Mr. BURGES replied. He considered squatting as a vile term; but he used it because it had been sanctioned by practice. In his opinion, it amounted to something very like stealing. It was true, pre-emptions had been granted to those who, in the early days of our country, had put their lives in their hand, and exposed themselves to the tomahawk of the savage. But these men had gone in profound peace upon lands not theirs, without any danger, and from a mere selfish desire of property. He went into a denunciation of such a practice, and dwelt upon the bad policy of encouraging it. If the farms of these claimants had been seized for public use, let there be a board to examine and ascertain the facts, and report on the justice of their claims. The bill amounted to an abandonment of our land system.

Mr. EWING, of Indiana, replied to Mr. VINTON, and reminded him of the early settlement of Ohio, the Connecticut grant, Symmes's purchase, &c. He insisted that the citizens of Indiana and other new States should now enjoy advantages which were formerly possessed by Ohio. He then went into an eulogium on the squatters generally, who thus obtained better homes than many of them had enjoyed in Rhode Island. The new States were aware of their rights, and if they were refused here, they would resort to another course, not so agreeable to Rhode Island and Ohio, and to which they ought not to be driven. Government could use the squatter to protect it in times of war; but, after seizing his house and little piece of land, it turned them off to cover themselves with the bark of the oak, and take any other course they pleased. Claims in the East could be granted to the amount of millions; but the poor squatter was cast aside because he was ignorant of technical rules of evidence.

Mr. ASHLEY, of Missouri, said that the right of the poorer people of the United States, who could not purchase land on the seaboard, to go to the West and get homes for themselves, had been recognised, and ever would be, by the public sentiment, though it might be denied on this floor. He dwelt on the useful services of these pioneers in opening and improving the wilderness, and in defending the country in time of war. But apart from this general view, he insisted on the equity of the bill in granting land to men who had peaceably quitted their homes when required by their Government, after others, who had resisted desperately, had received a larger amount.

Mr. HARDIN moved to amend the bill by confining the selection to land subject to entry.

Mr. MASON, of Virginia, said that the gentleman from Arkansas, when in robust health, was at least a match for all who could oppose the policy of the bill; but his health being at this time impaired, Mr. M. would explain the grounds on which the bill rested. He then went into the history of the origin of the measure which had driven these squatters from their improvements, although entitled to a pre-emption right, and of the com pensation which had been allowed to the persons thus removed; and dwelt upon the equitable claim of those who had quietly obeyed the order of Government over such as had resisted it; yet the latter got much more than was now proposed to be conferred on these claim

ants.

was

Mr. VINTON responded-recited again the ground he had before taken, but admitted that, if these settlers were entitled to a pre-emption right, the case changed, and that they ought to be requited by preemption rights elsewhere. But he doubted exceedingly that they had the smallest right to the land. He then went on to vindicate his course as a vigilant sentinel over the public property, whether in money, land, ships, or other things. The public lands were held in trust, and the charge was of a sacred character. He then replied

[H. OF R.

to the allegations which had been brought against his State; went into the details of Symmes's purchase, &c., denying that the settlers on that tract had ever been squatters; but, on the contrary, had paid both Symmes and the Government. He then went into a history of the speculations of the Scioto Company. Three hundred French families, who had paid 100,000 crowns in Paris for their lands, were driven from their property, save a few who were too poor to remove, and these had received land from the Government, yet were losers, not gainers, by the transaction. He insisted that this was a far different case from that of the Arkansas settlers. He detailed the circumstances of the first grant to these latter, as originally moved by Mr. BENTON, in the Senate; and he concluded by insisting that, if such persons were to be rewarded, the public domain had better be relinquished.

Mr. BURGES replied, with much severity, to the remarks of Mr. EwING, who seemed to boast of being the Representative of men who seized what did not belong to them. So let him: "Like master, like man." But he protested against such a charge upon men of Rhode Island, who had gone into Indiana. They had all paid for their land. He protested against the charge upon the old States of opposing poor men getting a home; but they endeavored to furnish him with employment at home. If he chose to chase bright visions in the West, they did not hinder him; but they were utterly opposed to seizing lands, without title or without price. Mr. B. dwelt with delight upon the value and importance of the Western domain, as the resource of the Union for the most valuable public interests. But if the prac tices now growing common in relation to it should proceed, it was time the Government abandoned the whole.

Mr. PARKER thought, if these settlers had a fair claim, it ought to be stated and proved under the investigation of a committee, and paid them in money. Let them be paid out of the treasury; he meant the treasury of money; for the United States had two treasuries, one of money, and the other of land. One had a key, the other none. If a man wanted land, it was only for somebody to move, and he got 120 or 160, or 640 or 1,280 acres; almost whatever he chose to ask. He wanted all claimants put upon a level, and all losses proved by the same evidence.

Mr. CROCKETT supported the bill, and was in favor of giving a home to every man who would pay for the survey. These were the men on whom the country could rely, and nothing would make them so love the country. A gentleman had said the country had two treasuries, one with a key, and the other none; but he believed there was no key to either. There was nothing in the President's message pleased him so much as the recommendation of giving homes to poor settlers. He began to think the President was almost turning a Crockett man.

Mr. HANNEGAN said he did not rise so much for the purpose of debating the merits of the bill under consideration, as of replying to and repelling the unwarrantable and insidious aspersions so unjustly cast upon the Western country by the gentleman from Rhode Island, [Mr. BURGES;] aspersions for which no cause could be assigned, no reason found in what was then pending before the House, or had been previously uttered in debate; charges the most extraordinary that he had ever heard uttered on that floor, and without the shade of provocation. To them, however, and to the gentleman from Rhode Island, he would not reply in the spirit that had dictated that gentleman's wanton reproaches upon a race of people about whom he knew nothing, and to whose habits he would, in ail likelihood, for ever continue a stranger. Mr. H. said his surprise

H. OF R.]

·Relief of Citizens of Arkansas.

[FEB. 13, 1835.

had been increased, when he reflected from what quar- on their way through her rich and beautiful valleys beter this attack came; from one whose sectional attach-low. And this pride, and this love, every true son she ments, if we are to judge by what has often escaped him, are as strong as man's can be. One whose tongue was never silent when New England was assailed; whose eloquence had so often stirred his auditory, not only on that floor, but elsewhere, in repelling the thrusts made at the land of " the Pilgrim fathers."

For the love borne by the honorable gentleman to his native land, for his defence of her, for his devotion to her interests, he (Mr. H.) honored him. But, sir, is it not strange to hear from such a source a wanton violation of those very feelings in others, which he professes to hold so sacred in himself? Can we credit the sincerity of his professions of attachment to his own home, when, with cold, unfeeling levity, he openly mocks at the attachment of others? Can such a man be sincere? Are not his professions false and hollow?

The invidious remark of the gentleman, in replying to the honorable member from Virginia, [Mr. MasON,] "that he would not have expected so much of the demagogue from one so near the waters of the Potomac; that it was better suited to the West, where stumps were plenty," however it might answer the views of the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island, in making his court to Virginia, was by no means calculated to heighten him individually in the estimation of the House, or to elevate his character before the country for candor and justice. For the purpose of exposing the injustice of the remark, so obvious to all, it will be unnecessary to institute any comparisons, resort to any appeal, make any reference to times past or present. What the West was, all the world knew; what her sons were, had been tried in the hour of difficulty, of danger, and of death. Promptly responsive to their country's call in the moment of her necessity, when girt around by enemies, they had not, they would not, no, God forbid that they ever should, stop to inquire whether her cause was right or wrong, after the sword had once been drawn, the standard unfurled, and the shrill bugle sounded the rally for her defence. To the call of their whole country they had promptly responded, as a body; in defence of their own loved "West," as individuals, they would be equally prompt, whenever occasion required a sacrifice or a hazard at their hands, for the maintenance of her honor or her interests.

has will carry with him through life, the dearest of all cherished affections-the deepest imbedded in his heart; he will carry it to every country, to every climate, where destiny may cast him. It will cease--it will be lost--and lost only, when the grave closes over the last throbbings of earthly attachment.

The remark of the gentleman, intended so sarcastically to be felt in this House, at the expense of my colleague, [Mr. EwING,] when he treats him as the specimen of the people he represents, and with indecent levity aims to excite a transitory mirth by the infliction of a deadly wound, not upon his (Mr. E's) feelings, but the character of those from amongst whom he comes, is what I had not expected from the gentleman-it would almost seem to be consistent only with the workings of a heart whose malevolence seeks for its gratification the miseries of others. I would offer no rebuke to the gentleman from Rhode Island; his years are many, his hairs are white, and thinned by time-mine are the reverse--the contrast checks in me that oppression of feeling which swells almost too high for control. But that intended sarcasm carried with it a compliment the highest that I would ask at the hands of mortal man-I would ask no more than to be regarded as the personified delineation of the courage, the generosity, the honor, and the chivalry, of that people in the midst of whom I first drew breath, and surrounded by whom I have grown to manhood.

A few remarks concerning the people whom the honorable gentleman is pleased to designate as "land robbers," "thieves," "depredators," whose offences, morally, fall nothing short of the crime of larceny. It requires no little stretch of imagination to recognise, under these epithets, that industrious portion of our community in the West, numbers of whom have emigrated from New England, and who, being without the means of purchasing, have become, with their families, the actual occupants of small portions of the soil, for which they ask no other favor than a pre-emption right, at the minimum price of the Government. Far different are the feelings by which they have been led to make for themselves a home, their families a shelter and a sub. sistence. It is their aversion to the very crimes of which the gentleman speaks that has induced them to leave the older and the compactly settled portions of the country, where even industry is pinched too often by want, and to brave the exposures, the severities, and the hardships, incident to the life of him who goes into the bosom of the forest, depending upon his axe for the roof that must shelter, and upon his rifle for the food that must furnish, not him alone, but those to whom nature has given the dearest and holiest claims upon his exer. tions and his existence. They have gone to avoid the miserable condition of the thousands who are now lin

Who would have recognised to-day in the scornful contemner of the habits and the customs of a large portion of the Western people, the same individual who, on some former occasion, has so feelingly and beautifully pictured out his own New England, her smiling fields, her admirable institutions, her evidences of devotion to the common cause of liberty in other times! And true it is she has them; her Bunker's Hill, her Bennington; and not these alone, but with equal pride cannot the West turn to her evidences of devotion to the same holy cause? Has she not her New Orleans, her Tip-gering about the purlieus of the large cities, pressed by pecanoe, her Thames, her Raisin, where the blood of her best, her noblest sons flowed freely out, an offering before the high altar of the whole, the common country? The hour will never come when her sons shall look with coldness or indifference on these fields, or regard with feelings other than those of holy pride the oft-repeated instances of her attachment to the cause of liberty, and the Union. What, (said Mr. H.,) is it a reproach to have sprung from the West," that "West" whom her sons love so well, whose very name stirs up their hearts, quickens their pulses, as the name of a fond mother in whose lap they have been nurtured? To her they ever turn with fond affection, thankful to God that their eyes had opened first in her unsullied retreats; that first they had seen the sun shine down on her free and green hill-tops above, and their waters roll

want, struggling with famine and cold, the honesty of whose hearts has been crushed, the firmness of whose integrity has finally bowed before the fierce influence of hunger and necessity, and who have been forced to sustain existence by continued depredations upon the persons and property around them, and, living alone by plunder and pillage, have sunk into all the excesses of crime. These same miserable outlaws, had their lot been cast amongst the class so bitterly contemned by the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island, would have presented a far different picture of humanity-one more grateful to the heart that looks with benevolence upon the race of human kind.

With all the attachment borne by the gentleman from Rhode Island for his own State, and the high opinion he has of her working population, I think the contrast be

tween their condition and that of the backwoodsmenthe squatter, to use that word which sounds, as the gentleman says, so horrid to his ears--will present, even to his view, a picture more favorable to the latter. Take the class who labor for subsistence in the large manufacturing institutions, and what does that labor produce to them, at the end of each week, more than will barely answer the pressing demands for food and raiment? Successive years of labor will find them still the same--no increase of stores--no addition of comforts; far less of wealth or substance. The scanty pittance is expended, week by week, as it is earned. Wearied with his endless drudgery, and its miserable recompense, the laborer of years at last turns his eyes to the far off West--that land of promise, whose harvests, fame tells him, are golden-whose lands yield almost spontaneously to the wants of man. He seeks in her bosom the truth of the tale that has lured him, the reality of the vision that has flitted so often over his doubting senses. Is that vision confirmed? Is that tale the tale of truth? Has the land of promise been reached, and its harvests found ripening in the head? Wait the lapse of a few, a very few short years, and then seek the answer of the pilgrim himself. He will give it you beneath his own roof-he who sought the land of the stranger on foot, with scarcely the means of a dinner in his pocket, will furnish forth the comforts of his habitation. Humble it may be to the dweller in cities, but with comfort it abounds, and within is peace, and health, and plenty; and without, the eye is greeted by the bountiful and waving crop, and the grazing herds may be traced by the distant glade. It is his own, all his own; the fruit, the labor of his hands, and with cheerful delight he gazes over his farm, and feels, with honest pride, the independence of a freeholder. However kind may be the recollections with which memory visits the parent kand, that memory is unclouded with regret, for he has exchanged toil for rest, penury for plenty, servitude for freedom. If Rhode Island, as often happens, has been his early home, the change is even greater; the cause of his rejoicing still more increased, for the high instrument, the paramount law which secures and guaranties his right as a man, his privileges and his protection as a citizen, is no longer a royal charter, a grant carrying with it the degrading evidence of a monarch's rule, the humiliating admission that his king. ly condescension had more wisely provided for freedom than freemen themselves could. No, he has exchanged the government of this charter for a constitution, formed, perfected, adopted, in all its parts, by the people themselves; created at their will, based upon their confidence, and sustained by their affection, an honored and living commentary upon the great principle of human equality. It is such men as I have described that have this day fallen under the denunciation of the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island, and whom he thinks it would be discreditable to represent on this floor. For my own part, I am proud to acknowledge that such are many of my constituents, and I apprehend they would lose but little by any comparison that might be instituted between their moral condition, and that of the people of Rhode Island, or elsewhere. The very industry which they practise in acquiring for themselves a home is a sufficient compensation to the Government for her land, as it increases their attachment to her, by extending their interest in the soil. What constitutes the wealth, the reliance, the boast of any nation, but its population? What is the great and paramount object of all Government, if it is not the promotion of happiness and security among its people? Of all Governments that have existed, ours professes in the highest degree, and is, beyond doubt, in the outline, best calculated to promote the end desired. Yet, with all its advantages, much of the machinery may be, and is practically, misapplied.

[H. of R.

We are doing what no good Government besides has ever done, and what is to be hoped will soon be eradicated from our system-we are making the public domain of the country a matter of speculation and profit upon our own citizens, for the purpose of increasing the Treasury spoils that are annually divided out on this floor. Instead of this course, were we to portion, in limited parcels, the whole domain as it might become settled by the class of people against whom the anathema of the honorable gentleman has been directed; were we to divide it amongst all the industrious poor of the whole country, willing to become its tenants, and reap its har vests, how much would not the sum of human happiness be raised? How immeasurably would the true wealth of the nation be increased?

But to this the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island, and those who act with him on the main question involving the public lands, have an objection so deepto the selfish politician so strong-that, notwithstanding the covert under which they would fain hide the true cause, no occasion passes without its exhibition. And this cause, and this alone, I do from the bottom of my heart believe has prompted the open and violent assault of the honorable gentleman to day, upon a whole race of people.

It is the fact, that political power and strength is gli ding too rapidly from the East to the West. The popu. lation of the latter, growing in number, and directing all their energies to the development of the many resources kindly provided by nature, presents a scene of advancing power that has kindled up the jealousy of some in the Eastern section, who can view only the dark side of the picture-their own downfall in the prosperity of others. Sir, it will be all in vain; no checks can now restrain the growing prospect of the great valley of the West. Her march is steady, sure, and onward.

Against the very kind suggestions of the gentleman, that the proceeds from the sales of the public lands should be taken and distributed amongst the different States, for the purpose of educating all the children of the country, I would beg leave to protest, on many accounts. One reason, however, will be sufficient at this time. I do not wish to see Rhode Island raising the means for the education of her children out of the soil of Indiana. Let her raise those means at home; let her educate her own children with her own means, and we will educate our children in the same way. We will teach them the proper duties of the citizen; instil into them a pure love of the free institutions of their country; a readiness to defend them when assailed by outward foes, ay, or by intestine traitors; a just regard, too, for the feelings of all mankind: in a word, we will teach them all that man should be; just so much, and no more; and it will be well for the fame of Rhode Island, should the same course be hers in time to come.

Mr. Speaker, I have done. The rhetorical flourish of the gentleman in behalf of the poor Indian requires no answer; its use for sympathy, or ornament, in setting off a speech, however it might suit, were the Indians concerned in the matter before the House, is now of little avail either way, being entirely out of place. To the merits of that class, for a portion of whom the benefits of the bill under consideration are intended, I have borne and can bear every testimony that honest industry deserves. The bill itself has my hearty wishes for its suc cess, and shall therefore most cordially and cheerfully have my vote.

Mr. HUBBARD, after some remarks on the character of the debate, and the difference of opinion as to the facts of the bill, expressed himself desirous of further examining them, and therefore moved an adjournment; which prevailing,

The House thereupon adjourned.

Territorial Bills.

Mr. P. said, as early in the history of our Government as 1785, Congress adopted the policy of granting to the inhabitants located upon the public lands, section No. 16, in each township, for the maintenance of public schools, which will be found on an examination of the ordinance for the disposal of the public lands in the Western Territory. Neither the propriety nor expediency of that policy, which has become ingrafted into our land system, have ever been questioned by the most fastidious opponents of the interests of the new States. One of the propositions, and the first enumerated in the act to enable the people of Ohio to form a constitution and State Government, offered to them for their acceptance or rejection, was, that section No. 16, in every township, should be granted to the inhabit-treaty ants thereof for the use of schools, unless previously disposed of; and, in that event, other lands equivalent thereto, and most contiguous, were granted in lieu thereof for that purpose. The twelfth section of the act of March 3, 1803, extended the same provisions to the people inhabiting the district of country south of Tennessee, including the present State of Mississippi. The act of March 1, 1817, to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi Territory to assemble in convention and form a constitution and State Government, required of them, as a condition precedent to an admission into the Union on an equal footing with the other States of the confederacy, to provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, "That they VOL. XI.-86