PRELECTION.

On the 17th day of December, 1819, Mr. Robertson, of Kentucky, submitted to the House of Representatives of the United States the following resolution, which was adopted:

"Resolved, That the committee on the Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the expediency of so altering the laws regulating the sales of the vacant lands of the United States, that from and after the day of

, no credit shall be given thereon, and a less quantity may be purchased, and at a less price than is authorized by the existing laws." After consultation, it was deemed prudent to introduce the same subject into the Senate, whereby time might be saved in the discussion and progress of a bill.

And for that purpose, Mr. Leake of Mississippi, on the 20th of December, 1819, brought the subject before the Senate by a resolution, similar, in substance, to that previously adopted by the other House, on the resotion offered by Mr. Robertson.

Before the subject had been further acted on in the House of Representatives, a bill passed the Senate changing the mode of selling the public lands. That bill was reported by the land committee of the House, with amendments striking out the provisions for cash sales, at a minimum of $1,25 an acre, and for a sale of as small a quantity as 80 acres. Upon full argument, in committee of the whole, chiefly by Mr. Clay on one side and Mr. Robertson on the other, those amendments were rejected; and, on the question whether the House would concur in the rejection, for which Mr. Robertson contended, the vote was-yeas, 135; nays, 19; and on the next day, 20th of April, 1820, the bill passed by a vote of 133 to 23, of which 23 a majority were from the West. The yeas and nays were as follows:

Yeas-Messrs. Abbott, Alexander, Allen, of Mass., Anderson, of Ky., Archer, of Md., Baker, Baldwin, Barbour, Bateman, Bayley, Beecher, Boden, Brush, Buffum, Campbell, Case, Claggett, Clark, Cobb, Crafts, Crawford, Culbreth, Cushman, Cuthbert, Darlington, Davidson, Dennison, Dewitt, Dickinson, Dowse, Earl, Eddy, Edwards, of Conn., Edwards, of Pa., Edwards, of N. C., Fay, Fisher, Floyd, Folger, Foot, Forrest, Fuller, Fullerton, Garnett, Gross, of N. Y., Gross, of Pa., Hall, of N. Y., Hall, of Pa., Hall, of Del., Hall., of N. C., Hardin, of Ky., Hazard, Hemphill, Herrick, Hibshman, Hiester, Hill, Holmes, Hooks, Hostetter, Kendall, Kinsey, Little, Linn, Livermore, Lyman, McCoy, McLane, of Del., Mallary, Marchand, Mason, Meech, Meigs, Mercer, R. Moore, S. Moore, Monell, Morton, Moseley, Murray, Neale, Nelson, of Mass., Newton, Overstreet, Parker, of Mass., Parker, of Va., Patterson, Phelps, Philson, Pickney, Pindall, Pitcher, Plumer, Rankin, Reed, Rhea, Rich, Richards, Richmond, Robertson, Rogers, Ross, Russ, Sampson, Sawyer, Sergeant, Settle, Shaw, Silsbee, Simkins, Sloan, Slocumb, Smith, of N. J., Smith, of Md., B. Smith, of Va., Smith, of N. C., Southard, Storrs, Strong, of N. Y., Swearingen, Tarr, Taylor Tomlin

son, Tompkins, Tracy, Tucker, of S. C., Tyler, Van Renssealaer, Wallace, Wendover, Williams, of Va., Williams, of N. C.-133.

Nays-Messrs. Allen, of Tenn., Ball, Bloomfield, Brown, of Ky., Bryan, Burwell, Butler, of Lou., Cannon, Cook, Crowel, Culpepper, Ford, Hackley, Hendricks, Johnson, Jones, of Tenn., McCreary, McLean, of Ky., Stevens, Trimble, of Ky., Tucker, of Va., Walker-23.

Mr. R. C. Anderson, Mr. B. Hardin, and Mr. Robertson, were the only members from Kentucky who voted for the bill.

This law was opposed as anti-Western, and when it passed, was believed to be exceedingly unpopular in the West; but with even that prospect of being proscribed, Mr. Robertson, for reasons suggested in the following speech, staked himself on the law, as its author, and predicted that time would prove it to be a blessing. And time has, long since, affixed its approving seal to that prediction. No law ever enacted by Congress has been more generally approved, or has operated more beneficently on the Union, and especially on the population and destiny of the great Valley of the Mississippi.

This law established the system under which the public lands have been sold ever since the year 1820.

SPEECH OF MR. ROBERTSON, OF KENTUCKY,

On the Change of the System of Land Sales.

[Congressional Debate, 1820.]

Mr. Robertson said, that it was with reluc- Uninteresting as the desultory observations tance and unfeigned diffidence he had taken he should make must necessarily be, he hoped the floor, to offer to the committee anything the committee would hear him patiently. No which he would be able to say on the interest- one could be insensible to the importance of the ing subject under consideration. He was not subject, or to the necessity of serious and sofriendly to apologetical speeches, nor in the ber consideration in deciding on it. It is a habit of making them, but he owed to the question in which not only the government, committee an apology for his inability to make but the people-not only the East, but the them any adequate return for their kind indul- West-not only the present generation, but gence in rising, on his motion, to give him a posterity must, in some degree, be interested. full opportunity to deliver his sentiments. He feared that its importance is not sufficiently felt, nor its character and its tendencies fully understood

Laboring under severe indisposition, he was totally incapacitated to do justice to the committee, or to the subject which he was about to discuss. Under this embarrassment, well aware of the magnitude of the subject, and of the delicate and interesting considerations involved in its discussion, and the great interests to be affected by its decision, he would not, if permitted to consult his feelings, obtrude himself on the committee, but would surrender the floor most cheerfully to some other member who could entertain them more profitably and more acceptably than he could hope to do, under the most favorable circumstances. But the peculiar situation in which he happened to stand left him no such discretion. He felt himself constrained, by a sense of duty to his state and himself, to give some of the reasons which would influence his vote.

Having introduced, early in the session, a resolution, instructing the committie on public lands to inquire into the expediency of the measure now under consideration, it was necessary, lest he might be suspected of a dereliction of duty, to defend the policy of the system he had recommended.

He would not attempt to give to it any factitious importance. It is intrinsically as interesting to the people as any subject that can engage the attention of Congress during the present session. Whether regarded in its effects on the fiscal concerns of the government, or the strength, prosperity, and independence of the West, or its inevitable moral and political tendencies, it had strong claims to the most dispassionate consideration.

Having bestowed on the subject, said Mr. Robertson, all the reflection that its importance and a due respect for the opinions of others required and his limited means permitted, and having come to the conclusion that the passage of the bill is demanded by considerations of policy which he thought a statesman could not safely resist, he could not hesitate to give it his vote, disregarding the consequnnces that had been threatened. He felt bound to discharge his duty impartially, and he should do it fearlessly.

He said he regretted that he could not co-operate with his colleague, (the Speaker, Mr. Clay,) whose feelings on this subject he admired, but with whose opinions he could not concur.

And having the misfortune not to be supported by the co-operation of some of his colleagues, who opposed the bill from the avowed apprehension that it would injure the Western i But he must be permitted on this, as well as country, and aimed a blow at its prosperity on all other occasions of public duty, to purand influence, he felt imperiously called upon, sue the dictates of his own conscience and by considerations which he could not resist, and judgment. Acting on his own responsibility, obligations from which he should not shrink, to if he was wrong, it was sufficient for him that vindicate the policy of his course, and endeavor to maintain the rectitude of his opinions and the integrity of his motives.

He said that he was not so vain as to suppose that he would be able to offer to the cominittee any considerations in favor of the bill that had not occurred to them, but he did hope and believe that he should be able successfully to defend his opinions with the nation, and even the Western country.

he believed he was right. And on this subject, others might think as they pleased, but he felt a strong conviction that the adoption of the cash system would promote, not only the interest of the general government and of the people of the United States, but the substantial and permanent interests of the Western country.

Mr. Robertson said, that the question is not whether the plan for selling the public

lands now proposed as a substitute for the one the remainder in four years, with interest, if in operation is unexceptionable or would ef- not puncfually paid, and the land forfeited, if fectually prevent the recurrence of all the the whole consideration be not paid in five abuses and difficulties which it was acknowl- years. The bill before the committee proedged had resulted from defects in the latter, poses to sell the public lands for cash, at a but only whether it be more perfect, and better price not less than one dollar and twenty-five suited to the purposes for which the old system cents per acre, and in tracts containing not was established." less than eighty acres.

He said that the Senate's bill, like all other | The first system, he said, having been tried human productions, however perfect in theory, twenty years, is ascertained to be defective. would, no doubt, in its execution, be found The last is intended to remedy the defects of liable to some objections. But these, he felt the first, which, it is believed, might be efsure, would be comparatively insignificant; fectually and safely done. The first, it is true, and he thought that the proposed law is not had been prepared with great care, and was only better than the existing one, but as per- considered, when adopted, better adapted than fect as the experience of twenty years, and the any other that could then be devised, to the circumstances of the times and the country ends for which it was instituted. These ends would enable Congress to make one. were, 1st. Revenue, and 2nd. The promotion He said, that in opposition to the bill, it had of the general and substantial interests of sobeen urged that the present system is a vener-ciety, by extending population and encouragable one, and not to be changed unless practi-ing industry, and the domestic, social, and cal men should pronounce the change neces- civic virtues. But, said he, consistently with sary. He did not profess to be a very "practi- these purposes, it is ascertained that it cannot cal man," or to know more on this subject than be fully executed. The experience of 20 years others; but he thought that no one should be had demonstrated its inefficiency and its tendenounced as a rash or an unskillful innovator, dency, from abuse and accident, to_consewho should, after an experiment of twenty quences unforseen and mischievous. Instead years, endeavor to correct abuses and prevent of proving a sure resource of revenue, he bedifficulties which it had disclosed, and which might produce consequences, which, if not averted by timely interposition, might embarrass the government and disturb society. He thought that if the system which had been in operation for twenty years were known to be defective, it should be amended, and that if the argument of innovation were applicable now, it never would be inapplicable. As to "practical men," he said he did not precisely comprehend its import. But he supposed that those who had observed and felt the operation of the present system, from its adoption until now, might be considered sufficiently "practical" for all the purposes of the bill; and, although he was unwilling to adopt the opinions of others, merely because he might consider them "practical men," he would tell the gentleman from Tennessee, (Mr. Jones) that he believed the most practical men in the United States, on land subjects, are in favor of the change proposed in the bill under consideration. He would ask, who is more "practical" on all subjects that concerned the public lands than a late Senator from Ohio; (Mr. Morrow) and whose opinions have and deserve more universal influence? He had been called, by a Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Crittenden) the Palinurus of the Senate. And is it so soon forgotten, that he wished to make the adoption of the system now proposed the last act of his long political life? That he felt and avowed the necessity of reforming the present system? And, said Mr. Robertson, the voice of the people will applaud him for his patriotic purpose.

By the law now in operation, said Mr. Robertson, the public lands are sold in quantities not less than one hundred and sixty acres, and at a price not less than two dollars per acre, one fourth to be paid at the time of sale, and

lieved that, 'ere long, the treasury could not rely no it. Instead of meliorating the condition of the poor, it had often been an instrument in the hands of the rich, by which they were enabled to oppress that class and enrich themselves. Instead of strengthening the Union and enriching the country, he feared that, if persisted in, it would tend to weaken the one and embarrass the other; instead of increasing the resources of the West, he believed that it tends to their subduction; in short, he believed that it could not be continued in operation, without creating the most unpleasant embarrassments in the government and among the people. That it was defective, he said, he believed all acknowledged. But, in regard to the nature and extent of its defects, their operation and ultimate tendency, and their remedies, there was a diversity of opinion. However, for all his purposes, it would only be necessary to show one radical defect, and that the proposed substitute would remedy it, without producing any bad effects that legislation could prevent.

This radical defect, he said, he found in the credit given to the purchaser, and he believed that the most serious difficulties that had occurred, or would occur, under the operation of the credit system, might be ascribed to the credit.

Mr. Robertson said that he should not venture to state that the revenue had been diminished by the sale of the public lands on credit. It was impossible to ascertain, with certainty, whether there had been any diminution in its amount, as the cash system had never been tried. But he would venture to predict that there would, in a few years, be a loss inevitably, unless the bill before the committee should become a law. It was well known, he said. that appliestion had been made, by the pur