The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-04-30
The Public Lands.

The public lands, and the course which the
Government may rghtfully and with the
greatest advantage pursue in regard to them,
are topics that continue to occupy a large share
Of attention in the House of Representatives.
Scarcely day passes without contributing its
quota of speeches in favor of one or another of
the views that have been presented for consd
eration; and as, by ths time, members who
pay ordinary attention to their duties must have
become perfectly familiarized with all the as
poets of the question, we may not unfairly pre-
sumo that our Congressional columns will at no
remote period exhibit evidence Of the effects
produced by these repeated efforts Of oratorical
power. Our apprehension is that the laudable
endeavors of gentlemen TO add to the stores Of
fact and argument already accumulated. will
shortly be found TO lessen the chances of actual
Legislation on many projects of the highest
immediate importance. The desire to rem
der theories transparent may perchance d.
minish the opportunities Of reducing even the
best of them to practice. We do not allege
that this will be the case. We merely hint
that such mishap is within the range of pos
sibility, and that knowledge of it should
stimulate gentlemen who have charge of, or
are friendly to, great measures of improve
meni, to increased vigilance and activity. The
bills granting tracts Of land 10 Iowa and Mis-
approval Of the Senate, are never heard of now
a days in the House and the whole cluster Of
measures Of similar character-after having
been paraded as so many scarecrows in the co
umns of divers eastern contemporares-are
only spoken Of incidentally as things that may
be benefcially considered when there is time
for the process.
Enough has transpired TO impart strong pau
sibility TO the belief that our public lands sys-
TEN is destined to undergo speedy and iolera-
bly, sweeping change. II were idle TO attempt
to ignore the growth of an opinion adverse to
the maintenance Of the policy that has hitherto
prevailed So long as that opinion was con-
fined to the ranks Of agrarian dreamers, it pos.
sessed few claims to attention at the hands Of
Legislators; but it is impossible to peruse the de-
bates in Congress without arriving at the con
clusion that men whose strong practical intel
lecis remove them far from the category Of po-
itical spectators or enthusiasts. are fast tend
ing to position equally hostile to the existing
system. They act from different motives, and
for reasons the opposite Of those which govern
modern agrariansm; but still their attitude is
not less Incompatible with adherence to the
course that has in the main regulated the land
policy of the American Government.
The present system must be regarded as
having had It's origin under the controlling in
1uences of necessity rather than of choice. The
plan propounded by Mr.. Clay indicated the
light in which the Wing party viewed the
claims of the respective States then embraced
in the Union to certain proportions Of the pub
lie domain; and the principle laying at the
foundation Of that plan has ever since been cher
ished as one worthy Of adoption. Immense az
QUESTIONS of territory have taken place in the
intervening period, under circumstances that
have served vastly to complicate the question,
one of division, and TO give strength to
considerations that were comparatively unim
portant twenty years ago. The cost Of wars
and treaties does not, however, form reason
for perpetualing our present policy, though
suggesting many motives for dealing with il in
none but the calmest and most judicous tenn
per. To look upon the unoccupled domain of
the Republic as the source from which TO defray
the expenses Of the National Government is. in
our humble Judgment, mistake not sanctioned
by any liberal Interpretation Of the conditions
that governed the surrender of their title by
the old States, or by any thing approach
ing to a statesmanlike view of the rela-
tive rights and obligations of the various sec
tons of the Union as it now stands. New
York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut,