Acting upon these fundamental canons, and in accordance with the acts of Congress, the Commission has from time to time, in official reports and otherwise, assured the Mormou people that the Government of the United States had no design to coerce them concerning their church membership or their religious opinions, and that all that was required, and all that could rightfully be required, was that they should come within the laws and abandon the practice of polygamy. For example, in the Commission's first annual report, of November 17, 1882, it said: "The legislation of Congress, as we understand it, is not enacted against the religion of any portion of the people of this Territory. The law under which we are acting is directed against the crime of polygamy."

In its report of October 30, 1883, it said that "by abstaining from the polygamic relation they [the Mormons] will enjoy all the political rights of American citizens."

In its last annual report (September 24, 1886) the following language was employed: "We recognize the obligation of the Government of the United States to protect the personal and property rights of the Mormon people and to deal with them as equals before the law, yet it is equally the duty of the Government to punish crime."

In its "circular for the information of registration officers," issued in March, 1887, after enumerating all the disqualifications of voters under the law, it added: "That no opinions which they (the Mormons) may entertain upon questions of religion or church polity should be the subject of inquiry or exclusion from the polls," and the Edmunds act of 1882 declares that no person shall be excluded from the polls on account of any opinion he may entertain on the subject of polygamy or bigamy if he is otherwise eligible to vote.

Having received information that some of the registration officers were disregarding the principle thus settled and repeatedly announced, they were promptly removed from office by the unanimous vote of all the members of the Commission.

After such assurances have been held out to the Mormon people by the Supreme Court of the United States, by those eminent statesmen who championed the anti-polygamy legislation in Congress, and by the Commission, representing no party or faction, but the Government of the United States; now, while the great mass of the Mormon people are making an effort for the abandonment of the practice of polygamy, we are asked to recommend further legislation of a hostile and aggressive character, almost, if not entirely, destructive of local self-government, thereby inflicting punishment on the innocent as well as the. guilty. Our answer is, we cannot do so; we decline to advise Congress to inflict punishment by disfranchising any portion of the people of Utah on account of their religious or irreligious opinions.

In Utah there are persons of multifarious religious creeds, some with no religious belief at all. Some prominent and enterprising citizens believe in the revelations of the Old Testament and reject those recorded in the New, while a large majority of the people of the Territory profess a belief in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and divers modern "revelations" besides. Those who accept the revelations of the Bible are divided into many separate church organizations by reason of diverse interpretations. Then, in the close of the most enlightened century in the tide of time, shall we invoke legal coercion over the consciences of men and resort to the pains and penalties inflicted in former times for recusancy, non-conformity, and heresy?

In this age the world moves, and even religious fanatics must keep pace with progress. The Utah of to-day is not, and never can be again,

what it was when Brigham Young, as prophet, seer, and revelator, dominated over his devoted followers, isolated from all the world, in the secluded valleys of the Rocky mountains; nor, in our opinion, can that fading and dissolving specter of the past be justly or properly invoked as an excitative to legislation proscriptive of religious opinion. The railroad and the telegraph, free speech and a free press, are there now. Schools and colleges and churches of many denominations are found in all parts of the Territory. The people are no longer isolated, but are now in communication with all the world; and Salt Lake City is one of the most cosmopolitan places on the continent, a resort for tourists, savants, statesmen, and scholars from abroad. Under such circumstances is it not morally impossible that Utah shall ever again become subject to that church domination and oppression which are now imputed by some persons as an existing reality against the "Mormon hierarchy"?

Churches and creeds are subject to the laws of evolution, and Mormonism must yield to the inexorable logic of civilization. Polygamy must go, and its abrogation will, sooner or later, be an accomplished fact. Other objectionable features are gradually giving way; and we are thoroughly satisfied that whatever the Federal authorities can rightfully accomplish in the way of reform can be done without resorting to the total overthrow of local self government.

Polygamous marriages in Utah are becoming less frequent, as will hereinafter be shown. No polygamist votes, holds office, or sits on a jury. The mass of the Mormons have taken the test oath and voted against polygamy. The conclusion is that the present laws of Congress are working successfully; that there is no necessity of resorting to unAmerican plans of government; and that if, as we apprebend, the object of the Government is to reform and not to destroy the Mormon people, they should be encouraged and not spurned in their efforts for the abrogation of polygamy and for reform.

During the last two years and a half there has been no relaxation in the enforcement of the laws for the suppression of polygamy. During that period there have been about three hundred convictions to the penitentiary for offenses against those laws, which, notwithstanding the signs of reform, should continue to be enforced against all persons violating them; no step backward should be tolerated; at the same time the innocent should be scrupulously protected.

In a larger view polygamy is adjudged by the most enlightened nations to be a manifold evil. It is the parent of caprice, cruelty, and license. It enervates the male and degrades the female. Socially, politically, and physically it is corrupting and deteriorating. Despotic in the family, it is the prototype of despotism in the government. It largely accounts for the differing characteristic of the Asiatic and European; for the indolence and feebleness of the one, and the energy and enterprise of the other. Inferiority is its badge. In the armed contests of rival civilizations, alike in ancient Greece and modern India, it succumbed to the superiority of monogamy. It is at variance with the divine economy in that originally God created but one man and one woman, Adam and Eve, each as the only partner in wedlock of the other. Logically, and as a consequence, it is irreconcilable to the idea of the marriage covenant as practiced and revered by the masterful Teuton, Celt, and Anglo-Saxon. That covenant runs in these comprehensive and searching words:

Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love her, comfort her, honor her, and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsaking all other, keep thee unto her so long as ye both shall live?

Recognizing polygamy to be an evil and a bane, Congress has, from time to time, enacted laws to eradicate it from Utah. One of them, known as the "Edmunds law," approved March 22, 1882, re-enacted and extended the provisions of those of earlier date. It declares polygamy a crime, defines the same, and punishes its commission by a fine not exceeding $500, and imprisonment not exceeding five years; declares cohabitation by the man with more than one woman a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of not more than $300, or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both, in the discretion of the court, and allows a joinder of counts for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation in the same information or indictment;

Disqualifies any person from serving as a juror in any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation who is, or has been, living in the practice of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman, or who believes it right for a man to have more than one living and undivorced wife at the same time, or who believes it right to live in the practice of cohabitation with more than one woman, upon his being challenged for any such cause;

Authorizes the President to grant absolute or limited or conditional amnesty to offenders against any such previously enacted laws;

Legitimates the issue of polygamous marriages, solemnized according to the ceremonies of the Mormon sect, who were born before the 1st day of January, 1883;

Disqualifies any polygamist, or other person cohabiting with more than one woman, from voting at any election, or for election or appoint. ment to any office or place of trust, honor or emolument.

The last law on this subject, known as the "Edmunds-Tucker act," which took effect on the 3d day of March, 1887, is supplemental to the act of 1882, and is more comprehensive in its scope. It makes the lawful husband or wife (if consenting to testify) a competent witness in any examination, inquest, or prosecution touching the other, under a statute of the United States forbidding any of the above-named offenses, except as to communications between each other deemed confidential at common law;

Waives the original process of subpoena and authorizes an attachment for witnesses in any such criminal proceeding, upon cause shown by oath or affirmation ;

Prescribes the rule determining the degrees of consanguinity, denounces incest, adultery, and fornication, and prescribes the punishment therefor;

Vests the commissioners who are or may be appointed by the supreme or district courts in the Territory with the same powers and jurisdiction of justices of the peace in the Territory under the laws thereof; it also confers on such commissioners the same powers conferred by law on commissioners appointed by circuit courts of the United States;

Requires every ceremony of marriage performed in the Territory to be signed by the parties thereto, and by every officer, priest, or other person taking part therein; and that the same when thus authenticated shall be filed in the office of the probate court of the proper county for record, and that the record thereof shall remain subject to inspection, and enforces the requirement by inflicting fine or imprisonment, or both, upon any willful violation thereof;

Incapacitates every illegitimate child in the Territory to take or receive by inheritance the estate or any part of the estate of his or her father, save such of them as shall have been born within twelve months after the passage of the act, or are legitimated by the act of 1882;

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Dissolves the corporations known respectively as the "Perpetual Emigration Fund Company" and "the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints," makes their renewal unlawful, and forfeits and escheats their property to the United States, subject to certain limitations and exceptions;

Regulates the right of dower; makes the judges of the probate courts appointable by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; abolishes female suffrage; requires the governor and secretary of the Territory, together with the Utah Commission, to redistrict the same, and to apportion the representation in the legislative assembly according to the numbers of th people in the Territory (exclusive of untaxed Indians and other non-citizens), and the number of the members of the present legislative assembly, respectively;

Continues the powers and duties of the Utah Commission until the same shall be superseded by the legislative assembly of Utah and the subsequent approval of Congress;

Limits the right of suffrage to male persons, who, as a precedent condition to the exercise thereof, shall have registered their names as voters, and subscribed an oath or affirmation that he is over twentyone years of age, has resided in the Territory six months, and in the precinct of his residence one month; including in such oath or affirmation a statement, according to the fact, that he is a native-born or naturalized citizen of the United States; and of his age, with his place of business, his status, whether single or married, and, if married, the name of his lawful wife; that he will support the Constitution of the United States and faithfully obey the laws thereof, especially the act of 1882, and this act in respect of the crimes in the same defined and forbidden, and will not directly or indirectly aid or abet, counsel or advise any other person to commit any of said crimes;

More. It renders every person ineligible to serve as an officer or a juror in the Territory who has not taken the oath therein set forth, similar in form, and absolutely disqualifies every person for such service, as also to vote in any election therein, who has been con victed of any crime in either of the acts mentioned, or who shall be a polygamist or in association or cohabitation polygamously with a person of the other sex;

Moreover, the act suspends the laws of the Territory providing for the method of electing and appointing the Territorial superintendent of district schools; abolishes that office, and devolves its powers and duties upon another officer, to be appointed by the supreme court of the Territory; restricts the quantity and mode of the tenure of the land which may be held by religious bodies, and annuls all local laws on that subject; provides that the militia of Utah shall be organized and subject in all respects to the laws of the United States regulating the militia in the Territories, and that the general officers of the militia shall be appointed by the governor of the Territory by and with the advice and consent of the council thereof.

The vigorous enforcement of these laws has resulted in a sense of disquietude and insecurity in the mass of the Mormon population, and, as we have before said, the indications of an important change are apparent.

The truth of this statement is corroborated by the answers of the chief justice of the Territory and others, set forth in the appendix, numbered II, III, and IV, respectively, which are cited for what they express apart from any inference respecting further legislation.

It is admitted, however, that these answers designate no definite or approximate period when polygamy in Utah may be expected to cease; indeed it is deemed impracticable to do so. For ourselves we may re

peat, that the practice of polygamy appears to be declining and in the course of ultimate abandonment, and that our observation leads us to believe that the present intention of the ascendent numbers of the monogamous Mormons is to compass and hasten that end.

The questions remaining relate to the admission of Utah as a State, and the consequent surrender of the power of Congress over the subject of polygamy under the existing Constitution of the United States. With respect to the first question, we have only to say that it appeals solely and properly to the sound discretion of Congress, where we are content to leave it without further remark.

As to the second question, it evidently now engages earnest public attention and divides opinion. Considering these facts, and the importance of continuing the power of Congress over the subject of polygamy and of relieving the power from any question, we venture respectfully to recommend the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting the institution or practice of polygamy in any form in the States and in the Territories or other places over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, supplemented with appropriate power of legislation to carry it into full effect. This recommendation is in accordance with propositions which have already been submitted, respectively, in the Senate and House of Representatives, of which that in the House was supported by an able and elaborate report from its Judiciary Committee.

Such an amendment would put an end to special and provisional legislation upon a disturbing question, which legislation, under the present Constitution, must cease to operate with the cessation of the territorial status. It would raise an implied and incidental power, primarily drawn from the power of Congress "to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," to the dignity of an express power embedded in that instrument itself.

Other considerations favor it. It would insure us a solemn and deliberate verdict of the American people against the practice of polygamy, either as a social institution or religious rite. It would serve as a rainpart for the protection of monogamy, the bed-rock of American and European civilization, against the inroads of an Asiatic vice. It would be an authoritative notice to immigrants from all lands that the United States are dedicated to the virtues of monogamy, and, passing as a lesson into the common schools of the country, would form the minds of rising generations in harmony with its ideas and object.

Yours, respectfully,

Hon. L. Q. C. LAMAR,

A. B. CARLTON.
JOHN A. MCCLERNAND.

Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. C.