* * They are the men who cultivate the soil in peace, and defend your country in war, when those who denounce them are reposing upon beds of down. These are the men who, in the trackless wilderness and upon the plains of Orleans, carried forward to victory, the bannered eagle of our great and glorious Union. These are the men with whom the patriot Jackson achieved his great and glorious victories; and if but one thousand of these much abused squatters, these Western riflemen, had been at Bladensburg beneath their great commander, never would a British army have polluted the soil where stands the capitol of the Union. They would have driven back the invader ere the torch of the incendiary had reached the capitol, or they would have left their bones bleaching there (as did the Spartans at Thermopylae), alike, in death or victory, the patriot defenders of their country's soil, and fame, and honor. [Here Mr. Walker was interrupted by warm applause from the crowded galleries.] It is proposed to send this bill to the Committee on Public Lands, that has already reported against reducing the price of the public lands, against granting preemptions to settlers, against every other material feature of this bill--to send this bill there, to have another report against us. No, said Mr. Walker; we have had one report against the new States, and the settlers in them, and now let them be heard through the report of a select committee: let argument encounter argument, and the question be decided on its real merits.' The opposition of Mr. Calhoun to this measure, was based upon the idea, _originating with him_, that, selling the public lands, only in small tracts, and at reduced prices, exclusively to actual settlers, would be hostile to large plantations, prevent the transfer of slavery to new Territories, and the multiplication of slave States. This view was gradually adopted by nearly all the advocates of secession, and delayed for years the success of the homestead policy. The measure also encountered then serious opposition from the supporters of the bill (opposed by Mr. Calhoun), distributing among the States the proceeds of the sales of the public lands. A majority of the Committee of Public Lands of the Senate favored then the distribution policy, and therefore Mr. Calhoun's motion to refer the Homestead bill to that committee was designed to defeat the measure. Mr. Walker's bill granted a homestead of a quarter section to every settler on payment of twenty dollars, _after_ three years' occupancy and possession.