OCR Text |
Show CRAQIN S UTAH BILL. Mcnator (Jrai;in'a nuw "IJill, to aid tlie execution of the law against polys 1 amy, and to prevent that crime in the ' Territory ol' Utah, and for other pur- ' ohch," presented in the senate on the Uh inht., haa ju.it been received by mail. The telegraphic synopaLs which j ttc published in the Herald of the 19th, given but an imperfect idea of the provisions of the bill. We have hurriedly compared this new production produc-tion of the senator from New Hampshire, Hamp-shire, with his ofl'ort in the nanio direction di-rection two years since, and discover that this gentleman has considerably modified his viewnconoerning tlio "twin relic." Under any reasonable construction con-struction this bill, if a law, would be less burdensome than the present altitude alti-tude and rulint'3 of the U. S. courts in Huh, which have been authoritatively pronounced "monstrous" and "illegal." "illeg-al." Cragin proposed, by his bill of 18iO, to disfranchise polyjramists and their supporters; in 1ST1 he drops this provision out; in 'GO ho excluded practical prac-tical polygamists and other believers in the doctrino from jury duty; in '71 he spares the believers and only declares actual polygamistB ineligible The- old bill fravo to the governor of the Territory Terri-tory the appointment of all probate judges, justices of the peace, judges of elections, notaries public and sheriff; tho new bill gives to that functionary the appointment of probata judges only. The now bill provides also that any "spiritual wife" may claim wages for hor services in that capacity, and may recover any properly which she may have conveyed away since 1S62. In some respects the new bill ftiuiH to be moro fair and reasonable than tho old. It however fails in some cs- olnres that jurors shall bo selected "from the body of the people" but it neglects to provide for a fair and unprejudiced un-prejudiced 'panel. Under this provision thoro is nothing to prevent the present system of packing juries from among the street-corner rabble, who must, wc presume, bo considered a part of tho-body tho-body of tho people, during their temporary tem-porary stay in tho Territory. .No system sys-tem enn have nny semblance of fair-1 ncss which docs not provide for the . selection of jurors by lot, and from j among tho tax-payers of the locality. Every accused man is admittedly en- I titled to a trial "by a jury of his peers," nnd no moro transient person can bo deemed the peer of a permanent citi- L zcn. In another important rc?pecl the ' bill is essentially defective. It makes no provision for appeals from the de- I cisions of courts in Utah to the su-, su-, prcnic court of the United States. Without tins provision, the bill, if a law, would simply perpetuate the injustice in-justice at present practiced by the courts. h'or a "Mormon" to , be accused would be, as now, for him to bo convicted. There can be no hope of "equal and exact justice" to all, under any law which denies tho right of appeal to a court Unwn In h hIm-vo treiudioe or corruption. corrup-tion. If congress determines to givo us further legislation, we m ust insist that polygamisLs shall receive fair trials,and that appeals may be taken to the highest high-est court in the land. The prejudice of the present judges U widely known to be so excessive and virulont as to wholly neutralize their sense of justice. The same feelings of personal malice may actuate the judges who will ere long be called to supercede the present incumbents, though such a condition of things is most unlikely to again occur. oc-cur. At all events, it is not probable that congress will lend its sanction to any bill which gives to a handful of men the absolute and unchallenged '- "-- power to deprive a considerable uum- bcr of the citizens of Utah of their liberty, without the right of appeal for a review of proceedings, which may be in tho future as wide of justice and sound law as they have been in the past. |