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Show - w - ; : RELIGIOUS CENSORSHIP. "i ' The tociio in the third dijtriut court '1 yiiitenlay, on the attempt to impanel a grand jury, wm one of the most jit-" jit-" . iablc it hi bur n our fate to witness in ' any part X the globe. Tim supposi tion U that in a Torritury the people are proUelud hy the Constitution uf the United States and can enjoy republican republi-can institution:; but it is a very er-' er-' .v ronuou-i .iuppo.-ition bo lur a.s I . tali is concerned under the present Federal ,' ofl'ieiaU When we entered the court mom there were nineteen present of ., those f-umnioned as grand jurors. v Three oftlie.-e, under the a.i.-.uuicd tic-.'. tic-.'. . tion that the grand jury was a fairly ,t!t t drawn oi:e, wore Mormons mark it: ' ,'( ' three oul of nineteen, representing a , ') ' ' portion of the population numbering V J more than nineteen to three! When ,i their (pualilkation.H fur capacity to le- ' inlly act an jurors were being inquired , into, afti-r one or two hid answered ! the usual questions, the acting law ; otlioer of the court jumped a number V of names and proceeded to catechize ' lion. Geo. Q. Cannon. The farce ol 1 summoning three Moruiun.s on the jury 4 had been played; the serio-eoiucdy of '- I getting rid of them had to bo pro- ' eceded with, i.t. Wo believe our contemporaries at a M distance and tlio American public, will j - pau.so in doubt whether thoro could be , j found in the United States any man .. '- holding olheial position under govern-mcut, govern-mcut, who could be guilty of at- k ' I tempting such a religious censorship I as this law ofiicer was guilty of yester-'" yester-'" j day. IlisGrst question was: "Are you .i ' a member of the Church of Jesus ' j Christ of Litlcr-day Saints?" which I was answered in the nfurmative; I yet wo think had Iho same '? question been xked of us, wc, would have told him wc were au ' y J American citizen, and it was not the business of any lawyer, or of any offi-i I; " cor, on the i'reo soil of America and beneath the Constituion protected by tho stars and stripes, to inquire into our j,' ' religious status; a position assigned by i '.jj ropublieanism to the Creator alone, which thoo oilicials can apparently : neither comprehend nor appreciate, j liut there is no doubt a refusal to l k j answer would have had precisely the I'"'.', same effect that an affirmative answer )j hud. The "Mormons'' were to be got Jl- rid of. ', j f , . ' This question was followed by others, , as to whether Mr. Cannon believed in' 1 tho revelation: on polygamy; and : ,';.. whether lie believed that a person ;j ! ' could praetieo polygamy without com- 1 J , y mittiug adultery; to which he returned ' 1 brief and courteous answers, lie was 1 i . excused from serving ou the grand "i, jury. General Clawson and Mr. Town- ! send wero also excused because, in general terms, they agreed with Mr. Cannon. Tho scr'io-comcdy was played; n , ' . the Mormons were weeded from the ;.J ' , " list of jurors; their being summoned j f - was a farco to give the appearance of ,.': not packing a jury. . . ( liut this religious censorship goes 1 further. It attempts to rob all the . members of the church of Latter-day "j 1 Saints of every civil and political r'' , right. Every such member believes l .j : jn the rcvclatiou on plural marriage, whether he practices it or not; whether !. ' , he ever has practised or ever intends 1 - ' ' to praetice it. This exclusion of these y gentlemen fromthejuryisaDannounce- . uicnt that no Mormon can have a fair 1 and impartial trial before the 1 courts; that Mormons will uot be pcr- , ' mitted to sit ou juries; that they have do rights civil, political or religiom thatwill.be respected by such crazy :i fanatics; and this all this not be- ) cause they may have broken any law, but because they believe something ' i" these would-be pattcrners after a Nero ' 1 on a small scale do not believe. fWheu witches were burned in Massachusetts, Mass-achusetts, when Quakers were persc-'1 persc-'1 , outed all through New England, when : -v it was death for a priest to return to Connecticut after he had been ban- . ished, when Methodists were hooted ' and pelted wherever they appeared, this might have passed for a sample of : American principles under colonial rule, but when great hearts burst the swaddling bands that held the infant ! nation, and proclaimed to the world the undying principles of liberty and 1 freedom, Mich contracted, bigot ted and anti-republican positions were v supposed to have been forever ban- A ished from a free people. It is re served for the Federal officials of Utah to establish, for the tirst time since the Declaration of Independence, a j religious censorship iu the United 1 States, which robs every man of his! 1 : religious and political rights who will not square his faith aud mould his conscience to agree with their view.. ! |