| 252 power of the civil government to prevent her carrying her belief into practice? So, here, society under the exclusive dominion of the United States prescribes as the law of its organization that plural marriages shall not be allowed. Can a man excuse his practices to the contrary because of his religious belief? To permit this would be to make doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land; and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could exist only in name under such circumstances. Criminal intent is a necessary element of crime; but every man is presumed to intend the necessary and legitimate consequences of what he knowingly does. Here the accused knew that he had been once married and that his first wife was living. He also knew that his second marriage was forbidden by law. When, therefore, he married the second time, he is presumed to have intended to break the law, and the breaking of the law is crime. Every act necessary to constitute a crime was knowingly done, and the crime was therefore knowingly committed. Ignorance of a fact may sometimes be taken as evidence of a want of criminal intent, but not ignorance of law. The only defense of the accused in this case, is his belief that the law ought not to have been enacted. It matters not that his belief was a part of his religion; it was still a belief, and belief only. Upon a careful consideration of the whole case, we are satisfied that no error was committed by the court below, and judgment is consequently affirmed.
Elder William Nelson, who had been in the Society Islands for a time in 1878, returned to America because he was not permitted to remain only a specified time without a permit, and he had failed to obtain one. Sometime in January he wrote from Oakland, California, that he intended to again return to the Islands.
On January 20, Elder D. S. Mills wrote his resignation as president of the Pacific Slope Mission. It was published in Herald for March 1, but no action taken until the ensuing General Conference in April.
A notice was published in the Herald for February 1, of a Sr. Delano, of Indian River, Maine, being healed of quick consumption, under the administration of Elders J. C. and E. C. Foss, after the doctor had given her up to die. Such cases were frequently reported, and well attested, but we have not space to mention all.
The following from the pen of Elder A. H. Smith is interesting in connection with well known history:
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