Congress and the country at large have
their attention fixed upon the question of polygamy, and the proposed
legislative commission, if endorsed by Congress, would bring the Mormon
Church itself face to face with it. It is so embedded in the very roots
of their organization that many Mormons insist that it would be utterly
impossible for the church to dispense with it; and the _Deseret
News_, the church organ in the issue following the President's
Message, declares that "neither commissions, edicts or armies, or any
earthly power can affect plural marriages of the Mormons for they are
'ecclesiastical, perpetual and eternal.'" No doubt there will be a
convulsive effort made to retain the government of the Territory in
their own hands, and they might be forced to abandon polygamy to save
such a catastrophe, but would they do it in good faith?
What would their fanatical followers say if the "absolute command of
God" to Joseph Smith is no longer to be regarded. If polygamy can,
however, be happily abolished, there still remains a solid phalanx of
determined men and women manipulated by the hand of wily priests and
bishops, who do not believe in our institutions, who deny the right of
individual feeling or action, who teach the doctrine that the Latter Day
Saints will rule eventually the whole country and the world.
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