History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

460
UTAH AS A TERRITORY.
ordered to file a petition, in which the request was
couched in legal form and phrase, no further action
was taken. Finally, on the 28th of September, the
secretary, and judges Brandebury and Brocchus, set
forth for Washington, taking with them the territorial
seal, the records, documents, and funds, which were
returned to the proper authorities. 44 On the follow-
Territorial Seal.
44 Young's Despatch to Fillmore, in House Ex. Doc, 32d Cong. 1st Sess.,
v. no. 25, pp. 28-32. See also Utah Early Records, MS., 249-51. Stenhouse
says that on their return Harris and his colleagues published an account of
the matter, remarking 'that polygamy monopolized all the women, which made
it very inconvenient for the federal officers to reside there.' This remark disgusted
the authorities, and the officials met with a cool reception at Washington
Roch) Mountain Saints, 277-8. Their official report will be found iu
House Ex. Doc, 32d Cong. 1st Sess., v. no. 25, pp. 8-22. The principal
charge alleged against the Mormons was that a citizen of Utica, N. Y., named
James Munroe, while on his way to S. L. City, was murdered by one of the
saints, that his remains were brought iuto the city and buried without an in-
and that the murderer was not arrested. There is no proof of this
quest '
statement. In the Utah Early Records, MS., 161-3, we have a synopsis of
their report, which was afterward circulated among the people. They alleged
that they had been compelled to withdraw in consequence of the lawless acts
and seditious tendencies of Brigham Young and the majority of the residents,
that the Mormon church overshadowed and controlled the opinions, actions,
property, and lives of its members—disposing of the public lands on its own
terms, coining and issuing money at will, openly sanctioning polygamy, exacting
tithes from members and onerous taxes from non-members, penetrating
and supervising social and business circles, and requiring implicit obedience
to the council of the church as a duty paramount to all the obligations of morality,
society, allegiance, and law. On the other side, we have in Id., 148-
158, a copy of the letter addressed by Brigham to the president. After reviewing
his proceedings and policy since taking the oath of office, the governor
says: ' Mr Harris informed me, in a conversation which I had with him, that
he had private instructions designed for no eye but his own, to watch every
movement, and not pay out any funds unless the same should be strictly legal,
according to his own judgment. ' He states that there are none more friendly