bers whether they be rich or poor, and in case no road should be made, they get no land. It may be admitted that these grants are as beneficial to the new States as they would be in case the revenue of the United States was diminished to the full extent of their value; but when the measure is regarded as one of compromise proposing a distribution of the public domain among the States, the injustice of the scheme is so glaring that one is almost surprised that any member of Congress possessed sufficient boldness to propose it.

Whatever public lands may be worth at a distance of from fifty to one hundred miles from a navigable stream or railroad, no intelligent man of the present day will deny that the construction of a railroad leading to a market would double their average value in money, for the distance of six miles from the line. Then, in substance, the proposition resolves itself into this: if the State of Missouri will, by the application of her capital and labor, add one hundred per cent. to the present value of 3,000,000 acres of public land, Congress will remunerate her by a grant of an equal quantity. Thus far the proposition is equitable; but the old States are not willing that it should rest upon this ground: they insist that in addition to a fair equivalent they shall receive the proceeds of certain quantities of land for their assent to a fair bargain.

The old States, respectively, demand a quantity of land equal to 150,000 acres for each of their Senators and Representatives in Congress, which they are authorized (not required,) to apply to the support of schools. In Missouri one section out of thirty-six has been reserved by Congress for schools, which amounts to 1,108,073 acres. But the State was not allowed to select it: each township was compelled to take the sixteenth section, be it rich or poor. By the provisions of this bill, New York is entitled to 5,400,000 acres; equal to one acre for about every five acres and a half of her own land. And more than this, the holders of the warrants to be granted in her behalf, have the privilege of selecting for themselves; which makes the grant worth at least fifty per cent. more than if the State were compelled to take by certain numbers without regard to quality. New York, in area, about one third less than Missouri, would receive for the support of schools, by virtue of this bill, about 450,000 acres more than the amount of all the lands granted to Missouri since its admission into the Union, including the 3,000,000 acres proposed by this measure. Indeed,

she would even receive more land in proportion to the number of her Senators and Representatives in Congress, than Missouri has hitherto received for the support of schools; and, besides, her assignees have the privilege of making selections. As a rule by which to determine the mode of dividing the public lands amongst the old States, that contained in the Bill may be fair; but as between the old and new States it would be obviously unjust to make a division according to the number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. But when we look into the merits of the Bill, and regard the public domain as the common property of the nation, it is evident that while it is proposed to give the old States 150,000 acres of land for each Senator and Representatives in Congress, the new States are to get nothing except what they pay for; in effect, they are required to add as much to the value of the common property as they take out.

Besides, while the grants proposed to be made to the new States are calculated to increase the revenue by encouraging sales, those proposed in favor of the old States will put an end to almost all sales for cash for a considerable number of years. The latter will be entitled to warrants covering 29,250,000 acres which, with the bounty land warrants and the Mexican war claims unlocated, will swell the amount to over 50,000,000 acres; which, at the rate of entries since 1849, will supply the market for more than ten years. During all this time the old States would enjoy a revenue accruing from what is now the common property of the nation, while the new States would receive nothing without an equivalent.

We say again, we are in favor of giving up the public domain as a source of national revenue; and we desire that, according to some just rule, the benefits to be derived from them should be enjoyed in an equal degree by the people of all the States: not during the present generation only, but throughout all time. But we protest against the distribution of the public lands, upon the principles involved in Mr. Bennett's Bill; and especially against the idea that the new States become debtors to the old on account of lands granted in aid of railroads on the terms proposed. Instead of being founded on principles of liberality and national justice, the Bill, in all its details, denotes the shrewd conceptions of a sharper, seeking to obtain an advantage over a weak and inexperienced individual.

When the new States ask for lands in aid of railroads, they are

met by the objection that they are claiming too large a share of the public domain. Even the incidental benefits which may possibly accrue from the construction of public works are charged against them, as so much of the common property advanced; and great caution is exercised to prevent a diminution of the public revenue, while the same body pass a Bill, by a vote of about two to one, which is calculated to put an end to the perception of all revenue from that source in future.

In reviewing the proceedings of the last and present Congress, the conclusion is forced upon us that, instead of being viewed as a source of national glory calculated to improve and elevate the social and intellectual condition of the whole people, the public domain is beginning to be regarded merely as a political fund which may be bartered away and gambled for by individual States and speculating politicians without the slightest regard to national objects. And while these things are being enacted, we regret to observe that the conductors of the public press,-the sentinels upon the watch-tower of the nation,-seem to be slumbering at their posts, as though they had been drugged. None of them, as far as we have observed, have taken upon themselves the trouble of analysing the measures touching the public domain lately under consideration in Congress. The title of the Homestead Bill appeals to the popular sentiment; Bennett's Bill addresses itself to the prejudices and interests of the old States; a presidential election is pending; and neither party dare openly to oppose these measures. Such at least is the aspect in which the subject is presented to our view. If in these remarks we do injustice to the public press, their vindication of themselves against the imputation of neglecting a great national interest will afford us pleasure.

The policy to be pursued in disposing of the public domain is the great question of the age-of more importance than a dozen presidential elections-and, we respectfully, but earnestly, invoke the people as well as the conductors of the press, especially of the West, to give the subject a critical and close investigation.

ARTICLE II.

WISCONSIN.*

At the opening of the 19th century, the "Territory North-West of the Ohio" was an unbroken wilderness, shared in doubtful supremacy, by the aboriginal man, and the other denizens of the forest and prairie.

It were needless to except from the universality of this description, the occasional advent of the Indian trader, the nascent settlements on the Ohio, which were attempting a precarious existence, or the Military posts which were pushed into this outer domain of our Republic, in token of our political dominion, and as heralds of an advancing civilization.

In 1802, the State of Ohio was carved out of the body of the North-West, and admitted into the federal Union. Steadily advancing in population, wealth and respectability to its present enviable position in our political system, her brief but impressive history commands the admiration of older communities, and awakens the generous emulation of the new. Her population, in 1850, had reached nearly 2,000,000, souls, and she ranks the third in the sisterhood of States.

The history of Ohio has been the history, in succession, of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Their advance has been, in like manner, rapid in population and in the other elements of political greatness. The four States, above enumerated, contained in 1850, 4,000,000 of freemen.

Surprising as these results are, transcending all that the world had previously known of the creation of new political communities, by the peaceful migration of men and of the arts, distancing even, all previous experience in the settlement of the new world, it might seem enough for Wisconsin, the youngest of the creations of the Ordinance of '87, to say, that she is of the North-West, and shares with her kindred States, in the experience of a like early development.

But to say this, is not enough. The settlement of Wisconsin has thus far been on a scale, unapproached even by that of the four States above enumerated, and constituting with her, the area long familiarly known as the "Territory North-West of the Ohio."

That this is not a vain boast, is a fact too broadly and familiarly known, to need the formality of demonstration. For the satisfaction of the curious, however, there is appended hereto a tabular

• We are indebted to our highly esteemed friend, J. H. Lathrop, Chancellor of the University of the State of Wisconsin, for the following interesting account of the settlement and growth of that wonderful young State. The source from which we received the pamphlet warrants its publication in our Journal as historical matter, entitled to the fullest credit.-Editor.

view of the population of the five States of the North-West, for decades of years, constructed by collating the census returns from 1800 down to 1850.

From this table it appears, that during the decade 1840-'50, the population of Wisconsin advanced from 30,000 to 305,000, while at corresponding decades of their growth, Ohio presents the figures from 45,000 to 230,000, Michigan from 31,000 to 212.000, while the corresponding increase of Indiana and Illinois was in a much smaller ratio.

It will be observed that the increase of Wisconsin, for the ten years ending in 1850 was 900 per cent. By examination of the census returns of that year, it will be found that the increase of Iowa, was 345 per cent.; that of Arkansas, 114 per cent., and of no other state over 100 per cent. during the same period.

This migration to Wisconsin, unparalleled as it is, in the experience of States, has not been the fitful result of the gambling mania which is luring its hordes of victims to the land of gold. It has been the steady and persistent flow of men and capital, seeking a permanent home and a profitable investment. After filling up the southern tier of Counties, the unbroken tide is setting strongly to the fertile valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, with their tributaries, and to the Mississippi border.

Wisconsin is no less distinguished in the character of its early settlers, than in their number. Recklessness and wild adventure has found little place in the history of this migration.

Michigan was fairly open to survey and settlement as early as 1830, and in the course of the succeeding ten years its capabilities were explored and appreciated; during which period its population rose, by a massive immigration, from 31,000 to 212,000.

In 1840 the relations of Wisconsin to the intelligent enterprise of the eastern States, where what those of Michigan were ten years earlier. The straits had been passed by sails and by steam, and the Territory of Wisconsin was open to settlement.

The conviction, however, had fastened itself on the mind of New England and New York, that the physical elements of prosperity were more decided and more readily available in Wisconsin, and would work out an earlier maturity, economical and social, than had been realized in the history of other States.

In accordance with these impressions, it is confessedly true, that the basis of the social character of Wisconsin has been laid in a migration as distinguished in character, as it has been surpassing in numbers. The intellect, the education, and the integrity-the head and the heart,-as well as the enterprise, the wealth, the industry and the skill of New York and New England, have been laid broadly and deeply under requisition, to furnish out the staple of the population which is to leave its impress on the State for generations to come.