The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1862-06-10
A RepnbIican Pledge Nebly Ne.
deemed.

II the success Of the Republican party j
1860 we're to result in securing no other ben
eft TO the country than the passage tn
Homestead Law, giving free homes to ever
man in the United States, it woald be emit
tied to the lasting gratitute Of the whole peo
pie. The passage of this law not only secures
to nll who think proper TO avail themselves o
its provisions, free home OF one buudred anc
sixty aces of land, but il innuguates ih,
most comprehensive and enlightened policy
for the encouragement Of emigration, and lh'
settlement and development Of the resources
Of the country, Which has ever been adopted
by any country. The act contains 10 condi
tions or qualifications designed to coufne the
settler to the poor tracts, or drive him back o
the remote corners Of the public domain; and
! though partial offers of such gifts have often
been made, one of which is by his State, " il
is doubtful whether any endowment, on SC
magnificent scale has ever been conferred,
as the Montreal Herald says, " on the money.
lees sons of labor, not of one country, but OF
the civilized world.
One of the great wants Of our nation is
people. We have hundreds of millions OF
unoccupied lands, and the Government can
in no way so effectaly and securely promote
the interests of the country as by policy
wbich shall settle these lands with hardy emi-
grants. Every hundred and sixty acres Of
wild land that becomes cultivated under this
will. within five years, quadruple in value, so
that If within that tins Two hundred millions
Of these lands shall be taken up and settled,
1t will add six hundred million of wealth TO
ba haa;loo r., g. &
more than one million two hundred thousand
free men. But this is not the only object
this noble Republican law will accomplish. -
1t will result in effeclually excluding forever
from our immense public domain the blight.
ing curse Of slavery, though it may be only
after similar bloody Struggle TO that which
secured Kansas to freedom. This calamity
should be saved the hardy pioneers Of our
country by making the bill which prohibits
slavery in all ths territories Of the United
States, and which has already passed the
House, the law of the land.
A law dedicatins our vast territory 10 free
dom, and granting it in quantities of one hum
dfed and sixty acres 10 free men, constituted
the leading policy Of the RePut lican party,
and it was upon these measures that they
went before the people in 1860 They have
nobly redeemed their pledges to give free
homes 10 the homeless, and it only remains
for them to complete their programme hy APP
plying the Wilmoi Proviso to our vast terrific
ries. Either Of these acts would be incom-
plete, and be deprived Of much Of its value
without the other. On this subject the pa
per to which we have referred above Justly
says tba, even the gift OF land would have
been poor alternative to free men who are
to cultivate their farms with their own hands,
if by the side of them there should exist an
institution which max all labor degrading,
and the occupation of M inferior caste. And
on the other hand, the most effective way to
shut out slavery is to people the new lands,
where it might otherwise seek to extend Itself,
with men whose position places them IN natur-
al antagonsm TO the plantation system.
The attention OF the world is naturally
turned to the exciting scenes which ave being
enacted, and are expected TO bo enacted, by
the hosts of armed men now confronting each
other. But war is in its true nature Temporal
ry, and perhaps the lew engagements which
are called decisive battles of the world would
be reduced in numbers if we could eliminate
from them those which were nero symptoms
of the direction Of moral and physical forces,
rather than the impulses which produce that
direction. The civil transactions OF the last
few months at Washington will make their
impression upon ages to come, when the bat.
ties on the Potomac and Tennessee will be
regarded as mere accidents in history. They
Law the foundation Of States larger by sever
al times than al Europe, and they mark of
the dwelling places and the homes Of boge
population Of free yeoman, who IN the next
balf century will probably exceed in numbers
all people who now live on the Northern
Continent of America, on this side Of the
Mexican boundary.-Dstroh Advertiser.