The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-03-03
BALTIMORE.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1853.

We published yesterday, in full, the message O
that arch-traitor, Brigham Young, to the Mormon
legislature in session at Great Salt Lake CITY, de
! hvered December 18th, 1857. In form, this docu
ment is an attempted defence of the people ant
government of Utah from the charge of rebellion
and treason; in substance, it is Mormon declara
ton OF independence. The presence of United
States troops upon the soil of Utah is commented
upon as fragrant violation of popular sovereignty
as {" a hostile INVASION, and as '!levying O
war against the most loyal territory known
since the days Of the Revolution" The right o.
resistance is eaborately vindicated, and the pur-
pose Of resistance is explicitly ayowed. The Rubi-
con is passed. There is now but one course to
pursue consistently with the honor of the Republic
The General Government must enforce the supre-
macy OF It's laws, and the authority of its officers
at all hazards, and with the utmost means at its
command, or we must tamely submit to the dis
memberment Of our empire, and the establishment
in the very heart of our territory of a separate and
Independent sovereignty, at once foreign and hos
tile. There is other alternative In the fulness
Of time the false religion has duly ripened into
the political treason. Mormonism has at length
borne its legitimate fruit in open and undsguised
rebellion. Let there be no more hesitation on the
part of Congress TO the necessity of arming the
Executive with powers adequate TO the proper en-
orcement of the laws which his constitutional oath
requires him to execute. The case is one of too
great urgency to brook delay-of too great mpor
tance to admit of trifing. No half-measures will
now suffice. Troops are wanted, and enough Of
them. The present force under Col. Johnston is
wholly insufficient for the formidable task of con-
quering Utah. 1t is not mere rebellion which we
have TO subdue; it is foreign war which we are
about to wage against people alien in blood. and
alien in feeling, whom no domestic ties of kindred
friendship bind in kindly fellowship with the
rest OF the Union, and whose sympathies we cannot
even be said TO have lost for the reason that we
never possessed them. According TO their own
creed, the Mormons are 4" peculiar people, chosen
and set apart" while we, and all the world are
Gentiles and Aliens.
They all emigrants; but their affections CEN
tire exclusively in the land of their adoption: that
Of their nativity, no longer viewed in the light OF
home, is regarded only as IA land of bondage and
of Babylonish captivity They are mostly for
elgnerS, and for them the name and flag of the
Republic and the glorious traditions of our history
have no charm Of prestige or association The iso-
lation Of their mountain-home has contributed still
further to wean the inhabitants of Utah from all
attachment to the Union, while the systematic mis-
representations Of their rulers have tended to inspire
them with actual hatred of its government. Sur
rounded by lofty mountains, whose rocky defles
might each be made Thermopylae of Mormon
freedom, Utah seems formed by nature for the home
of free people, and may yet prove the Circassa Of
America. Under such circumstances it is folly to
temporise. Immediate and efficient action is re-
quired to preserve the integrity of our territory.
and to uphold the supremacy of our laws. We do
not doubt for one instant the disposition of the
President to exert all his constitutional powers in
this behalf
The responsibility rests with Congress whether
or not he shall be sustained That the people will
sustain him. the tone of the entire press throughout
the country leaves no room to doubt. The Mormon
rebellion is everywhere regarded with Indignation,
and the foul mposture of which it is the legitimate
result, with abhorrenee
If Col. Johnston and the brave men under his
command, overpowered by numbers and taken at
disadvantage should meet with any reverse in at
tempting to force their way through the mountain
passes which constitute the only of approach
to the Mormon capital-if the soldiers of the Repub-
lie should be compelled to retire in the face of arm
ed rebellion, and the honor of its flag be tarnished
by defeat sustained at the hands of successful
treason, the representatives of the people, who by
their votes in Congress have given ''aid and COM
fort to the enemy must expect to bear the burden
of the shame