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Show OBEDIENCE TO LAW- The ntiitude of Utah in relation to law ia apaio tho subjent of public remarks. re-marks. In regard to this o desiro to make a tlw comments, also in tend to state some Tacts wliich aro not as widely known as they should be. Thero is but one law that the people of Utah aro accused of disregarding : tho act of 18IS2, relative to polygamy, which was so notoriously unconstitutional unconstitu-tional that I'rcsidcnt Lincoln would not approvo it, but allowed it to become be-come law by default. That law was ostensibly aimed for tho protection of morality, as believed in by those who hold faith different frcm that held by tho Mormons. White wo respect the honest faith of any community, at the samo time wo must regard the highest law of tho country the oonstitut'oo, which governs the majority as well as tho minority as the palladium of the great peoplo, that not even congress can transcend without committing a grevious wrong. Tbo governmoat of this land is not contiDed to one porsoe, as some seem to imagine. It is composed of tbe legislative, executive, and judicial deportments; de-portments; and while a law may be enacted by the legislative department, and approved by tho executive and this was not tho case with the law under consideration still, it is the prerogative of any citizen to have the constitutionality of that law tested by tbe supreme tribunal of the land; and be or Bhc cannot be legally held under ban until that decision is ffiven. Now, who are the loudest deolaimors in Utah against, the Mormons? Were we to publish their privato history, it would startle many who have come to look upon them as specimen paragons. Men notoriously blatant about decenoy and morality, what are their own practices? prac-tices? One has a wife in an adjoining State, while be lives here openly with another woman. Another has obtained a divorce, which he personally claimed to be illegal, that he might wed ten or twelve thousand dollars. Others are notorious frequenters of lewd houses, and boast of it; and while Mormons marry wives and abjure unchastily, these mon talk of their deeds of shame with a gusto that smacks of relish. They set at defiance law, morality, and decency, and yet talk of Mormons disobeying an enactment that strikes at the foundation of constitutional right. They who oppose and attempt to set a, defiance every law which governs the place of their residence ! These persons per-sons making so great an outcry relative to Mormons, are themselves the most ou'pable of men notoriously bold faced in their shame and infamy ! Bo it understood, wc do not siy "the Gentiles," so frequently called opon in press dispatches, to father this or that eentimeot or expression ex-pression of opinion. We do not say "the Gentiles" do this,!. for .they do not, nor do they ondorse those to whom we refer, but wo speak of individuals well known and upon whom there is no difficulty in placing tho facts wo state. Those men had by far better devote themselves to purifying and remedying their own morals, than spend their t me discussing law, or advising in regard to matters of the merits cf which they have not the slightest conception. |