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Show LEST WE FORGET. The day following the funeral ofkthe late W. S. Godbe, the Deseret News, under the heading "Malicious "Ma-licious Harangues," published as editorial, the following: fol-lowing: In these times, when the best people in this State, of all parties and opinions, desire to unite for the advancement of Utah, it is very regrettable to see the old. malicious spirit of misrepresentation misrepresenta-tion still burning in some hearts, and dropping gall and venom from some lips. It may be thought wise to let such evil efforts pass without notice and without rebuke. But even that quiet course is mL, interpreted by beings thus imbued with strong desire, de-sire, and silence is construed into acquiescence or inability to deny the charges brought forth. People who have come here in recent times ought not to be deceived by ancient stories, newly retold, to the effect that in the earlier years of its settlement, Utah was dominated by an ecclesiastical ecclesias-tical despotism under which liberty of speech was suppressed, men's lives were in danger for dissenting dissent-ing from established views and customs, and ostracism os-tracism was the inevitable consequence of disputing disput-ing the dicta of religious authority. The very persons per-sons who indulge in accusations of that kind are living instances of their own falsehoods. Any man who asserts that in past times there was little or no patriotism in the hearts of the people; peo-ple; that it was not taught in the schools here; that members of the church were cut off for advocating ad-vocating the right tocarry on their own business and were persecuted if they undertook to advocate "what they believed to be right; that hate and enmity en-mity pursued any advocate of liberty in thought and deed; that his business was ruined; that storms beat around such an advocate of freedom which required re-quired a courage and valor to meet enough to crown him as a martyr, may be indulging in flights of fancy to let loose poetic sentences, but he Is either ignorant of what he prates of, or is so mendacious men-dacious and vicious that he is unworthy of respect or recognition among decent men and women. There have been times whea the welfare of the people here demanded the adoption of measurs, on which thy agreed themselves, and when efforts to defeat them by pretended friends caused them to be regarded with anything but friendly eyes. There have been schemes devised by persons within the church to organize revolution against its order, doctrine and discipline, and they have been, defeated de-feated by the excommunication of the promoters, after they were given opportunity to reform. But no man has been denied the right here to advocate Ws opinions, to carry on his business, to do any-M any-M thing that is lawful and right in any peaceful community. "Mormonism" teaches the highest freedom compatible com-patible with wholesome law. It doeff not plot against the life or the liberty of any human being. It promotes everything that tends to lift up and unite mankind, and claims for its adherents no more rights before the law and before the world than it cheerfully accords to others, no matter now much they may differ in faith. To take advantage of any occurrence that opens the way for freedom of speech, and prostitute it by assailing a church and a people guiltless of wrong, is simply Infamous and cannot be ignored without toss of self-respect Such harangues ought not to be held up for public belief, and it is time that all such perversions of truth should be understood in their true light, as ebullitions of deep-rooted spite, and unworthy of credence by enlightened humanity. hu-manity. Of course, the foregoing was intended to be an arraignment of what was said over the coffin of Mr. Godbe. The purpose, no doubt, was to have the article serve as future history for the Mormon church, cumulative evidence, so to speak, of the "ceaseless persecutions" which followed the introduction intro-duction of the creed, and of the "heroic band" who in those days were "defenders of the faith." It must have been put out with the sanction of the First Presidency, for the News is the church organ or-gan and between the time of the funeral and the publication of the article there was ample time for consideration. Again, there has been no retraction re-traction of its infamous falsehoods. This places the responsibility for the article, not upon the editor ed-itor of the News, but upon the chiefs who inspired or permitted its publication. So considering it, we first ask the Mormon people, peo-ple, those who are familiar with all that has been going on here for the past thirty-flve years, what they think of it? What of the lake where the fires are not quenched and which is supposed to catch and hold "all liars"? Or is It true that lies told for the purpose of getting the best of Gentiles do not count? In the articles of faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where is the justification found for that kind of work? And what must be the natures of men who appeal in long prayers to the Master and then go out to inspire in-spire such articles as the above? The thoueht behind what was said over the dust of Mr. Godbe was that while there must be no self-stultification and no stultification of Mr. God-be's God-be's memory, at the same time that there must be no trace of injustice, that what was to be said must be absolutely truthful and fair. "We believe that the thought was carried out. Now let us for a moment review the response which it brought in the News. The opening sentence is a dead give away. When the News speaks of the desire at this time to unite for the advancement of Utah, by indirection indirec-tion it refers to a time when there was no such desire. That much is true. There was a time and it extended over two score years, when the dominant dom-inant power here had no such desire except that the advance could bo made under its dictation. When it refers to the "old malicious spirit of misrepresentation still burning in some hearts and dropping gall and venom from some lips," its words are utterly meaningless, unless they are intended as a confession. Now, when and by whom has there been "misrepresentation?" "mis-representation?" In what spot in America save Utah has a call for obedience to righteous laws and for the disenthr aliment of an infatuated people peo-ple been ascribed to personal "gall and venom?" Its next reference to and denial of the early despotism which ruled here needs a little more extended ex-tended notice. "People who have come here in recent times" can hardly comprehend the rule of thirty years ago in Utah. They can read what the News says. Now here is what was really done in the case of W. S. Godbe, and there are still hundreds of living witnesses wit-nesses to confirm the truth of what we say: A lit tle magazine was being published here about 1870. 'flffi The men most directly interested were Mr. Henry j J S Lawrence, the late Messrs. Godbe and Harrison. I I m$ They published an article advocating the opening 4 JH? of mines and the right of the people to engage in I yWL mining if they so desired. There was no question , jf w of religious belief or of church tenets; it was slm- Y Wki ply one of business. For this offense against the . ,,i Jjlj despotic order of Brigham Young these men were ii , Jftj summoned to appear before "The School of the l4w Prophets" to show cause why they should not be f" 1 am' disciplined. They were prosecuted before that as- K lvm sembly before the late George Q. Cannon and the J" Jj late Smith. The latter in his arraignment said if.,, em that "these men" had advocated the opening of the il j 1 wM mines, the bringing In here of all "hell and dam- iff! iSI nation," and declared that their hearts were M ffll blacker than perdition. tjffl That "School of the Prophets," a body of Slav- 'i IjSI ish churchmen, was so wrought up that a single 4 4 fill word would have been enough to cause the murder W nil of those three men right in that hall. , jffljfl But they maintained their integrity and, liter- Jfcj ff ml ally, in the very face of death, refused to recede SillrfH from their position. For that they were excommu- IjijraM nicated. Then the boycott began; people were jliJliU warned not to trade with those men, and in the Iflal case of Godbe, the day after the excommunication, n hI a stock of drugs was purchased, a store opened to It'BBH destroy his business and the boycott pressed with, Hliflfl all the zeal of extreme fanaticism. With it were i '! "the glances of hatred that stab and raise no cry 'llfflH of murder," and those "robberies that leave men 1 j il'jM and women forever beggared of peace and joy." p.1 jjjjaffl As for the assertion that there was never any ji 1 gH despotism here, never any abridgement of the lib- "X, HI erty of speech, the best answer is found in the J I skeletons that are so frequently unearthed in ex- , j SH cavating cellars. No despotism? When men were Ut assassinated singly and in companies, and when f? ! every member of the church organization was U'f flH made to subscribe to horrible oaths of obedience to j.;H their priests and of vengeance upon their enemies, 1'otH those enemies the people bf the United States. fllMl mm Then as to patriotism. Let us see. The same liH creature is editor of the News who was editor ? 'pfH then. He has the files of his paper; he has access Kfbil to the sermons and writings of those days. Will ,fl he find and publish one single sentence from the flfl lips or pen of any Mormon of those days which Jril gives the merest hint of love for the Government rriSfl of the United States? ftlM The Constitution was often applauded because, ' gg as construed by Saints in those days, it supplied H full license to practice polygamy and they babbled ll'UfM about the Constitution with no more conception or h dfll its scope or bearings or commands, as the funda- ' (H mental law of the Nation, than as though it had t sVilM been written in the cabalistic characters adopted Ifttrafl by ancient Rabbis and mediaeval Christians. ,ffiH But one word of praise of the Government or its M j officers is what we would like to see. Was it when IfJfl the flag was trailed in the dust here? Was it when R 1181 Apostle Woodruff delivered the prayer at the dedl- ifjjIjH cation of the St. George Temple? Was it when HiHI dead cats were thrown into the houses of United bUHI States Judges because they had insisted that the iilSH laws should be obeyed? HH Was it when, in contempt of the Government, 89B the flag was half-masted on the Nation's birthday? BJSII Up to the time when the manifesto was icaued, HircH -i H i eight out of ten Mormons in Utah knew no more MM'fi of tho form of evernment ln the United tSates KElill than of any other foreign government, for ours l'!iijll ' was a foreIgn sovernment to them, and was so -Hi'J'ili held, from its highest officers down. llil If ' Tne Gotke episode was just about the time that Ktiir Brigham Young stood up in the Tabernacle (or K :,' S M Bowery) and denounced two Presidents of the Bij! ' United States and the statesmen of two or three Hf!!jji J States, consigning them finally to the bottomless Kffil'Pl ' p was on a ttle before that time that he, H 'II If from the same altars, declared that the North flf Miff prayed for the destruction of the South, the South R If If I for the destruction of the North, and added: "We Kf I'i? i say amen to both prayers." Hfllllrr eShteen years ago John Taylor, as presi- HflkM dent of the church, declared that the Mormon the- H '!' f'jw' ocracy was the only legal government on earth; T4ll''l " "a a xer governments were usurpations. Since Bf iiLl'f ! i then B. H. Roberts has in substance preached the HLi '". I ( $4 j'1 r J same thing in the Tabernacle. f illf No LeBislature of Utah dared to pass any lilp If) measure until it was approved by the heads of the RJI.-jSl '! church, or dared to refuse to pass any bill ordered Mffrjfll by those chiefs. -HtfiMl "'' This is known by every old resident it is not Hni 111 II denied by honest Mormons. H;1!pj Hill ''ffl 'u' see 's veaway by the News: f Hjljl!1 i "There have been times when the welfare of the -H'Hifli ' people demanded the adoption of measures on H-fi'l'i: l i ' ' which they agreed themselves." iii'i j Of course they agreed. Was there ever anything w j I proposed in the Tabernacle that they refused to R i! agree to?' Hit mW. Was it not true, then, as said at the funeral of k! hmt H ' Ir' Godbe that at the time of his excommunication Is fflm 1 ' there was a system here "the foundations of which Hit mNk '-'im I" were laid deep in fanaticism and cemented with lift Hot i! i Hf If iji fear," and it "was surrounded by sharp stakes of Ktuli'lr intolerance and hate?" What more damning con- Hf If if fession could a slave make than to admit that when two or three quiet citizens of a Territory of the United States advocated the right of Americans Ameri-cans to go upon the public domain in search of mines, and, if they found them, the further right to open and work them; that for this they were arraigned ar-raigned as criminals, prosecuted by wild fanatics, found guilty and given a degrading sentence, and yet, so saturated was the community by superstition supersti-tion and so cowed by fear, that there was not one brave soul that dared to raise his voice in protest against the infamous usurpation, the infamous denial de-nial of the rights which attach to citizenship? It is not strange that the News seeks to bury this history under a mountain of falsehoods. What was said above the body of Mr. Godbe was the absolute truth and was said in no spirit of reproach or anger or unfairness. The historical part was as gentle a statement as could be made of monstrous facts. The denial of the News was but a revival of the old resort of the cuttlefish tactics of that sheet. It is by the same editor who presided over the News when Brigham Young said: "We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world right here." In the light of the present, it seems almost incredible in-credible that such a reign ever existed here. But, after all, how much is the spirit of Utah rule changed? The last United States Senatorship on the market in Utah was purchased, for- money, from the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, without regard to the oaths of members of the Legislature. The same power dominates dom-inates the acts of a part of the present City Council Coun-cil of this city. The old cowardly superstitious fear is still so upon them that in obedience to" it they violate their oaths and, like the man and woman in the garden in their mental deformity, "they are naked and are not ashamed." Yet so sensitive is this power that it cannot I hear to have some kindly and truthful words pro. I nounced above the coflln of a brave, long-suffering I much-wronged but uncomplaining man without I launching anew at the speaker the old foul and K false anathemas. I We once more appeal to Young Utah. We ask I Young Utah to investigate this matter, to re-read the history of Utah and see who tells the truth. Once more we proclaim to them that it rests with them to see Utah fully Americanized or to have it drift for another generation in the shame that comes of the contempt of free men. |