Congress has passed the Bill admitting Utah to the Union,
and thus put an end to a long-standing dispute. But for their polygamous habits, the people of Utah would long ago have been entrusted with the rights of a State. 'The law does not become [operative till 1890, when Utah will become the forty-fifth State of the Union. The Mormons, it is stated, have generally accepted the pro- 'visions of the recent Act of Congress suppressing poly- gamy. It will be very interesting to see how the new 'State will organise itself, and whether it will form a legal theocracy on the model of the voluntary theocracy already existing. Is there not also a risk that the people may revert to polygamy ? Marriage is purely an affair of State law, and any lawyer could draw a Marriage Bill which would not violate the Constitution of the United States, and yet in effect secure 'to the Saints the right to a plurality of wives.
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