Show THE PROTEST the people of utah in mass meet luss assembled ratify a mas terly declaration ef grievances full text of alic memorial address adopted today to day in city in alio namo of freedom justice and humanity is invoked from alie dent and the nation at the mass meeting heldon the tabernacle in ogden this afternoon tho following declaration of ances and protest was unanimously adopted to the president and people of these united FELLOW CITIZENS A condition of affairs imperiling impe riling alie vital interests ef the vast majority of tho people of utah and their co religionists in alie neighboring states and territories impels us their representatives to address you our rights ns american citizens are trampled upon and believing it our imperative duty in the presence of such a danger to protest against tho gigantic evil which threatens not only our liberties but the liberties of every freeman we in general mass meeting assembled sem bled in the name of freedom justice and humanity tills appeal for relief and protection wo are unpopular with our fellow countrymen it is our religion which makes us so we are a small minority in their midst but we have yet to learn that these are arounds upon which to justify in a land of liberty the acts of oppression which we a people from the beginning of our history have been made to suffer As to our religious faith it is based upon evidence which to our minds is conclusive convictions not to bo destroyed by legislative enactments enact mente or judicial decisions force may enslave the body convince the mind to yield at the demand of the legislator or the judge the rights of conscience would prove us recreant to every duty we owe to god and man among alie principles of our ion ia that of immediato revelation from god one of the doctrines so revealed is celestial or plural marriage for which ostensibly we are stigmatized and hated this is a vital part of our religion the decisions of the courts to the contrary ing even the utah commission conceded aliis in their report to the secretary of the interior november 1884 speaking of plural marriage they say this article of their faith is as much an essential and substantial part of their creed as their belief in baptism repentance for the forgiveness of sins and the like all orthodox cormons mormons believe polygamy to bo right and that it is an essential of their creed that alie latter day saints should view aliis as a principle of their religion may require explanation polygamy as understood among occidental ci nations is a system of sensuality sua lity and it is for people among to conceive how it can be associated religion but the latter day saints believe eliat the marriage relation is one which when solemnized here exists in eternity every faithful woman in alic church that in order to insure her exaltation in tho presence of god and the lamb she should bo married or scaled to an upright faithful man acting upon this belief these alliances are formed while on the earth upon the principle eliat alio man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the lord they firmly believe eliat god has revealed this to them as a command but while patriarchal marriage as it ia termed is a part of faith and practice they have no idea eliat it should become universal the equality of the sexes if no other reason would prevent this it id a mistaken idea that our favors alio propagation of this doctrine or seeks to establish it as a universal system at the same time we fully believe that women should be married even if two or three of them as in alie family of abraham jacob and others became the wives of one man instead therefore of our system of marriage promoting sensuality experience peri ence has proved that it checks it and instead of being destructive of alie family relation it is preservative of it plural marriage was publicly declared a doctrine of alie church in 1852 congress declared it a crime ill but the law enacted against it remained for seventeen years a dead letter the federal official hesitating to enforce it as if alicy doubted its constitutionality the law f 1802 kasnot declared constitutional until the cali of january 1879 plural marriage therefore was openly taught and practiced ten years before any law existed against it an d twenty seven years had elapsed from alio time of its public promulgation until alie supreme court decided the law to be constitutional thus it h apparent eliat plural marriage was not introduced in violation of law but alio law was enacted against aliu principle of our religion charges of treason lion made against our people are as absurd they are untrue we havo given too many proofs of our loyalty for buch accusations to leave weight abrico driven from our homes and while from the confines of tho nation which re fused us protection a call was mado upon us for five hundred men to assist in fighting our count rys battles in mexico they wore promptly furnished though it took the of the calop tho able bodied men of that band of refugees they left mothers wives and little ones encamped in tents and wagons upon alio prairies and performed on unparallel march of two thousand miles over barren plains and bleak mountains to tho scene of action where they rendered bignal service to their count rys cause the main body of tho exiles continued their west arn flight until they reached alio blocky mountains where they unfurled the stars and Stripes which had led their desert march and two years after framed a republican con ution and applied for admission as a state into the union are these evidences of disloyalty through our history alio general government has to regard ua lese as loyal american citizens than aa u dangerous alien clement it may been induced to lecog niec that wo had some justice on our side but it lias never come to on defence to a delegation which narrated in burning words the story of our wrongs in missouri the chief magistrate of the nation inneo alio humiliating confession that though our causo was just he could do noali ing for us the land choso whoso constitution in alio language of ita framers was limped to be broad enough to shelter under its mintle the jew alio mohammedan tho paean as wall as the christian has scarcely been able to tolerate much less to protect the numerically cormons mormons Mor mons the general government has cyca manifested a readiness to give ear to the unsupported charges of evil dis posed persona against ns and lias sought to correct alleged evils with extreme rigor we point particularly to the inglorious crusade of 1857 8 known as alio mormon war based upon the falsehoods oi a federal official when alie executive dispatched an army to whip us into a loyalty from which on investigation it was proved we had never departed our rebellion was found to be what it 1 ways has been the mere creation of an fancy the authorities at washington have disregarded our rights in the matter of local self government As early as 1813 alio people of utah formed a state constitution and applied for admission into the union their application was repeated as conditions became more favorable first in 1856 again in then in 1872 and lastly in 1882 and each time has ignored territorial government is not a publican lle institution but for thirty five years we have been compelled to accept the colonial conditions which it imposes and denied the most precious of all rights that of self government only for the first ten years of our existence in the mountains were we vouchsafed this precious boon to any considerable degree during which time a man of our choice occupied the position of governor we possess every qualification for statehood stability of commerce and society ato reasonable excuse can be assigned for the refusal of our application we submit that it should of right be considered and favorably acted upon it bus been the undeviating policy to send strangers into our midst as governors judges prosecuting attorneys and marshals meu who with honorable exceptions had no interest in alie commod welfare we complain not only of the personal character of officials and that they have acted the part of petty despots among us trampling on our liberties assuming prerogatives they never could presume to exercise except among so unpopular a people and haughtily ignoring our rights and feelings but also eliat where this disposition lias not been sufficiently pronounced noun ced popular clamor tending to engender and develop it lios been so strong that fair minded just men leave enjoyed but short terms of office those alio possessed alie one gratification of hatred of alie mormon people were kept secure in seats which they almost dally disgraced we complain of repeated manifestations of ill feelings from the parent government even in small country towns morman postmasters have been displaced for strangers in some in stances mere transients who in many cases have been retained in office although belious charges supported by evidence sworn to bj reputable citizens have been preferred against them cormons mormons have baen frequents ly removed without just cause the names of post offices in towns named after leading and beloved citizens men who laid the foundation of tho Terri torys prosperity have been changed at the whim or suggestion of some emall bigot or cant minority of petitioners petition ers tho federal government in all these movements using its power prejudicially to alie great majority of the people our numerous petitions protests and memorials in our own defense leave been usually passed over unnoticed whilo petitions urging governmental ern mental action against us from religious denominations unacquainted with us except from hearsay have been accorded consideration and generally acted upon sixty biye thousand jamea appended to a document asking for an investigation of tho utah situation before the edmunds act should be passed the signatures of the people directly interested te were cast aside as of no moment and the odious law was pushed to its consummation the commissioners appointed under the edmunds law have grossly abused tho authority conferred upon them and havo usurped nary and arbitrary powers while their 1 duty under the law was to appoint registration and election officers and to canvass the re turns and issue certificates of election to members of thu legislative assembly they havo illegally assumed to exercise important legislative and judicial functions they officiously formulated an unauthorized and illegal cx test covering the whole life of alio individual and required each elector in the territory to take it bo foro he could register and and by their order the names of all persons who failed to take this oath were stricken from the registry list they so constructed the test oath that it could not be taken by any person who had ever lived in polygamy or who cohabited with than one woman in the marriage relation but it could be and was taken by persons who cohabited with alian one not in ahe marriage relation thus disfranchising franchising dis only cormons mormons Mor mons and permitting non mormon violator s of the law to register and vote they have arbitrarily assumed to exercise legislative powers by the promulgation of rules and ordera which in eucce materially affect alie existing laws and excluded from the polls thousands of legal voters who nave since been restored to the orivl iches of electors by the decisions of the supreme court of tho united states they haye presumed to exercise alio of judicial by declaring void the acts of the legislative assembly 0 tha territory of utah which provide for the election of territorial officers and havo arbitrarily and without of law forbidden and prevented the canvass anil return of any votee cast for aliese officers binco the passage of tho edmunds law thus completely nullifying and abrogating statutes of the territory which hayo received the implied sanction of congress and have never been pronounced invalid by the courts but which leave been enforced and acted upon valid laws for many years they have constituted a tribune for the determination of all matters in the territory pertaining to elections and alie 1 qualifications of voters and their opinions and orders upon cheso subjects havo been regarded by their ap point cra as alio law of the land they havo grossly abused their nu dhority in the appointment of registration officers by selecting for positions whenever possible only such persons as belong to the anti mormon faction denying to the majority party whose members comprise four fifths of the population of the territory representation among begs istra rs and in tho appointment of judges of election they leave cither refused alie majority party any representative senta tive at all or have only given it one of the three judges in each precinct they have assumed to be as tho representatives of alie federal government here with alie duty of suppressing polygamy and have presumed to advise alie president and congress as to alio kind of legislation they deem necessary for that purpose recommending alie roost radical and extreme measures thereby showing themselves the pronounced enemies of the mormon people wo complain of alie injustice done us by the united states officials sent to execute the laws they have generally allied themselves with sectarian priests and political adventurers lending their executive or judicial influence to foment local excitement and degrade us in the estimation of the people abroad alie governors of butali possessing absolute veto power unusually been despotic in their ministerial acts governor shatter in 1870 forbade the militia to muster drill or assemble for any purpose so far was this order carried into effect that tho aid of federal troops was invoked to prevent the marching of a company of militia in salt lake city i n a public celebration of the anniversary annive reary of american independence the present governor especially has acted the part of a petty tyrant in his official messages and reports in his contributions to tho press and in his public addresses he has persistently misrepresented the state of affairs in utah and seized upon every opportunity to arouse popular poeju dice and hatred against her people lie sought to defeat the expressed will of the people by declaring a man receiving 1357 votes elected over one for whom votes were cast ho endeavored without authority of law to displace the officers of tho territory elected by the people and alii their places with men of his own appointing he has accused us of a lack of interest in educational matters but when a bill was passed by our legislature appropriating money to build a university he refused to sign it the building however was erected with means advanced by private citizens cici zens and stands a monument to his shame the edmunds act contemplates tho discontinuance of tho biah commission so soon as tha territorial legislature should provide for filling the registration and election officers under the local laws but when a bill was submitted to him providing for this in full to the edmunds law and other acts of congress he vetoed the bill and thus continued the commissioners in office contrary to the intention of congress to the annoyance of the people of utah and at great expense to tho nation the last legislature passed a bill apportioning the representation of the territory drawn up in accordance with the governors suggestions but when it was presented to him for his signature lie treated it with contemptuous silence thus insulting the legislators and the peo pie who ejected them these and many other similar acts brand him as a despot unworthy to govern among his fellow men the edmunds law which not only provides for the punishment of polygamy cohabitation with more than ono woman in alio marriage relation or outside of it is made to operate upon ono class of people only the 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