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Show "icT US HAVE PEACE!" The question fn-quectly urines in refueling re-fueling minds. Why is it that so de teruiin d and incessant a warfare if wnged aairnt the Litter day Saints or , Morm n-t '! All sorts of reasons have 1 f n advanced to account for it in the pv-.t, and all sorts of reasons are sought for now to aojount for it. Hare are a p'.ople that anxiously, earnestly desire to live in amkaMo relations with all men, but tiny are called on by theii antagonists to yield up every vestige oi frai-dom and liberty before they can be 1 allowed to do so. 1 "But they b' lievo in and pract ce polyjamy?'' Well, suppose they do. It is almost useless now to p ay with such a pretext. Whiie some well meaning but not very broad minded people are honestly opposed to polyg amy, and view it as a state of relaxed morals, it is a notorious fact that five-bixths five-bixths of those most bitter again t the Mormons care nothing whatever aboui it, and that most of them live in a eou dition of undisguised licentiousness, and only use the word as a political ci j for effect. "But the Mormons are too united and placo too much power in the ban Js of th?ir leaders?" Is it wronjj to bo united? Is union not sought )oi and aimed after by every party politi cal and religious? And is it not the desire of every leader to wield wha; power hi can, if he is an honest man. for the benefit of those who adhere ti him ? "'But there is an ecclesiastical ty ran try exercised in Utah?" How? ard over whom? Is any ecclesiastical authority exercised over any persons not bi'lnnainsr to the community o' Latter day Saints? If men are required re-quired to conform to the theologic 1 tenet-' of the Church, is the same, not done by every recognized religious body in the countrr, and by ever' political organiz ition ? If men become renegades to a political faith are they not read out of the ptrty with which they before time affiliated ? If they turn away from the faith of the Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyterians or other religious bodies, are they not severed from the church to which they had belonged? "But the Mormons compel men to trade in crtain places?" Impossible. They instruct membe'S in full church fellowship to trade with their co religionists; but as to compelling any Dian to buy here or there, that cannot be done. They cannot, and do not try to, compel a man to belong to the Church against his will; and as they do not seek to exercise control over those who have no fellowship in the Church, they cannot correctly be charged with compelling any man to do anything. "But the terrors of eternal punishment punish-ment are held over those who do not act in accordance with the requirements require-ments of the Church?' Indeed! Is thtre any eh.irch that holds eternal punishment as a part of its faith in wlii' h the same is not done ? We had a Baptist father and mother; uncles and aunts who were Metho-ists; brothers and sisters Presbyterian-; other near relatives Covenanters and EpL-copalians; have Ived for years among Roman Catholics, and all these churches uudisguised:y threaten their communicants with eternal damnation for much slighter causes and in a much wore illiberal mauuer than does the Mormon Church. "But people have been prevented from developing the mineral resources of the Territoiy." No; this has not been the case. Men have been recommended recom-mended to pursue agriculture in preference pre-ference to mining as in the end more profitable; but even in an ecclesiastical point of view uo ind.vidual has been cut oil' from the Church, merely for mining, though there have been instances in-stances where men who have gone alter mining have been, guilty of acts which have compelled their severance from the Church. What, then, is the trouble? and what the cause of this antagonism? Part of it can be quickly told. For nearly twenty-three years the people of this Territory occupied a frontier position, and upon the, frontiers tLe scum a"d iloating garbage of the vast tea of e'.vi-Hz-ation is always cast up. Here there ws a determination to enfoiee lawand . offence against. j had men- which they culd net brook, n or overlook, isome of fhetn were men of brains, and such when they a'e bad. are always among the wo'st of men. These could readily offer reasons why the Mormons should be treated harshly, harsh-ly, for a bad and unscrupulous man is a po r casuist indeed if he cannot find reasons to justify his conduct. It was dl the more easy to stir up feeling against the Mormons, because equal'y unscrupulous border ruffians had been successful in driving them from Missouri Missou-ri and Illinois to the "great American desert." Some of these men came here as Federal officers, and when they could not work their corrupt practices, sent back to government false reports. Others who would not settle down, woik honestly and make improvements, were anxious to jump honest men's claims, and because they were not allowed al-lowed to do so. raised ti e howl of "out rage. " Had' it been some of the States and Territories around, they would not have made a howl of any kind, for the rope would have i ightened around their necks too quickly for them to have got breath. Some were sent here by east ern speculators to lie and defame the people, that government might be in duced to send troops, for there were contracts in such an event; others came here as speculators and had a keen eye for the same prospect. Thus it has continued. Bad men have falsely cried 'bad men," and the cry has been believed by thousands who have honestly repeated it. The reflection that such a contest has to be wtged, where peace is desired that every ability may be directed to devel opment and improvement, is not a very pleasing one. False accusations, unjust allegations, calumnies, misrepresentations misrep-resentations and systematic hostility are not apt to engender the most amiable feelings ; and if some of the inhabitants of U'ah have felt bitter against their traducers and determined enemies, human nature could not feel otherwise. We are not, howuver, now on the frontiers. We are on the highway of the world. Inte ligent men and women from ever? civilized nation are coming here. And what signifies an expression of the prejudiced, distorted or even dishonest opinions of a flw, when wc ask for the verdict of the world, and the world comes to judge lor itself. ' Yet, in the language of the nation's Executive, and with a desire to live quietly and labor to do good, we would say to all men, "Let us have peace !" |