Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-10-11

10 60. ~
II is on this eRsis that President
Woodruff his felt himself justified
in issuing this manifesto.
I suppose it would not be Justice
to this Conference not 10 say some
thing upon this subject; and ye'
everyone knows hoE deliclte \ sub
jec. 4 is. and hor difficult !, il 10
approach IL without saying some
thing that may offend somebody
50 far as am concerned, /
can say that OF the men In
this Church who have en-
deavored to ni1intain this principle
Of plural marriage, | am one.
In public ani in private have
avowed MY belief in IL. have de-
Tended 1t everywhere AMI under al.
circumstances, AMI when /. wa
Necessary have said that | consid
cred the command was hiniiny and
imperative upon me.
But a change has taken plase. We
have, IN the drsi place, eRIelvOrei
TO show that the law which affected
this feature OF our religion was I'M
! constitutional. We believed for years
that the law Of July =, ls83, was in
| direct conflict with the first amend
! ment az the Constitution, which
! says thar 'tCongre,s shall make no
law respecting an establishment. OF
religion, OF prohibiting the free.
exercise theneof.r We rtstei upon
that and for years continued the
practice ofplural marriage, believing
the law against il to be an uncOnsti-
tutiOnal one, aud lhat We had the
right, under the Constitution, T.
carry out tais principle practically
in our lives. So confident was I in
relation % this view that in CONVEX
sa.ions with President Giant, and
with his Attorney General, ex-
Senator Williams, Of Oregon, / said
to them that II my case were not
haired by the statute Of Limitations
would be willing 30 have
Il made Z 80 case, in order that
the law might be tested. We were
sustained In this view no. only by
.ur own Interpretation o. the
amendment u the Constitution, bat
also by some Of the best legal minis
ia the country, who took exactly the
same view that VIC did-that this
law was an Interference with relig
mus rights. and that 50 long rs our
practices did not Interfere with the
happiness and peace u society, or
VI others, We h II the right 10 carry
out this principle. In fact. Il i
within six or eight months that, iu
conversation with two Uniiel
States Senators, each conversation
being separate from the other, both
OF them expressed themselves,
though not in the same language,
70 this effect. s.Mr. Cannon, n this
feature this; yea practice hal not
been Associated with religion, u
might have been tolerated. but you
have associated i with religion and
IL has aroused the religious senti-
ment OF the nation, AMI thai seuii-
AAAIAAA kaAAAHANA ~ AN7NA-ANAAs ~ III -
the practice Itself Is concerned, II
you had not made II part az
your faith and AZ Institution
sanctioned y religion, il might
have gone along uunoticed." I do
not give the exact language; bat
these are the ideas that they con.
veyed to ne. New, We were very
confident that this law -sas an rn-
constitutional one. President Jlu-
iel II. Wells vii remember how he
and |, tried 10 sei & case 10 lest the
const.tuliOnaliiy Of the law during
the lifetime Of Presiisn. Brigham
Young. We wanted to get Brother
Erastus Snow. IL Il the Last thing
tina. We should have th5usht Of b
Tut 4 man like he was In the gap
II we had not been firmly convinced
that the law was DEMONSTRATIONS
and weIld De declared 50 by the
I nited States Supreme Court. We
telegraphed t. Brother Eras.us In
the south, thinking that his case
would net be barred by the statute
Of Limitations. He replied to US
conceroing II, and we .fsrnd Hat il
was barrel.. Brother =. VI. Musser
propossd himself, il I remember
Alright, TO be n test case; but there
was n defect in his case. We want
Ell this ease, whenever IL was pre-.
sented, to be presented fairly, that
there should he no evasiOn e'lodt IL,
hut that II should oe a case that
could be tested fairly before thecourts
Il the country. Finally, Brother
George Reynolds was selected.
I said 10 myself. when I learned the
result, sit is the last time that I will
ever have anything 10 do with trsi
case again which will involve the
liberty OF anybody" / vas promised
when he was sentencsI, by Que
high in authority and who had The
light to make the pncnisei that he
should 10 RELEASED, when the cir
cuns.aness were told to hin; for
they were laid fairly before him,
and he was told that the evidence
had been furnished by Brother Rey-
nOlds himself, and that everything
had been done t. make IL a test
case; the government had been
aided I'm the securing OF witnesses.
and no difficulty thrown I'm the
way. Afterwards, ON the second
trial, believe Brother Reynolds
lawyers got frighteael,a ami there was
something occurred then that gave il
a different appearance Bufwhen the
facts were related, Is stated, TO one
high in authority, be promised me-
That George Reynolds should be plr-
doned. There were those, however.
in this city who were deter
minei that he should not escape
imprisonment, and the prose
cutting attorney wrote a letter
which changed the mind Of this
high official, as he afterward told
me. and he declined TO carry out
that which L had received IS a pro-
mise. But even then there were
circumstances connected with this
decision that made us reluctant to
accept 1t.
Since that time the history Of
proceedings Is before you and before |
the world. We have felt as though
this command OF God was Of such |
importance to Us, involving 90 many |
serious consequences, that we should |
do all In our power to have the |
world know the position that We |
occupied. There may be men among |
US who believed they would be |
damned II they did not obey this.
1t rs a direct command |
from God. Therefore, you can un-
ierstand how tenaciously We have
and how vigorously We
have endeavored, as far rs we
could, 20 make public our views
upon this subject.
| suppose there are two classes
lere today In this congregation
me class who feel to sorrow t. the
,0ttom OF their hearts because Of the
necessity OF this action that we have
low taken; another class who will
ay: odd I not tell you sop sDid
lot tell you ii would come to tlis?''
Did | not say 10 you that you
'ught 10 take advantage OF and
'osnply with this years ago, instead