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Show 108 EMIGRANT'S GUIDE. the subject as was common t~ other members, when he considered that the character and great mterests of the country were at stake. Relative to these interests, he stlid, he had knowledge of some facts, which had a material bearin<r on the questio~, and which, with indulgence, he would lay before ~he convention. Mr. L. was_ of_opiuiou that it. was expedient to establish state government at Hus tune, because there was a great local interest to b~ n~presented in ;he ne~t congress. Here he adverted to the lanJ cl;:ums below the 31 of btttude, (Hancock and J acksor~ counties) which_. be said. wo~IJ probably be decided on, that sessron. In the~e cla1ms, Mr. L. saJ<J.' nearly the whole population of that part of the com! try w i1~ Jee1!ly lfltf!re~~ed. He alluded also to the Briti~h land cla1ms, w~ucb, from cert;nn ~lrcumstances stated, might be brougl!t up at the same session ; as_ also, the question of extinguishing the Indian title to l?nJs ~ast ot the Mississip/Ji, which had been agitated at the la:t sessw1_1 of congress,. and wou d probably be renewed. These vanous subjt>Cts token togeth~, Mr. L. said, constituted an interest of the highe t importance to the whole of the proposed state. How necessary then, he ask~d, might it be, to have two senators anJ one representative in congress, at their next session, instead of only one d(degate without a vote? This, he said, was especially manifest. as related to the extinguishment of Indian title, a subject confirtt'<=i chiefly to the executive brauch of the general government, of which the ~enate is a constituent part. But much had been said, continued Mr. L. respectiug the expediency of our having a large state agreeably to the present limits of the territory ; and also respecting the line of division designated by the law. Mr. L. observed, that he was always prepared to discuss these questions, although lie had abstained from Joing it when they were first before the committee, from an indisposition to produce exciteu ,..ment or dtlay. But since these questious have recurred, he would now state the facts he possessed, and the opinions he ente-rtained. Towards the close of last session of con~ress in 18 J 4-15 Mr. L. ~aid, he re1~orted a bill to the house for the ~umission of the ~erritory ·Ulto the umon, as a state, with its entire limits, in obedience to instructions to that effect; which bill was not acted on for the want of ti~e. ~t the next session he reported a similar bill, which, through P!s ~xertJ?ns passed th.e house, but was postponed by the senate, as eamll~r b1lls had beeu m the time of his predecessor, to wbom he theu 3p~ealed for t~e ~ruth _of what he said. For these postponements, whrcb wer~ rej{"ClJons m effect, the extraordinary size of the territo· ry was ass1gned. lnueeu he was convinceu, from all he had seen and h_eard in _congres~,. t~1at ~he Senate would never agree to admit the tern tory Without drv1dmg 1t. Wherefore, and because his constituent~ had expre.!!sed different wishes on the subject he took another course ~t the last sess~on of congress. On the last ;ccasion, when this subl~ ct was taken up hy a select committee of the house, feelinu .the de· tcacy and respon si!Jility of his situation, he abst~ined from0 any re· m~rk u_nt.il the commit.tee generally had expressed its opinion, and !h1 ~ opmwn wa.s unanimously and decidedly in favour of a division. f-be ne~t question was, by what line shall tbe territory be divi~cd ~ liMIGRANT'S GUIDE. laB On this question also, said Mr. L. he was silent, until the .!Sense of the oommittee was. ascertained. And why should he be silt->nl anJ llt'U• tral, he asked, when his constituents had expressed so many varitMS opinions, and evinced such a confliction of will, on this point ? He knew what an interest was felt on this su~ject by his constitut>nt ~ in the di.tlerent sections of the territory ; auLl being the repre5entat1ve of aJJ, and not of any one section of the couutry, or portion of the people, be had determined, btdore be left home, to lef-1 ve it to cuugress to choose their own line, whether it should be the Tornbi~ue e river, or a~ artificial line, provided it was such an one as mi~ht appear to him to he just. ln examining this que!-tioo, the cull1mit ee drew their fingers along the map west of the Tow big bee, from the Tennessee line to the gulf of Mexico, aud at once determined that the jurisdiction of that river sho~ld lJelong, exdu~ive ly. to tbe e<lstern section of the territory. To this Mr. L. saiJ. he objected, upun the ground that such a division would give more th<:~n an eq ual port iun of the territory to the eastern sectiun. He was auswered, iJowever, that the western sectiQn woulJ even then contain a llJucb greater quantity of goou land. f-Ip further objec ted, that the Iudi~m claim~ hc~d been extinguished to three- fourths of the eastern, wbibt they !:it Ill covered nearly the who.le o~ the we:;tern section. But he was <~gain answereJ, that an extmgutshrnent of the whole of the lnui ctn title was contemplated as an .eveut that would take place at some future timf>, and that congress should not make per:nanent provisions in reference to the present cir~um:5tances of the co1ntry, but to an ulterior state of things. That the liue wlnch t1e committee seemed disposed to adopt, was contemplated with relerence to the geographical siluation o[ ~he ~erritory, and ~lOt at all to the settlements already formed. 'I h1s lu~e, l.Vlr. L. sa1d, would have separated the settlements on the Pascago~a river; au d. ":i~b a ~iew to ~reserve their integrity, as a.lso to obtam an_ equal diVISIOn or the tern tory, he proposed that the lme should run from the gulf of Mexico to the northwest corner of Washington county, in such a way as to throw the whole of those ~ount_ies into the proposed western state; and from the puint last UJentwned along the Chactc:w boundary to the Tombigbee river · thence up the same to the Cotton Gin Pt. ; thence due north to Bea; ~reek. Such a line, said Mr. L. he advocated before the ClJrnmittP.e ~uring two sittings, with mucb zeal, but with only partial success: ~e said.' he had hoped to have completely succeeded, as the mosf m~uent~al ~ember of the committee on that subject, was a particular fnend o~ h1s, who had never opposed his wishes before, and to whom the. te~nlory, esp~cially t~1e western part thereot~ was unJer gn~at QuhgatiOns, for his attentwn to its interests, and his defence of itla c;haracter and rights. ~be line. ultimately agreed upon by the committee, and designated m the bill, M:-. L. observes, would have preserred the integrity of the Pascagola settlements, as he wished, but for the inference of Judge 'foulmin, the representative of the Pearl river convention, w?o, when he perceived that the seuate would certainly pass a bill With. precisely the same provisions, came forward with a petition, praymg tbat tluel Jine rni~ht be removed much farth.e.r to the west, t• |