delegates in congress such powers as may effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the articles of confederation; and that the legislature of Maryland be earnestly requested to authorise their delegates in congress to subscribe the said articles."

Following up this policy, congress proceeded, on the 10th October, 1780, to pass a resolution pledging the United States to the several states as to the manner in which any lands that might be ceded by them should be disposed of, the material parts of which are as follows, viz:

"Resolved, That the unappropriated lands which may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular state pursuant to the recommendation of congress of the 6th day of September last, shall be disposed of for 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, freedom and independence as the other states," &c. "That the said lands shall be granted or settled at such times and under such regulations as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in congress assembled, or by nine or more of them."

In February, 1781, the legislature of Maryland passed an act authorising their delegates in congress to sign the articles of confederation. The following are extracts from the preamble and body of the act, viz:

"Whereas it hath been said that the common enemy is encouraged, by this state not acceding to the confederation, to hope that the union of the sister states may be dissolved, and therefore prosecutes the war in expectation of an event so disgraceful to America; and our friend and illustrious ally are impressed with an idea that the common cause would be promoted by our formally acceding to the confederation," &c.

The act of which this is the preamble, authorises the delegates of that state to sign the articles, and proceeds to declare, "that, by acceding to the said confederation, this state doth not relinquish, nor intend to relinquish, any right or interest she bath, with the other united or confederated States, to the back country," &c. &c.

On the first of March, 1781, the delegates of Maryland signed the articles of confederation, and the federal union under that compact was complete. The conflicting claims to the western lands, however, were not disposed of, and continued to give great trouble to congress. Repeated and urgent calls were made by congress upon the states claiming them, to make liberal cessions to the United States, and it was not until long after the present constitution was formed, that the grants were completed.

The deed of cession from New York was executed on the 1st of March, 1781, the day the articles of confederation were ratified, and it was accepted by congress on the 29th October, 1782. One of the conditions of this cession, thus tendered and accepted, was, that the lands ceded to the United States, "shall be and endure for the use and benefit of such of the United States, as shall become members of the federal alliance of the said states, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever."

The Virginia deed of cession was executed and accepted on the 1st day of March, 1784. One of the conditions of this cession is as follows, viz:

"That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for or appropriated to any of the before mentioned purposes; or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become or shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said states, Virginia inclusive, according to their usual respective proportims in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that pur-. pose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever."

Within the years 1785, 1786, and 1787, Massachusetts, Connecticut and South Carolina, ceded their claims upon similar conditions. The federal government went into operation under the existing constitution on the 4th of March, 1789. The following is the only provision of that constitution which has a direct bearing on the subject of the public lands, viz:

"The congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting, the territory or other property belonging to the United States, and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any particular state."

Thus the constitution left all the compacts before made in full force, and the rights of all parties remained the same under the new government as they were under the confederation.

The deed of cession of North Carolina was executed in December, 1789, and accepted by an act of congress approved April 2, 1790. The third condition of this cession was in the following words, viz:

"That all the lands intended to be ceded by virtue of this act to the United States of America, and not appropriated as before mentioned, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of the United States of America, North Carolina inclusive, according to their respective and usual proportions of the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever."

The cession of Georgia was completed on the 16th June, 1802, and in its leading condition, is precisely like that of Virginia and North Carolina. This grant completed the title of the United States to all those lands, generally called public lands, lying within the original limits of the confederacy. Those which have been acquired by the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, having been paid for out of the common treasury of the United States, are as much the property of the general government, to be disposed of for the common benefit, as those ceded by the several states.

By the facts here collected from the early history of our republic, it appears that the subject of the public lands entered into the elements of its institutions. It was only upon the condition that those lands should be considered as common property, to be disposed of for the benefit of the United States, that some of the states agreed to come into a "perpetual union." The states claiming those lands, acceded to those views,

and transferred their claims to the United States upon certain specific conditions, and on those conditions, the grants were accepted. These solemn compacts, invited by congress in a resolution declaring the purposes to which the proceeds of these lands should be applied, originating before the constitution, and forming the basis on which it was made, bound the United States to a particular course of policy in relation to them, by ties as strong as can be invented to secure the faith of nations.

As early as May, 1785, congress, in execution of these compacts, passed an ordinance, providing for the sales of lands in the western territory, and directing the proceeds to be paid into the treasury of the United States. With the same object other ordinances were adopted, prior to the organization of the present government.

In further execution of these compacts, the congress of the United States, under the present constitution, as early as the 4th of August, 1790, in "an act making provision for the debt of the United States," enacted as follows, viz.

"That the proceeds, of sales which shall be made of land in the western territory, now belonging, or that may hereafter belong, to the United States, shall be, and are hereby appropriated towards sinking or discharging the debts for the payment whereof the United States now are, or by virtue of this act may be, holden, and shall be applied solely to that use until the said debt shall be fully satisfied."

To secure the government of the United States forever, the power to execute those compacts in good faith, the congress of the confederation as early as July 13th, 1787, in an ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, prescribed to the people inhabiting the western territory certain conditions which were declared to be "articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the said territory" which should "forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent." In one of these articles it is declared that

"The legislature of those districts or new states shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in congress assembled, nor with any regulations congress may find it necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers."

This condition has been exacted from the people of all the new territories; and to put its obligation beyond dispute, each new state, carved out of the public domain, has been required explicitly to recognize it as one of the conditions of admission into the union. Some of them have declared, through their convention, in separate acts that their people "forever disclaim all right and title to the waste and unappropriated lands lying within this state, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States."

With such care have the United States reserved to themselves, in all acts down to this day-in legislating for the territories and admitting states into the union-the unshackled power to execute, in good faith, the compacts of cession made with the original states. From these facts and proceedings it plainly and certainly results:

1. That one of the fundamental principles upon which the confedera

tion of the United States was originally based, was that the waste land of the west within their limits, should be the common property of the United States.

2. That those lands were ceded to the United States by the states which claimed them, and the cessions were accepted, on the express condition that they should be disposed of for the common benefit of the states, according to their respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and for no other purpose whatsoever.

3. That in execution of these solemn compacts, the congress of the United States did, under the confederation, proceed to sell these lands and put the avails into the common treasury; and, under the new constitution, did repeatedly pledge them for the payment of the public debt of the United States, by which each state was expected to profit in proportion to the general charge to be made upon it for that object.

These are the first principles of this whole subject, which, I think, cannot be contested by any one who examines the proceedings of the revolutionary congress, the cessions of the several states, and the acts of congress under the new constitution. Keeping them deeply impressed upon the mind let us proceed to examine how far the objects of the cessions have been completed, and see whether those compacts are still obligatory upon the United States.

The debt for which these lands were pledged by congress, may be considered as paid, and they are consequently released from that lien. But that pledge formed no part of the compacts with the states, or of the conditions upon which the cessions were made. It was a contract between new parties-between the United States and their creditors. Upon payment of the debts the compacts remain in full force, and the obligation of the United States, to dispose of the lands for the common benefit, is neither destroyed or impaired. As they cannot now be executed in that mode, the only legitimate question which can arise is, in what other way are these lands to be hereafter disposed of for the common benefit of the several states "according to their respective and usual proportion in the general charge and expcnature." The cessions of Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, in express terms, and all the rest impliedly, not only provide thus specifically the proportion according to which each state shall profit by the proceeds of the land sales, but they proceed to declare, that they shall be "faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever." This is the fundamental law of the land at this moment, growing out of compacts which are older than the constitution, and formed the corner stone on which the union itself was erected.

In the practise of the government, the proceeds of the public lands have not been set apart as a separate fund for the payment of the public debt, but have been and are now paid into the treasury, where they constitute a part of the aggregate of the revenue upon which the government draws, as well for its current expenditures, as for payment of the public debt. In this manner they have heretofore and do now lessen the general charge upon the people of the several states, in the exact proportions stipulated in the compacts.

These general charges have been composed, not only of the public debt and the usual expenditures attending the civil and military administrations of the government, but of the amounts paid to the states with which these compacts were formed, the amounts paid to the Indians for their right of possession, the amounts paid for the purchase of Louisiana and Florida, and the amounts paid surveyors, registers, clerks, &c. employed in preparing for market and selling the western domain.

From the origin of the land system down to September 30, 1832, the amount expended for all these purposes has been about $49,701,280-and the amount received from the sales, deducting payments on account of roads, &c. $38, 386,624. The revenue arising from the public lands, therefore, has not been sufficient to meet the general charges on the treasury which have grown out of them, by about $11,314,656. Yet, in having been applied to lessen those charges, the conditions of the compacts have been thus far fulfilled, and each state has profitted according to its usual proportion in the general charge and expenditure. The annual proceeds of land sales have increased and the charges have diminished so that at a reduced price those lands would now defray all current charges growing out of them, and save the treasury from further advances on their account. Their original intent and object, therefore, would be accomplished as fully as it has hitherto been, by reducing the price, and hereafter, as heretofore, bringing the proceeds into the treasury. Indeed, as this is the only mode in which the objects of the original compacts can be attained, it may be considered for all practical purposes, that it is one of their requirements.

The bill before me begins with an entire subversion of every one of the compacts by which the United States became possesed of their western domain, and treats the subject as if they never had existence, and as if the United States were the original and unconditional owners of all the public lands. The first section directs

"That from and after the 31st day of December, 1832, there shall be allowed and paid to each of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, and Louisiana, over and above what each of the said states is entitled to by the terms of the compacts entered into between them respectively upon their admission into the union and the United States, the sum of twelve and a half per centum upon the net amount of the sales of the public lands which, subsequent to the day aforesaid, shall be made within the several limits of the said states; which said sum of twelve and a half per centum shall be applied to some object or objects of internal improvements or education within the said states under the direction of the several legislatures."

This twelve and a half per centum is to be taken out of the net proceeds of the land sales before any apportionments is made; and the same seven states which are first to receive this proportion, are also to receive their due proportion of the residue, according to the ratio of general distribution.

Now, waiving all considerations of equity or policy in regard to this provision, what more need be said to demonstrate its objectionable character, than that it is in direct and undisguised violation of the pledge