The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-10-26

he railroad; have not witnessed
a unchaste word, action or
GESTURE, among the hundreds
f women Ihave met, though all are
spoken, as | shall have occasion
observe. Polyg2my is without
loubt an evil, but L can safely say 1T
las destroyed other evils of little less
magnitude, and is less Of an evil here
han In any other part of the world
much less of an evil than one would
without investigation; but
till an evil great enough. Mean
7anticide are unknown. Seduction
lnd adultery r punished with death.
Any man is at liberty to STAY the Sc
lucer OF sister or daughter, aud on
rial proof of that matter makes it
Gustifable homicide" As a lawyers.
[ would merely ask, is not this better
than our silly plea of insanity" Is
not the inevitable tendency of the
to bring real pleas of insanity
into contempt? Our Government has
duty to perform in looking into the
charges against the Saints aud pun
the guilty; but before break
ing up their religious organization, L
would want to feel more sure than
| now do that they would be
better without it. Since my last, /
have met and conversed with many
Mormon ladies of intelligence. Per-
haps half Of them do not approve of,
polygamy or are silent on the subject,
but many of them are enthusiastic in
its praise. TIE Mormon woman be-
lisves that the spirits in prison are
waiting by countless millions to be
clothed upon with bodies, souls of
which the existence antedates the
birth of this globe, are waiting the
physical process by which they may
enter upon. their final predatory state,
TO which, as the highest work of Di
vine economy entrusted TO created
beings God has assigned woman. Any
means then to prevent natural in
are in the highest degree sin
full, and violent means objectionable.
a large number of men are unworthy
to join in this plan, and hence plural
ity of wives. God has commanded it in
numerous instances, and Christ never
forbade it. 1t was Gods law under
TIE Patriarchial and Mosaic dispense
tions, and the practice of the Church
of Rome and her daughters is an in
nOvatlon upon the pure gospel. Mon
ogomy is an institution of the Greeks
and Romans, which nations were
founded by bands of robbers from
the coasts of Asia Minor. They only
had for many years such women as
they captured-(see Grote, Niehbur
and Liddell)-who were in a great
minority compared to the men. Hence
a law was made that no man should
have more than one wife, which law
was afterwards engrafted on the civil
pOlity of the Romans, though julius
Caesar made an effort to have it re-
pealed. and Mark Antony disre-
earded it in taking two wives. The
early Church received this law from
the Romans, though instances are on
record where that Church allowed
polygamy, but In these better days
God has determined to restore the
fulness of the covenant, and bring In
all that is good from all dispersal
tions. Moreover nature indicates
polygamy, or, at least ligamy, as the
natural order, for the yicissitudes of
bearing and nursing render one wo-
man the equal Of two women" &c.
L have summed up the main points
of many conversations [ have had
with Mrs. Wheeler, second wife of
our nearest neighbor, a woman of
great Intelligence and a native of
London, who has travelled consider
ably in the States. [ cannot here go
into the physical argument, which is
the leading enc, though the ladies
have enforced it with an array of
facts calculated to astonish a single
man. Whether the statements of Mrs.
Wheeler in regard to the i'll health
of women in the States be true or
not, | cannot say; but this seems to
be a strong point with them, and as
one of them remarked a few days ago,
You a just follow the argument
wherever it leads our women are
it they certainly are, for their
physical arguments are more than I
can reply to; SO | have turned to the
Bible and spent many a long evening
hour pouring owe its pages with
out finding a single text which any
more than seems to condemns polyg-
amy. A large family is the great glory
Of a Mormon woman; to die childless,
a calamity, which is an outgrowth of
their religious teachings as to honor
and rule in the next world, as we'll as
their construction of the Scriptures
in regard to Sarah and Hag&r, Rachel
aud Leah, Hannah and Peninnah, and
Jeptha's daughter. During the Con-
ference, | was in the Tabernacle every
day, and among the ten thousand or
more there assembled, there were
never less than one thousand nursing
infants. 1t was a fearful sight. The.
Church records show that the num-
Der of births in the Territory has al
ready this year reached the enormous
number of $1,000. Last year it was
only o%ne-fOurth as large, which fact, a
Mormon tells me, was owing to the
circumstance that last year the Lion
ess bore young, which occurring once
In five years, is coeval with frequent
miscarriages, and a season peculiarly
unfavorable to human generation. In
conclusion [ will offer an opinion.
The enemies of Mormonism have
generally ascribed the origin Of po-
lygamy 10 the mere Wantonness of SEN
suaIity. but [ think it may be attrib-
.uted to a more enlightened view of
PUBIC DOlCy. ~ Vic tluuC WH6u tue
Saints settled in this valley, they were
promised a long period of perfect iso-
Iation. Between them and the near
est Eastern State spread eleven hun
dred miles of plain, mountain and
desert, and six hundred miles of still
more desert and impossible country
separated them from the Pacific
States. To the North were unknown
regions given up to savage Indians,
still more hostile Indians. The Pacific
railroad as then proposed did not
come within six hundred miles of
them, and few men were sanguine
1914 "a thinL If wnuld ne hnilt