THE MORMONS AT - UTAH.
THE Mormons are determined to die hard ; and they are the more' likely to do so since their death seems to be doomed while the sect is .yet growing with all the vigour of youth. They will be exter-
minated by the United States like a tribe of Indians; yet their numbers are continually recruited, even from England; and they confront the great Republic with an audacity that feels no misgiving.
Founded by the now canonized Yoe Smith, who professed to have rested his mission on a new Koran divinely sent from Heaven, —said to be a Greek Testament illegible to his crew,—the sect from the first admitted infallibility and impeccability in its hierarchy ; even dissension in the privileged families not conducted with the most punctilious tongues, as not destroyed that arbitrary faith ; the very death of Smith—killed unintentionally by the Volunteers of the United States when the sect was last driven from its moor- ings in Illinois—could not destroy the belief in his omnipotency. When ignorant faith plays at inspiration and hierarchy, especially when its half hypocritical half credulous self-cajolery is intoxi- cated by the licentious freedom which so often attends it, there are no bounds to the capacity of its hallucinations. Credulous fanaticism with its blood on fire and its tongue in its cheek, is the most untameable of the knave-fool tribe.
The Mormons naturally were a pest to their neighbours : regard-
lug all things as the property of the "Saints," they coolly appro- priated everything that was found in the hands of the "Gentiles"; and thus a Mormon on the next land to yours was worse than a polecat near your poultry-yard. Their expulsion was inevitable, and it could not be otherwise than roughly executed. Their houses were burned down as the nests of vermin are destroyed. But they took it coolly : "It's wonderful," exclaimed a Mormon, who finding it useless to enter upon a shooting-match with his assailants, stood by in critical, mood while his log-house was burned down—" it's wonderful how that green wood burns !" Nevertheless, their cool- ness was not reconcilement: impeccable in their own esteem, the victory of the " Gentiles " was a wanton outrage; • and again they went forth into the desert, strong in faith, full to the gorge with vindictive passion. Far to the West they went, and settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, beyond the Rocky Mountains.
But the great Republic also constantly expands and goes West- ward ; and the Great Salt Lake proves to be on one of the high- ways to California. Awkward is it to find on your path a numerous tribe of Saints, who have self-permission to deem your property theirs by right divine. The great Republic learns that certain of its travelling sons are murdered, and looks wistfully at the Great Salt Lake—convenient station on the road to California. Governor Brigham Young, Saint-in-chief, sees the Republicans surrounding him ; he temporizes ; he even takes the initiative : his people are numbered, a vast census is sent to the Congress at Washington, asking admission to the Union for the "Slate of Deseret." The United States know no "State of Deseret," but consent to re- cognize "the Territory of Utah." Accordingly, a delegate is ad- mitted to Congress' and Judges are sent, with 20,000 dollars as an advance for public buildings and 24,000 for salaries and other pub- lic expenses. Nay, with one of those marvellous liberalities of which imperious authorities alone are guilty, Brigham Young is recognized as Governor.
The Judges and Secretary arrive : but after their long journey, Governor Young refuses to let them call upon him ; none but Mor- mons, he said, should have been sent, not "damned rascals." And this incivility proves to be but the prelude to a series of indigni- ties recounted by the mortified Judges in a "report" to the Presi- dent of the United States. The Judges seem to have been very well-disposed, accommodating fellows ; they persevered hard in the endeavour to conciliate and enlighten the Mormons : they attended public dinners, where studied insult usurped the place of toast and sentiment and the flowers of eulogy; they lectured on the merits of Washington, father of his country ; they protested blandly; and at last there is nothing left for them but to report. At the din- ner, at the lecture, at the church, the United States officials were consigned to everlasting perdition, with an inspired Billingsgate dialect and the most explicit allusion to the topography of their ultimate destination. At the festivities to celebrate the anni- versary of the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers in the Valley, on the 24th of July-
" We were seated upon the platform with a number of the leading men of the Church, including the present delegate in Congress (Honourable John M. Bernhiese). The Governor rose to address the audience ; and a profound silence ensued, as is always the case when he rises to speak. After reflecting in tenns of condemnation upon the alleged hostility of General Taylor to the Mormons, and to giving them a government, he exclaimed in a loud and ex- ulting tone,. But Zachary Taylor is dead and in hell, and I am glad of it.' Then, drawing himself up to his utmost height, and stretching out his hands towards heaven, he declared, in a still more violent voice, And I prophesy in the name of Jesus Christ, and by the power of the priesthood that is upon me that any President of the United States who lifts his finger against this people shall die an untimely death, and go to hell !' To this sentiment there came up from those seated around us, and from all parts of the house, loud and mingled responses of 'Amen!' ' Good !" Hear ! ' &c."
On a "subsequent occasion "-
"In reply to the remarks made by one of the undersigned upon the sub- ject, before a large audience, the Governor reiterated and declared, did say that General Taylor was dead and in hell, and I know it.' A man in the crowd, seemingly to give the Governor an opportunity of fixing its truth, spoke out and said, 'How do you know it ? ' To which the Governor promptly answered, Because God told me so.' An elder in the church, laving his hand upon the shoulder of one of the undersigned, added, 'Yes, Judge, nd you'll know it too ; for you'll see him when you get there.'"
When one of "the undersigned" had delivered the Washing- ton lecture, and politely asked for a stone towards a monument for the Father of his Country--
" At the close of the address, the Governor arose, and denounced the Speaker with great violence, as 'profoundly ignorant or wilfully wicked' ; strode the stage, madly assumed various theatrical attitudes, declared he was a greater man than even, George Washington,' that he knew more than ever George Washington did,' that he was the man that could handle the sword,' and 'that if there was any more discussion there would be pull- ing of hair and cutting of throats.' Referring to a remark of the speaker, That the United States Government was humane, and kindly disposed towards them,' he said, I know the United States did not murder our wives and children, burn our houses, and rob us of our property ; but they stood by and saw it done, and never opened their mouths, the damned scoundrels !' By this time the passions of the people were lashed into a fury like his own. To every sentence he uttered there was a prompt and determined response, showing beyond a doubt that all the hostile and seditious sentiments we had previously heard were the sentiments of this people. Those of us present felt the personal danger that surrounded us. If the Governor had but pointed his finger towards us, as an indication of his wish, we have no doubt we would have been massacred before leaving the house. But he did not point his finger."
Merciful Governor ! But this is not the worst. The Judges were superseded in their functions '; trials took place unknown to them, and were settled by the autocrat. The 20,000 dollars for public buildings Young embezzled and devoted to paying the debts of the Church ; the 24,000 dollars, which the Secretary tried to send back again, was seized by a kind of highway robbery, under holy orders,
from the custody of "the Honourable A. W. Babbitt, late delegate to Congress from the Teyritory," who was arrested on the road, and his tent torn down, though one of "his wives" was at the mo- ment " nursing a sick baby." The climax of horrors is the ultra- Mahometan polygamy, in which the Mehemet of the Salt Lake,ex- eels all the faithful : the outraged Judges had seen the Governor "riding through the streets in an omnibus, with a large company of his wives, more than two-thirds of whom had infants in their arms ; a sure sign," naïvely adds the judicial report with a Gamp- like sagacity, "that the evil was increasing"! Now a State that asks admission to the Union and then insults it, that blasphemes the memory of George Washington, that em- bezzles the federal cash, murders citizens of the Republic, and in- fests the overland route to California with "Saints "—that State cannot last ; but, as we see, it cannot be taught : therefore it must be exterminated. And, for all its distance, it will be coerced,—as easily as France, that inverse counterpart of Utah—that Republic coerced by the enthroned Mormon of the Tuileries ! Such are the strange dislocated parallels of our day : in the fax West, Mormon Islam is inviting the exterminating march of " order " ; in the capital of civilization, the Mormon is triumphant. Where, indeed, is civilization P In his next map, or on his "great globe," Mr. Wyld should point out its probable site.
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