Show THE GOVERNORS REPORT GOVERNOR MURRAY mump ay if the telegraph speaks truly has been treating I 1 the secretary of the interior to his views on the utah question of course they do not amount to any thing but will serve as a subject of conversation summed up they are merely what others have expressed many dinies before ever his name was known in the land that ia is that the anti polygamy laws should be either repealed or executed he indulges in some nonsense about the removal of of federal officials and non mon mormons Mormon Mor mons ss from utah as a nece necessary s sequence of the repeal of the anti kult polygamy laws but every one knows that there were federal officials and non mormons cormons in utah before there was any anti auti polygamy law lav and aud th therefore its repeal repe al would not necessitate their removal nor affect f the nature or emoluments of the offices here under the control of the government they would remain sa if no sueh such law had been enacted we think thua the repeal of the act of 1862 would be a very wise measure the passage of that law was a step outside of the constitutional powers of congress and has been the cause of trouble vexation and perplexity to the government ever since it was enacted but if it is to remain on the statute book books no reasonable citizen or offic official will claim that it should be enforced inn iff any other manner than the he usual method of executing the laws of th the country first prove an offense offence if 11 e ilce against itchen legally fasten the e infraction of thelah upon u pon those who have violated its it and let the punishment imposed tollow con eon convie vic vie lon ion tion but do no a hue and cry against against t the government for not proceeding in a lawless manner to enforce one of its laws simply to alease a few rampant bigots who vant to 0 put down a religious system ten ter a to which they are appo opposed s ed and who to their object would imprison slay and destroy le the people who believe in and a nil nol sus sustain ta in I 1 it t we suppose that governor murray worries himself over the polygamy question because he finds little littie olse else here to do and because be he fancies that it is part of the duty of his position to agitate the sub jept he is mistaken that is all he is charged with the execution of the laws But Buthis his functions as Governor do not come into exercise until crime is proven and conviction secured if there is then therl anything in the way of the punishment of the of offender flender whereby justice as enunciated by the courts is in danger banger of being defeated his executive power is is required not before and a close examination of the laws of congress relating to the territories fails to show that the duties of the gover nors corsin in relation to the execution of the laws extend any further than to the laws of the territories the organic act of utah defines the powers and duties of the governor which are in a very narrow compass and says cehe he shall take care that the laws are faithfully executed edal what laws this question is answered in a later enactment which is found in section 1841 of the revised statutes of the united states here we find respecting the governor of each territory he shall commissio commission nall ail ali all officers who are appointed under the laws of such territory and shall take care that the laws thereof be faithfully executed 11 the laws 91 thereof 11 that is the laws of the territory there does not happen to be any territorial law of the kind that governor murray is so concerned over but without insisting upon this close application of the statute defining his duties the execution of the laws is not required of him or any other Gov governor efnor einor until an off ense bilse is i s proven in a legal manner and judgment is pronounced judicially he is not nob required to take the stump on abstract questions nor ventilate his views about amut marriage or morals his duties are small and his power limited and in endeavoring to play the role of a great and mighty official he only exhibits his own insignificance ni ance anee while lie confines himself to the functions of his bis calling he will receive the respect of the citizens when he gets outside ills liis sphere he is a subject for common ridicule we will notice one more point in the report of the governors effort I 1 which is so often presented by people exercised on the mormon question that is that a practice which is punished as criminal in every other part of the republic c flourishes unchecked in utah with all the frequent repe repetitions of this statement it is no not nob t tr true ud our marriage system does not exist in any other part cart of the united states therefore it cannot be punished punish ed there as criminal common bigamy bigam yand and mormon plural marriage as has ben repeatedly demonstrated have nothing in common they are dissimilar and opposite bigamy is of the very essence of fraud is a betrayal of the women who are deceived and usually involves the desertion deser flon fion of the wife for a union with another who is not a wife but is deceived into belle belie believing vine vinc that she is it is not regulated by anything ni except the passion or other base desire of the criminal who perpetrates the act the law against it is de signed to protect the wife and pre 1 vent venh the fraud I mormon plural marriage is a con coh contract tract of a religious nature entered into with the knowledge of all the part parties les ies neither of whom is deceived a as to ta the facts it involves no desertion and inakak no dee ded deception eption it is and con trolled strolled by ecclesiastical rules and is entered into as a matter matten of conscience thi the lai lwi law against against it was framed espeja specially y to prohibit and punish a religious ordinance and was aimed directly and solely against the church of jesus christ of latter lay day saints as is well known and not denied by any uny one but sophist ss and quibblers quibble rs that which is punished as criminal in other parts of the republic is not the practice worries governor murray and would bo there important personages erso nages but something totally different and find therefore it is not difficult to prove and pun ish while our system will exist and go on in spite 8 p i to of all the noise and nonsense thatis t is made and uttered by priests editors officials and politicians and all that any one has a right to do in opposition is to provo an aix offence when one ona is said to have been committed and then proceed if authorized to execute the law in such buch case made and provided all struggling ing with the them problem is a squandering of time and the words wasted on oil the s subject are but sound and fury effecting nothing but bilt they serve to bring our system into public prominence and in that respect are not without their uses |