Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-01-05
Written for the Holiday Herald
RISE OF THE TERRITORIES.
BY HENRY Y. BLAKE.

BY HENRY n. BLAKE.
American craftsmanship created the gov
ernments of the Territories of the United
States. Institutions of similar character
have not existed in any nation that has traced
its boundaries upon the surface of the
globe. Ancient and modern empires and
kingdoms, relying upon their might, have
conquered the weak races and deprived them
of the sacred right of self-government and
the land of the vanquished became n PROV
ince under the despotic control of a foreign
and hostile monarch The independence of
such people could only be regained by the
same means which caused the irreparable
loss of liberty-an appeal to the demons of
the battlefield Some points of resemblance
as well as difference between the condition
of an imperial province and Territory of
the American republic will be noticed. The
latter has none of the attributes of sover-
eighty, and Congress, which has given, can
take away its organization. While the Or
ganic Act confers upon the voters the privi-
ledge of electing the members of Legislative
assembly, Congress possesses the eXtraOrdi-
nary power of annulling the most solemn
enactments of the Territorial law-making
body, and vivifying the laws which are not
valid. In addition to this authority, Con-
gress can legislate directly for the Territories.
The officers of the executive and judicial de-
partments of the Territorial governments are
nominated by the President and confirmed
by the Senate, and the wishes of the citizens
of the sections which are most deeply affect
ed by these proceedings are seldom consulted,
but, on the contrary, are generally disregard
ed This political problem can be solved at
a glance The people of the Territories cast
no ballots which determine the election of q
President or Senator, and are not represent
ed in Congress by members endowed with
the substantial right of voting upon measures
affecting the public welfare.
Therefore the residents of the States, the
sovereignties which control these important
matters, usually secure the Federal offices
within the Territories. Voting is power.
We digress to remark that the administra-
ton OF the offices OF a country under any
system of government by aliens OF strangers
has been disastrous in all ages. The histo-
rian has portrayed in letters which can never
be effaced the rapacity of the praetors of the
provinces of Rome. In 1854 Benjamin Frank
lin observed: Governors often come to the
colonies merely to make fortunes, with which
they intend to return to Britain; are not al
ways men of the best ability or integrity"
The King of Great Britain is arraigned in the
Declaration of Independence upon the charge
that he "sent hither swarms of officers to
harass our people and eat out their sub
stance At the present time there are gov
ernors and other officers in the Territories
who have been commissioned in defiance of
the will of the governed, and are as covetous
and infamous as Verres, or the British cormo-
rants who preyed upon the American colo
nies.
Most fortunately, the analogy goes no fur
ther This condition in the United States is
transitory, and a change in the organism of
a Territory as vast and marvellous as that
between subsection and independence is
achieved by revolution of peace, not war.
When the inhabitants increase and multiply
the national gates will be open for the ad-
- foto w
an empire. Thus since the adoption of the
Constitution thirteen stars of the first mag
nitude have increased upon the American
flag to thirty eight. 1t is pleasant and pa
triotic task to observe critically these phe-
nomena Of government, and inquire into the
origin of the Territories and study their
growth under the reign of law.
There was no political connection between
the thirteen colonies, and each had dis
tinct form of government, when the acts of
the mother country produced a contest which
made them "free and independent States"
From their settlement until the Revolution,
a large majority of the people was living in
homes erected in the vicinity of the Attain
tic and the streams which flowed into the
ocean. At one epoch it was the policy of
the Ministry of England to retard the occu-
patton of the region west of the Appalachian
range. The towns that were remote from
the "sad sea waves were too weak to demand
or enjoy separate government and repre-
sentation. As early as 1854 Benjamin Frank
lin, with wonderful sagacity, proposed in the
Congress of Commissioners at Albany plan
for the union of the colonies, by which the
Federal Government was to establish, organ
ize and govern temporarily new settle
ments. The principle on which the Terri
torial governments of the Union are based
was then declared. But generation came
and passed away before this strange theory
of politics was embodied in the fundamental
law of the first nation of the New World.
After the adoption of the Declaration OF In
dependence some colonies claimed under
their royal charters that their western boun-
daries were the Mississippi, or the South
Sea- (the Pacific Ocean,. This matter was
the source of angry dissension and local i'll
feeling. Wien the Articles of Confederation
were under consideration in the Continental
Congress in TIT, a proposition to adopt
provision conferring upon Congress the right
to fix the western boundaries which have
been referred to, and divide the land beyond