Weekly national intelligencer., 1852-05-22


able member from Illinois (Alr. FIcKLS) quotes the
prophetic language Of Mr. CALHOUN where he says that
owing the rapid growth Of the States they would
ultimately own these lands; and therefore proposed
while the old States yet had the power to do voluntar
y what at distant day they would be compelled to do
from necessity and adds similar opinion is init
mated by the honorable member from Massachusetts,,
whose views upon this question at able and
and 50 practical What Mr. Calhoun years ago predict
ed might be the state Of things thereafter and what the
gentleman from Massachusetts, Be certain about
and clearly the gentleman from Illinois open
ly and boldly upon the floor Of the American Con-
gress. He says:
There is settled conviction in the new States that
they have been treated fairly in regard the public
lands and it need not surprise any that Us
they acquire the NUMERICAL STRENGTH which will enable
them to redress their wrongs they will do by declaring
their jurisdiction over and title the public lands with
in their limits, and maintain their declaration
This, sir is very significant declaration Of Western
rights In regard to the period On this jurisdiction and
title of the States will be asserted the gentleman,
in another part Of his Speech says:
"How long it may be before the twelve Land States
with the addition Of California may assert and maintain
their right over these lands, remains to be seen 1t will
probably not be great while
This sir is extraordinary language to emanate from
Representative of State which carved out Of the
territory Oeded by the old States to the United
States and concerning the and future dspo-
sition Of which the pary ordinance Of July 18th, 1887
was made For in that ordinance, among other things
it is stipulated that the Legislatures Of those districts,
neW States SHALL NEVER INTERFERE WITH PRIMARY
DISPOSAL OF THE BY THE UNITED STATES IN Con-
aREss ASSEMBLED ci any regulations Congress may
find necessary for securing the title in such soil to e bona
de purchases.* The same compact was recited in the
of Congress Of April lSth l8l8 (authorzng the Peo
pie of the territory of Illinois to form State Consttu
tion,) by prouiso that the Constitution Of said
State shall not Be rugnant 10 the ordinance Of 1887 bstoee
The original States and the People and States Of the territory
nortae of the Rusr Ohio, and which re-afrmed in
the resolutions of Congress Of December 8, 18l8 admitting
said StdH into The Union Should the State of Illinois,
therefore, undertake usurp the fee Of the public do
main within its limits and proceed to make grants of
land would not question for the judicial power Of this
Government to decide at once arise?"
With regard to this claim for the new States
claim nothing less than Revolutionary in its char
acter-we are enabled, by the kindness of an old
and valued acquaintance, to adduce testimony which
may yet have weight with those who in general pay
little respect to any authority that stands in the
way of their notions of. progress" Though now,
we believe, for the first time, openly propounded in
Congress- this pretension Of right in individual States
to lay violent hands upon the lands of the United
States within their limits is not new but dates as
far back as the pretended right of nullifcation,"
and, it may be added, is fit pendant to it. About
the time that that heresy was broached, Letter
was addressed to the venerable Ex-President MADI
SON, by an old and attached friend of his request
ing his opinion to s'the power and propriety of
Congress giving away the Federal Lands to the in
dividual States" To this request reply was re-
ceiyed, of which the subjoined is an extract, from
the publication of which time has, since it was
penned, removed the restriction then imposed by
the writer The Italics in the extract of course
our own:
| EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM JAMES MADISON
ssMoSTPELIER, JUNE %, 1881.
My DEAR SIR: / have received your letter
of the 18th, and am very sensible Of the good
views with which you request an answer at length
to Me claim of the ne,o States to Ae Federal lands
Z cithin their limits But you could not have
sufficiently adverted to the extent of such job,
nor have recolected the age have now reached,
itself an infrmity, with others always more or less
incident to it; nor have been aware of the calls on
me, as the only surviving source of information on
certain subjects now under anxious investigation
in quarters which am bound to respect. feel
the less regret at being obliged to shrink from the
task you mark out for me, as / am confident there
are others equally if not better qualified for it. and
as it cannot be long before the claim, if not aban-
doned, must be taken up in Congress, when it can
and will be demolished, unless indeed the able
champions be kept back by hankering after a
Western popularity. In my situation | can only
say, and for yourself and not for the press, that
have always viewed the claim as SO unfair and un-
just, contrary to the certain and notorious in
tentions of the parties to the case and directly
in the teeth of the condition on which the lands
were ceded to the Union, that if technical title
could be made out by the claimants, it ought in
conscience and honor to be waived. But the title
an the People Of The United States rests foan-
dotion too Just and solid to be shaken By any tech
nical or metaphysical arguments aohateUcr. The
known and acknowledged intentions of the parties
at the time, with prescriptiye sanction of so
many years, consecrated by the intrinsic principle
of equity, would overrule even the most explicit
terms as has been done, without the aid of that
principle, in the case Of the slaves, who remain
such in spite of the express declarations that all
men are born equally free"
In our few and brief remarks, after the passage in
the House of Representatives Of the Homestead
Bill" we addressed to our readers these questions
"For who does not see that this Bill is but the
entering wedge to further and total dspossession
Of the public domain? And who does not see
that-the public domain once exhausted by these
gratuitous donations-the next thing in order will