The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-05-03

| rlgnIS as American citizens are tram
PIED upon, and believing it our impera.
tive duty, in the presence of such
danger, 10 protest against the gigantic
evll winch threatens, not only GU
nDertles but the liberties of ever,
freeman, we, in general mass meeting
assembled, In the name of freedom
lustlce ana humanity make this appea
Tor relief and protection.
we are unpopular with our fellow
countrymen; it is our religion whicl
makes US so; we are small minoritr
IN tnelr midst; but we have vet t,
learn that these are grounds upol
Wnlch 10 justify, In land of liberty
tne actS OF oppression which we a!
a people, from the beginning of ou
history have been made to suffer.
AS TO our religious faith, it is baset
upon evidence, which to our minds i.
conclusive; convictions not to be de.
stroyed by legislative enactment,
erludlclal decisions. Force may en-
Save the body, but it cannot convinc,
the mind. To yield, at the demand Of
the legislator or the judge, the rights O.
conscience, would prove us recrean
TO every duty we owe to God and man
Among the principles of our religion
Is That OF immediate revelation from
God; one of the doctrines so revealed
Is celestial or plural marriage, fol-
which ostensibly, we are stigmatizeC
and hated. This is a vital part OF
our religion, the decisions of courts to
the contrary Notwithstanding. Ever
the Utah Commission concede this. In
their report to the Secretary of the In
terror, November, 1884, speaking of
plural marriage, they say: "This article
OF their faith is as much an essential and
substantial part of their creed, as their
oellef In baptism, repentance for the
forgiveness of sins, and the like.
All orthodox Mormons believe poly
gamy to be right, and that it is an es-
sentlal part of their creed"
mat the Latter-day Saints should
view this as a principle OF their re-
nglon may require explanation. Poly
gamy, as understood among occidental
nations, is a system of sensuality, and
II Is difficult for people among them to
conceive how it can be associated with
pure religion. But the Latter-day
Saints believe that the marriage rela-
ton is one which, when properly SOL
emnlzed here, exists in eternity. Every
faithful woman in the Church believes
that In order to insure her exaltation
In the presence of God and the Lamb,
she should be married or sealed to an
upright, faithful man. Acting upon
this belief, these alliances are formed
while on the earth, upon the principle
that the man is not without the Wo-
man nor the woman without the man
IN the Lord. They firmly believe that
God has revealed this to them as a
command, but while patriarchal mar
rage, as it is termed, is part of their
faith and nrQpfipa fhou houo No iJao
that it should become universal. The
equality of the sexes, if no other
reason, would prevent this. 1t is a
mistaken idea that our Church favors
the propagation of this doctrine or
seeks to establish it as a universal sys-
tenn. At the same time we fully believe
that women should be married, even if
two or three of them, as in the family
OF Abraham, Jacob and others, become
the wives of one man. Instead, there
fore, of our system of marriage promot-
ing sensuality, experience has proved
that it checks it; and instead of being
destructive of the family relation, it is
preseryative of it.
Plural marriage was publicly pro-
claimed doctrine of the Church in
1852. Congress declared it crime in
1862; but the law enacted against it re-
manned for seventeen years dead
letter, the Federal officials hesitating to
enforce it, as if they doubted its con-
stitutionallty The law of 1862 was not
declared constitutional until the 9th of
January, 1879. Plural marriage, there
fore, was openly taught and practised
ten years before any law existed against
1t; and twenty seven years had elapsed
from the time of its first public pro-
mitigation, until the Supreme Court
decided the law to be constitutional.
Thus it is apparent that plural mar
rage was not introduced in violation of
law, but the law was enacted against
this principle of our religion.
The charges of treason and rebellion
made against our people, are as a5-
surd as they are untrue. We have
given too many proofs of our loyalty |
for such accusations to have weight. |
Thrice driven from our homes, and |
while fleeing from the confines of the |
nation which refused US protection, |
call was made upon us for five hundred |
men.to assist in fighting our country's |
battles in Mexico. They were prompt
ly furnished, though it took the flower
Of the camp-the able bodied men of |
that band of refugees. They left their
mothers, wives and little ones, en-
camped in tents and wagons upon the |
prairies, and performed an unparalleled
march of two thousand miles, over bar
zen plains and bleak mountains, to the
scene of action, where they rendered
signal service in their country's cause.
The main body of the exiles contin-
led their western fight until they
cached the Rocky Mountains, where
hey unfurled the Stars and Stripes,
which had led their desert march, and
wo years after framed a republican
constitution and applied for admission
IS State into the Union. Are these
'viGsnces of disloyalty?
All through our history the general
government has seemed to regard us
ess as loyal American citizens than as
dangerous alien element. 1t NAV
ave been induced at times to recognize
hat we had some justice on our side,
Tut 1t has never come to our defense.
20 a delegation which narrated in
turning words the story of our wrongs
q Missouri, the chief magistrate of
he nation made the humiliating con-
ession that though our cause was lust
e could do nothing for US. The land
whose Constitution, in the language
4 its trainers, was hoped to be broad
nough to shelter under its mantle
be Jew, the Mohammedan, the Pagan,
s well as the Christian, has scarcely
cen able to tolerate, much less to
rotect, the numerically insignificant
lormons. I
The general government has ever