Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-05-06

act approved September o. 1882 to create the Office Of
general of the public lands in Oregon, &c. and
also the act amendatoy thereof approved February -
1853.
The BILL after having been amended, laid aside to
be reported to the House, with recommendation that 1t
pass
The committee then took up the bill to establish the
office Of general Of Utah. to grant donations
actual settlers therein, and for other purposes,
Mr.. BERNHISEL, delegate from Utah, moved to strike
out Of the bill the following:
nd prorided further, That the benefits Of this act shall
not extend to any person who shall now, or a. time
hereafter, be the husband of more than one wife,"
Mr.. HAVEN hoped the committee would adopt the
amendment Of the delegate from Utah. for the reason
that he did desire Congress, by any legislation to
recognise any such institution the which prevailed
in that Territory
Mr.. LETCHER thought that the provso had better be
retained The only objection that the committee had
not applied the kind OF restriction the gentry in
the Territory Of Utah who get three thousand
dollars year in the way of salaries He could not
dersand why the first section Of the bill authorized q
salary of three thousand dollars to be paid to who
had hafdozen wives without any restriction, and why
the section under consideration should have restriction
confined to settlers alone. His only object in rising
ascertain the of this dscrminaton-why
tiers to be punished for having than one
and why the officers of the Territory were only to
have the benefit of money but of women to boot Laugh
ter.
| Mr.. DAVIS, of Rhode Island, objected to the mo-
ton because the committee had refused to strike out the
clause which limited the benefit of the bill to whites He
saw morality in making such discrimination as this
He would that Utah should come into the Union
with this institution that slave State should be ad
mtted. He did not any worse evils in the one than
in the other nor, in his opinion, there great
concentration of evils in the first in the latter
Mr. SMITH, of Virginia, said that nothing surprised
him than to hear gentlemen who had perhaps
been slave State in their lives speak cathedra
the character of their institutions The gentleman from
Rhode Island had spoken though common indiscri-
min A
munty of the Southern States. He Mr. had no doubt
that the tie of marriage in many respects and to
great extent sacredy observed among the negroes of
the South it among the people from which the
gentlemen and he did not hesitate to say that the
crime of nconnence was rare there as that which
prevailed in the great State of Rhode Island IT. however,
the gentleman prepared to justify this institution of
the Mormons upon poor pr text that let him go
home and justify himself before his constituents. He
hoped the proviso would not be stricken out. !.
Mr.. COBB defended the action of the Committee on
Public Lands in inserting this clause in the BILL and in
qured of the Delegate from Utah whether if clause
should be retained in the bl it would inict any
ordinary hardship any of the citizens Of his Territory
If the gentleman should reply in the affirmative he might
perhaps be induced change his views in relation to
this question: but until he satisfied this point he
should insist the proviso being retained in the BILL
| he believed it to be wholesome one.
Mr.. BERNHSEL replied that should the clause be re-
tanned in the bill, it would operate njuriousy
siderable number of the inhabitants of Utah. He suggest
ed that the more wives man has the more lands he
needs to support them. Laughter.
1r. GlDDINGS said that if there any one feature
of legislation which should be adopted by statesmen it
was that of dealing out the of justice all
who to be affected by their acts From the COM
mencement of the discussion the Nebraska question
up to the present day not Southern had spoken
who had not sneered at, condemned and repudated all
attempts by Congress to interfere with the domestic
sttuons Of any Territory. How long were they to sit
here and hear gentlemen position to day and
another and different tomorrow? When would gen.
enen learn that the people Of this great and mighty
ton expected something like proprety and consistency
of conduct among their statesmen? He did not under
stand this moving from riS to left and from left to
right at the command of some drill sergeant.
He in favor of the clause taken independent
proposition but would never consent that slave Terri
tory should form its institutions in the way it pleased
while the people OF Utah to be excluded from the
| same privileges When Mormon married he did SO
openly, and polygamy considered lawful. He re-
cognised the woman he married his lawful wife and
his children as legitimate He did sell his wife
children.
The gentleman from Virginia had said that negroes en-
tered into the marriage reationn the South but the man
who made this declaration would sell the wife Of slave
husband Tomorrow, do There laws in
the South to protect slave families from the outrages of
| a brutal master.
Mr. PHILLIPS did not rise to reply to the gentleman
from Ohio, for he could not; could any man who
knew what due TO himself to the responsibility
Of the House trust himself to reply such language
had fallen from that member He would leave him to his
conscience and to the reprobaton of his constituents
and if neither of them would as monitors to him.
he should not undertake either to correct counsel him.
lie for the purpose of expressing his entire
with the motion to strike out the provso which had
parallel in the legislation of the country 1t was
another step forward in the progress of Capitalization on
the part of the Government OF which this Congress had
given some strong evidences. They only under.
taking regulate the industry and education of the
try, and to become general amoners of all its charities
but regulate its morality Congress had nothing what
to do with this institution of the Mormons They
now dsposng of the public lands and neither
necessary proper for the Government make these in
ques in regard poygamy among the people of Utah
He hoped the motion to strike out would prevail
Mr.. CAMPBELL was not very particular whether the
proviso should be retained not He believed in the
doctrine that Congress had the right to intervene in the
regulation of thing which perained the welfare
and morals Of the people who might settle in these Ter
rtores He believed that every State in the Union had
made 1t high moral offence for man to have more
than one wife, 1t was made by law penal offence and
was regarded by public sentiment as moral offence lie
believed Congress had the right n:erpose provision
| of this kind
Like his colleague, (Mr. GIDDINGs he desired to see
something like consistency here and he MIR was one
OF those who had during his whole political career op-
posed the doctrine Of GENERALIZATION The gentleman
from Alabama (Mr PHLLps professed to be in favor of
State rights and of having public sentiment reflected in
the halls of legislation Yet he apprehended no member
readily yielded acquescence suggestions which
from the other end Of the avenue than the
| gentleman from Alabama. Who was more urgently in
favor Of the Nebraska BILL ect from the White House
than that gentleman? He (Nr c. was in favor of State
| rights and popular rights, and for resisting all
attempts that be made in the halls of legislation to
overwhem the public sentiment of the people of the
country So much he in favor of State rights and