Elder Taylor closed the discussion with a vivid expose of the loathsome immorality and crime that existed in the villages, towns and cities of the East; and called the attention of the Vice-President to the fact that there was work enough for himself, for Congress and also for the moralists and ministers in the United States nearer home, in suppressing the evils by which they were immediately surrounded, without plunging into the isolated valleys of Utah to legislate away the religion of the Mormons, under the specious plea of suppressing crime.
Taking it all in all, this is doubtless the most important discussion in the history of the Church. The great reputation of Mr. Colfax as a speaker and writer; the fact that he had for many years been a member of Congress and accustomed to debate, together with the high station he occupied at the time of the discussion, gave to it a national importance. It occurred, too, at a critical time in the history of the Church. The Republican party had pledged itself to the accomplishment of two objects: the suppression of slavery and polygamy. Slavery it had abolished; and it was now expected that polygamy would receive its attention.
There was also, just then, an effort being made by prominent and wealthy members of the Church, to destroy the influence of President Brigham Young, or, if that failed, to weaken it by dividing the Church into parties. Of this movement the Vice-President was aware, as was also the President and the members of his Cabinet; and lent their influence as far as they could, to this scheme of disintegration; hoping, by fostering it, to solve the Mormon problem. That it failed miserably is notorious; but these considerations make the discussion between Elder Taylor and the Vice-President all the more important.
The discussion also serves another purpose. It affords an opportunity of comparing Elder Taylor with a man of acknowledged ability, liberal education and wide experience. In that comparison Elder Taylor loses nothing. In fact he gains by it; for, maugre the experience and learning and position of his opponent, he surpassed him not only in the force of argument, but in literary style, in the elegance, ease and beauty of his diction; while for courtesy, fair dealing and frankness, he was not surpassed by the Vice-President, who was noted for possessing these admirable qualities.
CHAPTER XXXV.
A REIGN OF JUDICIAL TERROR—JUDGES WITH A MISSION—JAMES B. MCKEAN—A JUDICIAL CRUSADE—A SYSTEM ON TRIAL—THE HIGH-HANDED MEASURES STOPPED BY THE SUPREME COURT—"MASTERLY INACTIVITY"—ELDER TAYLOR ON THE CRUSADE—"BE QUIET"—THE COUNSEL VINDICATED.
The years from 1871 to 1875 are notable in the history of Utah for the judicial reign of terror which prevailed. In the spring of 1871, James B. McKean, of New York, arrived in Salt Lake City and entered upon the duties of his office as Chief Justice of the Territory. He was a man of moderate capacity, a sectarian bigot, fanatical in his opposition to the Mormon people: in a word, he was "a judge with a mission," and utterly reckless in his methods of executing it.
His conception of the work appointed to him to perform as Chief Justice of Utah, is best expressed in what are said to be his own words to Judge Louis Dent, brother-in-law to President Grant:
"Judge Dent, the mission which God has called upon me to perform in Utah, is as much above the duties of other courts and judges as the heavens are above the earth, and whenever or wherever I may find the local or federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by God's blessing I shall trample them under my feet."