Mormons Seek Protection for Polygamy
By Editor
ONE of the Mormon bishops, H. B. Clawson, was recently in San Francisco, and to a reporter expressed himself quite freely on the present position of the Government, on the polygamy question. He stated that they had no intention of giving up their polygamy, and expressed a hope that California would extend an invitation to them, to settle in this State. He said that they could exercise more rights in a State than in a Territory, and the immigration of 150,000 people would go far towards building up the State. When asked what he would consider an invitation from California, he said that it would be an assurance of protection by the State, the protection, of course, to have special reference to their polygamy. It is evident that the Mormons are getting uneasy; they would like to have Utah made a State, with polygamy as a recognized institution; and knowing that that is impossible, they would like to have some State take them under its wing. Clawson's request is certainly a cool one. The Chronicle hits the case exactly, when it says: "We shall next be hearing that the thieves of Paris, London, and New York are negotiating for territory, on the condition that they shall not be molested by the police when they commit thefts." We think California will say, with the good Quaker: "Thee is not wanted here." She has plenty of criminals within her borders, without negotiating for more. DISPATCHES from St. Louis say that Maxwell, the one who is charged with the brutal murder of his friend Preller, is daily receiving letters of sympathy, and especially from lawyers all over the country. Prominent jurists, so says Maxwell's attorney, furnish him with valuable legal advice, pointing out devices by which he can baffle or befog the prosecution. It is stated that the sympathy of a large portion of the legal fraternity is enlisted on the side of Maxwell, and that thus he is receiving gratuitously the best legal advice to be obtained in the United States. If this is really so, we think the following comment by the S. F. Chronicle is just:— "It only confirms the general opinion that lawyers are innately depraved, and would sooner assist in defeating justice than in enforcing it. It by no means proves that Maxwell did not take his friend's life." We do not believe that this applies to all lawyers, or that even the lawyers to whom it does apply are more depraved than other men. But it is a fact that a large portion of lawyers take delight in defeating justice; they would rather assist a known murderer to escape than to aid in enforcing the law. And since they are but men, it proves that the pronounced socialists are not alone in their opposition to law, but that a large share of those who pass for "law-abiding citizens," are at heart opposed to all authority and restraint. If this sentiment did not largely prevail, depraved lawyers could not flourish as they do. It is proper that every man should have a trial, and some one to represent his case in court; but when a lawyer succeeds, by trickery and technical quibbles, in clearing a willful murderer, he makes himself an accomplice in the crime. We do not expect to see any general improvement in this matter. When men so far forget God that even professed Christians and ministers of the gospel will claim that his law is not to be regarded, we cannot expect that men will feel any real respect or any authority.