The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-07-05

ordains, for our country at least. that
government shall be by the people:
that the sovereign power of govern
ment which they ordain and establish
shall be divided into its three co-ordi-
nate and Independent branches, execu-
tive. legislative and judicial; that there
shall be further division OF the SOW
| ereign powers of government between
the states and the general government:
that the general government is author
lied to exercise only such powers as
are expressly conferred upon II by the
constitution; that the rest of the SOW
ereign powers of government are re-
served to the states and to the people
respectively. The theory that the con-
stitution of our country is inspired
commits us to the doctrine that there
shall be freedom of the press, freedom
of speech, separation of church and
state, and the freedom, equality and
Independence of the individual citizen
all these things together and severally
are ordained of God; and he who in
fringes upon any one of these things
ordained by our inspired constitution
! is untrue to that order OF things that
God has ordained for our government
through an inspired constitution.
| There is even more than all this to
those of us who believe the constitution
to be an inspired instrument: for the
most of us who believe that believe
also that the Book of Mormon is a
true history of ancient America; and
in that book is recorded a historical in
cident which has a direct bearing upon
the subject we are here considering
1t refers to new element in govern
ment by the people: one that we will
do we'll to properly regard. And that is.
the direct personal responsibility that
the individual carries under a system
4 or government where the people rule.
i The incident occurs in the alleged reign
:: OF Mosiah / at a period that cores
ponds with the latter half of the Sec
ond century before Christ The old
king proposed to his people a reyolu-
ton In the form of government by
which monarchy should be abandoned
and the republican form of government
be established In its place. In urging
this revolutionary measure the good
king said:
1T is not common that the voice of
bthe people desireth anything contrary
TO that which is right; but it is COM
mon for the lesser part of the people
to desire that which is not right; there
fore this shall We observe. and make it
your law to do your business by the
voice of the people. And If the time
comes that the voice of the people doth
choose iniquity, then is the time that
the judgments of God will come upon
you, yea. then is the time he will visit
you with great destruction even as he
has hitherto visited this land. .
And l command you to do these things
in the fear of the Lord and 1 COM
mand you to do these things, and that
We have no king; that if this people
commit sins and iniquities, they shall
be answered upon their own heads For
behold, l say unto you, the sins of
many people have been caused by the
lnlquities of their kings; therefore their
lnlquitles are answered upon the heads
of their kings. And now / desire that
this inequality should be no more in
this land, especially among this my
people; but l desire that this be land
of liberty, that every man NAV enjoy
his rights and privileges alike, so long
as the Lord sees fit that we may live
and inherit the land; yea. even as long
as any OF our poSterity remains upon
| the face of the land"
| The old king in his passage points to
the existence of an important element
in government by the people, the NOR
al element; the direct personal respon-
sibility of the individual for such evils
as obtain under government where the
people rule. But in order that this ele-
ment of moral responsibility may be
brought into government. it stands to
reason that every Individual must be
Tree and untrammeled in the exercise of
ms political duties, in the casting of
his vote. Each individual must have
an equal voice in the government. Ey-
cry man must be a sovereign in the civ
il institution. and his vote must rep-
resent the voice and judgment of a free
man. A vote unawed by influence, and
uncoerced by any power whatsoever.
| hri., hA
scheme Of government by the voice of
| the people into contempt ana failure.
| Under the system of government by
| the people, In order TO retain the NOR
al responsibility of the people I'm civil
affairs, there must be no appeal but
| to the intelligent judgment of the indi-
vldual. Each mans act must be the
act OF free man: and those who would
corrupt the electorate of a government
where the people rule. or sway 1t by
any other force than by an appeal to
reason, would destroy this element of
personal, moral responsibility in civil
government. and in the case of those of
US who accept this book from which I
am quoting-if we would appeal to anv
other force than to that of reason we
would be setting ourselves against an
order of things that God has ordained
This old king of whom I am speak,
ms ihoiitCStCu WlSuO1l III dnOllor
spect. His suggestion of this change
from monarchy to a republic carried
with 1t the provision that the change
should not go into effect until the time
OF his death. He would remain king
so long as he lived; then the rule by the
voice of the people should begin. was
the old monarch conscious that il would
be difficult to inaugurate this rule of
the people while he yet lived2 That
there would be those who would seek
10 know his desires, then proclaim
them, influence the minds OF the cleo
torate, and thus still have Mosiahs rule
instead of government by the people? I
do not know how far these thoughts
may have been the thoughts of the
king: but surely he removed grave dif-
flculties from the Inauguration of his
newly conceived form of government
for his people by putting off its In
auguration until after his death. For
sure II is that the desires of one so
esteemed, so wise and unselfish, would
have had such influence that his wish
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