New-York tribune., 1879-01-20
ings. rs soon as it is seen that capital previ-
ously invested begins to secure fair returns
POL YGAMY.

the Administration rot to enforce the POlyR-
any Act so far as it applies to plural mar
riages contracted before the decision Just
pronounced by the Supreme Court. Commit
tees of the "womcn of Utah" and OF ladies'
well known in public affairs at the East nave
waited upon the President and begged HIM 10
forbcar from interference with the happy
homes" now fl0urisbing in the Mormon
countIy. The ladies and the Delegate alike
assume that the bigamous unions were con-
tracled in good faith, and that they
were iuStiliablc-if not strictly legal and
commcndabe-until the Supreme Court
last week pronounced them null. 1t
is Just as well to clear this matter OF
the rubbish of false sentiment. The
final Judgment of the court of last resort does
nothing but affirm the validity of law when
has been in existence for nearly seventeen
years. If there is any period during when
polygamy may be said to have been lcgalIzcd
in Utah. it is only the seven years between
the ratification of certain church ordinances
by the Territorial Legislature in 1919, and
the formal disapproyal and annul'iD9 OF that
ratification $50 far as it touched plural mar
ragcs) by the Act of Congress Of 1862. The
higher courts have treated "spiriua! mar
"liagc" as mere cOncub;naGe. No Mormon
can have been in doubt as to the precise
bearing of the laws of the country upon his
domestic institutions. Brigham Young hlnl-
self, when he was sued for divorce and aIlmOny
four years ago by one Of his wives, Ann
Eliza, set up the defence that his pretended
marriage with her was in law blEamous and
therefore void, and he won his case on that
plea, the court deciding that there could
he 40 divorce because there had been no mar
raSe. it is sheer affectatiOn then to ask mercy
for the inmates of the Salt Lake harcms on
the ground that they transgressed i'll lgnoF-
ancc.
Whether it may not be desirable to over
look the past infractiOns OF the statute Is Il
question OF public policy, not Of sentiment
1t would be impossible, even if il were de-
sirablc, to punish all the blgamsts in Utah
with fine and imprisonment according to the
terms of the Act; but in civil suits the true
characterOi the plural marriages will have to be
fully recognized whatever the nsequcnces, and
if misery is thereby carried into "happy homes
we must remember that the population of
those establishments rushed into crime with
their eyes wide open, dcfying the power of
the United States. and jeering at the author
ity which attempted to save them from the
consequences Of their sin and folly. And even
if for the sake of humanity we could ignore
the past, it would be impossible to overlook
the fact that the Mormon people are still de-
liant as respects the future While their rep
rcscntatives at Washington are praying for
peace. the Saints in the West are breathing
rebellion. The organ of the Church at Salt
Lake City declares that when the Latter Day
Saints took the oath of allegiance to the
"Constitution and Government Of the
United states they made no promise
20 of submission to any interference with their
"rclig gious liberty neither did they agree that
Congress or any court should decide what
might or might not be a part of their religious
faith" 1t protests that the decision of the
Supreme Court has not affected the lawfuness
of polygamy in any degree " the principles
(which uDderie plural marriage are just as
Z" true to-day as they were at any previous
"time, and no human law or court can pos
"siby alter or abrogate them"
The language of this extract is rather more
guarded than Mormon utterances usually are,
but only one Interpretation can be put upon
il. The Saints intend to resist the law to the
very end. They have always in practice re-
garted the United States as IL foreign and
hostile Power, to which they owe no
respect. although it may force them at times
70 a sulcn obedience. They have their own
laws. their own morals, their own civiliza-
ton, their own rulers, their own State Of
Dcseret, rightly Independent as they think,
albeit actually subjugated and they pay moth
inc except upon compulsiOn to any outside
authority That polygamy will be abandoned
at the bidding of Congress and the Supreme
Court by a fanatical and headstrong pOpua-
tion like this is not to be supposed We are
bound to put forth our best cndeayorS TO sup
nress il 4: but the labor will be hard and long.
At the outset we must abandon foolish
aiectatons of sympathy for the polygamous
wives of Utah, who are surely no better than
their husbands and who do not deserve our
tenderness and have not asked for it. When
ever the master OF the scragli0 is in arms
against the Government, they are in arms
against it too. They all sing the chorus of
defiance together, like the Ruler of the
Queens Navee" in the play, and his retinue
of female relations
"I snap my fingers at a foemans taunts,
And SO do his sisters and la. cousins, and his auns
Ill, sisters aud his couSus and his aunts!"
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