Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-06-28

TnE HOMESTEAD BILL.

This Bill which passed the House some
months since and has been SO long before the
Senate, we had hoped was dead,-bnt it is
now understood that the Senate will pass it,
that the President viii approve it, and
thus will be committed an outrage upon the
just claims of the old states, hitherto UNI
parallelled in the legislation of cur country
Senators, who regarded the g Insane Bill''
aC manifcstly unconstitutional, have no scru-
Pies about giving away any quantity of Land
to voters. 1t is said that Senators Cass and
Douglas have no doubts about the conssi-
tutiopality Of this Bill. The Richmond
aail says
We sldn not quarrel with Messrs. Cass
snd Douglas for-the approval Of this unjust
and Ubiquitous measure. Being free agents
they are at liberty to do as they choose about
it. al we have to say on this point is that
Er. Hunter, and Mr.. Mason, and Judge
Butler and others wha have the reputation
OF being as good constitutional LAWYERS as
either General Cass or the little Giant, con-
cider this Homestead Bill directly at war
With the constitution, subversiye of good
faith and justice, and manifestly partial and
sectional in Its operation, as the whole ben
EFT of it will enurc to the North and West
tho South getting only a barren privilege,
which will never be of any service to her,
In truth, the continent of Europe will De
more benefited by it than the Southern
States of the Union-for a prem;am is therc-
BY offered to settlers from the old country,
at the same time that an acceptance of the
provisions of this bill by a Southern slave
holder is clearly impracticable.
But it is not q matter of such moment with
us whether Gen. Cass and Mr. Douglass APP
prove this measure or not. The great point
'of inquiry, now is, what is the Presidents
position on tits question 1t becomes i'm
portant 10 know this, because the lower
House Of Congress has already passed this
Homestead Bill, and we see it stated by
those who pro ess TO know that the Senate
will soon approve it also. 1t will then de-
pend on the President whether it shall be-
come a law or not. What will he do 2 VIII
he sign it, or veto ita VIII he consent to-
ihis virtual robbery of the Southern States
for the purpose of aggrandising sthe raapors
and criminals of not only the North and
West, but of all Europe also This is the
question.
So far as We know public opinion is nearly
unanimous on this point of Virginia. we
Of only one newspaper. the Warrenton
Flag, which has raised its voice in favor of
his wholesale system Of plunder-and of bs
politician, by nal1e Fayette McMullen,
.ho oy sons sort of accident misrepreseits
ne little Tennessee District in Congress, who
expressed an approval of this measure.
twentieths of the people of the
Southern States, without distinction O. party,
opposed to it. They believe that the
public lands belong to all the States, and
that the assertion that the people of the
South are as free to avail themselves of the
privileges of this bill as those of any other
section is miserable trickery and humbug =
A very natural curiosity may therefore be
INDUCED as to what the President designs
doing should the Senate concur with the
House in its action. Will the President
violate the Baltimore platform will he 20
couuter to the repeated declarations of prin-
eiple made by Southern Democratic Conven-
tons ; VIII he, in short, truckle to the
North and West in this matter, while he
throws a bone to the South in the way of the
acquisition of Cuba, We do not PREJUDICE
him. But we do not wish him to commit
this gorgeous wrong and outrage upon the
South. We think it the duty Of the South
err press to speak out openly and freely in
the premises-and that the sentiments and
wishes of the South should be clearly aud
Enthusiastically manifested to the President.
An view Of the speedy passage of the Home
stead bill BY the Senate we ask If there is
much reason to believe that the President
will approve the bill. Had we any conf
dence in his frmness or his independence the
South weuld remain silent and not fear the
result. But the people have no such conf
dence. 1t becomes them then to speak out,
and let the Administration know what it has
a right to expect should it give its adhesion
70 this radical, unjust and Agrarian measure.
There is no time for delay.
POST OFFICE CHANGES.