That its numbers are daily recruited by cunning appeals to the ignorance and base passions of men;
That the number of polygamous felons in Utah is strongly increased by the importation from abroad of thousands who are ignorantly seduced or licentiously attracted to this shameful institution;
That a large proportion of the whole number of polygamists are unnaturalized foreigners who own no allegiance to the United States or its laws;
That it openly derides the authority of the national government, preaches treason publicly, and makes polygamous rebellion a religious duty;
That it degrades women, blotting out of their speech the very notion of home and all the sacred associations which it calls up, making a parody of religion;
And, lastly, that it foolishly assumes to be defiant to and stronger than the government.
As in these meetings it was assumed that these false statements were true, it was not difficult to work up a spirit of indignation throughout the country and to flood Congress with resolutions and petitions to pass the Edmunds Bill.
Meantime the Saints in Utah were not inactive. They did not permit this storm-cloud to gather without remonstrance. In February the Territorial legislature passed resolutions denying the charges made against the great majority of their constituents, and praying Congress to appoint a commission of honorable men to investigate the condition of affairs in Utah.
In addition to this, meetings in all parts of the Territory were held and remonstrances drawn up against the enactment of the measures pending before the national legislature. Memorials were formulated by the men, women and the youth of both sexes respectively. In all these memorials the false charges and base misrepresentations of their detractors were emphatically denied. In the memorial signed by the men, referring to plural marriage, it was said:
"Whatever of polygamy exists among the Mormons, rests solely upon their religious convictions. It is unsupported by any Territorial legislative enactments, and its practice already exposes them to the penalties of Congressional law. And it is better to leave it to the legitimate operations of that law, and the moral influences at work, than to attempt to extirpate it by radically oppressive or revolutionary measures."