Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
I say that the State of Utah has kept the compact that she made with
the people of the United States. When she said as she did say in her
Constitution that polygamous or plural marriages shall forever be
prohibited and provided for the punishment of such crimes, the State
of Utah could not guarantee that every one would obey the law, any
more than the inhabitants of Arizona, when they say through the law
that horse thieves shall be imprisoned, can engage that a horse shall
never again be stolen in that territory, and no horse thief ever
escape. What they do mean to say is that if such a crime is committed,
and the parties are arraigned under the processes of the law, they
shall meet the just penalty of their acts under the law. That is alt
they are pledged to do. And so I say concerning those in Utah who may
violate the laws, they are amenable to the laws of the state, and if
brought before the courts, and the evidence is sufficient, there can
be no doubt but they will be punished. But those who are accused of
crime have a right to the protection of the forms and processes of the
law; and they can not be hailed before a judge and cast into prison
merely because sensational charges are made against them in sensational
anti-Mormon newspapers; or because Madames Rumor and Neighborhood
Gossip say they are guilty as charged. Let the men guilty of violation
of the law bear their own burdens.
The people of Utah have neither lot nor part in their offense; and it
is an infamy, the like of which is not matched elsewhere in our nation,
to attempt to throw the responsibility of their wrong doing upon the
great mass of the citizens of Utah, upon the state, or upon the Mormon
Church, when they are not parties to their crimes. So long as there
is no attempt to change or annul the compact that the people of Utah
entered into with the people of the United States, which compact is
found consummated in the Constitution of our state, as demanded by the
terms of the Enabling act, and so long as no effort is made to shield
those who violate the law, so long the people of Utah are keeping their
pledges.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account