Show I9JRTlliu oSCUSSON OF ROBTS V ilaking a Precedent That was a pitiful plea made by 1 lr Roberts I of Utah h fnn Lie I Ilmine of Rcpiestn a I I yen on Tuesday lie tIC < nlod no charge made ngntriHt him lie practically entered a plea of guilty 0 the Indictment which disqualifies hiitfl from holding ofllco Ho declared that his lawlessness for which ln with 1300 oih ry was punished was a matter of religious conviction and that he vent < to Jail because ho would not ahammdon polygamy Admitting hint he was a polygamist Mr Roberta warned time IIouMf limit if he was excluded or expelled the action would be so fraught with danger as to overthrow the foundation of our 1ev ernment Government whose laws he admits he has defied and violated mm uttering this threat Mr Roberts must have alienated even those who have excused him on sentimental grouix In utterIng It he showed that he Is incapable I in-capable of understanding Amerlc I sentiment and is out of sympathy with I American institutions To him oppo I slllon to polygamy Is merely sectarian prejudice and the law against polygamy my something to be defied or treated i with contempt Neither tin Constitution nor the lows of this Nation nor those of any State contemplate the election to Congress of an avowed lawbreak No rase like that of Roberts eec came before the House In previous sessions If there In u practically unanimous vote to exclude him now there will mmevr be l another case Ilko I I his from Llah nt any other Stale tte need a precede nt to cover all such cases in the future anti tho safety of the country will 10 assured If It JH made definite aiR strong Chicago Inter Ocean Roberts Under Fire While there Is a difference of opinion in the House Of Representative about Mr Roberts nf rtah It Is chleily one as to the form In which It shall ieject him Soni standing > n Precedent Halm that time proper thing I to do Is to admit Mr Roberts and then expel him others are In favor of shutting the door < in his face There may be a dlYcren between the south and southwest i ie of this Congressional hair but hicople who look to principles rather than tert idealities are wearied of this long dii bate over the polygamous member from rtah Mr Powers of Vermont stated the facts In the case In regard to Roberts concisely yesterday when he said Polygamy has never been legal in I Utah cither before or after her admls slon Into the Union Polygamy vas ii I legal under the common law of Eng land The moment he took wife No 2 the marriage was void Mr Robert knew the law He cannot now plea the baby act against the law and stern Justice Pleading the baby act is ba1 enough but when In this ago of the world and after half a century of dlt ussion about Utahs polygamous practice ticcs Mr Roberts assumes the role ff martyr and talks about walking the streets as the angels alk the cloud jcfoie their God It Is time for the Congress of the United States to 1ut in end to this farce and contempt not only of the law of the land but of the vhole history and traditions of the Vmerlcan Republic The people hong ago registered their verdict on the sub joel of polygamy in the laws of the states and of the United States Theme has been too much time and space given giv-en lo Roberts already for the cxploila Ion of polygamy Chicago News > s Tomfoolery Bun Mad Polygamlst Roberts whose claim to a seat In Congress was discussed yesterday erday In the House Insists upon his right to appeal from the judgment of he House to the courts of the National Jovernment This Is simply tomfoolery run mad The Constitution makes the Senate and the House the sole Judges of the lection and qualification of their owi members and there is no tribunal thai can review the judgimnt of either body jueh less reverse It If Mr Roberts doesnt know that he can have no standing in the courts ot in appeal from the Judgment of Confess Con-fess as to his right In a seat In the ody he could be justl > excluded fron the House because of his want of ordl ary intelligence He has the right togo to-go home and be reelectid if he can 1111 he differs from other cases where Inca have been excluded 01 expelled In lie fact that he Is declared Ineligible ammh a reelection would not in any dc reo lmproe his eligibility When the I House decides that Mi oborts is ineligible to membership oC the body because he Is living In polygamy polyg-amy In violation of the laws of the Nation Na-tion a rneleillon would leave him ien lo the same objection and the re fusal of his admission would simply be pealed This Government has put the stamp of Infamy and Inellglblllty to office upon the polygamist and there is no Ingenuity in politics or In courts that can enable Mr Roberts to gain ain I sctt a-in Congress Philadelphia Times U Roberts Defends Polygamy Mr Taylor for the majority and Mr Llttlefleld for the minority report on the Robeits case presented their arguments to the House yesterday after which Mr Roberts was given a harIng That gentleman cleverly ac iptcd as unanswerable the arguments of both speakers ou the vital point In the case lie said that he was convinced con-vinced with the minority thai time 1VIOUSC hud no right lo exclude him and with time majority that If admitted he COtiil not be expelled Ills peeih was brightened by several witty remarks n id made more or less Impression one on-e women In lie gallery who ap amled his peroration nolwithstnnd hag il was a piece of bathos that had no application to the question al issue Roberts prefers to Ignore the precise question at issue and to plead along sentimental grounds to defend his polygamy He does not wish to face the law as It stands and which he has violated with unbecoming Impudence lie seeks lo condone to palliate his offense and to get the favor of ihe House on mawkish sympathy He izits to I be looked upon as a knight of chivalry who notwithstanding the law juld not put away his plural wives lie wishes to convince the House that the Mormons accepted the law prohibit ing polygamy in good faith notwlth indlng It destroyed one of their rc liglous doctrines and that by gradual ocesses they are uprooting polygamy to live monogamous lives All this la clovnnt Tho fact IB that Roberts married plural wives after the law vas Iilt on the statute book and continued to cohabit with and beget children by them in ciello ace of the law He pleaded his ease In the House and through the House before the whole country As was expected he defended snronlsm and polygamy by citing trlarchlal precepts and examples lie declared dramatically that even the Savior made no unfavorable comment on plural marriages Martin Lutl r was citod as a defender of It He told how Mormons looked upon polygamy as a > art ol their religion and how hard it was for them to belIeve thai a fallible Supreme court which had reverse Ito OWfl decisions and nave character and ConstItutIonaLIty to the fugitive alave law could say the final pnd controlling WQrd on the right of a Mormon to take more than one wife He Implored the House not to be too hard on Mormons and wound uu with some spirited figures fig-ures of speech threatening to hang onto on-to the pillars of liberty so that It dragged from them the temple Itself would fall and that If bounced he vOuid walk forth JIH the angels walk on tho clouds Ils speech probably made no chango of conviction It was quite a plans Ule defenseof Mormonism but no an ser at nil lo the rharge lint he is disqualified from serving In Congress because In had violated the ii untlpoly 1 my law it waa u speoh that will hiC read with delight by the Saints I bIt b-It wont cut any Ico with the mombc of Congress who have determined to rebuke him and the people of Utah f or trying to foist upon Congress n poly anilst who exults In his criminality and who asserts his right lo have as many I wives as he thlngr he can support Detroit Journal Pointed Paragraphs Roberts Is a selfreliant man who I feels quite equal to the task of furnish lug his own sympathy Washlngic Star S at Polygamlst Hoberls In his attempt to I defend his right lo a seat In Congress received his loudest applause anl heartiest encouragement from the wr men In the galleries of the Houa which suggests thai Washlnglon sc clety affords a promising Held for Mot mon missionary effort Mlnncapol Journal 0 5 Mr Roberts Is receiving a great deal of feminine consideration but Is In no danger of mistaking himself for ii mallneo favorite Washington Star S M Roberts stays that If expelled he viii walk the earth aa the angels do thr clouds In other words he will hnv no standing on earth Council Bluff Nonpareil Robertss Sophistical Plea BrIgham II Roberts In his plea before be-fore the House of Representatives do elared that he did not propose to d 10 fend polygamy and then immediate proceeded to miki a defense of It cit Ing the example of the Hebrew patrl archs and representing that both Jesus Je-sus and Luther directly or by Impllca lion I approved I tIt t-It is worthy of note that such an argument ar-gument as that should be heard in our great national forum at the presen stage of the worlds civilization Rob erlss cunning waiver ot a purpose to defend limbs peculiar Institution was intended to throw his audience off its pjard while at the same time he Put In a plea for polygamy on ground which h thought would appeal to tin sympathy of the country There Is not a line or a word in the < sayings of Jesus which can be legitimately legiti-mately interpreted as a sanction of polygamy po-lygamy In his day the Jews wen strict monogamists and Christ did not have occasion lo consider or touch upon polygamy Roberts says that Chilsl denounced every sin every crime thai man can commit but you shall line no word of his in condemnation of the conduct ot lie patriarchs or of Iho law as il was given to Moses and ancient Israel That Is a false and misleading statement Christ did not specltlcallv denounce every sin and crime men could commit He denounced all sin in general and specified some which arc nmmon to nv n and particularly some which were conspicuously In evidence among his own people at that linn The citation of Martin Luther as a JCllcvcr in and advocate nf polygamy is another case ot misrepresentation Even It the language attributed to Luther was uttered by him It simply shows hat Luthers interpretation of he Scriptures and of Ihe relation of the New Testament to the Old Testament vas If as a scholar and theologian he leld that the Scriptures do not forbid polygamy that fact If It be one does 101 show that he approved of plural ma rn age V It Is evident that Roberts as a be lever In polygamy and as the husband of several wlyu resolved to make the nqsl of cportunlly In addressing hij American Congress He was abl 4 while claiming the right to a seat In the House lo sow the seed of his per ilelous doctrines so thai they would he spread broadcast over the entire land He showed also much adroit ieas in utilizing the antagonistic posl lons and arguments of the two parties in the commltle adopting the argu meal of the minority to the effect thai time House had no conslllutional right to exclude him nnd then adopting the rgument of the majority lo the effect hat It I t had no right to expel him I after he had been sweated We dq not bollevo either of these poal Inns is sound There Is no doubt of tiit right of lh3 House to meet a vii lain a conspirator or a traitor at Its doors and say You shall I not enter thIs body and disgrace II by the fact of your membership And equally lun a bad or dangeious or otherwise lellglble person hay secured admls sioti the House has the might by a iwo thirds etc lo expel him In pursuing either method the Houso might In a given case violate Justice and the spirit of C the Constitution but that Is possible hllo exercising us legitimate tune OIIH In other matters If It does a wrong cither constitutionally ur uncon ItutSonally the country mav hold It isponslble for Its action Rochester emocrnl and Chronicle Mr Robertss Case Once more AC are reminded that the way of the transgressor Is hard Mr Roberts of Utah Clew In time face of Public opinion and Is brought up with a short turn Ry a vote of more than live to one he in refused the right to sit for even one Heeling moment In Congress as the Ropresenlallve of the State of Utah and must go back to his home taking with him thai plurality Cl L wives and multiplicity of children of r which Mr Landls spoke so bluntly time other day It was not Mr Huberts so much as time State of Utah I t lhat was on trial smut that commonwealth l lit now have time opportunity of retrieving Us repu itloii by choosing some man as niem ieP of Congress who has not the taint If polygamy about him If I I Ulah will IC thin she will have taken a long step in i the direction uf satisfying the conn tmy that she accepts the action uf the ilouso as a final disposition of the case and will be dismissed from public no thee with ihe Injunction to go sin no moic It hi to be hoped for the good of the country and especially the state of Utah that no attempt will he male to vindicate Mr Roberts Don Vet Times A Great Day for the Women Tt vap a great day In the Houue yes rjlay pspiclally for the crowds In time frnllerlc As un every day when the RobortK case has been before ones on-es women lloekd tu time Capitol unel IMU lie I day vateling the proceed lmmgsV Yestirday U seemed ns If the male VP contingent was larger than evem Women cnniu In bunches Jn twos and ihvcos I and sl Insly Some even brought children and babes t onus Time KJillorlen were crowded early For botirs women waited for a chance tot to-t In and meanwhile th i children tqrmicd time corridors Into a sort of imuiLmy rnd played games on tIme floes aklnff so much noise thai the doom Iccepets were obliged to curb their youthful spirits Those who waited until un-til late in the afternoon were reward I In getting Into the gallery because Mi r Roberts did not speak until late tmshlmgtn Lettcr to Mew York 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