The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-05-21

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has been hostile rather from the inheien
spirit of its creation than from any deaiqr
on the part of that people,"
They add:
THAT by reason Of polygamy in Q tai
great crimes have been committed. ane
have been let go unwhipped of justice.
Open violation of the authority of the
government has frequently occurred
The ssnctity of the ermine has been pro-
famed, the course of justice DISTRACTED.
Organized assassination has been fire..
quently perpetrated."
1t is also q fact, IS appears by the
records Of the judicial PROCEEDINGS of thi:
country, that the Mountain MesdoW
massacre was traced directly TO the Nor
mon Church, and that twenty years after
the commission Of that crime, one who
had stood high in that church Stephen
u. Lee-was tried, convicted and exc
cuted for participation in it. 1t appeared
IN that trial that the Mormon Church not
only Ninked at but had melted the mas
sacre.
II all these things be true, Mr..
Speaker, if that institution is Rntl-repub-
licRn, if it threatens the safety OF this
nation, why should it not be stamped out2
Why should anyone holding to those
opinions and prsctieing those tenets be
admitted to 8 seat in this HOuse2 L. there
no law or authority to prevent
this? Is it possible that a man
who is q member Of a political religious
association which is hostile not only 10
the spirit of our laws but also to the let.
ter of the American laws and constitu-
ton can claim as q right under that con-
stitution g seat in the House?
This question is not new one. In the
case of John Young Brown, of Kentucky,
who was duly elected q Representative
from the ninth Congressional district of
that state, and claimed his seat by virtue
of aaid election in the Forty first Con-
gress, the committee on elections de-
cided that disloyalty disqualified him
from taking his seat in the House. And
yet he had never taken an oath TO sup
port the constitution of the United States
which be had sfterWard violated; he had
never borne arms against the United
States government; he had never COM
mitted any overt act; all that he did was
to declare in q public speech. and AFTER
ward in letter, that
Not one man or one dollar will Ken
lucky furnish Lincoln to aid him in his
unholy war against the south. If this
northern my shall attempt to Cross our
borders we will resist it uuto desth, and
If one NAN shall be found in our COM
monwea!th TO volunteer to Join them he
ought, ana believe will be, shot down
before he leaves the state.
Before the committee he admitted that
he had used this language, but denied
the authority of Congress 10 refuse him
seat ia the House, inasmuch IS the
language did not constitute an Ofense or
"a Sc q disqualification under the consti-
tuition. Mr.. Dawes, the pres
ent senator from Massachusetts,,
was chairman of the committee on
elections. The political friends of Mr..
Brown in Congress commended that even
if he was guilty Of dislOyslty he could
not be refused sest in the first in
stance; that all that could be done would
be to admit him, and then if he was
guilty Of ny crime that would disqualify
him from holding his seat, he could be
expelled. Mr.. Dawes, in his argument
in the House in support Of the report of
the committee, saidi
If he has right to enter this body,
his disloyalty, what
right have we sfterward to expel him?
And if we have q right to expel him for
have we not a right to keep
him out for the same dislOyAlty?
Why would they (his political friends)
expel man from this House If he were
a traitor? To punish him? Certainly
not, for that is not the punishment pre-
scribed for tre4sen. Is it to overawe and
restrain treason? That is puerile and RI
diculoas. What is it for? There is no
other reason assignAble except for The
public safety. If the public
safety calls upon US to expel q member
after he has put himself into his seat, be-
cause he has the life of the nation in his
keeping, is not the public safety regarded
more, is not the public safer by not let.
ting him into the seat at all? The Gus
tody of the citadel is entrusted to your
hands; the enemy approaches; you are
bound to use all the means that are re-
ouired to make that citadel safe. are
you to admit the enemy into the walls
and then drive him out. Sir, tie homely
verse into which the speech was put
two hundred years ago 10 the
British Parliament when Charles
IL undertook to batter down
the doors of the House of Commons and
trample under his feet the liberties of
England are q better commentary upon
that position than anything can say;
hea. lion in the lobby roar!
Say, Mr.. Speaker, shall We shut the door
Aud keep him out, or shall we let him in
To try if we can turn him out again?
taka II cir. that the sanoa nuastion-
the public safety-applies in this case,
only with great. force and potency. In
the case of Mr.. Brown the rebellion,
with which it was charged be had Gym
pathized, had been over for more than
three years. Every man in rebellion had
long since LAID down his arms. The au-
thoTity Of the Government was scknowl-
edged in every part Of the country. A
loyal people had by an overwhelming
majority elected to the Chief Msgistraey
of the nation the man who had led the
Union armies to victory and the country
10 pace.
Here the danger which threatens the
public safety is impending. The people
of Utah and the contestant himself defes
our laws. They scoff at the decisions Of
the Supreme Court Of the United States.
In the language OF the late President
Garfield in his mAtchless inaugural adj
dress:
s!The Territories of the United States
are, subject to the direct Legislative au-
thority Of Congress; and hence the Cen
ersl Government is responsible for any
violation Of the Constitution In any Of
them. It is, therefore, reprosch to the
Il IL