The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1855-01-13


Moved against the principle free government the great
principle Of political and civil equality AZ pfoeiaiu ~
Jefferson and the benign religion o. onIs'A9 W.
derided In the persons Of the humble hshSrmeh WI" wy
The Class 81 men for whom this BIN is intended 70 pro
vide are not drunkards and oaers Ihey are he same
class who under Washington, In lfIo erected me
mon the heights of Dorchester and entered the town OF
Boston Us General Howe withdrew They are Tue same
who ia the trying march nom neia 70 neiu hets sy
shark of their patriotic devotion, but In the hour OF us
Ter like their gallant leader still cast their eyes 10 e
mountains the dernier resort and inai refugooi
liberties With Washington they fought brayey ~ bran
ayyine and Valley Forge and witnessed with him. the
surrender of CORVALLIS AT Yorkewn-the closing soehe
the revolution They the same class who a,'ei
In the struggle which began in 1872 in which the young
America again called upon to contend Win inc pow
OF England for the freedom of the seas We're iouna oy e
side OF Jackson at New Orleans braving WIN aaahuess
breasts the British bullets and oayonet ana senag u
the victorious shout from under that glorious WIN"
they had borne to immortal triumph lhey are le s
who with General Taylor gathered uniadng muels upon
tbe deadly field of Buena Vista who landed with Scott at
Vera Cruz and accompanied him IN ms heroic inaieh
through the valley of Mexico TO the gates % te o,l
and they are the who, under It's beetnng Walls,
| having extinguished, by sure aim, the lighs upon
/ the rampars fought afterwards through the gloom
and confusion of night and until the broad spendors OF
the meridian sun shone upon their flag of victory waving
over the Plaza They not drunkards ana lohers,
but of that class who in time OF peace turn tne
and gather the harvest and who constitute the bone ana
snew of the from Maine TO Texas They are tne men
who repe savage violence from the frontiers VINO zen .e
forests and who are every the chief producers oil the
sui stanal wealth of the country They are OF mat CLASS
who swing the hammer and drive the plane VINO pan a
who build and who found at the awi ana 'ne s =,
the prnting-pres and the looms OF that class whic eu
the locomotive and guide the steamer which constitute
our mercantile marine and which hll every class %
trial pursuits II is the class which has produeea Main
and Rittenhonse and Godfrey, and Fulton, and morse
may 90 step further, and say u Is the class Wcn pio
duced Powers and Cleavenger and Greenough anu tam
ford and Mills who with the chse OF Praxates couu
almost make the marble speak and West who as with
the pencil Of Raphael could almost make the brook muir
muir down the painted landscape u, a.. ;,oono,,.
.D1a In,r. off r NH
gentlemen who urge them LET pass for moment 70 the
merits of the bill 1t strikes me, Mr. Speaker that inc
nroper point from which to survey this subject Is thas
which enables to contemplate It as great question OF
policy the settlement of the public lands and Their re-
mova from the halls of legislation Inc uhwieuhess
and expense of the present SYSTEM and the degree 10 Whch
f il monopozes and embarrasses congressional action are
potent reasons change That change must be made
at no day there be doubt for these evs are
increasing with each recurring year In the DISPOSE
ton which is 10 be made OF this public properly aese
that and foremost the actual settler should be seme
bered Nor ii Just that you should regard the dispos
ton by this bill gift is right rather to CONSIDER IN
addition the consideration of fourteen and one-ha Genus
e per acre, which obvates any ianced consutueon s
pies and the original cost OF purchase ana he e
tnguishment of the Indian title the occupation
and cultivation ample compensation as ar petle
fulfilling great object of disposng OF the pubic lands
namely settlement and the development OF Their re
sourceshan the present system OF selling AZ ~ 20
acre 10 persons who buy with intention of ever occu
ynp the lands themselves but solely to proht by the rs
in value consequent upon the improvement OF the negh
d boring lands by the labors of the actual settler
N o''N
elements are properly to considered besides those
revenue greater addition is thus made to the posi-
"A tive wealth the country and to her means OF defence
than it is possible to procure by means OF revenue si
III from the sale of the lands
we fnd in referring the history of that country iron
4 which we derive our representative system and the doc
"a trines of the law that the tendency OF the bes
minds Of the century that has just passed was 10 he con
u cluson distinct principle that government ands ar
ve most wisely administered in private hands This primer
n pie has received emphatic recognition from one OF ne
m wises 1t Edmund Burke who in the Eng
fish Parliament more than seventy years ago. IN aaSoe
n eng policy in its important aspects similar to that nov
proposed that remarkable declaration in regard
ye the Of the Grown lands OF Great Britain Una
m, "hey should be thrown into the mass OF private properly
by which they will through the course OF circulao
e. and through the political secretions, into weregulae
no revenue" .roo, ,a, - =. ,--"...
our land policy. In speech which had tn
honor to make before at the session in avoeac
OF this measure ut pains to collect from coona
history many striking instances in which, for the
n purpose of settlement tracts of terrorypor
N ons of these populous and hourishng Staes-wer
granted to few individuals by governments mucl
es less favorable to individual rights than Thu
grants proposed though small in amount are part
or e same recognised and Wh The IN
ing class of peopehose for whom direct egisla
ton has been had hithertowho will receive the frs
benefit OF the We may remember that has been
often urged as an argument for high protective policy
and for United States Bank that those measures would
better enable the rich take of the poor But il
government action be invoked to favor directly the in
terests OF class who capitalists and proprietors
order that benefit may flow indirectly to labor what is
there in to prevent from comforting the same ben
eft more surely and directy2 But the bill creates no
odlons or unjust distinction and the wealthest citizen
alike with the poorest becomes entitled the same prvi-
eges upon the conditions of settlement and cultivation
It Possessing, rs this measure does in my estimation an
Importance far above the huctuating Influences of the
times did not hesitate at an early day to give to the
whole OF my humble influence have in consequence en-
Joyed the high honor OF seeing it twice carried by
decided vote through this the popular branch the ma
uonal legislature and of missing only by little the seal
OF the senatorial appreciation. And still the measure
stands as high in my regards still see it as
arreacing and sanitary in its influence and worthy
inc most earnest attention of the most eminent states
manshlp. 10 IS still promising more than
any other to impt strength to the State, by unfolding
her natural resources and by providing her with
merous population, attached to her by the ties of graft
tude-by love for the soil which furnishes them with
a subsistence and home and which is their ouN-a popu
laon which is interested, in the highest degree the
preservation of republican institutions and whose
tues should be kept alive the vesa fires which will
preserve in its integrity the machess fabric Of American
liberty for which our fathers fought
1t has been ascrbed the peculiar danger the perpe-
tuity OF democratic governments the temptation yield
to measures which promise present but temporary benefit
to the neglect OF those whose benefits though great
and decided yet The consequence is rest
less and excited career terminating carly in national ruin