The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-04-03
Confscation of the Public Lands,

Confscation of the Public Lands.
The Philadelphia North American, which
now appears as the most rabil advocate
for. confscaeion, says:
"However Republicans may disagree
respecting Mr.. Stevens confiscation bill,
there is one point in it upon which. they
ought all to be able to agree. We ailude
to the first section, wherein it is provided
that the public lands of the ten rebellious
States shall. be confscated. .This is a
matter that has hitherto escaped the at
tcnton of all our public men except Mr..
Stephens, and we doubt not that many
who read his speech will feel surprised
that no one has. anticipated 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 he calls
especial attention, there should be no de-
lay whatever in availing ourselves OF the
opportunity to confscate the remainder
of that public domain which she reserved
to herself 1T the time Of her annexation.
as guarantee for the payment Of her
debt-that very debt that was subse-.
queLtIy forced upon as. national burden
by the compromise of 1850.
"Of all the States concerned in the!ate
rebellion, Texas escaped with the least
punishment. All the attempts made to
carry the war into her territory proved
abortive, and the long and desperate strug-
giles in the Southwest were mainly sus-
taned upon resources derived from her.
The contraband trade with Europe
through Mexico was carried on by her.
The droves of beevcs upon which the
rebel er.nics fed ~ofe furnished nv her.
And at the close of the war, after all tbe
rebel armies elsewhere had surrendered,
the Texan rebellion was: still intact:
These people, having felt little oraothing
of the horrors of the war; have remained
incorriggbfy disloyal and defiant. and al
though we have all recognized that some
punishment ought to be used to bring
them to their senses, none that was tcasi-
bic could be thought OF.
at was asserted by those who profess
to know that Texas has profited by the
war to Such an extent that her population
is now double what it was in the year
1860. ..Thither have gone the very worst
rebels from other States and especially
from Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas.
'The State. had-a large loyal population
when the war broke out, especially among
the Germans of Western Texas but
frghtful reign of terror was established
TO crush out Unionism, and nunibcrlcss
patriotic citizens fell victims to it.
dit world, therefore, be nothing more
than right that we should punish this
State for her treason by confiscatng her
public lands, and the more SO because
then tl1cse lands would be opened to ac-
tuu settlers free Of cost, under the opera
tions of the homestead law, which cannot
otherwise be the case. BY the supple
ment 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 re-
sumo possession of all lands held by rebel
States, in order to extend TO all such the
same provision, so that we may cncour-
are the increase of that Independent class
of small landhodcrs which has been made
the crying need Of the aristocracy-ridden
South.
"Mr. Stevens estimates the amount of
lands that will fall into the hands Of the
National Government by this provision at
two hundred millions of acres, an item
decidedly worth considering in these
times, and sufficient to enable Us TO create
great element in the South antAgonistic
to the plantation aristocracy. We can
not refrain from expressing our regret
that this first section Of the pending bill
cannot be made into q separate act and
passed at once upon its own merits.'