GRAND MASS MEETING OF THE WOMEN OF UTAH ON POLYGAMY AND THE CULLOM
BILL--THEIR NOBLE REMONSTRANCE--SPEECHES OF APOSTOLIC WOMEN--THEIR
RESOLUTIONS--WOMAN'S RIGHTS OR WOMAN'S REVOLUTION.
Probably the most remarkable woman's rights demonstration of the age,
was that of the women of Mormondom, in their grand mass-meetings,
held throughout Utah, in all its principal cities and settlements, in
January of 1870. And it was the more singular and complex, because
Utah is the land of polygamy--the only land in all Christendom where
that institution has been established--and that, too, chiefly by an
Anglo-Saxon people--the last race in the world that the sociologist
might have supposed would have received the system of plural marriage!
Hence, they have lifted it to a plane that, perhaps, no other race
could have done--above mere sexual considerations, and, in its
theories, altogether incompatible with the serfdom of woman; for the
tens of thousands of the women of Utah not only held their grand
mass-meetings to confirm and maintain polygamy, but they did it at the
very moment of the passage of their female suffrage bill; so that in
their vast assemblages they were virtually exercising their vote.
On the 13th of January, 1870, "notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weather, the old tabernacle," says the _Deseret News_, "was densely
packed with ladies of all ages, and, as that building will comfortably
seat five thousand persons, there could not have been fewer than
between five and six thousand present on the occasion."
It was announced in the programme that there were to be none
present but ladies. Several reporters of the press, however,
obtained admittance, among whom was Colonel Finley Anderson, special
correspondent of the _New York Herald_.
The meeting was opened with a very impressive prayer from Mrs.
Zina D. Young; and then, on motion of Eliza R. Snow, Mrs. Sarah M.
Kimball was elected president. Mrs. Lydia Alder was chosen secretary,
and Mrs. M. T. Smoot, Mrs. M. N. Hyde, Isabella Horn, Mary Leaver,
Priscilla Staines and Rachel Grant, were appointed a committee to draft
resolutions. This was done with executive dispatch; for many present
had for years been leaders of women's organizations. The president
arose and addressed a few pithy remarks to the vast assemblage. She
said:
"We are to speak in relation to the government and institutions under
which we live. She would ask, Have we transgressed any law of the
United States? [Loud "no" from the audience.] Then why are we here
to-day? We have been driven from place to place, and wherefore? Simply
for believing and practicing the counsels of God, as contained in the
gospel of heaven. The object of this meeting is to consider the justice
of a bill now before the Congress of the United States. We are not here
to advocate woman's rights, but man's rights. The bill in question
would not only deprive our fathers, husbands and brothers, of enjoying
the privileges bequeathed to citizens of the United States, but it
would deprive us, as women, of the privilege of selecting our husbands;
and against this we unqualifiedly protest."
During the absence of the committee on resolutions, the following
speech was delivered by Bathsheba W. Smith:
"_Beloved Sisters and Friends_: It is with no ordinary feelings that I
meet with you on the present occasion. From my early youth I have been
identified with the Latter-day Saints; hence, I have been an eye and
ear witness to many of the wrongs that have been inflicted upon our
people by a spirit of intolerant persecution.
"I watched by the bedside of the first apostle, David W. Patten, who
fell a martyr in the Church. He was a noble soul. He was shot by a
mob while defending the saints in the State of Missouri. As Brother
Patten's life-blood oozed away, I stood by and heard his dying
testimony to the truth of our holy religion--declaring himself to be
a friend to all mankind. His last words, addressed to his wife, were:
'Whatever you do, oh! do not deny the faith.' This circumstance made a
lasting impression on my youthful mind.
"I was intimately acquainted with the life and ministry of our beloved
prophet Joseph, and our patriarch Hyrum Smith.. I know that they were
pure men, who labored for the redemption of the human family. For six
years I heard their public and private teachings. It was from their
lips that I heard taught the principle of celestial marriage; and
when I saw their mangled forms cold in death, having been slain for
the testimony of Jesus, by the hands of cruel bigots, in defiance of
law, justice and executive pledges; and although this was a scene of
barbarous cruelty, which can never be erased from the memory of those
who witnessed the heartrending cries of widows and orphans, and mingled
their tears with those of thousands of witnesses of the mournful
occasion--the memories of which I hardly feel willing to awaken--yet I
realized that they had sealed their ministry with their blood, and that
their testimony was in force.
"On the 9th day of February, 1846--the middle of a cold and bleak
winter--my husband, just rising from a bed of sickness, and I,
in company with thousands of saints, were driven again from our
comfortable home--the accumulation of six years' industry and
prudence--and, with the little children, commenced a long and weary
journey through a wilderness, to seek another home; for a wicked mob
had decreed we must leave. Governor Ford, of Illinois, said the laws
were powerless to protect us. Exposed to the cold of winter and the
storms of spring, we continued our journey, amid want and exposure,
burying by the wayside a dead mother, a son, and many kind friends and
relatives.
"We reached the Missouri river in July. Here our country thought proper
to make a requisition upon us for a battalion to defend our national
flag in the war pending with Mexico. We responded promptly, many of
our kindred stepping forward and performing a journey characterized by
their commanding officer as 'unparalleled in history.' With most of
our youths and middle-aged men gone, we could not proceed; hence, we
were compelled to make another home, which, though humble, approaching
winter made very desirable. In 1847-8, all who were able, through
selling their surplus property, proceeded; we who remained were told,
by an unfeeling Indian department, we must vacate our houses and
re-cross the Missouri river, as the laws would not permit us to remain
on Indian lands! We obeyed, and again made a new home, though only
a few miles distant. The latter home we abandoned in 1849, for the
purpose of joining our co-religionists in the then far-off region,
denominated on the map 'the Great American Desert,' and by some later
geographies as 'Eastern Upper California.'
"In this isolated country we made new homes, and, for a time, contended
with the crickets for a scanty subsistence. The rude, ignorant, and
almost nude Indians were a heavy tax upon us, while struggling again
to make comfortable homes and improvements; yet we bore it all without
complaint, for we were buoyed up with the happy reflections that we
were so distant from the States, and had found an asylum in such an
undesirable country, as to strengthen us in the hope that our homes
would not be coveted; and that should we, through the blessing of
God, succeed in planting our own vine and fig tree, no one could feel
heartless enough to withhold from us that religious liberty which we
had sought in vain amongst our former neighbors.
"Without recapitulating our recent history, the development of a people
whose industry and morality have extorted eulogy from their bitter
traducers, I cannot but express my surprise, mingled with regret and
indignation, at the recent efforts of ignorant, bigoted, and unfeeling
men--headed by the Vice-President--to aid intolerant sectarians and
reckless speculators, who seek for proscription and plunder, and
who feel willing to rob the inhabitants of these valleys of their
hard-earned possessions, and, what is dearer, the constitutional boon
of religious liberty."
Sister Smith was followed by Mrs. Levi Riter, in a few appropriate
remarks, and then the committee on resolutions reported the following:
"_Resolved_, That we, the ladies of Salt Lake City, in mass-meeting
assembled, do manifest our indignation, and protest against the
bill before Congress, known as 'the Cullom bill,' also the one
known as 'the Cragin bill,' and all similar bills, expressions and
manifestoes.
"_Resolved_, That we consider the above-named bills foul blots on
our national escutcheon--absurd documents--atrocious insults to the
honorable executive of the United States Government, and malicious
attempts to subvert the rights of civil and religious liberty.
"_Resolved_, That we do hold sacred the constitution bequeathed us
by our forefathers, and ignore, with laudable womanly jealousy,
every act of those men to whom the responsibilities of government
have been entrusted, which is calculated to destroy its efficiency.
"_Resolved_, That we unitedly exercise every moral power and
every right which we inherit as the daughters of American
citizens, to prevent the passage of such bills, knowing that they
would inevitably cast a stigma on our republican government by
jeopardizing the liberty and lives of its most loyal and peaceful
citizens.
"_Resolved_, That, in our candid opinion, the presentation of the
aforesaid bills indicates a manifest degeneracy of the great men
of our nation; and their adoption would presage a speedy downfall
and ultimate extinction of the glorious pedestal of freedom,
protection, and equal rights, established by our noble ancestors.
"_Resolved_, That we acknowledge the institutions of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the only reliable safeguard of
female virtue and innocence; and the only sure protection against
the fearful sin of prostitution, and its attendant evils, now
prevalent abroad, and as such, we are and shall be united with our
brethren in sustaining them against each and every encroachment.
"_Resolved_, That we consider the originators of the aforesaid
bills disloyal to the constitution, and unworthy of any position of
trust in any office which involves the interests of our nation.
"_Resolved_, That, in case the bills in question should pass
both Houses of Congress, and become a law, by which we shall be
disfranchised as a Territory, we, the ladies of Salt Lake City,
shall exert all our power and influence to aid in the support of
our own State government."
These resolutions were greeted with loud cheers from nearly six
thousand women, and carried unanimously; after which, Sister Warren
Smith, a relict of one of the martyrs of Haun's Mill, arose, and with
deep feeling, said:
"_Sisters_: As I sat upon my seat, listening, it seemed as though, if
I held my peace, the stones of the streets would cry out. With your
prayers aiding me, I will try and make a few remarks." [See chapter
on Haun's Mill massacre, in which Sister Smith substantially covers
the same ground.] "We are here to-day to say, if such scenes shall be
again enacted in our midst. I say to you, my sisters, you are American
citizens; let us stand by the truth, if we die for it."
Mrs. Wilmarth East then said: "It is with feelings of pleasure,
mingled with indignation and disgust, that I appear before my sisters,
to express my feelings in regard to the Cullom bill, now before the
Congress of this once happy republican government. The constitution
for which our forefathers fought and bled and died, bequeaths to us
the right of religious liberty--the right to worship God according
to the dictates of our own consciences! Does the Cullom bill give
us this right? Compare it with the constitution, if you please, and
see what a disgrace has come upon this once happy and republican
government! Where, O, where, is that liberty, bequeathed to us by
our forefathers--the richest boon ever given to man or woman, except
eternal life, or the gospel of the Son of God? I am an American citizen
by birth. Having lived under the laws of the land, I claim the right
to worship God according to the dictates of my conscience, and the
commandments that God shall give unto me. Our constitution guarantees
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to all who live beneath
it. What is life to me, if I see the galling yoke of oppression placed
on the necks of my husband, sons and brothers, as Mr. Cullom would
have it? I am proud to say to you that I am not only a citizen of the
United States of America, but a citizen of the kingdom of God, and the
laws of this kingdom I am willing to sustain and defend both by example
and precept. I am thankful to-day that I have the honored privilege
of being the happy recipient of one of the greatest principles ever
revealed to man for his redemption and exaltation in the kingdom of
God--namely, plurality of wives; and I am thankful to-day that I know
that God is at the helm, and will defend his people."
A veteran sister, Mrs. McMinn, could not refrain from expressing
herself in unison with her sisters, in indignation at the bill. She was
an American citizen; her father had fought through the revolution with
General Washington; and she claimed the exercise of the liberty for
which he had fought. She was proud of being a latter-day saint.
In answer to an inquiry, she stated that she was nearly eighty-five
years of age.
Sister Eliza R. Snow then addressed the meeting, as follows:
"_My Sisters_: In addressing you at this time, I realize that the
occasion is a peculiar and interesting one. We are living in a land
of freedom, under a constitution that guarantees civil and religious
liberty to all--black and white, Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and
Pagans; and how strange it is that such considerations should exist as
those which have called us together this afternoon.
"Under the proud banner which now waves from ocean to ocean, strange
as it may seem, we, who have ever been loyal citizens, have been
persecuted from time to time and driven from place to place, until
at last, beyond the bounds of civilization, under the guidance of
President Young, we found an asylum of peace in the midst of these
mountains.
"There are, at times, small and apparently trivial events in the lives
of individuals, with which every other event naturally associates.
There are circumstances in the history of nations, which serve as
centres around which everything else revolves.
"The entrance of our brave pioneers, and the settlement of the
latter-day saints in these mountain vales, which then were only barren,
savage wilds, are events with which not only our own future, but the
future of the whole world, is deeply associated.
"Here they struggled, with more than mortal energy, for their hearts
and hands were nerved by the spirit of the Most High, and through his
blessing they succeeded in drawing sustenance from the arid soil; here
they erected the standard on which the 'star spangled banner' waved its
salutation of welcome to the nations of the earth; and here it will
be bequeathed, unsullied, to future generations. Yes, that 'dear old
flag' which in my girlhood I always contemplated with joyous pride, and
to which the patriotic strains of my earliest muse were chanted, here
floats triumphantly on the mountain breeze.
"Our numbers, small at first, have increased, until now we number one
hundred and fifty thousand; and yet we are allowed only a territorial
government. Year after year we have petitioned Congress for that which
is our inalienable right to claim--a State government; and, year after
year, our petitions have been treated with contempt. Such treatment as
we have received from our rulers, has no precedent in the annals of
history.
"And now, instead of granting us our rights as American citizens,
bills are being presented to Congress, which are a disgrace to men
in responsible stations, professing the least claim to honor and
magnanimity; bills which, if carried into effect, would utterly
annihilate us as a people. But this will never be. There is too much
virtue yet existing in the nation, and above all there is a God in
heaven whose protecting care is over us, and who takes cognizance of
the acts of men.
"My sisters, we have met to-day to manifest our views and feelings
concerning the oppressive policy exercised towards us by our republican
government. Aside from all local and personal feelings, to me it is a
source of deep regret that the standard of American liberty should have
been so far swayed from its original position, as to have given rise
to circumstances which not only render such a meeting opportune, but
absolutely necessary.
"Heretofore, while detraction and ridicule have been poured forth
in almost every form that malice could invent, while we have been
misrepresented by speech and press, and exhibited in every shade but
our true light, the ladies of Utah have remained comparatively silent.
Had not our aims been of the most noble and exalted character, and had
we not known that we occupied a standpoint far above our traducers,
we might have returned volley for volley; but we have all the time
realized that to contradict such egregious absurdities, would be a
great stoop of condescension--far beneath the dignity of those who
profess to be saints of the living God; and we very unassumingly
applied to ourselves a saying of an ancient apostle, in writing to the
Corinthians, 'Ye suffer fools, gladly, seeing that yourselves are wise.'
"But there is a point at which silence is no longer a virtue. In my
humble opinion, we have arrived at that point. Shall we--ought we--to
be silent, when every right of citizenship, every vestige of civil and
religious liberty, is at stake? When our husbands and sons, our fathers
and brothers, are threatened with being either restrained in their
obedience to the commands of God, or incarcerated, year after year,
in the dreary confines of a prison, will it be thought presumptuous?
Ladies, this subject as deeply interests us as them. In the kingdom of
God, woman has no interests separate from those of man--all are mutual.
"Our enemies pretend that, in Utah, woman is held in a state of
vassalage--that she does not act from choice, but by coercion--that we
would even prefer life elsewhere, were it possible for us to make our
escape. What nonsense! We all know that if we wished we could leave at
any time--either to go singly, or to rise _en masse_, and there is no
power here that could, or would wish to, prevent us.
"I will now ask this assemblage of intelligent ladies, do you know of
any place on the face of the earth, where woman has more liberty, and
where she enjoys such high and glorious privileges as she does here,
as a latter-day saint? No! The very idea of woman here in a state
of slavery is a burlesque on good common sense. The history of this
people, with a very little reflection, would instruct outsiders on this
point. It would show, at once, that the part which woman has acted in
it, could never have been performed against her will. Amid the many
distressing scenes through which we have passed, the privations and
hardships consequent upon our expulsion from State to State, and our
location in an isolated, barren wilderness, the women in this Church
have performed and suffered what could never have been borne and
accomplished by slaves.
"And now, after all that has transpired, can our opponents expect us
to look on with silent indifference and see every vestige of that
liberty for which many of our patriotic grandsires fought and bled,
that they might bequeath to us, their children, the precious boon of
national freedom, wrested from our grasp? They must be very dull in
estimating the energy of female character, who can persuade themselves
that women who for the sake of their religion left their homes, crossed
the plains with handcarts, or as many had previously done, drove ox,
mule and horse-teams from Nauvoo and from other points, when their
husbands and sons went, at their country's call, to fight her battles
in Mexico; yes, that very country which had refused us protection, and
from which we were then struggling to make our escape--I say those who
think that such women and the daughters of such women do not possess
too much energy of character to remain passive and mute under existing
circumstances, are 'reckoning without their host.' To suppose that we
should not be aroused when our brethren are threatened with fines and
imprisonment, for their faith in, and obedience to, the laws of God, is
an insult to our womanly natures.
"Were we the stupid, degraded, heartbroken beings that we have been
represented, silence might better become us; but as women of God, women
filling high and responsible positions, performing sacred duties--women
who stand not as dictators, but as counselors to their husbands, and
who, in the purest, noblest sense of refined womanhood, are truly their
helpmates--we not only speak because we have the right, but justice and
humanity demand that we should.
"My sisters, let us, inasmuch as we are free to do all that love and
duty prompt, be brave and unfaltering in sustaining our brethren.
Woman's faith can accomplish wonders. Let us, like the devout and
steadfast Miriam, assist our brothers in upholding the hands of Moses.
Like the loving Josephine, whose firm and gentle influence both
animated and soothed the heart of Napoleon, we will encourage and
assist the servants of God in establishing righteousness; but unlike
Josephine, never will political inducements, threats or persecutions,
prevail on us to relinquish our matrimonial ties. They were performed
by the authority of the holy priesthood, the efficiency of which
extends into eternity.
"But to the law and to the testimony. Those obnoxious, fratricidal
bills--I feel indignant at the thought that such documents should
disgrace our national legislature. The same spirit prompted Herod to
seek the life of Jesus--the same that drove our Pilgrim fathers to this
continent, and the same that urged the English government to the system
of unrepresented taxation, which resulted in the independence of the
American colonies, is conspicuous in those bills. If such measures are
persisted in they will produce similar results. They not only threaten
extirpation to us, but they augur destruction to the government. The
authors of those bills would tear the constitution to shreds; they are
sapping the foundation of American freedom--they would obliterate every
vestige of the dearest right of man--liberty of conscience--and reduce
our once happy country to a state of anarchy.
"Our trust is in God. He who led Israel from the land of Egypt--who
preserved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace--who
rescued Daniel from the jaws of hungry lions, and who directed Brigham
Young to these mountain vales, lives, and overrules the destinies of
men and nations. He will make the wrath of man praise him; and his
kingdom will move steadily forward, until wickedness shall be swept
from the earth, and truth, love and righteousness reign triumphantly."
Next came a concise, powerful speech from Harriet Cook Young. She said:
"In rising to address this meeting, delicacy prompts me to explain the
chief motives which have dictated our present action. We, the ladies
of Salt Lake City, have assembled here to-day, not for the purpose
of assuming any particular political power, nor to claim any special
prerogative which may or may not belong to our sex; but to express
our indignation at the unhallowed efforts of men, who, regardless of
every principle of manhood, justice, and constitutional liberty, would
force upon a religious community, by a direct issue, either the course
of apostacy, or the bitter alternative of fire and sword. Surely the
instinct of self-preservation, the love of liberty and happiness, and
the right to worship God, are dear to our sex as well as to the other;
and when these most sacred of all rights are thus wickedly assailed, it
becomes absolutely our duty to defend them.
"The mission of the Latter-day Saints is to reform abuses which have
for ages corrupted the world, and to establish an era of peace and
righteousness. The Most High is the founder of this mission, and in
order to its establishment, his providences have so shaped the world's
history, that, on this continent, blest above all other lands, a free
and enlightened government has been instituted, guaranteeing to all
social, political, and religious liberty. The constitution of our
country is therefore hallowed to us, and we view with a jealous eye
every infringement upon its great principles, and demand, in the sacred
name of liberty, that the miscreant who would trample it under his feet
by depriving a hundred thousand American citizens of every vestige of
liberty, should be anathematized throughout the length and breadth of
the land, as a traitor to God and his country.
"It is not strange that, among the bigoted and corrupt, such a man and
such a measure should have originated; but it will be strange indeed if
such a measure find favor with the honorable and high-minded men who
wield the destinies of the nation. Let this seal of ruin be attached
to the archives of our country, and terrible must be the results. Woe
will wait upon her steps, and war and desolation will stalk through
the land; peace and liberty will seek another clime, while anarchy,
lawlessness and bloody strife hold high carnival amid the general
wreck. God forbid that wicked men be permitted to force such an issue
upon the nation!
"It is true that a corrupt press, and an equally corrupt priestcraft,
are leagued against us--that they have pandered to the ignorance
of the masses, and vilified our institutions, to that degree that
it has become popular to believe that the latter-day saints are
unworthy to live; but it is also true that there are many, very many,
right-thinking men who are not without influence in the nation; and to
such do we now most solemnly and earnestly appeal. Let the united force
of this assembly give the lie to the popular clamor that the women
of Utah are oppressed and held in bondage. Let the world know that
the women of Utah prefer virtue to vice, and the home of an honorable
wife to the gilded pageantry of fashionable temples of sin. Transitory
allurements, glaring the senses, as is the flame to the moth,
short-lived and cruel in their results, possess no charms for us. Every
woman in Utah may have her husband--the husband of her choice. Here we
are taught not to destroy our children, but to preserve them, for they,
reared in the path of virtue and trained to righteousness, constitute
our true glory.
"It is with no wish to accuse our sisters who are not of our faith that
we so speak; but we are dealing with facts as they exist. Wherever
monogamy reigns, adultery, prostitution and foeticide, directly or
indirectly, are its concomitants. It is not enough to say that the
virtuous and high-minded frown upon these evils. We believe they do.
But frowning upon them does not cure them; it does not even check
their rapid growth; either the remedy is too weak, or the disease is
too strong. The women of Utah comprehend this; and they see, in the
principle of plurality of wives, the only safeguard against adultery,
prostitution, and the reckless waste of pre-natal life, practiced
throughout the land.
"It is as co-workers in the great mission of universal reform, not
only in our own behalf, but also, by precept and example, to aid in
the emancipation of our sex generally, that we accept in our heart of
hearts what we know to be a divine commandment: and here, and now,
boldly and publicly, we do assert our right, not only to believe in
this holy commandment, but to practice what we believe.
"While these are our views, every attempt to force that obnoxious
measure upon us must of necessity be an attempt to coerce us in our
religious and moral convictions, against which did we not most solemnly
protest, we would be unworthy the name of American women."
Mrs. Hannah T. King followed with a stinging address to General Cullom
himself. She said:
"_My Dear Sisters_: I wish I had the language I feel to need, at
the present moment, to truly represent the indignant feelings of my
heart and brain on reading, as I did last evening, a string of thirty
'sections,' headed by the words, 'A Bill in aid of the Execution of
the Laws in the Territory of Utah, and for other purposes.' The 'other
purposes' contain the pith of the matter, and the adamantine chains
that the author of the said bill seeks to bind this people with, exceed
anything that the feudal times of England, or the serfdom of Russia,
ever laid upon human beings. My sisters, are we really in America--the
world-renowned land of liberty, freedom, and equal rights?--the land
of which I dreamed, in my youth, as being almost an earthly elysium,
where freedom of thought and religious liberty were open to all!--the
land that Columbus wore his noble life out to discover!--the land
that God himself helped him to exhume, and to aid which endeavor
Isabella, a queen, a woman, declared she would pawn her jewels and
crown of Castile, to give him the outfit that he needed!--the land of
Washington, the Father of his Country, and a host of noble spirits,
too numerous to mention!--the land to which the _Mayflower_ bore the
pilgrim fathers, who rose up and left their homes, and bade their
native home 'good night,' simply that they might worship God by a purer
and holier faith, in a land of freedom and liberty, of which the name
America has long been synonymous! Yes, my sisters, this is America but
oh! how are the mighty fallen!
"Who, or what, is the creature who framed this incomparable document?
Is he an Esquimaux or a chimpanzee? What isolated land or spot produced
him? What ideas he must have of women! Had he ever a mother, a wife,
or a sister? In what academy was he tutored, or to what school does he
belong, that he so coolly and systematically commands the women of this
people to turn traitors to their husbands, their brothers, and their
sons? Short-sighted man of 'sections' and 'the bill!' Let us, the women
of this people--the sisterhood of Utah--rise _en masse_, and tell this
non-descript to defer 'the bill' until he has studied the character of
woman, such as God intended she should be; then he will discover that
devotion, veneration and faithfulness are her peculiar attributes; that
God is her refuge, and his servants her oracles; and that, especially,
the women of Utah have paid too high a price for their present
position, their present light and knowledge, and their noble future,
to succumb to so mean and foul a thing as Baskin, Cullom & Co.'s bill.
Let him learn that they are one in heart, hand and brain, with the
brotherhood of Utah--that God is their father and their friend--that
into his hands they commit their cause--and on their pure and simple
banner they have emblazoned their motto, 'God, and my right!'"
The next who spoke was Phoebe Woodruff, who said:
"_Ladies of Utah_: As I have been called upon to express my views
upon the important subject which has called us together, I will say
that I am happy to be one of your number in this association. I am
proud that I am a citizen of Utah, and a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been a member of this church for
thirty-six years, and had the privilege of living in the days of
the prophet Joseph, and heard his teaching for many years. He ever
counseled us to honor, obey and maintain the principles of our noble
constitution, for which our fathers fought, and which many of them
sacrificed their lives to establish. President Brigham Young has always
taught the same principle. This glorious legacy of our fathers, the
constitution of the United States, guarantees unto all the citizens of
this great republic the right to worship God according to the dictates
of their own consciences, as it expressly says, 'Congress shall make
no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof.' Cullom's bill is in direct violation of this
declaration of the constitution, and I think it is our duty to do all
in our power, by our voices and influence, to thwart the passage of
this bill, which commits a violent outrage upon our rights, and the
rights of our fathers, husbands and sons; and whatever may be the final
result of the action of Congress in passing or enforcing oppressive
laws, for the sake of our religion, upon the noble men who have subdued
these deserts, it is our duty to stand by them and support them by our
faith, prayers and works, through every dark hour, unto the end, and
trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to defend us and all who
are called to suffer for keeping the commandments of God. Shall we,
as wives and mothers, sit still and see our husbands and sons, whom
we know are obeying the highest behest of heaven, suffer for their
religion, without exerting ourselves to the extent of our power for
their deliverance? No; verily no! God has revealed unto us the law of
the patriarchal order of marriage, and commanded us to obey it. We
are sealed to our husbands for time and eternity, that we may dwell
with them and our children in the world to come; which guarantees
unto us the greatest blessing for which we are created. If the rulers
of the nation will so far depart from the spirit and letter of our
glorious constitution as to deprive our prophets, apostles and elders
of citizenship, and imprison them for obeying this law, let them grant
this, our last request, to make their prisons large enough to hold
their wives, for where they go we will go also."
Sisters M. I. Horne and Eleanor M. Pratt followed with appropriate
words, and then Sister Eliza R. Snow made the following remarks:
"My remarks in conclusion will be brief. I heard the prophet Joseph
Smith say, if the people rose and mobbed us and the authorities
countenanced it, they would have mobs to their hearts' content. I
heard him say that the time would come when this nation would so far
depart from its original purity, its glory, and its love of freedom and
protection of civil and religious rights, that the constitution of our
country would hang as it were by a thread. He said, also, that this
people, the sons of Zion, would rise up and save the constitution, and
bear it off triumphantly.
"The spirit of freedom and liberty we should always cultivate, and
it is what mothers should inspire in the breasts of their sons, that
they may grow up brave and noble, and defenders of that glorious
constitution which has been bequeathed unto us. Let mothers cultivate
that spirit in their own bosoms. Let them manifest their own bravery,
and cherish a spirit of encountering difficulties, because they have
to be met, more or less, in every situation of life. If fortitude and
nobility of soul be cultivated in your own bosoms, you will transmit
them to your children; your sons will grow up noble defenders of
truth and righteousness, and heralds of salvation to the nations
of the earth. They will be prepared to fill high and responsible
religious, judicial, civil and executive positions. I consider it most
important, my sisters, that we should struggle to preserve the sacred
constitution of our country--one of the blessings of the Almighty, for
the same spirit that inspired Joseph Smith, inspired the framers of
the constitution; and we should ever hold it sacred, and bear it off
triumphantly."
Mrs. Zina D. Young then moved that the meeting adjourn _sine die_,
which was carried, and Mrs. Phoebe Woodruff pronounced the benediction.