Show IT IS UN ox ON WEDNESDAY evening feb 13 a meeting of the liberals was held at ogden for the purpose jubilating over the result of the election which took place in that city on the previous monday judge 0 W powers was one of the speakers on that occasion the standard published what purported to be a synopsis of his remarks in the course of his speech be was credited by that paper with making the following allusion to au an address delivered at a fourth of july celebration at ogden by apostle moses thatcher we give the statement as it appeared in the columns of the paper named on the day years ago when I 1 had the privilege of speaking to the ogden people upon the grandeur and glory of our situation in this very place a man named as one of the twelve apostles of the church moses moms thatcher yes moses Fh thatcher atZer a man whose name should only be whispered by american citizens stepped to this platform and declared that the declaration independence was false and he repudiated ted it now I 1 stand in an american city notwithstanding the traitorous language he hurled into the tooth teeth of american citizens on that day the speech of apostle thatcher published was in this journal shortly after its delivery and we give herewith the only part of it to which the observations of judge powers could possibly relate tour our revolutionary sires dig deeply and laid solidly the foundation n a of the greatest govern government ent on earth making religious toleration to on the chief corner stone but some their sons are fast drifting from the old moorings while expedients and popular U 0 clamor mor override constitutional 10 principles these few in utah are able to accurately calculate how long they may be able to maintain even a remnant of those sacred rights of conscience and freedom action for which our f fathers athers sacrificed property and blood and to maintain which they pledged all they had how can our bosoms swell with patriotic enthusiasm under that system of perverted reverted republican rule that diapers differs in no senst sense save in name from the colonial bondage bonda under which the british tyrant tyran t made our our ancestors suffer in what respect is the administration of political affairs in utah a rule by and with the consent of the governed having no voice in the election of the president who appoints nor in the senate that confirms those sent to rule over and j judge ud us wherein then consists to us t the r sweets of democracy popular opinion is a tyrant and coercion is his twin brother we may kiss the hand of each while praying for those who despitefully use us but how shall we forget while doing so that american liberty is thus made to us but a farce in the midst of oppression patiently borne it has been ho hoped a that president cleveland having having been elected on the pledge of a return to jeffersonian doctrines might afford citizens of utah some relief and that a democratic administration would reaffirm the principles enunciated in the declaration of independence under the inspiration of which the nation carved its way to glory and led to the adoption of the greatest charter of human liberty this world has ever known it has been hoped I 1 say that a democratic administration would again announce that citizens of this nation and all others within its jurisdiction dle tion shall be governed by principle and not pre prejudice udice and judged with equity and justice estice if president cleveland and those sent to rule and judge us have the moral courage to announce these principles saying to the waves of popular clamor and religious prejudice thus for far but no further can ye become colw au all men being equal before the law our children for generations to come will make garlands with which to decorate their tombs tomba and keep their m memory emory f resh fresh and green in their hearts but if they choose not to do these things we will still trust in our god while kissing the chastening cha rod until the sons of utah faithful true and loyal shall stand on the backbone of this american continent and beneath the stars and stripes save and maintain inviolate for all the divinely inspired constitution of this glorious land not wishing to do mr powers the slightest injustice we sent a reporter of the NEWS to him recently to ask him whether or not the utterances contained in the standard reprise represented anted him correctly the following is what was said at the interview ter view judge I 1 see by the published report or of your speech at ogden that you are credited with having sal said that apostle moses thatcher had declared that the declaration of independence was false and that he repudiated it what have you to say in regard to that assertion I 1 did not use the ian language gu age attributed to me I 1 have a distinct rec of what I 1 did say gen kimball had referred to mr thatchers speech I 1 said I 1 kemem bared th the e historic event it was 8 a fourth of july celebration I 1 had spoken and had avoided any reference to politics or religion on that occasion one of the twelve apostles of the church at this point some one in the crowd shouted moses thatcher I 1 said yes 1 I then said that this apostle had declared that the Declara declaration of independence was a 8 failure and I 1 repudiated that idea I 1 did not think it a failure in what way did you understand mr thatcher That cherto to say gay it was a failure why in this that the principles therein laid down had not been carried out that they had been departed from by the government in what manner did he intimate that they were departed from in regard to the mormon people and their rights under the government thame ern ment the failure was that the principles of the declaration were not carried out so that your people received the rights they were entitled to under them and I 1 do not think brother thatcher would differ with me in my interpretation of his remarks I 1 only differ with him in my belief that they have been carried out then you say the report that was published did not fairly state your position it certainly did not for that has never been my po position eRion what I 1 have said to you is the full substance and almost the exact language of what I 1 stated in ogden it is the view I 1 take of it that atthe the declaration of independence has not bow been made a failure by a departure from its principles in the treatment of the mormons cormons Mor mons I 1 know you take the opposite view but that is mine I 1 gave you mr thatchers as I 1 have said it was very noisy at the meeting and the reporter may not have understood u what I 1 did say but of that I 1 know nothing I 1 know I 1 did not say he either renounced or ro repudiated ted the declaration but that he be declared it a failure as i I 1 have suggested it will be 0 observed abse arved that the explanation made by judge powers places the matter in a somewhat different light but it is not rny any more favorable as we look at it for him than if it had stood as originally judge powers had in his mind a correct understanding of apostle thatchers Thatcher 8 meaning and he be was quite explicit in his delineation of it to the reporter it is more upeor unfortunate tu nanc however for him thau than for the gentleman upon whom he cast such an unjust reflection that he did not make his understanding clear to the audience to whom he spoke in ogden it was evident that he withheld this explanation purposely and was thus guilty of an act which indicates that he is a political demagogue an analysis of the affair shows beyond question that the impress ImpresSIO ioa 0 I 1 judge powers wished to col convey VOY W abat hah moses thatcher Tb atcher had the declaration of I 1 independence pen dence to bea be a failure if habad he had wd said that it was simply a failure of the application of the principles it A bodied in the treatment of the of which mr thatcher 14 a member the statement would bave been correct but now comes judge powers and arts that he does not agree with the gentleman to whose speech he 18 erred regarding the failure of the application aaion to this community of the genius and letter of the glorious declaration of freedom nide ade by the fathers of this nation we e here stater state unequivocally that either ther judge powers is untruthful with a forked and dc dauble uble tong ngue lle or he and mr thatcher are upon that point in effect he arted no longer ago than last satur y february that the prin caples les adverted to had not been ap phed to the majority of the people of if utah by the government brother thatcher matcher has said no more nor less As proof positive of the position alow w taken by us we quote from the SsU ment made by judge powers ye examiner harkness in the esti gation into the conduct of olver dyer D y er and his attorneys in ule the course of which he fie spoke as follows was a harsh proceeding to se this ethis confiscation act I 1 desire to y right here it never met with sy approval and I 1 think lot with rp thipa tE roval of the majority of the entile lit e community here it is un 1111 gorican ge rican A man has a right to tw waw which ack he earns or to give it to al chaise a hospital a church and T no n has the giat to say him nay talt 0 av that a this government can take ois his money and use it for a pur t 0 e for which he did not intend it it is an unjust law and Q ga done ame more to injure the gentile am than the die mormon church ever abet it t has given a chance that people peo nie to say that our chief da I 1 ia A bainder rider and robbery I 1 eare whether the incorporation stop rao ia gr not na the e government has foght g ht to take tb this to property they the njg it out of the soil arid and it is tw 8 and no one alses the report immediately foregoing nat lie he said mid has been accepted b j ly laeff as representing correct als views and sentiments fe fl so stated to our reporter als leaves judge powers in a ahat he must take either ra leat it kitisin is in accord with the gw t principle of the declara n 9 independence for the gov anent of the united states to act iv t y W INY toward this people that is of rican and rob them th em the property PrO pedy they have wrested from the soil or that so far as the application of the sentiment and letter of the declaration of independence to this community is ie concerned there has had been a failure that sacred document enunciates no un american methods for the treatment of any class of citizens in making a statement of this matter we have nothing extenuated nor aught set down in malice we leave it to the judgment of the reading public as to whether jud judge ge powers has exhibited himself as an example of perverted humanity with a moral nature reduced to E a point of attenuation by the practice of obliquity Is not the manner in which he coins conspicuous inexactitudes only paralleled by his effrontery ettron tery the gentleman he be assails is as far above him in his conceptions of american liberty as is the highest peak of mount nebo compared to the lowest level of the ontario mine |