[3] This reply was made in answer to one of Randolph's ranting Yazoo
philippics, several of which are among the bitterest speeches ever heard
in Congress. Lyon at this time (1804) was a member of Congress from
Kentucky. The Yazoo land grant frauds had aroused the public mind, and a
commission had endeavored to settle by compromise the claims of Georgia,
and those holding under the Georgia act of 1795, to the vast territory
in dispute. Randolph denounced the frauds committed, and opposed any
settlement of the controversy, while Lyon desired to see the country
settled, and the compromise of the commissioners carried out.