| Show LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR ON 0 X tte affairs of UIA Polvi amy f 11 etc 1 BY GEORGE TICKNOR CURTIS washington ad 1 C No covener vener 1 1886 to THE HON L Q C secretary of ow he Interi interior om SIR no apology y can ae w ne for this communication or abr the public manner in which it is addressed to vou it concerns a matter of the v importance to toe the people of the united states and to that portion of their affairs which is under your official charge the recent report of governor west territorial governor of utah dated at salt bake city and the last report of the tt 11 utah commissioners sio ners hers loth oth of them official documents addressed to the secretary of the interior ise aalto to call for examination amin atLon and comme at They open the policy ot of anis government towards the mormons cormons oi axah as it has bea been n pursued for the past few years and they advocate measures es of still greater severity i in n the sabie direction I 1 have felt prompted ro apted to give a great deal ot of attention to the measures pursued towards the of utah on account of of civil and religious li lous liberm involved andi have given a greaf gaal of study to the laws that have been enacted respecting them thein and i the policy which is pursued to damte thum some of the convictions dictions vict ions 3 which I 1 entertain I 1 desire respectfully fully to submit to you in the course ot of the past summer I 1 had occasion in writing to president adlor abul nv tho mr I 1 church to ask a certain question and and to him to allow me in case I 1 should find adud it necessary to publish ab his ausber as I 1 received aam 61 om him in under the date of august 3 isted a letter fr from m which with his bis permission make X 59 extract veat is I 1 think deserving of the aerion s attention of all ali who arno are concerned in ad ministering ag the federal Goven government ament and pore especially of the secre tary qa the luter interior tor you will VW perceive sir that he answer wa s given most directly and plainly and that it came frow froia one oce who Is entitled to the and feelings of the mormon people of utah lie ile gives to the just the denial that was to be expected from him the reason why I 1 put to him tile the question which he answered was because I 1 nave jiahe long dorseen tor seen from the spirit that prevails among the non cormons mormons of that territory and from the tendencies C le 8 that are manifested in congress cons ess to a allow 1 of measures dictated by that th a t IT 8 spirit irit that the time may note distant if it has not already come wien an am attempt will be made to force upon the he mormons cormons the alternative that I 1 f vae the following is mr taylors answer TAYLORS reply the question which you propound apropo and as to what we contemplate doing in case we are driven to the wall and have the alternative presented to hubof us of a surrender ot our religious condic i tibbs eions and our civil rights or another exodus is one that we can freely answer we may find it convenient to form colonies outside the bouc daries of the united states but we have never contemplated such a movement amov ement as an exodus en masse from these mountain MOuR tain valleys the gather gathering hig of the people together is one of our fundamental da mental doctrines and this continent it id the allce upon which we are commanded m to gather our future Is indissolubly dis haverd connected with this land we many bugge suggestions scions about aa to islands and ana tather ther places but such ouch a movement lor for us tie Is entirely out of the question having these views view where could we vre move to as a body the many slanders circulated concerning our loyalty we are profoundly atte attached hed to oar car republic Ee public we believe tt that it was founded by the almighty through chosen instruments and that the men who f framed the constitution were inspired of god in their labor in framing that teat instrument all the liberty that we or any other reasonable being can ask can be enjoyed under that great charter when its guarantees are properly observed if with tue the hope of destroying t ving ug us our yellow fellow citizens con dinue to ti ample upon our rights guaranteed 1 by y that instrument we most mast continue to bear it as patiently and heroically as we can doing all mb x our power to protest against these wrongs and to obtain our rights in tee faa courts of our COULt country rv and trusting m our god for that deliverance which he has never failed to give us iu i toe the past and which he has promised us tor for the f future u our destiny is interwoven with the republic of abie united states for upwards of halt hair a century we w have been led to expect that such attacks as we now witness would be made upon us and that the people in power would church and a community we have expected also that tile the day would yett yet come when it would fall fail to us to uphold kold the constitution and cons constitutional tu government in this country we fully believe that this honor is in store for us and we are sustained in the midst of our present tiona by ke consciousness that there is 18 a divine provi defice in all that is taking place and that god will so control events that we as a people shall be gunned punned abdais and bis purposes be brought to pass through the events that are now taking plaid place much more might be said u upon this subject sube ct but from tae the above you will learn our views sufficiently to form an idea of our position we cannot surrender i our principles pies nor yield our religious convictions but shall contend for our i rights as american citizens inch by inch as long as god will give us ns strength and abili ability to do so WO we shall do this not for ourselves alone but I 1 for humanity that Abat the principles of civil and religious liberty may be fully maintained on this great american continent 11 I 1 convictions AND CIVIL AND RZ OUS 0 US RIGHTS from this extract it will be apparent how deep are the rp religious convictions i of these people we may call such convict convictions iong fanaticism we may deride the idea of ther being specially commanded by the almighty to gather on this continent and their being guided by a special providence as an absurd assumption lt it matters not what we of beliefs the question tor for the statesman 1 for or t the ia e people eople and government of the united states is what these mormons believe and not what we believe of their sincerity it would be idle to en bertain a doubt if they believe themselves to have been inspired by god to hold certai rf if religious opinions they do de no more than many other christians do who regard the trainers framer ot our constitution ution as inspired in their labor of framing that instrument in dealing with those whom be choose to consider as fanatics the very first and the very last thing to be remembered by reft any ny government is that what is called religious ious fanaticism is a great force ahafia that in many of the world it has caused men and women to mee meet tany any extremity of suffering rather than surrender their religious convictions this tenacity of the human soul by which it adheres to conscientious religious beliefs challenges or ought to challenge the respect of rulers in any country and more especially lu in this and it has been because it has not always been respected and because what is now foolishly advocated as the stamping out process has been resorted to that religious religions persecution has left so many dark and lamentable men table records on the pages of history our own history is stained by more than one such record this affords no reason why the civil power ab should not prohibit a practice that is injurious to the welfare of society although that practice is by those who follow it founded anand on and dictated dictate by a sincere religious belief but it a affords ample reason for a careful discrimination between t that ha t w which 11 ih e the civil power may and that which it may not rightfully punish or control by the hand of the law this depends in our country upon the limitations imposed by constitutional provisions upon the authority of government Govern meat I 1 you mr secretary will not be likely to impute to me any disposition to set up the religious convictions of men in appos opposition mon to the law of the laud land I 1 have had bad too extensive and too close an observation of the th e fallacy of the so called higher law to be for one moment misled by that specious doctrine and acted through the whole of that period when men of all grades of intellect deluded themselves with the idea that what they considered the law of god absolved them from obeying the laws regularly enacted by human authority when men who aspired to be baand and who supposed themselves selves to be statesmen and were so considered toyed and coquetted wit with h the doctrine of tile the supposed higher law and thereby contributed their in fluence to debauch the public mind and to uproot the foundations of civil obedience JA a that long warfare be 40 tween truth and error I 1 bore nay my part always maintaining that there to is but one measure of toe the duty of the citi citizen zeu namely to obey the law as enacted by competent r his con of the moral rightfulness of that law and to seek redress or relief from its ite required requirements ants in W the courts it was because multitudes would not see this bat but insisted that their interpretation of the law of god absolved them V from rem 0 obeying b e ug human laws which they did ni not like e that a confusion of ideas respecting civil obligation largely con tri to bring about the state of things in certain regions of our land that preceded our oar civil war but this Is not the attitude of the mormons cormons Mor mons they are not believers in ini L the higher law as a means of absolving them from obedience to the law of the land whoever imputes this to them makes a great gmt mistake all they ask of us is that la in the interpretation i and administration of our laws we shall not violate their religious freedom and trench upon their air rights off of conscience that we have hitherto hit barto suffered our laws to be so interpreted and administered as to violate cheit religious freedom and trench thedr rights of conscience I 1 shall maha waw beyond peradventure I 1 shall abow thit that mr taylor is entirely right in an that mac ne he and ana nis his oe be lievers will be forced to become the champions of civil and religious liberty in this count country if there is nota not a change of policy t that at this is not an attitude io in wh which eh they will affect to stand for the purpose ol of enacting the part of pretended martyrs but that it is one in which they will be placed if we go on OB as we have begun and that at the same time there to is no necessity tor lor such an issue tile the following passa passage a from the re port of governor west calls for ai somewhat extended comment the all absorbing question in this tory dominating all alT others indita ing its pros impeding Us its advance ment t and disturbing inet the e quia quiet and happiness U of its people verple and the one ne question of the utmost concern and solicitude to the whole I 1 country is the attitude of defiance assumed and maintained by the mormon people who probably are eve eintha sixths of the whole hole population to the law of congress f for vaa h suppress suppression ios of polygamy known as an i the edmunds law in all questions affecting ake mormon churchard Chur church chand and pe people the polygamous and monogamous cormons mormons malbo ina common cause stand together and are united they maintain publicly through i i their leaders and teachers in their houses housea of warship wars bip through their press and privately ly in social ocial and ad business bies circles that the law lato is an interference with wah and a iderial denial to them of that religious freedom i guaranteed to all by the constitution of their right and religious duty to continue in ha i violation of the law their polygamous rela lions and they deny the authority of congress to 0 regulate a emd interpose any restrictions asto their marital rawson that the obedience which they owe and will wh cheerfull cheerfully a d V to a power higher than any earthly ear y compels compel them to oxe exercise re csc their bell rights and privileges in the place of and in v violation io lation ot the law that they are prepared to ta an and d will it i required ir ed of 0 t them macrill sacrifice Bac c a their personal comfort their property suffer ur indefinite imprisonment and and surrender d life itself rather than yield and promise obedience to the law and forego tu the privileges leves chef they claim the government can nave ave and h bold d but one e position towards this people which is of easy statement its authority must be respected eted its laws jaws must be obeyed 11 I 1 have italicized italicised sed some of the language of this sweeping statement in order to direct attention specially to some of its charges the very serious indictment which the governor brings against 0 people contains the tol lol lowina lowing charges 1 that the mormon people five sixths sixtus of the whole population oi of utah are an to a statute of the united states passed tor the suppression of polygamy 2 that they maintain everywhere and at all times that this law is in famous an interference with and a denial to them of that religious freedom guaranteed to all by the constitution 3 8 that they deny the authority or of congress to regulate and interpose any restrictions as ad to the marital relations 4 that they set up their convictions of a law higher and more sacred than human law as the ground for refusing to promise obedience to the law of the land and for suffering Tim imprisonment and even death itself rather than forego the privileges which they claim I 1 deny the justice land and truth of this accusation in every one oae of its specifications I 1 repel the charge ithac the mormons cormons are in an a attitude of ded ance to thelam for the suppression up p of fevers poly emy I 1 deny that they are believers in the higher law as a source from which they can claim peculiar privileges or immunity from the consequences of what is made an of fence by the law of the land I 1 shall now proceed to prove that the governor has unintentionally no doubt misrepresented them f that his misrepresentation resen tation is a consequence of his bifi having overlooked the distinction between what they admit the civil power can and what they claim it cannot require of them GOVERNOR PROMISE in order to make this clear I 1 must now quote two other from his report which follow immediately after that above given in the year 1884 a determined move was inaugurated rated for the enforcement of the law against polygamy polygamy and since that time the territorial officers of federal appointment charged with the duty du have been and continue vigilant and agent daugent in their efforts to that end the district and supreme courts have bimm been open and prom promptly aly ais disposing 0 at before hem vigor awo been shown in the prosecution of offenders it has haff been and continues to be the custom ot of the court after conviction to suspend 41 the judgment and allow the convicted ait huspen party to go free upon his simple promise ro that he will in the future obey bey the laws s of the number convicted up to the of june but 7 have given the promise and accepted freedom seven days artel after assuming office in the territory on the day of may after consultation sul tation with chief justice zane and dietrict attorney dickson they approving and concurring I 1 visited the penitentiary where about luty fifty of those convicted under the law were imprisoned and proposed to all who would promise to obey |
