Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-05-03
ruB MORMON MIDDLE.

The brief history of the Mormon troubles
now Just brought TO an end bya decision OF
| Chief Justice Chase, appears to be pretty
much as follows. A year or so ago, DIR. d.
Il. Newman, Methodist clergyman OF
| Washington city, went out to Utah, on the
| profitable errand of havinga grand discus
sion of polygamy and its Bible warranty,
| he to DO OH one side with his more or less
profound erudition, and such eminent He
braists as Pratt and Orson Hyde on the 9TH
err. Whatever else this valuable conference
accomplished, it determined DIR. Newman
| to encourage crusade against the Nor
| mons, and TO this end he instigated the
| President to authorize their prosecution
| and TO pursue them by all means available,
and, as now appears from the Chief JUS
| tees decision, by means as Illegal and re-
CARELESS of law as any that could well be
thought of. The principal instrument of
this prosecution was Judge Mexican, an
enthusiastic Methodist, who went out to
U tab not to do his work as n judge, but to
root wickedness out of the land and cru
SADIE against polygamy. lie is ignorant of
law, somewhat feather headed, and as
much out of place in court of justice
where he sat on the bench delivering stump
spe eches as any man well could be any
where in the world, Judge Mexican per-
ceived that he could do nothing unless he
could erect his Territorial court into Uni
led States court, and this he proceeded TO
do. Why he did not declare himself to be
the federal executive and legislature, and
proceed TO levy troops and make war up
on the Territorial government, is TO be eX-
planned by prudential reasons, we suppose;
as for color of law, he had as good right TO
do that as he had to do what he did. The
law, as again and again enounced by the
Supreme Court is that such courts are not
United States courts, except for certain spe-
cifc purposes, and that they never can be
United States courts for the enforcement of
Territorial statute, which is in no sense a
| law of Congress, and which Territorial
court must enforce. 1t must enforce it, too,
| by means of its own Territorial officers.
| What Mexican did was to make his court a
| United States court when 1t was not; TO
enforce in it Territorial statutes which, had
his court really been United States court,
W ould have had no place in II, to mix with
these laws of Congress; and for executing
the processes of this hybrid tribunal, to use
not constables and sherif1s of the Territory
but United States marshals, and this be-
cause by their assistance grand and petty
jurors pledged to indictment and oonvic-
ton could be secured.
All this was done in corner, but against
the reiterated appeals of the United States
District Attorney, who insisted upon the
foolish and lawless violence of the whole
proceeding. 1t was done, nevertheless, till
nov the Chief Justice brings Mexican up
with very round turn, declaring that for
a twelve month past the Territorial court
| has been committing monstrous judicial
usurpations and trampling on law. The
| deci sion will at once release l3S persons
from illegal arrest and imprisonment. The
| position was delicate one for tho admin
| istration. 1t was indeed between the devil
| and the deep sea. On the one hand, it had
| to adopt and sanction the grossest illegality !;
| on the other ii had to oflend-or fancied ii
| had to oilend-the Methodist denomination,
which it appears TO have paid the compli-
| ment of presuming TO be less regardful of
| the authority OF the law than most of the
| Methodists' fellow-citizens suppose them.
The Chief Justice has relieved II from this
| embarrassment, for DR.. Newman himself
| will not now ask the President to go on FUR
| Their in Judge McKoan's direction. Mean
| time, the Mormons, to whom all this futile
h arrowing has attracted Il sort OF sympa-
| thy which is not their due, have formed a
State Government, though they have not
probably more than three-fourths Of the
| requisite number Of inhabitants to make
| even one of our absurd'y small far West
ern State populations, and have elected as
pros pective Senators Mr.. Hooper, long their
delegate, homogeneous and otherwise re-
| spectacle person, and the Hon. Thomas
| Fitch, person such as is apt TO be sent up
as first Senator from newly formed States.
| The Nation.