Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-06-19

deepest interests not only of the present, but OF
future generations. Tennessee is exceled by no
other State the fertility other soil and her natural
resources, and in some respects is superior to any
of her sisters. She can grow cotton and tobacco
and all the grains and fruits peculiar to temperate
lattude-and that in unlimited profdsion. At the
same time her vast mineral wealth and water power
furnish inducements for manufacturing, such as no
other State possesses But what all these
treasures worth without the means of Development
They are ike pearls at the bottom of the ocean.
Other States far inferior in natural and
extent Of territory, have outstripped her, not only
in material but in intellectual progress. Loyal, /
brave and Industrious her people have been,
they seem to have been born TO destiny Of toll and
endurance and privation One Of the first born |
daughters OF the republic, she came before the |
altar OF the Union, arrayed in splendid apparel, |
and with no rich endowments Of fortune such as /
now mark the advent of her younger sisters. The |
only wealth was the stout hearts and strong Of
her pioneer settlerswhOse mission to garrison
and guard and protect the frontier and extend and
strengthen the westord borders of the Union. And |
from that day to this, her citizen soldiers have |
mingled in every conflict for the honor and glory Of
the country. They have followed your eagles in |
every march-and their bones bleach every battle !
field, from this capital to the gates of Mexico. IF
public lands have been won by the sword their !
blood has flowed in the conquest If public lands |
have been purchased, their treasure has paid its full
proportion If the standard of national renown has
been elevated, they have contributed even more |
than their share. But when distribution of re-
wards and tavors takes place-or rather when a |
common inheritance and common property is to be
divided, all these services and prvations are for
gotten. The cloud Of public favor passes round her
territory, as the clouds Of heaven are said to pass
around the desert of Sahara and pour their refresh
ing streams upon happy vales and smiling noun
I tain fha
own resources, and to perish in the sand.
When many of the new States that are now
patronized by the government and loaded with
wealth, were desert wilds inhabited only by savages
and wild beasts, Tennessee was performing the
offices OF patriotism, at the cost of her blood and
treasure. Her joint efforts with the other old States
enabled the new to have an existence They are
/ the creatures of a common toll and sacrifice And
yet according to the recent policy of the government
| the new States must have all and the old States
nothing. | am not opposed to the new States-I
| wish them the highest prosperity, and would not
| take from them acre that they have received
| But desire Tennessee to have her share not more
| desire it in the same spirit, and upon the same
principle of immutable justice, that one heir to an
estate desires equal portion with his co-hers? Or
il you please as one partner claims an equal share
of the nett profits Of the capital stock manning
! when the business is wound up. But besides these
| unequal appropriations, the public land is being
! rapidly diminished, in another way. Under the pre-
text of furnishing homes to the hardy settler, the
public land is actuhly being given to great extent
to spectators. Many of those who call themselves
hardy honest settlers, but the tools OF unprinci-
! Piled land pirates, who hire them TO squat for a
stipulated sum, and when their presumption Is per-
fected they transfer their right to their employer
receive the wages of prostitution, and go their way
! to make a similar contract in new locality. Thus
the government IS swindled-the public land is
wasted, and spectators made rich-and all in the
name of "the hardy settler" Let me not be under
stood TO deny that hundreds of honest men do par
take of the public bounty in good faith and with the
proper spirit. Now with this compound policy, of
hvortism and waste, the public lands will soon be
gone The new States and Territories and indi-
viduals and companies will be made rich while the
! old States will be impoverished. Their population
and capital will leave them, and they will be awak
ened at last from their fatal deuson, by the voice
of an oppressed geOple, and by the spectacle of ex
hausted fields and silent workshops sleeps aud gen.
eral decay.
But notwithstanding the justice and sound policy
of restoring the equality of the States in regard to
the public domain, and securing to Tennessee her
share so hardly earned and so important TO her f.
ture prosperity, the proposition encounters a fierce
opposition even in our midst This is not the first
time that good cause has found enemies Every
reform, in all ages both of religion and government
has had to fight its way forward. Party discipline,
prejudice and passion combine to defeat what
neither fact, nor argument, nor can success
fully combat. If it were possible to determine by
popular vote, whether it should rain gold for twen-
ty four hours, and the proposition made il
would meet with opposition. Some would fear they
might not get their share, or their neighbors might
excel them. Others would dread the chances OF
changing their present social position, and Others
again Icouid doubt its constitHtioHaiity, and rot.
I'm AMI in, - fha
there is chance to succeed There certainly is
chance for anything to succeed unless it is support
ed But whatever is right will sooner or later tri
umph, if its friends are to it, Let US try wha
can be done by full exposition Of the truths of thi
great question before the honest Of the State
But it is urged that it is unconstitutional to divide
the lands or their proceeds among the States Those
who take this position have aided and abetted, anC
muny of them voted to give away large bodies o
the public domain to the States. That ofcourse
was CONSTITUTIONAL or they would not have done it
But how could they vote to give land TO or two
or a dozen States and refuse to give it to alp
Is there any magic in the ne10 StdtesP
there any magic in fer StdtssP "Ah!" but sa,
they, ''the land we gave away lay in the States 4
which made the grantsl" What Of thatS IL wa
the land Of all the States. Tennessee might bul
land in Illinois, and who could question her titlel-
Land may be given to Tennessee in Iowa. and Wit
would gansay her right of control and disposition
Did not the general government derive all its it'll
to the public land from the States and from the PEG
pie? And must not its power OF disposal be correla
tive?
Where the power under the constitution Il
purchase Louisiana, the Mexican provinces?
must have existed by implication. II has beef
claimed under the clause ITO provide for the com
mon de fence and general welfare" And to ADM
that the government had the power to acquire land
and had not the power TO dispose of them wOul
be absurd. But we are not left without express au
thority in the Constitution on this subject. In sec
ton Sd art 4th it is declared that "the Congress
shall have power to dispose Of and make all need
iul rules and regulations respecting the territory
other property belonging TO the Unite States; an
nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed a
to prejudice any claims Of the United States, or
: any particular State" Could hnman language b
| palmer or more comprehensive? The power -
dispose Of" is plensry and the power to make rule
and regulations is qualified only by the term need
ful, of which the Congress is 20 judge. The powe
ITO dispose CT" il without qualification or testriC
ton, and embraces every variety of mode by whic
he public lands may be parted with, that il doe
not prejudice the claims Of the United States or
any particular State. For this objection never had
and have not now, any respeef. IL Is utterly NJ
tenable and ridiculous. IL might be dficu
on the other hand maintain the eonstitutonalit
Of al these acts giving lands particular States "a
such legislation seems 10 me in violation Of th
claims of the United States THAT is all the States
and especially OF those that receive nothing by it,
The lands the property OF all the States wher
ever they are situated, and must be applied for N
, use and benefit Of all alike, whether old or new
D great small, meritorious unworthy. There CT
be other rule Of justice sound Interpretation
r So Gen. Jackson must have thought when in lsS
{ be announced that the public debt was nearly e,
tnguished and the public lands ought 10 cease
= soon possible to be source Of revenue and
e would be for Congress to dispose Of them in son
!. other mode. So Mr. Buchanan thought too. whe
l. a few years later he declared himself in favor
e distribution.
r But il is urged that II the public lands or the