MORMON VIEW OF POLITICS.
From a Sermon Preached by Brigham Young, Aug. 31.
The different political parties are in opposition. One party says, " We are Republicans, and we are opposed in principle to all who are not of our party." Can the various parties be reconciled? No. Each party wishes to elect a President of the United States. We design to elect Jesus Christ for our President, and the wicked wish to elect Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, and swear that they will have him: and we declare that we will serve Jesus Christ, and he shall be our President.
We calculate that we are right, and we are going to vote for the sovereign we believe in; and when he comes, behold be will go into the chair of state and take the reins of Government.
They may kill the bodies we have, they may strive to injure us, but when the day of the great election comes, as the Lord Almighty lives, we shall gain our President, and we anticipate holding office under him. Do you blame the wicked for being mad ? No. They desire to rule, to hold the reins of government on this earth; they have held them a great while. I do not blame them for being suspicious of us; men in high standing are suspicious of us, hence the frequent cry, " treason, treason, we are going to have trouble with the people in Utah." What is the matter ? Wherein can they point out one particle of injury that we have done to them ?
True, we have more wives than one, and what of that ? They have their scores of thousands of prosti-tutes, we have none. But polygamy they are uncon-stitutionally striving to prevent; when they will ac-complish their object is not for me to say. They have already presented a resolution in Congress that no man, in any of the Territories of the United States, shall be allowed to have more than one wife, under a penalty net exceeding five years' imprisonment, and $500 fine. How will they get rid of this awful evil in Utah? They will have to expend about $300,000,000 for building a prison; for we must all go into prison. And after they have expended that amount for a prison, and roofed it over from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the summit of the Sierra Nevada, we will dig out and go preaching through the world. [Voice on the stand: What will become of the women; will they go to prison with us ?] Br. Heber seems concerned about the women's going with us; they will be with us, for we shall be here together. This is a little amusing.
Br. Robbins, in his remarks, said that the Constitu-tion of the United States forbids making an ex post facto law. The presenting of the resolution alluded to shows their feelings; they wish the Constitution out of existence, and there is no question but that they will get rid of it as quickly as they can, and that would be by ex post facto law which the Constitution of the United States strictly forbids.
Br. Robbins also spoke of what they term the " nig- " ger drivers and nigger worshipers," and observed how keen their feelings are upon their favorite topic, Slavery. The State of New-York used to be a Slave State, but there Slavery has for some time been abol-ished. Under their law for abolishing Slavery, the then male slaves had to serves until they were 28 years old; and, if my memory serve me correctly, the fe-males until they were 25. before they could be free. This was to avid the loss of what they called property in the hands of individuals. After that law was passed the people began to dispose of their blacks, and to let them buy themselves off. They then passed a law that black children should be free, the same as white children, and so it remains to this day.
But at the time that Slavery was" tolerated in the Northern and Eastern States, if you touched that ques-tion it would fire a man quicker than anything else in the world; there was something very peculiar about it, and it is so now. Go into a Slave State and speak to a man on the subject, even though he never owned a slave and you fire up his feelings in defense of that in-stitution; there is no other subject that will touch him as quickly. They are very tenacious and sensitive on those points, and the North are becoming as sensitive as the South. The North is slow and considerate; they have their peculiar customs; and are influenced by the force of education, climate, &c., in a manner which causes them to think twice before they act; and often they will think and speak many times The spirit of the South is to the the same moment. This is the
It is not the prerogative of the President of the United States to meddle with this matter, and Con-gress is not allowed, according to the Constitution, to Legislate upon it. If Utah was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State and we chose to introduce Slavery here, it is not their business to meddle with it; and even if we treated our slaves in an oppressive manner, it is still none of their business and they ought not to meddle with it.
If we introduce the practice of polygamy it is not their prerogative to meddle with it; if we should all turn to be Roman Catholics to-day, if we all turn to the old Mother Church, it would not be their prerogative, it would not be their business, to meddle with us on that account. If we are Mormons or Methodists, or worship the sun or a white dog, or if we worship a dumb idol, or all turn Shaking Quakers and have no wife, it is not their prerogative to meddle with these affairs, for in so doing they would violate the Consti-tution.
There is not a Territory in the Union that is looked upon with so suspicious an eye as is Utah, and yet it is the only part, of the nation that cares anything about the Constitution.
" Mormonism" is true, and all hell cannot overthrow it. All the devil's servants on the earth may do all they can, and as Br. Clinton has just said, after twenty-six years faithful operation and exertion by our ene-mies, including the times when Joseph had scarcely a man to stand by him, and when the persecution was as severe on him as it ever was in the world, what have they accomplished ? They have succeeded in making us an organized Territory, and they are determined to make us as independent State or Government, and as the Lord lives it will be so. (The congregation shouted amen.) I say, as the Lord lives, we are bound to be-come a sovereign State in the Union, or an independent nation by ourselves, and let them drive us from this place if they can; they cannot do it. I do not throw this out as a banter; you gentiles, and hickory and basswood " Mormons" can write it down if you please, but write it as I speak it.
I wish you to understand that God rules and reigns; that he led us to this land and gave us a Territorial Government. Was this the design of the wicked ? No. Their design was to banish us from the earth, but they have driven us into notoriety and power; we are now raised to a position where we can converse with Kings and Emperors.
In the days of Joseph it was considered a great privi-lege to be permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty-six years will not pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as much thought of as the kings on their thrones. The Lord Almighty will roll on the wheels of his work, and none can stop them; and they cennot drive us from these mountains, because the Lord will not suffer them to do so. I desire them to let us alone; " hands off and money down," we crave no jobs and make none. Let them attend to their own business, and we will build up Zion while they go to hell.
I am still Governor of this Territory, to the constant chagrin of my enemies; but I do not in the least neg-lect the duties of my Priesthood nor my office as Gov-ernor; and while I honor my Priesthood I will do honor to my office as Governor. This is hard to be under-stood by the wicked, but it is true. The feelings of many are much irritated because I am here, and Con-gress has requested the President to inquire why I still hold the office of Governor in the Territory of Utah. I can answer that question; I hold the office by ap-pointment, and am to hold it until my successor is ap-pointed and qualified, which has not yet been done: I shall bow to Jesus, my Governor, and under him, to Br. Joseph. Though he has gone behind the vail and I cannot see him, he is my head, under Jesus Christ and the ancient Apostles, and I shall go ahead and build up the kingdom. But if I was now sitting in the chair of state at the White House in Washington, everything in my office would be subject to my religion.
TO THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
The Elders and Rulers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Saints in the United States of America:
DEAR BRETHREN, FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS OF THE LORD AND RECIPIENTS OF HIS GRACE—We call upon you to stand firm to the principles of our religion in the coming contest for President of the country. Our duty is plain. There are two principal parties in the country—one is for us, and the other against us.
The Democratic Convention in Cincinnati, which nominated James Buchanan for President, passed the following resolution:
" Resolved, That Congress has no power under the Constitu-tion to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that all such States are the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to their own affairs not pro-hibited by the Constitution."
This is a principle of the Democratic party, which they have extended to Territories as well as States, and the doctrine of squatter sovereignty applies to us in Deseret as well as to the settlers in Kansas and Ne-braska.
The Democratic party is the instrument, in God's hand, by which is to be effected our recognition as a sovereign State, with the domestic institutions of Slavery and Polygamy, as established by the patriarchs and prophets of old, under divine authority, and re-newed to the saints of latter days, through God's chosen rulers and prophets.
In the Republican Convention assembled at Phila-delphia, which nominated John C. Fremont for Presi-dent, it was
Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon Congress sover-eign power over the Territories of the United States for their government, and that in the exercise of that power it is both the right and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and Slavery.
This is a blow aimed directly at our rights as citizens of one of the Territories, at our sacred institutions and our holy religion.
Saints of the latter days, to whom God reveals his will through his chosen prophets, stand steadfast in your faith; for the time is at hand which was foretold by the prophet of old, and recorded in the ancient scriptures: "And in that day shall seven women lay "hold of one man, and they will say, ' let us eat of our " own bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be "called by thy name to take away our reproach.' "
Given by order of the President and Rulers, at Great Salt Lake, on the fourteenth day of August, 1856.
