The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-08-30
Eloquent Extract.

we w HoI Ic1utluueI dHlOilS tut cnllTe
discussion of that just and humane measure,
the Homestead Bill, to have seen a more
truly eloquent effort, than the extract we
give below from the speech of Hon. Mr..
MALLORY, of Florida. We deeply regret
this bill, looking as it did to the good of the
people of the whole country, did not become
the law of the land But Congressman were
too busy in the discussion of distractions to
pay attention to the wants Of the masses.
We hope the next Congress will take the
matter in hand and speedily pass a good
Homestead Bill. If it does, in one year
after the sanction of the Executive Mime
sofa will be knocking at the portals of the
Union for admission as State and there
by save Uncle Sam the expense of keeping
her longer. Besides, myriads of honest
men now destitute would be put in such
condition that they could achieve for them
selves and families an independence by the
cultivation Of the soil We give the extract
not for anything mew that it contains, but as
rare specimen of American eloqucnce:
If, as has been aptly said, the man who
causes even blade of grass to grow where but
one grew before" is a public benefactor how
much greater is the merit of the man who in
country like ours, whose glory and whose
hnf no 40
and intelligence of its individual members,
causes one citizen to stand upon the soil where
none stood before. Sir, a longing, fond desire
for the possession of land has, from the earliest
dawn of mans history, under all the phasis of
his civilization, been controlling element of
his nature; and this desire has ever been ear
nest and ardent in proportion to the freedom
and happiness of the country possessing it. 1t
may be regarded as an instinct of his being,
implanted by the Creator for the hottest ends !;
and from it have arisen train of many virtues
which have distinguished every great people.
This desire for land, to be landlord-the prou-
dest title of treeman-to possess a permanent
home upon the soil which he may call his own,
and transmit to his children, coupled with that
spirit of independence which impels the squat
ter to erect his cabin in the western or south
ern wllds, grows with his advancing years, and
burns with deep and abiding earnestness in
the hearts of his children.
Sir, | can well conceive the swelling emo
lions with which the son of man who, sub
DUNG the forest, the savage beasts and still
more savage men, has, by his energy and will
alone reared his frontier homestead, must regard
it. There, in that old homestead he was born;
and with it, the joyous years of happy youth,
the cares and struggles of manhood, the fond
affection of a wife, and all the tenderest ties
that cluster around the family altar, all are
identified. Every rivulet's murmur, every flow
ret's bloom, every forest path, inseparably blen-
ded with the sunshine of life, appeals to his
heart with touching and irresistible eloquence.
Sir, upon soil halowcd by such memories be-
meath the sacred shades where dwelt his father
and his mother, in the presence of those old
oaks or clms, which recall the tenderness of his
wife and the affection of his children the most
cold and calOus heart becomes enthusiastic, and
the frail and the feeble heroic. That spot is
not alone his home, it is bis world, his un1uerse,
Constituting at once his fathers tomb and his
children's hopes, with him it is consecrated to
the past and the future. The true security and
happiness of a country must depend upon the
virtue and intelligence of it's people; and what
more powerfully contributes to this virtue and
intelligence than connecting the citizens with
the soil? Greece, Switzerland, and Scotland
have had their Leonidas, Tell, and Wallace;
and history presents her countless lessons to
teach US that men become heroes upon their
own soil only.
"What constitutes State?
Not ighraised battlement, or abo,ed mound,
Thick wall or moated gate
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned.
Not bays and broada ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich naves ride
Not starred and spanglcd courts,
Where proved bascness watts perfume to pride
No Men hgh-minded men,
WIN powers as far above duh brutes endued,
In forests brake den
As beasts excel cold rocks and branbes rude
Men, who their duties know
But Know their rights, and knowing dare maintain.
Prevent the long aimed blow,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain
These constitute a State.'
Into