Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-04-19

and dormant? Is It to remain unproductiveg What
is the great object of acquiring territory? When
YOU acquire territory that is appropriated you have
not only the power but in obedience to the object
for which it was acquired it is your duty to pass
laws that viii encourage and induce the settlement
of that territory. Has not that been the prachceg
The fathers Of the Republic looked at il in that way
and gave it that construction say it is the duty
of the Government TO adopt those means that will
induce settlement to populate unsettled terri
tory
win say here, that do not believe this Govern
ment can dispose of the territory for other than
governmental purposes; but it dispose of it for
some governmental purposes for which it cannot
dispose of the public money. 1 know that this sort
of argument is sometimes made: you get money,
you buy land, and you give the land away That
does not affect the broad provisions of the Cons:itu
ton at all. If the land is acquired by treaty, wheth-
er you pay money or not it then passes under the
general provision ito dispose of the territory" If
we acquire territory must we have back precisely
what we pay for that territory? If the argument
be sound case it is equally soundin the other
Where are the great and patriotic men who have
gone to the battlefield and persisted at the lannon's
mouth. Can we get them back! Where are the
great that now sleep in foreign land, who fell
in deadly conflict with foreign foe, beneath the
crimsOned spear. and went to their long, narrow
home, with winding sheet save their tenth blankets
which were saturated with their blood! Can you
get them back? If you must have back what you
men, get back the fathers Of those orphans that are
left in the land get back the husbands of these wd
Ows who have been made poor and destitute, before
you talk about getting back the dollars and cents.
Where would you get the material out Of which to
coin this blood!
Who, then. is entitled to this public domain? Are
not the descendants of those who shed their blood
and offered up their lives tho altar of their coun-
try entitled to little piece Of ground upon which
they can make their support? Whose land is it. Is
no 1aut'c9 no * he
ment's, whom does the Government belong to. 1t
belongs to the people The Government is the
agent and it has no right to withhold from the great
mass of the people that which is theirs.
Mr.. WIGFALL. VIII the Senator allow me to
ask him what he means by the people! l ask him
seriously, because | want reply.
Mr.. JOHNSON, of Tennessee, l would rather the
Senator would not interrupt me-. He can reply at
ter | am through. l am asked what mean by the
people l think it is a term well understood ard
comprehended by everybody in this country. if not
by the Senator. I do not deal in technicalities.
speak in broad sense. When | say the people,
mean the material that constitutes the Government
the bone and sinew; that portion of the community
that produce all, that sustain all, that do all the
fighting and win all the victories.
But we have had brought into this discussion az
rariansm, and this is said to be an agrarian mea
sure. Hhy, sir, it begins where agrariauism ends
and instead Of going down the line it ascends. II
does not propose to take away what belongs to any
OOQy else and give to the people. but the whole
proposition Is simply to enable the rightful owner
the man who has made the sacrifice, either by him
self directly his ancestors or somebody connect
ed with him. TO 90 forward and dO-what? Take
somebody elses Mo- but 10 take portion of that
which belongs to him. TO take part of that which
is his. The public lands belong to the people; and
as before remarked, they were acquired by then
blood and treasure and they are entitled to Partic
pate in their benefit How many quarter sections
Of public land have you in the United States t.! Ac
COrding TO a table have had made out at the Land
Office, we have seven million quarter sections. How
many heads of families are there in the United
States Do you discriminate by tins bill No, bu
you say TO the rich and to the poor TO ALL 60 anC
take a quarter section OF land" You discriminate
against none.
Thus each individual is left at his own option, Il
go and take part of that which belongs to all.
said there were seven million quarter section.
How many qualified voters there in the United
States There are not more than four Million i
my memory serves me right; and if you give
quarter section to each head Of family-as every
body belongs to one family another-the heaC
getting il would confer benefit through the tami
lies. What is your whole voting population? No
over four million. Then you have three million
quarter sections left after giving to each quail
fed voter in the United States quarter section
which is a little over half of what belongs L
him. Is that anybodys else? Is that agrarian? Die
you ever hear of a Government being over
turned by the people having property? 1t is for the
want Of 1t. | want to let the great mass Of the
owners of this property come forward and take
part of TIA which belongs them, and for which
they hav ed their blood. Is it agrariansm Il
permit nan to take possession of that which j
his Does that take from anybody else anything
that belongs to him!
Then, what injustice is done 10 the old States? .
there any? As to the idea of doing them injustice
by filling up the States and increasing their pc
litical power. there Is nothing in II. Suppose tn,
population remains in the old States when you ap
portion Representatives. do you not give them Rep
resentatIves in proportion to population. 1t Is true
making new States as Nifginss has made five, so taI
the Senate is concerned, has an effect ~ political
power: but q man IN a new State will not count
more than he will in an old State. 1t does not affect
the other branch single scintilla, so far as that
goes.
But a word as to agrarianism and the Gracchi
There are a few persons who have learned to talk
about the French Revolution and the JacObins. and
the Red Republicans and the Gracchi, and the agra
rians and all that. and they get up a terrific idea
and make everybody fear that there Is something
terrible in the measure. 1t is learned and literary
and classical to repeat these things, and gentlemen
constantly talking about them and losing sight
OF the great principle of the great object to be
COmplIlhed Of amehOrating the condition Of TIE
great mass Of the people out of that which belongs
to them. You may talk about Tiberius and Caius
Gracious, but there were never two men more SIAN
dered in all the tide of history. l wish to God we
had in this day possessing their spirit and
their courage and their energy. When WIS Rome
in her paImiest days: When she acquired large &C
cessiOns of Territory, and her territory pOpu-
lated bv her citizens: while the great of the
people had homes, tie Roman eagle carried terror
into every continent that was invaded by her That
was the time when Roman citizens were most re-
spected.
Under the LEHMAN law. every Roman citizen was
qualified to share in the possession Of newly acquir-
eG public land, to an extent not exceeding five hun
dred iugers. This applied only to the public do
main. That stood the law for a long number Of
years: but gradually they commenced violating it;
and when all the lands public and private, passed
into the hands of a few, Rome sank into a rotten
aristocracy on the one hand, and what was denomI-
mated at that day pOpuaCe or what we call a rab-
BILE, on the other. One class owned the lands and
were corrupt the other class were poor and servie
they were shut out Of homes; and when Rome had
decayed to her very core, when her greatness was
gone. when she was perIshlng, the GraCChi came
forward and attempted to dO-what2 To take away
the land belonging to others: No; but their effort
was to restore Rome back to the Lcinian law which
had never been repealed, and had only been tram
pied under foot by arbitrary power, by usurpatiOn
That was what the Gracch attempted to do ; and,
for making their attempt to do this, they were over
thrown. On a certain occasion in Rome, when Ii
berius Gracious was making his speech as history
bears out in saying, this dependent rabble that
would do anything for few sIXpences and grog IN
stIEated by taCtOuS Senate and arlSOCraCy, knock
ed him down and killed him with one of the pieces
of timber that constituted the rOStrum which he
stood. That is the way Tiberius Gracious fell.
The Roman Senate united with the rabble and muir
dercd and annihilated the man that was trying to
stand by the people. Yes and that too in the season
of the year when those who lived in the rural dis
tricts were not accessible to Rome, and could not
get there. Ii was IN harvest time, when they were
at a distance. That man was there struggling for
them. advocating and sustaining their rights and
they were IN their harvest fields; and a corrupt
Senate Joined the rabble and murdered the peoples
man. Niebuhr. in his Lectures Roman history,
thus describes it,
he time approaching when the trbunes for the
year elected The trbunes entered upon their Office
on Of December; but long time passive do
begant elections had taken place very
the year, the commencement OF July, the end
june Italy. The trbunes that time,
Away in the Senate and took part in the discussions
TbtruS Gracious there treated with the vulgar
and unrded fury, have evident him. that
day without his sacred magstacy, he would
the VICTIM opponents He would aueT the expiration Of
trbuueship still have been triurir dgTOTg diCEeHdO
, inviolable. lie therefore
himself accordance with the law, candidate for the
buneship fer the year following
1.-THE events which occurred day convinced Tberius
that his life in danger, and he about
people acCursed criminal with his only begging
them protect the chds life. his that
place this Of the year. the country
people, WhO other time would have tOcked
thousands support and protect him, detained
lab3rs the fields The population Of the city
Indifferent towards GraChus number Of having
interest the affair under the most decided
influence the opmates In this instance, the
constitution from what il had former
times though single ota Of the had been altered
territory farther than about
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