divIduals or companies, 1t would clearly have departed from it's just obligations. And who can now tell, or conlectureg now great would have been the evil such course2 Who can say wha chiefs would have ensued, if C had thrown these territories

 hands of private speculate

 on the other hand, can nov

 the event would he, she.

 ment depart nam the ss

 her eatter; and not con.

 constant absorption of tn

 as the natural growth of ol

 may accomplish, should fore.

 tions of them, at nominal or

 prices, into private hands, to and settled, as and when such might think would be most for tl interest? Hitherto, Sir, nais,s;s gress has acted wisely, and done. ty Gil this subject. l bbpe 1t will tinue to do it. Departing from the rlginal idea e soon as it was found prac. iicabie and convenient, ot selling by townships, Congress has disposed of the soil in smaller and still smaller portions. till, at length, it sells in parcels of no more than eighty acres; thus putting it into the power of every manin the eoun~ try, however poor, but who has health and strength, to become freeholder if he desires, not of barren acres but of rich and fertile.soil. The government :.as ParioT cd ali ii tine tine conditions Of the grant. s,ile it has regarded the pub- lic lands as common fund, and has sought to make what reasonably could be made of them, as a source of reve- nue, it has also applied its best wisdom 10 sell and settle them, as fast and as happily as possible; and whensoever numbers would warrant it, each Terri. tory has been successively admitted into the Union, with all tile rights of an inc dependent State,

 Is there then, sir, J ask any well-found- ed charge of hard dealing any just ac- cusation for negligence, indifference or parsimony, which is capable 4Gc.;ss, sse.ssas..oss ~.5~in5s rfIe government Of the country, in it's conduct towards the new States? Sir, think there is not.

 But there was another observation of the Hon. Member, which confess, did not little surprise me. As reason tor wishing to get rid of the public lands IS soon as we could and as we might the Hon. Gentleman said he wanted no permanent sources of income. He wsh- ed to see the time when the government should not possess shilling of perrna- nent revenue- If he could speak Q nia+ gical word, and by that word convert the whole Capitol into gold, the word should not be spoken. The administra- ton of a fixed revenue, he said, only consolidates the government, and cor rupts the people! Sir, ] confess, heard these sentiments uttered on this floor, not without deep regret asd pain.

 am aware that these, and similar opinions, are espoused by certain per sons out of the Capitol, and out of this Government; but l did not expect So soon to find them here. Consolidation! that perpetual cry, both of terror and delusion--Consolidation! Sir, whengen- tlemen speak of the effects of a common fund, belonging to all the States, as hav- ling tendency to consolidation, what do lthey mean! Do they mean, or can they

 hean any thing more than that the Un-

 idn of the States will be strengthened. i.

 by whatever continues or furnishes inc

 dusements to the people of the States 10

 holt together? If they mean merely

 this, then no doubt, the public lands, as

 we'll as every thing else in which we

 have ;a common interest, tends to con

 solidallon; and to this species of console

 dation every true American ought to be

 attached it is neither more nor less than

 strengthening the Union itself. This

 is the sense in which the framers of the

 Constitution used the word Consolida-

 ton; and in which sense l adopt and

 cherish it. They tell us, in the letter

 submitting the Constitution to the con-

 sideration of the country, that < h dlk

 deliberations o7s Nis subject, sue kepl

 steadily is our uieso ttdt zOhi;ch oppeoys b

 as the greatest interest of epery true s4nae-

 rscan, the consolidation of our UInion, iss

 shich is inDolved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national eristenee.-s-

 I has important consideration, sericsssl assd

 deeply impressed on our minds, ted etck State iY the Cogpeafsoss to be Jess Y;.rst;; .s