Page:Reflections, on the Cession of Louisiana to the United States.pdf/18

 the clamours of its open enemies, at the same time. In considering this part of the subject, I shall unavoidably be led to refer again to some things which I have already advanced: the reader, I hope, will pardon the repetition.

The first project that will be thought of by a certain class of men among us, probably will be the settlement of the new colony, and, for that purpose, the immediate opening of a land-office for the disposal of our newly acquired territory. It will be urged, plausibly enough, “that we ought to reimburse ourselves for the cost, by the immediate sale; that it is unreasonable to burthen the people of the United States with the payment of the purchase money, when so many persons may be found ready to take the lands at an advanced price, and even advance the amount of the original purchase, without calling upon the people at all, for that purpose; that we ought to encourage migrations from other countries, by offering the lands at a cheap rate to all that are willing to settle them.” These arguments and perhaps an hundred others equally specious may seem perfectly convincing, and incline many to approve of a measure, which I apprehend would be attended with most pernicious effects, both immediate and consequential.

The author of the statistical table before referred to, calculates that there are now thirty-eight millions of acres of improved land within the United States, out of six hundred and forty millions which he supposes them to contain: if this estimate be correct (though I am inclined to think it much too high) there is upwards of fifteen times as much land lying waste within the United States, as there is of improved land. Now, if we suppose that there are not more than two-fifths, or two hundred and sixty millions of acres of the lands within the United States, unfit for cultivation, there will remain three hundred and eighty millions of acres, (or