Show ED I 1 T 0 R ILS AMi amigron emi EEL GION glon AS A DEFENCE tirus THUS says tho the springfield mass mass republican the decision of Chief justice white of utah that religious belief is no defense to the crime of bigamy ia is both law and common sense it has been appealed to the supreme court of the united states but the principle is sd ready already A matter of so little question that judge strong did not hesitate to tisie lisle usein in his recent lectures before the union theological seminary mormon polygamy as an illustration of it it is in short that civil law controls external conduct though not articles of falth faith and renders every man amenable for his acosto the legal penalties despite church or creed thus the civil law cannot meddle with the organization of the mormon church but must punish polygamy and it would bo be idle he says fora mormon indicted for polygamy to plead that his bis second marriage was recognized as lawful by hiir church and sanctioned by his own convictions of curso judge strong would not have spoken thus decidedly on a m matter a ater not unlikely to come before him hira if there was the slightest question of the principle involved although there can cali be lae no expectation pec tation of convicting the saints of bigamy in droves it will yet vet be a very important matter to establish an ineradicable legal stigma on the practice of polygamy and its ita repressive effect will be very apparent at the end ef of a few years wo we see neither the ladnor law nor the common sense in that part of the decision wo we do not believe religious plural marriage laa is isa a crit crime e under the cons tit ution we think reli rell religion glou is a perfect defence in this matter agid and that it should be allowed of course couram the civil law controls external conduct it cannot control any aby anything thing else buta nuta but bub a number 0 of f people learned and unlearned seem to remaking be making the grand mistake of asserting that civil law controls all au external conduct which under the constitution of the US I 1 the civil law cannot do another grand mistake in this connection Is made in asserting that the constitutional guarantee of freedom in the exercise of religion does not include aci acl actions lons ions which Is 1 entirely wr exercise means netlon action and nothing else there are a great man many acts which are ate integral portions of the religion of different citizen citizens and the constitutional guarantee covers all these religious acts and insures freedom in the exercise thereof so far as they do not conflict with any persons constitutional rights and privileges in these theae things and within tha limit named the civil law has no control contro I 1 over external conduct if it were otherwise there would be no religious freedom under the constitution and that hackneyed expression sio bio n would be merely a spread eagle gagle myth a high sounding hollow mockery instead of a grand and glorious reality certainly every man Is amenable for his neto acts to legal penalties what we maintain Is that there cabbe can be no constitutionally legal penalty for religious acts only so far ai as they overstep the limits of the constitutional guarantee of freedom which religious marriage does not any more than religious baptism does therefore we earnestly maintain that religious polygamy cannot be constitutionally punished whether judges can po so far overcome their powerful prejudices as to give the constitutionals Constitution ats als its plain meaning in their decisions upon this interesting subject is another thing altogether they are but human As to a legal stig mathat a amounts to little when cast upon the practices of persons acting from sober religious convictions conviction under a plain constitutional guarantee guarante 6 as in this ca case s e NOT A GENERAL DENOUNCES the omaha herald of jan 4 says we are noting what and all I 1 the utah papers are saying upon our recent appeal to the mormon people pc to put away polygamy i they the y ar are e not nob easily answered in their pi pleas aas for or the principle pie 0 of f religious liberty which hey they make e but we think we have already answered them as at completely as they can be answered otherwise than by general denunciations with which one of these papers charges us but which we have carefully avoided so far as ure are aware the tho omaha while earnestly opposed to the mormon institution named is one of the few newspapers which has not indulged in general benun clatious ciati clat ions lons ons against the IfA lormOR leo pie and we do not that any reputable utah newspaper has charged their the herard herald etala erald with anything of that kind certainly the NEWS barnot has not wo we are sorry idsal to say however that there are 1 I ed in this locality which are rec reckless ki enough to make the most un und n I 1 founded charges and ald r to give eu cur r rency to the foulest calumnies calum ealum nies I 1 I 1 I 1 V 0 I 1 IT PAY I 1 IT appears that honesty is at a dis count in the great state of california judging by the following passages from the S F Chro chronicle nicia of jan 5 upon the recent death of dirt james anthony formerly of the ahe sacramento union there Is no na name me which h hag has ever been aseen connected with journal T r 11 ism IBM on the coast more wide ly or favorably y known than that ot of james anthony anthohy who died on monday night at his residence on vait van ness jesa avenue in this city hab name is destined to live in the history of Cali call california forma in connection with that of the grea great 1 and influential journal of which through a long term of eventful years full of exciting episodes andAr and strange anga auga vicissitudes he was the chief interior spirit 1 it we need hot bot undertake to tell old lan can calt lau forn ians lans s belonging to the genera tion now rapidly passing from the stage of action how large and noble nobie and powerful ow erful a field of dt usefulness was wa billed by tile the sacramento union d during 1 I g the th imort elmost momentous nud aud e exciting cli g period of our state and national history the ability and fend candor with it presen presented teil tell the issues of the day together with the high char ebar acter actor which it had bad won for li honesty and sincerity gave it an enormous influence influent ce at this great crisis and made mado it the oracle of the interior mr anthony though not himself a writer directed nud aud inspired the ut utterances te rances of the union ile he had 9 clear abd aad saga sagacious clou elou judgment of good jour journals journalistic nails nalis tio tic work and was as much the directing and guiding asp spirit it of the union as K horace orace gree I 1 ley was wab of the new york tribune Tr loune ioune he was honest fearless and inflexible a man bf convictions rather ihn than of opinions a i man whom i nothing could swerve from his well considered purposes 0 a man entirely inaccessible to illegitimate influences no To journal published in california was waa ever more respected than the tho union or wielded a wider or more more salutary influence though often wrong it was always honest bone s t and sincere it rendered good service to the tho state and the tho country and it can be said of its proprietor that their sturdy sense sene of justice and their rigid adherence to ta their ir conscientious convictions were the chief matises causes of the decline in the birgs prosperity lle ile rity of the great journal they conducted I 1 I 1 0 ELECTIONS EMMONS IN tet ter TORIES I 1 the san F calr call says the ashington correspondent tells us that a bill will be introduced c into congress taking tb the eap appointment of territorial officers away from the president aud and authorizing thor thon zing izing their election by the people this ought to be done the executive of the united states has entirely too much patronage which might be greatly curtailed curtailed with benefit to the public service the people can always be trusted in the selee tien tica of their public officers if they err at one time the experience acquired serves to guide them the ahe next besides the true republican principle is to diff diffuse muse luse instead of concentrating power A question which arises in this connection tion however and which is attracting tr some attention is whether the government aument would bo willing to pay the salaries of tb abo 0 officers which were not under ita its dimitui control we shall shail expect to tb bear hear this point debated when the contemplated tem plated bill la Is put upon its passage if it the government is consistent ki in its ltd acts it will have no objection to paying such officers because bemuse it now appoints app ointa certain off omm meers officers for this territory and calls upon the territory to pay in great groat part their pecuniary compensation if the rule will work wort well weli one way way was why not the other way |