Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1874 — The Poland Law. [ARTICLE]

The Poland Law.

First Charge to a. Utab Grand Jury Under It. The greatest Utah event since (he passage of the Poland bill was the first charge und*r it of the Hon. Judge J. B. McKean to the Grand Jury this morning. The charge would fill about four columns of the Inter - Ocean, and is a complete review of the social, political and criminal history of the Mormons. In support of the charge that has been often made against the saints that they approve of Mood atonement, he quoted from one of Brigham Young's speeches: •» There are sins that can be atoned for by an offering upon the alt r, asin ancent days, and there are sine that the blood of a lamb, or a calf, or of tu rtle-dovea cannot remit; but they must be atoned for by the blood of the man Ic uld refer you to plenty of in*ts r >ces w* ere men have been righteously slain, in order to atone for their sins. 1 have seen scores and hundreds of people for whom there would have been a chance in the last resurrection if their lives had been taken, and their blood spilled on the ground. I have known a great many men who ‘ ave left this church for whom there is no chauce whatever of exaltation ; bnt if their bloo I had been spilled it would have been better for them. The wickedness and ignorance of nett na forbid this principle being in fob force, but the time will come when the law of God will be in foil force. This is loving our neighbor as ourselves If he needs help, help him; if he wants salvation and i : _ is necessary to spill his blood on the earth in order that he maybe saved, spill it.” In closing he devoted the following to po lygamy: “Utah was once a part of the Mexican Republic, and the Roman civil law, and the Statote’law in Mexioo, both condemned polygamy. The common law of England, some of whose principle* prevail here, denounce it. Congress in 1862 enacted a statu‘e making it a penal offense, and European and American civilisation utterly repudiate it. Notwithstanding all this, polygamy largely prevails in this territory, and, contrary to the statements of some who would dec* ve the world, a d of others who are themselves deceived, large nuinbrs of men and women are steadily going to it And still, so for as T can learn, the law against H thus for has been a dead letter. Its enforcement nas be n defeated by perjury. The polygamous marriage is a secret ceremony; none are permi ted to be present but conspirators against the lews, and when they are call d as witnesses they have denied all knowledge of it. I fain would hope, gentleman, that you may elicit the truth and bring some of these influential j olygatnous criminals 'o the bar of justice. It is your duty to labor earnestly to that end, and y„u * will bear in mind, gentleman, that this Asiatic practic of polygamy goes hand in hand with the murderer’s doctrine of blood atonement. Here a paragraph from the lengthened so-called revelation to Joseph Bmith: ‘And again, as pertaining to the law of priesthood, if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her oeuseat; and if ho espouse the seoend, and thay are virgin and have vowed to aa other mast, then is he justified. He cannot commit adollevy, for thtf are given

him; and if he have ten virgins given onto him b v thte tew he cannot commit adultery, for they belong to him, and they art give* unto him. Therefore is be justified. But if one er either -f the ten virgins after she ]« espoused shall be with as other man, she baa committed adulter r, and shall be destroyed/ “There are Territorial statut> s against adultery and lascivious cohabitation. They are general in tbeir terms, and apply alike, without exception, to ait' citizens and residents in toe Territory. I repeat, gentlemen, yew will inquire into nil crimes, of every name and nature. ''-^lnter-Ocean.