Show M A 8 3 AI E E T I 1 N G ammense IMMENSE ah assemblage I 1 remonstrance AND PROTEST I 1 temperate ane and respectful expression of public feeling against the cullom bill I 1 T i THE very fine weather today to day was propitious to the gath gathering dring of the people at the mass meeting to strate against and to petition the TL U 6 9 se senate n ate not to pass the bill at 1 t 01 clock elock a vast concourse of citizens had assembled at the tabernacle and no greater proof could be given of the general union and anid earnestness of feeling among the people on the subject than the fact that every seat and window was as packed with spectators the vast assembly was called to order by his honor D H wells the mayor of the city when on motion of hon john taylor his honor the mayor was chosen to preside over the meeting organization an organization of the niev meeting ting was effected by the una unanimous nimbus election of the following officers VICE presidents hon ron hon eon W woodruff hon john taylor hon G Q cannon hon orson pratt hon jos F smith hon jos A SECRETA secretaries kles kirs R L campbell paul pau 1 A dr theo ebeo melean mclean david me i 1 REPORTERS l D DW W evans E vans E 1 sida siga sloan I 1 draver PRAYER t after aate the organization prayer was offered dine dire redby by elder jesse haven REPORT OP OF COMMITTEE the committee 0 of f thirteen which was appointed at last Saturday saturdays ls meeting in g then came forward aed aad through their chairman hon D H wells presented the following remonstrance and resolutions solutions Be which were read 4 k by hon george Q cann cannon 0 n remonstrance to the honorable the senate and house of representatives of the united states in Congress assembled gentlemen it is with no ordinary concern that we have learned of iio tio we passage by the house of representatives of the house bill no 1087 entitled a bill in aid of the execution of the laws in utah and for other purposes commonly known as the cullom bill against which we desire to enter our most moat earnest and unqualified protest and appeal against its passage by the senate of the united states or beg its reconsideration by the house of representatives presenta tives we are sure you will bear with us while we present for your consideration some of the reasons why this bill should not become law gentlemen of the senate and house of representatives of the estimated population of the territory of utah it is well known that all except from nive five to ten thousand are members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints usually called mormons cormons Mor mons these are essentially the people of this territory they have settled it reclaimed the desert waste cultivated it subdued the indians opened means of communication made roads built clubs cities towns and bettl betti settlements settlement 3 established government encouraged education and brought into being a new state to add lustre to the national ional lonal galaxy of our glorious union and we the people who have done this are believers in the principle of plural marriage r ag e or polygamy not simply as an eleva elevating ting social relationship and a preventive of many terrible evils whick afflict our race but as a principle revealed by goj goa god underlying our every hope of eternal salvation and happiness in heaven we believe in the pre eil ell existence stence of the spi bpi spirits rits of men that god is the author of our being that marriage is ordained as the legitimate source by which mankind obtain an existence in this probation on the earth that the marriage relation exists and extends throughout eternity and that without it no man can attain to an exaltation in the celestial kingdom of god the revelation commanding the principle of plural marriage given by god through joseph smith to the church of jesus christ of latter day dav saint saints in its first paragraph idas lias n as the following language behold I 1 reveal unto you a new and everlasting ver lasting covenant ana antt if ye abide not that covenant then are ye yo damned for no one can reject this covenant and bo be permitted to enter into my glory with this lau lab language guare before oswe cannot view plural marriage lage in any other light than as a vital principle of our religion let the te revelation appear in the eyes of others as it may way to io us it is a divine command of equal force with any ever given by the creator of the world to his children in the tho flesh hesh the bible confessedly stands in our bation nation as the foundation on which all law is based it is the foun fountain tain taIR from I 1 which oar ideas of right tight and wrong are drawn and it gives shape und and force to our morality mord mora lity yet it sustains plural I 1 marriage and in no instance does it condemn that institution not only having therefore a revelation from god making the belief and practice of bf this principle obligatory upon us we have the warrant of the holy scriptures and the ei ample example of prophets and righteous men whom god loved honored and blessed and it should be borne in mind that when this principle was aged ardd aird the people of this territory entered upon its practice it was not a CRIME god revealed it to us his divine word as contained in the bible which we had been taught to venerate and regard as holy upheld it and there was no law applicable to us making our out belief or practice of it criminal it is no crime in this territory r today to day only as the law of 1862 passed pass ei long years after aften our adoption of this principle as a part of our religious faith makes it sueh such thelah the law of 1862 is now a fact one proscription gives I 1 strength to another what yesterday was opinion on is liable today to day to be law lav it Is for this reason that we earil earnestly estly and respectfully speet fully fally remonstrate and protest against the passage of the bill now before dorethe the honorable senate feeling assured that while it cannot accomplish any possible good lamay it may result in a great amount of misery it gives no alternative but the cruel one of rejecting gods command and abjuring our religion or disobeying the aut authority horey horAy of the government we desire to honor and respect it is in direct violation of the first amendment to the constitution which declares that congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof 11 it robs our priesthood of their functions and heave heaven ti bestowed powers and gives them to j justice ustice 3 of the supreme court justices of the peace leace and priests whose authority we annot cannot recognize by empowering such as the only ones to celebrate marriage mar As well might the law pres prescribe bribe who shall baptize for the ye remission mission of sins or lay on hands for the reception of the holy ghost it encourages fornication and adultery for all such marriages would be deemed invalid and without any sacred or binding force by our community and those thus united together would according to their own belief and religious re convictions be living in a condition of habitual adultery which would bring the holy relation of marriage into disrepute and destroy destroy the safeguards of chastity and virtue it is unconstitutional in that it is 18 in direct opposition to section nine article one of the constitution which provides no bill of attain attainder er or ex ez post facto law shall be passed it destroys thea the right ight of trial by jury providing for the ol 01 juries c composed ampo ed of individuals the recognized e enemies nemie 8 of the accused and of foreigners easto to the district where abase under it Is isto to be tried while the sixth amendment to the constitution provides that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to arpei dy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed it is contrary to the eighth amendment to the constitution which r provides ro that excessive fines shall not be imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments ish ments laff inflicted feted 11 it violates section 8 article 1 of the constitution which provides that congress shall establish a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the united states in that it provides in section 17 a neti nevi new unheard of and special rule applicable only to the territory of utah I 1 it ia Is in chatin section 10 it places men on pa unequal ground ay giving one portion of the citizens superior privileges over others because of their belief it strips us in sections seventeen and wenty twenty six of the land we have reclaimed from barrenness and which we have paid government for also all possess possessory loss toss essory ory rights to which we are entitled as settlers it authorizes by section fourteen the sending of criminals into distant military camps and prisons sODS it is most unjust unconstitutional and proscriptive jve in that it disfranchises franchises dib dis and proscribes american citizens for no set ace but simply believing in plurality of wives which the bill styles polygamy bigamy or concubinage even if f they never practiced edor or design to practice it it offers a premium for prostitution and corruption in that it ie quires requires in in sections 11 and 12 husbands and wives to violate the holiest hollest vows they can make and voluntarily bastardize their own children it declares in section 21 01 marriage to be ve a civil contract and arid names the officers who alone shall solemnize the rite when bur our faith expressly holds it as a most sacred ordinance which can only be administered by those holding the authority from Heaven thus thuA thus to compelling i us to discriminate in favor of officers appointed by the government and against off omm meers officers authorized by the almighty it thus takes away the right of con cod science and deprives us of an 0 ordinance r dinan e upon the correct administration of of which our happiness and eternal diva salvation depend it not only subverts religious liberty but in sections 16 and 19 violates every principle of civil liberty and land true he t i that them the governor the sole bole authority to td govern j jails jalis alls ails and prison sand band and to remove their wardens and keepers to appoint and remove probate judges justices of the peace judges judg eb of a all ali 11 elections notaries not aries public and all sheriffs clothing one man with despotic and in this republic unheard of powers I 1 it thus deprives the people of all voice in the government of df the territory reduces them to abject vassalage creates a dangerous irresponsible and centhia laed despotism from which there is no appeal and leaves their lives ilves liberties and every human right subject to the caprice of one man and that man mad selected and sent hero from afar it proposes in sections eleven twelve and seventeen to punish unish american citizens not for wrongs but for acts sanctioned by god and lind practiced by his most favored servants requiring them to call those bad men whom god chose for his oracles and delighted to honor and even to cast reflections the ancestry of the savior himself it strikes at the foundation of alire all ail he publican government in that it dictates opinions and belief prescribes what shall and what shall not be believed by citizens and assumes to decide on the validity of revelations from almighty god the author of existence it disorganizes organizes dis and reduces to a chaotic condition every precinct city and county in the territory of utah and substitutes no adequate organization it subverts by summary process nearly every law on our statute books it violates the faith of the united states in that it breaks the original contract made with the people of this territory in the organic act who were at the time that compact compacts was made received as citizens from mexican territory and known to be believers in the doctrines of the church of jesus christ of latter latten day saints we also wish your honorable bodies to understand that tha the legislature of this territory has never pass passed ed any law affecting the primary disposal of the poll but only adopted regulations for tot the controlling of our claims and possessions upon which improvements to the amount of ma illions millions of dollars have been made this bill in fotion se 26 repeals the law of the territory containing baid eaid regulations thereby leaving us destitute legal protection to td our hard earned po possessions the accumulated labor of twenty years and exposing us to mercy efland of land speculators and vampires gentlemen of the senate and of representatives this bill which would deprive us religious liberty and every political worth ha having ls not directed against people of utah as men and women against their holy religion eighteen years ago and ten years yearb before the passage of the anti polygamy act of 1862 one of our leading men elder orson pratt was expressly deputed and sent to the city of washington BC DC to and lecture on the principle of or patri archal or plural marriage age as practiced bv us 11 dhe ghe he lectured freqUently in that andoch er cities citi es and published a ewer paper foursome length of time in which he e established by elaborate and convincing arguments the divinity of the revelation commanding I 1 ng plural marriage given through the prophet P joseph smith and that the doctrine doerine t was sanctioned and endorsed by the highest biblical authority for ten years before the passage bf the act of 1862 the doctrine was widely preached throughout the union and the world and it was universally known and recognized as a principle of our holy faith we are thus explicit in mentioning this fact to show that patriarchal marriage has long iong ion lon been b een understood to be a cardinal principle I 1 I 1 0 of our religion we would respect respectfully ful fui ry mention aiso also iti in this connection tion that hat while hundreds of leading elders have been in the eastern states and in the city of washington not one of them thein baseden has been cited to appear as a witness before the committee on territories to pro prove vetha tha this doctrine is a part of our religion gentlemen well knowing that if that were established the proposed law would be null hull and void because of its unconstitutionality what we have done to enhance te tiie greatness and glory of our country by pioneering opening up and making inhabitable the vast western region is bafo before re the nation and should receive a nations thanks not a proscriptive prescriptive edict to rob us of every right worth possessing and of the very soil we have reclaimed and then purchased from government before this thi goil was united states territory we settled it and five hundred of our ur best nien plen responded rese to the call of government in tue the he wan war with assisted in adding idding it to the national 1 damain T I 1 t when we vre were received into the union our far religion was known our early officers including our first governor were nearly all latter day saints or cormons mormons Mor mons for tor there were few others to elect from we were treated as citizens possessing equal rights and the original bond of agie agreement ement between the united states government and the people inhabiting this territory conferred upon us the right of self gov in the ame same degree asis as is enjoyed by other territories in the union it declared that the power of odthe athe legislature of this territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the constitution constitute loix of the united states and the provisions of the organic act and that the right of suffrage f a and holding office shall be e exercised cise gd by citizens of the united states including those recognized as citizens by the treaty |