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Show TI1USK TW1.Y RKMCS." j Ct. ::rt:.c a':.-.ve heiing the New ! V' tk Y r!-' of:::e l')'h in-t. aays .-uiue pluin iliiii'i to I're.-idcnt Grant. Sj-cu-ii. oi p'jlygamy in I uh aud the . .citnii1 (! "o'J to prohibit its practic it, : U i - :i -t ;'. iii a futile ar.d inop.ra- live u.i :l-a:l !!.;' !'-,lioWed ibc enacting ( el.'iu e wi'i'i- tipaii-e of white paper. , '1 V:i iMiipiiiit.-a a::il Wortbh.-m.-sS of i hit . -tat ute received a sL'tial illustration, illus-tration, a !'-'. montiis aco, in the trial xt Suit LtLe city whieh occupied so i!iiieii sj.-n-.; iu il.c- uew.-paiicrs. The Muniioti who wis tried and sent-'Qced was nui indicted under the I'liitcd i Sta' 'S 1 1 1 ' 1 a'.':iiu-t vyiiv, but I m:.-T a l-j.-al T.:ri itunal law, pav-ed by the .b;rmoiH tiieiii(i Ives, against adul- ) a -t.;tnh- whieh was trcteln.-d i ar:d .-irain-'d ag.dini il.i J'laia intent and the ub'uus lueaning uf the lucal le'i-luture that pa.-.-ed it. Why did j the prj-eeiinu'-' attorney resort to such a i'ed-h, aud strain the local law, if j there was a United States tatuc? It j was because this last was ri ally no I stalute at a!:, but merely a piece of cuiigre -,-ional buncombe. It could no more bi;M a polyganiit-t than a bu.'ket wi'hi'ut any bottom can hold water. The fact that the late prosecution prosecu-tion utterly disregarded it, and look .-belter under iocd law, puni.-.hing not the bigamy which the bigus statute affects to prohibit, but the different ' crime of adultery about which it is -ilent, is a pru-jf as public aud notorious notori-ous as it is convincing that the federal statute i- a piece of bogus coin. It is , uuiver.-aliy conceded to be no better than so much blank paper; and accordingly accord-ingly senator Cragin, ini the fn.it day ! of the present sc-.-ion, introduced a . bill against polygamy in Utah which is not such au empty sham. "An auger that won't bore" is really no auger at all. In almost the tirt line of his mes-' mes-' sage general Grant makes a merit of ' executing "all laws found upon the statute-books," Cut although he has been nearly three years in oflice, he , has never executed the statute of KStiL' ! against Mormon polygamy, lie might as well have attempted to execute the , Chicago plattbrm, or a .Republican ! stump speeuh. It is not incumbent on us now (although (al-though wc are prepared on a tit occa-, occa-, sion) to explain why the act of July 1, Js02,is a bogus statute. The fact that tho United States attorney treats it as if it were non-existent, and prosecutes ! only under ihe local law against adul-! adul-! tcry, is good enough prima facte cv I deuce. It was, passed without debate, 1 and was never intended as anything ! but a piece of buncombe. It origin-. origin-. ated in the house, and the following ; extract from the proceedings when it j was just on the point of passage shows ! that its very author was iudiiVerent to . its clliciency. "Mr. Cradlebaugh I ask the gentleman gen-tleman from Vermont to ;allow me to ; offer an amendment. Mr. Morrill I prefer to have the : bill pass as it is. ; Mr. Cradlebaugh I think if the : gentleman understood the character of . the .amendment ho would not object, j t is merely to correct the bill, and not I for the purpose of throwing any im-! im-! pediments in the way of its passage, j The bill, in its present shape, does ' not amount to anithinp. The Speaker i)oc3 the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous question? Mr. Morrill 1 decline to do so." When tho bill went to tho Senate, Mr. McDougall said, with perlect ; truth : "Jt in understood ilsprwisions will be a dead letter upon our statute-; statute-; book. Its provisions will be either j ignored or avoided." A prediction ; which was fully verified in the first j prosecution of a polygamist last fall, wherein no notice was taken of that bogus, buncombe statute, and tho ! Movmon was indicted for adultery I under a local law of tho Territory. The Chicago Tribune is as cavilling I and sophistical as General Grant is I ignorant. |
