Congress

Congress enters the narrative as a federal power shaping events in Utah: the United States Government brings the territory under Union law, while Mormon disciples resist that authority at least in speech. The resulting conflict is presented through both political action and Elder William Hitch’s impassioned railway sermon, which turns Congress into the object of a community’s grievance and a focal point for the novel’s account of contested authority.

Federal Authority in Utah

The account describes the United States Government as having succeeded, with difficulty, in bringing the previously independent Mormons under its rule. It took control of Utah and subjected the territory to the laws of the Union. Brigham Young, the community’s leader, was imprisoned on charges of rebellion and polygamy. The passage connects these actions to a broader shift in jurisdiction: a territory where the Mormon community had established its own authority was now governed under federal law.

The narrative does not say that Congress itself ordered Brigham Young’s imprisonment. Instead, it places the imprisonment within the government’s assertion of control and identifies Congress as the authority whose rule the disciples continued to contest. That distinction matters: the institution’s role is shown through the national legal order and the resistance it provokes, rather than through a separately described congressional decision or procedure.

Resistance and Grievance

After federal control was established, the disciples redoubled their efforts and resisted Congress’s authority verbally. Their opposition is therefore depicted as continuing, but the passage specifies its limited form: the resistance described at this point is by words, not armed action. Congress stands on one side of a dispute over whether the community will accept the laws of the Union; the Mormon disciples, having lost their territorial independence, continue to challenge that settlement in public speech.

Elder William Hitch gives this conflict its most forceful expression. Addressing a small audience on a train, he presents the government’s intervention as persecution and describes Brigham Young’s imprisonment as unjust. He asks why Union soldiers entered Utah and whether the Mormons should yield to force, then imagines the community moving on to another independent territory. These are Hitch’s claims and rhetoric, not an independent account of Congress’s motives: the narration says the government had imposed federal rule, while the accusation that Congress acted from jealousy belongs to the missionary’s appeal.

Congress in Hitch’s Sermon

Hitch’s sermon makes a train carriage an unlikely platform for political opposition. He tries to make converts among the passengers, recounting the history of the Mormon faith before turning to the conflict with federal authority. As other listeners leave, Passepartout remains to hear him; by the close of the address, he is Hitch’s sole auditor. The episode shows Congress’s authority circulating beyond formal institutions, into a missionary’s account of the community’s history and present grievances.

Hitch frames the dispute as one episode in a history of repeated displacement. He recalls the community being driven from Vermont, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, and now Utah, and urges his listener to join a future search for independent territory. Passepartout refuses and leaves the carriage. The scene ends not with a change in federal policy but with Hitch’s appeal unanswered, leaving the contest between national authority and Mormon resistance present as political speech rather than a settled resolution.

Narrative Significance

Congress is not depicted through debate, legislation, or a direct appearance by its members. Its significance comes from its place in the chain of authority governing Utah: the government’s takeover and imposition of Union law prompt the disciples’ continued resistance, while Hitch’s sermon casts those measures as persecution. By placing this account inside a passing railway conversation, the narrative makes a national political conflict part of the travelers’ route and gives it a sharply limited human encounter: one preacher, one remaining listener, and a refusal.