New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-09-12
CoNPusCATToN-mR. STEVENS.

living statesmen OF this or any country, anu i''
opinions bear the weight which is commanded
by unquestoned honesty and ripe experience.
A native Of Vermont, he has given nearly al
bis adult life to Pennsylvania, to her signal
advantage and his own lasting renowh' ne
will be remembered with afiectionate graVtuuc
as the author of her Common School system
after a score OF Presidents shall have been
utterly forgotten. As the master-sprlt oil Gov
Ritner's administration, inaugurated thirty
wears AGO. he contributed signally to its useful
ness and its unpopularity. AS member OF the
State Convention which soon after revised, but
did not improve, the Constitution OF Pennsyl-
yanis. his votes and speeches proved him in
advance of the greater number of his Sotempo-
raries. And it is truth which will long serve
to keep green his memory that, through the
darkest hours of general abasemcnt at the foot
stool of the Slave Power, though living on that
Southernsborder of the Free States where that
servility is most general and applicable, he never
dissembleG nor qualified his intense hostility to
the internal institution, with all its adjunctS
and belongings,
Mr.. Stevens is one of the few intrinsically
great men now left in public liie where he, in
the natural course Of events, must soon be
known 10 more. As one of that small number
OF our able politicians who were never bewitched
by misleading view of the White House as the
predestined goal Of their ambition, he speaks
with unusual freedom, and is heard with q trust
which the mob of Presidential aspirants
neither command nor deserve
His faults are those common to men conscious
of superior ability and of elevation above all
petty or personal aims-a tenacity which to
others seems obstinacy, and boldnesS in pre-
senting and urging his own especial views,
which seems to imply contempt for all adverse
convictions-qualitieS which advancing years
are not .apt to vail or soften. Both are con-
spicuously manifested in his recent Lancaster
speech, whereof the most important passages
We're given in our last.
Though there is much in tina. speech that in
vites comment, we take issue only with that
portion Of il which demands sweeping contis-
cation of Southern lands; and, in order that it
may be freshly before our readers we reproduce
it-as follows:
There arc about 0OO 900 OF freemen in the South
The number of OF land is 45j, 900 OF this.
those who own above 900 acres each, number about
20 900 persons holding In the aggregate together with
the States about 1874 10000 acres leaving for oil the
Others below 200 EACH about 100000 OF acres. By
thus Oreiting the estates of the leading Rebels the
Government would have 39i 10000 Of acres. beside
! lpir Ia
would remain untouched. Divide this land into con
venieut farms. Give, yon please. 40 acres To each
adult male freedman. Suppose there are l.OOVOJ OF
them. That would require 4o0000oo OF acres, which
deducted from 34 600 900 leaves J 100 of acres for
sale Divide it into suitable farms and sell 1t 10 the
highest bidders. Think II, intending town property
would average at least $40 per acre That woald pro
duce s3.540,0O00o0.
/ Let that be applied rs follows TO wit:
al Invest $500 OO1 900 in six Per cent Government
bonds, and add the interest semiannualy 10 the pm
ors Of those who have become entitled by TINS Villain
Gus war.
B TO loval men North end South. by the Rebellion
| s. Pay the residue being s3Oi0OOoOOO' toward
the payment Of the National DeOi.
Mr. Stevens is lawyer-an able and sound
one-and therefore his proposition is calculated
to evoke even more surprise than regret For
as a lawyer, he cannot but know that the con-
fsoat;on Of 3oi ,000, 900 acres OF land-iiye-
. 81
rebellion-its dicison into " convenient farms,
the allotment of forty acres each to one million
of adult male freedmen, and the sale OF the
residue (say Two Millions of. farms and One
Million of houses and city or village LOTS to the
highest bidders respectively, could not be ever
mperfectly effected within less than five years
and we think ten would barely suffice. Fol
. millions Of acres at the South are owned by
non-residents or by residents who were never
e Rebels while thrice as much more would BE-
$ juggled into the hands OF unimpeachably loya
~ persons to shield it from the general sweep
=, Meantime, all manner Of claims would be
!. trumped up-the loyal creditors Of Rebels
# plausibly insisting that their property should not
be cOnfiscated, as if virtually would be by cOnfs
= eating the sole available means oftheir debtors
e while the constitutional provision against at
+ tainder-to wit, that
No attainder of treason shall work corruption o.
blood, forfeiture except during the life Of The person
attainted'-
would be invoked 1--WE think unduly) to restore
the estates confscated to the children or other
heirs of the Rebel owners, with the manifest
f and certain effect Of unsettling titles and reduc-
ing prices. Yet Mr. Stevens estimates that
there would be 1854, 900, 900 acres of Southern
lands to he confscated under his policy, and
that they would average so per acre, putting
into the Treasury the magnificent aggregate OF
SO, $40 900, 00O which is more than thrice the
whole amount of Currency Specie, Greenbacks
and Bank Notes. nov in the country whittier