SPALDING STUDIES LIBRARY -- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
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New Light on Mormonism
1: Contents | 2. Chapters 1-7 | 3. Chapters: 8 9 10 11 12 | 4. Chapters 13-16 |
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The Prophet's prospects at once brightened when Dr. Galland, a notorious character, presented a part of a large tract of land to him in Carthage County, with a view of making a market for the remainder. Immediately Joseph had a "revelation" that this was the "centre spot," and he commanded the Saints to assemble here to build a city, a temple, etc. The city, the angel told him, was to be called "Nauvoo," which he said, means "the Beautiful." It is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, forty miles above Quincy, Ill., and twenty miles west of Burlington, Iowa, at a bend of the river, on rising ground, commanding a magnificent view of the "Father of Waters" for many miles. The land given to Joseph was divided into lots and sold to the Mormons, by which he realized over one million of dollars. The Saints from all quarters responded to the call to hasten to the new city, and it immediately grew into importance. Fifteen years before Smith had been known as a common vagrant; now he was known as a mayor, a pontiff, and as a very rich man, the legislature having granted the city a charter with extraordinary privileges, including the authorization of a military body, afterward known as the "Nauvoo Legion," of which he was the lieutenant-general -- a corps to which all the male Mormons capable of bearing arms belonged. Nauvoo became the capital of the world to the Mormons, and attracted general attention. This new "everlasting residence" of the Saints was changed from a desert into an abode of plenty and luxury. Gardens sprang up as if by magic, plethoric with the most beautiful flowers of the New and the Old World, whose seeds had been brought from distant lands as souvenirs to the new "Zion;" broad streets were laid out, houses erected, and the busy hum of industries was heard in the marts of Commerce. Steamboats unloaded their stores, and passengers came and departed for fresh supplies of merchandise; fields waved with golden harvests, and cattle dotted the neighboring hills. The new settlement was increased by horse-thieves, house-breakers, robbers, and people of the most disreputable character, who joined the community to cloak their villainous deeds in mystery. Speculators, too, came and bought property with the hope of remuneration. Some of these people were baptized, but being unwilling to pay full tithes, were " ousted " from the ranks, which were again quickly filled. An intelligent officer of the United States Army, who visited Nauvoo in the height of its prosperity, gives an account of the city and its institutions as he saw them at this time: "Yesterday," he says, "was a great day among the Mormons. Their legion, to the number of two thousand men, were paraded by Generals Smith, Bennett, and others, and certainly made a very fine appearance. The evolutions of the troops directed by Major-General Bennett would do credit to any body of armed militia. "What does all this mean? Why this exact discipline of the Mormon corps? Do they intend to conquer Missouri, Illinois, or Mexico? "Before many years this legion will be fifty thousand strong -- a fearful host, and still augmenting, filled with religious enthusiasm, and led on by ambitious and talented officers, and what may not be effected by them? These Mormons are accumulating like a snow-ball rolling down an inclined plane, which in the end becomes an avalanche. They have appointed Captain Bennett, late of the United States Army, their inspector-general, and he is commissioned as such by Governor Curtin [sic]. This gentleman is skilled in gunnery, fortification, ordnance and military engineering generally and I am told he is now under pay from the tithings of this warlike people I have seen his plans for fortifying Nauvoo, which are equal to any of Tartan's. "Only a part of their officers are Mormons, but they act with a common interest, and those who are not Mormons when they come here soon become so, from interest or conviction. The Smiths are not without talent, and are said to be brave as lions. Joseph, the chief, is a noble-looking fellow -- a Mahomet, every inch of him. "The Postmaster, Sidney Rigdon, is a lawyer, philosopher, and Saint. Their other generals are men of talent, and some of them men of learning. They are all unquestionably ambitions, and the tendency of their religious creed is to annihilate all other creeds ; you may therefore see that the time will come when this gathering host of religious fanatics will make the country shake to its centre. A Western empire is certain; ecclesiastical history presents no parallel to this people, inasmuch as they are establishing their religion on a learned footing. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, is president of their university. "The military parade astonished me and filled me with fears for futureconsequences. The Mormons, it is true, are now peaceable; but the lion is asleep -- take care, don't arouse him. "This place has been settled only three years. It is well laid out, and seems to be well governed. The adjoining country is beautiful -- a rolling prairie; Nauvoo contains ten thousand people, and in and near this city are thirty thousand of these warlike fanatics, an incorporated army, to whom the arms of the State have been loaned; and of this army a company has been selected to build the Mormon Temple, the site of which has been selected. I am told that all the converts of Mormonism, here and elsewhere, at this time number one hundred and fifty thousand." From this statement it is obvious that the Saints were again prosperous some three years after their expulsion from Missouri. Not only was the site of the temple chosen, but a hotel was built, where certain of the leaders were to be entertained, "free of expense, forever." Conferences were held semi-annually and missionaries were appointed to Palestine, Africa, and Europe, and to each Congressional district in the United States. The best educated, the most inquiring and restive ones, were sent on these errands in order to give them a chance to let off the steam of discontent. They were sent with all the promptness of military orders, with a three days' notice for an absence of three years from home and family, which were cared for by the presidency and bishops. Three hundred missionaries were appointed at one of these conferences. Previous to starting they received orders from Joseph, who preached a rousing sermon to them that stimulated their pride of conquering difficulties without scrip or purse; the main point was that "spiritual wifehood" was to be most pointedly denied; and that they should teach that one man was to live with one woman "in chaste fidelity." He told them to buckle on the armor, "to confound the wise and unwise," etc., thus enlisting their pride, which was the sure way to make full Mormons of the wavering. At this time (1842) the Mormons boasted of having a hundred thousand in the faith throughout the States, and their vote was a balancing power. They would go in a body in all political questions. The Prophet commenced to agitate the question of a restitution of the property the Saints had lost in Missouri. He visited Washington, had an interview with President Van Buren who said to him; "Sir, your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you." In view of the approaching Presidential election of 1844, letters on the subject of the Mormons' alleged wrongs were addressed to prominent candidates, which elicited answers not at all agreeable to the Saints. In 1843 the Prophet wrote to Henry Clay, who was supposed to have a good chance to be elected to the Presidency, to know what course he would pursue toward the Mormons if he were successful. The correspondence was characteristic of both parties. Smith's letter was to the following effect: "NAUVOO ILL., November 4, 1843. "HON. HENRY CLAY:"DEAR SIR: As we understand you are a candidate for the Presidency of the next election, and as the Latter Day Saints (sometimes called Mormons), who now constitute a numerous class in the school politic of this vast Republic, who have been robbed of an immense amount of property and endured nameless sufferings by the State of Missouri, and from her borders have been driven by force of arms, contrary to our natural covenants, and as in vain we have sought redress by all constitutional, legal, and honorable means in her courts, her executive councils, and her legislative halls, and as we petitioned Congress to take cognizance of our sufferings without effect, we have judged it wisdom to address this communication to you and solicit an immediate, specific, and candid reply to what your rule of action relative to us will be as a people, should fortune favor your accession to the chief Magistracy. "Most respectfully, sir, your friend, and the friend of peace and good order and Congressional rights, "JOSEPH SMITH." Mr. Clay responded as follows: "DEAR SIR: I have received your letter in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ, of the Latter-Day Saints, inquiring what would be my rule of action to you as a people should I be elected, etc. Should I be a candidate, I can enter into no engagements, make no promises, give no pledges to any particular. portion of the people of the United States. I have viewed with lively interest the progress of the Latter-Day Saints. I have sympathized in their sufferings, under injustice, as it appeared to me. I think, in common with all other religious communities, they ought to enjoy the security and protection of the Constitution and the laws. I am, with great respect, "Your friend, "HENRY CLAY." Mr. Clay's reply was very unsatisfactory to the Prophet, who wrote him a second letter which received a still more unsatisfactory reply. He wrote an angry rejoinder, calling Mr. Clay "a blackleg in politics." The letter shows the shrewdness and talent of the man. The following is an extract from it: "The renowned Secretary of State, the ignoble duelist, 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. Why? Great God, to transport two hundred thousand people through a vast prairie over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon -- a distance of nearly two thousand miles -- would cost more than four millions; or should they go around Cape Horn in ships to California, the cost would be more than twenty millions; and all this to save the United States from inheriting the disgrace of Missouri for murdering and robbing the Saints with impunity. Benton and Van Buren, who make no secret to say, if they get into power they will carry out (Governor) Boggs's exterminating plan to rid the country of the Latter-Day Saints, are Then Smith set forth his "views on government," advocated a national hank, denounced punishment for desertion in the army and navy, would pardon every convict in the penitentiaries, curtail government offices and pay, reduce the number of representatives, and would harmonize everything by declaring all men free to try "honesty and care" in their dealings, and become a brotherhood. Joseph was put in nomination for the Presidency, and the Mormons have always declared that if he had lived until the next election he would have obtained that office. He was called "The Lion of the Lord" at this time, from his bold spirit and great bravery and power among his followers. A daughter of Joseph's at this time said to a young woman just arrived at Nauvoo: "If we all do as father directs us, we shall be able to conquer the whole world. The President of the United States will be glad to black father's boots when the thousand years of our reign upon earth commences, and that time will come before long." THE MORMON TEMPLE AT NAUVOO. On April 6th, 1841, the foundation of the remarkable building at Nauvoo, called the Mormon Temple, was laid by General Joseph Smith, who appeared for the purpose at the head of his legion, surrounded by a numerous staff. Soon after the city of Nauvoo had been laid out the selection was made for this crowning triumph of the wealth and perseverance of the Saints, on the brow of a bluff overlooking the lower town on the river and a wide stretch of country on either side.The design of the temple, Smith said, was given to him by the angel "Maroni," who explained all the details of the building to him. This "Maroni" was the angel who gave him (as he said) the precious box containing the golden plates. However, he employed a Gentile architect, who drafted it by dictation. All time Saints were called upon to contribute to its erection by time and money. The building, which was of white limestone and wrought in superior style, was in the centre of a four-acre lot. It was one hundred and twenty-eight feet long by eighty-three feet in width, and sixty feet in height. There were two stories in the clear and two in the recesses over the arches, making four tiers of windows -- two Gothic and two round. the two lofty stories had two pulpits, one at each end, to accommodate the Melchisedec and Aaronic priesthood, 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 the Melchisedec priesthood and his two counsellors; and the fourth for the president of the whole church (Smith) and his two counsellors, there was a carved marble font standing or resting on twelve life-sized oxen in marble in the basement, for the "baptism of the living," "for health, for the remission of sin, and for the salvation of the dead." The temple bad a single tower one hundred feet in height on the side toward the river. On the front of the building was this inscription: "The House of the Lord, built by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. Holiness to the Lord." This structure resembled no other church edifice, but was remarkably unique and graceful in its proportions, particularly the front of it, with its six fluted columns, its carved Corinthian caps, and broad piazza. The walls were of massive thickness; the architectural ornaments of the interior were "holy emblems," and the spire was crowned, or tipped, with a gilt angel and his "gospel trump." P. T. Barnum, it is said, had this gilt angel in his New York museum for years after the destruction of the temple. It was the intention of the Mormons to inclose this beautiful temple with a wall ten feet in height and six in thickness. The other buildings in Nauvoo were the Seventies' Hall, Masonic Temple, and Concert Hall, and the large hotel which the Prophet said was to be the "Mission House of the world," and where he would entertain "emperors, kings, and queens," from the Old World, who would come to him to inquire of the new faith. There was no licensed place to sell liquors, and drunkenness was almost unknown. Order and thrift were the rule in this growing, prosperous town. Loafers or idle people were in disrepute. If a stranger entered Nauvoo, his habits and calling were at once a matter of watchfulness; and if he was found to be lazy and without employment he was at once "whittled" out of town by the deacons. This whittling process seems to have been a method by which the suspected person was followed by certain officials, who surrounded him or his abode, and in unison whittled at sticks carried for the purpose. At first it might seem to the doomed one a matter of accident, but its continuance from day to day was too much for human endurance, and the undesirable stranger departed, to the satisfaction of his tormentors. The first really traceable indication. of the purpose of the Prophet to introduce polygamy was in 1841-42, and then it was so furtively done that the thousands that then believed, and still believe, in the mission of Joseph Smith, as set forth by himself, deny that he ever taught such a doctrine. It was brought before the residents of Nauvoo by a quarrel between Major-General Bennett, of the Nauvoo Legion, who (after he had left the Saints) published a book called "Mormonism Exposed," and related his "teaching the Mormon sisters the doctrine of affinity at the command of the Prophet." There had been. whispers of polygamy among the leaders of Mormonism at Kirtland, and more than whispers of its existence among them in Missouri -- Sidney Rigdon, it is said, having suggested it to Smith, who at first was scandalized at the thought of its introduction among his followers, but easily adopted its practice, and had a "revelation" allowing the higher officers of the church to have "as many wives as they could support." Smith's wife, Emma, the "Lady Elect," made a violent opposition at first to this law, and the consolation given to her was "that a Prophet must obey the Lord, and he would be obedient to the heavenly vision." It is not now denied that polygamy existed at Nauvoo at first secretly and afterward openly; but everything that could be done was done to mislead the public as to the veritable teachings of the Mormon leaders concerning marriage, from the quarrel of Bennett, in 1842, until the open announcement of the revelation by Brigham Young at Salt Lake City in 1852. The missionaries were commanded to prevaricate, and even positively deny, that the Mormon Church was other than monogamic. The sons of the Prophet have denied that their father believed in or practised polygamy; but there is overwhelming proof that Joseph Smith had doubtful relations with many "sisters," and was, as he said, a "law unto himself." Many Mormons who personally knew the Prophet have affirmed that Joseph said it was necessary to have a "revelation" on the subject of marriage "to allay the storm that was brewing among the married women and to satisfy the young women whom it was desirable to convert." Mrs. Smith denounced the "revelation," and talked openly of a separation from the Prophet on that account, but was "softened down" by being told that the angel commanded her "to cleave unto Joseph," and afterward signed a certificate from "persons of families," declaring that they knew of no rule, or system of marriage, save that written by Oliver Cowdrey on marriage, and that Bennett's "secret-wife system is a creature of his own making." An author writes: "The most forcible arguments that have yet been adduced on Mormon polygamy are furnished by the pens of the three sons of Joseph Smith at the head of a memorial to Congress protesting against Brigham Young's church founded by their father -- to wit: 'If this doctrine had been presented to the Mormons with the "first principles" taught by the elders, not one in ten thousand would have accepted it.'" According to another author: "Few of the Mormon women have ever accepted polygamy from the assent of their judgment, having first been led to consider it by their elders or leaders, as a true doctrine, and afterward having been afraid to question it, their fears counselling submission. Many of them have never been able to give it a careful consideration." Intestine quarrels on this subject of polygamy and other causes brought on a crisis in affairs at Nauvoo, in 1844. The people in the neighborhood were jealous of the rapidly-growing and flourishing city; they complained that their property disappeared mysteriously, and that law cases tied in Nauvoo courts were always decided against them. No Mormon, they affirmed, was brought to justice. It was widely reported that the Mormons desired to rule the State, and intended to set all laws at defiance. A number of talented and influential persons who had become residents of Nauvoo, finding themselves deluded as the sanctity of the Prophet and in the advancement of their temporal affairs, deserted his standard, denouncing him for licentiousness, drunkenness, and boastful tyranny. Smith justified his inebriation by the assertion that it was necessary for him to be seen in that condition to prevent his followers from worshipping him as a God. Women accused him of attempted seduction, and he replied that he made such attempts ''to learn if they were virtuous." The Prophet's newspaper, the Wasp, lashed these dissenters with the bitterest sarcasm and hatred, to which they replied in the Expositor, one number of which was entirely devoted to a relation of the horrible immoralities of Joseph Smith and his intimate associates. A city council was called, and eleven members of the twelve voted the Expositor a nuisance. Mrs. Foster, wife of Dr. Foster, the editor of this organ, was one of the women who had denounced the Prophet as having made improper proposals to her, and it was said that she wrote the first paper calling attention to the iniquities of the Saints in respect to "spiritual wifery" William Law was the associate editor of the Expositor. Smith and his followers attacked the building where it was printed, destroying the presses and all its contents. Foster and Law fled to Carthage, the county seat, got out warrants against Smith and his brother Hyrum and sixteen of their intimates. A constable who served these warrants was driven out of Nauvoo. This act fired the smouldering hatred of the Illinoisians into terrible activity, and a dark day was lowering over the fate of the Saints. The country authorities called out the militia to enforce the law. The charter of Nauvoo had been so cunningly devised that the State authorities were almost excluded from jurisdiction within its limits. The Mormons hastily armed themselves, and a civil war seemed impending when Governor Ford asked the two Smiths -- Joseph and Hyrum -- to surrender themselves and take their trial, as the best method of satisfying the existing turbulent parties. In return, the Smiths sent two men to confer with him, and secretly crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa to watch the course of events, keeping up a correspondence with the council, which, finding their own people incensed by the desertion of their president, military commander, etc., begged the Smiths to obey the summons of the governor, they (the members of the council) and all their friends feeling sure of an acquittal on trial. Following this advice, they returned to Nauvoo and started for Carthage, but were met by an officer with an order to disband the legion and deliver up the State arms. The Smiths accompanied this officer, who had some troops with him, and the order was duly executed. The two brothers were then conducted to Carthage, with Dr. Richards, John Taylor, and others, were indicted for treason, and lodged in jail. The dissenting Mormons and all who had suffered injustice and loss of property from the Smiths now swore dire vengeance against the prisoners; but the governor, after discharging the troops, went to Nauvoo and addressed the people, advising them to submit to the laws and conduct themselves as good citizens, promising justice to all parties. On the 27th of June, 1844, lie started to return to Carthage, when he met a messenger who informed him that a horrible massacre of the Smiths had been committed by an infuriated mob. The governor, fearing a retaliation from the Mormons on the inhabitants of Carthage, advised them to evacuate Nauvoo, and placed General Deming, with the few troops that could be raised, and himself retired to Quincy to await events. It appears that while the governor was absent from Carthage, and the troops were disbanded, a number of excited and bloodthirsty individuals took matters into their own hands, decided to administer justice after their own fashion, and attacked the jail very early in the morning, breaking down the door of the room where the prisoners were confined. The Smiths were very brave, and defended themselves as long as their ammunition held out, firing their revolvers in rapid succession. Hyrum was shot first, and then Joseph threw open the window, and in the act of heaping out was killed by the bullets fired by the mob, saying, as he fell, "O Lord, my God !" Taylor was wounded, and Dr. Richards, in the confusion, managed to escape. This John Taylor, at present at the head of the Mormon Church at Utah, is the one mentioned as being in jail at Carthage with the Smiths, and who came so near sharing their fate. The murder of their Prophet exasperated the Mormons at Nauvoo, and they determined on a "war to the knife" with all who had participated in that tragedy. The more sagacious ones, however, perceived that it would be unwise to pursue such a course, and began very skillfully to prevent the entire ruin of their future hopes. They addressed the infuriated citizens, with clubs in their hands, while a great drum was meanwhile beating to arms. It was a fearful struggle. Revenge was deep, and curses were poured out on the Gentiles, and "the time to fight" most of them supposed had arrived; but the leaders made delays, and surrendered their arms. They talked of a new organization and new leaders, and so the day passed, and wrath was kept for a more propitious season. The following morning the people collected in Temple Square. The apostles promised "the vengeance of heaven" on their enemies when the time was ripe for the vials of wrath to be poured on them, by patience, fire, and sword. Next, the funeral pageant was of absorbing interest, for the mourning was sore, sad, and deep over "the beloved patriarch and the adored Prophet Joseph." They were called " martyrs for their faith and triumphant in glory." The bodies of the Smiths were buried in the cellar of Joseph's house, although the ceremony of burying their empty coffins was performed at the grave. Joseph Smith's death by the violence of his enemies was opportune for the support of the system he sought to establish, as he had arrived at a point where the least delay would have made its waves overflow and engulf him. He had lived long enough for his fame, and died when he could be called a martyr. It has been said of him that "he could begin but not conduct a revolution." He had become too impatient to manage a multitude, and save for his death at the time, and in this violent manner, the internal convulsions in the faith might have extinguished Mormonism. One version of the return of the Smith brothers from Iowa to surrender themselves to the authorities at Carthage is, that they had started ''to seek out a new home" in some isolated place in the Rocky Mountains for the people, of which Joseph saw the necessity, when a letter from his wife, Emma, overtook him, persuading him to come back; and in obeying it he made the fatal mistake which cost his life. It is now believed on good authority that it was " this specious letter" of his wife's, rather than the governor's wish, which induced him to act against his better judgment, and flee from the Gentiles. She wrote to him reproachfully for his cowardice, denounced him as an impostor, and asked him to give proof of his mission by facing the enemies of the church. It was the Missourians -- who had never forgiven the Mormons -- who were mainly instrumental in inciting the mob at Carthage to murder the Smiths. Even their enemies acknowledged that they died manfully. Joseph was heroic in a sense rarely allied to meanness; yet every act of his life and all the circumstances of his death attest the cheat; still he was of no ignoble order. A few months before the Prophet's death Professor Turner, of Jacksonville, Ill., saw him at Nauvoo, and thus described his personal appearance: "He is a curious mixture of the clown and the knave; his hands are large and awkward, and he wears a massive gold ring on one of his fingers. He has a downcast look, and nothing of that straightforward appearance that characterizes the honest man. His language is uncouth and ungrammatical." But this description of the Prophet's appearance is contradicted by other testimony, quite as reliable; and whatever he may have been from the commencement of his pretended mission to time of his death, the mass of Mormons have been satisfied with him. His personal beauty and magnetism, it is said, controlled those who were about him. He made them believe he could work miracles, cast out devils; that angels visited him; that he had revelations, trances, and was the chosen Prophet of the "Latter-Day Saints." In one year he had thirty-seven revelations, which he said were from Jesus Christ. He began all his addresses with "thus saith the Lord." The New Jerusalem was ever in his mind and conversation; but where it was to be he did not discover. His associations were such as made him acquainted with the weak side of humanity, and he early saw that numbers were more convincing to the masses than intellectual attainments in point of religious influence. His "mission" grew with his years and his success, and he had far more power over the destinies of Mormonism than the "Book of Mormon" itself. During His life he had an unquestioned influence over his wife Emma; she assisted him in every way to delude the credulous and unscrupulous; but a few years after his death she published a statement in the Quincy (Ill.) Whig to the effect that she had no belief in Smith's prophetic capacity, and considered his pretended revelations as the emanations of a diseased mind. The following extract, from a criticism of books on Mormonism, is pertinent to the foregoing chapter. Author. unknown. Date, January, 1880: This ridiculous proposition to establish a Territorial Government within the bounds of a State has underlying it a desperate expedient to save Joe's neck from the halter which it richly deserved. Orrin Porter Rockwell, church murderer, then new to the business, but now the retired hero of a hundred murders, had been sent by Joe over to Missouri to assassinate Governor Boggs. "Port," as he is affectionately called at Salt Lake, shot the governor in the head, but, as he was comparatively inexperienced, did not kill him, On the 5th of June preceding the date of this petition, an indictment against Joe and Port was found in Missouri, and on the 7th Governor Ford issued a warrant for Joe's arrest, and surrendered him to a Missouri officer. He was rescued by the Mormons, taken on a writ of habeas corpus before the Nauvoo Municipal Court (!), and, of course, discharged. Governor Ford had been urged to call out the militia to aid in Joe's rendition, and in the petition it is proposed that the Mayor of Nauvoo (Joe) shall have the power "to call to his aid a sufficient number of United States forces, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, and protect the innocent from the unhallowed ravages of lawless bandit that escape justice on the Western frontier; and also to preserve the power and dignity of the Union. And be it further ordained that the officers of the United States Army are hereby required to obey the requisitions of this ordinance." Joe did not get his Territorial Government, but the Illinois election was about to take place, and having three thousand votes to trade on, he was allowed to run at large a few months longer, until he was killed. If he had been taken over to Missouri, and given a fair trial, he might have saved his life by going to State's prison. "Port" was tried, but being advised in better season than Mr. Pickwick, proved "an alibi," and is still an ornament to Salt Lake society and a shining light in the Mormon Church. |
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CHAPTER XII. John Taylor Elected as Successor to the Second Prophet -- The Trial of Rudger Clawson, Jr., for Bigamy -- Salt Lake City -- Its Beautiful Location -- The Tabernacle and Public Buildings -- Mormon Conferences -- The Freedom of the Ballot in Utah -- The Present Generation of Mormons -- Predictions Regarding the Future of Mormonism -- Far-seeing Mormons Preparing a Rendezvous for the Victims of the Edmunds Law. WHEN Brigham Young died, in August, 1877, it was generally believed throughout the civilized world that the disintegration of Mormonism would follow that event. With the removal of his iron and arbitrary rule, it was supposed that there would be an independence if feeling among the Saints that had not previously existed, and that as railways were constructed, mines developed, and industries established, together with the influx of a Gentile population, the founding of Christian schools, and various institutions under the patronage of Christiam missions, the whole scheme of "exclusive salvation" would gradually become extinct. The fallacy of such an opinion is shown by the situation of affairs in Utah at the present time. Brigham Young, Jr., failing to secure his father's office, John Taylor was elected as the successor of the second Prophet. The office fell to Taylor, but upon the shoulders of George Q. Cannon the mantle of authority really descended. Both men have played conspicuous roles in the history of Mormonism. Both are of English birth, and emigrated to this country when very young. John Taylor is adroit, shrewd, subtle; is well educated, is a vigorous writer, and possesses the rarest tact, or he never could have steered his way through the stormy seas of Mormon experiences successfully, or adapted himself to the changeful and Brigham tyrannical ride of Young. He was a favorite with Joseph Smith, and was with him and his brother Hyrum in the jail at Carthage, Ill., at the time they were killed by an infuriated mob. he was then called the "Apostle Taylor," and, it is said, "comforted" the brothers while they were in durance vile, As he was a man of marked ability, and made himself useful in many ways in Utah, he was intrusted with important missions by Brigham Young to distant countries, and possibly to keep him from the realization of ambitious schemes at home, as many other men of talent were sent by the shrewd Prophet. In the year 1852 Taylor founded a Mormon school in Paris called "L'Etoile du Deseret," and has translated the "Book of Mormon" into French and German. he has also written several books for the enlightenment of the Mormons in spiritual matters. Of these is a work he calls "The Government of God," which has been translated into several languages. President Taylor is now considerably over seventy years of age, and has been a resident of the United States for fifty years. he is tall and distinguished in his personal appearance, and has the winning arts which culture and travel frequently give to a man of wit. His residence in Salt Lake City is called "the Gardo," a handsome house that Brigham built for his favorite Amelia, and after the Prophet's death was purchased as the future home for Mormon presidents. It is in fact, the "White House" to the people, who look upon Taylor as their real president and political as well as spiritual ruler. He has four wives, and while on a mission in the Isle of Jersey a few years ago made proposals of polygamous marriage to a pretty maiden whom he converted to Mormonism. Through the preaching of Young, Taylor, and Cannon, and other noted men of the faith, there are seventeen places for Mormon meetings in London alone, and a large number of Mormon missionaries scattered over Great Britain. George Q. Cannon has been a resident of the United States for forty years. For several years he was attorney for the Mormons at Washington, and although he has four wives and four broods of children, occupied a seat as delegate in Congress. Some one has said of him: "He is the sweetest and most plausible sophist on earth." When Brigham Young named him for the place he said: "I will thrust polygamy down the throats of Congressmen." Mr. Cannon's Congressional record proved that his leader's opinion of him was amply justified, and that the affairs of his people were adroitly managed by his wily stratagems and the influence of his honeyed speech. Mr. Cannon has recently been appointed legal controller and counselor of Mormon affairs by President Taylor. He is the premier of the Mormon estate, the head centre of all matters concerning his people. From his office at St. George he issues the commands, openly or secretly, which are to direct his people. His expressed opinion on any given subject is an Ultima Thule to the followers of Joseph, which they dare not dispute. In a defence of Mormonism Mr. Cannon has written: " Utah has been the Cinderella of the family of States; give her a fair opportunity, and see if she will not rank with all that is admirable and attractive with her more favored sisters." With the death of Brigham Young the American leadership of the Mormons was at an end, as nearly all of their more influential men are of foreign birth. If a Mormon is asked of his belief, he will show a card, prepared for such inquiry, on which are printed the thirteen most important articles of his faith; but there is nothing of polygamy included in these articles. Their belief, as professed and practised, are two different things. While Mormonism preaches that polygamy is the one divine institution required in these latter days to regenerate and sanctify a world steeped in ignorance, their articles of faith, as shown to Gentiles, do not even mention it. Mrs. Paddock, the author of "The Fate of Madame La Tour" -- a powerful story of Mormon life -- and also a keen observer of passing events in Utah, has recently written to a friend in the East: "There have been few material changes in the condition of affairs in the Territory, with the exception of those resulting from the enforcement of the Edmunds law. Polygamists have been disfranchised and rendered ineligible to office, but practically the old men, the Mormon leaders who have controlled the affairs of Utah for thirty years, have simply abdicated in favor of their sons. Consequently the Territory is still under Mormon rule, and the priesthood have it still in their power to inflict severe punishment upon those who apostate from the Mormon faith. This power is exercised even outside of Utah toward apostates. Please understand that polygamy is not dying out. It is strengthen itself, enlarging its borders, amid claiming fresh victims. What was done openly in this direction a few years ago is now done in secret, but the effect is as bad, or worse. Young girls with babes in their arms are taught to endure anything rather than give the names of the fathers of their children -- the men to whom they have been 'sealed.' It is the man's safety that is secured by such means, and his interests are to be considered in advance of everything else. But Mormon ingenuity has devised still another method by which men may escape legal penalties. According to the present interpretation of the law, it is the marriage ceremony that constitutes the crime of bigamy; and if this is dispensed with, prosecution for bigamy cannot follow, "An intelligent woman, at present a member of the Presbyterian Church who was formerly a Mormon, lived with Bishop Johnson ten years (according to her own testimony) as a plural wife before she was sealed to him; and says it is a common thing in the settlements for men to take plural wives without any ceremony whatever. The condition of the women who live in polygamy is not the saddest feature of the system. It is the children who suffer for the sins of their parents; who, in consequence of the life lived by their mother, are born deformed in body as well as in soul. "A few years ago an educated, intelligent gentleman, a journalist, came here from Europe, bringing his young wife with him, How such people came to be entangled in the meshes of Mormonism was a marvel; but both appeared to be sincere believers in the Latter-Day Gospel. Soon a strong pressure was brought to bear upon the husband to induce him to contract a second marriage. The wife, finding opposition in vain, at length gave her consent, and the bride was brought home. A few months afterward the first wife gave birth to a child. The poor babe, doomed to bear the sins of others, never smiled, and never cried aloud, but always, night and day, it wept silently. Even in sleep great tears forced themselves from beneath its closed eyelids, and rolled over its cheeks, while its face bore the expression, not of infantile grief, but of the terrible anguish that the mother had endured in secret, After a few weeks it began to pine away, and at length, without any visible ailment, sank into its grave. "'My baby died of a broken heart,' said the wretched mother. 'Every hour of its little life it shed the tears that I repressed before its birth, and the agony that I hid in my heart killed it at last.'" * ____________ * From "Face to Face with Mormonism," by Mrs. Joseph Cook. Every Mormon has a vote to be cast as John Taylor commands; and while the leaders of the Saints observe the forms of republican polity, their despotism is as absolute in its control as any on earth. Behind the Mormon creed there is a deadly menace to free government few suspect. Between their creed and the Government of the United States, the latter is of no account. To circumvent the laws and defeat justice is the aim of every Mormon who is a true convert to the faith. President Arthur has won the respect of the law-abiding citizens of Utah by his recent re-appointment of Governor Eli H. Murray, and placing Judge Zane, of Illinois, at the head of the Supreme Court. Judge Zane's first act was to try a polygamist, get him convicted, refuse bail, and send him to the penitentiary. This polygamy case of Rudger Clawson, the son of Bishop Clawson, has attracted attention throughout the country. The witnesses in Clawson's defence were among the most influential of the Saints. Of them was John Taylor, who is said to have surprised his followers by his testimony. As it bears upon polygamy, it will be given in part as it was reported in the Salt Lake Tribune of Saturday, October 18th, 1884 with the speech of Mr. Varian, the indictment, Judge Zane's charge to the jury, and the "sentence." He testified: "I am president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; don't know how long I have been president; the records would show; am acquainted to some extent with the doctrines of the church; am acquainted with the marriage sacrament; there is an Endowment House in this city; marriages by members of the Mormon Church are celebrated at the Endowment House or elsewhere; couldn't say where else; there is a doctrine of the church of plural marriage most certainly; the church does not require that when members of the faith enter into plural marriage, they must go through the Endowment House; as far as I know, most of the marriages are not performed in the Endowment House; I know of plural marriages being performed outside of the Endowment House; can't say who the parties married were; I have no recollection of any plural marriage taking place outside of one of the places designated; there is no place set apart specifically for performing plural marriages; there is a place set apart for marriage ceremonies; one place is the Endowment House and the other at our temples; the Logan Temple was dedicated this past summer in May; prior to that there was but one Endowment House in the Territory; it was in this city; there was a temple at St. George; there were no others; prior to May last there were no other places set apart for the performance of marriage ceremonies than St. George and this city; St. George is in Washington County; the church recognizes other places where plural marriages may be performed outside of endowment houses and temples, under certain circumstances; can't say what those circumstances are; if a man and woman were living in this city who desired to enter plural marriage, they would not necessarily have to be married in the Endowment House; if they desired to marry outside of the city, they would have to have a dispensation for the performance of the act, but not for a specific place; I give the authority to marry in all cases; persons that I might appoint might also confer that authority; I have conferred that authority in the past three years on Joseph F. Smith. George Q. Cannon, and others; I don't remember what ethers at present; this authority would be a general one till rescinded; I cannot give the names of the priests authorized to perform these plural marriages within the past three years; can't give any of them; I could give you hundreds of names of parties in this Territory who have the authority; there are no records kept of these appointments; I don't know who all these parties are; there are parties whom I do not know whether they are authorized or not; I cannot give you the names of parties who were authorized to perform the marriage ceremonies in the Endowment House in 1883; I might ascertain the names, if there is a record of marriages kept; if I wanted to find out where the records were I might be able to find them; I don't think I will be good enough to look for the records for you; I don't know anything about the record; I can't tell you who the custodian of the records is; I don't think I ever saw the marriage record; I have never given any direction as to the custody of the record; can't say that I ever made inquiry as to the whereabouts of the record; have never been told who the custodian of the record was; don't know whether in 1883 Angus Cannon or Elias Smith were custodians of the record; I do not know whether there is any regulation of the church in regard to the records; no one who has not had the authority conferred on him can celebrate marriage; a number of others besides myself can confer this authority; I am the only one having the authority; I can't give you the names of parties in this city authorized to perform plural marriage; the ceremony of marriage is secret as to some; with the exception of those present taking part in the ceremony and the contracting parties, it is not necessarily a secret ceremony; there might be a great many others in whom the church had confidence, who would have a right to attend; the parties present at such a marriage are not sworn to secrecy, not that I know of." " What is the ceremony of plural marriage ?' ' " I decline to answer the question." Mr. Varian, in his speech in behalf of the prosecution, made a number of telling points relating to the Mormon hierarchy. In substance he said: " That the Government had again been brought face to face with the Mormon Church. There had been many violations of the law of 1862, but there had been few prosecutions. The reasons for this were apparent to men who resided in the community. For years the dominant church had arrayed itself in one particular against the law of the land, holding that the Constitution of this country guaranteed religious liberty to every man. This church has not only set itself against the laws, but against the decisions of the Federal courts. claiming to be governed by a higher law than human law; forgetting that it had its very existence from the Government; that the very land upon which were built its temples and its tabernacles; that the very fields from which it drew its tithing fund; that the very expenses which enables it to carry on its local government, in great part, at least, had fallen from the munificent hand of the Government. "It was at first claimed that polygamy was a tenet of the faith, and upon that ground claimed protection for their religious belief under the Constitution. On that issue it went to the country, and the courts and the United States Supreme Court in the Miles case said unmistakably that no such article of faith could claim protection under the Constitution of the country. "Recollecting that the practice of polygamy was said to be enjoined by God, it would appear that if obedience was required to the law of God, that the same obedience would require a submission to the consequences. If martyrdom was to be invoked, martyrdom ought to be endured. It was not the history of martyrs, when called upon to suffer for their faith or belief, to seek to defeat the Administration of law by acts of concealment, by denial and evasion, and by equivocation and fraud. The spectacle presented here was that of an organized community, an organized religious society, teaching from its pulpit and press that polygamy was right and commanded of God; that the Supreme Court of the United States was not the final arbiter of the laws of the country, notwithstanding the Constitution has said that it shall be. "In this case the prosecution had called many witnesses, it might seem to the jury unnecessarily. But there was a reason for it. The heads of the church, those prominent in authority, the bishops and elders, as well as the immediate relatives on all sides of the defendant, had been brought in for the purpose of exhibiting to the court something of the difficulty and the reason of its existence, in carrying on a prosecution in this community against a member of this church. The prosecution wanted to show to the jury directly if they could, indirectly if they could not, that although it was enjoined upon this people publicly at their meetings and in their tabernacles to live their religion, yet that command was only to be carried out in secrecy, that it was to be enshrouded in the darkness of night, that no one connected with the ceremony must know of his neighbor, that no one connected with the ceremony must allow his right hand to know what his left hand did. "No one from President Taylor down has been able to tell anything about a record being kept of marriages performed in the church. Such an utter absence of memory, such an utter mental void, such absolute forgetfulness was perhaps never before exhibited in a court of justice. 'I do not remember,' 'I do not recollect,' 'I think there must be such a record, but I do not know where it is,' 'I do not dare to inform myself,' 'I will not be good enough to inform myself ' -- these and similar expressions fell from the mouths of the witnesses; and he submitted to the jury that, as they looked over the case and reviewed it in their minds, all this must plainly show to them that theme was an organized effort, an organized system directed in its objects to frustrate and defeat the administration of justice. There was a forgetfulness which was guilty in its origin and conception, and a man could as easily commit perjury by saying he did not remember or he did not recollect, as he could by affirming a negative to a fact, In a celebrated trial in England a witness baffled all the efforts of Lord Brougham to elicit the facts in the case by simply responding to all questions, 'I don't remember,' and for years after "The prosecution had been charged with excessive zealousness. He failed to see it in this case, but took the opportunity of saying, in behalf of the office be represented, that they purposed manifesting in all these cases all the zeal that the cases would warrant, until they could establish the law here as it was written on the statute books. "This case against the defendant stood before the jury on two charges -- one that of unlawful marriage and the other that of unlawful cohabitation, he directed the attention of the jury to the first of the two charges, stating that such a charge could be substantiated as well by circumstantial as by direct evidence. No witness saw the marriage performed, there was no record produced because none was kept, and nothing but circumstances and admissions could establish the guilt of the defendant. It was not to be supposed that defendant in entering into this illegal relationship would publish it to the world. The admissions of defendant make the strongest kind of evidence, and when corroborated, as they are in this case, are entitled to great weight. "It is not disputed that defendant married Florence Dinwoodey for a first wife in August, 1882, and it is alleged that he married Lydia Spencer some time during the following year. Defendant was a member of the Mormon Church in good fellowship, his father was and is a bishop, and his family are all followers of the faith. The first that is known of defendant's connection with Lydia Spencer is her coming to Spencer Clawson's store, where defendant was employed. She moves to a house on Third South Street, and lives there in a bedroom and kitchen alone. Defendant is seen going and leaving there a great number of times. Connect the visits of defendant to Lydia Spencer in the Tenth Ward, his visits with her to the theatre and Tabernacle, his drawing water for her in midday a number of times, her moving to defendants house in the Eighteenth Ward, her dining and living there as a wife would, her joining the Eighteenth Ward Mutual Improvement Association under the name of Lillie Clawson time night defendant did, and a chain of circumstances is linked together, whose strength cannot he disputed. Then after defendant was indicted Lydia Spencer moves to Mrs. Smith's house on West Temple Street, where defendant visited her a number of times, and had access by a back door. Lydia Spencer, who above all persons on earth, ought to have an interest in the matter in protecting her fair name, has disappeared so utterly that no one appears to know where she has gone. She has gone where the woodbine twineth, but will ' bob up serenely ' when the jury has brought in its verdict and the case is concluded. Even her own mother does not appear to know where she is or when she will return. The mother of defendant's first wife has also mysteriously disappeared. Mrs. Margaret Clawson, the mother of defendant, has also dropped out of existence in a miraculous manner, she who is interested above all others in maintaining her son's fair name. These are all small circumstances, but they are sufficient to cast upon the defendant the burden of explaining them away. "Now, as to the admissions of defendant. You saw Mr. Caine on the stand. He could have no motive to attack the people of his faith or his ancestry. His father today represents this people in Congress. He is positive that defendant admitted to him that Lydia Spencer was his second wife. Three witnesses are brought forward to contradict Mr. Caine, and these are the only three witnesses for the defence. Instead of the defence bringing witnesses to contradict the marriage, they bring forward three men to impeach Caine's testimony. These witnesses were all witnesses for the prosecution, and were asked whether they had ever heard the matter of defendant's marriage to Lydia Spencer mentioned in defendant's presence, and they all answered no. The witness Lund remembered no conversation about defendant acknowledging Lydia Spencer as his second wife, and yet when he was put on the stand as a witness for the defence, he remembers clearly a conversation on the subject had in April, 1883. "His memory was refreshed by reading Mr. Caine's testimony the day before he testified the first time, and yet when he testified the first time he remembered nothing about it. This witness slunk out of the court-room when he had finished testifying, as though the burden of his infamy would crush him to the ground. "The next witness brought to impeach Mr. Caine was Orson Rodgers, and he was another of the gibbering idiots who knew nothing. H. V. Decker was the third and last witness brought to impeach Mr. Caine. I ask you whether this evidence for the defence did not strengthen Mr. Caine's testimony? " When these circumstances are woven together they make a case concerning which there can be no reasonable doubt, It was to the speaker's mind a rather solemn occasion than otherwise, for never before had the exact condition of affairs here been brought home so forcibly to his mind. I now direct your attention to the question of jurisdiction -- that is, as to whether the second marriage was performed within the jurisdiction of this court. If the marriage had not taken place in the counties over which this court had jurisdiction, the defendant might easily have proved this by the testimony of persons other than himself. A prima facie case having been made out by the prosecution, and there being no explanation by the defence, the jury is to presume that the marriage took place within the jurisdiction. Defendant was employed at the Z. C. M. I. prior to December, 1882, and being a private corresponding clerk, it is testified to that he was there continuously. After January, 1883 the testimony shows that the defendant was not absent from town one day up to the time of his indictment. It was about January, 1883, that Lydia Spencer's connection with defendant is first shown. As book-keeper of Spencer Clawson, the entries on the book show conclusively that he was within this jurisdiction for the past two years. The jury would be warranted in presuming from the circumstances the fact that defendant was not absent from the jurisdiction, and that the second marriage took place within it. "The defendant is a young man, standing upon the threshold of life. If he went into the marriage relation under the laws of the church, he knew what would follow the results of his act. Had he reflected, he would have seen that civilization was coming westward and that the time was coming when the law would rise up in its majesty and be vindicated. He would have known that when the conscience of the American people was pricked, as it was when slavery was dominant, that this government would rise up in its glory and crush out all opposition to its laws. Had he reflected, he must have known that the laws of this country are supreme, and that all church laws in conflict with it must sooner or later become nugatory and of no effect. The defendant must suffer for the consequences of his own act." VERBATIM REPORT. By the Court. Mr. Clawson, will you stand up?The defendant rises to his feet. By the Court. You were indicted in this court upon an indictment charging that you have been guilty of polygamy on the dates charged thereon, by marrying Lydia Spencer, while your former wife, Florence Ann Clawson, was still living. In the second count of that indictment you were charged with unlawfully cohabiting with two women, Florence Ann Clawson and Lydia Spencer. To that indictment you entered a plea of not guilty, and a jury was sworn to try the issue; and after hearing the evidence, and the arguments of counsel, you were found guilty upon both charges. Have you any further legal cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced against you? By the Defendant. Your honor, since the jury that recently sat on my case have seen proper to find a verdict of guilty, I have only this to say, why judgment should not be pronounced against me. I may much regret that the laws of my country should come in contact with the laws of God; but whenever they do I shall invariably choose the latter. If I did not so express myself I should feel myself unworthy of the cause that I represent. The Constitution of the United States expressly states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. It cannot be denied that marriage, when attended and sanctioned by religious rites and ceremonies, is the establishment of religion. The law of 1862 and the Edmunds Bill were expressly designed to operate against marriage, as practised and believed in by the Latter-Day Saints. They are, therefore, unconstitutional, and cannot command the same respect that a constitutional law would, That is all I desire to say, your Honor. By the Court. The Constitution of the United States, as construed by the Supreme Court and by the authors of that instrument, does not protect any person in the practice of polygamy. While all men have a right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and to entertain any religious belief that their conscience, reason, and judgment dictate, they have not the right to engage in a practice which the American people, through the laws of their country, declare to he unlawful and injurious to society. There have been among barbarous and superstitious people various conditions of men and women, with respect to each other; and different classes of unions have been recognized. Promiscuity, the intercourse of the sexes without any definite relations; polyandry, one wife and many husbands, or more than one husband; and polygamy, one husband and many wives, or more than one wife; and also monogamy, one wife and one husband. This last union has emerged with civilization from barbarism and superstition, and it is the institution of marriage that exists throughout the whole civilized world. It is the institution which that infinite source that manifests all things has manifested as the natural and true union to exist between men and women in civilized society. This marriage elevates women to an equality with men, so far as their different organizations will permit; it recognizes the great principle which lies at the foundation of all justice and all equity -- equality, No just government on earth can stand which permits any violation of this great principle of equality, upon which all just laws must rest at last. This union elevates woman, places her upon the high plane beside man, and in its light I believe that man and woman will ascend to the glorious future, will climb the hills of progress, through all time, side by side. This belief that polygamy is right the civilized world recognizes as a mere superstition; it is one of those superstitions which, honestly believed in in the past, have done infinite injury -- one of those religious superstitions whose pathway has been lit by the fagot, and red with the blood of innocent people. The American people, through their laws, have pronounced polygamy a crime, and the court must execute that law. In fixing this punishment the statute gives the court a wide discretion. It provides, among other things, that a person found guilty of polygamy shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; and for the crime described in the second count upon which you were found guilty, it provides that a person shall be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court, >From these provisions it is apparent that the great object of the law was to protect the institution of marriage as recognized by law, the marriage of one woman to one man. And the court, in fixing the punishment, must not only take into consideration the consequences of the sentence to you and to your family, but to society. The great object of punishment applied to crimes is to deter other people from committing like offences, and protect society from the evils resulting from the crime; and with that in view the court must fix the punishment, where it has the discretion. The court, however, looks at the circumstances, and where the crime is aggravated the punishment is usually greater, and should be more severe: and where there are palliating circumstances the punishment should be less. In your ease there is one circumstance, probably, that should be taken into consideration. You have been taught, as it seems. and I presume it to be true, by your ancestors, or by those from whom you received religious instructions, that polygamy was right; and those who taught you are, probably, to some extent almost as much to blame as you, although they could not be punished, because they have committed no overt act that; could be proved; no such act as they could be punished for. That, of course, should he taken into account, But you are an intelligent; man, over thirty years of age, I believe. Clawson. No, sir. Court. I am mistaken, then. I understood some witness to so testify. What is your age? Clawson. Twenty-seven. Court. I was mistaken then. I probably misunderstood the witness. You probably were between twenty-four and twenty-five when the offence was committed? Clawson. As charged. Court. As charged in the indictment. Clawson. Yes, sir. Court. You unquestionably knew of the existence of this law? Clawson. Yes, sir. The Court Continued. And understood it, and you deliberately violated it. You violated it also with the understanding, as you say, that you had a right to do it, because there was a higher law, as you claimed, by which you govern your conduct. That being so, it makes the case aggravated. You deliberately violated a law of your country, knowing the consequences and the effects. And there is another thing to be taken into consideration in fixing this punishment, the object being to prevent the crime. As you state, and, as I presume from the evidence in the ease it is true, there is a class -- a large class -- of persons in this district, in this Territory, and probably many in others, who claim that it is right to violate the law. The object of the law is to prevent it, and it is the duty of the court; to so fix the punishment as that it will be most likely to prevent other persons from committing like offences against society. The institution of marriage is one of the most important to society of any that exist. When free love, polygamy, or any other system shall be substituted for the monogamic marriage, then this great social fabric, which is now protected by law, will probably be crumbling about us; and chastity, virtue, and decency will fall with it, in my judgment. And that seems to be the judgment of the American people and of the whole civilized world; because, I believe, polygamy is not lawful in any civilized government on the globe. For the purpose of protecting society, therefore, and protecting this institution, which is of such great interest and importance to society, the court; must fix the punishment so that it will he likely to prevent its recurrence. The law provides, in the ease of polygamy, for a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars, and for imprisonment not exceeding five years. I confess that I should have been inclined to have fixed this punishment at less than I shall, were it not for the fact that you openly declare that you believe it is right to violate this law. I shall' therefore fix your punishment in the case of polygamy on the first count at a flue of five hundred dollars, and imprisonment for the term of three years and six months, and on the last count, for unlawful co-habitation, I will fix your fine at three hundred dollars and your imprisonment at six months. Judgment will be entered by the clerk accordingly. I wish to add one more remark to the judgment, which is that the imprisonment on the last count of the indictment will begin at the termination of the imprisonment of the first. Judge Zane read the following charge to the jury in the Rudger Clawson case: GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: The court charges you that the laws of the United States of America in force in this Territory, declare that every person who has a wife living and marries another is guilty of polygamy; and that the first count of the indictment upon which the defendant stands charged states that on the first day of August, 1882, he married Florence Ann Dinwoodey, with whom he is still living as his wife, and from whom he has not been divorced; and that afterward and on the 1st day of July, 1883, he married Lydia Spencer in this, the Third Judicial District of the Territory of Utah. To this count the defendant has pleaded not guilty. The court further charges you that the law presumes the defendant innocent until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, It is not necessary that the evidence should show that the marriages charged actually occurred on the days therein named There is no dispute in the evidence with respect to the marriage of the defendant to Florence Ann Dinwoodey, and the real contention is as to the charge that he married Lydia Spencer, and that such marriage was in this judicial district. To prove this marriage, admissions of the defendant and circumstances are relied upon. The court further charges you that admissions and declarations of the defendant hastily made are entitled to but little weight; but when deliberately made and precisely identified, they should receive great weight. You should not look at the circumstances in evidence separately, but should consider them with respect to the fact to be proven, and with respect to each other, and should endeavor to discern their connections, their coincidences, and their disagreements, if such they may present, and so considering them together, give them such weight as in your best judgment they may be entitled to. If you can reconcile the evidence before you upon any reasonable hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the defendant, it is your duty to do so. With respect to the second count of the indictment, the court instructs you to find the defendant not guilty on that count. The court further charges you that a reasonable doubt is one based upon reason, and such doubt must be reasonable in view of all the evidence. And if, after an impartial and careful consideration of all the evidence in this case, you can candidly say that you are not satisfied of the existence of any fact essential to the defendant's guilt you have a reasonable doubt, and in that case you should find the defendant not guilty upon the first count of the indictment also. But if after a candid and careful consideration of all the evidence you have such an abiding conviction of the defendant's guilt that you would be willing to act upon it in the more weighty matters relating to your own affairs, you have no reasonable doubt. And if you should be so satisfied of the defendant's guilt you should find him guilty. Gentlemen, you are the sole judges of the credibility of the witnesses, of the weight of the evidence, and of the facts. You should diligently investigate and carefully consider all the evidence before you together, and give it such weight as you may believe it entitled to when so considered. But if you shall believe that any witness or witnesses have willfully sworn falsely to any fact material in this case, you are at liberty to wholly disregard the testimony of such witness or witnesses, except so far as they may be corroborated by other trustworthy evidence. The court charges you with respect to the form of your verdict, that if you find the defendant guilty of polygamy, as charged in the first count of the indictment, the form of your verdict will be, "The jury find the defendant guilty on the first count of the indictment." If you find the defendant not guilty on the first count of the indictment, the form of your verdict will be, "The jury find the defendant not guilty." THE FORMAL SENTENCE. The following sentence was then entered of record by the clerk of the court:United States v. Rudger Clawson. Polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. This being the time fixed by the court for passing its sentence herein, and the defendant, with his counsel, Bennett, Harkness & Kirkpatrick, being present and having filed no motion for a new trial, and declining to move for a new trial, and the defendant being requested to state if there be any reason why the sentence of the court should not be passed upon him, and no cause being shown for stay of sentence, it is by the court ordered, adjudged, and decreed that you, Rudger Clawson, on the first count of the indictment and the conviction had for polygamy, do forfeit and pay to the United States the sum of five hundred dollars, and that you be confined and imprisoned in the Utah Penitentiary upon said first count for the term of three years and six months. And it is further adjudged and decreed that, pursuant to the conviction had under the second count of the indictment against you, the defendant, Rudger Clawson, for the crime of unlawful cohabitation, that you do forfeit and pay to the said United States the further sum of three hundred dollars; and further, that you, the said defendant, be confined and imprisoned in the Utah Penitentiary the further time of six months. And it is further adjudged and decreed that you, the said Rudger Clawson, be detained and confined, by the officer in charge of said penitentiary, until the above imposed fines be paid and satisfied. With such evidence concerning the Clawson trial it would suggest that the beginning of the end of Mormon hierarchy had arrived; but as evidence to the contrary it is stated, on reliable authority, that the Mormons in Idaho at a recent election were ordered by George Q. Cannon to vote for a certain candidate for Congress. Mr. Cannon did not leave his office, but his order was faithfully carried out. The Mormons in Idaho voted as a unit for his man. The converts to Mormonism throughout the world at the present time number about 200,000. Of the 150,000 people in Utah are 120,000 Mormons, and of these 12,000 are polygamists. A distinguished son of Mormon parentage, but who is not himself a believer, makes the statement that a Mormon's practice of polygamy depends on his ability to support plurality of wives. Long ago the hive swarmed, and today hold the balance of power in Idaho and Arizona, and are rapidly peopling Washington, Montana, and Wyoming Territories, as well as Colorado and New Mexico. While this people profess to observe the forms of a republican government, the despotism of its leaders is as absolute in its control at the present time as it has ever been, and is greater than any other despotism on earth. That such an institution has been able to maintain itself in the very heart of a free country, and to steadily increase in power and wealth, is one of the problems of the age. Polygamy is considered by many persons to be the most objectionable feature of Mormonism, forgetting that its creed is a deadly menace to free government, and that it preaches a celestial kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God on earth, the latter meaning that the whole earth is to be subjugated to Mormon rule. The only allegiance given by the Saints is to their church and chiefs. Between their creed and the Government of the United States the latter is nothing. The Mormonism of today has been described as "a combination of a limited number of knaves pretending to have a sanction for their rule from the Most High to exercise boundless dominion over a multitude of dupes who submit to their despotism as to the commands of God. Suppose, says the same author, that a set of low, shrewd, sleek, uneducated Yankees, escaped from the jails of the region in which they were born, and dismissed with scorn by the inhabitants of the Western States to which they may have emigrated, should gratify their peculiar tastes and inclinations by instituting a new religion which should justify their crimes, and that they should entice a great number of unchristianized and uncivilized fools and fanatics to submit to their dictation; suppose all these seemingly improbable facts, and you have Mormonism in its central idea. It can have no development which is not essentially brutish, vulgarity being at the very heart of its animal creed and constitution, however much these may have been varnished over by superficial tourists, who merely observe them from the outside." There are more polygamists now than ever, and the obnoxious doctrines are more openly and defiantly preached. But one conviction has been had for polygamy under the statutes in twenty years. In a word, the Mormons of today are cursing the Stars and Stripes. They are obedient to John Taylor, as they were to Joseph Smith; they break the laws and defy the government, accepting polygamy as a revelation from a just God. It is known that the people of this faith are ready for any anticipated emergency. Most of them, if not all, keep fire-arms in their dwellings, in the use of which they are trained experts. Some of the observers of the situation in Utah predict a civil war without our government defends its authority and punishes treason as it deserves, while others affirm that the Mormon leaders are too sagacious to allow their affairs to lead to such an issue. The converts to Mormonism are either cranks or persons of slight education, who listen to the stories of "a laud flowing with milk and honey, "to which they must flee for salvation, with delight. The missionaries are not, many of them, educated men, but are familiar with the Bible from end to end. Brigham Young said that he did not require college graduates, but could take a youth who had cut wood and killed bears among the hills and send him on a mission, and he would come back a man. No one can refuse a mission, although it has frequently been a place of exile for the too inquiring, too ambitions, and too knowing. Dissipated young men have been sent off, and returned quite reformed. The indifferent and doubting have also been sent, and came home extreme fanatics in their belief. The Mormon missionary starts out without purse or scrip. He is forced to be on his good behavior, as he is a professional beggar, and breaks bread with the stranger. He thus gains an admittance into households, and works upon the susceptibilities of women, wherein lies a more assured success than if he lodged in hotels. But without visible means they live well, and dress well, and travel luxuriously. They have never been known to starve. Of the three hundred of them now out, one hundred are preaching in the Southern States, where in recent years they have made many converts. The other two hundred Mormon missionaries are scattering the seeds of their horrible doctrines over the broad world. A convert in his first year's residence must give one tenth of his time, one tenth of what he raises, and one tenth of his possessions on his arrival, even if he have no money. This payment of tithes is an onerous burden to the Mormons, who, in spite of all reports, are taxed to an exasperating degree. They cannot evade this tithing yet the roads and bridges are not in good order, and there is not a hospital in Utah. The only decent school building in the territory is the University of Deseret. The Gentiles are taxed to support Mormon schools, which their children do not attend, where the hymns and prayers are Mormon, as well as the teachers. Brigham Young denounced colleges, yet sent one of his sons to Cornell University, one to the University of Michigan, and another to West Point. The latter, when asked if his oath of allegiance to the government brought him in conflict with the commands of John Taylor, which he would obey, without hesitation answered he would obey John Taylor. Salt Lake City has a population of from twenty to twenty-five thousand. It is situated on the east bank of the Jordan, a short river which connects Lake Utah with the great Salt Lake, eleven miles distant. The location is at once beautiful and picturesque with the grand snow-capped Wahsatch Mountains on the east the valley of the Jordan on the south and west, while in the distance are other ranges of mountains. it is the metropolis of Utah, "the chief city of Zion," "the habitation of the Saints," "the grand centre of the kingdom of God," "the city of prediction, beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth." ' The streets are one hundred and thirty-seven feet wide, and the blocks forty rods square. Water is conveyed along the streets for irrigation and other purposes, and the shade and fruit trees render it conspicuous from the country at large. The site covers nine thousand acres, not more than one fourth of which is occupied. Fort Douglas is situated on one of the heights overlooking the city, where several regiments of United States troops are stationed, under command of Federal officers. The climate is clear and dry, rain seldom fails, and the air is delightfully cool and invigorating. Its railway facilities with the East give the residents the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization, and yet it is unlike all other cities, with its half-finished temple, which has already cost two millions of dollars, its Tabernacle for summer worship -- there is no method of heating it -- its Endowment House, Tithing Office, and its other places for Mormon services and residence. One hundred thousand dollars is annually collected from tithes. The city is lighted by gas, and has six miles of street railway. It is a very gay city, as the Mormons are not only fond of public amusements, but of all manner of social festivities and dancing. Their public balls sometimes last from twelve to fourteen hours. The women are given to fine dress and the fripperies of fashion, and are as fond of the elegant accessories which make life pleasant as their Gentile sisters. Their advance in such indulgences has been remarkable since Brigham harangued against the follies of women. There is a Territorial Library, a City and a Masonic Library; a museum of the productions and curiosities of the region; three daily and weekly newspapers, a weekly in the Scandinavian tongue, and some minor periodicals. The City Hall cost $70,000. The Tabernacle has a costly organ, which is the second largest in the United States, and it will seat eight thousand persons. * There are Mason and Odd Fellows' halls, theatres, several hotels, Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches, and a Jewish synagogue. The immense co-operative store is a Mormon institution. The Endowment House has its peculiar rites. Here the Mormons are "sealed for time and eternity" in "celestial marriage," and here one day in the week there is an all-day performance, when "each Mormon is invested with the Adamic costume (a garment made all in one piece, high-necked and with long sleeves), and receives grips, tokens, and new names. If living and dying he wears this garment, and does not forget the grips and the name, he is sure of heaven whatever may befall him. A sacred drama forms a part of the ceremonies. The man who plays the part of the devil therein is also janitor of the Tabernacle, passes the bread and __________ * Oscar Wilde, in describing the Tabernacle, remarked that at a distance it resembles a copper kettle turned upside down. The huge domes rest on columns between which are doors, in its whole circumference, that in warm weather can all be opened. The building is only used in summer, and is sometimes called "The Bowerie" for that reason. wine at the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and leads an orchestra in the church theatre." The Endowment House rites are a kind of bastard Masonry instituted by Joseph Smith at Nauvoo. There is the Aaronic grip, and the grip of Melchisedec. There is the oath of vengeance against the United States Government for the death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hiram (or Hyrum, as it is usually spelled), and the oath of emplicit obedience to the priesthood, It is impossible with these oaths that loyalty to the government should exist. A remarkable resemblance has been pointed out between the ceremonies in the Eleusinia, a festival among the Cretans, and the mysteries of the Endowment house, as they are represented by some of the historians of Mormonism. Ecclesiastically the city is divided into twenty wards, over which is a bishop and two councillors. These are men who" do as they are told, and see that the Saints pay their tithing regularly." In each ward the bishop holds a meeting every Sunday night. Under this divisional supervision the city, if twenty times larger, would be under the same complete control. At home and abroad a Mormon is never free from the vigilant watch of church officers. A Presbyterian clergyman of Salt Lake City has recently asserted before an Eastern audience that it is this priestly despotism which is the central and great evil of the Mormon system. Polygamy -- bad as it is in his estimation -- is sweet in comparison with this constant and deadly tyranny. All understand it. None can escape from it save through apostasy or death. The Tabernacle, according to Stenhouse, should be visited on a Sunday afternoon. The "spirit" is hardly warmed up in the morning services. The organ is better played, the choir sing better. The choir occupy seats around the great organ, directly in front of which sits the president and his two councillors. in front of them is a long bench for the twelve apostles, and before these are the bishops and other officers. Several barrels of water are placed in front of the assembled church dignitaries, and after it has been blessed is handed about in tin cans to every person in the congregation. A sip of the water and a morsel of bread constitutes the ceremony of partaking the sacrament, according to Mormon rites. Hymns are sung, a prayer is made by some bishop, apostle, or elder, which is followed by a sermon either by the president or an apostle, after which the congregation sings a doxology and is dismissed with a brief blessing. The sermons are talks on practical matters, and the Saints are expected to attend to these "droppings of the sanctuary." The architectural design of the Tabernacle is hideous. From east to west it is one hundred and fifty feet, and from north to south one hundred and twenty. There is not a column to obstruct the vision. Its acoustic properties are remarkably good. Christian churches, schools, and associations have been firmly founded in Zion. For many years there was no place where anything but Mormonism could be heard, and the stranger was entirely cut off from all religious communion. But all this is past; and while "the Gentile and Mormon elements of the community unity can no more mix than oil and water," each have their places of worship. From the beginning of Mormonism the Saints have held conferences, great yearly or half-yearly meetings, lasting several days. They are usually held in Salt Lake City, and are seasons of especial enjoyment to the pilgrims who journey from afar and near to these festivals of the elect. They have a certain resemblance to the camp-meetings of the Methodists, but were probably instituted in imitation of the old Jewish custom of assembling the Israelites in the chief city from the remotest parts of Palestine, at stated intervals, for worship. Mr. P. W. Penrose, a well-known Mormon leader, has recently denied that "blood atonement" * has ever been practised among the Saints, but adds, "in the good time coming it more will be." A disinterested observer, after a residence of several months in Salt Lake City last year, writes: "As to the ' blood atonement 'which Mormons generally deny, you may be sure it is still practised." The shedding of innocent blood has been one of the mysterious horrors of Mormonism from its inauguration, and there is no more reason to suppose it has been suppressed than its other abominable practices, which are falsely denied. It is only more adroitly managed under Taylor's rule than it was under the dominion of Brigham Young. The boasted freedom of the ballot in Utah is a farce, as every ballot is numbered, and the number is placed against the name of the voter; and in this way those who vote contrary to the published ticket are known to the priesthood. In other parts of the Union the numbering of the tickets might be of no moment; but in Utah, where the slightest opposition is branded as rebellion, and is treated accordingly, it is of the last importance, as it practically precludes all free voting. The present generation of Mormons is in many respects in violent contrast to "the very prophets of industry" __________ * The Blood Atonement of the Mormons is the severing of the wind-pipe -- a gash across the throat -- to let the soul out of the body, and thus save it from destruction. who preceded it. By all accounts the young men are idle and immoral. The relaxing climate and the influence of their surroundings has something to do with their condition. They are advised to stay at home. An elder said in the Tabernacle last summer: "We do not want our young men to leave Utah; if they have talent of any kind, let them cultivate it here." As there are no factories in Utah and comparatively few openings for young men, many of them are obliged to work on the railways and in the mines of Utah for a livelihood. Some of the wealthier Mormons send their sons and daughters to Eastern schools for educational advantages not to be obtained in Zion, in spite of the protest against it. One of the most influential of the youthful Mormons is John Young, one of the sons of Brigham, who is a polygamist of the worst kind, having married, it is said, and deserted several women. He is described as being handsome, rich, and well educated. Mormon children are baptized at the age of eight years. They are then members of the church. The baptism for the dead is one of the most cherished of their ordinances, and in this way they can save their ancestors from everlasting punishment, and bring their souls within Zion. This benevolence is extended beyond the confines of relationship, and is given to the heroes and heroines of history. "In fact," says a facetious recorder of events in Salt Lake City, "no one is safe from the clutches of Mormonism after death You may be made a Mormon without desiring it for all eternity." A wealthy Mormon in the summer of 1884, during a visit in Boston, employed a young woman to look up his genealogy. In this way he learned the names of some two hundred of his Gentile ancestors, for all of whom he had the rites of baptism performed. * If Salt Lake Valley were to become the home of a really free people, it would become one of the glories of the American Union. It is about thirty miles long. The view of it from Salt Lake City is enchanting. It is a picture of farm, lake, and mountains clothed in prevailing tints of gray, with patches of verdure that is seldom seen in any country. The atmosphere is very clear. The Territory of Utah lies mostly in the great Wahsatch Basin, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. It is bounded on The north by Idaho and Wyoming territories, east by Colorado, south by Arizona, and west by Nevada, It is three hundred and fifty miles long and three hundred miles in width, and has eighty-four thousand square miles. The Wahsatch range of mountains, which forms the eastern wall of the basin, traverses the territory from north to south, and with the Unitah Mountains at the north-east, and the Iron Mountains in the south-east, the rivers have no outlet, and fall into the great Salt Lake and other lakes of the basin. All these rivers have cut their way through __________ * An apostate Mormon, in speaking of the Baptism for the Dead, which is a vital doctrine of the Latter-Day Saints, told the following story: "An old man, long a convert to Mormonism, residing in the southern part of Utah, last summer made a pilgrimage to Georgetown, thirty miles distant, where the Saints were in conference, for the purpose of saving nearly one hundred of his ancestors from everlasting destruction by being baptized for them. He made the journey in an ox cart with his two sons. The baptism was by immersion in a river, and the old man was "dipped" as many times as he could stand the operation, each dip representing an entrance into the Mormon paradise for some one of the otherwise lost hundred of his forefathers. Then his sons in turn were baptized until the object of their visit was accomplished." the easily corroded rocks, and form canyons varying in depth from two to five thousand feet; and after reaching a lower plain spread out into broad streams. The eastern section of Utah, although from six to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, is fertile, and largely productive. Western Utah is also elevated, the summits of the Wahsatch rising from the plain from forty-two hundred to six thousand feet in height, attaining a further elevation from the valley of six thousand to seven thousand feet in height. Saline and fresh lakes are numerous. Great Salt Lake is one hundred miles in length, fifty in width, and sixty feet deep, holding in solution twenty per cent of salt. The river Jordan connects it with Lake Utah, which is twenty-four miles long by twelve in width. Much of the scenery of Utah is magnificent and of the most varied description. Echo and Weber canyons are a perpetual series of surprises, as well as Parley's Park, Ogden, and Cottonwood canyons, which are all sublimely beautiful. Landscape painters consider American Fork Canyon the finest canyon in our country. The north-western portion of the territory, the elevated plateau, is a barren alkaline desert, yielding but little beside the sage bush, but under irrigation is made to yield large crops. The Mormons are not confined to Utah alone, but possess some of the best portions of Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Idaho, and Colorado, The land of these territories is worthless without irrigation, and the Mormon Church has entire control of the irrigating canals. In this way they can secure themselves from Gentile intrusion, and they can subdue rebellious spirits among themselves; for the moment a man rebels the water is shut off from his land, and he is literally starved into submission, or obliged to leave the territory. The government surveys commenced in 1855, and a land office was opened in Salt Lake City in 1868. In the year 1873 Stenhouse made the statement that surveys had extended over 4,016,825 acres, of which 92,637 acres were embraced in vacated Indian reservations. These surveys included Colorado. From that date declaratory statements under the Pre-emption Act of September 4th, 1841, had been filed for 400,000 acres, Of that extent of land 68,315 acres had been paid for with cash, mainly at the minimum price of $1.25 per acre. In addition, 20,480 acres had been located with military bounty land warrants, and 23,200 acres with agricultural scrip. Homestead entries covering 167,250 acres have been made under the act of May 29th, 1862. Estimating that there are 2,000,000 acres, or the one twenty-seventh part of the territory susceptible of cultivation, there yet remain 1,500,000 acres unappropriated for future settlement. The emigrants to Utah and the territories contiguous to it are given small farms of 160 acres government lands, which they are entitled to after becoming citizens of the United States. The Mormon settlements extend to the full limits of the territory in every direction, following the natural sweep of the valleys at the base of the mountains, from north to south it was Brigham's policy to occupy the best lands as quickly as possible. For this and other ulterior purposes he was gracious to his dusky neighbors -- the Utes, and other tribes of Indians. Until the completion of the Union and Pacific Railroad the vast mineral wealth of Utah was untouched, the Mormon leaders being utterly opposed to exploiting the mines, knowing well that their development would bring in a non-Mormon and anti-Polygamous population Since the building of the Union Pacific and the extension branches, north and south, Utah has produced fifty millions of dollars in silver and lead, and its other mineral wealth, except coal and salt, is yet undeveloped. With such natural resources, what might not Utah become if Mormonism were "stamped out of it" by our government, to which, it is plain, it has become a problem difficult to solve. "Nothing can change the old Mormons. They are a hardy race, indifferent to hardships and privation; but despite the blinding influence of this system, under which, the hearts of so many women have been broken and are breaking, there is a restlessness among the young which is growing with an increasing sense of shame and wrong. The thing to do is to strike at the animalism which underlies the whole system, while carefully guarding all personal property and rights of those who have sinned through ignorance, to make further plural marriages impossible, and never relax until polygamy and the rule of the Mormon Church in temporal affair is forever abandoned. If it is postponed fifteen years, it will take a civil war to overcome this open enemy of republican government." * If Mormonism is allowed to go on for a few years longer, its rulers will dictate the elections in all the regions between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean except California and Oregon -- a region as great as all the United States, east of the Mississippi River. The renewing influences of active emigration is still going on. Within eight months of last year three thousand Mormon proselytes arrived in New York. To these converts from the peasant classes of Great Britain, Norway, and Sweden, the most flattering promises have been made of land and wealth. The Mormon leaders want __________ * C. C. Godwin, North American Review, 1881. the strong young men to cultivate the land and to work in the mines -- increase the property which will accrue to the church from the tithing system. One is struck with the dull expression on the faces of these peasants from the Old World. More women than men emigrate from foreign parts to Utah. The fate of these women who come thus to a Christian country can easily be imagined. A special dispatch to the Boston Herald from Salt Lake City, dated January 10th, 1885, states that some "high Mormons have recently returned from Mexico. They had reached the stronghold of the untamable Yayni savages, and made a conditional treaty with them. Within a few days John Taylor, Counsellor Smith, Bishop Sharp, and others have left Zion, and are known to be en route to Mexico; and it is believed they have gone to the capital to treat with the Mexican Government for lands and a charter like the Nauvoo charter. It is thought that the plan is to make a rendezvous for Mormons liable to persecution under the Edmunds law, and also to form a nucleus for a future empire in their favor. The Yaynis are terrible Indians who have never been subdued, the people of the northern Mexican States fearing them exceedingly." The prediction that the Saints would eventually make Mexico their final resting-place is not new. Time alone will show the destiny of these people. In closing this brief history of Mormonism, we may state what the most recent students of its methods have learned in a few words, as follows: Mormonism was evolved from the crafty brain of Sidney Rigdon who found a fitting and willing assistant in Joseph Smith. Between them they formulated the only religion that has been originated in America, from a romance written by a clergyman born in New England. It does not seem probable that the Spaulding manuscript is still in existence. There are old men and women living who may know its fate. They may carry the burden of their sworn secret regarding it to the grave; but whether the manuscript which was so shamefully stolen was or was not destroyed, or whether it was ever returned to its rightful owners, the great scheme of the "Latter-Day Saints," with its perfidies and crimes, cannot easily be expurgated from our national history. It may be likened to some baleful plant that has been allowed to spring up and grow into a fruition of poisonous influences, and which cannot be exterminated save by one process -- a general and thorough uprooting. It has been the darling ambition of the Mormons since their settlement in Utah to have the Territory admitted into the Union of States; but to-day they seem as far from the realization of their anticipations in this respect as they were three decades ago, when they called their new home "Deseret." continue reading on: page 200 |
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