Show TEE CRIME OF UNITY I It would seem to be unnecessary at this eleventh hour of human experience experi-ence to defend the propriety and wisdom wis-dom of unity Consistency of the individual and unity upon matters of common ipterest in the community are the mainsprings of success The individual cannot hope to succeed by tearing that down today which he constructed yesterday that community would soon relapse into barbarism which ceased to be united From savagery to civilization is mainly a step from a pandemonium wherein each person is a law unto himself to organized society wherein the natural rights of the individual are subverted to the general welfare It was to secure our happiness that the more perfect union of the present government was substituted for the Old Confederation and it was to preserve the unity of the United States that over a million lives were expended in the Civl War The father in the classics legend who demonstrated to his sons the impossibility of breaking break-ing the bundle of sticks and again the ease with which the sticks might be broken singly symbolized an axiom of human experience which the ages have chrystallized into a multitude of maxims max-ims History has demonstrated the almost invincible strength of those commonwealths common-wealths large or small in which the traitor was unknown and unity of purpose pur-pose was unbroken by feuds and dissensions dis-sensions It stands to reason indeed that the two elements of communal strength should be perfect unity upon i questions of common concern and I numbers A house divided against itself cannot stand The Mormons realized the great advantages ad-vantages of unity in accomplishing certain cer-tain objects They have therefore strictly in accordance with scriptural injunction in-junction and the experience of man kinds insisted much among themselves upon the necessity of a close union Is there auj hiug either unphilo sophical opposed to the canons of nature or unpatriotic and opposed to the genius of American liberty in such desires or teachings If we apprehend correctly the object of the Constitution it is to secure to downtrodden humanity theprivilege of doing just exactly as they choose in such things the only limitation being that the rights of others must not thereby be Infringed upon And again realizing that all 01 these mutual desires might better be accomplished ac-complished and that some indeed could only be accomplished by gathering gather-ing into onelocality they have seen fit to vary from the ordinary rule of an effete Christianity and have collected or have endeavored to collect into a single neighborhood Is this a crime You would not think so But alas l for the narrow bigotry and undeveloped republicanism of some of our past and present neighbors it seems that to gather is to commit a grave offense against good religion re-ligion and good government General Clark the tyrant whom the infamous Boggs Governor of Missouri sent with a mobocratic army to exterminate or drive the Mormons from the State invoked the Spirit of the Unknown God to rest upon anddeliver them from the awful chain of superstitition and exclaimed under the influence of the bigoted and despotic spirit referred to I would advise you to scatter abroad and never again organize yourselves with Bishops Priests etc lest you excite ex-cite the jealousies of the people and subject sub-ject yourselves to the same calamities that have now come upon you The Mormon people driven from Missouri sought refuge in Illinois and having purchased extensive tracts of land in Hancock County made that county their refuge with their headquarters head-quarters at Nauvoo All went merry for a couple of years and then strife was renewed and ultimately the people were driven into the west Governor Ford who was the chief magistrate of Illinois at the time of this expulsion wrote a history of the State in which he devotes considerable attention to Mormon affairs Strangely enough it must seem to the true American he also concluded that the chief Mormon offenses were gathering and unity Scattered through the country he says they might have lived in peace like other religious re-ligious sects but they insisted upon their right to congregate to one great city The people were determined that I they should not exercise the right and it will be seen in the sequel of this history his-tory that in their case as in every other where large bodies of the people are associated to accomplish with force an unlawful but popular object the expulsion of the Mormons the government govern-ment is powerless against such combinations combi-nations And again the Governor writes and how accurately descriptive ot the causes of Liberal opposition are his words But the great cause of popular fury was that the Mormons at several preceding elections had cast their votes as a unit thereby making the fact apparent that no one can ar pire to the honor or offices of the country coun-try within the sphere of their influero s without their approbation and votes Contemplate the enormity of tie crimes I Driven from an American commonwealth com-monwealth for casting a solid vote The Mormon idea that they must be united seemed unfortunate to the governor gov-ernor as a fruitful source of excitement violence and mobocracy It This one principle and practice of theirs arrayed against them in deadly hostility all aspirants for office who were not sure of their support all who have been unsuccessful in elections and all who were too proud to court their influence filth all their friends and connections These also were the active men in blowing blow-ing up the fury of the people in hopes that a popular movement might be seton set-on foot which would result in the expulsion ex-pulsion or extermination of the Mormons Mor-mons What a grand insight to the true causes of Mormon misfortunes in Illinois Illi-nois 1 And written too by aman whom the Mormon people have been inclined to declare responsible for the martyrdom martyr-dom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith It teaches as well the lesson that history his-tory repeats itself It was Mormon unity in Missouri and Illinois it is Mormon Mor-mon unity in Utah that brings oppression oppres-sion to the people Theyare asked why they cannot be like other sectsscat tored they are denominated slaves branded as dupes and subjected to various statutory and other insults because they choose to adhere together and this in the teeth of the fact that the aj < > nl th fnntc > ot 0 onnh that 1a u u u u u wu union means defeat The Mormon people are tired heartily sick of the op positon of smallbrained men without any adequate conception of the nature of American institutions |