Show aft 1 THE government it nad RAD uie ule ON xue THE mon xon MORMONS mons r WASU september sa there cafa caha i be littie tittle doubt that ahat serious senous trouble ig jm r pending in utah it will be remembered that at lit the jast last session pf af congress a most stringent bill was passed by th the ghe a house to punish polygamy in that territory but win min i tailed to ho be acted on in the senate it t was an administration measure and the policy it sought to enforce is assumed lil SIL med now nov no to 0 exist in the course united states judicial officers in utah meets therefore with wish the fullest approval and it ia in learned the ethe proper quarter thabit that thai it will wiil be vigorously sustained even at the point of the bay 1 onet the administration is evidently yd determined ter mined to break if possible forcibly if necessary tty wa we de em it 11 our duty io to re publish this statement which appeared lately in our news columns and to call the public attention distinctly and pointedly to t this attitude of the vie executive toward the people of utah known as mormons cormons Mor mons tor TOT we kno rno know W not hovy how tebon Antelli intelligence gence inay toay be bd fias flag flashed lidd along niong the wires thau that hasteen has as bae been abed shed b d bythel tho adm la an attempt to t greak drenk break lip ap a 4 6 clai cial ii which has aas been i ed by the eed fed federal brai bral govern government men i for about a quan quarter quartez teK of a century ah on land over which that government has hai always had L when vohen the sect af 0 mor wor mon planted themselves th 1861 2861 in utai they they beni into a remote wilderness where if I 1 was was bup sup supposed posed both by the themselves iii and by everybody else they could carry out their peculiar ideas concerning the domestic relations without coming in contact with the very differ different but civilization every where eise else upon this thi donti continent nent it is jo true that they settled on land the property of the united states but in due dub time they acquired according to law from the united states individual vidual to the land which they occupied and when they became i numerous enough lo 10 constitute 1 a civil community their right to regul regu late thel theu s social ocial institutions in eui their own way ways subject to the paramount kram right light of the united states ta mould oi their laws aa as congress should see seil fit fi Nr rested ested same bame basis as tho the cornes corres i bonding aiding tight of all ali communities I 1 9 which i at ba ve eipl been N 6 m formed in 4 a j buuri courso e of dudt I 1 I 1 6 upon territory 1 6 0 t the united uva embraced within AL agy apy fate odthe uhlon union icilin un necessary fo for r u us in the vieb view of this matter matten which w mean to lieeie present lit to invoke ko 81 epla I 1 in t 1 hi doctrine 1 0 t that thap yin oiga oica ta be 4 a dit dig amnaj 1 ty 73 wh which waa 4 ph anly ly vu pliay liand and ill ili understood application odthe por of the great right of self beio government to the q jep gions of settlers on the national domain our readers renders will observe that we haye expressly essly essiy affirmed the paramount legal right of the federal government to make any law in the territories subject to its exclusive jurisdiction that is 14 nhi specially prohibited by the constitution to be made by that government anywhere and we are not disposed to contend that lawson laws on the subject of df the domestic relations are not perfectly within this principle but although this paramount legal right of the united states is strictly applicable to t 0 the polygamy of utah it is possible fon foe a government and the nation which it represents to be equitably es topped from the exercise of strict rights and also to be bound in the forum of cor coi conscience iselene and before the tribu nalof an enlightened world not to exercise strict rights in a sudden budden harsha and cruel man manner nerv neri for along period of years the people of the united states by whatever party represented in the national government looked on with toleration atthe at the growth gro t and increase of the mormon settle bettie settlements ants in utah while the public sentiment on the subject of marriage never underwent thi the change public opinion virtu virtually ally treated it as a fortunate long aa as there were persons of both to believe in tor monism and poleg polygamy am y on religious grounds that there wasa was a place in lif nie vie wilderness where they could go goi and jand practise what they professed outside af the actual limits of our oun Chris uan and mp mgt 1 nog amous civilization without even oaring caring much to enquire how far individuals were the tha sincere dupes of an alimpos rethe turetha tu great body of the people of this thid country who paid any attention to the matter rather looked on this settlement of the mormons cormons as a curious experiment the trial df which at so great a distance from our oun own homes could be attended with no great harm to anybody but those who were trying it As the settlements increased and prospered travelers began to visit them and then meu came contradictory accounts of the working of their polygamy some of which represented their society as a sink of pollution and personal misery and others depicted it as a condition of purity and happiness still there was no serious and thorough inquisition by public opinion into the tendencies and probable future conse conee quenches quen eles cies of such a community we op speak eak of course of a period anterior to the opening or commencement of the great lines of which have now brought the great within nive five ar six days journey to or br from frony our oui own doors we bay say that during the whole i of that period the public opinion of his this country did not invoke and compel the action of df the federal government govern ment on ori this subject and hud that the toleration thus thua tacitly extended to the practice df of polygamy in one of 0 the herrl tories lories of the united states stites through a long iong series berles of years during which it ip could easily ha have hacebe vebe been en suppressed has led many innocent people to unite the themselves ni with the cormons mormons Mor mons hm has we know not how many hun deeds berthou br thou bands sands of women w to become the poly of single inen and fandi has been a hief phiet hiet chuga chuha cause ot of ild the exist elide alide of vell well wenpo i k adwin w inot 01 how many hundreds cpr thousands of children hildre ii the fruits connections into this thin condition of things itis it is now proposed to thrust suddenly denly the armed hand of the federal federal government overn ment and add td tto break U up f families a M illes whose domestic tiei ties are by ta themselves m oe ives professed prof ebbed eseed to be ve a matter of religious faith ve nye do 40 jibb cai esi reto hom how a n ne e 0 onie suppressing i the evil caa can be fairly fildi 0 have bave ar arisen anisen from the mhd introduction into utah of other s sete i dt tier tiers to wham the practice of polygamy is an abomination and abt arl of bf mence fence grant that the monogamous society of utah is now a majority of the population if buch such he be the fact fack grant that they have a tight whet whether hera heva a ichajo majority rity kity or ori a minority to live without contact with a practice that the civilized civilised civili ted sed and christian brid bald condemns it must be remembered thab that the time has been and it wasa long time too when the mormons cormons alone alona inhabited that region and when ane the people of bf the united states did not care how many wives the mormon madr m 0 n men med theoretically or practically cally caily enid enji enjoyed if other settlers have gone thord there thy aby bave gone gon 1 e knawha knowing what they emild would and A d dwell dwall weil wali I 1 with alid arid th have known td togi topi 9 that th the BO daI aai ilife ayd religion pron prof essi opa of the th 0 mormons cormons Mo inions have i nee bee m 66 abed we bought tather to bay say sayi lencou enot enoc raged by the federal government ith tha brigham young his hla W ives ivea andau aidau hr P 1 a 0 esaa chr aidt j prophet of the sect at obi ono one ubie time territorial governor oy ty federal appointment but the he question of right ight S as s between the mormons cormons and anti cormona of 0 the present presen t population of utah doe does not snot determine the question whether the pub lio lic opinion of this country now demands the forcible suppression of polygamy at the paint of t the e bi bayonet if f it does it demands a avery very harsh and cruel method of treating an evil for which it ia is itself largely responsible the american amerlean Amer icari people how however everi agrenot bre are not naturally cruel and unjust I 1 abid andee we are therefore slow to believe that the administration has been compelled by public opan opinion I 1 on I 1 into nto the measures which it is now taking in utah utah was first organized aa as a territory by act of Cou congress gress passed september when it was so organized there existed no law there thereof of any kind excepting the tho customs of its inhabitants by this customary law so far as a general and preval prevalent ent tnt practice among the inhabitants could make such law polygamy practiced according aco ace to the rights and wen u usages of 0 the mormon church or whatever their religious organization la Is called was undoubtedly i lawful when the people inhabiting g that country were wore organized intha territory of the united states this customary law could apply to no other in habit habitants ants anta of the territory who were no not nob t within the tho c rale rile of that sect bud but ut to those who professed that religion pr or who professed whatever that belief beller is that customary law was applicable aud and it made valid their polygamous marriages it could be bo changed as to that elther either by the territorial legislature irlby or by an act of congress congressi if the suggestion n now i ow is thau thai it is prohibited by the common law jaw the answer ia twofold first that the united states has I 1 no common law jaw of its own and that the common law cah can can be in force in a territory only by reason of its being specially enacted by congress as a a iii dys system of law for a particular territory as has sometimes been done but it has not been done in regard to utah secondly that the common law of no state in thib this union has ever published polygamy aa as agnime a crime independent of the statute law which which presupposes that there la Is a gnp one existing and lawful manz marz marriage lago Iago prior to all others a fact which cannot be predicated at all of the mormons cormons who have been long settled in utah according to any law that has ever been in force lorde there these legal difficulties complicated as they are by the fact that the mor mot mons mono profess polygamy as a part of their religious creed have hitherto led lad all previous administrations of the federal eral government to be extremely cautious how they applied force to this 80 sq cial olal claland and local domestic relation our oar readers cannot have forgotten that dui during the administration of mr buchan bachanan ii there was a mormon rebellion so called in utah president buchanan buo Buc hanan banan issued hla hia proclamation pf af april I 1 6 I 1 aw in that proclamation after telling them that the constitution and laws of the united states will assuredly be execl executed t among them ahem he said I 1 do dogot noi not decelle yourselves nor tr try tny r to mig mislead others by propagating ZO the idea that thit this ia is a crusade against your TeH toh gion glon the constitution and laws of this coun country t can an take no notice ot your creed rahe 1 whether 7 e th er it b be true gie gle or dir f faise false that wha t is a quei ques ques L tion llon b oe 6 tereen god ged and wid yourselves in which I 1 dl disclaim all right to interfere jf if you obey the lawse lawne keep the and respect the just rights of others you may liya live on in iii your present faith or change it at it your pleasure every intelligent man among you yon 0 u im knows V aws vory very well that this government has I 1 s nevor never directly or indirectly sought to in your worship to control you yon in your ydun ecclesiastical affairs or even to influence yon you in your religious opinions we suppose that every right minded man in the united states then approved of this disclaimer for if the proclamation tio n had not contained it the proclamation would not have hate been in accord with the spirit of our institutions or with th the spirit writ of bf the mhd constitution itself now it is indisputably true that the mormon creed T wh whether othen other it be bb true or fals and their theli religious opinions ions with which the president rightly declared lec lared that the government luno in no way meant to interfere ii ari are the source and origin and to them the sanction of their prad practice tidd of if pa polygamy i I 1 that practice to them is IA jus jub just a as 3 inbe inse inseparable arable arabie from their religious creed as is the practice ot of monogamous mar marriage ariage from the religious legious creed ottha of the christian iti ili would shock the common sense of jus justice among maal mankind g JL the tife civil pow power powen et af christian state elate cereto were to make tin disregard d alff ithe ethe hb religious eeling 1 hand ind of lt lib mhz electo oo 00 atwould it lt would be ailko a violation of religious freedom punish to poly gamy gams among a people whose religious creed makes it lawful and innocent after the civil power has long tolerated its existence xi stence because it has been beep professed as a part of a religious fai fal falth faith t h we therefore protest against a sudden crushing out of mormon polygamy by force under color of the common commod law it would not be right to bastardize the greater greaten lattof part of the children who have been born in mormon wedlock it would not be fust to inflict legal disgrace and divorce upon so many luany wives who have filled equal places vinces iri iii int I 1 the families of their husbands dhave an been faithful to their marriage vows new york world |