Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-05-05

new. What is the true policy Of this Gov
eminent? To let them alone. By sending
this army forward, you probably have perpet-
uated their absurd religious and social organ
izafion for ten, perhaps twenty years, longer
than it would otherwise endure. They have
lived by persecution from the first. There Is
not an intelligent man among them who will
not say that the prosecutions with which
they have met in their former career have
been great source of their rapid multiplied
ton. / am acquainted with a very modest
and intelligent young man among them-1
have not seen him for some time-as honest
as any man, but on the verge of arrangement.
though still intelligent There is thin, pa
per-like wall between sanity and insanity in
him, so that while you converse with him you
cannot hut have certain sort of respect for
his intellect and the fiashings of his genius.
which he exhibits even in animated converse
ton. much more in his public addresses. He
admitted to me that they were indebted for
their large increase TO the prosecutions they
had endured. making martyrs of men. cement
ing and confirming their devotion to their alb
surd faith. he not admitting il TO be absurd.
You have, by this false movement, probably
perpetuated the social system of that people
within our boundaries for ten years at least.
If you had let them alone, they would have
dissolved in few years by their own dissen-
sions. The young man of whom have spo-
ken did not Ike the system of polygamy: it
was hardly mooted when conversed with
him. He would not tolerate such thing for
moment and there are a large portion of
them who do no not adhere to the idea that it
is a proper system.
Then sir, you may ask. why ought the
President to have appealed to Congress?
That is the next point which l will mako.
1t may be asked. what would we have to
advise? 1t was his duty to lay before Con-
gress the difficulties that existed in Utah. and
to ask their opinion and their action. He
ought to have consulted the national Legisla-
ture as to what it was prudent to do. These
irregularities existed for two years before.
though not perhaps to so great an extent: but
to some extent. There was the same failure
in the administration of law there. and there
were no causes arising for adjudication by
our judges. We could better have paid their
salaries than paw for this extensive expodi-
ton. We should have advised him probably
to let them alone. We might have advised
that it would be inexpedient, under the
circumstances, TO persecute these people, or
to do anything that they might consider to
be persecution, and to establish non-inter-
course with them. if you please; and to in
hihit (if we thought proper to consid them
in state of rebellion against he United Stat s
authorites) the immigration of additional
Mormons to strengthen them while in that
Territory. We might have thought proper
TO institute negotiations to buy them off and
send them out of our territory. by furnishing
them the means to buy a new country. where
they would be within no other jurisdiction
than their own; for instance. on some island
in the Pacific. We might come to an under
standing by which our own cmigrant trains.
passing to California or to Oregon should go
peaceably. We might have provided mill
tary escort. to some extent to protect the
emgrant trains. Any of these plans would
have been better than to have incurred the
enormous expenditure which we are likely to
incur by having war with these Mormons,
who will undoubtedly consider it as religious
persecution, and which will tend to establish
them permanently somewhere, and link them
together by new sympathes, by the recollec-
ton of common prosecutions. for years and
years beyond the time they would endure, if
we had let them alone.
This would have been according to the
practice of our Presidents heretofore When
it was proposed to nullify the. laws of the
United States in the State of South Carolina,
did General Jackson dare to institute any
military expedition on his own discretion and
authority? South Carolina not only threat
ened resistance, but was actually organizing
her forces, disciplining them regularly, pro-
viding arms and munitions of war. express
ing the strongest determination that people
could eXprF IS, 10 Carry ont their principles
And what did General Jackson do? He laid
the case before Congress, asked their advice
and opinion, and they passed a law which.
although it was called the bloody bill at the
time, was very mild in its provisions. The
first great object was to secure the regular
collection of the revenue, and then if there
were distractions to the eX cution of the
laws of the United States in the State of
South Carolina, it was provided that if any
case of that sort should be Motif d to the
President by an associate Judge of the Su-
preme Court, or judge of the district court,
the President might use the same means that
he was authorized to employ under the act of
1895. after complying with the prerequisites
of that act. Then, again, that act was not
permitted to be in existence more than
year. Congress, under all the excitement,
and the determined spirit of the majority to
have the laws executed. were not willing to
trust even General Jackson with the exercise
of unlimited discretion under the acts of 1895
and 1907, a revived. with some modification,
in the act of 1898, tor more than one year.
They required the matter to come back for
the revision of Congress, for the repeal or
modification of the law at the end ola year.