The President's Proclamation to the Mormons.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, the Territory of Utah was settled by certain emigrants from the States and from foreign countries, who have for several years past manifested a spirit of insubordination to the Constitution and laws of the United States. The great mass of those settlers, acting under the influence of leaders to whom they seem to have surrendered their judgment, refuse to be controlled by any other authority. They have been often advised to obedience, and these friendly counsels have been answered with defiance. Officers of the Federal Government have been driven from the Territory for no offence but an effort to do their sworn duty. Others have been prevented from going there by threats of assassination. Judges have been violently interrupted in the per-formance of their functions, and the records of the courts have been seized and either destroyed or concealed. Many other acts of unlawful violence have been perpetrated, and the right to repeat them has been openly claimed by the leading inhabitants, with at least the silent acquiescence of nearly all the others. Their hostility to the lawful government of the country has at length become so violent that no officer bearing a commission from the chief magis-trate of the Union can enter the Territory or re main there with safety ; and all the officers recently ap-pointed have been unable to go to Salt Lake or any-where else in Utah beyond the immediate power of the army. Indeed, such is believed to be the condi-tion to which a strange system of terrorism has brought the inhabitants of that region, that no one among them could express an opinion favorable to this government, or even propose to obey its laws, without exposing his life and property to peril.
After carefully considering this state of affairs, and maturely weighing the obligation I was under to see the laws faithfully executed, it seemed to me right and proper that I should make such use of the mili-tary force at my disposal as might be necessary to protect the Federal officers in going into the Territo-ry of Utah, and in performing their duties after ar-riving there. I accordingly ordered a detachment of the army to march for the City of Salt Lake, or with-in reach of that place, and to act in case of need as a posse for the enforcement of the laws. But, in the meantime, the hatred of that misguided peo-ple for the just and legal authority of the Govern-ment had become so intense that they resolved to measure their military strength with that of the Union. They have organized an armed force far from contemptible in point of numbers, and trained it, if not with skill, at least with great assidui-ty and perseverance. While the troops of the United States were on their march, a train of baggage wag-ons, which happened to be unprotected, was attacked and destroyed by a portion of the Mormon forces, and the provisions and stores with which the train was laden were wantonly burnt. In short, their present attitude is one of decided and unreserved enmity to the United States and to all their loyal citizens. Their determination to oppose the authority of the Government by military force has not only been ex-pressed in words, but manifested in overt acts of the most unequivocal character.
Fellow-citizens of Utah, this is rebellion against the Government to which you owe allegiance. It is levying war against the United States, and involves you in the guilt of treason. Persistence in it will bring you to condign punishment, to ruin and to shame ; for it is mere madness to suppose that with your limited resources, you can successfully resist the force of this great and powerful nation.
If you have calculated upon the forbearance of the United States—if you have permitted yourselves to suppose that this Government will fail to put forth its strength and bring you to submission—you have fallen into a grave mistake, if you have settled upon terri-tory which lies geographically in the heart of the Union. The land you live upon was purchased by the United States, and paid for out of their treasury. The proprietary right and title to it is in them, and not in you. Utah is bounded on every side by States and Territories, whose people are true to the Union. It is absurd to believe that they will or can permit you to erect in their very midst a government of your own, not only independent of the authority which they all acknowledge, but hostile to them and their interests.
Do not deceive yourselves nor try to mislead others by propagating the idea that this is a crusade against your religion. The Constitution and laws of this country can take no notice of your creed, whether it be true or false. That is a question between your God and yourselves, in which I disclaim ail right to inter-fere. If you obey the laws, keep the peace & and re-spect the just rights of others, you will be perfectly secure, and may live on in your present faith or change it for another at your pleasure. Every intel-ligent man among you knows very well that this Government has never, directly or indirectly, sought to molest you in your worship, to control you in your ecclesiastical affairs, or even to influence you in your religious opinions.
This rebellion is not merely a violation of your legal duty ; it is without just cause, without reason, without excuse. You never made a complaint that was not listened to with patience. You never ex-hibited a real grievance that was not redressed as promptly as it could be. The laws and regulations enacted for your government by Congress have been equal and just, and their enforcement was manifestly necessary for your own welfare and happiness, You have never asked their repeal. They are similar in every material respect to the laws which have been passed for the other Territories of the Union, and which everywhere else (with one partial exception) have been cheerfully obeyed. No people ever lived who were freer from unnecessary legal restraint than you. Human wisdom never devised, a political sys-tem which bestowed more blessings, or imposed lighter burdens, than the Government of this United States in its operation upon the Territories.
But being anxious to save the effusion of blood, and to avoid the indicriminate punishment of a whole people for crimes of which it is not probable that all are equally guilty, I order now a full and free pardon to all who will submit themselves to the authority of the Federal Government. If you refuse to accept it, let the consequences fall upon your own heads. But I conjure you to pause deliberately and reflect well before you reject this tender of peace and good will.
Now, therefore, I, JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States, have thought proper to issue this my proclamation, enjoining upon all public officers in the Territory of Utah, to be diligent and faithful, to the full extent, of their power, in the execution of the laws; commanding all citizens of the United States In said Territory to aid and assist the officers in the performance of their duties ; offering to the inhabi-tants of Utah, who shall submit to the laws a free pardon for the seditions and treasons heretofore by them committed; warning those who shall persist after notice of this proclamation, in the present re-bellion against the United States, that they must ex-pect no further lenity, but look to be rigorously dealt with according to their deserts; and declaring that the military forces now in Utah, and hereafter to be sent there, will not be withdrawn until the inhabitants of that Territory shall manifest a proper sense of the duty which they owe to this Government.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my band, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents.
[I. s.] Done at the city of Washington, the sixth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-second. JAMES BUCHANAN.
By the President: LEWIS CASS, Secretary of State.
