I have refrained from speaking of the horrible crimes that have been perpetrated in this Territory-crimes of a magnitude and of an apparently studied refinement in atrocity hardly to be conceived of, and which have gone unwhipped of justice. These, if the judges are sustained, they will endeavor to bring to light.General Johnston was not at all satisfied with the measure of support he received from the Administration, which, for many obvious reasons, was anxious simply to tide over the troubles in Utah. He had obeyed his orders scrupulously in letter and in spirit, and yet he found himself left in a somewhat ambiguous attitude before the country. Moreover, he had become convinced that proper laws should regulate the Territorial relations to the General Government; yet he found that these were drifting at the mercy of events. The Government could not disapprove of General Johnston's course, but tried to obviate the difficulty by modifying his orders, as will be seen by the following letter from the Secretary of War. The letter is the key to the subsequent policy at Washington. It ties the hands of the judiciary, and leaves Utah to ferment into whatever it may-living waters or a hell-broth, as the case may be:
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conclusive facts, and then sought the protection of the military from an “intimidated” people.
The grand-jury having sat two weeks, and failed to make a presentment, was finally discharged by the judge.
It was evident that the local authorities and the people, with the countenance of the Territorial Executive, were able to arrest the course of justice, so that the functions of the judiciary were virtually at an end, unless other modes of trial were adopted by Congress.
Judge Cradlebaugh was able, however, as a committing magistrate, to place on record a mass of testimony that fixes on the Mormon leaders the indelible stigma of atrocious deeds, which will cling to the church until it perishes.
Closer contact with the Mormons, and continued observation of their system, gave General Johnston no better opinion of them than he had held at Fort Bridger.
In commenting upon his own official reports, he wrote to General Scott, March 31, 1859:
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