Show FOLLOWING SUIT I i The XelLs of Saturday night very severely sev-erely denounced the conduct of 3Ir Claudius V Spencer pleading guilty of unlawful cohabitation and declaring to the court that in future he would obey the law It called Mr Spencers conduct a i piteous pleading for judicial clemency and said that such conduct has had a sick Lening 1 effect upon the Latterday Saints It is true that Mr Spencers conduct vas not the same as the conduct of those who made Smithfield famous and gave to the world spectacles of heroism and not I of abjectness It is to be presumed that this abject spectacle arose from that valor of another kind that is needed to enable a man to stand by his honest convictions of which the News spoke in commenting upon Mr Arnolds case for it pronounced Mr Arnold courageous so far as physical danger is concerned I We must agree with the News in its censure of Mr Spencers conduct to his wife whom he paid as a hired girl It is not a noble position for a husband to take even when obeying the law and if it was desirable to obey the law and discontinue to associate with her as a plural wife it would have been far better to have allowed al-lowed her what support Mr Spencer could afford but not to make of her a menial But Mr Spencer did in obedience to the law what many do out of deference to the difference of human naturecast off one wife or more as the case may be to pay respect to the law or pay court at the feet of a favorite The very nature of polygamy makes men have less respect for women than they do in monogamy from the simple fact that power begets contempt con-tempt for those over whom it is exercised and no woman can stand the equal of her husband when that man has more wives than one In polygamy a man does not deem his wife his companion but a companion of whom he has more than one Every man who has more wives than one involuntarily entertains an opinion opin-ion of his own superiority over the opposite op-posite sex and he does not have for woman that chivalric respect and high consideration which is the outgrowth of the highest type of man and woman in their relation of husband and wife father and mother It could not be otherwise for where there is a divided affection which must be in polygamy there is a divided respect This is placing things in their best light and makes no mention of those cases where there is not even a divided affection The News goes further yet and says that he renounced his sacred and religious relig-ious obligation to recognize as wives those I whom he covenanted to retain in that capacity ca-pacity for time and all eternity Mr Spencer did this but let us see what Mr Spencer said Here it is in part only When the Edmunds law was known to I have become law in this Territory 1 amid I my wives made a covenant to obey the Edmunds law to the best of our knowledge knowl-edge We quote from the News own report There is much more of the same but this will suffice For this avowal Mr Spencer is said to have renounced a sacred and religious obligation but he has only said in court after pleading guilty what Mr Taylor the President of the Mormon Church said to exAttorncy General Pierrcpont in the Gardo House Mr Taylor said Mr Pierrepont permit mc to introduce you to my sister who is my housekeeper It is not lawful for us to have wives now And when the Edmund law was passed I looked carefully over the document and saw that if I wa to continue to live in the same house with my wives that I should render myself liable to that law 4 < I desired to place myself in obedience or in as close proximity as practicable to the law and thought I would wait and see what the result would be and that if the nation can stand these things I can or we can These are my feelings Men and nations and legisla tors olten act foolishly and do things that arc unwise and it is not proper that a nation should be condemned for the unwise actions of some few men Therefore I have sought to place my self ia accord with that law I said to my wives We are living in this building together We I were quite comfortably situated and we might so have continued but I said to them that under the circumstances It will be better for me or for you to leave this place you can take your choice They had their homes down here which they now inhabit which were quite comfortable So I said to them you can go there and I will stay here or yon can stay at the Gardo House and I will go there or somewhere chc for I wish to conform to this Edmunds law as much as I can The above extract is from a discourse by President Taylor delivered in the Tabernacle Salt Lake City Sunday Feb 1 1881 and published in the News of Feb 14 1885 It is difficult to see wherein the posi i j tions of Mr Taylor and Mr Spencer j r differ save that one told what he had i done in open meeting and the other in j I I open court Will the News undertake to I I say that Mr Taylor has renounced his 1 sacred and religious obligation by declaring de-claring that he has endeavored to conform to the Edmunds law Mr Angus Cannon Can-non also that ho says did the same yet Arnold Spencer and Aird have not been vciy highly praised for doing under compulsion what the two leading men of the Mormon Church declare de-clare that they did voluntarily Perhaps the sin of these three last named men is in following example and not counsel Whatever may be their sin or their merits they have done what very very many will yet do which is merely to yield obedience to the law when the law I nas ItS grip upon them If any one I I doubts this let him but wait a short while and evidence in abundance will be furnished that we are right in what we say If conscience makes cowards of i men so does the certainty of punishment for breaking the law I |