Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-12-08
THE STAUNTON SPECTATOR.
S'EAUNTON :1a=-
WEDNESDAY. 7DECEMBER s, 1852.
HE Public LANDS.

Is tildt all our iSaulIlg lines vi HtSiu1i HPO'I
ment must be urged on to completion without de
anywhere the funds are to be obtained is anoth
or matter, and one that probably has not beel
considered as fully as its Importance deserves
To abandon these great works upon which VI
have entered would be unwise in every respect
and no one can advocate such On idea; and yet t
prosecute them by means of appropriations from
the treasury, as heretofore, will impose an oppres
sive amount Of taxation upon the people. Th'
only way we are aware of by which the end St
much desired can be accomplished, surely, speed
lily, aud without eXhorbitant taxation, is for TIT
State to demand and receive from the Fedora
Government in public lands Or land warrants wha
she is justly entitled to.
We are not disposed, at present, to view thi;
matter as partizan politicians. The Presidential
election is over, no other election is pending, ant
Federal politics have become trite and uninterest
ing. We rather consider the question as one O
State policy solely, with which the distinctions
between Wing and Democrat have nothing to do
but in which every taxpayer of the Common
wealth has deep interest. The question ther
arises, shall We claim our just share of the public
lands?
The Wings indeed have advocated distribution
and the Democrats have Opposed it, but there are
signs which indicate that, out of Virginia at least
party prejudice is giving way to common sense
s. an enlightened selEinterest. The House of Com
mons of the North Carolina Legislature has passed
resolution claiming for the State ga fair and
equitable portion of the public lands or the proceeds
thereof" to be applied to purposes of education
internal Improvements and in relief of the public
burdens of the State. Many Democrats support
ed the resolution, and its chief advocate was Gen
RoMULUs Nj. SAUNDERS, a distinguished member
OF the party. 1t is true that Gen. SAUNDERS adj
vocacy of distribution is based on professed con-
tirgency-the perseverance Of Congress in the
policy Of granting the public lands to actual set
tiers and particular States-but that policy is set
tied and fixed, and there is probability that il
will soon be carried to greater extreme than ever
before. In defiance Of the Democratic Platform, q
Democratic Congress has granted millions of acres
Of the public lands to the new States, and now we
see the whole West arraying itself on the ques-
ton aud asserting claim to the entire public do
main. Col. BENTON, is going back to Congress.
with the declared intention of caryingout if pos
sible, this magnificent scheme Of spoliation. His
plan is thus developed by himself in the course Of
u late speech delivered in Missouri;
''The extinction of the Federal title to all the
lands in the new States, says he, sis IS essential tC
their interests as was the extinction Of the Indian
title; and all the authorities Of these States, and
all their Members OF Congress, should stand to-
gether upon that idea. ~ day certain should be
demanded, after which the Federal Government
should cease to be the owner of an acre of land
within any new State; and the speedy and certain
extinction Of that title should commence to be OPP
Grated by just and liberal means. First, dona-
ton for homestead of one hundred and sixty acres
to every head of family, widow, or single man
over the age of eighteen, Downing no land or less
than that quantity, who would inhabit and cult
vate it for five consecutive years. Second, grad
uated prices according to the length of time the
land has been in market, to all purchasers. Third
", liberal grants to the States for railroads and
other Improvements Fourthly an immediate ces-
sion to the States of all the lands within the nflu-
ence of malaria from the swamps. Filthy an alb
so,de ceSsion Of all the lands remainiag t0,diposed
Of IN each State on the first day Of January in the
gear 1860"
The above undoubtedly indicates the position of
theWest. Wings and Democrats are united upon
The ouac+;on ,,b;oh hos -; ~ a,suro Loot tic n,rt,,
character and assumed sectional aspect. A lead
ing Wing paper published in ST. Louis says
1.-THE time has arrived for us to demand the abso-
lutte cesson of the public lands to the States in
which they lie." Now let it be remembered that
the West is annually growing in power and will
soon have the control Of Congress- and it is appa-
rent that unless some means are used in time to
prevent sucl result the old States will in few
years be robbed of al their interest in this common
property. If any State in the Union has right
to separate portion of the lands 1t Is Virginia,
for she gave large part of them to the Federal
Government to be held for the gooG of all
Yet our Democratic members of the Legislature
and of Congress look calmly on and see acre after
acre voted away to objects in which we are not in
terested, and the prospect daily increasing Of our
being deprived of the whole domain. 1t is in vain
for them to talk about Constitutional scrupes, :"
State sovereignty, the Resolutions of 1913, and all
that; the land is going and WILSON be taken from
us, unless they arouse themselves to action. What
then, we ask will our Legislature do at the pres
ent session. Will they call upon our representa-
tves in Congress to demand for us fair distribu-
live share Of the property, which otherwise will
accrue to the benefit of Missouri Illinois and 9TH
er new States or will they continue to insist tina
we shall construct our various internal improve
ments and support our schools under the weight Of
taxation too grievous to be borne? These are
matters for the people Of Virginia to ponder, and
their present representatives in the Legislature
and Congress are regardless of their best Interests
it becomes them to look out for dif1erentmen when
another electioa approaches. The present is a Ia
vOrabe opportunity for obtaining our portion, and
we may not have another. BENEFITS Land Bill,
having passed the lower House OF Congress at the
last session, will come up in the Senate during
this winter Virginia would get by it 2,5OO,OOO
acres in land warrants, worth about $3,0UU,UUU.
o. The Washington Union, the leading organ
of the Democratic party, after indulging in some
censure of the Administration on account of its
management Of Cuban affairs, expresses the fol-
lowing just sentiment "Any attempt by a COM
pany of private citizens to force Purser SMITH into
the port of Havana, when the Cuban authorities
forbid him TO come there, and when our govern