Show KIRK ANDERSON ESQ SIR in an article entitled squatter sovereignty vs is the constitution which appeared in in the third number of your paper we en dav daveed red 6 to show that the power to legislate for the punishment of crimes in in the territories ig vested in congress by the constitution and consequently that the people of the territories cannot exercise legislative powers axce except pt they therbe be to them by the congress of the united states si ates and while we admit that our constitution guarantees the freest exercise of 0 religious conscience consistent with the most enlightened system s etem of moral ethics it is la our purpose to show that mormonism inculcates doctrines that are incompatible with the provisions of the constitution and consequently that the one or the other must undergo some modification if or they cannot exist together the rh art of amendments to the constitution provides that no person shall be held to a capital or ot herovis e infamous crime unless on a present presentment met or indictment of a grand jury nor shall he be compelled led in in any criminal case to be a witness against himself nor be deprived of 0 life liberty or property without due process of law thus defining defini rg in unmistakable terms the manner in in which punishment shall be inflicted uron ur offenders enders a against bainet justice and morality these provisions of the constitution are of the most sacred character and designed to protect the citizen in tiie alie enjoyment of the fullest liberty or 0 thought and action compatible with the laws of the state hilt but in utah there la is an ecclesiastical code winch which is paramo paramount to the civil statutes and claims claims the obeisance of its subjects irrespective spec tive of every other consideration and it is is an attempt on the part of the elders of tile the mormon church to enforce the observance of tins this code and inflict its penalties upon pon tile tho citizens of the territory in violation of their constitutional rights that has given rise to the ent entire ire catalogue of their past and present grievances this code enjoins the practice of polygamy as essential 0 their exaltation into c celestial glory and yet 5 et they have made no provisions for such an if institution ution in the statutes statute of the territory ternary much of this code is is confided to the subject secretly and under an oath or obligation which aich they call covenants and make intake death the penalty for violating or divulging cherop which N aich they e y also alao attempt boldly to execute in ill bof violation 1 t of tile the hj i 1 i constitutional rights of tile the citizen and in in their minded blinded zeal for the observance of this bloody ritual they seem to hold the civil judiciary in in the most perfect contempt and contumely and obloquy are the reward of those who mho dare to give it their support as will vill appear from remarks by prost pret J AT grant march 2nd and 1855 1856 viz list last S inday the president chastised some of the apostles and bishops who were on the grand jury bury did he fully succeed in cleaning away the fog which surrounded them and in removing the blindness from their ees eyes iho no fr for they could go to their room and again disagree though to their credit it in must be admitted that thata a brief explanation made them hem unanimous in their action not long ago I 1 heard beard that in in a certain case tile the tram traverse erse jury were elev eleven en against one and what is more singular the one alone was w as right in in the views of the case several had got into the fog to suck and eat the filth of a gentile law courts court ostensibly a court t ol of utah though hough I 1 call it a gentile court why because it does not magnify the laws lavis of utah as provided for in the organic drganc act also from remarks by prest B young on same date can you discern between the righteous and the wicked you know I 1 have spoken of a certain class of men who m ho frequent our law shops ano and every other wicked hole bole they can get into the vilest sinner on the earth who ubo will vill come with a bland countenance using the airs that belong to the etiquette of the day you receive receive as a very fine man a beautiful gentleman do you 3 ou not know that you need the spirit of the almighty to look through a man in an and discern what is in in his heart while hil e his bis face aiace smiles upon you anahis and ins words flow smoothly as oil it if you ou had the power of god upon you you might see the sword lurking within him and a nd that if he had the power lie he would w plunge it in i your our heart and destroy you ou from rom the tze earth 0 ar th I 1 meet many such men in these streets and in the houses round about the remarks alluded to in he abo e paragraphs are published in in the ath vol of the deseret kees on page and though purporting to be a rebuke to lawyers law y era and petty fog toggers gers the main object and effect was to throw obloquy epou the character of law courts and drive the people into their ecclesiastical s sias courts for the adjustment of all grievances es A few paragraphs will suffice as ag a sample sampie of the tone of this entire discourse old grey headed men who ought to be fathers in israel were as a jury on the case I 1 have attended to and what were they after the fog the froth frocil and spawn of hell and they feast upon it we ve have been driven from the face of man into the wilderness and tow now the poor d davils vils follow us to stir up strife and to prozee produce the spawn n of bell in in which they delight to live in e and upon which they feed and the simple simpie simple simpie ones of this community will beg of them I 1 cannot I 1 be on the grand jury cannot I 1 get a little to do in the court we could multiply examples of such paragraphs from the idestal IDe deseret seAl news not by the leading members of the church only but by their under strikers to whom a hint on subjects of this kind is is deemed a sufficient su license for the indulgence of the vilest epi and threats of intimidation at length this crusade against the judiciary accomplished thi the purposes for which it was raised the J judiciary di a a r y was paralyzed and aid for the la last st tw bears ar s scarcely so much much as a magistrates court has been held in in the territory I 1 make these assertions speculative ideas but upon observation but it would woud be unjust to charge the entire people of utah with having acquiesced acquiesce 4 in this opposition to the judiciary miny many desired ato see the laws vindicated and gave them their support but in consequence thereof were made lade the objects of the most unrelenting persecution which pursued them in many instances to banishment from the territory it is useless for them to argue the corrupt conduct and rulings vf ct i what hat they are pleased to 0 o call gentile courts in in justification of their heir persecutions for this certainly could not apply to the inferior courts of the territory ternary which were of their own creation after suppressing the judiciary and de driving pr iving men of their constitutional rights of trial rial by b due process of oflas lav it is is to be regret ted ed that crimes did not cease to be commit ted ed although under the ecclesiastical code the he most barbarous punishment w was as inflicted and that too in a most summary manner the he nature and tendency of which we shall reserve for future comments d december 1858 m |