Sister Eliza R. Snow then addressed the meeting, as follows:
"My Sisters: In addressing you at this time, I realize that the occasion is a peculiar and interesting one. We are living in a land of freedom, under a constitution that guarantees civil and religious liberty to all—black and white, Christians, Jews, Mohammedans and Pagans; and how strange it is that such considerations should exist as those which have called us together this afternoon.
"Under the proud banner which now waves from ocean to ocean, strange as it may seem, we, who have ever been loyal citizens, have been persecuted from time to time and driven from place to place, until at last, beyond the bounds of civilization, under the guidance of President Young, we found an asylum of peace in the midst of these mountains.
"There are, at times, small and apparently trivial events in the lives of individuals, with which every other event naturally associates. There are circumstances in the history of nations, which serve as centres around which everything else revolves.
"The entrance of our brave pioneers, and the settlement of the latter-day saints in these mountain vales, which then were only barren, savage wilds, are events with which not only our own future, but the future of the whole world, is deeply associated.
"Here they struggled, with more than mortal energy, for their hearts and hands were nerved by the spirit of the Most High, and through his blessing they succeeded in drawing sustenance from the arid soil; here they erected the standard on which the 'star spangled banner' waved its salutation of welcome to the nations of the earth; and here it will be bequeathed, unsullied, to future generations. Yes, that 'dear old flag' which in my girlhood I always contemplated with joyous pride, and to which the patriotic strains of my earliest muse were chanted, here floats triumphantly on the mountain breeze.
"Our numbers, small at first, have increased, until now we number one hundred and fifty thousand; and yet we are allowed only a territorial government. Year after year we have petitioned Congress for that which is our inalienable right to claim—a State government; and, year after year, our petitions have been treated with contempt. Such treatment as we have received from our rulers, has no precedent in the annals of history.
"And now, instead of granting us our rights as American citizens, bills are being presented to Congress, which are a disgrace to men in responsible stations, professing the least claim to honor and magnanimity; bills which, if carried into effect, would utterly annihilate us as a people. But this will never be. There is too much virtue yet existing in the nation, and above all there is a God in heaven whose protecting care is over us, and who takes cognizance of the acts of men.
"My sisters, we have met to-day to manifest our views and feelings concerning the oppressive policy exercised towards us by our republican government. Aside from all local and personal feelings, to me it is a source of deep regret that the standard of American liberty should have been so far swayed from its original position, as to have given rise to circumstances which not only render such a meeting opportune, but absolutely necessary.
"Heretofore, while detraction and ridicule have been poured forth in almost every form that malice could invent, while we have been misrepresented by speech and press, and exhibited in every shade but our true light, the ladies of Utah have remained comparatively silent. Had not our aims been of the most noble and exalted character, and had we not known that we occupied a standpoint far above our traducers, we might have returned volley for volley; but we have all the time realized that to contradict such egregious absurdities, would be a great stoop of condescension—far beneath the dignity of those who profess to be saints of the living God; and we very unassumingly applied to ourselves a saying of an ancient apostle, in writing to the Corinthians, 'Ye suffer fools, gladly, seeing that yourselves are wise.'