Year: 1867

There is not much probability that


within the term of our next Congress
sional Delegate Montana will have been
admitted as State. As a Territory, oc-
cupyiDg the position of a minor in the
national family, we have no voice in the
controlling of national legislation, except
by way of appeal. We have grievances
that require redress, ,favors that we would
ask, and with belief that the latter are
just and should be granted. 1t is fact,
patent and incontrovertible, an elemen-
tary and constituent part of human
uature, that the appeal of friend is
answered with quick impulse, while the
demands of the unfriendly are received
with distrust and coolness. II We, as a
Territory, desire aid and assistance,
generous and liberal, from the general
Government, it Is our duty to show by
our record at the ballot box, that we are
earnest and honest in our sympathies,
firm and steadfast in our devotion to
that government, and TO send as our
representative man one whose record


will bear the closest scrutiny, and whose


ability will command attention while
presenting our claims. The record of
the past will show that in neither of
these has Montana had any reason to
expect even the pittance of favors grant
ed her. The Union Convention will as
semble in Helena on the Sd day of Au-
gust for the purpose OF nominating
Delegate to Congress, subject to the
votes OF the people on the I'd day of
September The resolutions of that
Convention will define the position of
the Union party of Montana. We pre-
sent the following as considerations
worthy the attention of the Convention.
An endorsal of the policy of Congress, in
guaranteeing to every State Repub-
lican form of government" as required
by the Constitution in sinking corrupt
ing prejudices that have for years blight
ed our national escutcheon, and standing
firmly and squarely upon the principles
avowed in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, the equal and inalienable rights
of mani" and that Governments de-
rive their just powers from the consent
of the governed :" in pledging devotion
to the Union, and sympathy in the eff
forts now being made through the re-
construction acts of Congress, to estab-
lish harmony, unity and perpetuity, and
7 lNxv4 1f Il,


ton the act declaring void the Illegal
Legislatures of this Territory. These
are principles upon which the Union
party has staked its existence. Let US
stand by them like men, and we will
conquer. The feeling of the people
should be expressed plainly on the fol-
lowing points. The necessity of protect
ing our settlements from hostile Indians,
and approving the action of the Execu-
tive in responding to the appeals of the
exposed settlements by calling out the
militia. The views of the people of this
Territory on the present management of
Indian affairs, its folly and the remedy.
The injustice of the postal rates govern
irg the Territories between Kansas and
California, urging their repeal, and hold
ing contractors to a strict accountability
for the mails entrusted to them. The
establishment of post routes and offices
in the thickly settled portions of Mon
tana, now deprived of those advantages.
Encouraging the construction of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, the shortest,