The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-01

the duties OF their OH ces so inconvenient, or
impracticable, that they returned TO the States
in difgust Sometimes the experiment of a
Gentle Governor was tried, but it proved an
utter failure. The administration of United
States laws in the Territory depended entirely
upon Mormon Judges or Mormon Juries and
We may easily understand Why no laws not in
perfect harmony With their emporium could
ever be administered. e.
The Republicans brought the subject before
the Public and before Congress propositions
were made to withhold from the Territory the
usual grants and q bill was introduced by Mr..
Morrill, to suppress Polygamy but the Squat
ter Sovereignty of General Cass parslyzed
every well.meant endeayor to correct the evil
So it grew and aourished, till Brigham Young
became defiant, and insolently Wanted his
Independence Of al authority. He was sus-
tanned by his fapatical followers. United
States officers were driven from the Terri.
tory, and every mail brought intelligence
Of outrages committed and threatened. The
line of travel TO the Pacific became unsafe;
and evidence was presented, such as the Presi-
dent could not have disregarded without ex.
treme folly or disloyalty, of determination on
the part of the Mormons to resist the assump.
ton BY Governor Cumming of the Office to
which he had been appointed. 1t will not do
at this late day to deny this. The columns of
the New York Tribune and other presses were
filled with the statements Of parties writing
from Utah, all agreeing a. TO the fearful crimes
committed in the Territory and the rebellious
attitude assumed by the Mormons. To the
same purport were the statements of the Fede
raj officers, returning or driven out from Utah
We have converted with some of them, who
We know, are Incapable of deception, quiet
men, disposed to attend to the discharge
of their own duties, peaceabls men, whom no.
body could suspect of being inclined to give or
take offence, and their testimony satisfied us
that, had not the President interposed and sent
military escort to be ready to enforce the an.
thority of Governor Cumming, he would have
deserved impeachment. This course having
been determined upon, it was the dictate of
common sense and humanity to make the escort
powerful enough to accomplish its purpose by
oversving the Mormons, and to insure the rec
ognition of rightful authority without bloodshed.
This has been the result. Not to Col. Kane's
kind intercession with the Mormon leaders, not
to the appointment Of Peace Commissioners, not
to the "large heart and commanding intellect"
Of Governor Cumming, Is to be attributed the
apparent submission of Brigham Young, but
to the proximity of an army large enough to
compel what all the moral suasion of q drivel-
ling Squatter Sovereignty policy had been una.
BILE to effect.
We say apparent submission, for the present
position of Young and his followers doubtless
is an enforced one. We could see nothing in
Governor Cummings peace dispatches to au-
thorize the broad and certain conclusion 20
which the President came. The Mormons had
received the Governor, it is said true, but in
an assembly of the Saints in which he invited
discussion of their grievances, they became
30 furious that they were about dropping the
mask, when Brigham Young, more crafty and
selfpossessed, interposed his authority and qui.
eted them. He, not the Governor, was the
ruler. And what was there in their acts to
indicate real submission to authority? Was it
the moving off in masses towards the South,
and taking up strong position in another of
their towns, admonishing the Governor to keep
the United States troops out of the Territory,
for the moment they entered, the Mormons left
behind would burn every house and article of
valuef Was this the language and spirit of
submission, of obedience to law, of respect for
authority?
Governor Cumming has sent later dispatches,
which do not appear to be quite so satisfactory.
He has been unable to induce the body of the
Mormons to return to Great Salt Lake City, or
to learn their real purposes. His impression
is that they are divided into factions-ons for
war, the other, for peace; that Brigham Young
is at the head of the peace party; that the ut
most care is requisite to prevent an outbreak
Brigham seems to have hoodwinked him, and
to have persuaded him that the entrance of the
troops would be the signal for destructive
war. Should the Administration, Influenced
by his suggestions, suspend all its military op.
erations, and withdraw large portion of the
troops, the probability is, that the profound
mystery" which the Union finds in Utah
would be solved by the restoration Of the power
of the Saints. What right have they to dictate
terms to the United States? We had supposed
that they were rebels, and that their duty was
to submit to the Federal authority but it
seems that they will do no such thing, except
on condition which will relieve them from the
necessity of submission. 1t is as unwise to trust
these People as it would be to treat them with
severity. The troops ought to be sent into the
Territory, and kept there long enough to put
the re establishment Of the Federal authority
beyond doubt or danger. Their presence would
be no hardship, no encroachment upon any
right of the People, and could be objected to
only by those of them who are disloyal to the
Union, or apprehend the disruption of the the
oc,atic despotism which holds In its grasp hun.
dreds, if not thousands, of ignorant, unwilling
victims.
We infer, from the tone of the Union, that
the apparent recognition of the appointment of
Governor Cumming is all that the Administra.
ton requires. The enforcement of the laws of
the United States in the Territory does not ap-
pear to be within the scope of its policy
Chief Justics Echols, evidently under the
impression that law was to be expounded and
administered in Utah as in other Territories,
delivered bold charge to the Grand Jury
against certain prevalent crimes, especially
Polygamy, which We find thus reported in the
Washington Union:
Judge Echors Charge to the Grand Jury.