| Show V WHERE IS THE RIGHT OF interference TER FERENCE some borne tim eago we wrote and published a series serles of articles on plurality of wives defending the principle on scriptural reasonable moral social physiological and constitutional grounds we did so for the purpose of in part refreshing the public mind on some of the arguments which have been before the world for several years of defining to an extent the grounds on which we differ from most people in this country on the subject of marital polity and to elicit if possible something other than empty and assumptive denunciations of a practice commanded by the almighty sustained by scripture fortified by sound reason and airl good sense and practiced by the best men who ever lived on the earth the manner in which utah her people and their views and institutions are talked of and treated were it not for the hitte bitter bitte r results that so often follow the evoking of evil passions would be almost too ridiculous for contempt to notice but the future that may be in tile tue hands of individuals who aspire to and in a de degree deree 0 ree receive power and in 1 fluence nce and yet in the wildness of bl bio bigo blo o ark and illiberal prejudice can so 0 o abuse every principle of right and freedom a as s some would do dox irany but hut encouraging to those who give them the brief iopa topa of position aid and place there are some very grave errors coln corn emitted by a great many when hen treating of preferring ore ferning ferring to the mormons cormons Mor mons 11 they taxi daxl th the assumption that we c must bo wrong because we differ in opinion 1 adia arid practice from many of our neigh bors bars wisdom wisdom would suggest the propriety of proving where the wrong exists rather than thail assuming C its existence in lna ina it certain place and ana with a particular people it ii would be more in consonance i with the the professed enlightenment and liberality of the abeto age ago to show by sound reason and ana strong argument where we arc are in e terron terror erin instead of indulging 0 lilt so freely in i baseless assertions 1 4 J if plurality of wives is contrary to the law df god to true happiness physia excellente or the object of ni mans ans existence show us how itis it is io so i open lopen the bible 0 so o extensively circulated through h r tho the land out w wherein ille ilie rein atie the che principle iiii c apic I 1 is s there condemned if it is contrary to any command of god tell toll command aud aud and where it isto is to lael found try tny the force foree and the llie po power powen wen of arg argument on ou ils lis ns we ke are seeking after truth wo we are arc very anxious to obtain a knowledge of it we are ard open to conviction where we are arc wrong abut but we do think that it indicates a abad jid cause muse based on a poor foundation foundation when those most bitterly opposed to us can find nothing better than benun c I 1 ia eions to hurl at us usand and sophist sophistical leal platitudes which ate are not even oven propounded i as arguments 0 to urge against our bur and faith V there here are plenty of learned men pro pio fo und Igl logicians clans close reason ers ivell iveli v versed 0 6 ed in jurisprudence and inthe scriptures throughout tho nation would ouid it not be wise and well for them the power of their abilities leep dp re sean lies lles and rma sh iw wit urbi li sa sap sae P i ur tir U b tr rouble reuble for if it they thoy would convert us to another mother way of ot thinking most ahsu assured red ay y wo we would act on our convictions al and if f they should be converted to our way of thinking their influence might save the khe nation from much evil and the attempt it to perpetrate great wron wrongs gs there is a good deal said at th ties about the awin twin relic of slavery having been abolished and of plurality of wives being about to be dealt with in a similar manner the arguments against the existence of slavery presented many cogent points which have no bearing directly or indirectly on plurality of wives while we have been unable after continued search to meet with with anything in the shape of argument against the latter slavery is involuntary servitude it involves coercion and the employment of physical force foret to make and keep one human being the bondsman of another one party in the nation taking Z the position that all men are born free and equal a and and aad ad recognizing co a izing africans and those of african descent as men declared that involuntary servitude should no longer exist that no man should be the servant of bf another who was not so of his own free choice this is is the whole of the slavery question in a nutshell but with regard to plurality of M u ives what coercion is used what power employed plo pio ed to enforce it the p parties artles arties are all consenting parties free freen gents agents naho ho knowingly and understandingly eiter enter into an agreement with each other which they have the inalienable alienable in ri night right 1 g lit to make and the power to break whenever they are dissatisfied with it all AH that has been said of the servitude of women in utah is manifestly and directly false treyarc they are free to refuse and free to accept it is when the mar marital relationship is entered into that its purity is guarded with jealous care so 0 long as that bond of union remains intact which eilis cluis Is done everywhere that purity purify is in the least degree respected anil anul it may be said that a moral influence is employed to sustain plurality of wives this is eor nor correct foi for ivo ive we beli bell believe belleve etre cire the principles principle to 0 be of heavenly origin revealed by god to man mau mahand alid requiring 0 to be obeyed what point t shat what hat principle ii whit whal dogma is not be I 1 sustained by rby in moral otal oval influence c e every party and every sect exercise all the moral influence they can to sustain and strengthen their views itis liis itt ift is when moral suasion is laid aside aldo an and d physical force is resorted to for the purpose of enforcing a principle that wrong makes hes its appearance this is where the tho inception of flie ifie the lato hato rebellion nibel Hon non was sas was a erime crime for if it arrayed armed men in open hostility to the government ad struck the blow which preci preel precipitated 1 p stated ih th natio I 1 into nto civil war the freedom of df speech and of the press is another inalienable hig rig iff ift lif which cannot be taken from any portion of the nation without a violation of the constitution th this is right wo we exercise and ana by it we defend every evely principle that has been revealed to us 11 s but nut while our involves no coercion arci on and is base based dupon upon tue the a agreement 0 of willingly contracting pai parties tits ties who have tb the tho most mast indubitable right to make such a contract we wo contend that that it is not the business nor right arany of any man nor any set of men to interfere 10 with th it and try to compel them to adopt a dif dlf different derent course of action ii if it involved the rob robbing ging bing of a human being of any right any privilege or any brinck pie of freedom then there would be bo grounds for such interference inter ferance but politicians tie tle lans ians or con gon congress gress might as justly say what we mus must teat eat where we must pray how many horses we must own or whether I 1 we mast db any ariy or all hil of these as s ay say toi to a woman who she must not to a man NV whom he shall shail not make his wife tia I 1 in a i loay inay lc tic the print i ie le but it would oo 00 veir yeii for statesmen and public gen gon den on to find out if it the age agdis is c correct or they have not assumed to say a man may c enter nten into an agree mient with to hold illicit intercourse nor whether hether his attentions shall be confined to one or more of the opposite sex no matter how corrupt they may be it might be too hard upon them selves then what right have they moral or constitutional to interfere in the making of social compacts between the sexes where the intercourse is circumscribed cum scribed ascribed by conditions which demand purity and recognize chas chastity city |
