Year: 1860

feet of which will be to prolong the exist
expression Of sentiment, this bill is super.
fluous. But more than that. 1t is urged
by some as penal statute. Will it be en-.
forced? | say no; and | tell you that
should the bill pass, neither you nor will
ever see party which will dare to vote
money and instruct the President to use it
putting in force the penal statute which this
bill proposes.


Then, sir, what does it amount to? |
say, as a penal statute it is powerless. l
will not go into the argument now to show
why it should not be enforced, or the cruel
ty of attempting to enforce it against those
men, who never could understand why the
bill was enacted. | will not go into the ar
gument about the expense of millions that
it would cost this Government to enforce it.;
| or that it would giAe the Mormons reason
to charge that we have mede use of persc-
cution against them, driving them to the
mountains and hunting them there like
partridges, or that it would inevitably pro-
long the existence of the institution it pre-
poses to abolish. All these questions pass
by, for there is nobody here who claims
that it is the purpose of any party to vote
money or instructions to enforce this penal
statute.


But, sir, it is said that the honor and au-
thority of the United States should be vim
dicated The honor and authority of the
United States vndicated indeed, by law
which its very trainers admit is from its in
ception a dead letter! Nobody here now dare
stand up and pledge his party to enforce
| this law. l challenge any man of any par
ty to do that. l claim that it is sham ab
initio that it is false pretense; and |
never will vote for sham or false pretense
by whatever man or whatever party it may
be brought into this House. | do not deal
in such things, sir especially upon practic-
al questions like this now before us. The
reasons that I have given are sufficient to
govern my vote upon the bill, and that vote
will be against it; that, as an expression of
the moral sense Of the country, it is super
fiuoIs; that, as penal statute, it is power
less that, as a vindication of the honor and
authority of this Government, it is worse
than futile, for it would bring both the hon
or and authority of the Government into
ridicule and contempt.


Now, sir, if these are facts, and if that is
the prospect before us, should this bill be
elevated to the dignity of a law by our
votes? Moral reformations should never
be attempted by law which can be accom-
plished without the aid of law. This wod
be true even were the law proposed sure to
effect the contemplated object, even if it
were a law made and enforced by the po-
litical community where the oflense existed.
| What excuse, then, can gentlemen give for
| a law like this, sure not to accomplish the
object contemplated, made by non-resi-
dent power, and intended never to be enfor-
| ced? Now, Mr.. Speaker, let us inquire
| whether some act cannot be done which
shall prove perpetual and insurmountable
barrier to the progl ess of this gigantic mon
strosity. am happy to be able to say that
believe that solution-a peaceful, quiet,
easy, natural, and practical solution-of
this question is now in our reach. | am
happy in the belief that the gold mines of
Pixies Peak, and the silver mines of Carson
Valley, do now furnish us solution of
this vexed question of Polygamy. l have,
there, proposed an amendment to this bill,
that the Territory of Utah, together with a
part Of Kansas and Nebraska shall be divi-
ded into two districts, in such way that
the Mormon people shall be divided equally
between the two.


Now, sir, what are the facts about popu-
lation? come now to argument which
addresses itself directly to the Judgment Of
the House-an argument not Of theories but
of facts. The Mormons, by the best intel
ligence, and by the highest authority | can
g2t, number to-day about forty thousand
people. have it from officers of the L. S.
Army who have been in Utah during the
last two years, and they assure me that not
more than one-seventh of this population of
Mormons are voters.


What are the facts in relation to the pop
ulation of the two proposed districts? ]
have the opinion of the delegates from JEFF
lerson, Kansas and Nebraska, and numer-
Gus others, that there are now within the
proposed district of Jefferson forty thous-
and men, and there are at least in that dis
trict twenty thousand voters and we have
it from papers last received from California,
that there are now in Carson Valley ut
least thirty thousand men, and not less
than fifteen thousand voters | believe
there has been a rapidity of increase of
population in these districts which has no
parallel in the history Of this country; not
even in the case of California Why, sir,
at the rate of increase now going on, it is
confidently expected that at the next ses-
sion of Congress these people will come
here with the right to be admitted as sover-
eign States. Then, sir, you may defeat the
policy of these Mormons at once, by erect
ing these districts, which have already more
than five times the voters Of the Mormon
population, and which population is rapidly
increasing, while the number of Mormon
voters is diminishing. With this prospec,
before us, is there any risk that Mormonism
will not be eXtermlnated by local law, pro.
vided we pass this amendment, constituting
the districts pr posed? Would not a local
law be much better to accomplish the pur.
pose than law made by nonresident
power? contend that the law of non
resident power is only tit to be laughed al
and depiscd. The true authority, in my
judgment, and the only authority worthy
being regarded, is the law that is made, ap
proved and enforced by the people whore II
is. a law.


That local law is what Mormonism, po
lygamy, or any other crime cannot cvadc
This nonresident law may do very well fol
politicians it may do for political pretences
and shams but it will never do for practice


| am not disposed to spend my time now
in showing to this House the inextricabls
difficulties and complications this precedent
wo' d lead us to if adopted There is no end
of them. But if the House will pass the
amendment which l propose, subjectine
these Mormons to the operation of the local
law, that will be sufficient for the speedy
abolishment of polygamy.


! Is it to be supposed that one hundred
thousand miners at Pixies Peak, and the
same number at Carson Valley, without any
women at all. will allow monopoly of wo-
men at Salt Lake? (Laughter.) Sir, l do
not agree with gentlemen who denounce
these men in the Territories, these hardy
pioneers, as men of no education, as men
of no refinement, as men destitute of intel
| llimencc and moral nower | have never