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'■ One of the gans? raised liim up nnil placed him against a well, and while in this position, four ^
among the mob advanced to tlie front rank with loaded muskets, and fired at the " Prophet."— Pdfire lli
THE MORMONS,
r
OR,
■-^'v.*^^
LATTER-DAY SAINTS:
A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY.
^
THE EXPULSION OF THIi MORMONS FROM N.MVOO.
LONDON :
PUBLISHED AT 227 STRAND.
1S52.
THE MORMONS:
OK
LATTER-DAY SAINTS
WITH MEMOIRS OF
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITE
THE "AMEllICAX MAHOMET."
ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY ENGRAVINGS.
:y>'"o..
UII7E
LO
PUBLISHED AT 22? STEAND.
1852.
/f<?//
LONDON:
TlZflELLT AND COJU-ANTT, PKIMEES AND ENGRAVtKS,
itltUBuKotJOH COLB.T, ILEET STREET,
.■Wd£v
PEEFACE.
In the summer of the year 1850, durmg the course of an mquiry
in which he was engaged on the subject of " Labour and the
Poor," the author of this volume had occasion to direct his par-
ticular attention to tlie amount of Emigration from the port of
Liverpool. While pursuing his researches, he learned that, in-
dependently of the general emigration of English and Irish,
amounting, during the fine season, to nearly 20,000 persons per
month, there was a peculiar, but smaller stream of emigration,
carried on in behalf of the religious sect known by the name of
the "Mormons," or "Latter-Day Saints." He was informed
that many years ago these people had established an Emigra-
tional Agency in Liverpool, having ramifications in all parts of
England, Wales, and Scotland, and that the number of Mormon
.emigrants sailing from that port to New Orleans, on their way to
the Great Salt Lake Valley, in California, during the year ] 840,
had been no less than 2,500, chiefly consisting of farmers and
mechanics of a superior class, from Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire,
Staffordshire, and the southern counties of Scotland ; and that
since 1840 the total emigration of the sect from Great Britain had
amounted to between 13,000 and 14,000 persons. He was led,
in consequence, to devote his attention to the history of the origin
and progress of this singular sect, of which comparatively little
was known. The results of his investigations were published in
the Morning Chronicle a short time afterwards, in three letters
IV PREFACE.
of the well-known series undertaken by that Journal'. The sub-
ject, however, was too interesting, important, and extensive to
be thoroughly handled in the limited space at the disposal of a
newspaper, and the writer was, in consequence, induced — having
received, in the meantime, a large accession of new, valuable,
and authentic materials — to extend these slight sketches into
the volume now offered to the public. It presents the history
of Joseph Smith, a great impostor, or a great visionary — perhaps
both — but in either case one of the most remarkable persons who
has appeared on the stage of the world in modern times. The
author has endeavoured to disencumber the conflicting accounts
of his disciples on the one hand, and of his enemies on the other,
of all exaggeration for him, or against him, and to state with
fairness ^Yhat appeared to him to be truth. As far as he is
aware, it is the first time that anything which can be called a
history of this new religion and its founder has been offered to
the public, either in this country, or in the cradle of the Mor-
mons— the United States of America.
With respect to the Illustrations of this Volume, it may be
stated, that embracing, as they do, views of remote places not
hitherto pourtrayed, and representations of events in a wild and
very partially settled country, they have, nevertheless, been
derived from authentic sources, having been drawn from the
rude sketches, or minute descriptions, of persons to whom the
spots were familiar, and who were, in many cases, eye-witnesses
of the incidents depicted. Such Portraits of the leading Mor-
mons as it has been possible to procure, are from the pencil of a
Mormon artist, and other subjects have been copied from prints
published under the sanction of the sect. ^
Lo^'DON, Aipril, 1852.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet — His "Remarkable
\'isions" — His Consecration to the Priesthood — Alleged appearance of John
the Baptist to Joseph and his Confederates — The Golden Plates of the Hill
of Cumorah — The Book of Mormon — The Mormon Witnesses of its
Authenticity — The Witnesses who assert it to be a Fraud — Statements of
Professor Anthon — The Spaulding Family — Mrs. Davison and Sidney Rigdon 9
CHAPTER II.
The Book of Doctrines and Covenants ; or the " Revelations" of Joseph Smith
— Mormon Hymns and Poems — Materialism — The Aaronic and Melchisedek
Priesthood — Confession of Faith — Mormon Claims to Work Miracles, and
to Cast oat Devils — Scenes in Leamington and Wales 32
CHAPTER III.
First Persecutions of the Sect — Exploratory Journey to the Far West — Establish-
ment in Missouri — The Prophet " Lynched" by the Populace — Quanels with
the " Gentiles" — The New Zion — Persecutions in Missouri 49
CHAPTER IV.
Journey of the Prophet into Missouri — The Lamanite Skeleton — The Shower of
Meteors — Final Removal of Joseph from Kirtland, Ohio — Persecutions in
Missouri — Massacre at Haun's Mill — The Danite Band — Expulsion from
Missouri 67
CHAPTER V.
Establishment of the Sect in Illinois — Building of the City and femple of Nauvoo
— Joseph a Lieutenant-General — The Prophets RighUhand Man — The
Mormons in England — Prosperity of Nauvoo 102
VI CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER VI.
Growth of Nauvoo — Joseph Smith a Candidate for the Presidency of the United
States —Address to the Ameiican People — Correspondence with Messrs. Clay
and Calhoun — New Troubles and Persecutions of the Sect — The " Spiritual
AVife" Doctrine — A Schism among the Mormons — The" Nauvoo Expositor"
— Disturbances in the City — " Abatement" of the Nuisance of an Unfriendly
Newspaper— Legal Proceedings against the Propliet — His Surrender to take his
Trial — Murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith by the Mob in Carthage Gaol . 124
' CHAPTER VTI.
The Prophet's Funeral — Addresses and Proclamations to the Saints — Appointment
of Brigham Young as Successor to Josejih Smith — Trial and Expulsion of
Sydney Rigdon — Transient Prosperity of Nauvoo — New Troubles and
Localities — Siege of Nauvoo — Final Expulsion of the Mormons from
Illinois 161
CHAPTER VIIL
Departure of the Mormons for the Great Salt Lake Valley — Colonel Kane's Des-
cription of Nauvoo after the Siege — The Exodus of the People — Incidents
of Travel — Arrival in Lower California — The Great Salt Lake 183
CHAPTER IX.
Brigham Young's Address to the Saints throughout the Worid — Mission of the
Twelve Apostles — The Gathering — Utah Territory— Mormonism in Great
Britain— Emigration from Liverpool— Agriculture and the Arts in the Salt
Lake Valley — Reports by recent Travellers of the Prosperity of the New-
Colony 229
CHAPTER X.
Mormonism: its Present State, and Social, Political, and Religious Aspect — The
Book of Mormon — Ancient Glyphs— The Prophecy of Isaiah— The Pro-
phecy of Ezekiel — Mormon Charges against all Christian Churches — Orson
Pratt on the Christian Ministry — Religious Aspects of Mormonism- The
Book of Doctrines and Covenants — Mormon Idea of " Faith" — Doctrines
and Commandments — Priesthood and Office-bearers — Mormon Materialism
— Death of the Witnesses— The Spiritual Wife Doctrine — Moral and Social
Aspects of Mormonism — Opposition to Mormonism — Conclusion .... 266
LIST OF ILLUSTKATIOXS.
The Death of Joseph Smith ..... '
The Expulsion of the Mormons from Nauvoo
Smith Finding the Golden Plates ....
Joseph and Hyrum Smith (from the Busts by Gahagan)
The Mob Tarring Joseph Smith ....
Cincinnati ........<
Joseph Smith Preaching in the "Wilderness
Louisville ........
Encampment of Mormons on the Missom-i River .
The Discovery of the " Lamanite" Skeleton .
Massacre of Mormons at Haun's Mill .
The Temple at Nauvoo .....
Lorenzo Snow (from a Drawing by F. Piercy)
General Joseph Smith Reviewing the Nauvoo Legion
Joseph Smith Preaching (from a Mormon Print)
Hyrum Smith and Joseph Smith (from a Drawing by F.
Joseph Smith (from a Sketch by M. Didier) .
John Taylor (from a Drawing by F. Piercy) .
Mormon Caravan Crossing the Rocky Mountains .
Mormon Tabernacle Camp .....
Formation of a Bridge ......
Cattle Fording the Missouri .....
Piercy)
PAGE
I'ronthpicce.
Title.
9
.^•2
49
51
54
59
m
67
7(5
102
lOt
117
119
124
160
161
183
201
206
207
Vni LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Mormon Mowers .. ..........208
Pass of the Standing Ilock (from Colonel Fremont) 218
Pass in the Sien-a Nevada (from Colonel Fremont) 228
Great Salt Lake City 229
Plan of the Great Salt Lnke (from Colonel Fremont's Surviy) . . .241
Emigrants going on Board ..... .... .241
The Farewell 216
Mormon Hymn-singing on board of Emigrant Ship 217
New Orleans 248
St. Louis 249
Mormon Caravan crossing the Prairies ........ 250
Cave in Rock on the Ohio . .........251
Mormon Gold Coin 265
Ceremony of Confirmation (sketched by F. Piercy) ..... 206
Ancient Glyph' . . . . ' 273
Orson Pratt (from a Drawing by F. Piercy) . 280
Ceremony of Baptism (sketched by F. Piercy) . . . . . .291
w ^^* *
. S-/:.^ J
BuiTII AND I'AKK^TA(iK OK JoSKTH SmiTH, THE MoRMOX TKOl-HKr — His
"Remarkable Visions" — His Gonskchation to thk Pkiesthood — Al-
LKGHD ApI'KAKANCK OF JoHN THE BaPTIST TO JoSEPH AND HIS CONFEDERATES
— The Goldkn Plates of the HiLr, of Ciimorah — The Book jok Mok-
MON — The Mormon Witnesses of its Authenticity — The V\'itnesses
who assert it to be a Fhauu — Statements of Professor Anthon — The
Spauldino Family — Mrs. Davison and Sidney Riudon.
In the year 182o tliere lived, in a small village i)i the Unitetl Stiites
of America, an obsoure youno; man — of little or no education — of no
fortune, and of but indiH'crent character. That obscure yoimg man
had meditated for five yeai'S before this time the establishment of a
new religion. In 1830, being then in the t\Yenty-fifth year of his age,
he began to carry his design into effect. In the following year he
became the head of a sect numbering five persons ; amongst whom
were included his father and three brothers. In the course of a few
10 THE MORMONS.
weeks, the nunilter of liis adherents increased to thirty. At the pre-
sent time, the sect soestabHslied numbers 300,000 people ; has its own
Bible, and zealous missionaries to preach it in every part of the Chris-
tian world, and besides this, inhabits and possesses a fertile and beau-
tiful territory almost as large as England, and aspires to obtain admis-
sion, on equal terms, as a free state, into the great confederation ot
American Republics. Tlie name of this young man was Jo?eph Smith
— of his new Bible, the *' Book of Mormon" — of his sect, the " Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," — or in the parlance of those not
members of it — The INIormons, or Mormonites ; and of the state or ter-
ritory of Avhich they have taken possession, Utah or Deseret, in New
California. The Mormons have thriven amid oppression of the most
cruel and ])ertinacious kind ; they have conquered the most astonish-
ing difficulties ; they have triumphed over the most vindictive ene-
mies, and over the most unrelenting persecution ; and from the blood
of their martyrs have sprung the courage, the zeal, and the success of
their survivors. They can boast not only an admirable and com-
plete organization, but the possession of worldly wealth, influence,
and power. Their progress within the last seven years has been rapid
to a degree unparalleled in the history of any other sect of religion-
ists. The remarkable career of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Mor-
mons, and the story of the rise of the sect which he founded, is one ot
the most curious ejnsodes in the modern history of the world. To trace
that history Avith all its fanaticism, all its zeal, all its genuine and sin-
cere faith, all its folly and all its virtue, and to carry it through all the
tDUching scenes in the varied and surprising fortunes of the people
Avho believe in Joseph Smith as the projihet of God, from the day in
which the docti-ine was first broached amid the hatred and the derision
of a few, to the present day, when the sect is too powerful and too
sincere to be derided, is the object of the following pages.
To avoid the appearance of unfriendliness towards men who —
whatever the character or views of their former leaders may have been,
or whatever may be thought of their own fanaticism — are carrying on
a great and remarkable work, but little understood, or even heard
of, in this countrj^ beyond the limits of their own body, we shall
whenever it is possible to do so, present their history in the Avords
of their own writers, appending such statements on the other side
as may be necessary for the exjVjsition of the truth. The following
particulars of the oi'igin of the Buok of Mormon, of the early life of
Joseph Smith, and of his first appearance in the character of a man
divinely insjtired — to be the new Moses, or Mahomet of his generation
— are extracted from the "Remarkable Visions" of Mr. Orson Pratt.
Tliis gentleman was formerly their emigrational agent at Liverpool,
VISIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH. 11
and styles himself, in the title-page, " One of the twelve Apostles of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints :" —
'* Mr. Joseph Smith, jun.," says this friendly narrator, ** was horn
in the town of Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, on theSSrd December,
1805. When ten years old, his parents, with their family, moved to
Palmyra, New York, in the vicinity of which he resided for about
eleven years, the latter part in the town of Manchester. He was a
farmer by occupation. His advantages for acquiring scientific know-
ledge were exceedingly small, being limited to a slight acquaintance
with two or three of the common branches of learning. He could
read without much difficulty, and write a very imperfect hand, and
had a very limited understanding of the elementary rules of arith-
metic. These were his highest and only attainments, Avhile the rest
of those branches so universally taught in the common schools
throughout the United States w^re entirely unknown to him. When
somewhere about fourteen or fifteen years old, he began seriously to
reflect upon the necessity of being prepared for a future state of
existence ; but how, or in what way to prepare himself, was a ques-
tion as yet undetermined in his own mind. He perceived that it was
a question of infinite importance, and that the salvation of his soul
depended ujion a correct understanding of the same. He retired to a
secret place in a grove, but a short distance from his father's house,
and knelt down and began to call upon the Lord. At first he was
severely tempted by the powers of darkness, which endeavoured to
overcome him, but he continued to seek for deliverance until darkness
gave way from his mind, and he was enabled to pray in fervency of
the spirit, and in faith ; and while thus pouritig out his soul, anxiously
desiring an answer from God, he at length saw a very bright and
£:lorious lio;ht in the heavens above, which at first seemed to be at a
considerable distance. He continued praying, Avhile the light ap-
peared to be gradually descending towards him ; and as it drew
nearer it increased in brightness and magnitude, so that by the time
it reached the tops of the trees the whole wilderness around was
illuminated in a most glorious and brilliant manner. He expected to
see the leaves and bouo-iis of the trees consumed as soon as tl;e iiofht
came in contact with them ; but perceiving that it did not produce
that effect, he was encouraged with the hopes of being able to endure
Its presence. It continued descending slowly until it rested upon the
earth, and he was enveloped in the midst of it. When it first came
upon him, it produced a peculiar sensation throughout his whole
system ; and immediately his mind was caught away from the natural
objects with which he was surrounded, and he was enwrapjied in a
heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly i-e-
12 TITE MOH]\[ONS.
semLlcd eacli other in their features or likeness. He was informed
that liis sins were forgiven. lie was also infonned upon the subjects
which had for some time previously agitated his mind — namely, that
all the religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines,
and consequently that none of them was acknowledged of God as his
church and kingdom. And he was expressl}'' commanded to go not
after them ; and he i-ecelved a promise that the true doctrine, the ful-
ness of the Gospel, should at some future time be made known to him.
After whicli the vision withdrew, leaving his mind in a state of calm-
ness and peace indescribable. Some time after having received this
glorious matiifestation, being voung, he was again entangled in the
vanities of the world, of which he afterwards sincerely and truly
repented.
" And It pleased God, on the evening of the 21st September, a.t).
1 823, to again hear his prayer. It seemed as though the house was
filled with consuming fire. This sudden appearance of a light so
bright, as must naturally be expected, occasioned a shock of sensation
visible to the extremities of the body. It was, however, followed
by calmness and serenity of mind, and an overwhelming rapture of
joy, that surpassed understanding, and, in a moment, a Personage
stood before him,
''Notwithstanding the brightness of the light which previously
illuminated the room, yet there seemed to be an additional glory sur-
rounding or accompanying this Personage, which shone with an
increased degree of brilliancy, of which he was in the midst, and though
his countenance was as lightning, yet it was of a pleasing, innocent,
and glorious appearance, so much so, that every fear was banished
from his heart, and nothing but calmness pervaded his soul.
" The stature of this Personage was a little above the common size
of men in his age ; his garment was perfectly white, and had the ap-
pearance of being without seam.
" This glorious being declared himself to be an angel of God, sent
forth by connnandment to communicate to him that his sins v^ere
forgiven, and that his prayers were heard ; and also to bring the
joyful tidings that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel
concerning their {rosterity was at hand to be fulfilled ; that the great
preparatoi-y work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily
to commence ; that the time was at hand for the Gospel, in its ful-
ness, to be preached in power unto all nations, that a people might
be prepan.'d with faith and righteousness for the Millennial reign of
universal peace and joy.
" lie was informed that he was called and chosen to be an instru-J
ment in the hands of God, to bring about some of his marvellous pur-"
VISIONS OF JOSEPH SMITH. 13
poses in this glorious dispensation. It was also made manifest to him
that the ' American Indians' were a remnant of Israel; that when they
first emigrated to America they were an enlightened peo]»le, possessing
a knowledge of the true God, enjoying his favour and j.eculiar bless-
ings from his iiand; tliat the prophets and inspired writers among
them were required to keep a sacred history of the most important
events transpiring among them, Avhich history was lianded down for
many generations, till at length tiiey fell into great wickedness. The
greatest part of them were destroyed, and the records were saf^^ly de-
posited, to preserve them from the hands of the wicked who sought
to destroy them. He was informed that these records contained many
sacred revelations pertaining to the Gospel of the kingdom, as well as
prophecies relating to the great events of the last days ; and that to
fulfil his promises to the ancients, who wrote the records, and to ac-
complish his purposes in the restitution of their children, they were
to come forth to tlie knowledge of the people. If faithful, he was to
be^the instrument who should be thus highly favoured in bringing
these sacred writings before the world. Alter giving him man}' in-
structions concerning things past and to come, he disa])peared, and
the light and glory of God withdrew, leaving his mind in perfect
peace, Avhile a calmness and serenity indescribable pervaded his
soul. But before morning the vision was twice renewed, instructing
him further and still further concerning the great work of God about
to be performed on the earth. In the morning he went out to his
labour as usual, but soon the vision was renewed — the angel again
appeared, and having been informed, by the previous visions of the
night, concerning the place where those records were deposited, he
was instructed to go immediately and view them.
" Accordingly he repaired to the place, a brief description of which
shall be given in the words ot a gentleman named Oliver Cowdery,
who has visited the spot : — ■
" ' As you pass on the mail-road from Palmyra, Mayne county, to
Canandigua, Ontario county, New York, before arriving at the little
village of Manchester, say from three to four, or about four miles from
Palmyra, you pass a large hill on the east side of the read.
" * It was at the second-mentioned place where the record was found
to be deposited, on the west side of the hill, not far from the top, down
its side ; and when myself visited the spot in the year 1830 there were
several trees standing — enough to cause a shade in summer, but not
so much as to prevent the surface being covered with grass — which
was also the case when the record was first found.
" * How far below the surface these records were placed I am un-
able to say, but from the fact that they had been some fourteen hun-
14 THE MORMONS.
dred years buried, and that, too, on the side of a hill so steep, one is
ready to conclude that they were some feet below, as the earth would
naturally wear, more or less, in that length of time. But being placed
towards the top of the hill, the ground would not remove as much as
two-thirds, perhaps. Another circumstance would prevent another
wearing of the earth — in all probability, as soon as timber had time
to grow, the hill was covered, and the roots of the same would hold
the surface.
" * However, on this point I shall leave every man to draw his own
conclusion, and form his own speculation : but, suffice to say, a hole of
sufficient depth was dug. At the bottom of this laid a stone of suit-
able size, the upper surface being smooth. At each edge was placed
a large quantity of cement, and into this cement, at the four edges of
this stone were placed erect four others, their bottom edges resting in
the cement at the outer edges of the first stone. The four last named,
when placed erect, formed a box ; the corners, or where the edges of
the four came in contact, were also cemented so firmly that the mois-
ture from without was prevented from entering. It is to be observed
also that the inner surfaces of the four erect or side stones were
smooth. This box was sufficiently large to admit a breastplate such
as was used by the ancients to defend the chest from the arrov/s and
weapons of their enemy. From the bottom of the box, or from the
breastplate, arose three small pillars, composed of the same description
of cement used on the edges ; and upon these three pillars were placed
the records. ' This box containing the records was covered with an-
other stone, the bottom surface being flat, and the upper crowning.'
" When it was first visited by Mr. Smith, on the morning of the
22nd of .September, 1823, 'a part of the crowning stone was visible
above the surface, while the edges were concealed by the soil and
grass.' From which circumstance it may be seen ' that, however deep
this box might have been placed at first, the time had been sufficient
to wear the earth, so that it was easily discovered, when once directed,
and yet not enough to make a perceivable difference to the passer-by. '
* After arriving at the repository, a little exertioa in removing the soil
from the edges of the top of the box, and a light lever, brought to his
natural vision its contents.' While vicAving and contemplating this
sacred treasure, with Avonder and astonishment — behold ! the angel of
the Lord, who had previously visited him, again stood in his presence,
and his soul was again enlightened as it was the evening before, and
he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the heavens were opened, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about and rested upon him. While
he thus stood gazing and admiring the angel said, ' Look !' And, as
he thus spake, he beheld the Prince of Darkness, surrounded by his
4
THE GOLDEN PLATES. 15
nnumerable train of associates. All this passed before him, and the
heavenly messenf^er said, 'All this is shown, the good and the evil,
the holy and imp. ire, the glory of God and the power of darkness, that
you may know hereafter the two powers, and never be influenced or
overcome by the wiv-ked one. You cannot at this time obtain this re-
cord, for the commandment of God is strict, and if ever these sacred
things are obtained, they must be by prayer and faithfulness in obey-
ing the Lord. They are not deposited here for the sake of accumu-
lating gain and wealth for the glory of this world ; they were sealed
by the prayer of faith, and because of the knowledge which they con-
tain ; they are of no worth among the children of men only for their
knowledge. In them is contained the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, as it was given to his people on this land ; and when it shall
be brought forth by the power of God, it shall be carried to the Gen-
tiles, of whom many will receive it, and after will the seed ot Israel
be brought into the field of their Redeemer by obeying it also.
*' During the period of the four following years, he frequently re-
ceived instruction from the mouth of the heavenly messenger. And
on the morning of the 22nd of September, a.d. 1827, the angel of the
Lord delivered the records into his hands.
*' These records were engraved on plates, which had the appear-
ance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in
width and length, being not quite as thick as common tin. They were
filled on both sides with engravings in Egyptian characters, and bound
together in a volume as the leaves of a book, and fastened at one edge
with three rings running through the whole. This volume was some-
thing near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The
characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small and beauti-
fully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity
in its construction, as well as much skill in the art of engravinir.
With the records was found * a curious instrument, called by the
ancients the Urim and Thummim, which consisted of two transparent
stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a bow. This was in
use in ancient times, by persons called seers. It was an instrument
by the use of which they received revelation of things distant, or of
things past or future.'
" Having provided himself with a home, he commenced translating
the record, by the gift and power of God, through the means of the
Uiini and Thummim ; and being a poor writer, he was under the ne-
cessity of employing a scribe to write the translation as it came from
his mouth.
" In the meantime, a few of the original cliarncters were accu-
rately described and translated by Mr. Smilh, which, with the trans-
.^>-
0?
10 THE MOr.MONS.
Intion, were talccn by a frfntlenian, by the name of ^lartin Harris, to
the city of ISew York, where they were presented to ^ learned gentle-
man of the name of Anthnn, who professed to be cxter/sively acqnainted
with many lanunages, both ancient and modern, ]Ke examined them,
but was unable to decij)her them correctly ; but life presumed that it
the original records could be brought, he could assist in translating
them.
" But to return — Mr. Smith continued the w^ork of translation, as
his pecuniary circumstances would permit, until he finished the un-
sealed part of the records. The part translated is entitled the ' Book
of Alormon,' Avhicli contains nearly as much reading as the O'd Tes-
tament.
" After the book was translated, the Lord raised up witnesses to
the nations of its truth, who, at the close of the volume, send forth
their testimony, which reads as follows : —
"'TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES.
" ' Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom
this work shall eome, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and our
Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is
a record of the people of Nephi and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and
also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been
spoken; and we also know that they have been translated by the gift and
power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of
a surety that the work is true, and we also testify that we have seen the en-
gravings which are upon the plates ; and they have been shown unto us by
the power of God, and not of man. And we declare, with words of soberness,
that an ano-el of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before
our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon ;
and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true, and it is
marvellous in our eyes ; nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us
that we should bear record of it ; wherefore, to be obedient unto the com-
mandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know that
if we are fjiithful in Christ we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men,
and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, tind shall dwell with
him eternally in the heavens. And the honour be to the Father, and to the
Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.
" ' Oliver Cowdery.
David Whitmer.
Martin HAitRis.
"'TESTIMONY OF EIGHT WITNESSES.
" * Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom
this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, jun., the translator of this work
Joseph's "witnesses." 17
has shown unto us the plates of which hath been s^wken, which have the ap-
pearance of gold : as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we
did handle with our hands : and we also saw the en<rravin<is thereon, all of
which have the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And
this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown
unto us, for we have seen and lighted, and know of a surety that the said
Suiit'n has got the plates of which we have spoken : and we give our names
unto the world of 'that which we have seen ; and we lie not, God bearing
witness of it.
** ' John Whitmer.
Christian Whitmer,
Jacob Whitmer.
Peter Whitmer, jun.
Hiram Page.
Joseph Smith, sen.
Hyrum Smith.
Samuel H. Smith.'"
Such is the story of a friend, derived from statements made at
various times by the " Prophet" himself. It will be seen that the
"witnesses of its truth were principally of the two families of Whitmer
and Smith. The Smiths were the father and brothers of Jose})h.
Who the Whitmers were is not clear — and all clue to their character
and j)roceedings since this date, though probably known to the Mor-
mons themselves, is undiscoverable by the "profane vulgar." As, in
the history of an imposture so remarkable as this, the narrative of the
principal actor becomes both curious and important, the following ac-
count of the matter is extracted from the autobiography of Joseph
Smith, which was published in the Millennial Star : —
"So great vvas the confusion and strife among the diiFerent re-
ligious denominations, that it vvas impossible for a person, young as
I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any
certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. Aly mind at
different times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult was so great
and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Ba})-
tists and Methodists, and used all their powers of either reason or
sophistry to prove their errors, or at least to make the people think
they Avere in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists
in their turn were equally zealous to establish their own tenets and
disprove all others.
" In the midst of this war and tunudt of opinions, I often said to
myself, what is to be done ? Who of all these parties are right ? or
are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is
it, and how shall I know it?
*' While I was labouring under the extreme difficulties, caused by
B
1 8 THE MORMONS.
the contests of these parties of relifjionists, I was one day readlno; the
epistle of James, first cha|)ter anJ fifth verse, which reads, ' If anv of
you hick Avisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth unto all men libe-
rally and uphraideth not, and it shall be given him.' Never did any
jtassaire of Scripture come with more power to the heart of man tlian
this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into
every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowmix
that if any person needed wisdom Irom God, I did ; for how to act 1
did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had,
Avould never know ; for the teachers of religion of the different sects
understood the same passage so differently as to destroy all confidence
in settling the question b}'' an appeal to the Bible. At length I came
to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion,
or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length
came to the determination to ' ask of God,' concluding that if he gave
wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberallv and not
upbraid, 1 might venture. So, in accordance with this my determina-
tion to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It
wa-s on the morning of a beautiful clear day, early in the spring of
eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I
had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I liad never
yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
" After I had retired into the place where I had previously designed to
go, having looked around me and finding myself alone, I kneeled down
and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scaicely
done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which
entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me, as
to bind my tongue, so that I could not speak. Thick darkness ga-
thered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed
to sudden destruction. But exerting all my powers to call uj)on God
to deliver me out of the ])Ower of this enemy which had seized up(tn
me, and at the very moment when I Avas ready to sink into despair
and abandon myself to destruction, not to an imaginary ruin, but to
the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such
a marvellous jDower as I had never before felt in any being. Just at
this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my
head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually
until it fell upon me. It no sooner api)eared than I found myself de-
livered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested
upon me, I saw tw.o personages, whose brightness and glory defy all
description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto
me, calling me by name, and said (pointing to tlie othei) — ' This is my
beloved Son, hear him.'
JOSEPa AND THE "PERSONAGE." ]9
" My object in going to inquire of the Lord, was to know which
of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No
sooner, therefore, did 1 get possession of myself, so as to be able to
sj)eak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the hght,
which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered
into my lieart that all were wrong), and which I should join. I was
answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and
the personage who addressed me said, ' that all their creeds were an
abomination in his sight ; that those professors were all corrupt ; they
draw near tome with their lips, but their hearts are far from me ; they
teach for doctrine the commandments of men, having a iorm of godli-
ness, but they deny the power thei'eof.' lie again forbade me to join
with any of them : and many other things did he say unto me which I
cannot write at this lime. When I came to myself again, 1 found
nn'seif laying on my back, looking up into heaven, ^ome few days
af[er I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the
Methodist ])reac!iers who was very active in tJje before-mentioned
religious excitement, and conversing with him on the subject ot
religion, I took occasion to give him an account of the vision which
I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behaviour ; he treated
my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying
it was all of the devil, that there were no such thnigs as visions or
revelations in these days ; that all such things had ceased with the
apostles, and that there never would be any more of them. 1 soon
found, however, that my telling the stor^ had excited a great deal of
prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cau.~e
of great persecution, which continued to increase ; and though I was
an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and
my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in
the world, yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to
excite thejmblic mind against me, and «create a hot persecution, and
this was common among all the sects : all united to persecute me. It
has often caused me serious reflection, both then and since, how very
strange it was that an obscure boy of a little over fourteen years of
age, and one, too, who was doomed to tlie necessity of obtaining a
scanty maintenance by his daily labour, should be thought a character
of sufficient imjjortance to atti'act the attention of the great ones of
the most jjopular sects of the day, so as to create in them a spirit of
the hottest persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was,
and was often the cause of great sorrow to n)yself. However, it was
nevertheless a fact that I had had a vision. 1 have thought since that
1 felt much like Paid when he made his defence before king Agripjja,
and related the account of the vision he had when he 'saw a li'-ht and
20 THE MORMON'S.
hoard a voice,' but still tliere were but few who believed hitn ; some
said he was dishonest, others said he was mad, and he was ridiculed
and reviled ; but all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He
had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the i)ersecution under hea-
ven could not make it otherwise ; and though they should persecute
him unto death, yet he knew, and would know unto his latest breath,
that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking to him, and
all the world could not make him believe otherwise. So it was with
me ; I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw
two personages, and they did in reality speak unto me, or one of them
did ; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that 1 had seen
a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, revil-
ing me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsel}' for so saying,
I was led to say in my heart, why persecute for telling the truth ? I
have actually seen a vision, and ' who am I that I can withstand
God ?' or v.hy does the world think to make me deny what I have
actually seen ? for I had seen a vision ; I knew it, and I knew that
God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dare I' do it ; at least, I
knew that bv so doing I would offend God and come under condemna-
tioM. I had now got my mind satisfied, so far as the sectarian world
was concerned, that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but
continue as I was until further directed." =i-
Without stopping to inquire whether Joseph were a knave or a lu-
natic— a cool, calculating impostor — or a weak-minded enthusiast, who,
in the visions of a distempered brain, fancied and believed that he saw
things which he has thus reported, we proceed to the next incident.
Having seen God the Father and God the Son, he was in a short time
afterwards, as he tells the world, favoured with a visit and a comnm-
nication from John the Baptist ! The circumstance is thus recorded by
himself in the Millennial Star, vol. iii. page 14S : —
" While we (Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery) were thus em-
ployed (in the work of translation), praying and calling upon the
Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and
having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying unto us,
' Upon you, my fellow-servants, in the name of the Messiah, I con-
fer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering
©f angels, and of the gospel of rei)entance, and of baptism by im-
mersion for the remission of sins ; and this shall never be taken
again from the eai-th until the sons of Levi do offer again an offer-
ing unto the Lord in righteousness.' He said this Aaronic priest-
hood had not the power of laying on of hands for the gift ot
* History of Josi'ph Suiiili, MHUnnial Star, vol. iii., No. 2, p. 21.
MARTIN HARRIS. 21
the Ilolj Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter ; and
he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions
that I should bnptize Oliver Oowderj, and afterwards that he should
baptize me. Accordingly, we went and were baptized. I baptized
him first, and afterwards he baptized me. After which I laid my hands
upon his head, and ordained him to the Aaronic priesthood ; afterwards
he laid his hands on me, and ordained me to the same priesthood, for
so we were commanded. The messenger who visited us on this occa-
sion, and conferred this priesthood upon us, said that his name was
John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament,
and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James, and John, who
held the keys of the priesthood of Melchisedek, which priesthood, he
said, should in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called
the first elder, and he the second. It was on the 15th day of May,
1829, that we were baptized and ordained under the hand of the mes-
senger."
The scheme was now ripe for a fuller development ; but as we have
hitherto had the story as in the words of Joseph himself, and of his
ardent discijdes, Mr. Orson Pratt and the *' witnessts," it is necessary
to go back a little, and narrate a few circumstances relative to one of
the most important of these witnesses, and to the manner in which he
was originally induced to become a believer in the " prophet" and his
book. It will also he necessary to inquire whether the statements of
Mr. Pratt, with reference to Professor Anthon, were admitted by tiiat
gentleman.
Joseph Smith having made known his doctrine to various persons,
the wondeiful plates began to be talked about. Among the persons
who were originally most disposed to join the -new sect was tlie Mr.
Martin Harris, whose name appears along with those of other wit-
nesses in the above testimony. This Martin Harris was a farmer,
who apjiears to have been possessed of more money than wit, and of
more credulity than judgment. His religious opinions were unsettled,
as he was at one time a member of the Society of Friends, afterwards
a Wesleyan, then a Ba])tist, and, at the time when Joseph Smith
made his acquaintance, a Presbyterian. He was at once captivated
by the doctrines and pretensions of Joseph, and lent the "prophet"
the sum of fifty dollars to enable him to ])ublish his new Bible.
Joseph, though asked by Martin Harris to show the })lates, refused,
on the pretence that he was not jture of heart enough to be allowed a
sight of such treasures ; hut he generously made a transcrij)t of a
portion of them upon })a}>er, which he told him to submit to any
learned scholar in the world, if he wished to be satisfied. Martin
Harris was an earnest man, and he set out from Palmyra to Sew
THE MORMONS.
York, to visit Professor Anthon, a f^entleman of the higliest reputa-
tion, both in America and Europe, and well known for his valuable
and correct editions of the classics. He found the Professor, and
submitted the plates to him. The Mormons at this time were too
in.signiticaiit to excite attention, and the result of Martin Harris's
interview with the learned man was not known until three or four
years afterwards, when a re]>ort having been si)read abroad by the
Mormons that the Professor had seen the plates, and pronounced
the inscriptions to be in the Egy{)tian character, that gentleman was
requested by a letter, directed to him by Mr. E. D. Howe, of Paines-
ville, Ohio, to declare whether such was the fact ? Professor An-
thon returned the following answer, detailing his interview with the
simi)le-minded Mr. Harris: —
"New York, Feb. 17, 183 1.
" Dear Sir, — I received your letter of the 9th, ami lose no time in mak-
ing a replj. The whole story about my pronouncing the Mormonite inscrip-
tion to be ' Reformed Egyptian Hieroglyphics,' is perfectly false. Some years
ago a plain, apparently simple-hearted, farmer called on me with a note from
Dr. Mitchell, of our city, now dead, requesting me to decipher, if possible, a
paper whi<h the farmer would hand me. Upon examining the paper in ques-
tion, I soon came to the conclusion that it Mas all a trick, perhaps a hoax.
AVhen I asked the person who brought it how he obtained the writing, he gave
me the following account : — A ' gold book,' consisting of a number of plates
fjTsteiied together by wires of the same material, had been dug up in the nor-
thern part of the State of New York, and along with it an enormous pair of
' spectacles I' The^e spectacles were so iarii;e, that if any person attempted to
look through them, his two eyes would look llirough one ^lass only ; the spec-
tacles in question behig altogether too large for the human face. ' Whoever,'
he said, ' examined the plates through the glasses was enabled not only to read
them, but fidly to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however,
was confined to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and
spectacles in his soli' possession. This young man was placed behind a curtain,
in a oarret, in a farm-house, and being thus concealed from view, he put oil
the spectacles occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, de-
ciphered the chai'acters in the book, and having committed some of them to
paper, handed copies from behind the curtain to those who stood outside. jSTofc
a wonl was ^aid about their having been deciphered by the 'gift of God.'
Everything in this way was effected by the large pair of spectacles. The
farmer added, that he had been reipiested to contribute a sum of money to-
wards the publication of the 'golden book,' the contents of which would, as
he was told, produce an entire change in the world, and save it from ruin.
So urgent had ben these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm, and
giving the amount to tliosc who wished to publish the plates. As a last pre-
cauiionary step, he had resolved to come to New York, and obtain the opinion
of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he had brought with
THE BOOK OV MOHMOX. 23
him, cand which had been given him as part of the contents of the hook, althouoh
no translation had at that time been made by the young man with the spec-
tacles. On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the }»aper,
and instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax, I began to regard it as part of
a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money, and I communicated my suspicions
to him, warning him to beware of rogues. He requested an opinion from me
in writing, which of course I declined to give, and he then took his leave, tak-
ing his p.iper with him,
" This paper, in question, was in fo,ct a singidar scroll. It consisted of all
kinds of crooked characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently been pre-
pared by some person who had before him at the time a book containing
various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses, and flourishes; Ilomnn
letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in perpendicular
Columns ; and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into
various compartments, decked with various strange marks, and evidently
copied after the Mexican Calendar, given by Humboldt, but copied in such a
way as not to betray the source whence it was derived. I am thus particuhir
as to the contents of tlie paper, inasmuch as I have frequently conversed with
my friends on the subject since the jMormon excitement began, and well re-
member that the paper contained anything else but 'Egyptian Hieroghphics.'
"Sometime alter the same farmer paid me a second visit. He brouglifc
with him the 'gold book' in print, and offered it to mc for sale. I declined
purchasing. He then asked permission to leave the book with me for exami-
nation. I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely urgent.
I adverted once more to the roguery which, in my opinion, had been practised
upon him, and asked him what had become of the gohl plates. He informed
me that they were in a trunk with the spectacles. I advised him to go to a
magistrate and hav^e the trunk exiniined. He said, 'The curse of God' would
come upon him if he did. On my pressing him, however, to go to a magis-
trate, he told me he would open the trunk if I would take the 'curse of God '
upon myself. , I replied I would do so with the greatest willingness, and
would incur every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him
from the grasp of rogues ; he then left me. I have given you a fidl state-
ment of all that I know respecting the origin of ]\[()rmonism, and must beg
3'oii, as a personal favour, to publish this letter immediately, should you find
luy name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.
" Yours respectfully,
" Charles Anthon."
This letter speaks for itself, and needs no comment. The follow-
ing summary of the contents of the Book of Mormon, thus strangely
issued into the world, is from a publication called the P^oice of Wani-
ing^ by Parley P. Pratt, another apostle : —
" The Book of Mormon contains the history of the ancient inhabitants of
America, who were a branch of the house of Israel, of the tribe of Joseph;
of whom the Indians are still a remnant ; but the principal nation of tiuni
24 THE MOr.MONS.
liaviiify fallon in liattlo, in the fourth or fifth contnry, one of thoir prophets,
vliose name was Mormon, saw fit to make an abridgment of their history,
their prophecies, and their doctrine, which he enc^raved on plates, and after-
vards, heins: shiin, the record fell into the hands of hi.s son Moroni, who,
heini^ hunted by his enemies, was directed to deposit the record safely in the
earth, with a promise from God that it should he preserved, and should he
hrought to liglit in the latter days by means of a Gentile nation, who should
, possess the land. The deposit M'as made about the year 420 on a hill then
called Cumora, now in Ontario county, where it was preserved in safety
until it was brouglit to light by no less than the ministry of angels, and
translated by inspiration. And the great Jehovah bore record of the same
to chosen witnesses, who declare it to the world."
The question will be asked, could Joseph Smith, a notoriously
illiterate, though clever man, really write the Book of Mormon ?
Without pretending to state positively that Joseph Smith was not
the sole author of the volume, or that he was not aided by other
persons in its composition, we present the following short history,
which the American opponents of Mormonism consider to be a true
statement of its origin.
It is stated by them that, in the year 1809, a man of the name of
Solomon S{)aukrmg, who had formerly been a clergyman, failed in
business at a place called Cherry Vale, in the State of New York.
Being a person of hterary tastes, and his attention having been
directed to the notion which at that time excited some interest and
discussion, namely, that the North American Indians were the de-
scendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, it struck him that the idea
afforded a good groundwork for a religious tale, history, or novel.
For three years he laboured uj)on this work, which he entitled The
Manuscript Found. " Mormon" and his son " Moroni," who act so
large a part in Josepli Smith's Book of Mormon, were two of the
principal characters in it. In 1812 the MS. was presented to a
})rinter or bookseller named Patterson, residing at Pittsburgh,
1 Pennsylvania, with a view to its publication. Before any satis-
factoiy arranuement could be made, the autiior died, and the ma-
jmscript remained in the possession of Mr. Patterson, apparently
unnoticed and uncared for. The printer also died in 182G, having
jireviously lent the manuscript to one Sidney Rigdon, a compositor
in his em[)loy, who was at the time a preacher in connection with
some Christian sect, of which the proper designation is not very clearly
stated. Tiiis Rigdon afterwards became, next to Jose})h Smith
hiirself, the princi})al leader of the Mormons. How Jo3e})h Smith
niid this person became connected is not known, and which of
the two originated the idea of making a new Bible out of Solomon
THE BOOK OF MOKMOX. 25
Spaulding's novel is equally uncertain. The wife, the partner, seve-
i"al friends, and the brother of Solomon Spaulding, affirmed, however,
the identity of the principal portions of the Booh of Mormon with the
novel of llie Manuscript Found, which the author had from time to
time, and in separate portions, read over to them. John Spauldiiio-^
brother to Solomon, declared upon oath that his brother's book
■was an historical romance of the first settlers in America, endea-
vourino- to show that the American Indians are the descendants of
Jews, or the lost ten tribes. He stated that it gave a detailed account
of their journey from Jerusalem by land and by sea, till they arrived
in America under the command of Nephi and Lehi ; and that it also
mentioned the Lamanites. He added that " he had recently read the
Booh of Mormon, and, to his great surprise, he found nearly the same
historical matter and names as in his brother's writings. To the best
of his recollection and belief, it was the same that his brother Solomon
wrote, with the exception of the religious matter."
The widow of Solomon Spaulding afterwards married a Mr.
Davison ; and a statement, purjiorting to have been made by her in the
following words, was published in a Boston newspaper in May, 1839 : —
"As the Book of Mormon, or Golden Bible (as it was originally called) has
excited mujli attention, and is deemed by a certain new sect of equal nuthority
with the Sacred Scriptures, I think it a duty which I owe to the public to state
what I know touching its origin.
" That its cKaims to a divine origin are wliolly unfounded needs no ])roof
to a mind unperverted by the grossest delusions. That nny sane person should
rank it higher than any otlier merely human composition is a matter of the
greatest astonishment ; yet it is received as divine by some wlio dwell in en-
liglitened New England, and even by those who have sustained the character
of'devoted Christians. Learning recently that Mormonism had found its way
into a church in Massachusetts, and has impregnated some with its gross de-
lusions, so that excommunication has been necessary, I am determined to delay
no longer in doing wliat I can to strip the mask from this mother of sin, and
to lay open this pit of abominations.
" Solomon Spaulding, to whom I was united in marriage in early life, was
a graduate of Dartmouth college, and was distinguished for a lively imagina-
tion, and a great fondness for history. At the time of our marrige, he resided
in Cherry Valley, New York. From this place we removed to New Salem,
Ashtabula County, Ohio, sometimes called Conncaut, as it is sitnatefl on Con-
neaut Creek. Shortly after our removal to this place, his health sunk, and lie
was laid aside from active labours. In the town of New Salem there are nu-
merous mounds and forts supposed by many to be the dilapidateil dwellings
and fortifications of a race now extinct. These ancient relics arrest the atten-
tion of the new settlers, and become objects of research for the curious. Nu-
merous implements were found, and other articles evincing great skill in the
26 TriE MORMONS.
art.*. ^ri\ RpnuldiTifi^ bcinfj an educated man, nnd passionately fond ofhi'^tory,
took a livt'ly inteivst in these developments of antiquity ; and in order to he-
guile th^' hours of retirement, and furnish employment for his lively imnoina-
tion, he conceived the idea of giving an historical sketch of this long lost race.
Their extreme antiquity led him to write in the most ancient style, and as the
Old Testament is the most ancient hook in the world, he imitated its style as
nearly as possible. His sole object in writing this imaginary history was to
amuse himself and his neighbours. This was about the year 1812. Hull's
surrender at Detroit occurred near the same time, and I recollect the date well
from that circumstance. As he progressed in his narrative, the neighbours
would come in from time to time to hear portions read, and a great interest in
the work was excited among them. It claimed to have been written by one
of the lost nation, and to have been recovered from the earth, and assumed the
title of * -Manuscript Found.' The neighbours would often inquire how jMr.
Si/aulding progressed in deciphering the manuscript ; and when he had a suf-
ficient portion prepared, he would inform them, and they would assemble to
hear it read. He was enabled, from his acquaintance with the classics and
ancient history, to introduce many singular names, which were particularly
noticed by the people, and could be easily recognised by them. Mr. Solomon
Spau'ding had a brother, Mr. John Spaulding, residing in the place at the time,
who was perfectly familiar with the work, and repeatedly heard the whole of
it read. From New Salem we removed to Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania. Here
Mr. Spaidding found a friend and acquaintance, in the person of Mr, Patterson,
an editor of a newspaper. He exhibited his manuscript to Mr. Patterson, who
was very much pleased with it, and borrowed it for perusal. He retained it lor
a long time, and informed ^\r. Spaulding that if he would make out a title-page
and preface, he would publish it, and it might he a source of profit. This!Mr.
Spaulding refused to do. Sidney Ptigdon, who has figured so largely in the
history of the Mormons, was at that time connected with the printing-office of
Mr. Patterson, as is well known in that region, and, as Piigdon himself has
fnquently stated, became acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript, and
copied it. It was a matter of notoriety and interest to all connected with
the printing establishment. At length the manuscript was returned to its
author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington county, &c., where
]\lr. Spaulding deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my hands,
and was careiully preserved. It has frequently been examined by my daughter
Mrs. JI'Kenstry, of Monson, Massachusetts, with whom I now reside, and by
other friends.
"After the Book of ^lormon came out, a copy of it was taken to New Sa-
lem, the place of ]Mr. Spauldinu's former residence, and the very place where
the ' Manuscript Found' was written. A woman preacher a]>pointed a meeting-
there ; and in the meeting read and repeated copious extracts from the book of
]\Iormon. The historical part was immediately recognised by all the older
inhabitants, as the identical work of Mr. Spaulding, in which they had all been
60 deeply interested years before. Mr. John Spaidding was present and re-
cognised perfectly the work of his brother. He was amazed and afiElicted that
THE BOOK OF MORMON, 27
itslioiil(l have been perverted to so wicked a purpose. I^is grief found Vv^nt
in a tiood of tears, ai d he arose on the spot, and expressed to the meeting his
sorrow and reoret that the writings of his deceased brother shoidd be used for
a purpose so vile and shocking. The excitement in New Salem became so
great, that the inliabiiants had a meeting, and deputed Dr. Philastus Hurlbut,
one of their number, to repair lo this place, and to obtain from me the original
manuscript of Mr. Spaulding, for the purpose of (;oniparing it with the Mor-
nvm Bible, to satisfy their own minds, and to prevent their friends from em-
bracino- an error so delusive. This was in the vear 1834. Dr. Hurlbut
brought with him an introduction and request for the manuscript, which was
signed by Messrs. Heniy Lake, Aaron Wright, and others, with all of whom I
w^as acquainted, as they were my ncighhours when I resided at New Salem.
I am sure that nothing would grieve mylui.-band more, were he living, than
the use which has been made of his work. The air of antiquity which was
thrown about the composition doubtless suggested the idea of converting it
to the purposes of delusion. Thus, an historical romance, with the addition
of a few pious expressions, and extracts from the sacred Scriptures, has been
construed i>to a new Bible, and palmed off upon a com])any of poor deluded
fanatics ns Divine. I have oi>en the previous brief narration, tliat this work
of deep deception and wickedness may be searched to the foundation, and the
authors exposed to the contempt and execration they so justly deserve.
• "Matilda Davison."
The Dr. Hurlbut mentioned in Mrs. Davison's statement was
once a believer in Joseph Smith, and a member of the church.
According to his own account, he seceded, because his eyes were
opened to the imposture and delusion of which he had been the
victim. According to the Mormon account, he was expelled for adul-
tery and other immorality. With this preface, the following coarse
denial of Mrs. Davison's statement, and fierce denunciation of Dr.
Hurlbut, will be intelligible. The denial was made by Sidney Rig-
don, who was himself accused of being the princi[)a] agent of the
fraud, and was addressed, on the 27th of xMay, 1839, to the editors
oi the Boston Journal. It will be seen from the tone and spirit, no
less than from the grammatical construction of the letter, that Sidney
Rigdon, although a compositor, was by no means so well educated as
the bulk of his fellow-workmen in that intellectual branch of mecha-
nical industry, and that his literary abilities were of the meanest
order : —
" Commerce, May 27, 1839.
" Messrs. Bartlett and Sullivan. — Tn3'our paper of the 18th instant, I
see a letter signed by somebody calling herself Matilda Davison, pretending
to give the origin of Mormonisni, as she is pleased to call it, by relating a
moonshine story about a certain Solomon Spaulding, a creature with the
knowledge of whose earthly existence I am entirely indebted to this prodiic-
S8 THE MomtoNS.
tion ; for surel}', until Doctor rhilnstns Hurlbut informed me that such a
being lived, at some former period, I had not the most distant knowledge of
his existence ; and all I now know about his character is, the opinion I form
from what is attributed to his wife, in obtruding my name upon the public
in the manner in which she is said to have done it, by trying to make the
public believe that I had knowledije of the ignorant, and, according to her
own testimony, the lying scribblings of her deceased husband ; for if her
testimony is to be credited, her pious husband, in his lifetime, wrote a bundle
of lies, for the righteous purpose of getting money. How many lies he had
told for the same purpose while he was preaching, she has not so kindly in-
formed us ; but we are at liberty to draw our own conclusions, for he that
would write lies to get money, would also preach lies for the same object.
This being the only information which I have, or ever had, of the said llev.
Solomon Spaulding, I, of necessity, have but a very light opinion of him as
a gentleman, a scholar, or a man of piety ; for had he have been either, he
certainly would have taught his pious wife not to lie, nor unite herself with
adulterers, liars, and the basest of mankind.
" It is only necessar^v to say, in relation to the whole story about Spauld-
ino^'s writinifs beino- in the hands of Mr. Patterson, who was in Pittsburgh,
and who is said to have kept a printing-office, and my saying that I was con-
cerned in the said office, &c., &c., is the most base of lies, without even the
shadow of truth. There was no man by the name of Patterson, during my
residence at Pittsburgh, who had a printing office ; what might have been
before 1 lived there, I know not. ]\Ir. Robert Patterson, I was told, had owned
a printing office before I lived in that cit}', but had been unfortunate in busi-
ness, and failed before ray residence there. 'J'his Mr. Patterson, who was a
]*resbyterian ])reacher, I had a very slight acquaintance with during my resi-
dence in Pittsburgh. He was then acting under an agency, in the book and
stationery business, and was the owner of no property of any kind, printing
office or anything else, during the time I resided in the eity.
*' If I were to say that I ever heard of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding and
his hopeful wife, until Dr. P. Hurlbut wrote his lie about me, I should be a liar
like unto themselves. Wh}' was not the testimony of i\Ir. Patterson ojjtaincd
to give force to this shameful tale of lies? The only reason is, that he was
not a tit tool for them to work with ; he would not lie for them, for if he were
called on he would testify to what I have here said.
" Let me here. Gentlemen, give a history of this Dr. P. Hurlbut and his
associates, who aided in getting up and propagating this batch of lies.
" I have seen and heard, at one time and another, by the persecutors and
haters of the truth, a great deal about the eminent physician, Dr. Hurlbut. I
never thought the matter worthy of notice, nor probably ever should, ha<l it
rot made its appearance in your paper, or some one of equal respictability.
And I believe, Geutlemen, had you known the whole history of this budget
of lies, it would never have found a place in your paper. But to my his-
toiw
"This said Doctor was never a physician at any time, nor au} thing else but
THE BOOK OF MORMON. 29
a base ruffiiin. He was the seventh son, and his parents called him Doctor :
it was his name, and not the title of his profession.
" He once belonged to the Methodist church, and was excluded for immo-
ralities. He afterwards imposed himself on the church of Latter-day Saints,
and was excluded for using obscene language to a young lady, a member of
the said cluu'ch, who resented his insult with indignation, which became both
her character and profession.
" After his exclusion he swore — for he was Agilely profane — that he would
have revenge, and commenced his work. He soon found assistance ; a pious
old deacon of the Campbellite church, by the name of Onis Clapp, and his two
sons, Thomas J. Clapp and Matthew S. Clapp, both Campbellite preachers,
abetted and assisted by another Campbellite preacher by the nameof Adamson
Bentley. Hurlbut went to work, catering lies for the company. Before Hurl-
but got throtigh, his conduct became so scandalous that the company utterly
refused to let his name go out with the lies he had collected, and which he and
his associates had made, they therefore substituted the name of E. D. Howe.
The change, however, was not much better. There were scandalous immo-
ralities about the Howe family of so black a character, that they had nothing
to lose, and became good tools for this holy company to work with. A man
of character would never have put his name to a work which Hurlbut was
concerned in. But while Hurlbut was busily employed in the service of the
company, old Deacon Clapp was employed in taking care of his wife. How
many others of the company aided in this business must be left to futurity to
disclose. At a certain time, Hurlbut being out till a late hour in the night,
returned to his liouse, and in going to his bed-room where his wife was, be-
hold, and lo ! there was the pious old deacon, either in bed with his wife or at
the side of it. He had a five-dollar bank note in his hand, and his dress was
rather light to suit the Doctor's taste, for he was not quite as well off as was
Aaron when he offered sacrifice, not even having on a pair of ' linen breeches.'
Hurlbut laid hold of him and called lor help, which soon came to his assist-
ance. The pious old deacon was arraigned before a justice of the peace, and
was on the eve of being bound over for his appearance to the county court,
when, to put an end to the evils which might result from his ])ious care of
]\Irs, Hurlbut, he kindly offered a yoke of oxen and a hundreil dollars. This
was accepted. Hurlbut took his wife, and left the country forthwith ; and the
pious old deacon and his sons, and the good Mr. Bentley, are left to wear out
tiie shame of their great effort to destroy the character of innocent men whom
they never dare meet in argument. The tale in your paper is one hatched up
by this gang before the time of their explosion.
" It has always been a source of no ordinary satisfaction to me to know
that my enemies have no better weapon to use against me, or the c.uise in
which I am engaged, than lies; for if ihcy had any better they would cer-
tainly use them. I must confess, however, that there is some consistency in
our persecutors, for as truth can never destroy truth, it would be in vain for
our persecutors to use truth against us, for this would only build us up ; this
they seem to know, and lay hold of the only available means they have, which
30 THE MOKMOXS.
are lies : and this indeed is the only weapon which can be, or eA^er has been,
used against tlie truth. As our persecutors are endeavouring to stop the ])ro-
gress of truth, I must confess that they act with a degree of consistency in the
choice of means, namely, lies ; but if truth would do it, they would surely not
have recourse to lies.
" 111 (»rder to give character to their lies, they dress them up with a great
deal of piety : for a pious lie, j'ou know, has a great deal more influence with
an ignorant peo})le, than a profane one. Hence their lies came signed by the
pious wife of a pious deceased priest. However, his last act of piety seems to
have been to write a bundle of lies, themselves being witnesses ; but then liis
great piety sanctifies them, and lies become holy things in the hands of such
excessive piety, particularly when they are graced with a few Reverends ; but
the days have gone by when people are to be deceived by these false glossings
of Reverend's sanctions ; the intelligent part of the communities of till parts
of the country, know that Reverends are not more notorious for truth than
their neighbours.
*'The only reason why I am assailed by lies is, that my opposers dare
not adventure on argument, knowing that if they do they fall. They tiy,
tliert'fore, to keep the public from investio-ating, by publi.sbiuii' and circulating
faljr^ehooils. This I consider a hi;ih encomium on both mvself and the cause I
defend. Eespectfull^'^,
«'S. RiGDON."
We believe that upon this evidence the question of the authorship
of the original romance on which the Book of Mormon was founded,
will be decided by the reader in favour of Solomon Spaulding. As
regards the Book of Mormon itself, Joseph Smith and the vulgar and
abusive Sidnej^ Rigdon seem to have acted in conceit in its concoction
from materials thus provided for them. The religious matter de-
rived from the Old and New Testaments is engrafted upon the origi-
nal rotnance in a manner that shows the ignorant and the illiterate
workman. Such ])hrase3 as the following are of frequent occur-
rence : — " Ye aie like unto they" — " Do as ye hath hitlierto done" —
*'I — the Lord delighteth in the chastity of women" — " I saith unto
them" — I who ve call your King" — " These things had not ought
to be" — "Ye saith tmto hiin" — " For a more history part are written
upon my other plates." Anachronisms are also frequent ; but all
eirors of grammar, all anachronisms, all contradictions, are admitted
by the Mormons. They allege that the Old and New Testaments
contain ungranmiatical passages, and yet are holy, and the undoubted
word of God ; and that anachronisms and C(mtradictions do not mili-
tate against the jdenary insplrati(tn eitiier of the Bible or of the Book
of Morwon. They acknowledge all possible faults and objections
which mere critics may stt.i-t; but treat them as of no accoimt.
Joseph Siuitli, they say, was the chosen vessel of grace, and it was
THE BOOK OF MOEMOX. 31
not necessary, in the inscrutable purposes of the Lord, that he should
Avrite or speak correct Enj^hsh ; or that he should not make a few
human mistakes in his rendering of the divine word. All such objec-
tions they laugh to scorn. *
Joseph Smith, who, on all occasions of doubt, silenced tlie unin-
foi'med, and amazed the educated, by the boldness of his own self-
sufficiency, and the boundless resources of his impudence, was often
asked, both by friends and foes, the meaning of the word " Mormon."
The following reply, as published in a letter to the editor of the
Times and Seasons, is highly characteristic : —
" SlR„— Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error
among men tluit profess to be learned, liberal, and wise ; and I do it the
more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sound-reasoning people
will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain preten-
sions of the self-wise. The error I speak of is the definition of the word
' ]\Iormon.' It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek
word vionno. This is not the case. There was no Grreek or Latin upon the
plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mor-
mon. Let the language of that hook speak for itself On the 523rd page
of the fourth editi(m, it reads : — ' And now behold we have written the record
according to our kno\\ledge in the characters which are called among us the
Preformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us according to our
manner of speech ; and if our plates were sufficiently large, we should have
■wiitten in Hebrew. Behold ye would have had no imperfections in otir
i-ecord, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also,
that none other people knoweth our language ; therefore he hath prepared
means for the interpretation thereof.
"Here, then, the subject is put to silence, for * none other people knoweth
our language ;' therefore the Lord, and not man, hath to interjn'et, after the
people were all dead. And, as Paul said, * the world by wisdom know not
God,' and the world by speculation are destitute of revelation ; and as God,
in his superior wisdom, has always given his saints, wherever he had any on
the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit (as John says) is the true si»irit of
prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I may safely say that the word
]\l()rmon stands independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation.
Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that the Bible, in its
widest s< nse, means good ; for the Saviour says, according to the Gospel of St,
John, ' I am the good shepherd ;' and it will not be beyond the common use
of terms to say, that good is amongst the most im])ortant in use, and though
known by various names in different languages, siill its meaning is the same,
and is ever in opposition to bad. We say from the Saxon, good ; the Dane,
god; the GiOih, g(da ; the German, gut; the Dutch, ^'Of^^/; the Latin, bonus;
the Greek /ra/o5; the Hebrew, tob ; and the Egyptian, man. Hence, with the
adilition of more, or the contraction vwr, we have the word jMoi-mon, which
means, literally, mo/Ti>oorf. Yours, Joseph Smith."
JOSEPH SMITH. HYRUJI SMITH.
(From the busts by Galiagaii.)
CHAPTER II.
The Book of Doctrines and Covknants; or, the "Revelations" of Joseph
Smith — Mormon Hymns and Poems— Materialism— The Aaronic and
Melchisedkk Priesthood — Confession ok Faith — Mormon Claims to
AvoRK Miracles and to cast ott Devils— Scenes in Leamington and
Wales.
In addition to the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith originated and
partly composed a book of Doctrines and Covenants, purporting to
be direct revelations from heaven upon the temporal government
of their church, the support of the poor, the tithing or taxation of
t^he members, the establishment of cities and temides, the allotment
of lands, the emigration of the " saints, '\the education of the people,
the gathering of moneys, and other matters. This book abounds in
grammatical inaccuracies, even to a greater extent than the Book of
Mormon : — " God, that knowest th}^ thoughts" — " a literal descendant
of Aaron" — " an hair of his head shall not fall" — " your Father who
art in heaven knowcth" — *' and the spirit and the body is the soul of
man" — " the stars also giveth their light as they roll upon their wings
in glory" — " her who sitteth upon many waters" — "thou slialt not
covet thine own proj)erty, but impart it freely to the printing of the
Book of Mormon" — form but a sample of hundreds of similar phrases
that might be culled, were it worth while. A few specimens of
JOSEPHS "REVELATIONS. 33
tlie kind of " Revelations," and of the style in which Joseph Smith
represented the Ahnij^lity as speaking to him in his early revelations,
will show what men will assert and believe under the influence of
fanaticism. The following is part of a revelation purporting to have
been given by Jesus Christ, in February, 1831. In these revelations
God the Father and God the Son are invariably represented as giving
Jose|)h his proper designation of Smith, junior, that he might not be
mistaken for his father, Josei)h Smith, senior: —
** Hearken, oh ye eiders of my church, who have assembled yourselves to-
gether in my name, even Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the Saviour
of the world. Behold, verily 1 say unto you, I give unto you this first com-
mandment, that you shall go forth in my name, every one of you, except my
servants, Joseph Smith, jim , and Sidney Rigdon. ... If there shall be
properties in the hands of the church, or any individuals of it, more than is ne-
cessary for their support, it shall he kept to administer to those who have not."
The following is part of a revelation given to Joseph Smith in
March, 1829, when Martin Harris desired to see the golden plates,
and before he was deluded with the paper transcript, Avhich he
showed to Professor Anthon. It will be seen that Joseph was not at
a loss to parry the inconvenient curiosity of his then doubting, but
afterwards faithful, disciple : —
"Behold I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a
witness at my hand that you my servant, Joseph Smith, jun., have got the
plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of
me; and now, heboid, this sh;dl you say unto him — 'He who spake unto you
said unto you, I the Lord am God, and have given those things unto you, my
servant, Joseph Smith, jun., and have commanded you that you should stand
as a witness of these things ; and I have caused you that you should enter into a
covenant with me that yon should vot show them except to those persons that I com-
manded you ; and you have no power over tliem except I grant it you.' . . And
now again I speak unto you my servant Joseph, concerning the man that de-
nies the witness. Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself, and does not suf-
ficiently humlile himself before me. lUit if he will bow down hefore me, and
humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then
will I i-rant unto him a view of the thin<''s which he desires to see."
rt CD
Poor Martin Harris never got the promised glimpse of the plates.
lie did not behave himself properly ; and Joseph found an oj)portu-
nity to reprimand and quanel with him. I>ut, in fact, Joseph and
his principal assistant, Sidney Rigdon, appear to have quarrelled
with all the "witnesses." The first witness to the truth of this
Book of Mormon was declared by Smith himself, in a revelation given
in November, 1831, to be unfit to be trusted with " moneys :" —
c
34 THE MORMONS.
" Hearken unto me, sailh the Lord your God, for my servant Oliver Cow-
dery's sake. It is not wisdom in me that he should be entrusted with the
commandments, and the moneys which he shall carry into the land of Zion,
except one go with /nm who shall be true and faithful."
[n a paper drawn up by Sidney Rigdon in June, 1838, when the
p:reat schism took place in the church, which led to the secession of
Dr. Ilurlbut, and the exposure made by Mrs. Davison, it is stated
that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and another, were united with
a gang of " counterfeiters, thieves, liars, and blacklegs of the deej)est
dye, to deceive, cheat, and defraud the saints." Martin Harris, the
last of the three, is spoken of, at the time of the schism, by Joseph
himself, in the following terms, in a paper called the Elder'' s Journal:
— " There are negroes who wear white skins, as well as black ones.
Grames Parish and others who acted as lackies, such as Martin
Harris, (fee, but they are so far beneath contempt that a notice of
them would be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make."
While, by means of " Revelations," those who were not longer to
be trusted were pointed out to the notice and condemnation of true
believers, Joseph Smith took care to have special " revelations" upon
matters relating to his own comfort. *' It is meet," says a " revela-
tion" of the Lord in February, 1831, "that my servant Joseph
Smith, jun., should have a house built, in which to live and trans-
late." A second "revelation" of the same month says : " If ye desire
the mysteries of my kingdom, provide for him (Joseph Smith, jun.)
food and raiment, and whatsoever thing he needeth," JSor was
Joseph, according to the "revelations," to labour for his living. "In
temporal labours," says another "revelation" of July, 1830, " thou
shalt not have strength, for that is not thy calling. Attend to thy
calling, and thou shalt have wherewith to magnify thine office, and
to expound all scriptures."
In a revelation given to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, in De-
cember, 1830, when the scheme was yet in its first infancy, the Lord
is represented as saying : —
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked
ujjon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers, and prepared thee for
a irreat work. .Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great things. Behold
thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare the way before me, and before
Elijah, which should come, and thou knew it not. Thou didst baptize by
water unto repentance, but thou receivedst not the Holy Ghost ; but now I
give unto thee a commandment, that thou shalt b iptize by water, and they
shall receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, even as the
apostles of old.
JOSEPHS "REVELATIONS. 35
"And it shall come to pass, that there shall be a great work in the land,
even among the Gentiles : for their fully and their abominations shall be made
manifest in the eyes of all people ; for I am God, and mine arm is not short-
ened, and I will show miracles, signs, and wonders, unto all those who believe
in my name. And whoso shall ask in my name, in faith, they shall east out
devils, they shall heal the sick, they shall cause the blind to receive their
sight, and the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, and the lame to walk ;
and the time speedily cometh, that great things are to be shown forth unto
the children of men ; but without faith shall not anything be shown forth,
except desolations upon Babylon — the same which has made all nations drink
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And there are none that dueth
good, except those who are ready to receive the fulness of my Gospel, which I
liave sent forth to this generation.
"Wherefore, I have called upon the weak things of the world — those who
are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my s))irit:
and their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler,
and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me, and their
enemies shall be under their feet ; and I will let fall the sword in their be-
half, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them. And the poor
and the meek shall have the Gospel preached unto them, and the} shall be
looking forth for the time of my coming, for it is nigh at hand : and they
shall learn the parable of the fig-tree : for even now already summer is nigli,
and I have sent forth the fulness of the Gospel by the hand of my servant
Joseph : and in weakness have 1 blessed him, and I have given unto him the
keys of the mystery of those things which have been sealed, even things
which were from the foundation of the world, and tlve things which shall
come from this time until the time of mj' coming, if he abide iu me, and if
not, another will I plant in his stead.
"Wherefore, watch over him, that his faith fail not; and it shall be
given by the Comforter the Holy Ghost that knoweth all things : and a
commandment I give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him : and the Scrip-
tures shall be given, even as they are in mine own bosom, to the salvation of
mine own elect ; for they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not
be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming, for they shall be purified,
even as I am jjure. And now 1 say unto thee, tarry with him, and he shall
journey with you; — forsake him not, and surely these things shall befulfiUed^
And inasmuch as ye do not write, behold it shall be given unio him to prophesy:
and thou shalt preach my Gospel, and call upmi the holy prophets to prove his
words, as they shall be given him. Keej) all the connnandments and co\e-
nants by which ye are bound, and I will cause the heavens to shake for your
good : and Satan shall tremble, and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and fiou-
rish : and Israel shall be saved in mine own due time. And by the keys which
I have given, shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all. Lift up
your heads and be glad : your redemption draweth nigh. Fear not, little
flock — the kingdom is yours until 1 come. Behold, 1 coma quickly : even so.
Amen."
30 THE :\I0I1M0NS.
In another revelation, also given in December, 1830, the voice of
the Lord to Edward Partridge was : —
"Thus saith the Lord God, the mio'ht}' one of Israel, Behold, I say unto
you, my servant Edward, that you are blessed, and your sins are forgiven vou,
and vou are called to preach my Gospel as with the voice of a trumpet ;'^ and
I will lay my hand upon you hy the hand of my servant Sidney Eigdon, and
you shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall
tench you the peaceahle things of the kingdom : and you shall declare it with
a loud voice, saying, Ilosannah, blessed be the name of the most high God.
" And now this calling and commandment give I unto you concerning all
men, that as many as shall come before my servants Sidney Eigdon and
Joseph Smith, jun., embracing this calling and commandment, shall be ordained
and sent forth to preach the everlasting Gospel among the nations, crying,
Eepentance : saving, Save yourselves from this untoward generation, and
come forth out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted with the flesh.
"And this Gommandment shall be given unto the elders of my churchy
that every man which will embrace it with singleness of heart, may be or-
dained and sent forth, even as I have spoken. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of
God : wherefore gird up your loins, and I will suddenly come to my temple :
even so. Amen."
An extract from one more ** revelation" will suffice for the pre-
sent. It purports to have been given in July, 1830, to Emma
Smith, the wife of Joseph, through Joseph himself: —
" The office of thy calling shall be for a comfort unto my servant Joseph
Smith, jun., thy husband And ihou shalt go with him at the time of his
going, and be unto him for a scribe, while there is no one to be a scribe for
him, that I may send my servant Oliver Cowdery whithersoever I will. And
\t shall be given to thee also to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall
oe given thee, which is pleasing unto me to be had in my church."
The hymn-book of Emma Smith does not appear to have been
pubhshed ; but a little hymn-book, containing hymns selected by
Brigham Young, the present head of the church, and successor of
Joseph Smith, has gone through eight editions. The eighth was
published in Liverpool, in 1849. A few extracts will not be out of
place. The following hymn, which is sometimes sung on shipboard
in Liverpool prior to the departure of Mormon emigrants, is, in point
of literary merit, among the best in the volume : —
" Yes, my native land, I love thee;
All thy scenes, I love them well ;
Friends, connections, happy country,
Can I bid jou all farewell ?
Can I leave thee,
Far in distant lands to dwell ?
MORMON HYMNS. 37
** Home ! thy joys are passing lovely,
Joys no stranger heart can tell ;
Happy home ! 'tis sure I love thee,
Can I — can I — say 'Farewell?'
Can I leave thee,
Far in distant lands to dwell ?
** Holy scenes of joy and gladness
Every fond emotion swell ;
Can I hanish heartfelt sadness,
While I bid my home farewell ?
Can I leave thee,
Far in distant lands to dwell ?
** Yes ! I hasten from you gladly.
From the scenes I love so well ;
Far away, ye billows, bear me.
Lovely native land, farewell !
Pleased I leave thee.
Far in distant lands to dwell.
" In the deserts let me labour,
On the mountains let me tell
IIow he died — the blessed Saviour,
To redeem a world from hell I
Let me hasten.
Far in distant lands to dwell !
" Bear me on, thou restless ocean,
Let the winds my canvas swell ;
Heaves my heart with warm emotion,
While I go far hence to dwell !
Glad I bid thee.
Native land, farewell I faresvell! "
The next is a hymn for the Twelve Apostles, who have been sent
to different parts of Europe, to " gather" the Saints to the Salt Lake
Valley in Deseret : —
" Ye chosen twelve, to ye are given
The keys of\his last ministry —
To every nation under heaven,
From land to land, from sea to sea.
" First to the G entiles sound the news.
Throughout Columl)ia's hap]>y land ;
And then before it reach the Jews,
]^re2iare ou Europe's shores to stand.
38 THK MonMoNf.
" Let Eurojx's towns and cities 1) nr
Tlio Gospel tidinos anoels bring;
The Gentile nations far and near.
Prepare their hearts His piaise to sing.
" India and Afric's sultry plains
j\Iust hear the tidings as they roll —
Where darkness, death, and sorrow reign,
And tyranny has held etmtrul.
"Listen ! ye islands of the sea, J
For every isle shall hear the sound ;
K'ations and tongues before unknown,
Thongli long since lost, shall soon he found.
" And then again shall Asia hear,
Where angels first the news proelairaeil ;
Eternity shall record bear,
And eavth repeat the loud Amen.
" The nations catch the pleasing sound.
And Jew and Gentile swell the strain,
Hosannah (»'er the earth resound,
Mes>iah then will come to reign."
Many of their fugitive hymns and songs, not inchided in their
hymn-book, are adapted to popular tunes, such as '* The sea, the sea,
the open sea ;" " Away, away to the mountain's brow," etc. One to
the first-mentioned tune is inserted in the Times and Seasons, page
80o, and commences : —
" The skv, the sky, the eh ar lilue skv,
Oh, how I love to '^iKza upon it !
The upper realms of deep on hii;ii,
I wou'ler when the Lord begun it I"
The fdlowing additional specimens of Mormon devotional poetry
appear in tlieir authorized organ, the Times and Season!^. The first
is sung to the tune of a idrate song bv Mr. PTeiU'v Ru-iSfll. called,
" I'm afloat, I'm afloat,'' and written by Miss Eliza Cook : —
" I'm a Saint, I'm a Saint, on the rough world wide.
The earth is my home, and my God is my guide !
T'^p, up with the truth, let its power bend the knee :
I am sent, I am sent, aiir". salvation is free. \
I fe.tr not old priestcraft, its dogmas can't awe:
I've a chart for to steer by, tliat tells me the law, —
And ne'er as a coward to falsehood I'll kneel,
\\'h le Mormon tells truth, or God's prophets reveal !
MORMON HYMNS. 39
Up, up with the truth, let its power touch the min'I,
And I'll warrant we'll soon leave the selfish behind.
Up, up with the truth, let its power bend the knee,
I am sent ! I am sent ! dying Bab' Ion to thee, —
I am sent ! I am sent ! take this warning and flee.
"The arm of the tyrant fell terror may spread,
Yet, tho' they oppose us, their strongholds we'll iroad ;
What to us is the scorn of the selfish and vain ?
We have borne it before, and we'll bear it again.
The fire-gleaming bolts of oppression may fall,
And kill off the body, death can't us appal !
AVith Heaven above us, and all Hell below,
Thro' the wide field of error, right onward we'll go!
Come on ! my brave comrades, now's the time you should speak,
The storm-fiend is roused from his long dreamy sleep.
Our watch-word, for safety in Zion, shall be,
I am sent ! T am sent ! dying Bab'lon to thee, —
I am sent ! I am sent ! take this warning and flee."
But the following, to the tune of " The rose that all are praising,"
is, perhaps, the most characteristic ; and with it we may conclude the
specimens of Mormon devotional poetry : —
"The God that others worship is not the God for me ;
He has no parts nor body, and cannot hear nor see !
But I've a God that lives above —
A God of Power and of Love —
A God of Revelation— oh, that's the God for me ;
Oh, that's the God for me ; oh, that's the God for me !
" A church without apostles is not the church for me ;
It's like a ship dismasted, afloat upon the sea ;
But I've a church that's always led
By the twelve stars round its head;
A church with good foundations — oh, that's the church for me ;
Oh, that's the church for me ; oh, that's the church for me !
"A church without a prophet is not the church for me ;
It has no head to lead it, in it I would not be ;
But I've a church not built by man.
Cut from the mountain without hands ;
A church with gifts and blessings — oh, that's the church for me ;
Oh, that's the church for me ; oh, that's the church for me !
" The hope that Gentiles cherish is not the hope for me ;
It has no hope for knowledge, far from it I would be ;
40 THE MORMONS.
But I've an hope that will not fail,
That reaches safe within the veil ;
Which hope is like an anchor— oh, that's the hope for me ;
Oh, that's the hope for me ; oh, that's the hope for me !
" The heaven of sectarians is not the heaven for me ;
So doubtful its location, neither on land nor sea ;
Jkit I've an heaven on the earth,
Tlie land and home that gave me birth ;
A heaven of light and knowledge — oh, that's the heaven for me ;
Oh, that's the heaven for me ; oh, that's the heaven for me I
* ' A church without a gathering is not the church for me ;
The Saviours would not order it, whatever it might be ;
But I've a church that's called out.
From false traditions, fear and doubt,
A gathering dispensation — oh, that's the church for me ;
Oh, that's the church for me ; oh, that's the church for me !"
The following summary of the Mormon creed is given in their own
periodicals, as the recognised " faith of the latter-day saints :" —
"We believe in God the eternal Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and in
the Holy Ghost.
"We believe that men will he punished for their own sins, and not for
Adam's transgressions.
"We believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind maybe
saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.
" We believe that these ordinances are: — 1st, Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. 2nd, Bepentance. 3rd, Baptism by immersion for the remission of
sins. 4th, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 5th, The
Lord's Supper.
" We believe that men must be called of God by inspiration, and by laying
on of liands by those who are duly commissioned to preach the Gospel, and
administer in the ordinances thereof.
" We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church,
viz., a])ostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, &c.
" We believe in the powers and gif s of the everlasting Gospel, viz., the
gift of faith, discerning of spirits, projjhec}', revelation, visions, healing, tongues
and the inter])retation of tongues, wisdom, charity, brotherly h)ve, &c.
" We believe in the Word of God recorded in the Bible ; we also believe the
Word of God recorded in the Book of Mormon, and in all other good books.
" We believe all that God has revealed ; all that he does now reveal ; and
we believe that he will yet reveal many more great and important things per-
taining to the Kingdom of God, and Messiah's second coming.
" We believe in the literal gathering of Israel, and in the restoration of
the ten tribes ; that Zion will be established upon the western continent ; that
CASTING our OF DEVILS. 41
Christ will reig-n personally upon the earth a thousand years ; and that the
earth will be renewed, and I'eceive its paradisaical glory.
" We believe in the literal resurrection of the body, and that the dead in
Christ will rise first, and that the rest of the dead live not aijain until the
thousand years are expired.
" We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty G-od according to the
dictates of our conscience unmolested, and allow all men the same privilege,
let tliem worship how or where they may.
*' We believe in being subject to kings, queens, presidents, rulers, and
magistrates, in obeying, honouring, and sustaining the law.
" We believe in being honest, true, chaste, temperate, benevolent, virtuous,
and upright, and in doing good to all men ; indeed, we may say that we fol-
low the admonition of Paul, we 'believe all things,' -we 'hope all things/ we
have endured very many things, and hope to be able to ' endure all things.'
Everytliing virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy, and of good report, we seek after,
looking forward to the ' recompense of reward.' "
The Mormons recognise two orders of priesthood, the " Aaronic"
and the " Melchisedek. " They are governed by a pro])het or ])resident,
twelve apostles, the " seventies," and a niunber of bishoi)S, high-
priests, deacons, elders, and teachers ; they assert, as will be seen from
the last hymn, and their Confession of Faith, that the gifts of prophecy
and the power of working miracles have not ceased ; that Jossph
Smith and manv other Mormons wj-ought miracles and cast out
devils ; that the end of the world is close at hand ; and that they
are the "saints" spoken of in the Apocalypse, whj will reign
with Christ in a temporal kingdom in this world. They assert,
also, in more precise terms than they employ in their printed
" Confession of Faith," that the seat of this kingdom is to be either
Missouri — the jolace oligiiially intended — or their present location of
the Great Salt Lake Valley of Deseret. They allege that their Book
of Mormon and the "Doctrine" and "Covenants" form the ftilness of
the Gospel ; that thev take nothiiig from the Old or the New Testa-
ment, both of which they complete. They seem, however, not to have
formed the same ideas of God which are promulgated in the Gospel,
but to acknowledge a material deity. This idea appears in the song or
hymn to the tune of " Ihe rose that all are ])raising," already quoted ;
but is stated more broadly in the Times and Seasons, and other works.
The following extract from the authorized documents, signed by
Orson Spencer, one of the apostles of the church, gives the views of the
sect upon this and other subjects: — "In some, and indeed in many
I'cspects, do we differ from some sectarian denominations. We believe
that God is a being who hath both body and parts, and also passions.
Also of the existence of the gifts, in the true church, spoken of in Paul's
42 THK 5I0I1M0NS.
letter to the Corinthinns. I do not believe tlint the career of Sacred
Scripture was closed with the Revelation of John, but that wherever
God has a true church, there he makes frequent revelations of his will ;
and as God takes cognizance of all things, both temporal and spiritual,
his revelations will pertain to ail things whereby his glory may be
promoted."
Joseph Smith is more explicit. The following passage occurs in
the Millennial Star, vol. vi., under the "prophet's" authority, and
signed with liis name : —
" What is God? He is a material organised intelligerce, possessing both
bod}' and parts. He is in the form of a man, and is, in fact, of the snme species,
and is a model or standard of perfection, to which man is destined to attain,
lie bcinif the Great Father and Head of the wliole family. This beinjr cannot
occnpy two distinct places at once, therefore he cannot be everywhere present.
" What are Angels? They are intelligences of the human species.
]\Iany of them are the offspring of Adam and Evi — of men, it is said, ' being
Gods, or sons of God, endowed with the same powers, attributes, and capaci-
ties, that their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ possess.'
" The weakest child of God, which now exists upon the earth, will pos-
sess more dominion, more property, more subjects, and more power and glory,
than is possessed ])y Jesus Christ or by his Father ; while, at the same time,
Jesus Christ and his Father will have their dominion, kingdom, and subjects,
increased in pwportion."*
Joseph Smith and his more immediate followers and disciples al-
ways laid claim to the power of working miracles. Many ludicrous
stories are told of the attempts made by Joseph and others, to get out
of difficulties with their own jieo[)le, after having promised too much
in this respect. These stories tire, of course, considered false and scan-
dalous by the Mormons. It is neither necessary nor desiralde to re-
jiroduce thern; but we may select, in preference, a specimen of their
* The following extracts from Latter- Day Sai?its' Caiechixm, or CJiild's Lai)di'r,hy
Elder David MoflaU, explain still more fully the ideas of the Mormons on thissulject : —
" 28. TFhat is God ?
He is a material intelligent personage, pos'jessing both body and parts.
29. Could he be a being wllJiout body and parts ?
No. Verily, no.
30. What form is he of ?
He is in the form of man, or rather man is in the form of God.
31. Where do you find these pmofs?
In the Scriptures of tlie Old and New Testament.
32. Can you piove, then, that man is in the form of God ?
Yes. Gen v,]. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.
33 Can you inmtion the parts of his body from the Scri/itures ?
Yes. Exo his, xx\iii. "22, 23. And I will cover thee with my hand ; and I will
take away my hand, and thou shall sec my back parts, but my face shad not be setn.
MORMON MIRACLES. 43.
** miracles," as recorded by themselves in their own publication, the
Millennial Star. It will answer the purpose ftir better tlian any state-
ment made by their opponents. In a letter addressed to Mr. Orson
JSpencer, and jmblished in x\\e. Millennial Star, for August 1, 1847, the
writer, a Mormon, who dates from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Eng-
land, after detailing the attempts made to ordain oneCurrell to the Mor-
mon {iriesthood, — attempts which were defeated by the devil, says —
" When we laid our hands upon him, the devil entered him, and
tried to prevent us from ordaining him ; but the [)Owerof Jesus Christ
in the holy priesthood was stronger than the devil, and after all the
endeavours of the powers of daikness to prevent us ; — in the name of
Jesus Christ, we ordained brother Richard Currell to the office of a
priest in the Ciiurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In conse-
quence of what had taken })lace, many came to our meeting in the
3t. Can you mention any morii parts of his body 7
Yes. Exodus, xxiv 10. And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under
his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone,
3o. Did ever any man speak face to face tviili God ?
Yes.
36. To whom did he speak ?
To Moses.
37. Can yon repeat it ?
Yes. Exodus, xxxiii. 1 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
speaketh to his fiiend.
38. As the God of FL avert possesses body and parts, doth he also possess passiojin ?
Yes. He eats, he drinks, he loves, he hates.
39. Where have you an account of his eating ?
^Vhen he appeared to his servant Abraham on the plains of Mamre. Genesis, xviii.
40. Did, Abraham know that the Lord desired to eat tvhen he appeared unto him ?
Yes. Genesis, xviii. 5. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your
hearis, for therefore are ye come to your servant.
41. Can i/on point out the object of his lore ?
Yes. Malachi.i. 2. Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith iheLord, yet I love Jacob.
42. IFIiiit were the tiiinys of his hatred?
The palaces of Jacob.
13. Can you prove it ?
les. Amos, vi. 8. The Lord hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord of Eo^ls, I
abhf>r the excellency of Jacob, ami hate his palace*.
44. Can this Being (GodJ occupy two distinct places at once?
No.
46. Can he move from planet to planet ivith facility and ease ?
Yes. Genesis, xi. 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and ihc tower
which ihe (hildren of men budded.
40. WitJi whom did the Lord converse ? /
With his servant Abraham.
47. Upon what things did they converse?
About the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
48. Doth the Lo'd also reason w'th men ?
Yes. Isaiah, i. IS. Come let us reason together, saith the Lord."
44 THE MOKMONS.
evening, and paid groat attention. Tiie scenes of the 20th of June will
long be remembered by us as a day of rejoicing in the glorious mani-
festation of the power of God, confirming the faith of the saints, and
spreading the sound of the Gospel further than we could have done it
in a long time.
"1 should inform you that when the devil found he was defeated
in brother C, he entered a sister. The devils kept coming in for seve-
ral hours. As fast as one lot were expelled, another lot entered ; at
one time we counted twenty-seven come out of her. When we rebuked
them, they would conie out, but as soon returned again. How M-as it
they could acknowledge the power, and yet would damn our power,
damn our Gospel, and tear and bite ? The sight was awful, but it has
done us all good. I may as well say that the devils told us they were
sent some by Cain, some by Kite, Judas, Kilo, Kelo, Kalmonia, and
Lucifer. Some of these, they informed us, were presidents over seven-
ties in hell. The last that came, previous to our going to prison,
told us he was Kilo, one of the presidents, and had six couiicillurs. We
cast them out thirty times, and had three hundred and nineteen devils,
from three to thirtv-seven coming out at a time. I shall feel obliged for
any instruction you can give me on this subject."
Anotlier scene of the casting out of devils, related by one Daniel
or Dan Jones, a Welsh Saint, dating from Mertliyr Tydvil, Jaimary
6th, 1849, is still more outrageous. Its recital in the words of the
])rincipal actor will amuse the reader who feeld inclined to laugh at the
extent of human folly, while it may sadden those who are more disposed
to grieve at and deplore the fanaticism, which defies the common
sense and common decency of mankind. The story occurs ia the
eleventh volume of the Millennial Star, j)ages 39 and 40 : —
"In the afternoon of the 2 1st of December, 1848, the j^ower of
God and also tlie Power of Darkness, showed a wide and marvellous
contrast. Whilst I was describing the beauties of Zion, together
with the importance of building up there a temple to the Most
High God, and the resulting consequences thereof to the Saints'
glory and the overthrow of Babylon, the Prince of Darkness thought
that I was getting to be too traitorous in the midst of his dominions.
He could not bear such good and powerful truths, so he sent a legion
of evil spirits into the hall at that time, as though he was deter-
mined with one grand rally to storm our little fortress, and demo-
lish our citadel with imjiunity. In five minutes after their arrival,
Avhich was seen by some, three females were possessed, and many more
nearly as bad. However, I perceived the enemy's design, and having
command of the ]>ost, I lost no time in returning him a heavy broad-
bide with the artilleries of heaven, by connnanding every evil spirit in
CAPTAIN DAN JONES AND THE DEVfLS. 45
the place to depart in the name of Jesus Christ, which was res=ponile(l
to by all the audience with such powerful Aniens ! that the neigh-
bours thought it thundered, and all the devils, except three, run away
in a fright ; and the echoes opened the windows of heaven, so that the
power of God was felt and seen by all others in the place, and some of
our worst persecutors, having come there with evil intent, confessed
that God was with us, and shouted Amen as loud as any. There were
hundreds of young Saints who had never witnessed the like, and who
were rather timid, which caused me to maintain the platform fur more
than an hour, to teach them the wiles of the devil, and to encourage
them to b^ brave in the power of God. In the meantime I had sent
some elders to those possessed, to rebuke the spirits, v.'ho were all
this time making the loudest noise with me and each other, calling
out — ' Old Captain have you come to trouble us? I) d old Cap-
tain, we will hold you a battle.' Many other expressions used would
be indecent to utter, and others useless, I suppose ; but some spoke
English through one that knew no English of herself, and revealed
many mysteries ; others spoke in tongues, praying for a reinforcement
of their kindred spirits, and chiding some dreadfully by name, such
as Borona, Menta, Philo, &c., for not obeying their man^lates with
greater alacrity and courage. The spirits left one of the three females
at the first rebuke, but the others cursed all the elders, calling many
by names with which the females were totally unacquainted. They
said they were at Carthage in the slaughter of the prophets ; we com-
pelled them to acknowledge the authority of the priesthood, loudly, to
the astonishment of all. They swore that they would not depart witiiout
* Old Brigham Young, from America, would come ; — that they would
have to obey him ; but that they held an office higher than any others. ' I
questioned one of them on that, ' whether hehad ever possessed any other
person in Wales ?' ' Yes, very many ! ' was the reply. I asked, ' Did
you ever leave oneunless compelled ?' He replied, * No ; nor will I go from
here either.' Then I rebuked him for tellino; a falsehood, inasmuch as
that Brigham Young had never visited Wales, and that he had better
business than to come and wait on such beings as him ; at which he
sneered and laughed, that echoed through the hall and alarmed many ;
at the same time, the streets were crowded with strangers and jiolice-
men, drawn there by tlie noise, and shortly the whole town was in an
uproar, like Ephesus of old. They derided us shamefully for our dis-
appointment in our expectation of the * Old Apostle to the Conference.'
But enough of this comedy ; I must hasten to more important subjects
lest I weary your ])atience, for I have nuich more to say ; I will only
add the sequel, which was asfollow3 : — Having understood that these
two females had been frequently possessed elsewhere, had the spirits
4C THE MORMONS.
rebuked out of tliGin as frequently by the power of the priesthood, and
again giving way to them, and living in transgression, I found out the
reason wliy the spirits assured us so often * tliat they had a right to
them, and tliat they (the females) h:id broken their covenant.' The
instructions of our beloved brother Hyde to me, ' to cut otF such after
the third offence,' came forcibly to my mind, the which, befoie I
uttered it, the evil spirits told loud enough to all, which, together with
many other instances which they gave vent to, prove, to a demonstra-
tion, that these spirits have a way of knowing one's mind. The spirits
said we could not cast them out, because some doubted in their minds ;
and one of them told me to my face, in a harsh voice, * You doubt
yourself;' which was too true, because that I saw the Lord had no
alternative under the circumstances, but either to turn a deaf ear to
our prayers, or disregard the council of Brother Hyde ; and I was
])rett3^ confident that he would do the former, though to our great an-
noyance and mortification for the time. I had not understood all about
these females at that time, or I would have chosen another and surer
metliod. The next thing I did was to close the meeting, and call the
elders together with the females (who were all this time biting, kicking,
and swearing, most awfully, and being held by men), and explain to
them the principle above alluded to ; and when I pro{)osed to cut the
females off" from the Church, all agreed to it ; and after laughing, de-
riding, and saying that that was what they w^anted, the spirits left them
both in less than five minutes ; so that the females recovered them-
selves, and went home without any inconvenience. On their way home
they were informed that they had been excommunicated, which they
had not previously understood, though done over their heads, and they
both wept bitterly.
** In that night's meeting our hall was more crowded than before,
if possible, and I took the liberty to show tlie cunning craft of the
devil ; to caution the Saints not to give a placeforevil spirits by trans-
gression, and made an examjjle of the foregoing, to prove to the world
that the very devils incarnate testified to the divinity of this Church and
Gospel, and that the evil sj)irits had given the ' Old Captain' sucb a
strong testimony and good recommendation as their inveterate foe. I
liad the satisfaction to know that even the devils, by this affair, had
done much good to the Saints and sinners, proving that ' all things
Work together for good to those that love the Lord ;' and this affair,
too! During all this time the spirit had led one of the females back,
though late, but the place was too crowded for her to get inside, and
lie kejit her running about the streets in front of our hall, shrieking,
cursing, barking, and howling the most hideous noises imaginable,
which at times ]'euetratcd the assembly, but failed to get inside, so
MORMON MIKACLES. 47
that we had a glorious meeting In despite of him and all his legions ;
and after speaking with my whole strength for seven hours and a half,
with but little cessation, I closed the meeting, and disbanded our noble
battalion, fully determined to be more valiant than ever."
The familiarity with which fanatics of all kinds speak of the Supreme
Being, was never more grossly displayed than In this recital. The
profanity of Mr. Dan Jones would be ludicrous, if it were not shocking,
when he asserts that he remonstrated for seven hours and a half with the
dtvils, and that he knew the Lord had no alternative but to act under
such and such clfcumstartces In such and such a manner. But such a
spectacle is, after all, more calculated to excite pity than Indig.iation.
From a mass of Instances cited by the Mormons, in proof of their
possession of the gift of miraculous healing, a very few will suffice. A
preacher of the name of Westwood, writing In the first number of the
eleventh volume of the Millennial Star, says : — " A woman in the Wes-
leyan comiexion, b^'' the name of Richardson, who has had a running
disease of the legs for soms years, heard me preach once ; she told her
friends she was sure I was a servant of the Lord, and such was her
faith, that If she could but touch me, she should be healed. She ob-
tained her desire, and Is healed of her disease. Still she has not obeved
the Gospel, but has turned round, persecuting those who would obey ;
and those who witness the miracle of healing, Imbibe the same spirit
as In the days of Christ, when they said, ' He casteth out devils by
Beelzebub, the prince of devils.' "
Another Mormon preacher of the name of Nibley, dating from Ilud-
dersiield, December 12th, 1848, says in the same publication : — " On
Sunday the 3rd of December, at three o'clock In the afternoon, I was
seized with cholera of a most virulent kind : bowel complaint, vomit-
ing, and cramp. In which 1 laboured in a most painful condition for
some time, until the elder was relieved from preaching at seven at night,
who, being called on then, came to my assistance, joined In prayer, and
then anointed me with oil, and when the brethren laid on hands, I was
immediately restored. On Sunday the 10th of December, Sister Mor-
rison was seized with the same complaint, whereupon I was called to
attend her. 1 administered the ordinance morning and night, and
she was also healed. Such is the way the Lord hath dealt with us."
But whether the patients upon whom the Mormons operate, recover
or die, it is equally a miracle in the estimation of the true believers, as
the following case, which occurred in Glasgow, exemplifies in an
amusing manner. A ])aragraph having a])peared in a Glasgow news-
paper under the date of February 2nd, 184^), stating that two young
girls, attacked with cholera, had died under the treatment of a Latter-
Diiy Saint and several assistant elders, the following explanation was
48 THE MOP.MONS.
offered on belialt of the Mormons. It is to be found, like the cases
ah-eady cited, in the eleventh volume of the Millennial Star: —
*' The two sisters (Mary and Elizabeth Murray) worked in a mill in
Govan. About four o'clock p.m., on the 15th of last month, Elizabeth
•was seized with the cholera while at work in the mill. She and her
sister Mary inunediately started for home. The afternoon was wet,
and the ])oor girl was soon almost perished with cold. They called at
several hou>es on the way, and asked for the privilege of a fire ; but
instead of granting their request; the inmates drove them into the
street, and shut their doors upon them. By the time they got to Bro-
ther Stewart's (which was directly on their way home), Elizabeth was
so overcome, she could go no farther. Here they were kindly taken in.
The sisters in the neighbourhood immediately gathered. The poor girl
was soon relieved of her wet clothes, and put into a warm bed. The
elders were sent for, and they came and anointed her with oil in tlie
name of the Lord Jesus, laid their hands upon her, and prayed the
Lord to make manifest his power in her behalf, and rescue her from,
the grasp of the destroyer. During the night, Mary was also seized
with tlie same disease, but was not laid in the same bed. They bore
their sufferings patiently for a short time, but soon they became weary
of suffering, and besought the elders present to lay their hands upon
them, and pray the Lord to take them to himself, for they had suffered
enough. The brethren did so. They were eased from pain, and went
off so calmly and quietly, that those around could hardly tell when the
last breath left the body.
" This case soon created quite a stir. The doctors were sharp set
after the affair, determined, in their holy zeal, to bring the whole mat-
ter before the authorities, and inflict the condign punishment upon
Elder Stewart, that all persons might hereafter take warning, and
suffer no one to leave the world without their assistance, that their
exodus from the stage of action might be scientifically attended to, and
heavy fees tliereby secured to themselves. It is truly a horrible affair for
a person in this enlightened age to call on the Lord instead of a doctor
— to put their trust in the arm of Jehovah, rather than the arm of flesh.
*' Brother Stewart was accordingly arrested, and brought before the
magistrates to answer to the charge of culpable homicide. He bore
himself nobly, faced his accusers boldly, preached the Gospel to them
in his defence, until they were ashamed of themselves, and were glad
to dismiss the matter."
But our readers will probably exclaim that they have had enough
of the Mormon mii-acles, and of" Mormon doctrine, at least for the ])re-
sent. We proceed to detail the personal history of the " prophet," and
the progress of the sect, from 1830 to the present time.
1:*^?:
The Mob iarring Joseph Smith.
CHAPTER III.
First Perskcutions of the Skct — Expi.ur\torv JrifRNEY to the Far West
— Establishment in Missouri — The Prothet "Iancheu" bythePopu-
LACE — Quarrels with the "Gentiles" — The New Zion — Persecu-
tions IN Missouri.
TiiK truth that no ahsurdity of fanaticism is too outrageous to attract
behevers, finds continual corroboration. The learned and tlie unlearned,
the rich and the poor, the trentie and the sinijtle, alike break through
the trammels of reason, and become the duj^es of religious impostors,
or of persons who are still more dangerous — the religious maniacs, who
strengthen their cause by their own conscientious belief in it. To
whichever of these two classes Joseph Smith is most properly con*
signable, it is certain that his doctrine was no sooner preached than
he began to make converts of the people around him. The idea of the
" Latter Days," or days immediately prior to the second coming oi
Christ to establish the Millemiium, is one that has a great hold upon
the imagination of large classes of persons. Joseph Smith worked upoii,
D
50 THE MORMONS.
this idea, niul every cartliquake recorded in the newspapers, every
new comet discovered, every falHng meteor that was observed, every
Avar and rumour of a war in Europe or America, every monstrous birth
among infierior animals, every great pubHc calamity, tempest, fire,
or explosion, was skilfully and pertinaciously adduced as a proof
and a warninir of the "Latter Davs." lie had two great ele-
inents of success in liis favour, sufficient novelty and unconquerable
]>erseverance. His doctrine was both old and new. It had suffi-
cient of the old to attract those who would have been rei^elled by
a creed entii'ely new, and it had sufficient of the new to rivet the
attention and inflame the imagination of those on whose minds an old
creed, however ably preached, would have fallen and taken no root.
Basing his doctrine ujion isolated passages of the Bible ; claiming
direct inspiration from the Almighty ; promising possession of the
earth, all temporal power and glory, and the blessing of Heaven upon
true believers ; and being gifted with a courage and audacity that
despised difficulty and danger ; Joseph Smith soon found himself the
recognised head of a small but increasing body of ardent disciples. On
the 1st of June, 1830, the first conference of the sect, as an organized
church, was held at Fayette, which })lace was for some time the
" pruijhet's " residence, and the head- quarters of the sect. The num-
bers of the believers, including the whole famil}'^ ot the Smiths, was
thirty. Even at this early period in the history of the sect, they met
considerable op2:>osition from the people. Joseph ordered the con-
struction of a dam across a stream of water, for the purpose of bap-
tizing his disciples. A mob collected, and broke it down, and u&td
language towards Joseph that was anything but flattering to him or
his followers, threatening him with violence and assassination, and
accusing him of robbery and swindling. He was nothing daunted,
however. With a rare tact, as well as courage, he broke the keen
edge of detraction, by confessing boldly that he had once led an im-
]»rop3r and immoral life ; but, unworthy as he was, "the Lord had
chosen him- haii forgiven him all his sins, and intended, in his own
inscrutable purjjoses, to make him — weak and erring as he might have
]»eeu— the instrument of his glory." Unlettered and comparatively
ignorant he acknowledged himself to be ; but then — was not St. Peter
illiterate ? Were not St. John, and the other apostles of Christ, men of
low birth and mean position, before they were called to the ministry ?
And wliat had been done before, might it not be done again, if God
Avilled it ? By arguments like these, he strengthened the faith of those
inclined to believe in the divinity of his mission, and foiled the logic
(»f his opponents. But the more difficult that it became for the
preachers of rival seots t) meet hi:n on Scriptural grounds, and to dis-
EXPEDITION TO MISSOURI.
51
prove Ills pretensions, either by his unworthiness as a man— which he
owned, or his incom{)etency as a scholar — which he as freely ad-
mitted, the more virulent became their animosity ; until, at last, the
family of the Smiths, father and brothers, who all joined in the
scheme of Joseph for founding a new religion, removed fi'om Palmyra
and Fayetteville to Kirtland in Ohio. The attention of the little band
was directed, from the very commencement of their organization, to
the policy and expediency of fixing their head-quarters in the Far
West, in the thinly-settled and but partially explored territories be-
longing to the United States, where they might squat upon, or pur-
chase good lands at a cheap rate, and cle ir the primeval wilderness.
They required "elbow room," and rightly judged that a rural popu-
Cineinnati.
lation would be more avourable than an urban one to the reception of
their doctrine. Oliver Cowdery having been sent on an exploratory
expedition, reported so favourably of the beauty, fertility, and cheap-
ness of the land in Jackson County, Missouri, that Joseidi Smith, after
remaining but a few weeks in Kirtland, determined to visit this land
of promise himself. Leaving his family and principal connections in
Kirtland, he proceeded with Sidney Rigdon and some others upon a
long and arduous journey to the wilderness, to hx upon a site for the
" ^'ew Jerusalem ;" tiie future city of Christ, where the Lord was to
reign over the Saints as a temporal king in " power and great glory.
They started about the middle of June, travelling by waggons or
sJif
%
5*2 THE MOllMOXS.
canal boats, and sometimes on foot, as far as Cincinnati. From this
])iaee, they i)rocceilcd by steamer to Louisville and St. Louis. At the
last mentioned villa<^e all iurther means of transport failed them,
and they walked a distance of three hundred miles to Lidependence,
in Jackson County, Missouri, the seat of the promised inheritance of
the Saints. They arrived at their destination foot-sore and weary, in
the middle of July. Joseph was in raptures with the beauty of the
country, and his delight broke out into the following description, which
occurs in his Autobiography, published in the Times and Seasons : —
" Unlike the timbered states in the east, except upon the rivers and
water-courses, which were verdantly dotted with trees from one to
three miles wide, as far as the eve can glance, the beautiful rolling
jirairies lay spread around hke a sea of meadows. The timber is a
mixture of oak, hickory, black walnut, elm, cherry, honey locus, mul-
berry, coffee bean, hackberry, box, elder, and bass wood, together with
the addition of cotton wood, button wood, pecon — soft and hard maples
upon the bottoms. The shrubbery was beautiful, and consisted in
jjart of plums, grapes, crab apples, and parsinnnons. The prairies
were decorated with a growth of flowers that seemed as gorgeous and
grand as the brilliancy of the stars in the heavens, and exceed de-
scription. The soil is rich and fertile, from three to ten feet deep,
and generally composed of a rich, black mould, intermingled with clay
and sand. It produces in abundance wheat, corn, and many other
commodities, together with sweet potatoes and cotton. Horses,
cattle, and hogs, though of an inferior breed, are tolerably plenty, and
seem nearly to raise themselves by grazing in the vast prairie range
in summer, and feeding upon the bottoms in winter. The wild game
is less plenty where man has commenced the cultivation of the soil,
than it is a little distance further in the wild prairies. Buffalo, elk,
deer, bears, wolves, beaver, and many lesser animals, roam at pleasure.
Turkies, geese, swans, duck — yea, a variety of the feathered race, are
among the rich abundance that graces the delightful regions of this
goodly land of the heritage of the children of God. Nothing is more
fruitful, or a richer stockholder in the blooming prairies, than the
honey bee ; honey is but about twenty-five cents per gallon.
" The season is mild and delightful nearly three quarters of the
year, and as the land of Zion is situated at about equal distances from
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as well as from the Alleghany and
Kocky Mountains, in the thirty-ninth degree of north latitude, and
between the tenth and twentieth degrees of west longitude, it bids fair
to become one of the most blessed places on the globe.''
The longer he stayed in Missouri, the more delighted he was with
the " location" fixed upon lor the Saints ; and that there might be no
FlHSr KSTABLISHMKNT IN MlSSOURf. 53
difference of opinion upon tlie subject in the church, he had a direct
"revehition" from the Almighty upon the subject ; estabhshing it as
the future Ziun, and setting forth his views rehitive to the organiza-
tion of the church, the building of a temjde, the allotment of lands,
and the means of hving of the })eople. So early in his career did this
remarkable man begin to exercise authority over his followers, so bold
and daring were his designs, and so confident was he in himself
This extraordinary document ran as follows : —
" Hearken, 0 ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, who have
assembled yourselves together, according to my commandments, in this land
which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints ;
wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place fov the city of Zion.
.Vnd thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom, here is wis-
tlom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence, is the centre
])lace, and a spot for the temple is lying westward, upon a lot which is not
far from the court-house : wherefore it is wisdom that the land should be
purchased by the Saints ; and also every tract lying westward, even unto the
line rumiing directly between Jew and Gentile. And also every tract bordcr-
inof by the prairies, inasmuch as my disciples are enabled to buy lands,
liehold, this is wisdom, that they may obtain it for an everlasting inheritance.
"And let my servant, Sidney Gilbert, stand in the office wdiich 1 have
appointed him, to receive moneys, to be an agent unto the church, to buy
land in all the regions round about, inasmuch as can be in righteousness,
and as wisdom shall direct.
" And let my servant, Edward Partridge, stand in the office which I have
appointed him, to divide the Saints their inheritance, even as I have com-
manded ; and also those whom he has appointed to assist him.
"And, again, verily I say unto you, let my servant, Sidney Gilbert, plant
himself in this place, and establish a store, that he may sell goods without
fraud; that he may obtain "Inoney to buy lands for the good of the Saints;
and that he may obtain whatsoever things the disciples may need to plant
them in inheritance. And also let my servant, Sidney Gilbert, obtain a
licence that he may send goods also unto the people, even by Avhom he will,
as clerks employed in his service, and thus provide for my Saints, that my
Gospel may be preached unto those who sit in darkness, and in the region
and shadow of death.
" And, again, verily I say unto you, let my servant, William W. Phelps,
be ])lanted in this place, and be established as a printer unto the church ;
and lo ! if the world receiveth his writings, let him obtain whatsoever he can
obtain in righteousness, for the good of the Saints. And let my servant
Oliver Cowdery, assist him, even as I have commanded, in whatsoever place
I shall appoint unto him, to copy, and to correct, and select, that all things
may be right before me, as it shall be proved by the Spirit through him.
And thus let those of whom I have spoken to be planted in the land of Zion, and
speedily as can be, with their families, to do those things even as I have spoken.
54
TIJE MORMONS.
"And now, concerning the ji-athcring. Let tlie bishop and tlie agent
m:ike preparations for those fimiilies which have been commanded to come to
tliis land, as soon as possible, and plant them in thtir inheritance. And
nnto the residue of both elders and members, further directions shall be given
hereafter. Even so. Amen."
Josei-'h Smith preachi.ig in the Wilderness.
On the first Sunday aftertlieirarrival, Joseph preached in tlie wilder-
ness to a crowd of Indians, squatters, and, as he hitnself records, " to
quite a respectable company of negroes." He made a few converts,
and had anotiier revelation from the Lord, to the effect that an ano-el
should be appointed to receive n:oney, and that Martin Harris should
" be an example to the chureli in laying his moneys before the bishops
JOSKPII ESTABLISHES A BANK. 55
of the cliurch. I ask that lands should be purchased for the place of
the storehouse, and also for the house of the printing." On the -hd of
August, after a sojourn of less tlian three weeks, the spot fur the
tem[)le was solemnly laid out, and dedicated to the Lord ; and Joseph
in a day or two afterwards, having completed all his arrangements,
established a bishop, and acquired, as he thought, a firm footing for
his sect in this remote but lovely and fertile spot, prepared to return
into Ohio, to look after his business in Kirtland. He was accompa-
nied by ten elders of the church. " We started down the river," savs
Joseph in his Autobiography, " In sixteen canoes, and went the first
day as far as Fort Osage, where we had a wild turkey for supper.
Nothing very important occurred until the third day, when many of
the dangers so common upon the western waters manifested them-
selves ; and after we had encamped upon the bank of the river,
Brother Phelps, in open vision by daylight, saw the destroyer (the
Devil) ride upon the waters. Others," he adds, "heard the noise,
but saw not the vision." They arrived safely at Kirtland, after a
journey of twenty- four days. Some dispute, of which the nature is
not clearly known, appears to have arisen between Joseph and his
friend Sidney Rigdon before their return. It is probable, from the
course of subsequent events, that Sidney, even at this time, aspired to
greater power in the church than suited the purposes of the " pru-
})het ;" but whatever the disagreement was, Joseph thought fit to
rebuke his chief disciple by a revelation from heaven, in which he
accused him of "being exalted in his heart, and despising the counsel
of the Lord." They afterwards became reconciled, and in partnership
or conjunction of some kind, and by the aid of other members and
elders of the church, they established a mill and a store in Kirtland,
and set up a bank. Joseph appointed himself its president, and en-
trusted Sidney Rigdon with the oflice of cashier. To Kinhm*', they
gave the name of a " stake," or support of Zion, intending to remain
there for at least five years, " and make money," until the wilderness
was cleared and tlie temple built in Zion.
From this time until January, IS:V2, Joseph continued preaching
in various parts ol" the United States, making converts with great
rapidity, lie found it necessary, however, to check the presumption
of some new and indiscreet converts who also had revelations from the
Lord, which they endeavoured to palm ofi" upon the public, asserting
that they were quite as good as those of the prophet. Among others^
one Mr. E. Maclellan was rebuked, " This Maclellan," says Joseph,
" as a wise man in his own estimation, and having more learning than
sense, endeavouied to write a commandment like unto one of the least
of the Lord's, but failed. It was an awful responsibility to write in
60 THE MORMONS.
the name of tlie l.orcl. The elders and all present, who witnessed the
vain attempt of this man to imitate the lanoruage of the Lord Jesus
Christ, renewed their faitli in the revelation which the Lord had given
throutrli my instrumentality." Joseph, at the same time, was obliged
to comhat some charges which were brought against his character by
one Ezra Booth, formerly in liis council, and whom he denounced as
an apostate, and as a man who, by the exposure of his own wicked-
ness and folly, had left himself "a monument of shame for the whole
Avofld to wonder at.'' His strange doctrines, and these charges against
liis character, brought forward by men who had once been in his
confidence, united to the hatred with which other fanatics more
violent than himself regarded his preaching, created much ill-feeling
against him. On the :25th of Januarv, being then resident at a
village called "Hiram," he was dragged out of his bed at midnight,
from the side of his wife, '* by a mob of Methodists, Baptists, Camp-
bellites," and miscellaneous ruffians, who stripped him naked and
tarred and feathered him. Sidney Rigdon was similarly treated by
the same law^less and cowardly assemblage.
The following account of this outrage, the first of a long series, was
given by Josej)li some years afterwards : —
" x\ccording to previous calculations, we now began to make pre-
parations to visit the brethren, 'who had removed to the land of Mis-
souri. Before going to Hiram to live with Father Johnson, my wife had
taken two children (twins) of John Murdock to bring up. She received
them when only nine days old, and tliey were now nearl}'' eleven
months. I would remark that nothing important had occurred since
T came to reside in Father J ohnson's house in Hiram. I had held meet-
ings on the Sabbaths and evenings, and baptized a number, Father
Johnson's son, Olmsted Johnson, came home on a visit, during which
I told him that if he did not obey the Gos]iel, the spirit he was of
would lead him to destruction ; and then he went away. He would
never return to see his father again. He went to the Southern States
and Mexico; on his return, took sick, and died in Virginia. Li addi-
tion to the apostate Booth, Simmonds Rider, Eli Johnson, Edward
Johnson, and John Johnson, junior, had apostatized.
*' On the 2otli of March, the twins before mentioned, which had
been sick of tlie measles for some time, caused us to be broke of our
rest in taking care of theni, esj)ecially my wife, hi the evening, I told
her she had better retire to rest with one of the children, and I would
watch with the sickest child. Li the nisrht, she told me I had better
lay down on the trundle-bed, and I did so, and was soon after awoke
by her screaming murder ! when I found myself going out of the door
in the hands of about a dozen men ; some of whose hands were in my
OUTMAGE ON THE " TROPHET. 57
liair, and some had liold of my shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of
the trundle-hed was towards the door, leaving only room enougli fortiie
door to swing. My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows,
which she tlien took no particular notice of (but which was unques-
tionably designed to ascertain whether we were all asleep), and soon
after the mob burst open the door, and surrounded the bed in an in-
stant, and, as I said, the first I knew, I was going out of the door
in the hands of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate struggle, as
I was forced out, to extricate myself, but only cleared one leg, with
which I made a pass at one man, and he fell on the door- steps. I
was immediately confined again ; and they swore by God they would
kill me if 1 did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed
around the house with me, the fellow that I kicked came to me, a!id
thrust his hand into my face all covered with blood (for I hit him on
the nose), and with an exulting horse laugh muttered : ' Ge, Gee^
God d n ye, I'll fix ye.'
" They then seized my throat, and held on till I lost my breath.
After I came to, as they passed along with me, about thirty rods
from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on the ground,
whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed he was
dead.
" I began to plead with tliem, saying : ' You will have mere}'', and
spare my life, I hope ! ' To which they replied, ' God d n ye, call
on your God for help, we'll show you no mercy ;' and the people began
to show themselves in every direction : one coming from the orchard
had a j^lank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry me oif on
the plank. They then turned to the right, and went on about thirty
rods further, about sixty rods from the house, and thirty from where [
saw Elder Rigdcn, into the meadow, where they stopfied; and one said,
'Simmonds, Simmonds' (meaning, I suppose, Simmonds Rider), 'pull
up his drawers, pull up his drawers, he will take cold.' Another re-
plied, ^A 'tit ye going to kill him ? ant ye going to kill him V when a group
ofmobbers collected alittle way oif, and said, ' Simmonds, Simmonds,
come here ;' and Simmonds charged those who had hold of me to keep
me fi'om touching the ground (as they had done all the time), lest I
should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council,
and as I could occasionally overhear a word, I suj)])osed it was to
know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after a
while, when I learned th.at they liad concluded not to kill me, but
pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave
me naked. One cried, ' Simmonds, Simmonds, ivhere'e the tar
bucket?' 'I don't know,' answered one, ^ where 'tis Eli's left i/.'
They ran back, and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed,
58 TIIK MORMONS.
Ood d n it, let us tar up his mouth ;' and tlioy tried to force the tar-
jtaddle into niv moutli ; I twisted my head around, so tliat they could
not ; and tliey cried out : * God d n ye, hold up your head, and let us
give ye some tar.' They then tried to force a phial into my mouth, and
broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn oiF me except my
shirt collar ; and one man fell on me and scratched my body with his
nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out : ' God d n ye, thafs
the nay the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'
*' They then left me and I attempted to rise, but fell again ; I
pulled the tar away from my lips, &c., so that I could breathe more
freely, and after a while I bei^an to recover, and raised myself up,
when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of them, and
found it was Father Johnson^s. When I had come to the door I was
naked, and the tar made me look as though I had been covered with
blood ; and when my \rife saw me, she thought I was all smashed to
pieces, and fainted. During the affray abroad, the sisters of the neigh-
bourhood had collected at my room. I called for a blanket ; they threw
me one, and shut the dooi* ; I wrapped it around me and went in.
" In the meantime, Brother John Poorman heard an outcry across
the cornfield, and running that way met Father Johnson, who had
been fastened in his house at the commencement of the assault, by
having his door barred by the mob ; but, on calling to his w^ife to bring
his gun, saying he would blow a hole through the door, the mob fled,
and Father Johnson seizing a club, ran after the party that had Elder
Rigdon, and knocked one man down, and raised his club to level
another, exclaiming, ' What are youdovig htreV They then left Elder
Rigdon and turned upon Father Johnson, who, turning to run towards
Ins own house, met Brother Poorman coming out of the cornfield ; each
supposing the other to be a mobber, an encounter ensued, and Poor-
man gave Johnson a severe blow oil the left shoulder with a stick or
stone, which brought him to the ground. Poorman ran immediately
towards Father Johnson's, and arriving wdiile I was waiting for the
blanket, exclaimed, ' I'm afraid I've killed him.' 'Killed who?' asked
one; wdien Poorman hastily related the circumstances of the rencounter
near the cornfield, and went into the shed and hid himself. Father
Johnson soon recovered, so as to come to the house, when the whole mys-
tery was quickly solved concerning the difficulty between him and Poor-
man, who, on learning the facts, joyfully came from his hiding-place.
" My friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar,
and washing and cleansing my body; so that by morning, I was
ready to be clothed again. This being Sabbath morning, the peo})le
as.sembled for meeting at the usual hour of worshij), and among those
came also the mobbers; viz., Simmonds Rider, a Can)pbellite preacher.
DEPARTURE FOR MISSOURI.
50
and leader of the mob ; one McClsntic, son of a Camphellite minister ;
and Pelatiah Allen, Esq., who gave the mob a barrel of whiskey to
raise their spirits ; and many others. With my flesh all scarified and
defaced, I preached to the congregation as usual, and in the afternoon
of the same day bajHized three individuals.
" The next morning I w^nt to see Elder Rigdon, and found him
crazy, and his head highly inflamed, for they had dragged him by his
heels, and those, too, so high from the earth he could not raise his
head from the rough frozen surface, which lacerated it exceedingly ;
and when he saw me he called to his wife to bring him his razor.
She asked him what he wanted of it ? and he replied to kill me. Sis-
ter Rigdon left the room, and he asked me to bring his razor ; I asked
him what he wanted of it ? and he replied he wanted to kill his wife ;
and he continued delirious some days. The feathers which were used
■with the taron this occasion, tlie mob took outof Elder Rigdon's house.
After they had seized him, and dragged him out, one of the banditti
returned to get some pillows; v/hen the women shut him in, and kept
him some time."
Joseph, after this cruel treatment, thought it high time to absent
himself for a little, and on the 2nd of April he started, in company with
some of his adherents, for Missouri, "to fulfilthe revelation." Although
he left secretly, his inhuman persecutors received notice of his design,
and tracked him for several hundred miles, until he arrived at Louisville,
where he was sheltered and protected from his assailants by the captain
-ii^z^ -i 'aJSTtirras
■'if " '■
iixiid^^
^
^
Louisville.
()0 THE MOllMONS.
of a steam-l)oat. Tie arrived at ** Zion," or Independence, on the 20th,
where he was entliusinstically received by a large congrcgcation of
thriving "Saints," and solemnly acknowledged as prophet and
seer, and president of the higli priesthood of the church. He found
that in his absence, but in obedience to a revelation wliicii he had
given, a printing-press had been procured, and a monthly newspaper
or magazine established by W. W. Phelps, the " printer to the church,"
under the title of the Evening and Morning Star, A weekly paper
was also planned and established, called the Upper Missouri Advertiser.
l)i)th of these journals were exclusively devoted to the interests of
Mormonism, which by this time numbered between 2,000 and 3,000
disciples, principally in Missouri. The number of the Saints in Kirt-
land, including women and children, was but one hundred and fifty.
Joseph, however, had his mill, his store, and his farm to look
after at Kirtland ; and although, while in that town, he lived among
enemies, it was necessary that he should return to it. He therefore
left Zion, with the full confidence that all was going on prosperously.
In Januar\% 1833, while attending to his worldly business, a schism
broke out in " Zion " itself, which threatened, and, in combination
with other circumstances, ultimately produced, the greatest calami-
ties, and led to the violent expulsion of the Mormons from the whole
State of Missouri. The manner in which the Mormons behaved in
their " Zion " was not calculated to make friends. The superiority
they assumed gave offence, and the rumours that were spread by
their opponents, as well as by some false friends, who had been
tnrned out of the church for misconduct, excited against them an intense
feeling of alarm and hatred. They were accused of Communism, and
not simply of a community of goods and chattels, but of wives. Both
these charges were utterly unfounded ; but they were renewed from
day to day, and found constant believers, in spite of denials and refu-
tations on the part of the Mormons. Joined to the odium unjustly
cast upon them for these reasons, they talked so imprudently of their
determination to possess the whole State of Missouri, and to suffer no
one to live in it who would not conform to their faith, that a party
was .secretly formed against them, of which the object was nothing
less than their total and immediate expulsion from their promised
" Zion." In a letter to Mr. Phelps, the editor of the Mormon paper —
the Morning and Evening Star, dated from Kirtland Mill, Joseph
threatened the vengeance of God upon all the schismatics of " Zion."
*' I say to you (and what I say to you 1 say to all), hear the Avarning
voice of God, lest Zion fall, and the Lord swear in his wrath the in-
habitants of Zion shall not enter into my rest. The brethren in Kirt-
land pray for you unceasingly ; for, knowing the terrors of the Lord,
NEW REVELATIONS. 01
they greatly fear for you." Some of tlie Missouri Saints, it appeared,
liad accui^ed Joseph Smith of aiming at " monarchical power and au-
thority ;" and two of the high priests, in a letter written at the time
in support of the rebuke of the prophet to these "rebels," speak of
"low, dark, and blind insinuations against Joseph's character and in-
tentions.''
^Vhatever Josepli's views in this respect may have been, he found
it necessary to take the sting out of this accusation, by associating
with him in the supreme government of the church his old colleague,
Sidney Rigdon, and another Saint named Williams. As usual, when any
great movement was to be made, he had a "revelation." Under the date
of the 8th of March, 1833, the Lord is rejn-esented as dechu-ing that
the sins of Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. WilHams were forgiven,
and "" that they were henceforth to be accounted as equal with Joseph
Smilh, jun., in holding the keys of his last kingdom." As it appears
that Sidney Rigdon was too ambitious of power to be safely trusted
among the Saints of Missouri, he was commanded by this revelation
to remain in Kirtland. The bishop was also ordered by the same
authority to " search diligently for an agent," who was to be " a man
who had got riches in store — a man of God and of strong faith, that
thereby he might be enabled to discharge every debt, that the store-
house of the Lord might not be brought into disrepute before the
people." Joseph also condescended to forgive the rebellions of Zion.
*' Behold, I say unto you," said the revelation, " your brethren in Zion
begin to repent, and the angels rejoice over them. Nevertheless, I am
not well pleased with many things, and I am not well pleased Avith
my servant William E. Maclellan, neither with my servant Sidney
Gilbert, and the bishop also ; and others have many things to iej)ent
of. But verily I say unto you, that I the Lord will contend with Zion,
and plead with her strong ones, and chasten her, untd she overcomes
and is clean before me, for she shall not be rejnoved out of her place.
I the Lord have spoken it. Amen." On the same day Jose}»li '"laid
his hands on Brothers Sidney and Frederick, and ordained them to
take part with him in holding the keys of the last kingdom, and to
assist in the presidency of the high priesthood as his councillors. After
which he exhorted the brethren to faithfulness and diligence in keep-
ing the commandments of God ; and gave much instruction for the
benefit of the Saints, with a promise that the i)ure in heart should see
a heavenly vision, and after remaining a short time in secret prayer,
the promise was verified. He then blessed the bread and wine, and
distributed a portion to each, after which many of" the brethren saw a
heavenly vision of the Saviour and concourses of angels, and many
other things."
G-2 THE MORMONS.
But althou<^h the dissensions in the church were apparently healed
by the judicious step thus taken, the old settlers of Missouri caused
Joseph much alarm by the daily increasing hostility they expressed
asrainst the ^vhole sect.
" In the month of April," says Joseph in his Autobiography, " the
first regular mob rushed together, in Independence (Zion), to consult
upon a })lan for the removal, or immediate destruction, of the church
in Jackson county. The number of the mob was about three hundred.
A few of the first elders met in secret, and prayed to Him who said
to the wind, ' Be still,' to frustrate them in their wicked design. They
tiierefore, after spending the day in a fruitless endeavour to unite upon
a general scheme for ' moving the Mormons out of their diggings,' as
they asserted, and becoming a little the worse for liquor, broke up
in a regular Missouri 'row,' showing a determined resolution that
every man would ' carry his own head.' "
The Mormon paper of June, 1833, published an article entitled
'' Free people of colour," which roused against the sect the hostility of
the whole pro-slavery party — then, as now, peculiarly sensitive upon the
question of Abolition. The anti-Mormon press contained at the same
time an article entitled, " Beware of false prophets," written by a per-
son whom Joseph called " a black rod in the hand of Satan." This
article was distributed from house to house in Independence and its
neighbourhood, and contained many false charges against Smith and
his associates, reiterating the calumny about the community of goods
and wives. The Mormons were insulted and sometimes beaten in the
streets and highways, and quarrels and fights were of frequent occur-
rence. In the beginning of April, a meeting oi three hundred people,
enemies of the Mormons, was held in Independence, or " Zion," itself, at
which the resolution referred to by Joseph, '* that the Mormons should
be removed out of their diggjings," was unanimously passed. After the
jtublication of these two articles, other meetings were held in various parts
of Jackson county, at which still more violent resolutions were agreed to.
A general meeting of the citizens of J ackson county , expressly convened,
Jis the requisition stated, *' for the purpose of adoi)ting measures to
rid themselves of the sect of fanatics called Mormons," was held on
the 20th of July. Between four and five hundred people attended
from every part of the county, and an address to the public was agreed
upon. The address stated that little more than two years previously,
*' some two or three of these peoj)le made their appearance in Missouri ;
that they now numbered upwards of 1,200 ; that each successive
autumn and spring poured forth a new swarm of them into the
country, as if the places from which they came were flooding Missouri
with the very dregs of their composition ; that they were but little
TKOUBLES IN MISSOURI. G-)
above the condition of the blacks in regard to j»roperty and education ;
and that, in addition to other causes of scandal and offence, they
exercised a corrupting influence over the slaves." The sanguine boast
and sincere belief of the Mormons, that the whole country of Missouri
was their destined inheritance, and that all the " Gentiles," or unbe-
lievers in Joseph Smith, were to be cut off in the Lord's good time,
was not forgotten. The address concluded —
" Of their pretended revelations from heaven — their personal intercourse
with God and his angels — the maladies they pretend to heal by the laying on
of hands — and the contemptible gil)berish with which they habitually profime
the Sabbath, and which they dignify with the appellation of unknown tongues,
we have nothing to say : vengeance belongs to God alone. But as to the
other matters set forth in this paper, we feel called on, by every consideration
of self-preservation, good societ}-, public morals, and the fair prospects that,
if they are not blasted in the germ, await this young and beautiful country, at
once to declare, and we do hereby most solemnly declare —
" That no Mormon shall in future move and settle in this country.
" That those now licre, who shall give a definite pledge of their intention
within a reasonable time to remove out of the country, shall be allowed to re-
main unmolested until they have sufKcient time to sell their jH'operty and
close their business without any material sacrifice.
That the editor of the Star be required forthwith to close his office, and
discontinue the business of printing in this country ; and, as to all other
stores and shops belonging to the sect, their owners must in every case com-
ply with the terms of the second article of this declaration, and upon failure
prompt and efficient measures will be taken to close the same.
"That the Mormon leaders here, are required to use tlieir influence in
preventing any further emigration of their distant brethren to this country, and
to counsel and advise their brethren here to comply with theiibove requisitions.
*' That those who fail to comply with these requisitions be referred to
those of their brethren who have the gifts of divination and of unknown
tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them."
This sarcastic, hut very earnest and emphatic address, was.
unanimously adopted. The meeting adjourned for two hours, and a
de|)Utation waited upon Mr. Phelps, the Mormon editor, upon Mr.
Partridge, the hishop, and upon the keeper of the Mormon store, and
urged U])on them the expediency of com})lying with these terms. The
de])utation reported to the meeting that they could not procure any
. direct answer, and that the Mormons wished an unreasonable time for
consultation upon the matter, not only among themselves in Inde-
pendence, but with Joseph Smith, their proj)het, in Kirtland. It was
therefore resolved nern. con., that the /Star printing-ofhce should be
immediately razed to the groimd, and the types and piesses secured.
64 THE MORMONS.
*' This resolution," said the anti-Mormons, in an account of the occur-
rence pubh.shed under their authority, " was, with the utmost order,
and the least noise and disturbance possible, forthwith carried into
execution, as aho some other steps of a similar tendency, but no blood
was spilled, nor any blows inflicted." The meetino tlieu adjourned
for three days, to <iive the ]\Iormons an op])ortutnty of considering
what their fate was likely to be in case they should ultimately refuse
to leave the country.
The " other steps of a similar tendency," alluded to in this ex-
tract, appear to have been the tarring and feathering of two Mormons.
Phelps, the editor, managed to escape from the mob, but Partridge,
the Mormon bishop, and another Saint named Allen, were not so for-
tunate. These two w^ere seized, according to the established backwooc
or Lynch fashion, stripped naked, tarred, and feathered, and set loose.
The Lieutenant-Governor of the State of Missouri, Lilburn W. Bogga
— a man who from thenceforward appears to have pursued the Mor-
mons with unrelenting hostility — was in the immediate neighbourhood
of the riot, but declined to take any part in preserving the peace.
Joseph Smith afterwards stated that he actually looked on, and aided
the movement, saying to the Mormons, " You know what w^e Jackson
boys can do. You nmst all leave the country." A Presbyterian
]»reacher is also reported to have declared from the puljiit that " the
^Mormons Avere the common enemies of mankind, and ought to be de-
stroyed." On the morning of the 23rd of July, the meeting again
assembled. It was composed of several hundred persons, well armed,
and bearino; the red flaj; in sign of vengeance. Thev declared their
intention of driving: the whole sect forciblv out of Missouri, if thev
would not depart peaceably. The Mormons saw that it was useless to
resist, and their leaders agreed, if time were given, that the people
should remove westward into the wilderness. It was arranged, and an
agreement was duly signed to that effect, that one half of the Mormons,
with their wives and families, should depart by the Jst of January, and
the other half by the 1st of April next ensuing ; that the paper should
be discontinued ; and that no more Mormons should be allowed to come
into the country in the interval. The opposite paity pledged them-
selves that no violence should be done to any Mormon, provided these
conditions were comjjlied with.
In these distressing and ])erilous circumstances, Oliver Cowdery
was des{)atched to Kirtland with a message to the " Proi)hct." Un
his arrival, it was resolved in solenni conclave, Joseph him«elf pre-
siding, that the Morning and Evening Star should be ]>ublished in
Kirtland, and that a new paper, to be called the Latier-Day Saints'
Messenrjer and Advocate, should be forthwith started. It was also re»
TROUBLES IN MISSOURI. 65
solved to appeal for protection to Mr. Dunklin, the governor of the State
of Missouri, and todemand justice fortheoutrao;es inflicted upon the sect.
Joseph himself did not venture into " Zion,"in the dangerous circum-
stances of his people, but undertook a journey to Canada with Sidney
Rigdon and another, where they made some converts. In the mean-
time, Governor Dunklin wrote a sensible and conciliatory letter in reply
to the Mormon petition, in which he stated that the attack upon them
was illegal and unjustifiable, and recommended them to remain where
they were, and to apply for redress to the ordinary tribunals of
the country. This letter was widely circulated, and the Mormons,
upon the strength of it, resolved to remain in Missouri, and '* pro-
ceed with the building up of Zion." They commenced actions
against the ringleaders of the mob, and engaged, for a fee of 1,000
dollars, the best legal assistance they could procure to support
their case. But on the 30tli of October, the mob was once again in
arms to expel them. Ten houses of the '* Saints" were unroofed
and partially demolished at a place called Big Blue ; and on the
following days several houses were sacked at Independence. The
Mormons, in some instances, defended their property, and a regular
battle ultimately ensued between thirty of the Saints, armed with
rifles, and a large company of their opponents, also well armed. In
this encounter two of the anti-Mormons were killed. Things at last
assumed so alarming an aspect, that the militia, under the command of
Lieutenant-Governor Boggs, was called out. The militia, however, Avas
anti-Mormon to a man, and the unhappy Saints saw that they had
no alternative but in flight. The blood that had been shed had caused
such an exasperation against them, that it was unsafe for a solitary
Mormon to show himself in the towns or villages. The women first
took the alarm, and fled, with their children, across the Missouri
river.
" On Thursday, Nov. 7th," says the account in the Times and Sea-
sons, ** the shore began to be lined on both sides of the ferry with men,
women, and children, goods, waggons, boxes, chests,'provisions ; while
the ferrymen were busily engaged in crossing them over ; and Avhen
night again closed upon the Saints, the wilderness had much the ap-
pearance of a camp meeting. Hundreds of people were seen in every
direction, some in tents, and some in the open air, around their fires,
while the rain descended in torrents. Husbands were inquiring for
their wives, and women for their husbands ; parents for children, and
children for parents. Some had the good fortune to escape with their
family, household goods, and some provisions : while others knew not
the fate of their friends, and had lost all their goods. The scene was
indescribable, and would have melted the luarts of any peoi)lc upcu
...■• E
m
THE MORMONS.
earth except the blind "oppressor, and prejudiced and ignorant bigot.
Next day, the company increased, and they were chiefly engaged in
felling small cotton trees, and erecting them into temporary cabins, so
that -when night came on, they had the appearance of a village of
wigwams, and the night being clear, the occupants began to enjoy
some desree of comfort. The Saints who fled took refuge in the
neighbouring counties, mostly in Clay county, which received ^thera
with some degree of kindness. Those who fled to the county of Van
Buren were again driven and compelled to flee, and those who fled to
Lafayette county were soon expelled, or the most of them, and had to
move wherever they could find protection."
Encampment of Mormons on the Missouri River.
The Discovery of the " Lamanite" Skeleton.
CHAPTER IV.
Journey of the Prophet into Missouri — The Lamanitr Skeleton — The
Shower of Meteors — Final Removal of Joseph from Kirtland, Ohio
— Persecutions in Missouri — Massacre at Haun's Mill — The Danite
Band — Expulsion from Missouri.
The public authorities of the State of Missouri, and, indeed, all the
principal people, except those of Jackson county, were scandalized at
these la,wle.ss pi-oceedings, and sympathized with the efforts made by
the Mormon le.iders to obtain redress. The Attorney-General of the
State wrote to say that if the Mormons desired to be re-established in
their possessions, an adequate public force would be sent for their
protection. He also advised that the Mormons should remain in
the State, and organize themselves into a regular company of militia,
in which case they should be supplied with public arms. The
*' Prophet," having by this time returned to Kirtland, wrote to his
people in their distress, though he did not take tlie bold step
of personally api)caring among them. He reiterated that " Inde-
68 THE ^roniiroxg.
pendence," or "Zloii,"was the place divinely appointed by God
for the inlieritance of the Saints ; that, therefore, they should not
sell any land to which they had a le^al title within its boundaries,
but hold on " until the Lord in his wisdom should open a way for
tiieir return." lie also advised that they should, if possible, pur-
chase a tract of land in Clay county, for present emergencies. He
also had a revelation in which the Lord was represented as saying
that these calamities were a punishment on the Saints for their "jar-
rings, contentions, and envying, and strifes, and lustful and covetous
desires." Zion, howcA^er, Avas the appointed place, and thither, in due
time, the Saints should return ** with songs of everlasting joy." The
revelation, which Avas of unusual length, and contained a long
parable, conmianded the Snints to " importune at the feet of the
Judge; and if he did not heed, to importune at the feet of the
Governor; and if the Governor did not heed, to importune at the feet
of the President of the United States ; and if the President did not
heed, then the Lord God Himself Avould arise and come forth out of
His hiding-place, and in His fury vex the nation."
The Saints, however, did not succeed in their object. They never
returned to their " Zion," but remained for upAvards of four years in
Clay county. It Avas mostly uncleared land Avhere they settled or
squatted, but being a most industrious and persevering people, they
laid out farms, erected mills and stores, and carried on their business
successfully. They also laid the foundation of the towns of Far
West and Adam-On-Diahman ; but their fanaticism here, as well
as in their former location, soon proved the cau?e of their expulsion
from the Avhole State of Missouri. The slavery question, the calumny
about their open adulteries and community of Avives, their loud vaunts
of their supreme holiness, their continually repeated declarations that
Missouri Avas to be theirs by Divine command, and the quarrels that
were the constant result, led to the same ill-feeling in Clay county,
as had been exhibited elscAvhere- But before the final consummation,
when, as one of their hymns says —
"Missouri,
Like a whirlwind in its fury,
And without a judge or jury,
Drove the Saints and spilled their blood" —
various interesting events in their history took place. On the 5th May,
1834, Josephresolved to proceed to Clay county, andputthe affairs of the
scattered and dis[)irited church into order. Having organized a com-
pany of one hundred persons, mostly young men, and nearly all elders,
priests, deacons, and teachers, he started at tlicir head fur Missouri,
TOE LAMAXITE SKELETON. 60
They travelled on foot ; several waggons with the'r baggage and pro-
'visions, and relief to the destitute Saints in Clay county, following
behind. They were well provided with "fire arms and all sorts ot
munition of war of the most portable kind for self-defence." They
were joined in two days by fifty more " Saints," similarly armed.
Their baggage waggons now amounted to twenty. Joseph divided
his band into companies of twelve, consisting of two cooks, two fire-
men, two tent makers, two watermen, one runner or scout, one com-
missary, and two waggoners. Every night, " at the sound of the
trumpet, they bowed down before the Lord in their several tents ; and
at the sound of the morning trumpet, every man was again on his
knees before the Lord." They passed through extensive wilds, and
forded many streams and rivers ; and though, as Joseph says, " their
enemies were continual! v breathinf]: threats of violence, the Saints did
not fear, neither did they hesitate to prosecute their journey, for God
was with them, and his angels were before them, and the faith of the
little band was unwavering. "We knew," he added, " that angels
were our companions, for we saw them."
On their arrival in June at the Illinois river, the people were very
anxious to know who and what they were. Many questions were
asked, but the Mormons evaded them all, and gave no information as
to their names, profession, business, or destination. Joseph himself
travelled incognito, and though the settlers in Illinois vehemently sus-
pected the band to be Mormons, they did not think it prudent to
molest them. Having been safely feri-ied over the river, with all their
baggage, they encamped two days afterwards amid some mounds, or
ancient burial-places of the Indians. Here Joseph played the " pro-
phet," and gave his followers an additional proof of the authenticity
of the Book of Mormon, and of the history of the Lamanites, the
descendants of the Jews, therein recorded. This was a master-stroke
of policy. " The contemplation of the scenery," says Joseph, "])io-
duced peculiar sensations in our bosoms. The brethren procured a
shovel and a hoe, and removing the earth of one of the mounds, to
the depth of about a foot, discovered the skeleton of a man almost
entire, and between his ribs was a Lamanitish arrow. The visions of
the past being opened to my understanding, by the spirit of the Al-
might}'', I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was
a white Lamanite, a large thick-set man, and a man of God. He was
a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Omandagus, who was
known from the hill Cumorah, or Easter Sea, to the Rocky Mountains.
His name was Zelph. He was killed in battle by the arrow found
among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and
Kephites." On the next day, refreslied by this incident, and marvel-
70 THE MORMONS.
lously confirmed in the faith by the Avisdom and knowledge of their
riuj)het, tiioy moved onwards, and crossed the Mississippi river, into
tlie limits of the State of Missouri.
Tiie followiiic^r extracts from tlie journal or diary of one of the elders
Avlio accompanied tlie Froi)het, will show the influence he exercised,
and the manner in which his singular journey was conducted : —
" This (hiv, June 8rd, while we were refreshing ourselves and
teams, about tlie middle of the day, Brother Josej)!! got up in a wag-
gon and said that he would deliver a prophecy. After giving the
brethren much good advice, exhorting them to faithfulness and humi-
lity, he sail], ' the Lord had told him that there would be a scourge
come upon the camp, in consequence of the fractious and unruly spirits
that ap})eared among them, and they should die like sheep with the
lot ; still, if they would ]-epent and humble then>^elves before the Lord,
the scourge, in a great nu asui-e, might be tuined away : but, as the
Lord lived, the camp would suffer for giving way to their unruly temper,'
which afterwards actually did take place, to the sorrow of the brethren.
" The same day, when we had got within one mile of the Snye, we
came to a very beautiful little town called Atlas. Here we found
honey for the first time on our journey, that we could buy ; we pur-
chased about two-thirds of a barrel. We went down to the Snye and
crossed over that night in a ferry-boat. We encamped for the night on
the bank of the Snye. There was a great excitement in the country
through which we had passed, and also a-head of us ; the mob threat-
ened to stop us. Guns were fired in almost all directions through the
niglit. Brother Joseph did not sleep much, if any, but was through
the camp pretty much during the night.
" We })ursued our journey on the 4th, and encamped on the bank of
the Mississippi liver. Here we were somewhat afliicted, and the
enemy threatened much that we should not cross over the river out of
Illinois into Missouri. It took us two days to cross the river, as we
had but one ferry-boat, and the river was one mile and a half wide.
While some were crossing, manv others spent their time in huntino^
and fishing, etc. When we had all got over, we encamped about one
mile back fi'om the little town of Louisiana, in a beautiful oak grove,
which is immediately on the bank of the river. At this place there
was some feelings of hostility manifested by Sylvester Smith, in
consequence of a dog growling at him while he was marching his
company up to the camp, he being the last that came over the river.
The next niorning Brother Joseph said that he would descnid to the
spirit that was manifested by some of the brethren, to let them see the
folly of their wickedness. lie rose up, and commenced speaking by
saying, * If any man insults me, or abuses me, I will stand in my own
SIGNS OF THE LATTER DAYS. 71
defence at the expense of my life; and if a dog growl at me, I will let
him know that I am his master.' At this moment Sylvester Smith,
who had just returned from where he had turned out his horses to
feed, came up, and hearing Brother Joseph make these remarks, said,
• If that dog bites me, I'll kill him.' Brother Joseph turned to Syl-
vester and said, ' If you kill that dog, I'll whip you, and then went
on to show the brethren how wicked and unchristian-like such conduct
appeared before the eyes of truth and justice.
" On Friday, the 6th, we resumed our journey. On Saturday, the
7th, at night we camped among our brethren at Salt River, in the
Alired settlement, in a piece of woods by a beautiful spring of water,
and prepared for the Sabbath. On the Sabbath we had preaching.
Here we remained several days, washing our clothes, and preparing
to pursue our journey. Here we were joined by Ilyrum Smith and
Lyman Wight, with another company. The camp now numbered
two hundred and five men, all armed and equipped as the law directs.
It was delightful to see the company, for tliey were all young men,
with one or two exceptions, and in good spirits."
Another entry in the same diary will be interesting to those who
wish to trace the slight incidents upon which strong fanaticism sup-
ports itself. The meteors of the 1 3th of November, which are annually
looked for by the observers of the heavens, were to the Mormons tlien,
as they are now, convincing proofs of the truth of Mormonism, and
signs of the Latter Days : —
" November IdtJi. — About 4 o'clock am. I was awakened by Bro-
ther Davis knocking at my door, and calHng on me to arise and be-
hold the signs in the heavens. I arose, and, to my great joy, beheld
the stars fall from heaven like a shower of hail- stones ; a literal ful-
filment of the word of God, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, as a
sure sign that the coming of Christ is close at hand. In the midst of
this shower of fire, I wns led to exclaim : How marvellous are thy
Avorks, 0 Lord ! I thank thee fur thy mercy unto thy servant ; save
me in thy kingdom, for Christ's sake. Amen.
" The appearance of these signs varied in different sections of the
country : in Zion, all heaven seemed enwrapped in sj)lendid fire-
works, as if every star in the broad expanse had been suddenly hurled
from its course, and sent lawless through the wilds of ether ; some at
times aj)peared like bright shooting meteors with long trains of light
following in tlieir couise, and in numbers resembled large drops of
rain in sunshine. Some of the long trains of light following the
meteoric stars were visible for some seconds ; these streaks would curl
and twist up like serj)ents writhing. The appearance was beautiful,
grand, and sublime beyond descri})tion ; as though all the artillery and
72 THE MORMONS.
fire-worlis of eternity "were set in motion to enchant and entertain the
Saints, and terrify and awe the sinners on the earth. Beautiful and
terrific as was the scenery, wliich might be compared to the falling
figs or fruit when the tree is shaken by a mighty wind ; yet it "will
not fully compare with the time when the sun shall become black like
sack-cloth of hair, the moon like blood, (Rev. vi. 13) ; and the stars
fall to the earth, as these appeared to vanish, when they fell behind
the trees, or came near the ground."
Josepli was now on a dangerous territory, and chose twenty men for
his body-guard, appointing his brother, Hyrum Smith, as their captain,
and another brother, George Smith, as his armour-bearer. He also ap-
pointed a " general," who daily inspected the little army, examined their
firelocks, and drilled them on the prairies. The people of Jackson county,
by this time, were informed of Joseph Smith's arrival with his army.
A deputation of them, "who were in Clay county, to submit a proposal for
the purchase of all the Mormon lands in Independence, no sooner heard
that the prophet was in the field in person, than they returned to-
"wards their own county to raise a force w^itli "which to meet and
chastise him. One of their leaders, named Campbell, swore, as he ad-
justed his pistols in his holsters, " that the eagles and turkey buzzards
should eat his flesh if he did not, before two days, fix Joe Smith and
his army, so that their skins should not hold shucks." Joseph, who
relates this story, adds, that Campbell and his men " went to the ferry
and undertook to cross the Missouri river after dusk ; but the angel ot
God saw fit to sink the boat about the middle of the river, and seven
out of the twelve that attempted to cross w^ere drowned. Thus sud-
denly and justly," he adds, with great complacency, "they went to
their own place by water. Campbell was among the missing. He
floated down the river some four or five miles, and lodged upon a pile
of drift wood, where the eagles, buzzards, ravens, crows, and wild
animals, ate his flesh from his bones, to fulfil his own words, and left
him a horrible- looking skeleton of God's vengeance, which was dis-
covered about three weeks afterwards by one Mr. Purtle."
Joseph, much delighted at the death of Campbell and his men, and
at the discovery of the fleshless bones of his enemy by " Mr. Purtle," con-
tinued his march, and had a new ** revelation" from the Lord, to comfort
and excite his people. The cholera, however, broke out in his camp on
the 24th of June, and Joseph attempted to cure it by ** laying on of his
hands and prayer.'' He failed, however, to do any good, and accounted
lor his failure by stating that "he quickly learned by painful expe-
rience that when tlie Great Jehovah decrees destruction, man must not
attempt to stay his hand." Though he could not cure the cholera, he
endeavoured to maintain his influence over the minds of his followers,
JOSEPH SMITH IN MISSOURI. 73
and impress tliem more forcibly with the miraculous nature of his
mission, by stating that the enemies of the Mormons would suffer
more severely from the visitation than the Mormons themselves. He
laid particular stress upon the case of a woman who refused a Saint
some water to drink. ' ' Before a week, ' ' said the prophet, ' ' the cholera
entered that house, and that woman and three others of the family
were dead." Joseph lost thirteen of his band by the ravages of the
disease. On the 1st of July he crossed into Jackson county, with a
few friends, *' to set his feet once more on that goodly land ;" and, after
remaining one day, proceeded with the remainder of his company to
Clay county. He did not remain long with the Saints, for we find that
he arrived on the 2nd, and started back for Kirtland on the i)th. It was
not prudent, it appears, that he should make himself too familiar with
his believers. The great man was not to be seen too closely with im-
punity, for some of his travelling companions began to accuse him of
*' prophesying lies in the name of the Lord," and also of appropriating
*' moneys" to which he had no right. But Joseph Smith was not a
man to be daunted by domestic treason or enemies in his own camp ;
and short as was the time he stayed, he did not depart without
organizing and encouraging the main body of the fugitives from
Jackson county, and establishing the community in Clay county
on a better footing than when he arrived. On his return to Kirtland,
his first step was to bring to trial before his church the brother who
accused him of "prophesying lies" and of appropriating "moneys." The
brother confessed his error, retracted his charge, and was forgiven.
The history of the sect for the next three years is one of strife and
contention with their unrelenting and vindictive enemies in Missouri.
The numbers of the Mormons increased with the numbers of their
opponents ; and the warfare raged so bitterly that the whole people
of .Missouri were ranged either on one side or the other. In the
autumn of 1837, Joseph's bank at Kirtland stopped payment ; the
district was flooded with its worthless paper, and Joseph had a
"revelation" commanding him to depart finally for Missouri, and live
among the Saints in the land of their inheritance. Joseph obeyed
the "revelation" by departing secretly in the night. His enemies
assert that he went " between two days," as it is called in America,
and that he left his creditors to their remedy. He found the afi'airs
of his church in considerable confusion on his arrival. The Saints
formed a numerous and powerful body, but they did not agree
aniono; themselves ; and occasional seceders and deserters from tlieir
camp — many of them consisting of men who were ashamed ot
their previous delusions, and of others Avho were actuated by vin-
dictive motives or disappointed ambition — spread abroad all sorts
74 THE MORMOIsS.
of rumours and stories to tlie disadvantage of the sect. The
great schism, ah-eady alhided to, broke out in 1838, when Joseph
Smith found it necepsary to denounce some of liis oldest confederates,
among otliers " Oliver Cowderv," one of the three witnesses to the
authenticity of the Book of Alormon, and the existence of the gold
plates ; Martin Harris, another witness ; Sidney Rigdon, his co-equal
in the government of the church, and various disciples and apostles.
Sidney Rigdon was afterwards forgiven, being too important a per-
sonage to be converted into an enemy. In the midst of these squabbles,
the peo))]o of Jackson county, joined by the people of Clay county,
Caldwell county, and other districts, made a series of pertinacious
efforts to expel them finally from Missouri.
A very clear narrative of these events was given in evidence
upon oath by Hyrum, tlie brother of Joseph Smith, at one of the
numerous criminal trials, which were instituted against the members
of the sect. It appears from this statement that at a popular election
in 1838, at Gallatin, in Davies county, the old ili-feeling having arisen
with more than its usual virulence, the mob would not allow any
Mormons to exercise their privilege of voting ; and that a desperate
fight, in which two men were killed, and many ])ersons seriously
hurt, was the result. Both parties armed to defend themselves,
and carried on a guerilla Avarfare for several weeks. The cry
was raised by the anti-Mormons, that there would be no peace in
tlie country as long as a shigle Mormon was allowed to remain within
it. Early in the September of that year, the mob assembled at a
place called Millport, near Adam-On-Diahman — "and," to use the
words of II) rum Smith, "commenced making aggressions upon the
Mormons, taking away their hogs and cattle, and threatening them
with extermination, or utter extinction ; saying that they had a
cannon, and there should be no compromise only at its mouth : fre-
quently taking men, women, and children prisoners, whipping them
and lacerating their bodies with 'hickory withes, and tying them to
trees and depriving them of food until they were compelled to gnaw
the bark from the trees to which they were bound, in order to sustain
life ; treating them in the most cruel manner they could invent or
think of, and doing everything they could to excite the indignation
of tlie Mormon people to rescue them, in order that they might make
that a pretext of an accusation for the breach of the law, and that
they might the better excite the prejudice of the populace, and thereby
get aid and assistance to carry out their hellish purj^oses of extermina-
tion." We continue the narrative as given in Ilyrum Smith's evi-
dence : — " Innnediately on the authentication of these facts, mes-
sengers were despatched from Far West to Austin A. King, Judge
MASSACRE AT HAUn's MILL. 75
of the district, and to Mnjor-General Atcliison, Commandcr-in-Chiet
of that division, and Brigadier-General Doniphan, demanding imme-
diate assistance. General Atchison returned with the messengers,
and went immediately to Diahman, and from thence to Millport, and
he found the facts were true as reported to him ; — that the citizens of
that county were assembled together in a hostile attitude to the amount
of two or three hundred men, tlu'eatening the utter extermination of
the Mormons, he immediately returned to Clay county, and ordered out
a sufficient military force to quell the mob. Immediately after they were
dispersed, and the army returned, the mob commenced collecting again
soon after. We again applied for military aid, when General Doniphan
came out with a force of sixty armed men to Far West; but they were
in such a state of insubordination that he said he could not control them.
" After witnessing the distressed situation of the people in Diah-
man, my brotlier Joseph Smith, Senior, and myself, returned back to
the city of Far West, and innnediately despatched a messenger, with
written documents, to General Atchison, stating the facts as they did
then exist, praying for assistance if possible, and requesting the
editor of The Far West to insert the same in his newspaper ; but he
utterly refused to do so. We still believed that we should get assist-
ance from the Governor, and again petitioned him, praying for
assistance, setting forth our distressed situation ; and in the meantime
the presiding Judge of the County Court issued orders — upon affidavits
made to him by the citizens — to the Sheriff of the county, to order
out the militia of the county to stand in constant readiness, night and
day, to ])revent the citizens from being massacred, which fearful
situation they were exposed to every moment.
" It was on the evening ot the 30th of October, according to the
best of my recollection, that the army arrived at Far West, the sun
about half an hour hioh. In a few moments afterwards, Cornelius
Gillum arrived with his army, and formed a junction. This Gillum
had been stationed at Hunter's Mills for about two months previous
to that time — committing depredations upon the inhabitants — cap-
turing men, women, and children, and carrying them off as jjrisoners,
lacerating their bodies with hickory withes. The army of 'Gillum'
were painted like Indians, some of them were more conspicuous than
others, and were designated the red spots ; he, also, was i)ainted in
a similar maimer, with red spots marked on his face, and styled him-
self the 'Delaware Chief.' They would whoop, and halloo, and yell
as near like Indians as they could, and continued to do so all that
night. In the morning early, the Colonel of Militia sent a messenger
into the camp with a white flag, to have another interview with Ge
neral Doniphan. On his return he informed us that the Governor's
76
THE MORMONS.
orders had arrived. General Doniphan said tliat * tlie order of the
Governor was, to cxtcnninate the Mormons hy God, but he would be
damned if he obeyed that order, but General Lucas might do what he
])leased.' We immediately learned from General Doni})han that ' the
Governor's order that had arrived was only a copy of the original, and
that tlie original order was in the hands of Major-General Clark,
who was on his way to Far West, with an additional army of six
thousand men.' Immediately after this, there came into the city a
messenger from Haun's Mill, bi'inging the intelligence of an awful
massacre of the people who were residing in that place, and that a
Massacre of Mormons at Haun's Mill.
force of two or three hundred, detached fiom the main body ot the
army, under the [superior command of Colonel Ashley, but under the
immediate command of Captain Nehemiah Compstock, who, the day
previous, had promised them peace and protection, but on receiving a
copy of the Governor's order ' to exterminate or to expel ' from the
hands of Colonel Ashley, he returned upon them the following day,
and surprised and massacred the whole population, and then came
on to the town of Far West, and entered into conjunction with
THE DANITE BAND. / 7
the main body of the a^rmy. The messenger hiformed us that he
himself with a few others fled into the thickets, which preserved
them from the massacre, and on the following morning they returned
and collected the dead bodies of the people, and cast them into a well.
There were upwards of twenty who were dead or mortally wounded.
One, of the name of Yocum, has lately had his leg amputated, in
consequence of wounds he then received. lie had a ball shot through
his head, which entered near his eye, and came out at the back part
of his head, and another ball passed through one of his arms.
" The army, during all the while they had been encamped in Far
West, continued to lay waste fields of corn, making hogs, sheep, and
cattle common plunder, and shooting them down for sport. One man
shot a cow, and took a strip of her skin, the width of his hand, from
her head to her tail, and tied it around a tree, to slip his halter into,
to tie his horse to. The city was surrounded with a strong guard, and
no man, woman, or child was permitted to go out or come in, under the
penalty of death. Many of the citizens were shot in attempting to go
out to obtain sustenance for themselves and families."
It was not to be expected that the Mormons, exposed to a series of
persecutions and outrages like these, and in a country so utterly lawless,
should not take measures to defend themselves. As it was unsafe for
a Mormon to stir abroad, a body of them, instituted expressly for the
defence of the sect, and possibly on the recommendation ot the Gover-
nor of Missouri given to them some years before, was organized under
the name of the '*Danite Band," or, as they were sometimes called,
the *' Destroying Angels." An affidavit made before a justice of the
peace in Ray county, Missouri, on the 24th of October, 1888, and
sworn by a man named March, who had held office in the Mormon
church, and another affidavit, signed by Orson Hyde, an ex-apostle
of the church, alleged the following facts with reference to the "Dan-
ites," and their proceedings : —
" They have among them a company, consisting of all that are considered
true Mormons, called the Danites, who have taken an oath to support the
heads of the church in all things that they say or do, whether right or wrong.
Many, however, of this band are much dissatisfied witli this oath, as being
against moral and religious principles. On Saturday last, I am informed by
the Mormons that thej had a meeting at Far West, at which they appointed a
company of twelve, by the name of the Destruction Company, for the purpose
of burning and destroying ; and that if the people of Buncombe came to do
mischief upon the people of Caldwell, and committed depredations upon the
^lormons, they were to burn Buncombe ; and if the people of Clay and Ray
made any movement against them, this destroying company were to burn
Liberty and Eichmond. The plan of said Smith, the prophet, is to take this
78 THE MORMONS.
State ; and he professes to his people to intend taking the United States, and
ultimately the whole world. This is the belief of the church, and my own
opinion of the prophet's plans and intentions. The prophet inculcates the
notion, and it is believed by every true Mormon, that Smith's prophecies are
superior to the law of the land. I have heard the prophet say that he would
yet tread down his enemies, and walk over their dead bodies : that if he wiis
not let alone, he would be a second Mahomet to this generation, and that he
would make it one gore of blood from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic
Ocean ; that, like Mahomet, whose motto, in treating for peace, was ' the Al-
coran or the sword,' so should it be eventually with us, 'Joseph Smith or the
sword.' Tliese last statements were made during the last summer. The
number of armed men at Adam-On-Diahman was between three and four
hundred.
"ThomavS B. March.
" Sworn to and subscribed before me, the day herein written.
"Henry Jacobs, J. P. Ray county, Missouri.
'^Richmond, Missouri, October 2^, 1838.
"affidavit of ORSON IIYDE.=i^
"The most ot the statements in the foregoing disclosure of T. B. March
I know to be true ; the remainder I believe to be true,
" Orson Hyde, jRie/mo??f/, Oct. 2'^, 1838.
*' Sworn to and subscribed before me on the day above written.
" Henry Jacobs, J.P."
"certificate of THOMAS C. BURCH AND OTHERS.
"The undersigned committee, on the part of the citizens of Ray coimty,
have no doubt but Thomas B. March and Orson Hyde, whose names are signed
to the forej^oing certificates, have been members of the Mormon church in
full fellowship until very recently, when they voluntarily abandoned the
Mormon church and faith, and that said March was, at the time of his dis-
senting, the president of the 'J'welve Apostles, and president of the church at
Far West; and that said Hyde was at that time one of the Twelve Apostles,
and that they left the church, and abandoned the faith of the Mormons, from a
conviction of their immorality and impiety.
" Thomas C. Burch.
William Hudgins.
Henry Jacobs.
George Woodward.
J. E,. Hendley.
C. R. Morehead.
"Richmond, Or/ofter 24, 1838." 0. H. Searcy."
These and other statements of a similar kind, many of which were
doubtless liighlj exaggerated, were daily inculcated, and produced
* This Orson Hyde appears to have rejoined the Mormons, and to have been
present at the trial of Sidney Iligdon, after the death of Joseph Smith.
PERSECUTIONS IN MISSOURI. 79
the effect of still further exasperating the people a^^ainst Joseph and
his disci])les. The Mormons, seeing the law broken by their oppo-
nents, refused obedience to the law themselves. They fortified their
farms and towns, and treated with contempt the legal processes which
it was attempted to serve upon them. The militia of the State was
again called out, under the conunand of General Doniphan. His
measures were so vigorous, and the fury of the people against
Joseph was so great, that the Mormons, dreading the general massacre
of their sect, so long threatened, laid down their arms, and finally
resolved to leave the State of Alissouri and take refuge in Illinois, then
very partially cleared and settled.
The following address, which is of itself sufficient evidence of the
cruelty and injustice with which the sect was treated, Avas delivered
at Far West, by Major-General Clark, to the Mormons, after they had
surrendered^ their arms, and declared themselves prisoners of war : —
"Gentlemen, — You whose names are not attached to this list of
names will now have the privilege of going to your fields to obtain
corn for your families, wood, &lc. Those that are now taken will go
from thence to prison, be tried, and receive the due demerit of their
crimes ; but you are now at liberty, all but such as charges may be
hereafter preferred against. It now devolves upon you to fulfil the
treat}' that you have entered into, the leading items of which I now
lay before you. The first of these you have already com])lied with,
which is, that you deliver up your leading men to be tried according
to law. Second, that you deliver up your arms — this has been
attended to. The third is, that you sign over your properties to
defray the expenses of the war — this you have also done. Another
thing yet remains for you to comply with — that is, that you leave the
State forthwith ; and Avhatever your feelings concerning this affair,
whatever your innocence, it is nothing to me. General Lucas, who
is equal in authority with me, has made this treaty with you. I am
determined to see it executed. The orders of the Governor to me
were, that you should be exterminated, and not allowed to continue
in the State ; and had your leader not been given up, and the treaty
eoniiilied with, before this, you and your families would have been
destroj'cd, and your houses in ashes.
*' There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which I
shall try to exercise for a season. I did not say that you shall go
now ; but you must not think of staying here another season, or of
putting in crops ; for the moment you do, the citizens will be upon
you. I am determined to see the Governor's message fulfilled, but
shall not come upon you inmiediatcly — do not think that I shall act
as I have done any more— but if I have to come again, because the
80 THE MOEMONS.
treaty wliicli you Lave made here shall be broken, you need not
expect an}' mercy, but extermination ; for I am determined the
Governor's order shall be executed. As for your leaders, do not once
think — do not ima(;:ne for a moment — do not let it enter your mind —
that they will be delivered, or that you will see their faces again ; for
their fate is fixed, their die is cast, their doom is sealed.
" I am sorry, gentlemen, to see so great a number of apparently
intelligent men found in the situation that you are ; — and, oh ! that I
could invoke the spirit of the unknown God to rest upon you, and de-
liver you from that awful chain of superstition, and liberate you from
those fetters of fanaticism with which you are bound. I would ad-
vise you to scatter abroad, and never again organize with bishops, pre-
sidents, (tc, lest you excite the jealousies of the people, and subject
yourselves to the same calamities that have now come upon you. You
have always been the aggressors, you have brought upon yourselves
these difficulties by being disaffected, and not being subject to rule —
and my advice is, that you become as other citizens, lest by a recur-
rence of these events, you bring upon yourselves irretrievable ruin."
While the great body of the Alormons Avere tbus barbarously dealt
with, and while General Clark so coolly spoke of their "extermination "
as a result which they might expect, the Prophet himself was be-
trayed into the hands of his enemies, and taken into custody, to answer
the various charges of treason, murder, and felony, which were brought
against him. His brother Hyrum, and three other leaders of the sect,
Avere apprehended at the same time. The " treason " was for making
war against the State of Missouri, the "murder" was the death of
the two men in the affray at Gallatin, and the " felony " was the
destruction and robbery of property committed by the Danite band.
Though Joseph at first anticipated an acquittal upon the whole of these
charges, the mob breathed such vengeance against him that he made
an attempt to escape after he had been a few weeks in prison. His
attempt, however, was discovered and foiled, partly by the breaking
of an auger with which he was at work, and partly by the indiscretion
of his friends outside.
Hyrum Smith, in a "Communication to the Saints scattered
abroad," published in the first volume of the Times and Seasons, a
year after the events described, gave a painfully interesting account
of the sufferings and persecutions which he and other members of the
sect underwent at this time, in which he recapitulated the main portion
of the evidence from which we have quoted, and added many other facts,
which are necessary to the proper understanding of the narrative.
" It would be unnecessary for me," he said, " to enter into the parti-
culars prior to my settlcmentin Missouri, orgivcan account of myjourney
PERSECUTIONS IX MISSOURI. 81
tothatstate; suffice it to say, that after havingendured almost all manner
of abuse, wiiich was i)Oure(l out upon the Church of Latter-Day Saints,
from its commencement, by wicUed and ungodly men, I left Kirtlaml,
Ohio, the beginning of March, 1S38, with a family consisting often indi-
viduals, and with means only sufficient to take us one half the w^ay.
The weather was very uiipropitious, and the roads were worse than I
liad ever seen them before. However, after enduring many privations
and much fatigue, through the kind providence of God, I arrived with
my family in Far West, the latter ])ai t of May, where I fouTid many
of my friends who had borne the heat and burden of tlie day, and
whose privations and sufferings for Christ's sake had been great, Avilh
whom I fondly hoped and anticipated the pleasure of spending a sea-
son in peace, and having a cessation from the troubles and |)ersecutions
to wliich we had been subject for a number of years. The ]irospe(;t
was truly flattei'ing ; we were the owners of almost the entire county;
many of the bi-etlircn had already opened very extensive fai-ms ;
nature was propitious, and the comforts of life would have soon been
realized by every industrious person. But notwithstanding these
favourable auspices, a storm arose, before whose withering blast our
fair and reasonable })rosj)ects were blasted and ruined : anarchy and
dismay were spread through that county, as well as the adjoining ones,
in which our brethren had found a restiiig-]»lace.
"The inhabitants of the upper counties, jealous of the increasing
number of the Saints, thinking, like some in ancient times, that if they
were to let us alone, we should take away their ])lace and nation, soon
began to circulate reports prejudicial to us, and after threatening us
Avith mobs for some time, at last put their threats into execution,
and proceeded to drive off our cattle, and burn down our liouses,
while helpless females, Avith their tender offspring, had to flee into
the wilderness, and vrander to a considerable distance for shelter.
This state of tilings continued until, from false representations and a
wicked desire to overthrow the Saints, the Governor called out tlie
militia, and gave orders for our extermination.
" Soon after the arrival of the militia at Far West, my brother
Joseph, Avith several others, who were considered leading characteri5
m the cliurch, were betrayed into their hands, and the day after Co-
lonel George llinckle, who had always been a professed friend, but wiio
had now turned traitor, came with a company of the enemy to my house,
and told them I was tlio jicrson whom they sought. They told mo 1
must go with them to the camj). I inquired when I could return, my
family being in a situation that 1 knew not how to leave them ; hut
could get no answer. Ivcmonsti-ance was in vain, so I was obliged to
go with them. I was aware of the hostile feelings of our cncmijs, and
r
82 THE MORMONS.
tlioir hatred to all those who professed the faith of the Church of Latter-
Day Saints ; and I can assure my brethren that I would as soon have
gone into a den of lions, as into that host, who had orders from the
executive of the State to put us to death, and who had every disposition
to do so. However, I was enabled to put my trust in the Lord, knowing
that he who delivered Daniel out of the den of lions, could deliver me
from cruel and wicked men. When I arrived at the camp, I was put
under the same guard with my brother Joseph and my other friends
who had been taken the day i)revious.
" That evening a court-martial was held, to' consult what steps
should be taken with the prisoners, when it was decided that we were
to be shot the next morning, as an ensample to the rest of the church.
Knowing that I had done nothing worthy of ' death or of bonds,' and
feeling an assurance that all things would work together for our good, I
remained quite calm, and felt altogether unmoved. When I heard of their
unjust and cruel sentence, ' my heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord.'
" The next morning came on, when (according to the sentence of
the court) we were to be shot. It was an important time ; thousands
were anticipating the event w^ilh fiendish joy, and seemed to long for
the hour of execution, whilsour friends and bretliren were beseeching a
throne of grace on our behalf, and praying for our deliverance. The
time at length arrived when their sentence was to be carried into effect ;
but in consequence of General Doni})han protesting against the unlaw-
fulness of the proceedings, and, at the same time, threatening to with-
draw his troops, if they should offer to carry into effect their murderous
sentence, the court rescinded their resolution ; and thus their purposes
were frustrated, and our bitterest enemies were disappointed. The
prayers of our friends were answered, and our lives spared. Notwith-
standing the discomfiture of their plans, yet our destruction was
determined upon by a vast majority, Avho, thinking they could better
carry into effect their purposes, ordered us to be conveyed to Jackson
county, where they were well aware our most cruel persecutors re-
sided. Eefore starting, I got permission to visit my family, but had
only time to get a change of clothes, and then was hurried away from
them, while they clung to my garments, they supposing it would be
the last time they would see me in this world. While getting into the
waggon which was to convey us to our destination, four men rushed
upon us, and levelled their rifles at us, seemingly with a determina-
t'on to shoot us. But this was not permitted them to do. No ! their
ajins were unnerved, and they dropped their pieces and slunk away.
While thus exposed, I felt no tremour or alarm ; I knew I was in the
hands of God, whose power was unlimited.
" While on our way to Jackson county we excited great curiosity.
PERSECUTIONS IN MISSOURI. 83
At our stopplnoj places, people Avould flock to see us from all quarters,
a great number of wliom would rail upon us, and give us abusive lan-
guage, -while a few would })ity us, knowing that we were an injured
people. When we arrived at Independence, the county seat of J ack-
son county, the citizens flocked from all parts of the county to see us.
They were generally very abusive : some of the most ignorant gnashed
their teeth upon us ; but all their threats and abuse did not move me,
for I felt the spirit of the Lord to rest down upon me, and I felt great
liberty in speaking to those who would listen to the truth. Notwith-
standing the determination of our enemies, they were not suffered to
carry out their designs in that county ; for, after enduring considerable
hardships, we were removed back as far as Richmond, in Ray county,
Avhere, for the first time in my life, I was put into prison. My feet
were hurt with the fetters ; and I remained in this situation for fourteen
days. I endeavoured to bear up under my sufferings and wrongs, but
at the same time could not help but feel indignant at those who treated
us with such cruelty, and who pretended to do it under the sanction of
the laws. After many attempts to destroy us by the military, in all
of which they were unsuccessful, we were at length delivered up to
the civil law, soon after which, a court of inquiry was held. A great
deal of false testimony was given prejudicial to my brethren ; but all
the testimony they could produce against me was, that I was one of
the presidency of the church, and a firm friend to my brother Joseph.
This the court deemed sufficient to authorize my committal to prison.
I was then, with my brethren, removed to Liberty, in Clay county,
where I was confined for more than four months, and suffered much
for want of proper food, and from the nauseous cell in which I was
confined, but still more so on account of my anxiety for my family,
whom I had left without any protector, and who were unable to help
themselves. My Avife was confined while I was away from home, and
had to suffer more than tongue can tell. She was not able to sit up
for several weeks, and to heighten my affliction, and the sufferings of
my helpless family, my goods were unlawfully seized upon and car-
ried off, until my family had to suffer in consequence thereof. Nor
were the Missourians my only oppressors ; but those with whom Iliad
been acquainted from my youth, and who had ever pretended the
greatest friendship towards me, came to my house while I was in
prison, and ransacked and carried off many of my valuables ; this
they did under the cloak of friendship. Amongst those who treated
me thus, I cannot help making particular mention of Lyman Cowdery,
who, in connection with his brother Oliver, took from me a great many
things ; and, to cap the climax of his ini(iuity, compelled my aged
father, by threatening to bring a mob U[)on him, to deed over to
84 T?IE MORMONS.
him, or his brother Oliver, about 1(30 acres of land, to pay a note,
Avhich he said I had given to Oliver, for 105 dollars. Such a note I
confess I was, and still am, entirely ignorant of ; and after mature
consideration, I have to say, that I believe it must be a forgery.
'* These circumstances, with the afflicting situation of my family,
served greatly to heighten my grief ; indeed, it was almost more than
I could bear up under. I traversed my prison-house for hours, think-
ing of their cruelty to my family, and the afflictions they brought upon
the Saints of the Most High. They forcibly reminded me of the chil-
dren of Edom, when the Jews were destroyed by their enemies ; and
the language of the prophet Obadiah to Edom is, I think, so very
much in point, that I cannot refrain from inserting it : —
" ' For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee,
and thou shalt be cut off for ever,
" 'In the day thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the stranoers
carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast
lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
" ' But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day
that he became a stranger; neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the
children of Judah in the day of their destruction ; neither shouldst thou have
spoken proudly in the day of distress.
" ' Thou shouldst not have entered into the gate of my people in the flay
of their calamity ; yea, thou shouldst not have looked on their atHiction in
the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day
of their calamity. Neither shouldst thou have stood in the crossway, to cut
off those of his that did escape ; neither shouldst thou have delivered up
those of his that did remain in the city of distress.' "
After being in the hands of our enemies for about six months,
the time of our deliverance at length arrived. You may judge what
my feelings were when I escaped from those whose feet were fast to
shed blood, and when I was again privileged to see my beloved family,
who had suffered so many privations and afflictions, not only while in
Far West, but likewise in moving away in that inclement season of
the year.
*' Thus, I have endeavoured to give you a short account of my suf-
ferings while in the State of Missouri; but how inadequate is language
to express the feelings of my mind while under them, knowing that I
•vy^as innocent of crime, and that I had been dragged from my family
at a time when my assistance was most needed ; that 1 had been
abused and thrust into a dungeon, and confined fornioiithson account
of niy faith, and the * testimony of Jesus Christ.' However, I thank
God that 1 felt a determination to die rather than deny the things
which my eyes had seen, which my hands had handled, and which
PERSECUTIONS IN MISSOLKI. ' 85
had borne te?timoii_y to, wherever my lot had been cast ; and I can
aesure my beloved brethren, that I was enabled to bear as strong a
testimony \vhen nothing but death presented itself as ever I did in my
life. My confidence in God was likewise unshaken. I knew that He
who suffered me, along with my brethren, to be thus tried, could,
and would, deliver us out of the hands of our enemies ; and in His own
due time He did so, for which I desire to bless and praise His holy
name.
" From my dose and long confinement, as well as from the suffer-
ings of my mind, I feel my body greatly broken down and debilitated,
my frame has received a shock from which it will take a long time to
recover. Yet, I am liappy to say tliat my zeal for the cause of God, and
my courage in defence of the truth, are as great as ever. * My heart
is fixed ;' and I yet feel a determination to do the will of God, in spite
of persecutions, imprisonments, or death. I can say with Paul,
* None of these things move me, so that I may finish my course Avith
iov.'
" Your brother in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
" Hyrum Smith.
"Dec. 18.'J9."
A document of still more interest was issued by the two brothers
while in prison, and signed by them and three other members of the
church. The unflinching courage of Joseph while surrounded with
difficulties and perils of no ordinary kind, and his firm reliance upon
the ultimate triumph of his doctrine, compel admiration, and would
almost justify the su[)po.sition, that he had taught his imposture so
long, and lived so thoroughly in it, by it, and with it, as to have ended
by believing it. The docuiuent ran as follows : —
"Liberty Jail, Clay Co., Missouri.
*' To Bishop Partridge, and to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
Day Saints, in Quincy, Illinois, and to those scattered abroad, through-
out all the regions round about.
" Your humble servant, Joseph Smith, jr., prisoner for Christ's sake,
and the Saints, taken and held by the power of mobocracy under tlie
exterminating reign of his excellency Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, in
company with his fellow-prisoners and beloved brethren, Caleb Bald-
win, Lyman Wight, llyrutn Smith, and Alexander McRae, send unto
you greeting : May the grace of God the Father, and the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, rest uj)on you all, and abide with you forever ;
and may faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness,
brotherly-kindness, and cliarity, dwell in you and abound, so thatj'ou
mny not be barren and unfruitful.
86 THE MOEMONS.
" We know that the o;reater part of you are acquainted with th6
wrongs, hitih-toned injustice, and cruelty which are practised upon us;
we have been taken prisoners, chari^ed falsely with all kind of crimes,
and thrown into a prison enclosed with strong walls, and are sur-
rounded with a strong guard who are as indefatigable in watching
us, as their master is in laying snares for the people of God. There-
fore, under these circumstances, dearly beloved brethren, we are the
more ready to claim your fellowship and love. Our situation is cal-
culated to awaken our minds to a sacred remembrance of your affec-
tion and kindness ; and we think that your situation will have the
same effect ; therefore, we believe, that nothing can separate us from
the love of God, and our fellowship one with another ; and that every
species of wickedness and cruelty practised upon us, will only tend to
bind our hearts and seal them together in love.
*' It is probably as unnecessary for us to say, that we are thus treated
and held in bonds without cause, as it would be for you to say, that
you were smitten and driven from your homes without any provoca-
tion ; we mutually understand and verily know, that if the citizens
of the State of Missouri had not abused the Saints, and had been
as desirous of peace as we were, there would haA^e been nothing
but peace and quietude to this day, and Ave should not have been in
this wretched place, and burthened Avith the society of demons in
human form, and compelled to hear nothing but oaths and curses, and
Avitness scenes of drunkenness and debaucheries of every description ;
neither Avould the cries of orphans and AvidoAvs haA'e ascended to God,
or the blood of the Saints have stained the soil, and cried for ven-
geance against them. But Ave dwell Avith those who hate peace ;
and Avho delight in Avar ; and surely their unrelenting hearts— their
inhuman and murderous disposition — and their cruel practices, shock
humanity, and defy description ! It is truly a tale oi sorrow, lamen-
tation, and woe, too much for humanity to contemplate. Such a trans-
action cannot be found where kings and tyrants reign, or among the
savages of the Avilderness, or even among tlie ferocious beasts of the
forest. To think that man should be mangled for sport, after being
cruelly put to death, and that Avomen should have their last morsel
stolen fi-om them, Avhile their helpless children Avere clinging around
them and eryingforfood — and then, to gratify the hellish desires of theii*
more than inhuman oppressors, be violated, is horrid in the extreme
" They i)ractice these things upon the Saints, who have done them
no Avronof, have committed no crime, and Avho are an innocent and
virtuous people ; and Avho have proved themselves lovers of God by
forsaking and enduring all things for His sake. ' It must needs be
that offences come, but Avce to those by Avhom they come.'
PERSECUTIONS IN MISSOURI. 87
*' 0 God ! where art tliou ? and xvhere is the pavilion that novereth
thy liiding-place ? how long shall thy hand be stayed, and thy pure
eyes behold from the heavens the wrongs and sufferings of tliy people,
and of thy servants ; and thine ears he penetrated with their cries ?
How long, 0 Lord ! shall they thus suffer, before thine heart shall be
softened towards them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion to-
wards them ! 0 Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven, earth, and
seas, and of all things that in them is, and who controlleth and sub-
jecteth the devil and the dai'k and benighted dominions of Satan,
stretch forth thy hand, let thine eye pierce, let thy pavilion be taken
up, let thy hiding-place no longer be uncovered, let thine ear be in-
clined, let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with com-
passion towards thy people ; and let thine anger be kindled against
our enemies, and in thy fury let fall the sword of thine indignation,
and avenge us of our wrongs. Remember thy suffering Saints, 0 our
God ! and thy servants will rejoice in thy name for ever.
"Dearly beloved brethren, we realize that peiilous times have
come, as have been testified of in ancient days, and we may look with
certainty and the most perfect assurance for the rolling in of all those
things which have been spoken of by all the holy prophets : lift up
your eyes to the bright luminary of day, and you can say. Soon thou
shalt veil thy blushing face, for at the beliest of Him who said, ' Let
there be light, and there was light,' thou shalt withdraw thy shining.
Thou moon, thou dimmer light, and luminary of night, shalt turn to
blood. We see that the proj)hecies concerning the last days are ful-
fiUino-, and the time shall soon come when the ' Son of man shall
descend in the clouds of heaven, in power and great glory.'
" We do not shrink, nor are our hearts and spirits broken at the
grievous yoke which is put upon us. We know that God will have
our oppressors in derision, that he will laugh at their calamity, and
mock when their fear cometli. We think we should have got out of our
prison house, at the time Elder Rigdon got a writ of habeas corpus,
had not our own lawyers interpreted the law contrary to what it reads,
and against us, which prevented us from introducing our witnesses
before the mock court ; they have done us much harm from the begin-
ning ; they have lately acknowledged that the law was misconstrued,
and then tantalized our feelings with it, ajid have now entirely for-
saken us, have forfeited both their oaths and their bonds, and are co-
workers with the mob. From the information we received, the public
mind has been for some time turning in our favour, and the mnjori ty
is now friendly, and the lawyers can no longer browbeat us by saying,
that this or that is a matter of public 0[»inion, for public opinion is
not willing to brook all their proceedings, but is beginning to look
88 THE MORMONS.
Tvitli feelinfjjs of iiKlignation upon our oppressors. We think that
truth, honour, virtue, and innocence, will eventually come out trium-
phant.
" We should have taken out a writ of haheas corpus, and escaped
the mob in a pununary way, but unfortunately for us, the timber of
tiie wall being very hard, our auger handles gave out, which hindered
us longer than we expected. We applied to a friend for assistance,
and a very shght incautious act gave rise to suspicion, and before we
could fully succeed, our ])lan was discovered. We should have made
our escape, and succeeded admirably well, had it not been for a little
imprudence, or over anxiety on the part of our friend.
" The sheriff and jailor did not blame us for our attempt ; it was
a fine breach, and cost the county a lound sum ; public 0])inion says
we ought to have been permitted to have made our escape, but then the
disgrace would have been on us, but now it must come on the State.
We know that there cannot be any charge sustained against us, and
that the conduct of the mob — the murders at llaun's Mill, the exter-
minating order of Governor Boggs, and the one-sided, rascally pro-
ceedings of the Legislature, have damned the State of Missouri to all
ett-rnity. General Atchison has proved himself to be as contemptible
as any of our enemies. We have tried a long time to get our lawyers
to draw us some petitions to the supreme judges of this State, but they
have utterly refused ; we have examined the laws, and drawn the
petitions ourselves, and have obtained abundance of proof to counter-
act all the testimony that is against us, so that if the judges do not
grant us our liberty they have got to act contrary to honour, evidence,
Liw, or justice, merely to please the mob ; but we hope better things,
and trust that before many days, God will so order our case, that we
shall be set at liberty, and again enjoy the society of the Saints. We
received some letters from our friends, last evening, one from Emma,
one from D. C. Smith, arid one from Bishop Partridge, all breathing
a kind and consoling spirit ; we had been a long time without infor-
mation from our friends, and when we read those letters they were
refreshing to our souls, as the gentle air and refreshing breeze ; but
our feelings of joy were mingled with feelings of pain and soi-row on
account of the sufferings of the poor and much injured Saints, and we
iif-ed not say unto you that the flood-gates of our hearts were open,
and our eyes were a fountain of tears. Those who have not been in-
closed in tbe walls ot a piison, without cause or provocation, can have
])Ut little idea how sweet the voice of a frieiid or one token of friend-
ship is, from any source whatever, and awakens and calls into action
every sympathetic feeling of the human heart ; it brings to review
everything that has pas.nd, it seizes the present with the velocity of
PERSECUrrONS IN MISSOURL 89
lif^htnins^, raid oTa?ps after the future witli fond anticipation ; it fills
tlie mind with tenderness and love, until all enmity, malice, hatred,
past ditterences, misunderstandings, and mismanagements, are entirely
forgotten, or are slain victims at the feet of love. When the heart is
sufficientlv contrite, then the voice of inspiration steals alons: and
whispers, iMy son, peace he unto thy soul ; — thine adversity and thy
afflictions shall be hut for a moment ; and then, if thou art faithlul and
(ndure, God shall exalt thee on hi<ih, thou shalt triumph over all thy
foes, thy friends shall stand by thee, and shall hail thee again with
warm hearts : thou art not yet as Job, tliy friends do not contend
against thee, neither do they charge thee with transgression ; and those
who do charge thee with transgression, their liope shall be blasted,
and their prospects melt away, as the hoar frost melteth before the
rays of tlie rising sun. It likewise informs us that God has set his
hand to change the times and the seasons, and to blind the minds of
the wicked, that thev may not understand his marvellous workino-s,
that he may take them in their own craftiness, because their hearts
are corrupt, and the distress and sorrow which they seek to bring upon
the saints, shall return U[)on them double ; and, not many years hence,
they and their posterity shall be destroyed from under heaven.
Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed,
saith the Lord, for they have not sinned before me, saitii the Lord, but
have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I comn)anded
them, saith the Lord. Those who cry transgression do it because they
are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves,
and swear falsely against ray servants, that they may bring them into
bondage and death. Woe unto them, because they have offended my
little ones ; they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house,
their basket shall not be (idl. their houses and their lands shall be
empty, and they themselves sliall be despised by those who have flat-
tered them. They shall not have right to the [triesthood, nor their
])osterity after them, from generation to generation ; and it would
have been better for them tliat a mill-stone had been huno- about their
necks, and they drowned in the dapths of the sea. Woe unto all those
who drive, and murder, and testify against my ])eoi)le, saitli the Lord
of hosts, for they shall not escape the damnation of hell : behold mine
eye seeth, and I know all their works, and I have in reserve a swift
judirment in the season thereof, and they shall be rewarded according
to their works.
*' God has said he would have a tried people, and that he would
jiurify them as gold is ])urified ; now, we think he has chosen his
o'A II crucible to try us, and if we sliould be so happy as to endure
and kee|> the faith, it will be a sign to this generation, sufficiunt to
90 THE MORMONS.
leave them witlioiit excuse ; and that it will be a trial of our faith
equal to that of Abraham or any of the ancients, and that they will
not have much cause to boast over us, in the persecutions and trials
they endured. After passing through so much suffering and sorrow,
we trust that before long a ram may be caught in the thicket, so that
the sons and daugliters of Abraham may be relieved from their fears
and anxiety, and that their faces may once more be lighted up with
joy and salvation, and be enabled to hold out unto everlasting life.
" Now, concerning the places for the location of the Saints, we
would say that we cannot council you in this thing as well as if we
were with you ; and as to the things written to you before, we did
not consider them binding ; we would advise, that while we remain
in prison and in bondage, that the affairs of the church be conducted
by a general conference of the most faithful and respectable of the
authorities of the church, and that the proceedings of the same be
forwarded to your humble servants ; and if there be any corrections
by the word of the Lord, they shall be freely transmitted, and we
will cheerfully approve of all things which are acceptable to God.
If anything should have been suggested by us, or any names men-
tioned excejit by commandment, or ' thus saith the Lord,' Ave do not
consider it binding ; therefore we shall not feel grieved if you should
deem it wisdom to make different arrangements. We would respect-
fully advise the brethren to be aware of an aspiring spirit, which has
frequently urged men forward to make foul speeches, and beget an-
undue influence in the minds of the Saints, and bring much sorrow
and distress in the church. We would likewise say, be aware of
pride ; for truly hath the wise man said, ' Pride goeth before destruc-
tion, and an haughty sjDirit before a fall.' Outward appearance is not
• always a criterion for us to judge our fellow-man by ; but the lips
frequently betray the haughty and overbearing mind. Flattery also
is a deadly poison ; a frank and open rebuke provoketh a good man
to emulation, and in the hour of trouble he will be your best friend ;
but rebuke a wicked man, and you will soon see manifest all the
corruption of a wicked heart — the poison of asps is under their
tongue, and they cast the Saints in prison, that their deeds be not
reproved. A fanciful, flowery, and heated imagination be aware of ;
for the things of God are of vast importance, and require time and
experience, as well as deep and solemn thought, to find them out ;
and if we would bring souls to salvation, it requires that our minds
should rise to the highest heavens, search into and contemplate the
lowest abyss, expand Avide as eternity, and hold connnunion with
Deity. How much more dignified and noble are the thoughts of God
than the vain imaginations of the human heart ! Plow vain and trifling
PERSECUTIONS IN MISSOURI. 91
have been our spirits in our conferences and council meetings, as wtll
as in our public and private conversations ! Too low and condescending
for tlie dignified characters of the called and chosen of God, who
have been set apart in the mind of God before the foundation of the
world, to hold the keys of the mysteries of those things which have
been kept hid for ages and generations, which have been revealed to
babes, yea, to the weak, obscure, and despisable ones of the earth.
AVe would beseech you to bear with the intirmities of the weak, and
at the same time exhort one another to a reformation, both teachers and
taught, male and female ; so that honesty, sobriety, candour, solemnity,
plainness, meekness, and virtue, may characterise us from henceforth :
and that we be like little children, without malice, guile, or hypocrisy.
And now, brethren, after your tribulation, if you do these things, and
exercise fervent prayer in the sight of God always, he shall give unto
you knowledge, by his Holy Spirit ; yea, he shall pour out the Holy
Ghost in such copious effusion as has not been since the creation
until now ; yea, the fulness of that promise which our fathers have
waited for with such anxious exj)ectation, which was to be revealed
in the last days, and held in reserve until a time when nothing shall
be withheld ; when all the glories of earth and heaven, time and
eternity, shall be manifest to all those who have endursd valiantly
for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If there be bounds set to the heavens,
the seas, the dry land, they shall be manifest, as well as the various
-revolutions of the sun, moon, and planets ; and a full development of
all the glorious laws by which they are governed shall be revealed in
the ' dispensation of tiie fulness of times,' according to that which was
ordained in the midst of the council of heaven in the presence of the
eternal God, before this world was.
" Ignorance, bigotry, and superstition are frequently in the way
of the prosperity of this church, and are like the torrent of rain
rushing down from the mountains, which floods the clear stream with
mire and dirt ; but when the storm is over, and the rain has ceased,
the mire and dirt are washed away, and the stream again is pure
and clear as the fountain, so shall the church appear when ignorance,
superstition, and bigotry are washed away. What power can stay the
heavens ? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the
mightv Missouri river in its course, as to hinder the Almij^htv from
pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the hearts of the Latter-
Day Saints ! What are the governor and his murderous party, but
willows on the shore to stop the waters in their progress ? As well
might we argue that water is not water, because the mountain tor-
rent sends down mire, and riles the crystal stream ; or that fire is not
fire, because it is quenchable ; as to say that our cause is down,
Of2 THE MORMONS.
because renegadoes, liars, ])riests, and murderers, wlio are alike touacious
of their crafts and creeds, have poured down upon us a flood of dirt
and mire from their strongholds. No, they niav rage, with all the
powers of hell, and pour forth their wrath, indignation, and cruelty,
like the burning lava of Mount Vesuvius, yet shall iMormonism stand.
Truth is Mormonism, and God is its author ; by him we received our
birth, b}'' iiim we were called to a dispensation of his gospel, in the
beginning of the fulness of times ; it vras by IIIM we received tiie Book
of Mormon, by him we remain unto tliis day, and shall continue to
remain, if it be to his glory ; wc are determined to endure tribulation,
as good soldiers, unto the end : when you read this, you will learn
that prison walls, iron doors, screeching hinges, guards and jailors,
have not destroyed our confidence, but we say, and that from expe-
rience, that they are calculated in their very nature to make the soul
of an honest man feel sti'onger than the powders of helh But we must
bring our epistle to a close, and send our respects to lathers, mothers,
wives, and children, brothers, and sisters, and be assured we hold
them in sacred remembrance.
*' We should be glad to hear from Elder Rigdon, George W. Rob-
inson and Elder Gaboon. We remember them, and would like to jog
their memory a little on the fable of the bear and the two friends, who
mutually agreed to stand by each other. We could also mention
Uncle John Smith and others. A word of consolation and a blessing
would not come amiss from anybody, while we are so closely whispered
by the bear. Our respects and love to all the virtuous saints. We are,
dear brethren, your fellow-sufferers, and prisoners of Jesus Ghrist for
the Gospel's sake, and for the hope of glory which is in us. Amen.
" Joseph Smith, Jr.
Hyrum Smith.
Lyman Wight.
Galeb Baldwin.
Alexander McRae."
While Joseph and Ilyriim remained in prison, and thus endea-
voured to arouse the zeal of such men as Sidney Rigdon, men who
knew too nmch to be thoroughly trusted, and who required the goad
to keep them faithful ; the Mormons, unable to cope with their ene-
mies, were hunted out of Missouri, no oi)portunity being allowed them
to sell their farms, or enter into arrangements for the disposal of their
jtroperty. In the midst of an inclement winter, in December, 1838,
and January, 1839, men, women, and children — the sick and the aged
as well as the young and sti-ong — were turned out into the i)rairies or
forests, without food or sufficient protection from the weather. In
EXPULSION rnOM MISSOURI. 93
this miseraWe plight they arrived in Illinois in small detachments,
and were most kindly received by the settlers, as well as by the In-
dians. Subscriptions were entered into fur their relief, and many ot
them procured situations in farms, mills, and stores. After a time
the}^ began to hold up their heads again. Their numbers became formi-
dable in their new settlements. Persecution did its ordinary work in
making proselytes, and the congregations ot the Saints were increased
daily by new converts from among the people of Illinois. Early in
the spring of 1839, the Prophet, more successful than in his first attempt,
when his auirer broke, escaped from prison, and made his appearance
among his followers at a place called Quincy. ' His rude but touching
eloquence, his confident appeals to Heaven, his magnificent promises,
Jiis tact and skill, and the joy of the true believers that he was once
more among them, all combined to restore confidence. The great
bulk of the Mormons speedily gathered about a village called " Com-
merce," just above the Desmoines Rapids, on the Mississippi river.
Here thev soon made arrangements for settling down. The Saints
joined them from various parts of the United States, many of them
bringing considerable sums of money. Their surprising fortunes in
their new home will be more fully detailed in the next chapter.
In order, however, to complete the history of the sufferings and
persecution they endured in Missouri, we reproduce the petition
presented by Sidney Rigdon to the State of Pennsylvania, craving
redress. The petition is well worded ; and although its language is
strong, the facts it narrates are fully corroborated by other parties,
not connected with the Mormons.
*' TO THE HONOURABLE THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN LEGISLATIVE CAPACITY ASSEMBLED.
"Your memorialisr, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, and now an exile in the State of Illinois, begs leave most respectfully
to represent to your honourable body, that he was born in the State of Penn-
sylvania, on the 19th of February, A.D. 1793, in Alleghany county, and town-
ship of Saint Clair ; that he continued his permanent residence in said State
until the year 1826, when he moved into the State of Ohio. In 1831 he went
into the State of Missouri, and, in connection with other members of said Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, became the owner of real estate in tlie
county of Jackson in said state ; but by reason of the violence of a formidahle
mob, and the unwillingness of the authorities of Missouri to protect your
memorialist, and those connected with him in the possession of their rights, they
were forbidden the privilege of enjoying their property, or receiving any benefit
therefrom ; that in the month of April 1838, your memorialist moved with
liis family into the State of ^Missouri, into Caldwell county, and became the
owner of real estate in the said county of Caldwell, without, however, being
94 THE MORMONS.
privileoed to enjoy the benefit of his hinds in Jackson county. All the lands
owned by your memorialist and his brethren in Jackson county were purchased
from the Ignited States, for which payment had been made in full ; the benefits
cf which payment the United States now enjoy, and has ever since the purchase.
There had a lar<;c number of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
settled in Caldwell county at the time your memorialist went into that county,
as also many in Davies county in said State. We commenced building houses
and improving- our lands ; building mills and other machinery for our mutual
benefit ; quietly and peaceably enjoying our new homes, and using much in-
dustry and economy to render the desolate waste, whither we had been driven,
a pleasant habitation for man. The toils of the day were followed by the sound
of the hammer, the noise of the plane, and the hum of the wheel at night.
Day and night all was bustle, all was stir ; every hour of the day and many
of the night brought forth the fruits of industry for the benefit of the settlers,
and additional improvement, beauty, and comfort to our new homes. Our
social circles, however, were not unfrequently disturbed by the tears and sobbings
of some disconsolate widow, or the weeping of some bereaved orphan, bewailing
the loss of a husband or a father, who had fallen a victim to the violence of
the Jackson and Clay county mobs. Jackson county was the place of our
choice, and nothing but violence could have caused our people to leave it.
Their hearts were set upon it, and all their feelings associated with that place,
as the future home of themselves and their posterity. The location in Cald-
well and Davies counties was only made by our people by reason of violence
and lawless outrages committed upon them. It was always received by us as
a place of exile, and not of choice, and in despite of all our efforts at cheerful-
ness, at times the mind would be almost overwhelmed with melancholy, and we
would say in our hearts, and often "with our lips, * What availeth us that our
ancestors bled, and our fathers fought for liberty, while we are as captives in a
strange land ?' and like Israel along the streams of Babylon, we would be almost
ready to hang our harps on the willows, and refuse to sing the song of Zion.
Oh, where is the patrimony our fathers bequeathed to us ? Where is the liberty
they purchased with their blood ? Fled ! alas, fled ! but we hope not for ever.
** But the wants of our families would dissipate our feelings ; we would en-
gage in the labours of the day and the toils of the night with untiring perse-
verance, and struggle with all the powers of both mind and body, to render
our families comfortable, and make our homes pleasant. But, alas ! this pri-
vilege was not allowed us. Our quiet industry and untiring perseverance soon
awakened the jealousy of our enemies, and the cry went forth, that if the ]\for-
mons (as they called us) were let alone, Caldwell county would in five years be
the most wealthy and populous county in the State. This our enemies could
not endure ; and a regular system of mobocracy, of violence, and plunder, was
formed to check us in our course to wealth and greatness, as our enemies sup-
posed ; and indeed they had some reason to think so ; for an extent of improve-
ment had been made in this remote and wild region, in the space of a few
months, which had no parallel in the history of our western settlements, and
I strongly doubt whether anywhere else.
PERSECUTION IN MISSOURI. 95
" This banditti of marauders increased in numbers and violence, until by
device and stratagem, duplicity and falsehood, they got the authorities of the
State to interfere and aid them in their dialjolical purposes ; and the then
.Governor of the State, Lilburn W. Boggs, actually sent a large military force
into the count}', with orders to exterminate us and confiscate our property ; or
such was the authority the commanders of the military ai'ray claimed, by
virtue of the order received from the Governor. Suffice it to say, that our
settlements were broken up, our towns plundered, our farms laid waste, our
crops ruined, our flocks and herds either killed or driven away, our houses
rifled, our goods, money, clothing, provisions, and all we had carried away ;
men were shot down like wild beasts, or had their brains dashed out ; women
Avere insulted and ravished, until they died in the hands of their destroyers ;
children were killed while pleading for their lives. All entreaties were vain
and fruitless ; men, women, and children, alike fell victims to the violence and
cruelty of these ruffians. Men moving into the' county with their families
were shot down ; their waggons, teams, and loading, taken by the plunderers
as booty, and their wives with their little ones ordered out of the State furth-
with, or suffer death, as had their husbands, leaving them no means of con-
veyance but their feet, and no means of subsistence but begging. Soldiers of
the revolution were slain in the most brutal manner while pleading for their
lives in the name of American citizens. Many were thrown into prison to
endure the insults of a mock trial, that would have disgraced an Inquisition.
This last part of the scene was doubtless designed to make the distant public
believe that there was some excuse for all this outrage and violence. Among
the number of those cast into prison was your memorialist, who had to endure
four months' imprisonment, part of the time in chains.
" To give your honourable body a correct idea of the origin of these scenes
of cruelty and woe, we will here transcribe the preamble to a set of resolutions
passed by these plunderers at their first meeting, held in Jackson county, for
the purpose of taking measures for the expulsion of our people from that
county. It is as follows :
" ' We the undersigned, citizens of Jackson county, believing that an im-
portant crisis is at hand as regards our civil society, in consequence of a pre-
tended religious society of people that have settled and are still settling in our
county, styling themselves Mormons : and intending, as we do, to rid our so-
ciety, peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must, and believing, as we do, that
the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee, or at least a sufficient
one, against the evils which are now inflicted on us, and seem to be increas-
ing, by the said religious sect, deem it expedient and of the highest import-
ance to form ourselves into a company for the better and easier accomplishment
of our purpose, which, we deem it almost superfluous to say, is justified as well
by the law of nature, as by the law of self-defence.'
" Your honourable body will see by the above that the reason assigned for
the formation of the company (and this was the first that was formed), was the
want of power in the civil law to enable them to effect their own object. Hear
their own words : ' And believing, as we do, that the arm of the civil law does
00 THE MORMONS.
not afford us a pfuarantco, or at least a sufficient one, against tlie e\ils wliieh
are now inflicted on us.' AVhat were the evils com])lained of? Strange must
be the answer, thenist-lvcs being judges ; the existence of a religious society
among them — a society, too, against which even envy and malice tlu-mselvcs
could not find an accusation, or ferret out a law less impropriety, or one act
uirudi the laws recognised as crime. For, say the complainants, Ave form
ourselves into a company, because the laws do not provide for the evils which
afflict us ; or this is in effect what they say. If any individual or individuals
of said society, or the society as a body, had transgressed the laws, had not the
State power to lawfully inflict the punishment due to said offence ? The sequel
shows they had. What are the facts, then, of the case, our enemies being the
judges themselves? They are, that our people had so deported themselves as
to be justirted by the laws, claiming noriglitsbut such as the laws guaranteed,
exercising no power beyond the limits set for them by the laws of the country ;
and this was the reason why our enemies formed themselves into a com])any
for our expulsion, or at least they say so. If our people had been transgres-
sors of the laws, no need then for the people of Jackson county to form them-
selves into a company to drive us from our homes ; they could have done tliis
lawfully : no need of a company being formed ; all could have been done
without that humaniiy could have demanded.
" By virtue, then, of the unholy determination, as stated above, our people
were attacked iudiscriminately, men, women, and children, their houses w( re
rifled ; the inmates driven out into open fields or wild prairies ; their firms
desolated ; their crops all destroyed ; their goods and chattels carried off or other-
wise destroyed ; men were caught, tied up, and whip])ed, until some died in
their hands; others had to tie handkerchiefs round their bodies to keep their
Iwwels from falling out ; others were shot down, their wives and little ones
driven from their habitation. And this often in the nioht, havino^ nothino- but
their night-clothes on ; their houses would be set on fire and all consumed,
leaving hundreds of women and little children thus destitute and naked, wan-
dering bare-footed and nearly naked in the darkness of night and dead of
winter, in the fields and open prairies without any covering but the heavens,
or any bed but the earth; and their condition so terrible, that they might be
followed by their blood, wdiich flowed from their lacerated and bleeding feet.
Females in this heart-rending condition gave birth to children in the open air,
and exposed to the inclemencies of the winter. The consequences were, that
many sickened and many died. And if we ask. Why all this abuse ? the answer
must be, Because the peoi)le had not transgressed the laws ; if they had, their
persecutors would have punished them by the laws ; but they had not done it,
and for this cause they must suffer all the cruelties which the most inhuman
barbaritv could invent. The lands which vour memorialist and his brethren
had purchased from the general government, and (m which large improveuients
M'ere made, were thus taken possession of by our persecutors, and the same
are held by them till this day, and we are forbid the ])ri\ iiege of enjoying them,
or any benefit arising from them — I mean, the lamls in Jackson county.
"After wandering about for a lenglh of time, those that were thus unlaw-
PERSECUTION IN MISSOURI. ' 97
fully deprived of their earthly all, and cruelly driven from their homes, got into
Clay county in said State of JMissouri, and again began to get homes ; but
in a short time the same scenes bfganto be acted in Clay, as had been in Jack-
son county, and the people were again driven and got into Caldwell, or what
was afterwards Caldwell county, and into Davies county, or a large majority
of them, and here again purchased lands from the general government.
* * To give your honourable body a correct idea of how those who had been
thus driven and stripped of their all were enabled again to purchase, it is
only necessary to say, that there was a constant emigration into the country
of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; many of
those had money, and they loaned part of what they had to those who had
none, and enabled them to purchase homes. The lands soon began to rise in
value, and the first purchasers were enabled to sell part of what they had pur-
chased for enough to pay for the whole and save themselves a home, some
more and some less. There were few, if any, who did not in this way get homes,
but were privileged only a very short time to enjoy them. We were followed
into Caldwell and Davies counties by the same relentless spirit, and by the
same persecutors who had desolated our people in Jackson county, under the
command of Major-General Lucas, of Independence, Jackson county, seat of
the first mob, and the place where the first company was formed for our de-
struction. He was joined on his way hither by many of other counties, and
invaded our towns and settlements, laid all waste, and <lroveus into exile.
"Lilburn W, Boggs, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the State when the
persecution first commenced, and one of the princiiial actors in the persecu-
tion, was now (1838) Governor of the State, and used his executi\e and in-
fluence to have us all massacred or driven into exile ; again taking all we had,
and holds it till this day ; and all this because we were not lawless and dis-
obedient. For if the laws had given them a sufl[icient guarantee against the
evils complained of by the existence of our religious society among them, then
would they have had recourse to the laws. If we had been transgressors of
law, our houses would not have been rifled, or women ravished, our farms
desolated, and our goods and chattels destroyed, our men killed, our wives and
children driven into the prairies, and made to suffer all the indignities that the
most brutal barbarity could inflict ; but would only have had to suffer that
which the laws would inflict, which were founded in justice, framed in right-
eousness, and administered in humanity. But, scourged by this banditti with-
out the forms of law, and, according to their own declaration, in violation of
all law or the principles of humanity, we were doomed to suffer all kinds of
cruelty which barbarity or inhumanity could invent. And they have gravely
told the world that they deem it almost superfluous to say that their cause was
justified, as well by the law of nature as by the law of self-defence. Now, in
the name of all humanity, what law of nature justified, or law of self-defenoe
required, the infliction of such shameless cruelties? In so saying, they show
most assuredly but very little respect to the intelligence or humanity of
American citizens ; and in the eyes of the civilized world have cast a shade,
and a dark one too, on the character of the sons of a noble ancestry ; for they
G
98 THE MORMONS.
have virtually said that Americans look upon such cruelties as the acts of
virtue and the fatherly chastisements of humanity.
'• During the whole progress of those scenes of cruelty, from the heginning
we petitioned the authorities of the State of Missouri for protection and redress.
In the name of American citizens we appealed to their patriotism, to their justice,
to their humanity, and to their sacred honours ; but they were deaf to our
entreaties, and lent a listless ear to our petitions. All attempts at redress or
protection were vain ; and they heeded us not, until we were exiles in a strange
land, though one (and to its honour he it spoken) where we found both friends
and a home. But since our residence in Illinois, Missouri has followed us
with the same relentless spirit of persecution. Warrants hiive been sent by
the Governor of Missouri to the Governor of Illinois, demanding the body of
your memorialist and a number of others ; for that of Joseph Smith three
several warrants have been sent, all of which have been set aside by the legal
authorities of Illinois ; and yet they cease not their persecution. Our people
are kidnapped and carried into Missouri, and there insulted and whipped (as
many have been), and cast into prison, and left to get out as they could. All
this without the Ibrms of trial. Missouri is bv these brutal means endeavour-
ing to make the public think that they have cause for this barbarity. But,
let me ask your honourable body, what excuse can be pled for such inhuman
barbarity and brutal recklessness ? Let me further ask the attention of your
honourable body to the fact, that all the before described outrages were com-
mitted by a body of men calling themselves militia, called out by order of
the Governor for the professed object of seeing that the laws were kept, and
their supremacy maintained. Such was their pretended object, and under this
cover they put at defiance the laws of both God and man, of nature, humanity,
and decency ; and in these unhallowed abuses of all the laws of civilized society
in the world, they were upheld by the authorities of the State, and actually
paid by the State for committing theft, robbery, rapine, violence, rape, and
murder, with innumerable cruelties painful to mention. And when we made
application to the authorities for redress, we w^re insulted instead of receiving
common civilities. The constitution of the United States provides, that the
United States shall give to each state a republican form of government. Is
it a republican form of government where such outrages can be committed in
the face '^f the authorities, and yet no redress can be had ? where all law is
suspended to give place to cruelty, barbarity, and inhumanity ? Let your
honourable body answer.
" Her statesmen in the national councils may attempt to plead excuses for
these diabolical outrages ; but all they can do is to stamp infamy on their own
characters, and engrave disgrace on the urn that contains their ashes after
they sleep. What, 1 ask your honourable body, can be pled in extenuation of
crimes so barbarous, cruelties so infamous, and outrages so violent? What
crime can any man connnit, it matters not how flagrant, which can, according
to the laws of the civilized world, subject his wife to insult, his daughters to
rape, his property to public plunder, his children to starvation, and himself
and family to exile. The very character of the outrage is all the testimony
PERSECUTION IN MISSOURI. 99
I think your honournble body can ask — that it was without provocation on the
part of the sufferers ; for if there had been provocation, then would the trans-
gressors have had to sutler the penalty of broken laws ; but their punii^hment,
if such it can be called, was not the penalty inflicted for the breach of any law,
for no law in existence knows such a penalty or penalties. Why, then, all this
cruelty ? Answer, because the people had violated no law ; and they could
not be restrained by law, nor prevented from exercising the rights which they
(according to the laws) enjoyed, and had a right to be protected in, in any State
in the Union.
"Being refused redress by the authorities of jNLissoui'i, to whom shall your
memorialist look ? He answers, to the people of his native State, and through
them to the general government ; and where can he look with more contidence
than to the patriots of Pennsylvania, the State of his nativity, and the place of the
sepulchres of his fathers ? Yes, your memorialist says in his heart, ' I will tell
my wrongs and grievances, and that of my brethren, in Pennsylvania : I will
publish them in the streets, highways, and high placfs of the "Key-Stone
State," that her statesmen may plead the cause of suffering innocence in the
halls of the National Legislature ; her matrons may arise in the strength of
patriotism ; her fair ones in virtuous indignation, and their united voices cease
not until the cause of the innocent shall be heard, and their most sacred
rights restored.' To your honourable body, then, the representatives ot the
people of his native State, your memorialist utters his complaining voice ; to
you he tells the tale of his wrongs and his woes, and that of his brethren, and
appeals to your honourable body as one of Pennsylvania's native sons, and asks
you in the name of all that is patriotic, republican, and honourable, to instruct
the whole delegation of Pennsylvania in Congress, to use all lawful and con-
stitutional means to obtain for us redress for our wrongs and losses ; believing,
as your memorialist does, that the general government has not only power to
act in the premises, but are bound by every sacred obligation by which Ame-
rican citizens are bound to one another in our national compact, to see that
no injury is inflicted without redress being made.
"Weak indeed must be our republican institutions, and as contemptible
our national capacity, if it is a fact that American citizens, after having pur-
chased lands from the government, and received the government guarantee to
be ])rotected in the enjoyment of them, they can be lawlessly and causelessly
driven off by violence and cruelty, and yet the government have no power to
protect them or redress their wrongs. Tell not this in Pennsylvania, pubiisli
it not in the streets of Ilarrisburgh, for surely the sons of the ' Key-Stone
State' will feel themselves insulted.
" Well may the nations of the old world ridicule the weakness and impo-
tency of our free institutions, — a government not able to protect its own citizens !
A government, — it must be famous indeed in the annals of history, and a pat-
tern to the world, which is so governed as to admit of the most flagrant abuses
known to the civilized world, and acknowledged by all to be such, and yet no
power to redress them ! Hear it, 0 ye barbarians ! Listen to it, 0 ye savages !
and hasten, yea, hasten all of you to America ; there you can glut your avarice
]00 THE MORMONS.
by plunder, and riot in the blood of innocence till you are Scatisfied, and the
government has no power to restrain, nor strength to punish, nor yet ability
to redress, the sufferers at your hands.
" Fr<*m the accjuaintance which your memorialist has with the history of
his native State, he has been induced to make his appeal to your honoured
body ; — a State whose people are noted for their civic virtues and zealous at-
tachment to the principles ot civil and religious liberty, — a people venerable
from the beginning of our national existence, whose virtuous efforts to the
sacred principles of freedom, religious, civil, and political, have obtained for
them.^elves imperishable laurels in the history of our country's glory, — a people
whose colonial organization was based upon the holy principles of equal rights
and equal privileges, — a people whose national escutcheon has never been
stained with the martyr's blood, — a people whose statesmen, divines, and heroes,
laboured in the cabinet, the desk, and the field, to secure and hand down to
their posterity, in all succeeding ages, the boon of heaven, the sacred rights of
freemen .
" It was in the honoured metropolis of Pennsylvania, the seat of the first
colonial Congress, when the principles of liberty were matured, from whence
emanated the voice of independence, whose echoes rolled and reverberated till
it reached the circumference of the colonial settlements, and inspired the sons
of freedom, until there was but one voice heard, ' Freedom or death !' It was
there, when the leaders and heroes of the revolution pledged their lives, their
fortunes, and their sacred honours to each other, to be scourged by a tyrant's
sceptre no longer, until all they had, and all they were, were offered on the
altar of freedom.
'* Not only were the principles of equal rights inscribed in legible charac-
ters on the flags which floated on her towers in the incipient stages of our
national existence, but they were engraven on the hearts of the people with
an impression which could not be obliterated. All who collected in her towers
or fought under her banners could contend and fight for freedom only. Her
teachers of religion, whose influence in the pulpit and eloquence in public
assemblies, wielded an overwhelming influence in forwarding the cause of
liberty, — did they use this influence in securing to themselves governmental
patronage or religious preferences ? All acquainted with the history of the
times answer No. They were citizens of Pennsylvania, and the immortal
Penn had inscribed on every pot and bell in the colony, * Civil and Eeligious
Liberty.' The patriotism of Pennsylvania's religious teachers was pure. They
threw in their whole weight of character and influence to promote a cause
which made others equal with themselves — for the glorious privilege of seeing
a people free. Her heroes bore the horrors of war, fnot to sway the tyrant's
sceptre "or enjoy a lordling's wealth ; but to found an asylum for the op-
pressed, and prepare a land of freedom for the tyrant's slave. Her statesmen,
■while in the councils of the nation, devoted all their wisdom and talents to
establish a government where every man should be free; the slave liberated
from bondage, and the coloured African enjoy the rights of citizenship ; all
enjoying equal rights to speak, to act, to worship— peculiar privileges to none.
PERSKCUTION IN MfSSOURI. 101
Such were Pennsylvania's sons at the beginning, and surely their sons and
successors must have degenerate<l, lamentably degenerated from the purity
and patriotism of their fathers and predecessors, if crimes and cruelties, such
as your memorialist complains of, go unheeded and unregarded. Honourable
regard for the people of my native State forbids the thought.
" In confidence of the purity and patriotism of the representatives of the
people of his native State, your memorialist comes to your honourable body
through this his winged messenger, to tell you that the altar which was erected
by the blood of your ancestors to civil and religious liberty, from whence
ascended up the holy incense of pure patriotism and universal good-will to
man into the presence of Jehovah, a savour of life, is thrown down, and the
worshippers thereat have been driven away, or else they are laying slain at the
place of the altar. He comes to tell your honourable body that the temple
your fathers erected to freedom, whither their sons assembled to hear her
precepts and cherish her doctrines in their hearts, has been desecrated, its
portals closed, so that those that go up hither are forbidden to enter.
" He comes to tell your honourable body that the blood of the heroes and
patriots of the revolution, who have been slain by wicked hands for enjoying
their religious rights, — the boon of heaven to man, — has cried, and is cryiug,
in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, saying : ' Kedress, redress our wrongs, 0
Lord God of the whole earth !'
"He comes to tell your honourable body that the dying groans of infant
innocence, and the shrieks of insulted and abused females, and many of tlieui
widows of revolutionary patriots, have ascended up into tiie ears of Omnipo-
tence, and are registered in the archives of eternity, to be had in the day of
retribution as a testimony against the whole nation, unless their cries and
groans are heard by the representatives of the peoj)le, and ample redress
made, as far as the nation can make it, or else the wrath of the Almighty will
come down in fury against the whole nation.
** Under all these ciicumstances, your memorialist prays to be heard by
your honourable body touching all the matters of his memorial, and as a
memorial will be presented to Congress this session for redress of our griev^
ances, he prays your honourable body will instruct tlie whole delegation of
Pennsylvania, in both houses, to use all their influence in the national coun-
cils, to have redress granted.
"And, as in duty bound, your memorialist will ever pray.
♦'Sidney Rigdon, P.M."
- -•^'=^--^'-:-i»>--^^^j^^^^^^^g-^:
Tae Temple at Nauvuo.
CHAPTER V.
Establishment of the Skct in Illinois — Building of the Citv and
TeMI'LK of NaUVOO — JOSKI'H A LiKUTKN ANT-G KNKRAL ThK PrOFHEt's
lliGiiT-HAND Man — The Mokmons in England — Prosperity of Nauvoo.
In tlie course of a few months after their expulsion from Missouri,
the number ot Mormons tiiat found refui^e in lihnois amounted to
fifteen thousand souls, inchidino; men, women, and children. Many
of these had never resided in Missouri, hut flocked to the new location
of tlie sect from all ])arts of the Union, and even from Eno^land, to
make a last stand {ti;;;iinst oppression, and to support their ])ropliet
a^^ainst his enemies. The oro;anization of the sect began to be more
fully and adnnrnbly develojted ; and tbe Mormons were even at this
early j) riod of their career, a pre-eminently industrious, frugal, and
painstaking j)eople. They felt the advantages of co-operation.
THE TEMPLE OF NAUVOO. 103
Tiiougli robbed and plundered, they did not lose tlieir time in vain
repinings, but set tliemselves to repair the calamities they had suf-
fered. The needy were aided by the more affluent in the purchase
of land, and in the plenishing of their farms ; and the inducements
which they held out to skilled mechanics and others to join them,
were not merely of a religious and spiritual, but of a social and worldly
character. The Mormons as a body understood the dignity and
the holiness of hard work, and they practised to the fullest extent
the duty of self-reliance. They soon found themselves so numerous
in the vicinity of the village of *' Commerce," that their leaders con-
ceived the project of converting it first into a town, and afterwards
into a city. They gave it the name of " Nauvoo," or the *' Beautiful,"
a word that occurs in the Book of Mormon. In the course of a 3'ear
and a half they erected about 2,000 houses, besides schools and other
public buildings, and called the place the " Holy City." Joseph
Smith was ap[)ointed its Mayor, and for a brief period in his troubled
career enjoyed the supremacy, which was the great object of his
existence, and the darling dream of his ambition. His word was
law. He was both the temporal and spiritual head of his people, and
enjoyed, beside the titles of " Prophet," " President," and " Mayor,"
the military title of " General" Smith, in right of his command over
a body of militia, which he organized under the name of the Nauvoo
Legion.
It was shortly previous to this time that the sect first began to be
heard of in England. In a short sketch of the rise, progress, and faith
of the Mormons, inserted in the fifth volume of the Times and Seasons,
it is stated that in 1837 the first mission to England was undertaken,
under the direction of Elders 0. Hyde, the same whose signature ap-
pears to the disparaging affidavit relative to the Danite Band already
quoted, and H, C. Kimball. These two baptized two thousand people
into the Mormon faith, chiefly in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds,
Liverjjool, Glasgow, and South Wales. In 1.843, the number of the
sect in England had increased to upwards of 10,000. In 1844, Elder
Lorenzo Snow, being then in England, forwarded, by desire of the
** Prophet," a copy of the Book of Mormon to Queen Victoria, and
another to his Royal Highness Prince Albert, a circumstance at which
the Saints in Nauvoo seemed greatly to rejoice. A Mormon poet
exclaimed, in reference to it —
" Oh ! would she now her influence lend —
The influence of royalty —
MesBialiVs kingdom to extend,
And Zion's nursing mother be.
104
THE MORMONS.
" Then with the jjlory of her name
Inscribed on Zion's lofty spire,
She'd win a wreath of endless fame,
'1 0 List when other wreaths expire."
Lorenzo Snow.
Joseph became rather chary of giving forth *' revelations" after
he finally left Kirtland, but it was necessary to have a revelation
with reference to the Holy City. It was published accordingly in
the month of January, 1841, and directed the buildinjr of a niao--
nificent temple, to which all the Saints were to contribute a tithe
of their j)ossessions, or of their time and labour. *' Let all my Saints
come fr«m afar," said this revelation, the last that the prophet ap-
pears to have issued, " and send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen mes-
sengers, and say unto them, * Come ye with all your gold, and your
silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities, and
with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may
come ; and bring the box tree, and the fir tree, and the pine tree, to-
gether with all the precious trees of the earth, and with iron, and
with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your })rec3ous
things of the earth, and build a house to my name for the Most High
THE TEMPLE OF NAUVOO. 105
to dwell tlierein.' " The Saints were also commanded to build " a
boarding-house" for the boarding of strangers. " Let it be built in
my name, and let my name be named upon it, and let my servant,
Joseph Smith, and his house, have place therein from generation to
generation, for ever and ever, saith the Lord ; and let the name of
the house be called the Nauvoo House, and let it be a delightful
habitation for man, and a resting })lace for the weary traveller, that
he may contemplate the glory of Zion, and the glory of this, the
corner-stone thereof." This " revelation " was the most elaborate of
all the compositions issued under this name. It Avas divided into
forty-six heads or paragraphs, and entered minutely into directions
for raising the funds for these undertakings, and also for governing
the church in all its various departments.
The building of the temple was immediately commenced. The site
chosen was exceedingly fine, being on a hill commanding a magnificent
view on every side. It was built of a polished white lime-stone,
almost as hard as marble, and is described as having been lt^8 feet in
length by 88 in breadth. It was surmounted by a pyramidal tower,
ascending by steps 170 feet from the ground, and the internal decora-
tions were very costly. The Mormons having grown rich and power-
ful under persecution, expended nearly a million of dollars upon this
editice.
The foundation-stone was laid with much pomp on the 6th of April,
1841, within less than two years and a half after the expulsion of the
sect from Missouri. A writer in the Mormon paper, the Times and
Seasons, described the ceremony as one of the most magniticent that
had ever been witnessed in America. At an early hour on the ap-
pointed day, the prophet, who then enjoyed the title of Lieut. -General
Smith," was informed that the legion was ready for , review, and
accompanied by his stafiP, consisting of four aides-de-camp and twelve
guards, nearly all in splendid uniforms, took his march to the parade
ground. On their approach they were met by the band, beautifully
equipped, who received them with a flourish of trumpets, and a
regular salute, and then struck up a lively air, marching in front to
the stand of the Lieut-General. On his approach to the parade
ground the artillery were again fired, and the legion gave an aj)pro-
priate salute. " This," saidthe Mormon reporter, ** was indeed a glorious
sight, such as we never saw, nor did we ever expect to see such a one
in the west The several companies presented a beautiful and inter-
esting spectacle, several of them being uniformed and equij)ped, while
the rich and costly dresses of the officers would have become a
Bonaparte or a Washington.
'■ Alter the arrival of Lieut. -General Smith, the ladies, who had
106 THE MORMONS.
made a beautiful silk flag, drove up in a carriage to present it to the
legion. Major- General Bennett very politely attended on them, and
conducted them in front of Lieut.-General Smith, who immediately
alighted from his charger, and walked up to the ladies, who presented
the flag, making an appropriate address. Lieut.-General Smith
acknowledged the honour conferred upon the legion, and stated that
as lonof as he had the command it should never be disgraced, and then
politely bowing to the ladies, gave it into the hands of Major-General
Bennett, who placed it in possession of Cornet Robinson, and it was
soon seen gracefully waving in front of the legion. During the time
of presentation the band struck up a lively air, and another salute
was fired from the artillery.
"After the presentation of the flag, Lieut.-General Smith, accom-
panied by his suite, reviewed the legion, which presented a very
imposing appearance, the difierent oflScers saluting as he passed.
Lieut.-General Smith then took his former stand, and the whole legion
passed before him in review.''
A procession was then formed with Joseph at its head, followed by
aides-de-camp — brigadiers — a military band — a body of infantry —
and of cavalry — and a troop of young ladies eight abreast. On its
arrival at the temple block, the generals with their staffs, and the
strangers present, took their position inside the foundation ; the
ladies formed on the outside, immediately next the walls, the gentle-
men and infantry behind, and the cavalry in the rear.
The assembly being stationed, the choristers sung an appropriate
hymn. Sidney Rigdon then ascended a ^platform, which had been
prepared for the purpose, and delivered an oration, which lasted for
an hour ; in which he passed in review "the scenes of tribulation and
anguish through which the Saints had passed, the barbarous cruelties
inflicted upon them for their faith and attachment to the cause of their
God, and for the testimony of Jesus, which they endured with patience,
knowing that they had in heaven a more enduring substance — a crown
of eternal glory. In obedience to the commandnients of their Heavenly
Father, and because that Jesus had again spoken from the heavens,
were they engaged in laying the foundation of the temple, that the
Most High might have an habitation, and where the Saints might
assemble to j)ay their devotions to his holy name. He rejoiced at the
glorious prospect which presented itself of soon completing the editice,
as there were no mobs to hinder their labours, consequently their cir-
cumstances were very difterent than before."
After the address the choir sung a hymn. Sidney Rigdon then
invoked the blessings of Almighty God upon the assembly, and upon
those who should labour upon the building. This done the Prophet
THE TEMPLE OF NAUVOO. 107
went throuf^h the principal ceremony of the day, and said that the
first corner-stone of the temple of Almighty God was laid. He
prayed with much solemnity that the building miglit soon be com-
pleted, that the Saints might have an habitation to worship the God ot
their fathers.
" It was a gladsome sight," said the Times and Seasons, "and
extremely affecting, to see the old revolutionary patriots, who had
been driven from their homes in Missouri, strike hands and rejoice
together in a land where they knew they would be })roteeted from
mobs, and where they could again enjoy the liberty for which tliey
had fought many a hard battle.
" The day was indeed propitious — heaven and earth combined to
make the scene as glorious as possible."
Sbortly before the foundation-stone of the temple was laid, Joseph .
attracted the attention of a personage, whom he appointed to a military
command in Nauvoo, and who figures as Major-General Bennett in the
ilormon report of that ceremonial which has just been quoted. This
Bennett, being ambitious, unscrupulous, and unprincipled, seems to have
iiad an idea that by means of Mormonism he might become of importance
in America; and, without mincing the matter by fine words, he wrote to
the Prophet to ]»ropose himself as his " right-hand man." " You know,"
said he to Joseph, " that Mahomet had his right-hand man ;" and
why, he suggested, should not the new Mahomet or Moses have his
right-hand man also ? This curious letter ran as follows : —
"Arlington House, Oct. 24.th, 1843.
" Dear General, — I am happy to know that you have taken possession
of your new establishment, and presume you will be eminently successful and
happy in it, together with your good lady and family. You are no doubt al-
ready aware that I have had a most interesting visit from your most excellent
and worthy friend, President B. Young, with whom I have had a glorious frolic
in the clear, blue ocean ; for most assuredly a frolic it was, without a moment's
reflection or consideration. Nothing of this kind would in the least attach me
to your person or cause. I am capable of being a most undeviating friend, with-
out beini; governed bv the smallest relio-ious infhience.
"As you have proved yourself to be a philosophical divine, you will excuse
me when I say that we must leave their influence to the mass. The boldness
of your plans and measures, together with their unparalleled success so far, are
calculated to throw a charm over your whole being, and to point you out as
the most extraordinary man of the present age. But my mind is of so mathe-
matical and philosoi>hical a cast, that the divinity of Moses makes no impres-
sion oh me ; and you will not be olfended when I say tliat I rate you higher
as a legislator thiui I do Moses, because we have you present with us for
examination, whereas Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and
108 THE MORMONS.
tlie lapse of time. I cniinot, however, say but you are both right, it being out
of the power of man to prove you wrong. It is no mathematical problem, and
can therefore get no maiheniatical solution. I say, therefore, go-a-head — you
have my good wishes. You know Mahomet had his 'right-hand man.'
"The celebrated Thomas Brown, ofKew York, is now engaged in cutting
your head on a beautiful cornelian stone, as your private seal, which will be
set in gold to your order, and sent to you. It will be a gem, and just what
you want. His sister is a member of your church. The expense of the seal
set in gold will be about forty dollars, and ]\Ir. Brown assures me that if he
were not so poor a man, he would present it to you free. Y^ou can, however,
accept it or not, as he can apply it to another use. I am myself short for
cash ; for although I had some time since 2,000 dollars paid me by the Har-
pers, publishers, as the first instalment on the purchase of my copyright, yet I
had got so much behind during the hard times, that it all went to clear up old
scores. I expect 38,000 dollars more, however, in semi-annual payments,
from those gentlemen, within the limits often j'ears, a large portion of which
I intend to use in the State of Illinois, in the purchase and conduct of a large
tract of land ; and, therefore, should I be compelli^d to announce in this quar-
ter that I liave no connection with the Nauvoo Legion, you will of course
remain silent, as I shall do it in such a way as will make all things right.
" I may yet run for a high office in your State, when you would be sure
of my best services in your behalf; therefore, a known connection Avith you
would be against our mutual interest. It can be shown that a commission in
the legion was a Herald hoax, coined for the fun of it, by me, as it is not be-
lieved even now by the public. In short, I expect to be yet, through your
influence, Governor of the State of Illinois.
" My respects to Brothers Y^oung, Richards, Jlrs. Emma, and all friends.
" Yours, most respectfully,
"Jas. Arlington Bennett.
" Lieut.-General Smith."
" P.S. As the office of Inspector-General confers no command on me, being
a mere lionorary title, if' therefore, there is any gentleman in Nauvoo who
would like to fill it in a practical way, I shall with great pleasure and gocid
will resign it to him, by receiving advice from you to that effect. It is an
office that should be filled by some scientific officer.
"J. A. B."
Joseidi's reply to this singular and too candid epistle was quite as
singular and infinitely more amusing. Joseph was too cunning a
man to accept, iti j)lain terms, the rude but serviceable offer ; aiid he
rebuked the vanity and presumjition of Mr. Bennett, while dexterously
retaining him for future use. He was not at all angry, though he
endeavoured to ajjpear so.
THE PILOPHET's " RIGHT-HAND MAN." 109
" Nauvoo, Illinois, Nov. I3(h, 1843.
" Dear Sir, — Your letter of the 24th ult. has been regularly received ; its
contents duly appreciated, and its whole tenor candidly considered ; and, ac-
cording to my manner of judging all things in righteousness, I proceed to
answer you ; and shall leave you to meditate whether mathematical problems,
founded upon the truth of revelation, or religion as promulgated by me, or
Moses, can be solved by rules and principles existing in the systems of com-
mon knowledcre.
"How far you are capable of being *a most undeviating friend, without
being governed by the smallest religious influence,' will best be decided by
your survivors, as all past experience most assuredly proves. Without con-
troversy, that friendship, which intelligent beings would accept as sincere
must arise from love, and that love grow out of virtue, which is as much a
p;irt of religion as light is a part of Jehovah. Hence the saying of Jesus : —
• Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for a
friend.'
" You observed, 'as I have proven myself to be a philosophical divine, I
must excuse you when you say that we must leave these influences to the
mass.' The meaning of 'philosophical divine' may be taken in various
ways. If, as the learned world apply the term, you infer that I have achieved
a victory, and been strengthened by a scientific religion, as practised by the
popular sects of the age, through the aid of colleges, seminaries, Bible socie-
ties, missionary boards, financial organizations, and gospel money schemes,
then you are wrong ; such a combination of men and means shows the form
of godliness without the power ; for is it not written, 'I will destroy the wis-
dom of the wise ; beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the rudiments of the world and not after the doctrines of Christ.'
But if the inference is, that by more love, more light, more virtue, and more
truth from the Lord, I have succeeded as a man of God, then you reason truly,
though the weight of the sentiment is lost, when the ' influence is left to the
mass.' Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?
" Of course you follow out the figure, and say, ' the boldness of my plans
and measures, together with their unparalleled success so far, are calculated
to throw a charm over my whole being and to point me out as the most ex-
traordinary man of the present age.' The boldness of my plans and measures
can readily be tested by the touchstone of all schemes, systems, projects, and
adventures — truth, for truth is a matter of fact ; and the fact is, that by the
power of God I translated the Book of Mormon from hieroglyphics, the know-
ledge of which was lost to the world : in which wonderful event I stood alone>
an unlearned youth, to combat the worldly wisdom and multiplied ignorance
of eighteen centuries with a new revelation, which (if they would receive the
everlasting Gospel) would open the eyes of more than eight hundred millions
of people; and nuike 'plain the old paths,' wherein if a man walk in all the
ordinances of God blameless, he shall inherit eternal life ; and Jesus Christ*
who was, and is, and is to come, has borne me safely over every snare and
plan, laid in secret or openly, tJirough priestly hypocrisy, sectarian prejudice*
110 THE MORMONS.
popular pliilosopliy, executive power, or law-def) hi;^ mobocracy, to rlcstrny
lue.
" Jf, tlien, the hand of God, in all these things that I have accomplished,
towards the salvation of a priest-ridden generation, in the short space of twelve
years, through the boldness of the plan of preaching the Gospel, and the bold-
ness of the means of declaring repentance and baptism for the remission of
sins, and a reception of the Holy Ghost by laying on of the hands, agreeably
to the authority of the priesthood, and the still more bold measures of receiv-
ing direct revelation from God, through the Comforter, as promised, and by
which means all holy men, from ancient times till now, have spoken and re-
vealed the will of God to men, with the consequent * success' of the gathering
of the Saints, throws any 'charm' around my being, and 'points me out as the
most extraordinary man of the age,' it demonstrates the; fact, that truth is
mighty, and must prevail ; and that one man empowered from Jehovah has
more influence with the children of the kingdom than eight hundred millions
led by the precepts of men. God exalts the humble, and debases the haughty.
But let me assure you in the name of Jesus, who spake as never man spake,
that the ' boldness of the plans and measures,' as you term them, but which
shall be denominated the righteousness of the cause, the truth of the system,
and power of God, which, 'so far,' has borne me and the church (in which I
glory in having the privilege of being a member) successfully through the
storm of reproach, folly, ignorance, malice, persecution, falsehood, sacerdotal
wrath, newspaper satire, pamphlet libels, and the combined influence of the
powers of earth and hell, I say these powers of righteousness and truth are
not the decrees or rules of an ambitious and aspiring Nimrod, Pharaoh, Nebu-
chadnezzar, Alexander, Mahomet, Buonaparte, or other great sounding heroes,
that dazzled forth with a trail of pomp and circumstances for a little season,
like a comet, and then disappeared, leaving a wide waste where such an exis-
tence once was, with only a name ; nor were the glorious results of what you
term 'boldness of plans and measures,' with the attendant 'success,' matured
by the self-aggrandizing wisdom of the Priests of Baal, the Scribes and Pha-
risees of the Jews, Popes and Bishops of Christendom, or Pagans of Jugger-
naut; were they extended by the divisions and sub-divisions of a Luther, a
Calvin, a Wesley, or even a Campbell, supported by a galaxy of clergymen
and churchmen, of whatever name or nature, bound apart by cast-iron creeds,
and fastened to set stakes by chain-cable opinions, without revelation ; nor
are they the lions of the land, nor the leviathans of the sea, moving among
the elements, as distant chimeras to ftitten the fancy of the infidel ; but they
are as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and will become a
great mountain, and fill the whole earth. Were I an Egyptian, I would ex-
claim, Jah-oh-eh, Enish- go-on-dosh, Flo-ees,Flos-is-is. [0 the earth! the
power of attraction, and the moon passing between her and the sun.] A He-
brew, JIaueloheem yerau ; a Greek, 0 theos phos esi ; a Roman, Doimmis re-
git me ; a German, Gott gebe wis das licht ; a Portugee, Senhor Jesu Christ o e
lihnrdade ; a Frenchman. Dieu defend le droit ; but as I am, I give God the
glory, and say, in the beautiful figure of the poet —
THE prophet's "RIGHT-HAND MAN." Ill
" * Could we with ink the ocean fill,
Was the whole earth of parchment made,
And every single stick a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade.
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the whole upon a scroll
Be spread from sky to sky.'
"It seems that your mind is of such ' a mathematical and philosophical cast,
that the divinity of Moses makes no impression upon you, and that I will not
be offended when you say, that you rate me higher as a legislator than you do
Moses, because you have me present with you for examination ;' that * Moses
derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time ; you can-
not, however, say but we are both right, it being out of the power of man to
prove us wrong. It is no mathematical problem, and can therefore get no
mathematical solution.'
" 'Now, Sir, to cut the matter short, and not dally with your learned ideas
or fashion's sake, you have here given your opinion, without reserve, that reve-
lation, the knowledge of God, prophetic vision, the truth of eternity, cannot be
solved as a mathematical problem. The first question, then, is, what is a mathe-
matical problem ? And the natural answer is, a statement, proposition, or ques-
tion, that can be solved, ascertained, unfolded, or demonstrated, by knowledge,
facts of figures ; for * mathematical ' is an adjective derived from Mathesis (Gr.),
meaning in English, learning or knowledge. * Problem' is derived from pro-
hleme (French), or probleme (Latin, Italian, or Spanish), and in each lan-
guage means a question or proposition, whether true or false. ' Solve,' is de-
rived from the Latin verb soho, to explain or answer. One thing more, in
order to prove the work as we proceed ; it is necessary to have witnesses, two
or three of whose testimonies, according to the laws or rules of God and man,
are sufificient to establish any one point.
" Now for the question. How much are one and one ? Two. How much
is one from two? One. Very well, one question or problem is solved by
figures. Now let me ask one for facts : Was there ever such a place on the
earth as Egypt ? Geography says Yes ; ancient history says Yes ; and the
Bible says Yes. So three witnesses have solved that question. Again, Lived
there ever such a man as Moses in Egypt ? The same witnesses reply Cer-
tainly. And was he a prophet ? The same witnesses, or a part, have left on
record that ]\Ioses predicted in Leviticus that if Israel broke the covenant they
had made, the Lord would scatter them among the nations, till the land en-
joyed her Sabbaths ; and subsequently these witnesses have testified of the
captivity in Babylon, and other places, in fulfilment. But, to make assurance
doubly sure, Moses prays that the ground might open, and swallow up Korah
and his company for transgression, and it was so : and he endorses the pro-
phecy of Balaam, which said, Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have do-
minion, and shall destroy him thatremaineth of the city ; and Jesus Christ, as
him that ' had dominion,' about fifteen hundred years after, in accordance with
this and the prediction of JIoscs, David, Isaiah, and many others, came, say-
112 THE MORMONS.
ing : ]\IosGs wrote of me, declaring the dispersion of the Jews, and the utter
destruction of the * city ;' and the apostles were his witnesses, unirapeached,
especially Jude, who not only endorses the facts of Moses' ' divinity,' but also
the events of Balaam, and Korah, with many others, as true. Besides these
tangible facts, so easily proven and demonstrated by simple rules and testi-
mony unimpeached, the art (now lost) of embalming human bodies, and pre-
serving them in the catacombs of Egypt, whereby men, women, and children,
as mummies, after a lapse of near three thousand five hundred years, came forth
among the living, and although dead, the papyrus which has lived in their
bosoms unharmed, speaks for them, in language like the sound of an earth-
quake : Ecce Veritas ! Ecce cadaveros ! Behold the truth I Behold the mum-
mies ! Oh, my dear Sir, the sunken Tyre and Sidon, the melancholy dust
where ' the city ' of Jerusalem onee was, and the mourning of the Jews among
the nations, together with such a * cloud of witnesses,' if you had been as well
acquailited with your God and Bible as with your purse and pence table, the
' divinity' of Moses would have dispelled the fog of five thousand years, and
filled you with light ; for facts, like diamonds, not only cut glass, but they are
the most precious jewels on earth. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony
of Jesus. ,
" The world at large is ever ready to credit the writings of Homer, Hesiod,
Plutarch, Socrates, Pythagoras, Virgil, Josephus, Mahomet, and a hundred
others ; but where, tell me where, have they left a line, a simple method of
solving the truth of the plan of eternal life ? Says the Saviour, ' If any man
will do his (the Father's) will, he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of
God, or whether I speak of myself.' Here then is a method of solving the
* divinity ' of men by the divinity within yourself, that as far exceeds the
calculation of numbers, as the sun exceeds a candle. Would to God that all
men understood it, and were willing to be governed by it, that when one had
filled the measure of his days, he could exclaim like Jesus, * Verii mori, etrevi-
viscere /'
" Your good wishes to *go a-head,' coupled with Mahomet and a 'right-
hand man,' are rather more vain than virtuous. Why, Sir, Csesar had his
right-hand Brutus, who was his 'left-hand' assassin ; not, however, applying
the allusion to you.
" As to the private seal you mention, if sent to me, I shall receive it with
the gratitude of a servant of God, and pray that the donor may receive a reward
in the resurrection of the just.
" IMie summit of your future fame seems to be hid in the political policy of
a * mathematical problem ' for the chief magistracy of this State, which, I sup-
pose, might be solved by ' double position,' wdiere the errors of the supposition
are used to produce a true answer.
" But, Sir, when I leave the dignity and honour I received from hea-
ven to hoist a man into power, tlirough the aid of my friends, where the
evil and designing, after the object has been accomplished, can lock up the
clemency intended as a reciprocation for such favours, and where the wicked
and unprincipled, as a matter of course, would seize the opportunity to llintify
TEIE TROPHET's "RIGHT-HAND MAN." 113
the hearts of tlie nation against me for dabbling at a sly game in politi s ;
verily, I say, when I leave the dignity and honour of heaven to ^raiily the
ambition and vanity of man or men, may my power cease, like the strength ot
Samson, when he was shorn of his locks, while asleep in the lap of Delihdi I
Truly said the Saviour, Cast not your pearls before swine, lest they trami)le
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
" Shall I, who have witnessed tlie visions of eternity, and beheld the
glories of the mansions of bliss, and the regions and the misery of the damned,
shall I tm-n to be a Judas ? Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and
communed with angels, and spake, as moved by the Holy Ghost, for the re-
newal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last
days, shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite ? Shall I, who hold the
keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the fulness of all
things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets, since the world began,
under the sealing power of the Melchisedek priesthood — shall I stoop from the
sublime autliority of Almighty God to be handled as a monkey's catspaw, and
pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? No,
verily no ! The whole earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering
rock in the midst of the o<;ean, which has withstood the mighty surges of the
warring waves for centuries, am impreanahle, and am a faithhil friend to virtue,
and a fearless foe to vice ; no odds, whether the former was sold as a pearl in
Asia, or hid as a gem in America, and the latter dazzles in palaces, or glim-
mers among the tombs.
" I combat the errors of ages ; I meet the violence of mobs ; I cope with
illegal proceedings from executive authority ; I cut the Gordian knot of
powers ; and I solve mathematical problems of Universities : with truth,
diamond truth, and God is my ' right-hand man.'
'* And to close, let me say in the name of Jesus Christ to you, and to Pre-
sidents, Emperors, Kings, Queens, Governors, liulers, Nobles, and men in
authority everywhere, do the works of righteousness, execute justice and
judgment in the earth, that God may bless you, and her inhabitants; and
" 'The laurel that gi'ows on the top of tlie mountain.
Shall green for your fame while the sun sheds a ray ;
And the lily, that blows hy the side of tlie fountain,
Will bloom for your virtue till earth melts away."
" With due consideration and respect,
"I have the honour to be, your most obt. servant,
" Joseph Smith."
"Gen. J. A. Bennett, Arlington House, N. Y."
" P.S. The Court Martial will attend to your case in the Nauvoo Legion.
"J. S."
A letter signed Veritas, published in the New York HeraU, de-
scribed not only the general appearance, but gave some particulai s of
u
1 14 THE MORMONS.
the ])hysica] as well as moral weight of the leading Mormons at this
time : —
" It mav not be uninterestino- to vou to have a few lines from vour
correspondent in Zion — tiie city of the Saints — the ' nucleus of a
western empire.' In this communication I purpose giving you a des-
cription of the first presidency of the Mormon hierarchy, which consists
of four dignitaries, to wit, a principal prophet, a patriarch, and two
councillors.
" Joseph Smith, the president of the church, prophet, seer, and
revelator, is thirty-six years of age, six feet high in his pumps, weighing
two hundred and twelve pounds. He is a man of the highest talent
and great independence of character, firm in his integrity, and de-
voted to his religion : in one word, he is a j)er se, as President Tyler
would say ; as a public speaker, he is bold, powerful, and convincing,
possessing both the snaviter in modo and the foriiter in re ; as a leader,
wise and prudent, yet fearless ; as a military commander, brave and
determine<l ; as a citizen, worthy, affable, and kind ; bland in his man-
ners, and of noble bearing. His amiable lady, too, the Electa Cyria,
is a woman of superior intellect and exemplary piety ; in every re-
spect suited to her situation in society, as the wife of one of the most
accomplished and powerful chiefs of the age.
" Hyrum Smitli, the patriarch of the church and brother of Joseph,
is forty- two years of a^^e, five feet eleven and a half inches high,
weighing one hundred atid ninety-three pounds. He, too, is a pro-
phet, seer, and revelator, and is one of the most pious and devout
Christians in the world. He is a man of great wisdom and superior
excellence, [possessing great energy of character, and originality of
thought.
*' Sidney Tvigd on, one of the councillors, prophet, seer,and revelator,
is forty-two years of age, five feet nine and a half inches high, weigh-
ing one hundred and sixty-five pounds ; his former weight, until re-
duced by sickness, produced by the Missouri ])ersecution, was two
hundred and twelve pounds. He is a mighty man in Israel, of varied
learning, and extensive and laborious research. There is no divine in
the west more deeply letirned in biblical literature, and the history of
the world, thnn he ; an eloquent orator, chaste in his language, and
conclusive in his reasoning ; any city would be proud of such a man.
By his proclamation, thousands on thousands have heard the glad
tidings and obeyed the word of God ; but he is now in the * sear and
yellow leaf,' and his silvery locks fast ripening for the grave.
" William f.aw, the other councillor, is thirty-two years of age, five
feet eight and a half inches high, weighing one hundred and seventy-
live pouiids. He is a great logician and profound reasoner ; of correct
THE BOANERGES OF NAUVOO. 115
business habits, and grreat devotion to the service of God. No man
could be better fitted to his station — wise, discreet, just, prudent — a
man of great suavity of manners and amiabihty of character.
"All these men are Boanerges of tlie church, thundering in the
western forests, and hurling arguments and reasons against the sec-
taries of the age, like the thunderbolts of Jupiter. Their wives and
children present, likewise, a pleasing spectacle of intellect, goodness,
hospitality, and kindness seldom witnessed."
It is necessary to append to this rather flattering statement, that
with the exception of Hyrum Smith, every other " Boanerges " of
the Church here mentioned was afterwards expelled or withdrew from
it, and that the adventurer, General Bennett, did not long remain
among the Saints. The "right-hand man" was made useful for a
time ; but not being trusted to the extent he desired, he probably lost
interest in the fortunes of Joseph Smith, and transferred his patronage
elsewhere.
A letter from an officer of the United States' Artillery, who was
travelling westward in September, 1842, described a grand review of
the Mormon legion at Naavoo, of which he was an eye-witness, and
ventured on a prediction which subsequent events very singularly
verified : —
"Yesterday," he says, "was a great day among the Mormons.
Their legion, to the number of two thousand men, Avas paraded by
Generals Smith, Bennett, and others, and certainly made a very noble
and imposing appearance. The evolutions of the troops directed by
Major-General Bennett, would do honour to any body of armed militia
in any of the States, and approximates very closely to our regular
forces. What does all this mean ? Why this exact discij)line of the
Mormon corps ? Do they intend to conquer Missouri, Illinois, Mex-
ico ? It is true they are part of the militia of the State of Illinois, by
the charter of their legion ; but then there are no troops in the States
like them in point of enthusiasm and warlike aspect, yea, warlike cha-
racter. Before many years this legion will be twenty, and perhaps
fifty, thousand strong, and still augmenting. A fearful host, filled
with religious enthusiasm and led on by ambitious and talented officers,
what may not be effected by them ? Perhaps the subversion of the
constitution of the United States : and if this should be considered
too great a task, foreign conquests will most certainly follow. Mexico
will fall into their hands, even if Texas should first take it.
" These Mormons are accuj'^i.ilating like a snow-ball rolling down
an inclined plane, which, in the end, becomes an avalanche. They are
enrolling among their officers some of the first talent in the countrv,
by titles or bribes, it don't matter which. They have appointed your
116 THE MOHMONS.
namesake, Captain Bennett, late of the army of the United States,
Inspector-General of their lej^ion, and he is commissioned as such by
Governor Carlin. This gentleman is known to be well skilled in f -r-
lification, gunnery, ordinance, castrametation, and military engineer-
ing generally, and I am assured that he is now under pay, derived
from the ti things of this warlike people. I have seen his plans for
fortifying Nauvoo, which are equal to any of Vauban's.
'* Only a ])art of their officers, regents, and professors, however, are
Mormons, but tliey are all united by a common interest, and will act
together, on main points, to a man. Those who are not Mormons when
they come here, very soon become so, either from interest or conviction.
'* The Smiths are not without talent, and are said to be as brave as
lions. Joseph, the chief, is a noble-looking fellow, a jMahomet every
inch of him. The postmaster, Sidney Rigdon, is a lawyer, philoso-
})her, and saint. Their other generals are also men of talent, and
some of them men of learning. I have no doubt that they are all
brave, as they are most unquestionably ambitious, and the tendency of
their religious creed is to anniliilate all other sects ; you may, there-
fore, see that the time will come when this gathering host of religious
fanatics will make this country shake to its centre. A western empire
is certain. Ecclesiastical history pre>-^ents no parallel to this people,
inasmuch as they are establisiiing their religion on a learned footing.
All the sciences are taught, and to be taught in their colleges, with
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, &c. The mathe^
matical sciences, pure and mixed, are now in successful operation,
under an extremely able professor of the name of Pratt, and a graduate
of Trinity College, Dublin, is president of their University.
" Now, Sir, what do you think of Joseph, the modern Mahomet?
*' I arrived here incog., on the 1st instant, and from the great pre-
paration for the military parade, was induced to stay to Sice the turn-
out, which I confess has astonished and filled me with fears for future
consequences. The Mormons, it is true, are now peaceable, but the
lion is asleep. Take care and don't rouse him.
"The city of Nauvoo contains about ten thousand souls, and is
rajtidly increasing. It is well laid out, and the municipal affairs ap-
pear to be well conducted. The adjoining country is a beautiful prairie.
Who will say that the Mormon Prophet is not among the great spirits
of the age ? ^
'* The Mormons number in Europe and America about one hundred
and fifty thousand, and are constantly pouring into Nauvoo and the
neighboining country. There are probably in and about this city
and adjacenc territories, not far from thirty thousand of these warlike
fanatics, this jilace having been settled by them only three years ago."
THE NAUVOO LEGION.
117
A public lecturer, of the name of Newhall, published, in the Salem
(Massachusetts) Advertiser, an account of a visit made to Nauvoo, in
1843. He described the Temple as a very "magnificent structure,
different from anything in ancient or modern history," and '• General "
Smith's legion as a very fine body of men. He was jtresent at a grand
review of the corps by Joseph himself, accompanied by '* six ladies on
horseback — who were dressed in black velvet, and wore waving plumes
of white feathers, and rode U[) and down in front of the regiment.''
General Joseph Smith reviewing the Nauvoo Legion.
He described Joseph as "very sociable, easy, cheerful, obliging
and kind, and very hos[)itable — in a word, a joll}' fellow — and one
of the last persons whom he would have supjiosed God would have
raised up as a prophet or a priest." Another account of Joseph was
|)ublished about the same time by a Methodist preacher of the name
t)f Prior.
118 * THE MOEMONS.
" I will not attempt," said this writer, ** to describe the various
feehiigs of my bosom as I took my seat in a conspicuous place in the
congregation, who were waiting in breathless silence for his appear-
ance. While he tarried, I had plenty of time to revolve in my mind
the character and common report of that truly singular personage.
I fancied that I should behold a countenance sad and sorrowful, yet
containing the fiery marks of rage and exasperation. I supposed that
1 should be enabled to discover in him some of those thoughtful and
reserved features, those mystic and sarcastic glances, which I had
fancied the ancient sages to possess. I expected to see that fearful,
faltering look of conscious shame which, from what I had heard of
him, he might be expected to evince. He appeared at last ; but how
was I disappointed when, instead of the heads and horns of the beast
and false proj)het, I beheld only the appearance of a common man, of
tolerably large proportions. I was sadly disappointed, and thought
that, although his appearance could not be wrested to indicate any-
thing against him, yet he would manifest all I had heard of him
when he began to preach. I sat uneasily, and watched him closely.
He commenced preaching, not from the Book of Mormon, however,
but from the Bible ; the first chapter of the first of Peter was his
text. He commenced calmly, and continued dispassionately to pursue
his subject, widle I sat in breathless silence, waiting to hear that
foul aspersion of the other sects, that diabolical disposition of revenge,
and to hear that rancorous denunciation of every individual but a
Murmon. I waited in vain ; I listened with surprise ; I sat uneasy
in my seat, and could hardly persuade myself but that he had been
apprised of my presence, and so ordered his discourse on my account,
that I might not be able to find fault with it ; for instead of a jumbled
iargon of half-connected sentences, and a volley of imprecations, and
diabolical and malignant denunciations, heaped upon the heads of
all who differed from him, and the dreadful twisting and wresting
of the Scriptures to suit his own peculiar views, and attempt to weave
a web of dark and mystic sophistry around the Gospel truths, which
1 had anticipated, he glided along through a very interesting and ela-
borate discourse with all the care and happy facility of one who was
well aware of his important station, and his duty to God and man."
The same writer thus describes Nauvoo : —
** At length the city burst upon my sight. Instead of seeing a few
miserable log cabins and mud hovels, which I had expected to find, 1
was surprised to see one of the most romantic places that 1 had visited
in the west. The buildings, though many of them were small, and of
wood, yet bore the marks of neatness which I have not seen equalled
in this country. The far-spread plain at the bottom of the liill was
THE PEOPHET IN THE PULl'lT.
119
Joseph Smith Preaching-.
dotted over with tlie habitations of men, with such majestic profusion^
that I was almost willing to believe myself mistaken, and instead ot
being in Nauvoo of Illinois, among Mormons, that 1 was in Italy at
the city of Leghorn, which the location of Nauvoo resembles very
much. I gazed for some time with fond admiration upon the plain
below. Here and there arose a tall majestic brick house, speaking
loudly of the genius and untiring labour of the inhabitants, who have
snatched the place from the clutches ot obscurity, and wrested it from
120 THE MORMONS.
the bonds of disease ; and in two or three short years, rescued it from
a dreary waste to transform it into one of the first cities in the west.
The hill upon which I stood was covered over with the dwellings of
men, and amid them was seen to rise the hewn stone and already
accomplished work of the Temple, which was now raised fifteen or
twenty feet above the ground. The few trees that were permitted to
stand are now in fidl foliage, and are scattered with a sort of fantastic
irregularity over the slope of the hill.
'* But there was one object which Avas far more noble to behold,
and far more majestic than any other yet presented to my sight, and
that was the wide-spread and unrivalled father of waters, the Missis-
sippi river, whose mirror- bedded waters lay in majestic extension be-
fore the city, and in one general curve, seemed to sweep gallantly by
the beautiful place. On the farther side was seen the dark green
woodland, bending under its deep foliage, with here and there an in-
terstice bearing the marks of cultivation. A few houses could be seen
through the trees on the other side of the river, directly oj)posite to
which is spread a fairy isle, covered with beautiful timber. The isle
and the romantic swell of the river soon brought my mind back to
days of yore, and to the bright emerald isles of the far-famed fairy
land. The bold and prominent rise of the hill, fitting to the plain
with exact regularity, and the plain pushing itself into the river,
forcing it to bend around its obstacle with becoming grandeur, and
fondly to cling around it to add to the heightened and refined lustre
of this sequestered land.
*' I passed on into the more active parts of the city, looking into
every street and lane to observe all that was passing. I found all the
people engaged in some useful and healthy employment. The place
was alive with business — much more so than any place I have visited
since the hard times commenced. I sought in vain for anything that
bore the marks of immorality, but was both astonished and highly
pleased at my ill success. I could see no loungers about the streets
nor any drunkards about the taverns. I did not meet with those dis-
torted features of ruffians, or with the ill-bred and impudent. 1 heard
not an oath in the place, I saw not a gloomy countenance ; all were
cheerful, polite, and industrious."
The following letter, purjiorting to be written by an "Englishman,"
was published about the same time by most of the American news-
papers, and gave some further particulars ot this extraordinary people,
and tlie beautiful city which they founded. It is doubtful, however,
whether the writer was quite such a stranger among the Mormons
as he was willing to make the world believe.
" Having, wliilst in my native land, heard a great deal said re-
DESCRIPTION OF NAUVOO. 121
spcctiiio- the people called Mormons, I thouojht it would be Avell, in
tlie course of my rambles (or tour) to visit their city, hold converse
■with them, investigate their principles, and judge for myself. I
had heaid, previous to my leaving England, some of their mission-
aries, among whom were Elders Woodruti, Pvichards, and Young.
I thought they were setters forth of strange doctrine, yet it had
an influence on my mind, so that I felt determined, as soon as
Ojiportunity served, to hear both sides of the question, as well from
the Missourians as from any other source, with an unprejudiced mind.
I had, previous to this time, been a member of the Methodist church ;
but having observed that there existed in the breasts of those people
a very strong prejudice with respect to the Mormons, I could not
give full credence to their statements, neither could I rest satisfied
with the statement of the Mormons ; I thought it was possible that
they might dissemble in England, but, as a people, they could not do
so at home, their actions would appear ungarnislied; tliey would there
act out their principles, and their moral and religious influence would
there be seen as clear as the sun at noon-day; but, above all, 1 wanted
to know somethingconcerning the Missourinn ])ersecution; so, after hav-
ing overcome all opposition (some of my friends being greatly alarmed
lest 1 should become a follower of Joe, as they termed it), I took ship and
arrived in safety at New Orleans. I then sailed up the Mississippi, and
landed at St. Louis. A& soon as 1 had taken lodgings, I commenced my
inquiries respecting the Mormons. What think you of the Mormons? I
asked. I had scarcely spoken before my ears weie saluted from all
quarters, from high and low, rich and poor. The Alormons ! The
mean Mormons ! The G d d-- — d Mormons! The deluded Mor-
mons, &c. I heard them calumniated and vilified — nay, abused beyond
belief. They informed me that their crimes were of the deepest dye,
that polygamy was not only tolerated, but practised amongst them ;
that they would rob and plunder, and that blood and murder was to
be found in their skirts ; tliat after they had strijiped the poor stran-
ger of his all, they confined hhn in a kind of dungeon, underneath
the Temple, where he was fed uj)on bread and water, until death put
a period to his sufterings — left to die alone without a kind friend by
him to perform the last sad ofiices, or to see him consigned to the
silent tomb ; but like a dog he was left to die, and like a dog he was
buried. Well, one would have thought that after having heard all
this my courage nnist liave failed, and that I would at once have
given up the search ; but I called to mind the old adage — * Nothing
venture nothing have.' History also informed me of the wonderful
exploits jierfoimed in days of yore by the chivalrous and noble
knights of England, and so 1 felt determine^^ to see and behold the
122 THE MORMONS.
wonderful place, with the history of which I had become acquainted.
1 had, however, determined witliin myself to sell my liberty and life
as dearly as I could, in case the rei)orts I had heard should prove
true ; but the fact was, I did not place much confidence in their Jack-
the-Giant-Killer's tales, looking upon them as being too marvellous
to be true.
*' I landed at Nauvoo on a beautiful morning in the summer
season. I felt a degree of superstitious dread creep over me as I
set my foot upon the shore. Presently I discovered some armed men
advancing towards where I was, but immediately perceived that they
were peaceable citizens of the place, engaged in a pleasure party.
As I walked onward, I felt myself comparatively at home, as I now
and again met with an Englishman that I once had gazed upon in
uiy native land. I directed my course towards the Temple, and after
having gazed upon and thoroughly examined every part of it, I was
soon led to the conclusion that there was not much danger to be
apprehended from being confined in its subterranean vaults or dun-
geons ; I took up my abode as convenient to the edifice as I could,
in order that I mioht be the better enabled to take cognizance
of every circumstance which might come under my observation ;
I had resolved to keep upon a strict look-out, and to keep my head
and understanding from being confused, in order that I might be
enabled to judge correctly, and have a true and correct report to
send to my native land, should I be permitted to reach its shores in
safety.
" The city is of great dimensions, laid out in beautiful order : the
streets are wide, and cross each other at right angles, which will add
greatly to its order and magnificence when finished. The city rises
on a gentle incline from the rolling Mississippi, and as you stand
near the Temple, you may gaze on the picturesque scenery around ;
at your side is the Temple, the wonder of the world ; round about,
and beneath, you may behold handsome stores, large mansions, and
fine cottages, interspersed with varied scenery ; at the foot of the
town rolls the noble Mississippi, bearing upon its bosom the nume-
rous steam-shi[>s which are conveying the Moimons from all parts of
the world to their home. I have seen them landed, and I have
beheld them welcomed to their homes with the tear of joy and the
gladdening smile, to share the embrace of all around. I have heard
them exclaim, How happy to live here ! how happy to die here !
and then how happy to rise here in the resurrection ! It is their
happiness ; then why disturb the Mormons, so long as they are hap})y
and peaceable, and are willing to live so with all men ? I would
say, * Let them live.'
THE NAUVOO "MANSION HOUSE." 1*23
" The inhabitants seem to be a wonderfully enterprising people.
The walls of the temple have been raised considerably this summer ;
it is calculated, when finished, to be the glory of Illinois. They are
endeavouring to establish manufactories in the city. They have
enclosed large farms on the prairie ground, on which they have
raised corn, wheat, hemp, &,c. ; and all this they have accomplished
within the short space of four 3^ears. I do not believe that there is
another people in existence who could have niade such improvements
in the same length of time, under the same circumstances. And here
allow me to remark, that there are some here who have lately emi-
grated to this place, who have built themselves large and convenient
houses in the town ; others on their farms on the prairie, who, if they
had remained at home, might have continued to live in rented houses
all their days, and never once have entertained the idea of building
one for themselves at their own expense.
*' Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, is a singular character ; he
lives at the ' Nauvoo Mansion House,' which is, I understand, in-
tended to become a home for the stranger and traveller ; and I think,
from my own personal observation, that it will be deserving of the
name. The Prophet is a kind, cheerful, sociable companion. I be-
lieve that he has the good-will of the cemnmnity at large, and that
he is ever ready to stand by and defend them in any exti-emity ; and
as I saw the Prophet and his brother Hyrum conversing together one
day, I thought I beheld "two of the greatest men of the nineteenth
century. I have witnessed the Mormons in their assemblies on a,
Sunday, and I know not where a similar scene could be effected or
produced. With respect to the teachings of the Prophet, I must say
that there are some things hard to be understood ; but he invariably
supports himself from our good old Bible. Peace and harmony reigns
in the city. The drunkard is scarcely ever seen, as in other cities,
neither does the awful imprecation or profane oath strike upon your
ear; but, while all is storm and tempest, and confusion abroad re-
specting the Mormons, all is peace and harmony at home."
^cypujc:>^^
Hyruin Smith.
Joseph Smith.
CHAPTER YL
Gbowth op Nautoo — Joseph Smith a Candidate for tbe Prkstdencv of the
United States — Address to the American Pkople — Correspondence
•WITH Messrs. Clay and Calhoun — New Troubles and Persecutions of
THE Sect — The "Spiritual Wife" Doctrine — A Schism among thk
Mormons — The Nauvoo Expositor — Disturbances in the City — "Abate-
ment" OF the Nuisance of an unfriendlv Newspaper — Leoal Proceed-
ings against the Prophet — His Surrender to take his Trial — Murder
of Joseph and Hvrum Smith by the Mob in Carthage Gaol.
For a time after the establishment of the Mormons at Nauvoo, the
"Prophet" antl his followers were warned by sad experience, and
were less hauf;hty, less overbearing, and less presumptuous, in their
intercourse with the ** Gentiles." But the prosperity which attended
JOSEPH MAYOR OF NAUVOO. 125
them in Illinois, and the rapid growth of Nauvoo, soon filled them
again with insolence and s})iritual pride. The dissensions, which had
subsided in adversity, were renewed in prosperity. The power and
influence of Josei)h were too great not to excite envy, and Sidney
Rigdon did great mischief by introducing a novelty called the "spiritual
wife " doctrine. This caused great scandal, both among the Mormons
and among their enemies. J oseph himself appears, unless he has been
grievously maligned, and unless the affidavits published bv his oppo-
nents were forgeries, to have had as great a penchant for a i)lurality
of wives as Mahomet himself. Sidney Rigdon, according to the same
authority, outdid him in this respect, and had " revelations " of his
own, which he made subservient to the gratification of his passions.
There was possibly some exaggeration in these stories, but they do not
appear to have been wholly unfounded, as far as Rigdon, and some
others, were concerned.
Joseph was now at the climax of his earthly glory, and might have
been comparatively hai)py even amid the persecutions of his neigh-
bours the " Gentiles," had it not been for secessions from his church,
and the annoyances springing out of the " sj^iritual wife" doctrine of
his indiscreet friend Rigdon. The population of Nauvoo was almost
wholly composed of Mormons. The corporation over which he presided
as mayor, assumed a jurisdiction indejiendent of, and sometimes hos-
tile to, that of the State of Illinois. They denied validity to the legal
documents ot the State, unless countersigned by Joseph, as mayor of
Nauvoo, and they passed a law to punish any stranger in the city who
should use disrespectful language in speaking of the Prophet. As
time wore on, hostility against the sect increased. They waged a con-
stant warfare with the nine counties that adjoin Handcock county, in
which Nauvoo is situated, and their old feud with Missouri was kept
up by legal proceedings, which, in a somewhat vexatious manner, were
instituted against Smith. Lieutenant-Governor Boggs, of Missouri,
was fired at through a window and narrowly escaped assassination.
He swore that, to the best of his belief, Joseph Smith was a party to
this attempt to murder him. The legal proceedings consequent upon
this charge, tended to excite and maintain the bitterest animosity be-
tween the *' Saints" and the " Gentiles." But the "spiritual wife"
doctrine of Sidney Rigdon was the cause of the greatest scandal, and
ultimately produced an unlooked-for catastrophe.
Nevertheless, the wealth and power of the sect continued to in-
crease, their numbeis being augmented from time to time by the English
immigration from Liver})ool. The Times and Seasons of the 15th
of May in that year, announced to the Saints "that Nauvoo was
becoming a large city, that a number of splendid houses were erected,
JQ6 THE MOKMONS.
and that tliree ships' companies had arrived in the spring from Eng-
land, and the Prophet was in good health and spirits." In 1844, tliey
carried their heads so high that they put Joseph forward as a candi-
date for t)ie Presidentship of the United States, and his still faithtul
Sidney Kigdon as a candidate for the Vice-Presidentship.
The Times and Seasons declared for Joseph Smith as President in
the following address : —
"The question arises, whom shall the Mormons support? — General Jo-
seph Smith. A man of sterling worth and integrity, and of enlarged views ;
a man who has raised himself from the humblest walks in life to stand at the
head of a large, Intelligent, respectable, and increasing society, that has spread
not only in this land, hut in distant nations ; a man whose talents and genius
are of an exalted nature, and whose experience has rendered lilm every way
adequate to the onerous duty. Honourable, fearless, and energetic, he would
administer justice with an impartial hand, and magnify and dignify the office
of chief magistrate of this land ; and we feel assured that there is not a man
in the United States more competent for the task.
' * One great reason that we have for pursuing our present course is, that
at every election we have been made a political target for the filthy dema-
gogues in the country to shoot their loathsome arrows at. And every story has
been put into requisition to blast our fame, from the old fabrication of ' walk
on the water,' down to *the murder of ex-Grovernor Boggs.' The journals
have teemed with this filthy trash, and even men who ought to have more re-
spect for themselves, men contending for the gubernatorial chair, have made
use of terms so degrading, so mean, so humiliating, that a Billingsgate fisher-
woman would have considered herself disgraced with. We refuse any longer
to be thus bedaubed for either party; we tell all such, to let their filth flow in
its own legitimate channel, for we are sick of the loathsome smell.
"Gentlemen, we are not going either to 'murder ex- Governor Boggs,*
nor a Mormon in this State ' for not giving us his money ;' nor are we going
to 'walk on the water;' nor 'drown a woman;' nor 'defraud the jjoor of
their property;' nor send 'destroying angels after General Bennett to kill
him;' nor 'marry spiritual wives;' nor commit any other outrageous act
this election, to help any party with; you must get some other persons to
perform these kind offices for you for the future. We withdraw.
' ' Under existing circumstances we have no other alternative, and if we
can accomplish our object, well ; if not, we shall have the satisfaction of
knowing that we have acted conscientiously, and have used our best judgment;
and if we have to throw away our votes, we had better do so upon a worthy
rather than upon an unworthy individual, who might make use of the weapon
we put in his hand to destroy us with.
" Whatever may be the opinions of men in general in regard to Mr. Smith,
we know that he need only to be known to be admired ; and that it is the prin-
ciples of honour, integrity, patriotism, and philanthrop}-, that has elevated
him in the minds of his iriends, and the same principles, if seen and known,
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 127
would beget the esteem and confidence of all the patriotic and virtuous
throughout the Union.
" Whatever, therefore, be the opinions of other men, our cause is marked
out, and our motto from henceforth will be General Joseph Smith."
Joseph allowed his name to be put forward without any hope of
his success, but was evidently proud of occupying so jirominent a
position; especially as, to use his own expression, it " riled" his ene-
mies in general, and his old Missourian persecutors in particular. He
thought it incumbent upon him, under the circumstances, to imitate the
example of other great political characters, and he accordingly issued
an address to the American people, in which he declared liis views on
various weighty matters. This singular document ran as follows : —
*' GENERAL SMITH's VIEWS OF THE GOVERNMENT AND POLICY OF
THE UNITED STATES.
"Born in a land of liberty, and breathing an air uncon-upted with the
sirocco of barbarous climes, 1 ever feel a double anxiety for the happiness of
all men, both in time and in eternity. My cogitations, like Daniel's, have for
a long time troubled me, when I viewed the condition of men throughout the
world, and more especially in this boasted realm, where the Declaration of
Independence * holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal : that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ;' but,
at the same time, some two or three millions of people are held as slaves for
life, because the spirit in them is covered with a darker skin than ours : and
hundreds of our own kindred, for an infraction, or supposed infraction, of some
over-wise statute, have to be incarcerated in dungeon glooms, or suffer the
more moral penitentiary gravitation of mercy in a nut-shell ; while the duellist,
the debauchee, and the defaulter for millions, and other criminals, take the
uppermost rooms at feasts, or, like the bird of passage, find a more congenial
clime by flight.
"The wisdom which ought to characterise the freest, wisest, and most
noble nation of the nineteenth century, should, like the sun in his meridian
splendour, warm every object beneath its rays; and the main efforts of her
officers, who are nothing more or less than the servants of the people, ought
to be directed to ameliorate the condition of all, black or white, bond or free ;
for the best of books says, ' God liath made of one blood all nations of men
for to dwell on all the face of the earth.'
"Our common country presents to all men the same advantages, the
same facilities, the same rewards ; and without hypocrisy, the Constitution,
when it says, ' We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more
periect union, establish justice, ensure tranquillity, provide for the common
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posteiity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America," meant just what it said, without refierence to
l'^8 • THE MOKMoiSS.
colour or condition : ad ivfinittm. Tlie aspirations and expectations of a
virtuous people, environed with so wise, so libenil, so deep, so broad, and so
high a character of equal rights, as appears in said Constitution, ought to be
treated by those to whom the administration of the laws are entrusted with
as much sanctity as the prayers of the saints are treated in heaven, that love,
contidence, and union, like the sun, moon, and stars, should bear witness,
" ' (For ever singing as they shine.)
The hand that made us is divine !'
Unity is power, and when I reflect on the importance of it to the stability of
all governments, I am astounded at the silly moves of persons and parties, to
foment discord, in order to ride into power on the current of popular excite-
ment ; nor am I less surprised at the stretches of power, or restrictions of
right, which too often appear as acts of legislators, to pave the way to some
favourite political schemes, as destitute of intrinsic merit as a wolf's heart is
of the milk of human kindness. A Frenchman would sny, ' Prosque tout
aimer richesses et ponvoir' (Almost all men like wealth and power).
" I must dwell on this subject longer than others, for nearly (me hundred
years ago, that golden patriot, Benjamin Franklin, drew up a plan of union
for the then colonies of Great Britain, that ffoiv are such an independent
nation, which, among many wise provisions for obedient childnn under their
father's more rugged hand, proceeds thus : — ' They have power to make laws,
and lay and levy such general duties, imposts, or taxes, as to them shall appear
most equal and just (considering the ability and other circumstances of the
inhabitants in the several colonies), and such as may be collected with the
least inconvenience to the people ; rather discouraging luxury, than loading
influstry with unnecessary burdens.' Greiit Britain surely lacked the laudable
humanity and fostering clemmcy to grant such a just plan of union — but the
sentiment remains, like the land that honoured its birth, as a pattern for wise
men to study the convenience of the feople more than the comfort of the cabinet.
"And one of the most noble fathers of our freedom and country's glory ;
great in war, great in peace, great in the estimation of the world, and great
in the hearts of his countrymen, — the illustrious Washington, — said, in his
first inaugural address to Congress : — * I hold the surest pledges that as, on
one side, no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views or party
animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to
watch over this great assemblage of communities and interest ; so, on another,
that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immu-
table principles of private morality, and the pre-eminence of tree government
be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citi-
zens, and command the respect of the world.' Verily, here shines the virtue
and the wisdom of a statesman in such lucid rays, that had every succeeding
Congress followed the rich instruction, in all their deliberations and enact-
ments, for the benefits and convenience of the whole community and the
commttnities of which it is composed ; no sound of a rebellion in South
Carolina ; no rupture in Illiode Island ; no mob in Missouri, expelling her
citizens by executive authority; corruption in the ballot-boxes; a border
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 129
warfai'e between Ohio and Jlichioan ; liard times and distress ; outbreak upon
outbreak in the principal cities ; murder, robbery, and defalcations, scarcity
of money, and a thousand other difficulties, would have torn asunder the
bonds of the Union ; destroyed the confidence of man ; and left the great body
of the people to mourn over misfortunes and poverty, brought on b^-'corrupt
leoislation in an hour of corrupt vanity for self-ao:grandizement. The greu/fc
Washington, soon after the foregoing faithful admonition for the common
welfare of his nation, further advises Congress that, 'Among the many inter-
esting objects which will engage your attention, that of providing for the
common defence will merit particular regard. To be prepared tor war is
one of the most effectual means of preserving peace,' As the Italian would
say, ' Buono aviso' (Good advice).
"The elder Adams, in his inaugural address, gives national pride such a
grand turn of justification, that every honest citizen must look back upon
the infancy of the United States with an approving smile, and rejoice that
patriotism in the rulers, virtue in the people, and prosperity in the Union,
once crowned the expectations of hope, unveiled the sophistry of the hypo-
crite, and silenced the folly of foes. Mr. Adams said: 'If national pride is
ever justifiable or excusable, it is when it springs not from power or riches,
grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information,
and benevolence.' There is no doubt such was actually the case with our
young realm at the close of the last century : peace, prosperity, and union
filled the country with religious toleration, temporal enjoyment, and virtuous
enterprise ; and gradually, too, when the deadly winter of the ' Stamp Act,'
the 'Tea Act,' and other close commimion acts of royalty had choked the
growth of freedom of speech, liberty of the press, and liberty of conscience,
did light, liberty, and loyalty flourish like the cedars of God.
** The respected- and venerable Thomas Jefferson, in his inaugural address,
made more than forty years ago, shows what a beautiful prospect an innocent,
virtuous nation presents to the sage's eye, where there is a space for enter-
prise, hands for industry, heads ibr heroes, and hearts for moral greatness.
He said : 'A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing
all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce
with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies
beyond the reach of mortal eye : when I contemplate these transcendant
objects, and see the honour, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved
country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from
the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the under-
taking.' Such a prospect was truly soul-stirring to a good man ; but ' since
the fathers have fallen asleep, ' wicked and designing men have unrobed the
government of its glory, and the people, if not in dust in ashes, or in sack-
cloth, have to lament in poverty her departed greatness, while demagogues
build fires in the north and south, east and west, to keep up their spirits till
it is better times ; but year after year have left the people to Iwpe, till the very
name of Congress or Stale Legislature is as horrible to the sensitive friend of
his country, as the house of * Blue Beard' is to children, or 'Crockett's' Hell
i
uo
THE MORMONS.
of Lon(]on to meek men. When the people are secure and their rip^hts pro-
perly respected, then the four main pillars of prosperity, viz. ;— agriculture,
manufactures, navigation, and commerce, need the fostering care of govern-
ment ; and in so goodly a country as ours, where the soil, the climate, the
rivers, the lakes, and the sea coast ; the productions, the timber, the minerals,
and the inhabitants are so diversified, that a pleasing variety accommodates all
tastes, trades, and calculations, it certainly is the highest point of subversion
to protect the whole northern and southern, eastern and western, centre and
circumference, of the realm, by a judicious tariff. It is an old saying and a
true one, ' If you wish to be respected, respect yourselves.'
" I will adopt in part the language of Mr. Madison's inaugural address :
* To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations, having corres-
pondent dispositions ; to maintain sincere neutrality towards belligerent
nations ; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion and reasonable accommo-
dation of intrigues and foreign partialities, so degrading to all countries, and
so baneful to free ones ; to foster a spirit of independence too just to invade
the riuhts of others, too proud to surrender their own, too liberal to indulge
unworthy prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look down upon them
in others ; to hold the Union of the States as the basis of their peace and
happiness ; to support the Constitution, which is the cement of the Union,
as in its limitations as in its authorities ; to respect the rights and autho-
rities reserved to the States and to the people, as equally incorporated with,
and essential to, the success of the general system ; to avoid the slightest
interference with the rights of conscience, or the functions of religion, so
wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction ; to preserve in their full energy the
Qlher salutary provisions in behalf of private and personal rights, and the
freedom of the press : as far as intention aids in the fulfilment of duty, are
consummations too big with benefits not to captivate the energies of all
honest men to achieve them, when they can be brought to pass by reciproca-
tion, friendly alliances, wise legislation, and honourable treaties.'
"The government has once flourished under the guidance of trusty
servants ; and the Hon. ]\Ir. Monroe, in his day, while speaking of the Con-
stitution, says: — 'Our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign
nations, and between the States ; new States have been admitted into our
Union ; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honourable treaty, and
v.ith great advantages to the original States ; the States respectively pro-
tected by the natiimal government, under a mild paternal system, against
foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise par-
tition of power, a just projjortion of the sovereignty, have improved their
police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity
which are the best prooi's of wholesome law well administered. And if we
look to the condition of individuals, what a proud spectacle does it exhibit?
"Who has been deprived of any right of person and property ? Who restrained
from offt-ring his vows in the mode he prefers to the Divine Author of his
being? It is well known that all these blessings have been enjoyed to their
iullest extent ; and 1 add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Vol
example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime ot
hii;h treason.' What a delii;htful picture of power, policy, and prosperity !
Truly the wise proverb is just : * Sedankauh teromaingoy, veh-kasade le-u-meem
khahment ' (Eighteousness exaltetii a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people).
. " But this is not all. The same honourable statesman, after having had
alxtut forty years' exijerience in the government, under the full tide of success-
ful experiment, gives the following commendatory assurance of the efficiency
of the Magna Charta to answer its great end and aim : To protect the people
in their rights. * Such, then, is the happy government under which we live ;
a government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is
framed ; a government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen
may, by his merit, obtain the highest trust recognised by the Constitution ;
which contains within it no cause of discord ; none to put at variance one
portion of the community witli another : a government which protects every
citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to protect the nation
against injustice from foreij;n powers.'
" Again, the younger Adams, in the silver age of our country's advance-
ment to fame, in his inaugural address (1825), thus candidly declares the
majesty of the youthful republic in its increasing greatness: 'The year of
jubilee since the first formation of our Union has just elapsed — that of the
De'3laration of Independence is at hand. The consummation of both was
effected by this Constitution. Since that period a population of four millions
has multiplied to twelve. A territory, bounded by the Mississippi, has been
extended from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union, in
numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace,
amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of
the earth. The people of other nations, the inhabitants of regions acquired,
not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation
of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The f(»rest has fallen
by the axe of our woodsmen ; the soil has been made to teem by the tillnge
of our farmers ; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of
man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists ;
liberty and law have walked hand in hand. All the purposes of human
associaticm have been accomplished as efitctively as under any other govern-
ment on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding, in a whole generation, the
expenditures of other nations in a single year.'
" In continuation of such noble sentiments, General Jackson, upon his
ascension to the great chair of the chief mai^istracy, said, ' As long as our
government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by
their will ; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and propertv,
liberty of conscience, and' of the press, it will be worth defending; and so
long as it is worth defending, a patriotic militia will cover it with an impene-
trable segis.'
"General Jackson's administration may be denominated the acme of
American glory, liberty, and prosperity, for the national debt, which in IS 15,
on account of the late war, was 125,000,000 dollars and lessened grndiially,
132 THE MOr.MONS.
M'as paid up in his golden day ; and preparations were made to distribute the
surphis revenue among the several States ; and that august patriot, to use his
own words in his farewell address, retired, leaving ' a great people prosperous
and happy, in the full enjoyment of liberty and peace, honoured and respected
by every nation of the world.'
"At the age, then, of sixty years, our blooming republic began to decline
under the withering touch of Martin Van Buren ! Disappointed ambition ;
thirst for power, pride, corruption, party spirit, faction, patronage, perquisites,
fame, tangling alliances, priestcraft, and spiritual wickedness in high places,
struck hands, and revelled in midnight splendour. Trouble, vexation, per-
plexity and contention, mingled with hope, fear, and murmuring, rumbled
through the Union, and agitated the whole nation, as would an earthquake at
the centre of the earth, the world having the sea beyond its bounds, and
shaking the everlasting hills. So,';^in hopes of better times, while jealousy,
hypocritical pretensions, and pompous ambition, were luxuriating on the ill-
gotten spoils of the people, they rose in their majesty like a tornado, and
swept through the land, till General Harrison appeared as a star among the
storm for better weather.
"The calm came ; and the language of that venerable patriot, in his in-
augural address, M'hile descanting upon the merits of the constitution and its
framers, thus expressed himself: — 'There were in it features which appeared
not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple representative democracy or
republic ; and knowing the tendency of power to increase itself, particularly
when executed by a single individual, predictions were made that, at no very
remote period, the government would terminate in virtual monarchy. It
would not become me to say that the fears of these patriots have been already
realized. But, as I sincerely believe that the tendency of measures and of
men's opinions, for some years past, has been in that direction, it is, I con-
ceive, strictly proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the assurances
I have hitherto given of my determination to arrest the progress of that
tendency, if it really exists, and restore the government to its pristine health
and vigour.' This good man died before he had the opportunity of applying
one balm to ease the pain of our groaning country ; and I am willing the
nation should be the judge whether General Harrison, in his exalted station,
upon the eve of his entrance into the world of spirits, told the truth or not :
with acting President Tyler's three years of perplexity and pseudo Whig
Democrat reign, to heal the breaches, or show the wounds, secundum artum,
(according to art). Subsequent events, all things considered, Van Buren's
downfall, Harrison's exit, and Tyler's self-sufficient turn to the whole, go to
show, as a Chaldean might exclaim, ' Beram etai elauh hesmayauh gauhah
rauzeerC (Certainly there is a God in heaven to reveal secrets).
'• No honest man can doubt for a moment but the glory of American
liberty is on the wane, and that calamity and confusion will sooner or later
destroy the peace of the people. Speculators will urge a national bank as a
saviour of credit and comfort. A hireling pseudo priesthood will plausibly
push Abolition doctrines and doings, and * human rights,' into Congress, and
ADDRESS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 130
into every other place where conquest smells of fame, or opposition swells to
popularity. Democracy, Whigojery, and Cliquery, will attract their elements,
and foment divisions among the people, to accomplish fancied schemes, and
accumulate power, while poverty driven to despair, like hunger forcing its
way through a Mall, will break through the statutes of men, to save life, and
mend the breach in prison glooms.
"A still higher grade, of what the 'nobility of the nations' call * great
men,' will dally with all rights, in order to smuggle a fortune at 'one fell
swoop ;' mortgage Texas, possess Oregon, and claim all the unsettled regions
of the world for hunting and trapping ; and should a humble, honest man,
"^d, black, or white, exhibit a better title, these gentry have only to clothe
V-,' judge with richer ermine, and spangle the lawyer's fingers with finer rings,
to have the judgment of his peers, and the honour of his lords as a pattern
of honesty, virtue, and humanity, while the motto hangs on his nation's
escutcheon, ' Every man has his price ! '
"Now, 0 people! turn unto the Lord and live ; and reform this nation.
Frustrate the designs of wicked men. Reduce Congress at least one half.
Two senators from a State, and twofmembers to a million of population, will
do more business than the army that now occupy the halls of the National
Legislature. Pay them two dollars and their board per diem (except Sundays) ;
that is more than the farmer gets, and he lives honestly. Curtail the offices
of government in pay, number, and power, for the Philistine lords have shorn
our nation of its goodly locks in the lap of Delilah.
"Petition your State Legislature to pardon every convict in their several
penitentiaries, blessing them as they go, and saying to them in the name of
the Lord, Go thy way and sin no more. Advise your legislators, when they
make laws for larceny, burglary, or any felony, to make the penalty applicable
to work upon the roads, public works, or any place where the culprit can be
taught more wisdom and more virtue, and become more enlightened. Pugour
and seclusion will never do as much to reform the propensities of man, as
reason and friendship. ]\Iurder only can claim "confinement or death. Let
the penitentiaries be turned into seminaries of learning, where intelligence,
like the angels of heaven, would banish such fragments of barbarism. Im-
prisonment for debt is a meaner practice than the savage tolerates with all
his ferocity : * Amor vincit omnia' (Love conquers all).
'• Petition also, ye goodly inhabitants of the Slave States, your legislators
to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the Abolitionist from
reproach and ruin, infamy and shame. Pray Congress to pay every man a
reasonable price for his slaves, out of the surplus revenue arising from the
sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Con-
gress. Break off the shackles from the i)Oor black man, and hire them to
work like other human beings ; for * an hour of virtuous liberty on earth is
worth a whole eternity of bondage !' Abolish the practice in the army and navy
of trying men by court-martial for desertion ; if a soldier or marine runs away,
send him his wages, with this instruction, that his country loill never trust him
again ; he has forfeited his honour. Make llONOUll the standard with ail men ;
134 THE MORMONS.
be sure that fjood is rendcnecl for evil in all eases, and the whole nation, like
a kin<rdom of kintjs and priests, will rise up with righteousness, and be re-
spected as wise and worthy on earth, and as just and holy for heaven, by
Jehovah, the author of perfection. More economy in the National and State
Governments would make less taxes among the people ; more equality through
the cities, towns, and country, would make less distinction among the people ;
and more honesty and familiarity in societies, woidd make less hypocrisy and
flattery in all branches of community; and open, frank, candid, decorum to
all men, in this boasted land of liberty, would beget esteem, confidence, union,
and love ; and the neighbour from any State, or from any country, of what-
ever colour, clime, or tongue, could rejoice when he put his foot on the sacred
soil of freedom, and exclaim. The very name of * American' is fraught with
friendship. Oh, then, create confidence ! restore freedom ! break down
slavery ! banish imprisonment for debt, and be in love, fellowship, and peace,
with all the world ! Remember that honesty is not subject to law : the law
was made for transgressors : wherefore a Dutchman might exclaim, * Ein
shrlicher name ist besser ah Reichtlmm' (A good name is better than riches.)
" For the accommodation of the people in every State and territory, let
Congi'ess show their wisdom by granting a national bank, with branches in
each State and territory, where the capital stock shall be held by the nation
for the mother bank ; and by the States and territories for the branches : and
whose officers and directors shall be elected yearly by the people, with wages
at the rate of two dollars per day for services : which several banks shall
never issue any more bills than the amount of capital stock in her vaults,
and the interest. The nett gain of the mother bank shall be applied to the
national revenue, and that of the branches to tlie States' and territories'
revenues. And the bills shall be par throughout the nation, which will
mercifully cure that fatal disorder known in cities as brokerage, and leave the
people's money in their own pockets.
" Give every man his constitutional freedom, and the President full power
to send an army to suppress mobs, and the States authority to repeal and
impugn that relic of folly, which makes it necessary for the Governor of a State
to make the demand of the President for troops, in cases of invasion or rebel-
lion. The Governor himself may be a mobber, and, instea<l of being punished,
as he should be, for murder and treason, he may destroy the very lives, rights,
and property, he should protect. Like the good Samaritan, send every lawyer,
as soon as he repents and obeys the ordinances of heaven, to preach the Gos-
pel to the destitute, without purse or scrip, pouring in the oil and the wine :
a learned priesthood is certainly more honourable than a ' hireling clergy.'
"As to the contiguous territories to the United States, wisdom would direct
no tangling alliance, Oregon belongs to this government honourably ; and
when we have the red man's consent, let the Union spread from the east to
the west sea ; and if Texas petitions Congress to be adopted among the sons
of liberty, give her the right hand of fellowship ; and refuse, no ! the same
friendly yrip to Canada and Mexico; and when the right arm of freemen is
iretched out in the character of a navy, for tlve protection of rights, com-
ADUPiESS TO THE AMEIUCAN PCOPLE. lo5
merce, and honour, let the iron eyes of power watch from Mauie to IMexico,
and from California to Columbia. Thus may union be streni;thened, and
foreign speculation prevented from opposing- broadside to broadside.
" Seventy years have done much for this goodly land ; they have burst
the chains of oppression and monarchy, and multiplied its inhabitants from
two to twenty millions ; with a proportionate share of knowledge, keen enough
to circumnavigate the globe, drain the lightning from the clouds, and cope
with all the crowned heads of the world.
"Then why ! oh, why ! will a once flourishing people not arise, phojnix-
like, over the cinders of Martin Van Buren's power ; an.l over the sinking
fragments and smoking ruins of other catamount politicians; and over the
windfalls of Benton, Calhoun, Clay, Wright, and a caravan of equally unfor-
tunat^e law doctors, and cheerfully help to spread a plaster, and bind up the
burnt, bUediug wounds of a sore but blessed country ? The southern people
are hospitable and noble; they will help to rid no free o, country of every
vestige of slavery, whenever they are assured of an equivalent for their pro-
perty. The country will be full of money and confidence, when a national
bank of twenty millions, and a State bank in every State, with a million or
more, gives a tone to monetary matters, and make a circulating medium as
valuable in the purses of a whole community, as in the coffers of a speculating
bank or broker.
**The people may have faults, but they never should be trifled with. I
think Mr. Pitt's quotation, in the British Parliament, of Mr. Prior's couplet
for the husband and wife, to apply to the course which the king and ministry
of England should pursue to the then colonies, of the now United States,
might be a genuine rule of action for some of the breath made men in high
place io use towards the posterity of that noble daring people :
" ' Be to her faults a little blind ;
Be to her virtues very kind.'
*' We have had Democratic presidents. Whig presidents, a pscudo Demo-
cratic Whig president ; and now it is time to have a president of Die United
States ; and let the people of the whole Union, like the inflexible Romans,
whenever they find a promise made by a candidate that is not practised as an
officer, hurl the miserable sycophant from his exaltation, as God did Nebuchad-
nezzar, to crop the grass of the field, with a beast's heart, among the cattle.
"Mr. Van Buren said in his inaugural address, that he went 'into the
presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every at-
tempt, on the part of Congress, to abolish slavery in the district of Columbia,
against the wishes of the shive-holding States ; and also with a determination
equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where
it exists.' Poor little Matty made his rhapsodical sweep with the fact belbre
hLs eyes, that the State of Is'ew York, his native State, had abolished slavery
without a struggle or a groan. Great God, how independent ! From hence-
forth slavery is tolerated where it exists : constitution or no constitution ;
people or no people; right or wrong; vox Matti, vox Diaboli (the voice
ol Matty, the voice of the Devil), and, peradventure, his great ' sub-
136 THE MORMONS.
Treasury' scheme was a piece of the same mind ; but the man and his mea-
sures have such a strikin<]f rcsembhince to the anecdote of the Welchman and
his cart-tongue, that, when the Constitution was so long that it 'allowed
slavery at the capital of a free people, it could not be cut off; but when it
was so short that it needed a suh-Treasriry to save the funds of the nation, it
could be spliced! Oh, granny, what a long tail our puss has got ! As a Greek
might say, ' Hysteron proteron" (The cart before the horse). But his mighty
whisk through the great national fire, for the presidential chesnuts, burnt the
lochs of his glory with the blaze of his folly I
"In the United States, the people are the government, and their united
voice is the only sovereign that should rule ; the only power that should be
obeyed ; and the only gentlemen that should be honoured, at home or abroad,
on the land and on the sea. AVherefore, were I the President of the United
States, by the voices of a virtuous people, T would honour the old paths of the
venerated fathers of freedom ; I would walk in the tracks of the illustrious
patriots, who carried the ark of the government upon their shoulders with an eye
single to the glory of the people ; and wlien that people petitioned to abolish
slavery in the Slave States, I would use all honourable means to have their
prayers granted, and give liberty to the captive, by giving the southern gen-
tleman a reasonable equi\ alent for his property, that the whole nation might
be free indeed ! When the people petitioned for a national bank, I would use
my best endeavours to have their prayers assured, and establish one on na-
tional principles to save taxes, and mnke them the comptrollers of its ways
and means ; and when the people petitioned to possess the territory of Oregon,
or any other contiguous territory, I would lend the influence of a chief magis-
trate to grant so reasonable a request, that they might "extend the mighty
efforts and enterprise of a free people from the east to the west sea, and make
the wilderness blossom as the rose ; and when the neighbouring realm peti-
tioned to join the Union of the sons of Liberty, my voice would be. Come:
yea, come Texas ; come ]\Iexico ; come Canada ; and come all the world — let
us be brethren ; let us be one great family, and let there be universal peace.
Abolish the cruel customs of prisons (except certain cases), penitentiaries,
and court-martials for desertion, and let reason and friendship reign over the
ruins of ignorance and barbarity ; yea, I would, as the universal friend of
man, open the prisons; open the eyes ; open the ears; and open the hearts
of all people, to behold and enjoy freedom, unadulterated freedom ; and God,
who once cleansed the violence of the earth with a flood, whose Son laid down
his life for the salvation of all his Father gave him out of the world, and who
has promised th.at he will come and purify the world again with fire in the
last days, shall be supplicated by me for the good of all people.
"With the highest esteem,
" I am a friend of virtue,
"And of the people,
"Joseph Smitu.
*' Nnnvoo, llUnois, February ^th, 1844."
LETTER OF MR. CLAY. 137
Joseph was of course aware that his candidature was an act
which had no other meaning than to please his disciples ; and he
therefore wrote to Mr. Clay, who was supposed to have a good chance
of being elected to the Presidency, to know what course he would
pursue towards the Mormons if he were successful.
The correspondence was characteristic of both parties. The letter
of the ** Prophet " was to the following eifect : —
" Nauvoo, Illinois, Nov. ^th, 1843,
" Hon. it. Clay, — Dear Sir, — As we understand you are a candidate
for the Presidency at the next election, and as the Latter-Day Saints (some-
times called i\[ormons, who now constitute a numerous class in the school
politic of this vast republic) have been robbed of an immense amount of pro-
perty, and endured niimeless sufferings by the State of Missouri, and from her
borders have been driven by force of arms, contrary to our national covenants,
and as in vain we have sought redress by all constitutional, legal, and honour-
able means, in her courts, her executive councils, and her legislative halls,
and as we have petitioned Congress to take cognizance of our sufferings with-
out effect, we have judged it wisdom to address you this communication, and
solicit an immediate, specific, and candid reply to What will be your rule of
action relative to us as a people, should fortune favour your ascension to the
chief magistracy?
"]\Iost respectfully. Sir, your friend, and the friend of peace, good order,
and constitutional rights,
" Joseph Smith,
" In behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
*' Hon. H. Clay, Ashland, Kentucky."
The reply of Mr. Clay was guarded, and studiously courteous : —
"JsJilatid, Nov. 15///, 1S43.
"Dear Sir, — I have received your letter in behalf of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints, stating that you understand that I am a candi-
date for the Presidency, and inquiring what would be my rule of action rela-
tive to you as a people, should I be elected.
"I am profoundly grateful for the numerous and strong expressions of the
people in my behalf, as a candidate for President of the United States ; but I
do not so consider myself That much depends upon future events, and upon
my sense of duty.
" Should I be a candidate, I can enter into no engagements, make no pro-
mises, give no pledges, to any particular portion of the people of the United
States. If I ever enter into that high office, I must go into it free and un-
fettered, with no guarantees but such as are to be drawn from my whole life,
character, and conduct,
" It is not inconsistent with this declaration to say, that I have viewed
with a lively interest the progress of the Latter-Day Saints ; that 1 have
138 THE MOKMONS.
sympathized in their sufferings under injustice, as it nppeared to me, uhich
lias been inflicted upon tlicm ; and that I think, in common with all other re-
lii,nons communities, they ought to enjoy the security and the protection of
the constitution and the laws.
•' 1 am, with great respect,
" Your Friend and obedient Servant,
" H. Clay.
"Joseph Smith, Esq."
Joseph was by no means satisfied with Mr. Clay's reply ; and
after takinoj nearly six months to reflect, he wrote a long and angry
rejoinder, in which he insinuated that Mr. Clay was a blackleg in
politics, and used many other phrases by no means complimentary.
The letter is exceedingly amusing, and as it gives the opinions of
Joseph on the affairs of Christendom and of the world in general, and
affords a fair specimen of the shrewd but coarse talent of this smgular
man, we reproduce it in extenso : —
"Natwoo, Illinois, May 13th, 1844..
" Sir, — Your answer to my inquiry, * What would be your rule of action
towards the Latter-Day Saints, should you be elected President of the United
States ?' has been under consideration since last November, in the fond ex-
pectation that you would give (for every honest citizen has a right to demand
it) to the country a manifesto of your views of the Ix^st method and meana
which would secure to the people, the whole people, the most freedom, the most
happiness, the most union, the most wealth, the most fame, the most glory at
home, and the most honour abroad, at the least expense ; but I have waited
in vain. So far as you have made public declarations, they have been made,
like your answer to the above, soft to flatter, rather than solid to feed the
people. You seem to abandon all former policy which may have actuated
vou in the discharge of a statesman's dutv, when the vigour of intellect and
the force of virtue should have sought out an everlasting habitation for
liberty ; when, as a wise man, a true patriot, and a friend to mankind, you
should have resolved to ameliorate the awful condition of our bleeding country
by a mighty plan of wisdom, righteousness, justice, goodness, and mercy, that
would have brought back the golden days of our nation's youth,, vigour, and
vivacity ; when prosperity crowned the efforts of a youthful Eepublic, when
the gentle aspirations of the sons of liberty were, * We are one.'
"In your answer to my questions, last fall, that peculiar tact of modern
politicians, declaring, ' If you ever enter into that high office, you must go into
it free and unfettered, with no guarantee but such as are to be drawn from your
whole life, character, and conduct,' so much resembles a lottery vendor's sign,
with the goddess of Good-luck sitting on the car of fortune, astraddle of the horn
of plent}', and driving the merry steeds of beatitude, without reins or bridle,
that I cannot helj) exclaimiug, 0 frail man ! what have you done that will
exalt you? Can anything be drawn from your life, character,, or cojiduct,, that is
worthy of being held i»p to the gaz.e of this nation as a model of virtue, charity,
CORKESrONDENCE WITH MR. CLAY. 139
avd w'sdom ? Are you not a lottery picture, with more than two blanks to a
prize? Leaving many things ])rior to your Ghent treaty, let the world luok
at that, and see where is the wisdom, honour, and patriotism, which ought to
have characterized the plenipotentiary of the only free nation upon the face of
the earth ? A quarter of a century's negociaticn to obtain our rights on the
north-eastern boundary, and the motley manner in which Oregon tries to shine
as American territory, coupled with your presidential race and come-by-chance
secretaryship, in 1825, all goto convince the friends of freedom, the golden
patriots of JefFersonian democracy, free trade and sailors' rights, and the pro-
tectors of person and property, that an honourable war is better than a dis-
honourable peace.
"But had you really wanted to have exliibited the wisdom, clemency, be-
nevolence, and dignity of a great man, in this boasted republic, when fifteen
thousand free citizens were exiled from their own homes, lands, and property,
in tlie wondf rful patriotic State of Missouri, and you then upon your oaih and
honour, occupying the exalted station of a senator of Congress, from the noble-
hearted State of Kentucky, why did you not show the world your loyalty to
law and order, by using all honourable means to restore the innocent to their
rights and property ? Why, Sir, the more we search into your character and
conduct, the more we must exclaim from holy writ. The tree is kyiown by its
fruit.
"Again, this is not all ; rather than show yourself an honest man, by gua-
ranteeing to the people what you will do in case you should be elected presi-
dent, 'you can enter into no engagement, make no promises, and give no
pledges,' as to what you will do. Well, it may be that some hot-headed par-
tisan would take such nothingarianism upon trust, but sensible men, and even
ladies, would think themselves insulted by such an evasion of coming events.
If a tempest is expected, why not prepare to meet it ; and in the language of
the poet exclaim —
" ' Then let the trial come, and witness thou
If terror be upon me, if I shrink
Or falter in my strength to meet the storm,
When hardest it beset me.'
"True* greatness never wavers; but when the Missouri compromise was
entered into by you, for the benefit of slavery, there was a mighty shrinkage
o^ western honour ; and from tliat day, Sir, the sterling Yankee, the struggling
Abolitionist, and the staunch Democrat, with a large number of the liberal-
minded Whigs, have marked you as a blackleg in j)olitics, begging for a chance
to shuffle yourself into the presidential chair, where you might deal out the
destinies of our beloved country for a game of brag, that would end in
* Hark, Jrom the iambs a dok'/ul sound.' Start not at this picture, for your
* whole life, character, and conduct,' have been spotted with deeds that cause
a blush upon the face of a virtuous patriot. So you must be contented in your
lot, while crime, cowardice, cupidity, or low cunning, have handed you down
from the high tower of a statesman to the black hole of a gambler. A man
that accepts a challenge, or fights a duel, is nothing more nor less than a mur-
140
THE MORMONS.
derer, for holy writ declares that * whoso sheds man's blood, hy man shall his
blood be shed ;' and when, in the renowned city of Washington, the i otorious
Henry Clay dropped from the summit of a senator to the sink of a scoundrel,
to shoot at thnt chalk line of a Eandolph, he not only disgraced his own fame,
famil}', and friends, but he polluted the sanctum sanctorum of American glory;
and the kingly blackguards throughout the whole world are pointing the
finger of scorn at the boasted 'asylum of the oppressed,' and hissing at Ame-
rican statesmen, as gentlemen vagabonds and murderers, holding the olive branch
of peace in one hand and a pistol for death in the other ! Well might the
Saviour rebuke the heads of this nation with Woe unto you Scribes, Pharisees,
Hypocrites, for the United States Government and Congress, with a few hon-
ourable exceptions, have gone the way of Cain, and must perish in their
gainsayings, like Korah and his wicked host. And honest men of every clime,
and the innocent, poor, and oppressed, as well as Heathens, Pagans, and In-
dians, everywhere, who could but hope that the tree of liberty would yield
some precious fruit for the hungry human race, and shed some balmy leaves
for the healing of nations, have long since given up all hopes of equal rights,
of justice, and judgment, and of truth and virtue, when such polluted, vain,
heaven-daring, bogus patriots, are forced or flung into the front rank of go-
vernment, to guide the destinies of millions. Crape the heavens with weeds
of woe, gird the earth with sackcloth, and let hell mutter one melody in com-
memoration of fallen splendour ! For the glory of America has departed, and
God will set a flaming sword to guard the tree of liberty, while such mint-
tithing Herods as Van Buren, Boggs, Benton, Calhoun, and Clay, are thrust
oat of the realms of virtue, as fit subjects for the kingdom of fallen greatness ;
vox reprobi, vox Diaholi ! In your late addresses to the people of South Caro-
lina, where rebellion budded, but could not blossom, you * renounced ultraism,'
'high tariff,' and almost banished your 'banking system,' for the more
certain standard of ' public opinion.' This is all very well, and marks the
intention of a politician, the calculations of a demagogue, and the allowance
for leeings of a shrewd manager, just as truly as the weathercock does the
■wind when it turns upon the spire. Hustings for the south, barbacues for the
west, confidential letters for the north, and 'American system' for the east:
" ' LuU-a-by baby upon the tree top,
And when the wind blows the cradle will rock.'
'* Suppose you should also, taking your ' whole life, character, and con-
duct,' into consideration, and, as many hands make light work, stir up the old
'Clay party,' the' National Ptcpublican party,' 'High Protective Tariff
party,' and the late ' 'Coon Skin party,' with all their paraphernalia, ultraism.
ve plus ultraism, sine qua non, which have grown with your growth, strength-
ened with your strength, and shrunk with your shrinkage, and ask the people
of this enlightened liepublic, what they think of yovn- powers and policy as a
statesman ; for verily it would seem, from all past remains of parties, politics,
projects, and y/ictures, that you are the Clay, and the people the potter ; and as
some vessels are maried in the hands of the potter, the natural conclusion is,
that you are a vessel of dishonour.
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CLAY. 141
" You may complain that a close examination of your * whole life, charac-
ter, and conduct,' places you, as a Kentuckian would pleasantly term it, ' in
a bad fix ; ' but, Sir, when the nation has sunk deeper and deeper in the mud
at every turn of the great wheels of the Union, while you have acted as one
of the principal drivers, it becomes the bounden duty of the whole community,
as one man, to whisper you on every point of government, to uncover every
act of your life, and inquire what mighty acts you have done to benefit the
nation ; how much you have tithed the mint to gratify your lust ; and why
the fragments of your raiment hang upon the thorns by the path, as signals
to beware.
" But your shrhikage is truly wonderful ! Not only your banking system,
and high tariff project, have vanished from your mind, 'like the baseless fabric
of a vision, ' but the ' annexation of Texas ' has touched your pathetic sensi-
bilities of national pride so acutely, that the poor Texians, your own brethren,
may fall back into the ferocity of Mexico, or be sold at auction to British
stock-jobbers ; and all is well, for 'I,' the old senator from Kentucky, am fear-
ful it would militate against my interest in the north, to enlarge the borders
of the Union in the south. Truly, * a poor wise child is better than an old
foolish king, who will be no longer admonished.' Who ever heard of a nation
that had too much territory ? Was it ever bad policy to make friends ? lias
any people ever become too good, to do good ? No, never ; but the ambition
and vanity of some men have flown away with their wisdom and judgment,
and left a creaking skeleton to occupy the place of a noble sotil.
"Why, Sir, the condition of the whole earth is lamentable. Texas dreads
the teeth and toe-nails of Mexico. Oregon has the rheumatism, brought on
by a horrid exposure to the heat and cold of British and American trappers ;
Canada has caught a bad cold, from extreme fatigue in the patriot war ; South
America has the headache, caused by bumps against the beams of Catholicity
and Spanish sovereignty ; Spain has the gripes from age and inquisition ;
France trembles and wastes under the effects of contagious diseases : England
groans with the gout, and wriggles with wine ; Italy and the German states
are pale with the consumption ; Prussia, Poland, and the little contiguous
dynasties, duchies, and domains, have the mumps so severely, that * the whole
head is sick, and the whole heart is faint ;' llussia has the cramp by lineage ;
Turkey has the numb palsy ; Afri(;a, from the curse of God, has lost the use
of her limbs ; China is ruined by the queen's evil, and the rest of Asia fear-
fully exposed to the small-pox, the natural way, from British pedlars ; the
islands of the sea are almost dead with the scurvy ; tlie Indians are blind and
lame ; and the United States, which ought to be the good physician with
'balm from Gilead,' and an * asylum for the oppressed,' has boosted, and is
boosting up into the council chamber of the government, a clique of political
gamblers, to play for the old clothes and old shoes of a sick world, and 'no
pledge, no promise, to any particular portion of the people' that the rightful heirs
will ever receive a cent of their Father's legacy I Away with such self-im-
portant, self-aggrandizing, and self-willed demagogues! Their friendship is
colder than polar ice ; and their professions meaner than the damnation of hell.
142 THE MOr.MOXS.
"Oh, ni!\n ! wlien such a great dilemma of the g^obe, such tremendous
convulsions of kinjifdoms, shakes the earth from centre to circumference;
when castles, prison-houses, and cells, raise a cry to God against the cruelty
of man ; when the mourning of the fatherless and the widow causes anguish
in heaven ; when the poor among all nations cry day and night for bread and
a shelter from the heat and storm ; and when the degraded black slave holds
up his manacled hands to the great statesmen of the United States, and
sings : —
" ' 0 Liberty, where are thy channs
That sages have told me w-ere sweet 1'
and when fifteen thousand free citizens of the hi^h-blooded Kepublic of North
America, are robbed and flriven from one State to another without redress or
redemption, it is not only time for a candidate for the presidency to pledge
himself to execute judgment and justice in righteousness, law or no law, but
it is his bounden duty, as a man, for the honour of a disgraced country, and
for the salvation of a once virtuous people, to call for a union of all honest
men, and appease the wrath of God, by acts of wisdom, holiness, and virtue !
The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
"Perhaps you may think I go too far with my strictures and inuendos,
because in your concluding paragraph you say : — ' It is not inconsistent with
your declarations to say, that you have viewed with a lively interest the pro-
gress of the Latter-Day Saints, that you have sympathized in their sufferings,
under injustice, as it appeared to you, which has been inflicted upon them ;
and that you thivk, in common with all other religious communities, they
ought to enjoy the security and protection of the constitution and the laws '
If words were not wind, and imagination not a vapour, such ' views ' ' with a
lively interest' might coax out a few ]\Iormon votes; such 'sympathy' for
their suffering under injustice, might heal some of the sick yet lingering
amongst them ; raise some of the dead, and recover some of their property,
from Missouri ; and finally, if thought was not a phantom, we might, in com-
mon with other religious communities, ' you think,' evjoy the security and pro-
tection of the constitution and laws. But during ten years, while the Latter-
Day Saints have bled, been robbed, driven from their own lands, paid oceans
of money into the treasury to pay your renowned self and others for legis-
lating and dealing out equal rights and privileges to those in common with all
other religious communities, they have waited and expected in vain ! If you
have possessed any patriotism, it has been veiled by your popularity for fear
the Saints would fiill in love with its charms. Blind charity and dumb
justice never do much towards alleviating the wants of the need}-, but straws
show which way the wind blows. It is currently rumoured that your dernier
resort for the Latter-Day Saints is to emigrate to Oregon or California.
Such cruel humanity, such noble injustice, such honourable cowardice,
such foolish wisdom, and such vicious virtue, could only emanate from
Clay. Alter the Saints have been plundered of three or four millions of land
and property by the people and powers of the sovereign State of Missouri —
after they have sotight for redress and redemption from the county court to
CORRESrONDENCE WITH MR. CALHOUN. 143
Congress, and been denied through religious prejudice and sacerdotal dignity —
after they have builded a city and two temples at an immense expense of
labour and treasure — after they have increased from hundreds to hundreds of
thousands— and after they have sent missionaries to the various naticms of the
earth, to gather Israel, according to the predictions of all the holy prophets
since the world began— that great plenipotentiary, the renowned Secretary of
State, the ignoble duellist, the gambling senator, and Whig candidate for the
presidency, Henry Clay, the wise Kentucky lawyer, advises the Latter-Day
Saints to go to Oregon, to obtain justice, and set up a government of their
own. 0 ye crowned heads among ail nations, is not IMr. Clay a wise man, and
very patriotic ! Why, great God ! to transport 200,000 people throuj^h avast
prairie, over the Eocky Mountains, to Oregon, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles,
■would cost more ihanfour milUoyis, or should they go by Cape Horn, in ships
to California, the cost would be more than iiventy millions ! and all this to
save the United States from inheriting the disgrace of Missouri, for murder-
ing and robbing the Saints with impunity ! Benton and Van Buren, who
made no secret to say, if they get into power th(-y will carry out Boggs' ex-
terminating plan, to rid the country of the Latter-Day Saints, are
' Little nipperkins of milk,'
compared to * Clay's great aqua-fortis jars,' Why, he is a real giant in hu-
manity. Send the ]\Iormons to Oregon, and free ^Missouri from debt and dis-
grace ! Ah ! Sir, let this doctrine go to and fro throughout the whole earth,
that we, as Van Buren said, know your cause is just, but the United States
government can do nothing for you, because it has no power : you must go to
Oregon, and get justice from the Indians.
" I mourn for the depravity of the world ; I despise the hypocrisy of
Christendom ; I hate the imbecility of American statesmen ; I detest the
shrinkage of candidates for office, from pledges and responsibility ; I long for
a day of righteousness, when He, ' whose right it is to reign, shall judge the
poor, and reprove with equity for the meek ot the earth,' and I pray God, who
hath given our fathers a promise of a perfect government in the last days, to
purify the hearts of the people, and hasten the welcome day.
" With the hicdiest consideration for virtue and unadulterated freedom, I
have the honour to be your obedient servant,
"Joseph Smith.
"Hon. C. Clay, Ashland, Kentucky."
Joseph, in order to know the opinions of both candidates, sent to
Mr. Calhoun a letter precisely similar to that which lie had addressed
to Mr. Clay. lie received the following reply :—
"Fort Hill, December 2nd, 1843.
"Sir, — You ask me what would be my rule of action relative to the IMormons,
or Latter-Day Saints, should I be elected President ; to which I answer, that
if I should be elected, I would strive to administer the government according
to the constitution and the laws of the Union ; and that, as they make no dis-
144 'the mokmons."
tinction between citizens of different religious creeds, I should make none.
As far as it depends on the executive department, all should have the full
benefit of both, and none should be exempt from their operation.
" But, as you refer to the case of Missouri, candour compels me to repeat
what 1 said to \ou at Washington, that, according to my views, the case does
not come within the jurisdiction of the federal government, which, is one of
limited and specific powers.
"With respect, I am, &c.
"J. C. Calhoun.
"Mr. Joseph Smith."
Joseph's rejoinder to this letter was in the following terms : —
*' Nauvoo, Illinois, January 2nd, 1844.
'* Sm, — Your reply to my letter of last November, concerning your rule of
action towards the Latter-Day Saints, if elected President, is at hand ; and
that you and your friends of the same opinion relative to the matter in ques-
tion may not be disappointed as to me, or my mind, upon so grave a subject,
permit me, as a law-abiding man, as a well-wisher to the perpetuity of con-
Btitutiorial rights and liberty, and as a friend to the free worship of Almighty
God by all, according to the dictates of every person's conscience, to say /
am surprised, that a man, or men, in the highest stations of public life, should
have made up such a fragile 'view' of a case, than which there is not one on
tlie face of the globe fraught with so much consequence to the happiness oi
men m this world, or the world to come. To be sure, the first paragraph of
your letter appears very complacent and fair on a white sheet of paper, and
who that is ambitious for greatness and power would not have said the same
thing ? Your oath would bind you to support the constitution and laws, and
as all creeds and religions are alike tolerated, they must of course all be
justified or condemned, according to merit or demerit ; but why, tell me why,
are all the principal men held up for public stations so cautiously careful
not to publish to the world, that they will judge a righteous judginent — law or
no law ; for laws and opinions, like the vanes of steeples, change w ith the
wind. One Congress passes a law, and another repeals it ; and one statesman
says that the Constitution means this, and another that : and who does not
know that all may be wrong? The opinion and pledge, therefore, in the first
paragraph of your reply to my question, like the forced steam from the engine
of a steam-boat, makes the show of a bright cloud at first, but when it comes
in contact with a purer atmosphere, dissolves to common air again.
"Your second paragraph leaves you naked before yourself; like a likeness
in a mirror, when you say that, 'according to )'Our view, the federal govern-
ment is one of limited and specific powers,' and has no jurisdiction in the case
of the Mormons. So, then, a State can at any time expel any portion of her
citizens with impunity, and, in the language of Mr. Van Buren, frosted over
with your gracious ' views of the case,' ' though the cause is ever so just, govern-
ment can do nothing for them, because it has no power.'
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CAL130UN. 145
** Go on, then, Missouri, after another set of inhabitants (as the Latter-
Day Saints did) have entered some two or three hundred thousand dollars'
worth of land, and made extensive improvements thereon ; go on, then, I say,
banish the occupants or owners, or kill them, as the mobbers did many of the
Latter-Day Saints, and take their lands and property as a spoil ; and let the
legislature, as in the case of the i\Iormons, appropriate a couple of hundred
thousand dollars to pay the mob for doing the job; for the renowned senator
from South Carolina, Mr. J. C. Calhoun, says the powers of the federal govern-
ment are so specific and limited that it has no jurisdiction of the case ! Oh, ye
people who groan under the oppression of tyrants ; ye exiled Poles, who have
felt the iron hand of Russian gra«p ; ye poor and unfortunate among all
nations, come to the ' asylum of the oppressed,' buy ye lands of the general
government, pay in your money to the treasury to strengthen the army and the
navy, worship God according to the dictates of your own consciences, pay
in your taxes to support the great heads of a glorious nation ; but remember
a * sovereign State ! ' is so much more powerful than the United States, the
parent government, that it can exile you at pleasure, mob you with impunity,
confiscate your lands and property, have the legislature sanction it ; yea,
even murder you, as an edict of an emperor, and it does no wrong, for the
noble senator of South Carolina says the power of the federal government is
so limited and specific that it has no jurisdiction of the case ! What think ye
of imperium in imperio ?
"Ye spirits of the blessed of all ages, hark I Ye shades of departed
statesmen, listen ! Abraham, Moses, Homer, Socrates, Solon, Solomon, and
all that ever thought of right and wrong, look down from your exaltations, if
you have any. for it is said in the midst of counsellors there is safety ; and when
you have learned that fifteen thousand innocent citizens, after having purchased
their lands of the United States, and paid for them, were expelled from a
' sovereign State' by order of the Governor at the point of the bayonet, their
arms taken from them by the same authority, and their right of migration into
said State denied under pain of imprisonment, whipping, robbing, mobbing,
and even death, and no justice or recompense allowed ; and from the legisla-
ture, with the Governor at their head, down to the justice of the peace, witli
a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a bowie knife in the other, hear them all
declare there is no justice for a Mormon in that State, and judge ye a righteous
judgment, and tell me when the virtue of the States was stolen, where the
honour of the general government lies hid, and what clothes a senator with
wisdom? Oh, nullifying Carolina! Oh, little tempestuous Rhode Island I
would it not be well for the great men of the nation to read the fable of the
Partial Judge, and when part of the free citizens of a State had been expelled
contrary to the constitution, mobbed, robbed, plundered, and many murdered,
instead of searching into the course taken with Joanna Southcott, Ann Lee,
the French prophets, the Quakers of New England, and rebellious niggers in
the slave States, to hear both sides, and then judge, rather than have the mor-
tification to say, ' Oh, it is my bull that has killed your ox ; that alters the
case ! I must inquire into it, and if, and if?*
146 THE MORMONS.
"If the general government has no power to reinstate expelled citizens
to iheir rights, there is a monstrous hypocrite fed and fostered from the hard
earnings of the people! A real 'bull beggar' upheld by sycophants; and
altliough you may wink to the priests to stigmatise, wheedle the drunkards
to swear, and raise the hue and cry of Impostor, false prophet, God damn old
Joe Smith, yet remember, if the Latler-Day Saints are not restored to all their
rights, and paid for all their losses, according to the known rules of justice
and judgment, reciprocation and common honesty among men, that God will
come out of his hiding-place and vex this nation with a sore vexation ; yea,
the consuming wrath of an offended God shall smoke through the nation,
with as much distress and woe, as independence has blazed through with
pleasure and delight. Where is the strength of government ? Where is the
patriotism of a Washington, a Warren, and Adams ? and where is a spark from
the watch-fire of '76, by which one candle might be lit, that would glimmer
upon the confines of democracy ? Well may it be said that one man is not
a State, nor one State the nation. In the days of General Jackson, when
Prance refused the first instalment for spoliations, there was power, force, and
honour enough to resent injustice and insult, and the money came ; and shall
Missouri, filled with negro-drivers and white men-stealers, go 'unwhipped of
justice' for tenfold greater sins than France? No ! verily no! While I
have powers of body and mind ; while water runs and grass grows ; while
virtue is lovely and vice hateful ; and while a stone points out a sacred spot
where a fragment of American liberty once was, I or my posterity will plead
the cause of injured innocence, until Missouri makes atonement for all her
sins ; or sinks disgraced, degraded, and damned to hell, ' where the worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.'
"Why, Sir, the power not delegated to' the United States, and the States
belong to the people, and Congress sent to do the people's business have all
the power ; and shall fifteen thousand citizens groan in exile ? Oh, vain men,
will ye not, if ye do not restore them to their rights and 2,000,000 dollars'
worth of property, relinquish to them (the Latter-Day Saints), as a body,
their portion of power that belongs to them according to the Constitution?
Power has its convenience as well as inconvenience. * The world was not
made for Csesar alone, but Titus too,'
"I will give you a parable : A certain lord had a vineyard in a goodly land,
which men laboured in at their pleasure ; a few meek men also went and pur-
chased with money from some of these chief men that laboured at pleasure,
a portion of land in the vineyard, at a very remote part of it, and began to
improve it, and to eat and drink the fruit thereof; when some vile persons,
who regarded not man, neither feared the lord of the vineyard, rose up sud-
denly, and robbed these meek men, and drove them from their possessions,
killing many. This barbarous act made no small stir among the men in the
vineyard, and all that portion who were attached to that part of the vineyard
where the men were robbed, rose up in grand council with their chief man,
who had firstly ordered the deed to be done, and made a covenant not to pay
for the cruel deed, but to keep the spoil, and never let those meek men set
CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. CALHOUN. 147
llieir feet on that soil again, neither recompense them for it. Now these meek
men, in their distress, wisely sought redress of those wicked men in every
possible manner, and got none. They then supplicated the chief men who
held the vineyard at pleasure, and who had the power to sell and defend it, for
redress and redemption, and those men, loving the fame and favour of the
multitude more than the glory of the lord of the vineyard, answered, * Your
cause is just ; but we can do nothing for you, because we have no power. Now,
when the lord of the vineyard saw that virtue and innocence was not regarded,
and his vineyard occupied by wicked men, he sent men and took the possession
of it to himself, and destroyed those unfaithful servants, and appointed them
their portion among hypocrites.
"And let me say, that all men who say thit Congress has no power to
restore and defend the rights of her citizenp, have not the love of the truth
abiding in them. Congress has power to protect the nation against foreign
invasion and internal broil ; and whenever that body passes an act to maintain
right with any power, or to restore right to any portion of her citizens, IT IS
THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND, and sliould a State refuse submission, that
State is guUiy o^insnrrection or rebellion, and the President has as much power
to repel it as Washington had to march against the * whiskey boys of Pitts-
burgh, ' or General Jackson had to send an armed force to suppress the rebellion
of South Carolina.
" To close, I would admonish you, before you let your ^ candour compeV
you again to write upon a subject great as the salvation of man, consequential
as the life of the Saviour, broad as the principles of eternal truth, and valuable
as the jewels of eternit}-, to read in the 8th section and 1st article o^ the
Constitution of the United States, ihit first, fourteenth, and seventeenth 'specific'
and not very * limited powers' of the federal government, what can be done to
protect the lives, property, and rights of a virtuous people, when the adminis-
trators of the law, and law-makers, are unbought by bribes, uncorrupted by
patronage, untempted by gold, unawed by fear, and uucontaminated by tangling
alliances, even like Caesar's wife, not only unspotted, but unsuspected, and
God, who cooled the heat of a Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, or shut the mouths
of lions for the honour of a Daniel, will raise your mind above the narrow
notion, that the general government has no power, to the sublime idea that
Congress, with the President as executor, is as almighty in its sphere, as
Jehovah is in his.
* * With great respect,
* ' I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
"Joseph Smith.
*'Hon. (' Jilr. !') J. C. Calhoun, Fort Hill. S. C."
Joseph was evidently out of temper when he penned this epistle ;
and the " Mr. ! " within brackets was intended to remind Mr. Calhonn
of his want of courtesy, in addrc-sing a general, a mayor, a candidate
for the Presidency, "a seer, a revelator, and a prophet," as simply
*' Mr, Joseph Smith." But there was» amcL truth, nevertheless, in
148 TIIK MOUMONS.
the ar<^uments he employed, and too much foundation for his angrj
denifnciations of the State of Missouri.
But liis correspondence tvith tliese and other persons fonned only
a small portion of the multifarious business that occupied the Pro-
phet's attention at this period of his life. His history during the first;
five months of the year 1844 — powerful as he was, and absolute lord,
spiritual and temporal, of the little community of Nauvoo, a state
within a state, and governed by its own peculiar laws — had its dark
as well as its bright side. There was a drop of gall and bitterness in
the cup of his prosperity. The persecution of his old enemies in Mis-
"souri, and of new enemies quite as bitter and unrelenting in his new
home in Illinois, never for a moment relaxed.
Shortly prior to the announcement of his name as a candidate for
the Presidency, he was on a visit with his family at a place called
Dixon in Illinois. An action had previously been brought against him
by some of the people of Jackson county, in Missouri, who has suf-
fered a loss of property in the disturbances that preceded the expul-
sion of the Mormons from that State. As Dixon was on the frontier
between Missouri and Illinois, two sheriff's oih'cers of Missouri, named
Reynolds and Wilson, resolved to seize the Pro})het, and cany bins
for trial before the Missouri courts. They disguised themselves for
that purpose, and knocking at night at the farm-house where he was
residing, stated that they were Mormon elders from Nauvoo, desirous
of an interview with the Prophet. They were incautiously admitteiJ
to the passage, when they immediately rushed upon Joseph, each
Avith a loaded pistol in his hand, and swore " to shoot him dead" if
he oifered the slightest resistance. On his asking for their authority
to arrest him, they showed their pistols, and said, "those were their,
authorities." They refused to let him go into the room to bid farewell
to his family, or even to get his hat, and forced him into a waggon.
They struck him over the head and back with the butt ends of their
pistols, and, as he alleged, " otherwise abused, insulted, and threat-
ened him in the cruellest manner." He was retained in custody by
these men for several weeks, but ultimately obtained his release on a
writ of habeas corpus, and was sent back to Illinois. He thereupon
commenced an action against them for false imprisonment, and for
using unnecessary force and violence towards him. Though the case
was clearly proved, he only obtained the small damages of forty dol-
lars ; and from first to last had to pay upwards of three thousand five
hundred dollars for legal expenses.
The unfounded and vindictive accusation brought against him by
ex-Governor Boggs was productive of still greater annoyance, and the
authorities, legal and military, of Missouri, instigated by the people
A I'llEDlCTIOX, 149
of Jackson county, (lemanded that the State of Illinois should deliver
him up to take his trial on this charge before a Missouri jury ! A
requisition was actually drawn up to this effect. A letter from
J. Arlington Bennett, counsellor- at-law, and who appears to be no
other than our old friend *' General" Bennett, the "right-hand man,"
was published in the New York papers at this time. It strongly ad-
vised the authorities of Missouri to leave Joseph Smith alone; and pre-
dicted in a remarkable manner, the consequences that would follow
the continued persecution of the Prophet and his people — the death of
Joseph — the increase of the sect — and their establishment in a free
and powerful State of their own beyond the Rocky Mountains.
*' I do not believe," said the writer, " that Joseph Smith has done
anything to injure ex-Governor Boggs of Missouri. The Governor,
1)0 doubt under strong feelings, may have thought and believed that
Smith had preconcerted the plan for his assassination ; but there is no,
legal evidence whatever of that fact. None by which an unprejudiced
jury would convict any man ; yet to send this man into Missouri,
under the present requisition, would be an act of great injustice, and
his ruin would be certain. How could any man, against whom there
is a bitter religious prejudice, escape ruin, being in the circumstances
of Smith ? Look at the history of past ages — see the force of fanati-
cism and bigotry in bringing to the stake some of the best of men ;
and in all these cases the persecutors had their pretexts, as well as in
the case of the Mormon chief. Nothing follows its victim with such
deadly aim as religious zeal, and therefore nothing should be so much
guarded against by the civil power.
'* Smith, I conceive, has just as good a right to establish a church,
if he can do it, as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, J^'ox, or even King Henry
the Eighth, All these chiefs in religion had their opponents, and
their people their persecutors. Henry the Eighth was excommuni-
cated, body and bones, soul and all, by his holiness the Pope ; still
the Church of England has lived as well as all the other sects. Just
so will it be with the Mormons : they may kill one prophet, and con-
fine in chains half his followers, but another will take his place, and
the ]\Iormons will still go ahead.
" One of their elders said to me, when conversing on thissubject,that
they were like a mustard plant, ' If you don't disturb, the seed will
fall and multiply ; and if you kick it about, you only give the seed
more soil, and it will multij)ly the more.' Undertake to convince them
that they are wrong, and that Smith is an impostor, and the answer
is laying the Imnd on the heart, * I know in mine own soul that it is
true, and want no better evidence. I feel happy in my faith, and why
should I be disturbed ? ' Now, I cannot see but what this is thesenti-
150 THE MORMONS.
ment that governs all religiously-disj)Osed persons, their object being
heaven and happiness, no matter what their church or their creed.
They, therefore, cannot be put down while the Constitution of the
United States offers them protection in common with all other sects,
and while they believe that their eternal salvation is at stake. From
what I know of the people, I fully believe that all the really sincere
!Mornions would die sooner than abandon their faith and religion.
" General J. C. Bennett has stated that, to conquer the Mormon
legion, it would require five to one against them, all things taken into
consideration, and that they will die to a man sooner than give up
their Prophet.
*' Now is the arrest of this man worth such a sacrifice of life as
must necessarily follow an open war with his people ? The loss of
from one to three thousand lives will no doubt follow in an attempt to
accomplish an object not, in the end, worth a button.
" Persecute them, and you are sure to multii»ly them. This is fully
proved since the Missouri persecution, as, since that affair, they have
increased one hundred fold.
"It is the best policy, both of Missouri and Illinois, to let them
alone ; for if they are driven farther west they may set up an inde-
pendent government, under which they can worship the Almighty as
may suit their taste. Indeed, I would recommend to the Prophet to
pull up stakes, and take possession of the Oregon territory in his own
right, and establish an independent empire. In one hundred years
from this time, no nation on earth could conquer such a people. Let
not the history of David be forgotten. If the Prophet Joseph would
do this, millions would flock to his standard and join his cause. He
could then make his own laws by the voice of revelation, and have
them executed like the act of one man."
In addition to the troubles and difficulties springing from the
persecution of his Missourian enemies, Joseph was exposed to vexa-
tions and dangers of a kind even more exasj^erating. He might, from
the secure fortress of Nauvoo, and in firm reliance upon the legallv-
constituted tribunals of the United States, have set at defiance the
malice of those who persecuted him upon religious grounds, or found
a sufficient answer to those who, having suffei'ed loss, desired to make
him generally responsible for all the acts committed by his followers
at a time which was actually one of civil warfare ; but when iu
addition to these troubles, he had to defend liimself against false
friends and domestic traitors in his own church and city, the accumu-
lation of per[)lexity and sorrow was great indeed. Joseph, at this
time, appears to have been (piite as convinced of the divinity of his
mission as the most credulous of his disciples. He dreamed dreams,
THE "SPIRITUAL WIFE" DOCTRINE. 151
aiid he saws visions; he imagined that what he spoke was spoken hy the
Ahnighty, and that in him Avas all authority in matters of religion. But
there were men in the church who despised Joseph Smith as an impos-
tor while pretending to believe in him, knaves who used Mormonism
for their own purposes — either of sensuality or ambition — and who led
him by their extravagant licentiousness into continual difficulty. Many
of these persons pretended to have ** revelations" quite as valid as
those of Joseph, by which they were permitted to have as many wives
as the patriarchs of old, provided they could afford to maintain them.
Joseph would not tolerate this scandal, and every offender was forth-
with excommunicated, and pubKcly declared to be cut off from the
church. One man of this kind, named Higbee, gave him more trouble
than all the rest, and involved him in vexatious law proceedings, which
lasted for upwards of two years, and were only brought to a close in
May, 1844. Higbee, it appears, had been publicly accused by Joseph
of having seduced several women, and was cut off from the Mormon
church in consequence. Whether the charge were or were not ti-ue,
is now difficult, and perhaps not important, to discover, but Higbee
sued Joseph before the Municipal Court of Nauvoo for slander and
defamation, and laid his damages at five thousand dollars. At his
suit, Joseph was arrested, and the case came before the Municipal
Court, on a writ of kaheas eorpus, on the 6th of May. The aldermen
of the city, all of them Mormons, sat on the bench to hear the case,
and Sidney Rigdon acted as counsel for the Prophet. At this trial,
several disclosures were made, which went to prove a most deplorable
laxity of morals on the part of men who had once been members and
office-bearers of the church, and who had been " cut off for tlieir
adulteries, and handed over to Satan," by the Prophet and the other
heads of the sect. The court, after hearing the evidence of Joseph
and Hyrum Smith and others, decreed, yi/s^, that Joseph Smith should
be discharged from arrest on the ground of the illegality of the writ ;
and secondly, that Higbee's conduct having been fully shown to be
infamous, and the suit to have been instituted through malice, private
pique, and corruption, he was not entitled to his costs.
But Higbee was not the only person who had been expelled from
the church who was concerned in these proceedings. The libertines
and seducers of Nauvoo, foiled before the Municipal Court — of which
Joseph himself, as mayor of Nauvoo, and the leadincr ♦' Saints" as alder-
men of the city, were severally members ex officio — tried other means
to excite a schism, and adopted the bold course of accusing Joseph
himself of the very crimes with which he had charged Higbee.
Among other stories which AvGre circulated by this party was one
which obtained great currency, and led to important and unforeseen
152 THE MORMONS.
results. It was asserted that one Dr. Foster, a Mormon, and member
of the Danite band, or society of the " Destroyhig Angels," organized
in ]\Iissouri for the defence of the " Saints," having been absent from
home, had suddenly returned without giving notice to his wife, and
found the carriage of the Prophet at the door. Having been cut off
from the church, and having, it is alleged, had previous suspicions of
an imjiroper intercourse between Joseph and his wife, he questioned
Mrs. Foster as soon as Smith took his departure, when the lady
confessed that Joseph had been endeavouring to persuade her to
become his " spiritual wife." The Mormons then, and ever since, have
indignantly denied the truth of this j)articular charge ; and of all the
charges brought against Joseph as regards a plurality of wives — and in
especial reference to the " spiritual wife" doctrine — they allege what
appears from his whole career to be most probable, that he was at all
times most anxious to preserve the church free from taint, and to ex-
clude adulterers, seducers, and persons of immoral lives. But as the
consequences of tliis charge against Joseph were so momentous to him
and to the whole Mormon people, and as Dr. Foster probably believed
that there was some foundation for his suspicions, it is necessary that
the statements of both sides should be given. An affidavit was put
in upon the trial of Higbee's case, by a person of the name of Eaton,
to the effect, that Dr. Foster had stated *' that during his absence from
home a carriage drove up to his door ; that a person alighted ; that
the carriage then drove off again ; that this person went into the
house and told Mrs. Foster a great many things to prejudice her
mind against her husband ; that he finally introduced and preached the
* spiritual wife' doctrine to her ; that he made an attempt to seduce
her ; that he then sat down to dine with Mrs. Foster and blessed the
victuals ; that while so doing Dr. Foster suddenly returned ; that
this person rose up and said, ' How d'ye do ?' in a very polite manner ;
that he soon afterwards went away ; that Dr. Foster then questioned
his wife as to what had passed, but she refused to tell ; that he then
drew a pistol and threatened to shoot her, but that she still refused ;
that he then gave her a double-barrelled pistol, and told her to defend
herself ; that she then fainted away through fear and excitement, and
that when she came to herself again, she had confessed that the person
alluded to had endeavoured to convert lier to the ' spiritual wife' doc-
trine, and to seduce her." It was evident that Joseph Smith was the
person signified, but not named in this document. It was treated by
the Municipal '"'ourt as false and scandalous. Higbee described to the
same witness his own ideas of the " si)iritual wife" system. He said
that '* some of the elders had ten or twelve s})iritual wives a-picce ; that
they entered the names of the women in a large book which was kept
THE "spiritual WIFE " DOCTRINE. 153
sealed at Hvrum Smith's ; and that when an elder or other Mormon
wanted to seduce a woman, he led her to see this book opened, where, if
her name was found entered, she was told it was the will of heaven that
she should submit, and she submitted accordingly." It is utterly incredible
that Joseph Smith, who, great impostor as he was, never missed an op-
portunity to denounce seducers and adulterers as unfit to enter into his
church, should have been concerned directly or indirectly in proceedings
likethese,though it is scarcely surprising that when such stories had been
circulated by men whom the " Prophet " had thwarted or reprimanded,
there should have been found some persons willing to credit them.
Dr. Foster, who may or who may nothavefanciedhehad real grounds
of suspicions against Joseph, lent himself to the designs of the excom-
municated party, and, in conjunction with a person named Law, com-
menced the publication, in the city of Nauvoo itself, of a newspaper
called the Expositor. In the first number they printed the affidavits
of sixteen women, to the effect that Joseph Smith, Sidney liigdon,
and others, had endeavoured to convert them to the " spiritual wife"
doctrine, and to seduce them under the plea of having had especial
permission from Heaven. This was somewhat too daring, and Joseph
Smith, in his capacity of Mayor of Nauvoo, immediately summoned
the aldermen, councillors, and other members of the corporation to
consider the publication. They unanimously declared it to be a pub-
lic nuisance, and ordered the city marshal to " abate it forthwith."
A body of the prophet's adherents, to the number of two hundred
and upwards, sallied forth in obedience to this order, and proceeding
to the office of the Expositor, speedily rased it to the ground. They
then destroyed the presses, and made a bonfire of the })apers and
furniture. Foster and Law fled for their lives, and took refuge in
Carthage, where they applied for a warrant against Joseph and liyrum
Smith, and sixteen other persons known to have aided and abetted in
putting down the Expositor office. The warrant was granted and
served upon the Mayor of Nauvoo. He refused to acknowledge
its validity, and the constable who served it was marched out of
Nauvoo by the city marshal. The authorities of the county could not
suffer this affront to the law ; and the militia were ordered out to sup-
port the county officer in arresting the two Smiths and their sixteen
confederates. The Mormons in Nauvoo fortified the city, and deter-
mined to fight to the last extremity in support of the " Prophet." The
brethren from all parts of the country hastened to give assistance.
Illinois, like Missouri, divided itself into two great camj)S, the Mor-
mons, and the anti-Mormons, and the circumstances were so menacing
that Mr. Ford, the Governor, took the field in person. In a proclama-
tion to the people of Illinois, he stated that he had discovered thafe
154 THE MORMONS.
notliino; but the utter destruction of the city of Nauvoo would satisfy
the miHtia and troops under his command, and that if he marched
into the city, pretexts would not be wanting on their part for the
commencement of slaughter. Anxious to spare the effusion of blood,
he called upon the two Smiths to surrender peaceably, pledging
his word and the honour of the State, that they should be protected.
He also called upon the Alormons to surrender their public arms, and
upon the Nauvoo legion to submit to the command of a State officer.
The ^lormons agreed to the terms, and Joseph and his brother sur-
rendered to take tlieir trial for the riot, and for the destruction of the
office of the Expositor. The " Prophet " had a presentiment of evil, and
said, as he surrendered, " I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but
I am calm as a summer's morning ; I have a conscience void of offence,
and shall die innocent." While in prison at Carthage, another writ
was served upon him and Hyrum for high treason against the
State of Illinois, on an information in which the principal witness
was the Higbee already mentioned, and whose hostility to Joseph
had not ended at the trial before the Court of Nauvoo. As the
mob breathed vengeance against both prisoners, and as the militia
very indecently sided with the people, and were not to be de-
pended on in case of any violence being offered to the two Smiths,
the Governor was requested by the citizens of Nauvoo and other
Mormons to set a guard over the gaol. On the morning of the
26th of June, 1844, the Governor visited the prisoners, and pledged
his word to protect them against the threatened violence. It
now began to be rumoured among the mob that there would be no
case against the Smiths on either of the charges brought against
them, and that the Governor was anxious they should escape. A
band of ruffians accordingly resolved that as " law could not reach
them, powder and shot should." About six o'clock in the evening of
the 27th, the small guard stationed at the gaol was overpowered by a
band of nearly two hundred men, with blackened faces, who rushed
into the prison where the unfortunate men were confined. They were
at the time in consultation with two of their friends. The mob fired
upon the whole four. Hyrum was shot first, and fell immediately,
exclaiming, " I am a dead man." Josejdi endeavoured to leap from
the window, and was shot in the attempt, exclaiming, " 0 Lord, my
God." They Avere both shot after they were dead, each receiving
four balls. John Taylor, one of the two Mormons in the room, was
seriously wounded, but afterwards recovered.
The following account of this cruel murder was given byMr.Willard
Richards, the second of the two Mormons who were present with
Joseph and Hyrum in the prison, when the mob broke in upon them.
ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH. ]55
It appeared in the Times and Seasons of the following month, under
the title of " Two Minutes in Gaol."
" Possibly the following events occupied near three minutes, but I think
only about two, and have penned them for the gratification of many friends : —
"Carthage, June 21th, 1S44:.
" A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against the door
of the prison in the second story, followed by many rapid footsteps. While
Clenerals Joseph and Ilyrum Smith, Mr. Taylor, and myself, who were in the
front chamber, closed the door of our room against the entry at the head of the
stairs, and placed ourselves against it, there being no lock on the door, and no
ketch that was useable ; — the door is a common panel — and as soon as we heard
the feet at the stairs' head, a ball was sent through the door, which passed be-
tween us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes, and we must change
our position. General Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor, and myself, sprang back to
the front part of the room, and General Ilyrum Smith retreated two-thirds
across the chamber, directly in front of and focing the door. A ball was sent
through the door, which hit Ilyrum on the side of his nose, when he fell back-
wards, extended at length, without moving his feet. From the holes in his
vest (the day was warm, and no one had a coat on but myself), pantaloons,
drawers, and sliirt, it appears evident that a ball must have been thrown from
without, through the window, which entered his back on the right side, and
passing through lodged against his watch, which was in his right vest pocket,
completely pulverizing the crystal and face, tearing off the hands, and smash-
ing the whole body of the watch, at the same instant the ball from the door
entered his nose. As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, ' I'm a
dead ma?i.' Joseph looked towards him, and responded, ' 0 dear Brother
Hi/runt ! ' and opening the door two or three inches with his left hand, dis-
charged one barrel of a six shooter (pistol) at random in the entry from
■whence a ball grazed Hyrum's breast, and entering his throat, passed into his
head, wliile other muskets were aimed at him, and some balls hit him.
Joseph continued snapping his revolver, round the casing of the door into the
s]jace as before, three barrels of which missed fire, while Mr. Taylor, with a
walking stick, stood by his side and knocked down the bayonets and muskets
which were constantly discharging through the doorway, while I stood by
hini, ready to lend any assistance, with another stick, but could not come
within striking distance -without going directlv before the muzzle of the guns.
"When the revolver failed we had no more fire-arms, and expecting an imme-
diate rush of the mob, and the doorway full of muskets — half way in the
room, and no hope but in^taait death from within, Mr. Taylor rushed into
the window, which is some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. When
his body was nearly on a balance, a ball from the door within entered his leg,
and a ball from without struck his watch, a patent lever, in his vest pocket,
near the left breast, and smashed it in 'pie,' leaving the hands standing at 5
o'clock, 16 minutes, and 20 seconds — the force of Avhich ball threw him Imck
on the floor, and he rolled under the bed which stood by his side, where he
156 THE MoinioNS.
lay motionless, the mob from the door continuing to fire upon him, cuttinfjl
away a piece of flesh from his left hip as large as a man's hand, and were
hindered only by my knocking down their muzzles with a stick ; while they
continued to reach their guns into the room, probably left-handed, and aimed
their discharge so far around as almost to reach us in the corner of the room
to where we retreated and dodged, and then I re-commenced the attack with
my stick again. Joseph attempted, as the last resort, to leap the same window
from whence Mr. Taylor fell, when two balls pierced him from the door,
and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward ex-
claiming, * 0 Lord, my God .' ' As his feet went out of the window my head
went in, the balls whistling all around. He fell on his left side a dead man.
At this instant the cry was raised, * He's leaped the window,' and the mob on
the stairs and in the entry ran out. 1 withdrew from the window, thinking
it of no use to leap out on a hundred bayonets, then aVound General Smith's
body. Not satisfied with this, I again reached my head out of the window,
and watched some seconds, to see if there were any signs of life, regardless of
my own, determined to see the end of him I loved. Being fully satisfied that
he was dead, with a hundred men near the body, and more coming round the
corner of the gaol, and expecting a return to our room, I rushed towards the
prison door, at the head of the stairs, and through the entry from whence the
firing had proceeded, to learn if the doors into the prison were open. When
near the entry, IMr. Taylor called out, * Talce me.' I pressed my way until I
found all doors unbarred ; returning instantly, caught Mr. Taylor under my
arm, and rushed by the stairs into the dungeon, or inner prison, stretched him
on the floor, and covered him with a bed, in such a manner as not likely to be
perceived, expecting an immediate return of the mob. I said to IMr. Taylor,
* This is a hard case to lay you on the floor ; but if your wounds are not fatal
I want you to live to tell the story.' I expected to be shot the next moment,
and stood before the door awaiting the onset.
*'WlLLAPvD KlCHARDS."
An eye-witness of the murder, named Daniels, who was connected
with neither the Mormons nor the moh, gave some additional parti-
culars of the outrage in a small work published hy himself, in the State
of Ilhnois, in 1844. Daniels, it seems, was overtaken on the prairies
on the afternoon of the murder by a hand* of settlers, all more or
less disguised with hlackened faces, &c., who communicated to him
the object of their gathering, which was, to force the gaol at Carthage,
and to assassinate Smitli and his fellow- prisoners. They appealed to
him to join the expedition; and on his refusal, compelled him, by
threats, to accompany them to the scene, that he might not, by-
giving an alarm, betray their object to the aiithorities, His im-
pression was, that when Smith fell from the window he was not dead,
but merely stunned by the fall, and he states that one of the gang
raised him up and placed him against a well, and that, wliile in tliis
/
ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH AND HYUUM S^rITtI. 157
position, four others among tlie mob advanced to the front rank with
loaded muskets, and fired at the " Prophet." From the circumstance
that four bullets were afterwards found in his body, there would
a))pear to be some ground for believing this to be the correct account
of Smith's death, as.each of these four men stood at so short a distance
from him as to make it quite certain that every shot fired took effect. ^^-
Thus died this extraordinary personage. " In the short space of
twenty years," says the account of his '* Martyrdom" appended to the
Book of Doctrines and Covenants, " he brought forth i\\Q Boole of Mor-
mon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and was the
means of publishiug in two continents. He sent the fulness of the ever-
lasting Gospel whieh it contained to the four quarters of the earth.
He brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose
the Book of Doctrines and Covenants, and many otherwise documents
and instructions for the benefit of the children of men. He gathered
many thousands of the Latter-Day Saints, founded a great city, and
left a fame and a name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and died
great in the eyes of God and his people ; and like most of the Lord's
anointed in ancient times, sealed his mission and his works with his
own blood, and so did his own brother Hyrum. In life they were not
divided, and in death they were not separated."
The Christian Reflector, a less friendly critic of his character and
actions, thus spoke of his life and death : —
"It is but a few weeks since the death of Joe Smith was
announced. His body now sleeps, and his spirit has gone to its reward.
Various are the opinions of men concerning this singular personage ;
but whatever may be the views of any in reference to his principles,
objects, or moral character, all agree that he was one of the most
i-emarkable men of the age. Not fifteen years have elapsed since a
band, composed of six persons, was formed in Palmyra, New York, of
which Joseph Smith, jun., was the presiding genius. Most of these
were connected with the family of Smith the senior. They were
notorious for breach of contracts, and the re|)udiation of their honest
debts. All of them were addicted to vice. They obtained their living
not by honourable labour, but by deceiving their neighbours with their
marvellous tales of money- digging. Notwithstanding the low origin,
poverty, and profligacy, of the members of that band of mountebanks,
they have augmented their numbers till more than 100,000 persons
are now numbered among the followers of the Mormon Prophet,
and never were increasing so rapidly as at the time of his death.
Burn in the very lowest walks of life, reared in poverty, educated
in vice, having no claims to even common intelligence, coarse and
vulgar in deportment, the Prophet Smith succeeded in establishing
168 THE MORMONS.
a rell.2;ioiis creed, the tenets ot which have been taiiojht throughout
the length and breadth of America. The Prophet's virtues have
been reliearsed and admired in Europe ; the ministers of Nauvoo
have even found a welcome in Asia ; and Africa has listened to the
grave sayings of the seer of Palmyra. The standard of the Latter-
Day Saints has been reared on the banks of the Nile, and even the
Holy Land has been entered by the emissaries of this wicked impostor.
*' He founded a city in one of the most beautiful situations in the
world, in a beautiful curve of the ' father of waters' of no mean preten-
sions, and in it he has collected a population of twentj'-five thousand,
from every part of the world. He planned the architecture of a
magnificent temple, and reared its walls nearly fifty feet high, which,
if completed, will be the most beautiful, most costly, and the most
noble building in America.
" The acts of his life exhibit a character as incongruous as it is
remarkable. If we can credit his own words, and the testimony of eye-
witnesses, he was at the same time the vicegerent of God, and a tavern-
keeper — a prophet of Jehovah, and a base libertine — a minister of the
religion of peace, and a lieutenant- general — a ruler of tens of thousands,
and a slave to all his own base, unbridled passions — a preacher ot
righteousness, and a profane swearer— a worshipper of Bacchus,
mayor of a city, and a miserable bar-room fiddler— a judge upon the
judicial bench, and an invader of the civil, social, and moral relations
of men ; and, notwithstanding these inconsistencies of character, there
are not wanting thousands who are willing to stake their souls' eternal
salvation uj^on his veracity. For aught we know, time and distance
will embellish his life with some new and rare virtues, which his most
intimate friends failed to discover while living with him.
" Reasoning from effect to cause, we must conclude that the Mor-
mon Prophet was of no common genius : few are able to commence
and carry out an imposition like his, so long, and to such an extent.
And we see, in the history of his success, most striking proofs of the
gullibility of a large portion of the human family. What maj not
men be induced to believe?"
Joseph Smith was indeed a remarkable man ; and, in summing up
his character, it is extremely difficult to decide, whether lie were in-
deed the vulgar impostor which it has been the fashion to consider
him, or whether he were a sincere fanatic who believed what he
taught. But whether an impostor, who, for the purposes of his ambi-
tion, concocted the fraud ot the Booh of Mormon, or a fanatic who
believed and ])ronmlgated a fraud originally concocted by some other
])erson, it must be admitted that he disjdayed no little zeal and
courage ; that his tact was great, that his talents for governing men
ASSASSINATION OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH. 159
were of no mean order, and that, however glaring his deficiencies in
early life may have been, he manifested, as he grew older, an ability
both as an orator and a writer, which showed that he possessed strong
natural gifts, only requiring cultivation to have raised him to a high
reputation among better educated men. There are many incidents in
his life which favour the supposition that he was guilty of a deliberate
fraud in pretending to have revelations from heaven, and in palming
off upon the world his new Bible ; but, at the same time, there is
piuch in his later career which seems to prove that he. really believed
what he asserted — that he imagined himself to be in reality what he
pretended — the chosen medium to convey a new Gospel to the world —
the inspired of heaven, the dreamer of divine dreams, and the com-
panion of angels. If he were an impostor, deliberately and coolly
inventing, and pertinaciously propagating a falsehood, there is this
much to be said, that never was an impostor more cruelly punished
than he was, from the first moment of his appearance as a prophet to
the last. ' Joseph Smith, in consequence of his pretensions to be a
seer and prophet of God, lived a life of continual misery and perse-
cution. He endured every kind of hardship, contumely, and suffering.
He was derided, assaulted, and imprisoned. ) His life was one long
scene of peril and distress, scarcely brightened by the brief beam of
compariitive repose which he enjoyed in his own city of Nauvoo. In
the contempt showered upon his head his whole family shared. Father
and mother, and brothers, Avife, and friends, were alike involved in
the ignominy of his pretensions, and the sufferings that resulted.
He lived for fourteen years amid vindictive enemies, who never missed
an opportunity to vilify, to harass, and to destroy him ; and he died
at last an untimely and miserable death, involving in his fate a
brother to whom he was tenderly attached. \ If anything can tend to
encourage the supposition that Joseph Smith was a sincere enthusiast,
maddened with religious frenzies, as many have been before and will
be after him — and that he had strong and invincible faitli in his own
high pretensions and divine mission, it is the probability that unless
su])ported by such feelings, he would have renounced the unprofitable
and ungrateful task, and sought refuge from persecution and misery
in private life and honourable industr3\ / But whether knave or
lunatic, whether a liar or a true man, it cannot be denied that he was
one of the most extraordinary persons of his time, a man of rude
genius, who accomplished a much greater work than he knew ; and
whose name, whatever he may have been whilst living, will take its
place among the notabilities of the world.
The perj)etrators of the sljameful murder of the two brothers were
never discovered. Several persons were ancsted on susjticion, but
100
THE MORMONS.
there was not sufficient proof to convict them, and possibly no real
efforts were made to bring them to justice. The event was greatly
deplored. The sincerest opponents of Mormonism were those Avho
were most grieved at it. Joseph Smith murdered was a greater
prophet than Joseph Smith alive ; and it was predicted, both by
friends and foes, that, however rapid the progress of the sect might
have been in past times, it would be still more rapid when fanaticism
might point to the martyrs of the faith — when the faults of the
Prophet would be buried in the oblivion of the tomb, and when his
virtues would be enhanced by the remembrance ot his unhap{)y fate.
The prediction Avas verified ; but not, however, until the Mormons
had passed through another long period of persecution and suffering.
Joseph Smith, (from a Sketch by M. Didier.)
fI7i.
OV
John Taylor.
CHAPTER VIT.
The Prophet's Funeral — Addresses and Proclamations to the Saints —
Appointmknt of Brigham Young as Successor to Joseph Smith — Trial
AND Expulsion of Sidney Rigdon — Transient Prosperity of Nauvoo —
New Troublks and Hostilities — Siege of Nauvoo — Final Expulsion of
THE Mormons from Illinois.
The news of the death of Joseph, and of his brother, was announced
to the Prophet's widow, in a letter signed by John Taylor and Willard
Richards, the two " Saints " who were present in the prison at the time
of the catastroi)he, and by Samuel II. Smith,* a younger brother of
the murdered men. This letter, written in great haste, implored the
citizens of Nauvoo " to be still— and to know that God still reigned
over tlie world." It entreated them not to rush out of the city to
attack Carthage, " but to stay at home, and be prepared for an on-
slaught of the Missouri mobbers." It added, that the people of
Handcock county were greatly excited, fearing that the Mormons
■would come and take vengeance, but that the writers had pledged
their words that no reprisals should be made. To this letter were
appended two short postscripts. The first bore the signature of
Thomas ^Ford, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Illinois, and
* Samuel H. Smith died in less than five weeks after the assassination of his
brothers ; the Mormons say of a broken heart. He is also claimed as one ot the
Martyrs of tlie faith.
E
162 THE MOKMONS.
recommended the Mormons to defend themselves until protection could
be furnished. The second postscript bore the signature of M. R.
Dcming, Brigadier- (jeneral of the army of Illinois, acting under the
Governor, and was addressed to Mr. Orson Spencer, one of the twelve
apo>tles of the Mormons, and urged him and the citizens of Nauvoo to
deliberate earnestljs " as prudence might obviate material destruc-
tion." It added, that the writer was at "his private residence when
the horrible crime was committed, and that it would be condemned
by tliree fourths of the people of Missouri." }
Earlv on the following morning tlie Nauvoo Legion was called out
and nddressed by Mr. Phelps, the editor of the Mormon paper, and
other leading members of the community, who severally urged the
legion and citizens to be peaceable. The legion remained under arms
from ten in tlie morning until three in the afternoon, awaiting the
arrival of the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum. " About three o'clock," says
the Times and Seasons, published in Nauvoo three days afterwards,
" the bodies were met by a great assemblage of people, east of the
Temi)le, under the direction of tlie City Marshal, Samuel H. Smith,
the brother of the deceased. Dr. Richards, and Mr. Hamilton of Car-
thage. The waggons in which the bodies were conveyed were guarded
by three men. A procession was formed behind them, consisting of
the City Council, the staff of tlie Lieulenant-General, the Majur-
General, and the Brigadier- General, of the Nauvoo Legion, the com-
manders, officers, and men, and the citizens of Nauvoo, to the number
of from eight to ten thousand." These followed the bodies to the
Mansion House, " amid the most solemn lamentations and wailings
that ever ascended into the ears of the Lord God of Hosts to be
revenged of their enemies!" An oration was pronounced over the
bodies by Dr. Richards, and addresses were also delivered by four
other Mormons, in which the nmltitude were strongly urged to
remain jieaceable. ** That vast assemblage, with one united voice,"
said the Times and Seasons, "resdlved to trust to the law for justice
for such a high-handed assassination, and if that failed, to call
upon God to avenge them of their wrongs. Oh, widows and
orphans ! " it concluded, *' Oh, Americans, weep ! The glory of free-
dom has d( parted !"
As ihe conduct of the Governor was much impugned in this
melancholy transaction, Mr. Ford deemed it necessary to issue the
following address to the peo])le of Illinois in explanation of his
conduct : —
"I dcf-ire to mnke a brief but true statement of the recent disgraceful
affair at Carlhuge, in regard to the Smiths, as far as circiunstances have come
ADDRKSS OF THE GOVERNOR TO THE PEOPLE. 163
to my knowledge. 'J'he Smiths, Joseph and Hjrum, have been assassinate I
in gaol, by whom it is not known, but will be ascertained. I pledged myself
for their safety : and upon the assurance of that pledge, they surrendered as
prisoners. The Mormons surrendered the public arms in their possession ;
and the Nauvoo Legion submitted to the command of Captain Singleton, of
Brown county, deputed for that purpose by me. All th( se things were re-
quired to satisfy the old citizens of Ilandcock that the Mormon? were peaceably
disposed, and to allay jealousy and excitement in their minds. It appears,
however, that the compliance of the JMormons with every requisition made
upon them, failed of that purpose. '1 he pledge of security to the Smiths was
not given upon my individual responsibility. Before I gave it, I obtained a
pledge of honour by a unanimous vote from the officers and men under my
command, to sustain me in performing it. If the assassination of the Smiths
was committed by any portion of these, they have added treachery to murder,
and have done all they could to disgrace the State and sully the public
honour.
" On the morning of the day the deed was committed, we had proposed to
march the army under my command ino Nauvoo. I had, however, disco-
vered on the evening before, that nothing but the utter destruction of the city
■would satisfy a portion of the troops ; and that, if we marched into the city,
pretexts would not be wanting for commencing hostilities. The Mormons
had done everything required, or which ought to have been required of them.
Offensive operations on our part would have been as unjust and disgraceful
as they would have been impolitic in the present critical season of the year,
the harvest, and the crops. For thtse reasons, I decided, in a council of offi-
cers, to disband the army, except three companies, two of which were reserved
as a guard for the gaol. \\'ith the other company I marched into Nauvoo, to
addrefs the inhabitants there, and tell them what they mii;ht expect in case
they designedly or imprudently provoked a war. I performed this duty, as I
'think, plainly and emphatically, and then set out to return to Carthage.
When I had marched about three miles, a messenger informed me of the
occurrences at Carthage. [ hastened on to that place. The guard, it is
said, did their duty, but were overpowered. Many of the inhabitants of
Carthage had fled with their families. Others were preparing to go. I
apprehended danger to the settlements from the sudden fury and passion of
the Mormons, and sanctioned their movements in this respect.
"General Deming volunteered to remain with a few troops to observe the
progress of events, to defend property against small numbers, and with orders
to retreat if menaced by a superior force. I decided to proceed immediately
to Quincy, to prepare a force sufficient to suppress disorders, in case it should
ensue from the foregoing transacti<ms or from any other cause. I have hopes
that the Mormons will make no further difficulties. In this I may be mis-
taken. The other party may not be satisfied. They may recommence aggres-
sion. I have determined to preserve the peace against all breakers of the
same, at all hazards. I think present cii-cumstances warrant the precaution
of having competent force at my disposal in readiness to march at a moment's
]C)4 THE MOHMONS.
waniini^. ]\[y position at Quinuy will enable me to get the earliest inlelli-
gence. and to communicate orders with wreatcr celerity.
" 1 have decided to issue the following general orders : —
"Head Quarters, Quincy, June 2^, ]814.
"It is ordered that the commandants of regiments in the counties of
Adams, Marquette, Pike, Brown, Schuyler, Morgan, Scott, Oa-^s, Fulton, and
?^I'Donough, and the regiments composing General Stapp's brigade, will call
their respective regiments and battalions together immediately upon the receipt
of this order, and procee<l by voluntary enlistment to enrol as many men as
/?an be armed in their respective regiments. They will make arrangemenis
for a campaign of twelve days, and will provide themselves with arms,
ammunition, and provisions accordingly, and hold themselves in readiness
immediately to march upon the receipt of further orders.
"The independent companies of riflemen, infantry, cavalry, and artillery,
in the al;ove-named counties, and in the county of Sangamon, will hold them-
selves in readiness in like raamier.
"Thomas Ford,
"Governor and Commander-in-Chief."
Governor Ford, who appears to have been greatly apprehensive
that the Mormons would rise, en masse, to revenge the death of Joseph,
dispatched, on the third day after the murder, two officers of the arujy
of Illinois to Nauvoo, to ascertain the disposition of the citizens, " and
whether any of them proposed iti any manner to revenge themselves,
and to report what threats had been used." They were also directed
to proceed to the town of Warsaw, where the anti-Mormon militia
had mustered in great strength, and to ascertain whether they medi-
tated any attack upon Nauvoo — whether any of the people from the
neighbouring States of Missouri and Iowa were among them — and to
forbid anv interference in the name of the State of Illinois, under the
highest penalties of the law. Th^se officers, on their arrival at
JNauvoo, communicated to the members of the municipality a cop}' of
the instructions they had received. A meeting of the City Council
was immediately summoned to consider the matter. A string of re-
solutions was unanimously passed, to the effect that the Mormons as a
body would endeavour to promote the peace and welfare of the county
of Ilandcock, and the State of Illinois generally, by rigidly sustainincr
the laws, as long as the Governor would support them in the exercise
of their constitutional rights. That as they had surrendered the public
arms with which they had been entrusted, they solicited the Governor
to disarm their opponents in like manner ; that the Saints would re-
probate the taking of private vengeance on the murderers of General
Joseph Smith and General Ilyruni Smith ; that the City Council
pledged itself on behalf of the whole body of citizens, that no
ADDRESSES TO THE "SAINTS.' 165
aggressions should be made by tliem on the people of the adjoining
country ; and furthermore, that it highly approved of the pacific course
taken b\' the Governor to allay excitement, and restore peace among
the people of Illinois. A public meeting was then held on the great
square, at which the Governor's emissaries attended, and addressed
the people in the same conciliatory spirit, the multitude responding by
one loud " Amen !"
On the same afternoon, an address to the Mormons in Niiuvoo was
issued by a committee of the '* Saints :" — -
"TO THE CHURCH OP JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
** Deeply impressed for the welfare of all, while mourning the great loss
of President Joseph Smith, our ' propliet and seer,' and President Hyru7n
Smith, our ' patritirch,' we have considered the occasion demanded of us a
word of consolation. As has been the case in all ages, these saints have fallen
martyrs for the truth's sake, and their escape from the persecution of a wicked
world, in blood to bliss, only strengthens our faith, and contirras our religion
as pure and holy. We, therefore, as servants of the ]\Iost High God, having
the Bible, Book of Mormon, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, toge-
ther with thousands of witnesses for Jesus Christ, would beseech the I^atter-
Day Saints in Nauvoo, and elsewhere, to hold fast to tlie faith that has been
delivered to them in the last days, abiding^ in the perfect law of the Gospel.
Be peaceable, quiet citizens, doing the works of righteousness, and as soon as
the ' Twelve' and other authorities can assemble, or a majority of them, the
onward course to the great gathering of Israel, and the final consummation of
the dispensation of the fulness of times, will be pointed out, so that the mur-
der of Abel, the assassination of hundreds, the righteous blood of all the holy
]>r(q)hets, from Abel to Joseph, sprinkled with the best blood of the Son of
God, as the crimson sign of remission, only carries conviction to the business
and bosoms of all flesh, that the cause is just and will continue. And blessed
are they that hold out faithful to the end, while apostates, consenting to the
shedding of innocent blood, have no forgiveness in this world, nor in the
world to come. Union is peace, brethren, and eternal life is the greatest gift
of God. Pejoice, then, that you are found worthy to live and die for God.
]\ren may kill the body, but they cannot hurt the soul, and wisdom sliall be
justified of her children. Amen.
" W. W. Phelps.
W. Richards.
"J% 1, 184 4." John Taylor.
A second address to the " Saints" in all parts of the world was issued
a fortnight afterwards : —
"to THE saints abroad.
" Dear Brethren,— On hearing of the martyrdom of our beloved Pi-ophet
and Patriarch, you uill doubtless need a word of advice and comfort, and look
106 THE MORMONS.
for it from our hands. We would say, therefore, first of ;dl, e still, and know
that the Lord is God, and that he will fulfil all thini^s in his own due time,
and not one jot or tittle of ail his purposes and promises shall fail. Remember,
RE.MEMHER that the priesthood, and the keys of power, are hi-ld in eternity as
well as in time ; and therefore the servants of Go<l who pass the veil of death*
are prc])ared to enter upon a greater and more effectual work, in the speedy
accomplishment ol the restoration of all thino;? spoken of hy his holy prophets.
" Kemtmber that all the prophets and saints who have existed since the world
began, are engaged in this holy work, and are yet in the vineyard, as well as
the labourers of the eleventh hour, and are all pledged to establish the king-
dom of Goil on the earth, and to give judgment unto the saints. Therefore, none
can hinder the rolling on of the eternal purposes oC the Great Jehovah. And
we have now every reason to believe that the fulHlmi nt of His great purposes
is much nearer than we had supposed, and th.it not many years hence we
shall see the kingdom of God coming with power and great glory to our de-
liverance.
"As to our country and nation, we have more reason to weep for them than
for those they ha\e murdered ; for they are destroying themselves and their
institutions, and there is no remedy ; and as to feelings of rev( nge, let them
not have place for one moment in our bosoms, for God's vengeance will speedily
consume to that degree that we would fain be hid away, and not endure the
sight.
"Let us, then, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and en-
deavour to put away all our sins and imperfections as a people, and as indivi-
duals, and to call u])on the Lord with the spirit of grace and supplication, and
wait patiently on him, until he shall direct our wny.
"Let no vain and foolish plans, or imaginations, scatter us abroad, and di-
vide us asunder as a people, to seek to save our lives at the expense of truth
and principle, but rather let us live or die together, and in the enjoyment of
society ancl union. Therefore, we say, let us haste to fulfil the commandments
which God has already given us. Yea, let us haste to build the temple of our
God, and to gather together thereunto, our silver ami our gold with us, unto
the name of the Lord ; and then we may expect that he vk ill teach us of his
ways, and we will walk in his paths.
"We would further say, that in consequence of the great rains which have
deluged the western country, and also in consequence of persecution and ex-
citement, there has been but little done here, either in farming or building
this season ; therefore there is but little employment, and but little means of
subsistence at the command of the Saints in this region — therefore let the
Saints abroad, and others who feel for our calamities and wish to sustain us,
come on with their money and means without delay, and purchase lots and
farms, and build buildings, and employ hands, as well .as to pay their tithings
into the Temple, and their donations to the poor.
" We wish it distinctly un<lerstood abroad, that we greatly need the as-
sistance of every lover of humanity, whether members of the church or other-
wise, both in influence and in conlribtitions for our aid, succour, and support.
THE EPISTLE OF " THE TWELVE." 187
Theref<)re, if they feel for us, now is the time to show their liberality and
patriotism, towards a poor and pt-rseeuted, but honest and industrious pei)pie.
^' Let tlie elders who remain abroad, continue to preach the Grospel in its
purity and (ulness, and to bear testimony of the truth of these things which
have been revealed for the salvation of this generation.
"♦ P. P. Pratt.
WlLLARD ElCHARDS.
John Taylor.
W. W. Phelps.
" Na7ivoo, July 15, 1841"
To re-assure the Mormon people, many of wliombeojan to be appre-
hensive that the whole organization of tlie sect had fallen to pieces since
the death of the Prophet, a more solemn address was issued in the name
of the Twelve Apostles. This document urged the " Saints " to come
from all parts of the Union, and of the world, to Nauvoo, to build up tlie
Temple of the Lord; reminded them that the " Prophet Joseph," though
removed from this world, " still held the keys of this last dispensation,"
and always would, in time and in eternity, and recommended them to
abstain from all politics, voting, or president-making, and direct their
whole attention to the affairs, social and religious, of the Mormon body.
This document was signed by Brigham Young, President of the
Twelve Apostles, a man who was destined to play a most im})ortant
part in the future history of Mormonism. It ran as follows : —
" AN EPISTLE OF THE TWELVE,
" To the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints, in Nauvoo and all the wjrld,
GREETING.
"Beloved Brethren, — Forasmuch as the Saints have been called to
suffer deep affliction and persecution, and also to mourn the loss of our beloved
Pro|)het, and also our Patriarch, who have suffered a cruel martyrdom for the
testimony of Jesus, having voluntarily yielded themselves to cruel murderers
who had sworn to take their lives, and thus, like good shepherds, have laid
down their lives for the sheep, therefore it becomes necessary for us to address
you at this time on several important subjects.
" You are now without a Prophet present with you in the flesh to guide
you ; but you are not without Apostles, who hold the keys of power to seal on
earth that which shall be sealed in heaven, and to preside over all the affairs
of the churcn in all the world ; being still under the direction of the same
God, and being dictated by the same Spirit, having the same manifestations of
the Holy Ghost to dictate all the affairs of the church in all the world, to build
up the kingdom upon the foundation that the Prophet Joseph has laid, who
still holds the keys of this last dispensation, and will hold tliem to all eternity,
as a king and priest unto the Most High God, ministering in heaven, on earth,
or among the spirits of the departed dead, as seemeth good to Him why synt
him.
-168 THE MORMONS.
" Let no man presume for a moment that hrs place will be filled by an-
rtlier; for, remember he stands in his own place, and always will; and the
Twelve Apostles of this dis])ensation stand in their own place, and always will,
both in time and in eternity, to minister, preside, and regulate the affairs of
the whole church.
** How vain are the imaginations of the children of men, to presume for a
moment that the slaughter of one, two, or a hundred of the leaders of this
church could destroy an organization so perfect in itself and so harmoniously
arranged, that it will stand while one member of it is left alive upon the earth.
Brethren, be not alarmed, for if the Twelve should be taken away, still there
are powers and offices in existence which will bear the kingdom of Grod tri-
umphantly victorious in all the world. This church may have prophets many,
and apostles many, but they are all to stand in due time in their proper organ-
ization, under the directio-n of those who hold the keys.
"On the subject of the gathering, let it be distinctly understood that the
City of Nauvoo and the Temple of our Lord are to continue to be built up ac-
cording to the pattern which has been commenced, and which has progressed
with such rapidity thus far.
" The city must be built up and supported by the gathering of those who
have capital, and are willing to lay it out for the erection of every branch of
industry and manufacture, which is necessary for the employment and
support of the poor, or of those who depend wholly on their labour ; while
farmers who have capital must come on and purchase fiirms in the adjoin-
ing country, and improve and cultivate the same. In this way all may
enjoy plenty, and our infant city may grow and flourish, and be strength-
ened an hundred fold ; and unless this is done, it is impossible for the ga-
thering to progress, because those who have no other dependence cannot
live together without industry and employment.
"Therefore, let capitalists hasten here: and they may be assured we
have nerves, sinews, fingers, skill, and ingenuity, suflficieut in our midst to
carry on all the necessary branches of industry^
"The Temple must be completed by a regular system of tithing, ac-
coi'ding to the commandments of the Lord, which he has given as a law
unto this church, by the mouth of his servant Joseph.
" Therefore, as soon as the Twelve have proceeded to a full and com-
plete organization of the branches abroad, let every member proceed imme-
diately to tithe himself, or herself,, a tenth of all their pi'operty and money,
and pay it into the hands of the Twelve ; or into the hands of such bishops
as have been, or shall be, appointed by them to receive the same, for the
building of the Temple or the support of the priesthood, according to the
Scriptures, and the revelations of God. And then let them continue to pay
in a tenth of their income from that time forth, for this is a law unto this
church as much binding on their conscience as any other law or ordi-
nance. And let this law or ordinance be henceforth taught to all who pre-
sent themselves for adini-sion into this church, that they may know the
sacrifice and tithing wliich the Lord rcq^uires, and perform it; or else not
THE EPISTLE OF "THE TWELVE. 169
curse the church with a mock memhership, as many have done heretofore.
This will furnish a steady public fund for all sacred purposes, and save the
leaders from constant debt and embarrassment, and the mt-mbers cnn then
em])loy the remainder of their capital in every branch of enterprise, in-
dubtiy, and charity, as seemeth them good ; only holding- themselves in
readiness to be advised in such manner as shall be for the good of them-
selves and the whole society ; and thus all things can move in harmony,
and for the general benefit and satisfaction of all concerned.
" The United States and adjoining provinces will be immediately organ-
ized by the Twelve into proper districts, in a similar manner as they have
already done in Eni;land and Scotland, and high priests will be appointed
over each district, to preside over the same, and to call quarterly conferences
for the r<'gulation and representation of the branches included in the same,
and for the furtherance of the Grospel ; and also to take measures for a
yearly representation in a general conference. This will save the trouble
and confusion of the running to and fro of elders; detect false doctrine and
false teachers, and make every elder abroad accountable to the conftn'ence
in which he may happen to labour. Bishops will also be appointed in the
larger branches, to attend to the management of the temporal funds, such
as tithings, and furttls for the poor, according to the revelations of Grod, and
to be judges in Israel.
" The Gospel, in its fulness and purity, must now roll forth through
every neighbourhood of this wide-spread country, and to all the world ;
and millions will awake to its truths and obey its precepts, and the king-
doms of this world will become the kino-doms of our Lord and of his Christ.
" As rulers and people have taken council together against the Lord,
and against his anointed,, and have luurdered him who would have reformed
and saved the nation, it is not wisdom for th© Saints to have anything to
do wiih polities, voting, or president-making, at present. None of the can-
didates who are now before the publici for that high office have manifested
any disposition- or intention to n'dress wrong or restore right, liberty, or
law ; and, therefore, woe unto him who gives countenance to corruption, or
partakes of muriler, robbery, or other cruel deeds. Let us, then, stand aloof
from all their corrupt men and measures-, and wait, at least, till a man is
found, who. if elected, will carry out the enlarged })rinciples, universal free-
dom, and equal rights and protection, expressed in the views of our beloved
pr(»])het and nuirtyr. General Joseph Smith.
" We do not, however, offer this political advice as binding on the con-
sciences of others. We are pc rfectly willing that every member of this church
should use their own freedom in all political matters ; but we give it as our own
rule of action, and for the benefit of those who may choose to profit by it.
'•Now, dear brethren, to conclude our present communication, we would
exhort ydu in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be humble and faithful be-
fore God and before all the pe(>])le, and give no occasion for any man to speak
evil of vou ; but preach the Gospel in its simplicity and purity, and practise
righteousness, and seek to establish the influence of truth, peace, and love.
170 THE MORMONS.
aniHior mankind, and in so doing, the Lord will bless you, and make you a
blessiii<( to all people.
" You may expect to hear from us again.
" Brigham Young,
*' President of the Twelve.
" Nauvoo, August I5th, 1844."
No sooner had the Smiths been removed from the way of his long-
concealed but violent ambition, than Sidney Rii!;don strove to vault
into the vacant ])lace of the deceased *' Prophet." Sidney, however,
miscalculated his power and influence. Joseph had loni;- been mis-
trustful of him. Sidney knew too much, and Joseph, without quar-
rell ng with him, had kept him at arm s length. The mistrust of the
Prophet was shared by the principal Mormons, and his " s})n-itual
wife'' doctrine had alienated from him tlie confidence of many who
liad once looked upon him as a founder of the faith, and a i)illar of
the church. After the death of Jo^ejih, Sidney Rigdon had a " reve-
lation " commandiuo: the Saints to withdraw from their enemies, and
leave Nauvoo, and establish themselves in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
This "revelation" contradicted the "revelations" of Joseph, which
asserted positively that Jackson county was to be tlie final home of
the people ; and the " Saints," under the guidance of Brigham
Young, who had his own views to serve, treated Sidney's " revela-
tions" as the unwarrantable innovations of a man who " lied before
the Lord, " and'souo:ht the destruction of his Saints. He was summoned
to answer for his misdeeds before the high quorum of the jiriesthood.
The trial commenced before the " Twelve Apostles,"* and the lliuh
Council of the Church, on the I oth of September, about ten weeks after
the death of Josei)h. Rigdon refused to appear ; but evidence against
him was siven in his absence, some of which was not a little curious and
suggestive. The business of tlie day began by the singing of a hymn
by the choir, and the delivery of a i)rayer by Orson Hyde. Briiiham
Young then delivered a long address to the ai)ostle3 and council, in
which he boldly spoke of the dissensions that had arisen, and called
upon those who had anything to say, to declare themselves openly.
* The Tweh-e Apostles are thus described in a letter fnim W. W. Fhtrlps, addressed
to the editor of the New York Froi>hei, a small joiiniyl established at this time to pro-
mulgate ihe views of the seet in the commercial metropolis ot the Union : — " I know
the Twelve, and they know me. Their names are Brigham Young, the Lion of the
Lord ; Helier C. Kimball, the Herald of Grace; Parley P. Pralt, the Archer of Para-
dise; Orson Hyde, tlie Olive Branch of Israel ; Willanl Ru hards, the Kt-eper of the
Rolls; John Taylor, the Champiiui of Right; William Smiih, the Patriarchal Staff" of
Jacob; Wdfred Woodruff, the Banner of the Gospel ; George A. Smiih, ihe Enlahla-
ture of Truth ; Or.-on Pratl. the Guagc of Philosophy ; John E. Page, tiie Sun Dial ;
and Lyman Wight, the Wild Ram of the Mountains. They are good men; the best
the Lord can find They will do the will of God, and the Saints know iu '
TRIAL OF SIDNEY KIGDON. ITl
" Those who wish," said he, ** to tarry in Nauvoo, to build up the city
and the temple, and carry out the message and revelation of our mar-
tyred Prophet, let them speak. We wi.-h to know who they are.
Those who are for Joseph and Ilyrum, for tlie Book of Mormon, for
the Book of Doctrines and Covenants, for the temple and Jose[»h's
measures, and for the Twelve Apostles, all these being one party, let
them manifest their prinei})les openly and boldly. If they are ot the
opposite party, let them speak with the same freedom. If they are for
Sidnev Riiidon, and believe he is the man to be the First President
and leader of this people, let them manifest it boldly ! Those who
decline going either way, but secretly slander the character of Joseph
and the Twelve, we withdraw our fellowship from them. If there be
not more th-in ten men who hang on to the truth, to .loseph, and to the
Temple, and who are willing; to do right in all things, let me be one ot
the number. If there be but ten left, toliave their lives threatened by
mobs, because they will do right ; — and build up tbe Temple, let me be
one to be martyred for the truth ! I have travelled for years in the
midst of poverty and tribulation, and that, too, with blood in my shoes,
month after month, year after year, to sustain and preach this Gos-
pel, and to build up this kingdom, and God forbid that I should now
turn round, and seek to destroy that which I have been building u[)."
After this eloquent exordium, Brigham Young proceeded to give
evidence against Uigdon, stating that he refusel to ap[)ear, thinking
it would be better for him ; that he pretended to be sick, but was no
moie sick than he, Brigham Young, was at that moment ; that Rig-
don, without authori:y, was acting as if he were the legal successor ot
Joseph Smith, and ordaining men " tobeprophets, priests, and kings;"
that when accused of doing this, he equivocated and denied. " I saw,"
said Brigham, " the disposition of Elder Rigdon to equivocate, and I
determined to know the whole secret I said to him again, ' Elder
Rigdon, did you not ordain these men at a meeting last night?' lie
replied, ' Yes, I suppose I did.' I then asked Brother Rigdon by
what authority he ordained prophets, priests, and kings? To wiiich,
with a very significant air, he replied — ' Oh, I know all about
that I' " Elder Orson Hyde, another of the Twelve, gave similar evi-
dence, to the effect that Rigdon had admitted " that he was goinu: to
feel the minds of the branches, and then of the people ot Nauvoo, until
he got strong enough to make a i>arty ; and that if he found he could
raise influence to divide the Church, he would do so." When we
(Hyde and others) demanded his license for ordaining men to be pro-
phets, priests, and kings, lie said, " I did not receive it from you, and.
shall not give it up to you." He also threatened '* to turn traitor, say-
ing, ' Inasmuch as you have demanded my license, I shall feel it my
172
THE MORMONS.
♦lut}' to ])ul»lisli all your secret nieetiiifys, and all the secret worlcs of this
Church in tile i)ublic journals, ' — intimating that this wouLl bring the
mob upon us. " Aniasa Lyninii, another apostle, was the tliird of Rig-
don's aecu>ers. He said, " that it was plain Elder Sidney Rigdon had
liad a spirit as corrupt as hell, for the last four or five years. " He added,
*' We have never heard of Sidney getting a revelation from lieaven, hut
as soon as Bj'other Joseph has been removed, he can manufacture one,
to allure the jjeojde and destroy them. After having given his testi-
mony to the world (in support of the divine authority of the Booh of
Monnofi, and its miraculous translation by Joseph), he finds fault with
God because he happened to get into gaol in Missouri, and because
lie was poor. This is the man," continued Amasa Lyman, " who can
get such wonderful revelations !" John Taylor corroborated all this
evidence, and strengthened all these assertions against Rigdon, adding
liis belief, " that this man's mind was enveloped in darkness ; that he
Avas ignorant and blinded by the Devil, and incompetent to fulfil the
work which he had undertaken ;" and concluding, tiiatin his opinion,
*' the men who had murdered Jose])h and llyrum, wicked as tliey
were, were not one hundredth ])art so wicked and so guilty as the
men who sowed dissensions in the Church— the Fosters, the Laws, the
lligbees, and others, who were the instigators, and aidei's, and the
abettors, of murder." Elder Heber Kimball explained that the mar-
tyred Joseph had for many years been aware that Rigdon was unsafe,
and not to be trusted ; and reminded the assembly, that a year j^re-
viously, Joseph had said, at the annual conference, that " he should
carry Rigdon no more : if the Church wanted to can-y him, it might,
but he should not ;" and that he had formally deprived him ot all
power and authority, appointing Elder Amasa Lyman in his stead.
On the second dav of these proceedino;s, Briuliain Younr>; aiiain
rose, and inveighed against Rigdon in the following terms, which are
curious as tending to prove Rigdon's complicity in the original fraud
by which the Book of Mormon was palmed off upon the ci'edulous as a
divine revelation : " Biother Sidney says lie will tell all our secrets,"
exclaimed Brigham Young ; " but I would say. Oh, don't. Brother
Sidney ! don't tell our secrets— oh, don't ! But if he tells our secrets,
we will tell his. Tit for tat. He has had long visions in Pittsburg,
revealing to him wonderful iniquity among the Saints. Kow, if he
Icnows of so much iniquity, and has got such wonderful ]iowcr, Avhy
don't he ]>urge it out? He professes to have the keys of David.
AVonderful power ! and wonderful revelation ! And so he will publish
(tur iniquity ! Oh, dear Brother Sidney, don't publish our iniquity !
Pray don't ! If Siihwiv Rigdon undertakes to publish ail our secrets
as he says, he will lie the first iump he takes ! H' he knew of all our
^n
TRIAL OF SIDNEY RTGDON'. 17^
iniquity, Avliy did lie not puMlsli it sooner? If tliere is so mucli iiii-
quity in the Church, Elder Ri<rdon, and you have known of it so lon^jf,
you are a black-hearted wretch not to have {mblished it sooner. If
there is not this iniquity, you are a black-hearted wretch for endea-
vouring to bring a mob upon us, to murder innocent men, women, and
children ! Any man that says the Twelve are ' bogus makers,' adul-
terers, or wicked men, is a liar ; and all who say such things shall
have the fate of liars, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Who is there that has seen us do such things ? No man. The spirit
that I am of tramples such slanderous wickedness under my feet." He
concluded by expressing his firm conviction, that Rigdon was the prime
cause of all the troubles of the Saints in Missouri and in Illinois, and
that to suffer him to remain in the Church was to court destruction.
A few voices were raised in ftivour of Rigdon, hut they had little
to say. The feeling of the Mormons generally was against him ; for
it was felt that if he had done nothing else to injure the sect, the
*' s[»iritual wife'' doctrine was alone sufficient to make him a danger-
ous ally. The evidence having been concluded, Mr. Phelps, the
editor of the Times mid Seasons, moved that *' Sidney Rigdon be cut
off from the Church, and handed over to the buffetings of Satan until
he should repent." About ten hands out of several hundreds were
held up in favour of Ri^rdon ; upon which he was formally excom-
municated by Brigham Young, "who," says the report, "delivered
liiin over to the buffetinirs of Satan in the name of the Lord ; and all
the peo|)le said, ' Amen ! ' " It was then moved, seconded, and unani-
mously carried, that the ten persons who had held up their hands for
Sidney Rigdon should be suspended from their fellowship with tho
Church, until brought to trial before the High Council. To this an
amendment was immediately added, that all who should hereafter ad-
vocate Rigdon's principles should also be suspended. This, like the
original resolution, was carried by acclamation, and thus terminated
these very curious proceedings.
Brigham Young succeeded to the Presidency of the Church.
Sidney Rigdon, unlike Orson Hyde, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris,
and some others originally connected with Joseph Smith, who eitiier
seceded, proved traitors, or Avere excommunicated and cut off from
the Church, has never been re- admitted, or sought re-aduiittanco
into the Mormon body. He has stood aloof, and founded a small
church of his own ; and, what is probably of more importance to the
Mormons, he has held liis tongue. As regards the polity of the
Mormons, it has been fortunate for them that in a time of peril and
perplexity, they were not induced to entrust themselves to his guid-
ance. Under Brigham Y^'oung, and his able management, they
171 THE MOKMOXS.
s))eeilily assumed a liigh position, not sim[)ly as relio'ioiiists, but as
citizens of the United States. Under Siiliiey Rigdon, it is probable
the sect would liave gone to pieces altogether.
Tl)e Mii^sourians and anti-Mormons slightly relaxed in their hos-
tility after the death of the Projihet and his brother, and for a twelve-
n)onth aftairs went on more quietly in the city of Nauvoo. Brighain
Young, having relieved himself of the rivalry of Sidney Rigdon, car-
ried on with vigour the building of the Temple and the Nauvoo House ;
in order to fullil the "revelation," and prove to the Gentiles, not only
tiie divinity of Joseph Smith's mission, but the power, wealth, and
perseverance of his disciples.
The " Saints" were in great spirits. Persecution had made con-
.verts for them in many quarters ; and those who had farms in New
York and Pennsylvania, sold them and came to Nauvoo, or exchanged
their land in those States for land in Illinois. Mr. Phelps, in a letter
to the New York journal — The Prophet, gave a description of the city
and Temple of Nauvoo, and the state of the Church at this time,
■which is almost the only record that has been preserved ot the for-
tunes of the sect at this period of their history : —
"I shall not," he said, "describe the localities of Nauvoo now,
because I shall not have room ; but as to the facilities, tran(juiHities,
and virtues of the city, they are not equalled on the globe. The Saints,
since Sidney, the great ' anti-Christ' of the last days, and his ' sons of
Sceva,' have left Nauvoo, together with some other Simon Maguses,
or foolish virgins, and wicked men who had crept in to revel on the bliss
of Jehovah, have gone also, have enjoyed peace, union, and harmony.
" I s))eak advisedly when I say that Nauvoo is the best ])lace in the
world. No vice is meant to be tolerated ; no grog-shops allowed ; nor
would we have any trouble, if it were not for our lenity in suft'ering
the world, as I shall call them, to come in, and trade, and enjoy our
society, as they say ; which thing has made us the only trouble of late.
These pretended friends too fre(iuently, like old Balaam's girls when
let in among the young njen of Israel, find admirers, and break the
ordinances of the city, and then ' Phineas's javelin ' touches the heart.
'* The Temple is up as high as the caps of the i)ilasters, and it looks
majestic, and especially to me, when I know that the tithing, * the
mites of the poor,' thus speaks of the glory of God. All the descrip-
tion that is necessary to give you now is, that this splendid model of
^lormon grandeur exhibits thirty hewn stone pilasters, which cost about
thiee thousand dollars a-piece. The base is a crescent new moon ; the
capitols, nearly fil'ty feet high ; the sun, with a human face in bold
relief, about two and a half feet broad, ornamented with rays ol' light
and waves, surmounted by two hands holding two trumpets. It is
COMPLETION OF THE NAUVOO TEMPLE. 175
ahvays too much trouble to describe an unfinished l)uildino;. The inside
■work is now going forward as fast as po.^sible. Wlien the wliole struc-
ture is completed, it will cost some five or six hundred tliousand
dollars; and as Cnptain Brown, of Tobosco, near the ruins of Palenque,
said, ' Ic will look tne nearest like the s[)lendid remains of antiquity
in central America of anything he had seen, though not half so
large. '
" The temple is erected from white hmestone, wrought in a supe-
rior style ; is one hundred and twenty- eight by eighty-three feet
square ; near sixty feet high ; two stories in the clear, and two half
stories in the recesses over the arches ; four tiers of windows, two
Gothic and two round. The two great stories will each have two
pulpits, one at each end, to accommodate the Melchisedek and Aaronic
priesthoods, graded into four rising seats — the first for the president
of the elders and his two counsellors, the second for the president of
the high priesthood and his two counsellors, the third for tlie Mel-
chisedt k })resident and his two counsellors, and the fourth for the
president of the whole church and his two counsellors. This highest
seat is where the Scribes and Pharisees used to crowd in ' to Moses'
seat,' The Aaronic pulpit at the other end is the same.
*' The fount in the basement story is for the baptism of the living,
for health, for remission of sin, and for the salvation of the dead, as
was the case in Solomon's temj le, and all temples that God commands
to be built. You know I am no Gentile, and, of course, do notlielieve
that a monastery, cathedral, chapel, or meeting-house erected by the
notions and calculations of men, has any more sanction from God
than any common hous.e in Babylon.
" The steeple of our Temi)le will be high enough to answer for a
tower — between one hundred and two hundred feet high. But 1 have
said enough about the Temple ; when finished it will show more wealth,
more art» more science, more revelation, more splendour, and more God,
than all the rest of the world, and that will make it a Mormon temple:
— ' God and liberty,' patterned somewhat after the order of our fore-
fathers, which were after the order of eternity.
" The other public buildings in Nauvoo, besides the Temple, are
the Seventies' Hall, the Masonic Hall, and Concert Hall, all spacious,
and well calculated for their designated purposes.
" There is no licensed groceiy to sell or give away liquors of any
kind in the city ; drunkards are scarce ; the j^robable number of in-
habitants is 14,000, of whom nine-tenths are Mormons."
Among the more zealous Mormons, it became the fashion at this
time to disuse the word Nauvoo, and to call the place the Holy City,
or the City of Joseph. When the '* capstone" of the Temple was laid
170 THE MORMONS.
in its place, their joy hrolce out in a mnnnor wliicli liiijlily exa?peratpcl
tlie peo])le of the neighbouring counties. The first low rumblings of
a new and violent pci'secution began to be heard. The old sores had
never thoroughly healed ; and the joy of the Mormons on the conifde-
tion of their temple, which vented itself in vain-glorious boasts of the
partial fulfilment of [)rophecies — which would not be thoroughly ful-
filled until the whole land was theirs, and none but a Mormon per-
mitted to remain within it, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic,
— were not of a nature to allay any previously existing jealousy or
ill-feeling. Quarrels occasionally took place between the Saints and
their neighbours in Handcock county. The Mormons, when insulted,
had not always the patience to forbear from retaliation ; and among
men who habitually bore arms to protect themselves, it is not sur-
prising that the conflicts should not in all cases have been confined
to words. Skirmish succeeded skirmish until it became once more
necessary to call out the militia for the preservation of the peace.
Regular battles eneued, blood was shed, lives were lost, and the
exasperation of both parties was raised even bej'ond its foruier
height.
The Times and Seasons of the ]5t.h of January, 1845, announced
to the Saints in all parts of the world that the inhabitants of various
parts of Illinois, as Nvell as of Missouri, were accumulating charges of
every kind against the Mormons with the view of sweeping them
into irretrievable ruin. Dr. Foster, in his newspaper, the Expositor^
continued with the usual virulence of a friend converted into an
enemy, to spread abroad defamatory reports against the " Apostles"
and the leading Saints, which were coi>ied, commented upon, and
exaggerated by all the anti-Mormon press throughout the Union, and
especially by the journals in the more immediate vicinity. The old
cry of expulsion was raised, as the only means of restoring peace. A
meeting of the Town Council of Nauvoo was held on the 13th of
January, to consider these reports and the threatened expulsion ot
the Saints ; and a meeting of the citizens in general was held on the
day following with the same object. A few extracts from the I'cso-
lutions passed at these assemblies will show the extent of the charges
brought against the Mormon people, and the manner in. which their
leaders resolved to meet them. An address issued by D. Spencer,
the successor of Joseph Smith in the mayoralty of Nauvoo, and coun-
tersigned by Willard Richards, the Recorder, one of the Twelve Apo-
stles, stated that while the Mormons were peaceable and loyal to tiic
constitution and laws of their country, and were ever willing to join
hands, with their honest virtues and patriotism, in the repressing of
crime and the })unishment of real criminals, they left their enemies to
EENEWED TROUBLES IN ILLINOIS. 177.
f
juJi^e wlietlier it would not be better to make Naiivoo one universal
burial-ground, rather than suffer themselves to be driven from their
lawful homes by such high-handed oppression. And it might yet
become a question," they added, "to be decided by the community
whether the Mormons, after having seen their best men murdered
without redress, would quietly allow their enemies to wrench from
them the last shreds of tlieir constitutional liberties; or whether they
would not make their city a vast sepulchre, and be buried under its
ruins in the defence of their rights." From the string of resolutions
appended to this document, it appears that the crimes Laid to the
charge of the Mormons were, that they had organized a regular system
of horse and cattle stealing, and other plunder throughout the State ;
that Nauvoo had become a grand receptacle of stolen goods; that every
coiner, forger, robber, and even murderer found a safe refuge from
justice within its walls ; and that the Town Council allowed no legal
process of any kind to be served vfithin the limits of their jurisdic-
tion. ,The resolutions admitted that many criminals had fled for
refuge to Nauvoo under the mistaken notion that they would be
screened from justice by the Mormons ; but alleged that these crimi-
nals were not and never had been Mormons ; that they had been in-
duced to take this course by the false reports of the anti-Mormon
press; and that in every case they had been delivered up to justice when
demanded. The Town Council also pledged itself to use every means
in its power to root such characters out of the city, and deputed fifty
delegates to proceed to all the princi])al towns and districts in the
neighbourhood, to inform the people of the falsehood of the accusations
brought against the Saints, and to demand the aid of all the well-dis-
posed to rid the country of the thieves and blackguards that swarmed
into it. A conciliatory message from Governor Ford, published
shortly afterwards, expressed his belief that the charges against the
Mormons as a body were utterly unfounded ; and that there was no
more crime in the city of Nauvoo than in any other of a correspond-
ing size and amount of population ; and called upon the inhabitants,
whether Mormons or anti-Mormons, to preserve the peace and strictly
respect the laws. From January [to October, 1845, the Mormons
"lived a life of sturt and strife." Every man's hand was against
them ; and not only riots but regular pitched battles took place. The
Governor was called upon to interfere actively ; and a meeting of dele-
gates from the nine counties surrounding Nauvoo was convened ; at
which it w\as asserted by all the speakers that there would be no
peace for Illinois as long as the Mormons remained within its bounda-
ries. The delegates pledged themselves to support each other to the
last extremity in expelling them forcibly, if they could not otherwise
L
178 THE MORMONS.
be induced to go. The painful circumstances in which the Saints at
Isauvoo found themselves, and the history of the persecution which
they suffered, and which no doubt they brought uj)on themselves by
their assunijition of superior huliness, and by their boasts, daily and
hourly repeated, that they would, by Divine permission and aid,
drive out all who were not of their Church, were detailed in an Official
Letter to the Saints, under the date of the 1st of November, 1845.
This document ran as follows : —
" After we had began to realize the abundance of one of the most
fruitful seasons known for a long time, and while many hundreds of
Saints were labouring with excessive and unwearied diligence to finish
t le Tem})le and rear the Nauvoo House, suddenly, in the fore{)art of
September, the mob commenced burning the houses and grain of the
Saints in the south part of Handcock county. Though efforts were
made by the Sheriff to stay the torch of the incendiary, and parry off
the deluge of arson, still a * fire and sword ' party continued the work
of destruction for about a week, laying in ashes nearly two hundred
buildings, and much grain. Nor is this all ; as it was in the sickly
season, many feeble jJcrsoHs, thrown out into the scorching rays of
the sun, or wet with the dampening dews of the evening, died, being
persecuted to death in a Christian land of law and order ; and while
they were fleeing and dying, the mob, embracing doctors, lawyei'S,
statesmen, Christians of various denominations, with the military, from
colonels down, were busily engaged in filching or plundering, taking
furniture, cattle, and grain. In the midst of this horrid revelry,
having failed to procure aid among the 'old citizens,' the Sheriff
summoned a sufficient posse to stay the ' fire shower of ruin, ' but not
until some of the offenders had paid for the aggression with their
lives.
'* This, however, was not the end of the matter. Satan sits in the
hearts of the people to rule for evil, and the surrounding counties
began to tear that law, religion, and equal rights, in the hands of the
Latter- Day Saints, would feel after iniquity, or terrify their neigh-
bours to larger acts of ' reserved rights, ' and so they began to open a
larger field of woe. To cut this matter short, they urged the neces-
sity (to stop the effusion of blood) to expel the Church, or, as they call
them, the Mormons, from the United States, ' peaceably, if they could,
and forcibly if they must,' unless they would transport themselves by
next s]»ring. Taking into consideration the great value of life, and
the blessings of j»eace, a ])roposition, upon certain specified conditions,
was made to a connnittee of Quincy, and which it was supjiosed, from
the actions of conventions, Avas accepted. But we are sorry to say
that the continued depredations of the mob, and the acts of a few
D^ .. A<^>'-
RENEWED TROUBLES IN ILLINOIS. ' "^ ''179
individuals, have greatly lessened the confidence of every friend of
law, honour, and humanity, in everything promised by the committees
and conventions, though we have already made great advances to-
wards fitting for a move next spring,
" A few troops stationed in the county have not entirely kept the
mob at bay, several buildings having been burnt in the month of
October.
'* We shall, however, make every exertion on our part, as we have
always done, to preserve the law and our engagements sacred, and
leave the event with God, for he is sure.
** It may not be amiss to say, that the continued abuses, persecu-
tions, murders, and robberies, practised upon us, by a horde of land
pirates, with impunity in a Christian republic, and land of liberty
(while the institutions of justice have either been too weah to afford
us protection or redress, or else they too have been a little remiss),
have brought us to the solemn conclusion that our exit from the United
States is the only alternative by which we can enjoy our share of the
elements which our Heavenly Father created free for all.
" We then can shake the dust from our garments, suffering wrong
rather than do wrong, leaving this nation alone in her glory, while the
residue of the world points the finger of scorn, till the indignation and
consumption decreed makes a full end.
'* In our patience we will possess our souls, and work out a more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, preparing, by withdrawing the
power and priesthood from the Gentiles, for the great consolation of
Israel, when the wilderness shall blossom as the rose, and Babylon
fall like a millstone cast into the sea. The just shall live by faith ;
but the folly of fools Avill perish with their bodies of corruption : then
shall the righteous shine. Amen."
After a series of struggles and negociations, and a regular siege of
the city of Nauyoo by the anti-Mormons, of which no authentic ac-
count yet appears to have been published, with the exception of the
short and interesting summary by Colonel Kane, to be referred to
hereafter, the Saints agreed to leave Illinois in the spring of 1846, or
as "soon as grass grew and water ran ;" provided that, in the in-
terval, they should not be molested, and that they should be allowed
time and opportunity to sell their farms and properties, and remove
bevond the limits of civilization.
A circular of the High Council to the members of the Church
throughout the world, which was published on the 20th of January,
1840, announced that the Mormons of Nauvoo had resolved to seek a
home beyond the Rocky Mountains. The document is too curious in
itself", and too remarkable in the history of the sect, to be omitted : —
ISO THE MOEMONS,
(I
"Beloved Bretiiuen and Ekiends, — ^Ve, the members of the Hkh
Council of the Church, by tlie voice of all her authorities, have uiiiteill}' ami
unanimously agreed, and enibi-ace this opportunity to inform you that \ve in-
tend to set out into the "Western country from this place, some time in the
early part of the month of March, a company of pioneers, consisting mostly of
young, hardy men, with some families. These are destined to be furnished
vith an ample outfit ; taking with them a printing press, farming utensils of
all kinds, with mill irons and bolting cloths, seeds of all kinds, grain, &c.
" The object of this early move is, to put in a spring crop, to build houses,
and to prepare for the reception of flxmilies who will start so soon as grass
shall be sufficiently grown to sustain teams and stock. Our pioneers ai-e
instructed to proceed West till they tind a good place to make a crop, in some
good valley in the neighbourhood of the Rocky ]\Iountains, where they will
infringe upon no one, and be not likely to be infringed upon. Here we will
make a resting place, until we can determine a place for a permanent location.
In the event of the President's recommendation to build block houses and
stockade forts on the route to Oregon becoming a law, we have encouragements
of having that work to do ; and under our ])eculiar circumstances, we can do
it with less expense to the Oovernment than any other people. We also
fin-ther declare, for the satisfaction of some who have concluded that our
grievances have alienated us from our country, tli«t our patriotism has not
been overcome by fire — by sword — by daylight nor by midnight assassina-
tions, which we have endured, neither have they alienated us from the
institutions of our country. Should hostilities arise between the Government
of the United States and any other power, in relation to the right of ]30ssessing
the territory of Oregon, we are on hand to sustain the claim of the United
States' Government to that country. It is geographically ours ; and of right,,
no foreign power should hold dominion there ; and if our services are required
to prevent it, those services will be cheerfully rendered according to our
ability. We feel the injuries that we have sustained, and are not insensible
of the wrongs we have suffered. Still we are Americans ; and should our
country be invaded, we hope to do, at least, as much as did the conscientious
Quaker who took his passage on board a merchant ship, and was attacked by
pirates. The pirate boarded the merchantman, and one of the enemies' men
iiell into the water between the two vessels, but seized a rope that was hung
over, and was pulling himself up on board the merchantman. The con-
scientious Quaker saw this, and though he did not like to fight, he took his
jack-knife, and quickly moved to the scene, saying to the pirate, * If thee
wants that piece of rope I will help thoe to it.' He cut the rope asunder —
the ]">irate fell-^and a watery grave was his resting-place.
" Much of om- property will be left in the hands of competent agents for
sale at a low rate, for teams, for goods, and for cash. The funds arising from
the sale of property will be aj)])lied to the removal of families from time to
time as fast as consistent, and it now remains to be proven whether those of
our families and friends who are necessarily left behind for a season to obtain
an outfit, through tlie sale of property, shall be mobbed, burnt, and driven
EXPULSION OF THE MORMONS FROM NAUYOO. 18 L
awny by force. Does any American want the honour of doing it? or will
Americans suffer such acts to be done, and the disgrace of them to rest on
their character under existing circumstances? If they will, let the world
know it. But we do not believe they will.
" We agreed to leave the country fur the sake of peace, upon the condition
that no more vexatious prosecutions be instituted against us. In good faith
have we laboured to fulfil this engagement. Governor Ford has also done his
duty to further our wishes in this respect. But there are some who are unwil-
ling that we should have an existence anywhere. But our destinies are in the
hands of God, and so also is theirs.
"We venture to say that our brethren have made no counterfeit money ;
and if any miller has received fifteen hundred dollars base coin in a week
from us, let him testify. If any land agent of the General Government has
received waggon-loads of base coin from us in payment for lands, let him say
so ; or if he has received any at all from us, let him tell it. Those witnesses
against us have spun a long yarn ; but if our brethren had never used an
influence against them to break them up, and to cause them to leave our city,
after having satisfied themselves that they were engaged in the very business
of which they accuse us, their revenge might never have been roused to father
upon us their own illegitimate and bogus productions.
" We have never tied a black strap round any person's neck, neither have
■we cut their bowels out, nor fed any to the ' Cat-fish.' The systematic order
of stealing, of which these grave witnesses speak, must certainly be original
with them. Such a plan could never originate with any person except some
one who wished to, fan the flames of death or destruction around us. The
very dregs of malice and revenge are mingled in the statements of those
•witnesses alluded to by the Sangnmo Journal. We should think that every
man of sense might see this. In fact, many editors do see it, and they have
our thanks for speaking of it.
"We have now stated our feelings, our wishes, and our intentions; and
by them -we are willing to abide; and such editors as are willing that v.e
should live and not die, and have a being on the earth while Ileaveii is pleased
to lengthen out our days, are respectfully requested to publish this article.
And men who wish to buy property very cheap, to benefit themselves, and are
willing to benefit us, are invited to call and look ; and our ])rayer shall ever
be, that justice an"d judgment, mercy and truth, may be exalted, not only in
our own land, but throughout the world, and the will of God be done on earth
as it is done in Heaven.
"Done in Council at the City of Nauvoo, on the 20th day of January, lS-i6.
"Samuel Bent. "Newel Knight.
James Alliu^d. Lewis D. Wilson.
George W. ITAurJS. Ezra T. Benson.
William Huntington. David Fullmer.
Henuy G. Sherwood. Thomas G rover.
Alpheus Cutler. Aaron Johnson."
182 THE MORMONS.
The first companies ot the Mormons commenced crossing the
Mississippi on the 3rd February, 1840. They amounted to 1,600
men, women, and children, and passed the river on the ice. They
continupil to leave in detachments, or companies of similar magnitude,
until July and Aui^ust, travellinoj by ox-teams towards California,
then almost unknown, and quite unpeopled by the Anglo-Saxon race.
The anti-Mormons asserted that the intention of the Saints was
to excite the Indians against the commonwealth, and that they w^ould
vpt.n.i-n at the head of a multitude of the Red Skins to take vengeance
upon the white people for the indignities they had suffered. Nothing
appears to have been further from the intentions of the Mormons.
Their sole object was to plant their Church in some fertile and
hitherto undiscovered spot, where they might worship God in their
own fashion, unmolested by any other sect of Christians. The war
against Mexico was then raging, and, to test the loyalty of the Mor-
mons, it was suggested by their foes that a demand should be made
upon them to raise five hundred men for the service of the country.
The Mormons obeyed, and five hundred of their best men enrolled
themselves under the command of General Kearney, and marched
t2,400 miles with the armies of the United States. At the conclusion
of the Mexican Avar, they were disbanded in Upper California. The
]\[ormons allege that it was one of this band who, in working at a
mill, first discovered the golden treasures of California ; and the
" Saints " are said to have succeeded in amassing large quantities of
the precious metal before the secret was made generally known to
the '* Gentiles."
But faith was not kept with the Mormons who remained in Nau-
voo. Although they had agreed to leave in detachments, they were
not allowed the necessary time to dispose of their property ; and, in
September, 1846, the city was besieged by their enemies, upon the
pretence, that they did not intend to fulfil the stipulations made with
the people and authorities of Illinois. After a three day's bombard-
ment, the last remnant was finally driven out by ^ fire and sword.
The details will be found in the following chapter.
Mormon Caravan crossing' the Rocky Mountains.
184 THE MOE:\roxs.
California, anotlicr part}' cliartered tlic sLi[> Brooklyn, at Ne\v York,
and sailed round to the Pacific by Cape Horn. This party was amono;st
the earliest of the arrivals in California, and its ineiubers were exceedingly
fortunate at the "diggings," and amassed large quantities of gold.
But tlie great bulk of tlie Mormons proceeded overland to the .
Yalle}^ of tlie Great Salt Lake ; a remarkable pilgrimage, which has
not been j.aralleled in the history of mankind since Moses led the
Israelites from Egypt. The distance to be traversed was enormous —
tlie perils of the way were great — the whole circumstances were
highly interesting and peculiar, and the zeal and courage of the sect
were as remarkable as their faith. It is fortunate that a record of
these events of the Mormon exodus was kept by a person who knew
how to use his eyes, his understanding, and his pen ; and that he has
been induced to give it to the world. The following narrative of
Colonel Kane, who accompanied the Mormons from Nauvoo to the
Salt Lake, has all the interest of a romance. It was originally de-
livei'ed as a lecture before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and
is here produced from the American edition : —
A few years ago (said Colonel Kane), ascending the Upper Mis*-
sissippi, in the autumn when its waters were low, I was compelled
to travel by land past the region of the Rapids. My road lay through
the IJalf-Breed Tract, a fine section of Iowa, which the unsettled
state of its land-titles had appropriated as a sanctuary for coiners,
horse thieves, and other outlaws. I had left my steamer at Keokuk,
at the foot of the Lower Fall, to hire a carriage, and to contend for
some fragments of a dirty meal with the swarming flies, the only
scavengers of the locality. From this place to where- the deep water
of the river returns, my eye wearied to see everywhere sordid, vaga-
bond, ami idle settlers ; and a country marred, without being im-
proved, by their careless hands.
I was descending the last hill-side upon my journey, when a
landscape in delightful contrast broke upon my view. Half encircled
by a bend of the river, a beautiful city la}"- glittering in the fresh
morning sun ; its bright new d\vellings, set in cool green gardens,
rangiiig up around a stately dome-shaped hill, which was ci'owned by
a noble marble edifice, Avhose high taperirig spire was radiant with
white and gold. The city apjieared to cover several miles ; and
beyond it, in the background, there rolled off a fair country, chequei'ed
by the careful lines of fruitful husbandry. The unmistakeable nnxrks
of industry, enterprise, and educated wealth everywhere, made the
scene one of singular and most striking beauty.
It was a natural impulse to visit this inviting region. I procured
a skiff, and rowing across the river, landed at the chief wharf of the
NAUVOO AFTER THP] SIEGE. J 85
city. No one met me there. I looked, and saw no one. I could hear
no one move ; though the quiet everywhere was such that I heard
the flies huzz, and the water ripples break against the shallow of the
beach, I walked through the solitary streets. The town lay as in a
dream, under some deadening spell of loneliness, from which I almost
feared to wake it ; for plainly it had not slept long. There was no
grass growing up in the paved ways ; rains had not entirely washed
away the prints of dusty footsteps.
Yet I went about unchecked. I went into empty workshops,
rope-walks, and smithies. The spinner's wheel was idle ; the carpenter
had gone from his work-bench and shavings, his unfinished sash and
casing. Frcsh bark ►was in the tanner's vat, and the fresh-chopped
lightwood stood piled against the baker's oven. The blacksmith's
shop was cold ; but his coal hea}), and ladUng pool, and crooked water
horn, were all there, as if he had just gone off for a holiday. No
work-})eo{)le anywhere looked to know my errand. If I went into
the gardens, clinking the wicket-latch loudly after me, to pull the
marygoids, heart's-ease, and lady-slippers, and draw a drink with the
water-sodden well-bucket and its noisy chain ; or, knocking off with
my stick the tall heavy-headed dahlies and sun-flowers, hunted over
the beds for cucumbers and love-apples — no one called out to me from
any oj)ened window, or dog sprang forward to bark an alarm. I
could have supposed the people hidden in the houses, but the doors
were unfastened ; and when at last I timklly entered them, I found
dead ashes white upon the hearths, and had to tread a-tiptoe, as if
walking down the aisle of a country church, to avoid rousing irreverent
echoes from the naked floors.
On the outskii'ts of the town was the city graveyard ; but there was
no record of plague there, nor did it in anywise differ much from other
Protestant American cemeteries. Some of the mounds were not long
sodded ; some of the stones were newly set, their dates recent, and
their black inscriptions glossy in the mason's hardly dried lettering
ink. Beyond the graveyard, out in the fields, I saw in one spot hard
by where the fruited boughs of a young orchard had been roughly torn
down, the still smouldering remains of a barbecue fire, that had been
constructed of rails from the fencing round it. It was the latest siirn
of life there. Eields upon fields of heavy-headed yellow grain lay
rotting ungathered upon the ground. No one was at hand to take
in their rich harvest. As far as the eye could i-each, they stretched
away — they sleeping, too, in the hazy air of autumn.
Only two portions of the city seemed to suggest the import of
this mysterious solitude. On the southern suburb, the houses looking
out upon the country showed, by their splintered wood-work, and
walls battered to the foundation, that they had lately been the mark
ISO THE MORMONS.
of a destructive cannonade. And in and around the splendid Temple,
vliicli had been the chief object of my admiration, armed men were
ibarracked, surrounded by their stacks of musketry and pieces of heavy
•ordnance. Tliesc challenged me to render an account of myi-elf, and
why I had had the temerity to cross the water without a written
permit from a leader of their band.
Thou oh these men were o-enerallv more or less under the in-
fluence of ardent spirits, after I had explained myself as a passing;
stranger, they seemed anxious to gain my good opinion. They told
the story of the Dead City : that it had been a notable manufacturing
and commercial mart, sheltering over 20,000 persons; that they had
waged war with its inhabitants for several years, and had been finally
successful only a few days before my visit, in an action fought in front
of the ruined suburb ; after which they had driven them forth at the
point of the sword. The defence, they said, had been obstinate, but
gave way on the third day's bombardment. They boasted greatly of
their prowess, especially in this battle, as they called it ; but 1 dis-
covered they were not of one mind as to certain of the exploits that had
distinguished it ; one of which, as I remember, was,, that they had slain
a father and his son, a boy of fifteen, not long residents of the fated
city, whom they admitted to have borne a character without reproach.
They oJso conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of
the curious Temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were
accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship.
They particulaily pointed out to me certain features of the building,
which, having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious
regard, they had, as matter of duty, sedulously defiled and defaced.
The reputed sites of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed ;
and various shelterstl chambers, in one of which was a deep well,
constructed, they believed, with a dreadful design. Beside these,
they led me to see a large and deep chiselled marble vase or basin,
supported upon twelve oxen, also of marble, and of the size of life, of
which they told some romantic stories. They said the deluded per-
sons, most of whom were emigrants from a great distance, believed
their Deity countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regene-
ration, as proxies for whomsoever the}'' held in warm affection in the
countries from which they had come. That here parents *' went into
the water '"' for their lost children, children for their parents, widows
f(jr their spouses, and young persons for their lovers ; that thus tiie
(jireat Vase came to be for them associated with all dear and distant
memories, and was therefore the object, of all others in the building,
to which they attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affection. On
this account, tlie victors had so diligently desecrated it, as to render
thea[)artment in which i-t was contained too noisome to abide in.
NAUVOO AFTER THE SIEGE. 187
They permitted me also to ascend into the steeple, to see where
it had been liglitnin^-struck on the Sabbath before ; and to look out,
east and south, on wasted farms like those I had seen near the city,
extending till they were lost in the distance. Here, in the face of the
pure day, close to the scar of the divine wrath left by the thunderbolt,
were fragments of food, cruises of liquor, and broken drinking ves-
sels, with a brass drum and a steam-boat signal bell, of which I after-
wards learned the use with pain.
It was after nightfall, Avhen I was ready to cross the river on
my return. The wind had freshened since the sunset, and the water
beating roughly into my little boat, I edged higher up the stream
than the point I had left in the morning, and landed where a faint
glimmering light invited me to steer.
Here, among the dock and rushes, sheltered only by the dark-
ness, without roof between them and sky, I came upon a croAvd of
several hundred human creatures, whom my movements roused from
uneasy slumber upon the ground.
Passing these on my way to the light, I found it came from a
tallow candle in a paper funnel shade, such as is used by street
venders of apples and pea-nuts, and which, flaming and guttering
away in the bleak air oiF the water, shone flickeringly on the ema-
ciated features of a man in the last stage of a bilious remittent fever.
They had done their best for him. Over his- head was something like
a tent, made of a sheet or two, and he rested on a but partially ripped
open old straw mattress, Avith a hair sofa cushion under his head for a
pillow. His gaping jaw and glazing eye told how short a time he
would monopolize these luxuries ; though a seemingly bev/ildered and
excited person, Avho might have been his wife, seemed to find hope in
occasionally forcing him to swallow awkwardly, sips of the tepid river
water, from a burned and battered bitter-smelling tin coffee-pot.
Those who knew better had furnished the apothecary he needed ; a
toothless old bald-head, whose manner had the repulsive dullness of a
man familiar with death scenes. He, so long as I remained, mumbled
in his patient's ear a monotonous and melancholy prayer, between the
pauses of which I heard the hiccup and sobbing °of two little girls,
who were sitting upon a piece of drift-wood outside.
Dreadful, indeed, was the suffering of these forsaken beings ;
bowed and cramped by cold and sunburn, alternating as each weary
day and night dragged on, they were, almost all of them, thecripjilcd
victims of disease. They were there because they had no homes, nor
hospital, nor poor-liouse, nor friends to offer them any. They could
not satisfy the feeble cravings of their sick ; they had not bread to quiet
the fractious iiunger-cries of their children. Mothers and babes,
188 THE MORMONS*
daughters anil graiKl-parciits, all of tlicm alike, were bivouacked in
tatters, wanting even covering to comfort those whom the sick shiver
of fever was searching to the marrow.
These were Alormons, in Lee county, Iowa, in the fourth week
of the month of September, in the year of our Lord 1846. The city
— it was Nauvoo, Illinois. The Mormons were the owners of that
city, and the smiling country around. And those who had stopped
their ploughs, wlio had silenced their hammers, their axes, their shut-
tles, and their workshop wheels ; those who had put out their fires,
who had eaten their food, spoiled their orchards, and trampled under
foot their thousands of acres of imharvested bread ; these were the
keepers of their dwellings, the carousers in their temple, whose
drunken riot insulted the ears of the dying.
I think it was as I turned from the wretched nightwatch of
wliich I have spoken, that I first listened to the sounds of revel of a
party of the guard within the city. Above the distant lium of the
voices of many, occasionally rose distinct the loud oath-tainted ex-
clamation, and the falsely intonated scrap of vulgar song ; but lest
this requiem should go unheeded, every now and tlien, when their
boisterous orgies strove to attain a sort of ecstatic climax, a cruel
spirit of insulting frolic carried some of them up into the high belfry
of the Temple steeple, and there, with the wicked childishness of ine-
briates, they whooped, and shrieked, and beat the drum that I had
seen, and rang in charivaric unison their loud-tongued steam-boat
bell.
They were, all told, not more than six hundred and forty persons
who were thus lying on the river flats. But the Mormons in Nauvoo
and its dependencies had been numbered the year before at over
twenty thousand. Where were they ? They had last been seen, car-
rying in mournful train their sick and wounded, halt and blind, to
disappear behind the western horizon, pursuing the phantom of ano-
ther home. Hardly anything else was known of them; and people
asked with curiosity, " What had been their fate — what their for-
tunes ?"
Since the expulsion of the Mormons to the present date, I have
been intimately conversant with the details of their history. But I
shall invite your attention most particularly to an account of what
happened to them during their first year in the wilderness ; because at
this time more than any other, being lost to public view, they were
the subjects of fable and misconception. Happily it was during this
period I myself moved with them ; and earned, at dear price, as some
among you are aware, my right to speak with authority of them and
their character, their trials, achievements, and intentions.
THE EXODUS OF THE MORMONS, 189
The party encountered by me at the river shore were the last of
the Mormons that left the city. They had all of them engaged the
year before, that they would vacate their homes, and seek some other
place of refuge. It had been the condition of a truce between them
and their assailants ; and as an earnest of their good faith, the chief
elders, and some others of obnoxious standing, with their families,
were to s^t out for the West in the spring of 1840. It had been sti-
pulated in return, that the rest of the ^lormons might remain behind
in the peaceful enjoyment of the Illinois abode, until their leaders,
with their exploring party, could, with all diligence, select for them
a new place of settlement beyond the Eocky Mountains, in California,
or elsewhere, ajid until they had opportunity to dispose, to the best
advantage, ot the property which they were then to leave.
Some renewed symptoms of hostile feeling had, however, deter-
mined the pioneer party to begin their work before the spring. It
was, of course, anticipated that this would be a perilous service ; but
it was regarded as a matter of self-denying duty. The ardour and
emulation of many, particularly the devout and the young, were sti-
mulated by the difficiilties it involved ; and the ranks of the party
wel*e therefore filled up with volunteers from among the most eftective
and responsible members of the sect. They began their march in
mid-winter ; and by the beginning of February nearly all of them
were on the road, many of the waggons having crossed the ^lississippi
on the ice.
Under the most favouring circumstances, an expedition of this
sort, undertaken at such a season of the year, could scarcely fail to be
disastrous. But the pioneer company had set out in haste, and were
very imperfectly supplied with necessaries. The coldjwas intense.
Thev moved in the teeth of keen-edged north-west winds, such as
sweep down the Iowa Peninsula from the ice-bound regions of the
timber-shaded Slave Lake and Lake of the Woods ; on the Bald
Prairie there, nothing above the dead grass breaks their free course
over the hard rolled hills. Even along the scattered Avater-courses,
where they broke the thick ice to give their cattle drink, the annual
autumn fires had left little wood of value. The party, therefore, often
wanted for good camp fires, the first luxury of all travellers ; but, to
men insufficiently furnished with tents and other appliances of shelter,
almost an essential to life. After days of fatigue, their nights were
often passed in restless efforts to save themselves from freezing. Their
stock of food, also, proved inadequate ; and as their systems became
impoverished, their suffering from cold increased.
Sickened with catarrhal aflfections, manacled by the fetters of
dreadtully acute rheumatisms, some contrived for a while to get over
190
THE MORMONS.
tli3 shortening da3''s march, and drag along some others. But the
sign of an inij)aired circulation soon began to show itself in tlie lia-
bility of all to be dreadfully frost-bitten. The hardiest and strongest
became helplessly cri[)pled. About the same time, the strength of
their beasts of draught began to fail. The small supply of provender
they could carry with them had given out. The winter-bleached
l)rairie straw proved devoid of nourishment ; and they could only
keep them from starving by seeking for the browse, as it is called, a
green bark, and tender buds, and branches of the cotton- wood, and
other stinted growths of the hollows.
To return to Nauvoo was apparently the only escape ; but this
would have been to give occasion for fresh mistrust, and so to bring
new trouble to those they had left there behind them. Tliey resolved
at least to hold their ground, and to advance as they might, were it
only by limping through the deep snows a few slow miles a day.
They found a sort of comfort in comparing themselves to the exiles of
Siberia, and sought cheerfulness in earnest i)rayers for the spring — •
longed for as morning by the tossing sick.
The spring came at last. It overtook them in the Sac and Fox
country, still on the naked prairie, not yet half way over the trail
they were following between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. But
it brought its own share of troubles with it. The months with which
it opened proved nearly as trying as the worst of winter.
The snow and sleet and rain which fell, as it appeared to them,
without intermission, made the road over the rich prairie soil as im-
passable as one vast bog of heavy black mud. Sometimes they would
fasten the horses and oxen of four or five Avaggons to one, and attempt
to get a- head in this way, taking turns ; but at the close of a day of
hard toil for themselves and their cattle, they would find themselves
a quarter or half a mile from the place they left in the morning. The
heavv rains raised all the watercourses : the most trifling streams
were impassable. Wood fit for bridging was often not to be had, and
in such cases the only resource was to halt for the freshets to subside —
a matter in the case of the headwaters of the Clariton, for instance,
of over three weeks' delay.
These were dreary waitings upon Providence. The most spirited
and sturdy murmured most at their forced inactivity. And even the
women, whose heroic spirits had been proof against the lowest ther-
mometric fall, confessed their tempers fluctuated with the ceaseless
variations of the barometer. They complained too that the health cf
their children suffered more. It was the fact, that the open winds
of March and Ai)ril brought with them more mortal sickness than
the sharpest freezing weather.
THE EXODUS OF THE MORMONS. 101
The frequent burials made the hardiest sicken. On the soldier's
march it is matter of discipline, that after the rattle of musketry over
his comrade's grave, he shall tramp it to the music of some careless
tune in a livel}' quick-step. But, in the Mormon camp, the companion
who lay ill and gave up the ghost within view of all, all saw as he
stretched a corpse, and all attended to his last resting-place. It was
a sorrow, too, of itself, to simple-hearted peoi)le, the deficient pomps
of tlieir imperfect style of funeral. The general hopefulness of human
— including Mormon — nature, was well illustrated bv the fact, that the
most pjrovident were found unfurnished with undertaker's articles ; so
that bereaved affection was driven to the most melancholy makeshifts.
The best expedient generally was to cut down a log of some eight
or nine feet long, and slitting it longitudinally, strip off its dark bark
in two half cylinders. These, placed around the body of the deceased
and bound firmly together with withes made of the alburnum, formed
a rough sort of tubular coffin which surviving relations and friends,
O * CD '
with a little show of black crape, could follow with its enclosure to
the hole, or bit of ditch, dug to receive it in the wet ground of the
]»rairie. They grieved to lower it down so poorly clad, and in such
an unheeded grave. It was hard — was it right, thus hurriedly to
l)lunge it in one of the undistinguishable waves of the great land-sea,
and leave it behind them there, under the cold north rain, abandoned
to be forgotten ? They had no tombstones ; nor could they find rocks
to pile the monumental cairn. So, when they had filled up the grave,
and over it prayed a miserere prayer, and tried to sing a hojieful
psahn, their last office was to seek out landmarks, or call in the sur-
veyor to help them to determine the bearings of valley bends, head-
lands, or forks and angles of constant streams, by which its position
should, in the future, be remembered and recognised. The name of
the beloved person, his age, the date of his death, and these marks
were all registered with care. This party was then ready to move
on. Such graves mark all the line of the first year of the Mormon
travel — dispiriting milestones to failing stragglers in the rear.
It is an error to estimate largely the number of Mormons dead of
starvation, strictly speaking. Want developed disease, and made them
sink under fatigue, and maladies that would otherwise have proved
trifling. But only those died of it outright who fell in out-of-the-way
])laces, that the hand of brotherhood could not reach. Among the rest
no such thing as pjlent}' was known, while any went an hungered. If
but a j)art of a group was su[>plied with provision, the only result
was, that the whole went on the half or quarter ration, according to the
sufficiency that there was among them ; and this so ungrudgingly and
contentedly, that, till some crisis of trial to their strength, they were
192 THE MOHMONS.
themselves iina\Yare that their health wagr sinking, and their vital
force impaired. Hale young men gave up their own provided food
and shelter to the old and helpless, and walked their way back to
parts of the frontier States, chiefly ]\Iissouri and Iowa, where they
Tvere not recognised, and hired themselves out for wages to purchase
more. Others Avere sent there to exchange for meal and flour, or
wheat and corn, the table and bed furniture, and other last resources
of personal propert}^ which a few had still retained.
In a kindred spirit of paternal forecast, others laid out great
farms in the wilds, and planted in them the grain saved for their own
bread, that there might be harvests for those who should follow them.
Two of these in the Sac and Fox country, and beyond it, Garden
Grove and Mount Pisgah, included within their fences above two
miles of land a-piece, carefully planted in grain, within a hamlet of
comfortable log-cabins in the neighbourhood of each.
Through all this, the pioneers found redeeming comfort in the
thought that their own suffering was the price of humanity to their
friends at home. But the arrival of spring proved this a delusion.
Before the warm weather had made the earth dry enough for easy
travel, messengers came in from Nauvoo to overtake the party, with
fear-exaggerated tales of outrage, and to urge the chief men to hurry
back to the city, that they might give counsel and assistance there.
The enemy had only waited till the emigrants were supposed to be
gone on their road too far to return to interfere with them, and then
renewed their aggressions.
The Mormons outside Nauvoo were indeed hard pressed ; but
inside the city they maintained themselves very well for three or four
months longer.
Strange to say, the chief part of this respite was devoted to
completing the structure of then* quaintly devised but beautiful Tem-
ple. Since the dispersion of Jewry, probably, history affords us no
parallel to the attachment of the Mormons for this edifice. Every
architectural element, every most fantastic emblem it embodied, was
associated for them "with some cherished feature of their religion. Its
erection had been enjoined upon them as a most sacred duty : they
were proud of the honour upon their city, when it grew up in its
splendour to become the chief object of the admiration of strangers
upon the Upper Mississippi. Besides, they had built it as a labour of
love : they could count up to half a million the value of their tithings
and free-will offerings laid upon it. Hardly a Mormon woman who had
not given up to it some trinket or pin money ; the lowest Mormon
man had at least served the tenth of his year ui)on its walls ; and the
coarsest artizan could turn to it with something of the ennobling
DESTRUCTION OF THE NAUVOO TEMPLE. 193
attachment of an artist for his fair creation. Tlierefore, though their
enemies drove on them ruthlessly, they succeeded in parrying the last
sword thrust till they had completed even the gilding of the angel
and trumpet on the summit of its lofty spire. As a closing work,
they placed on the entablature of the front, like a baptismal mark on
the forehead —
THE HOUSE OF THE LORD :
BUILT BY THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
HOLINESS TO THE LORD !
Then, at high noon, under the bright sunshine of May, the next
only after its completion, they consecrated it to divine service. There
was a carefully-studied ceremonial for the occasion. It was said the
high elders of the sect travelled furtively from the camp of Israel in
tiie Wilderness ; and throwing off ingenious disguises, appeared in
their own robes of holy ofHce, to give it splendour.
For that one day the Temple stood resplendent in all its typical
glories of sun, moon, and stars, and other abounding figured and
lettered signs, hierogly[)hics, and symbols ; but that day only. The
sacred rites of consecration ended, the work of removing the saero-
sancta proceeded with the rapidity of magic. It went on through
the night ; and when the morning of the next day dawned, all the
ornaments and furniture, everything that could provoke a sneer,
had been carried off ; and, except some fixtures that would not bear
removal, the building was dismantled to the bare walls.*
* This building, so clear to the Mormons, is no longer in existence. " On Monday,
the 19rh November, 1848," says the Nauvoo Patriot, "our citizens were awakened by
the alarm of fire, which, when first disccvered, was bursting out through the spire of
the Temple, near the small door that opened from the east side to the roof, on the main
building. The fire was seen first about three o'clock in the morning, and not until it
had taken such hold of the timbers and roof as to make useless any etibrt to extinguish
it. The materials of the inside were so dry, and the fire spread so rapidly, that a
few minutes were sufficient to wrap this famed edifice in a sheet of flame.
" It was evidently the work of aa incendiary. There had been, on the evening
previous, a meeting in the lower room ; but no person was in the upper part, where
the fire was first discovered. Who it was, and what could have been his motives, we
have now no idea. Some feeling, infinitely more unenviable than that of the indivi
dual who put the torch to the beautiful Ephesian structure of old must have possessed
him. To destroy a work of art, at once the most elegant in its construction and the
most renowned in its celebrity of any in the whole West, would, we should think, re-
quire a mind of more than ordinary depravity ; and we feel assured that no one in this
community could have been so lost to every sense of justice, and every consideration of
interest, as to become the author of the deed. Admit that it was a monument of folly
and of evil, yet it was, to say the least of it, a splendid and a harmless one.
" Its loss, no doubt, will be more forcibly felt by the people of this place than any-
other; because even the most dreamy will hardly think of soon seeing another such.
ornament, and because it was on the eve of changing hands, and being converted into'
M
194 THE MORMONS.
It was tills day saw the departure of the last elders, and the
largest band that moved in one company together. Tlie people of
Iowa have told me, that from morning to night they passed westward
like an endless procession. They did not seem greatly out of heart,
they said ; hut at the top of every hill, before they disappeared, they
were seen to be looking back, like banished Moors, on their abandoned
homes, and the far seen Temple and its glittering spire.
After this consecration, which was construed to indicate an insin-
cerity on the part of the Mormons as to their stipulated departure,
or, at least, a hope of return, their foes set upon them with renewed
bitterness. As many fled as were at all prepared ; but by the very
fact of their so decreasing the already diminished forces of the city's
defenders, they encouraged the enemy to greater boldness. It soon
became apparent that nothing short of an immediate emigration could
save the remnant.
From this time onward the energies of those already on the road
were engrossed by the duty of providing for the fugitives w^io came
crowding in after them. At a last general meeting of the sect in
Kauvoo, there had been passed an unanimous resolve that they would
sustain one another, whatever their circumstances, upon the march ;
a commodious building of useful education, such as the West greatly needs, and such
as no one ought to be envious of."
" In May, 1850, another calamity occurred to the devoted city of Nauvoo : at that
time occupied by a colony of Icarians, who had emigrated thither from Paris, under
the superintendence of M. Cabet.
" The dreadful tornado of May 27th," says the Handcock Patriot, " which invaded
the City of Nauvoo and neighbouring places, has been for us, Icarians (little accus-
tomed to such revolutions in the atmosphere), a spectacle of frightful sublimity, and ^
also a source of mortal anguish, on account of the disasters and catastrophes which
have resulted from it, to the inhabitants of this county, and to us.
" The Temple, which we were preparing so actively and resolutely to rebuild ; the
Temple which we hoped to cover this year, and in which we were to settle our refec-
tories, our halls of reunion, and our schools; that gigantic monument has become the
first victim of the tornado.
" How many projects are buried under those heaps of rubbish ! How much outlay
and days of hard labour has been lost to us I It was for that magnificent edifice to
again give a soul to that great body, that one of our agents in the north pineries has
just bought all the great beams necessary for its rebuilding; it is for it that we were
adding a saw machine to the mill, and establishing a vast shed to shelter our labourers;
in a word, it was for it that all our efforts and strength have been employed ; and now,
one gale of the tempest brings to naught all our endeavours : has violently ended what
incendiary had begun in October 1848, and what wiion fraternity tried to repair in
1850. We resign without murmuring to that catastrophe.
" There now remains nothing of the gigantic work of the Mormons, except the
west face, strongly united by its sides to anotlier wall in the interior part, and sur-
mounted by an arch ; between the two walls at the north and south are the two tow*
ers or seat of the staircases." •
THE EXODUS OF THE MORMONS. 195
and this, though made in view of no such appalling exigency, they
now with one accord set themselves together to carry out.
Here begins the touching period of Mormon history ; on which,
but that it is for me a hackneyed subject, I should be glad to dwell,
were it only for the proof it has afforded of the strictly material value
to communities of an active common faith, and its happy illustrations
of the power of the spirit of Christian fraternity to relieve the deepest
of human suffering. I may assume that it has already fully claimed
the public sympathy.
Delayed thus by their own wants, and by their exertions to pro-
vide for the wants of others, it was not till the month of June that
the advance of the emigrant comi)anies arrived at the Missouri.
This body, I remember, I had to join there, ascending the river
for the i^urpose from Fort Leavenworth, which was at tbat time our
frontier post. The fort was the interesting rendezvous of the army of
the West, and the head-quarters of its gallant chief, Stephen F. Kear-
ney, whose guest and friend I account it my honour to have been.
Many as were the reports daily received at the garrison from all por-
tions of the Indian territory, it was a significant fact how little authentic
intelHscence was to be obtained concernino; the Mormons. Even the
region in which they were to be sought after, was a question not
attempted to be designated with accuracy, except by what are very
often called in the West, " Mormon stories," none of which bore any
sifting. One of these averred, that a party of Mormons in spangled
crimson robes of office, headed by one in black velvet and silver, had
been teaching a Jewish pow-wow to the medicine men of the Sauks
and Foxes. Another averred that they were going about in buffalo
robe short frocks, imitative of the costume of Saint John preaching
baptism and the instance of the kingdom of heaven among the lowas.
To believe one report, ammunition and whiskey had been received by
Indian braves at the hands of an elder with a flowing white beard,
who spoke Indian, he alleged, because he had the gift of tongues, tin's,
as far north as the country of the Yanketon Sioux. According to
another, yet which professed to be derived officially from at least one
Indian sub-agent, the Mormons had distributed the scarlet uniforms
of H. B. M.'s servants among the Pottawatamies, and had carried into
the country twelve }>ieces of brass cannon, which were counted by a
traveller as they were rafted across the East Fork of Grand River,
one of the northern tributaries of the Missouri. The narrators of
these ])leasant stories were at variance as to the position of the Mor-
mons, by a couple of hundred leagues ; but they harmonized in tlie
warning, that to seek certain of the leading camps would be to meet
the treatment of a spy.
196 THE MORMONS.
Almost at the outset of my journey from Fort Leavenworth while
yet upon the edge of the Indian border, I had the good fortune to
fall in with a coui)le of thin- necked sallow persons, in patchwork pan-
taloons, conducting northward waggon loads of Indian corn, which
they had obtained, according to their own account, in barter from a
squatter for some silver spoons and a feather bed. Their character was
disclosed by their ea^er request of a bite from my wallet ; in default
of which, after a somewhat su])erfiuous scriptural grace, they made
an imperfect lunch before me off the softer of their corn ears, eating
the grains as horses do, from the cob- I took their advice to follow up
the Missouri ; somewhere not far from which, in the Pottawatamie coun-
tiy, they were sure I would encounter one of their advancing companies.
I had bad weather on the road. Excessive heats, varied only
by repeated drenching thunder squalls, knocked up my horse, my
only travelling companion ; and otherwise added to the ordinary hard-
ships of a kind of life to which I was as yet little accustomed. I
suffered a sense of discomfort, therefore, amounting to physical nos-
talgia, and was, in fact, wearied to death of the staring silence of the
prairie, before I came upon the objects of my search.
They were collected a little distance above the Pottawatamie
agency. The hills of the " High Prairie" crowding in upon the river
at this point, and overhanging it, appear of an unusual and command-
ing elevation. They are called the Council Bluffs, a name given them
with another meaning, but well illustrated by the picturesque congress
of their high and mighty summits. To the south of them, a rich
alluvial Hat of considerable width follows down the Missouri, some
eight miles, to where it is lost from view at a turn, which forms the
site of the Indian town of Point aux Poules. Across the river from
this spot the hills recur again, but are skirted at their base by as
much low ground as suffices for a landing.
This landing, and the large flat or bottom on the east side of the
river, were crowded with covered carts and waggons ; and each one
of the Council Bluff hills opposite was crowned with its own great
camp, gay with bright white canvass, and alive with the busy stir
of swarming occupants. In the clear blue morning air, the smoke
streamed up from more than a thousand cooking fires. Countless
I'oacis and by-[»aths chequered all manner of geometric figures on the
liill sides. Herd boys were dozing upon the slopes ; sheep and horses,
cows and oxen, were feeding around them, and other herds in the
luxuriant meadow of the then swollen river. From a single point I
counted four thousand head of cattle in view at one time. As 1 ap-
proached the camps, it seemed to me the children there were to prove
still more numerous. Along a little creek I had to cross were women
THE EXODUS OF THE MOEMONS. 197
in greater force than blanchisseuses upon the Seine, washing and
rinsing all manner of white muslins, red flannels, and parti-coloured
calicoes, and hanging them to bleach upon a greater area of grass and
bu-shes than we can display In all our Washington Square.
Hastening by these, I saluted a group of noisy boys, whose
purely vernacular cries had for me an invincible home-savouring
attraction. It was one of them, a bright faced lad, who, hurrying on
his jacket and trousers, fresh from bathing In the creek, first assured
me I was at my right destination. He was a mere child ; but he told
me of his own accord where I had best go seek my welcome, and took
my horse's bridle to help me to pass a morass, the bridge over which
he alleged to be unsafe.
There was sometiiing joyous for me in my free rambles about
this vast body of pilgrims. I could range the wild country wherever I
listed, under safeguard of their moving host. Not only in the main camps
was all stir and life, but In every direction. It seemed to me, I could
follow " Mormon roads," and find them beaten hard, and even dusty,
by the tread and wear of the cattle and vehicles of emigrants labouring
over them. By day, I would overtake and pass, one after another,
what amounted to an army train of them ; and at night, If I encamj e 1
at the places where the timber and running water were found toge-
ther, I was almost sure to be within call of some camp or other, or at
least within sight of Its watch-fires. Wherever I was compelied to
tarry I was certain to find shelter and hospitality, scant, indeed, but
never stinted, and always honest and kind. After a recent unavoid-
able association with the border inhabitants of Western Missouri
and Iowa, the vile scum which our own society, to apply the words of
an admirable gentleman and eminent divine, " like the great ocean
washes upon Its frontier shores," 1 can scarcely describe the gratifica-
tion I felt In associating again with persons who were almost all of
Eastern American origin — persons of refined and cleanly habits and
decent language — and In observing their peculiar and interesting
mode of life ; while eveiy day seemed to bring with it its own especial
incidents, fruitful in the Illustration of habits and character.
It was during the period of which 1 have just spoken, that the
Mormon battalion of five hundred and twenty men was recruited and
marched for the Pacific coast.
At the commencement of the Mexican war, the President con-
sidered it desirable to march a body of reliable Infantry to California
at as early a period as ])racticable, and the known hardihood and
habits of discipline of the Mormons were supposed peculiarly to fit
them for this service. As Califurnia was supposed also to be their
ultimate destination, the long march might cost them less than other
108 THE MORMONS.
citizens. They were accordingly invited to furnish a battalion of
volunteers early in the month of July.
The call could hardly have been more inconveniently timed.
The young, and those who could best have been spared, were then
away from the main body, either with pioneer companies in the van,
or, their faith unannounced, seeking work and food about the north-
western settlements, to suj)port them till the return of the season for
commencing emigration. The force was, therefore, to be recruited
from among fathers of families, and others, whose presence it was most
desirable to retain.
There were some, too, who could not view the invitation without
jealousy. They had twice been persuaded by (State) Government
authorities in Illinois and Missouri, to give up their arms on some
special aj^peals to their patriotic confidence, and had then been left to
the malice of their enemies. And now they were asked, in the midst
of the Indian country, to surrender over five hundred of their best
men for a war march of thousands of miles to California, without the
hope of return till after the conquest of that country. Could they
view such a proposition with favour ?
But the feeling of country triumphed. The Union had never
wronged them : " You shall have your battalion at once, if it has to
be a class of our elders," said one, himself a ruling elder. A central
" mass meeting" for council, some harangues at the more remotely
scattered camps, an American flag brought out from a storehouse of
tilings rescued, and hoisted to the top of a tree mast, and in three
days the force was reported, mustered, organized, and ready to march.
There was no sentimental affection at their leave-taking. The
afternoon before was appropriated to a farewell ball ; and a more merry
dancing rout I have never seen, though the company went without
refreshments, and their ball-room was of the most primitive. It was
the custom, whenever the larger camps rested for a few days together,
to make great arbours, or boweries, as they called them, of poles and
brush and wattling, as places of shelter for their meetings of devotion
or conference. In one of these, where the ground had been trodden
firm and hard by the worshippers of the popular Father Taylor's
precinct, was gathered now the mirth and beauty of the Mormon Israel.
If anything told the Mormons had been bred to other lives, it
was the a])pearance of the women, as they assembled here. Before
their flight, they had sold their watches and trinkets as the most
available resource for raising ready money ; and hence, like their
partners, who wore waistcoats cut with useless watch-pockets, they,
although their ears were pierced and bore the loop-marks of rejected
pendants, were without ear-rings, finger-rings, chains, or brooches.
INCIDENTS OF TKAVEL. 199
Except such ornaments, however, theji lacked nothing most becoming
the attire of decorous maidens. The neatly darned white stocking,
and clean bright petticoat, the artistically clear-starched collar and
chemisette, the something faded, only because too well washed, lawn
or gingham gown, that fitted modishly to the waist of its pretty
wearer — these, if any of them spoke of poverty, spoke of a poverty
that had known its better days.
With the rest attended the Elders of the Church within call, in-
cluding nearly all the chiefs of the High Council, with their wives
and children. They, the gravest and most trouble worn, seemed the
most anxious of any to be first to throw off the burden of heavy
thoughts. Their leading off the dancing in a great double cotillion was
the signal bade the festivity commence. To the canto of debonnair
violins, the cheer of horns, the jingle of sleigh-bells, and the jcvlal
snoring of the tambourine, they did dance ! None of your minuets or
' other mortuary processions of gentles in etiquette, tight shoes, and
pinching gloves, but the spirited and- scientific displays of our vene-
rated and merry grandparents, who were not above following the
fiddle to the Fox- Chase Inn or Gardens of Gray's Ferry. French
fours, Copenhagen jigs, Virginia reels, and the like forgotten figures,
executed with the spirit of i^eople too happy to be slow, or bashful, or
constrained. Light hearts, lithe fingers, and light feet, had it their
own way from an early hour till after the sun had dipped behind the
sharp sky line of the Omaha bills. Silence was then called, and a
well-cultivated mezzo-soprano voice, belonging to a young lady with
fair face and dark eyes, gave, Avith quartette accompaniment, a little
song, the notes of which I have been unsuccessful in repeated efforts
to obtain since, — a version of the text, touching to all earthly wan-
derers ; —
" By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept :
We wept when we remember Zion."
There was danger of some expression of feeling when the song
was over, for it had begun to draw tears ; but breaking the quiet with
his hard voice, an Elder asked the blessing of Heaven on all who,
with purity of heart, and brotherhood of spirit, had mingled in that
society, and then all dispersed, hastening to cover from the falling
dews. All, I remember, but some splendid Indians, who, in cardinal
scarlet blankets and feathered leggings, had been making foreground
figures for the dancing rings, like those in Mr. West's i)icture of our
Philadel[»hia Treaty, and staring their inability to comprehend the
wonderful performances. These loitered to the last, as if unwilling
to seek their abject homes.
Well as I knew the peculiar fondness of the Mormons fur music,
200 THE MORMONS.
their orchestra in service on tjiis occasion astonished me by its num-
bers and fine drill. The story was, that an eloquent Mormon mis-
sionary had converted its members in a body at an English town, a
stronghold of the sect, and that they took up their trumpets, trom-
bones, drums, and hautboys together, and followed him to America.
When the refugees from Nauvoo were hastening to part with
their table-ware, jewellery, and almost every other fragment of metal
wealth they possessed that was not iron, they had never a thought of
giving up the instruments of this favourite band. And when the
battalion was enlisted, though high inducements were offered some of
the performers to accompany it, they all refused. Their fortunes
went with the Camp of the Tabernacle. They had led the Farewell
Service in the Nauvoo Temple. Their office now was to guide the
monster choruses and Sunday hymns ; and like the trumpets of silver
made of a whole piece " for the calling of the assembly, and for the
journeying of the camps," to knoll the people in to church. Some of
their wind instruments, indeed, were uncommonly full and pure-
toned, and in that clear dry air could be heard to a great distance. It
had the strangest effect in the world, to listen to their sweet music
winding over the uninhabited country. Something in the style of a
]\!oravian death- tone blown at daybreak, but altogether unique. It
might be when vou were hunting a ford over the Great Platte, the
dreariest of all wild rivers, perplexed among the far-reaching sand-
bars and curlew shallows of its shifting bed : — the wind rising would
bring you the first faist thought of a melody ; and, as you listened,
borne down upon the gust that swept past you a cloud of the dry
sifted sands, you recognised it — perhaps a home-loved theme of Henry
Proch or Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, away there in the
Indian Marches !
The battalion gone, the host again moved on. The tents, which
had gathered on the hill summits, like white birds hesitating to ven-
tuie on the long flight over the river, were struck one after another,
and the dwellers in them and their waggons, and their cattle, hastened
down to cross it at a ferry in the valley, which they made ply night
and day. A little beyond the landing, they formed their companies,
and made their preparations for the last and longest stage of their
journey. It was a more serious matter to cross the mountains then
than now, that the thirst of our people for the gold of California has
made the region between them and their desire such literally trodden
ground.
Thanks to this wonderful movement, I may dismiss an efifort to
describe the incidents of emigrant life upon the Plains, presuming that
you have been made more than familiar with them already, by the
emigha>;t life on the prairies.
201
many repeated descriptions of which they have been the subject.
The desert march, the ford, the quicksand, the Indian battle, the bison
chase, the prairie fire : — the adventures of the Mormons comprised
every variety of these varieties ; but I could not hope to invest them
with the interest of novelty. The character of their every-day life, its
routine and conduct, alone offered any exclusive or marked peculiarity.
Their romantic devotional observances, and their admirable concert
of purpose and action, met the eye at once. After the^e the stranger
was most struck, perhaps, by the strict order of march, the uncon-
fused closing up to meet attack, the skilful securing of the cattle upon
the halt, the system with which the watches were set at night to
guard them and the lines of corral — with other similar circumstances
indicative of the maintenance of a high state of discipline. Every ten
of their waggons was under the care of a captain. This captain of ten,
X
Mormon Tabernacle Camp.
as they termed him, obeyed a captain of fifty ; who, in turn, obeyed
his captain of a hundred, or directly a member of what they call the
High Council of the Church. All these were responsible and deter-
mined men, api)roved of by the people for their courage, discretion,
and experience. So well recognised were the results of this organiza-
20:2 THE MORMONS.
tion, that bands of hostile Indians have passed by comparative small
parties of Mormons, to attack much larger, but less compact bodies of
other emigrants.
The most striking feature, however, of the Mormon emigration,
was undoubtedly their formation of the Tabernacle Camps, and tem-
porary Stakes, or Settlements, which renewed, in the sleeping soli-
tudes everywhere along their road, the cheering signs of intelligent
and hopeful life.
I will make this remark jdainer by describing to you one of these
camps, with the daily routine of its inhabitants. I select at random,
for my purpose, a large camp upon the delta between the Nebraska
and Missouri, in the territory disputed between the Omaha and Otto
and Missouri Indians. It remained pitched here for nearly two
months, during which period I resided in it.
It was situated near the Petit Papillon, or Little Butterfly
River, and upon some finely-rounded hills that encircle a favourite cool
spring. On each of these a square was marked out ; and the waggons,
as they arrived, took their positions along its four sides in double
rows, so as to leave a roomy street or passage-way between them.
The tents were disposed also in rows, at intervals, between the waggons.
The cattle v/ere folded in high-fenced yards outside. The quadrangle
inside was left vacant for the sake of ventilation, and the streets
covered in with leafy arbour work, and kept scrupulously clean,
formed a shaded cloister walk. This was the place of exercise for
slowly recovering invalids, the day-home of the infants, and the even-
ing promenade of all.
From the first formation of the camp, all its inhabitants were
constantly and laboriously occupied. Many of them were highly
educated mechanics, and seemed only to need a day's anticipated rest
to engage them at the forge, loom, or turning-lathe, upon some needed
chore of work. A Mormon gunsmith is the inventor of the excellent
repeating rifle, that loads by slides instead of cylinders ; and one of the
neatest finished fire-arms I have ever seen was of this kind, wrought
from scraps of old iron, and inlaid with the silver of a couple of half-
dollars, under a hot July sun, in a spot where the average height of
the orrass was above the workman ^s shoulders. I have seen a cobbler,
after the bait of his party on the march, hunting along the river
bank for a lap-stone, in the twilight, that he might finish a famous
boot-sole by the camp fire ; and I have had a piece of cloth, the woul
of which was sheared, and dyed, and spun, and woven, during a pro-
srress over three hundred miles.
Their more interesting occupations, however, were those grow-
ing out of their peculiar circumstances and position. The chiefs were
DISTRESS OF THE PEOPLE. 203
seldom without some curious affair on hand to settle with the restless
Indians ; while the immense labour and responsibilit}^ of the conduct
of their unwieldy moving army, and the commissariat of its hundreds
of famisliing poor, also devolved upon them. They had good men
they called Bishops, whose special office it was to look up the cases
of extremest suffering ; and their relief parties were out uight and
day to scour over every trail.
At this time — say two months before the final expulsion from
Nauvoo — there were already, along three hundred miles of the road
between that city and our Papillon camp, over two thousand emigrat-
ing waggons, besides a large number of nondescript turn-outs, the
motley make-shifts of poverty, from the unsuitably heavy cart, that
lumbered on mysteriously, with its sick driver hidden under its coun-
terpane cover, to the crazy two-wheeled trundle, such as our own
poor employ for the conveyance of their slop-barrels ; tliis pulled
along, it may be, by a little dry, dogged heifer, and rigged up only to
drag some such light weight as a baby, a sack of meal, or a pack of
clothes and bedding.
Some of them were in distress from losses upon the way. A
strong trait of the Mormons was their kindness to their brute de-
pendents, and particularly to their beasts of draught. They gave
them the holiday of the Sabbath whenever it came round. I believe
they would have washed them- with old wine, after the example of the
emigrant Carthaginians, had they had any. Still, in the Slave-
coast heats, under v/hich the animals had to move, they sometimes
foundered. Sometimes, too, they strayed off in the night, or were
mired in morasses^ or oftener were stolen by Indians, who found
market covert for sudi plunder among the horse-thief whites of the
frontier. But the great mass of these pilgrims- of the desert was
made up of poor folks, who had fled in destitution from Nauvoo> and
been refused a resting-place by tlie people of Iowa.
It is difficult fully to understand the state of helplessness in which
some of these would arrive, after accomplishing a journey of such
extent, un-der circumstances of so much privation and peril. The
fact was, they seemed to believe that all tlieir trouble would be at an
end if they could only come up with their comrades at the great cam])s.
For this they calculated their resources, among which their power of
endurance was by much the largest and most reliable item, and they
were not disappointed if they arrived with these utterly exhausted.
I remember a signal instance of this at the Papillon Camp :
It was that of a joyous -hearted, clever fellow, whose songs and
fiddle-tunes were the life and delight of Nauvoo in its merry days. I
forget his story, and how exactly it fell about, that, after a Mormon's
201 THE MOKMONS.
full peck of troubles, he started after us, with his wife and little ones,
from some '* lying-down ])lace " in the Indian country, where he had
contended with an attack of a serious malady. He was just conva-
lepcent, and the fatigue of marching on foot again, with a child on
his hack, speedily brought on a relapse. But his anxiety to reach a
place where he could expect to /neet friends with shelter and food,
was such that he only pressed on the harder. Probably for more
than a week of the dog-star weather he laboured on under a high
fever, walking every day till he was entirely exhausted.
His limbs failed him then ; but his courage holding out, he got
into his covered cart, on top of its freight of baggage, and made them
drive him on while he lay down. They could hardly believe how ill
he was, he talked on so cheerfully : " I'm nothing on earth ailing
but home-sick. I'm cured the very minute I get to camp and see the
brethren."
Not being able thus to watch his course, he lost his way, and had
to regain it through a wretched tract of low meadow-prairie, where
there were no trees to break the noon, no water but what was ague-
sweet or brackish. By the time he got back to the trail of the high
prairie, he was, in his own phrase, pretty far gone. Yet he wp^s
resolute in his purpose as ever, and to a party he fell in with avowed
his intention to be cured at the camp, " and noAvhere else." He even
jested with them, comparing his jolting couch to a summer cot in a
white-washed cock-loft. *' But I'll make them take me down," he
said, ''and give me a dip in the river when I get there. All I care
for is to see the brethren."
His determined bearing rallied the spirits of his travelling house-
hold, and they kept on their way till he was within a few hours'
journey of the camp. He entered on his last day's journey with the
energy of increased hope.
I remember that day well, for in the evening I mounted a tired
horse to go a short errand, and in mere pity had to turn back
before I had walked him a couple of hundred yards. Nothing
seemed to draw life from the languid air but the cloud of gnats and
stinging midges ; and long after sun-down it was so hot that the
sheep lay on their stomachs panting, and the cattle strove to lap
wind like hard-fagged hunting-dogs. In camp I had spent the day
in watching the invalids, and the rest hunting the shade under the
waggon-bodies, and veering about them like the shadows round the
sun-dial. I know I thought myself wretched enough to be of their
company.
Poor Merryman had all that heat to hear, with the mere pretence
of an awning to screen out the sun from his close muslin cock-loft.
ADVENTURES IN THE INDIAN TEERITORY. 205
lie did not fail till somewhere hard upon noon. He then began
to grow restless, to know accurately the distance travelled. He made
them give him water, too, much more frequently ; and when they
stopped for this purpose, asked a number of obscure questions. A
little after this he discovered himself that a film had come over his
eyes. He confessed that this was discouraging, but said, with stub-
born resignation, that if denied to see the brethren, he still should
hear the sound of their voices.
After this, which was when he was hardly three miles from our
camp, he lay very quiet, as if husbanding his strength ; but when he
had made, as is thought, a full mile further, being interrogated by the
woman that was driving, whether she should stop, he answered her,
as she avers, '* No, no — go on !"
The anecdote ends badly. They brought him in dead, I think
about five o'clock in the afternoon. He had on his clean clothes, as
he had dressed himself in the morning, looking forward to his arrival.
Beside the common duty of guiding and assisting these unfor-
tunates, the companies in the van united in providing the highway
for the entire body of emigrants. The Mormons have laid out fur
themselves a road through the Indian territory, over four hundred
leagues in length, with substantial, well-built bridges, fit for the pas-
sage of heavy artillery, over all the streams, excejit a few great rivers
where they have established permanent ferries. The nearest unfin-
ished bridging to the Papillon Camp was that of the Corne a Cerf, or
Elk-horn, a tributary of the Platte, distant, may be, a couple of
hours' march. Here, in what seemed to be an incredibly short space
of time, there rose the seven great piers and abutments of a bridge,
such as might challenge honours for the entire public-spirited popula-
tion of Lower Virginia. The party detailed to the task worked in
the broiling sun, in water beyond depth, and up to their necks, as if
engaged in the perpetration of some pointed and delightful practical
joke. The chief sj)ort lay in floating along with the logs, cut from
the overhanging timber up the stream, guiding them till they reached
their destination, and then plunging them under water in the precise
spot where they were to be secured. This the laughing engineers
would execute with the agility of happy, diving ducks.
Our nearest ferry was that over the Missouri. Nearly opposite
Pull Point, or Point aux Poules, a trading post of the American Fur
Company, and village of the Pottawatamies, they had gained a
favourable crossing by making a deep cut for the road through the
steep right bank. And here, without intermission, their flat-bottomed
scows plied, crowded with the waggons, and cows, and sheep, and
children, and furniture of the emigrants, who, in waiting thtir t u'n,
206
THE MORMONS.
made the woods around smoke with their crowding camp fires. But
no such good fortune as a gratuitous passage awaited the heavy
cattle, of whom, with the otliers, no less than thirty tliousand were
at this time on their way westward ; these were made to earn it by
swimming.
Formation of a Bridg'e.
A heavy freshet had at this time swollen the river to a width, as I
should judge, of something like a mile and a half, and dashed past
its fierce current, rushing, gurgling, and eddying, as if thrown from
a mill-race, or scriptural fountain of the deep. Its aspect did not
invite the oxen to their duty, and the labour was to force them'to it.
They were gathered in little troops upon the shore, and driven for-
ward till they lost their footing. As they turned their heads to return,
they encountered the combined opposition of a clamorous crowd of
bystanders, vieing with each other in the pungent administration
of inhospitable aff'ront. Then rose their hubbub ; their geeing and
wooing, and hawing ; their yelling, and yelping, and screaming ; their
FORDING THE MISSOURI.
207
if^
1 llf ?
hooting, and hissing, and pelting. The
rearmost steers would hesitate to brave such
a rebuff ; halting they would impede the
return of the outermost; they all would
waver ; wavering for a moment, the current
would sweep them together downward. At
ihis juncture a fearless youngster, climbing
upon some brave bull in the front rank, would
urge him boldly forth into the stream ; the
rest then surely followed ; a few moments
saw them struggling in mid current ; a few more, and they
were safely landed on the opposite shore. The driver's was
the sought-after post of honour here ; and sometimes, when repeated
failures have urged them to emulation, I have seen the youths, in
stepping from back to back of the struggling monsters, or swimming
in among their battling hoofs, display feats of address and hardihood,
that would have made Franconi's or the Madrid bull-ring vibrate with
bravos of applause. But in the hours after hours that I have watched
this sport at the ferry side, I never heard an oath, or the language
of quarrel, or knew it provoke the least sign ofill feeling.
After the sorrowful word was given out to halt, and make pre-
parations fur winter, a chief labour became the making hay ; and with
everyday dawn brigades of mowers would take up the inarch to their
positions in chosen meadows, a prettier sight than a charge of cavalry,
as they laid their ssvarths, whole companies of scythes abreast. Be-
fore this time the manliest, as well as most general daily labour, was
the herding of the cattle ; the only wealth of the Mormons, and more
'20S . THE MORMONS.
and more cherished by them, with the increasing pastoral character
of their lives. A camp could not be j)itched in any spot without soon
exhausting the freslmess of the pasture around it ; and it became an
ever-recurring task to guide the cattle, in unbroken droves, to the
nearest places where it was still fresh and fattening. Sometimes it
was necessary to go farther, to distant ranges which were known as
feeding grounds of the buffalo. About these there were sure to prowl
parties of thievish Indians ; and each drove therefore had its escort of
mounted men and boys, who learned self-reliance and heroism, while
on night guard alone, among the silent hills. But generally the cattle
were driven from the camp at the dawn of morning, and brought back
thousands together in the evening, to be picketed in the great corral
or enclosure, where beeves, bulls, cows, and oxen, with the horses,
mules, hogs, calves, sheep, and human beings, could all look together
upon the red watch-fires, with the feeling of security, when aroused
by the Indian stampede, or the bowlings of the prairie wolves at
moon rise. ' ,
When they set about building their winter houses, too, the Mor-
mons went into quite considerable timbering operations, and performed
desperate feats of carpentry. They did not come ornamental gentle-
men or raw apprentices, to extemporize new versions of Robinson
Crusoe. It was a comfort to notice the readiness with which they
turned their hands to wood-craft ; some of them, though I believe
these had generally been bred carpenters, wheelwrights, or more
particular!}^ boat-builders, quite outdoing the most notable voyageurs
in the use of the axe. One of these would fell a tree, strip off its
bark, cut and split up the trunk in piles of plank, scantling, or shingles;
make posts, and pins, and pales — everything wanted almost, of the
branches; and treat his toil from first to last with more sportive
flourish than a school-boy whittling his shingle.
Inside the camp, the chief labours were assigned to the women.
From the moment, when after the halt, the lines had been laid, the
spring- wells dug out, and the ovens and lire- places built, though the
men still assumed to set the guards and enforce the regulations of
police, the Emjdre of tiie Tented Town was with the better sex. They
were the chief comforters of the severest sufferers, the kind nurses who
gave them in their sickness those dear attentions with which pauperism
is hardly poor, and whicli the greatest wealth often fails to buy ; and
they were a nation of most wonderful managers. They could hardly be
called housewives in etymological strictness; but it was plain that
they had once been such, and most distinguished ones. Their art availed
them in their changed affairs. With almost their entire culinary
material, limited to the milk of their cows, some store of meal or flour,
HEROISM OF THE WOMEN.
209
Mormon Mowers.
anrl a very few condiments, they bronc];lit tlieir thousand and one
receipts into play with a success that outdid for tlieir famihes the
miracle of the Hebrew widow's cruise. They learned to make butter
on a march by the dasliinoj of the wagi^on, and so nicely to calculate
the working' of barm in the jolting heats, that as soon after the halt
as an oven could be dug in the hill-side and heated, their well- kneaded
loaf was ready for baking, and produced good leavened bread for
supper. I have no doubt the appetizing zest, their humble lore
succeeded in imparting to diet which was both sim])le and meagre,
availed materially for the health as well as the comfort of the people.
But the first duty of the Mormon women was, through all change
of place and fortune, to keep alive the altar fire of home. Whatever
their manifold labours fur the day, it was their eifort to complete them
against the saci'ed hour of evening fall ; fur, by that time, all the out-
workers, scouts, ferrymen, or bridgemen, road-makers, herdsmen, or
hay-makers, had finished their tasks, and come in to their rest ; and
before the last smoke of ti-e sujiper-fii-e curled uj), reddening in the
glow of sunset, a hundred chimes of cattle bells announced their
looked-for ap])roach across the open hills, and the women went out
to meet them at the camp gates, and with their children in their laps
sat by them at the clierislied family meal, and talked over the events
of the Avell-spent day.
But every day closed, as every day began, with an invocation of
N
SIO THE :mokmoxs.
the Divine favour ; witliout wliicli, indeed, no Mormon seemed to dare
to lay him down to rest. With the first shining of the stars, hiu^liter
and loud talking hushed, the neighhour went his way, you heard the
List hynni sung, and then the thousand-voiced murmur of prayer was
lieard like bubbling water falling down the hills.
There was no austerity, however, about the religion of Mormon-
ism. Their fasting and penance, it is no jest to say, was altogether
involuntary ; they made no merit of that. They kept the Sabl^ath
■with considerable strictness ; they were too close copyists of the wan-
derers of Israel in other respects not to have learned, like them, the value
of this most adujirable of the Egypto-Mosaie institutions. But the
rest of the week their religion was independent of ritual observance.
They had the sort of strong stomached faith that is still found embalmed
in .sheltered sjiots of Catholic Italy and Spain, with the spirit of the
believing or dark ages. It was altogether too strongly ielt to be
dependent on intellectual ingenuity or careful caution of, the ridiculous.
It mixed itself up fearlessly with the common transactions of their
every day life, and only to give them liveliiiess ajid colour.
If any passages of life bear better than others a double interpre-
tation, they are tlie adventures of travel and of the field. What old
persons call discomforts and discouraging mishaps, are the very ele-
ments to the voung and sanguine, of what thev are willing to term
fun. The Mormons took the young and hopeful side. They could make
sport and frolic of their trials, and often turn right sharp sufferir-g into
r.ght round laughter against themselves. I certainly heard uiore jests
and Joe Millers while in this Papillon Camp than I am likely to hear
in all the remainder of my days.
This, too, was at a time of serious affliction. Besides the ordi-
nary suffering from insufficient food and shelter, distressing and mortal
sickness, exacerbated, if not originated by these causes, was gieatly
prevalent.
]n the camp nearest us on the west, which was that of the
bridging party near the Corne, the number of its inhabitants being
small enough to invite computation, I found, as early as the 3Ist of
July, that '67 per cent, of its inhabitants were down with the fever,
and a sort of strange scorbutic disease, frequently fatal, which they
named the Black Canker. The camps to the east of us, which were
all on lh2 eastern side of the Missouri, were vet worse fated.
The climate of the entire upper "Misery Bottom," as they term
it, is, .during a considerable part of summer and autumn, singularly
pestiferous. Its rich soil, which is to a depth far beyond the reach of
the plough as flat as the earth of kitchen garden, or compost heap, is
annually the force-bed of a vegetation as rank as that of the tropics.
THE PLAGUE IN THE WILDERNESS. 21 I
To render its fatal fertility the greater, it is everywhere freely watei-ed
by springs and creeks, and larger streams, that flow into it from both
sides. In the season of drought, when the sun enters Virgo, these dry
down till tliey run impure as open sewers, exposing to the day foul
broad flats, mere quagmires of black dirt, stretching along for miles,
unvaried, except by the limbs of half-buried carrion, tree trunks, or
by occasional yellow pools of what the children call- frog spawn ; all
together steaming up thick vapours redolent of the savour of death.
The same is the habit of the Great River. In the beginning of
August, its shores hardly could contain the millions of forest logs, and
tens of billions of gallons of turbid water that came rushing down to-
gether from its mountain head-gates. But before the month was out,
the freshet had all passed by ; the river diminished one half, threaded
feebly southward through the centre of the valley, and the mud of its
channel, baked and creased, made a wide tile pavement between the
clioking crowd of reeds and sedgy grasses, and wet stalked weeds, and
growths of marsh meadow flowers, the garden homes at this tainted
season of venom, crazy snakes, and the fresher ooze by the water's
edge, which stank in the sun like a naked muscle shoal.
Then the plague raged. I have no means of ascertaining the mor-
tality of the Indians who inhabited the Bottom. In lfc'45, the year
previous, which was not more unhealthy, they lost one-ninth of their
number in about two months. The Mormons were scourged severely.
The exceeding mortality among some of them was no doubt in the main
attributable to the low state to which their systems had been brought
by long-continued endurance of Avant and hardshii). It is to be remem-
bered also that they were the first turners up of the prairie sod, and
tliat this of itself made them liable to the sickness of new countries.
It was where their agricultural operations had been most considerable,
and in situations on the left bank of the river, where the prevalent
south-west winds wafted to them the miasmata of its shores, that dis-
ease was most rife.
In some of these, the fever prevailed to such an extent that hardly
any escajted it. They let their cows go unmilked ; they wanted for
voices to raise the psalm of Sundays ; the few who were able to keep
their feet, went about among the tents and waggons with food and
water, like nurses through the wards of an infirmary. Here, at one
time, the digging got behind hand ; burials were slow ; and you might
see women sit in the open tents keeping the flies ofl' their dead chil-
dren, some time after decomposition had set in.
In our own camp, for a part of August and September, things Avore
an unpleasant aspect enough. Its situation was one much praised for
its comparative salubrity ; but perhaps on this account the number of
21 '2 THE MORMONS.
cases of fever among us was increased bj the hurryinp; arrival from
other locahtics of parties in whom the virus leaven of disease was
fermented l)v forced travel.
But I am excused sufficiently the attempt to get up for your enter-
tainment here an}'' circumstantial picture of horrors, by the fact, that
at tlie most interesting season, I was incapacitated for nice observation
bv an attack of fever — mine was what they call the congestive — that it
requii-ed the utmost use of all my faculties to recover from. I still kept
my tent in the camp line ; but, tor as much as a month, had very small
notion of what went on among my neighbours. I recollect overhear-
ing a lamentation over some dear baby, that its mother no doubt
thought the destroying angel should have been specially instructed to
Sjiare.
I wish, too, for my own sake, I could forget how imperfectly, one
day, I mourned the decease of a poor Saint, who, by clamour, rendered
bis vicinity troublesome. He no doubt endured great pain ; for he
groaned shockingly till death came to his relief. He inteifeied with
my own hard gained slumbers, and I was glad when death did relieve
him
Before my attack, I was fond of conversing with an amiable old
man, I think English born, who, having then recently buried his only
daughter and grandson, used to be seen sitting out before his tent,
resting his sorrowful forehead on his hands, joined over a smooth white
oak staff. I missed him when I got about again ; probably he had
been my moaning neighbour.
So, too, having been much exercised in my dreams at this time,
by the vision of dismal processions, such as might have been formed
by the union in line of all the forlornest and ugliest of the struggling
fugitives from Nauvoo, I happen to recall, as I write, that I liad some
knowledge somewhere of one of our new comers, for Avhom the night-
mare revived, and reijeated without intermission, the torment of his
trying journey. As he lay feeding life with long drawn breaths, he
muttered, " Where's next water ? Team — give out ! Hot, hot — God,
it's hot : Stop the waggon — stop the waggon — stop, stop the wag-
gon ! " They woke him ; — to his own content — but I believe returning
sleep ever renewed his distressing visions, till the sounder shnnber
came on from which no earthly hand or voice could rouse him : into
which, I hope, he did not carry them.
In a half dreamy way, 1 remember, or think I rememl»er, a crowd
of phantoms like these. 1 recall but one fact, however, going far in
])roof of a considerable mortality. Earlier in the season, while going
westward with the intention of passing the Rocky Mountains that
summer, I had opened with the a.ssistance of Mormon spades and sho-
AKRIVAL OF FUGITIVES FROM NAUYOO. 213
xels, a large mound on a commanding elevation, the tomb of a war-
rior of the ancient race ; and continuing on my way, had left a deep
trench excavated entirely through it. Returning fever-struck to the
Papillon Camp, I found it planted close by this spot. It was just
forming as I arrived ; the first waggon, if 1 mistake not, having but
a day or two halted into place. My first airing upon my convales-
cence took me to the mound, which, probably to save digging, had
been re-ada])ted to its original purpose. In this brief interval, they
had filled the trench with bodies, and furrowed the ground with
graves around it, like the ])loughing of a field.
The lengthened sojourn of the Mormons in this insalubrious region,
was imposed upon them by circumstances which I must now ad-
vert to.
Though the season was late when they first crossed the Missouri,
some of them moved forwai^ with great hopefulness, full of the notion
of viewing and choosing their new homes that year. But the van
had only reached Grand Island and the Pawnee villages, when thi^y
were overtaken by more ill news from Nauvoo. Before the sunmner
closed, their enemies set upon the last remnant ot those who were
left behind in Illinois. Thev were a few lincjerers, who could not be
persuaded but there might yet be time for them to gather up their
worldly goods before removing, some weakly mothers and their infants,
a few delicate young girls, and many crii)ples and bereaved and sick
people. Tliese had remained under shelter, according to the Mormon
statement at least, by virtue of an ex])ress covenant in their behalf.
If there was such a covenant, it was broken. A vindictive war was
waged upon them, from whi('li the weakest fled in scattered parties,
leaving the rest to make a reluctant and almost ludicrously unavailing
defence till the 17th day of September, when one thousand six hun-
di-ed and twenty-fivo trooi)s entered Nauvoo, and drove all forth who
had not retreated before that time.
Like the wounded birds of a flock fired into toward nightfall, they
came straggling on with faltering steps, many of them without bag or
baggage, beast or barrow, all asking shelt?r or burial, and forcing, a
fresh repartition of the already divided rations of their friends. It
was })lain now tliat every enei'gy must be taxed to prevent the entire
expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out
of the question, and the whole })eople prepared themselves for encoun-
tering another winter on the prairie.
llai)pily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture
among Indians, who were amicably disposed. The lands on both
sides of the Missouri in ])articular were owned by tlie Pottawatann'es
and Omahas, two tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States,
^'1 4 TTTE Mcr^MONS.
had the effect of rendering most auspiciously liospitahle to strangers
Avliom tliey regarded as ])ersecuted like themselves.
The Pottawatamies, on the eastern side, are a nation from whom
the United States bought some years ago a number of hundred thou-
sand acres of the finest lands they have ever brought into market.
Whatever the bargain was, the sellers Avere not content with it ; the
people saying, their leaders were cheated, made drunk, bribed, and all
manner of naughty things besides. No doubt this was quite as much
of a libel on the fair fame of this particular Indian treaty, as such
stories generally are ; for the land to which the tribe was removed in
pursuance of it, was admirably adapted to enforce habits of civilized
tlirift. It was smooth prairie, wanting in timber, and of course in
game ; aiid the humane and philanthropic might rejoice therefore that
necessity would soon indoctrinate its inhabitants into the practice of
agriculture. An impracticable few, who may have thouglit these advan-
tages more than compensated by the insalubrity of their allotted resting-
])lace, fled to the extreme wilds, where they could find deer and woods,
and rocks, and running water, and where, I believe, they are roaming
to this day. The remainder, l>eing what the political vocabulary
designates on such occasions as Friendly Indians, were driven —
marched is the word— galle3^-slaves are marched thus to Barcelona
and Toulon — marched from the Mississippi to the Missouri, and planted
thete. Discontented and unhappy, they had hardly begun to form an
attachment for this new soil, when they were persuaded to change it
for their present Fever Patchy upon the Ka.w or Kansas River. They
were under this second sentence of transportation when the Mormons
arrived among tli«ni.
They Avere pleased with the Mormons. They would have been
pleased with any whites who would not cheat tliem, nor sell them
whiskey, nor whip them for their poor gips}^ habits, nor bear them-
selves indecently toward their Avomen, many of whom, among the
Pottawatamies, especially those of nearly unmixed Prench descent,
are singularly comely, and some of them educated. But all Indians
have something like a sentiment of reverence for the insane, and
admire those who sacritice, without apparent motive, their worldly
welfare to the triumph of an idea. They understand the meaning of
what they call a great vow, and think it the duty of the right-minded
to lighten the votary's penance under it. To this feeling they united
the sympathy of fellow-sufferers for those who could talk to them of
thsir own Illinois, and tell the story how from it they also had been
ruthlessly expelled.
Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate, Fanny Le Clere,
the spoiled child of the great brave, Pied lliche, intei'])reter of the
INTERVIEW WITH THE INDIANS. 215
Nation, Avoiild have the pale-face, Miss Devine, learn duetts with her
to the guitar ; and tiie dauL!,hter of substantialJosepli La Framboise,
the interpreter of tlie United States, — she died of the fever that sum-
mer,— welcomed all the nicest vouns Mormon Kitties and Lizzies, and
Jennies and Susans, to a coflee-feast at her father's house, which was
probably the best cabin in the river village. They made the Mormons
at home there and elsewhere. Upon all their lands they formally gave
them leave to tarry just so long as shoiddsuit their own good pleasure.
The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council.
Under the auspices of an officer of the United States, their chiefs were
summoned, in the form befitting great occasions, to meat in the dirty
yard of one Mr, P. A. Sarpy's log trading house, at their village. They
came in grand toilet, moving in their fantastic attire with so much
aplomb and genteel measure, that the stranger found it difficult not
to believe them hiirh-born orentlemen, attending a costumed ball.
I'heir aristocratically thin legs, of which they dis[»layed fully the usual
Indian proportion, aided this illusion. There is something too, at all
times, \tvy mock-Lidian in the theatrical French milliner}'- tie of the
Pottawatamie turban ; while it is next to impossible for a sober white
man, at first sight, to l)elieve that the red, green, black, blue and
yellow cosmetics, with which he sees such gi'ave personages so vari-
ously dotted, diapered, cancelled and arabesqued, are worn by them
in any mood but one of the deepest and most despei'ate quizzing.
Pi'om the time of their first squat upon the ground, to the final break-
ing up of the council circle, they sustained their characters v.dth
equal self-possession and address.
1 will not take it n])on myself to describe their ordei* of ceremonies.
Indeed, I ou<rht not, since I have never been able to view the habits
and customs of our Aborigines in any bther light than that of a reluc-
tant and sorrowful subject of jest. Besides, in this instance, the
displays of pow-wow and eloquence were both })robably moderated by
the conduct of the entire transaction on temperance princii)ies. I
therefore content myself v/ith observing, generally, that the jutoceed-
ings were such as every way became the grandeur of the parties
interested, and the magnitude of the interests involved. When the
Red Men had indulged to satiety in tobacco smoke from their peace-
pipes, and in what they love still better, their peculiar naetaphoric
rhodouKmtade, which, beginning with the celestial bodies, and coursing
downwards over the grandest sublunaiT o!)iects, alwavs manaoed to
aliirht at last on their Grand Fatiier Polk, and the tenderness lor iiim
of his affectionate coloured children. All the solemn fum'iy fellows
present, who [)layed the part of chiefs, signed formal tu'ticios of con-
vention with tlieir unpronounceable naiues.
216 THE 5iok:*ions.
The renowned cliief, Pled Riclie — he was surnamed Le Clere on
account of his remarkable scholarship — then rose, and said : —
" ]My Mormon Huktfiren,— The Pottawatamie came sad and tired into
this unhcaltli}' jMissouri l>ottoni, not many years l)ack, wiien he was taken
from his lx.'autifiil coimtry heyond the Mississippi, whicli l)ad abundant game,
and timber, and clear water everywhere. Kow you are driven away the sanre
from your lodges and lands there, and tllb graves of your peoj^le. 80 we have
both suffered. We must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us
both. You are now free to cut and use ail the wood you may wish. You
can make all your improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not
occu])ied by us. Because one suffers, and does not deserve it, it is no reason
he shall suffer always, I say. We may live to see all right yet. However,
if we do not, our children will. — Bon jour."
And thus ended the pageant. I give tliis speech as a moi^sel of
real Indian. It was rccited to me after the treaty by the Pottawatamie
orator in Prench, which language he spoke with elegance. Bon jour
is tlie French, Indian, and English hail and farewell of the Pottawa-
tamies. \
The other entertainers of the Mormons at this time, the Omalia«,
or Mahaws, are one of the union tribes of the Grand Prairie. Their
Great Father, the Unitetl States, has found it iiiconvenient to protect
so remote a dependency against the overpowering league of the Dali-
cotahs or Sioux, and has judged it dangerous, at the same time, to
aliow them to protect themselves, hy entering- into a confederation with
others. Under the pressure of this paternal embarrassment and re
sti aint, it has therefore }iai)pened most naturally, that this tribe, once
a ]iowerful and valued ally of ours, has been reduced to a band of
little more than a hundred families ; and these, a few years more will
entirely extii.guish. When I was among them, they were so ill fed,
that their protruding high cheek bones gave them the air of a tribe of
consumptives. The buffalo had left them, and no good ranges lay
within several hundi*ed miles reach. Hardly any other game found
cover on their land. What little there was they were short of annnu-
nition to kill. Their annuity from the United States was trifling.
They made next to nothing at thieving. They had planted some
corn in their awkward Indian fashion, but through fear of ambush
dared not venture out to harvest it. A chief resource for them the
winter })revious had been the spoliation of their neighbours, the
Prairie Field Mice.
Tliese intere.-ting little people, more industiious and thriftv than
the Mahaws, garner u)) in the neat little cellars of their underground
homes, the small seeds or beans of the wood pea vine, whicli are
black and hard, but quite nutritious. Gathering them one by one.
THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE TRAirJES. 217
a single mouse will thus collect as much as halt" a pint, wliich before
the cold weatlier sets in he piles away in a dry and frost-})roof exca-
vation, cleverly thatched and covered in. The Omaha animal, who,
like enouijh, may have idled during all the season the mouse was
amassing his toilsome treasure, finds this subterranean granary to give
out a certain peculiar cavernous vibration, when briskly tapped upon
above the ground. lie wanders about, therefore, striking with a wand
in ho[)eful spots ; and as soon as he hears the hollow sound he knows,
uneartiis the little retired capitalist, along with his winter's hope.
Mouse wakes up from his nap to starve, and Maliaw swallows several
relisiiing mouthfuls.
But the mouse has his revenge in the powerful Sioux, who wages
against his wretched red brother an almost bootless but exterminating
warfare. He robs him of his poor human peltry. One of my friends
was oftered for sale a Sioux sc ilp of Omaha, " with grey hair nearly
as long as a white horse's tail."
The paup)er Omahas were ready to solicit as a favour the residence
of white protectors among them. The Mormons harvested and stored
away for them their crops of maize ; with all their own poverty, they
spared them food enough besides, from time to time, to save them from
absolutely starving ; and their entrenched camp, to the north of the
Omaha villages, served as a sort of breakwater between them and the
destroying rush of the Sioux.
This was the Head Quarters of the Mormon Camps of Israel. The
miles of rich prairie enclosed and sowed with the grain they could
contrive to spare, and the houses, stacks, and cattle shelters, had the
seeming of an entire county, with its people and im])rovements trans-
planted there unbroken. On a pretty plateau, overlooking the river,
they built more than seven hundred houses in a single town, neatly
laid out with highways and byways, and fortified with breast-work,
stockade, and blockhouses. It had, too, its jdace of worship, " Taber-
nacle of the Congregation," and various large workshops, and mills
and factories, provided with water power.
They had no camp or settlement of equal size in the Pottawatamie
country. There was less to apprehend here from Indian invasion ;
and the people scattered themselves, therefore, along the rivers and
streams, and in the timber-groves, wherever they found inviting loca-
lities for farming oj)erations. In this way many of them acquired
what have since proved to be valuable pre-emption rights.
Upontlie Pottawatamie lands, scattered through the border regions
of Missouri and Iowa, in the Sauk and Fox country, a few among the
lowas, among the Poncahs in a great company upon the baid^s of the
L'Eau qui Coule, or Running Water River, and at the Omaha winter-
218
THE MOKMONS.
quai'ters ; — tlie Mormons sustained tlieniscives tbrougli tlie lioavy
Avinler of IH40-1847. It was tlie severest of their trials ; and if I
aimed at rlietorical effect, I would be bound to offer you a minute
narrative of its projcress, as a sort of climax to mv historv. But 1
have, I think, given vou enouf];h of the Mormon's sori'ows. We are
all of us content to sympathize with a certain extent of sufferinoj ; but
verv few can bear the recurrins: yet scarcely varied narrative ot ano-
tiler's distress without something: of im])atience. The world is full of
griefs, and we cannot afford to extend too large a shareof our charity,
or even our commiseration in a single quarter.
This winter was the turning-point of the Mormon fortunes : those
Avl;o lived tlirough it were spared to witness tlie gradual return of
better times ; and they now liken it to the passing of a dreary night,
since which they have watched the coming of a steadily brightening
day.
Before the grass-growtb of 1847, a body of one hundred and forty-
three ])icked men, Avith seventv wag^gons, drawn bv their best horses,
left the Omaha quarters under the command of the members of the
High Council who had wintered there. They carried with them little
but seed and farming implements, their aim being to jjlant spring crops
at their ultimate destination. They relied on their rifles to give them
food, but rarely left their road in search of game. They made long
daily marches, and moved with as much rapidity as possible.
/£:.
f ■:■-'
\
^m-,
■v:^
Tiiss of tilt Staiulin? liock.
ARRIVAL AT THE GREAT SALT LAKE VALLEY. 219
Against tlie season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri,
they were ah-eady through the South Pass ; and a couple of shore
days' travel beyond it, entered upon the more aixiuous ])ortion of
their journey. It lay, in earnest, through the Rocky Mountains.
They turned Fremont's Peak, Long's Peak, the Twins, and other
King summits, but had to force their way over other mountains ot the
rugged Utaii i-ange, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents,
the head waters of some of the mightiest rivei's of our continent, aiul
sometimes literally cutting their road through heavy and ragged
timber. They arrived at the grand basin of the Great Salt Lake
much exhausted, but without losing a man, and in time to i)lant for a
partial autumn liarvest.
Another party started after these pioneers, from the Omaha winter
quarters, in the summer. They had 566 waggons, and carried large
quantities of grain, which they were able to put in the ground before
it froze,
The same season also, these were joined by a part of the Bat-'
talion, and other members of the Church, who came eastward from
California and the Sandwich Islands. Together, they fortified them-
selves strongly with sunbrick wall and blockhouses, and living safely
through the winter, were able to tend crops that yielded ample pro-
vision for the ensuing vear.
In 1848, nearly all the remaining mend:»ers of tlie Church left the
Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and
enriched by their abundant harvests there ; and that year so fully
established tlieir Conunonwealth of the New Covenant, the future
State of Deseret.
I may not undertake to describe to you, in a single lectura, the
geography of Deseret, and its great basin. Were I to consider the
face of the country, its military position, or its chmate, and its natural
l>roductions, each head, 1 am confident, would claim more time than
you have now to spare me ; for Deseret is emphatically a new country;
new in its own characteristic features, newer still in its bringing
tno-ether within its limits the most inconsistent peculiarities of other
countries. I cannot ai)tly comi)are it to any. Descend from the
mountains, where you have the scenery and climate of Switzerhind,
to seek the sky of your choice among the many climates of Italy, and
you may find welling out of the same liiils the freezing springs of
Mexico and the hot springs of Iceland, both together coursing their
way to the Salt Sea of Palestine, in the i)lain below. The pages of
Malte Brim provide me with a less truthful parallel to it than those
which describe the happy Valley of Rasselas, or the Continent o
Balnibarbi. --«r$i-^^^
'^'20 THE MOIIMONS.
Let me, then, press oji with my history, during the few minutes
that remain for me.
Only two events have occurred to menace seriously the estahlish-
mcnt at Deseret : the first threatened to destroy its crops, the other
to break it up altogether.
The shores of tl)e Salt Lake are infested by a sort of insect pest,
Avhich claims a vile resemblance to the locust of the Syrian Dead Sea.
Wingless, dumpy, black, swollen-headed, with bulging eyes in cases
like goggles, mounted upon legs of steel wire and clock spring, and
Avith a general personal appearance that justified the Mormons in com-
paring him to a cross of the spider and the buffalo, the Deseret cricket
comes down from the mountains at a certain season of the year, in
voracious and desolating myriads. It was just at this season that the
first crops of the new settlers were in the full glory of their youthlul
green. The assailants could not be repulsed. The Mormons, after
their fashion, prayed and fought, and fought and prayed, but to no,
purpose ; the " Black Philistines" mowed their way even with the
ground, leaving it as if touched with an acid, or burnt by tire.
But an unlooked-for ally came to the rescue. Vast armies of
bright birds, before strangers to the valley, hastened across the lake
from some unknown quarter, and gorged themselves upon the well-
fatted enemy. They were snow-white, with little heads, and clear,
dark eyes, and little feet, and long wings, that arched in flight " like
an angel's." At first the Mormons thought they were new enemies to
jdague them ; but when they found them hostile only to the locusts,
they were careful not to molest them in their friendly office ; and to this
end declared a heavy fine against all who should kill or annoy them
with fire-arms. The gulls soon grew to be tame as the poultry ; and
the delighted little children learned to call them their pigeons. They
disa])peared every evening beyond tlie lake ; but, returning with sunrise,
continued their welcome visitings till the crickets were all exterminated.
This curious incident recurred the following year, with this varia-
tion, that in 184'.) the gulls came earlier, and saved the wheat cro[)s
from all harm whatever.
A severer trial than the visit of the cricket locusts threatened
Deseret, in the discovery of the gold of California. It was due to a
party of the Mormon Battalion recruited on the Missouri, who, on
their way lioine, found emjdoyment at New Helvetia. They were
digging a mill race there, and threw uj) the gold dust with their shovels.
You all know the crazy fever that broke out as soon as this was an-
nounced. It infected every one through California. Where the gold
was discovered, at Sutters and around, the standing grain was left
uncut ; whites, Indians, and mustees, all set them to gathering gold,
MORMON PRUDENCE AND PROSPERITY. Q'21
every other labour forsaken, as if the first comers could rob the casket
of all that it contained. The disbanded soldiers came to the valley ;
they showed their poor companions pieces of tlie yellow treasure they
had gained ;'and the cry was raised, " To California ! To the Gold
of 0{»hir, our brethren have discovered ! To California !"
Some of you have, perhaps, come across the half ironic instruc-
tions of the heads of the Cliurch to the faithful outside the Valley : —
" The true use of gold is for pavino; streets, covering houses,
and making culinary dishes ; and when the Saints shall have preached
the Gospel, raised grain, and built up cities enough, the Lord will
0}>en up the way for a supply of gold, to the perfect satisfaction of his
people. Until then, let them not be over anxious, for the treasures of
the earth are in the Lord's storehouse, and he will open the doors
thereof when and where he pleases."
The enlightened virtue of their rulers saved the people and the
fortunes of Deseret. A few only went away — and they were asked
in kindness never to return. The rest remained to be healthy and
happy, to " raise grain and build up cities."
Tiie history of the Mormons has ever since been the unbroken
record of the most wonderful prosperity. It has looked as though
the elements of fortune, obedient to a law of natural reaction, were
struggling to compensate to them their undue share of suffering.
They may be pardoned for deeming it miraculous. But, in truth, the
economist accounts for it all, who explains to us the speedy recupe-
ration of cities, laid in ruin by flood, fire, and earthquake. During
its years of trial, Mormon labour has subsisted on insufficient capital,
and under many trials, but it has subsisted, and survives them now, as
intelligent and powerful as ever it was at Nauvoo ; with this difter-
ence, that it has in the meantime been educated to habits of un-
matched thrift, energy, and endurance, and has been transplanted to a
situation ^^ller3 it is in every respect more productive. Moreover,
during all the period of their journey, Avhilc some have gained by
j)ractice in handicraft, and the experience of repeated essays at their
various halting-places, the minds of all have been busy framing designs
and planning the improvements they have since found opportunity to
execute.
The territory of the Mormons is unequalled as a stock-raising
country. The finest pastures of Lombardy are not more estimable
than those on the east side of the Utah Lake and Jordan River. We
find here that cereal anomaly, the Bunch grass. In May, when the
oilier grasses push, this fine plant dries upon its staJk, and becomes
a lif'ht vellow straw, full of favour and nourishmept. It continues
thus, through what are the dry months of the climate, till January,
2Q"2 THE MORMONS.
r.iul then stni'ts with a vio-orous jxrowth, like tliat of our own winter
M'lieat in April, w'hieh keep on till the return of another May.
Wisethin- as straw or grass, the cattle fatten on it the year round.
The numerous little dells and sheltered spots that are found in the
mountains, are excellent sheep-walks ; it is said that the wool which
is grown upon them is of an unusually fine pile and soft texture.
Hogs fatten on a succulent bulb or tuber, called the Seacoe, or See-
gose Root, wliich I hope will soon be naturalized with us. It is
highh'' esieemcd as a table vegetable by Mormons and Indians, and I
remark that thev are cultivating it with interest at the French Garden
of Plants. The emigi-ant poultry have taken the best care of each
other, only needing liberty to i)rovide themselves with every other
blessing.
The Mormons have also been singularly happy in their Indian
relations. They have not made the common mistake of supposing
savages insensible to courtesy of demeanour ; but, being taught by
their religion to regard them all as decayed brethren, have always
treated the sillv, wicked souls with kind-hearted eivilitv. Though
their outlay for tobacco, w\ampum, and vermillion has been of the
very smallest, yet they have never failed to purchase what goodwill
thev have wanted.
Hence it happens that in their Land of Promise they are on the best
of terms with all theCanaanites,and IIittite5,and IIivite3,and Amorites,
and Gergashites, and Perizzites, and Jebusites, within its borders ;
Avhile tliey " maintain their cherished relations of amity with the rest
of mankind," w^lio, in their case, include a sort of latest remnant of the
primeval primates, called the Root Diggers. The Diggers, who in
stature, strength, and general personal appearance, may be likened to
a society of old negro w^omen, are only to be dreaded for their exceed-
ing ugliness. The tribes that rob and murder in war, and otherwise
live more like white men, are however numerous all around them.
Fortunately, upon the marauding expeditions, and in -matters that
affect their freebooting relations generally, they all obey the great
war-chief of the tribe called the Utahs, in the heart of whose proper
territory the Mormon settlements are comprehended.
If accounts are true, the Utahs are brave fellows. Tliey differ
obviously from the deceased nations, to whose estates we have taken
it upon ourselves to administer. They ride strong, well-limbed Spa-
nish horses, not ponies ; bear well-cut rifles, not shot-guns, across their
saddle-bows, and are not without some idea of military discipline.
They carry their forays far into the Mexican States, laying the inha-
bitants under contribution, and taking captive persons of condition,
whom they hold to ransom. They arc, as yet at least, little given to
THE UTAH CHIEF 2'2'3
drink ; some of them manifest considerable desire to acquire iiseliil
knowledge ; and tliey are attached to their own intidel notions of
relii;ion, making long journeys to the ancient cities of the Colorado,
to worship among the ruined temples there. The Soldau of these red
Paynims, too, their great war chief, is not without his kniglitly gi'aces.
According to some of the Mormons, he is the paragon of Indians.
His name, translated to diminish its excellence as an exercise in
Prosody, is Walker. lie is a fine figure of a man, in the prime of
life, lie excels in various manly exercises, is a crack shot, a rough
rider, and a great judge of liorse-flesh.
lie is besides ver}^ clever, in our sense of the word. lie is a pecu-
liarly eloquent master of the graceful alphabet of pantomime, which
stranger tribes employ to communicate with one another. He has
picked up some English, and is familiar with S[)anish and several
Indian tongues. He rather affects the fine gentlenian. When it is
his pleasure to extend his riding excursions into Mexico, to inflict or
threaten outrage, or to receive the instalments of his black mail salary,
he will take offence if the poor people there fail to kill their fattest
beeves, and adopt other measures to show him obsequious and dis-
tino-uished attention. He has more than one black- eyed mistress
there, accordinor to his own account, to whom he makes love in her
own lano-uao-e. His dress is a full suit of the richest broadclotli, gene-
rally brown, cut in European fashion, with a shining beaver hat, and
fine cambric shirt. To these he adds his own gaudy Indian trim-
mings, and in this way contrives, they say, to look superbly, when he
rides at the head of his troop, whose richly caparisoned horses, with
their embroidered saddles and harness, shine and tinkle as they prance
under the weight of gay metal ornaments.
With all his wild-cat fierceness. Walker is perfectly velvet-pawed
to the Mormons. There is a queer story about his being influenced
in their favour by a dream. It is the fact, that from the first he has
received the Mormon exiles into his kingdom with a generosity that,
in its limited sphere, transcends that of the Grand Monarch to the
English Jacobites. He rejoices to give them the information they
want about the character of the country under his rule, advi. es witli
them as to the advantages of particular localities, and wherever they
choose to make their settlements, guarantees them personal safety,
and immunity from depredation.
From the first, therefore, the Mormons have had little or nothing
to do in Deseret, but attend to their mechanical and strictly agricultural
pursuits. They have made several snccessful settlements ; the farthest
north, at what they term Brownsville, is above forty miles ; and the
farthest south, in a valley called the Sanpcech, two hundred miles from
224 THE MORMONS.
that first forniotl. A Jiiplicato of the Lake Tlbsna^s, or Genesareth,
empties its waters into the innocent Dead Sea of Deseret, by a fine
river, to wliich the Mormons liave given the name — it was impossible
to give it any other — of the Western Jordan.
It was on tlie right bank of the stream, at a choice spot upon a
r*ch table land, traversed by a great company of exiiaustless streams
falling from the highlands, that the Pioneer band of Mormons, coming
out of the mountains in the night, pitched their first camp in the
A'alley, and consecrated the ground. Curiously enough, this very spot
])roved the most favourable site for their chief settlement, and after
exploring the whole country, they have founded on it their city of the
Kew Ilierusalem. Its houses are sjiread to command as much as
possible the farms, which are laid out in wards or cantons, Avith
a common fence to each w^ard. The farms in wlieat already cover
a space greater than tlie district of Columbia, over all of which
tliey have completed the canals, and other arrangements, for boun-
tiful irrigation, after the manner of the cultivators of the East. The
liouses are distributed over an area nearly as great as the City of
iSew York.
They have little thought as yet of luxury in their public buildings;
but they will soon have nearly completed a large common public store-
many house and granary, and a great sized public bath-house. One
of the wonderful thermal springs of the valley, a white sul])hur-water,
of the temperature of 102° Fahrenheit, with a head " the thickness of
a man's body," they have already brought into the town for this
purpose ; and all have learned the habit of indulging in it. They have
besides a yellow brick meeting-house, one hundred feet by sixty, in
which they gather on Sundays and in the week-day evenings ; but
this is only a temporary structure. They have reserved a summit
level in the heart of the city, for the site of a Temple far superior to
that of Nauvoo, wdiich, in the days of their future wealth and power,
is to be the landmark of the Basin, and goal of future pilgrims.
They mean to seek no other resting-place. After pitching camps
enough to exhaust many times over the chapter of names in 33rd
Xumhers, they have at last come to their Promised Land, and,
" behold, it is a good land and large, and flowing with milk and
honey ;" and here again for them, as at Nauvoo, the forge smokes and
thi! anvil rings, and whirring wheels go round. Again has returned
the merry s[K)rt of childhood, arid the evening quiet of old age, ard
again dear house-pet. flowers bloom in garden ])lots round happy homes.
It is to these homes, in the heart of our American Alps, like the
h(ly ])CO])le of the Grand Saint Bernard, they hold out their welcome
to the passing traveller. Some of you have probably seen, in the St.
CALIFORNIAN EMIGRANTS. 2Q5
Louis papers, the repeated votes of thanks to them of companies of
emigrants to CaHfurnia. These are often reduced to great straits after
passing Fort-Laramie, and turn aside to seek the Salt Lake Colony in
pitiable plights of fatigue and destitution. The road, after leaving
the Oregon trace, is one of increasing difficulty ; and when the last
mountain has been crossed, passes along the bottom of a deep Canon,
whose scenery is of an almost terrific gloom. It is a defile that I trust
no Mormon Martin Hofer of this Western Tjrol will be called to
consecrate to liberty with blood. At ever}^ turn, the overhanging
cliffs threaten to break down upon the little torrent river that has
worn its way at their base. Indeed, the narrow ravine is so serrated
by this stream, that the road crosses it from one side to the other,
something like forty times in the last five miles. At the end of the
ravine, the emigrant comes abruptly out of the dark pass into the
lighted valley, on an even bench or terrace of its upper table-land.
No wonder if he loses his self-control here. A ravishing panoramic
landscape opens out below him, blue, and green, and gold, and pearl ;
a great sea with hilly islands, rivers, a lake, and broad sheets of
grassy plain, all set, as in a silver-chased cup, within mountains whose
peaks of perpetual snow are burnished by a dazzling sun. It is less
these, however, than the foreground of old country farms, with their
stacks, and thatchings, and stock, and the central city, smoking from
its chimneys, and swarming with working inhabitants, that tries the
men of fatigue-broken nerves. The " Californeys" scream, they sing,
they give three cheers, and do not count them ; a few have prayed,
more swear, some fall on their faces, and cry outright. News arrived
a few days since from a poor townsman of ours, a journeyman saddler,
that used to work up Market Street beyond Broad, by name Gillian,
who sought the Valley, his cattle given out, and himself broke down
and half heart-broken. The recluse Mormons fed and housed him and
his party, and he made his way through to the gold diggings with
restored health and strength. To Gillian's credit for manhood, should
perhaps be cited his own allegation, that he first w'histled through his
fingers various popular nocturnal, street, circus, and theatre calls ; but
it is certain that, when my tidings speak of him, which was when he
was afterwards hospitably entreated by a Mormon, whom he knew
ten years ago as one of our Chester county farmers, he was completely
dissolved into something not far from the hysterics, and wept on till
the tears ran down his dusty beard.
Several hundred emigrants, in more or less distress, received gra-
tuitous assistance last year from the Mormons.
Their community must go on thriving. They are to be the chief
workers and contractors upon " Whitney's Railroad," or whatever
0
220 THE MORMONS. .
scheme is to unite the AtLintic and Pacific by way of the South Pass;
•and their valley must be its central station. They have already raised
a " Perpetual Fund" for " the final fulfilment of the covenant made by
"the Saints in the Temple at Nauvoo," which *' is not to cease till all the
poor are brought to the Valley." All the poor still lingering behind,
will be brought there ; so at an early period, Avill the fifty thousand
communicants, the Church already numbers in Great Britain, with all
the other *' increase among the Gentiles." Their ])lace of rendezvous
Avill be upon what weie formerly the Pottawatamie lands. The in-
terests of the state have been admirably cared for. It now comprises
the thriving counties of " Fremont" and " Pottawatamie," in which
the Mormons still number a majority of the inhabitants. Their chief
town is growing ra])idly, already boasting over three thousand inhabi-
tants, with nineteen large merchants' stores, the mail lines and five
regular steam-packets running to it, and other western evidences of
prosperity ; besides a fine Music Hall and public buildings, and the
printing establishment of a very ably edited newspaper, The Frontier
Ouardian.
It is probably the best station on the Missouri for commencing the
overland journey to Orfgon and California ; as travellers can follow
directly from it the Mormon road, Avhich, in addition to other advan-
tages, proves to be more salubrious than those to the south of it.
Large numbers are expected to arrive at this point from England
during the present spring, on their way to the Salt Lake. They will
I'epay their welcome ; for every working person gained to the hive of
their " Honey State" counts as added wealth. So far, the Mormons
Avrite in congratulation, that they have not among them "a single
loafer, rich or poor, idle gentleman, or lazy vagabond." They are no
conmiunists ; but their experience has taught them the gain of joint-
stock to capital, and combination to labour, — perhaps something more;
for I remark they have recently made arrangements "to classify their
mechanics," which is probably a step in the right direction. They
will be successful manufacturers, for their vigorous land-locked in-
dustry cannot be tampered with by protection. They have no gold —
thry have not hunted for it ; but they have found wealth of other
valuable minerals : rock-salt enough to do the curing of the world, —
" We'll salt the Union for you," they write, " if you can't preserve it
in any other way ;" perhaps coal; excellent ores of iron everywhere.
They are near enough, however, to the Californian Sierra to be the
chief quartermasters of its miners ; and they will dig their own gold
in their unlimited fields of admirably fertile ^land. I should only
invite vour incredulitv, and the disgust of the Horticultural Societv,
by giving you certain measurements of mammoth beetS; turnips,
A FESTIVAL AT DESERET. 227
pumpkins, and garden veji^ctables, in my possession. In that country
where stock thrives care-free, — where apoor man's thirty- two potatoes
saved can return him eighteen bushels, and two and a-half bushels of
wheat sown yield three lumdred and fifty bushels in a season, — or
where an average crop of wheat on irrigated lands is fifty bushels to
the acre ; the farmer's part is hardly to be despised. Certainly it will
not be under a continuance of the present prices-current of the region,
wheat at four dollars the bushel, and flour twelve dollars the cwt.,
with a ready market.
The recent letters from Deseret interest me in one thing more.
They are eloquent in describing the anniversary of the Pioneers' ar-
rival in the Valley. It was the 24 th of July ; and they have ordained
tliat that day shall be commemorated in future, like our 21st of
December, as their Forefathers' Day. The noble Walker attended as
au invited guest, with two hundred of his best-dressed mounted cava-
liers, who stalked their guns, and took up their })laces at the cere-
monies and banquet, with the quiet precision of soldiers marched to
mass. The Great Band was there, too, that had helped their humble
hymns through all the wanderings of the wilderness. Through the
many trying marches of 1846, — through the fierce winter ordeal that
followed, and the long journey after over plain and mounta'n, — it had
gone unbroken without the loss of any of its members. As they set
out from England, and as they set out from Illinois, so they all came
into the Valley together, and together sounded the first glad notes of
triumph when the Salt Lake City was founded. It was their right to
lead the psalm of praise. Anthem, song, and dance, — all the innocent
and thankful frolic of the day owed them its chief zest. " They never
were in finer key." The people felt their soriows ended. Far West,
their old settlement in Missouri, and Nauvoo ; with their wealth and
ease, like " Pithom and Ramses, treasure cities built for Pharaoh,"
went awhile forgotten. Less than four years had restored them
every comfort that they needed. Their entertairmient, the contribu-
tion of all, I have no doubt was really sumptuous. It was spread on
broad buffet tables, about fourteen hundred feet in length, at which
they took their seats by turns, while they kept them heaped with
ornamented delicacies, *' butter of kine, and milk, with fat of lambs,
with the fat of kidneys of wheat ;" "and the cucumbers, and the
melons, and the leeks, and the <?.nions, and the garlic, and the remem-
bered fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely." They seem unable to
dilate with too much pride upon the show it made.
" To behold the tables," says one that I quote from literally, " to
behold them filling the Bowery and all adjoining grounds, loaded with
all luxuries of the fields and gardens, and nearly all the varieties that
228
THE MORMONS.
any vegetable market in the world could produce, and to see the seats
around those tables filled and refilled by a people who had been de-
prived of tliose luxuries for years by the cruel hand of o]>pression, and
freely ofi'ering seats to every stranger within their borders, — and
this, too, in the Valley of the Mountains, over a thousand miles from
civilization, where, two years before, nought was to be found save the
wild root of the prairie and the mountain cricket ; was a theme of
unbounded thanksgiving and praise to the Giver of all Good, as the
dawning of a day when the Children of the Kingdom can sit under
their own vines and fig-trees, and inhabit their own houses, having
none to make them afraid. May the time be hastened when the
scattered Israel may partake of such like banquets from the gardens
of Joseph."
Pass in the Sierra Nevada, (neai- the Great Salt Lake Valley.)
The Great Salt Lake City.
CHAPTER IX.
Brigham Young's Address to the Saints throughout the World— Mission
OF THE Twelve Apostles — The Gathering — Utah Territory — Mormon ism
IN Great Britain — Emigration from Liverpool— Agriculture and the
Arts in the Salt Lake Vallky— Reports by recent Travellers of the
prosperity of the new Colony*
The narrative of Colonel Kane, which has been impugned by many-
persons in America as giving too favourable an account of the Mor-
mons, relates to the most important incident in the history of tlie sf ct.
We have reproduced it in extenso, not only for its interest, but
because it is the only consecutive account of the exodus of the
Mormons, from Nauvoo to the Valley of the Salt Lake, which
230 THE MORMONS.
has been given to the world. Colonel Kane, in a postscript to his
pamphlet, reiterates the truth of all he has stated, and bears a cordial
testimony to the virtues of the men with whom he made the long and
painful journey through the wilderness. Having now traced the rise
and progress of this extraordinary religion, of which the chief inci-
dents have been enacted in America, we enter upon a new portion of
our subject, and proceed to show what the Mormons have accomplished
in the Gieat Salt Lake Valley, the means they have adopted to gather
the " Saints " into that place from all parts of the Avorld, and the
developments, both social and doctrinal, which have resulted since the
Church has been under the guidance of Brigham Young and Orson
Pratt.
Prior to the arrival of the several detachments of the Mormon
people at the Salt Lake, the following general epistle from the coun-
cil of the Twelve Apostles was addressed *' to the Saints throughout
the earth," from Council Bluffs, the half-way station of the long over-
land journey to California : — ■
" Beloved BRKiHREy, — At no period since the organization of the Church
on the 6th of April, 1830, have the Saints been so extensively scattered, and
their means of receiving infinnnation from the proper source so limited, as
since their expulsion from Illinois ; and the time has now arrived when it will
be profitable for you to receive, by our epistle, such information and instruc-
tion as the Father hath in store, and which he has made manifest by his
Spirit.
"Knowing the designs of our enemies, we left Nauvoo in February, 1846,
with a large pioneer company, for the purpose of finding a place where the
Saints might gather and dwell in peace. 1 he season was very unfavourable ;
and the repeated and excessive rains, and scarcity of provisions, retarded our
progress, and compelled us to leave a portion of the camp in the wilderness,
at a place we called Garden Grove, composed of an enclosure for an extensive
farm and sixteen houses, the fruits of our labour ; and soon after, from similar
causes, we located another place called Mount Pisgah, leaving another por-
tion of the camp ; and after searching the route, making the road and bridges
over a multitude of streams, for more than three hundred miles, mostly on
lands then occupied by the Pottawatamie Indians, and since vacated in favour
of the United States, lying on the south and west, and included within the
boundary of Iowa, we arrived near Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River, dur-
ing the latter part of .June, where we were met by Captain J. Allen, from Fort
Leavenworth, soliciting us to enlist five hundred men into the service of the
United States. To this call of our country we promptly responded ; and before
the middle of July more than five hundred of the Brethren were embodied in
the • Mormon Battalion,' and on their march for California, by way of Fort
Leavenworth, under command of Lieut.- Colonel J. Allen, leaving hundreds of
waggons, teams, and fimnlies, destitute of protectors and guardians, on the open
EPISTLE TO THE SAINTS. Q31
prairie, in a savage country, far from the abodes of cl\ilized life, and farther
still from any place where they might hope to locate.
" Our camp, although aware of a cold northern winter approaching, with all
attendant evils, — famine, risk of life in an unhealthy climate, Indian depreda-
tions, and everything of a like nature that would tend to make life gloomy,
— responded to this call of the President with all the alacrity that is due from
children to a parent ; and when the strength of our camp had taken its de-
parture in the battalion, the aged, the infirm, the widow, and the fatherless
that remained, full of hope and buoyant with faiih, determined to prosecute
their journey ; a small portion of which went as far west as the Pawnee Mission,
where, finding it too late to pass the mountains, they turned aside to winter on
the bank of the j\lissouri, at the mouth of the llunning Water, about two
hundred and fifty miles north-west of the ^lissouri settlements ; while the far
more extensive and feeble numbers located at this place, called by us Winter
Quarters, where upwards of seven hundred houses were built in the short space
of about three months ; while the greatmai«»rity located on Pottawatamie lands.
In July there were more than two thousand emigrating waggons between this
and Nauvoo.
"In September 1846, an infuriated mob, clad in all the horrors of war, fell
on the Saints who had still remained at Nauvoo for want of means to remove,
murdered some, and drove the remainder across the Mississippi into Iowa,
where, destitute of houses, tents, clothing, or nmni-y, they received tempo-
rary' assistance from some benevolent souls in Quiucy, St. Louis, and other
places, whose name will ever be remembered with gratitude. But at that
period the Saints were obliged to scatter to the north, south, east, and west,
wherever they could find shelter and procure employment. And hard as it
■was to write it, it must ever remain a truth on the page of history, that while
the flower of Israel's camp were sustaining the wing of the American eagle by
their influence and arms in a foreign country, their brothers, sisters, fathers,
mothers, and children, were driven by mob violence from a free and inde-
pendent State of the same national republic, and were compelled to flee from
the fire, the sword, the musket, and the cannon's mouth, as from the demon
of death. From that time to this the Latter-Day Saints have been roaming
without home from Canada to New Orleans, from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Ocean, and have taken up their abode in foreign lands. Their property in
Ilandcock county, Illinois, was little or no better than confiscated. Many of
their houses were burned by the mob, and they were obliged to leave most of
those that remained without sale, and those who bargained sold almost for a
song; for the influence of their enemies was to cause such a diminution in
property, that from a handsome estate was seldom realized enough to remove
the family comfortably away ; and thousands have since been wandering to and
fro, destitute, afflicted, and distressed for the common necessaries of life, or
unable to endure, have sickened and died by hundreds, while the temple of
the Lord is left solitary in the midst of our enemies, an enduring monument
of the diligence and integrity of the Saints.
" Lieut.-Colonel Allen died at Fort Leavenworth, much lamented by tl^e
2 3 '2 THE MORMONS.
•
' Mormon Battalion,' who proceeded en route l)y way of Santa Fe, from whence
a small portion, who were sick, returned to Pueblo to winter ; while the
remainder continued their marcli, mostly on half rations, or meat without
salt, making new roads, digging deep wells in the desert, levelling mountains,
performing severe labours, and undergoing the utmost fatigue and hardship
ever endured by infantry, as reported by Colonel Cooke, their commanding
officer, and arrived in California, in the neighbourhood of San Diego, with
the loss of very tew men.
"Soon after the battalion left the Bluffs, three of our Council took their
departure for England, where they spent the winter, preaching and setting
in order all things ])ertaining to the Church, and returned to this place in the
spring of 1847, as did also the camp from Pamning Water for provisions.
"On April 14, the remainder of the Council, in company of one hundred
and forty-three pioneers, left this place in search of a location, and making
a new road, a majority of more than one thousand miles westward, arrived at
the Great Basin in the latter part of Jul}', where we found a beautiful valley
of some twenty by thirty miles in extent, with a lofty range of mountains on
the east, capped with perpetual snow, and a beautiful line of mountains on
the west, watered with daily showers ; the Utah Lake on the south, hid by a
ninge of hills ; north-west extending as far as the eye can reach, interspersed
with lofty islands, and a continuation of the valley ; or opening on the north,
extending along the eastern shore about sixty miles to the mouth of Bear
Piiver. The soil of the valley appeared good, but will require irrigation to
promote vegetation, though there are many small streams emptying in from the
mountains, and the Western Jordan (Utah Outlet) passes through from south
to north. The climate is warm, dry, and healthy ; good salt abounds at the
lake ; warm, hot, and cold springs are common ; mill sites excellent ; but the
valley is destitute of timber. The box, the fir, the pine, the sugar-maple, &c.
may be found on the mountains sufficient for immediate consumption, or until
more can grow.
"In this valley we located a site for a city, to be called the Oreat Salt Lake
City, of the Great Basin, North America ; and, for the convenience of the
Saints, instituted and located the Great Basin Post-office at this point. The
city is surveyed in blocks of ten acres, eight lots to a block with streets eight
rods wide, crossing at right angles. One block is reserved for a temple, and
several more in different parts of the city for public grounds.
" Soon after our arrival hi the valley, we were joined by that portion of the
battalion who had been stationed at Pueblo, and a small camp of the Saints
from Mississippi, who had wintered at the same place, who united with the
pioneers in ploughing, planting, and sowing near 100 acres, with a great
variety of seeds, and in laying the foundation of a row of houses around a ten-
acre block, and nearly com])leting the same on one side. Materials for brick
and stone buildings are aljundant.
"After tarrying four or five weeks, most of the pioneers commenced their
return, nearly destitute of provision, accompanied by a part of the battalion,
who were quite destitute, except a very small quantity of beef, which was soon
EPISTLE TO THE SAINTS. 233
exhausted. The company had to depend for their subsistence on wild beasts,
such as buffalo, deer, antelope, &c., which most of the way were very scarce,
and many obtained were exceedingly poor and unwholesome. Between the
Green and Sweetwater Eivgrs, we met 566 wao-gons of the emigrating Saints
on their way to the valley, at our last encampment with whom we had fifty
horses and mules stolen by the Indians ; and a few days after we were attacked
by a large war party of Sioux, who drove off many of our horses, but most of
these we recovered. Our route was by J'ort Bridger, the South Pass, Fort
John (Loraine), and from thence on the north bank of the Platte, to Winter
Quarters, where we arrived on the 31st of October, all well ; having performed
this long and tedious journey, with ox as well as horse teams, and with little
food except wild flesh, without losing a single man, although many were sick
when they left in the spring, inasmuch as they were unable to walk until we
had travelled more than one half of the outward distance, ";;
On the 11th instant, fifteen of the battalion arrived from California, with
a pilot from the valley, having suffered much on their return from cold and
hunger, with no provisions part of the way but a little horse-flesh of the worst
kind. Prom these Brethren we received intelligence that the battalion was
discharged in California in July, agreeably to the time of their enlistment ;
that a portion of the battalion, constituting a company under Captain Davis,
had re-enlisted to sustain a military post in California ; that many had com-
menced labour to procure means to return ; that a small portion had come on
to the Great Salt Lake City, where they found the emigrants which we passed
in the mountains alive and in good health and spirits, except three deaths ;
iind that some of the battalion who had left the valley with them, had stopped
on the Sweetwater, searching for buffiilo, who with others, in all about thirty,
arrived here on the 18th instant, penniless and destitute, having suffered much
from cold and hunger, subsisting on their worn-out mules and horses.
*' All who possibly could went to the valley this season ; and the Saints now
in this vicinity have had to depend on their own resources in labour for their
sustenance, which, on account of the absence of those engaged in the govern-
ment service, the sickness that has prevailed in camp, and the destruction of
the cattle by the Indians, consists mostly of corn, with a few garden vegetables.
"Tlie Saints in this vicinity are bearing their privations in meekness and
patience, and making all their exertions to their removal westward. Their
hearts and all their labours are towards the setting sun, for they desire to be
so far removed from those who have been their oppressors, that there shall be
an everlasting barrier between them and future persecution; and although, as
a people, we have been driven from state to state, and although Joseph and
Hyrum, our Prophet and Patriarch, were murdered in cold blood, while in
Government duress, and under the immediate control, inspection, and super-
vision of the Governor and Government offices, we know, and feel assured that
there are many honest, noble, and patriotic souls now living under that govern-
ment, and under other similar governments in the sister states of the great
confederacy, who would loathe the shedding of innocent blooil, and were it in
their power, would wipe the stain from the nation.
234 THK MOUMONS.
• "if such would clear their garments in the public eye and before God, they
must speak out ; they must proclaim to the world their innocence, and their:
hatred and detestation of such atrocious and unheard-of acts. But with this we
have nothini;- to do ; only we love honesty and right wherever we find them ;
the cause is between them, their country, and their God : and we again re-
iterate what we have often said, and what we liave ever shown by our conduct,
that, notwithstanding all our privations and sufferings, we are more ready than
any portion of the community to sustain the constitutional institutions of our
mother country, and will do the utmost for them if permitted: and we say to
all Saints throughout the earth, Be submissive to the law that protects you in
your person, rights, and property, in whatever nation or kingdom you are ;
and suffer wronji' rather than do wronfj. This we have ever done, and mean
still to continue to do. We anticipate, as soon as circumstances will permit,
to petition for a territorial government in the Great Basin.
" In compliance with the wishes of the sub-agents, we expect to vacate the
Omaha lands in the spring. Thus, brethren, we have given you a brief idea of
what has transpired among us since we left Nauvoo ; the present situation of
the Saints in this vicinity ; and of our feelings and vie,ws in general, as pre-
paratory to the reply which we are about to give to the. cry of the Saints from
all quarters. What shall we do?
" Gather yourselves together speedily, near to this place, on the east side
of the Missouri Biver, and, if possible, be ready to start from hence by the 1st
of Ma}^ next, or as soon as grass is sufficiently grown, and go to the Great
Salt Lake City, with bread-stuff sufficient to sustain you until you can raise
grain the follow ing season. Let the Saints who have been driven and scat-
tered from NauAOo, and all others in the Western States, gather immediately
to the east bank of the river, bringing with them all the young stock, ot
various kinds, they possibly can ; and let all the Saints in the United States
and Canada gather to the same place, b}-^ the first spring navigation, or as
soon as they can, bringing their money, goods, and effects with them ; and, -
so far as they can consistently, gather yoimg stock by the way, which is much
needed here, and will be ready sale. And when here, let all who can, go directly
over the mountains ; and those wlio cannot, let them go immediately to work
at making improvements, raising grain and stock, on the lands recently va-
cated by the Pottawatamie Indians, and owned by the United States, and by
industry they can soon gather sufficient means to prosecute their journey.
In a year or two their young cattle will grow into teams; by interchange of
labour they can raise their own grain and provisions, and build their own
waggons ; and by sale of their improvements to citizens who will gladly come
and occupy, they can replenish their clothing, and thus speedily and comfort-
ably procure an outfit. All Saints who are coming on this route will do well
to furnish themselves with woollen or winter, instead of summer clothing,
generally, as they will be exposed to many chilling blasts before they pass the
mountain heights.
" We have named the Pottawatamie lands as the best place for the Brethren
to assemble on the route, because the journey is so very long, that they must
THE GATHERING TO THE NEW ZION. 235
have a stoppini^-place, and this is the nearest point'to their final destination,
which makes it not only desirable, but necessary ; and, as it is a wilderness
country, it will not inh-ing^e on the rights and jjrivileges of any one : and yet
it is so near Western Missouri, that a few days' travel will give them an op-
portunity of trai!e, if necessity requires, and this is the best general rendezvous
that now presents, without intruding on the rights of others.
"To the Saints in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and adjacent islands
and countries, we say, Emigrate as speedily as possible to this vicinity, look-
ing to, and following the counsel of, the Presidency at Liverpool ; shipping to
Kew Orleans, and from thence direct to Council Bluffs, which will save much
expense. Those who have but little means, ami little or no labour, will soon
exhaust that means if they remain where they are ; therefore, it is wisdom
that they remove without delay ; for here is land, on which, by their labour,
-they can speedily better their condition for their further journey. And to all
Saints in any country bordering upon the Atlantic we would say. Pursue the
same course ; come immediately and prepare to go west : bringing with you
all kinds of choice seeds of grain, vegetables, fruits, shrubbery, trees, and
vines, everything that will please the eje, gladden the heart, or cheer the
soul of man, that grows upon the face of the whole earth ; also the best stock
of beast, bird, and fowl of every kind ; also the best tools of every description,
and machinery fur spinning, or weaving, and dressing cotton, wool, flax, and
silk, &c., &c., or models an^ descriptions of the same, by which they can con-
struct tlieni; and the same in relation to all kinds of farming utensils and
husbandry, such as corn shellers, grain threshers and cleaners, smut machines,
mills, and every implement and article within their knowledge, that shall tend
;to promote the comfort, health, happiness, or prosperity of any people. So
far as it can be consistently done, bring models, and drafts, and let the machi-
nery be built where it is used, which will save great expense in transportation,
particularly in heavy machinery, and tools and implements generally.
"The Brethren must recollect that from this point they pass through a
savage country, and their safety depends on good fire-arms and plenty ot
ammunition ; and then they may have their teams run off in open daylight,
as we have had, utiless they shall watch closely and continually.
" The Presidents of the various branches will cause this epistle to be read
to those under their counsel, and give such instruction in accordance therewith
as the Spirit shall dictate ; teaching them to live by every principle of right-
eousness, walk humbly before God, doing his will in all things, that they
may have his Spirit to lead them and assist them speedily to the gathering
place of his Saints.
"Let the Seventies, High Priests, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and Deacons
report themselves immediately on their arrival at the Bluffs to the presidency
of their respective quorum if present, and if not, to the presidency or council
of the place, that their, names may be registered with their quorum, and that
they may be known among their Brethren.
"It is the duty of all parents to train up their children in the way they
should go, instructing them in every correct principle so fast as they are
230 THE MORAtONS.
capable of receiving, and setting an example worthy of imitation : for the
Lord holds parents responsible for the conduct of their children until they
arrive at the years of accountability before him ; and the parents will have to
answer for all misdemeanors arising through their neglect. IMothers should
teach their little ones to pray as soon as they are able to talk. Presiding
Elders should be particular to instruct parents concerning their duty, and
Teachers and Deacons should see that they do it.
**It is very desirable that all the Saints should improve every opportunity
of securing at least a copy of every valuable treatise on education, every book,
map, chart, or diaor.am that may contain interesting, useful, and attractive
matter, to gain the attention of children and cause them to love to learn to
read ; and also every historical, mathematical, philosophical, geographical,
geological, astronomical, scientific, practical, and all other variety of useful
and interesting writings, maps, &c., to present to the general Church Re-
corder when they shall arrive at their destination — from which important and
interesting matter may be gleaned to compile the most valuable works on
every science and subject, for the benefit of the rising generation.
" We have a printing-press ; and any who can take good printing or writing
paper to the Valley, will be blessing themselves and the Church. We also
want all kinds of mathematical and philosophical instruments, together with
all rare specimens of natural curiosities and works of art that can be gathered
and brought to the Valley, where, and from whicji, the rising generation can
receive instruction ; and if the Saints will be diligent in these matters, we will
soon have the best, the most useful, and attractive museum on the earth.
" Let every Elder keep a journal, and gather historical flicts concerning the
Church or world, with specific dates, and present the same to the Historian ;
also let the presiding officer of every emigrating company, immediately on
arrival, see that his clerk presents the Recorder with a perfect list of the
names of every soul, the number of waggons, teams, and every living thing in
his camp ; and let the Saints organize at, and travel from, the Pottawatamie
district, according to the pattern which will there be given them.
** Since the murder of President Joseph Smith, many false prophets and
false teachers have arisen, and tried to deceive many, during which time we
have mostly tarried with the body of the Church, or been seeking a new loca-
tion, leaving those prophets and teachers to run their race undisturbed, who
have died natural deaths or committed suicide ; and we now, having it in
contemplation soon to reorganize the Church according to the original pat-
tern, with a First Presidency and Patriarch, feel that it will be the privilege of
the Twelve, ere long, to spread abroad among the nations, not to hinder the
gathering, but to preach the Gospel, and push the people — the honest in
heart — together from the four quarters of the earth.
" The Saints in Western California who choose are at liberty to remain,
and all who may hereafter arrive on the Western coast may exercise their pri-
vilege of tarrying in that vicinity or of coming to head-quarters.
" The Saints in the Society and other Islands of the Pacific Ocean are at
liberty to tarry where they are for the time being, or until further notice ; and
THE GATHERING TO THE NEW ZION. 237
we will send them more Elders as soon as we can. But if a few of their young
or middle-aged intelligent brethren wish to visit us at the Basin, we bid them
God speed, and shall be happy to see them.
"The Saints in Australia, China, and the East Indies generally, will do well
to ship to the most convenient port in the United States, and from thence
make to this point, and pursue the same course as do others ; or, if they find
it more convenient, they may ship to Western California.
"We wish the travelling Elders throughout the world to remember the re-
velations of the Doctrine ayid Covenants, and say nought to this generation but
repentance ; and if men have faith to repent, lead them into the waters of
baptism, lay your hands upon them for the reception of the Holy Ghost, con-
firm them in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, comfort their
hearts, teach them the principles of righteousness and uprightness between
man and man, administer to them bread and wine, in the remembrance of the
death of Jesus Christ ; and if they want further information, tell them to flee
to Zion. There the servants of God will be ready to wait upon them, and
teach them all things that pertain to salvation ; and anything beyond this in
your teaching cometh of evil ; for it is not required at your hands, but leadeth
you into snares and temptations, which tendeth to condemnation. Should any
ask, Where is Zion ? tell them in America ; and if any ask, What is Zion ?
oell them the pure in heart.
" It is the duty of the rich Saints everywhere to assist the poor, according
to their ability, to gather ; and if they choose, with a covenant and promise
that the poor thus helped, shall repay as soon as they are able. It is also the
duty of the rich, those who have the intelligence and the means, to come home
forthwith and establish factories and all kinds of machinery that will tend to
give employment to the poor, and produce those articles which are necessary
for the comfort, convenience, health, and happiness of the people ; and no one
need to be at a loss concerning his duty in these matters, if he will walk so
humbly before God as to keep the small stiil whisperings of the Holy Ghost
within him continually.
"Let all Saints who love God more than their own dear selves — and none
else are Saints — gather without delay to the place appointed, bringing their
gold, their silver, their copper, their zinc, their tin, and brass, and iron, and
choice steel, and ivory, and precious stones ; their curiosities of science, of
art, of nature, and everything in their possession or within their reach, to
build in strength and i?tability, to beautify, to adorn, to embellish, to delight,
and to cast a fragrance over, the house of the Lord ; with sweet instruments
of music and melody, and songs, and fragrance, and sweet odours, and beau-
tiful colours ; whether it be in precious jewels, or minerals, or choice ores, or
in wisdom and knowledge or understanding, manifested in carved work or
curious workmanship of the box, the fir, and pine tree, or anything that ever
was, or is, or is to be, for the exaltation, glory, honour, and salvation of the
living and the dead, for time and for all eternity. Come, then, walking in
righteousness before God, and your labour shall be accepted; and kings will
be your nursing fathers, and c^ueens will be your nursing mothers, and the
238' , THE MORMONS.
glory of tlie whole earth shall be j-ours, in connection with all those who shall
keep the commandments of God ; or else tlie Bible, thone ancient prophets
who prophesied from generation to generation, and which the present gene-
ration profess to believe, must fail ; for the time has come for the Saints to go
up to the mountains of the Lord's house, and help to establish it upon the
tops of the mountains ; and the name of the Lord will be there, and the glory
of the Lord will be there, and the excellency of the Lord will be there, and
the honour of the Lord will be there, and the exaltation of his Saints will be
there, and they will be held as in the hollow of his hand, and be hid as in the
cleft of the rock when the overflowing scourge of Jehovah shall go through
to depopulate the earth and lay waste the nations because of their wickedness,
and cleanse the land from pollution and blood.
" We are at peace with all nations, with all kingdoms, with all powers, with
all governments, with all authorities under the whole heavens, except the king-
dom and power of darkness, which are from beneath, and are ready to stretch
forth our arms to the four quarters of the globe, extending salvation to every
honest soul ; for our mission in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth ; and the blessing of the Lord i3
upon us ; and when every other arm shall fail, the power of the Almighty will
be manifest in our behalf; for we ask nothing but what is right, we want no-
thing but what is right, and God has said that our strength shall be equal to
our day ; and we invite all presidents, and emperors, and kings, and princes,
and nobles, and governors, and rulers, and judges, and all nations, kindreds,
tongues, and people under the whole heavens, to come and help ns to build a
house to the name of the God of Jacob, — a place of peace, a city of rest, a
habitation for the oppressed of every clime, even for those that love their
neighbour as they do themselves, and who are willing to do, God being our
helper ; and we will help every one that will help to sustain good and whole-
some laws for the protection of virtue and punishment of vice.
*' The kingdom v/hich we are establishing is not of this world, but is the
kingdom of the great God. It is the fruits of righteousness, of peace, of salva-
tion to every soul that will receive it, from Adam down to his latest posterity. Our
good-will is towards all men, and we desire their salvation in time and eternity ;
and we will do them good as far as God will give us the power, and men will
permit us the privilege ; and we will harm no man ; but if men will rise against
the power of the Almighty, to overthrow his cause, let them know assuredly
that they are running on the bosses of Jehovah's buckler, and, as God lives,
thev will be overthrown.
4/
- "Come, then, ye Saints; come, then, ye honourable men of the earth;
come, then, ye wise, ye learned, ye "rich, ye noble, according to the riches, and
wisdom, and knowledge of the great Jehovah ;- from all nations, and kindreds,
and kingdoms, and tongues, and people, and dialects on the face of the whole
earth, and join the standard of Emmanuel, and help us to build up the kingdom
of God, and establish tlie principles of truth, life, and salvation, and you shall
receive your reward among the sanctified, when the Lord Jesus Christ cometh
to make up his jewels ; and no power on earth or in hell can prevail against you.-
THE BESERET STATE. 239
" The kin:^dom of God consists in correct principles ; and it mattcrefh not
what a man's religious liiith is, whether he he a PresbyttTian, or a Methodist, or a
Baptist, or a Latter-Day Saint or ' Mormon,' or a Camphellite, or a Catholic, or
Episcopalian, or IMahometan, or even Pai^an, or anything else. If he will bow
the knee, and with his tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ, and will support
good and wholesome laws for the regulation of society, we hail him as a brother,
and will stand by him as he stands by us in these things ; for every man's re-
ligious faith is a matter between his own soul and his God alone. But if he
shall deny the Jesus, if he shall curse God, if he shall indulge in debauchery,
and drunkenness, and crime, if he shall lie, and swear, and steal, if he shall
take the name of the great God in vain, and commit all manner of abomina-
tions, he shall have no place in our midst ; for we have long sought to find a
people that Avill work righteousness, that will distribute justice equally, that
will acknowledge God in till their ways, that will regard those sacred laws and
ordinances which are recorded in that sacred book called the Bible, which we
A'erily believe, and which we proclaim to the ends of the earth,
" We ask no pre-eminence, we want no pre-eminence ; but where God has
us, there we will stand, and that is, to be one with our brethren : and our bre-
thren are those that keep the commandments of God, that do the will of our
Father who is in heaven ; and by them we stand, and with them we will dwell
in time and in eternity.
" Come, then, ye Saints of Latter Da}', and all ye great and small, wise and
foolish, rich anJ poor, noble and ignoble, exalted and persecuted, rulers and
ruled of the earth, who love virtue and hate vice, and help us to do this work
which the Lord hath required at our hands ; and inasmuch as the glory of the
latter house shall exceed that of the former, your reward shall be an hundred-
fold, and your rest shall be glorious. Our universal motto is, ' Peace with
God, and good-will to all men.' "
For the first twelvemonth of their residence in the Salt Lake
Valley, as lias already been 'described by Colonel Kane, the Mormons
had sufficient to occupy themselves in clearin:^ their farms, and in
^establishing their relations with their new neighbours, the Utah In-
dians. Their next care was to organize themselves, not only as a
religious community, but as a State claiming admission into the Ame-
rican Union. For this purpose a constitution was drawn up and pro-
mulgated.
The preamble, which is as follows, vshows the geographical position
and limits of the proposed Mormon State : —
"THE CONSTITUTION OP THE NEW STATE OP DESERET.
" \yhereas a large number of the Citizens of the United States, before and
since the treaty of peace with the Bepublic of Mexico, emigrated to and set-
tled in that portion of the territory of the United States lying west of the
Pocky Mountains, and in the great interior basin of Upper California : and
240 THE MORMONS.
" \Yhereas, by reason of said treaty, all civil organization originating
from the Republic of Mexico became abrogated ; and
" Whereas, the Congress of the United Slates has failed to provide a form
of civil government for the territory so acquired, or any portion thereof; and
"Whereas civil government and laws are necessary for the security,
peace, and prosperity of society ; and
*' Whereas, it is a fundamental principle in all the Republican governments,,
that all political power is inherent in the people; and governments instituted
for their protection, security, and benefit, should emanate from the same —
** Therefore, your Committee beg leave to recommend the adoption of the
following constitution, until the Congress of the United States shall otherwise
provide for the government of the territory hereinafter named and described.
"We, the people, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto
enjojed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those
blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government, by the
name of the State of Deseret ; including all the territory of the United States
within the following boundaries, to wit : — commencing at the 33rd degree of
north latitude, where it crosses the lOSth degree of longitude, west of Green-
wich ; tlience running south and west to the northern boundary of Mexico ;
thence west to, and down the main channel of the Cxila River, on the northern
line of Mexico, and on the northern boundary of Lower California to the
Pacific Ocean ; thence along the coast north-westerly to 1 18 degrees 30 minutes
of west longitude ; thence north to where said line intersects the dividing
ridge of the Sierra Nevada mountains ; thence north along the summit of the
Sierra Nevada mountains to the dividing range of mountains that separates
the waters flowing into the Columbia River — from the waters runninof into
the Great Basin ; thence easterly, along the dividing range of mountains that
separates said waters flowing into the Columbia River on the north from the
"waters flowing into the Great Basin on the south, to the summit of the Wind
River chain of mountains ; thence south-east and south, by the dividing range
of mountains that separate the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from
the waters flowing into the Gulf of California ; to the place of beginning, as
set forth in a map drawn by Charles Preuss, and published by order of the
Senate of the United States, in 1848," &c.
It appears, however, that the general Government of the United
States has not seen fit to accord to the Mormons the exact boundaries
which they desire — that it ignores the name of Deseret, and prefers
that of Utah — and is anxious to deprive the Mormons of the coast
line claimed in this document, and to shut them up in the table-land
among the mountains. Accordingly, in the first section of the hill
passed by Congress, we find it enacted that the new territory is
" bounded on the west by the State of California ; on the north bj the
territory of Oregon ; and on the east and south by the dividing ridge
which separates the waters flowing into the Great Basin from those
flowing into the Colorado River and the Gulf of California."
THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
Sit-
By tlie same Lil], a territorial government for Utah was appointe 1 ;
and in October 1850, the President of the United States, with the advice
and consent of tlie Senate, nominated Mr. Brigham Young to be its
Governor, and six other persons to the subordinate offices of Secretary,
Chief Justice, Associate Ju.-tice, Attorney-General, and States-lVIar-
shal. Out of these seven, four are members of the Mormon Church.
Pian of the Great Salt Lake.
, " The spot on -which the Mormons are now settled," says the
Cincinnati Atlas, " is, geographically, one of the most interesting in
the Western world. There is no other just like it, that we recollect,
on the globe. Look at the map a little east of the Great Salt Lake,
and just south of the South-west Pass, and you will see in the north-
cast corner of California the summit level of thq waters which flow
S42 THE MORMONS
on the North American continent. It must be four thousand feet,
jierhaps mure, above the level of the Atlantic. In this sequestered
corner, in a vale liidden among mountains and lakes, are the Mor-
mons; and there rise the miu;hty rivers, than which no continent has
greater. Within a stone's throw almost of one another lie the head
Sjtrngs of the Swert water and Green Rivers. The former flows
into the Platte River ; that into the .Missouri, and that into the
Mississippi, and that into the Gulf of Mexico, and becomes a part of
the Gulf Stream, laving the shores of distant lands. The latter, the
Green River, flows into the Colorado, the Colorado into the Gulf of
California, and is mingled with the Pacific. The one flows more than
t\vo thousand five hundred miles, the other more than one thousand
five hundred. Tiiese flow into tropical regions. Just north of the
same spot are the head streams of Snake River, which flows into the
Columbia, near latitude 46*^, after a course of one thousand miles.
Just south are the sources of the Rio Grande, which, after winding
one thousand seven hundred miles, finds the Gulf of Mexico. It is a
remarkable point in the earth's surface where the Mormons ai'e ; and,
locked in by mountains and lakes, they will probably remain, and
constitute a new and peculiar colony."
After having drawn ui> a constitution, declaring Deseret a free
and not a Slave State, and trusting to the chances of politics and poli-
tical parties to fix their exact boundaries, the next thing to be accom-
plished by tlieir leaders \vas to gather their j)eo[)le together. Before
a " territory " under the protection of the United States Government
can claim admission into the Union as a State, its population must
amount to sixty thousand ; and to bring their number to tliis point
has been the great work in which the ^lormon leaders have been inces-
santly occupied since l^'48.
Several emissaries or " Apostles " of the sect were despatched to
Europe at the commencement of 1850, to " gather " the European
Saints to the New Zion. Not the least remarkable circumstances in
Mormon history are the faith and zeal of their missionaries. They
start without money, or, as they express it, " without purse and scrip,"
and trust to Providence for their subsistence, feeling assured that '* He
who i)rovidetli for the sparrows will provide for them." Some have
proceeded to Germany, to Italy, to France, to Norway, and to Russia,
in total ignorance of the languages of those countries, but trusting to
pick up hy the way sufficient knowledge to answer their purpose.
Little success, however, has attended them upon the Continent. The
strongholds of the sect are in England, Wales, and Scotland; fully
thirty thousand people in Great Britain are members of their Church,
and there is not a large town in which they have not a congregation.
MORMONISM IN GREAT BRITAIN. 243
At the Mormon conferences held throughout the British Isles, in
June, 1850, the number of" Mormons in England and Scotland was re-
ported at 27,863,— of whom there were in London, 2,529 ; in Man-
chester, 2,787 ; in Liverpool, 1,018 ; in Glasgow, 1,846 ; in Sheffit4cl,
],'J29 ; in Edinburgh, 1,331 ; in Birmingham, 1,909 ; and in Wales,
4,342. The report of June, 1851, showed a still further increase ;
and detailed some particulars of the growth of the sect, which we pre-
sent in the words of that document.
" In 1837, one year before the Saints reached Nauvoo, Elders K. C.
Kimball and Orson Hyde, together with several others, landed at
Livei-pool, friendless and destitute. They separated, and went forth
preaching into the towns on either side. Preston first heard and
obeyed the principles of truth. In eight months, seven hundred
members met in conference in that town, rejoicing in the power and
privilege of the Gospel. In a very short time, several counties, among
which were Yorkshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Stafford, Gloucester,
Worcester, and Hereford, had heard and received the servants of God.
Thus the Church increased ; so that, in 1840, after three years' labour,
the general conference reported 3,626 members, and 383 in the priest-
hood, making in all 4,019 Saints. But such triumphant success wns
not confined to England. Scotland enjoyed a portion ; and Irelnnd
was also made to re'joice ; and Wales testified by her thousands how
the Church had progressed in that province. In Scotland, the blood-
cemented pyramid of bigotry and superstition had been triumpliantly
attacked, although sustained by the proverbial wariness of the Scotch.
The conference established in Edinburgh, notwithstanding that hun-
dreds had removed and hundreds more emigrated, still represented more
than 1,500 members. Glasgow was also proclaimed, and over 2,063
members were now revelHng in the enjoyment of the spirit of truth.
In 1851, more than 3,530 had obeyed the mandates of Heaven, and
thousands had besides emigi ated to the gathering place of the Saints.
As to Ireland, it was not until 1850 that Dublin had heard the prin-
ciples of truth ; he was, however, glad to say that a small branch had
been established in that city. In Wales, their success was still more
great and glorious. In 1851, the number of Saints in the principality
was 4,848, including officers. The statistics of January last showed
there were, altogether, in the United Kingdom, 42 conferences, 602
branches, 22 seventies, 12 high priests, 1,761 elders, 1,590 priests,
1,226 teachers, 682 deacons, and 25,454 members, making a total of
30,747 Saints. During the last fourteen years, more than 50,000 had
been baptized in England, of which nearly 1.7,000 had emigrated from
her shores to Zion."
We gather from other sources that for the two years jirior to the
2U'
THE MORMONS.
death of Joseph Sniltli, tlilrtc'ii vessels, wholly engaged by the Mor-
mons for the emigration of their peo[ile, quitted Liverpool for New
Orleans, — the largest nuinher proceeding by one vessel being three
hundred arid fourteen, and the smallest sixty. During the year 1850,
the Mormon einigiation amounted to nearly two thousand five hun-
dred. Being desirous to know something of the class of persons who
emigrate under Mormon auspices to establish themselves in the Salt
Lake City, and to ascertain from what parts of the country their ranks
were principally recruited, the writer made inquiries at the office in
Liverpool of Mcssr.-. Pilkington and Wilson, tiie shipping-agents for
the New Orleans packets. The principal manager of this branch of
tlieir business, who is thus thrown into frequent intercourse with the
Mormons, furnished the following statement : —
" With regard to ' Mormon' Emigration, and the class of persons
of which it is composed, they are principally farmers and mechanics,
.with some few clerks, surgeons, (kc. They are generally intelligent
s\nd well-behaved, and many of them are highly respectable. Since
the I St of October — when, according to the new act, a note of the trades,
professions, and avocations of emigrants, was first required to be taken
tiy the emigration officer — until March in the present year, the iollow
Emigrants {joing on Poard.
MOEMON EMIGKATION "245
ing seems to be the numbers of each who liave gone out in our ships,
as far as I can ascertain. I find in our books tlie names of sixteen
miners, twenty engineers, nineteen farmers, one hundred and eight
labourers, ten joiners, twenty-five power-loom weavei-s, fifteen shoe-
makers, twelve smiths, nineteen tailors, eight watch-makers, twenty-
five stone-masons, five butchers, four bakers, four potters, ten painters,
seven sliipwriglits, four iion-moulders, three basket-makers, five
dyers, five ropers, four pa[)er- makers, four glass-cutters, five nailors,
five saddlers, six sawyers, four gunmakers, &c. These emigrants
generally take with them the implements necessary to ]iurt?ue their
occupation in the Salt Lake Valley ; and it is no unusual thing to per-
ceive (previous to the ship leaving the dock) a watclnnaker with his
tools spread out upon his box, busy examining and repairing the
watches of the * brethren,' or a cutler displaying to his fellow-pas-
sengers samples of his handicraft which he is bringing out with him.
Of course the stock thus taken out is small, when ])laced in the scale
Avith the speculations of commercial men ; but, judging from the
enormous quantity of boxes generally taken by these peoi)le, in the
aggregate it is large indeed. Many of these families have four, five,
or six boxes, bound and hooped with iron, marked, ' Not wanted on
the passage,' and which are stowed down in the ship's hold ; these all
contain implements of husbandry or trade. I have seen, with Mor-
mons on board ship, a piano placed before one berth, and opposite the
very next, a travelling cutler's machiiie for grinding knives, &c. Indeed
it is a general complaint with captains, that the quantity of luggage
put on board with Mormons quite takes them by surprise, and often
sinks the ships upw^ards of an inch deeper in the water than they would
otherwise have alloAved her to go. Their provisions are always sup-
plied by their agent here, of the very best description, and more than
ample ; for while the law requii-es that a certain quantity shall be put
on board for each passenger, the Mormon superior i)uts, in all cases,
twenty pounds per head above this quantity, and, in addition, a supply
of butter and cheese. Everything is good. The bread always is good,
frequently better than that used by the ship. The surplus jirovisions
are given to the passengers on their arrival at New Orleans, and distri-
buted by their superiors to each family in proportion to- its numbers.
As to the localities from which they come, the majority are from the
manufacturing districts — Birmingham, Sheffield, the Potteries, Szq.
IScotland and Wales have also dispatched a large quantity. When the
Scotch or Welsh determine on going, it is generally in large com-
panies. It may perhaps be worthy of remark, tiiat no Irisii ' Saints'
have yet made their appearance. The McrniOns have the greatest
objections against going in any ship carrying other i:)assengcrs than
24G
THE MOKMONS.
The Farewell.
themselves ; and when such is the ease, they invariably stipulate that
a partition shall be erected across the ship's lower decks, so as to sepa-
rate them from all other passengers.
" The means taken by this people for the preservation of order and
cleanliness on board are admirable, and worthy of imitation. Their
first act, on arrival here, is to hold a general meeting, at which they
appoint a ' ])res!dent of the company,' and ' six committee-men.'
The president exercises a com])lete su])erintendence over everything
connected with the passengers; he allots the berth, settles disputes,
attends to all wants, comjtlaints, or inquiries, whether for or by the
])assengers ; advises each how to proceed the most economically, whe-
ther in purchasing })rovisions, bedding, or other articles ; and he being
in constant comnmnication with the superiors here, the people are
tlius safely guarded from the hands of ' Alan-catchers' and all others
of the many wdio frequent our quays, and whose ])rofession it is to
entraj) and prey upon the unwary stranger. The duty of the com-
mittee-men is to assist in getting the luggnge on board, and to make
a proper arrangement in the ship, (tc. They also stand sentinel alter-
nately at the hatchway day and night, during the period the ship
remains in dock, to jirevent the intrusion of strangers. To show how
effectually this is done, 1 may just mention that while iu every ship
RKGULATIOXS ON SHIPBOARD.
247
takiiicr tlie aeneral class of emigrants, persons are found concealed on
boaid, or ' sto\v-awa\'s,' in no instance has such been the case in a ship
wholly laden with Mormons. To those acquainted with the slovenly and
dirty arranoements of emigrants on sliijthoard, those of the Mormons,
for the preservation of decency and morality, will appear deserving ot
the highest connnendation. Each berth, or at least a great majority
of the berths, has its little curtain spread before it, so as to ]>revent the
inmates from being seen, and also to enable them to dress and undress
behind it. In allotting the berths, the members of each family are
placed in the berths next each other; and in case the passengers are
from different parts — say from England and >Scotland — the Scotch are
berthed on one side of the ship, the English on the other. The duties
of the president and committee do not cease after the ship leaves duck,
but are continued during the whole voyage. The president still exer-
cises his suj)erintcndence over the general conduct of the passengers,
the delivery of jirovisions, water, &lc. The conunittee act at sea as
police. Three of them take each side of the between decks, and see
that every peison is in bed b}' eight o'clock in the evening, and in the
moining tliat every pas:-enger is up, the beds made, and the rubbish
swept together, hauled up in buckets, and thrown overboard before seven
o'clock. It is remarkable the implicit obedience which is paid by the
passengers to those whom they thus elect over them ; their slightest
"1 1
Seen;: bctwee;! Do, ks.
248
THE MORMONS
j\ew Orleans.
word is law, al\va3''s respected, and clieerfully obeyed ; in their social
intercoui-se tliey address each other as ' brotlier' and ' sister ;' and with
regard to their care of the things entrusted to their charge, I have
been told by an American captain "vvho carried them, that liaving
delivered to their committee a quantity of water which he had told
them was to serve for three days, he found at the end of the tliird
day a fourth day's supply left ; whereas had he given it into the cliai'ge
of one of his sailors for distribution, it would not have lasted the three
days. From my knowledge of the emigration at present going on from
Liverpool, I can truly say that it would, indeed, be not only con-
ducive to the comfort and health, but would absolutely save the lives
of many who now die on shipboard, could the same rules for cleanli-
ness, order, (tc, be introduced amongst the general class of emigrants
who leave this |)ort for America."
The following jiartieulars respecting the route of the emigrants
aft^r their arrival at New Orleans will conclude this part of the sub-
THE OVERLAND JOURNEY.
249
ject. Aftei' remaining a few clays in New Orleans, the emigrants
start in companies, sometimes of" two or three hundred or more, to St.
Louis, by steamboat on the Mississippi. The distance is J, 300 miles.
The next stage, also by steamboat, is a distance of 800 miles from St.
Louis to the settlements of Council Blutfs, already mentioned. Here
they either remain to fatten their young cattle on the ]>rairies, or
squat upon the rich lands until they are I'eady to go forward to the
Great Salt Lake City. The distance from Council Bkiffs to their
final destination is 1,030 miles. The emigrants travel in ox-teams,
and their large caravans present a singular spectacle. These waggons
are sometimes drawn by as many as six or eight oxen, and there are
frequently BOO waggons in the procession. Each is so arranged as to
comprise a bed-room and sitting-room. They dine on the road-side,
giving their cattle, in the meantime, an hour's grazing in the prairies.
They take three montiis to complete the journey from New Orleans
to the Salt Lake City, and being supplied with necessary provisions
purchased at St. Louis, they trust for their luxuries to the occasiona
;<^^!^--.,
St. Louis.
proceeds ot the chase, in pursuing which the male emigrants amuse
themselves on the way. They trade with the Lidians as they go,
exchanging fire-arms and ammunition for buffalo robes and peltries.*
* We learn, as these sheets are passing through the press, that the Mormon cini-
gi-ation will for the future be conducted across the Isthmus of Panama, or round by
Cape Horn.
1^50
THE MOEMONS.
Mormon Caravan crossing the Prairies.
The Alormons established a perpetual emigration fund in 1849,*
the nature and objects of which were stated in an epistle from Brig-
ham Young to Mr. Orson Pratt, at that time their emigration agent
in Liverpool : —
" Great Salt Lake City, Oct. 14, 1849.
"Dear Brother, — You will learn from our General Epistle the princi-
pal events occurring with us, but we have thought proper to write you more
particularly in relation to some matters ol' general interest, in an especial
manner, the perj)etual emigration fund for the poor Saints. 'J'his fund, we
wish all to understand, is perpetual, and in order to be kept good, will need
constant accessions. To further this end, we expect all who are bVnetited by
its operations will be willing to reimburse that amount as soon as they are
able, facilities for wliieh will very soon after their arrival liere present them-
selves in the shape of public works ; donations will also continue to be taken
iVom all ])arts of the world, and expended for the gathering of the poor Saints*
IMiis is no Joitit Stock Company arrangement, but free donations. Your
office in Liverpool is the place of deposit for all funds received, either for this
or the tithing funds, for all Europe, and you will not pay out, only upon our
order, and to such ]K'rsons as we shall direct. We wish to have machinery ot
all kinds introduced in these valleys as boon as practicable. If you commence
operations now, before you can get men to enyage in the business, the material
ior cotton and woollen factories will be produced. Our settlements another
MOEMON PROSPERITY. 251
season will extend over the rim of the bashi, where we can raise the cotton,
the sugar-cane, rice, &c. Therefore, if you can find those who will engage in
manufacturing cloth for this market in the Valley, we want you should let
these cotton factory proprietors, operatives and all, with all the necessary
fixtures, come to this place. We have a carrying company started, who will
accommodate all emigrants to this place with passage and freight from Mis-
souri Ptiver ; they need not be obliged, under this arrangement, to buy oxen
and waggons when they arrive there, and can be immediately transported
through the entire route. We have considered it policy for us to collect
tithing in money, instead of labour, as lieretofore, therefore we employ con-
stant hands upon our public works, and pay them the money, or such things
as tbey need for themselves and families. We, therefore, have appointed
Joseph L. Heywood and Edwin D. Wooliey, our agents, to go east and pur-
chase such things as we need to supply our public works with, such as are
necessary, such as glass, nails, paint, &c., and furnish workmen ; these
agents will probably cjill upon you from Boston for funds — if they should, you
will Send them accordingly. It is distinctly understood that these arrange-
ments are entirely disconnected with the Perpetual Emigrating Fund ; that is
sacred to its proper use in gathering the poor Sa'nts. Our true policy is, to
do our own w(;rk, make our own goods as soon as possible ; therefore, do all
you can to further the emigration of artisans and mechanics of all kinds ; also
continue to collect tithing.
"Our beloved Brother Franklin D. Richards, who is appointed to go on
a mission to England, will co-o^xirate with you, and give you more particular
items, policy, &c.
"With sentiments of the highest esteem, love, and kindness, we remain
your brethren in the new and everlasting covenant,
"Brigham Young.
"P.S. We want a company ot woollen manufacturers to come with
machinery, and take oiu- wool fiom the sheep, and convert it into the best
clothes — and the wool is ready. We want a company of cotton manufacturers,
who will convert cotton into cloth and calico, &c., and we will raise the cotton
l)efore the machinery can be ready. AVe want a company of potters ; we need
them. J'he clay is ready, and dishes wanted. Send a company of each, if
possible, next spring. Silk manufacturers and all others will follow in rapid
succession. We want some men to start a furnace forthwith ; the coal, iron,
and moulders are waiting.
"B. Y."
It will be seen, from the foregoing statements, that the Mormons
have made a great movement in advance since the death of Josej)h
Smith. California has been their golden land, and the source of their
present prosperity and hope in the future.
" When the Saints were about leaving Nauvoo," says an epistle in
tlie Millennial Star, " Ileber C. Kimball pro^jhesied that in five years
tliey would be better off than at this time. Little more than three
252 THE MOHMONS
years liave elai>secl when we leliukl the poor exiled Mormons in flouri^h •
ing circumstances, counting among tlieir riches-a thousand hills and
valley's, situate in the most remarkahle, interesting, and au^iiicious
portion of the glohe ; having the fountains of rivers that must speedily
command the commerce of the world, in the midst of their territories.
Thus the hanishment of the church has hecome her freedom, the
greatest boon her opponents could confer, and the glad signal for lier
to arise and shine. Forcibly ejected from the mother country on her
arrival at the age of puberty, and thrown back upon her own unaided
resources, the development of her wonderful constitution, capabilities,
and organization, strike the whole world with astonishment and ad-
miration ; they who have plundered, robbed, and driven her into the
wilderness, and thought she was dead, now turn their eyes, and disco-
ver, to their great surprise, that she lives, and nobly aspires to power,
honour, might, majesty, glory, and dominion. She has triumphed
over every form of persecution and every species of cruelty. Under
circumstances the most extraordinary and discouraging, she has
proved herself not a whit behind the very first and foremost in all the
characteristics necessarj' to constitute a great people. She has earned
a title to a fair name and place amongst the nations. Yes, Zion is
firmly established in the strongholds of the land. Riches unknown
are at her disposal. And it is to be hoped that her oppressors will
rejoice over her no more ; and tliat no weapon formed against her
shall pros])er. Every one is aware of the impracticability of subduing
a brave people, entrenched in the fastnesses of the mountains. A
nation of mountaineers is not easily subjected. Even our enemies
begin to acknowledge the manifest natural advantages and rising
importance of the peculiar locality of the city 'sought out,' and are
not backward in foretelling the proud and enviable station we must
shortly occupy. They look to her for su})port, and think of calculating
on her assistance, whom they have driven to the last extremity.
" All things work together for good. When an iron highway
shall be cast up in the desert, not only will the flight of the righteous
be greatly facilitated, but the kings, nobles, and rulers of the earth,
with the great men, Avill flock to the city of refuge, ]iainl"ully aware
that in Zion alone will be found peace and safety. The signs of the
times augur an unparalleled growth for the city in the midst of the
evei lasting hills."
The following additional particulars, with reference to the Great
Salt Lake City, are of interest : —
" The Nauvoo Legion," says a general epistle to the Saints, signed
by Brigham Young, and dated on the 12th of October last, "has be -n
leorganised in the Valley, and it would have been a source of ioy to
PROGRESS OF DESISRET. ,^_^^ ^ "^63
the Saints throughout the earth, eouhl they have witnessed its move-
ments on the clay of its great parade ; to see a whole army of mighty
men in martial array, ground their arms, not by command, but simply
by request, rei)air to the temple block, and with pick and spade open
the foundation for a place of worship, and erect the pilasters, beams,
and roof, so that we now have a commodious edifice, one hundred feet
by sixty, with brick Avails, where we assemble with the Saints from
Sabbath to Sabbath, and almost every evening in the week, to teach,
counsel, and devise ways and means for the prosperity of the kingdom
of God ; and we feel thankful that we have a better house or bowery
for public worship the coming winter, than we have heretofore had
any winter in this dispensation.
*' Thousands of emi£:rants from the States to the gold mines have
passed through our city this season, leaving large quantities of domes-
tic clothing, waggons, &c., in exchange for horses and mules, which
exchange has been a mutual blessing to both parties.
*' The direct emigration of the Saints to this place will be some
five or six hundred waggons this season ; besides, many who came in
search of gold, have heard the Gospel for the first time, and will go no
further, having believed and been baptized.
** On the 28th September, fourteen or fifteen of the brethren arrived
from the gold country, some of whom were very comfortably supplied
with the precious metal, and others, who had been sick, came as
destitute as they went on the ship Brooklyn in 1846. That there is
plentv of gold in Western California is beyond doubt, but the valley
of the Sacramento is an unhealthy place, and the Saints can be better
employed in raising grain, and building houses in this vicinity, than
digging for gold in the Sacramento, unless they are counselled so
to do.
" The grain crops in the valley have been good this season ; wheat,
barley, oats, rye, and peas, more particularly. The late corn and buck-
wheat, and some lesser grains and vegetables, have been materially
injured by the recent frosts ; and some early corn in Brownsville, forty
miles north, a month since ; and the buckwheat was severely damaged
by hail at the Utah settlement, sixty miles south, about three weeks
since ; but we have great occasion for thanksgiving to Him who giveth
tlic increase, that he has blest our labours, so that with prudence we
shall have a comfortable sup[)ly for ourselves, and our brethren on the
wav, who may be in need, until another harvest ; but we feel the need
of moi-e lal)ourcrs, for more efficient help, and multiplied means of
farming and building at this place. We want men. Brethren, come
from the States, from the nations, come ! and help us to build and
grow, until wo can say, 'Enough— the valleys of E[»hraim are fall.' "
254
THE MOKMONS.
The following letter from a Mormon to his father in England, give*
some additional particulars of the city, and the journey overland from
New York : —
" City of the Great Salt Lake, Rocky Mountains, Oct., 1849.
" My dear Fatiiek, — I scarcely know how to commence the chequered
history of my journey from New York, but will endeavour to give you a very
al)breviated account, reserving my journal until we again meet, which happiness
will, I trust, yet be permitted to us. We started twenty-four in number, on
10th of Miirch, armed and equipped for a long and toilsome journey. During
the first part, having the advantage of hotels, we were very merry, and
enjoyed ourselves amazingly ; but this was not to last long, as we had yet to
experience the toils of a camp life. We travelled some 1,000 miles up in the
^:*"-W^
' -^^ -- i?**: 'J?S^ -/?!«-.»
Cave in Rock on the Ohio.
]\tississippi and Ohio rivers, in American steamers, a mode ot transit I am by
no means partial to, as I was in a fever of apprehension the whole time, the
accidents on these rivers being innumerable. They arise fnmi 'snags' (pieces
of timber sticking up in the muddy waters), from fire, collision, and bursting
of the thin boilers, which are placed under the saloon. This part of our
travel was, however, accomplished, with only the loss of a few goods; and
in the early part of May our mules were purchased, and we were ready for a
start across the prairie. Our party had four waggons, each drawn by eight
LETTER FRO:\[ A MORMON EMIGRANT. 255
mules ; and, in addition, we rode upon these combinations of all that is
stupid, spiteful, and obstinate. For some little tin^e I enjoyed the change —
the novelty of this predatory mode of life. At daybreak we left our tents,
were soon busy around the camp fire, preparing l)reakfast. Our stores did
not admit of* much variety ; coffee, bacon, and hard biscuit, forming the
staple of our provisions. The weather soon became oppressively hot, the
thermometer rising to 100^ and 110^. This was rendered very trying by the
entire absence of shade upon this ocean of land ; indeed, these vast plains
closely resemble in atmospheric phenomena, and in the appearance of the
ground, the dry bed of some mighty sea. The heat, with the quality of our
food, soon produced bilious fever, and before our journey thus fur was
accomplished, half our number had sufFeredi' rom this complaint. We were
much mistaken in believing the route a healthy one, the road being marked
with the graves of victims to the Californian fever. Turning over the leaves
of my journal, I find the following account of a night in the prairie, and only
one of many similar: — June 19: We had not been an hour in our tents
before one of the dreadful storms swept over us ; the horizon was of the
deepest purple, illumined occasionally by fla-?hes of forked lightning, the
accompanying rain resembling, at the distance at which we stood, a rugged
cloud descending to the earth. I cannot describe the startling effect of the
thunder — each clap resembling some immense cannon, sliaking the very
earth. I have a full perception of the sublimity and grandeur of these
storms, but cannot attempt an adequate description. When the storm
reached the tent it was blown over, and we were left to seek shelter in the
best way we could. I dragged my coverings under a waggon, but soon found
I was lying in a pool of water, with saturated blankets. I then crawlerl into
a waggon, and in a cramped position, bitten horribly by mosquitoes, I passed
an emphatically miserable night.
"About the middle of June I was taken ill, and, with slight interrup-
tions, continued so till we reached this ' city.' You will perhaps imagine
that, being so styled, it resembles an English city ; but it is only in prospect.
The houses are either of logs, or built of mud bricks, called 'dobies,' and,
but in a few instances, are not larger than one or two rooms ; but time
will accomplish much for this energetic and faithful people. Each house
stands in an acre and a quarter of garden ground, eight lots in a block,
forming squares. The streets, which are wide, are to be lined with trees,
with a canal, for the purpose of irrigation, running through the centre. As
our waggon entered this beautiful valley, with the long absent comforts of a
home in prospect, I experienced a considerable change for the better ; and
when, to my surprise and gratitude, I met a pious, kind, and intelligent
artist, and a countryman also, who took me, emaciated, sick, and dirty, to
his humble home, my happiness seemed completed. You must, from their
own works, read the history of the i\lormonites, and you will then learn how
this despised people have been ])ersecuted and driv^'U from place to pLice,
until they have at length found a haven in the all but inaccessible valley of
the Eocky Mountains, where are gathered together, almost from every nation,
250 THE MORMONS.
some 10,000 of those who felt happy in sacrificinj^ all that the M'orld holds
dear for the sake of their, faith ; and after struggling with innumerable diffi-
culties and hardships, arc building their temple in the wilderness, and are
rapidly increasing both in spiritual and temporal wealth, having a Church
organized according to the New Testament pattern, and endeai^ouring to live
by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of the Lord. The land here
is most fruitful — I am told it produces 80 bushels of wheat to the acre ; and
vines, delicious melons, with other fruits and vegetables, grow in profusion.
A city lot — that is, one acre and a quarter — may be purchased at one dollar
fifty cents, and would produce food sufficient or my wants the whole year.
No man Avith ordinary intelligence can be poor in such a place ; and then,
glorious privilege ! he can be free from the harassments and perplexities which
continuaHy destroy the peace of those who live in an artificial state of society.
"When recruited, in order to accomplish the remaining 600 miles, tlte
distance that still intervened between the city and California, the waggons
were sold, and ten of our number started for their oriofinal destination, through
mountains covered with snow, with a prospect of being slain by Indians, or
of feeding either upon their mules or each other. The other thirteen re-
mained, earned their living in different ways nntil later in the season, and
have since started upon a southern route of 1,600 miles, for the gold mines,
leaving me still too unwell to accompany them."
A correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing under the
date of July 8, 1849, gives the following account of the state of affairs
at the new Mormon city : —
" The company of gold-diggers which I have the honour to com-
mand, arrived here on the 3rd instant, and judge our feelings Avhen,
after some twelve hundred miles of travel through an uncultivated
desert, and the last one hundred miles of the distance through and
among lofty mountains, and narrow and difficult ravines, we found
ourselves suddenly, and almost unexpectedly, in a comj)arative para-
dise.
*' We descended the hist mountain hy a passage excessively steep
and abrupt, and continued our gradual descent through a narrow canon
for five or six miles, when, suddenly emerging from the pass, an ex-
tensive and cultivated valley opened before us, at the same instant that
we caught a glimpse of the distant bosom of the Great Salt Lake,
which lay expanded before us to the westward, at the distance of some
twenty miles.
" Descending the table land which bordered the valley, extensive
herds of cattle, horses, and sheep, were grazing in every direction,
reminding us of that home and civilization from which we had so
widely departed — for as yet the fields and houses were in the distance.
Passing over some miles of pasture land, we at length found ourselves
in a broad and fenced street, extending westward in a straight line
CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE GREAT SAF/r LAKE CITY. '257
for several miles. Houses of wood or sun-dried brick were thickly
clustered in the vale before us, some thousands in number, and occu-
pying a spot about as large as the city of New York. The whole
space for miles, excepting the streets and houses, was in a high state
of cultivation. Fields of yellow wheat stood waiting for the harvest,
and Indian corn, potatoes, oats, flax, and all kinds of garden vege-
tables, were growing in profusion, and seemed about in the same state
of forwardness as in the same latitude in the States.
" At first si<jht of all these siiins of cultivation in the wilderness,
we were transported with wonder and pleasure. Some we{)t, some
gave three cheers, some laughed, and some ran and fairly danced for
joy — while all felt inexpressibly happy to find themselves once more
amid scenes which mark the progress of advancing civilization. We
passed on amid scenes like these, expecting every moment to come
to some commercial centre, some business point in this great metro-
polis of the mountains ; but we were disapjiointed. No hotel, sign-
post, cake and beer shop, barber pole, market house, grocery, provision,
dry goods, or hardware store distinguished one part of the town from
another, not even a bakery or mechanic's sign was anywhere dis-
cernible.
" Here, then, was something new : an entire people reduced to a
level, and all living by their labour — all cultivating the earth, or
following some branch of physical industry. At first I thought it
was an experiment, an order of things established purposely to carr
out the principles of ' Socialism ' or ' Mormonism.' In short, I thought
it very much like Owenism personified. However, on inquiry, I
found that a combination of seemingly unavoidable circumstances had
produced this singular state of affairs. There were no hotels, because
there had been no travel ; no barbers' shops, because every one chose
to shave himself, and no one had time to shave his neighbour ; no
stores, because they had no goods to sell, nor time to traffic ; no centre
of business, because all were too busy to make a centre.
"There was abundance of mechanics ' shops, of dressmakers, milli-
ners, and tailors, &c. ; but they needed no sign, nor had they time to
paint or erect one, for they were crowded with business. Beside
their several trades, all must cultivate the land or die ; for the coun-
try was new, and no cultivation but their own within a thousand miles.
Every one had his lot, and built on it ; every one cultivated it, and
perhaps a small farm in the distance.
" And the strangest of all was, that this great city, extending over
several square miles, had been erected, and every house and fence
made, within nine or ten months of the time of our arrival ; while at
the same time, good bridges were erected over the principal streams,
Q
Q.")8 THE MoinioNs.
aiiil the country scttleinonts extended nearly one hundred miles up
and down the valley.
"This territory, state, or, as some term it, * Mormon Empire,'
may justly be considered as one of the greatest prodigies of our time,
and, in comparison with its age, the most gigantic of all republics in
existence ; being only its second year since the first seed of cultivation
was planted, or the first civilized habitation commenced. If these
])eople were such thieves and robbers as their enemies represented them
in the States, I must think they have greatly reformed in point of
industry since coming to the mountains.
" I this day attended worship with them in the open air. Some
thousands of well-dressed, intelligent-looking people assembled ; somo
on foot, some in carriages, and on horseback. Many were neatly,
and even fashionably clad. The beauty and neatness of the ladies
reminded me of some of our best congregations in New York. They
had a choir of both sexes, who performed extremely well, accompanied
by a band who played well on almost every musical instrument of
modern invention. Peals of the most sweet, sacred, and solemn
music filled the air, after which, a solemn prayer was ofifered by
Mr. Grant (a Latter-Day Saint), of Philadelphia. Then followed
various business advertisements, read by the clerk. Among these
I remember a call of the seventeenth ward, by its presiding bishop,
to some business meeting ; a call for a meeting of the thirty-second
quorum of the seventy ; and a meeting of the officers of the second
cohort of the military legion, &c. Slg.
"After this, came a lengthy discourse from Mr. Brigham Young,
president of the society, partaking somewhat of politics, much of
religion and philosophy, and a little on the subject of gold, showing
the wealth, strength, and glory of England, growing out of her coal
mines, iron, and industry ; and the weakness, corruption, and degra-
dation of Spanish America, Spain, kc, growing out of her gold,
silver, &c., and her idle habits.
" Every one seemed interested and pleased with his remarks, and
all appeared to be contented to stay at home and pursue a persevering
industry, although mountains of gold were near them. The able
speaker painted in lively colours the ruin which would be brought
upon the United States by gold, and boldly predicted that they would
be overthrown because they had killed the prophets, stoned and
rejected those who were sent to call them to repentance, and finally
plundered and driven the Church of the Saints from their midst, and
burned and desolated their city and temple. He said God had a
leckoning with that people, and gold would be the instrument of
tlieir overthrow. The constitutions and laws were good — in fact, the
BRIGITAM YOUNG AS A PREACHER. 259
])esl in the world ; but the administrators were corrupt, and the hiws
and constitutions were not carried out. Therefore they must fall.
He further observed, that the people here would petition to be organ-
ized into a territory under that same government, notwithstanding
its abuses, and that, if granted, they would stand by the constitution
and laws of the United States ^ while at the same time he denounced
their corruption and abuses.
" ' But,' said the speaker, * we ask no odds of them, whether they
grant us our petition or not ! We never "svill ask any odds of a nation
who has driven us from our homes. If they grant us our rights, well;
if not, well ; they can do no more than they have done. They, and
ourselves, and all men, are in the hands of the great God, who will
govern all things for good, and all will be right, arid work together
for good to them that serve God.'
" Such, in part, was the discourse to which we listened in the
strongholds of the mountains. The Mormons are not dead, nor is
their spirit broken. And, if I mistake not, there is a noble, daring,
stern, and democratic spirit swelling in their bosoms, which will
peoj)le these mountains with a race of independent men, and influence
the destiny of our country and the world for a hundred generations.
In their religion they seem charitable, devoted, and sincere ; in their
politics, bold, daring, and determined ; in their domestic circle, quiet,
affectionate, and happy ; while in industry, skill, and intelligence,
they have few equals, and no superiors on the earth.
" I had many strange feelings while contemplating this new civi-
lization growing up so suddenly in the wilderness. I almost wished
I could awake from my golden dream, and find it but a dream ; while
I pursued my domestic duties as quiet, as happy, and contented as
this strange people."
A more recent correspondent of a New York newspaper also de-
scribes the rising condition of the Great Salt Lake City : —
"It is now three years since the Mormons arrived in Salt Lake
Valley, and their progress in laying out a city, buildings, fencing
farms, raising crops, &lc., is truly wonderful to behold ; and is but
another striking demonstration of the indefatigable enterprise, in-
dustry, and perseverance of the Anglo-Saxon race.
'* The city is laid out into about twenty different wards, and covers
an area of three square miles. It already contains about one thou-
sand houses, nearly one story and a half high, built of adobe, or sun-
burnt brick. A fine stream of cold water rushes down from the
mountains, which is distributed in ditches through every street in the
city, through the gardens, and to the doors of the dwellings, where it
is used for culinary and other purposes. The ground whereon tlie
QOO THE MORMONS.
city is built is slopinof, wliich affords a great fall for the water, the
current through the ditches runnino^ at the rate of about ' four knots
an hour,' and keeps up a continual supply of fresh water from the
mountains. The valley where the city stands is quite ' handsome,'
running east and west. The city is situate about three miles from the
Timpanagos Mountains on the east, within five of the Utah outlet on
the south-east, and within twenty miles from a range of mountains on
the south, and within twenty-two miles of the Great Salt Lake. Its
population is about five thousand, that of the valley ten thousand, ex-
clusive of the city. The Mormons are now building a neat stone
State House, two stories high, and its dimensions are forty by ninety
feet. Most of the city is fenced, every half square mile being under
one enclosure, almost every foot of the ground (except where the
house stands) being occu[)ied in grain and vegetables. There are
several stores kept here. Mechanics of different trades are bu41y
engaged. The Mormons, take them as a body, I truly believe are a
most industrious people, and, I confess, as intelligent as any I have
met with, either in the east or the west. It is true they are a little
fanatical about their religious views, which is not at all strange when
compared with the majority of religious denominations in the east.
But let no man be deceived in his estimation of the people who have
settled here. Any people who have the courage to travel over plains,
rivers, and mountains, for twelve hundred miles, such probably as can-
not be travelled over in any other part of the world, to settle in a region
which scarcely ever received the tread of any but the wild savage and
beasts who roam the wilderness, must be possessed of indomitable
energy which is but rarely met with.
" Brigham Young, the president of the Mormon Church here (and
to whom I had a letter of introduction), is a man about forty years of
age, of light complexion, ordinary height, but rather corpulent. He
exercises a vast influence among the Mormons, probably more than
any other man, and I think stands nearly in the same position as their
Saint, Joseph Smith. He is a man of considerable intelligence, and I
think has seen a good deal of the world. The greatest-fault I can find
with his preaching is, that he is almost too egotistical. Instead of
taking a text from the Good Book, and if possible showing that the
Book of Mormon is the true road, he confines himself altogether to
giving accounts of their persecuted Church in bygone days, and in
' showing up' its present enemies. I have heard him preach twice,
and have had several private conversations with him. In private,
he is very sociable and talkative, joking and laughing as heartily as
anybody."
The latest traveller through the Great Salt Lake Vallev, who has
AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER AT DESERET. 201
published an account of liis journey, is Mr. William Kelly, the
author of Excursions in California. In this very entertaining work
he thus describes his first view of the New Mormon City : —
*' Instead of a charming valley beautifully diversified with wood
and water, there was a' bald, level plain, extending over to the base
of the Utah range on the other side, without bush or bramble to cast
a shade fi-om the scorching rays of a flaming sun, that blazed with a
twofold intensity, reflected by the lofty ranges by which the plain is
bounded. Some miles to the north lay the Great Salt Lake, glisten-
ing in radiance like a sheet of crystals, in strange contrast with the
dark and sombre Utah rano-e that stretch along its western shores. At
first the city was not visible, but on passing over a piece of table land
the new capital of the Mormons became revealed — not, I nmst admit,
with any very striking effect, for it was too young as yet to boast the
stately ornaments of spire and dome, which first attract the eye of the
anxious traveller. We saw from here, with great distinctness, the
])lan of the place, which had nothing novel or peculiar about it, laid
out in very wide, regular streets, radiating from a large space in the
centre, where there appeared the basement and tall scafi"olding-poles
of an immense building in progress of erection. The houses were far
apart, each being allotted a space for gardens and enclosure, which
caused it to cover a very large space of ground.
"We were soon discovered coming down the slope, and as we
entered the ])recincts of the town, the inhabitants came to the front of
their houses, but showed no disposition to open an acquaintance account,
believing us to be an exclusively American caravan- So soon, how-
ever, as they Avere undeceived, they came about us in grefit numbers,
inquiring what we had to dispose of Tliey were neat and well clad,
their children tidy, ths rosy glow of health and robustness mantling
on the cheeks of all, while the softer tints of female loveliness pre-
vailed to a degree that goes far to prove those ' Latter-Day Saints'
have very correct notions of angelic perfectability. We politely
declined several courteous offers of gratuitous lodging, selecting our
quarters in a luxuriant meadow at the north end of the city ; but had
not our tents well pitched, when we had loads of presents — butter,
milk, small cheeses, eggs, and vegetables, which we received reluc-
tantly, not having any equivalent returns to make, except in money,
whicli they altogether declined ; in fact, the only thing we had in
superabundance was preserved apples and peaches, a portion of which
we ])resented to one of the ciders, who gave a delightful party in the
evening, at which all our folk were present. We found a very large
and joyous throng assembled ; the house turned inside out to make
more room on the occasion, with gaiety, unembarrassed by ceremony,
20-2 THE MORMONS.
animating the wliole, making me almost fancy I was spending the
evenhio- aniono-st the crowded haunts of the old world, instead of a
sequestered valley, lying between the Utah and Timpanagos Moun-
tains. After tea was served,
" * There were the sounds of dancing feet
Mingling with the tones of music sweet ;"
or, as Dermot MacFig would say,
" ' We shook a loose toe,
While he humoured the bow."
Keeping it up to a late hour, perfectly enraptured with the Mormon
ladies, and Mormon hospitality.
" I was not aware before that polygamy was sanctioned by their
creed, beyond a species of ethereal Platonism which accorded to its
especial saints chosen partners, called ' spiritual wives ;' but I now
found that these, contrary to one's ordinary notions of spiritualism,
gave birth to cherubs and unfletlged angels. When our party arrived
we were introduced to a staid, matronly-looking lady as Mrs. ****,
and as we proceeded up the room, to a blooming* young creature, a
fitting mother for a celestial progeny, as the other Mrs. ****, without
any worldly or spiritual distinction whatsoever. At first, I thought
it a misconception ; but inquiry confirmed the fact of there being two
mistresses in the same establishment, both with terrestrial habits and
duties to perform, which 1 found afterwards to be the case in other
instances, where the parties could lay no claim to any particular
saintliness.
" On Saturday morning, we had a very early levee at our tents, with
fresh milk, butter, fowls, and eggs, and a light wacrgon in attendance,
with a side of beef, a carcase of mutton, and a veal, — all of superior
quality ; the latter articles for sale professionally, but certainly on
most moderate terms, — the prime joints not averaging over one penny
per pound. The other matters we were forced to accept, and gave to
the donors what ^ye could aff'ord of coffee, sugar, and tobacco, which
were not to be had in the city for the last two months. In addition
to those timely presents, we got all our Avashing done in the very best
style of art. After breakfast we went out returning visits, and were
most graciously received in every quarter. The houses are small,
principally of brick, built up only as temj)orary abodes, until the more
urgent and important matter of inclosure and cultivation are attended
to ; but I never saw anything to surpass the ingenuity of arrangement
with which they are fitted up, and the scru{)ulous cleanliness with
which they are kept. There were tradesmen and artizans of all de-
scriptions, but no regular stores or workshops, except forges. Still,
from the shoeing of a waggon to the mending of a watch, there was
A SUNDAY AT DKSEllF.T. '^I'):3
no difficulty e,\perienced in gettino; it done, as cheap and as well i»ut
out of hand as in any other city in America. Notwithstanding the.
oppressive temperature, they were all hard at work at their trades,
and ahroad in the fields, weeding, moulding, and irrigating ; and it
certainly speaks volumes for their energy and industry, to see the
quantity of land they have fenced in, and the hreadth under cultiva-
tion, considering the very short time since they had founded the settle-
ment in 1847. There was ample promise of an abundant harvest, in"
magnificent crops of wheat, maize, potatoes, and every description of
garden vegetable,, all of which require irrigation, as there is little or
no rain in this region, a salt-lake shower being estimated at a drop
to each inhabitant. They have numerous herds of the finest cattle,
droves of excellent sheep, with horses and mules enough, and to spare;
but very few pigs, persons having them being obliged to keep them
chained, as the fences are not close enousch to T)revent them dama<Tin2:
the crops. However, they have legions of superior j^oultr}^ so that
they live in the most plentiful manner possible. We exchanged and
]>urchased some mules and horses on very favourable terms, knowing
we would stand in need of strong teams in crossing the Sierra Nevada.
" On Sunday morning early we went to the hot springs, a mile
beyond the town, where the authorities were erecting a handsome and
commodious building, and had a glorious bath, in &ul|)hur water, at
a temperature just as high as could be comfortably endured, drinking,
too, of the stream as it gushed from the hill-side in a thick volume,
being told it possessed certain medicinal properties of which we all
stood in need. The Mormons made a boast of their good health, and
attribute it to bathing in those springs, many that I met declaring
they came to the Valley perfect cripples, and w^ere restored to their
health and agility by frequenting them.
" After bathing, we dressed in our best attire, and prepared to attend
the Mormon service, held for the present in the large space adjoining
the intended temple, which is only just above the foundations, but will
be a structure of stupendous proi)ortions. ; and, if finished according
to the plan, of sur[)assing elegance. I went early, and found a
rostrum, in front of which there were rows of stools and chairs for
the tovvnfolk; those from the country, who arrived in great numbers,
in light waggons, &itthig on chairs, took up their stations in their ve-
liicles in the background, after unharnessing the horses. There was
a very large and most respectable congregation ; the laxlies attired in
rich and becoming costumes, each with parasols ; and 1 hojte I may
say, without any imputation of profanity, a more betwitching assem-
blage of the sex it has rarely been my lot to Look upon. J>efore the
religious ceremony comtneoced, five men mounted the rostiuui, who
2f)-l: THE MOKMOXS.
woie, as^ I learned, tlie weekly committee ol inspection. Tlie cliair-
nian read his general report of the prospects and proceedings of the
colony, and then read a list of those deserving of particular com-
mendation for their superior husbandry, the extent of their fencing,
and other improvements, which was followed by the black list, enume-
I'citing the idle, slothful, and uaimproving portion of the community,
wlio were held up to reprobation ; and threatened, in default of certain
tasks allotted them being finished at the next visit, to be deprived of
their lots, and expelled the community. The reading of these lists
j>roduced an evident sensation, and, 1 am satisfied, stimulate the
industiious to extra exertion, and goad the lazy to work in self-
defence. This over, another, 'the gentleman in black,' got up, and
Avithout any form of service or prefatory prayer, read aloud a text
from the Book of Mormon, and commenced a sermon, or discourse,
de midtis rebus et qiiibusdam aliis, taking a fling at the various other
religions, showing them up by invidious comparison with the creed of
the Valley. He then pointed out the way to arrive at Mormon sanc-
tity, in which there was nothing objectionable as laid down, and
exhorted the congregation, not only as they valued their salvation,
but their crops, to so demean themselves, and endeavour to propitiate
the favour and indulgence of the Supreme Being, calling to mind that,
in the year of righteousness (last year) lie sent sea-gulls, a bird never
before known to visit the valley, to devour the crickets, who w'ould
otherwise, from their numbers, have annihilated all vegetation. >'
" He then adverted to the barbarous treatment they received at the
hands of the Americans, forgetting to avow his charitable forgiveness,
and expressed a belief that their avarice would yet iqduee them to
covet their possessions in Salt Lake ; but he entertained a hope that
the Mormons by that time would be strong enough to guard and
n)aintain their rights and independence. He talked of the gold of
('alifornia, which he said was discovered by Mormon energy, but the
ii-eely abandoned it to American cupidity, as they (the Mormons) did
not desire such worldly aggrandizement.
" The affairs of Churcli and State here go strictlv hand in hand,
the elders of the Church being the magistrates and functionaries in
all civil and criminal matters, the framers of the law and chancellors
of the exchequer, with whom it is expected that every member of the
community will lodge whatever Avealth they may acquire beyond their
immediate wants, taking treasury notes of acknowledgment.
* It is surprising the Monnons, who are, as a class, a most astute and reasoning
people, can be gulled and gammoned atler this fashion, for sea-gulls are met all acro^s
tlif plains, and were seen in the Valley the first time Colonel Fremont vi.Mtid it, in
1845, two years before the Mormons thought of settling there.
MORMON GOLD MAUVKST.
26J
*' There are no written laws among them; but trespasses, out-
rages, and such matters, are taken cognizance of by the elders, and
adjudicated on summarily, according to conscience, fines and public
flogging being the punisliments most in vogue. The authorities have
a mint, from which they issue gold coin only ; it is plain, but massive,
without any alloy.
'• There are, as far as I could hear or judge, about 5,000 inhabit-
ants in the town, and 7,000 more in the settlements, which extend
forty miles each way — north to the Weber, and south towards Utah
Lake. The valley, at its greatest width, is not over fifteen miles, and
I think seven would be a fair average. Its soil is a rich black loam,
and is watered, besides the Jordan, which flows through its centre
from Utah to Salt Lake, by innumerable springs of good water, and
streamlets flowing from the snowy mountains ; but it has a naked,
bleak look for want of timber, which renders the eftects of the sun
next thing to unbearable. The city is situated on the south-east end
of the lake, about nine miles from its shores."
Brigham Young, in a paragraph previously quoted, talks magnilo-
quently of gold as being only fit for the paving of streets and the
roofing of houses ; but it appears that the sect has been so successful
at the diggings of California, as well as at the more profitable dig-
gings of the soil of a grain and fruit produce country, that tl>ey have
put aside 3| tons, or 94,080 ounces, of gold, gathered in California,
for the i)urpose of " gathering"" the poor Saints from England and
other parts of Europe, as well as from the remote districts of the
American Union, into the Great Salt Lake Valley. At ^£4 an ounce,
this would amount to i;376,820. It is possible that they may have
exaggerated their resources in this respect. The gold coinage of their
new State of Deseret has been already struck. The five-dollar pieces
are of pure Californian gold, without alloy, and somewhat smaller,
but much heavier, than a sovereign. The reverse bears the inscription,
" Holiness to the Lord,"" surmounting the eye of Jehovah, and a cap
somewhat like a mitre, both very rudely executed. The obverse bears
two hands joined, and the words, " Five dollars." The tv/o and a
half dollar pieces are precisely similar.
Mormon Gold Coin.
< "MI'vilM
'"i'"'i'l('"lli'ii|iiI''Vi"1i' rti'rir.
Ceremony of Confirmation.
CHAPTER X.
MORMONISM ITS PRESENT StaTE, AND SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND ReLIGIOUS
ASPEGT.
In traciiif? the history of the rise and progress of Mormonisni, and
detailing the varied fortunes of the founders and leaders of the new
faith, as well as of the large community who have recognised Joseph
Smith as tlie prophet of God, and his Book of Mormon as a new
Bible, we have necessarily omitted to notice many controversial points,
in order tliat the contiimity of the narrative might not be broken.
Having concluded this portion of the work, we ])roceed to the con-
sideration of the present state of Mormonisni, and to the arguments
by which its divinity is asserted by the men who believe in it.
The discovery of the Book of Mormon is connected, hy the be-
lievers in it, with certain scripture doctrines and jDrophecies concerning
the Latter Days. Hence, indeed, the designation of the sect, as
the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. Here, we have to admire the
THE BOOK OF MORMON. 207
cleverness of the case which they have contrived to make out for
themselves. The wonder is, that so much plausible evidence should
be collectible in sup])ort of the most transparent ])ious fraud ever
attempted to be jialmed off on the credulity of mankind. However,
so it is ; and it is " writ down in our duty " to say a few words on
this curious point.
In treating of this subject, in his pamphlet on the Divine Authen-
ticity of the Book of Mormon, Mr. Orson Pratt, by far the ablest
writer whom Mormoiiism has produced, commences by a triumphant re-
capitulation of the means by which he has reduced his opi)onents to the
necessity of asserting a mere negation in defence of their disbelief.
Secure in the strength of his afhrmative position, he characteristically
defies " all the powers of priestcraft, editors, and the infernal regions
combined," to disprove his "vast amount of most incontestible evi-
dences," by which it has been " abundantly" testified that " the Book .
of Mormon has been confirmed by the voice of the Lord, by the
ministry of angels, by heavenly visions, or by the miraculous gifts
and powers of the Holy Ghost, unto tens of thousands of Avitnesses."
Kay, he boldly declares, that "if any one will follow the steps of
demonstration wdiich lie has pointed out, he will know with the same
certainty that it is a revelation from God, that a geometrician has
"when he follows the rules of demonstration in relation to any parti-
cular problem."
Such being the state of the ai-gument, Mr. Orson Pratt ])rofesses
to feel that he need call no. fui'ther witnesses ; but, nevertheless, for
the sake of completeness, he summons the prophets into court. He
takes the last first. St. John on Patmos (Revelations, xiv. 6, 7, 8),
and his vision of an angel "having the everlasting Gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth," in the latter days, which, of
course, is none other than the all-needed New Revelation contained
in the "Book of Mormon," with the restoration of the Gospel priest-
l:ood, its gifts, powers, and blessings. Hitherto the world has had a
history (in the New Testament) of the Gospel, but not its enjoy-
ment. That the angel was to preach his Everlasting Gospel " to
every nation, kindred, tongue, and peoj)le," shows that they were to
be previously destitute of it, as they have been practically. Now,
the " Book of Mormon " contains the Everlasting Gospel in all its
fulness ; moreover, it has been revealed to the inhabitants of earth by
*' an angel." Q. E. D.
Corollary. — " The only people that do testify that the Gospel
has been restored to the earth by an angel are the Latter-Day Saints ;
therefore, if the Gospel is restored, the Latter-Day Saints are the
only people to whom it is restored ; all others testify that it has not
26S
THE MORMONS.
been restored to them. If the only people who do testify to the
restoration of the Gospel by an angel be impostors, then all nations
must still be in darkness, without the Gospel, and without a Christian
Church, and must remain so until the angel is sent in fulfilment of
John's prediction."
Again. The Church of the Latter-Day Saints is none other than
the Stone foretold by Daniel to smite the Image upon its feet of iron
and clay. The [Mormon] proof follows : —
" The nations of modern Europe, including England and the Gen-
tile nations of America, compose the legs, and ieet, and toes of the
Image, while the other portions of the Image Avill be found mostly
among the Asiatic nations. The geographical position of the Image
is from east to west ; its head is found in Asia, and its toes in Europe
and America. When the kingdom of God is set up, it must be some-
where near the western extremity of this great Image, for the toes
and feet are first broken by it, and afterwards all the other portions,
from which we learn that its advancement is from west to east. The
]irogress of the kingdoms of the world has been from east to west ;
the progress of the kingdom of God is from west to east, in a retro-
grade direction. This stone, according to Daniel (ii. 45), is to be
* CUT OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS,' ' Cut OUt of the moun-
tain,' signifies its location before any part of the Image is broken.
Tiie present location of the Latter-Day Church is in the valleys among
the Rockij Mountains ; this appears to be its appropriate position,
according to prophecy. The stone is to be ' cut out ivitliout hands ;*
this signifies that it is a kingdom, not formed by the will of man, but
by the will of God ; human wisdom has no hand in its formation ; it
is ' the God of Heaven ' that sets it up, and by liim it will be sustained
and never be destroyed, nor broken to pieces, nor left to other people.
" The kingdoms of the world made war upon the saints of the
former-day kingdom and prevailed against them, and overcame them,
and rooted them out of the earth, so that the kingdom no longer
existed among the nations ; not so with the Latter-Day kingdom ; lor
it will j)revail against the kingdoms of the world, until they shall, as
Daniel savs, ' become like the chaff of tiie summer thrashing-floors
and the wind carry them away, that no place shall be found for them;
and the stone that smote the Image shall become a great mountain,
and fill the whole earth' (Daniel ii. 35). * And then shall the king-
dom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
lieaven, be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, who^^e
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and
obey him' (Daniel vii. 27). The events ])redicted by Daniel are the
same as the events predicted by John ; Daniel says a kingdom sliull
THE BOOK OF MORMON. 209
be set np : John tells us by what means, namely, through the ever-
lasting Gospel revealed by an angel. Daniel says, when the kingdom
of God is set up, that the kingdoms of the world shall be broken in
pieces : John says, that when the everlasting Gospel has been restored
and preached to the nations, that then is 'the hour of God's judgment'
— the downfall of Babylon. Both of these writers beheld the same
great events, but described them indifferent language. That which was
predicted by those two inspired men is now being fultilled. The angel
has appeared — the Gospel is restored — the kingdom is set up — its loca-
tion is among the mountains, and shortly the balance of these predic-
tions will also be fulfilled to the very letter, and not one jot or tittle
shall fail, until the earth shall rest from wickedness, and ' the king-
doms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ.' "
But the great proof of all, according to the believers in Joseph
Smith and his book, is derived from the 29th chapter of Isaiah, and
his prophecy concerning Ariel therein contained, particularly the latter
part of the second verse — " And it shall be unto me as Ariel."*
Taking advantage of the current translation, which seems to compare
by the word *' it," some other place to Ariel, the Mormon writer con-
tends that another nation than Jerusalem, sutfering similar judgments,
is intended. The rest of the argument must be taken in Mr. Orson
Pratt's own words : —
" In the three following verses, the Lord describes more fully the
second event ; he says, * And I will camp against thee round about,
and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts
against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out
of the ground, and thy speech shall he low out of the dust, and thy voice
shall he as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy
spjeech shall ivhisper out of the dust. Moreover, the multitude of thy
strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible
ones shall be as chaff that passeth away ; yea, it shall be at an instant
suddenly.' These predictions of Isaiah could not refer to Ariel, or
Jerusalem, because their speech has not been ' out of the ground,' or
or ' low out of the dust,' but it refers to the remnant of Joseph who were
destroyed in America upwards of fourteen hundred years ago. The
Book of Mormon describes their downfall, and truly it was great and
terrible. At the crucifixion of Christ, ' the multitude of their terrible
ones,' as Isaiah predicted, ' became as chaff that passed away,' and it
took place, as he further predicts, ' at an instant suddenly.' Many of
their great and magnificent cities were destroyed by fire, others by
earthquakes, others by being sunk and buried in the depths of the
* It is believed that the correc-t translation of the passage is, " And it shall indeed
be au Ariel (a stout lion) to me," a play upon the name.
270 THE MORMONS.
earth. This sudden destruction came upon them hecause they had
stoned and killed the propliets sent amonoj them. Between three and
four hundred years after Christ, they again fell into great wickedness,
and the ])rincipal nation fell in battle. Forts were raised in all parts
of the land, the remains of which may be seen at the present day.
^lillions of the people perished in battle, and they suffered just as the
Lord foretold by Isaiah, ' And I will camp against thee round about,
and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts
against thee, and thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of
the ground,' &c. This remnant of Joseph in their distress and de-
struction, became unto the Lord AS Ariel. As the Roman army lay
siege to Ariel, and brought upon her great distress and sorrow, so did
the contending nations of ancient America bring upon each other the
most direful scenes of blood and carnage. Therefore the Lord coukl,
Avith the greatest propriety, when speaking in reference to this event,
declare that ' it shall be unto me as Ariel.'
" One of the most marvellous things contiected with this prediction
is, that after the nation should be brought down, they should ' speak
out of the ground.' This is mentioned or repeated four times in the
same verse. Never was a prophecy more truly fulfilled than this, in
the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith took that
sacred history ' out of the ground.' It is the voice of the ancient pro-
phets of America speaking ' out of the ground.' Their speech * is low
out of the dust ;' it speaks in a most familiar manner of the doings of
bygone ages ; it is the voice of those who slumber in the dust. It is
the voice of prophets speaking from the dead, crying repentance in the
ears of the living. In what manner could a nation, after they were
brought down and destroyed, ' speak out of the ground V Could their
dead bodies, or their dust, or their ashes speak ? Verily, no : they can
only speak by their writings, or their books that they wrote while
living. Their voice, or speech, or words, can only ' speak out of the
ground, or ' whisper out of the dust,' by tlieir books or writings being
discovered. Therefore, Isaiah further says, in the eleventh and twelfth
verses, ' And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying.
Read this, I pray thee ; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed ; and
the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I
pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned.'
" After obtaining the Book of Mormon through the ministry of the
angel * out ot the ground,' Mr. Smith transcribed some of the original
characters upon paper, and sent them by the hands of Martin Harris,
a farmer, to the city of New York, where they were presented to Pro-
fessor Anthon, a man deeply learned in both ancient and modern Ian-
THE BOOK OF MORMON. 271
gUcag-es. Mr. Harris very anxiously requested the learned Professor to
read it, but he replied that he could not. None of the learned have as
yet been able to decipher the characters and hieroglyphics which are
found amon^ the ancient ruins, in almost every pnrt of America. The
written language of ancient America is a sealed language to this
generation."
The story is then told of Professor Anthon's considering the appli-
cation made to him as "a hoax," and particularly because of the
" singular medley" presented by the alleged letters, which were arranged
in columns like the Chinese mode of writing. In this it would now
aj)pear that Professor Antlion judged too hastily. Some American
glyphs discovered by Professor Rafinesque, and of Avhich fac-similes
were given in his Asiatic Journal for 1832 (two years after the pub-
lication of the Book of Mormon), agree very much with the description
of the specimen as shown to him by the Mormon emissary. Thus, w^e
ai-e told by Professor Rafinesque that " the glyphs ot Otolum are
w^ritten from top to bottom, like the Chinese, or from side to side,
indifferently, like the Egyptian and the Demotic Lybian. Although
the most common way of writing the groups is in rows, and each group
separated, yet we find some formed, as it Avere, in oblong squares or
tablets, like those of Egypt." The glyphs found by the Professor in
Mexico, Avere arranged in columns, being forty-six in number. These
tiie learned Professor denominates " the elements of the glyphs of Uto-
lum," and he supposes that by the combination of these elements, words
and sentences Avere formed, constituting the Avritten language of the
ancient nations of that vast continent. By an inspection of the fac-simile
of these forty-six elementary glyj)hs, Ave find all the particulars Avhich
Professor Anthon ascribes to the characters, which, he says Martin
Harris, a " i)lain-looking countryman" presented to him. The "Greek,
HebrcAV, and all sorts of letters," inverted and in different positions,
" Avith sundry delineations of half moons," planets, suns, "and other
natural objects, " are found among these forty-six elements. This "plain-
looking countryman," according to Professor Anthon's testimony, got,
says Mr. Orson Pratt, " seme three or four years the start of Professor
Rafinesque, and presented him with the genuine elementary glyphs
years before the Asiatic Journal made them jiublic; and Avhat is still
more remarkable, 'the characters,' Professor Anthon says, 'we:e
arranged in columns, like the Chinese mode of Avriting,' Avhich exactly
corresponds Avith Avhat Professor Rafinesque testifies, as quoted above,
in relation to the glyphs of Otolum. We see nothing in Professor
Anthon's statement that proves the characters presented to him to be a
'hoax,' as he terms it ; unless, indeed, he considers their exact resem-
blance to the glyphs of Otolum, and their being arranged in the right
272 THF, MORMONS.
kind of columns is a * hoax.' But, as Joseph Smith was an unlenrned
young man, living in the country, Avhere he had not access to the
writings and discoveries of antiquarians, he would be entirely incapable
of forging the true and genuine glyphs of ancient America ; therefore
we consider this testimony of Professor Anthon, coming as it does
from an avowed enemy of tlie Book of Mormon, to be a great collateral
evidence in its favour. Professor Rafinesque says, as we have already
quoted, that ' the glyphs of Otolum are written from top to bottom,
like the Chinese, or from side to side, indifferently, like the Egyptian.'
Now the most of the Book of Mormon was written from side to side,
like the Egyptian. Indeed, it was written in the ancient Egyptian,
reformed by the remnant of the tribe of Joseph. "
Other glyphs have since been found, as we learn from the follow-
ing statement which appeared in the Times and Seasons : —
"On the 16th of Ayml, 1843, a respectable merchant, by the name of
Pobert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place ; he ex-
cavated to the depth of ten feet, and came to rock. About that time the rain
began to fall, and he abandoned the work. On the 23rd, he and quite a
number of the citizens, with myself, repaired to the mound, and after making
ample opening, we found plenty of rock, the most of which a])peared as though
it had been strongly burned ; and after removing full two feet of said rock,
we found plenty of charcoal and ashes, also human bones, that appeared as
though they had been burned ; and near the eciphalon a bundle was found that
consisted of Six Plates of Brass, of a bell shape, each having a hole near
the small end, and a ring through them all, and clasped with two clasps. The
ring and clasps appeared to be iron, very much oxidated : the plates first
appeared to be copper, and had the appearance of being covered with characters.
It was agreed by the company that I should cleanse the plates. Accordingly,
I took them to my house, washed them M'ith soap and water, and a woollen
cloth ; but finding them not yet cleansed, I treated them with dilute sulphuric
acid, which made them perfectly clean, on which it appeared that they were com-
pletely covered with characters, that none, as yet, have been able to read. Wish-
ing that the world might know the hidden things as fast as they come to liyht, I
was induced to state the fticts, hoping that you would give them an insertion
in your excellent paper, for we all feel anxious to know the true meaning of
the plates ; and publishing the fiicts might lead to the true translation. They
were found, I judge, more than twelve feet below the surface of the top of the
mound.
"I am, most respectfully, a citizen of Kinderhook,
'MV. P. Harris, M.D."
The following certificate was forwarded for publication at the same
time : —
■'We, citizens of Kindeihook, whose names are annexed, do certify and
declare, that on the 23rd of April, 1S43, while excavating a large mound in
ANCIENT GLYPHS.
270
this vicinity Mr. Wiley took from said mound six brass plates, of a, Wl shape,
covered with ancient characters. Said phites were very much oxidated. The
bauds and rings on said pbites mouldered into dust on a slight pressure.
"EoBEKT WiLF.Y. G. W. F. Ward. Fayette Guubb.
George Dickexsox. J. 11. Sharp. W. P. Harris.
W. LONGNECKER. IrA S. CURTIS. W. FuGATE."
/pv^x^^^
Ancient Glyph.
Of one of the last <2;lyplis we are enabled to present an engraved
copy, which Avill allow the reader to judge of their character fur
hliu.-elf. We have now to do with the maimer in which the Mormons
ai)ply the supposed possession of some such plates as these by Jose[)li
k>niidi to Isaiah's proj)hecy respecting Ariel, as interpreted by the
Latter-Day Saints in their own favour. We therefore proceed with
Mr. Orson Pratt's t^tatement : —
*' Isaiah says, as we have already quoted, that ' the vision of all is
become unto you as tlie words of a book that is sealed, which men
deliver to one tliat is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee ; and he
saith, I cannot, for it is sealed.' Mark this prediction ; the Book
itself was not to be delivered to the learned, but only * the words of a
R
'274.
THE MORMONS.
Book ;' this was literally fulfilled in the event which has already brcn
described, as clearly testified of, not only by tlie ' piain-loukinfr coun-
tryman,' namely, Martin Harris, but by the learned Professor Anthon
himself.
** But Isaiah informs us, in the next verse (12), that the book itself
shall be delivered to the unlearned. He says, ' And the book is de-
livered to him that is not learned, saying. Read this, I pray thee ; and
he saith, I am not learned.' This was fulfilled when the angel of the
Lord delivered the Book into the hands of Mr. Smith ; though unlearned
in every language but his own mother tongue, yet he was commanded
to read or translate the Book. Feeling his own incai)acit\' to read
such a book, he said to the Lord, in the words of Isaiah, ' I am not
learned.' When he made this excuse, the Lord answered him in
the words of Isaiah, next verses (13, 14), ' Wherefore, the Lord said,
forasmuch as this ))eople draw near nie with their mouth, and with
their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and
their fear toward me is taught by the precej)t of men ; therefore,
behold, I will jiroceed to do a marvellous work among this ])eo]ile, evt n
a marvellous work and a wonder ; for the wisdom of their Avise nun
shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid,'
AVhat woi ds could better pourtray the powerless apostate condition of
modern Christendom than this description ? and what Avords could be
more descriptive of the ' marvellous work and a wonder,' than to say,
that, the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding
of their prudent men shall be hid ?' What could be more marvellous
and wonderful, than for the Lord to cause an unlearned vouth to read
or translate a book which the wisdom of the most wise and learned
could not read ? Surely the Lord's ways are not as our ways, and
his thouirhts are not as our thoughts ; for the wisdom of the world
is foohslmess in the sight of God ; he bringeth forth by his power the
hidden things of his wisdom through the meek, the simple, and the
unleained, while he rejectetli the wisdom and learning of men, becau:je
of their piile and highmindedness."
To us it is clear that the reply, — " I cannot, for it is sealed," fully
proves that the Prophet meant that the book itself, not the words
only, were delivered to the learned. But we are not here showing
the truth or the contrary of the Mormon argument, but its ingenuity,
which, sometimes, is best shown Avhere it is the most evidently ialcc.
Besides, we nuist not pause on the way, and the subject is not ex-
hausted. Hear, then, again, Mr. Orson Pratt, the " learned aj[>ostle"
of Mormon ism : —
" Isaiah, in the ninth and tenth verses, has given a further descriji-
tion of the condition of all the nations, addressing himself to them, he
THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH. 275
exclaims, ' Stay yourselves and wonder ; cry ye out, and cry ; tliey
are di unken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with stiMing
drink ; for the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep
sleep, and hath closed your eyes ; the ])r()phet3 and your rulers, the
seers hath he covered, and the vision of all is become unto you as the
"Nvords of a Book that is sealed,' Szc. Here we perceive the dark and
benighted condition of the n)ultitude of all the nations ; at the time
* the words of the Book ' should ' speak out of the ground ' ' the spirit
of deep sleep ' was to be poured out upon them ; they were to be
drunken and stagger, but not with wine nor with strong drink ; the
pro[)hets and seers were to be covered fiom them ; and 'the vision of
all,' that is, the revelations of all the holy prophets and seers, con-
tained either in the Bible or any other place, were to become as the
words of the sealed Book of Mormon. If they, understood ' the vision
of all ' who have spoken in past ages by the spirit of prophecy, they
would not be 'drunken,' nor 'stagger,' nor be in a 'deep sleep,' but
all nations are drunken with the wine of the wrath of the fornication
of great Babylon ; they see not, neither do they understand the judg-
ments which are about to befall them. As the learned Professor
Anthon could not read ' the words of the Book ' presented to him
because it was a sealed book — a lanauao-e not understood bv the
leariied™so with ' the multitude of all the nations' in regard to 'the
vision of all the prophets and seei's ;' they are covered ; they are not
understood any more than the words ot" the sealed Book were under-
stood by the learr.ed. When the events of Scripture prophecy are so
clearly fultilled before their eyes, they will not even then perceive it ;
when the wisdom of the wise and learned perishes, and a mar-
vellous work and a wonder is performed, in causing the unlearned to
read the Book, the nations will not take it to heart ; though, as Isaiah
says, they will ' stay themselves and wonder,' and ' cry out and cry,'
because of the Book which ' speaks out of the ground ;' yet, because
they are drunken with every sj)ecies of wickedness and abominations,
and because they ' draw near to the Lord with their mouths and with
their lips, while their liearts are removed far fiom him, and because
tliey are taught by the [)rccepts of men they will reject it, and in so
doing, they will nject the Lord's great and last warning message to
man, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.' Because they
despise so great a work, they ' shall be visited,' as Isaiah says, ' with
storm and tempest,' and 'earthquakes,' and ' the flame of devouring
fire.'
"As another evidence that the Book of which Isaiah speaks, was
to come forth in the latter times, he says, in the seventeenth verse,
' Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a
'■27G THE MOKMors.
iViiitful field, and the fruitful field shall he esteemed as the forest?'
Eighteenth ver?c : ' And in that day shall the deaf hear the -words of the
J3ook, and the eyes of the hliiid shall see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness.' This Book could not mean the New Testament, for Avhen
that was written, it was about the time that Lebanon was to be for-
saken by the Jews, and become a desolation, a forest or wildeincss, for
many generations. * Upon the land of my people shall come up
thoi-ns and briers' (Isaiah, xxxii. 13). Hence, the land of Palestine,
which includes Lebanon, was, when the New Testament was Aviitten,
about to be cursed. But immediately after the unlerirned sliuuld read
the Book, ' Lebanon shall be turned into a fruit'ul field, and the fruit-
ful field shall be esteemed as tlie forest.' The Book, therefore, that
Isaiah projdiecies of, is to come forth just before the great day of the
restoration of Israel to their own lands ; at which time Lebanon, and
all the land of Cana<in, is again to be blessed, while the fruitful field,
occupied by the nations of the Gentile.^, ' will be esteemed as a fore.it ;'
the multiiude of the nations of the Gentiles are to perish, and their
lands, v/hich are now like a fruitful field, are to be left desolate of
inhabitants, and become as Lebanon has been for many generations
l)ast ; vdiile Lebanon shall again be occupied by Israel, and ' be turrjed
into a fruitful field.' These great events could not take place until
the Lord should first bring forth a book out of the ground.
'"And, in that day, shall the deaf hear the ivords of the Book.''
This has already been literally fulfilled. Those who were so deaf that
they could not hear the loudest sound, haye had their ears opened to
liear the glorious and most precious Avords of the Book of ]ilormon,
and it has been done by the jiower of God and not of man. 'uhul the
ei/es of the blind shall see out of ohscurity atid out of darhness' This has
also been literally fulfilled], as abundantly testified of in the fifth num-
her of this series. ' The meeJ: also shall increase their joy in the Lord.'
Now, during the long night of darkness, there have been some humble
meek persons, who have had a degree of light ; but as the Church of
Christ l]ad fied from the earth, there was no one that had authority to
baptize. or administer the ordinances of the Gospel to those meek per-
sons ; therefore, their joy was very imperfect : but Isaiah says, when
the Book is revealed, ' the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord.'
This is what the Book is calculated to produce ; for by its contents
the meek learn that the time is at hand for them to inherit tlie earth,
according to the blessing of our Saviour on the mount : ' Blessed are
the meek, for tlu^y shall inherit the earth.' This will be fulfilled after
all the wicked nations are destroyed. * And the poor amonjx i"en shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.' This also is promised as a result
of the revelation of the Book, and the means bv which it is to be
THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL. '^77
effected is l>v a general overthroAv of the wicked ; as, says Isaiah. ' For
the terrible or.e is broiigh.t to nought, and the scorner is eonsiimed*and
all that watch for iniquity are cut off; that make a man an otiender
for a word, and lay a snare for him that ]-eprovetli in the gate, and
turn aside the just for a thing of nouglit.' 0 how plainly it is de-
clared that judgment was soon to fall upon all the wicked after the
apjtearance of this Book— this marvellous work and a wonder ! And
0 how plainly it is also declared tliat the deaf, the blind, the meek,
and the poor among men were to be greatly benefited by the
Book ! "
But the prophetic argument of the Mormons has wider ramifications.
Not alone Isaiah, but Ezekiel, is produced as a v/itness : —
" V7e have alread}^ shown from Isaiah that the house of Jacob
never could be restored, until God should bring forth aBook, and that,
too, ' out of the ground ; ' and, until the deaf should hear the Avords of
it. It v/ill next be shown from the testiuiony of Ezekiel, that the
Book which is to perform so great a work for Israel, was really and
truly to be a record of Josejdi. Ezekiel says (xxxvii.), ' The Word of
the Lord came again unto me, saying, l\Ioreover, thou son of man,
take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children
of Israel, his conipanions ; then take another stick, and write upon it,
for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of lorael, his
companions : and join them one to another into one stick, ana they
shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people
shall speak unto thee, saying. Wilt thou not show us what thou mean-
est by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I
will take the stick of Joseph which is (shall be) in the hand of
Ephraim, and the ti-lbes of Israel his fellows, and will put them v.'itli
him, even Avith the stick of Judavh, and make them one stick, and thev
shall be one in mine hand. And the sticks wliereon thou writest shall
be in thine hand before their eyes.'
"It was customary in ancient days to write upon parchment, and
roll tlie same upon sticks, and such reading -sticks or rolls were called
hooks. All the pro})hecies of Jeremiah, from the days of Jo.^iah down
to the fourth, year of Jehoikim were written in one of these rolls
(Jeremiah xxxvi., 1, 2). This 'roll' of the writings of Jeremiah, is
called a * book' in the 8th, 10th, llth, and ISth verses: hence, the
terms roll and hook are synonymous. If, then, a reading-stick or roll
containing Avritings, is called ' a book,' we can all understand the
meaning of the word of the Loi'd to Ezekiel ; it was a clear and beau-
tiful representation of the union of two books in the hand of the Lord.
Ezekiel was commanded first, to write upon one stick, \for Jiuhi.h mul
for the cldhhcn of Israel his companions,' This Avas a representation
278
THE MORMOXS
of tlie Bible wliicli is the record of Judah. ' Then take another sticJc^
anH write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the
house of Israel his companions.' This was a representation of the
Book of Mormon, which is the record of Joseph written in ancient
America. ' And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall
become one in thine hand.' This was a representation of tlie union of
the records of the two nations. In the interpretation of the meaninjr
of the two sticks, tlie Lord says that He himself ' u-ill take the stick
of Joseph' and put it * ivith the stick of Jadah.' Thsrefore, Ave leain
by this that the stick of Joseph Avas not found united with the stick
of Judah by accident, hut it Avas a Avork AA'hich the Lord himself
should perform. Hence, he further says, ' They shall he one in mine
hand.' Therefore, the t\A^o Avritings becominty one in Ezekiel's hand,
■was a most beautiful representation of the two AA-ritings Avhich should
become one in the Lord's hand.
" Having learned by Ezekiel that the Lord God Avill take the stick
of Joseph, and put A\^ith it the stick of Judah, and make them one in
bis hand ; let us next inquire Avhat events are to folIoAv the union of
these two writings. The Lord further declares, ' And the stick
whereon thou writest shall be in thine band before their eyes. And
say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I Avill take the chil-
dren of Israel from among- the heathen, Avhither they be gone, and
Avill gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land,
and I Avill make them one nation in the land upon the mountains
of Israel ; and one king shall be king to them all ; and they shall be
no more tAvo nations, neither shall thev 1>e divided into two kinirdoms
any more at all ; neither shall they defile themselves any more Avith
their idols, nor Avith their detestable things, nor Avith any of their
transgressions ; but I Avill save them out of all their dwelling places,
■wherein they have sinned, and Avill cleanse them : so shall they be my
people, and I Avill be their God.' We learn from this, that the great
object the Lord has in view, in bringing forth the book of Joseph, and
uniting it with the Bible, is to gather Israel never moi'e to be scat-
tered. Thus we see that both Isaiah and Ezekiel have spoken of the
same great ant] marvellous events ; one declares that the house of
Jacob should never again ' Avax pale ' or * be made ashamed ' in the
day that a certain lx)ok should make its appearance ; the other de-
clares, that the Avhole house of Israel should be restored to their own
lands, and should never again l^e divided into two nations, in the day
that the Lord should ])ut tiie Avritii>g8 of Joseph with the Avritinj^s of
Judah. Take the testimony of Isaiah and Ezekiel in connection Avith
the testimony of Moses, concerning the 'precious things of heaven,'
which should be given on the land of Josej»h> aud join this with the
MORMON CHARGES AGAINST ALL CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 2T9
testimony of John concerning the restoration of the Gospel by ati
an<^el, and the testimony of Daniel concerning the stone cut from tiie
mountain without hands, representing the latter-day kingdom of God,
and we have, by a combination of all these testimonies, prophetic
evidences of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, which
siiould convince the most incredulous, and destroy Atheism out of
existence."
Such is the argument of the great Mormon Apostle ! After all,
however, it is designed exclusively for the profane, lie himself needs
it not ; he has higlier, more immediate evidence. — This !
" And 1 now bear my humble testimony to all the nations of the
earth, who shall read this series of pamphlets, that the Book of Mor-
mon is a divine revelation, for the voice of the Lord hath declared it
unto me."
But we must proceed, however, with our abstract of the theology
of the Mormon 5, as it has grown out of and upon tlie Book of Mor-
mon, as invented by Joseph Smith ; and as it has been developed by
llie acuter men, such as Orson Frait, who succeeded him in the man-
agement of the sect.
For the last fourteen hundred years, according to the persuasion of
the jVlurmon, the Church has been in a state of suspended animation.
Mr. Orson Fratt, too, would [jrove the allegation out of the mouths of
Christian controverbialists themselves. " We believe," lie states, in
*• Remarkable Visions," No. 0, " that there has been a genercil and
awful apostacy from the religion of the New Testament, sa that all the
known Avorld have been left for centuries without the Church of Christ
among them ; without a priesthood authorized of God to administer
ordinances ; that every one of the churches has perverted the gospel;
some in one way, and some in another. For instance, almost every
church has done away ' immersion for remission of sins.' Those few
who have practised it for remission of sins, have done away the ordi-
nance of the ' laying on of hands' upon baptized believers for the gift
of the Holy Ghost. Again, the few who have practised the last ordi-
nance have perverted the first, or have done away the ancient gifts,
])Owers, and blessings, which flow from the Holy Spirit, or have said
to inspired apostles and prophets, we have no need of you in the body
in these days. Those few, again, who have believed in, and contended
fur, the miraculous gilts and powers of the Holy Spirit, have perverted
the ordinances or done them away. Thus all the churches preach
false doctrines and pervert the gospel, and instead of having authority
irom God to administer its ordinances they are under the curse of
God for perverting it."
In corroboration of these views, we are reminded that Frotestants
280
THE MOKMONS.
Orson Pratt.
cliarg3 on tlie cliiii-clies of Rome and Greece the sin of apo.stac}^ and
Roman Catliolics liave cliarged with heresy all reformed churches : —
mutual recriminations Avhicli involve the predicated period of four-
teen hundi-ed years in the cliarcre hrought against it hy the Mor-
mon prophet. Mr. Pratt, ijideed, in his " Divine Authenticity of
the Book of Mormon,'' boldly declares, tliat "the whole Romish,
Greek, and Protestant ministry, from the Pojie down, through every
grade of office, are as destitute of authority from God, as the
Devil and his angels." And this state of things (he saj^s), was
pro)>hesied by Paul, in the memorable words, that " the day of
Christ shall not come, except there come a falling away first," and
by other apostles in many texts of Scri{)ture. Th3 Mormons admit
that the churches which have existed from the first century "have
all had a form of godliness, while denying the power ; and they yet
stand in the same predicament."
" Such," says Mr. Pratt, in the work just alluded to, "such was
to be the religion of the latter ages, as ]iroi)hetically described by the
ancient apostles ; and such is the religion of the Papal, Greek, and
Protestant churches of the nineteenth century. The predictions were
uttered eighteen centuries ago, and modern Christendom exhibits a
most perfect fulfilment. Instead of having apostles, prophets, and
ORSON PRATT ON THE CIIRTSTIAN jITNISTRY. 281
Other inspired men in the church now, receiving visions, (h-eani.<,
revehitions, ministry of angels, and propiiecies for the calling of
officers, and for the government of the churcli,— they have a wicked,
corrupt, uninspired pope, or uninspired arclihishops, bishops, cler-
gymen, &c., who have a great variety of corrupt forms of Godli-
ness, but utterly deny the gift of revelation, and every other nnra-
culous power which always characterised Cln-ist's Church. These
man-made, powerless, hypocritical false teachers, ' make merchan-
dise of the people,' by preaching for large salaries, amounting in
man}^ instances to tens of thousands of pounds sterling annually.
They and their deluded followers are reprobate concerning the faith
once delivered to the Saints. The faith which once quenched the
violence of fire, stopped the mouths of lions, divided waters, and
controlled the })owers of nature, is discarded as unnecessary. The
faith that inspired men v/ith the gift of revelation — that o])cned
the heavens and laid hold on mysteries that were not lawful to be
uttered — that unfolded the visions of the past and future — and that
called down the angels of heaven to eat and drink with men on
earth, — is denied as being attainable in this age. The sound doc-
trine taught by the apostles Avhich put mankind in the possession
of these glorious gifts and powers cannot now be endured. The
doctrines, commands, fables, traditions, and creeds, of uninsj)ired
men, are now substituted in the place of direct inspiration from God.
* Tliey are ever learning, but are never able to come to the know-
ledge of the truth.' Guess woi'k, conjecture, opinion, and, perhaps,
in some instances, a belief in regard to the truth, are all that they
attain to, while a knowledge they do not obtain, because they deny
new revelation, the only means of obtaining it. This great multitude
of ffilse teacliers who have found tlieir Avay into all nations, deceiving
millions, ' resist the truth,' contend against the miraculous ])Owers of
the gospel, and reject ins})ired men, as 'Jannes arid Jambres' — the
magicians, did Moses: but 'their folly shall be made manifest unto
all men, as theirs also was ;' yea, all nations shall see the righteous
judgments wliich shall speedily be executed upon them, for they shall,
like Pharaoh's host, iierish quickly from the earth."
Pursuing this course of losic, in connection with the evidence ot
history. Mi-. Orson Pratt argues that it is neither unscrij)taral nor
unreasonable to expect more revelation ; and that, in fact, more I'eve-
lation is necessary. This, however, is an argunient in behalf ot
modern vi.--ions and ])ro]thecyings, and but little in favour of the
Book of Mormon, which, like the Scriptui'es in general, deals with the
])ast, not witli the present. And this, as v/e have hi fore remarked,
is the main proposition about which the Mormon advocate is solid-
28"2 THE ?,rORMONS.
toii^. Tliat proposition he uses both negatively and affirmatively.
Negatively, as against all churches preceding his own : — e„ g.
" As the Church of England and other Protestants do not profess
to have received anv new commission by revelation, but, on the con-
trary, require their followers to reject everything of the kind, it may
be asked, how did they get their authority ? It will be replied, that
they received it from WickHffe, Cranmer, Luther, Calvin, and various
other dissenters from the Papal Church. But where did those dis-
senters iT'^t theirs from ? Thev answer, from the Roman Catholics.
But the Catholics excommunicated them as heretics ; and surely if
they had power to impart authority, they had powder to take it away.
Therefore, if the Romish Church had any authority, the Protestants,
being excommunicated, can hold none from that source. But if the
Catholics hold authority, they must be the true church, and con-
sequently the Protestants must be apostates ; but, on the other
hand, if the Catholics are not the true church, they can have no
authority themselves, and therefore could not impart any to others.
Now the Church of England states in one of her homilies, ' niat laity
and clergy, learned and unlearned, men and icomen, and cliildren of all
ages, sects, and degrees, of Whole Christendom, have been at once
buried in Thk Most Abominable Idolatry, fa most dreadful thing
to think,) and that for the space of EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS OR MORE.
Wesley in his O-ith sermon states the same in substance ; he says,
' The real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were
no lonfjer to be found in the Christian Church, was, because the Chris-
tians were turned heathens again, and had only a dead form left.^ If,
then, the 'whole of Christendom,' without one exception, have been
' buried in the most abominable idolatry for upwards of eight hun-
dred years,* as the Church of England declares, and if they, because
they are destitute of the gifts, are not even now Christians, but
heathens, as Wesley asserts, we ask where tiie authority was during
the eight hundred years, and where is it now ? Surely God would
not recognise 'the most abominable idolators,' as holding authority;
if so, the authority of the worshippers of Juggernaut must be as valid
as that of idolatrous Christendom. But the idolatry of ' the w^hole of
Christendom' must have been more corrupt, according to the Church
of England, than that of other idolators : for they call it * the most
abominable idolatry,^ and most positively declare that there was no
excejttion of either clergy or laity — of either man, woman, or child —
all were buried in it. This being the case, (and we feel no disposi-
ti<»n to dispute it,) there could have been no possible channel on the
whole earth through which authority could have been transferred
from the apostles to our day. Therefore, as Wesley says, all Chris-
KELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF MOPtMONISil. 283
tendom are, sure enough, 'heathens,' having no more authority nor
power tlian tlie idohitrous pagans. If", then, the ' whole of C'hristen-
doni ' have been without authority and power 'for eight hundred
years and upwards,' we ask, when was the authority restored? how
was it restored ? and to wliat man or people was it restored ? It
could not have been restored to the paj)al churches, for they do not
jjrofess that any s ich restoration has been made to them ; it could
not liave been restored to the Church of England and other Pro-
testants, for they do not admit of any later revelation than the ISew
Testament ; consequently their own admissions prove most clearly
that the whole of Christendom are without an authorized ministry ;
therefore it is indispensablv necessarv that more revelation should be
given to restore the authority to the earth and call men to the ministry
again, as in ancient days."
The Mormon writer uses the same proposition affirmatively as jus-
tifying the creation and ordination of official persons in the new church
of Latter-Day Saints. Revelation, he says, is also necessary to point
"out their duties. " Without continued revehition the officers of the
church can do nothing." " The apostles, and Jesus Christ himself,
were under the same necessity in their time." Peter himself was one
"of those visionary characters so much despised by modern religionists.^"
So far the philosophical historian may recognise in these Mormon
doctrines the spirit of reaction against that ultra-Protestant opposition
to mysticism of which Luther set the example. We therefore cannot
do better than sum up the entire argument in the words of its clever
though mistaken advocate.
" 2sew revelation is the verv life and soul of the religion of heaven,
• — tliat it is indispensably necessary for the calling of all officers in
tlie church, — that without it, the officers can never be instructed in
the various duties of their callings, — that where the spirit of revela--
tiun does not exist, the church cannot be comforted and tauglit in all
wisdom and knowledge, — cannot be properly reproved and chastened
according to the mind of God, — cannot obtain promise, for themselves,
but are dependent upon the promises made through the ancients.
Without new revelation the people are like a blind man groping his
way in total darkness, not knowing the dangers that beset liis path.
AVithout prophets and revelators, darkness hangs over the future, —
no city, people, or nation, understand what awaits them. Without
new revelation, no people know of the ai^proaching earthquake — of
the deadlv plague — of the terrible war — of the withering: famine — and
of the fearlul judgments of the Almighty which hang over their de-
voted heads. When the voice of living ])roi)hets and apostles are no
lunger heard in the land— there is an end of perfecting and edifying
284
THE JIOIIMONS
tl)c sainfs — tliore is a ?pccxly end to the * work of tlie ministry' — tliere
is an end to the obtainino- of that knowledge so necessary to eternal
life— there is an end to all that is great, and grand, and glorious,
pertaining to the religion of heaven — tliere is an end to the ver}^ ex-
istence of tlie church of Christ on the earth— there is an end to salva-
tion in the celestial kingdom.
From this statement, the dogma that "the Bible and tradition,
without further i-evelation, are an insufficient guide," naturally fol-
lows as a corollar}'. Some of the illustrations of this insufficiency are
pregnant of sugcestion. For instance, has the following any con-
nexion with the s})iritual wife doctrine, which, notwithstanding many
denials, we ai-e bound, on the authority of Mr. Kelly and many other
persons, to believe to he |)ractiscd by at least some of the Mormons.
" There are many things practised by both Romish and Protestant
churches w^hich the Scri]>ture3 do not clearlv reveal, therefore thev
must both of them consider that the Scriptures are not a sufficient
guide. V'/e are informed in Scrip-ture that niairiage is ordained of
Gud, but we are not informed in Scrijiture who has tlie right to offi-
ciate in tliis ceremony. Who can tell from the New Testament any-
thing about the order to be observed in relation to this subject ? We
read that " what God hath joined together let no man put asunder ! '
but thi'ough what particular office does God join together the sexes in
matrimony ? Can laymen officiate ? (^an those out of the church ofd-
ciate? Can a Avoman officiate ? Can the parties join themselves toge-
ther in matrimony, in the name of the Lord ? Who can answer these
(jUei^ions from the Bible alone ? No one. The Bible does not guide
the church in this important ordinance."
Similar questions are asked in the same manner as to all other
ordinances of the church, baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, ordi-
nation, &c., Avith similar result. The writer then condescends to he
jocose ; and asks,
" Furtiiermore, where in the Bible does it say that the king anl
people of England ought to revolt from the E^omish Church, and foria
a church of their own by act of parliament? If the Bible were a
sufficient guide, why was an act of ])arliament necessary as another
guide to form the English Church ? If the Bible were a sofficii-nt
guide, why was another book made, called the ' Book of Connnon
Prayer,' and the ]>eoi)le compelled to give heed to it under pain of
banishment, and even death itself? If the articles of religion, con-
taij)cd in the New Testament, were a sufficient guide, why were ' lldrty
I\iiie Articles' \wQVQQ^\U)YC(i(\. uj^on the ])Cople by acts of parliament,
and the ])eople butchered and murdered because they could not coib
fccientiousiy comply with them ? It is certain that this newly-fonncd-
THE BOOK OF DOCTKINE AND COVENANTS. 285
parliament-iiiade church considered the Bible to be very deficient a3
11 i2;uide, or thev never would have resorted to such bloodtliirstv mur-
deruu.s measures to establish other books in addition to the Bible.
" Again, what part of the Bible has established the salaries of the
different officers of the church ? If it be necessary that })reachers
should have wages, how much siiall it be ? llovr much more shall an
fipostleget than a prophet ? If a bishop get from ten to twenty thou-
sand pounds for one year's preaching, how much should an inspired
apostle or prophet get ? or how much should some of the lower officers
have ? The 2sew Testament does not tell us the amount of wages reli-
gious hirelings should liave, tb.ercfure, if it be important to know,
the Bible is an insufHcieut guide. It says, however, that apostles
should 'take neither j)urse nur scrip,' but it leaves us entirely in the
(lark, as to how much bishops, archbishops, and other uiticers should
have. Would it not be a wise plan for an act of parliament to in-
Cicase their wages a little, lest they sutler ? We see plainly tliat the
Bible is not a sufficient guide in many, very many puujts, as the doings
of the wbole Protestant world most plainly declaie."
Practical as all these questions are, and enforced with talent and
eloquence not to be des}>ised by any candid writer, they leave the
divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon much where thev found
it. Accordingly, no attempt is made b_v liir. Orson Pratt, to argue that
question, by reference to internal evidence either of that book or of
the Bible, or to suiiport either by tradition or argunient, but only
Isy testimony. And that testimony is the story of the anged and the
discovery of the buried plates already related. We are to accept the
testimo.ny of Joseph Smith and his witnesses ; the Moimons will
give us no other. For ilu rest, they ret crfc to every species of forcn^i^
recriinination.
This mode of argument is open to much suspicion. It indicates
a bad cause. It is a ])lea in extenuation, not a proof of non-guilti-
ness. It is the justification .of one i)ious fraud by the allegation of
another. To a considerable extent, however, the justification has
hueceeded, and we are presented v/ith a new church claiming imme-
diate revelation Avith its specific doctrines, officers, and orders.
These, for the most part, are to be found in another ^formon
bc^ok, already frequently mentioned, and of which the full title is us
follows : —
" The Book of Doctrine and Covenants, of the Church of Jesus
Christ of ^'Latter-Day Saints, selected from the Revelations of God,
by Joseph Smith, President. Liverpool : Orson Pratt.-
* Tiiis and the other numerous controversial tracts of the Mormons may be
oblained at tlicir Dqiul, :i5 Jcwiu Street, Al(ler>gaie Su^iit, London.
286 THE MORMONS.
This worlv commences witli seven lectures on the subject of f.iltli,
said orlginall}'- to have been delivered before a chiss of the elder.s, in
Kii tland, Ohio ; and certainlv marked by considerable acumen. On
tliis i)oint !Mr. Bowes, the author of a pami»hlet entitled " Monnon-
ism Exposed," and a public debater a^^ainst the Saints in the mami-
facturini^ districts in England, has not been fortunate in attacking:
their theology, lie charges them Avith ignorance of the word faith
— he has onlvproved his own. Faith, hesavs, iscrerliting testimonv,
and asks, "What testimony God had to credit?" — and therefore
concludes that faith is not an attribute of God but of believers. Mv.
Bowes has hero confounded F.peculative belief with practical faith.
With the Mormons, on the contrary, "faith is the principle of power,''
both human and divine. '* The ])rinciple of power," say they, "which
existed in the bosom of God, by which the worlds were framed, was
faith ; and it is by reason of this principle of po\ver existing in the
Deity, that all created things exist ; so that all things in heaven, on
earth, or under the earth exist by reason of faith as it existed in
Ilim." It is to the credit of the Mormons that, considerino: faith in its
])i-actical asjiects, they have brought it to hear on the actual business
cf life, and used it as the coi-ner- stone of the social edifice, though re-
jected by other builders of churches and of states.
It is because the Mormons accejjt faith as a practical im])nlse
rather than as a speculative acqu'escence, that they regard the living
pro})het with even more esteem than his pro])hecy, and derive the
authenticity of the book rather from the institution of the church,
than found the church upon the book. The}^ sympathise more
strongly with the Roman Catholic view in relation to the Bible than
with the Protestant. The church to both is the living witness
and interpreter of the dead letter in old documents. With them,
there still exists fellowship between God and man ; with them,
the being of the former is testified by immediate inspiration ;
and the believing recipient is, as of old, " the ttmple of the lltly
Ghost."
Kow, other and more generally-esteemed men than Joseph Smith
— men whom the world has accepted as philosophers have yearned,
in these latter days, to sup[)ly the void which they felt to exist as a
Avant in modern Christendom. Luther's reformation in EurojJC was
directly ojtposed to the mystical spirit which lies concealed in the
bosom of all religious connnuniiies, and which, though the great le-
fornier sought to extinguish it, continues still unquenched to the
l)resent time, and, as his biography proves, was not absent in his
deejjer moods from his own mental operations. The Chillingworth
doctrine of " the Bible, and the Bible alone, being the-- religion of
MORMON IDEA OF '' FAITH." 287
Protestants," had a tendency to substitute for tlie idulatr\' of the
l»riest the idolatiy of the book ; and, indeed, it was a favourite tt-net,
and, strange as it may appear, the boast of the orthodox, that " there
was no vision in the land." The time for miraculous coniniuuication
Avas passed for ever. The f^reat American sage, Mr. Emerson, tclt
the burthen of the Protestant yoke in this particular ; and, in one of
his lectures, declares that its teaching is equivalent to an admission
that " God is dead " in respect to the human race at the present
time. Now this is a conclusion against which the thinking man Aviil
reasonably revolt. Nor is much education required to perceive its
fallacy. The self- instructed man would be one of the first to perceive
it. No wonder, then, that in some part of the Christian world,
there should be a Joseph Smith, who would be deejjly attected with
such perception ; and, pursuing the practical tendencies of a working-
man, ishould seek to carry out its results in connexion with the
actual conditions and relations of the social state, collectively and
individually.
To accomplish such an end, the first thing to be done is, to destroy
the Bibliolatry that imj)edes it. The infidel sought to do this by
invalidating the Scriptures ; but modern sages have pro{)Osed, on
the other hand, to invest the whole range of literature with Divine
sanctions, and to accejit poets and philosophers as everywhere and
always inspired. Joseph Smith adopted a more com})act metho(\
He set U[) a second Bible to partake the honours of the first ; and
having thus divided the homage, and thereby weakened the idolatiy,
he piejiared the way for the acceptance of new pretensions. A third
Bible was now possible, which should record the origin, progress,
and full establishment of a new dispensation entrusted to his own
personal conduct as a ])rophet.
The lecturer " on Faith " in the Book of Doctrine proceeds to ask,
" Who cannot see, then, that salvation is the efiect of faith ? lor,
as we have previously obs> rved, all the luavenly beings work by this
])rincix)le ; and it is because they are able so to do that they are
saved, for nothing but this could save them. And this is the lesson
which the God of heaven, by the mouth of all his holy ])rophcts, has
been endeavouring to teach to the world. Hence we are told, that
without faith it is impossible to please God ; and that salvation is of
faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be
sui:e to all the seed. Romans iv. 16. And that Israel, wdio followed
after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righte-
ousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as
it were by the works of the law ; for they stumbled at that stum-
bling stone. Piomans ix. 32. And Jesus said unto the man who
2S8 THE MOEMONS.
l)roii2:lit Ills son to liim, to get the devil wlio torniented lilm cast ont,
* If thou canst holieve, all things are possible to him tliat believeth.'
Mnvk ix. 2o. These, with a iimltitLule of other scriptures which
might be quoted, ])hniily set forth the light in which the Saviour, as
■well as the Former- Day Saints, viewed the plan of salvation. That
it was a system of faith — it begins with faith, and continues by
faith; and every blessing wliich is obtained in relation to it, is the
eifect of faith, whether it pertains to this life or that which is to
come. To this all the revelations of God bear witness. If there
were cliildren of promise, they were the efficts of faith, not even the
Saviour of the world excei)ted. * Blessed is she that believeth,'
said Elizabeth to Mary, when she went to visit her, ' for there shall
be a performance of the things which were told her of the Lord.'
Luke i. 45. Kor was the birth of John the Baptist the less a matter
of faith ; for in order that his father Zacharias might believe, he Avas
struck dumb. And through the whole history of the scheme of life
and salvation, it is a matter of faith : every man received according
to his faith — according as his faith was, so were his blessings and
privileges ; and nothing Avas withheld from him wlien his faith was
sufficient to receive it. He could stop the moutlis of lions, quench
the violence of fire, escai)e the edge of the sword, wax valiant in
fight, and put to flight the armies of the aliens ; women could, by
their faith, receive their dead children to life again ; in a word, there
•was nothing inipossible with them Avho had iaith. All things were
in subjection to the Former-Day Saints, according as their faith was.
By their faith they could obtain heavenly visions, the ministering of
angels, have knowledge of the s])irits of just men made perfect, of the
general assembly and church of the first born, Avhose names are
Avritten in heaven, of God the Judge of all, of Jesus the Mediator of
the new covenant, and become lamiliar with the third heavens, see
and hear things which were not onlv unutteiable, but were unlawlul
to Utter."
These lectures are followed bv sections entitled, "Doctrines and
Commandments," which are' given us from "the Lord, to his ser-
vants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." In the
second section the origin of the church is thus dated.
" 1. The rise of the church of Christ in these last days, being one
thousand eight hundred ar.d thirty years since the coming of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularlv or-
ganized and established agreeably to the laws of our country, by tlie
Avill ancP commai.dmcnts of God, in the fourth month, and on the
sixth day of the n)onth which is called April ; which commandments
were given to Jo,-;e])h Smith, juii., who was called of G^d, and or-
*' DOCTRINES AND COMMANDMENTS." 289
(lained an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church ;
and to Oliver Cowdery, who was also called of God, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to be the second elder of this church, and ordained
under his hand ; and this according to the grace of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory, both now and for ever.
Amen.
"2. After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had
received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vani-
ties of the world ; but after repenting, and humbling himself sin-
cerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an holy angel,
whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure
and white above all other whiteness ; and gave unto him command-
ments which inspired him ; and gave him power from on high, by
the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of
Mormon, which contains a record of a fallen people, and the ful-
ness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to the Jews
also, which was given by inspiration, and is confirmed to others by
the ministering of angels, and is declared unto the world by them,
proving to the world that the Holy Scriptures are true, and that
God does inspire men and call them to his holy Avork in this age and
generation, as well as in generations of old, thereby showing that
he is the same God yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Amen."
We are then instructed in those particulars in which it was above
stated the Scriptures are an insufficient guide.
" 7. And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning
the manner of bajjtism. — All those who humble themselves before
God, and desire to be baptized and come forth with broken hearts
and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have
truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them
the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the
end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the
spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by
baptism into his church.
" 8. The duty of the elders, priests, teachers, deacons, and members
of the church of Christ. — An apostle is an elder, and it is his caUing
to baptize and to ordain other elders, priests, teachers, and deacons,
and to administer bread and wine — the emblems of the flesh and
blood of Christ — and to confirm those who are baptized into the
church, by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the
Holy Ghost, according to the Scriptures ; and to teach, expound,
exhort, baptize, and watch over the church; and to confirm the
church by the laying on of the hands, and the giving of the Holy
Ghost, and to take the lead of all meetings.
s
290 THE MORMONS.
((
9, The elders are to conduct the meetings as they are led by
the Holy Ghost, according to the commandments and revelations of
God.
** 10. The priest's duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and
baptize, and administer the sacrament, and visit the house of each
member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret, and attend
to all family duties ; and he may also ordain other priests, teachers,
and deacons. And he is to take the lead of meetings when there is
no elder present ; but when there is an elder present, he is only to
preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and visit the house of
each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret, and
attend to all family duties. In all these duties the priest is to assist
the elder if occasion requires.
"11. The teacher's duty is to watch over the church always, and
be with and strengthen them, and see that there is no iniquity in
the church — neither hardness with each other — neither lying, back-
biting, nor evil speaking ; and see that the church meet together
often, and also see that all the members do their duty ; and he is to
take the lead of meetings in the absence of the elder priest — and is
to be assisted always, in all his duties in the church, by the deacons,
if occasion requires ; but neither teachers nor deacons have authority
to baptize, administer the sacrament, or lay on hands ; they are,
however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach and invite all to come
unto Christ.
"12. Every elder, priest, teacher, or deacon, is to be ordained
according to the gifts and callings of God unto him : and he is to be
ordained by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is in the one who
ordains him.
"13. The several elders, composing this church of Christ, are to
meet in conference once in three months, or from time to time as
said conferences shall direct or appoint ; and said conferences are
to do whatever church business is necessary to be done at the
time.
" 14. The elders are to receive their licenses from other elders,
by vote of the church to which they belong, or from the confer-
ences.
" 15. Each priest, teacher, or deacon, who is ordained by a priest,
may take a certificate from him at the time, which certificate, when
presented to an elder, shall entitle him to a license, which shall
authorize him to perform the duties of his calling, or he may receive
it from a conference.
*' 16. No person is to be ordained to any office in this church,
where there is a regularly organized branch of the same, without the
DOCTRINES AND COMM \^DMENTS.
291
vote of that church ; but the presiding elders, travelling bishops,
high counsellors, high priests, and elders, mav have the piivilege
of ordaining, Avhere there is no branch of the church that a vote may
be called.
'* 17. Ever\^ president of the high priesthootl, (or presiding elder,)
bishop, high counsellor, and high priest, is to be ordained by the
direction of a high council or general conference.
" 18. The duty of the memhers after they are received by baptism. —
The elders or })riests are to have a sufficient time to expound all
things concerning the church of Christ to their understanding, pre-
vious to their partaking ot the sacrament and being confirmed by
the laying on of the hands of the elders, so that all things may be
done in order. And the members shall manifest before the church,
and also before the elders, by a godly walk and conversation, that
they are worthy of it, that there may be works and faith agreeable to
the Holy Scriptures — walking in holiness before the Lord.
Uureinouy oi Baptism.
292 THE MORMONS.
** 19. Every member of the Church of Christ having children, is
to bring them unto the elders before the church, Avho are to lay their
hand* upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in
his name.
*' 20. No one can be received into the church of Christ, unless he
has arrived unto the years of accountability before God, and is capable
of rejientance.
"91. Baptism is to be administered in the following manner
unto all those who repent : — The person who is called of God, and
has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the
water with the person who has presented him or herself for bap-
tism, and shall say, calling him or her by name — Having been
commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Fa-
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Then shall
he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of
the water.
"22. It is expedient that the church meet together often, to par-
take of bread and wine in remembrance of the Lord Jesus ; and the
elder or priest shall administer it; and after this manner shall he
administer it — he shall kneel with the church and call upon the
Father in solemn prayer, saying — 0 God, the eternal Father, we ask
thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this
bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in
remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, 0 God,
the eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name
of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments
wliich he has given them, that they may always have his spirit to be
with them. Amen.
" 23. The manner of administering the wine. He shall take the
cup also, and say — 0 God, the eternal Father, we ask thee in the
name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the
souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remem-
brance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them ; that they
may witness unto thee, 0 God, the eternal Father ; that they do
always reniember him, that they may have his spirit to be with
them. Amen."
In Section III. we are presented with still more important
matter.
" 1 . There are, in the Church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchi-
sedek and the Aaronic, including the Levitical priesthood. Why the
first is called the Melchisedek priesthood, is because Mclchiscdek Avas
such a great high priest. Before his day it was called the hoi ij priest.
hood, after the order of the Son of God; but out of respect or reve-
PRIESTHOOD A>'D OFfJCE-BEARERS. 293
fence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent
repetition of his name, the3% the church, in ancient days, called that
priesthood after Melchisedek, or the Melchisedek priestliood.
*' 2. All other authorities or offices in the Church are appendages
to this priesthood ; hut there are two divisions or grand heads— one
in the Melchisedek priesthood, and the other in the Aaronic, or Levi-
tical priesthood.
" 3. The office of an elder comes under the priesthood of Melchi-
sedek. The Melchisedek priesthood holds the right of presidency,
and has power and authority over all the offices in the church iu all
ages of the world, to administer in sjjiritual things.
** 4. The presidency of the high priesthood, after the order of
Melchisedek, have a right to officiate in all the offices in the church.
"5. Iligli priests after the order of the Melchisedek priesthood have
a right to officiate in their own standing, under the direction of the
presidency, in administering spiritual things ; and also in the office of
an elder, priest (of the Levitical order), teacher, deacon, and memher.
" 6. An elder has a right to officiate iu his stead when the high
priest is not present.
*' 7. The high priest and elder are to administer in spiritual things,
agreeably to the covenants and commandments of the church ; and
they have a right to officiate in all these offices of the church when
there are no higher authorities present.
'* 8. The second priesthood is called the priesthood of Aaron, be-
cause it was conferred upon Aaron and his seed, throughout all their
generations. Why it is called the lesser priesthood, is because it is
an appendage to the greater or the Melchisedek piiesthood, and has
power in administering outward ordinances. Tiie bishopric is the
presidency of this priesthood, and holds the keys or authority of the
same. No man has a legal right to this office, to hold the keys of
this priesthood, except he be a literal descendant of Aaron. But as
a high priest of the Melchisedek i»riesthood has authority to officiate
in all the lesser offices, he may officiate in the office of bishoj) when
no literal descendant of Aaron can be found, jirovidod he is called
and set apart and ordained unto this power by the hands of the presi-
dency of the Melchisedek priesthood.
" {). The power and authority of the higher or Melcliisedek priest-
hood, is to hold the keys of all tiie spiritual blessings of the church-
to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom of
heaven — to have the heavens oj^ened unto them — to commune with
the general assembly and church of the first-born, and to enjoy the
communion and presence of God the Father, and Jesus the Mediator
of the new covenant.
il9i THE MORMONS.
" 1 0. The power and aiithoiity of the lesser or Aaronic priesthood,
is to liold tlie lieys of the niini->teriiig of angels, and to administer, in
outward ordinances, the letter of the gospel — the baptism of repent-
fince for the remission of sins, agrteably to the covenants and com-
mandments.
"11. Of necessity there are presidents, or presiding offices growing
out of, or appointed of or from among those who are ordained to the
seve?'al offices in these two ]iriesthoods. Of the Melchisedek priest-
hood, three presiding high priests, chosen by the body, appointed and
ordained to that office, and upheld by the confidence, faith, and
pi-ayer of the church, form a quorum of the presidency of the church.
The twelve travelling counsellors are called to be the twelve apostles,
or especial witi. esses of the name of Christ in all the world ; thus dif-
ferino; from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling.
And they form a quorum, equal in authority and power to the three
presidents previously mentioned. The seventy are also called to
preach the gospel, and to be especial witnesses unto the Gentiles and
in all the world. Thus differing from other officers in the chm'ch in
the duties of their calling ; and they form a quorum equal in autho-
rity to that of the twtlve especial witnesses or apostles just named.
And every decision made by either of these quorums, must be by the
unanimous voice of the same ; that is, every member in each quorum
must be agreed to its decisions, in order to make their decisions of the
same power or validity one with the other. (A majority may form a
quorum, when circumstances render it impossible to be otherwise.)
Unless this is the case, their decisions are not entitled to the same
blessings which the decisions of a quorum of three presidents were
anciently, who were ordained after the order of Melchisedek, and
were righteous and holy men. The decisions of these quorums, or
either of them, are to be made in all righteousness, in holiness, and
lowliness of heart, meekness and long-suffering, and in faith, and
virtue, and knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly
kindness, and charity ; because the promise is, if these things abound
in them, tliey shall not be unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord.
And in case that any decision of these quorums is made in unrighte-
ousness, it may be brought before a general assembly of the several
quorums, which constitute the spiritual authorities of the church,
otherwise there can be no appeal from their decision.
" 12. The twelve are a travelling presiding high council, to officiate
in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the presidency of the
church, agreeably to tlie institution of heaven ; to build up the church,
and reguhite all the affairs of the same in all nations ; first unto the
Gentiles, and secondly unto the Jews.
PRIESTHOOD AND OFFICE-BEARERS.
" 13. The seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under tlie
direction of the twelve or the travelling high council, in building up
the church and reirulating all the affairs of the same in all nations —
first unto the Gentiles, and then unto the Jews ; the twelve being sent
out, holding the keys, to open the door by the proclamation of the
gospel of Jesus Christ— and first unto the Gentiles, and then unto
the Jews.
" 14. The standing higli councils, at the stakes of Zion, form a
quorum, equal in authority, in the affairs of the church, in all their
decisions, to the quorum of the presidency, or to the travelling high
council.
*' 15. The high council in Zion forms a quorum equal in authority,
in the affairs of the church, in all their decisions, to the councils of
the twelve at the stakes of Zion.
*' 10. It is the duty of the travelling high council to call upon the
seventy, when they need assistance, to fill the several calls for preach-
ing and administering the gospel, instead of any others.
" 17. It is the duty of the twelve, in all large branches of the
church, to ordain evangelical ministers, as they shall be designated
unto them by revelation.
"18. The order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed
down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants
of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made. This order
was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the
following manner : —
" 19. From Adam to Seth, who was ordained by Adam at the
age of 69 years, and was blessed by him three years jirevious to his
(Adam's) death, and received the promise of God by his father, that
his posterity should be the chosen of the Lord, and that thej should
be unreserved unto the end of the earth, because he (Seth) was a per-
fect man, and his likeness was the express likeness of his father's,
insomuch that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things, and
could be distinguished from him only by his age.
" 20. Enos was ordained at the age of 134 years and four months,
by the hand of Adam.
"21. God called ujion-Cainan in the wilderness, in the fortieth
year of his age, and lie met Adam in journeying to the place Shedol-
amak. He was 87 years old when he received his ordination.
*' 22. Mahalaleel was 495 years and seven days old when he was
ordained by the hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
"23. Jared was 200 years old when he was ordained under the
hand of Adam, who also blessed him.
*' 24. Enoch was 25 years old when he was ordained under the
290 ' THE MORMONS.
hand of Adam, and he was 65 and Adam blessed him. And he saw
the Lord, and he walked with him, and was before his face continu-
ally ; and he walked with God 365 years, making him 430 years old
when he was translated.
"25. Methuselah was 100 years old when he was ordained under
the hand of Adam.
"26, Lamech was 32 years old when he was ordained under the
hand of Seth.
"27. Noah was 10 years old when he was ordained under the
hand of Methuselah.
" 28. Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth,
Enos, Calnan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were
all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous,
into the valley of Adam-ondiahman, and there bestowed upon them
his last blessing. And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose
up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the Prince, the Arch-
angel. And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said
unto him, I have set thee to be at the head — a multitude of nations
shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them for ever.
" 29. And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and
notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy
Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest
generation. These things were all written in the book of Enoch, and
are to be testified of in due time.
" 30, It Is the duty of the twelve, also, to ordain and set in order
all the other officers of the church, agreeablr to the revelation which
says,—
"31. To the church of Christ in the land of Zion, in addition to
the church laws respecting church business — Verily, I say unto you,
says the Lord of hosts, there must needs be presiding elders to pre-
side over those who are of the office of an elder ; and also priests to
preside over those who are of the office of a priest, and also teachers
to preside over those who are of the office of a teacher in like manner,
and also the deacons : wherefore, from deacon to teacher, and from
teacher to priest, and from priest to elder, severally as they are ap-
pointed, according to the covenants and commandments of the church.
Then comes the high priesthood, which is the greatest of all ; where-
fore it must neads be that one be appointed of the high priesthood to
preside over the priesthood, and he shall be called president of the
liigh priesthood of the church ; or. In other words, the presiding high
priest over the high priesthood of the church. From the same comes
the administering of ordinances and blessings upon the church, by
tlie laying on of the hands.
PRIESTHOOD AND OFFICE-BEARERS. 297
** 32. \Ylierefore the office of a bishop is not equal unto it ; for the
office of a bishop is in administering all temporal things ; neverthe-
less a bishop must be chosen from the high priesthood, unless he is
a literal descendant of Aaron ; for unless he is a literal descendant of
Aaron he cannot hold the keys of that priesthood. Nevertheless, a
high priest that is after the order of Melchisedek, may be set apart
unto the ministering of temporal things, having a knowledge of tliem
by the spirit of truth, and also to be a judge in Israel, to do the busi-
ness of the church, to sit in judgment upon transgressors, upon testi-
mony as it shall be laid before him according to the laws, by the
assistance of his counsellors whom he has chosen, or will choose
among the elders of the church. This is the duty of a bishop who is
not a literal descendant of Aaron, but has been ordained to the high
priesthood after the order of Melchisedek.
"3'3, Thus shall he be a judge, even a common judge"" among the
inhabitants of Zion, or in a state of Z'xou, or in any branch of the
church Avhere he shall be set apart unto this ministry, until the bor-
ders of Zion are enlarged, and it becomes necessary to have other
bishops or judges in Zion, or elsewhere ; and inasmuch as there are
other bishops ap])ointed they shall act in tlie same office.
" 3i. But a literal descendant of Aaron has a legal right to the
presidency of this priesthood, to the keys of this ministry, to act in
the office of bishop indej^endently, without counsellors, except in a
case where a president of the high priesthood, after the order of
Melchisedek, is tried, to sit as a judge in Israel. And the decision of
either of these councils, agreeably to the commandment which says,
" 35. Again, verily I say unto you, the most important business of
the church, and the most difficult cases of the church, inasmuch as
there is not satisfaction upon the decision of the bishop or judges, it
shall be handed over and carried up unto the council of the church,
before the presidency of the high priesthood ; and the presidency of the
council of the high priesthood shall have power to call otl>er high
priests, even twelve, to assist as counsellors ; and thus the presidency
of the high priesthood and its counsellors shall have power to decide
upon testimony according to the laws of the church. And after this
decision it shall be had in remembrance no more before the Lord ; for
this is the highest council of the church of God, and a final decision
upon controversies in spiritua,l matters.
" 36. There is not any person belonging to the church who is exempt
from this council of the church.
" 37. And inasmuch as a president of the high priesthood shall
transgress, he shall be had in remembrance before the common council
of the church, who shall be assisted by twelve counsellors of the high
298 THE MORMONS.
priesthood ; and their decision upon his liead shall be an end of con-
troversy concerning him. Thus, none shall be exempted from the
justice and the laws of God, that all things may be done in order and
in solemnity before him, according to truth and righteousness.
" 38. And again, verily I say unto you, the duty of a president over
the office of a deacon is to preside over twelve deacons, to sit in council
■with them, and to teach them their duty— edify iyg one another, as it
is given according to the covenants.
"39. And also the duty of the president over the office of the
teachers is to preside over twenty- four of the teachers, and to sit in
council with them, teaching them the duties of their office, as given
in the covenants.
*' 40. Also the duty of the president over the priesthood of Aaron
is to preside over forty-eight priests, and sit in council with them, to
teach them the duties of their office, as is given in the covenants.
This president is to be a bishop ; for this is one of the duties ot this
priesthood.
*'41. Again the duty of the president over the office of elders is to
preside over ninety-six elders, and to sit in council with them, and to "
teach them according to the covenants. This presidency is a distinct
one from that of the seventy, and is designed for those who do not
travel into all the world.
*' 42. And again, the duty of the president of the office of the high
priesthood is to preside over the whole church, and to be like unto
Moses. Behold, here is wisdom ; yea, to be a seer, a revelator, a
translator, and a prophet, having all the gifts of God which he bestows
upon the head of the church.
"43. And it is according to the vision, shoAving the order of the
seventy, that they should have seven presidents to preside over them,
chosen out of the number of the seventy ; and the seventh president
of these presidents is to jireside over the six ; and these seven presi-
dents are to choose other seventy besides the first seventy, to whom
they belong, and are to preside over them ; and also other seventy,
until seven times seventy, if tlie labour in the vineyard of necessity
requires it. And these seventy are to be travelling ministers unto the
Gentiles first, and also unto the Jews ; whereas other officers of the
church, who belong riot unto the twelve, neither to the seventy, are
not under the responsibility to travel among all nations, but are to
travel as their circumstances shall allow, notwithstanding they may
hold as high and responsible offices in the church.
" 44. Wherefore now let every man learn his duty, and to act in
the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. He that is
slothful shall not be counted worthy. to stand, and he that learns not
MOEMON MATERIALISM. ' 299
his duty and shows himself not approved, shall not he counted
wortliy to stand. Even so. Amen."
The importance of the ahove extract will atone for its length. It
contains nearly the whole of the Mormon Ecclesiastical Polity.
Subsequent sections make provision for the most minute particulars
— relative not only to things sacred, hut things secular — such as
farm and store taking, printing and publishing of books, building
and the raising of the requisite funds.
These, of course, have excited much ridicule. Certain technical
religious doctrines have also met with little mercy from Mormon
antagonists. It is sufficient here to allude to their distinctive tenets
on prophecy, the religious and divine right of revenge, the baptism of
the dead, and the revived Roman Catholic dogma of Baptismal
Regeneration. It is possibly more important to consider at its due
length the philosophical system promulgated by Mr. Orson Pratt,
whose name we have already mentioned, as the learned apostle of
the Mormon pretensions.
According to the " Lectures on Faith, "and in accordance with the
high tone assumed by the Mormons in their Materialism, they
invariably give a literal interpretation to the Hebrew Scriptures.
That is their cardinal point, — no mysticism ; — the plain meaning of
plain words.
God, by the Mormons, is described through his personal attributes,
and these, again, are resolved into corporeal characteristics. " The
first thought that there ever existed in the mind of any individual
that there was such a being as a God, who had created and did
uphold all things," was owing to and " by reason of the manifestation
which he first made to our father, Adam, when he stood in his
presence, and conversed with him face to face, at the time of his
creation."
This materialistic view makes the Mormon very angry with the
Orthodox dogma, that commences the thirty-nine articles of the
Church of England. The Mormon author of " The Absurdities of
Immaterialism"* expresses his contempt of the article in question, in
these terms : — " The Immaterialist says, there is such a substance as
God, but it is without parts — (first of the 30 Articles ; also, Art.
Methodist Discipline ,)" and on all such Immaterialism the Mormons
unscrui)ulously stamp the brand of Atheism. Of Atheists, they tell
us, there are two classes in the world — one denying the existence of
God in the most positive language ; the other denying his existence
in duration or space. One says, " There is no God ;" the other says»
* Absurdities of Immaterialism ; or, A Reply to T. W. P. Taylder's Pamphlet, en-
titled," The Materialism of the Mormons or Latter-day Saints, Examined and Exposed."
300 • THE MORMONS.
** God is not here or there, any more than he exists noiv and then.'"
The Infidel says, adds the writer, " God does not exist anywhere."
The Immaterialist saA^s, " He exists noichere" Upon the ingenuity or
absurdity of these statements it is heedless to remark.
" The Immaterialist," says Mr. Orson Pratt, " only differs from the
other class of atheists, by clothing an indivisible unextended Nothing
with the powers of a God. One class," continues Mr. Pratt, " believes
in no God ; tiie other class believes that Nothing is God, and wor-
ships it as such. There is no twisting away from this. The most
profound philosopher in all the ranks of modern Christianity, cannot
extricate the Immaterialist from atheism. He cannot show the least
difference between the idea represented by the word Nothing, and the
idea represented by that which is unextended, indivisible, and without
parts, having no relation to space or time. All the philosophers of
the universe could not give a better or more correct definition of
Kothinrj. And yet this is the God worshipped by tlie Church of Eng-
land— the Methodists — and millions of other atheistical idolaters,
^.cording to their own definitions, as recorded in their respective
''jles of faith. An open Atheist is not so dangerous as the Atheist
who couches his atheistical doctrines under the head of ' Articles of
Religion.' The first stands out with open colours, and boldly avo^vs
his infidelity ; the latter, under the sacred garb of religion, draws into
his yawning vortex the unhappy millions who are persuaded to be-
lieve in, and worship an unextended indivisible nothimj without parts,
deified into a god. A pious Atheist is much more serviceable in
building up the kingdom of darkness than one who openly, and with-
out any deception, avows his infidelity.
" No wonder that this modern god has wrought no miracles and
given no revelations since his followers invented their ' Articles of
Religion.' A being without parts must be entirely i)Owerless, and
can perform no miracles. Nothing can be communicated from such a
being ; for, if nothing give nothing, nothing will be received. If, at
death, his followers are to be made like him, they will enjoj^ with
some of the modern Pagans, all the beauties of annihilation. To be
made like him ! Admirable though.t ! How transcendantly sublime to
behold an iimumerable multitude of unextended nothings, casting their
crowns at the feet of the great, inextended, infinite Nothing, filling all
space, and yet ' without paris ! ' Tliere will be no danger of quarrelling
for want of room ; for the Rev. David James says, ' Ten thousand
spirits might be brought together into the smallest compass imaginable,
and there exist without any inconvenience for want of room. As.
materialit}'',* continues he, ' forms no property of a spirit, the space
which is sufficient for one must be amply sufficient for myriads, yea,
MORMON MATERIALISM. ,301
for all that exist.'* According to tliis, all the spirits that exist, * could
he brought together into the smallest compass imaginable ;' or, in other
words, into no compass at all ; for, he says, a spirit occupies ' no room,
and fills no space.' What an admirable description of Nothing ! No-
thing occupies no room, and fills no space. If myriads of Nothings
were ' brought together into the smallest compass imaginable,' they
could 'there exist without any inconvenience for want of room.'
Everything which the Immaterialist says, of the existence of spirit ^
will apply, without any variation, to the existence of Nothing. If he
says that his god cannot exist ' Here' or ' There,' the same is true of
Nothing. If he affirms that he cannot exist ' Now' and ' Then,' the
same can, in all truth, be affirmed of Nothing. If he declares that he
is ' unextendedy' so is Nothing. If he asserts that he is ' indi visible,'
and * tcithout parts,' so is Nothing. If he declares that a spirit ' occu-
pies no room and fills no space,' neither does Nothing. If he says a
spirit is ' Nowhere,' so is Nothing. All that he affirms of the one, can,
in like manner, and with equal truth, be affirmed of the other. In-
deed, they are only two words, each of which express precisely the
same idea. There is no more absurdity in calling Nothing a substance,
and clothing it with Almighty powers, than there is in making a sub-
stance out of that which is precisely like nothing, and imagining it to
have Almighty powers. Therefore, an immaterial God is a deified
Nothing, and all his worshippers are atheistical idolators."
Skilfully, however, as the Mormon writer puts his argument, it
has no novelty. The celebrated Soame Jenyns, Avhose life was
written by Dr. Johnson, has anticipated the whole of it. He (like the
J\Iormon in regard to an Immaterial substance) supposed that he had
disproved the existence of Eternity, by proving that its definition was
identical with that of Nothing. It is true, that both the Mormon's
*' Immaterial Substance" and Jenyns' "Eternity" suffer under this
apparent confutation. After all, the controversy only regards a
matter of definition : What is nothing ? Mr. Orson Pratt presents us
with a series of " six definitions," as so many aids to the exposition
of his own idea. Here they are: —
Definition I. — SpACE is magnitude, susceptible of division.
Definition 2. — A PoiNT is the negatite of space, or the zero at which a
magnitude begins or terminates ; it is not susceptible of division.
Definition 3. — DuKATiON is not magnitude, but time suscepti!)le of division.
Definition 4. — An Instant is the negative of duration, or the zero at
whicli duration begins or terminates ; it is not susceptible of division.
Definition 5. — Matter is something that occu])ies space between any two
* Kev. David James on the Trinity, in Uuitarianism Confuted. Lect. VII., page 382.
302 THE MORMOMS,
instants, and is susceptible of division, and of being- removed from one
portion of space to another.
Definition 6. — NOTHING is the negative of space, of duration, and of mat-
ter ; it is tlie zero of all existence.
A Point, Instant, and Nothing, here enjoy an identity of defini-
tion. Neither of these are *' susceptible of division." It is scarcely
conceivable how an elaborate thinker, such as Mr. Orson Pratt evi-
dently is, could thus have committed himself, by actually recognisincr
the Idea, not of one Substance only, but of three Substances *' withouc
Parts." A *' Point," an " Instant," and a '* Nothing," — each insus-
ceptible of division? He appears not to have been aware that he bad
reached the conception of the most abstract Bein;^, in thus identifying
it with Nothing, an Instant, and a Point, and had made an Affirma-
tion of which a Euclid or a Hegel might be proud ; that, in fact, he
had proved the very case that he sought to subvert, and demon-
strated that he could not conduct his argument without inferring,
and indeed presuming, the existence of that " Substance without Parts,"
against which he was expressing such a holy horror, when proposed
to his belief in the language of a system different from his own.
Philosophers who have been led, in their investigation of truth,
not by a desire to establish the system of the Mormons, but to inter-
pret the system of the universe by the light of a Divine intelligence,
have, from Plato to Oken, recognised the difficulty which so puzzles
the Mormon materialists. But they have seen in it only a proof that
the Substances so identified with Nothing, are not such as can be
identified with any Thing — that is, with aught that occu])ie3 place or
time ; that therefore, they cannot be properly called Things at all ;
and that a higher term must be found to distinguish them from all
possible objects of sense, and to class them in a " cage of rushes," a
category of their own. In fact, the mind has been justly led, by
contemplations such as these, to the apprehension of the idea of Being
in itself, which, though in the carnal conception, identical with
nothing, is tiie basis, the boundary, the origin, and the terminus of
all; at once the ''Zero of all existence," and the plenum. It is in
this sense, that we may understand the leading postulate of Hegel,
that " Seyn und nicht ist dasselben." ''Being and Nothing is the
sanie.'^
The Mormons have shown themselves, in accordance with their
Materialisn), to be {)ractical political economists. The ordinary states-
man is t:)(» upi, in the affairs of the world, to mike little account of
men of their oidcr of mind. Yet have they be n, at all times, the
men of a crisis — the fomenters of revolutions — t'.ie authors of new
dispensations. Pious frauds to such individuals are no more than
DEATHS OF THE WITNESSES. 303
legal fictions to the lawyer. They serve them in the place of axiom3
and postulates ; they are assumptions which enable them to take the
first step in the practical argument which they mean to maintain
against the world. To them they are unquestionable data, and the
more supernatural their character the more unquestionable do they
become. Frequently there is some shadow of a fact, which serves as
the original basis ; this soon, however, becomes modified into fiction;
and ultimately completed in a well-rounded mytli.
Whatever Joseph Smith may have heen, the present race ot
Mormons are satisfied with him. They say — " There is our state-
ment; there are the Avitnesses ; there is the book." Armed with
these credentials, the Apostles of the new belief have at last founded
not only a Church, but a State.
The longer the original imposture has remained before the world,
the more difficult it has become to overthrow it. Joseph Smith was
slain, and it acquired sanctity in the eyes of his followers. Other
"witnesses drop off", and the myth becomes more and more mythologi-
cal. Thus, we learn from an obituary in the Millennial Star (July 1st,
1850), that one of the "three witnesses" has lately died. "Elder
Wallace informs us, that Oliver Cowdery died last February, of
consumption. Brother Cowdery is one of the ' three witnesses ' to
the Book of Mormon. For rebellious conduct he was expelled from
the Church some years since. Although he stood aloof from the
Church for several years, he never, in a single instance, cast the least
doubt on the truth of his former testimony. Sometime in 1847 or
1848, he sought to be re-admitted to the fellowship of the Saints. His
return to the fold was hailed with great joy by the Saints, who still
remembered him with a kindly recollection, as one who had suffered
much in the first rise of the Church. He has now gone the way of
all the earth. May he rest in peace, to come forth in the morning of
the first resurrection unto eternal life, is the earnest desire of all
Saints."
A similar record will shortly, in the natural course of things, be
made of the other witnesses ; the seal of the grave will be set upon their
testimony ; and tlius Mormonism — even if Sidney Rigdon should
divulixe his secrets — will, to the hearts of thousands, who would be-
lieve it on far Ic^s evidence — stand as firm as Buddhism stands, or Ma-
homedanism, or any other false creed, which millions believe to be true.
The objections to Mormonism, however, are not of a j)urely doc-
trinal character, or dej»endent upon the truth or falsfhuod of the
Book of Mormon. It is alleged that the Mormons both tolerate and
practice polyga Jiy and seduction. This charge has been made against
them in many quarters.
304 THE MORMONS.
According to Mr. Bowes, the author of the pamphlet from which we
haveah-eady quoted, the social life of the Mormons is an extensive and
well organized system of licentiousness. Joseph Smith, he tells u?,
taught a system of polygamy ; that he sought to seduce Nancy lligdon,
Sarah M. Pratt, and others ; that, in some instances, he was re-
pulsed, in otliers, he succeeded. Joseph Smith is also accused of
having endeavoured to secure Martha H. Brotherton, once of Man-
chester, for his friend Brigham Young ; in both cases attempting to
influence his victims by persuading them that he had received a
revelation from God, justifying adultery, seduction, and other sins.
A letter from Martha Brotherton sets forth the whole charge against
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and if to be believed, proves it : —
" I had been at Nauvoo near three weeks, during which time my
father's family received frequent visits from Elders Brigham Young
and Heber C. Kimball, two of the Mormon Apostles ; when, early one
morning, they both came to my brother-in-law's (John M'lhvrick's)
house, at which place 1 then was on a visit, and particularly requested
me to go and spend a few days with them. I told them I could not
at that time, as my brother-in-law was not at home ; however, they
urged me to go the next day, and spend one day with them. The day
being fine, I accordingly went. * ^p =!« h< He led me up some
stairs to a small room, the door of which was locked, and on it the
following inscription: 'Positively no admittance.' He observed,
* Ah ! brother Joseph must be sick, for, strange to say, he is not here.
Come down into the tithing-office, Martha.' He then left me in the
ti thing-office, and went out, I know not where. In this office were
two men writing, one of whom, William Clayton, I had seen in Eng-
land ; the other I did not know. Young came in, and seated himself
before me, and asked where Kimball was. I said he had gone out.
He said it was all right. Soon after, Joseph came in, and spoke to
one of the clerks, and then went up stairs, followed by Young.
Immediately after, Kimball came in. ' Now, Martha, ' said he, ' the
Prophet has come ; come up stairs. ' I went, and we found Young and
the Prophet alone. I was introduced to the Prophet by Young.
Joseph offered me his seat ; and, to my astonishment, the moment I
was seated, Joseph and Kimball walked out of the room, and left me
with Young, who arose, locked the door, closed the window, and
drew the curtain. He then came and sat before me, and said, * This
is our private room, Martha.' 'Indeed, sir,' said I, 'I must be
highly honoured to be permitted to enter it.' He smiled, and then
proceeded — ' Sister Martha, I want to ask you a few questions ; will
you answer them ?' ' Yes, Sir,' said I. * * * * ' To come to
the point more closely,' said he, ' have not you an affection for
THE " SPIRIIUAL ^YIFE "* SYSTi:^r. o05
me, tliat, were it lawful and right, you could accept of me for youi*
husband and com[)anion?' *****! therefore said, *If it
Avas lawful and right, perhaps I might ; but you know, sir, it is not.*
' Well, but,' said he, * brother Juse(»h has had a revelation from God
that it is lawful and right for a man to have two wives; for, as it
was in the days of Abraham, so it shall be in these last days, and
•whoever is the first that is willing to take up the cross will receive
the greatest blessitigs; and if you will accept of me, I will take
you straight to the celestial kingdom ; and if you will have
me in this world, I will have you in that which is to come,
and brother Joseph will marry us here to-day, and you can
go home this evenii^, and your ])arents will not know anything
about it.' 'Sir,' said I, 'I should not like to do anything of
the kind without the permission of my parents.' « * * *
'Well,' said he, *I will have a kiss, any how,' and then rose, and
said he would bring Joseph. He then unlocked the door, and took
the key, and locked me up alone. He was absent about ten minutes,
and then returned with Joseph. 'Well,' said Young, 'sister Martha
would be willing if she knew it was lawful and right before God.'
* Well, Martha,' said Joseph, ' it is lawful and right before God — I
Jiiiow it is. Look here, sis.-; don't you believe in me?' I did not
answer. * Well, Martha,' said Joseph, 'just go a-head, and do *as
Brigham wants you to — he is the best man in the world, except me.'
*0!' said Brigham, 'then you are as good.' 'Yes,' said Josei>h.
'Well,' said Young, 'we believe Joseph to be a Prophet. I have
known him near eight years, and always found him the same.' ' Yos,'
said Joseph, ' and I know that this is lawful and right before God,
and if there is any sin in it, I will answer for it before God ; and I
have the keys of the kingdom, and whatever I bind on earth is
bound in heaven, and whatever I loose on earth is loosed in heaven ;
and if you will accept of Brigham, you shall be blessed — God shall
bless you, and my blessing shall rest upon you ; and if you will be
led by him you will do well ; for I know Brigham will take care of
you ; and if he don't do his duty to you, come to me and I will make
him ; and if you do not like it in a month or two, come to me, and I
will make you free again ; and if he turns you off", I will take
you on.
Another deposition, sworn by Melissa Schindle, describes similar
practices. Mr. Bowes also describes certain hidden orgies practised iu
the Nauvoo Temple, which are sufficiently suspicious. The state-
ment is sworn to by J. M. Gee Van ,Dusen and Maria Van Dusen,
who profess to have been initiated into the mysteries. The seventh
degree in the Temple relates to "the Spiritual Wife Doctiine.'*
X
306 THK MORMONS.
*' Those who have attained to this are taught," say these witnesses,
** that they are no more under obligations to their husband, if they
have one, and it is their privilege to leave their lawful husband, and
take another ;" and, " it is the privilege of some kings to have scores,
yes, hundreds of queens, especially the King of kings, Brigham
Young, the present Mormon god in California, — (or devil, I should
say, for I have reason to believe he is the wickedest man now on the
face of the earth ;) and, further, as we are all made kings and queens
by this secret farce, the foundation for a kingdom is laid also. And
here is the secret of the Spiritual Wife Doctrine : — Their kingdom is
to consist in their own posterity, and the more wives the greater
opportunity of getting a large kingdom, of course ; so it is an object
to one who holds this doctrine sacred, as thousands do, to get all the
women he can, consequently it subjects that portion of the female sex
"which he has influence over eventually to literal ruin."
This reason, which may hold good for polygamy, obviously does
not for adultery or fornication, into one or both of which the Spiri-
tual Wife practice resolves itself. There is in such an erroneous
argument, ground for suspicion of prejudice in relation to the state-
ment adduced as its basis. And as the Mormon authorities posi-
tively deny that Joseph Smith was guilty of the charge often alleged
in justificating his murder, it is a motive of caution in the re-
ceipt of evidence. We must remember, too, that Smith universally,
in all his letters, revelations, and speeches, denounced adultery and
fornication. Subject as all founders of religious systems are to ca-
lumny, we cannot resist the doubt that there may have been misre-
presentation and exaggeration, both as to the character of Joseph,
Smith and the cause of his untimely end. At any rate, and under
any circumstances, it is impossible to justify the acts of his enemies,
either in the persecution of his followers, or in the circumstances of
his death. The fanaticism that destroyed him is to be condemued
quite as strongly as his own.
It is further stated, that the Mormon candidate for holy orders,
.among other promises, makes oath, that he "will never touch a
daughter of Adam, unless she be given him of the Lord," — thus con-
secrating licentiousness with the holiest sanctions. But it must be
remarked that these charges are given under cover of '* secret revela-
tions of the church — none but the faithful being permitted to have
the privilege" of prostituting the daughters and wives of their
friends and acquaintances. It is affirmed, on this covert- evidence,
that the Mormons " teach that this system is what we are to under-
stand by the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." We are
.further told, that there is an institution , of " Cloistered Saints,"
THE SPIRITUAL WIFE DuCTRINE 307
wliicli forms the " highest order of the Mormon harem, and is com-
posed of women, whether married or unmarried, as secret s[)iritual
wives." This is Mr. Bowes's statement ; who hkewise requires us to
beHeve that "When an apostle, high priest, elder, or soribe, conceives
an affection for a female, and has ascertained lier views on the subject,
he communicates confidentially to the prophet his love affair, and
requests him to inquire of the Lord whetber or not it would be right
and proper for him to take unto himself this woman for his spiritual
wife. It is no obstacle whatever to this spiritual marriage if one or
both of the parties should happen to have a husband or wife already
united to them according to the laws ot the land."
'* The prophet," continues Mr. Bowes, " puts this singular question
to the Lord, and, if he receives an answer in the affirmative, which is
always the case where the parties are in favour with the president,
tlie parties assemble in the lodge-room, accompanied by a duly au-
thorized administrator, and place themselves, kneeling, before the
altar ; the administrator commences the ceremony by saying : —
'* ' You, separately and jointly, in the name of Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, do solemnly covenant and agree that you will not dis-
close any matter relating to the sacred act now in progress of con-
summation, whereby any Gentile shall come to a knowledge of the
secret purposes of this order, or whereby the saints may sufier
persecution, your lives being the forfeit.' "
After the vow of assent is given by each of the pair, the adminis-
trator proceeds to pronounce them " one flesh, in the name of the
Father, and of the Sun, and of the Holy Ghost."
"The parties," it is said, by the same authority, "leave the
cloister with generally a firm belief, at least on the part of the female,
in the sacredness and validity of the ceremonial, and consider them-
selves as united in spiritual marriage, the duties and privileges ot
which are in no particular different from those of any other marriage
covenant."
Among the stray statements quoted on more or less evidence
touching this sui)ject, we find that William Arrowsmith, before men-
tioned, " talked to Joseph Smith about Martha Brotherton's case.
Smith did not deny what Martha relates, but stated that Brigham
Young and he did it to try her, as they had heard an evil report of
her." VVe are told, also, upon the same sort of authority, that
" Whelock," another Mormon leader, married three wives, the first
Parish, the second Rose. Grand jury took him up for bigamy. He
married a decent girl at Birmingham, and she would have to live with
the American wives educated in bad families.
Accusations like these naturally lead us to look into the recognised
'•008 Tin: MomioNS.
docunients ottlie Mormons themselves for corroboration and support.
We tm-n, accordingly, to "The Book of Doctrines and Covenants,"
for such articles of law and rei^ulation as may relate to these alleged
jtractices. These revelations, it should be observed, notwithstanding;
the limitation in the title page, are not all given to Joseph Smith,
but are extended to divers of his apostles likewise. In one purporting
10 be received by Martin Harris, the opulent Mormon already spoken
of as one of the witnesses, and who is warned in it "not to covet" his
" own property, but impart it freely to the j)rinting of the Book of
Mormon," we find this admonition published — "And again I com-
mand thee, that thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor seek
thy neighbour's life." Not less explicit is the revelation vouchsafed
to Joseph Smith himself.
" And again, I say, thou shalt not kill ; but he that killelh shall
die. Thou shalt not steal ; and he that stealeth and will not repent,
shall be cast out. Thou shalt not lie ; he that lieth and will not re-
pent, shall be cast out. Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and
shalt cleave unto her and none else ; and he that looketh upon a
woman to lust after her, shall deny the faith, and shall not have the
Spirit, and if he repents not, he shall be cast out. Thou shalt not
commit adultery ; and he that committeth adultery and repenteth not
shall be cast out ; but he that has committed adultery and repents
with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more, thou shalt
forgive ; but if he doeth it again, he shall not be forgiven, but shall
be cast out. Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbour, nor do him
any harm. Thou knowest my laws concerning these things are given
in my scriptures ; he that sinneth and repenteth not, shall be cast
out.
" And, verily I say unto you, as I have said before, he that looketh
on a woman to lust after her, or if any shall commit adulter3% in
their hearts, they shall not have the Spirit, but shall deny the faith
and shall lear : wherefore I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and
the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie,
and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in
that lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone which is the second
death. Verily I say, that they shall not have part in the first resur-
rection."
Here, too, is an ordinance directing the manner of proceeding witli
adulterers : —
" And if any man or woman shall commit adultery, he or she shall
be tried before two elders of the church or moie, and every word shall
be established against him or her by two witnesses of the church, and
not of the enemy ; but if there are more than two witnesses it is
MORAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF JFORMONISM. 309
better. But he or she shall he condemned by the mouth of two wit-
nesses, and the elders shall lay the case before the church, and tlie
church shall lift up their hands against him or her, that they may be
dealt with according to the law of God. And if it can be, it is neces-
sary that the bishop is jiresent also. And thus ye shall do in all
cases which shall come before you."
Here is another with the same purport, but including the forni-
cator.
" Behold, verily I say unto you, that whatever persons among you
having put away their companions for the cause of fornication, or, in
other words, if they shall testify before you in all lowliness of he irt
that this is the case, ye shall not cast them out from among you ; but
if ye shall find that any persons have left their companions for the
sake of adultery, and they themselves are the offenders, and their
companions are living, they shall be cast out from among you. And
again, I say unto you, that ye shall be watchful and careful, with all
inquiry, that ye receive none such among you if they are married ;
and if they are not married, the}' shall repent of all their sijis, or ye
shall not receive them."
Here, likewise, is an ordinance relating to marrlaire.
" And again, 1 say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to many is
not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man ;
Avherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain
shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth migjit answer the end of
its creation, and that it might be filled with tlie measure of man, ac-
cording to his creation before the world was made." :
Finally, the charge with which- we are dealing is met in a direct
and positive manner, as follows : —
*' All legal contracts of marriage made before a person is baptized
into this church should be held sacred and fulfilled. Inasmuch as
this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornica-
tion and polygamy ; we declare that we believe tliat one man should
liave one wife; and one woman but one husband, excejit in case of
death, when either is at liberty to marry again. It is not right to
persuade a woman to be bajitized contrary to the will of her husband ;
jieither is it lawful to influence her to leave her husband. All children
are bound by law to obey tlieir parents ; and to influence them to
embrace any religious faith, or be baptized, or leave their ])arents
without their consent, is unlawful and unjust. We believe that hus-
bands, pai-ents, and masters, who exercise control over tljeir wives,
children, and servants, and prevent tlieni from embracing the truth,
will liave to answer for that sin."
Several of the Epistles which are to ba found scattered through
310 THE MORMONS.
the publications of the sect, show that those in authority are actuated
by an earnest desire to remove all cause for scandal in reference even
to the most ordinary intercourse between the sexes ; and if they are to
be judo-ed by their writings, we may assume that their efforts are con-
tinually directed towards the attainment of a higher system of morality
than that commonly in vogue. For instance, in a letter to the Saints
by Orson Pratt and Orson Spencer, we find the writers addressing
those under their charge in the following terms : —
" The sharp edge of persecution is whetted to unwonted keenness hj lewd
men, who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and bring scandal and
stigma upon that priesthood which is ordained to save the human family.
Wlipu one member of the priesthood is polluted, however obscure, the whole
body is sickened by the contagion. Speedy amputation often becomes painfully
necessary. All heaven is pervaded with one common spirit of indignation.
"We feel as though something like fratricide, or slaying of our brethren, had
been attempted : the wound is in the house of our friends. But Zion will not
always mourn. Judgment is now given into her hand, and the workers ot
iniquity shall be cut off, and the stench of their detestable deeds will follow
them; and when the seducer's and adulterer's bones are mouldering in the
dust, the scent of his abominable deeds will bring upon his memory the bitter
imprecations of the righteous. While the law of God has been but imperfectly
appreciated, even by many of the Church, these things may have been bear-
able through fiilse tradition ; yet, the time is now when the cloak of charity
cannot, and will not, screen such offenders. Two instances of gross lewdness
have occurred among the elders of this land, and we have strictly enjoined the
prohibition of their re-baptism or reunion with the Church, without a verbal
application to the First Presidency, residing far distant in Zion. Although
the spirit of seduction and lewdness has occasionally invaded the Church in
its purest state, it has never obtained a particle of fellowship, neither will it
do so in any future time, from any faithful servant of God. And we distinctly
say to the Saints in Britain, let no artifice or cunningly devised tale ever be
regarded as any apology for this gross immorality. No grade of office what-
ever will ever authorise any one to teach or practise this abomination. This
Church is a purifier, and will refine its members as silver; and men must not
think to bring into its sacred enclosure the abominations of the Gentiles, who
are an adulterous and wicked generation — strange children — conceived in sin
and shapen in iniquity.
"Not so with the Church of the living God. Their marriage vows are
sacred, and cannot be violated with impunity : their offspring are legitimate,
and not bastards conceived in sin, but holy unto the Lord ; and the man or
woman in this Church that contributes to illegitimacy, thereby entailing
upon his or her offspring the curse of exclusion from the congregation of the
Lord, tothethiid generation, he or she that does it becomes detestable in
the eyes of the Lord and all good j)eople, and their condemnation will not
slumber. Let none be deceived in this matter, for the eyes of the Lord will
MORAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MORMONISM. 311
penetrate every work, and the spirit that is confirmed upon the Saints will
bear witness against all such like abominations, and no work of iniquity will
or can possibly escape detection in due time. The nations of the earth are
corrupt and abominable in these things ; but they that bear the message of
the Lord must be clean : they must keep themselves undefiled, or share in the
plagues of Babylon. Pitiable is the condition of that man who has made
commerce of the gifts of the priesthood, like Esau. His strength is gone,
like unto Sampson's when shorn of his locks, and he becomes an easy prey to
his enemies. Who then, among the sons and daughters of men, will lay hold
upon the skirts of such fallen reprobates in order to obtain salvation ? Let
those who have already spotted their garments with these Grentile practices,
prove a sufficient ensample to deter all others. Let the beacon-light of a few-
examples keep others from the rocks and quicksands where scattered wrecks
fearfully remonstrate and warn !
"Dear brethren, no false delicacy shall forbid us from speaking plainly to
you upon this subject. Lust, when it is conceived, bringeth forth sin. The
pure in heart have no occasion to mistake this infallible precursor and ante-
cedent to sin : it is easily discoverable. It is only when the invading foe is
welcomed and cherished that sin can ever be the result. Here is opportunity
afforded for to consider, reflect, and beware ! Whatever of sexual manners,
dress, or intimacy is known to cherish forbidden or ungovernable lusts, may
be as surely known to produce sin. The familiar usages of one nation may
not be equally compatible with the purity of another people, accustomed to
other usages. We do not complain of the manners and dress of any nation,
so long as they are compatible with purity and the law of God. The saluta-
tion by kissing was practised in the Jewish nation, and it was tolerated among
the members of the primitive Church of Christ ; but it was by no means a
law or necessary duty.
* ' The first traUvSgression introduced the necessity of a covering, and urged
the importance of fresh laws regulating acts of decency. Perfect purity would
require no law to determine what is modest or what is perilous to virtue.
The law is made for transgressors. When men can keep themselves pure in
body, soul, and spirit, they then become as wise virgins, and emerge into the
perfect law of boundless liberty. No person can be a successful candidate
for the celestial prize that does not keep the law in all these respects. Men
must learn to approximate to that state of perfect purity in which the law is
written upon their hearts, so as to supersede the necessity of outward ordi-
nances which will perish with the using.
"The pure in heart, who are fully established in the law of continency,
might use the ancient salutation of a holy kiss, and other innocent familiarities
of a kindred nature, with perfect impunity. But not so with all. We have
need to write unto some, even as carnal and babes in Christ. Such have not
already attained that steadfastness to which the Gospel calls them. What
then? Is it not better that the strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and
forego any practice that may cause their brother to offend ?
" We therefore think it wise and expedient, and give it as our counsel ac-
312 Tin: MoiaioNS.
cordin<;ly, to the English Saints, to abstahi entirely from these unhecomin*
familiarities through which some have been already led into gross transgression.
*' If the elders wish to save their congregations, and obtain a good degree
for themselves and others in the kingdom of God, let them abstain, rather,
from all appearance of evil. Let those familiarities which are often the
legitimate expressi(m of innocence and the purest love, be avoided, because
they may be spoken evil of by those that are without, and because the inex-
perienced confidence of young members is liable to be betrayed, and made a
bait to folly and crime. AVe write unto presidents of conferences as unto
wise men, to whom a hint will be sufficient, and who will readily understand
wliat the will of the Lord is in such matters. We do not wish to multiply
arbitiary laws among a people that are destined by the grace of God, and
their own trustworthiness, to rise above all law into the region of ineffable
light, purity, and glory. But M-e do, nevertheless, intend to establish laws
agninst the invasion of the unruly and transgressors. And we wish the
elders and holy women who are mothers to co-operate with us against the
intrusion of Gentile abominations. And we do declare, with all sobriety
in the fear of God,, and by the authority we hold from G od in the holy priest-
hood, that a curse shall rest upon transgressors, who, with knowing \\icked-
ness, shall hereafter violate the laws of virtue and chastit}-. This is the
A-oice of the priesthood in Zion, and the voice of God, from the foundation
of the world. Hear it, oh ye Saints throughout the British isles and adjacent
countries ! While God is gathering, and will continue to gather his sons-
from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth, he will not tolerate
the obstruction of the great and last gathering by the abominations of repro-
bates, that have been cast out as refuse silver, and by their slanderous tales^
of abomination, palmed upon his infant cause."
In the Third General Epistle of the Presidency we find some regu-
lations which redound highly to the credit of the xMormon authorities.
But leaving the question of the polj^gamy and seduction alleged to
have been, or to be still practised by the Mormons, to be decided by
the reader, upon the evidence on both sides which we have produced,
we proceed to other points.
" ^lany brethren having gone to the Gold Mines, and many are about going,
and all ' by counsel,' as they say, and, no doubt, truly. A few have gone ac-
cording to the advice of tlu)se whose right it is to counsel the Saints, and such-
are right, inasmuch as they do right : but much the greater portion have gone
' according to the counsel of their own wills and covetous feelings. Such might
have dcme more good by staying in the V^alle.y, and labouring to prepare the
way for the reception of the brethren ; but it is not too late for them to do
good and be saved, if they will do right in their present sphere of action,
although they will not get so great a reward as they would have done had they
performed the greater good.
" If, at the mines they will listen to the counsel of those men who have been
appointed to counsel them, and they return to work righteousness, and do as they
SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MORifONIS:^!. 313
would he done unto, and acknowledjje God in all their way?, tlicv mav yet
attain unto great glory ; but if they shall cease to hearken to counsel, and
make gold their god, and return among the Saints, filled with avarice, and
i:efuse to lend, or give, or sutler their money to be used unless they can make
a great speculation thereby, and will see their ])oor brethren, who have toiled
all the day, in want and in perplexity, and they will not relieve, but keep the
dust corroding in their purses, it had been better for them if a mill-stone had
been hanged about their necks, and they had been drowned in the depths of
the sea, before they had departed from the right. ways of the Lord ; f<)r if tliiv
shall continue thus to harden their hearts, and to shut up their ijowels of
compa'^sion against the needy, they will go down to the pit with all idolators, in a
moment they are not aware, with a's little pity as they have manifested to their
])Oor brethren, who would have borrowed of them but have been sent eni])ty away.
*' Gold is good in its place — it is good in the hands of a good man to do
good with, but in the hands of a, wicked man, it often proves a curse instead
of a blessing. Gold is a good servant, but a miserable, blind, and helpless
god, and at last will have to be purified by fire, with all its followers,"
Now, it would be easy to.charge the cupidity of the individuals
Jiere reproved on tlie Mormon. coimnunity, but it would be manifestly
unjust. We uuist recognise in, such aberrations the inevitable struggle
between self-will and uewly-established law. Further provision is
luade against the evil com[»lo4ned of in the following express rules
and statement : —
"Elders Amasa Lymaji and Charles C. Rich will continue their operations
at Western California, according to. previous instructions, and not only keep
an accurate account of all tithings and of the general proceedings of all
faithful brethren, that we may know, of their good works, and hail them as
1)rethren when we meet, but keep a perfect history of all who profess to be
Saints and do not follow their counsel, pay tithing, and do their duty, and
report the same to us every mail, that they and their works may be entered in
a book of remembrance in Zion, that tliey may be judged therefrom, and not
impose upon the fiiithful ; for it is not uncommon for men to say, ' I can do
more good if I go to the mines, than I can to stay here,' and we want to
prove such, and know whether they are true men or liars.
■ *' When men, professing to be brethren, go to the mines according to their own
counsel, we want them to stay until they are satisfied — until they have obtained
enough to make them comlortaljle, and have some to do good with and a(lispo>i-
tion to use it for that ])ur])ose, and not run back here in a few months, lock up
their gold, boast how nuicli they have made, doijig no good them.selves, and hin-
dering everybody else from doing good over wlii)m they have an influence ; cur^-e
God, deny the Holy Ghost, and when s])ring opens, run to the mines again, as
some have done. Let such men remember that they are not wanted in mn- midst ;
for unless they speedily repent, the wrath of an offended Creator will suddenly
overtake them, and no power can stay it. Let such leave their carcases wheie
they do their work ; we wiint not our burial-grounds ])olluted with such
Ijypocrites ; but we have it in our hearts to bless all men. who will do right,^
B14 THE MORMONS.
whatever their occupation, and our arms are ever open to emhrace such, and
we pray for all men who are ignorant, or out of the right way, that our
Heavenly Father will give them his spirit, that they may learn and do right."
Some other points of social economy are touched on with like
wisdom ; such as the emigration fund, and the establishment of the
Deseret University.
" We would urge upon all Saints the importance of keeping In view the
Perpetual Emigrating Fund, and of adding thereto, all in their power, the
present season ; for every succeeding year will be more and more eventful in the
progress of the work of God, and more and more Saints will be ready, and want
to gather to Zion. We warmly anticipate that such Avill be the interest felt, and
the funds collected in the British Isles, that we can commence bringing forward
the Saints, from that region, one year hence ; and the Presidency in England
will take special care to be ready to act on future instructions on the subject.
" Elders of Israel, be faithful in your calling, feed the[sheep, feed the lambs
ef the flock, and proclaim the gospel in all simplicity, meekness, and love,
whenever you have the opportunity as It shall be given you by the power of
the Holy Grhost which you will always have for your counsellor if you are
faithful ; and let all the Saints give diligent heed unto the counsel of those
who are over them in the Lord, upholding them by the prayer of faith, keeping
themselves pure and humble, and they will never lack wisdom from above,
and by faith and works search out your way to Zion.
" Several elders have been appointed missions to England, Scotland, the
Society Islands, the States, and Western California, as will be seen by the
minutes of the General Conference of the 6th of April, to which we refer for
particulars concerning any business then transacted.
"We are happy In saying to all, that a brighter day is dawning on the intel-
lectual prosperity of Zion ; that the University recently established by the State
of Deseret, bids fair to accomplish the object for which it was instituted ; that It
Is under the supervision of faithful and Intelligent men, who will consider no
labour too great to carry out the wishes and greatest possible good of those for
whose benefit the institution was founded : and we earnestly solicit the co-opera-
tion of all the Saints, and particularly the elders In all nations, to gather, as they
may have the opportunity, books in all languages, and on every science, appara-
tus, and rare specimens of art and nature, and everything that may tend to
beautify and make useful ; and forward or bring the same to the Regents of our
University, for the benefit of all such as may hereafter seek Intelligence at
their hands."
Mr. Orson Pratt, in an "Epistle to the Saints throughout Great
Britain," is solicitous for the purification of both the state and cliurch
from unworthy members. The following are extracts : —
•♦ About two years have elapsed since I was appointed to preside over the
Saints in this land. I have endeavoured, during the time, to inform myself con-,
cerning your condition, and to offer such counsel as I thought best adapted to
your circuuistances. If, in the multiplicity of business which has pressed my
LOCAL ASPECTS OV MOKMONISM. 315
mind, I liave afc any time erred, it has not been intentionally. It has been my
constant prayer and study to know the will of God concerning you. It afford^
rae gi'eat pleasure to know that the churches have greatly flourished since I have
been in your midst, and that many thousands have been added to your numbsrs.
Peace and union have also prevailed in almost every branch ; while the Holy
Spirit has been abundantly poured forth upon you, as is evident from the miracu-
lous manifestation of the healing power, together with numerous other blessings
enjoyed throughout the land, 'these tokens of the goodness of God towards his
Saints are calculated to make the faithful servants of God rejoice.
" The wise and judicious management displayed by the presidents of confer-
ences, and the travelling elders under them, has been the principal means in the
hands of God in extending the cause of truth in the British Isles. The extensive
circulation of the printed word has also given an impetus to the rolling of the
great wheel of salvation. Strictness of discipline in plucking off dead branches
— in purifying the church of corrupt members — and in laying the axe at the
very root of every species of wickedness, has also had a powerful tendency to
strengthen and confirm the meek and humble, and to enligiiten the eyes of the
honest inquirer.
*' Let the presiding elders of every conference endeavour to inform their minds
relative to the condition of every branch under their respective jurisdictions. See
whether your flocks are in a healthy condition or not. The Lord has made you
the shepherds over his sheep ; if you lose the sheep, or suffer them to perish
through your neglect, they will be required at your hands. Teach the presidents
of branches to look diligently after all the members. Counsel them to enforce
strict discipline, and to root out all backbiting and evil-speaking one against
another ; for this is a great evil, and tends to quarrels, divisions, strifes, apostacy,
and death. If the backbiter or evil-speaker will not, after proper admonitions,
reform and cease his evil practices, let fellowship be withdrawn from him, and
let all know that the church of God is not the place to injure and devour one
another. If any oflicer or member under your charge be found teaching or prac-
tising unvirtuous doctrines, let him be dealt with strictly by the law of God ; and
if the president of a conference shall transgress, or teacher practise any iniquity,
let the same be reported to us, accompanied with the proper evidences ; and if
one of the Twelve, or the president of the Saints in Great Britain, shall transgress
the law of virtue, and teach or practise unrighteousness, let the presidents of con-
ferences inquire into the same, and collect the testimonies thereof, and forthwith
transmit the documents unto the First Presidency at head quarters, that all may
be dealt with according to the law of heaven. The time is come when too much
light and knowledge have been given to the Saints for them to suffer themselves
to be imposed upon by men who are carried away with their lusts. And we say,
in the name of the Lord, that the displeasure of heaven shall overtake the adul-
terer unless he speedily repent, and his name shall be blotted out from among
the people of God. ' Woe unto them that commit whoredoms, saith the Lord
God Almighty, for they shall be thrust down to hell.' Woe unto them who
shall betray the confidence reposed in them, and shall make use of their authority
to Seduce and lead astray ignorant and silly women, for, except they repent, their
authority bhall perish quickly like the dry stubble before the devouring flame.
216 THE MOKMONS.
Woe unto them mIio He and bear false witness a<iainst their brother or sister to
their injury ; it were better for tlienr that they were sunk in tlie deptlis of ihe
mighty ocean than to offend the children of God. Woe unto them who steal, for
their deeds shall he made manifest, and justice and judunient shall lay holil on
them in an hour they think not. Woe unto them who love s-lunder, and will not
fea«e to speak evil of their brother and sister, for they shad be hated of God and
man, and their hopes shall wither away and perish. Woe unto all those aniont^
the Saints who shall tui-n from their ri<;hteousness and do iniquity, for the great
day of the Lord is at hand, and their portion shall be among hypocrites and mi-
believers."
Such language as this in their piiblie documents, together with the
recorded facts of the excision and excoinniuiiicntion of offending meni-
l)ers, would seem to exonei-ate the Mormon system frotn the vices
of Mormon membei-s. They also prove, whatever may have been
the moral state of Mormon society; in tiniC' ])ast, that it lias al-
I'-eady greatly improved. And as to the accusations against their
foundei-s, even when made by undoubtedly ipious men, the Mormons
liave an indisj^utably valid answer,, which they have thus worded for
themselves.
*' Pious men, who prayed often and fasted frequently, affirmed
that Jesus and His aj'ostles were foul imjiostors, vile sabbath-
breakers, gluttons, wine-bibbers, treasonable ])ersons, not fit to live.
Do you judge Jesus by the testimony of jiious enemies? No, you
judge his character, &c., by the testimou}^ of friends. Pursue tlie
same line of judgment towards Joseph Smith, and the issue is
triumph: his bosom burned with a love to humanity, manly, frank,
and Godlike. You believe in the testimony of Moses as to the won-
ders recorded in the Pentateuch, yet Moses killed the Egyptian and
liid his bodv in the sand ! Joseph Smith never did anything like
that. You believe and i-eceive the Psalms and Proverbs, yet David
and Solomon simied foully and feaifully. Let your reason and
Common sense sjieak and judge righteous judgment. A false pro])het
Avill ever teach something false : Joseph taught in perfect accordance
with Scrij.ture, just as a true proj)het must do.''
The enmity excited among the pious, too, had its natural ground
ii tlie pecid'ar doctrines taught bv the new sect. These we will
also take in their own words : —
'* Some of the leading characteristics of the Latter-Day Gospel were
as follows : It declared all the earth. Christian, Jew, Heathen, and
Pagan, to be living in wickedness, unbelief, and without a knowledge
of God. It declared that the religion of Jesus established upon the
earth in the days of the primitive apostles, had been long perverted
into human Institutions, without eitiier the form or j>ower, and con-
OPrOSITTON TO MOll-MOMS^r. 31.7
sequeiitly were not acknowletlged of God. It declared, that all tiiose
calling themselves Christians iti the nineteenth century, were notiiii^
less than idulators, and livii)<; under a broken covenant. It declared
that God had now s])oken IVoni the heavens, and given a comnnssioii
to man to go forth and usher in the dispensation of the fulness of
times, by oi)ening tlie kingdom of God to Gentile and Jew. It de-
clared that all who would not humble themselves, and go forth and
be baptized for a remission of their sins, and have the imposition of
liands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, by those whom God Jmd
called, would never enter into the kingdom of God, or be saved with
an everlasting salvation. It declared that all who were without pro-
phets and ai)0s.tle3 — the spirit of inspiration and innnediate revelation
fi'om God, together with the Holy Ghost, which would enable men
to dream dreams, see visions, and pro])hecy ; speak in unknown
tongues, and work miracles ; were not yet fellow-citizens with the
Saints, or of the household of God. It declared that this was the
stone cut out of the mountain without hands, spoken of by Daniel
and the prophets, and that it would roll on until every hostile power
upon the earth had fallen before it, and it had become a great king-
dom and filled the whole earth. Let us here pause, and inquire :
Was there anything in all this, to pamper the prejudices of the
public mind, and thereby gain the ap[)lause of the world ? On the
contrary, it is obvious, that had the inhabitants of some other world
laid their heads togetlier, to concoct such a story to palm upon this
world, as would stir up the bitterest spirit of hatred and persecution,
they could not have hit upon one more effectual than the principles
embodied in the Latter-Day Gospel.
" We accordingly find that the gospel met the opposition and con-
tempt naturally to be expected. No sooner was its first proclama-
tion made, than both earth and hell were in a stew to find adequate
mea!is to put a stop to such a work ; all manner of lies and slan-
derous reports were put in circulation to the })rejudice of those who
obeyed it, everywhere. The whole artillery of the learned world was
put in requisition to bolster up such lies and slanders, and men were
warned, both from pulpit and j)res3, to beware of the impostors. The
servants of the Lord knew and felt they were so treated; but still
they preached and still they determined to know, and to glory in no-
thing else. Why this, if they were impostors, they nmst have
yielded to the contempt called forth. But no, they ]ireached it,
and succeeded. And yet Jew and Gentile hated it. What could
carry it above that hatred but the power of God ? For, as was to be
expected from a religion of this description, making such pretensions,
and with a world hostile and already entrenched in power, it met
318 THK MORMONS.
with most formidable opposition and violent persecution from all
ranks, orders, classes, and individuals whose interests were endan-
gered or craft disturbed. From governors, rulers, inferior magis-
trates ; from priests and the whole train of idolatrous worshippers ;
from a lawless rabble multitude, the victim and sport of every passion
and prejudice ; the ready instruments of party violence ; the easy
dupes of designing men, and the tumultuous and eager executioners
of wrath, against those who had become the object of their hatred.
That the Latter-Day Saints have suffered horrible persecutions is a
fact not to be denied, after all the publications upon the subject, and
• the thousands of living witnesses who at this moment attest its
truth, and mourn over their martyred relatives.
" As an outline of what is contained in our records upon this sub-
ject, we may notice, that no sooner were a few thousands of the
Saints settled on the western frontiers of Missouri, having provided
themselves with comfortable, and many of them with large posses-
sions, and having by industry greatly improved their estates, and
were beginning to enjoy something like real comfort, than the storm
that had been brewing against them in the hearts of their enemies
broke out with uncontrollable force ; and large bodies of Christians,
armed with the powers of mobocracy, and headed by their ministers,
with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, endeavoured
to annihilate the poor, peaceful, unoffending Latter-Day Saints ; and
in the most savage, barbarous manner did they drive them from their
lands and possessions in the midst of a severe North American winter,
burnlno; their dwelling-houses and other buildings, murdering them
and their families, first ravishing and then murdering their wives
■and daughters. Li one case nineteen of them had hid themselves in an
old smithy, but their ruthless pursuers found them out and butchered
them to a man ; and just when about to leave, thinking that the work
of slaughter was done in this place, one of them discovered a little
boy hid behind the bellows ; him they dragged forth, and while hijs
little e3^es and hands were raised to heaven In earnest entreaty th^t
these Christian savages might have mercy upon him, one of them, in
Avhose heart the last spark of humanity was not wholly extinguished,
ventured to plead for the life of the little boy ; but the ready reply of
one and all was, ' Away with him ; d — n him, if he lives he'll be a
Mormon like his father,' and a ball from a gun quickly scattered his
brains upon the floor.
" My heart sickens, and the blood freezes in my veins while I write,
and while I contemplate the worse than savage atrocities inflicted
upon the most law-abiding, peaceful, unoffending people that ever
graced the footstool of God. Yes, — they drove them from their
CONCLUSION. 319
liomes, their lands, and tlieir possessions. Stript, wounded, and
beaten, they were compelled to flee from all they had in or of the
Avorld, in the midst of a very rigorous winter. It would have sick-
ened the heart of the wildest savage of the forest to see their young
infants, their old men and women, their sick and infirm, with many
of their women suffering from the pangs of child-birth, many of them
too premature to look, or even hope for their recovery, Ijing scattered
here and there across the bare prairies, without the slightest covering
to shelter them from the pitiless pelting storni, or the bitter frost and
«now ; so that many more were they who fell martyrs to the incle-
mency of winter, than they who perished by the sword, and much more
bitter and torturing to the feelings was their fate.
*' It will not be expected that I could write one-thousandth part of
the sufferings of the Saints at the period alluded to, neither is it my
present intention so to do ; suffice it to say, that the readiest pen, or
the most eloquent tongue, would come far short of the reality. To
know would be to have felt ; and even then the knowledge would be
-all your own — you could not communicate it to another.
"But the question now is, did these cruelties destroy the work of
God ? No, — so far from destroying, it did not so much as retard it
a single moment. Nay, it went on with accelerated speed ; and at the
"very moment the Saints were being butchered for the testimony of
Jesus and the word of God, that testimony was boldly and undaunt-
edly borne throughout all parts of the land. Is it possible to look
upon facts like these, and still hold the idea that these poor perse-
cuted people were impostors, or under a delusion ? Reasoning from
such a state of things, and the results flowing from it, we cannot, as
reasonable beings, hold the idea a single moment. They must either
have obtained a knowledge of that God whom to know is life eternal,
and which served to support their sinking spirits, and bear them up
under all they were called upon to suffer, or they must have given n av
to the popular wrath, and thrown up their imposture as a thing alto-
gether unfit to succeed in the world."
We have now brought to a close the few observations which we
have thought it necessary to make upon the evidence by which thd
present believers in the mission of Joseph Smith su[)port his claims ;
as well as upon the theology which has gradually grown out of the
remarkable imposture, of which the Book of Mormon is the root. We
have, at the same time, investigated the charges of vice and crimi-
nality brought against Smitii and his disci[)les. We have also con-
sidered Mormonism as a social and secular institution, which already
plays a very note-worthy part, both in this country and in America.
The West has had its prophet as well as the East ; and whatever may
3-^0
THE MORMJNS.
have beePi the original character of the man, the sect wliich he founded
has arrived at such a o;rowth, that no arguments founded upon the
fraud or absurdity of his pretensions will be of the slightest avail in
preventing the development of Mormonism. The sect — established
in its own home — treats all adverse criticism with the .iame indiffer-
ence as the Mahometans or Buddhists show to all who impugn the
truth of their religions. They pity the objectors — treat their argu-
ments either as folly or blasphemy, and entrench themselves in the
impregnable fortress of their own faith. If this were not the natural
course of things, and strictl}'' in accordance with all experience, there
would at this time be but one form of religion in the world. That
there are many forms of religion, each of which believes itself, and it
alone — to be the true one, may explain, though it will not justify, the
faith and position of the Latter-Day Saints. Whatever the world
may say of the Mormons, the Mormons may say of themselves, that
they have succeeded in establishing the third political system that
has grown out of Christianity. The Pope, the Queen of England,
and Brigham Young, are alike heads of States and of Churches : and,
what is perhaps as remarkable a fact, the only State Church in
America is that which has been founded by Joseph Smith.
The great impetus given to the trade and population of the Pacific,
by the discovery of the golden treasures of California, — a discovery
partly owing to the Mormons — will doubtless lead to a more rapid
development of the resources of the new and peculiar community of
Deseret or Utah, than might otherwise have been anticipated. Their
})ast history has been a singular one. Their future history promises
to be even more remarkable.
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