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Show j THE PEOPLE OF, UTAH. I " The people of Utah and their marital ! system are an almost universal subject of I - discussion. The people of Utah are not j ; thoroughly understood by the world ; in j f fact they do not thoroughly understand i themselves. The people of this Territory have many and sterling virtues, but they have not all the virtues which they claim, j What has been their work in Utah, and i ; what is the claim they make consequent f i upon that work ? We will endeavor to ? show what their work has-been and what ; their claim is, and whether the work jus-l jus-l ; tifies the claim. The work of the people of Utah has been the work of the pioneer, a valuable : I work, and one requiring many valuable I J qualities to perform. They came to Utah I ; ' a band of exiles, and they thought here j: to find the rSst from strife and contention ; which they found not in the lands of j; f their fathers. They found Utah a wild ; " and uninviting place ; but, filled with hope j l and dreaming of the world which . is be- j ' j ; yond the grave, they felt contented, be- ' I cause they felt that a haven of rest had I . been found. Kest was found, and with ! rest there came prosperity, and the land x which at first sight was their sorrow be- icame their joy. Isolated and alone, "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife," t - they built np a commonwealth, not upon a political basis, but upon an ecclesiasti- I ; cal basis. It was, as Bruton has said, a I democratic theocracy. The people had the forms and the political divisions of a State founded upon the plan of the States ; of the American Union ; but all this was 1 had to further the purposes and power of the church to whjch the people belonged, ! namely, the Mormon church. If a man ; became recalcitrant politically, he was I i chastised ecclesiastically. The validity I and policy of a law were determined not in j ' accordance with the interests of the State, j but in accordance with the interests of. I ' . the church. The State, with its forms I and authority, .was the means, while the I church' was the end. All this was for I one purpose, and one purpose only the I . preservation of religious rights. It was ; ', the privilege of the church to determine and define these rights, but it was the duty of the State to defend and uphold ithem after they had been determined and defined. Many '.rights were claimed in I those days that are' iiot pretended to in I ' these days. Among the rights claimed ; in those days, and to which pretension I has not been relinquished in these days, was the right to define the status of the family and say upon what basis it should be founded. As every student of government gov-ernment knows, and as most people acknowledge ac-knowledge without question, to deprive I' . the State of the power to establish the status of the family is to deprive the State of the power to l)e. And yet it is this power which the people of Utah 1 claimed, and exercised, as a religious I right. I The eople oL Utah claimed and exer- eised this power, and gave the family status in accordance with their ideas. What was the family so founded, and I what status was it given ? Tne family so j founded was founded upont he polygamous I system, and this system was chosen be- S ; cause it was the system of the pastorial patriarchs of the Bible. If the men of t ancient Israel were jwlygamists, and j these men were chosen of God, why should not the modern Israel found the I family upon the polygamous system of I Israel of old? It was so founded, and the people of Uiah persist in maintaining it upon that basis, jj As one of their great works, the people J . of Utah say they have turned this Terri- l tory from a desert into smiling and ' ' bounteous fields; and this is true. .;,' Metaphorically speaking, they have made ,. j The desert to blossom as the rose." I l . "; They have built many towns and villages, ' and through their system of immigration, j which is a church sj'stem, they have I given homes and plenty to many who . otherwise would never have had homes, f r known of plenty save through the dis-I dis-I , tres of want. They have been sober j and industrious, and have greatly helped ' 1 S to ci vilize and open up the Great West. !' " These are their virtues, and due credit has not always been given the people for i them, j , Nf Wat are their, claims? They f ' claim ijjht to found a marriage sys- f tern which is in direct antagonism with I the civilization of their own country and : of c ry Christian country on the globe. , Th ' . VKteni which they claim a right to ,'i fouinl and practice is forbidden bv law. "a 1 law that lias stood the test of" an appeal i j to the Supreme Court of the United States I . ! and dtcIrM valid; but the people of Utah I A still persist In their practices, and as a I j justu.calion for their claim and as a pal- I :-l Nation vf u .. charge against them of j : breakhig t o !ir, they cite the works I; , j' which m,- accomplished in the J i Territory. iKvs ; heir work justify their ': claim and tLv;r violation of the law? I ; Further, is that ivoric of such a nature ? i - and of such a vai ie that the State should concede to the d i nreli i right more es-; es-; . sential to the Stat-, irhaps, than any I other? Or to ptiUWnestion in another 1 ? form, is the wor)f r' people of Utah in developing "tie jnate:lal resources of j . the TerritQn-, and irii,.ps advancing the ! . work of civilization, and making habita- j X hie Uie Great West, a qitarter of a century, j vsuclt "as to justify an abdiction on the j i ... part of the General (Jovernment of an ! . ;. ihdispensible sovereiga power- to the! Ecclesiastical. organization to which the i majority of theieopleof Utah belong?) That is the question in Utah, and the! , israe as we have represented it is j the issue npon which the. people; ; of Utah and of the United State I ' - must decide. That it will be decided in favor of the Government and against the people of Utah, will admit 'of no debate. The pioneers of every State in the Union are entitled to make the, same claim made by the -people -of Utah and upon the same ground; and yet if the United States were to admit such claims, where would the United States be in a few years? If Utah were not an integral part of the United States, the case would be different, but being an integral part, she must so remain, and the laws of the Government of which she is such integral part must be enforced and obeyed within her limits. The people of Utah must learn this sooner or later, voluntarily or involuntarily, but they must learn it. |