The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-01-26
UTAH.

1t Is long road that has no turn. When
the republican national convention, in 1856 |
declared that it was the right and duty of
congress to prohibit in the territories those
twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and
slavery it seemed as if the former con-
fined as it was and is to single territory,
could be easily suppressed, but instead
thereof slavery, then apparently in an i'm
pregnable position, went down in blood
within less than ten years, not only in the
territories but throughout the Union, while
polygamy still remains to vex the people.
The so-called "Mormon Bible'-the insane
rhapsodies of silenced preacher and
played out shop keeper, Spauldng by
name -condemned the practice Of polyg-
amy, but not SO, Joe Smith the ''prophet
and martyr" whose blood was the "seed of
the church." While at Nauvoo, Illinois, he
claimed to receive revelation which COM
mendcd polygamy as dogma of the Nor
mon creed. So repugnant was this dogma,
that he ventured not to make 1t public,
dreading its effect on his people, but i'm
parted it to few of the leaders who, with
HIM, proceeded to put the same in practice.
The charge of such practices was publicly
made at the time and as publicly denied
and il is more than probable that but for
the dsgracefu mob at Nauvoo and the
subsequent murder of Smith, it would
never have become common and would, in
tine from ito vorv vcpuupaucn IN I'm
man mind, haye died out. But in this, as
IN many other cases, "the blood of the
martyr was the seed of the church., and
when the dispersed children of the church
of the latter day saints were re.assembled
in Utah, and thus placed the desert and
mountains between them aud civilization,
they not only confessed, but openly and
boldly practised and proclaimed it to be
the religion of Utah. Under the leader
ship and governorship of Brigham Young,
polygamy became the rule, and monogamy
the exception to the rule, among them.
This was the situation when the republic
cans made their declaration in 1886.
During the first congress after they came
into power, the republican party commence
edredeemlng their pledge by enacting a law
Introduced, we believe, by Justin S. Nor
rill-prohibiting polygamy in all of the ter
ritories of the United States, abrogating the
statutes of Utah on the subject, and making
its practice crime punishable by fine and
imprisonment. This was, at the time, al
that congress could do. 1t, however, was
practically a dead letter, from an inability
to enforce il on account of the remote and
almost inaccessible situation of Utah, and
because the government had its hands fll
in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. The
war finished and the work of "reconstruc
ton entered upon, attention was once
more turned to Utah and officers were ap
pointed with express reference to the en-
forcement of this law. Difficulty wal
found at every step, and Mormon courts
laws and juries were in the way of progress
The president, however, determined tina
the law should be enforced, repeatedly call
ed the attention of congress to the condi
ton of affairs, the legal notification OF tn
law, If we may use the expression, and ask