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Show said p roc larna ti on until the 20th on the militia to be completed. day of November next, to allow the repo rt " 12 request Governor Shaffer penned an illogical response which being received by General Wells was printed by the Governor and was apparently intended for wide distribution. In this letter of October 27, 1870, Governor Shaffer accused General Wells of violating the laws of the United States by signing his correspondence as "Li eutenant-Gencr'al command ing the mili tia of Utah Territory." Since, argued Shaffer wrongly, regarding the militia: "the laws of the United States provide for but one Lieutenant General, and as the incumbent of that office is the 'distinguished' Philip H. Sheridan, I shall certainly be pardoned for recognizing no other. To this soon after " General Wells, had addressed the Governor as "Commander-in Chief of the militia of Utah Territory;" and Governor Shaffer continued, "this have is the first instance in which you, or any of your predecessors. recognized the Governor of this Territory to be, as the Organic Act makes . him, the Commander-in-chief. 11 . Shaffer accused that the previous governors "contemptuously igno red" or even defied, and he sarcastically con gratulated Wells and the "loyal people" for their change of conduct, but fur ther along in his presentation he said that the people of the territory had been taught to "regard certain private citizens here as superior in authority not only to the Federal officials here, but also in Washington." Governor Shaffer alleged that the real loyalty of the people was to the person who was called "President" meaning Brigham Young who had denounced the Federal officials and claimed they had no right to come to the territory. had been and to the point concerning the militia the Governor said suspend the proclamation prohibiting the musters because which had been this would be recognizing an "unlawful military system, "originally organi zed in Nauvoo, in the State of Il l inoi s and which has existed here without authority of the United State s, and in defiance of the Federal The laws of the territory concerning the militia were in conflict officials. with the laws of Congress, argued Shaffer, and to ca ll off the proclamation would be to help the Io l lowo r s of General Wells and would convince them that Wells and his group were more powerful than the Federal Government. This But more that he would not " , " the Governor must decline to do . .2£. cit., Vol. II, p. 499. Vol. \1, p, 332. Dwyer , OPe cit., p. 71. B. H. Roberts, QE. cit., |
