Show TUB THE ADMISSION OF UTAH mr george curtis expounds tile the proposed constitution to the editor of the sun sum sir necessity whatever for the people and government of the united states to trouble themselves about the religious doctrine of the mormon church on the subject of marriage when the admission of utah as a stute state under the proposed conati aution comes to be acted on in congress nor is it of any consequence that this constitution was framed by a convention composed exclusively or chiefly of mormons cormons Mor mons or that it was a assembly not called together by any authority of law federal or territorial the people of any community have an inalienable right to assemble and lay their wishes before the ruling powers and it if the mormons cormons of utah have framed a constitution ution that ought to be satisfactory to the country in the matter of polygamy it is not of ane slightest consequence whether they were asked or authorized to do so by any legislative authority in one aspect it is fortunate that this constitution was framed by a mormon body because it is to be judged upon its merits abad because its provisions ro visions show what the mormons cormons are will willing ing and anxious to do moreover the constitution has been submitted to a preliminary popular vote at the last general election in the territory and it was approved by an almost unanimous mormon vote the charge that its framers and supporters are seeking to playa play a trick and that when the territory has been admitted as a state the anti polygamy section will be repealed is nothing but a ridiculous attempt to awaken popular prejudice and distrust this transparent tr ans nonsense will be appreciated by every intelligent person who rends reads the provisions of this constitution which renders it wholly unnecessary to inquire into the mormon religious belief about marriage or to consider whether the mormons cormons of utah in what they propose to in make ake the fundamental law of their new state are consistent or inconsistent with their professed prot essed religious beliefs belt es there are very few outside of the pale of the mormon church who are qualified to state accurately what their religious belief Is on the subject of marriage 11 and there is now not the slightest necessity for any one to consider it the only question for congress is whether the guarantees and compacts embraced in their proposed constitution can be relied upon by the people of the united states the anti polygamy section is in the following words ART XV SEC 12 bigamy and polygamy being considered incompatible with a republican republic am form of government each of themis them is hereby forbidden and declared a misdemeanor any person who shall violate this section shall on conviction thereof be punished by a fine of not more than 1000 and imprisonment for a term not less than s six L x months nor more than three years in the discretion of the court this section shall be construed as operative without the aid of legislation and the of fences prohibited by this section shall shalliot not be barred by any statute of limitation within three years after the commission of the of fence nor shall the power of aaroon par ion extend thereto until such pardon shall be approved bythe by the president of the united states be seen that this provision requires for its operation no legislation gi whatever but that indictments can be found under it and punishments ish ments inflicted and the pardoning par doring dorin 9 power in respect to the offense is limited by a check in the bands of t the president of the united states every properly constructed constitution establishing a republican form of government should contain a prescribed mode ot et amending it accordingly this constitution contains an article prescribing the manner in which amendments must be framed and adopted but the power of amendment is limited by the following proviso expressly drawn and devised so as to prevent any amendment or polygamy section without the consent of con congress ress provided that sention section 12 of article XV shall not be amended revised or in any way changed until any amendment revision or chan change chane e as proposed therein shall in addition to td the requirements of the provisions of this article be reported to the congress of the united states and shall be by congress approved and ratified and such approval approval and ratification be proclaimed by the resident president of the united states and it if not so rati ratified fled and proclaimed said section shall remain perpetual a great for congress to assume that this limitation of the amending power would not be a valid binding and efficient compact between the people of the state of utah and the tae people of the united states represented by the federal government it is perfectly competent for any state especially so for a new state when it enters the union to make a binding compact with the united states in a matter peculiar to itself and its own interests every state that has ever accepted and ratified the constitution ution of the united states has subordinated its sovereignty in certain respects to the paramount sovereignty of the united states that is constituted by and under the federal constitution that constitution lays several prohibitions upon the states in respect to things which they would otherwise be able to do it if a state were to under undertake tako to do one of those prohibited things the remedy tor for the breach of the compact would not be by federal action against the state itself in its political capacity it would be against individuals by federal legislation that would prevent them froni from avallie availing g themselves of the benefits of the 1 breach r e ach of a covenant between their state and the united states it is the chief characteristic of our federal system that the gov eri ament of the united states can act on individuals when their states undertake to do what they have covenanted with the united states that they will not lot du so that if the extreme supposition is adopted or by fp forecast recast anticipated that the the mormons cormons of utah after the territory has become a state under the proposed constitution will attempt to change their constitution in the matter of polygamy and bigamy without the assent of congress the federal government will have no difficulty in making the change utterly void Inde edit would be void for any beneficial purpose by its own inherent impossibility to create any legal or constitutional status or right of plural marriage this consideration shows how unimportant the mormon religious doctrine of marriage will become as soon as this constipation has been made the fundamental law of the state of utah permit me to touch briefly one other topic whatever may have been the uncertainty caused by the action of the supreme court of the united states tales thirty years ago in the ahe dred scott case I 1 suppose every i well informed constitutional law yer of the united states will now admit that the doctrine lor for which I 1 contended in that case and which was adopted by the minority of the judges was correct it is that the source of the power of congress to establish and govern those peculiar dependencies ca called lied territories is in the third section of article IV of the constitution of tile the united states slates that this section on imposes u upon pon congress 8 a trust I 1 the proper discharge of which requires that every territory shall be brought into the union as a state as soon as its inhabitants desire it and they have the requisite numbers and resources to sustain a state government it is not a proper discharge of the trust to keep any territory indefinitely in the condition of a territory thereby keeping kee ing open a field for the exercise of federal federal patronage and power what shall be deemed a sufficient population has varied in different cases and will always vary but in the case of utah there can be no question of a sufficient population and resources etith is the oldest territory that the united states possesses and it has a larger population than any other dependency of the united stated states excepting the district of columbia I 1 have lately read in the DESERET EVENING news MEWS published in salt lake city an excellent excellent exposition in which I 1 entirely concur that no territory has or can have so long as it remains a territory a republican form of government in the proper sense of those descriptive terms A territorial government ts Is not self government gov ram ent or home rule in utah a although it be 0 up h there is a legislature elected le ct ed by the people no do bill can become a law without the governors approval and he be is not obliged to veto a bill or to render any reason for not signi signing ngit it behas he has simply to pocket it and it drops the governor and the judges and the executive officers are not elected by the people they are appointed at washington this is not republican government it is territorial government it is because the mormon people of utah wish to live under a republics republican n government that they have f framed this constitution and there is no good reason witty why they they should not be allowed to become a state under a Cons titu tion which will put at rest forever the an unpleasant pleasant subject of polygamy by making it an offense against the state itself and py by rendering it impossible to be legalized without the consent of congress GEORGE CURTIS richfield springs sept let |