Show in ili file ho house of representatives Tuesday march Harch 14 1882 the house having under consideration tile bill no sia to amend ameni odthe of tho statute in ili reference to polygamy and for other purposes HON PERRY BELMONT OP or bmw YORK mr I have but a word to say in this connection I shall not voto vote for this bill because I desire effective and proper legislation against polygamy mid and because I am not willell willing to submit to trial a it meas jre sire so ill considered that its evil consequences may easily mily be foreseen even eve n those who arc are loudest in the clamor for the immediate an and hasty pas passage go of the measure as it now stands before tho the house or arc obliged to confess s that it is not what it should be llan many y who content themselves with voting in its favor say that it will disappoint its framers and will not accomplish the purpose for which it is intended and I feel satisfied that such is the fact before this session of congress is is over it may become necessary to rem remedy dy its glaring defects but until that s done I will not lend it my support ABRAM S OF or NEW YORK mr If ewitt of new york eaid mr speaker polygamy can have no defenders in this house we all sill agree that it is a blot on our C civilization which should bo be wiped out but in wiping it out we must mua be careful not to destroy the foundation of our political system the bill pending before the house in the eighth section contains a provision to which no friend of civil liberty can give assent it puni punished before trial and without conviction it deprives citizens of the right of suffrage upon suspicion and not upon proof and judgment of any other tribunal than the tile will of the inspector at the polls polygamy e an be stamped out without resorting i ng to a remedy which if generally applied lied would vitiate our whole AWit political ical system and convert our elections into a mockery of justice no consideration of expediency no amount of clamor irom from persons however worthy who are ignorant of the fundamental conditions by which civil liberty exists will ever induce me to give assent to a remedy which worse than the disease is based upon a doctrine so radically wrong that its admission into our code of political ethics would be fatal to free government elsewhere thanin than in utah alence I have voted to strike out the ea eighth e lith and ninth see sections t ions of the bill bill but as this amendment lias has failed ailed f I am constrained co to vote against the bill n not t because I detest polygamy less lus but because I love constitutional government ment more than those representatives senta tives who support this measure HON NEWTON BLANCHARD OF lovisa mr k blanchard said mr speaker what I shall say in reference to this bill will be in ill vindication of the vote which I will be shortly called to give thereon I do not propose to occupy the time of the house in a tiby elaborate discussion of the question presented but merely to give the reasons why I cannot sanction by my vote the P passage wage of the bill in its present shape I that I am utterly opposed to poly polygamy jany in all its forms none will dare dare deny that I would voto vote with alacrity aye with pleasure to strike it down whenever that question is is i presented in a manner not subject to constitutional ol 01 objection is equally true but mr speaker I agree with the gentlemen who have preceded me in in opposition to this particular bill that it not only disposes of polygamy ay iy buta but a good part of ther the federal edgan constitution as well aa As stated I am ready at any and anti all times to dispose summarily of polygamy but even in these degenerate times politically liti cally speaking I find I have still left sufficient reverence and veneration for that grand eld old instrument bequeathed to us by tho the fathers of the tile republic to prevent me from violating its letter or spirit those gentlemen who wit seeing no constitutional objections to the bill can conscientiously vote forit for it I envy for I would like to be free from doubt so as to vote tho the same way I regard this bill as disqualifying men for opinions sake I regard it as presenting in some of its features an ex er e r post facto law I regard it as to some of its provisions a bill of attainder its ninth clause virtually creates a returning board giving it extraordinary and dangerous powers in in matters of election we in louisiana mr sprakel ei have had some experience with returns re returning b boards ards the monster originated I I there f e re I having i a v in been the anbo unholy oly offspring of political corruption and greed of usurped pol poyer our experience with him was a painful and bitter one before he was finally throttled we would there therefore afore spare the cople people of utah whether they be 11 gentiles en tiles or mormons cormons Mor mons the infliction A i returning bo ardis board joardis is too great a punishment even for a mormon formon lastly mr speaker tills this bill creates certain offenses cs and denounces certain penalties as a punish fedt one ot which is to office but it provides no process of law for ta ascertainment of edthe the question of the innocence or guilt of the party accused for these and other reasons which might be menti mentioned oved I cannot vote fl for or the bill HON if A HERBERT OP ALABAMA sir mr speaker cr like all tho the gentlemen who leavo spoken on oil this question acs I am li heartily cartil in in favor faver d of the purpose of the bif bill although I deprecate its methods no gentleman on this floor has a greater reater horror of polygamy than f I have it is a blot on our civilization and I would gladly vote for any bill that won would ld extirpate it root and branch provided the bill were so drawn as not to violate principles that ought to be inviolable in our lem legislation 21 I believe it is in our power to frame such a law we could do this here and now if wo we were permitted to discuss this bill and amend it this we agrenot permitted to do we arc are forced under the gag rule to va voto to for this bill without amendment amendt me t vote for it with all its obnoxious features or vote against it I accept the responsibility and I will record my vote against it I know that the gentlemen who have had bad the power to cut off amendments have lave the power to pass it and will pass it but they shall not force mo me to voto vote for a retroactive law they hall not force mo illo to voto vote for a returning board I do not deny the power of congress to disfranchise the ts of utah congress has full power of legislation over the territories it has full power to say that po polygamists I shall not vote or be cle elected acte lf c here hereafter afler to office in utah I favor that feature of this bill I believe we have lave full power to abolish the present government of utah and govern it by a commission I would prefer to do this to destroy every every office in utah rather than resort to theodious the odious method of preserving an all office and legislating the tile officer the particular incumbent out of an office to which lie was legally elected cannon who claims to be delegate Delegato from utah claims that he was elected by votes if he lie was ho lie had the rigl right t under the law as it then stood to be elected the right under our laws to hold the tile office shall we now say as this bill in effect says the office of delegate shall stand stana but the officer who was lawfully elected and lawfully qualified to nil fill it shall not hold it shall we because the public ic win mind d is is excited over the tile question of polygamy violate sound principles of legislation this kind of legislation ill is I nio moat eloquently denounced by chancellor kant in the case of dash vs van bleeck johnsons reports I will read from it there is no distinction in principle nor any in practice between a law punishing a person criminally for a past innocent act let or punishing him civilly by divesting him of a lawfully acquired right the distinction tine tion consists only in the degree of the history teaches tea clies us that the government woj whick bell can call deliberately violate the one on e rig right soon ceases to acard ricaard the other ill ili this samo same case that eloquent la lawyer cr s shows hows that this odious retroactive lic legislation cg is condemned by tile roman rol nau law condemned by the french law condemned by the common law and that in every civilized system of or juris jurisprudence p prudence it is looked loke dupon upon with 11 disgust and indignation dig dign nation tion then mr speaker this bill provides that there shall be appointed by tile president a board of five who shall have power to appoint all the tile offic officers rs of elections and these officers eliell have full power to decide who shall vote aid and who shall be entitled to seats in the Terri territorial tori I legislature and that without any right of appeal except to the very legislature which is is the tile creature of ill these esc officers sir this is the louisiana lana returning return ing board over again it is worse still that infamous rc re turning board in louisiana had only the tile power to throw out votes this board lias has the power not only to throw out votes but to throw overboard the candidates who arc are voted for it is true sir the tile bill provides r avides that l bat the board shall not bo be all I i of one aie party that not more than three of the five shall belong to one ono that will be three to two airty this any bettl better er than eight to seven sir I have denounced returning boards a hundred times shall I now naw by this very political party I have so often arraigned for restoring to such methods be com compelled belled to vote for a returning board boar T my my no sir nayer I never will I sanction by my vote such a sham shaw such a hollow mockery of liberty as setting up a semblance of republican government and giving v a board office of five men and their ap appointees point all the subs substance of power powe r thc jhc power to undo whatever tho the voters have done the theo power to mold and shape the politics of a territory to suit themselves if gentlemen on oil the republican side of this alouse are unable to frame a bill to suppress r tho the evils of polygamy without v violating pi I sting every sound principle of legislation let them open the bill to amendment and we will perfect it for them |