| that OF Virginia and North Carolina This orantco
pleed the title of the United States to ali those
generally called public nnds. lying within the orionaI
limits OF the conederacy Those which have been ar
CURED oy the purchase OF Louisiana and Florida hav-
ing been paid for out of the common treasure of the
United States are much the property of the general
government, to be disposed of for the common benefit
| as those coded by the several States
by the facts here collected from the early history of
our republic 1t appears that the subject of the public
lands entered intothe elements OF its institutions II
was only upon the condition that those lands should
De considered as common property, to be disposed of
tor the benefit of the United States that some Of tho
States agreed to come into perpetual union /" The
States claiming these lands acceded those views and
fhnIr al t0 tt,NT T~..
tain specific conditions, and those conditions the
grants were accepted. These solemn compacs invited
by Congress in resolution declaring the purposes 10
which the proceeds of these lands should be apnjed or
ginatng before the constitution and forming The basis
on winch It was made, bound the United States tn n
particular course OF policy in relation to them nv ties
as strong as can be invented to the faith Of ma
tons. ~
As early May, 1875, Congress, in execution Of
these compacts, passed an ordinance providing tor the
sales OF lands IN the Western territory, and directing
the proceeds to be paid into the Treasury of the nied
States. With the same object other ordinances were
adopted PRIOR to the organization OF the present govern
ment.
In further execution of these compacts the Conpress
OF the United States under the present constitution IA
early as the 4h OF August 1880 in an act maxine Iro
vision tor the debt of the United States" enacted AS
| follows, viz
60 that the proceeds Of sales which shall be made of
lands IN the Western territory, belonging or that
may hereafter belong to the United States shall be- and
the same Is hereby appropriated toward sinking or dis
char gng the debts for the payment whereof the United
States now are, by virtue OF this act may be holden
and shall be applied solely to that until the said
| debt shall be fully satisfied"
To secure the government of the United States for
ever, the power to execute those compacts in good
faith the Congress OF the confederation as early as july
l3th 1887, in an ordinance for the uovprnment o ny
territory of the United States northwest of the river
Ohio prescribed to the people inhabitng the Western
territory certain conditions which were declared to he
articles OF compact between the original States and
the people and States in the said territory" which
should forever remain unaterabe unless by common
consent" In of these articles is declared that
1.-THE legislatures O. those districts or new Sta,as
shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the
soil by the United States in Congress assembled nor
with any regulation Congress may ind necessary tor
securing the title in such soil to the bona fde purcha
| sers"
This condition has been exacted froh the peope of all
the new territories and to put its obligation beyond dis
pute, each new State carved out Of the public domain
has been required explicitly to recognize it as one of he
conditions OF admission into the Union. Some of them
| have declared through their conventions in senarat,
acts that their people forever all right and IL
tie to the waste and unappropriaed lands lying within
this State land that the same shall be and rem at the
sole and entire disposition Of the United States"
| With such care have the United States reserved TO
themselves in all their acts down this day-in leo,s-
ang Tor the territories and admitting States into The
Union-the unshackled power to execute in good
faith the eompacts OF cession made with the original
! and certainly results r'
/, That one of the fundamental prjncinles on
which the confederation OF the United States was orsi-
WpSt
within their limits should be the common properly of
the United States.
2. That those lands were ceded to the United Staes
by the States which claimed tn en- and the cessions
were accepted the express condition that thew
should be disposed Of for the common benefit of the
States according to their respective proper tons in the
general charge and expenditure, and for no other mr.
pose whatsoever.
3. That in execution of these solemn compacts. the
Congress of the United States did under the conede.
ration proceed to sell these lands and put the avals
ia and iln1art
tuition, did repeatedly pledge them for the payment of
the public debt OF the United States by which each
State was expected to proht IN proportion the gene
raj charge to be made upon it for that object
These the first principles OF this whole subject
which think cannot be contested by any who ex-
amlnes the proceedings OF the revolutionary Congress
the cessions OF the several States and the acts of Con-
gress under the new constitution. Keeping them |
deeply impressed upon the mind let us proceed to ey.
anime how ia the objects ofthe SESSIONS have been
completed, and see whether those compacts are not |
still obligatory upon the United States
The debt for which these lands were pledged by |
Congress, may be considered as paid and they are |
consequently released from that lien But that pledge
formed part OF the compacts with the States or of
the conditions upon which the cessons were made
Il was contract between new parties-between the |
United States and their creditors. Upon payment ofthe
debts the compacs remain in full force and the obi
cation OF the United States to dispose of the lands for
the common benefit is neither destroyed or impaired
AS they cannot now be executed in that mode, the
only leg mate question which can arise is, in what
other way are thse lands 10 be hereafter disposed Tor
the common benefit OF the several States "accordine
to their respective and usual proportion in the general
charge and erpenditre" The sessions OF Vrainia
N. Carong and Georgia. in express terms and all the
rest mpledly, not only provide thus specifically, the
proportion, according to which each State shall profit
by the proceeds Of the land Sales but they proceed to
declare that they shall be '.taithfaty and bona tide
disposed OF for that purpose and for other use or
purpose whatsoever" This is the fundamental law of
the land at this moment, growing out of compacts
which older than the constitution, and formed the
cornerstone on which the Union itself erected.
In the practice OF the government the proceeds of the
public lands have not been apart a separate fund
for the payment of the public debt, but have been and
now paid into the treasury, where they constitute
part OF the aggregate OF the revenue upon which the
government draws well for its current expenditures
for payment OF the public debt. In this manner they
have heretofore and do now lessen the general charge
upon the people OF the several States in the exact pro-