The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1875-07-09

The nature of the contest is - question
of deep and abiding interest. Ii was -
the right of local self-government; but TIL
was not the feature that gave it its destein
tive character. The stamp and excise d.l
ties imposed by Parliament were imper1a
and not local taxes. Had they been par
with cheerfnlness and alacrity the right !"
local self government would not have beei
Immediately impaired. 1t was lot origin
ally contended that the taxes were eitlie
morally unjust or oppressive in amount
in the methods adopted for their collection
No objection was raised 10 being taxed
Nay, its justice was expressly admitted
but to be taxed by q foreign Parliamen
without representation in it,-there was th'
rub. The attitude of the colonists was pre-
cisely that which the people of Montan;
would assume should they refuse to pa.
the Internal Revenue taxes levied by III
national government, because we have III
vote in either branch uf Congress. Th'
ground Of dispute was in one sense a pur
abstraction, but it WITS an alb traction which
If once admitted to be right WAS sure in th
course Of time to grow into a merciEess tx
action. The keynote of the contest was
The idea that lay behind the cry of M
TAXATION WITHOUT DIFFERENTIATION.
1t was the same spirit and the same ide;
which more than century before had sen
John Hampden to prison, rather than pa!
farthing of ship money illegally exacted
The ourrages of the British Crown for
cibly depicted in the great Declaration wer,
committed after the struggle hat
really b. gun, and may therefore be dis
missed from consideration, in attempting
to determine the precise point in cuntro
versy. Nolegal authority defining the right.
of the colonists could be produced show ina
t: at their taxation without representation
was violation of the British constitution
The bare legal right to levy such taxes
could not as IL matter Ut legal argument bt
successfully denied. Hence as the aggres
sion and it's consequent resistance grew IL
Intensity, the patriots were compelled Il
shift the grounds Of their defence. Away
from the narrow verge of their rights az
Englishmen their minds tloated off into the
wider and more speculative field of then
rights as men. 1t was the formal pramstl
cation Of these rights as the basis of the
contest, that made the radical difference be
tween the American revolution and all aii.
tecedcnt wars. 1t was this that made it.
not the war OF particular bclllgercnts,
Wagtd to meet Il Il temporary emergency, hui
Tie war for all times and tor every people
1t Was this thai caus. d svery lover of iIee'
dom to pray for our success. 1t was this
which even in the British Parliament itself
kindled the lips OF Chatham and Burke int
u flame Of elaquence while pleading ful
their kinsmen, struggling 10 be free. 1t
WAS this that from Poland. Germany and
France drew Kosciusko, Steubcn and La
Fayettc to the rescue. 1t was this thai
made SD many officers in the British army
break their swords and throw up their COM
missions, rather than longer fight against
the men and women and lisping babes
who charmed hy their leruism, were
sanctliied hy their cousecration to Il neblc
cause. 1t WAS this that preeipiiatsd the
French revolution. broke down the barriers
of nationality, aud obliterated the bounda-
ries ot half the Kingdoms OF Europe. 1t
WAS III imperfect conception of this that
erected upon the ruins of the Spanish mon
archy in The New World the republics ot
Mckee, Central aud South America. 1t is
this that has swept fnITnan slavery ffom The
face Of civilization. II is this that is the
root of every effort, everywhere, to extend
the rights of man. 1t is this that eonsti-
salvation.
The declaration that "all men are by
nature created equal" aas a supreme
protest against every form of personal or
governmental oppression. To erdow man
with the rights Of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, was to clothe him
with the habilaments of justice. make
manhood a panoply of right, and man him.
self the central part of all creative force.
To declare these rights S7sGlisngble strip d
Church and State alike of all pretended
to bend him to their will, or
without his consent to touch a hair of his
sacred head. thus solemnly consecrated to
Freedom and to Freedoms God. To aver
that human government is thing purely
ofhuman origin, struck down that 'sdivinity
that doth hedge king" transformed the
lords and nagnates of the earth into super
fuous puppets, needlessly maintained by
an indulgent State, and from the plough,
the Workshop, the mine, from all the
humble dwellings and hidden retreats,
where industry plies it's many handed
avocations, drew to the front and placed at
the focal point of observation the people
whose voice is as the sound of many waters
the people for long time degraded and
now at last to be .'regenerated
and disenthralled." The declaration that
the people, for good cause shown, had the
right to change their form of government
At will, enthroned revolution as the great
factor in the establishment of order in the
supreme emergencies of a nations life.- To
ieclare that these truths are self-eUident
20 all men was to spurn the logic of the
schools, the flattery of the courtier, and
lhe mouthings of the pious hypocraey of
lges. To pledge to their support 1.-THE
ives, the fortunes and the sacred honor''
IF three millions of people, gave to the
world, its latest and best example of the
sublime height to which true patriotism
,an bear the weak and trembling souls of
men, and obliterated the line that showed
where the Manlike ended and the Godiike
began. To dare, to do, to suffer, as our
fathers did. not FOR themselves alone, but
for their children to the remotest genera
5ion-nay, for all the sons and daughters of
MEL, wherever Freedom has her shrine
demands uf those children that they shall
most worthily defend their blrthrjght and
their Inheritance. May God do
10 to us and more also. it we keep not this
living faith even unto death.
1t will thus be seen that the colonists
,ought not SO much for their
lights under the Constitution of Britain, as
for the recognition of the fact that they
,ad rights independent Of that constitution
md which that constitution could not
,ightfully impair. Not for light Or tram
;ient causes indeed should the grave re-
possibilities of revolution be assumed.
1nly "when long train of abuses and
pursuing invariably the same
object. envinoes the design to redues the
oeople under absolute despotism,o should
he tremendous powers bound up in that
Sord Revolution be invoked. Before this
nomentous step was taken all the re-
Iuirements of justification had heen
nlfilled. For fifteen years, the wrongs
Of had been resisted with peace
ul and humble petitions for redress. IL
vas only when these repeated petitions
lad been answered with repeated iniury,n
'nly when the high pretension OF right
o invade the political privileges of the col
lies had descended TO the low level of q
imple robbery Of the property Of the prov
nee Of Massachusetts collected at Lexington
md Concord, did the strife of words cease
md the conflict of arms begin. Not even
yhen much of the best blood Of the people
lad been shed by a ruthless soIdiery, was
II hope Of peaceful accommodation final