| Show SPEECH L OF HON ROGER Q OF or TEXAS fw i in the house of nel irese tauves tuesday TUMMY II 11 tho elonso having under consideration bill d no at to amen amend d US hofmo of tho I seq statute ortho united states S in reference ence to polygamy and aud tor oilier other purposes mr mills said mr speaker in ili common with all the people of the united states of both parties and all religious creeds r beds outside the boundaries of utah I am opposed to polygamy I kl am as anxious anxious abany as any friend of this bill to seo see it pass away I and am will lug to aid in the accomplish accomplishment nent of that end in ill the proper way but I am opposed to this bill ill and to the ineth methods adopted by it while I oppose pol polygamy gamy I will ivill not huffier myself to ae be led into the perpetration of a greater wrong against the whole american people those who profess to be greatly incensed against this relic of barbar barbari ismaro not contented to have all the machinery of a judiciary of utah placed in their hands bands but want the territorial gov government e rement as well they now have the governor and the judge and attorney an and d the marshal und this bill gives them the jury Is not that power WF enough ellough to convict every polygamist and fill all the prison prisons in in utah why do they want the legislature if polygamy is what they want to extirpate what do t they hey want with the eighth ail and ninth section of the tile bill these sections overthrow the right of self government aad deliver tho the government of the territory into the hands of a returning board they establish an oligarchy not a republic j they arc are wholly at war with every principle of government recognized zed by our ur fathers there is s sole something t fi ng besides co sides polygamy that in in desired to bo be accomplished that is not the only sin of those nn un happy people there are three classes who are con federated in this movement against them there are tho the religionists who are since sincere rc they avis wish polygamy uprooted and forgetting get ding the history of the church an and the teachings of its founder they arc are trying to propagate the doctrines of christ avith the instrumentalities of mahomet they are mistaken but they thet are honest and sincere sincere they wish to achieve a great good but are traveling the wrong road to reach it eor them I have great respect and all I would say to them is to consult once more the record of the great eat teacher himself and search til diligently to see if they can find any warrant from him for propagating the truth by the sword or by tho the physical power of government ho ile came into the world in the midst of polygamy in ili his day all the peoples of the world practiced polygamy for the first time on earth it was proclaimed by him the they y twain shall bo be one flesh ho ile and ho he alone established monogamy and arid his apostles taught it wherever they went his church and arid his doctrine have spread all over europe rope and america and are spreading in all over tho the earth but not by tho the power lower of government not by the tho conquest of tho the sword but by tho the inherent power ef of the truth tile elementary principles of liberty and just government are found in his teachings he forced mo ino man to act with him E every very mans actions I to le bo be acceptable to t him had to come from his own consent ho he labored to enlighten his judgment and awaken his conscience conscience and draw him by his own consent he treats with man everywhere as a free man and the great lesson ho ile taught and the great lesson on his apostles after him taught was tho the I lesson esson of self government the pharisees Pharis ees taught their followers to govern other people christ taught them to let other people alone and govern themselves tho tile doctrine cofone of one was into otry Ot and persecution that of the tile other was self knowledge self hu milia tion self government and self im improvement ro ement one is the doctrine of despotic e governments tho the other is the doctrine tr blo of a liberty loving and a free people again we have among the advocates of this bill those who are ire incensed against tho the people of utah because they are democrats they see the people of the western estern territories ri and especially this one aror growing ing up in in the faith of the fathers they see them voting with that arty party who they believe believe arc are trying to secure the hap happiness pilim of the great masses mases of the people cople they see them beyond the reach of money and going ing to the polls and casting their votes against these those who arc are using their official stations in the interests t s of the tile great moneyed power that is now dominating the country they see democracy spreading all over the west and they are anxious to extirpate that and denouncing the democratic people of utah as polygamists lyga and ancl thus placing them ge beyond yond tho the sympathy ot of their fellow 51 z citizens they can proceed with their engines of persecution tho gentlemen who hare bare concocted the acme to disfranchise tho the people oft op utah or force atheni theato to abandon their Deino democratic cratic convictions will find themselves as greatly mistaken as they were when tile they tried the same experiment in tile southern S states the rho southern people were denounced dethe derho as disloyal to the government a sufficient number of them were disfranchised franchised dis to give their local governments into the hands fiands of negroes and carpet in the tile vain hope that the spirit of tl the I c people co ale would bo be broken or in t alic I to language of the declaration of f independence pen dence that thay thoy would bo be fatigued into colilli co compliance alice with the will of the party in power it was a mistake and a grievous one it only y taught tho the people how inestimable was the principle neiVe of self government how crue cruel was the power of centralization central iza tiou it intensified their democratic convictions conviction they appealed to the conscience and judgment of their fellow citi zens in in every section of the union the exposed tho the persecutions to which they were subjected and by tho the aid of an enlightened likened public opinion they threw throw on tho the yoko yoke of oppi oppression assion and one by ono one re umed their stations in ill tho union of free and sovereign states but thel remains tile third party in the alliance those who oppose polygamy because the deop people c of utah have some property tho aa patriots who question y because vineyard they arc are to be the instruments aliro through agh which the great moral reformation is to be wrought they aro are to hold the offices degl legislative dative executive and judicial they arc are looking to their reward in this world not in ill the next they will vote charters to railroads and other corporations through gli the territorial legislature they will grait bounties of other peoples bonda bonds and peddle them through the tile streets they will livo live and fatten on oil the spoil ail and plunder odthe of the wretched people wh who are subjected to their power and an d this will continue until an indignant public public opinion shall whip them out of P power or and compel congress to restore the government to its rightful owners the people of the tile territory by tile passage of this bill all control over the local aff affairs lairs of that territory is gono gone from its people they will be required to endure great suffering and sacrifices without the least pow power er of correcting the evil it will no longer be a government by the people for tho the people but a government of robbers protected by the federal government while they plunder the people if there is is one principle in our structure of free government more prominent than all others it is that one so often asserted that every distinct political community is clothed with the inherent right of self government it was born in the throes of oppression it is the shield and tho the buckler of tho the weak and powerless it is a fortress and sure hiding place where the votary of liberty may find an asylum when the mailed hand band of power strikes at his heart the first compact of government formed by english speak ing people on this continent established and proclaimed it as their right and bequeathed it as an irence to their children driven from their homes and native land laud by persecution intolerance and arid bi cotry they purchased with their r valor this vast continent and dedicated it as tile homa hom of a free and happy people and free and happy because a self governed people it is the germ gerin from front which was quickened into being all the distinct political communities that today to day constitute the proud and powerful coni mon of our national union it was written in the charters of all the colonies it was stoutly maintained in ill all tho tile controversies with the crown from plymouth Ply mauth to lox ington and all the struggles that lay jay between le lexington s xin aton an and d yorktown it was asserted in the declaration cl of independence at the beginning odthe of alic revolution it was acknowledged and conceded by tho tile crown in the treaty of peace at the end it was romer asserted ted in tho articles of Confederation aud and repeated again in the constitution it has kept pace with tho the growth of the states as they have advanced in in years and increased in power our oar fathers were born bom in that faith grew to manhood waxed old and died in it and left it as the most valuable legacy they could bequeath to their children in tile organization of the northwestern territories the fil first filst st young states that were wore organized and prepared for future admission with th tha original thirteen it was written down and guaranteed by the pen and hand of thomas Jefre jefferson it has been the ruling principle in ill the organization and government of all tho tile territories ever since and ought to be observed as a ai sacred cred principle vis e the only instances where it has been departed from were in abo contest about slavery and this of polygamy with tho the american deop people e consent is the foundation stone tho the bedrock upon which all just government stands consent is tho the moral quality that legalizes all power every other exercise of power under whatever pretest pretext is a bold usurpation not tho the consent of virginia as to how bow massachusetts shall bs be governed not riot the consent of new york as to how hoi f north carolina shall bo be governed not the consent of ell all the other states as to how rhode island shall be g governed over ned but the consent of each to its tl own government in national affairs where all arc are to be affected tho tile consent of all is to bo be obtained as in this house in local affairs where only abo corn com ia is to bo be its consent alone is to bo be given given these sir ire tho rights an and d privileges of tire states that have grown to full sovereignty brei are i not the rights of the people in tho the young states growing up to maturity equally strong where can call you draw any any line of just distinction this principle has ever been dear to the american people because it secured beyond peradventure the preservation of their liberties and the promotion df their happiness As long as each community holds every sinew of power in ill its ow own n hands it is is secure against against t a all I oppression because at the bidding of its own will it may correct every error or mistake the government is bu but t the utterance of its own voice through its own representatives if they prove unfaithful in ill the discharge of public trusts they may be arraigned at the bar of public apin pill ion by the sovereignty of tho the public will khero the trio trust may bs bc revoked or the wrong redressed but when one people arc are governed governed by another the power t to oppress is is ili in tho the hands of one the so su nering to be endured is in tho the person of another the possessor of tho the power may wiel wield d it according to t the it c amount of his passion pasion or his prejudice lie ile lias has no responsibility to hold either his conscience or his passion in ill check over his actions his victim lias has no control there is no tribunal at whose bar iro im can call him hini to account the thunderbolts in a hand that is lifted far beyond his reach and when it falls it is not within his power to escape its stroke this is despotic government and this is the government this bill ia is giving to american citizens in the territory of utah but it is said that congress lias has tile power to govern the people as it pleases in ill the territories ri tories and the same doctrine was advanced in another legislative as assembly some sonic days ago it is the argument of a tyrant I care not where it is uttered congress lias has the power to do irron wrong r and a great wrong but t that bat is not a rightful exercise of power it is an abuse of power Congress hag bas the power to admit a territory into the univa and a power to keep it out forever it has tho the power to destroy its government ern ment and surrender it to anarchy it has she power to refuse use to support its people when invaded b by y a public enemy it has the power to declare its peaceful inhabitants in insurrection and send an army upon them all this ia is simply an ail abuse of power the government owes to every citizen wherever ho lie may reside in a state or territory the protection of every eglit of citizenship zen ship and it is a duty from which it cannot shrink without dishonor if a government may not shrink from the discharge of the duty of protection without dishonor w what bat w words can characterize the act when it turns upon its people and itself becomes the oppressor I have been taught from my earliest recollection that arbitrary power was a monster that could live in no land where the english language was spoken much less in this s land of w written ritten constitutions bristling all over with interdictions inter dictions against every encroachment ulin uli n the liberties of the people etive american citizens in the territories no rights that congress is bound to respect can congress try them by court mar martial t ial or i military commission oan can it deny them trial by jura jury can call it refuse them bait can call it forbid them tho privilege ge of being confronted with their accusers or the compulsory process of tho the coh to compel the attendance of their own witnesses As american citizens we are born w with ith these rights in inhering liering in in our persons do w wo forfeit them by leaving the parental goofin roof in one of the states and going upon the public b lie lands hinds in the territories k what bat a gratifying spectacle le it must be to adherents of divine right to sec see the american congress striking down the right of self kelf government in ill one knoof bof tl tho to Terri territories tor ies and re enacting the odious test oaths and bills of attainder that blotted the pages of english history in the days of the stuarts stuart with what pride will they point to the outlawry of people and tho the subjection lives liberty and property to the tile mercy ofa of a board of five royal regents chosen on account of their unrelenting hostility to the unhappy people who are made their victims ey by the american Gon congress gress in ill the land of washington and and adams and jefferson this imperial commission is empowered to carry at its girdle the keys of death and hell it is clothed with power to pass on oil the tile moral qualifications of every officer elect elected etl by the people and from their judgment there is no appeal they arc are vested with power to close the |
