Show FIRST MST ACT of the great congressional play mass massachusetts achu vs mormon morality As enacted in the senate of these united states with george F hoar as tile raritan punchinello on monday may A B D 1881 the president pro tempore tho the chair lays before the senate the unfinished business bof of the last eitting bitting eit ting being the bill S 1283 to amend an act ten entitled titled an act to amend section of the revised statutes of tho the united states in reference to bigamy and for other purposes approved march 22 1882 the bill is now before the senate as in committee of the whole and has been read and is open to amendment mr williams mr president mr hoar hear I 1 riso rise to ask a question of order I 1 am entitled to the tile floor under the precedents of the senate having taken the floor to address the senate upon this bill and the senate having adjourned when I 1 was upon the floor tho the president pro tempore the chir Chai rhad had forgotten the tho circumstance the senator from lalas massachusetts is corent the senator from massachusetts is entitled to the floor mr williams I 1 wish to suggest that by in agreement between the senator from massachusetts and some of us he consents to an informal waiver of the bill now under consideration so that we may take up the mexican pension bill this morning domingor momi ngor or for fora a limited time mr hoar when the utah bill was first readied reached I 1 date several senators to its iti postponement in nt for three or four days and I 1 am now appealed to tb to make a further concession that it shall bo be laid aside informally in order that the mexican pension bension e bill may be taken up the gl senators rip tors who have that bill in charge assure me that if tho the senate assents to this arrangement which requires unanimous consent if the mexican pension bill is no disposed of in two hours there shall be no xio further farther request to lay aside the utah bill bil after lafter that time thattie th atthe pension bill will tako its fate in the morning mornin b hour 0 ur at any rate that it shall not co conflict et with ith the utah bill upon that understanding Bt I 1 give my assent to laying asido aside the utah bill informally until such time as the Blex mexican ican pension bill is disposed of not exceeding two hours the President pro tempers tem pors the senator from kentucky also asks anani amous consent that the pending order be laid aside informally and that the senate proceed to the consideration of the bill 11 R granting branti ng pensions to tho the soldiers an ago re of perin the mexican war and for other purposes la Is there objection mcallison mr allison I 1 do not intend to object je ct at tills this particular moment but the utah bill has been the regular order for several days and it has been set aside from time to time for special measures there is a which the senator from kansas cave gave notice some days ago that he lie intended to call up soon this week if the senator from massachusetts will give way from day to day it prevents the opportunity port unity of other senators to call up tip important measures and I 1 desire to admonish him that I 1 think the utah bill ought cither either to bo be passed or to be laid aside at some convenient time mr hoar I 1 am much obliged to the senator for the admonition I 1 deserve it I 1 mr al r A allison I 1 I 1 ison th the e sen senator ator certainly does deserve it I 1 shall not object at at this moment neither shall I 1 object to laying aside the utah bill informally for the mexican pension bill provided edthe the latterman lat latter terean can be finished in two hours but I 1 desire only that the docket may bo be cleared cleare cL in some sense and that I 1 may call up a measure which affects affect an a great many people in myown my own state mr hoar the senator from kentucky stated to me in ili private tho the reasons for ills his earnest desire for thia accommodation and they were reasons which it seemed to me I 1 could not in courtesy resist unless some somo substantial reason connected with the public business stood in the way I 1 therefore make no objection has the chair announced the tle consent of the senate to the arrangement the president pro tempore the C chair hair was asking lor for unanimous consent Is there objection to laying g aside the pending order anfort informally daily and the senate proceeding to the consideration of what is called the mexican I 1 pension bill the chair hears bears no rib objection the bill will be read mr hoar before considering that bill formally I 1 desiro desire to address the senate for i a fuw minutes only if the senator from kentucky will pardon me mr williams certainly mr hoar I 1 wish to eay say a few words in reference to the utah bill and it will be more convenient to do so at this time than after the mexican pension bill haa ha been considered there are a great many public questions in regard to which the debate upon the general principle takes vace place at a timo quite remote from t the le legislative vote some times the file daano debato takes blaco place at a place quite distant from t the 0 Lei legisla zisla live chamber I 1 conceive that the mind of the american people whom wo we represent has been on full discussion cus sion after tho the most patient for be bearance bea renco arence after the most careful reflection fl octo i on the rele re letlon tion or these quess lions to th the a great principles principle of con 1 liberty and public order made up we do not mean to have itt the heart of our continent a na tion grown up under tho constitution of the united states upon territory belonging to hie the united states upon territory over which it is the constitutional duty of congress to exercise exclusive legislation until tho settlers there shall be admitted to tho the union as an american state founded upon tho the denial ot of the purity aud integrity of tile family relation that proposition is one which it seems to mo me is passed beyond the de abatable stage the dominant party in this assembly has many times affirmed that proposition as a part of its political creed and I 1 am yet to learn that anywhere except in utah itself from tho the lips of any great leader of oil any other party has there come a declaration in conflict with this proposition 1 I only take the floor at this time to eay tay that in framing this hill bill severe and stringent as some of its brov provisions inions may be conceived to be it has not been the purpose of the committee whom I 1 represent to infringe in the least upon the great american fundamental doctrine of the entire liberty of conscience wo we do not propose to inquire into still less to affect by any legislative procesa whatever the opinion iri regard to tho the relation of the tile soul to its creator of anrA aar american merican citizen or any dweller upon american soil the american citizen is is at liberty to accept or deny the great fundamental doctrines of christian christianity 1 t yao so long as that acceptance or den denial i al d does 0 es not find expression ina in a course of c conduct 0 n which is in violation of the fundamental principles upon which our constitution rests the tho the fire worship er the mormon the atheist have tho the tribunal of their own breast the realm of their own creed the liberty of their own conscience sacred from tho the profane interposition of any human authority th whatever but when those beliefs whether genuine or pretended find expression in acts find expression in in conduct towards other men I 1 they must then bo be brought to the t test est of the law which tho the lawr law making power deems for the safety of the tho state there was a man in my own commonwealth mon wealth a few years ago intelligent well quested educated ted venerable for forage age who came to the belief ti that hat the same divine command had been laid upon him which had been laid upon abraham of old to his own son for the glory lory and honor lionor of his maker that belief wag was as free from the interposition ter of human law as tho the belief of any person upon this floor in regard to his relation to his maker but when lie undertook to carry it out by his action he lie was arrested tried and held amenable to the course of the law of the commonwealth mr president the american state rests upon the fundamental doctrine that the tile family which fe Is the result 0 of f the pure and chaste union of one man to one woman constitutes the unity of citizenship tl eliat 1 at the protection of tho the purity of ta iese fit families bilics is tile great object of human m legislation that without it no state no christian state certainly no republican or democratic state can long ong exist now w bat do we find the tile condition of things wo we find in tho the very heart of our continent a community established which lays down as ita fuu fun da mental principle plo the denial of this right which proposes to establish by law to surround with the sanctions of religion households which are made up of one man and many women living with him as his wives to the establishment of that community upon that principle every social forue force every religious influence every practical power of that state state now for more than thadia a generation has hns been bent great funds have been raised and set apart which are expended in ransacking al europe for converts among thela borant and poorer classes elapses largely but not wholly that doctrine tho the lands are held by the men who believe in it and by them thein only the juries the tho tile magis tra cies EO so far as they do not derive their authority immediately and directly from the united states are in hands by which their forces are bent i wholly to the propagation of trino trine and to the establishment of the tho community upon this doctrine tile indu influence ence of the cli church the forces of the state tho the power of mia nils I 1 the influence of tho the enship 0 of f land n d sometimes disclosed but more often undisclosed theao influences as I 1 say are exhibited all lent to tho the establishment of tho the one object and it is quite time that the american congress clothed with ita vast directed its attention to that object we lye have the right until a community is admitted as a state to exercise cis the legislative forces which shall influence ita its de destiny ally and affect its character we haye bay the right to put against the forces which I 1 have described tho the superior force the greatest reacts force known upon pon this continent an nt the tile power of the whole american ican peo people le and it is for that purpose this bill V has as been framed the bill attacks and attacks only the powers of the state or of the community which have been used and aco aw now used as far as possible wholly for accomplishment tho of this tills one end wn WA find juries em ol and selected in order that when there is a question between a mormon ond a person not entertaining that belief it shall no io longer bo tho te inq inquiry liry what ia is the law or the tile taut fact it shall be the inquiry what verdict is in ill favor of tho the mormon wo we find established where the I 1 textbooks text books are selected wholly to in ins tho the youth of that community in a doctrine inconsistent as wo ba lieve pt not only with christianity but with civilization itself we find tho the great trust fund of education and charily charity established and administered for that one end and we claim that it ia is not only tile right but tile duty of the american congress Congre sj to eo so far by law affect and control these instrumentalities strum ties not as to make them instrumentalities for the prow promotion olion of any opinion which a majority of this body may entertain cither either political or relf religious djus but solely to prevent their being used any longer as instrumentalities for tho the building up of a st atu founded upon the doctrine to which I 1 have adverted it is therefore in no spirit of re lillous intolerance it is with no do eiro sire to interfere inter fero by tho the least tittle with conscientious belief however 1 erroneous I 1 wo 0 may deem it of any mati mordicai or otherwise but it ia is simply that the responsible lawmaking power for that territory as for sail territories shall see that the tile great influences of government and of lecis legislation lation are no longer used for this illegal and unchristian purpose that the bill is drawn |