Show fIt THE DECLARATION AND PROTEST The Declaration Grievances and L Protest for which the public have been go long and anxiously awaiting has at last appeared The committee appointed L at the Logan conference have been long in secret session and as a result oftheir r deliberations and profound secrecy they have Brought forth their Declaration which we print elsewhere The document is in no way remarkable save it be that in no part does it offer any solution for the problem in Utah From the gravity of the situation and the t fact that never before in the history of 4 the Mormon Church have the Mormons I been brought face to face with the government govern-ment and the question whether or not L they will obey the laws passed for the suppression of polygamy or suffer tinA tin-A consequences of disobedience to those laws Today they must decide for themselves them-selves what their course will be and say whether they choose to conform the j laws willingly or whether they prefer the long and tedious but certain process of k trials and convictions followed by fines I and imprisonment One fine and one I 4 imprisonment will not free them from future trial and punishment if the law is I again broken by those who have suffered once for its infraction and this should be remembered 4 Almost at the outset the Declaration is I at least seemingly if not intentionally dishonest for in paragraph five it says They firmly believe tbtGod has revealed this s I to tfigJi as a command but while patriarchal 4 4 marriage as > it is termed is a part of their faith 1 and practice they have no idea that it should A become universal The equality of the sexes if no other reason would prevent this It is a mistaken idea thatourChurch favors the propagation propa-gation of this doctrine or ecks to cbtablbli it as a universal system This is a new doctrine in regard to the equality of the sexes as a reason why 1 polygamy will not become universal and heretofore as we remember one of the great arguments in favor of polygamy was the great inequality of the sexes and the preponderance of the female sex S Massachusetts which heretofore has been b t i the great ground for supplying the superabundance su-perabundance of females and the arguments I argu-ments in favor of polygamy should take I i note of this new discovery in Utah IfI 4 the Declaration is correct why was ti mete I revelation on polygamy given if tli me-te Mormons have no idea that it should I become universal As we remember the theory has always been that the revelation on celestial marriage was given to hasten forward the work of redeeming the world Iml and that those spirits which had not come on to this earth might receive j bodies in which to perform the work of f 1 tins probation and then pass on to T another probation beyond this world Is l 1 t this a wrong idea of the doctrines of the church heretofore If it is a mistaken idea that the Mormon Church favors the t propagation of the doctrine of celestial marriage why is it made so prominent a topic in all the fCt 5 mons which the lead01 launch 4 olL tl hu heads f Hctr lollowers and claim as the most precious of their doctrines as it is the one which is to most speedily A hasten the coming of the Savior Surely the terrorizing in TJtah is on account of A f the practice of polygamy and nothing else and upon the cessation of its practice i prac-tice in Utah there will be a cessation of I the prosecutions The Declaration says that plural marriage t i 1 riage was publicly proclaimed a doctrine t of the church in 1852 and that I Congress declared it a crime in 1862 I Do those who framed the Declaration de J hire to convey the idea that plural marriage j i j mar-riage was unknown up to that time j Such surely is the inference to be drawn t from their statement If such is their intention they arc but badly versed in r 4 p the history of their church for long before Utah was dreamed of by the Mormons polygamy was a doctrine and a practice of their church and there are plenty of men and women who were born in polygamy who saw the light of I day long years before 1852 There are prominent ladies in the Mormon I Mor-mon Church in Utah today who were the wives of Joseph Smith and Joseph I I Smith was murdered at Carthage jail in 1844Was Was ever a stranger statement made 1 than this II The law of 1562 was not declared Constitu tional until the Cth of January 1879 Plural marriage H therefore u was openly taught and 1111 j eur > ociore an Ti any law existed o i against it and twontybcvon had years elapsed a from the time of itS first Public 1 Constitutional until the Supreme Court decided promulgation the law to be i I The gentlemen who propounded this seem to think that the laws are to be 1 i deemed unconstitutional until otherwise j held when the presumption is that all I laws are valid until declared invalid j Following this there comes the Declaration the story of the Mormon j pilgrimage to the territory of Mexico with which all are familiar and tells that story substantially as it was 1 The Declaration then goes on to tell how to a delegation which narrated in I burning words the story of our wrongs in Missouri the Chief Magistrate of the nation made the humiliating confession I that though our cause was just he could do nothing for us which refers to the interview which Joseph Smith had with President Van Buren and John C Cal houii Do not the gentlemen who drew uj the Declaration and who in the second sec-ond paragraph after this say tha1 The authorities at Washington have disregarded disre-garded our rights in the matter of local selfgovernmsnt know that when Mai tin VUI Buren said that though their cause was just he could do nothing for them that he declared in favor of Democratic Demo-cratic doctrine and the right of local self government and of which they now complain com-plain that the authorities at Washington have disregarded them The reason why 1 T T 9 1 President Van Buren could do nothing for them was because their wrongs came from the men Missouri and it was the duty of that State to shield and protect them and not of the general government I For President Van Buren to have interfered I I inter-fered in their behalf under the circumstances circum-stances would have been for him to usurp the right of local self government and violate his oath of office To the t Mormons this doctrine may seem strange but it is as pure Democratic doctrine t as Jefferson or Monroe ever promulgated promul-gated gatedThe The next paragraph complains of that which is done by the Mormons every day selecting those of their own party for office in preference to any one else In icgard to the postmasters in many of the smaller towns of the Territory we believe be-lieve l the Declaration is just in its complaint com-plaint But the complaint about the appointment ap-pointment of other Federal officials such as Judges Governors Marshals and the like l is not so just as in this the Government Govern-ment has always been uniform in its practices in all the Territories and probably proba-bly will adhere in future to the practices of the past Many of the complaints about the Utah Commission are well founded especially that part which tells of how the Commission Commis-sion assumed to go far beyond the powers which Congress conferred upon them The Declaration severely denounces that part of the oath which the Commission Com-mission first promulgated which contained a provision with regard to cohabiting co-habiting in the marriage relation but does not mention the fact thatevery provision provi-sion upon the statutes of Utah against adultery and crimes against chastity has been repealed by the Utah Legislature and not at the instance of the Governor either The Declaration in no part offers any fr suggestion as to a continuance or a discontinuance dis-continuance of polygamy in Utah and j none will deny that todays mass meetings meet-ings are called on account of the prosecutions prosecu-tions for polygamy and to see if something I some-thing could not be done to have them cease And an hundred thousand people I are convened to discuss this question and in their Declaration of Grievances they merely ask for a commission to investigate in-vestigate affairs in Utah Ah well the people will have to learn some things by experience yet and among them that mass meetings and protestations are not I good reasons for discontinuing the enforcement of a law against a system which they have no idea that it should become universal but more especially when it is a mistaken idea that their church favors the propagation propa-gation of this doctrine or seeks to establish estab-lish it as a universal system Not even a disturbance of commercial values will stop the enforcement of the laws nor will business depression A declaration by the people that they will abide by the laws as interpreted by the United States courts is the only thing that will stop the prosecutions and it is the only thing that should LJ J |