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MORMOJSTISM: 
 
 AN ADDRESS, 
 
 BY 
 
 HON. D. C. HASKELL, M. C., OF KANSAS, 
 // 
 
 AT THE NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY 
 SOCIETY, IN CHICAGO, JUNE 8, 1881. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 
 
 1881. 
 
Bancroft Library 
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 THE history of the founding of a nation, the rise and progress of a re- 
 ligious sect, or order, the primary steps in the organization of society, 
 whether on old plans or new, present many features in common. Old 
 methods clad in renovated garb are often employed by peculiar agents, 
 under unusual circumstances ; occasionally a new idea presents itself, or an 
 old one long since discarded is reproduced in a new setting, but if the 
 nation, sect, or order be successful, the record is full of interest. 
 
 The Mormon articles of faith, considered separately, are most ancient ; 
 as a creed its novelty is in its grouping. 
 
 The world is proffered, by this organization which we are about to con- 
 sider, a bundle of religious dogmas that, taken as a whole, without knowl- 
 edge of the existence of a church which professed to accept them, would 
 be regarded by the theological student as intended for a caricature of the 
 religious idea. The Mormon hierarchy has resurrected also a system of 
 social relationship which at best is but a bestial relic of barbarism, and has 
 thrust it forward with a zeal and a tenacity of purpose that, while it im- 
 peaches both their wisdom and their purity, surprises us into a sort of ad- 
 miration for their misemployed courage. 
 
 After the whole civilized world has branded polygamy as a crime, a re- 
 ligious sect, professedly more Christian than any other, claiming to be led 
 day by day by divine revelation, coming through an infallible priesthood, 
 has succeeded in establishing it here in the "United States and so firmly, 
 that it has resisted for over thirty years all efforts to dislodge it, either by 
 moral or governmental force. However corrupt and unscrupulous their 
 leaders may be, the Mormon people will be found to be not without virtues, 
 and to present commendable features. This fact serves to make the con- 
 tinuance of this, their "peculiar institution" all the more an obstacle 
 and a peril to Christian civilization. 
 
 A history in detail of the rise and progress of the Mormon church, 
 from the discovery in New York of the mystic plates from 'which it is al- 
 leged Joseph Smith and his coadjutors translated the Book of Mormon, 
 rivals in interest the Homeric tales of the adventures of Achilles. 
 
 It is unfortunate for the would-be believer in Mormonism that a celes- 
 
 f35 
 
tial messenger very early became the custodian of those wonderful tablets. 
 More unfortunate that Professor Anthon, the distinguished linguist, should 
 have pronounced the whole thing a hoax, and after an examination of a 
 copy of the characters upon the plates declared them to be "a singular 
 medley of Greek, Hebrew and all sorts of letters, ending in a rude repre- 
 sentation of the Mexican Zodiac." And most unfortunate that the three 
 principal witnesses to the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, Oliver 
 Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, were charged by the Mor- 
 mons themselves, as early as 1838, with lying, theft and counterfeiting, and 
 11 cut off" from the church. 
 
 However, in 1830 the Book of Mormon was published, and it has since 
 been translated into various foreign languages. In April of that year, 
 "The Church of Christ" was organized in Seneca County, New York, with 
 six members. A revelation from the Lord commanded the New York 
 saints, soon after, to remove to Kirtland, Ohio, where Sidney Bigdon, an 
 early convert, had secured some accessions to the church, and at that place 
 was built the first Mormon house of worship, in 1836. Here Brigham 
 Young, a painter and glazier, a native of Vermont, but at that time a resi- 
 dent of New York, joined his fortunes to those of Smith and the church, 
 in 1833. 
 
 A special revelation gave to Smith and Bigdon the outlines of a finan- 
 cial system, but it was not potent enough to save the bank they organized 
 from the fate of similar " wild cat " institutions, and in January, 1838, 
 these two worthies fled from Kirtland, in the middle of the night, toward a 
 new Zion that had been located in Jackson County, Missouri, followed by 
 a band of infuriated creditors, from whom they barely escaped. The in- 
 tent of the pursuers, according to Gentile authorities, was to administer 
 justice. The fleeing bankers, however, denominated the pursuit persecu- 
 tion. Up to the date of this hegira, the members of the new church had 
 been deemed fanatical, but honest. The Kirtland Colony was soon 
 after broken up, and the eastern Mormons removed to Jackson County, 
 Missouri. 
 
 A fiery anniversary speech made by Bigdon, in which he threatened 
 the enemies of the church with bloody retribution for the persecutions it 
 had suffered, aggravated the troubles that had existed between the Mor- 
 mons and their Missouri neighbors, and the result was several bloody en- 
 counters, and numerous prosecutions in the courts resulting therefrom. 
 The troubles finally culminated. Gov. Boggs made a call on the militia of 
 the State and issued an order for the expulsion of the Mormons, or their 
 extermination, branding them as the enemies of the State, living in the at- 
 titude of "open and avowed defiance of its laws." 
 
 Prior to this time the revelations which had come to the prophet 
 Smith, had assured them that the " sword of the Lord and of Gideon " 
 would protect them, but when their expulsion from Missouri was assured 
 and about to be consummated, the revelations fortunately changed in tone, 
 
and Smith set himself to the task of perfecting an organization for his peo- 
 ple, that might be relied upon to give potency to these "divine decrees." 
 
 The incidents attendant upon their forced retirement from Missouri 
 created for them something of sympathy abroad, and, moved by the recitals 
 of the wrongs they had suffered, certain citizens of Illinois offered them an 
 asylum in that State. A convenient revelation induced them to select a 
 spot on the east bank of the Mississippi, above Quincy, and the scattered 
 saints gathered in the little town of Commerce, afterward named Nauvoo. 
 It is estimated that they numbered at this time about two thousand souls. 
 During their occupancy of Missouri, they were distributed through several 
 counties, and a few of them had penetrated as far south and west as what 
 is now the Cherokee country of the Indian Territory. 
 
 In 1842, it is stated, that Smith predicted the establishment of the 
 Mormons in the Rocky Mountains, foretold the war of the Rebellion, indi- 
 cated his intention of founding a new and theocratic government, turned 
 his attention to politics, casting the Mormon vote alternately with the Whig 
 and Democratic parties, as the interests of his church would seem to de- 
 mand. In 1844 he became a candidate for the presidency of the United 
 States, but in the same year was taken from the jail in Carthage, Illinois, 
 where he had been lodged to await trial for various alleged crimes, and 
 killed by a mob. In 1846 and '47, an advance or exploring party, under 
 Brigham Young, visited Salt Lake Valley, established a colony, and built 
 a fort. In 1848 the Mormons gathered there founded Salt Lake City. 
 Brigham Young having assumed Smith's place as head of the church and 
 prophet of the Lord. 
 
 Without at this time entering upon a discussion of the causes which 
 led to the many difficulties they encountered, without asserting the truth 
 or falsity of the many charges preferred against them, it is, perhaps, 
 enough to say that they were charged with all the crimes in the catalogue, 
 and that from the time they left Kirtland, up to 1870, they displayed a 
 conspicuous inability to live in peace with their Gentile neighbors. The 
 same causes that led to the hegira from Kirtland, seems in large part 
 to have induced their expulsion from Missouri, and their forced exodus 
 from Nauvoo ; in this last flight abandoning homes, farms, and culti- 
 vated fields, a town half as large as Salt Lake City, and an almost com- 
 pleted temple that had cost them nearly five hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 It is doubtful if there was ever exhibited in the world's history a greater 
 or a worse managed zeal, a more hopeless fanaticism, or a stronger faith in 
 a grander imposture, than that which characterized the Mormons in this 
 unparalleled movement. They started in mid-winter, homeless, hungry, 
 sick and illy clad. They crossed over the Mississippi River on the ice, fol- 
 lowing with unfaltering faith the directions of the Holy Twelve, and began 
 that long dreary march of death across Iowa and the Missouri, over the al- 
 most trackless plains, past the craggy peaks of the Rockies, into the ap- 
 parently barren valley of Salt Lake, there to found a community, trans- 
 
6 
 
 form a desert into a garden by their industry, all at the behest of a corrupt, 
 priestly oligarchy, in behalf of a religious system, mephitic, retrogressive 
 and adulterate, that wounds Christian civilization everywhere most sorely, 
 and taints American society with a moral gangrene. 
 
 In that valley, the saints hoped to see the fulfillment of the prophecies 
 that had promised them the establishment of a permanent earthly Zion, 
 and an independent and theocratic government for their State, to which 
 they gave the name of Deseret. Congress, however, in 1850, ignored 
 "Deseret," and established a territorial government over "Utah." Presi- 
 dent Fillmore appointed Brigham Young Governor, S. M. Blair United 
 States Attorney, J. L. Heywood United States Marshal, and for the first 
 time a polygamist, whose eight wives had been privately sealed to him, 
 became a part of the executive machinery of the United States Govern- 
 ment. In 1855 Brigham Young was re-appointed by President Pierce. 
 
 In the early history of Utah, much to the disgrace of the nation, many 
 of the federal officers, Gentiles, allowed themselves to be courted by the 
 Mormon authorities, merely to secure undue official favor. Some even 
 lived in open debauchery, and of course were utterly in the power of 
 Young and the priesthood. Others, if favorable to the church, seemed to 
 possess the power of saving quite large sums of money from quite small 
 salaries, and were held in high repute. Others, if unfavorable while they 
 remained poor, were nevertheless found soon to be great thieves and 
 rascals, and were removed from office. One obdurate wretch was dis- 
 covered dead in his bed, soon after a quarrel with Brigham Young. The 
 Mormon investigators said he died of " some disease of the head," others 
 said " opium," and an occasional Gentile, "poison." It is not difficult to 
 see how, in this condition of affairs, the saints were enabled to lay the 
 foundations of their civil and religious structure so broad and deep that 
 they have successfully resisted all efforts to undermine them. 
 
 In 185G Utah had become a very Babylon of moral uncleanness, so rot- 
 ten as to shock even Brigham Young, when he became aware of its extent, 
 for it seriously threatened the stability of his government. The " Keform- 
 ation " of 1856-7 followed, wherein elders of the church openly preached 
 the shedding of blood for the graver crimes against their ecclesiastical law, 
 and " saints " were taught to earn salvation by what we call murder and 
 suicide. The church was purified and strengthened by the most arbitrary 
 and atrocious methods known to a priestly despotism, but the escaping 
 apostates and the Gentiles gave to the world glimpses of polygamous Mor- 
 monism that thoroughly aroused the whole country, and in 1856 a political 
 party placed upon its banners the motto : " The abolition of slavery and 
 polygamy, twin relics of barbarism." That party is in power to-day. On 
 the 24th of July, 1857, Brigham Young declared the independence of De- 
 seret, and began preparation for war with the United States. On the 
 15th of September the Mountain Meadow Massacre occurred. 
 
 It is impossible at the present time to enter upon a recital of this and 
 
other horrors that so stain the pages of Mormon history, during the era 
 known to the Mormon church as the Reformation, in fact between the 
 years 1850 and 1860. The Mormon priesthood is largely responsible for 
 them, since they not only controlled the local government, but preached 
 the doctrines that in their practical application produced the results* The 
 Mormon war ended in the expenditure of much treasure, but happily of 
 little blood. It proved what wars always prove that one party was 
 stronger than the other nothing more. It changed no one's opinion, save 
 possibly on that point. It left the Mormon church where it found it, in- 
 trenched in ignorance and fanaticism. It did produce, however, a change 
 in policy. The church wisely threw away its arms, but it invoked the aid 
 of its present allies, silence, secrecy, and cunning. 
 
 The war having ended, the federal officers returned to the Territory. 
 Young, seeing that he could not resist the United States authorities by 
 force of arms, organized his church for resistance to the execution of law, 
 by wily maneuvers and secret policies of obstruction. The courts were 
 unable to punish treason, or any other crime, and it is stated that one 
 United States judge entered upon his docket this declaration : " The whole 
 community presents an united and organized opposition to the administra- 
 tion of justice." Government warrants were forged, murders committed, 
 robberies perpetrated, almost with impunity. The government at Wash- 
 ington declared that the military could only be used on the call of the 
 Governor. The Governor would not make the call. The courts were 
 powerless, and crime went unpunished. Congressional investigation was 
 asked for, but Congress, with its usual slow conservatism, by the time the 
 petitioners reached Washington with their papers, generally came to the 
 conclusion that the crimes were old and stale, and refused its aid. 
 
 The following from a letter to the President, by a Federal officer of 
 Utah, written in 1874, will explain one of the difficulties encountered at 
 that time : "Brigham Young," says the writer, " is very rich, made so by 
 the most high-handed impositions upon his deluded people. Of late years 
 he has become rapidly richer. He has repeatedly boasted in public of what 
 he claims to have done with money in Washington. It is known that he 
 keeps emissaries there during every session of Congress. Within the last 
 few years, the Cullom bill, the Voorhees bill, the Logan bill, and the Mc- 
 Kee bill, have all gone to their graves, and now the Poland bill seems to be 
 dying." 
 
 The last attempt made for admission into the Union was in 1873. The 
 Territory had then, and has now, a sufficient population. The Mormons 
 declare that they are denied admission because of the unpopularity of their 
 religion. It is due rather to the unpopularity of polygamy. The popula- 
 tion of Utah, in 1870, was about 88,000. Salt Lake City at that time con- 
 tained a population of about 12,000. The population of Utah, as shown by 
 the recent census, is 143,906, of which there are, males, 74,470 ; females, 
 69,436. Salt Lake has 20,768 souls. We have no data, as yet, from the 
 
8 
 
 census office, showing the number of Mormons and Gentiles, respectively, 
 in Utah, but the estimates range from 10 to 20 per cent., as Gentiles, out 
 of the entire population. 
 
 While there is a larger number of females, proportionately, than in 
 most of the Territories, there seems to be in Utah, even under polygamous 
 practices, more males than females, as there is also in the world's popula- 
 tion ; and the Mormon argument in defense of polygamy, that wifehood 
 should not be denied to any woman who so desires, does not appear to 
 have much weight, since there is not even one wife for each male citizen. 
 Human nature is the same, the world over, and unless under some sort 
 of duress, from law, or fanaticism, or priestly coercion, no moderately in- 
 telligent woman would, of her own free will, choose a polygamous wife- 
 hood. In the full knowledge of her rights, and given power to maintain 
 them, it is safe to assert that she would not be content with the sixteenth 
 part of her rightful property, be that property, real estate, bank stock, or 
 husband. 
 
 Hon. George Q. Cannon, Mormon Delegate 1o Congress, from Utah, in 
 the May number of the North American Review, writes as follows : 
 
 u It is seldom that, even among the intelligent and well-read, one can be found 
 who can give a correct statement of the doctrines of the Latter Day Saints or Mor- 
 mons, or who can explain the true character of their system." 
 
 Quite true, and there are many reasons therefor. 
 
 1st. It will be found very difficult to harmonize Mormon authorities. 
 
 2d. The careful student of Mormon theology and Mormon history will 
 not fail to notice that the written doctrines and covenants are not entirely 
 harmonious with the practices of the church. 
 
 3d. The Mormon doctrine of special revelations from God to an infalli- 
 ble priesthood makes it nearly impossible to state with critical accuracy 
 the doctrines of Mr. Cannon's church. 
 
 It leaves his people to be guided by their priesthood in whatever road 
 of faith and practice they may mark out. Their prophet is their lawgiver, 
 who speaks as he is inspired. Said Heber C. Kimball, one of the Apostles, 
 in 1856 : 
 
 " I have often said that the word of our Leader and Prophet is the word of God 
 to this people. We cannot see God. We cannot hold converse with him, but he has 
 given us a man that we can talk to and thereby know his will, just as well as if God 
 himself were present with us." 
 
 Mr. Cannon says that the Mormon church accepts the Bible as its 
 guide, and that it teaches that salvation is to be hoped for through Jesus 
 Christ. It also accepts the Book of Mormon, " The Doctrine and Cove- 
 nant," and various alleged revelations to Joseph Smith and others. As- 
 suming to base their theological structure on the Bible, they displace a 
 large portion of it, by the adoption of the Book of Mormon ; the Doctrine 
 and Covenants set at naught a considerable part of the Book of Mormon, 
 
9 
 
 and the special revelations make a wretched havoc with the Doctrine and 
 Covenants. 
 
 The Book of Mormon purports to be the history of a few families who 
 left Jerusalem or the East, in the early days of the Jewish nation. They 
 were directed and controlled by revelation from God, and crossed the Pa- 
 cific Ocean to the west coast of America, now Central America, working 
 their way to the north and east. They increased in numbers for a while 
 rapidly, but finally became embroiled with savage tribes, and were exter- 
 minated in a great battle fought about 400 or 500, A.D., near the place 
 where the plates were discovered by Joseph Smith. Moroni, son of Mor- 
 mon, a general in their army, had charge of the records of the nation, and 
 engraved a portion of them on the plates which Smith afterward trans- 
 lated. The book is a clumsy imitation of the Jewish Scriptures, full of 
 unpardonable inaccuracies of all sorts, and seems to have been inspired by 
 a contemplation of the possible adventures of that pre-historic race, known 
 to the American archeologist as the Mound-Builders. The Doctrine and 
 Covenants is a compilation of the revelations to Smith, with a chapter con- 
 taining declarations of belief. 
 
 Their faith, accepting their own acknowledged authorities, includes the 
 following points of doctrine : 
 
 Its foundation, they claim, is Biblical and Christian. Then follow the 
 revelations to Joseph Smith ; then those to Young and Taylor, coupled 
 with a belief that men' of the church are inspired now as of old ; next an 
 infallible Priesthood ; a divinely instructed President, or Prophet ; a belief 
 in a theocratic form of government ; a plurality of Gods ; Godhood of 
 Adam ; the imparting of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands by the 
 priesthood ; a belief in dreams, visions, miracles, and the gift of healing ; 
 baptism by immersion ; remission of sins by baptism ; baptism for the 
 dead ; blood atonement, or the power of the church to decree death for 
 violations of the law of the church ; celestial marriages, or the marriage 
 state after death ; plurality of wives ; Godhood attained by mortals after 
 death ; humanity of the Deity or Deities ; resurrection of the body in 
 bodily form ; rejection of lazy men from salvation ; the assertion that 
 Christ was a polygamist. In the original " Articles of Faith," contained 
 in the "Pearl of Great Price," occurs the very significant and truthful dec- 
 laration : "We believe all things, we hope all things." 
 
 It is noticeable that this extraordinary organization offers a bit of spirit- 
 ual pabulum to persons of every nation, tribe, and religion, from the Hot- 
 tentot up. There is no system that has provided for its advocates a wider 
 range of doctrine. If the Mormon is true to the church, he may accept 
 almost everything that was ever inserted in a religious creed ; or, if we 
 may judge from the practice, as little as may suit his convenience. But 
 he must be true to the church, its work, and its priesthood. The infernal 
 regions yawn for an apostate. The power of Mormonism, however, can 
 hardly be traced to the tenacity with which its adherents cling to their 
 
10 
 
 dogmas. The almost marvelous organization of its elaborate priesthood 
 is what holds, chains, and subdues them, with its mystic forms and secret 
 ceremonies. Its fingers of steel within the glove of velvet never relax 
 their grasp upon minds at once ignorant and superstitious. 
 
 Mr. Cannon asserts for his people, a belief in the Bible. Will he state 
 by whom or by what the Bible is to be construed ? His statement is liable 
 to mislead. Let me quote from good Mormon authority, P. P. Pratt, in 
 his "Key to Theology" : 
 
 11 A General Assembly, Quorum or Grand Council of the Gods, with their President 
 at their head, constitutes the designing and creative power." 
 
 This polytheistic declaration presents a little different version from 
 the ordinary construction given to the book of Genesis, as to the creative 
 power. The following, from the same author, is not usually found in Sun- 
 day-school catechisms : 
 
 " An immortal man, possessing a perfect organization of spirit, flesh and bones, 
 and perfect in his attributes, in all the fulness of celestial glory, is called a God. 
 
 " An immortal man in progress of perfection, or quickened with a lesser degree of 
 glory, is called an Angel. 
 
 " An immortal spirit of man, not united with a fleshly tabernacle, is called a Spirit. 
 
 *' An immortal man, clothed with a mortal tabernacle, is called a Man. 
 
 The doctrine of "blood atonement," says Mr. Cannon, "and all there 
 is about that charge, .... is that the people believe in the Biblical doc- 
 trine that men who commit murder, adultery, and other gross crimes, should 
 be executed, and as they do not believe in hanging, one of their early laws 
 gives the criminal convicted of murder the privilege of electing the mode 
 of execution." The italics have been supplied. Here is an admission that 
 deserves notice. It has been charged and denied that in days past the 
 Mormons had sanctioned murder. Here is an admission of a belief in blood 
 atonement. Scores of other witnesses, out of the church, testify that it 
 has been practiced. Since Mr. Cannon admits the belief, must we deny the 
 evidence of those who assert the practice ? 
 
 The facts are that the Mormon church made for itself laws. For the 
 infraction of some of them, it attached the death penalty. It then pro- 
 ceeded to execute those laws, and put to death by peculiar processes, 
 parties who had been adjudged guilty, by the competent legal tribunal 
 having jurisdiction. Under stress of religious fanaticism, some of the 
 parties adjudged guilty under these ecclesiastical rules executed the law 
 upon themselves, and by dictation of the priesthood. Stripped of all dis- 
 guises, all subterfuges exposed, this was simply murder and suicide. 
 
 For proof of the teachings of the church on the subject of blood atone- 
 ment, it is only necessary to refer to the files of the Deseret News for the 
 years 1855 and 1856. 
 
 For the future home and state of man, the Mormon church drops the 
 
11 
 
 Bible, and takes up a vision of Joseph Smith's, and Pratt, in his " Key to 
 Theology," thus sums it : 
 
 1st. " The Telestial, or least Heaven, typified by the stars of the firmament." 
 2d. " The Terrestial, or intermediate Heaven, typified by the moon." 
 3d. " The Celestial, or third Heaven, of which the sun of the firmament is typi- 
 cal." 
 
 Mr. Pratt also asserts for his church a faith in dreams, visions and 
 miracles, together with the leading ideas of modern Spiritualism. Mr. 
 Cannon says that the Mormons believe in salvation through Christ, but 
 Mr. Pratt's denunciations of Christianity and Christendom are so sweeping 
 and so bitter that the average reader will regret that Mr. Cannon has made 
 the assertion. 
 
 The conspicuous feature of Mormon belief, however, is the one con- 
 cerning marriage. They marry for this world and the next. They beget 
 children in this world and in the next. Their glory in heaven is declared 
 to be in proportion to their celestial families. They " seal " to themselves 
 wives for eternity, who may, or may not be wives for time ; professedly a 
 platonic marriage. Not to marry is to doom one's self to a very gloomy 
 and leaden-colored hereafter. Originally plural marriages were given only 
 to the truly good and pure of the church, as a reward for exceeding piety. 
 This rule has been considerably relaxed of late. Men are expected to 
 marry as .much as they conveniently can. To obviate mistakes, divorces 
 can be obtained for ten dollars. 
 
 Polygamy was not one of the original doctrines of Mormonism. It was 
 revealed to Smith at Nauvoo, in 1843. It is charged that Smith and others 
 practiced it prior to that time, and that the revelation came at a very con- 
 venient season and avoided somewhat of scandal. The Book of Mor- 
 mon condemns it. This is one of the changes wrought by special revela- 
 tion. The Doctrine and Covenants, in an edition by John Taylor, 
 published in 1845, two years after the revelations to Smith, under the 
 head of marriage contains this declaration : 
 
 " Inasmuch as this Church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of forni- 
 cation and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man should have but one 
 wife, and one woman but one husband, except in case of death, when either is at 
 liberty to marry again." 
 
 The charge that these people indulged in degrading practices, which 
 were sanctioned by a pretended revelation from God, and then deliberately 
 published and maintained to the outside world bare-faced falsehoods, in 
 denial, seems well sustained from their own records. 
 
 t This book (the Doctrines and Covenants) Mr. Cannon quotes from, in 
 his article in the North American Review, to sustain a position he therein 
 assumes. Hear him : 
 
 " The book which contains the doctrine of the church, andwMcJi is esteemed thd 
 word of God, and binding upon them by its members, is of itself a complete refutation 
 
12 
 
 of the assertions that the religion of the people prompts them to commit crime, to 
 cling to ignorance, to disregard authority, to set up the laws of the church against the 
 laws of the State, or to yield to priestly authority." 
 
 Mr. Cannon wishes us to accept the declarations of this book, as indi- 
 cating the faith and practice of his people. Do we understand from this 
 that he wishes us to disbelieve that polygamy exists in Utah ? The book 
 declares that polygamy is not practiced. Why does not Mr. Cannon quote 
 from it, and deny that polygamy exists in Utah ? He says his book is " bind- 
 ing " upon his people, and quotes it to prove that they are law-abiding. 
 It also proves that Mormons do not practice polygamy. He says the book 
 is "esteemed the word of God." Why practice then what the "word of 
 God " denounces ? especially since the law of the land brands the practice a 
 crime. A law-abiding people are they ? W T hy not obey this law against 
 polygamy ? 
 
 Again, it will be observed that Mr. Cannon asserts for his people that 
 they do not " set up the laws of the Church against the laws of the State." 
 
 Why then, in the Endowment House, in Salt Lake City, does his church 
 compel every novitiate to make oath that they will obey the law of the 
 Mormon church in preference in preference, those are the words to the 
 laws of the United States ? Why does his church also compel them to 
 swear that they will avenge the death of Joseph Smith upon the American 
 people, and to teach this idea of revenge to "their children, and their 
 children's children ? " These oaths are daily taken in the Endowment 
 House, and yet the "word of God," so "binding" upon his people, as- 
 serts the duty of fealty to the government ! Mr. Cannon had better call 
 another witness. 
 
 Again he says : 
 
 * ' In Utah, plural marriages were contracted for many years, when there was no 
 law prohibiting them. . . . Shall the husbands throw off the wives and children 
 obtained under such circumstances, and leave them to bear all the consequences which 
 the opinion of the world would inflict ? The men of Utah are not such scoundrels and 
 poltroons as so commit such a crime against heaven and humanity as this ! " 
 
 A murderer has just thrust his knife to the hilt into the heart of his 
 victim. Kneeling on his prostrate body, he lifts his eyes to heaven, and 
 declares that he is not such a " poltroon " and " scoundrel" as to withdraw 
 the blade and let out all the precious life-blood. Not he ! 
 
 It will be noticed that Mr. Cannon has just attempted to prove that the 
 men of Utah are a law-abiding people. Here he asserts positively that 
 they will not obey this law against polygamy. The difficulty that Mr. 
 Cannon mourns over, in the genesis of his article, of finding some one 
 " who can explain the true character of their system," is a real one doubt- 
 less. He is troubled concerning the future of the wives and children ob- 
 tained prior to the passage of the law prohibiting polygamy. What will 
 he say to the future of those obtained since the passage of the law ? Tht 
 law was passed in 1862. Brigham Young married Amelia six months 
 
13 
 
 thereafter. Nineteen years since, the law was passed. One priest testi- 
 fied, in the case of "Miles vs. The United States," that he had helped to 
 marry as many as forty couples in one day ; and, since the law, more 
 polygamous marriages in the last five years than in any other five years of 
 the life of the church. Many of those married nineteen years ago are dead. 
 Would it not have been well for Mr. Cannon to have referred to the many 
 marriages since the law, as well as to the few before the law. 
 
 " How shall polygamy be broken up ? " asks Mr. Cannon. " This is a 
 practical question," he says, " and must be met in a practical way." Is he 
 in earnest? If so, here is a "practical" suggestion. If a "revelation" 
 should come to President Taylor, directing the church to treat all polyga- 
 mous marriages as platonic, henceforth, and that all polygamous hus- 
 bands should continue to be charged with the support and care, under 
 suitable regulations, of their wives and children, until such time as the 
 wives might obtain from the church a divorce, and marry some one pos- 
 sessed of no wife ; and if the United States Government should legitimate 
 all polygamous children \>y statute, and protect the honor of all polyga- 
 mous wives, would not the future of these wives and children be provided 
 for ? Mr. Cannon says that some of his people offer up prayer for the 
 cure of diphtheria. If they should all, of one accord, offer up prayer for 
 such a " revelation " as has been suggested, would not the Almighty be as 
 apt to grant the request as he would to cure a case of diphtheria ? Such a 
 revelation would be hailed with tears of joy by more than one polygamous 
 wife in Utah. Said one of these to an eminent lady physician of Washing- 
 ton, who was visiting Salt Lake City recently : " We believe polygamy 
 came to us by Divine command. When the Lord has done with it, we 
 will have done." And then, with a prophetic look in her eye, she added : 
 " I am watching my way out. God speed the day." 
 
 In common with other advocates of polygamy, and apologists for their 
 system, Mr. Cannon asserts that there is little or no prostitution in Utah, 
 and that for many years the crime of adultery was unknown among Mor- 
 mons. This fact is due, they say, to polygamy, and these crimes, in 
 Christian communities, are charged as natural results of monogamy. This 
 claim of exceeding purity is not well founded. During the days of " the 
 Reformation," in 1856 and 1857, it is asserted, on good authority, that 
 Brigham Young took occasion to call upon all those who had been guilty 
 of certain base crimes to rise and stand upon their feet, and to receive 
 absolution, if a pledge of purity for the future was given. So many rose 
 that day, that to have executed them all under the law would have ruined 
 the church. 
 
 It is a grave question just how much of credit should be given to a 
 people, who, under their ecclesiastical law, have such latitude for the baser 
 passions, when marriage and divorce, under color of religious sanction, are 
 made the ready ministers of lust. If, when in our cities the debauchee 
 entered the public brothel, a minister stood ready to marry him, and as 
 
14 
 
 lie passed out a judge conferred the wislied-for decree of divorce, and 
 this was permitted by the law, how much inducement would there be of- 
 fered to break the law, and thereby commit crime ? 
 
 Says Mr. Cannon : " There can be no greater mistake than to suppose 
 that sensuality is the foundation of this system of marriage." Doubtless 
 there are many honest polygamists in Utah ; religious fanaticism has 
 blinded many well-meaning persons in the world. But is it not possible 
 to preserve the outward forms of polygamous Mormon law, and yet compel 
 it to minister to passion solely, and without a spark of religious fire ? Has 
 it not been thus used ? Religion is of the heart ; marriage and divorce 
 are mere forms ; and if so permitted under law, would cloak any degree of 
 immorality and lust. They have been so used. To deny it is to falsify 
 the history of a score of court records. 
 
 Again, says the Mormon apologist, "We are no worse than you. 
 Many of your citizens practice what polygamy permits with us, and 
 sanctions." Can effrontery go farther than this? Because crimes are 
 committed, must a church put in its creed a cloak for crime ? In polyga- 
 mous Mormouism, religion and ecclesiastical law are dragged down into 
 the mud and mire of sensuality, and made to gild with respectability what 
 the civilized world spurns and execrates. The world will be prone to be- 
 lieve that the intelligent advocate of polygamy is actuated by some other 
 motive than a sincere desire for his soul's salvation. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the people of the United States will not look with 
 complacency upon the growth of a social system that will permit their 
 critics to classify them with Mohammedans, Hindoos, Fuegians, Caribs and 
 Hottentots. When advocates and defenders of a social system are driven 
 to the necessity of declaring that there are worse pictures than theirs in 
 the rogues' galleries, worse citizens than theirs arraigned at the bars of 
 police courts ; worse systems than theirs extant in barbarous tribes and 
 semi-civilized nations, or that worse systems existed two thousand years 
 ago, they should be commended to that verse in Proverbs : "A whip for 
 the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back." They will 
 have reached the end of argument long before. 
 
 Quotations from the Biblical record, showing the lewdness of some of 
 the best men of the Mosaic dispensation, are also used to give warrant for 
 a continuance of base practices in the nineteenth century and in the 
 United States. 
 
 " And thus I clothe my naked villainy 
 With old odd ends stol'n forth of Holy Writ, 
 And seem a saint, when most I play the devil." 
 
 The disguise is incomplete. 
 
 "In the public mind,'' says Mr. Cannon, "the system of plural mar- 
 riages in Utah is often confounded with bigamy." Quite true, quite nat- 
 ural, and not at all surprising, since the law of the United States makes it 
 
15 
 
 so. Enacted in 1862, thus reads the statute : " Every person, having a 
 husband or wife living, who marries another, whether married or single, 
 in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive 
 jurisdiction, is guilty of bigamy." " But that crime, as usually committed, 
 inflicts grave wrong upon innocent parties," says Mr. Cannon. Truth 
 again ; and it is because that crime, " as usually committed " by the Mor- 
 mon church, inflicts grave wrong upon innocent parties, that it is to be 
 hoped it may be speedily suppressed. 
 
 "A man marries a woman," continues Mr. Cannon, "he afterward de- 
 serts her, and marries another. From the second he conceals the fact that 
 he already has a wife ; both are wronged and deceived, and society is out- 
 raged." More truth ! Precisely the effect of this crime. Precisely what 
 the Mormon church has practiced sent elders abroad by the score to 
 proselyte : concealed carefully the fact that polygamy w r as practiced in the 
 church at Utah ; deceived ignorant but innocent people ; converted them 
 to Mormonism ; forwarded them to Salt Lake ; and there, when safely in 
 the priestly toils, for the first time, told them the whole truth. "But this 
 is not the patriarchal marriage of the Latter Day Saints," concludes Mr. 
 Cannon. Ah, indeed ! But it is very like it, in many, many cases ; and 
 we have it upon the authority of an ex-officer of the Mormon church, that 
 some years since, a Mormon elder held a public discussion at Boulogne, in 
 which he attempted to prove that polygamy was not practiced in Utah, 
 when at the time he was married to four wives, was courting still another 
 lady, from whom he carefully concealed the fact that he had any wife at all ! 
 Polygamous Mormons do not have to desert the first wife in order to marry 
 another. If the first feels that she is too badly outraged to stay, and 
 makes too much trouble, a convenient divorce relieves the situation. 
 
 Says an earnest Mormon advocate, on the law of heredity, and in de- 
 fense of polygamy : 
 
 u Our physical organization, health, vigor, strength of body in faculties, inclina- 
 tions, etc., are influenced very much by parentage. Hereditary disease, idiocy, weak- 
 ness of mind or of constitution, deformity, tendency to violent and ungovernable pas- 
 sions, vicious appetites and desires, are engendered by parents, and are bequeathed 
 as a heritage from generation to generation." 
 
 True, every word of it. And the testimony of visitors to Salt Lake 
 City, native and foreign, with practical unanimity goes to prove that these 
 transmitted evils exist to a pre-eminent degree in Mormon progeny. Says 
 one of these who visited Salt Lake in 1862, and was for awhile the guest 
 of Brigham Young : " The children of the saints have a bad name for pre- 
 cocious depravity." Says another, who was there two years since : "I had 
 an opportunity to see several thousand children pass in review or proces- 
 sion before me. They certainly were a very inferior lot." Says another : 
 "It would be impossible to collect, even from our great cities, as many 
 children so unprepossessing." The mortality among children at Salt Lake 
 
1G 
 
 City is also remarkable, considering- the general salubrity of tlie climate. 
 New Orleans is the only city in the United States that reports so great a 
 death-rate. 
 
 Mother and daughter are often wives of the same man. The jealousies 
 between the wives make inevitable discords in the polygamous family. 
 The children breathe a vitiated air ; there is no privacy, no oneness of 
 sentiment, no home. If rich, the wives live separately from each other. If 
 poor, they are herded together in one or two rooms. At the best, in the 
 rearing of children, polygamy and monogamy present about the same dif- 
 ferences that exist between an " orphan asylum " and the loving, pure 
 circle of a Christian home. 
 
 A review of polygamous Mormonism, however brief, would not be satis- 
 factory, without an attempt at least to answer some questions which sug- 
 gest themselves as of common interest to the statesman, the divine, and 
 the philanthropist. 
 
 What is the secret of Mormon success ? Why so strong ? How but- 
 tressed and defended ? How can so erroneous a system ever become dan- 
 gerous ? All these questions can be answered in a single word organiza- 
 tion. The hands of the church are upon everything in Utah. The eyes of 
 the church are upon every person. The ears of the church hear eveiy 
 word spoken, and its power is everywhere felt. Every Mormon is taught 
 that he is of a brotherhood, chosen of God ; that every one will be a prince 
 and a priest of the Most High, in the world to come. The officers of his 
 cliurch are divinely commissioned, hold the keys of the beatific hereafter, 
 reserved for the faithful saints, and are the infallible guides of the people 
 in temporal matters. Church and State are joined in indissoluble bonds ; 
 the church always the controlling head and fountain of authority. When, 
 under law, there seems to be an impassable gulf fixed between these two, 
 and the forms of an election and of law-making are gone through with, the 
 church inspires every Mormon official, dictates every local law, and fore- 
 casts the result of every election. " Theology," wrote P. P. Platt, " is the 
 science by which worlds are organized, sustained, and directed, and the 
 elements controlled ; all other sciences being but branches of this, the 
 root." This declaration, in all possible fullness of construction, is the fun- 
 damental law of the Mormon church. 
 
 In Utah there is an official, of some sort, to about every five persons. 
 For a description of their organism there can be no clearer statement than 
 that found in the March number of the North American Review, in an arti- 
 cle from the pen of C. C. Goodwin, who presents to us the whole scheme, 
 in the exact language of a Mormon Bishop, Henry Lunt, of Cedar City, 
 Utah: 
 
 " First, there is a President, and he has two Counselors. Second, there are twelve 
 Apostles. The President is one of them, and there are eleven others. Each of them 
 receives a salary of $1,500 per annum. The President wields an authority equal to 
 
17 
 
 that of the other eleven. Third, there are seven Presidents designated as the Presi- 
 dents of the Seventies. Fourth, come the Seventies, with seven Presidents over each, 
 and a President over each of the Sevens. Fifth, come the Seventies, each body of 
 which consists of seventy Elders. There are eighty of these Seventies in Utah, and 
 they are compelled to report at least annually. These constitute the general authori- 
 ties of the church. Sixth, is the Head Patriarch of the church. This dignity is he- 
 reditary when the candidate is worthy. The Head Patriarch resides at Salt Lake City, 
 and blesses the people by the laying on of hands. The present incumbent of that 
 sacred position is John Smith, the nephew of Prophet Joseph Smith. Seventh, there 
 is a Presiding Bishop, who attends to the collection of tithes. Eighth, Zion is divided 
 into twenty-three Stakes, each of which has a President. Each Stake is subdivided 
 into wards, and each ward into districts. Each district has a quorum of Teachers, 
 whose business it is to visit each family periodically, and look after the spiritual wel- 
 fare of its members. Each district has a meeting-house, Sunday-school, day-school, 
 Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, primary association for small children 
 which meets on Saturdays, and usually a dramatic society. Our people at Cedar City 
 have a brass band, a co-operative store, a co-operative tannery, and a co-operative 
 grist-mill which cost ten thousand dollars. Ninth, come the priests and deacons. In 
 the world the priests preach and baptize, but do not lay on hands. The wisdom of 
 man could never have devised a church organization like that. Out of a total popula- 
 tion of 150,000, there are 30,000 children in Utah under eight years of age. We have 
 a Sunday-school organization known as the Deseret Sunday-school Union, of which 
 George Q. Cannon is Superintendent ; he is our Delegate to Congress. Then we have 
 a perpetual immigration fund, in charge of President Albert Carrington. With this 
 we assist in gathering our converts to these valleys. All nations are here represented." 
 
 Of the designs of the church, to the same correspondent Bishop Lunt 
 said : 
 
 " Like a grain of mustard-seed was the truth planted in Zion, and it is destined to 
 spread through all the world. Our church has been organized only fifty years, and 
 yet behold its wealth and power. This is our year of jubilee. We look forward with 
 perfect confidence to the day when we will hold the reins of the United States govern- 
 ment. That is our present temporal aim ; after that we expect to control the conti- 
 nent." 
 
 When told by the correspondent that such a scheme seems somewhat 
 visionary, considering the fact that Utah cannot secure recognition as a 
 State, the bishop's, reply was : 
 
 " Do not be deceived ; we are looking after that. We do not care for these Terri- 
 torial officials sent out to govern us. They are nobodies here. We do not recognize 
 them, neither do we fear any practical interference by Congress. We intend to have 
 Utah recognized as a State. To-day we hold the balance of political power in Idaho, 
 we rule Utah absolutely, and in a very short time we will hold the balance of power 
 in Arizona and Wyoming. A few months ago, President Snow of St. George, set out 
 with a band of priests for an extensive tour through Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, 
 Montana, Idaho, and Arizona, to proselyte. We also expect to send missionaries to 
 some parts of Nevada, and we design to plant colonies in Washington Territory. 
 
 " In the past six months we have sent more than 3,000 of our people down through 
 the Sevier valley to settle in Arizona, and the movement still progresses. All this will 
 build up for us a political power which will, in time, compel the homage of the dema- 
 2 
 
18 
 
 gogues of the country. Our vote is solid, and will remain so. It will be thrown 
 where the most good will be accomplished for the church. Then, in some great politi- 
 cal crisis, the two present political parties will bid for our support. Utah will then be 
 admitted as a polygamous State, and the other Territories we have peacefully subju- 
 gated will be admitted also. We will then hold the balance of power, and will dictate 
 to the country. In time, our principles, which are of sacred origin, will spread 
 throughout the United States. We possess the ability to turn the political scale in 
 any particular community we desire. Our people are obedient. When they are called 
 by the church, they promptly obey. They sell their houses, lands, and stock, and re- 
 move to any part of the country the church may direct them to. You can imagine the 
 results which wisdom may bring about, with the assistance of a church organization 
 like ours. It is the completest the world has ever seen. We have another advantage. 
 We are now and shall always be in favor of woman suffrage. The women of Utah 
 vote, and they never desert the colors of the church in a political contest. They vote 
 for the tried friends of the church, and what they do here they will do everywhere our 
 principles and our institutions spread." 
 
 As readily as water seeks its level, so readily do tlie orders of the infal- 
 lible priesthood, by tlie agency of the subtle mechanism here developed, 
 reach the most obscure member of the church, in the most distant Mor- 
 mon settlement, and the whole mass is electrified with the impulses of the 
 master-mind, and molded into the desired form. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that the Gentile element in the population of 
 Utah is inconsiderable. The legislative branch of the Territorial govern- 
 ment is entirely in the hands of the church, subject only to the veto power 
 of the Governor, and the annulling power of Congress. These two checks 
 to legislative enactments are powerful enough, but are not often applied. 
 The local legislation of the Territory was largely devised in the reign of 
 Brigham Young, who, as Governor, of course did not use the veto power 
 against his own will. To avoid anti-church influences and interferences 
 on the part of Congress, the legislative power has been largely delegated 
 to corporations, so extensive in jurisdiction that all the valuable lands, and 
 the irrigating streams, are under their control. They legislate very little 
 in the Territorial legislature, but very much in their municipal corpora- 
 tions. They have put the law of their municipalities against the law of 
 the organic act. They have devised a system of escheats, by which the 
 estates of deceased persons have been confiscated to the church, without 
 power on the part of the heirs to obtain their own, or punish the robbers. 
 Their justices' courts have a wide jurisdiction are final in many impor- 
 tant cases, and when appeals properly lie to a higher court they are often 
 arbitrarily denied. The power of the Federal courts has been invaded, 
 and the authority of the Federal officers alternately denied and usurped. 
 In short, their local legislation has been most iniquitous. By its use, 
 coupled with the power of a priestly despotism, working upon ignorant 
 and fanatical masses, the Mormon hierarchy has plundered its poor dupes, 
 in the name of the Lord, most mercilessly, filling the coffers of the church 
 to which they have the keys, by extortions and impositions the most 
 shameless. 
 
19 
 
 A Federal officer of Utah, writing to the Attorney-General of the United 
 States, under date of July 11, 1879, says : 
 
 "The suit that has been begun by Brighara Young's heirs, has revealed the fact 
 (or I should say has made it more prominent, for it was understood before), that the 
 Mormon church owns millions of dollars in property, which is held by its trustee and 
 other good Mormons. By law they are entitled to only $50,000 (see Revised Statutes, 
 Sec. 1890). Since the passage of this act, they have accumulated more than one mil- 
 lion of dollars." 
 
 It will be observed that the " infallible priesthood " has substantial, as 
 well as spiritual, reasons for tenacity of faith. 
 
 Whatever else there may be in Utah, there are few drones. Everybody 
 is expected to work. Mormon wives lead no lives of idleness. They must 
 very nearly support themselves. Some do more. Self-support will not 
 answer the demands of the priesthood. Tithes must be brought into the 
 Lord's storehouse. 
 
 Mr. Cannon remarks that " taxation is lighter than in any of the other 
 Territories, and than many of the States." Territorial taxation proper is 
 always light ; but when to that tax-list is added the municipal tax, the 
 water-rates, and the ten per cent, of church tithes, we find the Mormons 
 are carrying a burden like that imposed upon Israel by the Egyptian task- 
 master. While the church taxes are not collected by legal process, the 
 collection is none the less sure. The business of the Mormons is largely 
 conducted through a mammoth co-operative association, under the manage- 
 ment of the church, which has its hand upon every interest of its people, 
 religious, political, business, and social. 
 
 It requires no extended examination of the Mormon system to discern 
 that everything the ingenuity of man could invent has been called in to aid 
 in its organization, and make impregnable its defenses. There is not a 
 more rigidly administered despotism on earth, either civil or religious, 
 and never has been. Broad-based, its foundation stones in every house- 
 hold, it has stood thus far " a tower of strength, foursquare to all the 
 winds that blew." Every incentive of human action has been invoked, 
 and embraced in the scheme. No matter how wild, visionary, false or 
 atrocious might be the religious faith of a man, Mormonism has had some- 
 thing with which to satisfy him. Let some poor devotee reach out his 
 hand for anything, high or low, and a Mormon priest offers to fill it. 
 Janus-faced, if he aspires, the priesthood with mock humility points 
 solemnly upward. If he grovels, the priesthood with lecherous leers bows 
 with him in the mire of sensuality, Whatever his mood, lofty sentiment, 
 base desire, or ignoble passion, a promise of satisfaction isatonce given 
 if he will be true to the church. P - n/roft UUrtTy 
 
 Polygamous Mormonism, treasonable at heart to the Republic, an 
 enemy to pure religion, is dangerous just in proportion as it has power to 
 enforce its desires ; for its civil and religious creed is diametrically opposed 
 to the institutions of any free Republican system. In disproving the 
 
20 
 
 charge of disloyalty made against the Mormon church, Mr. Cannon, in his 
 recent article, says : " When they fled to the Kocky Mountains, they did 
 not forget that they were American citizens. They hoisted the stars and 
 stripes, and announced their determination to live under the Constitution 
 of their fathers." 
 
 True they did hoist the " stars and stripes " when ? In 1847, when 
 the territory they occupied was Mexican soil, not the property of the 
 United States. But ten years later, when the "United States did own the 
 territory, Brigham Young declared the independence of the State of Dese- 
 ret, and began war upon his country. " Announced their determination 
 to live under the Constitution of their fathers," yet compel their people to 
 swear that they will support the constitution of the Mormon church in 
 preference. Says a better authority than Mr. Cannon : "No man can 
 serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or 
 else he will hold to the one and despise the other." Which does the Mor- 
 mon hate or despise, Mormon Theocracy, or free Republicanism ? 
 
 In defense of polygamy, the Mormon hierarchy has loved to quote and 
 dwell long upon the provisions of the first amendment to the Constitution, 
 which reads as follows : 
 
 ' ' Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting 
 the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, etc." 
 
 As construed by the priesthood, there were few crimes that could not 
 be committed against a fellow-citizen, or the State, with impunity, under 
 the guise of religious belief. 
 
 Fortunately in the matter under consideration, and in its relation to 
 this amendent, we are not left to baffling and conflicting opinions. The 
 Supreme Court, in the case of Reynolds -us. the United States (98 U. S., 
 145), has given a construction to the amendment in question. Chief Jus- 
 tice Waite, in delivering the opinion of the Court, said : 
 
 " Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left 
 free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties, or subversive of good 
 order." 
 
 In this case (a prosecution for bigamy), the attorney in the Court below 
 had asked the Court to instruct the jury, that if they found from the evi- 
 dence that the man indicted for bigamy (being a Mormon polygamist) 
 " was married as charged " married " in pursuance of, and in conformity 
 with what he believed at the time to be, a religious duty, the verdict must 
 be not guilty." The request was refused, and the Supreme Court sus- 
 tained the Court below on the point raised. 
 
 In reference to the statute of the United States, which has been already 
 quoted, the Chief Justice said : 
 
 " It is constitutional and valid as prescribing a rule of action for all those residing 
 in the Territories and in places over which the United States have exclusive control. 
 
21 
 
 This being so, the only question which remains is, whether those who make polygamy 
 a part of their religion are excepted from the operation of the statute. If they are, 
 then those who do not make polygamy a part of their religious belief may be found 
 guilty and punished, while those who do must be acquitted and go free. This would 
 be introducing a new element into criminal law. Laws are made for the government 
 of actions, and, while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, 
 they may with practices. Suppose one believed that human sacrifices were a neces- 
 sary part of religious worship, would it be seriously contended that the civil govern- 
 ment under which he lived could not interfere to prevent a sacrifice ? Or if a wife re- 
 ligiously believed it was her duty to burn herself upon the funeral pile of her dead 
 husband, would it be beyond the power of the civil government to prevent her carry- 
 ing her belief into practice ? " 
 
 And the further points were made, that by the laws of every State, 
 plural marriages are forbidden ; that polygamy has always been branded 
 by civilized nations as crime. The English Statutes (1 Jas., 1 chap., 11) 
 made it punishable in the civil courts, and attached the death penalty. A 
 similar statute was enacted by the colonies. Kent, the great commentator, 
 treats the second marriage as void. Prof. Lieber says : " Polygamy fet- 
 ters the people in stationary bondage." The law is clear and the contro- 
 verted questions of constitutionality are settled. Why is not the law en- 
 forced? Why is such a fountain of un cleanness not stopped ? 
 
 In the case just referred to, few of the difficulties of enforcing the law 
 came under consideration. In a later case, that of Miles vs. the United 
 States, opinion by Justice Woods, delivered in the October term, 1880, a 
 very serious difficulty presented itself. Section 1604 of the laws of Utah 
 provides that 
 
 " A husband shall not be a witness for or against his wife, nor a wife a witness for 
 or against her husband." 
 
 In this case the evidence of one of the later wives of Miles was offered 
 to prove a marriage with a former one, that the crime of bigamy might 
 thus be established against Miles. The marriage with the first wife was 
 denied ; the marriage with the second, or the one whose testimony was de- 
 sired, was admitted ; and thereupon the defendant, under the statute just 
 quoted, objected to the introduction of this last one as a witness. The 
 Court below overruled the objection, and the case came up in error to the 
 Supreme Court. In delivering the opinion of the Court, Justice Woods 
 says: 
 
 " Until the fact of the marriage of Emily Spencer (first wife) with the plaintiff in 
 error was established, Caroline Owens (second wife) was prima facie his wife, and she 
 could not be used as a witness against him. 
 
 " The ground upon which a second wife is admitted as a witness against her hus- 
 band, in a prosecution for bigamy, is that she is shown not to be a real wife by proof 
 of the fact that the accused had previously married another wife, who was still living 
 and still his lawful wife. It is only in cases where the first marriage is not contro- 
 verted, or has been duly established by other evidence, that the second wife is al- 
 lowed to testify, and she can then be a witness to the second marriage, and not to the 
 firBt. 
 
"The testimony of the second wife to prove the only controverted issue in the case, 
 namely, the first marriage, cannot be given to the jury on the pretext that its purpose 
 is to establish her competency. As her competency depends on pi oof of the first mar- 
 riage, and that is the issue upon which the case turns, that issue must be established 
 by other witnesses before the second wife is competent for any purpose. Even then 
 she is not competent to prove the first marriage, for she cannot be admitted to prove 
 a fact to the jury which must be established before she can testify at all. 
 
 "Witnesses who are prima facie competent, but whose competency is disputed, are 
 allowed to give evidence on their voir dire to the court upon some collateral issue, on 
 which their competency depends, but the testimony of a witness who is prima facie 
 incompetent cannot be given to the jury upon the very issue in the case, in order to 
 establish his competency, and at the same time prove the issue. The authorities 
 sustain these views." 
 
 He further says : 
 
 " It is made clear by the record that polygamous marriages are so celebrated in 
 Utah as to make the proof of polygamy very difficult. They are conducted in secret, 
 and the persons by whom they are solemnized are under such obligations of secrecy, 
 that it is almost impossible to extract the facts from them when placed upon the wit- 
 ness stand. If both wives are excluded from testifying to the first marriage, as we 
 think they should be under the existing rules of evidence, testimony sufficient to con- 
 vict in a prosecution for polygamy in the Territory of Utah is hardly attainable. But 
 this is not a consideration by which we can be influenced. We must administer the 
 law as we find it. The remedy is with Congress, by enacting such a change in the 
 law of evidence in the Territory of Utah as to make both wives witnesses on indict- 
 ments for bigamy." 
 
 Under the act of 1850, organizing the Territory of Utah, the Federal 
 Government has exclusive control of affairs. Laws passed by the legis- 
 lature must be approved by the Governor, and he is appointed by the 
 President ; besides, they may be set aside, or annulled by Congress. The 
 judges of the Supreme Court of the Territory are also appointed by the 
 President. As a Territory it is under control. As a State it would be- 
 come independent, of course, to a great extent, subject only to the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, and its own Constitution. As a Territory, 
 with a little legislation on the part of Congress, polygamy can be sup- 
 pressed within its borders. As a State, it is doubtful whether it would 
 ever be exterminated. 
 
 Polygamy is on the increase in Utah. Governor Neill, of Idaho, also 
 makes it the subject of a special message, and indicates the cause of its 
 rapid development, in language as truthful and outspoken as it is startling 
 to those who have felt that polygamous Morrnonism was so "remote " and 
 so " weak " that it needed no attention from the country. He says : 
 
 "Polygamy is a doctrine of the Mormon church, and the practice is urged and 
 made obligatory upon the members of the church, for the purpose of binding them 
 more firmly to the organization. The Mormon leaders have shrewdly calculated, that 
 by making the society a large community of interest in crime, its members can be 
 the more easily persuaded and influenced to aid in carrying into execution the 
 political schemes of the priesthood. .... From the penalties of the law, the 
 
23 
 
 polygamist naturally goes for protection and defense to the church Again 
 
 the practice is calculated to draw to the Mormon church the most vicious and 
 sensual classes of society." 
 
 Polygamous Mormonism was never stronger than now. There is no 
 growing evil that more loudly demands the careful and conscientious at- 
 tention of statesmen. 
 
 The elements of evil and of danger can be naturally marshalled in two 
 groups, one having relation most directly to the State, the other affecting 
 more specifically morality and Christian civilization. In guarding against 
 the first, we can legitimately appeal to Congress and the National Execu- 
 tive. For averting the second, we must rely upon the same great moral 
 forces that have Christianized the world. In both directions speedy and 
 decisive action should be had. Convention resolutions, however good, will 
 not remove the thorn from the side of wounded society. 
 
 As early as 1853, this remarkable organization had in Great Britain 
 alone 30,000 communicants, 8 high priests, 40 quorums of seventies, 2,500 
 elders, 1,800 priests, 1,400 teachers, and 800 deacons, all engaged in the 
 work of proselyting for the church, and preparing them for emigration to 
 the Zion in Utah. Several hundreds of their priests are now abroad prose- 
 lyting. Their books are in all languages, their missionaries are in nearly 
 all lands where they are not prohibited by law from preaching. " Canst 
 thou draw out Leviathan with a hook ? " Mormon " stakes " have been set 
 with pile-drivers, driven with a church machinery more elaborate than any 
 other in the world. They will not be pried out of place by knitting-need- 
 les. Archimedean levers will be required. 
 
 It has been urged that the whole matter can be safely left to the irre- 
 pressible conflict of free opinions ; that out of it the true will be evoked, 
 and the false engulfed. It has been thus left. Nineteen years ago the 
 people of the United States placed upon the page of the nation's laws, a 
 clear expression of their wish as to one phase of social relationship. The 
 Supreme Court has decided that they have the right so to do. For nine- 
 teen years the wish has been disregarded sneered at. The laws which 
 bind the citizens of every State in the Union, fail to bind the citizens of 
 Utah. " Gentile polygamists," says a recent writer, " are in jail." A Mor- 
 mon polygamist is in Congress. How ? Why ? Read any of the argu- 
 ments by which it is sought to be proved that the wisest course to pursue 
 is to "let it alone," "let it die of natural, inbred diseases," and by insert- 
 ing the word slavery where we now see polygamy we shall find ourselves 
 face to face with the same logic in vogue about the time of the adoption of 
 the Constitution, when the clear, right line of good governmental policy 
 was obscured, and that great evil from a small beginning was allowed to 
 grow undisturbed, until it had absorbed so many interests, formed in its 
 advocates so many habits, and grown so great by what it fed upon, that 
 when the struggle came between Slavery and Freedom, the nation was 
 
24 
 
 purged of its evil in a convulsion that well-nigh took its life. It is to be 
 hoped that history will not repeat of polygamy what it has written of 
 slavery. Our constitution is strong and elastic, it has borne much, but it 
 could not bear slavery. Will it hold, under the strain of polygamy ? 
 
 There are many heresies and schisms in the church. That is not to be 
 denied. But they have existed heretofore, and no organization is free from 
 them. In spite of their disintegrating influence, the evil as a whole grows. 
 Something akin to the power that produced the excrescence must be em- 
 ployed to remove it 
 
 It has been asked why the dissatisfied ones do not break away from 
 their bonds. Why did not the negro emancipate himself ? A world has 
 been created for them to live in ; an atmosphere made for them to breathe ; 
 children have been born to them ; a hope of heaven inspired in them, by 
 way of Mormonism ; a fear of what the world will say of them has been 
 taught. Within is all they have. Without they know not what is in store 
 for them, and they cling to their delusive system in hopes that by and by, 
 they know not when nor how, a way of escape will be opened to them. 
 
 Shall they be disappointed? With the Mormon church, as such, as- 
 serting its peculiar belief, maintaining its dogmas, however atrocious, and 
 securing its proselytes by the power of the press and the pulpit, the 
 Government has little to do, if it violates no law of the land, and does not 
 outrage the civil polity of the Republic. Their fantastic rites and delud- 
 ing ceremonies ought to be abolished, and will be, but by other forces. 
 The Mormon has as good a legal right to his religious belief and church 
 worship, as the Methodist, or the Episcopalian, has to his. All sects, how- 
 ever, must be under the law of the land. There must be .no divided 
 sovereignty. In the realm of law the State dominates. 
 
 In invoking the aid of Congress and the executive, it will be well to ask 
 for one thing at a time. Polygamy, the central figure of Mormonism, is its 
 chief abomination. The Supreme Court has indicated a needful remedy at 
 the hands of Congress. Ask for it, and whatever else is needed to enable 
 the officers of Utah to detect, convict, and punish polygamy. Congress 
 may be slow to act ; it usually is. Reformers are not always in Congress ; 
 great and wise ones, but seldom. Reforms do not usually owe their 
 origin to the city of Washington. Legislators are conservative. The 
 covereign of the United States is not in the capitol, nor is he domiciled in 
 the White House. The declarations of the campaign speaker are true, 
 after all. The scepter is in the hande of the People. The residence of our 
 sovereign is the home of the citizen. The ministers always at court, and 
 through whom he can always be reached, and to whom he always yields a 
 ready response, are a free press, a free pulpit, and a free platform. In- 
 voke the aid of these trusted servants, and when the sovereign speaks, 
 Senators and Cabinets and Congressmen will act, and stand not on the 
 order of their acting, in haste to obey. The statute asked for will be forth- 
 coming. 
 
25 
 
 The subject of polygamy may come before Congress, brought there 
 upon questions growing out of the recent election of a delegate from that 
 Territory. No person, whether guilty of crime or not, can be excluded 
 from the Senate, or House of ^Representatives, by law, since the Constitu- 
 tion provides that " each house shall be the judge of the elections, re- 
 turns, and qualifications of its own members." Just how far Congress 
 would deem it wise to carry the analogy between the elections, returns, 
 and qualifications of a delegate and a member of Congress, it is impossible 
 to state. 
 
 The act of 1850, organizing Utah as a Territory, declares that the quali- 
 fications of voters at the first election shall be, " citizens of the United 
 States," " white males, twenty-one years of age and upward." For all sub- 
 sequent elections the qualifications are subject to the provisions of the Ter- 
 ritorial legislature and the approval of Congress. 
 
 All Mormons are not polygamists, and if those who practice it were dis- 
 franchised, the election to Congress of a person guilty of that crime would 
 be well-nigh impossible. It is to be hoped that so harsh a remedy will 
 not become necessary. We 'certainly have a right to expect that the peo- 
 ple of Utah will, under milder treatment, see the folly and treasonable- 
 ness of maintaining very much longer their attitude of open defiance to 
 law. If disfranchisement is the only course that will prove finally effica- 
 cious, let it come, for a religious and civil despotism, lodged in the midst of 
 the nation, defying its just laws, must be extirpated, and by the employ- 
 ment of that degree of severity which its stubbornness may demand. 
 
 Turning from the realm of law and of government, and the remedies we 
 seek there, we must also invoke the aid of purely moral forces for the sup- 
 pression of those evils with which law and government have nothing to do. 
 Ignorance and superstition are of one family. Fanaticism is only mis- 
 placed and misapplied zeal. Truth is the cure for all moral maladies. 
 Greater and more convincing than law, more powerful than all the 
 enginery of government, is the influence of the life, example, and death of 
 that Personage who preached in Galilee, eighteen hundred years ago, the 
 Sermon on the Mount. Let the light of truth shine in upon this gloomy 
 error. Pour the literature of the gospel into that valley, in an unstinted 
 flood. Teach that people the old lesson, that between every human soul 
 and its God, there is a direct and open road that even a child can travel 
 with perfect safety. The same beneficent constitution which guards the 
 Mormon in his faith, will protect the Home Missionary and the colporteur 
 in his work. Brush away from the windows of the Mormon soul the dust 
 and cobwebs of credulity and priestly delusion, and let it look out un- 
 vexed upon a new world, bathed in the sunlight of God's love, which 
 needs the intervention of no human machinery, no lens of priesthood to 
 give it power over human hearts. 
 
 The same methods by which Christianity has been carried into the 
 jungles of India and the wilds of Africa will be required to carry and hold 
 
it in Utah. The citadel of polygamous Mormonism must be invested by a 
 Christian army, as other strongholds of heathenism have been besieged. 
 Without a tinge of persecution, not a color of intolerance, in the spirit of 
 love, not hate, put the right against the wrong, and leave the issue to the 
 Master. Plant the school beside the church. Place the teacher by the 
 side of the missionary. This is a battle to be won with the Bible and the 
 school-book* 
 
 There is no free public school in Utah, but an Academy in the charge 
 of a hard-working Christian minister has been established in Salt Lake 
 City. Sustain it that it may be made to furnish the needed teachers. A 
 little band of devoted women have begun there the anti-polygamy cru- 
 sade, and have started a paper, the Anti-Polygamy Standard. Aid them. 
 Circulate their paper. If the wives and mothers of America are made 
 fully aware of the extent and character of this degradation of their sex, 
 and informed of the need of their sympathy and support, the on-rushing 
 tide of public sentiment they will set in motion will sweep away polygamy 
 in a year. 
 
 Let this organization the American Home Missionary Society enter 
 the field in force ; call upon the people everywhere for aid. Let it be im- 
 portunate in its demands. 
 
 "And I, if I be lifted up," said the Master, "will draw all men unto 
 me." Lift up the Master in Utah. Plant the sanctified Cross in every 
 valley of the Territory. Place at its foot the purest, broadest-brained, 
 largest-hearted Christian men that can be found, to tell again and again 
 " the old, old story," more potent than the sword, deeper-reaching than 
 the law, and in the fullness of his time, this relic of barbarism, this citadel 
 of error, this moral Bastile, will go down in irreparable disaster, as the 
 walls of Jericho went down before the encompassing hosts of Israel 
 
i 
 
Lithomount 
 Pamphlet 
 
 Binder 
 Gaylord Bros. 
 
 Makers 
 Stockton, Calif. 
 
 PAT. JAN 21. 1908