"It is no small thing to request a citizen to leave his country. Are you aware of the magnitude or of the baseness of what you have undertaken? I deny that you have any cause for such conduct toward me. I am an American citizen, and as such have a right to go to every part of the Republic. I have the right to petition, or ask the Government to pass laws; or to amend them. You, Taylor and Pratt, are men of experience, and reputed to be men of learning, and ought to know better than to insult a man by such means. "It is mean and contemptible. On your part, Taylor, a foreigner, it is impudence unequalled; and Pratt, a citizen, ought to know better than to trample on the rights of a citizen by engaging in such a dirty enterprise. Your resolutions are false, and those who drafted them knew them to be so; and I am informed that in the meeting at the Tabernacle, Brigham Young called me a fool, and a tool of the Governor. [Here Taylor admitted that such was the fact.] "Go back to Brigham Young, your master,--that embodiment of sin and shame and disgust,--and tell him that I neither fear him, nor love him, nor hate him,--that I utterly despise him. Tell him, whose tools and tricksters you are, that I did not come here by his permission, and that I will not go away at his desire, or by his directions. I have given no cause of offence to any one. I have not entered a Mormon's house since I came here; your wives and daughters have not been disturbed by me, and I have not even looked upon your concubines and lewd women. "I am no skulk from the punishment of crimes. I tell you, if you, or the man whom you so faithfully serve, attempt to interfere with my lawful business, you will meet with trouble of a character you do not expect. "A horse-thief or a murderer has, when arrested, a right to speak in court; and unless in such capacity, or under such circumstances, don't you ever dare to speak to me again." The Committee rose to depart, and one of them said, "We have our opinions." "Yes," replied the Judge, "thieves and murderers can have opinions;" and thus closed the interview. The Committee then proceeded to call on Judge Waite at his residence, where they were received politely and with due consideration. In answer to their request for his resignation and withdrawal from the Territory, he replied as follows:-- "To comply with your wishes, gentlemen, under such circumstances, would be to admit, impliedly at least, one of two things,--either that I was sensible of having done something wrong, or that I was afraid to remain at my post and perform my duty. "I am not conscious either of guilt or fear. I must therefore respectfully decline to accede to your request."