One of the great political parties of our country has denounced slavery and polygamy as “twin relics of barbarism;” and that is undoubtedly true. But with regard to Mormon polygamy, it will be seen that slavery and polygamy do not occupy with reference to each other the relation of twin sisters, but rather the relation of mother and daughter: Slavery is the mother of Mormon polygamy and of all the other social evils of the so-called Latter-Day Saints; and therefore the proper denomination of Mormonism as a social system would be a SYSTEM OF BONDAGE.
It is consequently a system contrary to natural law as well as to the Christian conscience. According to Rousseau, the great French philosopher, man is a being by nature loving justice and order. In his opinion, in an ideal state of society each member would be free and the equal of every other—equal because no person or family or class would seek for any rights or privileges of which any other was deprived; and free because each one would have his share in determining the rule common to all. It was these doctrines, taking root in the minds and convictions of men, that gave us our modern state of society, and that gave us our Nation, with its free thought, free speech, free press, and free Institutions. The first public official document in which these opinions were clearly set forth was our “Declaration of Independence,” which proclaimed that all men are “equal” and that “they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The same views also formed the element of strength in the French Revolution. The first article of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” adopted in 1789, at the beginning of the Revolution, asserts: “Men are born free and equal, and have the same rights.”
Indeed, these doctrines have been the source of all the social reforms of the past century. They are the guiding-star of modern civilization. They are the basis, not only of our Government, but also of our social system, which is one of liberty and equal rights. They are the spring of all noble thoughts given forth to the world and all the splendid achievements. To be majestic and ennobling, thought must be unrestrained; to be praiseworthy, deeds must be uncontrolled.
In England the dominant party at present (June, 1886) is the Liberal Party, whose able leader is that “Grand Old Man,” William E. Gladstone. Last fall, just before their great election, that party issued a manifesto of a very unusual character. It took the shape of a book entitled “Why am I a Liberal?” and contained definitions and confessions of political faith by the foremost leaders of the party. Among them Robert Browning answered the question in this characteristic sonnet:
“Why? Because all I haply can and do,
All that I am now, all I hope to be,
Whence comes it, save from fortune setting free
Body and soul, the purpose to pursue
God-traced for both? Of fetters not a few,
Of prejudice, convention, fall from me.
These shall I bid men, each in his degree
Also God-guided, bear, and gayly too?
“But little do or can the best of us;
That little is achieved through liberty.
Who then dares hold, emancipated thus,
His fellow shall continue bound? Not I,
Who live, love, labor freely, nor discuss
A brother’s right to freedom. That is why.”
Those are noble words, worthy a noble poet. If he had given no other poem to the world, that would place him on the list of poets to be remembered by future generations, who are destined to be, if possible, freer than we. It is true, as Browning says, that liberty is the source of all achievements worthy the name. Horace Mann once said: “Enslave a man and you destroy his ambition, his enterprise, his capacity. In the constitution of human nature, the desire of bettering one’s condition is the mainspring of effort. The first touch of slavery snaps this spring.”
Since, therefore, this century is the century of progress, of grand and noble achievements, Liberty is pre-eminently its watchword, the ruling spirit of the age. The abolition of the negro-slave traffic, the progressive obliteration of class distinctions and race distinctions in law, the liberty of combination among laborers, the extension of the franchise, the limitations of the powers of riches—in a word, all our modern popular movements are only recognitions of the principle that each individual man is born with the right to regulate his conduct and pursue his ends in his own way, provided that he does not abridge the equal rights of his fellow-men. The principle of individual liberty has been the underlying principle of the social policy of the past hundred years.
But to this principle Mormonism is in the most bitter antagonism. It is true that it does not antagonize it openly. If it did, it would thereby strike its own death-blow. It claims to be in harmony with the spirit of freedom, and the official Church organ, the Deseret News, has for its motto, printed in large letters on its title-page, “Truth and Liberty.” Nevertheless, it tramples all freedom under foot. Its spirit is Tyranny. A greater despotism the world, perhaps, has never seen. That of the Persian king in ancient times, and that of the Czar of all the Russias over his serfs in more modern times, pale in comparison with the absolute despotism of the Mormon chieftain and his two councillors. The condition of society in Mormondom is that of bondage, utter and entire. The constituent elements of man are body, soul, and spirit; and these are all in slavery under the social system of the Mormons.
Let us, therefore, consider this subject under these three heads—personal bondage, mental bondage, and moral bondage.