Show THE MORMONS the recent action of theus the U S supreme courtin court in overruling the proceedings of judge mckean in utah opens to view the fundamental 0 stables obstacles whish prevent the recognition of the mormon community as EL body politic W with ith the attributes and por powers ers of state sovereignty the scope beope 0 0 of judge me mc keans kenna action was to regulate the drawing summoning and empanelling panelling em of juries in the territory of utah by the law jaw and practice of the united states government rather than by the territorial law in this way alone could a free and impartial jury be obtained in the district court of utah for the indictment or trial of prominent mor MO mons ns for high crimes crimea and for the punishment of bigamy and polygamy under the territorial law made and administered by the servile followers of their mormon leaders no grand or traverse juries could be obtained that were not exclusively composed ased of cormons mormons Mor mong mons ons who regarded every homicide homicide Eom icide instigated or perpetrated by brigham young and his associate eld ers era as a sacred act of religious duty and believed the practice of polygamy an obligation of faith and conscience the method pursued by judge mckean prevented the embarrassment embarras ment of packed mormon juries and secured free course to td public justice under it indictments were found against young and 0 other ther prominent mormon leaders and there was a fair prospect that the abuses and abominations of mormonism would be suppressed by the strong arm of justice and the ban of exclusiveness be removed from the territory but though the motive of judge mckenn mckean was wab good and hl hii laudable object was in a fair train of success it appears by the decision of the supreme court at washington that the course pursued by him was essentially illegal and that he had no right to disregard the territorial law jaw and practice in constituting juries for the district court by this decision matters are thrown back to their former condition the indictments found fall to the ground bail where taken Is discharged I 1 and the accused where under arrest are released however much such a result may be regretted gr e eted by all who had hoped to see the mormon question disposed of through the interposition of the courts we see bee no reason whatever t to 0 inveigh against the action of the supreme court or to call it in i question the motives of that high tribunal the majority of tho judges have doubtless acted conscientiously and wisely in n the decision which they have male and have truly interpreted the law as aa it stands whether any ally additional dit ional legislation by congress in regard to constituting juries for the territorial district courts can release the deadlock dead lock which has beset beget t tho ho wheels of justice in utah 1 ii 13 3 worthy of consideration era tion we cannot help thinking that the true way out from the mormon imbroglio is through the courts of justice rather than government organizations and that the possibility of erecting utah into a sovereign state is rendered still more remote by this reversal of judge mckeand Mc Keans action in the present aspect of the case BO flo great is the absurdity of conferring a state government upon the mormon hierarchy of utah with its disgraceful institution of polygamy that it seems impossible that congress should entertain the project fora for a moment yet a hearing bearing Is now going on before the committee on territories upon the question fuestion of admitting utah into the walon union under the title of ef the state of deseret this hearing takes place upon a memorial addressed addre saed to from the convention which framed the constitution and ordinance under which it la Is asked that the new state be admitted in behalf of the application it is urged that the proposed constitution ution is very liberal in its provisions and perfectly republican in its character and that it has haa been rati ratified nned fled by a majority of the people of the nine western territories utah stands second in population having about in inhabitants habitants accord according irig frig to the census of 1870 of whom a very large ma bority are obedient subjects to the mormon hierarchy the convention in question was assembled under authority of a joint resolution of both branches of the territorial legislature and the whole alfair from beginning to end W was as mormon in all its ito aspects on the face of it the constitution appears well enough and would answer a very good purpose as the organic law of any normal community in mib mis country but when it is considered that the co constitution la Is designed to fix the political status of such an exceptional community som as the subjects of the mor mon hierarchy it is evident that the instrument to is only so much waste paper congress has already gone far enough in extending a territorial government over that community and if the principles of civil liberty justice and public morals upon which our republican institutions are founded cannot be established in utah under that territorial organization it would be wiser to abolish it entirely rather than to change it to a state government the distinct and absolute abandonment of civil rule by the mormon church and the after repudiation of polygamy should be a condition precedent in any constitution under which congress might admit utah as a state nothing less than this would preserve the honor of the nation and maintain its consistency sis tency in upholding republican institutions never until the people of utah are willing to throw off the ecclesiastical shackles which trammel their citizenship and nullify their civil obligation never until they come forward with a constitution which puts the seal of reprobation upon their obnoxious heathen institution of polygamy should they be allowed to take upon themselves the high privileges aud and immunities of state government anything short of this open excision of the hierarchy and absolute repudiation of its most vicious institution would make the united states a traitor to the cause of civil liberty and an accomplice in the tha perpetuity of polygamy the antagonism between the republican institutions of this country and the absolute and arbitrary ecclesiastical ruie rule of mormonism is so strong and decided that the proposed new state could never be in harmony with the rest of the confederacy the valuable guarantees of the national constitution for common citizenship and free and untrammeled intercourse between the states would bo be virtually nullified and set at naught by tho tha church polity of mormonism operating behind the strong barrier of state rights and for all practical purposes to the rest of the union utah might as ag well be surrounded with a wall of brass fifty miles high as to be erected into a sovereign state under the rule of the influences which dominate there the urgency of the mormon rulers for a state organization is easily explained they want state power to give them an absolute monopoly of utah true they are now in a I 1 majority but territorial power is circumscribed and the territory may be settled up so extensively by the gentiles as to deprive them of their numerical preponderance the only safe course for congress is to reject their present application to revise the legislation of the territory so as to secure eal equal ual uhl rights therein to all citizens of the united states and to trust to time for the settlement of utah by a majority opposed to the mormons close corporation po ration boston globe |