After all that can be said about Mormonism and polygamy in their social or moral relations, it is only when we come to consider them in their political aspect, in their relations to government and governing,

that we touch the core of the matter. Those who wax the hottest against the latter-day saints and their polygamous practices are not as a rule among the purest of our people. They care no more, indeed,

    The dogma of adoption for eternity originated after Joseph's time. Hall says he first heard of it about the date of the expulsion from Nauvoo. Mormonism Exposed, 70. It was ascertained that many of the saints had inter-married with gentile stock, and were thus debarred from a full enjoyment of the rights and privileges of the house and lineage of Abraham. But these lost blessings could be restored by ingraftment upon the stock of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, represented by the twelve apostles, each of whom was deemed as in lineal descent from Abraham, tracing his consanguinity to Isaac and Jacob, and thence to himself as a chief of one of the tribes. Romans, xi. 16, is quoted as authorizing the doctrine, which requires every member of the church, except the twelve, to choose a father fresh one of the latter. The father may be either younger or older than the son, but in any case assumes the character of guardian, with full control of the labor and estate of the adopted son Many young men give themselves over to the leaders as 'eternal sons,' in the hope of sharing the honor of their adopted parents. W.C. Statues was Brigham's adopted son, and D. Candland, Heber C. Kimball's. Hyde, Mormonism, 110. Witbert Earls is also mentioned as Kimball's son. Hall, Mormonism Exposed, 70.

    About 1840, in obedience to a special revelation, Joseph Smith established a secret society known as the Order Lodge. None save persons of high standing in the church could gain admission, the avowed object of the organization being induction into the higher mysteries of the priesthood. J. C. Bennett writes as follows of this order: 'The lodge-room is carefully prepared and (cont.)

about the half-dozen wives of the Mormon than about the half-dozen mistresses of the congressman. As Judge Roseborough, in a very able dictation to my stenographer, remarks: "When I came here I was a

    I have thousands of references to articles written and sermons preached on the doctrines of the church. The tabernacle and bowery sermons have been reported and published in the Deseret News, from its first publication up to 1860. Besides President Young, the prominent speakers were Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Lorenzo Snow, Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith, John Taylor, Franklin D. Richards, David Fullmer, J. W. Cummings, John Young, Wilford Woodruff, John D. McAllister, Joseph Young, Daniel H. Wells, Cyrus H. Wheelock, Robert T. Burton, Jacob Gates, Charles H. Bassett, and many others. For duties of bishops, see Deseret News, 1850, Aug. 10; patriarchal notice, Sept. 21; revelation, Dec. 28; 1851, for religious questions and answers, Jan. 11; minutes special conference of seventies, Jan. 25; appel. presidency and apostolate, Mar. 8; min. gen. con., 19; Patriarch Smith's letter to the saints throughout the world, and letter from P. P. Pratt to Brigham Young, Nov. 29; letter from Thos Bullock, president of seventies, Dec. 27; 1852, letter from O. Jones to Pres. Young, Jan. 10; offices in church, authority explained, Jan. 24; signs of the times, and advice to the saints, Feb. 7; disc. by Brigham, Feb. 9; letter, Patriarch Smith, Feb. 20; opinions about Mormonism (from Harper's Mag.), Feb. 21; min. con. new tabernacle, Apr. 17; Mormon question (N. Y. Tribune and Herald), May 1; letter of defence (in N. Y. Herald), May 15; reflections, O. Pratt, June 26; disc. by Kimball, Aug. 15; gen. funeral sermon by O. Pratt, Aug. 21; Brigham on apostles, News extra, p. 25; remarks by Taylor and Kimball, Sept. 4; speech by Kimball, Sept. 14; special con., (cont.)

democrat. They pretended to be democrats, but, I found them such democrats as hell is full of. They are neither democrats nor republicans. I did not care about matters of belief, if they were American citizens.

They might worship the devil if they were citizens and discharged their duties as citizens. But I found that in a military way, in a political way, and in a judicial way they controlled matters; and nearly all of them

are aliens. I found that I had got out of the United States and come to Utah. I have never got over that feeling yet, and I think I will get out of Utah and back into the United States again."

    For sermons and discourses, see also Millennial Star, passim; address, Kimball, Young's Journal of Discourses, ii. 354-7; sermons, Ferris, Utah and the Mormons, 217-32, 302-3; sermon, Brigham, Salem (Or.) Statesman, Feb. 5, 1856; repts of confer., among others, Frontier Guardian, 1851, June 13, Oct. 31, Nov. 28; gen. epist., in Id., Nov. 14; various sermons, Young's Jour. of Disc., ii. passim; disc., Pratt, Ward's Husband in Utah, 79-103; sermons, Brigham, Sac. Union, 1855, Oct. 25, Dec. 13; 1857, June 16; sermons by Brigham and Kimball, et al., S. F. Alta, 1854, May 16; 1S55, Apr. 6, May 1; 1857, Jan. 12, June 4, Oct. 14; S. F. Bulletin, 1857, May 2; 1866, Apr. 18; lecture, Hyde, S. F. Herald, 1857, Apr. 14; rites and ceremonies, Ferris, Utah and the Mormons, 311-17; Gunnison's Mormons, 37-8; Remy's Journey to G. S. L. City, ii. 4-82; Derby, Overland Route, 30-2; Rae's Westward by Rail, 123-4; Beadle's Life in Utah, 255-9; Rusling's Across America, 166-9; Life among the Mormons, 173-9; Boller's Among the Indians, 401-3; Bowles' Our New West, 242-7; Stenhouse, Tell It All, 251, 387-9; Ward's Husband in Utah, 204-8; Schiel, Reise dutch Felsengeb, 103-24; Smith's Rise, Progress and Travels, 64-5; Utah Scraps, 5, 16; Burton's City of Saints, 365-75. On faith and doctrines, see Smith, Doc. and Cov., passim; S. F. Gol. Era, Dec. 1, 1867: Des. News, Sept. 14, 1864; Mackay's The Morm., 51-4; Ferris, Utah and Morm., 201-16; Gunnison's Morm., 39-63; Frontier Guardian, Feb. 20, 1850; Busch, Morm., 72-105; De Rupert's Cal. and Morm., 138-46; Times and Seasons, vi. 971; Tucker's Morm., 174-9; S. L C. Contributor, ii. 192-324; church gov., Tullidge, Hist. S. L. City, 57-8; Todd's Sunset Land, 185-93; S. L. Direc., 1869, 58; Head, in Overland Monthly, v. 275-7; Utah Seraps, 8-9; Mackay's Morm., 298-305; Ferris, Utah and Morm., 171-7; Stausbury's Expior. Exp., 135-9; Richards' Narr., MS., 42; Smith's Rise, Prog., etc., 17-18, 27-8; Green's Morm., 150-66, 308-19; Hyde's Worm., 18, 25, 101-2, 188-9; The Morm. Proph., 120-1, 114-19; Beadle's Life in Utah, 381-9; Remy's Journey to G. S. L. City, ii. 229-34; Young's Wife No. 19, 577; Gunnison's Morm., 23-5, 57-61, 78-9; Sac. Union, June 26, 1857; theory of creation, Stenhouse's R. M. Saints, 485-94; order of Enoch, Id., 495-503; law of adoption, Id., 503-6; book of Abraham, Id., 507-20; res. of infants, 483-4; Washington bap. by prox., Id., 475-82; Hyde expelled, Id., 640; negro Mormons, S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 14, 1884; pub. discuss., Pratt, Ser. of Pamph., no. 10, 1-46, no. 11, 1-46; Taylor's Govt of God, passim; Morm. pro and con, Chandless' Visit to S. Lake, 156; Ward's Husband in Utah, 140-283; Gunnison's Morm., 35, 164; Salem (Or.) Statesman, Dec. 5, 1854; S. F. Herald, 1854, Jan. 26, Aug. 23, Sept. 27; Alta, 1851, July 24, Aug. 6, 7; 1852, Dec. 21; 1853, Nov. 26; 1854, June 25, 26; 1856, May 10, 15, June 13, Sept. 15, Dec. 17; 1858, Jan. 22; Cal. Chris. Advoc., Apr. 6, 1865; Bulletin, 1856, Aug. 21; 1877, Sept. 8; Sac. Union, 1855, Mar. 16, July 17, Dec. 13; 1856, June 14; Morm. at Home, 65, 122-3, 142-5, 220-1; N. Y. Jour. of Com., in Pan. Star and Her., (cont.)

    Thus, notwithstanding the iniquities of the saints, together with their impudence and arrogance, as charged upon them by their enemies, the impossibility of others living with them as members of one community, of

    In addition to these authorities, it is safe to assert that every gentile paper of importance in the U.S. has at some time extracted from the Salt Lake papers, and commented freely thereon. During the existence of the Kanes-ville (Iowa) Frontier Guardian, 1849-52, nearly every issue contained articles explanatory of the dogmas of the church, a few of which I have referred to. The Millennial Star, although devoted more especially to missionary effort abroad, has always copied freely from home publications. I append a few additional authorities, as follows: On religion, S. F. Alta, Jan. 19, 1860; Bulletin, June 19, 1871; S. L. Rev., Sept. 22, 1871; Gaz. Utah, 1874; S. L. Trib., Jan. 29, 1876, May 19, 1877; Juv. Inst., xv.; doc., Pratt, Key to Scien. Theol., passim; Bonwick, Morm. and Silv. Mines, 34-61; S. L. Trib., Jan. 25, 1872, Mar. 28, 1874; S. L. C. Contributor, ii. 39, 70, 135; bible and book of Morm., S. L. Trib., May 16, 1874; rev., Eureka Sent., Apr. 16, 1875; Silv. City Avalan., Mar. 31, 1876; S. L. Trib., June 2, Oct. 20, 1877; Sept. 24, Oct. 26, 1879; Silv. Reef Miner, June 11, 1879; Stenhouse, Englishwoman in Utah, 34, 74; S. F. Stock Rept, Jan. l, 1880; church, Sac. Union, Feb. 4, Sept. 1, 1860; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 22, 1868, Oct. 10, 1870; Chronicle, Oct. 7, 1883; priesthood, Sac. Union, Oct. 20, 1860; S. L. Trib., in Unionville Silv. State, Mar. 23, 1872; Eureka Sent., Apr. 15, 1873; S. F. Alta, Apr. 14, 1873; S. L. Trib., July 4, 1874, July 10, 1875; Gold Hill News, Dec. 14, 1875; Smith's Mystery and Crime, 16-23, 27-30; Circulars of First Presid., 1877; Pratt's prophecy, Austin, Reese Riv. Rev., Apr. 23, 1880; worship and preachers, Burton, City of Saints, 316; sermons, Young, 1860; Burton, City of Saints, 320; Sac. Union, May 30, Oct. 9; Morm. Expos., i. no 1; S. F. Call, May 11, 1865; Bulletin, Oct. 17, 1867; Alta, July 19, 1860; S. L. Rev., Dec. 7, 1871; Hubner's Round the World, 109; The Resurr., S. L. City, 1875; Prescott Miner, Aug. 17, 1877; by elders, S. L. Tel., June 15, 1869; Corinne Reptr., in Elko Indpt, Aug. 21, 1869; Greenwood's New Life, 144-7; Taylor's Summer Savory, 21-5; S. L. Herald, 1878, Sept. 2, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 22, 29, Nov. 5, 12, 19; Marshall's Through Amer., 198-205; Silver Reef Min., June 18, 1879; character of, Sala's Amer. Revis., 296; Richardson's Beyond Miss., 356-7; Sac. Union, Feb. 28, 1861; relig. freedom, Cannon, Rev. of Decis. of Supm. Ct; confer., S. F. Alta, 1869, Oct. 9; 1872, Apr. 29; Bulletin, 1870, Apr. 12; 1871, Oct. 6, 7; 1872, Apr. 9, 29; 1873, Apr. 7, 9; 1874, Oct. 7; 1876, Nov. 3; 1877, Apr. 11, Oct. 8; 1879, Apr. 9; 1883, Oct. 6, 15; Call, 1864, Apr. 7; 1871, Apr. 11; 1872, Apr. 9; 1873, Apr. 7; Chronicle, 1883, Oct. 6; Post, 1875, Apr. 12; 1877, Apr. 6; Times, 1868, Apr. 21; Sac. Union, 1860, Oct. 20; Carson Union, Apr. 12, 1873; Jackson (Amador) Ledger, Dec. 29, 1877; S. L. Herald, 1878, Oct. 8; 1879, Apr. 9, 12, 22, May 20, June 10, 24, Oct. 7; 1880, Jan. 6; Telegraph, 1869, Apr. 6, 7, 8, 9; 1870, May 7, 8, 9; Tribune, 1873, May 10; 1874, Apr. 4; 1875, Apr. 17, Aug. 6, Oct. 9, 10, 12; 1876, Apr. 8-15, Oct. 7; 1877, May 19, 26, Oct. 13; 1878, Apr. 13, July 13, Oct. 12; 1879, Apr. 5, 8, Oct. 7; 1880, Apr. 10, Sept. 23; Townsend's Morm. Trials, 44; Beadle's Life in Utah, 278:-89; Robinson's Sinners and Saints; bishops, Des. News, Nov. 29, 185l; book of (cont.)

one commonwealth, is the real difficulty—not their religion, their so-called blasphemies, their pretended revelations and miracles, their opposition bible, their latter-day dispensations, and the rest; nor yet their crimes and misdemeanors, their robberies and murders; nor even yet their secret ceremonies, their endowments, Danite bands, blood atonement, and the rest. The copy or counterpart of very many of these, in greater or smaller degree, is, or has been, practised by the gentiles; or if not, few care enough for any of them to go to war on their account. The trouble is this, and this will continue to be the trouble, in Utah or elsewhere in the United States, and that whether polygamy stands or falls—the saints are too exclusive, industrially and politically, for their neighbors.

    The theory of government of this republic is numerical equality, each man and each hundred men being equal to every other man or every other hundred men as industrial and political factors. In this case, however, it is not so, and it never can be so. Spiritual manifestations and spiritual wives have nothing to do with it. A hundred or a thousand Mormons are a unit, socially, politically, and commercially, in a community organized theoretically upon the basis of only one man to the unit. And until the principles of the United States republic are remodelled, Mormons and gentiles cannot live together in peace and amity. It is folly for gentiles to enter a Mormon

community and think to rule, or to have any part in the government as at present existing, and following the line of law and order. This is why the people of Missouri and Illinois drove them out—not because of their religion or immorality, for their religion was nothing to the gentiles, and their morals were as good or better than those of their neighbors. It may as well be understood and agreed upon that, in the United States or out of the United States, the Mormons are, and ever will be, a people self-contained and apart.

    Thus the matter continues to be discussed by the world at large, as a question of theology or morality, and not of active political and judicial control, or of the domination of a politico-religions organization, with aspirations and purposes diverse from those of the American people generally.

    The theory and assumption of the Mormon church as a politico-religious organization is that the church is a government of God, and not responsible to any other government on earth conflicting with it, if not indeed bound from necessity to overturn and supplant all civil governments. This assumption lies at the very foundation of the Mormon creed; and from this point, in practical operation as well as in theory, there is a divergence between that organization and the United States government. Grant that any man believes what the Mormons believe, say their enemies, and where will his allegiance rest—with the government of the United States, or with this politico-religious organization which ought to and will, as they imagine, supplant all other governments? Many of them are alien born, and, from the treatment they receive on their arrival, learn to distrust the government of the United States, and to cling all the closer to the institutions of their sect.

    "It is not consistent that the people of God," says. Orson Pratt, "should organize or be subject to man-made governments. If it were so, they could never

be perfected. There can be but one perfect government,—that organized by God, a government by apostles, prophets, priests, teachers, and evangelists; the order of the original church of all churches acknowledged by God."

    Early in this narrative we saw plainly, and remarked upon it as we proceeded, that it has been chiefly the political character and aspirations of the church that have brought it into all its difficulties everywhere—in Ohio, in Missouri, in Illinois. And its thirty years of isolation and independence in Utah, during which time it came in contact with the American people or with the government only in a limited degree, intensified its desire for control. The only way the Mormons can live in peace with gentile neighbors is for them to follow the example of their brethren, the Josephites—leave politics and government out of their ethics, and not combine for the purpose of controlling counties, states, or territories. But this strikes at the very root of their religion, which has already given them for an inheritance all counties and countries and peoples throughout the world, as they modestly claim.

    There is here much more than the religious unity of ancient Israel. As a cooperative association, Mormonism has not its equal in the history of the world. In every conceivable relation, position, interest, and idea; in every sentiment of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow—there is mutual assistance and sympathy. It enters into all affairs, whether for time or eternity; there is an absolute unity in religion, government, and society, and to the fullest extent short of communism, internal assistance in agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. If a foreign convert wishes to come to America, he is helped hither; if he wants land, farming implements, seed, stock, he is helped to them; trade and manufactures are largely cooperative. And this bond of strength, whether it be called the holiness of saints or

the bigotry of fanatics, causes them to be feared and hated by their neighbors.

    Polygamy, as a tenet of the Mormon church, is based upon scripture example, and' if this is unlawful, it says, all is unlawful. Marriage is ordained of God, and essential to salvation. Christian sects hold up the patriarchs as examples in their sacred instruction, and yet condemn in these personages a practice which Christ nowhere condemns. While in polygamy, God blessed them and their polygamous seed, saying never a word about their plural wives. Polygamy was common in Asia at the time of the apostles; yet none of them preached against it, nor does John the revelator mention it, writing to the seven churches. In the days of Justin Martyr, the Jews practised polygamy. It is true that the emperor Theodosius, about A. D. 393, promulgated a law against polygamy, but it was repealed sixty years after by Valentinian. Nevertheless, as the civilized world, particularly Christian sects, regarded the practice with abhorrence, the prophet Joseph inquired of the Lord as to what he should do. And the Lord answered, commanding him to restore all things, the practice of polygamy among the rest. The revelation on this subject is given entire in note 19 of this chapter. The inferior order of wifehood, known in the sacred scriptures as concubinage, is not recognized in the Mormon church. By the marriage covenant, all are made wives, and all children are legitimate.

    Celestial marriage and the plural-wife system, as incorporated parts of the Mormon religion, are essential to the fulness of exaltation in the eternal world. The space around us, it declares, is inhabited by spirits, thousands of years old, awaiting tabernacles in the flesh, which can be legitimately furnished them only by marriage and procreation; and bodies cannot be obtained for these spirits fast enough unless men have more wives than one. It is the will and glory of God

that these spirits have bodies as speedily as possible, that they become saints on earth and in his kingdom, those who keep this commandment thus to multiply being as gods; otherwise these spirits will take refuge in the bodies of unbelievers, and so sink to perdition.

    But civilization has pronounced polygamy a curse and a crime, a retrogression, an offence against society and against morality, a beastly abomination, immoral, incestuous, degrading, a relic of barbarism, a sin, a shame, a vice, and as such has discarded it and passed laws against it. And the issue between polygamy and monogamy is one purely for civilization to determine; christianity has not a foot of ground to stand upon in the matter.

    Culture cares nothing for religion; it is what a man does, not what he believes, that affects progress. It will not do to break the law in the name of religion. Suppose a man's religion authorizes him to commit murder: does that make it right? Civilization seeks the highest morality; and the highest morality, it says, is not that of the bible, of the book of Mormon, or of any other so-called holy book. The highest morality is based on nature, and by a study of nature's laws men may find it. Long before Christ, civilization awoke to the evils of this custom, which is not in accord with its morality. The religious reformer, Buddha, who died 470 years before Christ was born, and whose followers now number about one third of the whole human race, preached against polygamy. When Greece and Rome were the foremost nations of the world, they did not practise polygamy, nor has ever the highest civilization entertained it. Polygamy is to monogamy as Greece to China, or as England to India.

    All very religious people, as well as science fanatics, are partially insane. This insanity may be passive and harmless, or aggressive and hurtful. We have innumerable instances of both kinds in the history of the Christian church. But as the world

progresses, religion becomes less dogmatic, and the insanity assumes more and more the milder form. Thus it is with the Mormons as with others; they would not feel justified in doing now some things which were done by their predecessors, any more than gentile Christians would wish to burn heretics, or slaughter millions in the name of the redeemer; or any more than they would accept Joseph Smith as a prophet from God, or believe in his metal book of Mormon, or his pretended revelations.

    But admitting man's obligation to follow the precepts and example of the bible, which, if done literally, would lead him into all manner of contrarieties and absurdities, even as it does the Mormons to-day, the scriptural argument in support of polygamy does not go for much. Among the half-savage Israelites the custom obtained, but as they grew more civilized, it died out. The first apostles had none of them two wives, and St Paul maintained that it was best not to have any; the spirit of the new testament is all against plurality of wives, and, though it nowhere in so many words condemns the system, the books of Mormon and doctrine and covenants do.

    Thus we see that holy books are contradictory and unreliable, not being consistent in themselves, or producing consistent followers. Codes of morality depending on the divine will are without foundation: are, indeed, not codes of morality, which to be genuine must be based on nature as the law-giver and punisher; for otherwise all men to whom the will of God has not been revealed, or who do not believe in any god or revelation, would be without any knowledge of right and wrong, or any standard of morality.

    Innate perceptions, supernatural intuitions, or a conscience divinely given, instead of one evolved from the ever-increasing accumulation of human experiences, are not safe guides to right conduct, as the doctrines and doings of the Mormons clearly show. By the result of an act, not by supernatural revelation, we know

whether it is good or bad; and here, the result being bad, the act is wrong, immoral.

    The result is bad because by reason of the act civilization takes a step backward, woman is degraded, and the progress of the race hampered. The mono-gamic is the highest type of family, and the highest type of society, yet evolved. Polygamy is better than promiscuity or polyandry, but it is not equal to monogamy. Polygamy springs from the desire to extend the sexual gratification at the expense of the better sense of the better part of the world's inhabitants. It is but a few removes from the old way among savages, where women were property, and bought by husbands to be used as slaves. To monogamy is due the fullest development of the emotions, of the higher sentiments, motherly tenderness, fatherly care, and the dutiful respect and obedience on the part of children. It is here that the passion of love assumes its most refined form; it is here that we find in family, social, and political relations, the greatest good to the greatest number.

    For if we degrade woman, we degrade her children, her husband, and the whole community. Throughout all ages the position of woman has fixed the advancement of the nation in the scale of refinement and intelligence. Polygamy makes of woman, not the equal and companion of man, but his subordinate, if not indeed his serf or slave. The charm of her influence is gone; the family circle becomes incongruous and less cohesive; and there is an absence of those firm relations, filial and paternal, which, continued through successive generations, engender the highest type of society yet known. Make of American women Circassian slaves, and you will make of American men Turks.

    The nations having the highest and best literature, laws, commerce, and religion, the nations that are enlightening the world with their books, telegraphs, steamboats, and railroads, are monogamic. Polygamy

encourages, if it does not necessitate, a domestic despotism, which, united with a religious and political despotism, constitutes one of the worst possible of social evils. It adds to the Mormons numbers and strength, banding them in a peculiar brotherhood, politically and socially.

    The system is not an equitable one. There are born a tolerably even number of males and females, so that under this arrangement, where one man had a dozen wives, a dozen or so men would have none. Then, as to the relationships of the individual members, injustice is wrought, some of them being but little better than those existing among animals. There is an instinct in every woman which tells her that to be second or third is to be no wife at all. Neglect must exist. One man cannot properly care for so many women and children. Even if he is wealthy, he has not the time. Differences of origin and interests breed jealousies, foster selfishness, and are injurious to character. Then, when the reproductive age has passed, there is nothing left for the wife but a lonely and miserable old age.

    Further than this, if reproduction be the chief incentive to the plural-wife system among the Mormons, and if it be true, as is often asserted, that as a rule the sexes are born numerically equal, then the system will in the end defeat its own object, for more children will be born and cared for where there is one man for every woman than where some women have to go without a husband, or with a fraction of one. It might pertinently be asked, in this connection, what is the benefit in multiplying the population? Are there not enough people already in the world? and is it not better to improve the stock than unduly to multiply it? This prevention is practised often for improper motives and by injurious methods; but millions do it because they think they cannot afford to raise children, and have no right to bring them into existence.

    True, the evils of the practice are not so great under a theocratic and patriarchal system like that of the Mormons, as it would be if allowed to run riot round the world, giving libertines the widest opportunity to deceive and then desert women; in which case there would be no need of prostitution to satisfy men's passions, as the great barriers between the virtuous and the lewd would be for the most part broken down. Among the Mormons, this is prevented by strong religious feeling, and by the patriarchal influence of the leaders. But the majority of mankind in the great outside world are not controlled by religion or reason—they simply drift.

    Whether for this reason or some other reason, Mormons are not loyal to the government, and the issue is between polygamic theocracy and American republicanism. Nor are the fears of the friends of the latter wholly groundless; for, as one writer said of it, "the Mormon church is one of the best organized systems in the world. The cunning of the devil and the sophistry of error are so mingled with truth as to make it one of the most powerful agencies to delude the ignorant." The truth is, the theocratic organization has already become absolute. Opposition stimulates propagandism, and persecution brings only defiance of federal authority and the moral sense of the nation. Legislation is defeated at every turn. The history of Utah is the history of the Mormon priesthood in its attempt to subordinate the state to the church, and make the authority of the priesthood superior to that of the United States government.

    So says civilization.

    In answer, polygamy reiterates scriptural example and divine command, and repudiates civilization wherever it interferes with religion. Culture and progress, which set at defiance God's law, are of the devil. There is no retrogression in keeping the commands of the most high. God blessed Abraham, and

David, and Solomon; polygamy is no curse. And that cannot be a sin which God commands; that cannot be a vice which has for its accomplishment only the highest and holiest purposes of the almighty; that cannot be against morality which is practised only by the righteous, and for the pure and eternal welfare of the human race.¹⁹

    On the morning of Aug. 29, 1852, before a special conference in session at S. L. City, Orson Pratt preached on the subject of marriage, in which discourse he stated, 'It is well known, however, to the congregation before me, that the latter-day saints have embraced the doctrine of a plurality of wives as part of their religious faith.' In the evening, whilst the sacrament was being passed, Brigham addressed the audience, saying in the course of his remarks, 'Though that doctrine [polygamy] has not been preached by the elders, this people have believed in it for many years.' At the close of Brigham's address, the revelation of July 12, 1843, was read by Elder Thomas Bullock. The proceedings of this conferencc were published in full in all 8vo pamphlet of 48 pages, issued as an extra by the Deseret News, on Sept. 14, 1852, when the revelation first saw the light. It next appeared in the Millennial Star, and may now be found in the book of Doctrine and Covenants. Herewith I give the revelation entire.

    Revelation given to Joseph Smith, at Nauvoo, July 12, 1843: 'Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David, and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines: behold, and lo! I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter; therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same; for behold! I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant, and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory; for all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundations of the world; and as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God. And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law arc these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations that are not made and entered into and sealed by the holy spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that, too, most holy, by revelation and commandment, through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead: for all contracts (cont.)

    Whatever may be the blessings attending civilization, they are insignificant as compared with the blessings of religion, a life of faith and holiness, and the pure worship of God. Civilization with its one-wife or no-wife system breeds licentiousness, fosters prostitution,

and brings much misery on the human race in this world, not to mention the world to come. The laws of God we know; civilization's laws we know not. Civilization has little to boast of in the

    'Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye abide my law ye cannot attain to this glory; for straight is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world, neither do ye know me. But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation, that where I am ye shall be also. This is eternal lives, to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law. Broad is the gate and wide the way that leadeth to the deaths, and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man marry a wife according to my word, and they are sealed by the holy spirit of promise, according to mine appointment, and he or she shall commit any sin or transgression of the new and everlasting covenant whatever, and all manner of blasphemies, and if they commit no murder wherein they shed innocent blood, yet they shall come forth in the first resurrection and enter into their exaltation; but they shall be destroyed in the flesh, and shall be delivered unto the buffetings of Satan, unto the day of redemption, saith the Lord God. The blasphemy against the holy ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in no wise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. I am the Lord thy God, and will give unto thee the law of my holy priesthood as was ordained by me and my Father before the world was. Abraham received all things whatsoever he received by revelation and commandment by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne. Abraham received promises concerning his seed and of the fruit of his loins—from whose loins ye are, viz., my servant Joseph—which were to continue so long as they were in the world; and as touching Abraham and his seed out of the world, they should continue; both in the world and out of the world should they continue as innumerable as the stars, or if ye were to count the sand upon the seashore, ye could not number them. This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham, and by this law are the continuation of the works of my father, wherein he glorifieth himself. Go ye, therefore, and do the works of Abraham; enter ye into my law, and ye shall be saved. But if ye enter not into my law, ye cannot receive the promise of my Father which he made unto Abraham. God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law, and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises. Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation? Verily I say unto you, nay; for I, the Lord, commanded it. Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac; nevertheless it was written thou shalt not kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

    'Abraham received concubines, and they bare him children, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him and he abode in my law; as Isaac also, and Jacob, did none other things than that which they were commanded; and because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels, but (cont.)

line of its moralities. It is true that monogamy was early enforced in Greece; but outside of marriage limits, there was gross indulgence in every form, which was as freely permitted and practised as among

    'Verily I say unto you, a commandment I give unto mine handmaid, Emma Smith, your wife, whom I have given unto you, that she stay herself and partake not of that which I commanded you to offer unto her; for I did it, saith the Lord, to prove you all, as I did Abraham, and that I might require an offering at your hand by covenant and sacrifice; and let my handmaid Emma Smith receive all those that have been given unto my servant Joseph, and who are virtuous and pure before me; and those who are not pure, and have said they were pure, shall be destroyed, saith the Lord God; for I am the Lord thy God, and ye shall obey my voice; and I give unto my servant Joseph that he shall be made ruler over many things, for he hath been faithful over a few things, and from henceforth I will strengthen him. (cont.)

the foremost nations of to-day. Plato even advocated plurality of wives, chiefly on patriotic grounds. In Rome, the one-wife system was more firmly established, though in the absence of marriage, chastity was little regarded. Marcus Aurelius, indeed, was eulogized by his biographer for bringing into his

house a concubine, upon the death of his wife, instead of inflicting upon his children a step-mother.

    If monogamy is the only natural form of sexual relationship, how happens it that, throughout the lifetime of the race, there have been and still are so many other forms of relationship? From time immemorial polygamy has existed, and has been sanctioned by all religions. Bramin, Parsee, and Raj-poot all indulged in it. Though nothing is said of it in the new testament, we learn from the Talmud that it was lawful among the Jews about the time of Christ's coming. Among the early converts to christianity in Syria and Egypt were many polygamists who remained uncensured. The rabbies of the west prohibited it eight or nine centuries ago, but those of the east, where it is practised by nearly all nations, permit it even now. It is common to-day throughout a large part of the world. Take all the peoples of the earth, of all times and cultures, and those among whom plural wives obtained are far in excess of the others.

    Pre-nuptial unchastity was scarcely censured either in Greece or Rome. "If there be any one," said Cicero, "who thinks that young men should be altogether restrained from the love of courtesans, he is indeed very severe." Even that most austere of Stoics, Epictetus, makes a wide distinction between what he regards as comparatively innocent pre-nuptial indulgences, and those which were regarded as adulterous and unlawful. While the utmost license was allowed the husband, the wife was held under close restrictions. Courtesans were the real companions of men, and the only free women in Athens. Apelles painted them; Pindar and Simonides sang their praises. Aspasia was worshipped before Pericles, and sage philosophers did not hesitate to pay homage at her shrine, and receive words of wisdom from her lips.

    In imperial Rome, while the courtesan class never

attained to such distinction as in Greece, divorce was so easy and frequent as to render the marriage ceremony almost a nullity. There were periods when the term 'adultery' had no significance as applied to men; only women were punished for this crime. Persons five, ten, twenty times married and divorced were not uncommon. Though monogamy obtained, female life was lower there than in England under the restoration, or in France under the regency. Alexander Severus, the most persistent of all the Roman emperors, in vainly legislating against vice, provided his provincial governors, if unmarried, with a concubine as well as with horses and servants.

    The privilege of royalty in having many mistresses, tolerated until all the people arose and usurped royalty, was but a modified form of polygamy, and is still secretly practised by individuals.

    The question of sensualism has nothing to do with it. The polygamist, as a rule, is no more sensual than the monogamist. Your true sensualist does not marry at all. He holds himself free to taste pleasure as he can find it. The trammels of matrimony and the responsibilities of parentage he alike avoids. He is the most selfish of beings; for his own gratification he is willing to sacrifice society, debase manhood, and doom to perdition the highest inspirations and holiest affections of the race.

    Beastliness is hardly a fit word to apply to the exercise of an animal impulse, the gratification of animal appetite. It too often maligns the brute creation. Eating and sleeping are in one sense beastly; while smoking and dram-drinking are worse than beastly. Beasts are natural in all things. In many respects they are less open to the charge of beastliness, as we commonly employ the term, than men; they indulge less in excess; they are sometimes gluttonish, but they do not intoxicate themselves; if they do not regulate intercourse by numbers, they do by seasons. Their passions are in subordination to the

laws of nature. Man's passions are not. Taking this charge of beastliness as it is meant, the polygamist is less beastly than the monogamist, who in the majority of cases is more beastly in his sexual intercourse than the beast, being less obedient to the laws of nature, less considerate for the health and strength of his one only wife. Millions of gentle, uncomplaining women have been killed by beastly husbands putting upon them more children than they should bear, not to mention innumerable cruelties of other kinds. In so far as any system is not in accordance with the laws of nature, nature will in due time assert her rights and put it down. It is said that the Mormon women are martyrs: so are other women; part of them because they are married, and part because they are not.

    The readers must bear in mind that these are the assertions and arguments of polygamy, and must be prepared to take them for what they are worth, and answer them each according to the light of his own reason. I have already presented the current arguments against polygamy; these are the opinions and dogmas of the Mormons themselves, the doctrines they everywhere preach and print, teaching them to their children, inculcating them into the minds of young men and women, until they have fully imbibed them.

    And thus they continue. How many husbandless women there are who drag out a miserable existence in the effort to sustain themselves without sin! how many fall into shame under the effort! Society lays no heavier burden on any of its members than on its poverty-stricken single women, reared in luxury, and unable to support themselves by work.

    If you are so tender of woman, her position and morals, why not turn your batteries against the ten thousand of your own people of all classes, including preachers and legislators, who tamper with other men's wives, seduce and abandon innocent girls, keep mistresses, and frequent the haunts of prostitution?

    That the race deteriorates under the polygamous system is not true, they say. The single wife is very often hurried to a premature grave by an inconsiderate or brutal husband, the offspring which she meanwhile bears being puny and ill-developed. And again, it is only the better class of men, the healthy and wealthy, the strongest intellectually and physically, who as a rule have a plurality of wives; and thus, by their becoming fathers to the largest number of children, the stock is improved.

    The charge of immorality, as laid upon the Mormons as a community, is likewise untenable. Morality is the doctrine of right and wrong, the rule of conduct implying honesty and sobriety. In all honesty and sobriety the Mormons live up to their standard of right and wrong, they claim, more completely than any other people. They indulge in fewer vices, such as drunkenness, prostitution, gambling, and likewise fewer crimes. There is nothing necessarily immoral in the practice of polygamy; if it is not immoral for a man to take one wife, it is not for him to take twelve wives.

    The Mormons are loyal to their consciences and convictions. They are essentially a moral people, moral in the highest sense of the term, more so, they claim, than the average American or European. They do not drink, cheat, or steal; adultery is scarcely known among them; they are not idle, profligate, or given to lying. They are true to themselves, true to their principles, and true to the world. Of what other society can you fairly say as much? They are honest in all things, and law-abiding when the law does not touch their rights or their religion; when it does, all who are not dastards will fight. Judge them by their fruits; if a sect is to be regarded from the standpoint of its imperfections and inconsistencies rather than from its results, what shall be said of christianity, which has butchered millions for the faith,

and has further committed all the wickedness flesh is heir to, or of which Satan could conceive?

    It is not right to place the polygamist on a par with the bigamist. The one, without deception, and in conformity with the proclaimed tenets of his faith, takes to wife the second, or third, or twentieth—the more the better for all, it is said—promising to her the same life-long care and protection as to the first; the other breaks his contract with his first wife, and deserts her for another woman. Neither can the polygamist be justly placed on a level with the adulterer. Mormons abhor everything of the kind. The sacred ceremony of marriage signifies far more with them than with those who mark the difference between morality and immorality by a few insignificant rites.

    The Mormons lay no small stress on the fact that there is always a large number of women who have no husbands, and can get none, on account of women being always so greatly in the preponderance. They deny that there are more men than women.

    Whatever may be true with regard to the numerical equality or inequality of the sexes at birth, it is certain, dating back almost from the beginning, that there have always been more women than men in the world. Particularly in primitive times, owing to war or exposure, the death rate was much greater among the males than among the females. To obviate the evil—for it was early recognized that the sexes should be mated—in some instances the female children were killed, but more frequently the excess of women was divided among the men. Where wars were frequent and continuous, everything else being equal, the monogamous nation could not long stand before a polygamous neighbor.

    Coming down to later times, it is safe to say that there are a million more women than men in christendom to-day; there are here five millions of women who would like to marry but cannot, being denied one of the fundamental rights of humanity by statutory law.

A large class of men refuse to take upon themselves the cost and cares of matrimony, preferring more free and cheaper indulgence. Of very many of these five millions thus left to themselves, unmated, unsupported, forbidden to become plural wives, Christian civilization makes prostitutes or paupers. And this is the orthodox idea of the elevation of woman! Make angels of light and happiness of one portion, while dooming the rest, under the hard heel of social despotism, to the depths of misery and despair. Nay, more: while the men are thus busied working upon the affections of women, taking advantage of their loneliness and poverty, and constantly adding to the numbers of the lost by seducing the pure from the paths of respectability, their sisters, mothers, wives, and daughters are applying the scourge with all their might to these unfortunates, hoping thereby to gain further favor with the men by showing how much better are they than their most foully wronged sisters.

    Such are the men, such the society, in which the foulest wrongs to women are so universally and constantly committed—wrongs which would put to blush savages, yea, and all the devils of darkness; such are the men who wage war on the plural-wife system, which would give to this class and all classes of women home and honorable alliance.

    Further than all this, polygamy claims that men or governments have no natural or moral right to forbid the practice, pass laws against it, and inflict punishments. Inherent human rights are above statutory law. Governments have no right to pass laws against gambling, prostitution, drunkenness, or any act of the individual resulting in injury only to himself. He who harms another may be punished, not he who harms himself; otherwise, who is to determine what is or what is not harmful? All men and women are every day doing things harmful to themselves, but which no one thinks of checking by legislation. By no line of logic can polygamy be rightly placed in the

criminal category. In its worst aspect, it can only be called a vice. Drunkenness is not a crime: it is a vice. Statutory law cannot justly make criminal that which by the law of human rights is only a vice. Governments may repress crime, but they never can uproot vice; and the sooner legislators realize and act upon this truth, the fewer failures they will have to record. Public sentiment and moral force are the only agencies which can be brought against this class of evils with any hope of success.

    The right and wrong of the matter, as usually discussed, are not the right and wrong of nature and common sense, but of divine and human enactment, variously interpreted and viewed from different standpoints. The bible forbids prostitution, but permits polygamy; the supporters of the bible and its civilization forbid polygamy, but permit prostitution.

    The Mormons are held to be a most unphilosophical sect, and yet the sentiment against them is more un-philosophical than their doctrines or practices. The American congress is not a Sunday-school, neither is it within the province of government to establish and enforce a code of ethics. Congress has no more right to legislate, against their consent, for the territories than it has for the states. I do not know that all Mormons hold to this opinion, but many of them do. The idea of political nonage is only an idea; it is not a fact. Murder, theft, breach of contract, malefeasance in office, unjust monopoly, cheating, slave-holding, adulteration, bigamy, etc., are crimes to be punished by law. Drunkenness, gambling, prostitution, and the like, are vices to be uprooted by precept and example. A crime is an injury to one's neighbor; a vice is an injury to one's self. I have no right to injure my neighbor, but I have the right to do as I will with my own and myself, howsoever foolish may be the act. Congress, indeed, would have its hands full were it to undertake to pass laws to keep men from making fools of themselves. If polygamy must be

placed in one category or the other, it must be denominated a vice, and not a crime. If one man and three women contract to live in a connubial relationship, neither God nor nature pronounces it a crime. In bigamy the marriage contract is broken; in polygamy it is kept. Admit that monogamy is best, that one man for one woman tends to the highest culture, it still does not prove that coercion in morals is better than precept and example. Is woman less chaste than in the days of feudalism, now that she is less watched? If the law has the right to limit a man to one wife, it may if it chooses deny him any wife, as many orders among the Greeks and Armenians, the heathens and christians, have declared. If one man is restricted by law to one woman, the least the law can do in common justice is to compel every man to marry one woman. Why does not the United States war upon the catholic priest or the unprincipled debauchee, who by refusing to take a wife repudiates the laws of nature, and sets an example which if universally followed would prove the strangulation of the race? Better punish those who denaturalize themselves rather than those who are too natural.

    This is what Utah polygamy says to civilization.²⁰

    In reply to the charge of disloyalty, of maintaining an anti-American attitude toward the people of America, of endeavoring by any illegal or indirect means to undermine the institutions of the country

    For arguments against polygamy, see Ward's Husband in Utah, 180, 303-5; Beadle's Life in Utah, 262-4, 354-80; Nouv. Ann. Voy., cxliii. 183-4; Carvallo's Inc. of Travel, 151-4, 166-71; Hall's Morm. Exp., 52-5; Overland Monthly, vii. 551-8; De Rupert, Cal. and Morm., 153-62; Todd's Sunset Land, 161-212; Dilke's Greater Brit., i. 144-52; Remy's Journey, etc., ii. 137-72; Young's Wife No. 19, 98-109, 591-7; Pop. Scien. Month., lii. 479-90, lvi. 160-5; Codman's Round Trip, 173-277; Froiseth's Women, etc., passim; Jonveaux, L'Amer., 230-49; Waite's Morm. Proph., 216-60; Book of Morm., 83, 132; Doc. and Cov., 218, 330; Tuckcr's Morm., 184-6, 267, 283; Times and Seasons, iv. 369; Ferris' Utah and Morm., 309-10; Marshall's Through Amer., 178-9; Harper's Mag., liii. 647-51; Stansbury's Explor. Exp., 4-5; Life Among Morm., 123-59; Utah Scraps, 15-17; Townsend's Morm. Trials, 42-3; Greenwood's New Life, 131-71, 161-3; Hubner's Ramble, 90, 116; Olshausen, Morm., 175-82; McClure's Three Thous. Miles, etc., 158-9; Nordhoff's Cal., 43; Burton's City of Saints, 517-25; Crimes of L. D. Saints, 30-4; Hyde's Morm., 284-5; Dixon's White Conq., i. 200-14; Stenhouse's Exposé, 47-51, 146-53; Taylder's Morm., 148-83; Barnes' Atlan. to Pac., 56-8; Greeley's Overland Jour., 238-41; Howitt's Hist. Amer., ii. 356; Richardson's Beyond Miss., 360-2; S. F. Advocate, Aug. 4, 1870; Alta, Mar. 26, 1877; Feb. 7, 1882; Bulletin, 1856, Aug. 18; 1860, Apr. 28; 1864, Jan. 18; 1865, Aug, 24; 1867, Oct. 25; 1870, Apr. 22, Sept. 2; 1871, Nov. 6; 1872, Sept. 25; 1873, Jan. 17, Dec. 17; (cont.)

and eventually usurp the government, the Mormons say that it is not true. It is not true that Mormons are not good citizens, law-abiding and patriotic. Even when hunted down and robbed and butchered by the

enemies to their faith, they have not retaliated.—On this point they are naturally very sore.—When deprived of those sacred rights given to them in common with all American citizens, when disfranchised, their

    In his message to the congress of 1883-4, the president favors a repeal of the organic act, and recommends a federal commission as a substitute. In commenting upon this, the Des. News declares that the destruction of the local government will fail to destroy polygamy, neither can 'commissions, edicts, or armies, or any other earthly powers,' for the plural marriages of the Mormons are ecclesiastical, perpetual, and eternal. Says W. S. Godbie, well-known writer on Mormonism, in a letter to the S. L. Tribune of Dec. 9, 1883, after first quoting George Q. Cannon as preaching in the tabernacle 'it is not vox populi vox Dei,' but 'vox Dei vox populi,' 'The essence of the whole Utah question lies couched in these telling words of the church organ and the leading apostle.'

    For the messages of Utah governors touching polygamy, see Utah Jour. Legis., 1862-3, app. v.-viii.; 1872, 32-4; 1876, 31-3, 34, 240; 1878, 43, 44-5, 47-9; Utah, Gov. Mess., 1882, 11; S. F. Call, Jan. 28, 1872; Jan. 17, 1878; Prescott Miner, Apr. 30, 1875; Morm. Prophet, 79-84; Hazen's report, in Hayes' Scraps, R. R. iii. 212; discussions in congress, S. F. Bulletin, Mar. 23, 1870; Call, 1870, Feb. 19, Mar. 24, Aug. 16; Chronicle, Feb. 16, 1882; Deer Lodge New N. West, Apr. 29, 1870; S. L .Dy Teletgraph, Mar. 23, 24, 1870; Des. News, May 16, 1860; Apr. 26, 1866; Apr. 3, 1867; Mar. 9, 1870; Apr. 6, 1870; Nov. 29, 1871; Mar. 6, 1872; Tribune, May 15, 1875; Millennial Star, xxxiv. 257-63, 268-71; (cont.)

homes broken up, their families scattered, the husband and father seized, fined, and imprisoned, they have not defended themselves by violence, but have left their cause to God and their country.

    Arthur G. Sedgwick, in the Century Mag. for Jan. 1882, under the heading Leading Aspects of the Mormon Problem, refers to the various bills introduced, and mentions the most important prosecutions and their results: decis. of U.S. Supreme Ct, S. L. Herald, 1879, Jan. 8, May 23; Tribune, Aug. 2, 1879; S. F. Bulletin, 1879, Jan. 7, 8, Feb. 24; Eureka Sentinel, Jan. 16, 1879; evasion of the Edmunds law, S. F. Bulletin, 1883, Apr. 30, Sept. 29; grand juries, charges to, S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 9, 1858; Salem (Oregon) Argus, Aug. 28, 1858; Sac. Union, Apr. 20, 22, 1867; S. F. Call, Oct. 14, 1875; competency of polygamists as jurors, S. L. Utah Rev., 1871, Sept. 19, 27; report of, Deseret News, Oct. 3, 1877; rept of commission, Utah, Rept on Gov. Mess., 9-13; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 7, 1882; Chronicle, Oct. 3, 1882; cause of trouble with U.S., Richards' Narr., MS., 74; discuss. between Colfax and Morm., Bowles' Our New West, 238-41; Des. News, Feb. 9, 1870; Chaplain Newman and others, Pratt and Newman, etc., 3-67; Tullidge's Life of Young, 403-6; Newman, Sermon, passim; Des. News, Aug. 17, 1870; corresp. Newman and Young, Id., 1870, Aug. 10, 17;mass-meetings, memorials, petitions, and protests, Tullidge's Life of Young, 389-413; Women of Morm., 379-402, 528-31; Coyner's Letters, etc., vii.; Stenhouse's Englishwoman, etc., 373-4; Tell It All, 606-7; U.S. H. Ex. Doc., 58, 45 Cong., 3d Sess., 1-6; Utah Pamph., Relig., no. 18; The Cullom Bill, in Morm. Pamph., no. 6; S. F. Alta, Apr. 22, 1872; Bulletin, Jan. 18, 1870; Nov. 9, 1878; Jan. 21, 1879; Feb. 17, 23, 1882; Call, Nov. 8, 1878; Chronicle, Feb. 3, 27, 1882; Petaluma Argus, Nov. 22, 1878; Sac. Bee, Nov. 16, 1878; Stockton Indept, Jan. 21, 1878; Elko Indept, Nov. 15, 1878; Eureka Sentinel, Nov. 17, 1878; Gold Hill News, Nov. 8, 1878; Reno Gazette, Nov. 21, 1878; S. L. Contributor, iii. 155-6; Des. News, 1867, Jan. 16; 1870, Apr. 6; 1872, May 22, 29; Herald, June 14, 1879; Telegraph, Apr. 1, 1870; Tribune, 1878, Nov. 16, 23; the Reynolds case, Froiseth's Women, 401-12; Utah Pamph., Polit., no. 17, 20; Review of Opin., etc., in Morm. Pamph., no. 1; S. F. Bulletins, Aug. 21, 1874; Call, Dec. 22, 1875; Dec. 10, 1878; Elko Indept, 1878, Oct. 30, Nov. 13; 1879, Jan. 8; Eureka Sentinel, Aug. 6, 1879; Gold Hill News, Nov. 15, 1878; Tuscarora Times-Rev., Nov. 21, 1878; S. L. Coutributor, ii. 154-7, 188-90; Des. News, 1874, Oct. 28; 1875, Apr. 7; 1878, Oct. 9; 1879, Jan. 15, 29, Dec. 3; Herald, July 19, 1879; the Miles case, S. F. Bulletin, May 7, 1879; Call, Oct. 31, 1878; Sac. Rec.-Union, May 5, 7, 1879; Elko Indept, June 5, 1879; Virg. City Eve. Chron., Oct. 30, 31, Nov. 8, 1878; S. L. Des. News, 1878, Nov. 6, 13; 1879, May 7, 14, June 4; Herald, 1878, Oct. 27, 29, Nov. 5; 1879, Apr. 29, 30, May 1-4, 6, 7.

    On March 10, 1863, the president of the church was arrested, as we shall see later, the charge being polygamy, and brought under the act of July 1, 1862; the accused was placed under bonds in the sum of $2,000 to appear (cont.)

    Much has been said in terms of reproach against the unity and brotherhood of the Mormons, or as it is more often denominated, their exclusiveness or clannishness, as applied to their social, business, and religious relations. It is said that they hold to one another, band against all societies and interests except their own; that they hold all the agricultural lands, coöperate in commerce and manufactures, vote all one way, and so work into one another's hands in every way; that no other people can stand up in competition with them.

    On Oct. 28, 1871, Thomas Hawkins, of Salt Lake City, having been found guilty of adultery with two women, under a territorial statute approved by Gov. Young on Mar. 6, 1852, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and to pay $500 fine; see S. F. Alta, Oct. 4, 1871; Bulletin, Nov. 3, 1871; Sac. Unions, 1871, Oct. 24, 30, Nov. 1. On Mar. 6, 1879, Dan. H. Wells was imprisoned for two days and fined $100 for contempt of court in refusing to testify as to the garments worn during the endowment ceremonies. Juv. Inst., xiv. 114-15; McClellan, Golden State, 587-9. In 1873, Ann Eliza Young, known as Wife No. 19, began suit against Brigham for divorce, with alimony. About two years later she was awarded $500 per month, which decision was afterward set aside, but not, Tullidge says, until Brigham had been imprisoned for contempt of court, and had paid two months' alimony and $4,000 counsel fees; see Young's Wife No. 19, 553-65; Tullidge's Life of Young, 431-3; Helena (Mont.) Indept, Nov. 25, 1875; Virginia Madisonian, June 9, 1877; S. F. Bulletin, 1873, July 29, 31; 1875, Feb. 26, May 11; 1876, Nov. 1, 8; Call, July 10, 1875; Los Angeles Star, May 5, 1877; Dayton (Lyon co.) Times, May 2, 1877; Eureka Sentinel, Jan. 10, 1879; Gold Hill News, Apr. 28, 1877; S. L. Des. News, Apr. 24, 1872; Sept. 2, 1874; Mar. 3, Nov. 3, 24, 1875; Aug. 2, Nov. 8, 1876; Tribune, Nov. 16, 1875; July 22, 1876; Apr. 28, 1877.

    Herewith I give a table, brought down to include 1882, compiled from census of 1880, police and penitentiary statistics, and report of commissioners appointed under the Edmunds bill, comparing the distribution of criminals (cont.)

    Grant it, they answer; is it a crime? May not people legally labor hard, practise frugality, worship God after their own fashion, and vote as they choose? Is this contrary to the free enlightenment of American institutions?

    Of what are the people of the United States afraid, with their fifty millions of free, intelligent, progressive men and women, that they should deem it their duty to be seized with such a savage hate toward this handful of poor and despised religionists? In the evolution of society as an organism, the fittest is sure to remain. If this principle be true, it is perfectly safe to let the Mormons alone. Their evil practices, as well as those of their enemies, are sure in due time to be dissipated by the ever-increasing enlightenment of

    The prostitutes enumerated are those in S. L. City only; to these it will be safe to add as many more living in the outside towns and mining camps. In 1880, the population of Utah was 143,963, that of Oneida. co., Idaho, was 6,964, and there were 3,235 souls in Bear Lake county. About 7,000 women were in 1885 living in polygamy in Utah. See Richards' Crime in Utah, MS., passim.

civilization. The best will remain, while the rest will be destroyed.

    As a remedy against the Mormon evil, many plans have been put forth. "Send an army and wipe them out," say the unthinking masses. An army was sent once, but when it came to Utah there was nothing at hand to wipe out. But should an army go and find them there, it would hardly be prepared to enter upon the wholesale slaughter of 140,000 men, women, and children while in pursuit of their daily vocations. Education has been urged. This means is already employed; but while there are gentile schools, the Mormons still teach Mormonism, and the more they educate, the stronger and more widely extended becomes their faith. Senator Hoar suggested seizing the perpetual emigration fund, but this appeared too much like robbery. Make marriage a civil compact, give the wife the right of dower, and so make her less dependent on the husband, some have said. Amend the constitution, prohibiting polygamy, others have urged. But if congressional enactment fails, what can constitutional amendment do? Admit Utah as a state, and let the people split into parties, and so fight out their own issues. But they will not split into parties, is the reply. If they were like other people, this might be the result; but they are not like other people. For the people to differ from their chiefs on matters of government, or on any other matters, would throw them outside the category of Mormons. Such a thing cannot be. Their government, ecclesiastical and civil, is a government of God; their chief is God's prophet and vicegerent, and his will is God's will and cannot be questioned.

    By the Edmunds act, approved March 22, 1882, congress made polygamy punishable by disfranchisement, and a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, with imprisonment for not more than three years, the children to be deemed illegitimate. There have

been numerous convictions under this law, bringing serious injury upon individuals, and greatly alarming the entire brotherhood. Many other schemes have been urged. Cut up the territory and divide it among the adjacent states; permit the wife to testify against her husband; compel marriages to be registered; throw in more gentile population, establishing milliners' shops for the women and whiskey-shops for the men, so that the full force of civilization may be brought to bear upon them. A proposed remedy is for congress to assume the political powers, and govern the country by a commission of nine or thirteen members appointed for that purpose, and which, the majority being always gentiles, would adopt the necessary laws for the government of the territory, instead of congress or a legislature. Executive and judicial affairs would go on in the usual way; and as for the municipal, the commission as a legislature could make such regulations as they pleased, providing for the appointment of mayors by the governor if necessary. In such an event there would not be held ally elections of any kind. A board of five commissioners was appointed under act of congress of March 22, 1882, but nothing extraordinary came of it.

    In conclusion, it is scarcely necessary to say that an intelligent and well-balanced mind, free from the bias of religion, and regarding the well-being and refinement of the race as most greatly to be desired, cannot look upon polygamy as conducive to the highest culture. On the other hand, it may as truthfully be said that coercion is not consistent with the highest type of morality, and that a social despotism, in the name of freedom and pure republicanism, can become the severest of tyrannies.