The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-07-11
THE SOUL OF LAWS.

questioned. IL there i anything tina.
tends more rapi ly than anuIber 4.
weaken the p4tiiUlisIn VI The community
it is to enforce laws upOi them which
they esteem unjust AMI which ar
made By Legislators who ave no SS IN
pathy in common with the people lVi
whom the special laws are maze. Ii III,
community happen to be a colony,
n5thing will SO quickly ''wean them
from the delicate milk of the mother
country" as the enforcement OF these
laws, which come to them with a fol-
eign aspect, and antagonize tLeir in
rests. 1t is this one thing that hAs
ever made colonial existence 80 undesiIa
able. 1t has eyer been The iTuiIfu
cause of those angry contests betwe, IL
general governments and their colonial
dependencies. Whatever of trouble
England has had with her colonies may
be traced to the attempts Oi-the British
Parliament TO force upon the colonies
laws which were obnoxious to the peo-
pie. From that cause have come the
disturbances in India. from Ihenc
has come the dissatisfaction in Canau 3.
which was not quoted until England az
reed to allow Canada TO make her own
laws. 1t was the assumption OF power
to legislate for the English American
colonies in all cases whatsoever. and
A.. =. ..~-.s.+.,,t afr,rtu 70 c,rrv that a..
sumption of power into effect that
brought into existence the Navigation
act, the Boston Port Bill, the Stamp
act, the act which taxed tea, sugar, and
glass, and it was the effort of the loea
national authorities to enforce these
laws made by a parliament that held
no sympathy for the people where the
laws were to operate, that weaned III
colonies from the love they once had
for the mother country, and finally
drove them into q revolution that ter
minated in the establishment OF Ou'
own great republic.
All the political experience Oi
the past teaches our statesmen of to-
day that laws to be respected by th
people where they operate, must b
stripped of all foreign aspects. Com.
munities must not be made to feel that
they are singled out and made the OBJ
jects of special enactments of 3 legisla-
ture not their own. If they are. lit may
be depended upon that the laws so
enacted will not receive the moral sup
port Of the community; and until they
do, those laws will be Intellectual in the
suppression o the evils they were made
to-cure. The people will engage in, it
may be a silent but nevertheless an tx
tens:ve and perseyering. war against the
law that will rob it Of that vital force
necessary to the successful operation OF
laws-the moral support OF the com
munity where the law is to operate. Il
is easy for those who have urged the
passage OF the law, and who are the
agents unto whom is entrusted the en-
forcement Of it to say: BE bold; be
firm; defy Intimidation, the Law is
strong enough 70 accomplish the objeoI
OF its creation; but expeueDc, is against
them. Until the moral support OF the
particular community where the law
to operate sustaIns the vigorous n
forcement Of the law, 1t is useless for
power to tslK Of triumpbs or OF repose
Reforms TO be efieetual must originate
with the people where the reformation
IS needed; and it must be brought aboui
By those moral forces that move on in
tn ir might aud majesty and which are
corr. citing the errors OF the ages.
slowly, perhaps, but effectuslly. En-
actments Of Parliaments and Consie o.
cannot do it. Especially If the PEE pl
by the enactment know that
the law was made to satisfy populsr
sentiment manufactured against them
the misrepresentation of class of ad-
Venturers who hope to profit by the
of the people upon whom
they lave come TO prey. Reforms will |
not be brought about by such laws.
Their enforcement win only exssperate
the people, and where sincere religious |
are associated with the sup
posed errors, that religious zeal will be |
aroused that has bafaed and rendered |
powerless the efforts of tyrsnts to break |
ts force.
Moreover, the reformati IN OF people
will not be accomplished by ring Of |
moral lepers coming into clean COM
nunity and syst matically abusing and
Tilifying the men who are loved by the
people; whose counsels have directed
heir labOrs to successful issues, and led
hem from poverty to comparative
wealth; and whose memories are en-
hrined in the hearts of the people.
The reformation will not be brought
bout by revillng their religion, or r1di
iuling their honored social institutions.
{ will not be accomplished by intimat-
ng that women who have occupied the
IGNORED position of wives for quarter
4 century, and even in some instan-
eS more than that. are no better than
arlots. 1t viii not be brought about