B. H. Roberts

PUBLIC RECEPTION AT THE GARDO HOUSE—PROMISE OF PEACE—PEACE DISTURBED—NEW AGITATION—AN OLD OPPONENT WITH BAD TASTE—THE FALSE INDICTMENT—INVESTIGATION ASKED—DENIED—INDECENT HASTE—PASSAGE OF THE EDMUNDS' BILL—THE SACRIFICE OF PRESIDENT TAYLOR.

In the latter part of December, 1881, the committee appointed to furnish and arrange the affairs of the Gardo House as the family residence of President Taylor, announced that it was ready; and if agreeable to him, suggested that he immediately move into it. They also intimated that they would be pleased to announce to his friends when they could call upon him. He acted upon their suggestion and appointed the 2nd of January as the day that a public reception would be given, between the hours of 11 a. m. and 3 p. m.

At eleven o'clock that day Croxall's Band entered the enclosure and serenaded the President in his new home, after which the doors were thrown open and the stream of callers began filing into the house. President Taylor, surrounded by his family, his counselors and a few personal friends, received them cordially, and exchanged kindly greetings. During the hours of reception Professor C. J. Thomas' orchestral Band serenaded him. The Tabernacle choir came also, and sang several pieces, among which was the grand anthem "And it shall come to pass in the last days," etc., concluding with "Auld Lang Syne." Two large tables in the dining hall were kept replenished with refreshments, of which nearly all who called partook. It was estimated that more than two thousand friends called upon the President that day. All were pleased to greet him, and were full of kindness and the best wishes for the man of God.

GARDO HOUSE

GARDO HOUSE

It was a grand day in the life of President Taylor. His youth and manhood had been spent in the service of God. He had never manifested a disposition to desert the ministry, no matter how strained his own circumstances might be. He was never called to do service in the cause of God, but that he answered, "ready!" and now that the frosts of seventy-four winters had made silvery white his hair, he was comfortably established in a magnificent home, surrounded by his family, his friends and brethren and honored by all Israel. No man had fairer prospects for enjoying the one boon ever coveted by age—the privilege—

"To husband out life's taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting by repose."

The fair prospect of ease and comfort, however, was soon to be marred by the ruthless machinations of unreasoning hate.

During the year 1881, a bitter agitation of the Mormon question, was inaugurated in Utah and spread throughout the United States. It was the work of sectarian religious bigots and political adventurers.

The efforts of sectarian ministers who have come to Utah as missionaries to convert the Mormons to their creeds, have always ended in dismal failure. Even those Saints who through neglect of religious duty, or for other causes have become indifferent as to their connection with the Church, could not be persuaded to feed upon the dry husks of the dead theology preached by sectarian ministers. While those who were feeding to the full in the rich pastures of the gospel of Christ, would not so much as look in the direction of the barren moors to which these missionaries invited them. The result was rage and disappointment in the vexed souls of these ministers; and they concluded that Mormonism was a thing not to be reasoned with, but to be stamped out by force.^[1]

Hunger for the spoils and emoluments of office, explains the motives of the political adventurers who joined in this agitation. In all the recommendations made to Congress by priests and demagogues, it may be seen that the one object to be attained is the complete control of the Territory by them.

Measures ostensibly for the suppression of plural marriage were introduced into Congress; and a call was made upon the churches throughout the country to hold mass meetings and adopt resolutions urging Congress to enact the Edmunds' Bill. These mass meetings were held early in 1882.

The one at Chicago was held at Farwell Hall, and among those present was ex-Vice-President Colfax, the former opponent, it will be remembered, of President Taylor in a discussion of the "Mormon question." His presence at that meeting was a tacit, but none the less emphatic acknowledgment, that he had failed to effect anything by his argument. He had the best of reasons for knowing that argument could not destroy Mormonism; he had tried it, and failed. Hence we see him associated with those who had determined that it must be "stamped out." He was at Farwell Hall that night to give the weight of his character to a meeting, the purpose of which was to urge Congress to enact proscriptive laws, to crush a people against whom he had hurled the thunderbolt of his logic in vain. It was bad taste, to say the least, for him to be present at that meeting. A decent respect for himself and the opinion of mankind, would have suggested that he leave such work to be done by other hands.

Meetings of this character were held in nearly all the large cities in the Union. They were much alike in spirit. Hatred for the Mormon people characterized them all. Bishop Fallows, at the meeting in Chicago, declared that if the measures then pending in Congress were not sufficient to heal the "political cancer," there were three hundred thousand swords ready to cut it out.

I leave it to the reader to judge how much sweet Christian charity there was in a meeting where such a remark was applauded.

As a sample of the charges made against the Saints and the Church in this agitation, I take those presented at the meeting held in St. Louis.

It was alleged that the Mormon Church interfered in political affairs; and that a recent vote for Delegate to Congress in Idaho had been carried by a brief order from George Q. Cannon, directing the Mormons to vote for a certain man:

That its numbers are daily recruited by cunning appeals to the ignorance and base passions of men;

That the number of polygamous felons in Utah is strongly increased by the importation from abroad of thousands who are ignorantly seduced or licentiously attracted to this shameful institution;

That a large proportion of the whole number of polygamists are unnaturalized foreigners who own no allegiance to the United States or its laws;

That it openly derides the authority of the national government, preaches treason publicly, and makes polygamous rebellion a religious duty;

That it degrades women, blotting out of their speech the very notion of home and all the sacred associations which it calls up, making a parody of religion;

And, lastly, that it foolishly assumes to be defiant to and stronger than the government.

As in these meetings it was assumed that these false statements were true, it was not difficult to work up a spirit of indignation throughout the country and to flood Congress with resolutions and petitions to pass the Edmunds Bill.

Meantime the Saints in Utah were not inactive. They did not permit this storm-cloud to gather without remonstrance. In February the Territorial legislature passed resolutions denying the charges made against the great majority of their constituents, and praying Congress to appoint a commission of honorable men to investigate the condition of affairs in Utah.

In addition to this, meetings in all parts of the Territory were held and remonstrances drawn up against the enactment of the measures pending before the national legislature. Memorials were formulated by the men, women and the youth of both sexes respectively. In all these memorials the false charges and base misrepresentations of their detractors were emphatically denied. In the memorial signed by the men, referring to plural marriage, it was said:

"Whatever of polygamy exists among the Mormons, rests solely upon their religious convictions. It is unsupported by any Territorial legislative enactments, and its practice already exposes them to the penalties of Congressional law. And it is better to leave it to the legitimate operations of that law, and the moral influences at work, than to attempt to extirpate it by radically oppressive or revolutionary measures."

On the same subject the women said: "And moreover, we your petitioners hereby testify that we are happy in our homes, and satisfied with our marriage relations and desire no change. * * * And we most solemnly aver before God and man that our marital relations are most sacred, that they are divine, enjoining obligations and ties that pertain to time and reach into eternity. Were it not for the sacred and religious character of plural marriage, we should never have entered upon the practice of a principle which is contrary to our early teachings, and in consequence of which our names are cast out as evil by the Christian world."

The following paragraph occurred in the memorial of the young men: "We deny that the religious institution of plural marriage, as practiced by our parents, and to which many of us owe our existence, debases, pollutes, or in any way degrades those who enter into it. On the contrary, we solemnly affirm, and challenge successful contradiction, that plural marriage is a sacred religious ordinance, and that its practice has given to thousands, honorable names and peaceful homes where Christian precepts and virtuous practices have been uniformly inculcated, and the spirit of human liberty and religious freedom, fostered from the cradle to maturity."

This in the young ladies': "We have been taught and conscientiously believe that plural marriage is as much a part of our religion as faith, repentance and baptism. * * * We solemnly and truthfully declare that neither we nor our mothers are held in bondage, but that we enjoy the greatest possible freedom, socially and religiously; that our homes are happy ones and we are neither low nor degraded; for the principles of purity, virtue, integrity and loyalty to the government of the United States, have been instilled into our minds and hearts since our earliest childhood."

In each memorial the petitioners prayed that Congress would suspend further action on all bills relating to Utah, and send a commission of honorable, intelligent and unprejudiced men and women to enquire into and learn the true state of affairs in said Territory. The signers to the men's petition numbered 16,256; those to the women's, 19,108; young men's, 15,636; young ladies', 14,152; a total of 65,152.

Surely petitions so respectfully worded, solemnly denying such grave charges, asking for so reasonable a thing as an inquiry into the true condition of affairs in Utah, and so numerously signed as these were, had some claim upon the attention of Congress. They were laid aside, after being read, however, and the Edmunds Bill passed with indecent haste. The bill was ably discussed in the Senate, and many constitutional objections urged against it; but when it came to the House, it was "railroaded through," and that with a rush; debate upon it being limited to five minute speeches, the whole discussion not lasting more than two hours. It was approved by the President on the 22nd of March, and then became law.

In addition to defining polygamy and fixing the punishment for it, the new law also made cohabitation with more than one woman, a misdemeanor, to be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars and six months' imprisonment; it provided that counts for polygamy and unlawful cohabitation might be joined in the same indictment; it made actual polygamists and those who believed in the rightfulness of it, incompetent as jurors in any prosecution for polygamy or unlawful cohabitation; it also made polygamists, or those cohabiting with more than one woman, incompetent to vote or hold office. It vacated all registration and election offices of every description, and placed the registration of voters and the management of elections under a federal returning board, known as the Utah Commission.

When the news of the full enactment of this law reached Utah, President Taylor, knowing the vindictive hatred of the conspirators in Salt Lake City who had concocted that law and aroused the popular clamor which induced Congress to enact it; and knowing that they would seek first to entangle him within its meshes because he was President of the Church; and further knowing that such were the nature of his duties to the Church that it was imperative that he have his liberty, that he might watch over the interests of the great people committed to his care—he resolved to make a great personal sacrifice by submitting to this law, unjust, cruel and infamous as it was. He therefore took counsel with his family and it was arranged that his wives return to their former homes, while he continued to reside at the Gardo House.

Footnotes

1. At a Methodist conference held in Ogden during that year, a number of resolutions were adopted on the subject of Mormonism, in one of which it was said:

"Mormonism holds the balance of power in Idaho and Arizona and menaces New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. We believe polygamy is a foul system of licentiousness, practiced in the name of religion, hence hideous and revolting. It should not be reasoned with, but ought to be STAMPED OUT."

The same spirit ran through all the resolutions adopted.