Show THE HR IM merwon J the brigham howg yonn Youn gand gabd and thereof of th the ehigh kih bih tr fal 1 44 i 1 I 1 functionaries function aries in the mormon church elih a view to test the stability of polygamy as a mormon institution excites more than usual Pt attention the public is interested in knowing what the upshot of the whole affair will wiil be there is a prejudice whether well or III ill founded it is not the province of this article to say against the cormons mormons as a sect enter by a majority of the people of the united states and it is only made stronger by their polygamous doctrines audaciously declared to be sanctioned by revelation moa from heaven the prejudice la Is deep rooted and it asks for the conviction n oft 1 the leaders of the moh mom cormona for bract kik kii which tho the civilization of the day daj sto sog boea not approve the demands of the whole world have bave nothing to do with the cabe case of these mormons cormons Mor mons and should have no weight fyhen hen they are to be tried and by established law latr they are entitled to the protection of all the law jaw there is and are amenable only to the laws there are and for misdeeds committed while those laws have existed these cormons mormons went to a distant region as our forefathers fled from england founded institutions of their own they went where no state laws were made mude to extend and the constitution of the united states and laws made in accordance cor eor corrance dance therewith have not in the pas past it interfered with their family relations marriage is not oneff one of the institutions the sovereignty of the united states of and the deci deel declaration arsion ahat that the common law steps inin in in the absence of anything else and makes the polygamist amenable is made in ignorance of the fact that the united states knows no common law and it cannot be recognized any where except by statute up to a very recent period the mormons cormons having full fall sway away in utah no laws existed that militated against their peculiar institutions but wre in consonance with them where no laws are no offense abounds an act of late date cannot go back of its ment to punish lez jex post facto lawn are prohibited and we conceive that any not act of congress or of the territorial legislature cannot punish polygamy practiced before the enactment the leading mormons cormons now under arrest beem heem to have been caught up under an act to prohibit adultery yi signed by brigham young himself now nor that law jaw is to be interpreted by the spirit that dictated its passage manifestly not one who voted for it or brigham who approved it recognized its applicability to cases of polygamous practice their plural marriages were regarded aa as legitimate and the law was parsed passed to favor such marriages and discourage prostitution the spirit of that law has not been broken by the mormon elders in taking more wives than one and it is not in the duty of the judicial authorities of utah to give the law a different construction from that intended if that is all that is relied on for conviction brigham and wells may well entertain sanguine hopes of non conviction if a fair trial be given them A different order of things it is apparent is to boon eoon to come to utah the influx of gentiles inimical to mormon institutions and influences Is bound without much delay to overturn the tho hierarchy that has ruled not in accord with the ideas of modern civilization and the course now being pursued by the federal officials at salt lake ia is not justified by a wise policy that should desire that the malign influence of assumptions dogmatists may perish without the sympathy of mankind an au annoying course not likely to result in good only makes the persecuted sect stronger and defeats the ends that the enlightened would like to see accola accomplished shed sacramento union I 1 h t |