The following are the portions of the Message which gave most offence:-- "_Polygamy._ "It would be disingenuous if I were not to advert to a question which, although seemingly it has nothing to do in the premises, yet is one of vast importance to you as a people, and which cannot be ignored. I mean that institution which is not only commended but encouraged by you, and which, to say the least of it, is an anomaly throughout Christendom. I mean polygamy, or, if you prefer the term, plurality of wives. In approaching this delicate subject, I desire to do so in no unkind or offensive spirit; yet the institution, founded upon no written statute of your Territory, but upon custom alone, exists. . . . "I lay it down as a sound proposition, that no community can happily exist with an institution so important as that of marriage wanting in all those qualities that make it homogeneal with institutions and laws of neighboring civilized communities having the same object. "Anomalies in the moral world cannot long exist in a state of mere abeyance; they must, from the very nature of things, become aggressive, or they will soon disappear, from the force of conflicting ideas. "This proposition is supported by the history of our race, and is so plain that it may be set down as an axiom. If we grant this to be true, we may sum up the conclusion of the argument as follows: either the laws and opinions of the communities by which you are surrounded must become subordinate to your customs and opinions, or, on the other hand, yours must yield to theirs. The conflict is irrepressible. "But no matter whether this anomaly shall disappear or remain amongst you, it is your duty at least to guard it against flagrant abuses. That plurality of wives is tolerated and believed to be right, may not appear so strange; but that a mother and her daughters are allowed to fulfil the duties of _wives_ to the same husband, or that a man could be found in all Christendom who could be induced to take upon himself such a relationship, is, perhaps, no less a marvel in morals than in matters of taste. "The bare fact that such practices are tolerated amongst you is sufficient evidence that the human passions, whether excited by religious fanaticism or otherwise, must be restrained and subjected to laws, to which all must yield obedience. No community can long exist, without absolute social anarchy, unless so important an institution as that of marriage is regulated by law. It is the basis of our civilization, and in it the whole question of the descent and distribution of real and personal estate is involved.