THE TERRITORIAL LAWS OF UTAH.
From Our Special Utah Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 26, 1858.
While it is vain to attempt to divert Congres-sional discussion from Kansas and Kansas affairs to ether matters, it may be well to try if outside the Congressional circle the importance of some of these matters cannot be appreciated.
Brigham Young and his Mormon Legislature, in their recent memorial to Congress, make the fol-lowing concise statement of their position:
"We claim that we should have the privilege, as we have the Constitutional right, to choose our own rulers, and make our own laws, without let or hindrance. Examine our reports, our laws, our acts; they have ever been before the public—they speak for themselves. All we want is the truth and fair play."
Granting them "truth and fair play," let me ex-amine a volume of their laws which has been before the Utah public ever since 1855, but of which half a dozen copies, I have good reason to believe, do not exist on this side of the Rocky Mountains. They have never transmitted a copy to any one of the Departments, nor is one to be found in the Con-gressional library. The volume from which I quote, I was fortunate enough to find a few days ago in a private library in this city.
Before the passage by Congress of the organic act of Sept. 9, 1850, the Mormons had instituted a Provisional State Government and enacted laws which were declared to remain in full force and virtue, by the first joint resolution adopted by the first Legislature convened under that organic act, on Oct. 4,1851. Of these laws, the most important is the following:
AN ORDINANCE incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret: That all that portion of the inhabitants of said State which now are or hereafter may become residents therein, and which are known and distinguished as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, are hereby incorporated, constituted, made and declared a body corporate, with perpetual succession, under the original name and style of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," as now organized, with full power and authority to sue and be sued, defend and be defended in all Courts of law or equity in this State; to establish, order and regulate worship, and hold and occupy real and personal estate, and have and use a seal which they may alter at pleasure.
SEC. 2. And be it further ordained, that said body or church, as a religious society, may, at a general or special conference, elect one "Trustee in Trust," and not to exceed twelve assistant Trus-tees, to receive, hold, buy, sell, manage, use and control the real and personal property of said church, which said property shall be free from taxation. * * * * * And said Trustee or As-sistant Trustees may receive property, real or personal, by gift, donation, bequest, or in any manner not incompatible with the principles of righteousness or the rules of justice; inasmuch as the same shall be used, managed, or disposed of for the benefit, improvement, erection of houses for public worship and instruc-tion, and the well-being of said church.
SEC. 3. And be it further ordained that, as said Church hold the constitutional and original right, in common with all civil and religious communities, “to worship God according to the dictates of conscience," to reverence communion agreeably to the princi-ples of truth, and to solemnize marriage compatible with the revelations of Jesus Christ, for the security and full enjoyment of all blessings and privileges embodied in the religion of Jesus Christ, free to all; it is also declared that said Church does and shall possess and enjoy continually, the power and authority, in and of itself, to originate, make, pass and establish rules, regula-tions, ordinances, laws, customs and criterions for the good order, safety, government, conveniences, comfort and control of said Church, and for the punishment or forgiveness of all offenses, relative to fellowship, according to Church covenants; that the pursuit of bliss, and the enjoyment of life, in every capacity of public association and domestic happiness, temporal expansion, or spiritual increase upon the earth, may not legally be ques-tioned; provided, however, that each and every act or practice so established or adopted for law or custom shall relate to solem-nities, sacraments, ceremonies, consecrations, endowments, tithings, marriages, fellowship, or the religious duties of man to his Maker; inasmuch as the doctrines, principles, practices or performances support virtue and increase morality, and are not inconsistent with or repugnant to the Constitution of the United States, or of this State, and are founded in the revelations of the lord. [Approved Feb 8, 1858.]
By this ordinance the Mormon Church is en-dowed with absolute and perpetual sovereignty. Under it the whole system of polygamy is con-ducted, for plural marriages are sanctioned by the church covenants; the whole Danite organization receives legal sanction, for it is instituted for the convenience, comfort and control of the Church, and for the punishment of offences relative to fel-lowship; the burden of the taxes is thrown in a yearly-increasing ratio upon the Gentiles, for the church property exempted from taxation already amounts in value to several millions of dollars, and may augment ad infinitum. Under this ordinance, also, the filthy ceremonies of the endowment are celebrated, and the inferior members of the Church are tithed and pillaged indiscriminately by the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles. In short, this ordinance creates a State within a State, and its provisions are elastic enough to cover any abomina-ble practices whatsoever.
Passing by various other extraordinary acts of the Provisional State Legislature, the first laws which attract attention among the Territorial enactments, are the two following, establishing African and In-dian Slavery:
AN ACT in relation to Servants.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That any person or persons coming to this Territory, and bringing with them servants justly bound to them arising from special contract or otherwise, said person or persons shall be enti led to such service or labor by the laws of the Territory: Provided, That he shall file in the office of the Probate Court written and satisfactory evidence that such service or labor is due.
SEC. 2. That the Probate Court shall receive as evidence any contract properly attested in writing, or any well proved agree-ment, wherein the party or parties serving have received, or are to receive, a reasonable compensation for his, her, or their ser-vices: Provided, That no contract shall bind the heirs of the ser-vant or servants to service for a longer period than will satisfy the debt due his, her, or their master or masters.
SEC. 3. That any person bringing a servant or servants, and his, her, or their children from any part of the United States, or other country, and shall place in the office of the Probate Court the cer-tificate of any court of record under seal, properly attested, that he, she, or they are entitled lawfully to the service of such ser-vant or servants, and his, her, or their children, the Probate Jus-tice shall record the same, and the master or mistress, and his, her, or their heirs shall be entitled to the services of the said servant or servants unless forfeited as hereinafter provided, if it shall appear that such servant or servants came into the Territory of their own free will and choice.
SEC. 4. That if any master or mistress shall have sexual or carnal intercourse with his or her servant or servants of the African race, he or she shall forfeit all claim or claims to said servants to the Commonwealth; and if any white person shall be guilty of sexual intercourse with any of the African race, they shall be subject, on conviction thereof to a fine of not exceeding $1,000 nor less than $500, to the use of the Territory, and imprisonment not exceeding three years.
SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of masters and mistresses to pro-vide for his, her or their servants comfortable habitations, cloth-ing, bedding, sufficient food and recreation. And it shall be the duty of the servant, in return therefor, to labor faithfully at all reasonable hours, and do such service with fidelity as may be re-quired by his or her master or mistress.
SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the master to correct and punish his servant in a reasonable manner when it may be necessary, being guided by prudence and humanity; and if he shall be guilty of cruelty or abuse, or neglect to feed, clothe or shelter his ser-vants in a proper manner, the Probate Court may declare the contract between master and servant or servants void, according to the provisions of the 4th section of this act.
SEC. 7. That servants may be transferred from one master or mistress to another by the consent and approbation of the Pro-bate Court, who shall keep a record of the same in his office; but no transfer shall be made without the consent of the servant, given to the Probate Judge in the absence of his master or mis-tress.
SEC. 8. Any person transferring a servant or servants contrary to the provisions of this act, or taking one out of the Territory contrary to his or her will, except by decree of Court, in case of a fugitive from labor, shall be, on conviction thereof, subject to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, at the discretion of the Court, and shall forfeit all claim to the services of such servant or servants, as provided in the fourth section of this act.
SEC. 9. It shall further be the duty of all masters or mistresses to send their servant or servants to school, not less than eighteen months, between the ages of six and twenty years. [Approved Feb. 4, 1852.]
A PREAMBLE AND AN ACT for the further relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners.
Whereas, by reason of the acquisition of Upper California and New-Mexico, and the subsequent organization of the Territorial Governments of New-Mexico and Utah, by the acts of the Con-gress of the United States, these Territories have organized gov-ernments within and upon what would otherwise be considered Indian territory, and which is really Indian territory so far as the right of soil is involved, thereby presenting the novel feature of a white legalized gozernment on Indian lands; and
Whereas, the laws of the United States in relation to intercourse with Indians are designed for and only applicable to territories and countries under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States; and
Whereas, from time immemorial, the practice of purchasin Indian women and children of the Utah tribe of Indians by Mexi-can traders, has been indulged in and carried on by those respect-ive people until the Indians consider it allowable traffic, and fre-quently offer their prisoners and children for sale; and
Whereas, It is a common practice among these Indians to gam-ble away their own children and women; and it is a well-estab-lished fact that women and children thus obtained, or obtained by war, or theft, or in any other manner, are by them frequently carried from place to place, packed upon horses or mules, or lar-ieted out to subsist upon grass and roots, or starve; and are fre-quently bound with thongs made of raw hide until their hands and feet become swollen, mutilated, inflamed with pain, and wounded; and when, with suffering, cold, hunger and abuse, they fall sick, so as to become troublesome, are frequently slain by their masters to get rid of them; and
Whereas, They do frequently kill their women and children taken prisoners, either in revenge, or for amusement, or through the influence of tradition, unless they are tempted to exchange them for trade, which they usually do if they have an opportuni-ty; and
Whereas, One family frequently steals the children and women of another family, and such robberies and murders are continu-ally committed in times of their greatest peace and amity, thus dragging free Indian women and children into Mexican servitude and slavery, or death, to the almost entire extirpation of the whole Indian race; and
Whereas, These inhuman practices are being daily enacted be-fore our eyes, in the midst of the white settlements and within the organized counties of the Territory, and when the inhabitants do not purchase or trade for those so offered for sale they are gen-erally doomed to the most miserable existence, suffering the tor-tures of every species of cruelty, until death finally relieves them and closes the revolting scenery:
Wherefore, When all these facts are taken into consideration, it becomes the duty of all humane and Christian people to extend unto this degraded and downtrodden race such relief as can be awarded to them, according to their situation and circumstances. It therefore becomes necessary to consider,
First: The circumstances of our location among these savage ribes, under the authority of Congress, while yet the Indian tie to the soil is left unextinguished, not even a treaty having been held by which a partition of territory or country has been made, thereby bringing them into our door-yards our houses, and in contact with our every avocation.
Second: Their situation and our duty toward them, upon the common principles of humanity.
Third: The remedy or what will be the most conducive to ameliorate their condition, preserve their lives, and their liber-ties, and redeem them from a worse than African bondage; it suggests itself to your Committee that to memorialize Congress to provide by some act of additional legislation for the new and unparalleled situation of the inhabitants of this Territory, in re-lation to their intercourse with these Indians, would be one re-source, prolific in its results for our mutual benefit; and further, that we ask their concurrence in the following enact-ment passed by the Legislature of the Territory of Utah, Jan. 31, A. D. 1852, entitled:
AN ACT for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners.
SECTION I. Be it enacted, &c., That whenever any white per-son within any organized county of this Territory shall have any Indian prisoner, child or woman, in possession, whether by pur-chase or otherwise, such person shall immediately go, together with such Indian prisoner, child or woman, before the Selectmen or Probate Judge of the County. If, in the opinion of the Select-men or Probate Judge, the person having such Indian prisoner, child or woman, is a suitable person and properly qualified to raise or retain and educate said Indian prisoner, child or woman, it shall be his or their duty to bind out the same, by indenture, for a term or not exceeding twenty years, at the discretion of the Judge or Selectmen.
SEC. 2. The Probate Judge or Selectmen shall cause to be writ-ten in the indenture, the name and age, place where born, name of parents, if known, tribe to which said Indian person belonged, name ofperson having him in possession, name of the Indian from whom said person was obtained, date of indenture, a copy of which shall be filed in the Probate Clerk's office.
SEC. 3. The Selectmen, in their respective counties, are hereby authorized to obtain such Indian prisoners, children or women, and bind them to some useful occupation.
SEC. 4 The master to whom the indenture is made, is hereby required to send said apprentice to school, if there be a school in the district or vicinity, for the term of three months in each year, at a time when said Indian child shall be between the ages of seven years and sixteen. The master shall clothe his apprentice in a comfortable and becoming manner, according to his said mas-ter's condition in life. [Approved March 7, 1852.]
The slave code of the Territory, as embodied in these acts, is undoubtedly humane when compared with the code of Missouri, or that of any other slave-holding State; but the fact that such a code was completed just two years after the speech of Mr. Webster on the compromise measures (vide the date of the approval of the act establishing Indian Slavery), suggests to me to quote in this connection the fol-lowing familiar paragraphs from that speech:
"What I mean to say is, that it is as impossible that African Slavery, as we see it among us, should find its way or be intro-duced into California and New-Mexico [including Utah], as any other natural impossibility."
"I have, therefore, to say in this respect,also, that this country is fixed for Freedom to as many persons as shall ever live in it, by a less repealable law than that which attaches to the right of hold-ing slaves in Texas; and I will say further that if a resolution or a bill were now before us to provide a Territorial Government for New-Mexico [including Utah], I would not vote to put any prohibition into it whatever."
Before proceeding further, it may be well to quote an act containing provisions applicable to all the laws of Utah. It simplifies in an extraordinary manner the construction of laws and the practice in courts. Chief-Justice Taney is proscribed in one section and Lindley Murray in another; and the applicability of laws passed by the Congress of the United States is left to the determination of Pro-bate Judges in a manner calculated to satisfy the most zealous partisan of a "higher law"—even Judge Loring of Massachusetts:
AN ACT containing provisions applicable to the laws of the Ter-ritory of Utah.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That all questions of law, the meaning of writings other than laws, and the admissibility of testimony shall be decided by the Court; and no laws nor parts of laws shall be read, argued, cited or adopted in any court during any trial, except those enacted by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of this Territory and those passed by the Congress of the United States, when applicable; and no report, decisions or doings of any court shall be read, argued, cited or adopted as pre-cedent in any other trial.
SEC. 4. Words used in one tense may include either, and words used in one gender may include either; the singular may be read plural and the plural singular; person may include a partnership and a body corporate and politic; property includes everything usually bought and sold. [Approved Jan. 14, 1854.]
A Probate Court, as commonly understood, is a Court whose jurisdiction is limited to administration on the estates of persons deceased, and to the guardianship of minors, idiots and madmen.
By Section 29 of the Mormon Judiciary act it receives a different definition. By that section it was intended to rob three U. S. District Courts of their jurisdiction; and under it a man may be put in unconstitutional peril of life or limb, by being twice tried and punished for the same offense, once in the Probate and again in the District Court.
AN ACT in relation to the Judiciary.
SECTION 10. By the consent of the Court and the parties, any person may be selected to act as Judge for the trial of any partic-ular cause or question; and while thus acting he shall possess all the powers of the District Judge in the case.
SEC. 12. Costs may be apportioned to either party, or appor-tioned between them, as shall be deemed equitable by the Court.
SEC. 20. Public buildings owned by the Territory, or any county, city, school district, ward, university, or religious society, and burying grounds, are exempt from execution.
SEC. 21. The following property of individuals is also exempt from execution, viz: &c.
SEC. 22. None of the exemptions herein male are intended for the benefit of non-residents; but their property is liable to execu-tion, with the exception of the ordinary wearing apparel, * * * and nothing herein shall be so construed as to exempt the prop-erty of any transient person, or persons about to depart from the Territory or county, with the intention of removing their effects therefrom.
SEC. 29. The several Probate Courts in their respective coun-ties have power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, and as well in chancery as at common law, when not prohibited by legislative enactment, and they shall be governed in all respects by the same general rules and regulations as regards practice in the District Courts.
SEC. 34. The Probate Judge, in connection with the Selectmen, is hereby invested with the usual powers and jurisdiction of County Commissioners, and with such other powers and jurisdic-tion as are conferred by law, and in this connection shall be knowu as the County Court. * * * *
SEC. 38. The County Court has the control of all timber, water privileges, or any water course or creek; to grant mill sites, and exercise such powers as in their judgment shall best preserve the timber and subserve the interest of the settlements, in the distri-bution of water for irrigation and other purposes. All grants or rights held under legislative authority shall not be interfered with.
None of the land in Utah having been opened to preemption, and the country being a territorial de-pendency, and not a sovereign State, the powers granted by section 38 to the County Courts are evi-dently unauthorized. There is not a line in the or-ganic act to justify the exercise of legislative power by the Territorial Legislature to the extent of grant-ing monopolies of timber-cutting and water privi-leges, to say nothing of the ungrammatical clause in the section, which, under the "Construction act" previously quoted, would probably be construed:
"No grant or right held under legislative authority shall be interfered with."
But the extent to which the Mormon Legisla-tures have exercised unauthorized power in this con-nection, may be inferred from the following act, which is only one out of twenty or thirty of similar character:
AN ACT granting to Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Samuel Snyder and their associates the right of ground for herding.
Be it enacted, &c., That the exclusive right of use of the ground commonly known as Parley's Park, and the adjoining valley lying southward, including Silver Creek, is hereby granted to Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant, Samuel Snyder, and their asso-ciates, for herd grounds, for the period of twenty years. [Ap-proved Jan. 19, 1855.]
The First Presidency have secured to themselves the most valuable of these unauthorized grants. For instance, Brigham Young is endowed with the exclusive right to establish ferries across Bear and Weber Rivera, the two principal tributaries of the Great Salt Lake; and Daniel H. Wells possesses a similar grant in relation to Green River, the great fork of the Rio Colorado, which traverses the Ter-ritory from north to south. The exclusive control of timber-cutting in all the cañons in the neighbor-hood of the Great Salt Lake City is given to George A. Smith, who is a shining light of the Church; and to Willard Richards, another great light, is granted the exclusive right to run roads through these cañons. All these grants are protected by the legislative imposition of penalties on trespassers.
In many of them—especially in the grants of ferry privileges—a provision is inserted that from five to fifteen per cent of the net proceeds shall be paid into the Perpetual Emigration Fund of the Church, which is estimated to amount, at the present time, to upward of $3,500,000, and which is one of the chief engines of Mormon tyranny. The proceeds of the sale of all stray animals, and the proceeds of the effects of all deceased persons dying intestate, with-out heirs, are also assigned by law to this fund. The operation of the loans from the fund to Mormon emigrants from abroad is well known. There are hundreds of instances in which fathers of families who started from England with from £300 to £800 have found themselves, on their arrival at Salt Lake City, in every respect but the name, peons of the Church. "We expect," said Brigham, in a letter to Orson Pratt, in 1849, "all who are benefited by "its operations to be willing to reimburse the "amount as soon as they are able, facilities for "which will very soon after their arrival here pre-"sent themselves in the shape of public works.” The rate of interest charged by Young on all loans from the fund is from ten per cent upward. If any such fathers of families succeed in working off their load of debt, with its annual and usurious increase, and wish to turn their backs on Mormondom and return to the East, or cross the continent to Cali-fornia, the Church almost always finds a method to detain them in the application of section 22 of the Judiciary act previously quoted.
But not only are the Probate Courts invested with coordinate jurisdiction with the District Courts; the following act was intended to give them exclusive jurisdiction in cases of Divorce. It is needless to say that the Probate Judges are, with-out exception, polygamists and Mormons:
An Act in relation to bills of divorce.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., that the Court of Probate in the county where the plaintiff resides shall have jurisdiction in all cases of divorce and alimony and guardianship and distribution of property connected therewith. [Approved March 6, 1852.]
It has been persistently denied by certain Mor-mons that a single word can be found in the statutes of Utah which legalizes polygamy. The following sections from an act which has been in force for more than six years would refute this denial, even if I had not already quoted the acts incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
AN ACT in relation to the Estates of Decedents.
SECTION 24. The homestead occupied by the wife or any por-tion of the family of the deceased at the time of his death, shall in all cases be held free to the use of the wife and family of the deceased, and shall not be liable to any claim or claims against said estate, and if there be other property remaining after the liabili-ties of said estate are liquidated, then it shall, in the absence of other arrangements by will, descend in equal share to his children or their heirs; one share to such heirs through the mother of such children if she shall survive him, during her natural life, or during her widowhood; or if he has had more than one wife who either died or survived in lawful wedlock, it shall be equally di-vided between the living and the heirs of those who are dead, such heirs taking by right of representation.
SEC. 25. Illegitimate children and their mothers inherit in like manner front thefather, whether acknowledged or not, provided it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court that he was the father of such illegimate child or children. [Approved March 3, 1852.]
In the following act, section 15 is intended to op-erate in conjunction with section 22 of the Judiciary Act, to restrain dissenting Mormons from emigra-tion. By section 13, it will be observed, a new and peculiar definition is given to “trial by jury." The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, which is guaranteed in Ar-ticle IV. of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, is surely irreconcilable with sec-tion 23.
AN ACT regulating the mode of procedure in civil cases in the Courts of the Territory of Utah.
SECTION 15. Upon complaint that the defendant is a transient person, or about to remove his property from the Territory, or is disposing cf his property to defraud, or secreting himself or prop-erty, and is indebted to the plaintiff, the Court may issue an order requiring the proper officer to take into his custody such portion of his property as will satisfy the demand and costs, and hold the same subjectto the order of the Court.
SEC. 23. When ordered by a Court, an officer shall take any and every description of property wherever it can be found, and shall search for any and every description of property that is con-ceased.
SEC. 13. When the persons for jurors are selected they shall be sworn to give a just verdict, and to have no communication about the case in trial with any but the Court or a fellow juror, until they have agreed upon their answer, which must be done with diligence, and may be given when two-thirds of their num-ber concur. [Approved Dec. 30, 1852.]
The mode of procedure in criminal cases, as de-fined by the following section, is no less singular:
AN ACT regulating the mode of procedure in criminal cases.
SEC. 29. In case no other person is injured thereby, a suit may be stopped at any stage of the proceedings by agreement of the parties and payment of costs. [Approved Jan. 21, 1853.]
The rights of the accused in criminal prosecu-tions, as guaranteed in Article VI. of the amend-ments to the Constitution of the United States, are surely irreconcilable with section 5 of
AN ACT for the regulation of Attorneys.
SECTION 2. No person or persons employing counsel in any of the Courts of this Territory shall be compelled by any process of law to pay the counsel so employed for any services rendered as coun-sel, before or after or during the process of trial in the case.
SEC. 5. Any attorney, or person otherwise assuming to appear before any Court in this Territory, in any cause whatever, shall present all the facts in the case, whether they are calculated to make against his client or not, of which he is in possession, and shall present the best evidence that he can in the case, to the intent that the true state of the case in litigation may be pre-sented before the Court, and for a failure to do so, or to comply with all the requirements of this act, shall be liable to all the penalty hereinbefore provided for [viz: imprisonment during the term of the Court], and the further penalty of not less than one dollar, at the discretion of the Court. [Approved Feb. 18, 1852]
In John Hyde's book on Mormonism, and in various other publications on the same subject, the punishment of adultery is said to be death. It may be so according to church regulation, and the act incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints certainly authorizes the imposition of that or any other punishment for adultery as a breach of the church covenants; but in the Territo-rial Statute a milder penalty is prescribed, and a singular restriction is imposed upon the commence-ment of prosecutions for the offense.
AN ACT In relation to Crimes and Punishments.
SECTION 32. Every person who commits the crime of adultery, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceediug twenty years, and not less than three years, or by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and not less than three hundred dollars, or by both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the Court. And when the crime is committed between persons anyone of whom is married, both are guilty of adultery and shall be punished ac-cordingly. No prosecution for adultery can be commenced but on the complaint of the husband or wife.
SEC. 119. Words importing the singular number only may be extended to several persons or things, and words importing the plural number only may be applied to one person or thing, and words importing the masculine gender only may be extended to females. [Approved March 6, 1852.]
The following is the "Liquor Law" of Utah Ter-ritory. Its operation has been to put several thou-sands of dollars per annum into the pocket of Brig-ham, who naturally thinks that he himself is the safest person to be allowed to make and vend intox-icating drinks. The present price of common rye whisky per gallon at Camp Scott—$8—will afford some idea of the profits of the trade:
AN ORDINANCE regulating the manufacturing and vending of ardent spirits :
SECTION 1. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret, that it shall not be lawful for any person or per-sons in this State to establish any distillery or distilleries for the manufacture of ardent spirits, except as hereafter provided for; and any person or persons who shall violate this ordinance, on conviction thereof shall forfeit all property thus invested, to the State, and be liable to a fine at the discretion of the Court having jurisdiction.
SEC. 2. Be it further ordained; that when the Governor shall deem it expedient to have ardent spirits manufactured within this State, he may grant a license to some person or persons, to make and vend the same, and impose such restrictions thereon as he may deem requisite. [Approved, Feb. 12, 1851.]
The following act explains itself. It was in-tended to tax the Gentile traders for the benefit of the Mormon public; and it is manifestly in conflict with that clause in section 10 of Article I. of the Constitution of the United States, which provides that "no State shall, without the consent of Con-"gress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or "exports," &c. There is not a word in the or-ganic act of the Territory which can be construed to enable the Territorial Legislature to pass such a law as this.
AN ACT prescribing the manner of Assessing and Collecting Ter-ritorial and County Taxes.
SECTION 5. The first assessment on goods brought into this Territory for sale shall be made by adding to the amount of the invoice the average per cent realized or intended to be; and goods thus assessed, but remaining unsold at the time of the next assess-ment, shall be assessed like other taxable property; and said goods shall be assessed and the tax collected when they are exposed for sale; and immediately after the receipt of any lot of goods in-tended for sale, the owner or agent shall furnish the assessor and collector with the correct amount of the invoices, a copy of which he shall file in the office of the Clerk of the County Court. [Ap-proved Jan. 7, 1854.]
During the ascendancy of Know-Nothingism in the State of Massachusetts, it was alleged that Gov. Gardner was guided in his likes and dislikes by the result of his inspection of the ballot-box of the Con-vention by which he was nominated. That Con-vention assembled at the National Theater in the City of Boston, in the Autumn of 1854, and each delegate was required to inscribe his own name upon the back of his ballot for Governor. Gardner was nominated in a close vote, and the ballot-box was immediately conveyed to his counting-room, where he easily drew up a list of his supporters, and another of his adversaries. In this procedure he merely imitated Brigham Young, who had procured the passage of the following act at least eighteen months before the Gardner Convention:
AN ACT regulating Elections.
SECTION 5. Each elector shall provide himself with a vote con-taining the names of the persons he wishes elected, and the offices he would have them fill, and present it, neatly folded, to the Judge of the Election, who shall number and deposit it in the ballot-box. The Clerk shall then write the name of the elector, and opposite it the number of the vote. [Approved Jan. 3, 1853.]
The Judges of Election are the senior Justices of the Peace in the various precincts, who all hold heir commissions from Brigham.
The Territorial laws respecting military affairs deserve a slight notice. By the following act, Brigham Young is furnished with a body guard:
AN ACT to provide for the further organization of the Militia of the Territory of Utah.
SECTION 51. The battalion of Life Guards in Great Salt Lake County shall be an independent battalion, not attached to any brigade or division, and shall be subject at all times to the call of the Governor and Lieutenant General.
SEC. 44. For the purpose of preserving order on the day of the parade, the militia shall be considered as under arms from the rising of the sun till its setting on the same day, and shall be exempt from arrest on civil process during that time. [Approved Feb. 5, 1852.
By an act approved Jan. 10, 1855, the County Courts were directed to cause all needful fortifica-tions to be erected within the limits of their jurisdic-tion, and were authorized to lay taxes for this pur-pose, to an indefinite amount, on whom and in whatever manner they might please. This act was subsequently repealed, and the municipal authori-ties were enjoined to similar duties and invested with similar powers. An act is also upon the stat-ute-book, making an appropriation for the endow-ment of a military school—a sort of juvenile West Point.
There is, finally, one act—the following—to which I can give my cordial approbation. If it were enforced, we should see the whole First Presi-dency and the Twelve Apostles breaking stone in the public highway:
AN ACT in relation to profanity and drunkenness.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c.. That it shall be unlawful to use with disrespect the name of the Deity; and any person profaning the name of God shall be subject to fine not less than two nor more than ten dollars, or from one to five days' labor on the pub-lic highway, at the discretion of the Court.
It would be easy to lengthen this catalogue of op-pressive, unconstitutional, and infamous laws; but the specimens already set forth indicate the whole character of Mormon legislation. Gentlemen are entirely mistaken who assume that the transfer of executive power from Brigham Young to Col. Cum-ming, and the appointment of so inflexible a person as Chief Justice Eckels to be head of the judiciary, is all that is necessary to insure good government to the Territory. The Mormon statute book shows that Brigham Young has long anticipated and pre-pared for the transfer of executive power. When Gen. Johnston and the Army of Utah have instated Gov. Cumming and Judge Eckels in their offices, they will be incumbered by such laws as I have cited, and which it will be impossible to induce a Mormon Legislature ever to repeal. It will be vain to anticipate that the control of the Legislature will be vested by the people of Utah in Gentiles during the present generation. Gen. Johnston is instructed to employ the Army, whenever it may be needed, as "a posse comitatus to enforce the laws." What laws? Such laws as I have cited? If so, the whole expedition of labor, money, and perhaps blood, in this Utah expedition, will have been for nothing.
The remedy rests with the Congress and the President of the United States. In its application the theory of Squatter Sovereignty must be totally disregarded. Congress must either take on itself the task of revising and purifying the Territorial laws of Utah, or it must invest persons in whom it can repose confidence with the power to perform that labor. The simplest and most effectual reme-dy would certainly be by such a change in the or-ganic act as to give the Governor and the Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of Utah the same legis-lative power as was given originally to the Gover-nor and Judges of the North-Western Territory.
There is not only the necessity for the applica-tion of some such remedy by Congress and the Na-tional Executive, but also for speed in the applica-tion. Gen. Johnston will have commenced his ad-vance on Salt Lake City by June 1-10, and it is fair to assume that if he is properly supported by the Administration, the Army of Utah will have en-tered the Mormon capital before the 1st of August. If, however, he is to be used as other men have been used by President Buchanan—to be frustrated in his movements by secret agents dispatched to Salt Lake City by way of California—to be induced by false promises to rely on the good faith of a Na-tional Executive whose honor is not above suspi-cion, and at last to find that his courage and pru-dence and enthusiasm have been toyed with—then there is no ground to believe that the policy of the Administration leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives willl be honorable toward the Territory of Utah.
At any rate, the coming Summer will solve the question. It is certain that it is the wish of certain Democratic Senators and Representatives from Southern States that the Mormons may be induced and permitted to emigrate to Sonora. The public can readily infer the purposes for which this wish is entertained. The months of July and August may reveal whether the President of the United States and some one or more of his Cabinet have not plotted to gratify the desires of these Southern gentlemen.
