The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-05-14
PROTEST. PRESENTED.
Tho Committee and President
Cleveland.
rup ACCOMPANYING ADDRESS.
.d to AttentiveIy by the Presi-
deut-The Law to be Impair
TALLY Administered.
= ;, = Committee At washington.

mao Committee AT HhsAAhStOA'
WASHINGTON, May Congressional
,.Ioga+e John T. Game, o.. Utah, John
- ~ TAYLOR. son of the President of the
,forron church, and John Q. Cannon,
Of ex-Congressional Delegate Can
on who compose the delegation sent
- the Mormon Church to lay before
.ts President statement of grievances
ftbe Mormons and present the address
gently adopted by the mass meeting
= Mormons against the action of the
T.doraI officials, called by appointment
The Executive mansion this morning
snJ Nv we're received by the President in
.ho library. AS the delegation entered,
tb ,o President was seated at
S,;S desk, but Immediately arose, shook
i hands with Mr.. Game, and was then
;in,troduced to Mr.. Taylor and Mr.. Can
mn Mr.. Came then read the address
m the President, VINO remained stand
inc during the Interview. The President
iig3ened courteously and attentively to
the address, and upon its conclusion
aid "Well, gentlemen, SO far. of
course as the Edmunds law was con-
cerned had nothing to do with that;
Of course, it is my duty to see that it is
enforced as well as all other laws. You
are entitled to fair consideration, and to
have the law impartially administered,
as YOU have asked, and so far as any APP
pointments which | shall make are con-
eerned, l will endeavor to give you
character of men who Will see that the
law is impartlally administered. | hope
h 10 10 ut q
hut il will take little time"
The Presidents face broke into a
smile as he concluded: 81 wish you out
there could be like the rest of us"
"Au we ask" reioined Mr. Game. ISIS
that the law shall be impartially admin
istered."
You are entitled to that" said the
President, and so far as l am concerned,
shall see that it is done. [ will give
these matters my attention as carefully
as possible.
Another delegation entered at this
time, and the MormonS saluted the
President and withdrew.
Following is the address presented by
the Mormons to President Cleveland:
Mr.. President: The Latter-day Saints
assembled in general conference at
Logan. Utah, on the 9th day of April,
1885, appointed a committee to draft
specific statement of the wrongs they
have suffered and are still suffering
from the tyrannical conduct of Federal
officials. The committee thus created
submitted the result of its, labors. The
Mormon people gathered in mass meet
ing IN several counties of that Terri
tory on the I'd of May, 1885. The
people, of their own free will, unani-
mously and enthusiastically ratified this
Declaration of Grievances and Pro-
test, and the undersigned were dele
gated to come here and formally deliver
the same to you. In the performance
Of this duty, We beg leave to assure you
that this document voices the unified
expression of the whole Mormon people.
1t is not themere dictum of the church
authorities. The first presidency OF the
church had nothing whatever to do
with the preparation or ratification of
this declaration of the peoples griey-
ance and their protest of wrongs in
hicted upon them. The people wanted
to have formulated the facts of their
faith, such as are made the cause of
complaint against them, and also a
statement of the acts Of men who nave
been sent by the government
to rule over them. This has
been done, and the people have
approved thereof and made it their act
and deed. In the exercise of the right
guaranteed to them by the Constitution
of the United States, nearly 200 600
citizens appeal to their fellow-citizens
for fair hearing, and petition you for
redress of their grievances. The Nor
mon people have been patient, forbear-
nd ffor IA
been, they are not, and they will not be
disloyal on IaY-defying. They have,
within the law, steadfastly resisted,
what they believed to be unjust enact
ments, but they have not resisted, and
will not resist the judgments of the
courts. They maintain, however, that
they ought not to be made victims OF
special legislation enacted under general
laws. The act of Congress Furnishing
by fine and imprisonment I'M
lawful cohabitation IS unquestion-
ably general law, applying
alike to all the inhabitants of the
territory over which the United States
claim exclusive jurisdiction. 1t must
have been intended to suppress vice and
immortality as we'll as to punish Nor
mons who maintained marital relations
With their plural wives, but the prose-
cutting officers in Utah have declared
this law was not made to be applied to
lnon-Mormons; held that Mormons, who
have maintained the offspring OF their
plural marriages, and recognized as
their wives women they espoused be-
lore the passage of the Edmunds law,
were guilty of its violation, and upon
this ruling men have been condemned
and sentenced and are now undergoing
punishment, although they were ready
and offered to prove that they had not
'cohabited with more than one woman
since the passage of the Edmunds act.
Recently, man who confessed TO nav
ing seduced his wife's sister. was ar
rested upon a charge of unlawful co
habitation,' but was. upon a h1oeqS
cofpus proceeding, released. set Tree py
the Chief Justice of the Territory Whe
held that the Edmunds law was not III
tended and did not apply to such cases.
1t is probably needless to add that the
accused in this case was not Mormon.
The Mormon people do not ask that YOU
Shall even "wrest once law e? to your
authority" in order to do "a gTeal
night to them.'' They will endure
vastly aore than the public eonsciei'ct