Western Sun & General Advertiser, Volume 21, Number 45, Vincennes, Knox County, 18 December 1830 — Page 2

contracts wMi those who might take)

large or small given distances for the lowest sum, many would have bid lor the road, who were induced to put in their proposals according to his advertisement by the mile, and though they were the lowest bidders in that way, were excluded by the acceptance of sweeping propositions covering many miles in cx tent. The law already bad enough, by placing every thing in the p jwer ol the capitalists, was rendered still worse, by the practice under it. These contracts Triil remain as warnings to the state, nett again to trust her speculator When she borrows money the only sa enfice i the interest. But, when she subjects her paper to the mercy of , Mhuvelingai she escapes from their avaticc" with a loss of thirty per cen'. hereafter, she will do better than she has in the Michigan transaction. To ihe a forementioned law, I gave my consent vith the greatest reluctance, in a spirit of compromise common to legislators, in order to drive the vexed question Iron the house, by fixing the point of termination of the road and save the state from further expense; but I have reg. cited 1 t tic sacrifice of my convictions, since, &c hope to be more guarded in the future. By the law of the last session, ihe go-e-nor of this state w as required to correspond with the general government, & ascertain when, and how, the lands do nated by treaty and an act of congress, to the sia;e, to open the Michigan and Ohio road are to be surveyed, and w hether they are to besurveyed by the st ite or ge neial government, and urge the xmme diate survey of the same, by the latter, Sic. If the United Stales government Undertook to survey the lands, he was also required upon that condition (and that only) to notify the commissioners when to proceed to the selection ot the lands. If the United Slates refused to autvey the lands, (then again and upon that condition only ) he was to notify the commissioners to employ a surveyor, fcc and not otherwise. In faithful obedience to this act, the executive did, on the lOih of February, 1830, open a correspond Cuce with the honorable John II Eaiar secretary of war, (the successor of the honorable Jimes Barbour, with whom, ! by negotiation, the governor had the hp rior during his administration of thatde paitment, of settling the same questions to the satisfaction of the slate, now sub mined to the present secretary) up to the spirit and letter of the law After "Waiting lor a reply in vain, to his firsr communication, until the 81I1 of July last, the executive then addressed the se cretary again, and in a more earnest manner than at first, on the same subjects in charge, but has received no answer to this. He has also addressed another letier to the secretary of war, asking him to acknowledge the receipt of the two first letters, but he has received no reply to this. In due time (June) he gave the above information to the commissioners, then at Indianapolis, relative to his having re ceived no decision, as to the surveys, from the United States. And in due times aiterwards, (first of August) afier Trailing as long as practicable, for the opioion ot the war department to his second letter, he then gave his opinion through Mr. Hanna one of the commissioners, to them, and afterwards by Tvritten communication to the board. that for safety, they might better proCeed to theemployraent or surveyors, &c and to the execution of the spirit o! the law. so as to prepare the lands lor market, according to its provisions and instruction Copies ol all these documints, I shall lay belore the legislature Triih care. This detail of facts, will shew to you, that there is something yvrong s nme- j Tvncre; and it win remain tor in-; war postotTice departments, to explain the mystery. Yet, that the surveys and locations of the lands, made by the commissioners, will be good and valid, without any decision of the secretary of war, or notice of the same to the commis oio ers, and with or w ithout an act of the legislature to legalize, (inasmuch as thece were only prepaatoiy sups to the consummation of the m.un object, and of a ministerial and pecuniary nature,) is pregnant with many reasons The commissioners have acted. They have Burveyed aod selected about two hundred sections ot good land, and made their report thereof to the United States' land office. They intend to survey and select the balance due the state the en ftuinp season. They have also comple ted the surveys from Greensburgh to ISladison,via Napoleon. The lands were Tircnarrd fnr rmdi : n tr. sf iitt, i 1 he terms established for the sale ot the Cana! lanJs, are in a train of nroofs to ascertain their goodness Their apnli j Ca ion to thoic may be appropriated In thi progress we have been visi'ed tti'.h vjrprise. within a sdwrt time p i-t. vvith a published opln'rui of ihe Artmg Commissioner of the General Land onVt. v liicli would confine u. if po-jhjP j;i tjic t.--.t;,r nf tlio.fi frprifv l.m i In l!,.-

cluive vnce'Ud country ot the In ii,u.j 1 fi 1 end-hip, under the guidance of an uuThi course and such views, appear to be auuiterattd rhantv Qui lauds have i.eeo a remarkable and unaccountable dt-par-! "obi but the money is ours. A sale of the ture from the lurid and e-nphatic decision I un(iipiitel -elections will be requisite to of the lafe Secretary of War on thf Vt-r In.cei tne expectation ot the contractois. flume points The grounds taken by Mr j The questions respecting the public do lUoore m Ibis case will be found on the j mam 1- 1 1 1 unsettled. A gradation bill chsipstciuiinv ti le unsati-factoi v, an : in Congtc--, t'oi the time hciDg. is likely S-iMitiuet! by neithei the letter, Ungu i -uper- '.le it. A reduction of ihe Ian or meanmu: f the treaty. The posiinn j ol the I ruled States down to one d liar, tttl.r., that the road ariicle'0-rm ,4an eti 'seventy live. tif. ;,nl twenty-five cinttirtdy uiitiuct aud itrjjuratc cttbton' will 1 per acre, making regular periods the

not stand the test of a critical cxnmica !

lion of the treaty containing it. It cannot ' hear the touch of the knife of legal ciiti--i?m. The article granting: the land, ex- i presdy determines these three es-ential matters of facts 50 explicitly, us to fotbid : the implication at all, to wit: 1st. llde tannines the quantity at land granted tor the road. '2d. It determines the length and breath of a strip of land for the road, and names the two points between which; it must lie. 3d. It determine? -..here the! land or section: of the whole line, from: the lake to the Ohio, are to be located, by , ignifiennt words, '-contiguous to the road 1 The Wabash and the Lake are the speci fied norrds hpfivrrn winch, the strip and !he COIlU;rroinoils lands must be located. Now. this land must lie touching the strip 1 or road, by the words of the treaty (if good land can so be found) from one deji.nd point to another, and how can it do this, , if it is to be selected according to the new decision, ten and twenty miles north 1 and couth of these points, and thence inclining to the centre of the road? In making the agreement the contracting par lie- had in their mind the enhanced value of the am, through its inflm nee, lying in jux'aposition on the ioad, the zihole dismncc through the country then about to be ceded to the United State?, as well as that to be retained by the Indians. Willi such understandings carried into the treaty, in plain English, we shall feel justified in resisting any immature construction which shall restrict us to the benefits only of little more than half the road nor th of the Wabash for the selection of our lands. And it will be mutter of as'oni-hment, if the Indians themselves, do not concur with us in opinion, as to the object of the treaty We might be charged w ith a disengenuous concealment of real feeling, were we not here to remark, that our dissatisfaction ot this late procedure, is heightened by tiie United States authority net giving to us an opportunity to he heard, in defence of our rights, prior to the sale of the lands which the state authorities had selected, in conjunction with an agent of the United and several Indian chiels, in the disputed territory. If upon the reception of the authentic proceedings ot the Joint commit sionVlt the General Land Olhce. the lands to which both parties thought they had a right, had been restric t fiom sale for the time being, for further adjustment, in stead of peremptorily ordering them foi sale,- without notice to any olhcer of tin slate, and making it necessary lor us to bring the question before Congress, on a claim ot the monies the lands mav have a sold for, we would have looked upon the transaction as having a tender regard for the public interest, not less than as the manifestation of common respect for op posite opinions and the people of the stale. We have already noticed that the ground work of this decision is, that the article making the grant contemplates a separate cession out of the Indian lands, anil not ceded by the main article, because the arti cles themselves stand as sejtaratc ones in the treaty. This logic, if good, must control all the articles in the instrument, and rights growing out of them, and would proe too much to be admitted ; because it would over rule other decisions of the United Suites' government, touching thisame treaty, and rip up the invested rights of individual under it, in the country ce ded by the fust article. What is to be come of the reservations made toindivi j ,mj Ini,;,ns andothe.., by separate aim j (;..l:ict article from the main one in the (ieaty These have generally been laid j & rat;fif,tl u;t;Hn the ,mit? f 'the general j CP:!S0tu atl(, nol ()rdered to be sold. These I tjS cannQt )Q distinguished from the r forM ro;l(i Evpn Hie .dausiiulitv of the stand taken is imperceptible; and to - - I give it the appearance of such, the most j.tudmarian construction, at war with the

c!pnt - ,r ... , ,, T .s iu .

and context, are re-orted to. One article possesses as much solemnity as another. All paits of the instrument have the ame dignity and effect, having had a simultaneous beginning, progress and maturity in point of time and validity. It oiust be interpreted so thai the whole will stand together in rational harmony. Lut mat ters of fact , settled as in this case, are above tiie aits of construction. They -peak for themselves. W hat has been said on this subject is submitted to you tor legislation, with a belief that vou will feel as willing as your executive, to defend (he rights of the slate against injuries fiom any quarter; and in this case coming bom a source. I am happy to add, whose acts, in the general, are entitled to mucn , 1 respect. But, let us do our eutv. Let u j1' ''' our :ict th:it vse a,e ,,)r l)rlnc,l',t ana nut invoices 01 men. 1 nai at all times, appl.iud and maintain what is rigid, and condemn what is wrong un mtlueuced bv party -pint. As long as tnir I1 t,,e ' ipo ot the political cnuicn, rm people and their servants may rj Jice to gether. Crdlicts of opinion then, will not lie viewed as signals cf war. ' when thev sincerely occur as evi-'enre o! honesty of mlention, to cement, in the crueddeot mverlig ation. the most lasiinu

standard of their value, wcuhl, ns well Q3 j

aid the army of honest poor in the coun j try, strengthen the union and improve its . . 9 M- M ' 1 1 treasury, seme down its uoaimg pouiation, anu materially increase tne nuances of the states where the lands are: and even then do less than other nations have done and are till doing, for their citizens; and far less than the American deserves. It would be useless to offer lands for sale at a less prre than twenty five cent. U hen they fall below that price, they should be given away, to actual settlers, under prudential limitations as to time of occupancy and number of acres. And how much of thi- kind of land is theie. and how many unable to buy it, are known every where. We have some who inner it wealth, some competency , others nothing but poverty. And it is not un frequently the rase, that the most indigent heads ihe most numerous offspring How often are our sympathies aroused by the ad spectacles of the heads of families, passed the grand clirnacterick of life, of twelve and fifteen children wearing out their miserable lives in unprofitable ten an'rv, with no belter hope than to procure bread enough to gratify the calls of nature. If such chihlren, and parents ot mi-f -rtune. were per milted to occupy as their own, even the sterile and bleak districts of land, which no one at any price would buy, they would feel more like freemen. Yes, if their land were too poor to produce any thing but thf green grass, their situation would be infinitely moie happy, than to he doomed to the homeles drudger y of a perpetual underling servitude . Open a door to a gene;! freehold population, ami the gove 1 nmenl at once receives new strength h" a const quence of the attachment which all men have to a home When this is the situation cf ;i people, let external or infernal commotions arise, they will be irrefutable in war, and as priceless as Fahricius against bribery and corruption. When the endearments of home and family are en lertaiued together in the heart ot the cit izen, ami the preservation of thee do pendant upon the salvation of the country, he is then prepared to die for it If such lands are valueless to the Union, then the cries of the needy are the demands of jus nee and sound policy. The Indians still abide among us. Ik-re they are, wasting away like the snow llake before the fervid rays of the sun Give them the Christian religion, give organic laws, giv e them separate estates in lauds, give them privileges and make them citizens, or appeal to the General Government to as-tgn them a place of their choice beyond the Mississippi, in a country suitable to the chare or the establishment of a government of their own, to which they may emigrate, if they please. To suppose that the barbarian with all his savage feelings and manneis, and horrific customs, can long exist in the heart of civilized society, without unpleasant collissions, is about as probable as to expect a union between fire and water, for a mutual existence. One or the other must prevail, and it is not to be supposed that the civilized will yield to ihe savage state. It would be the part of wisdom to give them speedily what must be fixed upon them by the force of circum glances in the ultimatum; but in love aud without force. The Sunday mail question is still alive. Like other ..bstractions, not susceptrble of being formed into law by ut. but bearing upon our rights or priv ileges, we may con--idtr this a subject of legitimate notice Still it should form no part of our purpose to diminish in the least that deep veneration which is so justly entertained for the Christian Sabbath, or to insinuate an unfavorable opinion to the divinity of its institution. Few things which foim a part of the social compact, human or divine, are productive of more salutary ellects in this world of moral evil, than a Sitbbadi or day ot rest and meditation. Hut we w ish to leav e the protection of this sacred day w here we found it, in the hands ol the Almighty, its divinity upon the tes timony of the Bible, and the punishment ot its violators to Ilim who ordained it. It this is the Lordday and of his appointment, it is under his protection, and he will preserve it. Let the mails lun until they are stopped by a higher power than Congress. j this body shall assume a jurisdiction over the sacred writings on a single subject, the wedge is then entered, and iheie is nothing further in the way to prevent them from taking complete cogni.ance of the whole. The orthodoxy oi this, aud tiie heterodoxy of t'uxt creed, would soon follow in the train of a fruitful -ource ot new legislation, concerning the scripinres. That sy stern of ethics n Inch will not stand alone and lecommend itself by its own grace, without the whitewashes of the law, deserves a tomb among the rubbish of other human lollies. And that one w Inch clai:n for itself perfection over ill others, in the midst ot an extended rebgious tnleiation, is not likely to escape j -itspicion tor its presumption. It is the natural and constitutional right of all to b nk a-freely 8 hey picas-1, without res poo-i? ihty , and to a-;t unJer it. It will become your province, at the present session, to lay olf the state into new senatorial and representative distncts. The usual dilbculties growing out of tins task will he found to present them -elves a- almost insur mountatde obstacles,

among your be-t exerti ins to do eqa.il ' only ot the objects which puuishjiistice. and at the same tune give com j menu deig?i to ellecl. They I jok to a plete s itisftction. t all the cuuuties in to? reioimati on of their victims, and to ex1 t r It Villi :i I .i tai urncil 1 1 1 . l.nri i. ' il l.l ; t !i sili'lOli' 1 . ilrli.r nll.ci j If.. n ! ' .

, tion ci distiicti by any definitely iixcti

ratio, wnf the r it rcrr.iin3 r,s it hor a in-1

created, there are many counties which ; w ill be deprived of septate repre?enta-! .. I . uve privileges, now enjoy ir.g mem. The I most satisfaction will doubtless be rriven. !

by rather leaning to a system of compro-1 brief period between the gallon andconmie, than to too close an adhesion to ex-! victicn a suitable or sulhcicnt time for the act numbers. Owing to oar prodigious ! culprit to mnkc hi atonement to hi counincrease of population, during the last j try r to his God ? Is not the dav cf pubfive years, an increase of members in ; lie execution one of curiosity and amu'C both houses must be the consequence ofjment to many, rather than of lasting imfven an increased ratio, which, 1:1 either j picsion? Is it the puipo-c of the peclarnse. to too great an. extent, we aie ad-j tor, in travelling for dav s to such eihibi monished by economical considerations,! tions, to learn his dutvto hi fellow man. and our principles, to be guarded against. J or barely to see one of his race hang and

v itmn Ihe last ten year we have risen in numerical strength, from one hundred and forty odd thousand to about four hundred thousand. Such an unparalleled rise in so short a time, will enable us to indulge the presentiment, that unless we rcreive an unforeseen check in ome way, by the year 1840. progressing at the raleof the past, a million of souls will live in Indiana Vou may, or you may not, make the Congressional Districts, under the late census, this sessron. Vou can form them subject to contingencies before the ratio bill is passed, or absolutely afterwards. Our new delegation will not be elected till August, 1833. I'erhaps it might be most agreeable to form the state and federal districts at the same time, and be rid of the su' ject. Some steady and uniform mode of doing county business throughout ihe state, is recommended, alike by its benefits and She evils of Ihe present one. What most appear to be the ground of complaint is, the different kinds of county tribunals within the same commonwealth. In some counties there are boards of justices, and in othf r commissioners. Such a diversity of special legislation in these matters, willlead in time to a lamentable confu sinn After a while, by ils institutions. one wili scarcely be able to know when he ss in the state or out of it. Legislation should always be general, producing uiufoimity in its effects; aud opposition by minoiilies to thesolemnly declared will of the rn Jority.is no apology for special acts' afterwards to commit havoc upon the beauty and order of a statf system. At what point is the practice to stop? The examples already in our statute books, if persisted in, will in time produce a heterogenous and deformed polity, without come-lines-. wisdom, or public security. The philanthropic exertions, too, making in some counties in the state, for tha erec tion of asylums for the poor, upon farms, misjht induce the. state to make them common, under the constitutional injunction If an application weie made to Congress, for the location of a section of hnd for every county in the state, fVr such humane purposes, I flatter myself that it would succeed. Why not? If the land aieours, and Congress holds them in trust only for us, surely we m?ty dispose ol them in our oaii way. And how could about two township of land be better dispose i of? Indeed, ihere i much tea sou for making such application for th domain, in ail ol the spates bordering on the Ohio and Mi-sis-ippi rivers And could it tie said by anv of the old states, that this is another scheme for the west, em stales1 aggrandizement ex'-'uiVf ly ? 1S0 lor the doors of these asylums would be open to the unhappy victims ot misfortune of every state and clime. Many a son or daughter of abluent parentage, in the old states, might, under adverse circumst?nces, have the tear of affliction dried up in these nur-er ies of benevolence. The shores of our principal rivers, already vocal with the ciies of distiess, should answer the objection, that such grants would be of local benefit. Applications are frequently made to the Governor, to fill .vacancies created, or supposed to be created, by the absence of officers. The length of time that an olhcer must have removed or absented himself from his odice or place of resi deuce, to constitute a vacancy, appears not to be specified by law. This is necessary. When an olhcer dies or resigns, there is no diiliculty in tiliing the vacant place. But how long a man may absent himself before he abandons his office, is matter of opinion. The public seutimeot is divided on this subject, and therefore the time should be fixed by law. In the present advanced aud refined state of the human mind, in those governments, which justly stand at the head of the civilized world, the propriety of in dicting capital punishment, is, from the experiments of by gone ages, growing more and more questionable. The right of society to take- away life, and the policy ol doing so, publicly, though sustained by the hoary advocate of time and usage, are among the most problematical of tne settled practices ol the age, which have so uniloimly received the acquiescence ol nations. Shall tiie antiquity and univer i sality of these customs, however, secure 'them against assault, and sanctity the ' dountJul 1 eusonm which sustains them : Or may we, under the hghis ol experience, teeming from all quarters of the globe, and as the disciples of all wholesome reforms which are improvements, venture to doubi whether they have noi tailed to answer the ends of this kind ot punishment. It is true, that in taking life, ail opportunity is cut od tioia the ot. ! tendf r to commit other oiu-nces; tail thi ; v.ouiti:iaion ol tiaiiLr crimes lor whiv-h lue

criminal offered Are thee At tln to he

consummated, by placing it without the nver of the convict to undergo the one. . . . or by nuking him the instrument of a tinUhd t.nrlpt.uiP mnn the nthnr? I the ; uie ? The answers which the clo-e observer wouid give to thrse queries, would be such as to make the supreme power of a state pause to cxamrne the que-tioa in all its bearings. -Confinement at hVur in the solitary cell, respond to all ot the reasons for punishment, and has been found to be practicable without its supposed concomitants madness-.inhumanitv . and gradual mortality. IJut what weighs most in argument against life-taking is that all men are fallible and some corrupt, and that when vitality is taken away from the creature, through cither of these intumtiep. nothing but -upetr.atural agency ca restore it. When the perjury of witnesses or tne frailties of a courier jury, shall snap the thread of life, there is no reel ress; but w hen through them other corporeal puiiishmen s are indicted, or rlnrs or loss of estate, or reputation or other injury, is the consequence, the wrong is not remediless The conservative nod remedial principles of our institutions, may rure all of tne errors of scretv, but that of taking away life from innocence. When there is no red res for such a ciuel deed, with what a trembling caution we are bound, by every sacred duty, to guard against it by law, and practice. Whdsi the quo animo, by which men act and ie judged, lies concealed in its congenial mi crocosm and hidden from the keenest penetration, most attempts o arrive at certainty with regard to it, must piove .J ortive. The actions of the correlative mind and matter, as being the interpreters of each other, are often treacherous. Effects are sometimes ascribed to causes which never produced them. Misapprehension and mistake follow. The bcenc closes with one of the primitive but barbarous rii'domsof the early and rude stages ol society, when even witchcraft was believed in by legislators and judges as learned as Matthew Hale; and life takea to appease the supeniitiou of the law am judge At the request of the legislature of Alabama, I shall lay before you a memorial of that state to congress, praying for relief to land debtors to the United Staler, so as to allow pay for imptovemecs on foifeited lands, and to suspend their s.ile, &c. Thi- document h merits. I am also requested to lay before vou, resolutions of the States of C:nnef litut aud Georgia; the iatter for, and ihe f omei -again-t an alteration of the constitu lion of the United States relative to the presidential election One of these states i averse to any alteration whatever. The other wishes such a modification of it as w ill give the election exclusively to the people, w ithout the intervention of eiectors or congress. The secretary of war ha forwarded to tins state 179 copies of artillery and 2172 of infantry tactic, which are subject to such distribution as you may direct. The various duties req"ired cf the executive, by several resolutions of the last general assembly, have been strictly performed, which will be made manifest to y ou at a proper time The same economy and improvement may be introduced into the probate system, by exchanging the counly for a circuit probate judge, which exemj li gratia, has distingui-hed the usefulness of the circuit ov er the county prosecutors. Ly making a competent judge his own clerk, and requiring a record to be procured! and kept in each county, the bu-mess may be done for less and far better thin under tiie present mode. The record-of this court should display as much critical and legal acumen, as any in ihe state There is none more important. And unless the proceedings are maked with strict accuracy. an endless litigation will grow out of them. Goo I faith and approaching nccesi'y require that the donation at Iudiarapolii should be sold to create a fund lor the erection of a state houe. The collection of materials for such a building as ti c state will have funds to erect, will be the work of con-i leraMe time. The balance of the land laid out in twenty acre lot. would be most likely to bring the m st rnwney. -Jt h time that some dt finite con-clu-ion was taken in thi atlair. 1 leel myself bound again to digresf, for the .ike of opinions which I hold dear, to notice some attempt, by head, of voluntary associations, to undtnrme' the grand supeistructure of republicanism, and overturn the lied principle of the representative y-!em, within the p.st season in thi state. Political heretic, if left uncomb itted will ..ti fasten th ir fangs upon Ihe object. The by -'ra should be slain in its own element, ti limine. If unauthorised bodies are in future l u--urp the ria;;u s and plaits of their constitutional compeers,"' and as-i-t in rrg-d itmg th: sfate, orarc permitted to u-urp ttie dictatorial ottice, their evil pr.irtirtg and their ciee l outfit to be rendered ;i3 Harmless to tne t oo; oomn as j s-d ic . It seems tu be contenucd, ta uuu IcJerd!-