The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-02-26

0LOA0LO hA40S IaI
repeatedly, on trivial pretexts, re
fused their assent to laws mos
wholesome and necessary for tn
pubic good. They have abused tn,
pardonlng power by turning loos,
upon the community conVicts dan
! gerouS to the public peace. They
have sought to Obstruct the func
tions of the territorial government
by refusing their approval of legis
latlYe appropriations and their sig
natures to needed enactments unless
handicapped by unusual and unrea-
sonable measures. They have at
tempted to render the military hos
tile and superior to the civil power,
by calling on troops to enforce or
ders depriVing citizens OF the right
90 pear arms even when celebrating
the anniversary Of our national in
dependence. When soldiers sta
toned near us have been arrested
for grosslyIviolating municipal laws
they have been forclbly released by
military authority. Others have
quietly enjoyed their quarters even
when the general was appealed to
for military aid, while the militia Of
the Territory were compelled to de-
fend the homes of the people from
the hostile encroachments of Indi-
ans who had plundered and killed
defenseless citizens.
| The district and supreme judici-
airy Of the Territory, depending
alone upon the will OF the general
government for the tenure of
their offices, and for the amount
and payment of their salaries
have frequently INSTRUCTED justice
by ruling in the interest of de-
hatchery, prostitution and kindred
crimes, and have rendered vexa-
tieus, unprecedented and c0ntradic-
tory decisions against municipal
regulations and in favor of lawless
liquor vendors. They have him
dered the naturalization of foreign
ers by requiring religious tests, and
thereby have discouraged immigra-
ton. By speciOus rulings, invading
even the boundless domain Of be-
lief, they have sought to deprive
citizens when accused of crime. of
the right of trial by an impartial
jury of their peers. In other cases
they have packed juries in order to
secure convictions. These unlaw-
full, extreme and hurtful measures
having been carried to such an I'M
bearabIe extent, the National SUI
preme Court on appeal, IN many in
stances has reversed the decisions Of
the Territorial courts and remanded
the causes for new trial
Other government officials have
endeaVored to cripple and break up
our cooperative, mercantile and in
dustrial institutions, by illegal i'm
position of revenue taxes to the
amount Of many thousands Of dol
lars, requiring expensive suits at
law for the recovery of the large
sums extOrted. Some of our most
hOnOred citizens have been impriS-
oued upon trivial preteXts. and with
out support of law or precedent,
other than that established by the
malice OF bigotry and hatred and
when their incarceration has been
by higher powers pronounced I'M
lawful, unjust and cruel, the suffer
ers have remained without redress.
Officials, bound by their cath of
office to sustain the Constitution
and laws of the country, have disre-
garded their sacred obligations,
and persistently arrayed themselves
against the people whom they have
been paid to serve, losing sight of
law, justice and equity, and often
of humanity, they have frequently
joined with scheming adventures,
whose greed for spoil has only been
equ&led by their malevolence, and
in order to acquire influence have
persistently misrepresented the
opinions, aims and practices Of the
people. Thus they have succeeded
in arousing jealouSies and heart
burnings Of the tiereest kind, and
have rendered alien to each other
those who ought to be bound to-
gether by fraternal affection.
Government officials, in many in
stances, instead Of administering
the law, have overridden their con
powers, exceeded their |
authority, and in the most vexa-
tious manner annoyed, harasSed and
trammeled the people in the exer-
else of their political, religious and
civil rights. They have tainted our
best citizens with the charges of |
called them traitors to !
our country, reproached, insulted
and Eincarcerated them under pre-
tence of crimes repulsive and foreign
to their nature, and have prosecuted !
others under laws enacted against |
offences totally different from those |
alleged. Thus men have been !,
punished for the United States
offense of polygamy, under the ter
ritorial laws against lewd and |
lasciviouS cOhabitatiOn; and the /
reason such laws are not now upon
our statute books is because prose
cutions have been conducted under
their provisions in cases to which
they were never intended to apply !
and to which they were entirely
foreign. They have designated our
citizens as the scum and Offscour-
ings of the world, morally debased
and physically corrupt; and yet
saloons, gambling dens,
billiard halls and houses of assigna-
ton, harlots, libertines and prOsti
tutes have been urged rs a means