Year: 1869

tion, sublime in IL simple justice. That


constitution and tie laws made under


its authority constitute the shield Of all


our interests, the lurreme law of the


land from which tlers is no appeal save


to the power tht originated 1.-THE
people. I know that many of you differ


from me respecting the constitutionali-


ty ofthat law Of Congress, which in


Utah is ignored a4l defied. That is a
question for the 4urts to decide, and


until they pronouIce ; law unconstitu-


tional, there is no lafs course but obedi-


ence to it. But ybu say We had no
right to enact this law, because it
laterseres with a part'of your religion.


No man can exceed myself In devotion


to civil and religious liberty. will
stand in defense ofeveryreally religious
principle with all my strength, and
even at the risk of my hfe. You have
the right to worship God ~ you please,
in common with myself and all other
men in this country. You have right
to such religious faith as is given to
you, to such church organization as
shall best please you. will stand by
you now and always in demanding and
defending that right. But the practice
Of which I.speak has nothing to do with


religion or Gods worship; and when


you tell me that this law of Congress is
q nullity because 1t inteneres with your
religion, with your right to believe ac-
cording to your light, and worship as
your conscience shall dictate, reply, if
this were so, as it is not, that this law
only reaffirms the very doctrine, on
this point, of your own Book Of Nor
mon, and of the book called "Doctrines
and Covenants" the creed AMI disci-
pline of your Church. II any Of you
doubt this, let him turn to the hundred
and eighteenth page of the first, and to
the chapter on marriage il the second,
and he will find that monogamy Is there
made as mandatory as it = by the law
of Congress. If the latter is deserving
of condemnation, the ancient authority,
publicly proclaimed and printed. and
the tennets Of your Church on which it
was originally founded, are equally
condemnable. The authority of Con-
gress to Legislate for the Territories is
not doubtful. 1t is found In the general
provisions of the constitution and in the
specific one which says, "The Congress
shall have power to dispose ofand make
all needful rules and regulations respect
ing the Territory and other property Of
the United States" lam not address
ing one class of my fellow citizens more
than another. am speaking to you
all, without respect to your religion or
creed. l am equally interested in the
prosperity and happiness Of all classes,
and if what I honestly and Loyalty say,
as man, shall crate upon some of you
harshly, you must bear with me, as l
have with you. You tell me you have
the authority of revelation for the def
ance oflaw, and Of Z neW revelation,
contrary to that recorded in the Book of
Mormon, to which I have alluded. l
reply that you have no right to over
throw and defy the laws by assumed
revelations. If some one should have a
revelation tonight declaring that the
strong should seize and possess the
wives of the weak, you would surely
have none Of such q revelation. If there


was another revelation that the talent
ed and the rich should take the wives
ofthe ignorant and the poor, you would
certainly trampie on 1t. 1fthe Hindoos
should come hither and insist Oh prac-
ticing what they call . religious rite
the burning Of widows on the funeral
piles Of their husbands-you would
scout such q revelation and such re-
ligion. It is the province of constitu-
tions and laws to restrain the mass for
the benefit of the individual, and the
individual for the benefit Of the mass,
and those constitutions a1d laws are
wisest and best which secure to tho indi-
vidual the largest independence con-
sistent with the welfare of all. With
out some restraint upon individual i'm
pulse and will, society would be impos-
sibie. Yourselves acknowledge this in
the enactment Of laws restraining the
liberty of the citizen. Suppose some
should attempt, as the right of al
American citizen to follow his trade, to
establish bone, boiling establishment t
in close contiguity with this hotel,
where we have been entertained SO hos
pitably, or powder mill in the midst
ofyour city, or to multiply Saloons and
places Of low resort, against law and
without license-your corporate author
tiles would restrain him or them of
their liberty 70 the extent that Its exer-
else was an fmposition on others. So
American law prohibits the murderous
rite Of the Hindoostanee which requires
the widow to consume herself on the
funeral pile Of her husband. So Ameri-
can law restraints man from bigamy,
regarding it a. - necessary restriction
0pon the rights Of the individual to do
as he pleases, for the good Of the whole.
This obnoxious law of Congress applies