Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-05-27

and mechanical portion Of tho ccmrau-
nifty ara TO be re led Upon for The prssefva-
tion and CONTINUES ace Of this Government. The
great mass Of the Teople the CREST middle class are
honest. They UJil for their support accepting no
favor from Cover nmeut They live BY labor They
10 not live By CO assumption, but by production and
we should cohsl Ime small portion Of their produc-
ton as II is pos sible for To- consume, leaving the
producer to appropriate to his oWR use and benefit
as much Of the product Of his oWn labor as it is
possible in the nature Of things to do The great
mass Of the 2 eople need advocates who are
honest and spable, who willing 10 defend
them. How much legislation is done for them -
How much Is done for classes? How little csre
seems TO be exercised for the great Of the PEG
pie When we among our constituents il is very
easy to max appeals to the people aud professions
Of patriotism and then-I do not mean to be personal
or inVidiOus lit is very easy when we are removed
from them s. short distance, to forget the people
and legisat the classes, negecting the interest of
the great m ass. The mechanics and agrioulturisIs
are honest, industrious, and economical Let il
not be supposed that l against learning or edu-
cation, but might speak OF the man in the rural
districts, in the language Of Pope:
g Unlearned, ne knew sehoolman's subtle art,
No language but the language Of the heart
BY nature honest, by experience wise
Healthy by temperance and exercise"
This is the kind of men whom we must rely upon.
Let your public lands be setel let them be filed up;
let honest become cultivaors and oilers Of the
soil. do not claim 10 be propheuo, but | have
sometimes thought that if would properly direct
cur legislation in reference TO public lands and
or other public policy, the time would come when
this would be the greatest Government on the face
Of the earth. Go the valley of the Mississippi;
take the western slope Ofthe mountsintO the Pacific
ocean; take the whole Of this country, and we
fud that have over three hundred million square
miles, Throw off one fourth as unft for cultivation,
| reducing the area Of the United States 10 fifteen
hundred million acres, and by appropriating three
/ acres 10 a person, il viii sustain a population Of
| over Eve hundred million people; and l have no
doubt, if this continent strained to its utmost
capacity, it could sustain the entire population of
the world Let us &c on and carry out our destiny;
interest men in the soil; let your vacant land be
divided equally so that men can have homes; let
them live by their owu industry and the time will
come when this will be the greatest nation on the
! face of the earth Let agriculture and mechanism
maintain the aseendency, other professions and pur
suits being subordinate to Them for on these two all
others rest.
Since the eruci6xion Of cur Savior emigration
has been westward; aud the poetic idea might have
started long before it did
oWestEard the star of empire takes its way"
1t has been taking its way westward The United
! States are filling up. We going to the Pacific
coast. Let me raise the INQUIRY here, when, in the
history of mankind, in the progress Of nations,
there any nation that ever reached the point
occupy When was there q nation in its progress
in its settlement, in advance in all that constitutes
and nation great, that occupied the position
we now occupy When was there any nation that
could Look to the East and behold the tide Of emf
! grafton coming, and at the same time turn around
and look to the mighty mighty West, and behold the
tide of emigration approaching from that directiOn
Tho waves Of emigration have usually been running
in one direction, but We find the tide of emigration
now changed, and we are occupying central posi-,
ton the globe. Emigration is coming to US from
\ the East and from the West, and when our vacant
| territory shall be filled up, when it shall reach
population of one hundred and fifty or five hundred
| millions, who can say what will be our destiny?
When our railroad system shall progress on pro-
Der principles, EXCEEDING from extreme Of the
country to the other, like so many arteries when
your telegraphic wires shall be stretched along them
az the tendons in the human arm, and they shall
run in parallel lines aud be crossed at angles, until
the whole globe, as it were, and especially this
great center shall be covered like a network with
these arteries and tendons: when the face Of the
globe shall ash intelligence like the face Of
when it shall become sensitive to touch-We, Occu-
pying this important point, receiving acquisitions
from the East and from the West, may ind our in
stitutions more perfect science may be advanced
that instead Of receiving immigration, instead Of
receiving nations from abroad this will be the great
sensorium from which notions Of religion, our
notions OF government our improvements IN works
of every description shall radate from this as
common q
Who dares say that this is not destiny, if we
will only permit il to be fulfilled! Then let US 90
on with the great work of interesting men in be-
coming connected with the soil interesting them in
remaining in your mechanic shops; prevent their
accumulation in the streets Of your cities; and in
doing this you will dispense with the necessity for
all your pauper system. By doing this you enable
each community to take care Of its own poor. By
doing this you destroy and break down the grsst
prospensity that exists with to hang and labor
and perish about the cities Of the Union, is done
now in the older countries
1t is we'll enough, Mr.. President, to see where our
public lands have been going. There seems to be a
great scruple now In reference to the appropriation
of lands for the benefit Of the people but the Fed
eral Government has been very liberal heretofore in
granting lands to the States for railroad purposes
We can pass law after law; making grant after
grant Of the public lands to corporations, without
alarming any one here. We have already granted
to railroad monopoies, to corporations twenty -four
million two hundred and fOry -seVen acres. Those
grants hardly meet with opposition in Congress-
but it seems to be very wrong, in the estimation Of
some to grant lands 10 the people the conditions
proposed in the bill before US. We hnd further
more that there have been granted TO the States as
swamp lands-and some Of these lands will turn out
to be the mosi productive on the gobe-forty mil
lions one hundred and thirty-three thousand five
hundred and sixty five acres
In relation to the public lands, and the grants
which have been made by the Government, I have
obtained from the Commissioner Of the General
Land Office several tables, which now submit
Estimate Of the quantities Of land which will nure to the states
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