Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-12-13
No. EOrty.Fiye.

NO. rory
Matrimonial advices from Utah
state that Mr.. Brigham Young has
just taken forty fifth wife: the ac-
tual number of his family not being
increased, rs No. % died the other
day. This looks very little like aban-
doning polygamy; and it is arithmet-
ically demonstrable that, if Nor
mon magnate is to have half hun
dred wives, the Gentle" inhabitants
must. many of them, be forced to
celibacy: fate which the gentle read
er, if he were also a Gentle and
living at Salt Lake, might possibly
regard rs unjust, if not intOlerable.
Putting moral considerations out of
the question, it is evident that, as n
mere matter of economical arrange
ment, while every man should have
one wife, he is entitled To no more
than one; and when somebody gets
ty-ive, somebody else must 90
without any Whether the effect of
this deprivation in Utah is II exacer
bate the bachelor Gentiles, and so
render them difficult to get along
with, we do not know, but if the
accounts which reach us from that
quarter are ID be credited, there is
altogether more assassination going
OIL in these parts than we should con
slider agreeable. These little events,
our correspondent writes to us, are
'.of common occurrence which
must be unpleasant to those who do
not receive the gospel of the late
Smith. We are certainly for the
largest liberation; and, as a general
True, we would have no body per-
secuted for conscience sake; but we
would have man who feels it to be
a religious duty to shoot us, mildly
restrained We wonder that Mr.
Young, who Is SO much under the
influence of lovely woman. does not
grow more amiable; but we wonder
still more, being man of sense and
in many respects of good Judge
ment. that he does not at once abol-
ish all the nonsense and wickedness
of polygamy 1t is only question
of time. The practice is doomed,
sooner or later. to disappear; it is pre-
cisely what it has been so APPLY term
ell. "a relic of barbarism;'' all the
sophistry in the world ian make it
nothing else; and, as it is not abso-
lutely part of the Mormon faith,
but is only tolerated by that faith.
and as it is totally Incompatible with
the best forms of civilization, we do
not understand why Mr.. Brigham
Young does not set a good example
to his neighbors by putting away
fourty-fou of his wives, and by
cleaving faithfully to the forty fifth
The ceremony would be impressive,
and furnish the subject for grand
historical picture, with twenty-five
repudiated ladies upon one side, an
equal number upon the other, and
No. Forty-fye standing side by side
with the Governor in the center, The
day which witnessed such a spec
tacle as this, would be the brightest
in the history of Utah. Then and
then only would there begin to be
something like social peace in that
beautiful territory; and until then
the State religion. if we may call it
so, will be a prosecuting, intolerant,
numbering religion, such as nobody
has right TO set up and maintain
in any State or Territory subject to
the Constitution of the United States.
As for the religion, such rs it is.
it must take its chances; if there be
anything good in it, that good will
survive: and whatever is bad ought
not to survive another day. 1t is
worse than folly to talk about con
science when conscience impels to
crime or to oppression What respect
are we bound to have for the con-
science which pricks OH its possessor
to murder, and to murder in its most
shameful shape? Any rascal can
pIeatU revelation Any homicide
can justify himself by the Divine
command. There is but one form
of religion that is not to be tolerated
in all America; and it is that which
sets fanaticism above the laws, and
makes private revenge a pious duty. |
1t is not necessary to suppose the |
Mormons to be maliciously wicked, |
or to love blO0dshed for its own
sake; the mischief is done when they
find in their faith an excuse for acts
which the laws of all civilized nations
forbid. Who knows what may
come nexts Who knows what affairs
of hideous sacrifice may be erected
or what victims an unreasoning en-
thusiasm may call for.
OF the final result, we have no
doubt. We have never seen a good
defense of Polygamy--never any in
fact, which was not disgraceful
sophistry; and social order and
happiness are so entirely dependent
upon the purity of the domestic rela-
tions, that while any man in Utah |
has forty-fve wives, and much
more -while several men have that
or a smaller number-we shall ex-
pet other forms OF barbarism, and
that oppression Of the Gentiles of
which mprejudiced observers com
plain. If Mr.. Brigham Young would