Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-03-16
The Standard.
REMARKS OF H. c. JONES, ESQ,

4 dVVqIVs
REMARKS OF H. c. JONES, ESQ,
OF CRAVEN,
Delirered in the House Of Commons at the tate sss
sion Of the Legislature, on the Homestead BILL
Mr. SPEAKER: The object proposed BY this bill is
the attainment of permanent home by every free
man in the State Of North Carolina Against its ia
vorable consideration and passage may, as of yore
be arTaytd that apparently strong argument-lim-
1ation and restriction Of credit To this reply that
although credit is the fife Of trade and commerce,
which freights our baoyant ships upon every sea,
POUNDS our populoas towns and cities, and renders
our country great IN material wealth. yet it should
not be stimulated to such degree as to induce our
citizens to aSaobe themselves of their necessary
garments OF to deprive themselves of that with
which they ought not to part, and rarely do only
under the most urgent nece sity where the stern
.edct of the law has gone forth that so it shall be.
Ya, our legislators, in times past have set us the
glorious example. Upon our statute book are legl-
bly, written the principles set forth in this BILL 1t
there declares that the instruments, tools, with
which man gains his livelihood, the raiment that
conceals his nakedness and warns his life-bood the
bed upon which he reposes and the little store of
food which he may have garnered up, shall be his
above and beyond the law. We only ask you to 60
one step further to put it in his power to have and
hold little tenement whose frail shelter may serve
the kindly purpose of protecting him from the win
try blasts and the summers sun; place wherein
to deposit that humble bed upon which he may pros
trate his weary limbs and enjoy the greatest luxury
known to the poor man-calm, refreshing sleep
bought only with the price of physical labor. Sir,
invoke all to follow in the footsteps of our prede
cessors, who, moved by sympathy supported by
reason, have placed upon record this one great act
of humanity, which will ever rebound to their credit
aud mark the period as one of refinement and i'm
provement Is there man within the sound of my
voice ready to deny that home is indispensable to
life, to comfort, happiness and prosperity? If not,
why withhold your hands from doing the noble
deed? Upon one side stands credit with all its
power, grandeur, pomp and poverty upon the other,
home around which clusters the thronging men,
cries of the past, appreciation and enjoyment of the
present. and bright hopes of happiness and prosper
ity in the future.
But, sir, it is urged this bill will impair credit. l
take issue with the proposition and contend on the
contrary, that it will give healthy activity to sound,
iudicous credit 1t will add to our population and
increase, immeasurably increase, the number of
those whose labor and whose strength will be ex-
pended upon our native SOIL wherein all riches lie
many of whom are now but moths upon honest
mems labor 1t will form the strong armed and the
strong hearted soldier whose interest and whose at
tachment, contented in their homes will form our
safeguard in time Of war; and in time of peace assist
in swelling the list of our expectations to degree
never before witnessed.
Sir emigration from our State has never yet
ebbed its flood but in continuous outpourng
stream flows her wealth. her strength and her po2u-
lation. Year by year, yes, day by day. her sons
and daughters are bidding adieu to the scenes of
their childhood, exiting themselves from the land
of their nativity, and seeking homes and new
friends in the land of strangers. Do you wish to
bool do of otio md
country smiling under the happy influence Of their
hands? Provide them home, which to them and
theirs will be lasting inheritance, around which
they may plant their vineyards and fig trees,
to enjoy the fruits thereof Sir the benefits of this
bill are as expansive the limits of North Carolina
and their salutary effects upon the moral social and
political condition of our people, as perpetual as
time itself; and although in their broad comprehen-
sons all classes castles of society are included yet
they are not peculiarly intended for those whose
ample means enable them to enjoy all the comforts,
which wealth can only procure, nor those whose
vagrancy renders them at once the object of our
pity and contempt; but sir, for the unfortunate
whose of property has been dimmed and over
Swallowed by clouds of adversely, who, ever ready
to strive, but despair because improvement becomes
impossible under the heartless mandate of the law
To them it will be the beacon light which will lead
them safely the darkness of the sea of life and
save them and their unoffending offspring from want
and misery, from dshonor and an untimely grave
Virtue, sir unprotected virtue-womans first great
est and most priceless treasure is supplant at our
feet appealing to our manhood and bcseechng of
US in the name and memory of those most sacred
and dear, home which may shelter them from vile
contact with the trappings of gilded crime. Sir
place this bill upon our statute book, side by side
with that which has gone before, and you will dis
seminate throughout North Carolina home feeling
home desire and home pride. Hold out to them
this great boon of home, however homey, and you
will arouse and refreshen that longing after home
which, by the wise providence of God has been i'm
planted in the bosom of man. Sir, you will touch
the sympathetic cord that vibrates in every heart
and from the cesspools of crime and degradation,
from debauchery, prohigacy and squalid misery,
from inactivity, indifference, rresolution and des-
pair, you will draw out your thousands to the hon
Orable and compensating pursuit of agriculture.
Yes, sir, it is my humble but honest opinion that it
will accomplish for the comfort and well being
Of our people and their posterity than any act ever
passed by the General Assembly of our State Sir,
thus the bowling of countless heads, the cheerful,
contented song of the milk-maid, the woodsmens
axe as it makes the welkin ring, the curling smoke
arising from fine fresh raised homes the constant
buz of the loom, the spindle and the saw, and the
busy form of commerce will soon give cheering to-
kens Of rapid development Of our now dormant but
vast resources and that the plains of eastern
North Carolina, now silent as the tomb will be alive
and abound with human habitations as if the fruc-
tifying ril had poured forth its water thereupon
and the barren spots upon our western hills where
vegetation has never dared peep FORTH will smile
and bloom, as though some genii bard had touched
them with its magic wand.
PETERSBURG RAILROAD CoMPANY.-The annual
report Of the Stockholders Of the Petersburg Rail
road Company, for 1853 showing in compact form
the business of the road during the year named,
was laid before us on yesterday. The document is
from the press Of o. Ellyson, printer, Sycamore