USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > History of Salt Lake City > Part 34
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" NEW YORK, May 2, 1862.
" To Gov. Brigham Young :
" Many thanks for your prompt response to President Lincoln's request. As soon as the boys can give protection, the mails shall be resumed. I leave for your city Sunday next.
BEN HOLLADAY."
As a link of the history may be given Chief Justice Kinney's certificate.
"I, John F. Kinney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for the Territory of Utah, do hereby certify, that in pursuance of the fol- lowing order from the War Department, I mustered into service of the United States for the period of ninety days, unless sooner discharged, the following officers, whose names appear to the certificate by administering the usual oath, and the oath provided by the act of Congress August 6th, 1861."
The following extracts from Major Lot Smith's letters to Brigham Young, give a touch of the performance of the service :
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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
" PACIFIC SPRINGS, June 15th, 1862.
" Prest. Brigham Young :
" DEAR SIR-I had an interview with Brig .- Gen. Craig, who arrived by stage at this point. He expressed himself much pleased with the promptness of our at- tention to the call of the General Government, also the exertions we had made to overcome the obstacles on the road, spoke well of our people generally; he also informed me he had telegraphed to President Lincoln to that effect, and intended writing him at a greater length by mail. I received written instructions to the effect that he had placed the whole of Nebraska Territory under martial law ; Utah, he remarked, was perfectly loyal, and as far as he knew always had been. He also remarked, we were the most efficient troops he had for the present ser- vice, and thought as we had broke into our summer's work, of recommending President Lincoln to engage our services for three months longer."
" PACIFIC SPRINGS, June 27th, '62.
" President Young :
" DEAR SIR-I have just received orders from General Craig through Colonel Collins to march my command to Fort Bridger to guard the line from Green River to Salt Lake City, and start from here to-morrow morning.
"Lieut. Rawlings and command arrived here yesterday; owing to neglect of the mail, my orders to Lieut. Rawlings did not reach him until eight days after they were due, consequently there has been no detail left at Devil's Gate.
"There has been built by the command at the former place a log house 20 feet by 16 feet, with bake houses and detached also a commodious corral.
" Lieut. Rawlins has left the above station of Major O'Farral, Ohio volun- teers, but occupied by Messrs. Merchant and Wheeler, traders, who formerly owned the station that was destroyed there ; the property is subject to our order at any time. The command also made a good and substantial bridge on Sweet- water ; three of our teams crossed over ; the mail bridge would have been $200 per wagon, this bridge is free, and also in charge of Major O'Farral. Several emigration companies crossed during the time the command was there, free. One company presented us with a good wagon, which Lieut. Rawlins handed over to Captain Harmon.
" I have had frequent interviews with Col. Collins and officers; they have behaved very gentlemanly, and expressed themselves much pleased with our ex- ertions, and seemed disposed to render us every assistance to contribute to our comfort.
" Col. Collins is decidedly against killing Indians indiscriminately, and will not take any general measures, save on the defensive, until he can ascertain satis- factorily by whom the depredations have been committed, and then not resort to killing until he is satified that peaceable measures have failed.
"Col. Collins and officers all allow we are best suited to guard this road, both men and horses ; they are anxious to return, and if they have any influence, I imagine they will try to get recalled and recommend to Utah to furnish the necessary guard. The Colonel has just left our camp, he has sent for Washakie, chief of the Snakes, with a view to make treaty or obtain information. No 4
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sickness at all in camp at present. We are attached to Col. Collins' regiment, Gen. Craig's division, and furnish our muster, descriptive and other returns to that command. Should General Wells require duplicates, we will forward them. I am sir, yours respectfully,
LOT SMITH."
" DEER CREEK, May 16, 1862.
" GOVERNOR FULLER-My detachment arrived here yesterday at 3 p.m., en- ccuntering no difficulty, save that caused by the mud, snow, etc. We have seen no Indians on the route; found all the mail stations from Green River to this point deserted, all stock having been stolen or removed, and other property abandoned to the mercy of the Indians or white men. We found at the Ice Spring station, which had been robbed on the night of the 27th, a large lock mail-twenty-six sacks, a great portion of which had been cut open and scattered over the prairie. Letters had been opened and pillaged, showing conclusively that some renegade whites were connected with the Indians in the robbery. The mail matter, after being carefully collected and placed in the sacks, I have con- veyed to this point, also ten other sacks of lock mail, from the Three Crossings: all of which will be turned over to the mail agent at Lapariel. Twenty miles from this, we will meet men from the East for this purpose. The United States troops from the East will be in this vicinity to-morrow; and, unless otherwise directed by yourself or General Wells, I will return immediately, halting on the Sweet Water to investigate still further the causes of the difficulty, as I have not been able to learn who or what Indians positively have been engaged in the mat - ter ; but suppose it to be about thirty renegade Snakes and Bannacks from the north. Some of the party spoke English plainly, and one the German language. Hon. W. H. Hooper and Mr. C. W. West will take passage in the coach that comes for the mail.
R. T. BURTON, Commanding."
General Burton supplements this with the following :
" This year (1862) will be remembered as the season of the highest water ever experienced in the mountains ; as a consequence travel (over the mountains) was almost impossible. Some idea may be formed of this matter from the fact that it took this command, with all their energy and exertion, nine days to go to Fort Bridger, a distance of only 113 miles from Salt Lake. Most of our wagons had to be dispensed with at Fort Bridger, at which point we proceeded mainly with pack animals. It is proper, also, to state that we received from the Govern- ment officers stationed at the military fort at Fort Bridger, provisions, tents, camp equipage, etc., all that was within their power to grant. From this point (Fort Bridger) all the mail stations were abandoned, many of them burned, some of the coaches still standing upon the road riddled with bullet holes from the attack made by the Indians at the time the drivers and passengers were killed. In some of the mail stations west of the Devil's Gate we found large numbers of mail sacks which had been cut open by Indians and the contents scattered over the ground, which were carefully picked up by my company and carried on to the
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North Platte and turned over to the mail contractor at that point. The coaches were enabled to come west as far as Lapariel Station, a distance of some thirty miles east of the Platte.
" The expedition was one of the most hazardous and toilsome we were ever called upon to perform, but succeeded admirably without the loss of a man or animal. Returned to Salt Lake City thirty days from the time of starting and were mustered out of service by Governor Fuller."
CHAPTER XXIX.
UTAH AGAIN ASKS ADMISSION INTO THE UNION AS A STATE. THE HISTORY AND PASSAGE OF THE ANTI-POLYGAMIC BILL IN THE HOUSE AND SEN- ATE. THE BILL SIGNED BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN. PRESENTATION TO CONGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE "STATE OF DESERET."
At this juncture, in the spring of 1862, it is worthy of special notice that Utah was again asking admission into the Union. The Legislature of the pro- posed "State of Deseret " was then in session. Hons. Wm. H. Hooper and George Q. Cannon were elected senators; the former with the memorial and con- stitution, went east under the escort of Colonel Burton and his troop; and a des- patch was sent to Apostle Cannon, who was then in England, requesting him to join Mr. Hooper in Washington early in June, which he did. The senators-elect labored diligently in Washington during the remainder of that session of Con- gress, and, notwithstanding that Utah was not admitted to statehood, she pro- voked much respect from members of Congress over her conduct at that moment, when it was thought by no inconsiderable portion of the world that the issues of the war would be won by the South. It was universally understood at that time that the sympathies of France and England were with the Southern Confederacy.
It is due to the history to here affirm something of the political views of Utah relative to the Union. Delegate Hooper, December 16th, 1860, in a letter to Apostle George Q. Cannon, said :
" I think three-quarters of the Republicans of the House would vote for our admission ; but I may be mistaken. Many say they would gladly 'swap' the Gulf States for Utah. I tell them that we show our loyalty by trying to get in, while others are trying to get out, notwithstanding our grievances, which are far greater than any of the seceding States; but that I consider we can redress our grievances better in the Union than out of it."
Now it was with just this view before them that the people of Utah again sought admission into the Union as a State in the spring and summer of 1862.
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Ex-Governor Young and his compeers who were proud that so many of their sires were among the men who founded this nation, and then, in a later generation, won for it independence, held, as we see in every view, that the South committed a grave error in seceding. They affirmed that the Southern States should have fought out their issue inside the Union, and under the sanction of the Constitu- tion. They did wrong, the people of Utah thought, in setting up a new confed- eracy, and firing upon the old flag, thus tarnishing the bright integrity of their cause.
The Mormon view of the great national controversy then, was, that the Southern States should have done precisely what Utah did, and placed themselves on the defensive ground of their rights and institutions, as old as the Union. And it is worthy of special note in the political record of Utah that her Delegate ad- vocated the Union doctrine at the capitol and condemned secession, during the term of the last Congress preceding the dissolution, offering Utah as a political example with words that deserve to be imperishable in history : "We can redress our grievances better in the Union than out of it."
In the House of Representatives, April 8, 1862, Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, by unanimous consent, introduced a bill to punish and prevent the practice of polyg- amy in the Territories of the United States, and for other purposes, and to disap- prove and annul certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah ; which was read a first and second time, and referred to the Committee on Ter- ritories.
April 28 .- Mr. Ashley, from the Committee on Territories, reported back, with a recommendation that it do pass, a bill (H. R. No. 391) to punish and pre- vent the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States and other places, and disapproving and annulling certain acts of the Territorial Legislature of Utah.
The bill was read.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I desire to say to the House that this is the iden- tical bill passed about two years ago, when there was an elaborate report made by a gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Nelson, and when it received the almost unani- mous support of the House. The only difference between the two bills is this : that bill excepted from its provisions the District of Columbia, and that excep- tion is stricken out in this bill. I presume there is no member of the House who is desirous to discuss this measure, and I move the previous question.
Mr. Maynard. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to suggest a single verbal amendment, rather a matter of taste than otherwise.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I will hear the suggestion.
Mr. Maynard.
It is to strike out the word "nevertheless" in the proviso
to the first section. It has no business there; it is surplusage.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. Well, if the gentleman from Tennessee says that " nevertheless" has no business there, I presume he is right ; and I have no ob- jection to the amendment.
Mr. Maynard. I offer the amendment. I have no speech to make about it. The amendment was agreed to.
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HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.
Mr. Cradlebaugh. I ask the gentleman from Vermont to allow me to offer an amendment.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I prefer to have the bill pass as it is.
Mr. Cradlebaugh. I think if the gentleman understood the character of the amendment he would not object. It is merely to correct the bill, and not for the purpose of throwing any impediments in the way of its passage. The bill, in its present shape, does not amount to anything.
The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous question ?
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I decline to do so.
The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed, and read a third time; and being en- grossed, it was accordingly read the third time.
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I move the previous question on the passage of the bill.
Mr. Biddle. Is all debate necessarily cut off at this time ?
The Speaker. It will be if the previous question is sustained.
Mr. Biddle. There are some of us who would like to hear debate, if not to participate in it.
The Speaker. Does the gentleman withdraw the demand for the previous question ?
Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. I decline to do so, and call for tellers.
. Tellers were ordered ; and Messrs. Cox and Chamberlain were appointed.
The House divided; and the tellers reported -- ayes sixty-five, noes not counted.
So the previous question was seconded.
The main question was ordered to be put; and being put, the bill was passed.
In the Senate, June 3d-
Mr. Bayard. I move to take up House bill No. 391. It was reported back from the Committee on the Judiciary, with amendments, about three weeks ago. It is a bill that ought to be acted upon.
The motion was agreed to ; and the bill (H. F. No. 391) to punish the practice of polygamy in the Territories of the United States, and other places, and disap- proving and annulling certain acts of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, was considered as in committee of the Whole.
The amendment of the Committee on Judiciary was to strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert, as a substitute :
That every person having a husband or wife living, who shall marry any other person, whether married or single, in a Territory of the United States, or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, shall, except in the cases specified in the proviso to this section, be adjudged guilty of bigamy, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, and by im. prisonment for a term not exceeding five years: Provided nevertheless, That this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five successive years without being
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known to such person within that time to be living; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by the decree of a compe- tent court ; nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been annulled or pronounced void by the sentence or decree of a competent court on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the following ordinance of the pro- visional government of the State of Deseret, so called, namely : " An ordinance incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," passed February 8, in the year 1851, and adopted, re-enacted, and made valid by the Governor and Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, by an act passed January 19, in the year 1855, entitled, " An act in relation to the compilation and revision of the laws and resolutions in force in Utah Territory, their publication and distribu- tion," and all other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by the said Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, which establish, support, maintain, shield, or countenance polygamy, be, and the same hereby are, disapproved and annulled : Provided, That this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or inter- fere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance heretofore mentioned, nor with the right " to worship God according to the dictates of con- science," but only to annul all acts and laws which establish, maintain, protect, or countenance the practice of polygamy, evasively called spiritual marriage, however disguised by legal or ecclesiastical solemnities, sacraments, ceremonies, consecra- tions, or other contrivances.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any cor- poration or association for religious or charitable purposes to acquire or hold real estate in any Territory of the United States during the existence of the Terri- torial government of a greater value than $100,000 ; and all real estate acquired or held by any such corporation or association contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be forfeited and escheat to the United States : Provided, That existing vested rights in real estate shall not be impaired by the provisions of this section.
Mr. Bayard. I will state, very briefly, the difference between the bill as proposed to be amended by the Judiciary Committee, and the bill as passed by the House of Representatives. The bill of the House is intended to punish the crime of polygamy, or bigamy properly speaking, when committed in any Territory of the United States ; but, in point of fact, it goes beyond that -- it punishes cohabita - tion without marriage. The committee, in their amendments, have so altered the first section as to provide for the punishment of the crime of bigamy, leaving the punishment for a similar offense, where marriage had been contracted elsewhere, to the State where it was contracted. We thought that clearly preferable, and that it would be of no utility to carry the act beyond the evil intended to be remedied, which was to put down polygamy, as a part of the recognized legal institutions of .Utah.
There is a mistake in printing as to the second section. The second section of the bill is not altered at all; we leave it precisely the same as it was in the original bill. It repeals the ordinance of Utah, commonly called " An ordinance incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." It is precisely in
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words like the second section of the House bill, which is not altered in any respect.
The third section is an amendment of the committee, and it is in the nature of a mortmain law. The object is to prevent the accumulation of real estate in the hands of ecclesiastical corporations in Utah. Though that Territory is large, the value of real estate is not of large amount ; and the object of the section is to pre- vent the accumulation of the property and wealth of the community in the hands of what may be called theocratic institutions, inconsistent with our form of govern- ment. In my own judgment it would be wiser to limit the amount of real estate that could be held by any corporation of that character in a Territory, to the value of $50,000, I think $100,000 is too much. I am satisfied that there is great danger in that Territory, under its present government, that the ecclesiastical institutions which prevail there will ultimately become the owners in perpetuity of all the valuable land in that Territory, and so afford a nucleus for the permanence of their general institutions unless a stop be put to it by act of Congress.
I have now stated the provisions of the amendment as proposed by the com- mittee. The first section of the bill is altered so as to punish the crime of bigamy, but leaving the question of cohabitation or mere adultery apart from the crime of bigamy, without reference to any action of Congress. The second section is ex- actly the same as the section in the House bill. The third section is a new one, the object of which is to operate in the nature of a mortmain law, to prevent the en- tire property of that Territory being accumulated in perpetuity in the hands of a species of theocratic institutions.
The amendment was agreed to.
Mr. Hale. I shall probably vote for the bill ; but I should like to know from the chairman of the committee if its provisions are not inconsistent with-
Mr. Bayard. I move to strike out "$100,000 " and insert " $50,000," in the third section.
Mr. Hale. I will wait until that is decided.
Mr. Bayard. I make that motion.
The Vice President. The Senator's motion is not now in order, the amend- ment of the committee having been adopted. It will be in order when the bill shall have been reported to the Senate.
Mr. Hale. I was only going to say that I had been looking at a decision of the Supreme Court in which the rights of Congress over the Territories are exam- ined with some care, and it occurred to me that possibly the provisions of this bill might be inconsistent with some of the doctrines and dogmas of that decision. I refer to a case decided in the Supreme Court at the December term of 1856, entitled, " Dred Scott vs. Sandford," and the doctrine was pretty thoroughly gone over in that decision as to how far the powers of Congress extended over the Terri- tories. It strikes me that by analogy this bill infringes upon that decision, for I remember that one of the exponents of the true faith on this floor used to illus- trate this dogma at least as often as once a month by saying that the same law prevailed as to the regulation of the relations of husband and wife, parent and child, and master and servant. I think at least once a month for years that was proclaimed to be the law. If the national Legislature have no more power
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over the relations of husband and wife-and that seems to be the one touched here-than over master and slave, it seems to me that if we mean to maintain that respect which is due to so august a tribunal as the Supreme Court of the United States, we ought to read the Dred Scott decision over again, and see if we are not in danger of running counter to it. It strikes me decidedly that we are; and at this time when there is so much necessity for invoking all the reverence there is in the country for the tribunals of the country, it seems to me we ought to tread delicately when we trench upon things that have been so solemnly decided by the Supreme Court as this has. But, as the gentleman who reports the bill is a mem- ber of the Judiciary Committee, if it is clearly his opinion that we can pass this bill without trenching upon the doctrine of tne Dred Scott decision, I shall inter pose no objection.
Mr. Bayard. I will not be drawn into any argument. It is sufficient to say that I have read the decision to which the honorable Senator alludes, I think with some care, and in my judgment this bill is entirely within its principles as well as within the decision itself. I cannot see the contrariety. I shall not enter into the argument now. To me it is very palpable that the bill is within the power of Congress and is necessary legislation.
The bill was reported to the Senate.
Mr. Bayard. I propose now in the fifth line of the third section to strike out "one hundred" and insert "fifty," so as to make the limitation of real estate held by an ecclesiastical corporation, $50,000.
The amendment to the amendment was agreed to.
The amendment made as in the Committee of the Whole, as amended, was concurred in.
Mr. McDougall. It may not be considereed a very judicious thing to object to this measure here, but I feel called upon to do it. There is no Senator, I think, who objects more strongly than I do to the vicious practice that obtains in the Territory of Utah; but I think we have just at this time trouble enough on our hands without invoking further trouble. We have had our communication with California cut off by the Indians on the line of communication. We have already had a Utah war that cost the Government a large amount of money. We are to have a controversy with them as to their admission as a State. They are clamoring for that now. In my judgment, no particular good is to be accomplished by the passage of this bill at present. When the time does come that our communication across the continent is complete, then we can take jurisdiction where we have power, and can employ power for the purpose of correcting these abuses. I sug- gest to gentlemen, in the first place, that they cut off most likely the communica- tion across the continent to our possessions on the Pacific by a measure of legisla- tion of this kind, which will be well calculated to invite, certainly will invite, great hostility, and interfere with the general interests of the country. It will cost the Government a large amount if communication is interfered with, and do no substan- tial good. I do not think the measure at this time is well advised. It is understood its provisions will be a dead letter upon our statute-book. Its provisions will be either ignored or avoided. If Senators will look the question fairly in the face, and consider how important it is that we should have no difficulties now on our
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