BY the treaty of peace, and the cessions of the several states in the union, the United States possess an extent of territory out of the jurisdiction of any state, and hitherto unsettled, equal to, or per­haps more than, the territory of all the states in the union together. The constitution of the United States provides, that Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations re­specting that territory: and it appears from a late re­port of a committee in Congress, that it is in con­templation, as soon as a peace is concluded with the Indians, to make sale of those lands, or a part of them, for the purpose of discharging the national debt.

There can be no doubt, that the cessions of the several states were made with a view to this great ob­ject, nor that the lessening and final discharge of the national debt is of the first importance to our politi­cal happiness. It may, however, be well worthy of consideration, whether it ought to be effected, alto­gether in this mode, at once, or by degrees, since it is possible, that a precipitate endeavour to remove the burthen from our shoulders, may entail a heavier grievance upon the nation.

It appears from some late documents, that the re­venue of the United States is at present so consider­able, as to leave a surplus of 600,000 dollar for the last year, even after defraying the burthens of the [Page 4] Indian war, the building of frigates, and other arm­ed vessels, &c. and the expence attending the late call of the militia to suppress the insurrection in Penn­sylvania; the estimates for the Indian war, frigates and fortifications, amounted the last year to the sum of 4,917,227 dollars.—The expence of the call of militia I have seen no estimate of, but I presume it can fall very little, if at all, short of a million of dol­lars.—From the fair prospect which we are given to hope, there is now before us, of peace, both at home and abroad. there is reason to hope, that if we shall not be wholly liberated from these burthens, they will be greatly diminished in the course of the present and ensuing years. I am not enough ac­quainted with official details and estimates to fix the sum, which will be annually saved to the United States, if this hope prove not abortive; but suppo­sing 1,500,000 dollars sufficient to defray the expence of a peace establishment, (and I should hope it was more than doubly sufficient,) there would remain a sur­plus of 4,417,227 dollars, which added to the 600,000 dollars surplus, now said to exist, would constitute a fund of 5,000,000 of dollars for the redemption of the national debt, amounting to about 80,000,000 of dollars, which would redeem the debt in sixteen years, were the whole funded at 6 per cent. But as one third of the original debt carries no interest, and the interest thereon, which has been funded, car­ries an interest of 3 per cent. only, five millions of dollars in specie would at the present price of 3 per cents. and deferred 6 per cents. in the market, pur­chases 8,333,333 dollars, consequently, if one half the national debt, or 40,000,000 consist in these kinds of stock, that proportion would be redeemed in less than five years, from this fund, if applied to the purchase of this description of the debt, before the time arrives when the deferred 6 per cents. bear an interest. At the end of five years we may very rea­sonably conclude, that the revenue, without a single additional duty or tax, would, from the bare increase of commerce, and of excised spirits made in the Uni­ted [Page 5] States, produce at the least one million of dollars more, in aid of the sinking fund. But without this additional aid, the most common arithmetician may see, that the remaining 40,000,000 would be re­deemed in eight years time, making in all thirteen years for the complete redemption of the whole debt. But upon the ground I have taken, it would be re­deemed in much less time, as will appear,

Thus it will appear that in less than eleven years by the proper application of the present funds of the United States if they be really as productive as they have been stated to be, we may, unless plunged into new expences by new wars, which heaven forbid! pay off the pre­sent debt of the United States, without the smallest ad­ditional burthen to the people; and without recourse to the sale of the territory belonging to the United States; which may be regarded as a precious mine of national wealth, which it would be highly imprudent to alien­ate, [Page 6] or even to open, whilst the ordinary revenue of the States is commensurate to the demands against them. Let it not be supposed, that, like a miser, I would recommend this treasure to be perpetually lock­ed up; it is the improvident waste, and not the ne­cessary use of it, that I propose to guard against. For the Western Territory is to be considered, not only as a fund of actual wealth, to the United States, but of population, and strength to the Union. Yet an impro­vident use of it, may produce the very reverse of these advantages, by substituting poverty for wealth; a de­populated country for one populous; and weakness for strength.

1. The Western Territory is to be regarded as a national stock of wealth; it may be compared to bul­lion, or coin deposited in the vaults of a bank, which, although it produces no present profit, secures the credit of the institution, and is ready to answer any emergency: with this advantage in favour of the lands, that their value must encrease with population, whereas the money in bank not circulated, gains no interest. And with this disadvantage also, respecting the lands, that when sold, both principal and interest are gone forever; whereas the bullion may again return to the bank; but the price of the lands can never be vested in any other sub­ject with equal advantage. If then Congress, instead of applying the annual revenue of the United States to the redemption of the national debt, should sell the lands at a low value, would not this be a most improvident sacrifice of a principal which could never be renewed, by any application of the annual revenue, which of it­self is sufficient to answer the requisite purpose? For we are well apprised, that the sale of lands at present when the market hath been glutted from the land of­fices of the several states, must necessarily be for a very inconsiderable price, compared with their actual value, and that price which in the course of a very few years they will unquestionably command; prudence then would dictate that they be not offered for sale at the moment they are at the lowest ebb of depreciation. Let us suppose the whole sold at once; to the full amount [Page 7] of the debt, at the price given by those who purchased several millions of the late Congress, which I think was a dollar per acre.—80,000,000, of acres! more than all Virginia, Kentucky, and the desart between them! probably more than Great Britain contains! more than one third of France, the nurse of 26,000,000 of people! and for what shall this immense terrritory be given? For a debt which the present revenues of the United States can discharge in less than eleven years; and for ten times the amount of which the same territory could not be repurchased at the end of that period. What a horrid waste of national wealth doth this state­ment present to our view!

Again, if the lands be sold, as heretofore, in very large tracts, only, it will either depreciate, or retard the sale of the remainder, or produce still worse ef­fects. For if it be sold in large tracts to speculators, who mean to sell again, they must have an abatement in the price, that they may be able to make their pro­fit upon the speculation.—Hence a double source of depreciation; for by this means the quantity at mar­ket will be so much encreased, that the disposal of the remainder in the hands of government, must de­pend upon the completion of the speculator's schemes, by which he may be encouraged, and enabled to make a new speculation. The purchasers from the late Congress are said to have completed their sales, and are probably ready for a new speculation Those who purchased from them, paid a very considerable ad­vance, perhaps double or treble the real value, of the first purchase. Hence another evil. The industrious farmer who wishes to settle, and to cultivate the lands, cannot obtain them at prime cost; being unable to accomplish the purchase of a larger tract than he means to occupy: poor men are therefore wholly ex­cluded from the market, which is only open to the rich who buy to sell again—or for other purposes that will be hereafter mentioned. If it be said that poor men may unite themselves in companies, and thus make large purchases, which they may divide among them­selves, the answer is, that the rich can always out-bid [Page 8] them, and will find it their interest to do so; and this will most assuredly produce the effect.

2. A precipitate sale of the western lands will tend to depopulate the present states in the union, and con­sequently weaken, instead of strengthening the na­tion.

For when we recollect what has already happen­ed by the settlement of Kentucky, and the territory both south, and north-west of the Ohio, under all the disadvantages, that have attended such settle­ments, we must immediately see, that such a measure would operate as a drain from the Atlantic states, where there is yet a very large portion of lands, uncultivated, which would in all probability be im­proved, if there were not other lands, reputed of su­perior quality, to be had cheaper, which serve as a temptation to the husbandman to quit his present esta­blishment: this will have the further effect of depre­ciating the value of lands in those states; a circum­stance which the land holders therein, may consider as not unworthy of their attention. Nor can it be denied, that instead of promoting and encreasing population, it would only promote a still more dispersed location, than already prevails among us: a circumstance not very desirable in a country, where there is more than four times the quantity of land necessary for the pre­sent number of inhabitants. The improvements of agriculture, and the increase of population do not al­ways go hand in hand, with the extent of location. On the contrary, in a country not overstocked with inhabitants, the improvements of agriculture increase with population, and then in their turn contribute not a little to the advancement of commerce, the ac­quisition of the comforts of life, and the increase of population, ‘"Nam sine Cerere et Baccho fugit Venus."’

It is one thing therefore to encourage population and agriculture, and another to settle an uninhabited country, at the expence of another, not yet sufficient­ly [Page 9] populous. For experience proves, as I have al­ready said, that population, agriculture, and com­merce minister to each other. If this be true, the sale of the western lands, may be attended with very serious and pernicious consequences, to the present states in the union, in their present state of population, without any chance of retribution: for it is obvious, that the application of that labour to the settlement of a remote territory, which might have been advan­tageously employed in one more contigious to com­merce, must weaken the latter, without producing equal returns from the former; the productions of the transmontani territory, whenever they have a a superfluity, will find a vent thro' the mouth of the Missisippi or the St. Lawrence, and their supplies will be derived from foreign countries thro' the same chan­nels, to the prejudice of the commerce of the present states in the union. The remonstrances of Kentucky may shew that this is the hope and expectation, of the whole people west of the Allegheny. The question then is, whether the Atlantic states would do wisely to pursue a measure, not only tending to depreciate their own lands, but destructive to their population, and ruinous to their commerce. Were these disad­vantages balanced against the payment of the nation­al debt, from the present funds of the United States, I am inclined to believe they would greatly prepon­derate. For, the national debt, as we have seen, may in a few years be discharged, without any addi­tional burthens on the people: and no good citizen will complain of the present, if they be continued for that purpose.

What I have said respecting the diminution of the commerce of the Atlantic states, will equally shew the diminution of revenue, arising from commerce, in the same proportion; and this too without any retri­bution, nor shall we gain much from the excise, in ex­change for the revenue arising from commerce, if we may judge from the product of the excise in those parts of the states which are thinly inhabited: and should [Page 10] Congress have recourse to direct taxes, as the propor­tion of them depends altogether upon the census, the inhabitants of the Western Territory would pay no more than if they had remained in their former settle­ments in the Atlantic states; but from the difficulties of collection they may pay less: a circumstance not much in favor of the measure.

If, from what I have said, it appears that the sale of the western lands is not a measure of necessity, for the redemption of the public debt; if it appear that such a measure at this time, would be attended with an immense waste of the national stock of wealth: if it would tend to depopulate and weaken the Atlan­tic states: to lessen the value of lands therein; to re­tard the improvement of agriculture; to divert com­merce from her present advantageous channels; and to lessen the revenue arising therefrom; there is yet another point of view in which the subject may be placed, that may render the expediency of enticing the inhabitants of the Atlantic states, (which first wholly composed, and now principally compose the union) to migrate from thence, and found new states, in a different part of the continent, still more question­able. For, if the spirit of migration, already too high in most of the states, be encouraged by the flat­tering prospect of purchasing valuable lands at an un­der-rate, it is obvious that as their numbers increase in the newly formed states, the numbers in the present states will diminish; hence, as representation and po­pulation are inseparably connected by the constitution of the United States, the representation of the pre­sent states in Congress will decline, in proportion as that of the new states encreases. The consequence is obvious.—Let those who are acquainted with the ra­pid population of Kentucky, her almost instantaneous change from a desart district of Virginia to be a mem­ber of the federal union, with a representation equal to the state of Georgia, testify that this is not a ground­less conclusion. But I shall be told that European emigrants will settle this country, without draining [Page 11] the present states of their inhabitants. If this be true, it calls for an additional caution: a rapid popula­tion by people equally strangers to the language, go­vernment, laws, and policy of this country, and to the habits of the people, and of each other, cherish­ing perhaps inveterate prejudices on every subject, and bound together by no common tie but that of go­vernment, would probably realize in this western he­misphere the confusions which similar causes are said to have produced at Babel. Could an union of go­vernment with such a variegated people be desirable, or capable of being maintained? I think not. If America is to be the asylum of the fugitives from Europe, there is land in abundance in the several states, for their accommodation; and by being distri­buted among the people of these states in small num­bers, they may acquire an earlier acquaintance with the principles of our government, laws, manners, and language than could possibly be affected in a dis­tinct settlement. One or two generations would ren­der us one people, or if some vestiges of difference should still remain, they would have nothing formida­ble in their aspect.

There remains another light in which this measure may be viewed, that in this enlightened age, when a belief in giants, hobgoblins, chimaeras, and other mon­sters of a distempered brain is completely exploded, I am almost afraid to mention, lest I should be supposed to have paid a visit lately to the cave of Montesinos, and to have returned from thence as completely dis­ordered in my intellects, as the famous knight of La Mancha himself: But protesting most solemnly that I have not visited any such place, nor, willingly,

I shall shortly observe, that the foundations of the modern aristocratic families in the various parts of Eu­rope, were laid in the immense grants of lands, for­merly [Page 12] made by princes to their favorites and adherents; which being parcelled out among a dependant tenant­ry, have in process of time become baronies, duke­doms, and principalities. If the territory of the Uni­ted States be granted, in like manner, to a few rich, and ambitious men, disposed to aggrandize themselves and their posterity, the seeds of an aristocracy will be sown, which it will require nothing but time, to bring to a most vigorous maturity. If, for example, a fortunate speculator in the funds of the United States should choose to realize his wealth, in the pur­chase of half a million, or a million of acres of land, (and there are those, I am told, who can easily accom­plish such a purchase,) this property, transmitted un­impaired for a century or two to his posterity, would probably exhibit in the descendant of a script-monger, or a change-alley-broker, the possessor of an estate, equal to that of a British peer, or a German prince; with as numerous a train of tenants and dependants, at once the symbols and tools of his political influence and consequence. I claim no merit for this fancy-piece, if it be called one; I confess that I am indebt­ed to three persons in the state of New-York both for the features, and the coloring. There, I am told, that three men, solely from considerations of dependen­cy, can influence as many thousands.—I may be told in triumph, that New-York possesses one of the most de­mocratic constitutions of any state in the Union! Long may it preserve it, in spite of that latent poison which threatens to convulse, if not destroy it! The only antidote will be found in the division and subdi­vision of those manors, or landgravates, which now confer upon their owners an influence, so incompati­ble with a true republican government; and this can probably be effected in no other mode, than such as has already been adopted in several of the states, viz. the abolition of estates tail; of the preference to the male stock; and of the right of primogeniture: and establishing, in lieu thereof, an equal partition of estates among all the children, or nearest relations of persons [Page 13] intestate.—And if Congress have power to establish their regulations in the western territory of the Uni­ted States, (of which I see not much reason to doubt,) they ought to constitute a part of the fundamental laws of that country, whenever it shall be settled. Without some such precaution, I could prophecy;— but, like Cassandra, I should be disregarded.

Quitting then this unpleasant anticipation, I shall add a few words more on the necessity of selling the western lands, if Congress proceed to adopt the report of their committee for continuing the present duties un­til the year 1800, or 1802. In this case it will be evi­dent from the statement in the first part of this essay, that one half of the national debt may be paid before the end of the latter period: consequently the reasons against selling the lands at present are greatly strength­ened thereby: and at the end of that period, there can be still less necessity to throw away the lands to re­deem a debt which the existing funds would redeem in less than six years. In twenty years time, perhaps, the encreasing population of the United States may have so far settled the lands within the limits of the several States, as to make it expedient to open the land office of the United States, under certain restrictions and limitations. For, I repeat, that there is a wide distinction between population and location. In Con­necticut, and perhaps in the other eastern states, this distinction appears to have been well understood, and wisely attended to: lands were not suffered to be pro­miscuously taken up, in every quarter of the country, according to the caprice of the land-monger. They were laid off into small townships, and a second town­ship was never disposed of, until the former was settled. Hence location and population went hand in hand there: very different was the conduct of Virginia in her grants of lands. The consequence is obvious— Connecticut is a well peopled state, where property is divided into small portions, yet is amply sufficient for the support of its inhabitants: its agriculture is highly improved, and the conveniencies of life are plentifully distributed throughout the state, in nearly equal por­tions. [Page 14] Virginia on the contrary, appears to be an im­mense desart, in which the traveller here and there meets with some vestiges of population, which he looses sight of again for miles together. Had the same plan been pursued there that was in Connecticut, the popu­lation of the state would probably, for many years to come, have been limited by the Allegheny mountains; nor would she have resigned forty or fifty thousand of her inhabitants to a newly erected state, because her territory was too extensive, even to support a safe communication between its several parts.—Congress, it is hoped, whenever they sell the lands, will embrace the example of Connecticut: the Western Territory will in that case become a real source of wealth and strength to the United States. The following regula­tions will contribute to this end, if duly attended to.

1. Let the lands be divided, as in Connecticut, into small townships, not exceeding five thousand, or at the utmost limits, ten thousand acres. Let them be sub­divided into lots not exceeding two hundred acres.

2. Let it be required that each lot shall be settled, and improved within a limited time, or become forfeit­ed to the United States.

3. Let the townships be numbered according to their proximity to the United States now settled: let not a second township be sold, until the former is dis­posed of, &c.

4. Let not more than one hundred townships, or one million of acres be sold in any one year.

5. Let the lands in the several townships be sur­veyed, and the lots classed according to their value. Let their valuation be published for six months at least before the sale: let them be sold separately in lots, at public auction, to the highest bidder, but not under the valuation.

6. Let no grant be made until the terms of sale, and of settlement and improvement have been com­plied with.

[Page 15]If in addition to these regulations, the fundamen­tal laws of the new states shall subject lands to the pay­ment of debts; abolish intails, the right of priomgeni­ture, and the preference to males; and establish de­scents in parcenary; the evils to be apprehended from the sale of the Western Territory may be avoided; otherwise they will be realized.