| Show HT THE UTAH nill BILL IN TIIE THE SENATE SPEECH OP OF SENATOR BENATOR MAXEY mr lir MAXEY mr hir president I 1 hits hiti already given notice that I 1 shall mote mom when the bill is reported to the senah senates I 1 to strike out section 1 but there arel artl arit arii some other points in the bill to whid which I 1 should like to call the attention of the sen ser senate ate for a short time I 1 know it Is very easy always to an got with the current wherever the popular current runs in a given direct direction ia it is quite easy to float floal along with fi I 1 also know that some of the most dangerous erous precedents which have reburl come eack back afterwards to curse us result from what is termed extreme cats cara 1 extreme cases produce extreme re reemi remel m 1 dies and the extreme reme remedies ii c ow conr es back to us af afterwards merw ards as precedents andthil 0 dangerous in their character and tir tin remedy is worse than the disease the bill it occurs to me gives to tit the C ourt court the power of to dispense Just justice led it traverses all ali aila alia d the legislation in regard to the amos amow of penalty affixed to the commission ol 01 a crime and limitation tor for the prosecution dionot of crime all alon aion along through lith as bill you will find that the statutes tes ti is they are recorded and living are arc crossed at every point by it for ins instance the nineteenth section of the bill p pa vides that whoever commits adultery shai punished by imprisonment imi in the biary not exceeding three years and nhe nie the act is committed between a maira woman and a man who is unmarried boti both w parties to such act shall be deemed adultery and when such an act is coish commit ted between a married man anda gom vOm who mho is unmarried the man be dearll dearil t guilty uil ull ty of adultery jj then section 20 10 1 provides f that it an unmarried man or a 1011 M mits nuts fornication each ot of 21 be punished by imprisonment not V six months or by fine not I 1 turn to the case 0 of f a me in my judgment ud ments stands noti below murd murder in the first degree cold coid coldike foe ioe dellb erate enate calculating seduction lna and ana let iet leh ieh us see what our laws jaws say to that as they stand upon the statute e I 1 1 book 1 l sec wa every master offices officer feama I 1 or other person employed on board of aiu ali I 1 american vessel who during the YO roynon sage e under promise of marriage marring mark stark you or by threats th reata or the exercise ot 0 authority or solicitation or the makiej af gifts gew or presents seduces and has illicit connection with any female passenger shall shail be pun dished by imprisonment not more than twelve months or by a fine of not more mora than 1000 but subsequent intermarriage of the parties may be pleaded le abed in bar of conviction co The next section is as follows I 1 h when any person is 13 convicted u under the h proM r ovi of 0 the prece preceding ding seo tion the court mayln kayin my iu its dire direction tiou by an order entered on its minutes direct the tho amount of the fine when imposed and collected to be paid for tou the use uso of the female Led eed seduced or her child it she have any any th the nex acx next t section section provides that I 1 1 t no conviction shall be had on on the testimony of tho the female seduced without other evidence nor unless the indictment is found within one year after the arrival of the vessel essel on which the offense was committed at tho port for which winch it was det des tined med there the tho principle of the law is distinctly and and ana clearly laid down that in order to avoid fraud faud in norderto order to avoid corruption in order orde r to avoid blackmailing the party claiming to have been seduced reduced cannot go into a court of justice and convict the alid aile alleged ed offender by her own testimony but it must be supported by testimony alt all mide unde that Is some something thin reasonable there I 1 say where the crime is the highest crime in my itly judgment ahat that eill edil can be committed against the person the law as it stands upon the statute books fixes the tile penalty at twelve months imprisonment liere here the penalty for the tiie crime of adultery is lived at three years in the bill what else section 3 3 3 of the bill provides that any prosecution under any statute ot of the united states for bigamy poy polygamy now 1 nark mark the next or unlawful cohabitation max may ma bo commenced fenced at any time within ivo fearis realis pest after the commission of the 0 offense offen c s sc but this provision shall not be construed to apply to any t offense already barred by by any existing statute of limitation i that language I 1 bigamy polygamy or unlawful cohabitation embraces embr aces acea botn adultery and fornication and aud au d you can bring this prosecution after the lapse of tive five years from the commission oi the off enso now let us turn if you please to the cool and deliberate statutes which have been placed upon the books boots and which have haye hav e heretofore controlled us in respect to limitation SEC lom 1013 no N 0 person shall be prosecuted tried or puni punished sned shed for sor treason or other capital offense willful murder executed ted excepted unless the indictment is found within excer three I 1 years next after such treason or c capital pital offense esdone or committed so you have the singular condition of things that for the them high crime of treason for murder in the second degree or any other felony save that of murder in the first deg degree gree the prosecution must be commenced within three years after the time of the commission of the offense or it Is thereafter barred and yet here where you ou have a case of fornication where the penalty u upon on conviction ne cording according to this very t bill III ili Is only six months imprisonment you can open out that case and try it five years i ears eans after alter the commission of the offense onne onie nse although you cannot tr try y murder in the second degree or treason after three years it does occur tome to me that there Is something supremely and superbly ridiculous in all that now what next nast I 1 was reading in respect to felony when you come to minor offenses in the next section of the revised statutes it is provided that no 20 person shall be prosecuted ti til trl ledor edor punished for any offense not capital ex capt as provided in section 1046 unless the indictment inflict ment is found or the information is within UVO teare v ears next after such sueh offense Is committed it is a little broader than I 1 thought being offenses not capital that takes in minor minon felonies and al ali ail in misdemeanors d mea nors and they must be prosecuted within two years what consistency la Is there in the character of legislation here proposed that for fornication adultery or polygamy an indictment will lie lle five years 3 ears cars after the commission commisse commis sl sian slon of the offense when for treason or murder in the second degree it will not lie after three years or by the amended statute for any felony less than capital after two years str sir there Is a strange inconsistency in this character of legislation it seems to me but when you come to look at the result of this and all other extreme measures you must see that the remedy is worse than the di disease sease in the case cabe of seduction which I 1 have put the law says that the testimony of the injured party alone will not do but according to the first section of this bill you can break into the bonds of a lawful marria marriage c and you can force the wife to testify bestif i aa against ainest the husband contrary to her will T or the husband against the wife contrary to his hla will it does not include those thosa beyond that for I 1 take the broad position 1 bisno no marriage beyond the lawtum marriage rik rih 0 bof of one husband hubband to one wife pa pastina ss emr that point any one y you out olt brin bring for forward mard I 1 care not whether you calf her wife or not is a competent writ urit witness richs unquestionably because the marriage Te relation lation does floes not exist As I 1 sll sil suggested ested to the senator from De delaware laVar ladar alit dilt while I 1 was ivas speaking this morning the law lay ever where respects these confidential alu aiu secret relations in the highest degree it was years before the question was finally settled in this country vel vei whether lether the secrets of a confessional could be brought forward and laid before a court of justice but never in the lilg ilig torpor an english speaking I 1 1 people eople before this bill was presented lias has it been held that you could compel the wife to testify against the husband or tb the husband against the wife it is a strange proceeding let me tell the gentlemen who are urging and pressing this bill that the most dangerous movement that you yon can car make in tavor favor of enlarging the bounds of mormonism and polygamy is this process of persecution for whenever evel you shock the sensibilities of the common mind whenever you induce tha people of the country to believe that measures are oppressive and dangerous erdus erd to the best liberties of the people whenever you get et the people to believe elleve that their sympathies are arous aroused idy ids and in this as I 1 regard it unholy Wo movement of mormonism tn the maxim mallm that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church will apply to those who teel leel themselves oppressed sir it is bothin nothing but the case of the american woman during the revolution when she told the british officer that the camomile was like the more you press it under foot the more it flourishes the more you attempt by harsh and arbitrary measures to td crush out an evil that much more will that evil spread so the gentlemen who are press pressing inn inq g this will instead of being the true friends of striking down mormonism are tire un wittingly and un unintentionally i intentional in my judgment not only 1 fastening mormon asnon ism on this country but s spreading r ailing and ing its borders ap that il is the view that 1 I have of it sir take all history bl tory and it is all alike alite chave have seen the day when oppressive inea measures stires designed to intimidate ate to strike down have had the effect of solidifying and intensifying and unifying a whole people it is always that way yo so long as man has courage so long as man has manhood lie he wilt resist what he believes to be oppression I 1 voted for the edmunds act as it is called and I 1 shall vote for any bill within the limits if reason right aud and the constitution to suppress fess cormon mormonism chich I 1 regard as a dangerous evil in this country for it is a curse and an ant evil but start the proposition that you can in utah make a wife go into court and by compulsion testily testify against her huo huz hubband husband band and it is but one step further and is as the french say it is the first step which costs when louwill wind up with the same privilege being extended in every federal court within wilin the length and breadth of this union that the wife can be compelled to testify testily against the husband and und the husband ag against m dinst the wife in utter violation not only of the law but the fundamental reason upon which the aw is founded mr president I 1 speak earnestly in regard to td this question because I 1 see the dangers ahead from the pending legislation i see how easy it is for a vessel to noat hoat down stream towards a terrible maelstrom but see the end there is not a principle of the constitution upon which this bill can be maintained and sustained save and except upon the most dangerous of all the heresies her esies that have ever entered the senate chamber the heresy of the general welfare clause it is consolidation soli dation and centralization in its most dangerous form because it is the uprooting g and striking down of the law as it came down to us from a time whereof the memory of man rie ile th not to the contrary it is the attempt upon a single bill bili and for a specific purpose to upturn upturn all the great doctrines of evidence which are crowned by the frosts 91 of a thousand years sir I 1 for one have neverseen never been driven b by y aliat what aphea appeared red to be the popular current to go against my judgment of right and of the constitution I 1 believe that this bill is dangerous in its character in violation of the constitution of our country in derogation of the rights ot of the people an and in its ultimate effect and desi dest design ruinous to the interests of the deop people e not only in utah 15 tut fut ut throughout the country these are my views in re regard ard to this question I 1 have not the sf slightest expectation pec tation of overcoming a single vote by what I 1 have said I 1 see the hand writing upon the wall that the bill is to be driven through h as it came from the committee mt but I 1 desire when te records of this country are arc made epand up and when long iong years after we shall have passed from the scene of action thatis that it shall be presented upon the record that I 1 stood by the rights of the constitution the rights of the american citizen and regard legard regardless lessof of the fact tact that his attempted wrong is directed towards a people for whose institutions I 1 have as little respect as any edit endt ieman leman man who votes for the bill I 1 |
