Year: 1860



 come to the treasury of country which is strong and rich. That is the actual fact. Great bodies of the public lands have stood for years and years in this condition; and ifvou wait forty years longer you will find a great many settlers who are not ready to pay that which the law requires they shall pay. and which they must pay, if the lands are once offered at public sale. This pro- vision is inserted here because the land office earnestly appeals for relief; because the lands are accumulating on their hands; because the officers cannot go on to sell them: because the treasury, that has claim to the proceeds thatwould come from them, is receiving nothing; because the revenue from the public lands is now falling off, and has steadily fallen off, It has fallen off because that legislation is not afforded which will force forward system that has found a point at which it comes in contact with the distresses of the people; who are not forearmed by being forewarned. Fore warn them. Say that the Executive shall no longer have discretion in this matter; that he who settles on unsurveyed lands shall have two years from the time the plats are filed in the district land office; that he who settles on surveyed and unotlercd land shall have two years from the date of his settlement and then say that the Execu- tive shall put the lands in market within two years from the time the pats are filed in the land office, and you will have a complete system that will cause the lands to go forward to sale; and the people fore warned will be forearmed, and be able to come forward and redeem their settlements and pay the price; and if they do not, under these circum stances, we can but come to the conclusion that they are of that lso- lated class of instances that must, in the wisest and most beneficcnt government, be subject to be trampled upon, and to suf- fer beneath its just and well-intended laws

 These two sections are of the very high est importance to the whole land system. They are earnestly demanded; and yet, if we adopt them, we extend to these parties the relief of giving them two years within which to pay up, to get their money together, and to save their improvements The ninth section of the bill punishes per jury under its provisions. The tenth sec ton provides that the settler, under the five years provision in this bill, may at any time he chooes perfect his title by coming forward and paying up the whole price. That I have already commented upon.

 Section eleven-the last section of the bill is one upon which 1 shall have but very few words to say. It is one which will, I presume, more particularly attract the attention of the senator from Texas, I Mr. WIGFALL. It was suggested by the amendment which he introduced. It will be perceived at once that this bill contains points taken from almost every propoSi- ton that has been before the Senate on this subject, the attempt having been to get the soundest bill we could set from the col lected wisdom of all those who had given their thoughts to the subject This last section was incorporated into 1t in conse- ouence of the substitute offered by the senator from Texas, which provided for session of the public lands to the States in which they lie.

 This section of the bill provides that, whenever the public lands in any State shall have been thirty years in market, and shall thus have reached the lowest price, which is twelve and half cents per acre, and then shall have remained five years longer in market, subject to sale at twelve and half cents, and shall still be unsold, it shall then be deemed unnecessary for the government of the United States to keep such lands any longer; but we shall then have reached a point at which we shall close up the system witbin those States; and at the end of that time-thirty vears-the lands msold shall be ceded to the States in which they lie 1 presume every member of the Senate is familiar with the fact that this is consummation which has been most devoutly desired by all State-rights men, Its policy is to re- lieve the States of the ownership of land within their limits by government in some measure foreign to them-the govern ment of the United States--to relieve the States from the foreign ownership of lands inside their own limits, on which they can impose no taxes, and when 1t is perhaps with difficulty that they can regulate the character of the citizenship that they ar compelled to receive. This commended itself to us, and was adopted by the com mittee in considering all these projects, with this thought, that whenever lands had been surveyed and are inside of q State. which necessarily involves a fixed, settled community, and very considerable number of people: and whenever the lands have been in market for thirty years, and have been reduced [ o twelve and half cents an acre, and have stood at that five years longer, and no one will give twelve and a half cents for them, the government has property of no value, and 1t ought to be ceded at once to the States.

 That, l know, does nosgo half far enough to suit many. Many wanted the lands ceded when they came to twenty-five cents an acre. Many said they ought to be ceded to the States without regard to their value; that the United States ought to hold no lands within the limits of the States. There was variety of views. The com mittee present simply the mildest proposi- ton: one which is the most rational, the most entirely reasonable if presented to the consideration of proprietor, and that is, that when his property has proved to be without value, he will give it to those who can perhaps make some use of 1t.

 have now stated the substance of the bill; and, in conclusion, l may express the hope that it will not be materially altered. For one, can support the bill as it IS now reported; and I believe there are number of others who can Those who want to pass any bill at all should recollect that if they propose to pass different and more favorable bill, bill more favorable to for eigners, to the actual settlers that are on the public lands, and to people who are eml- grants from the old States to the west, 1t is exceedingly doubtful whether they can obtain the sanction of the Executive to such a bill do not speak by authority; but I doubt exceedingly whether they can consummate a bill more liberal than this. think this will steer clear of that difficulty. know it is not strictly legitimate to allude to anything of that kind; but it Is not to be denied to ourselves that we cannot pass a measure in which we are honest and sincere; without looking to all the circum- stances, and determining in our own minds

 I. Als