The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-12-02

The PUBLIC DoNAN-THE RIGHTS OF THE Ma
JoRITY.--O Our dispatches from Washington, pub
lished 10 the Herald Of yesterday, stated that the
to Congress this session will be the fullest and
most important ever compiled 1t will chow
that the public domain-that 10, the land which
belongs to the peoples equal to two-thirds Of
the entire area comprised within the territory
Of the United States. Now, the whole area of
squsre miles (2,936, 1867; the public domain
therefore embraces very nearly two millions Of
square miles, to which tie people of all the
States and Territories have an equal right At
the end Of the fiscal year 1852 we find that there
remained unsold in the Land Office over Q
thousand millions Of acres of public lands and
this has not been considerably diminished
within the past eight years.
All this vast tract, then, is the property equal
Iy Of the people throughout the entire Union,
South as well as North; and how absurd 1t is
for the leaders Of the republican party-Seward,
Wilson, Sumner, Chase and the rest of them-to
declare that the election Of Mr.. Lincoln settles
forever the question of the extension Of slavery
into the Territories and States organized and yet
to be organized. Have not the people Of the
fifteen Southern States the same claim to and
the same rights upon these two millions OF square
miles as the people of the eighteen Northern
States? Aud If they have, how can they be
constitutiopally excluded from exercising their
rights of property there?
According to the process by which the Pre-
sident ia elected, Mr.. Lincoln has succeeded in
getting plurality of the electoral college 1t Is
uue-and that vote be obtains exclusively In
the Northern States-b,d there is a majority Of
million against him on the popular uote. He
received vote OF, say some one million ssven
hundred and fifty thousand, while a vote of two
cast against him. Are the rights and title Of
this immense majority to the public domain to
be ignored or overridden by the fact that he OBJ
tained majority vote Of the electoral college
sufficient to elect bimi We opine that
they cannot and should not be; nor can it be so
readily taken for granted that the accession of
the republican administration will settle the ques-
ton OF slavery extension In the Territories as the
republican politicians would have us believe.
Popular msjorities are not to be overridden,
nor the equal rights Of the whole people to the
public lands ignored, by the chance triumph Of
a car didate who represents only one third Of
the voters of the Union. II will not be dis
puted that the people Of the fifteen Southern
States have equal claims with those people Of
the North who voted for Lincoln upon these
two million square miles Of public domain,
comprising within Its area some Of the most
fertile land on the face of the globe-the richest
in mineral products and agricultural resources;
and how can tbese just claims be satisfied upon
an equal basis II the capital and property of
the South are to he forever excluded therefrom
and the public domain Is to be left open to the
capital and property Of the North, which are to
mud full recognition and ample protection tberes
This Ia question which 1t would take an ADLER
statesman than Old Abe Lincoln 10 solv-