ONE DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
Thursday Morning, March 16, 1860.
FKEE HOMES FOK FItEE MEN.
BFiIBCH
HOK. G. A. GROW,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
In the House of Representatives, Fob. '29, ISfiO.
The Ifouao being !n the Committee of tho Wliofc on the
state of the L'uiotu
Mr. GROW said i
Mr. CHAIRMAN : At the close of the Rev
"olution the colonies claimed dominion, based
•upon their respective colonial grants from the
frown of Great Britian, over an uninhabited
Wilderness of two hundred and twenty million
acres of land, extending to the Mississippi on
"the west, and the Canadas on tho uorth. The
'disposition 'df these lands became a subject of
'controversy between the colonics even before
the Confederation, and was an early obstacle
to the 'Organization of any government for the
Sprtrtecrticm'tff fhe'fr'commoo interests.
The 'cotofrtes, whosccharter from the Crown
tiYewted 'oYdf rtftflc '(f( the nuoccupied lands,
claimed, in Vhe language of the instructions
of Maryland iu *tO herdclegates in Con
gress :
" That a country unsettled at the commence
ment of this war, claimed by tire British
Crown and coded to it by the treaty at Uaris,
if wrested from the common eneniy by the
blood and treasure of the thirteen State's,
Should be considered as a common property,
subject to be parceled out by Congress into
free, convenient, and independent governments,
tin such manner and at such times as the wis
dom of that assembly shall hereafter direct."
The propriety and the justice of ceding these
.lands to the Confederation, to be thus parceled
out into free a&t-d uxfejjendent States, having
become the topic of discission everywhere iu
the colonies, Congress, iu order to allay the
•controversy and remove the only remaining
sihstacle to a final ratification of the Articles
of Confederation, declared by resolution, on
the 10th Ooctber, 1180 :
" That the unappropriated lands which may
'oe ceded*or•relinquished to the United States
'by any particular State " * *
" .shall lie disposed of tor the common benefit
of the United States ; and be settled and
formed into distinct republican States, which
shall become members of the Federal Union,
:and have the same rights of sovereignty, free
dom, and independence, as the other States,
• t kc. That III>• said lauds thilll be granted or
stilled a I such timet, and under swk regulations
■as shall hereafter he agreed an by the I'nited
Slates in Congress assembled, or nine or more
<of them."
In pursuance of the frrmisions of this res
•olution, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts,
•Connecticut, South Carolina, North Carolina,
ami Georgia, ceded their claims, including title
?uid jurisdiction, to the wavte lands, as they
•were called, outside of their respective State
iliinits ; ail of them, except Georgia and North
Carolina, without any condition annexed to
their respective grants, save those reutaincd
in the resolution of Congress just referred te.
The reservation in the grants of Georgia and
North •Carolina were not, however, as to the
future disposition of the lands ; but a condi
tion that slavery should not be prohibited
therein by Congress. The territory thus con
ditionally gra%od is contained within the
States of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama.
With the exception of the grants of North
Carolina and Georgia, (and the reservations
■even in those relating only to the form of their
future government,> the pchfec Hands claimed
by the colonies at the dlosc of the Revolution,
were ceded to the General Government to be
•settled and disposed of " under snrh rrguSa
•fions as shall hereafter be agreed on by the C.
8. in Congress assembled."
Since that time the Government has acquir
ed, by treaty, of France, the Louisiana pur
chase ; of Spain, the Floridas ; of Mexico,
Vtab, New Mexico, and California ; contain
ing, altogether, over twelve hundred million
ttrres of land. So the General Government,
fey cessions from the original States aptr
ehases from other nations, has acquired, ex
clusively df water, as computed by the Com
missioner f the Land Office, fourteen hun
ted ami fifty million acres of public lands ;
*>f which there have been sold, to September
30, 1858,0ne hundred and forty-seven milliou,
eighty-eight thousand two hundred and sev
enty four acres ; and otherwise disposed of in
grants aud donations to individuals, corpora
tions, companies, aud Stale, as per annexed
riM." .'.O. c ' u d' 0 {? grants since 30tb June, 1807,
r tsvp ;fipttdt£d pillion seven bun
,dced aud seventy acresj
£eav,mg the iwlkic jauds belonging to ibaGoir
vernment undisposed on t&e £kth &eptemb<g,
£859, one thousand and xigty-oue million one
hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred
/and seventy-five acres.
\yhat disposition shall be made of this vast
Inheritance is a question of no small magni
tude ? Ifhree tigies, within seven years, a
homestead bid ha* passed this House, and
been defeated Pifik tfme by the Democratic
majority in the Seuatc. Qu the vote ou the
homestead bill iu the Rouse, last Congress,
put of the one bpudrftd nd thirty Democrats,
but thirty-one voted fur it $ wd iu the Seuate,
on the test vote between taking ffp the home
stead bill, after it hod passed the House, and
only required the rots of the Senate to make
it a law, ao far as {Jougfess was concerned, or
to take up th£ bijl for the purchase of Cuba,
hut one Pemoprat ypted for the homestead,
and only six at any ti/pc ; while every Repub
lican iu the Senate, and every one in the
House, with a single exception, was for the
homestead. Of all the Representatives of
DJC s|aye States, but three in the House yptcd
■
for it ; and but two, at any time, in the Sen
ate. So the Democratic party, as a party,
arrayed itself in opposition to this beneficent
policy. The Republican party, 011 the other
hand, is committed to this measure by its votes
in Congress, by its resolves in State con ven
tious, and bv its devotion to the great central
idea of its existence—the rights and interests
of free labor,
Uai'ly in this sesssion I introduced a bill,
which now awaits the action of the House,
providing that any person who is twenty-one
years, or more, old, or who U the head of a
family, may enter one hundred and sixty acres
of any land subject to pre-emption, or upon
which he may have a pre-emption claim ; and
by cultivating the same for five years, shall be
entitled to a patent from the Government, on
the puyment of the usual fees of the land of
fice, aud tcu dollars to cover the cost of sur
veying aud managing.
The land policy, as now conducted, permits
the President, in his direction, to expose to
public sale, by proclamation, any or all of the
public lands, after the same are surveyed.
Kvery person settled on the lands so adver
tised for sale, must, before the day fixed in
the proclamation of the President, pay for his
lands, or they are liable to be sold to any bid-,
der who offers one dollar and twenty five
cents, or more, per acre. During the days of
sale fixed by the President, any one can pur
chase, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per
acre, as many acres of land, not before pre
empted, as he desires, selecting his own loca
tion. The lands that remain unsold at the cx
piration of the days of .sale fixed by the Pres
ident, are subject to private entry ; that is,
any person can enter at the land office any or
all of the lands, that are at that time unsold,
at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, if
'the same have not been offered for sale more
'than ten years ; if for a longer period, then at
a less price, according to the length of time
they may have been in the market. Thus un
der the existing policy, there is no restraint
on land monopoly. The Rothschilds, the
Rariugs, or any other of the world's million
aires, may become the owners of untold acres
of our public domain, to be resold to tin; set
tles, or to be held as an investment for future
speculatioo.
Congress, as the tlustccof the whole peo
ple, is vested, by the condition of the grants
from the State and by the Constitution, with
the sole discretionary power of disposing of
these lands. Rut, in the exercise of a sound
discretion, it becomes its duty to jisposfc of
them in the way that will best promote the
greatness and glory of tire Republic. Xtid
how can that Le accomplished so well as by
a policy that will secure them in limited quan
tities to the actual cultivator, at the llvist
possible cost, and thus prevent the evils'of a
system of land monopoly—one of the direst,
deadliest •curses' that ever paralyzed the ener
gies -of a •r-.utior. <K {>.h*ied the arm of industry?
It needs are lengthy drssertutPioii to portray its
evils. Its history in the 'Old World h written
in B sighs and tears. Under its influence you
behold there tiie proudest ami most splendid
aristocracies side Jay side with the most abject
and debased people ; vast manors hemmed in
by hedges as a spotting ground for the nobil
ity, while men arc dying beside the inclosure
for the want of land to till. Under its blight
tug 'influenceyou behold industry in rags, and
patience in despair. Such are some of the
fruits of >lr.nd monopoly in the Old World ;
and skaE We permit its seeds to vegetate in
the virgin soil of the New ? Our present sys
tem is subject to like evils, uot so gceatt in
magnitude perhaps, bet similar in Uind.
Of the three hundred and eighty-eight mil
lion eight hundred and fifty-eight thousand
three hundred and twenty five acres of land
disposed of by the Government to September
30, 1859, one hundred and forty seven m ilion
eighty eight thousand two hundred and seventy
three acres were sol 1 for cosh,and two hundred
and focty-onc million seven hundred and
seventy thousand and fifty-two acres were do
nated in grants to individuals, corporations,
and States.
The Government had received from the sales
of the public lands, as appears from the re
port of the Commissioner of the Land Office,
to June 30, 1833. one hundred and forty-two
million two liundred and figlitv-tree thousaud
four hundred and seventy-eight dollars, to
which add thirty-eight million three hundred
and thirty-six thousand one hundred and sixty
dollars and ninety cents, received since that
time, would m-ike the gross e.uionnt received
from die lauds to September 30, 1809, one
hundred ud eighty million six hundred aud
nineteen thousaud six hundred and thirty
eight dollars and ninety cents ; while the en
tire cost, including purchase tnonev, extinguish
ing of ludian title, surveying, and managing,
has been, for the same period, ninety-one mil
lion nine huuurcd aud niuety-four thousaud
and thirteen dollars, leaving a net revenue to
the Government, over and above all cost, of
eighty-eight million six hundred and twenty
five thousand six hundred aud twenty live dol
lars and uiucty cents ; with oue hundred and
JWhUioo "in® hundred and seventy
thousand Uue iwudred aud forty one acres
surveyed but unsold, of which eighty million
acres are subject to private entry.
Of the one hundred and forty-seven mil
lion eighty-eight thousand two hundred and
seventy-three acres sold by the Government,
not more than one half of it, probably, was
bought at Government rates by the actual
.cultivator ; the .other half, f sssume, cost the
cultivator, on an average, at least four dollars
per acre over tlio Government price. So he
would pay, on seventy three million live hun
dred anJ forty-four thousand one hundred and
thirty-six acres, being one half the qnantity
sold by the Government, two hundred and
niuety-four million oue hundred and seventy
six thousaud five hundred aud fortyfour dol
lars. On the two'hundred and forty-one mil
lion seven hundred and seventy thousaud aud
fifty-two acres donated to individuals, com
panies, and jStates, including over seventy mil
lion acres for school purposes, aud over fifty
million acres for railroads and internal improve
ments, I assume that the cultivator must pay
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
on an average for these lands at least five dol
lars per acre, making the sum of twelve hnn
dred and eight million eight huudred and fifty
thousand two hundred aud sixty dollars. The
actual cultivator, then, will have to pay to
the Government and to the speculator for
these lands, if the foregoing estimate of prices
bj correct, at least sixteen hundred and eighty
three million six hundred and forty-six thous
and tour hundred nntl forty-two dollars and
ninety cents, of which eighty-eight million six
hundred ant! twenty-five thousand six hundred
and twenty-five dollars and ninety cents has
been paid, in net reveuue, into the Treasury
of the United Stutes ; the balance to be ab
sorbed by the speculator.
The Government, by its existing land pol
icy, has thus cansed to be abstracted from
the earnings of its hardy pioneers almost
seventeen hundred million dollars for the mere
privilege of enjoying one of God's bounties to
man. This large amount has been abstracted
from the sons of toil without rendering any
equivalent, save a permit from the State to
occupy a wilderness, to ..which not a day or
hour of man's labor has been applied to change
it from the condition in which the God of na
ture made it. Why should Governments seize
upon any of the bounties of God to man, and
make them a source of revenue ? While the
earth was created for the whole human family,
and was made its abiding place through the
pilgrimage of this life, and since the hour of
the primal curse, "In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread," mau has been forced to
the cultivation of the soil to obtain substance j
for himself and the means of promoting the j
welfare of the race, why should Governments j
west from him the right to apply his labor to j
such unoccupied portion of the earth's surface j
a; may be necessary for his support until he
has contributed to the revenues of the State i
any more than to permit him to breathe the
air, enjoy the sunlight, or quaff from the rills
and rivers of the earth? It would be just as
rightful, were it possible to be done, to survey
the atmosphere off into quai tor sections, and
transfer it by parchment titles; divide the
sun into quantum of rays, and dole it out to
grop ng mortals at a price ; or arch over the
waters of the earth into vast reservoris, and
sell it to dying men. In tlie language of re
marks heretofore made on this why
has this claim of man to monopolize any of
the gifts of God to man been confined, by le
gal codes, to the soil alone ? Is there any
other reason tlrtit that it is a right which,
having its origin in feudal times—under a sys
tem that regarded man but as an appendage
of the soil that he tilled, and whose life, lib
erty. and happiucse w ere but means of in
erca-ing the pleasures, pampering the passions
and appetites of his liege lord—and, having
once found a place ill the books, it has been
retained by the reverence which man is wont
to pay to the past and to time honored pre
cedents? The hnuian mind is so constituted
that it is prone to regard as right
eotne down to ns approved by long usage, and
and hallowed by gray age. It is a claim that
had its origin with the kindred idea that roval
Mood flows only in the veins of an exclusive
few, whose souls arc more ethereal, because
born amid the glitter of courts, and cradled
maid the pomp of lords and confers and,
therefore, they are to "bo 'installed RS rulers
and lawgivers of the race. Most of tke evils
that a ill ct society have hud their origin in
violence and wrong enacted into law by the
experience if the past, and retaiued by the
prejudice of the present.
1- it not time you swept from your statute
boofc its still lingering reiics of feudalism ?
blotted out the principles ingrafted upon it by
the narrow-minded policy of other times, and
adapted the legislation of the country to the
spirit of the age, and Che true ideas of man's
rights &ad relations to his government.?
For if a man has a right on earth, he has
a right to land enough to rear a habitation
on. If he has a right to live, he has a right
to the free use of whatever nature had pro
vid d for his sustenance—air to breathe, wa
ter to dritik, and laud enough to cultivate for
his subsistence ; for these are the necessary
sirM m iispensible means for tire enjoyment of
his inalienable rights of " life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness." And is it for a Gov
ernment that claims to dispense equal and ex
act justice to all classes of meu, and that has
laid down correct principles in its great chart
of hatn&n rights, to violate those principles,
and its s Umn declaration is its legislative
enacttr.ents ?
The straggle between ehpital and labor is
an unequal one at best. It is a struggle be
tween the boues and sinews of men aud dol
lars and cents. And iu that struggle, is it
for the Government to stretch" forth its arm
to aid the strong against the weak ! Shall it
continue, by its legislation, to elevate and en
rich idleness ou the wail aud the woe of in
dustry ?
For if the rule be correct as applied to Gov
ernments as well as individuals, that what
ever a person permits another to do, havidg
the right aod means to prevent it, he does him
self, then indeed is the Government respousi
for all the evils that may result from specula
tion nnd land monopoly in jour public domain.
For it ic .not denied that Congress has the
power to make any regulations for the dis
posal of these lands, not injurious to the gene
ral welfare.. Now, when a new tract is sur
veyed, and you opeu your land office and ex
pose it to sale, the man with most money is
the lmgest purchaser. The most desirable and
available 'locations are seized upon by tire cajr
italists of the country, who seek thut kiud of
investment. Tour settler who chances not to
have a preemption right, or to be there at the
time of sale, when he comes to seek a home for
himself and his family, must pay the speculator
three or four hundred per cent, ou his invest
ment, or eucouuter the trials aud hardships of
a still more remote border life. And thus,
under the operation of laws that you call equal
and just, yon take from the settler three or
four dollars per acre, and put it in the j>ocket
of the speculator—thus, by the operatiou of
your law, abstracting so much of his bard carn
ipgs for the beuefit ofoepilul: for not au hour of
" RESARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
labor has been applied to the land since it was
sold by the Government, nor is it more valua
ble to the seller, lias not the laborer a right
to complain of legislation that compels him to
endure greater toils aud hard?hips, or contri
bute a portion of his earnings for the benefit
of the capitalist ? But not upon the capitalist
or the speculator as it proper that the blame
should fall. Man must seek a livelihood, and
do business under the laws of the country ;
and whatever rights he may acquire under
the- laws, though they may be wrong, yet the
well-being of society requires that they be re
spected and faithfully observed. If a person
engage in a business legalized by the laws,and
uses no fraud or deception in its pursuit, and
evils result to the community,let them apply the
remedy to the pioper source ; that, is, to the
law-making power. The laws and the law
makers are responsible for whatever evils nec
essarily grow out of their enactments.
In order to secure the labor its earnings, so
far as is possible, by legislative action, aud to
strengthen the elements of national greatness j
and power, why should not the legislation of j
the country be so changed as to prevent for
the future tbe'evilso f land monopoly,by setting ;
apart the vast and unoccupied territories of the 1
Union, and consecrating them forever in free
homes for free men f
Mr. MAVXAIU). May Ihe allowed to
ask my friend from Pennsylvania a question ?
Mr. GROW. Certainly.
Mr. MAYNAIID. It is this ; whether he
is in favor,or otherwise,of allowing the old sol
dier or his assignee to locate his land warrant
on the public domain
Mr. GROW. I always answer questions
that are pertinent to the point under discus
sion, not otherwise. 1 aui not arguing any
question about land warrants, but about the
proper disposition to be made of the public
lands. Ido not see the applicability of' the
gentleman's question ; and must therefore pass
it by, as I do not wish to be diverted from my
argument.
Mr'MAYXARH. The gentleman is mis
taken about the object of my question.
Mr. GROW. 1 would provide in our land
policy for securing homesteads To actual set
tlers ; and whatever bounties the Government
should grant to the old soldiers, 1 would have
made in uiouey aud not in land warrants,which
are bought in most cases by the speculator as
an easier and cheaper mode of acquiring the
public lands. So only facilitate land
monopoly. The men who go forth at the call
of their country to uphold its standard aud
viudicate its honor, are deserving, it is true,of
a tnorp substantial reward than tears to the
dead and thanks to the living ; but tltere arc
soldiers of peace as well as o f war, and though
no waving plume beckous them on to glory or
to death, their dying scene its oft a crimson
one. Thcv full leading the van of civilization
aloqg untrodden paths, and are buried in the
dust of its advancing •columns. Xo monumcut
marks the scone of deadly strife ; tio stone
their resting jlace ; the wir.ds sighingthroagli
the branches of the forest alone sing their re
quiem. Yet they are the meritorious men of
tlie Republic. The achievements ot your
pioneer army, from the day they tirst drove
back the Indian tribes from the Atlantic sea
board to the present hou-, hare been the ac
hievements of science and civilization over the
elements, the wilderness, and the savage.
If rewards or bounties are to be granted for
true heroism in the progress of the race, none
is more deserving than the pioneer who ex
pels the savage and the wild beast, and opens
in the wilderness a home for scieace and path
way for civilization.
" <P?acc hatl> her victories
No less renowned than war.*'
The paths of glory teo longer lead over
smoking towns and crimsoned fields, hut a long
the lanes aitd by-ways of human misery and
\joe, where the bones and sinews of man are
struggling with the elements, with the unre
lenting obstacles of nature, and the not less un
merciful obstacles of a false civilization. The
noblest achievement ru this worlds'spilgrimage
is to raise the fa Men from their degradation ;
oootlic the broken-hearted, dry the tears of
woe, and alleviate the sufferings of the unfor
tunate iu their pathway to the tomb.
" Go say to the raging sea, le stiß ;
Bid the wild, lawless winds obey thy will ;
Preach to the Storm, and reason with despair ;
But Veil not mintry'a sua that life is fair."'
if you would lead the erring back to virtue
end to honor, give him a home—give him a
hearth.<toue, and'he will surround it with house
hold gods. If you would inakc men wiser and
better, relieve your almshouses,close the doors
of your penitentiaries, aud break in pieces your
gallows, purify the influences of the domestic
fireside, for that is the school in which.human
character is formed, aud there its destiuy is
shaped ; there the soul receives its first impress,
and man his first lesson, and they go with him
for weal or for woo through life. For purify
ing the sentiments, elevating the thoughts,and
developing the noblest impulses of man's nature
the iutlueuces of a rural fireside and nu ugri
cultural life are the noblest and the best. In
the obscurity of the cottage, far removed from
the seductive influences of rauk und afliueuee,
are nourished the virtues that counteract the
decay of human institutions, the courage that
defends the national independence, and the
industry that supports all classes of the State.
It was said by Lord Chatham, in his appeal
to the House of Commons, in 1615, to with
draw the British troops from Boston, that
" trade, indeed, iucreases the glory and wealth
of a country ;but its true strength and stamina
are to be looked for in the cultivators of the
land. In the simplicity of their lives is found
the siuiplcness q| virtue, the integrity and cou
rage of freedom. These true, genuine sons of
the soil arc invincible." The history of Aracr
ican prowess has recorded these words as pro
phetic. Man, in defense of his hearthstone
and fireside, is invincible against a world of
mercenaries.
Let us adopt the policy cherished by Jackson
and indicated in his annual message to Con
gress iu 1832, in which he says :
" It cauuot be doubtd that the speedy eet
tlemcnt of these lands constitutes the true in
terest of the Republic. The wealth and
strength of a country are its population, and
the best part of the population arc the culti
vators of the soil. Independent farmers are
everywhere the bases of society and true friends
of liberty." * * * "To put an end for
ever to ail partial and interested legislation on
this subject, aud to afford to every American
citizeu of enterprise the opportunity of secur
ing an independent freehold, it seems to me,
therefore, best to abandon the idea of raising
- a future revenue out of the public lands."
Th : s advice, by one of the country's noblest
patriots, though nnheeded at the the time, is
among the richest legacies he has bequeathed
to his country.
Why should the Government hold the public
domain longer as a source of revenue, when
it has already more than paid all costs and ex
penses incurred in its acquisition and manage
ment / Even if the Government imd a right,
based in the nature of things thus to these
lands, it would be adverse to a sound national
policy to do ; for the real wealth of a country
consists not in the sums of money paid into its
treasury, but in its flocks, herds, and cultivat
ed fields. Nor does its real strength consist
in fleets and armies, but in the bones and
sinews of an independent yeomanry and the
comfort of its laboring classes. Its real glory j
consists not in the splendid palace, lofty spire,
or towering dome ; but in the intelligence,com- !
fort, and happiness of the fireside of its citi
zens.
'• What constitute.? a State ?
Nut high-raised battlement or labored mound,
Thick wall or moated gate ;
Not cities ]>roud, with spires and turrets crowned ;
Not bays and bload-armed ports.
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies tide ;
Not stirred and spangled courts,
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride.
No : men,high-minded men.
• * * •
Men, who their duty know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain ;
Prevent the long-aimed Mow,
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain ;
These constitute a State.
The prosperity of States depends not on
the mats of wealth, but its distribution. That
country is greatest and most glorious in which
there is the greatest number of happy firesides.
And if you would make the fireside happy,
raise the fallen from their degredatiori, elevate
the servile from their groveling pursuits to the
rights and dignity of men, you must first
place within their reach the means for supply
ing their pressing physicu l wants, so that re
ligion can exert its ituluence ou the soul and
soothe the weary pilgrim iu his pathway to the
tomb. *
What justice cart there be in 'lie legislation
ot a country by which the earnings of its la
bor are abstracted for any purpose without re
turning an equivalent ? But as a question of
revenue, merely, it would be to the advantage
of the Government to grant these lands in
homesteads to actual cultivators, if thereby it
was to induce the settlement of the wilderness,
instead of selling them to the speculator with
out settlement. The revenue to the Govern
ment from the lands, if considered annual, is
the interest on the purchase money; which
wou'd be on a quarter section, at one dollar
and twenty five cents per acre, the interest on
two hundred dollars, equal, ut six per cent., to
twelve dollars per year.
But as the revenue of the General Govern
ment ; with the exception of the sales of the
lauds) is derived almost wholly from duties on
imported articles consumed in the country ; the
amount collected depends upon the quantity
consumed. On an average each individual
consumes of inqwrled articles about eleven
dol'ars worth per year, (see statement of Reg
ister of the Treasury, appended",) and calling
seven the average number of a family, then
each family consumes annually seveuty-tive
dollars' worth of import* d articles, upon which
a duty of uot less than twenty dollars was
paid.
So the Government would be the gainer of
eight dollars per year on each q°rter section,
by giving it away to a settler in preference to
selling it without settlement. In addition, as
you cheapen the necessities and comforts of
life, or increase men's means to pay fot them,
you increase their consumption ; and iu the
same, proportion as you increase the means to
pay for imports, you increase the consumption
of home products aud manufactures ; so thut
the settlement of the wilderness by a thriving
population i as much the interest of the old
States as of the new. The amount now re
ceived by the Government of the settler for
the luud, would enable him io furnish himself
with the necessary stock and implements to
commence its cultivation.
For the purposes of education, building rail
roads, opening all the avenues of trade, and of
subduing the wilderness, the best disposition
to be made of these lands is to grant them in
limited quantities to the settler, and thus se
cure him in his earnings, by which he would
have the means to surround himself with com
fort and make his fireside happy ; to erect the
school bouse, the church, aud all the other
ornaments of a higher civilization, aud rear
his children educated and respected members
of society. This policy will not only add to
the revenues of the General Government and
tho-taxablo property of the new States, but
will increase the productive industry and com
merce of the whole country, while strengthen
ing all the eleaients of national eicatuess.
The first step in the decline of empires is
the neglect of their agricultural interest, and
with its decay crumbles national power. It
is the great fact stamped ou all the ruins that
strew the pathway of civilization. When the
world's unwritten history shall bo correctly de
ciphered, the record of the rise, progress, and
fall of empires will he but tlm history of the
rise, development, and decline of agriculture.
Hooke, lit describing the condition of agricul
ture among the Romans more than two thou
sand years ago, the process of absorption of
the lauds by the rich, and their consequent eul
tivation by slaves, furnishes the studeot of
history with the secret causes that undcrmiucd
VOL. XX. —NO. 41.
the empire and destroyed its liberties. I read
from book six, chapter seven, of his History
of Rome, volume two, page 522 :
" From the earliest times of Rome, ty had
been the custom of the Romans, when they
subdued any of the nations in Italy, to deprive
thein of a part of their territory. A portion
of these lands was sold, and the rest given to
the poorer citizens ; on conditions, says Ap
plan, of their paying annually a tenth of tho
corn and a fifth of the fruits of trees, besides
a number of great and small cattle. In pro
cess of time, the rich, by various means, got
possession of tho lands destiued for the subsis
tence of the poor." * * * *
" The rich and the mighty contrived to pos
sess themselves of the lands of their poor
: neighbors. At first they held these acquisi
tions under borrowed names ; afterwards open
ly in their own. To cultivate the farms they
| employed foreign slaves ; so that Italy was in
danger of losing its inhabitants of free condi
tion, (who had no encouragement to marry,
no means to educate children,) and of being
overrun with slaves and barbarians, that had
neither affection for the Republic nor interest
in her preservation.
" Tiberius Gracchus, now a Tribune of tho
people, uudertook to remedy these disorders.
* * * # * * *
" Never, says Plutarch, was proposed a law
more mild and gentle against iniquity and op
pression ; yet the rich made a mighty clamor
about the hardship of being stript of their
houses, their lands, their inheritances, the bu
rial-places of their ancestors." * * " The
poor, on the other hand, complained of the
extreme indigence to which they were reduced,
and of their inability to bring up children.—
They enumerated the many battles where they
had fought in defense of the Republic; not
withstanding which "they were allowed no
share of the public lands ; nay, the usurpers,
to cultivate them, chose rather to employ
foreigners and slaves than citizens of Heme.—
Gruichuss view was not to make poor men
rich, but to strengthen the Republic, by au in
crease of useful members, upon which ho
thought the safely and welfare of Italy de
pended. The insurrection aud war oi' tho
slaves in Sicily, who were not yet quelled,
furnished him with sufficient urgument for ex
patiating on the danger of filling Italy with
slaves." * * * * * ' *
" lie a>ked the rich whether they preferred
a slave to a citizen ; a man unqualified to
serve in war to a soldier ; an alien to a inenj
bet' of the Republic ; and which they thought
would be more zealous for its interest ? Then,
ns to the misery of the poor; "The wild
beasts of Italy have *aves and dens to shelter
them ; but the people, who expose their lives
for the defense of Italy, are allowed nothing
but the light and air ; they wander up and
down with their wives and children, without
house and without habitation. Our generals
mock the soldiers ; when, iu battle, they ex
hort them to fight for their sepulchres aud
their household gods ; for, amongst all that
great number of Ih m nis, there is not one who
lias either a domestic altar, or a scpulcher of
bis ancestors. They fight and die, solely to
maintain the riches and luxury of others; aud
arc stiled the lords of the universe, while they
have not a single foot of ground in their pos
session."
Smith, in the second volume, page 291, of
his Greek and Roman biographical dictionary,
speaking of Tiberius Gracchus, and the rea
sons for his proposed legislation, says :
" liis brother Cuius related, in some of his
works, that Tiberias, on his inarch to Spain,
in (R. C.) 137, as he was passing through
Etruria, observed with grief and indignation
the deserted state of that fertile country ;
thousands of foreign slaves in chains were em
ployed in cultivating the land and tending the
flocks |wn the immense estates of the wealthy,
while the poorer classes of Roman citizens,
who were thus thrown out of employment, had
scarcely their daily bread, or a clod of earth
to call their own. lie is said to have been
roused through that circumstance to exert him
self iu endeavoring to remedy this evil.''
Had the policy advocated by Gracchus, of
distributing the public funds among the land
less citizens of the nation, been adopted, the
Roman lit-lds would have been cultivated bv
free men instead of slaves, and there would
have been a race of men to stay the ravages
of the barbarian. Tho eternal city would not
tlieu have fallen an easy prey to the Goth and
Vandal; but the star of her empire might
have waved in triumph long after the ivy
twined her broken columns.
With homos ami firesides to defend, the
arms and hearts of au independent yeomanry
are a surer and mare impregnable defense than
battlement, wall, or tower. While the popu
lation of u country are the proprietors of the
land which they till, they have an interest to
surround their firesides, with comfort and
make their homes happy—the great incentive
to industry, frugality, and sobriety. It is
such habits alone that givesecority to a govern
ment and form the real elemcuts of national
greatness and power.
National disasters are not the growth of a
day, bat the fruit of long years of injustice
and wrong. The seeds planted by talse, per
nicious legislation, often require ages to germ
inate and ripen into their harvests of ruin and
death. The most pernicious dT all the baleful
seeds of national existence, is a policy that de
rdjiges its labor. Whenever agricultural la
bor becomes dishonorable, it will, of course,
be confined to those who have no interest in
the soil they till ; and when the laborer ceases
to have any interest in the lund be cultivates,
he ceases to have a stake in the advancement
and good order of society, for he has nothing
to lose, nothing to defend, nothing to hope
for. The associations of an independent free
hold are eminently calculated to enable and
eicvate the possessor. It is the life spring of
•a manly national character, and of a generous
patriotism ; a patriotism that rushes to the de
fense of the country and the vindication of its
honor, with the same zeal end alacrity that i|
SEE roi'RTn PACE.