History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. 447
gates to California, and presented the memorial to the
legislature; but the governor of that state, reviewing
the proposals in his message, one by one, condemned
" The two communities were too far apart,"
them all.
he declared, " to be combined even temporarily, and
Texas and Maine might as well have been made one
state as Deseret and California." Thereupon the
legislature refused to entertain the memorial, and
nothing was accomplished. 13
While Babbitt and his colleagues 16 are fulfilling
their mission to Washington, let us inquire how justice
is administered and the affairs of the people managed
in the self-constituted state of Deseret, through which
lay the principal routes to the gold-fields of California.
Some of the emigrant parties arrived at Salt Lake City
w rith no effects save their jaded cattle, their wagons,
and a scant outfit, while others brought with them valuable
merchandise, for which they hoped to find a market
in the mining camps. When they made a division
of their property, as frequently happened on arriving
in the valley, difficulties arose among them, and the
discontented parties applied for redress to the courts
of Deseret. In these instances there is sufficient evidence
that impartial justice was rendered, 17 and whatever
the decision, appeal to a higher court was useless,
for the judgment was invariably confirmed. If the
losing party rebelled, or expressed in unseemly language
his opinion of Mormon justice, he was severely
fiaed, or sometimes imprisoned for a term long enough
to teach him respect for the civil law.
Trespass of emigrants' cattle on the imperfectly
Cal. Sen. Jour. 1850, 429-42, 1296; Frontier Guardian, May 29, 1850;
Deseret News, July 6, 1850; Utah Early Records, MS., 94-5; Hist. B. Young,
MS., 1850-1.
16 R. L. Campbell, Oliver G. Workman, and Edgar Blodgett. Utah Early
Records, MS., 93.
17 Lieut Gunnison and Capt. Stansbury, who may be considered impartial
'
observers, both state that this was the case. The former says: There was
every appearance of impartiality and strict justice done to all parties.' The
Mormons, 65. The latter remarks: ' Justice was equitably administered alike
to saint and gentile.' Expedition to Valley of G. S. Lake. 130.