AND WHERE TO FIND ONE. 15 



tered in its advocacy, and the conditions on which 

 the great boon was finally wrung from its slavehold- 

 ing enemies, should be fully known and understood. 



It will be seen hereafter how immense the public 

 domain yet is, even after the squandering of mil 

 lions of acres on speculators and monopolists, which 

 the last few years have witnessed. What disposition 

 was to be made of this vast domain, was a question 

 which long occupied the minds of thoughtful men, 

 and of all who had the best interests of society at 

 heart. Like most other questions in this country, it 

 degenerated ultimately into one of party. It was 

 clearly seen by one body of citizens that unless some 

 radical change were made in the law, the public 

 domain would continue to be the spoil of monopo 

 lists and speculators, the inevitable end of which 

 would be the creation of an odious landed aristoc 

 racy. To prevent an evil so dangerous to public 

 liberty, they determined that the only remedy was 

 to set it aside for the exclusive use of actual settlers, 

 in small quantities, giving it to them either at a 

 nominal price, or as an absolute gift. 



The question was an exceedingly simple one, if to 

 be decided on its own merits. But no sooner had 

 the free-land policy been enunciated, than the slave- 

 power rose up in opposition. It was a measure in 

 the interest of freedom, and slavery could not tol 

 erate it. As the latter had for many years con 

 trolled the action of the government, so it was to 

 override it now. Being itself a huge landed aris 

 tocracy, it saw with instant alarm the prospect of a 

 multitude of small freeholds being established, 



