Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-08-28
A PLEA FOR
An Open Letter to Mr.. Secretary Bay.
ard Indicted by a Graceful Fen
from Dakota.

Hon. Thos. A. Bayard, Secretary of
State-Dear Sir: When it was known
that the President had selected you for
his Premier there was a feeling of
thankfulness all over the country, not
so much by reason Of your conceded
ability as because OF the fact that tha
people believed you were honest and
moderately patriotic. They likewise
believed that they held hostages fol
your good behavior in the proud ant
historic name you bear. Especially
were we, the inhabitants of the Terri.
tories, thankful, for the traditional chi.
valry of the Bayards assured us that
She weak and unfortunate would have
in youa champion.
amthe more embeldened to make
this appeal from the fact that only two
or three generations ago your fathers
and mine were struggling side by side
against what they believed to be an il
legal assumption OF power on the part
Of the mother government.
Did you ever stop to think that Da
kota has to-day more population thar
any one OF the colonies when our ia,
theirs revolted, and that Congress anc
the President exercise more authority
over this Territory than Parliament and
George the Third ever attempted te
over the colonies?
In the British Parliament Lord Cam.
den, that great constitutional lawyer
in defense OF the hostile attitude of tbs
American colonies, said:
"My position IS this: ] reneat, I will
maintain it to my last hour, taxation
and representation are inseparable
This position is founded on the laws of
nature, for whatever is a mans W is
absolutely his own; no nan has a right
TO take it from him without his con
sent, either expressed by himself or
Representatives; whosoever attempts
to do it attempts an injury; whatsoever
does it commits a robbery; he throws
down and destroys the distinction be-
tween liberty and slavery. Taxation
and representation are coeval with and
essential to the constitution. * Il =
There is not a blade of grass growing
in the most obscure corner OF this king
dom which is not, which was not ever.
represented since the constitution be-
gan; there is not Il blade Of grass
which, when taxed, was not taxed by
the consent of the proprietor
Your fathers and mine applauded
that doctrine as the correct rule, n
pledged their lives to its support.
do not mean that when the Terri
tory is incapable of self-government by
reason Of smallness of population Con-
gress may not provide for the collec-
ton Of taxes therein as a matter Of ne
tessity, although not contemplated by
the Constitution. But when the Terri
tory has sufficient population to entitle
1t to admission, then the necessity Of
taxation without representation ceases
and every act of coercion upon your
part is illegal, and consequently revo-
lutionary.
We shall not rebel, however, but pro-
pose peacefully, while not without pro-
test, to submit to your tyranny.
The recollections of the late civil wal
are fresh in our memories. Thousands
of the hardy settlers OF this Territory
were Union soldiers, who under the
beneficent laws of Congress enacted
while the Republicans were in power,
have settled on these prairies. Thous-
ands bear upon their persons, in the
loss Of arms or limbs, evidences Of their
loyalty to the government.
Probably no State or Territory, in
proportion to it's population, number
among its inhabitants SO many Union
soldiers as Dakota. There are now
Lightweight G. A. r. posts in the terri
tory, with an aggregate membership Of
of something like 1900.
Your friends have for years sounded
the alarm of impending Imperialism;
that power was being centralized in the
general government. Many thought
full men feared this danger, and hoped
q change in the administration might
possibly arrest this tendency.
, Now there is an opportunity for you
and your party to prove to the country
the sincerity Of your allegations.
There can be nc greater danger of
imperialism than large, rich, and de-
pendent provinces. Such provinces,
when sufficiently populous, and when
their people are patriotic and intelli-
gent, are Inconsistent with, and, if long
continued, are destructive to- republi-
can institutions.
Rich outlying provinces are, and al
ways have been, the inevitable and
most potent cause of imperialism. The
republic must yield to imperialism or
Che provinces be emancipated.
J Such a condition was never conten,-
plated by the fathers of the republic.
how guarded they were in sec
on 9 of article ] Of The constitution