PUBLIC LANDS. 



741 



ply of articles wholly the product of foreign indus- 

 try, there is no such compensation for the burthen 

 of the tax. Another advantage of public debts is, 

 their affording a means of investment, and thus 

 encouraging the accumulation of property. Lands, 

 houses, banks, canals, mines, and all other species 

 of permanent property, aftbrd a stimulus to industry 

 and economy, as they offer the means of enjoying, 

 permanently, the fruits of acquisitions, and public 

 stocks have the same effect. Another effect of a 

 public debt is its attaching the public creditors to 

 the government. But before their number can be 

 sufficiently large to make their aid important to the 

 government, the national debt must, probably, be 

 increased to an amount that will render it bur- 

 thensome. Among the disadvantages arising from 

 the facility of contracting permanent public debts, 

 one is the facility which it gives for the carrying on 

 of wars, and the indulging in any other expendi- 

 tures. The wars of Europe, since the public debt 

 of Great Britain commenced, under William III., 

 are attributed partly to this cause. Another disad- 

 vantage is, the burthensome taxes, to which the 

 necessity of paying the interest of such a debt, may 

 subject the people. This is the operation of the 

 national debt of Great Britain at the present time. 

 It is impossible to prevent the burthen of the taxa- 

 tion from falling, directly or indirectly, in a very 

 great degree, upon the labouring and active classes; 

 and, in Great Britain, this has become so heavy 

 to the mere labourer, who has no capital, that his 

 wages will but just support, or will not support, 

 himself and his family, in the cheapest manner of 

 living ; and his life becomes one desperate struggle 

 against want and starvation. 



PUBLIC LANDS.* The property of the soil 

 of the whole vast region, comprehended within 

 the limits of the United States of America, 

 and not owned by the separate states or by private 

 individuals, vests in the government of the United 

 States. From the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, 

 and between the northern and southern boundaries 

 of the republic, it is calculated that there is contain- 

 ed a superficies of 1,400,000,000 acres. The politi- 

 cal situation of the different parts of this superficies 

 is exceedingly various. Dividing it into four belts 

 or strips, parallel (or nearly so) with a meridian line, 

 the first comprehends the Atlantic states, in most of 

 which, particularly in the Middle and Northern 

 states, the land is almost wholly the property of in- 

 dividuals, and what does not belong to individual 

 proprietors, belongs to the state. Thus in Maine 

 there is a considerable portion of land belonging to 

 the states of Massachusetts and Maine, and, in 

 Georgia, large tracts in the occupation of the 

 Cherokee Indians are claimed by the government 

 of that state. The general government possesses 

 no land in any of the Atlantic states, except small 

 portions which have been ceded for forts, dock- 

 yards, arsenals, and other like national purposes. 

 The second belt of land westward comprehends the 

 new states and territories of the Union, in all of 

 which, except Kentucky, there are considerable, in 

 most of them large, tracts of public domain ; these 

 states having been formed since the revolution, and 

 their population settled on lands either purchased 

 of the United States, or still belonging to them. 

 The number of persons of the latter class who thus 

 occupy, without title, lands still belonging to the 

 United States, is very large, exceeding, in some 

 cases, that of the persons who have acquired titles. 



* This article may appear too transatlantic in its character 

 for a British Encyclopedia ; but we give it a place notwith- 

 standing, feeling tliat its information must [ruvt' nc-w and 

 interesting- to many a politician, agricultural sj'eeulatist, and 

 emigrant. 



They have, however, generally settled themselves 

 with the purpose of eventually purchasing the land. 

 The third belt lies westward of the organized states 

 and territories. It comprehends lands acquired by 

 the Louisiana treaty, and of which the Indian title 

 has been extinguished by treaties with several tribes 

 of Indians. As there is no organized civil govern- 

 ment, there is no white population in this region, 

 except hunters and vagrants. On the southern 

 portion of this district, west of the territory of Ar- 

 kansas and the state of Missouri, the tribes of In- 

 dians removed from the Atlantic states, have been, 

 or are proposed to be, established. The fourth belt 

 comprehends all the remaining district to the Paci- 

 fic ocean. It lies on both sides of the Rocky moun- 

 tains. The United States have acquired the title 

 to it by the Louisiana treaty (see Louisiana), by the 

 discovery of the coast, and by interior exploration. 

 The title, however, to that part of this region which 

 is west of the Rocky mountains, is contested by 

 Great Britain. Great Britain claims, not that the 

 title is in her, but that the region is unappropriated, 

 and open to the first comer. By a convention con- 

 cluded in 1828, to last twelve years, it was agreed 

 between the United States and Great Britain, that 

 neither government would take possession of it or 

 occupy it, to the exclusion of the other, during the 

 period of the convention, which either party might 

 renounce, on giving twelve months' notice to the 

 other. A chain of trading posts, belonging to the 

 British North- West Company, extends through this 

 region, to the mouth of the Columbia river. It is 

 also visited by hunters from the United States, but 

 in numbers far less than those from the British 

 colonies. The Indian title to this whole fourth 

 belt of land remains unextinguished; and the soil of 

 that part of it lying east of the Rocky mountains, 

 is supposed, for the most part, to be too sterile to 

 become the residence of civilized man. The title 

 to these lands was the subject of the first great 

 political controversy that divided the opinions of 

 the citizens of the United States, after the declara- 

 tion of independence. The ancient charters of 

 several of the states extended from sea to sea, or 

 indefinitely to the west. They consequently crossed 

 each other, and threw the same territory into the 

 limits of different states. This was one source of 

 dissension ; and another was, that, as the greatest 

 part of the western region was wholly unsettled, 

 and the war was carried on at the common charge, 

 it was deemed unjust by those states whose western 

 boundary was ascertained, that they should have no 

 interest or share in the vacant lands. The discon- 

 tent of Maryland on the subject was so great that 

 she refused to come into the confederation, and de- 

 layed the ratification of that instrument of govern- 

 ment till 1781; and when she finally acceded to it, 

 did so with a reservation of her rights. The serious 

 controversies on this subject were put at rest by 

 several acts of cession, made by the states interested 

 to the United States. New York set the example, by 

 an act passed on the 1st of March, 1781. Virginia 

 followed, on the 1st of March, 1784, and her cession 

 was deemed of the greatest importance, as her claiir. 

 extended over a vast region (the territory north-west 

 of the Ohio), and had been strengthened by the milit- 

 ary efforts of the colonial government of Virginia to 

 protect the territory against the French in the former 

 wars. Massachusetts ceded her claim on the 19th of 

 April, 1785, and Connecticut hers on the 13th of 

 Sep. 1786. By these several acts of cession, the 

 United States acquired an undisputed title to the 

 territory north-west of the Ohio. Out of this terri- 

 tory have been formed the states of Ohio, Indiana 

 and Illinois, the territory of Michigan, and an ex- 



