Volume 3 — JUSTICE TO THE LAND STATES, AND POLICY OF ROADS.

Speeches in the Senate on the Iowa Railroad Bill, January 27, February 17, and March 16, 1852.

The Senate having under consideration the "bill granting the right of way, and making a grant of land to the State of Iowa, in aid of the construction of certain railroads in said State," Mr. Sumner entered into the debate, speaking several times. His remarks were much noticed at the time in the Senate, and also in the country, especially in the West. At home in Massachusetts political opponents seized the occasion for criticism, and resolutions on the subject were introduced into the Legislature of Massachusetts. He spoke first January 27, 1852, as follows.

Mr. President,—This bill is important by itself, inasmuch as it promises to secure the building of a railroad, at large cost, for a long distance, through a country not thickly settled, in a remote corner of the land. It is more important still as a precedent for a series of similar appropriations in other States. In this discussion, then, we have before us, at the same time, the special interests of the State of Iowa, traversed by this projected road, and also the great question of the public lands.

I have no inclination to enter into these matters at length, even if I were able; but entertaining no doubt as to the requirements of policy and of justice in the present case, and in all like cases,—seeing my way clearly before me by lights that cannot deceive,—I hope in a few words to exhibit these requirements and to make this way manifest to others. I am especially moved to do so by the tone of remark often heard out of the Senate, and sometimes even here, begrudging these appropriations, and charging particular States for which they are made with undue absorption of the national property. It is sometimes said—not in this body, I know—that "the West is stealing the public lands"; and the Senator from Virginia [Mr. Hunter], who expresses himself with frankness and moderation worthy of regard, in discussing this very measure, distinctly says that "we are squandering away the public lands"; and he complains that such appropriations are partial, "because very large amounts of land are distributed to those States in which they lie, while nothing is given to the old States." And the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood], taking up this strain, dwells at great length, and in every variety of expression, on the alleged partiality of the distribution.

Now I know full well that the States in which these lands lie need no defender like myself. But, as a Senator from one of the old States, I desire thus early to declare my dissent from these views, and the reasons for this dissent. Beyond a general concern that the public lands, of which the Union is now almoner, custodian, and proprietor, should be administered freely, generously, bountifully, in such wise as most to promote their settlement, and to build upon them towns, cities, and States, the nurseries of future empire,—beyond this concern, which leads me gladly to adopt the proposition in favor of actual settlers brought forward by the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Walker], I find clear and special reason for supporting the measure before the Senate in an undeniable rule of justice to the States in which the lands lie.

Let me speak, then, for justice to the Land States. And in doing so I wish to present an important, and, as it seems to me, decisive consideration,—not adduced thus far in this debate, nor do I know that it has been argued in any former discussion,—founded on the exemption from taxation enjoyed by the national lands in the several States, and the unquestionable value of this franchise. The subject naturally presents itself under two heads: first, the origin and nature of this franchise; and, secondly, its extent and value, after deducting all reservations and grants to the several States.

I. In the first place, as to the origin and nature of the immunity enjoyed by the national domain in the several States.

The United States are proprietors of large tracts within the municipal and legislative jurisdiction of States, not held directly by virtue of any original prerogative or eminent domain, by any right of conquest, occupancy, or discovery, but under acts of cession from the old States, in which the lands were situated, and from foreign countries, recognized and confirmed in the statutes by which the different States have been constituted. Words determining this relation are found in the Ordinance of 1787, as follows: "The Legislatures 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 necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers." This provision is incorporated, as an article of compact, in subsequent statutes under which the new States took their place in the Union. It is "the primary disposal of the soil," without any incident of sovereignty, which is here secured.

Regarding the United States, then, as simple proprietors, under the jurisdiction of the States, would they not be liable, in the discretion of the States, to the burdens of other proprietors, unless specially exempted? This exemption is conceded. In the Ordinance of 1787 it is expressly declared that "no tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States"; and this provision, like that already mentioned, was embodied in succeeding Acts of Congress by which new States were constituted. The fact that it was formally conceded and has been thus embodied seems to denote that such concession was regarded as necessary to secure the desired immunity. Indeed, from familiar principles of our jurisprudence, recognized by the Supreme Court, it is reasonable to infer, that, without such express exemption, this whole extent of territory would be within the field of local taxation, liable, like the lands of other proprietors, to all customary burdens and incidents.

Thus, in an early case of Pennsylvania, it is decided that the purchase of land by the United States would not alone be sufficient to vest them with the jurisdiction, or to oust the jurisdiction of the State, without being accompanied or followed by the consent of the Legislature of the State.[75] And it is judicially declared by the late Mr. Justice Woodbury, in a well-considered case:—

"Where the United States own land situated within the limits of particular States, and over which they have no cession of jurisdiction, for objects either special or general, little doubt exists that the rights and remedies in relation to it are usually such as apply to other land-owners within the State."[76]

After setting forth certain rights of the United States, the learned judge proceeds:—

"All these rights exist in the United States for constitutional purposes, and without a special cession of jurisdiction; though it is admitted that other powers over the property and persons on such lands will, of course, remain in the States, till such a cession is made. Nothing passes without such a cession, except what is an incident to the title and purpose of the General Government."[77]

The Supreme Court give great eminence to the sovereign right of taxation in the States, saying:—

"Taxation is a sacred right, essential to the existence of Government,—an incident of sovereignty. The right of legislation is coextensive with the incident, to attach it upon all persons and property within the jurisdiction of a State."[78]

And again, the Court say in another case:—

"However absolute the right of an individual may be, it is still in the nature of that right that it must bear a portion of the public burdens, and that portion must be determined by the Legislature."[79]

In the same case, the Court, after declaring "that the taxing power is of vital importance,—that it is essential to the existence of Government,—that the relinquishment of such a power is never to be assumed," add, cautiously, that they "will not say that a State may not relinquish it,—that a consideration sufficiently valuable to induce a partial release of it may not exist."[80]

While thus upholding the right of taxation as one of the precious attributes belonging to the States, the Court, under the Constitution of the United States, properly exempt instruments and means of government; but they limit the exemption to these instruments and means. Thus it is expressly decided in a celebrated case,[81] that, while the Bank of the United States, being one of the necessary instruments and means to execute the sovereign powers of the nation, is not liable to taxation, yet the real property of the Bank is thus liable, in common with other real property in a particular State.

Now the lands held by the United States do not belong to instruments and means necessary and proper to execute the sovereign powers of the nation. In this respect they clearly differ from fortifications, arsenals, and navy-yards. They are strictly in the nature of private property belonging to the nation and situated within the jurisdiction of States. In excusing them from taxation, our fathers acted unquestionably according to the suggestions of prudence, but also under the influence of precedent, derived at that time from the prerogatives of the British Crown. It was an early prerogative, transmitted from feudal days, when all taxes were in the nature of aids and subsidies to the monarch, that the property of the Crown, of every nature, should be exempt from taxation. But mark the change. This ancient feudal principle is not now the law of England. By the statute of 39 and 40 George III., chap. 88, passed thirteen years after the Ordinance of 1787, the lands and tenements purchased by the Crown out of the privy purse or other moneys not appropriated to any public service, or which came to the King from his ancestors or private persons,—in other words, lands and tenements in the nature of private property,—are subjected to taxation even while they belong to the Crown.

Thus the matter stands. Lands belonging to the nation, which, it seems, even royal prerogative at this day in England cannot save from taxation, are in our country, under express provisions of compact, early established, exempted from this burden. Now, Sir, I make no complaint; I do not suggest any change, nor do I hint any ground of legal title in the States. But I do confidently submit, that in this peculiar, time-honored immunity, originally claimed by the nation, and conceded by the States within which the public lands lie, there is ample ground of equity, under which these States may now appeal to the nation for assistance out of these public lands.

When I listen to comparisons discrediting these States by the side of the old States, when I hear it charged that they are constant recipients of the national bounty, and when I catch those sharper terms of condemnation by which they are characterized as "plunderers" and "robbers" and "pirates," I am forced to inquire whether the nation has not already received from these States something more than it has ever bestowed, even in its most liberal moods,—whether, at this moment, the nation is not equitably debtor to these States, and not these States debtors to the nation.

II. I am now brought to the second head of this inquiry,—that is, the extent and value of the immunity from taxation, after deducting all reservations and grants to the several States. Authentic documents and facts place these beyond question.

From the official returns of the Land Office in January, 1849,[82] it appears that the areas of the twelve Land States—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida—embrace 392,579,200 acres. California was not at that time a State of the Union. Of this territory, only 289,961,954 acres had been, in pursuance of the laws of the United States, surveyed, proclaimed, and put into the market. In some of the recent States, more than a moiety of the whole domain had never been brought into this condition. At the date of these official returns it continued still unconscious of the surveyor's chain. Thus, in Wisconsin, out of more than thirty-four millions of acres, only a little more than thirteen millions were proclaimed for sale; and in Iowa, the very State whose interests are now particularly in question, out of more than thirty-two millions of acres, only a little more than twelve millions were proclaimed for sale. I cannot doubt that in fact the aggregate of the public lands within the States at all times much exceeds the amount actually in the market; but since it may be said that lands not yet surveyed, proclaimed, and put into the market, though nominally under the jurisdiction of the State, must lie actually beyond the sphere of its influence, so as not to derive any appreciable advantage from the local government, and as I desire to hold this argument above every imputation of exaggeration,—knowing full well that it can afford to be understated,—I forbear to take the larger amount as basis, but found my estimates upon the extent of territory actually proclaimed for sale, from the beginning down to January, 1849, amounting to 289,961,954 acres.

All these lands thus proclaimed have been exempt from taxation. But since they were proclaimed at different periods, and also sold at different periods, so far as they are sold, it is necessary, in arriving at the value of this immunity, to ascertain what is the average period during which the lands, after being put into the market, are in the possession of the United States. This we are able to do from official returns of the Land Office. Here is a table now before me, from which it appears, that, of the lands offered for sale during a period of thirty years, large quantities were, at the expiration of the period, still on hand. Of the fourteen millions offered in Ohio during this period, more than two millions remained, while, of the nineteen millions offered in Missouri, more than twelve millions remained. Of all the lands offered during this period of thirty years, more than half were still unsold.[83] And out of the aggregate of 289,961,954 acres proclaimed from the beginning down to January, 1849, notwithstanding the advancing tread of our thick-coming population, only 100,209,656 acres had been sold.[84] Now, without further pursuing these details, I assume, what cannot be questioned, as it is most clearly within the truth, that lands proclaimed are not all sold till after a period of fifty years. This estimate makes the average period during which the lands, after being surveyed and proclaimed, are actually in the possession of the United States, and free from taxation, twenty-five years.

According to this estimate, 289,961,954 acres, proclaimed for sale, have been absolutely free from taxation during the space of twenty-five years; and yet, during this whole period, they have, without the ordinary consideration, enjoyed the protection of the State, with advantages and increased value from highways, bridges, and school-houses, all of which are supported by the adjoining proprietors, under the laws of the State, without assistance of any kind from the United States.

Such is the extent of this immunity. But, in order to determine its precise value, it is necessary to advance a step farther, and ascertain one other element: that is, the average annual tax on land in these States,—for instance, on the land of other non-residents. There are no official documents within my knowledge by which this can be determined. But, after inquiry of gentlemen, themselves landholders in these States, I have thought it might be placed, without risk of contradiction, at one cent an acre. Probably it is rather two, or even three cents; but, desiring to keep within bounds, I call it only one cent an acre. The annual tax on 289,961,954 acres, at the rate of one cent an acre, would be $2,899,619, and the sum-total of this tax for twenty-five years would amount to $72,490,475, being the apparent value of this immunity from taxation already enjoyed by the United States; or, if we call the annual tax two cents an acre, instead of one cent, we have nothing less than $144,980,950, of which the United States may now be regarded as trustees in equity for the benefit of the Land States.

Against this large sum I may be reminded of reservations and grants by the nation to the different States. These, when examined, do not materially interfere with the result. From the official returns of the Land Office, January, 1849,[85] we learn the precise extent of these reservations and grants down to that period. Here is the exhibit:—

Acres.

Common Schools10,807,958

Universities823,950

Seat of Government50,860

Salines422,325

Deaf and Dumb Asylums45,440

Internal Improvements8,474,473

—————

20,625,006

This is all. In the whole aggregate only a little more than twenty millions of acres have been granted to these States. The value of this sum-total, if deducted from the estimated value of the franchise enjoyed by the nation, will still leave a very large balance to the credit of the Land States. Estimating the land at $1.25 an acre, all the reservations and grants will amount to no more than $25,781,257. Deducting this sum from $72,490,475, we have $46,709,218 to the credit of the Land States; or, if we place the tax at two cents an acre, more than double this sum.

This result leaves the nation so largely in debt to the Land States that it becomes of small importance to scan closely the character of these grants and reservations, to determine whether in large part they are not already satisfied by specific considerations on the part of the States. But the stress, which, in the course of this debate, is laid upon this bounty, leads me to go further. From an examination of the Acts of Congress by which the Land States were admitted into the Union it appears that a large portion of these reservations and grants was made on the express condition that the lands sold by the United States, under the jurisdiction of the States, should remain exempt from any State tax for the space of five years after the sale. This condition is particularly applicable to the appropriations for common schools, universities, seats of government, and salines, amounting to 12,105,093 acres. It is also particularly applicable to another item, not mentioned before, which is known as the five per cent fund, from the proceeds of the public lands, for the benefit of roads and canals, amounting in the whole to $5,242,069. These appropriations, being made on specific conditions, faithfully performed by the States down to this day, are properly excluded from our calculations. And this is an answer to the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood], who dwelt so energetically on these appropriations, without seeming to be aware of the conditions on which they were granted.

That I may make this more intelligible, let me refer to the act for the admission of Indiana. After setting forth the five reservations and grants already mentioned, it proceeds:—

"And provided always, That the five foregoing provisions herein offered are on the conditions that the convention of the said State shall provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that every and each tract of land sold by the United States, from and after the first day of December next, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under any authority of the State, whether for State, county, or township, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years from and after the day of sale."

This clause does not stand by itself in the acts admitting the more recent States, but is mixed with other conditions. I will not believe, however, that any discrimination can be made between particular Land States, on the ground of difference in conditions properly attributable to accidental circumstances. The provision just quoted is found substantially in the acts for the admission of Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. So far as these States are concerned, it is a complete consideration, in the nature of satisfaction, for reservations and grants enjoyed by them. It also helps to illustrate the value of the permanent immunity from taxation belonging to the United States, by exhibiting concessions made by the United States to assure this franchise for certain moderate quantities of land during the brief space of five years only.

After the constant charges of squandering the public lands and of partiality to the Land States, I think all will be astonished at the small amount on the debtor side, in the great account between the States and the Nation. This consists of grants for internal improvements, in the whole reaching to only 8,474,473 acres, which, at $1.25 an acre, will be $10,593,091. If this sum be deducted from the estimated value of the immunity already enjoyed by the United States, we shall still have upwards of $60,000,000 surrendered by the Land States to the nation; or, if we call the annual tax two cents an acre, more than double this sum.

In these estimates I group together all the Land States. But, taking separate States, we find the same proportionate result. For instance, there is Ohio, with 16,770,984 acres proclaimed for sale down to January 1, 1849. Adopting the basis already employed, and assuming that these lands continued in the possession of the United States an average period of twenty-five years after being surveyed and proclaimed, and that the land tax was one cent an acre, we have $4,192,746 as the value of the immunity from taxation already enjoyed by the United States in Ohio. From this may be deducted the value of 1,181,134 acres, being grants to this State for internal improvements, at $1.25 per acre, equal to $1,476,417, leaving upwards of two millions—nearly three millions—of dollars yielded by this State to the nation.

Take another State,—Missouri. It appears that down to January, 1849, 39,635,609 acres had been proclaimed for sale in this State. Assuming again the basis already employed, we have $9,908,902 as the value of the immunity from taxation already enjoyed by the United States in Missouri. From this may be deducted the value of 500,000 acres, granted for internal improvements, which, at $1.25 an acre, amounts to $625,000, leaving upwards of nine millions of dollars thus yielded by this State to the nation.

In this way I might proceed with all the Land States individually; but enough is done to repel the charges against them, and to elucidate a peculiar equity. On the one side, they have received little, very little, from the nation,—while, on the other side, the nation, by strong considerations of equity, is largely indebted to them. This obligation of itself constitutes an equitable fund, to which the Land States may properly resort for assistance in works of internal improvement; and Congress will show an indifference to reasonable demands, should it fail to deal with them munificently,—in some sort, according to the simple measure of advantage which the nation has already so largely enjoyed at their hands.

Against these clear and well-supported merits, the old States present small claims to consideration. They have waived no right of taxation over lands within their acknowledged jurisdiction; they have made no valuable concession; they have yielded up no costly franchise. It remains, then, that, with candor and justice, they should recognize the superior—I will not say exclusive—claims of the States within whose borders and under the protection of whose laws the national domain is found.

Thus much for what I have to say in favor of this bill, on the ground of justice to the States in which the lands lie. If this argument did not seem sufficiently conclusive to render any further discussion superfluous, at least from me, I might go forward, and show that the true interests of the whole country—of every State in the Union, as of Iowa itself—are happily coincident with this claim of justice.

The State of Iowa, though distant and still sparsely settled, is known to contain the materials of boundless prosperity. The northern part may wear some of the rigid features of New England, but the middle and southern portion has a surface of great fertility, and in its bosom coal to an incalculable amount,—more, it is supposed, than all to be found in England and the whole European Continent. With these remarkable capacities, which, however, it shares with Illinois and Indiana and with the northern part of Missouri, it will be able to subsist a large population and to support manufactories on the most extensive scale. Its fields will naturally wave with golden harvests, while its inexhaustible stores of coal will quicken every form of human industry, and will furnish an incalculable motive-power to all its multiplying machinery and workshops. If in the reports of Science, now authenticated by a careful and admirable geological survey of this region,[86] we may read the future development, I had almost said the destiny, of States, according to natural laws, which I believe, then it would be difficult to exaggerate what we may expect from Iowa.

But all resources will be vain and valueless without human intelligence, skill, and exertion. These will change the face of the country, opening forests, ploughing fields, working mines, building roads, establishing schools, planting churches, administering justice. To carry such blessings into every part of this new region is now an especial duty. Of course all who have property in this State, particularly all landholders, according to their means, must contribute to the improvements and institutions by which its welfare is advanced. This general principle seems to be clear. It is only when we come to its application that there can be any question.

It will be observed that here is no suggestion of legal right on the part of the Land States, or of legal obligation on the part of the nation. Nor is there any suggestion that our fathers, when by formal compact they placed this immunity beyond question, failed to act justly; nor again is there any suggestion that this immunity should be repealed. It is simply assumed as an existing fact, which has been of value to the nation, and therefore constitutes an equitable ground of obligation on the part of the nation in favor of the Land States. Lord Bacon defines equity as the "general conscience of the realm"; and it is to this "general conscience" of the republic that the parties interested in this obligation must look for its recognition.

And now the question is directly presented, whether the Great Landholder, persevering in this system, will leave to the small landholders by his side the further labor of building railroads, by which his own magnificent domain will be largely enhanced, without contribution thereto. The very statement of the question seems to be sufficient. Reason declares, with unhesitating voice, that, whatever may be the legal immunities of the Great Landholder, he cannot, in equity, be above his neighbors, and that he should contribute to these works in some proportion according to the extent of the benefit and the immunities enjoyed. To ascertain this proportion precisely may be difficult; but the obligation is clear and obvious.

It is on the ground of this obligation that the bill now before the Senate is most strongly commended. It is said, I know, that by the grant of alternate sections for the purpose of railroads the remaining sections are so far enhanced in value that the nation loses nothing by the grant,—so that it may enjoy the rare privilege of bestowing without losing, of squandering, if you please, without any diminution of its means. Though this consideration is not unimportant, yet I do not dwell upon it, because it is so entirely subordinate to that derived from the positive obligation of the Great Landholder on unanswerable grounds of justice. I say confidently on unanswerable grounds of justice, because nothing can render the rules of justice in such a case less obligatory upon the Government than upon a private individual. If the latter, according to all the laws of good neighborhood, would be bound to help such a work, then is the Government bound. To decline this duty, to shirk this obvious obligation, is to behave as no private citizen could behave without the imputation of meanness. Thus strongly may I put the case, without fear of contradiction.

The influence of roads and canals in enhancing the value of the public domain through which they pass is well illustrated by experience. Take the Illinois and Michigan Canal, for which alternate sections of land were granted by the United States. Many years ago, as I understand, all the reserved sections on this line were sold, while in other districts of Illinois, where there has been no similar improvement, large quantities of land still continue unsold. Indeed, of the whole national domain in Illinois, amounting to upwards of thirty-five millions of acres, only fifteen millions had been sold in January, 1849.[87]

Take another instance. The Chicago and Rock Island Railroad—of which one of the proposed roads in Iowa will be an extension—has given an impulse to sales throughout a wide region. The County of Henry, through which it passes, is one of the largest and least populous in Illinois. In this county the lands had been in the market for nearly thirty years, and recent sales had not reached a thousand acres a year. But in the very year after this road was surveyed fifty thousand acres of public land were sold in this county, being more than all the land sold in the remainder of the district. Again, I am told, that, after the bill now pending passed the Senate, at the last Congress, public attention, in anticipation of the promised improvement, was attracted to the neighborhood of Davenport, the eastern terminus of the proposed road, and the public domain, not only at this place, but in the adjoining counties, at once found a market. Though the sales had already been considerable, they were in a single year more than doubled, amounting to upwards of eighty thousand acres.

It will readily occur to all that the whole country must gain by the increased value of the lands still retained and benefited by the proposed road. But this advantage, though not unimportant, is trivial by the side of the grander gains, commercial, political, social, and moral, which must accrue from the opening of a new communication, by which the territory beyond the Mississippi is brought into connection with the Atlantic seaboard, and the distant post of Council Bluffs becomes a suburb of Washington. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of roads as means of civilization. This, at least, may be said: Where roads are not, civilization cannot be; and civilization advances as roads are extended. By roads religion and knowledge are diffused,—intercourse of all kinds is promoted,—producer, manufacturer, and consumer are all brought nearer together,—commerce is quickened,—markets are created,—property, wherever touched by these lines, as by a magic rod, is changed into new values,—and the great current of travel, like that stream of classic fable, or one of the rivers in our own California, hurries in a channel of golden sand. The roads, together with the laws, of ancient Rome are now better remembered than her victories. The Flaminian and Appian Ways, once trod by such great destinies, still remain as beneficent representatives of ancient grandeur. Under God, the road and the schoolmaster are two chief agents of human improvement. The education begun by the schoolmaster is expanded, liberalized, and completed by intercourse with the world; and this intercourse finds new opportunities and inducements in every road that is built.

Our country has already been active in this work. Through a remarkable line of steam communications, chiefly by railroad, its whole population is now, or will be shortly, brought close to the borders of Iowa. Cities of the Southern seaboard, Charleston, Savannah, and Mobile, are already stretching their lines in this direction, soon to be completed conductors,—while the traveller from all the principal points of the Northern seaboard, from Portland, Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, now passes without impediment to this remote region, traversing a territory of unexampled resources, at once magazine and granary, the largest coal-field and at the same time the largest corn-field of the known globe, winding his way among churches and school-houses, among forests and gardens, by villages, towns, and cities, along the sea, along rivers and lakes, with a speed which may recall the gallop of the ghostly horseman in the ballad:—

On the banks of the Mississippi he is now arrested. The proposed road in Iowa will bear the adventurer yet further, to the banks of the Missouri; and this remote giant stream, mightiest of the earth, leaping from its sources in the Rocky Mountains, will be clasped with the Atlantic in the same iron bracelet. In all this I see not only further opportunities for commerce, but a new extension to civilization and increased strength to our National Union.

A heathen poet, while picturing the Golden Age, perversely indicates the absence of long roads as creditable to that imaginary period in contrast with his own. "How well," exclaims the youthful Tibullus, "they lived while Saturn ruled,—before the earth was opened by long ways!"

"Quam bene Saturno vivebant rege, priusquam Tellus in longas est patefacta vias!"[88]

But the true Golden Age is before, not behind; and one of its tokens will be the opening of those long ways, by which villages, towns, counties, states, provinces, nations, are all to be associated and knit together in a fellowship that can never be broken.

SECOND SPEECH.

The debate on the Iowa Railroad Bill was continued on successive days down to February 17th, when the speech of Mr. Sumner was particularly assailed by Mr. Hunter, of Virginia. To this he replied at once.

One word, if you please, Mr. President. The Senator from Virginia [Mr. Hunter], who has just taken his seat, has very kindly given me notice that I am to expect "a broadside" from the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood]. For this information I am properly grateful. When, a few days ago, I undertook to discuss an important question in this body, I expressed certain views, deemed by me of weight. Those views I submitted to the candor and judgment of the Senate. I felt confidence in their essential justice, and nothing heard since has impaired that confidence. I have listened with respect and attention to the address of the Senator from Virginia, as it becomes me to listen to everything any Senator undertakes to put forth here. But I hope to be excused, if I say, that, in all he has so eloquently uttered with reference to myself, he has not touched by a hair-breadth my argument. He has criticized—I am unwilling to say that he has cavilled at—my calculations; but he has not, by the ninth part of a hair, touched the conclusion which I drew. That still stands. And let me say that it cannot be successfully assailed in the way attempted by him.

I said that injustice is done to the Land States, out of this body and in this body: out of this body, because I often hear them called "land-stealers" and "land pirates"; in this body by the Senator from Virginia, when he complains of the partial distribution of the public lands, and particularly points out the bill now before the Senate as an instance. I said that this charge was without foundation. Why? On what ground? Because there is an existing equity (I so called it,—nothing more) on the part of the Land States as against the General Government. And on what is this founded? On a fact of record in the public acts of this country,—that is, the exemption of the public domain from taxation by the States in which it is situated. The Senator from Virginia does not question this fact; of course he cannot, for it is embodied in Acts of Congress.

The next inquiry, then, was, as to the value of this immunity, which I called an equity. To illustrate this value, I went into calculations and estimates, which I presented, after some study of the subject,—not, perhaps, such study as the Senator from Virginia has found time to give, or such as the Senator from Kentucky, in the plenitude of his researches, doubtless has given. On those calculations and estimates I attributed a certain value to the equity in question. My calculations and estimates may be overstated; they may be exaggerated. The Senator from Virginia thinks them so. Other gentlemen with whom I have had the privilege of conversing think them understated. However this may be, it does not touch the argument. I may have done injustice to my argument by overstating them. I intended to understate them. From all that I hear, I still think that I have understated them. But, whether understated or overstated, the argument still stands, that these States have conceded to the General Government an immunity from taxation,—that this immunity has a certain value, I think very large,—and that this value constitutes an equity to which the Land States have a right to appeal for bountiful, ay, for munificent treatment. Has the Senator from Virginia answered this argument? Can he answer it?

I forbear to go into the subject at this time. I rose simply to state, that, as the Senator from Virginia generously warns me that I am to expect "a broadside" from the Senator from Kentucky, I am to regard what he said to-day, so far as I am concerned, simply as a signal gun. The Senator will pardon me, if I say it is nothing more; for it has not reached me, or my argument. Meanwhile I await, with resignation, and without anxiety, the "broadside" from Kentucky.

THIRD SPEECH.

The debate was continued for many days, during which the speech of Mr. Sumner was attacked and defended. Finally, on the 16th of March, immediately before the question was taken, he again returned to the subject.

Mr. President,—Much time has been consumed by this question. At several periods the debate has seemed about to stop, and then again it has taken a new spring, while the goal constantly receded. I know not if it is now near the end. But I hope that I shall not seem to interfere with its natural course, or unduly occupy the time of the Senate, if I venture again for one moment to take part in it.

The argument which I submitted on a former occasion has not passed unregarded. And since it can owe little to my individual position, I accept the opposition it encounters as a tribute to its intrinsic importance. It has been assailed by different Senators, on different days, and in different ways. It has been met by harmless pleasantry, and by equally harmless vituperation,—by figures of arithmetic and figures of rhetoric,—by minute criticism and extended discussion,—also, by that sure resource of a weak cause, hard words, and an imputation of personal motives. I propose no reply to all this array; least of all shall I retort hard words, or repel personal imputations. On this head I content myself with saying,—and confidently, too,—that, had he known me better, the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood], who is usually so moderate and careful, would have hesitated long before uttering expressions which fell from him in this debate.

The position I took is regarded as natural, or excusable, in a Senator from one of the Land States, acting under the vulgar spur of local interest; but it is pronounced unnatural and inexcusable in a Senator from Massachusetts. Now, Sir, it is sufficient for me to say, in reply to this imputation, that, while I know there are influences and biases incident to particular States or sections of the Union, I recognize no difference in the duties of Senators on this floor. Coming from different States and opposite sections, we are all Senators of the Union; and our constant duty is, without fear or favor, to introduce into the national legislation the principle of justice. In this spirit, while sustaining the bill before the Senate, I spoke for justice to the Land States.

In my present course, I but follow the example of Senators and Representatives of Massachusetts on kindred measures from their earliest introduction down to the present time. The first instance was in 1823, on the grant to the State of Ohio of land one hundred and twenty feet wide, with one mile on each side, for the construction of a road from the lower rapids of the Miami River to the western boundary of the Connecticut Reserve. On the final passage of this grant in the House, the Massachusetts delegation voted as follows: Yeas,—Samuel C. Allen, Henry W. Dwight, Timothy Fuller, Jeremiah Nelson, John Reed, Jonathan Russell; Nay,—Benjamin Gorham. In the Senate the bill passed without a division. In 1828 a still greater unanimity occurred on the passage of the bill to aid the State of Ohio in extending the Miami Canal from Dayton to Lake Erie; and this bill is an early instance of the grant of alternate sections, as in that now before the Senate. On this the Massachusetts delegation in the House voted as follows: Yeas,—Isaac C. Bates, Benjamin W. Crowninshield, John Davis, Edward Everett, John Locke, John Reed, Joseph Richardson, John Varnum; Nays,—none. In the Senate, Messrs. Silsbee and Webster both voted in the affirmative. I pass over intermediate grants, which, I am told, were sustained by the Massachusetts delegations with substantial unanimity. The extensive grants, by the last Congress, to Illinois, Mississippi, and Alabama, in aid of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile, were sustained by all the Massachusetts votes in the House, except one.

Still further, in sustaining the present bill on grounds of justice to the Land States, I but follow the recorded instructions of the Legislature of Massachusetts, addressed to its Senators and Representatives here on a former occasion. The subject was presented in a special message to the Legislature in 1841, by the distinguished Governor at that time,[89] who strongly urged "a liberal policy towards the actual settler, and towards the new States, for this is justly due to both." And he added: "Such States are entitled to a more liberal share of the proceeds of the public lands than the old States, as we owe to their enterprise much of the value this property has acquired. It seems to me, therefore, that justice towards the States in which these lands lie demands a liberal and generous policy towards them."[90] In accordance with this recommendation, it was resolved by the Legislature, "That, in the disposition of the public lands, this Commonwealth approves of making liberal provisions in favor of the new States; and that she ever has been, and still is, ready to cooperate with other portions of the Union in securing to those States such provisions."[91] Thus a generous policy towards the Land States, with liberal provisions in their favor, was considered by Massachusetts the part of justice.

It was my purpose, before this debate closed, to consider again the argument I formerly submitted, and to vindicate its accuracy in all respects, both in principle and in detail. But this has already been so amply done by others much abler than myself,—by the Senator from Missouri [Mr. Geyer], both the Senators from Michigan [Mr. Felch and Mr. Cass], the Senator from Arkansas [Mr. Borland], the Senator from Iowa [Mr. Dodge], and the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Downs],—all of whom, with different degrees of fulness, have urged the same grounds in favor of this bill, that I feel unwilling at this hour, and while the Senate actually waits to vote on the question, to occupy time by further dwelling upon it. Perhaps on some other occasion I may think proper to return to it.

But, while avoiding what seems superfluous discussion, I cannot forbear asking your attention to the amendment of the Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Underwood].

This amendment, when addressed to Senators of the favored States, is of a most plausible character. It proposes to give portions of the public domain to the original Thirteen, together with Vermont, Maine, Tennessee, and Kentucky, for purposes of education and internal improvement, at the rate of one acre to each inhabitant according to the recent census. This is commended by the declared objects,—education and internal improvement. Still further, in its discrimination of the old States, it assumes a guise well calculated to tempt them into its support. It holds out the attraction of seeming, though unsubstantial, self-interest. It offers a lure, a bait, to be unjust. I object to it on several grounds.

1. But I put in the fore-front, as my chief objection, its clear, indubitable, and radical injustice, written on its very face. The amendment confines its donations to the old States, and, so doing, makes an inequitable discrimination in their favor. It tacitly assumes, that, by the bill in question, or in some other way, the Land States have received their proper distributive portion, so as to lose all title to share with the old States in the proposed distribution. But, if there be any force in the argument, so much considered in this debate, that these railroad grants actually enhance the value of the neighboring lands of the United States, and constitute a proper mode of bringing them into the market, or if there be any force in the other argument which I have presented, drawn from the equitable claims of the Land States, in comparison with the other States, to the bounty of the great untaxed proprietor,[92] then this assumption is unfounded. There is no basis for the discrimination made by the amendment. If the Iowa Land Bill be proper without this amendment, as most will admit, then this amendment, introducing a new discrimination, is improper. Nor do I well see how any one prepared to sustain the original bill can sustain the amendment. The Senator from Kentucky, who leads us to expect his vote for the bill, seems to confess the injustice of his attempted addition.

2. I object to it as out of place. The amendment engrafts upon a special railroad grant to a single State a novel distribution of the national domain. Now there is a place and a time for all things; and nothing seems to me more important in legislation than to keep all things in their proper place, and to treat them at their proper time. The distribution of the public lands is worthy of attention; and I am ready to meet this great question whenever it arises legitimately for our consideration; but I object to considering it merely as a rider to the Iowa Land Bill.

The amendment would be less objectionable, if proposed as a rider to a general system of railroad grants,—as, for instance, to a bill embracing grants to all the Land States; but it is specially objectionable as a graft upon the present bill. The Senator who introduced it doubtless assumed that other bills, already introduced, would pass; but, if his amendment be founded on this assumption, it should wait the action of Congress on all these bills.

3. If adopted, the amendment might endanger, if it did not defeat, the Iowa Land Bill. This seems certain. Having this measure at heart, believing it founded in essential justice, I am unwilling to place it in this jeopardy.

4. It prepares the way for States of this Union to become landholders in other States, subject, of course, to the legislation of those States,—an expedient which, though not strictly objectionable on grounds of law, or under the Constitution, is not agreeable to our national policy. It should not be promoted without strong and special reasons. In the bill introduced by the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Shields], bestowing lands for the benefit of the insane in different States, this objection is partially obviated by providing that the States in which there are no public lands shall select their portion in the Territories of the United States, and not in other States. But, since in a short time these very Territories may become States, this objection is rather adjourned than removed.

5. Lands held under this amendment, though in the hands of States, will be liable to taxation, as lands of other non-resident proprietors, and on this account will be comparatively valueless. For this reason I said that the amendment held out the attraction of seeming, though unsubstantial, self-interest. That the lands will be liable to taxation cannot be doubted. The amendment does not propose in any way to relieve them from this burden, nor am I aware that they can be relieved from it. The existing immunity is only so long as they belong to the United States. Now there is reason to believe, that, from lack of agencies and other means familiar to the United States, the lands distributed by this amendment would not find as prompt a market as those still in the hands of the Great Landholder. But however this may be, it is entirely clear, from the recorded experience of the national domain, that these lands, if sold at the minimum price of the public lands, and only as rapidly as those of the United States, and if meanwhile they are subject to the same burdens as the lands of other non-residents, will, before the sales are closed, be eaten up by the taxes. The taxes will amount to more than the entire receipts from sales; and thus the grant, while unjust to the Land States, will be worthless to the old States, the pretended beneficiaries. In the Roman Law, an insolvent inheritance was known by an expressive phrase as damnosa hæreditas. A grant under this amendment would be damnosa donatio.

For such good and sufficient reasons, I am opposed to this amendment.