The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-10-07 00:00:00

BRIGHADI YOUNG IN A DIFFICULTY
AT LAST!

"Referring to the proceedings taken against the
Mormon Prophet, the body Nem*, in a leader, re-
marks :

The arrest of Brigham Yoimg, the Mormon High Priest
aml Sovereign, seems at the nrst glance as startling a ple..e
of intelligence as hag lately been sent across the Atlantic.
In his own sacred City of the Salt Lake—in the sanctity of
his own house, crowned with the gilded beehive that is seen
from afar elf across the plain, glittering in the sun—the
Nlormon Prophet. if we ale to believe the tlegrain to
hand, hen been arrested by United States officials. Ito
has been captured, and yet ,riler reigns in Utah. Alabomet
has been seized by Ilk enemies hi Mecca Itself, and tin
" tire eyed disputants " arise to vindicate Into, with their
swords.

The fact, however, may perhaps Ile easily explained. In
, the first place, arrest in the United states is far mere cart-
hen
I aig„ttitrses‘tTlein!si7iosft;:ei:'„tilaairsr I":rien(titt?; toirangirteai; iliTarne;
, legal inquisitions. A proceeding Is Instituted against it
newspaper editor fart iilrei: and the editor is arrested to
begm with, and taken to some place of iletention. fie gives
bail Po' his appearante, and is forthwith released. This, we
may presume, Is the meaning of the arrest of Brighatu
'Young. Ile has been taken upon a charge of maintain.
trig immoral relations with sixteen women—his _Mormon
wives, in fact. Ile has, Meddle ss, given bail Pr
his appearance befnre the Federal judge, anti he win,
It is smut, present himself at mice to answer to
the charge. If Utah takes title tnotentilly, it in as-
suredly because Brigham Vrrrmnnrt has sent rotund the
svord of command. Vere it his elle to tight, he mould have
known it without a prompter. lire law s of nt.:st nt the
states -and probably the laws ureter irlairli the tem Rotten
are governed declare the improper relations of Men marl
' women penal ono. s. Net merely is seelnetion aet nuked
offence In Many States, but even Minimal combat., where
there Ii no suggestion of the num Ile vim: seduced the woman.
Itrieham N'entue could hardly, we stippese, he Milieu,' rorpoly-
galay, for he has not liven Illerricil lo his Vartilts rtiv,s iry:lily
i'rretrrrrtri:ai Pr hid, tlw law teat-iris, Valhi. Ile certainly
colliel not be pt weented if be were tar ilenert the whole of
them ; and therefore cats baldly be rapt it to the punishment
~f the law f. has ing mat rb.,l them. lett in• army he reaehed
is the other way. law s rutinrin Per net pet lo lane a.alsst
offilitierS ligailiSt ri,ogitorii tat refilleltillile
Shalers may be made effective weapons twainst him. It is
no part of ottr tumble:Es to booth, si lather any result very
edifying to society tar beitelle liii to the proper W.a•king of law
is likely tt. e JJJJJ eof the prost cation. We shall 111 rt Nine to
ask a Miller It is reasonahle to allow a treat in New Vork rrr
New England freely to practise what he admits lobe a sin,
while punialting a Mall la Utah fur doing what he voile Is a
phut of his religions duty. It is eolith] that the poly-
gamous syst,in of Utah was a corrupting and destroying in-
stitution ; that it brought women dow it to unspeakable
misery Mal ilegrivittion. Uhl Certain, too, that liar an hoot
tune Istet there has been All flhlrtirtt unanit tttttt s resolve
throughout lire Stetes that the 'S peculiar Inst Ruth "nit Mor-
monism must Ite stampol out. There were some in favour of
giving it a little :neer, Inn the hope that the Nettle Railway,
the opening up st the mining distriets of Nevaela,
and Montana, and the gradual concentration of Gentile patina.
stereo and patptrlartliatn ill the beatitit al valley of the salt Lake,
niight quietly extinguish the burning spot of shame. Titter
were others who would hold no parley, give no chance, hut
go to work, and gut rid of the evil, "put the thing through,"
at once. But there were none or ahnost itene—who were
riot resolved that, hy this means or that, polygamy should
Ire extirpated f the land. Lately many indicatioas
showed that the time was supposed to have come for
beginning the work of expurgation. Judges and officers
of a peculiarly resolute stamp were sent to flail by
the Government. 'lire Vice-President of the rutted
States In known to be particularly IllitiOUS that some-
thing effective should Ire done. A few years ago he
Suit: Brigham Young himself as much in Salt Lake City.
Later still, wile. Vb•e-Presielent Colfax again visited the city,
Itriglialii Young went Iltit of it to avoid ft Meeting. The
Mormon thief has, of course, been long prepared for some
direct move against him, and if he now submits quietly to
stand the test of a law-court, it is neither het:atom he has
been taken by surprise, not because he Ia Cad in that meek
mould which refuses to be resolute even to slaying. If there
were the illiellteSt chalice of a successful resistance Brigham
Young would assuredly resist.

But times have utiitn,eil since 157,7. Then Young could
detlanee to I'mAielent Ituehanan, and boldly prepared to
resist (lie little army of •z,:Au tne, sent against him, and
who/in the 11101mons el.lllll have crushed with nicer rocks aflul
thaws in the canoyna of the mountains, Then Young meld
safely dely,.Bllll Buchanan was glad to ronipromiae. At that
time the city of the Salt Lake was guarded against In-
'Won by the Rana cincture of its majestic mettotatas.

—The city sparkled like a grain of salt" on the Olin
whiell these mountains completely girdlsi round. The
Ironies of lirigliani Youngs eommunity were Fattier
away from any civilized city than London is from St.
Petersburg. The territory itself had been Mexican
soil lint a few years before, when flint the Mormons occupied
it. The range of the itchy Nlonntain.,, and the vast, rhr'rar p.
thinly watered Prairies, snivel them a gaunt expanse of
alkalheovereil deserts. lay Ist ween eiviliration and (Veil the
outer barriers of the Wasatch moiktaina within which nestles
the salt lake city. The United States had is very small
military force tool the ilittleilltiea to lie encountered
were far hank:. Dant any liodile artily could oppo,e.
Prigham Young was safer in his beehive-crowned seraglio
than Abyssinian Theodore in in, reek fortress of Slag-
data. hut 114na all this is changed. A railway has
tdereed the mountains : the long train ref ears 'plunges
daily through the terrible "DeniEs Canyon," anti Salt
lake t'ity is as much a part of civilisation as Chien°.
Young at that opposed the building of the railway, but with
characteristic sagacity he Sikli made a virtue of necessity,
and lent the help rI his Nlormon hands to coniplete the
work which he 001,1 no longer prevent. The Hue 4of
that railway Is gnarled by the frequent camps of the
Federal soldiers, and at a few hours tmtiee trams
Ire poured in from •west mr Kith The little encamp-
ment just outside S.ilt I.nke city eould itself keep ordvr
until I.lp ram,. awl help. if Treenter! . would not Ire loirit
in coining. This is the secret of Itrigham lining'. sub-
mission. there are illimitably niany among his liishops
and his (orrrenlitr,is fierce and passionate enough even
now L4l Seek.,r all ranter for a bloody resistance. It
is lint two years since one of Young's clad apostles
was openly expressing his lowing tor a little per-
emotion, that it might he met by a stern i+esistance,
if lolly that the blood id the martym might be the Eyed of
the Church. lint Young, mho lames 'lily alai iplailailile as he
Is bold and un:eruputou „ probably thinks there is as iser
corse to lie taken than this. Perhaps he has hopes of
escaping yet by the law itself. Perhaps he Wolll4lbe cloaca
with a legal martyrdom. The doom of his institution, in
America at lellat, is in any ease certain. But we confess that
for ourselves we think it would only die out the faster fur
being let alone by the °Mt:ergo( tire state.