Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1867-04-04
MIR. STEVENS, CosFIsCATIoN BILL.

recently introduced In the Lower
House of Congress, contains nine
sections, as follows, viz: The first
clause provides for general forfeit
ure of all public lands in the exclud-
ed States, the second clause for the
seizure of property deemed forfeited
under the act of July 18th, 1862, the
third clause for the appointment of a
commission to condemn property, he
fourth for the distribution Of lands TO
emancipated negroes, the fifth for the
erection OF buildings on the said
homesteads for tue use Of said blacks,
the sixth providing whose property
shall be exempt from conhscation, the
seventh, eighth and ninth provide for
redemption of property, and for little
details Of execution. How strange
it is that President Johnson suggest
ed all the points in this bill of Mr..
Stevens. The following is from
speech of Mr.. JOHNSON, delivered
April 2lst, 1865:
Treason must be made OdiOats trai-
tors must be punished and impover-
ished they must not only be punish
ed, but their social power must be
destroyed and after making treason
odious, every Union man and the
Government should be remunerated
out of the pockets Of those vino have
inflicted this suffering upon the coun-
try.
The Philadelphia North Americon,
in speaking of this bill, says that
however Republicans may disagree
respecting it, there is one point in it
upon which they ought all to be able
to agree. We allude to the first sec
ton, wherein it is provided that the
public lands Of the ten rebellious
States shall be confscated. This is
matter that has hitherto escaped
the attention of all our public men
except Mr.. STEVENS, and we doubt
not that many who read his speech
will feel surprise that no one has an
| ticipated him in this capital method
of making the Gulf States pay us,
to some extent, for the injuries they
inflicted upon us during the war. In
the case of Texas, to which ne calls
special attention, there surely should
be no delay whatever in availing
ourselves of the opportunity to con-
fiscate the remainder of that public
domain which she reserved to herself
at the time Of her annexation as a
guarantee for the payment Of her
debt that very debt that was subse-
quently forced upon us as national
burden by the Compromise of 1850.
Of all the States concerned in the
late rebellion, Texas escaped with
the least punishment. All the at
tempts made to carry the war into
her territory proved abortive, and
the long and desperate struggles in
the southwest were mainly sustained
upon resources derived from her. The
contraband trade with Europe, thro'
Mexico, was carried on by her The
droves of beeves upon which the re-
bel armies fed were furnished by her.
And at the close of the war, after all
the rebel armies elsewhere had sur
rendered, the Texan rebellion was
still intact. These people, having
felt little or nothing Of the horrors
of the war, have remained incOrrigi-
bly, disloyal and defiant, and although
we have all recognized that some
punishment ought to be used to bring
them to their senses, none that was
feasible could be thought OF.
1t was asserted, by those who pro-
fess to know, that Texas had profted
by the war to such an extent that
her population is now double what it
was i'll the year 1860. Thither have
gone the very worst rebels from 9th.
er States, and especially from Mis-.
souri,, Tennessee and Arkansas. The
State had large loyal population
when the war broke out, especially
among the Germans of western Texas
but a frightful reign of terror was
established to crush out Unionism,
and numberless patriotic citizens fell
victims to it.
1t would, therefore, be nothing
more than right that we should pun
ish this State for her treason by con.
fscating her public lands, and the
more so because then these lands
would be opened to actual settlers
free of cost under the operations of
the Homestead law, which cannot
otherwise be the case. By the sup.
plement to that law, enacted by the
last Congress, all the public lands
owned by the national government
in the Gulf States, were thrown open
to actual settlers under the act. 1t
is now proper to resume possession
Of all lands held by rebel States in
order to extend to all such the same
provision, so that we may encourage
the increase of that independent class