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Show A LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION WANTED NEXT. The ulterior schemes and purposes of the clique in this Territory who constitute the source from whence has come nine-tenths of the legislation of an anti-"Mormon" character, attempted and successful that has been introduced in either house of Congress for many years past, become by degrees more plainly revealed and it is as well that the masses of the people should understand what those designs and purposes are. The last session of Congress witnessed a more determined and persistent purpose to secure anti-"Mormon" legislation than had been shown during any previous session, and at not time previous did congressmen seem so indifferent as to whether the measures aimed at "Mormonism" were constitutional or not. Congress was satisfied with any measure that would satisfy the popular clamor for a law to "suppress Mormonism," even though that law was a precedent that in future might be cited to justify the subversion of the most vital principles of the constitution. A faint call was made for a legislative commission to rule Utah, but the creation of such a commission would be a measure so flagrantly unconstitutional that the ring scarcely dared hope to succeed in obtaining the passage of a law providing for it, and hence but little was said about it. They no doubt hoped to accomplish most if not all they desired under the Edmund's law, and the commission created by it, and were shrewd enough to see that, if that law and commission failed to accomplish the suppression of "Mormonism," as soon as the failure became manifest, Congress would be in a better humor for passing a more stringent law. Hence for the time, a legislative commission was not insisted upon until after a trial should be made of the Edmunds law and the commission created by it. The object of the ring, briefly told, is the disfranchisement of all "Mormons," and the securing to themselves all the elective offices, and control of all of the public treasuries in the Territory. The Edmunds law and the Utah Commission are both failures so far as the attainment of this grand object of the ring is concerned. Under both the majority will still rule. The attempt of the ring to disfranchise all women as well as polygamists, by obtaining from the courts a decision invalidating the Territorial law conferring the suffrage on women, was also a failure, and the ring organ, in commenting upon it, uses the following language: The Liberals are again beaten, though they have no reason to feel cast down. It was their plain right and duty to test the law, believing it to be invalid. That it has not been held so, can't be helped. We have had many knock-downs in the past, and discouragements where we believed we had the right to aid; that such set-backs were conscientious and by friends, makes it none the easier. The final redemption is only a little postponed, the ineffectiveness of the Edmunds bill more manifest. It will be all the more plain to the country that something decisive has to be done. The people will see that the proper remedies have not been applied, and we believe they are ready to administer stronger relief. Liberals must not relax their efforts, but make the most possible showing of strength at the coming election, and then unite in a strong pull for the Legislative Commission. In thus complaining at being knocked down by their friends, the "Liberals" announce the measure they will next ask for at the hands of Congress. That measure is a legislative commission, i. e. a body, similar to the present Utah Commission, having all the powers now possessed by our Territorial legislature. There can be no doubt but that the next Congress will be urged to create such a body for the government of Utah. What Congress will do about it remains to be seen, but in measures already adopted by that body in relation to the "Mormons" is indicated a wreckless [reckless] disregard for the principles of the constitution in the protection it guarantees to the free exercise of religion and the natural rights of all citizens, that gives none too much ground for the hope that the scruples of congressmen in respect to the constitutionality of such a measure, will prevent its passage. A legislative commission means the disfranchisement of all citizens, and the reduction of the Territory to a state of vassalage more complete and abject than that of any of the provinces of the Czar. It means in fine a total annihilation of the last vestige of republican forms and institutions in the government of the "Mormons." "The mills of God grind slowly but they grind mighty fine." If the government sows the wind in Utah, she will reap the whirlwind nearer home. The subversion of republican institutions in this section of the country will prove a contagious precedent fraught with infinite grief and disaster to the whole of the rest of it. The "Mormons" can stand the consequences of a disregard of the constitution as well or better than can the people of any other section of the Union, for they have been anticipating and preparing for it; but as in duty bound they will continue to protest against the enactment by Congress of measures that are sapping the very foundation upon which rests the most glorious government upon the earth. |