The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-03-06

former dissention. Let the names OF Wing and |
Tory be extinct; and let none other be heard
among US than those of good citizen; and open
and resolute friend; and virtuous supporter
Of the rights of mankind.
Such was the admonition addressed to
the Americans by the man who, perhaps, !
did more than any other to educate the
people of the American colonies OF Great
Britain in the matter of their rights and
liberties. and to prepare them for that rev.
olution which resulted in the establishment
of our present government. We do not
quote the words of this writer because
we would stir up the people of this terri
tory to unlawful resistance to the general
government of this land; though the clti-
zens OF Utah, like the American colonists,
have much of which they justly complain.
But neither rebellion, nor revolution, nor
any other unlawful action is the cue for
the people of this territory. Their cause
would be desperate indeed if such means
were the only ones which presented them
selves for their adoption. We should des-
pair of ever seeing them in the full en-
joyment of their political liberties if
we thought they must be gained
by such means or never enjoyed. But
while we do not quote these words of PAINE
IN order to incite either resistance to law
or revolution, the present situation of af-
fairs in Utah is sufficiently like that which
existed in the American colonies at the
time the quotation was written to make IL
excellently good counsel for US.
Let US put this last statement to the text.
n q yryho1 of A m mir
grievances against the ancient monarchy
of England may be summed up in this:
She claimed the right of absolute legisla-
tive jurisdiction over her colonies; she
claimed the right through her parliam en- I
to bind the colonies in all cases whatso-
ever. The declaration is indeed an almighty
one, 'the Hottest stretch of arbitrary power
that ever one set of men or one country
claimed over another" Taxation, the re-
peal of charters, the passage. of the stamp
acts, and every other arbitrary exercise of
powerof which the Americans com planned
were but putting into practice the first
| claim of absolute Jurisdiction. Every other
abuse sprang from this; it was the fruitful
S ource of all their wrongs
A careful examination Of the claims
of power made by the general govern
ment of the United States over the
| territories, discloses the fact that those
claims are as sweeping in their character
and as arbitrary in their nature as those
made over the American colonies b. the
parliament of England. Congress
has plenary and supreme legislative
power over the territories Of the
| United States and their inhabitants, is thu
claim made by the national government.
The political rights of the inhabitants of
territories are franchises which they hold as
privileges in the legislative discretion of the
Congress of the United States, is the
language of the supreme court. The peo-
pie OF the United States, says the same
authority, as sovereign own ers of
the national territories, have supreme
power over them and their inhab-
itants In the exercise of this sover-
eign dominion they are represented by
the government of the United States. to
whom all the powers of government over
that subject have been delegated This is
| saying, virtually, that the general govern
ment has absolute power over the terri
evils and abuses that have been psrpetrated
on the people of this territory. The acts
contiscating church property, annulling
charters granted to corporations by the
home legislature, the assumption of the
control Of our election affairs by federal
returning board hostile to our interests and
anxious to perpetuate its own Office are ont
putting into operation the claim of absolute
Jurisdiction over US.
| But is it not admitted by the supreme
court that the jurisdiction of the general
government is not absolute and unlimited
over the territories-that its power is re-
stricted by the constitution of the
United States! Very true, it is so
stated by the highest judicial au-
thority in the land; but was not
as much said by those who made the
claim of absolute jurisdiction over the
American colonies! Was there ever Tory
throughout that controversy, which Gull
minated in the American revolution, how.
ever ultra in his views, who claimed that
Englands right of absolute Jurisdiction
over the colonies was not limited by the
general principles of the constitution of
England! There was no such man. And
again we say that the claims of absolute
power by the United States over the terri
tories is as complete as that made over the
American colonies by England.
Another thing in which the situation in
this territory is similar to that which ex-
listed in the American colonies: in the colo
mics were class of men who, favored with
the patronage of the parent government,
thought it to their Interest to be very pat
rlotlc, sustain the parliament in all it's
abuse of power, and denounce those dis
posed to resist the arbitrary measures of a
tyrannical, not to say corrupt ministry, as
rebels ana traitors. So in Utah, we have
our ring of patriots" "Amercan gentle
men, who stand ever ready to brand as
Mormon traitors anyone who questions the
constitutional rightfulness of the enact
ments OF Congress or the lawfulness OF
federal official acts. But our american
gentlemen" are worse than the 'loyal
Tories" of colonial times, in that they are
not only anxious to retain government
patronage, but are scheming to overthrow
the few political rights still held by the
people OF this territory, by DISTINGUISHING
them. They are seeking, not only to en-.
slave them, but by the same act, to install
themselves their masters. The time.
honored principle of the rule Of
the majority is to be subverted and we arr
to have the un-American spectacle of the
minority ruling the majority. 1t is thi,
which constitutes the local question II
Utah;1 question of Snch vitoI ;n+aro,
that, for the present, it overtops all Others
and until it is settled, any attempt to diver
the attention of the people to any othe