rightful and constitutional limits. "No law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of the soil; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of the United States, nor shall the lands or other property of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents. All the laws passed by the Legislative Assembly and government shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and, if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect."
Every free male (white) inhabitant[1] above the age of twenty-one, who has resided in the county for sixty days before the election, is entitled to vote, and is eligible for office; the right is limited to citizens of the United States, including those recognized by treaty with the Mexican Republic (2d of Feb., 1848), and excluding, as usual, the military servants of the federal government. Great fault was found by anti-Mormons with the following permissions in the act regulating elections (Jan., 1853), because they artistically enough abolish the ballot while they retain the vote.[2]
Sec. 5. Each elector shall provide himself with a vote, containing the names of the persons he wishes elected, and the offices he would have them to fill, and present it neatly folded (!) to the judge of the elections, who shall number and deposit it in the ballot-box; the clerk shall then write the name of the elector, and opposite it the number of his vote.
Sec. 6. At the close of the election the judge shall seal up the ballot-box, and the list of the names of the electors, and transmit the same without delay to the county clerks.
"In a Territory so governed," remarks Mr. Secretary Ferris, "it will not excite surprise that cases of extortion, robbery, murder, and other crimes should occur, and defy all legal redress, or that the law should be made the instrument of crime."
The deduction is unfair. The real cause why crime goes unpunished must, as will presently appear, be sought in an unfriendly and conflicting judiciary. The act itself can produce nothing
- ↑ When the vexed passage, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," written in 1776, is interpreted in 1860, it must be read, "all (free white) men" to be consistent and intelligible. Similarly "persons bound to labor" must be considered a euphuism for slaves. The "American Mirabeau," Jefferson, who framed the celebrated Declaration, certainly did not consider, as the context of his life proves, slaves to be his equals. What he intended the Mormons have expressed.
Again, what can be clearer than that the Constitution contemplated secession? If an adult citizen is allowed to throw off his allegiance, surely the body of citizens called a state have, à majori, a right to withdraw from a "federal union." - ↑ The first Legislative Assembly was elected in the summer of 1851, and held a session in the following autumn and winter. An historian's office was established, courts were organized, cities incorporated, and a small body of Territorial laws were passed. The second Legislative Assembly met on the 15th of January, 1852, at the Council House, and after the organization of the two houses, they came together to receive the message of the governor, Mr. Brigham Young. The archon, when notified of the hour, entered, sat down in the speaker's chair, and on being asked if he had any communication to make, handed his message to the President of the Council, who passed it for reading to the Clerk of the House. The message was a lengthy and creditable document; of course, it was severely criticised, but the gravamen of the charges was the invidious phrase used by the Prophet to his lieges, "for your guidance."
